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Muttiah Muralitharan attributes his recent good form to the abuse that he faced during VB series in Australia this January. “If there is one thing that maybe has helped me this year it was the experience I had in Australia,” Murali told Bigstarcricket website.”It may sound a strange thing to say as it was a very tough tour for me on and off the field, especially with the abuse we received.”Murali was greeted with chants of ‘no-ball’ by Australian crowds during the series. He was first no-balled at Melbourne by umpire Darrell Hair in Sri Lanka’s tour of Australia in 1995.”If you go through difficult times and come out the other side, you become a stronger character for it,” Murali said. That’s what happened to me. I like to think that I am quite strong mentally anyway. But these sort of experiences only make me more determined.”Murali has had a phenomenal run of form the past year collecting 108 Test wickets at an average of 19.37, from 15 matches between September 2005 and August 2006. But in one-day cricket during that period, Murali has got only 36 wickets from 28 matches. “Cricket is like this, wickets can come all at once and at other times you can bowl well and maybe not receive your rewards,” Murali said.”I am in some good form but I wouldn’t say it is necessarily the best form of my career. I am just bowling well and have found some good rhythm. For the last year I have bowled well and I haven’t done anything different in these series than at other times,” he added.

It has been announced this afternoon that Warren Hegg, the Lancashire and England wicketkeeper, has retired from first-class cricket. Following the injury to his hand in last week’s championship match against Essex at Chelmsford, Hegg is unable to take part in the final two fixtures of the season for his county.He had announced his intention to retire in May, but had hoped he would play a full season with Lancashire. Speaking from Old Trafford this afternoon, Hegg, 37, said: “I’m extremely disappointed not to be playing at Old Trafford again. I’d always hoped that my last game would be at Old Trafford, but it’s not to be. I can’t complain however, I’ve had a relatively injury free career and getting an injury is an occupational hazard. You have to accept it, and move on. I’ve been so lucky, enjoyed a great career and leave with some fantastic memories.”Hegg played two Tests for England, both against Australia, on the 1998-99 tour; he made his debut for Lancashire in 1986. Both his batting and wicketkeeping have always been consistent, and he was appointed captain of Lancashire in 2002, taking his side to third place (2002) and second place (2003) in Division One of the championship. In 348 matches, he scored 11,302 runs at 27.90.Jack Simmons, Lancashire’s chairman, said: “I am greatly saddened Warren has not had the opportunity to break George Duckworth’s wicket keeping record of 925 dismissals; falling 6 short of the total. However injury is one of the things you put up with and part and parcel of the game.”Warren has been an exemplary professional and a great ambassador for Lancashire County Cricket Club and cricket in general. It is a shame he can’t finish his career at Old Trafford. He is always welcome at Old Trafford and the Club would like to place on record its thanks for his loyal service to the county and wishes him all the best his future career.”

“The England attack today was Ashley Giles,” said Brian Lara after West Indies were bundled out for 267 on the fifth day at Lord’s. Giles, who took 5 for 81 in that innings to go with his four wickets in the first, will now have his name painted in gold on the honour boards at Lord’s – the first English spinner to take a five-for there since Phil Tufnell against Sri Lanka back in 1991. The British papers were united in their praise for Giles, once derided as a “wheelie bin”, but now acclaimed as “the next Steve Harmison”.”To England the spoils; to Ashley Giles the plaudits,” wrote Mike Selvey in The Guardian. “Given a pitch offering assistance, a bag of runs with which to play and the opportunity to book himself in at the Nursery End as something other than the ice-cream salesman in the interval, the Warwickshire left-arm spinner bowled his side to victory in the first Test by 210 runs.”In the same paper, David Hopps summed up Giles’s last few months. “Baited last month, feted this: the summer has brought quite a transformation for England’s senior spinner. He began it burdened with criticism, so much so that he half-toyed with retiring from Test cricket. Now he is burdened with wickets and is probably the only player for whom Thursday – and another Test on his home patch at Edgbaston – cannot come soon enough.”However, Hopps was quick to point out that despite Giles’s excellent performance against touring sides this summer, some fans were still not convinced of his use to England before his matchwinning effort on the fifth day. “Do not blithely presume that the criticism of Giles has entirely abated,” he said. “Late on Friday, as West Indies saw out the day, a desultory chant of ‘Giles, you’re boring’ sounded in the Compton Stand. By Sunday the hosannas from the Mound Stand as he began his dismantling of West Indies’ second innings were edged with English irony. Only yesterday was the applause simple and heartfelt.”In the Daily Telegraph, Simon Briggs put England’s latest win, their seventh against West Indies in the last nine meetings, down to Michael Vaughan’s ability to “combine commitment with contentment. Put simply, he has got England smiling again”.Briggs went on: “No-one exemplified this trait more than Ashley Giles, a man who told the current issue of a leading cricket magazine: ‘I’ve been a miserable bugger at times.’ Having secured the match award for his nine wickets, Giles came to last night’s press conference with Vaughan, his captain and close friend, and could hardly stop cracking jokes. That is what happens when you have just castled Brian Lara, the world’s most remorseless destroyer of spin, with the kind of wonderball more usually associated with Shane Warne.””It’s smiley Giley!” gushed The Sun’s headline, continuing the theme, as John Etheridge applauded Giles’s sharp turner that bowled Lara yesterday. “It turned at least two feet, and Warne or Muralitharan could not have purveyed a more deadly delivery. When Lara’s stumps were disturbed, Giles embarked on a manic sprint in the general direction of Notting Hill, pursued by joyous team-mates.””This was Giles’s match,” stated The Times‘s Christopher Martin-Jenkins, before going on to put Giles’s performance in perspective. “Damned with the faintest praise since he made his first Test appearance on a typical modern pitch at Old Trafford in 1998 (he took 1 for 106), he has always been underestimated, criticised for a lack of flight largely because of his height and for a lack of spin less because he does not give the ball as much of a tweak as orthodox finger-spinners of old. That is to some extent a false impression, however, because covered pitches, heavier bats and the more aggressive approach of the average batsman have combined to make life significantly harder for all bowlers of his type.”The last England spinner to take more wickets than this in a Lord’s Test was Derek Underwood on a drying pitch against Pakistan in 1974. Those were days when rainwater often seeped under the covers down the Lord’s slope overnight. Now the unique hover-cover … ensures pitches as dry as old bones.”Martin-Jenkins concluded that it was Giles’s “curving arm balls and skilful changes of pace and trajectory” that brought him his first five-wicket haul in England, and his fourth overall. “The other three came in places a few miles east of St John’s Wood: Faisalabad, Ahmedabad and Kandy. He will treasure his Man of the Match award all the more for that.”

As if the prospect of playing two Tests against Australia wasn’t daunting enough for Bangladesh, John Buchanan, Australia’s coach, has warned that his side won’t be easing off during next month’s two-Test series.”Our game will always be to be as aggressive as we can be, and to try and put our opposition under as much pressure as we can, right from the word go, so that won’t change,” he said. As for fatigue on the part of his players, he said, “Those players who played both the one-day and the Test matches were certainly feeling the pinch through the West Indies tour.”He explained that the prospect of playing at new venues – the Tests will be held at Cairns and Darwin – would offset any weariness in a side who have been on the road almost continuously for 18 months. “With four or five weeks off, coming to a new venue, playing a new team, in something that will begin a tradition, I think really excites them.”But Buchanan did have some encouraging words for Bangladesh, particularly with regard to Dav Whatmore, their new coach. “I think what he’ll do is bring them direction, I think he will bring them some discipline and give them some shape,” he explained. “Whether that happens immediately, time will tell. But I think that’s a very good move for them, and something that will improve their cricket a little bit quicker than maybe what it has done in the past.”

Mathew Sinclair might be starting to think about the task that awaits him in Pakistan next month, but his Yorkshire league club Cleethorpes will be looking for one more big performance from him before the end of their summer.Since returning from the Sri Lankan Coca-Cola Cup tournament earlier this month, Sinclair has struggled to regain the touch which saw him make an outstanding start to the summer, but he started to get his game back together during Cleethorpe’s three victories over the Bank Holiday weekend.His last game will be on Saturday for an important clash with York.On Saturday Cleethorpes scored 156/9 against Hull. But when defending that total left-arm slow bowler Nick White took six for 33 in a 19-over spell. Sinclair picked up a couple of late wickets as Cleethorpes took a 40-run win.Sunday proved a great day for Cleethorpes. It turned the form book on its head and Sheffield Collegiate were eliminated from the Yorkshire League Cup.Collegiate were hot favourites in the semi-final but the reigning league champions and current league leaders were met with a performance full of character and skill which took Cleethorpes through to a September final.The Meggies batted first in the 50-over contest and there was a welcome return to form for Sinclair who made 60 in a solid opening stand with Mike Smith who made 27. Cleethorpes scored 199/7.Some tight bowling resulted in Cleethorpes taking a seven run win with Sinclair again picking up wickets to take two for 41 from his 10 overs.Cleethorpes now advance to a September final against Hull or the Yorkshire Academy but Sinclair will miss the final.An outstanding weekend for the club was completed when a 74-run win was achieved over top club Scarborough.Sinclair scored 35 as his side reached 184/9.In reply, Scarborough were in trouble at 28/4 and were eventually all out for 110.Meanwhile, in the Lancashire league Tana Canning continued a late run of form with the Accrington club. On Sunday, the his club’s 24-run win over Enfield he scored 65 and then took five for 55.On Saturday, Burnley proved too good for Accrington. But of his side’s 119 runs, Canning scored 48 and took three for 53 in Burnley’s 163/8.On the previous weekend in the rain-affected game against Church he scored 47 of 155/9 and on the day before in another rain-affected match he scored 51 of Accrington’s 92 against Colne.

Chris Cairns has been compared to disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong for bringing shame on the cricket world. Summing up the prosecution case against Cairns at Southwark Crown Court, Sasha Wass, QC, said that the evidence he was involved in match-fixing was “overwhelming”.Cairns has been on trial for the past five weeks, during which time a number of former team-mates have come forward to give evidence against him. He denies two counts of perjury and perverting the course of justice relating to his 2012 libel case against Lalit Modi.Wass said the testimony of nine witnesses should be considered the “building bricks creating a wall of evidence” against Cairns. She warned the jury that attempts would be made by the defence to undermine the claims of Lou Vincent and Brendon McCullum, among others.Vincent has accused Cairns of ordering him to fix matches at the Indian Cricket League (ICL), while McCullum told of approaches made by his childhood “idol”. Vincent’s ex-wife Ellie Riley also testified against Cairns, saying he was confident he would not be caught because “everyone was doing it in India”.Wass said Cairns had not provided a “single, credible reason” to question their motives. Vincent’s confession to Riley about his involvement in fixing in 2008 undermined the idea that the story of Cairns’ involvement had been concocted “late in the day”, she said.”It’s unlikely he would have cooked up this plan to stitch up Chris Cairns in 2008 and spent five years working out how to bring his downfall,” Wass said of Vincent.She added: “Why Ellie Riley would lie? She has no great love for her ex husband.”Wass also referred to evidence given by McCullum, as well as Cairns’ former New Zealand team-mates Daniel Vettori, Kyle Mills and Chris Harris, and Australia batsman Ricky Ponting, suggesting none of them had reason to lie. McCullum interrupted his preparation for a Test match against Australia to appear in court in London.”The defence say Mr McCullum is lying,” she said. “But not a single reason has been put forward why a man, at the height of his career, would come to the Southwark Crown Court to falsely incriminate a man he held in such high regard.”She rejected the idea that the ICC wanted Cairns as a “scalp” in the fight against match-fixing, comparing the case to that involving Armstrong and saying his actions had tarnished the sport.”Why would anyone, let alone the governing body of cricket, want the scalp of an innocent man,” she asked. “The last thing [the ICC] would want to do is bring accusations against an innocent man who has captained his country, represented New Zealand for 17 years.”On the other hand, the ICC would want to bring a cheat who corrupted others to justice.”The jury heard that Cairns had shown “arrogance beyond belief” in taking Modi to court. Wass said that he and Andrew Fitch-Holland, who denies perverting the course of justice, “should be ashamed of themselves” and that both were “guilty of the charges laid”.She added that the amount of indirect evidence against Cairns was “unanswerable”.”He has made a mockery of the game of cricket, the fans, the game,” she said. “We know not only that he cheated, he encouraged others to cheat.”We say the evidence against Chris Cairns in respect of match-fixing is overwhelming.”Cairns’ defence barrister, Orlando Pownall, QC, is expected to present his closing arguments on Monday. The trial continues.

John Bannon, the Cricket Australia board director and former Premier of South Australia, has died in Adelaide, aged 72. He had battled cancer since 2007, but been a member of the CA board since 2008.After a lengthy political career in which he was SA’s longest serving Labor Premier, Bannon served on numerous boards but was a key player in Australian cricket both with CA and the South Australian Cricket Association. He was named a SACA life member in 2014.His time on the CA board encompassed the sweeping governance reforms of 2012, which saw the board changed from a structure of 14 state-appointed directors to nine independent appointees, with at least one being based in each of the six states. Bannon, who was also a political and cricket historian of note, remained an advocate of Federalism throughout the reform process.The CA chairman David Peever said Bannon’s many achievements included his assiduous work to build cricket’s connection to indigenous Australia. “As a board, we will miss John’s stature, his knowledge and his wisdom,” Peever said. “He provided the Board with astute judgement and decades of experience navigating complex and challenging issues.”Throughout that time he championed cricket’s efforts to better engage Indigenous communities as co-chair of the National Indigenous Cricket Advisory Council, a cause he was fiercely passionate about. He also played an important role overseeing the recent governance changes to Australian cricket.”On a personal level I will miss his friendship, wisdom and guidance. He was always selfless in the way that he was prepared to share his knowledge to better other people and the game. Despite his tremendous experience and depth of knowledge he carried himself with great humility, never imposing his will on others. Our game and our country have lost a remarkable man.”We extend our deepest sympathies to John’s wife Angela and the entire Bannon family at this sad time.”Andrew Sinclair, the SACA chairman, spoke of Bannon’s contribution to the governance reform process and also the major redevelopment of Adelaide Oval, during which time he served on the SACA board before retiring earlier this year.”John made a massive contribution to South Australian cricket, Australian cricket and the recent redevelopment of Adelaide Oval,” Sinclair said. “Through negotiations of the Adelaide Oval redevelopment and Australian cricket governance reforms, he was always a voice of reason; calm and considered.”His unmatched understanding of history will be sorely missed, for no sport can reflect on its current position without knowing what went before. He had enormous knowledge of Australian history, from cricket to politics.”John was driving various SACA cricket history and museum initiatives. These will absolutely come to fruition, unfortunately without John in person, but he’ll be there in spirit and in the hearts of many SACA Members. There is a very strong board resolve to continue John’s legacy. The board rooms of Australian and South Australian cricket are much poorer for his loss; he is already sadly missed.”While Bannon was unable to travel to England for the Ashes this year due to his declining health, he continued to work right up until the last few days before his death. He was at Adelaide Oval for the inaugural day-night Test match earlier this month, and had also pushed for a project to preserve and collate the CA board archives, one of many projects that will form his legacy as a major figure in Australian cricket.SA’s current Premier, Jay Weatherill, has offered the Bannon family a state funeral.

Rory Hamilton-Brown is back in contention for the England Under-19 side after being included in the 12-man squad for the second and final Test against Pakistan at Derby. But he was not considered for the captaincy, after being stripped of the role – and banned for the first Test – following a drinking incident on the eve of the match.Whether Hamilton-Brown, who usually bats at three or four, will make the final XI this time remains to be seen with England crushing Pakistan in the opener, and all of the top four making runs.Ben Wright will resume as captain for the second Test starts at Derby this Friday, August 10. He was one of three century-makers for England as they won by an innings and 58 runs at Scarborough.The victory in the first Test against Pakistan was particularly encouraging as the team included nine players still eligible to play for the U-19 World Cup next year in Malaysia.Squad Ben Wright (capt), Billy Godleman, Alex Wakely, Tom Westley, Adam Lyth, Ben Brown (wk), Rory Hamilton-Brown, James Harris, Liam Dawson, Stuart Meaker, Chris Woakes Steven Finn

Recalled to the Indian one-day side for the first time since April 2005, Dinesh Mongia, the left-hand batsman, says he will not make the same mistakes that cost him his place in the side. With the tri-series in Malaysia, also featuring Australia and West Indies, due to start in early September, Mongia admitted he would curb his aggression and convert good starts into big scores if given the opportunity.”I was getting good starts. I should have made use of those opportunities and should have converted those 30s and 40s into bigger scores,” he told . “Now, I have worked on it. Being a professional cricketer I should always think positively. Once I start thinking negatively, the negativity will creep into my game. Life is not fair always.”Mongia, 29, enjoyed a successful county stint with Leicestershire, making runs and taking wickets. His selection, as the selectors admitted last month, was also based on his ability to bowl a few tidy overs of left-arm spin. By Mongia’s own admission, it is this feature which could mark him out as a key allrounder. “It was in 2002 that I thought of taking up bowling seriously,” he said. “In the Australian team that played the World Cup in 2003 everyone were allrounders. I knew that the future belonged to allrounders.”Mongia was also quick to point out that there were aspects of his game that needed sorting out. “I am not ashamed to accept that I was lacking fitness when I made my debut in 2001,” he said. “I would like to improve my fitness. We did not have the National Cricket Academy those days [when he made his first-class debut in 1995-96]. I built my confidence after three or four first-class seasons. I am a firm believer that the more you play the better you get.”

Darren Stevens, who was not offered a new contract by Leicestershire at the end of last season, has signed a two-year deal with Kent to bolster their middle-order batting.Stevens, 28, made his debut for Leicestershire in 1997, but failed to establish a place in the side until Aftab Habib and Ben Smith had left. He toured with the England Academy side in 2002-03, was in the final squad of 30 for the last World Cup, and has made over 600 runs in each of the last three seasons. But the feeling lingered at Grace Road that he never quite fulfilled the potential that his vibrant strokeplay suggested.”A number of counties have shown an interest in me,” he said, “but the opportunity to play on good wickets and in a side with real ambition persuaded me to come to Kent. I feel I still have much to prove and look forward to doing so in the seasons ahead.”Kent recently lost Ed Smith to Middlesex and Alex Loudon to Warwickshire, and were among the counties that failed to sign Kevin Pietersen, who eventually went to Hampshire.Graham Johnson, the Kent chairman, said: “We look forward to Darren adding to the list of Kent players who have represented their country. We know that he has the desire to fulfil his undoubted potential and felt that Kent would give him the best possible opportunity to do so. This is another important step in the development of our squad for next season.”