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Cricket Australia’s chairman Jack Clarke has conceded that the game could be better served with a less crowded international calendar when the new Future Tours Programme (FTP) is devised. His comments came as a stiff and sore Peter Siddle arrived home in Melbourne for the first time after more than five months on tour.Siddle has been one of the hardest-working members of Australia’s squad this year, having not been at home since April, when he enjoyed a brief spell following the Test series in South Africa. Since then he has been in England for the World Twenty20, the Ashes, and the one-day series, then went straight to South Africa for the Champions Trophy and from there dashed to India to play for Victoria in the Champions League Twenty20 and stayed on for the ODI series.”It has been a long tour, I guess,” Siddle said in the Age after touching down in Melbourne. “The guys have been away for a long time now and we’ve probably played a bit too much cricket, but we will see how we go and I’m sure the boys will go well in the next three matches and come home with a [series] win.”The biggest thing is probably the mental side of things. Just being away from family and friends, all the normal stuff you do when you’re back home. You’re always changing hotels, different sceneries and living out of a suitcase, those are probably the things that take their toll the most. It’s always going to be a lot of games and a lot of cricket played, that’s what the spectators want to see and that’s our job.”The questions over Australia’s packed schedule have become more intense due to the high injury rate over the past couple of months. Five men have flown home from India mid-series and four first-choice players were unavailable in the first place, but in several cases the injuries appear not to be due to over-use.Tim Paine and Brad Haddin both broke fingers, Callum Ferguson wrenched his knee in the field, while James Hopes and Moises Henriques tweaked hamstrings despite not being part of the long Ashes tour. But Jack Clarke said it was still worth pushing for a less packed FTP when the current programme expires after 2012.”It is not fixed yet as to what’s going to happen, that’s been one of the hold-ups in releasing the FTP, the ICC events,” Clarke told the . “The type of events and the regularity is one of the things.”I suspect the game can’t support an ICC tournament every year, but the ICC’s also got to get money to get countries dividends, and not just the Test-playing countries but the associates and affiliates. So hopefully less will be more, and I’d be surprised if there’s an ICC event every year, going forward in 2013-2020.”When the Australians – those who haven’t departed already – fly home from India after next Wednesday’s final ODI, they will have only a fortnight to prepare for the first of six home Tests of the summer. The coach Tim Nielsen said the crammed schedule had made things hard and a seven-match ODI series was probably too long, but the squad had to keep doing its best under the circumstances.”It does make it difficult but at the same time I think it is the same for pretty well everyone around world cricket at the moment,” Nielsen said in the . “Five [games in India], to me, would be probably about right but … we know the reasons for seven-game series. There’s television involved, all different things.”

Already through to the semi-finals of the Champions Trophy, Pakistan are likely to experiment with their line-up against Australia in Centurion tomorrow, to compensate for injuries and to give fringe members of the squad a game.The abandoned match in Centurion between Australia and India meant Pakistan qualified for the semis irrespective of what happens against Australia and the opportunity to give the likes of Mohammad Asif, Iftikhar Anjum and Fawad Alam a game is unlikely to be missed. One enforced change will be made in any case; Imran Nazir split the webbing on his right hand while fielding early on against India and stitches have yet to be removed from the wound.”We could be fielding a different team tomorrow,” Pakistan captain Younis Khan said. “Nazir has stitches and it could take six or seven days. My plan was to play him in the next game because I know he will play one big innings in this tournament, whether in the semis, the final or against Australia.”Mohammad Asif is also here and people expected him to play against India which is why we didn’t play him. He deserves a place and others like Fawad and Rao [Iftikhar Anjum] also should play. We have to manage that so one or two changes will be there.”Nazir’s absence, though he has yet to make a significant contribution in the tournament, leaves Pakistan with no specialist openers. Kamran Akmal has been opening this year and Shoaib Malik is likely to join him, having played at the top often and with some success. “In ODIs and T20s you do not have specialists. Malik has made runs as opener, he scored from four against India. In ODIs I am flexible also, I can bat there. I don’t think it makes a difference – even Shahid Afridi has opened, and Fawad Alam has opened in Tests now.”Given how little Pakistani openers – specialist or otherwise – have contributed over the last few years, Younis’ unconcern over the issue is understandable. The captain himself will also play, with his fractured finger, as he did against India. He wouldn’t have minded a break, he said, but the team management and his side persuaded him to change his mind.”I always say I want to rest but my boys and management say you have to play. I discussedwith the team but they all wanted me to play. You have to make sacrifices and my team wants me to play so I will.”Nothing, Younis said, will be drawn from Pakistan’s 2-3 loss in an ODI series in Dubai and Abu Dhabi earlier this year, of for that matter their poor record against them generally. “I don’t think past results against Australia will count. Two days ago we won a big, tough game but if we losein the semis, we are out. We shouldn’t look at when we beat them on that date and so on. There is no guarantee to anything – Ponting is in great form but there is no guarantee he will score tomorrow. History changes all the time. They are a top side and played very well against India yesterday.”

Following an extensive enquiry into the events that led to the abandonment of the second Twenty20 between England and Australia, the ECB has recommended that a reserve playing surface should be prepared for all future international fixtures, and that – in the event of the sort of exceptional circumstances that forced the cancellation of the September 1 contest – an amendment to the playing conditions should be sought to ensure that the match goes ahead regardless – which, in the case of that particular Twenty20 fixture, might have involved bowling all overs from one end.The ECB launched their enquiry after the on-field umpires, Peter Hartley and Nigel Llong, were forced to abandon the match primarily because of what they considered to be a ‘dangerous’ and ‘unstable’ area on the bowlers’ run up at the Brian Statham End of the ground. It was also deemed that there were other areas of the ground that were ‘marginal’ in terms of their suitability for international cricket.The enquiry determined that the cause of the problem was the fact that the new drainage system, installed at Old Trafford in the winter of 2008-09, did not include parts of what is to become the new square in 2011, when the surface is relayed to face North-South, as opposed to East-West as it does currently. To do so, the ECB said, would have resulted in further extensive works having to take place in 2010.The safety of the players was deemed to have been paramount in making the decision, and although Lancashire were able to start their County Championship match against Sussex the following day, the umpire for that match, Neil Mallender, stated that he would not have declared the ground fit for international cricket. Nevertheless, the ECB report exonerated Lancashire for their part in the abandonment, praising their ground covers as “excellent”, and pointing out that there had been an unusual volume of rain in the days leading up to the match, exposing those parts of the ground without the new drainage.The report made six recommendations in all:

That as soon as the square at Old Trafford is relocated in Autumn 2010 the drainage is further reviewed to ensure all areas outside the square benefit from the enhanced drainage system.

To recommend to ICC that the abandonment of matches whilst remaining in the sole control of the umpires is only made after consultation with the ground authority.

The safety of players must remain an overriding criteria if there is a substantive risk of serious injury.

To recommend to ICC that conditions must be safe to preserve the integrity of the match and due care for the players but in marginal conditions play should be maximised. In the case of abandoned T20 matches the Home Board should have the right to reschedule the fixture if a venue be available and is feasible within 24 – 48 hours .

All Category A and B venues be required to prepare two playing surfaces which shall be a minimum of 5 metres apart for major matches.

That in consultation with the Home Board the ICC Match Referee and the captains should have the power to amend the playing regulations to seek to provide play .

David Collier, the ECB chief executive, said: “We thank Gordon Hollins, the ECB’s head of venue partnerships, for his thorough investigation of the events surrounding this abandonment. We are bitterly disappointed for the 17,000 spectators who had spent time and money attending the match and aim to do everything in our powers to ensure play whenever possible.”The Board have received a series of recommendations which they will now progress – including the suggestion that drainage facilities and permanent floodlights for matches awarded from 2011 become a significant part of the balanced scorecard used when the Major Match Group award such matches.”The ECB will also recommend a new match protocol for International Twenty20 to the ICC as a matter of urgency.

The Indian board has taken the first step towards resolving the IMG dispute and authorised Shashank Manohar, the BCCI president, to look into the issue and report back to the board during its annual general meeting later this month. This was revealed by Rajiv Shukla, a vice-president of the BCCI, after a meeting of the IPL governing council, which formalised the move on Wednesday.”BCCI chief Shashank Manohar has been authorised to deal with the IMG issue and report to the board at its AGM on September 24,” Shukla said.A BCCI official told Cricinfo that Sharad Pawar, the former BCCI president who still has a strong hold on Indian cricket affairs, met Manohar and Lalit Modi, the IPL chairman, on Tuesday night and discussed a course of action that would possibly involve fresh negotiations with the sports management firm and a revised contract.IMG worked for the IPL this year on an annual fee of around Rs33 crore (around US$6.7m). “Ideally, the board is hoping that they can renegotiate this down around Rs 25-27 crore (around US$5.5m),” the official said. “The idea is to work out a solution that will keep IMG onboard and at the same time, is not seen as undermining the BCCI secretary’s authority in any manner.”N Srinivasan, the BCCI secretary, had informed IMG last Saturday that the board would no longer use their services for conducting the IPL, following a disagreement over payments for the league’s second season in South Africa. Srinivasan claimed that the fee was disproportionate to the services rendered. IMG played a key role in setting up the inaugural IPL in 2008, for which the BCCI claimed to have made a payment of Rs42.92 crore (US$ 9.54 million approx), and it also managed the second IPL that was shifted to South Africa.The IPL franchises, who were informed about the decision only on Saturday morning through a separate email sent by league officials, were understandably concerned by the move. Seven out of the eight IPL franchises – except Chennai, which is owned by Srinivasan – have over the last three days written strongly-worded letters to the BCCI and Sharad Pawar questioning the IMG ouster, which they claimed would devalue and dilute the league.Pawar had also written to Manohar in his capacity as president of the Mumbai Cricket Association, questioning the Indian board’s decision to terminate IMG’s services for the IPL and warned that the unilateral move would put the board and its stakeholders’ investments in jeopardy.Similar concerns have also been echoed by Sony, the IPL’s broadcasters, which said in a separate letter that the timing of the decision was awkward for them and would have far-reaching implications on the next season.

Division One

Michael Carberry’s fourth Championship century of the season guided Hampshire to a comfortable draw against Lancashire at The Rose Bowl. Carberry also passed 1000 runs during the innings, which continues a rich run of form, at a time when England are screaming out for batting options. It’s hard to know where in the pecking order he sits, but Carberry’s returns are doing him no harm. Hampshire needed a sturdy effort from the top order as they began 231 runs behind. Carberry and Jimmy Adams (21) took the early sting out of Lancashire with a stand of 75 before Kyle Hogg broke through but there was no regular flow of wickets. Gary Keedy and Stephen Parry claimed one apiece during the afternoon, but Carberry passed his hundred from 229 balls and added 87 with Liam Dawson as the match drifted to a conclusion.

Teams	Mat	Won	Lost	Tied	Draw	Aban	Pts
Durham	10	6	0	0	4	0	158
Somerset	11	3	1	0	7	0	136
Nottinghamshire	10	3	1	0	6	0	128
Lancashire	11	3	2	0	6	0	121
Warwickshire	10	1	1	0	8	0	108
Hampshire	10	2	2	0	6	0	100
Sussex	10	1	3	0	6	0	92
Yorkshire	10	0	2	0	8	0	85
Worcestershire	10	0	7	0	3	0	52

Division Two

A unbeaten 108 from Wayne Madsen guided Derbyshire to a draw at Whitgift School after Surrey at scented the chance for victory. Mark Ramprakash moved to 134, adding 156 with Usman Afzaal (85), to set the visitors 349 from 77 and Surrey made the ideal start when Chris Rogers was caught down the leg side first ball. When Garry Park was taken at backward short leg, Derbyshire were under pressure on 30 for 2 but Madsen and Greg Smith added 90 for the third wicket. Surrey, though, pushed again with the scalps of Smith and Wavell Hinds, then a fied-up Nel claimed his second scalp when he removed Daniel Redfern. At 170 for 5 there was still time for Surrey, but Madsen held firm with an accomplished 213-ball ton innings and was accompanied until the end by Freddie Klokker. The result leaves Derbyshire third and Surrey fourth as they both chase one of the two promotion slots.

Teams	Mat	Won	Lost	Tied	Draw	Aban	Pts
Kent	10	5	2	0	3	0	134
Gloucestershire	11	4	4	0	3	0	125
Derbyshire	11	2	1	0	8	0	123
Surrey	11	1	1	0	9	0	113
Glamorgan	10	1	2	0	7	0	105
Northamptonshire	9	3	2	0	4	0	104
Essex	10	2	3	0	5	0	95
Middlesex	10	1	3	0	6	0	91
Leicestershire	10	1	2	0	7	0	83

ScorecardDale Benkenstein drives during his fine hundred•Getty Images

At present, Nottinghamshire look like the only team capable of challenging Durham, the reigning champions and current leaders in the county table. Twenty five points adrift, but with two matches in hand, this is a crucial match for Nottinghamshire that could play a major part in deciding the Championship. Both teams have ample reserves, especially in pace bowling: Durham are without Steve Harmison and Graham Onions, Nottinghamshire without Stuart Broad, and they could still afford to leave out Darren Pattinson and the promising Luke Fletcher.Despite their rich bowling resources, though, the home side had to bow to the Durham batting pair of Will Smith and Dale Benkenstein. They pulled their side out of a degree of early trouble with a fine, if at times dogged, partnership of 193 for the fourth wicket; if they did not score quickly enough, on a pitch not really conducive to fast scoring, they laid what should have been a good foundation for a potential victory. However, their position was spoiled by the events of the last five minutes of play when both fell to Mark Ealham to leave honours even after the first day.Presumably expecting the ball to swing – which it did to some extent – the home side put Durham in to bat on winning the toss. The early swing was not so excessive as to trouble the batsmen unduly, and for a while Mark Di Venuto and Mark Stoneman played confidently, keeping the score moving by pushing for singles and dispatching loose balls for four, mainly to leg and through the covers. Di Venuto did survive one fortuitous edge between second and third slip to the boundary, off Charlie Shreck.Ryan Sidebottom bowled well in his opening spell of eight overs for 11 runs, although he does have a habit of bowling just wide enough of a left-hander’s off stump for the batsman to shoulder arms. He struck a significant blow by removing Di Venuto, however, who was trapped lbw on his crease for 22. This slowed the scoring rate and the Durham innings lost momentum. Stoneman fell for 24, driving half-heartedly against the steady medium-pace of Andre Adams, who took a smart return catch. Gordon Muchall produced two superb cover drives for four, but he did not last long; at 10 he badly misjudged a drive and was caught at the wicket off the inside edge.Durham were now struggling at 63 for 3, and with the accurate seam and swing of Adams and Ealham in tandem, runs were hard to come by, especially on a pitch where the ball did not come too readily on to the bat. The batsmen were showing signs of frustration at times, but Smith and Benkenstein, present and past captains, survived until lunch – when the score was 69 for 3 – and after the break the latter at least found the going rather easier. He had started slowly, but now played some impressive strokes, most notably an effortless pull for six off Adams. Ealham, however, continued to bowl with great economy. Benkenstein reached his 50 off 93 balls, while Smith was still struggling in the twenties. Their 100 partnership took them 227 balls.Not a wicket fell during the afternoon session, and in the first over after tea Smith pulled the off-spinner Samit Patel for four to reach a 50 that took him 159 balls. But he was now catching up Benkenstein, who was rather becalmed and when on 73 almost fell to a brilliant diving attempt at midwicket, the fielder being just unable to hold on to the ball. After leaving the seventies, he was untroubled by the second new ball and progressed steadily to his century, which came with a cover-drive for four off Ealham, from 223 balls. Soon afterwards, though, he played over a ball from Ealham that kept slightly low and was bowled for 105, just before the close of play.Durham would have been well placed had this pair been able to survive the day, but in the final over the gallant Smith, who rarely looked in his best form, groped outside the off stump to a ball from Ealham that moved away, edging a simple catch to the keeper. So the home side walked off the field in unexpected relief and encouragement, and, as far as can be judged, the first day’s play of this significant match ended with honours about even.

Australians 349 for 7 dec and 18 for 0 (Hughes 17*) lead Sussex 311 (Nash 45, Hodd 40) by 56 runs
ScorecardAndrew Hodd was struck a fearful blow to his throat by a fired-up Stuart Clark•Getty Images

The odds of Australia fielding an all-pace attack for the first Test shortened today after Nathan Hauritz, the sole spinner in the touring party, struggled for impact against a below-par Sussex batting line-up. On a day in which Stuart Clark (3 for 46), Peter Siddle (2 for 33) and Brett Lee (3 for 53) enhanced their selection chances for the Cardiff Test, Hauritz returned the unflattering figures of 0 for 98 from 18 largely ineffective overs.Suggestions that the Sophia Gardens surface in Cardiff will prove a raging turner from July 8 have come under question of late, with only 14 of 69 wickets falling to spin in the three Championship matches played there this season. The decision of the ECB’s pitch panel to penalise Glamorgan for producing a “poor” surface now appears a false alarm in terms of its potential impact on the Ashes, and despite England’s move to name three specialist spinners in its squad, Australia will be sorely tempted to field four quicks on the evidence of Thursday’s outing in Hove.Save for a missed stumping opportunity to Andrew Hodd, Hauritz seldom troubled the Sussex batsmen. The nadir of his spell came in his third over, when Chris Nash and Rory Hamilton-Brown blasted him for 16 runs, and his impact was best summed up when a large section of the Hove crowd offered a rousing Bronx cheer when his figures were read over the PA-system at the conclusion of the Sussex innings.”He won’t be sitting back tonight thinking it’s all roses, that’s for certain,” Australia’s coach Tim Nielsen said. “But that’s the nature of elite sport. If you’re not quite on your game and the opposition are playing well you’re certainly going to get hurt. Our challenge is to work out why it didn’t go quite so well today, and for him to work it out. But most importantly he has to front up over the next two or three days and want to and be willing to try hard to get it right.”The only wicket to fall to spin on Thursday was that of Ollie Rayner to Simon Katich, an occasional wrist spinner who can expect more work in the months to come. Together with Marcus North and Michael Clarke, Katich forms a diverse and capable back-up slow bowling unit and, short of a major turn-around in Hauritz’s fortunes over the next two days, will be relied upon heavily throughout the Ashes.The Australians, out of necessity, are learning to live without a specialist spinner. Prior to the Perth Test two seasons ago, in which Shaun Tait was selected ahead of Brad Hogg for a match against the Indians, Australia had not entered a Test without a frontline spinner in 15 years. They have now fielded four-pronged pace attacks in three of their last nine Tests, two of which came during their triumphant tour of South Africa. A template for the Ashes? Time will tell.”[Hauritz] was good in patches and probably didn’t bowl as well as he would’ve liked in other patches, there’s no doubt about that,” Nielsen said. “That was probably the day [for] our bowlers. I thought they all had some really good spells … [but] more than half the runs that Sussex scored were in boundaries, and that probably sums up the day for us. We probably bowled one loose ball an over.”Nielsen was more buoyant in assessing the performances of his pacemen on Thursday, particularly those of Clark and Siddle. Both bowled with pace, consistency and a hint of venom, while showing no obvious effects from their recent battles with injury. With only Mitchell Johnson assured a fast bowling berth in Cardiff, Clark and Siddle have made the early running for first Test places.Prior to Thursday, Clark had only bowled in Sydney grade and one-day international matches since undergoing elbow surgery in November, but took little time to rediscover his metronomic line and length. He was rewarded with the wickets of Chris Nash, Andrew Hodd and Robin Martin-Jenkins, but perhaps his most notable delivery of the day was that which thundered into Hodd’s throat, prompting a temporary halt to proceedings while the batsman recovered.”He is feeling pretty good about the fact the ball seems to be bouncing for him again,” Nielsen said. “Before, when he had his elbow done, he felt he had lost a bit of the zip out of his action. Today he [found] two or three good length balls that steepled through a little bit and being six foot five or six, that’s his strength. As long as he is running in hard and the ball is bouncing nicely for him we know he is going to be dangerous and he’s getting back closer to that every day.”Lee, too, bowled with intimidation in his final two spells, at one stage sending a bouncer crashing into James Kirtley’s helmet. Having been restricted to only Twenty20 cricket since surgery to repair his ankle in December, Lee’s successful completion of 13.3 overs across three spells pleased Nielsen, although his eight no-balls proved concerning.In all, the Australians conceded 40 extras, including 22 no-balls, during their 80.2 overs in the field. “It’s the only thing I’m a bit grumpy about tonight,” Nielsen said. “I think the fact they were running up a hill or down a hill certainly put them out of kilter a bit today but to me that doesn’t excuse 18 or 19 no-balls in 80 overs. We’ve got to be better than that because there will be grounds we play on that do have different slopes throughout this series, so it’s certainly something we can do better at.”

Manish Pandey, the Royal Challengers Bangalore batsman who became the first Indian to make a century in the IPL, has thanked his state and IPL team-mate Rahul Dravid for inspiring him.”I always look up to him as a cricketer,” Pandey said on returning from South Africa. “Dravid really motivated me on and off the field … I’m really indebted to him.”I was fortunate to bat with him (Dravid) in the semi-final against Chennai Super Kings … I grew up watching him and Sachin Tendulkar so I feel lucky to have played with them.”The 19-year-old Pandey shot into the limelight after making 114 against Deccan Chargers in the final league game before top-scoring with a composed 48 against Chennai Super Kings in the semi-final, both performances fetching him Man-of-the-Match awards.”I am more confident now,” Pandey, who had had few opportunities in the tournament before the game against Deccan, said. “The IPL is a big stage and the performance will surely help me go further. It’s a turning point in my career.”He was also looking forward to a strong showing in the inaugural Champions League in October.Pandey was a member of India’s Under-19 World Cup-winning side of 2008, after which he made his first-class debut for Karnataka. He made two half-centuries in the season but his performances were below par, fetching him 193 runs at 27.57 in the Ranji Trophy. “The longer version of cricket tests your cricketing ability,” he said. “You have to be very patient and I am looking forward to prove myself there in the upcoming domestic season.”

Only 31 overs were possible on the first day of Yorkshire’s clash with Sussex at Headingley, but that was long enough for Michael Vaughan’s hopes of an Ashes recall to take a further tumble. He was dismissed by Corey Collymore for a fourth-ball duck, moments after Jacques Rudolph had also been caught by Ollie Rayner off the same bowler, as Yorkshire struggled to 58 for 2 by the close. Collymore’s figures were an impressive 9-4-10-2, but Joe Sayers and Anthony McGrath had added 39 unbeaten runs for the third wicket.For a full report from the first day at Chester-le-Street, where Durham have taken control against Hampshire, click here for John Ward’s bulletin.

Murali Karthik and Gareth Berg each scored half-centuries to rescue Middlesex from an awkward 139 for 7 against Essex at Chelmsford. The pair added 99 for the eighth wicket to transform their team’s fortunes after David Masters and Chris Wright had placed Essex in the ascendancy. They shared nine of the ten wickets to fall in Middlesex’s innings, with Masters the pick with 5 for 65, but thanks to the efforts of Berg and Karthik it was the visitors who finished the day in command. With a handy total of 274 behind them, Middlesex reduced Essex to 54 for 4 at the close, with Steven Finn claiming 3 for 21.Bad weather meant that no play was possible in any of the other matches in either division.

Yorkshire 600 for 8 dec and 162 for 3 dec (Rashid 58*, McGrath 53*) drew with Warwickshire 422 for 8 and 60 for 1 (Bell 30*)
ScorecardJonathan Trott guides one out to the off side during his unbeaten 161•Getty Images

It says much about the nature of cricket at Edgbaston that it wassomething that didn’t happen on the final day which caused moreexcitement than anything that did.Michael Vaughan’s inability to bat shed further doubt on thelikelihood of an England recall. Vaughan felt pain in his hamstringwhile chasing a ball in the field early in the day and spent theremainder of the match in the dressing room. He will travel with theYorkshire squad for their Friends Provident game in Bristol on Monday,but is described by the team’s director of cricket, Martin Moxon as “adoubt” to play.There was a time when fears of an injured Vaughan would keep Englandselectors awake at night. Not any more. With Ravi Bopara nailing downEngland’s number three shot, Vaughan’s chances of a recall are dim.Out of contract with England and Yorkshire at the end of the season,it may well be that his days as a cricketer are coming to an end.There was little on-pitch drama on the final day. Though Yorkshiresurprisingly declared at tea, there was never much hope of themdismissing Warwickshire in 36 overs on this surface. The declarationwas little more than a positive gesture.The result puts both teams into a mid-table position, though neitheryet have a win. Warwickshire extend their unbeaten Championship run to19 games, which sounds impressive, but they have won only one of theirlast 16 matches at home. Yorkshire, too, have only won twice since thestart of 2008, with both teams favouring a safety first approach. Fourday county cricket has become an attritional affair.Perhaps things might have been different if either side had taken alltheir catches. Most crucially, Gerard Brophy’s failure to cling on toJonathan Trott when the batsmen had just 26 on the third day may havecost his side the game. The risk of playing a batsman with littlewicket-keeping pedigree in such a key position has rarely been betterillustrated.As it was, Trott and Jeetan Patel extended their overnight partnershipto 233 in 47 overs. It is the ninth highest ninth-wicket partnershipin first-class history and overhauled the record for the wicketagainst Yorkshire. The previous mark was 160, added by Denys Wilcoxand Ray Smith of Essex at Southend in 1947.Patel also had cause to celebrate his maiden first-class century.Reached with a cut for four that also averted the follow-on, Patelbecame the first man to score a century on Warwickshire first-classdebut since Kumar Sangakkara in 2007. Patel’s was a chanceless affairthat suggested a batting talent that has so far gone unfulfilled;there was nothing fortunate about it.The timing of his dismissal was somewhat unfortunate, however.Attempting to thrash the final ball of the 120th over back over thehead of the bowler, he succeeded only in lofting an easy catch whichgifted Yorkshire a full allocation of bowling bonus points in the nickof time. Boyd Rankin soon followed, trapped in front by a yorker, toearn Yorkshire a first innings lead of 118. Trott, who faced little ofthe bowling on the final day, was left unbeaten on 161.Yorkshire soon built on their lead. Though Joe Sayers edged hisattempted drive, Jacques Rudolph again looked in fine touch, drivingChris Woakes fluently and cutting the disappointing Boyd Rankin out ofthe attack.Rikki Clarke delivered another impressive spell, however. Againgenerating sharp pace and steep bounce, Clarke ran in hard andtroubled all the batsmen. Rudolph sliced a drive to point beforeBrophy played across a straight one.Anthony McGrath added to his first-innings double-century, however,and with elegant support from Adil Rashid, allowed Yorkshire thechance to declare at tea.Warwickshire lost Tony Frost early, drawn into an edged drive, but IanBell and Ian Westwood resisted without undue alarm.Afterwards Ashley Giles played down any suggestion that 20-year-oldChris Woakes was close to an England call-up. “He’s developingbrilliantly,” Giles said, “but he’s still just a kid. We all have ourfeet on the ground and there’s no need to rush him.”These wickets at Edgbaston are very similar to Test wickets, so if hecan learn to bowl here it will stand him in good stead for later inhis career. We’ve a very inexperienced bowling attack, but we’vetalked about playing dogged cricket. We’ve shown our resilience onceagain in this game and if we can start to take our catches, we maystart winning a few matches.”