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After weeks of speculation, it has been confirmed that Darrell Hair will not stand in the Champions Trophy in India next month.”Darrell Hair will not umpire the ICC Champions Trophy on the basis of safety and security concerns,” Brian Murgatroyd, the ICC’s media manager, said. “An announcement on the appointment of officials for that tournament will be made in due course.”Asked if this was nothing more than a convenient get-out, Muragtroyd replied: “Not as far as I am aware”.Malcolm Speed, the ICC chief executive, issued a press statement in which he said: “A decision has been made in consultation with the ICC president Percy Sonn, the ICC general manager of cricket David Richardson and myself that he will not umpire at the Champions Trophy amid concerns over his safety and security and also the safety and security of those around him during the tournament.”

Inzamam-ul-Haq has warned that England will find it tough to replicate their Ashes success when they tour Pakistan later this year for three Tests and five one-day internationals. England achieved a famous 2-1 series win against Australia, wresting back the Ashes after eight consecutive unsuccessful tries, but Inzamam insisted that the result wouldn’t count for much in Pakistan.”They have played very well to beat the Australians but they are not unbeatable and the conditions in Pakistan will not suit them,” he told Reuters. “They will face totally different conditions and it will be a hard series and tour for them, particularly their bowlers.”We are already preparing hard for England. Because we know they have a good combination but are not invincible and we have to work hard to beat them,” he said. “If our fast bowlers are not 100% fit, then attacking them with spin is an option because our conditions favour slow bowlers.” He also added that Mushtaq Ahmed, the 35-year-old legspinner, could be recalled to bolster the spin attack. Mushtaq has taken 185 wickets in 52 Tests, but the last time he played one was against South Africa in 2003.England’s bowling attack is currently built around their four fast bowlers, and while that might be a handicap in conditions not favourable to pace, in Andrew Flintoff and Simon Jones they have two bowlers who can reverse swing the ball, a skill which should be invaluable in Pakistan. The lack of a world-class spinner, though, has raised question-marks about whether they can beat Pakistan, a concern expressed most recently by Imran Khan.England have played seven three-Test series in Pakistan, and in those 21 matches, only four have produced results, with both teams sharing two wins each. England’s last win there came in near darkness in 2000-01, when Graham Thorpe starred in a victory which won them the series.

Surrey, Leicestershire, Glamorgan and Hampshire have been given home ties in the quarter-finals of the Twenty20 Cup, which will be played on Monday, July 19.Leicester will face Essex at Grace Road, Hampshire take on Lancashire at the Rose Bowl, Glamorgan play Warwickshire at Sophia Gardens and Surrey, the defending Twenty20 champions, meet Worcestershire at The Oval.The match between Hampshire and Lancashire will be shown live on Sky Sports.Twenty20 Cup quarter-final draw:
Sophia Gardens: Glamorgan Dragons v Warwickshire Bears
The Rose Bowl: Hampshire Hawks v Lancashire Lightning
Grace Road: Leicestershire Foxes v Essex Eagles
The Brit Oval: Surrey Lions v Worcestershire Royals

Hampshire Hawks lost out by a narrow margin to the Essex Eagles in the Twenty20 competition, as gloom descended over the Rose Bowl.John Crawley pulled out injured just before the start of the match, with Lawrence Prittipaul taking his place in the side. Wasim Akram taking over the roll of captain won the toss and invited the Eagles to bat.Man of the Match Zimbabwean Andy Flower dominated the early scoring hitting 8 fours and a six in his 44 ball stay, he found good support lower down the order from Mark Pettini, but the 155 did not seem a winnable total in their allocation. Wasim AKram was the pick of the bowlers taking 2-19 in his four over spell.James Hamblin fell for 22 with the score on 26, but Derek Kenway and Simon Katich put together 77 runs at a run a ball. Hampshire was always chasing the game, and despite only losing 3 wickets, struggled to catch up with some tight bowling.Requiring 12 to win off the last over, Wasim Akram and Katich could only muster 7 off Dakin, to send the visitors home happy, and the sizable Hampshire crowd sad.

Mike Burns hit a 112-ball century as Somerset ended an excellent season in style with an exciting 12-run victory over Northants at Taunton.The C&G Trophy winners and Championship runners-up began the day needing victory to be sure of avoiding relegation from the Norwich Union League First Division, but eventually finished in fourth place.They only knew they were safe when, with Northants 239-9, chasing 256 to win, it was announced that arch-rivals Gloucestershire had lost to condemn themselves to the third relegation place.That news lifted the atmosphere and when Steffan Jones shattered the stumps of last man Jason Brown to dismiss Northants for 243, hundreds of supporters poured on to the field to celebrate a memorable summer.After losing the toss, Somerset were given a solid start by skipper Jamie Cox, who cruised to his half-century off 53 balls, with eight fours and a six, before being inhibited by a hamstring strain and requiring a runner.Cox was brilliantly caught one-handed on the long-on boundary by Jason Brown off Jeff Cook for 68. And when Keith Parsons fell for a single Somerset were in some bother at 126-4.They were rescued by an unbroken stand of 129 between Burns and Rob Turner (41 not out). Burns reached his hundred off the last ball of the innings, having emerged from a watchful start to hit seven fours and one six. Cook was the pick of the Northants bowlers with 2-44 from his nine overs.The visitors looked the more likely winners when Mike Hussey (91) and Russell Warren (59) put on 112 for the second wicket in quick time to take the total to 158-1 in only the 25th over.But the introduction of spinners Keith Dutch (3-38) and Ian Blackwell (3-39) turned the game as both picked up wickets regularly and put a sharp brake on the scoring rate.Hussey hit 13 fours in his sparkling innings, while Warren’s runs came off just 56 balls, with three sixes. But after them the Northants batting folded abysmally and only Alec Swann with 31 not out offered any resistance.

Loughborough MCC University from England and Sri Lanka-based International College of Business and Technology stamped their credentials as strong title contenders as they crushed their opponents for the second-straight day at the Abhimanyu Cricket Academy in Dehradun on Tuesday.ICBT was put in to bat by their opponents, Jinnah Degree College from Karachi – during their Group B encounter – and they lost opener Hasan Perera in the fourth over for just four.Nipuna Arachchige fell two-overs later, as the team from Pakistan looked to make more enroads. But A Perera and Sadeera Samarawickrama dropped anchor thereafter and began rebuilding the innings.The duo added 93 runs for the third wicket and that brought ICBT back in to the contest. JDC rued their all-spin strategy, as ICBT made the most of the placid surface and drove home the advantage.Perera top scored for ICBT with a 37-ball 54. They posted 150 in their 20 overs. Their bowlers didn’t let their batsmen’s efforts go in vein and picked up wickets regularly. JDC lost two wickets in the first-five overs for just 28.Shahzar Khan and Saeed Moutabar were the only JDC batsmen amongst the runs. Khan scored 20, while Moutabar added 23.A middle-order collapse ended JDC’s chances of making a comeback, as they lost five wickets for just 24 runs. They eventually crumbled for 108 in 18.1 overs.Loughborough MCC University added to European University of Bangladesh’s woes as they thrashed them by seven wickets in their Group A clash.EUB were put in to bat first and their batsmen failed to find answers to LMCC’s new-ball attack. They lost two wickets in the first eight overs for just 29.Their middle order added 70 runs to their tally and that helped them post a respectable 118 in their 20 overs.LMCC lost opener Anish Patel in just the second over of their innings, but Irfan Karim and Nitish Kumar’s 91-run stand for the second wicket ended any hope of EUB finding their first win of the tournament.In the third match of the day, defending champions Assupol TUKS from South Africa thumped Dubai-based Heriot-Watt University by 109 runs to register their first win of the tournament.Murray Coetzee slammed the first ton of the tournament, which came off just 67 balls. Coetzee’s 160-run partnership with Gerald Pike, for the second wicket, helped TUKS post a massive 208 in their innings. HWU managed just 73 runs in reply.

The BCB could hold back Mustafizur Rahman from playing in the forthcoming PSL. While the board has mentioned Mustafizur’s workload as the major worry, ESPNcricinfo has learned there is also concern within the Bangladesh team management of overexposing the left-arm pace bowler too soon.Mustafizur was picked up by the Lahore Qalandars franchise for $50,000 for Pakistan’s domestic T20 tournament to be held in the UAE from February 4. It is understood that there have been discussions within the BCB over compensating Mustafizur if he misses the tournament, thought it is not yet confirmed whether he will be stopped from playing in it.The BCB’s chief executive Nizamuddin Chowdhury said the board would take the advice of their doctors before taking a decision on Mustafizur, considering Bangladesh’s busy schedule, which includes the Asia Cup T20 in Dhaka from February 24 and the World T20 in India from March 9. Before the PSL, Bangladesh are also scheduled to play four T20s against Zimbabwe from January 15 to 22.”Basically we will take the observation of our physician before giving him the NOC,” Chowdhury told the Dhaka-based . “He [Mustafizur] is a young prospect, so we don’t want to take any risk with him. We must consider his age and see whether he can take the load as there are other T20 assignments coming up after the PSL.”There is also talk that playing in the PSL would mean Pakistan’s players gaining a familiarity with Mustafizur’s bowling and his variations, which have been a significant factor in his early success, before they meet Bangladesh in the Asia Cup and potentially in the World T20.Mustafizur, who in 2015 became the first Bangladesh cricketer to feature in the ICC’s ODI team of the year, is among four Bangladesh players picked in the PSL’s draft, alongside Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal and Mushfiqur Rahim.

Kapil Dev has reacted to his sacking as the chairman of the National Cricket Academy (NCA) by criticising the BCCI’s refusal to talk to him.”They [BCCI] did not bother to talk to me before announcing this. I think they felt it was below their dignity to talk to me. They have been doing this for the last 70 years and I’m afraid they will continue like this,” Kapil told Aaj Tak, a Hindi news channel. He was removed from the NCA post for his involvement with the Indian Cricket League.”But I’m not shattered or surprised. It’s not as if lightning has struck me,” he said. “This was surely not a bolt from the blue, for such a possibility was doing the rounds for quite sometime.””It feels bad that though I wanted to teach them [his former wards at the NCA] a few things, I can’t do that any more. They have to learn things themselves. I did not get the opportunity to help them learn.”The BCCI sacked Kapil – who is chairman of the ICL’s executive board – a day after the league announced a host of new recruits, including 44 domestic cricketers and a few international cricketers such as Inzamam-ul-Haq, Abdul Razzaq and Lance Klusener, who will take part in a Twenty20 competition.The domestic cricketers who have signed up for the ICL have been barred from playing in tournaments affiliated to the BCCI and they will not be able to derive any benefits from the board.

Wasim Raja, the former Pakistan batsman who went on to become an ICC match referee, has died while playing for Surrey Over 50s at Marlow in Buckinghamshire. He was 54.”Wasim had a big heart attack on the field,” a Surrey spokesman told Cricinfo. “He felt dizzy, and mentioned this to the slips, saying that he felt he had to go off. He was carried off but then collapsed on the boundary.”Wasim, the brother of Rameez Raja, was a bearded left-hand middle-order batsman, whereas Rameez was a clean-shaven right-hand opener. Wasim could bowl, too; brisk, flat top-spinners rather than legbreaks, pioneering the style followed by Anil Kumble and Shahid Afridi. Wasim also had one outstanding series when he proved himself the most effective of some very fine Pakistan batsmen in the West Indies in 1976-77.He might have made a good Pakistan captain in a rather old-fashioned amateur swashbuckling fashion, but coming from the country’s elite, studying in Durham and marrying an Englishwoman, he tended to be above the political battle. This, however, stood him in good stead in later life, when he was appointed as one of the ICC’s elite panel of match referees.”It is a very sad and heart-breaking news. As a teenager, I used to go and watch all the games in which Wasim Raja used to play,” former captain Wasim Akram said. “He was a crowd favorite not only because of his hard-hitting abilities but because he was a charismatic character. He was an idol of most of the youngsters in the 70s and 80s.””We grew together and played our cricket not only as team-mates but also as opponents,” said Javed Miandad. “He was not only a true sportsman but a thorough gentleman. We have been involved in some of the best matches. It is sad to lose a great cricketer, a good sportsman and a true ambassador of the country.”Wasim played 57 Tests between 1973 and 1985, scoring 2821 runs at 36.16 with four hundreds, the best of which was 125. He also took 51 wickets at 35.80 with a best of 4 for 50. Both his career-best performances came against India at Jalandhar in 1983-84. He also played 54 ODIs. He was subsequently a match referee in 15 Tests, the last of which was in 2003-04.

Troy Cooley, who played at the same club and in state sides with Ricky Ponting, is a crucial figure behind the men currently troubling Australia. As England’s bowling coach, Cooley, a former Tasmania fast bowler who played 25 Sheffield Shield games, has worked heavily with Harmison, Flintoff and Jones, the trio which has taken 41 wickets in three Tests.Cooley, 39, has devised the plans to help Simon Jones exploit reverse-swing and get Andrew Flintoff to charge around the wicket to Gilchrist, Katich, Hayden and Langer. The movement both ways in the air also surprised Michael Clarke, who offered no shot to Jones in the second innings at Old Trafford and was bowled for 39.”People think [reverse-swing] is a complicated thing but, in fact, it’s pretty simple,” Cooley told the . “Simon has a very fast arm action. Glenn McGrath still gets it, but it becomes a more dangerous weapon with the quicks. Simon also has a good wrist to get the seam in the right position.”David Boon, who coached Cooley when he was at Tasmania, said he had “enormous talent” as a bowler, but his playing career was cut short by back injuries and glandular fever. Cooley moved into coaching and worked with Dennis Lillee and Rod Marsh, who took him to England when he set up the ECB Academy.”We’re seeing the fruits of his labour with the English bowling at the moment,” Boon told The Australian. “The only thing I mentioned to him when I saw him in England was that I didn’t think red, white and blue suited him. We had a laugh about his attire in English gear. He’s enjoying the role he’s playing there and he’s obviously contributing to English cricket.”Cooley had no problem signalling his allegiance to the blue cap instead of the baggy green. “I’ll be supporting my team 100%,” he said in the . “I’m a part of the England set-up now.”