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After nine seasons, the phone finally rang for Michael Hussey ©Getty Images

After a cracked rib ended Michael Bevan’s tournament, Trevor Hohns, head of the Australian selectors, gave Michael Hussey a ring at about seven o’ clock last night to tell him he was in the international team. Hussey wasn’t expecting it.”I was pretty shocked really. It was a surreal feeling. He [Hohns] said I was in to replace Bevan for this game. It is a strange feeling really. It is something you obviously dream about as a kid. For all your life you are hoping you get the call. And then when it does finally come, it is a bit of a bizarre feeling. I was hoping and praying that I wouldn’t wake up to find out it was all a dream.”He realised it wasn’t, and spoke about his intended approach to the game on Sunday. “I think I will feel a bit nervous. It is great that it is at the WACA in front of my home crowd and my family and friends will all be able to be there. So I have plenty of support in that respect. I am just going to go and try and enjoy the whole experience.Hussey has been a prolific middle-order batsman for Western Australia, scoring over 12,000 runs in nine seasons. And with more than 5000 in 146 one-day games, with eight hundreds and 39 fifties, he has been one of the most consistent batsmen in Australia. Though he comes in for Bevan in the middle-order, and serves the same purpose, he hasn’t modelled himself on the man he’s replacing.”I haven’t really molded myself on him. But we do play a similar role. I guess that they wanted a like for like player. The main thing is to score runs. Quite often you come in with four or five overs to go, and you pretty much have to slog from ball one. That is the great thing about batting in the middle order, you get so many different challenges, and you have just got to try and cope with them as best as you can.”Though the tour of Sri Lanka was imminent, Hussey preferred to concentrate on the job at hand. “I am really just trying to get my head around this game on Sunday. After Sunday I can sit down and see where they are going and if they want to have a chat to me I don’t know. I will go to Sri Lanka if they need me.”I am going to try and concentrate on scoring as many runs as I can, and whatever will happen will happen. I hope that it is not the one and only experience, I am sure the selectors will keep me in the forefront of their minds over the next few years. Hopefully there will be more opportunities as well.”

India’s cricketers are hopeful that a compromise can be reached that will allow them to meet the sponsorship requirements for the World Cup starting next month.Contract issues had not previously been referred to on the tour but at today’s pre-match press conference before tomorrow’s sixth National Bank Series one-day match against New Zealand at Eden Park in Auckland, India’s captain Sourav Ganguly said the side had been in touch with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) over the matter.”We are in contact with the BCCI, they’ve told ICC what is our problem and given our terms and conditions in certain areas.”We all feel at the end of the day there has to be an adjustment from both sides. It can never be one-sided, whether it is the players or the ICC,” Ganguly said.”We’ve made our statement clear to them that this is what we can do and this is what we can’t do. Now the rest is up to them.”He didn’t think there was any potential for conflict so close to the World Cup because a similar thing happened when they were in England last year before the ICC Champions Trophy and the players had decided to co-operate fully.They did so thinking that there would be time after the Champions Trophy to sort it out.”But the situations have been the same. There are certain restrictions on us because we have our existing contracts which are illegal to break so we’ve let them know that.”So now it depends on them to come to a solution. But I feel there has got to be a bit of adjustment from both the sides which we are ready to do and which I hope ICC are ready to do,” he said.

Shaun Green struck a superb 103 not out on a crumbling Burnaby Road surface as Easton & Martyr Worthy edged a dramatic one-wicket win over Southern Electric Premier League Division 2 rivals United Services.Green’s unbeaten century won the day after veteran Kelson Brooks (6-40) had exploited the dubious conditions to send Easton tumbling from 134-3 to a match-winning 185-9.”Given the poor state of the pitch, Shaun’s was probably the best innings I’ve ever seen from a club cricketer,” praised Easton team-mate Andy Birch.”It was the first time Shaun had ever worn a helmet – but, believe me, it was necessary.”Mark Stone and Steve Green each took three wickets as US totalled 183-9, with Gary Hounsome (46) top scoring.Zimbabwean all-rounder Daniel Peacock hit 68 and grabbed 4-51 as Lymington crushed Sparsholt by 103 runs to remain in contact with leaders Portsmouth.But Portsmouth had little difficulty in retaining their unbeaten lead, Raj Maru taking 5-12 as Old Basing were bowled out for 106.Stephen Cook (59) and Geoff Pike (37) led Portsmouth home.Peacock (68) and Ben Craft (61) shared a third wicket stand of 115 as Lymington put the depleted Sparsholt attack to the sword.Neil Trestrail (65 not out) and Ian Young (36 not out) cashed in with an unbroken century stand as Lymington surged towards 279-4.Sparsholt needed a major contribution from one of their top order if they were to muster any kind of challenge – but didn’t get one.Carl Nichols (29), Andy Heyes and Rob Savage all made starts, but Peacock (4-51), Glyn Treagus (2-26) and Brian Clemow (2-30) got amongst the wickets as Sparsholt tumbled to 176-9.Hampshire Under-19 trio Martin Docis (5-23), Neil Randall (75 not out) and Chris Benham (56) had a field day as Cove crushed depleted Old Tauntonians & Romsey by eight wickets.The leg spin of Docis accounted for the tail as OTs tumbled to 166 all out (Jeremy Ord 36), while Randall and Benham guided Cove home with ease.Trojans pair Marvin Sandiford and Tim Subnaik had Hambledon rocking at 29-4 before Andy Field (45) and Mark le Clerq (39) steadied the slide at Ridge Meadow.Tim Felgate (4-53) helped dismiss the Dons for an eventual 174 – a target six-wicket winners, Trojans polished off, with Mario Mohammed (60) and Subnaik (46) to the fore.Read Mike Vimpany’s regular cricket round-ups in the Southern Daily Echo

Angelo Ogbonna’s potential early return from a serious knee injury is a ‘massive boost’ for West Ham, according to journalist Pete O’Rourke.

The Lowdown: Ogbonna could return early

The Italian was enjoying a superb start to the season back in the early months of 2021/22, only for his campaign to be cruelly cut short by injury.

Ogbonna suffered cruciate ligament damage in the memorable 3-2 win at home to Liverpool back in November and it was generally thought that he wouldn’t feature again this season, potentially even playing his last game for the club.

It has recently emerged that the centre-back looks likely to feature again before the summer, however, in a positive update for both West Ham and the player himself.

The Latest: Journalist reacts to news

Speaking to Give Me Sport, O’Rourke discussed the update, admitting it is an undoubted boost:

“It would be a massive boost to get Angelo Ogbonna back, who was in really good form for West Ham prior to the cruciate ligament injury he picked up against Liverpool.”

The Verdict: Enormous boost for Hammers

From a purely human perspective, it is heartwarming that Ogbonna looks likely to wear the Hammers shirt again, with the general assumption that he had donned it for the last time, as his contract expires this summer.

The veteran has been a great servant for West Ham and it is only right that he is able to receive a proper send-off at the end of the season, and although we won’t see him in action immediately, this could be a timely boost to morale around the camp ahead of Sunday’s clash with Everton.

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That being said, David Moyes must be ruthless when it comes to using Ogbonna, only playing him if he feels he is truly ready, with European football on the line at the London Stadium, both in terms of the Premier League and Europa League.

In other news, an exciting West Ham transfer claim has emerged. Read more here.

	Justin Kemp could be heading for the courts © AFP

Lawyers working for the Indian Cricket League are believed to be preparing the ground to file lawsuits against the ECB, following yesterday’s news that five ICL players were refused registration by the England board.The five players – Justin Kemp, Hamish Marshall, Johan van der Wath, Wavell Hinds and Andrew Hall – were all refused by a rule which requires non-England players not to have played for their home countries in the past 12 months. The ECB seem confident that they are on a firm legal footing but, privately, the ICL believe they have a very strong case for a ‘restraint of trade’ suit.”Our clients are taking this extremely seriously,” a lawyer representing the ICL told the , “and we will be supporting them. They find themselves in a nightmare situation where they have signed a contract with the counties in good faith and now they are not allowed to play.”The counties themselves are unlikely to take action against the ECB; most have seen this situation coming for months. The worst situation for all, though, is if the players take action against the counties themselves; if the counties lose, the ECB would have to bail them out. Where this leaves the likes of Marshall, who turned his back on New Zealand and is now effectively unemployed, is unclear.These five players won’t be the last; the ECB are expecting another raft of applications which will only intensify the pressure on both the counties and the board, not to mention increase the ICL’s belief that their legal case for action is solid. The Professional Cricketers Assocation (PCA) announced two weeks ago that it would step in to help the players better understand the muddle, and would conduct meetings with all the counties before the start of the season.”Our position hasn’t changed from two weeks ago when we made our last statement,” Jason Ratcliffe, the PCA’s assistant chief executive, told Cricinfo today, adding that the meetings had yet to be concluded.

Scorecard
Sri Lanka A swept to their second successive victory by beating Bangladesh A by 101 runs on the final day at the Colombo Cricket Club Ground. Chasing an improbable 341 for victory, Bangladesh were dismissed for 239, the same score they had achieved in the first innings.Bangladesh A began the final day on 16 for no loss, needing another 325 for victory. Their openers, Jahurul Islam and Mehrab Hossain jnr, gave them a solid start by adding 60 for the first wicket. Jehan Mubarak gave Sri Lanka A the first breakthrough by catching Islam off his own bowling for 21 after which Upul Chandana broke the back of Bangladesh A’s chase.Chandana took three wickets in quick time and reduced Bangladesh A to 76 for 4. They never recovered from that severe setback although Nadif Chowdhury resisted with 75. They lost wickets at regular intervals to the spinners and folded for 239. Chandana finished with figures of 4 for 67 and was ably supported by Mubarak and Herath who took 3 for 53 and 3 for 38 respectively.

Ashley Giles is confident of returning to cricket next month © Getty Images

Ashley Giles, the England spinner, has targetted a return to cricket next month and hopes to be ready for the Test series against Pakistan beginning on July 13. Hip and hernia problems ruled Giles out of the three-Test series against Sri Lanka starting at Lord’s tomorrow, but the veteran was confident of putting his injury misery behind him.”We think we have got to the bottom of my problems. It seems to be a dodgy groin,” Giles, 33, told reporters. “I’ve had the hip problem and the hip problem is still there. Which came first – the groin or the hip? One could have had an effect on the other. But hopefully we’ve got to the bottom of it and hopefully in five weeks I can start playing cricket.”Apart from Giles, Michael Vaughan and the pace trio of Stephen Harmison, Simon Jones and James Anderson have all been sidelined with injury. England have a hectic schedule leading upto this winter’s Ashes series in Australia, and Giles called for every player to be wary of burnout, a hot topic in recent times. “We have to keep the key players fit,” he said. “It puts more pressure on the senior guys still in the side. The one we are talking about is Andrew Flintoff. You can’t be losing Andrew Flintoff coming into the Ashes. He’s that much of a good player but it’s a difficult balance.”David Graveney, England’s chairman of selectors, added that blooding youngsters would be key to England’s success in Australia. “We see some of the young guys like Alistair Cook who we think will be playing a part in Australia. We need to give him as much experience as we possibly can,” he said. “We have some fantastic depth. Now our job is difficult for the right reasons, that we have lots of people to select from. I mentioned the word rotation some months ago and we have to deliver our guys physically fit to play Australia because that’s what the cricketing public deserve.”On the series against Sri Lanka, Giles said: “Over here you are looking to dominate with your quick bowlers. Sri Lanka are not used to playing the ball at chest height, particularly against somebody quick like Andrew Flintoff. Murali’s going to be a handful. It might be his last trip to England. We all love to see him bowl and hope he has a relative amount of success – but that England win three-nil.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsBulletin – Ashraful hundred gives Bangladesh famous win
Verdict – The toppling of the greatest giant of all
Quotes – Habibul Bashar, Mohammad Ashraful and Dav Whatmore
Quotes – Ricky Ponting and Mike Kasprowicz
Ten biggest one-day upsets
Gallery
Preview
Australia aim to bounce back against Bangladesh

Close Australia 317 for 3 (Hayden 136, Ponting 120*) trail India 366 (Sehwag 195) by 49 runs
Scorecard

Matthew Hayden toyed with the Indian bowlers on his way to 136 © Getty Images

A resurgent Australia called all the shots on the second day of the third Test,first taking six wickets for 37 to bowl India out for 366, and then racking up 317 for 3 by the close. Matthew Hayden and Ricky Ponting both made hundreds in apartnership of 234 for the second wicket, and for a large part of the second andthird sessions India were under siege. Only two wickets late in the day from Anil Kumble, including that of the promoted Adam Gilchrist, kept India in with asemblance of a chance. It was quite clear that the balance of power had turnedquite dramatically in this Test match.Australia had struggled previously in the series to run quickly through the Indian lower order and tail, but their effort with the ball this morning was exactly what they would have envisaged last night when they considered how to get back into this Test match. India, resuming on 329 for 4, started brightly, with Sourav Ganguly unfurling some gorgeous drives against Brett Lee and Nathan Bracken, but they began to lose their way immediately after reaching 350.Lee, who had come around the wicket to Ganguly, was hit for two boundaries in three balls, but broke through with a short-of-length ball that Ganguly popped to gully (350 for 5). It is a batting tic against the fast bowlers that Ganguly has struggled to eradicate completely, and it cost India dearly here.Wickets fell in a procession thereafter, mostly to poor judgement on the part ofthe batsmen. Ajit Agarkar was the most culpable, hitting his first ball straight to mid-off and attempting a suicidal single only to be run-out. Kumble played another ill-judged stroke, driving at a wide ball from Williams and edging to third slip (366 for 8), and VVS Laxman fell before he could scrape together a few runs with the tail, reaching for a legbreak and was caught by Hayden at slip for 19. India had collapsed spectacularly, much like Australia on the second day of the Brisbane Test.

Brett Lee nails Sourav Ganguly to provide Australia with the perfect start to the day © Getty Images

The door was now open for Australia to get quickly to the Indian score – no morethan a moderate one given the excellent batting conditions – and then run the game from there. India had the consolation of a wicket before lunch, when Agarkar dismissed Justin Langer for the fourth time in the series (30 for 1), but there was to be little respite for the Indian bowling thereafter as Hayden and Ponting piled on the runs. The batting collapse in the morning and the run-scoring of two of the most prolific batsmen in the modern game were not the only reasons for Ganguly’s distracted air. Zaheer Khan seemed to feel the effects of the injury that kept him out of the second Test, and was unable to give it all, though it was a relief to the Indians that they did not lose him altogether.Hayden brought up his hundred off only 137 balls, but his innings was not as evenly paced as that statistic suggests. His dismissals at Adelaide, driving loosely at the seamers on both occasions, would have impressed upon him the need to be more selective about his strokeplay instead of trying to dominate all the bowlers. He batted circumspectly against Ashish Nehra, who bowled two probing and accurate spells at him, and most of his runs came against the bowling of Agarkar, whom he drove down the ground repeatedly, and Kumble, who was slog-swept with impunity and never allowed to settle. Akash Chopra, fielding at short leg to the bowling of Kumble, must have on more than one occasion felt that facing Lee’s bumpers with a bat for protection was infinitely more preferable to having to dodge Hayden’s swipes from five yards away.A feature of Hayden’s innings was his superb running between the wickets. Herepeatedly hit the ball straight to mid-off or mid-on and made it to the nonstriker’s end by the time the throw was fired in. Hayden made merry after hereached his hundred, taking guard well outside his crease and savaging even goodballs with powerful strokes off the front foot.Ponting, whose attacking instincts rival those of any other batsman in contemporary cricket, was content to play second foil for once, ensuring nevertheless that he scored at a healthy rate. He took heavy toll of Agarkar when he dropped short and Zaheer when he overpitched, but his batting against Kumble was less than assured, and he was lucky to survive on a number of occasions. It was not among his best hundreds, but it was vital nonetheless, and he remained undefeated at stumps.When Hayden was finally out for 133, lbw to Kumble swinging across the line oncetoo often (264 for 2), Australia made a strong statement of intent. Though still102 behind the Indian total, they showed that they were confident they would notfall short of it by sending in Adam Gilchrist at No.4 to have a go at the bowling. Gilchrist swung at quite a few without looking very convincing, but he is easily among he most dangerous batsmen in international cricket, and India would have been relieved to see the back of him when he skied Kumble high in the air and was caught at mid-off (295 for 3).Ponting and Damien Martyn then saw Australia through till stumps, at which pointthey were only 49 shy of the Indian score. It was the first time in the series that Australia had dominated the day with both bat and ball.Wisden Asia Cricket

India’s 10-wicket loss in the first National Bank Series Test has not gone down well at home.Early reaction has condemned the highly-touted Indian batting line-up for failing to adapt to the conditions, which were not unreasonable.Some of the newspaper reaction follows:The Hindu: “Gone with the wind. That was the plight of the Indians in this windy city, following a batting performance that was deeply disappointing and shocking.”When the first National Bank Test was still in the balance, a star-studded line-up got skittled out in 38.1 overs for 121, on a seaming track with bounce, that any visiting team should only expect to encounter in New Zealand.”It was a display bereft of character, determination and application, and that which lacked the will to fight, especially after the bowlers, led by the lion-hearted Zaheer Khan, who registered his first five-wicket haul, had restricted New Zealand to 247, providing India more than a glimmer of hope.”The opening Test of the National Bank series here at the Basin Reserve thus finished well inside three days on Saturday.”With Stephen Fleming’s men, requiring just 36 to take the lead in the series, openers Mark Richardson and Lou Vincent knocked off the runs without much fuss.”With a sizable holiday crowd roaring in delight, Richardson cracked Ashish Nehra to the point boundary to make New Zealand’s 300th Test a memorable one for the host.”And The Hindu columnist, former Indian opening batsman Kris Srikkanth said: “This was an atrocious batting performance, and I still cannot believe that we batted so poorly. Just goes to prove that we are extremely vulnerable when the ball seams and bounces.”From the Indian display it becomes obvious that we have only two world-class batsmen, Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, who are capable of adapting to such pitches. There is far too much hype about the others.”What’s happening now is that, for purely commercial interests, the Indian side is being hyped up, and the expectation among the people becomes ridiculously high.”All these ratings, there are so many of them now, have no meaning unless they are backed by matching performances by our cricketers when it counts.”We tend to get carried away by performances at home; easily forgetting that the real test for any batsman is how he fares in conditions like that prevailed in Wellington.”Indian Express: “Repeating the same mistakes which spelt their doom in the first innings, India’s formidable batting line-up crumbled for the second time in three days as the visitors crashed to a humiliating 10-wicket defeat against New Zealand in the first Test on Saturday.”The Indians gave an extremely poor account of themselves as they managed to bat just 96.5 overs in two innings to suffer one of their worst defeats in recent times allowing the hosts to take a 1-0 lead in the two-match series.”After pace spearhead Zaheer Khan captured his first five-wicket haul to restrict New Zealand’s first innings lead to 86 runs, the batsmen put in an appalling display to be bundled out for a paltry 121 in just 38.1 overs on a Basin Reserve pitch which had eased out considerably.”