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Yorkshire have confirmed the signing of Yuvraj Singh as their second overseas player for the 2003 county season.The decision was made following injuries to their other overseas player, Australia’s Matthew Elliott, and all-rounder Craig White. White is expected to be out of action for three months after undergoing a rib operation, while Elliott, who is carrying a long-standing knee injury and whose brother-in-law is battling a terminal illnees, is also expected to take a relatively long break.Yuvraj becomes the second Indian after Sachin Tendulkar to play for Yorkshire. He is expected to arrive in Headingley on Thursday and will make his Yorkshire debut in a Sunday League game against Leicestershire on May 18.”Sachin told me that I would enjoy it at Yorkshire and that I should take the opportunity with both hands,” Yuvraj told later.”I think everybody should have the experience of playing county cricket,” he added.Yuvraj has yet to play Test cricket, but he has 73 ODI caps to his name, and was a key component of the Indian team that reached the World Cup final.

After seeing his side end a shortened day at Taunton with six wickets down against Surrey, after having been in a strong position Kevin Shine said:”We had a very good start to the innings, but it wasn’t so good at the finish, we were looking for something better than that.”He went on “The ball swung consistently all afternoon, and hopefully it will for us again tomorrow, though the forecast isn’t very good.”What was he hoping for when play resumed on Friday,”If we can scrape together another hundred runs then we will have something to bowl at,” he said.

Vikram Solanki held up Warwickshire for a further 85 minutes today as Worcestershire topped 300 in a first innings at New Road for the first time this season.Solanki is a batsman who cashes in on his big innings. Resuming on 113 – thed ninth first-class century of his career – he went on to pass 150 for the seventh time.Three fours off Graeme Welch in the sixth over put him back in the groove but overnight partner Steve Rhodes was content to plod along with only five in the first hour.Solanki eventually collected 25 boundaries to reach 160 in 311 minues before a loose drive off Dougie Brown flew straight to substitute Stuart Eustace at mid-off.Rhodes contributed 28 to a partnership of 112 in 34 overs and added only 25 in 135 minutes this morning to reach 45 in a lunch total of 311 for six.

Sri Lanka fast bowler Dilhara Fernando has been sent to Western Australiawhere he will spend ten days working with fast bowling expert Darrel Fosterin an attempt to ward off future injuries.Fernando, the quickest of Sri Lanka’s bowlers, suffered a stress fracture ofhis back at Sharjah last October and, though now back bowling in the nets,the team management is keen for Foster to iron out slight technical faultsin a powerful bowling action that places a severe strain on his back.When Fernando returns he will rejoin the national training squad and themanagement are hopeful that he will be in contention for the forthcomingSharjah tournament in April.

Scorecard

Luke Ronchi continued his habit of bullying New South Wales with a composed 104 that set up a one-run win for Western Australia. Phil Jaques and Simon Katich tried valiantly to overhaul the Warriors’ 268 but none of their top-order team-mates were any help.While the scorecard indicated a nailbiting finish the margin shrunk with a final-ball six when the Blues needed eight. Matthew Nicholson belted 35 and Nathan Hauritz hit 38 in a late flurry but a spectacular save by Chris Rogers in the 48th over was crucial. Nicholson pulled Sean Ervine flat and hard to deep midwicket where it seemed destined for six when Rogers jumped, flung out his right hand and flicked the ball into play before falling over the rope.Hauritz and Nicholson were the only Blues besides Jaques and Katich to reach double-figures. The top-order pair added 148 with Katich’s 82 showing glimpses of why he used to open in ODIs and Jaques’ 83 displaying why he might fill that same role in the future.However, the batting star of the day was Ronchi. His power is well known and although he tried a more cautious approach this time, he still only required 87 balls to reach triple-figures. His highlight was four fours in a Doug Bollinger over – two conventional cover drives and two driven over mid off. Ronchi also troubled the Blues last summer when he finished with a 56-ball hundred, the fastest in Australian domestic one-day history.Although plenty of his runs this time came along the ground – he later said he tried “using my head more” than in previous innings – he brought up his milestone with a flat pull over long on for his only six. Most of his support came from Adam Voges, the stand-in captain, who was unusually circumspect in compiling 68 from 71 balls.

England have named a strong seven-man squad for the Hong Kong Sixes tournament which will be played at the Kowloon Cricket Club on November 11 and 12. Dominic Cork, the Lancashire allrounder, has been named captain while Darren Gough is also included.Mal Loye, who was close to selection for England’s full one-day squad at various times throughout the summer, travels and will keep wicket while Darren Maddy is rewarded for his Twenty20 exploits. Kabir Ali, Tim Bresnan and Glen Chapple – who all played one-day internationals during the summer – make up the squad.The two day event includes eight other teams – Australia, India, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong, Pakistan, South Africa, West Indies and New Zealand – and England are the joint most successful side in the tournament history, along with Pakistan, having won the event four times. Last year they finished third behind India and West Indies.David Graveney, England’s chairman of selectors and manager for the Sixes, said: “The England team has enjoyed a good deal of success in the Hong Kong Cricket Sixes over recent years. We have not considered players named in the England Academy squad or the Ashes squads but have selected a very strong squad of players exceptionally well suited to this format of cricket.”We have not selected a specialist wicketkeeper for the squad as Mal Loye is capable with the gloves and his explosive batting should be a real asset for the team.”England squad Dominic Cork (capt), Darren Gough, Kabir Ali, Tim Bresnan, Glen Chapple, Mal Loye, Darren Maddy.

Indonesia and Japan are among six teams who will compete in next week’s East Asia-Pacific Cup in Vanuatu, the ICC’s regional development body said today. Coaching staff from Western Australia and Victoria are backing the Indonesian and Japanese teams respectively in the EAP Cricket Cup, which is set down for Port Vila from September 23 to 29. The other competing teams are Cook Islands, Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu.The preparation of all six sides had been greatly assisted by development staff from Australian states and New Zealand provinces under the ICC EAPs State/Province Partnership Program. The teams will be competing for qualification into the EAP Cricket Trophy to be held in mid-2006, where the top two teams will challenge Fiji for a place in the global World Cricket League Division III. The event is part of the qualifying program for the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup.

The former Glamorgan and England batsman, Hugh Morris, has agreed to step in as acting chief executive of the England & Wales Cricket Board, following the departure of Tim Lamb.Morris, 40, was a pugnacious opening batsman who was unlucky to play just three Tests in his 16-year career. He made a belated debut against West Indies at Edgbaston in 1991, and went on to play a vital innings of 44 in his second match at The Oval, which went a long way towards securing England’s series-levelling victory.Lamb, who announced he would be stepping down earlier in the summer, served seven-and-a-half years in the post, and vacates his desk at the end of the month. Morris’s first day in the job will be October 1, and he will continue in the role until a permanent replacement is chosen.A large factor in Lamb’s demise was his loss of support among the counties, an aspect of the day-to-day running that Morris, as a former county captain, should be well prepared to cope with. He will be working alongside the chairman, David Morgan, who was last week unopposed in his re-election for another two years.The ECB’s interests on the International Cricket Council will be represented by John Carr, the director of cricket operations.

Two low scores for Matthew Hayden in the Guyana Test means he has lost the top place in the PwC Test ratings that he has held since October last year.As a result, Michael Vaughan becomes the current top Test batsman in the ratings, the first Englishman to hold this position since Graham Gooch ten years ago.Ricky Ponting, Justin Langer and Jason Gillespie all jumped several places after the Australian victory in Georgetown, while for the West Indies Vasbert Drakes climbed 11 spots to 32nd.When PwC Test and ODI points are added together, Sachin Tendulkar is the top batsman while Glenn McGrath is top bowler.

The technical committee meeting of the Board of Control for Cricket inIndia (BCCI) at its meeting in Baroda on Saturday, suggested radicalchanges in the format of the domestic cricket tournaments from the2002-2003 season to make it very competitive.The BCCI secretary Jaywant Lele told reporters that therecommendations of the technical committee would be discussed at theworking committee meeting of the BCCI to be held on August 25 atMumbai and then it would go to the general body of the BCCI, whichwill take a final decision."The technical committee also recommended changes in the pointssystem for Ranji Trophy matches which will become effective from theensuing season after the approval by the concerned bodies of theBCCI," Lele added.Lele said from next year onwards the teams would be divided into twogroups. Two teams from each zone will form group A in which there willbe ten teams, playing on league basis.At present there are three teams from each zone which qualify for theknock-out stages. So in all 15 teams play in super league stage. Therewill be no knock-out stage from next year.In Group B, there will be 17 teams from five zones which fail to makeit to the super league from their respective zones, Lele said.The 17 teams will be divided into two groups of nine and eight andthey will play Ranji Trophy matches on a round robin basis. The topthree teams from Group B will be promoted to Group A while three teamsremaining at the bottom of Group A will be relegated to Group B.Justifying the changes in the format, committee chairman SunilGavaskar, who presided over the meeting, told newspersons that thesechanges were in the interest of the game for making it morecompetitive.He said there are 27 teams in the country which participate in theRanji Trophy. "In the UK, domestic matches are played on this formatwith 20 teams participating," Gavaskar added.The technical committee had discussed making the changes at its lastmeeting and after getting feedback from the top players andassociations, decided to go in for radical changes in the format. Theteams will get one more year to qualify for two top positions in theirrespective zones.Lele said the committee recommended changes in the points system whichwill become effective from this year’s Ranji Trophy season after beingokayed by the working committee and the general body meeting."Under the changed system, the team winning on first innings leadwill get one point while an outright win will fetch two points. Therewill be no points if the match is abandoned or play is not possiblefor whatever reason," he added."At present, the team winning on the basis of first innings lead getsfive points while eight points are given for an outright victory whilethe team losing the match on first innings lead gets three points,"Lele said.Lele said changes in the Duleep Trophy format have also been suggestedwhich may be taken up for discussion at a later stage. Under the newformat, Duleep Trophy will be played on knock-out basis and not onleague basis as at present. The Duleep Trophy matches will be playedin centres hosting international events.