In the battle of the big fish, Canterbury surged into the top spot in the State Shield points table with a convincing demolition of second-placed Otago. Michael Papps pushed his claims for a national recall with an accomplished 73 while Peter Fulton, fresh from a good one-day series against Sri Lanka, smashed 85 from 70 balls complete with seven fours and a couple of sixes as Canterbury made 257 for 6. Aaron Redmond, bowling his legbreaks, was the most successful Otago bowler with 3 for 40 from his 10 overs. Following a dismal series with the ball against Sri Lanka, Chris Cairns produced a display that will give him confidence ahead of a busy New Zealand touring season. Sharing the new ball responsibilities with the impressive Stephen Cunis, Cairns ran through Otago to finish with figures of 4 for 23 from seven overs. Cunis played his role well with 2 for 26 as Canterbury’s opening duo made a mockery of Otago. Jonathan Trott, enjoying a good season, stood head and shoulders above his team-mates in scoring an unbeaten 83.

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Uttar Pradesh started their campaign in a disastrous fashion losing to newly-promoted Haryana. Having to chase a mere 145 runs in their second innings, the UP batsmen crumbled against the medium pace of Joginder Sharma and Sachin Rana. Both Sharma and Rana grabbed five wickets apiece and shot out UP for 104. Earlier, after Jyoti Prasad Yadav, the captain, chose to field first at the Green Park Stadium, Uttar Pradesh – led by a five-wicket haul from Praveen Kumar, the 20-year old allrounder- restricted Haryana to 277. Haryana attacked through a four-wicket haul from Joginder Sharma but half-centuries from Shiva Shukla, Gyanendra Pandey and Rizwan Shamshad propelled UP to a 33-run first innings lead. UP then hit Haryana hard through four-wicket hauls from Ashish Winston Zaidi (4 for 61)and Praveen Kumar (4 for 55) to bowl them out for 145 before the batsmen succumbed to the pressure of chasing a final-innings target.
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If pressure of chasing killed them against Haryana, UP were never in the contest in their second round game against Baroda. After UP put up 346, thanks to half centuries from Suresh Raina and Rohit Prakash, Jacob Martin led from the front, scoring an unbeaten 251, his 23rd first-class century, and Connor Williams hit 138 to take Baroda to a mammoth 605, gaining a 259 first-innings lead. Martin’s was a stellar effort as Baroda firmly wrapped their fists around a hapless bowling effort that dented the UP psyche that reflected when the hosts came out to bat again. Not one batsman touched the 40-mark as UP collapsed on the final day and gave Baroda an outright victory.
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Piyush Chawla, the 17-year old legspinner, grabbed a seven-wicket haul and Rizwan Shamshad hit a century to ensure that UP picked their first points of the season, albeit just 2 from a drawn encounter, against Services. Half-centuries from Yashpal Singh and Sarabjit Singh, captain and wicketkeeper, charged Services but Chawla removed both of them enroute to a five-wicket haul to restrict Services to 321 before Shamshad’s first century of the season lifted UP to a 115-run first innings lead. On the final day Chawla and Zaidi grabbed two wickets apiece to almost snatch a outright victory but Jasvir Singh held firm with a fifty as Services ended on 161 for 6.
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The good batting form found against Services continued into the UP’s fourth-round match against an in-form Punjab at Lucknow. This time it was Raina who led the way with a power-packed 127. Kumar and Chawla chipped in their career best scores to lift UP to 433. Punjab’s attempt at a third win this season was thwarted after Zaidi took five and dismissed them for 238, forcing them to follow on However, Dinesh Mongia responded to the crisis with a magnificent unbeaten 175 to save the game.

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The pivotal point in UP’s campaign – the entry of Mohammad Kaif. Kaif took over the reigns from Jyoti Prasad Yadav and led UP to their first win of the season. Shalabh Srivastava and Zaidi rocked the Hyderabad top order while Chawla blew the tail away as UP shot out Hyderabad for 142 before riding on Kaif’s 91 and Shukla’s 116 to run to a 198-run first innings lead. Chawla starred with the ball again, grabbing a five-for to bowl out Hyderabad for 227 before the UP openers knocked off the 30-run target to achieve their first victory. The tide was finally beginning to turn.
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Kumar starred with an allround performance to propel UP to a win against Andhra at Anantapur in the last league game. First he shone with the bat and powered UP from 262 for 7 to a strong 365 with a breezy 68-ball 78, his career best, with six fours and four sixes. Pandey had earlier lifted them from a shaky 128 for 5 with a patient 253-ball 88 to lay the platform for Kumar to explode later. Kumar then grabbed a five-wicket haul and with a little bit of help from Chawla (3 for 43) bowled out Andhra for 208 and gave UP a 157-run first-innings lead that allowed them to force a follow-on. Andhra fought back through an 84 from Syeb Sahabuddin but Kumar’s second five-for in the match restricted them to 307,setting a target of 151. This time there was no fumbling under pressure of a run-chase. Kaif promoted Kumar to open the batting and the 20-year-old allrounder responded with a half-century before Kaif and Raina put up an unbroken 60-run partnership to charge UP into the semi-finalsSemifinal
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It was an upbeat UP team that entered the semi-final encounter against Mumbai at Wankhede Stadium. And that confidence reflected on the opening day; Kumar and Srivastava shared seven wickets between them to rock the top order before Chawla cleaned up the tail to bowl out Mumbai for 199. Mumbai fought back through a double strike by Aavishkar Salvi which reduced UP to a shaky 13 for 3 before Raina led the UP fightback with a fine 72 and was involved in a 123-run partnership with Kaif (64) to lift UP to a 51-run first innings lead. In the second innings a triple strike by Zaidi left Mumbai reeling at 48 for 4 before a 119-run partnership between Amol Muzumdar and Ramesh Powar and a plucky breezy effort from Vinayak Samant pulled them out of the crisis as they finished on 264, setting a target of as many. Kaif guided UP’s run chase, Raina charged it with a cameo performance, and Shamshad and Jyoti Yadav chipped in with vital contributions that saw UP reach the target with five wickets in hand to enter the final for the third time.

Andrew Symonds will miss the tour-opening Twenty20 International against South Africa tonight after injuring his hip in training. Symonds, who has withdrawn from only two games for Australia with injury, suffered a low-grade strain to his left hip-flexor muscle during a session at the Wanderers on Thursday.Errol Alcott, the Australia physiotherapist, said Symonds had responded well to treatment but would not play in the Twenty20 match. “He will continue to receive treatment and will be monitored over the next couple of days,” he said. “A decison regarding his availability for Sunday will be made in due course.”Ricky Ponting said he hoped to have both Michael Hussey and Symonds in the team for the first of five one-day matches at Centurion on Sunday. Hussey is expected to arrive in South Africa on Saturday after his wife this week gave birth to their second child, a boy named William Oliver.Symonds said he did not expect the problem to worry him for long. “I’ve only ever missed two games for Australia through injury so I am considerably frustrated,” he said. “But I have a great mechanic in Errol.”

Bob Woolmer, the Pakistan coach, has played down suggestions that he was interfering with the preparation of the pitch, after being reported to the match referee ahead of the second Test against Pakistan, at the Asgiriya Cricket Stadium in Kandy.Woolmer was reported to Alan Hurst, the ICC referee, for inserting a thin tent peg on the edge of the pitch to test moisture levels the day before the game, a practice he has followed for several years. He was spotted by Sri Lanka’s head curator, Anuruddha Polonowita, who asked him to leave the area.Polonowita was of the opinion that such actions were against ICC regulations and duly reported the incident to Hurst. But Woolmer told Cricinfo: “This incident has been blown out of all proportion.”I have been involved at first-class level since 1968,” he added, “and at no time would I attempt to interfere with any part of the pitch which would in any way affect the playing surface. I love the game too much.”

Ricky Ponting is unsure who will get the nod as Brett Lee’s new-ball partner in the first Test against South Africa starting on Thursday. Australia are heavily favoured to pick the spinners Shane Warne and Stuart MacGill on a surface expected to turn and Stuart Clark and Michael Kasprowicz are the leading contenders for the second fast-bowling place.”It’s going to be wicket-reliant as much as anything,” Ponting said in . “I spoke to the Newlands groundsman leading up to the one-day game, and he seemed to think it might spin a bit here in the Test match. If we go in with two spinners, then as to which other quick I’m really not sure yet.”Ponting said the decision could rely on how the fast men, including the spare bowler Shaun Tait, perform in the nets. The Australians had a full session on Tuesday and will have a top-up training today as they attempt to gain Test focus in the three days after Sunday’s dramatic one-day loss. “It might just come down to whoever impresses the most in the nets,” Ponting said.Clark has been with the squad for the entire tour and his similarities to Glenn McGrath were expected to help him towards a Test debut. However, he has been part of the one-day attack belted by South Africa and Kasprowicz, who picked up 44 Pura Cup wickets this summer, could play his first international match since Trent Bridge in 2005.The work of Clark, who collected four victims in his past four matches at an economy rate of 5.82, has impressed Ponting. “He’s bowled beautifully,” Ponting told . “He hasn’t bowled with the new ball, but he’s been on fairly early in every game. He’s been difficult and uncomfortable for their batsmen.”Clark has not played a first-class match since November but Ponting did not think his lack of bowling would be a problem. “He’s in really good touch at the moment and I don’t think [not playing a four-day game] will worry him too much. He’s done a lot of bowling since he’s been here.”Ponting said Kasprowicz also had “a few things going for him” and the decision would be a difficult one. “One of my strengths is adaptability, both in my style of bowling and having an impact in different conditions,” Kasprowicz said in .South Africa have picked a 14-man squad for the first two Tests and Ponting said he had a good idea how they would play. “They’ll try and grind out their runs as much as they can, bat for long periods of time and try to make us bat for a long time in order to score our runs,” he said in . “They won’t let us get away too much.”

Scorecardand ball-by-ball details
How they were out

After losing four in a row at home, Pakistan made amends with a six-wicket victory over India in the first one-day international at Adu Dhabi. The bowlers and fielders turned in an excellent showing to restrict India to 197 on a sluggish surface and, though the opposition fought hard in the field themselves, Younis Khan kept his cool to ensure Pakistan could not lose the two-match series.Where India lost four wickets inside the Powerplay, Pakistan’s senior duo of Younis and Inzamam-ul-Haq stood firm. Sreesanth and Ajit Agarkar had bowled well to get rid of Shoaib Malik and Imran Farhat following a 42-run opening stand, but India soon found themselves stuckbetween a rock and a hard place. With an asking-rate of just four an over, Younis, no doubt riding on his phenomenal Test success against India, and Inzamam, with a starring role in 39 victories against India, dug in.Younis’s is a successful, style of batting – gliding the ball past the wicketkeeper, stealing the cheeky singles, enticing the fielders – and today Younis was in some form. The spinners found out the hard way that Younis can be something of a nightmare to bowl to – as tossed up deliveries were paddled around the corner and straighter ones eased off the face of the bat to third man. While his captain preferred the back foot, Younis continued to step out of the crease and whip the ball across to the onside. Innocuous deliveries were turned into half-volleys as he took a big stride forward and worked the ball well wide of the fielders. And when the situation arose, he managed to free his arms and strike a huge six off Harbhajan Singh to lower the pressure.Unfazed by the situation and clearly enjoying being back in the Gulf – his average rests at 50.28 at neighbouring Sharjah – Inzamam lived up to his reputation somewhat. He moved on from his early jitters – a bad call had him hurrying to make his ground – to crunch drives square of the wicket. When he rocked back and cut the spinners, he made sure they stayed hit; when he flashed, he flashed hard but otherwise the hallmark of his innings was the soft-handed delicacy with which he caressed the ball into the gaps.As Pakistan edged to within 50 of victory, however, Ramesh Powar and Agarkar threw in one last hurrah for India. In a fit of over-aggression, Inzamam gave Powar the charge but could only pick out the man stationed at long-on (146 for 3). Agarkar, in a fine display of swing bowling, madeMohammad Yousuf look like a novice with his away swingers before drawing an edge for Mahendra Singh Dhoni to easily take (149 for 4). Younis, however, had the last laugh as he took Pakistan past the finish line with nine deliveries to spare.For India, Sreesanth, Agarkar and Powar all bowled impressively. Sreesanth achieved movement and consistently reached the 140kmh mark, beat Malik numerous times before getting his number, and an opening spell of 7-2-23-1 was about all his captain could have asked of him on this pitch. Agarkar kept it straight on a good length and chipped in with two wickets to keep India in the hunt. Powar tossed it up considerably and had Inzamam, uncomfortable on the front foot initially, playing for the spin before getting him later on. His was another fine return in the face of Pakistani adversity. Pity Pathan didn’t get it right. He had taken three wickets ineach of his last three games against Pakistan, but today Murphy’s Law chased him down. Critics have noted the decline in speed, and today they were given more to talk about as Pathan showed a markdown from even the recent series against England. Movement was minimal and his radar obviously awry today.Barring a fighting unbeaten 61 from Venugopal Rao, India turned in a dismal performance – four run-outs marred their innings – after Dravid won the toss and decided to bat. To set the tone for affairs to come, Naved-ul-Hasan mixed up his pace and forced Robin Uthappa to chip one tomid-on. Dravid, who again opened the innings with Virender Sehwag rested, was then run out in absolute chaos when he called for a second even as Malik in the deep swooped in and returned his throw. Rao Iftikhar Anjum, who would go on to hold three neat catches at deep midwicket, struck another big blow when he sucked Yuvraj Singh into a loose drive, and then Naved made his presence felt in the field with a terrific throw from mid-on to send back Pathan.Shahid Afridi, who had thrown in a couple short ones, tossed one up on leg and Suresh Raina (40) obliged by lofting him to Iftikhar at deep midwicket in the 38th over. And there were no fireworks from Dhoni as Malik yorked him with a faster one from around the wicket. On a surface hardly conducive to lofting the ball, Malik was superb in his ability to get the ball to move from around the wicket. Perhaps most significant, though, was the coolness with which the Pakistani fielders hit the stumps. The tail failed to offer a gumption of a fight and ultimately India ended up a good 50 runs short of an imposing total.The fatigue of a successful season – they had won 17 of 22 going into this game – may have caught up with India, but nothing can be taken away from Pakistan’s fiery performance. The fast bowlers began proceedings with swift strikes, the spinners checked the runs, and the fielders backed up both with some nifty work. And in the end, Younis continued his love affair with India’s bowlers.How they were outIndia
Robin Uthappa c Yousuf b Naved-ul-Hasan12 (25 for 1)
Rahul Dravid run out (Malik) 20 (47 for 2)
Yuvraj Singh c Akmal b Anjum 7 (65 for 3)
Irfan Pathan run out (Naved-ul-Hasan) 26 (72 for 4)
Suresh Raina c Iftikhar Anjum b Afridi 40 (136 for 5)
Mahendra Singh Dhoni b Malik 3 (149 for 6)
Ajit Agarkar c Iftikhar Anjum b Malik (171 for 7)
Ramesh Powar c Iftikhar Anjum b Malik 9 (180 for 8)
Harbhajan Singh run out (Abdul Razzaq) 3 (196 for 9)
Sreesanth run out (Shoaib Malik) 0 (196 for 10)
Pakistan
Shoaib Malik c Dravid b Sreesanth 12 (42 for 1)
Imran Farhat b Agarkar 30 (60 for 2)
Inzamam-ul-Haq c Venugopal Rao b Powar 40 (146 for 3)
Mohammad Yousuf c Dhoni b Agarkar 1 (149 for 4)

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

Playing what will probably be his penultimate one-day game at his home ground of Queen’s Park Oval, Brian Lara produced a glorious matchwinning 69 as West Indies romped home to a six-wicket win to seal the series with an unbeatable 3-1 lead. Set a target of 218 after the Indian batting misfired again, West Indies stuttered briefly when they lost Chris Gayle, but Lara found a willing ally in fellow Trinidadian Dwayne Bravo, who remained unbeaten on 61, and their 91-run stand shut out all hopes for India.On a pitch which tested a batsman’s run-scoring abilities – the pace and bounce was variable, and the spinners got significant turn – the Indians were again found wanting after being put in to bat. The West Indies fast bowlers – led by Fidel Edwards, who added impeccable control to his usual pacy offerings – shackled the Indian top order early in the piece. Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif subsequently injected some momentum with half-centuries, and Mahendra Singh Dhoni produced some fireworks at the end, but India were restricted to a total far below what they would have liked.The run-chase was to a large extent about Lara’s magic, but the initial dent to the Indians’ psyche came from Gayle’s terrific blitz at the start. Two strokes were especially memorable – a one-handed hoick over midwicket for six off Sreesanth, and an apparently hurried defensive prod off Pathan that still had enough momentum to race to the long-off fence.Gayle slowed down noticeably after his frenetic start – his last 16 runs took him 40 deliveries – but by then the Lara show had begun. Hesitant at the outset, especially against Ajit Agarkar – again India’s standout bowler – Lara gradually found his rhythm, pacing his knock quite superbly. The first few runs came mostly off singles, but as the confidence returned so did his breathtaking footwork against the spinners, which was easily the highlight of his innings.Ramesh Powar and Harbhajan Singh would have fancied their chances on this pitch, but Lara won that battle, and quite convincingly. His tussle against Powar was especially engrossing – Powar repeatedly tried to beat Lara in flight, and each time Lara rose to the challenge, padding it away when he wasn’t to the pitch, but willing to take a few chances as well. A sashay down the pitch for a flick past mid-on off Powar brought up the fifty partnership, before he turned his attention to Harbhajan, in his last over. Twice, Lara shimmied down the wicket and hoisted him over midwicket for fours, and then followed it with a glorious lofted stroke – high backlift and complete follow-through – high over long-on for six.At the other end, Bravo, promoted to No.5 ahead of Wavell Hinds, proved to be an ideal foil, batting sensibly when Lara was blazing away, but then taking the initiative himself after the master left. He brought up his fifty by spanking a straight six off Powar, and his all-round display – he had taken three wickets with his usual clever mix of slower balls earlier in the day – won him the Man-of-the-Match award.If West Indies’ batting was authoritative, their performance in the field was equally without blemish. Fidel Edwards ended up with only one wicket, but could easily have had a few more, and his economy rate of 2.37 suggests just how much he made the Indians struggle. Dravid, especially, was all at sea against the late swing that Edwards obtained. Ian Bradshaw kept up his excellent form in the series with two early strikes as Virender Sehwag couldn’t repeat his St Kitts act and Suresh Raina failed for the second time at No.3. When Dravid was finally put out of his misery by Corey Collymore, India were struggling at 47 for 3 in the 16th.

Yuvraj and Kaif then got together for the brightest phase of the Indian innings. From the outset, they looked to break the shackles, placing the ball in the gaps, running hard between the wickets, and putting the loose balls to the boundary. Their 80-run stand came in 16.2 overs, with Yuvraj – back in the side after missing the previous match due to injury – continuing the form, and the drives down the ground, which had almost taken India home in the second match. Kaif, meanwhile, produced his most fluent innings of the series. The runs under his belt showed as he timed the ball well from the start, getting off the mark with a spanking cover-drive, and then found the gaps far more consistently than he had in the previous matches.Once the stand was broken, though – and it took a magnificent delivery from Edwards to do it – West Indies tightened the screw again. Dhoni, struggling for confidence and runs in this series, was denied for long periods by deliveries fired in at the blockhole – there was a passage of play, between the 39th and 45th over, when Dhoni could only manage eight runs in 21 balls. With the overs fast running out, Dhoni finally got his act together, belted a few boundaries in characteristic style, but with Lara and Co. in such sparkling form, a target of 218 was hardly adequate.

IndiaVirender Sehwag c Gayle b Bradshaw 11 (13 for 1)
Suresh Raina c Sarwan b Bradshaw 7 (28 for 2)
Rahul Dravid c Sarwan b Collymore 15 (47 for 3)
Yuvraj Singh c Baugh b Edwards 52 (127 for 4)
Mohammad Kaif b Bravo 63 (188 for 5)
Irfan Pathan c Collymore b Bravo 8 (206 for 6)
Ajit Agarkar b Bravo 0 (206 for 7)
West IndiesMarlon Samuels lbw b Pathan 9 (28 for 1)
Ramnaresh Sarwan c Sehwag b Agarkar 6 (49 for 2)
Chris Gayle c Agarkar b Powar 46 (91 for 3)
Brian Lara c Raina b Powar 69 (182 for 4)

Harbhajan Singh, the Indian spinner, has predicted that slow bowlers will be the key in next year’s World Cup. Coming off a lengthy tour of the Caribbean, Harbhajan’s analysis was that the pitches had become spin-friendly and that India’s experience there would come in handy in 2007.”During our tour of the Caribbean, most of the pitches were slow and especially in the Test series, during the second innings the ball kept low and ultimately the batsmen were beaten,” he told reporters. “Wickets in West Indies were similar to those in the Asian countries like India and Sri Lanka, which helped us in understanding its nature early.”While he admitted that the fast bowlers were crucial in India’s 1-0 Test victory – “[They] Contributed to the success of spinners in the last two matches by their early breakthroughs which left less pressure on the spinners” – Harbhajan was sparing in his personal analysis. “My best is yet to come and I will try to do much better in the forthcoming tri-series [featuring Sri Lanka and South Africa],” he said. “From July 25, our camps will begin during which we will review our mistakes in Caribbean and ensure these are not repeated in Sri Lanka.”He also thought India came back well from the 4-1 one-day drubbing. “[Brian] Lara’s able captaincy was the key to West Indies success in ODI series,” he said. “Although we started in a very good rhythm, later on West Indies overtook us which yielded results in their favour.” Harbhajan sought to downplay his exclusion from the first two Tests, saying it was up to the team management to pick the best eleven: “As far as I am concerned, I was eagerly looking for an opportunity which I finally got in third and fourth Tests and I proved my mettle in both of these.”Asked whether Sanath Jayasuriya, fresh from a superb one-day showing in the last two weeks, would pose a problem for India in the forthcoming series, beginning August 14, Harbhajan’s reply was a confident: “Our Sachin is also coming back to respond to Jayasuriya.”On the Champions Trophy to be hosted by India later this year, Harbhajan remained confident. “Our pool will be the toughest as both Australia and England will be in our pool,” he said. “But of course, we will have benefit of home ground and crowd support.”

Trinidad and Tobago, fresh from their quarter-final victory over Barbados in the Stanford 20/20 tournament on Saturday, face an intriguing Nevisian test in next week’s second semi-finals, and manager Omar Khan and Daren Ganga are confident they can go all the way.T&T suffered a middle order batting collapse after a strong start against the Bajans, but some tight bowling and outstanding fielding enabled them to restrict their arch rivals to 96 and earn a 46-run win.Khan, though feels if the players continue to perform as a team, they can lift the inaugural Stanford 20/20 title. “That (winning) was our intention from the start,” Khan told after the team’s return home on Sunday. “When we started the tournament, we discussed taking it one game at a time, and we have the intention of playing four games. We have played two and won. We have two more to play.”Khan, a former T&T player, also stressed that his team are not worried about their next opponents, despite Nevis’ huge score of 213 against Antigua and Barbuda in their quarter-final. “We are not concerned about that because we know the bowling we have. We bowl to a plan, and we have the players to stick to that plan. The coach [former West Indies wicketkeeper] David Williams has done a tremendous job in working out who we have to bowl to what score.”Reflecting on their batting performance, Ganga acknowledged that his team made some mistakes, but stressed they would rectify that in time for the next match. “I think we were looking for too much boundaries in the period when we were supposed to turn over the strike and put away the bad balls,” he said. “We also had two run outs at crucial times. But at the end of the day, we were able to get a victory, and I’m sure we’re not going to make the same mistake twice.”Ganga was also optimistic that T&T could get the better of Nevis, saying the key is their performance in the field. “Basically we are going to ensure we play to our strengths,” he said. “We were very good in the field. We did achieve the kind of total we wanted and we were able to defend it.” Ganga also lauded youngsters William Perkins and Mario Belcon for the strong starts they gave the team in both matches, while also praising the other young players for their performances.But looking ahead to the tests ahead, Khan felt the mental aspect of the game will be the most critical part of his team’s campaign. “We have to continue playing intelligent cricket, very organised and planned cricket,” he said. “So it’s all about fast action game and you’ve got to keep thinking all the time and our intention is to outthink the opposition. We know we have batting from 1-11, we have very strong batting, and the guys made some mistakes, especially in the middle order, but we know they will come good [against Nevis]. If our batting comes good we know it will be hard to match any totals that we can make.”

Graeme Hick has signed a one-year extension to his contract with Worcestershire to end speculation that he may have moved to Derbyshire. Hick’s deal runs out at the end of this season but he had expressed his wish to carry on playing into his 24th season.Derbyshire had made an official approach to Hick, 40, but he will now remain, and in all likelihood finish his career, at New Road. He recently became the second player since the war to score 100 first-class hundreds for his county after Geoff Boycott for Yorkshire.John Elliott, the club chairman, said: “Graeme is a legend of Worcestershire cricket and I am delighted that he is to continue his long career with us. This is very good news for all our members and supporters and will end any speculation there might have been about his immediate future.”Hick added: “I am delighted to have resolved the situation. My heart has always been with Worcestershire and I very much look forward to the next 12 months.”