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Scorecard

Ian Harvey’s double-wicket, single-run final over in Surrey’s 175 for 6 ultimately proved crucial for Hampshire, who pulled a tense run chase at The Oval with four wickets and six balls to spare. Powered to a very competitive total thanks to sprightly fifties from Mark Ramprakash and Abdul Razzaq, Surrey’s spin attack – led by Saqlain Mushtaq’s 3 for 24 – threatened to derail a flashy chase but Gary Lamb held his nerve to finish the affair with some brave hits in the 19th over. The foundation of the chase, Hampshire’s third win in the Twenty20 Cup, centred around starring contributions from Michael Lumb, Michael Carberry and Sean Ervine.Hampshire, despite losing Harvey in the first over, were handed a rapid start. Lumb was the aggressor, teeing off at a rate of knots against Chris Jordan and Pedro Collins. A sweetly-timed clip off his toes gave him his only six, but nine boundaries made up a 21-ball 45 that set the ball rolling. Jordan twice dropped short and was slashed either side of point before Lumb took three more boundaries off Collins’ second over with some crisp hitting.Saqlain’s introduction stemmed the tide somewhat. Attempting to clip him over the infield Lumb inside-edged back onto his stumps and Saqlain added Chris Benham for 6 to leave Hampshire 71 for 3 after eight overs. Carberry, a spectator while Lumb went ballistic, swept Saqlain for four to move into double figures and, partnered by Ervine, forged another crucial partnership of 57. Collins’ comeback over, the 11th, went for 22 and proved key in the Hampshire’s chase. Carberry picked up fours off the first two balls and Ervine deposited a free hit over long-on and flicked another four past short fine-leg.Surrey’s decision to pick three spinners almost worked. Trying to blast a wide one from Chris Schofield, Carberry was smartly stumped for a 33-ball 45, and when Nic Pothas also departed with the score 128, Surrey seemed to have clawed their way back in. Ervine, however, had other ideas and swatted two more massive sixes. He became Saqlain’s third wicket at 164 for 6 but Lamb, with an unbeaten 22 off 15 balls, sealed the match off with final ball of the 19th over. Ervine’s 46 from 27 balls had been central to the chase.A few more runs and the contest could have gone Surrey’s way. But that miserly one-run over from Harvey, including the wickets of Razzaq and Jonathan Batty, proved huge. Removing Razzaq for 34-ball 65 first ball, attempting his sixth six, Harvey then removed Batty next ball and a series of cunning cutters and yorkers yielded just a single.That was a blemish in an otherwise solid Surrey innings. Electing to bat after the forecast showers stayed away, the hosts were jolted in the first over as Alistair Brown, promoted to open in place of James Benning (back injury), edged his first ball from Nantie Hawyard to Harvey at slip and Scott Newman was cleaned up by Billy Taylor soon afterwards.A clean-hitting cameo from Usman Afzaal (19 off 18) made way for a 90-run stand between Ramprakash and Razzaq. Ramprakash has struggled for runs in recent weeks, but here produced a lively effort. Beginning with smart singles into the open spaces, he didn’t refrain from putting away the bad deliveries, as a couple punchy boundaries through the offside and a meaty pull indicated.After ten overs Surrey were 74 for 3. Then Razzaq turned on the power. Opening up with a rasping cut off Hayward in the 13th over, he made the most of a sharp return drop off Lumb and slammed boundaries off Hamza Riazuddin, the young right-arm seamer. Hayward was singled out for some harsh treatment, especially: the first two deliveries of his final over went for lovely, high-elbow sixes just below and above the press box. Ramprakash, having raised his fifty off 39 balls, added six more to the over before he was caught and bowled for 60.Razzaq, dropped on 47 at long-off, brought up his own fifty off 29 balls with the help of a couple more sixes. That’s when Harvey, with all of his experience, cut him off and bowled the decisive over of the match.

ScorecardFifteen wickets fell on the second day of the Intercontinental Cup match between Canada and Bermuda at King City and, even though Canada collapsed to give the visitors a slender first-innings lead, their bowlers put them back on top by the end of the day. Canada were dismissed for 228, Dwayne Leverock taking 5 for 69 with his left-arm spin, in reply to Bermuda’s first-innings score of 237 but their spin attack reduced the visitors to 78 for 5 in the second innings by stumps.Canada began the second day on 14 for 0, trailing by 223 runs. Their openers Geoff Barnett and Abdool Samad started steadily, adding 21 runs in the first six overs. The partnership was broken on 35 when Samad, trying to play a delivery from Ryan Steede on the leg side, was caught by Chris Foggo at short square leg. The second-wicket stand began to consolidate Canada’s position but Leverock struck two quick blows to dismiss Barnett, caught at cover, and Trevin Bastiampillai, held by Foggo at short square once again. Canada had slipped from 76 for 1 to 77 for 3.The partnership between Canada’s captain Ian Billcliff and Arvind Kandappah began to shift the momentum towards the hosts. Kandappah did not follow the cautious approach of the top order and attacked Leverock instead. He scored boundaries all round the ground and hit a straight six over the sight screen to go into lunch on 43 off 29 balls. Billcliff provided the stability at the other end and Canada were 121 for 3 at lunch.Kandappah got to his half-century off 38 balls after the interval but a back injury forced the 37-year old to retire hurt shortly after. Canada’s momentum was broken and a steady stream of wickets followed. Sunil Dhaniram was bowled by Stefan Kelly by one which moved in as he tried to play aggressively, while Leverock found a way through Saad bin Zafar’s defences.Billcliff alternated between caution and aggression, scoring his fifty of 111 balls, but as wickets fell around him he scored at a quicker pace, hitting sixes over long-on. When he got out for 56, lofting a catch to George O’Brien at deep cover, Canada were 10 runs short of Bermuda’s total with one wicket in hand. Kandappah returned to resume his innings but didn’t face a ball as Henry Osinde offered a return catch to Rodney Trott to give Bermuda first-innings points.Bermuda’s openers, Foggo and Oronde Bascome, had made ducks in the first innings but they provided a steady start against Canada’s new-ball attack, Osinde and Eion Katchay, by extending the lead to 49.The introduction of spin sparked the collapse. Bascome was caught and bowled by Karun Jethi and Foggo’s attempted sweep against Dhaniram landed in Billcliff’s hands at slip. Bermuda went from 40 for 0 to 48 for 3 when Barnett caught Outerbridge, Bermuda’s top-scorer in the first innings, for a duck at cover. James Celestine batted aggressively, hitting two fours and two sixes in his 22 but eventually edged Jethi to the wicketkeeper.Bermuda’s captain Irving Romaine and Rodney Trott performed damage control, batted nine out of the remaining ten overs with caution. However, Saad bin Zafar ended Trott’s resistance, 1 off 30 balls, in the final minutes of the day by bowling him with a quicker ball.

The BCCI has responded to the England board’s statement, in which they expressed “disappointment” at the proposed itinerary for the tour of India, by saying that the venues were decided according to a rotation policy.”We would like to remind the ECB that our venues are always decided on the basis of a rotation policy,” Niranjan Shah, the BCCI secretary, told Cricketnirvana.com. “The itinerary for the England tour has been finalised on the basis of this rotation policy.”The main concern surrounds the grounds for the seven-match one-day series. Instead of playing at stadiums like Eden Gardens in Kolkata and the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, England are scheduled to visit Rajkot, Indore, Kanpur, Jamshedpur, Cuttack, Guwahati and Delhi.A statement from the ECB said that “despite representations, the itinerary didn’t offer the thousands of supporters who follow the England team abroad, the opportunity to experience more of the great cricket grounds of India.”Shah, however, questioned the ECB’s decision to complain. “We do not quite understand how and why the ECB has chosen to air its grievances over this policy in the media,” Shah said. “Whenever the Indian team has toured England, some of the venues have not been up to the mark in terms of facilities for Indian players and supporters. However, we have complied and gone ahead and played, for it is the host board’s prerogative to fix the itinerary.”England will play seven ODIs, two Tests and three warm-up matches during their tour which begins on November 6 and ends on December 23.

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George Worker proved as good as his name as his 96 lifted New Zealand Under-19s to 323 for 7 on the first day of the second Test against England Under-19s at Worcester, giving them hope of squaring the series after a defeat at Taunton.Worker shared useful partnerships with fellow opener Dean Robinson, together putting on 89, and then adding 111 with Kane Williamson before perishing. His 96 came from 134 deliveries of good application before he fell to the medium-fast offerings of Ian Saxelby, while Williamson made 75. Greg Morgan reached the close on 47.It was Liam Dawson whose spin helped England once again after the visitors had threatened to run away during the opening session. He grabbed the first wicket, Robinson for 29, and then picked up a further three to trouble New Zealand a touch.But overall it was the visitors’ day and they will resume on Saturday looking to build on their sturdy foundation.

Division One

Sussex are not short of talented wicketkeeper-batsmen; Matt Prior is with England, Ben Brown is one to watch and Andrew Hodd played an important role on the opening day against Yorkshire at Scarborough. He helped build a solid platform as rain lopped off 34 overs, but late wickets for Yorkshire brought them back into the contest. Hodd added 101 for second wicket with Chris Nash (78) before Matthew Hoggard broke through with the aid of a sharp catch from Michael Vaughan at short midwicket. Murray Goodwin moved to 25 but was cleaned up by Steven Patterson – his second scalp of the day – and Adil Rashid also struck soon afterwards when he removed Chris Adams with a good leg break. Hodd, though, held firm after reaching fifty off 102 balls although he had a couple of slices of luck against Patterson. Despite his two wickets for the day, Patterson’s match is likely to be over after Tim Bresnan was released by England to join for the second day of the match.Will Smith ensured a Durham wobble didn’t turn into a full-blown collapse against Lancashire at Chester-le-Street as his unbeaten 59 guided the home side to 142 for 3 at an early close. Michael Di Venuto was run out early by Steven Croft from extra cover after a rebound off the non-striker, but Mark Stoneman built a solid second-wicket stand with Smith. Lancashire’s bowlers – who haven’t seen any action for more than a week after the washout at Blackpool – struggled to make an impact so it was left to the fielders. Stoneman was the second run out after a mix-up with Smith about a second run, Dominic Cork completing the dismissal after chasing a ball from mid-on, which had been parried by Glen Chapple at mid-off towards the boundary. Tom Smith was the first name in the wicket-taking column by trapping Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who has extended his stay after the Champions Trophy postponement, lbw for a duck.Click here for John Ward’s report from the first day between Nottinghamshire and Somerset at Trent Bridge

Division Two

1st dayClick here for Martin Williamson’s report on the first day between Middlesex and Gloucestershire at Lord’s.2nd dayWorcestershire took control at New Road as the match moved on apace with Warwickshire conceding a lead of 88 as 16 wickets fell in the day. The home side’s patched-up pace attack did an impressive job as Chris Whelan and Imran Arif shared seven wickets to remove Warwickshire for 251. Jonathan Trott was the main contributor with an unbeaten 88, but there was another failure for Tim Ambrose, who was lbw to one which kept low. At 119 for 6 the follow-on was looming before Ian Salisbury hit a brisk 48 off 40 balls. The lower order fell away to leave Trott short of his hundred, but Worcestershire’s 339 have grown in value. Vikram Solanki fell for 91 and it was left to Gareth Batty to boost the total with 60 as Neil Carter wrapped up the innings with 6 for 100. Andy Harris fell in unfortunate fashion when the ball hit his helmet and fell into the stumps. Worcestershire were batting again before the close and despite losing Stephen Moore the lead is already 133.Crucial lower-order runs by Robert Croft helped Glamorgan put their noses in front against Derbyshire at Derby. He took his overnight partnership with David Harrison to 88 and carried the team total beyond 300. Graham Wagg eventually broke through to have Harrison stumped off his left-arm spin and he soon removed last-man Adam Shantry, after switching back to seam, leaving Croft short of his century and Glamorgan short of a fourth batting point. For Croft, though, it was a season-best score and his first half-century of the campaign. Glamorgan’s promising day continued when Shantry removed Derbyshire’s openers – including the key wicket of Chris Rogers for 30 – before more inclement weather ended proceedings.

Championship gallery

Middlesex will need a mere 67 for victory when play resumes on the third day at Kidderminster, after a dramatic final-session collapse in which Worcestershire slid from a comfortable 62 for 2 to a disastrous 122 all out. Ben Smith made 52 but none of his colleagues passed 20 as Dirk Nannes routed all comers with six wickets in 6.1 overs. His first victim was the captain, Vikram Solanki, who was caught behind for 18, whereupon Nannes induced two more edges and detonated Moeen Ali’s stumps to reduce Worcestershire to 80 for 6. Smith was the next to go, caught by Andrew Strauss off Shaun Udal, and Udal then claimed Chris Whelan for a fourth-ball duck before Nannes polished off the tail. Earlier, Strauss had shown how batting should be done with 101 from 129 balls, his first century of the season for Middlesex.After a manic 16-wicket opening day, Gloucestershire’s contest against Derbyshire settled into a more measured rhythm, and a fascinating match began to take shape at Derby. First Gloucestershire hauled themselves back into contention from their uncomfortable overnight score of 98 for 6, thanks to 72 from their wicketkeeper Steve Snell, who found vital support from his captain, Jon Lewis (28) in a 69-run stand for the eighth wicket. But by the close, Derbyshire had inched their way back into the ascendancy through the efforts of their own captain, Chris Rogers, who made 74 before falling lbw to Lewis in the final session of the day. By the close they led by 159 with six wickets standing, with Greg Smith and Tom New both unbeaten on 24.Essex’s promotion hopes took a dent on the second day against second-placed Warwickshire at Chelmsford, as Tony Frost produced a painstaking unbeaten 121 from 286 balls to carry his side to a foreboding 277 for 3 in reply to 341. Essex managed to add only eight runs to their overnight 333 for 8, but that scarcely seemed to matter when Darren Masters struck with his second ball of the reply to remove Warwickshire’s captain, Darren Maddy, via an edge through to James Foster. It was slow-going for Essex thereafter, however. Naveep Poonia made 37 in a second-wicket stand of 85 with Frost, then it was over to Frost and Jonathan Trott for a third-wicket partnership of 182. Chris Wright eventually prised Trott from the crease for 81, but the victory that Essex need to stay in contention looks increasingly likely to elude them.Glamorgan seem determined to end a troubled week on a high note as they continued to dominate their dead-rubber contest with Leicestershire at Sophia Gardens. Michael Powell followed on from Gareth Rees’s first-day century with a composed 120, which underpinned a formidable first-innings total of 450. Powell eventually became one of four wickets for the spinner, Claude Henderson, but the wicketkeeper Mark Wallace kept the tail wagging with 59 from 106 balls, with support from the soon-to-be-retired Jason Gillespie, who made 34. In reply, Leicestershire’s innings never got going. David Harrison claimed 3 for 31 in ten overs, including both openers, and at 66 for 4 embarrassment loomed. Joshua Cobb and Paul Nixon prevented further losses before the close, but they have a long way to go yet to avoid the follow-on.

The ICC World Player of the Year, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, made up for lost time with an unbeaten 130 from 177 balls, as Durham did all they could to force the pace against Sussex in their crucial Championship-chasing encounter at Chester-le-Street. After bad weather washed out the whole of the first day, Durham made good use of an important chance to bat first, and racked up a handy 325 for 4. After Michael Di Venuto and Ben Harmison added 52 for the first wicket, Jason Lewry and Mohammad Sami, with two wickets apiece, chipped away with determination to reduce Durham to 143 for 4, but then Chanderpaul got going and their prospects were transformed. With Gareth Breese proving a vital sidekick with 63 not out from 118 balls, their pair added 182 for the fifth wicket, and crucially, they had not been parted at the close.Nottinghamshire remain firmly on course for the title after an effortless day of dominance against an inept and relegated Surrey at The Oval. Read Martin Williamson’s bulletin.Lancashire improved their fortunes on the second day at Liverpool, but not by much. Read Andrew McGlashan’s bulletin for more.Somerset haven’t given up on their maiden Championship title, but they’ll have to overcome a placid surface to defeat Yorkshire at Scarborough. John Ward was there.

Cricket South Africa’s (CSA) Franchise Review Committee has recommended that the board increases the number of franchises from six to eight with effect from the start of the 2009-10 season. The two new teams would be Border and Griqualand West, and they would be created by splitting the existing Eagles and Warriors sides.The committee, which was reviewing the first four years of the new system, recommended it continue for another eight seasons and that there should be no more fundamental changes to the way it operates.The two new franchises would only come into being if they fulfilled some conditions. Border would need to show that had sufficient sponsorship and would have to prove it covered the area starting immediately east of the Kei River and must include the area formerly known as Transkei. Griqualand West would also have to provide the financial guarantees and show it covered the Northern Cape Province.This expansion would also create the new franchises of Eastern Province who would cover the area starting from immediately west of the Kei, including the South Western Districts, and Free State, who would cover the whole of the Province of Free State but would also be expected to focus on the development of black African cricket especially in the Gold Fields, Botshabelo and Rocklands areas.The other franchises of Titans (Northerns and Easterns), Dolphins (KwaZulu-Natal and KwaZulu-Natal Midlands), Lions (Gauteng and North West) and Cobras (Western Province and Boland) will remain unchanged. The moves still have to be approved by the CSA executive.

Australia are prepared for a smoggy start to the crucial third Test starting on Wednesday due to the expected lingering smoke from the Indian festival of . Fireworks and firecrackers are a major feature of the “festival of lights” and if the weather is overcast on the morning of the match, which it has been for the past couple of days, the haze could lead to a delay.”If it is like it was yesterday [Monday] or worse we might be starting late,” Ricky Ponting said. “By the time we got down to the ground, which was 9.30am, it was still touch and go whether you would start on time. If it is smoggy in the morning I don’t think there is really much you can do about it. I don’t think it will really change the way the game is played.”India lead the four-match series 1-0 and Australia might have to force the pace if there are too many disruptions. “Tomorrow [Wednesday] might be an exceptional day as well with all the haze hanging around from the fireworks tonight,” he said. “We will assess that as we go and if it does get to the stage where we need to do things differently, to take in calculations about losing some time and some light, then we will do that to try and force a result.”The Australians have altered their training to cope with the haze, particularly with their fielding. “We made the guys do a lot of high balls,” Ponting said. “Brad Haddin started off doing high balls and said it was definitely different to catch the ball – harder to pick up and judge things – so all the guys made sure they got that work done.”The third Test was originally scheduled to start on Tuesday but was pushed back a day so the match did not begin on , which is a public holiday. Ponting is also wary of the potential for bad light to shorten the match.”It has been getting dark quite early as well, but then I noticed last night that it held out a bit longer and we could have been playing easily at five o clock,” he said. “We will factor that sort of stuff in if the first few days of the game are going that way.”

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Triple-centuries seem to come by every other game for Cheteshwar Pujara. He had scored two in one week last month in the CK Nayudu Under-22 tournament, and today he pushed from his overnight 128 to become the first Saurashtra batsman to make a triple ton. His partner in the run-fest, Ravindra Jadeja, scored his maiden century, ending unbeaten on 232. The unbroken fifth-wicket stand was worth 520 runs, the two scoring 347 in 72.5 overs on the second day. It was the second-best partnership in Indian cricket – after Vijay Hazare and Gul Mahomed’s 577-run stand for Baroda against Holkar in 1946-47 – and the highest fifth-wicket partnership in any first-class cricket, beating the unbroken 464-run stand between the Waugh twins for New South Wales against Western Australia in 1990-91.Following the declaration, Orissa’s openers played out the remaining 15 overs. For Saurashtra, it was a welcome bounce back after their innings defeat to Gujarat, a timely wake-up call for last season’s surprise semi-finalists from their recently-promoted neighbours.
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A second straight defeat looms for Rajasthan after another poor performance from their batsmen, who didn’t seem to have learnt any lesson from Day 1, when they were reduced to 22 for 7. Trailing by 129, Rajasthan’s second-innings performance was equally inept, and at 57 for 6 they still need 72 runs to make Punjab bat again.Gagandeep Singh and Manpreet Gony were Punjab’s stars on the first day and they prised out three wickets in the first four overs in Rajasthan’s second innings. Left-arm spinner Ankur Kakkar took the remaining wickets in a six-over spell of 3 for 6, and Rajasthan will now rely on their lower order, who had pushed them to 133 in their first innings, and Vineet Saxena, who’s unbeaten on 36.If 12 wickets fell on the first day, there were 14 on the second. Rajasthan fought well after Punjab looked poised for a big lead at 171 for 2. Sunny Sohal scored a second century in as many games, and got support from Uday Kaul. Both batsmen, though, fell in the space of eight runs. Pankaj Dharmani and Kakkar ensured there wasn’t a quick collapse, but both failed to further the advantage after adding 44 for the fifth wicket. The final six wickets fell for 49 runs. Left-arm spinner Gajendra Singh finished with four in the innings, and Venugopal Rao, the new Rajasthan captain, took two. Rao also got a pair, one of two batsmen to do so for Rajasthan – they have a total of seven ducks so far in the match.
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The second day at Surat’s Lalabhai Contractor Stadium also saw 14 wickets fall. Gujarat offspinner Mohnish Parmar triggered a collapse to restrict Mumbai, resuming on 327 for 2, to 486, but Dhawal Kulkarni’s four-wicket burst left the hosts in a slump at 77 for 6.Kulkarni, who took 13 wickets on his Ranji Trophy debut, furthered his wickets’ tally in the tournament to boost his team’s chances of a win. He struck at regular intervals, with Sairaj Bahutule and Ajit Agarkar taking one wicket each. Nilesh Modi and Bhavik Thaker, unbeaten on 23, were the only two batsmen to reach double figures, and it will take a big fightback for Gujarat, who won their first game handsomely over Saurashtra, to get back into the game.Jaffer, overnight on 172, was trapped leg-before by Ashraf Makda without adding to his score, and Amol Muzumdar scored 18 more before he was out to Parmar for 61. Makda and Parmar combined for the eight Mumbai wickets on Tuesday. Six of those batsmen failed to consolidate after going past 15, but in hindsight 486 looks a winning total.
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Down to 9 for 3 in reply to Baroda’s 235, Uttar Pradesh recovered to take the first-innings lead in Vadodara. Despite Irfan Pathan’s 5 for 71, half-centuries for Tanmay Srivastava and captain Mohammad Kaif, and useful 30s from Ravikant Shukla and Praveen Kumar gave last season’s finalists the edge.Pathan, who removed Anshul Kapoor for a duck in his first over on Monday, dismissed Praveen Gupta and Tahir Abbas off successive deliveries this morning – both were out for ducks as well. Kaif and Srivastava then revived the innings with a 122-run fourth-wicket partnership. Kaif was dismissed by left-arm spinner Rajesh Pawar for 51, a patient knock that came off 174 deliveries. Srivastava was next to go, before Ravikant Shukla and Bhuvneshwar Kumar pushed them from 154 for 5 to 199 for 6. Pathan and Pawar struck to leave UP at 210 for 7, but Praveen Kumar, who like Pathan was dropped from India’s ODI squad to face England, made a 30-ball 38 to help his side to the first-innings lead. by 210 runs
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Hyderabad could add only 87 to their first-day score of 247 for 5, all out for 334, before defending champions Delhi reached 124 for 3 in reply by stumps. Pradeep Sangwan took two wickets, including that of overnight centurion Anoop Pai for 130, and there were two run-outs as Hyderabad went at less than two an over on the second day. Delhi’s openers put on an 80-run stand, but both Shikhar Dhawan and Aakash Chopra were unable to convert their starts. Medium-pacer Ashwin Yadav took 2 for 15 in his ten overs.
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Harshad Khadiwale made 103 and Rohan Bhosale made an unbeaten 72 to put Maharashtra on course for the first-innings lead in Nasik. The two added 158 for the first wicket after Andhra were bowled out for 348.Andhra, resuming on 262 for 6, lost three wickets for 20 overs before they were boosted by a last-wicket stand of 38. Samad Fallah finished with 6 for 102, while Bangladesh left-arm spinner Enamul Haque jnr finally grabbed his first Ranji wicket; he took 0 for 171 in the first match against Tamil Nadu.
ScorecardS Vidyut punished the lacklustre Karnataka bowlers ruthlessly on day two at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. Beating his personal best and missing his first double-century by seven runs, Vidyut took Tamil Nadu to a position from where they could seriously control the game. (Read the full report here.)

Glenn McGrath will take part in the 2009 edition of the IPL but insists his availability will depend on India’s security situation. McGrath was a key factor in Delhi Daredevil’s success – they lost to eventual champions Rajasthan Royals in the semi-finals – during the inaugural season, but the death of his wife Jane in June left his future participation in doubt.”I have agreed to go back for this year [2009],” McGrath told the . McGrath made his decision before the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, and will take a call on visiting India after assessing the situation before the league’s scheduled start on April 10.”That was before everything happened over in India anyway, so I guess we will just play it by ear and see what happens closer to the time.” he said. “But as it stands I am going back for another season.”Michael Clarke, who did not play in the first tournament, said he has a “lot of things to consider” if he is to join next year. “Obviously I have to think about the amount of cricket we are playing, I am trying to plan a wedding as well and I have to think about what has happened there recently,” he said in the Australian.”There is obviously a lot I have to consider, but I am going to play this Test series [against South Africa] and then I can sit down with Lara [his fiance] and my family and make a decision. I certainly would love to be part of the IPL, but it is a matter of timing. If I am right to go I will look forward to that.”McGrath, who was signed by Delhi for US$350,000, finished with 12 wickets from 14 games in the first season, with an impressive economy rate of 6.61. McGrath was part of a squad that included fast bowlers such as Sri Lanka’s Farveez Maharoof, Pakistan’s Mohammad Asif, the Tasmanian Brett Geeves and Pradeep Sangwan, the young Indian left-armer.McGrath could have a few more Australian team-mates at Delhi in the coming season. The coach Greg Shipperd has indicated he may sign a few players he has worked with at Victoria. McGrath has not played competitive cricket since the IPL’s first season.