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Worcestershire County Cricket Club’s overseas Player, Shane Lee, is returning home to Australia as a result of a knee injury picked up during the NUL match against Warwickshire at Edgbaston.Lee’s injury has caused his knee to become unstable and it will require several weeks of intensive treatment before he is able to train and play. Both the Club and Player have agreed that Lee should return home for this treatment so that Lee can gain full fitness before the start of the Australian domestic season.ECB regulations do not allow for a replacement at this stage of the season so the County will play their remaining games without an overseas Player.Despite this latest injury blow to affect the team, Director of Cricket, Tom Moody, remains upbeat about the forthcoming month. "We are at the business end of the season and every game is vital. We will miss Shane’s ability with both bat and ball but I am confident the depth of strength we have in the squad will see us through."Shane Lee says "I am very disappointed to be returning home so soon after arriving and I appreciate the Club’s understanding of the situation but it makes more sense to receive the necessary treatment back in Sydney. I wish the team well in their final push for success this season."

The West Indies have recalled all-rounder Ricardo Powell, as one of three replacements named for the Caribbean side. The West Indies are seeking to reinforce their squad for the seven-match limited-overs international series against India, starting at Jamshedpur on Wednesday, 6th November.Powell, 23, along with all-rounder Vasbert Drakes and his compatriot Corey Collymore will exchange places with Gareth Breese, Darren Powell and Jermaine Lawson, all members of the Test squad that trails India 0-2 in the on-going three-Test series.Powell, an explosive right-hand batsman who bowls off-spin, has scored 1,006 runs at an average of 22.86 and taken four wickets at 49.50 apiece in 51 limited-overs internationals. He last played in the final of the tri-nation LG Abans Series in Sri Lanka that West Indies lost to the hosts by 34 runs at Khettarama last December.Fast bowling all-rounder Drakes returned to West Indies duty for the first time in seven years when he played in the International Cricket Council Champions’ Trophy in Sri Lanka last month. He has been playing first-class cricket for Border in South Africa and should bolster both the batting and bowling.Fast bowler Collymore has been a permanent fixture in the limited-overs squad and is the other replacement.Squad: Carl Hooper (captain), Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Pedro Collins, Corey Collymore, Cameron Cuffy, Mervyn Dillon, Vasbert Drakes, Daren Ganga, Chris Gayle, Ryan Hinds, Wavell Hinds, Ridley Jacobs, Mahendra Nagamootoo, Ricardo Powell, Marlon Samuels and Ramnaresh Sarwan.

Fleming returns to New Zealand
Stephen Fleming, the Chennai Super Kings opener, will not be available for his team’s remaining matches as he is heading back to New Zealand for the birth of his child. Chennai have qualified for the IPL semi-finals and will now have to find a replacement opener for Fleming before Saturday.Jayaprakash retires
Indian umpire AV Jayaprakash has retired from all forms of the game after standing in the IPL match between the Bangalore Royal Challengers and the Mumbai Indians in Bangalore on Wednesday. Jayaprakash, 58, said he had come to a point where he was not enjoying umpiring matches and was mentally tired.Dravid not keen on two IPL’s a year
Rahul Dravid, the Bangalore Royal Challengers captain, said IPL commissioner Lalit Modi’s idea of having two editions of IPL from 2011 would be a “difficult” proposition. “It would be difficult considering the way the future tours are structured and the way matches are scheduled,” Dravid said. “I, personally, would hate any dilution of Test cricket to fit in another season of Twenty20. Test cricket has history and has a lot of value and I hope it is never tampered with.”IPL performances not to influence Pakistan selectors
Pakistan selectors will not consider IPL performances while naming the squad for the triangular series in Bangladesh, according to the chief selector Salahuddin Ahmed. “We are not going to consider the players’ showing in the IPL,” Ahmed said. “We believe that twenty20 is a different ball game and you can’t compare it to proper one-day internationals where you have to play 50-over games.”

The Transco Lancashire League, although hampered by inclement weather, continues to see South Africans doing well with the ball and the bat.With most of the South Africans only getting two matches completed in the past month, Andre Seymore with innings of 63 and four heads the list followed by Pierre Joubert scoring 55* and 12*. Andrew Hall scoring 55* and three has also been successful with the ball taking 5/37 and 4/42. Joubert could only manage one wicket in his two matches.Paul Adams getting through a lot of overs seems to be over his early season stutters returning bowling figures of 5/71 and 5-61 with the ball and seven and 22 with the bat.Jacques Rudolph has not been as successful this past month with scores of three and 23 and bowling figures of 1/24 and 1/82.Con de Lange with only one match in the month scored 50 but could not get a wicket.Martin van Jaarsveld scored 35 and took no wickets in his only match.

Grenada’s inaugural Test was slipping back into an increasingly deep sleep when it was roused from its slumber in the final 25 minutes of the fourth day Monday, reawakening West Indies’ hopes of a dramatic victory on the final day Tuesday (the day after WEEKEND NATION press time) to square the mini-series.Enlivened on the previous afternoon by Chris Gayle’s special dose of power-hitting, the match had once more been anaesthetised by a cocktail of a torpid pitch, limited West Indian bowling and a New Zealand team that had nothing to play for but the draw to put against their first Test triumph.As the shadows lengthened, Carl Hooper was at his wits’ end as to how to end an opening partnership of 117 between Mark Richardson and Lou Vincent that had capitalised on two early missed chances and occupied three-and-a-half hours.With the still, lifeless pitch offering nothing to his main bowlers, whom he repeatedly switched around, and Richardson and Vincent already transforming a first innings deficit of 97 into a lead of 30, the captain summoned Ramnaresh Sarwan to try his hand from the River End.There is no more confident cricketer and, when he trundles his leg-spin in the nets, Sarwan considers himself at least the equal of Shane Warne.The last time Hooper asked him to break a stand, he responded with two wickets from successive balls in the Barbados Test against India in May.This time he struck with his third ball that had a Warne-like quality about it. Cleverly disguised, it was quicker and flatter than the previous two and sneaked under Vincent’s surprised bat to hit off-stump, bowling him for 54.Six overs later, Hooper’s sharp off-break that pitched outside leg-stump found the edge of rival captain Stephen Fleming’s uncertain bat on its way to Brian Lara at slip.Richardson, following his first innings 95 with another dogged innings, was unbeaten 69 as he and fellow left-hander Chris Harris nervously batted through to the end when New Zealand, 139 for two, were 42 ahead.It left the West Indies with a slim, but realistic, chance of pressing for the result that would bring their prolonged international season to a satisfactory end over the minimum 90 overs that remained.The likeliest outcome? A draw.

Glamorgan`s pre-season tour of South Africa began with a 189 run victory overa Cape Technicon XI at the Green Club in Cape Town. The Technicon side containedseveral leading club players from the area, but they were outclassed by theGlamorgan professionals in this 50 overs friendly.After winning the toss and batting first, Keith Newell and David Hemp gave Glamorgan a rousing start, adding 157 in just 25 overs. Hemp was eventually dismissed for 72 off 65 balls, hitting 2 sixes and 9 fours, whilst Newell departed two overs later for 83.After the loss of Robert Croft for 6 and Matthew Maynard for 19, captain Steve James and Mike Powell then shared another productive partnership, adding 96 for the 5th wicket, with James scoring 74 and Powell being 40* when the Glamorgan innings ended on 312-6.Accurate new ball bowling by Andrew Davies, Owen Parkin and Darren Thomas restricted the local batsmen, who never looked likely to score at the asking rate of six runs an over. Spinners Robert Croft and Dean Cosker then took three wickets apiece as the Welsh county cruised to a comfortable win.

The South Australian Cricket Association (SACA) has declared it will release the burley pace-man from the remaining year of his current contract with the South Australian Redbacks, creating the opportunity to move West.The SACA’s decision to release Wilson was made after Damien Fleming announced today that he had accepted their offer to play for the Southern Redbacks.While the WACA is disappointed at not having secured the services of 32 year old Fleming, it is excited at having gained the services of 30 year old Wilson for the Western Warriors.WACA CEO Kath White said, “The WACA has no doubt that WA Cricket will benefit from having Paul Wilson. He brings his experience to the Western Warriors squad and adds depth to our bowling stocks”.

The Andhra Pradesh government would allot 21 acres of land for the construction of a cricket stadium of international standards in the state capital. Announcing the decision on Monday at a function to felicitate star batsman VVS Laxman in Hyderabad, state home minister Deveder Goud said the government would allot the land at Bandallagudem on the city outskirts to the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) within one week.”We will hand over this land to you in one week and we expect you to complete the stadium in two years time”, he said in response to a request made by HCA officials for a piece of land for a new stadium, as the Lal Bahadur Stadium was not upto international standards.Earlier, Laxman was presented a cheque of Rs one lakh and silver plate by Goud for his performance in the recently concluded series against Australia. Laxman was also handed over a cheque of Rs 29,000 given by the Tamil Nadu government for his performance in the Chennai Test. Speaking at the function, Laxman thanked all the officials, coaches groundsmen and fans for the encouragement given to him overthe years.Former cricketers Mohd Azharuddin, Arshad Ayub and Venkatapathy Raju were among those who attended the function.

Australia’s champion legspinner Shane Warne will miss the first two Standard Bank One-Day Internationals against South Africa with a hamstring strain, it was learned on Thursday night.Warne, who bowled a marathon 70 overs in the second Test match at Newlands, is likely to be out for the first game in the seven-match series at the Wanderers as well as the second match at SuperSport Park near Pretoria on Sunday.His absence could give 20-year-old Nathan Hauritz an unexpectedly early debut in One-Day cricket as Australia’s spin option for the first at least one of the first two games against South Africa. Speaking on Thursday captain Ricky Ponting said Australia planned to field their strongest combinations for the first two or three matches of the series, but Warne’s unavailability might open the door for 20-year-old offspinner Hauritz.

Nottinghamshire have signed Ajmal Shahzad on a three-year contract with a view to him opening the bowling and batting at No. 8 in the County Championship next season.Nottinghamshire, who required a replacement for Darren Pattinson, had hoped to attract James Harris from Glamorgan to Trent Bridge, but he opted to join Middlesex instead. Pattinson has returned to Australian cricket and is only available as an overseas player.In 2004 Shahzad became the first British-born Asian to represent the Yorkshire but, a month into the 2012 season, the club made him available to other clubs claiming he lacked team spirit. Shahzad joined Lancashire on loan in May and was offered a permanent deal to remain at the club but the lure of Division One cricket and the seamer-friendly pitches of Trent Bridge proved more attractive.Shahzad has long been regarded as one of the most promising prospects in English cricket but, aged 27, his record is modest. His first-class bowling average of 34.01 with just three five-wicket hauls is disappointing for one so talented, while only three first-class 50s and a batting average of 23.62 hardly reflect his ability. Shahzad has played one Test, 11 ODIs and three Twenty20s for England with his most recent appearance being against Bangladesh at the 2011 World Cup.”As a seam bowler there is no better ground to play at than Trent Bridge,” Shahzad said. “Hopefully playing alongside so many England players and performing well for Notts will put me back in the limelight.”Mick Newell, Nottinghamshire’s director of cricket, said: “I spoke to Ajmal at the back end of the season, he’s been aware of our interest for some time and we see him as a major signing for all forms of the game. His white ball record in particular is excellent and will give us some experience to replace Darren Pattinson as well as opening the bowling for us in four-day cricket and providing useful runs from the number eight position.”He’s had some experience of international cricket and we’d like to see him get back to that level through some impressive performances for Notts.”