Cricket

Bubbling with confidence after an emphatic semifinal triumph, Alastair Cook is hoping that it his team's turn to lift the ICC Champions Trophy come Sunday.

Derbyshire have an unchanged squad for this evening's game against Scotland, which isn't that much of a surprise as we don't have many options outside of it.We didn't bat that badly against Hampshire, but Adam Wheater's innings took the game away from us and a player who makes a decent score at a rate of 1.4 per ball upwards will generally give his side a better than evens chance of a win. Our batsmen made good starts but we had no one who went on to the match-defining knock that was required.It was unfortunate that both Mark Turner and Mark Footitt chose Tuesday to return to their more profligate bowling days and - for me, at least - confirm that it is unlikely that both will feature in the same T20 side. Both are capable of very good, fast spells, but if or when it goes wrong it is spectacular, something we can ill-afford with a batting line up that has talent but, outside the openers, not really anyone of an explosive nature. I could not, for example, see anyone scoring a 44-ball century as Darren Stevens did for Kent last night.That's not a criticism of good players, merely an observation but they should be more than good enough for Scotland today. The Scots have some players of talent, as they show every season, but the parts don't always add up to a robust and cohesive whole.I hope that's the case tonight, if for no other reason than the fact that it will keep me armed with good ammunition for a number of months to come...

Fawad Ahmed is expected to be eligible for the full Ashes series after the Australian Senate passed a bill that would allow his citizenship to be fast-tracked

Though India starts as the favourites versus the Sri Lankans, I believe after their emphatic win against the Australians, the Sri Lankans must be high on confidence and are bound to be a more than

Going by the form book, it’s rather unfortunate that the group results pitted India against Sri Lanka in the semifinal as it would have been a worthy final. These two are the competition’s two

Like South Africa, Sri Lanka recovered from the loss of their first game to log up two impressive wins over the old powers England and Australia and thus make it to the semi-finals. Ideally having

An unbeaten 51 by Lendl Simmons led West Indies A to a comprehensive win over Sri Lanka A in the second T20 at Kingstown

Nine's Jeff Browne escalates last summer's imbroglio over player rotation: Nine wants say in selection ''people at home want to see the best players playing and we urge Cricket Australia to pick the best players every time … we've got to have the best players on the paddock to rate'' ''I think we've got a better understanding on that. Last year that balance was skewed too much in favour of resting some players so from now on there will be a lot more discussion between CA and the broadcaster about that.'' ''We don't mind paying if we can get some value for it.'' I maintain what I wrote in January: it would be staggering if CA had allowed Nine to influence team selection, informally or otherwise. Nevertheless, while Stakeholders Sutherland's riposte begins robustly it trails away with its "common goal" equivocation. No mention of the "despicable" he brandished after Cow Corner Warner snotted Dudley Root: ''Cricket has a long-standing and successful relationship with the Nine Network but team selections and scheduling are matters for Cricket Australia.'' ''The national selection panel selects the Australian teams. With the volume of international cricket being played, it will continue to be necessary for us to manage player workloads appropriately. We'll continue to consult with our broadcasters on scheduling issues.'' ''It's something we have always done. We have a common goal with our broadcast partners to maximise the number of fans watching and enjoying cricket. We'll consider all ideas and then make the appropriate decisions.'' CA has bought into a whole heap of fiasco if it has entered into any kind of agreement with Nine to allow the valued broadcast partner to influence team selection. But even the mere impression CA and Nine may have entered into such an agreement, or that Nine is driving selection is just as damaging. Maybe that's Browne's gambit: ratchet up pressure on CA to ditch rotations. (Of a more general nature: just how much does public posturing influence official decision making?)

Darren Stevens hit the fastest hundred of the county season from 44 balls under the lights at Canterbury

Ryan Harris will make his return to the bowling crease in Australia A's match against Gloucestershire in Bristol on Friday, as he steels himself for an Ashes campaign that looms as the defining moment of his international career