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Chris Tremlett, the England fast bowler, is to return home from the UAE after suffering a recurrence of a back injury. England will decide upon a replacement for the remainder of the Pakistan series later today.Tremlett, the 30-year-old fast bowler, reported stiffness in his back following the first Test. He will fly back to England on Wednesday afternoon.He is the second man to fly home from this tour. Tim Bresnan hasalready been forced home with an elbow injury. Neither can blame aheavy workload having come in to the tour on the back of lengthybreaks from the game.As a consequence, the England management were in discussions with theLions management in Sri Lanka about replacements. Jade Dernbach andStuart Meaker – both of whom were born in South Africa – are the mostlikely replacements, though it is understood Meaker is not fully fit.Chris Woakes, another option, has only just returned to bowling aftera thigh injury, while Boyd Rankin is also suffering from a minor thighstrain. Jack Brooks and Nathan Buck will also be considered, but Dernbach is the overwhelming favourite.

S Aravind, the Karnataka medium-pacer, has been sidelined for four weeks due to a knee injury. There was some good news for Karnataka, though, as Manish Pandey was recovering earlier than expected from his hernia operation, and could be part of the squad for the knock-out phase of the Ranji Trophy that starts on January 2.Aravind has a sore right knee, and hasn’t been able to bowl since the first evening of Karnataka’s ongoing Ranji Trophy match against Punjab at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. Aravind had had surgery three years ago on his right knee, but that played only a minor role in his current problem. Aravind, who was called up to the Indian one-day squad earlier this year, hasn’t been at his best this season, taking nine wickets at 49.44.His injury leaves Karnataka without all three of their fast bowlers who have been instrumental in the team becoming a major force in the Ranji Trophy over the past three seasons – Vinay Kumar and Abhimanyu Mithun are part of the Indian Test squad in Australia. The earliest Aravind is expected to return to action is for the semi-finals, if Karnataka qualify.Pandey, who hit a double century against Mumbai in November, was originally expected to be ruled out of the entire season. He has started working out in the gym and is progressing well enough to have a chance to play the quarter-finals.The other cause for cheer for Karnataka on the injury front is that the fast bowler SL Akshay, who made his debut this season, is recovering well from a hamstring problem kept him out of the Punjab match. He is “75% fit” according to the team physio, and a decision on his availability for the final league match against Uttar Pradesh will be taken after a fitness test over the weekend.

Mark Boucher, the South Africa wicketkeeper, is under pressure to score runs in order to prolong his international career. Andrew Hudson, the convenor of selectors, and Gary Kirsten, the national coach, have both said Boucher’s batting form needs to improve to end questions over his inclusion in future South African squads.Boucher is not part of South Africa’s present limited-overs plans, though he filled in for the injured AB de Villiers for the home series against Australia, and he made only 20 runs in three innings during the two-Test series. Boucher batted at No. 7 and was the last recognised batsman before the tail began. Hudson said it was disappointing not to see a more responsible performance from Boucher.”He understands that he needs to get some runs,” Hudson told ESPNcricinfo. “It’s not for me to say that, he knows that. Any No. 7 needs to be a pin, it is not unique to South Africa.”Boucher’s wicketkeeping, however, was up to standards during the Tests against Australia. He took five catches to become the first player with 500 catches in Test cricket. “He is an exceptional wicketkeeper and he showed it in this series,” Kirsten said after the Johannesburg Test. “It’s not necessary for me or anybody else to tell him that he needs to improve his batting, because he knows it.”However, the former convenor of selectors Mike Proctor said Boucher’s present dip in form could be linked to his axing for the 2011 World Cup. AB de Villiers was South Africa’s wicketkeeper for the tournament in the subcontinent. “He [Boucher] was left out of the World Cup squad and I think that’s when they [the selectors] should have kept him,” Proctor said. “AB is an adequate wicket-keeper but if you put him behind the stumps, you lose the best fielder in the world.”de Villiers suffered a finger injury during the Champions League Twenty20 which opened the door for Boucher to be recalled to the ODI side. He scored 22 runs in three innings against Australia and did not fulfill his responsibility as a finisher. “Everything is about confidence,” Proctor said. “If he is worried about whether he is going to be picked or not, that can play a role.”Before the second ODI in Durban, Boucher asked former South Africa wicketkeeper and coach, Ray Jennings, to travel to the city and give him personal coaching time. People close to Boucher said they had not seen him ask for assistance in this way in the past. Jennings and Boucher practised for two hours, on two separate occasions, and worked mostly on his wicketkeeping.Proctor said he expected Boucher to “bounce back” in the upcoming home series against Sri Lanka, which begins on December 15, but he would have to take it “one season at a time.” Hudson indicated that if Boucher showed improvement, he would secure his place for next year’s tours to New Zealand, England and Australia.”If Mark scores runs that puts the debate [over who will be his successor] to rest,” Hudson said. “There is no reason he can’t keep playing over the next year.”There is no clarity over who will be Boucher’s successor. Heino Kuhn is the likely candidate for Tests. He has a first-class average of 44, has been included in A-team squads and has played five T20 internationals. Kuhn has not played an ODI, though, which leaves the door open for the likes of Thami Tsolkeile or Morne van Wyk. “We need someone who is good with the gloves, a first-class keeper, instead of just a batsman who can keep,” Hudson said.

Haryana

Amit Mishra has a point to prove•Getty Images

The days of the likes of Kapil Dev, Rajinder Goel, Chetan Sharma and Amarjit Kaypee are gone. The days of being title contenders – or champions as they were in that great 1990-91 final – are gone as well. Nowadays, Haryana come in with the aim of managing to stay in the Super League. There, however, is a lesson to be learnt from Rajasthan’s triumph last year. They came up from the Plate league and the new format provided them with three possible matches of their lives. They ended up on the right side of all three; they didn’t even necessarily need to take 20 wickets. This new format is surely easier than the old one of two teams from groups of seven or eight making it to the semi-finals.The knockouts might be the tough yet short route, but the longer route precedes. That of playing six matches and ending up in the top three. To help Haryana do that, the likes of Amit Mishra and Joginder Sharma need to step up. Mishra is coming off a poor England tour, and has lost the reputation of being the second-best Test spinner in the country. He will be the captain of the side, and will want to do something special before the tour of Australia. Apart from the two, it’s a fairly young side, with Sunny Singh and Sachin Rana being the moderately experienced players.Like last year, Haryana will have three goals going into the season. Firstly, make sure you don’t end last and avoid relegation. Then, try to get into the top three. Then, it’s anybody’s tournament.What they did last year
Last year Haryana would have realised anything is possible in this format. Having made sure they won’t be relegated, they put in a surprise result by beating Uttar Pradesh. That took them into the quarter-finals on home turf against Tamil Nadu. Weather interruptions made it shorter than a one-innings shootout, and had they won the toss and known what run-rate to maintain batting second, they would have found themselves in the semi-final. As it turned out, Haryana batted first, and lost out on the basis of run-rates of uncompleted innings.Men to watch
Mishra will surely be the one to watch, and he will have an understudy in Yuzvendra Chahal. Sunny will be their batting mainstay. Sunny is the only Haryana batsman to have scored a triple-century, but that was in the Plate League. In the Super League last year, he scored a total of 300 runs. He will want to address that situation.

Gujarat

Once again, Gujarat’s success will rely heavily on how Parthiv Patel fares•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

After the high of 2008-09, when they reached the quarter-finals, and the low of 2009-10, when they finished second to last on points, Gujarat had a middling 2010-11 season. They mustered five draws, a win and a loss in their seven matches.Gujarat lacked consistency with the bat: only two batsmen, Sunny Patel (who is not in the current squad) and Priyank Panchal, hit hundreds during the season, while none of those who played more than two games managed to average above 38.00. The bowling was over-dependent on legspinner Salil Yadav and medium pacers Ishwar Chaudhary and Siddharth Trivedi (also not in this season’s squad). None of the other bowlers claimed more than four wickets in the season and even among the top three, only Yadav averaged below 32.00.What they did last season
Gujarat’s 2010-11 season was off to a promising start. In their opener against Railways they played themselves into a position to enforce a follow-on, and then came from behind in the second round to beat Saurashtra in a tight game. During the course of the competition, they drew with Bengal at home, and with Assam and Tamil Nadu away.They had two off games however, when they capitulated woefully, to spoil any chance they had of progressing to the knockouts. Against Delhi, they imploded for 71 – the season’s lowest total – within 24 overs. In a show of substance, though, they managed to bat out 129 overs in their second innings and deny Delhi an innings victory by one wicket. There was no such resolute comeback against Mumbai. They were handed a crushing innings and 167-run defeat, the worst loss of the season.Men to watch
Gujarat are a bit light on experience, with only captain Parthiv Patel, Niraj Patel and Bhavik Thaker having played more than 20 first-class matches. Their 14-man squad includes debutant Faisal Dudhat, a 23-year-old fast bowler. In what is a big blow for the team, pace spearhead Siddharth Trivedi has transferred to Saurashtra this season, leaving the bowling looking vulnerable. The fast-bowling requirements will have to be primarily met by Amit Singh and Ishwar Chaudhary, who have played 27 first-class games between them.Parthiv, the batting mainstay, had a poor last season, averaging 21.60 in six matches. In the team’s best Ranji Trophy showing so far, in 2008-09, he led from the front, averaging 47.81 with a top score of 206. They will hope he shows some of that form again, after his summer with the national limited-overs team. While Parthiv must provide the flare, Gujarat will hope the experienced Niraj anchors the batting once more, as he had done in the previous two seasons.

Orissa

Basanth Mohanty will have to find bowling support from different quarters, as Debashish Mohanty takes on a new role as coach•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

It is difficult to imagine an Orissa squad without Debashish Mohanty and Shiv Sunder Das but that is precisely the kind of challenge confronting new captain Halhadar Das, as Orissa face up to a future without their two stalwarts. While Das was dropped midway last season, Mohanty has stepped in as coach after Orissa decided to part ways with their high-profile appointee Michael Bevan. Bevan coached the side in the Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament and also took them on a training tour to Australia, but his departure just as the domestic first-class season is about to begin has raised eyebrows. The advantage for Orissa is that Bevan’s replacement knows the side better than almost everyone.Mohanty’s first task will be to get his batsmen to perform significantly better than the two centuries they managed among them in the previous season. With only two batsmen making more than 300 runs in 2010-11, it was no wonder that Orissa continued to languish in the lower reaches of the Super League. With Mohanty no longer available to share the new ball, they will also need to find some support for Basant Mohanty and Alok Chandra Sahoo.Orissa are placed in Group A alongside defending champions Rajasthan and heavyweights like Mumbai, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh. Add to that the presence of plucky sides like Railways and Saurashtra, and Orissa will do well to avoid relegation this season, something they have managed to do in the recent past without threatening to go further.What they did last year
Orissa finished just above relegated Himachal Pradesh last season, failing to win even one of their six games. They began promisingly when they took a big first-innings lead against Baroda but were made to follow-on by UP in their next game, before being losing by an innings to Karnataka. They had to follow-on against Punjab as well but scrambled to take the lead against Himachal Pradesh. A disappointing season ended with a seven-wicket loss to Haryana.Men to watch
Basanth Mohanty has been carrying the Orissa attack and has hovered around the 20-wicket mark for the past few seasons. He needs a stronger performance to make his presence felt though. Natraj Behera – who made the most runs for Orissa last season, and was also the BCCI Under-22 cricketer of the year 2009-10 – is one whom Orissa would expect to make the big scores.

Railways

Murali Kartik: “We [Railways] have lost a lot of players in the last few years and we want the next lot to come through to for the team.”•Getty Images

Railwaymen pride themselves on being the unheralded long-distance men of Indian domestic cricket in this new millennium. Only Mumbai have won more Ranji titles in the 2000s, Railways winning two of their three finals. They also own a record that gives them bragging rights over Mumbai. In the last 13 years, Railways are the only Ranji champions to have won the Irani Cup – they did it not once but twice, both their Ranji wins followed up by Irani triumps in 2002-03 and 2005-06.Yet, the clutch of players who formed the Railways engine room in the previous few seasons has dwindled down to five with the retirement of off spinner Kulamani Parida last season. The quintet of captain Sanjay Bangar, Yere Gowd, Murali Kartik, Jai P Yadav and Shreyas Khanolkar approach the new season with one eye on the matches ahead and the other on identifying which of their younger players are up for a confident baton-change.With five of seven league games at home, this season is when the best of the next generation must wave the flag that gets the Railways side going. “We’ve lost a lot of players in the last few years and we want the next lot to come through to for the team and for themselves, to push for higher honours,” Kartik said. “As a Railways man, you have to work extra hard to get noticed and all of us know that.”What they did last year
Railways began with a stumble, conceding first-innings’ points at home to Gujarat and Assam, before dropping not just Rohit Sharma but the chance of a win against Mumbai who squeaked home in the 89th over. By the time they got to the last two rounds, Railways had mustered four points from five matches. Relegation to the Plate Division loomed, at which point, they located their missing bullet train. Railways first defeated Delhi, defending 135, and then Bengal with Yadav grabbing a second-innings five-for. In the quarter-final Baroda put Railways in, Munaf Patel ate up their middle order and Railways Ranji season ended.Men to watch
The gen next men need to become the performers of the present. Khanolkar’s opening partner Faiz Fazal could do with some hefty scores, while fast bowler Anureet Singh can take over some of Jai P Yadav’s load. Anureet’s 4 for 53 was the foundation of Railway’s successful defence of 135 against Delhi, which prevented relegation. One of the new men in the yard this season is opening batsman Shivakant Shukla, who has transferred from Uttar Pradesh. Until now, Shukla is best remembered for batting UP into the 2008-09 final, with the fourth-longest innings in the history of first-class cricket.

England’s one-day captain Alastair Cook has rubbished claims by Pakistan fast bowler Umar Gul that James Anderson and Stuart Broad were involved in ball tampering. Cook said if Gul did have any concerns he should have gone through the proper channels.Gul hit the headlines after giving an interview in Karachi, where he suggested he had seen examples of ball tampering and mentioned seeing Anderson and Broad using various techniques. However, he later tried to step back from controversy by saying he was only talking about the England pair in relation to natural wear that develops on a ball by throwing it across the outfield.”We certainly haven’t tampered with the ball and if he did have any complaints he should have gone to the ICC over that,” Cook said at Heathrow airport ahead of England’s departure for their one-day series in India. “I think he has almost said himself that it has been a bit of a mountain out of a molehill.”In a statement to Pakpassion.net, where Gul’s original comments first appeared, he clarified his remarks. “I was explaining that the ball gets scratched when it is thrown against the rough surface or hits the advertisement boards along the boundary rope. In this manner, I said, every bowler can be accused of doing it.”Gul made his earlier comments in an interview where he talked about the art of reverse swing and how various elements of ball tampering shouldn’t be included with the laws. “Leave cricket with its traditional ways rather than making changes that would take all the charm out of it,” he said.The recent change to using a separate ball from either end during one-day internationals, which will be implemented for the first time when Bangladesh play West Indies, could impact the role of reverse swing during 50-over matches. Under the previous regulations the ball was changed after 34 overs and the period shortly before the switch was when the fast bowlers would sometimes start to get the ball to reverse. However, with neither ball having no more than 25 overs of wear it will be harder for the natural deterioration to take place.

ScorecardRikki Clarke blazed 126 from 101 deliveries as Warwickshire declared on 574 for 7•Getty Images

Jim Troughton ended his two-year century drought and Rikki Clarke flayed a toiling Nottinghamshire attack as Warwickshire dominated the second day of their County Championship match at Edgbaston.Troughton made a superb 151, Clarke 126 from only 101 balls and Ian Westwood took his overnight 144 to 171 to help Warwickshire to 574 for seven declared, their highest ever total against Nottinghamshire. It was also the highest total conceded by Nottinghamshire this season but Warwickshire collected only three batting points as they pottered to 338 for five, 12 runs short of the fourth point, in 110 overs.But Troughton and Clarke cut loose in a destructive sixth-wicket stand of 203 in 30 overs which demoralised Nottinghamshire’s weary attack. Troughton, who had managed only three fifties in his previous 54 championship innings, played with composure to reach his first century since August 2009 with 13 fours from 199 balls. His second 50 came from just 69 balls.Clarke, who recently rejected a move to Sussex, was given licence to play his shots to set up the declaration and he turned a 44-ball 50 into a 90-ball century which included two straight sixes off Graeme White. The slow left-armer absorbed more heavy punishment when Clarke off drove then pulled him for further sixes but gained a measure of revenge when the former England all-rounder picked out deep midwicket.White also eventually snared Troughton, who was bowled trying to force him through the off side, but not before the former England one-day international left-hander had stroked 19 fours in his 259-ball innings. Westwood had earlier perished in the pursuit of quick runs when he hooked Luke Fletcher into the hands of Paul Franks at long leg. Westwood batted six and a quarter hours for his 171 and he shared a fourth-wicket stand of 177 in 49 overs with Troughton.Tim Ambrose was taken at first slip driving at Franks but Nottinghamshire’s hopes of restricting Warwickshire to under 400 disappeared during the onslaught from Troughton and Clarke. Nottinghamshire might have expected Warwickshire to declare when Clarke and Troughton were dismissed in successive overs from White but Troughton increased their frustration by allowing Chris Woakes and Chris Metters to bat on for a further three overs before he called them in.Nottinghamshire had to make 425 just to avoid the follow on but they started well with Alex Hales and Karl Turner putting on 54 before Turner was taken by Varun Chopra at first slip driving at Woakes. The pitch still appeared to be full of runs and Hales completed a fluent half century from 71 balls to steer Nottinghamshire to 86 for 1.

Michael Clarke, the Australia captain, has admitted the Argus review and the decisions taken by Cricket Australia on Friday were a minor distraction in the lead-up to the fourth ODI but praised his side for displaying excellent character in difficult conditions to take the series against Sri Lanka. The removal of Andrew Hilditch as chief selector was one of the significant decisions taken on Friday, but Clarke said his team-members made a pact they weren’t going to talk about it going into the match.”No doubt it [the events on Friday] is some sort of a distraction but you face distractions everyday in your life; with what’s happening with your family, some of them have kids,” Clarke said after Australia beat Sri Lanka by five wickets to take an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-match series. “There are always issues outside of the game that you face as a distraction. It’s up to us to determine how big a distraction it becomes. We left our meeting the other day and made a pact that we weren’t going to talk about it. We had an optional training session yesterday that every single player turned up for.”It looked like being a comfortable win for Australia after they bowled out Sri Lanka for 132, but Clarke said it took quite an effort to overcome the heat and was full of praise for his bowlers. “The character the boys showed in conditions that were as hot as I’ve experienced in any ODI around the world and to put in that kind of performance with the ball [was great].”We didn’t get wickets at the start of their innings but we bowled with really good discipline and in good areas. The wicket was a little bit two-paced and I thought our patience was the key with the ball today. It’s been a key to our success over here; we’ve got Sri Lanka out on three occasions.”Australia lost five wickets in the chase, including three in an over towards the end of the game, and Clarke singled out Shaun Marsh’s fluent 70 as the decisive contribution. “We knew the new ball would skid off the pitch and that with the old ball, they would get some reverse-swing and a bit of spin as well. Shaun Marsh played outstandingly and chased those runs down on his own in those conditions.”The star for Australia in their bowling was left-arm spinner Xavier Doherty, who bagged four wickets and was named Man of the Match. “After not taking as many wickets as I would have liked earlier on in the series, it was good to get some today,” Doherty said.”X is a very hard marker on himself and he’s done a magnificent job for us,” Clarke said. “Part of our success here has been the partnerships from the bowlers. Sometimes you bowl beautifully and get no wickets, but your mate at the other end does. On a couple of occasions this series, that’s what has happened to X.”If he keeps bowling the way he’s bowling, I see no reason why he can’t play Test cricket for Australia.”