Cricket News

Team news for the opening round of County Championship matches.

Phil DeFreitas, the last active English cricketer who knows how it feels to win the Ashes, has announced that he is retiring at the end of the forthcoming season

Charles Palmer, who served cricket as a player and administrator for more than half a century, has died at the age of 85

Leicestershire drew their opening fixture of the 2005 season, a three-day warm-up match against a PCB XI in Lahore, although they needed the services of their captain, HD Ackerman to ensure against defeat after an astonishing new-ball spell from

Brett Lee may currently be surplus to Australia's requirements, but he remains a massive drawcard nonetheless, not least in county cricket, where he has been inundated with offers to play in the forthcoming season

Leicestershire have entered a new era with the signing of an agreement with Investors in Cricket (IC) to drive the commercial side of the club

Michael Vaughan will miss the first month of the domestic season

Leicestershire will head to Pakistan at the end of March for a short tour as part of their pre-season preparations

The pressure of cramming more fixtures and competitions into the summer has resulted in the season gradually extending itself at either end

HD Ackerman has been named as Leicestershire's captain for the 2005

Aftab Habib, who represented England in two Tests in 1999, has been offered a contract by Leicestershire

Brad Hodge, who is currently on Australia's tour of India, has signed a two-year contract with Lancashire

The draw for the first and second rounds of the 2005 C&G Trophy has been held in Bristol

Jenny Thompson presents a review of the 2004 county season

Brad Hodge has rejected a new two-year contract and will leave Leicestershire at the end of this season

Lancashire came within two wickets of defeating Worcestershire but the draw leaves them having to beat Gloucestershire in their final match - and they also need to get three more bonus points that their opponents

Scotland ended their second season of National League cricket with an emphatic victory over Derbyshire at the Grange

On another day of rain interruptions and run-rate calculations, Surrey - the defending National League champions - lost out to Northants, a defeat that condemned them to relegation

Six matches, six draws: the weather certainly came out on top in the latest round of matches in the Frizzell County Championship

Championship leaders Warwickshire's match at Bristol ended in a tame draw, with Mark Wagh and Jonathan Trott's half-centuries taking Warwickshire to 308 for 8 after Gloucestershire had amassed 592 for 8 declared thanks to Craig Spearman's 237