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Lance Armstrong was arguably the first high-profile athlete to use the social networking site Twitter as a means of communicating his thoughts to a wider audience, but then cycling is a rather more individual pursuit than cricket, as Armstrong’s feud with his team-mate and Tour de France winner, Alberto Contador, would suggest.Phillip Hughes, on the other hand, is a 20-year-old rookie Australian cricketer barely six months into his international career, and today he became the first player to “tweet” his own axing from the team, several hours before the team selectors went public with the news that Shane Watson had been drafted into his opener’s position.It wasn’t exactly a state secret, and Graham Manou’s dramatic call-up minutes before the delayed start ended up being the bigger talking point of the day, but nevertheless, Hughes’ embarrassment was such that Cricket Australia were moved to intervene, and his manager, Neil D’Costa, ended up carrying the can for the untimely outburst.”I look after the Twitter for Phillip and we were certainly under the impression [the timing was okay] because of the time change,” D’Costa told Sky Sports News. “I’m in India and I was dealing with all the stuff through Australia. Unfortunately I am probably the fool in this situation.”D’Costa evidently runs a one-on-one service that would make Jerry Maguire proud, because the wording of Hughes’ statement was unpolished, to say the least. “Disappointed not to be on the field with the lads today,” read the tweet. “Will be supporting the guys, it’s a BIG test match 4 us. Thanks 4 all the support!”In the event, support came not only from Hughes’ fans and admirers on the website, but also from an unrepentant twitterer in the England camp, Graeme Swann, who is currently locked in a battle with his team-mate, Jimmy Anderson, as they attempt to attract more followers than the other.”I was a bit surprised to hear about it, but I’m not going to get into a big thing about Twitter because I’m on it and it’s brilliant, tell all your readers,” Swann said. “Obviously it’s a bit of a left-field way to go about things, but we didn’t know anything about it until well into today.”We haven’t sat down and had a meeting about [using it], and I’m not sure the management are quite au fait about what Twitter is, to be honest. It’s very much a case of using your common sense. If you’re going to put something on there that’s going to get you into trouble, then it’s probably best not to do [that].”Hughes is certainly not the first sportsman to get into a scrape through social networking. The Tottenham footballer, Darren Bent, today criticised his chairman, Daniel Levy, in rather uncouched terms for dawdling over his desired transfer to Sunderland, while last year a young Crystal Palace footballer, Ashley-Paul Robinson, accidentally told 2.7 million Facebook users that he was in unsolicited talks with Fulham – “Ashley-Paul has been very naughty lol!”Tim Nielsen, Australia’s coach, wasn’t going to get quite so hung up about the whole issue, though, as the whole concept was rather alien to him. “I can’t tell you how Twitter works, to be honest. It’s one of those things that’s going to happen,” he said. “He told his family, they’ve discussed it, we’ve spoken to his management, his mate, his family, those things are kept in house until they are released formally. I now know of what Twitter is.As for Swann, his Twitter use will remain strictly recreational. “My Twittering is more of a self-effacing thing,” he said. “I rip the piss out of myself because people seem to like that.” Having decided after their five-a-side warm-up on Monday that “Jimmy A is an absolute animal, Broad is like Drogba, Monty the new Ronaldinho [sic],” yesterday swannyg66 mused: “cricket whites or swimming trunks for tomorrow?”From the way England bowled in the 30 overs available today, you wonder if the team had opted for the latter.

Catch of the day
In the aftermath of India’s exit from the men’s tournament, their fielding was blamed as one of the reasons they came up short. They should take a few lessons from the women who performed with commitment and skill during New Zealand’s innings. The pick of the moments was a fine diving catch at mid-off by Harmanpreet Kaur, who managed to get her hands underneath Suzie Bates’ drive. The ball was dipping late, by Kaur flung herself forward to hold the ball inches off the turf.Ground fielding of the day
It wasn’t just the catching that caught the eye. The Indian fielders were excellent at saving runs in the outfield and Mithali Raj produced a swift piece of work to run out Amy Satterthwaite. The ball had been pushed into the covers, but Raj attacked it quickly and managed to just clip the stumps to remove one bail. Satterthwaite appeared to think she would complete the run comfortably, but in the end was short by a couple of inches.Boundary of the day
The ropes were brought in for this match to encourage boundary-hitting, but it wouldn’t have mattered where they were when Aimee Watkins connected with a powerful sweep to collect the first six of the match. To the last ball of the 17th over, she swung Gouher Sultana from outside off well clear of the boundary and the ball landed over the advertising hoardings. All the fielder stationed on the edge could do was watch it sail over her head. It was one for the crowd to throw back.Catch of the day II
New Zealand matched India’s sharpness in the field. When Anjun Chopra spliced her pull towards midwicket, Bates sprinted in from that position and then dived forward – in similar style to Kaur earlier – and held the chance, but also managed to stop the ball slipping out as she hit the turf.Crazy run of the day
With the required rate climbing and the pressure mounting, India began to panic. Nothing showed this more than Reema Malhotra’s attempt to steal a single straight back to the bowler. Satterthwaite barely had to divert from her follow through to collect the ball and throw it back to wicketkeeper Rachel Priest. Malhotra was so far out that Asad Rauf didn’t need to ask for the third umpire and at the non-strikers’ end, Raj showed her annoyance as another team-mate departed.Non-dismissal of the day
Amita Sharma was involved with two dismissals in one ball but neither was out. Bates had slipped out a high full toss – purely accidental – which was flying towards Sharma’s head. She managed to connect with it, sending a catch to short fine-leg and in the process fell onto her stumps. The umpire had already called no-ball and Bates quickly apologised. Sharma was probably happy she was still intact.

Moin Khan, the former Pakistan captain, who coached the Lahore Badshahs during the ICL, has said he wants all Pakistan players who played in the unauthorised league to be allowed to represent the country.The PCB has accepted both Mohammad Yousuf and allrounder Abdul Razzaq into the official fold, and Razzaq became the first former player to return to international cricket after being banned when he was drafted in as a replacement for the World Twenty20 on Thursday.”But I hope this is the start of a process through which all other ICL players are allowed to try and represent their national team,” PTI quoted Moin as saying. “It was wrong to ban them. I think at least now the board is taking the right decisions.”The PCB said it would consider selecting ICL players on a case-by-case basis. They are yet to decide the future of several players such as Imran Nazir, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, Imran Farhat and Mohammad Sami who are contenders for a place in the national team.Moin said he had not expected the ICC to allow Razzaq to return to the Pakistan side for the World Twenty20 in place of the injured Yasir Arafat. “It came as a pleasant surprise that Razzaq is finally going to get a chance to play for Pakistan again,” he said. “I spoke to him and he is excited himself.”

ScorecardGraham Onions enjoyed a memorable debut as he claimed 5 for 38•AFP

The sweat and toil of Barbados and Trinidad felt a world away as England made home advantage count at Lord’s. They bundled out West Indies for 152 and still had time to remove two more in the follow-on as the visitors hurtled towards a heavy defeat. Graham Onions announced himself in Test cricket with 5 for 38 – including three wickets in an over – and Graeme Swann showed his all-round credentials with three key scalps to follow his career-best 63 that lifted England to 377.Onions had looked understandably nervous at the start of his spell – following a first ball duck to end England’s innings – and his first four overs cost 22 as he dropped short. However, his fortunes changed when he removed Lendl Simmons with one that climbed off a length and took the shoulder of the bat to first slip. Two balls later he had Jerome Taylor gloving a pull down the leg side and he ended the over with Sulieman Benn – who had barely had time to get padded up as the collapse unfolded – well held at third slip by Swann. His fourth followed when he trapped Denesh Ramdin on the crease and the magical fifth when he removed Lionel Baker to end the innings.Onions, and England, will have much sterner Tests this season, but these early contests are all about producing efficient performances that can lay the ground work for what follows. They couldn’t really have asked for much more as Swann and Onions instigated a collapse of eight for 53 either side of tea before James Anderson showed his mastery of swing. He extracted the key scalps of Chris Gayle and Ramnaresh Sarwan, both of whom were dismissed twice in the space of three hours, as Gayle fended a catch to third slip and Sarwan was undone by a fine inswinger that had him tangled in knots.What was noticeable was how much more life England’s trio of quicks (Tim Bresnan only bowled one late over so can’t be included just yet) managed to get out of the surface. Matt Prior was regularly taking the ball above his head and batsmen were being struck on the glove and body. The speed-gun readings said Anderson, Onions and Stuart Broad all hit 90mph which, if accurate and sustainable, gives the attack a potent edge.Broad made the early breakthroughs in the first innings after a surprising start where Swann had been handed the new ball before normality returned after the two-over experiment. Following a brisk opening stand of 46, Broad benefited from Gayle’s lack of footwork the ball cannoned off inside edge into the stumps, and four overs later gained revenge against Sarwan for the tough winter’s work when a toe-end carried through to Prior.However, the spell that turned the day strongly in England’s favour came from Swann when he returned at a more conventional time in the innings. His first ball back crept through the defence of Devon Smith who had peppered the boundary during an aggressive 46 before falling in a manner that became common in West Indies. This was the fourth time he had fallen to Swann and again it was difficult to see how he’d managed to miss the ball, although it was a good delivery from Swann.Next ball it got even better when Swann drew Shivnarine Chanderpaul into a drive and the outside edge went to Paul Collingwood at slip. With that West Indies’ big three were gone and England had an opening. Shortly after tea Brendan Nash, who became equally troublesome for England during the winter, fell in very similar style when Collingwood plucked out another smart catch at slip as Swann continued to trouble the left handers.The collapse was reminiscent of the sort that West Indies used to specialise in and it generated an unstoppable momentum as Onions ripped through the lower order. However, it didn’t come as a total surprise because the tourists had been lacklustre from the very start of play when England were able to grasp the advantage through Swann’s positive strokeplay. The only negative aspect of England’s play all day was a curious decision to walk off for bad light after 25 minutes play with the runs flowing.Swann and Ravi Bopara carried their stand to 93 in 21 overs as they took advantage of West Indies’ lethargy as Swann reached fifty with a flat, pulled six off Baker. Bopara’s elegant innings was eventually ended on 143 when he drove to extra cover and Edwards finally earned his deserved reward by wrapping up the innings in two balls and get his place on the honours board. But that was about the only moment worth celebrating for the visitors as they were soon made to look a distant second best. Even though the Lord’s pitch has a history of flattening out, anyone with tickets for Saturday would be wise to start looking at alternative entertainment.

David Warner, the explosive opener, has Dale Steyn in his sights as he aims for a spot in Australia’s squad for the Twenty20 World Cup in England in June. Warner and Shane Harwood, the Victoria fast bowler, have been brought into the visiting outfit for the two warm-ups for the one-day series in South Africa.Warner, 22, said he wanted to take on Steyn and Co, starting with Friday’s opening contest in Johannesburg. “He [Steyn] is one of those guys that if he gets on top of you, he’s hard to handle,” Warner told AAP. “My goal is to try to take it to them.”You don’t want to be on the back foot to them because if they are going to get on top of you, you’re cooked. He is definitely one of the best bowlers I’ve faced. He has got me out a couple of times. I think I’m his bunny.”Warner’s international career is very short and he only made his first-class debut in New South Wales’ final Sheffield Shield match of the Australian summer. However, he burst on to the limited-overs scene with 89 from 43 balls when facing South Africa at the MCG and played six ODIs before being reduced to a Twenty20 role.”That innings boosted my profile a bit and then it just became a bit of a surreal experience for myself,” Warner said. “From being dropped, you learn a lot of stuff as well. From there [scoring 89] I made my mark. Sometimes it doesn’t come off but that’s cricket.”I’ve gone back and scored a couple of hundreds in grade cricket. I’ve had time out in the middle, got my first first-class game. Come back here and score more runs and hopefully I can get back into the one-day team, eventually.”

Dimitri Mascarenhas, the Hampshire allrounder, will attempt to channel the tactical nous and general hubris of Shane Warne if elevated to the role of England Twenty20 captain. Mascarenhas credits Warne, his captain and mentor at the Rose Bowl and Rajasthan, as a source of inspiration and will apply the Australian legspinner’s leadership philosophies to the England Twenty20 side if given the opportunity.”He’s the best captain I’ve played with or ever seen in my whole life,” Mascarenhas told Cricinfo. “He’s an amazing captain. How can I not learn some brilliant stuff off him? I would definitely take that into the England set-up. I’d obviously do it my own way and it might be a little bit different to what we have seen in the past but maybe that’s a good thing. We’ll have to wait and see who gets the job first.”Kevin Pietersen, Andrew Flintoff and Paul Collingwood may have expressed reluctance, but Mascarenhas would have no such qualms in accepting the England captaincy. Mascarenhas has emerged as a strong candidate to lead England during the forthcoming World Twenty20 tournament and, unlike his higher-profile team-mates, has embraced the possibility.Mascarenhas and Rob Key were installed as early favourites to assume the Twenty20 captaincy after Andrew Strauss’s surprise decision not to nominate for selection. Key, who has not represented England at the elite level since 2005, responded guardedly when asked his thoughts on the Twenty20 captaincy last week. Mascarenhas, conversely, was positively buoyant.”If it happened it would be amazing and I’d absolutely love that,” he said. “I haven’t heard a lot of late, just a few snippets in the papers and stuff, and people have been telling me that they were saying it’s my chance to be England captain. It’s nice that people would write that sort of stuff about me, it’s brilliant.”Obviously a few people have turned it down so we’ll just have to wait and see. If the opportunity came up I’d love to do it. It would be a bit of a risk, I suppose, to make me captain, I’ve only been around a little bit but who knows. I think I’d do a great job.”Mascarenhas took the helm at Hampshire when Warne opted not to complete his deal with the county last season, but believes his limited captaincy experience should not count against him. “I’ve had a year in the job now at Hampshire, I did all forms of cricket, I thoroughly enjoyed it and we had a lot of success as well,” he said. “So from that point of view that made me very happy and the boys really got behind me. They thought I was a good leader and that I lead from the front.”Even if he is overlooked for the England Twenty20 captaincy, Mascarenhas is virtually assured of a place in the final 15-man squad, which should be named later this month. While many of his county colleagues are aiming to impress in the chill and damp of early-season England, Mascarenhas has the chance to showcase his skills in the high-intensity arena of the IPL.”It’s a great opportunity for me to perform, do well and get noticed,” he said. “It’s the world stage, I know it’s a bit different from playing for England, but if you perform here people take notice. Hopefully if I can put in a few good performances which will put me in good stead and when I get back hopefully I get selected in the World Cup side.”Mascarenhas’ IPL spell was limited to a single appearance last year, but after Shane Watson’s call-up to the Australia one-day squad for the ODI series against Pakistan, he is confident of an extended run this time around. He has already received a taste of the IPL experience in South Africa during an open-top bus tour through Cape Town on Thursday; a pre-cursor to Saturday’s opening ceremony.”I wasn’t sure how many people would turn up, but there was a good crowd,” he said. “We have a great bunch of lads and obviously it’s going to be a lot tougher this year to go back-to-back, but the boys are in good spirits and it’s a massive game for us against Bangalore on Saturday.”

Ryan Sidebottom has been ruled out of the Twenty20 international and one-day series against West Indies by his persistent Achilles problem. He will fly home after the final Test in Trinidad while Amjad Khan, who made his debut in Port of Spain, will remain with the squad.It is the latest setback for Sidebottom who has had injury problems since the middle of 2008. He played in Jamaica and Barbados without posing much of a threat, finishing with just a single wicket. He was previously ruled out of the Test series in India after originally pulling up lame in the Stanford Super Series following an injury-hit end to the home season against South Africa.”Ryan’s had problems with his Achilles for a little while now and we feel as though it’s best served for Ryan to go back and get some intensive treatment,” Hugh Morris, the managing director of England cricket, said. “Obviously it’s disappointing he won’t be available for the one-day series alongside Graeme Swann, but with the amount of cricket we have coming up in England we will feel he needs to go back and get treatment with a view to him being ready for the summer.”England’s one-day squad looks significantly different to the one originally named with Sidebottom and Swann ruled out through injury, while Samit Patel was withdrawn after failing to reach his required fitness level. Adil Rashid and Gareth Batty were added to the party earlier this week to cover the spin department.However, there was more promising news on Andrew Flintoff who will arrive back in Trinidad on Tuesday. He returned to the UK when the team were in Barbados after picking up a hip injury during the Antigua Test. While back in England Flintoff has been under the guidance of Nick Pierce, the ECB’s chief medical officer, and has also worked with the Lancashire medical staff.”Our medical team has been pleased with his progress,” Morris said. “He will continue his treatment over here with a view, hopefully, to playing some part in the one-day series.”The limited-overs leg of the tour starts with a warm-up match in Trinidad on Saturday before the Twenty20 the following day at the Queen’s Park Oval. A five-match ODI series then takes place in Guyana, Barbados and St Lucia.

Giles Clarke has been elected unopposed for a second two-year term as ECB chairman.Clarke’s only challenger, former Conservative party treasurer Lord Marland, withdrew ten days ago after it became clear he would not be able to muster sufficient support among the counties to mount a serious campaign.”I would like to thank Lord Marland, who is after all a very experienced election campaigner, and also all the counties that voted for me,” Clarke said. “I believe that the overriding message from this election is that there is no division of purpose within first-class cricket in England and Wales.”Indeed, this election has demonstrated quite categorically that, if anything, cricket is more agreed on a common direction that at any time in the last few years.”

Australia may have lost their No.1 ranking in ODIs to South Africa after their 39-run defeat in Perth, but they have an opportunity to reclaim that position quickly when their five-match ODI series against New Zealand gets underway.South Africa went ahead by a fraction of a point after winning the series 4-1, but a victory in the first ODI against New Zealand in Perth, on Sunday, will be enough to push Australia to the top. Australia are still the top Test team, enjoying a five-point lead over South Africa despite losing the Test series 2-1 this summer.South Africa are back at the top for the first time since April 2008 and held the position for a brief period. The gap between the top three sides is steadily narrowing, with India also in the picture. They are currently five points behind South Africa and Australia in the ODI rankings and a series victory against Sri Lanka will push them further towards the top.Meanwhile, Zimbabwe have also made progress, moving up one place to tenth after winning the opening two matches of the five-ODI series in Kenya.

Mumbai’s march towards their 38th Ranji Trophy crown has been bolstered by the inclusion of Sachin Tendulkar and Zaheer Khan in the 15-man squad for their semi-final clash against Saurashtra. The match will be played in Chennai from January 4-7.The last time the duo played for Mumbai, the team won the title – in 2006-07, against Bengal.That was Pravin Amre’s first year as Mumbai coach and he has pleasant memories of the campaign, which culminated in the 132-run win in the final at the Wankhede Stadium. Both players had an impact, Tendulkar scoring a vital first-innings century and Zaheer picking up nine wickets for the match.No wonder Amre was enthusiastic about their return to the side. “It will be a boost for our youngsters, who have already done well. Their presence will be highly motivating as the players will expect to do well along with them,” he said.During the league phase of the current season, Tendulkar chipped in with advice at a crucial juncture. Mumbai had just returned after a disappointing performance against Saurashtra, where they had to fight to save the game after following on. It was a wake-up call and, with three games to go, they could not afford to relax.Back in town, after the England ODI series was cut short in the wake of the terror attacks in Mumbai, Tendulkar spent some valuable time with the team members ahead of their home tie against Hyderabad.”During one-to-one sessions the player is more open since there is more privacy and that is always more effective,” said Amre.Subsequently every game Mumbai played ended in an outright victory. Despite being the best team, there are some pending issues, especially in the bowling department, where the early advantage has been squandered.Even in the quarter-finals, Himachal Pradesh were reeling at 75-5 but managed to reach 250 in their first innings and forced Mumbai to bat a second time, though the former champions had a 245-run lead.Amre feels that is where Zaheer’s experience will prove crucial. “He will be like a role model, a big help in providing key inputs to the fast bowlers.”The selectors have made three other changes to the 15-man squad for the last-four clash: Ankit Chavan replaces fellow left-arm spinner Iqabal Abdulla while Prafulla Waghela and Rahil Shaikh make way for Tendulkar and Zaheer.Wasim Jaffer remains captain.Squad: Wasim Jaffer (c), Sachin Tendulkar, Ajinkya Rahane, Sahil Kukreja, Amol Muzumdar, Rohit Sharma, Ajit Agarkar, Vinayak Samant (wk), Sairaj Bahutule, Ramesh Powar, Zaheer Khan, Dhawal Kulkarni, Abhishek Nayar, Usman Malvi and Ankit Chavan; Pravin Amre (coach)