Andrew Caddick has signed a new four-year contract with Somerset, which will keep him at Taunton until the end of the 2007 season. Peter Anderson, the county chief executive, said: "It is fantastic news for Somerset, and a typical example of his loyalty to the club, especially when we know that other counties were chasing him."Caddick has undergone back surgery in recent months, and has not played for England since his matchwinning ten-wicket haul at Sydney in January 2003. Nevertheless, Somerset have faith that he will return as strong as ever, even though he will be approaching 38 by the time his new deal runs out.Caddick for his part was equally keen to pledge his future to Somerset. "[They] gave me my chance in the first place," he said, "so why would I want to turn my back on them now?"Caddick is not the only big name to have put pen to paper for Somerset. Australia’s captain, Ricky Ponting, has confirmed his availability for the final stages of this year’s Twenty20 Competition, as well as the semi-final of the C&G Trophy."I am really looking forward to my stint with Somerset," he said, "and hope my new team-mates will play well to qualify for the later stages of both cup competitions. If they have played that well, I might not get in the team!"Ponting will also be available for four Championship matches and four NCL games. "It will be a terrific thrill to have him in the side," said Somerset’s captain, Mike Burns. "The rest of us have a big job to do ahead of his arrival. It is a big incentive for everyone and I don’t think I shall be hesitating over his selection."

Mark Waugh’s long and prosperous cricket career ended only 22 days ago. Now his 17-year relationship with Sue Porter is over as well.Waugh, who retired after New South Wales’s season-ending Pura Cup game against Queensland at the SCG on March 7, announced the split today via his manager. Waugh and 51-year-old Porter were together throughout his 128-Test career and the vast majority of his 18 years with NSW.Leo Karis, Waugh’s manager, confirmed the separation. “Mark Waugh and Susan Porter have today mutually and amicably agreed to end their relationship,” he said in a statement. “Mark and Susan request that their privacy be respected at this time. There will not be any further comments made by either party.”Waugh, 38, met Porter when he was a 21-year-old working at a Sydney sports store. She was 34 at the time, and married with three children.”It wasn’t love at first sight,” Waugh wrote in his biography. “Sue was married, and I was just a young fella who was a bit naive when it came to girls.” Waugh’s book said Porter did not share his love of gambling on horses, and insisted on one gambling-free day a week when they were at home together.They had been engaged.

After a number of one-day tournaments, and a closely-contested Duleep Trophy, the Indian domestic season approaches its home-stretch. The Ranji Trophy semi-final kicks off tomorrow as Mumbai take on Hyderabad and Tamil Nadu clash with Railways. Though these matches will be completely overshadowed by the India-Pakistan series, they will provide a few players a chance to stake their claim for a spot in the Test side.Mumbai have breezed through their league encounters. Like last season, it has been a collective effort and they have garners 22 points – the highest in the leagues – from seven matches (won three and gained first-innings points in the rest). Wasim Jaffer and Vinod Kambi have piloted the batting efforts but there have been plucky contributions from almost everyone. Aavishkar Salvi has recovered from injury and is expected to take the new ball with Munaf Patel. Ramesh Powar, a vital cog in their machinery, will surely be missed, but Sairaj Bahutule, the legspinner, and Nilesh Kulkarni, with his left-arm spin, will provide a lot of variety even in his absence. And to top it all, they will have the home advantage,Though Hyderabad will have the odds severely stacked against them, they haven’t had a bad season by any means. They dominated Tamil Nadu and routed Karnataka, two of the strong teams in their group, and the loss to Bengal was their only blemish. Ambati Rayudu and Vinay Kumar have produced some crucial innings and Narender Pal Singh has provided the breakthroughs with the new ball. But history is against them: Hyderabad have never beaten Mumbai in this competition, and it will take a special effort for them to storm the bastion of Indian cricket.Tamil Nadu, last year’s runner-up, will be the favourites in the other semi-final at Chennai. Sporting one of the strongest batting line-ups in the country – which includes Sadagoppan Ramesh, Sridharan Sriram, Sreedharan Sharath and S Badrinath – Tamil Nadu may not find big totals hard to come by. Yet, after a great start this season they were given a stiff challenge towards the end, and will also be weakened tomorrow by the absence of L Balaji and Hemang Badani.Harvinder Singh, the former Indian medium-pacer, will lead the Railways attack but the bowler whom the selectors will be watching closely is Kulamani Parida, the offspinner. He lost out to Powar in the race to the one-day side, but a good performance here will enhance his chances of gaining a Test spot. Sanjay Bangar and Ramesh are candidates for the reserve-opener’s slot in Tests and vital contribution here would do their chances no harm. Tamil Nadu have old scores to settle with Banger too. After all it was his 212 that shut them out of the tournament in 2002.Two lesser battles will be fought in the Plate Championship. Maharashtra host Haryana while Madhya Pradesh take on Orissa. There is lot at stake here too, with the winners entering the Elite zone next season.

The frustration of everyone associated with this one-day series is clear to see. The players are prowling like caged animals, desperately seeking outlets for their energies – whether it be head-tennis, basketball, or the ubiquitous PlayStations – the few hundred travelling supporters have shopped and drunk themselves to a standstill, and the journalists have exhausted all alternatives for “rain” and “wet” in their thesauruses.From soggy Grenada, where Wednesday’s one-dayer never looked like getting off the ground, the circus splashed on to an equally sodden St Lucia, where it has been raining solidly for a week, and where the forecast is for more of the same. Today (Friday) was sunny, though, so the players might yet make it onto the field at last for at least part of this weekend’s scheduled double-header.For England, it has been a winter of one-day roadblocks. The three matches in Bangladesh were all won easily, two of the three games in Sri Lanka were washed out, and now this. One of the this morning’s newspapers pointed out that since last July, England have contested only 376 of the possible 1000 one-day overs they should have played. Some players have hardly needed to unpack – Ian Blackwell has batted twice and bowled six overs, while Anthony McGrath hasn’t even taken to the field.”We haven’t been able to move on in nine months,” admitted a glum Duncan Fletcher, England’s coach. “It’s severely hindered our progress. Imagine how frustrating it must be for the likes of Anthony McGrath, who has put in all that work and effort and not played at all. Here in the West Indies we wanted to have a look at everyone in the squad, and there were seven games to do that. We need to get guys with games under their belts, to see how they shape up in proper 50-over matches that run their full length.”Fletcher admitted that the endless rain has led to mental issues as well as physical ones. “In addition to the simple business of playing and practising, the travelling, touring, packing, unpacking, early-morning flights, and everything else makes people mentally stale and tired. And that can be when they pick up stupid little injuries because they are not alert. At the moment we are just trying to keep people occupied, trying not to let their minds wander. But for the situation as it stands, there is no saving grace at all. None.”But Fletcher dismissed suggestions that he was considering sending fringe players home to allow them to get some practice in. “It’s important that they play some cricket, but each person who is not playing is cover for someone,” he said. “If we get an injury or a stomach bug, which can happen on a tour, we will need someone to replace them. We can’t start sending people home. We’re on tour and we just have to put up with what is going on here.”If the two matches this weekend do fall foul of the weather, then that leaves the final match in Barbados as the last chance for some meaningful action. It almost goes without saying that it’s been raining in Bridgetown for almost a week, although better weather is expected for a few days … before the rain returns.The only consolation for the players as they go stir-crazy is that it’s almost as bad back home. There was no play in any of yesterday’s County Championship matches, and the situation is much the same today. Perhaps PlayStation should be England’s new sponsor.

The ICC is planning to test stump-microphone technology and conduct research into slow bowling during the Champions Trophy in England this September.Speaking at the tournament’s official launch in London today, Dave Richardson – the former South African wicketkeeper who is now the ICC’s general manager – outlined the plans. "For the second ICC Champions Trophy in succession we hope to be trialling various technological innovations to see if they help umpires in the decision-making process," he explained. "We are hoping to use the 2004 tournament to build on our testing into the use of stump-microphone earpieces that began in South Africa last year."The plan is for umpires to wear an earpiece that picks up the audio from the stump microphone as the ball passes the batsman. The trial will enable us to assess whether the microphone’s position closer to the action area will provide audible assistance in instances of thin nicks. This may also enable us to trial the deferment of no-ball decisions to the TV umpire to assess the impact this has on the on-field umpires as the microphones will offer two-way communication."Richardson continued: "Performance statistics over the last 12 months show that the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC umpires are operating at a correct decision rate around 92%, which compares to 94% in Major League Baseball. We are of the opinion that cricket is a more difficult game to umpire than baseball so if we want our umpires to attain a higher percentage of correct decisions we may need to take one of their usual responsibilities out of their domain. It should be stressed however that the no-ball element of the trial is contingent on the outcome of preliminary trials before the tournament."In the light of the recent controversy over Muttiah Muralitharan’s bowling action, the Champions Trophy will also be used to conduct research into the levels of tolerance needed by spin bowlers in the delivery action."This research is part of the ICC’s ongoing commitment to deal with the issue of suspected illegal bowling actions, and will be carried out by the human-movement specialist Dr Paul Hurrion," said Richardson. "The ICC’s view on technology in international cricket is that it will only be used in decision-making if it can provide conclusive answers, is practically feasible to introduce for all international cricket, will not have the effect of changing the essence of the way the game is played, and will not compromise the role of the onfield umpires."Both the stump-mike and spin-bowling initiatives have to be approved by the ICC’s chief executives committee, which meets in London in June.