Broad: England chase top spot

Stuart Broad says England is "hunting" top spot in the ICC Test rankings after victory over India at Lord's.

Needing to take the series by two clear Tests to move above their opponents in the standings, England made the perfect start with an impressive 196-run triumph on Monday.

Broad, though, insists the squad is not resting on their laurels, and is strong-minded to turn in another strong presentation in the second Test at Trent Bridge, which gets underway on Friday.

"We knew we wanted to start the series well," the Nottinghamshire bowler told in front of the game at his home ground.

"We had talk about it, chiefly the first hour, so to come away from Lord's with victory is just the ideal start.

"We know it's only one Test out of four and that India are the best team in the world, so we need to be right on it at Trent Bridge.

"We've got huge leaders of our group - people like Andy Flower and Andrew Strauss - and we will be very listening carefully on that first hour at Trent Bridge.

"The great thing about Trent Bridge is that it's a really good cricket wicket, but you can lose the game inside the first hour since it can swing around. If you're 50-5, you're in a bit of trouble.

"The boys are hunt that No.1 slot and we need to be right on the money all of the time."

Broad positively played his part in England's success at Lord's, final up with match figures of 7-94 and also weighing in with an winning half-century in the home side's second innings.

The 25-year-old had been under force going into the match, only just keeping his place in the final XI ahead of Yorkshire's Tim Bresnan, after lasting a lean series against Sri Lanka at the start of the summer.

"It's always nice to take wickets and score some runs, but more highly to add to the team winning," he added.

"It was nice to pick up some key wickets and help Matt reach his hundred, which was a special moment, but it all starts again at Trent Bridge.

"The boys are really focused on that. It was an amazing win at Lord’s; we really enjoy sitting in the changing room on Monday evening, but the mind soon switched on to Trent Bridge and looking to go 2-0 up."

While England is on a high, India has plenty of problems ahead of the match in Nottingham.

Their most pressing anxiety is the fitness of Zaheer Khan, who suffers a hamstring strain on the opening day at Lord's and did not bowl again.

"We saw Zaheer in 2007 at Trent Bridge and he caused our batsmen problem. We know he is a skilful bowler and he would use circumstances well," Broad said of the left-arm seamer.

"Obviously, we don't know how he is going to pull up, but we must focus on what we have got to do.

"We need to regulate our line and lengths - you do get good value for pitching the ball up at Trent Bridge - and a lot of catches can go to the slip, so that's something we will be working on in training."

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Chris Broad locate to become PCA president

Chris Broad is to take over as president of the Professional Cricketers' Association after Sir Ian Botham determined to stand down from the role.

Broad, father to England bowler Stuart and a former Test player and match referee, will take the job on a two-year fixed term start in August.

Angus Porter, chief administrative of the PCA, said: "Sir Ian has been a kind and active supporter of the PCA, and it has been a privilege to work with him as president.

"We are thankful for everything he has done for us, and offer him our very best wishes as he continues to offer his energies to his media career and his formidable generous efforts."

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Kenya, UAE set for first surrounding battle

Kenya and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will assemble in the first round of ICC Intercontinental Cup on Thursday (28 July 2011) in Nairobi.

Kenya’s new captain Collins Obuya will be most important a new-look side for the Africans for this tournament with a digit of new faces mixed with some old-hands.

UAE will be making a go back to the competition; having last year compete in and reach the final of the ICC Intercontinental Shield, and Khurram Khan’s men will want a physically powerful start to its new campaign.

Captain Obuya said: “It has been a while since we played UAE but they have a very experienced side in contrast to our younger, newer squad.

“We last hosted them for one-day matches and we are challenge to their bowling attack which is strong and tends to win matches for them, particularly on spinner-friendly wickets. They might have played in the I-Shield last year but they will sure give us a hard challenge.”

“To some degree we have home advantage because we are used to pitch conditions while the climate here is very different from the UAE thus playing a key role to our game plan. We must exploit the home benefit point to garner first points for this round of the contest,” added the 29-year-old all-rounder.

“We’ve all been training hard in front of this fixture and would have also been in a team camp before the fixture so I think we’ll be well ready for taking on the UAE.

“We are coming off playing the shorter version of the game and so the longer version will need a lot more energy and attentiveness and we will need to be at our best to register first win in the Intercontinental Cup competition this year,” he finished.

The UAE side has some recognizable faces to Associate cricket in the form of bowler Nasir Aziz while Saqib Ali leads a strong batting line-up along with the like of captain Khurram Khan.

Khan said: “Having played quite a lot of 20-over cricket in the past months we have now turned our concentration to the longer format and have been working hard in front of this first I Cup fixture.

“Everyone in the side is very happy, we’ve had some good performance in the recent times but we need to do better in the format and we’re certainly looking forward to returning to playing with the red ball.”

“We’ve seen Kenya play before but we’re a strong side and will be ready for whatever challenges they offer to us. We do have a strong spin attack but at the same time our fast bowlers, Amjad Javed and Shoaib Sarwar help gives us a impartial side.

“We have a strong team which is very mature and I consider if we remain committed and listening carefully we can do well in this match and beyond,” added the 40-year-old all-rounder.

Ahead of the ICC Intercontinental Cup match, the sides split a two-match 50-over series 1-1. Kenya won the gap match on Monday by 66 runs (D/L method), before the UAE claim a four-wicket victory on Tuesday.

Kenya squad: Collins Obuya (captain); Rakep Patel; Tanmay Mishra; Runish Gudka; Hiren Varaiya; Lucas Oluoch; Dominic Wesonga; Karen Kaul; Amit Shukla; Rajesh Bhudia; Rajesh Varsani; Ramesh Mepani; Mansukh Jesani (wicket keeper); Samarth Patel

UAE squad: Khurram Khan (captain); Mohammed Touqir; Arshad Ali; Saqib Ali; Abdul Rehman; Ahmed Raza; Amjad Javed; Shadeep Silva; Amjad Ali; Shaiman Anwar; Nasir Aziz; Shoaib Sarwar; Wasim Bari; Palekar Hamid.

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Anderson expect India repercussion

James Anderson expects a backlash from India after the hosts' believable victory in the first npower Test at Lord's.

The 28-year-old bowled England to a unforgettable 196-run win on Monday, returning five for 65 and secretarial for all three of the tourists' star batsmen in a second-innings total of 261 all out.

He anticipates India will come out fighting when the second Test gets under way at Trent Bridge on Friday.

"When any team gets beaten they usually come back stronger and have more fire in their belly," he said .

"All we can do is focus on our game, get ready well the next couple of days and concentrate on that first hour on Friday."

Anderson has put his first-Test heroics aside and urged England to think only of the second as they look to move closer to their goal of attractive the world's top-ranked Test team.

"It was a great presentation, a great team effort. We did actually well to get the win. But that's gone now," said the Lancashire seamier. "We've got to hit the re-set button and focus on Friday now.

"Each game is dissimilar. We can't rely on what's gone on in the past. It's a different game completely and we've got to just prepare well the next couple of days and with any luck hit the ground running on Friday.

"We've got to try to get better if we can. That's something we've prided ourselves on in the last couple of years - not resting on our laurels but trying to improve and be as good as we possibly can be."

The Lord's achievement put England 1-0 up in a four-match series that will see them leapfrog India as the top side in the world if they win by two matches or more.

On that target, Anderson added: "It's our end goal but we've got to think on each game and play as well as we can in each game and hope that will be the end product."

Like Anderson, India opener Abhinav Mukund was looking forward to Trent Bridge rather than back at Lord's.

"We're all disappointed but there are a lot of good belongings we can take from the previous game," he said.

"It's a four-match series. We'll take the positives and move on to the next game. "Being the world number one team, the India team has conquered a lot of challenges on the way here. We're knowledgeable sufficient. We've come here to take on this challenge."

This Test series is only the second for Mukund, who is playing in place of the wounded Virender Sehwag at the top of the order, and the 21-year-old batsman is relish being concerned.

"To be part of this set-up, anyone who comes in as a new batsman will be trained every day. Even in nets, there are so many people you look up to.

"A pat on the back from someone like Sachin [Tendulkar] does anyone's confidence the world of good.

"I've absolutely well over the last few months and I'm looking forward to keeping improving."

On deputising for 87-Test veteran Sehwag, he added: "its big boots to fill but I want to play my own game.

"I don't want to put back Sehwag. I just want to play how I want to play. If it comes off it's going to help the team."

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BCCI deny India skip greeting

The BCCI in a statement today denied the story of Indian team skipping a reception at the Indian High Commission for Mahendra Singh Dhoni's event as "baseless".

Reacting to the media information that the Indian cricket team skipped a reception at the Indian High Commission for presence a function organized by caption Mahendra Singh Dhoni at a central London hotel to raise money for his charity as "baseless".

"The BCCI would like to make it clear that this story is unjustified. The Indian High Commission had comprehensive an invite to the Indian team to attend a reception on 18 July 2011. However, the Indian cricket team had previously committed itself to another function on the same day, six months in advance.

"The BCCI had so communicated the same to the Indian High Commission, and optional that the reception be organised on 25 July 2011 in its place," the board seceratary and President Vote for N Srinivasan said in a statement.

"However, the Indian High Commission establishment said that there were other actions scheduled on the 25th. They also knowledgeable the BCCI that they would get in touch with the Indian Team Management after its influx in the UK, and fix up a date for the reception. The BCCI decided to this.

"Mr. Anirudh Chaudhry, the Manager of the touring side, is in touch with the Indian High Commission officials, and it is learnt that the reception may be organised in August, when the Indian team proceeds to London," the statement added.

Earlier, an Indian daily report that the Indian team and the BCCI have been report by the Indian High Commission to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) here for failing to be present at a reception on July 18, which was to be hosted by the high commissioner to the United Kingdom.

The daily further stated that the high commissioner, Nalin Surie had to cancel his planned reception, after he learnt that Dhoni had listed a function the same evening.

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