The fallout from yesterday's Twenty20 debacle continues, with Durham insisting that they should receive a bye into finals day at the Rose Bowl in Hampshire on July 26. They claim that any decision taken by the authorities will disadvantage them because of the fixture congestion created by the postponement of their quarter-final against Yorkshire.
Probably only half listening are the ECB, who announce that a meeting will be held on Thursday to decide upon a solution. Chairing that meeting will be someone called Judge Slinger. A slinger in cricket? He doesn't sound too trustworthy. Why don't they just appoint Judge Neville Nutmeg to make the call and have done with it? As luck would have it there is a Test match between England and South Africa going on this Thursday, so the fate of Durham, Yorkshire and probably Nottinghamshire and Glamorgan in this now cash-laden competition will no doubt be decided over a huge pile of cakes and maybe some champers.
The quarter-finals carry on undeterred, with Lancashire travelling to the Oval to play Middlesex due to preparations for the Test match at Lords. If Yorkshire have been letting me down recently then Lancashire want in on the action, combusting spectacularly to allow Middlesex through to finals day. Batting first, the pink-shirted Crusaders are reduced to 21-4 early on, but a knock of 103 from the wonderfully named Dawid Malan sees them through to a useful 176-7.
In reply Lancashire also lose early wickets, reduced to 14-3 before Andrew Flintoff (who had earlier taken 3 for 17 from his four overs) started to wield the wood. He reached 53 off 41 balls before larruping a rank full toss to deep square leg and effectively ending Red Rose hopes. Dominic Cork came in late and blasted a defiant six from the first ball he faced, but in the end Lancs fell well short finishing on 164-8.
No doubt about the footaball 'event' of the day. Luiz Felipe Scolari gave his first press conference as Chelsea manager this afternoon, surprising many with his command of the English language. That's not all. The former Portugal and Brazil boss also declared that Frank Lampard will stay at the club despite several tabloids already having him pitching up at Inter Milan with Jose Mourinho. Didier Drogba is apparently 200% a part of Scolari's plans, that despite the Ivorian reportedly announcing his intention to leave west London for the umpteenth time this week. Less surprisingly, Scolari confirms that John Terry will remain club captain.
Fancy some tittle tattle? Well, Andy Johnson is said to be the subject of a 'tug-of-war' between Wigan Athletic and Sunderland. Rocks and hard places spring to mind for the Everton man. Still no formal unveiling of Peter Crouch at Portsmouth, so instead attention turns back to Scolari and Chelsea who are set to offload Steve Sidwell, Carlo Cudicini, Andriy Shevchenko, Florent Malouda and Claudio Pizarro. He'll be needing Lampard and Drogba just to be able to field a team then.
Aston Villa are favourites to be duped by Sidwell, a move which will apparently pave the way for Gareth Barry's exhaustive transfer saga to end with that move to Liverpool's bench. Villa are also set to land Steve Finnan from Liverpool as part of that deal, and are also thought to be interested in Paul Robinson from Spurs. But so are Blackburn Rovers, who may lose Brad Friedel to Mark Hughes' Manchester City revolution. Villa probably won't land Rovers' David Bentley due to the £17million asking price. They could get Didier Drogba for that.
The future of Arsenal striker Emmanuel Adebayor also remains unclear. The Togo international is refusing to commit despite the Gunners' claim that they have offered to double his wages to £60,000. Sixty thousand pounds? Don't tell Ashley Cole, will you? We don't want any more accidents.
It's been a week in which the success or otherwise of British sportsmen and women has been high on the agenda. In that context it is perhaps worth mentioning David Millar, who today climbed into second place on the overall classification in the Tour de France. Millar missed out on the yellow jersey by 12 seconds after today's stage four time-trial in Cholet. The suprise owner of the famed garment is now Stefan Schumacher, who won the time trial by 18 seconds from Millar and Kim Kirchen.
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