The World Cup all-rounder missed the opening first- class fixture at Fenner's following an elbow operation but is now fit to form a three-pronged pace attack alongside his England colleagues Devon Malcolm and Dominic Cork.England hopeful Richard Johnson is included in the Middlesex side to face Somerset at Lord's after recovering from a shoulder strain.Worcestershire's former England paceman Phil Newport is likely to miss the whole of the county's zonal programme because of a back injury sustained during a pre-season tour of Barbados.Lancashire will give fitness tests to their World Cup pair Peter Martin and Neil Fairbrother before beginning their defence of the Cup against the Minor Counties at Old Trafford.Martin hurt his right shoulder in the 40-over friendly against Yorkshire on Sunday, while Fairbrother is two games into a comeback from his latest hamstring injury.The New Zealander Chris Cairns has been included in Nottinghamshire's squad for their game against Yorkshire, even though it could stir up trouble with his national officials. It is a role in which Nottinghamshire's Paul Johnson has regularly excelled, and one which judging by his continued non-selection for his country, one of which the selectors have been terminally unaware.However, whether or not the same kind of scores are possible on English pitches, which are not quite so dismissive of seam bowlers as their India and Pakistan counterparts, remains to be seen, although the limitation to five fielders on the leg-side, will hinder the attempts of off-spin bowlers to keep the runs down by firing the ball at leg-stump.A fired-up Phillip DeFreitas is what Derbyshire hope they will see against Durham at Chesterfield. What the more audacious sides have done is turn the game on its head, making exceptional scores of 270 or more seem commonplace by bookending the innings with ferocious hitting.What Illingworth and his selectors must do is encourage batsmen like Alistair Brown and Adam Hollioke of Surrey, who play Hampshire at the Oval, to use the formidable striking skills up the order and use them for England. With this summer's six one-day internationals being played under the same rules, the experiments must start soon.What the latest changes have done is to revolutionise the start of an innings, which conventionally - at least in England - was used to build a solid foundation for the frenzied thrash of the final 10 overs. Their performance gave many the impression that this was a new form of the one-day game when in fact it has been played by England in Australia ever since 1982, and the Sunday League flirted with its charms a few seasons ago.In fact, almost a decade before his ambition to be a selector Ian Botham carved himself a niche as a peerless pinch hitter for England, when he flayed many an opening bowler during the Perth Challenge and World Series of 1986-87. If the chairman of selectors, Ray Illingworth, really wants to show that he is not the cricketing fossil many suspect, the hunt for England's Sanath Jayasuriya, Sri Lanka's explosive pinch hitter, must start too.

Trimmed to 50 overs per side, and with fielding restrictions in place for the first 15 overs - when only two fielders are allowed outside the 30 yard circle - the new-look competition ought to enliven tactics and, especially in the wake of Sri Lanka's bold approach, offer fresh challenges to batsmen and bowlers alike. By winning the World Cup, Sri Lanka showed just what can be achieved by batsmen prepared to keep taking risks. The start of today's round of Benson and Hedges zonal matches sees the introduction of a new format that mirrors the one used in the recent World Cup. But the Hull winger Leigh Deakin has failed in his appeal against an eight- match ban imposed for punching in the game against Keighley Cougars on Easter Monday.Nathan Picchi, the Leeds loose forward, who dislocated a shoulder on his debut last Sunday, is likely to be out for the rest of the season.. ''They have to realise they are here to play and that they have certain responsibilities,'' he said.London have made a promising start in the European Super League, winning three of their first five matches, but Currie is earning a reputation as a strict disciplinarian by demanding a more professional attitude.Eric Hughes, sacked as coach of tomorrow's Wembley finalists, St Helens, in January, has a new job as coach of Second Division Leigh. Hughes succeeds Ian Lucas, who was sacked on Monday after his side had lost four of their first five matches.The former Great Britain international, who has also coached Widnes and Rochdale Hornets, has been given a three and a half year contract.The former Workington coach Kurt Sorensen, who was also in the running for the Leigh job, is considering an offer to take over at Barrow.The League and the BBC have agreed a new three-year deal worth a reputed pounds 3m for live coverage of the Challenge Cup, starting next season.The two Oldham players cited for fouls in last week's match at Castleford have been suspended, Scott Ranson for three matches and Jason Temu for two.The Castleford centre Grant Anderson, sent off in the same game for a high tackle on Ranson, has been suspended for three matches and fined pounds 150.Leeds' Kiwi forward George Mann has had his three-game ban - for a late and high tackle against Oldham two weeks ago - reduced to two on appeal. The London Broncos coach, Tony Currie, has sacked three of the club's Australian players for missing a training session last week, writes Dave Hadfield.

The centres Kieran Meyer and Danny Smith, as well as the forward, Shaun Keating, were given their cards yesterday after being dropped against Workington last Sunday. ''I have given them two weeks' notice to allow them to sort their lives out,'' Currie said. ''They are free to go to any club without a transfer fee and there are some clubs already interested.''Currie, a former Australian international, took his hard line with the players after previously dropping two others for arriving late at a training session. But it would be pretty ironic if, after leaving Saints, I finally got a winners' one."Provided he goes into the right dressing-room at Wembley, a revitalised Loughlin, feeding off a wide-running second row like Donougher, could do Saints as much harm as he did Leeds in the semi- final.An unlucky player with injuries as well as cup finals, there might even be a few people in St Helens who would not begrudge him a change of fortune this time.. "Between us, we can be a handful," he says.Dwyer, one of just a handful of players in the match with previous Wembley experience, has been given a crucial role at hooker, with Smith reasoning that his know-how will be more valuable than Jason Donohue's sprightly pace.But the real Wembley specialist is Loughlin, one of the few players in the history of the game with three losers' medals, from defeats there with St Helens in 1987, 1989 and 1991."I've got enough losers' medals," he says "I'm having them melted down to make a couple of rings. "I wish I could do more deals like the one that brought them here," says their coach at Bradford, Brian Smith.Nickle, provided he keeps his head, can do considerable damage down the right-hand side of the pitch, balancing the destructive work of Jeremy Donougher on the left. "I think a lot of them are just pleased that Bradford are at Wembley, because that means that the three lads who left are there."There is, says Dwyer, another reason why Saints' supporters are happy for them to be at Wembley "The people in St Helens think they've got the cup already. All the pressure is on them, while we're going there under no pressure whatsoever."Although all three players claim that they will treat Saints like any other opposing side, there is bound to be some extra frisson for them on Saturday; some sense of having something to prove.All three have the ability to make their old club regret discarding them.