England aim for swing in Australia

England's fast bowlers will start practising with the Kookaburra balls that will be used during the Ashes as soon as the Test campaign with Pakistan is over. David Saker, the England bowling coach, comes from Victoria and understands the differences between the countries and the conditions.The Australians struggled with swing in the drawn series with Pakistan last month and Saker said his fast men would be working on shaping the Kookaburra balls before the trip Down Under. ''It definitely still swings," Saker told the Sunday Age. "It obviously doesn't swing as much as the Duke ball, but some of that's got to do with the English conditions."Saker believes swing is the best way to bring down a batting order and wants his bowlers to achieve the movement when they attempt to retain the Ashes they won at The Oval last year. ''We'll be endeavouring to try to move the ball in the air for sure, but also we've got two pretty tall, strong pace bowlers [Stuart Broad and Steven Finn] who can get the ball through," he said. "There'll be different ways we'll attack the Australians, for sure.''Finn, 21, was rested before the England-Pakistan series to build up his strength ahead of a busy period. ''We've done that with Stuart Broad and he's come back bigger, stronger and bowling faster than he's ever bowled," Saker said. "There was a lot of criticism from a lot of people outside the English set-up, but the people that were involved in pulling him out of that and getting him stronger were all pretty adamant that he needed that. You mightn't see the improvement straight up but there's no doubt we, as a group, think it's going to be beneficial down the track."

Durham ease past Scotland in rain-reduced match

Durham cruised to a 47-run win over Scotland in a rain-shortened Clydesdale Bank 40 clash in Glasgow.Michael Di Venuto's 63 was the mainstay of the visitors' 189 for 7 after seeing their innings cut to 30 overs, Gordon Goudie chipping in with four wickets for Scotland. Gavin Hamilton hit 64 to carry the fight but when he was run out by Di Venuto, the game was up and the hosts could only struggle to 145 for 9.The rain came with Durham eight for no wicket from three overs and brought about the reduction in overs. The resumption saw the early loss of captain Phil Mustard, who scored 12 of an opening stand of 16 with Di Venuto before he was caught by George Bailey off Goudie, but Durham regrouped as Di Venuto found strong support from Ben Stokes.The Australian hit nine fours and a six in his run-a-ball knock before edging Gordon Drummond to keeper Dougie Lockhart to leave Durham 112 for 2. Stokes followed not long after for an unusually patient 39 but former captain Dale Benkenstein smashed 34 from 23 balls to pick up the pace.Some late-overs hitting followed, with Ian Blackwell run out for 11 from six balls and Ben Harmison clubbing a four and a six in 12 not out from just four deliveries. That damaged Goudie's economy rate, the new-ball bowler finishing with four for 51 from six overs as he led the attack.A minor Duckworth-Lewis revision left Scotland to chase 193 and they were in trouble from an early stage, losing openers Preston Mommsen and Dougie Watts with just 12 on the board before Bailey also fell cheaply.Richie Berrington made 29 but became Steve Harmison's second wicket - in four overs costing 17 runs - and left Hamilton to carry the fight almost single-handedly. The Durham old boy hit 64 from 60 balls, finding the boundary rope on eight occasions, but saw Blackwell blitz through the lower middle order at the other end with three for 35 from his six overs.Durham were home and dry long before Hamilton fell to Di Venuto's throw and the remaining overs were a mere procession.