England captain Andrew Strauss has added his voice to concerns there are too many domestic games in the season. The two-tier county championship will make its earliest start in 121 years on Friday and will run until 18 September. Teams will also compete in the Twenty20 cup and 40-over league and Middlesex batsman Strauss said the schedule did not allow for adequate preparation. Strauss, 33, added: “I think we’re playing too much and that’s been the case for a number of years.” The England and Wales Cricket Board has reduced the number of competitions from four to three this summer but each county will have more days of cricket than last season. The 2010 season is due to end with the showpiece 40-over final at Lord’s on 18 September. Strauss, who was rested for England’s recent tour of Bangladesh, believes the length of the season could mean counties having to rotate and rest players to ensure a strong finish to the season. “I don’t think I’m saying anything the players haven’t said before,” he said. “This season has had to be structured differently to previous seasons for a number of reasons. “I think from a county squad’s perspective you’ve got to think how to get the best out of the players you’ve got and that might mean rotation policies or resting players occasionally, especially the bowlers, in order to make sure the team is still functioning well come September.” For the past 10 seasons the 18 first-class counties have been divided into two, meaning 16 games for each. A three-tier structure has been mooted, as well as a top flight of eight with a second division of 10, and Strauss feels there is still room for improvement. “I still have some issues with the structure. I think that could be better,” he added. “The way or lack of preparation for games – the schedule doesn’t allow you to do that – I think is a bit of an issue for county cricket and I think hopefully that will be addressed over time.” Some counties are also due to play four championship games before the end of April. Surrey’s former England batsman Mark Ramprakash, who will be playing in his 24th championship campaign, also has his doubts about the start date. “It is very early, April 9, probably too early, but I think it’s part of batting, which is countering a lot of different conditions,” Ramprakash said. “I think it’s always a challenge early season if the ball is moving around, but if you do do well you get a lot of satisfaction for it.” He added: “In all honesty, to have three or four four-day games in April, that to me would seem a lot. “I wouldn’t like to see four-day cricket devalued by being pushed to very early in April or very early in September.” England and Middlesex seamer Steven Finn, 21, is less concerned about the start date, however, as he continues to press his case for further international recognition. “I just want to make sure that I’m bowling for Middlesex over the next few weeks, take some wickets and put my name in the hat for this summer maybe. “The only way I’m going to get picked for that series is by taking wickets in the early season. “All I have to do is go out for Middlesex from Friday and take an amount of wickets that will make the selectors sit up and take notice.” Middlesex begin their Division Two campaign with a trip to Worcestershire, who were relegated last season after failing to register a win, while Sussex, 2009′s other relegated side, start at Glamorgan. In the other Division Two openers Leicestershire, now captained by Matthew Hoggard, face Northamptonshire and Rory Hamilton-Brown’s Surrey take on Derbyshire. Meanwhile, Essex take on Hampshire and Yorkshire, now led by Andrew Gale, travel to Warwickshire in the only two top-flight games. This article is from the BBC News website . © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

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Strauss voices fixture concerns

The Large Hadron Collider is about to start the work that could lead to the discovery of fundamental new physics. Scientists working on the European machine will attempt on Tuesday to smash beams of proton particles together at unprecedented energies. The seven-trillion-electronvolt (TeV) collisions will initiate 18-24 months of intensive investigations at the LHC. Scientists hope the study will bring novel insights into the nature of the cosmos and how it came into being. But they caution that the data gathered from the sub-atomic impacts will take time to evaluate, and the public should not expect immediate results. “Major discoveries will happen only when we are able to collect billions of events and identify among them the very rare events that could present a new state of matter or new particles,” said Guido Tonelli, a spokesman for the CMS detector at the LHC. “This is not going to happen tomorrow. It will require months and years of patient work,” he told BBC News. The LHC is one of the biggest scientific endeavours ever undertaken. Housed in a 27km-long tunnel under the Franco-Swiss border near Geneva, the LHC will collide particles travelling at close to the speed of light. The expectation is that previously unseen phenomena will reveal themselves in the debris. A key objective is to find the much talked-about Higgs boson particle. This is thought to have a profound role to play in the structure of the Universe, and would enable scientists to explain why matter has mass – something which, at a fundamental level, they have difficulty doing at present. The LHC broke down shortly after its opening in 2008, but since coming back online late last year has gradually been ramping up operations. Two proton particle beams have been circling in opposite directions in the magnet-lined tunnels at 3.5 TeV since 19 March. Having established their stability, these beams will now be allowed to cross paths and collide on Tuesday. This 7 TeV event will be the highest energy yet achieved in a particle accelerator. In the coming months, the LHC’s four major experiments – its giant detectors Alice, Atlas, CMS and LHCb – will probe the collisions. “This is new territory,” said Professor Tonelli. “If you want to discover new particles, you have to produce them; and these new particles are massive. To produce them, you need higher energies. For the first time [on Tuesday], we will be producing particles that have energy 3.5 times higher than the maximum energy achieved so far. “This is why we can start the long journey to make major discoveries in indentifying a new massive state of matter.” At the end of the 7 TeV (3.5 TeV per beam) experimental period, the LHC will be shut down for maintenance for up to a year. When it re-opens, it will attempt to create 14 TeV events. This article is from the BBC News website . © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

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Collider to begin science quest

The Football Association has appointed current chief operating officer Alex Horne as acting chief executive after Ian Watmore’s shock resignation. Watmore resigned after disagreements with senior FA board figures after less than a year in the job. The FA has had six chief executives in just over a decade, and chairman Lord Triesman revealed that a permanent appointment was some way off. So much so it is likely that Horne will be in charge until the end of the year. On 2 December Fifa votes on which nations will host the 2018 and the 2022 World Cups, with England keen to host the 2018 tournament. ” Leading English football is one of the great things you can do in life ” FA chairman Lord Triesman Triesman insisted that the changes in the FA boardroom would neither affect the chances of Fabio Capello’s team winning the 2010 World Cup in South Africa or England’s hopes of staging the 2018 event. “We’ve done really well in the build-up to South Africa,” said Triesman, who was speaking after an FA board meeting on Tuesday. “The footballing side is not impacted by these things. The footballers are vehement they want to go and win the World Cup. “The 2018 bid is also on course. It’s run by a separate organisation and that is working. Fifa insists on an arm’s length organisation with a separate financial structure for auditing purposes. DAVID BOND BLOG ” With only 79 days to go to the World Cup this is a distraction English football could do without ” “The bid is in good shape – just ask the Fifa executive how we are doing.” As the FA begins the search for its seventh chief executive in 11 years, Triesman was confident the organisation would be able to appoint a high-calibre figure. “Leading English football is one of the great things you can do in life,” Triesman told BBC Sport. “I think people will apply. I’m not nervous about good people applying.” The BBC has also learned the 51-year-old Watmore was angered by a leaked e-mail detailing what should have been a private briefing to FA board members. Watmore vowed to “damage beyond repair” the person responsible for the leak. It is known that Watmore had a number of disagreements with Sir David Richards, the chairman of the Premier League. Richards has admitted there had been differences of opinion, but viewed those as the rough and tumble of football politics. In a statement the Football Association maintained that as an organisation is was “stable, working normally and geared up for success”. It added: “Further to reports following Ian Watmore’s announcement, the board are clear that the Professional Game has not blocked proposals for change. “Additionally, the board does not accept that Ian’s departure is down to any one individual or any personality clash with Ian.”

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FA names acting chief executive

The head of the Financial Services Authority is to announce plans for the regulator to toughen up protection for consumers over financial products. Hector Sants will say the FSA needs to stop risky products being sold, rather than just pay out compensation when the damage has already been done. Investors have been hit by a number of mis-selling scandals in recent years. The Conservatives want to scrap the FSA and hand some of its powers to the Bank of England if it wins the election. However, the BBC’s business correspondent Nils Blythe says that the FSA’s proposals are likely to implemented whatever the structure of regulation in the UK. Public trust Last month, Mr Sants announced that he would step down as head of the FSA this summer. Before he goes, he is keen to push proposals through that give consumers better protection when buying mortgages, pensions and investment products. The way to do this, Mr Sants argues, is for the regulator to vet risky products before they go on sale to the public. In doing so, he hopes to restore public trust in the financial services industry after mis-selling scandals including personal pensions, endowment policies, split capital investment trusts and payment protection insurance, some of which predate the FSA.

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FSA to clamp down on mis-selling

By Paul Rincon Science reporter, BBC News, The Woodlands, Texas Deforestation has revealed what could be a giant impact crater in Central Africa, scientists say. The 36-46km-wide feature, identified in DR Congo, may be one of the largest such structures discovered in the last decade. Italian researchers considered other origins for the ring, but say these are unlikely. They presented their findings at the recent Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in Texas, US. The ring shape is clearly visible in the satellite image by TerraMetrics Inc reproduced on this page. Only about terrestrial 25 impact craters are of comparable size or larger, according to the web-based Earth Impact Database. Giovanni Monegato, from the University of Padova, said the feature was revealed only after trees were cleared from the area over the last decade. The Unia River flows around the ring structure, underlining its round shape. The central part of the Wembo-Nyama feature is irregular and about 550m in elevation. This is about 50-60m higher than the depression where the river flows. Although this might sound counter-intuitive, experts say that impact craters can sometimes lift up dense rocks. The surrounding rocks may subsequently erode, leaving a dome. Confirmation needed The putative crater lacks a well-defined outer ridge, though the University of Padova team says this could be explained by deep weathering and erosion in the tropical climate. They add that the drainage pattern in the ring is very similar to those found in large impact craters in humid environments. LARGEST IMPACT CRATERS The Chicxulub crater is buried under Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula Vredefort: S Africa, 300km-wide, 2 billion years old Sudbury: Canada, 250km-wide, 1.8 billion years old Chicxulub: Mexico, 170km-wide, 65 million years old Popigai: Russia, 100km-wide, 35.7 million years old Manicouagan: Canada, 100km-wide, 214 million years old Mr Monegato said the team would now have to travel to the region to carry out field studies. Researchers would examine rocks from the site for tell-tale signs associated with space impacts. These might include shocked quartz – a form of the mineral which occurs where rocks have been hit suddenly by a massive force. It is found only at nuclear explosion sites and at asteroid impact sites. Finding such evidence will be crucial to confirm an impact origin over other processes which might explain the structure. The researchers have considered whether volcanism or salt diapirism (a process where evaporite minerals intrude vertically into surrounding rock, forming dome-like structures on the surface) could be responsible for the annulus. But Mr Monegato and his colleagues say the known geology of the region – along with other features of the structure (for example, no known salt diapirs reach such a great size) – appear to rule out such explanations. “I am quite optimistic about an impact crater origin for this ring,” Mr Monegato told BBC News. If it is an impact structure, the scientists estimate it could have been punched into the crust by a space rock measuring about 2km across. Further studies will be required to accurately determine an age for the ring, but it appears to post-date the Jurassic Period. Paul.Rincon-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk

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Ring may be giant ‘impact crater’