Lancashire's Australia batsman Brad Hodge is to play for Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League - and will miss the next five weeks of the county season. Hodge will leave for India following Lancashire's ongoing LV Division One

Kent's batsmen battled as LV County Champions Sussex tried to secure a final day victory. Darren Maddy fell for a brilliant 130 as Warwickshire chased 383 at Northampton.

Somerset withstood Lancashire's admirable efforts to win the LV County Championship Division One clash at Old Trafford, Justin Langer and Ian Blackwell scoring fifties.

England seamer Matthew Hoggard claimed 8-97 in the match as Yorkshire romped to an innings victory over Hampshire in Division One of the LV County Championship with more than 56 overs remaining of the final day.

Matthew Hayden and Jacob Oram shone with the bat and ball respectively as Chennai beat Kolkata by nine wickets.

Kings XI Punjab paceman S Sreesanth on Saturday described Mumbai XI stand-in captain Harbhajan Singh's alleged slap as "shake hand on a wrong side" and said he would not file a complaint against him.

Harbhajan Singh was on Saturday slapped with a show cause notice by the Board of Control for Cricket in India asking why disciplinary action should not be taken against him for allegedly slapping Sreesanth in Mohali.

KUMAR Sangakkara provided a one-man show with the bat before tight bowling paved the way for the Kings XI Punjab to record their first win of the Indian Premier League, against Mumbai Indians.

Upset over the row between Mumbai stand-in captain Harbhajan Singh and Punjab paceman S Sreesanth, Indian Premier League Chairman Lalit Modi on Saturday said it was a "serious matter" and was not good for the cash-rich Twenty20 tournament.

Mumbai Indian stand-in captain Harbhajan Singh on Saturday downplayed the controversy regarding him allegedly slapping S Sreesanth to bring the Kings XI Punjab pacer to tears, saying the issue "had been sorted out".

INTERNATIONAL Cricket Council chief executive Malcolm Speed is to step down several months early from his position over the issue of Zimbabwe.

Reader Sampathkumar Raghava sent us this picture.

A statement from the ICC said outgoing chief executive Malcolm Speed was asked to go on leave on Friday following 'a fundamental breakdown in the relationship between the CEO and a number of ICC board members'.

A 66-run run victory gave Kings XI Punjab their first success in the Indian Premier League after two straight reverses. Mumbai Indians suffered their third straight reverse.