Cricket: Warne to Stay for Two More Years

Shane Warne is poised to put pen to paper to confirm that he will play for Hampshire for the next two seasons.

The county's director of cricket Tim Tremlett said last night: "We want Shane back not just next season but for 2006. It is this length of the contract which has caused the delay but we hope to make an announcement very shortly."

Australia are in England for the Ashes next year but Tremlett is hoping the 35-year-old leg-spinner will be fit to lead Hampshire for the first half of the season.

"He will not be involved with the one-day games and will only be required by Australia for the Test series, which will start on July 21, and maybe for the warm-up game against Sussex or Leicestershire. We are hoping Shane will be free to play for us from April until July 11 - and then again for the last two matches of the season, when the Test series is over."

Warne was an inspiration as Hampshire captain last season. In 12 championship matches he took 51 wickets at 24.13, with three five-wicket returns including a best of six for 65. He also scored 381 runs at 27.21 as the team won promotion from the Second Division of the County Championship.

But his tactical skills were just as important as he led the side to second place in the Second Division and third in the top tier of the National League.

England's fast bowler Simon Jones is determined to use the tour to Zimbabwe to re- establish himself as an international cricketer after describing himself as a "drinks boy" at Glamorgan last season.

The fast bowler touched down in Namibia yesterday after an English summer in which he played in only three one-day matches.

"It was very frustrating not playing one-day games for Glamorgan, because playing one-day cricket rounds you as a player," said the 25-year-old. "I was just a drinks boy at Glamorgan. It was frustrating because I knew I should have been in the team and I wasn't given any reason why I wasn't playing."

Jones has made a promising start to his Test career, taking 21 wickets in eight matches, but he has yet to play a one-day international and is desperate to make an impact. "I see this as a chance to establish myself in the one-day side," he said.

"It's not nice to be labelled just as a four-day player or a Test player. You want to succeed at cricket and succeed at all levels and when you're not given a chance that's very frustrating."

That lack of opportunity has led to Jones considering uprooting and leaving Wales for a new county.