Jones 'desperate' to stay at Worcestershire

Simon Jones is an anxious man as he waits to find out his fate with Worcestershire. Jones is out of contract at the end of this season and despite a long list of injuries he has said he is "desperate" to stay with the county.Jones, who has been dogged by injury since he was forced to miss the final Test of the 2005 Ashes series, underwent surgery on his knee in April and at the time it was expected he would be able to play the second half of the summer. Then in June the results of scans delivered further bad news that Jones was out for the season.While Worcestershire said last month that the focus was on his recovery, Jones is desperate to be given more time to prove his worth. "I still haven't heard anything. The club have got to think about what they want to do and, whatever that is, there is nothing I can do about it," he said. "It is a bit of a waiting game which is a little bit frustrating."It is not a very nice situation to be in. You'd rather know one way or another but at the end of the day it is the club's decision and I've got to wait and see. At the end of the day I have just got to be patient and I hope it works in my favour because I am desperate to stay at Worcester. I love the changing room and the lads and everyone around it. I think it is a fantastic place to play." .

Langer defends Championship format

Somerset captain Justin Langer has protested against the ECB's proposed decision to cut the number of County Championship matches to accommodate the Champions League which will take place in September 2010. The ECB is facing a serious backlash from professional players over radical plans to reform domestic cricket and Langer has defended the current four-day format, saying it is "perfect"."I think they should stay with the 16 per county," he told the Bristol Evening Post. "The two divisions [with promotion and relegation] is excellent because there are no dead-rubber games. You have to play home and away in my opinion because that is the best way to play it and two divisions is excellent because every game has something on it."You want to be in the first division because that is where the best cricket, the esteem and the prize money is. If our blokes can perform at this level they will be close to being ready for international cricket. The way the four-day cricket is set up at the moment is perfect."A proposal by Alan Fordham, the ECB's head of cricket operations, includes several schemes such as reducing the number of Championship games from 16 to 12, and possibly splitting the tournament into three divisions. At the heart of the idea is the realisation that squeezing in two Twenty20 competitions from 2010 will mean an increasingly punishing schedule for county players. .