Glamorgan Cricket players developed a new fighting spirit in their pre-season preparations – by training with a world champion boxer.
The squad was taken by Coach Matthew Mott from their hi-tech SWALEC Stadium home to the more earthy Welsh Valleys base of Joe Calzaghe.
ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat believes that the four-month prison sentence handed to former Essex bowler Mervyn Westfield should act as a deterrent to anybody tempted to get involved with match-fixing in cricket.
He said the ICC was fully supportive of the court's decision and commended the ECB on its anti-corruption measures.
The England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has imposed upon Mervyn Westfield an interim suspension from all cricket pending an ECB Cricket Discipline Commission hearing.
Westfield has been jailed for four months after pleading guilty to charges of corruptly accepting or obtaining, or agreeing to accept or obtain, corrupt payments.
Ahead of the new county season, we caught up with Surrey chief executive Richard Gould ahead of the 2012 season at the Kia Oval.
He talks about the changes at Surrey over the last few years, from the partnership with Kia to new faces coming in and how the rescheduling of this year's Twenty20 Cup could cost the club up to £500,000.
Derbyshire have completed their allocation of overseas players for 2012 by signing Twenty20 specialist Rana Naved-ul-Hasan to partner Usman Khawaja in the Friends Life t20 competition.
South African batsman Alviro Petersen has revealed via his Twitter account that he has signed a contract with Essex for the first part of the 2012 county season.
Leicestershire have signed West Indies batsman Ramnaresh Sarwan as their main overseas player for the 2012 season. The Guyanese right-hander will represent the Foxes in all cricket during the forthcoming season, including playing alongside Abdul Razzaq in their Friends Life t20 side.
Worcestershire have signed Pakistani off-spinner Saeed Ajmal for their Friends Life t20 campaign. He completes the Pears' overseas signings for 2012 following their capture of Australian batsman Phil Hughes on a season-long deal.
Durham have signed former South African batsman Herschelle Gibbs as one of their overseas player for the Friends Life t20 campaign.
The 37 year-old has not played for South Africa since publishing his controversial autobiography at the end of 2010, extracts from which caused Cricket South Africa to terminate his national contract.
Outgoing Gloucestershire batsman Chris Taylor is to take his former employees to an employment tribunal following the news that the 35 year-old has failed to agree a contract extension with the club.
The main reason for the failure to reach an agreement was the rejection of the club's plans for ground redevelopment at their Bristol headquarters, which were turned down by the city council last month. His contract for 2012 was dependent upon the plans getting the go-ahead.
England's selectors have resisted making wholesale changes to their limited-overs squads following the disastrous Test leg of their tour of the UAE, with Danny Briggs' call-up at the expense of Ian Bell the only major change from the ODI squad that toured India. Tim Bresnan returns to take his place in both squads after missing the Test series due to injury.
Chris Tremlett faces a spell of at least three months on the sidelines after specialists recommended that he have an operation on his back. The decision means that he will miss England's two Test matches in Sri Lanka at the end of March and beginning of April, as well as the first month of the county season with Surrey, meaning that he will struggle to be match fit for the start of England's Test summer against West Indies at the end of May.
Sussex have signed former New Zealand and Essex all-rounder Scott Styris as one of their two overseas players for the Friends Life t20. It is understood that he will be available for the Sharks' entire T20 campaign.
Surrey have re-signed Australian fast-bowler Dirk Nannes for their 2012 Friends Life t20 campaign.
The 35 year-old also represented the Lions last season and proved popular with their players, management and supporters.
Derbyshire have confirmed that Australian top-order batsman Usman Khawaja will be joining them from the start of their Friends Life t20 campaign on June 14th, and will become their main overseas player for the rest of the season. He will take over from Martin Guptill, who earlier signed as the Falcons’ main overseas player for the first ten weeks of the season, but has international commitments with New Zealand after that date.
Gloucestershire have signed former Middlesex top-order batsman Dan Housego on a three-year contract.
The 23-year-old was a member of Gloucestershire's Academy before moving to Lord's, and played for their Second XI against Denmark as long ago as in 2003
Somerset have signed Albie Morkel as their second overseas player for the Friends Life t20. It had been thought that fellow South African Roelof van der Merwe was going to fill the role when he took over as the club's main overseas player at the beginning of June, but that whole deal now appears to have been scuppered by red tape.
The outcome of yesterday's meeting between the ECB, the 18 first-class counties, and the MCC appears to be that a 14-match Championship schedule was accepted in principle providing it is made up of an eight-team first division so as not to compromise the integrity of the eventual winner.
Lord's Cricket Ground has once again been named the UK's number one Sporting Venue by BDRC Continental's VenueVerdict.
The Home of Cricket has been recognised for its exemplary customer service, and was found to have the highest Net Promoter Score (NPS) of any eligible sporting venue in an extensive national list.
Middlesex County Cricket Club has announced that a new long-term sponsorship agreement has been reached with integrated wealth management group, Brooks Macdonald, which will see the AIM listed company become the club's principal sponsor until at least the end of the 2014 season.
Warwickshire CCC have announced an operating profit of over 300,000 pounds for the year ended 30th September 2011. This compares to a 2.1 million pounds loss in 2010.
Hampshire club captain Jimmy Adams has agreed a one-year contract extension to his existing contract which will see him remain at The Rose Bowl for at least a further three seasons.
Nottinghamshire have announced a record surplus of over half a million pounds for the year to the end of September 2011.
Middlesex seam bowler Toby Roland-Jones has signed a new contract with the club which will see him remain with them until at least the end of the 2014 season.
Lancashire CCC have announced that head coach Peter Moores has signed a two-year extension to his existing contract which will see him remain with the club until at least the end of the 2014 season.
Somerset have signed former West Indies captain Chris Gayle as their overseas player for the Friends Life t20. He will replace Kieron Pollard who is unavailable for county duty due to the West Indies' tour of England. Gayle, however, is involved in a contractual dispute with the WICB which shows no sign of coming to a conclusion.
Edgbaston Stadium has broken new ground by becoming the first county cricket stadium in the UK to have its own Android application (app), which has been released well in time for the 2012 season and follows on from their successful launch in the summer of their iPhone app.
Four Leicestershire players; batsmen Josh Cobb, Will Jefferson and Greg Smith, along with seam bowler Alex Wyatt; have all signed one-year contract extensions with the county, meaning that they will remain at Grace Road until at least the end of the 2013 season. In addition, former Kent seamer Robbie Joseph, who was released by the club at the end of 2011, has agreed a short-term deal which will see him play in Leicestershire colours until the end of May.
Former Essex bowler Mervyn Westfield has pleaded guilty to charges realating to spot fixing elements of a domestic cricket game in 2009 and will be sentenced next month.
In a short hearing at the Old Bailey, Westfield pleaded guilty to a charge of accepting corrupt payments to bowl badly during a game against Durham on 5th September 2009.
Gloucestershire have been dealt a tremendous body blow ahead of the 2012 season after having planning permission for redevelopment work at their main ground in Bristol rejected by the city council.
Glamorgan CCC have confirmed that South African batsman Alviro Petersen will not be returning to the club in 2012.
The 31-year-old had been the Dragons' overseas player and club captain in 2011, and it had been thought that he might return under a Kolpak arrangement for 2012 following the signing of Australian Marcus North as their overseas player.
The ECB looks set to accept the findings of the Morgan Review in full when their Management Board meets on Thursday, in spite of the reservations of several of the counties and many supporters.
Somerset and England wicket-keeper Craig Kieswetter has agreed a new deal which will see him remain at the County Ground in Taunton until at least the end of the 2014 season.
Neil McKenzie has confirmed that he will be returning to The Rose Bowl next season, albeit in a reduced role, while Hampshire have announced that batsmen Benny Howell and Tim Ravenscroft will both be leaving the club.
Kent chairman George Kennedy has announced a return to profit for the cash-strapped county. Speaking of the county's improved financial situation, Kennedy said, "We're delighted to announce an operating profit for 2011 of £188,000, compared to a loss of £595,000 in 2010."
Sussex batsman Joe Gatting has signed a one-year extension to his existing contract at the County Ground, which will see him remain at Hove until at least the end of the 2013 season.
Meanwhile, Surrey CCC have announced the death of their former physio David Montague at the age of 80.
Worcestershire have formally confirmed that Australian batsman Phil Hughes will be joining them as overseas player for the entire 2012 season. The 23 year-old had originally been expected to join the Royals for the start of their Friends Life t20 campaign and continue through to the end of the season, but, since being dropped from the Australian Test side, Hughes made clear his wish to play a full season of county cricket.
We round up all of the latest county news from the last few days in our latest County Cricket Round-Up.
Kent have chosen former West Indian captain Jimmy Adams from a list of 50 applicants to be their new head coach for next season. He replaces Paul Farbrace, who resigned his position in September, and has since taken up the role of Second XI coach with Yorkshire.
With many of England's county cricketers now heading home from their off-season destinations in time for Christmas, we take our monthly look at how they have been performing for their franchises or states so far in the 2011-12 season.
England batsman Kevin Pietersen has extended his contract with Surrey until the end of his international career.
Pietersen, who first signed for the club on a one-year deal in 2011 following a loan spell in 2010, will play for the Brown Caps until he no longer has an ECB Central Contract.
Warwickshire and England seam-bowler Chris Woakes has signed a new two-year deal with the county which will see him remain with the club until at least the end of the 2014 season.
Kent have signed former Durham all-rounder Ben Harmsion on a contract of undisclosed length ahead of the 2012 season.
Somerset have tentatively announced that they have secured the services of South African all-rounder Vernon Philander as their overseas player for the first two months of the 2012 season. Philander's availability is dependent on him not being selected to play in the Indian Premier League.
Plus, Ben Smith has been confirmed as Leicestershire's batting coach.
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