Fighting back from a first-innings deficit, Himachal Pradesh bowledDelhi out for only 228 on Day Two of their Ranji Trophy league matchat Bilaspur, with Sandeep Sharma returning figures of 5-68.Resuming at 69/1, Delhi lost wickets rapidly, with four wicketsfalling for the addition of only 27 runs. Sarandeep Singh and SohailRauf staged a small partnership before the former fell, having scored21. Rauf received some more support lower down the order from RahulSanghvi (35). Delhi finally folded for 228, with Rauf remainingunbeaten on 58.Himachal Pradesh wicket-keeper Ravikant Sharma notched up six catches,while Shakti Singh aided Sandeep Sharma well by taking 4-58.Himachal Pradesh started their second innings disastrously, with bothopeners falling for just seven runs. Sangram Singh and captainVarinder Sharma, however, took their side safely through to the closeof play by defending stolidly. At stumps, Himachal Pradesh were 25/2,with Sangram Singh on 11 and Sharma on 7.

Dravid is not having a very happy timeSourav Ganguly is suffering the fate of all those captains who arecaught up in a spate of ill fortune. Everything he does seems toinvite criticism. Be it the handling of his own men or his position inthe batting order, it looks like the Prince of Kolkata must bear thecross all the time.On the opening day of the second Test, it was his introduction ofspinners within the first 70 minutes of the morning that found him atthe receiving end. Ravi Shastri, who is in South Africa as acommentator, described it as `Christmas time’ for the South Africanbatsmen. Former South African swing bowler Fanie de Villiers was alsobemused and struggled to find a logical explanation before settlingfor “you are ****ed up if you win the toss and ask the opposition totake first strike and don’t get them all out on the first day!”Shastri, meanwhile went on to add that, he thought 50 overs byspinners on the first day on a green pitch, with the overhead cloudcover, was disastrous from the Indian point of view.

But Ganguly’s move was indirectly backed by South African opener andcenturion Herschelle Gibbs who explained that at the end of the firstday’s play that the ball wasn’t really coming on to the bat because ofthe dampness in the pitch. He also added that there was also not muchpace and lateral movement in the wicket. Ganguly probably decided tobowl his spinners with this in mind as he felt the batsmen would bemade to grope for the ball.With Ganguly letting everybody know that he was keen to open theinnings, Rahul Dravid and Venkat Sai Laxman suddenly became the fallguys. Laxman could be excused as he has made it known to theselectors, in no uncertain terms, that he was not interested inopening the innings ever again.Meanwhile, Dravid, contrary to his public image of a guy willing to doat anything that his captain and coach want him to, hates being askedto open. If you remember, in the Harare Test in Zimbabwe in June, itwas Hemang Badani who finally had to open in his first Test after afew big names couldn’t bring themselves to embrace the idea of facingthe likes of Andy Blignaut operating with the new ball!

Dravid’s position becomes trickier if you remember he is also thevice-captain of the side. Shastri thought this was the area whereDravid should have been seen shouldering more responsibility. “He isvery quiet on the field and sometimes you need the vice-captain tocome up with useful advice to the captain. A captain, under stress,could have his thinking cap off.”Dravid continued to be haunted by fresh woes on the field too as hedropped a dolly, offered by Mark Boucher off Harbhajan’s bowling, inthe slips on the second day. That was before Shaun Pollock bowled himfor two when he came out in his preferred position of India No.3 inthe Indian first innings…

OLD HARARIANS’ reign as the undisputed National First League champions looks set to come to an abrupt end following yet another defeat in Round Six of the 2001-02 season at Mutare Sports Club. On a weekend when wet weather took control, resulting in a couple of low-scoring matches, OH lost by a massive 162 runs.The match was reduced to 45 overs each because of rain delay. The hosts batted first and made 237 for seven off their 45 overs with Leon Soma the leading scorer on 61 runs. Richard Simms (51) and Mark Burmester (52) weighed in with useful fifties against an OH attack that heavily relied on Ryan Butterworth and all-rounder Paul Strang, who took three wickets each. Strang, who returned home before the weekend after spending two weeks with the national team in Bangladesh, finished with three wickets for 47 off nine overs, while Butterworth took three for 51 off his nine overs.The result saw Mutare retaining second position on the league while OH remained on the wrong end of the table. The champions are lying in 10th place after managing just two wins out of their six matches with just five rounds of matches remaining.The shortest match of the season so far was witnessed at Old Georgians where the hosts humiliated winless Mac Club by ten wickets. Both innings lasted just 16.5 overs in 79 minutes. The Bulawayo-based Mac Club batted first and were dismissed for an embarrassing 22 in 13.5 overs with Gus Mackay claiming the first seven wickets for 12 runs off six overs. The visitors had a top score of six and five ducks.Their bowling was no better off as they conceded 10 extras in less than two overs. OGs reached 24 for no loss in just 2.5 overs with Lance Maloch-Brown unbeaten on 11. OGs joined Mutare on 12 points but they are lying in third place because of an inferior net run rate while Mac Club are 11th with three points.Universals posted the season’s biggest innings total with an imposing 414/9 in 50 overs against Bulawayo Athletic Club. Neeten Chouhan led the batting with 95 runs with Ali Shah and H Adam both making 85. BAC were all out for 120 in 23.5 overs, but with the wet weather having forced the revision of their target, Universals’ victory could only be by 158 runs.Kwekwe Sports Club got it right this time with a comfortable 75-run home win over Alexandra. Number four batsman Terrence Duffin top-scored with 76 while Dave Houghton fell one short of a half-century as Kwekwe were all out for 214 in 50 overs. In reply Alexandra were bundled out for 139 in 40.2 overs, with Houghton taking five wickets for 34 off 10 overs.Harare Sports Club beat Bulawayo Sports Club by two wickets in a low-scoring match. BSC were dismissed for 92 in 34 overs while HSC reached 94 for eight in 25 overs.The match between leaders Takashinga and Queens could not be played due to water seeping under the covers at Eaglesvale School in the capital.

Sports minister Johnston Fernando forced Sri Lanka’s selectors into a U-turnlate on Thursday night as members of the team seriously contemplatedstanding down from the second Janashakthi National Test in protest of thedecision to rest Marvan Atapattu and fast bowler Charitha Fernando.The controversial decision to rest first-choice players in favour ofyoungsters seeking experience was made against the wishes of the teammanagement, who first appealed to the five-man selection panel – all basedin Colombo – to change their minds.While accepting that young players needed to be given experience beforea tough year of competition, the management argued that the timing was wrong, with the series still not won. Captain Sanath Jayasuriya said, “Personally, I want to win. Zimbabwe are still a threat, especially in Kandy.”They also complained that the manner in which the decision was made, inColombo without serious consultation of the captain and the coach, wasentirely inappropriate.But the selectors, headed by chairman Tikiri Banda Khelgamuwa, refused toback down at first, maintaining that their decision was “in the bestinterests of Sri Lankan cricket.”The standoff continued late into the night as the team held two teammeetings rather than the normal one, and at least five players voiced awillingness to stand down rather than accept the decision of the selectors.Finally, just after 11 pm, following a flurry of telephone calls between thevarious sides involved, the sports minister decided that the team management’s request must be accommodated.A media release issued by the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka(BCCSL) before the start of play on Friday, said simply: “On a request madethe team management to the Chairman of the National Selection Committee andthe Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sport, it was decided to retain the sameteam that won the first Test.”But according to board sources the selection committee did not back down butwere overruled by the minister, whose responsibility it is to appoint theselectors.With the credibility of the present selection committee – which wasappointed by the previous government – having been so severely undermined bythe standoff, the minister now has to decide whether the time has come for afresh committee.Indeed, the minister also needs to decide whether to support an amendment tothe Sports Law proposed by the previous government and waiting to be heardin Parliament that recommends that responsibility for team selection istransferred to the cricket board.

Cameras won’t only be monitoring close decisions and players’ behaviour on the field in the series between the West Indies and Pakistan in the neutral venue of Sharjah, starting with the first of two Tests on Thursday.In a scenario straight out of the CIA, the KGB and MI5 files at the height of the cold war, they are to be placed outside the doors of team dressing rooms and in the hotel foyers by the International Cricket Council (ICC) Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU).The object is to deter players from any dealings with bookmakers eager to repeat the match-fixing deals that have thrown a dark shadow over the game and brought about the banning of two former Test captains, Hansie Cronje of South Africa and Mohammed Azharuddin of India.The closed-circuit cameras will be monitored by one of the officers of the ACU. It was formed by the ICC in 1999 at a cost of over US$4 million under the direction of former London police chief Paul Condon, after Cronje’s involvement with a Bombay bookmaker was exposed by India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).The ICC has said the measures will be applied to all matches under its jurisdiction in future in its drive to root out corruption.A report presented by Condon to the ICC last year identified Sharjah, one of the seven United Arab Emirates in the Arabian gulf state, as one of the main locations for illegal gambling and match-fixing.The Indian government has banned its team from competing in tournaments in Sharjah until it is cleared of the allegations.In response, the Emirates Cricket Board mounted its own inquiry into corruption last year. It was headed by British Queen’s Counsel George Staple but its findings are still to be published.The former Pakistan and Kent captain, Asif Iqbal, organised the several international tournaments staged in Sharjah for the Cricketers’ Professional Benefit Fund (CPBF) that paid sizeable endowments to outstanding former Test players, many West Indian, but mainly Pakistani and Indian. But he moved into another overseas cricketing position in recent months.Abdul-Mohammed Bukhatir has recently set up Taj Television, a new channel based in the Emirates, devoted to cricket and mainly aimed at the cricket-mad markets in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.He has also constructed another cricket stadium in Rabat, Morocco, that was mooted as a possible venue for the West Indies-Pakistan series but is now expected to become operational in April.Former Test captains, Clive Lloyd of the West Indies, Sunil Gavaskar of India and Ian Botham of England, have been engaged by Bukhatir.In another controversial decision, the ICC has appointed former England captain Mike Denness as match referee for the upcoming series.Denness was at the centre of the furore late last year when the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) refused to accept him as referee for the final Test of the series in South Africa after he disciplined six Indian players for breaches of the ICC code of conduct in the second Test.The ICC declared the third and final Test unofficial after the South African board, on India’s insistence, replaced Denness with former South African wicket-keeper Dennis Lindsay as referee.Pakistan and the West Indies have both accepted Denness’ appointment. But the ICC has subsequently set up a committee to look into the terms of reference for its referees.

Sri Lankan coach Dav Whatmore jumped to the defense of his prize bowlerMuttiah Muralitharan on Tuesday after former Indian spin great Bishen Bedilikened the off-spinner’s action to that of a “good javelin thrower.”Bedi, speaking to , said: “If Murali doesn’t chuck, then show me how to bowl. How can you call it bowling? He (Muralitharan) has nofollow-through and he makes no use of his shoulders. He looks like a goodjavelin thrower.”Whatmore, both surprised and annoyed by Bedi’s comments, said: “The teamwere astonished and disappointed to hear such comments come out of the blue.It’s like living in the past. This issue has been dealt with in detailbefore and experts have cleared his action.”It’s sad really that a fellow, who was a good bowler in his day, wishes toavoid the indisputable facts. It’s a negative for cricket in general.”It’s nearly three years since the last controversy over Muralitharan’saction, when he was no balled by umpire Ross Emerson in a one-day game atAdelaide.”I don’t why the issue has suddenly arisen again,” questioned Whatmore.”Perhaps it’s a reaction to him taking 400 Test wickets?”Whatmore was also taken aback by Bedi’s insinuation that Muralitharan hadbeen given special treatment because of a congenital deformity in his rightelbow, saying: “Some people are born blind… Will a blind man be allowed tofly an aircraft? So why should a bowler be allowed to chuck because he has adefective arm?””Muralitharan has a disability in his right arm,” said Whatmore. “He has nooption but to live with it. However, the defect doesn’t mean anything otherthan he can’t fully straighten his arm.”The Sri Lankan born, Australian raised Whatmore, who has coachedMuralitharan for Sri Lanka and Lancashire for nearly six years, revealedthat Muralitharan was aware of the comments and not unduly worried by them.”Murali is frustrated that this has been dragged up again. But this has allbeen scrutinised in much detail before and he is free of guilt having beencleared by experts. He was the full support of the team, coach, physio andmanagement and will just get on with his cricket.

Considering that Orissa had already conceded a slender two-run first-innings lead to Punjab, the final day’s play in the Ranji Trophy quarter-final at Mohali was merely academic, an exercise to determine a result rather than chalk in the name of the semi-finalist.Chasing 463 was always a remote proposition, and Punjab’s Navdeep Singh merely expedited the Orissa collapse. Taking 5-36 off 12.1 overs, Navdeep broke the back of the lower middle order, and Orissa’s last five wickets fell for the addition of just 17 runs.There were some knocks of note in Orissa’s innings, though. Opener Biswa Mohapatra struck 44 off just 29 balls, with eight boundaries, while Rashmi Ranjan Parida made 40 off 58 balls. As in the first innings, the highest scorer was Pravanjan Mullick, who made 72 off 115 balls before falling as the final wicket of the innings.Notching up a win by 243 runs, Punjab thus advanced through to the semi-final of the Ranji Trophy. Orissa, however, can only rue their toothless bowling in Punjab’s second innings, when the team scored 460 without any of the batsmen reaching three figures.

Batsmen had to be able to show they could handle New Zealand conditions before they could be regarded as world-class.TelstraClear Black Caps captain Stephen Fleming’s pre-second National Bank Test comment today was an obvious barb in the direction of the much-vaunted Indian batsmen as they try to knock New Zealand off their perch as the third-ranked nation on the International Cricket Council’s Test Championship ladder.India folded twice for 161 and 121 runs in the first Test at the Basin Reserve when the game finished in less than three days. Only Rahul Dravid in the first innings and Sachin Tendulkar in the second lived up to anything like their formidable reputations.Fleming commented on the changed nature of Test pitches in New Zealand.Fleming has been a strong advocate for the removal of the low, slow Test pitches that were so long associated with New Zealand.With the introduction of portable pitches for Tests at rugby-playing grounds in Christchurch and Auckland, and the revitalised pitches of Hamilton, Wellington and Dunedin, bounce had become much more common in New Zealand.And Fleming welcomed that because it brought New Zealand more in line with Australia and South Africa, the two countries ahead of it on the ICC ladder.He made no apologies for the visiting teams having to cope with the greater bounce in New Zealand.”The challenge is for the players to get better. You say you’ve got some of the best batsmen in the world but if you can’t play on all types of wickets then are you the best batsmen in the world?” he asked.Fleming said that if a particular style was developed in New Zealand then it was up to teams coming here to adjust. It was a requirement of New Zealand’s players also to get better in the conditions.”Look, we’re not experts at playing on a green, seaming wicket – no-one is, so we don’t doctor wickets that way,” he said.But for a player to be regarded as a world-class player he would have to show his stuff in New Zealand.”We know when we go to India, we have to adjust to slower turning wickets and that’s just as big a challenge, moreso in some instances, than playing on a good bouncy wicket.”So it’s all about adapting and that is the challenge of playing away from home – making that adaptation and putting pressure on the opposition.”These are our home conditions, nothing untoward has gone on. We do want bounce, I love to see bounce. I don’t hide that fact,” he said.The problem this year was that due to the wet spring and early summer it has been fresh bounce rather than good, solid bounce, as Fleming put it.”If it gets sunlight on it, then it will be great,” he said.And therein lies the requirement for this match to satisfy the requirements of both sides and to make it a genuine five-day contest.

The start of the new cricket season may still be four months away, but Hampshire’s latest crop of Academy recruits are working hard at their game throughout the winter months.Hampshire Second XI coach Tony Middleton has had his seven-strong group of prodigies training twice weekly at the Rose Bowl for the past six weeks.”They don’t just come to the Indoor School for practise net sessions,” Middleton emphasised. “There is much more to it that that.”In addition to a pretty strenuous fitness training routine, the learn about tactical awareness and the mental approach to the game – two kep elements of their development,” he added.Hampshire have recruited three newcomers to the Academy ranks – opening batsman Kevin Latouf from Bishop’s Waltham, Calmore Sports opening bowler Matthew Metcalfe and promising Shanklin all-rounder David Griffiths.They join second-year academy students David Wheeler, Luke Merry, Martin Bushell and Tom Burrows, who impressed Hampshire supporters in August when he came on as a substitute wicket-keeper against Yorkshire at the Rose Bowl.”These seven youngsters are all focussed on a professional career in the game and have the potential to do well, provided they continue to work hard at their game,” added Middleton.All seven will play in the newly promoted Hampshire Academy team in the ECB Southern Electric Premier League this summer.

JOHANNESBURG – Where are the Windies shirts?That’s the question being asked by cricket fans all around Johannesburg.They have had no luck trying to get West Indies replica shirts during the ongoing World Cup. And the reason is the West Indies designs were never submitted to the official International Cricket Council’s (ICC) shops so the items could be made and placed for sale."After South Africa, the West Indies is the most popular team around here," said a sales assistant at the ICC’s souvenir shop in the Sandton City Centre. Every day we have been getting calls and people coming in wanting West Indies kit. But we were told their designs were never submitted."The West Indies’ popularity was evident when they were mobbed by autograph seekers when they spent Friday afternoon in the Sandton Centre, adjacent to their base at the Sandton Sun.Only four teams – South Africa, England, New Zealand and Australia – submitted designs and their items have been selling smoothly. Most Indian fans came with their replica shirts from previous tournaments.