Despite a five-wicket haul by Kerala left-arm spinner Mani SureshKumar, Andhra Pradesh took the first-innings lead in their RanjiTrophy league match at Cochin on Sunday.Y Venugopal Rao, coming in at the fall of captain MSK Prasad, added 70runs for the fourth wicket with Illa Srinivas (22). No partnershiplasted quite so long after the fall of Srinivas with the score on 133,although Venugopal Rao plodded along slowly making 76 off 220 balls.Once Venugopal Rao fell with the score on 180, Kerala must havesniffed a chance of bowling their rivals out. The lower order,however, defied the bowlers, with Hemal Watekar (24) and KhatibSahabuddin (27*) taking their side past the 200-run mark.At stumps, Andhra Pradesh were 234/8, with Sahabuddin and MohammedFaiq (6*) at the crease.

Kelston Boys’ High School will play Wellington College in the final of the Gillette Cup and Epsom Girls’ Grammar will play New Plymouth Girls’ High School in the final of the Yoplait Cup, in Palmerston North tomorrow.Today’s games in the national secondary schools’ cricket finals were again rain affected after the first day’s play was washed out.Games were transferred to artificial pitches this morning and games reduced, through more than one rain interruption to be 41-over affairs for the boys and 38-over matches for the girls.Kelston Boys’ won the toss and batted first against Otago and scored 190 for six wickets in their overs. Blayne Fraser scored 35 and Dusan Hakaraia 46 while Otago Boys’ bowlers Willie Lawson took two for 39 and Ben McCormack two for 47.In reply, Otago Boys’ were 163/9 when their overs ran out with McCormack scoring 30 and Paul Matthews taking four for 29 for Kelston Boys’.St Paul’s Collegiate of Hamilton won the toss and batted first against Wellington College. They scored 146/6 in their innings with Dave Richardson scoring 55 and Rik Fourie 23. James Hill took three for 30 and Kushendra Selvamaheswaram two for 34 for Wellington College.Wellington College did not need all their overs to score 147/3, with Hill 45 not out, Liam Chrisp 41, Justin Lampard 25 and Jay Newdick 20, and take a seven-wicket win to make the final.Napier Girls’ High School won the toss and put Epsom Girls’ Grammar School in to bat. They scored 116 in 38 overs. Rosamond Kember scored 23 and Catherine Bristow also scored 23. Alana McFarland took three for 19 for Napier Girls’.Napier Girls’ struggled with the bat and were all out for 47. Morgan Walsh took four for 10, Catherine Bristow three for 10 and Amy Hodgson two for 19 for Epsom Girls’.Burnside High School won the toss and batted first, making 137 all out. Kate Saunders scored 20, while Anita Waugh took two for 18, Courtney Sim two for 25, Amy Pope two for 25 and Taryn O’Neill two for 33.In reply, New Plymouth Girls’ struggled to 42 for one after 20 overs, but a 98-run partnership for the second wicket between Toni Street (63) and Rachel Priest (37) helped the team reach 139 for five wickets with an over to spare. Andrea Brown took two for 20 and Tracey Watts two for 25 for Burnside.

A Happy New Year to all our readers and to all genuine cricket-lovers everywhere. It has not been a happy New Year, though, for Zimbabwean or South African cricketers, struggling unsuccessfully overseas, or indeed for Bangladesh, overwhelmed yet again in a manner that should wake up the ICC to the fact that they did far too little to prepare their latest full member for the realities of Test cricket.For Zimbabwe, the First Test match against Sri Lanka went pretty much as could be forecast. Sri Lanka batted first and their grossly talented batsmen built up a huge total against an innocuous Zimbabwe bowling line-up. Then, aided as usual by umpiring errors that really did no more than hasten the inevitable, they failed twice with the bat, following on to be beaten by an innings.Incredibly, Zimbabwe set a record by being the first Test team to play in Sri Lanka without a specialist spinner. Captain Brian Murphy, out of form and confidence, felt he had no alternative but to stand down – and there was no other specialist spinner in the touring party! Surely the experienced Paul Strang should have been there, with Raymond Price a good alternative. Instead Zimbabwe had to rely on a four-man pace attack, backed only by two part-time spinners in Trevor Gripper and Grant Flower. Perhaps this was what persuaded them to take what at this distance (and in the absence of any discussion of the issue in the match reports) seems to be the incredible decision to put Sri Lanka in to bat on winning the toss. However justified it may have seemed at the time, the proof of the pudding is in the eating, and this decision proved indigestible.The present trend of play in Zimbabwe cricket suggests we can hope for no better in the two remaining Tests. Sri Lanka have an awesome array of talent, especially in batting, and Zimbabwe have found the island the hardest place of all to tour – so far they have lost every single match they have ever played against the home side there. Four years ago, as I have mentioned before, they almost did achieve the near-impossible by winning a Test match there, only to be robbed by craven umpiring.If they play their best, and the home side does not, it is just conceivable they might be able to match Sri Lanka in one match, although they are without several of their experienced players on this tour. But to play their best they need to show more spirit than they have done for a long time. Just occasionally Zimbabwe surprise us with an unexpected victory, but things look very bleak at the moment.Further evidence that they could do better, with the bat at least, comes with the statistic that in both innings of the First Test, five batsmen passed 20. Yet not a single one reached 50. They did the hard work, but then got themselves out when they should have been setting their sights on a really big score.Back home, Bryan Strang, whose accuracy would have been invaluable on this tour, has in disenchantment announced his retirement from Zimbabwe cricket. He fought his way back to fitness after a hamstring injury in August, only to be overlooked by the selectors yet again, even for the Zimbabwe Board XI. He has now had enough, and is looking to find a job and play out his career overseas, in England or perhaps for a provincial side in South Africa.Bryan is a mercurial character and may change his mind, as he has done before. He has not always been easy for the administrators to get on with and he has sometimes been his own worst enemy, but Zimbabwe cricket cannot afford the loss of another experienced player with much to offer. Player dissatisfaction, some of it perhaps self-imposed, is surely a part of the team’s current failures, although it is impossible to say how much. But it is an issue that needs to be recognized, tackled and resolved.A New Year is also a time for looking back, and we can spare a moment for what might have been in Zimbabwe cricket. Murray Goodwin and Neil Johnson both walked out on the country just over a year ago, while several months ago Trevor Madondo, our most talented black batsman, sadly died of cerebral malaria. Updated profiles of all three are included in this issue, along with one of Bryan Strang.ZIMBABWE A IN KENYAThe Zimbabwe A team has just returned from an unsuccessful tour to Kenya, although they did fight back to win the last two one-day matches once the series had already been divided. Alistair Campbell, who was there, talks about that tour in this issue and he reveals how Kenya’s distinctive game plan took the Zimbabweans by surprise.THE JUSTIN ONTONG AFFAIRSouth African cricket, battered by the Australians as their players appear to have lost their spirit as well as their quality pace attack, is embroiled in another controversy as their board president vetoed the team chosen for the Third Test against Australia, insisting that coloured player Justin Ontong replace white player Jacques Rudolph in the selected team.This is an issue that also causes controversy in Zimbabwe, but here I am only going to comment on the situation as it concerns the young all-rounder Ontong. Playing for one’s country for the first time, being selected as one of the eleven best, should be a source of tremendous personal joy and sense of achievement. Is that still possible when the player knows that he is in the team, not because his ability demanded it, but because the colour of his skin got him in?How can Ontong be expected to take a real pride in his selection under these circumstances? The decision to put him in the national side because of the colour of his skin has stripped him of the dignity and worth he would deserve as being officially rated as one of his country’s eleven best. Surely he must feel demeaned by his inclusion under such circumstances, especially as he failed as a player in the warm-up match against New South Wales immediately before the Test.The `quota system’, supposedly designed to combat racism, actually exacerbates any that is there. White players omitted in favour of black or coloured players of lesser quality will naturally resent it; so will their team-mates, who want to play in the strongest possible team. The policy hits at team spirit and demeans the individual promoted on race rather than merit.By all means spend extra money to help the disadvantaged, but when it comes to selection on merit, surely all unprejudiced people must agree: the best team must be selected. It only causes trouble to put race or age or privilege or lack of it ahead of sheer merit. Ontong has become a Test player but at the same time, knowing he was not there on merit, he has become a victim.

The women’s State League did not escape the attentions of the weather today, although there was frustration as fine weather broke out in Masterton but play was still not possible.Covers on the Queen Elizabeth II Park in downtown Masterton leaked and no play was possible in the Central Districts-Northern Districts game, and so bad was the damage to the pitch that it was doubtful there would be play tomorrow.In Wellington at the Petone Recreation Ground, Auckland won the toss and batted first but got off to a disappointing start as Wellington made the most of their chances to have Rebecca Rolls run out for 11 after a superb throw by Jane Hunter-Siu, Emily Drumm out for 13 and Kathryn Ramel out for 16.Helen Watson and Ingrid Cronin-Knight put on 30 to get Auckland to 104/4 off 30 overs before the rain came in and forced the abandonment of the game.

The second day’s play began badly for India, the Zimbabwean tail wagging merrily and pushing the score on to 287. Travis Friend was the party-pooper-in-chief for the Indians, making an unbeaten 60. As the day proceeded, however, things looked decisively up for the home side. Opener Shiv Sunder Das made his second Test ton, Rahul Dravid made an unbeaten half-century, and India reached 209/2 – still 88 behind.One cannot ascertain whether Das has a marked preference for oranges, but he certainly likes the ‘Orange City’ of Nagpur. In the 66th over of the day, Das leaned back and punched a Trevor Gripper off-break through the covers to bring up his second successive ton at Nagpur. The victims the first time around were Zimbabwe as well, so perhaps it is just the bowling then, and not the venue. Dravid, who amassed 200 when these teams clashed at the same stadium the last time around, was happy to pick up an unbeaten 57.It was on November 25th 2000 that Das brought up his maiden Test hundred. Stuart Carlisle will have bad memories of that match, but this one is shaping up to be just as bad. With Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman and Sourav Ganguly still to come, on paper, the best of the Indian batting sat in the pavilion for the entire day. Das, with his knock of 105 (203 b, 19×4 ) has made sure that Zimbabwe are on the back foot already. Unfortunately for the youngster, he chopped left-arm spinner Ray Price to Alistair Campbell at slip just before the close of play.The scoring rate may be an unimpressive 2.82, but it will not bother the Indians too much. The bowlers are tired, the wicket still very much full of runs, and an all-out attack on the third day beckons temptingly.Dravid clearly is not the man to take part in any such move. The Karnataka middle-order bat knows his place in the side, and indeed his role, and he was content just waiting for the loose ball. The Zimbabwean bowlers, unable to attack on this wicket, made the mistake of straying on the pads far too often and were duly punished. Dravid struck Brighton Watambwa beautifully through covers in the 72nd over of the innings to bring up his half century. The knock, that comes after a lay-off due to shoulder injury, included eight hits to the fence and came off 141 balls.Deep Dasgupta, who did not have a particularly good time behind the stumps, contributed solidly with the bat. Never one to score very quickly, Dasgupta had just one departure from dourness when he stepped down the track and hit Price straight back over his head for a six. Apart from that, it was very much a slow plod from Dasgupta.His vigil at the crease was brought to an end by a fine piece of bowling by the only spinner in this Zimbabwe team. Price, bowling around the wicket, bowled a tidy line, just short of a length and outside the off, spinning away a touch. Surprising Dasgupta, Price floated in an arm ball, the batsman shouldered arms and watched in amazement as the ball clipped the off-stump. Dasgupta’s 33 saw India reach 79 for the fall for the first wicket.But between the dismissals of Dasgupta and Das lay almost a whole day of attrition. Tomorrow India should shift gears. With Tendulkar at the crease, you can be sure that there will be a full house baying for boundaries. Whether the little master will oblige or not depends on how tidily Zimbabwe can bowl. If the bowling on the second day’s play is anything to go by, Nagpur can be sure that the advertising hoardings on the boundary ropes will take a bit of a pounding.

Shane Bond has made a lightning-like rise up the world Test bowling rankings after his seven-wicket bag in the first Test victory over India at the weekend.He is now ranked eighth in the world, the preserve of only Sir Richard Hadlee, Simon Doull and Chris Cairns in the PricewaterhouseCoopers rankings in the past.It is another acknowledgement of the influence Bond has made since coming into the side last summer. And while he missed the England series at home, he came back to play a key role in New Zealand’s success in the West Indies and his three-wicket blitz on Saturday effectively ended Indian hopes of winning the Test.Cairns is now at 12 on the bowling list, Daryl Tuffey has risen to 21, Daniel Vettori is on 24 and newcomer Jacob Oram comes in at No 75.Mark Richardson’s 89 has seen him move up the batting list to No 16.Of the other New Zealand batsmen, Nathan Astle is at 22, Craig McMillan at 29, Cairns is at 38 and Stephen Fleming at 40.

Former New Zealand fast bowler Brendon Bracewell is leading the hunt for the fastest junior bowlers in New Zealand, and he could soon be taking his ‘Princes of Pace’ quest around the world.Bracewell, who now runs the Northern Cricket Academy in the Bay of Plenty, is hosting a session during the lunch break on Sunday at the second National Bank Test between New Zealand and India for young boys and girls, to run in and bowl their fastest ball possible.The competition is open to children between the ages of six and 15.The day is part of the National Bank family day.Bracewell still delights in the joys of fast bowling and its ability to hurry batsmen up for as he says, “A hurried batsman makes more mistakes than an unhurried batsman.”As a player who suffered the curse of stress fractures in his back during his own international career of six Test matches, Bracewell is aware of the problems of over-doing the exertion.”Kids love the instant feedback measurement of their deliveries and are highly receptive to coaching instruction providing tips to improve their balance, momentum and bowling action,” Bracewell said.”Balance is the foundation to maximising power therefore the kids quickly embrace safe bowling techniques to assist them in their quest for more speed,” he said.Bracewell said young players were naturally attracted to the feats of fast bowlers like Shane Bond, Shoaib Akhtar and Brett Lee but they rarely had the chance to know just how fast they were bowling themselves.”In parks, practice nets and school grounds all over the world, kids bowl as fast as they can, imitating the run-ups and actions of the ‘Princes of Pace’ but completely unaware of the actual speed they bowl at.”The coaching staff at the NCA have been using the ‘Jugs’ speedball radar on kids for the last 12 months with very encouraging results,” he said.A Prince of Pace club has been formed and an honours board has been set up to acknowledge a series of milestones that young players can achieve.Once 10-year-olds reach 90km/h they are listed on the honours board.Eleven-year-olds have to reach 95 km/h, 12 year-olds 100 km/h, 13-105 km/h, 14-110km/h, 15-115km/h and 16-120km/h.Coaching advice by video analysis is also offered to young players in the scheme while Bracewell has an online bowling advice service.Prizes for young players include tickets to the seventh One-Day International between India and New Zealand at Hamilton on January 14.

Ariz Kamal failed by seven runs to score a century as Karachi Greens strengthened their grip on Nawabshah in the Cornelius Trophy match at Nawabshah Stadium on Thursday.At close of play on the second day of the three-day tie, the home side were staring at innings defeat, having lost five wickets for 96 runs in the second innings after conceding a huge first innings lead of 226.Earlier, Karachi Greens amassed 368 in 79.1 overs with Ariz making 93, Rashid Ali 73 and Mir Rashid 60.Slow left-armer Farooq Ahmed captured five for 71. Meanwhile, the second day of the match between Islamabad and Lahore Greens at Rawalpindi’s KRL Stadium was completely washed out without a ball being bowled because of rain.Summarised scores:*At Nawabshah Stadium, Nawabshah:NAWABSHAH 142 (Nasir Khan 28, Shahid Hussain 21, Abid Ali 20; Ariz Kamal 3-28, Zeeshan Essa 3-28, Faraz Ahmed 2-14, Adeel Malik 2-29) and 96-5 (Kamran Qureshi 27, Farooq Ahmed 24; Adeel Malik 2-12);KARACHI GREENS 368 (Ariz Kamal 93, Rashid Ali 73, Mir Rashid 60, Adnan Kalim 41, Nasir Aziz 41, Azmat Ali 35; Farooq Ahmed 5-71, Hafeez Ahmed 2-76)).*At PCB Regional Academy Ground, Karachi:QUETTA 331-8 innings closed (Javed Iqbal 123, Naseem Khan 110, Abdul Rehman 25, Abdul Wali 20 not out; Mohtashim Ali 3-73, Shahbaz Bashir 2-49);SIBI 112 (Afzal Shah 30, Khuda Bukhsh 28; Arun Lal 7-56, Abdul Rehman 3-32) and 200-5 (Afzal Shah 59, Haroon Ishaq 29, Mian Nafees 28 not out, Mohammad Naveed 26, Maqbool Ahmed 20 not out, Shahbaz Bashir 20; Naseer Khan 4-64)*At KRL Stadium, Rawalpindi (no play on second day):LAHORE GREENS 132 (Imran Qadir 29; Stephen John 7-54; Mohammad Altaf 2-28);ISLAMABAD 246-1 (Ashar Zaidi 112 not out, Hammad-ul-Haq 96 not out).*At Niaz Stadium, Hyderabad:SUKKUR 193 (Aqeel Ahmed 119; Sharjeel Ali 5-53, Anwar Ali 3-45);HYDERABAD 305-8 (Shamim Bashir 90, Kashif Jilani 64, Javed Shaikh 47, Hanif Malik 41 not out, Taj Wali 24; Khalid Sohail 4-112).*At Asghar Ali Shah Stadium, Karachi:NASEERABAD 145 (Salman Khan 35, Talib Hussain 24; Nisar Niazi 4-48, Mohammad Amin 3-28, Kashif Habib 3-29) and 98-2 (Khurshid Malik 50 not out, Salman Khan 32);PISHIN 264 (Samiullah 117, Nisar Niazi 58, Salman Khan 28, Nasrullah 21; Wajihuddin 6-80, Jurial Jamali 2-62)

Post-match press conferences are usually about as interesting as watching a Madagascar giant tortoise chewing a blade of grass. “We should have bowled better.” “They were the better team on the day.” Yawn. Bring on the giant tortoises.The pre-match jousting, though, seems to have taken a few leaves out of the handbook of hype-maestro Don King. With the action on the field blowing hot and cold in this World Cup, the India-England clash at Kingsmead, Durban, was set up quite nicely. Both teams needed the win desperately, yet both teams could go through to the Super Six even if they lost. So it was little wonder that Andrew Caddick decided it was the best time to take a dig at the Indians.Speaking to journalists at practice sessions before the big match, Caddick suggested that India hadn’t really come to terms with themselves in the World Cup. “India hasn’t been up to the mark…both their batting and bowling have been unimpressive,” said the 34-year old medium-pacer.Perhaps he was right. India had lost disastrously to Australia, managed to sweep Zimbabwe aside, beat Netherlands only apologetically, and then got into something approaching form against Namibia. But there were sure signs that the Indians were turning things around. “India should not take pride in scoring 300-plus against Namibia. They were aided more by the nimble-fingered Namibians than their batting strength,” said Caddick, perhaps a touch more outspoken thanusual.The Indian camp would have taken quiet note of this, make no mistake about that. India and England have played each other often enough in the last year, and there has always been plenty of needle in the contest. The Indians, however, would have ordinarily been no more worried by Caddick’s remarks than by his bowling in the subsequent match.But then came the pippin.”Even Sachin did not play well despite his century. Sachin’s just like another batsman in the Indian team, and there are a lot of others in the Indian side.”Quoting statistics – Tendulkar has scored 34 one-day centuries, over 10,000 runs at an average of just under 45 – could prove that Tendulkar is not just like “any other batsman,” but the statistics are hardly needed. Even a little child on the streets of India could tell you that.Indeed, few people have dared to take verbal liberties with Tendulkar. Glenn McGrath has, and he has succeeded – but then again, he’s Glenn McGrath, backed up by years of performing phenomenally at the highest level. Caddick has not, and he is no McGrath either.Word has it, then, that Tendulkar walked out to bat with a quiet determinationto settle a score of sorts with Caddick.That Tendulkar did so, in the most emphatic fashion imaginable, was proved beyond doubt on the day. There was one cover drive that even left the normally garrulous television commentators gasping. There was an on-drive that could have easily been written into batting textbooks. For good measure, Tendulkar then unfurled the straight drive, placed impeccably between the bowler and mid-off.Fans in the stands were on their feet. Caddick huffed, Caddick puffed, and Tendulkar blew his house down. Seeing a short ball early, Tendulkar rocked back, shifted weight from one foot to the other perfectly, and essayed a pull shot that sent the ball soaring over midwicket, over the stands and straight out of the ground.There was something about the shot that appeared larger than life. There are enough and more good, clean hits in one-dayers, but the brutality of this particular stroke far surpassed willow hitting the cover off a leather ball. It was more like a guillotine coming down unerringly on its mark.Caddick, in a nutshell, was summarily dismissed from Tendulkar’s presence.That was only the beginning. A man famous for bowling brilliantly in the second innings of Test matches and yet being flat in the first was brutally taken apart and ended with 10-0-69-3, the three in the final column all coming in the last over when the Indians were caught out in the deep slogging. At Durban, Caddick registered his most expensive figures ever in one-day cricket.Then again, it was all hardly a surprise. As not a few bowlers have found out over the years, this is the price to pay by testing the anger of a patient man. Tendulkar was angry, got India off to a flyer, enabled them to reach 250 and then beat England comprehensively, cantering to a win.Any more comments, then, Andy?

Star spinner Muttiah Muralitharan and middle order batsman Kumar Sangakkarahave been included in an amended squad for the forthcoming quadrangularseries at Sharjah.Both Muraliltharan and Sangakkara had been surprise omissions from a 15-mansquad selected last weekend that was rejected by Johnston Fernando, theMinistry of Sports.Fernando refused to ratify the squad until the appointment of three newselectors, including Aravinda de Silva, who retired from all cricket afterSri Lanka’s World Cup semi-final.The selectors met on Friday evening, agreeing with the bulk of the changes,but including Muralitharan, who has assured the five-man panel of hisfitness, and Sangakkara.All-rounders Hasantha Fernando and Thilan Samaraweera, the A team skipper,were the players to miss out from the original squad.Three players were axed from the World Cup squad, including middle order duoRussel Arnold and Mahela Jayawardene and fast bowler Pulasthi Gunaratne.The squad includes three players without One-Day International experience:batsman Michael Vandort, wicket-keeper Prasanna Jayawardene and leg-spinningall-rounder Kaushal Loukuarachchi.The squad is scheduled to depart for the four-nation tournament alsoincluding Kenya, Zimbabwe and Pakistan on Tuesday morning.Sri Lanka will play their first match against Pakistan on April 4.Squad:Sanath Jayasuriya (Capt), Marvan Atapattu, Hashan Tillakaratne, JehanMubarak, Avishka Gunawardene, Michael Vandort, Kumar Sangakkara, PrasanaJayawardene, Kumar Dharmasena, Kaushal Loukuarachchi, Chaminda Vaas, PrabathNissanka, Dilhara Fernando, Muttiah Muralitharan, Buddhika Fernando