John Crawley has been named Hampshire’s captain for the 2003 season, finally bringing to an end the speculation and conjecture over the appointment to replace Shane Warne.31 year old Crawley who joined Hampshire last season, captained his former county Lancashire from 1999 until his departure two years later.Crawley replaces Robin Smith who retired from that post after five years in the job.Team manager Paul Terry also announced that there would not be an appointed vice-captain. “We have a number of experienced players within the squad that could fulfill the roll, should it be required”, said Terry.John Crawley will start his duties immediately by leading out the team in the opening pre-season friendly match at The Rose Bowl today (Monday) against Somerset.

Despite the arrival of emergency tarpaulins, which covered 90% of the ground, the around-the-clock mopping up operations of an army of groundstaff and, ironically, bright blue skies and blazing sunshine, no play was possible before lunch on the second day of his second Test at Kandy.The muddy brown outfield remains saturated after the early arrival of the southwest monsoon three weeks ago and after more overnight rain, the umpires, Daryl Harper and Simon Taufel, decided to inspect the pitch again at 1pm local time. In the meantime, both teams were packed off to their hotel, where they would spend another morning lounging by the poolside.A second successive full-day washout remains a distinct possibility with the umpires unlikely to be willing to risk injury to the players on a slippery outfield. The pitch and the inner circle are in good condition.New Zealand, who drew an attritional first Test in Colombo, are bidding to win their first series in Sri Lanka since Geoff Howarth’s side won 2-0 in 1983-84.

Sri Lankans 299 and 66 for 1 drew with the West Indies Cricket Board President’s XI 296 (Hinds 83, Ganga 54)Sri Lanka’s second-string attack achieved a three-run lead on the first innings over the West Indies Cricket Board President’s XI today, but a more consistent line and length might have produced greater reward in the drawn match.The lack of discipline at Arnos Vale was reflected in the concession of 25 no-balls and three wides in a total of 32 extras.Before the game was called off with 8.4 overs left, Sri Lanka’s former captain Sanath Jayasuriya took the opportunity to collect some useful runs ahead of Friday’s first Test. He smashed seven fours and one six in an undefeated 44 off 46 balls, as the Sri Lankans finished on 66 for 1 in their second innings.Tillakaratne Dilshan was the batsman out, to the last ball of the match. Dilshan, who was promoted to open to give him some match practice, made 20 off 46 balls with three fours before edging Dwayne Bravo to Carlton Baugh, the wicketkeeper. Earlier, the Sri Lankans picked up their wickets with a mixture of speed and spin, and only the captain Daren Ganga (54), Ryan Hinds (83) and Baugh (43) made runs in the top order.Ganga anchored the innings after the Sri Lankans had reduced the President’s XI to 56 for 3 by the 17th over. Ganga helped his team recover from that bad start by sharing a 70-run stand for the fourth wicket with Hinds.Hinds, the 22-year-old Barbadian left-hander who captained the West Indiesteam in the Under-19 World Cup in Sri Lanka in 2000, gave the selectors areminder. He was dropped from the national squad after his Test-debut season last year, but his 83 in 197 minutes here was a fine knock.His innings ended when he unnecessarily chased a wide one and edged a catch to Mahela Jayawardene at slip, giving the persistent Dinusha Fernando his first wicket of the innings. Hinds faced 166 balls and hit seven fours.Fernando also claimed Baugh, who hit an exciting 43 off 55 balls with one six and five fours before gloving a rising delivery to Dilshan behind the wicket. Baugh and Hinds shared a sixth-wicket partnership of 94 to lift the President’s XI from 130 for 5 to 224 for 6. Once that stand was broken the last four wickets tumbled for 34 runs. Dave Mohammed provided some entertainment in scoring 33 from 39 balls with two sixes, and added 38 for the last wicket with Jerome Taylor.Thilan Thushara, the left-arm fast bowler, struggled with his run-up andwas no-balled eight times in his first seven-over spell. He ended upbowling 11 no-balls and three wides for figures of 2 for 43 off 11 overs.Thilan Samaraweera was the most successful bowler, taking 3 for 56 off 19 overs including two in one over – Tino Best and Daren Powell were both dismissed behind the wicket, with Dilshan claiming a stumping and a catch.

National League Division OneDivision One TableGlamorgan 273 for 2 beat Essex 267 for 6 by 8 wickets at Sophia Gardens
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Jimmy Maher belted a magnificent 142 from 113 balls, inclusive of 18 fours and 4 sixes, as Glamorgan sauntered home with 6.5 overs to spare. Essex’s total had been inspired by Nasser Hussain’s superb 144 and Ronnie Irani’s 63. But Maher, and Robert Croft who made 64, made light of the stiff target on a day when bowlers on both sides took some fearful hammer.Leicestershire 295 for 7 beat Worcestershire 219 by 76 runs at Oakham School
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A comfortable victory for Leicestershire. Trevor Ward, with 68, and Virender Sehwag – who slammed three sixes in a blistering 59-ball 76 – gave Leicestershire the perfect start, while Darren Maddy provided the late innings-momentum with 58. Stephen Peters anchored the reply with 82, but Worcestershire were never on the ball as Jeremy Snape and David Brignull both finished with three wickets.Warwickshire 244 for 4 beat Surrey 242 for 9 by six wickets at Edgbaston
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Ian Bell (59*) and Mike Powell (26*) led Warwickshire to an ultimately facile victory after Nick Knight (74) had given the run chase the perfect start. Waqar Younis, who finished with 4 for 35, did the damage early on, before Collins Obuya – with 3 for 65 – mopped up the lower order. Mark Ramprakash held the innings together with 57, but it wasn’t enough against a Warwickshire team that was never behind the eight-ball.National League Division TwoDivision Two TableNorthamptonshire 215 for 7 beat Durham 166 by 49 runs at Chester-le-Street
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Another match, another Australian having a party. Mike Hussey carried his bat for a superb 112, before Ben Phillips and Ricaldo Anderson ripped through the fragile Durham batting. As for Shoaib Akhtar, his 9 overs cost 48 runs, for one wicket. Not quite his day, and certainly not Durham’s.Middlesex 337 for 5 beat Somerset 305 for 9 by 32 runs at Southgate
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Middlesex triumphed in a run-fest at Southgate. Owais Shah and Andrew Strauss both made 74 in quick time, but it was Abdul Razzaq, who slammed 5 sixes in a 49-ball 79, who provided the impetus as Middlesex cruised past 300. Keith Dutch (65) and Ian Blackwell (64) gave Somerset a chance, but Jamie Dalrymple and Chad Keegan did enough to ensure that Middlesex prevailed. Nottinghamshire 212 for 5 beat Hampshire 208 for 7 by five wickets at The Rose Bowl
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Chris Cairns and Chris Read saw Nottinghamshire home in a thrilling finish with a 55-run partnership. Cairns made 57 from 58 balls, while Read chipped in with an unbeaten 33 after Jason Gallian had nurdled 60 at the top of the order. Hampshire’s modest total owed much to Simon Katich’s sedate 56, and an unbeaten 45 from South Africa’s Nick Pothas. Derbyshire 235 for 4 beat Sussex 232 for 6 by six wickets at Arundel Castle
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A game of two centuries, with Christopher Bassano’s being the decisive contribution, as Derbyshire made it past the target with 20 balls remaining. Mohammad Kaif cobbled together 44, and Dominic Hewson – who had earlier snared 4 for 40 – made 34 in support of Bassano’s brilliant 126. Murray Goodwin was Sussex’s batting hero with a classy 129.

National League Division One
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Surrey 297 for 6 beat Gloucestershire 231 by 66 runs at The Oval
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Surrey stamped their authority on their title rivals Gloucestershire, as they secured a vital 66-run win to regain top spot in the National League. Surrey, who won the toss and batted first, were in a rampant mood, racking up a huge 297 for 6 in their 45 overs. Ally Brown launched the innings with a ferocious 84 from 61 balls, and Mark Ramprakash brought up the rear with a scarcely more sedate 83 from 102. Graham Thorpe and Rikki Clarke each made handy contributions, and Gloucestershire were up against it from the offset of their innings. Craig Spearman and Phil Weston brought up the first 50 in 29 balls to keep their hopes alive, but five run-outs effectively sealed the match. Spearman went on to make a brave 85, but when he clipped a Clarke full-toss to deep square-leg, that was that.Essex 298 for 5 beat Glamorgan 153 by 145 runs at Chelmsford
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Nasser Hussain launched a thrilling riposte to all those who doubt his continued hunger, by smashing an unbeaten 161 – his highest score in limited-overs cricket – to defeat Glamorgan singlehandedly at Cheltenham. Hussain batted right through a lopsided innings, in which Dean Cosker took all five wickets to fall. Andy Flower added 176 for the first wicket, and Jon Dakin lamped 40 for 23 balls in the closing overs, but other than them, no-one else exceeded 11. Glamorgan, though, needed an unlikely 299 for victory, and when Robert Croft and Michael Powell fell in the same over from Antonio Palladino, they gave up the ghost. Matthew Maynard made an even 50, but Glamorgan tumbled to 153 all out in 26.1 overs.Hampshire 250 for 6 beat Sussex 181 by 62 runs at Hove (D/L method)
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Sussex swapped one embarrassment for another, as a floodlight failure interrupted play just as Dmitri Mascarenhas was bowling Hampshire to a comprehensive victory. Play did eventually resume, and Sussex did eventually put up a fight, but the damage had been done at the top of the innings. Responding to Hampshire’s healthy total of 250 for 6, Sussex were reduced to 37 for 5 before a gutsy performance from the tail lifted them to 181 with ten of their allotted overs remaining. Mascarenhas finished with 4 for 24, and James Bruce chipped in with 3 for 45. Earlier, Hampshire’s innings had been based around a trio of fifties from James Hamblin, Simon Katich and John Crawley.National League Division Two
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Nottinghamshire 203 for 6 beat Durham 199 by four wickets at Chester-le-Street
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Kevin Pietersen rampaged to 72 from 57 balls to keep Nottinghamshire’s promotion hopes alive in their National League Division Two game against Durham at Chester-le-Street. Durham batted first and made an underwhelming 199, but that total looked to be plenty when Nottinghamshire slumped to 56 for 5. But Pietersen, who had made a cautious start, suddenly opened his shoulders and stormed from 20 to 72 in six overs. Graeme Bridge was slotted for three sixes in an over, and even Shoaib Akhtar came in for some tap, before getting his own back as Pietersen was caught at backward point. But the damage had been done, and Chris Read and Paul Franks steered Notts home with 6.3 overs to spare.Somerset 283 for 8 beat Middlesex 216 by 67 runs at Taunton
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Jamie Cox provided some long-overdue oomph to Somerset’s top-order, with a superb 130 from 120 balls to dent Middlesex’s promotion push at Taunton. Cox was at the forefront of an impressive team batting effort, as Somerset racked up 283 for 8 after winning the toss. Cox was dropped once on 85 by Tim Bloomfield, but otherwise was in complete control. He added 89 for the third wicket with Keith Parsons, and even though no other batsman exceeded 38, Somerset’s total was all too much for Middlesex, who were all out for 126 in 39.1 overs. Ed Joyce made 59, but Ian Blackwell took three wickets.

South Australian cricket officials are going to the Environment, Resource and Development Court to appeal an Adelaide City Council rejection of an application to build a permanent video replay screen at the Adelaide Oval.The council had given in-principle approval for the screen in January. As a result of that decision, the South Australia Cricket Association (SACA) worked with Heritage South Australia to ensure the design met their heritage requirements.SACA chief executive Mike Deare said the appeal was a last resort move after the Adelaide City Council took the issue off their agenda. Deare said he understood the matter would be looked by a special Development Assessment Panel later this week. He anticipated the panel meeting would then be followed by a conciliation meeting under the auspices of the Environment Resource and Development Court.When the original SACA plans were declined by the Council, a reduction was made in the support structure for the screen. Deare said he had received an indication that city councillors acknowledge the need for a screen and he is hopeful that the amended design will win favour within the next week.

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For a few hours it was possible to suspend belief and fantasise that all was right out there, that England were on top of the world, and that the football season has been forgotten. A packed fifth-day crowd crammed into The Oval to see England blow away the South African tail inside an hour and then knocked off the 110 runs needed to win the match – and square the series – 41 minutes into the afternoon. The spectators, in a party mood from the fourth over of the day when Martin Bicknell struck twice in as many balls to dissipate South Africa’s hopes of mounting a rearguard, celebrated as if the Ashes had been regained.The hard work was done early on when England took the last four South African wickets to leave themselves plenty of time to chase a small target. The heroes were Bicknell, who was written off by some after the first day, and Stephen Harmison, who shared eight wickets in the innings, and all four on final day.Bicknell prised open the door in the fourth over with the wickets of Mark Boucher and Andrew Hall with successive balls. Bicknell toyed with Boucher, bowling him two inswingers and then the outswinger which Boucher was drawn into playing, and Alec Stewart held the thinnest of inside-edges. Boucher made 25 (193 for 7). The next delivery was one of Bicknell’s worst, almost a long-hop, but a slightly surprised Andrew Hall fended it away with hard hands and it dollied to Ed Smith at short midwicket (193 for 8).Those two quick strikes forced Shaun Pollock onto the attack. He launched into Bicknell, smacking him back over his head and then carving him twice to the third-man boundary for three fours. But in the next over he tried to steer a short, wide one from Harmison to third man, but it flew straight to Graham Thorpe at backward point instead (215 for 9). Pollock had made 43, South Africa’s lead was still under 100, and the crowd was in raptures.Paul Adams went for broke, cracking the tiring Bicknell for three fours to take South Africa’s lead past 100, but Harmison ended the innings with a brute of a ball which climbed on Makhaya Ntini, and Smith leapt to hold a diving, one-handed catch at short leg. Ntini had scored 1. Fifty-five minutes after he had led England onto the field to thunderous applause, Alec Stewart led them off it to an even greater reception.

As South Africa struggled to raise themselves one last time to save a series they appeared to have in the bag long ago, they needed the luck to go their way. It didn’t. In the second over Ntini produced a peach with turned Trescothick square, found the edge, and flew between second and third slip where Hall completed a wretched morning by spilling a waist-high chance. Heads visibly dropped as those flickering hopes of a dramatic finale disappeared.England had been largely cautious before lunch, but some looming, darkening clouds injected more urgency afterwards. Michael Vaughan fell straight after the re-start, but Butcher and Trescothick gorged themselves on some weary bowling, unleashing a string of boundaries to the delight of the crowd.The only thing that would have completed the fairytale end to the summer would have been for Stewart to have hit the winning runs. As it was, he had to be content with cheers every time the big screen showed him sitting on the players’ balcony. It was more fitting, perhaps, that the winning runs were hit by Trescothick, a man who is key to the future of the England team and one whose 288 runs were instrumental in this success. Only Don Bradman, with 244 and 77 in 1934, had previously scored a double-century and a fifty in the same Oval Test.Man of the Match Marcus Trescothick
England Man of the Series Andrew Flintoff
South Africa Man of the Series Graeme SmithWisden Day 4 Verdict: South Africa face Groundhog Day
Wisden Day 4 Bulletin: Harmison leads the charge after Flintoff’s fireworks

Robert Croft and Michael Kasprowicz have jointly become the Glamorgan Players of the Year for the 2003 season.The announcement of the decision was made at the annual awards luncheon held at the Sophia Gardens ground this afternoon. The award, sponsored by Brain`s Brewery, had never before been shared by two players.David Harrison won the Young Player of the Year Award, whilst wicket-keeperMark Wallace won the Byron Denning Clubman of the Year Award.

The escalating furore over the West Indies Cricket Board’s decision to massively hike ticket prices for the forthcoming home series against England took a new turn with news that the Barmy Army – England’s loyal band of supporters – are set to boycott the Caribbean in protest.The Barmy Army have been unfaltering in their support of England overseas for more than a decade, never failing to travel to venues others – including some players – have feared to tread. But the WICB’s ploy to raise money for cricket in the region looks as if it is an obstacle too far.”They [the Barmies] don’t like being treated like idiots,” Katy Cooke, the secretary of the Barmy Army, told The Guardian. “They’re being asked to subsidise ground improvements in another country. No one who went to Bangladesh is going to the West Indies. I know lots of people who were going to take their families out there, but it just isn’t worth it now, especially as the accommodation is already expensive. There’s been absolute outrage.”If we’d told Zimbabweans at the Chester-le-Street Test last summer that they suddenly had to pay more than the England fans to get in so that the authorities could fund some new seats in Durham, we’d have been branded racist pigs.”And the view that staying at home is the preferred option is echoed by Phil Long, another ever-present Barmy. “I’ve been following England abroad since 1996,” he told the newspaper. “But the trip to the West Indies will be the first I’ve dismissed on the grounds of cost. In Bangladesh you could get by on £150 for the entire five-week trip. Now we’re being asked to pay more for the tickets alone. A lot of the boys are saying we’ll give this one a miss.What’s happening is a real shame, because we’re the best touring fans there are. I was in Calcutta for the one-day final recently between India and Australia, and there were only about 10 Aussie fans there. We’re being penalised for giving such good support.”New Century Marketing, the London-based firm in charge of selling the tickets, continues to insist that sales for the four-Test series which starts in March are good.

New Zealand’s hopes of getting a good start to their women’s Test match with India at Vapi, took a blow, almost from the outset. Asked to bat on a pitch that offered little suggestion of how it would play, the lost two key wickets to disappointing decisions.Kate Pulford, one of the opening batsmen, was adjudged to have edged the ball behind when her bat was well away from the ball after only five balls and her fellow opener, Maria Fahey was given out caught bat-pad off her toe. The road to recovery was a slow grind and the scoring rate barely reached two runs per over throughout the 94 overs bowled.Katey Martin, who was one of six New Zealand women making their Test debut, settled in for the long haul. There was a significant disappointment when Maia Lewis, New Zealand’s captain, started aggressively but was caught out from the bottom edge for only nine runs.Martin was joined by Haidee Tiffen and they grafted their way to 81 before Martin, in sight of a half-century on debut, played back to Neetu David, the left-arm spinner, and was caught behind for 46, scored off 139 balls in 176 minutes of batting.The message was to build partnerships, but at every stage they seemed to be developing, a wicket was lost. Tiffen produced a monumental display of control, given her attacking bent, and by stumps she had batted for 264 minutes for her unbeaten 38.New Zealand were disappointed that they had not been able to score faster and at stumps were left in No Man’s Land on 141 for 7. The pick of the Indian bowlers was Nooshin Al Khadeer who took 3 for 36 from her 27 overs. Neetu David took 2 for 37 from 29 overs.