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Division One

Third day

Lancashire continued to battle against Warwickshire at Blackpool, forcing the follow-on after bowling them out for 231. All the Lancashire bowlers had performed impressively with Murali Kartik producing a probing spell of left-arm spin in his first Championship match of the season. Ian Westwood offered the major resistance with a 198-ball 67 but the pressure created by the bowlers was too much for the rest. Earlier, Lancashire declared on 456 for 9, after Naqaash Tahir had bagged 7 for 107. For the second time in the match play was halted when a water bomb landed on the pitch and Mal Loye, the Lancashire batsman, even climbed a wall to try and find the culprit. It had earlier happened on the first day.Middlesex totally unraveled at the hands of Yorkshire‘s spinners at Scarborough, leaving Yorkshire with a target of 274. In heartening sight, two young legspinners took all 10 wickets. Mark Lawson took 6 for 88 and Adil Rashid, on the ground where he burst onto the scene a few weeks ago against Warwickshire, had 4 for 96 as the visitors fell away for 224. The bulk of those runs came from Ben Hutton, who stuck 105 from 166 balls, with ten fours and two sixes. Yorkshire had started grafting their way towards a win, and were 39 without loss by stumps.Second day
Murray Goodwin fired a century for table-topping Sussex in their crucial match against Hampshire at Hove. David Nash joined him in a third-wicket partnership of 132 to boost the home side to 416 for 8, a first-innings lead of 69. Sean Ervine removed both openers early, but firstly Nash, then Chris Adams, steadied the innings. Adams passed 1000 runs for the season before Shane Warne managed to stem the runs with late wickets. However, Sussex have already notched up maximum bonus points.

Division Two

Third day

Surrey clinched promotion against Glamorgan at The Oval. Chris Taylor’s century provided some much-needed stability for Derbyshire, as he shared a second-wicket stand of 191 in the second innings at Derby. Northamptonshire were finally all out 424, a first-innings lead of 267, but Taylor and Stubbings (64) had gone some way to stubbing out that lead after the early loss of Hassan Adnan. Still, Northants will be confident of pushing for victory tomorrow.The indomitable Graeme Hick another century to give Worcestershire a boost in their clash for the second promotion with Essex at New Road. Earlier, Essex successfully avoid the follow-on reaching 330 in reply to the home side’s 473 for 6. But Worcestershire continued to build on their lead, mainly through Hick, and went on to make 331. Essex reached 19 for 1 by the close, still 455 behind. Worcestershire will be confident of sealing the deal tomorrow if the rain holds off.First day
Leicestershire crumbled at the hands of Somerset, falling away for 170 at Grace Road. Andrew Caddick took the 73rd five-wicket haul of his career, bagging 5 for 46. HD Ackerman (53) and David Masters (43) played the only innings of note for the home side as they were blown to pieces, Charl Willoughby and Richard Johnson helping themselves to two wickets apiece, and Keith Parsons grabbed the other. But Somerset’s batsmen found the going tricky, too, Nicholas Walker snapping up the openers to leave them in some trouble at 32 for 2.

Australians planning to watch next year’s Ashes series at home may have to fork out for pay television after the Seven and Nine networks said they were unlikely to cover the tour, The Age has reported.David Hurley, a Nine spokesman said a final decision had not been made, but according to the newspaper it was unlikely to bid for the series, which clashes with winter football competitions and Wimbledon. Nine last broadcast the Ashes in 1997, when Australia won 3-2 and the coverage didn’t begin until the second session.Seven received heavy criticism for the way it screened the 2001 series and The Age reported a spokesman saying “the time zone and scheduling difficulties across Australia are significant”. Ten, the third major network, presumably cannot program seven consecutive hours without an episode of The Simpsons.With England finally in regular good form, the five-Test series shapes as a gripping contest that will only be available on Fox Sports. James Sutherland, the Cricket Australia chief executive, said it would be disappointing if it was not available on free-to-air television, but there was little they could do. “We don’t have ownership of the rights and ultimately it is the England and Wales Cricket Board who are trying to sell these rights for the best price,” he told ABC Online.

Scorecard

Victoria moved within striking distance of winning the Pura Cup, taking six Queensland wickets late on the third day at the MCG. Almost guaranteed of their first domestic title since 1990-91 after posting a mammoth 710, Victoria took a giant stride towards victory after legspinner Cameron White’s three wickets sparked a Queensland collapse just before tea.Queensland finished the day at 6 for 177, with Martin Love unbeaten on 22, but still trailed by a daunting 533 runs. Love, Queensland’s usual No. 3, came in at No. 6 after spending most of the day at the team hotel with a sinus infection.Jimmy Maher, the Queensland captain, was leg-before in Jonathan Moss’s first over for 72 shortly before the close, ending almost four hours of resistance. Moss then had Chris Hartley for a duck in his next over. White finished with 3 for 36, and Moss had 2 for 2.Although facing a almost impossible ask to get within sight of Victoria’s total, Queensland were on course when Maher and Clinton Perren negotiated the initial onslaught. But with the score on 85, Perren (40) edged Michael Lewis and Darren Berry held a diving one-handed catch.White then took two wickets in 10 balls. Stuart Law (18) spooned a wide ball to David Hussey at cover and then Chris Simpson was trapped in front. White later grabbed his third wicket when James Hopes was adjudged leg-before for 5, sweeping across the line.Victoria continued to bat in the morning, eventually posting the highest score in a Sheffield Shield/Pura Cup final. It was also the highest score in Australian domestic cricket in over 60 years. Their total overtook the 664 that Queensland scored in the 1994-95 final against South Australia at the Gabba, and was the highest score in a state match since South Australia made 7 for 821 against Queensland at Adelaide in 1939-40.

Matthew Elliott will make his long-awaited return to cricket in next week’s ACB Cup match against Tasmania in Hobart. Elliott has missed the Bushrangers past three ING Cup matches, as well as last week’s Pura Cup match against NSW due to severe bruising of his right knee.Bushrangers coach David Hookes said the match came at a perfect time for Elliott to gain some match practice. “It’s a great opportunity to get Matty down to Hobart and for him to get some much-needed match practice prior to our last two Pura Cup matches. He’s been a little frustrated by the slower than expected recovery of his injury, but Matty’s such an important part of the side. We felt it was too big a risk for him to play any earlier than this”.Melbourne’s Liam Buchanan retains his place in the side after scoring a brilliant 208 in this week’s match at the Junction Oval with the ACT.VICTORIA v TASMANIA
17 -20 February, 2003
TCA Ground, HobartVICTORIAMatthew Elliott (c), Liam Buchanan, Robert Cassell, Adam Crosthwaite, Brett Harrop, David Hussey, Nick Jewell, Brendan Joseland, Michael Klinger, Andrew McDonald, Bryce McGain, Chris StreetTASMANIAScott Kremerskothen (c), Chris Bassano, Graeme Cunningham, Xavier Doherty, Andrew Downton, Ben Hilfenhaus, Shane Jurgensen, Tim Paine, Adam Polkinghorne, Shannon Tubb, Nathan Webb, Luke Williams

Somerset Under-19’s drew their match against Warwickshire Under-19s at Taunton School yesterday. After the first day was washed out the game was played over 60 overs per side.Warwickshire Under-19s batted first and made 217 for 9, with Daryl Cox taking 3 for 28 and Sam Wadham 2 for 58.In reply Somerset Under-19s had reached 178 for 9, of which Michael Coles made 44 and Luke Stokes 31.The Under-19s travel to Abergavenny to take on Glamorgan on Tuesday and Wednesday next week.

South Africa women’s tour of Bangladesh, which was scheduled for later this month, has been postponed due to security concerns, the BCB president Nazmul Hassan has said. South Africa women were supposed to arrive in Dhaka on October 15 to play three ODIs and five T20s.The development comes four days after the Australian men’s team also postponed their Test series in Bangladesh.Hassan said a decision will be taken on the series after a discussion on the sidelines of the ICC meeting in Dubai next week.”They [CSA] had wanted a security report but we thought it would be better to speak face to face in Dubai during the ICC meeting,” Hassan said. “I think the terror alerts would be taken off by the next five-seven days. We also need to know what type of security plan they have in mind. Since both these teams are mostly free, it won’t be a major problem to delay this series by a few days.”To make sure they don’t have a negative view, we need to sit with them rather than exchange emails. The series is temporarily postponed by mutual consent. They are not coming on October 15, and I think they will come a little later.”Hassan said he will ask the ICC for a solution to the problem of teams not willing to visit a country where there are isolated threats.”We have to find a solution to play even when there are threats. I think Zimbabwe will come early for the Test series but I don’t want to show the world or the people of Bangladesh that a team has visited. I want a permanent solution.”

If there was one question in recent years that has been asked more than any other in New Zealand One-Day International cricket it would have to be, “How does Craig Spearman keep his place in the Black Caps?”The answer has been confined to the New Zealand cricket selection panel.Glenn Turner first picked Spearman to international duty in 1995/96 as one of his choices to implement the blazing top order assaults Turner wanted.Going into yesterday’s ODI with Zimbabwe in Harare, Spearman with an average of 17.41 after 44 matches had seen off Turner and Ross Dykes as selection conveners and had won over the new man Sir Richard Hadlee.This despite the fact that his best score was 78 scored against the United Arab Emirates in the 1996 World Cup. He twice scored 68, in the 1996 World Cup against the Netherlands and against India at Rajkot last summer.He was overdue, well overdue.However, New Zealand cricket is still overdue for some fire at the top of the order.It is amazing that since the days when Turner and Bruce Edgar were paired in the mid-1980s and John Wright and Edgar shared the duties before that, New Zealand has not enjoyed a consistently successful opening pair.There were some heady days at the 1992 World Cup when Mark Greatbatch and Rod Latham were paired but they were fleeting.What makes the opening question all the more frustrating is that another of Turner’s selections, Nathan Astle has blossomed as a one-day opener. He’s scored eight ODI centuries and has had five scores in the 90s.He is New Zealand’s most successful one-day batsman even if he has yet to claim the overall run scoring aggregate from Martin Crowe.Ironically, Spearman produced his highest score yesterday with 86 against Zimbabwe when he was originally named as a lower middle-order player. He only moved to No 3 when skipper Stephen Fleming was laid low with a stomach complaint.It is one of the indictments of New Zealand’s one-day play that only 14 centuries have been scored by openers, eight of them by Astle and three by Turner. Wright, Edgar and Crowe have scored the others.While Spearman lifted the monkey from his back, the problem at the top of the order still exists for New Zealand. Wicketkeeper Chris Nevin has a great opportunity to make his mark as a partner for Astle.With such a concentration of limited overs cricket at the start of the season, it would be helpful to New Zealand’s future, and its build-up to the next World Cup, if Nevin could solidify the opening berth and if Spearman could reap a harvest of consistency in the middle-order.Few batsmen hit the ball harder with so little effort than Spearman. He is capable of taking good attacks apart.If New Zealand could rely on a top order assault from Astle, Nevin and Spearman, what fireworks there could be.Zimbabwe was just a start for Spearman. He has had generous selectorial support. It is dividend time for New Zealand.A final thought on the Zimbabwe match.Zimbabwe was always going to struggle after the loss of Neil Johnson and Murray Goodwin.But New Zealand went into the game without Chris Cairns, Dion Nash and Geoff Allott who were all injured and Fleming couldn’t bat due to illness.Daryl Tuffey and Glen Sulzberger made their ODI debuts. They have both been part of New Zealand’s coherent development policy. It is but one step but some depth is finally starting to emerge.

Loose bowling on day one, and cautious batting on days two and three paved Sri Lanka’s path to defeat, said Angelo Mathews, after the Test in Dunedin. Sri Lanka had let New Zealand advance at 4.48 runs and over in the first innings, before batting at 2.50 themselves. Overall, Sri Lanka batted for 50.4 overs more than New Zealand, yet lost by 122 runs.All three frontline seamers had gone at more than four runs an over in the first innings, where only Rangana Herath maintained an economy rate of less than three. “I was really disappointed the way we bowled and batted in the first innings,” Mathews said. “On that wicket, if there was anything it, it in was in the first couple of sessions. After winning the toss on a green wicket, I expected a lot more from the bowlers.

Was trying to avoid leg-side trap – Mathews

Angelo Mathews’ dismissal was one of the more bizarre ones during Sri Lanka’s innings, as he had his middle stump uprooted attempting to pad away a full Neil Wagner delivery. The ball passed through his legs en route to the stumps. He explained that he was trying to avoid New Zealand’s leg-side trap.
“It was a trap set on the leg side, and I didn’t want to play anything on the leg side to be honest,” Mathews said. “In the first innings as well, I nicked it to the wicketkeeper on the leg side. They had a leg gully and a short leg as well. I wanted to just pad it away because I knew that even if it hits my pad it’s not going to be out because it’s pitching outside leg stump. Unfortunately it hit the inside part of my pad and rolled to the stumps.”

“We bowled a lot of loose stuff. To a batting line up like New Zealand, you can’t really bowl loose stuff because they are going to capitalise. We lost our way in the first couple of sessions and we let them off the hook. We had to bowl really well to get them on the back foot. We had to take a few wickets early, which we didn’t.”While each of New Zealand’s batsmen who crossed 25 batted at a strike rate of at least 66, Sri Lanka’s half-centurions struck at less than 45. New Zealand hit 64 boundaries in the 96.1 overs they faced. Sri Lanka struck half that amount from 117.1 overs.”We were also way to cautious in our first-innings batting,” Mathews said. “We couldn’t really do much batting in the second innings, but in the first innings we respected them a lot more than expected, which was very disappointing from the batters. As I always say – and not to take away from the New Zealand – but the bowlers they are also human, and we have to capitalise.”Sri Lanka batted through until the second new ball in both innings, but scored fewer than 300 on either occasion. Three half centuries were hit from them in all – two of those coming from Dinesh Chandimal.”We definitely could have done better as a batting unit,” Mathews said. “We need to score runs to give our bowlers a chance. Scoring 290-300 is not enough on these tracks. Once the seam movement goes off in the first couple of sessions it gets really good for batting. The batters have to score big to keep us in the game.”Mathews and Chandimal had been together overnight, with Sri Lanka resuming at three wickets down on the final morning. Both batsmen were dismissed offering no shot, after a 56-run stand.”Last evening, I thought me and Dinesh had to dig in deep to save or win the game,” Mathews said. “Either way we had to stay on the wicket till lunch. Unfortunately we lost both our wickets within two or three overs of each other. That really had a big impact on the game.”Mathews said the tailenders’ defiance was among the positives Sri Lanka will take out of the match, and also lauded the bowling of Dushmantha Chameera. Playing his first overseas Test, Chameera was comfortably the quickest bowler across both teams in Dunedin, but having had an economy rate of 5.6 in the first innings and 4.35 in the second, he was also the most expensive.”He’s very raw but he runs in on any deck and he bowls fast,” Mathews said. “That’s all he knows, and what we expect from him. That’s what I told him to do as well. Not think about line and length too much – just try and bowl fast. He’s a tremendous weapon in the bowling line-up because he can upset the rhythm of a batsman. We are trying to use him in a wise way. He’s very young still, he’ll definitely learn more as time goes by.”

If only Heath Streak, the reliable and dependable allrounder, wasaround. If only Andy Blignaut, the medium-pacer with a knack fortaking priceless wickets, was around. Then Wednesday’s showdown betweenZimbabwe and South Africa would have illuminated Harare Sports Club asthe one-day series gathers momentum.But gone are the days when fans used to gleefully watch real menpulling fours and sixes off venerated pace bowlers and offspinners.Zimbabwe’s national cricket team has been reduced to a bunch ofamateurish school-boy cricketers and suddenly all the interest andzeal which accompanies the visit of a powerhouse such as South Africahas died down.Cries for Kevin Curran’s dismissal as national coach have developedinto howls. His critics maintain he has been ineffective since takingover from Phil Simmons as he has presided over Zimbabwe’s continueddescent into the abyss of international cricket.Curran knows, by now, that the nation’s confidence in him has hit rockbottom; that it is time to salvage his battered pride by snatching arespectable result out of the series against South Africa.He knows that the nation is now fed up of his perennial excuse thatthe team is still on a learning curve. Curran said this when losinghis first Test in charge against India in August 2005. He repeatedhimself after another comprehensive Test loss to New Zealand thefollowing month. And when drawing 2-2 against lowly Kenya, Curran hadalready proved himself as the devil rather than the messiah forZimbabwe cricket.Only last week Curran, the former Zimbabwe international, was stillsinging from the same hymn sheet. “The encouraging thing is that wehave managed to come through and in the last four days of the matches,and in the shorter version of the game, the idea is to bat through ourovers… and hope to translate the 100s into 200s and then maybe 300runs.”There were some positives that came through against India A and theSouth Africans in that Tatenda Taibu, played admirably well on hisreturn to international cricket after a two-year absence. We hope tocontinue improving- and who knows, we could pull a surprise or two inSouth Africa when we go there for the Twenty20 tournament,” Curransaid following another comprehensive defeat by a visiting South AfricaA side.His view of the national game, although sounding like that of anamateur coach, has become a reflection of how the once-reveredinternational has lost confidence in himself as national team coachand in the team he leads. Charles Mhlauri’s stubbornness would havedone better to drum up the fans’ support and faith in the team.Yet, with all odds staked against Zimbabwe, the team might just beinspired to do well against the Proteas in the remaining two, if onlyto boost morale and confidence ahead of next month’s Twenty20championships.Curran’s batting line-up seems better coordinated since the return ofVusimuzi Sibanda from Australia and the maturity that has beenexhibited by Christopher Mpofu over the past few years. But Zimbabwe’s prospects of upstaging South Africa are far-fetched despite Taibu’s satisfactory performances against South Africa A.Taibu is a bit subdued and his response is measured. “Anything canhappen in a cricket match,” he said. “Hopefully, my being around againfor Zimbabwe can add value to the team.”

Graeme Hick has signed a one-year extension to his contract with Worcestershire to end speculation that he may have moved to Derbyshire. Hick’s deal runs out at the end of this season but he had expressed his wish to carry on playing into his 24th season.Derbyshire had made an official approach to Hick, 40, but he will now remain, and in all likelihood finish his career, at New Road. He recently became the second player since the war to score 100 first-class hundreds for his county after Geoff Boycott for Yorkshire.John Elliott, the club chairman, said: “Graeme is a legend of Worcestershire cricket and I am delighted that he is to continue his long career with us. This is very good news for all our members and supporters and will end any speculation there might have been about his immediate future.”Hick added: “I am delighted to have resolved the situation. My heart has always been with Worcestershire and I very much look forward to the next 12 months.”