Sri Lanka’s Kandy jinx looks set to be broken after a second day marred bybad weather which is likely to led to a draw in the second match of thisthree-Test series.Only 73 minutes of play were possible after prolonged rain on Thursday nightdelayed the scheduled start by four hours.During the time available West Indies quickly wrapped up the Sri Lankaninnings, but then lost an early wicket to leave them on 39 for one when playwas abandoned for the day.Left-arm fast bowler Pedro Collins struck in the first over the day as heclean bowled Nuwan Zoysa for 23.That brought local hero Muttiah Muralitharan to the wicket. In August he hadswatted and spaded the Indian bowlers all over the ground during his highlyentertaining maiden half-century, but he failed to repeat his heroics andwas caught at mid on for four.Sri Lanka were bowled out for 288.Nuwan Zoysa, playing his first Test match since Sri Lanka played England inMarch at Kandy, over eight months ago, struck with his very first deliveryback.Daren Ganga followed a wide short-of-a-length delivery and guided it lamelyinto the safe hands of Mahela Jayawardene at third slip.Chris Gayle, short of runs in Galle, then showed that he was still in primeform, hitting four powerful boundaries in his 25, including two resoundingpulls off Zoysa.Chaminda Vaas encouraged a couple airy wafts as he swung the ball away fromthe left-hander, but West Indies lost no further wickets before the close.

The respective attitudes of competing skippers, Australia’s Steve Waugh and New Zealand’s Stephen Fleming were praised in newspapers on both sides of the Tasman as both teams made a silk purse out of a sow’s ear of their rain affected first Test at the Gabba in Brisbane yesterday.The New Zealand Herald: “Another explosive innings from Chris Cairns, who struck 43 off 37 balls, almost took the New Zealanders to the wire, but he was caught on the long-on boundary with three overs remaining and just 21 required.”Fleming said afterwards he thought New Zealand had a couple of chances to win – when he and Nathan Astle put on 100 for the fourth wicket, and when Cairns was rampaging at the end.'”I felt pretty exhilarated throughout, but in the end it was disappointing not to come away with a win, especially after getting ourselves in such a good position.'”It was a good challenge and we have no complaints – you don’t get handed test wins, and we knew we’d have to play out of our skins to earn it.'”Fleming’s counterpart, Steve Waugh, believed his side had created the best of the game-winning chances and rubbished suggestions that his bowlers had contravened the spirit of the game by bowling wide of the stumps.'”New Zealand’s bowlers pitched it pretty wide at times in our first innings, so I don’t think it was a big deal.'”Waugh said New Zealand might have thought they were going to win the match, but felt Australia had dominated the game generally, and would have been unlucky to lose.”Peter Roebuck, The Sydney Morning Herald: “A glorious cricket match ended with honours even as the Australians and New Zealanders threw themselves at each other with all their might.”Australia had the fright of their cricketing life. Under the Gabba lights and with spectators spellbound, the visiting batsmen chased hard and almost reached the end of the rainbow.”Magnificent blows from Chris Cairns and Craig McMillan took the tourists close to their target, only for prospects to recede as wild shots were played in the last couple of overs. Finally Cairns was held on the boundary and the home captain sighed the longest sigh of relief in his eventful career. At the end the teams retreated to the pavilion, bruised, blooded and unbowed.”New Zealand refused to go away and were stopped only by the stiffness of the target and the experience of their opponents.”All praise to both teams for having a go. All praise to the captains for breathing life into a game that was dying on its feet. Steve Waugh can hardly have expected the Kiwis to bat as well in pursuit of a tempting total.”The Daily Telegraph: “It was a fitting result – neither team deserved to lose but neither dominated enough to win and there was genuine warmth and respect among the sides when they shook hands after stumps.”Captains Steve Waugh and Steve Fleming can take a bow for putting the reputations of themselves and their countries on the line with last-day declarations which gave the match a wonderful finale.”The waterlogged game, which will enrich the experience of those who played in it, finished under lights at 6.20pm with a small crowd spellbound.”Chris Cairns (43) almost stole it for New Zealand when he joined Shane Lee and Carl Hooper in the exclusive club of people who have driven balls into the top deck of the Northern Stand.”He twice inflicted this treatment on Shane Warne who conceded 17 off his last over which left the Kiwis needing 21 off their last 18 balls with five wickets in hand for victory.”The Australian: “Three previous days of rain in Brisbane threatened to rob the match of any life but opposing captains Steve Waugh and Stephen Fleming deserve enormous credit for declaring to set up an enthralling and unexpected contest.”It was a spectacular chase, with Steve Waugh forced to spread the field far and wide and Glenn McGrath testing the limits of what is an off-side wide to prevent New Zealand snatching an amazing victory.”Only when the brutal Chris Cairns was well caught on the boundary by Ricky Ponting for 43 from 38 balls, having twice belted Shane Warne deliveries to the top tier of the redeveloped northern stand, could the Australians feel safe.”The Herald Sun: “There is no doubt one of the $64 questions before the Test started was whether New Zealand had the ability to bowl Australia out twice.”On the evidence offered during this rain-affected match, the Black Caps have not made ground on the Australian batsmen. This was despite the first-innings failures of Ricky Ponting, Mark Waugh, Steve Waugh and Damien Martyn.”New Zealand will have no better chance than having its rivals 6-263, yet it was still on the receiving end of a 486 first-innings scoreline.”Despite New Zealand’s failure to nail Australia when the gate had flung open late in the second-innings run chase, there is a positive culture within a squad that has had no alternative other than to learn the hard way.”Robert Craddock, The Herald Sun: “They don’t have many big names, they don’t do much big talking. They haven’t got the greatest record and they don’t win all that often.”But there is one thing you simply have to give the New Zealand cricket team – it’s got guts.”Quite frankly, its attitude puts England to shame.”Both teams deserve great credit for the show they put on yesterday, proving it is not a crime to risk losing a cricket game in the hope of winning it.”You sense Australia will learn more from yesterday’s experience than it did in all five Tests against the West Indies last summer.”Waugh’s declaration dragged players out of their comfort zone, which is the very philosophy the captain and the coach are all about.”

Bangladesh coach Trevor Chappell has done his homework and won’t be fooled by the nature of the pitch at Hamilton’s WestpacTrust Park for the first National Bank Test against New Zealand tomorrow.He was aware that while Pakistan suffered their heaviest defeat in Test cricket last summer, much of that was due to ill-disciplined stroke play more than particularly ferocious New Zealand bowling.The nature of the pitch was such that he didn’t know what he would be recommending if Bangladesh won the toss.”It plays a lot better than it looks,” he said but he added that his players wouldn’t like the amount of green in the pitch.Despite the disappointments of a rain-ruined first match in Wanganui and an innings defeat against Auckland, the Bangladesh players were looking forward to the Test.They had been enthused by an improved second innings batting display in Auckland and that sort of thing had a noticeable impact on the players, Chappell said.”They have been brought up on 50-over cricket and trying to get them to bat patiently is the big thing.”They have had a number of opportunities to watch opposition batsmen play and see the way they build an innings,” he said.In Bangladesh, there was some movement of the ball for a little while, but that could happen for two days or more here and the batsmen would have to be patient when the ball moved sideways or bounced a little more.”They have to know that if you can let it go, then let it go, don’t play at it.”Make the bowlers bowl to you,” he said he had been telling the batsmen.And because Test matches tended to be over sooner than five days there would be nothing wrong if players were slow to score. There would still be plenty of time left in the game, he said.

Predictions of a pace-friendly pitch for the Boxing Day Test may prove correct if today’s ING Cup cricket match between Victoria and Western Australia is any guide.On a wicket just adjacent to the strip that will be used for the second Test between Australia and South Africa, WA’s Brad Williams and then Victoria’s Ian Hewett ripped through the opposition batting as the Bushrangers won a thrilling match by just ten runs.Hewett, who took 4-22 as Victoria dismissed the Warriors for 200 in reply to its total of 6-210, believes the Australian and South African quicks will have much to look forward to come Wednesday.”There was much more in it than a a normal wicket and especially compared to what you get interstate,” he said of the MCG pitch.”There was good carry in it all day.”While Hewett bowled with intelligence and gained plenty of assistance off the wicket, Williams was downright terrifying when he ripped through the Bushrangers’ batting line-up earlier in the day.The former Victorian speedster took 3-0 in seven balls as Victoria crashed to 3-34 in the 13th over. A vicious, lifting delivery to dismiss Brad Hodge for a first-ball duck was the stand-out.”It was getting to a point where it was almost about survival,” Hewett said of Williams’ opening spell.The Test pacemen will be taking notice after talk of a bouncer war between Australia and South Africa in the second Test following the heavy treatment dished out to Nantie Hayward by Brett Lee in the first Test in Adelaide.There is likely to be plenty of scary moments for batsmen of both sides if the Test wicket has anywhere near the bounce of today’s pitch.After Williams’ opening onslaught, Victoria looked unlikely to survive its 50 overs.But thanks to skipper Matthew Elliott’s 60 and half-centuries to youngsters Michael Klinger and Simon Dart, the home side eventually boosted its run rate above four an over.Western Australia’s innings started disastrously when Hewett dismissed its top four batsmen in his first seven overs, including a superb leg-cutter to get rid of Warriors skipper Simon Katich for three runs.From that point the Warriors were always up against it but still nearly pinched victory thanks to a magnificent 77 from Ryan Campbell.Campbell took 16 runs off Ian Harvey’s ninth over to reduce the target from 27 runs off 18 balls to a far more achievable 11 runs off 12 balls, despite being left to bat with No.11 Williams.Elliott then bravely tossed the ball to Jon Moss, who wouldn’t have even played had Damien Fleming not made a late withdrawal with hamstring soreness.Moss ended the Warriors’ innings with his first ball when he had Campbell caught behind.The Bushrangers finally had something to celebrate in the one-day arena even though they remain bottom of the ING Cup table.

MIKE TAYLOR, 59, announced today that he would be retiring from his position as Marketing Manager of Hampshire County Cricket Club on 31st March 2002.

It will be 29 years to the day since Mike joined Hampshire from Nottinghamshire as a player on 1st April 1973.Following eight successful seasons, including winning the County Championship in his first year, Mike then served on the Administrative Staff first as Assistant Secretary and from 1986 as Marketing Manager.He is presently the longest serving member of of the Hampshire Staff and also the longest serving Marketing Manager on the County circuit.”It has been a long innings but a very enjoyable one,” says Mike.”The game has seen a great many changes over the last three decades mainly for the good, but not in all cases.””Hampshire’s move to The Rose Bowl was of course a major change and one the club was destined to make to secure its future. Many challenges lie ahead and my good wishes go to the Club as The Rose Bowl is developed into an International venue.”

An Indian victory in a Test or a one-day international these daysmay not be exactly run-of-the-mill, but it does occur now andthen. Some major victories are celebrated in right royal style,while others go by barely noticed. With the passing of time, thememories of many of these wins are dimmed. However, the historicvictories are remembered fondly, and cricket fans can recall manysmall details ­ statistical and otherwise ­ of the match.Triumphs such as the first ever Test victory, the first rubbervictory over England, the first victory over Australia or theWest Indies, the historic triumph in England in 1971 and, when itcomes to limited-overs cricket, the World Cup victory in 1983 ­these cannot be erased from memory even with the march of time.

These thoughts come to mind on what is undoubtedly a very specialoccasion ­ the 50th anniversary of India’s first ever Testvictory. It was achieved on February 10 1952, the opponents wereEngland, and the venue was Chepauk, Madras. At the time, it hadbeen almost 20 years since India played her first Test at Lord’sin June 1932, and since then, the country had played 24 Tests,lost 12 and drawn 12.It did seem, then, that India’s best chance of a victory wasagainst the England team that visited these shores in 1951-52. Inthe absence of Len Hutton, Peter May, Jim Laker, Denis Compton,Alec Bedser and Godfrey Evans, it was a pretty mediocre side thatcame over. But by the time the teams reached Madras for the finalTest, England were 1-0 up, with three Tests being drawn.The selectors, in a mood for drastic changes, dropped PollyUmrigar, Vijay Manjrekar, CS Nayudu, Nana Joshi and SadashivShinde. In came Mushtaq Ali, Lala Amarnath, CD Gopinath, RVDivecha and P Sen. But on the eve of the game, there was asignificant change in the announced playing eleven. A couple ofdays before the Test, Hemu Adhikari was walking on a wet pavementin Bombay when he slipped and fell. A broken wrist ruled theexperienced middle-order batsman out of the Test. Polly Umrigar,named 12th man in the original squad, found a place in the elevenat the last moment.The highlight of the first day’s play was the stirring duelbetween Vinoo Mankad and Tom Graveney. Every time Mankad flightedthe ball, Graveney would go forward to meet it in an effort todrive. Repeatedly, however, he found that the ball had dipped andhe just had to play it back along the ground. Mankad was bowlingmagnificently, but Graveney with his twinkling footwork was aworthy opponent.Ultimately however, Mankad’s experience overcame Graveney’s youthHe tossed one up, and Graveney saw an opening. He judged thateven if the ball dipped, he would be there to take it on thehalf-volley and unleash his pet cover drive. He came forward tomeet the ball, which however remained teasingly out of his reach.It pitched just out his desperate lunge and broke away to theoff. Sen grabbed the ball and, in one quick movement, whipped offthe bails. One of the finest duels in Indian cricket came to anend with the bowler – aided by alert wicket-keeping ­ winning it.England reached 224 for five at the close of play, but Mankadbrought the innings to a swift end on the second day, February 8.The rest day had been advanced to February 7 when it wasannounced that King George VI had passed away. The teams observedtwo minutes silence before play started and wore black arm-bandsfor the rest of the match. Mankad finished with excellent figuresof 38.5-15-55-8, the best in an innings by an Indian bowler tillthat time, and England were dismissed for 266. His effort hadgiven India the opening to force a win.The match now hung on the performance of the Indian batsmen, andthey did not disappoint. For the better part of two days, theyscored runs at a handsome rate. Mushtaq Ali, playing in whatproved to be his last Test, and Pankaj Roy laid the foundationwith a first wicket partnership of 53. After Mushtaq’s departurefor 22, Roy, playing in his first series, and skipper VijayHazare (20) added 44 runs. Mankad then joined Roy and the two puton 60 runs for the third wicket before the all-rounder left for22. Joined by a fourth veteran in Amarnath, Roy proceeded to hissecond hundred of the series, and when he was fourth out at 191,he had made 111. Amarnath and Dattu Phadkar saw India through tothe close of play with the score at 206 for four.The sun was out and the ground was packed to capacity on theSaturday, February 9. Amarnath (31) left at 216, and the matchhad reached a vital point. To overcome the disadvantage ofbatting last on this wicket, India had to get a lead of at least100 runs. That seemed a long way off at this point with Umrigar,sadly out of touch, joining Phadkar, India still 50 runs behind.But the pair gradually got on top of the bowling and added 104runs for the sixth wicket before Phadkar was out for 61.Joined by local youngster Gopinath, Umrigar now turned on theheat and took heavy toll of spinners Malcolm Hilton and RoyTattersall. Gopinath helped Umrigar add 93 runs for the seventhwicket before he was out for an elegant 35, of which 28 came inboundaries. Umrigar continued batting with gay abandon, reachinghis first Test century in the process. When Hazare declared theinnings closed at 457 for nine late on the third day, thesturdily built Bombay batsman was unbeaten on 130.England were 191 runs behind, and their only hope was to hold outfor a draw, which would give them the series. At New Delhi in thefirst Test, they had faced a first-innings deficit of 215 runsbut had played out the last two days to earn a honourable draw.This time, however, there was never any chance of pulling off asimilar feat. The pitch was already starting to break, and GhulamAhmed and Mankad were ready.Sunday, February 10, dawned bright and clear. And indeed, the sundid shine on Indian cricket on that day. England lost wickets atregular intervals to the two spinners, and when Gopinath took thecatch to end the match with the clock atop the pavilion showing2:54 pm, England were all out for 183, and India had won by aninnings and eight runs. Ghulam Ahmed and Mankad took four wicketseach for 77 and 53 runs respectively. Mankad’s match figures of12 for 108 were the best ever by an Indian bowler, and in their25th attempt, India had at last broken their cricketing duck.Congratulatory cables flew thick and fast from all over,especially from President Rajendra Prasad and Prime MinisterJawaharlal Nehru. Although they may have been worded differently,the gist of all those messages was that it was the greatest dayin Indian cricket. It remained so for long, and even today, 50years later, the triumph has lost little of its originalsignificance, despite the many further triumphs that havefollowed since then.

Alan Edwards has announced his decision to stand down as Chairman of the West Australian State Cricket Selection Panel, effective at the end of this season.Edwards made his announcement to the WACA’s International and Interstate Committee (I & I) during a regular monthly meeting of the committee, last Thursday evening at the WACA ground.Alan Edwards is one of WA’s most experienced Cricket Selectors, having stood on the State Selection Panel for a total of 27 years, from 1960-61 to 1987-88, including the final 20 years as Chairman, from 1967-68.Edwards returned to the State Selection Panel for this season to add experience, following the loss of Ron Bowe, Doug Harris and Chairman Kim Hughes from last season’s panel.WACA Cricket Manager Rob Thompson said, "The WACA would like to thank Alan Edwards for making yet another valuable contribution to WA cricket. Alan returned to the State Selection Panel this season to add some stability and experience after the loss of some long serving members and once again Alan has done a great job for WA cricket."The WACA’s I & I Committee is due to appoint next season’s State Selection Panel and appoint a new Chairman at its next scheduled meeting in April. The State Selection Panel is appointed by the I & I Committee via nominations received from WACA District clubs.

With the notable exception of Steve Waugh, Australia’s batsmen ripped into what some consider South Africa’s second-best attack, rushing to 452 for five on the second day of their four-day match against the South African `A’ team at St George’s Park on Saturday.Justin Langer made 161, his 55th first-class century and his first hundred of the tour, while Mark Waugh hammered out a furious 110 as the two shared a 207-run partnership for the third-wicket, tearing the home team’s bowling to shreds during the final session of the day.With Darren Lehmann clubbing 60 and Ricky Ponting dashing to a run-a-ball 40, only Steve Waugh, given out caught at the wicket for four, failed to advantage of a flagging attack on a long, hot and windy day.The A side added only13 to their overnight 288 for seven before being bowled out for 301, thereby setting themselves up for a long day in the field. And by the time the Australians had finished in the evening, the A team might have felt they had been out there for longer than the 97 overs they eventually got through.By lunch the Australians had moved to 72 without loss with Lehmann the more aggressive of the opening pair. He made his intentions perfectly clear during the first over in the afternoon when he hoisted Gulam Bodi over mid-on for six and went on to take the Australians into three figures before falling leg before to Dewald Pretorius.Ponting dashed about for less than an hour before he miscued a pull off Charl Willoughby to be caught at mid-off and then the younger Waugh joined Langer to first wear down and then break the back of the A team’s bowling.No one escaped punished, but some suffered more than others, left-arm spinner Robin Peterson most particularly. At one point Waugh and Langer took 27 off two overs from Peterson with one of Waugh’s sixes sailing over the scoreboard, out of the ground, down the hill and quite possible rolling all the way down to the harbour.Justin Kemp also felt the sting of Waugh’s bat, conceding four boundaries off one over as Waugh took just 24 balls to race from 50 to his 80th first-class century.Langer, meanwhile, just kept going at the other end as Australia moved to 387 for two before both batsmen were out within five balls of each other. Dewald Pretorius bowled Waugh through the gate and Langer lifted Willoughby to cover without a run being added."I’ve worked really hard in the nets," said Langer afterwards. "I wanted to spend some time in the middle. It’s a massive Test match, the next one in which we can retain the number one spot which we think is ours."Waugh, meanwhile, described St George’s Park as one of his favourite grounds. So he should. It was here where he scored a century in 1997 to enable Australia to clinch their last series victory in South Africa.It very nearly became 387 for five – Shane Watson surviving an appeal for a catch at the wicket off the first ball he faced – before Steve Waugh was the fifth man out, given out caught behind off Pretorius for 4 off the sixth ball he received.The Australian captain did appear to agree entirely with umpire Rudi Koertzen’s decision, standing at the wicket for an age before trudging off. Not that it made a great deal of difference to the overall picture, Watson and Adam Gilchrist adding a further 61 before the close.The A team bowling figures made ugly reading with the two spinners almost completely ineffective. Peterson conceded 128 off 20 overs and Bodi 63 off 12 with neither ever looking like taking a wicket.Pretorius toiled hard for his three for 101 as did Willoughby for his two for 74, but at no stage did the bowling give any hint of how South Africa might bowl Australia out twice in the second Test match at Newlands next weekend.

The South Australian Cricket Association (SACA) has launched the 2003 Bank SA Country Cricket Carnival., which will commence on Monday, February 3.In its 78th year, the Carnival sees eight teams and more than 100 players from across the State compete from February 3 to 7 for the Bank SA Harry Meyer Cup.Country cricket has seen many of its local talent rise to State level, including Jeff Vaughan from Broken Hill, Mark Cleary from Mildura, Shaun Tait from Nairne and Redbacks fast bowler Paul Rofe who started out in the South East junior squad.The tournament will be played at various Grade cricket grounds around metropolitan Adelaide.The teams for the 2003 Carnival are:

Bishop Foxes School from Taunton were the winners of the highly successful Somerset Girls Under 15 eighta-side indoor cricket competition that took place in the Centre of Excellence at the County Ground yesterday.The national tournament that has been organised by the E.C.B. attracted eight entries, with teams travelling from Bath Cricket Club, Hayesfield School from Bath, Butleigh Kwik Cricketers, East Bridgwater College, Bedminster Down School from Bristol, Churchill School, Bishop Foxes School and St Augustines of Canterbury School from Taunton to take part.Every match was keenly contested, and every run and wicket was greeted with great enthusiasm by the eighty plus girls who were involved.Bishop Foxes, who were the eventual winners beat East Bridgwater in the first round, disposed of Hayesfield in the semi finals and were then being victorious over Churchill School in the final.At the end of the event Bishop Foxes were presented with the Somerset Girls Under 15 Indoor Trophy and will now go forward to the regional finals that will take place at The Hampshire Rose Bowl on March 22nd.The winners of the plate competition were East Bridgwater who beat Bath C.C. in a very keenly contested final.At the end of the day Somerset Cricket Development Officer Andrew Moulding told me: "We were absolutely delighted with the response that we got from everyone, and this proves that there is a considerable interest in girls cricket in the county. Congratulations to Bishop Foxes on winning, and well done to everybody who took part."He concluded: "Lets just hope that the girls who participated in this event will go along and join their local clubs so that girls cricket can develop at club level."