On a cloudy day which saw murkier crowd behaviour, Guyana captain CarlHooper provided the sole flash of brilliance as he struck anundefeated 95 against Southern Windwards to take his team to 216 forthree in a rain-shortened match of 30 overs.Hooper belted five sixes and four fours, getting his runs off only 59balls, taking advantage of his luck with the toss to post a commandingtotal against an attack that had no answers to his strokeplay. Hefound an able ally in opener Sewnarine Chattergoon who made a patient58.Southern Windwards, in reply, could muster only 136 for the loss offive wickets within the 30 overs. Opener Devon Smith offered someresistance, hitting 48 off 83 balls, but Guyana marched towards an 80-run victory relentlessly.The only black spot in Guyana’s day came in the form of an appeal fromthe Guyana Cricket Board to the crowd to refrain from interruptingplay by invading the pitch. The appeal came in the wake of a briefstoppage of play when, thinking that the match was over, severalspectators rushed on to the field to congratulate the players. Theinvasion brought back memories of a similar incident during a WestIndies-Australia one-day international in 1999 when onlookers stormedin to snatch stumps and Steve Waugh’s bat even as the Australia triedto complete the winning runs.

It was a mismatch with Pakistan well and truly whipped by aprofessional Sri Lankan team in a totally one-sided affairby seven wickets in the Khaleej Times Trophy here at theSharjah Stadium Saturday.A total of 176 to overhaul on a placid wicket was nevergoing to be testing one barring a sensational collapse whichnever materialized as Pakistan’s over-rated attack exceptWasim Akram posed few problems to the Sri Lankan batsmen.The only bright spots for Pakistan in the field was WasimAkram who bowled his heart out but was desperately unluckynot to be amongst wickets.While the bowling lacked penetration the buttered fingeredfielders also compounded the problems. Sanath Jayasuriya wasdropped by Shoaib Malik in Waqar Younis’ third over.Aviskha Gunawardena, who enjoyed a charmed life especiallyduring Wasim Akram’s opening burst, too was put down bySaeed Anwar in the 60s. Later named Man-of-the-Match,Gunawardena was eventually dismissed for 88. He slammed 13fours and faced 122 balls.Pakistan on this performance will have to improve beyondrecognition to even beat the current ‘whipping boys’Zimbabwe tomorrow to make next Sunday’s final.Pakistan batting crumblesA series of nothing strokes by top order batsmen was themajor contributory factor in Pakistan’s pathetic total of176 after Waqar Younis opted to bat first under perfectbatting conditions.There was no venom in the pitch or the moderate Sri Lankanattack but it was some senseless strokeplay by Pakistanisthat gave Sri Lanka an easy target to achieve.While the Sri Lankan bowling could be described as moderatebut the islanders’ outcricket was simply outstanding.Chaminda Vaas and Mahela Jayawardena took blinders to removeYousuf Youhana and Wasim Akram respectively.Only a sensible 47 by Youhana saved Pakistan from evengetting out for a much lower total but he too was guilty ofthrowing his wicket when well set.Gangling medium-pacer Dilhara Fernando and Prabath Nissanka,playing his first One-day International, did the earlydamage reducing Pakistan to 67 for five wickets by the 18thover.Taufiq Umer dragged a ball onto his stumps, Saeed Anwar,batting at number three, gave a return catch, Shahid Afridispooned a dolly to mid-wicket, while Younis Khan and RashidLatif got out playing extravagant strokes.Youhana and Abdur Razzaq tried to check the slide and put on50 for the sixth wicket but both got out to loose strokes,ending any hopes of reaching a respectable total.

Sri Lankan captain, Sanath Jayasuriya, looked a confident man before leavingto Sharjah for the tri-nation tournament with Pakistan and Zimbabwe at thedesert city from October 26.Speaking at Dilmah team sponsorship launch, Jayasuriya claimed: “Theconfidence is really high as our one day form has been excellent. We haveplayed well at home and particularly in Sharjah in the last few outings.”The Sri Lankans won the last two tournaments in Sharjah by thumping margins.Earlier this year, they convincingly beat Pakistan in the final and thistime last year they crushed India. Jayasuriya, though, is taking nothing forgranted.”There’s no guarantee that we can win this tournament,” he said. “There’slot of responsibility on the batsmen and bowlers.”Safety concerns in the wake of military action in Afganistan have dominateddiscussions in cricket boards throughout the world in recent weeks, butJayasuriya is not voicing fears about a tour to the Middle East.”We are not very concerned about that,” he said. “The Cricket Board hasbeen in touch with CBFS and they are confident that everything is ok, so wedon’t have any problems in going there.”Sri Lanka travel to Sharjah without all-rounder Suresh Perera, a key memberof the team that defeated India and New Zealand in the Coca-Cola Cup inJuly, as his bowling actions is still be reviewed after he was reported byumpire Steve Bucknor.”It’s a big blow,” admitted the captain. “Unfortunately he’s having aproblem with his action. It’ll be rectified very soon I hope and he can bequickly brought back into the side.”However, Sri Lanka have the option of playing Dulip Liyanage who bowlsmedium pace and can chip in with the bat like Perera.”Yes, we’ve the option of playing Dulip (Liyanage) in the position whereSuresh (Perera) used to bat,” he said.The Sri Lankans have got two youngsters in their side. Prabath Nissanka andCharitha Fernando. Both choices caused some surprise, but that of Mataraborn Nissanka has created the greatest excitement.”Prabath (Nissanka) is having a very good future,” predicts Jayasuriya. “Hewas troubled by injuries but now he’s alright he can bowl really fast.Charitha (Fernando) can bowl quick as well and he’s got the ability to chipin with the bat, which gives him an extra advantage.”In the last tournament Sri Lanka went with the six batsmen policy withall-rounders Kumar Dharmasena and Suresh Perera batting in the middle order.Perera’s unavailability creates problems for the balance of the side.Asked as to what changes would be made, Jayasuriya said: “It depends on thesituation. There are quite a few bowlers who can chip in with the bat. Butanyway it’s too early to comment on the composition of the side. We have togo there and see. We have got to take into account the opposition, theconditions and lots of other stuff.”Jayasuriya, though, hinted at Kaluwitharana retaining the gloves in Sharjah:”We have been playing with Kalu for the last few matches and he has beenperforming well in the shorter version of the game, so we might settle withhim again in Sharjah.”Speaking for the first time since the World Cup draw, he acknowledged thatSri Lanka had been rewarded for their recent good form with a favourabledraw, but warned: “We can’t be confident because we are in a group thatgives us some advantage. To win an international cricket matches you need toplay really hard right from the start on that day. We are not thinking atthe group right now but considering about getting the right formula for theWorld Cup.”The team departs Sri Lanka on Sunday for the tournament that starts onOctober 26 and ends on November 4.

Hobart’s bad weather, and its resultant effect on a possible outcome for the second Australia-New Zealand Test dominated the headlines today.The Sydney Morning Herald: “Scowling skies and dreary cricket made this a day to forget.”Pity the poor spectators as they forlornly departed; it will be years before Test cricket returns.”About the only source of amusement was the sound of a wag calling out “settle down” after a batsman had driven a couple of runs, like a tortoise emerging from his shell to pinch a piece of lettuce.”Otherwise it was a matter of putting on tarpaulins and removing them and more inspections than take place in a boot camp. Abandonment came as a merciful relief. Even these captains will be hard-pressed to revive this corpse.”Between the showers the Australians did not pass muster. On pitches of this sort something special is needed and the Australians did not provide it. None of the bowlers could disturb the tranquillity of New Zealand’s fifth-wicket pair.”Clearly the Kiwis had studied the bowlers and developed tactics to counter them. Most particularly they refused to play at anything outside off stick. Rather than fishing, the visiting batsmen raised their willows aloft and let the ball pass.”Around four deliveries an over thudded into the keeper’s gloves. Whereas the Poms probed obligingly these fellows knew the exact location of their off stump. Oscar Wilde said he could “resist anything except temptation” and the Kiwis refused to be drawn.”The New Zealand Herald: “We all know how Stephen Fleming twice tempted fate in this series – the question now is, will Steve Waugh?”The transtasman captains will again be in the spotlight this afternoon as the weather-affected second test at Bellerive Oval lurches towards what might once have been considered an inevitable draw. Until that eventful last day in the first test in Brisbane, that is.”Having paid the price for inserting Australia twice this series, Fleming was at the helm as the weather closed in around Hobart yesterday afternoon, unbeaten on 71 as New Zealand reached 197 for four, still 162 runs shy of the follow-on mark.”A fifth-wicket partner of 97 between him and Craig McMillan, a record against Australia, has provided the tourists with a reasonable show of reaching the target, at which point it would be no surprise to see the New Zealand skipper mimic his first test decision and declare.”How Waugh might respond is not so clear.”The Australian: “New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming, who promised Australia “a bloody good scrap”, yesterday ploughed through rain, bad light and boredom to deliver his word.”The second Test at Bellerive Oval will surely be consigned to a watery grave today, providing merciful relief to faithful fans and players alike.”The match, which surged like a flaming arrow when 411 runs were scored on day one, is now moving at the speed of a constipated snail, with Australia needing 16 wickets today to force a result.”Only 126 runs were added from 51 overs yesterday.”If there was one plus, it was that the day reminded patrons of how lucky they were not to witness such drab fare more often. It was the way Test cricket used to be played, but rarely is today.”Resuming at 2-71, the Kiwis trudged to 4-197, 361 behind Australia and 162 shy of the follow-on, on another day that fell victim to cricket’s unbeatable enemy – rain.”The Daily Telegraph: “The Australians could still win. For that to happen, they would need a dry day, which the forecast says is improbable; and 16 Kiwi wickets, which the performance of Fleming and McMillan suggests is unlikely.”Ten hours lost over three days will almost certainly prove too much.”It’s also a huge disappointment for Hobart, which only gets a Test every second year and then always early in the season when the weather is dodgy.”Given the forecast and what had transpired on the previous two days, the 2,837 loyal spectators who turned up today must have been masochists.”And whoever put a message on the scoreboard during the drizzle – ‘Welcome to the new Bellerive Oval. Enjoy the day’ – must have been a sadist.”

Major Indian-based portal sify.com is reporting that a solution to the current ICC-BCCI crisis is close. They report that J Dalmiya and the BCCI are willing to stand Sehwag down for the first Test against England, thus fulfiling the ICC imposed ban. In return they are requesting that the ICC soften their stance on the penalty handed out to Tendulkar, and address other concerns raised by the BCCI. Negotations are still continuing, however, but it appears that the position of both sides is softening.The first Test between England and India is due to start in Mohali on Monday. Earlier today, the ICC offered to extend the previous deadline of 6:30 am Friday.

Karnataka rocked Goa to bring a hurried end to their first innings on the first day of their Ranji Trophy league match at Bangalore on Tuesday.Winning the toss, Karnataka skipper J Arunkumar opted to field first, hoping that his seamers could take advantage of helpful conditions to bundle out a weak Goan batting line-up early. The bowlers did not disappoint. Venkatesh Prasad, Dodda Ganesh, and NSC Aiyappa took three wickets each, between them bowling Goa out for a miserable 80.Karnataka then rubbed salt into the wound, racking up 146/1 by the close of play on Day One. Skipper Arunkumar was unbeaten on 77 off 116 balls, striking 15 fours in his innings. Barrington Rowland gave him good support, making 36 off 73.

South Africa prepared themselves for a ride into the semi-finals of the ICC Under-19 World Cup with a 24-run win over New Zealand at Lincoln Green today – a win based on a superb 141-run fifth-wicket partnership.Ryan Bailey and David Jacobs were the batsmen concerned and their effort was a model of sensible batting, working the ones and twos to start with and then building into bigger things the longer their innings went.Bailey scored 69 off 54 balls and was the first of the pair out in the 48th over while Jacobs followed an over later for 63 off 77 balls.They had done their job and, by reaching 241/7, South Africa had, to all intents and purposes, shut New Zealand out of the game.It required a fast start by New Zealand in response and they lost their ace card in big-hitting Jesse Ryder for six runs in the seventh over.The South African bowling attack, several members of whom were thrashed last summer by the New Zealand Under-19 team who have nearly all advanced in age beyond the limit for this tournament, were superior to New Zealand in all departments, but especially in their slow bowling.Left-arm slow bowler Ian Postman, if his career continues to blossom threatens to do to future generations of batsmen what Nicky Boje seems to be able to do, to New Zealanders especially, now. He took one for 25 from his 10 overs while big pace bowler Brendon Reddy was a handful for all the batsmen who faced him and he finished with one for 29 off nine.The two innings of significance for New Zealand were played by Rob Nicol who hit 51, off 77 balls, before getting out in the 25th over while his replacement at the crease Jordan Sheed opened his innings with a cover driven four off the second ball and he top scored with 61 off 65 balls, but did not have enough support to really launch a push by New Zealand for victory.South African captain Hashim Amla said the win was vital to South Africa as it was the only way they could stay in the competition.”Hopefully we can beat England on Friday to seal our spot,” he said.”The set-up of the tournament has been brilliant, it keeps interest in the competition.”Our middle-order has pulled us through and that partnership today couldn’t have happened to two better guys.”And Ian Postman bowled beautifully. The wicket favoured the spinners and our guys had a tremendous effect,” he said.Amla was concerned even when New Zealand’s run requirement at the end of the innings got up to nearly 12.”The ground is not that big and 12 runs an over in the last five overs was not impossible,” he said.He added that if by chance South Africa made it through to the final against Australia, they had learned plenty from their loss on Monday.New Zealand, if they are to have any chance of making the semi-finals, face the huge task of beating tournament favourites Australia on Friday.New Zealand coach Mark Greatbatch said the side felt a target of 240 was achievable on the Lincoln Green wicket. They worked to targets in the innings.”We wanted to be no more than four down at the 40 over mark and we wanted to have 150-170 by that stage. We achieved both of those, but were closer to 150, and in the last eight overs we faltered.”We had some big overs which gave us 13 and 11 but we also lost two key wickets in the 32nd and 33rd overs where we lost our momentum.”I thought Postman, their left-arm spinner bowled very well. We saw him here last year and he has really developed since last year and that is a credit to their system.”The New Zealand side had not put together their A performance with the bat and they lacked the innings of 80-100 that won games.”We have the Bert Sutcliffe Oval for our next game, it’s a good strip and we will have a debrief after this to see how we can get better, and if we can improve we might be a chance,” he said.Peter Borren was again the pick of the New Zealand bowlers, taking three for 34 off 10 overs, including both the wickets of the big partnership, while Leighton Burtt took four for 52.

Results from the National Under-17 tournament games today at Nelson Park in Napier were:Central Districts 142 (P Pimm 70; L Crisp 2-12, A Corliss 2-29) tied with Wellington 142 (J Newdick 37, S Nightingale 22; T Gillespie 2-11, D Bolstad 2-19).Auckland 195/8 (S Bishop 60, D Raffaelli 32; A Devicich 4-31, P Carey 2-34) beat Northern Districts 109 (D Flynn 38, J Morgan 24; B Stevens 3-14, S McKay 2-18) by 86 runs.Canterbury 221/8 (D Crosbie 71, L O’Sullivan 28; C Smith 2-19, McClean 2-30) beat Otago 204 (S Simpson 55, H King 32; B Newton 3-31, J Baxendale 2-20) by nine runs (Duckworth/Lewis method).Points after round four: CD 11, Wellington 9, Auckland 6, ND 6, Otago 2, Canterbury 2.

Victorian Bushrangers left-arm fast bowler Mathew Inness fractured his right big toe in a freak accident at a Port Melbourne beach training session yesterday.”It happened in the last 30 seconds of a beach soccer game with Travis Birt accidentally kicking me right on the toe,” Inness said. “Obviously I’m extremely disappointed, but the upside is that I am hopeful of developing some form of protection for the toe and play in the ING Cup match against Tasmania on February 16”.Inness had several x-rays at the Prahran Sports & Medicine clinic after the incident, which confirmed a fracture and partial dislocation. Coach Mick O’Sullivan said the players had all but completed a 90 minute session at Port Melbourne before the mishap.Inness took 11 wickets last week to trigger Victoria’s victory in just three days against New South Wales.

A week ago we pulled back to level the series at 2-2. We had a come a long way from the disappointing loss at Wellington and rediscovered the fighting spirit that we had so confidently displayed in India.A highlight for all of us this week was the opportunity to spend a day with the Great Britain America’s Cup Team in Auckland. Days like this offer a welcome break from continual travelling and match preparation of long tours. ‘Goughie’ entertained us all by scaling up the 40-foot mast of the racing yacht. Some of his Yorkshire teammates were keen to leave him there but Nasser thought he might just need him for the final game!For the one-day squad this was the final chapter in what had been a chaotic road show of cricket played over seven weeks and two continents.Dunedin on first impressions could easily have been mistaken for the Glens of Scotland with its cool climate and livestock-filled pastures. A heavy Celtic influence could also be seen in the town; we just hoped that we were not going to bump into William Wallace and his men at the game!Students turned out in their thousands on Tuesday to watch our match, using fancy dress as a therapeutic break from their lectures. It’s the first time I have seen 20 Elvises sitting next to a group of nuns, especially as the nuns were quaffing beer all day!On a serious note, our preparation had gone very well and we were desperate to finish the tour with a series win. Again we decided to bat and put the Kiwis under pressure to chase a high first innings target. The early signs were that this was going to be the perfect wicket for an exciting one-day final.Marcus Trescothick was unfortunate again to be dismissed for a low score. He had played so well in India and this highlights the ups and downs which players have to deal with. `Tres’ really impressed me on the tour though, and I am sure that he is going to be a fine cricketer for England in the years to come.Nasser and Owais Shah got into a position to take the control of the game as they both played very well to reach half centuries. Unfortunately we saw how one ball can change a game at this level, and Nasser’s dismissal forced us to reassess our attack in the last 15 overs of the innings.

Scoring 220 was modest from our expectations of the wicket, but we knew that if we could take early wickets, the Kiwis could fold as they had done before during the summer. With better fortune in some of the lbw appeals, there is no doubt that we could have forced another nail-biting victory, but it was not to be. Instead, we were treated to a fantastic unbeaten century by Nathan Astle, which guided New Zealand to an emphatic victory.This was very disappointing for all our squad, and it highlights the need to add more consistency to our game in the run up to the World Cup. With Nasser and Duncan Fletcher at the helm, I have no doubt that we will grow from this tour and the invaluable lessons which we have encountered. Looking forward, our home series against India and Sri Lanka this summer, followed by winter tour of Australia, will provide us the ideal preparation for our challenge on the World Cup next March.Personally, this tour was a wonderful experience for me and despite not playing in New Zealand, I was delighted with my all-round contributions.The long flight back home has left me a little tired but also gave me time to reflect on a fascinating period of my life. I now look forward to joining up with my Gloucestershire teammates on Monday and training hard for the demands of the new season. With our new signing and pace bowlers fit, we have the potential to put more silverware in the cabinet in 2002.My goals remain unchanged; to develop my game further to make me an improved player for both Gloucestershire and England, and I look forward to the exciting challenges of the year ahead.