Craig McMillan, back from India with the New Zealand team but unavailable for the tour of Pakistan, will captain the Canterbury XI to play Auckland in a two-day match at Lincoln starting on Monday.The team is:Craig McMillan (capt), Michael Papps, Shanan Stewart, Peter Fulton, Gary Stead, Neil Broom, Aaron Redmond, Paul Wiseman, Shane Bond, Warren Wisneski, Chris Martin, Wade Cornelius.
Sussex are in talks with Mushtaq Ahmed to extend his contract with the county beyond the end of this season. Mushtaq has already taken 52 Championship wickets, and Chris Adams, Sussex’s captain, said at the weekend that he was confident that a deal could be struck.”If they really want me I would like to stay,” Mushtaq said. “I don’t like changing clubs, I prefer to stay with old friends and Sussex have made me and my family very welcome. Peter Moores and Chris Adams are great people. Even when you are not doing well they still treat you the same and try and encourage you.”
The Reverend Wes Hall will step down from his role as president of the West Indies Cricket Board on health grounds within the next few days, according to a report in yesterday’s Barbados-based Sunday Sun newspaper.Hall is understood to have advised all the various members of the board of his decision, and the timing of his decision means that a new president can be chosen at the board’s AGM in Dominica next month.Hall, 65, took over in July 2001 at a time West Indies cricket was suffering from infighting. His predecessor, Pat Rousseau, had resigned following a decision to reinstate team manager, Ricky Skerritt, who had been fired.In his two years at the helm, Hall was instrumental in getting the 2007 World Cup awarded to the Caribbean.It is unclear who will emerge as Hall’s likely successor. Val Banks, the current WICB vice-president, is not thought to be interested. Some reports have indicated that Tony Marshall, a former president of the Barbados Cricket Association and a WICB director, might throw his hat into the ring.
England’s cricket authorities are being forced to walk a tightrope to avoid being sucked into a political storm over the World Cup match scheduled to be played in Harare against Zimbabwe on February 13th. Nevertheless, with senior government figures realising that once again sport can be used for political ends, the dangers for cricket become all too obvious.While there is growing international outrage at the policies and behaviour of Zimbabwe’s president, Robert Mugabe, no attempt was made to stop England playing a series of one-day internationals in the country as recently as last year. Now, however, politicians appreciate that an event with the profile of the World Cup offers a far more prominent stage on which to make a statement.Aware of the problems, the ICC sent a fact-finding delegation to Zimbabwe, including the countries that are scheduled to play World Cup matches there. The result was that they all signed up to continue with arrangements as they stood on the grounds of safety and security with the proviso that the ICC would monitor the situation in case of any deterioration.The chief executive of the ICC, Malcolm Speed, has reiterated that those circumstances remain, despite increased political activity in the UK."We’ve talked to the ECB about this," he said. "The decision is that if England doesn’t play because of political considerations, they will not receive any points from that match, in effect they will forfeit that match. If the situation deteriorated and it was unsafe for England to play, the points will be shared."I don’t see it so much as a moral dilemma. A decision has been taken by the ICC board that the only factor to take into account is safety. We’ve done that, we’ve assessed the situation in Zimbabwe with regards safety and we’ve resolved to move forward."There have been a number of comments from members of the British government. What we’ve said consistently is that it’s up to the politicians to make political decisions, we make our decisions based on sporting factors and we’ve done that."We’ve made our decision and the ECB have said, that from England’sperspective, they will abide by that decision, so hopefully we can move forward."We can only make our decision based on cricketing considerations and sporting considerations. We have 84 member countries that come under all sorts of political regimes. We’re aware of the political difficulties, we’re aware of the economic difficulties, but they’re factors that we don’t take into account."Speed’s comments come after Downing Street and the Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, commented on remarks made by Clare Short, the International Development Secretary. She said that England should refuse to play in Harare, adding that a decision to go would be "deplorable and shocking.""An election has been stolen and people are being starved because they dared to vote freely," she said. "I think they should not go. It is like pretending everything is OK in Zimbabwe and it is not."A spokesman from Number 10 said: "We have no power to order a teamnot to go. It is up to them but our advice is that they should not go."A statement from the Foreign Office explained Mr Straw’s view. “While it is not for us to tell the International Cricket Council or the England and Wales Cricket Board what to do, it is Mr Straw’s personal view that it would be better if England didn’t go.”We ask the cricketing authorities to reflect on the humanitarian and political crisis that is happening in Zimbabwe and the fact that the situation could deteriorate over the coming weeks.”Interestingly, chairman of the England selectors, David Graveney, has stated that he would refuse to go if he was asked to play in Zimbabwe. This is even though he managed a rebel tour to South Africa during the apartheid years.The chief executive of the ECB, Tim Lamb, has made his stance quite clear. “We don’t believe it’s our position as a sporting body to make political judgements about the appropriateness of regimes in host countries for playing cricket.”Cricket is a soft target and is being treated differently to the 300 other businesses which continue to trade with Zimbabwe which ministers aren’t discouraging. There are some double standards here.”Writing on the subject in his Sunday Telegraph diary, England captain Nasser Hussain takes a line that would not disgrace professional politicians. “It must be right that the decision is made at a higher level than sport, by a government body."Even if it means that England will forfeit points by not playing inZimbabwe, that would be willingly done if the Government believes it right that England should not play."Cricket, and qualifying for the Super Six stage of the World Cup, comes a long way down the list of what is important, especially compared with people starving."Such a government body was needed last winter, it is needed now and it will be needed again as there are sure to be similar situations which come up in future."
LAHORE, April 3: Trials for the selection of the Pakistan women’s cricket team will be held at six centres between April 8 and May 2. The selected national team will take part in the qualifying rounds of the IWCC Trophy to be played in Holland this July.Former Pakistan captain and ex-chairman of selection committee Imtiaz Ahmad and former Test all-rounder Ijaz Faqih will conduct the trials as selectors.According to the schedule, the process of trials will commence from Gaddafi Stadium when two-day trials will beheld on April 8 and 9. The selectors will then proceed to Peshawar where the trials will take place on April 15 and 16 at Peshawar Gymkhana Cricket Ground.National Stadium, Karachi is the next venue of the trials where it will be held on April 22 and 23. In Quetta the trials will be staged at Shola ground on April 25 and 26, followed by Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad on April 29 and 30.The round of trials will be conducted at Multan Cricket Stadium in Multan on May 1 and 2.Women cricketing affairs has come under the governance of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) after receiving recommendations of the scrutiny committee conveyed by the PCB chairman under the orders of the Honourable High Court.
Two centuries – one from each side – ensured an absorbing battle between Namibia and Scotland in their ICC Under-19 World Cup match at Eden Park.In the end, the bigger century, 142 by their captain, Stefan Swanepoel, ahead of the 100 not out by Steven Gilmour, saw Namibia home by four wickets.They were individual innings of sharp contrasts. Scotland, after winning the toss and choosing to bat on the pitch that Zimbabwe had plundered 291 from the previous day, quickly found themselves 26 for three.From that position, Gilmour’s first task was to rebuild the innings. He found an able assistant in Qasim Sheikh (60) as the pair carefully compiled 50 in 20 overs, 100 in 30 and 150 in 40 before Gilmour, helped at the end by Kyle Coetzer (27 not out), powered the score through to 234/4. A single off the last ball of the 50 overs ensured a deserved century in an innings that blossomed from survival into rampant attack.Swanepoel’s, on the other hand, started with a blast as Namibia went looking for the bonus point available if they could reach the 235 target inside 40 overs. He had 68 of the first 100 when it was brought up in the 17th over. He went into the 90s in the 25th with Namibia 139/1.However, he was still on 91 in the 27th when the innings hit a rock. First Johan Nel, a junior member of an 81-run partnership with 24, departed after coming too far down the pitch to the off spin of Stewart Leggat, and then the Scotland pace bowler Christopher West in his first over of a new spell took two wickets in succession.Namibia had gone from 144/1 to 145/4 in the 28th over and it was time for a different sort of captain’s innings. He finally brought up his century in the 33rd over as he and Colin Steytler (32 not out) brought the innings back on track.From there, the victory was hardly in doubt. Swanepoel himself departed when the score was 222/5 and the victory just a couple of overs away, Namibia finishing on 237/6 in the 44th.The tall, lanky West ended with the most wickets of the Scotland bowlers, conceding 51 runs for his three, in the process getting them back into the match when they most needed it.However, the individual to take the eye was the leg-spinner, Moneeb Iqbal. A whirl-wind action, plenty of loop, some destructive turn and a mystery wrong’un all served to keep the Namibians watchful if not on occasion bemused. They may have collared him towards the end of his spell but that was more by good luck than good management and his one for 43 off 10 hardly reflected the web he spun around the Namibian batsmen.As for the Namibian bowlers, when Scotland’s Gilmour threatened to take control of the match Swanepoel rang the changes. Nine were used in all. However, the best of them remained the contrasting opening pair who did the damage at the beginning. Left-arm medium pacer Hendrik Geldenhuys took two for 19 in his first seven overs before returning at the end and finishing with two for 36 from nine. At the other end, the off spinner Michael Durant bowled his 10 overs straight through, ending with one for 24.Swanepoel won the man of the match award. Gilmour will remember – probably ruefully – the day when he reached a century and only came second.
The South Australian Cricket Association (SACA) today confirmed that tickets for the third One Day International final will go on sale to the public tomorrow, Wednesday December 18.This is the first time that Adelaide has hosted a One Day final and the first time a final has been held outside of Sydney or Melbourne.The One Day International VB Series during 2002/03 sees England and Sri Lanka play in Adelaide on January 17, and Australia and England in a day-night match on January 19.The third final, if required, will take place on January 27 and will be day-night match.The SACA chief executive, Mike Deare, says it is an exciting opportunity for South Australia to show how well it can stage world-class events.”The One Day International series is an enormously popular sporting event and as a State, we have the opportunity to showcase how well we can stage events of this calibre,” Mr Deare said.”This is a fabulous opportunity, particularly in the lead-up to the World Cup Rugby 2003, to show the world that Adelaide Oval and South Australia can really shine when it comes to hosting events.”Tickets are available from Venuetix and start at $35 for adults. An outlet fee of $2 will be charged for pre-booked tickets, which will not be refunded in the event the third final is not required.
Close England 374 for 7 (Vaughan 156, Pretorius 4-107) trail South Africa 594 for 5 dec (Smith 277, Gibbs 179) by 220 runs
Scorecard
Michael Vaughan: carrying the fight to South Africa |
Michael Vaughan stroked his way to a sublime 156, his ninth Test century and his eighth in 15 matches, to lead England’s fightback on a fascinating fourth day’s play at Edgbaston. By the close, England had reached 374 for 7, needing just 21 to avoid the follow-on – and all but save the match.Despite his heroics Down Under during last winter’s Ashes series, this was a performance that Vaughan later rated as his best Test innings, and given the uncompromising circumstances in which it began, it would be hard to disagree. Glenn McGrath may have been left behind for now, but in Shaun Pollock, Vaughan had an adversary every bit as tenacious.Seaming and swinging the ball both ways at will, Pollock opened the day with a tireless spell of wicket-to-wicket thriftiness that Vaughan could barely lay a bat on. He did manage a brace of cover-driven boundaries in one over – a sign of things to come – but Pollock responded by ripping through his defences with a booming inswinger that all but clipped the off stump. Somehow Vaughan survived to reach 49 not out at the break – and with the foundations of his innings firmly in place, there was no looking back.He went to his fifty with his first ball of the afternoon, an effortless pull off Makhaya Ntini, whom he launched over midwicket for six in the same over, before guiding Pollock through third man for his sixth boundary in 13 balls. But not everything was swinging England’s way. Ntini, who had already accounted for the injured Marcus Trescothick, then trapped Mark Butcher lbw for 13, as he offered no stroke to one that curved back on him. When Nasser Hussain (1) made a similar mistake in Pollock’s very next over, England were 133 for 3 and wobbling.But Anthony McGrath, who got off the mark with a welcome clip to fine leg, was just the ballast the situation required, and while he was at the crease Vaughan was once again free to play his strokes. In particular, he took full toll of Dewald Pretorius and Charl Willoughby, who are effectively competing for a solitary place when Jacques Kallis returns later in the series. As each strived to outdo the other, Vaughan whistled into the nineties with series of cut shots and clips through the leg side.Vaughan was briefly halted on 99 by the spin of Robin Peterson, whom he had slapped for 14 in his solitary over before lunch, but eventually he pushed for two through the covers and took the plaudits of an extremely grateful Edgbaston crowd. But McGrath soon departed, after getting himself into a hopeless tangle to a short ball from Pretorius, and spooning a simple catch to Jacques Rudolph in the gully (222 for 4).After reaching tea on 131 not out, Vaughan was in a more watchful mood in the evening session, as Pollock and Ntini returned with the new ball. This caution didn’t quite extend to his running between the wickets, however, and he suffered a huge scare straight after the break, when he sauntered out of his crease after a tight lbw shout, and was all but run out by the fielder’s shy from gully.All the same, Vaughan was as eager to latch onto the loose delivery as ever, and when Ntini served up a pair of half-volleys with the new ball, he was rifled through the covers for a pair of fours, the second of which brought up his fifth score of 150-plus in six attempts.One day, Vaughan is sure to convert one of these innings in a double-century. Not today however, as Pretorius found an extra gear in the final overs to keep South Africa sniffing the follow-on. Vaughan’s magnificent innings finally ended at 156, when he failed to get his feet fully to the pitch of a full-length inswinger, and nibbled a catch to Mark Boucher behind the stumps. Despite his effort, he was livid with himself, knowing that, with England still 88 runs from saving the follow-on, his job was far from done.Alec Stewart, batting with the mobility of your average 40-year-old after ricocheting an attempted pull into the side of his knee, soon justified Vaughan’s concerns, when he had his stumps – and his feet – ripped off the turf by a devastating yorker from Pretorius. And, on the stroke of stumps, Pretorius produced a shooter to end a determined innings from Andrew Flintoff, to ensure that England would face one or two flutters in the first hour tomorrow.But, thanks to another masterclass from Vaughan, England ought to reconvene at Lord’s later this week with honours more or less even.Click here for today’s Wisden Verdict
New Zealand had to play the conditions on memory but their handling of a difficult pitch to beat England by 155 runs in the National Bank Series One-Day International on WestpacTrust Stadium in Wellington tonight was a clinical lesson in adaptability.Recent efforts by administrators and groundsmen in New Zealand have made these sorts of pitches a thing of the past, and it was only because of watering, to eliminate the scars of last weekend’s IRB Rugby Sevens at the same venue, being followed by two and a half days of torrential rain, that this pitch slipped through the net.It wasn’t a pretty sight, nor was it a comfortable ride for batsmen unprepared to play themselves in, adapt to the pace, and to recognise that boundary hitting was always going to be a luxury on such a slow outfield.That New Zealand appreciated this was obvious from their score of 244/8 – in that score there were only 14 fours and three sixes. Or 74 runs out of 244. That left an awful lot of running to be done by batsmen using placement and timing to gain maximum utility from the ground.England failed to bowl either the right length or line consistently enough to pressure New Zealand. When confronted by those requirements being met by New Zealand’s bowlers, their batsmen couldn’t cope.New Zealand have been looking to develop their batting along these lines and recognition of what was required under the circumstances was a hint of greater consistency emerging.Some facts:England were dismissed for 89 in 37.2 overs.The 155-run loss was the third highest they have suffered. The worst remains defeat by the West Indies by 165 runs at Kingstown in 1993/94 and by 162 runs in Melbourne against Australia in 1998/99.It was the lowest total they have scored against New Zealand. The previous worst was at Lancaster Park in 1982/83 when they scored 127. Their all-time lowest score is 86 against Australia at Manchester last year.In that same series they suffered their worst margin of defeat by New Zealand by 103 runs at the Basin Reserve.From a New Zealand perspective, the win was its second highest winning margin against Test-playing nations. The highest remains a victory by 206 runs against Australia in Adelaide in 1985/86. (A big win against East Africa was recorded at a World Cup and Bangladesh were beaten in Sharjah).New Zealand have now won four games in a row against England and been unbeaten in five (after the tie at Napier in 1996/97).In plain words, this was a rout.England bowled badly, fielded and caught worse, and their batting disintegrated.On a pitch of which the New Zealanders were given first use by Nasser Hussain, New Zealand batted by accumulation to achieve domination.There were long periods without boundaries, but the score kept ticking over and once the batsmen were established they were better equipped to hit out.Chris Nevin continued to give an edge to the opening and while the opening stand was only worth 25 when Nathan Astle departed, it was still the second best start of New Zealand’s ODI summer.Nevin scored 21 off 20 balls before he was out. Then after impatience got the better of Brendon McCullum, Stephen Fleming and Craig McMillan worked well to see the side through a potentially difficult patch while 58 were added for the fourth wicket.The disappointment was that Fleming, having scored 40 got out cheaply again when he was handling the situation so well. One six he hit off Craig White over the mid-wicket boundary was a beautifully fluid shot. Two straight drives were examples of Fleming at his best, but they were of the quality side of his game that, unfortunately, he is not showing as often as New Zealanders would like to see.McMillan then joined up with Lou Vincent, a not insignificant liaison in terms of New Zealand’s prospective ODI batting order, to add 84 off 97 balls before the stand ended in the 43rd over.The artisans had finished their job, now it was time for the demolition squad and while they struggled with the pace of the pitch, they did add 46 runs in the last six overs. Chris Cairns 11 off six, Chris Harris 14 off 19 and Andre Adams 25 off 18.Darren Gough is clearly the most combative bowler in the side but his three wickets cost 47 runs. White bowled a tidy first spell of five overs for 19 runs, figures only marred when 12 come off the fifth.Then when New Zealand came out to bowl it was as if the runs had dried out of the pitch in the tea break.Daryl Tuffey’s first two overs were maidens while Adams conceded a single off his first ball and then had Marcus Trescothick caught by wicket-keeper Nevin.Adams maintained some sterling pressure and in the process helped himself to a more permanent place in the New Zealand side. He generates good pace and bowled with great accuracy to take three for 13 from seven overs.Fleming decided that was enough and put him out of sight of prying English eyes but, one suspects, not out of their thoughts.Hussain departed to a bad shot which saw Fleming complete a good catch for a Tuffey wicket while Nick Knight was bowled by Adams for nine. When Graham Thorpe departed, leg before wicket to Adams for 10, it was effectively the end of the England cause.Andrew Flintoff provided some final resistance to score 26 and Ashley Giles hit 12 but the final destroyer proved to be Astle who took three for four to polish off the innings.
New Zealand A were looking for heroes to get themselves out of a fix in their Buchi Babu tournament match against Indian Railways and Lou Vincent and Shane Bond answered the call.As a result of dismissing the home team for 145, New Zealand A achieved a 23-run victory and will now contest the final of the Indian pre-season tournament against the Cricket Association of Bengal XI, starting tomorrow evening (NZ time).After being dismissed for a paltry 129 on the first day, the result of some individual batting problems more than anything else, according to coach Ashley Ross, the side conceded more runs than they wanted when the Railways XI made 279.With a deficit of 150 runs, New Zealand A were 216/6 at stumps on the second day.”Once we had lost the first innings advantage we knew we couldn’t make the final unless we got the outright victory,” Ross said.”We planned out where we wanted to be and it was a case of checking the signposts as we went along, but we were not quite where we wanted to be at stumps on the second night,” he said.The side had failed to realise the fine line between achieving a suitable scoring rate and keeping wickets intact.The aim on the final morning was to get a lead of around 180 and Vincent and Kyle Mills did an outstanding job while giving the bowlers enough runs and time to do the job.”We had worked out a few things with their batsmen that we wanted to expose them to with our faster bowlers,” Ross said.Mark Richardson, who had been much more impressive in his first innings of 59 not out than earlier in the tournament, was still not at his best.But in his second innings he was a batsman transformed and much more impressive and his 71 was reward for the work he had been doing on playing spin bowling.”He was using his feet well. He has been working hard on that part of his game with the Pakistan tour, and Shane Warne, coming up later. He and Matthew Bell worked well in adding 100 and set the run rate where we wanted it.”They both got out and then Lou came in and started brilliantly. He played quite beautifully but we lost more wickets than we needed to on the second evening.”However, he was absolutely spectacular in the morning and it was worth charging people to see it. Some of his shot making was breathtaking,” Ross said.Vincent was left 102 not out, off 102 balls as New Zealand A reached 318/8 before declaring. That left a target of 169 for Indian Railways to win.”The bowling effort was quite outstanding. Shane Bond had huge penetration on the first day but the wickets were being taken at the other end. But he was intimidating people.”Yesterday he was putting the ball past the batsmen’s nose and that is not easy on Indian pitches,” he said.Ross said it was known that Bond had a big heart and the whisper had got around the first-class scene last year that he was probably as quick as any bowler around in New Zealand.He had worked hard at the High Performance Centre during the winter and when Scott Styris was unavailable to make the tour, Bond was keen to make the trip and to bowl fast.”He bowled an intimidating length and of the eight wickets he took in the game four or five would have been caught at short leg or in the slips-gully region from balls lobbing off the bats or fingers.”It was a very courageous effort. He was physically unwell at lunch but demanded the ball when we went back out afterwards,” he said.The problem for the side was the emotion spent in achieving what was a tight victory.”The big thing now is to refocus and make sure we go forward in the final. We are very excited about the way we are playing and it was a great day yesterday,” Ross said.