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Scorecard
Defnding champions New South Wales played out a tense draw against Queensland at The Gabba, a result which makes it almost impossible for them to retain the Pura Cup.Set 327 from 55 overs to win in the second innings, NSW managed 8 for 277 with Man of the Match Phil Jaques blazing a run-a-ball 146. When Jaques dragged on a slower ball from Michael Kasprowicz, NSW were 8 for 270 with 33 balls remaining. Stuart Clark and Doug Bollinger then stonewalled to leave Queensland with only two first-innings points from the captivating match.The result left NSW fifth on the Cup table with only 11 points from eight matches and no realistic chance of playing in the final. They are 11 points behind second-placed Tasmania (22) and seven behind Queensland (18). To add insult to injury for NSW, their appeal against the one-point penalty, incurred for a slow over-rate against Victoria in December, was dismissed by Cricket Australia today.Starting the final day on 6 for 125, 306 in arrears, Mark Waugh (90) and Matt Nicholson (35 not out) put on 118 runs fopr the seventh wicket, and Steve Waugh declared the innings after Mark’s dismissal. Jimmy Maher, the Queensland captain, opted against enforcing the follow-on and then made a sporting declaration of his own after they smacked 2 for 124 in 18 overs. Clinton Perren’s quickfire 57 was the highlight.NSW looked a strong chance of winning when Steve Waugh was in full flight with Jaques. Waugh was in sparkling touch, racing to 28 off 20 balls before Joe Drawes trapped him leg-before with an in-cutter, ending a 55-run stand which put the NSW Blues back on track after they slumped to to 3 for 141. Jaques and Greg Mail (50 off 67) had given the them the perfect launch-pad with a 101-run stand before Kasprowicz (4-74) triggered a minor collapse.Kasprowicz induced an inside edge from Mail for wicketkeeper Wade Seccombe to take a brilliant diving catch. This gave Kasprowicz the dual milestone of 800 first-class wickets and the record as the leading Queensland Shield/Pura Cup wicket-taker (384). The previous record belonged to Carl Rackemann.Kaprowicz then followed up by dismissing Brad Haddin (10), also caught behind, before latching on to a skied pull shot from Dominic Thornely (1). Mark Waugh fell for 5 when he scooped Kasprowicz to Craig Philipson on the third man boundary. And despite Jaques’s sparkling efforts, NSW ended 50 runs short.

Simon Katich and Phil Jaques will get the first chance to audition for an opening berth after Matthew Hayden was omitted for match one of the tri-series in Malaysia on Tuesday. Ricky Ponting also confirmed Glenn McGrath would make his international return against West Indies in Kuala Lumpur after nine months away due to his wife Jane’s illness.While the inclusion of McGrath was expected, the pairing of Katich and Jaques was a surprise, but the team is tinkering as Adam Gilchrist, the usual opener, stays at home in Perth. Jaques, the New South Wales left-hander, has appeared in only two one-day internationals and Australia’s initial experiments look to the future instead of the past.Hayden was chosen for his first one-day tour in more than a year on this trip, but he will have to wait for his chance in the large squad of 18, which will appear in four preliminary fixtures over the next two weeks. Other notable absentees from the first side were Michael Hussey, the tour vice-captain, Andrew Symonds, Brett Lee and Damien Martyn, while the emerging trio of Dan Cullen, Mitchell Johnson and Mark Cosgrove was given an opportunity to perform.”It’s been hard to map it all out to tell you the truth,” Ponting told . “We’re looking to give equal game time to all the players here, some guys will get two games, some three games, so it’s just the way we’ve worked it out.”Ponting said the bowlers would also be rotated to ease them back into competition after a five-month break. “We might have to [bowl short spells],” he said. “It might be the same for all our bowlers, these sorts of conditions after the long break we’ve had, it’s going to be hard for anyone, doesn’t matter how much work you’ve done in the off-season.”Australia Simon Katich, Mark Cosgrove, Phil Jaques, Ricky Ponting (capt), Michael Clarke, Shane Watson, Brad Haddin (wk), Mitchell Johnson, Dan Cullen, Nathan Bracken, Glenn McGrath.

England v South Africa, 1st Test, Edgbaston, Day 5England leave Edgbaston with a gritty draw and a bowling headache.One-hundred and seventy-one overs, 728 runs and only nine wickets equals a big problem.Though the pitch was slow, it not as totally lifeless as it looked whenEngland were bowling. Plenty of balls skidded through low or seamed, but the pace attack wasn’t straight enough. Plenty of rough was created outside the right-handers’ leg stump, but Ashley Giles didn’t have the subtlety to exploit it. In this Test, England took a wicket every 114 balls, a strike rate only a shade better than Graham Gooch managed in a career bowling the dibbliest of occasional dibbly-dobbbers.Look harder and the problem is worse than it first appears. In the first innings, two wickets fell to tired swats that were caught on the boundary (Graeme Smith and Herschelle Gibbs), one huge attempted cut caught at third man (Jacques Rudolph), and one to a struggling batsman trying to get on with it (Boeta Dippenaar). Only Gary Kirsten’s leg-side nick could be considered a proper wicket, and that came off a bad ball from Giles.Of today’s dimissals only Kirsten, again, was a genuine triumph for the bowler. Gibbs was bowled courtesy of a deflection off his elbow, and Smith and Rudolph perished giving Giles the charge. The net result is that only two or three of the wickets England took were not as down to South Africa’s search for quick runs.Darren Gough’s usual zip was missing, Steve Harmison could still not turn promising moments into consistent menace, and Ashley Giles and Andrew Flintoff did what they are in the team to do: block up an end. Impotent was not the right word.Not only did England lack a cutting edge, they also lacked a Plan B. Inrecent series, and in particular in 2001-02 against India, Nasser Hussain has quickly reverted to packing he off side, instructing his bowlers to bowl a foot outside off and waiting for the batsmen to make a mistake.But here England lacked the discipline to bowl on one side of the wicket. Anderson was the prime offender. Though he did finally manage a wicket, it was from one of very few decent balls he bowled. On Sunday morning he was out on the pitch before play bowling into a corridor of cones in a desperate attempt to hone his line and length. For once he looked what he is – a novice.Never was England’s desire for a frightening quick bowler or a mysteryspinner more keenly felt. But a quick glance at the county averages shows no obvious solution. The two leading wicket-takers who are eligible for England – James Kirtley and Jimmy Ormond – offer more consistency but less potency than Anderson. And the only mystery spinner in sight is Mushtaq Ahmed.Wisden Bulletin – Day 5

Gareth Batty’s preparations for today’s first Test in Galle took an alarming turn on Monday afternoon, when he got into difficulties while swimming in the sea in front of the team hotel and had to be rescued by two lifeguards.Batty, who admitted he had “feared the worst” while he was being bashed against the rocks by a rip-tide, was nonetheless able to take part in the final practice session with just a few cuts and bruises to show for the ordeal. “It shook me up at the time,” he said afterwards, “but it hasn’t affected my preparation for the Test – everything is cool.”Batty had been body-boarding with Matthew Hoggard and Michael Vaughan when the incident occurred. All three players were dragged some 30 feet into deeper water, although Hoggard – the strongest swimmer – was able to kick for the shore. It was Vaughan, who scrambled onto the nearby rocks, who raised the alarm.”Vaughany could tell I was struggling and was getting pretty animated on the rocks,” said Batty. “It was his waving that caught the attention of the five or six blokes on the beach. I know that when you get caught in a rip you are supposed to relax and let it take you where it wants, but it’s not quite as easy as that when there are lots of jagged rocks about. They caught me in quite a few places and I have a few nicks on my arms and legs.”It is a notorious stretch of coastline – only last week a tourist drowned in the nearby town of Hikkaduwa. “We always tell Europeans it is OK to swim, but always near the shore,” said Wellage Gamini, one of the lifeguards who helped pull Batty from the waves. “The problem was the players went too near the rocks, where the tides are strongest.”

Hashan Tillakaratne, the former Sri Lankan Test Captain made a fleeting visit to Vienna on Monday. The surprise visit, which came about through personal contacts from the reformed Sri Lankan CC, was a fleeting one, although they were able to take him to see the facilities are Concordia CC’s ground in Markommannenstrasse in Vienna’s 22nd District, where he was able to meet with Concordia CC Chairman and ACA Cricket Development Officer, Siva Nadarajah, who presented him with a team shirt and cap.The ground was officially opened on Saturday 21st June, which some 400 people attending – including youth team players from Tegernsee CC, who have been frequent visitors to Austria for some three seasons now. It will also be used for the forthcoming ECC Notts Sport® Trophy.

Glamorgan will need a further 165 runs with 7 wickets in hand to record their fourth Championship win of the season after a dramatic Hampshire fightback at The Rose Bowl. The home team, after having been invited to follow-on, made 449 in their second innings, and then took three wickets in the final hour as Glamorgan slipped to 33-3 with the game dramatically changing complexion.After taking 14 wickets on Wednesday, Glamorgan began the day with high hopesof quickly finishing off the Hampshire innings. However, they were frustrated initially by Nic Pothas,the Hampshire wicket-keeper, who scored a century and shared in a stand of 149 for the sixthwicket with Dimitri Mascarenhas, who made 75, and then later by a cavalier 68 from Richard Hindley.The day began with 40 minutes play being lost after heavy overnight rain, and whenthe umpires took to the field, Hampshire still needed 138 runs to avoid an inningsdefeat. However, their middle and lower order offer more stout resistance than others hadshown the previous day, with John Francis and Nic Pothas adding 80 in 25 overs beforeFrancis was caught behind off Alex Wharf.Pothas continued to counter-attack, and shortly before thelunch break, he reached his half century after facing 84 balls. But in the first over afterthe interval, he tweaked a hamstring whilst running a quick single with Dimitri Mascarenhas,and had to call for a runner.Despite restricted movement, Pothas continued his assault striking Harrison over mid offfor a six and two fours, and three times driving Kasprowicz through the offside for boundaries.He reached his century with another boundary off the Australian, this time to square leg – his15th four after 156 minutes at the crease during which time he also struck two sixes.Pothas had clubbed a further 21 runs when he tried to hit over the top once too often and holedout to Croft at mid-on. Richard Hindley then lent useful support to Mascarenhas before Glamorgan tookthe new ball. It paid immediate dividends as Kasprowicz trapped Mascarenhas leg before, and thenhad Chris Tremlett caught at second slip by Jimmy Maher.But Hindley continued to belie his inexperience and after striking Kasprowicz for two fours in an over, theHavant club cricketer reached his maiden half-century. But wickets continued to fall at the otherend with Mark Wallace catching edges from Bruce and Tomlinson as Hampshire were dismissed for 449.This left Glamorgan with a target of 198 to win, but they lost Jimmy Maher in the fifthover as he edged a lifting ball from Chris Tremlett to John Crawley in the gulley. The same thinghappened in Tremlett`s next over as Jonathan Hughes departed for 7. Mark Wallace, promoted in theorder following a rib injury to Adrian Dale and night-watchman Dean Cosker safely negotiated 5 more overs, until Mark Wallace was bowled by James Bruce in the final over of the day, as Glamorgan finished the day on 33-3 to leave the prospect of an exciting climax tomorrow.

Take away the pressure and Zimbabwe play better. They did much better forthree-quarters of their final World Cup match of 2003 against Sri Lankabefore collapsing to give Sri Lanka a rather easy victory in the end by 76runs.The turning point of the match, as so often but now for the last time, wasthe dismissal of Andy Flower. Zimbabwe were looking on course to challengethe Sri Lankan total of 256, with the Flower brothers together, but it wasone of those instances where an umpiring error turned the match. UmpireBrian Jerling gave Andy out lbw, failing to detect an inside edge on to thepad, and that brought Andy’s international career to an end. But it can besaid that a side that packed in so quickly after that error didn’t reallydeserve to win anyway.But at least Zimbabwe looked a better team this time that the sombre crewthat took the field against Kenya. Sri Lanka batted on winning the toss,but a combination of a slow East London pitch, not ideal for a one-daymatch, and accurate seam bowling, especially by Heath Streak, made scoringdifficult. Perhaps there was also for them the pressure of knowing theirfuture in this World Cup depended on the result. Against Zimbabwe they maywell have decided to play it safely, ensure a satisfactory total rather thangamble on a high one, and trust their bowlers to remove Zimbabwe’s fragilebatting.It was a policy that might have got them into trouble had it not been forthe Andy Flower dismissal. Zimbabwe did their best to give Andy a memorablefinale to his great international career with a victory and showed morevibrancy in the field than they did against Kenya – where they could hardlyhave shown less.They gave Travis Friend and Stuart Matsikenyeri their first games of thecompetition, but Alistair Campbell was one of the casualties expected tostand down. This meant yet another opening partner for Craig Wishart -believe it or not, his fifth in eight matches. He has opened in turn withMark Vermeulen, Guy Whittall, Vermeulen again, Dion Ebrahim, Campbell andnow it was Doug Marillier’s turn. Any comment on selection policies here issuperfluous.Wishart himself has not made the most of this tournament since his recordinnings against the weak Namibian team. Time and again he has done the hardwork, made a start and then lost his wicket: after 172 not out, his scoreshave been 12, 10, 21, 30, 5 and now 43. What a waste! He has been dumpedby the selectors numerous times during his career, and they may well takethe excuse to do so again. He has the talent to succeed against anybowling, but has only partially done so, and he may well regret his failureto make his place in the side rock-sure when he had the chance.Zimbabwe’s bowlers did a good job until the pressure mounted at the end ofthe Sri Lankan innings. Then the batsmen cut loose, with Kumar Sangakkarathe most outstanding, and they wilted. However they were not alone in thisas the New Zealand bowlers had nothing to be proud of when Streak took themapart two matches earlier.There seemed to be more vitality in the fielding, too. There were somegreat saves by several players, but on the debit side there were missedcatches.Zimbabwe began their run-chase superbly. Their batting against Kenya hadseemed quite brainless. If they had expected to go in and help themselvesthen, they were soon disillusioned, and if such a realistic Plan A existed,where was Plan B? Or maybe Plan B was simply ‘chuck your wicket away’.But now we had Wishart and Marillier taking the attack to the bowlers,driving with confidence even on a pitch not best suited to it. EvenChaminda Vaas, so long a thorn in Zimbabwe’s side, came under attack andtemporarily lost his accuracy. There was some good running between thewickets, another aspect of batsmanship that had apparently been thrown outof the window against Kenya.Travis Friend did a good, if brief, job at number three with 21 off 20balls, and with the Flower brothers in command Zimbabwe needed at one stage117 to win in 22 overs with seven wickets left. Then came the umpire’sfinger of doom, and Zimbabwe quickly subsided.Andy Blignaut was Zimbabwe’s hope when he came in at 150 for five, thenStreak at 178 for seven, but both fell quickly and tamely. Only GrantFlower and Sean Ervine held up the march of the Sri Lankans at all; theothers hastened back to the pavilion in no time.The post-Andy Flower era is upon us. It will be an era of unreliablebatting and sorry collapses – unless we can find specialist batsmen willingto put their hands up and take responsibility as Andy did. Perhaps somebodywill rise to the occasion, but at the moment there is no sign of it.Finally, how about this for an alternative Zimbabwe eleven? Johnson,Madondo, Goodwin, Hick, Andy Flower, Penney, Paul Strang, Andrew Whittall,Bryan Strang, Adam Huckle and Brighton Watambwa; twelfth man EvertonMatambanadzo.This now is a full team of players who should be available for Zimbabweright now but are not. Trevor Madondo (sadly dead) and Paul Strang(long-term arm injury) cannot play for reasons beyond their control; therest chose to leave over the years. We now need those who have remainedfaithful to Zimbabwe to make sure they use their talents to the full and donot let Zimbabwe down.This is not really happening at the moment. We may be short of talentcompared to eight other countries, but we have enough potential talent to bedoing far better than we are at the moment. At least there is someimprovement in that we were competitive for most of the match against SriLanka. It is sad we couldn’t have been competitive to the end. If we had,we might still have lost, but it would have been a thriller.Guys, we need players who relish the pressure, relish the fight, relish theresponsibility. Where are you?