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The Junior Sabres first ever website auction is just going from strength to strength and by the time that the office closed at Somerset CCC on Friday the bids received so far amounted to more than £400, with more expected next week.Junior Sabres coordinator Jo Arnold who is running the auction told me: "This is absolutely fantastic. When we launched at the start of the month I would have been happy if we had made £100 so this far exceeds my expectation, and all the money raised of course goes directly to the Junior Sabres in the club which is just great."Jo continued: "All of the players have been really good about donating items of their kit for such a good cause, and this afternoon Keith Dutch has given me a pair of his batting gloves which will become Lot number 12 in the auction."The best bid for any of the lots that has been received so far is for Mike Burns Gunn and Moore bat which currently stands at £120, followed by Peter Bowler’s bat which stands at £85.On Friday evening the best bid for each of the items was: Lot number 1-£20, Lot number 2-£35, Lot number 3-£25, Lot number 4-£40, Lot number 5-£25, Lot number 6-£30, Lot number 7-£30, Lot number 8-£15, Lot number 9-£120, Lot number 10-£85, Lot number 11-£15 and Lot number 12-£15.Please remember that all items are genuine and that the auction will close on November 30th with the lot being sold to the highest bidder.All the lots are listed on the features section of the title page of the website.To register a bid for any of the lots please send an email to [email protected] PRESS.The new Stumpy mugs featuring a cartoon of Somerset’s friendly mascot in full colour have just been received in the office at the County Ground and are currently on sale priced at £3 each or £10 for four.The mugs will make an ideal Christmas present for Junior Sabres of any age. As supplies are limited if you would like to purchase a Stumpy mug call into the office at the County Ground or contact Jo Arnold on 01823 272946.

The ECB will meet today to discuss proposals for an English version of the IPL as it considers broadcast tenders for the 2010 season.A number of proposals have been floated in the last fortnight, but the one which is based on three seven-team regional leagues appears to be the one with the broadest support.The idea of ditching the existing county structure altogether seems to have been sidelined, despite the backing of some senior county chairmen. Last week Giles Clarke, the ECB chairman, said that city-based teams were not something that would work in England.”I always thought city cricket was the future,” Lancashire’s Jim Cumbes told The Times. “It’s more identifiable, it’s new and it gives an opportunity in the future for there to be other city franchises.”Clarke, who is already risking a showdown with leading players over his unequivocal stance on their participation in the IPL, is also at odds with some of the chairman. One is quoted in today’s Guardian as saying: “We yearned for strong leadership for years and now Giles has come along and we are terrified.”The need for a review of the existing Twenty20 structure, to capitalise on the success of the format without necessarily aping the IPL, has, in turn, led to discussions about the future of the County Championship, and that has not gone down well in all quarters either.There have been suggestions of three-day Championship matches, which Leicestershire’s chief executive David Smith rejected outright. “The old system was workable on uncovered pitches,” Smith told the , “but as soon as the pitches were covered, the cricket was awful to watch. To put it simply, three-day cricket won’t produce Test players.”

Somerset’s vital championship match against Kent was evenly poised at the end of the third day’s play at Taunton where the Cidermen were 325 runs ahead with seven wickets remaining.Resuming on 300 for 3 this morning the Kent overnight batsmen Ed Smith and Paul Nixon took their side safely past the follow on total, and then the 350 mark before both became victims of Matt Bulbeck.Wicket-keeper Nixon was caught by Mike Burns for 88 and Smith edged a chance to wicket-keeper Rob Turner after scoring an impressive 154.The visitors lost a further wicket when Ian Blackwell trapped Geraint Jones LBW, before declaring on 400 for 6.In the four overs that were possible before lunch Somerset openers Matt Wood and Jamie Cox had taken the score onto 8 without loss.After the break the opening pair took the score past 50 until Wood was caught by David Fulton off the bowling of James Tredwell for 21, and Somerset were 64 for 1.Mike Burns joined Cox and seemed to be progressing well until with the score on 98 he gave a very sharp caught and bowled chance that was gratefully accepted by Tredwell.Cox was timing the ball sweetly and brought up the hundred in the thirtieth over, and then moved past his fifty four overs later.Peter Bowler was also finding the middle of the bat and hit successive boundaries off Tredwell. By the tea interval Somerset had moved onto 144 for 2.Shortly after the break Cox was out LBW to Patel for 79, and the Cidermen had moved onto 186 for 3. Bowler was joined by Keith Parsons and the pair enjoyed a 55 run partnership before Parsons became another of Tredwell’s victims.Bowler and Blackwell stayed together at the wicket until the close by which time Somerset had moved onto 265 for 4, with the prospect of a very interesting day’s play tomorrow.At the end of the day Kevin Shine told me: "Kent made a good declaration this morning with a view to setting up a good game. We both need a result, they are trying for second place and of course we need a victory to help in our fight to stave of relegation. Peter Bowler then had a good knock and Jamie Cox also played really really well, they are both playing back into form which is pleasing."What happens next I asked. He told me: "We’re not quite sure yet how we are going to play it tomorrow, and this evening we will be discussing the situation."

BRISBANE, Nov 7 AAP – England fast bowler Simon Jones will be out for at least six months after injuring his knee in the first Test against Australia at the Gabba today.Jones ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee during a fielding mishap early in the second session of the Test.The 23-year-old requires reconstructive surgery at home but doctors do not want him to undertake the long flight for at least two weeks.But Jones is allowed to fly to Adelaide, where he will be based at England’s cricket academy for treatment designed to reduce the swelling.Jones was injured when attempting to make a sliding save near the long-on boundary.

Somerset Under 17’s got their season off to a winning start when they beat Bath Cricket Club recently.Batting first at North Parade, Bath made 222 for 4 from their 50 overs.The Somerset reply was built around a fine 84 from Steve Davis, who hit 84 off 64 balls, and Andrew Hallaran who hit 62 from 67 balls to help their side to 222 for 4, and a comfortable six wicket victory.

The Somerset players were out on the grass at the County Ground today for the first time this season, and as an added bonus the sun shone for them.One of the players who was getting back into the swing of things in the outdoor nets was Richard Johnson who last year enjoyed a very successful season with the Cidermen after joining them from Middlesex the previous winter.At the end of the day Richard told me: “It made a very pleasant change to be out there on the grass. It’s always very different to be outside for the first time every season, but everyone enjoyed it.”On the back of his success for Somerset in the 2001 season, Richard was called up as a late replacement to join the England tour party to India before Christmas, but despite performing well in one of the early tour matches was not selected in any of the Test Matches, much to his disappointment.After returning to England just before Christmas, Richard spent some time at home before going out to Perth in Western Australia, where he worked hard at his fitness regime, but had a break from cricket.Looking ahead to the new season I asked Richard if he had any thoughts on playing for England at the moment. He told me: “I’m not really looking at that at all at the moment. What happened out in India is behind me and all I want to do is to get out there and play for Somerset. If all goes well and I take wickets then who knows what might happen.”?What did he think that Somerset might achieve in the coming season I asked. Richard told me: “I think that we can win one of the one day competitions. Look what I predicted last season and I was right! It will be tough again in the County Championship, because there are several good sides. If we work hard we will do well again, but we will definitely win one of the one day competitions this year.”Richard, along with all of the Somerset squad faces a very busy programme during the days ahead, which has been devised by coach Kevin Shine along with his assistant Mark Garaway, aimed at ensuring that the players are in peak condition ready for the first match of the season.

James Anderson, the England fast bowler, has asked his team-mates to watch against admiring Sachin Tendulkar too much because that can sometimes “dull the competitive edge”. “There is no question in my mind that he has been one of the best batsmen — if not the best — for 20-odd years,” Anderson wrote in his column in . “But we have to make sure we do not treat him with too much respect in the middle.”Anderson is no rookie when it comes to bowling to Tendulkar. He has squared up against Tendulkar in 19 Test innings and has dismissed him seven times for 207 runs. In his column, he wrote about an Andrew Flintoff anecdote, which according to him sums up the feeling when competing against Tendulkar. “I heard an interesting quote from Freddie Flintoff recently about what it felt like to bowl against Sachin,” he wrote. “He said: ‘I wanted to get him out, for sure. But I wanted to earn his respect as well. I wanted to impress him.’ It almost sounded like Freddie was looking for the Tendulkar seal of approval.”Anderson wrote he had never personally felt that way, but didn’t rule out that possibility for others. “I cannot relate directly to what Freddie said, but I know what he is getting at,” he wrote. “I do know that people have said they love watching him bat, and maybe too much of that kind of admiration could dull your competitive edge.”I’ve never been aware of succumbing to that myself but maybe subconsciously, because you respect him for what he has done in the game — 100 international centuries is some achievement — and the way he has conducted himself, you want to get him to respect you back.”The Sachin factor is quite something to experience. I’ve played in games here in which the Indian supporters seem more interested in his batting than how their team are doing, when Sachin getting out is the signal for a mass exodus.”Anderson won’t mind bowling in front of empty stands if that’s what it takes. “I will be seeking to make myself pretty unpopular with the locals in the weeks ahead,” he wrote. “The bottom line is that we treat everyone with the same respect, whether they’ve played one Test or 100 — and that goes for trying to earn their respect, too.”

A record-breaking all wickets partnership of 193 runs by Nathan Astle and Stephen Fleming set New Zealand up for a thrilling National Bank series win over Pakistan in Dunedin today.It was hard to believe that New Zealand had struggled all summer to fulfil an opening stand of any quality.The pair, long standing batting partners from their earliest days with Canterbury, dominated a Pakistan attack, including some fiery moments when Shoaib Akhtar managed two or three of the fastest overs seen in the country for some time.Akhtar limped out of the bowling attack after bowling only five overs, most of the last over being delivered off a short run up as he once again struggled with a thigh muscle injury. He came back for 4.1 overs and bowled off a short run.The New Zealanders bettered the all wickets stand of 180 made by Ken Rutherford and Adam Parore set against India in Baroda in 1994/95.Along the way they dusted off the opening record of 158 set by Martin Crowe and John Wright against Bangladesh in Sharjah in 1989/90 while they also passed the 153 achieved by Astle and Mathew Sinclair against Zimbabwe in Wellington in January.Fleming said the side knew from the outset of the summer that Pakistan would be a tough series to win and to come through and win 3-2 had been a good test of character.”We’re delighted. It is nice to have something on the board for the work we’ve been doing,” he said.”It was very important to get wickets at the end and stop them short of 300. We did that in Nairobi and we did it again here.”It was a great wicket again,” he said.New Zealand suffered a hiccup in the latter stages of its chase when losing three wickets in five balls for one run. But Chris Harris and Jacob Oram added 38 runs for the seventh wicket with Oram hitting a six of the first ball of the penultime over to wrap up the win.Pakistan twice had the chance to put New Zealand on the rack with the bat – but they fluffed it both times.At 90/1 off 15 overs and with Shahid Afridi threatening to launch into even more of an assault than he had already achieved while hitting 50 off 40 balls.But the wily Chris Harris undid him at the right time from New Zealand’s point of view, having him caught at the wicket by wicket-keeper Adam Parore for 65 scored from 55 balls.It featured some thrilling hitting and the runs came quickly after he had got over a poor patch of playing and missing at the start of his innings.Pakistan was then required to rebuild and it took its time. Just when Abdur Razzaq and Yousuf Youhana began to up the tempo, Fleming brought back Daryl Tuffey for his second spell and he had Razzaq chasing a rising ball which Parore held.Youhana and Imran Farhat formed an unlikely combination, given Farhat’s poor form earlier in the series, and they added 68 off 73 balls.At 225/3 in the 42nd over, Pakistan, with Yousuf in full cry, looked to be set to score more than 300, but Craig McMillan’s belated arrival at the bowling crease for the over concerned saw Yousuf out, leg before wicket for 68, and set in train a string of events which saw Pakistan all out three balls short of the 50 overs for 285.Moin Khan hit out superbly for a 20-ball 36 but as McMillan found the sort of bowling form at the death New Zealand has been looking for all summer, he gained a suitable ally in Jacob Oram and four wickets fell in nine balls.It was a fine effort in pulling back a side on the loose and made New Zealand’s chase that much easier.Pakistan captain Moin said the 285 was a good target to defend.”They played really well, they deserved to win. We missed a few catches in the beginning and there was pathetic fielding from our side today.”We tried our best but we didn’t bowl to the targets today.”We were 20-25 runs short in the end.”We will have to come back hard if we want to win the Test series. We have to learn from our mistakes,” he said.

India have a habit, for some reason, of choosing Port of Spain as theground to set many of their records, and Sourav Ganguly’s teamcontinued that tradition this time around. The Queen’s Park Oval sawtwo individuals garner two important records, making for an unusuallystatistics-heavy Test.Ganguly himself was one of those individuals, notching up his fourthTest win overseas to pass MAK Pataudi and Bishan Singh Bedi for mostvictories abroad. Bedi and Ganguly have comparable records; theyregistered their away wins in 22 and 20 Tests respectively. Pataudi,however, posted his wins even though he was skipper for a whopping 40Tests.Interestingly enough, Ganguly and Bedi are two of the three Indian captains to win a Test in the Caribbean, with Ajit Wadekar being the third. All of India’s three wins in the West Indies, moreover, have come at Port of Spain.

In passing, the comparison of each captain’s performance in his awaywins proves extremely flattering to Ganguly. The current Indianskipper averages 76.25 in those four Tests; Pataudi, in contrast,averages a measly 24.40, while Bedi took 16 wickets in the threeTests.The other notable statistic from Port of Spain, of course, was SachinTendulkar drawing level with Don Bradman. While 29 centuries is stillan achievement, and nothing should detract from Tendulkar’sperformances thus far, the difference in speed is staggering enough tofurther burnish the glow on the Don’s halo.Tendulkar took 93 matches and 148 innings for his centuries – ahundred every 5.1 innings. Tendulkar’s Mumbai predecessor, SunilGavaskar, played 95 matches and 166 innings – a hundred every 5.72innings. Bradman played 52 Tests and 80 innings – a hundred every2.76 innings, or almost twice as often as Tendulkar. So if one thinksTendulkar prolific, the imagination boggles further at Bradman.One reason for Bradman’s superior record could have been his rate ofconversion. He finished his career with 29 hundreds but only 13fifties. Tendulkar has 31 fifties to his 29 centuries. Gavaskarhad made 35 fifties when he made his 29th century.

If it was action that people came looking for, they would not have been disappointed by the fourth day’s play at the MA Chidambaram stadium at Chepauk. Harbhajan Singh gave the ball a royal tweak, sent the West Indies into a tail-spin, Virender Sehwag blazed away, and a victory target of 81 was breezed past in just 21.1 overs. India have now taken an unassailable 2-0 lead in this three-Test series for the Exide Cup.The day began with the West Indies on 186 for four, with Ramnaresh Sarwan taking his side towards a fighting second-innings score. But with a searing, perfectly directed delivery, Zaheer Khan ensured that the three-figure mark eluded Sarwan once more. Trapped lbw in the 72nd over of the innings for 78 (297 minutes, 214 balls, four fours, one six), Sarwan had failed to keep the Indian bowlers at bay for long on the day.The dismissal of Sarwan provided enough of a window for Harbhajan to work his magic. Bamboozling the West Indian lower-order with a spell of bowling that took him past Muttiah Muralitharan as the leading wicket-taker of the calendar year, the Punjab offie scalped as many as three wickets in a single over. In the 75th over, Harbhajan Singh sent back three West Indian batsmen. Ryan Hinds (7), Gareth Breese (0) and Merv Dillon (4) all perished as they played against the spin. With four for 79, Harbhajan was the pick of the bowlers – and the eventual Man of the Match for his incisive bowling and batting cameo – as the tourists crumbled to 229.India’s response was as swift as it was decisive. Sehwag, with his mind set on going after the spinners, launched himself into several massive drives, two of which sailed over the ropes. On 33, off just 31 balls, Sehwag tried to loft Carl Hooper one time too many and was beaten in the flight and stumped.Sanjay Bangar, in an unusually aggressive mood, scored 20 before edging Hooper to Chris Gayle in the slips. With a steady drizzle pattering down and heavy clouds hanging over the floodlit stadium, Sachin Tendulkar (16) and Rahul Dravid (6) knocked off the winning runs.Looking back, Sourav Ganguly will say that everything went perfectly for India – well, almost everything. The skipper is nursing a very sore lower back after a bone-crunching collision with Anil Kumble when the pair both attempted to take a catch. But then again, some would say that even the collision was a reflection of the boyish enthusiasm with which India rushed to a comfortable win.