Rain briefly threatened to disrupt Easterns’ victory party on Wednesday, butdespite two brief interruptions, the weather gods were unable to prevent them from beating KwaZulu-Natal by 79 runs at Willowmoore Park.Had the match been washed out, the visitors would have gained two points they barely deserved for a decidedly below-par performance. Easterns’ second victory in as many matches at their Benoni home was no more than they deserved for the determined way they had set about their task.The foundation was laid by left-handed opening batsman Mike Rindel. Moved upfrom the middle order, where he had failed to make an impression against Border, Rindel revelled in the position he had filled so effectively for Northerns in recent seasons before moving to their near neighbours.The 37-year-old former international completely dominated the scoring as heblasted 128, his ninth century in day-night cricket in South Africa, off just 131 balls, including 18 fours, before offering a catch to wicketkeeperDylan Jennings off Ross Veenstra.Of his team-mates, only Derek Crookes, with 37 in a fourth-wicket stand of90 with Rindel and Pierre de Bruyn with 26 got past 20, a measure of how important Rindel’s knock was in giving Easterns a formidable total of 232for nine.Sides chasing rarely win at Willowmoore Park. Border had failed to chase 190five days earlier and the Dolphins always looked like struggling, especiallywhen the decidedly rapid new-ball pairing for Easterns, Kenny Benjamin andAndre Nel, got into their stride early.By the time the first rain break came, after 9.1 overs, the Dolphins were reeling on 32 for four, with the openers having picked up two scalps each and the asking rate creeping up to six to the over. Then, when the rain briefly abated, allowing the teams back on for three more overs before another brief hiatus, Benjamin struck, bowling Natal skipper Dale Benkenstein for two.From that point, it was always going to be a matter of time before the victory was formalised, though for the second game running, Easterns saw a last-wicket pairing put together a sizeable stand. In fact, the one between Kyle Bender and Gary Gilder reached 50 before Gilder tried one big hit too many, off Gareth Flusk, and Albie Morkel was able to grasp the chance when the ball eventually came down.Last man in Gilder, sedate to start with, had opened up in an astonishingassault on Crookes in the 40th over, smashing four consecutive sixes, as heromped to 36, the top score for the visitors.It was never going to be enough to get them close, with the damage done early by Benjamin and Nel, who finished with identical figures of three for 25 from their nine-over spells as the Dolphins were shot out for just 153.The man of the match award, however, rightly went to Rindel.

Veteran recruit Colin Miller (3/51) has struck twice in the space of three deliveries to lead Victoria into a strong position by stumps on day two of the Pura Cup clash with New South Wales in Melbourne. Miller’s removal of dangermen Michael Bevan (39) and Brad Haddin (2) in a dramatic over in late afternoon helped the Bushrangers reduce the Blues to the first innings score of 6/183 by the time that an end to the first five hours of the rain-reduced match was called.That any play at all was possible at Punt Road after several days of drenching rain was, in itself, a remarkable tribute to the ground staff. Again, the saturated state of the bowlers’ run-ups saw to it that the second morning was wiped out just like the first. But this time, the absence of any more rain opened a window of opportunity, albeit a narrow one, and play duly began at just after two o’clock.By the time that it did, the Victorians had already struck a major blow by winning the toss. This gave them the opportunity to send the Blues in to bat and exploit their top and middle order in conditions which frustrated strokeplay and quick run-scoring. Michael Slater (13), despite being passed fit to play and not showing any outward signs of discomfort from the much-publicised finger injury he sustained two days ago, never really looked comfortable. He played several streaky shots and, after a wild pull at Paul Reiffel (2/31), had his knock abruptly ended for him. Captain Steve Waugh (13), the victim of a loose cover drive at Mathew Inness (1/54), did not take long to join him in the pavilion. And then even worse was to come when makeshift opener Corey Richards (30) played a frustrated hook at Reiffel, one completely out of character with his extremely patient batting until then, and picked out Miller at fine leg.In the most attractive partnership of the day, Mark Waugh (53) and Bevan then came together to add some respectability back to the New South Wales scoreboard. Waugh’s ability to conquer the brilliant leg spinning talents of Shane Warne (0/38) through the clever use of his feet in the midst of a tantalising battle was probably, in fact, the major highlight of the day. Although the latter was particularly uncomfortable early, and clearly nowhere near as assured against Warne, the Bushrangers found few answers to the pair’s steady accumulation of a priceless sixty-seven runs for the fourth wicket. A liaison, it should be said, which was worth considerably more than that in view of the snail-like pace of the outfield.But that was all before Miller, back in Victorian colours for the first time in fifteen long seasons, struck. By first encouraging Waugh to try and hit a delivery high and hard over the on side – and producing a towering shot for Warne to stand under and bobble at slip – the wily off spinner produced the most crucial dismissal of the day. And so it was that, in luring a horribly out-thought Bevan well out of his crease with a wild, airy swing and finding Haddin’s outside edge with a beautifully pitched off break, he was able to put some delightful finishing touches on what turned out to be a great start to the Bushrangers’ new first-class campaign.For the home team, Warne also bowled well. Until leaving the field for treatment on a finger after his juggled attempt to catch Waugh, he had beaten a succession of batsmen with glorious flight and turn on a receptive surface. Inness also performed creditably, although the Victorian pacemen as a group should, in truth, feel disappointed about the predominantly leg side line they bowled today.

Skipper Samir Dighe’s unbeaten 93 and his 124-run sixth wicketpartnership with Sairaj Bahutule kept Mumbai’s hopes of taking thefirst innings alive at stumps on the third day of their West ZoneRanji Trophy league match against Maharashtra at Kolhapur on Sunday.Replying to Maharashtra’s total of 445, Mumbai were 371 for sixwickets at close of play.Mumbai’s hopes at first centered around the second wicket stand of 85runs off 24.5 overs between opener Vinayak Mane (63) and Sachin Sawant(56). While Mane faced 101 balls and hit eight fours, Sawant faced 141balls and also hit eight boundaries.Amol Muzumdar (9) and Robin Morris (11) both fell to Iqbal Siddiquiand Mumbai were in deep trouble sliding from 129 for one to 192 forfive. Then Bahutule joined Dighe and Mumbai’s hopes revived. The twomatched each other in strokeplay and run production and their standlasted 30.1 overs before Bahutule was out for 63. In a stay of 2-1/2hours, he faced 135 balls and hit eleven of them to the ropes.Dighe then found an able partner in Paras Mhambrey and the two added55 runs for the unbroken seventh wicket off 21.5 overs. By close,Dighe had batted 278 minutes, faced 194 balls and hit 14 fours.Mhambrey was on 18 after having batted 98 minutes and facing 70 balls.All seems set for an exciting duel for the vital first innings lead onNew Year’s day.

I had thought leaving Saqlain Mushtaq out of the first test was a bad mistake. Little did I realise that worse was to follow. How can you drop arguably the fastest bowler in the world from your team? This decision can be nothing short of a calamity. The Old Trafford pitch has a bit of grass on it and the ball is bound to reverse swing, provided the weather stays dry for the entire duration of the game. Alas! We will be without our fastest bowler who must dream of such conditions. I am sure Shoaib must be disappointed and fuming in the dressing room. I just cannot understand the wisdom behind his omission, especially after we played him at Lord’s when only half fit.Waqar elected to bat first and Pakistan raced to 86 before lunch, but they committed the cardinal sin of losing three wickets in that period. Darren Gough did not look at his best today and bowled far too many loose balls.Saeed Anwar looked to attack and smashed a couple of early boundaries. The makeshift opener Razzaq seemed extremely apprehensive. He offered a simple catch to Atherton on the very first ball he faced, who surprisingly spilled it. There was nothing positive about Razzaq today. Perhaps the extra burden of opening the innings had played tricks in his mind. He half-heartedly prodded at a ball from Caddick and deflected it onto his stumps.Young Faisal looked determined and played a couple of nice shots. His exit came as a shock to me. It was a soft dismissal. Gough, having been wayward and expensive, tried him with a short ball and instead of playing it close to his body with soft hands, he pushed hard at it and gave a simple catch to short leg.

Inzamam played some magnificent strokes. The straight drive, which brought him his 5000 test runs, was a beauty. While Inzamam was in prime form, Saeed started to look very fidgety. He was extremely uneasy against Mathew Hoggard, but it was Caddick who finally dismissed him. In Saeed’s defence I would say that it was a good ball. It bounced and left him, and most batsmen would have struggled against it anyway.In an adverse situation you need lady luck smiling at you. Inzamam nicked the first ball after lunch to Stewart but fortunately was a no-ball. And player’s like Inzamam do not need a second chance. His innings was the best I’ve seen him play. He was simply in prime form. From the first ball he faced, he was swashbuckling, aggressive and tormenting the bowlers. Even though he lost Youhana straight after lunch, he never lost his grip on the game. Youhana chased a stock delivery from Caddick and was caught in the slips. Youhana is a key figure in our team and his poor form in this series is quite worrying.

What can I say about Younis Khan! This young man is destined to be one of the great players for Pakistan. I could never understand why Pakistani selectors were ignoring him in the home series against England. He has a good technique, is brilliant in the field and above all, scores his runs at a rapid rate, which gives your bowlers more time to bowl out the opposition. If we work hard on his approach to the game, we might convert him into one of the best number-three players in the game. He was immensely unlucky to get out just before tea. Padding up to an innocuous delivery from Hoggard, he was adjudged leg before wicket. Cricket is glorious, but can be unforgiving and cruel. Younis deserved a century in this game. I am sure he is going to score plenty of centuries for his country in future.Inzamam finally played a tired looking stroke and was caught at cover point off Hoggard. I shall treasure his innings for the rest of my life. He has had a golden year and long it may continue.Pakistan players have looked focussed and rejuvenated in this innings. So far in this game there has been a sense of purpose in their every stride. Sigh, if only they’d start playing every game with this very spirit!England bowlers conceded a lot of boundaries but their spirit never flagged. Pakistan batsmen scored at a rapid rate but the bowlers never gave up and kept picking up wickets at important intervals.Azhar Mahmood played a significant innings under the circumstances but, like all his predecessors, perished when he looked in complete command of the situation.Because of the time lost in the morning, the post-lunch session was extended. England bowlers looked tired and devoid of direction in the evening, a mistake for which coach Duncan Fletcher will not let them go scot-free. There will be a postmortem to why Inzamam was allowed to score 82% of his runs on the leg side. Rashid also capitalized on their flagging spirit and played a gem of an innings later in the day.Wasim Akram did not learn from the last test. His body weight remained on his back foot, resulting in his own downfall. The Pakistan batsmen scored their runs at a furious pace, giving themselves a chance to win this match. I don’t think Nasser Hussain would have permitted Pakistan such freedom.On an excellent batting pitch, Pakistan has posted an imposing score on the first day. Waqar Younis was totally vindicated in electing to bat first. Rashid Latif was nearly as good as Inzamam and Younis but perhaps not as imperious. Pitch has behaved in favour of the batsmen, yet the omission of Shoaib Akhtar might cost them the final glory.

Ed:Mudassar Nazar is a veteran of 76 tests and 122 ODIs. He is currently the chief coach of Pakistan’s National and Regional Cricket Academies. In view of the overwhelming interest of users in CricInfo’s articles, we have invited him to write for us.

England’s women take on the touring Australian side in the First CricInfoSeries Test Match at Shenley on Sunday.In a concentrated period of international women’s cricket, the reshapedEngland side will play three One Day Internationals, sandwiched between twofour-day Tests, before the Australians move on to Ireland.England’s young side will be looking for a good performance as they embark on their stated mission – to challenge for the 2005 World Cup, and to be ranking in the top two nations by 2007. Having enlisted Australian Coach John Harmer, who will take over at the end of the CricInfo Series, England will be looking for positive progress over the coming weeks from their youthful lineup.The last time the two teams met, at the BIL Oval near Christchurch during the CricInfo Women’s World Cup, Australia won by 54 runs. Having bowled and fielded impressively to restrict the Australians to 190-7 off their 50 overs, the England batsmen were dismissed for 137.England will hope to repeat their impressive work in the field, their strength during the World Cup. Clare Taylor and Lucy Pearson are the Gough and Caddick of women’s cricket. One of the best opening attacks in the world, they will want to make early inroads into the strong Australian batting order.England also look strong in the spin department. Laura Harper and Dawn Holden are great prospects, and both made rapid progress during the World Cup. The longer game will be an interesting challenge for their undoubted talents.The batting is built around Claire Taylor, England’s batsman of the World Cup. Captain Clare Connor found form towards the end of the competition, and experienced Jane Cassar will shoulder a lot of responsibility. However, withCharlotte Edwards suffering from long-term injury and Barbara Daniels sidelined, England will be looking towards their young all-rounders to makea major contribution. Less experienced players like Caroline Atkins and Jackie Hawker must view this tournament as an opportunity to test their talents against the best in the world.The Australians – the Commonwealth Bank Southern Stars – will still be smarting from their defeat against New Zealand in the World Cup Final in December 2000. The strongest team in the tournament, Australia were bowled out three runs short of their target in a pulsating final. However, like their male counterparts, the Australian women are an impressive unit.The batting has a familiar look. Evergreen captain Belinda Clark, prolificopener Lisa Keightley and pugnacious all-rounder Karen Rolton will provide astrong backbone to the order. Sally Cooper is the young prospect who will want to make an impact, and a recall for Michelle Goszko in the absence of Zoe Goss, are the two less familiar players who will be looking to cement their place in the order for years to come.Charmaine Mason, Therese McGregor and Cathryn Fitzpatrick, perhaps thequickest of all women bowlers, are a formidable pace attack, and they will be well supported by Rolton, and all-rounders Avril Fahey and Olivia Magno.With the Australians seeking to reaffirm their undoubted pedigree and England rebuilding with a side bursting with young all-round talent, a tantalising CricInfo Series is in prospect.

A fluctuating day’s cricket left the crucial CricInfo Championship game between Surrey and Lancashire at The AMP Oval evenly-poised at stumps on the second day.Surrey had time to face one over at the end of the day as they began their second innings 28 runs in arrears after fighting back throughout the afternoon; possibly a vital contribution with the pitch taking spin and the world’s best off-spinners on either side.Lancashire had begun the day in determined mood in reply to Surrey’s first innings total of 248. They reached lunch on 82 without loss after 29 overs in a rain truncated morning session.With Tudor and Bicknell bowling to an aggressive field of four slips and a gully, the Lancashire openers concentrated on survival, but grew in confidence as the partnership wore in.First to go was Jamie Haynes. Having justified his inclusion in the side in the absence of Atherton (on England duty) and Chiltern (injured), the former second team ‘keeper played back to Saqlain and was given out lbw having completed his second first-class half-century.It was a crucial breakthrough. The opening stand between Haynes and his captain, John Crawley, had yielded 100 but Surrey soon struck again. Crawley misjudged a Bicknell delivery and was dismissed lbw shouldering arms, while Fairbrother swept Saqlain to Ramprakash at deep square leg.Scuderi was deceived by the infamous Saqlain mystery ball and could only top-edge the ball to gully and Graham Lloyd could not keep down a short ball from the swift Tudor.Andrew Flintoff was in forthright mood, and benefited from a let off when Butcher put him down at slip off Tudor. Eight cracking boundaries followed before Butcher made amends as Flintoff snicked another ball from Tudor.Warren Hegg proved to be more obdurate. His 74 not out helped guide the tail into vital partnerships that eventually earned a lead of 28 runs. He hit three boundaries in a row off Bicknell and reiterated his worth to Lancashire following his recent century at Northampton.No-one else could find an answer to Saqlain who finished with 6-89, trumping Muralitharan, who took five wickets in the Surrey innings.Afterwards John Crawley admitted that the game was evenly poised and suggested that both teams should have scored more runs.”Having won the toss they would have hoped for more runs but at 110 for no wicket we would have hoped for the same,” Crawley reasoned.”It’s the kind of wicket if you get one or two then a few more follow but if you get in on it there are runs to be had. The pitch is a good four-day pitch, there is a bit in it for everyone but the spinners have had to work for their reward.”If it continues to play well and it doesn’t disintegrate we would be hopeful of scoring somewhere around 240 on the final day. Our game plan for tomorrow is to attack them early on and see if we can bowl them out cheaply.”

Greg Blewett completed his third century of the season in the CricInfo Championship as Nottinghamshire achieved an historic seven-wicket victory over Worcestershire.Making 461 for 3 to clear a target of 458 with more than two sessions to spare, they achieved their highest fourth innings total to win a match in more than 100 years as members of the modern Championship.While Notts surpassed their previous record of 419 for 6 in beating Leicestershire at Trent Bridge in 1926, the home side lost to a 400-plus total for only the second time in their history. They had been beaten by an Essex fourth innings score of 405 for 6 in 1994.Notts went into the final morning at 367 for 2 on the back of successive century partnerships involving Darren Bicknell (104), John Morris (94), Blewett (99 not out) and Usman Afzaal, unbeaten on 63.With only 91 more runs required from the last eight wickets, their first task was to see off the new ball which represented Worcestershire’s last hope of redeeming a depressing bowling performance on the third day.But this threat was dismissed as Afzaal carved into anything loose from Alamgir Sheriyar and Andy Bichel. The left-hander added 25 in half-an-hour before he was lbw to Sheriyar for 88 in a stand of 145.Blewett continued at a steady pace until closing on 134 when Paul Johnson rounded off a brisk knock of 22 by pulling Philip Weston for four. The remaining runs were scored in 65 minutes today to wrap up a remarkable win in a game which began with 20 wickets on the first day.

John Morris marked his last appearance at the County Ground in Derby with a second century in a game that died a slow death on the fourth afternoon.Kevin Pietersen scored his maiden double hundred and with Morris, shared a Nottinghamshire sixth-wicket record stand of 372.When the game was finally laid to rest at 5.20pm, 1,665 runs had been scored which is the highest match aggregate in Derbyshire’s history.The fact that only 25 wickets fell on four days uninterrupted by the weather indicates how dead the pitch was and much of the last two sessions was an exercise in futility.Derbyshire had been in with a chance of victory in the morning when Kevin Dean took three wickets in 27 balls to reduce Notts to 185-5, only 139 in front.He must have been close to trapping Morris lbw before he had scored but once the former Derbyshire batsman had negotiated an uncertain start, the game moved towards stalemate.Pietersen played superbly when the contest was still very much alive and then plundered some undemanding bowling, including seven overs from wicket-keeper Karl Krikken, to race towards his double century.He clubbed nine sixes and 23 fours in his unbeaten 218 and Morris hit two sixes, 17 fours and one five in 136 not out which took his personal tally for the game to 306.Morris is retiring at the end of the season and he was given an affectionate send-off on the ground where he started his career back in 1982.The sixth-wicket record in England of 411 was in their sights but Morris had started to block long before the end and Pietersen also played a dead bat through the closing overs of a game that also yielded 159 extras, another record for a Derbyshire game.

India’s last chance of meaningful match practice before the first Test inGalle was scuppered today when the P. Saravanamuttu pitch was deemed unfitfor play and the umpires were forced to abandon their three-day game againsta Sri Lankan Board XI.Play started on time, but after the first over, a maiden bowled by DinushaFernando, it immediately became clear that pitch would misbehave even morethan on the two previous days, when players on both sides had been rapped onthe gloves. Sourav Ganguly immediately declared the Indian first innings.The Board XI though were not overly keen on risking the health of theirplayers either – six of whom are in the 16-man squad for the Galle Teststarting on Tuesday. A 15-minute discussion between coaches, captains andumpires ensued.Indian coach John Wright wanted more middle practice for his team and theSri Lankan coach was not averse to playing if the safety of the playerscould be assured. The umpires thus took the unusual decision to order therepair the pitch on the basis of “good faith.”The ground staff got to work. The offending patches were filled with clay,the pitch was watered and cut grass was rolled into the wicket. Strictlyspeaking the watering and rolling was illegal, but the umpires decision toallow it was rooted in common sense and within the spirit of the game.Unfortunately, after four hours of hard labouring the pitch was still deemedunfit for play and the game was called of. The only chance of play was ifboth sides agreed to play only at one end, which had in fact been suggestedyesterday by India, but rejected by the home side. In the end the Indianteam practiced afterwards at the “safe” end.Ironically, the P.Saravanamuttu Stadium was traditionally famous for havingthe best pitch in Sri Lanka, full of pace and true in bounce. It staged SriLanka’s inaugural Test, but was eventually sidelined as the facilities fellbehind those at the Sinhalese Sports Club and Premadasa InternationalStadium. Now, after the period of re-development, the facilities areacceptable, but the pitch is not.Successful matches have been played at the ground this year against Englandand Paksitan A, but this incident may delay the return of Test cricket tothe Tamil Union club. They had hoped to stage the Asian Test Championshipgame against Bangladesh later this year, but the ICC are now unlikely tolook favourably on such a plan.Sourav Ganguly was diplomatic afterwards: “It’s little bit disappointing,but we had a day to bowl and day to bat and that’s better than nothing. Igot a good knock and so did the openers, but it would have been nice if themiddle order had got going as well.”He brushed aside suggestions that the Indian would be going into the firstTest under prepared: “Yes we’ve had just one practice game, but theconditions are pretty much similar to back at home so there shouldn’t be aproblem.”The Indian team now travels down to Galle tomorrow. Sri Lanka take a breakon Saturday and travel south on Sunday.

New Zealand’s success in staging last year’s CricInfo Women’s World Cup has had an unexpected benefit for Christchurch women’s cricket.Players are lining up to come and sample cricket here.Among those expected to be playing their cricket here this summer are England under-19 and Yorkshire player Claire Atkinson and Netherlands captain Pauline te Beest.Te Beest is targetting a place in the Canterbury side in the national competition.Sri Lankan World Cup vice-captain Sudarshini Sivanathan is another who has made enquiries about coming back to Christchurch.Yorkshire all-rounder Clare Gough, who got close to the England team for last year’s tournament, is also interested while another Dutch player Alarda Mol is also reported to be keen.White Fern Nicola Payne, who has been a contact point for many wanting to play in Christchurch, said the World Cup was excellent advertising for cricket in the city and in New Zealand, along with other players who have played here talking about their experiences when they go home.