Ahead of the first of the VB One Day series final matches against Australia in Sydney Somerset all rounder talked about his performances so far for England this winter.He told me earlier today: "As you can imagine I’m thrilled to bits with the way that my bowling has improved this winter and over the moon the way I bowled and also the way the team fought the other night against Australia."He continued: "As for my batting, I’m just frustrated really because I know I can do it, and I feel in good nick in the nets too. I don’t think there are many games where an all rounder has a good game both bowling and batting, normally one part stands out more than the other."However despite being out of form with the bat `Blackie’ remains upbeat. He concluded: "I’m not too worried though because I’m still working on things and I have also played a DVD of my innings against India, when I scored 82, to see what I did differently if anything. Lets hope I can rediscover that form for the finals."

Paceman Stephen John razed Lahore Greens with seven for 54 on Wednesday sending the visitors crashing to 132 all out as Islamabad gained the advantage in their Cornelius Trophy match at KRL Stadium.Islamabad batsmen Ashar Zaidi and Hammad-ul-Haq then took centre stage helping their side to a healthy 246 for one, a lead of 114 by the close of the first day of this three-day game.In a ruthless display, Ashar scored an unbeaten 112 off just 88 balls, his marvellous innings comprising 14 boundaries and two sixes.Hammad, no less impressive, was closing in on his century and stood at 96 when play ended for the day. His knock was also laced with 14 hits to the ropes. But had it not been for John’s excellent show with the ball, the complexion of the game may well have been quite different. He tore Lahore Greens batting apart, three of his victims going for nought.The tourists were in such hopeless form that their top scorer, not surprisingly, was Mr Extras with 30.Summarised scores:*At KRL Stadium, Rawalpindi:LAHORE GREENS 132 (Imran Qadir 29; Stephen John 7-54; Muhammad Altaf 2-28);ISLAMABAD 246-1 (Ashar Zaidi 112 not out, Hammad-ul-Haq 96 not out).At Nawabshah Stadium, Nawabshah:NAWABSHAH 142 (Nasir Khan 28, Shahid Hussain 21, Abid Ali 20; Ariz Kamal 3-28, Zeeshan Essa 3-28, Faraz Ahmed 2-14, Adeel Malik 2-29);KARACHI GREENS 173-3 (Rashid Ali 73, Mir Rashid 60, Ariz Kamal 27 not out).*At PCB Regional Academy Ground, Karachi:QUETTA 331-8 innings closed (Javed Iqbal 123, Naseem Khan 110, Abdul Rehman 25, Abdul Wali 20 not out; Mohtashim Ali 3-73, Shahbaz Bashir 2-49); SIBI 19-1

Central Districts will field an unchanged team for their penultimate round match of the State Championship against Northern Districts at Hamilton, starting tomorrow.The same 12 who played Otago in Invercargill last week have been selected. They are: Craig Spearman (captain), Jamie How, Peter Ingram, Glen Sulzberger, Greg Todd, Ross Taylor, Jesse Ryder, Bevan Griggs, Andrew Schwass, Michael Mason, Brent Hefford, Ewen Thompson.Central Districts shares third equal place in the competition with Northern Districts and Otago, well behind the competition leaders Auckland and Wellington who are on 32 and 31 points respectively.

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?

Somerset’s three-day friendly against Glamorgan at the County Ground in Taunton ended in a draw, after some very entertaining cricket from both sides in bright sunshine was enjoyed by a good sized crowd.Resuming on their overnight total of 172 for 3 the visitors took the score onto 383 for 9 before declaring, with Darren Thomas making 100 and David Hemp 70. The pick of the Somerset bowlers was Keith Dutch who ended with the impressive figures of 17 overs, 4 maidens, 3 wickets for 58 runs.Chasing a total of 385, by the time that the players left the field with eight overs remaining, Somerset had reached 260 for 4, with Piran Holloway unbeaten on 78.Earlier Matt Wood had scored 66 an impressive, Rob Turner 43, Aaron Laraman a quickfire 32 and James Bryant 30, which included two enormous sixes off Robert Croft, one of which landed in the St James Street Car Park.After the close of play Somerset coach Kevin Shine told me: "This was a tough start for us against first class opponents and our bowlers have been made to work hard out there. They met the challenge I set them in the second innings, and there were good spells last night from Keith Dutch and Michael Parsons. Today everyone has bowled well. It was a very flat wicket and the batters dominated with the short boundary and 1300 runs were scored in three days."Looking ahead to Monday’s match at the Hampshire Rosebowl he said: "There is still a bit of work to do, but this performance is going to make selection difficult for the next game, and there will be keen competition for places ,especially with Ian Blackwell coming into the reckoning."Somerset start their first class season next Saturday when they entertain Loughborough University at Taunton in a 3 day match, and the season gets underway in earnest on Good Friday when they travel to Bristol for their championship opener against the `old enemy’ Gloucestershire.

One man makes such a difference. Sachin Tendulkar is recovering from a finger injury and his absence has taken its toll on the most important match of India’s domestic season – the Ranji Trophy Final. The summit clash between hosts Mumbai and Tamil Nadu which started today at the Wankhede Stadium has an air of silence surrounding it.When Tendulkar used to walk into the sun, the bowl would reverberate with his name. Now, the silence echoes. Many of the stands are empty, and the most prominent emptiness is that of … the Sachin Tendulkar stand. It is dotted with shining blue seats, a pattern unbroken by the presence of even a single spectator.The Vijay Merchant stand is also empty, though a few seats in the Sunil Gavaskar stand are taken. There appear to be not more than 1000 people present, and most of them are in the Garware Pavilion.Why is this so? A Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) official, when quizzed by this reporter on the attendance, has a theory: "There’s so much cricket these days … you switch on any sports channel and cricket hogs the limelight. Why would anyone want to come and watch this match?"The absence of Tendulkar is also a factor. Tendulkar, who plays for Mumbai whenever his international schedule gives him the time to do so, is in the USA recuperating from finger surgery. Had he been playing, surely the crowds would have filled up.An anchor from a prominent Hindi news channel walks by, looks around, and corners a 12-year-old spectator. You’d think they’d both have Tendulkar on their mind. The anchor shoves her microphone at the kid’s throat and asks: "So, what do you think about Rahul Dravid getting married?"The child replies, "I am a great fan of his and I think he should get married."Amid this talk of marriage, people start taking their clothes off. The organisers have not provided any fans – the electrical kind – in the stands, and the heat is unbearable. Young men game for an afternoon of sport remove their shirts and vests. Who said the Ranji Trophy was easy going? It’s all sweat and toil, even for spectators.

Sri Lanka’s tour of the Caribbean started with an emphatic 55-run win at Bridgetown in the first game of the three-match series. Defending a moderate 201-run total after a stop-start performance with the bat, Chaminda Vaas and Prabath Nissanka clinched the game with penetrative new-ball spells. Reduced to 19 for 4 in the first six overs, West Indies never regained the initiative despite a valiant solo effort from Brian Lara, who remained undefeated on 64.West Indies had come into the game brimming with confidence after three successive wins against Australia. On paper Sri Lanka represented a far lesser challenge, especially considering their indifferent form since the World Cup. The game ran true to form in the first innings, as Sri Lanka’s batsmen – with the exception of Romesh Kaluwitharana (54) and Kumar Dharmasena (40) – struggled against West Indies’ quick bowlers.Considering the authoritative manner in which the West Indian top order had knocked off recent Australian targets, Sri Lanka’s score of 201 looked light. But Vaas and Nissanka superbly exploited a sudden change in the weather. As heavy clouds closed in around the Kensington Oval, the ball swung around dangerously. The West Indian chase never got off the ground.Vaas set the tone with an immaculate first over, swinging the ball away from the left-handed Chris Gayle, who was dropped at first slip off the third ball, by Mahela Jayawardene. Nissanka broke through first, as Wavell Hinds, who came into the match on the back of two successive matchwinning hundreds, was bowled behind his legs for a duck. Gayle could not capitalise on his first-over reprieve, nicking a carbon-copy outswinger from Vaas in the next over (4 for 2).Ricardo Powell, promoted in the line-up as Brian Lara dropped down to the middle order to counter the threat of Muttiah Muralitharan, started with a firm legside clip but never settled. Vaas trapped him leg-before on the back leg with an inswinger that would have knocked back his middle stump (15 for 3).When Ramnaresh Sarwan crunched a boundary through the offside, Marvan Atapattu positioned Kumar Sangakkara at a short point position. Next ball, Sarwan blazed a similar square-drive off the middle of his bat only to see Sangakkara cling on to a fine head-high catch (19 for 4).A short break for rain provided West Indies with a chance to regroup, and after the interruption Lara started the repair work with Marlon Samuels. The pair had to negotiate increasing variations in bounce, but they saw off Nissanka and Vaas and grew in confidence as the sun started to shine once more.Muttiah Muralitharan was eventually introduced into the attack in the 18th over of the innings to resume a longstanding rivalry with Lara. But it was Dharshana Gamage, Sri Lanka’s new bald-headed first change seamer, who broke through. Samuels (29) was caught behind off the thick edge as he tried to force powerfully through the offside (73 for 5).West Indian hopes were left resting on the shoulders on Lara but he needed support. It was not forthcoming. He added 32 runs with Ridley Jacobs before Muralitharan hurried the match towards an early conclusion, taking the wickets of Jacobs, David Bernard and Mervyn Dillon in quick succession to finish with three for 17 from seven overs. West Indies lost their last five wickets for 41 runs to be bowled out for 146. Lara tried to win the match singlehandedly, manipulating the strike as he added 25 runs with Corey Colleymore for the last wicket. He finished with an unbeaten 64 from 130 balls as Colleymore was trapped leg-before by Dilshan.Earlier, Kaluwitharana had laid the foundations for Sri Lanka’s moderate total. Weathering painful blows to his helmet and midriff, he stroked 54 from 75 runs, adding 46 with Marvan Atapattu (22) after the first-over loss of Sanath Jayasuriya, who was wrongly adjudged caught behind.Lara’s decision to introduce Marlon Samuels’s part-time offbreaks into the attack in the 10th over conjured up a breakthrough as Atapattu clipped back a simple return catch, as Sri Lanka started to lose their way. Sangakkara (15) was caught at deep point, Mahela Jayawardene (8) top-edged a pull and Kaluwitharana was run-out to leave Sri Lanka in trouble on 112 for 5.West Indies, however, couldn’t land the winning punch. Tillakaratne Dilshan (27) and Dharmasena repaired the damage with a workmanlike 59-run stand for the sixth wicket. Despite the loss of the last five wickets for 30 runs, Sri Lanka had scrambled together sufficient runs to complete a timely morale-boosting win.

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.

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