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Frizzell County Championship Division One
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Lancashire 450 for 6 dec v Sussex 251 and 21 for 2 at Old Trafford
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Sussex will have to endure a nervy final day at Old Trafford, after they were forced to follow-on by a tigerish Lancashire side whose hopes of snatching the title at the death have improved dramatically. Murray Goodwin gritted his teeth and survived a nasty blow from Peter Martin to make 118, but Gary Keedy and John Wood shared nine wickets between them as Sussex folded for 251. Only Mushtaq Ahmed, with a brisk 54, halted the slide. Sussex were then reduced to 21 for 2, and have managed a mere four bonus points in the match. That is enough to end Surrey’s hopes, but should Lancashire wrap up victory tomorrow, everything will hinge on the final round of matches – when Sussex are at home to Leicestershire and Lancashire face Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge.Leicestershire 295 and 5 for 0 beat Kent 130 and 169 by ten wickets at Leicester
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After a shambolic season, Leicestershire finally recorded their first championship victory in 15 attempts – and emphatically as well, as a disinterested Kent side crumbled to a ten-wicket defeat at Grace Road. Kent contrived to lose 19 wickets in the day, and it was a measure of their surrender that there were no outstanding performances from the Leicester bowlers. Charlie Dagnall grabbed three wickets in the first innings, and David Masters three in the second, and although the pitch was beginning to show unpredictable bounce, there were several carefree end-of-term shots on display. Leicestershire were denied an innings victory – just – but had no hassles in rattling off the five runs required in their second knock.Nottinghamshire 361 and 48 for 0 v Middlesex 326 at Lord’s
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Owais Shah top-scored with 87 to all but ensure Middlesex top-flight cricket next season, as their match against Nottinghamshire dwindled towards a draw. Chris Cairns gave Notts the perfect start when he removed Andrew Strauss early in the day, and a below-par Stuart MacGill grabbed 4 for 98 in a curate’s egg of a performance. Ten of Middlesex’s batsmen reached double-figures, with David Nash slashing his way to an unbeaten 53. They were aided by an unfortunate injury to Charlie Shreck, who broke a finger in the outfield while diving in vain to cut off one of Shah’s classical off-drives.Essex 256 v Warwickshire 456 for 7 at Chelmsford (Day 2)
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Mark Wagh led the way in a powerful Warwickshire performance, scoring a fine 118 to push Essex towards the brink of relegation. Essex had resumed on 249 for 9, and were soon cleaned up to leave John Stephenson unbeaten on 75, before Warwickshire demonstrated what should have been possible had Essex’s top-order applied themselves. Wagh and Nick Knight added 107 for the second wicket, and only James Middlebrook – with four top-order wickets in 42 disciplined overs – was able to make an impression. Dougie Brown, fresh from his century against Lancashire last week, compounded Essex’s problems with an unbeaten 67.Frizzell County Championship Division Two
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Somerset 409 and 214 v Derbyshire 400 at Taunton
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Dominic Cork completed the superb match figures of 10 for 127, to give bottom-placed Derbyshire every chance of their third victory of the season, against Somerset at Taunton. Derbyshire had conceded a first innings deficit of nine runs after being bowled out for exactly 400, and Somerset built on that by pushing on to 124 for 1. But Mohammad Ali removed both of Somerset’s top scorers, Matthew Wood and Neil Burns, and with Nathan Dumelow wheeling through the middle-order, Cork swung out the tail – including the final two wickets from consecutive deliveries in the last over of the day. Derbyshire will need an eminently gettable 224 tomorrow.Northants 319 and 265 v Glamorgan 203 and 167 for 4 at Cardiff
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Robert Croft denied Mike Hussey a record-equalling sixth consecutive century, but Northants nonetheless remained on course for victory thanks to a solid batting performance on a spinners’ wicket at Cardiff. Hussey made 50 before falling to Robert Croft, who finished with 5 for 54 and ten wickets in the match. But David Sales kept him at bay with a half-century, before Andre Nel topped up the total with a hard-hitting 42 from No. 10. Glamorgan were left needing 368 for victory, and Jason Brown and Graeme Swann continued the spin-domination with three wickets between them. Mark Wallace was run out for 38 as they closed on 167 for 4.Gloucestershire 374 and 288 for 7 dec v Durham 218 and 171 for 4 at Bristol
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Jonty Rhodes produced the perfect send-off for his adoptive home crowd at Bristol, by scoring his second century of the match to put Gloucestershire in sight of a hugely important victory against Durham. Rhodes added 102 to his first-innings 103, to leave Durham needing an unlikely 445 for victory. He was aided and abetted by Ian Harvey, who clubbed five fours and two sixes in his 36-ball 41, and Jack Russell, who was left unbeaten on 34 at the declaration. Shoaib Akhtar was the pick of Durham’s bowling with 4 for 48. In reply, Durham reached 171 for 4, with much resting on Martin Love, who finished unbeaten on 49.Worcestershire 309 for 5 v Yorkshire at New Road (Day 1)
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Ben Smith and Kadeer Ali dominated Yorkshire’s bowling with a third-wicket stand of 182, to put Worcestershire in control of the match – and the second division championship – at New Road. Kadeer, who was this week called into England’s academy squad, fell one short of a celebratory hundred, but Smith made no mistake with 110, his second century of the season. He eventually fell lbw to Steve Kirby, who picked up two wickets but was dispatched for 100 runs in his 23 overs.

After the euphoria of their epic and record-breaking victory in the fourth Test against Australia in Antigua, West Indies must now show some more of the same energy and enterprise in the one-day international series, starting in Jamaica on Saturday, or the Aussies will bring them back down to earth as fiercely as a Glenn McGrath tongue-lashing.

West Indies go into the seven-match series fielding a largely inexperienced squad, with an average age of just under 25. There are three players from outside the Test side: the World Cup duo of Ricardo Powell and Corey Collymore, and the uncapped Ryan Hurley, an offspinning allrounder from Barbados, but no Shivnarine Chanderpaul, whose brilliant hundred paved the way for Tuesday’s historic victory.Chanderpaul fractured the middle finger on his left hand while taking to catch Adam Gilchrist during Australia’s first innings at St. John’s, and he will now miss the entire one-day series against Australia and, possibly, next month’s series against Sri Lanka as well. “The fracture was complex and required urgent surgery,” said Ricky Skerritt, the West Indies team manager. “The best medical opinion indicates that Shiv will be out of cricket for at least six weeks.”Ridley Jacobs will also miss out. Saturday’s fixture would have been his 119th ODI, but he has been given more time to recover from the groin injury which caused him to miss the second and third Tests in Trinidad and Barbados. His place will be taken by Carlton Baugh, who stood in for him in those matches and is one of five new caps in the West Indian squad, the other four being Hurley, Dave Bernard, Devon Smith and Omari Banks – whose unbeaten 47 on the final day at Antigua was a performance of huge maturity that few other 20-year-olds could have emulated.The mechanical Daren Ganga is not required, despite his twin centuries in the Test series, but Pedro Collins, who was dropped after the second Test in Trinidad, misses out as well – quite a fall from grace for a player who opened West Indies’s bowling in the first match of World Cup just three months ago.For Australia though, it’s the same old faces, as they pull on their gold jerseys for the first time since their crushing World Cup win in Johannesburg. In come Michael Bevan, Andrew Symonds, Ian Harvey and Nathan Hauritz, while Stuart MacGill, Ashley Noffke and Martyn Love nip over to England for a spot of county cricket, and Steve Waugh and Justin Langer fly home.Ricky Ponting will return to action as well, after shaking off that virus which caused him to miss the Antigua defeat. His last one-day innings – 140 not out from 121 balls – earned him the Man of the Match award in the World Cup final, and with centuries in each of his three Tests this series, West Indies need no reminder of his destructive capabilities.To date, Australia have won 10, lost 12 and tied one of their 23 ODIs in the Caribbean, and last time round in 1998-99 the seven-match series ended all square at three-all. But since then, Australia have progressed right to the top of world cricket with two World Cup wins, while apart from a spirited but ultimately doomed World Cup campaign and a 3-2 series win in India last year, West Indies haven’t made the strides they would have wanted.So as long as Brian Lara doesn’t single-handedly take the Aussies apart, and no-one on either side mentions Mrs McGrath, Australia should have no problems adding this series to their routine 3-1 Test win.West Indies Brian Lara (capt), Ramnaresh Sarwan (v-capt), Omari Banks, Carlton Baugh (wk), Corey Collymore, Mervyn Dillon, Vasbert Drakes, Chris Gayle, Ricardo Powell, Marlon Samuels, Devon Smith, David Bernard (12th Man).Australia Ricky Ponting (capt), Adam Gilchrist (wk), Michael Bevan, Andy Bichel, Ian Harvey, Matthew Hayden, Brad Hogg, Brett Lee, Darren Lehmann, Glenn McGrath, Andrew Symonds, Jimmy Maher (12th Man).

It’s been characteristic of this tour that the two three-day matches have been affected by bad light both in Adelaide and Perth. South Africa A came within five runs of victory today on the third and final day of the second match against Australia A at the WACA Ground in Perth only to be denied by bad light. Martin van Jaarsveld was in sublime form for the South Africans.By declaring their second innings at 307 for 2, Australia A set the South Africans a target of 306 in 75 overs. The declaration came half an hour to lunch after a superb innings by Michael Hussey and his captain, Simon Katich, who scored 145 and an unbeaten 134 respectively. This pair shared a 274-run partnership for the second wicket after resuming on 163 for one this morning. Hussey fell to part-time medium bowler, Adam Bacher. Thereafter, Katich who was then partnered by Andrew Symonds called an end to the proceedings.South Africa A were off to a confident start, with the opening pair of Ahmed Amla and Adam Bacher setting the tone with 42 runs for the first wicket. But Amla was out for 20 and Bacher followed him shortly afterwards with the total on 49. Then Martin van Jaarsveld lost the company of Ashwell Prince for four. When he was joined by Morne van Wyk, they piled up 129 runs for the fourth wicket before Van Wyk was out for 56 which he scored off 59 balls with 6 fours and a six. Justin Kemp made a quickfire 27 before he departed. Nicky Boje made 24, but together with Van Jaarsveld they shared a sixth wicket stand of 73 runs. Boje was out for 24. However, Van Jaarsveld continued unabated to score his second century of the tour in 107 balls, hitting 16 boundaries and two sixes. He later departed for 140.The South Africans reached 301 for 7 – just five runs short of victory before bad light stopped play.Van Jaarsveld was ecstatic for his effort. “I’m over the moon. There was a lot of moisture in the wicket especially with the new ball. But I’m quite happy that I managed to see it through before the wicket became brilliant to bat on later in the day,” he said.Stand in skipper Nicky Boje said the match was played in good spirit after the two sides declared their innings. “To leave us 306 in 75 overs was a good declaration from them since we had declared our first innings and we gave it all in reaching that target.”Coach Vincent Barnes was content with the overall performance although some players were out with niggling injuries. Quinton Friend, Gerald Dros (both hamstring) and Dewald Pretorius (broken right middle finger nail) and Justin Kemp’s bruised left wrist. “We put the ball in Australia’s court to make a game of it, knowing that we would lose ten overs a day due to bad light,” he said.The remaining one day match is scheduled for Wednesday at the WACA, starting form 12:30 (WA time). Australia lead the five-match series 2-1.

Whitewashing visiting cricket sides is becoming quite a common feature withSri Lankan national teams and Sri Lanka A are looking for a three-nil cleansweep when they take on Kenya in the final unofficial Test at Dambulla onThursday.Jayasuriya and Co. completed 3-0 whitewashes against West Indies andZimbabwe in recently concluded series. Chandana’s boys have taken astranglehold in the series against Kenya with two convincing wins in thefirst two Tests which has given them an unassailable 2-0 lead.”I think it is very important for us that we win against Kenya here,” saidSri Lanka ‘A’ senior coach and manager Roshan Mahanama.”Kenya are a better one-day side and if we can thrash them like we did inthe first two Tests it will boost our morale and give us a psychologicaladvantage over them for the one-day series,” he said.The disappointing aspect from Kenya’s viewpoint is that there is nocontinuity in their batting line up which has seen only one individualperform in each innnings.In the first Test, it was Ravindu Shah’s knock of 94 that held their firstinnings together, while Steve Tikolo stood out in the second innings makinga bright 65.The story was very much the same at Matara, where Shah once again top scoredin the first innings with 106, and Tikolo followed in the second inningswith 117.None of the other recognised batsmen have been able to build bigpartnerships with Shah and Tikolo.To get down to the cold statistics, Kenya’s highest partnership in theseries so far is 59 for the fourth wicket between Shah and Hitesh Modi inthe first innings of the first ‘Test’.In contrast, Sri Lanka ‘A’s success has largely been on their ability tobuild on big partnerships which has seen them run up totals of 414 and 574-6declared.The other factor, which weighs heavily against Kenya is the inability shownby their batsmen to cope with spin on surfaces, which encourage turn. Elevenwickets fell to spin at the Sara Stadium and 17 at Matara.To add to their woes Kenya are leaving their options of picking their finalsquad until the morning of the match because of injuries to key playersThomas Odoyo, an all-rounder of repute and Mohammad Sheikh, their left-armorthodox slow bowler.Odoyo is still recovering from a right hamstring injury, which prevented himfrom batting in both innings at Matara. Indications are that he may berested for this ‘Test’ in order to have him fully fit for the three-matchone-day series starting on February 20.Sheikh dislocated a finger in his left-hand at fielding practice on Tuesdayand is receiving treatment for it.Kenya’s manager said that because of the injuries the team will not befinalised until the morning and that all 16 players in the squad wereavailable for selection.Sri Lanka ‘A’ on the other hand have less worries with hard-hitting openerAvishka Gunawardana having recovered from the ‘flu that laid him low atMatara and likely to play here.Upekha Fernando who stepped in for Gunawardana and scored an impressive 86off 98 balls is expected to open with Gunawardana relegating Ian Daniel tothe reserves.The selectors have brought in fast bowler Dulip Liyanage to replace PrabathNissanka in the 14 for Dambulla, but the final choice of whether to go withseam or spin will only be decided on the morning because of the pitchgetting damp due to some rain falling over in the past two days.Ruchira Perera and Pulasthi Gunaratne are likely to be the two in therunning for the seamer’s berth and skipper Chandana and left-armer RanganaHerath for the spinners.Liyanage and off-spinner Muthumudalige Pushpakumara will have to await theirfate until the morning of the match.SRI LANKA ‘A’ (from):Upul Chandana (captain), Avishka Gunawardana, Upekha Fernando, MichaelVandort, Tillekeratne Dilshan, Chamara Silva, Prasanna Jayawardene,Muthumudalige Pushpakumara, Ruchira Perera, Rangana Herath, PulasthiGunaratne, Dulip Liyanage, Ian Daniel, Gayan Wijekoon.KENYA (from):Maurice Odumbe (captain), Kennedy Otieno, Ravindu Shah, Steve Tikolo, HiteshModi, Otieno Suji, Collins Obuya, Lamech Onyango, Martin Suji, Brijal Patel,Joseph Angara, Josephat Sorengo, David Obuya, Thomas Odoyo, Mohammad Sheikh.UMPIRES:Gamini Silva and D.A.S. Dissanayake, Match Referee : RanjithMadurasinghe.

Pakistan’s performance must rank as the most disappointing in theirWorld Cup history. They have been beaten by Australia, England, andnow India this time around. And all that remains is a game againstZimbabwe, which Pakistan will have to win by an almost impossibly highmargin to sneak into the Super Sixes. In the circumstances, Pakistanneed a miracle.While all the other teams have improved as the tournament hasprogressed, Pakistan is one team that has refused to do so. Time hasrun out on these players, and if they don’t put up an extraordinaryperformance against Zimbabwe, they might be in for a few shocks whenthey return home.I must say that it is every cricketer’s dream to play in the WorldCup, because it is the one big opportunity you get to prove yourselfagainst the very best in the world. It is an opportunity that a playerjust can’t allow to pass by. I was privileged enough to participate insix World Cups in my career, and I know the fire, passion and pridewith which we all competed in each one of them.Let us face it – we lost to a better team at Centurion. It didn’treally matter who the opponent was, all the media-hype about playingIndia in a crucial game should not have had any influence on both theteams. Remember, these guys are professionals.What baffled me most about the Pakistan side for the match and duringthe rest of the World Cup is the fact that too many players seem to bein the side purely on the basis of reputation. The batting, for itspart, looked mediocre for the best part against India. They huffed andpuffed till they reached 200 against an Indian attack that was nowherenear the best in the World.Saleem Elahi should not have been dropped from the side; he averageswell above 50 in his last 10 appearances for Pakistan. Having saidthat, I don’t have words to describe what Inzamam-ul-Haq has beengoing through. By the looks of it, in his current form, Inzi won’teven score against a local club side. His terrible run out was thelast thing Pakistan wanted.I do not intend to pick on individuals, but then, what was ShahidAfridi doing in the side? And that too at the cost of Saqlain Mushtaq!This meant that when Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag weresmashing the bowling to all parts of the park, Waqar just didn’t havea bowler who could slow it down.I must say that Tendulkar made full use of Pakistan’s obviousstrength. The faster Shoaib bowled at him, the more powerful his shotswere. Wouldn’t Pakistan have loved to have someone who could play withhalf the passion that Sachin played with at Centurion?If the players lack the passion for the game and the hunger to go fora win, there is very little anyone can do. It was again clear thatthere seemed to be no game plan, no thinking in the middle; onceTendulkar smashed 18 runs off the second over, I saw a few heads drop.No, this is not the Pakistan team I have known.At that stage, Pakistan sorely missed Rashid Latif, who was injuredwhile batting. In the afternoon, it was Latif’s late charge thathelped Pakistan go past the 250-run mark. When the bowlers weregetting clattered around, he would have been one man who would havebeen capable of lifting the morale of the side with his enthusiasticpresence.Before I end, let me say that even with a professional coach and thenumerous experienced stars in the side, if the team can’t get thebasic things right, then it is time for major changes in the setup.Bulawayo offers this Pakistan team their last chance to redeem lostpride. They will be up against the likes of the Flower brothers, AndyBlignaut and Heath Streak. Andy Flower, in particular, will be keyedup to play one last memorable knock in what might in all possibilitybe his last hurrah as an international cricketer. The rest of the hometeam players too will be right behind the legendary Zimbabweancricketer. It is certainly going to be a battle of passion and prideat Bulawayo, and I have a feeling that Zimbabwe will beat Pakistan,and enter the Super Sixes.

West Indies were left fuming on Sunday night following the controversialdismissal of batting superstar Brian Lara which paved the way for Sri Lanka’s series winning victory in Kandy.Lara, who played expertly for his 45 and looked set to save the game forWest Indies, was wrongly adjudged to have been caught at short leg offleft-arm spinner Niroshan Bandaratillake two balls after tea.The ball had come off the full face of the bat into the hands of HashanTillakaratne, who completed a brilliant reflex catch. But televisionreplays clearly indicated that the ball had been hit straight into theground.Coach Roger Harper, speaking straight after his sides 131 defeat, said:”Naturally we are very, very disappointed. Not only in losing but also inthe manner in which we though the game was taken away from us.”He added: “The dismissal of Brian Lara was clearly the pivotal moment. Theoutcome could have been totally different.”I have no explanation for it,” he said. “All I can say is that all the SriLankans in the match contributed to it.”According present ICC regulations the match referee are unable to recallplayers when a clear mistake has been made.Likewise the on-field umpires are only allowed to call for the third umpireto verify whether the catch itself was taken cleanly, not whether it was abump ball.The dismissal opened up the tail Muttiah Muralitharan, who despite a valiant59 run stand for the seventh wicket between Marlon Samuels and MervynDillon, took four wickets in the final hour to win the game.Captain Carl Hooper, whose honeymoon period as captain is officially over,pointed the finger of blame at the batting but admitted that Muralitharanwas a tough adversary.”We didn’t bat properly,” he said. “It’s not new that we are prone tocollapses. It has been difficult here in Sri Lanka. Conditions have not beenexactly good for batting and we are up against a world-class bowler.”Muralitharan is the difference between the two sides and is undoubtedly thebest spinner in the world. He has been putting us under a lot of pressure.With have to come up with a solution in Colombo.”The defeat leaves West Indies two-nil down in the series, facing thehumiliation of a series whitewash.”We can’t be thinking about the whitewash,” warned Hooper. “The importantthing is that we play better in Colombo. There is no overnight fix. We haveto keep working hard and keep the faith. We can’t afford to give up or we’lljust keep going down further.”

Andhra Pradesh sent off their coach Syed Abid Ali in fine style, steamrolling Karnataka in their Ranji one-day match at Visakhapatnam on Tuesday.Winning the toss, Karnataka skipper J Arunkumar opted to bat. But, barring a steady 58 from Barrington Rowland, none of the other batsmen could really get going. Only minor contributions from B Akhil (25) and SN Shinde (29) helped Karnataka achieve a total of any substance. They were bowled out for 174 in 44.3 overs.Chasing 175, Andhra Pradesh suffered few hiccups in their effort. Y Venugopal Rao and MSK Prasad used all their experience to good effect, piloting their side to a win within 46.4 overs. Rao scored 51 off 97 balls, while Prasad made 46 off 57 balls.

Sri Lanka 313 for 6 (Chandana 89) beat West Indies 312 for 4 (Lara 116, Gayle 94) by four wickets

Upul Chandana scored a brilliant career-best 89 as Sri Lanka pulled off asensational four-wicket victory against West Indies to clinch thethree-match series. Sri Lanka had looked dead and buried after Brian Lara’s 116 had powered West Indies to a mammoth 312 in their 50 overs, the highest ever score at the Kensington Oval, but Sri Lanka produced the perfect chase, winning a last-over thriller with three balls to spare.Chandana has sat on the Sri Lanka bench in recent times, but he guaranteedhimself an extended run in the side here. He had a nightmare with the ball,conceding 40 runs in just four overs, but then played the innings of alifetime after being promoted up the order, hitting four sixes and six foursin his 71-ball 89.Sri Lanka’s run chase had started well with Sanath Jayasuriya creaming theoff-side boundary hoardings on his way to 41 from 35 balls. RomeshKaluwitharana, his similarly combustible opening partner, chugged along at agood lick too, as 71 runs came from the first 65 balls.However, the entry of Samuels’ part-time offbreaks into the attack in theninth over brought the breakthrough, as Jayasuriya skewed a catch to VasbertDrakes at backward point (71 for 1). Kaluwitharana (34 from 36 balls)followed soon after following a mid-pitch hesitation and a direct hit fromRicardo Powell (78 for 2).Marvan Atapattu and Kumar Sangakkara were forced into a period ofconsolidation. They should both have been dismissed early on, as West Indies’ fielders floored a handful of chances, but they gradually settled to add 75 forthe third wicket and keep Sri Lanka in the hunt.When Atapattu was run out for 47 from 54 balls by a direct hit from bySarwan, Sri Lanka gambled on the promotion of Chandana (153 for 3). Heplayed cautiously at first, but soon had the score ticking over with amixture of quick singles, scampered twos and old-fashioned biffs over theleg-side.Chandana added 39 runs with Sangakkara, before Drakes broke through in hisfirst over, as Sangakkara top-edged a pull having scored 31 from 56 balls(192 for 4). But Chandana pushed on with Mahela Jayawardene, reaching histhird one-day fifty off just 47 balls. With 10 overs remaining Sri Lankaneeded 92 runs for victory. Their chances improved as 17 runs were smashedoff the 42nd over.As clouds gathered over the stadium, West Indies seriously contemplated defeatfor the first time as Sri Lanka moved ahead of the Duckworth/Lewistarget. When rain interrupted play in the 43rd over, Sri Lanka needed 63from 44 balls.

When they returned, West Indies’ inexperienced fielders buckled under thepressure. A succession of run outs were missed, catches were floored and theground fielding was dreadful. Chandana eventually lofted a catch to deepsquare but by then Sri Lanka were in charge.Sri Lanka needed 18 runs from the last two overs and Drakes started with ano-ball that was clipped to the boundary. Drakes did take the wicket ofJayawardene (32), but Sri Lanka held their nerve in the last over, scoringthe last four runs required in the first three balls.A young West Indies side were left wondering what had gone wrong. They hadlooked the only winners after the last 11 overs of their innings, when Laraand Samuels cut loose, flogging 109 runs from just 55 balls in apyrotechnic fifth-wicket stand. Samuels played an important hand, thrashing56 from 36 balls, but it was Lara who really whipped the crowd into afrenzy.Back in his customary No. 3 position, Lara rode his luck early on, asBilly Bowden missed a clear inside edge off his third ball, but then playeda faultless innings. He played watchfully at the start, ticked along in themiddle and then exploded in the slog overs.Lara added 137 for the second wicket with Chris Gayle (94), who was alsogiven a reprieve by Bowden. The pair concentrated on survival against thenew ball before asserting their authority against Sri Lanka’s spinners.Nevertheless, at the mid-innings point, the game was still well-balancedwith West Indies on 99 for 1.The dismissal of Gayle and Ramaresh Sarwan (3) triggered the final charge,as Lara clicked into overdrive, racing to his 17th one-day century with astream of imperious shots. Samuels was equally audacious at the other end,striking six fours and one six of his own. An astonishing 136 runs wereplundered from the last 11 overs and the match looked buried. But no-one hadreckoned on Chandana’s heroics.

A decision whether the West Indies cricket team will tourPakistan or the series will be shifted to a neutral venue islikely to be confirmed in a couple of days.A Pakistan Cricket Board spokesman said onWednesday that thedecision could be taken at any moment in the next two orthree days.According to tentative programme, the West Indies team is toarrive here on Jan 25 to play Test and One-Day matches.The West Indies cricketing authorities were reluctant tosend their team to Pakistan due to security reasons in thewake of US led attacks on Afghanistan.Earlier, New Zealand had called off their tour to Pakistanin Sept due to the same reason. But recently, Sri Lankanunder-19 cricket team had toured Pakistan safely for a fiveone-day series which the host won 4-1.However, the ICC, in order to save its 10 year activityprogramme from further disturbance had decided that underspecial cirmustances a series could be shifted to anyneutral venue with the consent of both the countries.

New Zealand Cricket’s financial performance came in slightly above budget with a surplus before grants of $2,598,518 last summer.That was $68,000 above budget, a performance NZC chairman Sir John Anderson described as “a sound result.”However, when the grants of $4,339,489 to associations, including an extra one million dollars for the return to two full rounds of Shell Trophy play, were taken into account the net result for the year was a deficit of $1,740,971.The annual report will be presented at NZC’s annual meeting at the New Zealand Cricket Pavilion at Bert Sutcliffe Oval on September 14.Anderson commented: “New Zealand Cricket’s business is cyclical in nature, revolving equally around the commercial value of opposition teams touring New Zealand and revenue-sharing from World Cups.”New Zealand Cricket is in a sound financial position, with significantly increased revenues in the next two years confirmed from tours to New Zealand by England this coming season, India in 2002/03, and the World Cup in South Africa in February 2003.”This confirmed revenue will provide a solid base to allow New Zealand Cricket to continue with its mission to promote cricket nationally, provide appropriate national competitions and field competitive international sides,” he said.However, he attacked a prevailing attitude, especially in government circles, that leading sports such as cricket no longer require funding support due to their ability to attract significant television rights fees and sponsorships.Anderson said: “This presents a serious concern for New Zealand Cricket as we recognise the business environment in which we operate is fragile and television rights income can vary significantly from year to year.”Anderson also recognised the performance of New Zealand’s teams on the field of play.”For the first time in our cricket history the New Zealand men’s side celebrated the winning of a world title, lifting the ICC Knockout Trophy in Kenya during September.”Three months later when captain of the CLEAR White Ferns, Emily Drumm, held aloft the prized CricInfo Women’s World Cup after a tense final against Australia, both our international teams had achieved a historic result.”These achievements by the players were the pinnacle of five years of dedicated effort to up-skill and significantly resource the elite level of both the men’s and women’s game,” he said.Cricket’s place in the New Zealand sporting spectrum was confirmed as the country’s No 2 sport, and the most popular summer sport by UMR Insight in its annual National Business Review-Compaq sports poll.The poll showed 67% of people were either very interested or fairly interested in cricket, an increase of 13% on the last poll in 1998.Anderson also said the website of New Zealand Cricket, nzcricket.co.nz had become the No 1 sports site in New Zealand over the past 12 months.”The site, hosted by CricInfo, attracted more than seven million page views during December 2000 compared to 5.8 million the previous December. This no doubt reflected the popularity of the women’s world cup.”However, one of the biggest areas of growth on the site during the 2000/01 summer was in the live scoring of Shell Cup and Shell Trophy; again affirming that although fewer people are physically attending matches, cricket remains a passion with a huge number of New Zealanders,” he said.Anderson also praised the efforts of Christopher Doig, who resigned as Chief Executive during the year.”The past five years have seen a period of unprecedented growth in the structures and business fortunes of New Zealand Cricket, building on the recommendations of the 1995 Hood Report.”The resignation of Christopher Doig as Chief Executive, in February, provided an opportunity for the Board of NZC to take stock of the considerable progress made under his stewardship and to reaffirm the organisation’s direction moving forward.”Christopher Doig had signficantly grown the revenue streams. His skill in securing sponsorships and commercial contracts provided the platform to professionalise the delivery of a number of facets of the game,” he said.