In a repeat of the semifinal clash last season, Karnataka took onHyderabad in the South Zone Ranji Trophy league match at the MChinnaswamy Stadium at Bangalore. The one big change was MohammedAzharuddin missing in the visiting side. As it turned out though, itwas the home side batting out in the middle. Youngsters Mithun Beeralaand Barrington Rowland batted well and helped Karnataka post 279/4 atstumps.At the end of 15 overs, Arun Kumar (28) became the first Karnatakabatsman to fall, caught at gully by left arm spinner Venkatapathy Rajuoff the bowling of Parth Satwalkar. Beerala and Barrington then forgedthe most successful partnership of the day, posting 106 runs for thesecond wicket. Beerala and Barrington matched each other shot forshot. While Beerala made 73 (158 balls, 8 fours, 1 six), Barringtonhit 70 (150 balls, 8 fours).If two youngsters ruled the roost for Karnataka, it took two Hyderabadveterans to stop them. Off spinner Kanwaljit Singh had Barringtoncaught at short leg while Raju snapped up Beerala caught and bowled.One Day hopeful Vijay Bharadwaj (43 not out) held one end up tillstumps even as One-Day discard Sujit Somasunder (43) became KanwaljitSingh’s second victim. Stumper Tilak Naidu (13 not out) kept Bharadwajcompany as Karnataka ended on a healthy 279/4.

Punjab scored a comfortable seven wicket victoryover Services at the Model Sports Complex inDelhi. After Services captain Sanjay Verma won thetoss and elected to bat first, his team wasbundled out for 147 in 45 overs. Struggling at 76for 8, the Services team was lucky to get to theireventual score. SV Ghag coming in at number tenmade a fighting 41 including five fours and onesix. But for his innings, Services would havesuffered a much worse fate.As it were, the Punjab team had no trouble inoverhauling the mediumsized total. Former Indiaopener Vikram Rathour made an unbeatenmatchwinning 64 (144 minutes, 89 balls, 5 fours)while the rest of the batsmen chipped in. SandeepSharma, the mediumpacer has made a name forhimself with the bat in recent times. Promoted forhis clean hitting, Sandeep Sharma made 24 off just30 balls, with four boundaries in his position atone drop.Dinesh Mongia coming in at number five wasunbeaten on better than run a ball 17 when Punjabwon the match by seven wickets with over fourteenovers to spare.

Graeme Hick’s 113th first-class century took Worcestershire to the brink of wiping out Warwickshire’s first innings total of 277 at New Road.The former England batsman completed his hundred from only 101 balls and reached an unbeaten 116 before bad light and rain halted the home side at 273 for three in a 52-over rampage.If Hick’s innings was the centrepiece with 17 fours and two sixes, the impetus was provided by Philip Weston in launching the reply at six runs an over.The left-handed opener is not renowned as a free-scoring batsman, but an eye-catching performance included a six off Dougie Brown and three fours in Vasbert Drakes’ first over after lunch.In all, Weston plundered 58 of his 74 in boundaries while sharing in partnerships of 66 in 12 overs with Anurag Singh and 115 in 20 with Hick.Warwickshire’s bowling left much to be desired and their wickets came at a fearful cost. Melvyn Betts went for 70 runs in exchange for Singh’s edge to second slip and Weston’s dismissal at slip was Drakes’ only compensation for conceding 76.And so it went on. Vikram Solanki hit England’s fitness-seeking spinner, Ashley Giles, for a huge six in making 29 out of 81 with Hick before top-edging Brown to mid-on.Hick was equally dismissive of Giles with 19 runs in the left-armer’s two overs before lunch but he survived a chance at 100 when Dominic Ostler got both hands to a nick off Brown.The rapid scoring by the hosts devalued Keith Piper’s earlier efforts in batting on to make an unbeaten 92 for Warwickshire before Betts was last out after a stand of 61.

Gloucestershire again suffered at the hands of Dominic Ostler as Warwickshire batted on remorselessly on another attritional day at Edgbaston.Ostler followed up his sparkling 134 in Tuesday’s floodlit National League game with a quickfire 92 which provided some welcome entertainment for a patient crowd as Warwickshire closed on 448-9.Ostler pulled and drove impressively as he struck 13 boundaries but he missed out on his second century of the summer when he was lured out of his ground by off-spinner Jeremy Snape and stumped by Reggie Williams.But Michael Powell, Warwickshire’s captain, made the most of a good batting pitch and an attack, depleted by the absence of Jon Lewis with a back injury, as he completed his first century of the season.It was the sixth Championship century of Powell’s career but, surprisingly, his first at Edgbaston.He began the day needing only three to reach three figures but managed only two singles from the first nine overs.However, he reached his century in style with a straight driven six off Martyn Ball and looked in no trouble at all until he edged Tim Hancock to Ball at slip on 133.Ostler then took control in a delightful innings in which he helped Warwickshire to secure a fourth batting point and to take the lead.He shared a seventh-wicket stand of 94 in 25 overs with Keith Piper who added to Gloucestershire’s frustration by making his first fifty of the season.There were four boundaries in Piper’s 115-ball half-century and he steered Warwickshire past 400 and to a useful lead of 88 which gave them a slim chance of forcing a victory.The start of play was delayed for 75 minutes by morning drizzle and an embarrassing breakdown of the ‘Brumbrella’, Edgbaston’s giant pitch cover.The motors failed and volunteers had to drag the cover off the pitch which was a hitch Warwickshire could have done without in the build-up to Thursday’s England v Pakistan One-Day International.

Ian Harvey held his nerve to clinch a Gloucestershire an eight-run Norwich Union League success over arch-rivals Somerset at Taunton.The Australian claimed 4-42, conceding just two runs off the final over to restrict Somerset to 211-8 in reply to 219-9.Gloucestershire’s total after winning the toss did not look likely to be enough, despite Kim Barnett’s rock-solid 94, made off 119 balls, with seven fours.The visitors were 163-2 at one stage in excellent batting conditions as Tim Hancock (43) and Matt Windows (33) helped give them a fine start.Keith Parsons, who had dropped Barnett on 20, removed Hancock and Jeremy Snape with successive balls, and later produced a brilliant throw from deep backward point to run out Harvey for four.From that point the Gloucestershire innings fell away and Somerset must have fancied their chances of getting 220 in bright sunshine on a good pitch.Surprisingly, the hosts chose to alter their batting order. And, whileRichard Johnson hit a quick 20 on promotion to open, leading batsmen Parsons and Mike Burns did not appear until six and seven respectively.Peter Bowler did his best to match Barnett’s effort with a steady 60. But wickets fell regularly around him and by the time acting skipper Burns came in at 145-5 Gloucestershire had taken a grip.Burns hit an unbeaten 32 as some late swipes by Rob Turner and Keith Dutch gave Somerset renewed hope.But Harvey again proved his worth bowling at the end of a limited overs innings and produced a faultless last over to give Gloucestershire the points.

The 16 members of the Bangladesh National Squad were awarded with Test Caps in a flamboyant ceremony in the Winter Garden of the Hotel Sheraton, Dhaka last night. The President of Bangladesh Cricket Board, Mr. Saber Hossain Chowdhury, formally handed over the green caps with the BCB’s logo on top.The event started with a documentary on Bangladesh Cricket named “Sabash Bangladesh”. After that the President distributed the caps among the 16 tigers of Bangladesh who are representing the country. Statistics of the players were shown on a large screen.Cash awards were given to Aminul Islam, Habibul Bashar, Al-Sahariar, Naimur Rahman and Mohammed Rafique who displayed outstanding performance in the inaugural Test against India. Centurion Aminul Islam and Naimur Rahman (six wickets in that Test) received cheques of Taka. 200,000 each. Habubul Bashar and Rafique were awarded Taka. 100,000 each and Al-Sahariar collected Taka. 80,000. The Partex Group and the BCB distributed the cash awards jointly.About 500 guests were present, and a cultural program was arranged. Renowned singer Tapan Chowdhury and Baby Naznin took part in the entertainment.Mehrab Hossain’s wife won a Grameen cell phone, and coach Imran’s wife won a Dhaka-Hong Kong-Dhaka Air Ticket in a raffle. The presentation was followed by a buffet dinner.Former state minister for Youth and Sports, Obaidul Quadir Chowdhury, was present as the special guest. He was honoured for his contribution to cricket over the last five years. Guests were shown a nostalgic film of the matchwinning shots of the sixth ICC Trophy in Kuala Lumpur.

Evergreen Paultons opener Colin James scooped a Southern Electric Cricketer of the Month award after notching two centuries in July.Former BAT man James, who linked up with Paultons this season after having several summers out of the game, scored 282 runs in July, finishing the Premier Division 3 season with over 500 runs to his name.He is the first Paultons cricketer to win a Premier League award.The Division 3 bowling prize went to New Milton’s Lee Beck, who grabbed 16 wickets, including a best of the season spell of 6-36.The Premier 1 awards went to Havant’s Dominic Carson (176 runs) and BAT all-rounder Richard Taylor, with 13 wickets.In Division 2, stand-in Sparsholt skipper Rob Savage was the award-winning batsman and Portsmouth skipper Raj Maru top bowler.

Indian coach John Wright singled out the happenings on the firstevening as the turning point in the first Test against Sri Lanka whichIndia lost by 10 wickets early Friday morning. “Those couple of latewickets in the first evening were crucial. That took the game awayfrom us. We should have at least put up 250 which would have been acompetitive score,” said the New Zealand born Wright who is with theIndian side on a one-year contract.Wright praised the Sri Lankan attack, “It’s a balanced attack andtheir bowlers bowled well right from the start to make thingsdifficult for us.”The Indian bowlers, for their part, though failedto deliver the goods when the Lankans were batting. “It makes thingsdifficult for the captain when you’ve got the best square cutter inthe middle and the bowlers keep on feeding him in his favourite area,” Wright observed.But he was hopeful that the side would bounce back in Kandy. “We have been in situations such as this before and we got to fight our way back.” He though admitted that restoring parity was not going to be an easy task for his team. “Sri Lanka are a difficult side to beat.”Muttiah Muralitharan once again was the wrecker-in-chief with a fivewicket haul in the Indian second innings. He claimed eight in thematch.Wright says his batsmen have to be more positive in handlingthe Sri Lankan off-spinner. “They have to play their natural game andback themselves. But I don’t think that there’s any secret formula toplay Muralitharan. You can’t say you got to play this way. You got tobe positive against everyone and not to be intimidated by hisreputation.”However Indian captain Sourav Ganguly took a different view on the subject, “Lot of players in this squad with the exceptionof me and Rahul are facing him for the first time. So they’ve got noexperience on how to handle him”Ganguly also paid tribute to the Sri Lankan team, “The Sri Lankansplayed really well. They came up with a good all round performance.”Ganguly, like Wright before him, blamed the batsmen for coming up witha pathetic performance, “After that opening partnership between Rameshand Das we just didn’t bat well. The middle order failed and 187 wasnever going to be enough”The skipper himself was dismissed by fast bowler Dilhara Fernando ontwo occasions in this game as his poor form with the bat continued. “Ihave to score runs. I have scored four hundreds previously againstthis side. I am making mistakes and getting out. I got a bad decisionin the first innings. I got a bad decision in the first Test inZimbabwe too. But this is part and parcel of game. I have been tryingto do everything and I just need to spend sometime in the middle.”

Eight thousand news seats will be available at Jade Stadium for New Zealand’s international cricket matches against England.The massive western stand at the ground is well on the way to achieving its completion date of March 26.While New Zealand’s internationals are in late-February and early March, the bottom half of the new stand will be handed over on January 7 at which time seating contractors will place the 8000 available seats.The $43.9million stand still has another level to be added to it but is already an imposing structure on the site of the long standing but little lamented concrete terrace.Jade Stadium chief executive Bryn McGoldrick said the construction was on time and on budget.While the Red and Black Trust’s sale of 12-seater reserves had proven very popular, only one-third of the Victory Park Trust allocation and seven of the 31 suites had been sold. The suites are valued at between $40,000 and $50,000 per year.When the job is completed the ground will have just over 50 suites.McGoldrick was in no doubt that if support could be given to repeating the complex on the other side of the ground, replacing the existing stands, it could be started in March when the western stand is finished, and completed in time for the Rugby World Cup in 2003.Because it would merely be a case of turning the plans around, the cost of doing the eastern side of the ground would be considerably less than for the new stand.

The Second Test match at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo unexpectedly sprang to life in the final session as South Africa, 100 runs ahead, caught Zimbabwe on a pitch that appeared suddenly to have crumbled at one end.However, determined batting by Hamilton Masakadza and Andy Flower saw Zimbabwe through to a draw against their neighbours for the first time, leaving Shaun Pollock’s team to rue their failure to pursue runs more vigorously.Probably both teams took the field with no real expectation of a meaningful day’s play, except in the matter of personal records, thanks to South Africa’s lack of drive on the fourth day that left them still 119 runs behind Zimbabwe at the start of play.Overnight batsmen Jacques Kallis and Neil McKenzie obviously had their eyes on centuries, and with Kallis on 81 and the faster-scoring McKenzie on 74 overnight, on the placid pitch against Zimbabwe’s pop-gun bowling attack, without the injured Paul Strang, it was largely a question of who would get there first.Kallis made all the early running, reaching the nineties by driving Raymond Price for a straight six, and then his century by hammering a short ball from the same bowler through the covers for four. He then opened out even more, but lost McKenzie for 88, trapped lbw by Travis Friend after a partnership of 181. South Africa were 343 for three.The loss of McKenzie quietened Kallis somewhat, and Zimbabwe believed they had him caught down the leg side off Guy Whittall on 118, but the appeal was rejected. Boeta Dippenaar (11) holed out in the covers trying to get after Price, while Lance Klusener showed little of his renowned aggression before lunch.The match meandered along aimlessly afterwards, with South Africa content to wait for the runs to come and Zimbabwe seemingly devoid of any ideas to take wickets. Klusener (27) did make one or two lusty blows before slicing Price to slip, and when Pollock took two off the first ball he faced, South Africa had finally taken the lead.While Kallis lumbered along, Pollock settled in and then began to hit out. Price bowled on, passing Paul Strang’s Zimbabwe record of 69 overs bowled in an innings, and took his fifth wicket when Pollock (41 off 57 balls) cut him for Stuart Carlisle at backward point to take a fine diving catch. Mark Boucher also batted positively for his 14 before being bowled by Friend, who in his next over bowled Claude Henderson (0).At this point Pollock declared, at 519 for eight, a lead of exactly 100, leaving Kallis stranded on 189, in almost ten hours, and Price stranded on 79 overs. Kallis did actually set a new world record of 1 028 minutes, during which he scored 388 runs, since he was last dismissed in a Test match – officially at least, as Zimbabweans still have memories of his being caught at the wicket in Harare and given not out, as well as an unconfirmed leg-side catch in this match.In Zimbabwe’s token innings, starting after tea, Pollock began with a spate of no-balls, but as soon as Henderson came on he produced a superbly flighted ball that just dislodged Dion Ebrahim’s off bail; he made 4, and Zimbabwe were 21 for one. At 38 Alistair Campbell (20), who had looked sound, was caught at short leg off Henderson, as South Africa began to apply pressure. On a turning pitch, Henderson was looking dangerous.Masakadza fought back with some positive, if sometimes nervy, strokes, as South Africa scuttled through their overs with Henderson and Klusener, bowling off-cutters, in tandem. Carlisle (4) top-edged a sweep off Henderson to be caught at long leg, and a few minutes later South Africa believed they had Masakadza caught at the wicket off another sweep.The runs now dried up as Zimbabwe concentrated on survival. Masakadza took Henderson while Andy Flower handled Klusener, declining to change ends and only awaiting the bad ball. When Masakadza (42 not out) swung Henderson for a six and four to square leg in one over, taking Zimbabwe to four runs of parity, South Africa accepted a draw.