Cold, and sometimes wet, weather struck the second one-day match between New Zealand’s Cricket Academy and the Commonwealth Bank Cricket Academy of Australia at Lincoln University today.The game was originally reduced to a 42-over match, starting at 1pm, but three overs into Australia’s innings it rained briefly and the game was further reduced to 41 overs.New Zealand’s injury worries for its bowlers continued and Cleighten Cornelius joined James Franklin as ring-ins for the home team.They were both soon among the wickets which saw the Australians, such impressive winners in the first game, faltering at 26 for four wickets.But George Bailey and Cameron Borgas got the train back on the rails before Bailey departed at 74 for 32 when he attempted a high drive from Luke Woodcock’s bowling only to be caught by Shanan Stewart at long on.Fifty-three runs were added by Borgas and Mark Cosgrove for the sixth wicket in 32 minutes off 52 balls.Cosgrove was particularly severe on Aaron Redmond, striking him for 26 runs off nine balls (including three huge sixes), before holing out to a fine low catch to Nathan McCullum for an aggressive 36 off 28 balls. Redmond’s three expensive overs cost 34 runs.Xavier Doherty was run out after Borgas turned him back when mid-pitch, beaten by the throw to the wicket-keeper from Cornelius.Daniel Christian and Borgas worked the gaps between the batsmen and the fielders as they accumulated singles with positive communication and running.Taraia Robin bowled Christian with the second ball of his new spell and two balls later he removed the in-form Borgas, caught behind by wicket-keeper Reece Young for a well compiled 74 off 93 deliveries. Borgas provided the backbone of the Australian innings.Tail-enders Adam Crosthwaite and Steven Crook assisted the total to 209/9 with their undefeated 10th wicket partnership of 35 off 26 balls.Cornelius proved the best of the NZCA bowlers especially with his work into the strong southerly wind to record the parsimonious figures of 2-27 off his nine overs.The NZCA openers took their time to settle on a pitch that was becoming slower and lower as the game progressed. Jamie How and Brendon McCullum put on 86 runs in 81 minutes off 123 balls, looking to work the ball into the gaps.McCullum was the first to depart when he walked past a flighted delivery from left-arm spinner Doherty to be stumped untidily by a scrambling Crosthwaite for 41 off 58 balls.How was next out for 43 from 78 balls, when he was trapped leg before wicket by Doherty and a disappointing run out so Nick Horsley follow soon after.Suddenly from the competitive position of 86 without loss, New Zealand were 100 for three wickets off 25 overs. The pressure soon went on from the Australians and the run rate required by the home team mounted. Stewart was another victim of the pressure when he was run out.Redmond was bowled for a duck while Nathan McCullum was run out at the bowler’s end from a deflection onto the stumps.With five overs left, and four wickets in hand, New Zealand’s required rate was up to 12. Jonathan McNamee then departed and with four overs left 55 were required.And with three overs left, and Cornelius out, 47 were required off three overs.There was little option but for Franklin and Young to hit out in an attempt to narrow the widening gap. Young was severe on Crook taking 14 runs off his solitary over and 20 runs were then required off the last over.Young was run out off the third to last ball of the innings and that effectively shut the gate on New Zealand’s hopes. He scored an impressive 18 runs off only eight balls.The NZCA finally brought up the 200 but remained 10 runs short of victory. Franklin was 18 not out from 12 balls.The teams have a day off tomorrow then play two more one-day games on Friday and Saturday.

He’s the most unlikely hero. It’s five years since he played a Test match for India. Carrying at least a few extra pounds and even making the occasional foray outside cricket to the movies, he’s not the person you back to torment a touring international team. Yet, Vinod Ganpat Kambli found his feet, unveiled strokes people said he couldn’t play anymore and stormed his way to 109 of the finest runs against England at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. It’s lamentable that Indian cricket found no more use for this attractive left-hander after just 17 Test matches. It bears repetition that even this short career yielded 1084 runs at an average of just under 55 and included two double tons.

The fire is still there, assures Kambli. Speaking to pressmen at the end of the day’s play, Kambli said, “I’m keenly looking forward to playing Test cricket for India again. This knock today has given me a great deal of confidence and I hope I can keep going in the same spirit. I’ve certainly not given up hopes of playing for India.” Unfortunately, it might just be a case of too little much too late.The bowling attack of Matthew Hoggard, James Ormond, Craig White and Richard Dawson will remember Kambli for a long time to come. As much as they would like to forget him, the powerful drives, the delectable late cuts and the booming pull shots will be etched in memory. Yet, one should not get too carried away by Kambli’s innings. There is no place in the Indian middle-order for Kambli to make a comeback. There will be no dream ending to this fairytale. Yet, the fact that one can travel to a venue and watch high class entertaining batting like this makes the innings special in its own right.Kambli was the first one to realise this. His celebratory gestures on reaching three-figures bordered on the excessive. Beginning with a pumping of fists, moving on to a bat-wave to every section of the stands, Kambli ended by making the sign of the cross and looking to the heavens. The prayer of a man lost in the wilderness?There’s something about the England bowling attack that inspires the best in Kambli. For a moment, take a walk down memory lane. On February 19, back in 1992, Graham Gooch won the toss and elected to bat at this very same venue, the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. When Graeme Hick, whose career path has alarming similarities to Kambli’s, notched up 178 and England posted 347, he might have harboured hopes of putting victory out of the reach of the Indians. But what the Hoggard-led foursome learnt today, the attack of Phil Defraitas, Chris Lewis, John Emburey and Phil Tufnell discovered all those years ago – it was next to impossible to bowl to Kambli on song.Coming to the wicket at 109/1 Kambli took the Indian score to 563/8, cracking a sizzling 224 that included 23 spanking hits that found the ropes. India made 591 and bowled out England for 229, winning the Test by an innings and 15 runs.There are many wise cricket lovers in Mumbai, who have seen the unfolding and subsequent unraveling of Kambli’s career, while continuing to believe to this day that he is the best batsman in Mumbai. Enough has been said of the Amol Muzumdar’s and Wasim Jaffer’s of Mumbai cricket. At the end of the day however, it takes an out-of-shape Kambli to charm the fans, put the runs on the board and keep the Mumbai flag flying high.

Tasmania struggled on day one of the Commonwealth Bank Under-19 Championship Series as they were dismissed for 130 against the Northern Territory.The Northern Territory players have come together from all over Australia, reflecting the fact that it is the off-season in the Top End. Wicketkeeper Martin Brown is playing for Lindisfarne in Hobart, with Tasmanian opening batsman Jamie Cox, but was pitted against his club cricket counterparts from the Apple Isle in the first round. Captain Sam McNally is playing with Woodville and batsmen Leigh Mauger and Shane Chatto are with East Torrens in Adelaide. Leg spinner Ryan LeLoux is showing the benefit of his stint with Easts-Redlands in the Brisbane grade cricket competition, taking 4/27 on the first day of the Championship series. Batsman Zac Pacey is playing with Norths alongside Bulls batsmen Jimmy Maher and Clinton Perren and will be looking to contribute to a large Northern Territory total today.Tasmania’s preparation for this year’s Commonwealth Bank Under-19 Championship has been somewhat disrupted. Talented batsman Nathan King was involved in a car accident on his way home from training in Hobart last month and is recovering in hospital – where he was visited by Steve Waugh and Shane Warne during the Test match in Hobart recently. Just last Thursday, Burnie-Yeoman all-rounder Kade Munday snapped his achilles tendon at training and was replaced in the side for Newcastle by top order batsman Nicko Aird. Coupled with the wintry conditions across Tasmania recently, yesterday’s top temperature of 37 degrees in Newcastle made for a tough and rapid day of acclimatisation for the Tasmanian team. Spirits should be boosted today by the arrival of left arm spinner Xavier Doherty following the completion yesterday of Tasmania’s Pura Cup match against Victoria at Bellerive, during which Doherty made his first-class debut.Victoria is faced with the challenge of recovering from its overnight score of 4/38 in pursuit of New South Wales’ total of 310. The storms that swept through the Hunter region yesterday afternoon happily caused no disruptions to the match – which is being played at Cahill Oval in Belmont – and it will be the only game today in which there is no need to make up for time lost yesterday.Victorian captain and state squad leg spinner Cameron White will not be joining his team following the Pura Cup match between the Tasmanian Tigers and Victorian Bushrangers. White will instead head to Canberra to represent the Prime Minister’s XI against New Zealand on Thursday. He also remains in contention to play in the Bushrangers’ ING Cup game against the Tigers in Hobart next Sunday and in their next Pura Cup fixture against the Southern Redbacks in Melbourne, beginning on Thursday 13 December.

With the start of the new season just 108 days away Somerset are already looking forward to a bumper year in 2002.Just before the office at the County Ground closed for Christmas, membership secretary Jo Betsworth told me, ” The number of new members who have joined is double compared to the same time last year and overall the number of members who have signed up is also ahead of where it was at the end of December 2001. It’s all very pleasing, and when we open again on January 7th we expect to have several hundred more new memberships to process.It’s all very pleasing.” The wonderful response to the 2002 membership campaign is no doubt due to the results on the field in 2001 when the Cidermen enjoyed their best ever season.Not only did last season see Somerset end their eighteen year trophy famine when they won the Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy at Lord’s on September 1st, but they also achieved their best ever County Championship finish by ending up as runner’s up to Yorkshire.Certainly there is a mood of confidence amongst the players for the new season, and if their commitment to their closed season training routines is anything to go by then they will go back onto the field in 2002 even more confident and fitter than they were at the end of 2001.All of the players have been reporting to the Academy Fitness Centre at the County Ground on a regular basis where they have been working on their own personalised training routines.The club has also developed a fitness room away from the Academy Fitness Centre which includes several pieces of new equipment including a large number of weights, which is proving to be very popular with the players. Shortly after the start of the New Year the players will also be reporting for regular indoor nets at the School of Excellence.With the shortest day gone, lighting up time is getting later each day, and it won’t be long before the new season is with us. In the meantime everybody at Somerset County Cricket Club can feel pleased with what was achieved in 2001, and look forward with confidence to another successful season in 2002.

New Zealand all-rounder Chris Harris, the man of the match in both New Zealand’s VB Series victories over Australia, has returned home for personal reasons and may be out of the rest of the series.In a short release this afternoon, New Zealand Cricket said it respected Harris’ request not to elaborate on the reasons for his withdrawal but fully supported his decision.CLEAR Black Caps manager Jeff Crowe said Harris had the full support of the team.”It’s not known if Harris will rejoin the side during the tri-series,” the statement said.No request has yet been made by the tour management for a replacement player to be named and until that is done, the New Zealand selectors will not act on the matter.The side is waiting to see how Canterbury’s Nathan Astle comes through State Shield matches on Sunday and Tuesday to see if he will be fit enough to join the side.

Australian captain Cameron White thought his side were going to be chasing 500 the way New Zealand started in their Super League match at the ICC Under-19 World Cup at Bert Sutcliffe Oval at Lincoln University today.But in a classy display of control, White used his slower bowlers to contain New Zealand, and after he had done that he played a key role in a 139-run stand for the third wicket that ended New Zealand’s tournament with a seven-wicket loss.For all their early bluster, the New Zealanders could not bat out their 50 overs, being dismissed for 194 in 46.3 overs.White said the early assault took the Australians by surprise but he decided to go with his spin bowlers.”We picked a team with a few spinners and we tried to slow it down with them. I hadn’t seen any of the New Zealanders before and [Jesse] Ryder hit the ball well,” he said.But if his leadership in the field was outstanding, White was even more emphatic with the bat in hand. He was 80 not out off 107 balls at the end as Australia romped home in 39.3 overs for the victory.New Zealand, not blessed with the same playing assets as the Australians, opted for innovation, and while it was working well it was a successful ploy.New Zealand opened the bowling with two spinners in a bid to break up the Australian assault, aiming especially at the preponderance of left-handers in the opposition order.They got two wickets, for 21 runs, but the Australians kept ploughing ahead.White said the New Zealand ploy with the bowling had been surprising but he understood they had to try something.But joining Shaun Marsh with the score on 21/1, he knew that three and four were key batting spots in the side and he wanted to set a batting example to other players in his side.Marsh and White batted superbly and really put the New Zealand attack through the mill. There were no openings, and there were to be none of the fairytales that surrounded the last trans-Tasman match on the ground when the CLEAR White Ferns beat Australia to win the CricInfo Women’s World Cup.They added 139 runs for the third wicket before Marsh was run out for 70 off 97 balls. His 50 had come up off 73 balls while White hit his off 80, bringing it up with successive boundaries.Sadly for New Zealand, however, it didn’t have sufficient resources to ensure the absolutely maximum effort it was going to take to beat this talented Australian team.Its greatest hopes lay in hard-hitting batsman Ryder getting a big score, preferably a three-figure score which has so far eluded the Super League sides.He provided every opportunity for himself by scoring 70 off 62 balls, including six fours and three sixes. When he was dismissed to a soft caught and bowled chance by left-arm spinner Jarrad Burke, New Zealand were 107/2 in the 18th over.The chance was provided for an all-out assault for a genuinely big total but it depended on two things – the skill of the remaining batsmen and the approach taken by the Australian skipper White in marshalling his bowlers.There was only one winner – Australia.White had a fine response from his attack and shut New Zealand out of the game.Firstly, it was Burke who put the brakes on and after coming on for the fifth over, he bowled his 10 overs through to end with the outstanding figures, under the circumstances of one for 35.When he finished Aaron Bird came back after his first two overs at the top of the innings had gone for 21. His last eight cost 29 but he claimed three wickets to leave the New Zealand middle-order gutted.

The Victorian Cricket Association today announced the position of State Coach will be advertised nationally this weekend. The move to advertise the position is in accordance with the agreement reached with current coach Michael O’Sullivan in October.”With the timing of John Scholes resignation prior to the start of the season, we felt that it was not appropriate to advertise the position at that time and entered into an agreement with Michael O’Sullivan for this season accordingly. We would however expect that Michael will be an applicant for the position”, VCA Chief Executive Officer Ken Jacobs said.With the ACB/State player contracting process beginning immediately after the completion of the 2001/02 season, the VCA believe it to be imperative that the State Coach be appointed prior to this process and contribute significantly to the development of the Bushrangers 2002/03 playing list.

Central Districts will be without Lance Hamilton for their next State Championship match against Auckland to be played at Colin Maiden Park starting tomorrow.Hamilton was injured in the last match, against Northern Districts, and was not considered for selection.Martin Sigley has also been left out of the side while Tim Anderson, Greg Loveridge and Greg Todd have been added to the 12 for the match.The team is: Craig Spearman (captain), Tim Anderson, Bevan Griggs, Brent Hefford, Jamie How, Peter Ingram, Greg Loveridge, Michael Mason, Jesse Ryder, Andrew Schwass, Glen Sulzberger, Greg Todd.

Sri Lanka captain Sanath Jayasuriya has warned his side against complacency as they prepare to take on international minnows Bangladesh on Friday.Bangladesh lost to Canada in their tournament opener and go into the Pool B clash with a diabolical losing run that stretches back 27 matches.Sri Lanka are overwhelming favourites but Jayasuriya is taking nothing for granted, urging on his players to be ruthless and clinical.”We have to play serious cricket like the other day against New Zealand. We are not taking any side lightly. We are going 100 per cent flat out to do well,” said Jayasuriya.”All the games are important in this tournament. Whatever the opposition, we have to take all of them seriously. Any team can bounce back at any time and we must be wary of it. The Canadians did well that day to beat Bangladesh,” said Jayasuriya.”You can’t underestimate Bangladesh…or any team for that matter. In the last World Cup they surprised Pakistan,” he said.”Tomorrow’s game as well as those against Canada and Kenya are important because we need those points for the next round,” he said.Jayasuriya said the win against New Zealand had changed the entire outlook of the team.”It has improved the confidence of our boys and they are looking forward to every game.The confidence is good and what we want is for our boys to continue playing good cricket like they did against New Zealand,” said Jayasuriya.He admitted that this sort of attitude was missing in Australia and that they had started to gain the confidence back only during the latter stages of the tour.He said he was quite confident the other batsmen in the side would start to score runs.”They know they have to get runs and they are experienced enough to play according to the situations. I am confident they will do it when they get the opportunity,” said Jayasuriya.Coach Dav Whatmore said the team is now reaping the rewards of having toured South Africa and Australia recently.”I’d love to be in a position where we haven’t gone through tough times. But the sad fact is that teams from the subcontinent need a bit of time to adjust to South African and Australian conditions. We have gone through that period of frustration and I felt that towards the end of the Australian tour there was some light at the end of the tunnel,” said Whatmore.”That first match was very important and we came out victors. We can’t do any more than win this first game. The boys are quite buoyed with their position at the moment. Lots of people looked at the first match and said it could have gone either way. More thought that New Zealand could win,” he said.”We have a 100 percent record against Bangladesh and we want to keep it that way. But in order to do that you cannot relax. Any team can jump up and beat you if you let your guard down.Bangladesh coach Mohsin Kamal cast aside his team’s shock defeat at the hands of Canada on Tuesday, saying that ‘cricket is a funny game’.”We batted poorly and we didn’t play according to the situations. Every match has an importance and we will go and play positive and not repeat the same mistakes as we did in the previous game,” said Kamal.He said that Bangladesh were capable of chasing bigger totals like when they scored over 250 in 45 overs in a practice match against the Dolphins.”You never know about our players. If someone plays according to the situation and gets going, there is always a chance of an upset. If we have a very good day, I think all the hard work we’ve done can make that day in your favour. That’s what you have to play for,” said Kamal, a former Pakistan fast bowler.

THE Western Australian Cricket Association today announced the termination of its contract with Western Warriors coach, Michael Veletta.The decision was taken following a recommendation from the International and Interstate Committee.Mr Veletta has concluded two years of his three-year term as Western Warriors coach.The remainder of his contract will be paid in full by the Western Australian Cricket Association.In terminating Mr Veletta’s contract, WACA Chief Executive, Mrs Kath White, said the decision was part of a full review of the state’s cricket operations and plans to carry Western Australian cricket forward."The I&I committee has made an extremely tough decision not to continue with Michael Veletta as our state coach," Mrs White said."This decision was not taken lightly. But, it has been made in the best interests of Western Australian cricket."An assessment of our senior coach and all cricket operations is taken as a matter of course at the end of each season. That process is currently being undertaken."The I&I Committee has not acted solely in response to performances of the Warriors in season 2002-03."This assessment process has been on-going for some time."The I&I Committee and the WACA, believes that our state has a very talented group of young and developing players, as well as our established international players."In taking this decision, we are mindful of our responsibility to our current senior Warriors players and our representative youth program to enhance their prospects of success at the highest possible levels of performance."Mrs White said that the WACA will immediately commence an extensive search for a new State coach.Selection of a new Warriors coach will be conducted in accordance with the comprehensive review of cricket operations being conducted by the I&I Committee.The WACA will make no further comment on this matter.