There was the desperate feeling in the pit of the stomach when NewZealand ‘A’ were shot out for a paltry 129 in the first innings oftheir semi-final clash against Indian Railways in the MRF Buchi BabuTournament. Playing some top flight cricket that included aggressivebatting sustained over a period of time and quick bowling that put thebatsmen on the back foot, New Zealand ‘A’ enjoyed the sweet taste ofsuccess when they, to use a cliché, derailed Indian Railways, beatingthem by 23 runs. The Kiwi’s now face the Cricket Association of BengalXI in the final of the MRF Buchi Babu Tournament.The wicket at the MA Chidambaram Stadium is one that cricket expertsover the years have found to read. Typically it is a track that has abit in it for the fast bowlers early on, but slows down quickly andtakes turn fairly early. New Zealand ‘A’ showed today that the role awicket plays can be overcome with positive cricket. Lou Vincentcreamed the Railways bowling to all parts in his run a ball 102, andgave his bowlers something to play with. One must remember thatVincent made a century in the last match he played too. Playing thespinners and pacemen with ease, Vincent spread the field in a hurry.Beginning the day on 216/6, with an overall lead of just 66, NewZealand ‘A’ had but a small chance of forcing a result in the match.Vincent, overnight on 57 struck nine boundaries in his century and inthe company of Kyle Mills (37) took New Zealand ‘A’ to 318/8 declaredoff just 62 overs. This left Indian Railways with a target of 169.For New Zealand ‘A’ to win, they needed at least one stunningperformance. In the event there were two! If Vincent’s ton won praise,then Shane Bond’s sensational bowling analysis of 14.3-2-45-7 deservesa lot more. Bowling in temperatures over thirty five degreescentigrade, Bond produced a spell of genuinely hostile bowling. Morethan anything, it was the sheer pace of Bond that knocked the wind outof Indian Railways. Constantly pitching the ball just short of alength and outside the off, the Canterbury mediumpacer scythed throughthe Railways batting line-up.After removing the Railway openers with just 9 on the board, Bondcooled off for a while, as the Railways middle order batsmen offeredsome resistance. When Brooke Walker ran out Murli Kartik (30) with thescore on 49, the beginning of the end was signaled. Soon after, Bondran thorough the innings, picking the last five wickets to fall.Bond’s 7/45 skittled Railways out for 145, handing the visiting sidevictory by 23 runs.* Cricket Association of Bengal brushes aside Jolly RoversCricket Association of Bengal beat Jolly Rovers Cricket Clubcomprehensively by 125 runs to enter the final of the MRF Buchi BabuInvitational Tournament. In the match played at IIT Chemplast Groundsin Chennai, on Sunday, Jolly Rovers were bundled out for just 96 runschasing a target of 222.Resuming on their overnight score of seven for the loss of twowickets, CAB XI found themselves in deep trouble after losing fivemore wickets in the morning to be reduced to 28/7 off 23.4 overs. Thewickets included that of Rohan Gavaskar (0), Souvik Mukherjee (1), APChakraborty (10), Laxmi Ratan Shukla (1) and Saikat Mukherjee (8).Sanjib Sanyal and Utpal Chaterjee added 87 runs for the eighth wicketto rescue the faltering CAB XI innings. Sanyal was run out aftermaking 44 runs with the help of three fours. Utpal Chaterjee went tocomplete his half-century (50, 102 balls, 4 fours) and was the ninthbatsman to be dismissed. CAB XI second innings did not last long asthey were bowled out for 133 off 63 overs. Divakar Vasu was easily thebest bowler, finishing with the figures of 22-8-42-2.Chasing the target of 222, Jolly Rovers batsmen threw their bat ateverything. Only opening batsman Sujit somasunder (26) and GaneshKumar 29 made any valuable contribution with the bat. Jinju Joesph andG Babu made 14 runs apiece. All the other batsmen failed to make todouble figures. Three run outs in the middle order did not help theJolly Rovers cause as they were bowled out for 96 off just 23.1 overs.Shib Sankar Paul (2/22) and Saurasish Lahiri (2/23) were the pick ofthe bowlers. CAB XI will meet New Zealand ‘A’ in the final.

Hampshire seconds secured a superb victory to put the seal on what has been an outstanding season. They emphatically beat Warwickshire by an innings and 86 runs, taking maximum points and ending as Championship winners by a clear margin.Going into the final day 192 runs ahead, with the opposition 40-1, the young guns produced one of their seasons best sessions of bowling. In two hours of play, Hampshire took 8 wickets for just 58 runs, and the manner in which they achieved this feat epitomised the high standards they have set this season.Simon Francis and James Hamblin bowled unchanged for over an hour, and put Warwickshire deep into a mire that the away team were never going to recover from.Francis ended with figures of 5-44, and in doing so picked up his 18th wicket in the three games he has played since returning from a back injury. He had James Adams to thank in part, as the Winchester lad grabbed three great catches in the gully.Hamblin once again bowled excellently, and his probing line and length, together with consistent away swing saw him to figures of 2-27 from 15 overs, finishing the season with 46 championship wickets.James Schofield chipped in with two wickets, as he proved a touch too quick for both his victims. They hit short balls straight in the air, both well caught by Andy Sexton.Irfan Shah took one wicket, and Warwickshire were finally dismissed for 147 in the afternoon session.The Second XI will be awarded the Championship Trophy during the interval of the first teams National League game, on Sunday at The Rose Bowl.

Sussex County Cricket Club have expressed full support for James Kirtley in the publicity surrounding his bowling action.Chairman, Don Trangmar said: “We are working closely with the ECB on this matter. It is vital for the game that formal procedures for dealing with complaints are strictly adhered to by both the ICC and the ECB.”It is unwise and inappropriate for accusations using emotive language to be made by anyone on an issue which could threaten a player’s career.”The Club are also aware of the consequences of publicly charging a player twice for the same offence without any new or different evidence being considered in a proper manner by cricket’s governing bodies.”I am disappointed that the Professional Cricket Association have not taken a much stronger public stance in protecting the rights and interests of James Kirtley who is entitled to expect their full support.” added Trangmar.

Queensland beat Victoria here today in a one-day cricket match with enough twists, farce and controversy to make a Hollywood scriptwriter happy.Such a script would surely have a part for cricket fan and film star Russell Crowe, who made a surprise appearance at Punt Rd late in the game to catch up with his friend, top Victorian player Shane Warne.Crowe and the rest of the crowd were kept entertained until the end of the second-last over of the match, when the Bulls’ Andy Bichel clipped Ian Hewett off his toes to give Queensland a one-wicket win.Queensland made 9-223 in reply to Victoria’s 9-222 off 50 overs, a much closer margin than winning captain Stuart Law would have liked.”We shouldn’t have let it get that tight with the way we started (our innings), we should have cruised to victory,” he said.”But credit to the Vics, you’ve got world-class performers in Shane Warne and Ian Harvey doing their stuff, (it) made it hard for us.”The match was played on the same pitch used for the Pura Cup game between the sides which finished yesterday.Match officials were no doubt worried the planned one-day strip would be too lively, given the rain that marred the four-day game which finished in near-darkness yesterday.Law thought there was a rule “set in stone” which forbade the same strip being used for two games in a row, but said the Bulls were determined to accept whatever they encountered on the trip south.”We could have complained, whinged and moaned through the four-day game about playing in terrible conditions,” he said of the weather.”But we got on and did our job and did the same today.”The Bulls also held their tongues over a key stumping decision against Jimmy Maher at a key stage in the match.Maher was 33 and the score 2-89 in the 17th over when Harvey, the man of the match, caught the left-hander off-balance.Wicketkeeper Darren Berry made a rare off-side stumping and the third umpire ruled against Maher, despite his back foot being very close to the ground.Harvey was man of the match after opening in the absence of Jason Arnberger, who had a groin niggle.Victoria was also without opening bowler Damien Fleming, rested because of bruising and blistering on the sole of his left foot.Harvey whacked 72 off 66 balls to set up a Bushrangers score of at least 240, while No.3 Brad Hodge chipped in with 61 and Michael Klinger made 39.But Victoria lost 5-20 at the end of its innings and could score only 30 in its last 10 overs, with spinner Nathan Hauritz (10 overs, 2-36) particularly effective through the middle of the innings.Harvey then took 3-19 in 10 overs and Warne chipped in with 2-40 off 10 as the Vics put the brakes on Queensland’s innings.The Bulls lost 7-45 to be 9-212 at the end of the 47th over, leaving Bichel and Kasprowicz to score the 11 runs needed.Their running between the wickets often could best be described as creative, but Law credited them for not panicking.Victorian coach Mick O’Sullivan refused to hang any blame on Jonathan Moss, who would have won the match if his throw to the keeper late in the game had notbeen wild.O’Sullivan pointed out there were “a dozen” such incidents in the match.Andrew Symonds top-scored for Queensland with 46 off 47 balls, including three sixes.Victoria now has no wins from three ING Cup matches, making it extremely tough for the Bushrangers to reach the final.

A 284-minute epic of determined concentration by David Kelly, the 22-year-old Central Districts batsman, left him one short of his third first-class century as he led his side to an even share of the State Championship match against Auckland which reached the halfway mark on the Eden Park Outer Oval today.After Andre Adams had bludgeoned 55 runs from 32 balls before lunch Auckland had reached 184 and a first innings lead of 58. By stumps Kelly had taken Central Districts to 142 for three wickets and a precious lead of 84 runs.Central Districts will need more runs from Kelly and his team-mates (Jamie How has scored seven of a 39-run stand with Kelly in 80 minutes) if they are to build a winning total.They will also need determined bowling, for Ewen Thompson, the tall left-arm medium-fast bowler, suffered a broken forearm when batting yesterday. He will not bat and if he bowls it will be with difficulty.Adams and Kelly are the only batsmen to score over 50 on this tricky pitch, and they used contrasting styles. Adams, batting at No 9 and coming in at 98 for seven, decided he would use his usual big-hitting style. It worked, for he hit no fewer than 10 fours in his 35-ball innings of 55 – some from magnificent strokes, others with the good fortune that favours the brave.He was last out at 184, and in typically flamboyant style – caught on the boundary trying for a six.Compared with Central’s feeble first innings batting on the frisky pitch yesterday, Richard Scragg and Kelly gave them a much more fluent start to the second innings today.The pitch had lost much of its mischief and both Kelly and Scragg mixed flowing strokes with sensible defence in an opening stand of 62 – the first partnership over 50 in the game thus far.Then Auckland played another trump card, the leg-spin bowling of their captain Brooke Walker. The pitch only gave him slow turn, but very accurate. Kelly and Scragg had to dig in on defence again, and Walker pinned them down.He had Scragg out at 62, and persuaded Ben Smith into a simple caught-and-bowled at the same score – which ran the Central Districts alarm bells again.This time Kelly and Richard King rallied to the Central cause with painstaking defence. Walker kept teasing the batsmen with his accurate and varied spin, so Kelly and King solemnly pushed back maiden after maiden – Walker’s final figures were 24-16-23-2.Eventually King, who had just hit his first four, made a serious misjudgment, shouldered arms and had Kyle Mills hit the top of his off stump.King had laboured 85 minutes for his seven, but at least he stayed while Kelly built the partnership to 41.There was even more diligent defence from How – he has scored four in 80 minutes of the 39 runs he and Kelly have scraped together for the fourth wicket.But if the stubborn spirit that Kelly has already shown – and it will be a crime if he misses his third first-class century – infects the rest of the Central batsmen Auckland may have an uncomfortable time chasing anything above 200 on this bowler-friendly pitch.

Andhra Pradesh successfully chased a target of 89 to win their Ranji Trophy league match over Goa at Vijayawada on Wednesday.Reeling at 57/6 overnight, Goa found a rescuer in Kiran Powar, who scored his second century in as many Tests. Remaining unbeaten on 104, Powar saw his side through to a total of 191, avoiding an innings defeat if not giving his side a shot at victory. He was supported only by HAS Khalid, who made 52 lower down the order.Set a target of 89, Andhra Pradesh shrugged off the early loss of openers and went on to win after the loss of only three wickets. They pick up eight points from this win, while Goa gain none.

*East Zone*Bengal complete eight-wicket winAs Bengal left-arm spinner took six wickets, his side went on to win their Ranji Trophy league match against Assam at Kolkata on Monday.Overnight on 147/6, Assam collapsed in the face of sustained spin from Chatterjee and off-spinner Saurashish Lahiri (4-65). Barring the 83 from PK Das at the top of the order, none of the batsmen could even cross 50. The visitors were consequently bowled out for 206.Set a target of 157, Bengal reached it easily, losing only the openers along the way. Nikhil Haldipur made an unbeaten 51 and skipper Rohan Gavaskar 40 not out. Bengal collect eight points from this outright win.*Tripura draw with BiharSurviving some hiccups along the way, Bihar held on to draw with Tripura in their Ranji Trophy league match at Agartala on Monday.Tripura, at 50/3 overnight, went on to make 249 in their second innings boosted by another fine knock from C Sachdev. Sachdev, however, missed a century for the second time in the match, falling for 96 made off 170 balls.Set a victory target off 232 off 17 overs, Bihar had no option but to play for the draw. That too seemed in jeopardy as three wickets fell in four overs. T Rehman and N Ranjan finally held on till the end, taking their side to 59/4 at stumps. S Shukla was the Tripura bowler who rocked Bihar’s second innings, taking four for 24 off eight overs.*South ZoneSharath, Badani star for Tamil NaduSharing 196 runs for the fourth wicket, Sridharan Sharath and Hemang Badani took Tamil Nadu to a strong position at the end of Day Two in their Ranji Trophy match against Karnataka at Bangalore.Losing opener Sridharan Sriram early in the day, Tamil Nadu’s fortunes revived with a mini-stand between Hemant Kumar and Badani. Karnataka dismissed the former just before lunch, but Sharath and Badani then combined for their mammoth partnership. Sharath made 113 off 173 balls, while Badani struck 124 off 234 balls. At the end of the day, Tamil Nadu were 357/5, with skipper Robin Singh and TR Arasu at the crease.In the other South Zone match, Venkatapathy Raju brought Hyderabad surging back into their match after being dismissed for a low first-innings total by Kerala. Raju returned figures of 23-9-42-6 as Kerala collapsed for 125, with only Sunil Oasis (47) showing any resistance. At stumps, Hyderabad were 124/2, with Vanka Pratap and Anirudh Singh unbeaten on 23 and 17 respectively.At Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh were comfortably placed at the close of play on Day Two. Bowling Goa out for 270 in their first innings, with Tanveer Jabbar making 107, Andhra Pradesh ended the day on 184/1, with skipper MSK Prasad unbeaten on 74 and LN Prasad Reddy on 28.*North Zone*Services draw with Jammu & KashmirSet a total of 306 to win, Services opted for a safe draw and three points in their Ranji Trophy league match at Delhi on Monday.Jammu & Kashmir, 133/4 overnight, went on to score 242 in their second innings. The innings revolved largely around wicket-keeper Arshad Bhatt, who made a patient 98 off 177 balls. Bhatt came in at the fall of the fourth wicket and stayed till the end, becoming the tenth wicket to fall. He was also Arun Sharma’s fifth wicket; Sharma took five for 39.Services started steadily but lost openers K Chawda and PMS Reddy within the space of 29 runs. Thereafter, Jasvir Singh and Yashpal Singh played well. The former made 54 off just 55 balls, while Yashpal Singh made an unbeaten 51. At stumps, Services were 202 for the loss of four wickets.*Himachal Pradesh play unimaginative cricketDespite being in a position to declare and set Haryana a sporting target, Himachal Pradesh opted to bat out most of the day in their Ranji Trophy league match at Rohtak on Monday.Overnight batsmen Rajiv Nayyar and Sangram Singh, both in good form, made the most significant scores of the innings. Sangram Singh fell for 54, made off 94 balls. Nayyar, as has been his wont, occupied the crease dully, making 102 off 314 balls, with 13 boundaries.Himachal skipper Varinder Sharma never enforced a declaration, so that when they were finally bowled out for 270 (made off 101 overs), Haryana were set a target off 347 off 20 overs. The match petered out into a dull draw, and the only excitement of the day was provided by Amit Mishra, who took a hat-trick by claiming Varinder Sharma, Amit Sharma and C Kumar off successive deliveries.*Punjab draw with DelhiA match that saw two high first-innings total, the Ranji Trophy league tie between Punjab and Delhi at Amritsar ended in the expected draw on the fourth day.Punjab, still continuing their first innings on the fourth day, were finally bowled out for 441, with Amit Bhandari picking up 7-92 for Delhi. The visitors, on batting again, could not repeat their first-innings heroics; barring a resolute 75 from Pradeep Chawla, no batsman could really get going, and the innings was declared at 198 for nine.Set a target of 257 off 16 overs, Punjab inevitably played for the safe draw and reached stumps at 58 for one. Delhi, by virtue of their first-innings total, collect five points from this match, while Punjab collect three.

Tasmania have announced the following team for the ACB Cup match against Australian Capital Territory on 7-10 Jan at Canberra:Dene Hills (c), Chris Bassano, Graeme Cunningham, Andrew Downton, Andrew Dykes, Ben Hilfenhaus, Scott Kremerskothen, Scott Mason, Shane McDermott, Matthew Pascoe, Brad Thomas, Shannon Tubb.

Hampshire County Cricket Club confirmed today that Robin Smith has been appointed as Hampshire captain for the 2002 season. Will Kendall was also confirmed as vice-captain.”The club,” stated Tim Tremlett (Hampshire’s Director of Cricket) “have every confidence in appointing Robin for another season. He has proved his leadership over the past few years, none more so than leading the team into the First Division of the County Championship in 2001.”Robin Smith was jubilant at his re-appointment. “It is a delight to captain such a great bunch of lads” he mused. “I feel confident that we will be able to compete in the top Division, and I look forward to the forthcoming season with renewed optimism.”Hampshire also confirmed that Dimitri Mascarenhas had signed a new two year contract. Dimmi has had an ankle operation in Australia and is now ready to play again, with his fitness improving by the day.

Rosebowl cricket between the two best teams in the world of women’s cricket resumes tomorrow when Australia and New Zealand meet at the Adelaide Oval.The sides meet in a six-match series, having three games in Australia and three in New Zealand.The two teams contested the final of the 2000 CricInfo Women’s World Cup in New Zealand and this is their first clash since then.When the Rosebowl was last played, Australia beat New Zealand 3-0 to retain the trophy.Inevitably, comment on the re-matching of the World Cup finalists will centre on Australia looking for vengeance after New Zealand beat them to claim the world title for the first time.But in reality it will be revenge in spirit only because the two sides have had so many changes since the World Cup.Almost as soon as the event ended the sides were committed to rebuilding their sides with the next World Cup in mind. That was forced on New Zealand after the retirement of legendary batsman Debbie Hockley and long-serving players Catherine Campbell, Katrina Keenan and Clare Nicholson.New Zealand’s bid to quickly achieve replacements for them was hindered when their tour to India was cancelled as a result of no assurance being available from the organisers of their tour that security would be available should problems with the war against terrorism in Afghanistan affect the tour.New Zealand has had two warm-up games in Australia, the first a low-scoring affair in Melbourne and the second a much more impressive game against South Australia in Adelaide.New Zealand captain Emily Drumm said: “Our two practice games have been very good blow-outs. It was an opportunity to get the cobwebs out of the system and to prepare for the upcoming series.”The first game had been a low-scoring match because of problems in the outfield which did not allow full value for shots. “In Adelaide we stepped up a gear. The players took a lot more responsibility and that was very pleasing,” she said.Drumm will have nothing to do with comment about the matching of the two sides being a repeat of the World Cup.”There’s been so much time between these two events and we are a completely new team. We’re looking forward and bringing a young team through.”I haven’t even thought about the World Cup. I’m just getting engrossed in a new series,” he said.Coach Mike Shrimpton said New Zealand had a slow start in their Melbourne game due to a very heavy outfield.”We came a little unstuck but on a decent wicket our score would probably have been worth around 180. But we managed to bowl out the Australian Youth team for 21 less than what we scored.”Then yesterday we scored 243 against South Australia and everyone had a good hit on a really good wicket. It was a full strength South Australia side that was only without Karen Rolton,” Shrimpton said.He did feel that one more warm-up game would have been beneficial for the side because it faced a very difficult week.The team will also have to do without Nicola Payne for the first two games as she has injured a calf muscle, an injury she has had before and which is expected to take longer to heal because of that.Shrimpton was hopeful she would be available in the third game of the series to be played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Saturday.Shrimpton was pleased with the form of captain Drumm while the younger players in the side Aimee Mason, Nicola Browne and Frances King had done well.”We will face a fairly formidable side, it is the same sort of batting side at the World Cup. Vengeance is very much on their minds for the World Cup.”It is a hard ask but what I want to see is the team not bend in the wind and to fight hard. If they all get stuck in and try then that is all you can ask for,” he said.Australia started their preparation for the future by touring England last summer and 10 of Australia’s players were on that tour.Medium-pacer Emma Twining of the New South Wales Institute of Sport will be making her debut in the series while Victorian batsman Melanie Jones has forced her way back into the side.The teams are: New Zealand (from): Emily Drumm (captain), Kathryn Ramel (vice-captain), Nicola Browne, Anna Corbin, Paula Flannery, Frances King, Aimee Mason, Anna O’Leary, Rachel Pullar, Rebecca Rolls, Haidee Tiffen, Helen Watson.Australia: Belinda Clark (captain), Karen Rolton, Sally Cooper, Cathryn Fitzpatrick, Michelle Goszko, Julie Hayes, Melanie Jones, Lisa Keightley, Therese McGregor, Julia Price, Lisa Sthalekar, Emma Twining.