Chris Cairns will not bowl at all in the remaining two National Bank Series matches between New Zealand and India.Everything is now aimed at having Cairns in perfect condition to perform the role captain Stephen Fleming will want from him when the New Zealanders play their opening World Cup game against Sri Lanka at Bloemfontein on February 10.Cairns said he couldn’t commit to bowling his full complement of 10 overs from the outset but he wanted to be able to give Fleming the option of using him as a bowler.His primary role would be to play as a No 5 batsman and then backing up and taking wickets for the side.Cairns, who came back into the TelstraClear Black Caps a game earlier than intended due to the injury suffered by Jacob Oram, said he was delighted to be back in action in Wellington yesterday.”It was great to be there and seeing the advancement of the guys since I last played,” he said.Cairns said he was having to think a little differently about his play and there was definitely a difference in the mentality applied to his role at No 5. He found he needed to be more circumspect.His return to the side for a rollicking 25 had tended to crystallise the way he found himself getting to Wellington at all.He found out about his recall at 4pm on Tuesday after playing for his Canterbury side and then found himself at the crease with New Zealand three wickets for three runs at Wellington.Witnessing first hand the development of bowlers like Shane Bond, Daryl Tuffey and seeing Oram’s advance on television coverage of the series, said what had impressed him in conditions that were the same for both teams was the way the New Zealand bowlers had been so consistent.”They’ve put the ball in the right areas. They have come through in the last few years and we are reaping the rewards of bringing them in a little early a couple of years ago,” he said.What Cairns did find during his innings at Westpac Stadium was that if the pitch was reflective of those around the country this year then it was really hard work for the batsmen but it had been great to be back out there and he felt in hindsight he had probably been a little too aggressive.He said he totally agreed with the experimental approach taken by Fleming now that the series was safe for New Zealand and the exercise of batting first had been good for the side.Cairns said that while it had been disappointing to be restricted to watching from the sidelines during the series, it had been therapeutic as well because he was able to spend some unexpected time with his infant son.He said the workload he had been required to take as the leading New Zealand was quite possibly a factor in his knee problems, but overall, the problems were just a case of “that’s the way it goes.”

The President, members of the Board of the CCA, volunteers and supporters extend greetings and best wishes to Team Canada in their games at the CWC 2003. May you all realize your personal best performances as representatives of not only Canada but all of the Americas.This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for a fortunate minority of players. Your commitment and dedication and that of your families are truly appreciated. Your presence and performances must allow greater support for cricket development in Canada and in the whole Americas.We trust that every effort will be made to ensure our strongest entrant in the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies, our sole Full Member in the Americas.We shall be looking forward to your success as a team and as individualsWe have also received greetings and best wishes from Reginald Pearman, President of the Bermuda Cricket Board of Control and from all of its members.He wished Canada good luck in the CWC 2003 and as a representative of the Cricket Council of the Americas.Numerous others have wished the team good luck via the CCA web site, and we’ve also recieved this via Ray Ramrattan in Manitoba.Hello from Sydney, Australia,and just a quick e-mail to wish your Canadian team the best of luck in the World Cup in South Africa. I hope that they play well and enjoy the experience andhave a win or two along the way. Hopefully, the team will do well and promote the game of cricket in Canada. You have a beautiful country with great people, and I look forward to seeing the team in action over the next month or so.Best wishes,Peter Buscall

DURBAN, South Africa, Feb 24 AFP – Indian captain Sourav Ganguly expects a tough contest against England when the teams meet in a key World Cup match under the Kingsmead lights here on Wednesday.Nasser Hussain’s men surprised many pundits with a 112-run thrashing of Pakistan at Cape Town on Saturday.And Ganguly admitted: “We watched the England-Pakistan game on TV and thought England played really well.”But the Indian captain, who made an unbeaten 112 against Namibia on Sunday as Sachin Tendulkar hit 152, insisted he had full confidence in his side.”I back ourselves to win,” he said. “The batting appears to be looking good, but we have to get a really good score to win.”Although England performed well in the day-nighter against Pakistan, they were handed what appeared to be a key break when Hussain won the toss and decided to bat first.Evidence suggests that teams who bowl second under floodlights in South Africa are at a significant advantage as the early evening dew and increasingly heavy atmosphere assist movement in the air.But Ganguly maintained Wednesday’s match would not be decided by the spin of a coin. He said: “I don’t believe tosses make a difference. The important thing is to play well.”However, coach John Wright admitted the anticipated conditions were causing him a selection problem over whether to recall leg-spinner Anil Kumble.India’s highest wicket-taker in one-day internationals has not played in his side’s last two games with off-spinner Harbhajan Singh chosen as the lone specialist slow bowler.Wright, the former New Zealand batsman, said: “It is always a tough decision. You have to look at the balance of the team and, if you decide to go with one spinner, which one do you go with?”India also have a doubt about Ashish Nehra, following the sprained ankle he sustained against Namibia. Wright said he hopes to have a better idea of the left-arm seamer’s fitness on Tuesday.When the two sides met last, during September’s Champions Trophy in Sri Lanka, India won by eight wickets after Ganguly and Virender Sehwag hit centuries.Ganguly, however, was unconcerned by history.”What happened in the past is not important. It only shows we have beaten England and we can do it again.”Meanwhile, England paceman Andrew Caddick was not overawed by the challenge ahead.”India have been batting well but against the weaker sides,” said the Somerset quick, clearly more impressed by India’s collapse to 125 against world champions Australia than their run-fest against Namibia.And Namibian coach Dougie Brown was confident Hussain’s attack could do the job.”England have just got to bowl straight,” Brown, a former England one-day international, told AFP.”And with the form they’re in, especially James Anderson (who took 4-29 against Pakistan), that should not be a problem.”India do tend to struggle when the ball goes round in the air as it does at Durban.”England, though, have a couple of injured batsmen to worry about.Hospital scans on Michael Vaughan’s strained right calf Monday were clear but the Yorkshire star has had serious calf problems before.And Chennai-born Hussain has been suffering with a stiff neck although both he and Vaughan are expected to be fit.Another factor in Wednesday’s match could be the crowd.Durban has a huge Indian population of its own and thousands of fans have been flying in from the sub-continent as well, turning the fixture into a ‘home’ match for Ganguly’s men.However, Indian crowds can turn on their heroes if they are underperforming. Whether they inspire or intimidate either side remains to be seen.

Lord MacLaurin, the past chairman of the England & Wales Cricket Board, will open the Isle of Wight’s state-of-the-art indoor cricket academy overlooking Ventnor’s unique "superbowl" at Steephill on Friday July 25 2003.The £1.1m project, financed from the Sport England Lottery Fund, IW Partnership, IW Council and many local supporters, has provided the Island with a three-lane Academy, incorporating video playback facilities for coaching, changing and social facilities. One lane has a spin surface, with two for seam bowling.The indoor academy will be available to visiting SPL3 club for pre-match practice from 12 noon on match days, without charge. Visiting clubs with an ECB qualified, and insured, coach are welcome to use the bowling machine, and video cameras. But indoor sports shoes must be used in the academy.The entrance to Steephill is still via the Ventnor Botanic Garden, with the Academy and changing rooms at car park level. There is a spectacular view of the pitch from the changing rooms and players’ balcony, with external stairs from the balcony down to pitch level.Separate changing facilities are available for umpires and the whole facility has been designed to give access for cricketers with disabilities.Ventnor wish to thank all visiting teams for their patience and forbearance last season. They look forward to being able to offer hospitality this season to players and supporters in their ‘state of the art’ licensed bar.

Australia eased to a nine-wicket win shortly before tea on the fourth day of the first Test at Georgetown. An assured 78 not out from Justin Langer guided them home, but it was a devastating spell of 4 for 3 in 26 balls from Jason Gillespie which ensured the West Indies fightback ended overnight. The last five West Indian wickets fell for 17 runs inside three-quarters of an hour of the start and that was that.West Indies began play needing to bat into the afternoon to post a target likely to test Australia on a pitch which was true, if prone to the occasional low bounce. A decent crowd had come hoping for another day of watching Australia frustrated. What they got was Gillespie at his snarling best.With the sixth ball of the day Gillespie jagged one back into Vasbert Drakes, keeping low and trapping him on the backfoot – for once the lbw decision was straightforward. Drakes had not added to his overnight 14 (382 for 6).With the third ball of his next over to Merv Dillon, Gillespie again got one to cut back in, again the bounce was low, and again the verdict was leg-before. Dillon had made 0, and a hobbling Ridley Jacobs limped out to join a similarly restricted Shivnarine Chanderpaul (384 for 7).Much depended on this pair, and briefly they threatened to reprise their first-innings heroics. Then Chanderpaul’s limited movement cost him dear as he nicked Gillespie to wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist for 31 and the end was near (391 for 8).Jacobs (11) opted to try and hit his way out of trouble, lofting Stuart MacGill over long-on for six, but the next ball, an inside edge, flew to short leg where Darren Lehmann held the catch (397 for 9).Gillespie ended the proceedings with his third leg-before of the morning, Jermaine Lawson (0) was creasebound to a ball slanting back in at him. Gillespie had his five-for, and in 41 minutes the West Indian dream had been dashed.Langer and Matthew Hayden started slowly and shakily, but their rustiness was not probed as once again the West Indies bowlers lacked any real bite. Whereas Langer found his touch, unleashing several brutal drives, Hayden struggled, looking a shadow of the batsman who dominated bowlers the world over in 2002. After labouring to 11 off 67 balls he finally cast off his shackles with two fours off one Lawson over, but his relief was short-lived. In Lawson’s next over he top-edged an attempted pull and spooned a catch to square leg (77 for 1). Hayden’s 19 was painful viewing.But with Langer easing into something close to top gear, and Ricky Ponting finding his touch from the off, Australia strolled to victory with a calm assuredness that not even a brief light shower shortly after lunch could upset.

SS Das has been chosen as captain of the India A team for their forthcoming tour of England. Hemang Badani – who scored a heroic century against Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy final – will be the vice-captain, while Sandeep Patil will accompany the team as coach.The line-up includes plenty of players who performed well in the domestic season. Wasim Jaffer, who scored two half-centuries in the final, gets another chance to prove himself in seaming conditions after a disappointing tour of England with the senior team last year. Apart from Das and Jaffer, the team includes two more openers – Gautam Gambhir from Delhi and Satyajit Parab from Baroda.Sridharan Sriram, who averaged 58 in the Ranji Trophy in 2002-03, was rewarded with a ticket to the squad, as were Ambati Rayudu and Rohan Gavaskar. VVS Laxman, who had captained the A team to the West Indies, wasn’t considered as he had made himself unavailable for selection.Most of the bowlers who went to the West Indies for the A tour retained their places – Avishkar Salvi, L Balaji, Murali Kartik and Amit Mishra were all included in the line-up. Tinu Yohannan and Rakesh Patel missed out, though, and were replaced by seamers Amit Bhandari and Irfan Pathan (jr).The squad will undergo an 18-day training session at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bangalore, where John Wright, coach of the Indian team, will assist them. The tour starts with a one-day match against British Universities on June 25. Also on the itinerary is a three-day match against the South African national team, who will be touring England for a five-Test series.Squad
SS Das (capt), Wasim Jaffer, Gautam Gambhir, Satyajit Parab, Hemang Badani, Sridharan Sriram, Ambati Rayudu, Rohan Gavaskar, Vijay Bharadwaj, Parthiv Patel (wk), L Balaji, Avishkar Salvi, Amit Bhandari, Irfan Pathan (jr), Murali Kartik, Amit Mishra.

John Ward talked to Geoff Marsh at the end of Zimbabwe’s tour of EnglandPart of the job of a national coach today is what is now known in political circles as spin. They are required to put on a brave face after the greatest of catastrophes and sound positive no matter what anger or despair may be churning inside them.But Zimbabwe’s coach Geoff Marsh sounded genuinely positive at the end of Zimbabwe’s second official tour of England, although the results on paper looked like an unrelieved catalogue of woe, broken only by that unexpected victory over England in the first match of the NatWest Series.His first comment was on how much the players, mostly young and cringingly inexperienced, enjoyed the tour. “We’ve been hurt by our losses, but we’ve sat down and discussed them and areas where we can improve. The pleasing thing for me is that the players got up every day and they went to training with smiles on their faces, wanting to learn and wanting to become better cricketers.”No doubt Marsh would like to comment, but cannot, on the selection policy that sent so many youngsters on tour while leaving behind more experienced players like batsmen Craig Wishart, Gavin Rennie and Trevor Gripper. All three have had their chances in the past, enjoyed some success, but been dropped for long spells after a few low patches. They were not given long runs in the side or enjoyed the confidence in and, some would say, indulgence shown to the likes of Alistair Campbell in the past or Dion Ebrahim in the present. But their extra experience would have helped the woefully fragile batting, especially when Stuart Carlisle’s injury forced him out of the NatWest Series and Mark Vermeulen was sent home for disciplinary reasons – both big blows, says Marsh.”Looking back on it, the players we had here were young and just didn’t stand up to replacing them,” he explained. “With hindsight, those players were really missed in the one-day series.”When asked about the players who made particularly pleasing progress on the tour, it is perhaps significant that Marsh mentioned two senior players rather than the promising but unfulfilled youngsters. “Heath Streak has had an outstanding tour,” he said. “He captained the side very well and he has led from the front with his performances. I think Stuart Carlisle’s performances in all the lead-up games were excellent, although unfortunately he got injured before the one-day series.”Marsh, like Duncan Fletcher, prefers to work quietly behind the scenes and is not given to giving headline-making statements. Earlier this week, though, he did criticise the poor quality of many of the pitches his team had had to play on during the tour. He said, quite correctly, that so many bowler-friendly pitches were unsatisfactory for the development of young English bowlers, as they would not be forced to learn the skills required to succeed on less responsive surfaces. He was probably thinking as much of the damage done to his inexperienced batting line-up on such pitches when most of them have still not perfected their techniques on good batting pitches. In such conditions Zimbabwe could be competitive, but their collapses on seamer-friendly pitches did no good to themselves, their opponents (who were thus scarcely stretched), the spectators, or the game’s financiers.”Lord’s was a really tough Test match,” recalled Marsh. “The ball swung and it was a perfect Bob-Massie, swing-bowling day, and we struggled there. But in general I think the most pleasing thing was the spirit of the side. They set themselves a goal to be a unit, and they really stuck together and worked together. They were a very inexperienced side – but they not inexperienced now, and it’s been a good occasion for them. Now it’s up to them to go back and do well in the Logan Cup, and look forward to facing Australia. We’ll go there with a better side, but it will be a tough tour.”Marsh is pleased to see that several A tours have been lined up, as he feels this is a vital stage in the development of the young players. Zimbabwe A will tour Namibia in August, host Sri Lanka A in January and February, and then tour India later that month.There is certainly raw potential among the young Zimbabwean players, especially the allrounders, and, all things being equal, in three or four years time Zimbabwe should again be able to give the senior Test nations a good run for their money in both forms of the game. But the most crucial factor is the state of their native land. Unless the situation there is resolved speedily, yet more talented cricketers will be on their way out.

Contradicting president Pervez Musharraf, cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan said that cricket was not just a trivial issue between India and Pakistan, and that thawing relations between the two countries created a favourable atmosphere for cricketing ties to resume.”If there is animosity between the two countries, then cricket plays a divisive role. It further accentuates the animosity. And if the relationship is cordial or getting closer, then cricket plays a cementing part,” said Imran in an interview to , which will be telecast on .”You see, if there is tension – for instance, as it was after Kargil – then cricket would have made it worse. Because then cricket becomes the battlefield, and the supporters then are at each other’s throats,” said Imran. “I think because there is a perception in the public that a dialogue is starting, there is a first step forward. So once you go in that direction, cricket is going to help.””There seems to be light at the end of tunnel right now, so I think cricket helps. It is going to cement more. I am all for it. I think it is time to resume cricketing ties,” Imran added.Although he emphasised that he had never received as affectionate a response as in India during his first tour, Imran said that an India-Pakistan match is “a war. It is a friendly war if the countries are friendly and it gets quite hostile if there is hostility between the two countries.”

Chaminda Vaas is set to make his Frizzell Championship debut against Derbyshire at The Rose bowl on Tuesday. The Sri Lankan left arm bowler has impressed in the three National League matches he has played in, but has hist first taste of the 4 day game to come.Nic Pothas faces a late fitness test, and a decision will be made on this on Tuesday morning. Iain Brunnschweiler will stand bye. Jimmy Adams who suffered concussion in the last Championship match at The Rose Bowl is awaiting a specialist clearance before a decision is made.Hampshire chose from 14: Derek Kenway, Jimmy Adams, Simon Katich, John Crawley (captain), John Francis, Nic Pothas or Iain Brunnschweiler, James Hamblin, Dimitri Mascarenhas, Shaun Udal, Chaminda Vaas, Chris Tremlett, Alan Mullally, James Bruce

It has been several months since Alok Kapali last hit the headlines for his bowling. These days, it is his combative middle-order batting that occasionally catches the eye, but back in July 2002, when he made his Test debut as an 18-year-old, his legspin was perceived to be his strongest suit. Sure enough he picked up two (albeit expensive) wickets in his first outing against Sri Lanka.But, in keeping with Bangladesh’s struggles, Kapali’s next scalp did not arrive for about a year – when Australia’s Justin Langer played all round a straight one at Darwin last month. Now, however, Kapali has doubled his tally and halved his average (from a Mike Athertonesque 209.33 to an Ian Salisburyish 104.67), all in the space of three deliveries.Kapali, who turns 20 on New Year’s Day, is the 31st cricketer to take a Test hat-trick, and, hardly surprisingly, the first from Bangladesh. His efforts may yet contribute to an historic maiden Test victory, but judging by their late collapse on the third day at Peshawar, he will have to impress with the bat as well. Still, he completed a memorable day by reaching the close unbeaten on 4, to give Bangladesh a vital 118-run lead with six wickets remaining.Bangladesh may not be too hot when it comes to team performances, but every once in a while they chalk up an unlikely individual achievement. Against India at Dhaka in November 2000, Aminul Islam became only the third batsman (after Australia’s Charles Bannerman and Zimbabwe’s Dave Houghton) to score a century in his country’s inaugural Test. And a year later, in Colombo, Mohammad Ashraful became the youngest player to score a century on his Test debut, at 17 years and 63 days old.In becoming his country’s first hat-trick bowler, Kapali has been propelled into an eclectic nine-man club, occupied by three alltime greats, two extremely-goods, and a handful of extras. The club’s inaugural member was Australia’s demon fast bowler, Fred Spofforth, who ripped through England’s batting at Melbourne in January 1879 with match figures of 13 for 110.Four years later, England replied through Willie Bates, a maverick Yorkshire allrounder who played all 15 of his Tests in Australia. On his day he was irresistible, and at Melbourne in January 1883, his slow roundarm spin collected 14 wickets in the match, including 7 for 28 in 26.2 overs in the first innings.England and Australia shared all 12 of the first hat-tricks in Test history, and it wasn’t until March 1959 that any other nation got a look-in. Appropriately, it was one of the greats who broke the stranglehold. Wes Hall had already marked his arrival as a Test cricketer with 41 wickets on his maiden tour for West Indies, an arduous trek across India and Pakistan in 1958-59. And in the eighth and final Test of that trip, he took his tally to 46 with a hat-trick against Pakistan at Lahore.South Africa were the next team to accomplish the feat, and against England at Lord’s to boot. But it was a bitter-sweet occasion for the bowler, Geoff Griffin. An accident at school had left him with a permanently kinked elbow, and he was no-balled no fewer than 11 times for throwing. It was his second and last Test, and he retired a fortnight after his 21st birthday.Only three men to date have achieved the feat on their Test debuts. The first was England’s Maurice Allom, in January 1930. The second was New Zealand’s offspinner Peter Petherick, who dismissed the Pakistan trio of Javed Miandad, Wasim Raja and Intikhab Alam at Lahore in October 1976. It merely delayed the inevitable, however, as Pakistan eventually won the match by six wickets. The third was Australia’s Damien Fleming, at Rawalpindi in 1994-95, whose victims included Salim Malik for a modest 237.Next to join the club were Pakistan. Wasim Akram had already picked up two one-day hat-tricks in quick succession in 1989-90. Now, nine years later, he repeated the feat in Test cricket as well. His first batch came against Sri Lanka, once again at Lahore, in the third match of the Asian Test Championship. One Test later, and in the final no less, he repeated the dose to send Sri Lanka crashing to an innings defeat.In the recent World Cup, Chaminda Vaas took a spectacular hat-trick from his first three balls against Bangladesh. But he was merely following the example of his team-mate Nuwan Zoysa, whose opening over in the Test against Zimbabwe at Harare in 1999-2000 was equally astonishing. Trevor Gripper was not the most illustrious of first victims, but his next two, Murray Goodwin and Neil Johnson, are among the best to have played for Zimbabwe. At 0 for 3, it was a long way back for Zimbabwe, and unsurprisingly, they fell to a seven-wicket defeat.The last, but most certainly not least of the countries to get off the mark was India – in the guise of Harbhajan Singh, in arguably the most astonishing victory in the history of Test cricket. India had been walloped by Australia in the opening Test of their 2000-01 home series, and when they were forced to follow on at Kolkata, the series looked dead in the water. But Harbhajan’s first-innings hat-trick, including the prime wickets of Ricky Ponting and Adam Gilchrist, provided the first inkling that this was a miracle in the making. Sure enough, VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid put together their thrilling 376-run partnership, and Harbhajan sealed the victory with match figures of 13 for 196.As India proved then, miracles do happen. Alok Kapali will be praying for something similar tomorrow.