Once the combination of morning rain with heavy clay soil and poor drainage forced play to be abandoned for the day shortly before the sun came outat the Oval, a curious event for a ground at which a new sprinkler systemwas fitted over the winter. As a result entertainment was limited for thosenot keen on watching the pigeons and ducks on the outfield.Supporters of the home side can take comfort in the knowledge that last summer when only two days worth of cricket were possible an under strength side defeated Kent, and three are expected to be possible this year, on the other hand, from more recent evidence (Surrey have scored a paltry 559 for the loss of 44 wickets in three four day matches since they scored 585 at Lord’s last year) some might be glad to have survived a day without being bowled out! At home, in what should be warm, partially clouded conditions Surrey will expect to get their show on the road again this summer against a Kent side lacking either McCague or Headley.Whether this is the case or not it will be a nice rarity for there to be afull day of weekend county championship cricket at the Oval, last summersseries of one sided contests and Wednesday starts denied many the chanceto see any of this form of the game.

There was plenty of joy for members of the Oil and Natural GasCommission XI in the second day of their match against All IndiaAssociated Banks XI in the Buchi Babu Invitation Tournament 2000.Driven forward by a classy knock of 157 from skipper Gautham Vadhera,ONGC notched up a mammoth 484/5 declared.Supporting his skipper well, Rizwan Shamshad slammed 114 in a strokefilled display of aggressive batsmanship. Shamshad was particularlysevere on the spinners. His knock however, was made more valuable byVadhera’s patient knock.Although the new ball was taken first thing in the morning, themediumpacers delivered just 4 overs before the ball was handed back tothe spinners.In what must be an unusual situation, All India Associated Banks XIemployed their third stumper of the match in the form of CP Sahu.Mithun Minhas gave Sahu the pleasure of being on the scoreboard as hewas stumped off Panchasara.Shortly before drinks, Vadhera decided that he had enough runs on theboard and called it quits at 484/5. Responding to this huge score, AllIndia Associated Banks were in trouble immediately. Delhi mediumpacerAmit Bhandari struck twin blows, removing the openers Sahu and DanielManohar with just 37 on the board. Devendra Bundela saved All IndiaAssociated Banks from further embarrassment as he shored up one end.Making 103 including 16 boundaries, pushed the score forward. PankajDharmani played a speedy knock, bringing up his half century with 10boundaries to his name. After slamming a majestic six over mid wicketoff spinner Rahul Sanghvi, he succumbed for 64.At the fall of Dharmani’s wicket, the scoring rate dropped once more.Shortly after making his hundred, Bundela fell, with the score on 214.Karnataka stumper Tilak Naidu (26) and KN Ramesh 4) saw All IndiaAssociated Banks safely through to stumps at 223/4.

Delhi medium pacer Ashish Nehra put up a fine display, bagging fourwickets for 53, to restrict a star studded Punjab lineup to 187 in78.3 overs on the first day of the North Zone Ranji Trophy match atthe Harbax stadium in New Delhi on Wednesday. Robin Singh Junior andNikhil Chopra picked up two wickets each.Reetinder Singh Sodhi stood firm amidst the ruins scoring a patient 78from 197 deliveries. He cleared the ropes once and send the ball tothe fence on six occasions. Nikhil Chopra lured India star YuvrajSingh (8) with a flighted delivery, where stumper Pradeep Chawlacaught him short of his ground.Delhi batted for eleven minutes. Openers Ashu Dani (1) and AkashChopra (4) returned unbeaten with a score at five for no loss from 2.1overs.

In nine Test matches against South Africa Muttiah Muralitharan has taken five wickets in an innings or more eight time, including a double against South Africa in the drawn first Castle Lager/MTN Test match that ended at Kingsmead on Saturday.South African opening bat and man of the match at Kingsmead Gary Kirsten, however, poses one question: "How many of those Tests have Sri Lanka won?" The answer is one. Kirsten makes a very good point.For all Muralitharan’s success against South Africa, it was always the home team who dominated this match and, but for the loss of the fourth day to the weather, probably would have won.Muralitharan had a remarkable game, taking 11 for 161 and reaching 300 Test wickets in the process. For this achievement he was presented with an award by the Sri Lankan minister of tourism and sport, Lakshman Kiriella, at tea time on the last day.But even then Sri Lanka were fighting to save a match dominated by South Africa. In the end a fifth-wicket stand worth 52 which took up 111 minutes between Russel Arnold and Tillekeratne Dilshan saved the game with the tourists, set 345 to win in 82 overs, ending on 149 for six with eight overs remaining when play was called off for bad light.And that was just about the measure of South Africa’s dominance. The home side gave wickets in the morning as they extended their lead, eventually declaring at 140 for seven. Muralitharan took six for 39, but the South Africans were taking chances, prepared to exchange their wickets for quick runs.Shaun Pollock juggled with his batting order, bringing in himself at four and with Neil McKenzie, Lance Klusener and Daryll Cullinan going in at seven, eight and nine respectively.You can argue with this, but Pollock’s defence was that he wanted to send in the players happy to go after it – "The sloggers" – and give those who have to graft for their runs for a living a little protection.Perhaps the declaration was delayed a little too long, but with the last day not going the full distance anyway, the debate became academic.In the event, South Africa got rid of the Sri Lankan top order with Nicky Boje snapping up two, Mfuneko Ngam accounting for Sanath Jayasuriya and Makhaya Ntini bowling quite beautifully to eventually work out Mahela Jayawardene.Then Arnold and Dilshan dug in and although Pollock eventually had Arnold caught miscuing a pull and Romesh Kaluwitharana caught soon afterwards at mid on, they had already done enough to frustrate the South Africans.Arnold made 30 and Dilshan was not out on 28 at the end, but they batted for two hours and two-and-a-half hours respectively and they gave Sri Lanka the draw.Jayasuriya praised Muralitharan afterwards. "All of Sri Lanka is proud of him," he said. "He is the only Sri Lanka who could do this."He also felt that the Sri Lankan batsmen would be a little more confident going into the second Test at Newlands on January 2. This is a moot point. The South Africans will almost certainly field the same attack, but there is a possibility that Herschelle Gibbs, whose six-month ban ends with the New Year, will be brought in for Boeta Dippenaar.Perhaps more importantly, South Africa will look for a faster pitch at Newlands than they have had in four home Tests this summer. Even Kirsten, who scored 180 at Kingsmead, was talking about looking for a pitch that would give the South Africa quicks a little more assistance.Maybe the Newlands groundsman might come up with something a little more sporting for 2001.

Loughborough University, who last week won the inaugural ECB Universities Championship under the guidance of Former England Test star Graham Dilley, tomorrow host the ‘village’ side Lashings for a one-day match.”Given the publicity Lashings has received recently, we are naturally pleased they accepted our challenge and are bringing a team to Loughborough tomorrow.” commented Guy Jackson, Director of Cricket at Loughborough which houses one of the six ECB Centres of Excellence.He added “University cricket is changing shape rapidly and Loughborough has emerged as one of the top sides. We know Lashings have played Oxford and other University sides but we beat Oxford on Monday by ten wickets in the semi-finals of the British Universities Championships.The Lashings side may not feature recent addition Shoaib Akhtar who is due to play his first match for Lashings on Friday, but West Indians Richie Richardson, Jimmy Adams, Stuart Williams, Junior Murray and Franklyn Rose are available to play.Coach Graham Dilley, himself a veteran of West Indian head to heads added “There is a powerful wind of change blowing through University cricket and I am delighted to be part of it. It’s great Loughborough’s results have been so good this year, including victories over Oxford, Cambridge and Durham, going some way to show that Oxbridge are no longer the dominant forces in University cricket.” he added.For further information or to attend the game, please contact Vision Sports PR on 020 8875 1001 / 07957 355 317The Cricket Centres of Excellence:ECB funded University Centres of Cricket Excellence (UCCE) plan to ensure that more aspiring county professionals have an opportunity to gain academic qualifications, and simultaneously to inject more competitiveness into University Cricket.The scheme boasts some of nation’s best coaches, including Graeme Fowler (Durham Univ) and Graham Dilley (Loughborough Univ), and some of finest young playing talents in the game.While Loughborough have taken the inaugural UCCE Championship, Loughborough and Durham will also contest a ‘final’ for the Championship’s two top sides at Lord’s on June 27th.

An unbroken opening stand of 372 between Murray Goodwin and Richard Montgomerie put Sussex firmly in the driving seat in their CricInfo match at Trent Bridge against Notts.The pair batted until the end of the 97th over when Goodwin drove Gareth Clough to the extra cover boundary to reach the first double hundred of his career (375 mine 280 balls 27x4s 2x6s). Chris Adams then declared, with Goodwin 203 not out and Montgomerie 160 not out, setting Notts an improbable 447 to win in a minimum of 101 overs.In the five overs available on the third evening Guy Welton’s poor run of form continued in the unluckiest of circumstances. With him still to get off the mark he was run out at the non–striker’s end as bowler James Kirtley deflected Darren Bicknell’s straight drive on to the stumps.Skipper Bicknell and nightwatchman Gareth Clough avoided any further calamities and survived until the close with the score on 16-1.With a first innings lead of 74 already secured Goodwin and Montgomerie batted throughout the morning session for Sussex to reach lunch on 121–0.The home attack laboured during the afternoon as both batsmen went on to reach three figures — Goodwin ror the second time in the match and Montgomerie for the third time in his last four appearances against Notts.The Zimbabwean was at his fluent best during the post–lunch period, scoring 95 in the session, topped off by two huge legside sixes. His 150 (272 mins 217 balls 19x4s 2x6s) arrived immediately after tea.For the most part Montgomerie was content to give his partner the majority of the strike but he advanced to his highest score for Sussex and then passed his own 150 (319 mins 269 balls 20x4s).Notts laboured on a flat track and with a lightning fast outfield — but fed both batsmen too many loose deliveries.With a first Championship victory of the season seemingly an unrealistic option Notts will have to bat responsibly on the final day to achieve a draw.

Galle continues to be a happy hunting ground for Pakistan’s seam bowlers.Twelve months after Wasim Akram, Abdul Razzaq and Waqar Younis bowled outSri Lanka to win a three-match Test series, Irfan Fazil, Pakistan A’sfastest bowler, overwhelmed Sri Lanka A’s batsmen on the first day of thefinal unofficial Test Match.Unfortunately for Sri Lanka, there can be no excuses. Unlike last year whenthe pitch was tailor made for Pakistan’s bowlers, today’s surface was devoid of live grass and pedestrian in pace. Sri Lanka A wasted the advantage of winning the toss and were bowled out for just 141 in 59.2 overs.Irfan Fazil grabbed six Sri Lankan wickets for just 38 runs to record hisbest ever first class bowling analysis. The 19-year-old bowled three spellsin all, but was most destructive in his final two-over burst after tea, in whichhe clean bowled three batsmen with fast reverse swinging yorkers, straightout of the Waqar Younis school of toe crushers.The 19-year-old has played one Test Match, against Sri Lanka last year inKarachi, but on the evidence of this tour he will be soon playing again forthe senior side. An enthusiastic cricketer, forever pestering the Press Boxfor bowling statistics, he generates his pace from a wonderfully rhythmicallong run-up and classically side ways on action. The result is a 90mph fastbowler that swings the new ball out and the new ball in.Sri Lanka at least fought back in the evening by taking three top-orderwickets. If Prasanna Jayawardene, widely considered the best wicket keeperin Sri Lanka, had grasped a difficult one-handed chance off Hasan Raza, theycould even ended have the day in the ascendancy. As it was Pakistan were wellplaced on 75 for three at the close of play.Earlier, Avishka Gunawardene had single handedly held Sri Lanka’s battingtogether for the second match in succession. Still sore this morning from amatch winning unbeaten 82 in the Mercantile Cricket Tournament yesterday, hepummeled a belligerent 53 from 66 balls. He would have scored more too had Raza not shrewdly plugged his chief scoring area, the deep point boundary, right from the start of his innings.Unfortunately for Sri Lanka he swung lazily through the line of DanishKaneria’s first ball of the match to be caught at cover on the stroke oflunch. Sri Lanka’s last eight wickets fell for 70 runs.Raza brought Imran Fazil back into the attack soon after the interval for afour-over burst, in which he claimed the wickets of Jeeantha Kulatunga andChamara Silva. Kulatunga skewed a catch to backward point as he tried to cuta wide delivery and Silva, who faced 75 balls for his nine runs, was cleanbowled as he shouldered arms to a straight fast delivery. Sri Lanka were 103for five.Malintha Warnapura, one of seven changes to the Sri Lankan side that playedin Colombo last week, then added 15 runs in 43 minutes for the sixth wicketwith Jayawardene, before being caught behind off Yasir Arafat. Irfan Fazilthen returned after tea to mop up the tail in style.

The Punjab Cricket Association approved a budget of Rs 3.5 crore for2001-02 at its annual general body meeting at the PCA stadium inMohali on Sunday, laying emphasis on coaching and equipment fordistrict associations beside creating a unique benevolent fund schemefor former Punjab cricketers, a huge increase in the inter-districtchampionship prize money, and advancement of the Centre of Excellenceplan.Addressing newsmen after the meeting of the PCA, its president,Inderjit Singh Bindra said that the association would spend a majorchunk out of the budget amounting to Rs 30 lakh on coaching of playersand providing equipments.The association had increased the prize moneyfor the inter-district championships from Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 5 lakh.Besides, the winners and the runners-up will be awarded a cash prizefrom this season onward, he added.Bindra further said that the association commended the outstandingperformance of state team in various age groups of the North Zonechampionship. At least five Punjab players played for the Indian teamlast season. The AGM also decided to honour Harbhajan Singh and formerIndian player Navjot Singh Sidhu for excelling at the highest level.The meeting also complimented MP Pandove for successfully pleadingPCA’s case in the Board’s Tour and Fixture committee meeting held atJaipur to host the first Test against England from December 3 to 7 andthe first One Day International against Zimbabwe on March 7 next year.Bindra revealed that a provision of Rs 25 lakh has been made in thebudget for present and past cricketers of the state under thebenevolent fund for players. The association from this season willregister every player.The executive committee also authorised the technical committee to fixall the venues of the Ranji Trophy and Deodhar Trophy matches allottedto the PCA during the ensuing season. The state teams in all agegroups, including the Punjab Ranji team, will also have a sponsor fromthis year.In an amendment of the PCA constitution carried out at the meeting,the AGM also approved the election of Prabhu Chawla (Editor, IndiaToday) and Lalit Modi (of Modi Group) as two new vice-presidents inthe association, thus bringing the number of vice presidents to five.The Modi group has agreed to sponsor the “Centre of Excellence” schemeof the association from this season, Bindra added.

The New Zealanders are back in the nets preparing for their firstmatch of the second round of the Coca Cola Cup against Sri Lanka atthe Premadasa Stadium which will be played on Wednesday.The Black Caps beat India convincingly in their first round match ofthe Coca Cola Cup while in the match against the host nation, theywent down after a gallant fight.After the matches in Dambulla were shifted to Colombo, the teammanagement decided for a two day outing in Kandy. "Well, the onlyreason to go out of Colombo was because we didn’t want to spend threeand half weeks in the same hotel in Colombo. That was to give the guysa different atmosphere. But I tell you we haven’t neglected anypractice opportunities" said Jeff Crowe, the manager of the NewZealand team."We fitted in the essentials of our programme during our stay inKandy. For example we did our gym sessions over there and the playersare looking forward."Reflecting on the two matches the Black Caps have played, the NewZealand manager said; "We would have liked to win both the gamesobviously. But we played better cricket in the second game. In thefirst game we were bit rusty, but I still feel we had chance to winthat game as well. But more importantly, we checked our mistakes onthe second game and we are improving" said Crowe who has been themanager of the side for close to two years."Even in the game against India, our batsmen struggled. But we’veaddressed that issue and we have to see that we won’t repeat themistakes in the matches ahead," said the former New Zealand captain.Talking about the second round matches of the tournament, Crowe said;"We are looking forward for both the games and want to do well tobook a place in the final," Crowe continued, "The prime importancewill be to beat Sri Lanka. We’ve lost the first match against them,then they defeated us at home few months back. If we can puteverything that we’ve been practicing, that’s it."In the one day game, the New Zealanders cornered the headlines whenthey won the ICC knockout tournament in Kenya last year, but all thegood work was spoilt after the side lost two successive series to SriLanka and South Africa soon after."I think we are capable of winning the Coca-Cola Cup. We have shownin the past that we’ve got the nucleus to win tournaments. We provedthat in the ICC knockout tournament" reflected Crowe. "But this isnot a knock-out tournament. Here you’ve got to be consistent and whenit comes to the final it’s the team that’s good on that day."However, a key player missing in the side is Chris Cairns who wasinstrumental in leading the side for victory during the ICC knockouttournament, "He’s a world class player. No doubt about it.Unfortunately he’s not here so you can’t worry about that."The Black Caps’ chances of going through to the final increased afterIndia fell to bottom of the points table with a poor run rate as well.No one can take them lightly and they are capable of doing what theyaccomplished in Kenya last year.

Jimmy Maher scored his third century of the summer to put Glamorganright back into their CricInfo Championship Division One clash withEssex at Sophia Gardens.The Queenslander reached his 100 off 157 balls with 14 fours as heguided the home county to 188-2 at the close of the second day – 139behind Essex’s first innings of 327 all out.Glamorgan created a good platform to their reply, with Maher and IanThomas putting on 63 for the first wicket before Thomas was caught atsecond slip off Mark Ilott.Matthew Maynard looked in good form until he edged Justin Bishop behindto leave Glamorgan 94-2.But Maher continued Glamorgan’s charge with Mike Powell, who got intohis stride after a quiet start and the third-wicket pair doubled thescore before the close. Essex had few answers to Glamorgan’s batting,using seven bowlers in the first 51 overs.Earlier Steve Watkin recorded season-best figures of 6-67 to take thelast three Essex wickets.But it took the second new ball for Watkin to dislodge Essex’s tailafter they resumed on 242-7 75 minutes later than scheduled because ofearly morning rain.The mainstay of Essex’s late order batting was Ashley Cowan who scoredhis first half-century of the season.Cowan was eventually out, bowled by Watkin, ending an innings that lasted108 balls with eight fours, ending an 86-run partnership for the eighthwicket with Mark Ilott in 35 overs.Watkin continued his mopping up operation to dismiss both Ilott andJustin Bishop in consecutive overs.