India had set their eyes on a big score against the comparatively weakNetherlands. They eventually ended batting first after being put in by theopposition which very much suited them as I guess they would have battedfirst even if they had won the toss.Indian openers Anju Jain and Anjum Chopra began on a sedate note. WhileJain was more open to the idea of scoring runs, Chopra appeared to getherself tied down with her attempt to play, more often than not, square onboth sides of the wickets. She appeared more cramped for space in theprocess but played a determined innings. Anju Jain appeared to be a victimof a leg before decision, bringing Mithali Raj to the middle.The entry of Raj accelerated the scoring rate to an extent especially onaccount of some very good running between the wickets by Chopra. The101-run partnership for the second wicket between these two laid thefoundation for an onslaught later on. Chopra’s attempt to play in front ofthe wicket came rather late in the innings but she eventually fell in theprocess of lofting one over extra cover.The run rate was none too impressive even after Raj fell but the fourthwicket pair of Hemalatha Kala and Chandrakantha Kaul smashed the Dutchattack to smithereens and when the Indian innings ended, the score read ahealthy 275 for 4 with 75 runs coming in quick time from this partnership.Kala’s innings stood out as a shining example with her 56 runs coming offjust 40 balls. It was not just her score but the authentic andauthoritative manner in which she got those runs that warmed the handful ofspectators watching the match.Kaul (39 off 37 balls), who has been out of touch with the game after hersojourn in England, returned unbeaten, obviously happy with her formalthough it was against one of the babes of the women’s cricket arena. Itis interesting that Netherlands are playing in their fourth World Cup butthe difference in standard between the top five teams and the rest israther vast.Set target of 276, Netherlands never seemed to be in the run. SunitaKanojia, who opened the attack, bowled against the breeze but appeared tobe the best medium pacer insight with her ability to swing the ball awayfrom a right hander which pays better dividends against the moreaccomplished batsmen. But she was decisively unlucky not to be amongst thewickets though she bowled economically.In the end the Netherlands team managed to score 121 for 6 resulting in anIndian victory by a huge margin of 154 runs. But what has been disturbingout here has been the inability of the Indian team to get any team all outin the competition and in the two warm up games prior to it. This is inspite of the fact that all the teams respect the Indian spin attack and themedium pacers have made the initial breakthroughs. May be the think thankof the team needs to address this issue and sort out the strategicallyproblematic areas that may have crept into their game plan.But the defeat of England at the hands of South Africa has made it easierfor India even though it has thrown open the competition and made it harderfor England to qualify for the semi-final. But then it is early days yetand one can’t write away the tenacious England team at this stage.

The Indian cricket team for the triangular series involving India, Zimbabwe and West Indies to be played at Zimbabwe, from June 23 to July 7 would be picked in Mumbai on June 12 or 13.The BCCI secretary and convener of the selection committee JY Lele told PTI in Mumbai on Saturday that a few changes would be made from the team which is already in Zimbabwe after the two-Test series.”By June 17 the players selected for the triangular series would reach Zimbabwe,” he said. “The exact date for the selection committee meeting would be known only after consulting its chairman Chandu Borde, who is busy with his daughter’s wedding arrangements”, Lele added.Lele said that if the government clears the team to play in the Asian Test Championship then India will not take part in the Indoor one-day three-match series in Australia as the dates of both the tournaments were clashing.

After three days of the Second Test at Harare Sports Club, the matchwas still in the balance by the close, although solid batting secondtime round had perhaps given India a slight advantage. At 197 forfour, they were 119 runs ahead with six wickets left and threateningto leave the home side a difficult target.Zimbabwe began the day with a lead of 64 runs on first innings and twowickets left. Brian Murphy did not add to his overnight 17, drivingirresponsibly at a full-length ball from Harbhajan Singh in his firstover, when all that was required of him was support for Grant Flower,and lost his off stump.Brighton Watambwa came in with a runner, after his hamstring strain,and held firm, but Flower fell for 86, well caught low down by VVSLaxman at slip off Javagal Srinath. Zimbabwe totalled 315, a lead of78. With the strength of the Indian batting, this could be describedas no better than `useful’.Samir Dighe opened with Shiv Sunder Das for India second time round,but at first Zimbabwe’s opening bowlers wasted the new ball, failingto make the batsmen play all too often. Then Dighe (4) followed aball from Andy Blignaut outside the off stump and edged a catch towicket-keeper Andy Flower.Laxman did not look very comfortable at first and had a lucky escapewhen a miscued pull off Travis Friend lobbed high into a vacant areatowards fine leg. He immediately celebrated with two magnificentcover-driven boundaries, followed by a fierce pull for four and anoff-drive for three, all off Blignaut’s next over. Then he lashedFriend square and Murphy picked up a sharp ground-level catch atpoint. The umpire did not refer the decision to the third umpire; areferral under existing technology could not have given a decision intime, and umpire Asoka de Silva is to be congratulated on having thecourage of his convictions. Laxman was out for 20 and India were 32for two.Das and Tendulkar continued watchfully after lunch, steering Indiacautiously into the lead again and taking no chances. Zimbabwe bowledaccurately to an off-side field, finding quite a bit of swing, andscoring opportunities were not frequent as each side strove to weardown the other. Zimbabwe, one seam bowler short with Watambwainjured, were at a disadvantage here over the long term, and thedecision was taken to risk Guy Whittall’s dodgy knee by giving him aspell.Das has plenty of patience but Tendulkar restrained himself admirably,until in the thirties he felt settled enough to pull and cut Friendtwice for four in an over. He reached his fifty just before tea.Zimbabwe had little for which to reprove themselves during theafternoon session, except possibly some lack of imagination, but werenevertheless helpless as the balance of the match swung slowly butsteadily in India’s favour. Their approach seemed to be simply tobowl tightly just outside off stump and wait for the batsmen to make amistake, and India were batting with plenty of patience.In the final session some poorer bowling enabled India to restart withconfidence and the century partnership was reached. Das reached hisfifty with a neat cut for four through the slips, but then Tendulkar(69) chopped at a ball from Streak outside off stump, for it to flyhard and straight to Grant Flower in the gully.Thereafter the cricket slowed right down, as Zimbabwe continued toplay a come-and-get-me policy, using mainly their seamers and givingleg-spinner Murphy little work. Das came almost to a standstill,while Rahul Dravid played the odd exquisite stroke to the odd looseball. Had they stayed to the close, Zimbabwe would indeed have beenstruggling, but Andy Blignaut took the second new ball, due for thefinal over of the day, and had Dravid caught at the wicket for 26, amajor blow for Zimbabwe. Das finished unbeaten with 68.

The Somerset Board XI are in action on Sunday when they take on Gloucestershire Board XI at the most attractive North Perrott Cricket Club.In their previous match against Cornwall at Falmouth a couple of weeks ago, Somerset were beaten by the weather and after restricting the home side to 187 in their 50 overs they had to settle for a share of the points as the rain prevented the match from being completed.Team manager Peter Robinson told me that the line-up to face Gloucestershire would be very similar to that which faced Cornwall, with the only likely change being a replacement for Joe Tucker who suffered a suspected stress fracture to the foot playing against Northants Seconds recently .The Somerset side will again be skippered by Kevin Parsons from Taunton St Andrew’s and will include Chris Hunkin, Kevin Sedgebeer, and Matt Dimond,(all Taunton St Andrew’s) Gareth Andrew, Tim Burt and Wes Durston, (all Glastonbury) Richard Pannell,(Keynsham), Ian Jones(Somerset CCC)and an extra batsman.The match will be played over 50 overs a side and gets under way at 11am. North Perrott’s delightful ground is situated about three miles east of Crewkerne just south of the A30. Refreshments will be available all day.

Southern Electric Premier League pair Havant and Easton & Martyr Worthy face massive national knockout cup ties this Sunday, July 15.Havant, winners of the southern region group, face three-times Western League champions Bath for a place in the quarter-finals of the ECB Club Championship, sponsored by play-cricket.com. The match is at Bath’s North Parade at 1 o’clock.Bath, who beat Devon’s Bovey Tracey by 12 runs in their south-west region final, were narrowly beaten finalists against Doncaster Town three seasons ago.Easton & Martyr Worthy have home advantage in their Wadworth 6X Village Championship sixth round tie against Blackheath, who currently lie fifth in the Castle Lager Surrey Championship Division 3.The tie was due to have been played on July 8, but Blackheath’s ground was flooded after heavy overnight rain.

Indian captain Sourav Ganguly was fined 75 percent of his match fee bymatch referee Cammie Smith for bringing the game into disrepute inyesterday’s game against Sri Lanka where he was seen using abusivelanguage at Sri Lankan batsman Russell Arnold when the batsman wasgiven out.The 29-year-old skipper attended a disciplinary hearing last eveningwith Smith after India’s 46-run victory.Ganguly, in fact had returned on Wednesday for the match against SriLanka after serving a one-match suspension for bringing the game intodisrepute earlier in the tournament.Ganguly first lost his cool when Arnold survived a vehement caughtbehind appeal before directing a stream of verbal abuse at the lefthander when umpire Gamini Silva gave him out lbw next ball.Smith spoke to Ganguly, both umpires, Russel Arnold and MahelaJayawardene, the non-striker, immediately after the match, but said hewould announce his decision only on Thursday morning.The ICC had recently made it clear that it is the responsibility ofthe captains to ensure that the game is played "within the spirit ofthe game."According to the latest laws of cricket, it is against the spirit ofthe game "to direct abusive language towards an opponent or umpire."

Anderson Sealy yesterday made an immediate impression on his return todomestic cricket following a professional stint in England.The left-arm spinner took six wickets – a feat duplicated later byanother left-arm spinner, Ryan Hinds, just back from the Shell CricketAcademy of the St George’s University.But, it was Sealy’s performance which made more impact on a day inwhich Banks made all the running against ESA Field Pickwick.Pickwick, sent in on a pitch that posed no problems, were undone byhis flighted spin and were dismissed just before lunch in 29.1 overs.Sealy’s remarkable figures of 9.1-4-12-6 flattered him."I figured that with covered wickets that batsmen would applythemselves a bit more. They didn’t, so I took advantage of that," hesaid.Sealy only returned to Barbados on Tuesday after representing theBarbados Overseas Cricket Association in London where he took morethan 40 wickets and made 900-odd runs in 24 matches."I’ve been working a lot on my bowling. It just shows that hard workpays off."With the exception of captain Mike Matthews, who made 26, no Pickwickbatsman looked comfortable.Banks responded aggressively, the enterprise coming from the bats ofbeefy Barry Callender (53 off 59 balls) and Richard Carter (33 off 26balls).They smacked five sixes between them, but Banks fell away afterreaching 165 for five and the last five wickets fell for 25. Hindsclaimed six for 67.Still, a lead of 127 was a useful one and by the close, Pickwick hadalready lost both openers to trail by 99 runs.Prediction: Victory for Banks.

South African Cricket has announced a unique homegrown ticketing system that is considered good enough to be used at future international showpieces including Olympic Games.The ICB-Didate Ticketing System has been designed specifically for the eighth Cricket World Cup to be staged in South Africa in February-March 2003. The system will, however, be used in future for all international and inter-provincial cricket matches in South Africa and will be “Live” in time for the tour early next year by Australia.For the past year, 19 full-time staff at information technology company Dimension Data (Didata) have been working under project manager Graham Cook on a system master-minded on behalf of the United Cricket board of South Africa (UCB) by Ian Smith, commercial director of the 2003 Cricket World Cup (2003 CWC).Ticket packages for 2003 CWC will go on sale to the general public on July 1, 2002, via the Internet, Call Centre and at the 12 World Cup venues in South Africa.In keeping with current international ticketing practice, tickets will be sold in packages. There will be Two basic varieties viz. Stadium Packages for all the games at particular venue, excluding matches hosting by Zimbabwe, and Follow-the Team Packages for all Pool games involving a particular team.Dr. Ali Bacher, executive director of 2003 CWC, said today”. “It is projected that at least 800000 tickets will be sold for the 54 matches of the tournament. To achieve that objective in accordance with worldwide trends, it has been decided to offer tickets for the sale in packages. On the basis that ticket prices will be affordable, I anticipate that the South African public across the broadest spectrum will enthusiastically support the concept and the tournament”.Dr. Bacher said the system has been highly commended by Michael Eyers, deputy CEO of the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, who said it was far more efficient than that in place for the last year’s Olympic games. “Mr. Eyers has informed me that what we have is a system that can support the largest and most complex of events – and that includes the Olympic Games.”The ticketing system is a generic one that can be used by all forms of entertainment.For the first time is South African sport, all tickets will be barcoded. They will be scanned and verified through a sophisticated venue access control system, which will also generate a customer database holding valuable information on all tickets purchases.The system is designed to ensure maximum security and stadium safety for the paying customer.The system has already been installed at Super sport Park Centurion, the North West Stadium in Potchefstroom and at Kings mead in Durban and will go “Live” at these venues for all matches from the start of the coming season. By the time of the Australian tour to South Africa in April next year, all of South Africa’s World Cup venues will be “Live”.How 2003 CWC ticketing process will work:

• Ticket prices will be finalized by the end of December 2001 after proposals have been received from the UCB affiliates hosting World Cup matches and these have been considered by the respective finance committees of 2003 CWC and the International Cricket Council (ICC).
• By mid-January 2002, letters will be sent to (a) SA cricket’s current national and provincial sponsors, (b) season ticket holders, (c) suite owners, (d) the cricket boards of the 14 participating countries and (e) the official suppliers to the UCB for 2003 CWC in order to establish their requirements for the purchases of tickets for the tournament.

These requests must be submitted by the end of February 2002 after which, by the end of March 2002, the above parties will be notifies as to what extent their ticket purchase requirements can be met.

• Season ticket holders for this season (2001/2002) and next (2002/2003) and owners of suites covering the 2003 CWC lease period will all be entitled to purchase seats.
• Packages to the general public will go on sale on July 1, 2002, and these tickets will be available from November 1, 2002 for either collection at the World Cup venues or by door-to-door courier delivery. Purchasers of tickets via the Internet and Call Centre will be given a reference number for collection/delivery purposes.
• Of the packages available to the general public on July 1, 2002, 60% will go on sale at the venues and 20% each via the Internet and Call Centre. This is being done in order to allow as many local supporters as possible to attend World Cup games at their home venues.
• Follow-the-Team packages will only be available for the Pool or first round matches. Followers of team reaching the Super 6s, Semi-finals and Final will be able to purchase a limited number of tickets prior to those matches on a first-come-first-served basis.
• In addition, those supporters who have purchases a Stadium package (where the stadium hosts three or more games or a Follow-the-Team Package will have the opportunity on a first-come-first-served basis to purchase a limit number of tickets – which number has still to be determined – for the four prime games of the tournament viz) the opening Game, the two Semi-finals and the Final.
• In order to accommodate as many spectators as possible at World Cup games, a maximum of five packages per person may be purchased from July 1, 2002.
• The Opening Ceremony in Cape Town on Wednesday, February 5, 2003, will be treated as a separate event and not part of a package.
• On December 1, 2002, individual match tickets will go on sale depending on availability.
• In Zimbabwe, from July 1, tickets for the games in Zimbabwe will go on sale at their two venues – Harare and Bulawayo.

For further information contact:

Ian Smith, Commercial Director, 2003 Cricket World Cup
Phone #: 0027-11-4463600
Fax #: 0027-11-4463600

Issued by Rodney Hartman
Communications Manager, 2003 World Cup
Phone #: 0027-11-4463604
Fax #: 0027-11-4463622
Mobile: 083-389-0904

Northamptonshire will offer a new contract to Australian opener Mike Hussey in the wake of the left-hander’s stunning debut season in county cricket.The 26-year-old from Perth scored 2,055 first-class runs at 79.04, including a record-breaking 329 not out against Essex at Northampton, and finished just short of 3,000 runs in all cricket.He was named as Northants’ Weetabix Player of the Year after carrying off the monthly awards for both June and July.Matthew Hayden, who captained the county in 1999 and 2000, has confirmed that he will not be available in 2002, prompting Northants to try and extend Hussey’s stay at Wantage Road.Director of Cricket Bob Carter said: “Matt has informed us that he won’t be able to play next summer because of his international commitments.””Mike has done a brilliant job for us this year, we will be offering him fresh terms and we very much hope he’ll accept.”Hussey received his award on Tuesday from Jerry Higgins of Weetabix, while Dennis Brookes presented 21-year-old all-rounder Robert White with the Frank Rudd Trophy as the club’s top young cricketer of the year.Meanwhile, Northants have confirmed the offer of a two-year contract to the 25-year-old former Gauteng and Free State wicketkeeper/batsman Gerard Brophy, whose Irish passport prevents him being regarded as an overseas player.

The Hampshire County Cricket Club undergoes a major change today (1 November 2001), becoming the first county club to change to a Limited Company. With effect the new board of Directors will take control of the business, Hampshire County Cricket and Sports Club Limited, with a new Chief Executive Officer taking over the running of the business.A new corporate structure has been put into place, but the interest of members is still preserved. The Board will consist of Rod Bransgrove (Chairman), Graham Walker (Chief Executive Officer), Tim Tremlett (Director of Cricket), and three Non-Executive Directors: Mark Nicholas, Feroze (“Jan”) Janmohamed and Nick Pike.As a result of the new corporate structure a newly constituted Members Club will operate on behalf of the members.Much work needs to be done in the completion of the Hampshire Rose Bowl, particularly the opening of the main pavilion, and all being well it is hoped that this will be complete for the start of the next (2002) cricket season.More news on this, and future plans both on the cricket front and the stadium will be published soon.