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Plans have been submitted for a major refurbishment to the Walker Cricket Ground in Southgate, Middlesex’s second home in recent years. The main clubhouse and neighbouring squash courts would be demolished and replaced with a purpose-built two-storey facility.”The plans are all about trying to secure the future of the ground," Chris Sexton, the Walker Ground’s administration director, told the Barnet & Potters Bar Times. "It has been here for over 150 years and we want to see it carry on. "It’s very expensive to maintain the cricket ground, so if we don’t improve facilities we may not be able to make ends meet.”Middlesex have increasingly regarded Southgate as their second home, and with fewer matches staged at Lord’s in recent seasons they have increased the numbers of games held there. Sexton would like to host even more Middlesex games.”One of the problems we have here is that although Middlesex like coming here, and enjoy the excellent pitch, the players have to sit in a tent to watch the game as we have no viewing facilities,” Sexton explained. “We have to cordon off their changing rooms from the public as well, which is not ideal for county cricket. We want them to continue to play here and this development will certainly help in that respect.”

The contents of reports compiled for the UCBSA by the FitnessTrainer and Psychologist of the South African cricket team whichcompeted in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2003 have appeared inthe media today.Members of team management and specialists routinely compilereports after tours and tournaments to assist in assessing andimproving the team’s performance and preparation. Their reportsare regarded as confidential and are circulated only to membersof the relevant committees of the UCBSA. These reports werereceived after the World Cup and – in particular that of FitnessTrainer Andrew Gray – have been discussed at the meeting onApril 15 of the UCBSA’s Medical Committee. They are also due tobe discussed at the next meeting of the National CricketCommittee scheduled for the end of this month.”We are concerned about the issues mentioned in Andrew Gray’sreport in particular and they are being addressed as part of anongoing process to improve the team’s performance. Andrew’sown work with the team is also ongoing and we receive regularreports from him. He has already raised some of these concernsin a verbal report to the NCC at its last meeting on 27 March2003. Following that verbal report, the NCC recommended to theGeneral Council on 29 March 2003 that all player contractsshould stipulate specific fitness requirements and this will beaddressed by the Board of Directors of Cricket SA (Pty) Ltdwhich governs professional cricket,” said UCBSA CEO GeraldMajola.”In addition, certain players missed out on selection for theteam’s current tour because they did not reach the requiredfitness level. Other players were put on strict fitness regimes onAndrew Gray’s advice,” Majola said.”Andrew’s written report and the details contained in it are stillto be discussed by the NCC. Our discussions are informed by arange of documents and opinions, including the teammanagement and specialist reports, and are aimed at ensuring afrank and honest assessment of our squad’s strengths andweaknesses. We will obviously also be looking at building on thecurrent tour to Bangladesh, one of the hallmarks of which hasbeen the new spirit which has begun to emerge in the side,”Majola added.”I am concerned that reports containing confidential medicalinformation about players have been leaked to the media,particularly as they have not yet been fully discussed by theUCB,” Majola stated.Fitness Trainer Andrew Gray, who is currently with the team inBangladesh, said: “My observations about diet and lifestylementioned in my report were not made in the immediate run-upto the World Cup. I made observations through 2002 and thoseobservations were contained in letters to each player when theWorld Cup squad was announced at the end of December 2002.All the players in the squad reached their required fitness levelsin advance of the World Cup.”Media Enquiries:Bronwyn WilkinsonCommunications Director083-212-8255

ANDY BLIGNAUT IN ONE-DAY INTERNATIONALSComplete to 31 March 2003

Abbreviations:A = Australia N = NamibiaB = Bangladesh NZ = New ZealandE = England P = PakistanH = Holland SA = South AfricaI = India SL = Sri LankaK = Kenya WI = West IndiesOpponents (Venue) No. How out Runs (Balls) Ct (No) O M R W1999/2000, TRIANGULAR TOURNAMENT IN SINGAPORE; 2, 4 Sept 19991 WI (Singapore) L (6) c +R D Jacobs b R D King 1 (3) – (7) 3.4 0 26 02 I (Singapore) L (9) b A R Kumble 0 (6) 1 (3) 6 0 35 21999/2000, TRIANGULAR TOURNAMENT IN KENYA; 2 Sept3 K (Nairobi Gym) L (8) c H S Modi b S O Tikolo 0 (2) – (4) 1 0 5 01999/2000, v AUSTRALIA (home); 21, 23, 24 Oct4 A (Queens SC) L (8) c M E Waugh b A Symonds 27 (15) – (3) 10 0 60 15 A (Harare SC) L (8) not out 21* (32) – (3) 6 0 24 16 A (Harare SC) L (7) c M G Bevan b S K Warne 1 (9) – (3) 6 1 25 01999/2000, v WEST INDIES (away); 15 April 20007 WI (St George’s) L (6) b Abdur Razzaq 3 (7) – (2) 7 0 37 12000/01, v BANGLADESH (home); 7, 8, 11 April 20018 B (Harare SC) W did not bat – – (3) 10 1 24 29 B (Harare SC) W (4) c Mohammad Rafique b Monjurul Islam 13 (11) – (3) 8 0 28 210 B (Queens SC) W did not bat – 1 (3) 10 0 41 22000/01, in ZIMBABWE (Triangular Tournament); 23, 24, 27 June, 1 July11 WI (Harare SC) L (5) run out (C E Cuffy) 25 (27) – (1) 10 0 53 112 I (Harare SC) L (8) c Harbhajan Singh b S C Ganguly 13 (36) – (4) 6 0 36 013 I (Queens SC) L (7) c Harbhajan Singh b A B Agarkar 11 (9) – (1) 10 0 41 014 WI (Queens SC) L (7) not out 12* (10) 1 (3) 10 1 50 02002/03, v PAKISTAN (home); 23 Nov 200215 P (Queens SC) L (7) c Shahid Afridi b Shoaib Akhtar 55 (39) 1 (1) 10 0 52 02002/03, v KENYA (home); 15 Dec16 K (Queens SC) W (3) not out 63* (43) – (1) 6 0 29 22002/03, WORLD CUP IN ZIMBABWE AND SOUTH AFRICA; 19, 24, 28 Feb, 4, 8, 12, 15 March 200317 I (Harare SC) L (6) c D B Mongia b S C Ganguly 2 (5) – (2) 10 0 54 118 A (Queens SC) L (8) c and b B Lee 54 (28) – (2) 10 0 53 019 H (Queens SC) W (6) c J F Kloppenburg b E Schiferli 58 (38) 1 (1) 10 1 30 020 P (Queens SC) D did not bat – – –21 NZ (Bloemfontein) L (7) run out (B B McCullum) 4 (5) – (3) 10 0 41 222 K (Bloemfontein) L (7) run out (M O Odumbe) 4 (8) – (2) 9 1 36 123 SL (East London) L (7) c P A de Silva b C R D Fernando 1 (5) – (2) 8 0 40 0ANDY BLIGNAUT’S WICKETS IN ONE-DAY INTERNATIONALSODI no. and venue Wkt no., batsman no. and dismissal (* = World Cup)1999/20002 v India (Singapore) 1 (3) R S Dravid c N C Johnson 122 (5) A R Khurasiya c +A Flower 54 v Australia (Queens SC) 3 (7) A Symonds c G W Flower 15 v Australia (Harare SC)) 4 (1) A C Gilchrist c N C Johnson 187 v Pakistan (St George’s) 5 (2) Shahid Afridi c D P Viljoen 192000/018 v Bangladesh (Harare SC) 6 (8) Mushfique Rahman c H H Streak 317 (5) Akram Khan bowled 359 v Bangladesh (Harare SC) 8 (4) Mehrab Hossain c +A Flower 119 (7) Khaled Mashud c H H Streak 310 v Bangladesh (Queens SC) 10 (2) Mehrab Hossain bowled 1311 (5) Akram Khan c A D R Campbell 2511 v West Indies (Harare SC) 12 (4) S Chanderpaul c T J Friend 512002/0316 v Kenya (Queens SC) 13 (2) R D Shah c +T Taibu 014 (3) B J Patel c C B Wishart 817 v India* (Harare SC) 15 (4) S C Ganguly c H H Streak 2421 v New Zealand* (Bloemfontein) 16 (2) S P Fleming lbw 4617 (4) S B Styris c sub (T J Friend) 1322 v Kenya* (Bloemfontein) 18 (3) S O Tikolo c H H Streak 2RESULTS OF ONE-DAY INTERNATIONALS PLAYED INPlayed 23 Won 5 Lost 17 Tied 0 Drawn 1(105 possible since debut)MOST CONSECUTIVE ODIs PLAYED7, in 2000/01 and in 2002/03MOST CONSECUTIVE ODIs MISSED31, from 2000 to 2000/01ONE-DAY INTERNATIONAL CAREER RECORDRECORD FOR EACH SEASONM I NO Runs HS Av. Balls R/Ov 100 50 Ct O M R W Av. Best R/Ov1999/00 7 7 1 53 27 8.83 74 4.29 – – 1 39.4 1 212 5 42.40 2/35 5.342000/01 7 5 1 74 25 18.50 93 4.77 – – 2 64 2 273 7 39.00 2/24 4.262001/02 -2002/03+ 9 8 1 241 63* 34.42 171 8.45 – 4 2 73 2 335 6 55.83 2/29 4.5823 20 3 368 63* 21.64 338 6.53 – 4 5 176.4 5 820 18 45.55 2/24 4.64(+ still in progress)WORLD CUP RECORDM I NO Runs HS Av. Balls R/Ov 100 50 Ct O M R W Av. Best R/Ov2002/03 7 6 0 123 58 20.50 89 8.29 – 2 1 57 2 254 4 63.50 2/41 4.45RECORD AGAINST EACH COUNTRYM I NO Runs HS Av. Balls R/Ov 100 50 Ct O M R W Av. Best R/OvEng -Aust 4 4 1 103 54 34.33 84 7.36 – 1 – 32 1 162 2 81.00 1/24 5.06SA -WI 3 3 1 38 25 19.00 40 5.70 – – 1 13.4 0 79 1 79.00 1/53 5.89NZ 1 1 0 4 4 4.00 5 4.80 – – – 10 0 41 2 20.50 2/41 4.10Ind 4 4 0 26 13 6.50 56 2.79 – – 1 42 1 216 3 72.00 2/35 5.14Pak 3 2 0 58 55 29.00 46 7.57 – 1 1 17 0 89 1 89.00 1/37 5.23SL 1 1 0 1 1 1.00 5 1.20 – – – 8 0 40 0 — — 5.00Bang 3 1 0 13 13 13.00 11 7.09 – – 1 28 1 93 6 15.50 2/24 3.32Ken 3 3 1 67 63* 33.50 53 7.58 – 1 – 16 1 70 3 23.33 2/29 4.37Holl 1 1 0 58 58 58.00 38 9.15 – 1 1 10 1 30 0 — — 3.0023 20 3 368 63* 21.64 338 6.53 – 4 5 176.4 5 820 18 45.55 2/24 4.64RECORD IN EACH COUNTRYM I NO Runs HS Av. Balls R/Ov 100 50 Ct O M R W Av. Best R/OvZim 16 13 3 355 63* 35.50 302 7.05 – 4 4 132 4 600 12 50.00 2/24 4.54Eng -Aust -SA 3 3 0 9 4 3.00 18 3.00 – – – 27 1 117 3 39.00 2/41 4.33WI 1 1 0 3 3 3.00 7 2.57 – – – 7 0 37 1 37.00 1/37 5.28NZ -Ind -Pak -SL -Bang -Ken 1 1 0 0 0 0.00 2 0.00 – – – 1 0 5 0 — — 5.00Shar -Sing 2 2 0 1 1 1.00 9 0.66 – – 1 9.4 0 61 2 30.50 2/35 6.3123 20 3 368 63* 21.64 338 6.53 – 4 5 176.4 5 820 18 45.55 2/24 4.64RECORD PER RESULTM I NO Runs HS Av. Balls R/Ov 100 50 Ct O M R W Av. Best R/OvWon 5 3 1 134 63* 67.00 92 8.74 – 2 2 44 2 152 8 19.00 2/24 3.45Lost 17 17 2 234 55 15.60 246 5.70 – 2 3 132.4 3 668 10 66.80 2/35 5.03Tied -Drawn 1 – – — — — — — – – – –23 20 3 368 63* 21.64 338 6.53 – 4 5 176.4 5 820 18 45.55 2/24 4.64RECORD IN EACH POSITION IN THE BATTING ORDERI NO Runs HS Av. Balls R/Ov 100 50No 3 1 1 63 63* — 43 8.79 – 1No 4 1 0 13 13 13.00 11 7.09 – -No 5 1 0 25 25 25.00 27 5.56 – -No 6 4 0 64 58 16.00 53 7.25 – 1No 7 7 1 88 55 14.66 85 6.21 – 1No 8 5 1 115 54 28.75 113 6.11 – 1No 9 1 0 0 0 0.00 6 0.00 – -20 3 368 63* 21.64 338 6.53 – 4RECORD ON DIFFERENT GROUNDSM I NO Runs HS Av. Balls R/Ov 100 50 Ct O M R W Av. Best R/OvIn Zimbabwe:Harare SC 7 6 1 75 25 15.00 120 3.75 – – – 56 2 244 7 34.86 2/24 4.35Queens 9 7 2 280 63* 56.00 182 9.23 – 4 4 76 2 356 5 71.20 2/29 4.6816 13 3 355 63* 35.50 302 7.05 – 4 4 132 4 600 12 50.00 2/24 4.54Abroad: 7 7 0 13 4 1.85 36 2.16 – – 1 44.4 1 220 6 36.66 2/35 4.92In South Africa:Bloemfontein 2 2 0 8 4 4.00 13 3.69 – – – 19 1 77 3 25.66 2/41 4.05East London 1 1 0 1 1 1.00 5 1.20 – – – 8 0 40 0 — — 5.00In West Indies:St George’s 1 1 0 3 3 3.00 7 2.57 – – – 7 0 37 1 37.00 1/37 5.28In Kenya:Nairobi Gym 1 1 0 0 0 0.00 2 0.00 – – – 1 0 5 0 — — 5.00In Singapore:Singapore 2 2 0 1 1 1.00 9 0.66 – – 1 9.4 0 61 2 30.50 2/35 6.3123 20 3 368 63* 21.64 338 6.53 – 4 5 176.4 5 820 18 45.55 2/24 4.64The following bowlers have captured Andy Blignaut’s wicket in one-day internationals:2 – S C Ganguly (I)1 – Abdur Razzaq (P), A B Agarkar (I), C R D Fernando (SL), R D King (WI), A R Kumble (I),B Lee (A), Monjurul Islam (B), E Schiferli (H), Shoaib Akhtar (P), A Symonds (A),S O Tikolo (K), S K Warne (A),Details of dismissals:bowled 2 11.77lbw – 0.00caught 10 58.82caught by wicketkeeper 1 5.88caught and bowled 1 5.88stumped – 0.00run out 3 17.65TOTAL 17 100.00%BREAKDOWN OF INNINGSScore Out Not out0 2 -1-9 7 -10-19 3 120-29 2 130-39 – -40-49 – -50-59 3 -60-70 – 1HIGHEST SCORE63* v Kenya Queens Sports Club 2002/03HIGHEST SCORES AGAINST EACH COUNTRYv England -v Australia 54 Queens Sports Club* 2002/03v South Africa -v West Indies 25 Harare Sports Club 2000/01v New Zealand 4 Bloemfontein* 2002/03v India 13 Harare Sports Club 2000/01v Pakistan 55 Queens Sports Club 2002/03v Sri Lanka 1 East London* 2002/03v Bangladesh 13 Harare Sports Club 2000/01v Kenya 63* Queens Sports Club 2002/03v Holland 58 Queens Sports Club* 2002/03LONGEST INNINGS43 balls (63*) v Kenya Queens Sports Club 2002/03CENTURY PARTNERSHIPS130* for 2nd M A Vermeulen (62*)/A M Blignaut (63*), v Kenya (Queens Sports Club) 2002/03BOWLINGFOUR WICKETS IN AN INNINGSNo instances. Best figures:10 – 1 – 24 – 2 v Bangladesh Harare Sports Club 2002/03MOST ECONOMICAL ANALYSES10 – 1 – 24 – 2 v Bangladesh Harare Sports Club 2002/03MOST EXPENSIVE ANALYSES10 – 0 – 60 – 1 v Australia Queens Sports Club 1999/2000Andy Blignaut has dismissed the following batsmen in one-day internationals:2 – Akram Khan (B), Mehrab Hossain (B)1 – S Chanderpaul (WI), R S Dravid (I), S P Fleming (NZ), S C Ganguly (I), A C Gilchrist (A),Khaled Mashud (B), A R Khurasiya (I), B J Patel (K), Mushfique Rahman (B), R D Shah (K),Shahid Afridi (P), S B Styris (NZ), A Symonds (A), S O Tikolo (K)Details of Dismissals:bowled 2 11.11lbw 1 5.56caught 12 66.67caught by wicket-keeper 3 16.67caught and bowled – 0.00TOTAL 18 100.00%Catches have been taken by the following players off Andy Blignaut’s bowling:4 – H H Streak2 – A Flower (as wicket-keeper), T J Friend (1 as substitute), N C Johnson1 – A D R Campbell, G W Flower, T Taibu (as wicket-keeper), D P Viljoen, C B WishartFIELDING2 OR MORE CATCHES IN AN INNINGSNo instances.His 5 catches have dismissed the following batsmen (* indicates a caught and bowled):1 – N Chopra (I), C H Gayle (WI), Inzamam-ul-Haq (P), Khaled Mashud (B), R H Scholte (H)

With Cape Town abuzz at the start of 2002, sport will be a catalyst to promote an action-packed day of pure entertainment at Newlands cricket ground on January 2.Regional cricket rivalries between locals and holiday makers are expected to run high when Western Province take on the Natal Dolphins, Northern Titans and Highveld Strikers in a limited-overs tournament guaranteed to provide pure cricket action from start to finish.For families the day promises an entertainment experience unlike any other event. "Pooling the considerable resources of SuperSport and Discovery, we have concentrated on ensuring the entertainment is driven from off the field as well as on it," says Tara Kamp, Promotions Manager of SuperSport Marketing, and project manager of the event.Gorgeous SuperSport tattoo girls and face painters will circulate among the spectators all day, and many prizes will be awarded, including a fully installed DStv decoder for the most innovative and creative body painting.Hundreds of spot prizes have been donated by companies such as Killer Loop, Electonic Arts, Virgin Active, EMI and NuMetro and will be presented to lucky spectators during the three matches.For armchair players, the Electronic Arts PS2 Cricket Challenge will be running all day. Players can pit their skills against each other and even against the four regional teams who will make guest appearances.Autograph hunters should come armed with their biggest pens, as all four competing teams, plus the Stormers rugby stars and SuperSport celebrities will take turns signing autographs for the expected 10 000 spectators.A six-a-side cricket match between the Stormers and SuperSport presenters will sort out the men from the boys, and current chart toppers MEAN MISTER MUSTARD will perform live after the prize giving. Cover versions of the hits of international superstars such as Bryan Adams, combined with their own songs and a dynamic live stage act, will ensure a knock-out finish to a spectacular day.Still unsure of your plans for the New Year? Newlands is the place to be on January 2.

England’s comprehensive victory in their last encounter with Australia at the SCG – in the final Test of the Ashes series two and a half weeks ago – gives them their best cause for optimism when the two sides meet again there in the first of the best-of-three VB series finals tomorrow.Australia, as well as winning seven of their eight matches in the triangular series so far, have beaten England 11 times in a row in one-day internationals, but England’s captain, Nasser Hussain, is refusing to be over-awed by that figure.”I think both sides know that England can beat Australia in one-day cricket on a given day,” Hussain said today. “Our record isn’t very good against them recently but let’s be fair.”Look at what injuries have done to Australia, because we’ve been plagued by them. If we can put all parts of our game together we can beat Australia, definitely.”England could recall left-arm spinner Ashley Giles to the side following his recovery from a wrist injury, on a pitch that is often receptive to spin.”Obviously, with it being Sydney it’s nice to have the main spinner here,” said Hussain. “He’s got a chance. He is fit to play but whether he’s stiff in the morning – because it’s two months since he’s played – is what we will check.Hussain added that next month’s World Cup in southern Africa was providing plenty of motivation.”I’m a little bit mentally jaded but these are big games now. Winning the tournament here is important. It would be a boost, beating Australia out here but obviously how we go into the World Cup is more important.””There’s a lot of talent flying around in that competition and it’s really going to be similar to the last World Cup, who peaks at the right times and who wins the important games,” he said.Meanwhile Australia’s opening batsman, Adam Gilchrist, says he has reserved a big score for tomorrow’s match. Gilchrist has made eight centuries in 150 one-day internationals, including 124 from 104 balls against England in Melbourne last month.”I’m saving them up, saving them for the big ones,” Gilchrist said. “Don’t waste them in the preliminary games. That’s what I’m hoping anyway.””If you look at our past two games, they have been much closer affairs than the first two games we played them in the series. With that in mind obviously they’re showing some improvement. We’ve definitely shown some improvement with names like Hogg and Watson, they’ve stepped up.”If we’re improving and they’re getting closer that must mean they’re on the way up to so we’ll expect a tough encounter.”Australia are poised to recall leg-spinner Shane Warne after a month-long break with a shoulder injury which was followed by today’s announcement that he is to quit one-day internationals after the World Cup.”He’s been telling us all that he feels good and he’s bowling well, so we’re looking forward to having him back on the park as soon as we can,” Australia one-day captain Ricky Ponting said.Australia’s pace bowlers Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie and Andy Bichel are also hoping to be in contention following injuries.

Otago’s bold bid to defy the planning for the State Cricket Max in Auckland today came undone on the basis of one hard-hitting over from Richard Petrie in the semi-final against Wellington.Petrie hit 34 off the ninth over of the second innings, bowled by the unfortunate James McMillan.Unfortunate, because until that stage he had been one of the bowlers of the tournament. But Petrie found the Max zone twice with sixes to boost the scoring rate impressively.That left the pressure on Otago to score 123 to win in its last innings – that would have been the highest total recorded in the tournament to date.Otago captain Chris Gaffaney admitted disappointment afterwards that it had come down to one over.”We feel like we were the spare parts in this weekend and we were looking forward to upsetting their party,” he said.”Their party” being the advantage Wellington and Auckland were given when they were provided with a second life for being last year’s finalists.Otago by comparison knew that if they made the final they would have had to play four games by the end of it all.Auckland only had to play two and Wellington, by virtue of its loss yesterday to Auckland had to play three games.”It’s not easy when teams have to win all their games,” Gaffaney said. “One over made all the difference out there.””We thought throughout the weekend we had a pretty good chance. We were checking out of the hotel each morning only to keep on winning.”We thought it might have been a fairytale finish but it wasn’t to be,” he said.There were still bonuses for Otago however, as they looked towards the start of the State Championship on Monday next week.Craig Pryor had shown how much he had developed since moving to Otago from Auckland for last summer. He was a key player in Otago’s progress through the tournament and Gaffaney was delighted in his efforts.”He has blossomed as a cricket and is an interesting prospect.”Kerry Walmsley and Andrew Hore also played well for Otago, he said.The loss to Wellington this morning was based around the inability to get the tight bowling away. Hore was out for 12 and none of the other batsmen were able to find the Max zone to any significant advantage.Wellington had a five run first innings lead and Otago bowled well to restrict Wellington to 73/5 after eight overs in the second. And then Hurricane Petrie blew in with two Max sixes as part of a 34-run over haul which was backed up by another 10 runs from the last over.Petrie brought up his 50 off 17 balls and was 52 not out at the end of the innings which saw Wellington on 117/6.Hore started a one-man wrecking mission with a four and a six in Andrew Penn’s first over but was caught off the fourth ball and from that stage the 123 run target was always going to be steep.Evan Marshall took three successive fours off the ninth over but the all-important Max zone couldn’t be breached and Otago ended up 25 runs short.

Teenage leg-spinner Cameron White and veteran captain Paul Reiffel fell short of personal milestones but did enough to set Victoria up for its first victory of the Pura Cup cricket season here today.The heroics of White (91) and Reiffel (75) against South Australia helped the Bushrangers reach 405 and snare first innings points – their first of the domestic season.At stumps on day two, South Australia was 2-74 in its second innings, still trailing by 102 runs overall.South Australia was still hopeful of saving the match with dangerman Greg Blewett not out 23 and skipper Darren Lehmann still to bat.At one stage the Bushrangers were 6-198 but Reiffel and White destroyed the visitors’ attack with some power hitting as the Vics’ last four wickets put on 207 runs.White, controversially preferred to former Test off-spinner Colin Miller for the past two matches, looked set to become the youngest player ever to score a century for Victoria in the competition formerly known as the Sheffield Shield but holed out on 91.At 18 years and 118 days the boy from Bairnsdale in eastern Victoria was in line to break the previous record of Les Joslin, who was 18 years and 341 days oldwhen he scored a century in 1966-67.White, who took two wickets in his first over yesterday, not only justified his selection ahead of 37-year-old Miller but also the decision to bat him at No.7 ahead of out-of-form wicketkeeper Darren Berry.Showing great maturity and tremendous power as he drove and pulled relentlessly, White hit 13 boundaries in his 91 which came off only 130 balls.Having already scored two centuries in grade cricket, White has emerged as a potential star with both ball and bat and next month will captain the Australian under 19 team to the World Cup in New Zealand.Reiffel was content to play the supporting role to White in their 86 run eighth wicket stand but dominated a 75 run ninth wicket partnership with fast bowler Mick Lewis, who contributed his highest first-class score of 27 not out.But just as the 35-year-old Reiffel looked set to finally score his maiden first-class century he was run out by a direct hit from Jeff Vaughan at mid-off.It was Reiffel’s 18th first-class half century in 166 matches and his sixth for Victoria in the Pura Cup.Despite having also scored almost 1000 Test runs for Australia, Reiffel’s highest first-class score remained at 86 – scored 11 years ago for Victoria against Tasmania at the Junction Oval.

Seven members of the Pakistan women’s cricket team who were dismissed from the national training camp have claimed that their removal was down to management bias and not cricket reasons. The camp is being run by the Pakistan Cricket Board ahead of next month’s World Cup qualifying tournament in the Netherlands.The seven called a press conference to express their unhappiness at what they saw as an unfair decision. The initial venue for the conference was the team’s hotel, but it was cancelled after the PCB allegedly put pressure on the hotel manager not to allow it to proceed. The seven instead issued written statements which alleged that they were removed not because of their performance but to allow girls from another region to be included.But an official denied the allegations, explaining that the seven were not good enough to play international cricket. He added that only one girl had been brought in to the squad, and that the overall number at the camp had been trimmed from 44 to 30.

Brian Lara’s chances of regaining fitness in time for West Indies tour ofPakistan looked slim on Tuesday morning after a hairline fracture wasdiscovered in his elbow.The star left-hander had dislocated his elbow in a collision with MarvanAtapattu whilst batting on Saturday in Kandy.Initial x-rays – taken in Kandy, contrary to false reports that said he wasairlifted to Colombo – allayed fears of a fracture and Lara was expected tobe sidelined for 4-6 weeks.But on Monday the left-arm started swelling and Lara was taken off for asecond batch of x-rays in Colombo, which revealed the hairline fracture inhis elbow joint.”It was always our intention to seek a second opinion upon our return toColombo and it has now been diagnosed that there is definitely a hairlinefracture at the elbow joint,” team manager Ricky Skerritt confirmed.Skerritt expects the fracture to prolong his recovery period and jeopardisehis chances of touring Pakistan, if the West Indies Cricket Board give thego-ahead to the tour scheduled to start at the end of January.”After resetting the cast around the repaired joint, it is now suggestedthat Lara would be out of cricket for much longer than was at first thought,for an extra two weeks and for no less than six weeks in all, perhapslonger, depending on healing.””Brian will be having yet another MRI examination on Tuesday afternoon toconfirm all this, plus to see what progress in the healing process has beeneffected.”What this means is that Brian Lara is effectively ruled out of the nextscheduled West Indies tour of Pakistan, if and when, that takes place.”Lara was to stay with the team during the remaining days of the tour but hehas now been booked on an early direct flight to London before West Indiestake on Sri Lanka in the final of the LG Abans tri-series on Wednesdayafternoon.

Richard Johnson, the man pulled out of this Canterbury Cricket Week fixture on Wednesday to answer England’s Trent Bridge SOS, was the Somerset batting hero as the second-placed visitors held out for a draw against third-placed Kent.Having avoided the follow-on by scrambling two leg-byes from the second ball of the fourth and final day, Somerset were finally dismissed for 336 to concede a first innings deficit of 115.Kent batted again for just 36.4 overs in adding a further 205 for three, with in-form opening batsman David Fulton scoring an unbeaten 104 for his seventh first-class century of a prolific summer.The 29-year-old right-hander scored an unbeaten 208 in the first innings, making his the first Kent batsman since Aravinda de Silva in 1995 to score a century in each innings of a match – but the county’s first to be not out in each innings.Matthew Fleming’s declaration left Somerset an unlikely victory target of 321 from 41 overs, but with left-armer Min Patel and off-spinner Andrew Symonds bowling in tandem Kent were able to crowd the bat and apply the pressure.Only captain Jamie Cox and Peter Bowler made it past 20 for Somerset as Patel followed his first innings haul of eight for 119, with four victims second time around to finish with career-best match figures of 12 for 144.Symonds chipped in with three for 28 from the Nackington Road End, but it was Johnson and his ninth wicket partner Steffan Jones who batted out the final six overs of the match to prevent Kent from pulling off their fourth consecutive championship win.Fulton, who now boasts a season’s first-class run tally to 1,465 at an average of 73.25, also claimed seven catches in the match – but Kent were left to rue their six missed chances of day three.