The Somerset Board Eleven set off for Lakenham today for their second round match on Thursday against Norfolk in the 2002 Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy.Before they set off team manager Peter Robinson told me, “It will be a tough game. Norfolk are a strong team and have just won the 38 county competition and beaten Holland, so we will have our work cut out.”The Somerset team that travelled to Norwich is, Kevin Parsons (Captain)Brian Hoyle, Kevin Sedgebeer, Matt Bulbeck, Matt Dimond (all Taunton St Andrew’s), Matt Gitsham (Wembdon), Michael Coles, Steve Davis (both Bridgwater), Gareth Andrew and Rob Travers (both Glastonbury) and Joe Tucker (Keynsham).If the Somerset Board Eleven are successful they will host a first class county in the next round, which will be played next season.Friday is the reserve day for the game should it be unfinished tomorrow.

A National Cricket Centre, a facility at the Garfield Sobers SportsComplex, which is to include a cricket ground, pavilion, indoor nets,office, cricket library and museum, is a major part of the BarbadosCricket Association’s (BCA) four-year Development Plan.The object of the centre, according to a 58-page document in which theplan is presented, is to provide Barbados’ cricket with a home and theBCA will employ a phased approach in establishing the centre.Barbados needs a cricket development centre and a home for Barbadoscricket, the document said.The BCA already experiences difficulty in scheduling age-groupcoaching clinics and training for venues outside the jurisdiction ofthe BCA.Estimated costs for the centre over the four-year period amount to$4.4 million.The costs are split over preparation and construction costs,maintenance, wages and salaries.Phase 1 of the BCA’s strategy includes the acquisition of sponsorshipto assist in the financial support of the centre’s operations, theclearance of the area at the Garfield Sobers Sports Complex for theestablishment of practice facilities and the installation of a watersupply for pitch preparation and electrical machines from whichbowling machines can be operated.The second phase comprises the construction of a pavilion and thepreparation of a cricket ground to accommodate at least three pitches.Phase 3 is the construction of a building to house the centre whichwill include office space, a cricket library, museum, special projectsroom, two changing rooms, assembly hall, lunch room, viewing area,three rooms for workshops and indoor nets with four bays.The centre, which is to be staffed by a full-time manager, cricketdevelopment officer, manager’s assistant, coach, curator, will seek toassist players and teams in the development of physical, technical,mental and life skills, the plan said.The BCA will also seek to address values, work ethics, image,confidence and discipline as well as teach the fundamentals of sportsmedicine, physiology, training, fitness, nutrition, sports psychologyand biomechanics.The curriculum will also include the history of West Indies cricket,personal finance, AIDS awareness, communications and media skillstraining.It is also proposed that the centre serve as a home ground for theCombined Schools first team, as a preparation and practice venue fornational, West Indies and other international teams and as thelocation where training for umpires, coaches, scorers and groundsmentakes place.

The Pakistan Cricket Board says it has applied to the sport’s ruling body to use one of four neutral venues should the West Indies decide against touring there in February.The grounds are at Sharjah and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, Rabat inMorocco, and Dhaka, where Test newcomer Bangladesh plays, according to PCBChairman General Tauqir Zia. Sharjah and Dhaka already meet InternationalCricket Council standards to host Test matches.At a meeting of Test-playing nations in Kuala Lumpur this month, the ICC agreed to let countries play on neutral grounds in light of events in Afghanistan. Pakistan and Afghanistan share a border for 2,430 kilometers (1,518 miles).”It’s safe to play cricket in Pakistan but if outside perception is that it is not then we have to find an alternative venue,” Zia said. “It would be a home fixture so we should have the usual benefits like preparing the pitch.”Following the September 11th attacks, New Zealand cancelled plans to play three Tests and three one-day matches in Pakistan in September and October. The PCB then tried and failed to bring Sri Lanka there for three one-day matches.Those cancellations, coupled with India’s decision not to tour in Januarybecause of the hostilities between the countries over the disputed state ofKashmir, cost the PCB about $25 million in lost television and advertisingrevenue, Zia said.India almost experienced similar problems with the England tour from November14th. The England and Wales Cricket Board considered not going but received assurances on safety from officials and will tour. England bowlers Andy Caddick and Robert Croft, however, refused to go.”Cricket in some countries, most notably Pakistan, is in the front line of world events,” ICC President Malcolm Gray said recently. “We need to adopt creative solutions to support those affected and to overcome these problems.”

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.

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.

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.

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.

The ECB National Academy drew with Australian Capital Territory in Canberratoday. Chasing a target of 267 on the fourth and final day, the ECB NCA ended on 264-5 at the close of play.ACT 1st innings: 426 all out (Hazell 199, Maxwell 97, Hatton 51*; Harmison3-82, Wagh 3-78, Kirby 2-109)ECB NA 1st innings: 459 all out (Wood 107, Wagh 164, Wallace 67; Dennett4-98, Kellar 4-75, Hill 2-95)ACT 2nd innings: 299-9 (Dawson 105, Smith 62; Tremlett 3-31, Wagh 3-106)ECB NA 2nd innings (target 267): 264-5 (Wagh 73, Key 72, Bell 60)

Sterling bowling efforts from opening bowler Vineet Sharma and star off-spinner Harbahajan Singh ensured Punjab a comfortable position at end of day two of their five-day Ranji quarterfinal against Orissa at the PCA Stadium, Mohali. When stumps were drawn, the home side led by 134 runs with nine second innings wickets in hand.Orissa, who resumed at 49 for three, began the day on the right note. Overnight batsmen Sanjay Raul and Pravanjan Mullick added 69 runs before Harbhajan snared Raul for 23. A mini-collapse ensued as Orissa were reduced to 148 for seven before Mullick found a staunch ally in Debashish Mohanty.The former India fast bowler might have contributed only four runs but importantly he survived for 66 balls. Mullick did the bulk of the scoring in the partnership, which realised 49 runs before Mohanty’s dismissal. Orissa were within shouting distance of Punjab’s first innings score of 207 at that stage. But three runs later, an unfortunate Mullick had to suffer the mortification of being dismissed for 99, a plight he shared with Punjab first-innings top-scorer Manish Sharma. Last man Ajay Barik was dismissed off the very next ball as Orissa were all out for 200. The visitors’ devastation had been entirely wrought by two men – Sharma, who claimed six wickets for 59 runs, and Harbhajan, who claimed four for 39.The home team’s position was further strengthened in their second essay by opener Manish Sharma (73*) and No. 3 Yuvraj Singh (34*) who ensured that Punjab reached a healthy 127 for one at stumps.

There is first of all the injury to Shane Warne that may keep him out of the World Cup. If that should happen, it would upset all the plans of the Australian team.Warne is Australia’s key player, more than just the world’s best leg-spinner. He is the team’s standard-bearer and cheer leader.I have always believed that matches are won and lost in the dressing-room as much as on the field. Warne has been an integral part of the Australian machine. I also feel that the game of cricket would be poorer without larger than life characters like him.Those were wonderful shots that television captured of his young daughter looking somewhat lost as her father was carried out on a stretcher. I wish Warne a speedy recovery.The World Cup is a few weeks away. The entire cricketing world seems to be revolving around this event. It was not always like this. The first three World Cups were played in England and there was no disruption to the cricket season. It was when the World Cup came to the subcontinent that national pride reared its head and when it went to Australia and New Zealand that it was seen as a marketing bonanza.Thereafter, the World Cup has becomes cricket’s biggest prize. A combination of national pride and marketing is a heady mix and Test cricket has been elbowed out. When the World Cup in South Africa is finally over, cricket will find itself at a cross-road. Which way will the game go?The amount of money being invested in cricket is unreal. The world’s economy is not in the best health. Sponsors may not be all that forthcoming. There will be cut-backs. Consider the obscene sums of money that South Korea and Japan invested in infrastructure for the Soccer World Cup. As investments go, any banker will tell you, there will be no return on that investment. Ultimately, cricket too will have to be governed by economics.The next World Cup will be played in the West Indies and the countries that make up the West Indies do not have the kind of money that South Africa has. Cricket has been financially sustained by the one-day game, which in turn has been sustained by television.Not many people watch Test cricket either at the ground or on television. Yet the future of this game is Test cricket. The one-day version is becoming to much of a tamasha and with variations like Max Cricket, even this tamasha will become something like a circus. The ICC should be looking seriously at the future of cricket.Pakistan had started the one-day series with a flawed selection. That is to say by playing only five bowlers. The drubbing that Pakistan got at Durban should have taught us that a second chance does not mean a chance to repeat the mistake. This is what happened precisely at Paarl, in a game that was of crucial importance, one that Pakistan had to win to keep the series alive.It was sheer bad luck that Wasim Akram has an injured hand. No prizes would have been offered to guess who would replace him. It should have been Mohammad Sami. It wasn’t Wasim was replaced by Faisal Iqbal!But having selected him, Faisal Iqbal was then sent number 7 to bat. It made sense to play Kamran Akmal but no sense at all for him to open the innings. If a pinch hitter was needed, there was Shahid Afridi already in the team.The South Africans, on the other hand, learnt from every match they played. They may have made few mistakes. They did not repeat mistakes. The selection of Gary Kirsten was an inspired choice. Against a quality attack like Pakistan, South Africa called back one of their most experienced batsman. And to prove the point, Kirsten made a hundred.It is not the loss of the series that I regret. It is the fact that these were the last One-day Internationals we would be playing before the World Cup and we appear not to have learnt anything from them. We should have got a stable batting order. Taufiq Umar was not picked after the first ODI. Yet he had gone to South Africa as the main opener.There are some positives. The fielding has improved though not the running between wickets. The run-outs at Paarl were not only needless but foolish. I don’t want to seem harsh but I am disappointed. A great opportunity had been provided to the Pakistan team to tour South Africa just before the World Cup. And we appear to have squandered the opportunity.My heartiest congratulation to Pakistan’s Blind team winning the World Cup at Chennai. During its preparations, the team was desperately short of cash. The PCB did help but many others who were asked to help, proved to be blind in heart. I hope someone will come forward to reward the team. It was a stupendous achievement against great odds.