There were a couple of upsets in the First League in the opening round of the 2001/2 National League on October 21, with last season’s two top teams suffering humiliating defeats at the hands of newcomers.Champions Old Hararians surprisingly travelled with only nine players to Kwekwe and they were all out after 23.3 overs with the scorecard reading 107/8. The only meaningful batting came from Nyasha Chari who made 23. The hosts used only four bowlers Travis Friend, Campbell McMillan, John Vaughan-Davies and Doug Marillier who each took two wickets.Kwekwe reached 109/3 in 26.1 overs with Dirk Viljoen unbeaten on 38. Ironically Viljoen turns out for OH in the Mashonaland Vigne Cup. Opener Marillier was the second-best batsman with 28 runs.The match between Queens, last season’s runners-up, and Mutare was played at a neutral venue, Old Hararians Sports Club, with the latter posting a convincing 97-run victory in a 45-over match. Mutare opened the batting and compiled 258 runs for the loss of seven wickets off their 45 overs.Former national team players Alistair Campbell and Guy Whittall, who were recently dropped from the national team, led by example with match-winning fifties. Opener Campbell top-scored with 79 while Whittall weighed in with 67. Mluleki Nkala was the pick of theQueens bowlers with three wickets for 42 off nine overs.In reply Queens were dismissed for 161 in 38.3 overs. Richard Sims finished with three wickets for 19 off nine overs while Ian Coulson took three for 39 off seven overs.At Bulawayo Athletic Club, visitors Old Winstonians beat the hosts by seven wickets. They fielded national team pace bowler Henry Olonga who has moved from Bulawayo.BAC were dismissed for 109 in 26.1 overs. Old Winstonians captain Rangarirai Manyande led the attack with five wickets for 42 off 10 overs. Choki Panyangara finished with three for 13 off 6.1 overs whileOlonga took two for 29 off seven overs.Old Winstonians reached 110 for the loss of four wickets in 27 overs. Stuart Matsikenyeri, who is set to leave for Australia soon, made 43.At Universals the hosts continued their poor run which has seen them lose all three games in the Vigne Cup so far with a six-run defeat to Harare Sports Club in a closely fought battle. The two teams met a week earlier in the Vigne Cup and Harare Sports Club won by nine wickets with 61 balls to spare. However, this encounter was a close call with Universals being dismissed seven runs short of their victory target with four balls remaining.Harare Sports Club made 261/9 in their allotted 50 overs with opener Mark Vermeulen the top scorer with 75 runs. Fellow-opener Trevor Gripper and Donald Campbell added 32 runs each. Ali Shah took three wickets for 35 off 10 overs while Brian Murphy took three for 41 off 10 overs.Universals were all out for 255 after 49.2 overs with Shah the leading scorer on 50. Gripper took three for 59 off 10 overs.The other match was at Alexandra Sports Club where the hosts beat Old Georgians by seven runs in yet another close encounter. Alex made 234 for nine wickets in 50 overs with Ross Liddell making the round’s best score of 81. Old Georgians could only reach 227 for nine off their allotted 50 overs with Craig Evans making 61 and Grant Flower 54.

Sri Lanka booked themselves a berth in the final of the LG Abanstriangular series after Zimbabwe were spun to a 59 run defeat at PremadasaInternational Stadium.After claiming two wins and two useful bonus point Sri Lanka now have ten points, which guarantees their qualification even if they lose in Kandy at the weekend.Sri Lanka, in a depressingly empty stadium, won with some ease after a robust performance from their batsmen that saw them post a challenging 273 target, and a controlled effort from their medley of spinners, five of whom were employed on a wearing re-used surface.The highest total successfully chased at Premadasa in its 47 game history isonly 243 and Zimbabwe never looked likely winners, even after a spiritedopening stand between Grant Flower and Dion Ebrahim.Ebrahim followed two consecutive golden ducks with an attractive 32 andGrant Flower scored an industrious 45 as the pair added 69 for the firstwicket.But the introduction of Muttiah Muralitharan in the 14th over of the inningsswung the game towards Sri Lanka: Ebrahim was bowled third ball as he triedto hot-step down the wicket and Flower was controversially caught at slip(off his thigh) to leave Zimbabwe facing a steadily rising run rate in themiddle overs.Andy Flower was Zimbabwe’s only realistic hope. He showed why with aslog-sweep for six off Muralitharan, but then fell in the next over tryingto reverse sweep one of Jayasuriya’s low-armed darts (103 for three).Captain Stuart Carlisle and Craig Wishart tried to keep pace with the runrate but the Sri Lankan’s are a well-oiled one-day unit in such spin-friendlyconditions. Forcing the pace was fiendishly difficult and their 42 run standcame to an end when Wishart was caught and bowled by Russel Arnold (145 forfour).Four overs later Carlisle slammed a catch at the glue-like hands of UpulChandana, recalled to the side after a 12-month absence, to be dismissed for39 (159 for five).Zimbabwe were left needing 102 runs off the final ten overs. Muralitharanthe cleaned up Heath Streak for 24, who biffed four boundaries and TatendaTaibu, who recorded his third consecutive duck to finish with four wickets.His fellow twirly mean then moved in for the kill.Earlier in the day, Sri Lanka lost two early wickets having won the toss, asSanath Jayasuriya was caught behind second ball wafting at a wide deliveryfrom Heath Streak and Marvan Atapattu mistimed a back foot drive to becaught at cover.But Gunwardene and Jayawardene first consolidated and then wrestled back theinitiative in a 166 run stand in 198 balls to lay the foundations for SriLanka’s imposing total.Gunwardene, dropped on nine in the slips, was more reserved than normal, buthaving reached his seventh half-century off 76 balls, he started to swaggerand bludgeon thereafter, before he top-edged a pull and was caught at mid-onfor 90 (191 for three).Jayawardene, too, enjoyed some fortune, twice being dropped – first byFlower behind the stumps on 27 and then on 92 at backward point. Those twolapses apart, however, he batted serenely, milking the slower bowlers withease in the first part of his innings and then raising the tempo later witha series of well executed improvisations.But, much to the horror of his girlfriend, looking on anxiously from thegrandstand, he fell just short of his sixth one-day century when theenigmatic Henry Olonga slipped a straight ball through his defenses (215 forfour).Russel Arnold then skillfully managed the final dash with a 32 run cameothat ensured Sri Lanka scored 75 runs in the final ten overs despite theloss of four wickets.The tournament now moves to the hill-country where Sri Lanka will take onWest Indies on Saturday.

New Zealand Test batsman and world record holder for most runs in a Test over Craig McMillan found it harder to get out of the way of a red light running car than to avoid a bouncer from Pakistan speed merchant Shoaib Akhtar.McMillan was in a traffic accident in Hamilton today when the taxi in which he was a backseat passenger was struck right next to where he was sitting.McMillan was thrown across to the other side of the car and hit his head. He also damaged the ring finger on his left hand. An immediate x-ray was arranged and it showed only bruising.That had been good for his peace of mind because there were none of the chipped bones often found when these sorts of tests are made.”It was faster than Shoaib, at least I can see him coming and can get out of the way,” McMillan quipped.”It was just a white blur out of the corner of my eye,” he said.He had been heading back to the rain-sodden WestpacTrust Park from the team’s hotel in Hamilton and said the accident had been a valuable lesson for him as he was not wearing a seatbelt.”My finger is a little bit stiff but I have been icing it.”I learnt a couple of harsh lessons,” he said.McMillan, who set his world record of 26 runs off an over against Pakistan in Hamilton, is looking forward to playing here when the weather eventually allows.”I love playing here and have scored a lot of runs here. I would like to score a Test hundred here,” he said.His hold on the world record might be under threat this year as he reported Chris Cairns had indicated he might attempt to top it this summer.McMillan said he had been “pretty happy” with his tour of Australia in which he scored 146 runs in the Tests with a highest score of 55.”I didn’t have the big score I wanted but I only missed out once. I played all right,” he said.Pushing on to get a big score was what he wanted to do because at the end of the day that was what the public remembered.McMillan said he didn’t have any problems with the New Zealand batting approach against Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne.It depended who the side was up against whether the system was employed but the side’s patience while batting on the tour had been one of its successes.”To be fair, it’s not my natural game, I like hitting the ball and getting runs.”But it is always a pleasure to do something a little alien to you when it is successful,” he said.McMillan had been pleased with the way he batted in the second Test at Hobart when he scored 55 but over 209 battling minutes.He confirmed the stance New Zealand has been putting forward about its attitude to the Bangladesh series.”We expect to dominate and we won’t be giving them any favours. We want to concentrate more on what we can do and if we do what we did in Australia we will be too strong for them,” he said.

The Rest of Balochistan (RoB) and Rest of Sindh (RoS) Quaid-i-AzamTrophy fixture was delicately poised after stumps on the second day atthe National Stadium Thursday.RoB, resuming this morning at 241 for six, were skittled out for 270in the first session of play. By close, RoS had reached 226 for fiveand needing another 44 to take the first innings lead.RoS’s paceman Kashif Pervez added two more scalps to his overnight’sthree to finish with five for 39.RoS’s skipper Hanif-ur-Rehman led the foundation of a strong replywhen he stroked a fine 77 off 81 balls with the aid of 14 boundaries.

A hat-trick from Boland’s Wallace Albertyn stopped Northerns Titans’ bid for a Standard Bank Cup semi-final place dead in its tracks as the home side slipped to an 11-run defeat at SuperSport Park on Friday while Western Province crushed Eastern Province by eight wickets in Port Elizabeth and North West swept to a 101-run victory over Easterns in Benoni.Albertyn picked off Mulligan George, Friedel de Wet and Dewald Senekal in the 44th over of the innings as the Titans faltered in their chase for Boland’s 213 for eight. Alberty finished with four for 31 as the Titans eventually managed only 202 for nine in their 45 overs. Boland’s James Henderson took the man of the match award for his 77 which provided the basis of the Boland score.In Benoni Easterns were bundled out for 161 in reply to North West’s 262 for five with Eugene Moleon (three for 16) and Garth Roe (three for 46) doing most of the damage. Grant Rowley’s 88 and a 50 from Dirkie de Vos had lifted North West to their imposing total earlier in the day.Despite having to chase a revised target of 203 in 41 overs, WP made light work of EP at St George’s Park with Graeme Smith (73) and Lloyd Ferreira (62) putting on 142 for the first wicket.EP had earlier struggled to 185 for seven in 41 overs.

The following players have been named by the WA Selectors to represent the Western Warriors in a Pura Cup game v the Victorian Bushrangers at the MCG, from Thursday 28 February to Sunday 3 March 2002.

• SIMON KATICH (Capt.)
• JO ANGEL
• RYAN CAMPBELL
• MICHAEL CLARK
• KADE HARVEY
• BRAD HOGG
• MICHAEL HUSSEY
• SCOTT MEULEMAN
• MATT NICHOLSON
• MARCUS NORTH
• CHRIS ROGERS
• BRAD WILLIAMS

SelectionsThe only selection change from the Western Warrior s previous Pura cup team is Matt Nicholson for Shaun Marsh.

Mark Waugh accepted the blame for his axing from the Australian one-day cricket team today but said only time would tell whether selectors had prematurely ended his record-breaking career.Waugh acknowledged he did not make enough runs at home during the summer, giving selectors the chance to sack Australia’s most successful one-day batsmanahead of matches in South Africa and Zimbabwe later this month.Just three weeks after twin and captain Stephen was dumped, Mark learned his one-day international career was finished as selectors gave the first insight into the players they expect to feature in Australia’s World Cup defence in 12 months.Andrew Symonds also was dropped while fellow all-rounder Shane Watson and versatile Queensland off-spinner Nathan Hauritz were named in their first Australian one-day squads.Queensland mates Matthew Hayden and Jimmy Maher were returned to the national squad as selectors went for 15 players for the 10 African matches, starting inJohannesburg on March 22.It will be the first time Australia has played without a Waugh in the squad since January 1986 although Mark insisted he was still, at 36, good enough to play for his country.”It was disappointing but life goes on. I’ve played a lot of games so it’s not like I haven’t had a good run,” he said here today.”I would like to keep playing because I think I’m probably batting well enough now to do the job in one-day cricket.”But I thought this might happen, reading between the lines.”I should have made more runs last summer … and we lost games so I guess there were always going to be a few changes.”Jimmy Maher and Matthew Hayden will come in and, who knows, if they don’t score a lot of runs then maybe I was dropped too early.”If they score a lot of runs then selectors were probably right.”I can’t look into the future and tell you that but I feel like I’m playing pretty well at the moment.”Twilight is now upon the Waugh twins, who remain part of the Australian Test squad which has barrelled its way through South Africa, heading to the second Test in Cape Town on Friday.While both insist they can return for the World Cup next season, albeit unlikely according to Mark, national selector Trevor Hohns admitted the odds were againstthe Waughs ever wearing Australia’s one-day strip again.”You never close the door on anybody these days, however in the near future it’s going to be difficult to go back on that decision,” Hohns said.”It’s never easy. Both of them are probably legends of the game in Australian cricket and it’s never easy to adjudicate on their futures.”Mark was woken this morning by phone calls of support from home, while South African fans struggled to believe that Australian selectors could drop the brothers.Steve and Mark have made more runs than any other Australian batsmen and both have scored centuries in tour matches since arriving in South Africa.It was a mixed announcement for the Australian players already on tour, with Watson and Hayden receiving their chance to press for a World Cup berth.Hayden will be given an extended run at the opening role alongside Adam Gilchrist after he was dropped in January during Australia’s ill-fated home triangular series against the Proteas and New Zealand.The 20-year-old Watson was selected even before he smashed an unbeaten century in his international debut yesterday, while taking match figures of 3-60 againstSouth Africa A.Maher’s inclusion, after playing two one-day internationals four years ago, comes as just reward for his performances for Queensland while the 20-year-old Hauritz has been marked as a finger spinner capable of developing all-round talents.”Right from the first time he played for Queensland he looked like a young fellow who knew how to bowl,” Hohns said.”He was relaxed, he was comfortable with what he was doing, he just seemed to know what he was doing, so he is another outstanding prospect for us.”

PERTH, Jan 2 AAP – Under-fire allrounder Andrew Symonds was in danger of having a restraining order brought against him by Lady Luck tonight.The surprise World Cup squad selection flirted with good fortune against Western Australia as Queensland posted a six-wicket win in the limited-overs cup match at the WACA Ground.The athletic Symonds (66no from 69 balls) and Clinton Perren (53no from 74 balls) coasted to victory with an unbeaten 124-run fifth-wicket stand to secure the four points.Chasing 227 runs, the pair reached the target with 29 balls to spare.But despite all his luck, the 27-year-old Symonds will be hoping to continue to build his form in the abbreviated version of the game before next month’s World Cup in Africa.Symonds faced 11 balls before scoring his first run which was an edge for four just past the grasp of first slip Kade Harvey.Then on five he flashed at a wide Matthew Nicholson delivery which fell just short of a diving Shaun Marsh at third man.And on 10 he flat-batted a shot just beyond the outstretched Marsh at mid-off before a leading edge over point later in the over.From then he mixed some brutal shots with more reckless ones before guiding the Bulls to a victory.The result moved Queensland to within a point of ING Cup leader New South Wales but the Blues can stretch their lead out again this Sunday in Tasmania.The Warriors remained mid-table on eight points and with plenty of time to make a charge for the final with six matches to go.Michael Hussey won the toss for Western Australia and teenager Shaun Marsh’s quickfire 40 from 31 balls helped his team to a total of 7-226.Only some sharp fielding from Daniel Payne stopped him pushing the home team’s score closer to 250.The Bulls did well to restrict the Warriors in warm conditions after Chris Rogers (57 from 80 balls) and Scott Meuleman (45 from 78 balls) laid the foundations with an opening stand of 94.Allrounder James Hopes (2-25 off nine overs of high-medium pacers) and spinner Nathan Hauritz (3-59 off 10 overs) were the pick of the bowlers.In reply, the Bulls were in early trouble with skipper Jimmy Maher (9) dismissed by the recalled Stuart Karppinen.Just over 12 months since his last state appearance Karppinen dived well to his right for a sharp return catch to remove the dangerous left-hander.Lee Carseldine received a slice of luck resurrecting the run chase on 26 when wicketkeeper Ryan Campbell dropped a tough chance off Callum Thorp’s first one-day over for WA.But the debutant Thorp made up for the miss in the field with a marvellous diving effort in the deep to remove opener Payne (32).Evergreen bowler Jo Angel (2-41) was then on a hat-trick after Carseldine (48) top-edged the next ball and Campbell made sure of his second chance.Stuart Law (2) kept out the ball but Thorp removed him soon after.But just as WA looked liked getting into the match Symonds entered and produced hardly one of his best knocks but an effective one nevertheless.

Lessons from the National Bank Series between New Zealand and India don’t really concern the quality of cricket, but the attitude of cricket followers in this country.New Zealand Cricket had cause to wonder when India performed so poorly in the Test series and then succumbed to a 4-0 margin to lose the one-day series with three games still to play whether they were on the verge of a disaster in terms of crowd appeal.But in a way that has not been seen in recent times, the paying public kept turning out. There were 20,000 at the dead match in Auckland, and a full-house crowd of more than 6000 in Hamilton today.New Zealanders do enjoy winners after all.And even the fact that seven One-Day Internationals have been played doesn’t seem to have dulled the appetite for cricket.It does show how far this New Zealand team has come when it can play well below its potential yet still quell one of the more impressive batting armouries in the world game and win the support of the home public.Much has been made of the problems the Indians have had in dealing with the excessive sideways movement of New Zealand’s pitches. But the New Zealanders also struggled.To bat as poorly as New Zealand has and still come out with such a commanding degree of authority in the two series, says something for the growth of confidence in the home side.They have learned how to win and are repeating the home series dominance the great side of the 1980s managed.Indian captain Sourav Ganguly has been quite right to say that there was little between the sides in terms of the results, but the difference has been that New Zealand have been able to rely on the notion of team, a principle that applies to most New Zealand sports teams far more than for any of its opponents.The notion of grafting for success is not lost on Kiwis who, more than most, have to get the best out of inadequate resources of manpower and talent.In having bowlers like Daryl Tuffey and Jacob Oram in the Test matches, and Kyle Mills in the ODIs, who are able to provide outstanding support for speed merchant Shane Bond, skipper Stephen Fleming has been able to dominate in a way that must have surprised the Indians.Their own attack in the Tests lacked the sustained accuracy and guile that Javagal Srinath brought to the one-day series. Given India’s inability to bat in such conditions, it should be no surprise that they also struggled to bowl purposefully in them.There did seem to be a notion grow that New Zealand were better used to the conditions. This was an erroneous view, as the conditions, in their extremes, were also foreign to the home side. New Zealand batsmen are only getting used to the greater bounce in pitches after a season or two of development in this area. Having to deal with sideways movement is an extra encumbrance.The most classic example of how to cope under the circumstances belonged to Mark Richardson in the first Test at the Basin Reserve. His application and sheer doggedness, driven by the lack of international opportunity he was to have this summer, was perhaps the best demonstration of the season.Aspects of development were obvious: the advance of Oram as a genuine Test player, the growth in Tuffey’s confidence, the solidity offered by the developing Scott Styris in the middle-order, the sight of Lou Vincent using his speed between the wickets as an attacking weapon with his demonstration in Napier, and his partnership with Styris in the second Auckland ODI as the most classic examples, and the advance of wicket-keeper Brendon McCullum.When their qualities are added to a return to peak form of Fleming, Craig McMillan, Nathan Astle and Chris Cairns, allied to greater employment of spinner Daniel Vettori, it offers genuine hope of even greater achievements by the New Zealanders.Fleming was the highest scoring of the New Zealand batsmen with 157 runs at 26.16. Others over 100 runs for the series were: Mathew Sinclair 146 at 24.33, Astle 123 at 24.60 and Vincent 120 at 40.00.India have different problems, although they have said all along that on the pitches in South Africa, they will quickly regain their best touches.Admittedly, that has to be a real prospect, although it will take some time to get over the mental looseness that saw them so often succumb to the moving ball. The last time they were here it was the swinging ball at the Basin Reserve that did them, but this time it was the cut of the ball off the pitch. Either vulnerability has to be a concern.Rahul Dravid offered glimpses of the class that made him such an exciting figure on the last tour of this country, but Sachin Tendulkar was a disappointment.Virender Sehwag did get to demonstrate his talent with two marvellous centuries in the one-day series. He was easily the most prolific of the batsmen. He scored 299 runs while the next highest Indian was Yuvraj Singh with 134, but at an average of only 19.14. Rahul Dravid was the only other Indian to pass three figures with 116 at 16.57.But generally, India’s lack of application was both a revelation and a disappointment. If their techniques were as good as their records say then more of them should have been capable of adaptation.Srinath was the best bowler on display in both sides. He used his experience brilliantly and finished with most wickets 18 at 11.16. Andre Adams was the best of the New Zealanders with 14 at 9.35. He might wait a long time to do better in a series.Tuffey was right behind him with 12 at 18.08.Fleming was quite right to claim satisfaction from having won a war of attrition.Turf managers can expect to come under greater scrutiny in the aftermath of this summer. Next season, New Zealand are to host Pakistan and South Africa, two huge opponents, and pitch quality will need to be significantly better.New Zealand will have had a tour to India in the early season, so they should be much better prepared for the summer than was the case this year. They deserve to have those pitches with pace and bounce that Fleming has been advocating, but less of the sideways movement.And does it really matter if the outfields of grounds are not pristine green in order to present the picture perfect view on television. No batsman is going to complain if a drier outfield gives him better value for his strokeplay.The groundsmen have talked a good game this year but they haven’t delivered.New Zealand did win everything but two one-dayers in the summer and that is significant. The side showed resolve and penetration.It has set the scene for a prolific World Cup, the hope has to be that those good conditions they are wanting in South Africa will do the business and light the spark that is ready to fire up in the side.

A New South Wales disciplinary hearing tonight suspended bowler Stuart MacGill for two interstate games for a breach of the players code of conduct in yesterday’s ING Cup win over Tasmania.MacGill will miss the vital Pura Cup match against Victoria, beginning in Melbourne on February 5, and the ING Cup one-dayer against Victoria on February 5.The Test leg spinner was found guilty of unbecoming behaviour and using crude and abusive language.