Northerns started day three at SuperSport Park at 179 for 2. Ten overs later they had raced to 290 for 2. Justin Kemp pulverised Easterns with a century off 55 balls. Of those runs, 76 came in boundaries. The brutal knock allowed Northerns to declare, leaving Easterns an almost unreachable target of 461 in 94 overs. Wesley Barresi then scored 57 on debut, and Jacques du Toit (64) gave the innings the impetus it needed. A career-best 127 not out from Goolam Bodi gave Easterns slight hope but time was running out. At the close of play they were 131 runs short with three wickets to spare. It was a gallant but vain chase.The match in Bloemfontein between Free State and KwaZulu-Natal ended in a stale-mate after the Natal openers put on an undefeated 159, chasing 337. James Henderson (57) and Corne Linde, scoring 51 on debut, had made an attempt to get Free State into a position to set a target but the declaration came far too late. With Natal not taking the bait and Free State unable to take any wickets, the game petered out into a dull draw with both captains agreeing to an early finish.

The last twelve months has been a momentous period of time in the life of Somerset all rounder Ian Blackwell whose rise to the top in cricketing circles has been meteoric.This time last year the twenty four year old was itching to get the season started after spending the winter of 2001-2 working in the office at the County Ground in Taunton.During the past winter `Blackie’ spent time with the England Academy in Adelaide, made his One Day International debut and played in the World Cup in South Africa, and has come a long way in a short space of time.The former Derbyshire player reflected on the past year when I spoke to him recently. He said: “I was disappointed not to go on the Academy in 2001-2 but I worked very hard during the winter and was determined to make up for it, which I am pleased to say has happened.”He continued: ” I started the 2002 season very well, and got a hundred against Yorkshire in the opening championship match here, which was watched by Duncan Fletcher, and I think it was that which led to me being short listed for the Academy last winter, and then I had a very successful season, scoring 900 runs at an average of almost 40.”`Blackie’ went on: “I got my England chance when Andrew Flintoff got injured, so you could say that his injury was a blessing in disguise for me. I was very pleased to go to Sri Lanka and get runs against India, and then to be selected for the one dayers in Australia.”I asked how he felt playing for England.”It was strange experience really because I wouldn’t say that I felt nervous, in fact I feel worse when I go out to bat in front of the Taunton crowd. It felt kind of surreal to be playing against names that I had only seen on the television. It was a great eye opener, and you have to experience it to appreciate how big a step it is up from county cricket. At that level there are no `gimme’ bowlers, you are made to work hard for ever run you get. It’s much quicker, and the fielding is much sharper,” he told me.Looking back over his eventful winter he told me; “It was a valuable experience for me, and I was one of the best one day bowlers for England. I was very pleased with the way that I adapted, although there is still some work to do, but I didn’t do myself justice with the bat.”With regard to 2003 he told me: “Hopefully I played well enough to suggest that there is a place for me in the England squad and that I will get my chance in the triangular tournament during the summer. There’s nothing like walking out in front of a crowd of 50,000 it gives you a real buzz, and it’s why we play cricket. It’s an experience you can’t buy.”On the eve of the championship opener how did he think Somerset would fare. “I am very optimistic about the season. Everyone has worked very hard during the winter and in the early season matches and everybody knows exactly what is expected. Let’s hope that we can get straight back up to where we belong and that is in the top division, but there are a lot of good teams in Division Two. We need to play well in the early matches and give ourselves a good platform to work from,” he told me.Judging by his early season from with both bat and ball Ian Blackwell is primed and ready for the first championship match at Bristol that starts at the end of this week.

The Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) has finally put an end to the speculation surrounding transfer of players to their state by selecting Sairaj Bahutule, the former Indian legspinner, Nilesh Kulkarni, the former Indian left-arm spinner, and Munaf Patel, the Mumbai fast bowler, for the forthcoming season.Ajay Shirke, the president of the MCA, sanctioned the move while Pandurang Salgaonkar, the chairman of the selection committee, added that the rest of the team would be probably picked by the first week of September.The signing of these three players is part of Maharashtra’s revamp process as they gear up for the new season. Darren Holder, an Australian coach, was recently appointed as the Maharashtra Cricket Association’s (MCA) cricket director and Chandrakant Pandit, the former Indian wicketkeeper and Ranji Trophy-winning Mumbai coach, was named as the coach.The departure of these three players leaves a gaping void in the Mumbai bowling line-up, which was until recently the most varied attack in the country. Bahutule was a colossal presence both as their captain and strike bowler and led them to the Ranji Trophy in 2003-04, a season where he also finished as the highest wicket-taker in all first-class competetions. He also made valuable contributions with the bat lower down the order and his brand of captaincy, unassuming but efficient, helped galvanise the team. However friction with the establishment and a greater monetary allure probably prompted his decision to end a 15-year career with Mumbai and move on to neighbouring Maharashtra.Though not as beguiling as Bahutule, Kulkarni played a crucial role with his left-arm spin delivered from a considerable height. The bounce that he extracted often undid batsmen and he was an asset on batsmen-friendly pitches, when he bowled marathon spells without conceding too many runs.Munaf impressed in his 13 first-class matches so far, before he was blighted by injuries, and his extra pace was a huge boost to an already varied attack. But on his return from injury he will be bowling for a new team, which, considering the massive off-season revamp, might just turn out to be a dark horse in this year’s Ranji Trophy.

ScorecardAn accomplished bowling performance from Railways restricted Rest of India to a disappointing 223 on the opening day of the Irani Trophy match in Delhi. Kulamani Parida, with 4 for 61, ended with the best figures but the significant damage was done by Harvinder Singh and Murali Kartik.The game was very different during the opening exchanges after Rest of India had chosen to bat. Gautam Gambhir and Dheeraj Jadhav laid a solid platform with a stand of 82 before Parida made the first breakthrough.Once Railways had made an opening wickets fell at regular intervals as 117 for 1 became 179 for 7 at tea. Jadhav reached his half-century but fell shortly afterwards, trapped lbw by Harvinder. Kartik removed Suresh Raina and Venugopal Rao while Parthiv Patel also fell to Harvinder.Parida’s offspin wrapped up the tail during the evening session leaving Amit Pagnis and Sanjay Bangar with six overs to play out to end a highly satisfactory day for Railways.

Despite his poor series, Adam Gilchrist is prepared to move up a place in the order if Glenn McGrath doesn’t play at The Oval. If McGrath is ruled out Australia will probably use a five-man bowling attack, forcing a batsman, almost certainly Simon Katich, to be dropped.”I would be comfortable batting anywhere,” Gilchrist told . “It’s no secret I haven’t had any real long length of time in the middle but that doesn’t affect my mind-set.”Gilchrist has struggled against Andrew Flintoff during the series and coming into the fifth Test has only 158 runs in eight innings. “That wouldn’t make me more nervous, the fact that I haven’t got runs under my belt, to go up the order.”Gilchrist has batted at No. 6 eight times in Tests at an average of 50.00, including the game at Old Trafford where he made 30 and 4 when Michael Clarke was battling a severe back injury.

Less than 48 hours have passed since the final of the Challenger Trophy at Mohali, and the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) finds itself embroiled in a new controversy over television rights with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).The first volley was fired by SK Nair, BCCI secretary, as he accused the PCA of not releasing the full financial details of the television deal with Zee Sports, which broadcast all four games. “We have sent them letters asking them to give us the financial details of the deal but PCA refuses to divulge information,” Nair has been quoted as saying by . “We would like to know how much money PCA has made because it affects the gross earnings of the board from which subsidies are given to affiliated units.”The BCCI claims that it is the PCA’s responsibility to maintain transparency regarding any financial dealing, such as who determined a final amount for the TV rights and on what basis, given that the PCA is an affiliate of the BCCI.IS Bindra, PCA president, disapproved Nair’s statements and has dashed off his own letter to the board, dated October 13 and delivered to Nair, by hand, on October 14. Bindra has cited that the PCA went ahead and found sponsors for the Challenger Trophy and arranged for its telecast at the request of the Annual General Meeting, and that he does intend to submit a detailed financial report.Nair’s comments and Bindra’s response are sure to raise the tempo of discussions at the board’s marketing committee meeting to be held in Mumbai on October 16, where the technical bids for TV rights for coverage of all matches till 2009 will be discussed.

Not long after West Indies’ heavy loss to Australia in the first Test on November 6, among the first words heard in a dejected dressing room were those of encouragement from Courtney Walsh, the former West Indian captain.Walsh was asked by the coach Bennett King to lift the gloom with his presence and his support. “I was happy to have the chance to go to talk with the team,” said Walsh, now in Australia on a coaching and speaking tour. “It’s easier for someone who is not playing to try to talk to them rather than someone who is playing and I just tried to encourage them.”Walsh pledged to help wherever possible during the two weeks he has left in Australia. He even hoped to find a space in his schedule that would allow him to come to Melbourne, where the West Indies start a three-day match against Victoria on November 11, to “talk to them, to watch them bowl, to join them in the nets”.”The team is not as bad as the result shows but the [Australian] victory by 379 runs should not have been as easy as it came about,” he said. “I think they’re lacking a little bit of experience and, if all of us get behind them whenever we can, it’ll be all the better for them. I certainly think that the bowlers need to have someone to keep working with them, taking them through situations,” he added. “It doesn’t have to be me, it doesn’t have to be Mikey [Michael Holding], but somebody who can say, look, this is what I want you to try to do now, for a session or for the day or whatever.”There was also need for similar assistance for the batsmen. “I’m not trying to take away anything from anybody because what I’m hearing from the players is that Bennett King is doing a good job with getting the right work ethic and discipline and that’s important,” Walsh said. “But I think they need that sort of encouragement from somebody who they can believe in or look up to. Maybe they need someone like that in the batting as well.”They are recommendations the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) need to seriously consider. They could do worse than negotiating with Walsh to immediately join the coaching staff for the remainder of the tour. When King was appointed, the WICB named Sir Garry Sobers as technical consultant. But the greatest allround player the game has known stated from the beginning he is unable to undertake overseas tours.King, the former head of the Australian Academy where he succeeded John Buchanan, the current Australian coach, has introduced the methods that have made Australia the most dominant team in international cricket. He had had a frenetic introduction. The disruptions caused by the protracted row between the WICB and the West Indies Players Association (WIPA) have meant 32 players have been under his charge during his year in the job.

His invitation to Walsh is a hint that he would appreciate a full-time appointment of a former West Indies cricketer with the knowledge, reputation and esteem of Sobers and Walsh. Rather than pressing them into practice and training, King preferred to give those players who wanted it the day off yesterday, presumably to quietly overcome the trauma of the stunning first Test defeat.But five players – Corey Collymore, Daren Powell, Devon Smith, Dwayne Smith, and Denesh Ramdin – requested practice at the indoor nets at the Gabba to work on various aspects of their game and King was there to guide them through.The team flies to Melbourne on Tuesday to prepare for the three-day match against Victoria, starting on Friday. It will give King and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, the captain, the opportunity to assess the best combination for the final two back-to-back Tests in Hobart and Adelaide that immediately follow.It certainly won’t involve four non-batting fast bowlers, as was the case in the first Test, but rather the introduction of Dwayne Bravo to bat No. 7, bowl nippy medium-pace and add speed and certainty to the fielding. He won’t have long to gain the necessary form. Another allrounder, Dwayne Smith, should have his first match of the tour. It could also be his last unless he turns in a spectacular performance that would prompt his inclusion over Bravo.

Scorecard

Jacques Rudolph hammered an unbeaten 201 to ensure that there were no last-day shocks for the South Africans as they drew their tour match against a Western Australia XI at Perth’s James Oval. His masterclass which included 24 fours took some of the pressure off the tourists’ injury concerns and enabled the tourists to declare on 9 for 395 at tea. They set the Western Australia XI a nominal target of 388 and allowed their bowlers a last stretch before the first Test on Friday.The South Africans batting had earlier wobbled again, and it took a 175-run ninth-wicket stand between Rudolph and Andre Nel (64) to finally ensure that the match would end as a draw. Ten Western Australian bowlers were used in all, and Matthew Petrie was the pick, finishing with 4 for 78. The final session was very low key, and Shaun Pollock picked up the one wicket to fall.Jacques Kallis has now been given until Wednesday to prove his fitness for the first Test against Australia but the tourists look likely to have a worthy batting replacement in Rudolph should Kallis miss out.Kallis has had just ten minutes’ practice since arriving in Perth and tearing a tendon in his elbow and team officials said he would have to prove himself in the nets on Wednesday or miss selection for the Test, which starts on Friday. He had earlier been given until Tuesday to prove his fitness.Although this match ended in a draw, the damp and dull wicket offered the tourists little experience of the conditions they will experience on the bouncy WACA wicket which will host the Test.But it did show that Rudolph, who has been the stand-out batsman of the tour for South Africa, could easily slot in at No 4 behind AB de Villiers, Graeme Smith and Herschelle Gibbs if Kallis is ruled out.South African coach Mickey Arthur said he was still confident of a competitive showing against the world champions despite his team’s lacklustre form. “I’m upbeat, I really am,” he said. “You just have to be at the heart of the team to see our team spirit is fantastic and the guys are up for it. It hasn’t gone our way yet, but our intensity and discipline has got better and better. I think the guys will be up for it come Friday, I really do.”Despite Arthur’s optimism, losing Kallis, currently ranked the world’s best Test batsman, would be a massive obstacle for the tourists to overcome. With a batting average of 57.07 plus 184 wickets from his 94 Test matches, Kallis rivals England’s Andrew Flintoff as the world’s premier allrounder.Australian captain Ricky Ponting said he hoped Kallis would recover in time to play on Friday. “We’ll keep our fingers crossed and hope he does come up, because we want to play the best South African team that we can,” he said. If he’s not the best, he’s one of the very best batsmen in the world. He’s a pretty handy bowler for them as well and he’s a vital member of their side.”Australia’s only injury concern was fast bowler Glenn McGrath who has the flu and missed training on Tuesday. “We believe he’s fine and he’s improving,” said the team spokesperson, Belinda Dennett, “and he’s expected to train with the team tomorrow.”

Points table
ScorecardBengal grabbed the chance provided by a sporting declaration by Railways and stormed into the semi-finals with a thrilling last over win. After Railways, charged by Pagnis’s ton to reach 321 for 7, declared after batting 35 overs on the final day, Bengal rode on Abhishek Jhunjhunwala’s magnificient 139 to achieve their target with a ball to spare. Bengal, set to chase 303, were propelled by a superb 217-run second-wicket partnership between Jhunjhunwala and Subhomoy Das. Railways attempted to come back through Murali Kartik who removed both the batsmen but Manoj Tiwari brought up the winning run off the penultimate ball to charge Bengal into the semi-final face-off with Baroda.
ScorecardIt took Maharashtra only four overs on the final day to wrap up a comprehensive victory over Mumbai, registering their second win in the tournament. Mumbai, though, with 16 points in seven games, have already entered the semi-finals and will be facing Uttar Pradesh. Mumbai, having resumed the day needing 71 runs, managed just five runs. Sairaj Bahutule got rid of Rajesh Verma while Munaf Patel removed Ramesh Powar and Nilesh Kulkarni, the overnight batsmen, to bring up the Maharashtra victory.
ScorecardSubramaniam Badrinath hit a breezy 82 to allow Tamil Nadu to declare at 182 for 6, giving themselves an outside chance of bowling out Delhi, but Shikhar Dhawan and Mayank Tehlan added 81 runs for the second wicket to ease Delhi – set a target of 250 – to 117 for 1 in 32 overs to register a comfortable draw at Chennai. Earlier, Rajat Bhatia, who had yesterday dashed TN’s hopes of a semi-final spot, extended TN’s agony as he added 48 runs with the tail to lift Delhi to 414 in their first innings.
ScorecardA maiden first-class century by Madhusudhan Reddy and a half century from Jasvir Singh propelled Services to 342 before Mahesh Rawat and Sumit Shara hit unbeaten half-centuries to take Haryana – set a target of 302 – to 108 for 0 in 30 overs and draw the game at the Palam A stadium in New Delhi. Amit Mishra, the legspinner, removed Reddy and Jasvir enroute to a six-wicket haul to restrict Services, overnight on 182 for 3, to 342 but couldn’t prevent a draw.
ScorecardP Kumar, promoted to open the batting, celebrated his 10-wicket haul in the match in style with a breezy 57 – his second first-class fifty – to power Uttar Pradesh, chasing 151 runs, into the semi-finals with a comprehensive eight-wicket victory over Andhra. Kumar picked up the last Andhra wicket to finish with a five-wicket haul, his third in a short six match first-class career.
ScorecardMukund Parmar steered Gujarat to their second win with a four-wicket victory over Karnataka at Ahmedabad. Gujarat, having started the final day needing 37 runs, lost three wickets but Parmar with an unbeaten 24 propelled them to their target. However, both teams missed out on the final four spot – Bengal edged past Karnataka with their thrilling win over Railways.
ScorecardBaroda wrapped up a comprehensive rout of Hyderabad inside four days at Vadodara, with Yusuf Pathan, the offspinning allrounder, bagging career-best bowling figures. Baroda, 150 for 3 overnight, were boosted by valuable knocks from Connor Williams and Kiran Powar despite a superb spell from Pragyan Ojha, the left-arm spinner, who also picked up his best analysis. Set 371 to get, with the entire fourth day remaining, Hyderabad hardly offered a fight and folded meekly for just 150. Pathan, who had earlier bailed Baroda out of trouble with a fine 72 in the first innings, ran through the lower order with his offbreaks after Irfan Safi Pathan rocked the top order.

The ICC has issued a warning to Zimbabwe Cricket that the appointment of a new interim board is not the end of its troubles, but stopped short of making any comments on controversial statements made by senior sports officials last Friday.Almost 72 hours after the news broke that Zimbabwe’s government had stepped in to assume control of the board, Ehsan Mani, the ICC president, said that “no-one should regard the appointment of this committee as a solution to the issues facing Zimbabwe cricket.”These include addressing allegations of financial mismanagement; ensuring disputes between players and the board are effectively addressed; and providing certainty for other ICC members that the strongest possible Zimbabwe cricket team will be able to fulfil future international commitments, especially the forthcoming tour of the West Indies due to commence in April.”The issue is certain to be discussed when the ICC directors meet this week in Karachi, and West Indies are sure to express serious concerns that even if Zimbabwe do raise a side to tour in April, it will be so weak as to significantly undermine the profitability of the series.While the ICC has always maintained this is a domestic issue, the pressure on it to act has increased in the light of the seemingly racist decision to oust all white and Asian administrators on the grounds of their colour and political position.