A soil shortage at the SCG threatened to end the pitch’s reputation as a spinner’s paradise, but the discovery of a new source of dirt will preserve the surface’s distinct characteristics. With the groundsman’s stores of Bulli soil dwindling and development covering over the previous hotspots, Tom Parker, the curator, learned the Wollongong Golf Club was reconfiguring its layout and had found two seams of the treasured product.The SCG Trust was able to remove about 2000 tonnes of the dirt, which will be enough to satisfy the nine pitches at the ground through to the next century. “Bulli soil has been in use at the SCG since day one and we’re talking of more than 150 years,” Parker said in The Australian. “It’s volcanic in nature with 65 percent clay content.”The soil is normally found at the base of the Illawarra escarpment [south of Sydney], but sadly a lot of the area is now built out. The high clay content in the soil makes the pitch set hard and provides true bounce.” It also lights up the eyes of the spinners and Shane Warne, Stuart MacGill, Bob Holland, Allan Border and Murray Bennett have starred in Sydney Tests. MacGill, who plays for New South Wales, even refers to the ground as “my house”.”This new stockpile of Bulli soil will certainly see me out in the job, good and proper,” Parker, 39, said. “We had originally acquired a very small quantity of Bulli soil from the same club not long after I first started here ten years ago. But that was only one-tenth of the soil we’ve managed to recover this time from the original 7000 tonnes of earth removed from the site.”The pitch for the fifth Ashes Test, which starts on January 2, is expected to be a typical Sydney wicket and the news is not good for the English batsmen who have struggled to play Warne and MacGill. “By the fourth, and certainly on the fifth day, it will break up and take spin,” Parker said. “It will take maximum spin for the likes of both Warne and MacGill to bowl in tandem against the Englishmen.”

New South Wales 288 and 8 for 135 (Clark 62, Thornely 47*, Tait 4-46) beat South Australia 154 and 267 (Cosgrove 94, Borgas 72, Clark 6-39) by 2 wickets
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An outstanding all-round display by Stuart Clark allowed New South Wales to sneak home by two wickets in a thrilling Pura Cup match against South Australia at Adelaide. Clark’s 6 for 39 first helped restrict the Redbacks to just 267 in their second innings, while his whirlwind 62 off 37 balls took the Blues home after they had stumbled to an unbelievable 5 for 12 chasing a target of 134.New South Wales would have expected to canter home after their fine performance in the field, but they were in for a rude shock as four wickets went down in the first two overs. Shaun Tait, who picked up his second four-wicket haul of the match, started the slide by trapping Phil Jaques and Ed Cowan in front in his first over, while Jason Gillespie repeated the dose, dismissing Greg Mail and Brad Haddin off successive balls. All four batsmen made ducks, and when Tait nailed Beau Casson soon after, the Blues had lost half their side with a paltry 12 runs on the board. Dominic Thornely and Aaron O’Brien then added 34 for the sixth wicket before Tait struck again, dismissing O’Brien to have New South Wales reeling at 6 for 46.Clark, with a first-class average of 13.45 and a highest of 35 before this game, then decided to make this match his own, crashing four sixes and three fours in an astonishing blitz that turned the game around. He finally fell to Cullen Bailey, who also dismissed Matthew Nicholson to leave the Redbacks within two wickets of a stunning win, but Thornely held his nerve and finally ended the match in style, smashing Tait for a six to seal the victory.Clark had earlier starred with the ball too, as South Australia failed in their attempt to set a huge fourth-innings target. A mammoth 165-run third-wicket stand between Mark Cosgrove (94) and Cameron Borgas (72) had them well placed at 2 for 178, but the rest of the batting folded meekly, with only Callum Ferguson (39) providing some resistance. After dismissing both openers yesterday, Clark got rid of Ferguson and then took care of the tail to finish with a six-wicket haul. That should have ensured an easy win for the Blues, but in the end it required him to put forth his best first-class batting performance for the Blues to sneak through.

The trial of Mark Vermeulen, who is charged with arson attacks on the Zimbabwe Cricket Academy and the Zimbabwe board’s headquarters, was postponed until December 6 after a brief hearing in Harare.Magistrate Omega Mugumbate agreed to a defence application for the adjournment in order to allow Eric Matinenga, Vermeulen’s lawyer, to free up his schedule. Matinenga is a leading advocate who also represented Zimbabwe’s main opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirayi, after he was accused of engaging the services of a Canadian political consultancy firm to assassinate President Robert Mugabe and topple his government in a coup.Vermeulen was released on bail but has to report to the police on a daily as well as surrender his passport. He faces two counts of arson and if found guilty he could be convicted to up to 25 years in prison with hard labour.

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Sameer Khajuria spun Jammu and Kashmir to a five-wicket win against Jharkhand at Jamshedpur. Khajuria, an offspinner, returned amazing figures of 7 for 39 from 18 overs as Jharkhand, trailing by 77 on the first innings, were bundled out for 183 the second time around. Requiring just 107 for victory, J&K stumbled to 56 for 4 and then 72 for 5, but finally made it across the finish line, thanks to an unbeaten 36 from Dhruv Mahajan.
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Strong performances by the middle order allowed Railways to escape with a draw against Assam at Guwahati. Assam were assured of at least two points after Railways were forced to follow on, and when Railways lost three early wickets in the second innings, there was even a chance of an outright victory for Assam. However, Shreyas Khanolkar fought back with 60, Jai P Yadav made 48, while Sushant Manjrekar and Raja Ali shared an undefeated 120-run stand to lift Railways from a shaky 133 for 5 to more safe waters.
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Kerala took two points from their drawn game against Madhya Pradesh at the Fort Maidan in Palakkad. With Kerala already having taken the first-innings lead by close of play on the third day, the last day’s play was only of academic interest. Kerala were finally bowled out for 345, a lead of 38, while Madhya Pradesh used the last two sessions for batting practice, with Monish Mishra finishing on an unbeaten 69.
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Madhusudan Acharya, the offspinner, and Sandeep Singh, the right-arm fast bowler, shared seven wickets between them as Vidarbha thrashed Goa by ten wickets at Margao. Resuming their second innings at 87 for 4 on the final day, Goa were shot out for 156, with only Swapnil Asnodkar (59) and Rohit Asnodkar (48) making substantial contributions. Acharya finished with 4 for 52 while Sandeep took 3 for 64. Vidarbha got to their target of 27 in less than five overs to take all five points.
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Sarandeep Singh led a spirited fightback by Himachal Pradesh after they had conceded the first-innings lead, but Orissa hung on to force a draw and taken two point from their clash at Dharamsala. Sarandeep took 5 for 53 as Orissa were bundled out for 166 in their second innings, with only Pravanjan Mullick (79 not out) offering resistance. Set a target 218, Himachal finished on 80 for 4.
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Services rode on a solid bowling performance and an undefeated 115-run stand between their openers to clinch a convincing ten-wicket win against Tripura at the Palam A Stadium in Delhi. None of the Tripura batsmen managed a half-century in their second innings as they were bundled out for 154, with Manish Jha, a right-arm fast bowler, taking three wickets. Services knocked off the target of 115 without losing a wicket, with Soomik Chatarjee, the left-handed opener, remaining unbeaten on 62.

David Sales has agreed a two-year contract extension at Northamptonshire which will keep him with the club until 2008 and has also agreed to continue as captain in 2007.Sales, 29, is currently enjoying a benefit year with the county and scored over 1200 runs in the Championship last year as the team missed out on promotion.He said: ‘It’s a great honour to be name captain again with such exciting times ahead. A new head coach in David Capel and David Ripley’s new position as second team coach/academy director will give us the knowledge and support we need along with their back room staff.”I am very much looking forward to the year ahead and expect some big things this year for the club. On my contract extension I am delighted to commit myself to the club for a further two years and hopefully a lot longer in the future’

Northamptonshire have signed two players to complete their winter player dealings. Niall O’Brien, a 25-year-old wicketkeeper/batsman who has played for Kent, and David Lucas, a 28-year-old left arm seamer, will both join the club ahead of next summer.O’Brien, who will provide cover for Riki Wessels, has signed a one-year deal and will join after the World Cup, where he is representing Ireland. He was born in Dublin but will become English qualified during 2007 and the head coach David Capel believes he has first-class qualities and is delighted to have found him “after much consideration and searching”.Lucas has had spells with Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire and will join for a trial period of three months. “David’s left arm style of bowling will add the necessary variety to our squad of seam bowlers that we require,” said Capel. And he hinted that Lucas could have a Championship future if he impresses at this stage. “Providing things develop as expected he could fit well into our game plans especially in the longer form of the game.”

Gold League
Karachi Urban took another step towards toppling Rawalpindi from the top of the Gold League table as they piled up 506 for 5 declared on the second day of their Quaid-e-Azam Trophy Gold League match at the National Stadium . By the close of play, Rawalpindi had reached 122 for 3, still 357 away from averting the follow-on.Hasan Raza, the captain, hit an unbeaten 108 and Mohtashim Ali 67 in a 149-run fifth-wicket stand after overnight centurion Saeed Bin Nasir fell for 107. Raza, 24 and playing in his 139th first-class match, notched up his 27th hundred off 140 deliveries with the help of nine fours and two sixes. Asif Zakir (79) added 193 with Nasir.Rawalpindi progressed to 87 before three wickets fell for seven runs. Babar Naeem, the left-handed batsman, was unbeaten on 73, with14 fours and a six off 87 balls in just under two hours. Captain Mohammad Wasim has still not come out to bat, but Rawalpindi’s task to save the match is a difficult one.Karachi Urban, currently placed at number three in the seven-team Gold League table with 15 points, are in the ideal position to take their tally to 24 with an outright win and move to the top of the table.Playing like true champions, last season’s winners Sialkot transformed their poor situation on day one by taking their overnight 212 for 6 to an impressive 384 on the second day at the Jinnah Stadium . In reply, Lahore Shalimar had slipped to 139 for 6, with 96 required to make Sialkot bat again.Khalid Mahmood, Sialkot’s wicketkeeper was the man mainly responsible for the turnaround. Coming in at No.9, he first saw his partner Ayub Dogar leave the field with an injury. At 258 for 9, Ayub returned and the two proceeded to add an incredible 126 for the last wicket. Khalid remained unbeaten on 93, after being in sight of his first-class career’s third century, that came off a mere 110 balls in a little over two hours with nine fours and three sixes. Ayub, 28 overnight, had earlier helped add 67 for the seventh wicket with Tahir Mughal (31). He was last out, after having made 81 off 259 balls with eight fours and a six. Tahir then bagged 4 for 70 in Lahore’s innings, with only Ahmed Shahzad (52 off 115 balls) and Ashraf Ali (35*) offering resistance.Sialkot, with 12 points from their previous three matches, should now be looking towards an outright win so as to remain in contention for making the Gold League final.The chances for last season’s runners-up Faisalabad lifting themselves from the bottom of the seven-team Gold League brightened, as they gained the crucial first-innings lead against Peshawar at the Iqbal Stadium. Having dismissed second-placed Peshawar for a modest 215 on day one, Faisalabad took their overnight 39 for 0 to 254 for 9 by stumps, a lead of 39.The openers, Imran Ali (51) and Asif Hussain (48) added 94 before Ijaz Ahmed Junior hit an unbeaten 71 off 182 deliveries with ten fours. With a four-man attack, Arshad Khan, Peshawar’s captain, bowled superbly to pick up 4 for 74 in 34 overs. Riaz Afridi, the medium-pacer, sent down 32 overs for a return of 3 for 88.Champions in 2003-04 and runners-up during the two subsequent seasons, Faisalabad are trying desperately to avoid being demoted to the Silver League circuit.Silver League
Shoaib Khan,Quetta’s left-handed opener, hit a century as his team gained a first-innings lead of 97 over Hyderabad on day two at the Niaz Stadium.It was Shoaib’s second first-class hundred and personal best as Quetta, resuming at an overnight 91 for 4, overhauled Hyderabad’s 193 with an impressive total of 290. Shoaib batted for more than six hours, facing 253 balls and hitting six fours and a six. His fifth-wicket stand with Arun Lal (52) was worth 97.Farhan Ayub, Hyderabad’s in-form left-arm fast bowler, returned figures of 6 for 76, while Naseer Khan (42) and captain Faisal Irfan (35) chipped in with useful runs. In their second innings, Hyderabad were 1 for 37, still 60 behind.Following Multan’s poor show in their match against Islamabad yesterday, Abbottabad must have seen a flicker of hope to make the Silver League final as they gained a splendid 152-run first-innings lead over Lahore Ravi at the Lahore City Cricket Association (LCCA) Ground . Having dismissed Lahore for 62 on the first day, Abbottabad resumed at their overnight 89 for 1 and managed 314. At stumps, Lahore Ravi had made 72 for 1, still 80 runs in deficit.Fast bowlers Wahab Riaz (4 for 77) and Imran Ali (4 for 64) acquitted themselves well but Abbottabad prevailed on a fruitful day. Opener Mohammad Naeem, who top-scored with 54, took his second-wicket stand with Wajid Ali (42) to 53. Later, debutant Hammad Ali (45 off 85 balls with five fours) and captain Sajid Shah (30) added a crucial 92 for the seventh wicket, their stand being boosted by several extras. There were eventually as many as 40 of them, with fast bowler Wasim Khan conceding 10 wides and seven no-balls.If Multan are beaten by Islamabad in their ongoing encounter, and Abbottabad win here, either side will have an identical record after five matches and a total of 21 points. Who goes on to meet Islamabad in the Silver League final will then be decided on the basis of net run-rate.Instead of Multan improving their position, it was table leaders Islamabad who were looking for their fifth straight win in as many matches, as they finished with a 324-run lead on day two at the Diamond Club Ground .In reply to Islamabad’s 314, Multan folded for 153 and conceded a 161-run lead. Centurion Azhar Mahmood, the captain, took 3 for 45 for Islamabad and medium-pacer Bilal Asad excelled with figures of 4 for 13 in 11.2 overs. In Islamabad’s second-innings 163 for 3 opener Raheel Majeed hit a 76-ball 71in just short of two hours, with 10 fours and three sixes.With four wins and a full 36 points, Islamabad have already qualified for the Silver League final, scheduled to be played from February 7. Multan, second-placed in the five-team table, have 21 points but now appear to be in danger of losing their position to Abbottabad.

Jacob Oram, the New Zealand allrounder, sought motivaton from an unfair jibe by an Australian newspaper to score the fastest century by a New Zealander and take his side close to an improbable victory against Australia at Perth yesterday. tagged Oram a “poor man’s Chris Cairns”, referring to the former New Zealand allrounder, and Oram responded with an unbeaten 101 off 72 balls as his side gave Australia a scare chasing 344.”He was irked by one of the press calling him a ‘poor man’s Chris Cairns’,” Stephen Fleming, the captain, said after the match. “That really spurred him, surprisingly, because he is a fine player. He can strike the ball as well as anyone in world cricket.”Like Cairns, Oram’s career too has been plagued by injuries and a hamstring pull forced him to miss the first half of the CB Series in Australia. He made an immediate impact on rejoining the squad, scoring 86 against England at Adelaide, followed by his blitz in Perth yesterday, which was incidentally the fastest one-day international hundred on Australian soil. His innings won the praise of Adam Gilchrist, one of the biggest hitters in the world.”He is a very clean hitter and strong bloke,” Gilchrist said. “It seems like his mis-hits go for six. He’s in the same category as Andrew Symonds I think.”Though Oram looked unstoppable – fetching six sixes and four fours – he later admitted, ironically, that he wasn’t very confident of attaining the target. Oram and Brendon McCullum were involved in a sixth-wicket stand of 137 off just 89 balls, one which was interrupted by rain. Oram said that the threat of rain and the likelihood of a revised target did play on his mind and the eventual delay did disturb the momentum.”I was never really confident, I never felt we were right on top of the game,” Oram was quoted in stuff.co.nz. “We were always having to try and find the boundary and then [Glenn] McGrath bowled an over with five overs left which was one of the best death overs I’ve ever faced. That made it tough.”He added that the century didn’t quite sink in as it was still scored in a lost cause. “I’m obviously thrilled with it because it is justifying the skills I have in batting but I suppose what is blunting those emotions is we lost and the first half of my game was pretty awful.”

Canada, spurred by an efficient bowling and batting display, comfortably defeated Antigua & Barbuda by five wickets in their one-day practice match at the Antigua Recreation Ground on Saturday. Warming up for the tri-series that also involves Bermuda and Bangladesh, the Canadians restricted the Antiguans to 231 for 8 off their 50 overs and then replied strongly with 232 for 5 off 42.4 overs.Canada’s bowlers bowled with discipline as they maintained control over theAntiguan batsmen for most of the innings. Kerry Mentore, the wicketkeeper-batsman, top-scored with 55 off 96 balls but like the other batsmen he was unable to get on top of the bowling.Mentore and Austin Richards Jr, who hit a 37-ball 32, put on 42 for the first wicket and but the scoring rate was not spectacular. A late flurry from Leewards all-rounder Justin Athanaze, who hit 30 from 21 balls with four fours and a six, gave the score some respectability after Antigua had been 158 for 5.In reply, Abdool Samad made 64, Ashif Mulla 56 not out and Ashish Bagai 45, as Canada paced their chase well. Samad, who had also bowled well to take 1 for 45 in nine overs, set the tempo for the reply with a 70-ball innings. Edwin Richardson gave Bermuda hope with a fiery spell, but was forced to withdraw from the attack after he delivered the second of two beamers in his spell of 5.2 overs.

When Ramnaresh Sarwan, man of the match against Bangladesh after a superbunbeaten 91, talked to the media after the game, he had little idea thathis captain was poised to drop a bombshell that would render everythingelse – Jacob Oram’s heel and Duncan Fletcher’s resignation, to name justtwo significant stories of the day – redundant. Though he laughed at the idea that hewas captain-in-waiting, Sarwan was candid when asked if he’d want BrianLara in the squad that leaves for England in early May.”Of course,” he said. “With his experience, the way he plays and what hebrings to the team, you’d want him there.” And asked what he’d learnt fromsharing the same dressing room, Sarwan spoke of Lara’s mental strength andhow he’d managed to rebound from the hard times despite his every movebeing so closely scrutinised. In his view, much of the criticism of Larawas unfair, though he accepted that it came with the job. “People pointfingers at the leader. That happens in every sport.”We recently had the case of a vice-captain, Pakistan’s Younis Khan,refusing to take up the reins, but that path of least resistance won’t bethe one that Sarwan takes. “I’ve said for a while now that I’m willing totake up the challenge,” he said. “A few things would have to changethough.”A few minutes later, it was Lara in front of the cameras and microphones,and he appeared to give the anointed one his seal of approval. “I thinkhe’s shown maturity,” he said, when asked about Sarwan. “He’s a very goodbatsman. We dropped him down to No.5 because he’s a very good finisher. Ifthat decision had been taken earlier, it might have borne fruit.”Lara has been roundly criticised during this World Cup campaign, withlegends of the past dismissive of both the team’s performances andpreparation. According to him, a press conference wasn’t the right forumto debate whatever had gone wrong behind the scenes, though he did saythat the new captain would need “whole-hearted support from the board andthe selectors.”It was as good as saying that the support cast had failed him, and was inkeeping with what he had hinted at during an interview withCricinfo Magazine last September. When asked about indiscipline -the allegations have flown thick and fast during this competition – he hadsaid: “There are different types of indiscipline. Are you talking aboutthe controversial kind?”It can stem not just from the players, it can stem from deep-rootedproblems in the administration. I don’t think you’d see an indisciplinedteam if you have a disciplined board. If you have a disciplined board,they would know exactly what they want from their players. You need to seethe whole spiral, where it starts from.”To blame Lara and the players alone for this World Cup debacle is acop-out, and it ignores huge faults beneath the surface. “I’ve been partof five World Cups and we reached the semis only in 1996,” said Lara.”Here, we were beaten by better teams.”

When asked if he saw a way out of the morass of mediocrity, he was onlycautiously optimistic, saying that it might take five or 10 years for theWest Indies to regain respectability. “The team is good enough, the talentis there,” he said. “But in international sport, success stems from a lotmore than the 11 players on the field.”Our cricket needs a strong foundation. We have to dig deep. We’ve gotsome guys who are good thinkers on the game on the cricket committee. Weneed to find the right plan. It’s not going to be easy and we can’t lookfor too much.”Lara is prepared to be part of that future, turbulent though it may be.”It’s not time for me to go into hibernation,” he said. “I’ve played andI’ve been a student of the game. I know the history of West Indies cricketand I know what it means to the people. There are also a lot of people inother countries that we could learn from.”Saturday will be special, and such has been Lara’s mental strength downthe years that you can picture him conjuring up an innings to remember.”We’ve still got a job to do on Saturday,” he said after Bangladesh hadsubsided to a 99-run defeat. “It’s nice to get back on the winning trail.We’ve not won a game since Jamaica. And though it’s come a couple ofmatches too late, we still have a World Cup to finish.”The fans are still coming out to watch us. You wonder if the support isgoing to be there. It was a tremendous turnout to watch a team that had nochance of reaching the semi-finals.”Quite a few of them would have come to see him grace the venue where heenjoyed his finest hour. The world-record scores of 375 and 400 will catchthe statistician’s eye, and the purist might swear by his 277 at Sydney(1993), but it’s highly unlikely that any of us will see an innings tomatch the 153 not out that inspired a one-wicket win against the best teamin the world.When asked about it in Malaysia, he had said: “The pressure sometimes getsthe better of me but it’s a lovely feeling to have the chips down, backagainst the wall, and come up with something special.”The thousands that pour through the turnstiles on Saturday morning willhope for one last glimpse of such genius. For all his flaws as anindividual – and who doesn’t have them? – Brian Lara the batsman was asight to behold. Two days from now, the crazy diamond will shine one lasttime.