YOUNG gun Graeme Swann put the old Masters to the sword as cricket calypsostyle thrilled the crowd at the Grenada National Stadium.Loud speakers belted out reggae tunes as the County beat the Masters XI byseven wickets against the backdrop of thousands of dancing schoolchildren,who were given the day off by their teachers.Swann thrilled the sizeable crowd hitting 11 fours and three sixes in his73-ball 89, and brought up his 50 with an audacious six off Joel Garner.And the Towcester twirler even showed off his dancing skills, delighting thecrowd with his reggae jiving.The Swann brothers opened the batting for the County as they chased 156 forvictory, after Paul Taylor and Devon Malcolm had decimated a top order whichonce struck fear into every Englishman.Taylor accounted for Desmond Haynes and Gordon Greenidge, before Malcolmremoved Gus Logie and Irving Shillingford with consecutive deliveries.Former West Indies skipper Ritchie Richardson hit 50 and ex-County skipperAllan Lamb joined in the fun by batting at number 11. Sir Viv Richards hadpulled out at the last minute disappointing the Grenadian crowd.”I looked at the scoreboard and realised I was on 44 at the start ofGarner’s over, and I planned to hit him for six to get my 50. When I wasbatting with my brother he said to me it was a bit like batting against thecricket videos of our childhood. It was a great opportunity to play againstsome names from the past and it was a great experience,” Swann said.”The kids made it a great atmosphere and all the lads really enjoyed playingin this game. I was disappointed Viv Richards wasn’t playing but it wasstill a great opportunity to play against guys like Greenidge, Haynes andLogie .”Haynes set out his stall early by depositing Taylor for six over the squareleg boundary in the third over, but the former England man had the lastlaugh dismissing the openers.”We took the game fairly seriously and Desmond Haynes proved he can stillplay Test cricket with a couple shots off PT.”We bowled well and got a few early wickets which took the sting out of thegame a little bit. The crowd came to see some runs but our boys bowled welland deserved their success.”Haynes said: “Many of the people here including the opposition expect us tobe able to come out and play like we did 15 years ago. The thing is most ofus haven’t picked up a bat in years, and the fitness levels are not whatthey used to be.”The result of the match was never really in doubt but that mattered littlewith the Masters succeeding in their task of entertaining the youngsters andhopefully turning them into cricket fans. That is something which cricket inthe West Indies desperately needs.The day closed with a lovely touch from the PA announcer, “Now come onchildren it’s past 4pm and your parents will want you home.”It was a long way from Wantage Road in every respect.

Moors Sports Club made up for a disappointing display against Tamil Union yesterday with a morale boosting victory over Antonians today at Braybrooke Place.When play finally got underway at 12pm there was only time for 37.4 overs per side. Moors Sports Club won the toss and had no hesitation in asking Antonians to bat first. However, the Antonians openers started well and added 66 runs for the first wicket. Charles Silva led the way with 43 from 42 balls. He hit four fours and two sixes in the run-a-ball innings before he was stumped off Chandika Haturasinghe.The Antonians innings then ran into difficulties as number two batsman, Lahiru Chaturanga, was dismissed in the next over. 34 runs were then added fro the third wicket before Rangana Herath plucked out the middle order. The left arm spinner finished with three wickets for 23 runs.The Moors reply started disastrously as three wickets were lost for nine runs. However, Bhatiya Perera (28)continued his good form of the previous rounds and put on 50 runs in partnership with Roshan Cooray (43). When Perera was dismissed Iroshan De Silva came to the crease and scored an unbeaten 35 runs to guide Moors to victory. He was ably assisted by Mahesh Palihakkara who scored an unbeaten 30. Moors Sports Club eventually overhauled the victory target with just 11 balls to spare.

After England’s bowlers had given their side an excellent start to the final Test in Karachi, it was Pakistan’s batsmen who gradually took over as the day progressed and by stumps, finished on a commanding 292 for three.An imperious Inzamam-ul-Haq and an equally authoritative Yousuf Youhana, took control of the Pakistan innings into which England had made early in-roads, despite the home side deciding to make first use of another pitch in this series made for the batsmen to thrive on.Inzamam and Youhana both made a tentative start under the pressure that England’s bowlers had exerted upon their side, but once they had settled in they played more freely and by tea, which was taken on 160 for three, they were beginning to dominate.Facing accurate English bowling and fine fielding in the first two sessions of the day, Pakistan took time to recover from being reduced to 64 for three before lunch.Darren Gough had taken the first wicket, the important one of Saeed Anwar for eight and on the total of 44, Imran Nazir, one of two changes in the Pakistan team – the other being Waqar Younis for the under-performing Wasim Akram – was dismissed for 20.Marcus Trescothick, who is becoming such a reliable bowler, had Nazir caught by Ashley Giles from an edged half-volley, to claim his first Test wicket. Twenty runs later, and ten minutes before lunch, the third wicket went with Saleem Elahi playing on to Andy Caddick for 28. Caddick had earlier dropped him on 13, at third-man, from a difficult chance off Trescothick.By the latter part of the second session of play Pakistan’s batsmen had revived the innings and Inzamam had brought up his fifty from 109 balls. Pakistan’s 200 followed Youhana’s fifty from 111 balls. He reached it with a beautiful drive to mid-on off Craig White, whose three over spell went for seventeen.Inzamam, who was fortunate not to be given out leg before wicket to Trescothick by umpire Nazir Jnr. (replays confirmed that he was struck on the ankle of his back leg right in front of his stumps), when he had four, was, by the final session of play, dictating terms to the bowlers.The stroke-play of the two batsmen had become most entertaining, particularly Inzamam who reached his twelfth Test century with a cover drive for four off Ian Salisbury. The rate of scoring had increased substantially in the last session with 132 runs being scored compared with 71 in the first session, though there were ten fewer overs in the morning.Shortly before the new ball was taken, in the 83rd over, Youhana hit Giles for a straight six and later square cut Caddick for four to reach his fifth Test century. Prior to this, in this series, he scored 124 in the first Test and 77 in the second. Inzamam has been equally prolific with 63 in the first Test and 71 in the second innings of the next Test.Apart from the lbw that Inzamam survived, he gave a difficult chance, on 73, to slip off White. Michael Atherton got his out stretched right hand to it but the ball went to third man for a single.By close of play Inzamam was unbeaten on 123 from 223 balls, eighteen of which had been hit to the boundary. Youhana was 104 not out having faced 211 balls and their unbroken fourth wicket stand was worth a monumental 228. Their stand also helped Inzamam overtake Andy Flower’s tally of 966 runs to become the leading Test run scorer this year with 1044 runs from 12 matches.They had grafted early on to consolidate Pakistan’s innings and then placed their team into control. Unless England are able to break this partnership early tomorrow and then follow it up with a couple of quick wickets, they will struggle to save this final Test.”That was the toughest day we’ve had on tour,” admitted Trescothick afterwards. “We have to remember that there are four days left and who knows what will happen tomorrow morning — it only takes one wicket and suddenly we’re back in the game.”He refused to blame the lbw claim that was turned down for England’s difficult day. “That’s the way these things go sometimes, you have to take the rough with the smooth,” Trescothick said. “We’ll never know what would have happened if he’d been given, but the umpire said not out, we carried on as normal and worked hard for the rest of the day. I thought that if there was anything wrong with it, it must have been going down the leg side and I asked the umpire and that’s what he said happened.”

After the excitement and tension of the Shell Trophy match between these teams their contest in the opening round of the Shell Cup was an anti-climax. Auckland won by 109 runs as Northern Districts never looked like getting remotely close to the target of 242.The decisive passage of the game was the last ten overs of the Auckland innings when Tama Canning and Andre Adams led an assault on the previously frugal ND attack. Almost a hundred runs were added in this period to put the game well beyond reach.ND’s reply was dogged by the regular fall of wickets, the biggest partnership being twenty-eight for the ninth wicket between Bailey and Martin. Five Auckland bowlers took two wickets each. All except Canning were accurate and economical, and he owed his team nothing after his decisive performance with the bat. Morgan went wicketless, but was every bit as tight as the rest.The strong performance of slow left-armer Mark Haslam in both forms of the game should be acknowledged as his opportunities have been few, and far between, since the emergence of Brooke Walker.Auckland won the toss and chose to bat after rain delayed the start by ten minutes. The opening partnership between Aaron Barnes and Llorne Howell was worth forty-six, achieved at a four an over. Little advantage was taken of the fielding restrictions in the first fifteen overs, even with off-spinner Grant Bradburn opening from the Members’ End.A six and a four came from the first two balls of the ninth over, bowled by Simon Doull, who was still suffering the effects of a painful knock in the groin, sustained as he fell before the over began. Doull collects unusual injuries. Last year he received a finger in the eye during a high five celebration at Taupo.The dismissal of Barnes, caught at slip by Bradburn off Aldridge, was the first of three in rapid succession. Vincent was Aldridge’s second victim, to an outstanding slip catch by Bailey. Yovich caught Howell, moving back quickly from mid-on to make a tricky chance look easy. Howell did not field after aggravating a finger injury.Dion Nash – playing as a batsman only – and Blair Pocock were the fourth wicket partnership. They made staying together the first priority, knowing that the big hitters to come in the Auckland batting order had to come in late enough to be able to attack freely.They did their job well, putting on 102. Boundaries were few against a tight ND attack, but the platform was in place when Pocock was dismissed. The pace seemed slow at times, but later events fully justified their approach.Canning and Adams both faced nineteen deliveries. Canning scored thirty-two including a six and three fours. Adams was thirty-six not out with two sixes and two fours.Nash played the supporting role, unusually for him. It was an invaluable effort as he first steadied the innings and later gave the strike to his partners unselfishly and efficiently.Tait (10-1-29-1) and Bradburn (10-0-28-1) both bowled their spells straight through, demonstrating how they have almost 200 Shell Cup wickets between them. Tait’s mid-innings spell was especially commendable and would have been match winning more often than not.So Auckland takes two points to become early joint leaders with Canterbury. ND will believe that it has got its bad game out of its system early on. It will be a major surprise if it does not challenge strongly for a top three place.ND entertain CD in the Shell Trophy in Taupo from Wednesday, returning to Hamilton for a Shell Cup match next Sunday. Auckland travels south for games against Canterbury.

Mark Alleyne and Matt Windows batted Gloucestershire into a position of strength on the third day of the CricInfo Championship match at Archdeacon Meadow.Having dismissed Durham for 287 to carve out a first innings lead of 130, the home side made light of frequent rain interruptions to reach 159-4 by the close.Windows put his series of disappointing scores behind him to register a patient half-century and Alleyne contributed 30 in a fourth-wicket stand of 71 in 17 overs.But a total of 26 overs were lost to rain and Gloucestershire, 289 runs in front, will require clear skies if they are to force victory on the final day.Martyn Ball and James Averis had earlier undermined Durham’s first innings, sharing eight wickets between them as the visitors were shot out for 287 inside 85 overs.Off spinner Ball returned a season’s best 4-80, bowling into the rough from the River End to dismiss Michael Gough and Danny Law in quick succession and spark a collapse which saw Durham lose their last six wickets for 60 runs.Averis ensured the tail came and went quickly, accounting for Andrew Pratt, Nicky Phillips and Steve Harmison to finish with 4-75 from 24.2 overs, and Durham were indebted to Ian Hunter, who contributed a gutsy 24 to steer them past the follow-on target of 268.Durham fought back either side of tea, taking wickets at regular intervals to slow the scoring rate and frustrate the home side.Kim Barnett was bowled by Simon Brown for 15 and fellow opener Dominic Hewson had scored 29 when he top-edged Hunter to point.When Chris Taylor tried to flick Law off his legs and lobbed a leading edge to mid-on, Gloucestershire were 85-3 and in danger of surrendering the initiative.

Day 2 of 3Falkland CC:
Wales Minor Counties 232 and 47 (NA Denning 7-26)
Berkshire 295 (TL Lambert 86, N Gage 5-54)
Berkshire (23pts) bt Wales Minor Counties (6pts) by an innings and 16 runsColwall:
Wiltshire 124 and 458-6 dec (SM Perrin 190, C Rogers 62, P Draper 62, D A Winter 59)
Herefordshire 103 and 54-0Challow and Childrey:
Cheshire 313 and 172-2 dec (N Wood 57)
Oxfordshire 151 (S Renshaw 5-59) and 30-4
Day 1 of 3:Bridgnorth:
Shropshire 192 (MJ Marvell 67no, NTP George 6-39)
Cornwall 73-5

Australia have been boosted by the return to fitness of their first choice team ahead of Thursday’s Second npower Test at Lord’s.Brett Lee, Michael Slater and Matthew Hayden all came through a challenging two hour fitness session and have declared themselves available for selection”Everybody’s come through with flying colours,” coach John Buchanan revealed. “At this stage all are available for selection.”Lee should be 100% by the time the game comes around. Hayden was probably the one causing a little bit of concern. He seems to have come through it pretty well.”It’s important that we have got all players fit and available, which has made the selectors’ job a little bit easier.”Australia’s main consideration will be whether to replace Lee, who may still lack match practise as he returns from a lengthy lay-off, with Damien Fleming. Fleming looks to be ideally suited to English conditions, as demonstrated by his eight wickets in the tourists’ victory over Somerset.”Fleming is in good form as he showed at Somerset, as are one or two batsmen, notably Justin Langer," agreed Buchanan. “So it’s important they keep pushing hard for selection in case of injury of loss of form.”We are happy to maintain a winning momentum, as we were able to do at Somerset. We are treating this as a special game and it’s a Lord’s Test match, which Australia traditionally looks forward to. “Australia expect a more determined England to meet them at Lord’s, and Buchanan admitted that the hosts’ team would be strengthened by the return from injury of several players.”I would expect England will be playing probably better cricket than what they played at Edgbaston,” he continued.”With Ramprakash and potentially Thorpe in, and Silverwood being included, I see a more resilient sort of England side and obviously one-down in the series it’s very important for them to make it 1-1.”Thorpe is a left-hander so potentially he has the capacity to play our bowlers a little more comfortably than some. He’s got a good record. The only down side for him obviously is lack of playing.”Not only is it a step up just to play in first-class cricket, but it is a step up into playing Test match cricket when you haven’t played for a while. “Thorpe declared himself happy with his fitness, however, and stressed his desire to return to action.”I’m quite happy with my state of mind to say ‘let’s get on with it, let’s get back in there’. That’s my way of thinking.”I don’t really want to worry too much about the fact I haven’t played because if you do think about it too much, you tie yourself in knots and that’s not really the way I’ve approached my cricket, not over the last year anyway. I’m looking forward and I’m going to enjoy the game.”It’s responded [his calf] very well, that’s good and positive from my point of view. It feels fine, the workload I’ve put on it hasn’t hindered me at all. I’m at the stage where I’m not even thinking about it, and that’s a good sign.”I don’t feel under any pressure at all. From my personal point of view getting the injury right was the most important thing.”But Thorpe was keen not to be portrayed as the saviour of the England team and reiterated the view that the team as a whole will have to improve markedly on the Edgbaston performance if they are to come back in the series.”I’m certainly not the saviour, the whole performance has to be a lot better for us to challenge these guys.”It’s frustrating when the team is not winning, but I’m not putting any pressure on myself,” he continued. “I’ll just try to come back and contribute well for the side and enjoy the game.”We’ve got to try to find the level of consistency which we did have for 18 months. We wouldn’t have won those four series without playing good consistent cricket. That’s what the England team want to re-discover.”

It’s coming up to two years since I was given the honour of captaining SriLanka. It’s a job that I cherish and that I am very proud to be doing for mycountry. I would have to admit though that it’s not all been plain sailing -the first six months were particularly difficult.The job was given to me after our disappointing performance in the 1999World Cup in England. I had captained the Sri Lanka Under 24 in SouthAfrica, but had never experienced the kind of pressure associated with thenational captaincy.For a start, I was stepping into the shoes of Arjuna Ranatunga, who had ledthe side with such distinction for so long. He left a legacy that was alwaysgoing to be difficult to follow. There was a question mark in my head – canI do it?The huge weight of expectation was a difficult burden to carry. The public’sexpectations had soared after becoming world champions and after the defeatin England the team had a responsibility to perform better. Being thecaptain, the brunt of that responsibility fell on my shoulders and I had tolearn how to carry it.I was lucky though on two counts. Firstly, Dav Whatmore had returned ascoach and was expertly backed up by physiotherapist Alex Kontouri, both ofwhom were full of encouragement and advice. Secondly, the team gave me 100per cent support.The first thing I did upon being given the job was to call together theplayers for a meeting, in which I spelled out our objectives and asked themfor their total support. They did so and continue to do so, which makes thejob so much easier and helped through that difficult early period.The overriding goal was to bring the team together. We needed to merge the15 players and 15 minds into one cohesive whole, so that we could moveforward together as a group, rather thanas a collection of individuals. We achieved that and created a strong teamspirit within the group.Now, when I look back, I believe that we have come a long way. Throughoutthe last two years the emphasis has been on young players, especially in theone-day side, and some have now established their positions in the side. Wenow have a nucleus of talented players and the basis of a tremendously goodside in the future.Although grooming youngsters, we have met with plenty of success and havewon a handful of one-day tournaments. In the Test matches, however, afterearly wins against Australia, Zimbabwe, and Pakistan, we still have a longway to go. The recent loss to England was particularly disappointing.Personally, I feel a large part of the problem has been a lack ofexperience. Test cricket is harder than limited overs, hence the need forexperienced players like Aravinda de Silva and Hashan Tillakaratne.The young players need more games under their belt. Only then will theydevelop the necessary confidence to withstand the pressure of Test cricket.We are moving in the right direction, but need some positive results soon.With youngsters coming into the side and the extra responsibility of thecaptaincy, my batting has developed. I went through a lean patch aftertaking on the job, but emerged from that and have matured as a batsman.Crucially, I have learnt how to adapt my game to the situation and this hasincreased my consistency. That is not to say that I no longer will go forshots, it just depends on the situation.Technically too, I have been working closely with Dav, making slightadjustments to my technique. These have worked and I am looking forward toscoring plenty of runs in the future, hopefully during this tournament!So, two years have passed, much has been achieved, but there is still plentyto be done. We now have to focus more on the 2003 World Cup in South Africaand for this have identified the need for fast bowling all rounders. Duringthe next 18-months we want to start introducing these players wherever theconditions allow it.Now though it’s time to get stuck in because the action is about to startagain.

Hampshire became the first county side to inflict defeat on the Australians on this tour in a thrilling finish at the Rose Bowl.It was Hampshire’s first win over the Australians since 1912. Australian captain Steve Waugh declared his second innings at 389 for nine, leaving Hampshire to score 133 in 26 overs.There were nine balls remaining when rookie wicket-keeper Iain Brunnschweiler turned spinner Colin Miller to the leg side for the winning boundary amid scenes of great excitement for a crowd approaching 3,000. The victory was by just two wickets.Yet Hampshire were by no means at full strength. Alan Mullally (ribs) and Dimitri Mascarenhas (hamstring) were unable to bowl in the Australian second innings while Robin Smith was also off the pitch with a rib injury.The Australians, resuming at 176 for one, lost Matthew Hayden for 142 after a five-hour innings and Simon Katich in the morning session. At the fall of the eighth wicket, the tourists were only 88 in front.But with time and overs running out, Jason Gillespie and Ashley Noffke held up Hampshire with a precious ninth-wicket stand.At the fall of Noffke’s wicket, Waugh decided to make a game of it. Hampshire lost wickets steadily in pursuit of their target and when the eighth wicket fell, four of them to Shane Warne, an Australian win looked more likely.But Brunnschweiler and debutant James Schofield kept cool in searing heat to get the final five runs needed.Hampshire captain Robin Smith said: “Steve’s declaration made a game of it. We went for the runs from the start and it was a great finish.”Former Hampshire player Warne, who finished with four for 31, said: “Hampshire bowled very well considering the players they had missing. It was a tight finish but they kept their nerve. They were on top for two days so I suppose there was some justice in them winning.”

Lancashire today attempted to play down suggestions that Yorkshire stalwart Geoff Boycott could be linked with their coaching position at Old Trafford.The former England and Yorkshire opening batsman had been named by Lancashire chairman Jack Simmons in connection with the vacancy following Bob Simpson’s announcement that he would be leaving the club at the end of the season.But in a statement in which any reference to Boycott was conspicuously absent,Lancashire sought to clarify the situation.The statement read: “After recent speculation about the future coach ofLancashire County Cricket Club, the club wishes to point out that as yet nodecisions have been made.”It was decided at a recent general committee meeting, following the decisionof Bob Simpson not to seek a renewal of his contract, that there would be aperiod of reflection and discussion before the way forward was decided.”The statement pointed out that no prospective new coaches, Boycottincluded, had yet been identified in the three days since formerAustralia coach Simpson announced he would be leaving Old Trafford.”No names have been discussed, and no one has been approached over theposition,” it continued.”It is expected to be some weeks before a decision is made, and furtherdiscussions will take place at the next full committee meeting in September.”But on a day of confusing statements coming out of Old Trafford, Simmons again added more weight to a Boycott link.”Geoffrey would not be out of the equation if he wanted to apply. If he wantsto apply and he can come for what we normally pay then he would be assessed withthe rest,” said Simmons.”We want the best, and if the best were a Yorkshireman so be it,” he said.But Simmons was not sure the club could afford Boycott, who was paid £30,000 for 15 days’ work by Pakistan earlier this year.”He is an excellent coach, but I do not think he would want to come back tothe daily routine of county cricket,” Simmons told Sky Sports.”We could not afford him anyway. When you talk about £30,000 for three weekscoaching Pakistan – if you are to believe what you read – then there is no waywe could afford it.”