All posts by csb10.top

Nkosana Mpofu scored an unbeaten century to guide Matabeleland Tuskers to a thrilling one-wicket win over Southern Rocks in Bulawayo. Chasing 279, Tuskers were 244 for 9 when Mpofu was joined by last man Steve Chimhamhiwa. The pair saw Tuskers through to victory, putting on 35 in 13 overs. Mpofu, the left-handed opener, was not out on 130, having faced 317 balls and struck 13 fours.Mpofu had shared half-century stands with fellow opener Bornaparte Mujuru and No. 3 Brian Chari, and kept one end going as wickets fell regularly after that, with medium-pacer Luke Jongwe picking up four. Chimhamhiwa scored the winning single , and was unbeaten on 21.Chimhamhiwa had given Tuskers the early advantage after Rocks won the toss and chose to bat. The right-arm seamer picked up six wickets to help bowl Rocks out for 190. They might not have gotten that far had Richmond Mutumbami not scored a 108-ball 87.Tuskers did no better in their first innings, being bowled out for 166 with Godwill Mamhiyo top-scoring with 51. Mutumbami, the Rocks skipper, extended their advantage with an unbeaten third-innings 123. Wickets kept falling around him, with offspinner John Nyumbu taking six for 59, but Mutumbami extended Rocks’ total to 259. Mutumbami’s twin efforts nearly won Rocks the match, but Mpofu and Chimhamhiwa had other ideas.Mashonaland Eagles moved to the top of the points table with a convincing 187-run win over Midwest Rhinos at Kwekwe Sports Club. Seamer Taurai Muzarabani and left-arm spinner Brighton Mugochi shared 13 wickets between them in the match as the Rhinos were bowled out for 162, chasing 350.The Eagles were struggling at 117 for 5 after choosing to bat, and were revived by Nathan Waller who hit 76. Tinotenda Mutombodzi chipped in with 43 as the Eagles were bowled out for 227 with Kudakwashe Munyede taking 4 for 49. Early strikes by Muzarabani reduced the Rhinos to 26 for 3 and it required a fifty by Neville Madziva to take them to 170. Waller and Mugochi took three wickets apiece.The Eagles built on their lead of 57 with a fifty by Mark Vermeulen and a century by the wicketkeeper Regis Chakabva. Vermeulen’s 77 came off 130 balls while Chakabva’s 111 came off just 120 balls as the Eagles looked to declare and set a target. The script was similar in the Rhinos’ second innings as Muzarabani’s early strikes reduced them to 35 for 5. Madziva scored another half-century but lacked support as the Rhinos were bowled out within 61 overs.

Lakmal Kasturiarachchige, who was one of the youngest players at the ECC European Championships has been rewarded for the promise he has shown at ECC tournaments, both in youth tournaments and for the senior national team, by being awarded one of three places available at Terry Jenner’s coaching clinic in London to be held in early January.Lakhmal, whilst originating from Sri Lanka, has learnt his cricket during his time in Austria, where he has become an automatic choice for his club Concordia CC. He broke into the National Team in 2002, with an impressive spell against MCC during their tour of Austria in June 2002 showing his calibre. Despite being one of the youngest players in the ECC Championships, he was unfazed by the demands of the tournament, despite it being his first experience of grass wickets, where he was Austria’s leading wicket-taker along with fellow youth team player Aman Deep, 16.Gary Palmer, Austrian National Coach, described Lakhmal as having great natural ability and strong technique, showing a great dealer of promise as a genuine all-rounder rather than just as a legspin bowler. He also commended Lakhmal’s willingness to learn, and believes that it is only a matter of time before Austria really sees his full potential as a matchwinner.

It’s mighty tight at the top in the ECB Southern Electric Premier League’s individual performance award competetions.Just four runs separate Bashley’s Luke Ronchi from BAT teenager Damian Shirazi in the Premier 1 batting stakes.And Dan Goldstraw, the BAT left-arm paceman, and Havant’s Malcolm Hobson are neck and neck in the bowling department, with 26 victims apiece.But both Charles Forward and Purbrook’s Willem Prozesky are beyond reproach in the Divisions 2 and 3 run scoring stakes.The June Southern Electric Cricketer of the Month awards were won by BAT pair Damian Shirazi and Dan Goldstraw (BAT Sports), Charles Forward (OTR) and Damian Carson (US), and Willem Prozesky (Purbrook) and Bashley-Rydal II’s veteran spinner Bob Paul.Latest figures – Premier 1
Batting: Luke Ronchi (Bashley) 472, Damian Shirazi (BAT) 468, Matt Swarbrick (Bournemouth) 436, Russell Rowe (South Wilts) 408, Paul Draper (South Wilts) 374, Neil Thurgood (Bashley) 356, James Hibberd (Calmore) 352, Roger Miller (Andover) 344, Alistair Gray (Liphook) 310.Bowling: Dan Goldstraw (BAT) 26, Malcolm Hobson (Havant) 26, Richard Dibden (BAT) 24, Terry Rawlins (BAT) 19, Richard Hindley (Havant) 19, Paul Drapr (19), James Hibberd (Calmore) 19, Kirk Stewart (BAT 18, Kevin Nash (Bashley) 18, Christof Bothma (Calmore) 18.Premier 2
Batting: Charles Forward (OTR) 500, Iain Brunnschweiler (Academy) 399, Aaron Heal (Lymington) 373, Danny Peacock (Lymington) 366, Owen Dawkins (Hungerford) 356, Jeff Anning (Rowledge) 356, Max Smith (OTR) 333, Jason Laney (Hungerford) 330, Gary Hounsome (US) 329, David Wheeler (Academy) 316.Bowling: Nick Wood (OTR) 25, Damien Carson (US) 22, Aaron Heal (Lymington) 20, Steve Green (Easton) 19, Jeff Anning (Rowledge) 19, Shaun Green (Easton) 17, Danny Peacock (Lymington) 17.Premier 3
Batting: Will Prozesky (Purbrook) 563, Matt Digweed (Hartley Wintney) 469, Mike Howard (Leckford) 426, Mark Parker (St Cross) 403, Colin James (Paultons) 396, Ian Hunter (Purbrook) 336, Steve Watts (New Milton) 335, Chris Baumann (Waterlooville) 335, Simon Greenfield (Havant) 330, Martyn Isherwood (Leckford) 327, Ian Turner (Hambledon) 317, Michael Heffernan (Alton) 313,Richie Morgan (Alton) 301.Bowling: Nathan Collins (Gosport) 24, Neil Dodds (Ventnor) 21, Ben Neal (New Milton) 20, Julian Ballinger (Alton) 20, Bob Paul (Bashley) 20, Andy Cattle (Leckford) 19, Andy Snellgrove (New Milton) 18, Nick McMurray (Flamingo) 18, John Barrett (Hambledon) 18, Matt Truckle (Redlynch) 18.All divisions
Wicketkeeping: Martin Miller (Bournemouth) 15, John Burton (Redlynch) 14, John Harris (Hursley Park) 14, Dave Banks (BAT) 14.Catches: Richard Hindley (Havant) 10, Stu Tulk (OTR) 9, Damian Shirazi (BAT) 8, Ben Adams (St Cross) 8, Richie Morgan (Alton) 8, Steve Watts (New Milton) 8.

Central Zone could not have been too disappointed with their bowling effort on the second day of their Duleep Trophy match against South Zone, but their batting on the third day at Jaipur certainly left something to be desired.That was, in part, thanks to M Suresh Kumar, who took five wickets for 54 runs with his left-arm spin, hastening the end of the innings by decimating the tail for next to nothing.Central’s first wicket fell with the score on just one, but Jyoti Yadav and Paresh Sutane added 83 runs in 20.4 overs for the second wicket, and South Zone were struggling to come back into the match.The breakthrough was finally made by Vijay Bharadwaj, who had Sutane caught by Venkatesh Prasad for 32 off 64 balls. Yere Goud, next man in, made 23 off 56, but he and Jyoti Yadav departed in quick succession, leaving Central staggering at 136 for four.The wickets continued to fall after Devendra Bundela was dismissed with the score on 159. Jai P Yadav hit a steady 33 off 58 balls, but he was the only other significant contributor, and Suresh Kumar’s spin proved too much for the tail. Central were bowled out for 193, a deficit of 48 runs.That deficit only widened as Sridharan Sriram continued his fine form. A centurion in the first innings, he ended the day unbeaten on 57 off 79 balls with seven fours. His opening partner, MSK Prasad, was run out early, but first A Nand Kishore and then Arjun Yadav gave him good support.At the close of play, South were 99 for two, with Arjun Yadav unbeaten on eight. South now lead by 147 runs, and this match may yet see a result on the final day’s play.

Second-tier New Zealand provincial players will have their competition after all.New Zealand Cricket (NZC) reinstated the second XI competition today.It had been a victim of NZC’s withdrawal from the bargaining process last week when a final offer was not accepted by the New Zealand Cricket Players’ Association.NZC chief executive Martin Snedden said the Provincial A competition, as it is known, was a necessary part of the elite player development pathway.He said the reinstatement was a gesture of goodwill by NZC to the players and was a demonstration of the intention to work with players and to return to business as usual as quickly as possible.Like other tournaments on the New Zealand scene, a large proportion of the competition will be staged at the High Performance Centre at Lincoln University between January 2 and January 14. The second round of the competition will be played at various centres around New Zealand in February at venues, and on dates, still to be finalised.Snedden also announced that the Indian tour opener, a Super Max international to be played at Jade Stadium on December 4 will continue as planned.”There has been some confusion among cricket fans about this match. The State Max competition to be played between our domestic first-class teams was cancelled as a result of the player payment dispute. The Max Blacks v India match will continue as scheduled,” he said.

Website regular Phil Hogarth was a very happy man when he called in at the County Ground to collect the items that he had successfully bid for in the recent Junior Sabres website auction.Phil, who lives at Hinton Blewitt in North Somerset bid for several items in the auction and was successful with his bids for Peter Bowler’s bat and Keith Dutch’s batting gloves.When he was collecting his items he told me: "I am really delighted to have got Peter Bowler’s bat and Keith Dutch’s batting gloves. The website auction was a great idea because it’s not very often you get the chance to own genuine items like this."Phil told me that he is a Somerset member and his son James, who would be rather envious of his dad when he appeared with his `new toys’, is a Junior Sabre so would benefit from the money that was raised by the auction.The items that he purchased will not however be kept in a show cabinet. Phil is a right handed batsman who plays for Harptree in the Bristol League and has every intention of using his new pieces of cricketing equipment.He told me: "The bat seems to have a good middle on it and feels just right for me. I shall be using next season and if it scores as many runs for me in the rest of my playing days as it did for Peter Bowler last season then I shall be more than happy!"Meanwhile the club has just taken delivery of the new 2003 Club Diary, which is a mine of information and a must for all Cidermen fans.The diary is available from the club office (01823 272946) in the Colin Atkinson Pavilion and is priced £7.50.

KINGSTON – Amidst another significant break between matches, Barbados manager Tony Howard is bemoaning the length of time it is taking to complete the 2002 Red Stripe Bowl.His comments come against the background that Barbados could end up spending as many as 20 days in Jamaica to play a maximum of six One-Day matches should they qualify for Sunday’s final.”It certainly could have been condensed. The extra week is a bit too long. It could have been done in two weeks. It would have given all the teams more activity,” Howard told NATIONSPORT yesterday during an evening practice session at Sabina Park.After winding down their preliminary phase last Saturday, Barbados have a break of five days ahead of their semifinal contest against defending champions Guyana on Friday at the Kaiser Sports Club in Discovery Bay.Between their third and fourth matches, Barbados also had four days off.”With five days between games, it takes a lot to keep the guys on track, keep them motivated and keep them focused on what needs to be done,” Howard said.”When you’re kept indoors for a while, it does take a lot out of the youngsters.”The length of the tournament also raises concerns after a decision to use only umpires from host countries in an effort to cut costs.”We’ve been complaining about not having any money. Yet we have made the competition longer,” Howard said. “We’ve made it more expensive, yet we say we have no money. It doesn’t add up.”The long breaks have not triggered anything negative among the Bajans, but Howard said a tighter schedule could have created a more positive effect.On their days off, Barbados have opted for mainly practice sessions.”The only time we haven’t done that is on the day after the game which is deliberate for us because the grounds have been very hard and to keep the muscles ready we’ve gone to the pool to do some exercises which have been beneficial, especially to the older guys,” Howard said.With so much time between matches, one team opted to journey to the north coast last week to visit the Dunn’s River Falls, among other tourist attractions.

The match between Mashonaland and Midlands could well be heading for a good finish tomorrow, as the home side is pressing for its 16th successive Logan Cup victory. They finished the day 183 runs ahead in the second innings with seven wickets in hand.The high point of the day was a century by Sean Ervine of Midlands, his second of the Logan Cup season. It was rather a fortunate innings, as he survived three dropped catches and several miscued strokes that evaded the fielders, but he continued to go boldly for his shots and finished unbeaten on 119 as the Midlands innings closed for 431, a deficit of 85.Ervine came in on the departure of Wishart for 118, having added only seven runs to his overnight score. He began with an enterprising stand of 97 with Doug Marillier, who made 69, but after that only captain Don Campbell with 26 gave him much support. The tail, supposedly the strongest in the competition, disappointed, the last five wickets falling for only 45 runs. This was mainly due to some fine bowling by Gus Mackay who took four wickets with the second new ball to finish with five for 69 for the innings.When Mashonaland batted again, they no doubt aimed to score quick runs with a decision in view, but Midlands had other ideas. Innocent Chinyoka, despite his no-balling disease, opened the bowling at gentle medium-pace in preference to the sadly off-form David Mutendera, and quickly reduced Mashonaland to 8 for two. When Grant Flower fell for 11 with the total at 31, Mashonaland had to be very wary as Andy Flower joined Darlington Matambanadzo at the wicket.Matambanadzo meanwhile had his own problems to deal with. ZCU managing director Vince Hogg was very proud of his 87-minute duck for Rhodesia B against Natal B in 1979/80, a world record until beaten a couple of years back by New Zealander Geoff Allott. Matambanadzo seemed to be aiming to break this now local record as he spent 80 minutes and 49 balls opening his account. The introduction of Mutendera finally cracked his will power, though, and Matambanadzo suddenly hit him through the covers for four, amid great applause from his team-mates, and next ball sliced a thick edge past the slips for another boundary.Andy Flower soon overtook him and finished unbeaten on 47 at the close, out of 98 for three; Matambanadzo closed with 24. Tomorrow Mashonaland will be very keen to continue their winning streak, but they will need to set up a declaration total and then bowl out Midlands on a fine batting pitch to do so. They may well be stretched.

Stephen Fleming knows precisely why New Zealand won Wednesday’s fourth Cable & Wireless One-Day International in which contentious calculations raised eyebrows around the region.Duckworth/Lewis! the New Zealand captain responded when asked what was the difference between this match and the preceding eight on the trot the Black Caps had lost.The Duckworth/Lewis method, which has attracted its fair share of criticism since it was introduced a few years ago to set revised targets in rain-affected One-Dayers, was brought into the play after the elements intervened at the Queen’s Park Oval.It appeared to give New Zealand a distinct advantage and they went on to win the match by nine runs to keep alive their hopes of clinching a series tie.While West Indies captain Carl Hooper went as far as to say the system needs to be fine-tuned, Fleming was much more conservative and it’s not because the rule favoured New Zealand on the day.I’m not bright enough to work that out and answer that question, Fleming said when asked if the method used to arrive at adjusted targets should be changed.I don’t know how to beat the system. If you say it is not good enough, you’ve got to come up with another one that is better.I’m not a person who is going to thrash something without giving it another alternative and I haven’t got one.When the rain which had been forecast interrupted the match just after 12:30 p.m., New Zealand were going well on 212 for five in 44.3 overs with Nathan Astle and Scott Styris moving merrily along in a sixth wicket century stand.Play was not possible again until 3 p.m. and by then only 33 overs were available to the West Indies.When the tabulations were made on the high-tech computers, the West Indies’ target was set at 212 in 33 overs.In short, the Black Caps scored at a rate of 4.78, while the West Indies were asked to score at 6.42. Such are the advantages or disadvantages of a system that was devised by two highly-qualified British mathematicians.We know what it is, Fleming said about the system.It provides a balance. It’s the only system we have. We’ve been on the other end of it a lot as well.He is perfectly correct when he says the system tries to provide a balance. Under the old rules when run-rate was used, West Indies’ target would have been 158 in 33 overs.Run rate has its issues as well. It’s not fair on the team batting first, Fleming said.Fleming’s opposite number, Hooper, called for some amendment to the Duckworth/Lewis rule after his side came up on the wrong at the same venue where they lost the decisive match against India in the preceding series.There is nothing you can do about it. It definitely needs fine-tuning, Hooper said. I think it has cost us two games this summer. We are probably not the first team to be hard done by it, but it needs to be looked at.Once the team batting first bats well and put up a decent score, and the minute rain intervenes, the team batting second is always going to be up against it.Bearing in mind New Zealand did not have the chance to take advantage of their final 5.4 overs when they had wickets intact, one can see to some extent the thinking behind the Duckworth/Lewis system.At times, however, when the calculations are done, they appear to give the side batting first the distinct advantage.And it was exactly the case on Wednesday when New Zealand’s decision to bat first on winning the toss was influenced to some extent by the anticipated afternoon rain.At the start of the day, you know there might be an option of that and you just have to work accordingly, Fleming said.The pitch, which appeared to be slightly under-prepared, had a bigger say in New Zealand’s choice to take first knock for the fourth successive time in the series.I really wanted to get the side performing well by getting a score on the board and putting pressure on the opposition because things like rain and Duckworth/Lewis are going to work in your favour, Fleming said. They had wickets in hand so they could go at a good rate. Even though people say they had to go over six, they had wickets in hand.

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and NatWest, part of The Royal Bank of Scotland Group, today announced a continuation of NatWest’s sponsorship of one-day international cricket to cover the 2003-2005 seasons. This three-year sponsorship deal will include ‘The NatWest Series’ and a new additional three-match one-day international tournament, to be known as ‘The NatWest Challenge’.Now in its third year, The NatWest Series continues to grow from strength tostrength with England taking on two visiting nations each year. With 10 matches in 17 days during June and July, The NatWest Series gives fans across the country a chance to experience one-day international cricket at its best. In 2003 the two touring nations will be South Africa and Zimbabwe.The new competition, The NatWest Challenge, will introduce an additional three-match one-day international tournament each year which will involve England taking on either a third visiting nation or one of the two principal touring teams in three further one-day international fixtures. In 2003, England will compete against Pakistan. Dates and venues for both of next year’s tournaments will be announced in due course.Ian Henderson, NatWest Director of Retail Marketing said: “NatWest’s sponsorship of cricket from international to grassroots level over the last 22 years has been a huge success. We are therefore delighted to be extending our sponsorship and support. The NatWest Challenge will provide us with a further sporting platform for us to communicate key messages to both our existing and potential customer base.”NatWest will also continue to actively support grassroots cricket, which is a major part of the sponsorship programme. Over £½million has been invested in the last three years through a series of initiatives including the NatWest ‘Get Involved’ programme (part of the NatWest Volunteer Support Programme) and the distribution of 800 Flicx pitches and 10,000 skills balls to schools and clubs across the UK.Tim Lamb, Chief Executive of the ECB, said: “NatWest’s long-standing support of English and Welsh cricket has been invaluable to the game so we are delighted at their decision to continue their sponsorship of international cricket through The NatWest Series and the newly-formed competition, The NatWest Challenge. This new addition will enable England to play a guaranteed nine days of competitive one-day international cricket each summer, supporting the England Team management’s desire to gain further experience in this form of the game.”