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As new coach John Bracewell ponders the direction the New Zealanders take over the next few years, he would do well to ponder on performance statistics from the last summer.Extending from the International Cricket Council’s Champions Trophy tournament through until the completion of the Sri Lankan tour, and success in the Bank Alfalah Cup tri-series, the figures are revealing.It must be acknowledged that the Test season was an unusual one this year, based on the fact that only two home Tests were played, and two away Tests. However, it is significant that two batsmen, Stephen Fleming and Mark Richardson, the two most mature players called on during the season were farout in front of other players in the side.Building New Zealand’s Test run-scoring potential has to be a priority for the demanding season that lies ahead. It is an indictment of the summer that the only century scored was that by Fleming in his 274 not out against Sri Lanka.Similarly, in a season when 22 one-day internationals were played, only three centuries were scored. That number needs to be lifted significantly each season if New Zealand are to improve their success rate. Fleming again highlighted the success of his season by easily heading the list for most runs scored with his 642. But apart from him, and Scott Styris who scored 505 runs, the next highest run scorer was Chris Cairns with 359 runs.That is insufficient for a team attempting to be competitive.The Test bowling figures show the value Daryl Tuffey, Jacob Oram and Shane Bond enjoyed during the Indian series were conditions were made to suit. Tuffey and Oram took 15 wickets each, with their averages being 15.33 and 15.86 respectively.It is amazing to think that in four Test matches Daniel Vettori only bowled 39 overs, and took but three wickets.It was encouraging in the one-day sphere to see that of the bowlers who bowled more than 100 overs in ODIs during the year that Vettori (3.33), Tuffey (3.80), Oram (3.85), Kyle Mills (3.86) and Bond (3.98) were each below the economy rate mark of four runs per over while the only other bowler with more than 100 overs, Styris had an economy rate of 4.11.That has to be a good starting point from which to push on in the future.The statistics were:Tests:

Batting Mat I NO Runs HS Ave SR 100 50 Ct StSP Fleming 4 7 2 454 274* 90.80 44.50 1 1 7 -MH Richardson 4 8 2 345 89 57.50 35.56 – 4 2 -JDP Oram 4 7 1 171 74 28.50 45.96 – 1 3 -PJ Wiseman 2 3 1 52 29 26.00 36.36 – – – -SB Styris 4 7 0 142 63 20.28 39.44 – 1 4 -MJ Horne 2 4 0 74 42 18.50 36.27 – – – -NJ Astle 2 3 0 55 41 18.33 57.89 – – 2 -DL Vettori 4 5 0 89 55 17.80 67.93 – 1 – -L Vincent 2 4 1 45 21* 15.00 31.03 – – 2 -SE Bond 4 4 3 13 10* 13.00 44.82 – – – -DR Tuffey 4 4 1 38 15 12.66 50.66 – – 4 -RG Hart 4 7 1 72 31 12.00 25.99 – – 10 -CD McMillan 2 3 0 31 18 10.33 48.43 – – 2 -MS Sinclair 2 4 0 21 17 5.25 24.70 – – 1 -Bowling Mat O M R W Ave Best 5 10 SR EconDR Tuffey 4 96 33 230 15 15.33 4-12 – – 38.4 2.39JDP Oram 4 98.5 25 238 15 15.86 4-41 – – 39.5 2.40SE Bond 4 115.1 29 390 17 22.94 4-33 – – 40.6 3.38NJ Astle 2 11 4 27 1 27.00 1-13 – – 66.0 2.45SB Styris 4 16 0 90 3 30.00 3-28 – – 32.0 5.62DL Vettori 4 39 9 105 3 35.00 3-94 – – 78.0 2.69PJ Wiseman 2 82.3 21 251 6 41.83 4-104 – – 82.5 3.04

One-Day Internationals:

Batting Mat I NO Runs HS Ave SR 100 50 Ct StSB Styris 19 18 3 505 141 33.66 76.51 1 1 11 -SP Fleming 22 22 2 642 134* 32.10 66.39 1 2 18 -MS Sinclair 10 9 1 234 78 29.25 53.66 – 2 2 -NJ Astle 14 14 2 341 102* 28.41 80.42 1 2 5 -CL Cairns 16 15 2 359 54 27.61 79.07 – 1 5 -CZ Harris 16 14 5 215 38* 23.88 59.88 – – 5 -CJ Nevin 5 5 0 93 28 18.60 54.38 – – 1 -L Vincent 16 15 3 222 53* 18.50 49.11 – 1 8 -AR Adams 12 8 1 128 36 18.28 113.27 – – 1 -SE Bond 14 7 3 70 31* 17.50 100.00 – – 4 -JDP Oram 17 10 2 139 30 17.37 56.96 – – 4 -BB McCullum 19 13 4 152 47* 16.88 56.50 – – 38 1CD McMillan 10 10 0 156 75 15.60 67.53 – 1 3 -KD Mills 13 8 2 86 23* 14.33 50.29 – – 4 -DL Vettori 20 10 3 97 16* 13.85 59.87 – – 6 -DR Tuffey 15 8 1 29 11 4.14 63.04 – – 2 -PJ Wiseman 1 1 0 2 2 2.00 66.66 – – – -PA Hitchcock 3 2 2 4 2* – 200.00 – – 1 -Bowling Mat O M R W Ave Best 4w 5w SR EconPA Hitchcock 3 16 0 68 4 17.00 3-30 – – 24.0 4.25JDP Oram 17 150.2 21 579 34 17.02 5-26 1 1 26.5 3.85SE Bond 14 121 15 482 28 17.21 6-23 1 1 25.9 3.98AR Adams 12 97.2 7 492 25 19.68 5-22 2 1 23.3 5.05DR Tuffey 15 131.5 18 500 23 21.73 3-32 – – 34.3 3.79NJ Astle 14 21 1 94 4 23.50 3-34 – – 31.5 4.47SB Styris 19 100.3 11 413 16 25.81 2-23 – – 37.6 4.10CL Cairns 16 8 0 54 2 27.00 2-16 – – 24.0 6.75PJ Wiseman 1 6 0 27 1 27.00 1-27 – – 36.0 4.50DL Vettori 20 148.3 14 494 18 27.44 4-14 1 – 49.5 3.32KD Mills 13 108.4 10 419 15 27.93 3-45 – – 43.4 3.85CZ Harris 16 80 5 302 5 60.40 1-6 – – 96.0 3.77CD McMillan 10 2 1 4 0 – – – – – 2.00

HONG KONG, October 23, 2001 – In a stunning coup for the tournament, MikeWalsh, Chairman of the Hong Kong Cricket Association (HKCA), today revealedthat Pakistan will send a stellar squad of current Test and one-day stars tothe 2001 Cathay Pacific/ Standard Chartered Hong Kong Cricket Sixes to beheld from November 10-11 at the Kowloon Cricket Club (KCC).The Pakistan Cricket Board has informed organisers that their Sixes squadwill include current international team members Wasim Akram (LHB, LH fast),Abdur Razzaq (RHB, RH fast medium), Rashid Latif (RHB, wicketkeeper), ShahidAfridi (RHB, RH leg-spinner), Azhar Mahmood (RHB, RH fast medium) and ImranNazir (RHB, RH leg-spinner). Rana Naveed-ul-Hassan and Shoaib Malik completethe Pakistanis’ eight-man squad.”With this announcement, Pakistan must now be the team to beat at the 2001Cathay Pacific/ Standard Chartered Hong Kong Cricket Sixes,” said Walsh.”Six of this team will be playing in the Sharjah one-day tournament beforearriving in Hong Kong. As the ‘defending champions’, they will not only bedeep with talent but also match hardened. That should be a tough combinationto defeat.”Akram captained his nation to victory the last time the Sixes were contestedin Hong Kong in 1997.Akram is widely revered as one of the game’s all-time greats, andundoubtedly one of the very best left-handers to have played the game. Witha slew of international records to his name, the 35-year-old has played 103Tests and 319 one-day internationals (ODI). He is the only player to haveclaimed 400 international wickets in both forms of the game and boasts ahighest Test score of 257 not out.Afridi (21) will also be one of the players to watch during the Sixes. Asthe current record holder for the fastest century in ODI history, when hepounded 11 sixes as he brought up his hundred against Sri Lanka off just 37balls, the small boundaries at the KCC are sure to be to his liking.Latif (31) is another established member in Pakistan’s national team withhis dependable middle-order batting combining with his emergence as one ofthe best wicketkeepers in international cricket. Razzaq (21), considered aninternational all-rounder in the making, possesses enough natural talentthat his fast medium pace bowling offsets his ability to bat at number threewhen required.Mahmood (26), who impressed with innings of 128 not out and 50 not out inhis 1997 Test debut against South Africa is a genuine internationalall-rounder while 19-year-old Nazir, considered one of the most excitingtalents in world cricket, has already notched Test and ODI hundreds.Players such as Dean Jones, Tom Moody, Craig McDermott, Jonty Rhodes, RobinSingh, Agit Agarkar, Matthew Maynard, Ben Hollioake and Steve Elworthy haveall committed to the Cathay Pacific/ Standard Chartered Hong Kong CricketSixes.Australia, England, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, India and the UAEwill join Hong Kong at the 2001 tournament. The teams will be drawn into twopools for the tournament with the top two sides in each pool entering theCup semi-finals and the remaining two sides contesting the Platesemi-finals.Tickets for the Cathay Pacific/ Standard Chartered Hong Kong Cricket Sixesare now on sale from Hong Kong Cricket Club, the Kowloon Cricket Club andDot Cod Seafood Restaurant and Oyster Bar in the Princes Building, Central.Passes for the two days of the tournament are priced at HK$450 for adultswith children’s tickets (15 years and under) costing $HK250. Corporatehospitality is also available.For further information please contact David Deller at WSG – Asia on (852)2891-2000 or Mark Burns at the Hong Kong Cricket Association on (852)2504-8101.

One of the biggest transfer deals of the January transfer window was undoubtedly Aston Villa’s highly unexpected loan capture of Barcelona’s £142million Philippe Coutinho.

Clearly the inspired deal bringing the 29-year-old Brazilian international back to the Premier League hung on the involvement of Villa’s new head coach Steven Gerrard, following their playing days together at Liverpool, and the little magician has wasted little time in showing fans he more than still has what it takes to succeed in the English top flight with four goals and three assists to his name in only eight starting appearances and PA sports betting wouldn’t be alone in giving you good odds on him improving that tally in the games that remain in the 2021/22 campaign.

Whilst he didn’t have the best of times out in Spain following his big money move to the Catalan Giants, his 70 starting appearances still returned 28 goals and with him quickly and seamlessly slotting back into the pace of the Premier League, although Gerrard’s side do have an optional buy clause in place for next summer and they will again be hoping that his relationship with Coutinho will be enough to seal the deal, his form will be attracting the attention of other potential suitors – especially with him apparently being available for a fee of only £33million.

Following his return to the English game, Tottenham Hotspur were quickly linked with having a potential interest in him for the off season and there was even some talk that they too had struck an optional buy clause agreement with Barcelona should Villa have ultimately passed on signing him – but those claims have been rebuffed from sources close to the club. However, in more recent times Arsenal have also been credited with having a strong interest in him as Mikel Arteta continues to try and improve the London side further and help turn them back into genuine title challengers once again.

It’s highly unlikely that the North London duo will be the only sides linked with him, and whilst some sides battling in the lower half of the division can be discounted, out of those teams looking up the table it’s only really Manchester City that can be discounted from having an interest owing to the calibre of players they already have available to them.

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For the rest, and particularly at that price, Coutinho’s quality and the uplift in a clubs points tally that would naturally result from his signing wouldn’t even make him a gamble – it makes him an even more enticing prospect so we can certainly expect an uptick in transfer speculation as the summer begins to near.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsChris Gayle’s 12-ball half-century was the lone bright spark for Melbourne Renegades as their BBL campaign came to a grinding halt•Getty Images

Melbourne Renegades needed to chase down Adelaide Strikers’ 170 in 16 overs to set up a rematch in a Big Bash League semi-final at Adelaide Oval on Thursday. An outrageous 12-ball 50 from Chris Gayle, equalling Yuvraj Singh’s fastest-ever T20 half-century, looked to be carrying them to an unlikely victory, before the Strikers’ spinners fought back to strangle the Renegades, who at one stage lost seven for 37, and win the game. As a result, Sydney Thunder qualified for their first semi-final in BBL history.Gayle had 51 of his team’s first 60 runs, including seven sixes. But by then, Renegades had already lost three wickets. Tom Cooper – who had watched Gayle pummel four consecutive Greg West deliveries for four sixes in the innings’ first over – was the first to go when he nicked the first ball off Michael Neser to the wicketkeeper. Travis Head then dismissed Cameron White and Dwayne Bravo off consecutive deliveries to derail the chase.

Cloud of uncertainty over Jayawardene

Adelaide Strikers coach Jason Gillespie remains unsure whether Mahela Jayawardene will be fit to play in the semi-final against Sydney Thunder at Adelaide Oval on Thursday.
Jayawardene missed Strikers’ last two games with a quadriceps tear sustained while making 53 against the Brisbane Heat on January 8.
“We’ll be monitoring him,” Gillespie said. “He’s started running in the last couple of days and is not fully fit right now, but he’s building up and is getting stronger every day and will make a call when that time comes.
“You want Mahela fit, but we won’t play any players who aren’t fit, and he needs to prove his fitness, as does everyone in the squad. We will just wait and see come Thursday, speak to the physio and the doc and make a judgement call on that.”

It was a truly scintillating passage of hitting from Gayle, and one that had been brewing. Throughout the competition, he has looked far more comfortable chasing than setting a target, and he has become well-acquainted with Docklands Stadium’s short square boundaries. After West was tucked to deep-midwicket for two, followed by a defensive stroke, Gayle let fly, pulling a short ball over cow twice, then flicking one behind square and then over long-on, all for six. He hit the first two balls he faced from Ben Laughlin for six too, a wide full toss over long-off, then the resultant free hit was sent to cow corner. Head’s first ball, bravely flighted, also went the distance over long-on to bring up Gayle’s half-century.Head – who could only manage a duck on the day he was called up to Australia’s T20 squad for the first time, exhibited his all-round ability. He had two in two as Cameron White and Dwayne Bravo fell off successive deliveries, but Gayle didn’t back off, hitting him nonchalantly over long-off. Then came perhaps the biggest moment of the evening as he cramped Gayle for room as the top edge was well pouched by Tim Ludeman, the wicketkeeper.With Gayle gone, there was a feeling that the Renegades had already sunk, even though Peter Nevill kept pinching boundaries. But he was run out by sharp work by Brad Hodge before the tail, that looked to hoick the spinners into the Tasman, came a cropper. Some late heave from tail-enders Nathan Rimmington and Cameron Gannon proved in vain as they lost by 27 runs.In truth, Renegades did not deserve to qualify. They failed to win a game at home, and regularly failed to capitalise on good starts, and, like Gayle himself, struggled badly while batting first. They bowed out with fewer wickets than any BBL team in history, 32, having particularly been unable to pick up wickets in the first ten overs. Here, as Strikers casually compiled a professional 170, they made it to halfway 82-0, thanks to some powerful hitting from Jono Dean.Dean, who hit four sixes, fell in the 11th over, top-edging a Bravo slower ball back to the bowler. Head was caught deep in the legside next over. Before they realised, Xavier Doherty quickly snared Alex Ross and Tim Ludeman, who had played attractively after recovering from a slow start. Hodge and Jade Lehmann came together to share a vital 45. Lehmann pulled and square drove impressively before falling in Rimmington’s final over, while Hodge was canny as ever, his innings full of short arm jabs and bunts over square leg.Thunder, watching this game as a squad in Sydney, will have breathed easy when Gayle fell, and they travel to Adelaide for Thursday’s semi with no fear; their record as the only team this season to beat the Strikers is in tact.

Clive Lloyd: ‘Discipline has always been something that I’ve believed in and the guys in the West Indies team knew that from day one’ © The Cricketer International

Past West Indies cricketers drank and were subjected to curfews but they respected their profession and would never go overboard. This admission was made by former captain Clive Lloyd at the launch of his new biography in England.Lloyd, who is now a director of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), said he never condoned indiscipline and the players he led to global dominance in the 1970s and 1980s knew where to draw the line.”If you have rules and people break them, they know they’ll get punished. I think you need curfews if you have young people in the squad,” Lloyd said. “Discipline has always been something that I’ve believed in and the guys in the West Indies team knew that from day one. They said that once they saw me annoyed, they knew they’d overstepped the line.””We always had curfews and we had respect – respect for one another, respect for your profession and respect for the people you represent,” he added. However, Lloyd said that curfews weren’t imposed for the tour matches as the players had their free time then.Lloyd, who is also a committee member at Lancashire, Andrew Flintoff’s county, explained how drinking was not the only way to build team spirit but it had been a part of professional sport for many years.”Respect has got to be earned. You have to do the right things and lead by example. If you do things like Andrew has done, then you let yourself down,” Lloyd said.But Lloyd said former England coach Duncan Fletcher was wrong to speak out about Flintoff’s behaviour during the Ashes tour and could have handled the situation better.Fletcher said, in a serialisation of his autobiography, he had to cancel a training session in Australia as Flintoff, who was captain in the absence of Michael Vaughan, was under the influence of alcohol. Although Lloyd admitted drinking had always been a part of professional sport, he accepts Flintoff overstepped the mark.”Sportsmen have been drinking for years, it is not something new, but you don’t want to overdo it. I think there’s a limit because you need to be fresh and you’ve got to be thinking straight. We went out drinking but the point is we never overdid it. We went out as a group and knew it was important to do the right thing.”

Zorol Barthley, chief cricket operations officer of the WICB, has announced he will quit his role at the end of February next year.Barthley’s resignation is one of many to have hit the board in the past year and Dr Roland Toppin, who was named its new chief executive in November, will now have a clean slate with which to begin his tenure. So far this year, the resignations have included Roger Brathwaite, the chief executive; Darren Millien, the chief marketing executive; Dr. Michael Seepersaud, the chief cricket development officer and Bryce Cavanagh, the Australia-born strength and conditioning coach.Toppin takes up his new role in time for the World Cup which is being held in the Caribbean in March and April next year.

Michael Vaughan had a good test on his knee, but he has not yet been confirmed for the second Test © Getty Images

Duncan Fletcher, England’s coach, has insisted that Michael Vaughan’s fateis in his own hands as he continues to recuperate after the knee injuryhe suffered while batting at Bagh-e-Jinnah in Lahore last week. Vaughan,who missed England’s defeat in the first Test at Multan, was put throughhis paces in the nets at Faisalabad today, leaving Fletcher trusting inhis captain’s professionalism.”If he wants to play he can play,” Fletcher told reporters at the teamhotel in Faisalabad. “We can’t be absolutely confident, because he’s had thisknee problem before, but he’s got to live with it. He gave himself a goodtest today which was good to see, but we’ll be keen to monitor it over thenext couple of days.”Much as England would want their captain to return to shore up a brittlemiddle-order, the news that Marcus Trescothick will be staying with thetour, and not returning home to attend to a family incident, couldpersuade the England thinktank to take a more prudent approach.Trescothick’s father-in-law fell off a ladder and sustained serious headinjuries earlier this week, but his condition is now said to be stable.”From our point of view, Marcus is a world-class player who averages over40 and is batting as well as he ever has, so it’s great news he’s stayingon,” said Fletcher. “Having lost Simon Jones [before the tour began], tomiss another quality player would have been a big problem.”If there were any concerns that Trescothick would not be able to focus onthe job at hand, then Fletcher brushed them aside. “He got the news whileplaying [in the first Test], and it didn’t seem to affect him. It was moreserious at that time and it would have been a shock to him. But he wentout, captained the side very well, kept the energy levels up, and it neverlooked a problem. Hopefully he can adjust to that when this Test starts.”England could do without such speculation about two of their key players,as they look to regroup after their shock defeat in the first Test.Fletcher refused to speculate on the balance of the side until he had hada proper look at the wicket – which at present is covered in grassclippings to prevent any cracks appearing too soon – but he commended hissquad’s intensity during their first practice session since the Multandefeat.As to that disastrous final morning, in which England lost their last ninewickets for 111, Fletcher conceded: “We probably needed a little morepatience, because the opposition were allowed to bowl well for a period oftime. But it’s a fine line. We don’t want to become too patient and getbogged down, because our players are instinctive players to some degree.”But you’ve got to be a little careful,” Fletcher added. “The thing aboutTest cricket is that you can play well for four days then get into troublein just one hour. You’ve got to make sure you focus for every session offive days. But they’ve all done it before, and all our players work fortheir runs. It’s just a matter of reading the situation and playing thatsituation.”Of England’s middle-order, Kevin Pietersen – with a highest score of 19 insix innings on tour – is the man under the most scrutiny, but Fletcherbacked him to come good soon enough. “You could say he was a bit of aworry before the Oval Test, but then he got a big hundred. It’s only beenone Test. We expect him to get runs in this Test match, because he’s thetype of player who can hit a rich run of form.”As to whether England could bounce back with victory in their next Test,as they have done in every one of their four previous Test defeats of theVaughan era, Fletcher was guarded. “I’m confident but that’s noguarantee,” he said. “We’ve started well and finished badly, we’ve startedbadly and finished well, we’ve started well and finished well, and we’vestarted badly and finished badly. We’ve been right through them all, sofrom our point of view we’ve done it before, and we hope we’ll do itagain.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

Sanath Jayasuriya’s century allowed Sri Lanka to end the third day in a commanding position© AFP

The Sri Lankan batsmen made amends for their first-innings collapse and gained complete control of the game at the end of the third day at Faisalabad. Sanath Jayasuriya led the way with an uncharacteristically subdued hundred and strung together useful partnerships as Sri Lanka finished on 285 for 3, an overall lead of 264.Jayasuriya’s workmanlike hundred had some typically manic moments, and his wild slash at wide balls nearly got him out on a couple of occasions. He was out to a no-ball when he had made just 9, but Shoaib Akhtar had marginally overstepped the mark, while a number of flashes landed just wide of the fielders. But he was completely assured against the spinners – he swept Danish Kaneria forcefully and found the gap with precision – and capitalised on the defensive fields that were set. He brought up his hundred, his 13th, by smashing Kaneria for a massive six over long-on and tore the bowling apart immediately after. His last 29 came in just 23 balls and a few cover-drives bisected the fielders perfectly.Jayasuriya’s innings strengthened Sri Lanka’s grip on the game, but the momentum was seized with Kumar Sangakkara’s breezy 59. The start had been shaky, with Marvan Atapattu bagging his fourth pair in Tests when he was trapped in front by Shoaib. Sangakkara had to contend with a fired-up Shoaib, tearing in at full pelt and swinging it either way. But he counterattacked with a flurry of superbly struck fours, creaming five of them in a span of six balls as Sri Lanka raced to 60 in the first ten. Sangakkara brought up his sixth half-century in his last eight innings before falling to the first ball after lunch, as he wafted at one from Shoaib (98 for 2). By then, though, the innings was firmly back on track.

Kumar Sangakkara gave early impetus to Sri Lanka’s innings with a fluent 59© AFP

Mahela Jayawardene picked up the baton, adding another 118 with Jayasuriya, as he blunted the pace attack and tormented the spinners. He was nearly bowled early in his innings, when he shouldered arms to an incutter from Abdul Razzaq, but cruised to his fifty from that point. He knocked the spinners off their length as he danced down the pitch beautifully, and cut them fine when they dropped short. He fell to a perfectly pitched legbreak from Kaneria, as his defensive prod resulted in the ball taking the edge on its way to Moin Khan (216 for 3).Jayasuriya survived some tense moments in the eighties as he twice edged Shoaib wide of the slips. He was also involved in a mix-up which nearly resulted in Thilan Samaraweera being run out – fortunately for him, Yousuf Youhana missed the stumps from short midwicket. But Jayasuriya settled the nerves with some confident pushes against the spinners and shifted a gear once he passed his hundred. After being behind in the first four sessions of the Test, Sri Lanka were now in a position from where they could dictate terms.Their bowlers had begun the fightback on Thursday afternoon and they didn’t have any problems in mopping up the Pakistan tailenders this morning. Shoaib was given out lbw when he missed a straighter one from Rangana Herath, while Kaneria was run out two overs later. After an excellent start to their innings, Pakistan’s lead was just 21. Shoaib’s early dismissal of Atapattu pointed to a low-scoring thriller, but the rest of the Sri Lankan batsmen had other ideas.

BAT Sports sit at the top of the ECB Southern Electric Premier League after crushing the Hampshire Academy by eight wickets at the Rose Bowl.The Young Hawks were never in the hunt after dipping to 33-4 and, even though they rallied to reach 152-7, were handsomely beaten.One-time Hampshire 2nd XI off-spinner Richard Dibden, who now captains BAT, described his side’s performance as "thoroughly professional.""To restrict the Academy to 152-7 on a `road’ of a pitch was a highly commendable performance by our bowlers and particularly satisfying bearing in mind that Dan Goldstraw, our top wicket taker, was on holiday and Kirk Stewart is injured."Instead, it was Chris Thomason (2-29) and Mark Page (1-15) who did the damage with the new ball, whipping out Iain Brunnschweiler (5), Ian Hilsum (0) and Peter Hammond (5).When Damian Shirazi had Mitchell Stokes caught for 6, Hampshire were in deep trouble at 33-4.Kevin Latouf (30) retained his cool, but BAT’s bowlers maintained a strict line, with the left-arm spin of Terry Rawlins (2-26) and Dibden (1-24) particularly difficult to penetrate.Former Hampshire opener Giles White (23) fell at 95-7, leaving David Griffiths (38 not out) and Luke Merry with the responsibility of putting a reasonable total on the board.But 152 was never likely to be enough – and New Zealander Neal Parlane and Damian Shirazi quickly tucked in to the Hawks attack.Griffiths conceded 27 runs off his five overs and Merry 28 off four as Parlane quickly got into the groove.The Kiwi scored 50 of the first 67 runs to leave Shirazi (55 not out) and Richard Kenway (28) the formality of securing an easy BAT victory.Calmore Sports fancied their chances of a second 50-over victory when they reduced Liphook & Ripsley to 73-8, but it all went pear shaped for the Totton club, who suffered a batting collapse of their own.Calmore struck an important blow when Paul Cass trapped South African Alistair Gray leg before. Only Steve Riley, Jez Bulled and Duncan Berry reached double figures as Mark Boston (3-37) and Co made winless Liphook struggle to 73-8.But Tim Wheatley (40 not out) and man-of-the-match Alan Crawford (20) turned the match on its head with an unbroken 58-run partnership which lifted the visitors to 131-8.Calmore began confidently enough through Eugene Burzler (19) and Cass, but at 35-1 began to totter.Nick Gay (3-16) achieved a double breakthrough, but it was Crawford’s off-spin which caused most problems – with Burzler, James Hibberd, Tom Pegler (23) and Dave Rouse (14) all perishing.Calmore’s lower-order collapsed like a pack of cards – an optimistic 84-5 quickly becoming 91 all out as five wickets fell for six runs and the innings to 91 all out.

Milburn and Lawson model new Otago uniforms Photograph © OCA

Otago’s new look under the State sponsorship announced today was demonstrated at a funcation at the Otago Cricket High Performance Centre.Those attending the Dunedin function included Otago Cricket’s patron Arthur Ibbotson and Mrs Ibbotson, life member Iain Gallaway, president Warren Shirley, board members Stuart Heal, ‘Jazz’ Hewitson and Peter Dobbs, and representatives from Otago Cricket’s major sponsors, State, the Dunedin Casino and Bentley’s Hotel.State Otago Volt Robbie Lawson and State Otago Spark Rowan Milburn modelled the uniforms at the function.