Wellington became the first team to win back-to-back Shell Super Max series at Eden Park’s Outer Oval today when claiming a comfortable eight-wicket win in a disappointing final.Wellington was never pressured at any stage and its bowlers deserve most credit for producing the answers in varying conditions over the two days.Matthew Walker, Paul Hitchcock and Carl Bulfin were especially successful in their control and length which allowed no Auckland batsman to really take to them.Auckland also paid the price for an indifferent second innings. Wellington made the most of its 12-run first innings lead and then embarrassed Auckland by restricting it completely throughout the second innings.Wellington Firebirds captain Matthew Bell used his bowlers with some finesse in the first innings to ensure he had the firepower in the second innings and his bowlers responded.Walker may be one of the bulkier players on the summer scene but it is no hindrance to the commitment he is able to make in finals play. His bowling was outstanding as he took 2-24 from his four overs in the match, and also pulled off a superb catch to remove the hard-hitting Auckland opener Llorne Howell in the first over of the second innings.It was a vital blow. Auckland had no response and when Bulfin slipped into his final two overs with superb control, the die was cast. Roger Twose took a fine catch at fly slip to end Aaron Barnes’ innings.Earlier, Wellington gained a boost when its downwind bowlers James Franklin and Bulfin made life miserable in Auckland’s first innings.Auckland could only managed 99-2, and against the strong Wellington batting line-up that was never going to be enough.Auckland’s bowlers couldn’t reach a similar standard and Wellington was able to take a 12-run lead into the second innings.With 52 the target in eight overs it was going to take a Wellington calamity to deny it the win, and the Capital Firebirds were in no mood to give anything away. The big hits were put away and a sensible accumulation policy took the game to the sixth over before the win was achieved.

A fighting 76 by C Sachdev could not prevent Tripura from going downto a 35-run defeat to Assam in the East Zone Ranji Trophy one daymatch at the Calcutta Cricket and Football ground on Saturday.Put in to bat, Assam were restricted to 216 for nine in 50 overs. Theywere given a good start by openers PJ Das (33) and SB Saikia (38) whoput on 60 runs off 13 overs. Thereafter, they lost wickets at regularintervals until S Ghosh (26) and Sukhbinder Singh (41) added 58 runsfor the seventh wicket off 9.5 overs. Sukhbinder, who came in at No 8,top scored with a breezy 41 off 38 balls with two fours and two sixes.Tripura were never really in the hunt after a poor start (32 forthree) and it was only Sachdev’s defiance that saw them get 181 beforethey were all out in 47.1 overs. Sachdev, who came in at the fall ofthe third wicket in the 13th over, was eighth out at 171 in the 46thover. Sachdev faced 98 balls and hit six fours and three sixes.

After enjoying two good days, Somerset Seconds fell away badly and lost their three-day match against Northamptonshire at the County Ground.Resuming on 66 for three, Michael Coles( 40) and Oliver Bailey (30) took the score on to 85 before the next wicket fell. From 85 for four Somerset collapsed to 96 for nine with Joe Tucker, who was injured, not batting. For Northants former England bowler Paul Taylor took 6 for 62.Requiring 136 to win Northamptonshire made heavy weather of achieving their target, thanks to some accurate bowling by Ian Jones who took 6 for 63 before the vistors moved to 139 for seven to win by three wickets.Somerset Seconds take 6 points from the game and Northants take 20 points.

Michelle Goszko broke one world record and equalled another when she scored 204 for Australia against England in the First Test of the CricInfo Women’s Series at Shenley on June 25, 2001.When she passed 131, Goszko set a new record for the highest score on debut in the 112-match history of women’s Tests, beating the previous mark set by compatriot Mel Jones on the last tour of England three years ago.At 204 she equalled the mark for the highest individual score by any batsman since women’s Tests began in 1934. Her lbw dismissal at the hands of Clare Taylor stopped her from gaining an outright claim on the record.Players who have scored 150 or more in women’s Test cricket:204 Kirsty Flavell, New Zealand v England at Scarborough, 1996
204 Michelle Goszko, Australia v England at Shenley, 2001
200 Jo Broadbent, Australia v England at Guildford, 1998
193 Denise Annetts, Australia v England at Collingham, 1987
190 Sandhya Agarwal, India v England at Worcester, 1986
189 Betty Snowball, England v New Zealand at Christchurch, 1935
179 Rachael Heyhoe-Flint, England v Australia at The Oval, 1976
176* Karen Rolton, Australia v England at Worcester, 1998
167 Jan Brittin, England v Australia at Harrogate, 1998
161* Emily Drumm, New Zealand v Australia at Christchurch, 1995
160 Barbara Daniels, England v New Zealand at Scarborough, 1996
158* Carol Hodges, England v New Zealand at Canterbury, 1984
155* Trish McKelvey, New Zealand v England at Wellington, 1969It should be noted that the world record score in a women’s one-dayinternational is in fact higher than this – 229 by Belinda Clark forAustralia against Denmark in the 1997 World Cup in India.Centuries on debut in women’s Tests:108 Una Paisley, Australia v New Zealand at Wellington, 1948
113 Enid Bakewell, England v Australia at Adelaide, 1968
118 Lorraine Hill, Australia v New Zealand at Wellington, 1975
117 Julie Stockton, Australia v New Zealand at Sydney University, 1979
117 Leslie Cooke, England v India at Collingham, 1986
126 Belinda Haggett, Australia v England at Worcester, 1987
104 Belinda Clark, Australia v India at North Sydney, 1991
105 Chamani Senevirathne, Sri Lanka v Pakistan at Colombo, 1998
131 Melanie Jones, Australia v England at Guildford, 1998
204 Michelle Goszko, Australia v England at Shenley, 2001(Note: the records showed for many years that Shanta Rangaswamy scored a century on debut for India against New Zealand in Dunedin in 1977. It was later decided that India’s six-match series against the West Indies in 1975-76, in which Rangaswamy played, should have Test status, thus depriving her of this rare honour.)

England’s selectors have added two additional players to the squad for the CricInfo Series Tests and One-Day Internationals against Australia which begin at Shenley on Sunday.All-rounder Nicki Shaw, who last played for England in the CricInfo Women’s World Cup, is recalled after impressing with the ball in the warm-up games, and Hannah Lloyd, who has previously represented England Under-23s, has the chance to make her senior debut against the Australians.The England squad for the First Test will be announced on Saturday.CricInfo Series: England SquadClare Connor, Caroline Atkins, Jane Cassar, Sarah Collyer, Laura Harper, Jackie Hawker, Dawn Holden, Hannah Lloyd, Kate Lowe, Lucy Pearson, Nicki Shaw, Claire Taylor, Clare Taylor, Arran Thompson.

After Sunday afternoon’s marathon meeting at the PCB’s headquarters, there were changes galore in the set-up. Ostensibly, for this is the official line, these changes have been rung to bring the organisation in line with the working of the ICC. In effect it is a tacit admission that all was far from well in the PCB at various administrative levels. And also, that the entire system needed an overhaul as radical as this one was, to kick the indolence and inefficiency out.So the ‘five wise men’ – yes, there were as many till as recently as last April – advising the Chairman, have now been replaced with five committees!One can only hope, that belated as it is, this attempt at some dispassionate soul-searching and stocktaking augurs well for the game in Pakistan.The good thing about the changes is that every committee has a well-defined job assignment, instead of the vagueness that was prevalent in the times of the now-defunct, Advisory Council. So, for instance, now we would know if there is something wrong with the functioning of academies, or there is a marketing problem, and so on, everybody including the media would know who is to blame instantly.This may have some effect on diligence levels, for, to some extent, it introduces real-time, public accountability.So massive is the scale of changes – "a major restructuring of the PCB to streamline the working of the Board", said the official press release – that only two members of the dissolved Advisory Council have been retained, in Rameez Raja and Javed Miandad, the former for practical and the latter, perhaps for sentimental reasons. The selection committee – the replacements yet to be named, perhaps because one of the prime candidates is abroad these days – too has been given the much-deserved sack, and too late in the day.Though this reorganisation was known, one has learnt, to the Chairman’s confidants for some time, the all-powerful Advisory Council had little or no clue. The result was that two of its members, former cricketer Waqar Hasan and Wasim Azhar, have been sent packing while the fifth member in Yawar Saeed had already been eased out, to do duty as the national team’s manager about three months ago.The question is whether this is a harbinger of more changes? As a logical corollary they should be forthcoming too, and soon. For howsoever good the newly-formed committees might be, if the administrative support staff – which the Chairman says were not put in by him but by his predecessors, the inference being that he is either unable or unwilling to defend their performance any longer – are not overhauled as well.Now a look at the Committees, in terms of responsibilities and scope, as head of Development Committee, Raja still ends up with the largest share of the pie. His domain remains extensive, covering infrastructure development, academies, nurseries, coaching centres, grassroots cricket and also the National Coaching Council. Considering that most of these programmes are in their embryonic stage and even a bit of cavalier handling could do serious damage to the very concepts, whether he can find time to deal effectively with all this while committing himself extensively with his commentary assignments and his job in a bank, is a point of conjecture.In this context, he would have to delegate, and heavily so and who would be assisting him where, would assume greater importance. The committee has yet to be named, which means Raja is still looking for right options. Though one of his former mentors, none other than the redoubtable Majid Khan, is anything but satisfied with his work so far, but one would like to hold judgement on this for the moment.Miandad is the chairman, with Iqbal Qasim to serve as his deputy, in the management committee. This committee would deal with domestic cricket, national umpiring council, rules and discipline. Well, one has been a great admirer of Miandad, and it is a great travesty that for various reasons in his last six years, between 1990 and 1996, he could only take part in 22 Tests.That said his very name does not really go down well with the concept of management. So, apparently, the PCB Chairman didn’t have the heart to tell him to pack off. Or maybe, it is deemed, as one member of the now dissolved Advisory Council had confided in this writer not long ago, it is more prudent to have Miandad on board than put up with the vitriol he is capable of sending the PCB’s way from time to time.Appointment of a treasurer is a mundane affair and Finance and Marketing Committee too doesn’t have any new faces. But the Review Committee is important in the context that PCB still faces quite a bit of pressure from the ICC on the match-fixing issue. Also the likelihood of some of the players continuing to be involved, as has been alleged off and on in recent times, is something that needs constant probe and vigilance. The retired High Court judge to head the committee has still to be appointed. It would be in the fitness of things, if Justice Qayyum, whose landmark judgement on match-fixing had won universal acclaim, and who would be available after his resignation is accepted, is offered the job. At least for the short term, for he is familiar with the lay of the land like no one else.The last paragraph of the press release was most significant in its import, for it promises the appointment of a legal advisor to review the PCB’s constitution, followed by elections of the associations "to keep them in line with the new national administrative structure".This is a great development indeed, provided it comes through, for it pledges return to democratic order – in as far as it could be in an organisation where the government of the day can appoint the top man. And also from the point of view, that the actions of Chairman and the five committees, would be accountable to the Council. That too, if hoping that the previous constitution does not see a change in this regard.But one problem here is that there aren’t many credible elected or electable faces around. They weren’t there even when the so-called PCB Council was ruling the roost, taking turns on foreign trips and bleeding whatever little resources were generated in those pre-satellite television times, when the revenues were precious little to go by. Since then, that is from the early to mid ’90s onwards, they have been mostly irrelevant, dependent on the crumbs that were thrown their way.So the problem is not merely the absence of democratic order. To quote Majid Khan on the issue again, "the country’s educated elite have washed their hands off Pakistan’s sports". Cricket is no exception to this rather sweeping statement, which unfortunately is true. That is one reason why quality leadership – such as like Jagmohan Dalmiya, Madhavrao Scindia, Raj Singh Dungarpur, and I.S. Bindra across the border – is not being thrown up to manage the affairs of the game in this country. And till such time, it doesn’t happen; we would remain dependent on the good or bad decisions of a very limited coterie.Sad as it may sound, but a fact.

There was good news and bad news for Glamorgan at Taunton today.On the positive side, Robert Croft heard that he had been selected in England`s squad for theThird Test against Australia starting at Trent Bridge on Thursday.Moreover, the off-spinner is very likley to be in the starting eleven, thereby winning his21st Test cap, and taking a step closer to becoming the first Glamorgan bowler to take50 wickets in Test cricket for England.When announcing the squad, David Graveney, the Chairman of Selectors, said “We wanted toshow continuity of selection by including Robert Croft. He performed very well on the wintertour of Sri Lanka, and we brought him back into the squad at Edgbaston. Maybe withhindsight, we should have played him there.””Nottingham is a pretty flat wicket and Croft can beat the bat on both sides. He is likelyto have to spend a lot of time bowling overs, but the fact that the pitch will not spin somuch is not something that we are unduly concerned with. He will enable us to use our quickerbowlers in short spells.”But there was gloomy news as well for the Welsh county as captain Steve James broke a bone inhis left hand during the defeat against Somerset. The injury happened as James was hit on hisgloves by a rising short delivery from England paceman Andy Caddick.James bravely tried to continue batting, but was unable to grip the bat properly, andafter receiving treatment on the field, he went to a local hospital for an x-ray whichrevealed that his hand was fractured.The Glamorgan skipper will see a specialist on Monday, and faces a spell on the sidelines.Also out of action for a while is Alex Wharf who has had further ankle problems duringlast week`s 2nd XI match against Middlesex at Usk.Glamorgan will travel to Colwyn Bay to play Lancashire without these three players.

Lymington’s prospects of winning the Southern Electric Premier League Division 2 championship and progressing into the “Gold” League next season suffered a serious setback with a two-wicket defeat by Portsmouth.Despite scoring only 141 themselves, Lymington appeared to hold all the aces as they reduced Portsmouth to 84-8.But for the second time this season, they were foiled by former Hampshire left-arm spinner, Raj Maru, who hauled his erratic side from the brink of defeat and set up an improbable victory.Maru’s undefeated 47, aided by Academy prospect Ben Nolan, guided Portsmouth from a perilous 84-8 to 144-8 and an absorbing two-wicket victory over Lymington, who are now very much outsiders in the promotion hunt.But Portsmouth are still marginally behind table-topping Cove, whose match with United Services was washed out with the Farnborough club in a powerful position at 277-9.Cove play Portsmouth at Grasmere Road on Saturday week, August 18 and then receive Lymington on the final day of the season.Portsmouth’s Farnborough visit looked purely academic after Lymington, defending a modest 141, ripped out the visitors’ top eight at the Sports Ground.But Maru got his head down on a spinner-friendly surface and, with splendid support from the relatively inexperienced Nolan in an unbroken 60-run ninth-wicket partnership, turned the match on its head.Until then, the medium-pace away-swing of Australian Brian Clemow (4-23) and lift and turn extracted by Daniel Peacock (2-38) and Glyn Treagus (1-19) looked likely to bring Lymington a second major prize of the week.The club had crushed Andover by nine wickets to win the Southern Electric Contracting Cup four days earlier.But there was to be no repeat of the cup final celebrations of midweek.Lymington might have guessed it wasn’t to be their day when Clemow fell to a bizarre catch in only the second over of the day.Naqeeb Ali Mohammed dropped a juicy-looking long-hop short outside the Australian’s off stump.Clemow rocketed the ball towards gully, where Matt Keech leapt to palm a dolly catch into the grateful hands of Paul Dew at backward cover.When Treagus misread Nolan’s line at 19-2, Lymington were in early trouble, but Peacock (24) and Ben Craft (19) righted the ship – until the telling left-arm spin of Maru (3-20) accounted for both batsmen in quick succession.Neil Trestrail (21) and Chris Warde (16) took the score just above the 100-mark – only for Lymington to lose five wickets for 13 runs to Nolan (3-41) and the impressive Lee Savident (2-30).The pair proved that, if the ball was pitched in the right place, there was plenty in the dry surface for the bowler.But Portsmouth found themselves frustrated as the left-handed Neil Jenkin and Wayne Smith added a vital 25 runs for the tenth wicket and lift Lymington’s total to 141.Defending a moderate total, Lymington knew they had to take early wickets and immediately threw Peacock’s biting off-breaks into the equation.Stephen Cook (37) saw three team-mates depart in quick succession before nicking Clemow to slip at 51-4.Indeed, when the teenage Cook was joined in the pavilion some time later by fellow South African Paul Dew (23), Portsmouth were in desperate trouble at 81-7.But Maru punished anything loose and got some thoughtful support from the teenage Nolan as Portsmouth gradually clawed their back into the contest.To Lymington’s disappointment, change bowler Jason Carr couldn’t get his line right when he was thrown the ball with the game in the balance.Maru saw and seized his chance and, with the loyal Nolan alongside, twice hoisted sixes into the adjoining tennis courts to ease Portsmouth to a crucial two-wicket victory.

Urgent action over the state of the country’s spin bowling is being considered by New Zealand Cricket.The quality of spin bowling available in New Zealand has been of concern for some years but the situation now requires drastic action.New Zealand Cricket’s operations manager John Reid said the evidence from Under-17 and Under-19 tournaments offered no immediate hope of improvement.”We should be promoting a culture in our game where spin bowlers are appreciated,” he said.Reid said he was continually frustrated in age-group cricket when spin bowlers were taken off when things got tight in games only to be replaced by quicker bowlers. The spinners were not helped by quality, or even understanding, field placing.”The game itself is not providing support for spin bowlers at the 14-19 age level.”Spinners traditionally take longer to develop,” he said.The crisis facing spin bowling was under discussion by NZC at the moment and there was a good chance that a Spin New Zealand targeted programme would be introduced.While a bowler like Glen Sulzberger had done well on two A tours now, to England last year and India this year, he had not performed so well in New Zealand domestic cricket.And first-class cricket in New Zealand was desperately short of spin bowlers.”We need to see the development of a coaching and support network for spinners, a network of coaching that is better than we have now.”On the other side, batsmen would benefit from being exposed to more spin bowling as well because we traditionally do not play spin well,” he said.Reid was also concerned at the standard of wicket-keeping.While ‘keepers were competent at first-class level, the strength of numbers of wicket-keeper-batsmen was not strong.”We could do with greater depth in that area. We have been well served over the last two decades by world-class ‘keepers in Ian Smith and Adam Parore. We have been lucky.”But there are less to choose from than we would like,” he said.Reid said one of the reasons two teams were fielded by associations in regional age-group tournaments was to expose more young players in the wicket-keeping area, not just to give more batsmen a chance.

Jacques Kallis starred with bat and ball as South Africa built up animpregnable position against Zimbabwe on the second day of the First Test atHarare Sports Club. He hit an unbeaten 157, his eighth Test century, out ofa massive South African total of 600 for three declared, and then took awicket in his first over as Zimbabwe lost four wickets for 143 by the close.Kallis made most of the early running, hitting anything loose with power andtime to spare, while Gary Kirsten dug a deep foundation as he set his sightson 300 or more. The Zimbabwe bowling was more accurate than on the firstday, but on an easy-paced pitch never looked threatening. At least theywere able to keep the score within reason, though, as South Africa addedonly 40 runs in the first hour and Kallis found runs harder to come by afterhis bright start.There were few signs that South Africa were disturbed by this sudden policyof accuracy until, immediately after the drinks break, Kirsten slashed at aball from Douglas Hondo that was well outside the off stump, and edged acatch to the keeper for 220. South Africa were 455 for two after twopartnerships of 256 and 199.Kallis was prepared to take no risks with his century in view, whileMcKenzie played himself in. Zimbabwe’s fielding was also much keener, andRaymond Price made the ball spin sharply at times, so South Africa wererestricted to 68 runs in the session.In the first over after lunch, McKenzie leapt down the pitch to hit Priceover his head for four, a declaration of South Africa’s intentions. At lastthere was an intriguing battle on the field on even terms as Price troubledhim at times, while the batsmen was determined to attack when theopportunity presented itself.Kallis, grimly watchful through the nineties, finally reached his eighthTest century off 231 balls, and then began to open up. He joined McKenzie,who reached his own fifty, in launching an assault on Price, hitting him forseveral big leg-side sixes. Zimbabwe’s luck remained minimal, with the oddmis-hit evading the fielders and a close lbw appeal against McKenzierejected, but they continued to fight with much greater determination thanthey had shown on the opening day.Finally Fortune decided to smile, and a top-edged pull by McKenzie (52) offTravis Friend was finally held by Douglas Hondo running in from long leg;582 for three, and the third wicket had added 127. Kallis lost a ball fromPrice on to the roof of the new ZCU president’s stand, while Lance Klusenerhad a few fresh-air swings before pulling Friend over the stands at widelong-on. At this point, with the score 600 for three, Shaun Pollock decidedenough was enough and applied the declaration, tea being taken early.Kallis batted 257 minutes and hit 14 fours and five sixes.When Zimbabwe batted, Andre Nel enjoyed the gift of a wicket with his thirdball in Test cricket: Alistair Campbell (0) aimed an appalling hook at abouncer moving well away outside off stump, and only succeeded in edging acatch to the ‘keeper. Dion Ebrahim for his part showed no fear of Pollock,taking nine runs off his first two overs, and Hamilton Masakadza also tookon the pacemen positively, the latter enjoying two escapes off Pollock, atgully and second slip. He was to waste them, however, by chancing a run toMcKenzie, who anticipated well at mid-off to run him out for 13; 43 for two.Kallis came on to bowl and immediately had Craig Wishart (0) caught low atfirst slip. Andy Flower was quickly under way, keeping it simple as alwaysand punishing the loose ball, while Ebrahim brought up a creditable fiftywith a cover-driven four off debutant left-arm spinner Claude Henderson.Flower, so proficient against spin, made it his aim to hit Henderson out ofthe attack on a pitch taking turn, but Ebrahim (71) donated his first wicketin Test cricket by charging down the pitch, head in the air, to be stumped.Flower then played safely until the close, finishing on 54 not out,accompanied by night-watchman Price. Only Wishart of the four men gone wasnot guilty of a soft dismissal. Their last six wickets need to find 258more runs to avoid the follow-on, difficult but by no means impossible.