If at the start of the season you told the members of the Piton Doverthey would make the Fire Shield cricket final they would have replied:Sure!If you told them their opponents would be MTW, they probably wouldhave replied: MT-Who?Well, that’s the case today at the Police Sports Club, Weymouth, inthe grand final of the Barbados Fire & Commercial Shield Cricket finalthe marquee tournament for lower division sides in the BarbadosCricket Association’s (BCA) competitions.Dover, with their many former Division 1 stalwarts, start asfavourites, but don’t tell MTW that. At stake is a bounty of $5 000,while the losers will pocket $3 500 not bad for a day’s work.The team that plays better on the day will win. We have beenpractising very hard both batting and fielding and we have beengetting some physiological advice to be better prepared for the game,said MTW skipper and leading batsman Geoffrey Padmore.This is MTW’s first Shield final after 11 years in the BCA competitionand allrounder Padmore is the reason why they are there.He blasted an aggressive 73 against Central in the semifinal after histeam was struggling on 70 for six. He promises a well-balanced team inwhat should be a very competitive game.Dover warmed up yesterday in style taking the last four Fustic wicketsin 15 minutes in their Premier League match to record an inningsvictory and the afternoon off.Dover, the 1992 champions, are confident of victory according to theircaptain Vibert Greene, the former Barbados and West Indies Ballrounder.We are confident of victory, he said. We met last year and we wonquite easily, but MTW, with some new faces, will be on a high and itwill not be an easy task. I think we have the best team in the lowerdivision, but cricket is still played on the day.The Dovermen showed their mettle in the semifinal with a four-wicketvictory over the Combermere School team. It was the depth ofexperience which pulled them through.Man for man, Dover have a big advantage.The batting is centred around Peter Clarke, Silverton Weekes, BernardKinch, Wilbur Bruce and Stephen Blackett. Allrounders Greene, JerryKirton and Richard Thornton were all household names of the past.The bowling department is based on mainly fast-medium. The Kirtonbrothers, Jerry and Levere, along with Greene and Thornton, will besupported by Litchfield Kirton, who completes a trio of brothers inthe team.MTW have Padmore and other batsmen include veteran Glendon Johnson,Anthony Burrowes, Testa Baker and Philbert Brathwaite. WicketkeeperPeter Blackman completes a reasonable batting line-up.Fast bowlers Peter Francis and Charles Ramsay will share the new ball,with support coming from Winston Gittens, Mark Bailey and left-armspinner Denis Payne can also do the job.It promises to be a big job, but as we have seen in the past Oh howthe mighty have fallen.

It’s been a long wait, but at last New Zealand’s summer gets underway today in Brisbane.Circumstances have meant that it is not the start New Zealand expected to be making in Pakistan.But there is no doubt that it is the prospect of the Australian tour that has been whetting the appetites of Kiwis.The return of injured players, Daniel Vettori, Dion Nash and Shayne O’Connor, all of whom are playing in today’s opening game against the Queensland Academy of Sport, has been keenly awaited.Vettori is the key factor. He is clearly the best spinner New Zealand has, by the length of Auckland’s Queen Street.He offers skipper Stephen Fleming so much in terms of attacking options and, while still young by international spinning standards, his cricketing intelligence makes him a prime asset for the side.This four-day game is the first occasion since Zimbabwe last year that he has played anything other than limited overs cricket and it is an important test of the rehabilitation work he has done to get back into Test mode.Nash is a less clear case. His back has been an ongoing concern and while he has done so much impressive work in recovery, it is still to be put to the test, and there is more of a feeling of fragility over his return. New Zealanders are hoping for the very best for Nash because he has so much to his competitive nature, and backs that with performance, that he is an important part of the side.O’Connor too, is a big plus. He was just starting to settle into the role of front-line bowler last summer when he suffered a knee injury. He had increased his pace and was utilising more consistent swing to be a more complete bowler.His recovery has not been so daunting but his progress will also be watched closely as he is shaping as an important factor in New Zealand’s Test attack equation.Chris Cairns’ advance from knee surgery is being measured back at home in a match for the New Zealand Academy against their Australian counterparts, but if weather in Christchurch this morning is anything to go by, it may be another day of reduced opportunities for him.He is to join the New Zealand team in Canberra for its second game.CLEAR Black caps coach Denis Aberhart said: “The benefits of this tour opener not being a first-class match is that we can agree to play 12. This will allow us to give as many players as possible competitive cricket.”We have decided to play an extra seam bowler rather than an extra spin bowler or batsman because we expect hot weather and we can more easily manage the bowlers’ workload in what will be the players’ first outing on grass.”After a couple of days practice the players are really looking forward to getting the tour underway,” Aberhart said.

Portsmouth will be playing in the top flight of the Southern Electric Premier League next season after having their St Helen’s ground on Southsea seafront accepted for Division 1 cricket.This year’s Division 2 champions Portsmouth have announced plans to provide wheel-on covers and practice nets next season.Autumnal works to upgrade the outfield have already been undertaken by the city council.Portsmouth, captained by former Hampshire left-arm spinner Raj Maru, replace relegated Hungerford in the top flight.Winchester KS and Rowledge are promoted into Division 2, with Hambledon relegated alongside Old Basing who, at their own request, have dropped back into the Hampshire League.The demise of the Basingstoke club, having been much weakened by player losses, means an unexpected promotion into SPL3 for Redlynch & Hale, who finished third behind Ventnor and Hartley Wintney in HL County Division 1 this summer.Ventnor, who lost only one match in four seasons of total domination in the County Leagues, will be the first Isle of Wight club ever to play in the SEPL.The Southern Electric Premier League make up for the 2002 season is :ECB Premier Division 1:
Andover, Bashley (Rydal), BAT Sports, Bournemouth, Burridge, Calmore Sports, Havant, Liphook & Ripsley, Portsmouth, South Wilts.Premier Division 2:
Easton & Martyr Worthy, Hampshire Academy, Hungerford, Lymington, Old Tauntonians & Romsey, Rowledge, Sparsholt, Trojans, United Services, Winchester KS.Premier Division 3:
Alton, Bashley (Rydal) II, Flamingo, Gosport Borough, Hambledon, Hartley Wintney, Havant, Hook & Newnham Basics, Hursley Park, Leckford, New Milton, Paultons, Portsmouth II, Purbrook, Redlynch & Hale, St Cross Symondians, Ventnor, Waterlooville.*** All-day `time’ matches in Premier Division 1 next season will start at 11 o’clock, 30 minutes earlier than previously.

Prior to tea a military helicopter circled the Sinhalese Sports Club beforea seven-man team of elite commandos sky-dived into the stadium during theinterval. For a moment we wondered whether their mission was to rescue the WestIndies who were slipping towards their third consecutive defeat.It turns out that they were delivering the shining brass JanashakthiNational Test series trophy and, at the time, it seemed a wise decision to notwait until the final day for the air drop, as the West Indies looked set to fold up completely having lost both openers cheaply, having earlier conceded a significant first innings deficit.But West Indies did rally after the departure of Wing Commander Hashim andhis sky-diving squadron, as Ramnaresh Sarwan (57) and Brian Lara (76) – ofcourse – scored half-centuries and added 125 runs for the third wicket togive the tourists some hope of saving the game. At the close they were 145for two, needing 92 runs to make Sri Lanka bat again.It comes as no surprise that it is Sarwan and Lara who are once againresisting Sri Lanka. The former has battled hard all series scoring threehalf-centuries and deserves a maiden hundred tomorrow. The latter has beensimply brilliant and has now scored 634 runs in the series, which is thesecond highest aggregate in a three-Test series after Graham Gooch’s Indiansummer in 1990/1 (752 runs).The pair reacted positively to the early loss of Chris Gayle and DarenGanga, who were both dismissed by Chaminda Vaas in a somewhat predictable manner.Gayle, who has had a disastrous series after a promising tour to Zimbabwe,recorded his third consecutive duck as he was edged an outswinger to MahelaJayawardene at third slip first ball. It was the fifth time in six inningsthat he had been dismissed by Vaas, who has exploited the left-handers stifffootwork and uncertainty outside his off-stump. Ganga was trapped lbw has hewalked straight into an inswinger.West Indies were 20 for two and Sarwan responded with a flurry ofboundaries. Nuwan Zoysa was pulled for three fours and Muttiah Muralitharan,introduced in the eighth over, was slog-swept second ball. They brought upthe fifty in just 62 balls before consolidating in the second part of theevening.Sarwan played well but struggled against Muralitharan. He was dropped atslip on 45 after edging his straighter delivery and came with a whisker ofbeing caught by a leaping Upul Chandana at mid-wicket. The 21-year-oldGuyanan was helped by Lara, who unselfishly, if somewhat bizarrely, shieldedthe number three from the off-spinner by farming the strike. ButMuralitharan is no breeze, even for Lara, who is reading him from the hand.He had moments of doubt and Sri Lanka’s raucous close-fielders are convincedthat he was caught behind when on 45. West Indies fate now seems to rest onthe pair carrying on well into the final dayEarlier in the day Sri Lanka had extended their 87-run overnight lead to 237thanks to a career best 204 from Hashan Tillakaratne and 87 from ThilanSamaraweera, plus a couple of late-order cameos. The pair added 165 for thesixth wicket, surpassing their record 154-run stand in Galle, allowing SriLanka to amass 627 for nine; the second highest innings total in their 19year Test history and the first time that West Indies had conceded sixhundred runs for 23 years.Tillakaratne, 143 not out overnight, was more subdued today until the lastdash for his double century as he ran out of partners, but he was equallyefficient, rarely hitting the ball in the air and did not offer a singlechance in an innings that spanned nine hours. His greatest obstacle was ahamstring injury that he had pulled the previous afternoon. However, aidedwith painkillers and with his left leg heavily strapped, he batted on without a runner.West Indies bowlers hadn’t looked like taking a wicket all morning, evenwhen they took the new ball, so it was no surprise when the eventual breakthrough was self-inflicted. Tillakaratne drove to Chris Gayle at mid-off and set off for a single, but then hesitated and the ensuingconfusion left Samaraweera inches short of his crease after a direct hit(510 for six).Tillakaratne then added 40 with Vaas before the left-hander was caught atmid-on and 42 with Niroshan Bandaratillake before the ninth wicket fell withTillakaratne on 193. The sight of a beaming Muralitharan, swinging his batlike an over eager Lathi-waving Indian policeman, would not have been reassuring and he quite rightly made a final and successful sprint for the milestone.

Trevor Chappell, the Australian-born coach, was not reading the riot act to his batsmen after the Bangladeshis scored a disappointingly slow 120 from 61 overs in the first innings of their four-day match against Auckland on the Eden Park Outer Oval today.Chappell said his batsmen were under orders to bat with patience, especially after being put in to bat on a greenish pitch which may have been slightly suspect after so much recent wet weather.”Actually our opening batsmen did a good job for the ball was swinging about. Unfortunately, as sometimes happens with these players, they lose patience. Some of them were out to very good balls, others out to bad shots.”Chappell said there was nothing wrong with his players’ spirits.”They have taken some beatings in recent times and feel a bit down after a loss. But they are a fairly happy lot, quite upbeat about their cricket.”However, Chappell said the loss through rain of two of the three days of the New Zealand District Association XI match at Wanganui over the weekend, was a major setback in preparation for the first test at Hamilton next week.”We badly needed some batting against the District XI bowlers, and have only this Auckland game to adapt to the new conditions.”

The England selectors announced this morning their squad for the Test series with New Zealand,but there was no place in the 16-man party for Glamorgan off-spinner Robert Croft.In announcing the party David Graveney, the Chairman of Selectorsconfirmed that Robert was still in their thoughts, and intimated that if a third spinner hadbeen required, the Welshman may well have got the nod.”Robert`s performances, particularly overseas, have been very good, and he is very muchpart of the future.”These were the sentiments in a phone call last night between Robert and the Chairman ofSelectors. “When players aren’t involved,” Croft said, “all they want to know is why andwhen, and if not, when can they come back. David said the door wasn’t closed and I firmlybelieve that. The main aim for me now is to play well for Glamorgan and to get some silverwareon the table.”In naming the 16-man party, the selectors kept faith with Richard Dawson and Ashley Giles asthe spin bowlers, but they did not call-up Martyn Ball, the Gloucestershire off-spinner,who had been summoned as a late replacement when Robert Croft and Andy Caddick decided not totour.Croft has no regrets about deciding not to tour India- “I don`t think regrets work in sport,”Croft added, ” and this time round I felt for my family’s sake it wasn’t a risk I could take.I’m just over the moon that the players have come back from India safe and well – and havingplayed some good cricket, especially in the last two Tests.””If you’re big enough to take the pats on the back, you’ve got to take a few on the chin nowand again. I’ve taken a few along my career but I’m not asking for pity at all. It’s a case ofknuckling down now, playing hard for Glamorgan and showing everybody what I can do.”

The CricInfo panel came up with a different XI to decide who would win thetickets to see India in England this summer.All Time Indian XI – as chosen by the CricInfo panel:-

When then Tasmanian captain Jamie Cox announced in October that he was stepping aside to allow Ricky Ponting to inherit his job, scarcely anyone could have foreseen that the move would have had such far-reaching implications in such a short space of time.Sure enough, Ponting’s graduation to the position was aimed at enhancing his chances of ultimately becoming thenational skipper.Yet there must have been precious few people either in Australia or beyond its shores who could have imagined that hewould be anointed just six games into his career as his state’s new leader.Not even Cox himself, who admitted to a hint of surprise upon hearing the news along with his Tasmanian teammatesin Melbourne yesterday.”It was a bit of a surprise, I thought,” said Cox of the news that Ponting had won nomination for the top national jobahead of Adam Gilchrist and Shane Warne.”But I think he’ll do a fantastic job (nonetheless).A precociously gifted player who rose to prominence after a brilliant underage career, Ponting made his debut for Tasmania at 17. His first appearance for Australia arrived at the age of 20 and he has been a near-permanent fixture in its Test and one-day international teams ever since.His hold on a berth in the top flight loosened briefly following his involvement in two off field incidents – the first at anightclub in Calcutta in 1998 and the other at a bar in Sydney in early 1999. He also endured a period on the sidelinesafter he crashed into a boundary hoarding at the SCG in February 1999, seriously injuring his ankle.But his potential suitability for a role at Australia’s helm has continued to be touted strongly.Aside from being one of the few players in recent years to graduate to the national team at a young age, the27-year-old is widely regarded as possessing one of the better cricket-brains in the current Australian squad. He’s alsoperceived to carry the air of dynamism and flair that often marks the sport’s great captains.Though his captaincy resume contains only a limited number of entries to date, and notwithstanding the fact that hisnew appointment ensures that he will be the first Tasmanian representative to hold the Australian team’s seniorleadership position, confidence in his capacities has duly been quick to emerge.”He’s shown good leadership skills with us in the few games we’ve had under him so far, and I think he’ll do really wellat international level too. Particularly with an even more talented group of individuals playing under him,” said Cox.”It was obviously a major part of our thinking in wanting him to do the (Tasmanian) job.”Basically because we thought that, one day, he’d be able to step in to the national duties and to do them really well.”

Shaun Udal’s 2002 benefit season winds down with lunch at the Cafe Royal in London on Tuesday, where some 550 guests will be entertained by impressionist and Hampshire supporter Rory Bremner.”The benefit season has been a real success.” said Shaun. “I am so grateful to all those that have helped over the year.”With the benefit, and playing some of the best cricket of his career culminating in him winning both the Hampshire and the Hampshire Cricket Societies award, Shaun added: “It has been quite a year, and one I will never forget”.Take a look at some of the highlights of the year in the functions page on his web site:shaunudal-benefit.cricket.org

India have won the second and final Test of their two-Test series against Zimbabwe by four wickets. At Feroz Shah Kotla on Monday, it was Harbhajan Singh’s turn to become the unlikely hero with the bat by hitting a boundary over cover and a big six straight down the ground to take India past the modest target. India finished on 126/6 with Harbhajan Singh (14*) and Sanjay Bangar (3*) the two men at the crease at the end.Resuming on 36/3, India got off to a flying start. Sachin Tendulkar picked up 12 runs off the first over of the day bowled by Grant Flower. A glorious cover drive and a powerful square cut thudded into the signboards.In the following over bowled by Flower, the little master struck another four through mid-wicket, forcing Carlisle to make a bowling change. The idea was quite simple, Tendulkar scoring runs at one end while Das would deal with the guiles of Ray Price.Price has bowled exceptionally well on this tour and he was distinctly unlucky as umpire Jayaprakash turned down a couple of shouts of lbw against Shiv Sunder Das.Tendulkar played a delicate leg glance and then a superb flick through mid-wicket off Streak for fours, forcing Carlisle to bring back Grant Flower into the attack. Tendulkar, however, was in a hurry and he was in no mood to allow Flower to settle into a rhythm. A slightly short delivery was pulled high in the air over square leg for a massive six.Finally, Price got an opportunity to have a go at Tendulkar and immediately had his man lbw, trying to sweep. The little master made a valuable contribution of 42 off 52 balls with the help of seven fours and a six.Rahul Dravid came out to bat and found himself in trouble against Price. The scoring suffered substantially as Streak and Price tightened the screws. This had its effect too; Das (31) was given out lbw to Streak, umpire de Silva giving it in the favour of the bowler when the ball appeared to be going down the leg. India were 103/5 at that stage.Rahul Dravid (6) was the next man to be `Price’d out, caught by Andy Flower at gully after pushing forward to the left-arm spinner. India were under tremendous pressure (105/6) at that stage. Umpire Asoka de Silva was not done yet. An appalling decision from him gave four leg byes to India, after Streak had struck Harbhajan Singh plumb in front of the wicket. If that ball was going to hit anything, it was the middle stump.Soon it was the turn of umpire Jayaprakash to negate another very close shout for lbw by Price; Bangar being the lucky batsman. Harbhajan Singh pinched four over-throws to ease the pressure a bit. And, then came Harbhajan Singh’s two big hits off Streak to finish the match. Harbhajan was deservedly named that Man of the Match while Anil Kumble picked up the Man of the Series award.