Umpires Ray Julian and Chris Kelly consulted the Lord’s hierarchy, before recommending to the team captains, that play should be abandoned, not just for the second day in succession, but for the third day also.Incessant rain from 4 pm on Tuesday, including heavy falls of snow, sleet and hailstones left The Parks outfield saturated, and with a bad weather expected for a few more days, the teams made their way home.Veteran umpire Ray Julian, with over 1,100 matches under his belt remarked that it would be lucky to get on one week from now. Chris Kelly was particularly disappointed as this was his first-class debut. “I had been looking forward to this match ever since I received the fixture”, said Kelly, who has spent a number of years on the Minor Counties panel. “I had built myself up for this match, and I’m sad that the weather has ruined it for me”.Hampshire coach Jimmy Cook, who is to write a regular article for the Hampshire Web site, immediatly organised some indoor nets for the County Ground that afternoon.

A seven wicket haul by Jitendra Likhar saw Rajasthan concede a narrownine run lead to Madhya Pradesh on the second day of their CentralZone Cooch Behar (Under-19) Trophy match at the KL Saini Stadium inJaipur on Monday.Having bowled out Madhya Pradesh overnight for 215, Rajasthan made aquiet start with openers Arvind Mann (33) and Vivek Sharma (30) adding64 runs in 31.3 overs. Then both Mann and Sharma were dismissed bysuccessive deliveries bowled by Jitendra Likhar. Likhar in the nextover had Dalpat (0) caught by Jatin Saxena. Then Ankur Singh (20) andTahir Khan (7) took the score to 98 when Ankur fell for a catch by JSaxena off Mohanish Mishra.Likhar who was proving to be unplayable ran through the lower orderand finished with seven for 69 off 31.1 overs. Though D Yagnik (32)tried to revive the Rajasthan innings he ran out of partners as hisside were all out for 206. MP in their second innings were threewithout loss in four overs by stumps.

For much of the festive season the South African have been wondering out loud what it might be like to be play on an authentic home pitch. They found out on the first day of the second Castle Lager/MTN Test match against Sri Lanka at Newlands on Tuesday.On a pitch that offered more pace and bounce than any South African Test wicket this summer, Sri Lanka were bundled out for just 95 with South Africa fashioning 130 for two in reply before stumps.Shaun Pollock took six for 30. He had very good reason to be pleased with the way things went."The best thing I did was lose the toss," he said afterwards. "We always thought there would be a bit of bounce and that was what assisted us. All we did was use the swing up front and there was a bit of away movement and a bit of bounce and carry and I think, not having played on too many of those wickets this season, from our batting point of view the guys came in and said they’d had a workout. They hadn’t had balls coming on to them like that for some time."A bit of a workout it might have been for the South African batsmen, but it was doubly so for Sri Lanka. From the start of the tour the Sri Lankans have talked about adjusting to the bounce of the South African wickets. At Kingsmead they didn’t have to worry about it. At Newlands, however, the chickens came home to roost.But to attribute the Sri Lankan collapse entirely to the pitch would be unfair to the South Africans who bowled and caught superbly. Pollock, in particular, was quite magnificent.Although he is the slowest of the four South African seamers employed on Tuesday, his eyes lit up at a pitch that gave something back to him. He had a purple patch at the starting of the Sri Lankan innings, taking four for none in the space of 13 balls as the visitors slipped to 13 for four and he twice pinged a Sri Lankan helmet, something he hasn’t done for quite a while.Pollock had a beautiful away shape going that accounted for Marvan Atapattu, Mahela Jayawardene and, coming in to the left-hander, Russel Arnold. He also slid one across Sanath Jayasuriya to once again sent the Sri Lankan captain packing cheaply and played a part in getting rid of Avishka Gunawardene, unsettling the batsman with a bouncer that rattled the earpiece. Mfuneko Ngam picked up the wicket in the following over.Ngam does not have anything like Pollock’s control, but he is quick and none of the tourists enjoyed facing him. He claimed three wickets after lunch, including that of Kumar Sangakkara who, alone among the Sri Lankans, seemed to have the stomach for it and although he is likely to drop out when Allan Donald returns, he has already demonstrated that he can fit in at this level.That there were runs in the pitch was shown when South Africa batted, but not before Herschelle Gibbs’ return to the crease. With all the talk of whether he should or should not be playing, it was almost inevitable that his return would be extraordinary. It was, but it lasted only two balls.One of the South African selectors has privately justified Gibbs’ return on the perfectly legitimate grounds that his ban was for six months, not six months and a couple of days or another Test match.In the end the 13 000 at Newlands saw Gibbs go tamely, pushing tentatively at Chaminda Vaas to be caught at the wicket. He was, however, fortunate in that his return was largely overshadowed by South Africa having such a good day.Gary Kirsten, dropped in the gully on 36 by Jayasuriya, helped himself to 52, Jacques Kallis ended the day one short of 50 and Daryll Cullinan looked in ominous nick on one of his favourite grounds. It is difficult to see how Sri Lanka can drag themselves back into this match.However well they bowl, they will have to hope South Africa make a mess of an excellent position. And even then, the confidence of their batsmen has quite clearly been undermined. Their tour has reached critical mass.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is not happy aboutthe Asian Cricket Council’s (ACC) decision to award the Asian TestChampionship final to Dhaka (Bangladesh).BCCI secretary JY Lele told PTI in Mumbai on Wednesday that ifBangladesh does not reach the final of the quadrangular Testtournament (the other teams being India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka), theyshould not host it. "We (board) have also written a letter to the ACCto change the venue+ he said."I will be leaving for London shortly to attend ACC’s next meeting onJune 20 and we will sort out things there. We have agreed toparticipate in the Asian Test Championship but have to rework thedates according to our schedule," he added."If India and Pakistan reach the final, we should host the final aswe will be playing the league game in Pakistan but only after gettinggovernment clearance," Lele said. "If India and Sri Lanka make thefinal, it should be held in Sri Lanka," Lele added.

India will be up against not only a more determined home side but alsoa miserable record at the ground when they go into the second Testagainst Zimbabwe starting in Harare on Friday, chasing a rare serieswin on foreign soil.India have bitter memories of this ground having lost the one-off Testin 1998. Even in Zimbabwe’s inaugural Test in 1992, they had tostruggle to earn a draw. On the other hand, three of the five Testwins for the hosts have come on this ground.But to say that the Indians are on a high after their comprehensiveeight-wicket win in the first Test in Bulawayo would be to state theobvious. The visitors have one of the most balanced sides in years andalmost all of them are in top form.The first win outside the sub-continent in 15 years has done wondersfor their confidence and, as some of the players said after the win inBulawayo, they would go all out for a 2-0 series win.Having said that, the hosts too have prepared well for this Test withcaptain Heath Streak and coach Carl Rackemann saying they haveidentified their mistakes in the first Test and have modified theirstrategy. Zimbabwe was very capable of surprising the Indians, both ofthem stressed.The Indians are most likely to include Hemang Badani as an opener ashis statemate Sadagoppan Ramesh has not yet recovered from a backinjury. Badani, who will make his debut if included, has never openedan innings in his first class career but has impressed with his soundtechnique.The left hander made full use of the opportunity given to him in thetour match against CFX Academy when he scored 35 attractive runs as anopener before retiring. On the other hand, Ramesh has struggled onthis tour with scores of just 2 and 17 in the Bulawayo Test.Another Indian who needs to come good with the bat is skipper SouravGanguly. After a nightmarish series against Australia back home,Ganguly has so far failed to click on this tour also. Though he hassucceeded as a captain, Ganguly knows he needs to get the runs on theboard to silence his critics.With conditions once again favourable to fast bowling, the trio ofJavagal Srinath, Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra would be expected tocome up with a performance similar to that in the first Test.Ganguly yesterday cleared all doubts regarding Nehra’s participationin the match saying the left-arm medium pacer from Delhi willdefinitely play. Nehra had put in an impressive performance in thefirst Test claiming five wickets including that of Andy Flower in boththe innings. But he was stopped from bowling for the rest of theinnings for damaging the pitch in his follow-through.Zimbabwe, who were handicapped by the absence of Streak and HenryOlonga in the Indian second innings at Bulawayo, would be bolstered bythe presence of fast bowler Travis Friend, who missed the first Testdue to injury and is all set to make his debut here.”Friend is fully fit for the game. He looked good in the nets todayand is bowling with great pace. He would make it this time," Streaksaid.Streak himself is raring to go though he is still to be declared fullyfit but Olonga will miss the Test. Streak said his team had carefullystudied the mistakes in the first Test and was working hard to rectifythem.”We have realised where we had our downfall and hopefully we will getthings right in the Test,” he said. “We let Harbhajan Singh get awaywith a bit more than he should have. Now with a better balanced side,without any injuries, hopefully we won’t let that happen again. Welacked patience while batting in our first innings and the guysmistimed their shots. We have to address that in this Test,” Streaksaid.Both teams expressed satisfaction with the pitch which seems a littlemore spinner-friendly than the one at Bulawayo though the fast bowlerswill continue to enjoy an advantage.The teams:India (from): Sourav Ganguly (captain), Shiv Sunder Das, SadagoppanRamesh, VVS Laxman, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Hemang Badani,Samir Dighe, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Javagal Srinath, DebashishMohanty, Ashish Nehra, Sairaj Bahutule and Ajit Agarkar.Zimbabwe: Heath Streak (captain), Dion Ebrahim, Guy Whittall, StuartCarlisle, Alistair Campbell, Andy Flower, Grant Flower, BrightonWatambwa, Andy Blignaut, Travis Friend, Brian Murphy, Gavin Rennie(12th man).Umpires: Ashoka de Silva (Sri Lanka) and Ian Robinson (Zimbabwe).Match referee: Denis Lindsay (South Africa).

* Chowdhury is new Asian Cricket Council PresidentThe Asian Cricket Council, in its AGM held in London earlier thisweek, named Saber Hossain Chowdhury as its President Elect. In orderto revamp the ACC and equip and empower it with the necessarystructure and resource to enable it to respond effectively to thevarious challenges that it faces over the coming years, the AGM alsodecided to put a Governance Structure in place within the ACC.Ehsan Mani has been given the responsibility to draft appropriatedocumentation in this regard and it is envisaged that the newGovernance Structure which will include a full time and permanentSecretariat for the ACC will be functional from April 1, 2002.The unanimous decision of the AGM to elect Chowdhury effectively meansthat he will become the first President of the ACC to work under thenew and revamped structure. Chowdhury will take over as ACC Presidentduring its next AGM in 2002.* Sanjeev Chawla wanted in India despite being let off in LondonLondon-based Indian businessman Sanjeev Chawla, recently let off byScotland Yard in connection with match-fixing allegations, will beprosecuted in India and police have got sufficient evidence to nailhim, a top Delhi Police official said in New Delhi on Friday.Expressing surprise over the London Police’s decision to releaseChawla despite receiving letters rogatory seeking his extradition toIndia, Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) KK Paul told PTI, “Chawlais wanted in a case here and we have sufficient evidence to prosecutehim.”Chawla, whose telephone conversations with former South Africa captainHansie Cronje Delhi Police claimed to have on tapes which blew the lidon the match-fixing scandal last year, was released by the Serious andOrganised Crime Squad of London Police on grounds of having”insufficient evidence to provide realistic prospects of conviction”.Paul said if Scotland Yard no longer wanted Chawla, “they can deporthim to India as the letters rogatory is already with them. We areinvestigating the Cronje-Chawla case. It is registered here in Delhi,”the Crime Branch chief said.* North Zone team for inter-academy tournamentKuldeep Rawat will lead the North Zone National Cricket Academy teamin the inter-academy tournament to be held in Bangalore from June 28to July 2.The other members of the team are: Gaurav Gupta (vice captain), RahulArora, Paras Dogra, Sumit Sharma, Gaurav Malhotra, Abhinav Bali, VivekKhurana, Kunal Lal, Abhishek Sharma, Himanshu Khullar, Ankul Jund andDeepak Joon.A four member committee consisting of Yashpal Sharma, Surinder Khanna,Chetan Sharma and Rajinder Amarnath selected a 13-member team toparticipate in the five day tournament. Six sides – the five zonalacademies and a Combined team – will vie for honours in the tournamentto be played on a group league basis. The teams will be divided intotwo groups and the group champions will meet in the final on July 2.* Joshi, Prabhudesai get Anandji Dossa awardsSheer passion and a commitment to serve the sport has rewarded twocricket scorers. Deepak Joshi and Rupesh Prabhudesai have bagged theAnandji Dossa award, instituted by the Association of CricketStatisticians and Scorers of India (ACSSI), for the best scorers ofthe year 1999-2000 and 2000-2001 respectively.The gold plated trophies would be presented to the two at theassociation’s AGM to be held in Mumbai in September, an ACSSI releasesaid on Saturday. Anandji Dossa is regarded as a doyen among Indiancricket statisticians.

A good personal week but one of frustration for the Crusade.I couldn’t have asked for a better return to CricInfo Championship cricket after missing last week with a dislocated digit. I scored 151 as the team clocked up a healthy 527 against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge. We scored the runs quickly being dismissed just after lunch on the second day. Very hot weather (30 degrees) and lightning fast outfields made batting very pleasurable as we made the most of some wayward bowling.With runs on the board we created enough pressure to force Notts to follow on with only rain preventing us from winning on day three. The rain didn’t clear on the final day until after lunch but, five quick wickets left us needing only two wickets with 50 overs remaining.Then the rain came again!As soon as it stopped we all swapped our crickets boots for gumboots and helped remove the covers which were very extensive. England insist on producing multi-talented players – that is more than one dimension to their game. I don’t think groundsmen is what the selectors had in mind boys!Our efforts were all in vain, although we did get more cricket we couldn’t break the partnership with the game ending in a draw.We are still top of the table but it would have been nice to create a buffer as we head into a two week break. It’s a timely break as I will only miss two championship matches during my time in Sri Lanka. While I hope we maintain our position at the top of the table, my thoughts are now with the New Zealand team and our up coming triangular series with India and Sri Lanka.I leave on Friday and look forward to meeting up with the guys on Saturday morning. I’ve been delighted with the weather in London this week which has been very muggy and hot, similar to conditions in Colombo.But spare a thought for the boys coming in from NZ who have been training at the Academy in Christchurch. The morning frosts have been plunging temperatures into the negatives, which is not really conducive conditions for positive practice – especially catching drills.This will be one of the biggest challenges to deal with – getting adjusted to the weather and also the wickets. Training indoors is massively different to any of the pitches we will play on in Sri Lanka; we will have to be smart in our preparations as we don’t have much time before our first match. One thing for certain is we will hit the ground running as everyone will be rearing to go after three months break.Change of tack – what an amazing weekend of sport!The second Lions rugby international against Australia, the first Ashes cricket test at Edgbaston and finals weekend at Wimbledon. On Friday things couldn’t have been better for the British – Tim Henman leading his semi-finals, the Lions confident of winning the series and a spectacular rearguard action from Alec Stewart and Andy Caddick putting on a 100 for the last wicket to give England a reasonable first innings score of 300.By Saturday night Henman had been beaten, the Lions had lost and Australia were 400 for 4 with Steve Waugh the ‘Rego’ (regulation) 100 not out. You can imagine the papers – all I can say there’s a fine line between a back slapper and back stabber!

* Kumble bowls, says he is not feeling any discomfortAfter a ninth-month lay-off from cricket, Indian spin ace Anil Kumblebowled for the first time at a full-fledged competitive level onThursday and said he did not feel any discomfort, indicating that hewoul be totally fit in about two months.Kumble, who is leading the Karnataka State Cricket Association team,sent down ten overs at a stretch against Andhra in a three-day matchof the KSCA Diamond Jubilee All India tournament in Bangalore. “I didnot feel discomfort at all. I got my line and length alright.Hopefully, I will get a wicket tomorrow, ” Kumble, who had figures of10-1-26-0, said.Kumble had already said he was hoping to return to the Indian side forthe tour to South Africa in October. Having already taken 276 wicketsin 61 Tests, the leg-spinner is also looking forward to cross the 300mark. He has returned to competitive cricket after withdrawing midwaythrough a one-day series in Sharjah in October last year and thenundergoing shoulder surgery in Johannesburg in January.* Double delight for Venkatesh PrasadIt was a day of double delight for Karnataka medium pacer VenkateshPrasad. He was recalled for the three Test series in Sri Lankastarting later this month, and won the Arjuna award. First came thenews that he has been included in the 16-member team, and hours laterit was known that he was among the 16 Arjuna awardees announced for2000-01.”I am very happy to be back….I am eager to bowl,” Prasad toldreporters in Bangalore on getting the news. “I have been working on myfitness.”News of his inclusion in the team came in the midst of a match in theKSCA Diamond Jubilee All India tournament for the Coromandel CementCup. Prasad is a member of the KSCA XI, which is playing againstAndhra in a three-day match of the tournament.”The wickets in Sri Lanka are not very helpful for fast bowlers. But Iwill bowl a steady line and length and wait for the batsmen to makemistakes,” he said.* Four East Zone Academy players for NCAFour players from the East Zone Academy have been selected for theNational Cricket Academy. They are Mihir Diwakar of Bihar, SubitBiswal and Rakesh Mohanty of Orissa and Ritesh Jaiswal of Bengal.Mihir Diwakar represented the Under-19 Indian team in the World Cupwhile Rakesh Mohanty represented the Under-17 Indian team which wonthe Asian Championship at Dhaka last year. Ritesh Jaiswal has beenselected for the Bengal Ranji probables for the coming season.

Jacques Kallis has confirmed that he will not be rejoiningGlamorgan as their overseas player for the 2002 season.The South African all-rounder who appeared in six County Championship gamesin 1999 has told the Welsh county that he needs a break before the start of the 2003 World Cup, although he has expressed an interest in returning to Wales for the county campaign once the World Cup is finished.There has been speculation in the Press about whether Glamorgan should opt for a batsman by resigning Jimmy Maher or Matthew Elliott for 2002, or alternatively look for a bowler.But as Glamorgan Chief Executive Mike Fatkin said “We haven’t decided whether we want a batsman or a bowler at this stage. “”We knew when the International Cricket Council published its long-term programme that there was going to be a problem. We have been speaking with Jacques for quite a few months and knew that the only break he could have before the World Cup was during our season in 2002.””I think he realises that his body has got to have a rest at some time, but I’m sure he will agree to come back for the 2003 season. We have got a very good relationship and he is very keen to come back to Glamorgan in the future.”

We have been down this road before – one nil up with two Test matchesto play after an emphatic victory in Galle. Against South Africa lastyear and England in March, however, our form dipped in Kandy and wefailed to capitalise on series winning opportunities. This time wehave to be more ruthless.Quite simply, we have waited too long – it’s been 16 years sinceDuleep Mendis’ side won a Test series against India. We have to followthe lead of the single-minded Australians: be extremely positive andgo for the jugular.We are well aware of what happened against England and South Africa.However, to make sure it doesn’t happen again, we will not be focusingon those results but on the processes that will lead towards successthis time round. If the players concentrate on their specific rolesand responsibilities, then the right result should follow.The 10-wicket win in Galle was very pleasing because, right from theoutset, we were positive, both in terms of the pitch surface, whichhad a generous covering of grass, and in the unprecedented selectionof four fast bowlers.The pitch itself was actually quite dry underneath and, although therewas some extra grass and a little more bounce, it was fairly sluggishin pace. Nevertheless, though we could have batted first, it was anatural decision to bowl first.The bowling itself on the first day was pretty good. On occasions wemay have bowled a little wide of off stump, but we made them strugglefor runs. At lunch they had only scored 16 from 20 overs and at teathey had crawled to 95 for one from 56 overs. This low scoringreflected the good line and length that we bowled.India’s slow progress was crucial because, although we may not havebeen taking as many wickets as we would have liked, we always knewthat a couple of breakthroughs would put them under tremendouspressure. In fact, that’s exactly what happened in the final session,when we nipped out four wickets to end the first day well placed.The second new ball was crucial and the bowling of Dilhara Fernandowas exceptional. In a short space of time he has emphatically provedhis potential. He has tightened his line without compromising on paceand is always going to be dangerous when he gets the ball in the rightareas.There is no doubt that his two wickets at the end of the first daywere crucial and allowed us to spring into action on day two. Then, toget the prize wicket of Sourav Ganguly early on, with an absolutebrute of a delivery, was a real bonus that paved the way for usdismissing them for 187, a total which we were confident ofoverhauling.The batting was a tale of two halves. Runs flowed right from thestart, as the Indian bowlers didn’t help themselves by bowling twosides of the wicket. Crucially, Sanath Jayasuriya capitalised on thatand made them pay dearly.After the dismissal of Sanath the Indian bowlers started to bowlbetter and that made life harder for Kumar Sangakkara. He played andmissed a few times at the start, but he worked really hard and graftedfor his runs, clearly showing that he not only has the talent but alsothe temperament. It’s a good sign when you see a player competing whenhe is not in the best of form and that’s exactly what Kumar did.Having built up a useful lead of 175, we were naturally confident, butalso aware that India had comeback from an even worse situationagainst Australia and had gone on to win.Murali though came into the game more that evening. During the firstinnings he played second fiddle, but in their second dig he used theconditions superbly and was a real handful. Wickets started to fall -seven in fact during the last session, as the pressure snowballed.When you build up such a strong momentum, it is very difficult to stopand I thought we were unlucky to wrap the game up that evening.Kandy should also offer help to the fast bowlers. The Asgiriya squareholds together well and there is some bounce. We will, however, haveto have a good look at the wicket before we decide on the final side.Whatever that is though the key will be carrying on from where we leftoff in Galle by playing positive cricket.