The North Zone Vijay Merchant (Under-16) tournament encounter at theFeroz Shah Kotla ground involving Delhi and Punjab meandered to a drawon Monday. Delhi notched up five points since they secured the firstinnings lead and Punjab took home three.Opting to bat on the opening day, Punjab piled up 281. The score beinghelped along the way by a handsome batting display by their batsmen.Taking away no credit from the others, including the opener K Goel (50off 151 balls, 7 fours), Vipul Sharma was the top scorer with a 54(121 minutes, 109 balls, 6 fours). K Rawat was the most successfullbowler for Delhi with figures of 5 for 57.In reply, Delhi took a 116 run lead, K Rawat giving the needed propfor the innings with a sedate 99. With the Delhi scorecard reading 265for 8, Kuldeep Rawat and Abhinav Bali (66) came togather for a 132 runninth wicket partnership. Kuldeep was the last batsman to bedismissed. Kuldeep during his 290 minute stay at the crease faced 271balls and hit 12 fours. Punjab in the 14 overs that the received onthe final day scored 54 runs while losing opener Rahul Arora (31).

New Zealand will play its limited overs tri-series games in Australia next summer in one block in the New Year meaning the home domestic series is unlikely to see any international one-day players.The Victoria Bitter Series was announced yesterday and starts on January 11 with New Zealand playing Australia in Melbourne.That will follow New Zealand’s expected home one-day series with Bangladesh and a warm-up game in Australia before the VB series.While the New Zealand domestic season programme has still to be announced, it is unlikely to allow the country’s top players to be included.New Zealand is touring Australia for the Test match leg of the tour before Christmas and has two Tests against Bangladesh on either side of Christmas.Meanwhile, New Zealand has not yet received an invitation to take part in the Hong Kong Sixes tournament in November this year.The tournament will be played on November 10-11 after being off the international scene for four years.Eight top international countries will be taking part, although the final eight have yet to be named.While New Zealand’s leading Test players will be in Australia, several one-day specialists may be available for selection if, as is expected, an invitation is issued to New Zealand during the International Cricket Council’s meeting next week.Meanwhile, New Zealand has agreed to play an Australian Country XI during what would have been a seven day break in its VB programme. The match will be played at Bowral, the home of the Sir Donald Bradman Museum.

After months of preparation and deliberation about the challenges that face cricket in a changing South African society and recognising that there are challenges within the EP Cricket environment, the EP Cricket Board on recommendation of the United Cricket Board of South Africa have commissioned RGA – a management consultancy – to facilitate the creation of a strategic plan for our province.The strategic planning process is divided into two phases. The first being the "Assessment of the current reality", which took place on Monday and Tuesday of this week. This process involved the interviewing of a cross section of EP stakeholders. They included representatives from the public, EP Cricket staff, members of country as well as PE based cricket clubs and members of the media. All the interviews were conducted by RGA management consultants and were structured to find common areas of challenge.With the further challenges that the World Cup 2003 will present, it is crucial that all challenges be managed in a structured manner. RGA will now collate a report for presentation to the Executive of the EP Cricket Board and the Provincial Monitoring Committee. This document will be used to prepare for a two-day workshop in August that will form part of phase two of the process.During the workshop the results of the interview process will be evaluated, after which a strategic plan will be unveiled.According to a statement by the UCB, the process embarked upon by the EP Cricket Board is commendable in that it is prepared to recognise challenges and work pro-actively to meet them. The desire to get feedback form all stakeholders is indicative of EP Cricket’s commitment to create an even better organisation for all.

Nasser Hussain will not return for Essex who start a new CricInfo Championship match against Lancashire at Old Trafford.The England captain has not played since the First Test against Pakistan at Lord’s, where his finger was broken by a Shoaib Akhtar delivery. He will now stay with the England team for Thursday’s one-day game at The Oval and will aim to return to Essex’s team in the day-night game against Lancashire on Saturday.The continuing absence of Hussain does mean a prolonged run in the side for Richard Clinton however. Clinton has started well since he was signed from Kent last week and Essex captain, Ronnie Irani, expressed the club’s delight at the 19-year-old’s form.”We’re over the moon with what Richard Clinton has shown,” Irani said. “For a new signing he did brilliantly to score 30 and a 50 in his first game and then another 50 in the one-day game."Irani admitted that the rain had frustrated Essex with victory within their grasp in their last match against Surrey.”We were bitterly disappointed to have been beaten by the rain against Surrey,” Irani continued. “It’ll be nice to go up to Lancashire playing the way we are but it would have been better if were going there on the back of beating the champions.”Still, we’re in good form and I’m pleased that I’ve been in good nick. I hope that I get better,” Irani, who scored 119 in the Essex first innings, having taken 5-58 when Surrey batted, said.For Lancashire Andy Flintoff hands the captaincy back to John Crawley after taking the reigns for the encounter with Durham UCCE last week.Flintoff hit a century in that game and will be hoping to bring his good form into the CricInfo Championship if he is to attract the attention of the national selectors prior to the Ashes series.Mike Atherton, Neil Fairbrother and Warren Hegg also return for Lancashire.

Australian Southern Stars all-rounder Karen Rolton was presented yesterday with the Peden-Archdale Medal as the outstanding player in this year’s England v Australia women’s cricket series.Rolton was presented with the medallion by IWCC president Christine Brierley following the conclusion of the Second Test in the CricInfo Women’s Series at Headingley, won by Australia by nine wickets.On Saturday Rolton broke the world record for the highest individual score in women’s Test cricket, scoring 209 not out in the Australian first innings. Named as Australia’s player of the series in both the Tests and one-dayers against England, Rolton scored 176 runs at 59.33 in the limited-overs matches, and 216 at 216.00 in the Tests (having also made a duck in the first game at Shenley). She also took four inexpensive wickets in the one-day games.The Peden-Archdale Medal is named after the two captains in the first England versus Australia women’s Test series in 1934-35, namely Margaret Peden (Australia) and Betty Archdale (England). Inaugurated last year, it is given to the most outstanding player in a series (Test and/or one-day) between England and Australia.Rolton is the second winner of the Peden-Archdale Medal. The first, given following the 1999-2000 English tour of Australia, was Victorian fast bowler Charmaine Mason, who yesterday announced that she is retiring from international cricket.

The Asian Test Championship is nearing as the days are progressing.Bangladeshi players are now often seen in the BCB gym taking weighttraining. Physiotherapist Gavin is demonstrating the training program. TheNational Squad seem to be absolutely serious about doing well in the Testchampionship, therefore, they are now giving extra pressure over physicalfitness.Today most of the squad members were found working on their muscles withGavin around them to give instructions. Bikash Ranjan, Habibul Bashar,Khaled Masud, Mohammed Sharif and Ashraful from National and many fromBangladesh-A team took part in the hard weight-training session. Theseworkouts are now the indispensable parts of cricket.The newly set BCB gym is equipped with modern weight instruments that arequite accommodating to build a hard and endurable physic. Modern cricket hasaltered many conventional ideas. As for example, fielding and fitness werenever given more importance than they are given in the last ten years.Bangladesh realized it lately. The National players deserved a gym like thisand definitely earlier.Khaled Masud, the number-one wicket keeper in Bangladesh, is going all-outto regain his fitness. He was severely injured in the Zimbabwean Tour, whichkept him out of cricket for months. He looks very confident to slip backinto the squad. This veteran player’s contribution to his country isunforgettable, no doubt. We wish to see him back in form.Bikash Ranjan Das, the ace medium pacer of the country, possesses aperfectly shaped body. He missed the Zimbabwe Tour, which gave him a lot ofpain. This time he has been included in the Squad that are taking thepreparatory measures in BKSP. Bikash spends a fair amount of time in thegymnasiums at BKSP and BCB.

Sri Lanka’s wicketkeeper batsman, Kumar Sangakkara who made anunbeaten 105 and helped his side consolidate their position in thefirst Test Match against India at the Galle International Stadium wasdelighted with his maiden hundred today, “It feels quite good. Notonly because this was my first one, but also considering the fact thatI haven’t been among the runs for a while. So I am glad that Icontributed to the team at the end.”Sangakkara has got out in 90s on two occasions, once against SouthAfrica at the Centurion Park and the next at Kandy against England.This time too there was the scare that he might not get there, but atthe end he managed to get to the three figures, “I actually wasnervous, because I was running out of partners. I had to decide how torotate the strike and then when Murali came to bat he just said we’dtake it as it comes and see what can be done. It’s good to get thathundred.”However the left-handed batsman refused to single out one particularknock as the best of his short career, “I like the 98 in South Africa.The 95 in Kandy also was important considering the position we werein. There was a quite a bit of pressure here as well. Every singletime you get runs you feel pretty happy. So I can’t single out oneparticular innings,” said the wicket-keeper batsman.Sangakkara singled out Venkatesh Prasad as the most difficult Indianbowler out of the lot, “I think it was Prasad,” said Sangakkara. “Hewas bowling very well with the old ball. He was quite accurate thoughwasn’t the quickest. But once again he made up for the lack of pace byhis accuracy”On the overall Indian bowling performance he said, “They bowled wellbut they gave us too many bad balls and took the pressure off us.”Harbhajan Singh ended up the innings with just one wicket and was notthreatening as expected. That can give a big boost Sri Lankan batsmensince there are two more matches to be played in the series,”Harbhajanis a good bowler. I was lucky to get a life when Dravid dropped me offhis bowling when I was on eight” remarked Sangakkara. “Though hebowled well, we handled him pretty well. He bowled about 30 overs andwe are happy that he just gave away one wicket for him. That gives usthe confidence that we can play him in the future games as well.”

Sanath Jayasuriya, the Sri Lanka captain, defies all conventions ofbatsmanship when he is at the crease and at times he has been more than abowlers’nightmare. To say that Jayasuriya has more than a liking for the Indianbowling maybe an understatement. For he has not only dominated them butdecimated them to the extent that bowlers like Manoj Prabhakar and RajeshChauhan have been knocked out of the game and, Venkatesh Prasad and AnilKumble are still licking the wounds inflicted on them when India lasttoured here four years ago.Sourav Ganguly , Rahul Dravid and Venkatesh Prasad (members of the presentteam) will vividly recall what Jayasuriya did to them at the R. PremadasaStadium in August 1997 when he made the fourth highest score in Testcricket – 340, keeping them on the field for as long as 13 hours and 19minutes.After Nilesh Kulkarni became the first Indian bowler to take a wicket offhis first ball in Test cricket, India had to wait 1,103 balls for the nextwicket as Jayasuriya in liaison with Roshan Mahanama (225) shared Testcricket’s highest (576) and longest (753 minutes) partnership. They becamethe first pair to bat throughout two uninterrputed days of Test cricket.Jayasuriya recalling that innings said that he ranked it along with the 199he scored in the second Test of that series at the SSC, as the best of hisseven Test centuries.”I was middling the ball right from the beginning and I played with a lotof confidence,” said Jayasuriya.”There are times, when a batsman plays out the first few overs, he knows heis in good nick for a long innings. I had that feeling inside me that day,”he said.Three other Test knocks which Jayasuriya said he felt the same way when hemade the runs, was the double century he scored against England at the Ovalin 1998, the 146 he made at Galle and the 85 he scored at the SSC, bothagainst South Africa last year.What makes Jayasuriya a threat to opposing bowlers is that there is no setpattern in his approach to batting. He loses no time in taking theinitiative whether he hits the first ball of the innings for a six off asquare cut, a cover drive which lands in the stands or a flick off his legswhich flashes past the square-leg umpire. There is nothing transparentabout his batting.He is a master at pacing out his innings. A cautious half-century couldjust be the platform for him to launch an all out assault on the bowlinglater in the innings. One of the strong points of Jayasuriya’s batting ishis power. It is not just the new ball which flies off his bat, but the oldball is also smashed with equal ease.How much Jayasuriya relishes the Indian bowling can be guaged by the factthat he holds his country’s highest individual score in Test cricket (340)and one-day internationals (189) against the same opposition.The 189 made in the Coca Cola final at Sharjah in November last year heranks as his best one-day innings largely because of the circumstancesunder which he made it. Sri Lanka had lost four of their top batters for116 runs, and with only Russel Arnold as the last recognised batsman,Jayasuriya had to pace his innings out in such a manner that his sidefinished with a match-winning total.”I batted under a lot of pressure. It was a difficult innings to playbecause I was not able to take the risks I normally would in any othercircumstances. It restricted my stroke-play,” said Jayasuriya.Usually a batsman known to make most runs in the first 15 overs, Jayasuriyashowed another facet to his approach to batting. That he can bat throughthe entire innings. He was captain and took the full responsibilities uponhimself. Needless to say, Sri Lanka rattled up an imposing total of 299 forfive wickets and bowled India out for a paltry 54 to win the final by amile.Jayasuriya’s other notable one-day knocks against India have been hisunbeaten 151 in the Independence Cup tournament at Bombay and an unbeaten120 at the R. Premadasa Stadium.India has found Jayasuriya a major obstacle to them at all levels ofcricket. He has been their tormentor for the past five years or so. Despitehis high success rate against Indian bowlers, Jayasuriya has a lot ofrespect for them. “You have to respect the bowler if he is bowling well atyou. It is not easy as it sounds when you are out in the middle there. Youhave only to make one mistake and it can be curtains,” said Jayasuriya, whoprepares himself for another Test series against India having given them ahint of his present form with a match-winning knock of 99 in the Coca ColaCup tri-series final at the R. Premadasa Stadium last Sunday.SANATH JAYASURIYA’S RECORD AGAINST INDIA

TESTS T I NO HS Runs Avg 100s 50sCareer 59 101 9 340 3604 39.17 7 16v India 7 11 1 340 782 78.20 2 2ODI’S M I NO HS Runs Avg 100s 50sCareer 242 234 8 189 6906 30.55 11 45v India 46 44 3 189 1609 39.24 4 9

Twenty year old all rounder Pete Trego scored an unbeaten 175 as Somerset drew their final Second Eleven Championship match of the season against Leicestershire at Hinkley.In reply to Leicestershire’s 378 for 6 declared Somerset amassed 578 for 6, which featured centuries from Mark Lathwell (118) triallist David Roberts (105) and Trego’s 175.The Weston Super Mare youngster goes to the top of the Somerset averages as a result of his innings which lasted 166 balls.Batting for a second time Leicestershire had reached 273 for 6 by close of play.A feature of their second innings was a fine bowling spell from former Millfield pupil Arul Suppiah who had figures of 18 overs, 6 maidens, 3 wickets for 62.The Seconds play their one day final against Surrey at the County ground on September 10th starting at 10.30am.

Teams for the ACB Cup match between New South Wales Second XI and the Commonwealth Bank Cricket Academy to be played at Howell Oval, Penrith, 24-27 September 2001:New South Wales Second XI: Graeme Rummans (captain), Brett van Deinsen, Philip Jaques, Aaron O’Brien, Grant Lambert, Dominic Thornely, Anthony Clark, Dan Horsley, Nathan Pilon, Steve Coombes, Jamie Heath, Michael Goldsmith.Commonwealth Bank Cricket Academy: Beau Casson (WA), Shaun Marsh (WA), Luke Ronchi (WA), Scott Meuleman (WA), Steve Magoffin (QLD), Xavier Doherty (TAS), Tim Welsford (VIC), Rowan Brewster (NSW), Daniel Smith (NSW), Aaron Scott (NSW), Mark Cosgrove (SA), Duncan Betts (QLD).