Captain Steve Waugh said tonight he was determined to reclaim his place in the Australian cricket team for the first Test against New Zealand next month.Waugh missed the fourth Test of the triumphant Ashes series in England with a torn calf and a subsequent bout of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) prevented him fromstarting the domestic season with NSW.His withdrawal from this week’s NSW-Tasmania game raised speculation that he could miss the first Test against New Zealand at the Gabba starting Nov 8.But he was back in the nets today for the first time in six weeks with his eye on next week’s Pura Cup match against South Australia.”I’m very confident (of playing). I’ve had injuries and setbacks in he past, it only makes me want to be there even more,” the 36-year-old told Fox Sports.”It’d be nice to play a four-day before the Test match.”I haven’t picked up a bat since I’ve come home which in some ways is good, I like to get away from cricket, but now I’ve got to get back into it pretty seriously.”Renowned for his mental toughness, Waugh said recent criticism over his health only served as further motivation.He also missed a Test last summer with a strained buttock muscle.”I’ve been written off by a few people in the press … and that’s fair enough they can say what they want but I just want to to them know that they’re sort ofmotivating me to get back there even quicker.”

West Indian fast bowler Reon King is to leave Sri Lanka and return to the West Indies for surgery, having decided he was not sufficiently confident to play on.King, 26, who has played 14 Tests, was one of the key members of West Indiesinexperienced fast bowling attack. He withdrew from the first Test after beingdiagnosed as having a hernia.Doctors in Sri Lanka were of the opinion that he could play on, but the player himself and the management were concerned about his ability to last a whole Test match in such testing conditions.West Indies manager, Ricky Skerritt, speaking to the media after the team’sfinal practice before the second Test in Kandy, said: “Reon is uncomfortablewith the situation and doesn’t feel he can participate 100 per cent. If thisis the case we have to make arrangements for him to leave the tour.””There was no question that he needed surgery, it was just a matter of howurgently he needed it. The doctor felt he could manage it for a while, butit has deteriorated, at least in Reon’s mind.”The selectors are expected to announce his replacement shortly.

Glamorgan County Cricket Club has today confirmed that David Hemp is torejoin the county on a three-year contract. Hemp, 31, began his career withGlamorgan before leaving to join Warwickshire prior to the 1997 season butafter five years with the Bears, where he was Vice Captain, he has decidedto return to Wales.David Hemp said:”I’ve enjoyed my five years with Warwickshire but when I knew Glamorgan wereinterested in re-signing me it was just too attractive a proposition for meto turn down. I learned all of my cricket in Wales and I’m looking forwardto playing my part in helping the side regain their place in theChampionship first division and hopefully pressing for some one-day honoursas well. It’s a great move for me, a fantastic opportunity, and I can’twait to get started.”Glamorgan Captain Steve James said:”I think David is an outstanding cricketer and I’ve no doubt his best yearsare still to come. It’s nice to be welcoming him back into the fold and I’msure he’ll have a significant impact. His signing means we can target anoverseas bowler to fill the gap left by Steve Watkin’s retirement but we’dlike to publicly thank Jimmy Maher for his contribution on and off the fieldlast summer. Hopefully there will be the opportunity for Jimmy to return toGlamorgan in the future”

Gloucestershire have sent two of their bright young talents to an academy in Perth headed by Neil Holder. Neil is a highly respected batting coach in Western Australia and has coordinated some intense sessions for Mark Hardinges and Roger Sillence. Matt Nicholson is doing the equivalent with their bowling skills. Matt plays for Western Australia, taking five wickets and recording his maiden first-class century against the touring South Africans last week. He played for Australia against England at Melbourne in the fourth Test in the 1998/99 series.The players are benefiting from an all encompassing programme that includes some rigorous training schedules. Roger is playing for Hamersley and Mark is representing Claremont Nederlands in the Suburban Turf 1st Division.You might be interested to read their progress reports. The academy runs independent of the Western Australian Cricket Authority.MARK HARDINGESFITNESS AND BOWLING:Mark has progressed with his knee such that he is able to participate in some of the running exercises. After a slow start to the fitness programme, Mark seems to have made a concerted effort to make the most of his time in Australia. Mark is still a little overweight but is now working hard to remedy this. I am confident that with his current attitude we will have him fit and strong by the time he returns to England. Working with Mark’s bowling will begin as soon as his fitness allows. 1 have received his bowling tape and have formulated some preliminary ideas for the future.Matt NicholsonBATTING:The initial period of the summer has been designed for Mark to understand his own base game. In developing his base game (or blueprint), he has made enormous progress. The fact that Mark hasn’t commenced playing as yet has meant he has spent extra time developing his base. Hs set up is a lot stiller and simple, it will be interesting to see how this holds up in a game situation initially. Without getting into too much technical analysis, he has improved his front foot driving position, with all drives becoming more consistent.He has opened the top part of his stance slightly which has helped him develop his perpendicular back foot play, particularly off his body.His pulling position has gone through the roof, cut shot still needs work and now that his position on the front foot is becoming consistent we have just touched on use of his feet to the spinners.Without having seen Mark’s all round game because of injury so far, just his batting development shows me he will be a genuine batsman at first-class level. His enthusiasm toward his batting skills is very exciting.GENERAL:After the initial new environment settling in period Mark has settled into a very good routine with fitness and health. We are extremely conscious of him playing only when he feels his knee is strong enough and to this end he has been doing extra work on his knee rehab. A delightful young man with I believe a huge future in the game.Neil HolderROGER SILLENCERoger is working hard at his fitness as he is beginning to realise the importance of this part of being a quick bowler. Roger needs to increase his core (stability/strength) and his stamina to ensure he can bowl at top pace for longer spells and throughout the day. He is doing three structured core strength sessions per week as well as his own work and appears to be getting stronger.We have identified three points for Roger to concentrate on: 1) Head position 2) Front arm 3) Left leg.We are trying to get Roger to keep his head up thereby allowing his front arm and leg to pull down at his target. Roger is beginning is make progress and is starting to feel the difference himself. He is on track to have his action really well grooved by April.Matt NicholsonAs with Mark, the understanding of his base game has been the key focus. Roger has adjusted his set up with his starting hand position. His pick up is now synchronised with his feet movement.He has been working on his point of contact becoming more consistent on his front foot. He really is a terrific striker of the ball.Main emphasis has been on back foot perpendicular play, particularly getting into better position with the balls on his body, so he can access the ball easily. His back foot previously was lauding in the same position, no matter where the ball was pitched. He is also developing his sideways shots. By spending more time "in the middle” in club games, now that he is in more control of his own game, he will start to develop his batsmanship skills greater.Roger is a very focused person and has a great desire to succeed at the first-class level. He has taken a coaching role at his club and also runs a junior development programme on Friday evenings at his club. Looking forward to the next stage of his development.Neil Holder

The four day Goa-Hyderabad Ranji encounter at the Panjim Gymkhana Grounds ended in a draw on Friday. Hyderabad secured five points by virtue of the 94-run first innings lead that they had secured on Thursday. Goa, meanwhile, had to be content with three.Earlier, Goa, who resumed their second innings at 28 for no loss, decided to bat out the remainder of the day. Their openers – captain Vivekanand Kolambkar and Sudin Kamat – put on 90 before Kolamabkar was dismissed for 36. Kamat went on to make 47.Of the remaining batsmen, No. 4 Kiran Powar stood out, making an unbeaten 101 off just 142 balls before stumps were drawn. Powar went after the bowling on completing his fifty, scoring his last 51 runs off just 48 with five fours and two sixes. Goa ended the match with their second innings score reading 263 for six.

South Australian captain Darren Lehmann has used the Pura Cup match against NSW to remind selectors he may be the man to lift the struggling national one day team, after hitting a cavalier 143 at Adelaide Oval today.Lehmann’s dashing innings, which included 22 boundaries and a six from 130 balls, set the scene for a NSW run-chase for outright points on tomorrow’s final day.The Blues were 0-10 at stumps, with openers Brett van Deinsen on nine and Greg Mail on one, needing a further 305 runs to win in a minimum 96 overs tomorrow.After leading by 27 on the first innings, SA made 287 in its second innings today to lead by 314 overall.Lehmann’s creative knock, which included several boundaries clipped over the slips and wicketkeeper, as well as many more elegant shots to all parts of the field, was easily the highlight of a day in which none of his team-mates could manage more than 28.”I was really happy to get 100 today, mainly from a team point of view,” Lehmann said.He said he was giving little thought to any openings that might be created in the Australian line-up by the current run of one-day losses.”Any time’s a good time to be making runs, I can’t really worry about that, I’ve just got to worry about playing for South Australia and if it comes up it comes up,” he said.He was dismissed by part-timer van Deinsen attempting to hit the medium pacer over the mid-wicket fence for the second time in an over, instead managing to sky the ball to cover, where Mail took the simple catch.Mail’s catch failed to make up for two costly missed chances earlier, when he dropped Lehmann in the slips off van Deinsen when he was on two, and off NathanBracken when on 58.Van Deinsen also provided the SA skipper with a life when he dropped him off Stuart Clark’s bowling when he was on three, with NSW likely to look back onthose three errors as if it fails in its run-chase on a wearing pitch tomorrow.Bracken bowled just eight overs in two spells in SA’s second innings, claiming the wickets of Ben Johnson and Ben Higgins, but spent long periods off the field after being diagnosed with chicken pox.Earlier, former Australian under-19 captain Michael Clarke completed an impressive 132 in NSW’s first innings as the Blues lost their last four wickets in under an hour to be all out for 332 this morning.Young SA paceman Paul Rofe took 4-8 in 3.4 overs with the new ball today, including the wicket of Clarke, to finish with career-best figures of 6-60.Rofe has now taken 27 Pura Cup wickets so far this season at an average of 21.1.

Pathetic Otago batting resulted in Central Districts achieving a win by 425 runs – the fourth highest victory by a runs margin in New Zealand cricket history at Alexandra’s Molyneux Park today.Not since Otago were beaten by Wellington by 446 runs in 1926/27 have the southerners been hammered in such a way.Otago were set an unlikely, and improbable, target of 507 to win by Central Districts, but distinguished themselves by being dismissed for an equally unlikely, and improbable, 81. However, they will have to live with the stigma associated with such a thrashing.This on a pitch which had seen CD score 444/8 in their second innings.CD resumed their innings today 296 runs ahead of Otago and it was always most likely that the only winner of the game was going to be CD, but that did not excuse the Otago response to the target set.Mathew Sinclair continued his good form in the game by producing the match-winning batting difference with yet another of his centuries that has gone beyond the 150 mark. He scored 161 in 330 minutes while facing 267 balls. He hit 17 fours and a six. After coming to the wicket when the score was nine, he departed 299 runs later having done a superb job.He featured in partnerships of 129 with Ben Smith (57) for the third wicket and 101 with Glen Sulzberger (40) for the fourth wicket.Peter McGlashan (65) and Bevan Griggs (35) added 88 for the sixth wicket while bowlers Michael Mason and Brent Hefford took advantage of the chance to boost their batting averages by being unbeaten on 23 and 18 respectively when the declaration was made.Kerry Walmsley was unable to complete nine overs in the innings and the pressure shifted to other members of the side. He suffered a side and back injury and is likely to be out of the next two games. The other key front-line bowlers James McMillan and David Sewell went wicketless. Nathan Morland sent down 36 overs to take three for 124.CD would never have believed that the game would be over in less than 30 overs after Otago started their chase. But from the loss of Robbie Lawson’s wicket for four, the procession began.It was lolly scramble time for the CD attack. Hefford picked up four for 17 from seven overs, Andrew Schwass two for 18 from 9.1, Mason one for eight from five, and Lance Hamilton one for 31 from eight. They may play for another decade but they may never find wickets as easy to get as they were today.Chris Gaffaney was the only player to stand defiant. He scored 37 in 75 minutes of batting, the next highest score was nine to Simon Beare.

Northern Districts’ fast bowler Ian Butler has been rushed into the CLEAR Black Caps for Wednesday’s first One-Day International against England at Jade Stadium.Butler, who turned 20 in November, has been called in to take the place of speedster Shane Bond who has been forced out for the remainder of the season with a suspected stress fracture of his left ankle.Butler made his first-class debut this year and has played three State Championship games and two State Shield (New Zealand’s domestic one-day competition) games. He also played for Northern Districts in the two one-day matches against England on Friday and Saturday.Butler said there was a silence on the telephone after selection chairman Sir Richard Hadlee contacted him today.”I was about to go to the driving range but there was no chance after that,” he said.Butler was catching a plane from Auckland to Christchurch tonight where he will make himself known to all the other members of the side who, apart from his Northern Districts team-mates Daniel Vettori and Daryl Tuffey, and his New Zealand Under-19 team-mate from last year, Brendon McCullum, have still to meet him.Butler said the ND pace attack of Joseph Yovich, Tuffey and Simon Doull worked well together and they passed on tips and advice to him regularly.Butler was confident he wouldn’t be too nervous on Jade Stadium as he felt he didn’t bowl too badly against England for ND.Hadlee said the selectors were taking a big punt but added that if Butler did half as well as Bond had done then they would be very happy.Hadlee said the loss of Bond was a devastating blow to Bond and to the team.”When we have just got a tremendous resource and asset to lose him like that is a great blow. So now we have got to try and groom somebody else to do that role,” he said.He said the selectors were unanimous in giving Butler a try in a bid to keep the pace option as part of New Zealand’s attacking arsenal during the England series. Butler will be instructed to bowl flat out.Hadlee also pointed to the history in New Zealand of taking a punt on faster bowlers as had happened to him, to Gary Bartlett, Bruce Taylor and his brother Dayle Hadlee.”If somebody has got something a little bit different, and special, it gives an advantage over somebody else and that is often influential in making the final call,” Hadlee said.”If we are looking down the track at the World Cup and potentially as a young Test bowler of the future as well, sometimes you have got to take a bit of a punt on a player.”This is probably the biggest call we have made in my time as a selector.”Hadlee said he had not seen a lot of him bowling although he did see him last year at Under-19 level when ND played Otago and he bowled very quickly and took four wickets in his first four overs as well as giving McCullum “a bit of a hurry up.””So there were signs going back last year. The other selectors have been around the ground domestically this year and when you talk to coaches they are our eyes and ears anyway.”The information is positive but still, it is a huge call,” he said.Bond first felt the ankle two weeks ago in Australia and it was thought he was only suffering bruising. However, he bowled in the last of the VB Series finals in pain and upon coming back to New Zealand had the ankle looked at and the stress fracture was revealed today.Hadlee said the one-day game had changed and quicker bowlers were now being used not only for the short-pitched delivery.”The way the law is used quick bowlers have got a more important role to play so you are looking for specialist fast bowlers, in fact, if anything, the all-rounder who bowls at 120kph and bats a bit off the front foot is going to find it difficult now to survive in the one-day game,” he said.ND coach Bruce Blair had advised Hadlee that Butler’s lines were the best of the quick bowlers in the ND side.Hadlee said there would be some comment about how Butler had leap-frogged other players like James Franklin and Chris Drum to name two.”But this guy Butler has pace whereas the others don’t have that. They have other skills. Let’s just see what happens,” he said.

First Test: Zimbabwe v New Zealand, at Bulawayo Athletic Club; 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 November 1992. NEW ZEALAND 325/3 dec (M J Greatbatch 87, R T Latham 119, A H Jones 67*) and 222/5 dec (M J Greatbatch 88; M P Jarvis 3/38). ZIMBABWE 219 (A Flower 81; D N Patel 6/113) and 197/1 (K J Arnott 101*). Match drawn.ScorecardThe inaugural Test tour of Zimbabwe by India was immediately followed with a tour by New Zealand, who played two Tests and two one-day internationals, double the Indian ration. It was a strange mix of a tour, beginning in Bulawayo with a one-day international followed by a Test match, and then moving up to Harare for another Test match with a one-day international sandwiched in the middle of it. For the purpose of this series, we will look at the Test matches first and then return to the one-day internationals.The Bulawayo Test match was very disappointing. The major Bulawayo ground, Queens Sports Club, had not been used for international matches for years and was standing almost derelict, while Matabeleland hosted matches at Bulawayo Athletic Club, a smaller, pleasant ground but without the facilities required of an international venue. It was only to be expected that Zimbabwe, starting out in Test cricket, did not yet have the money to develop their sporting arenas, but New Zealand captain Martin Crowe did not seem to realize this.Crowe had recently taken over the captaincy of a New Zealand side that had probably been second only to the great West Indies team for much of the eighties, but now most of their top players had retired in quick succession, leaving Crowe with a young, inexperienced side that was struggling to hold its own. Reading of how Zimbabwe had dominated India in the Inaugural Test only days before his team arrived probably scared him with the thought that his side could go the same way, and even lose. This might in part explain his attitude on the tour, which left unpleasant memories for many who had to deal with him. This was in sharp contrast to the Indians, whose sporting attitude was well remembered.It was ironic that the first serious rains in Bulawayo for many months should arrive just before the Test match – although many put it down to the presence of the renowned rain-making umpire Dickie Bird, who was standing in his 49th Test match, a new record. The covers proved totally inadequate and ten hours of play were lost overall, most of it on the first three days.Dave Houghton: "We had a few days of brilliant sunshine when it was actually too wet to play cricket. That was a shame, because it ruined that Test match. It was a drawn affair, and we only played three days’ cricket in the end. They played most of the cricket, although we did do some good things. It added a bit of bitterness between the sides because Martin Crowe was forever trying to encourage us to play positive cricket and make games of it."Andy Pycroft: "Ali Shah came into that Test match; he should have been in the first one but was injured. Our attack consisted of `Jarvie’, who was pretty military-medium but did swing it; Burmie, again no pace; Ali Shah, Gary Crocker, and a hell of a lot was left to Traics. But they bowled a better line and length than a lot of our bowlers do today; that says something. They bowled to a plan, which sounds negative, but if you don’t have strike bowlers of note you bowl a width outside off stump and you stay there forever, and our guys did that, even when they were getting slogged. So that was a tidy performance."New Zealand faced a Zimbabwe seam attack lacking the injured Eddo Brandes, and began with a dominating opening partnership of 116 by Mark Greatbatch, who reached 50 off just 39 balls, and Rod Latham. John Traicos also missed much of the first day with a back injury, a further handicap to the Zimbabwe bowling.Dave Houghton: "Our bowlers struggled, and you’ve only got to look at the attack. Burmie, Ali Shah who played in this Test match, Traicos – so we didn’t have any firepower at all. There was a flat wicket at BAC and they batted really well. They had a great opening partnership between Greatbatch and Rod Latham, and they dominated this Test match – if it hadn’t been for the rain we’d have lost this one, that’s for sure."It was the rebirth of Greatbatch’s career; he had just come off that Australian World Cup where he rediscovered himself as an opening batsman who smashed the ball for miles. So we copped it in probably the best match of his career. They had a good batting line-up with Greatbatch, Andy Jones, Martin Crowe, Ken Rutherford, and Latham himself was a good player."Mark Burmester: "It was a very flat track in Bulawayo, which was not to our liking. We dropped a lot of catches in their first innings, but unfortunately not Martin Crowe, who just managed to hit the ball out of the middle of the bat for the whole series. We dropped Greatbatch early on a couple of times and he smashed it back, but with the pitch in Bulawayo it was always going to be a draw. I think Martin Crowe actually put in his memoirs that the worst place where he ever played cricket, which is unfair to the Bulawayo guys; that was all they had."Andy Pycroft: "There was rain from the start, and there were weather conditions whereby you knew that the Test match was going to be substantially shortened. Greatbatch went out there and just smashed us; it was absolutely unbelievable. If you had arrived just after the start and didn’t know what form of cricket was being played, you would be excused for thinking it was a one-day game. He was hitting the quicks over their heads within the first couple of overs – in a Test match – and clearly their whole attitude was: shortened Test; we’re going to press home and win this game.""In the Test matches there was huge sledging," Andy Flower recalled. "There was a very boring draw in Bulawayo, where the facilities were very poor; the covering of the outfield, the square and the bowlers’ run-ups was very ordinary. We’d had some rain, and the abiding memory is of Martin Crowe moaning and carrying on about `the worst ground in the world’, I think he described it."But we had a very comfortable draw against them. Kevin Arnott scored a hundred, which was great to watch. I remember getting 81 in the first innings and didn’t bat in the second, and again I had thought this was a great chance to get a hundred. But then the left-arm spinner Mark Haslam took a brilliant one-handed catch at square leg, and my hopes were dashed."Ian Robinson: "That Test was badly affected by the rain, but even more affected by the lack of suitable covers. We had the silly situation where on day the water had got underneath one corner of the covers and also the bowlers’ run-ups were very soggy because at that stage those weren’t covered separately. So we had the situation of a brilliant hot day in Bulawayo, and we were standing around and not doing anything because the bowlers’ run-ups were actually dangerous."It caused quite a bit of conversation and debate amongst the various parties concerned. At that time New Zealand were batting, and after two or three hours of standing around in the sun still saying that we couldn’t play because the run-ups were too wet, the New Zealand captain Martin Crowe came out to the umpires and asked, `What would happen if we declared? We would then be fielding and we would be very happy to play in those conditions.’"We had no option but to say to him, `That’s fine.’ We did point out to him that we still thought that the conditions were unfit and actually dangerous for the bowlers to run through, but he insisted, so we went out and played after that."Ian says of his fellow umpire for that match, Dickie Bird, "You’ll find, if you speak to umpires around the world, that he didn’t enjoy making decisions about the conditions of the ground or weather and light, and tried to pass it on to somebody else – and that was actually what happened in the Bulawayo game."Their opening bowler was Simon Doull – `Doullie’. Doullie was bowling and running through this very soft ground, and it’s no coincidence, I think, that at the end of that game he suffered a stress fracture of the back, went home and didn’t play for a year and a half or two years because of that. The ground was so soggy that it was giving about five or six inches as the bowler ran up. It was a very unpleasant day."Many Zimbabweans objected to the attitude of Martin Crowe, who complained constantly about the playing conditions, with many a derogatory comment about a country that was still trying to adjust to the promotion to Test cricket only three months earlier. One also mentioned that off the field his wife also had many complaints to make about the catering, seating and everything else.Zimbabwe struggled with the bat, especially against the off-breaks of Patel, who opened the bowling.Andy Pycroft: "They soon had us in trouble with the bat, and I can remember we had a tidy enough start from Grant Flower and Kevvie Arnott, but the moment they both fell quickly together, our middle order collapsed, including myself. Doull bowled well that day and I can remember being yorked. He got a ball to dip on me. If it hadn’t been for Andy Flower and Ali Shah, to a certain extent, that innings would have folded very quickly. As it was, we got within 100 runs of their total."Dave Houghton: "Maybe our attitude would have been different batting-wise. I think we felt the game was over when it finally restarted after the ground had dried out, but we didn’t bat all that well. We batted slowly, which was one of Martin’s biggest complaints about us: 94 overs to get 219. But I’m afraid that’s all we had to offer."New Zealand attacked in their second innings in an effort to force a result, but a sound century from Kevin Arnott, well supported by Grant Flower and then Alistair Campbell, saw Zimbabwe to safety without any panic.Andy Pycroft: "Ironically in their second innings they batted less ambitiously than they did in the first innings, but we were still dominated completely. One got the impression that their declaration was too late, and I don’t know why that happened, having played so positively in the first innings, but they just dragged it a bit and gave us an opportunity to bat our way out of it. Kevvie Arnott played one of those innings that he really could play: he stonewalled and Grant Flower and Alistair Campbell also batted very well. I can remember sitting again with pads on for most of the day, wondering am I going to bat or aren’t I, and then I didn’t have to bat."Malcolm Jarvis: "I just remember in the second innings I took three wickets for 30-odd runs, and thought I bowled pretty well. I got Greatbatch, Martin Crowe and Parore. I was told at the end of the game (by John Hampshire) that I wouldn’t be required for Zimbabwe again, which was a bit disappointing, considering I thought I had bowled pretty well. It was given to me as `You’re getting too old’, but my philosophy is it doesn’t matter how old you are as long as you’re competitive. If there’s a youngster who’s pushing his way that’s fine, but let the youngster prove himself first."I was told I would never play Test cricket again, but two years later I was recalled to play against Sri Lanka. So I had two years in the wilderness when I thought I could have played quite a few more Tests. I played in five Tests and never played in a losing one."Dave Houghton: "In the second innings we did really well. They left us an impossible score to chase and were cross that we didn’t chase it, but with 197 for one in the second innings on the fifth day, with Kevin Arnott getting a hundred, you had to admire the guys: no experience, yet we still managed to put in a performance like that."Kevin Arnott: "New Zealand were a different proposition from the Indians. I think they tried to intimidate us with some of their comments on the field. In our second innings we batted to make sure we saved the game. They came on to the field, some of them wearing sun cream on their faces, but some of it looked like warpaint! Certainly there were unnecessary bits of bantering."Rather sadly for me, Martin Crowe decided to field at a short midwicket position, and with Willie Watson bowling induckers to me I kept playing the ball to him. At fairly short distance he kept throwing the ball purportedly at the wicket-keeper, but designedly to throw it at me. Eventually he did hit me with the ball; I wasn’t too amused and I don’t think umpire Bird was either. I saw him go and speak to Martin Crowe. It was a sad day for me, when you look up to exceptional cricketers and see them behave in that manner. I must say I met him again several years later and we discussed some of the incidents on the field. There were apologies, and now there is no axe to grind whatsoever."But I was fortunate to go on to make 100 runs. I know Martin Crowe bowled towards the end, so I can say it wasn’t against the best Test attack in the world! Nevertheless it was satisfactory to be able to do that. I felt rather better set in the first innings, but was adjudged out to a bat-pad catch off Dipak Patel, which was rather unfortunate."Grant Flower: "It was quite a nasty Test and there were a lot of words said. I remember Martin Crowe having a lot to say. We eventually came out with a draw. Kevin Arnott played really well in the second innings. In the first innings I used the same game plan for batting as I did in the Inaugural Test, but not in the second innings; I went out to be more positive. In those days I didn’t have the same array of shots that I do today. But I wasn’t happy with the way I was handling my batting and I just went out to change things and prove to myself that I could hit the ball again."John Traicos: "The New Zealand series was a tough one as it introduced us to sledging on a very aggressive basis. The experience was most unpleasant and it was disappointing to see prominent cricketers resort to such tactics."

South Melbourne SwansO6:00am Monday morning Graham Yallop told me, it had been a long flight.11:30am Tuesday morning marking my run in my first game for the South Melbourne Swans seemed as if I would have to run a mile, we lost but only just, I took 3/48.Going in the clubrooms afterwards I soon learnt what a great and proud club I had joined, no more than the only female president in the history of the game Joan Holdsworth. In her 80’s and after 30 years as a follower and 18 as president whenever I see her I ask how she is, the reply batting on dear, batting on. On the wall are photographs of 7 Australian captains from 1880’s to the present day and over 50 Australian test players have represented the club including Keith Miller some would say the worlds best ever all rounder, and Damien Fleming the clubs most recent test player. Former state player Grant Gardiner is the current first team captain and past overseas players include Clive Lloyd, Gus Logie and Mark Butcher. I knew then that the cricket and the club was just what I was looking for.We train Tuesday and Thursday nights with the help of ex test captain Graham Yallop and play Saturday – Saturday 2 day games on what can only be described as the Hume Highway versus some of the best players in the state when not on Victorian duty such as J Moss, B Hodge and our own I Harvey.I am very lucky to be playing at this remarkable club with wonderful people and a huge history; I can honestly say I am proud to be a swan.