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ScorecardSri Lanka A managed to restrict South Africa A, who had scored 388 for 4 on the first day, to 550 but lost three wickets in their first innings in Benoni. The visitors closed at 133 for 3, still trailing by 417 runs, and needing 268 more to avoid the follow-on.Sri Lanka got breakthroughs early on the second day, taking two wickets for 15 runs as South Africa resumed batting. The unbeaten batsmen from the first day, Ahmed Amla and Alviro Petersen, both perished in the 80s to fast bowler Chanaka Welegedara. However, Sri Lanka failed up to wrap up the innings quickly. Wicketkeeper Matthew Harris, Johann Louw and CJ de Villiers scored 40, 39 and 41 respectively to push South Africa’s total past 500.Harris and Louw, whose 39 came off 41 balls, added 57 for the seventh wicket, and Harris put on 66 for the eighth along with de Villiers. Left-arm spinner Rangana Herath took the final three wickets as South Africa were all out for 550.Louw then grabbed an early wicket in Sri Lanka’s innings, removing Upul Tharanga for 6. Tharanga Paranavitana and Kanchana Gunawardene put on 45 before Gunawardene was caught off medium-pacer Ethy Mbhalati. Gunawardene fell for 25, and wicketkeeper-batsman Kaushal Silva too failed to build on a start as he was dismissed for 30. Paranavitana was unbeaten on 51 at stumps, while Thilina Kandamby, the Sri Lankan captain, was not out on 8.

Somerset Sabres will be looking to end their NUL National League season with a third consecutive victory when they take on Durham Dynamoes at the County Ground tomorrow.Both sides are already relegated, but since booking their place in the second division the Sabres have enjoyed an easy home victory over Kent Spitfires, who included Steve Waugh in their line up, and squeezed home to a last over win in a day night match at Grace Road against Leicester Foxes.A feature of the last three matches have played has been the introduction of some of the younger players, including all rounders Wes Durston, Arul Suppiah and seventeen year old bowler Michael Parsons.Looking ahead to the Sabres final match which gets underway at 12 noon Somerset coach Kevin Shine told me: "We will be going out there tomorrow determined to get a win from our final match of the season. We need to go away with a victory from our last match to give us that feel good factor to take into the winter."He continued: "We will be regrouping after our championship defeat on Thursday and will include some of the younger players on Sunday."With paceman Richard Johnson missing through injury the squad for the final match of the 2002 season is likely to be: Jamie Cox , Matt Wood, Piran Holloway, Mike Burns, Arul Suppiah, Keith Parsons, Pete Trego, Rob Turner, Keith Dutch, Matt Bulbeck, Simon Francis and Michael Parsons.

Robin Smith played a captains roll with a brave century after watching his middle order collapse around him, at the Rose Bowl on today.

Smith’s vital five hours at the crease on a wicket of uneven bounce was a superb exhibition of defence and attack. He showed an array of shots in his well worn armour, and was helped first by Nic Pothas and then with a century partnership with Shaun Udal.At 86 for five, with the Kent seamers Ben Trott and Martin Saggers moving the ball in both directions, Smith with wicket-keeper Pothas rallied with a partnership of 74. Pothas recently arrived from South Africa has found it difficult to come to terms with English spring conditions. Today he seemed to have mastered these before becoming the first of the admirable Trott’s three wickets. Mascarenhas also went to Trott in the same over, and now it was time for the two Hampshire veterans to pitch together and repel everything the visiting bowlers had to offer.Smith was finally out having reached his 60th first-class century, when he edged the second new ball to Symonds at slip, he fell just 19 runs short of the milestone of 25,000 runs in all first-class matches.Udal, who struck a mighty six off Min Patel, was disappointingly out for 88, adjudged lbw, he departed an unhappy man, but he had seen the 300 posted a figure that did not look possible after the morning session.Martin Saggers with 4 wickets bowled with venom, with able support from Ben Trott, but it may be that Hampshire’s seamers will also be looking forward to the second days play.

The last day’s play for the Indians before the Lord’s Test that starts on Thursday ended as expected, in less than spectacular fashion. Chasing 253 for victory on a wicket that was increasingly difficult to bat on, Hampshire were bowled out for 186 in 46.2 overs, giving India victory by 66 runs.The day’s play was of purely academic interest, with the result almost a foregone conclusion. It began with Hampshire’s Robin Smith and John Francis attempting to keep the Indian bowlers at bay. With deliveries continuing to surprise batsmen by bounce or the lack of the same, there was little the bowlers needed to do besides putting the ball in the right place.Sanjay Bangar got one right on target to trap Smith (19) in front of the stumps. Lawrence Prittipaul, a cousin of the popular West Indian Shivnarine Chanderpaul, entered to encouraging cheers. The middle-order batsman gave those gathered at the Rose Bowl reason to smile, as he played a few fierce cuts that raced to the fence. On a day where batting was a bit of a lottery, Prittipaul livened things up with an innings of 32 in just 40 balls. By the time he had begun to look good, however, wickets were falling at the other end. John Francis (19) gave Tinu Yohannan his only wicket of the innings.From then on to 129/8 there was little batting of note, and it appeared that the game would be over well before the scheduled luncheon interval at 1 o’clock. But Hampshire’s batting can hardly be expected to fold up to suit those looking out for a good lunch. Shaun Udal batted imaginatively to reach an unbeaten 36, putting on 57 for the ninth, and effectively last wicket.James Tomlinson (23) supported Udal as best as he could, but could not get the bat down in time to keep out a Kumble skidder. When the appeal for lbw was upheld, it was all over for the hosts. John Crawley, due to do duty for England in the forthcoming Test series, did not bat. The middle-order batsman, laid low by a virus, could have just as easily been kept back to avoid the risk of injury on this Rose Bowl wicket.While sections of the media have been quick to decry the Hampshire authorities for the wicket, Indian coach John Wright was his calm, collected self. “Obviously we would have liked a better surface,” he told reporters soon after the match. “But we don’t like to moan and groan about it. This is a new surface and it will take a bit of time to settle down,” he added.The decision to rest both left arm seamers Ashish Nehra and Zaheer Khan raised a few eyebrows, but once again Wright had his answers close at hand. “They’ve all done a lot of bowling in the recent past and it was a conscious decision on our part to give them a rest. We’ve simulated match conditions in practice sessions and preparations are fine.”In contrast to India, England have had their share of injury worries. With Darren Gough, Alex Tudor, Marcus Trescothick and Andy Caddick all on the injured list, Nasser Hussain and Duncan Fletcher have a bit to worry about.Wright, though, was happy to leave the worrying to the opposite camp. “We don’t really want to think too much about the injuries in the England team. It’s not the way we think. They’re a highly competitive side and we know that from their recent tour to India. What we need to do is concentrate on playing well, as close to our potential as possible. We nearly did that in the one-dayers, and that’s what we need to take forward to the Tests as well,” said Wright.It is true that India’s preparations for the Test series have been hampered by the two-paced nature of this wicket. But Wright was quick to reassure journalists that the Indian team was well prepared. When pressed to make further comment on the wicket, Wright sprang a surprise. Departing from his usually guarded and careful style of answering, he said: “I’m told wickets are a bit like red wine. They need a bit of time to settle down.” There was a twinkle in is eye as he ended the press conference and moved over to the nets where the Indians were having a session. Wine apart, the Indian team certainly appear in high spirits going in to the Test series.

BRISBANE, Oct 18 AAP – Batsmen Matthew Phelps and Michael Clarke settled into the trenches at the Gabba today as NSW inflicted a rare day of pain on Queensland in a grinding Pura Cup cricket match at the Gabba.Phelps and Clarke were celebrating centuries and thanking their luck after leading the Blues down the slow road to first innings points, reaching 4-343 at stumps on the third day, still 165 runs behind Queensland.Phelps batted through the day for 137 not out from 353 balls while Clarke confirmed his reputation as a rising star with 134 in front of national selector Trevor Hohns.The Queensland attack probably deserved more wickets but they couldn’t find the edge of the bat against the determined Blues pair and the contest remains as muddy as when the coin was tossed on Wednesday.The Blues are in a strong position to take some overdue points from the three-time champions but Phelps wasn’t expecting a miracle as the players prepared for temperatures of 33 degrees tomorrow.”If I keep batting at the same pace, we’ll probably get there after tea,” the 30-year-old Phelps joked.”I had never batted through a full day before so this is the most rewarding innings I’ve played and it’s against the best attack in Australia.”Phelps described his career as “chequered” after playing 10 first-class matches in five seasons but he has shown plenty of grit against the Bulls, lasting 481 minutes.A patient Clarke battled cramp and lower back stiffness during his 289-minute stay at the crease.The right-handers were given little width by the Bulls’ pacemen, who conceded 16 runs from 15 overs after lunch, but the batsmen tucked in to Stuart Law’s part-time leg-spin after tea.Their 233-run partnership ended when a weary Clarke chipped tireless Ashley Noffke (1-70 from 32 overs) to Andrew Symonds at backward point, and the Bulls were revived when all-rounder Grant Lambert was then dismissed for a duck.”The Queensland guys bowled really well and we really had to be patient,” Clarke said.”They were getting pretty frustrated at one stage and so were we because we kept playing and missing.”We were lucky not to nick one but we stayed there and finished with centuries so I’m thrilled.”Noffke was the pick of the Bulls’ pacemen, at one stage bowling 44 consecutive balls without conceding a run, while Joe Dawes (2-42) was sharp in his 21 overs.Michael Kasprowicz (1-72) struck the first blow when he outwitted former Test teammate Michael Bevan during a tough first hour.Bevan (23) did not add to his overnight score in 25 balls, eventually falling during a smart three-ball burst from Kasprowicz.He struck Bevan on the helmet, sent down another short ball and then lured Bevan into a pull shot which the left-hander edged to wicketkeeper Wade Seccombe.But it was uphill for the next five hours as the Blues gave Queensland some of its own medicine.

At a time when many counties are bemoaning the fact that their overseas players are arriving late or leaving early to fulfil international commitments, Essex have announced that their 2002 signing, Andy Flower from Zimbabwe, is actually going to arrive early.Australia’s tour to Zimbabwe had been scheduled to take place once the one-day international series against South Africa had been completed. However, with that tour postponed in the light of the political uncertainties in Zimbabwe, Flower has been given permission by the Zimbabwe Cricket Union to travel to England three weeks earlier than expected. He is now scheduled to be in Chelmsford on April 15th.Chief executive of Essex, David East, commented: “We are obviously thrilled that Andy is able to join us early. We were not expecting him to arrive until after the last Test match finished in Zimbabwe on 9th May, but this is a great bonus for the team.”Andy will now be able to take part in the zonal rounds of the Benson and Hedges Cup, together with our early Championship matches against Gloucestershire and Nottinghamshire.”Flower was recently named as on of Wisden’s Five Cricketers of the Year. Although he has experienced league cricket in Birmingham and spent a season coaching the Oxford University side, this is his first season of English county cricket.

Day two of this fixture saw perhaps the most one sided first-class match played at this ground since the Riverside hosted fixtures from 1995. The Durham University students, having been dismissed for a record low score of 67 on day one, and then toiled in the field as Durham CCC scored another 351 runs for the loss of only 3 wickets. Indeed one of these wickets was Durham skipper Jon Lewis who was out “retired” for 110.

Starting the day on 134 for the loss of only Gough, both Lewis and Daley proceeded to centuries in an identical number of balls – 214. Lewis had hit 15 fours and Daley 12. Daley eventually retired hurt on 128 with an upper leg strain and Collingwood and Speak went on to continue to hit the hapless University bowling around the large outfield. Collingwood became the third county centurion in the first over after tea, his century only taking 146 balls and including 10 fours and 3 sixes. Three centurions in an innings for Durham for the first time ever. Collingwood was eventually smartly stumped by Foster off Phillips for 130. Nicky Peng fell to the same combination for a duck but by then the home team had neared 450 with only 4 wickets down.The cricket was obviously not competitive but new Durham CCC coach Martyn Moxon said that whatever the state of the game the practice in the middle was invaluable and far better than merely having a net. Durham had, during the captaincy of David Boon, ended the friendly matches with Oxford University as they did not provide strong enough opposition. However Moxon did say that he saw this current match as a potential annual fixture.Looking forward to the Championship season, which begins on Friday with a home fixture against Gloucestershire, Lewis welcomed the opportunity for the players to get some much needed match practice. He was pleased that all the batters for the home side had had some time in the middle and that, despite the brevity of the University innings, the home side bowlers had got some overs under their belts.For the season ahead Lewis said that new import Danny Law could prove to be the genuine all-rounder that the club were looking for. If Law performed up to expectations this might enable Durham to utilise more bowling options in the season and play a spinner more often, continued Lewis in a press box interview session.Everyone at the county club was pleased with how Steve Harmison was coming on and saw a fresh sharpness in the bowling of Neil Killeen. If only the students had a bowler who came somewhere near either of these two professionals this match would be more of a contest than a thrashing. Quite what new arrival from Australia, Martin Love, made of it all is not known but as a representation of English cricket this cannot have created a good impression.To be fair to the students their fielding did not flag and there was no evidence of a loss of enthusiasm. However by the premature close of play – caused by a rainstorm – less than 50 spectators were left braving the elements.

The handful of Hampshire fans who witnessed the last day of the county’s opening CricInfo Championship match at Edgbaston would have been amongst the lucky few to watch their favourites bat throughout the last day to hold out for a draw. They would have been particularly enlightened by Robin Smith’s first Championship century for three years.Robin Smith put Warwickshire into bat on the first morning and despite early success in dismissing the home captain Michael Powell for 0. He was soon to rue his decision as Nick Knight and Dominic Ostler each scored centuries against a Hampshire attack that lacked penetration on the docile, slow wicket.Alan Mullally, as befitting his status as an international cricketer, looked the best of the bunch, taking three wickets for 77. Alex Morris looked back to his full fitness with a brace.John Stephenson, starting his benefit year bowled tidily at the end of the innings to polish off the Warwickshire tailenders, and James Hamblin took a debut wicket when he had Keith Piper caught behind the wicket, but his bowling showed some nervousness.The score of 455 soon became a distance as Hampshire showed sight of some de ja vu when they returned to their wicked ways of last season, falling well behind in their first innings.Derek Kenway and Giles White gave Hampshire a good start when they started their reply, sharing an opening partnership of 62 before Sheikh and Brown each took command to pick up wickets as Hampshire lost six wickets for 34 runs.Neil Johnson, making his debut batted with some comfort whilst watching the debacle at the other end and his two hours 20 minute stay at the crease showed that he could be a useful asset to Hampshire’s fragile middle order.Hampshire were forced to follow on 285 runs in arrears, and lost Giles White to the sixth ball of the innings. Will Kendall fell shortly after and a three-day defeat looked on the cards. Derek Kenway scored a promising 52, striking nine fours in his two hour stay but, with Hampshire losing Johnson for 0 to his second ball, the visitors were grateful to the rain that fell over Birmingham and curtailed play for the rest of the third day.The Hampshire players and their few supporters may have looked up to the skies when they woke in their hotel rooms, but although cloudy, any rainfall had passed over through the night and on arrival on the ground, found play ready to start on time. In fact Edgbaston was the only match in the country to have a full days Monday play.Starting the day at 114-4, John Stephenson and Robin Smith failed to give a single chance in their patient but important innings. Between start and lunch, Stephenson had hit five scoring shots to move from his 1* to 17*. Smith, perhaps a little more belligerent scored some 28 runs in that period, a sight unbeknown to followers of the Hampshire captain in the past.Both batsmen with their backs to the wall continued to progress after lunch, albeit slowly with the pair being content to wait for the bad ball and defend staunchly at everything the Warwickshire attack had to throw at them. The partnership of 106, which had taken five minutes short of four hours, finally came to an end when Stephenson edged the Warwickshire overseas players Vasbert Drakes to the wicket-keeper, from the second over of the new ball. His innings had lasted 209 balls and although he scored only 39 runs, it was to prove an extremely valuable contribution to his side’s cause.After tea, Robin Smith’s innings came to a halt when he was bowled middle stump by Mohammad Sheikh for 118. The innings of 307 balls lasted exactly six hours, hitting 16 fours and a single six off Neil Smith to take him past the magical three figure mark.When Aymes was dismissed, Hampshire were still struggling to avoid defeat with three wickets left and a possible 18 overs remaining. This brought together Dimitri Mascarenhas and Alex Morris and again like the earlier batsmen, the grinded the Warwickshire bowlers down. Mascarenhas scored just 11 from his 54 balls and Morris 48 balls for his 25.With the scores level and only two overs remaining, the match was drawn.A game of totally mixed fortunes after two and a half days, Hampshire were in serious danger of losing their opening game by an innings and were fortunate to lose half a day to rain. This did not however take away the magnificent performance of the Hampshire batsmen, led by example by Robin Smith to stave off what seemed to be a likely defeat.This can only do the teams fortunes a power of good. They will go into their next matches with confidence that despite having their backs to the wall, they came out with credit.Robin Smith, talking to me after the match was naturally delighted with the teams’ performance and was ecstatic over his own personal milestone. “I felt like a burden had been lifted from my shoulders, the trip to South Africa and the first innings here continued a nightmare start.””I have to give credit to John Stephenson”, said Robin, “Without John’s support at the other end, I would not have been able to have continued.””The youngsters at the end, Dimi and Alex, also did us proud, and we will be looking to go from here with our heads up.””In discussions before the season started with the coaches and the whole squad, our game plan was if we could not win a match, we were going to make a concerted effort not to lose it. This we achieved first time of asking today and I am proud of all the squad.”

As the West Indies were coasting to their 3-1 victory in the Testseries in England in 1963, the critics in their analysis wrote inglowing terms of the victors being a superbly balanced outfit. TheWest Indies line-up was made up of five batsmen, two all-rounders, awicketkeeper and three bowlers. And with one of the all-rounders beingGary Sobers, it was no wonder that the side remained the top team ofthe sixties.Glance at any all-conquering team in history and it will be seen thatit has been graced by the presence of at least one, preferably two allrounders. Warwick Armstrong’s formidable Australian outfit of the1920s had the omnipotent presence of Jack Gregory. One of the reasonsbehind the success of the great Australian side of the late 1940s andearly 1950s was the presence of the dynamic Keith Miller whose greatrival Trevor Bailey was England’s No. 1 all-rounder during thatcountry’s heyday in the midand late-1950s. And as has been mentionedbefore, the incomparable Gary Sobers provided substance and style tothe superbly-balanced West Indies side of the sixties.

Over the last quarter of a century however there have been exceptionswherein the outstanding Test sides of the period have run roughshodover opposition without the presence of a genuine all-rounder. TheAustralians of the 1970s, the West Indians of the 1980s and early1990s and the current Australian side are all examples of this. But inthe cases under study, it will be observed that the batting andbowling have been so strong that even the non-availability of theubiquitous all-rounder has scarcely been felt.Indian cricket has generally never been blessed with so formidable abatting and bowling line-up and so have always depended on their allrounders to lend a helping hand. And fortunately there have been quitea few players who have displayed their skill with both bat and ball.CK Nayudu played an admirable role in the formative years in the1930s, and in the 1940s and 1950s, India had the good fortune ofhaving in their ranks, Vinoo Mankad, Lala Amarnath, Dattu Phadkar andGulabrai Ramchand. In the 1960s, fulfilling this utility role wereChandu Borde, Salim Durrani, Bapu Nadkarni and Rusi Surti. And in the1970s, India could depend on the all-round skills of Abid Ali,Mohinder Amarnath, Madan Lal and Karsan Ghavri.In the late 1970s, Kapil Dev burst upon the scene and for a decade anda half, he bestrode the scene like a colossus. By the time he retiredin 1994, he had run up an all-round record fit to be ranked with thebest of all time. And through the 80s and early 90s, even under theshadow of Kapil Dev, all-rounders like Roger Binny, Ravi Shastri andManoj Prabhakar did make their presence felt.India’s all-round problems commenced with the summary banishment ofPrabhakar in 1996. Over the last half-a-dozen years, the team hassearched in vain for an all-rounder. The lack of a player withomnipresent qualities has worked to the detriment of the team’sfortunes. They have been forced to field six batsmen and four bowlers.And while four bowlers may be good enough to win matches in India, aquartet is just not enough to repeat the trick abroad. The moreattacking policy of five batsmen and five bowlers was tried out for afew matches in the late 1990s but this involved playing wicketkeeperNayan Mongia as an opening batsman. In any case, a more defensiveoutlook took over in the 21st century and for some time now it hasbeen back to six batsmen and four bowlers. There is a crying needright now to fill the breach with a genuine all-rounder.For some time, Sunil Joshi looked to be filling this role. Given hisbig break in England in 1996 following a tremendous domestic season in1995-96 when he became the first player to complete the double of 500runs and 50 wickets in one year in the Ranji Trophy, he did reasonablywell initially but somehow could never consolidate his position asillustrated by his career figures of 41 wickets at 35.85 apiece and abatting average of 20.70 over 15 Tests. This, despite a splendid allround show of eight wickets in the match and a top score of 92 in thevictory over Bangladesh at Dhaka in 2000.Robin Singh then looked to be a candidate but he was tagged as a oneday cricketer and this limited his Test appearances to just one. Thencame Ajit Agarkar towards the end of the 1990s and he seemed to be theanswer to our prayers. But after 11 Tests, he has taken only 26wickets at an average of almost 42 and with a number of ducks to hisname, has a batting average of just 7.81. So, obviously he too hasn’tfitted the bill.At the end of another disappointing campaign in the Caribbean, theexperts are divided whether the batting or the bowling failed us most.In the ultimate analysis, it was perhaps the lack of an all-rounderthat saw India fail in yet another overseas campaign. There is littledoubt that Indian cricket’s most urgent requirement right now is thepresence of an all-rounder. Besides strengthening the batting andbowling, he could also lend stability to the side. With some luck, hecould even help solve the problem at the top of the order, if one goesby the record of players like Mankad, Shastri and Prabhakar. The huntfor such a player has been on for some time but the situation hasnever been so desperate as it is now.

ScorecardDavid Hussey and Aaron Finch both scored centuries in Victoria’s win•Getty Images

David Hussey and Aaron Finch both blasted centuries to set up the biggest successful chase in Australian one-day domestic history against New South Wales at North Sydney Oval. Finch made 140 off 124 balls and Hussey ended up unbeaten on 140 from 82 deliveries as the Bushrangers overhauled the Blues’ total of 350 with 20 balls to spare.The previous highest chase was also at North Sydney Oval in the corresponding game between the same sides last summer, when New South Wales chased 318 to beat Victoria. On that occasion it was Daniel Smith who stunned Victoria, but this time it was a pair of batsmen, Finch and Hussey, who destroyed New South Wales.Finch gave Victoria a brisk start and he and Hussey put on 156 for the third wicket in 20 overs. Finch plundered ten sixes and Hussey cleared the boundary eight times, and he brought up his hundred from his 61st delivery in a Steven Smith over that cost New South Wales 25 runs.The small boundaries at North Sydney proved insufficient to contain the Victorians and New South Wales were left to regret a slightly slow start to their innings in which both openers, Scott Henry and Brad Haddin, scored at less than a run a ball. Sean Abbott was promoted to No.3 and slammed 40 from 16 balls before Smith lifted the tempo with 92 from 68 balls, as the Blues were dismissed for 350 in the 50th over.