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In 2006-07 Victoria nearly made the Pura Cup final, but not quite. They nearly won the FR Cup decider, but not quite. Two of their best players nearly established themselves in the national one-day team, but not quite. In many ways it was a frustrating summer for the Bushrangers as the major honours teased and then eluded them.Greg Shipperd, the state’s coach, does not see it that way. “All in all we thought we had a very good season,” he says. “Until the last day of our last Pura Cup match we were still in with a chance to make all three finals.”That disheartening conclusion – the 101-run loss to Queensland handed New South Wales a place in the decider – meant their only prize was a second consecutive Twenty20 title. “We’re disappointed that we didn’t win more that we qualified for,” Shipperd says. “From a one-day point of view, we were very happy with our seven wins and hosting the final [against Queensland].”Their success was impressive considering that all eight of their contracted fast bowlers were out injured at one point early in the season. Victoria scoured Melbourne’s club cricket and displayed their depth when Clinton McKay and Darren Pattinson filled the gaps admirably.Things are looking better for 2007-08. Pattinson will miss the first couple of games with an ankle injury but the key strike bowlers should be ready from day one. There were fears that Shane Harwood’s latest shoulder problem could require major surgery but Shipperd now expects that will not be the case. Andrew McDonald also has a shoulder injury and might initially be unable to bowl, but he will be chosen as a batsman regardless.The legspinner Bryce McGain, 35, took six seasons to register his first five Pura Cup games as he waited patiently behind Cameron White and Shane Warne. With Warne’s retirement and White seemingly focusing more on his batting, McGain will be an important part of the Bushrangers’ attack.The batting remains a strength – four players scored more than 700 Pura Cup runs last year – and Shipperd expects strong competition between Lloyd Mash, Michael Klinger, Aiden Blizzard and Rob Quiney for what could be only one vacancy. Jon Moss has gone home to New South Wales and another Sydney signing, John Hastings, may fill that gap when he recovers from ankle problems.

There will also be a healthy rivalry between the incumbent wicketkeeper Adam Crosthwaite and Matthew Wade, who Victoria recruited from Tasmania during the off-season. Wade, 19, is highly rated as a batsman and Shipperd hinted Crosthwaite would have a challenge on his hands.”We’re not locked into thinking one keeper will do all forms of the game,” Shipperd says. “We’ll give opportunities to whoever’s in the right place at the right time. Crosthwaite started last season well and dropped away a bit, but he was an aggressive and innovative one-day batsman. He has some credits on the board.”Shipperd hopes White and Brad Hodge earn more national call-ups this summer and he believes the selectors cannot keep overlooking the prolific David Hussey, who made 911 Pura Cup runs in 2006-07 followed by 1259 at 83.93 for Nottinghamshire. “I would be bemused if he’s not given a chance, he’s in a rare streak of form,” Shipperd says. “If we can get one or two other players apart from Brad Hodge into a good, strong Australian team it would be a massive plus for our group.”Captain Cameron White
Coach Greg Shipperd
Squad Aiden Blizzard, Adam Crosthwaite, Gerard Denton, Shane Harwood, John Hastings, Brad Hodge, David Hussey, Nick Jewell, Michael Klinger, Mick Lewis, Lloyd Mash, Andrew McDonald, Bryce McGain, Clinton McKay, Dirk Nannes, Darren Pattinson, Rob Quiney, Peter Siddle, Matthew Wade, Cameron White, Allan Wise. Rookies Grant Baldwin, Aaron Finch, Michael Hill, Jon Holland, Peter Nevill, James Pattinson.2006-07 results Pura Cup 3rd, FR Cup 2nd, Twenty20 1st.

Ken Gordon, the president of the West Indies board, says the region acted in its best interests in throwing its support behind the Asian bloc’s bid to secure the International Cricket Council’s 2011 World Cup.Furthermore, the 76-year-old administrator said the West Indies did not sell their vote at the April meeting in Dubai and defended allegations of a deal with India that helped a joint bid with Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh gain approval.”We live in the real world and we must understand that when people want to achieve an objective, they try to get support for that objective. Clearly, the India Board of Control wanted to have support for their objective and we did speak. We made it clear that our position was that we were interested in building a relationship with India,” Gordon told CMC’s Cricket Plus Friday.”We didn’t have a vote for sale. We were interested in building a relationship and they indicated that they would like to do the same and our position as far as the vote was concerned was, ‘look if your bid is a fully competitive bid and if it is on par with all things being equal, we will support your bid because friends support each other’.”Other people in other parts of the world support each other as well but [we said] ‘if your bid is not in our view, comparable, we cannot support you because we don’t think that would be acting in the interest of cricket’.”Reports following the ICC meeting in Dubai in April indicated the West Indies had thrown their support behind the Asian bloc’s vote, in return for a lucrative financial arrangement.The WICB’s vote helped the Asian bloc beat out a joint bid by Australia and New Zealand to host cricket’s major showpiece. Gordon said their decision to support the Asian bloc, once the bid was in the best interest of cricket, was communicated to Australia before the voting process.”That was the position we took. We made that clear to India before the vote was taken [and] they understood our position and they said they respected it,” Gordon continued.”We also made that position clear to the Australian side before the vote was taken. We said, ‘we feel we want to develop a relationship with India and there are lots of reasons for that, including our impecunious state and if we can work together, it would be a good thing’.”‘If the bids are competitive and we see everything being equal, we will vote for India. If they are not, we will vote for you’.”He added: “That’s our position, so all this talk about deal and so on, if you call that a deal, that’s fine, but as far as I am concerned we acted in the way that anyone who is concerned about their self-interest, would want to act.”The WICB recently announced they had signed a bilateral deal with India which would see the staging of a three to five-match One Day Internationals series in United States and Canada later this year.With the West Indies experiencing dire financial problems, India is expected to fund the series with the understanding that this would be repaid out of the WICB’s share of the profits. While not revealing financial details of the arrangement, Gordon said it was a move that would help the West Indies financially.”I am very cautious about a financial boost for the moment. I know positively there will be a financial boost but until we have completed our negotiations on the terms of the arrangement, I would rather not go there,” Gordon said.”What I would say is that it is going to be a positive factor in terms of taking us forward. Our Indian friends have indicated that they have a strong desire to assist wherever they can and we will try to ensure that happens. “The bottom line is that I am optimistic.”

The last time Mahela Jayawardene left Sri Lanka for a South African summer, the cricketing gods were not smiling on him and the 2003 World Cup was the low point of his fine career as he scored just 21 runs in nine matches.Jayawardene returned to Johannesburg on Thursday but this time it was with a typically cheery Sri Lankan smile. The captain has had much to be pleased about in the last 18 months – his personal form was stunning as he led his team to the World Cup final, he was nominated alongside Ricky Ponting for the ICC’s Captain of the Year award and he can still bask in the glory of the record 374 he scored in a Test against South Africa just over a year ago.However, he was still reluctant to describe Sri Lanka as one of the favourites for the inaugural ICC World Twenty20 title. “It’s going to be a challenge because we haven’t played much Twenty20 cricket. And the shorter the version of the game, the more open it becomes for other teams. We will need to play to our strengths, apply all our skills and try different things depending on the situation. We will need a lot of cool heads because the game is very fast. If you panic, you will lose the battle.”Jayawardene was happy with his squad which is basically the same as the one that thrilled so many people in the Caribbean. Even without the injured Muttiah Muralitharan, the bowling attack is experienced and there are batsmen to cover most situations.So no wonder the Sri Lankans are even more sunnily dispositioned than usual, which has helped new coach Trevor Bayliss enjoy a seamless settling-in period.”The people have made it very easy, it’s been a great three weeks. They are a fun-loving people and they really enjoy each other’s company, which is an ingredient in any successful team,” Bayliss said. “I haven’t had much to do in that department then and the team is in good spirits.”And what of the challenges ahead for the former New South Wales coach?”It’s not just a new challenge coaching at international level, but coaching one of the most successful teams of the last three years. If they are going to have another two years of good results then, at this level, it’s all about hard work. You also need to get things like the mental and physical preparation right and even the diets. You also rely on your support staff to fulfill an important role as well.”Bayliss was asked whether he was wishing for another Australia versus Sri Lanka final. “I’d like to see Sri Lanka in the final and I don’t really mind who we play there. But Australia are obviously right up there to make the final, just because of the calibre of players they have. I think England and South Africa will do well too because they have the experience of playing lots of domestic Twenty20.”

Scorecard

New South Wales scraped home by one run in a thrilling Ford Ranger Cup match against Western Australia at the SCG. A blistering century from Brad Haddin set up the Blues’ win before Brett Dorey holed out from the final delivery of the Warriors’ 50 overs with two runs still needed for victory.Chasing 268 to win, Western Australia looked out of the game with 24 balls remaining, needing 35 with two wickets in hand. But Dorey smashed 25 from 12 deliveries and with nine required off the last over the New South Wales captain Simon Katich threw the ball to Dominic Thornely, who had not bowled all night. Thornely took 1 for 1 from his first four balls before Dorey slogged a six over midwicket to make the equation two runs from the last ball. When he skied it to deep square leg, Daniel Christian held his nerve and took the catch to win the game for the Blues.Five days after Adam Gilchrist scored the second-fastest hundred in Australian domestic one-day history, Haddin reminded the nation that should Gilchrist, 35, decide to retire any time soon Australia will not need to look far for a replacement. Haddin’s 115 – his fifth century in domestic limited-overs games – came from 102 balls and included nine fours and three sixes.His 146-run partnership with Thornely, who made 60, gave the Blues hope of reaching of 300 but the Warriors staged a late fightback, taking 7 for 18 in 30 balls as New South Wales were all out for 267 in the 50th over. Steve Magoffin took 3 for 43 and together with Sean Ervine (4 for 51) bowled Western Australia back into the game, helped by two run-outs from Chris Rogers.Adam Voges made 68 for Western Australia but they lost wickets at regular intervals as the offspinners Jason Krejza (3 for 41) and Nathan Hauritz (3 for 42) extracted plenty of turn from the SCG pitch. Voges and Brad Hogg worked Western Australia into a winnable position before Hogg was adjudged stumped for 38, despite the fact that Haddin appeared to break the stumps without the ball in his gloves. Krejza, who bamboozled the Warriors’ middle order, had only come into the New South Wales squad after the allrounder Moises Henriques was ruled out with a leg injury.

What started off as an experiment, and what many believed could set a trend for the cricket-ball industry in India, appears to have descended into farce. The Indian board decided to try out Kookaburra balls during the ongoing Duleep Trophy but it’s learnt, even as the final looms, that the execution of the plan went completely awry.What’s left several players sour is that no Kookaburra balls were provided when the teams practiced before the games, requiring them to get used to the new cherry in match conditions. Bowlers were left to practice with the traditional Sanspereil Greenlands (SG) balls prior to the games, only to be confronted with the Kookaburra when the game got underway.”Only today, just a day before the final, we were provided with two Kookaburra balls for practice,” a North Zone player told Cricinfo. “Just two but this is a huge improvement, considering that we were only given balls during match before in this tournament. There are not enough old balls available. With SG each association had not only the new balls for the match but also enough old balls for practice. But they have not been given any Kookaburra balls and we have all suffered. Imagine practising with a different ball [SG] and then going into match to play with another brand which is completely different.”At Guwahati, the venue where East Zone took on North, events took a bizarre turn when there weren’t enough balls during the game. As a result it was decided not to change the balls even if they went out of shape. Players from the South and Central Zones, teams that didn’t make it to the final, also endorsed the same view. “Luckily, I had couple of Kookaburra balls with me,” said a Central Zone player, “and we used it for practice.” Another player, this time from South, mentioned how the bowlers took some time to adjust to the ball on the first day, struggling to get their rhythm going. “We would have loved to get Kookaburra balls for practice,” he said, “but luckily most of us knew what we can expect. So we managed to adjust quickly.”The Indian board, though, has rubbished these complaints. “The players are talking nonsense,” said Ratnakar Shetty, the recently appointed chief administrative officer. Shetty, however, refused any further comment.The tournament has had more problems as well. Lack of practice pitches have meant that some players have entered games without any chance to gear up. At Guwahati, East Zone players suffered because one of the practice pitches was unfit for use while the other was being used by a local team. Their opponents, North Zone, were scheduled to practice at the evening and luckily got to play on that “decent” strip.The staying conditions have not been satisfactory either, even for the final. At Kolkata, there is power shortage at the team hotel where North Zone are staying. And the back-up only powers up a fan and tubelight which means that the players have to do without television and, of course, air-conditioning.And in case you forgot, this is one of the premier domestic tournaments in India.

Hong Kong beat table-toppers Papua New Guinea by 93 runs at the Hong King Cricket Club to qualify for Friday’s final in the ICC World Cricket League Division Three, where they will play PNG again. Hong Kong’s win also mean they are guaranteed promotion to WCL Div. 2.PNG, who chose to field, had Hong Kong in trouble early on as Rarva Dikana and Hitolo Areni picked up three wickets to reduce Hong Kong to 39 for 3 in the 11th over. However, Hussain Butt, who top-scored with 68 was involved in two crucial 40-plus stands with Irfan Ahmed (25) and Nizakat Khan (36) to take Hong Kong past 100. Areni struck to dismiss Nizakat and Waqas Barkat in quick succession but Butt and captain Najeeb Amar put on 53 runs in just under 10 overs to get the Hong Kong innings back on track. Butt was dismissed with the score on 196 but Nadeem Ahmed hit some big shots to take Hong King to 221 before they were bowled out.Hong Kong’s bowlers then defended the total, bowling PNG out cheaply. Tony Ura and Kila Pala were the only two batsmen who managed to get past 20, as PNG failed to string together any substantial partnerships and kept losing wickets at regular intervals. Nadeem picked up three wickets as PNG were bowled out for 128 in just under 48 overs.”We talked about how we could beat PNG today and knew if we batted first it would be important to make as many runs as possible before our bowlers could get to work on the PNG side,” said Hong Kong coach Charlie Burke.”The important thing for us was to remain focussed and we knew by putting PNG under pressure the side would become vulnerable which they did today. We beat them in a warm-up game without our full strength squad so we knew we had the ability today to beat them, and our ability and strength showed today.”There are plenty of quality sides in Division 2 but my focus since taking this role has been about securing promotion. We have the promotion but this league isn’t over and we want to win the entire tournament in front of our home crowd before we focus our attention to the new challenges and teams Division 2 will throw at us,” said Burke.”We’re obviously disappointed with our play and commitment in the loss to Hong Kong today,” added PNG captain Dikana. “Today was Hong Kong’s final as they battled for survival in the tournament and they were the better side on the day. Congratulations to a well prepared side that fought hard and showed strong spirit.”We have a rematch to see who will take home the title of Division Three champions and I know my team have the ability to take the trophy home to PNG as the best side in the tournament. Our complete focus is on tomorrow as we take one step at a time. Tomorrow is a new ball game.”

Two aggressive half-centuries from Hemin Desai and Vaibhav Wategaonkar carried Oman to a commanding four-wicket win over Denmark at the Kowloon Cricket Club, but it was not enough to allow Oman to qualify for the final.Denmark were sent in to bat and got off to a shaky start, losing their openers with just 38 runs on the board. Carsten Pedersen and Rizwan Mahmood steadied the innings with a 66-run partnership but once Mahmood was dismissed with the score on 104, Denmark suffered a collapse. Rajesh Kumar and Khalid Rashid picked up three wickets apiece as Denmark slumped from 104 for 3 to 181 all out in just under 48 overs.Oman needed to knock the runs off quickly if they were to keep their hopes of qualifying for the final alive. Desai and Zeeshan Siddiqui got them off to a rapid start, adding 34 runs in 2 overs before Siddiqui was dismissed. Desai and Wategaonkar then blasted 41 runs in 17 balls. Desai fell for 51 off just 17 balls with five fours and five sixes. Wategaonkar added another rapid 22 with Adnan Ilyas before Bashir Shah had Ilyas stumped. Oman seemed to lose momentum after his dismissal. Though they reached their target in just under 25 overs with Wategaonkar unbeaten on 54, Hong Kong went ahead of their run-rate by beating PNG to destroy Oman’s hopes of qualifying for the final.

USA’s hopes of qualifying for WCL Div. 2 were ended by Italy, who beat them by four wickets at the Mission Road Ground. Italy will now go on to play Oman in the third-place playoff while USA will play for fifth place against Denmark.Italy got off to a shaky start in their chase of 223, slumping to 52 for 4, but a 102-run partnership between Peter Petricola and wicketkeeper Hayden Patrizi got them back into the game. After Patrizi was out for 50, Michael Raso came in and smashed 38 off 29 deliveries, and Italy got home with 18 balls to spare. Petricola was unbeaten on 69.Petricola had also been Italy’s most successful bowler, taking four wickets as Italy restricted USA to 222 for 8. USA captain Steve Massiah scored 52 and opener Sushil Nadkarni scored 47, but USA didn’t get to a big enough total.”Along with the entire team, I am hugely disappointed to be relegated back to Division Four,” said Massiah. “We didn’t prepare for this tournament as well as we have done in other events and our performances here were nothing like what we know we are capable of when we play cricket.”Certain things didn’t go our way this tournament and we now need to go back to the USA and rethink our strategy and how we are going to bounce back from this and rebuild our team to climb back up the leagues.”

Northants 148 for 9 (Mushtaq 5-25) beat Sussex 110 (Crook 4-20) by 33 runs (D/L)
Scorecard

Northamptonshire’s title hunt was kept alive and Sussex’s dented after the home side eased to a 33-run victory in a rain-affected pro40 match at Northampton.Sussex appeared well on course when they skittled Northants for 148, Mushtaq Ahmed doing to damage with 5 for 25 in his eight overs. At one stage, Northants were 65 for 1 as Usman Afzaal (37) and Chris Rogers (33) got them off to a decent start, but that became 119 for 9 before some late hitting from Matthew Nicholson and Monty Panesar.That stand proved crucial as Steve Crook, who finished with 4 for 20, triggered an even more dramatic collapse, Sussex crashing from 42 for 1 to 65 for 6, eventually losing their last nine wickets for 68.Sussex could rightly claim that they were not helped by faulty floodlights at Wantage Road which led to the start of their innings being delayed because three of the four retractable pylons could not be raised. They also had the worse of the conditions as the pitch had sweated while covered during afternoon downpours.Sussex remain in second place, one point behind leaders Essex, while Northants move into fourth but could join Sussex in second place if they win their game in hand.

India’s new selection committee opted for consolidation, naming the same 15-man squad for the second Test at Delhi, starting on December 10. The panel, led by Kiran More, and comprising new faces like Bhupinder Singh and Ranjib Biswal, said that there had been no discussions about players on the fringes during the meeting.”The selection committee met today, and there is no change for second Test. The same team is retained,” said Niranjan Shah, the BCCI secretary. “The selectors agreed that rather than watching the Test fully, we will spend more time in watching Ranji Trophy. Will come only on the last two days of the [Delhi] Test match and select the team for the last one.””We didn’t discuss anyone’s name at this point, with hardly any game played here,” said Kiran More, chairman of the selection panel. “We discussed how to go about domestic cricket. The selectors will watch Elite and Plate as well, good teams are playing there.”With rain having wiped away any chance of a contest at Chennai, the decision to go with the same 15 was no surprise. Despite the constant innuendo over Sourav Ganguly’s inclusion, it was unthinkable that he would be jettisoned without being given at least a couple of chances at the batting crease.Squad
Rahul Dravid (capt), Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Sourav Ganguly, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), Irfan Pathan, Ajit Agarkar, Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Rudra Pratap Singh, Murali Kartik.

Ashley Giles has rounded on his critics after England’s failure in the first Test at Lord’s, by suggesting that a selection of former players would rather see Australia retain the Ashes than watch the current England side achieve what they themselves failed to do.”That might sound bitter, but that’s the way it feels,” Giles was quoted as saying in The Daily Mail. “Michael Vaughan has taken a lot of flak, so has Geraint Jones, so have I. We expected some if we lost, but there has been an amazing amount of stuff hitting the fan.”Giles’s position in the side has come under particular scrutiny, after he contributed 11 expensive and wicketless overs to the 239-run defeat in the first Test at Lord’s. He contributed little with the bat either, and could come under pressure to retain his place as the series progresses.”It’s at times like that when you think, ‘If this is what people think, bugger them’. I am fighting a losing battle here,” added Giles. “But then the other part of you says, ‘Sod them, I’ll get on with it.'”

Sourav Ganguly is hoping luck will favour him as he attempts to get out of his run of poor form. Ganguly managed just 48 runs in the recent Test series against Pakistan, and was bowled for a first-ball zero in the first one-day international, followed by 9 runs in the second match.”It looks a long way off,” Ganguly was quoted as saying by AFP. “I need to get some runs. That is what I am trying to do for the last one month. I am concentrating hard on it and I am practicing. I am hitting the ball well. Unfortunately I am not spending enough time at the wicket. I think I need a bit of luck. A bit of luck here and there where I am able to get some 30-40 runs. Then I can carry on from there.”Ganguly, who has been the most successful Indian captain, has failed to score a Test century since his innings of 144 against Australia in Brisbane in November 2003. His dip in form has extended to one-dayers as well, with his last hundred coming against Kenya in the 2003 World Cup in South Africa.Ganguly has been severely criticised by many former cricketers, some of whom have called head. However, Ganguly is undeterred. “Criticism is going to happen because I have not scored runs for the last five to six innings,” he said. “People are going to criticise, but these things remind you that you have been good enough in the past.”Ganguly is just 55 runs away from becoming only the third batsman after Sachin Tendulkar and Inzamam-ul-Haq to secure 10,000 one-day runs. Ganguly has another four one-dayers against Pakistan to reach the milestone. India hold a 2-0 lead in the one-dayers with the third match on April 9 in Jamshedpur.