The final day’s play in the match between the visiting Kenyan team andthe Mumbai CA XI at the Wankhede stadium was not devoid of excitement.Ultimately however the three day game ended in a draw.The home team, resuming at 70 for two, declared their second inningsat 199 for eight. Opener Praful Dhule top scored with 52 off 105 ballswith the help of four fours and a six. He and the other overnightbatsman Milind Tahamane (24) added 57 runs for the third wicket off11.4 overs. Wickets then fell at regular intervals and F Otieno pickedup three for 41.The declaration left the Kenyans a victory target of 226 runs and theygot off to a fine start with openers Ravindu Shah (97) and KO Otieno(38) putting on 112 runs off 21 overs. Then TM Odoyo (34) and Shahadded 68 runs for the fourth wicket off 16 overs. After that howeverwickets fell in a heap as the Kenyans went for runs and off 49 oversthey were 190 for eight when stumps were drawn. Shah who was fourthout at 185 batted almost three hours, faced 119 balls and hit threefours and a six. Sandeep Odoyo took three for 34 while NS Shettyfinished with four for 40.

Marcus Trescothick is looking increasingly like a genuine candidate for England’s one-day side later this summer.The 24-year-old Somerset left-hander underlined his immense potential with a brilliant 92 not out as the National League leaders made it maximum points from four games with a nine-wicket thrashing of Kent at Taunton.Trescothick has already been invited to join the England squad for experience twice this summer following his A tour selection in the winter and clearly rates highly with coach Duncan Fletcher.He showed why with a devastating display of clean hitting that enabled Somerset to race to their victory target of 180 with 9.5 overs to spare.An opening stand of 145 with skipper Jamie Cox offered a feast of batting. Cox drove the ball ferociously throughout his 83-ball innings, making 62, including 7 fours and 2 sixes.But even the Australian’s elegant strokeplay paled in comparison with his partner as Trescothick timed the ball sweetly from the start and became murderous as his innings progressed.He scored his unbeaten 92 off 109 deliveries, savagely pulling Matthew Flemingover mid-wicket for six and featuring a dozen other meaty boundaries in a powerful display.By the time Cox was out in the 29th over, caught by Matthew Walker at cover off another fizzing drive, Kent were already resigned to defeat.All bowlers were coming alike to Trescothick and Piran Holloway needed only to hold up an end as the victory charge reached an inevitable climax.Kent’s batting had let them down after Cox had won the toss and elected to field. Andy Caddick was predictably hostile in bowling his nine overs straight through at the start, sending back Robert Key and Rahul Dravid, in an excellent spell of 2-15.But other wickets were tossed away. Alan Wells and Mark Ealham were stumped off leg-side wides, both victims of brilliant work by Rob Turner, standing up to the medium-pacers.Skipper Fleming marched out at 84-6 and soon saw that score worsen to 112-8. But he then launched an impressive counter-attack, finding a resolute partner in David Masters.Together the pair added 66 for the ninth wicket, with Fleming flourishing after a watchful start to blast 63, off 69 balls, with 7 fours and 2 sixes.The 44th over of the innings, sent down by Trescothick, cost 21 runs. A no-ball beamer was flicked for four by Fleming, plus the extra two runs, and the following free-hit was deposited over the mid-wicket boundary for six.Trescothick’s bowling figures were transformed from 2-21 off seven overs to 2-42 off eight. Presumably, he spent the tea interval contemplating revenge.There was one oddity in the Kent innings when Wells, on one, was adjudged run-out by umpire Allan Jones after Trescothick had thrown the stumps down from second slip with the batsman out of his ground.Wells was clearly unhappy with the decision, which was rescinded when it was realised the ball had reached Trescothick via wicketkeeper Turner and was therefore deemed to be dead when the throw was made.

The Bengal-Assam Cooch Behar Trophy Under 19 encounter ended on thesecond day itself after Bengal thrashed minnows Assam by an inningsand 140 runs. On winning the toss at the world famous Eden Gardenscricket ground at Calcutta, Assam put Bengal into bat. Apart fromlosing the toss, Bengal could do nothing wrong.Opener Arindam Das with a solid 133 (209 balls, 10 fours) gave Bengalexactly the kind of start they needed. Although his partner andskipper AP Chakraborty managed just 29, Arindam Das found an ablepartner in Subhamoy Das. Coming in at the fall of the first wicket,Subhamoy Das helped himself to 103 (141 balls, 10 fours, 1 six) andshared a partnership of 240 runs for the second wicket. Goodcontributions following the demise of the centurions saw Bengal reach336/4 in just 73 overs. Having declared at this stage, Bengal ruinedAssam’s chances by reducing them to 21/5. The first three batsmenfailed to score for Assam.On the second day, the misery continued for Assam as they slipped to42/8. A quick 35 from B Baruah at number nine enabled Assam to reach92 before being all out. Sabir Ali, who opened the bowling for Bengalreturned figures of 5/28 from his 12 overs. Having failed to make thecut, Assam were asked to follow on.In their second stint at the crease, the visiting side did onlymarginally better. They were shot out for 104, with all batsmenfailing once more. On this occasion it was Gourav Sharma who rippedthrough the batsmen, picking up 6/36 off 17 overs. What Sharma failedto do, Tanweer Hyder Khan finished, claiming the remaining wickets andbagging 4/22. In the end, Bengal had immense reason to celebrate,having registered a thumping win by an innings and 140 runs.

Otago answered several of their new coach’s calls when they outplayedAuckland towin their Shell Trophy cricket match at Eden Park today with six wicketsand a dayto spare.Otago, 157 ahead of Auckland on the first innings, stopped the morestubborn Auckland second innings at 201 late this afternoon, andcantered homewith 85 for four wickets, Matthew Horne leading the way with 50 not out.Dennis Aberhart, the burly master-mind of so many past Canterbury teamsis having his first season with Otago, and on today’s evidence his drillis producingthe right results.One of Aberhart’s aims it to get a winning habit in the Otago side.Theystarted badly in their first two games, against Central Districts andWellington.”Then we got a boost from the defeat of Wellington in the Shell Cupone-dayer and this win against Auckland makes it two in a row, and Otagodo notdo that very often.”Aberhart insists that his players develop a good work ethic, they playtosupport each other, and they try and do the basics properly.The Otago men worked very closely to those plans as they consistentlyout-played Auckland throughout most of the three days. Generally theirbowlersworked to an accurate line, although Aberhart was quick to point outthey were offcourse on the first morning when the new ball was sent zooming all overthe place.Thereafter the Otago medium-fast men kept fairly steady pressure on theerratic Auckland batsmen, with Paul Wiseman probing for other chinks inthe thinAuckland armour with his off-spin.It says much for the consistent work of the Otago bowlers, backed bycrispand energetic fielding, that no Aucklander could score 50 or over in anyof the 22innings. In fact only two Auckland batsmen, Richard King and Dion Nash(bothwho learned some or much of their early cricket skills in Dunedin) couldscore 30 ormore.King scored 34 and 49, Nash 32 and 49, and it said much for theconsistentquality of the Otago bowling that even these two batsmen seldom lookedinconfident or commanding mood.It may be the Auckland batting style on their home Eden Park No 2ground,or a quirk in the umpiring of two senior men, Barry Frost and DougCowie, butAuckland suffered from a lop-sided lbw count.\ No fewer than eight Aucklanders — five in the first innings, three inthesecond — were out leg-before, while Auckland won their only lbw appealhalfwaythrough Otago’s modest chase for victory this evening.The Otago quicker bowlers were consistent but not quite as dominatingasthat lbw statistic would suggest. Neither did the pitch contain anyspecial vices,although it was to Otago’s advantage that their skipper Matt Horne optedto bowlfirst.But the one-sided lbw count suggested, with more truth, that theAucklanders lacked concentration over longish periods, and that a reallygoodOtago delivery always had a chance to get past a lazy batting stroke.The Otago cricketers are not yet world-beaters. But on the Eden Parkevidence they are certainly not lazy about their cricket.

The chairman of the Interim Committee of the Board of Control forCricket in Sri Lanka, Vijaya Malalasekara, today pledged that the WestIndies would be here in December to play in the triangular tournament and thethree-match Test series.The Test and the triangular series against the West Indies were inthe BCCSL schedule, but there were doubts about the participation of theWest Indies since they had not confirmed anything.Yesterday Malalasekara told CricInfo, before leaving for the ICC meeting in London, that the West Indies had confirmed their participation and that they would definitely be here.Though Sri Lanka have been playing Test cricket for close to two decades, West Indies have played only three Tests against the island nation.The West Indies will start the tour with the triangular series, which also involves Zimbabwe, and then proceed to the three Tests.

March:
Cambridge 313-9 (S Kellett 105, N Mohammed 56).
Leicestershire Cricket Board 155. (T Smith 7-30).
Cambridgeshire won 158 runs.Hastings:
Sussex Cricket Board 210 (CM Mole 51).
Dorset 212-6 (GR Treagus 67).
Dorset won by four wickets.Shropshire:
Wales Minor Counties 205-9 (MJ Newbold 46, LO Jones 44, KP Evans 3-30, Asif Din3-25).
Shropshire 208-4 in 48.2 overs, (JBR Jones 48).
Shropshire won by six wickets.Cleethorpes:
Lincolnshire 254-9 (J Harrison 60, J Clarke 86, Cooper 4-32).
Staffordshire 241 (G Wright 69 & D Womble 73, D Pipes 4-47, SN Oakes 3-30)
Lincolnshire won by 13 runs.Keswick:
Cumberland 239-7 (AA Metcalfe 62, JD Glendenen 51no, TA Hunte 47).
Northumberland 221 (JA Graham 63, PJ Lawson 3-33, JM Fielding 3-59).
Cumberland won by 18 runs.

Gloucestershire carried on from their overnight score of 405 for 4, before declaring at a massive 603 for 8. Rob Cunliffe, who was not out overnight, was eventually dismissed for 120, while his overnight partner Chris Budd remained unbeaten on 159 at the declaration.Chris Budd, who plays club cricket for Thornbury Cricket Club, is a former Gloucestershire Under-19 player and is currently at the University of Bath.For Somerset Keith Parsons ended with 2 for 58 in 14 overs, Graham Rose took 2 for 84, and Cornishman Jason Hall 1 for 40 in his 8.5 overs.Matt Bulbeck did not take the field for the second day after suffering a hamstring injury on Tuesday, which is hopefully not too serious.The Somerset reply started at 2.30pm, and by close of play they had 218 for 4, with opener Chris Hunkin making 55, Mike Coles 46 and Graham Rose remaining unbeaten on 70 at stumps.

After some sincere efforts over the past 18 months to revolutionise Pakistan’s cricket with the help of Advisory Council, the PCB Chairman was not satisfied with the level of success. In a further move towards progress he has dissolved the Council and replaced it with 5 committees to run cricket in the country.Since some of the old `advisors’ have been retained, the Chairman still hopes to benefit from their know-how. This may be worthwhile for maintaining continuity and one cannot challenge their on field `cricket savvy, however, the fact remains that administering the game is entirely different from playing it. To become better planners and administrators, they need to re-orientate their thoughts and actions.It is unfortunate that the Chairman who happens to be a diehard cricket lover and a man of good intentions was not provided the right guidance to run the affairs of cricket. There were chinks in almost all fronts, starting from team selection to the administrative functions of the Board. While others suffered from one blemish or the other, Zahid Bashir the Marketing Advisor, was perhaps the only official who distinguished himself by giving a boost to the Board’s treasure chest.During the last 18 months the Pakistan Cricket team has had its ups and downs like some of the other cricket teams. Even the once mighty West Indies and England, the pioneers of cricket have recently performed poorly. Yet, there is no cause for despair and this decay in Pakistan’s performance can be arrested with a little re-orientation of policies and preferences.It is unfortunate during the period under discussion the emphasis remained on undue expansion of the Board. A new structure was put in place and at times it seemed that everything done in the past was thought to be no more than trash. Also there was some over-patronisation of newbies at the expense of experienced players and even cases of over-projection of achievements.Being an ardent cricket fan and a former Board official who worked for promotion and love of the game and not for the money, I feel frustrated to see my old organisation criticised in the media from right, left and centre. Having served the Board in three stints of over 8 years, the HQ at Gaddafi Stadium is more like a second home to me. The tarnishing of PCB’s image for faults and follies that can be rectified with a little imagination and thought, pains me.Considering the love for Pakistan’s cricket like a cherished treasure and the PCB’s next objective of winning World Cup 2003 as a national aspiration, I have decided to put across my views on the subject in a series of articles with the hope that they will be given dispassionate thought. I feel some of the comments may taste like a bitter pill but shall have to be swallowed for the good of Pakistan’s cricket. So here goes!First of all I would say that `yes men’ are the biggest enemies of any well-run organisation. Real friends or advisors are those who speak frankly and explain what is right and wrong. To prosper from this, the Chairman shall have to alter his thinking from military precision to a sportsman and develop the tolerance to accept disagreements as well as criticism.Cricket administration is a science, one learns by playing cricket at some level, acquires thorough knowledge of cricket through research and study and gains administrative experience by handling different aspects of the game from club to national levels. The essential pre-requisites being flexibility of thought, administration skills particularly when dealing with the common man, love for the game, dedication and other traits of this nature.It is a specialised field and just as officials or organisers cannot win test caps, similarly, all test cricketers cannot be good organisers and efficient managers of the game. Those handling affairs of the Board and the newly formed committees must be a blend of players as well as administrators so that they can reinforce and balance each other to hit at the correct solution of a problem. They must be able to bring both sides of a picture to the top management.Each establishment has its peculiar characteristics, organisation, constitution, aims and objectives, resources, spheres of influence, national as well as public demands, hopes and aspirations. It cannot be efficiently run on the pattern of a radically different and disciplined institution like the army.We must also try and adapt only those portions out of the ICC structure that fit our own norms and systems in this country.Just as the present set up took over, the Board’s establishment grew disproportionately to its role and the work involved. The offices as well as stadiums were stuffed with many irrelevant people, most of them having no cricket back ground.To quote one example: a doctor, instead of practicing his skills on the needy, was appointed Media Manager with no qualifications and experience as such. He toured half the world as Assistant Manager with his last stint being Cricket Analyst for the New Zealand tour. Having recently reverted to medicine, he is said to have cost the Board a lot of money and to what avail?In the old days the Cricket Board was run by half a dozen officials, it has now around two-dozen. Part of this could be explained if there had been a corresponding increase in the amount of cricket played but not really so. Commenting on such an unwieldy establishment, one of the national dailies remarked `the PCB had opened an employment exchange for the job seekers’. Why must the Board earn a bad name for pleasing people who are not specialists for the jobs they hold?From my assessment and experience of running the Cricket Board, except for increased activity on the commercial side that spins money from sponsorships, nothing else has changed. Moreover, there is no expansion in the field of domestic cricket and even the visits of foreign teams to Pakistan are far less than they were in the past. Thus the expansion in Marketing is justifiable the rest is not.I would, therefore, humbly suggest conducting `right-sizing’ of the Board to reduce expenditure, gain efficiency and save the Board from undue criticism.
(To be continued)

Mighty English batsman Adrian Rollins will return to captain Taranaki in New Zealand next season.”It will be my last,” the two metre tall opener told CricInfo. A growing family and two years of non-stop cricket will mean the Northamptonshire opener won’t continue after a successful run of form in 2000/1.”The main reason I went was to get my game back and get back into a positive frame of mind,” the powerful right-hander revealed.”I like to score quickly,” he continued. I normally go out and just try to attack the bowling.”However after seven seasons at Derbyshire, Rollins hoped for new lease of life at Midlands’ neighbours Northants backfired.”Statistically it was the worst season of my career,” the 105 kg heavyweight admitted. In 2000 he scored just 636 runs at 26.50.”I haven’t done as well as I should have since coming here from Derbyshire,” he conceded, “but New Zealand regained my positivity.””I tried to play anchor last year for some reason, but I’m back to the old style now,” he said candidly.That old style has an Ashes link. Aussie openers Michael Slater and Matthew Hayden have been Rollins’ opening partners for much of his career, first at Derby, then Northampton.”They rubbed off on me,” said the man who first played county cricket on the same day as his brother, former Essex wicketkeeper Robert, back in 1992.Twelve first-class centuries later, Rollins has still to reach his potential. An early season leg injury hampered his progress after averaging “about 70″ for Taranaki in New Zealand’s second-string Hawke Cup competition. The only team Rollins feared in NZ was Manawatu, captained by Jacob Oram and featuring many Central Disticts’ players.Rollins revealed he may not have won the call-up to Dipak Patel’s ambitious side if it wasn’t for the presence of prolific English professional Ben Smith.Rollins first played in New Zealand for Kaponga in 1993/4.”I enjoy it a lot over there,” he concluded. “I’m definitely going back.”

England’s Under-19 cricketers are facing the problem of how to contain a powerful West Indies outfit which is already 289 runs ahead with five wickets still standing.With one day remaining in the First Test at Leicester, West Indies are 254-5.England took their overnight score from 207-7 to 243 all out thanks largely to a last-wicket stand of 32 between James Anderson and Andrew McGarry. Left-arm seamer Kenroy Peters took his haul to six wickets.Then Grenadian left-hander Devon Smith stroked 90 off 162 balls, with 13 foursand a six over long on, to record his fifth score of 50 or more against Englandon this tour.Before he was caught at mid on, Smith shared a third-wicket stand of 101 in 100minutes with Tonito Willett from the idland of Nevis.Willett scored 75, with 14 fours off 113 balls, before being caught behind offLancashire seamer Anderson, who took three for 45 in his 17 overs.