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The first day of the Ranji Trophy Central Zone League match beingplayed at KL Saini Stadium, Jaipur on Wednesday, saw Railways finishat 208/5 in 90 overs. Amit Pagnis steered Railways out of trouble witha steady innings of 86 studded with 11 fours. South paw Amit Pagnisadded 74 for the first wicket with S Bangar (24) in 24.6 overs. He wasalso associated in a 60 runs partnership for the third wicket in 32.4overs with Yere Goud who made 37. At the close of play PS Rawat with13 and S Sahu with 5 were at the crease. For Rajasthan, Sanjeev Sharmawas the best with the ball with figures of 25-11-41-2

Kerala did well in successfully defending a modest total of 137 in their KS Subbiah Pillai Trophy game against Andhra at the SPIC-YMCA ground in Chennai on Wednesday. They bowled out Andhra for 114 runs to win by 23 runs, in the process registering their second straight victory in the South Zone Ranji Trophy one day competition. They had defeated Goa by three runs on Tuesday.Put in to bat, Kerala found runs hard to come by in the face of some accurate bowling. They were off to a decent start with openers MP Sorab (30) and C Sanju (17) putting on 41 runs 14.2 overs. Skipper Sunil Oasis (23) and NA Kudua (26) added 43 runs for the fourth wicket off 13 overs to give Kerala hopes of ending up with a challenging total. But then ensued a sharp collapse with seven wickets going down for only 18 runs in the space of 6.5 overs and Kerala were dismissed in 47.3 overs. Three run outs compounded Kerala’s problems.Andhra were on the backfoot from the first ball of the innings when Tinu Yohannan bowled wicketkeeper LNP Reddy. Thereafter they lost wickets at regular intervals with only a fighting 50 by YV Rao being the saving grace. Rao faced 121 balls and hit two fours. Coming in after two wickets had fallen for 16 in the sixth over, Rao was ninth out at 114 in the 46th over. Andhra were all out at the same score the following over to suffer their second straight defeat. They had gone down to Hyderabad yesterday.

Everyone knows what Sachin Tendulkar does with his bat to bowlers andrecords. Very few know how much help he offers to his team-mates andtheir cricket.Any number of his young team-mates on this tour are spending a lot of time with the best batsman in the world and putting that advice into practice, often profitably.Shiv Sunder Das got over his opening blues with a century against CFX Academy on Saturday. He gratefully acknowledged the technical advice that Tendulkar had shared with him during the net sessions.”He told me a few things with my foot movement and body position in the nets,” said the little opener from Orissa. “I put it into practice in the middle and had immediate results.”Time and again Tendulkar had taken Das aside in the nets and given him practice against rising deliveries. Das had landed in a no-man’s land on a few occasions against bouncers aimed at his body by Glenn McGrath and Jason Gillespie during the recent tour by the Australians.It had been saving Das injuries but not his wicket. Tendulkar then advised him how to drop his bat and not instinctively raise it in front of his eyes. Also, he told him how he could deflect these bouncers away behind square for some runs.Das’ partner Sadagopan Ramesh is another case in point. Ramesh has this tendency to reach for the balls. On these bouncy wickets, it is the surest way to doom.”In this innings (of 42) against CFX, I was committing this mistake in the first hour. Sachin offered a fairly valuable piece of advice. He told me how I should look to play shots off my pads and also those cuts behind square. I had a far better stay thereafter.”Vice-captain Rahul Dravid says he seeks out Tendulkar whenever he feels the latter could be of help. “I check him out on little things, when I feel he could offer a valuable piece of advice”.The openers alone are not singing Tendulkar’s praises. Wicketkeeper and state-mate Sameer Dighe is also full of praise for the maestro.”He is always there when you need him. I remember the Chennai Test, my debut game. When I went into bat in the second innings, Tendulkar asked me to wear an elbow guard. Usually I never go for it. But I was so lucky I heeded his advice. When I went in, we needed some 40-odd runs for victory. As we inched closer, Gillespie started throwing bouncers. One such delivery hit my elbow guard and went to fine leg for two runs. The way that Test went, those two runs were absolutely critical. What is more I could have injured myself and been ejected out from the middle,” Dighe recalls.Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh is a die-hard Tendulkar fan too. “Anyone who plays this game, I think, is a fan of this little master”. The ‘Turbanator’, who tore apart the mighty Aussies in the recent series, acknowledges he learnt how to bowl with the new ball from Tendulkar.”I also seek him out to test myself in the nets, as often as I can. I want to test myself and do my best when bowling to him. It is a great confidence booster if I do well against him,” said Harbhajan.Yesterday morning, before the start of the second day’s play against the CFX Academy, Tendulkar sought out Ramesh, VVS Laxman and Hemang Badani for catching practice in the slips.He decided to make it interesting by giving grades to the catches the three picked: A for the best and B and C for the next best efforts.After a few hits, Ramesh indicated Tendulkar was hitting spliced catches too hard at him. But Tendukar would have nothing of it as he smashed the next ball with a full swish of the bat and the ball rocketed behind the slips and thudded into the sight sreen.Ramesh raised his hands in mock surrender and later admitted it was tough but “valuable practice.”Any discussion on the matter and Tendulkar shrugs his shoulders in his characteristic manner and is close to being embarrassed. “I only try to do what I observe, the little things that I notice,” the champ says modestly.

Pakistan did lose the final of the NatWest Series to Australia. However, despite this humiliating loss, one cheerful aspect of the tournament was their success against England in all three league matches. This was by far their best performance in ODIs against England on English soil, since the inaugural series between the two teams in 1974, when they outclassed the hosts 2-0. Unfortunately, Pakistan’s performance on subsequent tours had been dismal. They lost all the five one-day series played between 1978 and 1996. They also lost all the World Cup fixtures played against England in 1979 and 1983. However, by virtue of their recent successes in the NatWest Series, Pakistan have improved their past record in ODIs against England in England. They now have 8 wins in 23 matches played to date, yet England’s dominance with 15 victories continues.Below are brief highlights of One-Day Internationals Pakistan played on previous tours to England.1974
Pakistan won the series 2-0. Intikhab Alam’s men bested England at Nottingham by 7 wickets and at Birmingham by 8 wickets. Majid Khan scored a superb 109 at Nottingham and at Brimingham, Asif Masood, Majid Khan, Sarfraz Nawaz and Asif Iqbal took two cheap wickets each to account for England’s fall (81-9 in 35 overs).1978
Pakistan lost 0-2. At Manchester by 132 runs and at the Oval by 94 runs. Bob Willis and David Gower were the key players for England in the respective matches.1979
Prudential World Cup: At Leeds, Pakistan lost a closely fought match by 14 runs. Majid Khan’s 3/27 and Asif Iqbal’s 2/37 figures were bettered by ‘Man of the Match’ Mike Hendricks with 4/15.1982
Prudential Trophy: Pakistan lost the series 0-2. They lost at Nottingham by 7 wickets and at Manchester by 73 runs. Allan Lamb scored 118 at Nottingham and Mike Gatting 76 and Wasim Raja 60, both scored well at Manchester. In bowling, Ian Botham, Derek Pringle and Imran Khan were out standing.1983
Prudential World Cup: Pakistan lost both matches, at Lords and Manchester by 8 and 7 wickets respectively. Pakistan’s modest totals of 193/8 and 232/8 were easily overtaken by England in the two matches. Zaheer Abbas scored 83 not out at Lords and Javed Miandad 67 at Manchester.1987
Texaco Trophy: Pakistan lost the series 1-2. Chris Broad’s 99 brought victory to England by 7 wickets at The Oval. Dismissing England for a low total of 157 in 51.5 overs, Javed Miandad’s 71 not out steered Pakistan to a 6 wicket victory at Nottingham. England won the closely fought decider at Brimingham by one wicket and Javed Miandad scored 68. Phil DeFreitas was Man of the Match.1992
Texaco Trophy: Pakistan lost the series 1-4. England won by 79 runs at Lords, by 39 runs at The Oval, by 198 runs at Nottingham and by 6 wickets at Manchester. Pakistan’s narrow and lone victory was at Lord’s by 3 runs. Twice, England crossed the 300 runs mark: 302 for 5 at the Oval and 363 for 7 at Trent Bridge. Alec Stewart scored 103 at the Oval. Robin Smith, Alan Lamb, Neil Fairbrother, Graham Hick were other successful batsmen. Pakistan’s victory at Lord’s was mainly attributed to Javed Miandad’s 50 not out and Waqar Younis 3 for 36.1996
Pakistan lost 1-2. England won at Manchester by 5 wickets and at Birmingham by 107 runs. Man of the Match at Manchester, Mike Atherton scored 65 in England’s 226-5. At Birmingham, Nick Knight scored 113 and Ben Hollioake claimed 4 for 23. Despite Nick Knight’s another ton (126 not out), England lost by 2 wickets at Nottingham where Wasim Akram took 3/45 and Saeed Anwar (61) and Ijaz Ahmed (59) were the main scorers.NatWest Series 2001
Pakistan won all three round robin league matches in the tournament, eliminating England from the final. In the inaugural match, at Birmingham, Saeed Anwar’s 77 and Inzamam-ul-Haq’s 79 helped Pakistan reach a safe total of 273. In reply, England never looked in contention, failing in the end by 108 runs. Shahid Afridi claimed 3 for 15. Saeed Anwar won the Man of the Match award.
At Lord’s, the two teams fought a close match. Batting first, Pakistan were contained to 242 for 8. Yousuf Youhana scored a superb 81. Darren Gough, Andrew Caddick and Allan Mullally claimed three wickets each. In reply, England were coasting to victory at 196 for 4, but then came the slide and six wickets fell with the addition of only 44 runs. The home side lost the thrilling match on the last ball by 2 runs. Marcus Trescothick scored 137. Waqar Younis, Abdur Razzaq and Saqlain Mushtaq claimed two wickets each.
In the third match at Leeds, Waqar Younis produced remarkable seam and swing to claim 7 for 37, the second best performance ever in ODIs. England, after being ‘Waqared’, recovered from 7 for 58 to reach 156. Led by Abdur Razzaq’s fine 75, Pakistan were just 4 runs away from victory, with 6 wickets in hand, when Pakistan supporters invaded the pitch and a steward was injured in the melee for grabbing the stumps. This incident led Alec Stewart, the England captain, to take the unprecedented decision of conceding the match.

Results of ODI’s played by Pakistan against England in EnglandYear Won by Pakistan Won by England Tied/NR1974 2 0 -1978 0 2 -1979* 0 1 -1982 0 2 -1983* 0 2 -1987 1 2 -1992 1 4 -1996 1 2 -2001** 3 0 -8 15 –

* Matches played during World Cup
**NatWest Series

Skipper Darren Bicknell led Notts to a comfortable three-wicket win atTaunton to maintain their challenge at the top of Norwich Union League.Bicknell hit a stylish 79 and Paul Johnson 67 as the Outlaws passedSomerset’s total of 248-8 with an over to spare.For the Sabres it was a fifth defeat in eight games and they are looking at the prospect of a relegation battle, having only just survived in the First Division last season.Peter Bowler had given them hope by making 98 off 101 balls after the home side had won the toss in excellent batting conditions.Bowler hit two sixes and ten fours, but lacked support as the other leading Somerset batsmen contrived ways of getting out, having made a start.Even so, it looked a testing target for Notts, who raced away, scoring 92 off their first 15 overs, despite the early loss of Kevin Pietersen and Greg Blewett.Bicknell and Johnson put on 111 for the third wicket in rapid time before Bicknell was controversially adjudged run-out by stand-in square-leg umpire Peter Robinson, called in after David Shepherd hobbled off with a calf injury.There was an eye-catching contribution of 31 from talented teenager Bilal Shafayat, who together with Johnson, ensured the setback of losing Bicknell did not alter the course of the game.It was never an easy day for the bowlers and Notts’ South African left-arm seamer Greg Smith proved the most economical, conceding only 30 from his nine overs.He bowled with an accuracy and change of pace Somerset’s ragged attack could never match.

It was bad news for the youngsters at the National Cricket Academy(NCA) as they capitulated to a massive 164-run loss to BPL Sports Clubon the third day of the first match in the Coromandel Cement Cuptournament at the RSI ground in Bangalore on Monday.After conceding a first innings lead of 55 runs to BPL Sports Club,the NCA side allowed their opponents to make a very healthy 247/5 offtheir allotted 40 overs. Set a stiff target of 303 off 40 overs, theNCA team slumped to a meagre 138 all out in 27.5 overs.For the BPL Sports Club team it was Adithya Mishra who provided theimpetus. Scoring at more than a run a ball, Mishra managed 84 at thetop of the innings. Striking six boundaries and clearing the ropesthrice, Mishra spent a little over two hours at the crease beforefalling to mediumpacer Uday Karkera. When Mishra was dismissed, theBPL Sports Club score was 155/3 in 27.3 overs.Following Mishra’s dismissal, N Mulki (56 in 58 balls) and firstinnings top scorer C Raghu (40 in 30 balls) took BPL Sports Club to247/5 in 40 overs, leaving NCA the daunting target of 303 in 40 overs.In the face of the huge total, the NCA batting line up fell to bits.Vinayak Mane with 32 top scored while GI Singh and leggie Amit Mishrawith 22 apiece notched up the only significant scores of the innings.Wickets tumbled at regular intervals and Karnataka Ranji fast bowlerMansur Ali Khan was too good for the NCA finishing with figures of5/56 from 10 overs.

Adam Gilchrist steps into the cricketing spotlight tomorrow hoping to show that he has what it takes to lead Australia in the longer term.Gilchrist will captain Australia at Headingley in the fourth Test in place of Stephen Waugh, who tore his calf during their seven-wicket triumph at Trent Bridge. He aims to extend an extraordinary run of 20 wins from their last 22 Tests.With players like Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie, Shane Warne and Mark Waugh to call upon, Gilchrist will be hoping for as smooth a ride as he had last winter in the emphatic five-wicket win over West Indies at Adelaide.Groomed as the eventual successor to Waugh along with Ricky Ponting, Gilchrist coped well with the extra burden of leading the side and keeping wicket on that occasion, and he is the man in position to succeed when the current captain stands down.But in the unlikely event of Australia losing this Test, Gilchrist’s longer-term succession as skipper may come into question.During the Waugh era, Australia have emerged as the most dominant force in cricket for decades. Gilchrist is aware of the potential for complacency in this Test with the Ashes already retained.”We set certain goals for this series, the main one being winning the Ashes,and there is a genuine feeling among the group that this is still a veryimportant game,” he said.”In previous years Australia have supposedly not played well in dead rubbersand we’ve probably been guilty of that in previous Ashes series so we have thatas an incentive.”There is an additional need to adapt to the absence of Waugh, a world-class player with 20 wins from his 27 Tests in charge.”Take Steve out of any team and they are going to be worse off than if theyhad him,” admitted Gilchrist. “It’s a great challenge for me and the team totry and go out there and succeed without the great leadership and batsmanship ofSteve’s.”All I’ll be trying to do is keep the team functioning the same way, I won’tbe making any radical changes.”Steve’s leadership has been a huge part of our success and I’ll try andcontinue those themes and the direction the team has followed.”Gilchrist, who is playing in his first Ashes series, should also gain valuable indications as to whether he is cut out for captaincy on a long-term basis.”It’s going to be a good learning experience for me to find out if I’m thecricketer and the person that is capable of doing all those things,” he said.”I’m excited about it and it’s an honour and it’s good to have more of aninput into the game, but at this level I can’t remember too many games purelybeing won by a captain’s move or a piece of captaincy.”The direction of a game might change a bit and subtle things may help guideit the way you want it to go, but it’s more about a team effort in theperformance of the 11 players as a group effort.”Headingley has been a happy hunting ground for Australia in the recent past, despite the dramatic events there 20 years ago.They began their recent Ashes domination here in 1989 when they won by a massive 210 runs, eventually winning the series 4-0. They’ve also won convincingly in 1993 and 1997, scoring over 600 in an innings on each of those occasions, and they must sense the chance of another victory over the next few days.

India made good use of their only chance to gain match practice beforethe first Test at Galle next week, when they batted throughout thesecond day of this three-day warm up game against a Sri Lankan BoardXI at P Saravanamuttu Stadium today.Replying to the Board XI’s first innings score of 326 they were 281for five at the close after an opening century partnership bySadagoppan Ramesh and Shiv Sunder Das and an unbeaten fifty from adisgruntled Sourav Ganguly, whose high emotions continue to bubble.Yesterday, he was upset with media criticism back home and thesuggestion that he had been critical of Rahul Dravid’s captaincywhilst commentating on television during the Coca-Cola Cup. Today, hisfrustration centered on this Saravanamuttu pitch, which had alreadystarted to crumble yesterday afternoon.With a couple of deliveries jumping last night he was understandablyconcerned about further injuries to his depleted squad today. He triedto have the match moved to another venue, but acquiesced in the endwhen the curator filled some of the offending patches with mud.In the morning the wicket played truly and the Indian openers battedsedately. They saw off a fast new ball spell from Ruchira Perera andlively spells from both Suresh Perera and Dinusha Fernando. Das wasdropped twice in the thirties, but they generally looked verycomfortable, as they added 135 for the first wicket. It was notscintillating by any means – Javagal Srinath took the opportunity toread a novel on a grass bank next to two grazing nags – but its just thekind of start that India would dearly like in the Test matches.By the afternoon, however, the curators mud had clearly been baked dryby the burning sun and the wicket started to misbehave with increasingand disconcerting frequency. Ramesh was the first to suffer, as adelivery from Fernando popped from a good length and he was caught atmid off, having made 63 from 165 balls.The middle order then started to stutter. Das was bowled whilst tryingto sweep the left arm spin of Sajeewa Weerakoon for 72. Mohammad Kaifwas caught behind off a fine ball from Fernando having made just sixand Dinesh Mongia was brilliantly picked up by Sangakkara diving downthe leg side. India were 172 for four.Sourav Ganguly steadied the innings, finishing the day on 74, but hebecame increasingly annoyed by the behaviour of the pitch and wasrapped nastily on the gloves on two occasions, the second of whichprompted him to throw away his bat in disgust. When Sameer Dighejoined him at the wicket, after the fall of Hemang Bandani, he too wason the receiving end of a lifter. Ganguly could be seen gesticulatingto the dressing room in annoyance. Thankfully, they survived injuryfree to the close.With the captain having already scored runs and with Dighe unbeaten on25, it makes little sense to continue batting tomorrow and riskfurther injuries. In fact, there is a chance this game will beabandoned tomorrow morning – there is simply too much to lose and toolittle to gain.Even the Sri Lankan may not be too keen to play with four possibleTest players in the team, although the selectors have delayed their final meeting tomorrow so that can have another look at the batsmen.They had a good look at the fast bowlers though, one of whom is likely to play in Galle.The choice will be difficult. Ruchira Perera was the quickest and themost economical, conceding just 35 runs in his 17 overs, so hisbowling can be relied upon. Unfortunately, his on field behaviour maybe deemed unacceptable. This afternoon, having had three successiveappeals against Ganguly turned down, his disappointment crossed theline and, should a match referee have been present, he would surelyhave been hauled before him.The other contenders were also impressive at times. Suresh Perera was lively in his two spells, but expensive. Dinusha Fernando was also costly, but nevertheless picked up two wickets and could easily have had more.

After seeing Division One strugglers end the day with nearly four hundred runs on the board after being put into bat, Somerset Coach Kevin Shine told me, “It’s been a hard slog out there today for the boys. We need to try to get points on the board.”I asked him if the intention was always going to be to ask Northants to bat if Somerset won the toss. He told me “The conditions just before the captains tossed up became very overcast, in fact it looked like the end of the world, and that changed the decision and we put them in.”He went on “We’ve bowled and fielded better, but it hasn’t been a bad display out there by the team. It’s been a slog on an excellent wicket with pace but no swing. Now we have to work hard and get as many points on the board as we can before the 130 overs.”When he heard that the weather forecast was’nt looking all that good for the next few days the coach said,”If the game is called off because of the weather we will get five points which is what we need. However we didn’t go into this game thinking that we only needed five points we went into this one to win it to make sure of the runner’s up spot.”