Michael Bevan’s 89 n.o. was instrumental in Sussex Sharks defeating Yorkshire Phoenix by 70 runs in their National League Division One match at Arundel. The Australian now averages 105 from eight innings in the competition. The visitors never looked like reaching their 273 runs target and were out for 202 with three overs to go.Bevan hit eight fours in only 81 balls at the crease against his former side.Yet he had been missed at long-off when still in single figures. His compatriot Darren Lehmann had almost matched his performance in scoring 89 in as many deliveries and shared a 68 runs eighth-wicket partnership with Ryan Sidebottom.Yorkshire had got off to a slow start to their quest with Matthew Wood and David Byas scoring 49 runs in 11 overs. After the fall of two wickets Byas, too, was dismissed – to a spectacular run out to James Kirtley.Sussex’ win had been set up in the 76 opening stand in 15 overs between Chris Adams (54) and Richard Montgomerie (44). The former hit five fours and a six in his fourth consecutive half-century and his 47 runs stand with Bevan set the Australian on the way to his own match-winning innings.Ninety-eight runs were scored of the last 66 balls. Will House, who hit 32 runs from 24 deliveries, helped Bevan put on 58 runs for the fifth wicket. Bevan hammered Paul Hutchinson for three boundaries out of 18 runs in the final over.

London-This was more like it but, through no fault of their own, it stillamounted to very little.After a couple of days’ slack cricket that cost them the second Testand the opening match of the NatWest Series of One-Day Internationalsagainst Zimbabwe, the West Indies needed an uplifting performance intheir second match in the triangular against England here yesterday.They were putting the pieces back together again when they were foiledby the weather.No shoddinessMaking the obvious choice of bowling on Jimmy Adams’ call of the toss,there was none of the shoddiness that cost them dearly againstZimbabwe on Thursday.Adams changed tactics, his bowlers enforced them, and they restrictedEngland to 158 for eight from 43.5 overs before the gray skies thathad shrouded London all day eventually produced increasingly heavy andpersistent rain.The contest was abandoned at 5 p.m. as water began to settle on partsof the outfield. But the abandonment had been obvious from an hourearlier.The teams, both felled by the surprising Zimbabweans in their openingmatches, had to content themselves with a point each. It leavesZimbabwe with a useful early cushion of three points and heightens thepressure on the West Indies, in Canterbury tomorrow, and England, inOld Trafford under lights on Thursday, to win their next matchesagainst them.Each team plays the other twice to determine the finalists for Lord’son July 22.Even allowing for their all-out second innings 54 in the Test on thesame ground on a pitch not dissimilar in its encouragement of movementoff the seam and generous, if unreliable, bounce, the West Indieswould feel aggrieved at the watery outcome.England, their batting described by captain Alec Stewart as ‘thick’when bowled out for 207 by Zimbabwe at the Oval on Saturday, would berelieved.In Bristol on Thursday, Reon King and Franklyn Rose had been entrustedwith the new ball and Zimbabwe were flying at 57 for two after 10overs.Nixon McLean was used second change and bowled accordingly.Now McLean was given the new ball from the Pavilion End and wasengergised by the promotion.He sent down seven opening overs of genuine pace and hostility,setting the tone with an opening maiden in which four balls flashedpast left-hander Marcus Trescothik’s bat.By the time he gave way to Rose, he had removed Alec Stewart to afirst slip catch and Graeme Hick to Ridley Jacobs’ tumbling, low catchoff an under-edge cut, and had yielded only 18 runs.Corey Collymore, who was preferred for his first major match of thetour to King, shared the new ball with McLean. Adams gave him hisallotted 10 overs on a stretch and, while he sent down the occasionalhalf-volley and short ball, he moved his inswingers, one of which sodeceived Matthew Maynard he raised his bat and let it hit off-stump.England were then 47 for three in the 14th over and struggling.Trescothik, a tall, clean striker who was topscorer on his debutagainst Zimbabwe the previous day, restored some balance in a lefthanded partnership of 52 in 12 overs wth Graham Thorpe, but Englandwere never allowed to break free of the initial bind.Chris Gayle, dropping on a spot that challenged the batsmen to come athim, replaced Collymore from the Nursery End while Rose and thenMervyn Dillon alternated from the pavilion.Delivering his off-breaks from an ambling two paces, Gayle gave uponly 28 and not a single boundary from his nine overs. As bonuses, heaccounted for topscorer Tresccothik who popped up a gentle returntrying for a single to raise his 50 and came back later for a solitaryover during which he knocked back Mark Ealham’s off-stump.At the opposite end, Rose bowled with the control he had managed onlyin spurts previously on tour, taking three wickets from nine overs,and Dillon simply picked up where he left on Thursday with threemaidens and 13 runs from 6.5 overs when the rains set in.Trying to accelerate, as England had to, Craig White touched a catchto Jacobs attempting a steer to third man, Thorpe drove loosely intomidoff’s lap and Andy Caddick chipped to midwicket, all off Rose.By then, it was becoming obvious the exercise would be futile in termsof points but the disappointment was tempered by the necessaryboost to morale.

If the New Zealand Cricket Academy sent a team to participate in theBuchi Babu Invitation Tournament 2000 to gain experience on subcontinent wickets, they seem to have achieved that already. Afterrocking Tamil Nadu Districts XI out for a paltry 153 on the first day,the visitors began the second day on 34/1.Although Jacob Oram managed to pile on a brisk 54 and Aaron Redmondhelped himself to a sedate 71, the day belonged well and truly toNorthern Districts batsman Hamish Marshall. At the crease unconqueredat the end of the day, Hamish Marshall had a massive 155 to his name.His knock alone surpassed the combined score of the Tamil NaduDistricts XI team. The stocky batsmen who usually bats around numbersix, was in commanding form. Spinners and pacemen alike could notdislodge him as he crossed landmark after landmark. Although he didnot clear the ropes even once in his stay at the crease, he pepperedthe boundary with 19 strokes.Hamish Marshall flourished especially luxuriously in the company ofJames Franklin, who led New Zealand Under-19s not so long ago in theWorld Cup at Sri Lanka. Franklin rotated the strike around well andwhen the partnership was finally broken, the pair had added 120.Earlier in the day, Jacob Oram combined with Marshall to notch up aquick partnership of over 150 from 43.4 overs.When stumps was called, New Zealand had lost 8 wickets, but that washardly of any consequence as they were far ahead of the Tamil NaduDistricts XI score. At 382/8, the Kiwis had added nearly 350 runs onthe second day of this three day game. The New Zealand Academy XI willno doubt press hard tomorrow for an outright win.

Karachi, Nov 7: Karachi Whites chalked up their fourth victory in theQuaid-i-Azam Trophy National Grade-I Cricket Championship with acrushing 208-run triumph over Gujranwala at the KCCA Stadium here onTuesday.The home side hardly felt the absence of their strike bowler DanishKaneria on Monday. The leg-spinner left for Lahore to join thenational camp for the first Test.Karachi Whites were allowed by the match referee Sikander Bakht toreplace Kaneria with pacer Kashif Ibrahim as per clause 3.iii in thePCB playing conditions, which clearly states that if a player iscalled on national duty during the course of a match, substitute willbe allowed who may bat and bowl.Kashif bowled eight overs but failed to take wicket.The match ended on a premature note, 35 minutes after lunch on thefourth and final afternoon, when the Abdul Rehman was unable to bat inGujranwala’s second innings because his left hand was heavily bandagedas result of the injury he sustained on Sunday evening.Rehman is likely to be out of action for 10 days at least.Resuming at the overnight score of 69 for three, the visitors lost theremaining six wickets for 92 runs. The only redeeming feature forGujranwala was Zahid Fazal’s gallant contribution of 74.The 27-year-old Test discard added 36 to his Monday’s tally of 38before his 182-minute stay was finally over with the total on 132.Adnan Malik on the long-on fence held a well-judged catch to provideoff-spinner Tahir Khan his third of four wickets.Zahid’s 188-ball knock was laced with 11 fours. He was involved in theonly major partnership of the innings with his captain Majid Saeed,who made 21 off 111 deliveries. The pair put on 71 for the fourthwicket in 123 minutes.Both Tahir and the slow left-armer Adnan Malik bowled with greatcontrol and variation to share all the wickets to fall on Monday.Tahir finishing with four for 44 in 24 overs while Adnan, who was notrequired to bowl in the first innings, chipped in with two for 28 in15.2 overs.With the maximum points from this win, leaders Karachi Whites have 51points to their credit. They take on Sheikhupura at the UBL SportsComplex from Friday in the sixth round.

When Matthew Horne won the toss and put Canterbury into bat at Molyneux Park, Alexandra, the immediate thought by those present was that he would be expecting a great deal of help from bowlers to dismiss this his province’s most ancient of enemies.Unfortunately for Horne this did not happen and on a helpful greenish wicket the Otago bowlers bowled poorly in the first session with Canterbury being only 41-1 at lunch.After lunch it was a different story and Shayne O’Connor and Warren McSkimming in particular bowled well and with some venom on a pitch which still gave the bowlers help. At 87-6 Canterbury were very much on the back foot but innings of real value from Warren Wisneski (36), Stephen Cunis (33) and Aaron Redmond (44 not out) took their total to 201 all out. It was pretty deadly stuff but in the circumstances well merited and from a situation at one stage of some embarrassement the Red and Blacks reached a total of respectability.Bowling for Otago Warren McSkimming with 4-43 from 21 overs looked good and appears to have a very promising future while O’Connor (3-56 from 22 overs) also impressed in the main as did Craig Pryor (2-39 from 21 overs). David Sewell (1-47 from 19 overs) bowled too much down the leg side but it should be added in the first and third sessions the other bowlers could also be accused of similar lethargy at times.Setting out to score 202 for the first innings points Otago suffered an early set back when Test opener Mark Richardson was dismissed for two. His New Zealand partner Matthew Horne did however look quite good and scored freely particularly from some wayward Canterbury bowling in the main of Wade Cornelius and Warren Wisneski.When the one hundred overs were completed for the day’s play the Otago total had reached 57-1 with Horne on 42 and Craig Cumming 13 not out.The prospects for day two look good with a favourable weather forecast, a pitch which has lost its greenness, and an apparent determination by the Otago batsmen to gain a good first innings lead.

* Dambulla stadium removed from list of venuesThe Sri Lanka Cricket Board’s (BCCSL) interim committee on Thursdaytook the decision to remove the controversial Rangiri DambullaInternational Stadium from its list of venues for next month’s one-daytriangular series. Interim committee sources said the decision to takethe matches away from Dambulla was arrived at on the advice of theirlawyers and, with the consultation of the Sports Minister. They saidlegal implications on the ownership of the land was the main issueregarding the change of venue.The interim committee was looking out for an alternative venue to playthe three matches involving Sri Lanka, India and New Zealand. Thematches are due to be played between July 25-28. Galle InternationalStadium and the Saravanamuttu Stadium in Colombo are being looked atas alternate venues.The Dambulla stadium, built in a record time of 175 days at aninitially estimated cost of Rs. 300 million, hosted the first one-dayinternational between Sri Lanka and England on March 23. Since then alegal dispute over the ownership of the land and the allegedmismanagement of finances which is currently under investigation haveraised a question mark against staging of international matches atthis venue. The first four-day unofficial Test between Sri Lanka A andPakistan A is currently being played there.* Blind cricketers preparing for World CupThey are fans of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly.Whenever they have the opportunity, they rush to the Eden Gardens tosee these stars play. Now, they themselves are preparing for the WorldCup at New Zealand in December this year. Every day, one can find themsweating out on a small piece of land in the Maidan area of Kolkata.But ask them, and they will tell you that even though they have beento the Gardens, they have never seen the stars play. They have noteven seen pictures of the Indian cricketers on the telly or in thenewspapers. Surprising isn’t it? But then these cricketers are blind.Gaurav Goenka, Chandan Maity, Pradip Jha, Santosh Sahani and LNAdhikari are four blind cricketers from Bengal who are practicing dayand night to be ready for selection to the camp for the probables. Onewas surprised to see the manner in which they played the game. The batwas the normal one. The ball was of plastic with small ball bearingsinside. The bowling was under arm and the batsmen played their shotsdepending on the sound that the bearings made as the ball was rolledalong the pitch. The fielders also did the same, moving in thedirection of the sound that the ball emitted. "We do not find itdifficult," said Goenka. He even asked this correspondent to bowl andconfidently handled under arm leg spin. Even when the pace was varied,Goenka was equal to the task.The cricketers however, have one complaint. The apathy of the CricketAssociation of Bengal (CAB) towards them. "We do not have a properplace to practice," laments Pradip Jha. Repeated requests to the CABhave been of no avail. "But then we fight on simply because we lovethe game," said Jha. One can see their tenacity. They do not want anysympathy but help for going ahead in life. "We will not be able tosee what you write for us," is their chorus. But please come again.We need your moral support," says Goenka. One realizes that eventhough the cricketers are blind, they give a light of hope to allthose who fight darkness.* Newly formed associations in wrangling matchWrangling between two newly-formed cricket associations of the newstate has taken a curious turn with the Cricket Association ofJharkhand (CAJ) filing two cases against the JCA (Jharkhand CricketAssociation) in two courts praying for injunction on JCA’s election onJune 17.Both the cases were filed on Wednesday by CAJ annual member Jaki Ahmedin the Munsiff Court in Jamshedpur and the CAJ secretary Prabir Kumarin the Saraikela Court in Saraikela-Kharswan district praying for thepermanent injunction on the JCA election on June 17 or on any otherdate. Both petitioners contended “JCA is a fake organisation,practically not in existence.” Contending that the CAJ was the onlylegally constituted organisation in Jharkhand formed with members fromthe Bihar Cricket Association (BCA), the petitioners said on thenotice of former BCA secretary, BN Singh on January 7, theconstitution of the CAJ was drafted on March 18.Following the notification of the JCA to conduct elections on June 17,the CAJ counsels prayed for permanent injunction on JCA to hold anyelection on June 17 or on any other date. “JCA’s notice on May 31 isillegal and inoperative” as it has “no legal right, authority or locusstandi to hold election of office bearers on June 17 or on any otherdate,” they said in the courts. The petitioners also accused the JCAchief, Deval Sahay and the chairman of adhoc committee, SP Sinha fortrying to create disturbances in the smooth running of CAJ after beingfrustrated in their attempt to capture power.The two organisations came into being after the creation of Jharkand.The election of CAJ was held here on May 13 in the presence of theChief Judicial Magistrate, AK Singh in which 298 members participatedand office bearers and committee members were duly elected.

Portsmouth have stolen a march at the top of Southern Electric Premier League Division 2 after fighting back to beat Lymington by four wickets after an absorbing tussle at St Helen’s, Southsea.With Sparsholt also losing their unbeaten record – they crashed to a nine-wicket defeat at Trojans – Portsmouth are out in front at the top.The prospects of Portsmouth’s solitary unblemished record remaining intact appeared unlikely as they dipped to 90-5, chasing Lymington’s 205-6.But a splendid 72 by former Hampshire all-rounder Lee Savident, which preceded a match-clinching partnership between Raj Maru (37 not out) and schoolboy Michael Barnes (26 not out), turned a yo-yo match on its head.The game, which swung back and forth throughout the afternoon and evening sessions, produced some exhilerating stroke play, often followed by woeful dismissals.Both teams began their respective innings as if the win points were to be decided after 16 overs, instead of 50.Australian all-rounder Brian Clemow set a familiar pattern, blasting Dave Tiller out of the Portsmouth attack inside six overs as Lymington progressed to 43-0 in quick time.But when Maru introduced his left-arm spin into the attack at the sea end, Lymington’s initial charge was checked.First, Maru lured former county 2nd XI team-mate Glyn Treagus out of his ground and then, several overs later, bowled Clemow for a hard hit 37.Maru (2-27) and Savident (1-24) applied the brake to such an extent that Lymington lurched unconvincingly to 112-5 before the tide began to turn again.Despite suffering from hamstring strains, Neil Trestrail (60) and Dave Coles (44 not out) put bat to ball to great effect in a 45-minute aerial assault immediately before tea to lift the Lymington total to 205-6.Portsmouth came out of the traps with all guns blazing – South African teenager Stephen Cook (30) and Matt Keech producing a selection of sweetly timed drives and pulls.Lymington looked set to buckle as Portsmouth swept majestically to 55-1 in the eighth over.But Cook tried one shot too many and spooned up a return catch, Keech was run out (by Treagus) in a mix-up with Savident, then Jason Carr claimed his third scalp when he bowled Paul Dew.Portsmouth had scored 56 runs, yet lost four wickets inside a bizarre opening ten overs – and the game was back in the balance.The city club needed a responsible innings from Lee Savident and got one – the former Hampshire player producing the key knock of the match, amid the loss of a fifth Portsmouth wicket at 90.But the ball from Daniel Peacock that bowled James Moon proved curiously counterproductive for Lymington.Wicket keeper Dave Burgess needed hospital treatment after the ball struck him in the mouth – and Lymington, already handicapped by a variety of injuries, were left to field for the last hour or so with only ten men.For the second time in the match, the experience of Maru took a decisive hand – and wrested the initiative away from the visitors.Maru, missed before he had scored, provided the ideal foil as Savident struck a six and eight fours in a splendid 72 before being stumped by deputy `keeper Dave Coles at the second attempt.But Hampshire’s Development Coach had no need to concern himself at Savident’s dismissal.He dabbed and swept his way towards a crucial 37 not out – but left the final accolade to schoolboy prospect Michael Barnes, who completed Portsmouth’s victory celebration in real style.Five times in what was to prove the last over, the highly rated 16-year old, who had earlier produced a polished performance behind the stumps, cracked Jason Carr to the boundary.It was a five-star finish by a youngster who has the potential to go a long way in the game …

LONDON – The Marylebone Cricket Club today said it had received theapproval of Australian Cricket Board chief executive Malcolm Speed andhis Pakistan equivalent over new security measures for tomorrow’s oneday final at Lord’s.The MCC, the controllers of the famous north London ground, announcedsteps including the banning of flags, banners, musical instruments and,according to its chief executive Roger Knight, “anything else that mightbe a missile”.This included fireworks — such as those which prompted Tuesday’swalk-off by the Australians at Trent Bridge.”Anyone found with fireworks will immediately be ejected from the crowdand it is possibly a criminal offence,” Knight said.The MCC has decided, however, not to try to stop the crowd invading theground by the use of plastic mesh fencing, which was trialed with somesuccess at Trent Bridge. Knight said this was because of the”configuration of the ground”.The number of stewards and police patrolling the crowd would be”considerably higher” than usual, Knight said.But he was reluctant to go into specifics such as the number ofofficials who would be patrolling the ground, saying it would be best ifonly a few details of security plans were publicised.He said stewards would “robustly” search spectators as they entered theground, but could not guarantee that every ticket holder would bechecked.England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) chief executive Tim Lamb said he,Speed and Pakistan’s Brigadier Munawar Rana had today met with Knightand MCC security chiefs and that all were satisfied with thearrangements made.Team captains Steve Waugh and Waqar Younis would be briefed later today.”I think I can speak on behalf of the chief executives when I say we’revery happy with the additional measures Roger and his team have put inplace,” Lamb said.Lamb added cricket authorities in England would still need governmentlegislation to allow greater measures against pitch invasions, which,when occurring at the end of a day’s play, have long been seen as atradition at grounds here.Knight said TV broadcasters had also agreed not to focus their camerason the crowd, and nor would their antics be shown on the big screen atthe ground.Stewards would patrol the outer reaches of the Lord’s complex, whilepublic address announcements would be made in all languages relevant tofans of both teams.The measures were announced in the wake of several pitch invasionsduring the English summer so far, amid concerns that it is simply toodifficult to stop all fans running onto grounds of this size.Waugh has threatened to lead his players off the field in the event thathis team’s safety is compromised, a move backed by Speed.Knight said he respected Waugh’s stance, but felt the measures put inplace would prevent the chance of a walk-off.”Obviously Steve Waugh has a responsibility to his team. We too as theground authority have a responsibility to them,” Knight said.”If there was a seriously dangerous situation I would advise the teamsto go off the ground.”But at this stage we are not anticipating that would happen.”

Following the four day game against The Australians at Taunton Somerset Chief Executive Peter Anderson was in bouyant mood.He told me: “from a cricketing point of view it was a great success. It was a pleasure to watch the Australians play. Their batsmen were an object lesson for our young cricketers to learn from and played with a straight bat. They were very athletic in the field, and their bowlers were very disciplined, and bowled to their field.”With regard to the finances of the situation he told me “over the course of the four days 15,000 people came to watch and we grossed £100,000, so financially the match was a success for the club.”Regarding the two Pakistan Test players who guested for the county he said “all of our members know that the bottom line for the club is to retain our first division status in the County Championship and the Norwich Union National League, and to do this we have to rest key players for crucial matches on the run in at the end of the season. We introduced the two Pakistan players to add interest to the fixture.”

Coach Duncan Fletcher has set England a target of 350 in the first innings of the Second Ashes Test at Lord’s.With the home side on 121-4 after a first day punctuated by weather interruptions, that may seem a tall order but Fletcher believes his batsmen have so far performed well.And, of course, Graham Thorpe is still there on 16 off 38 balls and he looked confident on the first day despite his seven-week lay-off because of a calf injury.Fletcher said: “Mark Ramprakash’s was an important wicket; we’d have been alot more comfortable going into tomorrow only three down.”I thought after they way we looked at Edgbaston they batted well. Out of thefour dismissals, three were to really good deliveries.”Maybe Marcus Trescothick would look at his and say it was a bit of a rashshot. The one that got Ramprakash came back up the hill. Mark Butcher got a goodone. I thought the guys batted well.”Obviously we are looking at 350. That’s the score we should try and get to,but it’s a wicket that’s offered something and hopefully it will continue thatway for the next couple of days.”With Graham, we realised it was a bit of a risk because he hadn’t played forsome time.”The most important thing was that Graham was very confident, he wanted toplay, he wanted to go out there and do battle with the Aussies. The mental sideis very, very important. I think he looked pretty good.”Tomorrow will be very important. Hopefully Stewart and Thorpe can put on agood partnership and we can build towards that 350.”Australian coach John Buchanan said: “It was a day when it was hard for anyside to build any momentum.”I suppose having sent England in, getting four wickets on reasonably benignwicket, we are reasonably pleased.”Overall our bowling performance was better than the First Test. The areas webowled in were much better than at Edgbaston.”Thorpe and Stewart will be our first priorities tomorrow, obviously.Thorpe’s come to the crease handled himself reasonably well. There are areasthere we hope to exploit tomorrow.”Mark Waugh’s catch of Mark Butcher at second slip was his 157th in Tests,equalling the world record of his former captain Mark Taylor, and Buchanan paid tribute to the player’s consistency in the slip cordon.Buchanan added: “I think Mark’s taken some amazing catches in the time thatI’ve been associated with the team.”This one was a nice one to have and I’d say there’s plenty more catchesround the corner for him in this series.”One of the key words for him is anticipation; no matter what position hefields in, he actually watches the ball from the bowler’s hand – not many players do that.”He has a feeling of the way it is going. No matter whether he’s on theground or standing still, the result’s still the same the way he catches theball.”I think that’s one of the secrets, he’s an athlete when the ball’s nearby -good reflexes.”