The Zimbabwe Cricket Union has received with disappointment the news that the England and Wales Cricket Board has rejected the direction by the International Cricket Council to play in Zimbabwe, leading to the cancellation of tomorrow’s match between Zimbabwe and England.The Union is disappointed moreso for its players and the technical staff who have all worked very hard to ensure that they put up winning performances in all the Group-A matches of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2003 that Zimbabwe is hosting. Their readiness was evident in the match against Namibia on Monday.The ZCU also shares the disappointment of all the ground staff who work hard to maintain the Harare Sports Club pitch at world standards, as was again evident during the match against Namibia.It is unfortunate that all the plans by the ICC Cricket World Cup 2003 Zimbabwe Committee to build on the successful hosting of the World Cup opener against Namibia on Monday now have to be put on hold.However, the Union’s disappointment is made bearable by the fact that it walked the extra mile to make the match against England a reality.The ZCU Chairman Peter Chingoka, with legal adviser Alwyn Pichanick, went to Cape Town last Wednesday for the ICC’s Event Technical Committee hearing of the ECB request to relocate the Zimbabwe-England match on the grounds of safety and security. That request was turned down, as was the subsequent appeal before Justice Albie Sachs.Outside of the hearing and appeal sessions, the Zimbabwe delegation held private meetings with several representatives of the ECB and the English Professional Cricketers’ Association.This was with the view to reassuring them that it was and remains safe and secure for the England cricket team to fulfil its fixture in Harare.Further to this, the ZCU Managing Director, Vince Hogg, even accepted an invitation from the ECB to address the England team in Cape Town, but was regrettably ignored for more than three hours without even an introduction.Because the Event Technical Committee is now responsible for determining the consequences of the cancellation of the Zimbabwe-England match, the Union would like to assure all those who had bought tickets for the match that a statement will be made once there has been advice from the ICC Cricket World Cup 2003 Head Office.

New Zealand may be well into their World Cup campaign but soon after the Cup is completed, however far New Zealand progresses, a side has still to be picked for the tour of Sri Lanka.The tour, which starts on April 15, involves two two-day warm-up games, two Tests, starting on April 25 and May 3 respectively, and a one-day tri-series with Sri Lanka and Pakistan starting on May 10, with New Zealand’s first game on May 11, in which the New Zealanders will play the other two sides twice with a final being played on May 23.Given the fact that Nathan Astle will be missing from the side in order to have surgery on his knee, and that top-order batting spaces, as well as possible bowling spaces will be available, there is plenty of incentive for batsmen playing in the State Championship to be making a mark.With that in mind, the top of the run scoring list for the Championship lacks some names that might normally be expected to be there, most notably Mark Richardson and Matt Horne.Both are potential Test openers for New Zealand.Lou Vincent was used as Richardson’s opening partner in the home series against India this year but there was never the sense that he had claimed the position for himself.And if run scoring is anything to go by, it may not be an issue that has been cleared up, to this stage at least.Going into today’s seventh round of games in the Championship, Richardson had scored 227 runs at 32.42 so far from his five matches. That placed him in 21st place on the list for most runs and with Pakistan’s Mohammad Wasim and Gloucestershire county professional Craig Spearman out of the running, 19th on the list.Horne was four places further back on 220 runs at 31.42.Sitting on top of the list was Wellington’s consistent Richard Jones, who had 438 runs at 43.80, but perhaps more significantly with the longer term aim in view, in second was Rob Nicol with 436 runs at 54.50 and Tim McIntosh 425 at 53.12.Wasim was next in line with Michael Papps the only other New Zealander to have scored more than 400 runs with his 402 at 44.66.Given that Richardson is unlikely to be overlooked unless affected by injury, the way may well be clear for the selectors to look at introducing new blood.Where does Mathew Sinclair fit into all this? Is Jones at 29 years out of the selectors thoughts? Or is the inclination to draft a younger player into the side?The other area of interest is in the faster bowling stakes.Shane Bond is a must to be in the side before joining with Warwickshire in the County Championship. But who might accompany him: World Cup squad members Daryl Tuffey, Kyle Mills, or the recovering from injury Ian Butler and Shayne O’Connor?Where do Jacob Oram and Andre Adams fit into the picture? Will some of the players be regarded as one-day specialists and sent for the latter part of the tour? Where does the 12th man from the Indian series Michael Mason fit into the scheme of things? And what of Chris Cairns?At the moment, Iain O’Brien heads the bowling list with 25 wickets at 15.60. Andrew Penn is second on 23 wickets at 18.91 while O’Connor has 22 wickets at 18.13.Mason is behind Wellington’s Matthew Walker (22 wickets) on 21 wickets at 18.95 while Butler, who has played only three games has 14 wickets at 18.71.And what of the spinning situation? Clearly a slow bowler will be needed to accompany Daniel Vettori. The best-performed to date is the former international Paul Wiseman with 12 wickets at an average of 38.33.Left-arm slow Bruce Martin has nine wickets, as does Glen Sulzberger, but their respective averages are 23.22 and 53.11. Leg-spinners Brooke Walker and Aaron Redmond have eight wickets each, at averages of 33.75 and 30.37.It is not exactly the most dazzling case to put before the selectors. So the last four rounds offer plenty of scope for potential team-members.Although there has been a plethora of one-day cricket, it is worth remembering that the incumbent Test team is: Richardson, Vincent, Stephen Fleming, Craig McMillan, Astle, Scott Styris, Oram, Robbie Hart, Vettori, Tuffey and Bond.

Philip Weston, the 29 year-old Worcestershire left-handed opening batsman who joined the county in 1989, has been released from the final year of his contract. He has joined Gloucestershire on a two-year deal.Weston appeared in 170 first-class matches for Worcestershire, scoring 9,132 runs at an average of 34.07 with 17 hundreds. He was not as well-suited to limited-overs cricket in which he played 128 matches, scoring 2,157 runs at an average of 20.94 but he did manage two centuries.He captained England at Under 19 level and in 1991 scored 146 in an Under 19 `Test’ against the Australian Young Cricketers side captained by Damien Martyn and including Adam Gilchrist.He comes from a sporting family of the highest pedigree. His brother, Robin, has played for Durham, Derbyshire and Middlesex, while father, Mike, played minor counties cricket for Durham and was a notable rugby union international winning 29 England caps.Director of cricket at Gloucestershire, John Bracewell, said: "For some time we have been searching the country for a tall left-handed opener who likes to get forward. The last two years, we have witnessed Philip Weston’s skills from the wrong side of the county line. We believe Philip has the skills to contribute in all forms of cricket and, at the age of 29, is in his most productive years.”The players and I believe that Philip is a major signing for us in our pursuit of the best balanced team in county cricket.”We welcome both Philip and his wife Sarah to GCCC and wish him every success."

Webmaster – “John, we are six weeks into the season, your first as Hampshire captain, how has it been going”.Crawley – “On the whole the results will say we have not had a particularly good start to the season, two real factors I think are, we have been disrupted quite heavily in the Championship by the rain, which hasn’t helped anything. We have actually when we have got on the field have gone out there and played good stuff, and have been competitive in the matches we have played in, with certainly at certain times chances of winning each of them. That’s one outstanding thing, the others were almost freak wins by Middlesex in the National League and Sussex in the Cheltenham & Gloucester, which were games we had already won and they took the games away from us, that early on in the season is not very easy to come back from. The only game we have played poorly in, I think was the National League game against Lancashire at Old Trafford. Apart from that everything has been going reasonably well. There is obviously room for improvement, but I think on the whole there has been not as much doom and gloom as the results might say.Webmaster – “Scotland coming up at the weekend, then Durham in the Championship, Sunday must have been a big relief”‘Crawley – “Yes, I think we played really well, it was great day for Derek (Kenway), he played really well, he has been struggling for runs, and struggling for form, as an opening batsmen a loss of form is not particularly easy to deal with. The two knocks he played were brilliant really for us and for him. They were two different types of pitches. The one on Sunday was I think, the best pitch I’ve played on here at The Rose Bowl, and it was great for us to play so well on that sort of surface”.Webmaster – “What about your own form this season?”Crawley – “In and out really, obviously I had a good start to the Championship season, and should have gone on really in one of those 4/5 half centuries, I should have gone on to make a big score in one if not two. The One Day stuff started slowly, which is disappointing.Webmaster – “You may not want to talk about it, but, left out of the England squad, a big disappointment”?Crawley – O a hugh disappointment, I think I have not spoken openly about it to many people. I am still pretty bewildered and amazed by the whole thing to be honest, I did have chats with some of the selectors beforehand and they gave me the odd reason. Nobody has spoken to me since the selection has been made, but the reasons that they were putting forward before hand were not really satisfactory from my point of view. In the last eight test matches since coming back into the side, I played a big part in two of England’s wins at the time, helped to save the game against Sri Lanka at Lord’s, and averaged 47 plus with the bat. OK, I didn’t really light up any bonfires in the winter, but there were a lot of other batsmen who didn’t also, and I can take a lot of credit from the fact that I can look myself in the mirror and tell myself in all honesty that I have fought as hard as I possibly could for England. To be dropped after that for not really any reason as far as I can see, is by far and away the most utterly disappointing thing that has happened to me in my cricket career”.Webmaster – “Are you still optimistic that you could get back?Crawley – “Well certainly, the ball is in my court to do so, I’m not sure because as the season goes on and obviously the press is very powerful in this country, and they will be clamouring for more and more young faces in the side, so the pressure will be on the selectors to go that way I think they probably will, whether it is right or wrong they are under pressure, so that is the way it will go, so I will have to perform. I just really have to score double hundreds on more than one occasion.Webmaster – “OK, John that super, thank you very much.

The Celtic fringe is rising. After the successes enjoyed by Scotland in their debut season of National League cricket, today it was Ireland’s turn to shine – and they did it in style with a romping ten-wicket win against a dishevelled Zimbabwe side at the Civil Service ground at Stormont.Jason Molins, Ireland’s captain, led from the front as he smashed 107 not out from 101 balls with 14 fours and two sixes – the first century for Ireland against a touring team since Andrew Dunlop’s against South Africa in 1998. And with the help of their adopted Aussie, Jeremy Bray (67 not out), the Irish cruised to their first victory over a touring team since their famous crushing of West Indies in 1969.The fact that Ireland won with over 16 overs to spare emphasises how much of a stroll it was for Molins and Bray. They both made light of the heavy outfield and were in command all the way. Molins, in particular, dominated the bowling, driving and pulling powerfully and being particularly severe on Gary Brent, who clearly had not yet acclimatized.Tatenda Taibu, Zimbabwe’s acting captain, called on eight bowlers in search of a breakthrough, but none of them, not even the three who played in the last Test against England, could make any inroads.But it was a different story for the Irish bowlers as Paul Mooney and Gary Neely struck early on to reduce Zimbabwe to an embarrassing 12 for 3. Dion Ebrahim (52) and Stuart Matsikenyeri (50) did then engineer a recovery of sorts, but Zimbabwe’s eventual total of 182 was never going to be enough.The weather conditions were as variable as the Zimbabwe batting – a bit of drizzle, a bit of warm sun, but mostly overcast. For the Zimbabweans, the worst was first. Douglas Marillier drove optimistically at the third ball of the innings and Paul Mooney knocked his leg stump out of the ground, without a run on the board. Charles Coventry followed suit in Mooney’s next over, before Richie Sims was caught in the slips off Neely for the second duck in the innings.Disaster loomed, but Ebrahim and Matsikenyeri engineered a recovery by adding 96 for the fourth wicket. Ebrahim dug in without looking convincing, as he had done in the Riverside Test, while Matsikenyeri played with the ease and technique he shows in Zimbabwe domestic cricket but rarely against international opposition.Matsikenyeri was the first to reach his half-century, but then became over-ambitious and was easily stumped off Andrew White. Ebrahim also suffered a loss of concentration, bowled by Kyle McCallan as he attempted a forcing stroke off the back foot, and when Sean Ervine was slow to respond to Tatenda Taibu’s call for a quick single, Zimbabwe were back in the bog at 133 for 6.It was once again left to Taibu, captain for this brief leg of the tour, to salvage the innings. He found a useful partner in Travis Friend, who contributed some big hits in his 22. But when Friend was caught behind, the end came in a familiar flurry. Gary Brent was superbly caught and bowled by Andre Botha without scoring, and then Taibu (35) was caught at fine leg off Botha attempting a Marillier-esque scoop over the keeper. Waddington Mwayenga was last man out, caught off Neilly in the final over, to complete a poor performance and pave the way for another humiliating defeat ahead of the NatWest Series.

Giles White’s last-man heroics saved the Hampshire Academy from defeat against Southern Electric Premier League rivals South Wilts at Lower Bemerton.All appeared lost when White emerged from the pavilion with the Academy reeling at 114-9, in response to South Wilts’ total of 236-9 after 66 overs.But, for the second consecutive match, White – who struck an unbeaten 68 in the previous week’s five-wicket defeat by Bashley (Rydal) – showed the Young Hawks how to do it and hit a draw-clinching 67 not out.White’s undefeated last wicket stand with James Manning, who made 9, lifted the Academy from 114-9 to 193-9 … and an improbable draw.Army pace bowler Alex Senneck (4-66) and Australian Jim Seeary (3-48) had the Academy reeling at 58-6 before Ian Hilsum (37) added some substance to the total.But it was left to White, the former county opener, and Manning to battle it out for a draw."We went from trying to win the game to just trying to save it in the course of 25 overs," commented Academy coach Tony Middleton. "It must have made it tactically fascinating for those watching."The South Wilts total had been based around top order contributions from Paul Draper (34) and Tim Lamb (47), who provided valuable support for Jamie Glasson (74) to notch his top score of the season.Matt Metcalfe (4-54) got amongst the lower-order as South Wilts lost wickets in the search for quick runs towards the end of their innings.Portsmouth are wobbling on the fringe of the relegation zone after a thumping 102-run defeat by Liphook & Ripsley at Ripsley Park.Durham University left-arm paceman Glen Read (4-24) and South African spinner Alistair Gray (4-19) did the damage as Portsmouth plunged from 35-1 to 72 all out in 28.3 overs.Liphook’s 174-8 (Peter Hayward 5-59) was built around a half-century start from Gray (28) and Russell Barnes (28), complimented by skipper Jez Bulled (31).

Fixed term contract Attractive package inc. car(31 December 2005)

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is the national governing body for cricket from playground to Test arena.As County Development Officer you will support the Hertfordshire Cricket Board in the achievement of its development plan, particularly where it relates to the promotion and development of cricket in schools and clubs for both children and young adults.For this role you must have experience of cricket development at grass roots level and have a sound knowledge, appreciation and understanding of cricket. A self-starter with energy and enthusiasm, you will need to have proven administration skills and be an excellent communicator. A valid, current driving licence is essential.For an information pack and application form please contact Natasha Mason, E-mail: [email protected] or telephone 020 74321 171. (All applicants must fill in an application form)Closing date for completed applications is Wednesday 3 September. Interviews will be held on Wednesday 10 September at ECB Offices, Lord’s Cricket Ground.

All Today’s Yesterdays – August 6 down the yearsAugust 5| August 71998
Lucky numbers for Mark Butcher, who scored his maiden Test hundred in his 13th Test, against South Africa at Headingley. It was a vital contribution: England won by only 23 runs to take the series 2-1.1997
Sanath Jayasuriya’s date with destiny. He woke on 326 not out, within 50 of the highest score in Test history, against India in Colombo. But Jayasuriya added only 14 before he fell to Rajesh Chauhan for 340. There were a few other records though: Sri Lanka stormed to 952 for 6 – the highest score in Test history – and Jayasuriya and Roshan Mahanama batted throughout two full day’s play. In all they added 576, a record for any Test wicket. Pity poor Indian spinner Nilesh Kulkarni. He nabbed Marvan Atapattu with his first ball in Test cricket – and ended with figures of 70-12-195-1.1999
The day Peter Such got a standing ovation – for a duck. Such had survived 51 balls and 72 minutes against New Zealand at Old Trafford – and helped Mark Ramprakash add 31 – but his reception summed up the desperate, almost blackly comic, mood of English cricket. Rarely has it got any lower than this. England didn’t lose this Test, but their first-innings 199 came off a buttock-clenching 109.1 overs, and then New Zealand took 496 pieces of candy off a desperate England attack. Rain gave England a reprieve … but only for two weeks. Thirteen days later, at a dark, dank Oval, England lost the match, the series – and became the worst team in the world according to the Wisden World Championship table.1953
Slow left-armer Iqbal Qasim was born. Often partnered by Abdul Qadir, he took 171 wickets in 50 Tests for Pakistan and his 7 for 49 against Australia in 1979-80 is in the Wisden 100.1994
In a drawn match at Headingley, South Africa’s Peter Kirsten scored his only Test century at the age of 39. His half-brother Gary Kirsten was also in the team. The next Test at The Oval, which England won to square the series, was Peter’s last.1985
A captain’s innings of 146 not out by Allan Border saved Australia from defeat at Old Trafford after England had led by 225 on first innings.1966
Opening batsman Peter Lashley took the ball and dismissed Geoff Boycott with his third delivery in Test cricket, the only wicket he took for West Indies, whose win at Headingley sealed the series.1933
Birth of Indian batsman Kripal Singh, who scored 100 not out in his debut Test innings, against New Zealand in 1955-56, but managed only another 322 runs in the rest of his 14-Test career.Other birthdays
1911 Norman Gordon (South Africa)
1947 Tony Dell (Australia)
1965 Vince Wells (England)
1969 Simon Doull (New Zealand)
1971 Piyal Wijetunge (Sri Lanka)

A fortnight after Sunil Gavaskar had a little dig at the Australians during his Spirit of Cricket address at Lord’s, Steve Waugh reckoned that television had made too much of too little.Delivering a talk on “Leading a winning team” in Bangalore, he said, “There is far too much talk of sledging. These days, cricket is played in the right spirit, though occasionally things do go wrong. And when they do go wrong, you have 20 or 30 [television] replays and people come to talk about it.”Waugh was of the opinion that sledging was often misinterpreted, with the critics, more often than not, placing too much faith on conjecture. “My definition of sledging is when someone has been giving personal viewsin a one-on-one situation, or a group of individuals against one person,” he said.Waugh then perplexed some in the audience when he said that the Australians didn’t indulge in sledging. “Occasionally there are things said on the cricket field, and we have examples of it during the last six to 12 months,” he said. “I am very aware that we do not want that to happen in my side as we play the game hard and fair,” he added, in an oblique reference to the Glenn McGrath-Ramnaresh Sarwan incident which so tarnished Australia’s 3-1 series win in the West Indies.Waugh also spoke about the strength of character and magnificent team spirit that have made Australia peerless. “The key is the characters we pick in our team,” he said. He then cited Justin Langer – who spent over a year practising how to hit the slow bowlers over the infield – and Andrew Bichel as examples of the work ethic and attention to detail that have given Australia the edge.Bichel has been a fringe player for most of his career, but Waugh said his selfless spirit was an inspiration to the rest of the side. “If someone hits a century or gets five wickets, he [Bichel] takes a photo with his camera and says, ‘Here is a momento’. He did a lot of things to make the side what it is,” he said.Waugh said the team was looking forward to the Indian tour next year. Their last attempt at conquering what was referred to as “the last frontier” ended in a 1-2 defeat in 2001. “It’s a big challenge to win in India,” he said. “India are a great side on the home soil.”Waugh is in India to promote certain charities and also to fulfil some commercial obligations.

The Sri Lankan board plans to erect permanent floodlights at the Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium in time for England’s arrival in November.A dry-zone region located 87 miles north of Colombo, Dambulla will become only the second venue in Sri Lanka to have permanent floodlights. This means that all three one-day internationals on England’s tour of Sri Lanka will now be day-night matches. Dambulla will host the first match, while the last two games will be played at the Premadasa International Stadium in Colombo.The BCCSL hopes that the floodlights, which will cost approximately US$250,000, will allow Sri Lanka to host more ODIs. They will also increase the value of television rights because of better viewing times in England.The bill for the new lights will be paid for after an agreement with CricketAustralia, under which Australia will play two extra ODIs when they tour Sri Lanka in February-March 2004. They will now play a five-match series.