In a match that was delayed by two hours due to wet conditions from overnight rains, Hrishikesh Kanitkar struck an unbeaten 79 to guide West Zone to a comfortable three-wicket win over East Zone at Delhi on Tuesday.When the match finally got under way, West Zone won the toss and opted to field first, hoping to use the conditions for some early swing and seam. Opener Debang Gandhi fell early, but a 97-run partnership between Rajiv Kumar and Pravanjan Mullick followed.Mullick got to 50 off 71 balls and promptly gave RF Morris a return catch to end his innings on that score. Rajiv Kumar brought up his 50 and did the same, falling on that very score.Thereafter it was all Laxmi Ratan Shukla, who hit a blazing 64 off just 30 balls before falling as the sixth wicket with the score on 200. Shukla hit nine fours and two sixes in his knock. West Zone did not take too much longer to mop up the tail, and East Zone were dismissed for 211 in 40 overs, 10 overs remaining unused.In such a situation, all West needed was one batsman to stand his ground and play a sensible innings. Vinod Kambli looked to be the one, but he made only 48 off 45 balls, with seven fours and one six, before falling to Utpal Chatterjee. West then found its responsible man in Kanitkar, whose 79 was a sedately paced knock featuring five fours and one six.West Zone brought up the target in only 38 overs, surviving an anxious situation of being 170/7 when Sairaj Bahutule fell.

The South Australian Cricket Association (SACA) has announced that, due to extreme hot weather conditions, they have cancelled junior cricket scheduled for this coming weekend.The cancellation includes both the Under-14 and Under-16 red and white grade competitions.The SACA made the decision based on information provided by the Bureau of Meteorology, which forecasts temperatures of up to 38 degrees over the weekend, and through consultation with the SACA medical staff.At all times, the priority for the SACA is the safety of players, and the predicted combination of extreme heat and humidity places the risk of thermal injury in the very high to extreme range.For matches which commenced last weekend, and where results have not yet been reached, both sides will be awarded 7.5 premiership points, plus performance points for last Saturday.The SACA have placed information for the public on a hotline: 1900 950 598.

The South Australian Cricket Association (SACA) has named a thirteen-man squad for the ING Cup clash against the Tasmanian Tigers to be played in Hobart on January 26.The team sees Darren Lehmann return to the captaincy and the inclusion of fast-bowler Jason Gillespie, who returns from injury.Gillespie’s selection is subject to a final fitness test.The game also sees the return of batting all-rounder Mark Higgs, in his first game since injuring his hip at Redbacks training last week.The Redbacks squad to play the Tigers is:

Darren Lehmann (c)
Greg Blewett (vc)
Nathan Adcock
Mark Cleary
Mark Cosgrove
David Fitzgerald
Jason Gillespie
Mark Harrity
Mark Higgs
Ben Johnson
Graham Manou
Paul Rofe
Shaun Tait

Selection in the provisional squad gives Shaun Tait the opportunity to make his one-day debut for South Australia.Providing Gillespie travels with the side, a thirteenth man will be named on the morning of the game.

There will be a Media Conference with Jonty Rhodes at the Sandton Sun onFriday morning at 8:30am.WHO: JONTY RHODES, WHERE: JACARANDA ROOM, BAQUETING CENTER, SANDTON SUN HOTELWHEN: 08h30 FRIDAY 14TH FEBRUARY 2003

DURBAN, South Africa, March 15 AAP – Overlooking his own players, Ricky Ponting has rated Sachin Tendulkar the best batsmen of his generation as Australia and India head towards the World Cup final at Johannesburg on Sunday.The Australian captain is less certain about who’s the better allrounder out of Andrew Symonds and Ian Harvey.Placing Tendulkar higher on the pecking order than the likes of Matthew Hayden and the Waugh twins, Ponting admitted the diminutive 29-year-old from Bombay had the ability to win any match off his own bat, including the decider.”I’ve always thought he’s the best batsman I’ve seen or played against,” said Ponting.”Looking at the way he’s played of late I think he’s getting somewhere back to his best again.”We’re going to have to come up with some plans and bowl very well if we come across him to make sure he doesn’t get away.”As we’ve seen in the past, he’s actually won games against us single-handedly on occasions. We’re going to have to come up with some good plans if we play against them.”Tendulkar is the leading run-scorer at the Cup with 586 at an average of 65.11.His strike rate per 100 balls is 90.43.Australia’s best so far has been opener Adam Gilchrist with 329 runs at 41.12 and 102.81.Tendulkar’s overall one-day record is awesome: 312 matches for 12,132 runs at 44.43, with 34 centuries and 61 half-centuries.India has not been a one-man side, though, while suffering only one loss at the Cup – to Australia by nine wickets, back in early February.Captain Sourav Ganguly has made 330 runs and three seam bowlers have been a revelation.Left-armer Zaheer Khan and veteran Javagal Srinath have 15 wickets apiece, two more than Ashish Nehra.India’s weakness when the limited overs carnival began was supposed to be its bowling but that hasn’t turned out to be the case.”They do seem to be playing some pretty good cricket,” said Ponting.”Their bowlers are doing a fantastic job for them. Khan and Nehra are the standouts for them at the moment.”They’ve been taking early wickets for them and setting games up for them. The little bloke opening the batting is not doing a bad job for them, either.”We’re playing well, they’re playing well. We’ll see what happens in a few days’ time.”Australia has the tougher semifinal on paper against Sri Lanka at St George’s Park, Port Elizabeth, on Tuesday before India takes on Kenya at Durban’s Kingsmead ground on Thursday.Meanwhile, Australia’s selection debate between Symonds and Harvey was no closer to being resolved after the five-wicket win over Kenya.Symonds made 33 not out, while Harvey put together 28 not out and 0-23 from seven tidy overs of medium pace.One of them will be dropped when Michael Bevan returns against Sri Lanka.”We’ll have to speak about that pretty intensely over the next couple of days,” said Ponting.”It has and will create a bit of a problem going into that next game.”Harvey has done nothing wrong with the ball and he batted well in this game.”Andrew Symonds has done nothing wrong with the bat.”It’s going to be a tough one.”Australia’s XI won’t be finalised until Tuesday morning.

Hampshire have arranged a week of pre-season friendly/trial matches starting next Monday 7th April with 3 days against Somerset, followed by 2 days v Surrey. All 5 days of cricket with be held at the Rose Bowl.Due to work on tarmacking at the Rose Bowl, any spectators coming to see these matches must be aware that parking is restricted, and that they must stay well away from the work site.

West Indies have named the following 14-member squad for the opening Cable & Wireless Test Match of four against Australia at Bourda Oval in Georgetown, Guyana, starting on Thursday.Brian Lara (captain
Carlton Baugh
David Bernard
Shivnarine Chanderpaul
Pedro Collins
Vasbert Drakes
Mervyn Dillon
Daren Ganga
Wavell Hinds
Carl Hooper
Ridley Jacobs
Jermaine Lawson
Marlon Samuels
Devon Smith
NOTE:Ramnaresh Sarwan, who was appointed Vice-Captain for the Series, has not recovered from his cracked finger injury. A Vice-Captain to replace Sarwan will be named later.

Halfway down the pitch towards the right-hander, the delivery seemed innocuous. Delivered left-arm from round the wicket by Wasim Akram, it had the usual slithery speed, and was up there in length – an attempted yorker probably, but too full. It began to angle down the leg side, a low full-toss just ripe for Robert Croft, the England offspinner, to flick away to fine leg for an easy boundary. Croft planted his front foot and began the process of turning the ball away. He missed, the ball thudded into his pad, and Wasim roared his appeal. Negative, said the umpire, and we in the press box nodded knowingly: missing leg by miles.Then came the replay, in super slow motion, and it was so astounding it left mouths gaping. For in the last 10 feet or so, the ball ceased angling down the leg side and instead swung back the other way, eluding Croft’s bat by six inches. Unquestionably it would have hit middle stump, but it all happened so fast and late that it deceived the eye of everyone, not least the umpire. The single most astonishing delivery that I have witnessed failed to produce a wicket.For nigh on two decades, Wasim Akram has been a magician with the ball. Left-arm pace bowlers have been a rarity in the game, and good ones even more so: Alan Davidson, Garry Sobers, Bill Voce maybe. But none of them, not even Sobers, could manipulate the ball with the dexterity of Wasim. That ball to Croft may have been exceptional, but it would not have been unique in his career for it seemed he could do it all the time. One such, delivered in an adrenal lime-green fury under the lights in Melbourne, ripped past the outside edge of Allan Lamb’s bat and clipped his off stump – the defining moment, perhaps, of the 1992 World Cup final.This now is his World Cup swansong, for age catches all. It is time to go. Against Australia at the Wanderers in Pakistan’s 2003 World Cup opener, the flame briefly was rekindled as he sneaked an inswinger through the tentative first-ball prod of Damien Martyn, leaving himself on a hat-trick. But later, the instinct and skill that allowed him to spear his reverse-swung yorkers in deserted him. It was not, nor could we expect it to be, the Wasim of old.But he will leave a legacy after almost an entire year of his life playing one-day internationals. Through expedience, Pakistan pace bowlers redefined what was possible, and none more so than Wasim. The memory will linger, of the bright lights, garish uniforms, and Wasim in his pumped up pomp, gold chain swinging, pit-pattering his way to the crease and letting rip. Along with Joel Garner and Shane Warne he has set the benchmark for bowling in one-day cricket. I cannot help it: he remains, through all the allegations of match-fixing and ball tampering, my favourite cricketer. I named my first dog after him and believe me it doesn’t get higher than that.Wisden Asia Cricket

All Today’s Yesterdays -June 14 down the years1929
Birth of the Australian Alan Davidson, the main rival to Wasim Akram as the greatest left-arm seamer in history. Like Akram, Davidson was also a lusty lower-order hitter. His finest hour was the tied Test of 1960, which Davidson went into with a broken finger and came out of with a significant record – first man to score 100 runs and take ten wickets in a Test. He was a captain’s dream, offering control (his economy rate was 1.97 runs per over throughout his Test career) and penetration. And he delivered in all conditions. In six Tests in India, Davidson took 30 wickets at an average of 15. That included 12 for 123 at Kanpur in 1957-58 – a match that Australia still lost.1984
The beginning and the end of England opener Andy Lloyd’s Test career. Lloyd was given his Test debut on his home ground of Edgbaston in the first Test against West Indies, but within half-an-hour he was on his way to hospital, after losing a Malcolm Marshall bouncer that clattered sickeningly into the temple-guard of his helmet. Lloyd didn’t play any more first-class cricket that summer, and never played for England again. As for the match, England were pummelled by an innings and 180 runs, the first (and heaviest) of 14 defeats in 15 Tests against the Windies. The salt in the wound came courtesy of Eldine Baptiste and Michael Holding, who flogged a humiliating 150 for the ninth wicket in less than two hours, Holding creaming four sixes.1979
Slow torture in a ridiculous World Cup match at Old Trafford, as England bowled Canada out for 45 – in 40.3 overs. Only Franklyn Dennis (21) made double figures, while Chris Old helped himself to figures of 10-5-8-4. England breezed to victory by eight wickets, with the small matter of 46.1 overs to spare.1977
Birth of the South African batsman Boeta Dippenaar, who has so far had a modest return from his 19 Tests. Dippenaar often looks the part before giving it away, and nine of his 27 Test innings have ended in the twenties. He made his first century against New Zealand at Johannesburg in 2000-01, and a boundary-laden 74 against Australia at Sydney a year later. His one-day work has been more consistent, though, and among South Africans, only Jacques Kallis averages more than his 42.09.1938
Don Bradman set the tone for a summer of plenty with 144 not out as Australia comfortably saved the first Test against England at Trent Bridge. Bradman made a century in every Test he batted in that summer, although there were only three: rain washed out the scheduled third, and he was unable to bat in the fifth – when Australia lost by a record innings and 579 runs – because of a fractured ankle sustained while bowling. In 19 Tests in England, Bradman averaged 102.84, with a staggering 11 centuries.Other birthdays
1923 Don Smith (England)

Northern Districts achieved a significant improvement in its financial performance last season reducing its deficit for the year by $64,855.Traditionally the first of New Zealand’s associations to present their annual report, due to an earlier end of financial year date, ND ended with a deficit overall of only $8136.That was largely due to an increase in sponsorship, donations and grants of $279,949 to a total of $1,669,510 and an increase in park income of $76,784, up from $68,670 the previous year.The cost of playing cricket doesn’t get any cheaper however, and participation this year cost ND $901,967, an increase of $261,177 over the previous summer.Coaching and development costs also increased, reaching $367,596, which was $132,272 higher.ND chief executive John Turkington said: “Whilst a significant proportion of our income is sourced from New Zealand Cricket, most of the income comes with particular tags, and it is through the maximising of local fundraising opportunities that we are able to extend the basic development programmes, operate a comprehensive Academy programme, field competitive teams in all grades and grow the game at all levels.”Overall, it was one of the more successful seasons for the association with its men’s side winning the State Shield when qualifying third for the playoffs and Northland winning the Hawke Cup.Turkington said that after the loss of stalwart players like Simon Doull, Grant Bradburn and Mark Bailey the Shield success was a credit to coach Bruce Blair and the rebuilding process he employed.Equally as satisfying was the growth occurring in Bay of Plenty and the Waikato where grass roots growth has been marked. There was good support from sports agencies in both regions but Turkington added: “Real credit for the growth and sustainability of our game throughout the region must go to the number of volunteers who manage, organise, coach, score and umpire each Saturday to ensure cricket is available to the wide numbers for whom it is their No 1 summer sport.”Initiatives launched last year by ND, the North Island Masters tournament in Taupo and the Origin Cup for ethnic groups in Hamilton are intended to become annual events.