It might be thought that a trip to Zimbabwe is exactly what the beleagueredEngland one-day squad needs to get back to winning ways. They have notenjoyed a very successful time of late, finding themselves at what they hopewill be the end of an eleven-match losing run. However, when you takeEngland’s record against Zimbabwe into account, they might not be able tojustify any inherent optimism.The overall record, going back to 1991/2 at a time when Zimbabwe had yet toattain Test status, is played 16, won 9, lost 7. However, that tally isboosted by three wins in the NatWest Series in England in the summer of2000. Outside England, the record tilts six-five in favour of Zimbabwe.That includes the infamous first meeting in Albury in the 1991/92 World Cupin Australia when, in one of the great upsets in the limited-overs game,minnows Zimbabwe managed to overcome the eventual finalists by 9 runs. Thepattern was to be repeated for some time, as in the first six meetingsbetween the sides going through until 1996/97, England won only won match.That was at Brisbane in 1994/95 in the Benson and Hedges World Series event.Even when it comes to margins of victory, Zimbabwe hold the statisticalupper hand. To their credit they have wins by 131 runs in Harare in 1996/97and by 104 runs in Cape Town three years later. England’s biggest margin ofvictory is 85 runs on the last occasion the teams met in Harare a couple ofwinters ago.That 1996/97 series marked one of the worst tours England have ever had. Notonly did they lose the one-day series three-nil, but they could only drawthe Test series when neither side could force a win. England might have comeclosest to achieving a result, but their hosts were not over-impressed withthe reaction of coach David Lloyd. His “we flippin’ murdered ’em” commentmust go down as one of the most insensitive of all time and did nothing toendear an already discredited touring party to the locals.So why is it going to be different for England this time around? The fact isthat in recent times they have enjoyed much the better of the exchanges.Only one defeat at the hands of Zimbabwe in the last eight meetings sayssomething about the way the balance of power has shifted.Despite the run of poor form since meeting Zimababwe last time, England willbe expecting to maintain their sequence against the host country. There areserious problems facing Zimbabwe at home, to the extent that a number ofM.P.s have suggested that the tour should not go ahead. It nearly did not.It was only lengthy negotiations between the ECB and ZCU that securedaccreditation for all members of the British media party that allowed thetour to go ahead.On the field, too, Zimbabwe have had problems. They were thrashed by SouthAfrica in the first ODI last weekend, and despite the enduring excellence ofAndy Flower’s batting and other useful performers in the Zimbabwean line-up,there is not the same threat as there was. Take out top performers likeMurray Goodwin and Neil Johnson, both of whom have retired frominternational cricket, and the lack of depth in the game becomes all tooevident. Having said that, there are few occasions on which any Zimbabweanteam has not given of its all, and the sight of the three lions of Englanddoes seem to enliven them.England are trying to realign their strategy and team composition when timeto do so before the 2003 World Cup is running out. There are new faces inthe English squad, familiar faces, and recalled faces. What England aretrying to do is find a balance that will allow them to compete with the bestin the world. They singularly failed to do so last summer.Certainly this team looks sharper in the field than some put out recently.If the standards can be maintained, if runs can be scored at a decent rateand if the bowlers can find a line and length that does not allow oppositionbatsmen free hits every over, there is no reason why England should not makedefinite progress towards achieving their aim.It says something for the attitude of all concerned that the need for actionwas appreciated. It is one thing to bemoan poor performances but quiteanother to do something about reversing the situation. It would have beenall too easy to point to a busy winter involving tours to India and NewZealand and concentrate on an improving Test record. That has not happened,and even if the likes of Australia, South Africa and Pakistan are way out infront of England in the race for World Cup honours. England have not givenup yet. The tortoise might yet give the hares a run for their money.

New Zealand’s Academy was unable to complete a victory over their Australian counterparts at Lincoln Green, near Christchurch today.The Australians held out for a draw to finish the game 275/8, still 55 runs short of victory.George Bailey played an outstanding innings to score 101 and keep his side right in the hunt. But when he was out with 10 of the last 15 overs remaining, the Australians put up the shutters and held on for the draw.Earlier, the McCullum brothers, Brendon and Nathan, led New Zealand’s recovery with a fine 125-run seventh wicket partnership in 107 minutes. Brendon hit 80 off 94 balls which included nine fours and three sixes while Nathan scored 66 off 88 balls with one six and 10 fours.Chris Cairns hit 34 off 42 balls, including eight boundaries. New Zealand declared their second innings on 290/8, leaving the Australian Academy a target of 330. Steven Crook and Xavier Doherty each took two for 33 for the visitors.Some exciting play followed in the run chase. Two superb pieces of out-fielding from Taraia Robin and Sam Whiteman produced bonus run outs as batsmen attempted risky second runs.At tea the Australians were 108/4 but immediately after the break Beau Casson and Bailey launched a fearsome assault which gave their side every chance of a come from behind win.Casson scored 50 off 65 balls, including eight fours and one six, but no sooner had he achieved the milestone than he played a poor shot to Nathan McCullum’s bowling.But Bailey continued on in dominating form and when the last 15 overs started with 96 runs still required for victory, he was 81 not out scored off 99 balls.Nathan McCullum took some punishment as the Australians used their feet to get down the wicket to his off-spinners but he gained Casson’s wicket to partially ebb the Australian tide. McCullum finished with three for 92 and Wade Cornelius followed his first innings five wicket bag with two for 39.

Brendon McCullum made scoring look easy for Otago at Carisbrook against Northern Districts in the State Championship match today, but it proved a false dawn.While he scored 50 off 60 balls, in the attacking fashion he has already become renowned for, he wasn’t able to maintain the scoring rate and was out with the score on 63 and the only other batsman on the team able to match his final total was Craig Cumming who scored 56, but off a more sedate 144 balls.Otago’s final total of 215 was a disappointing return, although similar to other returns for teams all around the country on the first official day of the season.Chris Gaffaney scored 22, but the Otago effort overall was not as convincing as it would have wanted to produce.The Northern Districts attack took a pasting from McCullum initially, but with his departure came back well with Bruce Martin finding he was able to get good reward with his left-arm spin to take three for 24 from 10.3 overs.Joseph Yovich and Ian Butler both received some early tap but Yovich, especially, responded well with three for 55.James Marshall ensured ND had a good start to its bid to build a handsome first innings advantage by getting to 45 not out from 76 balls by stumps on what was a drawn out day with play going well after the scheduled finish time of 6pm.Mark Bailey was 12 not out as ND reached 69/1 by stumps. Otago’s solitary success with the ball was achieved by Evan Marshall who secured his first wicket after being out of first-class play for five years.

Tamil Nadu restricted Hyderabad to just 199 on Day One of their Ranji Trophy league match at Chennai.Winning the toss, Hyderabad opted to bat first. Wickets fell fast, and four batsmen were back in the pavilion with just 64 on the board. There followed a slow partnership between D Vinay Kumar and Arjun Yadav. Yadav made 71 off 176 balls, with nine fours and a six, and was the top-scorer of the innings.Yadav fell just before the close of play. At stumps, Hyderabad were 199 for five, with Vinay Kumar unbeaten on 56 off 176 balls, and M Srinivas on 0 off three balls. For the home side, skipper Robin Singh bowled impressively, returning figures of 14-8-12-2.

The first genuine after-effects of New Zealand’s success in winning the CricInfo Women’s World Cup last summer are reflected in the expected improved strength of teams taking part in the State League series starting tomorrow.The month long competition begins tomorrow with two games in the South Island. Last year’s beaten finalists Canterbury play Wellington at the Village Green in Christchurch and Otago play Central Districts at Logan Park in Dunedin.The teams will play each other again on Sunday. Four more games will be played on Monday and Tuesday.Auckland’s CLEAR White Fern laden team is expected to dominate the League.Their first games are not until next weekend when they play Canterbury first up. But with Kathryn Ramel leading the side again, and Emily Drumm, Rebecca Rolls and Helen Watson in the line-up they have a core of expertise that will be hard to lower.Wellington has made an all out bid to increase its strength. Maia Lewis will play again and if able to gain her best touches will be a formidable wicket for opponents to claim. Losi Harford has joined the side under the draft system while Anna O’Leary and Anna Corbin are home grown talents with plenty to offer.Corbin did very well on her first tour with the national side in Queensland and if able to bowl to significant totals could have a big series.Wellington performed well in the national Under-21 tournament where Frances King was named the player of the tournament. Megan Wakefield has moved from Timaru to Wellington and she gave the Under-21s some oomph at the top of the batting order although it is not certain where she will bat for Wellington.Megan Tuapawa, Amanda Green and Amanda Cooper will be backed up by Jane Hunter-Siu who has returned after a season off.Otago have beefed up their team as well. Sarah Helmore has been picked up through the draft system from Canterbury while Netherlands captain Pauline te Beest will join international team-mate and local Rowan Milburn in the batting line-up, with Rachel Pullar to lead the attack. The Kane sisters, Megan and Alana, are also expected to play a big part in the side. Katey Martin scored the only century of the Under-21 tournament and made a good impression with the Otago side.Northern Districts have gone for youth with their team which includes nine members of their Under-21 side. They have taken Rosamund Kember from the draft. The Aucklander could strengthen the batting of the side while Catherine Spence is another key member of the side.Louise Milliken and Nicola Browne have been two potentially good pace bowlers who have been hamstrung by rarely having a total large enough to defend.ND achieved some fine performances last summer and while the Under-19s finished fifth at the latest tournament there are hopes the players can lift significantly.But in all probability if any side is going to end Auckland’s dominance it will be the Paula Flannery-led Canterbury team. Backed up by Haidee Tiffen, Nicola Payne, Fiona Fraser, Sarah Burke and Emily Travers they have a strong unit.Add to that the returning former CLEAR White Ferns Helen Daly (nee Bastion), a left-arm medium slow formerly from Northern Districts, and Delwyn Brownlee, and up and coming players like Rebecca Steele, Maria Fahey and Hannah Rae and there is clear sign of potential.Coaching the side is former international Vicki Burtt, and coached Canterbury to the national Under-21 title last year.Central Districts will be a young side but for all that their players have been exposed to a lot of cricket.Kate Pulford will captain the side and Abby Burrows will provide her with good support. Erin McDonald brings White Ferns experience to the team while Megan Graham and Aimee Mason will have important roles to play.Central Districts play Otago first in the series and then meet Canterbury on Monday and Tuesday.

South Africa kept Bangladesh waiting for their first wicket in the ICC Under-19 World Cup tournament in Auckland today.The South Africans scored 138 for the first wicket and didn’t let the Bangladeshis get too excited as the second wicket stand was worth 105 runs.Steven Cook (103 off 120 balls) and David Jacobs (76 off 129 balls) opened the innings and when Jacobs was out, Hashim Amla joined Cook and scored 53 off 46 balls as South Africa amassed 252/4. The only notable bowling success for Bangladesh was Talha Jubair’s two for 36.Bangladesh struggled to respond with the bat. Aftab Ahmed Chowdhrury scored 79 off 123 balls while Hasibul Haoq scored 23. But the big surprise of the innings was the golden duck scored by Test cricketer Mohammad Ashraful, who recently toured New Zealand with the full Bangladesh team.Bangladesh were eventually dismissed for 142, with South Africa picking up a bonus point for the 110-run winning margin.Brendon Reddy took three for 22 off his 10 overs, Ryan Bailey took three for five and Rory Kleinveldt took two for 34.Bangladesh’s next match is against Canada on Tuesday while South Africa face India at North Harbour Stadium on Wednesday.

The gloom that enveloped Sabina Park yesterday evening might have been in keeping with the mood of the Barbados dressing-room after a frustratingly fruitless day here yesterday.Four wickets in six hours reflected some injustice in their performance on the second day of their third round Busta Cup match against Jamaica.Our boys put in a magnificent effort. (But) everything has not gone our way, Barbados manager Tony Howard said after an absorbing day in which 214 runs were scored.There were a few close decisions. There were a few things we could have done a little better, but I think it’s been not a bad day’s play.When stumps were drawn under overcast skies that prevailed for most of the last hour, Jamaica, in a workman-like manner, were in the process of building a significant lead that could put the defending Cup champions on the ropes on today’s penultimate day.The lead of 97 was achieved through consistent contributions, of which the most impressive was Ricardo Powell’s high-class 85 that was marked with exciting hitting and more revealingly, measured shot-selection that appeared to have deserted him for the past 18 months.After Powell completed his first half-century at this level in two seasons, Gareth Breese and Mario Ventura consolidated in the last session with an unfinished fifth-wicket partnership of 74 that could have been broken when it was worth 14 had Courtney Browne not missed an off-side stumping off Ryan Austin.Barbados toiled in spite of the sterling work ethic displayed by their four-man attack of Ian Bradshaw, Tino Best and the spin pair of Sulieman Benn and Austin.Their modest total on the opening day, however, made their task even more difficult.Cricket is an equation of time, wickets and runs. We lost too many wickets in too little time and we’ve given Jamaica quite a lot of time to work on us, Howard said, while conceding that Barbados were under pressure.They have almost 100 runs on and two days left to play. But certainly I expect that if we bat much better in the second innings if we can get a lead of 200, certainly on the last day this wicket should give us a chance.For most of the first session yesterday, Barbados made Jamaica fight for every run with Benn and Bradshaw admirably wheeling away.The left-armers delivered all but five overs in the opening two hours that produced 58 runs and shared three wickets in a 45-minute period when Barbados applied the brakes.Benn gained more turn and bounce than he has done at any stage this season and duly deserved the wickets of Leon Garrick and Keith Hibbert.After the in-form Garrick completed another half-century, Benn tricked him with a flighted delivery which he shaped to hit through the on-side and ended up giving a catch to mid-off.Hibbert was never assured in his brief stay and it was no surprise when he played slightly across the line and was lbw on the back foot.In between those two wickets, Bradshaw removed David Bernard Jr, the opener, edging a catch to the keeper. For some reason, he seemed dissatisfied with the umpire’s verdict.The second session, highlighted by the hitting of Powell and the lively aggression of Best was especially enthralling.Barbados failed to gain a wicket, but might have been a little unlucky not to have won an lbw shout against captain Robert Samuels. It was a similar situation after tea when Ventura survived a raucous appeal. In both cases, Benn was the bowler.Eventually, Samuels tenaciously survived against Best in an entertaining wicketless six-over burst in which the 20-year-old sent Sabina into a frenzy.Best bowled his heart out, running with the speed of Obadele Thompson and showing the emotion of Ato Boldon whenever he beat the bat. The Bajans on the field might have been somewhat surprised that the Jamaicans were cheering on an opposing player.He’s always bowled with venom. What I was pleased about is that he bowled with better control, Howard said.He had his line and length going and he gave them a bit of problems. That’s what we want to see from Best. He has the pace and everybody knows that pace is not going to do the job for you.Before and after Best’s afternoon spell, it was the batting of Powell that was the unquestioned highlight.He arrived at his half-century in dramatic fashion, advancing to Austin and lifting the off-spinner over long-on and onto the roof of the four-tier Air Jamaica Stand. The roars around the ground suggested there were 15 000 spectators in the stands and not 1 500.Powell also carried Jamaica to first innings lead 15 minutes after tea with another six, which was powerfully pulled over mid-wicket off Benn. Powell is known for such power, but he also unveiled an exquisite extra-cover drive off Austin that raced across the outfield for one of his 11 fours.Powell had thoroughly dominated a fourth-wicket stand of 102 with Samuels, whose upset stomach made him suspend his innings at tea with his personal contribution on 22.On resumption, Barbados appeared to be searching for answers after going almost two-and-half hours without a breakthrough.They turned to an over of off-spin from Shirley Clarke immediately after tea and quickly reverted to Austin. His first ball pitched in the rough, wide of off stump and Powell shouldered arms, thinking there was no danger. While he was stunned that the ball spun back to bowl him, the Barbadians were jubilant.There was nothing more to celebrate after that.

For almost the entire fifth day at Eden Gardens, Bengal and and Gujarat may as well have been batting on completely different pitches, each the polar opposite of the other. The result, as was predictable for much of the day, was a draw, and Bengal qualified for the semi-finals of the Ranji Trophy by virtue of their first-innings lead.Resuming on 279/3, Bengal continued to pile on the runs with little difficulty. Rohan Gavaskar missed out on a century, adding only four runs to his overnight score of 74 before falling. But Subhomoy Das and Sanjib Sanyal, first-innings heroes, repeated their Damon-and-Pythias act, sticking together for a stand of 162 runs for the fifth wicket.Sanyal was the first to fall, tragically run out just eight runs short of his second hundred in the match. His 92 came off 132 balls and featured 11 fours. Das took his time over his hundred, making 107 off 196 balls, with 12 fours, before he too was run out.Gavaskar declared on the stroke of that run-out, leaving Gujarat with an impossible target of 515 runs. Sanyal, however, was not done yet. Determined to make his mark on this match as deep as possible, he picked two quick wickets for Bengal fans to actually entertain visions of an outright win.Three more wickets did fall, but Gujarat’s batsmen held on long enough to draw the match. At stumps, the visitors were 69/5, but the score was only of academic value, for Bengal had effectively won the quarter-final by qualifying for the semi-finals.

Please note that the floodlit NCL match against Worcestershire scheduled for26th August at Castle Park Colchester will now be staged at the same venueunder lights on Thursday 28th August 2003.This is due to the ECB requiring the temporary floodlight equipment for atelevised match elsewhere on the original fixture date.Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience caused

If confidence means anything in cricket – and the evidence in favour of that assertion has been pretty compelling over the years – Canada must be favourites to rewrite the form book for the second time in a week when they meet Kenya in tomorrow’s Group B day-night match in Cape Town.Canada began their campaign virtually unnoticed, so intent was the cricket world on the Shane Warne drugs case, the Zimbabwe affair, and a far more fashionable encounter between Australia and Pakistan which began earlier the same day. But by the end of it Canada’s was the most romantic story of all.Although their batting again looked suspect as they were bowled out for 180, Canada’s attack ruthlessly exposed Bangladesh’s current lack of self-confidence, Austin Codrington, a name few would have been able to place a week ago, took five wickets in his maiden one-day international, and Bangladesh were left wondering where their first World Cup win would come from.Since then, Kenya have wilted tamely in their first outing, admittedly against far more robust opposition. Given Bangladesh’s current form, the caterers at Bloemfontein for their game against South Africa tomorrow week must be wondering whether lunch is a practical consideration.Looking at tomorrow’s encounter more prosaically, it is Kenya who have the greater experience to call upon. Steve Tikolo is as good a batsman as you will find outside the Test sphere. He and medium pacer Martin Suji are due a good game, and Kenya will certainly be more familiar with the conditions.Of the two, Tikolo is the more likely to benefit, given the batsman-friendly nature of the Newlands surface. But Suji has played in the Western Cape before, taking more than 50 wickets in the 1992-93 season.Suji went for 21 from four overs against South Africa, but impressed in the warm-up match against Border at Buffalo Park, where he took four for 11 in 10 overs. Ravindu Shah, who made 60 against the South Africans, will be another key man for Kenya.That’s what it says in the form book. But this tournament has so far shown an uncanny capacity not to stick with the script.Canada and Kenya have met several times over the years in the ICC Trophy, most recently in 1997. The Kenyan team defeated Canada heavily on that occasion, Steve Tikolo making 93, and Maurice Odumbe a spectacular unbeaten 148. Barry Seebaran is the only current Canadian player who played in that match.