Kerala opening batsman MP Sorab covered himself with glory as hecarried his bat for 255 on the final day of the Coca Cola Trophy SouthZone (under-25) tournament at the Maharaja Jayachamarajendra WodeyarSports Complex in Bangalore on Sunday. With batsmen dominating, thematch ended in a tame draw with Kerala getting five points and Andhrathree.Resuming at 311 for five in reply to Andhra’s first innings total of355, Kerala were all out for 471. Sorab who was 157 overnight, simplycarried on from where he left off. First with S Ramakrishnan (34) headded 79 runs for the sixth wicket off 23 overs, reaching his doublecentury in the process. Then with P.Manoj (14) he added 41 runs forthe ninth wicket off 11 overs. He reached 250 in the company of lastman T Yohannan. Sorab’s innings stretched for ten hours. He faced 402balls and hit 35 fours. Off spinner Vatekar finished with five wicketsfor 118 runs.In arrears by 116 runs on the first innings, Andhra were 130 for twoin their second innings when stumps were finally drawn with bad lightcutting short play.Andhra have completed their engagements in group A with eight pointsfrom two games. Kerala play Karnataka from Tuesday. Group B comprisesof only two teams, Tamil Nadu and Hyderabad and the winner of thatmatch will go through to the final.

Pakistan’s one and only practice match was eventually abandoned after discussion between the two captains. Despite a break in the monsoon rains, which would have allowed some play in the afternoon, the Pakistan opted for a game of football followed by a practice session on the square.The players didn’t appear to be too disappointed by the washout of the game and are probably glad to have an opportunity to rest after such a congested and tiring schedule in the past few months.With the BCCSL elections dominating the Sri Lankan cricket at the moment the Pakistan cricketers have been able to relax away from the limelight. They will be waiting with interest to see the Sri Lankan team, which is to be announced tomorrow morning.The team has been selected by an entirely different selection committee and is expected to include Arjuna Ranatunga and Aravinda De Silva. The selectors will be announcing a squad of sixteen players, all of whom will leave their homes and booking into the team hotel tomorrow.Whether they will actually be playing much cricket over the next few weeks is in the hands of the gods.

Overnight rain put paid to the second day of England’s match against a PCB XI in Lahore. Heavy showers, the first rain in Lahore for five months, left much of the ground saturated, and play was called off for the day after a lunchtime inspection by match referee Ehtshamuddin.England batsman Michael Vaughan, who’s been out of action for nearly a fortnight with a calf strain, will be hoping conditions improve on tomorrow’s final day, as he aims to prove his fitness before the second Test in Faisalabad next Wednesday.Vaughan was due to bat next with England on 76 for two after bowling out the PCB XI for just 117 – but he looked uncomfortable yesterday while fielding.”He is not 100%, but we’re well aware of that,” said coach Duncan Fletcher.”We wanted to get him out there in the middle to see how it plays up – we’regoing to have to monitor it carefully over the next couple of days.””The one advantage to the rain is that it’s given him an extra day’s rest, which we wanted to give him. We have tried to look after him during the game and hopefully he will be alright at the end of it. Calf muscles tend to be tricky because you sometimes think they are fixed, but there is a good chance of them recurring.”

Under a sky half-covered in light cloud and against a backdrop of theBvumba Mountains at the beautiful Mutare Sports Club ground, Indiabegan their six-week tour of Zimbabwe on Monday. The highlight of thefirst day of their match against Zimbabwe A was a brilliant century byRahul Dravid, which enabled them to declare at 336 for nine. They thentook one wicket for 33 runs in 16 overs by the close.The pitch contained some bounce but the ball did not appear to come onto the bat, while the outfield was uneven. However, for a recentlyrevived ground with new developments taking place all the time, it wascommendable. There was a keen Monday morning crowd of about 200,mostly parties of schoolchildren, and the number doubled during theafternoon.India made a steady start against the bowling of Bryan Strang andTravis Friend for half an hour before both openers fell in quicksuccession. Sadgopan Ramesh (13) chopped a lifter from Friend on tohis stumps, while Shiv Sunder Das (4) snicked Strang to wicket-keeperTaibu in the next over. India suddenly found themselves at 18 for two.Venkatsai Laxman and Sachin Tendulkar both settled in, content to waitfor the bad ball, but neither was to go on to play a major innings.Tendulkar, driving straight, hit a ball back at Mutendera’s midriff,which he juggled and finally grasped to send the little master on hisway for 11. Laxman continued to leave the off-side fielders standingwith his powerful stroke play, but then, when on 24, he played back toMutendera and was bowled through the gate. Overall Friend looked thebest of a good trio of bowlers, showing good pace and stamina after along layoff from the game.Saurav Ganguly (12) was next to go, brilliantly caught low down byFriend at second slip off Mutendera; at 71 for five after 26 overswith only Rahul Dravid of their top order remaining, India were inunexpected trouble. Wicket-keeper Samir Dighe, though, made animmediate positive impression at the crease, looking more comfortablethan some of his superiors, and the pair were still there at lunch.The afternoon session produced cricket as different as day from night.Dravid and Dighe batted superbly until after tea in a finepartnership, with Dravid’s share a glorious century. India appeared tohave decided at lunch to take the initiative, as Dravid, pulling anddriving with time to spare, took 16 runs off Friend’s first over afterthe break. The onslaught continued, with runs now coming at about sixan over. The batsmen used their feet to leg-spinner Brian Murphyand pulled fiercely at anything short, Dravid quite belying hisreputation as an accumulator with one dazzling stroke after another.No bowler was able to restrain the flow of languid, beautifully timedboundaries all round the wicket. With tea drawing near the scoring slowed,as Dravid approached his century with caution and Zimbabwe A resortedto defensive field placing.Dravid’s hundred finally came off 97 balls. It took a while to warm upagain after tea, and just as Dravid was getting into his stride againand taking Murphy apart, the leg-spinner lured him into an uppishdrive to mid-on and he departed for 137, scored off 135 balls, with 22fours and a six. India were now 296 for six, and the partnership withDighe had added 225.Murphy also claimed the wicket of Dighe, lbw for 87. Zaheer Khan (14)and Harbhajan Singh (19) hit freely before Ganguly declared with thescore 336 for nine. Mutendera took three for 69, Murphy three for 77and Friend two for 70.Zaheer Khan and Debashish Mohanty opened the bowling with some firebut an absence of line, and Gavin Rennie (1) was highly annoyed to begiven out caught by the keeper while chasing a ball from the latterwell down the leg side. Dion Ebrahim (25) and Hamilton Masakadza (6)played safe for the close.

Greg Blewett’s second century of the season, both against Durham, allowed Nottinghamshire to make a very bold declaration, setting their hosts a target of 315 in 102 overs at Chester-le-Street. In six overs’ batting in gloomy light Durham reached 16 without loss.Blewett, who made 133 at Trent Bridge five weeks ago, hit 137 not out off 191 balls in Notts’ second innings total of 219 for five.Opening the innings because Darren Bicknell had a side strain, Blewett reached a 93-ball 50 with a swept six off Nicky Phillips and also hit 16 fours.The lack of solid support probably delayed the declaration, along with the loss of seven overs to the day’s only rain shortly after tea.Blewett became the second player of the day to pass 500 Championship runs following Paul Collingwood, whose 91 not out took his tally to 515 at an average of 73.6.In his last match before joining the England one-day squad, Collingwood began the day on 49 with Durham on 205 for six.They lost Ian Hunter and James Brinkley to edges off left-armer Greg Smith before they had added the 17 runs needed to avoid the follow-on.Collingwood hammered Richard Stemp over mid-wicket for six and also hit 11 fours in his 187-ball knock. He put on 58 for the last two wickets with Nicky Phillips and Steve Harmison. Durham were all out for 276, 95 behind, Smith and Stemp taking three wickets each.

Matt Finnigan of Ladbrokes previews the NatWest Triangular One-Day series between England, Australia and Pakistan.If the one-day series proves to be as exciting as the two Tests between England and Pakistan, we are in for a real treat. At lunch on Monday, Ladbrokes priced the Test match at 9/4 England, 8/15 the draw and 5/1 for a Pakistan victory.Ladbrokes make current World Champions Australia favourites at 4/5 to win the series. I believe Steve Waugh’s team will win the series, but at 4/5 there is no value backing them.Ladbrokes make current World Champions Australia favourites at 8/11 to win the seriesThe series curtain raiser is between England and Pakistan on Thursday at Edgbaston, and as with the Test series Ladbrokes cannot split the pair. They are both 5/6 to make a winning start.With a number of England batsman already amongst the runs this summer, top bat for the first one-day game poses many questions. An obvious choice would be Graham Thorpe and Michael Vaughan after they made impressive hundreds in the second Test. However Marcus Trescothick was outstanding last summer in the One-Day Internationals and at 4/1 could well be worth a flutter.My advice is Marcus Trescothick to be England top bat at 4/1 for the first one-day internationalLadbrokes have also released series specials on top run scorer and top wicket-taker.If Marcus Trescothick gets off to a flyer on Thursday there could be no stopping him and at 9/1 he represents very good value. As always Australia have a strong batting line up, and as they are most likely to reach the final it may be worth siding with one of their batsman.My advice is Mark Waugh to be top series run scorer at 5/1Choosing a bowler to be top wicket-taker can be a bit of a lottery, as many wickets can tumble if the team chasing a total needs to up the run rate. With this in mind, considerations should be made on bowler that bowls well with both new & the old ball.My advice is Wasim Akram to be top wicket-taker at 10/1Click on the logo below to place your bet, and to claim a free bet of up to £20 for new users.Note: Odds are subject to change – please check site for latest updates

There are those who can express their pain. And then there are thosewho cannot. Debu Mitra falls into the second category. And just whomight Debu Mitra be? Well, he is the coach who trained the Gangulybrothers, Snehasish and the Indian captain Sourav when they wereyoung. In fact at one point of time, Mitra concentrated only on Souravso that he could make a comeback to the Indian team after hisdisastrous tour to Australia in 1991-92.Whenever Sachin Tendulkar has a problem with his batting, he stillcalls up Ramakant Achrekar, the man who had taught him the basics. Therelation between a student and his first coach always goes a long wayin solving problems that may creep into one’s technique. Mitra, whohas seen Ganguly from his early days, is however not in a position tohelp the Indian captain. He does not want to talk about a cricketer,who was once his student. He suffers in agony as he sees Gangulyfailing time after time. He has the answers to Ganguly’s battingproblems. However, he refuses to talk about them. “Why should I tellyou,” he asks. “Will it help Sourav to score runs.” In fact, hedoes not even want to talk about his famous student. However, one canfeel the pain that comes out with every word. “No, I do not want totalk about his cricket. He is the Indian captain now and he maymisunderstand me if I go out of my way to tell him anything,” hesays.All through the 25-minute discussion, Mitra was adamant on one issue.”I cannot impose myself on him. Unless he asks me, I cannot talk tohim,” he says. “There are quite a few people who will cry foul if Iapproach him with suggestions. I do not want that to happen. There aretimes he talks to me. But it is rarely on his batting.”During the course of the discussion, Mitra made it clear that thefailures may continue to torment the Indian captain. “Certain minordefects have to be corrected,” he states. “But then as I saidbefore, I cannot go to him.” He disagrees that as Ganguly’s firstcoach, it is his responsibility to point out the faults he hasnoticed. When persisted on this point, he maintains silence.There are times when a person has to return to his roots to rediscover his own identity. Who knows, Ganguly may need just that. Heis already under pressure regarding his form over the last few months.A couple of more failures will have the critics baying for his head.Perhaps the time has come for Ganguly to return to his roots, even ifit is for a short time. Maybe in the long run, he will benefit. Mitrais waiting but is Ganguly listening?

July 10th sees the first Zone 6 City Cricket event. Teams of six playersselected from three counties in the area roughly around the cities involved(for example Manchester will include players from Derbyshire,Nottinghamshire and Lancashire) will play an abbreviated form of the game.If the event is an attempt to reach out to a new audience then it is to beapplauded. If however, it is an attempt to sow the seeds of the demise ofcounty cricket under the respectable guise of missionary activity, thenperhaps it should be resisted.The last line of a recent PCA media release quotes from DavidLloyd: “In the late 60s, Cedric Rhodes, ex-Lancashire stalwart who was abit of a visionary and who held some outspoken views on cricket, onceremarked that the future of cricket lies with city cricket….”This phrase, together with earlier comments from the PCA, suggests that this initiative is more than an attempt to raise some money and the profile of cricket in the inner cities. It could be the first step towards undermining the counties and replacing them with amalgamated teams based around the big cities.”The original aim was to raise money for the PCA benevolent fund,” SteveMarsh, the former Kent wicket-keeper and now a leading light within the PCA,told CricInfo.”We hope and expect the event to be a success and we’d love to extend it.Perhaps it could cover two weeks and encompass 18 cities, or involve teamsfrom Sydney, London and Cape Town.”I do think this is a sign of things to come,” Marsh admits. “We wantto attract new supporters to cricket – while retaining the establishedones – and we think that many people will associate more with cities thancounties.”But is it, I ask, an experiment that gives us our first look at the futureof domestic cricket in England?”It’s not our aim to but if that happens then great,” he replies. “There isa feeling that we need to be more competitive. We can learn from theAustralian and South African examples. If we had reduced staffs then yes, itcould well become competitive.”If we took players from Middlesex, Surrey and Essex and formed one Londonteam you’d have a Test-strength side, that would enjoy higher qualitycricket against other strong teams. That would prepare the players betterfor Test cricket.””I’m not sure if that is the view of the PCA, but it is the view of mostplayers,” Marsh says.Some may say that we selected the best players from the 18 counties in thelast Test and still didn’t have a Test-strength side. The question follows: is it necessary for us to contemplate losing the counties in order to improve at Test level? Wouldn’t we be better served by supporting the clubs (there are several in inner city areas) in their attempts to reach out to new spectators, and to talk up county cricket? Ask John Bracewell or Mark Alleyne how much respect they feel they’ve gained for their unprecedented success in one-day cricket.It’s an unusual union that recommends unemployment for its members (whatwould Scargill say?), but it comes as no surprise to Somerset ChiefExecutive, Peter Anderson.”They are so elitist,” he said. “David Graveney [the Chief Executive ofthe PCA] couldn’t give a toss about junior players in county cricket.”If I was a junior player and I was paying my subs’ into the PCA I’d begoing to their meetings and demanding to know why they continually run downthe profession they’re supposed to be protecting. These people who failed toget a job in the corporate world think they can run cricket.””We’re used to the PCA telling us that they play too much cricket, but nowthey’ve arranged to play more!” he adds.Anderson isn’t impressed by the support of the ECB for the counties. He hasbeen given assurances that counties will not be merged, but fears that theremay be a hidden agenda.”We make 47% of the income for our club ourselves, and we could do evenbetter if they let us. The ECB are moving in the direction of putting outregional sides to play the tourists, which means another of our big dayswill go. And then they say we survive on a hand-out!” he says inexasperation.”There has been a concerted effort by leading cricket writers to destabilizecounty cricket. They’ve tinkered here and there and brought in twodivisions, and now we keep hearing that regional cricket is the way to go.”There is an uneasy alliance with David Graveney and his committments to theECB and the PCA. The ECB tell me that they don’t want to get rid of thecounties but I just don’t know what their real long term plans may be.”ECB spokesman Andrew Walpole had this response: “The ECB is dedicated toprotecting the 18 first-class counties. We support the PCA’s initiative toreach out to new audiences within the inner cities. The fact that the eventis part of our fixture list illustrates that it can co-exist with countycricket.”There is an oft-repeated myth that no-one is interested in county cricket orthat county grounds are always empty; that the standards are low and thatthe games aren’t competitive – all nonsense. The county members, whosupport the clubs financially and in spirit, have not been consulted.They do not want their clubs undermined, particularly if it isdone in disingenuous fashion.”I expect we will become a plc in due course,” Anderson reveals, encouragingthe view that the current status quo is endangered.”Cricket will never be the same,” the Zone 6 adverts tell us. Isn’t itbetter the way it is?

Suresh Perera, the promising fast bowler tipped as a player who can turn outto be the great all-rounder Sri Lanka lusts after, justified his selection tothe senior team by winning the man of the match award in the game againstIndia on Sunday.Perera played a vital role, scoring 28 off 31 balls just when Sri Lanka hadstumbled to 155 for seven and then claiming the wickets of both the Indianopeners in an impressive new ball burst.An excited Perera said afterwards: “I am delighted. I feel great. This isthe first time I have won the man of the match award. But more importantly Iwant to do better”Perera has just returned from back and groin injuries which kept him in thecold for almost two years after he made his debut in the famous OvalTest against England in 1998; a game in which he took just one wicket, butclubbed an entertaining unbeaten 43 in the Sri Lankan first innings.He has since been in the selectors’ sights and, when he performed well against Pakistan A on their recent tour, he was finally given a recall.”It’s been almost two years,” recalls Perera. “Even in the domestic seasonI just played the odd game because of the injury. Now I feel I am back tonormal and I want to give my best to the side.”Suresh Perera’s last international assignment was during the AIWA cup athome, which featured Australia and India, before the injuries started totake their toll. Sunday’s game was his 13th ODI.His back injury forced him to make some technical changes: “I have had tochange my bowling action slightly, which had previously put a lot of stressupon my back, and therefore caused the injury.”With the assistance of video footage and under the watchful eye of RumeshRatnayake, the bowling coach, Perera also identified other areas forimprovement, including a more compact action and straighter lines.”I took the Pakistani series match by match,” he said. “I desperatelywanted to do well. At the end of the series I was happy because my efforts wererewarded.””It was very hard to get back to the side,” he reveals. “I had to performup to high expectations, but on the other hand I had to look after myinjuries and be careful. I was unable to just give it everything and AlexKontouri recommended that I only bowl short spells during my recoveryperiod.”Perera is though not content with just getting back into the one-day team,he wants more than that: “After that Test at the Oval in 1998 I didn’t get asingle chance to play Test cricket. I don’t know why, but I now want tomake it back into the Test side as well.”Sri Lankan captain Sanath Jayasuriya was delighted with the 23-year-old’sperformance and attitude: “He’s been an excellent addition to the team. Weare looking for an all rounder and I was happy with his performance. He gaveone hundred percent and that’s what we need.”Dav Whatmore, the Sri Lankan coach, is a big fan: “Suresh is amulti-dimensional cricketer who gives you something in every department ofthe game. With the ball he has the knack of taking wickets and he has a lotof potential with the bat. In the field he is quick across the turf and anexcellent fast throw.”With Sri Lanka now keen to play six batsmen and five specialist bowlers, anopportunity has emerged for Perera as one of the fast bowling all rounders.If he continues to fire like he did last Sunday and, more importantly, keepsthose injuries at bay, then Sri Lanka’s chances of success in the 2003 WorldCup will receive a welcome boost.

Durham survived a first-over scare and irritating wait through the lunch interval before completing a seven-wicket win against Worcestershire two minutes into the final afternoon at Kidderminster.The northerners lost skipper Jon Lewis to Andy Bichel’s fourth ball of the day but went a long way towards wrapping up their second CricInfo Championship victory of the season in a partnership of 88 between Jimmy Daley and Martin Love.Bichel’s 50th wicket of the summer gave the hosts a short-lived glimmer of hope before his Queensland team-mate, Love, took the game away from them with a run-a-ball half-century.It was his 11th time past 50 in 21 Championship innings and in the process he reached 1,000 runs in his first season in county cricket.Love’s imperious timing and Daley’s more pugnacious methods combined to frustrate Worcestershire’s seamers as Durham cruised toward their target of 115.Love hit 11 fours in making 58 until his habit of throwing away a platform re-emerged with a slash to Philip Weston in the gully off Stuart Lampitt.Daley, close to giving a chance to second slip early in his innings, eventually reached 38 from 78 balls before he was lbw in the first over from slow left-armer Matt Rawnsley.Paul Collingwood tried to apply the finishing touch before lunch with three boundaries, but played 20 other balls without scoring as Durham went to lunch at 113 for 3, only two runs short of their requirement.The result was a major setback to Worcestershire’s hope of making a late promotion challenge after successive wins against Derbyshire and Gloucestershire.