The opening day of the crucial second Test at Asgiriya International Stadiumin Kandy ended with honours even on Wednesday despite an extraordinary firsthour in which the West Indies were handicapped by the loss of half theirbowling attack in the space of four balls.West Indies, asked to field by Sri Lankan captain Sanath Jayasuriya, startedthe day well, taking a wicket in the very first over, but then saw theirpremier fast bowler, Mervyn Dillon, break down with a mystery injury in histhird over. Three balls later his replacement, Colin Stuart, was banned frombowling again in the innings after bowling two beamers at Jayasuriya.West Indies were left facing Sri Lanka with just one fast bowler, PedroCollins, who had not bowled a ball under match conditions in the tour priorto today, and leg-spinner Dinanath Ramnarine, whose fingers will still havebeen sore from his heavy workload in Galle.Nevertheless, Sri Lanka’s reckless batsmen conspired to lose four wickets inthe morning to hand the tourists the initiative before polishedhalf-centuries from Mahela Jayawardene and Hashan Tillakaratne led anafternoon recovery to leave the home team moderately well placed on 193 forfive when rain ended play for the day.The rain, which wiped out the entire final session, will have been warmlywelcomed by the West Indies management, who will be hoping that Dillonrecovers sufficiently to take a full part on tomorrows play. He did returnto bowl a five over spell in the afternoon, but did so in great pain.The management remains confused as to the reason why Dillon suddenlyexperienced shooting pains in his diaphragm after each delivery. He was fineyesterday and during the warm-up this morning. They are to consultspecialists as soon as possible.For Stuart, however, there will be no return until the second innings afterLaw 42.6 (b), which deals exclusively with the bowling of ‘High Full PitchedBalls’, was tightened up in September 2000. In the past, bowlers receivedtwo warnings before being removed from the attack, but now they get a firstand final warning.There was some confusion. Stuart marched back to his mark expecting tocontinue the over, complaining of a sweaty bowling palm, whilst the umpiresconferred with each other and the match referee, before informing CarlHooper of the freak situation. There may have a case for discretion beingused, but the rules were purposely changed to reduce subjectivity indecision-making on a dangerous issue.Kandy, of course, is no stranger to the unusual. It was here that Australiancaptain Steve Waugh broke his nose and fast bowler Jason Gillespie his legduring a horrific on-field collision in 1999.Then, earlier this year against England, Sri Lankan umpire B.C. Coorayneeded police protection after one of the most disgraceful umpiring displaysin recent times.All the while, some Sri Lanka’s cricketers and fans now privately worry thata hill country hoodoo conspires against them whenever they play here.They batted like they were cursed too, having won a good toss. MarvanAtapattu stumbled into a straight delivery from Dillon and was adjudged lbw,to record his 19th duck in 87 Test innings.Jayasuriya, perhaps unsettled by the unusual sight of five different bowlersin the first seven overs of the innings, clubbed three boundaries beforebeing surprised by some sharp bounce and edging to third slip.Kumar Sangakkara and Russel Arnold then played dreadful shots, as they triedto force leg-spinner Dinanath Ramnarine against the spin were clean bowledto leave an embarrassed home team on 53 for four.Jayawardene and Tillakaratne continued their prime form from Galle to savethem from total humiliation, adding 116 in just over two hours.Jaywardene, who came into the match with scores 104, 25, 139, 150, and 99 inhis last four Tests, counter attacked in style as he went on to score 88. Itwas a faultless innings full of well-balance pulls and compact drives.But after the after the post-lunch drinks break he became becalmed, asTillakaratne, batting with greater freedom than at anytime since returningto Test cricket in August, dominated the strike. Seemingly anxious to getmoving again he was caught and bowled in Ramnarines’s first over of a newspell as he tried to work the ball into the leg-side.Tillakaratne correctly sensed that this was not the time for one of hispainful attritional innings and pull-swept high over mid-wicket and thensquare cut for four to bring up his fifty before finishing the day unbeatenon 60.Tillakaratne has now batted for 883 minutes without being dismissedfollowing scores of 139* against India, 10* against Bangladesh, and 105* inGalle last week.The match remains evenly poised with Sri Lanka holding a marginal advantage.During the last three Tests in Kandy the first innings scores have been 253,297 and 274. With a strong lower order they are well placed to surpass this,especially if Dillon remains in capacitated.For their part, West Indies take credit from the teams response to suchmisfortune. Considering their predicament they did very well indeed,especially Ramnarine, who enjoyed some bite off the wicket in the firstsession and bowled accurately throughout.Earlier in the day both sides made one change from Galle. The Sri Lankanshad recalled left-arm fast bowler Nuwan Zoysa in place of Charitha BuddikaFernando, whilst the West Indies included left-arm fast bowler PedroCollins.

Taking advantage of a fine first-innings batting effort, Baroda wontheir Ranji Trophy league match against Saurashtra at Rajkot by aninnings and 184 runs inside three days.Skipper Tushar Arothe’s century was superseded by a patient 164 fromNayan Mongia. Batting for 453 minutes and 281 balls, Mongia struck 15fours in his knock and was the ninth wicket to fall, with the score onexactly 500. He received good support from the lower order, with AjitBhoite making 51 and Rakesh Patel a quickfire 41.In the face of a total of 509, Saurashtra’s batting wilted in theirfirst innings. Zaheer Khan, bowling to catch the national selectors’eye again, returned figures of 20-11-25-5. Saurashtra could only make115 in their first innings, with the top score being skipper ShitanshuKotak’s 28 off 141 balls.Following on, Saurashtra did only marginally better in their secondessay, making 210. Opener Sujith Somasunder top-scored with 57, butnone of the other batsmen could even get to 50. Bhoite took 4-31 inthe second innings, and Baroda went on to collect eight points byvirtue of their comprehensive outright win.

Heavyweight showdown, lightweight battle.It has been more than three years since South Africa last lost two Tests in succession. Prior to this one, the Proteas also hadn’t been defeated in aseries since August 1998. But they have surrendered each of those proud records today, crushed in less than four days by Australia in the SecondTest in Melbourne.It was suffocating; it was intimidating; and it was pressure by sheer presence as Australia used the platform of a 210-run first innings lead to sweepto a nine wicket triumph that guaranteed an unbeatable 2-0 lead in the series.As in his team’s 246-run loss in Adelaide eleven days ago, Jacques Kallis (99) was typically stout of heart and stout of mind as he defied thenear-inevitable today. Yet he again found few teammates willing to aid him and was tragically even drawn into running himself out one short of acentury in a bid to farm the strike. In plunging to a second innings total of 219, the South Africans were duly a demoralised unit long beforeAustralia’s win was completed.There were wickets for all four of Australia’s bowlers, and two run outs, as the home team again combined brilliantly all the while in the field.Visions of a South African fightback from a near-impossible position overnight – and the dream of staving off an early end to the series – wereimmediately encouraged as Shaun Pollock (3/84) trapped Glenn McGrath (0) lbw to wrap up the Australian first innings just six balls into the day.But such hopes quickly proved illusory.Herschelle Gibbs (21) and Gary Kirsten (10) opened the batting in a positive mindset, unafraid to play shots on a true pitch. Yet Kirsten quicklyedged a Brett Lee (2/52) outswinger to third slip; Gibbs underedged a cut and was wonderfully caught low and to Adam Gilchrist’s left; and theluckless Boeta Dippenaar (23) was out to another stunning catch – this time a reflex effort by Matthew Hayden at short leg as a shot was slammedat his midriff.Kallis reaffirmed his credentials as one of the world’s foremost batsmen with another sophisticated display of defiance and received fleeting helpafter lunch from Pollock (18) and Neil McKenzie (12).But, as soon as any kind of protracted fight looked like developing, the Australians struck. McKenzie, neither forward nor back, followed a ShaneWarne (3/68) leg break off the pitch; Lance Klusener (7) avoided a king pair but not a straight delivery from McGrath (2/43); Mark Boucher (0)drove a Warne delivery off the edge to slip; and Pollock was needlessly run out from a Kallis push to cover.Ultimately, no partnership spilled to so much as the half-century mark.If they had held on until stumps, then the South Africans might have been able to profit from a forecast which shows that grey may replace sunny blueacross Melbourne’s skyline tomorrow. But not even that could be managed.Claude Henderson (16) stamped a defiant imprint over the lower order batting again but couldn’t avoid being drawn into edging a McGrath legcutter to second slip. Allan Donald (7) survived a brace of short balls, only to be conquered by a wickedly deceptive yorker from Andy Bichel(1/52). And, then, Kallis – not only running out of time but also doubtlessly patience with his teammates too – elected unwisely to take a second runto deep point that was probably never on offer.Justin Langer (7) holed out with a cut, but it took Australia’s upper order a mere 14 minutes to tidy up the rout.If this all represented a battle between cricket’s two best teams, then it bodes ill about the current state of the game.It’s hard to imagine that the South Africans won’t better showcase their considerable skill and talent as a side when another three-match seriesbegins in the Republic in early 2002. But if this is any kind of pointer to the balance of world power at the moment, then the scales are dreadfullylopsided.For their part, the only sour note at all for the world champion Australians arrived early in the day as their captain, Steve Waugh, was relieved ofhalf of his match payment for a show of dissent yesterday.In the eyes of others in the world, the Australians’ approach and their attitude might not always be politic. But their power remains absolute.

Former captain Moin Khan was held back hours after being told to rushto Bangladesh as cover-up for wicketkeeper Rashid Latif.The chairman of selectors Wasim Bari admitted Tuesday that the tourmanagement had sent out an SOS. “But after we chose Moin, the teammanagement called from Chittagong and said Rashid was fit to completethe tour,” he told reporters.Moin, whose last appearance was as captain in March, was booked on5.30am flight to Dhaka Wednesday so that he could make himselfavailable for back-to-back matches.Earlier in the day, director of the PCB Brig Munawwar Rana said Moinwould replace Rashid whose exact nature of injury was unknown. “We arenot sure what his injury is. We received an SOS from Dhaka Tuesdaymorning.”Rashid is returning on the first available flight. We also want togive him proper rest before the series against the West Indies,” hesaid.The chairman of the PCB Lt Gen Tauqir Zia said: “The tour managementwanted a replacement. But after we saw Rashid Latif keeping wickets,we inquired what the injury was, as he looked fit. We haven’t heardfrom them as yet.” However, the General denied that a group of seniorplayers were against Moin’s inclusion. “That’s not true. In fact, theplayers like Moin and want him in the team.”Pakistan team returns from Dhaka on Jan 26 and leave for Sharjah on 28where the first Test begins Jan 31. The series ends on Feb 17 with thethird one-day international.Moin has appeared in 190 one-day internationals, 34 as captain,scoring 2,853 runs with nine half centuries. He has played in 65Tests, 13 as captain, aggregating 2,493 runs with three centuries and15 half centuries besides accounting for 138 batsmen behind thewickets.

The national one-day tournament will be played between March 8 and April 7 with 28 teams to compete for top honours.The teams will be equally divided into four groups with top two teams from each group qualifying for the final rounds. The semifinals and the final will be played under lights.Only three matches have been slated as day/night fixtures despite the fact that three stadia are equipped with floodlight facilities. Furthermore, the stadia have hosted private day/night matches as well as musical concerts. But when it has come to hosting domestic one-day matches, the officials claim they don’t have the funds.It is an irony that since floodlights were installed at Karachi and Rawalpindi in 2000, only two one-day matches involving Pakistan and England have been played.The lights at Gaddafi Stadium have also not been properly utilized.Officials said smaller cities, preferably the participating association, will host preliminary round matches. “To curtail expenses of the associations, preliminary round matches have been awarded to competing association.”The officials argued that the change has been made after Pakistan Railways lifted their 50 percent waiver for sportsmen. That’s besides the point that the associations are so cash strapped that they can not afford their players travelling. It may also be pointed out here that the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) gives a Rs 6,000 daily allowance to each team during its organized tournaments.Officials said the format and draws of the competition have been sent to the PCB chairman for approval.It will be after a long time that 18 associations and 10 departmental teams will compete in the one-day tournament.Invited teams are:Associations: Lahore Blues, Lahore Whites, Karachi Blues, Karachi Whites, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Peshawar, Hyderabad, Bahawalpur, Gujran-wala, Sialkot, Sargodha, Faisalabad, Sheikhupura, Rest of Sindh, Rest of Punjab, Rest of NWFP, Rest of Balochistan.Departments: PIA, HBL, NBP, ABL, KRL, Customs, Wapda, Sui Gas and Pak PWD.

Baroda may be Ranji Trophy champions in the running for their second successive title. They may also be playing on their home ground coming off a resounding win over Hyderabad. But on the first day of their semi-final against Punjab, they belied those appearances, putting in a poor batting display that will handicap them in the remaining four days.Batting first on a home pitch must have been a pleasant scenario for Baroda, but only Ajit Bhoite was able to capitalise on it. Quarter-final giants Connor Williams and Jacob Martin only managed 13 and 7 respectively, and, aside from Bhoite, Nayan Mongia was the only batsman to cross the 20-run mark.Bhoite seemed to play on an entirely different pitch. Making 85 off 103 balls, he struck boundaries with consummate ease, hitting 11 fours and four sixes in his knock. He had to bat, for the large part, with an unsteady tail, but he did it well, succumbing only as the 10th wicket, with the score on 222, after a stalwart innings.For the visitors, Harbhajan Singh was the most successful bowler, unleashing his bag of tricks to take 4-68 off 25 overs. Amit Uniyal took 3-77 off 20.2 overs.Baroda’s bowlers, however, did not take the situation lying down. Four batsmen were back in the pavilion with the scoreboard reading 39, three of them falling to a Zaheer Khan keenly hoping to catch the eye of the national selectors for a recall to the Indian team.The situation stabilised somewhat after Zaheer was taken out of the attack, and Dinesh Mongia and Vikram Rathour then put on 56 runs for the fifth wicket. Punjab went in at stumps on 95/4, with Mongia and Rathour on 36 and 16 respectively.After a bad start, Punjab will be hoping to regroup enough on the second day to garner a sizeable first-innings lead. Given Baroda’s relatively small score, that should not be too difficult if the current pair get stuck in, and Baroda’s bowlers will have to do their best if their side is to retain the title this season.

Former New Zealand cricket coach Warren Lees was amazed at England’s failure to make the most of their opportunities on a limited first day of their three-day match against Otago at Queenstown today.Lees coached the New Zealand team during their highly-successful 1992 World Cup campaign and the following drawn Test series with Australia in New Zealand before he was dropped as coach.Now involved in the game as a comments man on radio he was surprised at the basic approach employed by the English who finished the rain-shortened day on 82/6.”What they wanted from today was to have a net. They needed everyone to bat for 50 minutes to an hour and 20 minutes and at the end of the day for everyone to feel they had enjoyed a good net.”But their top three (Marcus Trescothick, Mark Butcher and Mark Ramprakash) failed.”The next batsmen up needed to say, ‘Hold on, we’ll now bat for two hours,’ but they didn’t. They just kept batting the same way.”When the Otago bowlers bowled a wayward ball they never let it go, they kept playing at it,” he said.Lees added that the side’s captain and coach would be pretty disappointed at the end of the day.”They are playing in a holiday venue, and they played holiday cricket.”What they should do when they come tomorrow is decide to play some good cricket, and I am sure we will see some different batting,” he said.Lees said that of the batsmen Butcher looked out of touch, and that was to be expected having come straight from the English winter, but the players who had been here for the one-day series had been guilty of still playing one-day cricket.

Andhra Pradesh have made a promising start in their vital Elite Group sixth round match against Rajasthan. By the end of the first day’s play at the Ukku Stadium, Visakhapatnam, the hosts, who are battling to avoid being relegated to the Plate Group, had managed to restrict the visitors to 195/8.It was quite a fall for Rajasthan, who were 120-2 at one stage after their skipper Rahul Kanwat won the toss and elected to bat.Openers Vineet Saxena and Gagan Khoda put on nine runs before Khoda was forced to retire with an injury.The veteran opener was, though, soon back in action following the dismissals Anshu Jain (10) and Nikhil Doru (1). If the injury had rattled him, Khoda showed no signs of it, as he and Saxena began to establish command. The duo guided their team to 120-2, when Khoda fell for a patient 56 off 131 balls.It was a dismissal that was to precitipate a collapse which saw the visitors lose another five wickets for 73 runs. Saxena, for his part, went on to make 64 off 201 balls with eight fours before becoming the fifth wicket to fall.For Andhra Pradesh, off-spinner Mohammed Faiq returned the best figures of 2-28.

The UCB has extended the contract of national assistant coach Corrie van Zylto September to enable him to be a member of the South African squad touringthe UK during the English summer.Van Zyl’s contract was due to expire at the end of April 2003.”Corrie has been a very valuable member of the national squad’s managementteam,” said UCB CEO Gerald Majola today. “He is a great support to EricSimons and has done brilliant work with the bowlers. For instance, MakhayaNtini in particular has blossomed by working with Corrie. Corrie also knowsthe English conditions, which require changes in line and length frombowlers, and we believe he will play an important role on the tour toEngland,” he added.After September 2003, Van Zyl will return to coach Free State, the provincefor whom he played 104 first class matches and 118 domestic limited oversmatches as a fast bowler. “It makes me very happy that Corrie will remain inthe South African cricket system to give back some of his knowledge,” Majolasaid.Van Zyl said that he was honoured that Eric Simons and the UCB had asked himto stay on through the tour to the UK. “And it’s an honour which I acceptand I look forward to the tour. I have been with the national team for fiveyears now and have gained immense experience as a coach from that set-up.But after September, it will be time for me to be with my family and it’salso important to me to take some of what I have learnt at the nationallevel and use it in provincial cricket. Now that I know what is required ininternational cricket, it helps me better prepare the provincial players -both for domestic and international cricket,” Van Zyl said.

LAHORE – As expected, the fresh set of national selectors along with Rashid Latif and Yousuf Youhana, the newly-appointed captain and vice-captain, have gone for a 16-member squad for the Sharjah Cup, so distinctly different from the one that only recently crashed out of the World Cup without a whimper.Despite the outbreak of war in the region, the tournament, which also involves Sri Lanka and South Africa other than Pakistan, was still on, according to latest reports available to the PCB.Though anticipated that some of the seniors would not be called for national duty, when chief selector Aamer Sohail announced the squad, eight out of the 15 that went to South Africa stood dropped. Though Abdul Razzaq and Saleem Elahi managed to survive, but only just and, as Sohail divulged, that too because of the intervention of skipper Latif.Those who have hit the sack are: Waqar Younis, Wasim Akram, Saeed Anwar, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Saqlain Mushtaq, Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Akhtar and Azhar Mahmood. Some of these, though, have merely been rested, insisted Sohail.They are likely to make a comeback once their hunger for the game is renewed after a spell away from the game, said Sohail. “I think there is a good three years of cricket left in Inzamam; he is an asset and should not be written off”.Desperate times, as the saying goes, require desperate measures. And, these certainly are desperate times for Pakistan cricket, but in naming this hugely green outfit, have the selectors gone for overkill?Aamer insisted that they had not, and that it was not reckless changing and chopping just for the heck of it. “Our brief is well defined. The team needs to be rebuilt. Hence, we have given an opportunity to those who deserved to fill slots vacated by some of the seniors. The captain has been part of the process of selection, as he would always be from now on. His recommendations have been catered for, and he would be provided total support,” said the chief selector about the first set of selections made by his five-member committee.Rashid for his part insisted that the sacking was a bitter pill, which had to be swallowed because of the necessity to rebuild the national team. “Some of these boys replacing the likes of Akram and Younis are unknown figures. But maybe soon they too would be household names. They certainly have the potential to strike it big”, said Rashid.Sohail echoed similar sentiments when he said, that given a proper opportunity and guidance this young but talented side had the potential to deliver the goods.Captaining Pakistan at this critical juncture was something that he had accepted as a challenge, said Rashid, adding that he had to shelve post-World Cup retirement plans because the team needed him. “That is why for the moment, I’ve extended my career for a year”, said he, mentioning that he was physically fit at the moment, though still undecided whether he wanted to play Test cricket as well (he had already announced his retirement from the longer version of the game even before he embarked on the plane for the World Cup).”I take it upon myself as a responsibility to groom a wicket-keeper for the future”, said he, suggesting that he may either sit out some or induct himself only as a batsman in Tests. At one point, gesturing towards Youhana sitting on his right, Rashid said that maybe the former would be captaining the Pakistan team in not too distant a future.Though masked with considerable degree of success, more than a hint of desperation was quite visible on the brows of the chief selector and captain. Patience was the buzz word with the duo, as a nervous-looking Youhana sat there in silence.When asked whether they would revert back to the seniors after another setback or two – the fate of all previous attempts at rebuilding in recent years – Sohail said that people would have to be patient and allow this young brigade time to settle down in the international arena.On the part of the selection committee, Aamer assured that there would be no backtracking. “We are looking ahead, towards tomorrow and not yesterday. The emphasis of this committee would be on continuity, and I assure you that we would not insult our own intelligence by selecting a player and then dropping him without a proper outing”, said Sohail.Quite unprompted, Sohail made an interesting comment. When talking about the virtues of this young outfit, he repeatedly stressed on Latif being the only captain in the side. This ‘not-so-vague’ hint gave away the fact that the previous squad had more than what could only be called jostling for power by various factions because it had a surfeit of former captains who wanted another turn at the saddle.To reinforce the argument, Aamer quoted the Aussie example. “The Australians have been the most successful side of the 1990s, and they have had only one captain in their elevens”.The 16-member squad: Taufeeq Umar, Mohammad Hafeez, Naved Latif, Saleem Elahi, Yousuf Youhana, Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq, Faisal Iqbal, Rashid Latif, Danish Kaneria, Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Sami, Mohammad Zahid, Umar Gul, Naved-ul-Hasan, Abdul Razzaq.