Makoni’s cricketers have had mixed fortunes in recent weeks in the Lilthurbridge Cup. A month ago they travelled to Enterprise Country Club (30 minutes north-east of Harare) where they comprehensively outplayed these six-time champions. Set a modest 185 (Ant Mitchell 59, Roger Staunton 38), Makoni cruised home with 186/4 (Kenyon Ziehl 66, Kevin Curran 47*).The following week they handed out another six-wicket hiding, this time to former Country Districts powerhouses Hwedza. Winning the toss and fielding, Makoni restricted the visitors to 163/7. Richard Seager was luckily dropped four times during his 59 otherwise the game would have been over sooner. Zeihl(41), Hough (37), Frans Briers (34) and Curran (32*) knocked off the runs with ten overs to spare.Makoni – who always field first to get the worst part of the day over with – included former Zimbabwe B opening bowler Dave Timms. Now resident in the USA, ‘Gonzo’ was unfortunately unable to re-enact former glories. A huge man who occasionally played lock for Manicaland in the eighties, he once carried the drinks for Zimbabwe – dutifully wearing blazer and black shoes, believing his team mates’ assurances that this was protocol. A notable absentee from Hwedza’s ranks after 30-odd seasons was Mike Seager, now playing for Enterprise after a spat with the selectors.These results propelled Makoni as group winners into the play-offs. Early-season favourites for the title, they came unstuck at the first hurdle. Travelling to Chegutu (formerly Hartley), they were beaten by 89 runs by a young side bristling with Academy players. Batting first, Chegutu made 198/8 (Barney Rogers 44, D. Waterfall 32), with only Bokkie Moolman (2/45) enjoying limited success with the ball. Stunned by Academy bowler Van Rensburg (5/33 – all ducks) and De Vries (3/36), Makoni slumped to 109 all out, with only Kevin Curran managing 57. The Makoni veterans took exception to the tone adopted by these youthful townies who sledged and abused their way to an unpleasant victory.Last weekend with only nine players they drove 400 kilometres to receive a hiding from Karoi. Sent in, they made 194 (Nigel Hough 75, Kenyon Ziehl 35), which Karoi overhauled with 13 overs and seven wickets to spare. Robin Brown felt obliged to retire on 70 such was the disarray of these would-be cup bowlers. Simon Ballance had done an Achilles, Hough’s back had gone and Ziehl had pulled thigh, hamstring and armpit muscles. With only one game to go they are now unable to progress to the semi-finals.Last weekend saw all the provincial chairmen meeting for discussions in Bulawayo during the one-day internationals at Queens Sports Club. Plenty of fire was breathed on the state of the game and the direction its leaders were taking. There was a consensus that development needed huge financial support, most importantly in the form of full-time paid provincial administrators. With the game’s expansion and thrust, the amateur part-timers currently doing the job feel increasingly overwhelmed. All clubs are struggling financially and there are feelings that the ZCU should emulate other Test nations in equitable income distribution.

India’s star batsman Sachin Tendulkar, who skipped the on-goingtriangular one-day series in Sri Lanka due to a hairline fracture tohis right toe, is feeling better and is likely to go in for anotherbone scan on August 10.Sports medicine expert Anant Joshi, who is treating Tendulkar, toldPTI in Mumbai today that the batting maestro sounded cheerful when hespoke to him and said "he is feeling better.""I am hopeful that the injury would heal soon. Because it is ahairline fracture it can’t be seen on the X-ray and that is why we aredoing another bone scan," he added.When asked when Tendulkar would be able to join the struggling Indianteam in Sri Lanka, Joshi said "it all depends on how soon thefracture heals. The second bone scan will give us some indication.Sachin has also been advised to wear a doughnut-like protection on theinjured area to release the pressure on it," he added.Tendulkar, who injured his toe while batting against the West Indiesin the final league match of the tringular series in Zimbabwe on July4, went on to score a hundred and helped India win handsomely.Though the star batsman pulled out of the on-going tri-series, he isexpected to be fit before the three-Test series against the SriLankans starting on August 14 at Galle.

Sussex were in the driving seat at the close on the first day against Australia after rattling up 355-4 declared from 81 overs before reducing the tourists to 19-2 by stumps.The county’s prolific opening pair Richard Montgomerie and Murray Goodwin both scored hundreds and then Billy Taylor made early inroads into Australia’s batting by removing Justin Langer and Ricky Ponting.Sussex’s openers put on 202 after the county had been put in by Adam Gilchrist; their third partnership of over 200 this season.Goodwin was stumped off Simon Katich after making 105 including 17 boundaries, most of them thumped with power and timing through the off side.It was the Zimbabwean’s sixth century of the season, but Montgomerie went one better and passed 2,000 runs in all cricket when he reached his seventh century.He eventually fell for 157, caught at slip off Damian Fleming with the second new ball. It was overdue reward for Fleming who saw Montgomerie dropped by reserve ‘keeper Wade Seccombe in the second over when he’d made just one.Acting captain Adam Gilchrist’s bowling options were reduced when Ashley Noffke had to be carried off with a sore ankle after he’d trodden on the ball in his ninth over. The luckless Noffke had earlier spilled Montgomerie on 32 when he top-edged a hook off Brett Lee down to fine leg.Sussex skipper Chris Adams chipped in with an unbeaten 66 and his enterprising declaration soon paid dividends.Taylor ensured Langer’s miserable tour continued when he trapped him lbw on the back leg and in his next over Ponting flicked the ball off his legs straight to Montgomerie at square leg.

Australia ended their triumphant Ashes summer with a convincing win over England at the AMP Oval today by an innings and 25 runs to record a resounding 4-1 series victory.A near capacity crowd turned up to see England try and stave off defeat, but instead watched Australia’s bowlers snaffle up the nine wickets required for victory, with Glenn McGrath and man of the match Shane Warne again posing the biggest challenges for the Englishmen.McGrath picked up the last duo of Jimmy Ormond and Phil Tufnell to finish with 5-43 and topped the bowling for the series with 32 wickets. His leg-spinning partner took a remarkable 11 wickets in the match – the first time, surprisingly, he has taken ten wickets or more in a Test outside Australia. He ended the series just one wicket behind McGrath with 31 wickets, this last match producing 11-229, as he overtook Curtley Ambrose’s 405 Test wicket haul.The ninth wicket partnership between Darren Gough and Jimmy Ormond survived 19 overs and put on 58 runs including some powerfully struck drives from the Yorkshireman who produced his best score since he made a half-century against Australia at Sydney in 1995, 49 Test matches ago.It was an entertaining stand, which kept the crowd enraptured and postponed the Australians’ victory celebrations. But after playing with defiance in his first Test, Ormond, who was growing in confidence, edged the ball behind to wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist.His place was taken by Tufnell, who received a standing ovation and some enthusiastic applause but the Middlesex spinner faced one bouncer from McGrath and was then caught by Warne at first slip with the next delivery to complete what had been inevitable from early on in the day.The last wicket fell at 3.32pm and it brought to an end an excellent npower Ashes series, which proved to be an uneven contest between a developing side and what could go down in history as the finest cricket team ever.Glenn McGrath was chosen as Australia’s man of the series by England coach, Duncan Fletcher, while Mark Butcher was selected by Australian coach John Buchanan, who also praised Andy Caddick’s efforts.Afterwards Nasser Hussain commented: “I have been very proud of my team in the last couple of games and even before then they have showed a lot of character.”As coach Duncan Fletcher said to us in the dressing room, we have got someyoung lads that have come in and there is no point looking anywhere else apartfrom them Australia for the standards that are required.”Steve Waugh was, naturally, delighted with the win.”We did play very good cricket, there is no doubt about that,” he admitted. “Weplayed well from day one. We batted superbly, bowled very well and our fielding was probably the only one that was down a little, but overall it was a great performance by all the guys.”

Graeme Hick’s 200 not out against Durham at Chester-le-Street saw him become the first batsman to score Championship centuries home and away against all other 17 first-class counties.He also equalled the highest score made at the six-year-old Riverside ground, Darryl Cullinan having made 200 not out for South Africa against Durham in 1998.The 117th century of his career also took Hick level with Don Bradman as he held the Worcestershire innings together before declaring at 356 for nine, 13 behind.Play began half an hour late and a further 17 overs were lost with Durham on 69 for two in their second innings. They returned at 5.30 for nine overs and finished on 99 for two with Martin Love on 45.Hick saw two partners run out when he was on 99 and was then almost out himself as he edged Nicky Hatch via the oustretched fingertips of Love, the only slip, for the two runs which took him to 101 off 157 balls.Matt Rawnsley survived 23 overs and contributed 17 to a ninth-wicket stand of 99 before he was also run out.Hick drove his only six off Graeme Bridge to reach 200 off 238 balls. He also hit 26 fours, many of them pulled disdainfully through mid-wicket and his fourth 50 came off only 23 deliveries.On 68 overnight, his only real mistake came on 88 when he miscued a drive off Bridge and Jimmy Daley ran back 15 yards from mid-off to get under the ball, only to let it slip through his hands.Gary Pratt was responsible for two of the run-outs, but with Danny Law suffering from a sore toe the already depleted Durham attack posed few problems for Hick on a flat pitch.

James Hamblin has been awarded 2nd XI Player of the Month for Aug/Sept, winning£600. His performances helped Hampshire to the 2nd XI Championship title.Gareth Batty of Surrey was named 2nd XI Player of the Year and will receive£1000. Surrey won the 2nd XI Trophy.Championship Final Points Table
Trophy Zonal Points Table

Tasmania’s attack suffered the same fate as the WACA’s fast-disappearing Players Stand as century makers Damien Martyn and Murray Goodwin set the Tigers a 244 run final day target.The pair posted a state record fourth wicket partnership of 321 before the home side declared at 7-594 with a 257 run first innings lead.In reply the Tigers were 0-13 at stumps, with Jamie Cox on eight and Dene Hills five.Goodwin and Martyn put on 321 to push the score to 3-554, before the Tigers took a rash of late wickets.But while the stand is being torn down with heavy machinery, Martyn and Goodwin were more meticulous in their demolition.At no point were they forced to slog for runs as they kept the scoreboard ticking over with an array of risk-free shots to all parts of the ground.Martyn followed up his 108 from Wednesday’s ING Cup clash here with his first Pura Cup century of the summer.His 189, his tenth ton against the Islanders from just 18 matches, came from 250 deliveries and included 23 fours and a six.Goodwin, who played the anchor role throughout the first 200 runs, cut free late in his innings when he advanced from 100 to 141 in just 16 balls.His 141 was his best return for the Warriors since returning from a stint in the international arena with Zimbabwe last year.Goodwin fell with the score on 554, bowled while attempting to hit Shane Watson (1-126) out of the park.The need for fast runs also brought about Martyn’s downfall 16 runs later when he lofted Daniel Marsh (2-111) to Damien Wright at cover.Marcus North (1) and Adam Gilchrist (19) also fell in the hectic final five overs.Martyn confirmed after the match that Gilchrist had set the side a target of building a 250 run first innings lead, but also wanted ten overs at the Tigers before stumps.”We’re hoping we don’t have to bat tomorrow and if we do hopefully we won’t be chasing too many,” he said.”The wicket’s flat in periods once the new ball goes, but there’s cracks there and there’s variations still so if we get the ball in the right slot tomorrow it should be good.”Martyn also revealed his thigh had come through the marathon 320 minute knock unscathed.”It’s not bad, it’s still a bit sore but it handled the work load and came up pretty well after four or five hours batting,” he said.

A belligerent century knock by Yashpal Singh enabled Services to score 238/8 in reply to Punjab first innings total of 300 runs in the North Zone Ranji match played at Gandhi Ground, Amitsar.Punjab’s overnight score of 300/9 did not advance any further, and the innings folded with the third ball of the day from Sayed Javed, which bowled Babloo Kumar and increased Javed’s wicket tally to four.Services began their reply on a sad note as Gagandeep Singh’s impressive display of swing bowling sent back three batsmen back to the pavilion with only 27 on the board. Gagandeep struck in the very first over as PM Reddy (0) was compelled to play at an out-going delivery and edged it to gully fielder Sandeep Sanwal. Jasvir Singh (1) became the second victim of Gagandeep as he nicked an out-swinger for Yuvraj Singh to hold at third slip. Harish Bhaskar (7) was then surprised by a sharp in-cutter which shattered his stumps.Yashpal Singh & Sanjay Verma showed some resistance and cautiously added 40 runs for fourth wicket. Skipper Verma (11) fell, trapped in front by Reetinder Singh Sodhi with the score on 67.Sarabjit Singh stepped in at the departure of the skipper to join Yashpal Singh, who was shaping well. The pair took the total to 77/4 by lunch.Yashpal Singh was in good touch and was stroking the ball well through the gaps. In this essay, he completed his half-century in 66 balls. Sarabjit too was facing the challenge with courage, and the pair wrested away the early initiative taken by Punjab. Both scored fluently and added 93 runs in the session without separated.At tea, Services had scored 170 runs with Yashpal on 83 & Sarabjit on 49. The latter, however, was sent back by an accurate direct hit from mid-off by Yuvraj Singh while trying to steal a single to complete his half-century, ending a 106-run fifth wicket partnership.Yashpal Singh gave the Punjab bowlers more nightmares as he stood like a rock at one end to keep the scoreboard ticking. He showed his class and temperament during this knock, going to his maiden ton in style as he lofted a flighted ball from Sawal for a six over long-off. His century came in 202 balls with 11 boundaries and a six.Yashpal and CD Thomson were stabilising the innings when left-arm spinner Babloo Kumar gave a his team a double break as he bowled Thomson and trapped Javed in front. The Punjab skipper Vikram Rathore took the second new ball after 83 overs, with Services on 229/7. Yashpal was retired hurt, being struck on his left forearm by a lifting delivery.Gagandeep took his fourth wicket as he got Sudhakar Ghag (0) caught at mid-off by Yuvraj. The end of the day’s play was called at the fall of the eighth wicket, with Services still trailing by 62 runs with only two wickets remaining.Delhi squander early advantageHaryana’s spinners struck vital blows in the post-tea session to bring down Delhi from a commanding position and reduce them to 288 for seven in the first innings in the North Zone Ranji tie.Replying to Haryana’s 316, Delhi failed to capitalise on a 121-run opening stand between Gautam Gambhir (91) and Akash copra (48). From a dominant position of 166 for two, Delhi collapsed to 260 for seven, with Amit Mishra striking thrice and Gautam Vashisht twice.Earlier, resuming at their overnight score of 282 for eight, Haryana added 34 runs in eight overs before Arun Singh ended the innings by taking the wickets of Sumit Narwal (39) and Nitin Aggarwal (11). The Delhi openers settled down early and soon got into an aggressive mode, hitting pace bowlers S Vidyut and Narwal all over the ground.Just when the partnership was going strong, and the hosts were firmly on the road to a huge first innings score, Haryana got a breakthrough when Nitin Aggarwal’s direct hit broke the stumps at the non-striker’s end while Chopra was attempting a cheeky single.Gambhir added 43 runs with new man Radhey Shyam Gupta. Just when he looked set for a well-deserved century, however, he was deceived as he jumped out to a flighted ball from Vashisht, keeper Ratra whipping off the bails in a flash.Vashisht struck again after four overs, dismissing Gupta caught at silly point by Shafiq Khan with the scoreboard reading 179 for three. Haryana clawed their way back into the game, grabbing four more wickets within a space of 10 overs, the Mishra-Vashisht combination bowling accurately.But Delhi skipper Mithun Manhas (45 off 32 balls) refused to give up and executed some powerful shots in trying to stem the rot. He collaborated with Pradeep Chawla to add 44 runs, even as Haryana’s bowlers were on the rampage.Manhas could not hold on for long, though, as he was trapped in front by Aggarwal. Even as Delhi’s middle order failed, the tailenders not only showed resistance, but adopted attack as the best form of defence, with Sarandeep Singh (20) and Abhishek Sharma (23*) making some quick runs and hitting four boundaries each. Sharma and Amit Bandhari (4*) were at the crease, and the hosts still trailed by 28 runs, when stumps were drawn.Himachal restrict Jammu and KashmirHost Himachal Pradesh bowled out Jammu and Kashmir for 187 in their first innings on the second day of North Zone Ranji tie at Mandi, thereby conceding a lead of 42 runs.Accurate bowling by Vishal Bhatia (4-55) and Shakti Singh (3-71) helped Himachal Pradesh contain the visitors to a moderate score. Jammu and Kashmir failed to capitalise fully on Himachal Pradesh’s low first-innings total, and none of the batsmen could put up a sizeable score. Abdul Qayoom was the highest scorer, making 32, followed by Vikrant Taggar with 31.Resuming play at an overnight total of 21/1, Jammu and Kashmir lost Kavaljit Singh at 43, followed by opener Raju Seema at 51.Himachal Pradesh, in reply, were 73 for two in the second innings, with both openers Nischal Gaur (18) and Sandeep Sharma (14) back in the pavilion. Rajiv Nayyar, however, who was unbeaten on 41 in the first innings, was at the crease on 17, while Sangram Singh was not out on 22 at the close of the day.

It’s finally time for the best venue in India to host internationalTest cricket. The rotation policy adopted by the Indian Board bringsthe touring England team to the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium atMohali for the first Test match. With temperatures dipping to thelowest the England team have experienced on this tour, they should beextremely happy on the eve of the Test. Nasser Hussain has enjoyed allthe attention his team has received so far but acknowledges that theaction will not be easy out in the middle.For his part, the Indian skipper too looks fairly relaxed. The factthat the team has been on the road in South Africa and returns after abit of a thrashing does not weigh too heavily on the Bengal lefthander. Everyone is resigned to the fact that India are two sides -one that take things quite lightly and yet comes out right on top athome, and yet another that can’t seem to put a foot right abroad.That, perhaps, has more to do with the conditions than anything else.And in that regard, England certainly get their Test series off to acomfortable start. The wicket at Mohali was once easily the quickestin the country, before curator Daljit Singh re-laid the topsoil in1996. The hard clay however still retains much of the pace and bounceof old. Overcast conditions will assure that the ball moves around abit early on. However, the lack of much live grass on the wicketsuggests that it will ease up into a good batting strip on the secondand third days, before taking a bit of spin.The pitch in turn dictates the kind of teams that will be chosen. Inkeeping with recent times, there is a big question mark at the top ofthe Indian batting order. While Shiv Sunder Das has cemented oneopening slot, the other remains wide open. The Indian team could stickwith regular opener Connor Williams, who impressed in his last essayin South Africa. There is word however that in the interest ofaccommodating another bowler Sanjay Bangar might open. Bangar opensfor Railways and averages more than 35 with the bat, having scoredfive hundreds and fifteen half-centuries at the first-class level.The Indian middle-order of course is packed with Rahul Dravid, SachinTendulkar, VVS Laxman and Sourav Ganguly all queuing up to have a batin familiar home conditions. Deep Dasgupta dons the gloves and there’sa bit of a toss up in the bowling department. Harbhajan Singh and AnilKumble are sure to play. Depending on composition, the Indians couldgo in with either two or all three medium-pacers from Sanjay Bangar,Tinu Yohannan and Iqbal Siddiqui.The English have their team almost lined up, although the captainHussain did not say so in as many words. Mark Butcher and MarcusTrescothick will open the innings, with Michael Vaughan being out ofform. Nasser Hussain, Graham Thorpe and Mark Ramprakash form thenucleus of the batting with all-rounders, Craig White and AndrewFlintoff, to follow. James Foster looks likely to make his Test debutbehind the stumps. The bowling department has Matthew Hoggardpencilled in, with James Ormond likely to share the new ball honourswith him. Richard Dawson looks set to roll his arm over bowling offspin. Martyn Ball has an outside chance of making the eleven but thatseems unlikely at best.Hussain, speaking to scribes, described India as the “best sideplaying at home” and reminded colleagues of the treatment Australiareceived earlier this year. While one rated Australia’s chanceshighly, it would be unfair to afford this England side the samerespect. Predicting a whitewash at the beginning of the series isnever too clever, but it has to be said that England’s best chance ofavoiding the same begins and ends at Mohali.

New Zealand will not be tempted to do more development work by introducing new players when the Test side to play the first Test against Bangladesh is named on Thursday.The first National Bank Test will start in Hamilton on Tuesday next week.Selection chairman Sir Richard Hadlee said today there was a thought before the Australian series that the selectors might look to advance Lou Vincent and Shane Bond by playing them against Bangladesh, but circumstances in Australia had changed that and they had taken their chances, come through, and were both likely to be in the side to be named.”There will be no letting up, we want to play well and positively and there will be absolutely no complacency in the New Zealand side,” he told CricInfo today.Hadlee had been delighted with the advances made in Australia, even if they did create some selection dilemmas for the selectors.”There were some very good signs but I was especially pleased with the attitude of the players. They worked and prepared hard and they took it to the opposition by playing positively.”They blunted Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne effectively while I don’t think the bowling figures tell the story of how they tried.”The grunt and firepower they had was a lot better than the figures showed,” he said.The sign of centuries being scored by the batsmen had also been welcome as that had been one area of concern in recent times.”The whole team has made progress. Last season’s injuries have given us more depth and better selection options.”Captain Stephen Fleming had a new dimension to his leadership and that had come about by his backing his players, and making declarations to try and win games.”He wants to play attacking cricket and that is important for the paying public,” he said.To continue the initiative shown in Australia would be very testing and very challenging for the players against Bangladesh.The mood of the team last year had been buoyant despite the injuries and that got the side through some tough times. But Australia had set a standard for the side and they now had to build on that.He was not satisfied the side had achieved its best yet.”There is still work to be done. We’ve got to be more attacking with the ball, we have to fine tune our bowling.”We can’t drop the standards. We have to keep the side going forward. It is going to be an exciting time ahead,” Hadlee said.There was still the issue to be decided over Vincent’s place in the side.Hadlee said that if the selectors were to be consistent, Vincent’s performances in Australia would have a bearing on the final selection.Hadlee said it would have been unfair on Vincent had he not done well in Perth to be dropped on the basis of one game and he would probably have been given the two Tests against Bangladesh to see what he could do.”His first-class average is only 29 but all it needs is an opportunity for any player and they can be away.”Hadlee repeated his comparison with Justin Langer’s situation in the Australian side when he replaced Michael Slater in England and then held his spot to such good effect against New Zealand, despite the luck he had in surviving an lbw in the first over of the first Test and being dropped in the first over of the second.”Mathew Sinclair is under pressure for his place. We expected better from him in Australia,” Hadlee said.Sinclair’s form in the latest round of State Championship matches could have a big bearing on the course the selectors look to take.If Sinclair doesn’t meet their standards there may be a temptation to recall Matthew Horne to open with Vincent playing at No 3.