Pankaj Dharmani’s 128 and Punjab’s batting depth saw them take a firmgrip in their North Zone Ranji Trophy league match against Services onSaturday. By stumps on the second day, Punjab after scoring 430 toobtain a first innings lead of 343 runs, had taken one Services wicketfor 69 runs.Dharmani who was 92 overnight was out this morning for 128. Batting ashade over five hours, the 26-year-old prolific run getter in domesticcricket who has played in one ODI for India, faced 233 balls and hit20 fours and a six.Dharmani and the other overnight batsman Reetinder Sodhi (35) fell insuccessive overs, but Harminder Jagnu (28) and Harbhajan Singh (52)kept the innings going with a seventh wicket partnership of 92 runsoff 24.4 overs. Harbhajan’s bright knock came up off only 63 balls andhe hit seven of them to the ropes. The No 9 batsman Sandeep Sanwal alsodid his bit in prolonging the agony of the Services players by hittingan unbeaten 41 off 53 balls with five fours and a six. He and last manGagandeep Singh (14) stretched the Punjab lead by adding 40 runs off8.3 overs.In arrears by a big margin, Services were off to a fair start withopeners Deepak Sehrawat (32 not out) and Narender Singh (21) puttingon 47 runs off 19.3 overs. Sanjay Verma (6) kept Sehrawat company atstumps with Services still needing 274 runs to avoid an inningsdefeat.

New Zealand Test No 3 batsman Mathew Sinclair had been too quiet for too long and the Yorkshire Academy was on the receiving end in a premier league match with Cleethorpes on Monday.Ten days ago he had the first failure of his League summer after scoring a double century and three centuries. Playing Castleford he was dismissed for 14.Then against Harrogate on Saturday he was out for five. He didn’t play in Sunday’s national club championship loss as professionals are not eligible but on Monday he was back with a vengeance.Batting first at Chichester Road against the Academy side, Sinclair shared a first wicket stand of 101 with Mike Smith. Of the 101, Smith scored 18.Sinclair was in complete control as Cleethorpes, known as ‘the Meggies’ totalled 223/8 with Sinclair hitting 202 off only 170 balls. Included in his innings were 26 fours and four sixes. He did give a chance on 17 but it wasn’t accepted and the Academy paid the price.The innings took its toll on the Academy confidence and they struggled to 86/6 before a lower-order recovery was staged which allowed the Academy side to play out for the draw finishing on 202/9. Sinclair capped his day by also picking up a wicket.What now has Cleethorpe supporters wondering is whether Sinclair might be able to complete a full scale assault on David Byas’ league record which stands at 1394 runs. Sinclair has already scored 715 from six innings for the side.Cleethorpes now head to Doncaster next weekend in a mid-table position which is a fair reflection of the season to date. If they can add a couple of more wins to their tally in the next set of matches then the lost ground of mid-May will soon be retrieved.

Rawalpindi, Jan 2: Fine bowling by Karachi Whites’ pacer Mohammad Samirestricted Rawalpindi to 199 in their first innings on the first day of theQuaid-i-Azam Trophy Grade-I Cricket match here at the Pindi Cricket Stadium onTuesday.Karachi Whites faced one over to end the day on zero without loss.After being sent into bat, Rawalpindi were immediately in trouble, losing openerMohammad Zubair for a duck to Sami. Left-armpacer Ali Raza had Asif Mahmood (2)caught with the total on 37.Test opener NaveedQureshi (37 off 77 balls) and Naseer Ahmed tried to retrievethe situation by adding 38 for the third wicket in 46 minutes.Naseer then found another reliable partner in Test right-hander Mohammad Wasim(25) and the pair put on 50 in 69 minutes forthe fourthwicket.The home side slumped from 124 for four to 157 for seven. Naseer’s gallantinnings of 53 was ended by Sami, who finished with four for 87.

* Employers offer Das executive postYoung Orissa opener Shiv Sundar Das has not only impressed cricketfans in the country but also his employers National Aluminium Companywhich has offered him promotion to the executive rank. Das, who baggedthe man of the match award for his knocks of 30 and 82 not out in thefirst Test at Bulawayo, has enhanced his job prospects over the lastfew days with the Steel Authority of India (SAIL) also offering him anexecutive position.”A decision to promote him to an executive position will be taken intwo to three days. We can tell the exact post only after that,” aNALCO spokesman said in Bhubaneswar on Wednesday. Das is currentlyworking as a supervisor, a non-executive post, in the central sectorNALCO which has also given employment to another Orissa cricketerDebasish Mohanty. Medium pacer Mohanty, the first Orissa cricketer tobreak into the national scene, is currently working as a juniormanager, a post which falls in the executive category.The Union Minister of State for Steel, Braja Kishore Tripathy, hadearlier offered to accommodate Das in an executive position in SAIL. Apress release issued from the Minister’s office quoted Tripathy assaying that Das had risen to represent the country from a state whichdid not have much of a sporting infrastructure through his talent andperseverance. He has become a source of inspiration for the youth ofOrissa, it said.* Appeal of Gayatri Arts disposed of, BCCI to file affidavitThe Mumbai High Court on Wednesday directed the Board of Control forCricket in India to file an affidavit by June 18 in reply to apetition challenging the award of contract to International ManagementGroup (IMG)-Transworld International (TWI) for clothing sponsorship ininternational matches for the next three years from July 1.Refusing to stay the contract awarded to IMG and its subsidiary TWI, abench comprising Justice BN Srikrishna and Justice Nishita Mhatredirected the appellant Sham Dhumatkar, proprietor of Gayatri Arts, tomove a notice of motion before Justice DK Deshmukh, who had in anearlier order also refused to stay the award of contract by the BCCI.However, the division bench directed the single judge to dispose ofthe notice of motion before July 1 when the new contract would comeinto force.Gayatri Arts had challenged the BCCI decision to award a contract toIMG-TWI by way of a petition in the High Court. The company claimedthat it had made the highest bid of Rs 90 crores through a legaltender advertised by BCCI in a newspaper and yet the contract wasawarded to IMG-TWI combine.* Police seek to declare Prabhakar a `proclaimed offender’The Uttaranchal police will file an application in a city court nextweek praying that former Test cricketer Manoj Prabhakar, accused ofmisappropriating public funds in a finance company and evading arrestbe declared as a “proclaimed offender”The Uttaranchal Director-General of police, Ashok Kant Sharan told PTIin Dehra Dun that efforts were made by the state police to arrest theaccused on a non-bailable warrant issued by the Haldwani Court lastmonth. He has since been evading arrest, Saran said adding Delhi andRajasthan police had earlier failed to locate him.The DGP said the application under section 82 of the CRPC will befiled in the Haldwani court seeking to declare Prabhakar as aproclaimed offender. According to the normal judicial procedure if theformer cricketer is not arrested or he does not appear before thecourt within one month of his being declared as ‘proclaimed offender’,then the court has the power to declare him as ‘absconder’ undersection 83 of CRPC and also to announce a cash reward for his arrest.

Having overcome England in all three of their encounters and ending the losing streak of half a dozen games against Australia, going into the final at Lord’s on Saturday the morale in the Pakistan camp would be high. And so it should, for they have made quite a phenomenal comeback in this month of June, to be just a win away from a prestigious title.But can they beat the Aussies in two back-to-back encounters? I would say yes to that, because I feel that Pakistan is now getting back the right amount of aggression and positive attitude, winning those close encounters that till recently were being lost. That said, the Aussies are the professionals of professionals, and never like ending up on the losing side. Desirous of repeating their ’99 World Cup triumph at the most hallowed of turfs, they would be a different proposition in the final. But as Pakistan in this tournament, and India before that in the recent Test and one-day series, have established that the Aussies are not quite invincible if the attack is taken to them. Something England, down and out in this NatWest Trophy, long before their final league game, would need to remember in the context of the Ashes.Whether they chase or set up a target, depending on the team strategy, Pakistan would need to produce their best and then some to overcome the Aussies in the final. On flatter one-day wickets, with the reverse swing working for them in the latter part of the innings, the pacers would need to contain more in the initial overs than they did in the game they ended up winning. A few more overs of Adam Gilchrist’s onslaught may have maintained the Aussies unbeaten record in this event. And Saqlain for his part is bowling as splendidly as ever, even outdid his best with the delivery that got rid of Damien Martyn – one of the most remarkable deliveries I have seen an off-spinner bowl.It is good that Wasim Akram is back to full fitness, and I assume, Inzamam too would be back for the final. Pakistan would hope that both these stalwarts are in prime form. Inzamam after three or four glorious knocks got himself out in poor fashion twice in succession. Since he is the man for a big occasion, as he has proved many a time, I expect that he would deliver.The good thing for Pakistan is that most of its players are in reasonably good nick, and have performed well on a couple of occasions or more. They have been through pressure situations and come good. This should give them the confidence to take on the Aussies in a positive frame of mind.So far, they have been provided the lead by skipper Waqar Younis, who is known for his mental toughness. He has bowled with a lot of heart and led well. Any captain who could instil a never-say-die attitude in his charges and spur them to give off their best has done half the job. The rest is likely to fall in place, unless the luck factor deserts them. With Waqar providing the leadership and the wickets, and in bagful to boot, 13 in the two last games to be precise, the Pakistanis’ luck too seems to have changed for the better.In cricket, more so in the shorter version of the game, it is the side, which performs well on the day which normally carries the honours. Unless it is a day off for one of the two teams, with both very balanced outfits firing on all cylinders, this is most likely to be a final to remember.

Ed:Salahuddin Ahmed (Sallu) is a former Test cricketer, and has served as a PCB selector nine times; his last stint (1999-2000) was as chief selector.

Cricket officials Monday explained procedure through which three teamswill qualify for the 2003 World Cup in South Africa after the currentsix-team ICC Trophy Super League being played here.A spokesman for the tournament said Monday: “Under the playingconditions in use for the 2001 ICC Trophy tournament, the teams whichfinished in the top three places in each of the two groups in DivisionOne automatically qualified for the Super League phase of the event.Namely, these sides are: Holland, Scotland, Canada, Denmark, Irelandand the USA.” He said after Saturday’s two playoff matches, they havebeen joined in this stage of the competition by Namibia and the UnitedArab Emirates.”While it will involve a total of eight teams rather than six, theSuper League section shares many similarities with the Super Sixconcept used in the 1999 World Cup in England,” he explained.It pits the best-performed teams in the earlier rounds of thetournament in direct competition with one another in order todetermine which four teams progress to the finals of the tournament.Each of the eight teams that move through to the Super League willcarry forward the points and net run rates that they gained againstthe other sides that qualified from their group.They then play four matches – against the four sides they have not yetmet – and the results are tallied to produce a Super League table.Having been the only side to reach the last eight from Division Two,Namibia inherits the points and net run rates that Bermuda – the teamit beat in the playoff round – gained against the other sides thatqualified from its group.At the completion of the four days of Super League matches, the teamsthose finishing first and second on the table will contest the finaland will both automatically qualify for the 2003 World Cup.The sides those finishing third and fourth will meet in the qualifyingfinal, and the winners of that match will also reserve themselves aplace in World Cup 2003, the spokesman said.

Muttiah Muralitharan has returned to Sri Lanka after his second season inLancashire with a point to prove. Doubts have been raised by a decliningstrike rate and there is a young pretender stalking his crown as the bestoff spinner in the world.Indeed, Murali’s duel with Indian off spinner Harbhajan Singh is one of themost keenly anticipated aspects of India’s seven-week tour of Sri Lanka. Sofar, honours remain even – Singh threw the Sri Lankan innings into a spinafter a solid start whilst Muralitharan throttled the Indian batsmen in theclosing stages of Sunday’s gripping clash.

The 20-year-old Singh shot into the headlines during Australia’s tour ofIndia when he spun the home side towards a Test series victory with record32 wickets, including a memorable hat trick in the second Test at Kolkata.The aggressive off spinner from Jullunder may have a long way to go beforehe can claim Muralitharan’s world off spinning crown, but he has made anencouraging start in his 13 Test career, taking 66 wickets at an impressiverate of a wicket every 60 balls.In comparison, Murali, now 29 years old, was the second fastest ever to the300 Test wicket mark after Dennis Lillie, has taken 317 wickets in 62 Testsand boasts a career strike rate of a wicket every nine overs.Some argue though that Murali’s lethal powers are waning as fast as Singh’sstar is rising. During England’s tour of Sri Lanka his strike rate plummetedto a wicket every 17 overs.Murali though is quick to defend his reputation: “I don’t think that 14wickets in a three-Test series is a poor performance. It is wrong for peopleto think that I will take 25 wickets every series. Nobody in the world canperform like that.”People should not only expect me to take the wickets,” he said. “We havefour or five bowlers and they also have a job to do. We all have tocontribute to win matches.”Look at Australia – they have four good bowlers, who contribute in each andevery match and that is why they are the best side in the world at themoment.”If people think that I an going to take 25 wickets every series then I willtake over 800 Test wickets in my career and that’s not going to happen.”Then in England, where he was playing his second season for Lancashire, thewickets failed to tumble with frequency of his first, when he grabbed anastonishing 66 from just nine games.This time he took 44 in his six games, which would be excellent for mostmortals, but seemed strangely under par for Murali, who bowled an average of74 overs per game.He feels that the improved standard of first-class cricket in England madeit hard to repeat the astonishing exploits of his first season: “They havenow spilt the championship into two divisions and the sides in the firstdivision are getting stronger and stronger with more competition.”The wickets were also a little bit wetter than on my last visit and theconditions were more suited to the seam bowlers,” he said. “Consideringthat, I thought I bowled quite well.”It is clearly premature to right Murali off. Right throughout his career hehas shown an appetite for overcoming adversity.In fact he started his school career as a wayward medium pace bowler, whoonly started to bowl spin when his coach, Sunil Fernando, pulled him to theside and gently pointed out that his medium pace was not going secure him aplace in the team.He accepted Fernando’s advice and quickly established himself a slot in theUnder 15 side, as a spinning all rounder. Soon he was in St Anthony’sCollege First XI and claimed a countrywide record of 100 wickets inconsecutive seasons.St Anthony’s College was a private school and his father Muttiah Sinnasamywas a wealthy confectioner, but life was no breeze and his progression intothe national team was by no means assured after his schoolboy heroics.Cricket was still dominated by the Colombo schools and selection wassometimes a fickle process. This situation was worsened by the fact thatMurali is a hill country Tamil and thus positioned at the lower rungs ofColombo’s elite. It turns out that he was simply too good and too determinedto be ignored for long, even if his early days in the national team were notprejudice free.

Perhaps his greatest challenge, however, was when Darrel Hair decided toplay God in the 1995 Boxing Day Test in Melbourne. Cruelly barracked by thesections of the public throughout that tour, the mob eventually persuadedHair to no ball the off spinner for throwing. Ross Emerson followed shortlyafter in a one-day game.Murali returned to Sri Lanka distraught, but determined. According toPrabagaran, his youngest brother: “When Murali returned from Australia hewas determined not to give in. I remember him saying that if he didn’t passthe tests then he would bowl leg spin. He honestly believed it would onlytake him only three weeks to get back in the side.”In the end he passed the Tests and was cleared by the ICC. He had had anundiagnosed physical deformity in his right elbow since birth and thatprevented him from straightening his arm. His rubber like wrist wasfreakish, but not illegal, and Murali moved on a stronger player.Having overcome so many obstacles en route to his modern day success, a dipin his strike rate is unlikely to mark the beginning of the end. He remainstremendously fit despite an overbearing workload and boyishly keen – alwaysthe first to practice and last to leave.Nevertheless, he has to adapt to the new techniques employed successfully byEngland’s stubborn batsmen. They opted for a simple policy of ‘kick him orhit him,’ but actually much more of the former. Stretching their front padoutside the line of off stump, whilst craftily keeping the bat behind thepad, they managed to keep him out, even if they did benefit from a strictinterpretation of the lbw rule by the umpires.He admits to being frustrated by the killjoy tactics, but rightly points outthat there is more to cricket than survival: “What can you do? You just haveto keep bowling. They can’t keep padding away all the time, as you have toscore runs as well.”His duel with the Indian batsmen is a mouth-watering prospect. They are nothandicapped by the cloddish footwork of the England and thus have greaterattacking options at their disposal. Whether they have the courage to usethem remains to be seen.Murali plays down the duel with Harbhajan Singh, simply saying: “There is nocompetition. If he bowls well he will take wickets and if I bowl well I willdo the same.” Nevertheless, during the time of the Australian tour of Indiahe was ribbed gently by his colleagues that Singh was pinching his mantle.Murali has too much pride not to be spurred on by the competition.In the end, one suspects that they will both succeed, as they are clearlyhead and shoulders above their colleagues. The big question will be, whichbatsmen cope best with the finger spinning assassins, and that will decidethe Test series, if not the Coca Cola Cup.

New Zealand’s World Cup-winning CLEAR White Ferns return to the scene of their triumph, Bert Sutcliffe Oval, this weekend to continue the re-building phase the side has undergone.With 20 One-Day Internationals and a Test match against India during the next eight months, not to forget the status of world champion to be defended, there is a programme as full as any in a non-World Cup year for the New Zealanders.The three-day camp will be the fourth of the winter and will concentrate on the game plans to be employed on New Zealand’s tour to India in November-December.The prospect of playing on pitches, lower, slower and grassless, will see conditions simulated at the High Performance Centre, much as they were before New Zealand’s A team went to India last year.Coach Mike Shrimpton also has to unravel some historical batting strategies.For generations it seems New Zealand’s women players have been discouraged from playing the sweep shot to spinners.”It hasn’t been encouraged in the past. It seems to have been considered a dangerous, and high-risk, shot.”But in the modern game you have to break up fields and we need to be able to create more leg-side scoring opportunities so that we can score all around the wicket,” Shrimpton said.Players have been on individual build-up programmes for the tour and at the weekend emphasis will be on players using their feet to create the length of the bowling and on that troublesome sweep shot.There had been something of a lull for players after their CricInfo World Cup euphoria. Several players had gone straight into the domestic State Insurance Cup competition and had taken time to perform to their best.Shrimpton, who worked the squad very hard last winter, especially on fielding skills which ultimately proved the difference in New Zealand’s Cup bid, said he recognised that the commitment over the winter had resulted in some mental tiredness once the job had been done.”We did ask a lot of them in the build-up and it was very demanding. But they have had a sizeable break to freshen up,” he said.Only Haidee Tiffen and Paula Flannery have been overseas during the winter. Tiffen has been playing in England and Flannery coaching in Switzerland.The other vital reason for New Zealand putting so much into their preparation is replacing players like Debbie Hockley, Catherine Campbell, Katrina Keenan and Clare Nicholson, who are all no longer available for the national side.Wellington’s Anna Corbin, and Central Districts’ Aimee Mason and Erin McDonald are the contenders to fill the spinning berths and Shrimpton is delighted with the work they have been putting in. McDonald has been attempting to straighten out her bowling action which was called into question during the World Cup.Shrimpton said they offer complementary skills, with Mason especially having some quality batting skills.The side which leaves on November 22 has three warm-up matches in India, and then faces India in five ODIs and a four-day Test at Jamshedphur before returning to New Zealand on December 23.A home and away series with Australia will then be played while in June-July next year there is an ODI tour to the Netherlands, England and Ireland.”We’ve gone from a famine to a feast,” Shrimpton said of the programme the White Ferns now enjoy.

Andre Bruyns has resigned his position as Director of Cricket with the Boland Cricket Board.According to the South African Press Association, Bruyns cited personality clashes among his reasons for leaving.”There was not a lot more I could contribute to Boland cricket. I reached a stage where I felt I was restricted in my duties because there are too many amateur structures in place,” Bruyns told Sapa. “I tried to run the affairs strictly along business lines which was important given the financial position of Boland, as well as the run up to the World Cup.”In particular, Bruyns said he was “astounded” by a decision to turn down an offer a a cash injection from Sail (South African Investments Ltd).”It would have worked brilliantly for the Board and it would have helped to develop the facilities in the region so that it would compare with the best in the country,” said Bruyns."If somebody wants to try a new direction, it’s his right. There is nothing sinister in his decision," the Boland president Henry Paulse told the Afrikaans newspaper Rapport

As widely anticipated, Michael Atherton today announced his retirement frominternational and first-class cricket as a whole at the end of this season.In making his announcement, Atherton said: “The Oval Test match was my last for England and I now intend to fulfil my commitments with Lancashire before retiring from cricket at the end of the current season. I have enjoyed 15wonderful years in cricket and would like to thank all the players and staff I have been involved with at Lancashire and England since I first came into the professional game.”Atherton’s decision to retire hardly comes as a surprise. Rumours about the future of the England opener have been circling ever since the severity of his degenerative back condition became apparent several years ago.Aged just 33, he is still a relatively young man. Players of the calibre ofGraham Gooch and Steve Waugh have had arguably their best years after that age, but they did not suffer from the same persistent and painful injury problems.Atherton’s defiance and determination have characterised the best qualities of the English side throughout the 1990s, indeed he has been the top Test runscorer in all Test cricket since January 1990. A good performance fromAtherton was the pre-requisite for a decent total from his side, and duringsome pretty dark years English cricket was primarily dependent on Atherton’s stubborn nature.Having played in 115 Tests and captained England a record 54 times, Athertonis assured of a distinguished place in history. But his record may not dohim full justice. A final career average of 37.69 does not tell of his fullworth to England over the past decade. Often targeted by the opposition fastbowlers as ‘the’ key wicket, he has been burdened with more than his share in a weak period for English cricket.Atherton’s 185 not out v South Africa in Johannesburg in December 1995 was described by Ray Illingworth as one of the great Test innings, and will probably go down as Atherton’s finest hour. In fact several of his finest innings came against South Africa. At Trent Bridge in July 1998 he defied Allan Donald at his most ferocious in one of the most compelling duals in Test history. He finished not out on 98 as England completed an eight-wicket win that was instrumental in a long-awaited series win.Atherton’s 94 in the first innings at Christchurch, February 19, followed by 118 in the second took England to victory in an epic fourth innings struggle against New Zealand. More recently a century in Karachi (December 2000) wasinstrumental in a series win for England against Pakistan.His one-day international record is also far better than is often assumed. An average of 35.11 is more than respectable, and though he was later seen as being surplus to requirements for England, innings of 113 not out and 64 intwo of his last three games dispute the wisdom of that decision.Atherton has had his share of disappointments too. The controversy over the ‘dirt in the pocket’ affair and subsequent fine imposed by match referee Peter Burge in July 1994, while playing against South Africa is the most notorious.Atherton never played in an Ashes winning side, and has an average of fewer than 30 against England’s oldest foe due, in large part, to Glenn McGrath taking his wicket a remarkable 19 times. It is the highest number of dismissals of an individual batsman by a single bowler in Test history.Atherton’s team-mates have been quick to pay tribute. Mark Butcher said: “He’s been a magnificent servant to English cricket, he’s also become a really goodfriend to me as well and he’s someone I’ll really miss if this is his lastgame.”He was my first England captain, my first England opening partner, he stands next to me and bores the pants off me at slip – he’s a great guy. Personally speaking I don’t want to see him go because he’s a great guy and I’ve learned a lot off him cricket-wise and he’s also a great mate.”Australian coach John Buchanan gave an Australian perspective. “This series may be not absolutely the highlight of his career, but I think in Michael Atherton we have a man who embraces and embodies the whole spirit of English cricket. I guess Glenn [McGrath] and potentially Curtly Ambrose have been a bit of athorn in the side of Atherton, but he’s resilient, he’s really been the faceof the English spirit and I think he will be sorely missed.”Atheron’s farewell was typically undemonstrative. No announcement before the game in order not to detract attention from the Test itself, and only a little wave of the bat as he made his way off the field for the final time betrayingeven a hint of sentimentality. An outpouring of emotion would have beenuncharacteristic from the man who requested that there be no unseemly publiccollections during his benefit season.What the future holds for Atherton is uncertain. He has never hidden hisdistaste for county cricket, and a coaching position is unlikely too, as he has disputed the usefulness of such a role. Offers from the press box will be plentiful, but he has hinted at a complete change of career, and certainly has the intelligence and contacts to reinvent himself in the style of another former England captain, Mike Brearley.One thing is for sure; Atherton’s retirement ends an era and leaves an enormous hole at the top of the England batting order.