BRISBANE – Australia’s cricket selectors have been given extra time tosolve a spinning problem for the series opener against South Africa nextweek, but they won’t hand out a Test cap for the sake of it.The Adelaide Oval, which hosts the first Test from next Friday, hastraditionally been a base for two spinners, leaving a question mark overwho could partner Shane Warne.Stuart MacGill and Colin Miller are the most experienced contenders butcases can be made against both, leaving almost a lottery amongAustralia’s otherwise thin spinning ranks.National selector Allan Border said publicly that two spinners would benamed in a 12 or 13-man squad for Adelaide, leaving the door open for asurprise selection.But chairman of selectors Trevor Hohns said the squad, which wassupposed to be named tomorrow, had not yet been discussed.The selectors will pick the squad on Saturday night after Hohns watchesSouth Africa open its first-class tour during a four-day match againstWestern Australia at the WACA Ground.Hohns was adamant selectors would not throw in another spinner for thesake of tradition at the Adelaide Oval, even though MacGill and Millerbowled half of Australia’s overs against the West Indies last summer.”It’s an option, and there is no doubt about that, but we have to decidewhich is the right way to go,” Hohns said.”We have to first decide whether another spinner warrants selection.”We’ve got a few young fellows coming through and we’ve got the triedand true performers so it’s something to be discussed.”Spinners across the country haven’t been banging down Hohns’ door thissummer, after struggling for impact on sometimes unco-operative wickets.Even Australian coach John Buchanan admitted that selectors faced atough decision.”You could go around the whole country and, if you look at thestatistics this season, there isn’t one person who has put up their handand said ‘pick me’,” Buchanan said.”It will be an interesting choice if selectors decide to go that way.”Selectors must first settle on the style of any second spinner -MacGill’s leg spin, Miller’s off spin or a left-arm spinner.Miller would have an advantage because his offies complement Warne’s legspin but the 38-year-old is struggling for opportunities with Victoria.His Test career would almost certainly be over if selectors plucked arookie off-spinner, perhaps even Queenslander Nathan Hauritz, for aglimpse of the Test scene.The off-spinners would be the frontrunners with South Africa set to playthree key left-handed batsmen – Gary Kirsten, Lance Klusener and JacquesRudolph.”That makes a difference,” Buchanan said.”Leg spin is one of the spinning options that we need to have. It wouldbe, in a sense, nice for the ball to go the other way but that’s adecision for selectors.”That would leave MacGill out of the running, continuing a frustratingseason during which his on-field behaviour has been questioned.Other spinners around the country include Tasmania’s Daniel Marsh, NSWoff-spinner Anthony Clark, young Victorian leggie Cameron White, SouthAustralians Brad Young and Peter McIntyre and West Australian Brad Hogg.

Wellington tried to contain the ebullient Chris Harris as their key to beating Canterbury and their failure to do so almost cost them the game.They held out for a draw with only three wickets left but Harris, with the bat especially, was the dominant performer in the match.Wellington captain Richard Jones, who scored a century today – his fourth in the calendar year – said: “Canterbury dominated throughout the game and Harry was the dominant figure. He was the key wicket we had to get because they feed off him.”Harris’ first innings 70 and his second innings 117 not out proved how futile Wellington’s efforts were.But despite that, there was still a chance of a Wellington win today.”It needed Grant Donaldson or myself to get through to tea and losing only one of us. That would have meant we had six wickets under our belt but we steadily lost our wickets,” he said.Going into the day he hadn’t been looking too far ahead because that created its own pressure and they were just concentrating on biding their time, knowing the runs would come as long as they were there.Jones was confident that despite the loss of wickets Wellington could hold on because the nature of the pitch was that once in, it was possible to stay in.Canterbury captain Gary Stead said it was disappointing not to win but there were some encouraging signs from the game.”We were in a position of maybe winning the match and there were a couple of half chances that we didn’t hang onto,” he said.But compared to the performances over the last few years the side had set a benchmark now and had shown it was level, if not ahead, of last year’s champions at the moment.The Cantabrians had created enough chances through pressure bowling, had the benefits of Aaron Redmond and Harris’ record partnership and Wade Cornelius’ first innings seven-wicket bag.”Warren Wisneski bowled well throughout and our spinners bowled reasonably well,” he said.Redmond, the leg-spinner, was in an unusual position of being able to attack through longer periods than having to bowl defensively as has often been the case previously.If the side could learn from the situation it found itself in, it would win more games than it draws in the future.Stead hadn’t been concerned about the morning session when Jones and Donaldson looked like getting Wellington into a position to launch an assault.”We kept attacking fields and we knew if we could get Jones that would put the brakes on the scoring,” he said.And so it proved.It was just the lack of normal wear on a pitch four days out, but in reality still about three days old, that had reduced the chances of bowling Wellington out.

The England Women’s Cricket team made a winning start to their tour of India today, beating a Women’s Cricket Association of India XI (WCAI) by 6 wickets in a warm-up match at the Guru Nanak College Ground, Chennai.England’s bowlers shared the wickets as the Association fielded the India international opening batting partnership, Gulshan Sharma (0) and Jaya Sharma (30). 21-year-old Nottinghamshire off-spinner Dawn Holden, who travelled to India from Australia having played for Western Australia State this winter, took two wickets as did England’s most experienced player, Clare Taylor, touring India for the fourth time.Surrey’s Sarah Clarke, making her full England debut, took the wicket of Reema Malhotra for 4 runs. Gulshan, Sudharani and Patel were all out for 0.In reply, England’s young openers Caroline Atkins (Sussex) and Arran Thompson (Lancashire) reached 21 without loss, with Thompson finally finishing on 65* in the 46th over, beating her previous highest England score of 44*. England Captain Clare Connor finished on 13* having also taken the wicket of Sharma.The England team are staying in Chennai, and play the first one-day international match against India on Sunday 6th January at the Gurunanak College Ground.WCAI XI won toss and elected to bat.Women’s Cricket Association of India XI : 137 for 9 from 50 oversEngland: 138 for 4 from 46 oversENGLAND WON BY 6 WICKETS

A patient unbeaten 78 from India star Sanjay Bangar and his unbeaten 56-run sixth wicket partnership with JP Yadav saw Railways post a fighting reply to Tamil Nadu’s first innings score of 277 at the end of the second day’s play at the Karnail Singh Stadium, Delhi. When stumps were drawn, the Railway men had reached 179 for five.In the morning, Tamil Nadu wicket-keeper TR Arasu added 21 runs to his overnight score of 25 while No. 10 R Ramkumar made 25 as the visitors put on a further 60 runs before losing their last three wickets.The Railways reply began on the wrong note, opener Amit Pagnis being dismissed off the first ball of the second over. But Bangar put on 70 runs for second wicket with Tejinder Pal Singh (29) and 41 runs with star batsman Yere Goud to put this team on track to a good score. But then he had to witness the loss of three quick wickets. No. 7 JP Yadav (28*) though kept Bangar good company providing the Railway men a realistic chance of steaming past the Tamil Nadu first innings score.

Queenstown’s sun finally broke through on the third afternoon but it didn’t shine on either Otago or England as a draw was all England could manage against the worst-performed side in New Zealand’s domestic cricket this summer.That has to be of concern to England who struggled through two top order collapses when only three full playing days lie ahead of the side before they meet New Zealand in the first Test of their three-match series.There was a moment on this full day of cricket, when Otago might have been entertaining thoughts of an international scalp with England 162/8 in their second innings and time for a reasonable chase to occur.But that chance slipped away, like so many others for Otago this summer, on the backs of the batting of tail-enders, James Ormond, Richard Dawson and Andy Caddick.Canterbury with their international players involved will be a much more stern test for England and they will need a significant rise in performance to escape defeat against a better-equipped side on Hagley Oval.England scored 257 in their second innings, for a lead of 260. That was thanks mainly to an innings of 68 by stand-in captain Marcus Trescothick and 38 off 31 balls by Ormond, 35 not out off 50 by Dawson and 16 to Caddick as 95 were added by the last three batsmen.Earlier, Otago did the decent thing and declared at their overnight score, three runs behind England.Otago’s reward was the wicket of Mark Butcher before a run had been scored. He attempted a pull shot to a shortish ball from Kerry Walmsley, sort of a Butcher’s hook, and it flew high in the air from a top edge and Craig Pryor, running back from first slip, got his hands around the ball to complete a good catch.Graham Thorpe completely misjudged a ball from Walmsley and played over it, losing his off and middle stumps as a result. He too departed for a duck with the team score on seven.Then, as if to make a mockery of the departed batsmen, Trescothick and Mark Ramprakash took to the bowling in determined style scoring 99 for the third wicket off 105 balls in 73 minutes.It was, literally, thrill a minute stuff. Trescothick climbed into one over from David Sewell taking 20 runs while Pryor, who had bowled with such good effect in the first innings to secure a five-wicket bag, lasted only three overs while 28 runs were taken from his bowling.Ramprakash hit a lovely six over point off Walmsley but the bowler had the final say having him caught by Simon Beare for 42 off 46 balls.Trescothick brought up his 50 off 64 balls and was on 68, and just back from a brief rain break, when he was caught by Beare at point off an ineffectual shot from the first ball of Sewell’s second spell.Otago set out with the best of intentions but it was always going to take nothing short of a miracle for them to get anywhere near.Openers Robbie Lawson and Brendon McCullum rattled on 30 in nearly five overs but once Lawson was caught behind from Caddick’s bowling for 11, the collapse all Otago supporters feared began.Four wickets fell for four runs before captain Craig Cumming steadied the ship and then, with Pryor’s help, set about righting it.They got through to 57 before Pryor offered a simple caught and bowled chance to Craig White and Duncan Drew followed soon after for a duck.Cumming proved the rock, even if he started out as more the flaky, schisty kind of Central Otago rock than the tougher greywacke of the Southern Alps, as he hooked successive balls from a tiring Ormond for boundaries to lift his score to 23 and the team to 70.With Nathan Morland as a fine support, Cumming dominated the latter stages to blunt the English attack and saw the draw achieved, a minor triumph for an Otago team down on its luck in recent times.They deserved credit for their approach in the match. They provided England with a competent contest, they made the running with their declaration and by bowling England out twice and Cumming was able to reflect on 57 not out off 116 balls while Morland was 19 not out off 49 as Otago finished on 124/6.Caddick ended with three for 43, giving him seven for 85 for the match while today White bowled very tightly and took two for seven from seven overs. Andrew Flintoff did not bowl as he has some problems with a knee.

Country venues across Victoria are eagerly anticipating next weekend’s Victorian Premier Cricket Round 11 fixtures. For the fifth successive season, the Country Round of one-day matches will re-commence the Premier season after the Christmas break.Five venues – Castlemaine, Eaglehawk, Lavington, Numurkah and Torquay – will host Premier Cricket for the first time, with the match between St.Kilda and South Melbourne at Lavington the first ever Premier Cricket match to be held outside Victoria.Chief Executive Officer of Cricket Victoria, Mr Ken Jacobs said the round was very important for cricket in regional Victoria. "We operate in an era of extremely busy scheduling and an unfortunate result is that country matches rarely feature on the tour itineraries of visiting international teams any more". He added "we believe the Country Round plays an increasingly important role in delivering high standard cricket to country regions, particularly given the availability of Victorian Bushrangers players".Northcote and Bushrangers fast-bowler Mick Lewis said the round was one players looked forward to every year. "It’s always an enjoyable round. I like the chance to play in different towns across Victoria and the facilities and hospitality given to us is first-class". Lewis said the matches created a unique atmosphere. "There’s generally very good crowds at the games and an atmosphere that only country people can create".BACKGROUNDERPREMIER CRICKET COUNTRY ROUNDRound 11 – Sunday 12th January, 2003NORTHCOTE v FRANKSTON PENINSULA at Numurkah Showgrounds, Numurkah
Player watch: Darren Berry, Mick Lewis, Ian Harvey, Rob Bartlett (N’cote) Matthew Mott, Shawn Flegler, Luke Walker (F/Pen)ST KILDA v SOUTH MELBOURNE at Lavington Sports Ground, Lavington NSW
Player watch: Michael Klinger, Nick Jewell, Graeme Rummans, Dan Horsley (St Kilda) Grant Gardiner, Roger Sillence (Sth Melb)ESSENDON v DANDENONG at Camp Reserve, Castlemaine
Player watch: Mathew Inness, Ben Fletcher, Vikram Solanki (Ess) Warren Ayres, Cameron White, Will Carr (Dand)CARLTON v CAMBERWELL MAGPIES at Deakin Reserve, Shepparton
Player watch: Matthew Elliott, Peter Harper (Camb Mag) David Harris (Carl)GEELONG v HAWTHORN-MONASH UNI at Spring Creek Reserve, Torquay
Player watch: Clinton Peake, Damien Koliba (Geel) Peter Roach, Simon Dart (Haw-MU)FITZROY DONCASTER v MELBOURNE at North Ballarat Oval, Ballarat
Player watch: David Plumpton, Brendan Joyce (F-D) Brad Hodge, Rob Cassell, Simon Cook, Shane Harwood, Andrew McDonald (Melb)RINGWOOD v RICHMOND at Wangaratta Showgrounds, Wangaratta
Player watch: Darren Dempsey, Craig Howard (Ring) Ian Hewett, Matt Albers (Rich)FOOTSCRAY-VIC UNI v MELBOURNE UNI at Canterbury Park, Eaglehawk
Player watch: Daniel Lowery, Ashley Robertson, Geoff Allardice (MU) Dale McDonald, Duncan Brede (F-VU)PRAHRAN v NORTH MELBOURNE at Princes Park, Maryborough
Player watch: Jason Arnberger, David Hussey, Jon Moss, Bryce McGain (Prah) Liam Pickering, Shannon Waters (NM)

A game that started in very warm and bright sunshine ended with abandonement at Carisbrook today with two State Shield points being awarded to both Otago and Central Districts.Otago won the toss and batted on a very good pitch but could only muster 161 – another very disappointing batting performance by them. Only Brendon McCullum with 50 – his maiden half-century at either international or domestic one-day level – made any impact on the Central bowlers who were certainly not unplayable. McCullum faced 59 balls and hit 30 of his runs from five sixes, amazingly with no fours in accompaniment.He was fifth batsman out as a middle and lower-order slump, which saw seven wickets fall for 40 runs, cost Otago dearly.Robbie Lawson faced 79 balls for his 21 runs but Otago struggled to make any other impact on the scoreboard.Brent Hefford with three for 44, Jacob Oram (two for 18), Lance Hamilton (two for 35) and Michael Mason (one for 21) from seven overs were the wicket-takers with two run outs completing the picture of Otago dismissals.Under these conditions this target was almost a certainity for Central and at 65 without loss this appeared to be so. The 65 runs were on the board in the 10th over, at which stage Jesse Ryder was caught for 21 from Nathan Morland’s bowling.Off the last ball of the 11th over, Craig Spearman’s innings of 45 off 31 balls was ended by James McMillan. The two wicket-takers only bowled an over each while Kerry Walmsley, with 31 taken from his four overs, and Shayne O’Connor (30 from his five) on the receiving end of the CD opening assault.But the rain had other ideas and, after two stops for 10 minutes apiece, a heavier shower sent all from the field at 4.51pm – they did not return and the umpires officially abandoned the game at 6.27pm as it was still raining.Central Districts looked by far the better team and were unlucky to be robbed by the weather. But with two quick wickets lost by them just before the rain came for the third time, a smidgeon of doubt existed as to the probable final outcome. However, such discussion is only academic of course – two points to each team.

Replica West Indies kits are not on sale at the Cricket World Cup 2003 in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya because of the licensing arrangements in place for the event.Acting chief executive officer of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), Roger Brathwaite, said that Admiral, the British manufacturers of the West Indies’ kit for the tournament, had an agreement through the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) licensing agent to supply replica West Indies kits to the British market, but could not export to South Africa."The WICB, through Admiral, submitted and received approval on the kit design from the ICC, but if the South African licensee has decided not to market a replica of the West Indies kit then there is very little we can do," remarked Brathwaite."A South African company, Picto Busby, has the exclusive replica kit licence for the territory of South Africa for all participating teams at the tournament, but the licence our manufacturers hold from the ICC does not permit them to sell replica West Indies kit in South Africa."Brathwaite was glad to hear that the West Indies replica kit was the most sought after next to the hosts’, but greatly disappointed that cricket fans attending the tournament have had no luck purchasing the gear."We have spoken to our manufacturers about the challenge and they will contact their South African licensee, who also kits out the South African team, to see if there is anything that could be done," said Brathwaite, whose substantive post is chief marketing executive."Unfortunately, they have told us that it is too late for any fresh manufacturing and the decision concerning any stock risk for the territory of South Africa is down to Picto Busby and beyond their and, possibly, our control."Brathwaite noted the WICB was investigating the possibility of providing the 2003 replica kit through its website, www.windiescricket.com , and for the Cable & Wireless 2003 Series between West Indies and Australia.

Somerset Cricket Board Development Officer Andrew Moulding has been out and about on his travels this week putting the finishing touches to a scheme that will see grass practice wickets in place across the county for the coming season.When I caught up with him at the Centre of Excellence at the County Ground he told me that he had just come back from visiting Weston Super Mare Cricket Club along with Tony Davies, who is the vice chairman of the Somerset CCC Board, and chairman of the Cricket Development committee where they had been in discussion with club officials.Mr Moulding told me: "We are looking to provide top quality grass practice nets in conjunction with artificial net facilities in all parts of the county, and we have been to Weston super Mare Cricket Club to put the final piece of the jigsaw into place."He continued: "For the last few years the ECB have been saying that players practice on artificial wickets indoors all winter, and very often on artificial wickets again in the summer, but what they also need is to have grass practice wickets to complete their match preparation particularly in early season."The new facility at Weston super Mare Cricket Club means that grass practice wickets will be available in all of the four `corners’ of the countyat Glastonbury C.C.in the south east, at Taunton C.C. in the south west, at Writhlington School in the north east and now in the north west at Weston.The Somerset Cricket Development Officer concluded: "Somerset is very much in agreement with the E.C.B. thinking and we are absolutely delighted that high quality grass wickets are now available throughout the county and will be able to play a significant part of cricketers early season practice."

In the entire World Cup history to date never has Pakistan been in such a tight corner as they are in the current tournament. Even when they had not qualified for the semi-finals (inaugural World Cup in 1975 and 21 years later in 1996), their reputation as one of the leading teams in the world had not been impaired to the extent as it has now.The lack of commitment, poor form/fitness and the mediocre performance so far exhibited by the team in World Cup 2003 has reduced their rating just above the `B’ Class teams participating in the mega event.Alas! A team whose rich potential and capability is never in any doubt is suffering heavily for poor leadership, mismanagement and absence of strategic planning.At last and finally the crunch moment has arrived.Pakistan must enter Centurion Park on 1st March with a `do-or-die’ spirit. Obviously the morale of Indian team is soaring having already earned 16 points and on recording a thumping 82 runs victory over England.Not withstanding this situation and for the fact that Pakistan has lost all the three previous World Cup matches played against India the overall statistics hang heavily in Pakistan’s favour with 52 victories against India’s 29 in 85 encounters.On analysis, Pakistan’s major weakness in the recent matches had been their inept batting, too many wides and noballs, scratchy fielding and on top of all that, a lack of application and concentration.However, supporters of the team believe that Pakistan will make amends and stage a comeback and one can hope they will keep their nerves in this crucial match.Yet any forecast on the result of the match may prove erroneous except it suffices to say, the key of success for the two teams in this match is largely held by Sachin Tendulkar for India and Wasim Akram for Pakistan.Here under is a brief review of the previous World Cup matches played between Pakistan and India:1. 1992-Sydney:
Man of the Match Sachin Tendulkar scored 54 the highest in the Indian innings of 216-7 in 49 overs. KapilDev and Vinod Kambli contributed 35 and 24 respectively. Legspineer Mushtaq Ahmad claimed 3 for 59. Pakistan team, well known as poor chasers, collapsed and fell 43 runs short of the target despite Aamer Sohail’s knocks of 62 and Javed Miandad’s 40. Kapil Dev, Manhoj Parbhakar and Javagal Srinath all took two wickets each.2. 1996-Bangalore:
Prior this match Pakistan had done reasonably well to win four of the five league matches but in their crunch match against India – the quarterfinals in Bangalore – they failed. Psychological pressure, indifferent batting and crowd behaviour accounted for the downfall of the potentially stronger team. Responding to a total of 287, Pakistan openers gave a flying start of 84 and they were chasing well at 231 for 5 when 4 wickets tumbled in quick succession, which sealed the fate of the match. Pakistani was without the services of skipper Wasim Akram, because of injury. The legend Javed Miandad bowed out of International cricket after this match.3. 1999-Old Trafford
Pakistan bowling attack, in particular skipper Wasim Akram (2/27) and Azhar Mahmood (2/34), succeeded in containing India. Still Rahul Dravid (61), Mohammad Azharuddin (59) and Sachin Tendulkar (45) enabled them to reach 227-6. Pakistan batting once again flopped against their traditional opponents and were bowled out for (180) in 45.3 overs. Saeed Anwar on (36), Inzmam-ul-Haq (41) and Moin Khan (34) only some offered resistance to the magnificent bowling of Man of the Match Venkatesh Parsad – 5 for 27 in 9.3 overs. Javagal Srinath 3 for 37 and Anil Kumble 2 for 43 ably assisted the Indian hero. Pakistan lost the match by 47 runs.