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Vikram Solanki held up Warwickshire for a further 85 minutes today as Worcestershire topped 300 in a first innings at New Road for the first time this season.Solanki is a batsman who cashes in on his big innings. Resuming on 113 – thed ninth first-class century of his career – he went on to pass 150 for the seventh time.Three fours off Graeme Welch in the sixth over put him back in the groove but overnight partner Steve Rhodes was content to plod along with only five in the first hour.Solanki eventually collected 25 boundaries to reach 160 in 311 minues before a loose drive off Dougie Brown flew straight to substitute Stuart Eustace at mid-off.Rhodes contributed 28 to a partnership of 112 in 34 overs and added only 25 in 135 minutes this morning to reach 45 in a lunch total of 311 for six.

Stung by reports that the country’s provincial chairmen had met to discuss the possibility of proposing a no-confidence motion against the Zimbabwe Cricket board, Cricinfo has learned that senior board officials have been travelling the country in a bid to quell the rebellion.The chairmen met at the Old Hararians Club on Friday, October 21 and the result was a lengthy letter to the board demanding answers to some serious questions over the way that it has been operating.Zimbabwe Cricket initially denied that there was disharmony, but behind the scenes officials are reported to have started mobilising local activists in a bid to undermine the authority of the chairmen.The main efforts of the pro-board lobby appear to have been aimed towards usurping Max Ebrahim as chairman of Masvingo province. Last week, Ebrahim, who has been increasingly critical of ZC in recent weeks, told sources that Peter Chingoka, the ZC chairman, had visited the province to talk to clubs.In Manicaland, a meeting was interrupted by Supa Mandiwanzira – a former broadcaster with the state-run Zimbabwe Television who now owns his own company called Mighty Movies – who was accompanied by what one eyewitness described as “heavies from Harare”. He told the meeting that he wanted to be part of the province’s board. The gathering descended into chaos, and at one stage Allan Walsh, the Manicaland chairman, was assaulted. The state-controlled Herald newspaper later stated that Walsh had been replaced and a new provincial board had pledged its support to ZC.ZC has also begun the process of creating five new provinces, and so the board now appears to be able to muster enough votes to see off all challengers. But some serious issues have been raised, and with the players also at odds with the board, it is unlikely that the lid can be kept on for that much longer.Any suggestions that the move was designed to help the board retain control were inadvertently scuppered by a comment in the Herald. “Mliswa revealed yesterday that he was now leading the crusade to have other provincial set-ups running by the time the ZC holds its special meeting where they can be duly incorporated.” And where their votes will swing the balance.

ScorecardA magnificent burst of bowling by Warren McSkimming almost set up a win for Otago, but they eventually had to settle for a draw against Sri Lanka A. McSkimming took five wickets for four runs in a seven-over burst in the morning, as Sri Lanka stumbled to 49 for 6. But Pradeep Hewage (67) and Hasantha Fernando (66 not out) then added 121 for the seventh wicket, and the declaration came at 170 for 7. Chasing 233 to win, Otago could only manage 208 for 8, with Craig Cumming smacking 92 off 104 balls.Dinuk Hettiarachchi, the left-arm spinner, followed up his four-for in the first innings with 5 for 74. Otago stood a realistic chance of winning as long as Cumming was at the crease, but they lost their way after he was out.

Victoria 2 for 14 trail South Australia 254 (Cosgrove 82, Manou 50) by 240 runs
ScorecardSouth Australia and Victoria were evenly poised in their Pura Cup match at the Adelaide Oval after a lacklustre opening day. Mark Cosgrove hit a stylish 82, with 13 boundaries, and his contribution lifted the home side from 4 for 68 after the captain, Graham Manou, won the toss and elected to bat.Manou chipped in with 50 while the No. 8, Mark Cleary, scored 40 as the lower order pushed the total past 250. The paceman Michael Lewis impressed early and finished with 3 for 34 while Mathew Inness also grabbed three as he cleaned up the tail.South Australia finished strongly as Shaun Tait picked up the valuable wickets of Matthew Elliott for 6 and the nightwatchman Lewis for a duck.

Points table

Having put up an awesome show in the current season, Baroda appear favourites in their five-day Ranji Trophy Elite group semi-final encounter against Bengal beginning at the Eden Gardens tomorrow.Bengal, who pipped Karnataka at the post with a last-over win against Railways which lifted them to the second place in Group A with 13 points, are also quietly confident. Deep Dasgupta, Bengal captain, has said that it is going to be just another match for the hosts. “There is no pressure on us as such. We are not taking this game as a semi-final. It is going to be just another match which we want to win. The young guys have played well and have shown that they can shoulder responsibilities.” With Rohan Gavaskar leading the run tally (422 runs) and with Arindam Das, Deep Dasgupta, Subhamoy Das, Avishek Jhunjhunwala – who hit a magnificient 139 to defeat Railways – and Manoj Tiwari in fine nick Bengal’s batting looks in good shape. It’s the bowling which will be bit of worry for the hosts. With Ranadeb Bose and Shiv Sagar Singh, the left-arm spinner, having a disappointing season Bengal will look once again to their in-form bowlers – Sourashish Lahiri and Shib Shankar Paul – to spearhead their attack.Meanwhile, Baroda, who coasted to outright victories in three Group B league games enroute to topping the pool with 19 points, the highest among all the 15 teams competing in the elite panel, are upbeat about their chances. “We have not lost any of the matches. And our confidence is at an all-time high,” BS Sandhu, Baroda’s coach, said. They had beaten Hyderabad by 220 runs, carved out an emphatic innings and 93 run win over Uttar Pradesh and humbled Punjab by 50 runs, riding on outstanding batting performances from the likes of Jacob Martin, Pinal Shah, Connor Willams and RK Solanki.In the bowling department, Rajesh Pawar, the left armspinner, and Rakesh Patel – who returns after missing out two Ranji games owing to injury- have served the team well. Martin, the captain, has been particularly brilliant, piling up 486 runs, including an unbeaten 251 against Uttar Pradesh. However, Baroda would miss the services of an injured Satyajit Parab – out with a knee injury – who could not be fit in time for the match. India u-19 wicketkeeper Pinal Shah is expected to open with Wiliams.Martin admitted that Parab’s absence will be felt in the match. “Obviously we are going to miss him and his experience,” he said. The Baroda team management announced the 12 for the match, and said that the playing XI would be decided tomorrow after a final look at the pitch. “We will then decide whether to go for an additional batsman or an additional seamer,” said Sandhu, a member of the World Cup-winning Indian team of 1983.

Craig McMillan has been named in the New Zealand team to play the first Test against Australia at Brisbane on Thursday. Hamish Marshall, who scored a half-century against Bangladesh recently, missed out. Also out of the XI was James Franklin, who was laid low by a groin strain.”There were a couple of tough ones, mostly based around balance, the sort of strategy we want to take into the game, and experience,” said John Bracewell, the New Zealand coach. “Craig McMillan’s selection gives us greater experience and someone who is battle hardened for a Test match of such magnitude. Hamish had just one Test innings in Bangladesh and, while he scored 50, was a bit out of touch in the one-day series. But what it really came down to was the small mental things – the fact that Craig has been there and done that. And the added bonus of a few overs may help.”Bracewell also expressed disappointment at losing Franklin, and explained that the need for swing influenced selection. “We want to have at least one swing bowler in the match as Brisbane is one of the few places in Australia where you get the opportunity to swing the ball. It will be about taking the small windows the new ball gives us – the opportunity to pick up a couple of wickets with a swinging ball against a team that goes hard at the bowling.”Bracewell expected conditions to suit the quicker bowlers. “We are expecting the ball to swing and after our initial look at the wicket it looks dry and is already showing cracks along the length of the pitch which indicates that it might take turn towards the end of the match. The ground staff have rolled a lot of grass clippings into the wicket trying to keep the moisture levels up.”New Zealand 1 Stephen Fleming (capt), 2 Mark Richardson, 3 Mathew Sinclair, 4 Scott Styris, 5 Nathan Astle, 6 Craig McMillan, 7 Jacob Oram, 8 Brendon McCullum (wk), 9 Daniel Vettori, 10 Kyle Mills, 11 Chris Martin

Australia’s VB Series success, which was sealed with a nine-wicket win in the third final at Gabba, was set up by the team’s response to proving the doubters wrong. Mid-way through the series Adam Gilchrist’s position at the top of the order was being heavily debated, the team was considered to be ignoring the current competition for next year’s World Cup, and Simon Katich was being hassled out of the side.Gilchrist and Katich both finished the tournament with centuries to secure their partnership on next week’s tour of South Africa, and Australia responded from a shock loss in the opening final in Adelaide to crush Sri Lanka in the final two matches. “Half-way through the series people said I shouldn’t be in the team, so to prove them wrong like this is very satisfying,” Gilchrist said after his 91 balls of devastation.Sri Lanka’s target of 267 looked miniscule once Gilchrist, the Man of the Match, started to shower the ground, which was also being hit by empty cups from Mexican waves, with four sixes and 13 fours in his 122. “Tonight that was brilliant, I just loved it,” he said.”It was also good for Simon with the scrutiny he’s been under. We’ve tried to stay positive and the team has dealt with a reasonable amount of criticism. People said we were focussing too much on the World Cup and not this series. Well, we’ve won it.”Ricky Ponting was also understandably cheery, and not just because he captured a brilliant one-handed leaping catch to remove Russel Arnold for 76. “We were made to look silly in Adelaide but since then our cricket has been unbelievably good,” he said. “The individual efforts -Andrew Symonds in Sydney and Adam and Simon tonight – were very special and to come from 1-0 down and play our best cricket was very satisfying.” The only thing discolouring the victory was a fine by Jeff Crowe, the ICC match referee, for finishing the first innings two overs behind schedule.Despite losing the final two matches by 167 runs and nine wickets, Marvan Atapattu, the Sri Lanka captain, was pleased with the way his side had responded from poor one-day tours to India and New Zealand. “It was only a matter of time before things clicked,” he said.While Katich eased Australia home with 107 from 142 balls, it was Gilchrist’s innings that stole the match from Sri Lanka. “We thought we were 15 to 20 runs short, not that it would have mattered to Gilchrist,” Atapattu said. “When Gilchrist and Sanath Jayasuriya start hitting like that they take the game away from you just like that.”

Sachin Tendulkar has returned to India following a successful operation on his right shoulder.He was assessed prior to leaving London by the surgeon, Dr Andrew Wallace, who was reported to be very happy with his progress to date. His stitches were removed prior to departure, and an initial management plan for recovery has been put in place.Following ten days of Phase 1 recovery, which is designed to allow the tissue to fully heal and bind, Tendulkar will begin to initiate more movement through light jogging and swimming, under the supervision of the team physio, John Gloster. It is expected that he should be able to pick up a bat by the beginning of May.

It happened 25 years ago, but the passing of a quarter of a century hasnot dulled Raghuram Bhat’s memory one bit. The former Karnataka and Indialeft-arm spinner, who is currently manager of the Karnataka team, brokeout in unrestrained laughter when asked if he remembered the time SunilGavaskar batted left handed against him to save a Ranji match.”That cannot be forgotten. The ball was turning right angles on the day. Iwas just pitching the ball in the good length spot, because I did not knowhow much the ball was going to spin; sometimes I tried to bowl an armerand it turned,” he said, in a freewheeling chat on the sidelines of theKarnataka-Saurashtra Ranji Trophy match. “The ball was beating the bat andthe only way to play on that day was to play left-hand and play forwardand offer pad. That’s how Gavaskar played and he really played well andsaved the game for Mumbai. It was a great thing to bowl to him and theguts he showed in batting left-handed, for some 12-13 overs, was amazing.”It’s often been suggested that Gavaskar was wrong to batleft-handed, and that in some ways it was a disrespect to the bowler, butBhat will have none of that. “I won’t consider it as negative batting, hewas trying to save the game and that was his duty than to get embarrassedby losing outright. His footwork on the day was something to be seen to bebelieved. If I had recorded that game on video I would have shown that toyoung cricketers as an example. Sunny was middling the ball, no edges, notension.”For Bhat, that was the red-letter day in his 82-match first class career.Although the match was drawn, Karnataka advanced to the final of the RanjiTrophy by virtue of a first-innings lead, and Bhat had 13 wickets in thegame, taking 8 for 123 in the first innings that included ahat-trick. Strong performances in domestic cricket won him a place in theIndian Test team, but that was to last only two matches, where he pickedup four wickets, including that of Javed Miandad and Clive Lloyd, but hewas dropped after that, never to be picked again.Since he retired from first-class cricket, just as a young Sunil Joshi wasmaking his mark for Karnataka, Bhatt has served in many capacities – asumpire, administrator and coach. Today, when he watches cricket, he, likeother quality spinners of his generation, is amazed at the lack of back upfor Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh. “Basically, we have forgotten thespin bowling department unlike in the earlier days. There are left-armspinners but the quality is not there. The talent is missing somewhere. Wehave to put our spin department back on track.”Unlike some other veterans, though, Bhat does not simply bemoan the lackof talent. He is encouraged by the cricketers he sees coming through theyounger age groups, and is working with the Karnataka State CricketAssociation to put systems in place that will unearth fresh talent.Already people speak highly of KP Appanna, the 17-year-old left-armspinner who has picked up 21 wickets in his debut season. “What I feel isthe most important quality in a spinner is the consistency. They shouldnot get carried away by the success; it is important. They have to workcontinuously, they cannot say that I have taken 25-30 wickets this seasonand sit back,” he says.Bhat insists that it is quality spin that will win India matches.”Ultimately, spinners have to win the game for us. If you look at therecently concluded Cape Town Test, we would have won the game if Anilwould have been a little bit effective,” he said. “A left-arm spinner would havemade a difference. With a left-arm spinner your team is complete.”India have not had a left-arm spinner to play consistently since VenkatapathiRaju played the part. Murali Kartik has done the job when called upon, buthas not been able to go past either Kumble or Harbhajan in the race to bepicked. It’s too early to tell if there’s a young cricketer rising up theranks who can do the job, but people like Raghuram Bhat are certainlysearching hard.

Despite Sourav Ganguly’s plea that his ongoing spat with coach Greg Chappell should remain between the two men involved, his team mate, Harbhajan Singh, has spoken out in support of his captain – and accused Chappell of instilling “fear and insecurity” among the players. Ganguly’s team mates have remained understandably quiet – until now: Harbhajan is the first player to voice his opinion.Speaking to PTI, he urged that the controversy would reach its conclusion as soon as possible. “Whenever any controversy surrounds the team, the performance of team is adversely affected,” he said.”It will be good for the team if the controversy is immediately resolved so that every player can concentrate on his game instead of getting mental tension.”And Harbhajan denied the accusation that Ganguly wasn’t fit to captain the side, adding “…it may be the coach’s [Chappell’s] own observation but, as far as I am concerned, Ganguly has been proved as an excellent captain, which is evident from his match winning record.”The spinner also dismissed the notion that Ganguly was only interested in captaincy and creating difficulty among team members. “I have played for almost five years under the captaincy of Ganguly and never felt like that,” he insisted. “In fact, he takes personal interest to boost each and every player during practice as well as during a match.”Ganguly has rebuilt this team and whatever the team has achieved so far, credit goes to the captain.”