All the three teams Tamil Nadu, Hyderabad and Karnataka fully utilisedthe advantage of playing on home turf to score convincing wins overKerala, Goa and Andhra respectively in the recent round of matches inthe Under-16 South Zone league Vijay Merchant Trophy tournament.A tally of nine wickets in the match by Rajesh helped Tamil Nadu teamscored an innings and 11 run win over Kerala at the MA Chidambaramstadium in Chennai on Saturday. Having won the toss on the openingday, Kerala opted to bat and were shot out for a paltry 78. Rajeshripped through the visitors’ line up ending with figures of 7 for 17while the other three wickets were shared by Varun, Raina and SatishKumar.In response, Tamil Nadu took a massive 202 run lead thanks to 160 runfourth wicket stand between KDK Kartik (99) and M Muthupandey (79).Tamil Nadu skipper Vasudeva Das declared the innings at 280 for 7.Kartik who missed a well deserved century by a run, was at the creasefor 213 minutes and faced 192 balls while finding the boundaries oneight occasions.Kerala’s batting woes continued in their second innings and were shotout for 191. Only four batsmen JS Kurien (26), skipper NJ John (59),PR Prem (50) and P Prasanth (18) reached the double figures. Thewickets were shared allround with Vasudeva Das (3 for 53) and Varun (3for 11) being the pick.In the second match of the tournament at the MJWSC Ground inBangalore, Karnataka had to sweat a bit even as they scored an inningsand 2 run win over Andhra on Saturday. Opting to bat, Andhra werebundled out for just 164 runs by Chetan Williams (6 for 30) andChauhan (4 for 64).In reply, Karnataka declared their first innings at 370 for 9, a leadof 206 runs. The Karnataka batsmen were in good form with opener PTTrishul (70), MK Manjunath (76) and GVK Agarwal (78) making the bulkof the scoring. Andhra in their second innings fell short by two runsto make the home side bat again, scoring 204 runs. Chauhan andWilliams were among the wickets again taking three apiece. Moinuddinalso ended taking three wickets.The last match of the present round of South Zone matches sawHyderabad defeat Goa by ten wickets at the Nuclear Fuel Complex Groundin Hyderabad. Having to score just 69 for a win on the final day,Hyderabad openers SP Peter (42) and Mohd Imran (30) accomplished thetask off 15.4 overs.Earlier on the opening day, Opting to bat the hosts, Hyderabad,amassed 355 on the board. PS Niranjan (75) was the top scorer whileGoa’s SS Shetty (5 for 119) and SB Yadav (3 for 122) shared thebowling honours. In reply the Goan batting failed to take off and werebundled out for just 130 with the top scorer being Yadav (27).Following on, Goa fared a bit better scoring 294 with Yadav againcoming to the team’s rescue with a timely century. During his 136minute stay at the crease, Yadav faced 128 balls for his 102 which wasstudded with 14 fours and one six.

England coach Duncan Fletcher would be the first to admit that his charges play too much cricket.So the decision to add a new tour – to Zimbabwe in September and October for five One-Day Internationals – to his side’s already hectic schedule might have caused a few eyebrows to be raised.It extends England’s winter itinerary, which also includes Test and one-dayseries in both India and New Zealand, to almost six months for players who areincluded in both parties.But ever the realist, Fletcher knows that England urgently need to play all the limited-overs cricket they can as they prepare for the 2003 World Cup. The events at Old Trafford when Australia bundled them out for their lowest-ever one-day score of 86 only served to emphasise the work that needs to be done.Fletcher said: “There’s no doubt we play too much cricket which is why we try to look after the Test players especially.”There is too much cricket and that period (in October) was the first decent break we were going to have.”When you compare it to southern hemisphere sides like South Africa andAustralia they have a three-month break every second year, but England just donot seem to have that.”We also have to perform well in the next World Cup so we have to go outthere and play more one-day international cricket.”Fletcher added: “England have got to really look at why in the past they haven’t played enough one-day international cricket.”With the Zimbabwe tour we can look at some players and also give the batsmenin particular experience of one-day cricket.”We’re the youngest side in international cricket by a long way and we wereeven before we made the changes in this tournament – we’re far behind any otherside bar Bangladesh.”Fletcher has pointed out that England’s line-up at Old Trafford boasted only445 caps compared with Australia’s 1,214, while Pakistan fielded a side with 1,169 appearances at Lord’s last Tuesday – despite being without Saeed Anwar and Wasim Akram.Now Fletcher is searching for young, athletic cricketers who can gain experience before the next World Cup – players like Ben Hollioake and Owais Shah who, along with Marcus Trescothick, have been the success stories of the series so far for England.”The young players have an awareness and an ability, but we still have toidentify more players,” he stressed.”We’re trying to get a side together that’s a lot more athletic which is oneof the areas identified as a bit of a concern during the series in Pakistan andSri Lanka.”We have to identify a certain amount of players now that we believe in andare going to stick with. That’s the only way we’re going to get out of ourlosing run.”We can’t suddenly bring guys in, give them a couple of games and then hurlthem out because that’s going to cause real problems and knock the confidenceout of the team and each individual player if he comes in and out in a situationlike this.”England’s next One-Day International is against Pakistan in the NatWest Series at Headingley on Sunday – weather permitting.

Mark Ramprakash, in magnificent form, took Surrey to their first CricInfo Championship victory of the season as he led the way during the second session on the final day, chasing a target of 209.During those two most entertaining hours play, while he was at the crease, the London side thrashed Somerset’s bowling, hitting 143 runs with Mark Ramprakash at his best. He came in at the start of the session and was out in the penultimate over before tea, which was taken on 184 for four with Surrey only 25 runs away from victory.Ramprakash fell just ten short of what would have been his second century of the match. Had he achieved it, it would have been the fifth time in his career, having completed the feat on four occasions for his previous county Middlesex.It had been a wonderfully aggressive knock, he hit fourteen boundaries and a six from the 99 balls that he had faced. After putting on 65 with Mark Butcher for the second wicket, he added 60 for the next with Nadeem Shahid.He brought up the 50 in confident fashion, with a straight six off left-arm spinner Ian Blackwell and later got to his own 50 with a stylish cover drive for four. With dark clouds threatening at that stage, he scored quickly, at the rate of a-run-a-ball. It was a marvellous exhibition of batting, featuring perfectly timed cuts and beautiful drives, particularly in the cover area.After tea, it was just a formality, with Gary Butcher hitting the winning boundary in the fifth over to bring about a six-wicket victory.Earlier, it had taken Surrey an hour and ten minutes this morning to claim the remaining two wickets after Somerset had added 44 runs in 18.2 overs to their overnight score of 190 for 8.Martin Bicknell had Richard Johnson caught behind for 21 in the sixth over and finally Ian Salisbury took a return catch from Matthew Bulbeck – who had come out to bat with a runner, still suffering from a back injury – after the last pair had put on 27 to take their side to 234. It left Steffan Jones not out with 29.Salisbury, who seems to enjoy bowling against Somerset, finished with his first five wicket haul of the season for 95 runs from a long spell of 35.2 overs. His best bowling figures last season were also against Somerset.Afterwards Surrey skipper, Adam Hollioake, showered Ramprakash with praise.”His innings made the tough target really easy,” he said. “He played positively and took out all the close catches. If a guy can average 50 in all his cricket he can play; you don’t do that without being a class player. He can score runs anywhere.Commenting on the fact that this win was achieved without several key players, either injured or on England duty, Hollioake said: “If you look over the years we have performed as well or better without our international players. I don’t know if it’s because when they are here it is early season but it has been a long time since we have been beaten without our internationals.”

Steve Waugh is a tough and uncompromising cricketer – and he believes his side are in the same mould.You don’t win 16 Test Matches in a row by being soft on the opposition and, though the Australians enter the Ashes series following back-to-back defeats in India, Waugh’s resolve remains as steely as ever.He aims to hold the Ashes for a record seventh consecutive time and improve as a side while doing so.”I like the side to play their cricket the way I like to play,” said Waugh. “Tough, hard and giving 100% every time to make the most of your ability.”Whilst we did lose in India, we got a lot out of that series. We got to knoweach other better and the one thing we did learn is that you can’t take winningfor granted.”After 16 winning Test Matches in a row some of the celebrations were not asvocal or as energetic as they should have been.”I don’t think we had anything to prove before that series. That’s not theattitude we go out with. We just go out with the attitude to make the best ofour ability and best of our talent and to give it our best shot.”On this tour we just want to try and enjoy ourselves, improve as a side andcontinue to win. It’s not always possible but I don’t think we have anything toprove.”At 36, Waugh is the only member of the touring party to have lost an Ashes series and that taste of defeat was brought back to him in India. But, he insists, he has no regrets about the Indian defeat.”I’ve been over it a few times but it’s nothing I can change now,” he said.”I probably won’t get the chance to play against India in India again so it(winning there) will be something the other guys can hopefully achieve when Ifinish.”This Australian team certainly mirrors Waugh’s ideals of how cricket should be played, displaying a delight in mercilessly crushing opponents.”As captain I have got to know the guys pretty well, I’m relaxed out therenow and it’s taken a while,” he said. “The team seems to function well and it obviously makes it a lot easier when you are winning.”We have a good relationship, I trust them and I think they trust me.”When I first played for Australia I don’t think I realised what it was allabout, the responsibility and what a great honour it was.”The positive aspect of the first few years was that I learnt from thoseexperiences and it actually made me a lot tougher than it might have if it hadcome easily.”I guess being captain for the first time in an Ashes series is a pretty bigmoment in my career. It’s a great honour. We will be judged on our results and Iwill be judged as captain.”But I really enjoy the role, it’s a great challenge and it’s great to seethe players really improve and develop their game.”I have always liked playing here, it’s my favourite place to play cricketoutside of Australia and I will savour every moment of this trip because itmight be my last,” added Waugh, who has pencilled in the World Cup of 2003 forhis international retirement.Waugh is not putting much store by Australia’s heavy defeats of England in the one-day NatWest Series although, typical of the man, he has made mental notes of various weaknesses which became apparent among his opponents.”There are going to be plenty of changes to that side so we probablyshouldn’t read too much into it,” he said.”I think we learned a lot about (Marcus) Trescothick and perhaps to a lesserextent (Michael) Vaughan. We picked up some good hints.”We have always rated Thorpe as a very good player and I think he’s gone thatextra step from being a very good player to a great player for England. He will probably be the danger batsman.”Mike Atherton has had a good 18 months but Glenn McGrath has always donewell against him and has got good memories there. He will be under pressure inthe first two Tests.”We have a few tricks up our sleeve and we think we know where we have tobowl at their batsman.”England – you have been warned.

The West Indies are anxiously awaiting a doctor’s report this morningthey fear could end Cameron Cuffy’s tour of Zimbabwe and Kenya.The tall, 31-year-old Vincentian fast bowler, who has made an emphaticreturn to international cricket after four years’ absence, has beeninitially ruled out for the next two weeks by a painful left instep.It means he will miss the two remaining matches in the triangularCoca-Cola Cup series, both against India here today and in the finalon Saturday, and will not be available again until the three-day matchagainst Zimbabwe A at Kwekwe immediately before the first of the twoTests.Though it’s a limited-overs international, we are going to take itvery, very seriously and we will be going out there to play at ourbest and try to see if we can win the match, West Indies coach RogerHarper said yesterday.If the results of yesterday’s X-ray scan reveal a stress fracture, hewill have to return home for the required rest.Cuffy said he first noticed the pain during his seventh over ofSunday’s last-over victory against Zimbabwe in Bulawayo. He has notbeen able to practise or train since.It is a setback to the team and to him personally.Since being recalled for the Carlton Series in Australia last Januaryfor the first time since the fourth Test in Adelaide in 1997, he hasbecome the West Indies best bowler in One-Day Internationals.His 21 wickets in 18 matches have come at an economy rate of 3.6 runsan over. In his three matches here, his 30 overs have cost 70.He is the second of the five fast bowlers for the triangular series tobreak down. Kerry Jeremy, the 21-year-old Antiguan, flew out of Hararelast night on his way home to have treatment for a serious backstrain.Colin Stuart, Jeremy’s original replacement for the second part of thetour, arrived in Harare yesterday along with Leon Garrick and DinanathRamnarine, the others chosen only for the longer matches.Ramnarine takes over leg-spin duties from Mahendra Nagamootoo afterSaturday’s Coca-Cola Cup final. He, Stuart and Garrick should all playthe opening first-class match against the President’s XI at the HarareSouth ground starting Monday.Today’s match has no bearing on the qualification as India, with threewins from three matches, and the West Indies, two from three, havegone through over Zimbabwe who lost all four of theirs.In the event, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Neil McGarrell, the only two yet toplay in the tournament, are included. Sarwan replaces Marlon Samuelsand McGarrell takes over from Nagamootoo.The team: Carl Hooper (captain), Daren Ganga, Chris Gayle,Wavell Hinds, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Ridley Jacobs,Neil McGarrell, Merv Dillon, Corey Collymore and Reon King.

South Africa’s two-Test tour of Zimbabwe next month will go ahead as scheduled unless the South African government or the Zimbabwean cricket authorities advise the United Cricket Board otherwise.There has been speculation that the tour might be jeopardised by fears for the safety of the South African team, but UCB chief executive Gerald Majola said this week that there were no plans to call the tour off.Political unrest in Zimbabwe has dominated the front page of South African newspapers for several days, but although the situation appears have worsened recently, with confrontations between "war veterans" and mainly white commercial farmers, violence appears to be confined to rural areas.Majola said that the UCB had asked the South African government for a briefing on the situation, but stressed that the tour would only be called off "on the advice of the South African government or the Zimbabwe Cricket Union".

The technical committee meeting of the Board of Control for Cricket inIndia (BCCI) at its meeting in Baroda on Saturday, suggested radicalchanges in the format of the domestic cricket tournaments from the2002-2003 season to make it very competitive.The BCCI secretary Jaywant Lele told reporters that therecommendations of the technical committee would be discussed at theworking committee meeting of the BCCI to be held on August 25 atMumbai and then it would go to the general body of the BCCI, whichwill take a final decision."The technical committee also recommended changes in the pointssystem for Ranji Trophy matches which will become effective from theensuing season after the approval by the concerned bodies of theBCCI," Lele added.Lele said from next year onwards the teams would be divided into twogroups. Two teams from each zone will form group A in which there willbe ten teams, playing on league basis.At present there are three teams from each zone which qualify for theknock-out stages. So in all 15 teams play in super league stage. Therewill be no knock-out stage from next year.In Group B, there will be 17 teams from five zones which fail to makeit to the super league from their respective zones, Lele said.The 17 teams will be divided into two groups of nine and eight andthey will play Ranji Trophy matches on a round robin basis. The topthree teams from Group B will be promoted to Group A while three teamsremaining at the bottom of Group A will be relegated to Group B.Justifying the changes in the format, committee chairman SunilGavaskar, who presided over the meeting, told newspersons that thesechanges were in the interest of the game for making it morecompetitive.He said there are 27 teams in the country which participate in theRanji Trophy. "In the UK, domestic matches are played on this formatwith 20 teams participating," Gavaskar added.The technical committee had discussed making the changes at its lastmeeting and after getting feedback from the top players andassociations, decided to go in for radical changes in the format. Theteams will get one more year to qualify for two top positions in theirrespective zones.Lele said the committee recommended changes in the points system whichwill become effective from this year’s Ranji Trophy season after beingokayed by the working committee and the general body meeting."Under the changed system, the team winning on first innings leadwill get one point while an outright win will fetch two points. Therewill be no points if the match is abandoned or play is not possiblefor whatever reason," he added."At present, the team winning on the basis of first innings lead getsfive points while eight points are given for an outright victory whilethe team losing the match on first innings lead gets three points,"Lele said.Lele said changes in the Duleep Trophy format have also been suggestedwhich may be taken up for discussion at a later stage. Under the newformat, Duleep Trophy will be played on knock-out basis and not onleague basis as at present. The Duleep Trophy matches will be playedin centres hosting international events.

After seeing his side end a shortened day at Taunton with six wickets down against Surrey, after having been in a strong position Kevin Shine said:”We had a very good start to the innings, but it wasn’t so good at the finish, we were looking for something better than that.”He went on “The ball swung consistently all afternoon, and hopefully it will for us again tomorrow, though the forecast isn’t very good.”What was he hoping for when play resumed on Friday,”If we can scrape together another hundred runs then we will have something to bowl at,” he said.

Ajit Agarkar blasted India to an unlikely three-wicket victory over SouthAfrica A at Willowmoore Park in Benoni last night, hauling the tourists outof deep trouble with uninhibited display of clean hitting.Agarkar, in harness with Yuvraj Singh, carried the attack to the SouthAfricans after the Indians had stumbled and scratched their way to 156 forsix in the 37th over in reply to the home team’s total of 241 for six.The cause seemed all but lost when Agarkar joined Yuvraj, but the pair upsetthe South African rhythm and with HD Ackerman finding himself a bowler shortat one point, India capitalised. In the end, they won with five balls tospare.Less than an hour before, however, victory had looked only a remotepossibility for the Indians. Captain for the night Rahul Dravid and JacobMartin had put together 91 for the third wicket, but when Martin went for54, splendidly run out by Boeta Dippenaar’s direct hit, the innings startedto fall apart.Just a few overs previously Dippenaar had made a dreadful hash of a simplecatch to give Dravid a life on 31, but Dravid failed to take full advantageof this reprieve, hoiking wildly across the line against Roger Telemachus tobe bowled for 35.Reetinder Singh Sodhi and Deep Dasgupta came and went quickly and themomentum appeared to have drained away from the Indians, but Agarkar andYuvraj clearly had different ideas. Together they crunched 78 off just 69deliveries and although Agarkar fell for 49 off 43 balls, caught in the deepin the penultimate over, he had already done enough to win the match forIndia.The turning point, perhaps, came when Ackerman turned to Martin vanJaarsveldt’s occasional offspinners as he tried to protect Jon Kent who hadtaken punishment during his first six over spell. The ploy was hardly anunqualified success, Agarkar and Yuvraj hammered 20 off Van Jaarsfeld’s twoovers and the tide of the game had turned.Yuvraj hit the winning runs off the first ball of the final over to endunbeaten on 46 and the end might have come even earlier, but for a curiousincident. In Charl Langeveldt’s last over, Yuvraj crashed a straight driveback down the wicket at the bowler. The ball glanced off the bowler’s headand had been hit with such force that it carried on down to the boundaryropes.The umpires, however, had already signalled dead ball on the grounds thatthey believed Langeveldt might have been seriously hurt and the runs did notcount. Fortunately, he was able to walk off the field with an ice pack heldto his head and a rueful grin on his face.Earlier, the SA A innings had been built around a fine 117-run partnershipfor fourth wicket between Van Jaarsveld and Gerald Dros. The home side hadbeen given a useful start by Dippenaar and Jacques Rudolph who put on 62 forthe first wicket, but with Ajit Agarkar claiming the wickets of Dippenaar(34) and Ackerman (1) and Anil Kumble getting rid of Rudolph for 25, the Ateam were suddenly 75 for three after 19 overs.Van Jaarsveld and Dros, however, put the castle back together again, playingcalmly, picking up the ones and twos and taking advantage of shoddy Indianground fielding. Together they took the score along to 192 with seven oversremaining before Van Jaarsveld picked out Dravid at midwicket off HarvinderSingh to depart for 69.Dros picked up the pace in the closing overs, picking up Agarkar sweetlyover square leg for six and benifiting from a life on 80 when SS Das put himdown at deep backward square. He eventually went at the start of the lastover of the innings, but with the score eventually sneaking into the 240s,India would have known they had been set no simple task.The pick of the bowlers, by a distance, was the legspinner Anil Kumble,whose comeback after an absence of nearly a year because of injury continuesapace. Kumble’s first spell of seven overs yielded only five runs forRudolph’s wicket and he finished the innings with figures of 10-4-15-1. Itwas a masterly demonstration of control and economy and it augurs well forhis tour. He, and his fellow bowlers no doubt, might all appreciate a littlemore assistance from the fielders.

New Zealand suffered a blow to its Test preparations today when key spin bowler Daniel Vettori suffered ankle ligament damage in the three-day tour match against the ACT President’s XI at Manuka Oval.The injury offset a successful comeback to the New Zealand side by Chris Cairns who bowled 20 overs.But there was little else to please the Kiwis today. At the close of the first day’s play, the ACT side was 3-280, with Canberra opening batsman Jack Smithtop-scoring with 145 not out.Vettori twisted his right leg in just his second over today.Fielding off his own bowling, Vettori attempted to gather a firmly hit ball by ACT batsman Matthew Phelps but fell awkwardly.The spinner appeared in great pain as he was taken from the ground and while x-rays confirmed there was no bone damage, early reports indicated he had strained ligaments.New Zealand team physiotherapist Dale Shackel said Vettori had the ankle packed in ice after a short stay and x-rays at the hospital.”Sometimes with those ankle sprains they can be very sore for a start and then get better reasonably quickly,” Shackel told reporters.”We’re optimistic he’ll make a quick recovery but it’s too early to say at this stage.”Shackle said Vettori would take no further part in the match but he was optimistic of him being able to play in the Brisbane Test on November 8.In his absence, reserve off-spinner Glen Sulzberger (Sulzberger) took on the lion’s share of the bowling, returning 0-72 from 34 overs.Better news for the Kiwis was that Cairns, who injured his knee in January, bowled well in his first serious hit-out in more than eight months.He bowled within himself and took 1-85.The all-rounder captured the opening wicket of New South Wales conscript Corey Richards in his first over and had the figures of 1-3 off his first five over spell.But the day belonged to the ACT batsmen, with Smith’s ton and two other half-centuries.Smith gave two chances to be caught in the field early but survived to put together a polished innings featuring strong cutting off the back foot.He raced through the 90s and passed 100 with a six and two fours in successive scoring shots.Matthew Phelps, another of the five NSW players in the ACT President’s side, hit 10 boundaries in his 51 runs, sharing a 125-run partnership with David Hazel(56).