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Records seem easiest for the people who are the least concerned about them as thoughts of milestones don’t sit annoyingly and teasingly in their minds. Years ago it seemed unbelievable that Ricky Ponting didn’t know how highly history rated some of his deeds.Whenever he walked in after play to discuss his latest hundred and was told of the great name he had just passed for runs or centuries, he’d look straight back and say: “I’ve never been one for stats.” Usually he didn’t know about the mark until one of the support staff had told him. It happened so often it had to be true. A man who has been ribbed by his team-mates for reading the Sydney grade cricket scores never knew when he was about to pass Waugh, Gavaskar or Bradman.At the start of his career Steve Waugh was playing under the coach Bob Simpson, who would alert the players to any new milestones they had achieved. Under Waugh’s captaincy history became a strong influence, pushing the team to smash records instead of breaking them. During the reign Australia achieved 16 wins in a row, Matthew Hayden raised a then-best 380 and Waugh finished his career in second on the list of Test run-makers with 10,927.The sense of numerical occasion didn’t pass to Ponting. Calculations don’t bother him as much as winning or spending a long time in the game. And in cricket there is always someone who is better – or more compulsive – with statistics. So the only reason Ponting knew he needed 61 runs in Antigua to reach what was once the fairytale of batting achievements was because one of the extended squad members had mentioned it.When Ponting started his Test career only Allan Border and Sunil Gavaskar had reached five figures and 10,000 carried a magical quality. It was such a big deal to Border that in the same year he got there, with a single to mid-on off Carl Hooper at the SCG, he released his Beyond Ten Thousand autobiography.Batsmen didn’t get that far by mistake or by merely being good. Longevity was essential – Border and Gavaskar both played for 16 years – but so was regular, heavy run-scoring. Averaging more than 50 was a must. Ponting has done both in becoming the seventh player to the number.He began with 96 on debut in Perth in 1995 and it took 13 years and another 117 matches to join the group. A two to cover from Ramnaresh Sarwan’s occasional legspin lifted him out of the 9000s, but there was little fanfare. While Ponting said at stumps it was a nice milestone, he is happy letting everybody else make the fuss.Ponting is more proud of the many years he has spent in the national side, but in the quiet of his room the size of numbers must make him smile. In his public world, and in a team sense, Simon Katich’s unbeaten 113 was more important than the captain’s 65 on the opening day. Without Matthew Hayden, Australia needed a solid contribution and Katich provided it, allowing Ponting to leave for the hotel pleased with the side’s position.Despite Katich working impressively on his first century since 2005, his innings will be overlooked by those outside the squad. Ponting, the newest 10,000 man, is now standing at an altitude reached only by the super elite.

Hampshire Cricket chairman Rod Bransgrove has intimated to a packed members forum at the Rose Bowl on Sunday morning that Hampshire’s new home has been earmarked to stage a one-day international as early as next season.It had been thought previously that the Rose Bowl may be offered an international in 2004, but with an extended limited-overs programme scheduled for next season, Hampshire have been pencilled in for a game on July 10, 2003.Although it was still to be confirmed and dependant on both an ICC inspection and approval from the South African Cricket Board on their tour of England itinerary, their match with Zimbabwe in the NatWest Series could be held on the south coast.Chairman Bransgrove said that nothing was certain but he was hopeful. "You cannot count on anything but if we get the necessary ICC approval, it would be wonderful news for Hampshire Cricket."This would be thoroughly deserving of the efforts that Team Hampshire have put in."I would be absolutely delighted, because the ground was designed and developed with international cricket in mind and things have accelerated so quickly."At the early part of last season, there was little chance of us staging an international at the Rose Bowl for a few years to come. But this shows how far we have come in a short space of time."England Cricket needs to spread the Internationals to new areas and Durham staged the recent England v India match very well."That showed what new venues, like the Riverside and us at the Rose Bowl, has to offer."

Warwickshire Bears beat Norwich Union champions Glamorgan Dragons by 74 runs Cardiff as the cricket season came to an end. Matt Maynard’s half-century was the highlight of the Welsh side’s innings as they were dismissed for 201. Earlier Warwickshire had set an imposing 275 with a 114 run partnership between Dougie Brown and Dominic Ostler. Brown scored 73 off 52 balls while Ostler fell narrowly short of his century when he was caught by Robert Croft off the bowling of Adrian Dale for 97. Glamorgan’s bowling was at times no match for the batting side and in the end their batting was no match for their visitor’s bowling.Worcestershire Royals finished in second place in the table after defeating Leicestershire Foxes by 28 runs at New Road, while Taunton was the setting for Somerset Sabres final match of the season against an ordinary Durham Dynamos team. The home side won the toss andelected to bat and despite losing Jamie Cox and Piran Holloway early on used the pitch to their advantage as the middle-order batsmen piled on the runs. Matthew Wood scored 80 and Michael Burns a 42-ball 54 which included six boundaries and three sixes. Somerset made 254 for six and in reply their opponents fell apart. They lost their last eight wickets for only 25, five of them falling within the space of two runs. Peter Trego claimed three for 14 and Keith Dutch two for nought as the home side rounded off an otherwise poor season with a 175 run victory.It was a day of runs at The Rose Bowl as Hampshire Hawks entertained the crowd by chasing Northamptonshire Steelbacks’ 285 for six. The visiting side chose to bat first on a wicket offering very little to the bowlers. David Sales struck 93 and featured in a 127 run partnership for the third wicket with Mark Powell (64) as their side got off to a flyer. In response Hampshire’s Jamie Francis led the fight back with a wonderful hundred. He remained unbeaten on 103 off 87 balls. Zimbabwean Neil Johnson (73) and John Crawley (52) also played key part as their side won by six wickets with three balls to spare.Sussex Sharks lost to Essex Eagles at Chelmsford after the home side had earlier been dismissed for 189. Aftab Habib scored a slow 53 but helped beef up his team’s run tally. Darren Robinson and John Dakin also contributed to the below-par score. Sussex began positively in reply and at one point, Murray Goodwin (55) and Turk (36) put on 83 for the third wicket but they were both caught by John Stephenson. After this the batting fell apart and when Mark Waugh was introduced into the attack the collapse was complete, with the Australian claiming three for 14 to help Essex round off a superb season with a 29 run victory.Graham Thorpe returned to Surrey Lions’ line-up and roared his way past the Gloucestershire Gladiators to record a stylish 104 ball 114 before he was caught and bowled off Mike Smith, who claimed five for 30 at The Oval. Ali Brown was trapped leg-before to become Smith’s first victimand the bowler then claimed the wickets of Mark Ramprakash and Ian Ward with the score on 31. Thorpe though remained resolute and found the boundary on 14 occasions. Adam Hollioake and Jon Batty aided him along the way as their side made 263 for eight. In reply Gloucestershire never really got off to the start they needed and after Craig Spearman and Jack Russell’s opening stand had been broken, wickets fell cheaply and easily. Hollioake picked up figures of three for 15 as the home side won by 79 runs.Luck was on Yorkshire Phoenix’s side as they shot down Kent Spitfires to record a 79-run victory at Headingley. Once Steve Waugh had been run out for a run-a-ball 37, wickets fell regularly with Kent lasting 37 overs to score 220. Ed Smith and Mark Ealham, who smashed five fours and two huge sixes, had set the tempo early on but then found it hard to keep momentum going. Earlier, Yorkshire had been put in to bat and made full use of the pitch. Austrlian Matt Elliott set the standard with a deserved century and was savage to all of the visiting bowlers. He found the gap time and time and again and his running frustrated the fielding side. Along with Anthony McGrath (85*), he put on 198 for the fourth wicket to give Yorkshire a commanding total of 299 for three and in the end a deserved victory.Derbyshire Scorpions were indebted to Steve Selwood as they finished their season on a high with a comprehensive 22-run win over Middlesex Crusaders at Derby. The home side struggled early to Tim Bloomfield (three for 28) before Selwood settled in and played patiently for his unbeaten 81. He helped his side make 210 for eight, which in the end proved to be out of reach for Middlesex. They lost Sven Koening and Robin Weston to the first ball of the opening two overs. Ed Joyce and Jamie Dalrymple fought back with half-centuries after being reduced to 34 for four. Their hard work failed to make amends though as Graeme Welch struck six times to finish off his opponents. The visitors were finally dismissed for 188.

Ricky Ponting has admitted Australia’s bowling attack has “come back to the pack a little bit in Test cricket” as they struggle to match the Warne-McGrath era. Australia were unable to force a result in the second Test in Antigua on Tuesday despite bowling for a full day, and Ponting is considering altering his plans for the final game in Barbados from June 12.Stuart Clark could return to the new-ball duties he has craved, with the developing Mitchell Johnson dropped to first-change, while Beau Casson is in line to to replace Stuart MacGill. Ponting also expects to use more of the part-time spin of Michael Clarke and Andrew Symonds.Brett Lee was outstanding in taking career-best figures of 8 for 110 in Antigua, but there was less impact from his support staff. “As far as our attack goes, we’ve probably just come back to the pack a little bit in Test cricket,” Ponting said in the Sydney Morning Herald. “We’ve got Brett and Stuey [Clark], who are outstanding Test bowlers, and we’ve got Mitch, who is a work in progress, and we could very well have a young spinner the next game. I’m excited about that.”Ponting said it had been challenging operating without Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne. “Brett’s done a very good job of standing up in Glenn’s absence over the last 12 months and will continue to lead the attack well I’m sure,” he said. “The next spinner is the interesting one for me. We’ll see how that pans out.”Johnson, who is playing his first overseas Tests, has taken only five wickets in the opening two matches and is expected to be part of a bowling reshuffle. “I don’t have any concern with Mitch,” Ponting said. “We’re probably going to look at Stuey opening the bowling more often than not now, for a number of reasons, like in these sorts of conditions. Mitchell is a great athlete, and generally he’ll do what I ask of him.”

Darren Bicknell, the former Surrey and Nottinghamshire batsman, will captain MCC on a four-match, four-day tour of Denmark next week, their first trip to the country since 2002.Bicknell made 134 not out for MCC against Scotland at Lord’s in April, the match in which the new pink ball was trialled, but this will be his first tour as captain. Joining him in the squad will be the MCC Young Cricketers coach, Mark Wright, and Liam O’Driscoll, representing MCC Universities.The tour will commence on Monday, July 7, with a 50-over fixture against Denmark Under-19s. Two more 50-over games will follow against the full Denmark side on Wednesday and Thursday, with a Twenty20 match against a Copenhagen Select XI slotting in on Tuesday afternoon, after a coaching session for the Denmark Under-13, 15 and 17 teams.”Denmark are familiar opponents for us and a nation who have been consistently improving for a number of years,” said MCC’s head of cricket, John Stephenson. “Hopefully by sending a strong MCC side we will help to further develop the game in Denmark and give their emerging players the advanced coaching and opposition which will help their game.” The club will leave behind a grant of $2500 and the ICC will donate $1250 to develop facilities and coaching programmes in Denmark.Denmark compete in the top tier of the ICC Europe development programme, playing frequent matches against Ireland, Scotland and the Netherlands. Excluding England, there are 30 European member countries of the ICC in total. MCC are likely to come up against two of their former Young Cricketers during the tour, with the offspinning allrounder, Michael Pedersen, and Derbyshire’s wicketkeeper-batsman, Freddie Klokker, both expected to play.

Test discard Imran Farhat excelled with bat and ball to help PCB Blues score an exciting five-run win over PCB Whites in the opening match of the Super League One-day Ramazan Cup Cricket Tournament at Gaddafi Stadium Monday.Set a target of 248 after five overs were deducted for slow over-rate, PCB Whites were all out for 242 in 44.1 overs.Imran, bowling leg-spinners, conceded only 17 runs in 4.1 overs to claim four wickets, including the crucial scalp of Qaiser Abbas, who was caught by skipper Azhar Mahmood at long-off for 41, which were scored off only 30 balls.PCB Whites needed five runs in the final over with last pair of Zahid Saeed and Faisal Irfan at the crease. But Zahid in an attempt to take a single was unluckily run out after Bilal Asad’s throw from long-on uprooted the stumps at the bowler’s end.Imran who also scored 35 runs was declared as Man-of-the-Match and was awarded a cash prize of Rs 5,000.Earlier, another Test discard Shadab Kabir batted with great authority to make a stylish 64 – the highest score of the match.Shadab and skipper Naved Latif (49) laid a strong foundation for PCB Whites by adding 84 runs for the third wicket. But both were dismissed in quick succession.Naved was out to pacer Abdur Rauf when he caught by Ijaz Ahmed Junior. He cracked two sixes and five boundaries in his 41-ball knock.Six runs later at 151, the left-handed Shadab was caught behind by Atiq-uz-Zaman off Azhar Mahmood. Shadab’s 99-ball innings was laced with six fours.Qaiser tried to maintain the momentum but his departure at 211 allowed PCB Blues to gain control.PCB Blues were asked to bat first after losing the toss in overcast condition and quickly lost three wickets for 44. However, opener Imran and Asim Munir (44 off 28 balls, five fours, one six) led the recovery operation. Atiq-uz-Zaman then came in to play a vital knock of 42 off 51 balls with two fours.A total of 53 extras too played their part and helped PCB Blues get a respectable score of 247 in 48.2 overs.For PCB Whites, pacer Tahir Mughal grabbed three wickets for 29 while another paceman, Zahid Saeed, and slow left-armer Qaiser Abbas took two wickets for 36 and 27 runs, respectively. Besides Imran, three others players were given cash prizes of Rs 2,000 each. Naved got the prize for hitting maximum number of sixes. Shadab pocketed Rs2,000 for hitting most boundaries while Atiq-uz-Zaman earned the prize for holding two catches.ScoreboardPCB BLUES:Usman Tariq c Faisal b Tahir 8Imran Farhat c Zahid b Kamran 35Babar Naeem lbw b Tahir 0Ijaz Ahmed Jr c Farhan b Tahir 5Bilal Asad lbw b Faisal 15Asim Munir c and b Qaiser 44Azhar Mahmood st Amin b Kaneria 11Atiq-uz-Zaman c Amin b Zahid 42Rana Naveed-ul-Hasan c Tahir b Qaiser 15Abdur Rauf b Zahid 19Umar Gul not out 0EXTRAS (B-4, LB-14, W-27, NB-8) 53TOTAL (all out, 48.2 overs) 247FALL OF WKTS: 1-26, 2-26, 3-44, 4-82, 5-88, 6-129, 7-171,8-211, 9-238.BOWLING: Zahid Saeed 8.2-0-36-2; Tahir Mughal 9-1-29-3;Faisal Irfan 10-0-49-1;Kamran Sajid 6-1-31-1;Danish Kaneria 10-0-57-1;Qaiser Abbas 5-0-27-2.PCB WHITES:Riffatullah lbw b Rauf 6Shadab Kabir c Atiq b Azhar 64Kamran Sajid c Atiq b Umar 12Naved Latif c Ijaz b Rauf 49Farhan Adil b Babar 17Qaiser Abbas c Azhar b Imran 41Amin-ur-Rehman c Naveed b Imran 10Tahir Mughal b Imran 4Zahid Saeed run out 12Danish Kaneria b Imran 6Faisal Irfan not out 0EXTRAS (LB-2, W-13, NB-6) 21TOTAL (all out, 44.1 overs) 242FALL OF WKTS: 1-16, 2-61, 3-145, 4-151, 5-201, 6-211, 7-223,8-226, 9-235.BOWLING: Azhar Mahmood 8-0-45-1; Abdur Rauf 8-0-35-2;Umar Gul 5-0-34-1; Rana Naveed-ul-Hasan 9-0-42-0;Babar Naeem 7-0-42-1; Ijaz Ahmed Jr 3-0-25-0; Imran Farhat 4.1-1-17-4.RESULT: PCB Blues won by five runs.UMPIRES: Salim Badar and Mian Aslam.MATCH REFEREE: Khateeb Rizwan.MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Imran Farhat.

New Zealand Cricket has confirmed its national selection panel of Sir Richard Hadlee (chairman), Ross Dykes and Brian McKechnie have had their contracts extended until the end of May 2003.This will take the selection panel through the World Cup in South Africa during February and March 2003, and the tour of Sri Lanka in April and May 2003.The contracts were originally due to expire on July 1, 2002. The previous practice has been to offer contracts for a two-year period.New Zealand Cricket operations manager John Reid said the extension of the current contract was designed so that in future contract cycles would fall into the middle of the period between World Cups.”In terms of supporting the TelstraClear Black Caps’ World Cup planning and strategy there is obviously sound reasoning behind wanting to ensure the opportunity for change is at a time reasonably spaced between World Cups.”The selection panel is one of the key ingredients in the strategic approach to World Cups and New Zealand Cricket believes this change to their contract period will benefit future planning,” Reid said.

Terry Bates, chief executive of the Cricket Foundation has informed the Trustees that he wishes to retire at the end of the Summer in 2003.He played a key role in the establishment of the 40 County Boards six years ago and the subsequent strong development programmes over the intervening period.His lifelong involvement in sport for fifty years as a Physical Education teacher, in professional and semi-professional football and as a head of local authority leisure services, has stood him in good stead. But it is his lifetime involvement in cricket with his club, Bourne, as a player to current President and with Lincolnshire at youth and senior levels that has given him a deep understanding of the game.As Director of Development and Administration with the National CricketAssociation from 1991 to 1996 he was a leading figure in the development ofgrass roots cricket and became ECB’s first National Development Manager.The strengthening of development opportunities for young cricketers in schools and clubs and at county age range levels has considerably increased and improved since the Cricket Foundation was re-established in 1996 with Bates as its Director. Since 1997 the Cricket Foundation has awarded and monitored the investment of nearly £18 million in grass roots cricket.Prior to joining the NCA in 1991, Bates was the General Secretary of theNational Association of Young Cricketers and currently leads the ECB RacialEquality programmes and manages The Lord’s Taverners grant aid scheme.Cricket Foundation Ossie Wheatley paid tribute to his chief executive: “Terry has pursued with unflagging energy, enthusiasm and success the operational activities of 40 County Boards. The cricket world owes him a real debt. We hope we do not lose his experience completely as he has much still to offer. It has been a pleasure working with him.”At the end of the current season the Cricket Foundation trustees, inassociation with ECB, will consider the matter of the forthcoming vacancy.

Sri Lanka Blind had just gotten off to a solid start in their game against South Africa at the Guru Nanak College Ground in Chennai when rain forced the World Cup match to be abandoned.Wet conditions initially truncated the game to 32 overs per side, and Sri Lanka, put in to bat, started their innings nicely enough. RMUD Lakshan was run out by Rory Field for 20 after a 64-run first-wicket partnership with RPS Rajapakshe.Merely four balls later, however, the rain really started to come down, and with only 13.3 overs bowled, the match was called off after further inspections during the day. Each team picks up two points from this abandoned game.

Gloucestershire Gladiators Squad for the Match against Surrey Lions in the NUL on Sunday 19th May 2002

M AlleyneJ AverisM BallK BarnettI FisherM HardingesJ LewisR RussellM SmithJ SnapeC SpearmanC TaylorM Windows