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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.

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.

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.

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.

Somerset Board Eleven manager Peter Robinson has named a strong side to play against Somerset at the County Ground on Tuesday.The Board XI includes several players who could themselves force their way into the Somerset first team so both sides will very fiercely contest the game.Captained by Kevin Parsons from Taunton St Andrew’s the side named is: Luke Stokes (Millfield School), Tom Webley (Bournemouth CC), Michael Coles (Bridgwater CC), wicket-keeper Tim Burt and Rob Travers (both Glastonbury CC), Kevin Sedgebeer (Taunton St Andrew’s), Russell Jones (Taunton CC) and Arul Suppiah who also played for Taunton CC last year. Two young fast bowlers from the Somerset staff will complete the Board XI team.The game gets under way at 11am and will be forty-five overs each side.Admission to the ground is free, and the bar will be open all day and will serve refreshments and light lunches as usual.

Queensland Cricket has put a down payment on the future of the XXXXQueensland Bulls with a host of promising rookies gaining the chance topit themselves against international opposition next week.The Queensland selectors today named two teams to play practice matchesnext weekend against the Australian and Pakistan One Day Internationalteams as part of their build-up to the TOWER Super Challenge II seriesin Melbourne and Brisbane in June.The 40-over a side practice matches will see Queensland play Pakistan onSaturday June 8 and Queensland play Australia on Sunday June 9 at AllanBorder Field, Albion.Australia and Pakistan will be in camp in Brisbane from Wednesday nextweek before travelling to Melbourne to play two TOWER Super Challengematches at Colonial Stadium on June 12 and 15 before returning toBrisbane for the series decider at the Gabba on June 19.With Andy Bichel, Matthew Hayden and Jimmy Maher in the 13-manAustralian squad and the likes of Michael Kasprowicz, Stuart Law, MartinLove, Andrew Symonds, Lee Carseldine, Brendan Nash and Clinton Perrenplaying overseas, the Queensland selectors have looked to the next rungof prospective players for the matches.Among those called up are Commonwealth Bank Cricket Academy trio DanielPayne, a member of the Bulls’ Pura Cup championship team, CraigPhilipson and Chris Simpson, young Wests allrounder Steve Paulsen,wicket-keeper Chris Hartley and rookie pace bowlers Steve Magoffin,Matthew Petrie and Nathan Rimmington.Pakistan and Australia have also agreed that their excess players willplay for the Queensland team to ensure all squad players will have theopportunity to practice prior to the series.Bulls wicket-keeper Wade Seccombe will captain the Queensland team foreach of the matches. Both games will start at 9.30am and admission isfree on each day. Allan Border Field is located at 1 Bogan Street,Albion.The Queensland selectors did not consider injured bowlers Adam Dale(shoulder), Matthew Anderson (knee), Mitchell Johnson (back) and ScottBrant (sidestrain) while Ashley Noffke and Joe Dawes are unavailable.Tickets for TOWER Super Challenge II are available through Ticketmaster7- phone 1300 13 61 22.Queensland v Pakistan, Saturday, June 8: Wade Seccombe (c), NathanHauritz, James Hopes, Steve Magoffin, Damien Mackenzie, Steve Paulsen,Daniel Payne, Craig Philipson, Chris Simpson, Michael Sippel, plus twoplayers from Pakstan squad. Coach: Terry Oliver.Queensland v Australia, Sunday, June 9: Wade Seccombe (c), Duncan Betts,Ben Edmondson, Nathan Hauritz, Chris Hartley, James Hopes, Daniel Payne,Matthew Petrie, Nathan Rimmington, Michael Sippel, plus two players fromAustralian squad. Coach: Terry Oliver.Australian squad: Ricky Ponting (c), Adam Gilchrist (v-c), MichaelBevan, Andy Bichel, Jason Bichel, Matthew Hayden, Brett Lee, DarrenLehmann, Jimmy Maher, Damien Martyn, Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne, ShaneWatson.Pakistan squad: Saeed Anwar, Imran Nazir, Shahid Afridi, Yousuf Youhana,Inzamam-ul-Haq – (Vice-captain), Younis Khan, Rashid Latif, AzharMahmood, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis – (Captain), Shoaib Akhtar, ShoaibMalik, Misbah-ul-Haq, Mohammad Sami

Still reeling from unexpected defeat by Mashonaland in last week’s four-day Logan Cup game, Manicaland have a week off from cricket as all games have been postponed for the Presidential elections. Their next game will be the league cup final against Old Georgians on Sunday 17 March. Confidence will be low considering the manner of defeat – asking Mashonaland to follow on 287 runs behind and losing by 73 – but their one-day form has been good this season and home-ground advantage should help.Things that can be righted should be fixed without delay. The fielding was disastrous and in the absence of a full-time coach the captain should be assuming responsibility and burning flesh. The body language of the Manica fielders going into the fourth day was dangerously complacent – as though the game was almost won. Senior pro Whittall could be heard exhorting and criticizing as Mashonaland’s lead grew bigger and the misfields more frequent. Having scored 247 in Manicaland’s first innings and taken eight for 118 off 47 overs during a long hot match, his frustration was easy to understand. Not enough Manicaland players were prepared to die for the cause – a fact sensed by Evans, Campbell and Mackay (who batted low in the order) and exploited with relish as 340 runs were plundered between them, turning survival into advantage.Needing 219 off 46 overs for victory, Manicaland plunged to 146 all out in an absorbing finish with Coulson and Lewis unable to last the final three overs to safety.Whittall aside, positives included the batting of 16-year-old Tino Mawoyo (averaging 35 in the game), Neil Ferreira (averaging 55), Richie Sims’ first-innings 75 and the assured first-innings 34 from 17-year-old Adeil Kugotsi. Manicaland caved from number five downward with Went, Taylor,Lewis, Coulson and both Somas collectively averaging 4.4 per innings. Lewis, with two for 119 off 30 overs, was disappointing considering his early-season form, whilst Leon Soma with six for 117 off 37.2 overs provided the only verifiable support for Whittall’s lone heroics. The team in general looked ill at ease in the longer form of the game.For a game of such quality containing two personal-best double centuries (Whittall 247, Craig Evans 210), fluctuating fortunes and a tense finish, surprisingly few spectators attended. Evans – who carried on to destroy Manicaland with 16-5-37-6 – was everyone’s man of the match.

Tillakaratne Dilshan will miss the first Test against New Zealand due a back niggle and, in his place, 24-year-old Dimuth Karunaratne will debut.Dilshan’s bad back had kept him out of the final two New Zealand ODIs as well. He had picked up the injury before the third ODI in Pallekele, where he made a century, and the team management left him out of the squad for the last two ODIs as a precaution.Sri Lanka are hoping he will be fit for the second Test, Mahela Jayawardene said. “Dilshan has not come good with his back problem. We had a scan done. Batting he can probably manage, but on-the-field movements are still giving him problems,” Jayawardene said on the eve of the Test. “We assessed him on Wednesday and he wasn’t 100%, so we gave him this Test off and a week to see whether he could be fit for the next Test.” The second match of the two-Test series begins on November 25 in Colombo.Karunaratne, who had played two one-day internationals against England and Scotland last year, will partner Tharanga Paranavitana at the top of the order in Galle. “Dimuth has been consistent last season and had a good A-team tour to South Africa as well,” Jayawardene said. “Opportunities need to be given when he is doing well.”We have to see the bigger picture and that’s why the selectors made the call on Dimuth. He has been very consistent for us and everyone is quite happy that he is going to make his debut tomorrow and looking forward to see him open the batting with Tharanga.”With the tour of Australia coming up, the selectors are looking to have several options for the openers’ slot, Jayawardene said. “We might take an extra opening batsman. A tour of Australia doesn’t come that often. If we can, we’ll use that as a stepping stone for our youngsters to get to know what to expect in the future.”

Jamaica have won the inaugural Busta International Shield Final after their four-day match against Guyana at Sabina Park, Kingston, ended in a draw today.Jamaica were declared the winners by virtue of claiming a first innings lead. Guyana were dismissed for 290 on Tuesday morning after Jamaica completed their first innings on Saturday with a total of 375. Ninth-wicket pair Neil McGarrell (52) and Colin Stuart (33) extended the Guyanese innings for more than an hour into this morning’s session.With an outright result for either side now out of the question, the remainder of Monday’s play revolved around academic matters, such as whether Chris Gayle could get the 106 needed to give him 1000 runs for the season, or whether Jimmy Adams would avoid a king pair. The answers, respectively, were no and yes.Gayle reached his half-century from 80 deliveries including eight boundaries, but only added one more run to his total before hitting a Mahendra Nagamootoo googly straight to Seonarine Chattergoon at deep mid-off. Leon Garrick (11) and Marlon Samuels (21) both failed for the second time in the match, but the Jamaican captain Adams did avoid the humiliation of a second duck of the final. He remained unbeaten on 28 when play was called off after two overs of the final hour. Keith Hibbert (44) was the other major contributor to the Jamaican second innings. With his dismissal, at the hands of part-time bowler Shivnarine Chanderpaul, the match was called off, Jamaica’s score being 161 for 4.Chris Gayle was named man of the match, while Jamaican captain Jimmy Adams claimed the Busta International Shield on behalf of his team, which received $US10,000 as first prize.

In one of the tightest finishes in years all three Nashua WP first division titles were decided in the finaL series of matches which ended on Sunday.Primrose clinched the Nashua 1B title with a stunning innings victory over Milnerton in the closing overs at Rosmead on Saturday evening. UCT defeated Cape Tech-Green Point in the penultimate session of the league at the Stephan Oval on Sunday afternoon. Rygersdal defeated Mowbray in the final session at their headquarters on Sunday afternoon.UCT who will represent WP at next seasons club championships, play Bellville in the Nashua 1A/1B final at Newlands on Tuesday afternoon. Full scores and final logs will be available next week.