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Scorecard
Garnett Kruger destroyed Western Province Boland as the Lions romped into the semi-finals with an eight-wicket win at Newlands in Cape Town. Both teams came into the game with an outside chance of claiming the last semi-final spot. Province needed to win to stay in the running while the Lions needed to win with a bonus point to nudge the Warriors out of the fourth spot.The important toss was won by the Lions who put WPBOL in to bat first. Asteady start saw the home team reach 70 for 2 after 17 overs. Whatfollowed left the Newlands faithful stunned as some poor shot selection sent a steady stream of batsmen back to the change-rooms. In the space of 16 balls Kruger (5-21) destroyed the middle order leaving WPBOL reeling at 76 for 7. A slight revival between Con de Lange (30) and William Hantam (35), putting on 65 for the eighth wicket, helped Province struggle to 142.The Lions, having to chase 143 in 36 overs to make it into the semi-finals, set off at a good pace with Stephen Cook and Adam Bacher bringing up the 50 in the 11th and the 100 in the 22nd. Cook was first to go for 27 (110-1) but Bacher’s rich vain of form continued as he remained unbeaten on 77. He also became the the first batsman to pass the 500-runs mark for this season. HD Ackerman was the only other batsman to fall as the Lions reached the target in 30.2 overs.In Western Province’s defence one has to question the South African board’s fixtures committee. For a side to complete four fixtures in eight days, two of them back-to-back and 1,000 miles apart, when some teams have already completed their commitments was surely loading the dice.

Nathan Hauritz, who took five wickets in his Test debut at Mumbai, has been added to Queensland’s squad for the Pura Cup match against South Australia at Adelaide Oval tomorrow.Hauritz arrived back from the series-winning tour of India this morning and quickly told the Queensland selection panel he wanted to play for the Bulls. Queensland will now finalise their team just prior to play.The captain Jimmy Maher is also expected to take his place despite being struck a nasty blow in the ribs from a Shaun Tait delivery in yesterday’s ING Cup win.Queensland Jimmy Maher (c), Andrew Bichel, Joe Dawes, Nathan Hauritz, James Hopes, Brendan Nash, Ashley Noffke, Aaron Nye, Clinton Perren, Wade Seccombe, Chris Simpson, Andrew Symonds, Shane Watson.

Ehsan Mani, the president of the ICC, has said that suspending England from international cricket was never really considered. On Wednesday, Mani watched the second one-day international at Harare Sports Club, when England beat Zimabwe by 161 runs."Talk of suspension was never on the radar," he told reporters. "The threat of suspension was a possibility, even if it was only a 1 per cent or 5 per cent or 10 per cent possibility. It could have been a terrible penalty, which would have hurt badly.”I felt terribly disappointed because the tour was hugely important for the development of cricket in Zimbabwe. The country has enough problems without adding another. The game would have gone backwards and that was my concern, not punishing England.”Mani is a resident of St. John’s Wood in London, close to Lord’s, and is aware of the antipathy in England towards the tour taking place. But at the same time, he supported the way David Morgan, the ECB chairman, has handled the entire affair. "He has gained a lot of respect in the ICC for the way he handled this issue. I could see that England were caught between a rock and a hard place, but he has been absolutely superb, honest and totally upfront with people. He has had to deal with a lot of domestic pressures, which is understandable because of the unique situation between England and Zimbabwe. The issue was not going to die down."Mani wants to meet with England’s players within the next few day to talk about all aspects of their experience of Zimbabwe. “It is very important to hear their views," he said. "I want to know what they think about the level of cricket in Zimbabwe and their experiences in the country so far.” England are due to play back-to-back one-day matches at Bulawayo over the weekend.

Thilanga Sumathipala, the president of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), faces an anxious week. A long and complicated legal battle is drawing to a close, and on Thursday (January 8) Sumathipala will appear before a Sri Lankan court.Sumathipala, who is also the chairman of the state-owned Sri Lanka Telecom, has been caught up in passport scandal after allegations that Dammika Amarasinghe, an alleged underworld figure, traveled to England to watch the 1999 World Cup as a guest of the cricket board, apparently on a false passport.Sumathipala is also alleged to have authorised the release of £1500 in travellers’ cheques to Amarasinghe from the cricket board’s coffers. Last week, a Criminal Investigations Department (CID) team obtained a court warrant and raided the SLC headquarters in Colombo in search of accounting documents.Should Sumathipala be charged on Thursday it may shatter his dream of heading the International Cricket Council (ICC) when it is Sri Lanka’s turn for the rotated presidency. That has been a personal and oft-stated ambition, which he had looked certain to achieve thanks to a formidable power-base of support in neighbouring Asian countries, especially India.Wisden Comment by Charlie Austin:<BRThilanga Sumathipala's power-base in Sri Lanka, among the clubs and associations that vote in cricket-board elections, is rock solid. Although his two previous administrations were cut short by the government, he won a landslide victory to claim a third term in June 2003. The clubs respect the dynamism and business acumen that has transformed the way cricket is run in Sri Lanka.No-one, whether friend or foe, can deny that it was Sumathipala that sent board revenues soaring in the late 1990s. On the cricket side he has also presided over several notable achievements: the construction of the Dambulla International Stadium, a frenzy of developmental activity in country areas, the launch of a new provincial tournament, and a new intensive international programme for the Sri Lankan A team.Sumathipala's fate is not clear. If you believed every word printed by the Sunday Leader, the newspaper that broke the story, then his future is bleak. They claim that CID sleuths have uncovered a mountain of incriminatory evidence in the last month: travellers-cheque stubs, memos and letters, and visa documentation, to add to the original explosive testimony from a former crony of Amarasinghe that first linked Sumathipala to Colombo’s mafia.However, the newspaper’s claims have to be treated with caution. The manner in which they have pursued Sumathipala is more akin to a witch-hunt than balanced investigative journalism. News articles have been clouded with comment, and you cannot entirely rule out Sumathipala’s claim that he is the unfortunate victim of a malicious political conspiracy.Nevertheless, Sumathipala is clearly facing the biggest fight of his career. Those who have followed his meteoric rise closely, as a self-made and highly successful businessman and cricket administrator, will still back him to emerge from scandal for his canniness and determination is legendary but the next few days will be crucial to his future.

Brett Lee has pledged to put country ahead of family and will take the field for Australia in the first Ashes Test at Brisbane next month, even though his wife Liz is due to give birth to their first child on the eve of the match.”We’ve said right from the start, which is credit to the person that Liz is, I will definitely be playing,” said Lee. “I’m hoping and praying that it either comes early or late. To me, cricket is important, but family is the most important thing in my life. Hopefully I can be there for both.”Lee, who married Liz Kemp in June, turned down $A50,000 (£19,400) for exclusive photographs of his wedding and baby.

In every sense, except the one that matters most, Colombo’s weather has been regular as clockwork. At three o’clock this afternoon, with the groundstaff hovering expectantly between two practice nets in the middle of the Premadasa Stadium, the clouds rolled over and the rain came pouring down. It was the same story yesterday afternoon, and in all probability, it will be the same tomorrow as well, when the second one-day international is due to get underway.As things stand, the rain may be regular, but, in fact, it shouldn’t be raining at all. The current weather pattern has got the locals stumped. Sri Lanka’s captain, Marvan Atapattu, was at a loss to explain the conditions, which are usually dry and sunny by this time of the year, with the monsoon left long behind. “It is pretty unusual,” he said. “I can’t remember it raining this consistently in the past.””We can’t control the weather, so we leave it well alone,” said John Dyson, Sri Lanka’s new coach, who was still beaming at the facile nature of his first match in charge. Nevertheless, as an Australian, Dyson was far more bullish about his homeland’s prospects in Saturday’s rugby World Cup final, than he was about Sri Lanka’s chances of a clean sweep in this series. Strange really, seeing as he shares his name with a vacuum-cleaner manufacturer.”I would expect England to come back strongly,” warned Dyson. “After the Bangladesh series, maybe they were finding their cricket a little too easy. Tuesday’s game will have been a useful wake-up call, if that is what they needed. It is clear that they are starting to gel into a good unit, so I’d be surprised if they play like that again.”They were magnanimous words, but the gloomy weather has been the only appropriate reflection of England’s current mood. Just about everything that could go wrong in the last 48 hours, has gone wrong. As if the massacre in Dambulla wasn’t bad enough, England are now facing up to the probable loss of half their strike force for the first Test at Galle. Only minutes after Steve Harmison’s withdrawal had been confirmed last night, James Anderson twisted his ankle playing squash, and now faces a two-week lay-off.”The injury is less than 24 hours old and we will need a few days to assess it,” said Dean Conway, England’s physio. “We are quite optimistic at this stage that he will be back in 10 days to two weeks, but that is based on a quick judgment.” With Richard Johnson staying out in Harmison’s place, and Matthew Hoggard already flying out to join the squad, no decision has yet been taken on whether a replacement will be required for Anderson.But it just so happens that the next cab off the rank – to use the Australian vernacular – is the man against whom Anderson was playing when he suffered his injury. “We were just trying to get a bit of a sweat on,” protested James Kirtley, who is sure to take Anderson’s place tomorrow. “It seemed like a good idea at the time.”I was actually at the other side of the court, attempting a return,” he added, disassociating himself from the injury as far as he possibly could, “when I heard a thud. We immediately feared the worst.”Kirtley is well aware of the success that another skiddy English paceman enjoyed in the 2001 series: “Darren Gough and I are not dissimilar in style.” It remains to be seen whether Kirtley would be as able and willing to go through his full repertoire of slower balls and legcutters to make an impact, although, it has to be said, the conditions are far more favourable than they were for Gough’s tour.For the time being, however, England’s chances of a swift revenge are very much in the hands of the elements. The most recent match to be held at the Premadasa Stadium was the Champions’ Trophy final between Sri Lanka and India, in September last year. That match really was scheduled slap-bang in the middle of the rainy season, and the upshot was a two-day farce in which no Champion could be determined, and no Trophy could be awarded outright.Once again, a reserve day has been scheduled – just in case – although that is unlikely to find much favour with either England’s players or their punters. Saturday’s rugby final might just ensure that the ground would be devoid of travelling supporters, long before the rains had their say.Sri Lanka (probable) 1 Sanath Jayasuriya, 2 Romesh Kaluwitharana (wk), 3 Marvan Atapattu (capt), 4 Kumar Sangakkara, 5 Mahela Jayawardene, 6 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 7 Upul Chandana, 8 Chaminda Vaas, 9 Dinusha Fernando, 10 Muttiah Muralitharan, 11 Nuwan Kulasekara.England (probable) 1 Marcus Trescothick, 2 Andrew Strauss, 3 Michael Vaughan (capt), 4 Paul Collingwood, 5 Andrew Flintoff, 6 Rikki Clarke, 7 Ian Blackwell, 8 Chris Read (wk), 9 Ashley Giles, 10 Richard Johnson, 11 James Kirtley.

The Super Fours champions of 2003 will be decided on Saturday 21st June when the four teams meet at The Parks and Radley College, Oxford.Super Fours is the domestic competition for elite women cricketers, now in its second year, aimed to bridge the gap between domestic and international women’s cricket.Currently topping the Super Fours table by just one point are The Super Strikers, captained by England batsman, Claire Taylor (Berkshire). They will face The V Team at Radley College, who have yet to win a match in the competition.Title contenders The Knight Riders, skippered by England’s leading run-scorer Charlotte Edwards (Kent), will face The Braves who won the title in 2002 and are led by England Captain, Clare Connor (Sussex).With bonus points awarded for attacking run-scoring and economical bowling, the Knight Riders could still steal the title if they win and individuals perform at their best.Both matches start at 12 noon.Berkshire and England bowler Isa Guha (The Braves) has the most wickets in the competition, leading the table with 14. She is closely followed by England team-mates Lucy Pearson (Knight Riders/Staffordshire), Laura Spragg (Super Strikers / Yorkshire) and Clare Connor who all have 13.England all-rounder Laura Newton (Lancs) is leading the batting averages with 85 for The Super Strikers; with Edwards on 82 and Taylor 57.5 completing the top three.This final round of matches provides England selectors with their last opportunity to see those players in England contention face each-other.Full tables and statistics can be found at www.super4s.play-cricket.com

There is justifiable pomp and ceremony going on up in Durham at the moment as the raring-to-go Riverside revs up for its first taste of Test cricket. A special clock at Chester-le-Street has been counting down the seconds till the match starts – possibly with Durham’s own Steve Harmison bowling the first ball, if the fates conspire to get the toss right.That clock was set in motion 101 days before the match. Why 101? Well, it has been 101 years since England last tried a new Test ground. That was Bramall Lane, in Sheffield, which staged the third Test of the 1902 Ashes series. Australia won by 143 runs, with Clem Hill scoring the only century – and England never played there again. It’s unlikely that Chester-le-Street will be such a one-cap wonder.The 1903 Wisden intoned that the defeat was "a severe disaster for England", but observed: "The match – the first of its kind ever decided at Bramall Lane – naturally proved a strong attraction, but a mistake was made in fixing it for the latter part of the week, Monday being always the best day for public cricket at Sheffield."Nowadays the Sheffield public can’t see first-class cricket on any day of the week, as Bramall Lane cannot stage it any more. Even in 1902 it was primarily a football ground – Sheffield United’s – and in 1973 a stand was built across what was the square to make the ground a proper four-sided soccer stadium. In case you’re wondering why England played there anyway, it’s probably because Yorkshire’s headquarters were at Bramall Lane until they moved to Headingley in 1903. (That didn’t stop them playing a Test at Headingley in 1899, though.)In fact, in 1902 they liked the new-ground idea so much they tried it twice. Three weeks before the Bramall Lane game, England and Australia kicked off the Ashes series in the first match ever staged at Edgbaston. We have some idea of the arrangements for that game, because Rowland Ryder, the son of Warwickshire’s secretary at the time, wrote about it in his book Cricket Calling (Faber, 1995). Ryder recalled that his father had no assistant and no telephone. The only help in counting the gate receipts came from the groundsman, and they toiled till 3am to do it. Fortunately for the dedicated duo, Tests at the time were only scheduled to last three days.The backroom staff at Chester-le-Street will number rather more than the secretary and a groundsman-cum-cashier. But some of them will still be awake at 3am before the Riverside’s Big Day – especially if rain is threatened.Steven Lynch is editor of Wisden CricInfo.

In seven previous series in India, New Zealand have won just two Tests and lost 10. Wisden Cricinfo looks back at the highlights of those seven series.1955-56
It was New Zealand’s first tour of India, and the only time that they played a five-Test series here. India romped home 2-0, winning both Tests by an innings. Vinoo Mankad, Vijay Manjrekar and Pankaj Roy hammered two hundreds in the series, while Subhash Gupte was a one-man army with the ball, taking a phenomenal 34 wickets – exactly as many as all the other Indian bowlers put together. Despite the domination by the Indian batsmen, only once did their opening pair put together a century partnership. When they did manage one, though – in the fifth Test – Vinoo Mankad and Roy went on to add 413, a record for the first wicket which stands till today. Bert Sutcliffe and John Reid were the only two New Zealanders who conquered the Indian spinners, hitting two hundreds each.1964-65
A superb debut series for S Venkataraghavan, who took 21 wickets in four Tests and singlehandedly fashioned an Indian victory in the last Test, the only decisive match of the series. Venkat wheeled away for 112.4 overs and took 12 for 152 at the Feroz Shah Kotla to turn an evenly contested series – New Zealand took the first-innings lead twice in four matches – India’s way. New Zealand found an unlikely hero in Bruce Taylor, the allrounder, who scored a century and took a five-for on debut in the second Test at Calcutta, the only player to have achieved the feat till today.1969-70
The Indians had a mighty spin line-up in Bishan Bedi, Erapalli Prasanna and S Venkataraghavan, but New Zealand found a spin spearhead of their own in Hedley Howarth. His nine wickets in the second Test at Nagpur gave New Zealand their first Test victory in India. This was a series New Zealand dominated – they took the first-innings lead in all three Tests, and despite losing the first one, nearly snatched the series: requiring 268 to win in the last match, India just about managed to hold on for a draw, finishing on a miserable 76 for 7.1976-77
This time there was no stopping the Indian spinners. Bishan Bedi led the charge, taking 22 wickets in three Tests, including two five-fors, as India romped to a convincing 2-0 win. The crucial difference between the previous series and this one was the emergence of a solid Indian batting line-up – Sunil Gavaskar, Anshuman Gaekwad, Mohinder Amarnath and Gundappa Viswanath formed a formidable top four, and with Syed Kirmani chipping in handily in the lower order, New Zealand just could not find a way to dismiss India cheaply enough. This was also Richard Hadlee’s first series in India, and while 13 wickets in three wickets was a fair effort, it was too little to make a difference.1988-89
Richard Hadlee (10 for 88) and John Bracewell (8 for 132) led New Zealand to only their second Test win, by a thumping 136-run margin at Bombay. New Zealand lost matches on either side of that Test, though, to lose the series 1-2. In a bowler-dominated series, India topped 300 just twice, while New Zealand’s highest was 279. The pitches were tailor-made for India’s spinners – they accounted for almost 80% of the wickets taken by the team – but Hadlee showed that he could deliver even in inhospitable conditions. Tormenting the Indian batsmen with seam, swing, and impeccable accuracy, he took 18 wickets at 14, with a scalp every five-and-a-half overs.1995-96
A series marred by inclement weather. India won the first Test at Bangalore, and then held on to the lead as rains played spoilsport in the next two. Anil Kumble has reason to remember the series, though: Martin Crowe became his 100th Test victim in the Bangalore Test, as Kumble took nine wickets in the match and was largely instrumental in fashioning the victory.1999-2000
The three-Test series started off in sensational fashion when, on a damp and green pitch, Dion Nash and co. bundled out India’s much-vaunted batting line-up for 83 in a mere 27 overs. Incredibly, only 17 wickets fell in the next four days after the first day produced 13, as the match ended in a draw. The second Test was on a more conventional turner, and Kumble starred in yet another home win, grabbing six wickets in the second innings, and ten in the match. This series also marked the return to captaincy for Sachin Tendulkar, while Kapil Dev took over as coach. Tendulkar’s batting was not affected – he notched up his maiden Test double-century in the third match – but his high-profile partnership with Kapil didn’t quite produce the desired results for Indian cricket: a three-nil drubbing in Australia was followed by a more shocking two-zero whitewash against South Africa at home, and Tendulkar’s second stint as captain came to an unceremonious end.

Hampshire Under-19 captain Steven Snell has just returned from a two-week World Cricket Academy trip to Mumbai, where he was coached by Indian left-arm spin legend Bishen Bedi.Snell, 19, spent a gruelling fortnight in the nets at the Cricket Club of India, concentrating on improving his batting against spin and keeping wicket.”We had five or so former Indian Test cricketers coaching us and working with Bedi was quite phenominal,” Snell said.”We trained every morning and afternoon, and I did pretty well in the two games the WCA team won.”I got 36 off 29 balls against Bombay Gymkhana and managed a 33 not out against the Cricket Club of India.”Snell, who played in Havant’s ECB Southern Electric Premier League championship winning side last season, hopes his overall game will have benefitted when he returns for his second year on the MCC Young Cricketers staff at Lord’s.”I believe my game has improved by at least 20 per cent for the experience.”Playing on wickets that had so much spin was certainly an eye-opener,” he added.