Out of the several aspects of cricket that baffles the Americans, the concept of the draw ranks high. Many of them just cannot understand how two teams, after five long days on the field, can manage to walk off with neither a victory nor defeat. Now one wonders what they will make of the dead rubber. How can two teams, after one has clinched the seven-match series 4-0, carry on playing the next three? The NBA finals are played over seven games too, but the moment the series is settled, no more points are scored and all action ceases.Welcome to the world of cricket. There is momentum to be sustained, morale to be dented, pride to be salvaged, reputations to be restored, individual glory to be attained, personal battles to be won and there’s an audience to be entertained. And it’s not as if the masses, or the sponsors, are going to be turned away just because the games are only of academic interest. In fact, the situation might have been exactly the same had the scoreline been reversed and Sri Lanka been leading 4-0. We just love our cricket in these parts, don’t we?TeamsUnlike the previous four games, India didn’t announce the 13 on the eve of the game but just like in Pune, there was talk of Sachin Tendulkar being rested. However, considering Tendulkar’s awesome record on this ground – a Test double-hundred, a hundred and an ODI hundred – and the fact that he was out to low scores at Jaipur and Pune, it’s tough to imagine him sitting out. In the event he, or any other batsman, is rested then Gautam Gambhir is likely to get his first chance of the series.Sri Lanka will hope that they can finally strike a winning combination. With the series gone and the intensity lessened, it’s an ideal opportunity for youngsters like Upul Tharanga, who impressed with his brief cameo in the previous game, and Dilhara Lokuhettige to express themsleves with freedom. One thing, though, remained consistent for the fifth successive game – the Sri Lankan camp revealed absolutely nothing about the composition of the side on the eve of the game.Bucketful of runsIn the 10 games played here, the team that’s batted first has won seven times but the last two games have seen the chasing side – West Indies, under lights, and Pakistan – hunt down totals in the excess of 300 and come out on top. The pitch here has traditionally been an absolute belter and, in all likelihood, even the smattering of green, which one observed on the eve of the game, will be shaved off before the first ball is bowled. Rudra Pratap Singh, who might get his first chance of this series, might face the sternest test in his fledgling career while Gautam Gambhir, if chosen, might not get a better chance to prove his worth in ODIs.Rebirth of the dead rubberIt’s nearly five years since a one-day series in India was settled before the last game with the last five bilateral series going down to the wire. With the series settled in emphatic fashion, the last three games, all in the state of Gujarat, will give the Indians an ideal chance to tinker with their combinations and rest key players. Despite the reversals, Sri Lanka will have one eye on the forthcoming Test series, starting on December 2, and, with most of the current bunch in the Test squad as well, hope to gain some sort of momentum before their return leg.House fullThere will be no let up from the stands though. The series may be wrapped up, but the vocal, frenzied crowds will not stay back home. Tickets have all been grabbed up and there was even talk of touts buying large numbers and selling them at higher prices. This will only be the second day-night clash here and most Ahmedavadis will tell you that there aren’t too many better ways to entertain yourself on a Sunday evening than watch a rampaging Indian side try to carry on their red-hot winning streak. Now try and explain that to an American.TeamsIndia (probable) 1 Virender Sehwag, 2 Sachin Tendulkar, 3 Yuvraj Singh, 4 Rahul Dravid (capt), 5 Venugopal Rao, 6 Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), 7 Irfan Pathan, 8 Jai Prakash Yadav, 9 Ajit Agarkar, 10 Harbhajan Singh, 11 Murali Kartik, Supersub: Suresh Raina.Sri Lanka (probable) 1 Sanath Jayasuriya, 2 Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 3 Upul Tharanga, 4 Marvan Atapattu (capt), 5 Mahela Jayawardene, 6 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 7 Russel Arnold, 8 Chaminda Vaas, 9 Muttiah Muralitharan, 10 Nuwan Zoysa, 11 Dilhara Fernando, Supersub: Farveez Maharoof.

The ICC has admitted that umpiring standards during the three Tests between Australia and West Indies slipped, but argued that the overall standard remained very high.Dave Richardson, the ICC’s general manager, said he was happy to acknowledge that errors were made. “There’s no point shying away from that,” he explained, “but having said that, we feel the overall standard of umpiring has improved in recent years, particularly with the advent of the elite panel.”The ICC maintains figures on every match, assessing the percentage of out and not-out decisions against each appeal deemed to be correct. Two seasons ago, when this scheme first started, the percentage was 90.9; last year, that rose to 94.8%. It is, however, unclear whether this includes the significant number of spurious appeals which are a feature of some games, or just the closer ones.”We expect the percentages [for the West Indies-Australia Tests] to be lower than those averages but for the first time we have the means now of providing the umpires with feedback and addressing that.” The West Indies board was so outraged with a series of poor decisions that it lodged a formal protest with the ICC.”We feel the overall standard of umpiring has improved in recent years,” Richardson added, “particularly with the advent of the elite panel.”The elite panel should number eight, but David Shepherd, who umpired his last Test in June, has yet to be replaced, adding to the burden on the others. In the last year, for example, Billy Bowden has stood in 12 Tests and 22 ODIs, a possible total of 82 days, discounting the time spent traveling and preparing. He has officiated in every major country except Bangladesh and Zimbabwe in that time. It is hardly surprising that the seven have begun to look jaded of late.Malcolm Speed, the ICC chief executive, indicated that the elite panel might well be expanded, but it will not be easy to find more officials to stand up to the intense pressure and time away from home the job involves. Peter Willey, regarded as one of the best umpires, declined a place on the elite panel as it would have meant him spending too long away from his family.

Second-year blues are a common problem for players and the result of the Chappell-Hadlee Series after a highly competitive start will help gauge the validity of a competition shoe-horned into the summer. Australia’s Test season has been interrupted to accommodate this head-to-head, which the country’s governing bodies hope will develop into a Bledisloe Cup, rugby union-style annual rivalry, and if they could choose their ideal preparation for the South Africa matches it would not involve a New Zealand side trip.The Australian selectors signalled their thoughts on the seriousness of the three games, starting with a day-night fixture in Auckland on Saturday, by planning to rest Glenn McGrath and Adam Gilchrist. McGrath stayed home but Gilchrist’s holiday was ended by Cricket Australia when it insisted he tour to retain the concept’s credibility. While Australian travel itineraries are currently crammed, New Zealand have a light summer and given their performances during a year including 4-0 and 5-0 defeats by South Africa and Australia should have no grounds for fatigue or complacency.It doesn’t seem like long since New Zealand were pushing Australia at the top of the rankings, but they enter this series in seventh place and will be without their captain Stephen Fleming for the first two matches as he recovers from facial surgery. Daniel Vettori has the leadership task of stopping Australia and the team plans to attack Brett Lee and Australia’s inexperienced seam attack of Bracken, Clark and Lewis. That would be a turnaround after Lee spent most of his overs last February and March targeting the Kiwis batsmen in a display that almost catapulted him into the Test team. Michael Papps felt the most pain and the series was also controversial for Lee’s beamers.At least New Zealand have someone to return fierce fire in this contest with the return of Shane Bond, who has 22 wickets against them in six matches. Bond’s slow recovery from career-threatening back problems has been successful and the comeback of Chris Cairns, who is now 35, will also be closely monitored.

Cairns was dropped for the South Africa series but has apparently proved his fitness and form in a series of low-level provincial matches. The big test of whether he will be around for the 2007 World Cup starts with this series against a regular enemy. Both teams are looking forward to the West Indies tournament and New Zealand will trial an opening combination of Nathan Astle and Lou Vincent while Australia have included the debutants Brad Hodge and Mick Lewis alongside other inexperienced campaigners such as Stuart Clark and Cameron White.The 2004-05 series was a close affair shared 1-1 – the deciding match in Brisbane was a disappointing wash-out – but this one appears to revolve around scheduling and tinkering for the future. However, a supporters’ poll on www.baggygreen.com.au showed 67% voters on Friday morning thought the concept was a good idea and the series should at least determine the first winner of the sparkling Chappell-Hadlee Trophy.Australia squad Adam Gilchrist (wk), Simon Katich, Ricky Ponting (capt), Michael Clarke, Andrew Symonds, Brad Hodge, Michael Hussey, Brad Hogg, Brett Lee, Cameron White, Stuart Clark, Mick Lewis, Nathan Bracken.New Zealand squad Lou Vincent, Nathan Astle, Hamish Marshall, James Marshall, Stephen Fleming (capt), Scott Styris, Jacob Oram, Craig McMillan, Brendon McCullum (wk), Chris Cairns, Daniel Vettori (vc), Shane Bond, Kyle Mills, James Franklin.

A brief history compiled by Dr.Andrew Hignell (Hon. Statistician and Historian to Glamorgan CCC)Pontypridd entered the first-class cricket calendar in 1926, asGlamorgan`s officials tried to boost the club`s membership bytaking county cricket into the valley communities. YnysangharadPark still stages an annual fixture, either a championship gameor a one-day game. However, in 1994 the South African touristsvisited the ground, followed in 1996 by the Pakistanis. Thesegames came about as a result of generous sponsorship fromTaff-Ely Borough Council , and a lot of hard work by theofficials from Pontypridd C.C. However, as in the match with thePakistanis, it seems that every time county cricket ventures upthe Taff Valley to Pontypridd, the heavens open, and the gamesend in rain-affected draws.Cricket in Pontypridd dates back to 1858, and like many otherclubs in these industrial communities, its origin was the resultof the influx into the Valleys of English born and educatedmigrants. A few barriers existed to the development of the gamewith the shortage of suitable land and long hours of work at thebooming iron foundries and steelworks, and the earliest gameswere often just glorified practice sessions. Things had improvedby May 1870 when a formal club was established, and fixtures weregained with other recently formed teams from other valley towns.These games were initially staged in the grounds of GelliwastedHouse, before a move in 1873 to a more spacious area of farmlandowned by Gordon Lenox, the resident director of Brown Lenox, thetown’s largest ironworks.Over the years, there has been a very close link between BrownLenox and Pontypridd C.C. Gordon Lenox oversaw the laying of adecent wicket in one of the fields at Ynysangharad Farm (looselytranslated as Angharad`s Isle) alongside the River Taff. Thecompany, who manufactured anchors, chains and cables for theAdmiralty, also acted as generous philanthropists by giving thecricket club money to buy equipment and also kit, knowing thatmany of the club`s members were men of quite modest means. Giventhis help, the number of members increased and in 1897 Pontypriddwere able to enter the newly-formed Glamorgan Cricket League,playing fixtures with clubs from Treherbert, Treorchy, MerthyrTydfil, Ferndale and Mountain Ash.The farmland home of Pontypridd C.C. was transformed into anattractive parkland after the Great War, when hundreds ofsoldiers and servicemen from the town were killed. When the Warfinally ended, plans were set in motion for the creation of a WarMemorial for Pontypridd, and in keeping with their role asgenerous patrons to the town, Brown Lenox offered their farmlandat Ynysangharad. Public subscriptions and grants from the MinersWelfare Fund helped to finance the conversion of the farmlandinto a spacious park and public recreation ground. The WarMemorial was opened on August Bank Holiday Monday 1923, and overthe next few years a bowling green, rugby pitch, swimming pool,tennis courts and bandstand were added to the already existingcricket pitch and small pavilion.The Park proved to be a popular attraction, and it was nosurprise that when Glamorgan were looking to tap new supportduring the late 1920`s, they should choose the Ynysangharad Parkground. The attendances at the earliest county games were sogood, that in 1929 Pontypridd was allocated the prestigioustourist match with South Africa, plus two other county games withNottinghamshire and Leicestershire. Indeed, in the latter game,George Geary recorded the best ever bowling figures against theWelsh county, taking 10-18.As Glamorgan took county cricket into Monmouthshire andCarmarthenshire, Pontypridd`s allocation was limited to oneannual game. In recent years, this has been a limited overscontest, but in 1994 sponsorship from the Borough Council andlocal businessmen, saw South Africa return to Ynysanghard Park.During the previous winter, the old single-storey pavilion hadbeen replaced by a modern two-storey brick building, and althoughGlamorgan have to install temporary seating and other facilitiesat the Park, the games at Pontypridd have been well attended.For further information about the history of this, and othergrounds used by Glamorgan, you may be interested in purchasing”The Cricket Grounds of Glamorgan”, written by Andrew Hignell andpublished in 1985 by the Association of Cricket Statisticians andHistorians. For further details, please consult the A.C.S.homepage on CricInfo, send e-mail to [email protected] or write toPeter Wynne-Thomas at 3, Radcliffe Road, Nottingham.

ScorecardThe West Indies presented their Group B match to Australia on a platter when they lost by the slim margin of 13 runs on Wednesday.Chasing Australia’s total of 251, West Indies were well on course to victory at 192 for 3 in the 35th over, before collapsing to 238 all out in 48 overs. At that stage, they required 60 runs off the last 15 overs with seven wickets in hand. But Gajanand Singh’s dismissal for 33, chipping a delivery to third man, triggered off a sensational collapse where West Indies lost six wickets for 25 runs in 58 balls.The last pair of Javon Searles and Rishi Bachan valiantly tried to turn things around, and brought the West Indies to within 14 runs of victory, but a run out sealed their fate.”It was a win we didn’t expect,” Brian MacFadyen, Australia’s coach, said. “With 15 overs to go they certainly had the upper hand which was pretty obvious. It was certainly very encouraging for us to fight back from that sort of position. We felt we’ve been solidly outplayed till that point,” he said.West Indies manager Jimmy Adams said his team paid a big price for some poor decisions in the middle.”We really put ourselves in a position to win. We batted well up to the first 33 overs,” he said, “and then after that we made some poor decisions and we paid a big price for it. I’d rather learn here than at any point in the future. The earlier they learn these lessons the better.”We batted ourselves into a very good position and then batted ourselves into a very bad position. It’s a learning curve for all these young men. One has to hope that they learn quickly,” he continued.”Having done the hard work earlier and brought the run rate under four, you would have said from the outside that would be normal batting. But again these are situations that these young men. They are new to this form of the game. They haven’t played much one day cricket. What we are gonna find out in the next couple of weeks is how quickly they learn,” he said.The defeat has put West Indies in a spot of difficulty: they now have to beat South Africa in their final group game on Friday to ensure a place in the quarter-finals.”We put ourselves in a position where we have a crunch game in two days time. We’ll have to pick ourselves up and make sure that we have everything working on that day. It will be a key game for both teams. It’s all to play for. It’s going to be a final for us,” said Adams.As for the Australians – who have two wins under their belts with a victory over South Africa and the West Indies – a quarter-final place is assured. They take on USA in their final match on Thursday.However the Australian coach said that his team had got a lot of work to do in all aspects of the game going into the next round.”We played pretty well throughout and looked like we were set like 270. Then to lose those wickets and be all out was disappointing. We knew the West Indies would be a good side and they proved that. We opened the door a little bit by not batting as well as we should have in our finish,” MacFadyen said.”We [have] still got wides and no-balls to worry about. All the teams are doing that but we don’t want to be leaders in that area. The umpires are applying strict rules as they should. Perhaps these boys haven’t had a lot of experience playing under those strict ICC conditions. Today the ball wasn’t swinging but both teams bowled lots of wides. Neither team could blame swing. It is an interesting one as to why it is happening,” he said.Australia, who won the toss and chose to bat, got off to a bad start when they lost Tom Cooper for a duck to the second ball of the innings. They did, however, recover through a solid knock of 77 off 110 balls from Usman Khawaja and reached 194 for 3 in the 40th over. However a series of poor shots, coupled with some good bowling by the West Indies, saw them crash to 251 all out in 47.5 overs.On an excellent batting pitch it was certainly not a total Australia could be content with, aptly proved when the West Indies started their run chase and the top-order once again started gathering runs at a hectic pace. But when the momentum appeared to swing their way, Singh, on 33, chipped the ball to third man where Ben Cutting made a good catch diving forward. In the following over, Jason Mohammed (57) fell lbw to David Warner and the floodgates were open.Four wickets fell in four overs and soon West Indies were 200 for 8. Narine’s run-out ended the match when the batsmen tried to steal an impossible second run.The umpires officiating in the match wore black arm bands as a mark of respect to Trevor Henry, a distinguished Irish international umpire who passed away at the age of 51. Henry was one of the umpires selected to officiate in this World Cup, but illness prevented him from participating.

Asia’s bid to host the 2011 World Cup came close to being derailed at the recent ICC Executive Board meeting in Dubai. Shaharyar Khan, the Pakisan Cricket Board chairman, told reporters at the National Stadium in Karachi that the bloc, consisting of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh had asked – and been granted – a deadline extension for the submission of their bid. The request, he added, met sustained resistance from certain ICC member countries.Shaharyar said Asia had failed to hand in the compliance book (the document that outlines various logistical information including details of venues and facilities) by the February 28 deadline. “We missed the original deadline and asked for an extension which we got till March 16. Now the compliance book has been compiled but it still has certain problems which need to be addressed. There was lots of heated debate and resistance among members but with great difficulty we got the ICC to accept that there are genuine reasons for the delay.”The group now has till April 21 to submit the compliance book and a final decision is likely to be taken nine on 30 April. Shaharyar also admitted India had been initially a reluctant potential host but the issue had now been resolved. “I don’t think it is true anymore (that India weren’t keen). We had bilateral discussions during the meeting and India is keen and willing now – they are 100% on board.”Some concerns are yet to be resolved. Reports have suggested that Sri Lanka are not happy with the allocation of matches across the four countries (22 in India, 16 in Pakistan, 9 in Sri Lanka and six in Bangladesh) although Shaharyar said no issue was raised by Sri Lanka in Dubai. The semi-finals and final, according to the chairman, are likely to be staged along the lines of the 1996 World Cup, which means India will host both semi-finals and Pakistan the final.The other headache will be an Indian one, concerning which eight or nine venues will be chosen to host the 22 matches and which will miss out. “The major problem is the rotation policy in India. It is for now India to work out and identify its centres. But we have decided that the 51 World Cup matches would be played on 15 Asian centres.”Despite the typically subcontinent problems with the bidding, Shaharyar remains confident their proposal will be eventually accepted. “I am convinced the compliance book will be ready by April 21 and it will be very difficult to reject that bid. Anyway there is an understanding that Asia will host every third World Cup so I am 95% sure that we will get it.”Shaharyar also revealed that India and Pakistan were strongly opposed to the concept of a Twenty20 World Cup so soon after the inception of the format. The ICC announced after the meeting that Twenty20 cricket is set to become an official part of the international calendar from 2007 onwards and that England could host an inaugural world championship as soon as 2009.But Shaharyar argued that it was too early to host a Twenty20 world cup. “We understand that it’s a popular concept and that if the ICC don’t do it, we could have a Mr Packer no.2 situation. But our stance is that the format has just begun. A few countries haven’t even tried it out domestically so how can you have a world cup? We hosted two tournaments so far but we can’t say definitively that it is a success just yet.”We took the position – and India was with us on this – that this isn’t furthering cricket, it debases it and it furthers only commercialism. We were the only two to oppose it officially. It needs more time. Touring teams to Pakistan will not have to play an international Twenty20 game as part of the series although if we tour somewhere else we will fulfill any such obligation.”

There is a suggestion circulating around India that the BCCI are considering buying their own jumbo jet so that they can ferry teams around the country. This latest grand idea comes on the back of England’s request to have direct flights between venues on their current tour.During their trip, England chartered a plane to travel between Nagpur and Mohali so that they could cut down their journey time. The BCCI are now thinking about investing in a plane to ease the traveling of touring teams and the Indian squad.A BCCI official told the Indo-Asian news service: “We all had gone to Mohali [for the second Test] after the England team sought direct flights between Nagpur and Mohali when a colleague said that all these transport problems could be overcome and for that the board should buy a Boeing.”He suggested if the board has its own airplane, the Indian team and visiting teams could be flown from one venue to the other without depending on the availability of seats in other airlines.”There is even the idea that the plane might be used during the domestic tournaments such as the Duleep Trophy and Ranji Trophy.

Division One

3rd day
Not a great day for Chris Read nor for his county, Nottinghamshire, who slipped to a 41-run defeat against Sussex. After battling their way back into the game, Sussex went on to record a cracking victory set up by Rana Naved-ul-Hasan (4 for 29) and Jason Lewry (3 for 23). Mushtaq Ahmed also contributed 3 for 58 to bowl out Notts for 120 and consign the champions to what had seemed to be an unlikely defeat. Resuming on 111 for 3 this morning, Sussex made it to 247 thanks to a vital 42 from Matt Prior, leaving Nottinghamshire to chase 161. But their innings was in immediate disarray when Jason Gallian had to retire hurt on 10. As wickets tumbled he made a return to the crease, only to fall for 15 (148 for 7). A ninth-wicket stand of 68 between Ryan Sidebottom and Mark Ealham, who made 52, briefly gave Notts promise, but was not enough.Hampshire are strongly placed heading into the final day at Edgbaston, having bossed proceedings for another day. They set Warwickshire a mountainous 407 after racing to 218 for 6 declared with James Adams leading from the front – he made 85 in just 105 balls, including five fours and three sixes. By the close, Warwickshire had managed to crawl to 69 for 2, still 338 runs adrift. This morning, in their first innings, Warwickshire’s lower order subsided under the force of a Shane Warne assault, losing Dougie Brown early and then the last four wickets fell for just 13 runs. Warne ended with 5 for 52.2nd day
Darren Lehmann fell seven runs short of a double century as Yorkshire and Kent piled up the runs at Headingley. Yorkshire made 382. Undaunted, Kent’s Robert Key and David Fulton put on 153 in a commanding opening stand. They each made fifties, but Yorkshire took three quick wickets to leave Kent on 196 for 3 by the close.Graham Onions took 4 for 82 as Middlesex‘s batsmen failed to cut the mustard against Durham. Owais Shah topscored with 68 but Middlesex were bowled out for 242, handing Durham a first-innings advantage of 106. By the end of the day Durham had stretched their lead to 186 runs and, with eight wickets left, they will be confident of boosting that to well over 400.

Division Two

3rd day
Leicestershire continued to pile on the pain for Glamorgan, forcing them to follow on after bowling them out for 297 in reply to their 525. By the close Glamorgan had made 37 for 1 and still require a further 191 runs to take them to parity. Today it was Claude Henderson who did the damage, with 4 for 77. Daniel Cherry and Michael Powell made half-centuries for Glamorgan, but their team will need more strong batting performances tomorrow to save the game.2nd day
Four players recorded centuries on day two as Somerset and Essex piled on the runs in their match at Taunton. Keith Parsons (153) and Peter Trego (102) took their seventh-wicket stand to 202 before a late flurry of wickets. Somerset made 471. Andrew Caddick then placed Essex in danger of following-on by reducing the visitors to 80 for 3 in reply. But the experienced campaigners Andy Flower (104 not out) and Ronnie Irani (108 not out) steadied the ship in an unbroken fourth-wicket stand of 202 as Essex closed on 282 for 3.Northamptonshire must have wished that Jon Lewis had been called into the Test side as he wrecked their top order at Bristol with a thrilling 4 for 35 from 16 overs. Northamptonshire now have a lead of 100 runs but just one wicket in hand, and Gloucestershire will back themselves to register their second win of the season tomorrow.Derbyshire continued to go from strength-to-strength in their match against Worcestershire. They lost Steve Stubbings before the close but are still strongly placed, at 54 for 1, a lead of 114 runs. Vikram Solanki struck a century and Steven Davies made 49 to take Worcestershire to 278, a first-innings deficit of 60. Ian Hunter led the rallying call with 4 for 92, while Steffan Jones added 3 for 58 to hand Derbyshire the advantage.

South Conference

A superb spell of bowling from James Bruce sent Gloucestershire tumbling to a 62-run defeat at the hands of Hampshire at the Rose Bowl. Hampshire rattled up 221 in their innings, with Greg Lamb top-scoring with 59. However, set a revised target of 210 from 42 overs, Gloucestershire couldn’t cope with Bruce who took three wickets in the space of just five balls. Though Gloucestershire rallied somewhat – Mark Hardinges blitzed 60 from 42 balls – Shaun Udal mopped up the tail as Hampshire romped home the comfortable winners.Kent cruised past Ireland at Tunbridge Wells with a comprehensive 83-run win thanks to some tight bowling from Andrew Hall and a typically violent 57 from Justin Kemp. Darren Stevens got Kent off to a rollicking start, clubbing four fours and three sixes in his brisk 59, but it was Kemp who took the game away from Ireland with a brutal innings containing six towering sixes. Set a revised 179 from a maximum of 19.5 overs, Ireland were never in the hunt and slipped to 16 for 5; their tail edged them towards respectability, but Kent eventually won comprehensively.Rain hampered Sussex’s game against Somerset at Horsham, but that didn’t prevent Mushtaq Ahmed from seizing control of Somerset’s batsmen. Mushtaq blitzed Somerset’s top-order with 4 for 42, but the visitors were rattling along at a fine pace with Matthew Wood smashing seven fours in his 46-ball 59. Set a revised 122 runs from 17 overs, Sussex crashed from 16 without loss to 16 for 4. Matt Prior (43) played aggressively before falling to Peter Trego, and it was left to Robin Martin-Jenkins (34*) and Luke Wright (32*) to see the hosts home with nine balls to spare.A superb allround performance from Azhar Mahmood for Surrey crushed Glamorgan at The Oval. Surrey had slipped to the perilous position of 64 for 6, with David Harrison and Andrew Davies doing the damage. However, Mahmood struck a quite brilliant 101 from 98 balls, containing four sixes and nine fours, edging Surrey to 200. In reply, Mahmood grabbed four wickets – and conceded just 17 runs in his seven overs – as Glamorgan were dismissed for a paltry 132 in 31 overs.

North Conference

Northamptonshire’s woeful one-day form continued with a 36-run defeat by Warwickshire. After Chris Rogers and Lance Klusener had pushed Northants to 219 for 7, a torrential downpour during Warwickshire’s run-chase effectively ended the match. Warwickshire, at that stage, were 66 without loss after 10.5 which, according to Duckworth-Lewis calculations, handed the win to Warwickshire.Michael di Venuto’s unbeaten 93 was the catalyst for Derbyshire’s impressive seven-wicket win over Worcestershire at Derby. Worcestershire were indebted to Stephen Moore (68) and Vikram Solanki (53) to reach 204 for 5 from 42.2 overs. Rain, inevitably, caused the target to be revised – 189 from 32 overs – but di Venuto paced his innings perfectly, crunching ten fours. He and Chris Taylor (49*) starred in a fourth wicket stand worth 94 as Derbyshire sneaked home by seven wickets.Two contrasting knocks from Phil Mustard and Dale Benkenstein led Durham to three-wicket win over Leicestershire at Chester-le-Street. With the match reduced to 39 overs each, Leicestershire struggled to force the pace, losing Darren Maddy for 10 and Dinesh Mongia for 6 in their total of 151 for 6. However, Durham were soon in trouble during their run-chase, wobbling on 39 for 3, before Benkenstein and Mustard both struck 31 to see Durham home with more 14 balls to spare.Nottinghamshire 61 for 6, Lancashire 15 for 0: match abandoned.

The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) is faced with a severe shortage of funds and its only short-term saviour appears to be the hosting of the 2007 World Cup.According to information made available to CMC Sports, the WICB auditors, an internationally-recognised firm of chartered accountants, in their independent auditors’ report to the shareholders of the WICB Inc, drew particular attention to Note 2 of the Consolidated Financial Statements.Those statements indicated that the WICB and its World Cup subsidiary had incurred a net loss of US$19,513,410 during the year ended September 30, 2005.”And as of that date, it had an accumulated deficit of US$34,920,819, and that the group’s current liability exceeded its current assets,” the report stated. It added that the group had placed significant reliance on the financial success of the hosting of the World Cup in contributing to its longer-term financial viability.”The extent of the financial success of this event is not guaranteed. The group’s continued existence is dependent upon the net cash inflow which is expected from hosting the World Cup in 2007, its ability to find new sources of finance, and to identify and implement additional or alternative revenue, generating and cost-reduction programmes, which will contribute to the group achieving and maintaining profitable operations.”