Pakistan right-arm leg-spinner Danish Kenaria destroyed Australia’sbatting with figures of five wickets for 17 runs off 10 overs to givePakistan victory by four wickets at the R. Premadasa Stadium Thursday.Put into bat on a slow pitch, Australia were shot out for 113 in the40th over after struggling throughout against the pace of left-armerSahid Saeed and the spin of Kenaria. Saeed struck two early blows tofinish with figures of 3 for 13 off 10 overs. Top scorer was Shane Watsonwho made a solid 27 off 63 balls.Australia fought back hard to reduce Pakistan to 68 for 6 in the 33rdover, before an unbroken seventh wicket stand of 45 off 41 ballsbetween Humayun Farhat and Yasir Arafat saw them home in the 40thover. Wicket-keeper Humayun who accounted for three dismissals in theAustralian innings, rescued Pakistan from a tight situation with arun-a-ball knock of 38 not out which included six fours. He took thegame away from Australia in the 38th over when he slammed three foursoff Michael Clarke to carry Pakistan past the 100-run mark. Havingovercome that psychological barrier, Pakistan cruised home withHumayun making the winning hit by straight driving Shane Watson to theboundary.This was Pakistan’s second successive win in the Super League followingtheir defeat of New Zealand on Tuesday. They meet West Indies in theirfinal game on Saturday.

Warwickshire kept up their bid for promotion from Division 2 of the NationalLeague by defeating Derbyshire by 45 runs on their own ground. They did sowith a comparatively modest total of 150-8 in 45 overs of struggle on a slowpitch in which their hosts were bowled out with 25 balls over.Dougie Brown ripped through the batting with three wickets in nine balls – Michael Di Venuto, one of his victims, is usually an aggressive batsman but took 17 overs over his 15 runs.Batting first Warwickshire, themselves, were in trouble against Kevin Dean,returning from a three-week lay-off with a groin injury,who dismissed threebatsmen in the first six overs. Dominic Ostler (27) and Brown (24) stemmedthe decline. The lowly total assumed a different aspect when Ed Giddinsbowled Luke Sutton with only three runs to Derbyshire’s credit.Dominic Cook was missed at first slip and slammed into the bowling of Welch until to be bowled by Giddins. Di Venuto and Steve Stubbings (21 from 52 balls) could not shake the grip the bowlers had secured. Off-spinner Simon Lacey, hurt in practice, was added to Derbyshire’s long list of injuries.

Despite missing four first team players, including Allan Donald, Warwickshire enjoyed a good start in their vital promotion contest at Chelmsford as openers Michael Powell and Mark Wagh batted through the opening session.The visitors had been invited to bat by Essex but the home side’s pace bowlers, including fit again left armer Mark Ilott who had been sidelined from the last five matches with a troublesome hamstring, failed to find a consistent line or length leaving their opponents to seize the initiative. The only alarm for the batsmen came when Wagh, with his score on 18, was dropped by Stuart Law at second slip off the bowling of Ricky Anderson.The openers reached a century partnership in the 34th over and in the same over, Powell moved to his half century having faced 122 deliveries that included 6 boundaries.Lunch score: 112-0 from 35 overs (Powell 51, Wagh 46)

The Bihar-Orissa under 14 match played at the Keenan Stadium in Jamshedpursaw Bihar win the toss and lose first day honours. After electing to batfirst, Bihar skipper Rajdeep Roy saw things go badly wrong for his side asthey were skittled out for a mere 145.After starting poorly, when Bihar lost their first three wickets with justnineteen runs on the board, they were furthered hampered by the loss ofwickets at regular intervals. Th wickets were shared all around with SumitSagar Hembram, Amitav Naik, Tukuna Sahu and Dhiraj Singh scalping twowickets apiece. At the end of 35 overs Bihar were staring down the barrelat 69/7. However, a gritty innings of 38 from number eight batsman S Nadeemsaved Bihar the blushes. Santosh Kumar and Madan Kumar, who followed Nadeemmade 18 each and Bihar managed to scrape through to 145 all out.In response, the Orissa side fared much better than its counterparts.Despite losing a couple of wickets, Orissa put 55 runs on the board whenstumps was called. With eight wickets in hand, Orissa have a good chance ofoverhauling Bihar’s first innings total.

If Auckland cricket faces were blushing when they lost their ShellTrophycricket match against Otago in three days on Friday, they were scarletwithembarrassment — tinged with anger — when Otago thrashed them in alow-scoringShell Cup one-dayer at Eden Park No 2 today.At one stage of the cup game Otago were 129 for nine wickets with 72ballsleft in their innings. A dogged tenth-wicket stand of 50 by Martyn Croy(63 not out)and Warren McSkimming (19) gave the Otago score a touch ofrespectability.McSkimming started the Otago bowling well with the first three wicketsatmodest cost, and then from 50 for three at drinks, the Auckland battingevaporated– out for 101, Otago easy winners with 75 runs and 67 balls to spare.So in the space of three days Auckland continued their pointless stayat thebottom of the trophy competition, and lost their place at the top of theShell ladder.While the pitch helped the seamers and the occasional odd bounce madeitbowler-friendly, Auckland could not blame the conditions — or anotherthree lbwdismissals — for their limp result today.Auckland dominated the first two thirds of the Otago innings, thebowlers ona keen and mean attacking line, the catching good. Apart from CraigCumming (31)the early Otago batting was erratic and even when Croy took root itseemed only amatter of time for Auckland to finish Otago about 130, and then have acomfortablestroll to victory against dispirited opponents.But as Croy and McSkimming dug in Auckland rather lost the plot. Ratherthan put the batsmen under pressure they set the field back, contentthat soonerrather than later there would be the mistake which finished off theOtago innings.The Aucklanders misjudged the determination and skill of Croyespecially,and McSkimming. Croy went at snail’s pace — 26 singles in successionfrom 27 oversat one stage — but was not bothered by his slowness or the tepidAuckland attack.Only over the last four or five overs did Croy go for his shots,McSkimmingcracked the ball hard, too, and they picked up 30 runs in four overs,when 20 hadcome in the previous seven-and-a-half.Still 176 was not close to the 200 -run target which Lee Germon, theOtagocaptain, reckoned was a bargaining point.McSkimming made it looked better when he dismissed Aaron Barnes andLou Vincent with successive balls, and then Blair Pocock at 33.After 17 overs Auckland were approaching cruise mode at 51 for three.Anhour later they were in ruins.Nathan McCullum, the 20-year-old cup newcomer, took a brilliant returncatch to dismiss Tim McIntosh, Dion Nash another dangerman went at 55andMcCullum shot out Tama Canning at 62.McCullum, bowling off-spin at about the pace that old people rememberfrom Vic Pollard, finished with the sensational figures of 10-6-9-2, andgave a verypassable imitation of Jonty Rhodes on speed with his zip and dash in thefield.As the ultimate embarrassment, Germon called on Matt Horne to deliverthethree-victim coupe de grace, leaving the small crowd and the clutch ofAucklandofficials speaking about re-arranging their Christmas wish-list toinclude a cricketvictory somewhere against someone, and the sooner the better.Denis Aberhart, the Canterbury-based Otago coach did his best todisguisehis delight at taking two wins at Eden Park.It was, he said, again a matter of the Otago players sticking to theirtask,even when things looked grim — and being able to grab their chanceswhen offered.

Few bowlers, if any, in the recent history of New Zealand’s international cricket have revelled as Shayne O’Connor did in the extra labours required of him last summer when injury deprived the side of its best performers.The Otago left-arm medium-fast swing bowler O’Connor was in his element and produced some of the finest, and most consistent, bowling of his career.With Chris Cairns, Geoff Allott, Dion Nash and Daniel Vettori missing in action, someone had to pick up the work rate and it fell to O’Connor.It had its effects, however, and after the one-off Boxing Day Test with Zimbabwe, O’Connor was put out to pasture unceremoniously and left to recharge his batteries. In the process the work load of Africa took its toll and O’Connor broke down requiring surgery on his knee.Effectively, his summer was over. Given the improvements he had made, although he says it was just reverting to how he bowled at high school, and the speed he had regained, it was a disappointing end for all concerned in seeing O’Connor gain the recognition for the work he had done.None felt it more than he did.It was his goal to come back to New Zealand from Africa and show that he could thrive in home conditions. Injury meant that had to wait.The good news is, however, that O’Connor has fronted up for the first selection exercise of the new cricket year, the limited overs tour to Sri Lanka, fit and ready to go. Whether he is named or not, there is always the prospect of the tour to Pakistan in September and Australia to follow that.It is an interesting consideration whether O’Connor deserves to be categorised as more of a Test bowler is an interesting point.While he took some fearful punishment earlier in his career as an at-the-death bowler, he showed much greater understanding of his role in Africa and picked up a key five wickets for 46 runs in New Zealand’s ICC KnockOut semi-final win over Pakistan.”I do prefer Test cricket but I am still a cricket lover and I do enjoy one-dayers for a change,” he said.”I believe I have progressed as a one-day bowler. I bowled with a lot more self-belief in Africa. We did a lot more training beforehand and I had a lot more confidence in my action. Personally, I felt as good as I ever had,” he said.O’Connor found himself able to forget thinking about the last ball bowled knowing that if he did things right the next ball should be in the right place.Small things, but vitally important when the heat is on and a batsman like Lance Klusener or Nicky Boje is on the charge.Taking the role of senior bowler for the Test matches placed a different kind of pressure on him and he admitted to thriving in the situation.Having regained some of the pace he had lost, the result of minor changes to his bowling technique over the years, he was able to cap off the more specific training the New Zealanders had undertaken.”It was almost into sprinter-type training,” he said, while the weight training done was more explosive work.”I would have to give 70-80% of the credit to the training we did. The rest was the minor change to my action which resulted in me bowling more like I did at high school.”Looking at the video analysis the fault in my timing was picked up and I worked on that. I found by improving my timing that when I got tired in South Africa I was still able to do it correctly.”It was another little thing that helped build my confidence,” he said.So well did his confidence grow that O’Connor finished the 2000 calendar year as New Zealand’s most successful bowler. He was 10th on the international standings with his 29 wickets in eight Tests coming at an average of 23.86.During the actual 2000/01 Test programme he finished with 18 wickets at 26.0.While he did enjoy the opportunities the injuries to others provided him with, O’Connor admitted that it was tough and he was shattered by the end of the Zimbabwe Test in Wellington, played soon after the team returned from South Africa.”I was knackered mentally and physically. It was a huge tour and while I watched the guys playing the one-day series against Zimbabwe in the New Year, I felt sorry for them.”I know we do get paid for doing it. But with professionalism gaining momentum I do think we have to get used to the idea that we might need some breaks or face the prospect of having shorter careers,” he said.New Zealand’s bowling problems surely bear that out. And the situation is right now for New Zealand to look to use more rotation of its bowlers.Hitting Pakistan and Australia with full-strength attacks will be important for New Zealand next summer, and then there is the prospect of dealing with England at home.”There’s a lot of cricket to go. If I don’t get an opportunity early on then I will have to sit tight and wait my opportunity later.”I would like to make the Aussie tour. I look back at the last one and can hardly remember a thing about it,” he said of what was his first big tour with the national side.In the mean-time there are other important matters to attend to. The paper he is doing through Massey University, the house he is doing up and most importantly of all, his August marriage, in Alexandra, to local girl Camille Grubb.Originally from Hawke’s Bay, O’Connor admits to being a Southern Man, although he said that title would have to be conferred by others. He does see his long-term future in the south saying he really enjoys the lifestyle offered by Central Otago.But with his knee feeling good and the competitive fires burning again, O’Connor is shaping as a key component in New Zealand’s Test attack this summer.

The draw for the fourth round of the C&G Trophy, with matches to be played on Wednesday 11 July, is as follows.Worcestershire v Herefordshire at Worcester; Somerset v Glamorgan at Taunton; Yorkshire v Surrey at Leeds; Kent v Northamptonshire at Canterbury; Lancashire v Sussex at Manchester; Gloucestershire v Durham at Bristol; Warwickshire v Essex at Birmingham; Nottinghamshire v Leicestershire at Nottingham.

ARUNDEL, England – First Test certainties Mark Waugh, Adam Gilchrist,Ricky Ponting, Brett Lee and Glenn McGrath have been omitted from theAustralian cricket team to play an MCC XI in a three-day match startingat Arundel, England, tomorrow.Michael Slater, Justin Langer, Simon Katich and Colin Miller will maketheir first appearances of the English summer after missing selectionfor the limited overs tri-series.Reserve wicketkeeper Wade Seccombe has also been given a run.Waugh, Gilchrist, Ponting, Lee and McGrath are certain to play againstEssex at Chelmsford in another three-day fixture, starting Friday.The first Test between Australia and England for the Ashes starts onJuly 5 at Edgbaston.The team is: Steve Waugh (c), Michael Slater, Matthew Hayden, JustinLanger, Damien Martyn, Simon Katich, Wade Seccombe, Shane Warne, ColinMiller, Damien Fleming, Jason Gillespie.

With strong wins in do-or-die contests, Bermuda and the United Arab Emirates have kept their 2001 ICC Trophy tournament hopes alive here in Toronto today. Both sides entered the day facing the prospect of elimination from the competition but emerged victorious from matches against Hong Kong and Fiji respectively to book their places in playoff contests tomorrow.Bermuda secured its place in the next round with a convincing 104-run victory over Hong Kong at Malton. On a pitch that offered good encouragement to the bowlers, it was Hong Kong’s inability to upset the impressive rhythm of batsmen Clay Smith (91) and Janeiro Tucker (42) which was chiefly responsible for permitting Bermuda’s score to swell to 206/8.Tucker (2/25) then chimed in with the ball for good measure, snaring two crucial early wickets as Hong Kong stumbled consistently in the chase. Saleem Malik (34) played some aggressive strokes but the die was cast by early afternoon; the end to Hong Kong’s involvement with the tournament coming quickly on the back of a fine spell of left arm orthodox spin bowling from Dwayne Leverock (4/15).Having finished the preliminary round of the competition in fourth place in Group 1B, Bermuda will now meet Namibia in a sudden-death match tomorrow to determine which of them proceeds to the competition’s Super League phase.The United Arab Emirates’ progression to tomorrow’s playoff stoush with Uganda was built on its ability to restrict Fiji to a score of 194/9 in generally good conditions at Maple Leaf. Khuram Khan (4/25) continued a wonderful personal campaign in Toronto, snaring vital wickets at both end of the innings.Neil Maxwell (54) was in outrageous touch, taking just 51 balls to club a half-century that was adorned by sixes from each of four consecutive deliveries. Jone Sorovakatini (43*) also played well, but a disastrous late collapse which saw five wickets fall for fifteen runs took the Fijian innings off the rails.Opener Arshad Ali (78*) then played a measured innings at the top of the UAE order, gradually increasing the tempo of his strokeplay to lead his team to its victory. Ahmeed Nadeem (49*) was also in great form, hammering six fours and two sixes in a brutal display that cleaned up the match with more than eleven overs to spare.Ireland was another nation to confirm its place in the last ten, doing so with an emphatic nine wicket victory over Papua New Guinea at Ross Lord. Invited to bat first, the Papua New Guineans never really moved out of first gear, struggling to a total of 146 in the face of disciplined Irish bowling. Aru Uda (43) and captain Navu Maha (29) played solid innings but no batsman pushed on to the large individual score that would have been needed to underpin a big total.Uganda’s preparations for tomorrow’s battle with the UAE, meanwhile, were rounded out with an emphatic seven wicket victory over Israel at Ajax. Israeli captain Isaac Massil (55*) batted beautifully with the tail to push his team’s score to 153/9 but it was never likely to be sufficient to conquer the in-form Ugandans.The Africans rested key players and shuffled their batting order around but still coasted to victory. Opener Charles Lwanga (47) was the mainstay of the innings and Frank Nsubuga (33) also played well, topping off an excellent exhibition of off spin bowling earlier in the match. The victory arrived with close to twenty overs to spare.Even before a ball was bowled, Singapore did not have too many reasons for motivation in its final ICCT 2001 match against the Netherlands at Maple Leaf. And, when play did commence, that reality was revealed: a succession of poor strokes predominating as it was skittled for a dismal total of 47.Sebastiaan Gokke (3/15) claimed three of the opening four wickets, while Luuk van Troost (3/7) snared three of the last five. Only Josh Dearing (26) ventured into the giddy heights of double figures – he enjoyed the reprieve of being dropped very early in his innings – and the scoring rate rarely exceeded two runs an over. It was a rout.The Netherlands’ brains-trust had entered the match planning to do some fine tuning in preparation for the start of the Super League phase of the tournament next week. But they were barely afforded the chance, particularly when it came to their batting. It took them less than fourteen overs to complete their victory and the only wicket that fell was lost to a run out rather than to the bowlers.Although it was hoped that the restructured format of this year’s tournament would minimise the prospect of largely meaningless and lopsided matches, it was a match that fell neatly into both categories.

Indian middle order batsman VVS Laxman figures in the top ten Testinnings, while leg spinner Anil Kumble is in the second spot of thetop ten Test bowling analysis of all time list, which was released inMumbai on Thursday.Wisden On-Line director Anthony Bouchier, launching the Wisden 100, anew analysis to assess a Test cricketer’s individual batting andbowling performances spanning 138 years of cricket history, toldreporters that Laxman’s 281 in the home series against Aussies inCalcutta has a Wisden rating of 234.8 points and is placed sixth.The other five players above Laxman are Don Bradman’s 270 forAustralia against England at Melbourne in 1936-37 series with a Wisdenrating of 262.4, Brian Lara’s 153 not out for West Indies againstAustralia at Bridgetown in 1998-99 (rating: 255.2), Graham Gooch’s 154not out for England against West Indies at Headingley in 1991 (rating:252.0), Ian Botham’s 149 not out for England versus Australia atHeadingley in 1981 (rating 240.8) and Don Bradman’s 299 not out forAustralia against South Africa in 1931-32 series (rating: 236.8).The other four innings after Laxman’s 281 are Clem Hill’s 188 for theAussies against England at Melbourne in 1897-98 series (rating:234.2), Azhar Mahmood’s 132 for Pakistan against South Africa atDurban in 1997-98 (rating: 232.6), Kim Hughes’ unbeaten hundred forAustralia against the West Indies at Melbourne in 1981-82 (rating:229.7) and Brian Lara’s 375 for the West Indies against England atAntigua in 1993-94 (rating: 228.1).Former Indian Test star and the managing director of Wisden OnlineIndia Private Limited, Yajuvindra Singh said the batting analysis used12 parameters while the bowling analysis used eight parameters.The Wisden 100, which covers 1552 matches, 54,494 innings and 29,730bowling performances, has Hugh Tayfield’s nine for 113 for SouthAfrica versus England at Johannesburg in 1956-57 at the top of thebowling list with a Wisden rating of 253.9 points followed by Kumble’sten for 74 against Pakistan at Delhi in 1998-99 (rating: 248.6)In the third to seventh position comes Jim Laker’s ten for 53 forEngland against Australia at Old Trafford in 1956 (rating: 241.7),Jack White’s eight for 126 for England versus Australia at Adelaide in1928-29 (rating: 238.8), Richard Hadlee’s nine for 52 for New Zealandaginst Australia in 1985-86 (rating: 237.1), Devon Malcolm’s nine for57 for England versus South Africa at The Oval in 1994 (rating 234.4)and Bob Willis’ eight for 43 for England against Australia atHeadingley in 1981 (rating: 226.1).The last three figures are of Hedley Verity’s eight for 43 for Englandagainst Australia at Lord’s in 1934 (rating: 225.1), Bill O’Reilly’sseven for 54 for Australia against England at Trent Bridge in 1934(rating: 224.3) and Graham Mckenzie’s eight for 71 for Australiaagainst the West Indies at Melbourne in 1968-69 (rating: 224.1).Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh’s recent figures seven for 133 in the homeseries against Aussies at Chennai just missed the mark by a whisker tomake it to the top ten list and has a rating of 188.7 points.In the Indian top ten innings of all time list, Laxman’s 281 gets thetop spot followed by Dilip Vengsarkar’s 102 against England at Leedsin 1986.The next three spots have Gundappa Vishwanath’s 97 not out against theWest Indies at Madras in 1975, Sunil Gavaskar’s 221 against England atThe Oval in 1979 and Kapil Dev’s 129 against South Africa at PortElizabeth in 1992.Sixth to tenth spots have Vishwanath’s 114 against Australia, MohammedAzharuddin’s 152 against Sri Lanka at Ahmedabad in 1994, S MGavaskar’s 236 against the West Indies at Madras in 1983, RahulDravid’s 180 against Australia at Kolkata this year and Ajit Wadekar’s143 against New Zealand at Basin Reserve in 1986.In the Indian top ten bowling analysis of all time list, Kumble’s tenfor 74 takes the pride of place followed by Harbhajan Singh’s eightfor 84 against Australia at Madras this year.The next three best figures are Kapil Dev’s seven for 56 againstPakistan at Chennai in 1980, Kapil Dev’s eight for 85 against Pakistanat Lahore in 1983 and Narendra Hirwani’s eight for 75 against the WestIndies at Madras in 1988.The best figures from sixth to tenth places has Jasu Patel’s nine for69 against the Aussies at Kanpur in 1959, Erapalli Prasanna’s eightfor 76 against New Zealand at Auckland in 1968, Vinoo Mankad’s eightfor 55 against England at Madras in 1952, Subhash Gupte’s nine for 102against the West Indies at Kanpur in 1959 and Harbhajan Singh’s sevenfor 123 (which included the first ever hat-trick by an Indian) againstAustralia at Kolkata this year.