Indian opening batsman Shiv Sundar Das, who was chosen as the man ofthe match in the first Test between India and Zimbabwe at Bulawayo forhis two innings of 30 and 82 not out has dedicated the award to hisparents and coach. In an interview to a Kolkata newspaper, Das said,"I am a relative newcomer to the team. For me to have played a partin this historic win, is quite thrilling. I dedicate the MoM award tomy parents Uttam Das and Kanchanbala Das and to my coach KishoreMania."In the interview, Das also stated that at one point, he thought ofgoing for a hundred. "However, once Laxman got out, I decided to hangon till the end. Even Sachin Tendulkar told me to hang on till the winwas completed. After this, I decided not to get out," said Das.However, inspite of his two innings, Das is unhappy at the way hebatted. "Maybe I got the runs. However, I had a few close shaves.That is why, before the second Test begins, I will have a session withMr. Gavaskar. Since he is on this tour, I will discuss a couple ofproblems that I am having."

Having failed with spin at Dambulla, Sri Lanka ‘A’ are likely to go into the second four-day unofficial ‘Test’ against Pakistan ‘A’ beginning at the NCC grounds on Tuesday, with pace.Sri Lanka are expected to include three fast bowlers on the pace oriented NCC pitch which leaves room for only two spinners. They had three spinners operating at Dambulla.Two of the fast bowlers who are likely to make up the trio are AkalankaGanegama and Thilina Amarasinghe, who took 77 wickets between them bowling 478 overs to enable their club NCC emerge Super League champions.Knowing what the conditions at the NCC is like, both bowlers are likely to get the nod along with Suresh Perera, the SSC quickie who is coming back after injury. This would leave the spin department in the hands of skipper Thilan Samaraweera and left-arm spinner Sajeewa Weerakoon. Chandana Samarasinghe, the other leg-spinner may be the unlucky one. Samaraweera took ten wickets in the Dambulla Test and looked the only bowler who could win a match for his side.Although the pitch is expected to help the fast bowlers, it is in all probability a fair one, and will also give assistance to the spinners later in the match. The batsmen with the correct temperament and technique will score runs on it.Sri Lanka ‘A’s batting has been strengthened by the inclusion of the free-hitting opener Avishka Gunawardene, and middle-order batsmenTillekeratne Dilshan and Indika de Saram – all Test players. Dilshan will take over the wicket-keeping duties from Kumar Sangakkara who kept wicket in the drawn first ‘Test’. Opener Dhammika Sudarshana, Michael Vandort and Chimera Silva retain their batting spots for another game.Left-hander Gunawardene, unless Pakistan get him early, has the capability of tearing into the bowling. His style of play is more akin to the one-day mould. He cracked a half-century off 54 balls for Hatton National Bank on Sunday in the Mercantile knockout one-day competition.Also in excellent form in that match were Silva with an unbeaten 96 off 112 balls and Vandort, who made a fighting 53.The NCC pitch will definitely test the skills of these batsmen against the Pakistan seam attack, which bowled superbly on the lifeless Dambulla pitch.In helpful conditions Irfan Fazil and Yasir Arafat could be a handful.Pakistan will sorely miss tall paceman Shabbir Ahmed who is recovering from a groin strain that prevented him from bowling in the Sri Lanka ‘A’ second innings at Dambulla. If there is bounce on the pitch, leg-spinner Danish Kaneria, who took seven wickets in the first ‘Test’, will exploit it to the full.The teams:
Sri Lanka ‘A’ (from): Thilan Samaraweera (captain), AvishkaGunawardene, Dhammika Sudarshana, Michael Vandort, Tillekeratne Dilshan, Indika de Saram, Chimera Silva, Suresh Perera, Sajeewa Weerakoon, Thilina Amarasinghe, Akalanka Ganegama, Chandana Samarasinghe, Jeevantha Kulatunga, Gayan Wijekoon, Dinusha Fernando.
Pakistan ‘A’ (from): Hasan Raza (captain), Imran Farhat, Taufeeq Umer, Faisal Naved, Qaiser Abbas, Misbah-ul-Haq, Humayun Farhat, Yasir Arafat, Irfan Fazil, Danish Kaneria, Kashif Raza, Azam Hussain, Salman Butt, Najaf Shah, Shabbir Ahmed.
Umpires: Tyronne Wijewardene and Lalith Jayasundera, Match Referee: Graeme Labrooy.

Neil Johnson’s fifth half-century in six first-class innings brightened a day blighted by rain and bad light.At the end of the first day Hampshire had 207 for seven from 68.5 overs after Robin Smith had chosen to bat first.Only 12 overs were possible before lunch and in total 36 overs of the scheduled allocation were wiped out by the weather. In between the showers Hampshire struggled to come to terms with the extra movement and three batsmen were guilty of misjudgement in losing their wickets.Tim Munton made the best use of the pitch to finish with figures of three for 42 from 19 overs, bowling Giles White with a ball which cut back and hit the off stump and then ending Johnson’s fluent innings of 59 when he trapped him lbw not offering a shot. Lawrence Prittipaul also failed to make a shot from another delivery by Munton which bowled him.The best stand of the day was 67 in 18 overs between Smith and Johnson for the fourth wicket. Smith hit six fours with all his old power on the offside in his 38 before he was undone by a spinner, not for the first time in his otherwise distinguished career.Johnson hit ten fours in 91 balls but his dismissal in the over after tea precipitated something of a minor collapse and Hampshire were happy when played was called off early as black clouds circled.

* Madhavan’s report awaited, says MuthiahThe Indian cricket administration is awaiting the report of itsVigilance Commissioner, K Madhavan in connection with thecontroversial Ahmedabad Test match in 1999, when India did not enforcethe follow on against New Zealand, despite being in a position to doso.AC Muthiah, President, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI)told pressmen in Chennai on Sunday night that Madhavan had completedhis inquiry with batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar in this connection.Muthiah said Tendulkar was the third person to be questioned byMadhavan, who has been asked by the BCCI to probe into thecontroversial Test match. “But the officer has not completed hiqinvestigation yet,” Muthiah said.According to Muthiah, Madhavan is to question two more persons beforesubmitting his report to the Board. He said that Madhavan’s reportwould be placed before the next Working Committee for a decision.* KCA to start new coaching centre in KollamThe Kerala Cricket Association will start a new coaching centre inKollam shortly. The new project was announced by the KCA secretary SHaridas at Thiruvanthapuram on Sunday. The KCA already has two zonalacademies at Tellicherry (Kerala North) and Thiruvananthapuram (KeralaSouth). PB Shaji will be the director of the Kollam centre. In view ofthe heavy schedule of matches, the KCA has appointed separateselection committees for the Under-16 and Under-19 age groups thisseason.The following members were selected for various KCA committees for the2001-02 seasonSelection Committee: Senior, Under 22 & Under 25: T Shivadas(Chairman), M Renjith Thomas, TC Sudheesh and K Jayaram. S Haridas(Convenor)Under-19: A Ajay Varma (Chairman), TP Ajith Kumar, K Santhosh, RameshBabu. S Haridas (Convenor)Under-16: K Surendranath (Chairman), PK Anoop, Sudhir Kumar and CBalachandran. S Haridas (Convenor)Cricket Development Committee: A Salim (Chairman), OT Jayachandran, MPhlip Varghese, JK Mahendra, Mohammed Ibrahim, TK Madhav, T Shivadas,CM Ashok Sekhar, R Krishnan, Paul Paliath and D Chandrasekharan Nair.* BCCI observers to visit Patna tomorrowA three-member BCCI team will arrive in Patna on Wednesday to inspectthe basic facilities available at the Moinul Haque Stadium for holdingtop level matches, a Bihar Cricket Association (BCA) official said onTuesday.BCCI executive secretary Sharad Diwadkar, joint secretary of theMumbai Cricket Association Ratnakar Shetty and former Indian cricketerShivlal Yadav are the members of the team, BCA secretary Ajay NarayanSharma said in a statement. The team would also meet BCA presidentLaloo Prasad Yadav, he added.

Test stars Andy Caddick and Marcus Trescothick will be in the Somerset team to face Glamorgan in the CricInfo Championship match that starts at Taunton on Friday.The news will be particularly welcome by the Somerset supporters who have been deprived of the chance of seeing their two England players in all but a handful of matches this season.After being informed of the decision to allow the two players to play in the Championship match Chief Executive Peter Anderson told me,"Somerset has always been to the forefront regarding England releasing centrally contracted players to appear for their counties. We are naturally delighted to be able to welcome Andy and Marcus back for the game against Glamorgan."Mr Anderson then went on to talk about the chances of winning the County Championship for the first time in the club’s history. "At the moment we are in a strong position – all we have to do is to deliver the goods.Somerset have six matches left, four of which are at home, against Glamorgan, Leicestershire, Surrey and Northants, and we have to travel to Kent again next Wednesday and Essex in early September. We are on a roll at the moment, and will be hoping to put it altogether against Glamorgan at Taunton to keep up our challenge for the County Championship."The return of Caddick and Trescothick creates a selection dilemma for Jamie Cox and Somerset Coach Kevin Shine. "This underlines the strength of the playing squad that we have within the club," the Chief Executive said, " the inclusion of the two England players means that there is no place for Matt Bulbeck, Jason Kerr or Joe Tucker. We also have a number of talented young players waiting in the wings, including Chris Hunkin, Gareth Andrew and Cornish leg spinner Michael Munday."

Kent posted a modest first innings lead of 43 after a hard-fought, cut-and-thrust second day of this CricInfo Championship clash with Surrey in Canterbury.Resuming on 43 without loss and in response to Surrey’s first day total of 258 all out, Kent edged to their third batting bonus point at 301 all out, but only after a stoic three-and-a-half hour unbeaten innings of 66 from home wicket-keeper Paul Nixon who remained unbeaten as Kent lost their final wicket in the penultimate over of the day.Surrey bowled with purpose throughout the day, firstly through new ball pairing Martin Bicknell and Ed Giddins, and then later in the day through spinners Ian Salisbury, Saqlain Mushtaq and seamer Ben Hollioake, who each claimed two wickets, while Bicknell finished with four for 47.The entire Kent batting order struggled to score fluently as Surrey bowled good line and length and fielded athletically, particularly in the outfield where Michael Carberry stood out.Kent were given a decent start through Rob Key and David Fulton, who posted 58 for the first wicket before Fulton became the first of Bicknell’s quartet of victims.Key went on to top score with 79 from 182-balls and feature in a second-wicket stand of 95 with Ed Smith who passed 1,000 runs for the summer in reaching 37.Key also went leg before to Bicknell just after lunch, sparking a battle of wills between bat and ball that Surrey did well to win as Mushtaq sent back Matthew Fleming and Martin McCague as the Kent middle order struggled for runs.It was left to Ben Hollioake to finish it, bowling Min Patel for a cameo 38 and then having last man Ben Trott well held off a leg-side gloved catch by ‘keeper Jonathan Batty.

Wicketkeeper-batsmen Romesh Kaluwitharana was dropped from the Sri Lankan Test squad for the Third Test against India on Monday night after the selectors slimmed down the squad to 15 players.The Sri Lankan selectors are still, however, undecided on the final eleven for the deciding Test, which starts on Wednesday at the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo.They are presently considering two changes: the introduction of off-spinning allrounder Thilan Samaraweera and top order batsman Michael Vandort in place of left-handed batsman Hashan Tillakaratne and fast bowling allrounder Suresh Perera.Both Samaraweera and Vandort would be making their Test debut.Perera is almost certain to be dropped in place of Samaraweera after two disappointing performances with both bat and ball. The right-arm fast bowler was also reported by umpire Steve Bucknor in the Galle Test for having a suspect bowling action.Tillakaratne may be given another chance. The 34-year-old is yet to make an impression after scores of 11, 10 and 16 in his three innings so far, but Tillakaratne has come back into Test cricket after a two year absence and the selectors are apparently keen to give him a fair chance of readjusting to international cricket.

West Indies Under-19s won the three-Test series against their English counterparts after rain forced the final day’s play in the Third Test to be abandoned at the Riverside.The draw meant West Indies won the series 1-0 after triumphing in the First Test.Yesterday a century by Tonito Willett had put West Indies into a virtually unassailable position.Already holding a 29-run first innings lead, they had resumed the third day on a promising 193 for three, with Narsingh Deonarine and Willett linking up impressively.Bad weather held up the visitors’ progress but once play resumed Willett went on to make 103 before he was caught by Nicky Peng after being lured into a rash stroke by James Tredwell. The Kent youngster finished with two for 48 and was the pick of the English bowlers.Together with Deonarine, 89 not out at the close, Willet added 170 for the fourth wicket to put West Indies firmly in the driving seat.Omari Banks joined Deonarine at the crease and added three before stumps, with West Indies on 322 for four.

If a journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step, thenthe Reverend Wes Hall, the new president of the West Indies CricketBoard (WICB), is off and running.And if his first step in bringing some calm to the administration ofthe game in the Caribbean, after the turmoil in the board’smanagement, is an indication of things to come then West Indiescricket is in for better days.That, in essence, is the report card of the first few months of Hall’sterm and it has come from Julian Hunte, a former vice-president of theWICB, and now is now vice-president of the Windward Islands CricketBoard."The first thing one would have expected him to do is what he is doingnow, and that is to make an assessment of the overall situation beforehe comes out with his programme," said Hunte, St Lucia’s foreignminister and minister of foreign trade.And out of Hall’s evaluation of the state of the game should emerge ablueprint that would take the game forward and put the Caribbean backon top of international cricket."Wes’ vision as to where we go from here, which should includeinfrastructure and a development programme that is necessary forcricket in the Caribbean, all of this will help," he added. "It’scrucial."With the Cricket World Cup competition scheduled to be played in theWest Indies in 2007, the cricket administrator and cabinet ministerthinks the Rev. Hall has "much on his plate".To begin with, says the politician, there is the issue of thetroublesome finances of the board that Hall must grapple and try toresolve."He has come in against a backdrop of a lot of controversy and myunderstanding is that there are a lot of problems with the finances ofthe board," he said.Next is the restructuring of cricket in the region.Then, there is the need to improve the infrastructure, the playingfacilities, media accommodation and things like that."He also has the international cricket scene to think about," addedHunte. "There is the 2007 World Cup that is supposed to be held in theCaribbean region, the United States, Canada and Bermuda. "The year2007 is just around the corner and there is a tremendous amount ofwork which has to be done with respect to the infrastructure in orderto accommodate that World Cup series."For instance, what Hall and his team of administrators must work on,suggests Hunte, are the facilities for the thousands of journalistsfrom throughout the cricketing world who are expected to cover theWorld Cup games.With St Lucia planning to build a new cricket stadium, Grenada’sground already in fine shape, and Barbados moving to spend large sumsto bring its facilities up to international standard, the pressure isbuilding on the administrators for efficient and quick action.Hunte admits to being worried about the situation in the region."Generally speaking the state of West Indies cricket is one of someconcern and we hope that Hall, whom we all know well will give us someidea as to the state of cricket and what is needed to be done to bringit under some measure of control to the satisfaction of all the fans,including myself, in the Caribbean and abroad," was the way he put it.Hunte served for several years on the West Indies Board but had togive up his position as vice-president when he became St Lucia’sAmbassador to the United Nations about four years ago.He told the MIDWEEKSPORT that making the necessary improvements to theinfrastructure would prove costly but the money must be found toundertake it.As the former second in command of the cricket board’s hierarchy seesit, the new president must give top priority to the continuing effortsto upgrade the level of play on the field.Given Hall’s knowledge of the game, his exploits as one of the world’sleading fast bowlers of the 1960s and his experience as a touringmanager, the Barbadian, according to the St Lucia minister is wellplaced to get the job done."Wes is very capable but it is not something he can do alone," saidHunte. "I don’t believe anybody would think that he isn’t up to thetask. He has the experience and he has had the exposure in the pastand I have no doubt that he will be able to deal with it effectively."In addition, he can rely on the help of a host of well-wishers in theregion, including Hunte himself, Pat Rousseau, the Jamaican hereplaced as president, and on the assistance of a host of former teststars who have much to contribute to the game."There are the support mechanisms within the Caribbean," stated Hunte."I am sure that Pat Rousseau would be prepared to offer any advice.The Pat I know is a person, whatever happened not withstanding, willnot withhold valuable information to Wes."As a matter of fact, the Windward Islands Board’s vice-presidentthinks the WICB leader should put together a "consortium" ofindividuals from throughout the West Indies who would help him carryout "his massive task that he has on his hand, which is the rebuildingof West Indies cricket".Like Hunte, Hall is a former minister, having served in the BarbadosCabinet for at least seven years beginning in 1986 after he won a seatin the Barbados House of Assembly.During his playing career for the West Indies, which began in the late1950s, Hall appeared in 48 Tests and captured 192 wickets.One thing Hall has going for him is that having hit rock-bottom, thestandard of play in the Caribbean is on the rebound, says Hunte, andwith a good crop of young players either in the side or waiting in thewings for their shot at representing the region, the future looksgood.But much will depend on the kind of encouragement and coaching theyreceive.That’s why Hunte wants the Board president to tap into the reservoirof good coaching talent that exists in the West Indies, and high onthat lists is Joel Garner, who like Hall is one of the internationallyfamous fast bowlers of yesteryear."There must be a group of young people, there are in the Caribbean whoneed to be coached and assisted and there are people in the Caribbeanwho can help," said Hunte. "A fellow like Joel Garner must not be leftout of the process. He has been excellent with our `A’ team. There arepeople who can help and once we involve them, I feel certain we willcome out of this with our heads high."

Runs flowed as the Commonwealth Bank Cricket Academy from Australia took toll of some periods of loose bowling from their New Zealand counterparts on the first day of their second three-day game at Bert Sutcliffe Oval at Lincoln University today.Conditions were much warmer than for the first game played on the adjacent Lincoln Green and which ended in a draw on Wednesday.However, a northerly breeze had its effect on the bowlers as a good portion of the Australian side’s runs came from bowlers toiling into the wind.But prospective CLEAR Black Cap Shane Bond, who was brought into the New Zealand Academy side as the result of injuries to local bowlers, thoroughly enjoyed the chance for some competitive matchplay.The Australians declared at 304/9 off 78 overs. None of the visiting batsmen managed a large innings but three scored half centuries, Callum Ferguson (51), Jarrad Burke (52) and Cameron White (51).But the most significant performer of the day was Bond who bowled 23 overs and ended with figures of seven for 55.Bond struck right at the outset of the innings when having Peter Dickson caught at short leg by Luke Woodcock as he attempted to play a rising delivery.However, the Australians scored at better than a run a minute for the remainder of the session and went to lunch at 140/2.Bond struck back after lunch, when having the wickets of Mark Cosgrove and George Bailey within three balls. Soon a superb catch at third slip by Nathan McCullum produced another wicket for Bond and the Australians were 170/5.The middle-order struck with a useful 53-run partnership between Beau Casson (32) and White and the visitors went to tea at 245/6.The New Zealanders did not help themselves by failing to take at least six possible catches.Wade Cornelius and Taraia Robin each picked up a wicket.