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ScorecardNetherlands brushed aside Bermuda with ease in the second one-day international at Rotterdam to sweep the series 2-0. Netherlands bowled Bermuda out for 115 in 43.4 overs and needed only 19.3 overs to knock off the target with eight wickets in hand.Bermuda had lost the first ODI against Netherlands by 172 runs and started the second on the wrong foot after they lost the toss. They were soon struggling at 55 for 4, having lost their top order inside 15 overs. Netherlands, led by Maurits Jonkman who took 3 for 23, chipped away and ensured that Bermuda did not build a partnership of greater than 20. Ryan ten Doeschate bowled a tight spell that yielded 2 for 16 off ten overs.Bermuda needed quick early wickets to have a chance of bowling out Netherlands but Tom de Grooth and Alexei Kervezee dashed those hopes by adding 59 for the first wicket in 9.4 overs. de Grooth fell for 31 off 23 balls but Kervezee remained unbeaten on 50 off 59 balls as Netherlands cruised to victory.

For Ivan Lendl, it was Wimbledon; for Boris Becker and Pete Sampras it wasthe red clay at the French Open; for the current Australian side it’s beenthe Champions Trophy. Ricky Ponting can’t zero in on why Australia hasfailed to capture the mini World Cup, but he insists his side is suitably prepared to tackle this one.Just like Andrew Flintoff yesterday, Ponting summed up the value of thisevent by saying thoughts of the Ashes had, for a while at least, beenput on the backburner. “It’s a very important tournament for us, thesecond biggest that we play as an ODI team,” he said in Delhi. “It’s something that’seluded us in the recent years – we’ve made it to the semi-finals in thelast two Champions Trophies – and we’re hoping for more this time. We’vecome here pretty well prepared and there’s still time before it starts.We’ve got a good record in India while playing one-day cricket over theyears, hopefully that will come through early on.”In the 12 games they’ve played in India since the start of the decade,Australia have won nine and lost only three. The last of those games wasthe finalof the TVS Cup in Kolkata, when a second-string Australian sidetriumphed by 37 runs. This time Ponting will be looking to put out his “best side” from the word go. “We have14 players here and you’d think that when the first game comes around,we’ll have our best XI and maintain that team throughout, injuriespermitting.”Question marks hang over Glenn McGrath’s fitness and he is someone whoPonting would dare not risk ahead of the Ashes campaign.”Glenn came back really well in Malaysia,” Ponting said. “He was never going to come back and be at his absolute beststraight away, but I thought he improved game by game in Kuala Lumpur. In the final game he bowled six oversfor six runs. Then he went back and played club cricket and got about26-28 overs under his belt. We’re going to monitor his progress throughthe course of the Champions Trophy, with an eye on the Ashes, and keep himas ready as possible for that.”Australia kick off their campaign on October 18 against one of thequalifiers, but their next two games are the big ones. On October 21 -which also happens to be the festive day of – they take onEngland at Jaipur before locking horns with India a week later atMohali.Ponting said the England game was a chance to make the earlyrunning ahead of the Ashes. “There’sstill a while before the first Test [at Brisbane on November 23] butcertainly it will be our first chance to play them before the Ashes,” he said. “We’dlike to think we can provide some sort of statement in that game.”The early part of that early message will need to come from the opening batsmen.As the latest NumbersGame column points out, Australia have tried 12 opening pairssince the start of 2005, a figure that places them behind only West Indiesand India in the juggling stakes.”We had a look at [Shane] Watson in KualaLumpur,” Ponting said. “He was prettyimpressive there. [Simon] Katich has done well for close to 18 months or so sincehe’s had the opportunity to open. It’s not an area of concern for us. Welooked at a few things in Kuala Lumpur and thought of a better way of doing it, andhopefully we can get it right during the practice matches here.”

Division One

Points Table
Hampshire completed two convincing one-day wins in three days in despatching Worcestershire at New Road in the latest round of the National League. The visitors chased down their target of 186 within 34 overs, with Shane Watson and John Crawley leading the charge. Earlier, Dimitri Mascarenhas mixed up his pace successfully, as is his wont, and he took 2 for 34 from 7 overs. Shaun Udal was also among the wickets again, with 2 for 38 from 7, as Hampshire’s bowlers worked as an effective unit once more, taking wickets at regular intervals to break partnerships at key moments.A disappointing three days for Lancashire concluded with defeat at the hands of Gloucestershire at Old Trafford. Andrew Symonds’ century-making form continued – this time he hit 129 from 120 balls, and was well supported by Mark Chilton who hit 59 as Lancashire put on 267. But it wasn’t enough, and although Gloucestershire were in trouble at 47 for 4, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Mark Hardinges each struck unbeaten centuries, putting on 221 between them, to take them home.

The Pakistan team management has placed a complete ban on players from speaking to the press. This drastic step comes in the wake of the recent spat between Inzamam-ul-Haq, the captain, and Shoaib Akhtar over press reports.Haroon Rashid, the manager, was quoted in as saying, “The players have been told that from now on they will not speak to the media without the permission of the captain, coach and manager. Anyone violating this code of conduct will have to be docked a percentage of his earnings.”Haroon also played down the misunderstanding between Inzamam and Shoaib, adding: “It was nothing serious and later on myself and Bob Woolmer had a long chat with the two and everything was sorted out. The impression given is that there are problems in the team. There is nothing of this sort. There is total harmony and everyone is geared up for the Asia Cup.”But following that incident, a policy was outlined for media relations, and it was agreed that only the captain, coach or manager should be allowed to speak to the press. Haroon confirmed: “The policy should be followed more strictly to avoid such misunderstandings in future.”

Ajit Agarkar is relishing his return to Ranji cricket. After claiming a five-for on Friday, the mercurial all-rounder hit a half-century on Saturday as Mumbai gained a stranglehold on their five-day Ranji Trophy Elite Group semi-final against hosts Baroda. When play ended on the second day, Baroda, who had conceded a 260-run first-innings lead, were in dire straits at 16/1 in their second essay.Mumbai, who resumed on 138/3, lost overnight not out batsman Nishit Shetty early. He made 74. But with Bhavin Thakkar (77) and Ajit Agarkar (65) following in Shetty’s footsteps, the powerful Mumbai team were not to be denied a massive lead. By the time the last wicket fell with Mumbai’s score reading 360 all out, the outcome of the match had almost certainly been sealed. For Baroda, Zaheer Khan toiled gamely, claiming five wickets. Tushar Arothe, who claimed three wickets with his intelligent spell of spin bowling, was the other successful bowler on the day.When Baroda, who have made it to the Ranji finals in the last two seasons, began their second innings, they desperately needed an exceptional start if they were to mount an almost-impossible fightback. But the loss of the experienced opener Connor Williams put paid to those aspirations. At 16/1, they would now be looking to avoid the ignominy of an innings defeat.

Justin Langer made a heroic return to Test cricket making an unbeaten century on his first appearance for Australia in England before he was felled by a ball from Andrew Caddick and left the field, dazed and unsteady.He completed his century a few balls earlier after playing courageously for over four hours but he attempted to hook a 84.2 mph ball from Caddick and like all his previous attempts, the shot did not come off and the ball thudded into the side of his helmet, causing him to crumple to the ground.He wobbled off, aided by the Australia physio Erroll Alcott and a doctor who had been summoned to the crease to attend to a three inch gash above his ear, and received a standing ovation from a capacity crowd before being taken off to hospital for a precautionary scan.It had been a brave innings from the outset. He was left out of the First npower Ashes Test at the start of the summer after showing average form since arriving on tour and failed to regain his place until Michael Slater, to everyone’s surprise, was dropped after the Headingley Test.Normally a number three batsman, he opened with Matthew Hayden and despite a quiet start, when he looked out of touch and tentative in his shot selection, he stayed put, unwilling to take risks or be hurried.By the time he lost his partner, they had formed the highest opening stand of the summer. The broad shouldered Hayden was eventually caught at midwicket off Phil Tufnell’s bowling for 68, having used every ounce of his formidable power to blast nine boundaries.But at tea, Australia were starting to motor having gathered 203 runs in two sessions on a flat pitch that had always looked to favour the batsmen even when there was early cloud cover combined with high degree humidity. There was little that Nasser Hussain could do and with the exception of Darren Gough, who bowled without conviction, his bowlers stuck to their plan.But there were no wickets and apart from a couple of half chances in the morning when Usman Afzaal tried to run out Hayden with a lightning fast return from short leg and, when the ball bounced in front of Mark Butcher from the blade of Langer, there were no close calls either.Langer made 102 before he was struck on the head and his departure brought together Ponting and Mark Waugh, who despatched Gough for two consecutive fours, one gloriously to the cover boundary and the next even more elegantly to the square leg rope.The pair added 56 in 12 overs before Ponting was brilliantly caught by Mike Atherton at first slip for 62. It handed Jimmy Ormond his first wicket in Test cricket and it was well deserved after he had showed discipline and intelligence throughout his 18 overs, and few signs of first Test nerves.When Ponting left, the score was 292 for two and Waugh, accompanied by his brother Steve who made a startling recovery from injury to take his place in what could his last Test match in England, had taken the Australian total to 324 for two, with the skipper unbeaten on 12 and Mark just two away from his half-century.At 6.30pm, with eight overs of the day remaining, bad light took the players off the field. It was the third interruption of the day – around 40 minutes was earlier lost due to light drizzle but this time, with three lights on the board, the crowd started to disperse knowing that in the murky gloom, any more play looked distinctly unlikely.

Scorecard and ball by ball detailsFile Photo – Gerrie Snyman got to his fifty off 24 balls•Peter Della Penna

Gerrie Snyman’s 43-ball 82 and Stephan Baard’s unbeaten 61 guided Namibia to a nine-wicket win in their World T20 Qualifier Group A game against Jersey in Dublin. The opening pair added 121 runs to set the foundation for Namibia’s 162-run chase.Namibia got off to a blazing start, racing to 67 in 6 overs. Snyman was largely responsible, taking 17 runs off Rhys Palmer and Nat Watkins in the fourth and sixth overs, and had raced to his fifty by the end of the sixth over, getting there with a six off 24 balls. The partnership motored along to 118 in 12 overs, before Snyman was dismissed for 82 by Anthony Kay, after striking five sixes and eight fours . Namibia’s second-wicket pair of Baard and Raymond van Schoor kept the chase on track and Baard, who reached his fifty off 39 deliveries, closed the game out with a couple of boundaries.That Jersey were able to post a score of 161 for 4 after being put in to bat was largely due to Jonty Jenner’s unbeaten 52-ball 90. Their openers were dismissed by the fourth over with the score on 25 and they were soon struggling at 85 for 4 in the 13th over. Jenner and Watkins then lifted Jersey with an unbeaten 76-run partnership for the fifth wicket, helping the side accumulate 58 runs off the last five overs. Jenner was the dominant partner – he was batting on 42 off 28 deliveries when Ben Stevens was dismissed in the 13th over. Jenner scored his next 48 runs off 24 deliveries, to finish with eight fours and four sixes in his 90, while Watkins was unbeaten on 27 off 24 balls.

David Warner may find himself as stand-in captain of Australia for the first time in some of January’s limited-overs matches against India if Steven Smith’s current knee and hip niggles don’t clear up over the next two weeks.Smith is not in doubt for the Boxing Day Test against West Indies in Melbourne or the following fixture in the new year at the SCG. However, the selectors and team medical staff may elect to rest him from portions of the five-match ODI series against India in order to give him the best chance to be fit and limber for the February tour of New Zealand and also the Twenty20 matches to be played in the lead-up to the World T20 in India in March.The decision to rule Smith out of the opening rounds of the Big Bash League that sit between now and Boxing Day is an admission that his knee in particular will need careful management over the coming months. He has carried the problem since the latter part of the Ashes tour, saying the discomfort he faced while running could be “hidden” in Test matches. But it is likely to be more problematic in T20, the only format in which Australia are yet to win an ICC trophy.The coach and selector Darren Lehmann said further breaks for Smith would be discussed. “He keeps telling me he is 26 but [in Hobart] he was running as though he is 36. The pressure of captaincy is quite large. We have to look at that but we get a decent break now with two weeks off. He is not playing BBL so he gets a good break.”The ODIs are important to us and then the T20 World Cup so I can’t see him getting a break until the end of the summer, unless we play really well or the niggles get worse. I’m no medical expert but [rest] is what they are saying. They will say what he can or can’t do and if I disagree with it he plays and if I don’t he might not play.”Smith has impressed many within the team since being named full-time captain, fostering relationships off the field as well as providing sound judgment on it. Lehmann said Smith was handling the extra demands on his time with aplomb, while also utilising the advice of mentors such as Brad Haddin and Mark Taylor. Warner has also done well as deputy, compiling mighty scores against New Zealand while keeping some of his more outlandish traits in check at the right times.”Doing it easy – much easier when you win,” Lehmann said of Smith. “It was a tough series against New Zealand while this was a less stressful Test match, [but] he has been flying with the extra demands. He has good mentors and good advice from former captains who are helping with how to handle his time and the demands which are so much greater than just a player. Players love what he brings to the table.”Looking ahead to the MCG, Lehmann said he would be happy for Usman Khawaja to return to the team as an opening batsman, though would have to run that past Smith. The selectors have a difficult task ahead in finding room for the fit-again Khawaja after Shaun Marsh’s exceptional performances in Adelaide and Hobart, leaving Warner’s opening partner Joe Burns also needing to look over his shoulder.”We will have to see if Uzzy is fit and then we will have a dilemma,” Lehmann said. “If he is fit, having scored two hundreds in the two Test matches [against New Zealand] yes, you would think he would be in form to play. We need him playing. With a hamstring, we don’t want him playing Test match cricket if he is not fully fit.”He will have to be sharp in the T20 games and then we will make a decision from there. If he comes back in someone will miss out. We have to work out that is. I would [be happy with Khawaja opening] but the captain might not want that. We have to work out the best six and the batting order from there.”Not for the first time, Lehmann emphatically ruled out the prospect of dropping the allrounder Mitchell Marsh, insisting that the fifth bowling option was vital for team flexibility and cover for any injuries that might crop up. “There has been talk about 6 batsmen and no all-rounder,” he said, “but we saw in the day night Test against New Zealand where [Mitchell] Starc got injured that you need the all-rounder. We will certainly play Marsh.”

Julian Hunte affirms that he has “hit the road running” as the fifth president of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) since he gave up the vice-presidency nine years ago to become St.Lucia’s ambassador to the United Nations.West Indies cricket itself has done a lot of running in the interim but it has been mostly backwards and, as the organisation responsible for its administration, the WICB is seen as the brake that continues to hold it back.In his acceptance speech at the WICB’s AGM in Port-of-Spain last weekend, Hunte accurately identified the basic problem. “The WICB brand has diminished in value and is in desperate need of redefinition and revitalisation,” he said.Whatever the reasons that have led to the freefall from supreme world leaders 20 years ago to increasing insignificance – and they are myriad and well-documented – the bottom line is that the “brand”, as Hunte puts it, has lost its once inimitable appeal. The reality is that no one wants a loser. Until West Indies start winning again (the latest count is 19 losses in the last 23 Tests), they will continue to be regarded as one of the game’s also-rans.During the current English season comments on television, radio and the press have pointedly contrasted the intriguing, competitiveness of the series against India with the preceding drab, one-sidedness of that against West Indies. In Australia two years ago, West Indies were posted for the first time to Hobart for one of the three Tests and missed out on either Melbourne or Sydney, certainties on the previous 12 tours of the country. One of the recent Tests in England was at Chester-le-Street, a new venue that had previously hosted only Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. The Oval, a must on previous visits, was allocated two Twenty20 Internationals instead.Hentie van Wyk, treasurer of Cricket South Africa, announced last week that he expects a loss over the coming year “because of the teams that will be visiting South Africa”. “Our money comes largely from the sale of television rights, and we can’t charge as much for these rights when we have low profile teams visiting us,” he explained.Those teams for the 2007-08 season are New Zealand and West Indies.As an ICC official put it to me last week, on the issue of the sizeable revenue once made from overseas tours, “the reason why the West Indies were able to profit so handsomely from them was because they were a bankable team, boards wanted them to tour and were happy to pay a premium for them to do so, the same is not now true”.Vic Wakeling, of Sky Television which has renegotiated its contract for the global sale of broadcasting rights for West Indies cricket, has made the obvious point that the team’s faltering performances affect its marketability.So the first task for Hunte and his board is to address what his predecessor, Ken Gordon, called “a tragedy of unfilled potential” and move to better ready the team for the assignments immediately ahead. More humiliation in the Test series in South Africa next December and January and at home against Sri Lanka and Australia next March through June would be too much to take.The promised establishment by October of six Academies to fully develop the most promising players (the hub at UWI’s Cave Hill campus in Barbados with five spokes in Guyana, Jamaica, the Leewards, Trinidad and Tobago and the Windwards), the new and made-over facilities through the World Cup and the WICB’s improved financial status raise hope for long-term prospects.The governance committee headed by PJ Patterson, the retired Jamaica prime minister, has already put down some relevant guidelines for the future – even if Hunte was at pains last weekend to state that he “definitely” did not share the view that the WICB had outlived its usefulness. But it is the present that should be the new president’s priority for it is here that the WICB is again dragging its feet.More than three months after Bennett King’s resignation and a month prior to the Twenty20 World Championship in South Africa, a new head coach hasn’t been named – nor, for that matter, an assistant. And no decision has been taken on the need for fielding and bowling coaches. Judging by the WICB website, which advises “sorry, there are no vacancies at this time”, either there are no changes or, if there are, these positions have been already been filled. It would be helpful to know which.

In the meantime, Ramnaresh Sarwan has recommended a camp to prepare for the Twenty20, one tournament that the West Indies have as good a chance as any of winning. It seems a no-brainer but it hasn’t been followed up by the WICB. The obligatory squad of 30 has been named, from whom the final 15 will be chosen, and it would be beneficial to get them together for practice, training and some competitive, internal matches for a couple of weeks leading up to the event.Five or six such contests would surely bring crowds, say, to Kensington and create a little revenue. There is a gap of almost three months between the end of the Twenty20 and West Indies’ return to South Africa for three Tests and five ODIs. It is time that best spent getting players ready, physically and mentally as much as technically, through another camp for a challenging tour.An October start to the Carib Beer and KFC Cup competitions that had been hinted some months back by Tony Howard, the WICB’s cricket operations manager, would add a competitive edge to preparations. Yet Chetram Singh, head of the Guyana board and a WICB director since Peter Short was president, told VOB Radio last week that even he didn’t know what the dates were. It is such an absence of simple planning that has become a hallmark of WICB’s operations.The new president has a lot on his plate but the simple things first require his attention. The enhanced value of the West Indies name depends on it.

Lasith Malinga and Upul Tharanga did an invaluable favour to their respective former schools by providing them with cricket gear. The gear itself was donated by former Sri Lanka Under-19 captain Asitha Jayaweera and was distributed through the Foundation of Goodness.This was part of the ongoing effort in the south of the country to rehabilitate the victims of the December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.Devapathiraja School in Rathgama (where Malinga studied) and Dharmasoka College, Ambalangoda (where Tharanga was educated) were picked as the recipients because they were in close proximity to Seenigama where the main work on tsunami victims is taking place.”Malinga and Tharanga emerged on the international cricket scene from virtual obscurity. It is amazing that cricketers of their calibre had come to the level of performing at the Mecca of cricket at Lord’s and achieved success without having had the training facilities that cricketers in affluent countries enjoyed,” said Kushil Gunasekera, founder of the Foundation of Goodness.”In that context it was absolutely admirable that talent which is so great in these areas is given the proper infrastructure so that the Malingas and the Tharangas of the future could emerge.”Around 80 boys in the under 13, 15 and 19 age group categories benefited from Jayaweera’s gesture, who is resident in the UK and a member of the UK-Sri Lanka Cricket representative committee.Malinga nicknamed ‘Malinga the slinger’ by the English press because of his unusual bowling action gave some useful advice to the young hopefuls. He said: “One thing I want to tell all you promising cricketers from both schools is never to look at what you don’t have, but look at the positive of what you have and then work on them rather than complain about not having anything. Work on your strengths to get to where you want to go, don’t look at the negative side of things.”Malinga (23) and Tharanga (21) sparkled for Sri Lanka in their 5-0 whitewash of England in the recent one-day international series. Malinga picked up the most wickets by any bowler from either side – 13 at 17.53, and Tharanga was the leading run-getter in the series with 347 runs (avg. 69.40).Meanwhile, things are certainly looking up for the tsunami victims in the south. The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), the Surrey County Cricket Club and world-renowned pop star Bryan Adams are all part of the reconstruction work there.

The MCC is planning to develop a Centre of Excellence in partnership with the Foundation of Goodness at Seenigama, a village that was badly hit by the tsunami. The idea is to provide a first-class learning institution for the village with the focus on youth development.For this purpose Gunasekera, from the Foundation of Goodness, has gifted his former villa and an acre of land surrounding it which was damaged extensively by the tsunami.Roger Knight, the secretary and CE of MCC, and his wife visited Seenigama recently to get a first hand impression of the work done there before deciding to fund it. Once complete the Centre will for the first time provide village youth the opportunity to interact with top instructors, professionals and athletes from across the globe. State-of-the-art equipment will aid them in their learning. Seenigama is home to more than 350 families including 300 children.Surrey County CC, is funding the construction of a cricket ground with a state-of the-art artificial, all-weather pitch at Seenigama called The Oval. It will also include indoor pitches, a 25-meter swimming pool (a first for the area and one of few in the entire region), a gymnasium, change rooms, a club house and offices.”We intend to complete construction of the entire Cricket and Sports Centre by October 2006 with a view to having a grand opening in early November 2006,” said Gunasekera.Singing sensation Bryan Adams has pledged the foundation 75,000 pounds sterling to construct a new swimming pool at the Sports Complex. Once completed, a total of seven schools in the region will benefit and will train potential young swimmers who would otherwise practice in the ocean.