All posts by csb10.top

Winning the toss on Day One of their North Zone Ranji match against Jammu and Kashmir at the Maharaja Agarsingh Stadium, Rohtak, Haryana made the most of their advantage, ending the day at a handsome score of 286/3.Although opener Padamjeet Sehrawat was dismissed for no score, Chetan Sharma (41) and Ishan Ganda put on 92 runs for the second wicket before Sharma was out leg-before off the bowling of Surendra Singh.Haryana skipper Parender Singh was the next to fall with just 23 more runs added to the team score. Thereafter, however, the Jammu and Kashmir bowlers toiled in vain as Ganda and Shafiq Khan shepherded their side to the close of play.Ganda made a patient 106 off 261 balls and, by the end of the day, Shafiq had outscored his partner, scoring 114 off 171 balls. Both centurions were unbeaten at the end of the day.

Had someone suggested to Nasser Hussain that he would encounter inIndia a pitch that was virtually undistinguishable from the outfield,the English skipper would probably have scoffed and asked him to gethis head examined.Yet, in Jaipur, for the final tour match ahead of the first Test, thatis exactly what Hussain did encounter. On a green-top that beckonedseamers and medium-pacers almost seductively, Hussain won his thirdtoss in a row and had no hesitation in opting to field.Richard Johnson, in for Matthew Hoggard, took it upon himself to provehis captain right. In his very first over, he had opener Vinayak Manecaught behind and Yere Goud bowled. Before the sparsely dispersedspectators could blink their eyes in disbelief, Johnson struck againin his next over, removing Gautam Gambhir leg-before. Newly inductedAndrew Flintoff, hoping for a Test berth, decided that he wanted hisshare of the spoils and promptly had Rashmi Parida caught behind.India ‘A’ were 8/4, and the English attack suddenly looked sharperthan a freshly minted guillotine.It took some obdurate batting from local lad Gagan Khoda and AbhijitKale to blunt the bowlers. Plumping for caution, the batsmen refrainedfrom strokes with any element of risk, which helped the run-rate asmuch as the abominably slow outfield. Even the appearance of spin, inthe form of Ashley Giles, did not stir their blood; Giles, hoping toprove match fitness ahead of Mohali, bowled with nice loop and someturn, but he did not get the bite that is so essential on the subcontinent.India ‘A’ went in to lunch at 88/4, a reasonable recovery but by nomeans all that was needed on a pitch that looked increasingly doublepaced. Khoda fell to that very vagary of the track when a Flintoffdelivery stayed low and, to compound matters, squirmed eel-likethrough the bat-pad gap to uproot off-stump. The dismissal endedKhoda’s innings of 64 and a partnership of 114 runs.Three overs after Kale reached his own half-century, Flintoff packedReetinder Singh Sodhi off to the pavilion, caught behind off thefaintest of edges. The twin strikes did little to disturb Kale’sconcentration; shrugging off edges and appeals, he hit the bad ballsand defended stoutly otherwise. He was especially pleasing to watchagainst Giles, exposing the left-arm spinner’s lack of variation byrepeatedly dancing down the track to play him on either side of thewicket.Resuming at 178/6 after tea, Kale and Ajay Ratra plodded their waypast the 200-run mark. The only sign of aggression in their standresulted in a six over mid-on that took Kale to his century, off 192deliveries.Having crossed that landmark, Kale retreated into his shell, emergingonly when he was caught at short-leg off Richard Dawson. His partnerRatra fell in the very next over and, once Dawson had skipper SunilJoshi trapped in front, the latter declared his side’s innings closedat 233/9.If India ‘A’ started catastrophically, the visitors could not havebeen more comfortable if they were asleep. Both Michael Trescothickand Mark Butcher, the latter in particular, motored along unfazed byany pitch vagaries, perceived or real. The Indian seamers, for theirpart, did not seem to know how to bowl on a pitch that, surprisinglyin India, was loaded in their favour. Pitching either too short or toofull, Iqbal Siddiqui and Dodda Ganesh gave Butcher many chances tofree his arms, allowing him to race to 32 off 39 deliveries.Although England will be pleased on the whole with their bowlingperformance today, they will look askance at their spin attack which,on pitches more placid and against the likes of Sachin Tendulkar andVVS Laxman, will be about as effective as a candle in a typhoon.Giles, Dawson and Martyn Ball, if they are to make an impression inthe Tests, will have to maintain impeccable line and length, andperhaps bowl with more variation. Hussain, however, will sleep easiertonight, with the burly images of Flintoff, Johnson and Hoggard, redcherry in hands, etched comfortingly in his mind.

Alistair Campbell for the first time has been omitted from the Zimbabwean team, currently touring Sri Lanka – although he reveals that he had been invited at the last minute. He has just returned from the Zimbabwe A team tour to Kenya, where he says the team was caught unawares by a well-prepared home side. Zimbabwe lost the first three-day match but drew the second; they were beaten in their first three one-day encounters but fought back to win the last two. Alistair talks about it to CricInfo.It is nice to have Christmas as home for a change, though obviously I would have liked to be on this last tour to Sri Lanka. The ZCU phoned me up last Monday [24 December] when we got back from Kenya, to leave for Sri Lanka that Tuesday. But the call came at the last minute, and I don’t think I’m mentally up to playing international cricket after the happenings of the last couple of months.I’ve put that all in a letter to the ZCU and said that my goal is to be ready for the India tour; I feel by then I will have had a nice break to regroup, as it were, and get myself back into the main side and play good cricket again. So they sent Gavin Rennie instead. Hamilton Masakadza had already gone as another batsman.I went to see the chairman of selectors before the Sharjah tour and he questioned my form, my fitness and my commitment, and those are the reasons why I was left out; until those things improve, I won’t get back into the side. I’ve just got to take it on the chin and improve in those areas so I’m beyond reproach, and get back in the side.It’s pointless wingeing about it; I’ve got to get down and get some runs, which I believe I have been doing. I’ve been working on my fitness, but I believe my commitment should never have been called into question. It was, and I’ve tried to rectify it by playing in all the domestic games for Mutare Sports Club and all the games I’ve been required to play.I believe I’ve still got four or five years ahead of me, and it was the most disappointing thing to miss out on this tour because I play relatively well on the subcontinent – I’ve done well there – so to miss out on Sharjah, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka was most disappointing.I think this was my fourth visit to Kenya. It was good; obviously Kenya are the next nation in line for Test status, so whenever anybody visits there they’ve got to make sure the facilities are good. It was supposed to be the rainy period and it had rained prior to our arrival, so there were no net facilities as they were a quagmire.The groundsmen did a fine job preparing very good pitches. The Nairobi Gymkhana is the main ground there, and when I look back to when we played our first Test match for Zimbabwe at BAC [Bulawayo Athletic Club, in 1992/93], the Gymkhana ground knocks spots off that. It has the stands, the media centre, everything you require to play Test match cricket.They don’t need a second ground yet – they can start to develop that slowly – but when we did play there it was a good batting wicket. The facilities obviously aren’t the same and the infrastructure wasn’t there, but that can be built upon. After a couple of years of Test status they can build up another ground, as we built up Queens. The money can go initially to development, making sure that playing standards are maintained, and the rest will follow.We stayed in a beautiful hotel and all the infrastructure was there as though we were a main touring side. The only thing lacking was that on practice days we didn’t have nets, but I’m sure they will come to terms with that. All in all, their infrastructure is better than we had when we started.Strengthwise, Kenya’s strengths are their batting and fielding. They have one world-class player in Steve Tikolo, who really is a good batsman, backed up by Maurice Odumbe. Those two basically hold together their batting, although they have some other useful batsmen batting around them, who can hold their own.Their fielding is good; I think they have adopted the same attitude that we did when we first started, that if we were not as good as the opposition in batting or bowling, we might as well be the best in fielding. They are aggressive and athletic in the field, they have good hands and they’re working hard on their fielding.Their bowling is rather weak, as they have shown in the past. They don’t have any quick strike bowlers or quality spinners, but that takes time. If they’re given Test status they can only improve, as they’re playing a higher standard. Their quality players who haven’t had much exposure, once they get that exposure, they will learn and improve.I think they have an academy there now, and with Test cricket comes revenue. The main things Kenya have been starved of are good cricket and revenue, and if they have Test status they will get both.I think they are playing good one-day cricket at the moment: they beat us three-two. They really came hard at us; we expected them to be a bit circumspect and get boxed up in scores of 250 or 260, but throughout their innings they were really aggressive, and this took us by surprise.I asked them about it afterwards, and they said their game plan is to get 300 plus, because they know their bowlers are merely containing bowlers, not strike bowlers, so they are not going to bowl sides out. So it’s up to them to make sure they get as many runs as possible on the board to put the opposition under pressure. If they chase, they do the same; we set them 170-odd to win in one match and they won it in 25 overs. Other sides might have taken 45 overs, but they went for it and their consistency was good.I thought a side that wants to play like that and aim for over 300 every time they bat would be under pressure of getting bowled out once or twice every three innings by quality bowling. But they played that way and they played well. We dropped about 25 catches during the tour, and if we had held them we might have won the series – I felt that was very poor. But they capitalized, their batsmen going on to make big scores, and all credit to them.I feel they are ready to move up to the next level if we are to keep Kenya going as a cricketing nation, because the more you keep them in the dark and feed them occasional A tours, I think they are going to go backwards. We need to get them into Test cricket while their best players, like Tikolo, Odumbe and Ravindu Shah are at their peak. They are 29 or 30 now, and if we keep them out of Test cricket for two or three years they will need to rebuild their side and will be a lot weaker.I think after the World Cup would be an ideal time to give them Test status. They are playing the best cricket they have ever done at the moment; they have a good side that has been together for a long time, and I think they can start off by playing Zimbabwe, Bangladesh and some of the subcontinent sides, rather than have a baptism of fire against Australia. If they can gradually ease into it with one-off Test matches against teams dropping in on Zimbabwe or South Africa, they will gradually progress.I’ve already to spoken to the Kenyans – I’ve yet to speak to the Zimbabwe Cricket Union about it – but I think that their players should come and play first-class cricket in Zimbabwe. Not all of them, but five or six of their top players, perhaps one per province. It would not only benefit them, which would benefit the African picture that our administrators talk about, but it would improve our standard as well. That’s what we need at the moment, because our first-class standard is not good enough.I believe we are sliding backwards slowly because our league cricket and our first-class cricket are so weak. The cream is not coming to the top, but the stronger the standard of domestic cricket, the easier it is to identify the best players. At the moment, the weak standard brings everybody down to one level, so you have mediocre players able to do well and get recognition in the B side, whereas if the standard was higher only the quality players would come through. Then it would be much easier for selectors to pick the right sides.We used to bring English pros over, but why do that when you have a country with one-day international status, looking to gain Test status? The administrators talk about the African renaissance, let’s get Africa going, and so on; they have to start doing things with Kenya. We are playing in the UCBSA Bowl competition and there’s no doubt in my mind that Kenya should play in that as well; although it’s not first-class, it is three-day cricket. And they should be playing in our first-class season. The Kenyan players are very keen.I took over the captaincy for the last two one-day games, which we won. [Tour captain] Pom Mbangwa had injuries to his groin and his ankle, while Guy Whittall was also struggling, so they weren’t able to play. Pommie took over the captaincy for the tour and I think he’s learning with every outing, and in a couple of years he’ll be the ideal person to take over as B team captain/coach. He’s been good for the team: he has a good manner about him and is calm under pressure, and he’s a good understanding of the game from his experience over a number of years.We were a bit shell-shocked after our earlier losses; I don’t think the guys realized the Kenyans would come at us so hard. We sat down and make a pact to play aggressively for the last two games. In the fourth game we lost a few wickets before a few lusty blows got us to 240; I believe it was about a 270 wicket if guys batted really well, because it was the fourth time we used the same pitch. They came out blazing again, but the pitch was deteriorating and turning. They were 90 for one after 11 or 12 overs and it looked like they were running away with it, but I knew that once the spinners came on we would have half a chance.Campbell Macmillan was the guy who really did it for us; although he went for 60 in his ten overs, he took the three crucial wickets of Tikolo, Otieno and Odumbe. They were about 150 for four, but Viljoen and Price were bowling well. With the state of the pitch I thought we would either bowl them out in 40 overs or they would win the game, but I miscalculated a bit as they shut up shop for a while and I was short of a few bowlers. So I played my trump card: I gave Gavin Rennie a bowl and he picked up two for nothing! Then Macmillan came in and finished the game for us.So we won by 10 runs, which was a great achievement and the guys were really happy because our bowling had been hit everywhere and our batsmen hadn’t quite come to terms with the sustained assault we needed to challenge them. Even in those games where we chased their big scores of 300 or more, even 360 in one match, we were going at six or more runs an over, but we kept losing wickets at crucial times. So the run rate was never a problem – we just couldn’t sustain it for 50 overs.The real test was the last game, played on a damp pitch. They came out and played their usual way to score 320, and we said, "Guys, listen: this is a good batting pitch now, so just go out there and play it as you see it, but make sure we go at six an over. Try and play risk-free cricket if you can because we know their bowlers are going to give us some bad balls."So we did that, and Gavin Rennie played one of the best innings I’ve ever seen, getting 130-odd not out. We cruised past the target with overs to spare, and it was a really good victory because our bowlers, chasing 300 all the time, were a bit down. But it also gave them a wake-up call and they learned useful lessons about being accurate and how much variation they have to have playing on good pitches against good batsmen.It showed up the disparity between playing our league cricket and playing first-class cricket, even against Kenya. Our guys get away with far too much playing in the standard of cricket we have here in Zimbabwe, so when they get up to the B side, even in the South African B competition, they find out, "Gee, my bad balls are going for four and I’m not getting many wickets." Whereas if the standard is higher here, that won’t happen.Our batsmen learned as well, as we didn’t have a solid game plan and we needed to `up it’ one more level in order to compete. Kenya came hard at us and at first we weren’t able to answer with anything. Like I said, we dropped crucial catches, even in the last match, where we dropped Ravindu Shah first ball – we dropped him 12 times in the series, and he got two hundreds. Catches win matches, and they lost us a series. But, having said that, Kenya capitalized and they played better than we.I missed the first three-day game, which we lost, as my wife was giving birth and I was a week late in going to Kenya. But I spoke to the guys, and they batted slowly on a good batting pitch to get 240. The Kenyans played aggressively again; we dropped a lot of catches and they passed 400, and left us 60 overs on the last afternoon to bat. Maurice Odumbe knocked us over with his darting little off-spinners. The guys just capitulated; they didn’t play well enough on a pitch that was a little up and down but still good enough for batting.They weren’t able to cope with a turning ball on a wearing pitch. If you play enough cricket of a higher standard, you learn to deal with these things, but if you play too much of a lower standard like we do, and then suddenly the standard is raised, we struggle. If we could continue to play at the standard we did in those last few games in Kenya, that’s where we want to be, but instead we come back and play league cricket again and get stuffed back into the trough of mediocrity. That sort of thing needs to be addressed.We just didn’t bat well enough in both innings, and when we bowled, although we had our patches of bowling well and creating chances – and the guys put them down – we went through bad patches and were hit all over the ground. Whenever chances were created by good pressure bowling, the guys shelled them. That is an area we have to improve on, but towards the end we were getting where we wanted to be.Yet we did a lot of fielding practice: our coach Trevor Penney is one of the best fielders in the world and he’s very keen – the practices he runs are really good. We do everything right and yet just drop it out in the middle. I can’t help but feel that is just lack of concentration – the mental side coming in. You can do as much practice as you want, but if you’re not going to be mentally alert you’re going to drop it.All our matches were played in Nairobi, although it had been decided that if there was too much rain we would go to Mombasa. We played four one-dayers and one three-dayer at the main Gymkhana ground and one of each at the Simba Union. They have very good batting wickets which discourage the pace bowlers, but if you put the ball in the right area you get your reward. We weren’t able to do that often enough.It was good learning curve for the youngsters on the tour, and an eye-opener for me to see how good the facilities were and how Kenya are progressing. You get the West Indian feel about their players, the way they celebrate when they take wickets, and their enthusiasm for the game – that was great to see.Steve Tikolo is a fine batsman – his ball-striking was unbelievable on that tour, even though our bowling at times was not of the best. You still have to put it away and he played some awesome shots. Maurice Odumbe the captain is a quality cricketer and the Kenyan side is basically built around those two. Odumbe is a character as well, always with a smile on his face and a joke to tell. Tikolo is much quieter, very focused on the business of cricket.There are several promising youngsters, for example this leg-spinner who played in the triangular tournament in South Africa, by the name of Collin Zabuya. He bowled really well throughout the tour – he’s only 19 – and with a bit of coaching may turn out an Anil Kumble type of bowler. Martin Suji did a really good job for them opening the bowling in the one-dayers; no pace, but good variation and very accurate. Thomas Odoyo did not have such a good time of things, carrying an injury that hindered his bowling, but he did well in South Africa.It was a hard time for our bowlers, who struggled on tour. They would all look world-class for a few overs, but then lost it. The ability to be a good bowler involves sustaining pressure, and we didn’t do that. I think the guys need to look at that – it’s not all about bowling `jaffas’ and outswinging off-cutters and inswinging leg-cutters, but about bowling channels and good lengths and giving the batsmen nothing. If that’s good enough for Glenn McGrath then it should be good enough for a lot of people. There is no doubt we have ability there, but there’s not enough consistency.Campbell Macmillan took some good wickets on tour but was expensive, because he bowls too many loose balls, and the same goes for all the bowlers. Brighton Watambwa bowled with a lot of pace but was not accurate enough; he needs to do more with the ball if he wants to make inroads. I think he learned a good lesson there.The same applies to the batting side: there were some good innings, some good partnerships, but not enough sustained innings, while the fielding was atrocious – there’s no other word for it. Mark Vermeulen struggled a bit in the one-dayers – he has a few technical problems he has to work on but he’s a tremendous ball striker who played very well in the second three-day match. Gav Rennie, an old campaigner, has been working really hard on his game and showed a good aggressive approach.Guy Whittall and Pommie were the old warhorses, as it were: whenever they needed to bowl they got the ball in the right area. Guy played a few useful innings with the bat. There was something for everybody to take out of the tour, but whether they did so or not we will see in the months ahead. We talked about it, but whether people do learn from it is their prerogative.I thought Pom captained the side well, and Kish Gokal was a really good manager, top-drawer. Trevor Penney did a very good job, and I think altogether it was a very happy outfit, although we were a bit shell-shocked at first about the standard of the Kenyans and how they were prepared to come at us. We only got to terms with that towards the end of the tour and managed to rectify it.Our next objective is to win the B competition in the UCBSA Bowl and make sure we progress all the time, especially the youngsters. We all have our aspirations: I have my goal to get back into the side for India, and after this tour there are going to be places open for the taking. We know the standard that is required and hopefully we can more forward.

By the time England toured this country in 1984-85, the one-day scenariowas very different from that existing during their previous trip threeyears before.

India were World champions and it was the turn of the visitors to startas underdogs. But a nicely balanced England team defeated an overconfident Indian side in the first of the scheduled five one-dayinternationals at Pune by four wickets with ten deliveries to spare.There were indications however that the contestants were more evenlybalanced and they produced a humdinger of a match in the second game ofthe series at Cuttack.India got off to a cracking start with openers Krish Srikkanth and RaviShastri putting on 188 runs ­ then the country’s highest partnership forany wicket. Srikkanth was unlucky to be dismissed a run short of hiscentury but Shastri got to the coveted mark before he was out for 102.On an easy paced pitch, the remaining batsmen failed to build adequatelyon this dream start. Srikkanth was out in the 37th over but in theremaining 12.2 overs, India could only add 64 runs. Too much time waswasted first by Shastri as he proceeded to his hundred. And none of theother batsmen ­ Dilip Vengsarkar, Mohinder Amarnath, Yashpal Sharma andRoger Binny ­ could force the pace leading to India being ultimatelyrestricted to 252 for five in 49 overs.England lost Tim Robinson early, bowled by Manoj Prabhakar for one. Butthe in form Mike Gatting kept them in the hunt with a stroke filled 59.Skipper David Gower chipped in with a valuable 21 while Allan Lamb got28. England’s hopes however faded when Lamb was run out in the 33rd overat 145. However Vic Marks and Paul Downton turned out to be unexpectedheroes. Not only did they add 58 runs in nine overs but they also madethem in light which could theoretically be called unplayable.The last hour saw the later order batsmen displaying lynx eyed battingand carrying England nearer the target. After Marks was out for 44,Richard Ellison joined Downton and the two continued in fading light toinch England closer to their objective in the face of a comparativelyinexperienced attack ­ RS Ghai, Amarnath, Prabhakar, Shastri, AshokPatel and Roger Binny. Play was finally called off in the gloaming after46 overs with the score 241 for six. But Downton (44) and Ellison (14),with their unbroken seventh wicket stand of 38 runs in four overs, hadseen their side edge ahead by 0.08 of a run and England were declaredwinners on a faster scoring rate. Theirs was a really gallant effortthat proved successful and they went two up in a series that they won byfour matches to one.

Andhra batsmen frittered away good starts as the visitors lost theirway while pursuing Gujarat’s first-innings score of 499. When stumpswere drawn at the end of the third day’s play at the Sardar PatelStadium, Motera, Ahmedabad, Andhra were 251 for six. Former Indiawicketkeeper MSK Prasad, batting on 33, and the late-order batsmenwere left with the herculean task of adding another 249 runs to securethe first-innings lead that would help Andhra continue their fairytalerun this season.In the morning, Mohammad Faiq, who made 71, was the only Andhrabatsman to notch up a fifty. GN Shrinivas (34) and Y Venugopal Rao(37) might have been among the runs but they could not convert it intoa innings of substance. Just when Andhra seeemed down and out, thePrasads – MSK and RVC – put together a 63-run partnership to givetheir team a glimmer of hope. RVC on 29 was keeping MSK company whenstumps were drawn. For Gujarat, Kalpesh Patel returned figures of fivefor 48 off 25 overs.

The end of a decade of planning is nearly in sight as Southern Electric Premier Division 3 club New Milton prepares to relocate its Headquarters from Ashley to the newly developed Fernhill Sports Ground.The ground has two cricket pitches with pavilion and scoring facilities. The overall atmosphere is private, fairly enclosed, and the main ground has been built to a high specification.It is anticipated that visitors will enjoy playing there in the years to come. From New Milton’s point of view, the move provides fresh impetus for those coming through the Colts section. In future, no limitation need be put on their progress by lack of top class facilities.New Milton president John Dodd has paid a public tribute to New Milton Town Council for its visionary approach to sports facility provision, not only to cricket, but also for soccer, rugby and bowls.”It is difficult to believe that any Council anywhere has gone to greater lengths to provide opportunities for its young people.”I am sure all the sports are conscious of the need to play their part by extending participation and further developing their coaching structures,” says Dodd, whose New Milton club hopes to be able to offer opponents the opportunity to play on the new Fernhill ground from the end of July, subject to League approval.

England Under 19’s ended the third day of the First Test against Australia in Adelaide 230 runs ahead of their hosts with one second innings wicket remaining, thanks to a fine 97 from Somerset’s Neil Edwards.The tall left handed opener from Penzance was disappointed to be run out just three runs short of what would have been a richly deserved century.He told me: "It was definitely good to get some runs under my belt, and going into the morning I felt really confident and relaxed and really up for it."He continued: "I was pleased with the way that I had played both the seam attack, and especially the spin, which has been causing me problems on the tour so far. Soon after lunch got my fifty, and from there on I was in the frame of mind to take the game to them a bit and started to attack all their bowlers!!"Regarding his dismissal he said: "I had no idea what score I was on when I called for a single off the leg spinner that was half stopped by a diving full stretch fielder at mid wicket. I was already well down the wicket and I was nearly home when the fielder directly hit the stumps! There was a run there but some confusion had left me run out on 97 but I was’nt too disheartened when the boys told me my score. However it would have been something really special to have made my first Test century on my England debut."He concluded : "This was a really special day that I will never forget, and I would like to thank everyone at home for their support."Somerset coach Kevin Shine was full of praise for the young opener. He told me: "Neil is a player for the future. He is a genuine opening bat who has got his feet on the ground and should build upon this experience. England Under 19 cricket has been a spring board for many star players like Michael Vaughan and Marcus Trescothick and Neil is capable of following in their footsteps."

Somerset County Cricket Club are once again on the look out for two properties to house Jamie Cox and Nixon McLean their two overseas cricketers, for this coming summer.Last season thanks to the good offices of one of the readers of the local newspaper, the Somerset County Gazette, the Club found a very convenient house for Jamie Cox and his wife Helen and their little boy Lachlan, where they were all very happy.Jamie is coming back again this summer for his final year with the club, and this time there will be an additional member of his family after baby daughter Madeleine, was born earlier in the year.Somerset’s second overseas player Nixon McLean is also in need of a house for his family so this year the club are looking for two properties, and are once again hoping that somebody will be able to come forward who has a suitable property available.Somerset County Cricket Club Executive Assistant Sally Donoghue told me: "This year we are looking for houses for both of our overseas players. Ideally we would like two three bedroomed houses that are fully furnished that we can rent from April 1st until September 30th and we are hoping that somebody can help us out, as they did last year."Anybody who feels that they have a suitable property to rent should contact Sally at the club on 01823 272946.

As New Zealand prepare for their World Cup opening match against Sri Lanka, on Monday, their need for success is heightened not only by the possibility of lost points for their refusal to play in Kenya but the daunting opening they have to the competition.No-one on New Zealand’s side of the competition has a draw like it.New Zealand must play Sri Lanka, the West Indies and South Africa, the three other contenders for Super Six berths, in their first three matches.Sri Lanka, by comparison, after their opening game, have the relatively easy road of playing Bangladesh, Canada and Kenya before having two big games to finish the round.While the West Indies play South Africa in their opening match, and then meet New Zealand, they at least have Bangladesh and Canada before they meet the Sri Lankans.And the host side have their West Indian match and Kenya before playing New Zealand.On the other side of the competition Australia meet Pakistan and India in their first two matches before playing the Netherlands.But that is the worst of any country on that side.So, if they weren’t already aware of it, and their planning has been such that the thought has assuredly not been over-looked, they have the knowledge that theirs is the hardest road to the finals.Sri Lanka represent a formidable opponent first up, especially given the side’s inability to deal with them in recent history.However, captain Stephen Fleming goes into this game with the best side available, and that hasn’t always been something that has occurred in the past.When the side last played Sri Lanka, at home in the summer of 2000/01, Shane Bond hadn’t emerged, Chris Cairns was undergoing knee surgery, Lou Vincent and Jacob Oram were fresh faces on the block, and Brendon McCullum was in the cricketing equivalent of nursery school.Since then the side has developed in confidence at India’s expense, in difficult conditions for both sides, at home.They also know what to expect. Whenever they finished their day’s play against India, or had a day off, there was always the television coverage from Australia where the Sri Lankans were playing in the annual tri-series.New Zealand know what they are up against.Bloemfontein represents the sort of challenge Fleming and his men have come to relish and while most pundits are picking Sri Lanka to be a side with the potential to make the semi-finals at least, they should find a highly-combative unit up against them in the opening match for both sides.The key for New Zealand, as always in matches against Sri Lanka, is to make the early breakthroughs when bowling with Sanath Jayasuriya the key wicket, but not the only one, that needs to be picked up quickly.And in the bowling, it is the continual mystery posed by Muttiah Muralitharan that needs to be overcome, especially as he returns from a thigh injury which he will be seeking to put behind him as soon as possible.Sri Lanka has held the upper hand in recent contests but if New Zealand are to advance the importance of this game will not have been lost on them. A potentially epic contest is in prospect.

Facing a summary exit if they stumble again, Pakistan aim to put their World Cup campaign back on the rails in Paarl here against lowly-rated Holland on Tuesday.Paarl is in the wine country in the Western Cape. The weather is dry and hot, and if the forecast is to be believed, likely to remain so with the temperature around 32 degrees celsius.The wicket, though not genuinely dicey, is not an easy one to bat on. It is the venue where Holland made India struggle to just 204 before the latter prevailed, and where Sri Lanka blew away Canada for the lowest one-day international score of 36. That match was over in just 115 minutes, it also was the shortest ODI ever.But Pakistan must banish such thoughts; whatever the conditions, they have to conquer them. There is no option for them but to win against Holland, and win big. And then keep on winning against India on March 1, and Zimbabwe on March 4 to survive and stay in the hunt for one of the three Super Sixes slots from their group.Since they are way down on the points table at the moment, with only Holland and Namibia below them, that is the least they can do to be back in reckoning. If weather and upsets by other teams do not end up thwarting them, it should be enough.But with eight Pool A games still remaining to be played, who knows what might transpire. But their disappointing loss against England may continue to haunt them for quite some time to come.”We have to do it the hard way now”, said the Pakistan coach Richard Pybus, “and I hope that the pressure of the situation brings out the best in the boys and makes our batsmen perform”.With skipper Waqar Younis and manager Shaharyar Khan absent from the regulation pre-match press conference, after conducting a long session at the nets in searing heat, Pybus fulfilled his share of the responsibility by facing the media.Blaming Pakistan’s misfortunes squarely on the batting collapse, he conceded that in the setback against England “some bowlers may have bowled an over or two too many, but the side’s bowling and fielding was competitive. Three wickets in the space of three deliveries early on pulled the rug from under us. The remaining batsmen got sucked into the situation and that further complicated things.”On the possibility of an angry reaction back in Pakistan, which is quite likely if there is no radical transformation in the team’s fortunes, Pybus said that though he and Waqar felt accountable, but he was not overly concerned about that. “We can take care of certain technical aspects, the rest depends on execution on the field”.When asked whether the side lacked the ability and influence of batsmen like Javed Miandad or Saleem Malik, Pybus said: “Inzamam-ul-Haq and Yousuf Youhana are champion batsmen. The experienced players between them have more than 1500 one-day internationals. That is the kind of experience no other team has. The bottom line is that they have to perform”.With the prospect of exit looming large, Pybus thought his batsmen need to bat all the way. “I wish I had a magic wand to make our batsmen perform,” he said. Though he was concerned about the non-performing middle-order, he added that the Pakistan batsmen mostly perform in two gears: fifth or reverse, and hoped that from here on it would be the former.Inzamam and Youhana’s woeful run has made things rather difficult for the late order, and it has crumbled under the pressure. “Unlike Australia or South Africa, we lack genuine all-rounders, as we have bowlers who can bat a bit”, said Pybus.In this regard, Azhar Mahmood still remains untried. A genuine batsman with an exciting repertoire of aggressive shots and an under-rated swing bowler, Azhar merits an outing in place of Abdul Razzaq, who seems jaded and has mostly struggled since his comeback from injury.Despite a string of poor scores, Shahid Afridi might retain his place because he adds to the depth in bowling. With the bearded figure of Saeed Anwar showing committment and skill despite not having made any sizable score, and likely to get the nod, the rest of the eleven pretty much picks itself.The toss will again be critical, for Pakistan need to bat through 50 overs to see their top order batsmen recapture a semblance of form, and also to improve their net run-rate. This is far more important than Wasim Akram getting his 500th wicket (which he should have had except for a leg before decision that went the other way) or Shoaib Akhtar blasting the Holland batsmen into oblivion.A contrast of such silken skills and red hot pace, Akram and Akhtar look great when they bowl in tandem, making a chill run down the spines of batsmen. But in reality it is the flowing drives and ferocious cuts and pulls of Anwar, Afridi, Inzamam and Youhana that are the need of the hour for Pakistan.