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On Friday 22 November 2002 the Highveld Strikers will take on WesternProvince in the Standard Bank Series at the Wanderers Stadium. The matchstarts at 15:45 and gates open at 15:00.There will be lots of fun and entertainment including Hunky Heinz and otherIdols performing at the dinner break, and an autograph session afterwards.There will be competitions galore, where the draw for the 4 World Cuptickets courtesy of IOCORE will take place, a Highveld Strikers Foot Longeating competition, Hit the Wicket competition and also a V-Energy down-downcompetition. For the kids there will be a Climbing wall and jumpingcastles, where they can enjoy the evening.For the spectators that still have tickets of the last two days of the testmatch against Sri Lanka, we will exchange one ticket per person and give aticket for this game. No complementary tickets will be exchanged.This day promises to be an experience for the whole family. Come join usand experience Cricket Jo’burg Style.The Highveld Strikers squad for this match:Clive Eksteen [Captain], Adam Bacher, Solly Ndima, Marthinus Otto, Warren Dugmore, Vaughn van Jaarsveld, Enoch Nkwe, Matthew Harris, Ashfak Abowath, David Terbrugge, Sean Andrews, Grant Elliott.

Middlesex enjoyed the better of the first day at Southgate in the Frizzell County Championship match featuring two of the top three sides in Division Two. Essex just about held on to prevent Middlesex running away completely, but the home side made full use of winning the toss to reach 376 for six at the close of the first day.They lost their captain, Andrew Strauss, with only seven on the board, but his opening partner Sven Koenig went on to a century and there were solid sixties from Ben Hutton and Owais Shah. Tim Phillips had bowled Essex back into contention by taking three wickets that left Middlesex on 272 for 5 at one stage, but 67 not out from Paul Weekes towards the end of the day put the initiative firmly back with his team.The match marks a return to first-class cricket for James Foster – the Essex and England wicket-keeper who has been out of action with a broken arm. Zimbabwean Andy Flower is playing as a batsman and Foster snared his first victim when Catching Hutton off Justin Bishop. That will have pleased Foster more than the tally of 12 byes. The 20 no balls will not have pleased the Essex coaching staff very much either.

Pakistani cricket fans were left tearing their hair out in frustration after the first two matches in Kenya. Yet again, a team that promises much, fails to deliver, crumbling under the pressure exerted by the thoroughly professional Australians was the universal lament here. It was thought that Pakistan would put up a good show, having recently beaten the Aussies in the Super Challenge II competition. To say that the performance in the first two matches at Kenya was far below par, would probably be an understatement.Even though the Pakistanis may have emerged victors against the Kenyans, their standard of play was certainly not worth praise. The bowlers sprayed the ball all over with a massive number of wides and no-balls, and the batsmen limped to victory inspite being asked to chase modest totals against a very weak opposition. While the Kenyans were not good enough to take advantage, the Australians cashed in. What this points towards is an obvious lack of discipline and a major lack of planning.Firstly, the main problem plaguing the team in this triangular tournament was the absence of their top batsmen. Youhana was sent home after a squabble with the tour management and Inzamam’s injury compounded the problems for an already fragile batting order.Even more mystifying was that Misbah-ul-Haq not getting a chance even when the big guns were absent. Misbah has been touring along with the team for over 6 months but has played only one game. The lack of confidence in his abilities is obvious as the management preferred to play Shoaib Malik as a batsman. Misbah has been included in the squad as a specialist batsman, and if he cannot justify that position, then other alternatives must be sought. It is essential that any squad of 15 should contain those players who can be slotted into the playing eleven whenever needed, not just mere tourists. The selectors would do well to reconsider the likes of Taufeeq Umar and Imran Farhat who performed well in the domestic competitions.The next problem that must be addressed is the indiscipline of our bowling attack. Waqar and Wasim are highly experienced campaigners, and for them to be bowling such a large number of wides and no-balls is inexcusable. They were wayward in both line and length and the Australians punished them thoroughly. Shoaib Akhtar looked totally out of sorts after his return to the team, and seemed to be all over the place with his bowling. In the Super Challenge II he had bowled with great aggression and control, which was no where to be seen in Kenya. There is some way to go in this tournament, and the Pakistani attack must try and get their act together, especially cut down on the extras. The over rate is another problem for Pakistan, with the fielders and bowlers showing no interest in rushing things during the change of overs. The team has been very lucky in not being penalised for their atrocious over rate.Lastly, the Pakistanis in general need to work out a plan against the Aussies, who have come back brilliantly after their loss in the Super Challenge II. They are a very difficult side to beat, when they are on top, and a lot of hard work has to be put in if the Pakistanis are to ruffle their feathers. They need to work out what to do after winning the toss, as chasing is certainly not one of Pakistan’s strengths, even if that means exposing the batsmen to the overcast conditions at the start of play. The batting order needs to be thought about in detail, as asking Razzak to open was not a very clever idea. Afridi should be utilized a little lower down the order in such conditions, once the ball has lost its shine, so that he can be more effective. Plus the Pakistani side is playing with too many all rounders and hardly any specialist batsmen. Misbah must be given a chance to prove himself, and if he fails to do so, then its fair to axe him.

He had every reason in the world not to come out and bowl. Everyrational, pragmatic advisor would have told him to put up his feet,nurse his fractured jaw, thumb the pages of a paperback and watchIndia bowl at West Indies from the cool confines of the pavilion atthe Antigua Recreation Ground. Perhaps even sipping a cool, tall PinaColada. But then, even that might be hard to do with a newly-repairedjaw.God help you if you were one of the kind souls who made any of theabove suggestions to Anil Kumble. He’s the kind of man who iscomposed, thinks intensely about his game and when it comes to crickettakes no prisoners. After waiting patiently by the sidelines, sittingout two Tests, Kumble finally got a crack at the whip. Once he did, hewas not going to be a spectator once more – injury or not.And as they say, beware the anger of a patient man.Before reports filtered through that Kumble was out of action and thathe would be making the Antigua-Barbados-London-Mumbai flight, there hewas, all strapped up and asking Sourav Ganguly for a crack at the WestIndians. Clearly, Brian Lara was surprised to see Kumble coming out tothe middle. Clearly, the batsmen were rattled by the prospect offacing upto a few sliders and top spinners on a wicket that wasbeginning to lose its top.But that’s strategy. That’s for coaches and captains and turbanedexpert analysts in studios. It’s not what made Kumble take the field.”I knew that I had to go back home because of this injury so I thoughtI’ll give it one last try,” Kumble told pressmen at the end of theday’s play. One last try was not the kind of bowling that has causedcritics to bay about his 40-plus bowling average overseas. It was ahigh adrenalin burst. Heavily strapped up, with bands going around hisjaw, over his head and across the back of it, a semi-mummified Kumbleran in and presto, scalped the wicket of Lara.Classic Kumble, ball not turning much, skidding through, trapping thebatsman in front of the stumps.And make no mistake about it. This is not a case of Kumble doing aRick McCosker. Knocked over by a Bob Willis bouncer on day one of theCentenary Test at Melbourne in 1976-77, McCosker came back todo battle later in the game. Strapped up much more heavily than Kumble,McCosker famously came back to bat at No 10 in the second innings,made 25, was involved in a 54-run partnership with Rod Marsh who madea century and helped Australia win. The eventual margin of victory was 45runs, making the last wicket partnership crucial.There’s no such thing at stake here. India have 500-plus on the board,the wicket is less than conducive to bowling sides out and the gameseems to be heading for a draw.So what then was Kumble trying to achieve?Some say his appearance and bowling was simply a case of insecurity -he was booking a place in the squad that will tour England later. Somesay it was a calculated stunt to gain the sympathy of the public andthe media. Andrew Leipus, team physio, made it clear that localdentists had patched up Kumble’s jaw and there was little chance ofworsening the injury by playing. That should be good enough to takethe conspiracy theorists and nay-sayers out of the picture. But thatnever happens. People will believe what they want.There are others who feel this was a defining moment in Kumble’scareer. A testament to the man’s approach to the game. His job is tobowl and take wickets, he thought it was well within him to pushhimself and give his best. “At least I’ll go back home havingthought that I tried my best. If it did work it would be great, but itwas pretty tough. I just wanted to try,” said Kumble. That’s commendable to theextreme. It’s the kind of spirit rarely shown by Indian cricketers.Those are the two sides of the argument. To attribute either motiveunequivocally to Kumble would be a touch unfair and oversimplifyingmatters. Only Kumble himself will ever know why he did what he did -somewhere bang in the middle of the sentimental, pish-tosh attempt tobe a folk hero and the calculating schemer. He’s human after all. Andyet, he’s just turned in a superhuman effort.

From about 3:30 p.m. yesterday, the party started inside the Beausejour Stadium.Even by then, it was a forgone conclusion the West Indies would trounce New Zealand and take an unbeatable 2-0 lead in the Cable One-Day International series in which two matches remain.The 10,000 Mexican-waving, flag-waving, placard-waving supporters in the stands of the state-of-the-art facility were engulfed in frenzied celebrations.This victory was as convincing as they come, the West Indies winning by seven wickets with as many as ten overs in reserve.After their bowlers restricted the Black Caps to a relatively modest 210, Chris Gayle and Shivnarine Chanderpaul launched the West Indies’ reply with a proliferation of scorching and exquisite boundaries that allowed the other batsmen who followed to bat under no pressure.Ramnaresh Sarwan followed with a couple of meaty boundaries and Brian Lara, still battling with a troublesome elbow, showed a return to some of his old touch with an unbeaten 59 that earned him the Man-Of-The-Match award.When Lara and Sarwan were in, there was a continuous cacophony of noises from one section of the ground where about 100 fans were jumping all over the place to the accompaniment of percussion instruments.On the other side of the ground, where the Piton Party Beer Stand was located, there was music from a host of DJs that triggered violent waist movements among other unprintable stuff.West Indies’ win, their 21st in 32 matches over New Zealand in the shorter form of the game, was achieved as early as 4:40 p.m. in front of excited St Lucians who have waited 18 years for another taste of international cricket.The team as a whole played pretty well. The bowlers did their part, the fielders supported them in the field and the batters came through, said coach Roger Harper.In response to their target, Gayle and Chanderpaul cracked ten boundaries in an opening stand of 63 at better than a run-a-ball before the latter drove a catch to cover and the former was bowled aiming to play slightly to leg.Their partnership was followed by another of 87 off 97 balls between Sarwan (44), who was a joy to watch when he pierced a packed off-side field with some lovely drives through the covers, and Lara, whose innings was his highest score in international matches this season.Lara was adept at guiding the ball behind the wicket on the off-side and as he settled in, he played a few authentic strokes, including a big six over long-off off Chris Harris’ trundlers that have often bemused many batsmen.We’ve been playing very well as a team and my contribution was missing for a while. It is nice to get some runs, some confidence and hopefully I can carry on for the remainder of the One-Day series and the Test series, Lara said.Whatever total we had to get, I was sure we were going to approach in the way we did yesterday (Saturday). Our guys bowled well, fielded well and we were able to restrict New Zealand to a small total.For the third successive match, New Zealand, who have now lost eight striaght One-Dayers, found themselves trying to get out of a deep hole inside the first 20 overs after they chose to bat on winning the toss.I can’t explain. To be honest, it was a disappointing performance. A 250 score would have been handy on that wicket, but 210 just wasn’t enough. Once again, we lost wickets in clumps, said captain Stephen Fleming.The previous day, they managed to post a challenging total, but this time, they could not convert the damage of 74 for four into a potential match-winning score.But they were able to get it up to something that they felt they could defend, principally on a fifth-wicket stand of 90 between Lou Vincent and Chris Harris.It was by no means explosive stuff. It was not complete control, but moreso careful consolidation and they required 23 overs for their workmanlike partnership.Vincent, a century-maker on Test debut against Australia in Perth seven months ago, batted through the last 32.4 overs of the innings for an unbeaten 60 off 85 balls after New Zealand lost the key wickets of Fleming and Craig McMillan in a brisk three-wicket slide.Vincent found the boundary just twice, but unleashed the shot of the innings, which sailed over Corey Collymore’s head and onto the sight-screen for the only six of the New Zealand effort.The balding Harris, the only player in the New Zealand team with more than 200 One-Day appearances, used his vast experience in the shorter version of the game to compile an even 50 off 79 balls before pulling a catch to deep mid-wicket in the 43rd over.It brought in the big-hitting Scott Styris but there was no repeat of his Saturday onslaught. He attracted a perfect leg-cutter from Corey Collymore that hit off-stump after pitching on middle.Collymore, replacing the rested Cameron Cuffy, sent down a tidy opening spell after his fellow Barbadian Pedro Collins was roughed up in his six overs with the new ball at the opposite end from which he successfully operated the previous day.Collymore and Meryn Dillon each took two wickets, but the most economical of the West Indies’ bowlers was Chris Gayle, whose ten overs of off-spin went for 34 runs and included the wickets of Fleming and McMillan.Fleming reached 34 before missing a defensive prod and was lbw, while McMillan skied a catch to mid-on that was well held by Collins.The catch, taken as he ran back about 15 metres, typified the West Indies’ overall effort on the day.

LAHORE-The rain, overnight and intermittent through the day came to Pakistan’s rescue, and with the weatherman forecasting more showers between Saturday night and Sunday afternoon, it might end up saving Pakistan from the humiliation of defeat in this second final of the Asian Test Championship. Other than rain, only Inzamam-ul-Haq (unbeaten 72, 209 balls, 268 minutes, 3 fours), and to a lesser extent Shoaib Malik (19 not out, 125 balls, 151 minutes, two fours) and Rashid Latif to come, stand between Sri Lanka and victory.At close on the fourth day, Pakistan had made 248, adding only 55 to their overnight 193, and now they are adrift by just 46 runs from the massive deficit of the first innings, but more crucially without losing a wicket, to go into the last day hoping for more of the same.Rock-solid, Inzamam didn’t offer the Lankans a ghost of a chance in his resolute stay on the wicket.At the end of the day, the question on many a lip was whether Pakistan can escape. This is now very much a possibility, albeit a remote one. If the duo continues in the same cautious vein, especially Inzamam, Pakistan may have an outside chance of saving this game. But if they do, it would be one of their more famous escapes.Pakistan needed this huge slice of luck through weather (323 minutes of play lost) and some application by the batsmen, to survive after a thoroughly inept batting display by the top order in both innings. At stumps on the third day, they had been still 101 shy of the overall deficit of 294. And with six sessions to go, and save only one recognised batsman in Inzamam unbeaten, without weather having mercy at them they really had very little chance of braving the trial by Muttiah Muralitharan and the three seamers, Chaminda Vaas, Buddhika Fernando and Nuwan Zoysa.The play was possible in only three brief spells of 11, 35 and 70 minutes in the pre-, post-lunch and after-tea sessions, with a total of 31.5 overs possible out of a regulation 90. On an otherwise grim day, the only bright spot was Inzamam making a workmanlike fifty while Shoaib Malik tried his best not to lose his wicket. In that he was helped by the Lankan fielders, with Mahela Jaywardene dropping a sitter at first slip off Muralitharan when he hadn’t added to his overnight 6.With that chance spilled, Lankans had further agony in store for them, as immediately afterwards rain started again. Fortunately for Pakistan, this time it came down in buckets. It slowed down, but continued for the rest of the first session, and no play was possible until 35 minutes after the lunch break. When play recommenced eventually at 1.15, Jayasuriya tossed the ball to the tall and sinewy Nuwan Zoysa in the hope that he may be able to take advantage of the dark, overcast and windy conditions.Undeterred Inzamam continued in a watchful mien, working his way towards his first score of 50-plus in four Tests and six innings. But once he was within touching distance, he thumped Muralitharan to the cover boundary with a drive on the back foot. That brought the lean spell to an end for Inzamam; for his 31st score of fifty or more, he consumed 147 deliveries in this patient 187 minute vigil on the crease.Rain stopped and the sun made a brief appearance late in the day. The Lankans, full of bounce and nerves all jumped onto the ground as if they were running out after a jail-break. So keen were they to get back in the fray after the rain holdups and get it over and done with to crown off their single most glorious season, adding to a succession of eight triumphs, that they all including the coach and physio literally started tearing off the covers from the turf. The hapless ground staff joined them willy-nilly. Their over-exuberance caused lots of water to spill on the outfield, and there were some howls of this being against the rules, but the Pakistan team, the neutral umpire and the ICC match officials looked the other way.The Lankans over-enthusiasm, however, brought no dividends to them. When the play resumed for the third and last time, Pakistan had to go through 18.5 overs, but Inzamam and Malik both batted dourly to add only 30 runs in this period. But none of the Pakistani supporters grudged them not being more enterprising.

It is likely to be Friday, at the earliest, before a final decision is made on Nathan Astle’s immediate playing future with the TelstraClear Black Caps.Astle returned home from Pakistan at the weekend with a patella tendon injury and surgeon Paul Armour has requested an MRI Scan be taken of Astle’s knee.New Zealand Cricket’s medical co-ordinator Warren Frost said Armour would not make a judgment until all the information was in.Frost said Astle had been struggling with his knees for a couple of seasons and wanted to get things sorted out in order to look ahead and to be better equipped to go ahead in stronger style.”It is a big year ahead and he wants no half measures to get it sorted out,” Frost said.That could mean that Astle misses the tour of the West Indies next month.A report is also being awaited on the side strain injury suffered by Jacob Oram.”They can be a nasty thing and can hang around a while,” Frost said.

What a match. What a season. What a climax.At the end of what might come to be remembered as one of the all-time great matches in Australian first-class history, Queensland has prevailed here at the ‘Gabbaground in Brisbane to win a thrilling Pura Cup Final against Victoria by a margin of four wickets.But the Bulls didn’t grasp a fourth domestic first-class title – one which gave them back-to-back victories for the first time in their history – without weathering close tothree hours of extraordinary drama on the final day of this memorable 2000-01 summer.Controversy hit the Final in the fifth over of the last day when Queensland captain Stuart Law (47*) was awarded the benefit of the doubt – courtesy of a series ofinconclusive television replays – after it had appeared that he had been wonderfully caught by a diving Michael Klinger at third slip from the very first ball that he faced.Around a series of incisions made by a remorseless Victorian bowling attack at the other end, Law then proceeded to lead not only a charmed existence but todeterminedly lead his team to the finishing post as well.He was caught behind off a no-ball with his score at 4, frequently played and missed, and was dropped by Matthew Elliott and Matthew Mott on 10 and 39respectively when he edged strokes behind the wicket. In the end, though, he was there to hit the winning runs in mid-afternoon. And, to a captivated crowd of 1374,that was all that really mattered.”It was probably the toughest game of cricket I’ve ever played in,” confessed a drained Law shortly after the seal had been set on his record-breaking fourth first-classsuccess as a captain.”The Victorians never let up, they never said die out there. They knew that they were only a couple of wickets away and that it could have turned on a knife-edge atany stage. To their credit, they stuck at it right until the last runs were hit. (To win) was total and utter relief.””I’ll remember it for the circumstances but not for the execution – it was pretty ordinary. It was very ugly but it became effective in the end,” he added of his innings.Even by the time that his back foot cover drive from the bowling of Michael Lewis (0/82) finally settled matters, this had not ceased to remain the gripping contest thatit had proved for each of the preceding four days as well. Virtually every ball was loaded and, while there were not a huge amount of them occupied, it was the edges(rather than the bases) of most chairs in the stadium that were being utilised. The result hung in the balance until close to the very end; even the conclusion of the matchdidn’t dramatically alter the tense atmosphere: heartfelt relief predominating on one side and heartbreak on the other.By stumps on the fourth day, the Bulls had worked themselves into a winning position at a score of 2/137 as they pursued a fourth innings target of 224. But this matchhad been so tight, so absorbing and such a struggle that it did not deserve a tame finish. Happily, it never came close to such.Key batsman Martin Love (52) was removed in the fifth over of the day when Mott, reaching high above his head at gully, held the remains of a forcing cutstroke off the back foot at Paul Reiffel (1/34). And then massive controversy erupted.Having been dismissed for a golden duck in the first innings, it appeared that Law had suffered the ignominy of recording a king pair when Klinger dived athletically tohis right and appeared to clutch a magnificent one handed catch. Simon Taufel, umpiring at the bowler’s end, was not immediately convinced that the catch had beentaken on the full, though, and the decision was referred to third umpire, Peter Parker.Obvious disgust from the Victorians – so obvious that Reiffel was later fined $200 after being found guilty by Match Referee Peter Burge of conduct unbecoming,intimidation of umpires, and dissent – ensued as a series of inconclusive television replays failed to either prove or disprove the validity of the catch.”We obviously thought he’d caught it; (the fact that it was given not out) was very disappointing. It was a clear catch to us,” said Reiffel.The worth of using the third umpire as the final arbiter to rule on catches has been debated many times in Australia this season. There is no doubt that this latestincident will only add fuel to the fire, coming as it did at such a defining moment of such an extraordinarily tense arm-wrestle. It added to simmering Victorianresentment that still carries over after Law also profited handsomely from another controversial no-catch decision on the first day of last season’s Pura Milk Cup Final.”It’s impossible to know,” added Reiffel, when pressed to comment on how crucially today’s decision impacted on the outcome. “Stuart, with his experience, hassteered them home in the end. To have got him out first ball … who’s to know?”Ultimately the one thing that was clear by the end of the match was that Queensland has reaffirmed its dominance and extended what has become a golden era ofsuccess for a state that took sixty-nine long years to even win the trophy once.This victory did not have the tears of 1994-95, not the emotion of 1996-97, not quite the same brow-beating dominance of 1999-2000. But what it did possess wasresolve, character and application … and indeed many of the same players who have been such a key to making Queensland such a good side.The bottom line, all controversies aside, is that there are five other state teams and five other sets of supporters which remain inordinately envious of the Bulls thisafternoon. The modern-day kings of Australian first-class cricket have triumphed once more; long may they rule if their cricket remains as inspiring as this.

My friend Khalid Butt is finding it increasingly difficult to defend the PCB’s much-sullied image these days in the face of wide media outrage. And that unfortunately is his job as PCB’s media manager. After the unending spate of defeats, he is full of protest and indignation. Not at the string of setbacks, but at hacks like me taking potshots at his boss and the organisation that he represents.Butt’s beef with this writer is the last piece one wrote, titled “Pakistan addicted to its losing ways”, which appeared on May 21. Butt says that my basic argument is flawed. To him the PCB’s performance should not be evaluated together with the national team’s. Rather, it should be looked at in terms of what other magnificent infrastructure the Board has put up or what fine academies they have created.This argument doesn’t wash, on a number of counts, the foremost being that it defies common logic. In military parlance, which the current PCB management should readily grasp, would mean that a major military defeat should not be blamed on the Head Quarters!And, conversely, if the Board should not be blamed for defeats why should everybody who is anybody in the PCB – from the Chairman, to chief selector, right down to the last brigadier, colonel, captain, lieutenant and the tea boy – wrangle for media credit in case of the odd victory. If you have forgotten, recall the gushing at the last good news they got – after the Auckland Test. The obverse side of basking in reflected glory is egg on the face in case of a setback. And those who choose to opt for limelight are condemned to face this situation whenever things go wrong.Anyway, this PCB defence, the only one they have been able to muster after months of head-scratching, has been accepted by some writers from the south of the country; most of them chose to remain nameless, and the one who didn’t was perhaps enamoured towards the idea due to a lucrative book sponsorship deal offered him. Those close to the powers-that-be divulge that the sum involved is likely to be in millions.Passing the buck in its entirety to the team, however, is an idea that did not cut much ice with the rest of the country. And the proof that the PCB’s position is considered untenable was that the opprobrium has been across the board, echoing in the editorials and other writings, in all the popular leading dailies, vernacular as well as English. One of them was titled, “Partners in Crime”, while others unequivocally asked for the sacking of the Board.And if the PCB’s position on the issue is as sound as they’d want us believe, why hasn’t a single credible voice been raised in support? That, of course, means leaving out those on the payroll, one way or the other. Frankly, even they are looking for cover most of the time.The men residing in Pakistan cricket’s ivory tower these days do not realise that the people’s fascination with the game is fast turning to disgust, and that’s why they are not getting many positive opinions. To be fair, in this the fault is not entirely set-up’s, but the fact is that people are sick of the shenanigans of players and administrators alike.It has also been ‘advised’ that one should not over-react, “not lose one’s balance at the Lord’s defeat”. Such arguments miss the whole point, and that is why they cannot befool men in the street any longer. Nobody is talking about an isolated defeat, there is a whole string of them: as many as 12 major debacles – a tournament or a series loss – in less than a year and a half.This reflects a pattern, and the current PCB set-up has singularly failed to break the cast.That when the General took over, the Pakistan team was rated as the second best in one-day cricket and was close to the top in the longer version of the game. In the previous year it had reached the World Cup Final and won the inaugural Asian Test championship. Only two years ago, it had attained the status of the top-ranked outfit in the world in Test cricket. That status was achieved without the high-fly advisors and new-fangled systems.Where are we today, despite the state of the art systems? Far from the top and hugging the bottom. Some achievement in only a year and a bit!That when hopes were high at the time the new command came in. The favourable argument was, if a serving general in a military government – can’t sort out the mess, then who can? But the General has obviously failed.More about it in the next column, looking at the last one year and a half encompassing the other so-called achievements – focussing on the human resource, the infrastructure, the systems and the academies. The PCB’s apologists do claim that they are without compare – more than what all the Boards combined achieved; well, then they surely deserve a dispassionate look and we will.Chronology of defeats under the present Board:

• 1999-2000: World Series Cup in Australia – Pakistan ends up second behind the hosts
• 1999-2000: At home against Sri Lanka – Pakistan was blanked out in one-day series 3-0
• 1999-2000: Pakistan loses the Test rubber 2-1 to Sri Lanka
• 1999-2000: In the West Indies, Pakistan loses the three-Test series 1-0
• 2000-01: Ends up third in a three-nation event in Sri Lanka, involving hosts and South Africa
• 2000: Loses a three-way one-day tournament at Singapore
• 2000: Loses in the semi-final against New Zealand of the ICC knock-out tournament at Nairobi
• 2000-01: Loses a Test series at home, its first in about four decades, against England 1-0
• 2000-01:Loses the one-day series in New Zealand 3-2
• 2000-01: The three-match Test series against the Black Caps is drawn 1-1 after Pakistan is beaten by an innings in the third Test
• 2000-01: Defeat in the final of the three-nation ARY Gold Cup against Sri Lanka
• 2001: First Test of the two-match rubber is lost at Lord’s by an innings and 9 runs – the first loss by an innings margin against England since 1978 and the second successive one by Pakistan.

…and successes:

• 1999-2000: Pakistan wins the three-nation one-day tournament in Sharjah in April
• 1999-2000: Pakistan wins the three-nation one-day tournament in the West Indies – their first victory in one-dayers in the Caribbean
• 1999-2000: Pakistan triumphs in the Asia Cup – its first continental trophy in seven attempts
• 2000-01: Pakistan wins the away Test series in Sri Lanka 2-0
• 2000-01: Pakistan beats England 2-1 in the one-day series at home

Glenn McGrath has been appointed director of the MRF Pace Foundation in Chennai, replacing Dennis Lillee, who has held the post since its inception in 1987. McGrath, currently in India, has called it a “great honour.””I know it won’t be possible to replace someone like Dennis Lillee,” McGrath said. “His legacy will be hard to live up to, but I will try my best in my role as the director at the foundation.”The academy’s contribution to world cricket is immense. I have trained there under Lillee and have experienced the facilities on offer.”The foundation has played a role in shaping the careers of several of the world’s best fast bowlers, including Brett Lee and Zaheer Khan. Lillee, who spent 25 years with the organisation, hoped the foundation would continue its good work under McGrath’s leadership.”McGrath is the perfect choice to carry the vision of the Foundation forward,” Lillee said. “I am happy for him and wish him all the best in his new role. I am certain that the MRF Pace Foundation will produce many more international fast bowlers under his guidance.”Lillee expressed satisfaction with the results of his association with the foundation and said that the decision to leave was not easy. “It has been a long journey. We had to begin from scratch, building facilities and slowly developing into a world-class academy. Our efforts and hard work have paid off and it pleases me to see bowlers trained at the foundation leading the Indian attack.”