Jonathan Trott came within 7 runs of scoring a century for his new province on debut.Trott who only joined Nashua WP on last week underlined his potential with his fine knock which included nine fours scored in nearly 5 hours. Trott received good support from wicketkeeper Thami Tsolekile and the two added 111 for the sixth wicket. Alan Dawson(51) held the centre field after Trott’s dissmisal. He added 74 runs with Roger Telemachus(31) for the eighth wicket. This enabled WP to close their first innings on 336 giving WP a lead of 100 runs over Easterns.Earlier WP lost Puttick(45) and Niel Johnson(0) with the score on 121. Rudi Bryson was the destroyer in chief claiming both wickets to fall in the morning session. Bryson claimed 4/74 and received good support from Flusk(2 wickets) and Andrew Hall(3 wickets).Batting in their second innings Easterns lost Andre Seymore to Paul Adams. At the close Easterns reached 26 in 10 overs still 74 behind to make WP bat again. Much will depend on the form of Paul Adams on Monday.Scores at the end of day 3;

Easterns 1st innings 236.WP 1st innings 336Easterns 2nd innings 26/1

New Zealand batsmen Mathew Sinclair and Matthew Bell have both scored centuries in the tour match against the ACT President’s Eleven at Manuka Oval in Canberra.At tea on the final day of the three-day game, the Kiwis were two for 320 in reply to the ACT team’s 6(dec)-439.Sinclari was out for 145 when trying to force the pace just after lunch.At tea Bell is on 107 and Nathan Astle is on 22.Earlier today, Test spin bowler Daniel Vettori was ruled for up to six weeks with an ankle injury and is likely to miss at least two Tests against Australia.A replacement hasn’t yet been named.

Sri Lankan captain Sanath Jayasuriya provided the perfect answer to criticswho 24 hours earlier had lambasted the team for their go-slow tactics on thefourth day.The home team chiseled out a 142 run lead on Friday after batted throughoutthe day at a miserly run rate. Critics argued that the Sri Lankan’s failureto push the pace had cost the side valuable time and runs.In the end, Sri Lanka had plenty of time as the West Indies collapsed forthe second time in the match and were bowled out for just 144 in 78.3 overs.”Different individuals have different opinions, but we knew that batting onthe fifth day was not going to be easy and we had 96 overs to bowl at theWest Indies,” he said.”The key was getting 590 in our second innings. The wicket was good forbatting and all the batsmen capitalised on that to give us a 142 run lead.”Our only worry was Lara and Hooper because they had the experience andknow-how to handle Murali.””We stuck to the basics against both players. We didn’t want to try anythingsilly, as the wicket was turning more. The bowlers just needed to be patientand concentrate on their line and length.”Sri Lanka chopped and changed the bowlers throughout the day.”The wicket was not turning as much as we have seen in the past at Galle andwe didn’t want the batsmen to settle against one bowler for a long time,”explained Jayasuriya. “We even wanted Murali to change ends regularly.”When Lara was eventually dismissed, caught at mid-wicket for 40 off ThilanSamaraweera in his first over of the innings. The wicket precipitated thefinal collapse, as the West Indies lost their final five wickets for just 13runs”Samaraweera is a good all-rounder and we wanted to try someone else, so wegave him a chance and that was the turning point today.”Sri Lanka have now won their last four consecutive Tests in Galle, but havealso lost their last three matches in Kandy.”Kandy is a problem for us,” he admitted. “It’s a different mood there. Onceagain I have to say that we will try our best. The players have to lifttheir game for the match.”

When umpires agree with more than two or three lbw appeals per innings there may be dark mutterings about what might be the partiality, pin-pricking or faulty eyesight of the adjudicators.Today Brent Bowden, the Test umpire, and Tony Hill, who should soon become one, were the central figures as Central Districts and Auckland showed jittery early-season batting form on a frisky patch on the Eden Park Outer Oval.Central Districts scored 126 in 59 overs and Auckland replied with 90 for five wickets – 216 runs from 100 overs on a reasonably summery day.In contrast, Messrs Bowden and Hill set a cracking pace. After being forced to bat first on a greenish pitch Central lost their first, third, fourth, sixth, seventh and eight wickets to successful lbw appeals.Auckland lost their third and fifth wickets leg before, and if the pitch might have been losing some of its mischief the Central Districts fieldsmen and bowlers still reached a higher decibel rate than the Aucklanders achieved.Yet by stumps there was none of the ill-favoured comment which sometimes follows over-involvement by the umpires. No-one was complaining of being dimissed through a bad umpiring decision.And to the un-aligned observer among the 100 or so spectators, Messrs Bowden and Hill might have been justified in agreeing with several more appeals.It was one of those giddy pitches which the Eden Park Outer Oval occasionally throws up. Last year on the same ground Northern Districts lost their first five second innings wickets to lbw appeals.Today the grass on the pitch kept the ball smooth, so it retained shine and swing. The seam stayed hard, and so sharp was the sideways seam movement from the pitch that some of the faster bowlers seemed to be delivering 130kph off breaks which thudded into the pads and raised choruses of appeals.The most dedicated batting came from Bevan Griggs, the 23-year-old Central Districts wicket-keeper whose 31 was the only offering above 29 from the 18 batsmen on view.Griggs came in at 65 for five, and he and Jamie How simply tried to survive, scoring runs was a luxury. Griggs was still stoically there at the end, 31 not out from 72 balls in 109 minutes while Central crawled along from 65 to 126.It said as much for the fallibility of the other Central batsmen as it did for the big-spending of the Auckland medium-fast men that the biggest contribution to the Central Districts cause was not Griggs, but the Auckland extras which amounted to 34.All four Auckland seamers, Tama Canning, Andre Adams (three wickets each) and Kyle Mills and Richard Morgan (two apiece) had a profitable time, exaggerated by the help from the pitch for their length and accuracy varied too much.In the Auckland innings Matt Horne survived an appealing opening chorus from Brent Hefford, then played several rousing strokes for fours, but then was badly tucked up by a sharp lifter from Michael Mason and was caught close in.One Auckland newcomer Nick Horsley had a slow start, played some good-looking left-handed shots and then was caught in the lbw web. Rob Nicol, the other debutant, struggled to get going, but defended sensibly and at the end was still there, 10 not out after 80 minutes, in league with his captain Brooke Walker, nine not out after a mere 56 minutes.So the game is nicely in the balance. Either side has a winning chance – the only certainty seems to be that, given good weather, that decision will be known long before the appointed end on Thursday evening.

Wellington College and Epsom Girls’ Grammar School are the national schools’ cricket champions after the finals were decided in Palmerston North today.Wellington College won the Gillette Cup for boys’ while Epsom Girls’ took the Yoplait Cup.Once again bad weather meant the games had to be played on artificial pitches.In the Gillette Cup final, Kelston Boys’ High School batted first and scored 160 with Dusan Hakaraia scoring 30. Kushendra Selvamaheswaran took three for 26, James Hill two for 23 and Scott Rennie two for 33.In a rain-reduced reply, Wellington College were required to score 129 in 35 overs. They made 130/3 in 29 overs. James Hill scored 55 not out and Jay Newdick 22.Epsom Girls’ Grammar School batted first in the Yoplait final and scored 140. Catherine Bristow scored 83 not out while for New Plymouth Girls’ High School Anita Waugh took three for 25.At one stage in their reply, NPGHS were 83/8 but in an exciting finish, they were dismissed for 132 off the last ball of the 40th over. Rachel Priest scored 30, Anita Waugh 24 and Courtenay Sim 22. Amy Hodgson took three wickets for 18 runs, Morgan Walsh two for 19 and Saskia Bullen two for 30.In the Gillette Cup play-off for third and fourth, Otago Boys’ High School scored 208/8 with Stephen Brown 36. Brown and skipper Alistair Collie put on 60 for the second wicket, Collie following up the 41 he scored the previous day.St Paul’s Collegiate of Hamilton replied with 210/8 to win the game with Alex Blackett scoring 52, Peter Carey 44 and Riekart Fourie 30. Carey and Fourie added 83 in their opening stand. Mathew Harvie took three for 29.In the Yoplait Cup play-off, Burnside High School scored 153 with Cate Saunders hitting 33 and M Goodall 21. Kelly Winkley took three for 30 for Napier Girls’ High School and Zara McWilliams took two for 27.Napier Girls’ replied with 155/6 with Kelly Tunnicliffe scoring 39, Kelly Winklie 21 and Clare Richardson 23. Andrea Brown took two for 22.

Just three weeks ago, it seemed foolhardy to imagine that the Third Test between Australia and South Africa at theSydney Cricket Ground would be a dead rubber.Yet the world’s battle of the titans has become titanically disappointing. And, if the tourists fail to show some morestarch in this Test, then it’s close to a certainty that the impending return series in South Africa will be feted withnothing like the same hype.The South Africans arrived on Australian soil a month ago ready to make history. All evidence in a 246-run loss inAdelaide and a nine-wicket defeat in Melbourne, though, has been of a team that has doubted its own ability to doso.After two morale-sapping defeats, and amid a flurry of changes to the composition of the squad, urgent restoration oftheir reputation is required.How, then, to go about the task? The most obvious method lies in changes in personnel, and it’s already a guaranteethat there will be at least one alteration to the eleven that played in Melbourne. All-rounder Lance Klusener, at possiblythe lowest ebb in his 48-match Test career, has returned home to be with his pregnant wife and to be in a place wherehe can better repair flagging confidence.Jacques Rudolph, an exciting young left handed batsman and developing leg spinner, is accordingly almost certain tomake his Test debut. Rudolph, a 20-year-old from Northerns, has already won wide acclaim in South Africa with hisearly performances at first-class level; has looked solid in his two first-class appearances on this tour; and is unlikelyto let his team down.Having been called in on an urgent SOS mission from South Africa, left arm spinner Nicky Boje will also come stronglyinto contention for a spot in a re-jigged bowling line-up.Sydney was a happy hunting-ground eight years ago, yielding one of the country’s greatest-ever Test victories. And,though there’s nothing remotely pleasant in the return of bushfires across the New South Wales capital, the sight of apall of haze and smoke across the city’s skyline gives an eerily similar feel to the one that predominated back then.Then as now, temperatures have been in the mid to high 30s consistently over recent weeks.Even the pitch might carry something of a look of familiarity about it to those who remember that game. Just as it didthen, a well-grassed surface offers the suspicion that the quicker bowlers might be suited as much as the spinners thefurther the match progresses. Albeit that it’s difficult to envisage a pitch that won’t offer help to the slow men, it may notbe as conducive as has been widely assumed.The Australians haven’t had too much to worry themselves about lately, but the track’s complexion is such that it evenoffers them some selection headaches.Their 13-man squad needs to be pruned back by two within half an hour of the start of the play, and all indications arethat the decision might genuinely be left until as late as then. Fast bowlers Andy Bichel and Brad Williams are the menconsidered most likely to miss out but leg spinner Stuart MacGill’s place is also suddenly under question.MacGill is a world class bowler; the SCG is his home ground; and he has claimed 19 wickets in his two Tests at thevenue. But Bichel’s excellent performance in Melbourne and the visage of the pitch cast MacGill’s selection in doubt.Interestingly, first-choice Australian leg spinner Shane Warne – who has been one of the keys to Australia’s dominationof the series – has also been well below his best in the five previous Tests in which he and MacGill have been joined.That said, the Australians’ ability to work together as a team has been one of the hallmarks of their success in recenttimes. Whoever plays, whoever misses out, and whoever is forced to carry the (greater-than-normal number of) drinks,it doesn’t seem unreasonable to expect another highly efficient performance.They might be labelled as old, aging, and ready to cede to new blood. But, even as the calendar moves apace toanother year, the Australians only seem to be getting better with time.

Spirited batting by the lower-order batsmen saw Railways rack up animpressive 497 on the second day of their match against the powerfulDelhi side at the Karnail Singh Stadium, Delhi. The home team openersthough provided their team with the ideal platform, putting up 61unbeaten runs before stumps were drawn.A patient 52 from Sudhir Wankhede and knocks of 42 and 45 not out fromMurali Kartik and Zakir Hussain repectively, were mainly responsiblefor Railways adding 156 runs before losing their final five wickets.Last man Harvinder Singh also contributed his mite, scoring 26 runs ashe and Hussain frustrated Delhi with a stand of 65 for the tenthwicket.The massive Railways score had made it imperative for the Delhiopeners to provide their team the ideal start and they did notdisappoint. Akash Chopra and Gautam Gambhir were batting on 31 and 28when stumps were drawn.

Fiery bowling from India left-arm pacer Zaheer Khan secured defending champions Baroda a 136-run win over Punjab as also a place in the Ranji Trophy final. Zaheer claimed 6-25 as Punjab were bowled out for just 82 in their second innings on Day three at the Gujarat State Fertilizer Corporation Ground, Baroda.Baroda, who began the day on 189 for eight, reached 233 in their second innings before being dismissed in their second essay. No. 7 Ajit Bhoite, who made a patient 66, was the batting star for the home team. Zaheer, also contributed his mite, making a hard-hitting 35 off just 33 balls, an innings laced with four fours and two powerful sixes. Left-arm pacer Amit Uniyal, who claimed four wickets, and off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, who claimed three wickets, were the most successful bowlers for the visitors.Punjab, by virtue of their 15-run first innings lead, had to only chase 219 for a win. But Zaheer’s six wickets saw the visitors crumble way behind that target in just 30 overs. Only four batsmen in the powerful Punjab line-up got into double figures; skipper Pankaj Dharmani top-scoring with 20.His opening partner, Rakesh Patel, for his part, claimed two wickets while medium-pacer Shekhar Joshi and spinner Valmik Buch shared the remaining two wickets.Baroda now await the winners of the Railways v Bengal tie being played at the Karnail Singh Stadium, Delhi.

Having outplayed the Kenyans in the longer version of the game – thefour-day unofficial tests, Sri Lanka ‘A’ are gearing up to face Kenya in aseries of three unofficial one-day internationals beginning at theWelagedera Stadium here tomorrow.Sri Lanka ‘A’ coach and manager Roshan Mahanama is keen to strike firstblood and main Sri Lanka’s dominance over the tourists.”The first game of any series is important and we won’t be taking theKenyans lightly,” said Mahanama. “It is important that we continue toperform well as a team.”The overs game is something which the Kenyans are quite familiar with andthey are quite capable of giving Sri Lanka ‘A’ a good run, provided they canovercome the disappointment of their 3-0 whitewash in the ‘Test’ series andtheir batting, their strongest department, clicks.”The one-day version suits the boys more, it is just that they should gettheir disappointment out and start afresh. We have played a lot more one-daycricket and we are going to regroup ourselves, get the disappointment of thestring of defeats and rethink for a start of a new series,” said Kenyan teammanager Harilal Shah.One player whom the Kenyans will miss a lot is Thomas Odoyo who was forcedto return home due to a hamstring injury on his right leg.”We will miss him very much because he is a very powerful hitter of the balland he is a good bowler.quite quick. Odoyo recently went to South Africa forthe triangular between Kenya, India and South Africa and he ranked among thevery higher echelons of cricketers with ICC’s high performance manager BobWoolmer (the former England player and SouthAfrican coach),” said Shah.”We’ll miss Odoyo, but some players will have to play better thanthemselves, to compensate for his loss,” he said.>From the Sri Lanka ‘A’ squad of 14, batsman Anushka Polonowita and fastbowler Kaushalya Weeraratne are unlikely to play leaving the only change inthe side to be decided between left-arm spinners Rangana Herath and SajeewaWeerakoon. Herath with his experience will probably get the nod.Fast bowler Dulip Liyanage and all-rounder Gayan Wijekoon are likely to gettheir first game against the tourists. The rest of the squad figured in therecently concluded ‘Test’ series.Kenya will be hoping their captain Maurice Odumbe will strike form in thisseries. He managed only 72 runs in six innings in the ‘Test’ series gettingout on the last four occasions to his vis-à-vis Upul Chandana.They have a complement of 15 players to select their final 11.The pitch at Welagedera Stadium is generally slow and tends to keep low,which may not be the ideal one for a one-day game.The second game is scheduled for Saturday at De Soysa Stadium, Moratuwa andthe final one on Monday at the NCC grounds.SRI LANKA ‘A’ (from):Upul Chandana (captain), Avishka Gunawardana, Upekha Fernando, TillekeratneDilshan, Chamara Silva, Prasanna Jayawardene, Muthumudalige Pushpakumara,Rangana Herath, Pulasthi Gunaratne, Dulip Liyanage, Gayan Wijekoon, SajeewaWeerakoon, Kaushalya Weeraratne, Anushka Polonowita.KENYA (from):Maurice Odumbe (captain), Kennedy Otieno, Ravindu Shah, Steve Tikolo, HiteshModi, Otieno Suji, Collins Obuya, Lamech Onyango, Martin Suji, Brijal Patel,Joseph Angara, Josphat Sorengo, David Obuya, Thomas Odoyo, Mohammad Sheikh.UMPIRES: Gamini Silva and Jagath Nandakumara, Match Referee: Ashley deSilva.

New Zealand’s latest Test cap Jacob Oram might have had a dream start to his career, two Test victories, 11 Test wickets at an average of 11.09 and an example of batting under pressure, but he’s not lifting his feet off the ground.He knows that the tailor-made conditions in Wellington and Hamilton for the National Bank Series against India, will be far from those that might be struck in New Zealand’s next Test cricket excursions to Sri Lanka and India next year.But when he went out to bat today, as New Zealand were in danger of letting a winning opportunity slip from their grasp at 105/5 with India at peak confidence, it was another aspect of his cricket that was on display – his batting.Through this first series it has been his bowling that has been most important for New Zealand but after a first Test duck and a three in the first innings in this Test, he was determined to show the Indians he could bat.”I was more nervous than I have ever been. I thought I was nervous before my first Test innings last week and it probably showed in my batting.”But, I tell you, today was the most nervous I’ve ever been, and I honestly mean that.”Just the whole situation with the game in the balance. You can either win, or you can draw the series, and wickets were falling pretty regularly.”I just wanted to hold the ship steady for awhile and have positive intent,” he said.Oram was satisfied to achieve his goal of showing that he could bat under pressure. He acknowledged that the majority of times that he has “performed” in cricket, it has been in favourable conditions. But, in the 50/50 situation this match had become, he had pulled through.”I showed my peers, who I respect the most and whose opinions I hold in high regard, that in pressure situations I can come through,” he said.It was all a little unbelievable as an introduction to Test cricket. Bowling had been a priority for him after his selection, a selection that he thought had come a little early for him. But conditions had suited him well. He had been able to put the ball in the required spot and he’d been backed by some good fielding and had shown the selectors had got it right.Oram didn’t think New Zealand were home in their quest for 160 to win, until they were in single figures left for victory.”We were on 12 to win for a couple of overs and I remember thinking one wicket with three to go and Harbhajan [Singh] turning it, that it could be tricky.”But once there were six or seven to go, I realised we had it and you could tell that once we needed only singles figures, the Indians dropped their heads and it was game over.”I just wanted to be out there when the winning runs were hit,” he said.One shot, a cover driven boundary of Harbhajan had not been executed quite as he would have liked, but he had enough power in the shot to stay out of trouble.He thought to himself: “This is turning out to be a good innings, let’s have a not out and enjoy the moment when you are out here and hit the winnings runs.”It didn’t quite turn out that way as Oram had to concede that right to home town boy Robbie Hart.It is certain, however, that the Indians will go into the one-day series, knowing that Oram is more than just a bowler who has to be watched while Oram is looking to carry on, knowing that tougher times are ahead, and he’s looking forward to the challenge.