Frizzell County Championship Division TwoDay 1 ReportGloucestershire v Glamorgan 314 for 6 at Bristol
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Matthew Maynard and David Hemp put Glamorgan into a strong position against Gloucestershire as they ended the first day on 314 for 6 at the County Ground. Ian Harvey made a good start to his welcome-back match for Gloucestershire when he outfoxed his fellow Australian Jimmy Maher, stumped by Jack Russell for 16. But Ian Thomas (24) and Adrian Dale (32) then made steady progress for Glamorgan before Maynard and Mike Powell stepped the innings up a gear. While Powell was happy to move up a few notches in his 42, Maynard went straight into overdrive, walloping 85 from 116 balls, including 13 fours and a six, before he was caught off Martyn Ball, who took 3 for 63. Maynard added 79 with Hemp, who hit a steady 64 not out. He resumes tomorrow with Robert Croft, who was 19 not out at the close.Other match
South Africa under-19s 646 for 9 dec. beat England under-19s 229 and 254 by an innings and 163 runs
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It took South Africa just over 30 overs to wrap up the last six England wickets, and the three-match series, in their emphatic innings-win at Chelmsford. England resumed the day on 137 for 4 and Heinrich le Roux (4 for 60), who took three of the wickets to fall, trapped Liam Wright lbw early on for 17. Andrew Hodd was the next to go, followed by the run out of Liam Plunkett for a duck. Francois du Plessis (3 for 39) chipped in with two wickets as James Hildreth was left fighting England’s lost cause on 166 not out. South Africa won the series 2-0.

Everyone’s taking a pop at county cricket at the moment, and now that old workaholic county-pro-made-good Alec Stewart has had his two-penn’orth.

Speaking after receiving a lifetime achievement award at last night’s Professional Cricketers Association dinner at the London Hilton, Stewart stressed the need for administrators to put the national side first, and insisted English-qualified players should be looked after first and foremost. Stewart said: “To me, the most important thing is that we produce the right number of international-class cricketers. Instead of having a bare 12, 13, 14, we’ve got to be producing 20. To do that, a lot of things need to be changed.”He continued: “We need to reduce the number of playing days and have more days when the players are able to practise and improve their skills. At the same time, I’d knock on the head the number of overseas players and EU passports that come into the game. I’d make sure that English cricketers, and English-qualified cricketers, are the ones who are looked after properly.”Stewart’s comments came in the wake of endless calls for a domestic shake-up from other high-profile names. In this month’s launch issue of Michael Vaughan laid down the law, and caused a stir, by saying that the amount of Championship cricket should be halved and played between Test matches. Meanwhile, Bob Willis has formed the Cricket Reform Group, a select band including another England captain in Michael Atherton, which has convened this season to discuss where English cricket has gone wrong, and what they can do about it.In The , Atherton wrote: “Few … would disagree that there are fundamental problems: that the England team are inconsistent and underachieving (for more decades than just one); that the amount of money spent on the county game is disproportionate to its popularity and effectiveness as a breeding ground.” And Athers, like others, suggested the same old remedy: “We would like to see a reduced county programme of fewer full-time professional teams – a concentration of the best English-qualified players to improve the standard of our first-class programme.”Atherton revealed that his suggestions were given short shrift by one or two cynics in the midst of England’s fifth-Test wonder win at The Oval. But he argued that English cricket was at its most complacent after a rousing win to end the summer. Derek Pringle, writing in The , wasn’t fooled either: “Behind the shop window, pessimism abounds as the county game tries to serve an ever-widening circle of masters on a dwindling budget.”In other words, they seemed to be saying, even though it has been an action-packed, exciting and sun-kissed season, underlying troubles are lurking just around the corner – namely financial ones. Pringle, splitting infinitives as deftly as he used to split the cover field, decreed: “What is certain is that no domestic game can properly flourish while trying to simultaneously meet the needs of broadcasters, Team England and county members, modest in number and financial clout though that last group are.” And the fact that wages are spiralling doesn’t help either. Surrey had to release Ian Ward and Alec Stewart because they couldn’t afford to pay them, and Essex dumped five players for the same reason.And then there’s the problem of EU players. “Apart from the extra cost, it mocks the efforts of those involved in youth development, though nearly every club are guilty,” said Pringle. As well as the 55 overseas players this season, another 29 were ineligible for England, playing here under European passports. That equals 84 players out of 379, or 22%.So is anything going to be done about it? The county chairmen are understandably opposed the idea of merging, while a reduction in fixtures would presumably lead to a reduction in gate receipts. Nothing can be done about EU passport-holders without infringing European law, and England’s fixture list next summer looks more like a four-month festival rather than an international schedule.David Morgan, the chairman of the ECB, and Tim Lamb, the chief executive, have agreed to meet with the Cricket Reform Group. Morgan has already made it clear that none of the 18 first-class counties will be axed, but he does concede that the amount of cricket could be cut. It will be interesting to see how that meeting goes, in the face of increasing calls for change.

Monday’s Australia-New Zealand clash will be the 10th one-day international at the Nehru Stadium in Pune. Both Australia and New Zealand have played once each here, with contrasting fortunes: Australia beat India by eight wickets in 2000-01, while New Zealand suffered a five-wicket at the hands of India in 1995-96.

The past record at this venue suggests that bowling first is clearly the way to success: seven of the nine previous ODIs have been won by the team chasing a target. Winning the toss isn’t necessarily a blessing here, though: only four times has the team winning the toss gone on to win the match as well.

One of the two occasions when the team batting first won was in a 1996 World Cup match, when Kenya pulled off a stunning upset against West Indies. Kenya batted first and managed just 166, but then bundled West Indies out for a mere 93 to win by a convincing 73-run margin.

Only once in nine attempts has the team batting first scored more than 250 here. India achieved that feat, making 286 against Sri Lanka in 1998-99, and ended up winning the match by a comfortable 51-run margin. In the next match played at Pune – against Australia in 2000-01 – the Indians came close again, notching up 248, with Hemang Badani scoring his maiden ODI hundred. It wasn’t enough, though, as Mark Waugh struck a delightful unbeaten 133 to ease Australia to a comprehensive eight-wicket victory with 29 balls to spare.

New Zealand will hope Chris Cairns recovers in time for Monday’s ODI. The only time New Zealand played here, Cairns thumped 103 off 87 balls, with 10 fours and four sixes, and then took 3 for 37 from 10 overs. He won the Man-of-the-Match award, despite New Zealand losing the game.

Significant changes to the role of New Zealand Cricket’s High Performance Centre at Lincoln University are part of the on-going development of that asset, and of the strategic plan under which the sport operates.Martin Snedden, the chief executive of NZC, said feedback from an independent report done on the HPC was that there was insufficient integration between the Black Caps, the High Performance Centre and the first-class coaches, and he said changes that have been put in place will address this finding. While there would be more communication and involvement of coaches, such as that which has seen three of them, Bruce Blair (Northern Districts), Mark O’Donnell (Auckland) and Vaughn Johnson (Wellington) selected to take part in an assistant’s role on the tour of India and Pakistan, it was not intended that the structure result in a cloning of coaches.Snedden said it was a case of everyone going in the same direction but not necessarily thinking about doing things in the same way. “We don’t want to take individualism out of it,” he said.There would be a restructuring of the coaching education system developed by John Howell. This would now be divided between High Performance needs and the participation side of the game. As a result, Alec Astle’s development programme would be responsible for coaching education from the earliest stages through to Level Two.John F Reid would then be responsible for what happened after that point. There would also be more work done with the coaching directors from the Major Associations to improve the systems beyond that already in place. Howell had pulled together the bones of the coaching education over the last 10 years and now it was time to up the quality and deliver something much better, Snedden said.He said there had been a misconception, even among cricket people in New Zealand that the HPC and the Cricket Academy were one and the same thing. “The Academy is just one part of the HPC and we need to communicate that to make people aware,” he said.There had also been a look taken at where the Academy, and its philosophy, fitted into NZC’s overall pathway and what role NZC and the Major Associations would play in that. Snedden said there was a need to avoid centralisation although NZC wanted to ensure it maintained responsibility for the elite level players. But there was also a requirement for players to a pre-determined level to be the responsibility of the Majors.It was possible that it might be something like a mobile academy so that participants didn’t always have to go to Lincoln, and the academy could go out to the Majors. That would allow utilisation of facilities at a local level, while also avoiding the need to duplicate the resource that the HPC provides at the elite level.Up until the Under-17 level players were the responsibility of their Associations, and it was once taking part in that tournament that the talent identification started to take effect. It was after the Under-19 tournament level that NZC started to play a larger role in the development of players. NZC would have to make sure that the Majors could do the job.There would also be more focus in research and development, something that Snedden said New Zealand as a country had tended to shy away from. “Now we have to understand that if we are going to be innovative and create an edge over our opponents we have got to be prepared to do the research,” he said.

The Pub Charity CCA Club Cricket draw for Saturday is:MEN’S CRICKET1st Grade Men:R4 – 29 Nov & 6 Dec (2-Day Trophy)2nd day of 22nd Grade Men:R4 – 29 Nov & 6 Dec (2-Day Trophy)2nd day of 23rd Grade Gold Men:29 & 6 Dec (2 Day)2nd day of 23rd Grade Red:R5 – 6 & 13 December (2-day Trophy)Christs College v St. Thom St. Thom 1,STAC v TBHS TBHS 1,St. Bedes v SBHS SBHS 1,Burn HS v CBHS Burn HS 1.3rd Grade Black:R5 – 6 & 13 December (2-day Match)CBHS Blue v CBHS Black Straven 1,CBHS Red v St. Bedes St. Bedes 1,SBHS v Burn HS Clare Park 2,Ricc HS v STAC Ricc HS 1,CC Bye.4th Grade Men:Mar v BWU Burn 2,St A B v St A A Hag 4,LPW Yabbage v OC Cavs Elm 3,ES Hooters v Syd Muppets Syd 2.5th Grade Men:BWU Blue v LPW Yaks Ensors 2,BWU Maroon v BWU Gold Ilam 2,OC Tan v Ricc Gold HSC,St A v BWU SNCC HC 3,Ricc Hogs Bye.6th Grade Men:Mar Gold v Parklands Ilam 1,OC Tan v Syd Red Syd 3,LPW v OC SGC Ensors 3,St A v Mar Fozzie B’s HC 7,Syd Blue v BWU Syd 4.President’s Men:Ricc+ v LPW Red Wool 2,Mar v HSOB Gold HC 8,OC v St A Blue Ilam 4,LPW Gladiators v St A Gold HC 9,ES Gold v Syd Burw 3,Hospital v ES Blue Clare 1,BWU v Sum Misfits Burn 3.(+Indicates holder of the G Frampton Challenge Cup)WOMEN’S CRICKET1st Grade Women:R8 – 6 Dec (1-day Cup):ES v St A Burw 2,LPW v OC-Country Gar 2.1st Reserve Grade Women:St A v OC-Country Ilam 6,BWU v ES Burn 4,Syd v Ricc Ilam 5.2nd Grade Women:St A v LPW Wool 1,Syd v Hare Red 2,OC-Country Bye.3rd Grade:Ricc v Horn Polo 3a,LPW v St A Polo 4a,BWU v Syd Polo 2a.4th Grade Primary Girls (Grade redrawn):Senior Trad:St A Gold v LPW HC 3,ES v St A Grammar HC 7,OC-Country v Horn HC 8.Junior Trad:St A v Syd Selwyn House HC 9.Junior Average:St A v LPW HC 4,HSOB v Syd HC 5,Cath G v President’s XI HC 6.

Mark Alleyne, Gloucestershire’s captain and new player/coach, has been included in the New Year Honours list in recognition of his success with the county in the past five years, in which time they have won six one-day titles.Alleyne, 35, played 10 one-dayers for England between 1999 and 2000. Speaking today, he admitted that both he and his wife, Louise, were astonished and overwhelmed when they heard the news of his MBE. “I was very surprised. I never thought I would be considered for anything like this,” he said. “We were both pretty much in tears when we found out. But it was when my wife started to cry that I realised how important it was.”I have seen her cry only twice before. One was when our first child was born, and the other was when we beat Somerset in the NatWest final in 1999. That meant a lot to Gloucestershire people.”That victory set the wheels rolling for Gloucestershire and their incredible success. Alleyne, along with John Bracewell, the former coach, masterminded Gloucestershire to three Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy victories, the latest against Worcestershire last summer. And that was capped off with promotion to the first divsion of the County Championship.”We had a vision for the club, to be one of the premier teams in England,” Alleyne added. “We do kind of look back at what we have achieved, and it has been outstanding. I am really proud of that – it has been a great moment to be involved with Gloucestershire County Cricket Club.”Now we have a chance to build on all that. It is a new challenge altogether, and I want to keep it going. To truly be a top club you need to be in the top bracket in both forms of the game, and I am pleased to have helped Gloucestershire up where they belong.”David Graveney, England’s chairman of selectors, expressed his congratulations to Alleyne. “It is a great award. It is not often that a person who has achieved success in the county game has been rewarded with an MBE,” said Graveney. “I am sure he would be the first to say it is an honour for the team. He has played his part in Gloucestershire’s success over the years.”I have known him since he first broke into the Gloucestershire team when I was his first captain. I remember him very vividly. He was a very good cricketer he has played his part.”

New Zealand 255 for 5 (Fleming 108, McMillan 70*) beat South Africa 253 for 8 (Smith 80, Rudolph 42, Boucher 40) by 5 wickets
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Stephen Fleming engineered a five-wicket New Zealand triumph over South Africa at Christchurch to level the six-match series at 1-1. His 108, and a 102-run partnership with Craig McMillan (71 not out), took New Zealand to the target of 254 after they were in a quandary at 66 for 3.In contrast with an overpowering performance towards the end, McMillan was ill at ease when he began, and an airy-fairy sweep nearly brought about his end. Gradually, he settled down and provided Fleming support. Together, they milked singles when boundaries were scarce, and towards the end, smashed fours and sixes. In the five overs before Fleming was dismissed, 51 were scored, with six fours and two sixes peppering the boundary.While McMillan upped the ante with three fours in an over, Fleming thundered away to his century with a straight-drive that shot down the ground. It was that sort of a day for Fleming. The fall of wickets had no effect, and he only came harder and harder at South Africa. Tight fields were rendered useless with shots that were tantalisingly out of the fielders’ reach. Cover-drives and pulls were brought out of the bag when murderous cut shots weren’t on display. But it had to end sometime.Going for one more big hit, he swung Makhaya Ntini to square leg (226 for 5). It was the last success for South Africa, because McMillan got to his fifty and then struck the ball even harder, while Chris Cairns ended it all with a massive six.South Africa’s innings of 253 was built around Graeme Smith’s 80, and destructive sideshows by Mark Boucher and Jacques Rudolph. Smith yet again paved the way with an innings that reflected the three stages of South Africa’s innings – survival, rebuilding, and, finally, attack. After opting to bat first on a damp wicket, he watched New Zealand remove Herschelle Gibbs and Jacques Kallis in quick time (28 for 2). But the pitch slowly lost its venom, and by the time Daniel Vettori bowled his first ball, and saw it whacked into the stands, the wicket had completed its transformation from beast to beauty.A steadying partnership with Boeta Dippenaar ensued, and after that, the fun and games began. Rudolph scored 42, and Boucher got out on 40, but not before tonking every bowler who bowled to them. The midwicket and cover boundaries were targeted, and sixes endangered spectators. Smith fell in the pursuit for big runs, but by then he had got South Africa to a position of relative strength.His bowlers, though, had a mixed day, with Ntini firing in threatening deliveries and picking up two early wickets at one end, and Shaun Pollock barely able to control the swing at the other. Fleming duly took advantage with a series of demoralising cut shots. Nel, who usually scares batsmen even before he bowls, found his first two balls swung away to square leg for ten runs. Hamish Marshall played a couple of pretty shots as well, but threw it away to a harmless delivery (66 for 3).Scott Styris began circumspectly, but soon found the fence regularly. Clean hitting was on the menu when out of nowhere, Gibbs pulled off a stunning one-handed catch, ending Styris’s part in the match (124 for 4). Then, McMillan walked in, and played his part in the doubly whammy that floored South Africa.

Central Districts’ joy at dismissing Wellington for a low score was short lived, Matthew Horne made runs on a rainy day, and Otago were placed well at the end of the first day of the latest round of State Championship matches.1st day close Central Districts 55 for 8 (Franklin 4-22, Gillespie 4-29) trail Wellington 181(Parlane 40, Franklin 39, Thompson 7-55) by 126 runs
ScorecardAfter dismissing Wellington for 181 at McLean Park in Napier, Central Districts would have felt it was a job well done. But by the end of the day the smiles were upside-down, when they were reduced to 55 for 8. Ewen Thompson dominated Wellington with seven wickets for 55. One batsman after another trudged back to the stands as Thompson ran through the top order, barring Neal Parlane (40) and Luke Franklin (27), who put on a 74-run stand, before falling to the same bowler. Brendon Diamante achieved his maiden first-class wicket on debut when having Mark Gillespie leg before wicket to finish with one for 24. After the fine start, Central Districts were stunned when Mark Gillespie and James Franklin came out with a vengeance and grabbed eight wickets. The lead, and the form of their bowlers augurs well for Wellington, who made a strong bid for a place in the Championship final.1st day close Auckland 143 for 3 (Horne 91) v Northern Districts
ScorecardBecause of inclement weather, Auckland could play out only 48 overs on the day. In that time, Matthew Horne made the most of his stay in the middle to finish the day on 91, scored off 144 balls. He played a vital hand for Auckland who ended the day on 143 for 3. There was disappointment for Tim McIntosh when he was run out for one. Mark Richardson scored 14 while Lou Vincent, returning from injury, scored 12. Rob Nicol was on 11 as stumps were taken.1st day close Otago 278 for 5 (Wasim 66, Lawson 50) v Canterbury
ScorecardCanterbury asked Otago to bat first at Alexandra where an uninterrupted day was enjoyed, a rare thing in recent weeks. Otago made the most of the opportunity to finish on 278 for five wickets. Mohammad Wasim’s good run of form in recent weeks continued as he scored 66 in a 75-run partnership with Chris Gaffaney. They parted when Gaffaney was out for 29. Wasim went on his way soon after, and it was left to Robbie Lawson and Marcel McKenzie to rebuild the momentum of the innings. They added 94 runs before Lawson was out for 50 while McKenzie followed for 46. By stumps, Gareth Hopkins and Jeff Wilson had restored things, leaving the way clear for a second day assault. Hopkins was on 24, and Wilson on 34. Stephen Cunis took 2 for 38 and Andrew Ellis 2 for 47.

Leicestershire have signed two former Test cricketers, Claude Henderson and Ottis Gibson, as they strengthen their squad ahead of the 2004 county season.Henderson played seven Tests as a spinner for South Africa, and Gibson two Tests as a fast-bowling allrounder for West Indies, although under European law, neither man counts as an overseas player.Gibson, 35, who last played international cricket in January 1999, has been working as an ECB coach since 2001 and has applied for UK citizenship. But it is Henderson’s circumstances that are of particular interest. He is eligible as a non-overseas player because South Africa has an associate agreement with the European Union, and has chosen not to make himself available for the national team.”I’ve forfeited my right to play in South Africa," said Henderson, "so I am grateful for the opportunity to play first-class cricket in England." He is the first player to benefit directly from a recent judgment in the European court, where a Slovakian handball player, Maros Kolpak, won the right to play in Germany without being classified as a foreigner. And, given that Leicestershire’s leading spinner, Jeremy Snape, managed only ten wickets last season, he is sure to play a major role in the coming season.Gibson’s case is more straightforward, although his main role will be off the field, as he is to double up as Leicestershire’s bowling coach. "With their recent restructuring, Leicestershire is the perfect club for me," he said. "I sense a real desire for improvement, and I aim to help the club from the grass-roots to the professional game.”

Michael Vaughan was delighted with his team’s performance after England had dug deep to secure a draw on the final day of their series in the Caribbean. “I hope everyone is as happy as we all feel,” said Vaughan, whose 140 was instrumental in protecting England’s 3-0 series lead. “It’s a fantastic achievement by all who contributed, not just the 11 who played but the whole squad and the support staff.”We always felt like we had 12 on the field because of our support out here,” said Vaughan, in reference to the thousands of England fans who made the trip. “We really appreciate that. It’s been a historic tour. We are a young side and we must now build on this and drive forward for the New Zealand series in the summer.”England had entered the match with the prospect of inflicting West Indies’ first home series whitewash, but that ambition was dramatically thwarted by Brian Lara’s magnificent unbeaten quadruple-century. “It was a privilege to see Lara score 400,” said Vaughan, “but we played very well, and now we are looking forward to a good one-day series. Hopefully we can take that trophy as well.”Lara had mixed emotions about his achievement, as he spoke to Sky Sports after the match. “I am very happy, but at the end of the day my spirit is still dampened by the series result. If we are going to learn from this game, we must put in the hard work and maybe get the result another time. All I want is to bring more cohesion in the West Indies team and our people. These performances, let’s share them out, that would have more value than anything else.”The seven-match one-day series offers a new challenge. “We are now starting afresh and going to Guyana,” said Lara. “We need to start on a positive note. That is important for me and this team. I think we have learnt from England how to put a game together. They have batted and bowled in partnerships and they have played like a team over all five days. We need to learn to play five days to win Test matches.”The Man of the Series award went to Steve Harmison, for his series haul of 23 wickets. He had entered the match with the prospect of breaking England’s record of 27 wickets in the Caribbean, jointly held by Angus Fraser and John Snow, but could add only one more scalp on a featherbed of a pitch.”There was talk of a record but a wicket like that is not breaking any [bowling] records,” said Harmison. “I think Angus Fraser was happy in the commentary box. Before I came here I wanted to establish myself in the England team. I feel I have done that now and hopefully I can improve as a Test cricketer.”