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The Cheltenham and Gloucester semi final tie between Somerset and Kent at the County Ground on Thursday is a sell out, and that’s official.The last few remaining tickets went on sale this morning and by earlyafternoon they had all gone.Some of the supporters today had travelled a substantial distance to buy their tickets. One told me that he had read about the remining tickets on Saturday, and had left Brnstaple in North Devon at 8am to be at the ground by 9am to buy his tickets.Another couple from Penzance had telephoned the office at 9am in the hope that there were still tickets available, and arrived three hours later releived to have got their tickets.Outside on the ground the first team squad, including Andy Caddick, Richard Johnson and Simon Francis , were all busy training and having net practice, whilst on the boundary edge in front of the cricket shop the temporary stand was being erected.Chief executive Peter Anderson told me: “Of course this is a vital game for the club, after all we are the holders of the trophy and want to win it again this year.”He continued: “The game will be a sell out, and my advice to all those who are attending is to arrive in plenty of time.There will be no parking on the ground, but 1500 additional spaces are being made available by Taunton Deane Borough Council to whom we are very grateful.1000 of these will be in Victoria Park and the other 500 are in the Cattle Market.”Regarding the fitness of strike bowlers Andy Caddick and Richard Johnson he told me: “Andy and Richard are both training and will bowl today, as they will tomorrow and Wednesday, but we won’t be making a final decision as to whether they play until the morning of the match.”

Cricket Wellington exceeded their budgetary expectations for the 2001/02 year and achieved a surplus of $59,000 which was $50,000 more than expected, and representative of a $123,000 turnaround.Cricket Wellington (CW) chairman John Hunn said in Wellington’s annual report that revenues from New Zealand Cricket-funded programmes increased by $150,000, indoor training centre revenues increased by $50,000 and Pub Charities revenues increased by $100,000. However, these were offset by a decrease in membership income of $56,000.Hunn said that membership decline was attributable to competition from memberships at the WestpacTrust Stadium and other inroads into revenue generation were coming from other events on the Wellington entertainment market.”We have identified as a short-term priority the need to improve our outcomes in profiling of CW and our main brands, and in communications in general,” he said.In its business development, Hunn said business income had increased by about 25% in each of the last two years and this was despite the lack of continuity in the position of business development manager.”The organisation has embraced the latest data and web technologies and staff are rapidly gaining proficiency at information management via these mediums.”Our academy facilities are building a strong income base and it is planned to reshape the Wellington Cricket Trust to provide another link in our revenue generation chain,” he said.The work of CW’s operations committee had been successful in achieving a number of goals.”Delivery of services to club cricketers has improved markedly in the last 12 months and is subject to continued review and refinement. There appears to be growing levels of satisfaction with progress in this area among our stakeholders,” he said.A significant area of improvement is anticipated in women’s cricket while there was a much closer working relationship with local ground authorities in the region.In coaching and elite player development, Hunn said there had been a drive to increase the base level of elite players and this had resulted in a zonal trial system which concludes with the selection of representative and development squads from Standard Four to Form Three age groups.”This effectively doubles the platform on which our elite programme is built,” he said.”Improved use of technology is allowing tracking of player performances and development. Synergies between our Academy and the High Performance Centre and Otago University Sports Medicine Centre at the Stadium are being explored and utilised.”CW teams are experiencing great success in domestic competition from Under-17 level to first-class and there is a real drive in this area to expand the boundaries of what can be delivered in the Elite Player area.”Coaching systems and structures have been developed from a small informal base with the aim of providing 30 new coaches per year. We are on target to exceed this measure in 2002,” he said.Hunn expressed some frustration in the inability to achieve medium-term financial planning support from NZC.”John Hood in his second report to NZC in December 1998, ‘A Path to Superior Performance Revisited’ highlighted the priority which Associations must give to 3-5 year strategic planning as the basis of their operations.”CW is now strongly committed to this approach as the base for its operational planning but is still pressing for a similar level of commitment from NZC. In last year’s annual report we noted that ‘the Board has sought a review of its funding arrangements with NZC as the present business model forces CW to share in the trading risks of NZC each season to a degree which inhibits sound long-term planning and prudent financial management.'”Regrettably we cannot yet report success in these discussions although we are pleased to report that NZC substantially increased their annual funding to Associations this year.”Recent indications are that NZC is becoming supportive to the concept of a medium-term financial commitment to Associations to provide some in their planning,” he said.Wellington’s chief executive Ervin McSweeney said the year’s performance had been rewarding in many areas.”However, as we look ahead we cannot afford to ‘rest on our laurels'”We may not win major competitions every year but we are determined to set new benchmarks in delivery of cricket services, and to show initiative and leadership in all aspects of the game.”From a financial perspective the next period is going to be very challenging, but we are fortunate to have high quality facilities, an inspirational working environment and hopefully continued support and goodwill from many quarters,” he said.

In Kingston captain Carl Hooper and coach Roger Harper have held up the Kensington Oval pitch for the second Test of the recent Cable & Wireless Series as an example of what is needed at all levels of West Indies cricket.They were endorsements that are likely to earn the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) US$10 000 incentive for the best pitch and outfield of the series for Hendy Davis and his ground staff.The initial award, introduced last year for the series against South Africa, went to Sabina Park.I think the Barbados wicket was the best we played on [in the series], Hooper said after the West Indies won the fifth and final Test at Sabina Park on Monday to clinch the series 2-1.If we could have wickets like the Barbados wicket, or close to it, in our Busta Cup cricket, it’ll go a long way to developing our young cricketers, he added.Harper agreed. We need more pitches of that nature, he said.Harper thought the WICB was fully aware of the need for better pitches.We just have to make sure we get the right personnel who are very capable to preparing the sort of pitches that will encourage better cricket, he said.Comparing the pitches at Kensington and at Sabina for the last Test, where the West Indies won their two Tests, both captain and coach agreed the former was more consistent.I thought the Barbados wicket was a better cricket wicket than this one here, Hooper said. A lot of cracks opened on this one and there were a few occasions when I thought it was instrumental in a batsman’s dismissal.He cited Rahul Dravid’s lbw in India’s first innings as an example.The ball kept low and cut back, he said. It was a key dismissal.Harper gave kudos to the Sabina pitch for the final Test, describing it as a very good cricketing pitch.

Hampshire Hawks completed a resounding victory over near neighbours Sussex Sharks at the Rose Bowl to leap into third place in the Norwich Union League Division II table.Excellent work by the Rose Bowl ground staff after early morning rain meant a prompt start. Hampshire introduced a young left-arm seamer to the team, James Tomlinson in for Alan Mullally who was being rested, and brought in Lawrence Prittipaul for Robin Smith who is still troubled slightly by his back, Will Kendall again captaining the side.Neil Johnson and Derek Kenway gave the Hawks a super start with an opening stand of 78 in 16 overs, but the middle order faltered before Nic Pothas kept company with Johnson in a 52 run stand. Johnson was finally out for 92 in 110 balls that enabled in the murky conditions to bring the home side past the 200 mark.The Sharks started badly losing Will House and Tim Ambrose with four on the board, Tomlinson taking a wicket with his second ball on his Hampshire debut, he also accounted for Richard Montgomerie soon after.Chris Adams and Murray Goodwin shared a half century stand to rally the visitors, but both fell to the guile of Shaun Udal, and the rest of the reply folder ignominiously. Udal finished with four wickets, and Nic Pothas equalled the Hampshire Sunday League wicket-keeping record of Bobby Parks and Adi Aymes of 5 in an innings, but beat the most catches record.

Updated
On 23 March 2002, during the last day of the first Test match (no. 1592) between New Zealand and England at Auckland, Nathan Astle smashed eleven sixes during his amazing innings of 222. He set a new record of most sixes in an innings for New Zealand, beating the previous record of nine sixes by Chris Cairns (120) – against Zimbabwe at the same ground in 1995-96. However, the all-time record is still held by Pakistan’s Wasim Akram who cracked 12 sixes during his unbeaten 257-run knock against Zimbabwe at Sheikhupura in 1996.Rather interestingly, Astle’s second hundred (from 101 to 200) came off only 39 balls in 69 minutes, which is believed to be a world record. According to newspaper reports, Wally Hammond during his triple hundred against New Zealand at Auckland in 1933 needed just 47 balls to go from 200 to 300. So that means, Astle’s second 100 in 39 balls is the fastest ever because the current actual fastest (from 0 to 100) was by West Indian Viv Richards, who took 56 balls against England at St John’s in 1985-86.In the almost 125 years of Test cricket, since it took its birth way back in 1877, there have been references of almost 5260 sixes or hits over-the-boundary ropes. Prior to 1912, many scoring strokes that obviously landed over the boundary but according to scoring regulations at that time were awarded only 4 or 5 runs. The following list has however been compiled treating them as if they were a present-day six. The two innings below listed for Joe Darling are examples of this.

-All data updated to 27.02.2002
– Acknowledgement: Inadvertently omitted from the previousedition of this article; Mr Ross Smith’s excellent website https://au.geocities.com/sportandhistory/cricket/test.html

It was some years ago when April 1st fell on a Saturday. On “Grandstand” – BBC TV’s sports programme – it was decided to mark the occasion by mounting an elaborate hoax featuring cricket. Consequently, I was despatched to the Sussex county ground to film the action that went towards making a programme item that was realistic enough to fool a lot of people.The basis of it was that so many Championship matches finished early, making it difficult for commercial departments to sell the last day to corporate sponsors who could not be sure of having any cricket to put before their clients and guests. To counter this, there was to be a 20-over competition played when the “real” game finished before schedule.The pitch was to be lengthened to 24 yards in order to negate fast bowling, there were runs deducted if a batsman played out a maiden over, two instances of “one hand, one bounce” meant that the batsman was out, and there were only 30 seconds available for the batsman to get to the middle at the fall of a wicket before he could be timed out. There were innovative umpiring signals introduced to cover the new decisions, while the officials had the power to send players to a sin-bin for bad behaviour.We filmed a demonstration match performed (and that is the correct word!) by the Sussex players, and conducted interviews with all and sundry. Paul Parker, the Sussex captain at the time, had to have several goes at his interview because he could not keep a straight face, while coach Norman Gifford and commercial manager Jim Parks gave considered views on the impact of the new competition.To give some scarcely-needed credibility to the whole thing, we conducted an interview with the retiring marketing manager of the then Test and County Cricket Board, Peter Lush, who, unprompted, came out with a marvellous line about this new competition being the way to promote cricket to the American market.As an April Fool, it was a huge success. Viewers wrote in to complain about the further ruination of the game, and several people made a point of conveying their distaste for the idea to me personally. I can clearly remember watching the piece go out and saying to the assembled company in the studio: “I just hope the TCCB weren’t watching or they’ll try to implement it!”The years have rolled by and the TCCB has given way to the England and Wales Cricket Board, whose First-Class Forum have just announced that, as from the 2003 season, there will be – yes, you’ve guessed it – a 20-over-a-side competition in the schedule of matches.The “innovations” that we introduced all those years ago will not be in use. The quite admirable aim of the competition, as described by chief executive Tim Lamb is to introduce “another very positive development for the future of cricket in this country. It’s essential that we reach out and appeal to a new generation of young cricket followers, and this new competition is designed to do exactly that.”All we can hope is that it achieves its aim and brings in that new generation of cricket enthusiasts and they, in turn, grow to like the real thing. Nobody can doubt the sincerity of the intention; we must just hope that it is not the game itself that is being made to wear the hat with the bells.

After suffering the doom at Napier, Pakistan needed to pull up its socks, which it did in the 3rd One-day international at Wellington. After a disappointing performance in the previous encounter, it was now the batsmen’s turn to compensate for their failure to provide Pakistan a lead in the five match series. Considering that New Zealand had lately turned into a site of low scoring matches, Pakistan’s score of 243 was a challenging one or possibly a winning total, provided the bowlers bowled economically and the fielders were not lazy and lethargic.The high score helped Pakistan in winning the match though their performance was not without blemish. The fielding was as pathetic as ever. Some vital catches were dropped while easy stumping chances missed. Giving away abnormally high number of `extras’ made the team look ordinary. Despite all the follies, it was, however, wonderful to defeat the Black Caps. The victory opens up the avenues of a series victory for Pakistan by clinching one of the two remaining ODIsPakistan took an adventurous start scoring at the rate of around 6 runs an over. After replacing Imran Farhat as opener Imran Nazir gave Pakistan a good start by scoring 32 useful runs. After his departure another solid partnership ensued between Saeed Anwar (57) and Saleem Elahi (30) that enabled Pakistan to cross 100 of the innings.After Saleem Elahi fell victim to Chris Harris on his own ball, the wickets almost fell at regular intervals. Not allowing liberties to the batsmen, Harris (2 for 31) appeared to be the most difficult bowler to face. The impressive run rate of 6 gradually came down to around 4 and remained so for long. It was the plunder of 51 runs in the last 5 overs that enabled Pakistan to hoist the respectable total of 243.As usual Saeed Anwar was the highest scorer with a brilliant 57 while Yousuf Youhana (47) missed his well-deserved half-century by only 3 runs. Imran Nazir (32) and Saleem Elahi (30) were the other major contributors to the total.Considering 244 not an easy target for victory, the Black Caps were naturally not as confident as in the previous match. Pakistan’s famous two Ws Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis thus got a tremendous start. By launching a fiery attack Wasim got the early break-though by sending skipper Stephen Fleming back to the pavilion with only 12 runs on the board. Waqar followed suit by causing the second blow to the Black Caps when Roger Twose snicked an incoming delivery into the safe hands of Moin Khan. Nathan Astle was the next to go bringing New Zealand to a miserable 19 for 3.The situation, however, took a miraculous turn when Craig McMillan and Lou Vincent stuck to the crease like a rock, punishing all bowlers well and proper. While Waqar was hit for 3 fours in one over, they treated Azhar Mahmood and Abdur Razzaq with real contempt.Poor fielding by Pakistan contributed its share to their long partnership. Vincent who scored some brisk and breezy runs took at least two chances. He was dropped by Imran Nazir when the total was 63 and for the 2nd time by Yousuf Youhana at the boundary line when New Zealand was 102 for 3. The partnership between the two that yielded 99 invaluable runs was eventually broken, when Vincent was smartly stumped by Moin Khan, rewarding Saqlain Mushtaq with his 1st wicket of the match. His quick fire 34 put the Black Caps on the path of free scoring, while placing them at a safe 118 for 3.The tempo of scoring continued for some time after the arrival of Chris Harris but the situation changed all of a sudden when the two Black Caps, McMillan (64) and Chris Harris (11) were back to the pavilion one after the other. The loss of McMillan who raised the New Zealand innings to a respectable score of 152 for 5 was the grave one for his side. While Harris left at the same total, Daniel Vettori’s ouster brought the Black Caps down to 161 for 7 and then to 187 for 8. Azhar Mahmood and Saqlain Mushtaq were in command while Pakistan was back in the game.The Black Caps needed 12 runs an over to win the match. They had their bright moments when Daryl Tuffey survived a stumping chance and Adam Parore stole 12 runs including a towering 6 off an over from Wasim Akram. The sixers having become a rare commodity, the small crowd at the stadium danced and chanted with delight.With the fall of the 9th wicket at the score of 207 it was a matter of touch and go. The pair of tail-enders, Franklin and Martin unable to sustain the pressure constantly mounting from the opposing pair of Wasim and Saqlain succumbed without much of a resistance. The Black Caps were all out for 215 runs offering Pakistan a victory by 28 runs. Pakistan leads the 5 match series by 2-1.

Rain washed out the third play`s play in the County Championship matchbetween Glamorgan and Kent at St.Helen`s in Swansea.After a morning of mist and persistant drizzle, the early afternoon saw morecontinuous and heavy rain sweep in from Swansea Bay. A lull in mid-afternoonled to umpires Ken Palmer and Jeremy Lloyds calling an early tea, and aninspection at five o`clock. But just as drying-up operations began inearnest out in the middle, the “Mumbles mizzle” returned and the umpiresabandoned play for the day at half-past four.The game therefore enters the final day with Glamorgan still in their firstinnings, 75 runs behind Kent, with two wickets still standing. With thewicket increasingly giving some assistance to the spin bowlers, there could,in theory, be a positive outcome to this match, especially as Glamorgan`sRobert Croft will be eager to get in some match progress before travellingup to Old Trafford to join up with the rest of the England party for theSecond Test at Old Trafford.Today`s washout leaves Glamorgan rueing the elements for the secondsuccessive Championship game, as last week they had all four days of theirmatch against Lancashire at Old Trafford washed out by rain. So far thisseason, the Welsh county have lost over 50 hours of play and today`s totalwashout is the seventh full day that Glamorgan have lost out of a possibletotal of fifteen day`s play.The wet Swansea weather was also a huge disappointment for the St.Helen`sBalconiers, the famous supporters organisation, based at the historic groundin Swansea which over the years has been the scene of many famous days inthe club`s history, including Glamorgan`s victories against the Australiansin 1964 and 1968, as well as Sir Garfield Sobers` six sixes in an over in 1968.During the last four years, the Balconiers have invested £45,000 infirst-class cricket at the Swansea ground, and have been instrumental inorganising this year`s Swansea Festival which continues on Wednesday withGlamorgan`s Championship match against Yorkshire, and ends next Sunday withthe National League game against Sussex.All of Glamorgan`s loyal supporters will be hoping that the weather improvesfor the rest of the week.

In wake of the criticism leveled at India over the absence of spinners in the A-team squad that will play England in a warm-up game, batsman Virat Kohli has said there would be nothing unfair with making England play on spinner-friendly pitches in the Tests. On India’s tour to England and Australia last year, he said, the conditions during the warm-up games and those in the Test matches were vastly different, which was not ‘fair’ to India.”Why not [turning pitches]? We were given flattest of tracks during practice matches in England and Australia and then suddenly presented with a green-top during the Tests,” Kohli told . “During practice matches, we would face those 120kmph bowlers … If they [England and Australia] wanted to be fair to us, they could have provided us with same kind of tracks for practice matches, like what were used in Tests.”Especially, when they knew that visiting teams get very less time to practice. Now they would be playing on turning tracks and definitely would know where they stand.”The tour of India marks the return of Kevin Pietersen to the England side, after a 10-week stand-off with the team. Kohli said he will be under a lot of pressure to perform, especially taking into account England’s traditional struggles against spin.”There will be huge pressure on KP as he has been playing in India for quite some time and considered to be a good batsman against spin.”You may say that the senior England cricketers have an understanding of these conditions but let me tell you, it’s not that easy. You might feel they would like to hit spinners but end up doing exactly opposite.”He pointed to England’s tour of the UAE, where they were whitewashed 3-0 by Pakistan in the Tests, as an example of England’s continuing issues with spin. “That particular series, there wasn’t much turn on offer but England couldn’t negotiate one quality spinner [Saeed Ajmal]; they lost the battle in their heads.”Kohli also defended his team-mates, saying the talk about them being poor against short-pitched bowling did not make sense. “I have never really understood this theory. Are people like Tendulkar, Dravid, Laxman, Sehwag poor players of short-pitched bowling? Show me how many Indian players were out to short-pitched deliveries in Australia?”No batsman in world cricket is comfortable against a good bouncer. If you get a good bouncer, give credit to the bowler rather than finding chinks in batsman’s armoury.”Similarly, he backed MS Dhoni and Duncan Fletcher, saying any criticism directed at them for India’s recent poor overseas form was unfounded. “Under him [Dhoni], we have won the World Cup, been No. 1 in Tests … He has also encouraged the juniors.””Duncan is also a thorough professional. He would quietly stand in one corner and observe. If he needs to say something, he would come up and give a suggestion. He believes international cricketers know their jobs. If we have lost eight Test matches, blame us and not the coach.”

The Highveld Strikers ended the limited-overs portion of their season of discontent with another defeat, their seventh in 10 Standard Bank Cup outings, although they mounted a courageous attempt to reach a target that rain had seen revised to 220 off just 31 overs.In the end, they needed three off the last ball and number 11 David Terbrugge was unable to beat the field, hitting it back to the bowler, Garth Roe, on the bounce, to leave the Strikers on 217 for nine, three short of their victory target.The match was a meaningless one, with both sides long out of the semi-final frame, but turned out to be a thriller, with rain adding to the frenzied nature of the encounter. First it reduced the match to 41 overs a side before it had even started and then it shaved a further 10 overs off thevisitor’s innings by returning during the supper break, after the home side themselves had gone at more than six an over in setting a challenging 249 for nine.Gary Outram, with an unbeaten 46 off just 32 balls, gave North West a flying finish after contributions down the order, including a swashbuckling 41 from Mark Lavine, whose West Indian counterpart, Ottis Gibson, was flayed for 67 off just seven overs.Clive Eksteen, the only Strikers bowler to get a full nine overs, was all that stood between North West and an even higher score as he took three for 24.It was a similar situation in the Strikers’ knock, with occasional offspinner Craig Light, the one man to bowl seven overs, taking one for 24. The visitors’ run-chase pivoted around one man, their find of the season, Marthinus Otto, who belted 70 off just 59 balls before perishing in thefinal run-in.Eksteen could manage just six off 11 balls at a time when eight an over were needed, but Nicholas Mataboge, with 10 off six, and Sonnyboy Letshele, who finished unbeaten on 26 off 27 balls in only his second innings at this level, almost got the visitors home before the former was run out. But it was always going to be asking too much of Terbrugge to come in and hit a boundary off his only delivery.