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Sri Lankan left-arm seamer Chaminda Vaas has agreed to join Hampshire Cricket on a short-term contract to the end of the 2003 season.Vaas, who has not played county cricket before, arrives in England over the weekend and is expected to make his debut in the National League Division Two match at the Rose Bowl on Monday August 4 against the Scottish Saltires.First-team manager Paul Terry was delighted that the man who has played 68 Tests and 227 one-day internationals for his country has agreed to join Hampshire.He said, before the start of the floodlit National League match with Northamptonshire Steelbacks on Wednesday evening, “I am delighted that Chaminda had agreed to join and received clearance from the Sri Lankan Cricket Board to do so.”It is especially pleasing that we have a player of such quality coming to join us.”It is left-arm bowler for left-arm bowler, as Vaas replaces Pakistani Wasim Akram, who left the county two weeks ago.

Australian all rounder, Greg Blewett, is set to join Kent as stand-in for Andrew Symonds for the first six weeks of the season.Symonds, Kent’s overseas player for the last two years, is currently playing a series of matches for Australia "A" against South Africa "A" and is expected to be selected shortly as a member of Australia’s One Day Squad to play against the West Indies in May.Ian Brayshaw, Kent’s Director of Cricket, explained the situation:

Blewett, who is currently in St Lucia representing Australia in an international double-wicket tournament, will arrive in England next week in time for the Club’s opening match against Cambridge University on 18 April.Blewett said:

Blewett is 31. He made his Test debut for Australia in 1994, has played 46 Tests and 32 One Day Internationals for his country. He played for Yorkshire in 1999 and experienced an outstanding season with Nottinghamshire in 2001.

WEST INDIES "B" may be languishing rock bottom of the Carib Beer Series standings, but team coach Roddy Estwick is heartened by some of the emerging talent among the region’s territorial reserves.As the competition enters the final round of preliminary matches, the West Indies Under-23s have no chance of reaching the semifinals of the International Challenge, even if they beat newly-crowed Cup champions Barbados.They have lost three matches and drawn the other two but their six points might not be an accurate reflection of the quality of cricket they have displayed."There are a lot of encouraging signs. Most of the players have made contributions," Estwick told WEEKENDSPORT yesterday. "They are working hard, and the experience of having played first-class cricket is going to serve them in good stead."His major disappointment was the inability of the youngsters to press for victories when they were in positions to do so."I don’t think the boys are strong enough to bowl consistently well for two innings. That has been a disappointment, but hopefully, they can learn from this," he said. "They can go back to the drawing board and work on the areas of trying to get fitter and stronger."Estwick, a first-time West Indies "B" coach who is cricket master at Combermere School, identified Trinidad batsman Aneil Kanhai, Guyanese Narsingh Deonarine, Jamaican Carlton Baugh and Barbadian Jason Bennett as the players who have made the most strides."They performed well, but we didn’t perform well as a unit," the coach said. "We had good individual performances. We are working on it. We are trying to get them to be consistent; but at that age, consistency is the biggest problem."Kanhai, a tall, left-handed attacking batsman, has scored 397 runs (ave. 44.11) and is one of only two players in the competition with two centuries, while Deonarine, another left-hander who captained the West Indies Under-19 team at last year’s Youth World Cup in New Zealand, has 328 runs (ave. 36.44).Wicket-keeper Baugh has commanded the most attention because of his consistency in front of the stumps. He has five half-centuries in an aggregate of 370 runs (ave. 41.11) and some are even labelling him as a contender for imminent West Indies selection."I’m not prepared to go that far, but from what I’ve seen, he looks to be one of the better ‘keepers in the Caribbean," Estwick said. "If he keeps improving on his batting, I don’t see why in the near future he shouldn’t be playing."This is the third season the West Indies "B" have been playing at this level, but it is the first time one of the Under-23s has been asked to captain the side with a view to developing leaders for the future and the job was given to Kittitian opening batsman Shane Jeffers."He is doing a good job. He is making one or two mistakes, but we sit down after the game and we have a chat with him. We try to discuss the areas that he can improve on," Estwick said."We are allowing him to have his head and go out there and make decisions. All the time, you can see improvements."Bennett has been the most impressive of the three Barbadians, capturing 17 wickets in four matches after missing the team’s first game."He’s been a success. He has probably been our best bowler in the last three or four games," Estwick said. "He has bowled with a lot of control and he is moving the old ball around."Fellow Barbadians, Patrick Browne and Martin Nurse have had mixed returns.Teenager Nurse, who played two matches for Barbados last season, was dropped from the West Indies "B" after three matches in which he managed only 83 runs (ave. 13.83)."Martin has been a little disappointing. He is working hard at his game," Estwick said. "He is trying to improve all the time. People tend to forget he is only 17. He’s still learning the art of first-class cricket."Since replacing Nurse at the top of the order, Browne has had a few useful scores on the way to 251 runs (ave. 25.10) in his second successive season in West Indies "B".

NIC POTHAS is a South African international wicketkeeper with a Greek passport, and will be lining up for Hampshire in the County Championship this summer.Director of cricket, Tim Tremlett, revealed last night that they had snapped up the talented 28-year-old from under the noses of at least four counties, including Lancashire.”We’re delighted to have signed Nic,” he said. “This shows the ambition of Hampshire.”There will be a lot of top teams in Division 1 this summer. Last time we came straight down, but this signing will prompt competition for places in the team, and enable us to compete in the championship.”Pothas, who has played three one-day internationals for South Africa, is currently plying his trade with Gauteng where he has a batting average of 36 and a top score of 165.He has signed a two-year contract with Hampshire and will join up with the team at the end of the domestic season.He holds a Greek passport, so will qualify to play for Hampshire under EC regulations enabling them to field Zimbabwe international Neil Johnson and Pothas in the same team.Tremlett revealed that they had been chasing Pothas for the last 18 months. “Our coach Jimmy Cook has known Nic since he was quite young, during his playing days with Transvaal,” added Tremlett. “He is a quality player and comes highly recommended.”This deal has been a long time in arranging. The registration finally came through from Lord’s in November.”Pothas’s signing could potentially put pressure on Hampshire number one wicketkeeper Adrian Aymes, and talented second team keeper, Iain Brunnschweiler.Tremlett admitted they were keen to increase the strength of the squad and boost competition, but they saw the South African primarily as a batsman.He added: “We have explained the situation to Nic. At the moment some people regard him more as a batsman/wicketkeeper. He regularly opens the batting for Gauteng in one-day game, and bats at four in the championship.”Nic does keep wicket, but we are looking to him primarily as a batsman, who can keep wicket.”Adie is one of the best wicketkeepers in the country, who also scores lot of runs, and he is certainly the number one.”Tremlett revealed that Hampshire are still keeping tabs on Lancashire batsman John Crawley. The England international stepped down as captain of the county last summer and has stated his intention to leave.Hampshire are keen to sign the player, but the county’s Director of Cricket admitted they were watching from the sidelines while Crawley sorts out his wrangle with Lancashire, who have refused him to be released from his contract.

Australian cricketing icon Bob Simpson will be the guest speaker at Otago Cricket’s annual dinner in mid-April.Simpson played 62 Tests for Australia in a career which spanned two distinct eras. After appearing on 52 occasions between 1957/58 and 1967/68, Simpson came out of retirement a decade later at the age of 41 to lead Australia to series wins over India and the West Indies.His recall was forced by the advent of Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket which split the Australian game in two. Simpson scored the last of his 10 Test centuries in the fifth and final Test of the home series against in India at Adelaide in 1977/78, a score pivotal to Australia taking the Test and the series 3-2.Simpson’s first century was his highest, 311 against England in the fourth Test of the 1964 Ashes series in Manchester, and he is just one of four Australian players to score a triple-century at Test level. Don Bradman (twice), Bob Cowper and Mark Taylor are the others.In his 62 matches Simpson scored 4869 runs at an average of 46.81, he recorded 27 50s to compliment his 10 centuries, took 71 wickets and snared 110 catches.After retiring a second time Simpson coached New South Wales before embarking on a spectacularly successful decade as Australian coach before taking his talents offshore. He is still involved in coaching today.Otago Cricket’s event manager Steve Davie says it is especially fitting to have Simpson involved in this year’s dinner with the function to be held in honour of the elite ‘300 Club’.There are just five members of this club – being New Zealand batsmen who have scored 300-plus runs in an innings, either for their province or for New Zealand. All five were Otago representatives at the time of their feat, creating an exclusive and unique group.The five are Roger Blunt (338* for Otago v Canterbury in 1931/32), Bert Sutcliffe (385 for Otago v Canterbury in 1952/53 and 355 for Otago v Auckland in 1949/50), Glenn Turner (311* for Worcestershire v Warwickshire in 1982 – that score also registering his 100th first-class century), Ken Rutherford (317 for New Zealand v DB Close XI in 1986) and Mark Richardson (306 for New Zealand v Zimbabwe ‘A’ in 2000/01).”It will be a fitting tribute to our players to have one of Australia’s greatest and world’s best players present to celebrate this special occasion,” Davie told CricInfo.”With Bob Simpson himself scoring a triple century his presence will cap the evening superbly.”Part of the dinner will comprise the presentation of Test Black Caps to Turner, Rutherford and Richardson and to the families of Blunt and Sutcliffe. Iain Gallaway, the doyen of radio broadcasters in this country and a recent president of New Zealand Cricket, will be one of the evening’s special hosts as will Jeremy Coney.A book, written by CricInfo editor Lynn McConnell, honouring the exploits of the five ‘300 Club’ members will be launched at the dinner.

Otago’s under-19 cricketers are in good heart after a stirring finish to their annual match with the Southland Hawke Cup team.Batting first at Queen’s Park in Invercargill, Otago squeezed through to 175, the inning ending in the 49th over. Best of the Otago batsmen was Michael Ross with 51. Dave McQueen took three for 22 for Southland.Southland was in trouble early but a fine partnership between No 7 Kieran Lines, with 44, and No 8 Geoff Folster, 33, saw the home side take the honours off the first ball of the 50th over.

Shane Bond came into the Bangladesh series with an average of 96.33, but after today’s play in Hamilton it rests on 44.12.He took career best figures, in his third Test, of four for 47 in Bangladesh’s first innings of the first National Bank Test and then picked up a fifth in the second innings for a cost of 17 runs to date.He felt he bowled better against Australia for less result, than he did in Hamilton today and that the Australians would have punished his bowling.”I still think I was a little inconsistent and if I did that against Aussie they would have been different figures,” he said.Bond said it was difficult to adjust the length of his bowling because the Bangladesh players were so tiny.They had been aggressive batsmen but New Zealand stuck to its game plan and had put the ball in the right areas often enough to keep the pressure on.”We are in a good position,” he said.”It is about us trying to be more patient than they were,” he said.Bond said he was enjoying being able to play Test cricket in New Zealand and it was up to him to put the bowling performances on the board.He had no problem with not having first choice of ends, having to defer to senior bowler Chris Cairns and he felt it was good that skipper Stephen Fleming was able to rotate the bowlers around.While he hasn’t played a lot of one-day cricket Bond said he would like the chance to return to Australia with the next squad for the one-day tri-series with Australia and South Africa.

Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy, Quarter-finals

Derbyshire 271 (Kaif 81) beat Surrey 134 (Welch 4-26) by 137 runs at Derby
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Surrey’s proud unbeaten record in all competitions came to a grinding halt as Derbyshire won an astonishingly one-sided quarter-final by 137 runs. Mohammad Kaif marked his C&G debut with an excellent 81 from 85 balls to set a tough target of 272, but by the time Dominic Cork and Kevin Dean had reduced Surrey to 26 for 4 in their reply, Derbyshire were screeching towards the semis. Cork had been an uncertain starter due to an Achilles injury, but he confirmed his fitness with a brace of first-ball ducks – Alistair Brown, bowled in Cork’s very first over, and Rikki Clarke lbw after Dean had removed Ian Ward and Mark Ramprakash. Everything was riding on a burgeoning partnership between Graham Thorpe and Adam Hollioake, but Thorpe was caught by Luke Sutton for 37, the first of four victims for Graeme Welch, and the end came swiftly. Surrey’s eventual total of 134 wasn’t even half that of Derbyshire’s.Worcestershire 216 for 8 (Anurag 74) beat Leicestershire 141 (Harrity 3-23) by 75 runs
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After enjoying the upper hand for much of yesterday’s play, Leicestershire were caught cold on the resumption of their rain-interrupted quarter-final at Grace Road, as Mark Harrity and Matt Mason took three wickets each on a slow seamer. Leicestershire resumed on their overnight 5 for 0, but immediately lost Virender Sehwag for 2 and never recovered. They stumbled to 60 for 6 in pursuit of Worcestershire’s 216 for 8, and only a desperate rearguard from Phil DeFreitas and Charlie Dagnall enabled them to reach the relative prosperity of 141.
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Gloucestershire 206 for 5 (Weston 88*) beat Warwickshire 204 (Knight 88, Harvey 5-23) at Edgbaston
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Gloucestershire once again demonstrated their one-day pedigree, as Ian Harvey and Robin Weston led the way in a comprehensive five-wicket victory over Warwickshire. Harvey, back in harness after Australia’s tour of the Caribbean, picked up 5 for 23 in a typically canny display of medium-paced trickery. His opening spell left Warwickshire floundering at 30 for 3, although their hopes were quickly raised by England one-day batsmen past and present, Nick Knight and Jim Troughton, who added 92 for the fourth wicket. But Troughton was eventually pegged lbw by Neil Smith for 52, and when Knight fell for an unusually subdued 88 (190 for 6), Harvey returned to mop up the tail in double-quick time. Waqar Younis prevented Craig Spearman from repeating his heroics in the National League, but Weston played the perfect anchor role with an unbeaten 88 as a succession of Gloucestershire cameos heaved them to victory with nine overs to spare.Lancashire 254 (Loye 74) beat Middlesex 195 (Martin 4-34) by 57 runs at Old Trafford
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Lancashire’s biggest guns – Andrew Flintoff, Stuart Law and Carl Hooper – managed just 49 runs between them, but 74 from Mal Loye and a vicious late assault from Glen Chapple carried Lancashire to a more-than-adequate 254 against Middlesex at Old Trafford. Chapple, who came in at No. 7 and slapped three fours and three sixes in a 25-ball 45 not out, was the eventual difference between the sides. Middlesex were always playing catch-up in their innings, after James Anderson and Peter Martin had reduced them to 22 for 3. Martin went on to take a typically economical 4 for 34 from his ten overs, and despite a brave assault from the tail, Middlesex were unable to recover. None of their batsmen managed more than Andrew Strauss’s 32, although Chad Keegan kept his team’s spirits up with a bold but futile 29 from 20 balls at No. 11.Semi-final draw
Worcestershire v Lancashire at Worcester
Gloucestershire v Derbyshire at Bristol

LCCA Blues will defend its title in the Quaid-i-Azam crickettrophy Grade-I tournament starting throughout the countryfrom Jan 2.According to the draws announced by the PCB Friday, LCCABlues who recorded sensational one wicket win over KCCAWhites in the final at Karachi to win the country mostprestigious cricket tournament last year, were placed inGroup-II. In all, 18 teams will vie for the main trophy. Theteams have been divided into two groups I and II.Top teams of each group will play the final to be held fromMarch 1 to 5. The winning team will get Rs 1,00,000 whilethe runners-up Rs 50,000. Besides it, cash prizes of Rs10,000 will be given each to best batsman, bowler, fieldersand wicket-keeper of the tournament.Teams from all the four provinces are also taking part. Theanother significant feature of the tournament is the thatthe first class matches will be held at Gymkhana CricketGround, Okara, and the Country Club, Muridke, for the firsttime.One bottom team from each group, except of the provincialteams will be relegated to Grade-II for the next season(2002- 2003).The group position is as under:Group-I: KCCA Whites, KCCA Blues, Hyderabad,Bahawalpur, Sargodha, Faisalabad, Rest of Baluchistan andRest of Sindh, Gujranwala. Group-II: LCCA Whites, LCCABlues, Sheikhupura, Peshawar, Sialkot, Islamabad,Rawalpindi, Rest of Punjab, Rest of NWFP.Following are the draws (details as: date, teams, venue):Jan 2 to 5, 2002: KCCA-W vs KCCA-B, KCCA Stadium,Karachi; Hyderabad v Bahawalpur, Niaz Stadium; Sargodha vFaisalabad, Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad; Rest of Baluchistan vRest of Sindh, National Stadium, Karachi, (Group-I)LCCA-W v LCCA-B, LCCA ground; Sheikhupura v Sialkot, CountryClub, Muridke; Islamabad v Rawalpindi, KRL Stadium; Rest ofPunjab vs Rest of NWFP, Arbab Niaz Stadium, Peshawar (Group-II).Jan 8 to 11: KCCA-W v Rest of Sindh, NationalStadium, Karachi; KCCA-B v Rest of Baluchistan, KCCAStadium,Karachi; Hyderabad v Faisalabad; Iqbal StadiumFaisalabad; Sargodha v Gujranwala, Jinnah Stadium,Gujranwala; (Group-I).LCCA-W v Sheikhupura, Sheikhupura Stadium; LCCA-B v Sialkot,LCCA ground; Peshawar vs Rest of NWFP, Arbab Niaz Stadium,Peshawar; Rawalpindi v Rest of Punjab, Gaddafi Stadium(Group-II)Jan 14 to 17: KCCA-W v Rest of Baluchistan, NationalStadium; KCCA-B v Rest of Sindh, KCCA Stadium; HyderabadvSargodha, Sports Stadium, Sargodha; Bahawalpur v Gujranwala,Bahawalpur Stadium; (Group-I)LCCA-W v Sialkot, Jinnah Stadium, Sialkot; Rawalpindi vPeshawar, Pindi Stadium, Rawalpindi; LCCA-B v Rest ofPunjab, Gaddafi Stadium; Islamabad v Rest of NWFP, KRLStadium, Rawalpindi; (Group-II)Jan 20 to 23: KCCA-W v Gujranwala, National Stadium,Karachi; KCCA-B v Faisalabad, Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad;Hyderabad v Rest of Baluchistan, Niaz Stadium, Hyderabad;Rest of Sindh v Bahawalpur, Bahawalpur Stadium, (Group-I)LCCA-W v Pehsawar, LCCA ground; LCCA B v Islamabad, KRLStadium, Rawalpindi; Islam Khan- Rawalpindi v Rest of NWFP,Pindi Stadium, Rawalpindi; Sheikhupura v Rest of Punjab,Gaddafi Stadium (Group-II).Jan 26 to 29: Gujranwala v Hyderabad, Niaz Stadium,Hyderabad; KCCA-B v Sargodha, Sports Stadium, Sargodha;Faisalabad v Rest of Sindh, Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad,Bahawalpur v Rest of Baluchistan, Bahawalpur Stadium;(Group-I).LCCA-W v Rest of Punjab, Gaddafi Stadium; Sialkot vRawalpindi, Jinnah Stadium, Sialkot; Islamabad v Peshawar,Arbab Niaz Stadium, Peshawar; Sheikhupura v Rest of NWFP,Sheikhupura Stadium (Group-II).Feb 1 to 4: KCCA-B v Gujranwala, Jinnah Stadium,Gujranwala; Bahawalpur v KCCA-W, Bahawalpur Stadium;Faisalabad v Rest of Baluchistan, Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad;Sargodha v Rest of Sindh, Sports Stadium, Sargodha (GroupI).LCCA-B v Sheikhupura, Sheikhupura Stadium; LCCA-W vIslamabad, LCCA ground, Peshawar v Rest of Punjab, GaddafiStadium; Sialkot v Rest of NWFP, Jinnah Stadium, Sialkot(Group-II).Feb 7 to 10: KCCA-W v Hyderabad, Niaz Stadium;Bahawalpur v Faisalabad, Bahawalpur Stadium; Gujranwala vRest of Sindh, Country Club, Muridke; Sargodha v Rest ofBaluchistan, Sports Stadium, Sargodha (Group-I).LCCA B v Rest of NWFP, LCCA ground; Sheikhupura vRawalpindi, Sheikhupura Stadium; Sialkot v Peshawar, JinnahStadium, Sialkot; Rest of Punjab v Islamabad, Gym. CricketGround Okara (Group-II).Feb 13 to 16: KCCA-W v Faisalabad, National Stadium,Karachi; Bahawalpur v Sargodha, Sports Stadium, Sargodha;KCCA-B v Hyderabad, KCCA Stadium; Gujranwala v Rest ofBaluchistan, Country Club, Muridke (Group-I).LCCA-B v Peshawar, Arbab Niaz Stadium, Peshawar; LCCA-W vRawalpindi, Pindi Stadium, Rawalpindi; Sheikhupura vIslamabad, Sheikhupura Stadium; Sialkot v Rest of Punjab,Gym Cricket Ground, Okara (Group-II).Feb 19 to 22: KCCA-W v Sargodha, KCCA Stadium,Karachi; KCCA-B v Bahawalpur, National Stadium, Karachi;Gujranwala v Faisalabad, Jinnah Stadium, Gujranwala;Hyderabad v Rest of Sindh, Niaz Stadium, Hyderabad (Group-I).LCCA-W v Rest of NWFP, LCCA ground; LCCA B v Rawalpindi,Gaddafi Stadium;, Sheikhupura v Peshawar, Arbab Niazstadium; Sialkot v Islamabad, KRL Stadium, Rawalpindi Final:March 1 to 5. (Venue will be announced later).

On the back of a five-wicket haul from off-spinner Glen Sulzburger(5/73) New Zealand ‘A’ brushed aside MRF and entered the semi-final ofthe MRF Buchi Babu Tournament. They now play Ranji finalists IndianRailways.On a day where the heat was intense in Chennai, the visitors heldtheir nerve as MRF set about chasing an improbable score of 473 forthe first innings lead. In doing so, the home side capitulated to 318all out off 99 overs.Starting the day on 113/2, the MRF side needed over 300 runs tooverhaul the New Zealand ‘A’ score. Unbeaten on 45 overnight, skipperS Sriram managed to add just 10 runs before he became the firstcasualty of the third and final day. Former India one-day cricketerHrishikesh Kanitkar troubled the scorers very briefly, before beingdismissed for 1. At this stage MRF were struggling at 128/4.Nightwatchman T Kumaran (11) fell soon after, becoming Sulzberger’ssecond scalp of the day.Rashmi Ranjan Parida provided the visitors with a scare, scoring apatient 106, but even his knock failed to take MRF close to the NewZealand ‘A’ first innings score. The 27-year old Orissa right handbatsman struck 12 boundaries and a six in his 273 minute stay at thecrease. He remained not out till the end of the day but alas, ran outof partners.Central Districts offie Glen Sulzberger mopped up the tail, claimingthe last three wickets to fall and was easily the pick of the bowlerswith 5/73 from his 25 overs. In all, 99 overs were faced by MRF, whowere knocked out of the tournament they sponsor.* Railways enter semifinals on first innings leadA better performance in the second innings did not help NationalCricket Academy much. And Indian Railways, by virtue of their hugefirst innings lead of 348 runs entered the semifinals of the MRF BuchiBabu invitation cricket tournament at the Southern Railway stadium inChennai on Wednesday.Resuming at 451 for nine, Indian Railways were all out for 506following a last wicket partnership of 68 runs off 22 overs betweenPrahlad Rawat and SD Kannan (28). Rawat remained unbeaten with 135. Hefaced 249 balls and hit 20 fours.With the result of the match a foregone conclusion, the NCA ladsbatted freely in the second innings and when the match ended, theywere 342 for five off 76 overs. Openers Vinayak Mane (80) and GautamGambhir (19) put on 43 runs off 11 overs. Mane and Gaganinder Singh(27) added 58 runs for the second wicket off 16.1 overs. Mane wasfourth out at 169 after facing 140 balls and hitting ten fours and asix. At this stage, NCA were in some danger of losing the matchoutright. But Deep Das Gupta (57 not out) and Ajay Ratra (78) with afifth wicket partnership of 129 runs off 23.5 overs made the issuesafe. Ratra faced just 92 balls and hit eleven fours while Das Guptafaced 75 balls and hit two fours and a six. In the closing stages,left hander Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan slammed an unbeaten 37 off only 19balls with three fours and two sixes.* CAB book berth in last fourCricket Association of Bengal (CAB) booked their berth in the MRFBuchi Babu invitation tournament semi-final after putting it acrossthe Karnataka State Cricket Asssociation XI at the Guru Nanak groundsin Chennai on Wednesday.The Bengal team who were 339 for 8 on Tuesday, lasted another 4.3overs in the morning before being bowled out for 355. NC Iyappa, thepromising Karnataka fast bowler, claimed one of the two wickets tofall to end up with a five-wicket haul. The first-innings lead of 123runs that they gained was what secured CAB the match at the end of theday.KSCA decided to bat out the rest of the day making 245 for 7 in 74overs before the two captains agreed to end play at the start of themandatory overs. Opener Mithun Beerala made an attacking 63 off 87balls with eight fours and one six. Sunil Joshi, the former Indianleft-arm spinner, also had fun while making 65 off 72 balls with fourfours and three sixes. No.7 Shyam Ponnappa was the other batsman whowas among the runs, making 54 off 115 balls. For Bengal, veteran leftarm spinner Utpal Chatterjee, was the most successful bowler, claimingfour for 51 in his 16 overs.* Jolly Rovers to meet CABThe All India Associate Banks batsmen dominated the final day’s playin the MRF Buchi Babu tournament quarter-final at the IIT-Chemplastgrounds on Wednesday but it was Jolly Rovers who made it to thesemifinal by virtue of their first innings lead. Rovers will now takeon CAB at IIT-Chemplast from August 24-26.In the morning, the Rovers last wicket pair of L Balaji (34) and JSathish (15) added 35 runs as their team, 269 for nine overnight,reached 304 before being all out, a first-innings lead of 57. Thebankmen decided to bat out the day rather than going for an improbablewin. No.4 Pankaj Dharmani made an attacking hundred, his unbeaten 111coming off 151 balls with fifteen fours and one six. This wasDharmani’s second hundred in the tournament. He had earlier made acentury against the Tamil Nadu Districts XI in their first roundmatch. Opener JP Yadav too was among the runs, his 71 off 88 ballsincluding ten fours and one six. S Mohan was not out on 42 off 102balls with four fours at the other end at close. AIAB at the end ofthe match were 281 for three in 71 overs in their second innings.