Rain ruined this top of the table clash at Headingley. No play at all was possible on the final day following overnight rain. On Friday only 16.3 overs were bowled and on Thursday the Yorkshire batsmen faced 45 overs. The rain was a stark contrast to when play started on Wednesday in glorious sunshine.On that first morning the Leicester openers Maddy and Ward set off like an express train with the Leicester 50 coming up after only 38 minutes. Maddy’s own 50 was scored in 65 minutes off 57 balls and included nine fours. It was his second fifty of the season.The partnership was broken with the score on 84 when Ward was caught by Byas at second slip of Gavin Hamilton for 19. Maddy was the next out when the score reached 106. He too was caught by Byas but this time of the off spinner Middlebrook.Vince Wells scored 19 but he lost his off stump to Hutchison. After that dismissal the Leicester middle order folded. Habib was caught by Lehmann at short leg when he clipped Hutchison of his toes. Darren Stevens miss timed his pull shot straight to Craven at short mid wicket. Ben Smith became James Middlebrook’s third victim when he was leg before for 30.When Hamilton returned to the attack he bowled Neil Burns’ middle stump with his second ball. After a promising start Leicestershire had slumped from 106 for two 171 for seven. Their innings was revived by Phil DeFreitas. First with a partnership of 25 with Leeds born Iain Sutcliffe and a ninth wicket partnership of 61 with James Ormond. The fifty between the two came up in 13.3 overs.The partnership was broken by Middlebrook when he bowled Ormond for 20. DeFreitas and another Yorkshire man Scott Boswell added 39 before DeFreitas was bowled by Hutchison for 70. His innings included eight fours, of 111 balls in 146 minutes. Boswell scored 12 in 45 minutes of 54 balls and the Leicestershire innings ended on 296.In their reply Yorkshire soon lost Vic Craven and Richard Blakey for one and nine. Both players were out leg before, Craven to Ormond and Blakey to Wells. David Byas and Darren Lehmann took the score from 18 for two to 94 when Lehmann was run out backing up too far. Before rain and bad light stopped play on the second day Yorkshire lost Byas for 44.In the 65 minutes of play that were possible on the third day Yorkshire took their score from 107 for four to 146 for four.

Queensland has recorded a remarkable outright victory over Tasmania in a thrilling finish to the teams’ Pura Cup match at the Allan Border Field in Brisbane this afternoon. The four wicket triumph, achieved with just one over of play to spare on the final day, came when the Bulls spectacularly chased down a target of 372 from a possible seventy-two overs.Key batsmen Martin Love (161*) and Andrew Symonds (133) were the heroes of the win, building and then thrashing their way to a 261 run partnership for the fourth wicket that transformed the game completely. The match had seemed destined for a draw for much of the final afternoon as the visitors, who had held all the aces from close to the outset of the match, failed to achieve the breakthroughs that they needed through the middle phase of the Queensland innings.Even deep into the final day’s play, thoughts of an outright success for either team seemed remote. But, in the twinkling of an eye, the clean-hitting duo launched a spectacular assault. With the pitch playing as truly as it had for the majority of the contest, they smashed eighty-five runs in the space of seven overs in the hour after tea to metaphorically bring the Tigers to their knees. Symonds’ brutal strokeplay (which generated nineteen fours and two thumping sixes) and Love’s languid yet sophisticated approach (which also brought nineteen boundaries and two sixes, although in slightly more measured style) represented the perfect combination in the circumstances. Theirs was quite a performance.Much credit should go to the Tasmanians too, though. Captain Jamie Cox made an aggressively, but appropriately, timed declaration an hour into the final day’s play and he maintained attacking fields – something which could not be said of his opponents – throughout. Although they looked largely powerless in their attempts either to break or contain the Love-Symonds association for long periods, the Tigers also gave the impression of a unit determined to play positive cricket this season. They still even retained a genuine hope of victory at different moments during the concluding stages of the match before the Bulls finally completed their monumental recovery by snatching away the six points.

Before the Zimbabwe tour he looked complacent and confident when I met him in BKSP. He told me candidly that his performance against Australian Bank Academy( CBCA) had raised his level of self-reliance undoubtedly and he was looking forward to do much better in Zimbabwe. There is no way denying the fact that a scintillating century against CBCA and couple of good knocks in the exhibition one-day matches propped our idea that Mushfique was a perfect replacement of Khaled Mahmood, the ex-alrounder of the national squad.However, things turned into an upsetting finish for Mushfique after the tour had been over. He played all matches including the practice ones. Only the first ODI could serve him some contentment( he scored 31) when after a rapid collapse he hold the rope to seek for a partnership with Akram Khan. The rest two and the four test innings brought only gloom and despair. Why so?" I could not get on and that was all happened there. I played some nasty shots in the test innings and got the payment accordingly. Besides runs are hard to find against themthey are too good for us. You can’t just find a single gap where you can take a single with comfort. I contrived for power shots to get some quick runs on the board but I am unlucky, that’s all."Had he been promoted to number five or six, he could have done better because he feels much better there. " But they won’t allow me to bat in a position where players like Aminul Islam or Akram Khan are apt to. Certainly it feels good to bat with specialist batsman on the other end than to bat with the tails," he added resentfully, " may be they are thinking to drop me off the squad and I heard some of them calling me only a slow-medium bowler while before the tour they kept calling me a batsman who can bowl medium pace. I don’t have any answer right now-I will prove it through my performance. As for Zimbabwe, I really did bad and I have nothing that can stand any cause behind my failure."We hope that this only genuine al-rounder of our team will soon be found with his rhythm backbefore the Asian Test Championship begins.

A splendid spell of bowling by Michael Cawdron put Gloucestershire firmly in charge of their CricInfo Championship match against Notts at Trent Bridge. At the close on the second day the home side had reached 207–7, still 117 runs short of avoiding the follow-on.Having posted the substantial total of 473, the visitors reduced Notts to 80–5 by tea, with Cawdron picking up three of the wickets to fall. Openers Welton (22) and Bicknell (21), plus Paul Johnson (0) all fell to the seamer, while James Averis and Mark Hardinges also chipped in with a wicket apiece. Greg Blewett made 22 and Kevin Pietersen 10.From their precarious tea position, Notts launched a counter–offensive which brought them 37 runs from the first threeoavers afterwards and propelled Chris Read and Usman Afzaal to a stand of 61 for the sixth wicket before Cawdron struck again. Michael Cawdron’s return was greeted with a hooked six into the car park by Read but the next ball was of fuller length and trapped the Notts `keeper lbw in his crease.Afzaal looked in reasonable touch as he moved into the 30s but lost another partner with the score on 158. Gareth Clough fended off a short delivery by Averis straight to Kim Barnett at short leg.When Cawdron returned late in the day looking for his fifth wicket Afzaal hooked him for the boundary that brought up a dogged half-century (150 mins 130 balls 10x4s). David Lucas provided solid support as the pair took the total beyond 200.Earlier Gloucs had batted until just after lunch, with Chris Taylor eventually being dismissed for 196 out of a total of 473.

Former Sri Lankan cricketer turned umpire Asoka de Silva will be the man to restore the battered image of Sri Lankan umpires. Asoka has been assigned to officiate the second test between India and Zimbabwe along with Zimbabwean Ian Robinson starting on this Friday, at Harare.The standard of Sri Lankan umpires has been highly criticized in the recent past and during the recently concluded English tour, it was at its lowest ebb in the first two Tests. Sri Lanka had the benefit of some dubious umpiring decisions in the First Test at Galle while England had there share of luck in the second at Kandy.However Asoka de Silva, who has been on the international stage for just over two years, commanded the respect of the players in the Third Test at SSC.According to Director of Umpiring of the BCCSL, K.T Francis, English skipper Nasser Hussain praised Asoka in his report and even recommended him to be picked to officiate regularly in further international matches.At the retirement of B.C Cooray, Asoka was nominated for the ICC panel of umpires. Francis said the second umpire will be nominated after a close look at those used in the “A” series between Sri Lanka and Pakistan.

Northamptonshire’s hopes of notching a first Championship win of the season were boosted by four wickets in the final session to leave Somerset hanging on by their fingernails at Wantage Road.Darren Cousins and Paul Taylor both struck twice as the visitors slumped to 130-4 at the close, still needing a further 138 to avoid an innings defeat.Northants were finally dismissed for 567 in mid-afternoon, after a record-breaking stand of 161 in 38 overs for the eighth wicket between skipper David Ripley and his deputy, Tony Penberthy.Ripley was last out for 95, including a six and 14 fours, while Penberthy stroked a dozen boundaries in his fluent 80. Their partnership was a new county best for that wicket against Somerset, surpassing the 145 posted by Penberthy and Curtly Ambrose at Taunton in 1994.But there was disappointment for Mal Loye, who added only three to his overnight 194 before becoming Steffan Jones’ fourth wicket of the innings.Richard Johnson wrapped up proceedings by removing both men to finish with commendable figures of 5-127 from 40.1 overs, while Jones, his hard-working pace partner, claimed 4-121 from 36.Northants were hoping for an early breakthrough when Somerset went in again, but they were denied it when Graeme Swann spilled a chance in the gully offered by Bowler before he had scored.Bowler (60) and Holloway (30) opened up with 97 in 31 overs, but when they both fell in the space of three overs – quickly followed by Mark Lathwell and Michael Burns – Northants were able to scent a much-needed win.

After seeing his side come within two wickets of an innings victory against Essex after taking the extra half hour, Somerset Coach Kevin Shine told me, “It has been a fabulous day, what else can I say.I’m only sorry that we didnt finish it off.Sadly it was pretty dark at the end and we were’nt able to use our fast bowlers. Providing it stays dry it looks like twenty points in the bag.”

It has been drizzling for four days and the BKSP grounds are completely wet. The ground where the National Squad always carry on their net practice is absolutely unworkable. The cricketers are keeping on their net practice sessions in the Indoor of BKSP.For Saturday and Sunday, the team completed its fielding sessions in the rain-drenched ground-1. But it was impossible to run that yesterday. Both fielding and net practice were done in the Indoor." Certainly the rain is hampering the practice. You see it makes a lot of difference between playing in the field and in the Indoor. We hardly practiced in the ground this week, " conceded Habibul Bashar." I am afraid we are not getting enough practice matches this time which is very vital before playing with teams like Pakistan, India or Sri Lanka. And we have to play all those in the overseas grounds. We played a good number of practice matches before the Zimbabwe Tour. Now we are missing it, " said he.Bikash Ranjan Das looked a bit erratic when he was trying to pitch the ball too fast. Trevor Chappell gave him some guidelines quickly. He seemed meditative and was keeping a keen eye on his boys.Mohammad Sharif, one of the youngest members of the side, is missing the practice sessions. This quick bowler got himself hurt in the shoulder while attempting a catch in net sessions a week before. Gavin Benjafield and a local physiotherapist were taking care of a gloomy Sharif who is hopeful about joining the practice soon.The squad is going to attend the Test Cap giving ceremony in Winter Garden at Hotel Sheraton, Dhaka tonight.

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.

During the last 12 months we have started to see a very encouraging trend:Sri Lanka are playing their best one-day cricket in the biggest games. Thispattern was once again evident in the Coca-Cola Cup where Sri Lanka reservedtheir finest performance for the final.In fact, it is no coincidence that we are winning crucial one-dayencounters. Sri Lanka won the final because our players were able to copewith the extra pressure of the occasion. Amidst all the hype and in front ofa sell-out crowd we remained focused on the cricket.When you play finals its important to remember that essentially it’s still agame of cricket. You have to continue to do the things that got you to thefinal. Instead on focusing on the result or the occasion you have to get togrips with the basic processes that create success.Thus, we have a saying that “you cannot cope with pressure by focusing onpressure.” We focus instead on the basics. In this case, on the need toavoid run outs and reduce extras.Sounds simple, but its not. The ability to absorb pressure and channel onesenergies on the cricket is a skill that cannot be picked up overnight. That’s why I’m so pleased that this side appears to be getting to grips with it.India, on the other hand, are the opposite. Their recent record in finalshas been poor – this was the eighth final that they have lost in succession.We were well aware of this track record and realised that they couldstruggle if we grabbed the initiative right from the beginning.Even so, we were well aware that they were coming into the final after threewins in a row. The magnificent innings of Virender Shewag against NewZealand showed just how dangerous they could be.In the field they looked edgy after the fine start made by Sanath Jayasuriyaand Avishka Gunawardene and we controlled the game thereafter.Chasing 295 was never going to be easy – the highest score ever chasedsuccessfully at Premadasa was 243. Nevertheless, we all saw Shewag’s 69-ballhundred and have the utmost respect for the other Indian batsmen.It’s very difficult though chasing a large score. Sometimes the pressure onyou to score quickly creates dangerous expectations. You feel thatboundaries are necessary and forget the basics. In essence, you startrunning before you can walk.We made a dream start with Russel Arnold running out Shewag in the secondover and Sourav Ganguly cutting straight to backward point next ball. Afterthat we put the ball in the right places and caught our catches.Our first goal in the tournament had been to reach the final and we had theadvantage of securing a place early on. Although you obviously want to winall the games there is no doubt that the players can relax a little when youqualify early. You are also protected against a dip in form or provided withan opportunity to try different players.India, however, had their backs to the wall after three successive defeats.They had three difficult games, with the last one being a very toughsemi-final that must have been mentally exhausting. With just two days leftto recover for the final they may not have had enough petrol in the tank.Looking back over the entire tournament the highlight for me, apart fromsome outstanding individual performances, was the success of the three fastbowler-six batsmen policy, which we used throughout. The new formation,however, still needs fine tuning, as we need to work out how to use it theextra seamer most effectively.Finally, the performance of New Zealand deserves a special mention. I thoughthey were very unlucky, as they acclimatised to the tropical conditionsquickly and played some very good one-day cricket. With Chris Cairns waitingin the wings they have the makings of a very impressive side.Time now to turn our minds to the forthcoming Test series against India. It’s going to be tough with three games in just 20 days, but lets hope we canreplicate our Coca-Cola Cup success.