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Western Australia bounced back late in the day after starting offstrongly then being under the pump during the middle session of their pre-season match with Victoria.Victoria were dismissed for 309 and with only one over to face before stumps Western Australia were seven without loss.Matthew Elliott and Jason Arnberger opened the Victorian innings after Victoria had won the toss. The plan was to bat all day if possible, but by thefirst drinks break (16 overs) they had compiled just 13 runs with theloss of one wicket.Arnberger fell in the fourth over, when Sean Cary had him caught atsecond slip by Chris Rogers for one (15 balls) and the score was 1/1.Both Cary and Western Warriors newcomer Paul Wilson (formerly withSouth Australia) bowled economicly in this period.Elliott (34 runs from 100 balls with six fours) struck Harvey to theboundary several times when the bowler over-pitched, but fell toMichael Clark driving to Shaun Marsh at mid-wicket, second wicket downwith the score on 41 in the 31st over.Brad Hogg bowled a solitary over immediately before lunch, duringwhich one run short was signaled by umpire Andy Craig from the lastball of that over. Otherwise Victoria would have gone to lunch on 50/2, but fell short by that run.Graeme Rummans seven (73) struggled through the first session and thenwas caught behind by Ryan Campbell to become Clark’s second wicket, thirdball after the lunch break with the score 49/3.Brad Hodge and Michael Klinger powered through the early part of the second session resisting the efforts of Clark, Cary and Wilson and passing 100 in the46th over and achieving a 50-run partnership.Then with the second session drinks break looming Klinger edged towicket-keeper Campbell during Wilson’s second spell of the day and wasout for 26 (38 balls) with the score 100/4.Cary chipped in for his second wicket in next over, striking thestumps at the very top when Hodge 28 (54) played around the balldriving toward the off side. The fifth wicket fell with 106 on theboard.At tea Victoria had bolted to 168/5 with White on 31 (48) and Jewell on 28 (31) and an unbroken 78-run partnership.The run out of Nick Jewell 37 (43) occurred when Cameron White calledthe striker through after Jewell had pushed a ball from Nicholson intoShawn Marsh at mid-wicket and the throw to the non-striker’s end foundhim short. Jewell half-turned toward his partner as he departed theground seemingly indicating a lack of communication as the main reasonfor his demise.At the third session drinks break White 64 (103) and Darren Berry 25 (49) hadmoved the score along to six wickets for 235 from 80 overs. The newball was taken then.Berry 34 (62) took the majority of the strike during a period of nineovers, including the drinks break. The new ball was also taken during this period but he frequently hitting fours either side of the wicket. Then, inthe third over after the final session’s drinks break, he played aball on which had seamed into the right-hander from Wilson to becomethe burly bowler’s second victim for the day.White 70 (127) also had a problem with the new ball, playing andmissing a few times, before he feathered an edge to Kade Harvey atfirst slip and became Wilson’s third victim.Harwood 15 (23) didn’t really settle. He played what, in the end couldhave been a slips practice catch to the second slip Chris Rogers off thebowling of Cary and became the veteran fast-medium pacer’s thirdscalp.Hewett 34 saw off Cary and his replacement Kade Harvey with regularcrossings of the boundary. Matthew Nicholson too took some stick butultimately prevailed with his only wicket for the day. Mathew Inness finishedthe innings unbeaten.

Somerset fast bowler Steffan Jones who missed part of the 2002 season through injury has just resumed his training in preparation for next season.Earlier this week the twenty eight year old paceman, who got married earlier in the autumn told me: "I’ve had a good break and now I have just started training ready for the new season. I am a bit later this year and have timed my programme to get me to my peak at the right time for the start of the 2003 season."He continued: "For the next few weeks I shall be working on my fitness levels, but after Christmas I’ll start to focus on my skills. I shall be working on my bowling with Kevin Shine and we are hoping to improve my momentum at the crease, and I will also be looking to develop my batting."After setting himself the target of taking more wickets and making his mark on the England one day scene, the 2002 season turned out to be rather disappointing for the Welshman.He injured himself during the first match of the season at Millfield School from which he never fully recovered, although he did play for Wales against England at Cardiff.Steffan Jones is already looking forward to next season, but is under no illusion that 2003 is going to be tough for him.During a break from his weight training he told me: "I need to work hard this winter. With Nixon Mc Lean having already joined us, and more new signings likely there is going to be a lot of competition to get into the side and I want to make sure that I am in the start line up for next season."

Paul Collingwood is relieved to be named in England’s squad of 13 for the Edgbaston Test, but he wants to return to the XI after being dropped to make way for Andrew Flintoff. A run of poor scores and Flintoff’s return to full fitness hurried Collingwood’s exit in Headingley, one he reckons as the worst moment of his career.”I worried about what this meant for me when I was left out of Headingley and it was without doubt the biggest disappointment of my career,” Collingwood told the . “The only thing that comes close to it was when I was left out of the second Test in Pakistan [in 2005] and I worried whether I would ever make it as a Test player. Thankfully, then I got back in when Straussy [Andrew Strauss] went home for the birth of his child and now I’ve got the chance to get back straight away now.”Collingwood’s Test sack came less than a month after he was banned for four limited-overs matches. He was penalised after England failed to bowl their overs in the required time, but he drew more flak for the controversial run-out of Grant Elliott. Collingwood chose to not withdraw an appeal after Elliott failed to make his crease after colliding with Ryan Sidebottom.”It’s nice to be involved immediately again but my priority now is to make the final XI,” he said. “After all that’s happened this year I just want to get things back on track now. It’s been a very difficult season for me but hopefully it will be a season of two halves and the better half starts now.”I just want this to be the spark, the catalyst, whatever word you want to choose, to get me going again. It’s been the worse year of my career but once you have got over the hurt you look at it and realise that hope is just around the corner.”I think you could see from my face when I was told I was out what it meant to me but to be honest I’m glad I was so hurt because it proved to me that I still have the passion and want to play for England as much as ever. I’d been in the team for 30-odd Tests and it was hard to get my head round that I wasn’t in the team any more. “Collingwood returned to county duties with Durham since his England omission, and scored a quickfire 78, including six sixes, in their Pro40 win over Middlesex. However, he failed to take his side past eventual champions Middlesex in the Twenty20 Cup semi-final on Saturday. His Durham team-mate, Steve Harmison, also earned a recall to the England squad, and both might be competing for a place depending on the combination England choose to adopt: either six batsman or five bowlers.”I don’t know if I’m competing with Steve Harmison for a place but I’m as delighted for him that he’s back as I am for myself,” he said. “The key thing for Harmy is that he’s as hungry as ever to play for England, the ambition is really there after all he’s been through.”He could have settled for a quieter life with Durham, but he really wants to play for England, like me, and every time I have been back to Durham people have said to me ‘you wouldn’t believe how fast Harmy is bowling’,” Collingwood said. “I think he’s benefited from a break but I hope my break is restricted to one game and I’m back in the team for Wednesday.”Harmison himself is eager to get back into the Test fold. “I’m not naïve – I know if I play the spotlight will be on me. I know people will be watching my every move and waiting with bated breath when I run up to bowl my first ball,” Harmison said. “I know that it is going to be tough and I know that I am going to be nervous. I know that after what happened at Headingley last week, the pressure will be on England and on me and the level of expectation will be high. And I know I have a point to prove, that I can still bowl at the highest level and take wickets for my country against a fine batting side.”But I would rather be going to Edgbaston, putting myself to the test and dealing with all those issues, than not. I’d rather be playing in front of 20,000 than 2000 at Trent Bridge. With all due respect to my Durham team-mates, I’d rather be playing for England.”Harmison was left out of England’s Test XI after an lacklustre effort in Hamilton, and has been ignored for subsequent Tests. He forced his way back with 40 wickets at 23.10 in the County Championship this season.Geoff Miller, England’s national selector, was impressed with Harmison’s domestic performances. “People are now saying he is in a better place than he was, and he now looks like the bowler he was a couple of years ago when he was striking fear into opposition batsmen,” Miller told the Miller also shut out talk of the return being premature. “There’s no risk at all. We wouldn’t have put him in if we thought there was a risk,” he said. “We talk to all the players regularly and I have watched him bowl this year and talked to him myself.”

An extraordinary final day saw West Indies A tie with Somerset at Taunton. Set 454 to win, Graham Rose was snapped up by Chris Gayle from the penultimate ball of an amazing match.Audacious cricket all day gave Somerset their victory chance. Peter Trego’s maiden first-class century was a wonderful affair. He was supported by Piran Holloway’s 88 and debutant Wesley Durston’s terrific 55. Rose then slashed 32 from 28 balls, only to fall at the last hurdle.Needing eight from the last over, Rose appeared to have sealed the match. Hehad added 22 with the gutsy Matthew Bulbeck before Sulieman Benn grabbed thefinal catch.Trego had hit 140 to set up an incredible chase. Promoted in the order, hebatted with freedom from the start, hitting 19 fours and two sixes in a brilliant knock. Adding 123 for the third wicket with Holloway, the youngster played the junior role before expanding even further later in his innings.Still, Trego went and victory for the tourists’ should have been assured.Durston had other ideas, reaching 50 from 40 balls in blistering style. He added 67 for the ninth wicket from Rose before he was clean bowled by Reon King. It was an innings which belied his 21 years and points to a bright future.The fact that Somerset had been allowed within arm’s length of such a hugetotal says much for their batting, but suggests that the West Indian fielding and bowling was not top class. King was the pick of the bowlers with three for 90, with Gayle and Darren Powell collecting two scalps each.After Matthew Wood and Neil Edwards had fallen early to excellent catches inthe gully and behind the stumps respectively, the West Indians looked likeprogressing to a regulation win. Holloway was dropped twice however, but didnot let his luck faze him.After a cracking knock with 13 fours and a six, Holloway played onto Powell.Keith Parsons edged to first slip just before tea and with Arul Suppiah andKeith Dutch going in quick succession, the game looked lost.After Carl Gazzard and Trego had made their way back to the pavilion, spectators could have been forgiven for heading to the exit. Unflustered batting from Durston and Rose, showed the confidence of both youth and experience and bought about a memorable finish.

Gloucestershire are delighted that James Pearson has been picked to play for theEngland Under-19 squad in this winter’s tour of Australia and wishes himevery success.Stephen Pope having been very successful in the England Under-19 squad isnow regretably no longer eligible.

Encouraged by, if not fully satisfied with, their collective performance in the second Cable & Wireless Test, the West Indies are set to retain their once prescribed formula of four fast bowlers for the crucial third, starting at Kensington tomorrow.Merv Dillon, Cameron Cuffy, Adam Sanford and Marlon Black shared all but one of the wickets at the Queen’s Park Oval as India were bowled out for 339 and 213, Dillon and Cuffy despatching the last six wickets for 13 in the second innings.That success, even in a match lost by 37 runs, the history of Kensington and a pitch with a mat of grass on a length is enough to influence the selectors into keeping the same structure.The only change is in personnel as the left-armer Pedro Collins has already been named instead of Black in the squad of 13.But coach Roger Harper has put them on notice that he expects more.Although we bowled India out twice in Trinidad, we’re capable of bowling better, he said. If we do that, we can limit them to further low scores.He called no names but his comment is particularly appropriate to Dillon, the most experienced of the bowlers with 23 Tests and 82 wickets.He has emerged as the leader of the attack following the retirement of Test cricket’s leading wicket-taker, Courtney Walsh, a year ago but has bowled spasmodically in the two Tests with six expensive wickets.Queen’s Park was the first time in 14 Tests under Carl Hooper’s captaincy that the West Indies reverted to the four-pronged pace alliance that had been their trademark throughout their unprecedented domination in the 1980s and only the fourth time his bowlers had dismissed the opposition twice in a match.Leg-spinners Dinanath Ramnarine and Mahendra Nagamootoo and left-arm spinner Neil McGarrell had all featured in the interim.Ramnarine, who has had nine of his 12 Tests under Hooper, is in the 13 but only because Nagamootoo was injured in a bus crash in Guyana last week.Nagamootoo was preferred in the first Test but a strained hamstring put him out of the second and medical advice is that his latest misfortune will sideline him for the next month.When included against South Africa last year, Ramnarine became the first specialist spinner used by the West Indies in a Kensington Test since present team coach Roger Harper served up his off-spin against New Zealand in 1985.Ramnarine responded with a career-best five for 78 in the second innings and his four for 49 return against the Indians for the Busta XI in St Lucia last weekend has kept him in contention.But, if he wasn’t chosen in his native Trinidad when summoned as cover for Nagamootoo, he surely won’t be here.Not surprisingly, India will also retain their rare preference for pace above spin that served them well at Queen’s Park.They created a furore back home by omitting their most successful bowler, leg-spinner Anil Kumble (318 wickets in 69 Tests) in favour of 21-year-old left-arm fast-medium swinger Asish Nehra on the morning of the match. But Nehra vindicated their decision with five wickets in the match, including Brian Lara and Carl Hooper early on the last day.The one spinner’s spot is between Kumble and off-spinner Harbhajan Singh and Kumble is likely to watch from beyond the boundary once more.We have to go with three pacemen when we’re playing abroad, captain Saurav Ganguly said yesterday.Significantly, when India last played at Kensington in 1997, they went for three fast bowlers: Venkatesh Prasad, Abey Kuruvilla and Dodda Ganesh. They lost, their batting collapsing to 81 all out when needing 120 to win, but they bowled the West Indies out for 298 and 140 and Kumble took only one wicket.

New Zealand all-rounder Chris Cairns’ future in the National Bank Test Series is in doubt.Cairns has suffered a patella tendon strain in his right knee. A scan has shown he has inflammation of the fat pad and the team management will be reviewing his position in the next 24-36 hours.He was dismissed for a duck in New Zealand’s collapse to be all out for 147, 81 runs behind England on the first innings at Jade Stadium in Christchurch today.Chris Drum and Ian Butler opened the bowling in England’s second innings. New Zealand team management said Cairns was expected to bowl in the innings.They also said the injury was unrelated to previous injuries.

ScorecardLions recovered from their Champions League T20 final defeat in blazing fashion when they beat Titans by 269 runs in the first match of the domestic one-day competition in Centurion.For Titans, it was more heartache. After they lost to Sydney Sixers off the last ball of their CLT20 semi-final, they slumped to the lowest total in a domestic limited-overs competition in South African history. They were bowled out for 60 in response to Lions’ massive 329 for 6 and that, after they put Lions in to bat on a belter.Stephen Cook, who did not take part in the CLT20 but has been in training throughout, led the way with a 122-ball 125. He shared in a 161-run opening partnership with Gulam Bodi, who was the second top run-scorer of the CLT20. The pair out on their runs in 28 overs before Bodi top-edged a sweep shot to square leg off Paul Harris.Quinton de Kock, Grant Mokoena and Neil McKenzie were all dismissed cheaply and Lions had been reined in to 255 for 5 in the 44th over. Jean Symes, who also had a good CLT20 campaign, provided the late burst. His 43 off 27 balls included five fours and two sixes to take Lions over the 300-run mark.Surprisingly, Harris, Ethy Mbhalati and Roelof van der Merwe conceded under six runs an over but Rowan Richards and CJ de Villiers took punishment. Richards was a victim of Cook’s onslaught and conceded 78 while de Villiers bowled his 10 overs for 70.The pitch would have not made Lions’ bowlers think they would get away with an easy outing and they would have been surprised to see that they did. Titans were 34 for 9 in the 16th over and all out inside 19 overs. Titans’ scorecard included four ducks and only two batsmen got into double figures.Hardus Viljoen, who used to open the bowling with Marchant de Lange at Easterns, bowled a blistering spell upfront. With fiery pace in the upper 140kphs, he took 6 for 19 and showed off seam movement. Chris Morris and Ethan O’Reilly didn’t have much to share between them but picked up one and three wickets respectively. David Wiese managed 24 of 26 balls but it will be little consolation for Titans who have now lost three of their last four matches against Lions.

South Africa kept their heads and ultimately ran out comfortable five wicketvictors over the Vice Chancellor’s XI at the beautiful Salem Oval inMontserrat on Thursday, the tourists winning with 12 balls to spare. It wasnot a polished performance, but as a public relations exercise it was atriumph as half the island’s population made the most of a national holidayto enjoy some international cricket.Boeta Dippenaar (52) and Lance Klusener (41) were the backbone of astuttering South African run-chase, but once again captain Shaun Pollockunderlined his magnificent form with the bat. Pollock smashed the winningruns with a four over midwicket to finish 37 not out. He was kept goodcompany towards the end by fast bowler Roger Telemachus, who struck abelligerent unbeaten 20.Earlier, South Africa dismissed the University of the West IndiesVice-Chancellor’s XI for 218 from 47.5 overs. It was a good effort from theSouth African bowlers, who gave the batsmen little opportunity to free theirarms in search of the boundary ropes. Only left-arm spinner Paul Adams was hit for six, once by test batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul and then again byretired West Indian fast bowler Curtly Ambrose, who is the match honouree. Adams got his own back.Chanderpaul top scored for the Vice-Chancellor’ XI, striking 70 classyruns off 72 balls with a six and eight fours, but the rest of the battingorder failed to fire after a useful start from captain Daren Ganga (45) andLeon Garrick (29).Allan Donald, back in the side after missing the fourth test with astrained right hamstring, picked up 2-36 from wight overs, while all-rounderJustin Kemp finished with 3-35, also from eight overs.

The 2002 Busta International Shield finals will now be contested from4 – 7 April, 2002 instead of the previously announced 22 – 25 March,2002. Yesterday the WICB confirmed that the finals of the region’spremier First Class 4-day competition has been postponed by two weeks.Although no official reason was given for the postponement of thefinals, CricInfo has been reliably informed that the finals – whichwill be televised by TWI Television – has been moved to accommodateease of travel for the television crew.This weekend will see the staging of the two semi finals. Guyana willplay host to the Leeward Islands at Albion in Berbice, while Busta Cupwinners Jamaica, will play host to Trinidad & Tobago at Sabina Park.Dethroned Busta Cup Champions Barbados, although finishing the leagueround of matches on similar points as Trinidad & Tobago, and even moreoutright wins, have been excluded from the semi final round. TheRules of the Competition clearly states “If there is an equality ofpoints (for any position), each team’s position will be decided by, inorder of priority: 1. Result of their head-to-head meeting.”In 2001, Guyana took the WICB to court over their interpretation ofthe Rules of the Competition after Guyana, and Barbados ended theleague round of matches on the same amount of points – 57.Meanwhile, the West Indies selectors are meeting in Barbados today toselect a training squad. The WICB will now utilize the two week breakbetween the Busta International Shield semi finals and the final tohold a one-week training camp in Trinidad.The training camp will be conducted from March 21 to 28 as West Indiesprepare to host India in a five Tests and five limited-oversinternationals series between April and June.Although the itinerary for the West Indies versus New Zealand has notbeen confirmed, Hall revealed that the series will include two Testsand five One Day Internationals.