Md Kaif celebrated his recall to the Indian team in the best possiblemanner. Coming in at No 3, he went on to make an unbeaten 199 as Oiland Natural Gas Corporation amassed 459 for four in the allotted 90overs on the second day of their Coromandel Cement Cup match againstIndian Airlines at the Maharaja Jayachamarajendra Wodeyar SportsComplex in Bangalore on Thursday.The opening day’s play yesterday had been washed out. Put in to bat,ONGC were given a good start with openers Gagan Khoda (25) and SandeepSharma putting on 63 runs in 14 overs. Kaif then joined Sharma and thetwo proceeded to ground the Indian Airlines attack into the dust byadding 219 runs for the second wicket off 46 overs. At 282, Sharmafinally fell for 146. He batted 252 minutes, faced 201 balls and hit22 fours and a six. Airlines’ agony did not end with the dismissal ofSharma. Kaif and skipper R Shamshad (44) figured in a 99-run thirdwicket association that lasted 18.2 overs. Mithun Manhas (10) and Kaifthen slapped on another 50 runs for the fourth wicket off only 7.2overs. When the innings ended, Kaif had batted five hours. He faced208 balls and hit 18 fours and three sixes.Rearguard action propels MRF to 325A strong rearguard action enabled MRF to score 325 on the second dayof their Coromandel Cement Cup match against Hyderabad CricketAssociation XI at the Gangothri Gladers ground in Mysore on Thursday.At stumps HCA were 15 for one.It was another rain affected day’s play. Showers stopped play at 2.20and tea was taken early. Play resumed only at 4.40 and was called offbecause of rain at 5 pm.In between the interruptions, MRF made a strong recovery. Resuming at98 for three, they were soon 144 for five despite Amit Pagnis’watchful 66 for which he batted three hours. He faced 130 balls,hitting 12 fours.JP Yadav (59) and former Indian player Ashish Kapoor (36) initiated arecovery process by adding 54 runs for the sixth wicket off 10.5overs. The momentum was maintained with Yadav and another formerIndian player Thiru Kumaran (11) putting on 44 runs for the seventhwicket off 11.3 overs.Yadav fell soon afterwards after facing 113 balls and hitting sevenfours and a six but N Gautham who came in at No 9 kept the inningsgoing and remained unbeaten with a run a ball 52. He hit three foursand two sixes. With MR Shrinivas (10) he added 45 runs for the ninthwicket off 11 overs.Kumaran provided the breakthrough when HCA batted bowling skipperNanda Kishore (2). DS Manohar (6) and Anirudh Singh (3) were battingwhen rain ruled out further play.Unbeaten 106 by Thilak NaiduThilak Naidu hit an unbeaten 106 as Karnataka State CricketAssociation did well in scoring 343 for five in the allotted 90 overson the second day in their Coromandel Cement Cup match against Andhraat the RSI ground in Bangalore on Thursday.Resuming at 117 for two, KSCA lost Mithun Beerala for 61. FormerIndian player Vijay Bhardwaj contributed 62. But the innings reallygained momentum with Naidu and wicketkeeper RC Shanbal adding 134 runsfor the unbroken sixth wicket off 23.3 overs. Naidu faced 125 balls,hitting ten fours and two sixes while Shanbal remained unbeaten with46 off 75 balls.The Andhra reply was led by opener Amit Pathak who by close wasbatting with 68. He has so far faced 77 balls and hit elevenboundaries. He and YG Rao (17) added 67 runs for the second wicket off12.3 overs. Andhra at close were 98 for three off 28 overs and willdepend on Pathak carrying them past the KSCA total. The target now is246 runs off 62 overs.Frontline batsmen prop up Roofit XIValuable contributions by most of their frontline batsmen saw RoofitXI, Mumbai put up a challenging total of 341 for seven in 87.5 overson the second day of their Coromandel Cement Cup match against IndiaCements at the Central College ground in Bangalore on Thursday.Rain had washed out play on the opening day yesterday. Put in to bat,Roofit were given a good start with openers S Parab (94) and SAdhikari (47) putting on 96 runs off 33.4 overs. Parab was thenconcerned in a fruitful third wicket partnership of 84 runs withHrishikesh Kanitkar (76). Parab was third out at 182 in the 57th overafter facing 165 balls and hitting eleven fours. Kanitkar and skipperJatin Paranjpe (33) then maintained the momentum with a fourth wicketassociation of 68 runs that lasted 14 overs. P Patel then kept theinnings going with an unbeaten 43 off 56 balls with three boundaryhits. The first innings of each side is restricted to 90 overs.KSCA Colts in command against Kerala XIKarnataka State Cricket Association Colts were in a position ofconsiderable strength at stumps on the second day of their CoromandelCement Cup match against Kerala CA XI at the NRA ground in Bangaloreon Thursday. After scoring 321 for seven in the allotted 90 overs,KSCA Colts had taken six Kerala wickets for 123 runs by close.Resuming at 126 for two, KSCA Colts were bolstered by the twoovernight batsmen SK Ponnappa and B Akhil. While opener Ponnappa made88 off 207 balls with ten boundary hits, skipper Akhil went on to get56 off 118 balls with six fours. The two shared a third wicket standof 119 runs off 36.4 overs. The momentum was maintained with StuartBinny (27) and Affan Sheriff adding 58 runs for the seventh wicket off14.3 overs. And finally Sheriff and Sunil Kumar figured in an unbrokeneighth wicket partnership of 56 runs off seven overs. While Sheriffscored 50 off 63 balls with seven fours and a six, Sunil Kumar’sbreezy 33 came up off opnly 27 balls. SK Nair finished with five for82.Kerala lost wickets at regular intervals and were in a sad pickle atthe end of the day. Most of the damage was caused by opening bowler NCAiyappa who took three of the six wickets to fall for 44 runs.

Please note that if matches need to be cancelled (for weather or similar reason) on Saturdays 11th and 18th August, information should be passed to David Kirk (023 8061 9920) and NOT Roy Harrison, who will not be available to take calls. If you are unable to contact David, only then please advise the umpires direct. A number of changes have been made to the appointments originally advised to Captains.Umpires for the matches are as follows:18th August (1pm start)Division One
Andover v Calmore Sports – Buckle and Emery
Bournemouth v South Wilts – Pardey and Clegg
Havant v BAT Sports – Bundy and Hann R
Hungerford v Bashley (Rydal) – Forder and Green
Liphook & Ripsley v Burridge – Hardy and ReesDivision Two
Cove v Portsmouth – Simmonds and Barnes
Hambledon v United Services – Martin and Kirk
Lymington v Easton & Martyr W – Baker and Woolley
Old Basing v Trojans – Bennett and Davies
Sparsholt v OTs & Romsey – Knapp and BannisterDivision Three
Alton v Paultons – Marriott and Challis
Bashley (Rydal) II v Havant II – Colato and Turner
Gosport Borough v Flamingo – Gough and Eardley
Hook & N Basics v Lymington II – Harwood and Coffin
New Milton v Hursley Park – Burt and Hall
Portsmouth II v Leckford – Turnham and Rowe
Purbrook v Rowledge – Lambert and Stainton
United Services II v Waterlooville – Parry and Kinsey
Winchester KS v St Cross Syms – Eyres and PeckTelephone numbers in handbook except:
Colin Burt 01425 654288
John Coffin 01256 358 126
Nick Rowe 01980 863437
Peter Turnham 01202 823440
John Kinsey 01425 623761

David Fulton edged towards his ninth first-class century of the summer as Kent attempted to gain ground on relegation-threatened Northamptonshire in Canterbury.Fulton will go into day three of this CricInfo Championship match at St Lawrence unbeaten on 80 and with his side on 158 for three – representing an overall deficit in the match of 91.After skittling the hosts out for 108 in the first session of the match, Northamptonshire looked set for a formidable first innings lead until Kent took the second new ball to polish off their reply by taking six wickets inside 15 overs.A record fourth-wicket stand worth 167 from 63 overs between Russell Warren and Tony Penberthy increased the visitors’ lead to exactly 200 until Penberthy (73) fell to the occasional medium-pace of Matthew Walker.Warren went on to record his century from 200 balls and with 16 fours before his four-hour stay ended with a fresh burst from Ben Trott who finished with excellent figures of five for 89 from the Nackington Road End.That sparked a collapse of six wickets for 40 runs in just 88 balls as Trott and Martin Saggers, with three for 98, raced through the middle and late order to polish off the innings for 357 just before tea.Kent’s England academy opener Rob Key was bowled for the second time in the match when shouldering arms to John Blain in the second over of the reply, but then Fulton and Ed Smith combined to add 86 for the second wicket before Smith (41) nicked to Ripley to give Blain his eighth victim of the match.Andrew Symonds offered a sharp return catch that Penberthy snaffled up, only for Fulton and Matthew Walker to take Kent through to stumps with an unbroken fourth-wicket stand of 61.

With some formality, Somerset completed their fifth win of the season, beating relegated Essex by nine wickets to take 19 points and enhance their quest for runners-up position in the Cricinfo Championship.It was the twin spin partners of Keith Dutch and Ian Blackwell who masterminded the downfall of the home side with five wickets between them on a pitch offering slow turn as Essex endured their seventh Championship defeat of the season.They had begun the day still requiring 194 runs to avoid an innings defeat but the loss of two early wickets, those of Paul Grayson and Richard Clinton before the 100 was on the board, left the visitors totally in control.Their pursuit of victory was held up by a partnership of 88 in 26 overs between Stuart Law and Ronnie Irani before the latter fell leg before wicket to Richard Johnson for 32.James Foster gave Johnson his third wicket of the innings, totally beaten by pace and losing middle stump, but the loss of Law in the next over ensured Somerset’s success.The Australian, almost certainly playing his last home Championship innings in an Essex sweater, entertained the crowd with 66, a performance that contained trademark drives that have been so much a feature of his six-year stay with the county.He was attempting to complete the 13th boundary of his innings when he pulled a delivery from Blackwell into the hands of mid-wicket to leave Essex 191-6 and the slow left-armer soon had Ashley Cowan caught at the wicket.An enterprising eighth-wicket partnership between Graham Napier and Justin Bishop added 64 and ensured Somerset would have to bat again but the persevering Blackwell finally claimed Napier when the all-rounder pulled him to deep mid-wicket having scored 56 – a Championship-best.That left Dutch to wrap up the innings, taking the last two wickets in successive overs and leave his side requiring just 64 runs for victory, a task comfortably completed in 9.1 overs for the loss of Matthew Wood’s wicket.

Western Australia selectors will give Damien Martyn until the coin toss to prove his fitness for tomorrow’s Pura Cup cricket match against Tasmania at the WACA.Martyn threw a scare into the WA and Australian camps when he injured his thigh during his 108-run innings in WA’s five wicket loss to the Tigers in their one-day clash on Wednesday.The Warriors shielded Martyn from the media today but Australia’s chairman of selectors Trevor Hohns said he had received an update this morning and the newswas not as bad as first thought.”They (Warriors’ medical staff) think it is just a bit of muscle tiredness from overuse,” he said.Should Martyn’s injury fail to respond, the spotlight would fall on team-mate Simon Katich with the first Test against New Zealand less than a fortnight away.Katich has had a poor start to the domestic summer but he is now entrenched as the next-in-line, a role Martyn filled for two years before cementing his position at the expense of Warriors team-mate Justin Langer on the Ashes tour.Langer fought his way back for the final Test and should retain his place ahead of Michael Slater at the top of the order after a fighting century at The Oval.But both would be hoping for some runs this week as several of the nation’s leading batsmen have embarked on run feasts to start the Australian summer.One such player is Tigers captain Ricky Ponting who followed back-to-back centuries in the Pura Cup match with NSW with a classy 102 here on Wednesdaynight.But in addition to Ponting, regulars Mark Waugh and Matthew Hayden have been amongst the runs while Test hopefuls Brad Hodge, Greg Blewett, Martin Loveand Jamie Cox are all in good touch.Ponting said the Tigers had taken plenty of confidence from Wednesday night’s game and hoped to build on their solid four-day form against NSW.”We played well in our last four-day game, to get two points down in Sydney was a pretty good effort against a strong NSW side,” he said.”So we’ll go into the game fairly confident.”Warriors captain Adam Gilchrist said it was too early to sound the alarm bells after following losses to Queensland in both forms of the game as well as the loss to the Tigers.But he admitted it was time the much vaunted batting line-up began to deliver.”I think we’ve got to, as individuals, assess whether you’ve given yourself the best chance to play well enough,” he said.”I think we’ve all prepared well enough but when we’ve got into the game we probably haven’t executed what we’d talked about as well as we should have.”Teams:Western Australia (from): Adam Gilchrist(c), Justin Langer, Murray Goodwin, Mike Hussey, Simon Katich, Damien Martyn, Marcus North, Ryan Campbell, ScottMeuleman, Brad Williams, Jo Angel, Sean Cary, Gavin Swan.Tasmania (from): Ricky Ponting (c), Jamie Cox, Graeme Cunningham, Michael Dighton, Sean Clingeleffer, Dene Hills, Adam Polkinghorne, Josh Marquet, DanielMarsh, David Saker, Shane Watson, Damien Wright, Shaun Young, Andrew Downton, Brad Thomas.

Haryana’s spinners struck vital blows in the post-tea session to bringdown Delhi from a commanding position and reduce them to 288 for sevenin the first innings in the North Zone Ranji tie.Replying to Haryana’s 316, Delhi failed to capitalise on a 121-runopening stand between Gautam Gambhir (91) and Akash copra (48). From adominant position of 166 for two, Delhi collapsed to 260 for seven,with Amit Mishra striking thrice and Gautam Vashisht twice.Earlier, resuming at their overnight score of 282 for eight, Haryanaadded 34 runs in eight overs before Arun Singh ended the innings bytaking the wickets of Sumit Narwal (39) and Nitin Aggarwal (11). TheDelhi openers settled down early and soon got into an aggressive mode,hitting pace bowlers S Vidyut and Narwal all over the ground.Just when the partnership was going strong, and the hosts were firmlyon the road to a huge first innings score, Haryana got a breakthroughwhen Nitin Aggarwal’s direct hit broke the stumps at the non-striker’send while Chopra was attempting a cheeky single.Gambhir added 43 runs with new man Radhey Shyam Gupta. Just when helooked set for a well-deserved century, however, he was deceived as hejumped out to a flighted ball from Vashisht, keeper Ratra whipping offthe bails in a flash.Vashisht struck again after four overs, dismissing Gupta caught atsilly point by Shafiq Khan with the scoreboard reading 179 for three.Haryana clawed their way back into the game, grabbing four morewickets within a space of 10 overs, the Mishra-Vashisht combinationbowling accurately.But Delhi skipper Mithun Manhas (45 off 32 balls) refused to give upand executed some powerful shots in trying to stem the rot. Hecollaborated with Pradeep Chawla to add 44 runs, even as Haryana’sbowlers were on the rampage.Manhas could not hold on for long, though, as he was trapped in frontby Aggarwal. Even as Delhi’s middle order failed, the tailenders notonly showed resistance, but adopted attack as the best form ofdefence, with Sarandeep Singh (20) and Abhishek Sharma (23*) makingsome quick runs and hitting four boundaries each. Sharma and AmitBandhari (4*) were at the crease, and the hosts still trailed by 28runs, when stumps were drawn.

Haryana defended a meagre total and effected a comprehensive 71-runvictory over Delhi in their Ranji one-day match at Patiala on Monday.Winning the toss, Haryana posted only 217 in their innings. The firstthree wickets fell for 30, and the innings looked certain to crumble.But 42 from Shafiq Khan and a busy 73 off 80 balls from skipper AjayRatra took Haryana through past the 200-run mark. They reached 217/9,with Ratra unbeaten till the very end. For Delhi, Amit Bhandari took 4wickets.Mithun Manhas’ 41 notwithstanding, Delhi collapsed spectacularly intheir batting effort. Bowled out in 40.3 overs for just 146, Delhistruggled against all the Haryana bowlers. Only Manhas batted with anydegree of comfort, and when he fell with the score on 114, the matchwas all but over.

The touring Bangladeshi cricketers have given their New Zealand Cricket liaison officer, John Bishop, a record who no other man in world cricket possesses.Looking after the Bangladeshi players’ requirements means that Bishop has completed a pat-hand of being official liaison officer for all Test cricket countries visiting New Zealand.Bishop began his liaison work soon after his friend Christopher Doig became NZC chief executive in 1995, and his first duties were with the 1995/96 Pakistanis. Since then Bishop had attended the needs of all the Test-match countries, sometimes two or three times.After retiring from his bank manager position at 50, and after a club cricket career mainly at second grade level with High School Old Boys in Christchurch – where he was also club captain – Bishop has mixed his annual liaison work, usually involving four or five months a year, with other duties at NZC.”I do not have any really favourite teams,” said Bishop, “although I could say that some sides, such as South Africa and Australia, are rather better-organised than the others.”But all the players in all the sides have been great. I enjoy doing things for them, the players appreciate it, and tell me they are grateful. I have never met a player who has not expressed his gratitude when I did something for him.”Bishop said the same compliment might not always apply to team managers, but they had other requirements that might have been hard to meet.Amid all the good memories Bishop said there had been a few mistakes, but possibly only one that had a noticeable impact – and the mistake was not entirely Bishop’s.When Zimbabwe were preparing for a Test at WestpacTrust Park in Hamilton, Bishop was asked to obtain a recording of the Zimbabwean national anthem for the opening ceremony.He had heard a recording of what was supposed to be the anthem, and mentioned this to a travelling newspaperman who shall remain anonymous, even if his initials were DJC.The helpful newspaperman phoned his wife in Auckland, asked her to play a CD containing many anthems, and when these were played back over the phone Bishop heard an anthem described as Zimbabwean, which was the same as the one he had first obtained.Thus armed with confirmation, Bishop provided the anthem, the opening ceremony went ahead, and only afterward was Bishop told the new South African anthem, not the Zimbabwean, had been played.The Zimbabwean players were not offended, but once the story got out and about Bishop’s Christchurch friends made a gleeful point of referring to the gaffe.Bishop says the Bangladeshis are already proving as amicable as all the other sides he has helped over the years – and this may be sufficient encouragement for him to try and complete a double pat hand, taking in two visits from the other nine sides.

Northern Districts beat Auckland by five wickets with 13 balls to spare at WestpacTrust Park in Hamilton.An innings of 105 from opener James Marshall took ND most of the way to victory, but there were some nervous moments before an unbroken sixth-wicket stand of 53 between Marshall’s twin brother Hamish and Grant Bradburn saw them home.At the end of the third day’s play ND coach Bruce Blair told CricInfo that he felt confident about chasing 200 or less. That being so, a target of 248 looked uncomfortably challenging.Setting such a target was towards the outer limit of Auckland’s ambitions at the start of play. A blistering innings by Andre Adams made it possible. He scored 60 from 76 balls, hitting four fours and three sixes.His method was simple. If the ball was pitched up he aimed straight, short and it went square, both achieved with a minimum of footwork. As well as giving his team a chance to win the game it pushed Adams’ claims for selection in the CLEAR Black Caps one-day squad, following his 5-70 in ND’s first innings.Brooke Walker contributed three to the eighth-wicket partnership of 67 with Adams, but his contribution was far from negligible in other respects. He batted through the morning, taking over the attacking role after Adams departed and fell one short of a deserved half century. Auckland finished on 307.Joseph Yovich took 6/102 in the second innings, completing his first 10-wicket match haul in first-class cricket.James Marshall had not fielded in Auckland’s second innings because of a hand injury sustained batting in the first innings. The rest seemed to do him good, because from the start of his innings he batted with a level of rhythm, timing and confidence that he has not shown for two years.Marshall’s 105 came in 147 balls with eleven fours and two sixes, both lifted effortlessly over midwicket. He played confidently all around the wicket, but the timing and placement of his offside drives was particularly memorable.The ND management will be pleased that there were four half-century stands in the innings, as building partnerships had been identified as a priority.Speaking to CricInfo at the end of the match, ND captain Robbie Hart praised the contributions of Marshall and Bradburn, while emphasising that victory was achieved through an all-round team performance.”We needed Bradburn’s experience when it was tight at the end,” he said.ND are in second place on the State Championship table, one point above Auckland and four behind new leaders Canterbury. The State Championship now takes a break of five weeks while the one-day State Shield is played.Players and officials of both sides were full of praise for the job done by turf manager Doug Strachan and his team. They produced a surface that offered pace, consistent bounce, something for all the bowlers, but one that the batsmen always had confidence in.Even in ordinary conditions this would be an achievement, but in the primeval swamp that has been Hamilton for the past two weeks it is little short of a miracle. Strachan has had nine hours sleep in the last three nights as he has battled against the elements in the name of cricket.How will he celebrate New Year’s Eve?”I’m going to buy a curry, go home and fall asleep by eight o’clock,” he said.

The following players have been named by the WA Selectors to represent the WA Second XI v Victoria A at Fletcher Park in Carlisle, from Monday 4 February to Thursday 7 February 2002.

• CHRIS ROGERS (Capt – South Perth)
• GEOFF CULLEN (Claremont Nedlands)
• BRETT JONES (University)
• ANDREW JAMES (Perth)
• MATTHEW HEALEY (University)
• SAM HOWMAN (Subiaco Floreat)
• BEN LILLIS (Melville)
• BRAD OLDROYD (South Perth)
• LUKE RONCHI (Perth)
• CALLUM THORP (Wanneroo)
• ADAM VOGES (Melville)
• PETER WORTHINGTON (Midland Guildford)

COACH: Noel Knight
UMPIRES: Jeff Brookes & Bruce Bennett
HOURS OF PLAY: 11.00am – 1.00pm, 1.40pm – 3.40pm, 4.00pm – 6.00pmSelectionsThere are six changes to the previous WA Second XI team that defeated the QAS by three wickets, at Alan Border field in Queensland from 9 December to 12 December 2001.Ben Lillis, Brad Oldroyd, Callum Thorp, Luke Ronchi, Brett Jones and Andrew James come into the WA team and replace Mark Walsh, Rob Baker, Michael Clark, Steven Glew, Daniel Waters and Darren Wates.The game between WA and Victoria will be a battle for top position on the ACB Cup ladder. Victoria currently leads WA by .7 points.