Karachi, Oct 22: England geared up for the three-match one-dayinternational series with a 10-wicket victory over Pakistan A in aone-day match here on Sunday in front of empty enclosures.England raced to the victory target of 170 in just 29.4 overs byruthlessly destroying the second Pakistan string bowling. Theirfielding added to their miseries when they dropped Marcus Trescothickand Alec Stewart who eventually ended their agony by retiring hurt.The sufferer on both the occasions was paceman Mohammad Sami whodespite conceding 35 runs from his six overs, left a big impact. Hisfigures might have been different had Shiraz Haider picked up astraight forward catch at square-leg of Trescothick when he was 36 andHumayun Farhat held on to a regulation catch of Stewart when he was 8.Trecothick followed up his Friday’s 102 with 59 while Stewart hit 50.Trecothick, who capitalized from some very short of length bowling bycutting and pulling at will, struck five fours and three sixes in his55-ball innings. Stewart hit five boundaries in a 68-ball knock.The openers retirement provided some more batting practice to skipperNasser Hussain who finished with 31 off 44 balls.Earlier, Hussain deciding to field to get a taste of the Pakistansummer, did an exellent job in the field by making life difficult forthe Pakistan A batsmen. There was nothing unusual in their bowlingexcept they kept the ball in three sticks.It was disappointing to see the future Pakistan batsmen bat so poorly.Batsmen like Hasan Raza was bowled when he danced down the track,Salman Butt was caught behind while fishing around, Bazid Khan givingStewart his second catch while cutting. Experienced Ijaz Ahmad Junior,who last played a Test in 1995, was run-out with a direct throw fromHussain.Pakistan A headed for an embarrassing end to their innings when theyreached 92 for six before Naumanullah and Fahad Khan came to theirrescue by adding 66 runs for the seventh wicket from 81 balls. Naumanbatted with great courage and concentration to score a fluent 64 off88 balls. His innings included four boundaries and sixes off DarrenGough and Ashley Giles.Fahad remained unbeaten on a 50-ball 28.For England, the most encouraging news was the form and fitness shownby Warwickshire’s left-arm spinner Ashley Giles. Giles, who missed theICC knockout tournament because of calf injury, bagged three for 34from nine overs. Andrew Caddick was economical, successful andimpressive when he picked up three wickets for 15 runs from his quotaof 10 overs.England take on Pakistan on Tuesday in first of the three back-to-backone-day internationals.

Sri Lanka gained the second victory of their South African tour when they beat a KwaZulu-Natal XI by 57 runs at the Chatsworth Oval on Tuesday, but they may well have been left wondering exactly what had been achieved.Exactly one week before the first Test match against South Africa the Sri Lankans found themselves playing a one-day game against a young and understrength Natal team. If that makes little sense, then think about an itinerary which goes: two one-day internationals, two Test matches, four one-day internationals, one Test.It’s fair to say, then Tuesday’s match did very little for the tourists in terms of getting them ready for Kingsmead on Boxing Day. And it was, perhaps because of its pointlessness, a fairly desultory affair.Sri Lanka’s 266 for eight was built around Mahela Jayawardene’s 85, an innings which lasted 88 and in which Jayawardene helped himself to seven fours and a six. There were contributions of 28 from Kumar Sangakkara and 23 from Russel Arnold, but the kick towards the end came from Chaminda Vaas who thumped out 52 off 41 balls, clubbing three sixes during the course of his innings.Vaas probably felt it was the least he owed his team. Virtually the first thing he did on arriving at the crease was to run out Arnold.In reply Natal slipped to 120 for seven before Gulam Bodi, with 53, and Gary Gilder (28) got stuck into the Sri Lankan bowling. They put on 70 for the eighth wicket, but it was very much a case of being too little too late and the innings lasted two balls less than 45 overs before closing at 209.Sri Lanka now play a three-day game against Natal in Pietermaritzburg in circumstances that, all being well, should more closely approximate what they might expect in next week’s Test match.

The first four-day unofficial Test Match between Sri Lanka A and PakistanA was heading for a tight finish at the Rangiri Dambulla InternationalStadium following a close tussle for honours on the third day Friday.Hasan Raza, the Pakistan A captain, completed his tenth first-class century- a chanceless knock of 107 – to give his side a slender first innings leadof three runs.By the close of the third day, Sri Lanka A had made 176 for six in their second innings to hold an overall lead of 173 going into the final day on Saturday.The result of the match hinges on what sort of target Sri Lanka A will set Pakistan A, and the number of overs they will give their bowlers to take ten wickets.Sri Lanka A scored 220 in their first innings and Pakistan A repliedwith 223.Sri Lanka A recovered from losing openers Dhammika Sudarshana and IanDaniel for 34 through a third-wicket stand of 112 between Michael Vandortand Kumar Sangakkara which lifted Sri Lanka A to a healthy 146 for two.But the dismissal of Vandort for 84 and Sangakkara for 54 before the close,saw Sri Lanka A lose four wickets for 28 runs on a pitch which isbecoming increasingly difficult for batting.The tall Vandort, using his height advantage, stroked his way to a maidenhalf-century in international cricket. He reached his fifty with a straightdrive for four off Toufiq Umer and celebrated it with an on-drive off thenext delivery. It took him 100 minutes and 85 balls with seven fours.Vandort survived a chance at 63 when Danish Kenaria dropped an easy catchat deep mid-wicket off Qaiser Abbas and, with a century there for the taking, he fell lbw to Irfan as he played across the line. Vandort batted for 183 minutes and faced 143 balls for his score of 84 which comprised eight fours and a six over long-on off leg-spinner Kaneria.The left-hander, playing most of his shots off the front foot and excellingon the drive, has fulfilled the promise he showed when he broke intofirst-class cricket two years ago by scoring two double centuries for CCCin the Premier trophy tournament.Upekha Fernando and Chamara Silva did not last long, falling within ten runsof each other, but Tilan Samaraweera stayed with Sangakkara to see himthrough to his half-century.Sangakkara, struggling to find his form, took 80 balls for his first 40runs, but went into his shell thereafter and required a further 68 balls toscore the next ten runs for his half-century. He batted for 200 minutes andreached the boundary six times.Resuming at his overnight score of 89, the 19-year-old right-hander Razastruck two fours, one each off fast bowler Ruchira Perera and left-armspinner Sajeeva Weerakoon to move to his century in the tenth over of themorning. It took him 356 minutes and came off 259 balls with the help ofnine fours.Raza became only the second cricketer to complete a century on this ground.Last month Nicky Degroot, playing for Canada, made 113 against North CentralProvince in a limited-overs game.Raza lost his wicket shortly afterwards when he was rapped on the pads onceby Weerakoon and adjudged lbw off the next delivery for 107. The batsmanseemed unhappy with the decision, as he departed with Pakistan stilltrailing Sri Lanka by two runs.Raza batted for 377 minutes and faced 283 balls, hitting ten fours.The innings was ended 68 minutes into the third day when Weerakoon bowledIrfan Fazil for ten to finish with figures of three for 64. His spell onFriday was two for 19 off 8.2 overs.

The XXXX Queensland Bulls have re-signed their Pura Cup championship team for the 2001-2002 cricket season.Queensland Cricket Chief Executive Officer Graham Dixon today announced that 18 players nominated by the State selectors had accepted Queensland State Player Contracts, including the Bulls team that won consecutive Pura Cup championships with their win over Victoria at the Gabba in March.The Bulls will have a squad of 22 for the 2001-2002 season, comprising 18 players on State contracts and four players on ACB contracts.Queensland has also secured three players on rookie contracts, which were introduced during the off-season as part of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Australian Cricket Board and Australian Cricketers’ Association.Queensland’s ACB contracted players are Matthew Hayden, Andrew Symonds, Martin Love and Ashley Noffke.Australian Under-19 duo Mitchell Johnson and Chris Hartley have signed Bulls contracts while 18-year-old University batsman Craig Philipson, Norths opener Duncan Betts, a current Commonwealth Bank Cricket Academy scholar, and Redlands Tigers pace bowler Damien Mackenzie have agreed to rookie contracts.Philipson, Betts and Mackenzie are all products of the Australia Post Emerging Players scheme and have represented Queensland at Under-17 and Under-19 level as well playing for the Queensland Academy of Sport team in the ACB Cup 2nd XI competition.Johnson, a left-arm pace bowler who missed much of last season while recovering from a back stress fracture, and Hartley, a wicket-keeper, are regarded as two of the brightest talents to emerge from Queensland in recent seasons.Hartley was a graduate of the CBCA last season while Johnson is in his second year at the Academy. Both players have represented the Australian Under-19 in Youth Internationals in the past two seasons.Missing from last year’s squad are allrounders Scott Prestwidge and Geoff Foley, who announced their retirement at the end of the season, Peter Burge Medal winner Dale Turner, who has returned to Sydney, and pace bowlers Matthew Pascoe and Brendan Creevey.Contracted players not involved with the Ashes tour or playing overseas have commenced off-season conditioning training. The Bulls have 13 players either touring with the Australian team or playing in the United Kingdom at present.All States had to register their initial list of contracted players by today, with the complete player list for each State to be finalised prior to the season.Dixon said Queensland had now completed its player recruitment for the coming season and was unlikely to participate in the national player draft later this month.XXXX Queensland Bulls squad 2001-2002ACB & Bulls contracts: Matthew Anderson, Andy Bichel, Lee Carseldine, Jerry Cassell, Adam Dale, Joe Dawes, Nathan Hauritz, Matthew Hayden, James Hopes, Michael Kasprowicz, Stuart Law, Martin Love, Jimmy Maher, Brendan Nash, Ashley Noffke, Scott O’Leary, Clinton Perren, Wade Seccombe, Chris Hartley, Mitchell Johnson, Scott Muller, Andrew Symonds. Rookie contracts: Craig Philipson, Duncan Betts, Damien Mackenzie.

SK Nair and S Haridas were elected president and secretary of theKerala Cricket Association in the elections of the Kerala CricketAssociation at Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday. Nair, who is thechairman of the Finance Committee of the Board of Control forCricket in India has been elected president for the first timewhile Haridas was re-elected to the post.The other members elected for a four year period (2001 to 2005)were: Vice Presidents : Dr KN Raghavan, GK Shetty, S RamachandranNair, and C Sneharaj. Joint secretary : Niaz Ahmed Treasurer: TCMathew

Mark Butcher has revealed that he was close to quitting cricket until the resurgence in the England team’s performances inspired him to continue.”The only reason I didn’t give up cricket was because I didn’t know what else I could do, but I think everyone looks at things like that when things aren’t going well,” he admitted.”I wasn’t really looking forward to the start of the season in April 2000 and apart from the success that Surrey had that year, it was a pretty rotten year for me all round.”Looking back on it now, I played in 27 Tests and they seemed to fly by and since I’ve been out of it I’ve watched the success the guys have had and it’s helped me build an appetite to get back,” he continued.”I was starting to miss it again and at one point I wouldn’t have missed it at all. Life in general had got me down and that made it very difficult to give as much attention and focus to the job as I should.”But Butcher teamed up with his father, the ex-England player Alan Butcher, to work hard to eradicate some technical flaws over the winter. The rewards have been clear to see as the Surrey opener has been in sparkling form in the last couple of weeks in all forms of cricket.”I’ve done a fair bit of rebuilding in certain parts of my game during the winter and that’s taken a little bit of time to bed down this summer, but it seems to be working so far,” he explained.”In the last couple of years I’ve played virtually non-stop and a few things crept into my game that were causing a few problems, so I spent the winter at home and worked with the ‘Old Fella’, Butcher said, reflecting on a run of 23 Test innings without a half-century that led to him being dropped after the tour of South Africa.”They were little adjustments, the sort of things golfers do all the time but cricketers rarely do, analysing the mechanics of it all – if the parts aren’t moving properly you give yourself less of a chance to succeed.”David Graveney suggested that Butcher will bat at number three at Edgbaston in his bid to kick-start the career that brought Test centuries against two of the strongest bowling attacks in world cricket – South Africa and Australia. But Butcher admitted that the recall to England colours had come as a bit of a surprise.”This has been a massive bolt out of the blue,” he conceded. “I was so nervous when ‘Grav’ rang, which was something I hadn’t felt in a very long time.”

Surrey coach Keith Medlycott has confirmed that Pakistan have approached him over the job of national coach in place of Richard Pybus.Medlycott, who guided Surrey to the B&H Trophy in last Saturday’s final at Lord’s, told CricInfo: “I have been asked for a CV. That’s the level it’s at so far.”The 36-year-old continued: “I’m in year one of a four-year contract at Surrey so I’m happy here. There’s no real information on me leaving at the moment.”However, he said: “If someone came in and offered £500,000, you never know.”Having led Surrey to back-to-back championships, Medlycott, a former Surrey and England A slow left-armer, is currently the most successful coach in the English game.As such, sources disclosed it was unlikely that Surrey would be keen to let him go unless it was to coach England.

The present reported unrest in parts of Zimbabwe has received wide coverage by local and international press and various agencies around the world are calling for the possible cancellation of the above tours.The Zimbabwe Cricket Union has discussed the above tours with the management of the United Cricket Board of South Africa and the England and Wales Cricket Board, and we believe there is no good reason why these tours should not continue as scheduled, and further more we are of the view that there is no risk to our visitors in visiting Zimbabwe to play matches in Harare and Bulawayo.Adequate security has been part and parcel of all visiting teams to Zimbabwe and this will be no different for the forthcoming tours.The Union is monitoring the situation on a regular basis and will continue to advise the boards of South Africa and England on the latest situation. Both the UCBSA and ECB have confirmed that these tours will take place at present, and senior administrative officials from both countries have also confirmed their acceptance of invitations from our Union to visit during these respective tours.The streets of Harare and Bulawayo remain some of the safest in the world. The information received from the Central Statistical Office indicates that in the five months to May 2001, some 635,000 tourists have visited Zimbabwe from destinations throughout the world, which numbers include no less than 244 000 from South Africa and 43 000 from the United Kingdom/Ireland in the same period under review.The Zimbabwe Cricket Union is consistent in it’s policy of ensuring for the safety of our visitors, and this policy will be followed regarding the tours by South Africa and England to Zimbabwe in September and October of this year.

Tushar Imran, the dashing batsman from Dhanmondi Club, looked very joyful yesterday and there are reasons. He and four other boys from different age group got the rare chance to undergo a four-week training session in Commonwealth Bank Academy of Cricket in Australia (CBCA). It is noteworthy that CBCA toured Bangladesh in January 2001, to play some exhibition matches.Tushar is famous for his crushing knock against the champions of the Premier League 2000-2001. He slammed an unbeaten 131 against Mohammedan Sporting Club, which ended up with a surprising victory over their gigantic opponents. After the League had finished, he was called in for Bangladesh-A camp. Tushar thinks he has some problems relating to his temperament and he wants to work on that. He played a three-day match against the CBCA squad in BKSP early this year.Anwar Hossain Monir, the pace bowler who was summoned to practice with the national squad, is also very optimistic about this training tour. He thinks that there are a lot of things he should learn from the Academy. He has identified few of his problems and is hopeful that the Australian experts would help him to prevail over those. Monir played for Surjatarun Club in this year.Hasibul Haq was in the under-17 squad that took part in the Asian U-17 tournament held in Dhaka, 2001. He played the First Division 2000-2001 for Gopibagh Friends Club and scored a little more than 750 runs, which is an outstanding achievement for a kid like him. He is known as the little prodigy of First Division. He is reliable behind the stumps and aggressive in the front. His friend Arif, who also played the Asian U-17 as a specialist leg-break bowler, is going with him. Both are students of class ten and they still have not crossed sixteen.The boys will play five practice matches in Western Australia. The former wicket keeper-batsman Wayne Philips now coaches for CBCA.

AAP – Australia cricket captain Steve Waugh wants shorter Ashes tours anddescribed some fixtures on this year’s successful campaign as “a waste oftime”.Waugh and several of his colleagues who were part of both the triumphantTest and one-day squads returned to Australia today after completing agruelling three-month itinerary.The Australians schedule included 21 matches, including six threeorfour-dayers against county teams, some of which Waugh felt weren’t needed bythe tourists.”Three months is just too long to be away I think and it can be unhealthyfor everyone,” Waugh said.”You are in very close proximity to all the squad and it’s a long time to betogether and people obviously are missing their families.”So I think in future some of the county games are not needed, they are awaste of time basically half of them. Probably only two or three were goodmatches.”Waugh today admitted there was a danger Australia could look past its nextassignment against New Zealand as it awaits a showdown against South Africa,its closest challenger at the top of the ICC Test championship.Australia holds a slender lead over South Africa on the points table and thetwo teams will play three Tests here in December and January before hostingthe return series in February and March.Waugh admitted his team would already be thinking about the South Africamatches during the three-Test home series against New Zealand in Novemberand December.”New Zealand are a good cricket side and they are one of these sides thatare improving, so they will be hard to beat,” Waugh said.”But there’s no doubt we will be looking towards South Africa and they willbe looking at us. I think its a showdown for the number one Test side in theworld, so there is a danger element there that you can look too far ahead.”We’ve got to obviously make sure we play well against New Zealand, but atthe same time, we will be starting to prepare mentally and probably writingthings down about the South African players before we get to play them.”While Waugh praised bowling stalwarts Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath fortheir efforts in England, he made a point of complimenting his batsmen.Five of them managed at least one Test century with four of them averagingover 50.England never came close to bowling out Australia twice and only once did itdismiss Waugh’s side for under 400.”We probably surprised ourselves with the way we batted over there.”I thought the batting was superb and our general cricket all round waspretty good.”We were aggressive the whole time and positive and we played to win everyday of the tour.”