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Despite threatening to sue the United Cricket Board of South Africa for unfair dismissal, Lance Klusener has attempted to build bridges with South Africa’s captain Graeme Smith, by offering his services if Jacques Kallis chooses not to rejoin the current tour of England.Klusener, 31, was dropped from South Africa’s squad after the World Cup, and was branded “disruptive” by Smith in a breakfast interview. His threat of legal action is based on his loss of earnings, as Klusener has claimed he turned down offers of work with English counties after being assured he would be included in the Test squad.But now, with South Africa waiting for Kallis to decide whether he wants to continue playing so soon after the death of his father, Klusener has offered himself up as a potential replacement. “I would like the captain to know that if he has a problem on this tour I am available to step into the breach if wanted,” Klusener told the Mail on Sunday, "with my boots already packed.”I care passionately about South African cricket and the team," added Klusener, a veteran of 48 Tests and 154 one-day internationals. “I will admit that I am reserved and unwilling to stand up and address a room full of people. There is no dark side to my character I need to hide."”I’d like nothing better than to be given the chance to share a beer with Graeme [Smith] and discuss the future. What is so sad is that he has made statements about me without even knowing me properly. But I bear no grudges and I would like to explain to him how I think we could still work together for the team’s benefit.”

Lancashire won the second game of their pre-season tour when they defeatedBoland XI by 100 runs on Sunday.Mal Loye and Alec Swann both continued with their good starts to the tour,making fifties for the second successive match. Loye made 95 off 101 ballsincluding one 6 and ten 4’s, while Swann scored 74 off 83 balls. The pairadded 116 for the third wicket following the early departure of openers MarkChilton (19) and Iain Sutcliffe. Mark Currie also made a useful 38 asLancashire posted a total of 257 for 8 off their 50 overs.The Boland reply started badly as Glen Chapple dismissed both openers andthe Lancashire bowling dominated proceedings. Chapple finished with 3 for17 off 10 overs, with Peter Martin and John Wood taking two wickets each.Martin finished with 2 for 20 off 10 overs, while there was also animpressive spell from Sajid Mahmood whose figures of 1 for 40 did not dojustice to his performance.Boland were eventually all out for 157, and Lancashire next play Essex todayin the Triangular Tournament arranged with hosts Western Province.

South Africa all but batted Bangladesh out of the game afterthey piled on a massive score after choosing to bat first. WhileMohammad Ashraful’s brave resistance yielded a half-centuryand helped Bangladesh make a fist of it for a while, it was nevergoing to be enough to alter the result. The gulf between thesides grew apparent as the required run-rate sprinted away fromthe scoring rate. The end, when it came in the 50th over, sawBangladesh reach 211, well short of the required 295.On a featherbed Dhaka wicket, South Africa stitched togethertheir 294 for 3 against Bangladesh without so much as strainingsinews. Their batting was a passage of play with few thrills – nobatsman went after the bowling, no bowler caught the eye.Openers Herschelle Gibbs and Graeme Smith too provided a goodstart with minimum fuss. They took ones and twos at will andrarely missed out on opportunities to strike boundaries.It was only in the 17th over that the opening stand of 112 wasbroken. Mohammad Rafique had Smith stumped, deceiving himwith a gentle floater. Smith showed his disappointment, swinginghis bat angrily and cursing himself for squandering a goldenopportunity.If Smith was unlucky to miss out, Gibbs was plain stupid to doso. Jacques Rudolph eased a slow delivery down to long off andset off briskly. With the single completed, the batsmen turnedwith plenty of time to make it two. But instead of running hard,Gibbs merely sauntered across, and a good throw from JavedOmar found the stumps via Alok Kapali. Gibbs’ run-a-ball 62 cameto a sorry end and South Africa had needlessly lost anotherwicket (133 for 2).The removal of both openers with slightly more than 20 oversbowled gave Bangladesh a chance to put pressure on a SouthAfrican middle order short of a batsman of the highest quality.With Jacques Rudolph and Boeta Dippenaar attempting to getset, the bowlers slipped in a few tight overs.Try as they might though, they could not pick up wickets.Rudolph began to step up the scoring rate, motoring on to 44 off45 balls, before a lapse in concentration cost him his wicket. Hechopped hard at a short, wide ball from Rafique, but onlymanaged a top edge to Tareq Aziz at short third man (189 for3).From there on, with wickets in hand, some South Africans wouldhave looked at a 300-plus total. After all, India did exactly thatagainst them yesterday. The logic was sound, barring the simplefact that Neil McKenzie (55*) could not strike the ball as freelyas Dinesh Mongia, and Dippenaar (66*) could not pace hisinnings as well as Mohammad Kaif.A largely charmless partnership of 105 runs in 111 balls tookSouth Africa close to 300 though, and it was more than enoughto send Bangladesh plummeting to a 34th successive ODI defeat.Mohammad Ashraful kept the South African bowlers at bay foralmost 30 overs, raising Bangladeshi hopes with an exuberant 52- by far the top score for Bangladesh. Crisp strokes flew off hisblade, most notably when the ball was dropped short. A range ofpull shots – from the orthodox to the bizarre – saw him strikeseven boundaries. It was Paul Adams who finally dismissedAshraful, inducing an edge when he tried a flashy cut shot (112for 4).The fall of Ashraful marked the beginning of the end ofBangladesh’s charge towards victory. Khaled Mahmud threw hisbat around for 40, and aided by some uncharacteristically ineptcatching, he helped Bangladesh to bat out 49.1 overs. In theend though, Bangladesh finished adrift by 83 runs. ShaunPollock, with 4 for 37, was easily the pick of the bowlers.Perhaps this will persuade Smith to open the bowling with Pollockin future games.

SYDNEY, Feb 16 AAP – It’s played host to one of Australia’s proudest sporting triumphs, so why not the nation’s favourite sport?Telstra Stadium, the former centrepiece of the Sydney Olympics, today made its debut as a cricket ground in the last regular season match of the ING Cup between NSW and competition wooden spooner South Australia.And, judging by the enthusiasm with which it was greeted as a cricket venue, there seems no reason why it won’t be used again, particularly as a stage for one-day internationals.But that won’t happen until at least 2005-06 because of an agreement between Cricket NSW and the Sydney Cricket Ground Trust to play one-day internationals at the SCG until then.Some 25,763 people turned up today, the second-biggest crowd at a domestic one-day game behind the 32,908 who watched Victoria play Western Australia at the MCG on January 23, 1977.As a result, the atmosphere was fantastic – plenty of crowd participation with chanting and Mexican waves, not to mention 17-year-old Stephen McCabe who won a $5,000 investment portfolio and $1,000 cash for catching a six off Mark Waugh.One could only imagine the vibe an international fixture would generate.The only downside was a rain delay of more than an hour, when the lights even got a workout while poncho-clad fans danced to an impressive array of songs with rain as the theme blaring over the public address system.”For me, the big success story about today is that this has proved without a shadow of a doubt that this is a cricket venue for the future,” said Cricket NSW chief executive David Gilbert.And while the traditionalists might be opposed to moving games from the SCG, Gilbert believes the beloved ground can co-exist with Homebush, the two venues sharing one-day international fixtures.”Everyone in their right mind understands the Test match belongs at the Sydney Cricket Ground,” Gilbert said.”That’s where the traditions are. But one-day international cricket … we’re talking about a game that’s 30 years old, there’s no traditions to one-day cricket.”When that gets pedalled out, that really gets my back up because one-day cricket is the fast food of cricket.”It’s about a result on the day, everyone has a great time, everyone has a beer and a pie and are probably hard pressed the next day to remember who won the game – that’s the game.”Gilbert said while NSW would find it difficult to poach any more one-dayers from other states, the plan would be to play two of its current allocation of four matches at the SCG and two at Telstra Stadium.”Even thinking further ahead, 2011, which I think will be the next time that we get the World Cup and why shouldn’t Sydney put its foot forward now and say, ‘we would like to think that we could host the World Cup final’,” he said.”Why has it got to go to Melbourne on a platter purely because they’ve got the capacity?”

Andhra Pradesh had Goa against the wall at the end of Day Three oftheir Ranji Trophy league match at Vijayawada on Tuesday.Already in a position of strength when they resumed at 184/1, AndhraPradesh made a consistent string of scores all the way down theirbatting order. Skipper MSK Prasad made 96 off 233 balls before beingdismissed with the score on 221. Thereafter, IG Srinivas (52) and RVCPrasad (62) took the attack to the Goa bowling.Declaring at 373/9, Andhra Pradesh then blasted away Goa’s top order.Six wickets had fallen by the close of play, but the scoreboard readonly 57. RVC Prasad returned particularly fine figures of 7-4-8-3, andGoa were facing the spectre of an innings defeat on Day Four.

A staunch hundred from Abhijit Kale could not prevent Maharashtra from crashing to a six-wicket loss against Baroda in their Ranji Trophy league match at Pune on Tuesday.Overnight on 224/3, Maharashtra had given themselves a good chance of achieving at least a draw, if not an outright win. The last seven wickets, however, fell for 64 runs, giving Baroda the upper hand in the match.KD Aphale was the first of the overnight pair to go, making 71 off 106 balls. Kale, his partner, stayed until he was the ninth wicket to fall, but he did not receive any support from the lower order. He made 115 off 204 balls, hitting six fours and one six in his knock. The main destroyer for Baroda was Zaheer Khan, who picked up five wickets.Set a target of 230 for victory, Baroda made short work of it. A 99 from opener Connor Williams, to go with his first innings century, saw Baroda off to a good start. With SS Parab scoring 53, the first-wicket stand of 125 off 30.4 overs almost sealed the game for Baroda.Jacob Martin made an unbeaten 32 and Atul Bedade hit a whirlwind 24 off six balls to take Baroda to their six-wicket win, achieveing their target for the loss of four wickets in 57 overs.

Chief Executive Peter Anderson has confirmed the matches that will be televised from the County Ground during the coming season.He told me, “It has been confirmed now that Somerset County Cricket Club will appear in three televised home matches during the coming season. These will be against Glamorgan in the Benson and Hedges Cup,in the floodlit game against Leicestershire and the centrepiece game against Yorkshire on the Queens Golden Jubilee Celebration Day will also be screened.”He continued, “We also have the bonus of the ground being used for the televised back to back England Under 19’s against India Under 19’s matches at the end of August and again of course if we reach the knock out stages of the one day competitions.”Mr Anderson went on, “The fact that we are on the television so much is good news for local advertisers who have reserved prime space by booking perimeter space, and potential advertisers who have in the light of the confirmed extensive television coverage have respomnded well by making enquiries.”He concluded, “We have almost achieved our budget of £400,000 at such an early stage of the year so all of the commercial signs are looking rather good.”

All Today’s Yesterdays -June 6 down the years 1994
The day Brian Lara achieved immortality by spanking the highest score in first-class cricket history: 501 not out. As if his Test-record 375 wasn’t enough, Lara took the first-class record within two months when he surpassed Hanif Mohammad’s 499 for Warwickshire against Durham at Edgbaston. He had a few near-misses – Lara was bowled off a no-ball on 12 and then was dropped by wicketkeeper Chris Scott on 18 (Scott apparently said: “Oh dear, he’ll probably go on and get a hundred”). Technically, there was only one ball left when he creamed John Morris through the covers for four to bring up the magic 500. In all Lara faced only 427 balls, and hammered 62 fours and ten sixes. On the final day he whacked 174 runs before lunch. For good measure, he also became the first man to make seven hundreds in eight first-class innings, the first of which was the 375.1957
The career of Mike Gatting, who was born today, split into three distinct segments. He struggled at first, taking seven years and 54 innings to make his first Test century. But after breaking that duck with 136 at Mumbai in 1984-85, Gatting went on a storming two-year run in which he made nine centuries in 28 Tests and averaged 63. Then came Shakoor Rana, and an alleged liaison with a barmaid that cost him the England captaincy in 1988. Gatting was never the same – he captained the rebel tour to South Africa in 1989, and in 51 Tests either side of that outstanding run of form he only made one century, a tortuous 117 at Adelaide in 1994-95 as the curtain came gently down on his career.1943
One of Pakistan’s finest batsmen is born … in Hyderabad, India. Asif Iqbal came a long way from the 21-year-old who opened the bowling – with his fellow debutant and future batting star Majid Khan – and batted No. 10, against Australia at Karachi in 1964-65. In full flow Asif was a sumptuous sight. He made his first Test century from No. 9, 146 against England at The Oval in 1967, but he eventually graduated into the middle order, where his dashing, fleet-footed strokeplay charmed allcomers, not least during a successful stint in county cricket with Kent. Less affecting was his alleged involvement in the match-fixing scandal. For many years, Asif was director of cricket at Sharjah, a haven for bookmakers.1991
After all the fuss, 25-year-old Graeme Hick finally made his England Test debut against West Indies at Headingley. Most pundits had already booked him in for 100 Tests, 8000 runs and an average of 50, but it didn’t quite work out like that. In fairness, it was an unforgiving baptism – Curtly Ambrose tortured him all summer, dismissing him six times in a row, but it was Courtney Walsh who ended his first innings when Hick fenced to Jeffrey Dujon having made just 6.1930
A typhoon is born. In terms of raw, unbridled pace, few bowlers in history can match England’s Frank Tyson. Richie Benaud rates him the quickest he’s ever seen. In 17 Tests, Tyson took 76 wickets at an average of 18. This was no brainless quickie, however – Tyson was a Durham University graduate, and had a penchant for quoting Shakespeare or Wordsworth to batsmen, something you can’t quite imagine Glenn McGrath ever doing. Most famously, Tyson blew away Australia as England retained the Ashes in 1954-55. After starting off with 1 for 160 in defeat at Brisbane, he shortened his run and took 10 wickets at Sydney and nine more at Melbourne, when he took 7 for 27 in the second innings and frightened the life out of the Aussies. Injury plagued his career, though, and he emigrated to Australia, where he became a headmaster for a time, before coaching Victoria.1994
Brian Lara’s famous 501 overshadowed a routine England victory over New Zealand at Trent Bridge, in a match that ended on the same day. England won by an innings for the first time at home in nine years, thanks mainly to Graham Gooch (210, his last Test hundred) and Phil DeFreitas (9 for 165 in the match), who as well as firing a quickfire 51, became the 100th person to take 100 Test wickets.1940
Birth of the South African allrounder Herbert “Tiger” Lance, who played 13 Tests. He was a handy strokeplayer in the lower-middle order, and a useful thirdor fourth-change seamer. He took 3 for 30 in his first Test innings, against New Zealand at Johannesburg in 1961-62. His finest hour with the bat also came at Johannesburg, when he made 44 and 70 against Australia in 1966-67, a match that South Africa won at a canter despite trailing on first innings.1969
Birth of the Indian left-arm spinner Sunil Joshi, whose 15-Test career has one distinct highlight. In Bangladesh’s inaugural Test, at Dhaka, Joshi pooped the party with 92, his only Test fifty, and eight wickets, including his only five-for. It set up only India’s second overseas victory in 14 years. Joshi also produced the seventh-best bowling performance in one-day international history, according to the Wisden 100, 5 for 6 against South Africa at Nairobi in 1999-2000.Other birthdays
1909 Morappakam Gopalan (India)
1917 Prior Jones (West Indies)
1956 Andy Pycroft (Zimbabwe)
1959 Tahir Naqqash (Pakistan)
1967 Wasim Haider (Pakistan)
1972 Dulip Liyanage (Sri Lanka)

*Mithun Manhas continues fine formMithun Manhas starred in Delhi’s batting performance on Day One oftheir Ranji Trophy league match against Punjab at Amritsar.On being asked to bat, Delhi lost Gautam Gambhir early, but minipartnerships helped the side to a total of 70/3. There then followed a63-run stand between Manhas and Sohail Rauf before the latter fell,having made a slow 11.Manhas then found good support in Pradeep Chawla (63) whounfortunately had to withdraw at 197/4 after being struck on thefinger. Manhas went on to complete his century and was unbeaten on 112at the close of play, with skipper Vijay Dahiya also at the crease on10.*Himachal Pradesh bats steadilyCentury partnerships for the first and third wickets gave HimachalPradesh a solid start against Haryana on the opening day of theirRanji Trophy league match at the Maharaja Aggarsain Stadium in Rohtak.Himachal Pradesh won the toss and opted to bat first on a wicket thatoffered nothing to the bowlers. The opening pair of Nischal Gaur andSandeep Sharma added exactly 100 runs for the first wicket, in 123minutes and off 182 balls. Sharma made 61 off 86 balls and was thefirst to fall. After the dismissal of Gaur (45) for an addition ofjust 19 runs, the in-form Rajiv Nayyar and Sangram Singh put on 113runs without being separated until the close of play.At stumps, Sangram Singh was unbeaten with 71, and Rajiv Nayyar wasbatting on 47, playing slower than his partner. For Haryana, SumitNarwal and Amit Mishra captured one wicket each. Himachal Pradeshended the day on 232 for 2.*Kavaljit Singh inspires Jammu & KashmirHaving shown glimpses of fine form in his previous match, Jammu &Kashmir batsman Kavaljit Singh translated it into a big knock againstServices on Day One of their Ranji Trophy league match at Delhi.Winning the toss, Jammu & Kashmir opted to bat, a departure from thepolicy they have being following of late. They were rewarded for thisexperiment, however, as Sabir Kanth and Kavaljit batted resolutely toreach a score of 237/1 by stumps.Although opener Raju Sharma departed early, Kanth and Kavaljit put on217 runs for the second wicket. Kanth, the slower of the two, wasunbeaten n 69 off 268 balls, while Kavaljit had made more than doublethat score. He was on 148 off 254 balls at the close of play.*Chetan Sachdev holds Tripura togetherThe innings held together largely by Chetan Sachdev, Tripura reached atotal of 266/6 by the close of play on Day One of their Ranji Trophyleague match against Bihar at Agartala.Winning the toss, Tripura elected to bat but found themselves reelingat 63/4. A small partnership then developed between Timir Chanda andSachdev before the former departed at 116, having made 44.Sachdev was then joined by Abdul Sattar, and the two put on 134 runsbefore Sattar was dismissed for 63. At the close of play, Sachdev wasunbeaten on 99 off 209 balls, and Rajib Dutta (8*) was also at thecrease.*Bengal restrict Assam on Day OneBengal restricted Assam to a total of 214/7 on Day One of their RanjiTrophy league match at Calcutta on Friday.Winning the toss, Assam opted to bat and started off well, withopeners Parag Das and Subhrajit Saikia putting on 62 runs for thefirst wicket. Despite the fall of Saikia, Das went on to make 59 offjust 58 balls before being dismissed with the score on 90.Thereafter, although Syed Zuffri made a slow 69 off 205 balls, none ofthe other batsmen could support him, and wickets tumbled. Zuffri wasthe sixth wicket to fall with the score on 207. At the close of play,Nishanta Bordoloi (3*) and Sukhvinder Singh (3*) were at the crease.*Saurashtra batsmen dominate GujaratSaurashtra, aided by two centuries from its batsmen, put up 434 forthe first innings and then had Gujarat at 141/3 by the close of playon Day Two of their Ranji Trophy league match at Rajkot.Winning the toss, Saurashtra made maximam use of batting first. OpenerSujith Somasunder hit a fine 119 off 302 balls at the very top of theorder, stroking 17 fours and two sixes. He also put on 166 runs forthe fourth wicket with the other centurion, Feroz Bhambhaniya.Bhambhaniya made 109 off 258 balls, hitting 12 fours. He shared a goodstand with wicket-keeper Reuben Paul, who hit 74 off just 89 balls.Gujarat bowled their rivals out for 434, with off-spinner Bhavin Mehtataking three wickets.In reply to Saurashtra’s large first-innings score, Gujarat reached141/3 by close on Day Two, with Niraj Patel striking an unbeaten 89off 120 balls. He was accompanied at stumps by Tejas Varsani, who wasunbeaten on 2.

* VCA looks back on an eventful seasonThe Vidarbha Cricket Association held its annual general meeting atNagpur on August 4 and it was time for the members to look upon aneventful season. The VCA hosted the Test match between India andZimbabwe from November 25 to 29 and a three day match between India Aand Australia from February 17 to 19. Because of the earthquake inGujarat, the BCCI changed the venue for the three day game from Barodato Nagpur. The Association’s ability to organize the match within ashort time made the BCCI to consider Nagpur as a venue ahead of othercentres. The cricket lovers of Nagpur had a chance to see worldchampions Australia and Zimbabwe play.The proposed Duleep Trophy match between Central Zone and West Zone atMeerut was shifted to Nagpur due to the law and order situation inthat city. The VCA successfully conducted the tournament within ashort notice.Vidarbha players received due national recognition. Alind Naidu wasselected for the training camp held by the National Cricket Acadamy atBangalore. During the year he represented India in the under-19 `Test’and in one day matches played against England while Amit Deshpanderepresented India in the one day under-19 game against England.Chandrashekar Atram was selected for the MRF Pace Academy at Chennai.Among administrators from the state, former Vidarbha and Central Zonecricketer Ashok Bhagwat was appointed as Junior National selectorwhile Shashank Manohar was appointed as member of the code of conductcommittee set up by the BCCI.* Ten teams for KSCA inter-zonal tournamentTen teams will take part in the KSCA Coca-Cola inter-zonal under-19tournament to be played at Mysore and Bangalore from August 11 to 31.The group A matches will be held in Mysore. Teams in this pool areMysore Zone, Bangalore Zone, Mangalore Zone, Tumkur Zone and CombinedCity. Group B matches will be played at Bangalore. Teams in this poolare Bangalore City, President’s XI, Shimoga Zone, Racihur Zone andDharwad Zone.The group matches will be played on a league basis, each game beingplayed over two days. The top two teams in each zone will qualify forthe semifinals, to be played on a knock out basis over three days. Theleague matches will be played from August 11 to 23, the semifinalswill be held on August 25, 26 and 27 and the three day final on August29, 30 and 31.