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Anil Kumble is a man of few words when it comes to addressing the media before, during and after a match but his crisp verdict that India needed to win in Galle at any cost was the most forthright he’s been this series. The last time India trailed a three-match series 0-1 was against Sri Lanka in 2001-02 and this Test could prove to be the most important in recent history, given that a loss here could seriously throw up composition concerns going forward into a busy season.”One down is one down, whether you’re in Australia or Sri Lanka, so it’s a matter of regrouping,” said Kumble. “We’ve done that and spent quality time discussing issues on and off the field, seeing how we can cope and come back. We’ve done that in the past with the same set of players and there is definitely a lot of experience and resilience in this team.”We will fall back on that resilience and I’m sure we will be able to put up a better show and get the right result here. We need to win this Test match. That’s the approach we are taking.”India clearly underperformed at the SSC but before questions started to fly around about who was at fault, Kumble pointed out it was a collective failure. “If you look at the team, overall we didn’t play to our potential,” he said. “It is wrong to point fingers at one batsman or one player. Whatever confidence I can give as a captain and team member, I’ve done that. It is not just the batting line-up. It’s all the members of this team. We are all disappointed at what happened in the last game and we’re looking forward to this challenge.”Perhaps aware that the only sides to beat Sri Lanka in Galle did so because of massive totals, Kumble stressed on batting well. “We will definitely approach this Test in a very positive way. The series is still alive and we’d like to go out and get as many runs as possible. We need a good score and have quality spinners as well to ensure we come into the game,” he said. “It is a good surface for the fast bowlers as well. There will be a bit of swing because of the conditions here. But I’m sure the spinners will definitely come into play.”Coming to Sri Lanka and winning was never going to be easy, said Kumble, but the signs shown in the past four days led him to believe they were hungry to prove they could win. He also said he had no plans to change the batting order, as he had complete faith in the names on the team sheet.India’s combination for this Test will remain “more or less the same as before” and nothing in India’s practice session suggested a change either. The mood was upbeat, with Gary Kirsten, the coach, sharing laughs with India’s batsmen as he handed out catching practice. Venkatesh Prasad was stoic as he monitored the bowlers but there was nothing out of the ordinary at that end of the ground. Zaheer Khan’s departure from practice early was not a matter of concern, said Kumble, as it was team policy to allow a player to leave once he felt satisfied.After losing the toss in Colombo, how crucial would it be here in Galle? “Toss and weather is not something we like to concentrate on,” Kumble said. “Whether we bat or bowl first we need to do a good job – bat well, land the ball in the right areas, take our catches. In the subcontinent the toss plays a crucial role but we can’t worry about it too much.”Last December, when England played Sri Lanka in Galle’s comeback Test, Kevin Pietersen was flipping through the channels one evening when he came upon highlights of The Oval Test in 1998 when Muttiah Muralitharan famously wrecked England’s batting line-up. On the eve of the Test, Pietersen noted how much England’s approach to Murali had improved since then. After being bowled out for 81 in their first innings, England creditably rallied to 251 before rain forced a draw. England’s batsmen allowed Murali only four wickets in that Test, and so Pietersen’s observations were correct in a way.India will hope that their batsmen have improved since they last played Sri Lanka in Galle in 2001 – and that will be a true test of the resilience Kumble speaks of.

New Zealand’s domestic one-day competition for the State Shield moves into the day/night era in the new summer.Five games are scheduled in the day/night format, with one full round on Friday, January 24 having all three games played as day/night matches.The development of WestpacTrust Park in Hamilton as probably the best-equipped venue with lights in the country will see three of Northern Districts’ games played under the lights while Christchurch and New Plymouth will join the party on January 24.Television coverage of Shield games will consist of five preliminary round matches and the semi-final and final.No new venues feature, although Canterbury Cricket is going to make more use of Hagley Oval with two of its five home matches there.The final of the State Shield, which starts on Saturday, December 28, is to be played on February 1.The season will begin with the now regular State Max tournament to be played this year at Auckland’s Lloyd Elsmore Park on the weekend of November 16-17. The six teams have been divided into two zones – Northern (Northern Districts, Auckland, Central Districts) and Southern (Wellington, Canterbury and Otago) – and the final will be between the two zone winners.On Saturday, Auckland and Northern Districts will play one of the games at 11am and Canterbury and Wellington the other.At 3pm, Canterbury will play Otago and Central Districts will play Northern Districts.On Sunday, Auckland will Central Districts and Wellington will play Otago. Both games are at 10am. The final will be played at 2pm.The traditional four-day programme for the State Championship starts on November 23 with a match between Central Districts and Otago at Victoria Park in Wanganui. The game is out on its own as it was originally in the second round of games, but on that date the CD team will be hosting India.Otago has signalled its choice of playing more first-class cricket at its new base at the University Oval. It will host three games at the ground starting from February 25, the time that it could expect to have faced scheduling problems at its traditional home at Carisbrook during rugby’s Super 12 tournament.The Championship is to finish on Thursday, March 20.The State League, for New Zealand’s women is spread from Saturday, December 7 under the competition final on Saturday, February 22. Part of the reason for that is the cessation of games during the staging of the women’s international quadrangular tournament.

The second day of the UCB Bowl match at Constantia was characterised by dramatic swings of fortune. By close of play, Western Province B had extended their lead to 141 but had just three wickets in hand.Border got off to the worst of starts, losing nightwatchman Siyabulela Nelani to a superb piece of fielding in the covers by William Hantam in the first over of the day. Wickets continued to tumble, and by the first drinks break the visitors were still 264 runs behind with half the team dismissed.Enter Abongile Sodumo. Showing no inhibitions despite the desperate position, he raced to his fifty off just 53 balls. He was fortunate to be dropped in the deep when on 33. The diminutive Michael Matika was slightly more restrained, but also played some sparkling shots as the pair added 126 for the 6th wicket in 123 minutes. Losing his partner with his own score on 72, Sodumo slowed down marginally, his second 50 coming off 78 balls. He nevertheless shared another useful partnership of 52 in 56 minutes with Geoff Love before the bottom fell out of the innings as Hantam and Bailey claimed the last 4 wickets in the space of 5 overs despite the stylish efforts of last batsman Benett Sekonyane.Western Province had 37 overs to face before the close of play. First innings centurion Derrin Bassage failed this time, hitting tamely to cover point. Rashaad Magiet worked hard to compensate for his first innings failure, but Sodumo produced a direct hit when Magiet was sent back by his partner. Jonno McLean was just getting into his stride when he was caught behind, but the real drama was still to come.With the pitch starting to crumble, visiting captain Justin Kreusch introduced his spinners in tandem. Four wickets fell in the space of eight balls as they caused havoc with the WP batting. Jean-Paul Duminy was one of Love’s victims after he had played some elegant strokes against leg-spinner Warwick Hinkel in particular.Wesley Euley and Hantam saw off the last 16 balls of the day with fielders clustered around the bat, and much pressure will be on them as they will need to get the lead to about 200, which could be a winning score as the pitch takes more spin.

Hursley Park polished off a 252-run target to knock Paultons out of The Cricketer National Village Cricket Championship.James Lush was their hero, taking three wickets and then scoring a century.Paultons were confident after Andrew Collins (82) and Kevin Cresswell (68) helped post a formidable 252-6.But led by Lush’s 107 and a supporting knock from Matt Harvey (55), Hursley Park galloped to a six-wicket win.The victory gives Hursley Park a third round trip to Flamingo’s, who beat Amport by seven wickets at The Holt.John Anstee (73) top scored for Amport, but a total of 177-9 (Kevin Brewster 3-36) was overtaken as Mike Foster (56) and Stu Shapland (49 not out) saw Flamingo home.Tim Richings (79) and Carl Nichols (61) guided Sparsholt to victory over Crown Taverners (181-5), while Martyn Cheyney’s unbeaten 79, coupled with a half-century by Nick Gerrad (50), carried Tichborne Park to a five-wicket win over Hambledon.Leckford moved into the third round without bowling a ball in anger – Penton withdrawing because of a shortage of players.The third round ties on Sunday week, May 26, include:
Bramshaw v Sparsholt, Flamingo (Upham) v Hursley Park, Leckford v Rowland’s Castle, Tichborne Park v Appleshaw.

England fast bowler James Kirtley had his involvement in the NatWest Series ended when he suffered a hand injury during a training session at Old Trafford prior to the match against Sri Lanka. He will be out for between four and six weeks after suffering a dislocation to his right hand when attempting to take a return catch from Jeremy Snape in the nets.He was taken to hospital for an x-ray that revealed the damage that brings another halt to Kirtley’s international career after he had played in all England’s matches in this series. He had just back into the side after having remedial coaching on his bowling action after being reported during England’s tour of Zimbabwe last winter.England will not call up a replacement at this stage, thereby opening the way for Alex Tudor to have his first game or giving Matthew Hoggard another chance after his mauling at the hands of the Sri Lankans at Headingley.

The United States were crowned Americas Cricket Champions on Saturday 16th March in Buenos Aires without a ball being bowled, officially, on the last day of competition.Overnight storms had renedered the grounds unplayable, and the only entertainment for the many spectators who made their way to the Belgrano Athletic Club was a hastily arranged 15 over a side bash between Argentina and Bermuda which, for the record, Argentina won.The two key games of the day were abandoned earlier in the day.The USA went into the day two points clear of Canada and the Cayman Islands, with their unbeaten four game run in the tournament. Earlier in the week they had accounted for World Cup qualifiers and defending champions Canada, while Canada had ended the Caymans three match winning streak the day before.The final day held various permutations. Had the USA beaten the Cayman Islands at Lomas, they would have won the title in straughtforward fashion wiht full points from their five games. However, had the Caymans beaten them, and Canada beaten the Bahamas at Hurlingham, that would have meant a three-way tie at the top of the table.With each team having beaten one of the others, and all three teams having won the same amount of games, they would have had to be ultimately separated by net run-rate. Going into the final day, the Cayman Islands had the best run-rate. Had Canada beaten the Bahamas, they would have had to do so in convincing fashion in order to boost their net run rate above that of the Caymans. Had Canada lost to the Bahamas, and the Caymans beaten the USA, the Caymans would simply have won the title by virtue of their victory on the day over the USA.Ultimately, rain, which wreaked havoc with the tournament throughout, had the last wet laugh, and an exciting finale was denied to players and spectators alike. Even the so-called dead game between Argentina and Bermuda held some interest.Argentina needed to beat Bermuda, and the Bahamas lose to Canada, to create a three-way tie between the three bottom placed teams, which woud have again boiled down to net run-rate separation to ascertain positions 4 through 6.In the end, it was perhaps a minor miracle that local organisers managed to find the facilities and venues for the completion of at least four rounds of the tournament. It is sad, though, that many months of hard work were not rewarded with a clear week of weather, as this was the only factor that disrupted an otherwise excellent and smoothly-run event.The heavy rain which fell on the first two days of the competition also meant that playing conditions at the various grounds were nowhere near the standard expected by the organisers before the commencement of the event. This resulted in somewhat low-scoring contests and the expected festival of cricket never materialised.On the positive side, the tournament showed what could be achieved from within the small cricketing community of Argentina, when many willing hands, minds and bodies worked so very hard to make the tournament successful, also bearing in mind the uncertain build-up to the event due the instability within the country.On the rain-affected wickets and grounds, batting and run-scoring was always difficult, and bowlers dominated the event. There were no centuries, and the highest individual score was 83 not out by Faoud Bacchus for the USA against the Bahamas. Good batting performances were restricted to fighting half-centuries rather than flowing batting, but a local highlight is that only one player features twice on the top ten list of highest individual scores, that being Argentina’s Donny Forrester, with scores of 63 and 55.There were many fine bowling performances throughout the tournament, the picks perhaps being Kevin Sandher’s 5 for 11 off 10 overs for Canada against Bermuda, and David Wight of the Cayman Islands taking 5 for 12 in 10, also against Bermuda. The 6 for 51 returned by Gary Armstrong of the Bahamas against the USA should also not be overlooked amongst a host of fine bowling performances.At the end of the tournament, Ryan Bovell of the Cayman Islands was named Player of the Tournament, and although these type of awards always incite much discussion, and there are always many candidates, Bovell’s nomination was thoroughly deserving of a player who performed consistently throughout the event.The next Americas Cricket Championship is due to be held in Bermuda in 2004, and all the teams have some work to do ahead of that event. Hopefully the weather will be kinder on that occasion, but also hopefully the spirit that prevailed amongst the nations of the Americas during the Buenos Aires 2002 event will prevail.A memorable event from all perspectives, and well done to the Argentine Cricket Association for hosting the event as successfully as they did, even with the natural odds that were loaded against them.

Natal claimed a consummate seven-wicket win to finish on top of the final standings and earn a semi-final against the fourth-place finishers. An inept North West were dismissed for 141 and Natal cantered to 142 for three to win by seven wickets with all of 12.5 overs to spare.Not for nothing do North West turn out in maroon, because on the night – and for much of this seaon – they performed as mournfully as the bedraggled West Indies themselves. Played 10, lost eight was Potch plodders’ lot in this competition this summer, and it wasn’t difficult to see why. They batted as if they knew something Natal didn’t, namely that the home side would not have many runs to chase, and their bowling and fielding fairly creaked with the resignation of impending defeat.All that was left to Natal was to get the basics right, and this they managed without undue fuss. First they kept it tight to scythe through North West’s batting, before building their reply around the composed Wade Wingfield’s 73 not out.Shaun Pollock was a late inclusion in the Natal squad following the early finish to the third Test against Sri Lanka and the South African captain plainly revelled in the relatively stress free conditions to take two for 10 off 8.2 immaculate overs against batsmen who didn’t even try and forget who he was.Left-arm wrist spinner Gulam Bodi was the other star, using flight and intelligent variations of pace to take two for 26 off his full quota. Burton de Wett scored 35 before being stunningly run out by Wingfield’s throw from cover point, Arno Jacobs’ 26 was sprinkled with five fours and Gary Outram fashioned 33 runs off 71 balls. The rest should and will be spared a mention.Natal knew they needed just one half-decent innings to claim the points, and they got rather more than that in the shape of man-of-the-match Wingfield’s fine effort. It lasted 78 balls and included 10 fours and three sixes. Most of his support came in a third-wicket partnership of 80 shared with captain Dale Benkenstein, who scored 20.

Indian cricket captain Sourav Ganguly, who led the team to aremarkable 2-1 Test series victory against the visiting Australiansrecently, was presented with a special Sir Donald Bradman cap onFriday as part of a programme to honour the legendary batsman’s firstclub St George Club.The Indian captain was presented with the prized gift at his Kolkataresidence by a representative of an Australian company dealing in SirDonald Bradman memorabilia.Three other Indian cricketers — batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar, newstar V V S Laxman and off-spinner Harbhajan Singh — had also beenselected for the special Bradman caps for their performance in therecent India-Australia series. The three cricketers have already beenpresented with the maroon cap with golden and yellow strips which alsohas an embroidered bust of the late Bradman at the centre.”It is indeed a great honour to receive this special cap. I am veryhappy,” the Indian captain said after receiving his cap. Ganguly hasalso been presented a CD-ROM on the ‘art of cricket’ made by thecompany to commemorate the occasion. “It will really be worth watchingthe CD,” he said.On a request from the company, Ganguly presented one of his caps fordisplay at the State Library of New South Wales. The Indian captainpresented a cap which he had used during the recent home seriesagainst Zimbabwe.Sachin Tendulkar has also been requested to donate one of his caps fora special exhibition of the World’s Greatest Cricketers Caps to beheld at the State Library of New South Wales in Sydney on August 28this year.The travelling caps exhibition will include caps signed by Wisden’sfive cricketers of the century, including the English Test cap of SirJack Hobbs.Only 50 special caps have been made to honour the late Bradman’s firstclub St George Club where he played from 1926-32. Ray Lindwall andArthus Morris were some of the other greats who had played for theclub while leg-spinner Stuart MacGill had also represented the club.The four Indian players were the first to receive the special Bradmancaps. “The caps are for their efforts in advancing the spirit of thegame and also for the Indian team’s fightback in the recent seriesagainst Australia,” the representative said.

The India ‘A’ tour of South Africa took another backwards step in Pietersburg when they were easily beaten by 4 wickets by a very enthusiastic South Africa Country Districts XI.Batting first the Indians could only muster 180 before being bowled out in the 49 th over. The only batsman to perform was Abhijit Kale opening the innings and ending on a well deserved 71.The bowling honours were shared by the Country District bowlers with J Krynauw from Boland ending with the best figures of 3/25 from his nine overs. The bowlers were well assisted by some great fielding with all players prepared to throw themselves at anything to save a run. A fielding lesson from the District players a lot of the more fancied teams could have learnt from.Country Districts were cruising to an easy win when Mohammad Kaif came on late in the innings to take 3/14 in four overs. At that point the stage for the win had been set by a solid partnership between A Galloway (68) and JP Michua (73). The winning runs coming in the 40 th over.

Peter Ingram, the New Zealand opening batsman, has said his international career is “pretty much gone” after being left out of the 30-man preliminary 2011 World Cup squad that was announced last month.I’ll just play for Central Districts and Taranaki if I get a chance,” he told the yesterday. Ingram, who played eight ODIs in 2010, scoring 193 runs at an average of 27.57, said he didn’t even get a call from the selectors telling him he hadn’t made the cut for the World Cup.”I was third in the one-day averages last year for New Zealand and I didn’t even get a call. It just shows what they [selectors] are like.”Ingram plays domestically for Central Districts, which narrowly failed to defend their HRV cup title, losing to Auckland by four runs last weekend. “We’re pretty gutted, but that’s cricket,” he said. “We’re still pretty pumped, we’ve still got two competitions that we want to win and we’re pretty excited about that. It can still be a pretty good summer.”New Zealand Cricket decided to move the HRV Cup to December from its traditional spot in January so that it wouldn’t clash with the international calendar, which resulted in lower attendances, but Ingram said the change was the right move. “We have to have the Black Caps available. We need the likes of Rossco [Ross Taylor] playing. He brings an extra 1000 people into the ground, I reckon.”Central Districts currently lead New Zealand’s domestic four-day competition, the Plunket Shield, having notched up three consecutive victories.