Haryana were struggling to avoid an innings defeat at the hands of Jammu &Kashmir on the third day of their North Zone Ranji Trophy clash at theMaulana Azad Stadium in Jammu today. A marvellous century by Ajay Jadeja ona day when the match-fixing noose was tightening around his neck saw hostsJ&K advance to 364, for a lead of 190. Opening bowler Abdul Qayoom thentook the baton from Jadeja, grabbing 4/35, to leave Haryana tottering at100/6 in their second innings, still 90 runs adrift of their opponents.Resuming at 247/5, Jadeja lost two more partners before he found a staunchally in Qayoom. The pair added 70 for the eighth wicket before Jadeja wascaught by Jasvir Singh off leg spinner Amit Mishra for 120 (296 balls, 13fours, 2 sixes). Seven runs later, Mishra had Qayoom (28) stumped by AjayRatra to bring the curtain down on the innings in the 141st over. Theleggie returned figures of 5/99 in 47.3 overs.Qayoom was nicely warmed up for the action to follow and ripped through theHaryana middle order to bring them to their knees at 67/6 in the 30th over.Sanjay Dalal (14) and Ajay Ratra (17) then added an unbroken 33 in amini-recovery before stumps.

The Cooch Behar clash between Railways and Haryanaat the Deccan Gymkhana in Pune ended in a draw onWednesday. Resuming on 117/4 in response toHaryana’s mammoth 616/8 declared, Railways wereskittled out for 180. Amit Mishra (5/29) and NitinAggarwal (4/67) were the architects of the Haryanasuccess story. Manoj Sriwatav with an unbeaten 66was the only Railways batsman to offer anyresistance.Surprisingly, Haryana decided not to enforce thefollow on. After having Railways on the ropes theylet them off the hook. In their second essay,Sumit Sharma slammed an unbeaten 128 and tookHaryana to 258/4. The draw gave Haryana enoughpoints to qualify for the semifinal stage of thetournament.

The South Africa A tour of India which was planned forSeptember this year has been postponed, the United Cricket Board has announced.It is understood that the reason for the cancellation is the monsoon conditions prevalent at that time of the year.The South Africa A team, however, will play against Kenya, India and Australia during the 2001/2 internationalseason.

It was surprising that, with one hand apparently firmly on their first overseas Test series victory since 1986, India should relax their grip and allow Zimbabwe to scrape home to level the series in the Second Test match.Well though Zimbabwe played at Harare Sports Club, the result was perhaps due more to India’s failures with the bat than any other factor. Both Test matches had in common the fact that the team winning the toss wasted that advantage by batting badly and eventually lost the match. In Bulawayo it was Zimbabwe; in Harare it was India.India’s 237 on the first day of the Harare Test was a poor effort that reflected on the lack of application of their batsmen, most of whom fell to soft dismissals. They fought back with three quick Zimbabwean wickets before the close.The first turning point of the game came when Grant Flower dug in and shared fighting partnerships with the all-rounders in the team, earning Zimbabwe what was really no more than a useful lead of 78 on first innings. The pitch was sound for batting, even if the ball did not come on to the bat as well as the players would have liked, and with India’s batting power it was quite possible that in the second innings they would be able to set a target that was beyond Zimbabwe’s reach.The Zimbabwean team is still not as confident with the bat as it should be. The Flower brothers and Heath Streak have shown they can handle pressure, but the rest, for the most part, have too many failures under pressure behind them or were untested in that kind of situation. 63 all out when chasing 99 against West Indies last year, under admittedly more difficult circumstances, is an example of what can still happen all too easily under pressure. I said at the time that if Zimbabwe failed to bowl out India for less than 200 in the second innings, they could be in trouble.One over from the end of the fourth day, Zimbabwe were indeed heading for trouble. India were 197 for three in their second innings. The second new ball was available for just one over before the close, and Zimbabwe took it. This was the second turning point of the match. Andy Blignaut had Rahul Dravid caught at the wicket, and they followed it up in the first half-hour of the fourth day with four more wickets for just 10 runs.Zimbabwe were set 157 to win, in theory not a difficult target under the circumstances. But, with Zimbabwe’s past record, it was not a foregone conclusion, and it was indeed to prove a tense struggle. The final turning point of the game was the innings of Stuart Carlisle.Carlisle has no great record in Test cricket, with an average in the twenties and, before this innings, only four fifties to his credit, the highest of which was 58. He often stabilized an innings at number three with a solid twenty or thirty, before getting out just as he was looking well set. But the Zimbabwean players and selectors know him as a man with a big heart, one who is dedicated to his game and a wonderful trier.On this day Carlisle got his reward with what must, under the circumstances, go down as one of the most vital innings ever played for Zimbabwe in a Test match. With Andy Flower suffering a finger injury, the team as a whole must have suffered a psychological setback in chasing their target. But Carlisle was the man who put his hand up, with an innings of superb temperament and judgement. He played scarcely a false shot in seeing his team home with a new Test best of 62 not out. Single-minded determination was the hallmark of his innings, evident in every ball he faced. It is to be hoped that this innings will give him the confidence to go on to greater things and higher scores in future.There was much good bowling from both sides. Zimbabwe had to struggle for runs throughout the match against the Indian pace attack of Javagal Srinath – below his best in the first innings but magnificent in the second – Ajit Agarkar, who was most unlucky, and Ashish Nehra, perhaps the find of the tour for India. Then there was Harbhajan Singh, who was never mastered by the Zimbabweans, but neither did they let him intimidate them.Zimbabwe, for their part, also benefited from fine bowling by Heath Streak, Travis Friend, on his debut, and Andy Blignaut, who won the Man of the Match award and was often superb. They bowled a tight off-stump line, perhaps a little too defensively at times, but it kept the Indian batsmen in check during that crucial second innings when they looked ready to take the game out of Zimbabwe’s reach.Both sides fielded superbly. Zimbabwe have always been known for this virtue, but India often matched them. The Indian close catching in the series has frequently been brilliant, with Shiv Sunder Das, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman all worthy of special mention.It has been a good series, and it was a pity the Zimbabwe Cricket Union were unwilling to play a three-match series, for financial reasons, so there could be a decider. The series draw will no doubt increase India’s desire to win the triangular tournament, starting on Saturday, so as to salvage a rare triumph from an overseas tour.

Indian captain Saurav Ganguly on Sunday put up a brave face followingyet another failure with the bat and drew solace from the fact that heclaimed two wickets in the triangular one-day series match againstZimbabwe.”If not with the bat, at least with the ball I had something,” saidGanguly after India’s comprehensive nine wicket win over Zimbabwe. “Itwas good I had a couple of wickets and a catch from the game.”Expressing satisfaction with his team’s performance, Ganguly said, “Webowled and batted well. It’s just one game and we still have fourleft, including the final. It will be all-important because we havenot been doing well in finals.”Ganguly admitted it was an important toss to win. “The toss wasimportant because the wicket was doing a bit. Our bowlers bowledpretty well and they (Zimbabwe) didn’t bat that well. I thought it(toss) would make a difference but I never thought it would make somuch of difference,” he said. “It was a good wicket when India wentinto bat. You rarely get such wickets with so much of life in thefirst session in a one-day match. I had seen it in Toronto whenwickets had so much life and I saw it today.”

A magnificent unbroken fifth-wicket stand of 160 between Gary Fellows and Craig White rushed Yorkshire to victory over Surrey in the resumed Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy fourth-round match at Headingley today.There were 11 balls to spare when Yorkshire reached their 244 target to earn a home tie with Warwickshire in the quarter-finals.Man-of-the-match Fellows finished with an unbeaten 80, his highest score in any form of cricket for Yorkshire, while White’s 73 was his best score of the season.The pair came together when Yorkshire were a shaky 84 for four in poor light last night and by the time the winning run was hit, Fellows had received 80 deliveries and struck eight fours and White had faced 88 balls and hit five boundaries.Yorkshire were 134 for four when they continued their innings today with Fellows on 18 and White 29 and there was never a shaky moment as they dashed singles at every opportunity.Surrey’s seven-man attack soon began to wilt and both batsmen scored many of their runs from superbly timed cuts, the pair going to their half-centuries off consecutive balls from Ben Hollioake, White’s single also taking the partnership into three figures.Even spinner Saqlain Mushtaq was unable to make any impression and his eight overs cost him 48 runs.Fellows said after picking up his first one-day award: “I think this was my best innings and I went into it just trying to be positive and to play straight.”It turned out to be quite easy in the end but Craig and I knew when we went out that we had to try to score as many singles as possible and wait for the bad balls.”The hardest part was on Wednesday night when the light was poor but we did not want to come off until we had gone ahead on the Duckworth-Lewis system for calculating rain-hit matches just in case they could be no further play.”Skipper David Byas praised the efforts of both batsmen. “Gary has been playing well all season and I am delighted he picked up the man-of-the-match award. Craig batted equally well and, although he has not made a lot of runs so far, I knew that a big score was just around the corner.”

Lymington became the inaugural winners of the Southern Electric Contracting Cup when they ruthlessly outplayed Andover to win by a nine-wicket margin at the Hampshire Rose Bowl last night.It was the first time Lymington had won the Premier League knockout in 25 attempts, but they did so in emphatic style.Andover, who had piled up 160-plus scores in all four matches leading up to the final, were never at the races on a worn, spinner-friendly surface.The Rose Bowl strip, used for Hampshire’s weekend victory over the Australians, was predictably fully exploited by Lymington’s three-pronged spin attack.Man-of-the-match Daniel Peacock and Glyn Treagus bowled 12 overs of telling off-spin – the Zimbabwean extracting bounce and turn which the Andover batsmen were unable to handle.”We didn’t perform on the night,” said a disappointed Andover captain Jerry Hayward.”But we ran into two class spinners who excelled on a pitch which was alien to the Premier League surfaces we normally encounter on Saturdays.”Andover didn’t make a bad start – they had 30 on the board before Paul Allen had Ian Langdown caught in the sixth over – but it was not as positive as they would have liked.Allen, bowling an effective five-over spell of left-arm seam at the northern end, had Australian Sam Miller caught behind in his next over.Marc Kavanagh endeavoured to keep the scoreboard ticking, but by the tenth over Lymington had their spinners operating in tandem – and Andover’s middle-order gave way.Peacock’s bounce, rather than actual turn, caused no end of problems, while Treagus maintained a steady, nagging line.Jerry Hayward and Neil Staddon, coming together at a desperate 55-5, picked up what runs they could, but Andover were never going to be in a position to defend 95-8 off 22 overs.It didn’t take hard-hitting Australian Brian Clemow and Treagus long to knock off the runs – a mere 12.3 overs, in fact.Clemow lashed nine fours in an unbeaten 52, scored off 42 balls, and with Treagus (33) alongside swept Lymington to the brink of victory.Mark Miller at least spared Andover the ignominy of a ten-wicket drubbing when he bowled Treagus, but there was no halting Lymington’s march to their first ever Premier knockout trophy.But triumphant Lymington captain Neil Trestrail will quickly focus his cup winning team’s attentions on the coming weekend.”We’ve got Portsmouth in an absolutely crucial Premier 2 match on Saturday and, being in third place, that’s a game we must win,” he said.

* Huge losses expected after India pulls outIndia’s refusal to play Pakistan in the Asian Test Championship is amajor blow to cricket in the region, according to Asian CricketCouncil secretary Zakir Hussain Syed. He told AFP in Karachi onWednesday that the financial losses alone would damage the sport inAsia, where India was the main drawcard for international sponsors andtelevision coverage."India’s refusal to play Pakistan in the Asian championship is agreat setback for Asian cricket and the ACC will face a huge financialloss," Syed warned. "The ACC made all the plans and schedules withthe Board of Control for Cricket in India’s consent and they hadassured us of their participation, but this latest decision is verydisappointing."The decision is strange in the sense that India plays all othersports with Pakistan, is sending their squad for the South AsianFederation Games in Pakistan, but they have objections over cricket,"said Syed."The earnings from this championship were supposed to be invested indevelopment with a share for all the participating teams," Syed said."Since India is a huge market, and with the Indian team out, therewill be less earnings from title sponsorship and TV rights. The figureis confidential but the loss will be huge."* KSCA to launch cricket academyIn its quest to unearth cricketing talent at the junior level, theKarnataka State Cricket Association will launch a cricket academy inOctober, becoming the first state cricket body in the country to doso. KSCA secretary Brijesh Patel told reporters in Bangalore onTuesday that the academy would be based in KSCA which, he said, wouldlaunch a junior cricket development programme – “Catch Them Young andMake Them Great” in October.Initially, Patel said, the programme would be launched in 13 districtsand a few more would be added to the list next year. He said eachcentre would have 20 players, totalling 260 players, and coachingcamps would be held in district centres from October 15 to January 15.The Karnataka State Cricket Academy would invite 80 players toBangalore and each group consisting of 20 players would undergoadvance training for two weeks from November 15 to January 15, hesaid.Makarand Waigankar, who has successfully launched and implemented suchprojects in Mumbai for the last two decades, had prepared the projectwhich was approved by KSCA. Patel said former England fast bowler andrenowned coach Frank Tyson would conduct a two-week coaching coursefor 60 coaches from September 24 to October 6.

Sharjah cricket chiefs will limit players’ use of mobile phones and increase security near dressing rooms as part of a campaign to combat corruption in the sport.The Cricketers Benefit Fund Series, which organizes the twice-yearly tournaments in Sharjah, wants to prevent the desert venue – host of a record 174 One-Day Internationals – becoming a potential haven for match-fixers. The CBFS had sought guidance from cricket’s Anti-Corruption Unit on how to implement recommendations from ACU Director Lord Condon.Condon, a former police commissioner in London, submitted a report in April on how best to eradicate match-fixing and other forms of corruption from cricket. The International Cricket Council ruled that his advice be adopted.”We have embraced Lord Condon’s recommendations, especially security around the players’ dressing rooms,” said Zahid Noorani, CBFS chief executive. “There’ll be one mobile phone allowed and that is with the manager.”Five players, including former South Africa captain Hansie Cronje, have received life bans in the past two years as a result of investigations into match-fixing. Cronje was found out when police listened to his cellular-phone conversations with bookmakers.The ACU’s Bob Smalley and Jeff Rees, who visited Sharjah during the Aprilevent, accepted an invitation from the CBFS last month to advise on security.They will fly out again for the next tournament comprising Pakistan, Sri Lankaand Zimbabwe from Oct. 26 to Nov. 4th.”The action is for the players’ benefit,” Noorani said. “The only purpose behind this exercise is to protect them from untoward approaches from bookmakers.”The Emirates Cricket Board, independent of the CBFS, last year commissioned a three-man party – headed by former West Indies captain Clive Lloyd – to investigate claims of cricket corruption in the U.A.E. It hasn’t yet submitteda report.

Chaminda Vaas’s 50th Test has been a wonderful one so far. The leftarm seamer not only did the damage with the ball, claiming four crucialIndian wickets, but also made a more than useful 42 in Sri Lanka’sfirst innings as well.In an exclusive interview with CricInfo at the end of the day, the SriLankan cricketer declared, "It was a good day. Ended up scoring someruns and bowled pretty well."Vaas however just missed on a five-wicket haul and that meant that he still is one short 150 Test wickets. "I am not worried about that. Not at all. I got four wickets bowling well. We’ve got to bowl at them in the second innings and hopefully can get at that then"Speaking about the Kandy wicket, on which fast bowlers have so fartaken 18 out of 20 wickets which fell to full-time bowlers, Vaas said,"The wicket was a good one. It helped me a bit. I bent my back and bowled at the right spot and the wickets came."That Dilhara Fernando and Ruchira Perera too have been taking wicketsin the recent past has taken a huge load off the shoulders of bothMuralitharan and Vaas."The whole nation is expecting me and Murali to take wickets. But recently the other guys like Dilhara and Ruchira have been of immense help for Murali and me. The stress on you is less when you’ve got more wicket taking bowlers."He looks forward with optimism to the future. "When Nuwan Zoysa returns from injury it’ll be even a better attack."Earlier today, Vaas missed out on his fifth fifty as he was dismissed for 42, "I tried to protect Ruchira and get to the 50 but couldn’t make it."Finally it looks as if Vaas has come of age with the bat. He has always had the potential to be a good all-rounder but he knows that has not yet realised it."In the recent times I have concentrated on my batting more with Davand am happy about the progress I have made. I feel I have madeabout 70 percent improvement and more importantly I want toconcentrate on it more."