Canterbury began and ended day two in complete control of this second round Shell trophy match and Warren Wisneski had a day to remember.Batting in the wake of a middle order collapse Wisneski batted sensibly at first and then aggressively when running out of partners, to score an undefeated 58. He then claimed the first three Auckland wickets, all bowled, in a superb 13 over spell.Earlier, Auckland had threatened to break Canterbury’s stranglehold on the match with a gallant first session fightback that cheaply removed Canterbury’s middle order and thwarted any designs Chris Harris had of scoring his third first-class double century.Auckland’s revival would have been more meritorious if it hadn’t been just that – a revival. Taking four wickets for 86 runs in a 35 over session would normally be cause for jubilation, but a glance at a full scoreboard that read 388/7 would have been enough to stifle any lunch-time changing tent giggles.The wickets were shared between the impressive Drum (2), Adams and Canning, which was good for two reasons. Firstly, they all fully deserved a reward for their honest endeavour in trying conditions. And secondly, there would have been no justice in part-time pie thrower Lou Vincent buying a wicket with his own peculiar version of off-spin.Vincent’s 20.3 overs cost 84 runs but his ineffectiveness as a spin bowler was more an indictment of the Auckland selectors than of the player. As early as the first hour on day one Auckland’s failure to include a genuine spin bowling option in its attack looked to be a mistake.Gareth Hopkins (48) and Wisneski (58 not out) arrested the collapse of the Canterbury innings, which was finally ended by Auckland just prior to the scheduled tea break.Defending 477, Wisneski, in his first over managed to achieve what the Auckland bowlers had not in their two attempts – take a wicket with the new ball.John Aiken, opening in place of the injured Blair Pocock, was comprehensively bowled by the last ball of Wisneski’s first over. With Pocock’s further participation in the match in doubt Auckland was effectively two for none and not so much staring down a very big barrel, as climbing right inside it and goading Canterbury into pulling the trigger.It got worse for Auckland as Richard King’s ambitious pull shot ran off his body and into the stumps.Dion Nash and classy-looking opener Tim McIntosh set about repairing the damage with a mixture of good judgement, aggressive strokeplay and intelligent running between the wickets. But just prior to drinks in the final session Nash became Wisneski’s third victim, also clean bowled when attempting an expansive drive.Auckland would have gained some encouragement from the ease with which McIntosh (54 not out) and Lou Vincent (20 not out) negotiated the last hour’s play.The tall left-handed McIntosh looks to be a player of genuine quality and Auckland’s chances of avoiding the follow on may well rest on his ability to add to his highest first-class score.

Andy Flower doesn’t seem to be that invincible a batsman after all.Only the Indians did not know till now how to tackle him. Arguably theworld’s best wicketkeeper-batsman, Andy Flower has made a career outof thrashing Indian bowlers. Nearly a third of his 3000-odd runs inTest cricket including his best of 232 not out have come againstIndia. The bowlers simply did not have any clue to stop him.Not any more. The computer analysis of the batsman’s technique and hisscoring pattern have revealed interesting vulnerabilities that theIndians are all set to exploit. The computer assistance, in the formof a 14-kg heavy machine which simulates live action and dissects eachplayer’s plus and minus points, could be very harsh and candid inanalysing a cricketer.And this analysis has revealed that Andy Flower hardly makes a run infront of the wicket. Of his 83 runs in the second innings of theBulawayo Test, 38 came through cuts and glides over the slips while 13were the result of glides and sweeps behind the wicket. There wereonly two runs in front of the square on the onside. On the offsidehe did not have a single run in front of the square.”We now know the best way to deal with him is to make him drive,” saysNandan, a former Karnataka Ranji Trophy player, who has been assignedby the Cricket Board for using the machine and the software, producedby a company called Phoenix for the next six months and help the teamwith his feedback.On the first day of the second Test yesterday, Ashish Nehra put itinto practice and saw immediate results. Andy Flower would present adead bat to all his fast skidding deliveries. There was no chance forhim to cut or glide him down the legside off his pads.The Indians had their lessons in the Nagpur Test of last year too.Only they didn’t learn it quite well. On a docile, sleeping beauty ofa pitch at the Vidharba Cricket Association ground, Flower made 232that included 28 fours. As many as 20 of them were hit behind square.This on a pitch where you would not expect a batsman to cut or flickso prolifically since the ball was rarely fizzing off the track.In all, 78 of Flower’s runs were a creation of flick and sweep while45 runs came through cuts and glides on the offside. The computersoftware has become very popular with the team with almost everyplayer keen to examine his game and learn from the mistakes. “NotSachin Tendulkar though,” says Nandan “He is a genius. Probably hedoesn’t need this input into his batting.””It is just a make-up of a cricketer. Some cricketers just do not likebeing confronted with their weaknesses. It could be a blow to theirmental make-up. Sachin could be classified as one in this category,”said Nandan.The video of a player’s innings could also be used to motivate him. VV S Laxman smashed no less than 44 fours in that outstanding knock of281 against Australia in Kolkata earlier this year. He has beenpresented with a cassette of all the fours he hit in that knock topump himself up.”Just a look at that smashing innings of his, where he thrashed thebowlers like (Glenn) McGrath, (Jason) Gillespie and (Shane) Warnecould act as a great booster to his confidence, especially beforegoing into a match,” says Nandan who also works as a deputy manager atHindustan Aeronautics Limited, Bangalore.This computer assistance, first used in the home series againstZimbabwe last year, was given a formal shape in February this year.”So far the contract is for only six months. After this series, itwill be renewed,” Nandan said.

A gallant unbeaten 100 by BMV Uthappa followed by a mesmeric spell offour for eight from two overs by AT Rayudu helped South Zone defeatCombined XI by three runs in an inconsequential group B match in theinter-academy cricket tournament at Bangalore on Saturday.Play started only at 12.28 pm because of rain. Put in to bat, SouthZone scored 180 for nine in the allotted 27 overs. The highlight wasUthappa’s knock. Coming in after four wickets had fallen for 34, hestayed on till the end, facing just 62 balls and hitting nine foursand five sixes. With N Reddy (25), Uthappa added 90 runs off 10.2overs for the seventh wicket after six wickets had gone down for 50.Combined XI with valuable contributions from skipper SM Dholpure (32),HTS Rao (48), Sushil Kumar (30) and SV Lazarus (24) seemed to beheaded for victory at 155 for three after 23 overs. But Rayudu’s spelland a couple of run outs saw Combined XI restricted to 177 for nine in27 overs.

Iain Griffiths and teenager David Wheeler hit centuries as New Milton piled up a massive 352-5 before defeating Southern Electric Premier League Division 3 strugglers United Services by 139 runs at Burnaby Road.Griffiths (123) and Wheeler (100) – his second century of the season – shared a third wicket partnership of 189 as New Milton reached their highest-ever SL total.Lee Beck took 6-36 as US slipped from 98-2 to 213 all out.Undefeated leaders Winchester KS have pulled well clear after a five-wicket win at second-placed Havant.But it was far from plain sailing as Winchester sank to 59-5 before Chris Wheeler (58) and David Parsons (28) produced an unbroken sixth-wicket stand to take the leaders past Havant’s 142 all out.Phil Mist (48) and Shane Ferguson (29) top scored for Havant, who had WKS in deep trouble after two-wicket spells by David Wade and Mist.But Parsons, surviving a confident appeal for a catch behind, and Wheeler steered WKS from 59-5 to 143-5 and to a five-wicket win.SEC Cup semi-finalists Rowledge appeared on course for victory over third-placed Alton when the rains came with the Surrey club comfortably placed at 58-1.Australian Craig Eichler (5-23) ripped out Alton’s top five, but Rowledge found themselves thwarted by veteran Paddy Heffernan (40 not out) and Brian Gillingham (18), whose unbroken ninth-wicket stand lifted the visitors from 98-8 to 152-8.But all Rowledge’s hopes were dashed by a 21st over downpour.Any fading prospect Gosport Borough had of featuring in the promotion chase disappeared with a seven-wicket thrashing from St Cross Symondians.Gosport’s batting collapsed against three-wicket trio Brian Lipscombe (3-26), Matt Perry-Lewis (3-14) and Chris Edwards (3-17).They would have struggled to reach 100, but for postman Mark Oxford (19), whose last wicket stand with Brendan Regan lifted Borough from 65-9.Kiwi Mark Parker (54) blasted St Cross home with a no-nonsence half-century.Burly South African all-rounder Jan Kaminski took 5-49 to set up a rain-trimmed ten-wicket win for Hook & Newnham Basics over Flamingos, who have slipped into deep trouble.Flamingos middle-order caved in from 80-3 (Richie Manthorpe 33) to 113-7 and only a spirited eighth-wicket rally between Adie Heath (20) and evergreen Dave Wright took the total on to 150.Hook made short work of a trunkated target, with Keith Lovelock (79) and Steve Shaw (50) completing the ten-wicket formalities.Hursley Park’s survival prospects improved with an eight-wicket win over Lymington II, whose 198-6 was cut to 138 when rain trimmed 15 overs off the match.Youngsters Steve Jenkin and Jason Carr (both 47) did their bit for Lymington, but consistent top-order batting by John Harris (44), Andy Marks (26), Rob Lowe (29) and Paul Edwards (29) carried Hursley home.A lively left-arm spell by Purbrook’s Mark Stanley (4-18) reduced Bashley (Rydal) II from 52-0 (Martin Herbert 38) to 88-5 and an eventual 159 all out.Once Ian Hunter (62 not out) and Mike Hennessy (40) had given Purbrook an 86-run start, it was plain sailing.Colin Pay’s 35 not out completed a nine-wicket win for Purbrook.

Havant’s interest in the ECB Club Championship ended with a 93-run defeat by West of England Premier League champions Bath at North Parade.The Southern Electric Premiers were never in the hunt after Gordon Swinney (103 not out) and Stu Priscott (71) powered Bath to 221-5 in 45 overs.Richard Lewis (30) and Paul Gover (28) top scored in Havant’s disappointing 129 all out.

NOTTINGHAM, England – Australian coach John Buchanan has denied adocument proclaiming “psychological control” over England wasintentionally leaked to the media ahead of the third Ashes Test at TrentBridge.However, Buchanan admitted to caring little that in-house correspondencewas now in the public domain, including most back pages of Englishnewspapers.His memo, which relates theories from fifth-century BC Chinese warriorSun Tzu’s book “The Art of War” to Australia’s Ashes campaign, wasslipped under the door of journalists as well as his players by areceptionist at the team’s Southampton hotel on the weekend.Conspiracy theorists claim Buchanan may have wanted the thoughts of theAustralian camp to become public, but he denied this was the case.”I don’t think I’m a devious sort of person,” Buchanan said.”It’s a fairly common practice, I put material under the door ofplayers.”It seems I’ve put the material under the door of a lot of media at thesame stage.”I don’t see it as a mistake, it’s just unfortunate that somehow itescaped our normal channels.”Buchanan gives his players motivational material as often as once a weekand often delivers it himself but occasionally he asks hotel staff todeliver the papers to the appropriate rooms.The heart of the receptionist responsible for the gaffe in Southamptonmust have missed a beat this morning when the story dominated newspaper,television and radio reports.”It’s always in the back of my mind that it might sneak out, not that Iwant it to happen,” Buchanan added.”There are ways and means of getting around it I suppose but maybe I’mnot worried about that, either.”The beliefs of Tzu were accompanied by hand-written notes from Buchanan.Alongside Tzu’s direction to “forestall an opponent by seizing what heholds dear,” Buchanan scrawled: “Overall, this English team is hangingonto excuses (eg injuries, toss, bad luck, dropped catches, etc). Bygradually taking each of these away, ultimately there is no place tohide.”He stood his ground on that claim.”In the end we’re in a more comfortable position and therefore it isdifficult when you’re not winning games and you are trying to assess whythat’s not the case,” he said.”Ultimately you’ve got to be responsible and accountable for what goeson out on the field.”Buchanan said he would be satisfied if only a handful of his 17-mansquad actually read the memo.”I don’t for one minute think that it’s going to be the bible for 17players, that’s for sure,” he said.”All it’s intended to do is focus our attention not only on this gamebut the rest of the series, and also beyond the series trying to extendpeople a little bit and get them to think a bit differently, look atthings differently.”Australia, expected to announce an unchanged XI from the side that wonat Lord’s by eight wickets, and England trained at Trent Bridge today.

Three Indian cricketers – Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev and SachinTendulkar – were among a pool of 69 from whom the legendary Sir DonaldBradman made his selection of the ‘World Best Team’ before he died.The `All-time ideal team’ of Bradman will be announced on Monday,Roland Perry, who chronicled the careful considerations of individualtalent and corporate balance behind how the Don selected his best XI,wrote in his book ‘Bradman’s Best’, a report in The Times, said inLondon on Saturday.”In interviews for Bradman’s Best, the Don, over a concentrated sixmonths in 1995 and intermittently over the next five years, discussedthe greatest players of the game, from WG Grace and Victor Trumper atthe beginning of the 20th century to Shane Warne and Sachin Tendulkarat the end of it,” the report said.Bradman exhibited an enormous capacity for analysing the strengths,weaknesses, technical skills, temperament, personality and characterof scores of cricketers who have graced the world stage over more than120 years.”I was intrigued to know his all-time ideal team. At first wediscussed it in terms of achieving the perfect balance under normalplaying conditions,” Perry wrote.According to the report, Bradman opted for the following: tworecognised opening batsmen of whom one shall be a left-hander, threeother batsmen of whom one should be a left-hander, one all-rounder,one wicketkeeper who is also a good bat, one fast bowler to open withthe wind, one fast or medium-pace bowler to open into the wind, oneright-arm off spinner or right-hand leg spinner and one left-armorthodox first-finger spinner.Perry said Bradman’s understandable obsession to avoid publicity madea book on his best team untenable. “But I was still interested to knowhis world best XI. I suggested that the team only be made publicposthumously and sent him a range of selections for the positions inthe team, based on our discussions,” Perry said.How the idea of an ideal team came into the mind of Bradman makesinteresting reading.Bradman had been retired eight years when he returned to England forthe 1956 Ashes battle as a journalist. England won 2-1 and had thesuperior team, with right-arm off spinner Jim Laker in blisteringform, especially in the fourth Test at Old Trafford when he took 19wickets for 90 runs on a dustbowl.”This went very close to perfect (balance)” Bradman said. “Englandhad a left and right-hander to open, but there was neither a left-handbatsman nor an all-rounder in the next four.”The Australia 1921 teams also went close: Collins, Bardsley,Macartney, Andrews, Taylor, Pellew, Armstrong, Gregory, Oldfield,McDonald and Mailey.Bradman also liked his 1948 “invincibles”, the unique squad that wentthrough an entire Ashes tour of 34 games without losing a contest.Asked whether the 1948 team was the best since cricket’s inception,Bradman replied with diffidence. “It’s difficult comparing teams fromera to era,” but conceded that it was “the best team I was everinvolved with as a player.”But was it the best in history?”I suppose that could be argued” Bradman replied. “It’s biggestchallenger would probably be (Warwick) Armstrong’s 1921 side or theWest Indies teams of the 1980s (under Clive Lloyd and Viv Richards).”He paused, smiled wryly and added: “A match between any two of theseteams would have been worth seeing.”The pool of players read:Openers (one a left-hander) from Gavaskar, Greenidge, Haynes, Hobbs,Hutton, Ponsford, Barnes, Lawry, Simpson, Morris, Sutcliffe, BarryRichards, Slater.Three other bats (which was two given that Bradman would be anautomatic selection), ideally one should be a left-hander: from(Bradman), Lara, Tendulkar, Viv Richards, Mark Waugh, Steve Waugh,Graeme Pollock, Headley, Weekes, Hammond, McCabe, Harvey, Macartney,Greg Chappell, Compton, May, Trumper.One all-rounder: from Sobers, Miller, Davidson, Benaud, Proctor, KapilDev, Botham, Hammond, Grace.One wicketkeeper, who is also a good bat: from Tallon, Healy, Knott,Dujon, Marsh, Evans.One fast bowler to open with the wind, and one fast or medium pacer toopen into the wind: from Ambrose, Hadlee, Lillee, McGrath, Lindwall,Donald, Marshall, Holding, Roberts, Walsh, Alec Bedser, Tyson,Larwood, Wasim Akram, Davidson, Johnston, Barnes.One right-arm off-spinner: from Laker, Gibbs.One left-arm orthodox first-finger spinner or an orthodox leg spinner:from Verity, Rhodes, O’Reilly, Grimmett, Mailey, Warne.

A record-breaking 315 by Warwickshire’s Mark Wagh was the highlight of a draw against Middlesex in this promotion battle at Lord’s.In a match of new faces and high scores an unlikely result looked possible with Middlesex 90 for four at tea with 34 overs remaining. They ended at 167 for six with the pitch the only winner in a game of 1 300 runs and 22 wickets.Wagh was on the field for all but one over of the match, bowling 33 overs in the first innings and another 18 in the second. He came in at 6 for one and saw Warwickshire through to 631 for nine declared, a first innings lead of 129.Wagh was unaware of the records that lay ahead when he resumed in the morning at 266. His score was equal to Percy Holmes’ 315 and one behind Jack Hobbs’ 1926 championship record at Lord’s.The 449-ball epic was the second highest for Warwickshire behind Brian Lara’s unsurpassable 501 not out. Graham Gooch’s 333 for England against India in 1990 remains the best at HQ.”It was a relatively flat wicket,” the 24-year-old told CricInfo. Unsurprisingly, the Oxford University psychology graduate was “absolutely knackered” when he finally left the field at 5.30pm.His patience and wristy timing finally went awry when he was caught at midwicket by Jamie Dalrymple off Tim Bloomfield whose three for 111 were the best figures of the match.Only Middlesex’s Stephen Fleming came close to match Wagh’s powers of concentration, adding 65 to his first innings 102. A final scare came when Fleming gloved a sweep to Warwickshire captain Mike Powell at short backward point.Guess who the bowler was?

The remarkable Andy Flower hit yet another fifty as Zimbabwe declared theirinnings closed at 419 against South Africa just before the close of thethird day at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo. However, only some unusuallygood or bad play by one of the teams can bring about a result in this matchon a benign pitch.Play began 30 minutes early in an effort to make up for lost time after thecomplete washout of the second day’s play. The weather was still overcastbut at least the strong frigid wind had gone; by lunchtime the sky wasfinally clear again. Hamilton Masakadza and Stuart Carlisle, the batsmen inpossession, played positively from the start. Masakadza had just hooked Nelsuperbly for four when he drove at a leg-cutter from the same bowler, to becaught at the wicket by Mark Boucher for 13.Flower began as if he had been batting all week – which he virtuallyhad – taking just eight balls to reach double figures. It took over an hourbefore Claude Henderson was given a belated bowl, and immediately he got theball to turn sharply. Carlisle, struggling against the spin, became almosta sleeping partner, contributing only 12 runs when the fifty partnershipcame up, as Flower again held court. He scored mainly through well-judgedpushes and nudges through gaps in the field, but when South Africa finallydecided to bowl very straight at him, as he entered the forties, theymanaged to restrict his scoring temporarily.Yet another fifty, his 12th in his last 15 innings, came off 79 balls. Oneunusual aspect of it was his faulty running between wickets, normally verygood, but in this session he had four narrow escapes, the third only becauseMark Boucher dropped the ball as he swept the bails off.Flower fell soon after lunch for 67 in uncharacteristic fashion: hequite misjudged a ball from Henderson that kicked viciously off the pitch,and lobbed up off the glove to give silly mid-off the easiest of catches.Zimbabwe were 261 for four.Grant Flower, with several unsuccessful Tests behind him, obviously decidedthat there was nothing to lose by being positive, and was soon catching upCarlisle, who occasionally surprised with a sparkling stroke, such as aswept six off Henderson when he was 40. Then came a mix-up in mid-pitch,which resulted in Flower (44) slipping and failing to beat the throw fromJacques Kallis; 327 for five.Carlisle failed to reach his fifty, adjudged lbw to Pollock for 49 off 201balls, although the camera seemed to reveal a thin inside edge. Althoughthe slow pitch and the now heavy outfield made scoring difficult, hisinnings was slower than Zimbabwe would have liked, with time at a premium.Heath Streak scored a single off his first 24 balls before he suddenlyhammered Henderson for six into the top of the sightscreen. Guy Whittall on8 appeared to be brilliantly caught by Pollock at slip of Henderson, butumpire John Hampshire called for decision by camera, which was inconclusive,leading to a decision of “not out”. Streak went on to record a powerful 31before skying Henderson into the off-side field. Without addition Whittall(16), who never really settled, was caught attempting a reverse sweep atHenderson; Zimbabwe 377 for eight.Paul Strang hit brightly on his return to Test cricket, mainly throughpulling the short balls, and the 400 came up in the 176th over. Shaun Pollockmoved a ball back in to bowl Travis Friend (4), the first batsman of the innings tofail to reach double figures. Streak declared shortly afterwards withZimbabwe 419 for nine; Strang was unbeaten with 38 off 28 balls, with twosixes and four fours. Henderson bowled 66 overs in the innings, a recordagainst Zimbabwe, including an unbroken spell of 38 overs at one stage,conceding 143 runs (29 off his last three overs) and taking four wickets.The South African openers found little difficulty in the Zimbabwean paceattack, and after seven overs Streak brought on Strang, and then RaymondPrice. Price came very close to dismissing Gary Kirsten lbw, but the batsmenheld out until the close, when Herschelle Gibbs had 15 and Kirsten 11.

The Mercantile Cricket Association (MCA) will conduct a double wicketcompetition this weekend at BRC Grounds in Colombo. Sixteen leading businessinstitutions and the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka (BCCSL) havesubmitted teams.The tournament will include a number of international stars. Chaminda Vaasand Mahela Jayawardene play for Seylan Bank. Russel Arnold and KumarDharmasena play for Hatton National Bank and Test discard TillakaratneDilshan and Kaushalya Weeraratne will be representing the BCCSL.The tournament has been revived after 20 years and will be sponsored byAccess International Pvt. Ltd.The regulation stipulate that each side will have eight overs per inningsand each player has to bowl four overs. There will be no declarationsbecause each time they are dismissed ten points will be deducted from theirscore.D. S. Senanayake College First XI will be performing the fielding duties.