I don’t think we need any post-mortems to tell us what went wrong in the Cape Town Test match and indeed in the entire tour of South Africa. It would be better to push the erase-button so that no trace is left of an ill-fated tour where nothing went right, not even the weather and rain never threatened. It all happened in bright sunshine.The kindest construction that can be put on the tour is that the two teams were unfairly matched, a heavyweight against a lightweight. One team totally committed, the other simply going through the motions like a sparring partner.Were there any positives? Only Taufiq Omar. He showed strength of character and a high price on his wicket and didn’t give it away. He looked mentally tired after he made his hundred but was soon back in the fray as Pakistan followed-on but he battled on.If I was the team’s coach, I would gather the team and get them to see the videos of the Sydney Test match. First I would point to the innings of Steve Waugh, a captain under siege and let them, see what application and defiance means.Then I would show them the effort of the England team, thrashed and fighting to save the ignominy of a whitewash, the batting, bowling and the fielding of a team for whom pride means much, brilliant cricket that had the mighty Australia on its knees.Time and again, the commentators kept saying that the Pakistan team lacked motivation. Clearly national pride is not enough. Nor is the handsome money it gets. What else is needed to get motivation? I am stumped for an answer.The Pakistan team arrived in Cape Town two days before the start of the Test match. Yet, it chose not to have any nets, no doubt exhausted by their exertions in the Durban Test match which it lost by ten wickets with the best part of two days to spare.The body-language of the team on the first day of the Cape Town Test suggested that the end-of-tour fatigue had arrived early. As if to show that it was determined not to learn from its mistakes, Pakistan went in with four bowlers again.Once again Shahid Afridi was not in the frame and worse, Abdul Razzaq was supposedly injured and not in the team, the bowling was weakened, so too was the batting, Pakistan should have made a greater effort to try and level the series. It did not do so. It caved in without a semblance of fight, a tame surrender. Pakistan is much better team than the one that played in South Africa.The pity is that Pakistan had a great chance to get familiar with conditions in South Africa ahead of the World Cup and appears to have squandered the opportunity. We have been promised that the team will be re-group.What is needed is an agonising reappraisal of our whole approach. What has been missing is the spark of inspiration, the ability to seize the opportunity or play with determination when things have gone badly.In brief, what has been missing is team work, of playing like an unit. No one doubts the abilities of the players. It is simply that they can’t get their act together. There have been injuries but which team in the world has been without injuries? It is not possible to play non-stop cricket and come out unscathed. This goes with the territory.There isn’t much time between now and the start of the World Cup. The team has already been announced. The selectors have done a fine job and chosen the best available team.Generally, there is a hue and cry when a team is selected. Everyone has his own idea of what the team should be. But there has been no criticism of this World Cup squad. No one has been left out and it is a balance team.Saeed Anwar returns to the team and one sincerely hopes that he will be able to find his magic touch. He has been out of international cricket for a long time but he has the experience to get into the groove.Wasim Akram will be a key bowler. He has had the rest that he wanted and should be raring to go. It may well be his last appearance for Pakistan. If it is, he would want to go out on a high, a last hurrah.Shoaib Akhtar too can play a significant role if he can come to terms with himself. So far, he has played very much by his own rules. I think he needs to knuckle down. He is a great showman and likes the spotlight on himself. No one grudges him that.But I hope that he will accept the responsibility of being one of Pakistan’s strike bowlers. The game of cricket has a long history and so far no player has been able to prove that he is bigger than the game, not even Don Bradman or Gary Sobers.The World Cup should be seen as a new beginning and the South African tour should be forgotten but the mistakes should be identified and the team should make sure that these mistakes are not repeated. The cricket public has been very patient. It still believes in the Pakistan team has not lost its motivation!

The St George’s Park pitch in Port Elizabeth, on which Australia have twice come from behind to achieve victory in low-scoring matches against England and New Zealand, is to be re-examined ahead of next Tuesday’s ICC Cricket World Cup semifinal at that stadium.Hilbert Smit, Chairman of the SA Cricket Groundsman’s Association, and Brian Basson, the UCB/CWC Director of Cricket Operations, will travel to Port Elizabeth tomorrow (Wednesday) to oversee preparations for the March 18 semifinal.Prof Neil Tainton, a world-renowned Grassland Scientist and pitch consultant to CWC 2003, will not go immediately to Port Elizabeth but will play a role in association with his two colleagues in ensuring, in the words of CWC 2003 Executive Director, Dr Ali Bacher, that the St George’s Park wicket is “conducive to great one-day international cricket” for the semifinal.After a 96-run victory over New Zealand today, Australian captain Ricky Ponting said the pitch was a better one than that for the England match nine days ago, although he seemed concerned about early dampness in the wicket.After Australia’s two wicket victory over England on March 2, Dr Bacher instructed Smit to travel from Johannesburg to Port Elizabeth to seek an improvement. Smit went there the next day and helped produce what Ponting now described as an improvement.Dr Bacher said the decision to ask Smit and Basson to revisit Port Elizabeth should not be seen as criticism of the Eastern Province Cricket Board or its groundstaff.”Eighteen months ago, St George’s Park was in a sorry state but they have done a terrific job there in upgrading the stadium, the outfield and the pitch. The stadium is in great shape.”We are now simply saying that we will do all in our power to ensure that the pitch in Port Elizabeth is befitting of great one-day international cricket as is envisaged in an ICC Cricket World Cup semifinal,” added Dr Bacher.Rodney Hartman
Communications Director
ICC Cricket World Cup South Africa 2003
Tel: +27 11 446 3604
Fax: +27 11 446 3622
Mobile: +27 83 389 0904

XXXX Queensland Bulls Lee Carseldine will have further scans today onhis injured back as part of his bid to be fit for this week’s Pura CupFinal against NSW at the Gabba.Carseldine, who was troubled by the injury during the week Bulls loss toNSW last week, will visit the Radiology Department at St Andrew’sHospital in North Street, Spring Hill.He will also have a light batting session in the turf nets at AllanBorder Field at Albion today as part of his assessment.The Bulls squad will assemble tomorrow for their first training sessionof Final week. The team for the Final is expected to be named latertomorrow once the selectors and coaching staff have assessed theavailability of the injured trio of Stuart Law (wrist), Joe Dawes (back)and Carseldine.NSW will announce their team today and their arrival time on Wednesday.Tickets for the Final will be on sale on match days, with gates openingat 9am and playing commencing at 10am. Adult tickets are $10 andchildren U-16 and full pensioners are $2.

The 2003 season in Austria starts this weekend with the reintroduced Österreichische Meisterschaft competition (ÖMS). In order to allow all the four participating teams to play three games in a weekend, the format has been altered to 30 overs per side, which means that the format also allows younger bowlers to bowl a full spell of 6 overs, and is the format used in ECC youth cricket tournaments.Furthermore, teams are required to field seven Austrians, by birth or passport, with the opportunity of giving indigenous Austrians a starring role in the game, with the long-term goal of attracting more indigenous Austrians to the sport. Players like Tim Simpson and Erwin Grasinger, who are established National Team players, and born and bred Austrian cricketing talents, originally cut their cricketing teeth in the ÖMS tournaments in the mid 1990s.The tournament will also be the first time that a weekend tournament has been spread across three grounds, with Vienna CC’s Seebarn grounds, and Concordia CC’s Markomannenstrasse ground being used on the Saturday and Sunday respectively. The participating teams are CC Velden ’91, from Carinthia, Concordia CC, Lords CC and Vienna CC. The tournament will also be the first in Austria since it was decided to move into line with ECC tournaments over the use of helmets and bowling restrictions.

New Zealand’s lack of consistency in recent years in its one-day cricket has been behind its mid-table placing on the world rankings, but increasingly there are signs of a change for the better.Apart from anything else, Sunday’s record victory over Pakistan in Sri Lanka ended the rot of seven losses in a row to Pakistan.Pakistan’s dismissal for 116, its lowest against New Zealand and 19 runs worse than their 135 scored at Napier in 2000/01, was the fifth time New Zealand has bowled out a side for less than 125 in the last five months, and in little over two years, New Zealand has 10 times dismissed sides for 135 or less.Nine of these scores have been lodged by subcontinental sides, India suffering on six occasions – four in the recent series in New Zealand. All four instances not to take place on New Zealand soil occurred in Sri Lanka.The list is:

77 Bangladesh Colombo (SSC) 2002/0389 England Wellington (WS) 2001/02108 India Auckland 2002/03108 India Christchurch 2002/03116 Pakistan Dambulla 2003122 India Queenstown 2002/03122 India Hamilton 2002/03127 India Colombo (RPS) 2001133 India Colombo (RPS) 2001135 Pakistan Napier 2000/01

Pakistan’s total was the eighth equal lowest score against New Zealand by any side.Top 10 lowest scores v New Zealand:

70 Australia Adelaide 1985/8677 Bangladesh Colombo (SSC) 2002/0389 England Wellington (WS) 2001/02108 India Auckland 2002/03108 India Christchurch 2002/03113 India Perth 1985/86115 Sri Lanka Colombo (PSS) 1983/84116 Bangladesh Chelmsford 1999116 Pakistan Dambulla 2003118/9 Sri Lanka Dunedin 1982/83

New Zealand’s latest position on the ICC One-Day International Championship is sixth, an improvement of two places since its inception in October. It has moved ahead of the West Indies and now sits behind Australia, South Africa, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and India.Their climb up the ladder is the best by any side in the first six months of the Championship, rising nine points and two places.The Championship standings as at the end of New Zealand’s first match in the Bank Alfalah Cup in Dambulla are:

Team Matches Points Rating Change1 Australia 46 6269 136 +8 (n/c)2 South Africa 57 6972 122 +2 (n/c)3 Pakistan 51 5675 111 -4 (up 1)4 Sri Lanka 61 6413 105 -12 (down 1)5 India 58 6047 104 -2 (n/c)6 New Zealand 46 4594 100 +9 (up 2)7 West Indies 35 3463 99 +5 (n/c)8 England 34 3337 98 +2 (down 2)9 Zimbabwe 44 2844 65 -2 (n/c)10 Kenya 25 704 28 +6 (n/c)11 Bangladesh 23 101 4 -7 (n/c)

When the New Zealanders had Pakistan reeling at 17 for five wickets, it was the fifth equal worst start by any side in an ODI (for five wickets down). New Zealand’s previous best effort with the ball was having Bangladesh 19 for five in the ICC Champions Trophy last year.The record of teams having fewer than 20 runs and being 5 wickets down:

start total12/5 71 Pakistan v West Indies Brisbane 1992/9312/5 36 Canada v Sri Lanka Paarl 2002/0314/5 81 Pakistan v West Indies Sydney 1992/9314/5 43 Pakistan v West Indies Cape Town 1992/9317/5 266/8 India v Zimbabwe Tunbridge Wells 198317/5 84 Kenya v Australia Nairobi (Gym) 2002/0317/5 84 Namibia v Pakistan Kimberley 2002/0317/5 116 Pakistan v New Zealand Dambulla 200318/5 153 Pakistan v South Africa Colombo (SSC) 2000/0118/5 115/9 New Zealand v Sri Lanka Colombo (SSC) 200119/5 167 Scotland v Pakistan Chester-le-Street 199919/5 77 Bangladesh v New Zealand Colombo (SSC) 2002/03

Note: India v Zimbabwe at Tunbridge Wells was a 60-over match and New Zealand v Sri Lanka at Colombo (SSC) was reduced to 36 overs per side.Five of them have occurred in the last eight months while three have been at the same ground, the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo. Pakistan have proven particularly vulnerable to the spectacular collapse, having been involved in five of the nine worst collapses – three of which took place in the space of 16 matches and 71 days during the 1992/93 season.The game also resulted in Daryl Tuffey’s latest instance of a wicket in his first over, the 17th time he has achieved the feat in internationals, and the 10th time in an ODI.His record now reads:

Tests: Inn Over BallMarcus Trescothick 1 1 2 v England at Auckland, 1 Apr 2002 (W)Mark Butcher 1 1 5 v England at Auckland, 1 Apr 2002 (W)Shahid Afridi 1 1 3 v Pakistan at Lahore, 1 May 2002 (L)Virender Sehwag 1 2 6 v India at Wellington, 12 Dec 2002 (W)Sanjay Bangar 1 2 3 v India at Hamilton, 20 Dec 2002 (W)Parthiv Patel 2 2 6 v India at Hamilton, 21 Dec 2002 (W)Marvan Atapattu 1 1 4 v Sri Lanka at Colombo, 26 Apr 2003 (D)ODIs: Inn Over BallSaeed Anwar 1 1 1 v Pakistan at Napier, 20 Feb 2001 (W)Saeed Anwar 2 1 6 v Pakistan at Christchurch, 25 Feb 2001 (W)Marvan Atapattu 1 1 2 v Sri Lanka at Sharjah, 10 Apr 2001 (L)Kumar Sangakkara 1 1 3 v Sri Lanka at Sharjah, 10 Apr 2001 (L)Marcus Trescothick 1 1 3 v England at Auckland, 23 Feb 2002 (L)Sanath Jayasuriya 1 1 3 v Sri Lanka at Sharjah, 14 Apr 2002 (L)Imran Nazir 2 1 1 v Pakistan at Rawalpindi, 24 Apr 2002 (L)Sourav Ganguly 2 1 3 v India at Napier, 29 Dec 2002 (W)Sourav Ganguly 2 1 1 v India at Wellington, 8 Jan 2003 (L)Mohammad Hafeez 1 1 4 v Pakistan at Dambulla, 11 May 2003 (W)

Note: Inn = innings of opposition for Test list, innings of the match for ODI list; Over = over of the inningsAnd while Shane Bond may be out of the tournament due to a suspected stress fracture in his back, he did have time to claim his 50th wicket in his 27th ODI, the fastest first 50 wickets taken by a New Zealander and seventh equal on the world list.New Zealand:

Mat Wkts BB AveShane Bond 27 51 6/23 19.00 2001/02 to 2003Geoff Allott 28 50 4/35 21.34 1996/97 to 2000/01Chris Pringle 33 52 4/35 22.88 1990 to 1993/94Ewen Chatfield 36 50 5/34 24.10 1979 to 1983Danny Morrison 36 50 4/33 29.98 1987/88 to 1990/91Martin Snedden 41 50 3/25 30.38 1980/81 to 1984/85Lance Cairns 43 50 5/28 31.18 1973/74 to 1982/83Daryl Tuffey 43 50 4/24 29.16 2000/01 to 2002/03Richard Hadlee 46 52 5/26 26.61 1972/73 to 1982/83Willie Watson 47 50 3/15 33.70 1985/86 to 1991/92Chris Harris 48 50 3/15 30.10 1990/91 to 1994/95Scott Styris 51 51 6/25 34.01 1999/00 to 2002/03Chris Cairns 52 51 4/55 32.84 1990/91 to 1996/97Daniel Vettori 55 51 4/24 35.17 1996/97 to 2000/01Gavin Larsen 66 50 4/24 43.78 1989/90 to 1995/96Dion Nash 66 50 4/38 44.48 1992/93 to 1999Nathan Astle 74 50 4/43 33.34 1994/95 to 1998/99Jeremy Coney 84 50 4/46 38.26 1979 to 1986

All time:

Team Mat Wkts BB AveAjit Agarkar India 23 50 4/35 21.34 1997/98 to 1998/99Dennis Lillee Australia 24 50 5/34 17.30 1972 to 1980/81Shane Warne Australia 25 51 4/19 16.43 1992/93 to 1994/95Len Pascoe Australia 26 50 5/30 19.57 1977 to 1981/82Patrick Patterson West Indies 26 51 6/29 19.45 1985/86 to 1987/88Curtly Ambrose West Indies 26 51 5/17 17.03 1987/88 to 1989/90Waqar Younis Pakistan 27 53 6/26 14.96 1989/90 to 1990/91Shane Bond New Zealand 27 51 6/23 19.00 2001/02 to 2003

Note: The figures given are those at the end of the match concerned(Statistics compiled by Duane Pettet)

The former Nottinghamshire offspinner, Richard Bates, has been named as the new coach of the England Women’s team. He takes over from the Australian, John Harmer, who is returning home at the end of the month to take up a new post as a biomechanics specialist at the Australian Cricket Academy.Bates retired from first-class cricket in 1999, and has since worked for the England and Wales Cricket Board at both regional and national level. He honed his coaching skills during a three-month stint in Australia over the winter, and has recently been working with the Super Strikers, one of the four teams in the elite women’s Super Fours competition.”After benefiting from two years of John Harmer’s innovative coaching methods we know we are heading in the right direction," said England’s captain, Clare Connor. "We must build on our recent successes and Richard Bates is the man to take the mantle from John. The girls have always responded very positively to Richard and we are all excited about the opportunity to work with him on a full-time basis.”England have two Tests and three one-day internationals against South Africa scheduled for August, and the team is confident after a positive showing against Australia in the Women’s Ashes this winter, although they lost the series 1-0. “The England women’s team has made significant progress over the past couple of years with John,” said Bates. "I’ll look to build on the solid foundations which he has laid."

All Today’s Yesterdays – June 28 down the years1970
One of Pakistan’s finest legspinners is born. When he was in his prime, with his right arm whipping over and the ball spitting both ways from the pitch, Mushtaq Ahmed was mischief personified. He had his moments in the Test arena – 183 of them (his inspiration, Abdul Qadir, is the only Pakistan leggie to have taken more). But Mushy’s signature moment was the 1992 World Cup final. Wasim Akram took the headlines, but Mushy took the big wickets of Graham Gooch and Graeme Hick in a bewildering spell. At Test level he has suffered from Andy Caddick syndrome: 103 wickets at 39.31 in the first innings, 80 at 23.15 in the second. Typically erratic, Mushtaq has also taken a couple of horrible pastings off Australia – 1 for 145 off 36 overs at Rawalpindi in 1994-95, and 3 for 194 off 38 at Brisbane five years later.1985
An infamous dropped catch from Mike Gatting. Fourteen years before Herschelle Gibbs dropped the World Cup, Gatt threw away a Lord’s Test by reprieving Allan Border with a premature celebration, having taken a fierce flick in his midrift at short leg. Border was 87 at the time, and went on to a punishing 196, the highest score by an Australian captain at Lord’s. Without those runs, it would have been a seriously close game – Australia eventually limped to victory on 127 for 6.1934
A controversial fast bowler is born. Roy Gilchrist was an extremely nasty proposition for a batsman, and in some people’s opinion is the fastest bowler in the game’s history. In 13 Tests he took 57 cheap wickets, but was sent home from a tour of India in 1958-59 in disgrace, Roy Keane-style, after excessive use of the beamer and a series of contretemps with his captain Gerry Alexander. He never played Test cricket again, and though not quite in the Keane class, it was a serious loss to West Indies. Instead he spent 20 years terrorising all-comers in the Lancashire League. He took 37 hat-tricks. To some, his malevolence added to a romantic lustre; to others he was simply a nasty piece of work. He would often work batsmen over in charity games, and once had a heated on-pitch exchange with the Australian Cec Pepper. Pepper described Gilchrist as a “nutter”. Gilchrist suffered from Parkinson’s disease, and died in his native Jamaica in 2001.1928
Neil Adcock’s right-hand man is born. Peter Heine and Adcock formed a fearsome new-ball double-act for South Africa in the 1950s. Both were genuinely quick, and malignant enough to look after themselves. On his debut, at Lord’s in 1955, Heine took 5 for 60 in the first innings, and then added eight wickets in the next match at Old Trafford. He also had a liking for Johannesburg, where he twice took six-fors against Australia in 1957-58, though neither led to South African victories. Unlike Mushtaq Ahmed, Heine was Andy Caddick in reverse: his first-innings bowling average was 20, his second-innings average 35.1969
Coming to the crease with England 39 for 4, still 341 behind West Indies, John Hampshire made a superb 107 in his first Test innings – he is still the only Englishman to score a hundred on debut in a Lord’s Test. This thrilling match ended as a draw, with England closing on 295 for 7 in pursuit of 332. It was Hampshire’s zenith: he played eight Tests and never again exceeded 55.1888
Birth of the first West Indian to face a ball in Tests. George Challenor was almost 40 by the time West Indies took their bow, at Lord’s in 1928, but he had already made his mark before then. In 1912-13, batting for Barbados against a strong MCC team, he cracked 118 and 109, and is recognised as the first great West Indian batsman. He died in Barbados in 1947.1899
A landmark day for 13-year-old Arthur Collins. Nothing to do with puberty, but the end of a world-record 628 not out in a junior match at Clifton College in Bristol. It was an innings spread over five afternoons. Collins then went and took 11 wickets as his opponents, North Town, were squeezed out by just an innings and 688 runs. A great career should have beckoned – but Collins never played first-class cricket: he was killed in the first World War.Other birthdays
1886 Joe Cox (South Africa)

Day 4 report
Frizzell County Championship Division One
Division One Table Sussex 416 and 166 for 5 beat Leicestershire 320 and 258 by five wickets
Scorecard
Tony Cottey followed his 147 in Sussex’s first innings with a steady 58 in a five-wicket win against Leicestershire at Grace Road. Chasing 163, Cottey kept his cool while others fell around him and averted any potential wobbles when he came in at 48 for 2. Mushtaq Ahmed earlier took another five-wicket haul (5 for 96) in his third ten-wicket match of the season as Trevor Ward did his best to give Leicestershire a life-line with a stubborn 50 before he fell to Mushtaq. Robin Martin-Jenkins also took two quick wickets as Leicestershire were bowled out for 258. It was the sixth win of the season for Sussex and it puts them five points behind leaders Surrey, while Leicestershire remain stuck at the bottom. Kent 602 for 6 dec drew with Lancashire 365 and 244 for 6
Scorecard
Carl Hooper saved Lancashire’s bacon with a stylish 128 not out against his old club Kent at Blackpool. Hooper came to the crease with Lancashire in all sorts of trouble at 12 for 3 after Stuart Law was out lbw to Martin Saggers for a duck. Saggers was the pick of the Kent bowling attack (3 for 31) and he removed both openers with only four on the board, but no-one could remove the masterful Hooper. He combined his usual West Indian flair with a touch of Lancashire grit in his 290 minutes at the crease, which featured 17 fours and four sixes. And with the help of Chris Schofield, who made 66, and Warren Hegg (16*), Hooper guided Lancashire to safety.Middlesex 260 and 281 for 3 drew with Warwickshire 496
Scorecard
Ben Hutton and Sven Koenig secured Middlesex a hard-fought draw against Warwickshire at Southgate. Following on 236 behind, Koenig and Hutton added 159 for the third wicket to guide Middlesex to safety. While Koenig was eventually bowled by Ashley Giles four short of his hundred, Hutton made it to his fourth century of the season shortly before the close. He played out a gutsy 102 not out, including eight fours and four sixes, and with the help of Ed Joyce (22*), Middlesex finished on 281 for 3.Frizzell County Championship Division Two
Division Two Table
Worcestershire 301 beat Derbyshire 163 and 96 by an innings and 42 runs
Scorecard
Kabir Ali devastated Derbyshire’s second innings with career-best figures of 8 for 58, as Worcestershire leapt to the top of Division Two with an emphatic innings-and-42-run victory at New Road. Kabir needed less than eight overs on the final morning to giftwrap the win. Mohammad Kaif became his fourth lbw victim of the innings to leave Derbyshire reeling at 56 for 6, and their last hope had departed. At least the top order had managed to get their pads in his way. The tail had no answer to Kabir’s pace and accuracy. Karl Krikken, Kevin Dean were both bowled, and Mohammad Ali nibbled a catch to Steve Rhodes behind the stumps … all in the space of a single over. Derbyshire’s No. 11 Lian Wharton had the right idea – he smacked 30 from 23 balls to prevent complete humiliation at 58 for 9, but Kabir soon cleaned him up to complete a memorable match. Hampshire 185 and 449 beat Glamorgan 437 and 104 by 93 runs
Scorecard
Chris Tremlett returned second-innings figures of 6 for 51, as Hampshire completed a stunning comeback against Glamorgan at the Rose Bowl. At the close of the second day, Hampshire had been 114 for 4 in the follow-on, still 138 runs from asking Glamorgan to bat again. But yesterday Nic Pothas’s century turned the game around, before Tremlett and James Bruce applied the coup de grace this morning. Bruce made the first breakthrough of the day, dismissing Michael Powell for 4, before Tremlett picked up the big wicket of Matthew Maynard, lbw for 3. Glamorgan had slumped to 50 for 6 when Bruce extracted Dean Cosker for 6, and the match was wrapped up by a hat-trick of catches for Simon Katich. Durham 327 and 251 for 7 beat Yorkshire 448 and 129 by three wickets
Scorecard
Durham completed their second win of the season over Yorkshire in an exciting finish at Chester-le-Street. After Vince Wells (3 for 20), Steve Harmison (3 for 45) and Shoaib Akhtar (4 for 38) had blasted the Yorkshire middle and lower order away for only 26 more runs this morning, Durham were set 251 to win. And solid contributions from the top seven batsmen gave them the platform needed for an impressive win. Jonathan Lewis (41) and Michael Gough (38) led the way, and after Gordon Muchall and Nicky Peng had made 30 each, it was left to Philip Mustard to steady Durham’s nerves and finish things off with a valuable 34. The good news for England was that Darren Gough got through just under 20 overs with no problems, finishing with 1 for 68.

Playing Hard Ball – A Kent County Cricketer’s Journey into Big League Baseball by ET Smith (Little, Brown, pub price £16.99)Click here to buy a copyReviewed by Rob Steen

In keeping with all these Booker-Orange-Whitbread awards, this terrific maiden knock by England’s most bookish Test aspirant is worthy of any number of prizes: Most Awful Subtitle, Least WH Smith-Friendly Subject, Most Ambitious Book By A County Cricketer, Most Productive Dinner Enjoyed By A County Cricketer.The aptest, though, would be in the category of Bravest Publishing Venture. Better yet, when our Mr Smith went to Washington (and Boston and gangsta LA), and found that the commonalities and contrasts between cricket and baseball vividly reflected the planet’s most special special relationship, he fully vindicated his sponsors.The dinner in question was in Massachusetts, where our Ed happened to chance upon a fellow guest who, upon hearing of his plans for a book about the world’s finest ball games, offered to introduce him to Nelson Doubleday, co-owner of the New York Mets.So “ET” is invited to work out with the Mets. Bobby Valentine, their volatile manager, chucklingly calls him “a cricketeer”. Cue culture clashes: home-run clouters make more in a month than Steve Waugh will in a whole career, to name the most blatant. Then there’s spring training in Florida meets pre-season in Canterbury; Paul Nixon’s matchwinning four off his old mucker Darren Maddy and Robin Ventura’s gamewinning homer off former team-mate Turk Wendell; a Norwich Union League decider versus a “Subway” World Series between the Mets and the Yankees. Unlike any cricketer, arguably since Mike Brearley, Smith has a hinterland. The story digresses into US politics and the state of mind in New York City after 9/11.He covers most of the angles – practical and historical as well as philosophical (baseball is both cricket’s “bastard” and “spiritual cousin”). Pressing a case for greater mutual awareness, he also unearths some nuggets. George Bernard Shaw, I learned, “much preferred the rough and tumble of the diamond to the ironed whites”. (GBS was also pro-sledging: why shouldn’t fielders “put a batsman off his stroke … by neatly timed disparagements of his wife’s fidelity and his mother’s respectability”?)ET Smith the writer echoes Ed Smith the batsman: elegant, concise, beige rather than rouge. Babe Ruth’s act and impact are compared to Bradman’s, rightly and deftly so: while The Babe, who died in his early fifties, suffered from “a surfeit of humanity”, The Don’s death left us “illogically surprised … we half-imagined he might beat death too”.Indeed, perceptiveness is rife, notably about the self-delusional traditions of both sports: “Though (baseball’s) first official set of rules was only codified in 1846, within a decade Walt Whitman would announce: `Well – it’s our game … it belongs as much to our institutions, fits into them as significantly as our Constitution’s laws; is just as important in the sum total of our historic life.’ Swift work for a new game,” Smith writes. Perhaps, he argues, no other sport belongs more firmly “to one country’s self-invention”. Sound familiar? Isn’t that how we in England sometimes talk about cricket?One could be picky. Overlooking baseball’s elastic timeframe, and the way it heightens drama, is lax. Ditto missing the link between baseball and one-day cricket, where dabbles in the multi-innings form, as a means of sustaining tension, could yet become a plunge. Most oddly, in examining approaches to batting, the matter of the flat surface of the cricket bat v the curved as in baseball is ignored: it has, after all, been suggested by a scientist that middling a baseball hurled at 90mph is the most daunting task in sport (the boffin, one assumes, was of the sensible view that resisting Mike Tyson does not constitute a game of anything).He might also have delved deeper. No connection is made between the way the statisticians mirror national traits: that so much more spews forth from baseball’s Beardless Wonders seems to me to reflect a society where trying hard can never be a vice. Then again, knowing he would still have to share a dressing-room with Min and Nicko, maybe he decided against being too pretentious.One more grumble. He uses the initials ET, which may be an intentionally witty Anglo-Americanism, reeking as much of Titmus FJ as EB White and J Edgar Hoover, but ET … Ed, a Yank’s abbreviation of a Limey name – not to mention the one by which most people outside the Kent dressing-room know him – would have been smarter.The literary ambitions do not stop here, but the goal, he stresses, is to be “a writer not a sportswriter”. The relief in the press-box should be profound.This review first appeared in the August 2002 edition of Wisden Cricket Monthly.Click here to buy a copy

Fast bowlers have never been known to queue up for service in India, and expressions like “graveyard” and “nightmare” enter the fast men’s lexicon and tend to sum up the reputation the pitches enjoy in India. Shane Bond, despite the success that elevated him to international status in India two years ago, will probably be more than happy at home getting ready for the Christmas series against Pakistan.

His absence has cost New Zealand their most valuable strike weapon, but it has provided an opportunity for others to stake their claim for what is one of the busiest nine months in New Zealand cricket history. Home series against Pakistan and South Africa and a tour to England are all in the offing once the India-Pakistan tour is completed at the end of November.That’s where Daryl Tuffey and Ian Butler step in for consideration as the new-ball attack, with Jacob Oram as first change and spinners Daniel Vettori and Paul Wiseman. The Northern Districts pace pair have bowled together at club, first-class and Test level, and are the frontrunners to do it again in India. There is the prospect of competition for the job from Michael Mason, untried at Test level, but a steady performer on the New Zealand domestic scene.Tuffey, 25, and Butler, 21, do have Test experience. Tuffey goes into the tour on 47 Test wickets at 26.85, while Butler, who last played in New Zealand’s Test series-winning victory in the West Indies midway through last year, has 14 wickets at 32.50. Both are under no illusions about what lies ahead. For Butler, it is a chance to get back into selectorial favour after missing out during the last home season, while Tuffey knows there will be some Indian batsmen gunning for him after the last series in New Zealand.”There will be a bit of vengeance on their minds,” said Tuffey, “as both sides bowled well on those tracks last summer – we just made the most of it. I’m looking forward to getting over there in their conditions. We’ll be much more of a potential match for them than perhaps they expect. We won’t be a walkover, that’s for certain. We’ll be looking to take matches into the fifth day and putting some pressure on there.”Butler, the relative tyro of the pair, had no qualms about the expected conditions. “Everyone has got to bowl on them. If you want to be a good bowler you have to be able to bowl in all conditions,” he said.Having suffered the disappointment of non-selection last summer, Butler had to go back to domestic cricket, but said it had been beneficial to his approach, especially in one-day cricket. “I knew my one-day record wasn’t good, but I managed to put in some good spells for Northern Districts, and it was good to win the State Shield with the side. We always enjoy it when our international players come back to the side, like Daryl or Daniel Vettori, and I wanted to help the side when I came back.”It was during the domestic one-day competition that Butler re-affirmed the potential that saw Sir Richard Hadlee and his fellow selectors pluck him from nowhere to be Bond’s replacement for the England series in the summer of 2001-02. While not as fast as Bond, yet, Butler has shown the capacity to learn and spent time this year at Gloucestershire where he came under the eye of incoming New Zealand coach John Bracewell.”It is disappointing that Shane won’t be in India, but I’m rapt that I’ve got a chance. With the amount of cricket we have to play in the near future, I want to make sure I put my hand up for consideration,” he said.Tuffey knows there has been a perception – real or imagined – that he has been a slow starter in seasons past, but given the build-up the New Zealanders had in Christchurch and then over eight days in Brisbane, he is sure he can hit the ground running in India. “It has been great to get back into the groove, and our build-up has been structured really well by Ashley Ross. We spent a lot of time in the nets, and so did the batters. We’ve been working to different work loads but the weather was great, the wickets were flat and they were similar conditions to what we will face in India, although probably not as hot as it will be.”Part of the intention of the workload development was to have the bowlers perform as well in their third stint of the day as in their first, and Tuffey felt that had been achieved. Equally, the pressure is on to bowl well in partnership with others in the attack, and Tuffey and Butler enjoy a natural association through their provincial ties.”I think we complement each other nicely, with him bowling his outswinger and me bowling them in,” Butler said. “In fact, it is not only Daryl and I, but you have to work with all the bowlers. You have to look at your over and not ease pressure achieved at the other end by bowling a loose ball that gets hit for four. Daryl helped me when I was in the Counties-Manukau squad at age 17. I looked up to him and what impressed me about him was that he was so consistent and he made the utmost of what he had.”He’s looking very good at the moment and is hitting the crease hard which helps his action,” Butler added. Both have been working on their strength during a winter at home this year, and Butler said it had allowed him to make the most of the time in Brisbane.”It was superb and getting outside gives you some confidence you can do the job. There is nothing like bowling on an outdoors length. The indoor length is completely different,” he said.Tuffey rates highly the developing maturity of Butler, who he says is “a bit like Shane. One of his weapons is pace, and that is a good foil for me. Accuracy is my biggest thing, and by doing that I can let them fire them down at the other end. I’ve got to know him pretty well, and he’s maturing into a fine cricketer, he’s learning all the time and is pretty receptive to advice. He’s been out of the team for a year and the hunger is there and with everyone looking to be involved for the whole season, he wants to be one of the first to put his hand up.”The New Zealanders fly out on Sunday for two months of tough cricket. But they are relishing the challenge against an Indian team preparing well for the big event, and their own big season.