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The draw for the third round of the Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy has been made, with the first-class counties joining the minor counties and board elevens who have battled their way through the first two rounds this season. The holders, Yorkshire, travel to play Cambridgeshire who finished third in the Eastern Division of the Minor Counties Championship. Somerset, the runners-up to Yorkshire this year, have a potentially difficult tie in Scotland. The Scots will be playing in the national league in the coming season so will have plenty of opportunity to be up to speed at this level.There are two instances of counties being drawn to play against their county board elevens – essentially the best club cricketers within the county. Essex and Worcestershire are the two sides involved.The four teams that finished at the bottom of Division Two of the Norwich Union League in the season just finished are drawn against one another, as is the format in the Cheltenham and Gloucester. Northamptonshire are at home to Middlesex while Sussex travel to Hampshire.Third round ties are scheduled to be played on May 7th, with the full draw:Bedfordshire v Warwickshire
Durham CB v Glamorgan
Buckinghamshire v Gloucestershire
Cambridgeshire v Yorkshire
Essex CB v Essex
Kent CB v Derbyshire
Worcestershire CB v Worcestershire
Berkshire v Durham
Lincolnshire v Nottinghamshire
Cornwall v Kent
Staffordshire v Surrey
Scotland v Somerset
Devon v Lancashire
Northumberland v Leicestershire
Northamptonshire v Middlesex
Hampshire v Sussex
The fourth round draw, to be played on May 28th, is as follows:Northamptonshire or Middlesex v Hampshire or Sussex
Northumberland or Leicestershire v Lincolnshire or Nottinghamshire
Berkshire or Durham v Devon or Lancashire
Scotland or Somerset v Staffordshire or Surrey
Cornwall or Kent v Buckinghamshire or Gloucestershire
Worcestershire CB or Worcestershire v Cambridgeshire or Yorkshire
Bedfordshire or Warwickshire v Essex CB or Essex
Durham CB or Glamorgan v Kent CB or Derbyshire
The quarter-finals will be played on 10th and 11th June, the semi-finals on 7th and 9th August, with the final at Lord’s on 30th August.

November rain in Zimbabwe tends to be short and sharp, but Jupiter Pluviusobviously decided he could do something better for the Pakistani tourists.He started his vandalism in the early hours of the morning, and continued topour down his produce at a greater or lesser intensity throughout the day.Long before the official announcement was made, it was clear play would beimpossible at Country Club on the third and final day of the match betweenZimbabwe A and the Pakistanis.No result was possible even on first innings, as only 13 wickets fell.The leading Pakistani batsmen all enjoyed good innings, though, except for theunfortunate Yousuf Youhana, and their bowlers had a reasonable workout.For Zimbabwe A, Guy Whittall must have ensured his return to the Test team witha fine unbeaten 67, but perhaps none of the young hopefuls in the team wereable in two days to give irresistible evidence to the selectors of theirclaims.The rain looks to be well set in, but in November it rarely lasts more thantwo or three days at the most. Both teams will be hoping that JupiterPluvius does not again intend to depart too far from his usual policy.

The game of the day was at Headingley where Yorkshire held their nerve for a thrilling one-run win over Leicestershire. A century for Jacques Rudolph boosted the home side to an impressive 303 for 4, only for Dillon du Preez to respond with a ton of his own, this one unbeaten, but in an ultimately losing cause as they ended up on 302 for 7. du Preez needed to hit a six off the final ball, but could only manage a four. Rudolph’s 120 came from 97 balls, while du Preez’s 107 came from a mere 65 as he set about lifting his side from true danger at 198 for 6. He nearly pulled off the heist thanks to a seventh-wicket stand of 94 with Claude Henderson, who made 30, but Darren Gough bowled Henderson and then the visitors couldn’t quite scrape home.Mark Ramprakash capped a good weekend with a fifty as Surrey beat Derbyshireby 13 runs at Chesterfield. Scott Newman also made a half-century before he fell to former Surrey team-mate Nayan Doshi. Another ex-Surrey man, Rikki Clarke, posed a few problems for his old club, putting on 95 with Chris Rogers, but they both fell in quick succession and Derbyshire were from then on playing catch-up. Jade Dernbach ended with 5 for 31 and Usman Afzaal also played his part with 4 for 49.Azhar Mahmood proved Kent‘s star turn in their 59-run Duckworth-Lewis win against Glamorgan at Canterbury. He top-scored with 68 to lift them to 202 for 9 and then he took 3 for 14 from six overs to prevent Glamorgan getting a hold in their innings. Chasing 191 from 30.2 overs, they pulled up well short on 131 for 9, Ben Wright the sole batting light with a fifty.Essex easily sank Northamptonshire at Garon Park after bowling them out for 61 and then cantering to their 61-run target from 37 overs, requiring only 14.5 overs to do so. The pitch had aided bowlers in the Championship match last week and continued to do so with the white ball. There were three wickets each for Graham Napier, David Masters and Chris Wright, while the opener Jason Gallian remained unbeaten on 20 as a simple chase was completed with ease.

Nottinghamshire‘s 208 for 8 proved enough to pull off a nine-run win by the D-L method when Gloucestershire responded with 92 for 4 from a revised 19 overs at Cheltenham. The visitors’ innings was built around Samit Patel’s 65, while Chris Read gave them a late boost with 33 after they had slipped to 166 for 6. Mark Ealham’s 3 for 10 from four overs then put the skids on Gloucestershire and earned the win, keeping Nottinghamshire top of the table.Lancashire reached 210 for 8 from a rain-affected 39 overs and Hampshire had reached 14 without loss from five overs when the match was washed out at Southampton. Francois du Plessis and Steven Croft both brought up their fifties, sharing a rescuing stand of 118 for the fifth wicket, while Billy Taylor took four wickets.There was no result either between Sussex and Worcestershire at Horsham. Worcestershire reached 244 for 9 from their full complement of overs and Sussex had replied with 52 for 2 from 9.3 overs when the rains came. The in-form Vikram Solanki’s half-century, then, came to nought, as did Daryl Mitchell’s while Luke Wright claimed four wickets the day before England’s one-day squad is named.

Bashley-Rydal’s Western Australian prodigy Luke Ronchi smashed the Calmore Sports attack for 144, admitting afterwards that his first 70 runs were "a bit scratchy"!The 21-year old Perth wicket keeper-batsman flayed six 6s and 13 fours in a season’s best ECB Southern Electric Premier League knock which set up Bashley’s 93-run win."There was a lot of playing and missing, particularly before lunch, but I felt pretty good and middled the ball a fair bit later on," he confessed.With the ball moving about off the damp surface, Ronchi had to get his head down and graft during the morning session.But, after enjoying a productive 117-run second-wicket partnership with Chris Sketchley (42), Ronchi came out of his comparative shell – and took the Calmore bowling apart.His pulled two of his sixes into the gardens of houses in the adjoining Bashley Common Road and launched another – off the back foot – clean over the pavilion!In between, spectators were treated to an array of cover drives and pulls, many of which scorched to the boundary.Ronchi was looking good for a double hundred when, to Calmore’s relief, he was caught low down at backward point by James Hibberd for a spectacular 144.It was Ronchi’s first league century of the season, but the summer’s highest individual Premier 1 score.Andy Sexton, with an unbeaten 42, and Richard Knowles took Bashley on to an unassailable 273-4 declared in the 62nd over.Calmore’s reply got off to the worst possible start with Tom Pegler trapped leg before by John Whiting (2-38) and Kevin Nash having Mark Boston caught behind.It was left to Jez Goode to keep the Calmore innings afloat – the stylish left-hander hitting 67 before being brilliantly run out by Dale Middleton at 107-5.Clive Surry and Paul Cass offered middle-order support, but it was Nash, with a season’s best 4-27 off 15 overs, who made significant inroads into Calmore’s top order.The innings lurched to 108-6 before closing at an eventual 180 all out."They took a fair bit of winkling out and it wasn’t until the penultimate over that Andy Sexton finally got the tenth wicket."It was handy being able to bring a spin bowler on at that late stage – and it paid dividends."I could see us not digging them out, as Calmore battled very hard indeed," said triumphaht Bashley skipper Neil Taylor.Andover, the early season pace-setters, were shot out for 94 and comprehensively beaten by eight-wickets by South Wilts at London Road.They struggled after being put into bat on the damp surface, losing half their wickets for 40, with Adam Smith (3-30) causing a lot of early damage.Mark Miller (17) kept Andover buoyant, while Dean Woodhouse (15) offered middle-order resistance in between Paul Draper (3-14) and Shaun Adam (2-26) cutting through the lower order.Russell Rowe (33) gave South Wilts a positive start, laving Jon Nash (26 not out) to guide the visitors to an easy win.Bournemouth bowled bottom-of-the-table Burridge out for 121, but lost six wickets before clinching victory at Chapel Gate.Play began 2-half hours late because of the soaked outfield and immediately Burridge began to struggle with Richard Scott (2-33) nailing Hampshire Under-19 left-hander Ben Thane.Liverpudlian Jo Wilson (4-27) reduced the visitors to 59-5 and, after two wickets each by Dan Jackson and Chris Cole, it appeared as though Burridge might struggle to reach double figures.But some spirited batting by Paul Williams, Paul Wild and Nick Creal in the tail saw them improve from 88-8 to 121 all out.Bournemouth’s push for victory was anything but straightforward, with openers Matt Swarbrick and Alex Allum back in the pavilion with only ten runs on the board.The Sports Club lurched to 33-3 and, after a three-wicket burst by Moen Cheema (3-30), 98-6 (Martin Miller 21).Before Geoff Warrington’s 22 not out guided Bournemouth to a rather unconvincing victory."Both sides bowled pretty well and there wasn’t much good batting around, but the conditions were very damp," said Bournemouth skipper Swarbrick. "We bowled too many extras (32), but got home in the end and really that’s all that matters."

No great expectations accompanied the Indian team that landed inLondon for the 1979 tour. Faulty selection – symbolised by theomission of Syed Kirmani – meant that a rather ill-balanced sidewas sent on what was undoubtedly going to be a tough tour.In the winter of 1978-79, India had lost in Pakistan and thenstruggled at home to beat a mediocre West Indian side, bereft ofthe Kerry Packer defectors. So they could not have been tooconfident on arriving at Heathrow. England, on the other hand, inthe aftermath of the Packer crisis, were very much the leadingcricketing nation, having just returned after thrashing Australia5-1 to regain the Ashes.The worst fears of the Indian cricket follower were confirmed byevents early on the tour. India first lost all their matches inthe second World Cup held prior to the four-Test series. Thelosses to the West Indies and New Zealand were perhapsunexpected, but the most shattering experience was going down toSri Lanka, then not even a full Test nation.When the Test series started, there was no change in thedepressing script. England won the first Test at Birmingham by aninnings and 83 runs with a day to spare. Much the same pattern ofplay was repeated in the second Test at Lord’s. India were shotout for 96 and England replied with 419 for nine declared. Atthis stage a rout along the lines of 1959 and 1974 was freelybeing predicted, and this did not seem to be wide of the mark.From here on, however there was a sudden transformation. Justbefore tea on the fourth day, India – 323 runs behind on thefirst innings – were 99 for two and facing another inningsdefeat. The road to recovery was then laid by Gundappa Viswanathand Dilip Vengsarkar, and their 210-run third wicket partnershipremains one of the most famous rearguard actions in Indiancricket. Viswanath got 113, Vengsarkar scored 103 and, helpedsomewhat by the inclement weather, India, 318 for four at thefinal draw of stumps, earned an honourable draw.There was a metamorphosis from that point as a rejuvenated Indianteam matched England deed for deed. They held their own in therain-affected third Test at Leeds, replying with 223 for six toEngland’s 270. In the final Test at the Oval, India came withinnine runs of pulling off what would have been the most successfulrun-chase in Test history. England seemed to have locked up theseries when, after taking a 103-run first-innings lead, theydeclared at 334 for eight.India were thus set to get 438 to win in 498 minutes. A recordfirst-wicket partnership of 213 runs between Sunil Gavaskar andChetan Chauhan (80) set them firmly on the road towards thedaunting target. Then Gavaskar and Vengsarkar maintained themomentum with a second-wicket stand of 153 runs. When the 20mandatory overs began, India were 328 for one and firmfavourites. Even the shrewd Mike Brearley was at his wit’s end.But Vengsarkar (52) departed at 366, and then a combination ofcircumstances saw England come back into the match. Kapil Dev,who had never really got going in the series, was rather unwiselypromoted to number four and was out for a duck. Gavaskar wasfourth out at 389 for a masterly 221, arguably his greatest-everinnings. A couple of dicey umpiring decisions then went againstIndia, and England clawed their way back. At the end of amemorable and yet ultimately frustrating day, India were 429 foreight. It was a superb display that won them a lot of friends, ifnot the match.The essential problem with the team lay in the composition. Thebatting, manned by Gavaskar, Chauhan, Viswanath, Vengsarkar,Anshuman Gaekwad, Mohinder Amarnath and Yashpal Sharma was fairlystrong, but the bowling was generally weak. The selectors gaveskipper Srinivas Venkataraghavan a young pace bowler, then juston his way up, in Kapil Dev and a rather wayward left-arm seambowler in Karsan Ghavri.Then there were three aging spin bowlers in Bishan Singh Bedi,Bhagwat Chandrasekhar and the captain himself, with only Amarnathto provide support. It was hardly the sort of bowling to causeEngland trouble, and it was no surprise that the home side ran uptotals of 633 for five declared, 419 for nine declared and 334for eight declared. Geoff Boycott got two hundreds and DavidGower an unbeaten double hundred, while Ian Botham hammered 137from just 152 balls with the help of 16 fours and five sixes atLeeds.England’s bowlers however did not gain their wickets easily, forIndia were well-served by the batsmen. Gavaskar rounded off aremarkable 12-month period by scoring 542 runs from seven inningsat an average of 77.43. Fittingly he was named among Wisden’scricketers of the year. Viswanath (341), Vengsarkar (249) andChauhan (179) all lived up to their reputations. Among thebowlers, Kapil Dev stood head and shoulders above everyone else.Still in his first year of international cricket, the sturdilybuilt 20-year-old took 16 wickets at 30.94 apiece to head theaverages. The rest of the bowlers, predictably enough, madelittle impression. In fact, both Chandra and Bedi played theirlast Test matches during the series.On the tour, Gavaskar, thanks to his epic knock at the Oval,crossed the 1,000-run mark finishing with 1,062 runs at anaverage of 55.89. Yashpal Sharma emerged as the most improvedbatsman, heading the figures with 884 runs at an average of58.93. Viswanath and Vengsarkar crossed the 700-run mark, whileGaekwad, Chauhan and Amarnath each made over 500 runs.The bowling figures as expected were less impressive, and Bedi(33), Venkat (34) and Kapil Dev (31) were the only bowlers totake more than 30 wickets. But except for Bedi, all of themproved to be rather expensive. All in all, it was a splendidshowing by a team from which there were no high expectations, andthe final tour results of 16 played, one won, three drawn and 12lost is not a true reflection of the fighting cricket that theyprovided.

Full of bravado and gumption, Waqar Younis had said before the Sharjah Cup started that his campaign for the 2003 World Cup was to start here. Going by his team’s display in the first outing, they would need to improve, and quite considerably, to be even a serious contender for the World Cup. They were found wanting in all departments of the game, and need to forget the World Cup and tighten up their act to do well in this event. Though Abdul Razzaq (56, off 72 balls) and Rashid Latif (41, off 44) tried to retrieve the situation in a spirited rearguard action, it was indeed too late. A miracle may have saved the day for them, but it didn’t happen and the Lankans in the end cantered off to another facile win, by 41 runs.All credit to the Lankans. They got off to a solid start, and though they tapered off a bit in the middle and later part of their innings, they kept coming back at Pakistan. When Inzamam tore into them, they didn’t lose their nerve, and when Razzaq and Rashid were taking the fight to them, they still had a faith in their ability to make a comeback.Bad at chasing, they never got off to the kind of start that they needed. And Younis Khan and Yousuf Youhana, supposedly the two strengths in the middle order, gifted their wickets away. Imran Nazir miscued the pull and paid the penalty. Inzamam, so supremely in control, lost his balance for only an instant, and that was it for him.From then on, it was always going to be difficult, if not impossible, for it was up to the all-rounders to save the day for Pakistan. They did make an effort. Rashid Latif was superb in front of the wicket, better than he was behind it in this game. And he combined well with Razzaq to put up 72 runs for the sixth wicket, his share being an adventrous 41 runs.Razzaq, cool as a cucumber, never give up despite the heat and humidity. With Latif gone, he threw caution to the winds and clobbered Buddika for 16 runs in an over in which 19 were conceded. He didn’t concede till the end, and he went out fighting, having no option to go after Jayasuriya only to find out that he had been caught at the fence by Muralitharan. 198 for 9, it was all over bar the shouting and though Pakistan crossed the 200 mark, Jayasuriya bowled Saqlain behind his legs to finish the match and land the Man of the Match Award.

The West Indies selectors have named a 22-man squad to attend a pre-tour training camp. The training camp, which will be held in Trinidad, takes place from May 28 to June 8 in preparation for the West Indies’ coming tours to Zimbabwe and Kenya later this summer.The players selected for the training camp are: Chris Gayle, Leon Garrick, Daren Ganga, Brian Lara, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Carl Hooper, Marlon Samuels, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Wavell Hinds, Ridley Jacobs, Courtney Browne, Dinanath Ramnarine, Neil McGarrell, Dave Mohammed, Cameron Cuffy, Mervyn Dillon, Corey Collymore, Reon King, Kerry Jeremy, Colin Stuart, Mahendra Nagamootoo and Ricky Christopher.The West Indies Selection Committee will meet on June 1 to select a 16-man squad for the African tour. All players chosen however, must first pass both medical and fitness tests ahead of the tour. The tests are scheduled for June 2, 2001.The West Indies will be involved in a triangular one-day series which will feature host country Zimbabwe, and India, to be followed by a short tour of Kenya. The West Indies will play two one-day games in Kenya.

Somerset Chief Executive Peter Anderson will be spending the day along with his players at Lympstone on Wednesday, where he will join them on the Royal Marines assault course.Earlier this week he told me, “I’ve been talked into competing in a training day at Lympstone on Wednesday. The lads are looking forward to me negotiating the underground pipes!”In addition to his day job at Somerset Mr Anderson is a busy man at the moment.”I’m busy taking my level 2 ECB Coaching Certificate which will be very useful to me for three reasons. Firstly it will help me at Seaton Cricket Club where I’m a pretty involved on a voluntary basis, secondly it will be good for me as a chief executive to see another perspective on the game, and thirdly I hope it will be an example to others,” the Somerset boss told me.Mr Anderson is also attending an ECB Groundsman’s course.” This will help me in my duties as groundsman at Seaton Cricket Club, and it will also help me to add to my knowledge of their job, having a top groundsman here at Taunton, not that I am going to challenge him!”

The touring England under-19s had nothing to cheer about at the end of thefirst day’s play in the warm-up match against South Zone under-19s, playedat Guru Nanak College Ground, Chennai on Monday. The touring party tookthis as an opportunity to give some of their boys a go. Ample reasons whyone felt that the focus was not there. For most of the day, the bowling waspedestrian and the fielding a let down. Dropped catches and fielding lapsesmight be a cause of worry for The Management, given the fact that they haveto start playing their second ‘Test’ against India this weekend. South Zonecolts also did not give good account of themselves; their batting neverreally bloomed on a harmless track.The setting was perfect, clear blue skies, brilliant sunshine and theground looking pretty with all the trees around. Electing to bat firstafter winning the toss South Zone opening batsman Tirumal Setti Suman took10 runs off the very first over bowled by Chris Tremlett; two boundariesflying over the slip fielders into the third-man fence. Suman did no favorto Nadeem Malik smashing him for three boundaries in the fourth over of theday. The fifth over brought some joy to the English colts, when Tremletthad Shashank Nag caught behind by Mark Wallace for just two runs.31/1 and Malik’s third over also saw Suman striking three boundaries, anexplosive start indeed. Kyle Hogg was brought in from the pavilion end toreplace the expensive Malik and immediately found his rhythm. Monty Panesardropped Suman off the bowling of Hogg, but could not make most of it. Hoggsoon had Suman caught and bowled, the ball bouncing more than the batsmanexpected and all he could do was to pop the ball back to the bowler for aneasy catch. Suman’s entertaining innings of 42 came off just 34 balls,which included 9 strokes past the ropes.The fall of Suman brought Deepak Chougule to the crease. Chougule was thetoast of the day for South Zone scoring 97 runs off 179 balls. Chougule whois short in stature and does not have the height of many of the Englishplayers, stood tall on a day when South batsman failed to apply themselves.The batting was ineffective on a docile pitch, which had nothing to offerto the bowlers.Chougule holds the junior world record for the maximum runs scored in aday, 400 not out against Goa in the 1996/97 season, playing for KarnatakaUnder-13. Chougule kept working hard as batsmen at the other end keptfalling. South Zone lost two more wickets before lunch. Ian Pattisonremoved captain Arjun Yadav for 10 caught brilliantly by Kadeer Ali atpoint. The next ball saw the new batsman ASK Varma dropped by John Sadlerat slip. Pattison had reasons to rejoice his second wicket when RobertFerley took a good catch in the covers to dismiss Varma for just one.English colts were in a strong position after reducing the hosts to 62/4.The new batsman Vijay Sai Suri was distinctly lucky early on to survive avociferous appeal for LBW off the bowling of Pattison, without offering astroke. The visitors let the game drift on for a while and the lunchtimescore was 129/4 in 38 overs. Chougule took his own time and was unbeaten on 50.The post lunch session started on a sad note for the visitors. Chougule wasdropped twice on 52;Gordon Muchall dropped him at point and John Sadler floored a chance in theslips. Chougule and Suri put on 134 for the fifth wicket as English coltsrelied on medium pacers. The 22nd over after lunch saw the introduction ofleft arm spin of Ferley. Success followed immediately as Ferley dismissedSuri, caught by Nicky Peng running to the leg-slip from the first slip asthe batsman top edged a sweep shot. Suri made 44 off 136 balls with fiveboundaries. A little before Tea break Chougule was deceived by the guilesof Panesar, drawing the batsman forward and getting the ball to turn andkiss the edge of the bat, Peng gleefully accepted the catch at first slip.Chougule was at the crease for 238 minutes facing 179 balls, striking 12boundaries in his innings of 97.211 for 6 at Tea, England failed to force the issue. Ferley who impressedwith his spin bowling had Mohd Faiq caught by Kadeer Ali at silly point for23 in the 82nd over. The second new ball was taken in the 83rd over andthere was no success at all. Malik who had a miserable spell with the firstnew ball came back with the second, picking up the wicket of Taher Hussaincaught by substitute fielder Justin Bishop for 26. At close of play SouthZone were 275/8 with Steve Lazarus and Shankara Rao on 15 and 5respectively. Pattison and Ferley shared the bowling honours with a coupleof wickets apiece.

South Africa fast bowler Allan Donald has played down a confrontation with one of his West Indian counterparts Cameron Cuffy during the fourth one-day international in Grenada on Sunday.The incident took place after Donald had had Cuffy caught at the wicket by Mark Boucher to end the West Indies innings. As the players left the field Cuffy exchanged words with Boucher before Donald joined in with some force, appearing to tell the West Indian to leave the field.Speaking to Radio 702, a Johannesburg station on Monday, Donald said that at the end of the innings, after he had retrieved his cap from the umpire, he saw Cuffy "go directly to Mark Boucher and say something to him."Donald said that all the South Africans "stick up for each other on the field" and "we told him to get his stuff and gently get off the field".According to Donald the exchange had "something to do with the umpires". He also said that the apparent ill-feeling between Cuffy and the South Africans "goes back to the fifth Test in Jamaica".Donald, however, denied that there was bad blood between the South African and West Indian teams. This was in response to suggestions that the South Africans had been upset at various times during the tour by the West Indies’ refusal to shake hands with their opponents."It’s understandable that the West Indies are very upset with their performances," said Donald.At the same time, however, Donald said that it was to be regretted that the practice of teams having a drink and a chat with their opponents seemed to be a thing of the past. "You don’t go to opposition dressing rooms to have a beer," he said. "Only Brian Lara has come to our dressing room and had a chat."South Africa won the five-match Test series 2-1 and are leading the one-day series 3-1 after four of the seven games.