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SYDNEY, Nov 14 AAP – Test batsman Darren Lehmann and South Australian opener David Fitzgerald stood up against a star-studded NSW and set the Redbacks off to a blazing start in their Pura Cup cricket match at the SCG today.NSW captain Steve Waugh’s decision to send SA in to bat on a green wicket in gloomy conditions appeared to have backfired before Brett Lee took his third five-wicket haul in as many innings to put the visitors at 5-319 at stumps.By the close of play on day one, John Davison was not out nine and Shane Deitz was on four following a record 191-run stand between Lehmann and Fitzgerald.Lehmann fell just shy of his century with 97 while Fitzgerald carved out an elegant 153, the pair’s partnership SA’s best for the second wicket against NSW at the Sydney ground.SA went into the match severely undermanned with Test paceman Jason Gillespie being rested and star batsman Greg Blewett on Australia A duties.To make matters worse, Redbacks bowler Damien Fleming was a late withdrawal with a shoulder injury and batsman Chris Davies pulled out with a hamstring complaint last night.NSW on the other hand had Michael Bevan, Michael Slater, Simon Katich and Stuart MacGill joining Lee and the Waugh brothers.Lee continued his campaign for a Test re-call following his 10-wicket haul against Tasmania last weekend in response to his axing from the first Ashes Test in Brisbane.The 26-year-old, who was today predictably selected in Australia’s 12-man squad for next week’s Adelaide Test, took all of the Blues’ wickets to finish with 5-80 from 25 overs.After an initial five-over spell, Lee returned to the attack in the 20th over and struck with a sizzling third delivery.The ball struck Ben Johnson’s bat high as the left-hander fell backwards and the ball popped into the air, finding the safe hands of Steve Waugh, running in from gully to take a strong catch diving forward and dismissing the batsman for 29.The Blues missed out on taking another wicket in the first over after lunch when Fitzgerald, on 30, edged a Don Nash delivery with SA on 1-83.Wicketkeeper Nathan Pilon – standing in for Australia A gloveman Brad Haddin – got his hand to the ball as he stretched forward and to his right but failed to take the difficult chance.Pilon also spilled a chance off Lehmann when he was on 47 and the score 1-131.Attempting to take a catch off the bowling of Nathan Bracken, Pilon dived across first slip Katich but the ball bounced off his glove and hit Katich on the chin, forcing the fielder off the ground for treatment.The Blues introduced Mark Waugh, the man Lehmann replaced in the Test side, in a bid to break the partnership, but to no avail and SA went to tea at 1-209.It was not until Lee was brought back into the attack half an hour after the break that the breakthrough came, the paceman clean bowling Lehmann with the first ball of his spell.Fitzgerald took SA past the 300 mark before Lee found a top edge to have him caught behind.Lee then dismissed Ben Higgins (13) and Mark Higgs (0) with successive balls.

A three-day finish looks certain at Southampton after 22 wickets fell on day two between Hampshire and Lancashire. Hampshire, 45 for two overnight, were dismissed for just 132, with Ricky Anderson taking six for 23. Lancashire were then bowled out for 187, with Shaun Udal (five for 59) completing a nine-wicket haul in the match. Veteran Neil Fairbrother was Lancashire’s top scorer with 39. It means that the hosts must score the highest total of the match – 239 – to win it, which on the evidence so far would be no mean achievement. At stumps it looked decidedly distant, with Hampshire on 54 for four.Surrey are favourites to wrap up their sixth Championship win of the season after they were left needing 237 to win by Yorkshire. A career-best 124 by Michael Lumb and a half century from Richard Blakey carried Yorkshire to a respectable 446 all out in their second innings, but by the end of the day it was looking less than adequate. Although they had lost three wickets by stumps, the in-form Ian Ward is still there on 67 and the hosts must fancy their chances of knocking off the 126 runs they need tomorrow.Kent look even likelier winners at Grace Road, even though a century from the evergreen Phil DeFreitas propped up the lower Leicestershire order. Iain Sutcliffe (103) and Michael Bevan (61) were today’s other main contributors as the hosts were dismissed for 400 in their second innings, leaving Kent needing just 193 for victory. Martin Saggers (four for 68) and David Masters (three for 86) were the main wicket-takers. Kent closed on 66 for one, also with another 126 needed.Sussex are pursuing a rather tougher target at Edgbaston after Warwickshire declared at 284 for six, leaving the visitors needing 401 for victory. Nick Knight (97) completed a remarkable match tally of 342 runs, and contributions all down the order then enabled the declaration. Sussex then made the worst start imaginable, losing Murray Goodwin lbw to Alan Richardson without a run on the board. At stumps they were five for one.In Division Two, Durham remain at the foot of the table after losing at home to Nottinghamshire by eight wickets. Following on, the home side were bowled out for 328 after another disappointing day with the bat. They lost five wickets for 37 runs in a mid-innings collapse with Andrew Harris (four for 60) the pick of the bowlers. Guy Welton then led his side to victory with an unbeaten 42.Essex will go into day four of their clash with Glamorgan confident of avoiding defeat at Chelmsford. The home side found it easy going after eventually dismissing Glamorgan for 575 – Steve James was out for 249. Will Jefferson (102) scored his maiden Championship century in a superb 173-run stand for the first wicket with Darren Robinson (119). With plenty of batting still to come the home side closed the day on 281 for two, trailing by 63 runs.Dominic Cork (three for 53) and Tom Lungley (three for 40) helped Derbyshire restrict Northants to 210. Only Jeffrey Cook (88) rose to the challenge as the hosts wilted in the sun. In reply, the visitors struggled to build on their lead as off-spinners Graeme Brown (three for 71) and Jason Brown (two for 71) bowled for most of the day. At stumps Derbyshire, at 188 for six, held a commanding lead of 366.Paul Weekes (102) and Phil Tufnell (seven for 49) were outstanding for Middlesex with bat and ball respectively after Gloucestershire lost control of their clash at Cheltenham. Needing 127 to avoid the follow-on, the visitors were grateful for a 114-run seventh-wicket partnership between Weekes and wicket-keeper David Nash (43) and ended on 363 all out. The hosts then struggled against Tufnell, who bowled with greater conviction as the innings progressed. Gloucestershire lost six wickets for just 43, and ended the day on 175 for eight, a lead of 306.

Rain again on the second day prevented play until 5.30 after tremendous efforts by the groundsmen to clear surface water from the surrounds. In the 42 overs remaining, Berkshire looked sharper in the field and Denning again bowled superbly taking four more wickets for 18 to finish with figures of 8-66 from his 27 overs as Wales were bowled out for 277. Berkshire, unfortunate to lose Brogan before the close, ended the day on 13-1 and it will need some imaginative captaincy to conjure up an exciting final day’s play.

India’s cricket team arrived in Harare on Friday afternoon confident of winning only their third Test series away from home after 1971. The squad of 15 players arrived at the new Harare International Airport at midday suffering from fatigue after a tiresome journey which began on Thursday.The two-match Test series will be the two sides’ first matches in the new ICC Test Championship which was kick-started by the England-Pakistan series last week.India have averaged one away series win a decade, having beaten England 2-0 in 1986 and Sri Lanka 1-0 in 1993. They have played two one-off Tests in Zimbabwe and drew the first, Zimbabwe’s inaugural, in October 1992. The second match was in October 1998 and Zimbabwe won at the Harare Sports Club by 61 runs.India captain Sourav Ganguly said that they were confident of winning the series, which will help them leapfrog into a tie for the fourth position with Sri Lanka in the ICCTC.”We have played well in the past six to seven months and obviously we are here to win. We have a much stronger side than the ones which struggled in away tours in the past,” he said. “We have prepared well for this tour, we had a good camp and have a good side. Everyone has worked hard to get into this side.”Ganguly said that their recent 2-1 series win, coming from behind, over the unofficial world champions Australia would not make them over-confident against a lowly rated Zimbabwe. “No, we take each series as it comes and each team as it comes. We don’t get carried away by past successes,” he said.On the conditions expected in Zimbabwe, Ganguly said they would not be affected as they have played here before. “I don’t think we will have any problems with the conditions in Zimbabwe because we have been here before,” he said.While the wickets in India are spin-friendly, Zimbabwean wickets favour seamers and pace bowlers.Team manager Chetan Chauhan, a former Indian opening batsman, was also confident that they would end their dismal performance away from home. “We would want to win the series. It’s going to be a tough and interesting series. We are not going to underestimate Zimbabwe because at home they are a good side,” he said.”Ours is also a very good, balanced side and it’s a young side which is full of confidence after beating Australia last month. Australia is undoubtedly the best cricketing country in the world.”Chauhan said that the Indians still have respect for Zimbabwe despite boasting of three of the world’s top ten Test batsman. Sachin Tendulkar is the world’s number one, Rahul Dravid is number four while VVS Laxman is number nine. Zimbabwe only have Andy Flower in the top ten. Flower is currently ranked number three.”That won’t have any bearing on the outcome of the series because as I said, we are not underestimating Zimbabwe. The last time we came here we lost 1-0. We will work very hard and the boys are confident of winning the series as a team,” Chauhan said.Although he did not want to single out potential series winners, Chauhan could not resist the temptation of mentioning Tendulkar. “We will play as a team but of course we have Tendulkar who is the best in the world. He will be supported by three or four other good batsmen. We also have a good bowling attack and as I said, it’s a well-balanced side. But Sachin Tendulkar, of course and Dravid and Laxman are the players who can change the game any time,” he said.Chauhan also has admiration for a couple of Zimbabweans. “Well, the Flower brothers are there and in particular Andy Flower. He batted brilliantly in the last series in India last year, averaging over 200. So he is a very good batsman."Chauhan also expressed his feelings on the conditions in Zimbabwe. “I don’t think we will have any problems with the conditions in Zimbabwe. We will play two warm-up matches before the Test series. I am sure the boys will get used to the Zimbabwean wickets before the Tests,” he said.Chauhan added, “The players in the Indian side are experienced players. They are professionals and they have played all over the world. I’m sure they will adjust to the conditions in Zimbabwe and the sooner they do that, the better it will be.”Before coming here we had a camp in Bangalore and the kind of wicket we had there is, to a certain extent, similar to the wickets in Zimbabwe. It favoured seamers and fast bowlers. We have taken enough precautions about it and we have practised well. We are, I would say, prepared for the conditions in Zimbabwe.”Chauhan said they were worried with India’s seventh position in the ICC Test championship table. “They have gone by the recent performances and, unfortunately, last season we did not play many series in India and that’s the reason we have been relegated to seventh. We are concerned about it, but I’m sure we will soon climb the ladder,” he concluded.

Career-best figures he may have had but New Zealand fast-medium bowler Daryl Tuffey wasn’t resting on his glory at stumps on day four of the third National Bank Test in Auckland today.He was looking ahead to the job he has tomorrow as he spearheads New Zealand’s attempt to draw the series with England.Tuffey took six for 54, his first five-wicket bag in Tests, and completed a remarkable turnaround for a bowler who conceded 232 runs before taking his first Test wicket, in South Africa last summer.New Zealand now lead England by 311 runs with one wicket in hand and 105 overs to play tomorrow.Tuffey’s story of being told to go away by the selectors, after the South African tour last summer, and to take some wickets in domestic cricket, is now part of modern cricket folklore in New Zealand cricket. He did that and from the time he returned to play Pakistan last summer until today, he has taken 22 wickets at 22.54.Today’s effort was especially satisfying as New Zealand finally managed to nail an opponent after getting the early breakthrough.But even then the English, from being 124/8, managed to add 36 runs for the last two wickets, mainly to Andrew Caddick who scored 20 before he was bowled by Tuffey.Andre Adams gained his first three Test wickets for 44 runs, his first was a vital one.Michael Vaughan came into the series threatening to play some big innings but has been largely contained thanks to England’s opening the innings with him instead of playing him down the order. He looked as if he was just starting to get the measure of the bowling when he edged a straight one to Adam Parore for 27.Adams’ “second” will live long in his memory. It is doubtful there has been a more contentious decision in recent New Zealand history than that which saw Adams attributed with Andrew Flintoff’s wicket.Flintoff was just starting to unwind and going for his shots when he played at a ball from Adams which missed his bat by a considerable distance, enough to suggest that even if Flintoff’s bat had clipped his pad there was enough space for Flintoff to have expected better from umpire Doug Cowie. England batsman Graham Thorpe, who was at the other end, said afterwards there had been no noise.In a rare display of annoyance in New Zealand at least, English supporters rounded on Cowie, he was booed at the end of the over, he was booed when he walked from the ground at lunchtime and he was booed when he came back out. The booing followed him all day.Even Adams, who had not appealed for the catch, came in for sufficient barracking from the crowd when he went to field at backward square leg that captain Stephen Fleming immediately changed his fielding position.It was ironic that in claiming a catch, Parore took his 199th wicket-keeping dismissal, but off the last ball of the same over dropped a sitter from James Foster that would have given him his 200th dismissal.Flintoff had earlier been given a let-off when he was dropped by Nathan Astle when on six from Chris Drum’s bowling.When Fleming held the catch off Matthew Hoggard’s bat to end England’s innings, he became the 18th player to take 100 catches in Test matches, aside from wicket-keepers.However, Flintoff was the only Englishman who had grounds for complaint with his dismissal.The key man was again Thorpe who, inexplicably, departed after shouldering arms to a ball from Tuffey which moved back on him sufficiently to clip the top of his off stump to see him out for 42.”It’s great getting your first fiver and making it six but the job’s only half done and I’ve got to try and produce the same tomorrow,” Tuffey said.”I just bowled mainly line and length to make them play every ball and to just stay in the channel and not bowl too much loose stuff.”The ball was coming out nicely, it was swinging early on so my main goal today was just to bowl straight,” he said.Later in the day the bounce of the ball got more variable and started to stay a little low. That is what New Zealand are counting on tomorrow to try and force a result in their favour.And Tuffey will shoulder much of the burden of achieving that result. He said he seems to get better the more bowling he does, and he will have every chance to show that touch on what promises to be another tight day of Test cricket.

The Tasmanian Cricket Association’s Chief Executive, David Johnston, today announced 16 State contracted players and 2 Rookie contracted players.2002/2003 Tasmanian Contracted Players

• Jamie Cox
• Michael DiVenuto
• Daniel Marsh
• David Saker
• Gerard Denton
• Damien Wright
• Scott Kremerskothen
• Sean Clingeleffer
• Scott Mason
• Shannon Tubb
• Shane Jurgensen
• George Bailey
• Xavier Doherty
• Ben Oliver
• Luke Williams
• Michael Dighton

Rookies

• Ben Hilfenhaus
• Brett Geeves

The squad also includes Ricky Ponting and Shane Watson who are both Australian Cricket Board contracted players.The States must register between 14 and 20 State Player contracts and between 2 and 5 rookie contracts by September 28.

Sven Koenig smashed 155 as Gauteng enjoyed themselves on another Kimberley belter at the start of this Supersport Series Shield match, declaring shortly before the close on 350 for seven after winning the toss and surprising no one by having a bat against Griqualand West.Koenig’s innings included 24 boundaries, and when he was dismissed thedeclaration soon followed. There is not a great deal to play for in thiscompetition designed to keep players interested after missing out on theSuper Eights, but at least Koenig, Nic Pothas (83) and Zander de Bruyn (66)used the opportunity to boost their first-class averages.In fact, the quality of Koenig’s innings should not be overlooked,particularly as he and Pothas rescued Gauteng from an extremely shaky start,as they were reduced to 33 for three.It may still be hard to get a result here though, as Griqualand West hadreached 50 without loss by the close, only emphasising again that bowlersare going to have to work extremely hard for their wickets.

The highest rated Pakistan batsman in the world Photo © CricInfo Ltd

Many years ago, that discerning spotter of cricket talent, Imran Khan, predicted that an upcoming Pakistani youngster held out the promise of becoming the best batsman in the world one day. And after a decade of battling it out with the best in the world, burly Inzy (for he was the one singled out for the praise) has fulfilled the master’s prophesy, and lived up to his early promise, by taking slots 1, 4 or 6 in the latest cricket ratings.Since his debut against England at Birmingham in 1992, the big man, as foreign cricket commentators are fond of calling him, has chalked up an impressive record in both versions of the game. Although the cold print does not reveal his complete mastery of the bowling when in full flow, or the brute force and the sheer savagery of his assault, it is a fair reflection of his overall consistency, despite one or two bad patches, layoffs due to injury, and his bane, the running between wickets. In 72 Tests so far, he has scored 4962 runs (13 hundreds, 29 fifties, with a highest of 200 not out) at an enviable average of 46.37. What is even more remarkable that 10 of these 13 Test hundreds have come abroad. His ODI performance in 243 matches has produced an awesome 7926 runs (7 hundreds, 59 fifties, with a top score of 137 not out) at an average of 40.43. No doubt, something for the statisticians to crow over.Inzy’s biggest enemy, on numerous occasions, has been himself. His laid back style and lazy, unruffled air, which is his hallmark even in the tightest situation, has often led to his downfall. It sometimes degenerates into a seemingly bored indifference, a lack of commitment, loose shots, lapses of concentration, and the inevitable, sometimes farcical, run outs in which he has been frequently involved.But, in the end, all that must be accepted as something inexplicably intertwined with his genius and rare gift as a batsman. And though there may be gasps of dismay from the spectators at the ludicrous situation of Inzy and his fellow batsman somehow contriving to be at the same end, the Pakistani crowds love him despite all his foibles and lapses.But, of late, one has to concede that Inzamam had become the most dependable of Pakistani batsmen. Commencing with his appointment as vice-captain in 1999, he has virtually been Mr Consistency, and in the year 2000 he made 1000-plus runs in both Tests and one-dayers – 1090 runs in 12 Tests, 4 hundreds, six 50s, average 60.56; 34 one-dayers, 1074 runs, 1 hundred, nine 50s, average 42.96.He carried that great form into the ongoing year as well, with a Test hundred in New Zealand and subsequently three big 50s which landed him the Man of the Tournament award in the recent ARY Gold Cup at the desert emirate of Sharjah.At the moment, the highest rated Pakistan batsman in the world, his team would be looking up to him to contribute big runs and revolve the middle order around him during the England series.The many magnificent innings he has already played for Pakistan and the sheer delight he has provided to fans, would live in memory for a long while and tilt the scales easily in favour of the `big fella’.