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16 wickets fell in a frenetic first day at the Rose Bowl, where the two bottom clubs Hampshire and Derbyshire met in the Division Two clash of the Frizzell County Championship.The warm weather spell continued as John Crawley chose to bat first, it was a decision he had to rue later as he saw his side capitulate to the bowling of Dominic Cork. The cloud cover and humidity helped him and the other Derbyshire seamers to make the ball swing, and it was Crawley himself who held up the progress with a spirited 49.Troubled with a back injury after completing a third run, he had to have treatment on the field, then latterly used a runner (James Adams).Iain Brunnschweiler and Chris Tremlett hit 39 late runs but the total of 143 was woefully short.Chaminda Vaas playing his first Championship match for Hampshire took the first three wickets to fall. Batting was not easy and slow progress was made by the visitors in building a short lead. Dimitri Mascarenhas bowled 9 overs after tea conceding just two runs for one wicket.Shaun Udal making the odd ball turn then finished the day with 2 wickets including in the last over the vital wicket of the Derbyshire skipper Dominic Cork.

Take guard again!The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) yesterday opened the way for resumption in negotiations with the West Indies Players’ Association (WIPA) after regional cricketers dramatically boycotted the opening day of the Carib Beer International Challenge semifinals.A full agreement is yet to be reached, but after the embarrassment of yesterday’s unprecedented strike in matches between Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago at Kensington Oval and Guyana and Jamaica in Berbice, the parties agreed the matches would start today and negotiations recommence next Wednesday, with both sides being represented by industrial relations advisors.Veteran trade unionist Evelyn Greaves was instrumental in outlining a way forward that was accepted by both parties.Greaves, a former Barbados Workers’ Union assistant general secretary, was part of a 45-minute meeting that included WICB president Reverend Wes Hall, acting chief executive officer Roger Brathwaite, WIPA president Dinanath Ramnarine, vice-president Phil Simmons and treasurer Wavell Hinds."I think we all should be embarrassed. Everyone who has been involved in this should have found a way of not letting it reach this stage," Brathwaite said."Sometimes, with all the best efforts in the world, some things just happen and you have to pick up the pieces. We have to trust that we’ll all come out of this stronger."WIPA, whose grouses stem from player fees for the Carib Beer Series, compensation for injury and loss of earnings for West Indies players from 1999 onwards and payment for Barbadian all-rounder Ryan Hinds for five matches of the Carib Beer series, expressed satisfaction the WICB had agreed to resume negations."Our goal is to improve our relationship with the board. We are in the process of putting these things in place," Ramnarine said. "Obviously, you don’t like to do things like this, but at some time we need to take a stand. This has been a step backward. With the steps we have put in place here now, it is going help us move forward."Both Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago turned up at Kensington about an hour-and-a-half before the scheduled 10 a.m. start yesterday.It was evident that the planned strike action promised on Thursday night by Ramnarine would materalise when neither team emerged from the pavilion for warm-up sessions.Ramnarine and Hinds held discussions with both teams before Hall, Brathwaite and Greaves arrived at the ground just after 1 p.m.Both Brathwaite and Ramnarine apologised to the sponsors for the turn of events and Carib Beer public relations manager Colin Murray expressed relief that the semifinals would start today. They remain as four-day matches and the final is still scheduled to start next Thursday."At one stage I was worried there would be no cricket," Murray said. "I’m relieved and happy that the board and WIPA are about to come to an agreement and good sense has prevailed."What has transpired has not been good for West Indies cricket. As sponsors, we are bitterly disappointed with what transpired."

The West Indies have turned to former South African coach Bob Woolmer as a possible replacement for Roger Harper.Harper had been reasonably successful in arresting a woeful decline in the West Indies’ results but was denied the chance to take his team into the Super Six stage of the World Cup by the rained-off match against Bangladesh. However, the defeat of South Africa in the opening match in the tournament and a general upturn in results in Test and one-day cricket has confirmed that the West Indies have become competitive once again in world cricket.Despite this, Harper decided against re-applying for his own job when such a move became necessary according to West Indies Cricket Board policy.Attention has now focused on Woolmer who has already met the chief executive, Wes Hall and Sir Viv Richards who heads the selection panel. Other candidates have been interviewed, but the suggestion is that Woolmer is the preferred choice if contracts and terms can be agreed.Woolmer has an outstanding track record as coach to both South Africa and Warwickshire. He has also been working with the ICC as high performance director helping to prepare Canada, Kenya, Namibia and the Netherlands for the World Cup. There was every chance that he would continue in that role but might now be tempted to add his experience to the West Indian revival.

XXXX Queensland Bulls pace bowler Ashley Noffke will miss Friday’s INGCup day/nighter against the Southern Redbacks, but remains in contentionfor Sunday’s Pura Cup match at the Gabba.Noffke was ruled out this morning after the Bulls medical and coachingstaff elected not to rush him back from a fractured right index fingerfor the one-day match at the Gabba.However they will assess him again on Saturday morning to see whether hemight be fit to take his place for the Pura Cup clash against theRedbacks that starts Sunday.The Queensland selectors have named a 13-man squad for the Pura Cup gameto cover if Noffke is unable to take his place.Queensland lead the Pura Cup competition and are in second spot on theING Cup ladder.Former Bulls captain Stuart Law has recovered from a dislocated fingerand retains his place in the ING Cup team after making his return to thelimited overs side in the win over the Western Warriors in Perth earlierthis month.XXXX Queensland Bulls v South Australia, ING Cup, Friday (D/N): MartinLove (c), Daniel Payne, Lee Carseldine, Clinton Perren, Stuart Law,Brendan Nash, James Hopes, Wade Seccombe, Nathan Hauritz, MichaelKasprowicz, Scott Brant, Damien MacKenzie (all twelve to play).XXXX Queensland Bulls v South Australia, Pura Cup, Sunday – Wednesday:Martin Love (c), Brendan Nash, Daniel Payne, Clinton Perren, Stuart Law,Lee Carseldine, James Hopes, Wade Seccombe, Nathan Hauritz, AshleyNoffke, Michael Kasprowicz, Adam Dale, Joe Dawes (one to be omitted).

In the Trinidad and Tobago squad list for the Red Stripe Bowl,innocuously slotted between D Ramnarine and LA Roberts, is acombination of six letters that, oddly enough, spells a five-letterword.The six letters are BC Lara, and the five-letter word is “magic.”Lara’s return from a prolonged hamstring injury, coupled with thereturn of cricket in the West Indies after a four-month hiatus, bodeswell for the 2001 edition of the Red Stripe Bowl. The absence of ahectic international schedule, moreover, ensures that a number ofinternational players will turn out for their respective sides in whatis definitely the Caribbean’s singularly important domestictournament.Apart from Lara, speedster Mervyn Dillon and Daren Ganga figure in theTrinidad and Tobago squad. While Ganga tries to get selectors to lookpast what has been a tepid international career, Dillon will be hopingto project himself as a bowler capable of becoming the spearhead ofthe West Indian pace battery.Jamaica’s squad list reads, for the initial part at least, virtuallylike the squad list of the international team. Robert Samuels, WavellHinds, Chris Gayle, Marlon Samuels and Leon Garrick make up the firstfive names, while a stick of dynamite in the form of Ricardo Powell istucked away further down the list. If top-class exposure were the onlycriterion to go on, Jamaica would samba away with the cup unopposed.There is, however, that strange animal termed talent, and this iswhere Guyana gets a look in. Led by a rejuvenated Carl Hooper andincluding Shivnarine Chanderpaul in its ranks, Guyana also boastsRamnaresh Sarwan, he of the unending press coverage during the WestIndies’ tour to England. In the bowling department is Reon King, afast bowler who Colin Croft considers the “best of the young group.”The fourth team to be unusually well endowed with internationalplayers is Barbados, captained by West Indian opener Sherwin Campbell.Pace bowler Corey Collymore, wicket keeper Courtney Browne and batsmanPhilo Wallace find spots in the squad.History shows, however, that the presence of West Indian stars is noguarantee of victory. Last year’s champions, Windward Islands,included only players that were no longer being considered forselection to the international team. Precisely these players, such asJunior Murray, Cameron Cuffy, and Rawl Lewis, piloted the side toshock wins over heavyweights Jamaica and Guyana.The West Indies Cricket Board’s efforts to expand the base of regionalcompetition, however, see a division of the current champions intoNorthern and Southern Windward Islands sides. Northern Windwards willbe drawn from Dominica and St. Lucia while Southern Windwards teamwill come from St. Vincent and Grenada.Northern Windwards, in fact, kicks off the tournament on October 2with a Zone A Match against Jamaica. Zone B commences in Guyana with amatch between Barbados and Antigua. The final of the tournament isscheduled for October 14 at Kaiser, Jamaica.

To say that the sight of three new-ball bowlers being picked for the Mohali Test was a welcome development is an understatement to beat all understatements. The paucity of pace bowlers has been one of the perennial weaknesses in Indian cricket, and to see three young fast bowling hopefuls making their debut in the same Test is something to warm the hearts of Indian cricket followers, particularly those able to remember the period in the 60s and early 70s when the new-ball attack was a farce. The list of those who opened the bowling for India would actually make an impressive batting line-up ­ ML Jaisimha, Salim Durrani, Ajit Wadekar, MAK Pataudi, Sunil Gavaskar, and even a wicket-keeper in Budhi Kunderan.

Things started to change for the better in the mid-70s, with the opening bowlers being Madan Lal, Mohinder Amarnath and Karsan Ghavri. But there is little doubt that it was the advent of Kapil Dev that changed the pace bowling scenario in the country. Not only did he show that it was possible for an Indian bowler to bowl at a reasonably good pace over an extended period and take a lot of wickets, he also proved to be an inspirational figure. Also, thanks to him, the nature of pitches underwent a change that augured well for the faster bowlers. Whereas tracks before he burst upon the scene always favoured the spinners, those laid during the Kapil-Dev era also had a good share of bounce, and one particularly recalls some of the wickets at Chepauk that made speedsters fairly lick their lips.Not unexpectedly, most of the young fast bowling hopefuls inspired by Kapil fell by the wayside, lacking the qualities that made Kapil such an outstanding bowler. But there were a few like Chetan Sharma and Manoj Prabhakar who, in racing parlance, proved to be stayers. Suddenly, in the 80s, Indian opening bowlers were regularly making deep inroads at the start of an innings, wiping off the tail in next to no time, and even winning Test matches. One recalls Kapil and Madan Lal routing England at Bombay 20 years ago virtually on their own, while the first bowler to take ten wickets in a Test in England was Chetan Sharma and not any spinner.Indeed, for much of the 80s, we had the slightly unbelievable scenario of spin taking a back seat as Kapil, Madan, Roger Binny, Chetan Sharma and Prabhakar not only carried the brunt of the bowling but were also responsible for winning Test matches and one-day internationals. The role played by the medium pacers in the World Cup triumph in 1983 cannot be overemphasized.Thanks in the main to Anil Kumble, spin bowling, relegated to a supporting role in the 80s, was back to winning ways in the 90s. But by this time, even with the retirement of Kapil, the attack had a balanced look. Javagal Srinath took over the role of spearhead, and he had the support of many promising youngsters.In the last decade, the role of the MRF Pace Foundation in Chennai in shaping young hopefuls also cannot be overemphasized. Almost every talented fast bowler who has gone on to play for the country, if not exactly a product of the Foundation, has had some association with it. Indeed, even established stars like Srinath, Venkatesh Prasad and Ajit Agarkar have never missed a chance to hone their skills at the Foundation. Every time they have been confronted with a problem, they have visited Chennai to get a timely tip or two from Dennis Lillee, the moving force behind the Foundation, or TA Sekhar, the former Indian fast bowler and chief Foundation coach.Tinu Yohannan, the latest bowler to catch one’s eye, is more or less a Pace Foundation product. In a short while, he has improved by leaps and bounds, and one has no doubt that he will continue to train there.Indeed, the Foundation has long ceased to be an academy for Indian fast bowling hopefuls. Young bowlers from all over the world visit periodically to further their cricketing education, and this competition is bound to stand the Indians in very good stead.Over the last year or so, the Bangalore-based National Cricket Academy has also done its bit in furthering the cause of fast bowling in the country. There is little doubt that the Indian pace-bowling scenario has never looked healthier ­ the debut of three new-ball bowlers all at once at Mohali, the encouraging knowledge that Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra and Agarkar are still around, the burgeoning of young fast-bowling prospects, and the fact that Srinath’s fire, even at 32, is still burning bright.

Former South African Test all-rounder Mike Procter has been included on the International Cricket Council’s elite panel of match referees.Procter was named a member of the five-man panel along with Chief Referee Ranjan Madugalle of Sri Lanka, Clive Lloyd of the West Indies, Wasim Raja of Pakistan and India’s Gundappa Viswanath (India).All Test playing countries were asked to nominate candidates for theReferees panel and more than 30 were screened and interviewed by ChiefReferee Madugalle during a recent worldwide recruitment tour. The finalappointments were made jointly by Malcolm Speed and Sunil Gavaskar, chairmanof the ICC Cricket Committee-Playing.Between them the new panel has the experience of having played in almost 300Test matches. Three of them – Lloyd, Madugalle and Viswanath – are formernational captains.Panel members have agreed two year, full time contracts with the ICC andwill meet together for the first time at the Referees and Umpires Workshopnear Cape Town, South Africa from 21st to 24th March. This will includeseminars covering legal and procedural matters relating to cricketdiscipline, IT training, the psychology of decision making, the latestPlaying Conditions for international cricket, a presentation from the ICCAnti-Corruption Unit, medical, fitness and media training.Procter said he was “incredibly honoured” by the appointment. “I canonly say I will do my utmost to serve cricket to the best of my ability. Itis a real privilege and I would like to thank all those who have supportedme and who have wished me well with this new challenge,” he said.United Cricket Board chief executive Gerald Majola congratulated Procter on his appointment.”Mike has been one of the real drivers of transformation in South Africancricket and he will be a very sad loss to the South African selection panelonce he takes up his position on the ICC panel,” said Majola. “However,we know what a wonderful ambassador Mike will be for South Africa and hewill certainly bring to the ICC a genuine understanding of the issues withwhich we in South African cricket are faced. I would like to wish him well -we are all very proud of this latest of Mike’s achievements.”

Rodney Marsh, considered by many to be Australia’s greatest wicketkeeper, has said that he is “100% English now in terms of cricket” after being made an England selector.Speaking to the , Marsh said: “If I’m still a selector when England next play Australia [in 2005] then I’ll be rooting for England to win.”Marsh, who had once unflatteringly branded England bowlers as a bunch of “pie-chuckers”, has run England’s academy for promising players since its inception. He had previously held a similar post in Australia where he was responsible for nurturing the careers of several members of current Australian side.Marsh said that, contrary to popular belief, there were several talented young cricketers in England. He said that Chris Read, Nottinghamshire’s wicketkeeper, was a “helluva lot better wicketkeeper-batsman than I was at the same age of 24”.Read made his England debut in 1999 but, following a shaky start, was dropped after three Tests. He subsequently became a member of England’s Academy squad in Australia last year, coached by Marsh, and is now seen as the leading contender to succeed Alec Stewart in the England side.Ironically, Marsh was, at the start of his Test career, dubbed ‘Iron Gloves’, after some poor displays during the 1970-71 series against England in Australia. He said about Read: “If he can continue to work on his game, then by the age of 36, the time I retired, he might well be as good as anyone.”Marsh wasn’t making any selectorial predictions, though. “As in all new positions, if you’re half-smart, you keep your ears open and your mouth shut for a little while.”He said he was not blind to the claims of older England candidates but insisted: “If you have a young fella and an old fella and they’re equal – then you’ll always go for the young fella. This is not rocket science. It’s common sense. The trouble is that cricket is a game that is confused by people all over the world.”Marsh added that the key to improving England’s international fortunes was creating an environment which produced mentally tougher cricketers.”We need a culture that isn’t soft. When you have people prepared to be hard, prepared to lay down everything for the team, then England will have not just 11 players ready for Test cricket but 30 guys to choose from.”

A century knock from the dependable Pankaj Dharmani (106) enabledPunjab to score 300 runs for the loss of nine wickets against Servicesduring their North Zone Ranji match being played at Gandhi Ground,Amritsar, today.Services won a good toss on a grassy wicket and wisely put theiropponents in to bat. Seamers Sudhakar Ghag and Syed Javed proved thedecision right as they sent three top order batsman back to thepavilion with the scoreboard reading just 32. Ravneet Ricky (0) wasthe first to depart, in the very first over of the day, dismissed byGhag. Vikram Rathore (1)threw away his wicket in the fourth over as hechased a delivery off Javed to give a simple catch to Yashpal Singh atpoint. Munish Sharma irresponsibly steered an outgoing delivery offGhag to gully fielder PM Reddy, who did not make any mistake.Seasoned campaigner Dharmani then joined southpaw Yuvraj Singh, whowas looking in good nick from the very first ball that he faced. Theduo lived up to their reputation to get their team out of the woods.Dharmani was in tremendous touch and seemed to be unshakeable eventhough the ball was seaming a lot because of the early moisture in thewicket. The seam trio of Ghag, Javed and Pandey bowled an accurateline and length, but the pair took their team score to 97 for three atthe stroke of lunch. Dharmani completed his half century with aclassic off-drive to the boundary off Pandey.The second session of the day was dominated by Punjab as they scored99 runs and lost only the wicket of Yuvraj Singh, who lost his cooljust 54 minutes before tea. Yuvraj Singh (67) became the third victimof Ghag as he drove at an outgoing delivery, playing away from thebody, giving a regulation catch for wicket-keeper Sarabjit Singh.Yuvraj’s knock of 67 runs came in 121 balls, with nine hits to fenceand a mighty six during his stay of 156 minutes at the crease. Thepair added 127 valuable runs for the fourth wicket partnership. DineshMongia (11) came in at the fall of Yuvraj’s wicket and stayed for 54minutes at the crease but made the same mistake as Yuvraj just twominutes after tea. Javed brought about the dismissal, with thescoreboard reading 196 for five. Reetinder Singh Sodhi then stepped tojoin Dharmani, who was holding the fort from one end.Dharmani played elegant stokes to all parts of the ground, completinghis century in style as he cut a short ball from Pandey to the pointboundary. He was finally sent back to the pavilion by a classy incutter from Pandey, which took a thick edge for the keeper to hold.Dharmani’s knock was studded with 18 sweetly timed boundaries.Sandeep Sawal played a quick cameo of 17 runs off 16 balls, but thenbecame the fourth scalp of Ghag. Sodhi, in the company of tail-enderGagandeep Singh, put on 41 valuable runs. He missed his half-centuryby two runs, caught and bowled by Ghag while trying to pull a shortball and mistiming it; his knock came off 74 balls with nine fours.Gagandeep Singh (19) was the last wicket to fall in the day. Javedtook three wickets for 61 runs. At stumps, Punjab had scored 300/9,with Vineet Sharma batting on eight and Babloo Kumar yet to open hisaccount.Shafiq Khan stars for HaryanaShafiq Khan hit a fine 86, and his participation in a 71-run fifthwicket partnership enabled Haryana to score 282 for eight againstDelhi on the opening day of their North Zone Ranji Trophy league matchagainst Delhi.Delhi skipper Mithun Manhas’ decision to field after winning the tossdid not yield the desired results as Haryana openers Padamjit Sehrawatand Chetan Sharma gave their side a sound start, putting up 54 runsfor the first wicket. However, the visitors lost three wickets inspace of 22 runs. Shehrawat scored 47 before being trapped legbeforeby Amit Bhandari; Sharma, the first batsman to go, contributed 20.Skipper Parinder Sharma could score only eight, caught by Akash Chopraoff Bhandari.At lunch, Haryana were 105/3 off 29 overs; between lunch and tea, theyscored only 79 runs, losing one more wicket. The post-tea session sawthe visitors add 98 runs to their total, losing four more wickets. A42-run fourth-wicket stand between Ishan Ganda (26) and Shafiq Khanestablished Haryana’s innings; after the departure of Ganda, AjayRatra gave able support to Shafiq and both batsmen built up theinnings by adding 71 runs for the fifth wicket.The stand was finally broken by off-spinner Sarandeep Singh, who hadRatra (31) caught by Sohail Rauf. Haryana’s score at that stage was192 for five; they added 90 more runs for the loss of three wicketsbefore stumps. Shafiq was the last batsman to be dismissed, sent backleg-before by Abhishek Sharma. His 86 was studded with two sixes andeight fours, and he batted 241 minutes, facing 181 balls in theprocess.At stumps, Sumit Narwal ( 25) and Gaurav Vashist (0) were at thecrease. Bhandari and Sarandeep had picked up two wickets each.Himachal bundled out for 145 on Day OneJammu and Kashmir took advantage of Himachal Pradesh’s recklessbatting to bowl their rivals out for 145 in 75.1 overs on the firstday of their North Zone Ranji league match at Mandi.Ashwani Gupta and Jagtar Singh led the tourists’ assault, claimingfour and three wickets, while Surinder Singh and Vijay Sharma pickedup two and one wicket respectively.Earlier in the day, Himachal Pradesh won the toss and elected to bat.The hosts took the first blow in the 10th over when Nischal Gaur wascaught behind by Vikrant Taggar of Surinder Singh. Barring RajeevNayyar, who remained unbeaten on 41, all the Himachal batsmen giftedaway their wickets, negating the advantage of winning the toss andbatting first on a good wicket.At the end of the day, Jammu and Kashmir were at 22 for one in 15overs.

Indian middle order batsman VVS Laxman, who injured his left indexfinger during India’s emphatic win over Zimbabwe in Harare on Sunday,did not suffer any fracture and will be under medical supervision fora few days.According to team manager Chetan Chauhan “Laxman’s finger is notbroken but it has been crushed a bit by the impact of the ball hittinghis finger and he would be under medical supervision for the next 2-3days.”Laxman was injured when he caught Zimbabwe opener Dion Ebrahim offAjit Agarkar in the slips in India’s opening triangular one-day seriesmatch.The team manaement is hoping Laxman would be fit for the second gameagainst Zimbabwe, due to be played in Bulawayo on June 27.