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ScorecardClaire Taylor and Lydia Greenway put England in a commanding position over South Africa in the third day of the first Test at Shenley. Taylor scored a Test-best 177 and Greenway 70 as England ended play with a 163-run lead.Taylor hit 22 fours in her marathon innings and shared a mammoth 203-run partnership with Greenway, who was eventually bowled by Leighshe Jacobs to leave the score on a dominating 340 for 4. Jane Smit (56*) and Helen Wardlaw (36) then joined in the fun as England piled on to 497 with a lead of 181 runs.South African openers Claire Cowan and Josephine Barnard saw out the last half hour with no alarms to finish on 18 for no loss.

Utilising the generally drier conditions of New Zealand’s east coasts, and especially the better quality pitches at the High Performance Centre at Lincoln University for early-season State Championship matches was worthy of debate.New Zealand Cricket operations manager John Reid said the idea was one where the first question had to be: “Can we get better cricket from it?”He hadn’t heard the concept of playing a round or two of the Championship at Lincoln before today and said it was probably something that would be discussed when reviews are held with provincial coaches over the next few weeks.Reid did wonder if there would be savings in accommodation costs with a centralised venue for all teams playing away games, instead of having the benefits of players staying at their own homes for home matches that would be lost in order to play at Lincoln, or another venue.”But it is something we will probably debate,” he said.Also under discussion is the philosophy of coaching at all levels in New Zealand, what is done with players are various levels, the playing structures for their age-groups, the analysis of the game with the aids now in use and how this can be developed further.There would also be discussion on umpiring and its relation to the game, in terms of umpiring standards and the relationships between umpires, players and administrators.This would be based along the requirements being pushed under the Spirit of Cricket system which is aimed at improving relationships in the game.”It is about what is acceptable and what is not acceptable,” Reid said, “and we will be pushing the International Cricket Council’s message with renewed vigour.”

New Zealand’s Brent Bowden will stay on in South Africa after being appointed to the list of 12 umpires for the Super Six stage of the World Cup.It is a prestigious appointment for Bowden who was New Zealand’s only umpire appointed to the World Cup.The group of 22 who stood in the first round have been reduced to 12 after an assessment was made of each umpire’s performances in the group stages.The 12 appointed are: Brent Bowden (New Zealand), Steve Bucknor (West Indies), Aleem Dar (Pakistan), Asoka de Silva (Sri Lanka), Daryl Harper (Australia), Darrell Hair (Australia), Brian Jerling (South Africa), Rudi Koertzen (South Africa), David Shepherd (England), Simon Taufel (Australia), Srinivas Venkataraghavan (India), Peter Willey (England).Only six of the eight members of the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) elite panel have been included. Missing are: David Orchard (South Africa) and Russell Tiffin (Zimbabwe).The ICC’s general manager-cricket, David Richardson said the appointments are a reflection of the high standard of performance seen during the group stage.”All match officials have been assessed by the ICC during the group matches, and it is fair to say that the 12 nominated to stand in the Super Sixes are the umpires we regard to be in the best form.”Their standard of decision making has been consistently high and has earned them the right to officiate in the later stages of the tournament.”All five full-time members of the ICC Match Referees’ panel have been retained for the Super Six fixtures: Clive Lloyd, Ranjan Madugalle, Mike Procter, Wasim Raja, Gundappa Viswanath.Bowden’s match appointments are: Australia v Sri Lanka (tomorrow), Australia v Kenya (March 15). Bowden will be third umpire in the Zimbabwe-Kenya game on March 12.New Zealand’s match officials will be: v Zimbabwe (Koertzen and Hair), v Australia (de Silva and Bucknor), v India (Willey and Harper).

Bangladesh is continuing their poor batting display in Wellington too. In Hamilton they batted 58.1 overs in the first innings and 46.2 in the second, which revealed their inability to stay in the crease with needed Test temperament. They batted as if they were playing a one-day match scoring more than 3.5 runs per over. Was that necessary? They attempted too many shots against the New Zealand bowlers and lost their wickets imprudently. These batsmen from the top-order are failing repeatedly. While they are asked to bat patiently they are perfectly doing the opposite in the field. The credit does not go to the opposition bowlers always. The Bangladesh batsmen, who unwisely and childishly tend to go for silly shots that cost their wickets, thus gifting most of the wickets to the bowlers.We saw it in Multan when they batted 41.1 overs in both innings and in Colombo they packed up within 36.4 overs. In both cases the wicket was easy and batting-friendly. There were ample opportunities to score some runs (at least more than what they did) if they could apply their smallest amount of cricketing sense.They escaped luckily in the Test at BNS against Zimbabwe this November. The first innings total was 107 and they managed 122 for 3 in the second when the rain interruption saved them. In the second Test in Chittagong Habibul Bashar was the most successful batsman who scored a century in the first innings. But they way he lost his precious wicket in the second innings was a horror. It was a sheer disappointment for every one as he threw his wicket irresponsibly while he was approaching another century (76).Due to their short lasting innings Bangladesh had to except humiliating defeats – thrice they had to leave the field within day-3 including the Test in Hamilton.There are two things very common in Bangladeshi batsmen. Firstly, they are lacking adequate concentration that is needed to play the longer version. Secondly they are repeatedly failing to apply the very common cricket senses.Today their first innings total of 132 proves it once again.

Lunch hours in various cities throughout the country is now set to take a distinctly different look from January 15 when the “Time to Dazzle” tour hits the road, starting in Nelspruit.The “Road show” is part of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2003 marketing campaign to heighten awareness of the 14-nation event, which is set to kick off in Cape Town on February 8 with a spectacular Opening Ceremony.The road show will visit a number of cities and during its stopovers various entertainment activities will take place and spectators will be urged to take part.With ghetto-fabulous kwaito star and TKZ band member, Kabelo, gritty voiced powerhouse vocalist PJ Powers, Lebo Mathosa of Boomshaka fame, Pop Idols start Heinz Winkler taking to the stage, and funny men “Ashifa Shabba and Krijay Govender providing the laughs, it promises to be a show not to be missed.Two musicians and one comedian will appear at each venue and there will be a guest appearance by the ICC Cricket World Cup 2003 sporting ambassadors.This must-see event will be taking place on the South African Breweries “gig-rig” which has since been rebranded and renamed as the Dazzlemobile for the Cricket World Cup road show. The Dazzler is the official mascot of the Cricket World Cup. The vehicle, branded in Cricket World Cup colours will travel through nine major South African cities, bringing the crème de la crème of South African musical entertainment and sports stars directly to the people of South African cities.”It is an incredible honour for us as South Africans to be hosting the Cricket World Cup on behalf of the African continent. One of our most important mandates was to bring the game to the people and it is for this reason that we conceptualised this national road show. The “Time to Dazzle” is our way of bringing the game closer to the South African masses in a fun-filled and exciting two hour show,” commented Ms Nomsa Chabeli, Marketing Director of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2003.Executive Director Dr Ali Bacher added:” It’s a celebration of South African as a proud host of this prestigious event and the launch of this road show signifies that the time has come. The time to welcome the world to our shores, the time to celebrate cricket and the time for this country to showcase that it is capable of hosting an event of this magnitude. It is a perfect way to kick-off the various activities planned around the World Cup.”Apart from the Dazzlemobile itself, there will be fun processions that will meander through the streets of the towns, complete with floats, marching bands, marimbas and steel pan bands, leading people to the show venue.The inaugural show will take place in Nelspruit at the Promenade Shopping centre at 13h00 on Wednesday, January 15.The remaining schedule is as follows:18 January, Paul Kruger Square, Pretoria
21 January, Mary Fitzgerald Square, Johannesburg
24 January, Mayor’s Garden, Pietermaritzburg
26 January, Old Pavilion Site, Durban
29 January, Loch Logan Waterfront, Bloemfontein
31 January, Oppenheimer gardens, Kimberley
2 February, King Beach Parking Lot, Port Elizabeth
5 February, Drive through Paarl
7 February, Grande Parade, Cape Town

National reserve wicketkeeper Tatenda Taibu is becoming one of the most significant figures in the national first league with his ability to play three roles effectively in one match. The sixth-form Churchill student, who turns out for league leaders Takashinga, is an influential batsman who keeps wicket for the first 15 to 20 overs before turning to bowling.In the fourth round, Taibu became the first bowler to take six wickets this season as Takashinga extended their unbeaten run with a convincing 152-run win over Alexandra Sports Club. Taibu took the ball in the seventh over with Alex having made 36 without loss off the first five overs, 30 of them coming off Takashinga captain Ranga Manyande’s threeovers.Sharing the ball with Patrick Gada, Taibu took six for 14 in 6.1 overs as Alex slumped to 70 all out in 18.1 overs in reply to Takashinga’s 222/7 in 50 overs. Gada also played an important role in the demise of theAlex fightback, taking the other four wickets for 17 off seven overs.Taibu has now taken 10 wickets for 55 runs in two matches. Apart from being the leading wicket-taker for his club, Taibu is also the leading batsman with 224 runs in three innings. The defeat was Alex’s second in four matches.Champions Old Hararians also suffered their second defeat in four starts when they lost to rivals Old Georgians by 87 runs. Half-centuries by Craig Evans (76) and Barney Rogers (61) helped Old Georgians to 217 for five off their allotted 50 overs. OH were then dismissed for 130 after 39.2 overs.Visiting Mutare brought Universals, who went into the weekend lying fourth, down to earth with a comprehensive nine-wicket win. Universals, who seemed to have recovered from a poor start to the season, were all out for a mere 141 in 34.5 overs with Justin Lewis taking five wickets for 34 off 10 overs.The target of 142 was never going to trouble Mutare, given the availability of former national team opener Alistair Campbell. Campbell, who has been scoring runs regularly for both his club and the Board XI, almost single-handedly led his side home with an unbeaten 82 as Mutare made 143 for the loss of just one wicket in 27.1 overs.Given his record over the past month, it will only be a matter of time before Campbell rejoins the national team from which he was dropped because of poor form at the end of the home series against England. Mutare are now second in the first league, three points behind leaders Takashinga.Queens registered their first win of the season with a three-wicket win over Bulawayo rivals BSC. Bulawayo Sports Club made 224 for nine in their 50 overs with top score of 91, run out, coming from Keith Dabengwa.Former national team player John Rennie was the best of the Queens attack, taking four wickets for 25 off nine overs.Queens reached their victory target of 225 for the loss of seven wickets with 36 balls to spare. Neil van Rensburg led the batting with 95.The other all-Bulawayo match between Mac Club and Bulawayo Athletic Club could not be played because of a wet BAC outfield.Harare Sports Club won their third match in four starts with a three-wicket win over Kwekwe, who suffered their second straight loss in a high-scoring match. Opener Terrence Duffin finished with an unbeaten 104 as Kwekwe made 281 for six off 50 overs. Eddo Brandes led the visitors’ run chase with 86 not out as Harare Sports Club reached 286/7 with seven balls remaining.SCORES AND RESULTSAlexandra v Winstonians – Winstonians won by 152 runsWinstonians 222 for 7 in 50 overs;G Makoni 32, W Chawaguta 48, T Taibu 40Alexandra 70 all out in 18.1 overs;T Taibu 6 – 14, P Gada 4 – 17Universals v Mutare – Mutare won by 9 wicketsUniversals 141 all out in 34.5 overs;C Coventry 44, J Lewis 5 – 34Mutare 143 for 1 in 27.1 overs;A Campbell 82*, N Ferreira 37Queens v Bulawayo Sports Club – Queens won by 3 wicketsB S C 224 for 9 in 48 overs;C Mahachi 38, K Dabengwa 91, J Rennie 4 – 25Queens 225 for 7 in 44 overs;R King 35, N van Rensburg 95Old Hararians v Old Georgians – Old Georgians won by 87 runsO G 217 for 5 in 50 overs;B Rogers 61, C Evans 76, P Strang 3-36O H 130 all out in 34.2 overs;W Mwayenga 3 – 19Kwekwe Sports Club v Harare Sports Club – H S C won by 3 wicketsKwekwe 281 for 6 in 50 overs;T Duffin 104, D Houghton 65H S C 286 for 7 in 48.5 overs;B Taylor 32, J Cornford 33, D Campbell 40, E Brandes 86*Bulawayo Athletic Cub v Mac Club – No play due to wet outfield

The question of the captaincy of the Barbados cricket teamfor next year’s Busta Cup seems to be a big talking pointbut it makes you wonder why there’s a debate in the firstplace.The incumbent Sherwin Campbell was only appointed thisseason and Barbados won the Cup even though it is a factthat Ian Bradshaw who deputised while Campbell was on tourwith the West Indies also played his part in the overalltriumph.Why in heaven’s name would there be any suggestion that theselection panel might recommend his removal?The only logical reason would be that they feel it would bebetter to relieve him of the pressure that goes with beingcaptain so that he can concentrate primarily on his battingnow with renewed vigour in his quest to regain his place atthe top of the West Indies batting order.Even so, I believe that if these were Campbell’s ownthoughts he would have been keen to give up the captaincyvoluntarily.That there has been no indication of this from him meansthat he is still very interested in doing the job. And if heis, he should retain the reins.Leadership is nothing new to Campbell and as a youth playerhe was a prolific scorer while at the helm of both theBarbados and West Indies teams.Responsibility has helped him rather than burdened himtherefore I see no reason why this outlook should change.Besides, like everyone else, Campbell would have recognisedthat events in Sri Lanka recently may have made it possiblefor him or any other aspirant to open the innings soonerthan they had imagined.A renewed focus could reap great rewards and if Campbellscores big in the Busta Cup he could be back in business bythe time the Indians reach the Caribbean.Of course, at this stage, too, it is clear that he needs toregain lost confidence.To relieve him of the captaincy now could only dent his selfesteem and embroil him in more self doubt than he currentlyneeds. The selectors must by all means keep Campbellcaptain.

Mark Richardson is 148 runs and two innings away from becoming the fastest New Zealand Test batsman to reach 2000 runs.Richardson ended the tour of Sri Lanka on 1852 runs scored in his 24 Tests and 41 innings.The fastest New Zealander to the mark might surprise many, but the honour belongs to Andrew Jones who took 44 innings to score his 2000th run during the first Test against Zimbabwe played in 1992/93.Jones, an outstanding No 3 batsman who made a belated appearance in international cricket, scored six Test centuries and seven half-centuries in his first 2000 runs. This compares with the two centuries and 16 half-centuries that have been scored to date by Richardson.So well did he adapt to his role after being selected first for the abandoned tour of Sri Lanka in 1986/87, that Jones found himself included in the New Zealand Living Legends side selected as part of the Millennium celebrations.It was recognition of his often under-rated, and under-appreciated, performances for the side. When his career ended, he had scored 2922 runs at 44.27. During his career he achieved a highest score of 186, his share in the world-record stand of 467 for the third wicket with Martin Crowe against Sri Lanka at the Basin Reserve in 1990/91.So well did Jones adapt to Test cricket, this despite being called an ugly duckling by Australians during his first Test there at Brisbane, that he beat Bert Sutcliffe’s record for reaching 2000 runs in the fastest time.Sutcliffe took 26 Tests and 46 innings, one less innings than Glenn Turner. There is a significant gap then to the fourth fastest to the mark, Craig McMillan. He took 31 Tests and 52 innings.Be comparison, no one comes anywhere near Australian Don Bradman who took 22 innings to reach 2000 runs and his average when he achieved the mark was the neat 100.00.West Indian George Headley was second with 32 innings and England’s Herbert Sutcliffe third with 33 while Australian Doug Walters and West Indian Brian Lara shared 35 innings.One concern that Richardson does have is his conversion rate from half-centuries to centuries. At the moment his two centuries and 16 half-centuries has him fourth equal with Farokh Engineer as the poorest conversion rate among those who have scored more than one Test century.At the moment Pakistan batsman Rameez Raja has the worst rate having scored a century once in every 12 times past 50. Sri Lanka’s Arjuna Ranatunga is second with one every 10.5 times, Alistair Campbell of Zimbabwe has one in 10.(Statistics compiled by Duane Pettet)Fastest New Zealanders to 2000 runs (ordered by innings):

Tests InningsAndrew Jones 24 44Bert Sutcliffe 26 46Glenn Turner 26 47Craig McMillan 31 52Martin Crowe 34 56Nathan Astle 34 60Stephen Fleming 35 60Graham Dowling 32 62Geoff Howarth 34 62Mark Burgess 36 64Jeremy Coney 39 65Bryan Young 34 66Bevan Congdon 35 67John Wright 39 67Mark Greatbatch 40 69John R Reid 38 70Chris Cairns 43 73Ken Rutherford 45 79Adam Parore 48 83Richard Hadlee 54 91

All countries:

Tests InningsDon Bradman 15 22George Headley 17 32Herbert Sutcliffe 22 33Brian Lara 22 35Doug Walters 22 35Viv Richards 21 36Frank Worrell 22 36Arthur Morris 23 36Everton Weekes 23 36Graeme Pollock 21 37Neil Harvey 22 37Denis Compton 23 37Walter Hammond 23 39Garry Sobers 23 39Michael Slater 23 40Rahul Dravid 25 40Alvin Kallicharran 25 40Dudley Nourse 22 41Jack Hobbs 23 41Ken Barrington 25 41Adam Gilchrist 30 41

Immediately following the 10-wicket victory at Mohali, the Indian selectors announced the squad for the second Test, which is to begin at Ahmedabad on Dec. 11.Only two changes were made to the Mohali squad. Javagal Srinath, who missed the first match because of a broken finger, is back in the squad after regaining fitness. He replaces Sanjay Bangar; Bangar, having sustained a hamstring injury in the first innings at Mohali, cannot play for three weeks, effectively excluding him from the third Test also.Suspended for the first Test, Virender Sehwag makes an expected comeback to the side. Having scored a century in his debut Test in South Africa, Sehwag was dropped when he was obviously in a good run of form. With the Board of Control for Cricket in India supporting him strongly throughout the match-referee controversy and the subsequent row with the International Cricket Council, there was never any doubt that Sehwag would return immediately after serving his sentence.The squad:Sourav Ganguly (captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Deep Dasgupta (wicket-keeper), Shiv Sunder Das, Virender Sehwag, Iqbal Siddiqui, Tinu Yohannan, Harbhajan Singh, Javagal Srinath, Anil Kumble, Connor Williams, Sarandeep Singh

Northamptonshire’s hopes of playing first division Championship cricket next season improved considerably with a commanding first day performance over Kent in Canterbury.The relegation-threatened visitors took advantage of slightly damp conditions and some rash Kent batting to dismiss the hosts inside two hours for 108 – Kent’s lowest total of the summer.By then, ECB pitch liaison officer Raman Subba Row had reported he would be taking no action over the condition of the pitch and, as if to confirm his views, Northamptonshire went on to reach 173 for three when bad light brought a premature close.Jeff Cook (50) and Alec Swann (61) ensured the visitors continued to hold sway, despite the loss of the Championship’s leading run-scorer Michael Hussey in only the sixth over of the reply.Hussey went soon after the lunch break, leg before to Ben Trott, but Swann and Cook then joined forces to add 91 for the second wicket in 31 overs.Swann reached his 50 first from 105 balls and with 10 fours, Cook joining him at the milestone off the next ball of the 36th over of the reply from 95 balls and with nine boundaries.Cook perished in the next over, however, when he edged an expansive drive against Martin Saggers to edge into the gloves of Paul Nixon to make it 112 for two.Swann went leg before shortly before the close to a Mark Ealham off-cutter, but with a lead of 65, Northamptonshire’s players had good reason to be pleased with their opening day’s work – none more so than John Blain.Blain had earlier claimed career-best figures of six for 42 and Paul Taylor three for 58 to dismiss the hosts inside two hours after they had elected to bat first on a bright first morning.Only Andrew Symonds (23) and tenth-wicket partners Min Patel (32) and Ben Trott (11) made it into double figures on a day Kent’s batsmen will want to forget.