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A hundred from Wavell Hinds has failed to stop Barbadados from winning the 2002-03 Red Stripe Bowl.In the morning, Barbados after being put in by Jamaica reached 241 for eight in their 50 overs. Left-hander Floyd Reifer, who made 86 off 98 balls, opener Kurt Wilkinson, who made a patient 63 off 110 balls, and captain Courtney Browne, who made a hard-hitting 40 off 25 balls, were the men who guided their team to a healthy score.The Barbados cause was greatly helped by some poor Jamaican fielding, the home team dropping as many four catches including that of Reifer when the left-hander was on 28. Another beneficiary was Browne, who was dropped on one and on 16. With the home team’s fielding going to pieces, Barbados capitalised to plunder as many as 115 runs of the last 15 overs.The Jamaican reply got off to the worst possible start with openers Leon Garrick (0) and Chris Gayle (3) being dismissed with their team’s score on eight in the 8th over. Hinds in the company of Marlon Samuels repaired some of the damage by putting on 63 runs in about 18 overs for the third wicket before Samuels was run out for 22. Ricardo Powell and Gareth Breese, who followed, failed, making just 5 and 15 respectively.Hinds and his captain Robert Samuels, though, resuscitated the Jamaican innings with a whirlwind 57 runs partnership in 6.2 overs. But once the elder Samuels was dismissed for quickfire 29 off 21 balls, the home team’s innings fell apart. Hinds went on to make 103 off 141 balls with eight fours before becoming the ninth Jamaican batsman to be dismissed with his team’s score on 207. Five balls and one run later, last man Daren Powell was also dismissed as Barbados sealed a 33-run win with 22 balls to spare. Reifer was named Man of the Match for his 86.

The Tasmanian Selectors have today announced the Cascade Tasmanian Tigers ACB Cup team to play the Australian Capital Territory at Bellerive Oval on Monday, 4th – Thursday, 7th November 2002.CASCADE TASMANIAN TIGERS

Scott KREMERSKOTHEN (Captain)
Scott MASON (Vice Captain)
George BAILEY
Chris BASSANO
Luke BUTTERWORTH
Xavier DOHERTY
Andrew DOWNTON
Ben OLIVER
Tim PAINE
Matthew PASCOE
Shannon TUBB
Luke WILLIAMS
Coach: Darrin Ramshaw

Scorecard

Sussex are probably fed up of watching Stuart Law bat on their home patch. His masterful 156, which pushed Lancashire to a valuable lead of 129, completed a hat-trick of centuries at Hove and it was a class above anything else on display in this match. Even though the pitch is offering precious little for the bowlers, Lancashire are now in a position to push for their second Championship victory of the season.It was hard work for Sussex to prize out wickets on a slow surface that nullified the threat of a limping Mushtaq Ahmed. To put Sussex’s disappointing first innings into context Gary Keedy, the nightwatchman, batted throughout the morning session as he registered his career-best in a 160-run stand with Law after Lancashire started on a precarious 67 for 4. Sussex fought back during the afternoon as Andrew Flintoff collected another failure, but Luke Sutton combined in a watchful stand of 89 and Lancashire’s deep batting order frustrated Sussex during the final session.Law, though, batted on a different level. His average against Sussex is 70 and in 17 matches against them (for Essex and Lancashire) he has 1613 runs. With such a record, Sussex were asking for trouble when they dropped him on 18 – a tough chance to Chris Adams at slip – and he was offered a second life when Jason Lewry spilled a much simpler opportunity at mid-on when Law was 101. It showed the class of Law that he was able to so easily switch between Twenty20 and four-day cricket.His first Championship century of the season came off 173 balls and was punctuated by silky cover drives, deft cuts and neat placement. He was happy to bide his time against pace and spin and almost everything went along the deck, barring a lofted slog-sweep off Ollie Rayner after he’d passed three figures. “I’ve been coming down here a while and have always had some good tussles with Mushtaq,” he told . “It hasn’t been going well in the Championship this season and it was about time the batting knuckled down so it was a good effort today.”However, Law’s batting prowess is well known. The same can’t be said of Keedy, who has an average of 11. He has previously performed valuable nightwatchman roles, but never quite with this success. It helped him that Mushtaq was clearly not a full fitness while Corey Collymore was below-par in the first session. Keedy has limited scoring areas, but used them well as he clipped off his pads and punched through the off side.His 157-ball innings passed his previous best which was 57 against Yorkshire in 2002. Mushtaq eventually extracted him from the crease, as Michael Yardy stayed low to take a good catch at silly point. After appearing flat during the long fifth-wicket stand, Sussex suddenly found a spark. Rayner, tossing up his offspin, bowled Steven Croft which one that didn’t turn much and beat the outside edge.Flintoff marched out at No. 8 – the position many would argue suits him these days – and drove his second ball just wide of Rayner for four. He was clearly itching to dominate, but didn’t enjoy facing a twin spin attack. Rayner and Mushtaq tied him down, then trying to break free Flintoff came down the pitch and clubbed straight to midwicket. Shortly after heading off he was back in the nets, but it’s time in the middle he really needs.Importantly from the match situation, Sussex were right back in the contest with Lancashire still behind by 21. However, Sutton showed the composure that Flintoff lacked and helped take them into a lead alongside Law. Mushtaq eventually claimed his second to end the partnership, but Glen Chapple is far better than a No. 10.Chapple wasn’t afraid to use his feet against a tiring attack and Law brought up his 150 shortly before the close. The Sussex bowlers were a weary bunch, none more so than Mushtaq. He has hinted that this might be his final season, despite a contract than runs until 2009, and many more days like this could well sway his mind.

LONDON – England looked set to start life without Graham Thorpe soonerrather than later after his county side Surrey said the class batsmanwas “extremely unlikely” to play again this season.Thorpe, 33, decided to take an indefinite break from all cricket afterEngland’s first Test victory over India at Lord’s in July.His move was prompted by the break-up of his marriage and discussionsabout access arrangements to his young children, Henry, 5 and Amelia, 3.However, England hoped that the left-handed middle-order batsman wouldreturn before the end of the season to press his claims for selection inthe 2002-2003 Ashes series in Australia.But given that England coach Duncan Fletcher had said that Thorpe can’tbe picked “out of the blue”, his chances of selection now appear to behanging by a thread.Earlier this season Thorpe announced his retirement from internationalone-day cricket in a bid, he said, to ease his personal problems andprolong his Test career.Then came the announcement of his break from all forms of the game.The news that he will not be playing again this season is sure tointensify speculation over his international future.Even those who question his commitment to the England cause cannotdispute his record on the field.In an era where Australia has dominated Ashes Tests (England’s lastseries victory was back in 1986-87), Thorpe has still averaged over 45against them.Thorpe, capped 77 times by England, has repeatedly proved himself as abig-match performer, scoring the second-fastest Test double hundredagainst New Zealand in Christchurch in March.But, thanks to a combination of both personal and back problems, Thorpehas only completed one full touring program out of the past five.He now faces the prospect of losing out on one of the new annual Englandcentral contracts worth STG200,000 ($A574,000) which are due to be givento 16 players at the end of the current domestic season.Australia captain Steve Waugh, in England as Kent’s replacement overseasplayer for the rest of the season, paid tribute to Thorpe.”He’s a class player and he has made a decision that’s right for hisfamily,” he said.”You have to respect him for that. It’s a courageous decision when youare playing for your country and he wouldn’t have made it lightly.”I just hope he comes back and plays Test cricket or one-day cricketagain.”

Western Province ended a roller-coaster second day of this Super 6 match still trailing their visitors from KwaZulu Natal by 138 runs with just three wickets in hand.KZN added just 11 runs to their overnight score before Lance Klusener and wicket keeper Duncan Brown were dismissed off successive deliveries by left arm spinner Claude Henderson. At the other end, Dale Benkenstein was unable to produce the concentration of the first day and was taken behind the wicket on 145 after being dropped on 139, the first error in his seven-and-a-half hour effort. Nixon McLean entertained the small crowd, hitting two sixes before holing out to deep mid wicket to end the innings on a sizeable total of 374. Henderson, after going wicketless for his first 30 overs, took 4 for 18 in the space of 52 balls.The WP openers faced 3 torrid overs from McLean before lunch, but then batted through the middle session, adding 94 between lunch and tea. Rashaad Magiet went on the record his highest score at this level before a dramatic collapse. Three wickets fell with the score on 115, and all in all WP lost 6 for 49 in the space of 22 overs. Jonathan Trott made a disappointing effort to pull early in his innings, and Lloyd Ferreira was just settling in when he left a McLean delivery which came in enough to rattle his stumps.It could have been worse as captain HD Ackerman battled to read the unorthodox left arm spin of Goolam Bodi, and could have been dismissed on numerous occasions. He survived somehow, and with the belligerent all rounder Alan Dawson added a crusial 72 runs for the seventh wicket. The penultimate over of the day was full of action, as Ackerman took a boundary of the first ball to raise his 50 and avoid the follow in one fell swoop. He and Dawson each clubbed a boundary before Dawson cut the last ball of the over straight to the ever reliable Rhodes at point.By the close, WP had reached 2.72 bonus points for batting to remain in third place on the table, and their only realistic hope of reaching the Final remains with the unlikely prospect of an outright win in this match.

The Western Australian Cricket Association (WACA) is pleased to announce three additions to its list of State Contracted Players for season 2002-03.Callum Thorp, Beau Casson and Peter Worthington have been included in the Western Warriors squad for next season after the WACA’s International and Interstate Committee gave formal approval of recommendations made by the WA State Selectors.Beau Casson and Peter Worthington have been awarded a Rookie Contract and Callum Thorp a Senior Contract. Last season Worthington held a Senior Contract and Casson held a Rookie Contract.27 year old Thorp is tall right-arm out-swing bowler and handy lower order batsman from Wanneroo Cricket Club.Thorp was awarded a contract following an outstanding 2001-2002 season in the WACA s Sunsmart League, where he claimed 50 wickets at an average of 16.38 and finished second in the Olly Cooley medal.Thorp was selected in the WA 2nd XI for the final game of last season and showed his capabilities by taking 4-52 from 17.5 overs in the 1st innings and 3-22 from 13.1 overs in the 2nd. He also scored 28 runs in the WA 2nd innings, batting at number 8.The WACA has the option of awarding a further Senior Contract and Rookie Contract prior to finalising its list of contracted Players for season 2002-2003.

There are many things that people will tell you are the highlights of a year. Birthdays, wedding anniversaries, Christmas and New Year would feature in a lot of these lists but they would all be wrong. There is only one real highlight worth mentioning, it is the first full day’s cricket at the Oval.There is an argument for saying the Oval is not the loveliest cricket ground in the world and certainly compared with Arundel or some festival grounds there may be some truth in that. However The Oval is the real home of English cricket as any Surrey supporter will tell you.The irrelevant intrusion of a bit part player having been disposed of via a run out at the start Essex soon set about clouding my mood to match the sky.Hussain and Law while not ever looking like racing away with the game were seldom troubled by the accurate pace bowling from Bicknell and Tudor on this almost perfect pitch and found the space to push singles in many parts of the arena. Giddins and in particular Gary Butcher, playing in place of yesterday’s Gold Award winner Ben Hollioake, were sufficiently wayward to make life appear easy and the score accelerated past 100, with the Australian discard and the England captain trading the lead in the race to well deserved fifties.Salisbury’s arrival seemed to cause unwarranted glee from Law and before mis-hitting the leg spinner to Ali Brown at midwicket he had attempted several times to smash the ball into the disappointingly under-populated seating square of the wicket, with noticably little contact, Salisbury on an Oval pitch in a county match is not the same as the Salisbury we saw in Pakistan.Hussain continued in fine style with subdued support from Irani before misjudging one of Adam Hollioake’s bag of tricks. After failing to find length or line against Hampshire the Surrey captain could not be faulted on either score today. None of the Essex middle order attempting to push the rate could judge his pace reliably and wickets fell in a rush, not helped by the comical runout of the captain, both batsmen having been almost safe at the batsman’s end, both decided to run for the bowler’s and fell short by at least 8 yards.Cowan played sensibly to guide his team to a score that, while certainly well short of what looked likely with Hussain and Law together, would at least give the bowlers something to defend. Despite a slow outfield the general consensus of both home and away supporters was that 270 would have been a morerealistic target.Ian Ward started the innings in the manner of a man who has spent the winter dismissing bowling attacks to all corners. Helped in this endeavour by some woeful misfields and a ludicrous three overthrows before touching a ball from Irani through to the keeper, as far as I can remember this is the first I have seen of Hyam keeping, looks tidy enough though he may have kerbed Ward’s aggression had he stood up to the two Essex opening bowlers as Stewart had to the similarly paced Surrey fourth and fifth seamers.Wards fall brought the even more in form Ramprakash to the wicket to join Stewart. These two made the earlier partnership between the Essex numbers two and three seem pedestrian, scoring more or less at will either side of the wicket before the introduction of some very unthreatening “spin” bowling seemed to leave Stewart becalmed as so often before. Ramprakash did not fall into the same trap as Suart Law and looked at each bowler before deciding which balls to hit. In Napier’s case the decision seemed to be “most of them”.With the gap between the Duckworth Lewis par score and the actual total approaching 40 Stewart tried to join the party and was well caught on theboundary forward of square leg. Mason can thank his captain’s field placing not just for the wicket, but for saving six runs. Sadly for Essex dismissing one Surrey test batsman usually just means another comes in.Thorpe maybe didn’t realise there were still plenty of overs to go, or perhaps his tea was getting cold, because he immediately injected urgency into the running and then decided his first proper hit should be into the crowd at point, another boundary catch from Mason’s bowling. Another wicket, another international batsman and another acceleration in run-rate.Brown clearly did not intend to leave Ramprakash to collect an easy hundred. At Hampshire’s new Rose Bowl he had struggled to come to terms with a very slow damp wicket, this was much more to his liking. As ever he turned singles to twos, twos to threes, and good balls into boundaries. With five runs needed from four overs he simply missed a rare straight ball from A C McGarry (had his parents been Camberwick Green fans they would have named him Paul or Patrick).Gary Butcher taking a single from the first ball he faced would Ramps be cute and try to manufacture the runs he needed? The answer was simple,No. The first chance he got he hit a four and jogged off to collect a well earned Benson and Hedges Gold Award.

The home advantage works out for every cricketing country but perhaps it is most evident in India’s case. That is, if one observes the dismal overseas record.Backed by tailor made pitches, vociferous support from local crowds and familiar surroundings, Indian cricketers have been labelled tigers at home. But their abysmal record overseas has also led to them being ridiculed as lambs abroad. Faster and bouncier tracks, the inability to negotiate the mowing ball in a rarefied atmosphere and alien surroundings are some of the obvious reasons why Indian teams fail on a tour. In the past, the umpiring was also said to be a factor, though one supposes that visiting teams to India could also attribute their defeats to this. In any event, this factor may not be all that crucialthese days with the formation of an ICC panel but the fact that one of the two umpires is still a home official can lead to allegations against biased umpiring.Going by some of the recent utterances by the Indian team management, it would appear that there is going to be one more factor against the team doing well on the string of foreign trips coming up over the next few months. The record overseas is bad enough without team members putting pressure on themselves. "Our aim is to win a series abroad which will set right a lot of things," Sourav Ganguly is quoted to have said during the conditioning camp currently on in Bangalore. Star batsman VVS Laxman, in the course of a TV interview last week, said "for a long time now I have dreamt of being part of an Indian sidethat wins an overseas series," admitting that he was impatient to deliver on the coming tour of Zimbabwe. Even Indian coach John Wright has chimed in. According to him, the time is right for India to end a 15-year Test series drought outside the subcontinent. “The time is right to strike,” Wright is quoted to have said in Bangalore. “We have proven to ourselves and the Indian public that we play good cricket. All we have to do now is to play to our full potential. I look to the Zimbabwe tour as a great opportunity to set things right."It is well known that history is overwhelmingly against India. Take Zimbabwe itself. In two Tests there on two tours, India has lost one and drawn the other. And the drawn Test was the inaugural game that Zimbabwe played.But then this is nothing new. The record is just in keeping with tradition. In England, India did not score their first victory till the 22nd Test they played there. In Australia, the first win by the Indians was in the 12th match they played `Down Under’. In the West Indies, they scored their maiden triumph in their 12th Test. In Pakistan, the record is the pits. After 20 Tests, spread over five tours from 1954-55 to 1989-90, India have yet to score a victory. InSouth Africa too, India have yet to break their duck after seven Tests.Overall too, the Indians have a woeful record overseas. They have won only two rubbers in England and one each in West Indies, New Zealand and Sri Lanka. They have yet to win a rubber in South Africa, Australia and Pakistan. Their last series victory outside the sub continent was against England in 1986. With this kind of dubious record, is it any wonder that the Indians are ridiculed as lambsabroad?But the Indian team management, by putting pressure on themselves, are not doing anything to help their cause. Being keen to win abroad is understandable but there seems to be a desperate ring about the Indian team’s attitude towards the goal of doing well overseas. And this kind of approach will only put pressure on the team members. As it is, the record abroad is dismal. Performing under pressure is not the way to try and improve upon it. The Indians will have to take the tours of Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka and South Africa as just another contest and not get unnerved by them or treat them like some sort of `Super Tests’. Calm, cool, methodical efficiency is what is required to do well abroad, not desperate measures that can only boomerang.

South African captains’ reactions to shock defeats have changed recently. With Graeme Smith, it was always fire and ire. He would spit out words defending his team but his eyes would remain cold and empty. With AB de Villiers it’s giggle and grin.So far, de Villiers has decided not to take things as seriously as his predecessor. That may change if South Africa crumble when it really matters. For now, they have only been beaten in a group match and if they perform well enough in their next two, de Villiers’ response will look like a masterstroke.Instead of focusing on his own range of misjudgements – not bowling the spinners out and batting too far down the order himself – de Villiers chose to focus on the half-full side of losing. He used the word “proud,” to describe how he felt after South Africa’s performance. It was an unusual choice given the ultimate result but not too odd when considered in the context of the defeat.A South African side of old would likely not have come back into the game three times. They probably would not have been able to get to 133, because they may not have had the middle-order presence of JP Duminy. They probably would have been so spooked by not being able to pick Saeed Ajmal that they would have collapsed for less than 90. They would probably not have the spinners to make early breakthroughs or the gut and heart to take the match into the final few overs. For that, there is reason to be proud.From a position where South Africa could have lost by an enormous margin, they ended up losing by only two wickets. It may be simply because their opposition was as unpredictable as only Pakistan can be but it may be because they have made small progress, both in the skills department and from a mental perspective.Robin Peterson, who was one of the bowlers that shoved South Africa back into contention and has been part of the national squad for almost a decade, thinks so. South Africa fought from 28 for 3, to post 133 and that recovery gave them hope that they could win. “I think we had enough runs,” he said bullishly, despite South Africa’s below-par total. “We thought we had a good chance to defend it but it’s not every day that someone scores a special innings like that.”Robin Peterson: “I think we had enough runs”•Getty Images

Umar Gul’s blitz put the contest back in Pakistan’s hands and South Africa could do nothing but acknowledge that he changed the match. That is something they have been unable and perhaps even unwilling to do in the past.What remains is to place similar importance on their own failings. The batting recovery was admirable but de Villiers may have made a difference if he came in higher up. That could speak to the concept of the floating line-up as a whole, which South Africa have stuck with under Gary Kirsten. Although it has worked for them so far, it adds a degree of unsettledness to the team and digressing from it, to a more traditional looking batting order today could have yielded a different total.The same can be said for the use of bowlers. They came back exceptionally after Pakistan were off to a flier and pegged them back. To ask that they did it a second time, after Gul’s onslaught may have been too much. But to ask that slower bowlers are used on surface that suits them would not be but it was a road South Africa weren’t willing to go down.”Hindsight is always a perfect thing,” Peterson said. “AB made the calls and he brought on bowlers that he thought were going to make an impact. It’s difficult to say who could have made an impact when but we stuck to our gameplans. Maybe we need to revisit one or two things.”An admission, at least, that some rethinking would not be wasted on them. That may be the third way of responding to defeat: with thought. Instead of anger or frivolity, genuine analysis.Some will say South Africa choked even though they did not. De Villiers seems to be able to recognise that this defeat was not catastrophic and how he responds will be telling as South Africa aim to map a different course at this event.It seems as though his players know that, too “We are at a different tournament and we’ve got another opportunity to get it right,” Peterson said. “We are doing things slightly differently behind the scenes and so hopefully things will go better for us.”

Bengal were bowled out for 247 by two teenagers in reply to the hosts’total of 467 at the Gujarat State Fertilizer Corporation Ground on thethird day of the Ranji Trophy pre-quarter-final match against Barodaon Monday.Baroda chose not to enforce the follow-on and were 121 for two whenstumps were drawn. SS Parab (33) and Jacob Martin (31) wereat the crease with the hosts having an overall lead of 341 runs.The wreckers-in-chief in the Bengal innings were 17-year-old IrfanPathan and 19-year-old Irfan Khan Pathan. Irfan Pathan bagged 3/40with his left arm medium pacers while the right handed medium pacerIrfan Khan Pathan picked up 4/59.Bengal resumed at one for no loss. Opener Nikhil Haldipur (2) wascastled by Irfan Khan Pathan to the first ball of his spell. Pathanbowled a tight spell but was not supported well by Rakesh Patel fromthe other end. Patel was guilty of overstepping and he had 17 no ballsand six wides in his spell.At the other end, opener AA Lahiri (10) and skipper Debang Gandhi (0),both fell prey to the accurate IK Pathan. Bengal were tottering at 24for three until Rohan Gavaskar (61) and Shrikant Kalyani (48) put on aface saving 101-run partnership for the fourth wicket. Both batsmenfell in quick succession just when the team wanted either of the twoto drop anchor and build on the innings.On their dismissal, Baroda put the pressure back on the Bengal middleorder. It was a brave fightback from the lower order in the shape ofveteran all rounder Utpal Chatterjee (52 not out) and AK Das (32) whoadded a crucial 69 runs for the eighth wicket. But this was not enoughas the Bengal innings folded up in 51 overs.Baroda in their second essay lost the wickets of Connor Williams (32)and H Jadhav (17), both falling to Laxmi Ratan Shukla.