With less than one hundred days to go until the start of the first class cricket season everyone at Somerset County Cricket Club is geared towards making sure that everything is in place to enable the club to gain promotion back to the top flight at the first attempt.The club has already made three significant new signings in West Indian fast bowler Nixon McLean, South African batsman James Bryant and former Middlesex all rounder Aaron Laraman, whose presence will change the make up of the side, and create renewed competition for places among established players."The players are already well into their preparations for the new season, and I have been very pleased with their reactions so far, " Somerset coach Kevin Shine told me, just before the Christmas break.He continued: "Every player has a full developmental programme with a specific training emphasis which have been drawn up as a result of looking at footage from the `crick-stat’ videos that has been analysed by Andy Hurry. We have sat down and talked with each player about how to improve their game."Looking ahead to the new year he told me: "Everyone will have a regular full specific skills session with me, and timetabled nets with the Academy players along with specific fielding sessions, in addition to working with Darren Veness and Andy Hurry on their physical fitness."What was he hoping for in 2003 I asked. He told me: "This is an exciting and important season for us and the players are all geared up and ready to go.We know that we have got to get promotion, it’s as simple as that."

XXXX Queensland Bulls spinner Nathan Hauritz has been given theall-clear to resume training this week after recovering from aquadriceps injury suffered in the ING Cup loss to Tasmania on Saturday.Queensland Cricket medical officer Dr Simon Carter examined Hauritz thismorning and was satisfied with his recovery from the injury, describedas a muscle spasm by Dr Carter.”His recovery has been very rapid and we are quite confident he is fineto resume bowling and training this week," Dr Carter said.Hauritz is expected to play for Norths in the final round of theBrisbane XXXX first grade premiership on Saturday in light of hispositive recovery.Queensland take on Victoria next week in the Pura Cup at the Gabba from February 27 – March 2.

DURBAN, South Africa, March 13 AAP – Collins Obuya earns $1,000 a year from cricket. The vast majority of his annual income comes from selling tomatoes at his mother’s market. He stutters when he speaks but the ball comes nicely out of his hand.Transformed by words of wisdom from Shane Warne, the Kenyan leg spinner has become one of the sensations of the World Cup, taking 13 wickets to be seventh on the bowling list with Andy Bichel.He faces his biggest test on Saturday when Australia’s batsmen attempt to hit him from Kingsmead to Kingdom Come.Obuya, 21, was inspired to take up leg spin when he watched Pakistan’s Mushtaq Ahmed on television at the 1996 World Cup. He credited his rapid recent development to a conversation with Warne at Nairobi last September after the Kenyans had been flogged twice by Australia at a one-day tournament.”In Nairobi I had a chat with him and he showed me some tips about how to bowl the flipper and the wrong one,” said Obuya.”I am trying to bowl the flipper. It is not coming as well as Shane Warne can do it but I am trying.”I’ve bowled two in this tournament but it pitches short – I got hit for four. I can bowl the wrong one pretty well.”I thank Shane Warne for giving me a little bit of hope. He told me I can bowl leg spin if I kept working on it.”Warne might have his flaws but he’s always made time to help his fellow leg spinners, whether they be Victoria’s youngster Cameron White, a group of schoolkids at training camps he attends on tour or a wide-eyed novice such as Obuya from an underdeveloped cricketing nation like Kenya.”I am looking forward to playing Australia very much,” he said.”If I can get three or four wickets I would be very happy.”I know Australian batsmen are very aggressive and I’m looking forward to putting the ball in the right places. I hope to get wickets.”I can say it’s a dream come true because people in Kenya were not expecting us to even reach the Super Sixes and we are in the semi-finals. That’s a good achievement for Kenya.”Obuya bowled 11 wicketless overs against Australia in last year’s Nairobi tournament for 66 runs. Damien Martyn confirmed the Australian top order would attempt to treat him with equal disdain in Saturday’s final Super Sixes match before the semi-finals.”He turns the ball, he takes wickets so we’ll treat their team like we’re playing South Africa, New Zealand or Sri Lanka,” said Martyn.”We can’t go in thinking any differently. It’s a big game for us still.”Obuya’s voice was almost a whisper. He said most of his friends in Kenya played soccer because there was no money in cricket and it didn’t keep them as fit; he hoped Kenya would soon become a Test-playing nation; and he wanted to become a doctor some day when he was finished with cricket and he no longer needed to work at the markets.Money won’t be as big a problem this year.Obuya’s cricketing income is about to go through the roof. Kenya is guaranteed a $500,000 payout for making the semi-finals, with the majority of the booty to be shared among the 15 players who have reached greater heights than any of them thought possible.Especially Obuya.”Yes,” he said.”It is hard for me to believe.”

Australia clinched a record-breaking 12th consecutive ODI victory last night with a dramatic win over England at St George’s Park, South Africa.Australia was chasing just 205 for victory but their winning streak looked set to end when England, spearheaded by Andy Caddick, had the World Cup favourites reeling at 8/135 in the 38th over. It took an unbeaten ninth-wicket stand of 73 between Michael Bevan (74*) and Man of the Match Andy Bichel (34*) – who had also claimed 7/20 with the ball – to bring Australia home with two balls to spare and surpass the 11 straight ODI victories set by the West Indies.The West Indies’ winning run stretched from 4 June 1984 to 2 February 1985. It was Australia who brought their dominance to an end, albeit briefly, by winning the first final of the World Series Cup (now known as the VB Series) on 6 February 1985.Australia’s run of victories has taken place over a comparatively short time, beginning on 11 January in another nail-biting match against England, during the VB Series. The full list of victories in Australia’s winning streak are:

England skipper Nasser Hussain has admitted that he was “glued” to Phil Tufnell’s recent triumph on the reality TV show I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here.Tufnell, who won 42 caps for England, the last in 2001, retired from the game on the eve of the season to take part in the show Down Under.Asked in an exclusive interview with the official Channel 4/ECB Test Match Magazine whether a recall for Tufnell – nicknamed “The Cat” – to the England colours would be a boost for the game, Hussain says: “He’d get a big cheer. But then he always gets a big cheer. He’s always been a star. He’s always been the people’s champion – he’s like the Jimmy White of the cricket world. But there’s only so far you can get on popularity, you still have to get your runs and wickets… I was disappointed when he retired because he’s one of a dying breed of natural spin bowlers who can give the ball a bit of flight – and also a dying breed of characters in the game. We’re running out of characters. I always enjoyed playing with and against Phil Tufnell – every game I played.”Hussain goes on: “I hate reality TV. I’ve never ever been keen on anything like that. But I was glued to that because The Cat was in it. I’m very close to The Cat, I know him very well, I enjoy his company and I found him absolutely hilarious on the show: he was always going to be brilliant on it: he’s got a job for life on things like that – he’s made for it. Good on him. There’s not many cricketers that could pull that off – it’s not something that Nasser Hussain will be doing …”Elsewhere in the interview, Hussain says he intends to break Peter May’s Test record of 20 Test wins (Hussain has led England to 14 wins so far), and that he does not believe in blooding a weaker team against Zimbabwe. He also talks about how his own run-ins with authority have helped him become a better leader: “It’s very difficult being captain if you’ve just been a goody two-shoes. It’s hard to understand the Phil Tufnells of this world if you don’t have that sort of background yourself.”The first npower Test between England and Zimbabwe starts at Lord’s on Thursday, May 22.The Channel 4/ECB Official Test Match Guide, which also includes exclusive interviews with England’s fastest bowler Steve Harmison and Zimbabwe’s 20-year-old vice captain Tatenda Taibu, will be available at the ground and via the website www.pplsport.com

Kepler Wessels, the former South Africa captain, believes England have no chance of beating South Africa in this summer’s NatWest Series.Speaking to the ahead of Northamptonshire’s match against South Africa tomorrow, Wessels claimed England’s new-look team will be demolished by South Africa, who are also rebuilding after a disappointing World Cup.He said: “England haven’t got a chance. They need to pick their best players if they are going to be in with a shout of winning." He added: "You certainly can’t leave out a batsman of the quality of Graham Thorpe and there are a lot more other players on the county circuit better than the ones they have chosen."”I can see they’re building for the future, but they need to build around experience and Thorpe would be ideal. South Africa have brought over a pretty competitive side. They have a very strong batting line up, though the bowling is a bit weak.”South Africa have also brought over their youngest ever captain in Graeme Smith, who has already caused a stir when he said Lance Klusener would have been a disruptive influence on the team.On that issue, Wessels said: “It’s a controversial move to appoint him captain. He will be under pressure to establish himself in the side with some runs. He has made runs in the past, but there is a bit of unrest in the camp that needs to be dealt with.”The NatWest Series starts on June 26 when England play Zimbabwe at Trent Bridge, while South Africa’s first match is against England on June 28 at The Oval.

Australia have been continuing their mind-games (or covering their backs, depending on how you look at it) ahead of the inaugural Test against Bangladesh at Darwin on Friday. Last week, Steve Waugh was warning that Australia were underprepared for the challenge. This week, Adam Gilchrist has been toeing the party line.”[The match] could be very difficult for us for a few reasons,” said Gilchrist. “Not so much that where we are playing or who the opposition is. But it is a unique time of year and despite our month off, we have about 10 months on the road with a serious amount of cricket.”It could be a feeling of difficulty to try and lift ourselves for that. I sense that there could definitely be a threat of that so we have got to make sure that we address it and don’t let it slip in.”Gilchrist’s fear of failure is relative. The Test has been described as cricket’s biggest mismatch of all time, and last week the former Australian batsman, David Hookes, urged the Aussies to win the match inside a day. That prospect, however attainable, is extremely unlikely.”We will keep using the word respect,” said Gilchrist. “We will respect the fact that it’s a Test match. And hopefully, if we win we’ll be able to do it to a level that we are happy with and let Bangladesh know where the standard of being one of the best Test teams in the world is at.”Brett Lee was equally keen to put in a wholehearted performance. “I think that it is not fair on them if we don’t go out there and try toput on a really good show,” he said. “I think the best way to learn is for us to go out there and put on a really good performance against them. That’s the way they can actually get better in Test cricket.”

The following are the occurrance when Hampshire have been involved for an against in a Victory after following on.VICTORY AFTER FOLLOWING ONHampshire (94 & 314) bt Somerset (221 & 176) by 11 runs at Taunton 1895Hampshire (15 & 521) bt Warwicks (223 & 158) by 155 runs at Birmingham 1922Hampshire (185 & 449) bt Glamorgan (437 & 104) by 95 runs at Rose Bowl 2003DEFEAT AFTER OPPONENTS FOLLOWING ONHampshire (208 & 140) lost to Surrey (110 & 297) by 59 runs at The Oval 1866
nb – A margin of 80 was the criteria at that periodHampshire (300-8d & 80) lost to Essex (149 & 310) by 79 runs at Bournemouth 1992Statistics – Vic Isaacs

20.3 overs Gloucestershire 150 for 3 (Harvey 61, Weston 46) beat Worcestershire 149 (Solanki 40, Gidman 2-12) by seven wickets
Scorecard

It’s been three years since Gloucestershire last won the trophy that might have been named with them in mind, but today, on a beautifully sunny day at Lord’s, they once again established themselves as the pre-eminent one-day team in the country.Worcestershire had no answers to a wonderful allround display from Gloucestershire. It was Mark Alleyne who set the ball rolling by winning the toss and choosing to bowl – an illogical decision on the face of it. But 67 overs later, it all made perfect sense. Gloucestershire’s tireless fielding (led inevitably by Jonty Rhodes) and their clever array of medium-pacers proved too much for Worcestershire. They collapsed after a steady start to 149, before being ripped asunder by Ian Harvey and their old boy, Phil Weston, in a thrillingly gung-ho run-chase.Worcester looked to have had the better of the opening exchanges, as Vikram Solanki and Anurag Singh caressed the ball all around Lord’s with typically wristy flair. But Rhodes engineered the breakthrough, running out Solanki with an accurate throw to the non-striker’s end, and the innings came tumbling down.Graeme Hick lasted just three deliveries, before driving loosely at a wide delivery from Harvey to Matt Windows in the covers (65 for 2). Then, in Harvey’s next over, Singh was suckered by a wonderful two-card trick. First, he jabbed down late on a crafty floating yorker delivered from the back of the hand. Then, he swished wildly at Harvey’s next delivery, a big outswinger that was snaffled by Martyn Ball at slip (72 for 3).The collapse wasn’t finished there. Alleyne missed a sharp return catch off Andrew Hall, but two balls later, it was Worcestershire’s captain Ben Smith who returned to the pavilion, after being run out at the non-striker’s end by Jack Russell’s pick-up-and-shy from behind the stumps (92 for 4).Gloucestershire had some problems of their own when Mike Smith was forced to leave the field with an injury. But up stepped Alex Gidman, better known as a promising batsman, but now filling in as an extremely accurate medium-pacer. He picked up two wickets in the same over as David Leatherdale edged to slip (96 for 5), before Andrew Hall was trapped lbw on the back foot (99 for 6).Gareth Batty and Steven Rhodes attempted to salvage the innings, but it was beyond repair. Batty lofted Ball down the ground for a handsome one-bounce four, but he fell lbw for 20 to become Jon Lewis’s first victim (133 for 7), and after struggling with a side injury Rhodes holed out to Ball in the covers for 15 (134 for 8).The tail resolutely refused to wag. Matt Mason heaved down the track and was stumped down the leg side by the ever-excellent Jack Russell (136 for 9), before Nantie Hayward slogged Ball down the throat of the substitute fielder Chris Taylor at deep-midwicket. Worcestershire were all out for 149, and then the fun really began.Gloucestershire were in the zone and nothing was going to get in their way. Craig Spearman was an early casualty as he chanced his arm once too often and slapped Kabir Ali to Ben Smith in the covers for 10 (30 for 1), but Weston and Harvey were unstoppable. In particular, they took a heavy toll on the erratic Hayward, who opened with a 90mph wide and was sooned warned for an unintentional beamer to Harvey.Matt Mason thought he’d made the breakthrough when Weston, on 28, edged straight to Andrew Hall at slip, but Hall muffed the opportunity and the moment passed. On a true Lord’s surface, the batsmen needed only to swing through the line of the ball, and the boundaries – all 25 of them – flowed like champagne.Hall eventually made amends at slip to remove Weston for 46, but at 108 for 2 it was already curtains for Worcestershire. Harvey followed shortly afterwards, stumped by the substitute wicketkeeper James Pipe for a whirlwind 61 from 36 balls. It was left to Gidman and Rhodes to seal the victory with a record 29.3 overs to spare, a fitting farewell to their outgoing coach, John Bracewell.

Yuvraj Singh is keen about his cricket. From the time he was a young pretender hoping to make it to the Indian team to the current phase when he is one of the key members of the one-day side, he has come a long way. Whether he can go any further and fulfill his ambition of playing Test cricket depends on many factors outside his control. There is hardly any place in the crowded Indian middle order and he does not quite fit the bill as an opener.With a tour to Australia in the offing, the papers have been filled with speculation about opening batsmen. Yuvraj too has put his hand up, joining this fast-growing queue. “If I have to open to play Test cricket then I’m fine with it. It’s better than sitting out and doing nothing. If the only way I can get a break is opening the innings, I’ll take it,” he says. Hemang Badani, another cricketer on the fringes of Test selection, opened the batting in his first Test, in Zimbabwe in 2001. It did not go well, putting his career path off track.Yuvraj senses that this is a crucial point in his career, but at the moment his keenness is getting the better of his discretion. His chances of making the Test side are not exactly spectacular, though. For the best part of the year he is away playing one-day cricket and has little chance to impress the selectors by scoring runs in domestic cricket. “I guess you have to be a bit more patient. You have to take your time to get settled. I’ve done well in the longer version of the game in domestic cricket and that gives me confidence. I’m really keen to play Test cricket and back myself to get runs if I’m given an opportunity. Even though I don’t get to play a lot of domestic cricket I must make the most of the chances I get.”He did not do much with the chance he got in the Irani Trophy, though. After an impressive start in the first innings he was undone by Ramesh Powar for 26. “The wicket was alright and I was batting well. I think Ramesh bowled a good spell. I have no regrets, I was batting well. I felt good about the way I was batting but I got a good ball and you have to give credit to the bowler,” he said of his first-innings performance. The second innings though was a different story altogether. Coming out to bat after VVS Laxman and Dravid had given a masterclass in batting, Yuvraj played a wild heave, skying a catch to point.If you saw him bat, you would not say that patience is one of his strengths. He begs to disagree. “At times I can be patient, but mostly I play one-day games. I come late in the order, so I have to go after the bowling right away.” Though he has not played Test cricket, he has already begun thinking about the changes he needs to make to his game. “I speak to everyone about playing Test cricket. I really want to play now and I’ve spoken to Rahul about batting in Tests. I think he’s one of the best Test batsmen around – he’s very good with his technique and has a lot of patience – so there’s a lot to learn from him.”The fact remains, though, that it will be incredibly hard for Yuvraj to break into the Test side. Yuvraj is the first to admit that he is not in the same class as Laxman. There is a long way to go, but clearly Yuvraj is dissatisfied playing only one-day cricket. That is the first step in the long journey to securing a Test berth. “I don’t think too many people brand me as a one-day cricketer only. They appreciate what I’ve done in the past. But I keep telling myself that I’m only a one-day cricketer. The fact that I’m a one-day cricketer bothers me and I’m going to do what I have to, to change that. I know it won’t be easy, but I really want to play Tests for India.”