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BRISBANE – Captain Ricky Ponting says Australia’s batsmen must find away to defuse the likes of Shoaib Akhtar to prevent one bad day fromruining their World Cup defence next year.Shoaib reminded the Australians their World Cup in Africa could unravelin just a few overs during a lightning spell for Pakistan at the Gabbalast night.He claimed 5-25 from eight overs, enabling Pakistan to cruise to a91-run victory in the deciding match of the Super Challenge series.Ponting was the first of Shoaib’s victims, skittled by a blisteringinswinger, and the Rawalpindi Express claimed Damien Martyn and DarrenLehmann with his next nine balls.Australia opens its World Cup defence against Pakistan on February 11 inJohannesburg – a renowned fast bowlers’ playground because of thealtitude.”He bowled well, he bowled quick and he got them in the right areas,”Ponting said.”When you’re bowling 150km/hour and swinging the ball you’re alwaysgoing to be hard to play.”But we’ve got to find a way to combat that when the World Cup comesaround. We have to identify when someone is bowling well and get throughthose tough times.”We couldn’t do that this time and he ripped the heart out of ourinnings.”Australia’s batsmen were disappointing in the last two matches againstPakistan, folding for 167 and 165 against some pinpoint bowling.Australia’s bowling also had its patchy moments, the home team conceding87 runs from the final 10 overs last night.”We have a few areas we need to address and everyone as individuals hasto improve a fair bit before the next time we play,” Ponting said.”But I don’t think it’s a bad thing that we’ve lost. It’s going to be agood wake-up call to all of us.”When the World Cup comes along we can’t afford to have one game likewe’ve had over the last two games.”We’re losing wickets in patches as well and we haven’t got partnershipsat the top of the order and that’s something we need when the World Cupcomes around.”We’ll give the guys a bit of time to think about it and hopefully goaway and improve their games.”Australian selectors will also think about the all-rounder role becauseyoung Tasmanian Shane Watson didn’t nail the position against Pakistan.Watson was the sole all-rounder in the squad after selectors overlookedAndrew Symonds and Ian Harvey, but he conceded 0-46 from five overs lastnight.The 21-year-old has a mediocre economy rate of 5.49 runs per over fromhis first seven one-day internationals.”He struggled in the last game but the previous two games I thought hedid a pretty good job for us,” Ponting said.”He’s got some improvement to do with the ball, there’s no doubt aboutthat, and his batting is getting there as well.”There are a few areas in his game that he wants to improve on and he’llgo away and do that because he’s a very hard worker and has a greatattitude.”I’m sure he’ll come back a better player next time.”The Australians left for their homes or to English county teams today,awaiting news on their proposed upcoming series against Pakistan.

Ricky Ponting’s dramatic century in Cape Town had the leadership hallmarks of a future Test skipper but he’s reluctant to see it that way.Ponting declared his 100 not out – reached with a six in the final to secure Australia’s four wicket win in the second Test against South Africa – among the best of his 10 Test centuries.The 27-year-old is still to earn the tag of match-winner from his 55 Tests but his Cape Town knock should erode some of his reputation as an inconsistent batsman under pressure.But Ponting laughed off a question about whether it was the innings of a future Test captain.”I don’t know about that,” Ponting said.”As far as my personal innings in a vital situation it was probably as good as any. That wicket out there was pretty good for batting as you could see by the scores.You had to bowl very well.”Ponting boosted his batting average to 45.09 and continued an impressive record since he was woken in Potchefstroom last month with the news he was Australia’snew one-day skipper, replacing Steve Waugh.He scored a century the following day against South Africa A and he showed maturity by remaining steady when Australia’s run chase hit bumpy ground in CapeTown.His first 50 runs were spiced by some dangerous moments but the Tasmanian put his head down after lunch on the final day to help steer Australia home.”I certainly took it upon myself once the top few batters were out and I wanted to make sure I was there at the end to give ourselves the best chance to win thegame,” Ponting said.”I think I played the situation pretty well.”As it turned out I paced things really well. It was just nice to be there at the end to hit the winning runs in a Test match.”

ScorecardDebuts don’t come much better than Peter Connell’s against Netherlands. He wrapped up Ireland’s innings-and-67-run victory with a hat-trick, in the process completing a 10-wicket haul. He becomes the 16th player to take a hat-trick on first-class debut and the first in an international match.Connell had a taste of success in the first innings when his four wickets helped Ireland set-up their final-day victory charge. Second time around Netherlands again found him too much to handle as they fell to 206 all out. The end came in a hurry with Connell collected his hat-trick by bowling Jeron Smits and Pieter Seelaar, then trapping last man Edgar Schiferli lbw.Only Peter Borren (53) and Mudassar Bukhari (59 not out) put up any resistance for the Netherlands on the final day as the home side struggled in vain to save the match. They weren’t helped by some poor shot selection from the top order as Eric Szwarczynski and Daan van Bunge both fell loosely with just five runs added to the overnight total.Despite Connell’s 10 wickets, the Man of the Match went to Andre Botha for his vital 172 in Ireland’s innings. With Ireland claiming maximum points, this victory moves them up one spot to second place, leap-frogging Kenya in the process. They now lie just 13 points adrift of Namibia but with a game in hand.

On the eve of the 1994-95 tour of India by the West Indies, the hometeam were firmly installed as favourites to win the three-Test series.The Indian team was on a roll at home where they had registered ninesuccessive victories in the period from 1988 to 1994.

Against that, the West Indies had lost their No 1 ranking and theslide had started in real earnest. By the early 90s, the vast majorityof the stars of the all-conquering team of the 80s had retired. Tocompound matters, they were, for various reasons, without severalleading players including reigning captain Richie Richardson, fastbowlers Curtly Ambrose and Winston Benjamin and veteran opener DesmondHaynes.The side, led by Courtney Walsh, had one really big name in vicecaptain Brian Lara, who in the first half of 1994 had set the twofamous world-record scores of 375 and 501 not out. The captain, ofcourse, was one of the top fast bowlers in the world while CarlHooper, Phil Simmons and Keith Arthurton were cricketers with someexperience. But little was known about the other players in the sideand the chances of the tourists doing well were not rated highly.Things seemed to move according to prediction when India won the firstTest at Bombay by 96 runs to make it ten in a row at home. But thewinning streak was halted in the next Test in Nagpur in which the WestIndies earned a honourable draw. And in the final Test at Mohali, WestIndies scored a surprise 243-run victory to level the series againstall expectations.How did this turnabout come about? It would be easy to put it down toa sense of complacency on the part of the Indians. Indeed, it waslargely perceived that Indian captain Mohammad Azharuddin had let theWest Indies off the hook at Nagpur with a delayed declaration on thefinal morning.But that would be downplaying the fighting spirit displayed by thevisitors. Against all odds, the batting and bowling gelled together ata vital time and none personified this never-say-die attitude thanJimmy Adams. An obdurate left-hander with an insatiable appetite forruns, Adams proved a veritable thorn in India’s flesh by amassing 520runs at a more-than-Bradmanesque average of 173.33. He just loved tobat and hated getting out, signified by his figures ­ 39 and 81, 125not out and 23, 174 not out and 78 not out.Adams easily put into the shade his more illustrious colleagues, Lara,Hooper and Arthurton, though, the trio did pull in their weight nowand then, and by the end of the series, the Indian bowlers had ran outof ideas to get Adams out. More, however , was certainly expected fromLara, given his lofty reputation. But in six innings, his highestscore remained 91.The bowling hinged too much on Walsh and Kenny Benjamin and the paceduo did well in taking 17 wickets each. But Hooper’s off spinners werea welcome support and he even had a five-wicket haul at Nagpur.India did everything right ­ till the final day of the series when thebatting crumbled against the pace of Walsh and Benjamin. But for thisaberration, the traditional batting strength was in full bloom withSachin Tendulkar getting his eighth Test hundred while still 21.Navjot Sidhu and Manoj Prabhakar were the other century makers whileAzharuddin, Nayan Mongia and Sanjay Manjrekar chipped in with valuablecontributions.The eclipse of Vinod Kambli, however, was a sad sight. The left-handerwas a sitting duck for fast, short-pitched deliveries and could onlygarner 64 runs at an average of 10.66. It marked the beginning of theend of his Test career.In bowling, the spinners, not unexpectedly, were the dominant forcewith Anil Kumble and Venkatapathy Raju picking up 33 wickets betweenthem.It was also the first Test series since 1978 without Kapil Devrepresenting India. He had a rather melancholic end to hisinternational career in the first one-day game against the tourists,interestingly enough in his hometown of Faridabad. He was mauled byopeners Phil Simmons and Stuart Williams and went for 37 runs in fiveovers. Then in regaining his crease during a brief knock of 12, hedamaged his hamstring and a few days later, announced his retirement.The tour, in fact, was heavily loaded with one-day matches. Besides acontest between the two teams, there was also a new innovation ­ atriangular tournament involving New Zealand. West Indies lost a oneday series to India for the first time and also went down in the finalof the triangular competition, again to India.

Dynamic all-rounder Ian Hewett and rookie fast bowler Rob Cassell have been included in the Bushrangers squad to take on the Queensland Bulls in Friday’s Pura Cup clash at the MCG. Prahran leg-spinner Bryce McGain was also included, whilst Mathew Inness has been left out after sustaining a torn hamstring against Tasmania.A squad of 15 has been named as precautionary measure, due to the injury concerns of pace trio Shane Harwood, Ian Harvey and Mick Lewis. Harwood suffered back soreness following last week’s Pura Cup match against Tasmania, whilst Harvey reported lower back and hamstring soreness after the ING Cup match against the same side. Lewis strained his groin in the opening Pura Cup match against the Southern Redbacks.Hewett 26, has played three matches previously in the Pura Cup, whilst Cassell 19, will make his first-class debut if selected.Bushrangers Coach David Hookes said the selectors would cull the squad after tomorrow’s final training session. “We’ll have a light session tomorrow and talk to the boys that pulled up sore from last weekend’s matches and assess their condition accordingly. At this stage I’m confident that they will be ok, but if not I think that Ian Hewett and Rob Cassell are two promising young players that will acquit themselves very well”.BUSHRANGERS
Darren Berry (c), Jason Arnberger, Will Carr, Rob Cassell, Matthew Elliott, Ian Harvey, Shane Harwood, Ian Hewett, Brad Hodge, Nick Jewell, Mick Lewis, Bryce McGain, Jon Moss, Graeme Rummans, Cameron WhiteMATCH DETAILS
Victorian Bushrangers v Queensland Bulls
Date: Friday, November 8 – Monday November 11
Time: 11.00am – 6.00pm

Yorkshire fast bowler Chris Silverwood is on England standby for the first Test against India at Lord’s.Although Silverwood will travel to Guildford with his county for tomorrow’s Frizzell County Championship match against Surrey, he will join the England squad at Lord’s if there are any more injuries.The call to Silverwood follows yesterday’s news that his county colleague Darren Gough had withdrawn from the England squad. Andrew Caddick, Marcus Trescothick and Alex Tudor have all withdrawn with other injuries.Coach Duncan Fletcher said: “We’ve put Silverwood on stand-by. He’s gone toGuildford and we’ve told him to be ready to come and join us if there are anyother injuries.”

Essex County Cricket Club has decided to reduce the number of festivals it stages from 3 to 2. The decision was taken by the Club Executive Committee at a meeting held last night. Colchester will retain its festival, and a decision on whether Southend or Ilford will be staged in 2003 will need to be taken after further discussion with the Councils and Clubs in those areas.Chief Executive David East explained the background to the decision.East continued

The weather caused more disappointment and frustration for Somerset at the County Ground today as their championship match against Leicestershire was abandoned as a draw without another ball being bowled.Heavy overnight rain prevented any play this morning but after an inspection play was due to commence at 2.30 pm. Just a few minutes before the start time rain started to fall and the players took an early tea.After a further inspection at 4pm the captains and umpires agreed to a 4.15pm start and the covers were rolled off. However within minutes of their decision it had started to rain again heavily the match had been abandoned.When I spoke to Somerset coach Kevin Shine there was no hiding his feelings. He told me: " After the way that we started on the first two days we felt confident of winning this match, but now we have had to settle for a draw. Yes of course we are disappointed but you can’t beat the weather."Looking ahead to the NUL game he told me confidently: " We are going up to Worcester tomorrow to win our first one day game of the season."

Dean Park:
Dorset 339 & 101 (S Rintoul 57, C Shreck 5 for 60)
Cornwall 300 (G Edwards 63, B Price 65) & 4-0South Wilts
Devon 368-8 & 173-6
Wilts 228-8d (MJ Glassman 54)Luctonians:
Herefordshire 291-9
Cheshire 264-8Grantham:
Lincs 375-7d
Buckinghamshire 165 & 41-2Welwyn Garden City:
Cambridgeshire 297 & 76-3
Hertfordshire 247-9 (SG Cordingley 60, P Such 6-75)Lamphey:
Minor Counties Wales 273 (NA Denning 8-66)
Berkshire 13-1Tamworth:
Bedfordshire 364-5 (Shankar 104, D J Roberts 80, J A Knott 62)
Staffordshire 172-8 (M W Patterson 5-41)

The six-day cricket coaching camp for the Indian probables, starting in Bangalore on Sunday ahead of the coming Zimbabwe tour, is expected to be an indepth exercise in redrafting the strategy to end the country’s victory drought overseas.The camp, in preparation for the tour commencing from May 28, has assumed significance as it comes against the backdrop of India’s stupendous home Test series win over Australia.The Board of Control for Cricket in India has named 26 probables, virtually retaining all those who played against Australia. The selectors are expected to meet in Mumbai on May 17 to pick a 15-member squad for the tour.Skipper Sourav Ganguly, batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and the new batting star VVS Laxman are among those picked for the camp.Harbhajan Singh, who played a key role in India’s success against Australia, Virendra Shewag and Yuvaraj Singh would be keen to impress the selectors during the camp, expected to lay emphasis on physical fitness of the players.Notable among those omitted are Nayan Mongia and speedster Venkatesh Prasad.Ace leg spinner Anil Kumble, who has returned from Johensburg after undergoing a surgery to his shoulder, is back at the nets, but is unavailable for the Zimbabwe tour.Indian coach John Wright, who played a key role in shaping the side inrecent times, has already gone on record saying he would involve players, selectors and team managers in a thorough introspection to find out the reasons for the country’s failure when it plays away from home. The camp would also focus on the need to address the problem posed by a long Indian tail.Besides the Test series, India will play in a triangular one-day series involving Zimbabwe and West Indies. Wright and Andrew Leipus, the physio of the Indian team, have already arrived, while the probables were all expected to reach Bangalore by Saturday evening.The following are the probables: Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Hemang Badani, Sadagopan Ramesh, Shiv Sundar Das, Mohammad Kaif, Yuvraj Singh, Virendra Shewag, Dinesh Mongia, Samir Dighe, Ajay Ratra, Das Gupta, Javagal Srinath, Ajit Agarkar, Zaheer Khan, Harvinder Singh, Ashish Nehra, Debashish Mohanty, Rakesh Patel, RS Sodhi, Harbhajan Singh, Sarandeep Singh, Rahul Sanghvi and Sairaj Bahutale.