With a little more than four weeks to go until the start of the new cricket season one of Somerset’s closed season signings James Bryant is putting the finishing touches to his packing before leaving the sunshine of South Africa to fly back to the west country.The twenty seven year old batsman who has made his mark playing for Eastern Province told me: "I arrive in Somerset on the 21st March and expect the conditions to be a bit cold and wet to start with, but I’m sure I will get a few knocks in and get used to the conditions."He continued: " One of the main things that I am looking forward to incounty cricket is to play against top overseas professionals who we don’t really get to play against here."The domestic season in South Africa has been cut short to make way for the World Cup that has become the centre of attention for all cricket fans over the last few weeks.For some however the competition has ended in disappointment. The new Somerset recruit told me: "Both England and South Africa are out of the World Cup which is a great pity. No one here can figure out why Nasser Hussain bowled Anderson and not Caddick at the end of the Aussie game because they had it won! The majority of spectators here are English or South African so I hope attendance will still be good for the rest of the competition, but I’m sure they will."Before the start of the World Cup James Bryant played against England in one of the warm up matches. He said: "It was a good experience playing against the English side but just a pity that we didn’t bat at all well and were never really in the game. The best bit was Nantie Hayward getting fired up and sledging the England top order only to be sledged back even better by Michael Vaughan who hadn’t faced a ball yet, something that hasn’t happened in a while but should have."Talking about his own form in the match he said: "My innings was frustrating because I got out just when I had played myself in and received an off cutter from Andy Caddick which cut back and just clipped my gloves."Regarding the Somerset players he added: " Still at least it was one of my future team mates who got me out. Unfortunately I didn’t get to have a really good chat with the Somerset guys because everything was a bit rushed and hectic but I did get to introduce myself to Ian Blackwell."He concluded; "Somerset has given me a chance to play county cricket in England and my aim is to repay that by performing on the field."The young man from Eastern Province can rest assured that he will be given a warm reception by Somerset supporters at the County Ground some of whom will find it hard to resist comparing James Bryant with another `James’ from South Africa, Jimmy Cook who also arrived here as a virtual unknown but turned out to be very successful signing indeed for the Cidermen!

THE Western Australian Cricket Selectors today announced a Western Warriors team to play Victoria in the Pura Cup match in Melbourne on March 6-9, 2003.The team is:
Justin Langer (Captain), Jo Angel, Beau Casson, Michael Clark, Murray Goodwin, Matthew Nicholson, Marcus North, Chris Rogers, Luke Ronchi, Adam Voges, Brad Williams and Peter Worthington.All-rounder Peter Worthington will make his first-class debut if he is selected in the final 11, on Thursday. The 12th man will be named on the morning of the match.The team includes pace bowler Brad Williams, who is recovering from an elbow injury which forced him to miss this week’s match against New South Wales.Three players, wicketkeeper-batsman Ryan Campbell, batsman Michael Hussey and swing bowler Callum Thorp were omitted from the Warriors team which lost its match to New South Wales at the WACA Ground yesterday.Chairman of selectors Mr Wayne Hill said with Warriors out of contention to play in this season’s Pura Cup Final, a team for the last qualifying match of the season was an opportunity to blood young players."We have lost our last two completed matches by close margins," Mr Hill said."It is the form of some of our senior players that has become questionable. We have decided to look at the potential of some of the state’s developing young players."Western Australian cricket is losing games and we have to look at ways to rectify that."

Ok, we lost, but the result was of less significance than the performance ofKumar Sangakkara, who played his finest one-day innings, fully justifyinghis last-minute inclusion into the squad.

Sangakkara never deserved the chop. His wicket-keeping was at times raggedduring the World Cup but his form with the bat improved steadily throughoutthe tournament – the lingering feeling was that he was batting too low inthe order.Nevertheless, the jolt he received when he was first omitted from theSharjah squad appears to have had a positive impact, making him determinedto prove his worth to the side.

Whether the lifting of the wicket-keeping burden contributed is a mootpoint. Many will say so but the statistics suggest otherwise – he averages31.22 in 54 matches with the gloves and only 23.04 in 32 matches as aspecialist batsman.Of greater consequence is his position in the order and it is hoped that hewill now be given an extended chance to bed down at number three or four,positions that allow him to build an innings in orthodox fashion.

However, apart from Sangakkara, and Kumar Dharmasena later, who looked atease on his return to the international fray, the batting was once again aconcern. Clearly, Mahela Jayawardene needs to be slotted back in as soon ashe has freshened up and forgotten his horror run in the World Cup.Prasanna Jayawardene also had a nightmare start to his international career,playing all around a quick leg-stump yorker. There is no doubting hisefficiency behind the stumps but he must prove his batting or make way – yousimply cannot afford to have a specialist wicket-keeper in the modern daythat cannot sit comfortably in the top seven.

The absence of Aravinda de Silva and Russel Arnold (who must be hankeringafter an opportunity higher up the order) certainly reduced options with theball and that is a serious concern with Sanath Jayasuriya is now overlyreliant on five bowlers. If someone has a bad day then there will beproblems.Probably, Sri Lanka would have preferred three seamers with the dew causingsuch problems later on. But with Chaminda Vaas crook the only option was forPrabath Nissanka to play ahead of Dharmasena and that would have involvedconsiderably more risk with no part-timers to chip in should his radarmisfire. Moreover, such a move would have weakened the batting.

Indeed, Sri Lanka are a side grappling with issues, including the balance ofthe side and the best personnel. That is inevitable as they try to look tothe future but it does carry a price. Unfortunately, matches will be lostthat could have been won.But, in this tournament, the end result is off secondary importance.Yesterday, Sangakkara gave Sri Lankan fans something to cheer, on Sundaylets hope someone else raises their hand.

In an effort to revive truncated cricket ties with Pakistan, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has written to Atal Behari Vajpayee, India’s Prime Minister, requesting him for permission to play Pakistan at neutral venues. The Indian government is yet to officially respond.However, Jagmohan Dalmiya, the BCCI president, said that the revival of bilateral ties between the two countries would be delayed, despite the positive signals from the Indian government. He said: “It may take until early next year because of many reasons. Many of our cricketers are injured, while we have also allowed some of our players to play county cricket in England.”On Saturday Dalmiya met General Tauqir Zia, chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), at an Asian Cricket Foundation meeting in Dubai. But Dalmiya admitted to the Times of India that the meeting failed to find a slot for the Asia Cup – the Test championship involving India Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh – before next February.The Indian government had banned bilateral cricket with Pakistan in 2000. However, the Indian team is allowed to play Pakistan in multilateral events, as they did in the recently concluded World Cup. Direct sporting relations continue between India and Pakistan in other sports such as hockey.Earlier in March, the Indian government had overruled another request from the BCCI to resume bilateral matches with Pakistan. The BCCI claimed that it could be heavily penalized by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for failing to fulfill commitments. In an embarrassing contradiction, the ICC promptly denied such a possibility, maintaining that it will not hold individual boards accountable for governmental decisions.But with big money at stake, both the Indian and Pakistani cricket boards have increased their lobbying with the Indian government. “We want to somehow resume bilateral cricket,” said Karunakaran Nair, the BCCI secretary. Nair said that senior board members would discuss the issue by the end of May.

A devastating spell of left-arm swing bowling by Dan Goldstraw sent Calmore Sports spinning to a humiliating 210-run defeat by BAT Sports in the Totton derby at Southern Gardens.BAT’s formidable 263-9 declared set up the biggest winning margin in the ECB Southern Electric Premier League.Calmore’s meagre 53 all out was the third lowest total recorded in Division 1 matches.Ironically, the Weston Park School geography teacher, who returned a career-best 8-29, was having his first bowl of the season!"With our first three matches being hit by rain, I didn’t get a chance to bowl in early May and then I took the family away for a half-term break, so this was the first time I’d had the ball in my hand," he explained.And how Goldstraw enjoyed bowling with the Dukes ball Premier League captains have decided to use in the all-day `time’ games this season."It’s well chronicled that the Dukes ball holds its shape better and swings more – and that’s certainly what it did against Calmore," he added. "The late swing I got was too much for most of their batsmen."The relatively inexperienced Calmore players reacted like startled rabbits trapped in a car headlamp as Goldstraw created 13 overs of left-arm mayhem from his favoured soccer pitch end at Southern Gardens.He clean bowled four batsmen, had two trapped leg before, another caught behind and James Hibberd picked up at slip.Ironically, Goldstraw’s second ball – a rank long-hop – was deposited for six on the adjoining railway track by Martin Bushell, who was making his Calmore debut following his recent release from the Hampshire Academy."It was probably the worst ball I’ve ever bowled at this level – and it got what it deserved," Goldstraw said.But that was simply the lull before the storm as far as Calmore were concerned as Goldstraw promptly removed Mark Archer and the unlucky Paul Cass in consecutive deliveries to have the visitors wobbling at 11-2.Chris Thomason trapped Bushell leg before to prompt the fall of four more wickets for ten runs and have Calmore 31-6 at tea.Only Hibberd (18) put up much of a fight as Goldstraw, who picked up 48 wickets last season, carved his way through the Calmore lower-order and tail.The second half of the match was a huge disappointment for Calmore, who held their own during the morning session to have BAT Sports 145-5 at the luncheon interval."I suppose the game was in the balance at that stage, but having got David Banks out immediately before the break, we allowed BAT to score 60 runs in ten overs immediately after the resumption and lost any hold we had," reflected Calmore skipper Tom Pegler.Calmore removed New Zealander Neil Parlane and Richard Kenway before snapping up the prize wicket of Damian Shirazi (25), who was in pristine form having twice scored centuries for the MCC Young Cricketers in the past ten days.But Banks (55), also looking in good nick, produced some fine shots – before playing a reckless loose shot right on lunch to give the toiling Hibberd (4-92) his third of four wickets.BAT came out firing after lunch, with Chris Thomason’s carefree batting style being rewarded with a first SPL half-century in two seasons.The pressure was off as Archie Norris (34) and Richard Dibden (24) guided BAT to an unassailable 263-9 declared off 57 overs.Goldstraw took centre-stage after that as ten Calmore batsmen to contemplate whether to put their gear alongside the suckling pig being roasted on a spit at their Loperwood Park "hog roast" a mile up the road.

Nobody really expects Zimbabwe to spring the surprise they did three years ago, when they beat West Indies in all three group matches to reach the final of the NatWest Series. Unfortunately then typical Zimbabwean ill-luck struck at Lord’s, where they lost a critical toss and were put in to bat in overwhelmingly bowler-friendly conditions which had eased when it was England’s turn to chase a small target.This year South Africa replace West Indies as the third team in the tournament. All three participating sides have undergone major changes over the last few months, but Zimbabwe’s have been more serious. While England and South Africa have changed personnel more as a matter of natural transition, especially following unsuccessful World Cup campaigns, Zimbabwe – ironically the only team of the three to reach the Super Sixes in the World Cup – have been decimated more for political reasons, and have much less depth to fall back upon.Most critically Zimbabwe have lost the services of Andy Flower, whose monumental achievements as the rock of a fragile team’s batting has probably only ever been matched by the great West Indian George Headley in the game’s history. Flower famously made his protest against the situation in Zimbabwe along with Henry Olonga at the start of the World Cup, but had already made his decision to leave the country, the deciding factor apparently being the future of his young family.The results for the Zimbabwean team have been clear on this tour. They have nobody to hold their batting together, and the innings have frequently appeared rudderless. Whenever a major partnership has appeared to be in the offing, somebody has played a soft stroke and got out.Also missing from that 2000 tour are Murray Goodwin and Neil Johnson, while the recent exodus has also included the experienced Alistair Campbell (for reasons of attitude according to the selectors), and Guy Whittall, whose body has failed to stand up to the heavy international schedule.This is almost an entire batting line-up gone in three years, and to make matters worse for ages the selectors made no attempt to establish the next generation of batsmen. Stuart Carlisle, Gavin Rennie, Craig Wishart and Trevor Gripper have been in and out of the side for years, never secure for long, and only a dramatic double-century at the last possible moment enabled Carlisle to gain a reprieve for this tour. He proved the most prolific batsman, but then that ill-luck struck again – he will miss the tournament with a broken hand. This leaves Grant Flower as Zimbabwe’s only experienced batsman, but the selectors refused the opportunity to recall Rennie or Wishart, whose experience would have been invaluable.The bowling attack is missing Henry Olonga, the man whose dramatic last over enabled Zimbabwe to pip India in a thrilling World Cup match in 1999, and who shattered England a few months later with 6 for 19 in an ODI at Cape Town. The selectors have not favoured accurate bowlers in recent years, looking in vain for those supposedly able to produce wicket-taking deliveries instead. Of Zimbabwe’s three most accurate bowlers, none of whom was given security by the selectors, Bryan Strang emigrated for political reasons, Pommie Mbangwa did too much commentating and too little playing last season according to the selectors, and Gary Brent has finally been recalled in desperation.The team will be grateful to Heath Streak and Raymond Price for putting a brake on the scoring for 20 of the 50 overs. The remaining 30 will, for the most part, be a problem. Wickets may come, especially if Andy Blignaut is bowling or Douglas Hondo has one of his inspired spells, but they will be costly.Zimbabwe’s main strength lies in its young allrounders. Blignaut is potentially dynamite, with his shock bowling and big hitting. Travis Friend may have played himself into the side after a good match against Essex. He is a very useful batsman and bowled much better, but he is invariably expensive. Sean Ervine, struggling a little in both departments, might miss out.If the situation at home allows, though, this has the makings of a good Zimbabwean team four or five years down the line. The embarrassingly young batsmen, bowlers and allrounders – including their wicketkeeper-batsman Tatenda Taibu – will have gained experience and could be in their prime.Zimbabwe are scheduled to return to England in 2008. Hard though it may be to believe, and all depends on political developments in that time, Zimbabwe may well be in a position to deal out some flippin’ murder of their own then. Today’s strugglers may be the stars of 2008, and we may be getting a sneak preview of some exciting forthcoming attractions. But for the present, Zimbabwe will have to play out of their socks to win even one match. All we can ask or hope for is for them to be competitive, and to communicate their enjoyment of the game.

Australia will go into their first Test against Bangladesh without a practice game or a training camp, and Steve Waugh has admitted that his team will beunderprepared at Darwin next month.Bangladesh will play three warm-up matches before the Darwin Test, but Waugh did not appear too worried about the lack of preparation. “I’m assuming the guyswho played both the Tests and the one-dayers in the West Indies won’t be picking up a bat or a ball until next week at least,” said Waugh. “I think we’ll be scratchy and not that well-prepared, but the guys are used to that now, and they know how to get themselves prepared.Waugh added: “It’s a pretty low-key preparation coming into a Test series – there’s no practice matches, there’s no camp – but it is difficult to keep having those things when the guys are away from home so much.”The series has already faced much criticism, with Dennis Lillee attacking the International Cricket Council (ICC) for organising such tours for televisionrevenue earnings. Malcolm Speed, chief executive of the ICC, has also broached the idea of a two-tier system, with promotions and demotions within the Test world.Speed’s suggestion did not find favour with Waugh. “I think that would be unfair,” he said. “How are you going to get the bottom sides to improve if they keep playing other weak sides? I’d like to think cricket is in a better state than that. I think that’s being too elitist.””They (Bangladesh) have got to learn and they’ve got to catch up. Sri Lanka proved they could do it; 10 years after being given Test status, they won theWorld Cup,” said Waugh. “So I think you’ve got to put more resources into these countries and help them out rather than say ‘you’re not good enough, we’ll see you in five years when you’ve improved’.”Waugh also denied that Australia were playing the one-sided series for financial benefit. “I don’t think it’s ever about money. I don’t think any of the guys have ever played cricket because of money. We’re going into the Bangladesh series to play for pride and respect,” said Waugh. “It’s a big honour to be playing for Australia, and a lot of other guys would love tobe playing in this series.”

National League Division One
Glamorgan 198 for 3 beat Warwickshire 196 all out by seven wickets at Sophia Gardens
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Only Trevor Penney (64) made a real impression with the bat as Warwickshire struggled against the bowling of Adrian Dale – 3 for 16 – and Dean Cosker (3 for 44). Glamorgan’s run-chase was a formality once Robert Croft blazed his way to 71 at the top of the order. Matthew Maynard and David Hemp then administered the last rites.Leicestershire 90 for 4 beat Essex 212 for 6 by six wickets (D/L method) at Grace Road
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Andy Flower held the Essex innings together with a superb 103 (113 balls), but it wasn’t enough to edge out Leicestershire in a truncated match at Grace Road. With the innings reduced to 43.3 overs, Flower combined with Darren Robinson (35) and Aftab Habib to post a competitive total. Phil DeFreitas and Darren Stevens got Leicestershire off to a good start, but the D/L target became stiffer with the fall of wickets. Needing 89 from 16 overs, they got there with two deliveries to spare.National League Division Two
Derbyshire 163 for 4 beat Sussex 160 for 6 by six wickets (D/L method) at the County Ground
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Mohammad Kaif and Dominic Hewson combined to guide Derbyshire to a six-wicket victory, with seven balls remaining. Kaif made 55 from 62 balls, and Hewson chipped in with a 29-ball 39. Sussex’s total owed much to a 55-ball 60 from Matthew Prior, but good bowling from Graeme Welch (2 for 27) and Dominic Cork (2 for 34) restricted them to a below-par total in another match interrupted by rain.Middlesex 210 for 8 beat Durham 203 for 6 by 7 runs at Lord’s
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Middlesex eked out a narrow victory thanks largely to Tim Bloomfield’s superb bowling (4 for 36). Ed Joyce and Simon Cook had almost single-handedly taken Middlesex past 200, after Neil Killeen – who bowled a beautiful spell to finish with 5 for 33 – and Mark Davies cut through the top order. Durham’s response was anchored by Gary Pratt (63*), but despite contributions from Nicky Peng (41) and Gordon Muchall (44), it was Middlesex, and Bloomfield, who had the final word. Hampshire 335 for 6 beat Somerset 219 all out by 116 runs at the County Ground in Taunton
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Simon Katich, who cracked a magnificent 106 from 88 balls, and John Crawley – with a far from sedate 92 (64 balls) – were instrumental in this comprehensive rout of Somerset. John Francis made 50 too, as Somerset’s bowlers – the exception being Nixon McLean, who took 3 for 51 – were taken apart. Chaminda Vaas then got Jamie Cox fourth ball to start Somerset’s slide to defeat. Ian Blackwell (43) and Keith Parsons were the only ones to offer any resistance as Hampshire wrapped up the innings with 8.5 overs to spare. Shaun Udal finished with 3 for 36.

Nottinghamshire have released batsman Guy Welton and offspinner Stephen Randall as the rebuilding process gets under way at Trent Bridge. Welton, 25, leaves after eight years on the staff while 23-year-old Randall has been with the county for the past five seasons.Mick Newell, Nottinghamshire’s director of cricket, said: “It’s a shame things have not worked out for them. They are two local lads who are totally committed to Notts cricket but it’s just that we don’t think they are the way forward for this club. They both want to continue in the game and I wish them all the very best for the future.”Welton has played more than 70 first-class matches for Nottinghamshire, scoring 571 runs at an average of 24.83 this season. Randall has had limited opportunities for first-team cricket with Australian legspinner Stuart MacGill in the squad, and has been restricted to limited-overs appearances only this summer, claiming four wickets in six appearances.”This is just the start of the rebuilding process,” explained Newell. “Clearly something has to be done because I totally accept that performances this season have not been up to the required standard. We have to make room to bring in players who are capable of doing very much better than we have this season.”Seamers Gareth Clough and Charlie Shreck have been offered new deals along with offspinner Paul McMahon.

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An efficient bowling display from Zimbabwe, led by Sean Ervine, against Rockingham-Mandurah was overshadowed by another batting collapse and the news that Douglas Hondo is a serious doubt for the opening Test next Thursday at Perth.Hondo, Zimbabwe’s third-choice seamer behind Heath Streak and Andy Blignaut, strained his thumb yesterday and was unable to bowl at all today. However, Ervine did his chances no harm by kick-starting Zimbabwe’s fightback with five wickets against the Rockingham-Mandurah team, who were bolstered by four fringe Western Australian players.Ervine, who smashed 41 in Zimbabwe’s first innings, grabbed 5 for 37 from 15 overs as Rockingham-Mandurah capitulated to 123 in front of a crowd of about 200 at Settlers Hill. Luke Ronchi saved his side from even more blushes with an entertaining 44 on the bowler-friendly pitch, but he was one of only three batsmen to make double figures.With a slender lead of 26, Zimbabwe’s fragile batting line-up was again exposed in their second innings as they slumped to 107 for 6 at the close. Craig Wishart (32*) ensured they still had some sort of advantage – a lead of 133 runs, but with only four wickets left and Hondo unable to bat.Day One Bulletin