In the North Zone League Under-22 played at DhruvPandove Stadium, Patiala, Punjab took on HimachalPradesh. Sanjay Dhull’s potent off spin bowlingwas the difference between the two teams as Punjabbeat Himachal by an innings and 11 runs on Friday.On Wednesday Himachal won the toss and elected tobat and were bowled out for 151 in 50.4 overs.Opener Hitesh Angrish made 53 and there were noother significant contributions to the Himachalinnings. Off Spinner Sanjay Dhull excelled withthe ball, picking up 5/31. Punjab innings waspeppered with four half centuries as they declaredat 359/9 in 88.1 overs. Sachin Rana (83), AmitKakriya (73), Munish Sharma (51) and Ankur Sondhi(50 notout) were the batting stars for Punjab.Shavinder Pal was the best of Himachal bowlerswith the figures of 6/117. Himachal Pradesh werebowled out for 197 in their second innings. Punjabbowler Sanjay Dhull again picked up five wickets(5/81) to finish with a match haul of 10/112.Digvijay Singh (55) was the only player to get tohis half century in the Himachal second innings.Punjab took all eight points to Himachal’s none.

Although Justice Edwin King refuses to discuss the matter ahead of his final report into match-fixing and corruption, it seems unlikely that he will recommend the scrapping of the indemnity against prosecution offered former South African captain Hansie Cronje ahead of his evidence at last June’s hearings in Cape Town.A report in the Sunday Times in London on Sunday claimed that Cronje would have his indemnity revoked upon release of Judge King’s final report, expected some time this month, and could face criminal prosecution and possible extradition to India.Most observers, however, believe this to no more than speculation. United Cricket Board spokesperson Bronwyn Wilkinson said on Sunday that the Judge had no intention of discussing his report before handing it over to the South African government.The Sunday Times report quotes the King commission’s chief investigator Shamila Batohi as saying: “In his interim report, Judge King ruled that Cronje had more to tell, that he had at times contradicted himself and had been evasive. There is no further evidence upon which the judge could change that evaluation.”Since there’s been no way to cross-examine Cronje further, the judge cannot possibly say something totally contradictory in his final report.”At the same time, Judge King did not recommend the scrapping of the indemnity offered Cronje and there seems no reason to believe he will do so now.The King commission held no further hearings nor called any new witnesses after June last year and its eventual closure earlier this year left a sense of incompleteness. Nevertheless, there was no further opportunity to cross-examine Cronje nor to hear new evidence and on this basis a recommendation that Cronje be prosecuted would come as a surprise.If Cronje persists in a legal challenge to the life ban imposed on him by the UCB, however, new evidence could emerge. In this case, the South African authorities might have to consider whether Cronje had breached the terms of his indemnity.There is, however, a broad feeling that the South African government has all but lost interest in match-fixing for the time being and that this lack of political will, as much as anything else, contributed to the unexpected closure of the King commission.

• It was the 1547th Test match in cricket history.
• It was England’s 781st and Pakistan’s 278th Test match.
• It was the 60th match between these two sides. The record now reads : England 16, Pakistan 10,drawn 34.
• It was the 39th match between these two sides in England. The record now reads : England 14,Pakistan 8,drawn 17.
• It was the fourth match between these two teams at Old Trafford. Pakistan has won one, while remaining three matches were drawn.
• David Shepherd was officiating in his 56th Test match which places him second among the umpires with most Test appearances alongwith West Indian Steve Bucknor. Now only Dicky Bird, another Englishman, with 66 appearances is ahead of Shepherd. The other umpire Eddie Nicholls was standing in his 16th match.
• When he reached 5 in first innings, Inzamam completed 5000 runs in his 74th Test (and 122nd innings). He became fifth Pakistani and 47th batsman overall to do so. Others with 5000 runs in a career for Pakistan are Javed Miandad (8832 runs in 124 Tests),Salim Malik (5768 in 103) and Zaheer Abbas (5062 in 78).
• When he dismissed Marcus Trescothick in first innings, Wasim Akram equalled England’s Brian Statham’s record of dismissing 102 batsmen as `bowled’. Now Akram is just one short of Fred Trueman’s world record of dismissing most batsmen in this fashion.
• The third wicket partnership of 267 runs between Michael Vaughan and Graham Thorpe in first innings was England’s best for this wicket against Pakistan in all Tests. This obliterated the previous highest of 227 between Alec Stewart and Robin Smith at Edgbaston in 1992.
• The partnership was also the highest for England against Pakistan for any wicket beating the 248 run-partnership between Colin Cowdrey and Ted Dexter for second wicket at The Oval in 1962.
• Inzamam-ul-Haq (114 & 85) twice top scored in the match for Pakistan. It was the fourth instance when He was performing this feat. The other three occasions being such occasion for him when he top scored in each innings of a Test for England. The other occasions being : v Zimbabwe (71 out of 322 & 65 out of 158) and (101 out of 231 & 83 out of 250) in the first and third Test at Harare in 1994-95 and v Sri Lanka (86 out of 256 & 138 out of 421) at Karachi in 1999-00.Inzamam now holds the record of top scoring in each innings of a Test on most occasions for Pakistan moving ahead of Wasim Raja who had three such instances. Inzamam also joined the ranks of four other batsmen -David Gower,Mike Atherton,Brian Lara and Andy Flower-who had top scored in each innings of a Test on as many as four occasions. The world record, however stands on the name on Indian little master Sunil Gavaskar with five such instances.
• The wicket of Andrew Caddick in second innings was 150th for Saqlain Mushtaq in his 35th Test. He became 65th bowler in Test annals and eighth Pakistani to reach this milestone.
• The wicket of Darren Gough in second innings was 50th for Waqar Younis against England in his 11th Test. He became third Pakistani after Abdul Qadir (82 wickets in 16 Tests) and Wasim Akram (57 wickets in 18 Tests) to do so.
• Wasim Akram has now dismissed 79 batsmen for a duck in Tests which equals West Indian Courtney Walsh’s world record. Akram, though has played in only 102 Tests as against Walsh’s 132. Incidentally a total of 10 bowlers have recorded 50 or more scoreless victims. Akram and Walsh are followed by Curtly Ambrose (76),Kapil Dev (68),Richard Hadlee (66), Waqar Younis (66),Imran Khan (61), Glenn McGrath (60),Malcolm Marshall (57) and Bob Willis (57).
• England,comfortably placed at 229 for four in second innings ,was reduced to 230 for eight losing four wickets while adding only one run. It was the joint worst four wicket collapse for an English side against Pakistan. England was bundled out for 175 after being 174 for six in the Lord’s Test in 1992.
• England’s total of 261 was its highest against Pakistan in the fourth innings of a Test. The previous highest was 243 at Lord’s in 1996. England suffered defeat on both these occasions. Incidentally England’s highest winning total in the fourth innings of a Test against Pakistan is 219 for seven at Headingley in 1982.
• For only the fifth time in Test history a two match series ended with a score of 1-1. The other such series are : England v Australia in Australia (1876-77),Australia v Pakistan in Australia (1976-77),Pakistan v New Zealand in Pakistan (1996-97) and India v Pakistan in India (1998-99).

At the end of the series :

England’s overall Test record : played 781,won 265,lost 225 and drawn 291.Pakistan’s overall Test record : played 278,won 79,lost 68 and drawn 131.Nasser Hussain’s captaincy record : played 21,won 9,lost 6 and drawn 6.Alec Stewart’s captaincy record : played 15,won 4,lost 8,drawn 3.Waqar Younis’ captaincy record : played 3,won 2,lost 1.

New Zealand’s pool for the World Cup in 2003 will depend on how the side does in the tri-series with Sri Lanka and India next month, and its One-Day Internationals with Pakistan in September.If the draw was made today, New Zealand would be in the same section as: South Africa, Sri Lanka, England, Bangladesh, Kenya and the third-placed team from the ICC Trophy tournament starting in Toronto later this week.On the other side of the draw would be: Australia, Pakistan, India, the West Indies, Zimbabwe and the first and second-placed teams from the ICC Trophy.The final pool allocations could be significant in the hunt for the $US5million up for grabs by the leading sides.International captains have been asked to recommend a suitable breakdown of prizemoney for the tournament.New Zealand coach David Trist, who will stand down from his position in September, said that sort of draw would be “wonderful” from New Zealand’s view.”South Africa are the host team with the advantage of playing at home and it would be good to play them early in the tournament.”Sri Lanka have a poor record away from home, particularly when playing on bouncy wickets as we have seen and England, well, we all know about them.”It would be excellent,” he said.The final draw of pools and games will be made at the end of October while countries will be allocated a South African base on August 20.The opening match of the tournament will be on February 7 in Cape Town and will involve South Africa, and the final will be played in Johannesburg on Wednesday, March 19.On all but two of the 22 days of the preliminary pool group round two matches will be played.In the Super Six round the nine matches will be played over nine days. Semifinals will be played in Port Elizabeth on Friday, March 14 and Durban on March 15.The news that most of New Zealand’s games were likely to be day matches, to suit television coverage potential in New Zealand would be advantageous.”At night you can struggle with the elements in the form of dew. It is an imponderable and it makes what to do at the toss a difficult one.”But New Zealand will have a matured team by then and it will be ready with depth and quality in the side,” he said.Matches have been categorised. The 24 category A matches, those involving the Super Six games, the semis and the final as well as pool matches involving South Africa and Sri Lanka will be played at the six Test match centres.In category B there are 18 pool matches, mainly those by Test nations against the three Associate Members and Kenya will be played at six non-Test grounds while the four category C matches between the Association Members will be played at Test match centres to allow the associate players to play on South Africa’s famous Test match grounds.

Even a decade ago, cricket groundsmen would have laughed at the idea that knowledge of fireworks, logo painting and the chemical deterrence of dew would be an essential part of their craft.But these issues are all on the agenda of the New Zealand Sports Turf Conference and Trade Show, being held in Rotorua this week.More than 300 people involved in the turf management industry are in attendance, with cricket strongly represented.Some of the machinery on display looks like a by-product of the space programme, with computers and lasers seemingly more common than forks and spades. Delegates were reminded that things used to be very different by the reminiscences of Gary Walklin, formerly groundsman at McLean Park, Napier.Walklin’s first job in turf management was to be given sole charge of 15 cricket blocks and an equal number of practice wickets at Hagley Park in Christchurch, more than 30 years ago. His only qualification was a love of cricket, his only training a week spent with his predecessor. Equipped with tools that were little better than farm cast-offs, he learned as he went along.While agreeing that the development of scientific methods, hi-tech equipment, specialist grasses and training programmes have been of great value to groundsmen, Walklin does not believe that the trade has become easier.”I know of no other job that has so many people reporting on your performance. Umpires and managers report on the pitch, while players and the media are increasingly critical.”When Gary Walklin entered the industry the only bar chart he came across was probably a list of beers available at the end of a hard day’s work. Now, they are part of a detailed package of information that groundsmen have to study before working on the turf.Bill Walmsley of the New Zealand Turf Institute produced a bewildering array of graphs and charts in response this question, posed at the start of his talk.”Why isn’t every pitch you produce as good as the best you have ever produced?”Quality control and understanding of the scientific principles at work in the soil was Walmsley’s answer, with the maintenance of good moisture levels throughout the preparation period the key. This is necessary for the achievement of the compaction needed for good bounce.As curator of the WACA ground in Perth, Richard Winter is an authority on the production of fast, bouncy pitches. The WACA is considered the best Test pitch in the world, by Glenn McGrath, Brett Lee and Jason Gillespie, at least.Formerly at the altogether slower-paced Eden Park, Winter described the process of producing a Test pitch. He acknowledged that the Western Australian climate and unique clay soils are considerable advantages.The secret of producing the extra pace that causes batsmen around the world to wake up screaming in the middle of the night apparently lies in rolling the pitch quickly while it is covered in a thin mist of dampness. This reduces friction to a minimum.It came as a relief to those delegates becoming bamboozled by the complex science of modern day pitch preparation that Winter’s method for testing the moisture content of his pitches is simply to push a screwdriver into the ground to see how far it goes.Trevor Jackson is responsible for pitch preparation at the new National Stadium on Wellington’s waterfront, and at the Basin Reserve. He illustrated the problems faced by groundsmen at multi-use venues by presenting the February 2001 schedule for the National Stadium.A period of less than three weeks began and ended with ODIs. Between these important games, the venue staged the World Rugby Sevens – two whole days of intensive punishment for the turf – followed by an Australian Rules contest.Each of the sports took no account of the time needed to prepare for the others, and were very precise about their own needs.The Australians were most demanding. It was inconceivable that their game should proceed unless every blade of grass was exactly 22mm long. There was to be no covering of the cricket block, a stipulation that would have been disastrous for the production of a decent pitch had there been bad weather. They were even unhappy with the pattern created by the mowing. It had to be redone.Consideration is being given to reducing the block at the stadium from five to two pitches. This should make it easier and cheaper to maintain quality. Cricketers, who resent rugby being played on cricket blocks, can forget that rugby players dislike it just as much, sometimes finding them dangerously hard and slippery.By implication, a decision to reduce the size of the block at the National Stadium would be good news for those keen to retain international cricket at the Basin Reserve.Before the forthcoming season, Jackson faces another problem. 14,000 people on the outfield at a Robbie Williams concert. “At least that will get rid of the winter poa build-up” he wryly remarked.Tomorrow, CricInfo will report on the solutions offered by modern technology to the problems of crowded schedules and the growing commercial and media demands that can get in the way of the production of top-class playing surfaces.

Paceman Stephen Harmison and skipper Jon Lewis kept Durham afloat in a high-scoring game against Sussex at Chester-le-Street today.Harmison completed the first six-wicket haul of his career as Sussex slipped from 434 for five to 442 all out, then Lewis made 83 not out as Durham replied with 166 for one.Their efforts took some of the gloss off the second century of Umer Rashid’s career, which included 13 fours and two sixes and came off 177 balls.He was four short of his career-best 110 when he edged Harmison to wicket-keeper Andrew Pratt to spark a spell of four for two in 14 balls for the paceman.Figures of one for 80 on the first day were transformed into six for 111 for Harmison, whose one wicket in his first spell today ended Richard Montgomerie’s vigil, which lasted a shade over seven hours.The opener had moved on from 134 to 156 when Harmison went round the wicket and had him well caught by Paul Collingwood at wide third slip.Play had begun 50 minutes late in miserable conditions and batting looked more difficult than on the first day until Rashid suddenly began to find the middle of the bat.He pulled Danny Law for his second six and put on 77 with Matthew Prior, who cut straight to gully two overs after his partner’s exit.James Kirtley edged the next ball to Pratt, Mark Robinson played and missed at the hat-trick ball then Mark Davis chopped on. The collapse was complete when Robinson was run out.

“It’s a government decision. How can I comment on it?” said thesecretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India Jaywant Lele onTuesday night reacting to the government’s decision not to allow theIndian cricket team to take part in second edition of Asian TestChampionship beginning later this month.Asian Cricket Foundation President Jagmohan Dalmiya, when contacted inKolkata, declined to comment on the government decision saying “Iwould not like to comment on the basis of media reports. I willcomment only after receiving the official confirmation from the Indiangovernment.”Dalmiya however had said earlier that the Asian Cricket Council (ACC)would go ahead with the Asian Test Championship as per the scheduleeven if India pulled out. He had said at the end of a two-day ACFconclave held in Kolkata on August 16 that ACC would ‘bend backwards’to accommodate India even at 11th hour but not at the cost ofdisrupting the ATC schedule.Dalmiya had however conceded that the “championship will lose much ofits glamour if India pulled out.”

* Kambli drops out of Kenya tri-seriesFormer India left-hander Vinod Kambli has dropped out of the Mumbai team that is to tour Kenya to play a tri-series as he is down with gastroenteritis and tonsillitis. Jatin Paranjpe has been named to replace him.Meanwhile, Ranji champions Baroda, who will also be playing in the tournament, have named a squad under Jacob Martin, currently touring Sri Lanka with the Indian side. Connor Williams has been named vice-captain. Mumbai and Baroda will clash in the tournament opener on September 11.Squads: Mumbai: Paras Mhambrey (captain), Sairaj Bahutule (vice-captain), Robin Morris, Wasim Jaffer, Vinayak Mane, Jatin Paranjpe, Kunal More, Nilesh Patwardhan (wicket-keeper), Ajit Agarkar, Ramesh Powar, Nilesh Kulkarni, Swapnil Hazare, Paul Valthaty and Bhavin Thakkar. Coach: Lalchand RajputBaroda: Jacob Martin (captain), Connor Williams (vice-captain), Satyajit Parab, Tushar Arothe, Ajit Bhoite, Nayan Mongia (wicketkeeper), Zaheer Khan, Rakesh Patel, Irfan Pathan (Jr), Irfan Pathan (Sr), Umang Patel, Valmik Buch, Milap Mewada, Himanshu Jadhav and Rahul Chandorkar.* Bailed out Prabhakar is not a free man yetManoj Prabhakar might have been granted bail by the Uttaranchal High Court but he is not a free man yet. The colourful former Indian Test all-rounder will now be taken to Indore on Wednesday where a local court had recently issued arrest warrants against him for duping small investors in the same chit fund case that originally led to his arrest. The Indore police had handed the arrest warrants to the Uttaranchal police recently.Prabhakar had earlier secured a bail from the Uttaranchal High Court after his counsel produced four sureties before the Chief Judicial Magistrate. He is currently recovering in a private nursing home in Haldwani after suffering from a brain stroke.* Nagaraj denies duping the KSCAFormer BCCI Secretary C Nagaraj on Thursday denied that he had ever duped the Karnataka State Cricket Association. “The resolution passed by a Special General Body Meeting (SGM) of KSCA, debarring me from contesting elections, has been done with malafide intentions,” he said in a statement in Bangalore. He also claimed that senior members of the KSCA were absent at the SGM and that over 100 proxy votes were cast in support of the resolution.”As I know I am innocent of the charges leveled against me, and time will show this, I would like the cricket loving public of the state to know that the present KSCA office bearers feel that I am a thorn in their flesh”, he said. “I do not accept the strictures passed against me, as these have been done to prevent me from contesting elections.”The SGM had, during the weekend, adopted a resolution barring Nagaraj for life from holding any post in the association.

Paceman Jason Gillespie wants to make up for lost time by playing in all six Test matches of the Australian summer.Gillespie understands the magnitude of the task he has set himself but clearly treasures each chance to represent his country after battling one injury setback after another throughout his international cricket career.”I want to play all the Tests this season,” Gillespie told AAP.”That’s going to be a big challenge to do that. Hopefully I can stay fit and my form can be good enough to get selected.”With my past, I’ve missed a lot of cricket and I’m trying to make up for lost time, so to speak. I don’t want to have any bad games, I want to be very consistent.”Gillespie returned from Australia’s victorious tour of England saying he was disappointed his form was not more consistent.But his Test figures of 19 wickets at 34.32 reflected the fact the 26-year-old South Australian was unlucky on the Ashes tour, often bowling brilliantly for little reward.He also displayed his ability with the bat, hanging on for a gritty 27 not out at Trent Bridge to help push the Australians back into the match after a first innings collapse.”I just want to play a big part in victories, obviously with the ball, but if I can contribute with the bat and in the field, that’s what I want to do,” Gillespie said.In his first outing since returning from England, Gillespie took 2-14 from eight overs for South Australia in a one-day trial match won by Tasmania in Adelaide last week.This Friday, he will lead the Redbacks’ attack in a day-night ING Cup match against Western Australia in Perth.And Gillespie said he expected a tough summer for the Australian side against a New Zealand outfit which has recalled allrounder Chris Cairns, paceman Dion Nashand spinner Daniel Vettori from injury.Not to mention keen rivals South Africa.”We always have great battles against South Africa and I’m sure this year won’t be any different,” Gillespie said.”For New Zealand to have their best players will be a bonus for them but it’s also a bonus for us because we want to play against the best they’ve got.”I think we’re going to have to be on the top of our game to bowl them out because they’ve got some very good stroke makers and some good batsmen who workthe ball around.”They’ve got a couple of their big guns back as bowlers so our batters have to be on top of their game.”

West Indies first warm-up game on their tour of Sri Lanka was abandoned on Monday, after torrential downpours over the weekend washed out two full days of play.The poor weather raises fears that the tourists may start a three-Test series against Sri Lanka next worryingly short of match practice.Large pools of water covered the outfield at Nondescripts Cricket Club after an early morning storm and with play always unlikely the West Indies players went for an indoor training session.The team will now leave Colombo for the southern town of Matara hoping that the weather improves for their last scheduled practice game on 8-10 November.Captain Carl Hooper, admitted that the untimely bad weather was frustrating: "We really wanted to play the last two days of this game, with the Test series not being far away.""The bowlers really need to have a proper run-out here so that they can get used to the pitches and the humidity," he said. "Unfortunately, in the nets here, they have to bowl off shortened run-ups.""We can’t do anything about the weather though and we are just hoping that the weather improves for our final practice game in Matara."West Indies batsmen enjoyed the sunnier conditions on Saturday and piled up 334 for seven against a Sri Lanka A with Hooper scoring a serene century. Hooper, however, was disappointed that the batsmen hadn’t occupied the crease for a longer period."I would have preferred it if the players had had more extended stints in the middle," he said. "A few of us got starts, but only Brian (Lara) and I batted for two hours or more and only I had a really decent amount of time out there."He was happy with his form: "I have been feeling good with the bat and have been hitting the ball well since the domestic one-day tournament back in the Caribbean."Brian Lara scored 43 from 103 balls on Saturday and was far from his best, but he, at least, showed no signs of being hampered by his hamstring injury."Brian was keen to spend time in the middle, so that he could get used to the pace of the pitches," said Hooper. "He had a decent hit and lets hope he gets a second one in Matara. His hamstring seems ok. He got through a conditioning session today without any problems."