Going into the final, India on the basis of their sterlingperformances and all win record, were the favourites. And theydid not falter at the last hurdle. With a convincing 54-runvictory over Pakistan, India emerged as champions in the AsianCricket Council under-15 tournament in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday.An Indian victory was always on the cards, especially after theyhad got the better of Pakistan by 33 runs in their league match.India, opting to bat first, were all out for 209 runs in 38.5overs. After the early fall of Ashraf Ali (2), Ambati Rayuduand Sushil Kumar pieced together a second wicket partnership of117 runs. The consistent Rayudu notched up the top score of 70off 77 balls with ten hits to the ropes. Shortly afterwards,Sushil Kumar was out for 48, which was compiled off 62 ballsand inclusive of seven fours. Palash Das, who took a century offthe weak Hong Kong attack on Saturday, was this time restrictedto 20 off 23 balls. The middle and late order did not add anythingsubstantially and with Akbar Ali taking four for 44 off sevenovers, Pakistan were able to keep the Indian total down tomanageable proportions.Pakistan lost wickets at regular intervals and were never reallyin the hunt. With six wickets down for 62, the destination ofthe trophy was already decided and all that a seventh wicket partnership of 41 runs between skipper Kasheef Mahmood (26)and Mohd Azhar Ali (15) did was to delay the inevitable. Infact, extras with 31, contributed the most to the Pakistan totaland stretched it to 155 for nine in 40 overs. Nikhil Rathod(2 for 10) and Navin Choudhury (2 for 24) troubled the Pakistanbatsmen the most.Not surprisingly, the Indian lads made a clean sweep of theawards. Ambati Rayudu was the man of the match and the man ofthe series, the best wicket keeper award was given to AbhinavKumar, the best bowler award was presented to Mrigen Talukdarand Palash Jyoti Das who hit two centuries was adjudgedbest batsman.

Rain severely hampered the day’s programme on the opening day of theKSCA Coca Cola Cup Under-25 tournament in Bangalore on Sunday. Whilethere was no play in the match between Kerala and Hyderabad at the RSAground, play in the Andhra-Goa game at the Maharaja JayachamarajendraWodayar Sports Complex was restricted to 33.1 overs. Andhra ended thesoggy first day at 101 for two wickets.Play started only at 2.15 pm and Goa captain Nilesh Naik, on winningthe toss, put Andhra into bat. A wet pitch did not deter the Andhraopeners from making a lively start. TS Prasad (32 not out) and N AnilKumar (22) put on 30 runs for the first wicket off only 5.4 overs.Anil Kumar was the first to be dismissed when he offered a catch toNithyanand Halgekar off Nilesh Naik.One drop G Srinivasa Reddy joined Prasad and the two added 58 runs off24 overs before the former was bowled by Edison Gonsalves for 31. Hefaced 76 balls and hit four of them to the ropes. Balaji Krishna, inthe company of the patient Prasad took the score past the hundred runmark. But the innings continued to be interrupted. First, play wasrestricted to just 27 minutes. Then after an early tea, there was playfrom 3 pm till 5 pm. The umpires made three inspections before callingoff play because of bad light at 5.20 pm. By close, the watchfulPrasad had batted almost 2-1/2 hours. He faced 91 balls and had threeboundary hits to his credit. Balaji Krishna was batting on ten.

Bengal completed the last rites of the one sided East Zone RanjiTrophy match on the final morning on Wednesday against Tripura at theEden Gardens, claiming the last three wickets and completing aninnings and 134 run win. Bengal pocketed eight points.Resuming at the overnight score of 104 for 7, the Tripura secondinnings lasted a further 28.3 overs. GH Banik, who was unbeaten on 30the previous evening, added 38 runs for the eighth wicket with RajibDutta (19). Banik, after a patient 51 off 112 balls, was caught byUtpal Chatterjee off WP Majumder. Rajib then departed in the 74th overof the innings caught by LR Shukla off Majumder. Five more runs wereadded before Bengal sealed their win when Parui bowled RS Rawat (2).

Pune Club, Pune saw Madhya Pradesh take on Punjab in the Cooch BeharTrophy quarterfinal. Batting first Punjab were bowled out for 245 inthe 82nd over thanks to a classy bowling display by Ambalal Patidarwho claimed the wickets of seven Punjab batsmen. Gaganinder Singh(47) and Rajan Singh (43) were the batsmen to impress for Punjab.Madhya Pradesh were 26 without loss by the close of play on Tuesday .

Sourav Ganguly says that he enjoys touring more than playing at home.With so many people around and so much hype, Ganguly suggests that hefeels cramped in domestic surroundings. Indeed he never tires ofpointing out that he has a better Test average away than at home. At47.66, his away average is almost seven points higher than thecorresponding figure of 40.79 at home. Ganguly is not the only Indianto possess such a distinction. Rahul Dravid and Sadagoppan Ramesh alsoshare it and while Sachin Tendulkar does not, he still averages ahealthy 53 away. Dravid actually boasts a figure above 50 in seven ofthe nine countries he has played in (except Sri Lanka where he isclose enough and Australia where he is far enough) which is positivelybrilliant.A closer scrutiny reveals some warts in that seemingly impeccablelooking away record. The captain for instance has not approached theuniformly good record across the five continents as his second number.He has come, seen but failed to conquer in four nations: Australia,South Africa, West Indies (from where not coincidentally the best fastbowlers hail) and Zimbabwe. One of the commonly articulated grouses ofbatsmen is the lack of sufficient practice games to get acclimatisedto the conditions. A hastily arranged visit from South Africa to breaktheir isolation in 1991/92 meant that one of India’s warm-ups in thesubsequent tour of Australia was lopped off the itinerary. India wentinto the first Test with just one first class game behind them andwere ritually slaughtered.On the first tour of Zimbabwe in 1992/93, India blithely entered theTest without so much as a first class game behind them and almostfaced the mortification of a follow-on. Six years later, on theirsecond tour, they had one game which they won by an innings withouthardly breaking into a sweat. But that one innings of batting practiceclearly did not suffice for when it came to the crunch, the celebratedIndian batting folding up without so much as a whimper. With two gamesscheduled this time (in which the Indians utilised all four innings)they have nothing to complain about. Four Indian batsmen grabbed theopportunity to make centuries and yet there have been some disturbingsigns.The Indian captain’s Test place is largely hanging on reputation. Hehasn’t scored a century in his last 11 Tests. It should be a challengeGanguly should be raring to overcome by getting as much match practicein the middle before the Test. In the circumstances, his approach inthe second warm-up game was a trifle baffling. Having failed in bothinnings against Zimbabwe A in the first tour game, what did Ganguly doagainst CFX Academy? He promoted Hemang Badani who does not figure inthe Indian team’s plans for the first Test ahead of him in the battingorder and then retired after making 53 which was incidentally hisfirst 50 in his last eight first class games. Shades ofoverconfidence?The stunning turnaround midway through the series against Australiameant that Ganguly was forgiven for his poor run with the bat. Thereis a perception running in sections of the public that he sacrificedhis personal form for the sake of the team by focusing his energies onthe verbal pleasantries. It may be difficult to reproduce such aggronow when the team is installed as favourite and not as underdog.Ganguly’s place in the team is not under threat. Far from it. MarkTaylor and Nasser Hussain have survived longer periods in the battinghorrors. As long as the team wins, all other foibles will be forgiven.But to keep winning India needs the skipper to fire in his primaryrole sooner rather than later. He should realise that, as the oldcliche goes, the willow can speak the most eloquently of all.

Security is to be increased at Trent Bridge in preparation for tomorrow’s One-Day International between Australia and Pakistan.Temporary plastic fencing and a doubling of the stewards are just two of the methods being used to avoid a repetition of the scenes at Headingley yesterday where a steward was seriously injured in a pitch invasion.Notts chief executive David Collier, speaking on BBC Five Live, revealed that the authorities at Trent Bridge have learnt from the example of Rugby and are preparing a package of measures to prevent further trouble.”During the winter months we did commission a report by independent consultants looking at the safety risks, in conjunction with the ECB, and in particular how we stopped incursions onto the field,””For the match at Trent Bridge, not only have we doubled the number of stewards, but we’ve also been in contact with the RFU (Rugby Football Union) at Twickenham, who have been most helpful.”Twickenham has utilised some plastic barrier fencing in recent years, which has proved to be very successful. That will be utilised at Trent Bridge tomorrow night.”On both occasions that games in the NatWest Series have been affected by crowd invasions the majority – but not all – of the offenders have been Pakistan fans. In order to appeal directly to them, the authorities at Trent Bridge have ensured the presence of Urdu and Punjabi speakers at the game tomorrow.”We’ve got Urdu and Punjabi speakers on our public address, we’ve got posters that we’ve printed up asking people to assist us,” Collier revealed. “The Pakistani community are very enthusiastic about their cricket and we do wish to appeal to them to work with us to maintain safety.”Collier also admitted that the club had been in contact with government officials to see if a series of deterrents could be put in place before the game.”We have previously been in contact with the Home Office, through the ECB, to see if we can prevent people coming onto the field of play with some deterrent penalties, such as fines,” he said. “We will be re-contacting the Home Office to see if that can be utilised in both the short and long term.”Meanwhile Yorkshire chief executive Chris Hassell has insisted that the club did everything they could to prevent trouble at Headingley. He hinted that government help in the form of deterrents would need to be instigated if a repetition is to be avoided.”I don’t honestly think any other measures we could have taken would have made any significant difference because if a couple of thousand people want to get onto the pitch it would take a huge army to stop them,” Hassell said.”So we have to go down some different routes such as legislation and banning people coming onto the pitch at any time.”

Northern Districts will go into the new summer without Chris Kuggeleijn as their coach.The former New Zealand representative has taken up a teaching position at Hamilton Boys’ High School and felt the prospect of spending summer holidays with his family and the development of his wife Jenny’s career as a freelance photographer were more important to him than continuing in the coaching role he has pursued since 1996.Beating Canterbury in the 1998 final of the Shell Cup was one of the highlights of his involvement with the ND team, a team he played 82 games for over 16 summers.That summer of 1997/98 was probably his most successful with the side as it won the Max League as well and played the final of the Shell Trophy.”It would have been nice to have won something last summer, but we didn’t. I thought we had the team capable of doing it,” he said.”There are a lot of reasons for giving it up. For a starter I now have a full-time job. The first four years with ND were on six month contracts while last year I had a nine month contract.”I’ve always taught and have enjoyed that. I will still be involved in cricket with school teams and will be available for work with ND. But it was just the whole time commitment,” he said.In 12 months time at the end of his contract he would have been left looking overseas to continue his coaching if he wanted to continue in that line. He had not applied for the position of New Zealand coach.”After weighing all the options up I decided to take this job,” he said of his physical education position.Kuggeleijn said he had no regrets about his decision and felt there was a good blend of youth and experience in the Northern Districts side at the moment.He said he was delighted that Grant Bradburn has regained his place in the New Zealand team.”Grant works harder at his game than anyone I know and his selection shows what good old-fashioned work ethics can achieve.”Observing the state of modern cricket, Kuggeleijn said that players did need to be more self-sufficient. At the moment players had been presented with a lot of things to help them play the game, but the minute they struck a problem, they ran around looking for someone to help them out, rather than working more things out for themselves.”Individuals have to stand up and to think for themselves. They don’t do any thinking for themselves,” he said.Compared to his own time playing cricket, when coaches were not associated with teams, he said, “We were not as au fait with technical matters, injuries and rehabilitation but we thought more about our cricket.”Kuggeleijn did not have a problem with a return in part to that sort of regime by the national side as long as everyone was going in the same direction.As much as on field success had been a highlight for him as ND coach, Kuggeleijn said seeing the development of players not only as players, but also as people, had been most satisfying.Players like Daryl Tuffey, Joseph Yovich and Bradburn were just some who had come through an impressed him in that manner.ND chief executive John Turkington expects to be able to name a new coach within a fortnight.ND had been aware that Kuggeleijn had been looking at other employment options and he would be missed after the successes he had achieved in the last five years.”We’ve been in the top three in both competitions for the last five years in a row, and no-one else has.”We understand his reasons for changing and we wish all the best for the future.”We are looking at options for us in the coaching fraternity,” Turkington said.

Winchester’s eight-match domination of Southern Electric Premier League Division 3 was ended by Rowledge, who shot the previously undefeated leaders out for 145 to secure a weather-cut seven-wicket win at River Park.Australian seamer Craig Eichler (4-34) and evergreen Chris Yates (4-25) did the damage as Winchester were dismissed for 145, with only Institute batsman Paul Davies (34) making his mark in the middle-order.Requiring a rain adjusted 98 off 27 overs, in-form Rowledge overcame two early setbacks – Stu Marks (3-46) removed Darren Mitchell and teenager Chris Yates in quick succession – with David Lloyd (55 not out) and Eichler (25) securing a seven-wicket win.Second placed Alton had reached 145-6 (Gary Chalkley 39) when the match against United Services II was abandoned after 38.2 overs.Havant II, chasing a rain trimmed 221 in 47 overs, got in off the third ball of the final over against Paultons at Whitmoor Lane.Lifted by an opening stand of 91 between Duncan Park (76) and teenager Mike Weaver (35), Paultons totalled 235 (Phil Mist 4-57), with Tony Richman (31) averting a late-order collapse.Matt Ward (67) fuelled Havant’s bid, but Steve Mitchell (3-44) and Paul Wilde (2-49) regianed the initiative as the visitors slipped to 170-6.But Havant, requiring 51 runs from eight overs, got in after a late flurry from Dominic Harland-Jones (25), Simon Turner and Richard Openshaw.John Harris hit a crucial 70 as Hursley Park successfully chased an abridged target at Leckford, where the Test Valley club’s 180-7 (Martyn Isherwood 54) was trimmed to 154.A century second-wicket stand between Harris and skipper Rob Lowe (47) eased Hursley home.Hampshire YCs prospect Kevin Latouf (40) celebrated his Flamingos debut with a key 40 as last year’s Hampshire League champions chissled out an important six-wicket win at lowly Lymington II.Peter Tapper (77) and Mark Jackson (52) guided Lymington to 200 – Dave Wright (4-50) and Adie Heath (3-24) grabbed the lion’s share of the wickets – but, chasing a reduced 136 in 34 overs, Flamingos toasted only their third victory, with Gary Fenigan (23) and Richie Manthorpe (21) giving Latouf support.Latouf scored an unbeaten 150 for Flamingos Sunday XI, who won at South Wilts.Still in deep trouble are Waterlooville, who lost by 93 runs at Hook & Newnham Basics, where South African Jan Kaminski (100), Keith Lovelock (65) and Steve Shaw (50) laid seige to the visitors attack. Veteran Stan Ruder saw his eight overs hit for 81 runs !Facing a towering 321-7, Ville reached 228-9 (Matt Slater 41), with Kaminski taking 4-42.Paul Stringer, defying a long-term shoulder problem, returned for St Cross Symondians and took 4-26 in the eight-wicket win at Bashley (Rydal).

Tim Munton came back to haunt Warwickshire – not in his specialist role as a pace bowler but by making only his fourth half-century in first-class cricket.The acting Derbyshire captain, who spent 15 campaigns at Edgbaston until moving to the East Midlands last year, lifted the bottom-of-the-table strugglers to a more presentable total of 165.The signs were good for Warwickshire when they took the first eight wickets for 101 in their bid to re-launch a faltering promotion challenge in a match reduced to three days because of rain on Wednesday.The weather was still a problem, with drizzle causing intermittent interruptions, but the early rush of wickets promised a short cut to a first win in five games.Derbyshire’s batting weaknesses were soon evident when Michael Di Venuto, lbw without playing a shot, and Luke Sutton, caught at short leg, departed to the first and last balls of the seventh over from Melvyn Betts.Neil Carter then removed Rob Bailey with a leg-side catch by Keith Piper and Derbyshire lost their anchor man when Steve Stubbings angled a ball from Alan Richardson to gully.Mathew Dowman tamely carved off-spinner Neil Smith to backward point and there were further wickets in quick succession for the seamers, Dougie Brown, Richardson and Carter.Karl Krikken had injected welcome resistance with a patient 18 before Munton took control with 50 from 88 balls and a ninth-wicket partnership of 55 with Kevin Dean (18).Richardson finally wrapped up the innings for final figures of 4 for 28 and, in poor light to the close, Warwickshire lost skipper Michael Powell for 37 and Ian Bell for six – both to Graeme Welch – while making 88 for 2. Nick Knight was unbeaten on 37.

South Australian batsman Greg Blewett has been formally released by English county club Nottinghamshire. The midlands club, for which Blewett has been an outstanding contributor this year, has indicated overnight that it intends to sign a specialist bowler as its overseas professional for the 2002 season.Blewett has been a model of consistency for Nottinghamshire in 2001. He entered the final round of the first-class season with 1277 runs alongside his name at an average of 51.08, and has scored five centuries and five half-centuries.His form in the various one-day competitions, headlined by 453 runs in the National League, has also been sound. While he has not reached three figures in limited-overs matches, ten half-centuries have come his way and he has played a crucial role in laying the platform for a number of important victories for the club.”Greg came to the club with a terrific track record in Australia and has contributed fantastically both on the field and in the dressing room, where he has helped out the younger players,” Nottinghamshire cricket manager Clive Rice said.”He has been consistent and at times has been a delight to watch but we have struggled to take 20 wickets in games this season and so have decided to go for someone who can make a major contribution with the ball.”Blewett joins Essex’s Stuart Law as two Australians now certain not to return to their current county teams next year. Despite continuing to score runs in prolific fashion in his sixth northern summer at Essex, Law has been a victim of internal division at the club and is shaping as a prized potential recruit for a number of other county clubs. His name has already been strongly linked with Lancashire.Darren Lehmann (Yorkshire) and Jamie Cox (Somerset) are two Australians certain to be retained at their clubs, while Ian Harvey (Gloucestershire), Michael Hussey (Northamptonshire) and Martin Love (Durham) are also considered likely to return.The future of the remaining Australian imports to have appeared in county ranks this year – Michael DiVenuto (Derbyshire), Jimmy Maher (Glamorgan), Andrew Symonds (Kent), Daniel Marsh (Leicestershire), Murray Goodwin (Sussex) and Andy Bichel (Worcestershire) – is yet to be decided.