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MELBOURNE, Nov 23 AAP – Victoria’s Matthew Elliott turned a season of starts into the big score that always beckoned to apply the screws to South Australia on the second day of the Pura Cup match at the MCG today.Elliott’s superb 191 gave the Bushrangers a 175-run lead at the halfway mark of the first-versus-second clash, and erased some of the frustrations this season has produced personally.The left-hander has failed to go on from several decent starts this season and also missed out for Australia A against England in last week’s run-feast in Hobart when a blow to the elbow forced him to retire hurt.He made amends today in a seven-hour stay (21 fours, one six) to spearhead Victoria to 5-377 at stumps in reply to South Australia’s 202 after Redbacks captain Greg Blewett won yesterday’s toss and batted.A 189-run stand between Elliott and Brad Hodge (96) had the effect of a torturer slowly tightening the rack on an opponent that fielded in dry heat and got little help from a placid pitch.Like Elliott, Hodge has failed to fire this season and looked destined for a sparkling century until Blewett had him LBW.But Elliott was the mainstay and his 24th Pura Cup ton for Victoria continued a run of big centuries before he was out nicking a tired cut shot 15 minutes from stumps.It also erased the disappointment of Hobart, where everything that could go wrong did.”I think I’ve just kept it a bit more simple, particularly since Hobart,” Elliott said.”I think you can come away from a game like that and say ‘Oh, everything’s going against me, I retired hurt one ball and I dropped four catches and the world’s against me’.”That’s just what happened, I didn’t go there to drop catches or to retire hurt first ball, so I think sometimes you can beat yourself up too much about those sort of things.”I went out there this game and tried to be positive and watch the ball and it worked out pretty well.”It was a pretty good wicket and I made the most of it.”South Australia lost paceman Ryan Harris (1-25) to a side strain in the first session and, indicative of their day, Blewett (3-32) finished with the best figures despite not bowling himself until the last session.

Omer Hussain, the 23-year-old left-hander, has been called up to Scotland’s squad for their Intercontinental Cup matches against Bermuda and Canada.Hussain, the cousin of Majid Haq, adds youth to the squad and he arrives in good form after averaging 62 for his local club, Ferguslie. His stand-in captain, Ryan Watts, is insistent that the presence of some younger faces is by no means for show.”The lads who have come in aren’t just being given an opportunity for the sake of it – they’re the ones who have been producing the goods at club-level and for Scotland A as opposed to being in on potential this time,” Watts told the . “Form has played a big part in selecting the 13-man squad and the likes of Gordon Goudie [West], Qasim Sheikh [Clydesdale] and Richie Berrington [Greenock] all represent the new wave of talent.”Scotland are still reeling from their thrashing by New Zealand, when they were hopelessly outclassed by eight wickets.”New Zealand are ranked No. 3 in the world and for Scotland to have had a chance of winning meant everything going our way,” Watts said. “Instead, right at the outset they won the toss and put us in on a wicket where we’d have fancied our chances of applying some pressure early on if roles had been reversed.”It wasn’t to be, but there were positives from the tri-series, particularly the win over Ireland, where Gavin Hamilton hit fifty and then kept going on and on, past his century mark.”Scotland’s match against Bermuda begins on July 10.

After seeing his side beaten inside two days by Lancashire in their final championship match of the season Somerset coach Kevin Shine told me: "This has been the worst season that I have experienced since I have been at the club, especially after 2001 was probably the best ever in the history of the county."He continued: "We have got to regroup, and we are going to make changes. I haven’t lost confidence in the players that we have on the staff, but we will be making some new signings to create competition for places."Out on the field Somerset had started the day in a strong position, but allowed the last four Lancashire wickets to add 140 runs this morning to take their score to 228.For the Cidermen Matt Bulbeck ended with career best figures of 6 for 93.Batting for a second time Somerset were dismissed for 129 in 46.3 overs, with only Piran Holloway(45) and Arul Suppiah (21) staying for long, and lost their last six wickets for the addition of just 13 runs.Chasing a target of 123 for victory home supporters were given something to cheer about when the first two wickets went down cheaply, but after that David Byas(63 not out) and Stuart Law(57 not out) made no mistake and saw the `Red Rose’ county home in the 17th over to record a comfortable eight wicket victory.After the game the players from both teams formed a guard of honour for umpires Ken Palmer for who this was the last ever championship game before he retires from the list.Reflecting on the day the Somerset coach continued: "Today has been typical of the season that we have been having. We get ourselves into a good position and then we capitulate. We probably deserve to be in the position that we are in."Regarding the bowling performances of Johnson and Bulbeck he told me: "They have both bowled really well, but we need to back it up with good catching and fielding which is what we haven’t done all season, Stuart Law was dropped early on today and we can’t afford to do that."

Two days of incessant, torrential rain have dumped nearly two inches of rain on Kingston and put the weekend’s first two One-Day Internationals in the Cable & Wireless Series at Sabina Park in some doubt.The outfield was flooded in several places yesterday afternoon and the ground staff was unable to start proper preparation of the pitch that has had to remain under covers.The inclement weather, caused by a cold front extending to beyond Cuba in the north, was forecast to continue at least into today. But it cleared late yesterday and ground officials said the ground should be ready for play in the opening match tomorrow, given sunny conditions today.The West Indies have made two changes to their Test squad, bringing in fast bowler Corey Collymore for Adam Sanford and all-rounder Gareth Breese for his first international in place of Dinanath Ramnarine.India have made a more sweeping reconstruction. Batsmen Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif and Virender Sehwag and fast bowler Ajit Agarkar have come in for Shiv Sunder Das, Deep Dasgupta, Sarendeep Singh and Javagal Srinath.

C&G Cheltenham Cricket Festival 2002
Cheltenham College, Bath Road, Cheltenham GL53 7LDThursday 18 July Norwich Union League v Hampshire Hawks
Play starts : 1pmFriday 19 to Monday 22 July Frizzell County Championship v Glamorgan CCC
Play starts : 11amWednesday 24 to Saturday 27 July Frizzell County Championship v Middlesex CCC
Play starts : 11amSunday 28 July Norwich Union League v Sussex Sharks
Play starts : 1pmMonday 29 July Tourist Match v West Indies ‘A’
Play starts : 10.45amTickets can be bought in advance by calling 0117 910 8010

Norwich Union League In Advance On The GateAdult £10 £12OAP £10 £12Under 16 £5 £6Frizzell County Championship In Advance On The GateAdult N/A £9OAP N/A £7Under 16 N/A £2Tourist Match In Advance On The GateAdult N/A £13OAP N/A £13Under 16 N/A £6

Club Office on site – 01242 510 000

What a hiding Pakistan took and but for the weather, the match might have ended inside four days. No excuses please, not even the horrible decision against Inzaman-ul-Haq. Sri Lanka played total cricket and the commitment was so tangible, one could almost touch it. Not so Pakistan who looked out of sorts and in the words of P.G. Wodehouse “if not actually disgruntled, he was far from being gruntled.”Waqar Younis has denied reports of disharmony in the team and I am glad that he has done so and although one should not read too much into body-language, the Sri Lankans seemed to be enjoying themselves, there was a stoop to the shoulders of the Pakistanis. One obvious reason for this could be that the Sri Lankans were winning and the Pakistanis were on the back-foot, throughout the match.Great pains were taken to prepare the wicket and because some grass had been left on it, it was described as a green-top and the expectation was that the ball would fly about. I don’t think one can change the fundamental character of a wicket by leaving some grass on it.In the end, it was a typical Gaddafi Stadium wicket which got slower, with the occasional ball keeping low and to no one’s surprise Muttiah Muralitharan was the bowler of the match while our own Saqlain Mushtaq was turning his arm over, along with Wasim Akram, for PIA in the one-day competition.Wasim had not been picked by the selection committee because it was not satisfied about his fitness but Saqlain was in the squad and was, therefore, dropped by Waqar and his think-tank. This meant that Pakistan had decided to go into a Test match without a specialist spinner and in this particular case, one of the best spinners in the world.Both Shoaib Malik and Shahid Afridi were played more for their batting and were not seriously bowled. I found Saqlain’s omission particularly surprising as the Sri Lankans have so many left-handers including Kumar Sangakkara who scored a double century.The Australians have stripped the captain of any say in the selection of the playing eleven. I am not in full agreement with this because a captain is the one who is held responsible if things go wrong and should have a say in the playing eleven but in a home series, it should be the selection committee who should decide the playing eleven, giving due weight to any in-put from the captain and the coach.The Pakistan attack lacked variety. Saqlain would have provided it and I don’t think the Sri Lankans would have made 528, if he was in the team.The Pakistan cricket public is disappointed but there was some good news as well, the best being the return to form of Inzamam. As the cliche goes, form is temporary but class is permanent and it was only a matter of one good innings before the confidence would return to this burly Multan batsman, among the best in the world.He was out for 99 to a decision that seemed almost fiendish, a no-ball plus too high plus missing leg. I don’t know whether it would have altered the result of the match, it seemed too far gone but those of us who were in Auckland for the 1992 World Cup semifinal saw Inzamam pull out Pakistan from a deeper hole and who knows, he could have steered Pakistan to the safety of a draw?Inzamam has had a lot on his mind lately, the health of his father which is of urgent concern to him. But his return to form could not have come at a better time with New Zealand’s tour of Pakistan confirmed.Mohammad Sami bowled with a lot of heart, a hat trick being the reward of his honest labour. He seems to be a quick learner and I noticed that he had shortened his run. Shoaib Akhtar too bowled well and seemed fully fit which is good news.Afridi was run out in the first innings, a mix-up between him and Younis Khan but he batted with determination in the second, a calm innings by his standards but a very good one.He was deceived in flight by Muralitharan but better batsman than Afridi have been bamboozled by the Sri Lankan magician. But batting remains the main worry and though there is no Muralitharan in the New Zealand attack, there is plenty of high class bowling, as well as batting.Pakistan must forget this Test match, its overall performance being eminently forgettable and become a settled team as Sri Lanka was. Sri Lanka came with a plan and stuck to it, Pakistan, on the other hand, chose to play it by ear. Having lost the toss and been put in, the batting just folded and no one was able to stay long enough to take charge.There was some poor shot selection which at this level of cricket shows a lack of application and an inability to differentiate between Test and one-day cricket. Compared to the Sri Lankans who seem to enjoy their fielding, the Pakistan effort in the field made it appear as manual labour. But where we were decidedly better was in the bowling of no-balls. The Sri Lankans bowled some 60 no-balls in both the innings, the Pakistani bowlers were more disciplined. They bowled far fewer. This is not comfort enough.It’s not quite back to the drawing board but the Pakistan team must have a session among themselves and do some honest soul-searching. Why should there be this perception that a wholehearted effort was missing, that the team appeared to be stuck in second gear?I still rate Pakistan among the best Test teams in the world. And as far as the PCB is concerned, it has gone an extra mile to support the players. The players have never had it so good. There should be some reciprocity from them.

POOR batting and useful bowling by two potent attacks on a pitch of variablebounce saw 15 wickets fall on the first day.By the close, Border were 76 runs behind on 114 for five in reply toNortherns’ first innings of 190.Not that the pitch was a major factor in all that timber tumbling, evenallowing for the odd bout of variable bounce. After all, Northerns captainGerald Dros won the toss and batted.Alas, the batting fairly reeked of ill discipline, while the bowling on bothsides was out of the top drawer, helped not a little by the significantswing on offer.Border took wickets with pure pace, in the form of Makhaya Ntini’s three for32, medium pace, with Piet Botha picking up three for 16, and spin,off-spinner Geoff Love taking three for 58.David Townsend bowled aggressively to do the damage for Northerns withfigures of three for 25, while Steve Elworthy was his steady self in takingtwo for 33.Bowling honours on the day probably belonged to veteran all-rounder Botha,who went for nine runs in his first over and then bowled immaculately toconcede just seven runs in his remaining eight overs.Border also held some good catches, epitomised by Laden Gamiet’s divingeffort at backward point to remove Jacques Rudolph.Northerns were 71 for three at lunch and were dismissed with what became thelast ball before tea. Their scorecard would have made even more mournfulreading were it not for a sixth-wicket stand of 57 between Dros and thenuggety Kruger van Wyk.Fittingly Dros and Van Wyk made the two highest scores of the innings, 35and 30 respectively, before being dismissed an over apart.The continuation of the unfinished partnership of 42 between captain PieterStrydom, who was 33 not out, and Gamiet, on 18, would seem to be Border’smost viable option for taking a substantial first innings lead.

Despite an impressive partnership between Mehrab Hussain (71) and Habibul Bashar (64), Bangladesh failed to take advantage of another rather disappointing performance by Zimbabwe’s bowlers and fielders. At the close they had 198 runs on the board for six wickets, with only Akram Khan of their top order remaining. For Zimbabwe, Raymond Price, with four wickets, had most reason to remember the day.Heath Streak, with some bitter experiences of the pitch behind him, put Bangladesh in to bat on winning the toss, expecting the usual early life. There was indeed a certain amount of movement, but it was not excessive and the bowlers did not bowl quite well enough to take full advantage of it. The outfield, dead slow for the one-dayers, had improved to be merely slow. After the first hour, it could almost be described as a 400-run pitch coupled with a 200-run outfield.Javed Omar was not to repeat his superb batting double of Bulawayo, as with only a single to his credit he snicked Streak to Andy Blignaut at third slip. Mehrab Hussain and Al Sahariar stood firm for a while against bowling that did not apply enough pressure and were helped by the occasional misfield. Then Streak showed what might have been achieved by consistent accuracy as Al Sahariar (11) failed to keep down a rising ball and was well held by the diving Grant Flower in the gully.Runs came at just under two an over, but it was not really an absorbing struggle. Bangladesh might have felt reasonably satisfied at lunch with two wickets down on a pitch assisting the bowlers had not Ray Price been brought on to bowl his left-arm spinners just before the break, and had Aminul Islam caught at slip by Alistair Campbell for 12. Mehrab was still there, having batted through the session for a watchful 21.With the pitch as usual playing more easily after lunch, Mehrab and Habibul Bashar settled in and then began to take toll of the bowling, choosing skillfully the right deliveries to hit. Mehrab enjoyed two lives, one early on and a second after reaching his 50. The scoring rate gradually increased and Zimbabwe toiled without taking any more wickets by tea. Mluleki Nkala was the most economical of the pace bowlers but Blignaut and Brighton Watambwa were wayward.After tea Bashar’s 50 was quickly followed by the century partnership, and the batsman celebrated by swinging Price over midwicket for six. At last the tourists were beginning to provide a much-needed wake-up call for Zimbabwe’s bowlers in this series. They added 114 for the fourth wicket before Bashar (64) leapt down the pitch to Price and was stumped. Shortly afterwards Mehrab (71) pulled the same bowler straight to Stuart Carlisle at midwicket and at 171 for five Bangladesh had undone much of their hard work. Their team would be disappointed that neither stayed for the really big innings required.The second new ball came with two new batsmen at the crease, but again Streak and Blignaut failed to use it to full advantage. Price returned after six overs with it and had Naimur Rahman (16) given out to a high-looking lbw decision just before the close. Akram Khan (15*) and Mushfiqur Rahman (0*) saw out the day.

FULL NAME: Clement Mahachi
BORN: 27 September 1979, at Bulawayo
MAJOR TEAMS: CFX Academy (1999/2000), Matabeleland (2000/01). Present clubside: MacDonald Club (Bulawayo)
KNOWN AS: Clement Mahachi. Nickname: `Donkey’ – a translation ofMahachi
BATTING STYLE: Left Hand Bat
BOWLING STYLE: Left Arm Medium Pace
OCCUPATION: CFX Academy studentFIRST-CLASS DEBUT: 3-5 March 2000, CFX Academy v Mashonaland, atCountry Club
TEST DEBUT: Still awaited
ODI DEBUT: Still awaitedBIOGRAPHY (updated April 2002)Unaccountably, all Zimbabwe’s black players to come through have been right-handers. Until Clement Mahachi, that is. The former Bulawayo Academy student, now a fulltime professional in Matabeleland, is a useful all-rounder who bats and bowls left-handed.Clement comes from a keen sporting family, but the predominant family interest is soccer and, like virtually every other black cricketer coming through at present, he has no family background in the game. His interest in cricket started at the age of ten or eleven at Lozikeyi primary school in the Bulawayo high-density townships, where the Zimbabwe Cricket Union introduced the game under their development scheme. He was very involved in soccer himself then, but had a friend with whom he used to play cricket for fun at times. He showed enough talent at both batting and bowling for his friend to use that as a reason to join him in attending the cricket sessions in the afternoon, run by Nicholas Sisingo.Clement remembers his first match, against the prominent Reps (Rhodes Estate Primary School) team, which was attended by Heath Streak and Henry Olonga. Opening the batting, he made his team’s top score of 30, and then took four wickets for 21 runs. He did not have the opportunity to attend the selection trials for the Matabeleland side that takes part in the national primary schools cricket week, though.Unfortunately there was no scholarship scheme in Bulawayo to ensure that Clement was able to attend a cricket-playing high school, and he had no school cricket after that. He did join Bulawayo Athletic Club, though, and was able to continue in the game there. In Form One, he says, he played for the BAC second team and scored 133 against a team from Sunrise, still his highest score in any class of cricket. He feels that his confidence in himself was his main attribute in such a remarkable innings at the age of about 14.It was not until the 1998/99 season that Clement was actually included in the BAC first team. He was playing successfully for the local development team that plays on Saturdays in the Bulawayo reserve league, later captaining the side to two league titles, and in 1997/98 he averaged 51 with the bat and also took plenty of wickets. Because of his lack of school cricket he was unable to attend representative trials for years, but finally, thanks to the provincial coach, former New Zealand Test player Bob Blair, he won selection for the Matabeleland Under-19 team and met experienced school players like Mluleki Nkala and others.Clement pays tribute to Mr Blair as a coach who has done a great deal to help him develop his game, especially with his bowling action. More recently Carl Rackemann has also helped him with his bowling. He has also had opportunities to bowl at the national side, and such touring teams as the Sri Lankans and Australians, in the nets, and has picked up useful tips from top players there.Clement was now in the squad for the full Matabeleland team, and played for a Matabeleland Invitation XI against the touring Australian Cricket Academy side, but without getting the chance to prove himself with bat or ball. He was invited to attend trials for the national Under-19 team for the World Cup, but it was discovered that he was too old to qualify.In 1999 Clement played well for Bulawayo Athletic Club, opening the batting, with 70 against Bulawayo Sports Club as his highest score amid several fifties, and taking wickets regularly, including four in an innings for 17 runs against Queens Sports Club. He was recommended as an Academy student for 2000 by the Matabeleland Board and by players like John Rennie who were impressed by his ability.At the Academy, with a number of all-rounders in the team, he was played mainly as a bowler who could bat, going in at number nine, while in the Logan Cup he became known mainly for playing an adhesive role, sometimes as night-watchman. He admits that he lacked confidence with the bat at first, which perhaps helped to account for a lowly position in the order to start off with. He regularly opened in Bulawayo club cricket, but felt he should aim for about number six in the Academy side. He is at present more fluent on the off side than the leg, and can cut well. He is also predominantly a front-foot player but is working on his back-foot technique.He spent the English season of 2000 playing for Brook Cricket Club in Surrey. "I struggled to bat there in the first couple of games because the pitches were a bit slow," he said. "But in the end I did well with the bat. The pitches were very good for my bowling, bowling my dibbly-dobbers!" He scored a couple of unbeaten eighties and his best bowling figures were four for 32. Unfortunately in mid-season he picked up a calf injury, which handicapped his batting and forced him to turn to spin bowling.He finished his year at the Academy, while playing with success for Old Hararians in the Vigne Cup. His best bowling performance was his four wickets against Old Georgians, but was unable to bowl for a month after dislocating a finger. He was posted back to Bulawayo after his year at the Academy and played for MacDonald Club, with more success in batting than bowling. His finger recovered in time for the Logan Cup programme, where he bowled some useful spells.He continued in Bulawayo in the final year of his contract with the Zimbabwe Cricket Union, but moved to Bulawayo Sports Club on their promotion to the national first league. He scored 101 not out against Old Hararians in the very first match, but later suffered a back injury while practising his bowling that put him out for almost two months and caused him to miss the early part of Matabeleland’s Logan Cup programme. He felt his confidence as a batsman had improved while at the club.As a bowler the away-swinger is his stock ball, with an occasional inswinger as a surprise weapon. He usually fields in the middle distances, mid-on or mid-off.Although Clement does not come from a rich family, he is very grateful to them for their support. Although they are not a cricketing family, they used to watch him regularly in Bulawayo and give him every encouragement. He hopes to receive a new contract as player and coach at the end of 2002 but feels that he will need to work hard and produce the goods to merit it.Cricket heroes: "I’ve always looked on Brian Lara as my model as a batsman, and Wasim Akram as a bowler. Hopefully I will play better than them!"Toughest opponents: "In England I faced Saqlain Mushtaq in Graham Thorpe’s benefit match, and it was quite difficult to face the guy. On the local scene, Bryan Strang because he is quite deceptive; most of the time I have struggled facing him. The most difficult batsman to bowl to is Andy Flower, but while I was playing in that benefit match I had to bowl to Alec Stewart and he gave me a very difficult time."Immediate ambitions: "It’s quite a tough year for me because there’s a lot for me to do to improve myself as a professional cricketer. Hopefully I’ll make it as a professional cricketer. I would like to play for my country Zimbabwe and that means quite a lot of work."Proudest achievement: "Coming to the Academy has always been a dream for me because I felt that it would expose me to quite a lot of cricket. I think I will go one step further here by working hard and something has to come up."Best friends in cricket: "I’ve got a lot of friends, and in the Academy here I’ve discovered that we are all working as a team. It’s quite a bond and everyone here is my friend."Other sports: "I’ve played for the Zimbabwe junior side and at secondary school I used to play for the first team that twice reached the Coca Cola national finals. I love tennis, which is a morale-booster for me because of the ball-eye co-ordination."Views on cricket: "I give all credit to the establishment of the Cricket Academy here. Believe me, it’s worked wonders for me. Young guys get the exposure and spend lots of time thinking about cricket, playing cricket, and doing a lot in terms of physique. The professional supervision is very good and guys get to go to England to play. You get to understand cricket more than if you were practising on your own or playing for a club. I think it is going to make a difference in the near future."Going to the Academy was inspirational for me because I brushed shoulders with guys with different views and I got a lot of help from Dave Houghton, who has taught me different techniques and approaches to the game which has made a difference."

A day after some former India players questioned Yuvraj Singh’s fitness and asked for him to be dropped, MS Dhoni has reiterated that Yuvraj is in shape for Twenty20 cricket and that his place in the India XI is not in doubt. Yuvraj took 2 for 16 in three overs and made an unbeaten 19 in India’s win against Pakistan.”When it comes to fitness, as far as this format is concerned, he looks very fit for this format,” Dhoni said. “I think he has done a lot [of work] in the last few months. It is not like he has played cricket straight in the World Twenty20. Before this he has spent a lot of time at the National Cricket Academy and after that he played a bit of active domestic cricket. He looks good. I am not really concerned about his fitness.”Yuvraj was quite sharp in the field on Sunday, stopping a possible boundary off the first legal delivery of the match with a dive at point. He also ran out Yasir Arafat later with a direct hit from point. He did take some time, though, to catch his breath while batting after running sharp singles or a couple.Dhoni has repeatedly said he missed Yuvraj the part-time bowler while he was undergoing treatment for cancer. Given how vulnerable India’s attack has looked of late, the package of skills Yuvraj offers Dhoni makes him too valuable to be left out. He got the important wickets of Nasir Jamshed and Kamran Akmal, to leave Pakistan struggling at 49 for 4.”Yuvi was already in the team, the fact whether Yuvi should play or not was not even considered,” Dhoni said. “Especially when we play with seven batsmen, the role of the part-timers is very important. Virat [Kohli] is one option but a left-arm away-going option is good to have. Here Yuvi’s role is important. We all know that he is a good fielder as well. Today he effected a good run-out as well. If we are playing with four specialist bowlers then it is difficult to leave out Yuvraj.”And his batting today will give him a lot of confidence, because even if you play in the domestic circuit you don’t get bowlers who bowl at the international level. He will take a lot of positives from all these matches. We all know once he gets going he is a terrific batsman to have in the side.”