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MELBOURNE, Dec 27 AAP – Australian opener Justin Langer was nearing his second Test double century at lunch here today on day two of the fourth Ashes Test against England at the MCG.But captain Steve Waugh fell for 77, missing the chance to equal Sir Don Bradman’s record for the most centuries by an Australian, as their side reached 4-445 at the break.Langer was 191 and Test debutant Martin Love had made 21.Australia resumed at 3-356 and the batsmen continued to have little trouble.English medium pacer Craig White had Waugh caught behind at noon, with the captain unwilling to walk after he gave a faint edge to a ball outside off stump.Waugh’s innings, which featured 15 fours, undoubtedly dampened some of the speculation about his playing future.But he would probably have removed any doubt had he equalled Bradman’s mark of 29 tons.He put on 129 for the fourth wicket with Langer, who has a highest Test score of 223.Love showed few nerves in his start to Test cricket and had put on 51 with Langer.

Looking out from his office overlooking the County Ground on a bright sunny morning earlier today, Somerset Chief Executive turned his thoughts to the new season which is only just over two months away.Mr. Anderson told me: “Structured practice is now underway, and the attention is turning to the make-up of our best side in all competitions.”The key to it rests on the unknown factors. On the batting front will Piran Holloway rediscover his form of two years ago, when he was the second-highest run scorer in the National League in the country, will Peter Bowler in the autumn of his cricketing life continue with the form that he displayed in 2001, and will Keith Parsons develop into a top order County Championship batsman?”Will our young bowlers Bulbeck, Tucker and Trego come through to fill what is perceived to be a bowling vacancy?”Further down the line the big question is will Caddick be discarded by England after the World Cup next winter, and be available for Somerset for the whole of the 2003 and 2004 seasons? This factor alone clearly has an impact upon the expectations placed upon Bulbeck, Tucker and Trego.Mr Anderson concluded: “The players as a group all feel that we are well positioned to challenge for one or more of the one day competitions, but in the Championship we really need the gaps to be filled by people in form.”

Australian Jamie Cox could not conceal his delight at ending 18 barren years at Somerset by picking up the C&G Trophy following their 41-run defeat of Leicestershire.The Tasmanian said: “Everyone keeps telling us about the era when we last wona trophy.”The names of Botham, Richards, Garner will never be forgotten, but hopefullypeople will start remembering the names of Parsons, Turner, Blackwell, Dutch.”We were really conscious to try and create our own history today. We had achance to do it in 1999 but messed it up for a number of reasons. Keith Parsons(60 not out, man of the match) played one of the innings of his life.”It’s the proudest day of my cricketing life, I’ve got no hesitation insaying that. I’ve played in finals at home in Sheffield Shield and it was agreat moment playing for my home state.”But to do it as captain of your adopted club is something I’ll never forget.I’ll treasure this for the rest of my days.”I’ll never have a better day in cricket than this. Now we’ve been here, nowwe’ve won, it’s such a good monkey to have off your back.”To realise how to do it, how to win, how to come to these big days and justcope with the nerves, the uncertainties of what’s going to happen on the day…we coped beautifully with that.”Leicestershire captain Vince Wells said: “Probably the extras were the bigthing. We gave away 23 more than they did.”Realistically we thought it was a 240-250 pitch. We thought we could chase80 off 10 overs but to do that you need wickets in hand.”Leicestershire gave away 34 extras against Somerset’s 11 and conceded 15 wides, eight in the fourth over of the match by Scott Boswell.Was it nerves? “I think it probably was,” added Wells.”We feel sorry for him; he’s bowled beautifully for us and got four for 44against Lancashire (in the semi-final).”Unfortunately it didn’t come out for him today. I’m sure everyone felt forhim.”

Zimbabwe were left facing an innings defeat at the Sinhalese Sports Club onSaturday after being forced to follow on 402 runs in arrears in the firstJanashakthi National Test.The tourists then suffered further damage in the second innings, asoff-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan plucked out two wickets to leave then on 64for two, still 338 runs behind with two days remaining.Zimbabwe’s second knock had started well enough, as the openers survived thefirst hour without loss. But teenage opener Hamilton Masakadza (28) then topedged a slog sweep and was well caught by Marvan Atapattu running back frommid-wicket.Minutes later his partner, Trevor Gripper (10), misread Muralitharan’sstraighter ball for the second time in the day to be given out caught behindby wicket-keeper Kumar Sangakkara.Night watchman Travis Friend averted further damage by somehow surviving theremaining seven overs till the close with acting-captain Stuart Carlisle (22not out), despite frequent appeals from Sri Lanka’s hawkish close fieldersand some explosive off-breaks from Muralitharan.Muralitharan picked up six wickets in the day, to pass Malcom Marshall (376)and slip into eighth position in the all-time wicket-takers list, and posedthe greatest the threat to the batsmen on a wicket that is getting slowerand lower.He will surely continue to do so when play resumes on Monday morning after arest day forced upon the cricketing authorities by a government decree thatno sport be played on full moon (Poya) holidays.Zimbabwe will be none to pleased that the pitch will spend a whole day beingbaked by sun before their resume their apparently hopeless rearguard action.As it was skipper Carlisle showed frustration afterwards following a numberof dubious umpiring decisions that largely fell in favour of the home-side,starting with early let-offs for Sanath Jayasuriya and Marvan Atapattu onthe first day and continuing today in the Zimbabwean first innings.Gavin Rennie (35) was given out lbw sweeping Muralitharan when the ballwould have missed off-stump, Grant Flower (0) was dubiously adjudged caughtat silly point for a duck shortly after lunch, and Travis Friend (6)received a shocking lbw decision from umpire Riazruddin.The poor decisions did not all go in Sri Lanka’s favour. Andy Flower lookedlucky to survive two leg-before shouts on 34 when pinned to his stumps byswerving indippers from Chaminda Vaas and on the second day Kumar Sangakkaralooked unlucky to have been given out by the third umpire when televisionreplays appeared inconclusive.But Zimbabwe lack the talent to survive such misfortune and on balance theyhad the right to feel aggrieved.Carlisle, speaking with emotion but also trying to abide by ICC regulationsthat prevent direct comment on umpiring decisions, said: “As a fielding andbatting side we have been very unlucky on certain things and it really hasn’t gone our way. These important factors change games and make it difficultto lift the guys.”He had not given up hope of averting defeat though: “We sure are going totry our hardest to save this game. It is a pretty good batting pitch, but30s and 40s are not going to do it. Its up to the eight batters left to getreally stuck in and get some big partnerships.”Zimbabwe also had themselves to blame for their sorry predicament after somepretty ordinary shots in the morning and early afternoon, as they failed toconstruct any meaningful partnerships.Carlisle (10), who was dropped second ball of the day despite an acrobaticeffort from Sangakkara, was the first to go, as Jayasuriya held on to asharp chance at first slip (29 for two).Gripper (30) became Muralitharan’s first wicket when he was snapped up atfirst slip and with Rennie’s lbw decision Zimbabwe were left on 100 for fourat lunch.Grant Flower lasted just four balls afterwards before Craig Wishart (21) andAndy Flower (42) added 41 for the sixth wicket, the largest stand of theinnings.But Wishart then guided a short delivery from Nuwan Zoysa into the hands ofthird slip and Andy Flower cleaned bowled next over as he two-stepped downthe wicket to off-spinner Thilan Samaraweera (146 for seven).Heath Streak (26 not out) and Friend threatened a recovery but that nevermaterialised after Friend’s controversial decision and Zimbabwe were bowledout for 184.

Unseasonal rain, accompanied by more seasonal cold, brought an end toZimbabwe’s longest season after West Indies, chasing 348 to win, had progressed from 42 for one overnight to 98 for one. The play that did take place suggested a draw would have resulted anyway, so West Indies won the two-match series by virtue of their victory in Bulawayo. Zimbabwe’s sole consolation was that they had fought back at the last ditch with great honour.Zimbabwe continued their surge for victory in miserable weather in front of an almost empty ground, as no schoolchildren were bussed in for the final day, no doubt to the benefit of their health. The cricket was not quite as dismal as the weather, but Zimbabwe’s seam bowlers could find no assistance from the pitch or conditions. Chris Gayle and Ramnaresh Sarwan simply took batting practice, under no pressure, and after half-an-hour a tame draw seemed the most likely result.It took over an hour for Zimbabwe to turn, in desperation, to a spinner, and immediately Raymond Price found some sharp turn. West Indies seemed to have no vision of victory, and perhaps, had the weather allowed, Price might have caused them some flutters.20-minutes before lunch the drizzle began and the players were able to seek the shelter of the pavilion; not so the media, who had no escape from the makeshift media centre still in existence at this ground, which has proved unsuitable throughout the winter.Less than 10-minutes were lost, though, and immediately on resumption Taibu missed stumping Sarwan off Price. Hamilton Masakadza bowled his leg-breaks for the first time immediately before lunch, and missed a low, hard return catch from Gayle.Only 20 minutes after lunch drizzle drove the players off the field again. This time it developed into a heavy downpour, while the ground staff stayed out in it, trying desperately to save a match that, in such unpleasant climatic conditions, probably nobody wanted. The rain had stopped by tea, which was taken early.The end came rather farcically. Five further balls were bowled, enough for Gayle to reach his 50, when further rain drove the players off the field; it stopped, the players returned, so did the drizzle . . . they played on briefly until common sense finally won the day. Another downpour then made it clear that the match was ‘de facto’ over long before the ‘de jure’ announcement was made. West Indies finished with 98 for one (Gayle 52, Sarwan 31).

Glamorgan travel to Worcester for Sunday`s Norwich Union League game knowingthat victory in the match would clinch not only a move up to Division One,but also the Division Two title as well.The top three teams in the Division will be promoted, and should teams finish on equal points, the positions are decided by firstly the number of wins, and then run rate.As the table shows, Glamorgan have a far superior run rate and at the moment they also have a greater number of wins. A win at Worcester would give Glamorgan 46 points and 11 victories, and even if Durham win their two remaining games they would have 46 points but only 10 victories.Glamorgan travel to Worcester with the same 12 that did duty on Wednesday night at Cardiff, plus Steve James, and they will be hoping that the weather forecasters, who are predicting a rainy day at the New Road ground are wrong, and that the Welsh county can win both the game, and the Division Two title.

P W Pts Net Run Rate1st Glamorgan 13 10 42 +17.662nd Durham 14 8 38 + 2.293rd Worcs 13 8 34 + 8.044th Hampshire 14 8 34 + 3.38

At their scheduled meeting last night the Board of YCCC considered a report from Geoff Cope about the disciplinary incident involving Darren Lehmann during the Australia vs Sri Lanka VB series ODI in Brisbane.As you all know Darren Lehmann was found guilty of the offence by the ICC and is serving a 5 match ban from One Day Internationals. Darren has accepted his punishment and is very, very remorseful about the incident. He apologised personally and immediately to the Sri Lankan team, the ACB, YCCC and cricket supporters in general all over the world.YCCC condemns such remarks made by Darren. It finds them totally unacceptable and are not required in the game of cricket, especially in Yorkshire. It condemns Darren Lehmann’s language and behaviour on this occasion, for which there can never be any satisfactory excuse or explanation. There is no place for racist attitudes, behaviour or language in cricket nor in YCCC.As to Darren’s future with the Club, the Board has considered the matter in the context of his service to Yorkshire over the past 3 years, the last as Captain, and also in the context of his excellent record for good conduct and his personal qualities. In these circumstances they have concluded that his position with the club is unaffected by the incident.Can we make it quite clear that YCCC, its Board, its Players and Darren Lehmann are not racist in any way whatsoever and if the recent incident has upset or annoyed anyone concerned to cricket in general or YCCC then we apologise to those people. When some in the national press, in the past week, interpreted both Geoff Cope’s and my support of Darren Lehmann as indication that we are racist ourselves, we protest strongly. This matter was under the jurisdiction of the ICC as Darren was playing for Australia and not YCCC. We waited until our scheduled Board meeting last night to make our personal positions clear to our members and the cricket world in general as well as that of the Club.YCCC welcomes all Asian and black players within the County and works to increase the opportunities for them to to play for YCCC at all levels.We have the following players already within the Club.

• 3 players of Asian origin, in the Academy/Scholarship (Rashid, Ajmal, Saraaz)
• In 11-16 year group, there are 14 of Asian origin
• Tony Bowry – CDO – West Indian origin – involved with Black & Ethnic minorities.
• Pathways to Excellence – 8 centre – 30 in total.

In terms of match practice, India could have done without the final day of the three day practice match against Sri Lanka Board XI being abandoned, but Indian skipper, Sourav Ganguly was philosophical. “It’s a little bit disappointing, but we got a day to bowl and day to bat. So it’s something rather than nothing,” he said.When a journalist asked whether he had ever come across such a sub-standard wicket, Ganguly avoided another controversy: “All I can say is that I have been involved in a match which was abandoned due to similar conditions.”The curator of the venue, Milroy Muttuvele, tried to get the game going by repairing the pitch after the captains had called for the umpires to let them have some match practice. His efforts were unavailing, as the game was called off after a 3pm inspection.Ganguly said: “They tried their best you know. Normally in a cricket game you can’t do too much about the wicket once the game starts. But since two captains requested some practice, it went on. It was a mutual effort, but unfortunately we couldn’t get going because the wicket was still wet.”The visitors played four batsmen who have come fresh from India for the Test series, and the captain emphasised the positives. “The openers got some runs. I got some runs as well. Sameer spent some time in the middle, so it’s not bad,” Ganguly said. “It would have been nice if the middle order batsmen had got a go as well.”But the Indian skipper added that they must start again from the beginning when the Test match comes around: “We got some good batting practice, but a Test match is a different ball game: the pressure is much higher.”The Indians go into the crucial Test series with just two days’ match practice. Ganguly added: “Now we’ve got to go for the Tests straightaway. The conditions are similar to India; it’s no different to back at home.”In the absence of star player Sachin Tendulkar and the consistent VVS Laxman, Ganguly is aware that the Indians need to rethink their batting strategy for the Test matches. “Probably Rahul would bat high in the order I might move up the order as well,” he said.

There was nothing dramatic about the first day’s play at the NehruStadium in Indore. The medium-sized crowd that gathered was given ahint of what was actually possible. On winning the toss, Guy Whittalldecided to kick off Zimbabwe’s tour of India by having a bit of a bat.The Zimbabweans did just that. After piling up 322/6 they declared andmanaged to scalp an NCA wicket in the dying moments of the day.To start the proceedings for the National Cricket Academy team RakeshPatel and Mrithyunjay Tripathi ran in hard. Both established a goodrhythm and troubled the Zimbabwe batsmen. On a wicket that had verylittle on offer for the bowlers, Patel worked up a decent pace and histhree wickets were well deserved. If he impressed the three nationalselectors who were present at the venue, the spinners did nothing tocatch the eye. Sharandeep Singh bowling his offspinners and VidyuthSivaramakrishnan bowling left arm spin failed to make an impact. Whilebowling well in patches, the duo served up far too many loosedeliveries.Stuart Carlisle who is known for his steady approach to batting wasunusually brisk in his manner and took just 83 balls to make his 61runs. If Carlisle was steady, Alistair Campbell was the epitome ofsafety. The talented southpaw put his head down and applied himselfperfectly. Taking very few chances, Campbell chalked up the runs withease. Using his feet well to the spinners, Campbell faltered just once- when he was on 44 and edged a catch to Sriram in the slips.Fortunately for him the chance was floored and he strode resolutelyon. When he brought up his century with a well placed single the crowdcheered lustily. If nothing he was endeared to the crowd when he tooka hard knock on the helmet from Tripathi and continued manfullydespite bleeding profusely.When Zimbabwe declared their innings closed at 322/6 Campbell wasunbeaten on 114. His innings included 12 fours and three hits thatsailed over the ropes. The biggest of those was a clout off MohammedKaif that disappeared back over the bowler’s head.With just nine overs to play out and light fading gradually, SridharanSriram and Nikhil Doru came out to bat. While Doru was flamboyant,Sriram stuck to his cautious method. Driving through the off side withconfidence and skill, Doru raced to 14 in no time. Unfortunately forthe lad, he drove hard at a ball wide of off stump and dragged theball back onto his stumps. Playing away from his body, the Rajasthanopener’s first mistake cost him his wicket.Sharandeep Singh joined Sriram out in the middle and the pair safelysaw NCA to stumps. Sriram was unbeaten on a patiently compiled 8 andthe NCA were 28/1. Tomorrow will be little more than a day of bowlingpractice for the visitors. It will be interesting to see how theyadapt to conditions in the subcontinent. At a first glance, theopening bowlers looked less than sharp. Bryan Strang was accurate, butclearly lacked pace. While Travis Friend managed to get the ball tomove a shade in the air, he did not get much nip off the wicket. Ifthe Zimbabweans are to win a Test match or more on this tour, theirbowlers will have to get into groove in a hurry.

On Friday night, the Indians liked what Javed Miandad cooked up, according to . Miandad had invited Dilip Vengsarkar for dinner, and Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Ashish Nehra and Parthiv Patel went along. The players had heard about Miandad’s hospitality, and savoured the occasion.”We discussed a lot of things. Cricket obviously was the main topic,” Miandad said. “But there were a lot of discussions on other things also and they enjoyed themselves. We enjoyed playing hosts and serving them some delicious Pakistani cuisine.”He was impressed by Tendulkar’s humour and humility: “He has matured a lot now and his sense of humour has also improved a lot. He is more relaxed and we enjoyed the evening with him.”***Make the umpires accountable for their mistakes, writes Harbhajan Singh in his syndicated column in . “Our bowlers toiled hard but were clearly hard done by the umpiring. To make matter worse,” Harbhajan adds, “Parthiv Patel also copped a fine.””A cricketer is bound to give vent to his frustration if even clear-cut catches are denied to his team,” he argues. “… and the next thing that happens is that he is hauled up and punished.”Same newspaper, different column. Ajit Wadekar writes about Steve Bucknor, who “seems to have developed a taste for Indians and has been chasing the team around the world.” Wadekar pointed out that the umpire had played a large role in India’s recent fortunes “so much so, that Sourav Ganguly reportedly marked him ‘zero’ in the captain’s report in Australia recently.””He is singularly unrepentant about his mistakes, especially against India. And despite the succession of complaints the Indian management has made against him, the ICC seems to derive vicarious pleasure in slotting him for all India’s series.”***Kapil Dev wants a player to run the BCCI, though he clarified he had nothing against Jagmohan Dalmiya, who currently heads India’s cricket board. According to , Kapil proposed the idea at Ali Bacher’s book launch, and cited him as a good example of a player-turned-administrator.On being questioned whether cricketers would be interested in running administrative affairs, he had a unique reply: “Ask Sunil Gavaskar if he is interested in heading the Board. I would like to know his answer. Well, the point is there have to be opportunities.”