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Nathan Astle’s strategy to cope with the conditions and the Indianbowlers was masterful. He played mostly on the front foot – 159off the 207 balls he played, showing minimal footwork on 19 ballsand stepping out four times. He played the ball late, allowing itto come to him instead of reaching for it. But when he did rockback, he made it pay; 42 off his 103 runs came off the 25 timeshe went on the back foot. His strike-rate on the back foot was168; the rest of the time, it was 35.

Astle’s footwork	Balls	Runs	Strike-Rate
Front foot	159	56	35
Minimal footwork	19	3	16
Stepping out	4	2	50
Back foot	25	42	168
Total	207	103	49.8

As the above statistic indicates, he played the bowling on itsmerit. Off the 181 occasions that he received a ball on a goodlength or just short of a good length, he made 57 runs. The 13balls that the bowlers dropped short to him went for 34 runs. Hisshot selection was immaculate.

Playing the ball on its merit	Balls	Runs	Strike-Rate
Full length (including half-volleys)	13	12	92
Good length or just short	181	57	31
Short	13	34	262

While many of Astle’s singles and twos came via sweeps and dabson the on side, most of his boundaries came from cuts off shortballs on the back foot. In terms of runs, Astle’s wagons wheelappears quite balanced: 56 runs on the off side, and 47 on theoff. But in terms of boundaries, it is decidedly different. Ofhis 14 fours, 12 came on the off side, with 10 of them in the arcbetween extra cover and backward point.

The Wagon Wheel	Runs	Runs off boundaries
Behind wicket – off side	8	8
Square of wicket – off side	26	20
Cover – off side	21	20
Front of wicket – off side	1	0
Front of wicket – on side	3	0
Midwicket – on side	22	8
Square of wicket – on side	12	0
Behind wicket – on side	10	0

New Zealand are known for planning for their opponents andconditions. Clearly, Astle had done his homework exceedinglywell.Amit Varma is managing editor of Wisden Cricinfo in India.

A bilateral series between Indian and Pakistan seems unlikely, but another high-pressure one-day match between the two sides looms as both have been drawn in the same group for the Champions Trophy tournament, to be held in England between September 9 and 26 next year. The two teams will clash in a pool D match on September 20.According to a report in the Times of India, the International Cricket Council (ICC) is expected to make a formal announcement of the tournament schedule later this week, following its annual meeting.Pool A comprises Australia, New Zealand and Zimbabwe, while South Africa, West Indies and Kenya are placed in pool B. England have been slotted along with Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in pool C, while the third team in pool D is Holland.The format of the tournament remains the same – the three teams in each group play one another with the top side from each pool qualifying for the semi-finals. However, unlike in the previous edition, there could be a reserve day for all 15 matches in the tournament. Also, three venues are likely to be used for the competition, one more than the number used in Sri Lanka in 2002.

Australia 258 for 4 (Symonds 75, Clarke 75*) beat West Indies 233 for 9 (Gayle 43, Hinds 42) by 25 runs and lead the 7-match series 3-0It was an unfamiliar-looking Australian side – no Adam Gilchrist, no Darren Lehmann, no Brett Lee (so no Lee in the Leeward Islands) – but by the end of this match, at the beautiful Beausejour Stadium in St Lucia, the tale was rather more familiar. Australia won quite easily by 25 runs, their 20th consecutive one-day victory, and now lead the seven-match series 3-0.

Man of the Match Michael Clarke on his way to an unbeaten 75 © Getty Images

Australia’s batting heroes were Andrew Symonds and Michael Clarke, who added 99 together after Ricky Ponting’s run-out briefly threatened a wobble. The 22-year-old Clarke, cool and correct, still doesn’t have an ODI average after adding 75 not out to the unbeaten 39 he made in his only previous game, against England at Adelaide in January. Sporting more hair than in that innings, Clarke survived for 100 balls here, and worked the ball around well. He hit only five fours, one of them a stand-to-attention pull to midwicket off a short one from Omari Banks, but nonetheless impressed in a mature innings which, when added to three crisp catches later on, won him the Man of the Match award. At the end, as Clarke scampered sharp singles with his fellow New South Welshman Michael Bevan, it was hard to spot who was the renowned one-day finisher and who was the young apprentice.Symonds also played well, recovering from running out his captain to post a muscular 75, with nine crunching fours, before heaving across a fuller one from Chris Gayle (178 for 4). Ponting had threatened to take charge, and had breezed to 32 before Symonds called him through for a quick single. Corey Collymore, the bowler, pounced on the ball and underarmed it into the stumps. It was a close-run thing, and the third umpire Eddie Nicholls needed a couple of replays before he pressed the red button. That made it 79 for 3, in the 17th over.Earlier Matthew Hayden had tickled one that bounced a bit from Merv Dillon to Carlton Baugh behind the stumps (25 for 1). It was only the first ball of the fifth over, but Hayden had already clumped four fours in his 20. At the other end Jimmy Maher, given the doubly exacting task of deputising for Gilchrist with both kinds of gloves, had grafted to 17 off 33 balls when he tried to sweep Banks’s busy offspin. He only succeeded in popping the ball straight to Devon Smith at short fine leg (48 for 2).For a while, when Gayle was smashing Jason Gillespie straight for six and clubbing Glenn McGrath for a no-prisoners four, West Indies were in with a chance. But then reality set in – Gayle fell to Nathan Hauritz for 43, Brian Lara was castled by Andy Bichel for just 4, and Australia were favourites again.Hauritz, the young offspinner from Queensland, made two important incisions. With his second ball he persuaded Ramnaresh Sarwan to drive uppishly to Gillespie at mid-off (67 for 2), then in his next over Gayle cut one straight to Clarke at point (70 for 3). Hauritz had 2 for 3 in eight balls, and Australia were back on top after Gayle’s mini-blitz.Wavell Hinds, restored to the side after being dropped, played his way back to something like form, compiling 42 in 59 balls before he was run out by the length of the pitch immediately after a drinks session (150 for 5). Hinds had put on 65 with Marlon Samuels, whom he had been expected to replace in the side – but a late bout of sickness to Vasbert Drakes handed Samuels an 11th-hour reprieve, and he too regained some form with an obdurate 37 in 65 balls. Ricardo Powell clattered Brad Hogg for an effortless six, and Bichel for another, but after bashing 26 from just 11 balls he flat-batted Gillespie to Clarke at deep cover (181 for 6). Next ball Samuels slashed the same bowler to the same fielder, and the game was as good as up.The first to go had been Smith, caught behind by Maher while attempting to run McGrath down to third man (20 for 1). But the key wicket, as always, was Lara’s: attempting a cross-batted heave at Bichel, he succeeded only in dragging the ball into his stumps (85 for 4). It was the sixth time Bichel had dismissed Lara in ODIs, and it derailed West Indies’ chances of a win here.Steven Lynch is editor of Wisden CricInfo.

Stephen Fleming hits out on his way to an unbeaten 112
©AFPLocal predictions that New Zealand might wilt in harsh Sri Lankanconditions proved overly optimistic on an attritional opening dayof this two-Test series at the P Saravanamuttu Oval. The heatwas stifling, baking the smattering of spectators housed in themetal-roofed pavilion, but the pitch was pancake flat and SriLanka’s quartet of spinners made little headway against thevisitor’s stubborn pair of left-handers, Mark Richardson andStephen Fleming.Brought together by the early loss of Matt Horne, they profitedfrom some butter-finger catching and crawled along in the firsttwo sessions – scoring 66 in the morning and 73 in the afternoon- before turning the screws slightly in the evening.A breakthrough with the new ball by Chaminda Vaas – who hadotherwise had a relatively innocuous day, failing to swing thenew ball or reverse the old – immediately after the last drinksbreak pulled the home side back into the game, but by then,Fleming and Richardson had extended the partnership to 172 – ateam record for the second wicket against Sri Lanka, surpassingthe 141 by Bryan Young and Horne in 1996/97.Fleming, who prior to the match had called for his senior playersto shoulder responsibility in the absence of key middle-orderplayers, led from the front. During the first two sessions, he wasrarely fluent, content just to keep Sri Lanka’s spinners -especially the probing Muttiah Muralitharan – at bay. But duringthe final session, he started to assert himself, eventuallybringing up his fifth Test century with a cover-drive for four. Hefinished the day on 112 from 248 balls.”The aim is to get a big score tomorrow and definitely have a go at the SriLanka batsmen sometime in the afternoon,” Fleming explained. “Muralitharan was difficult to play as usual, but I have told my batsmen to watch him carefully. I am happy with my century, but a lot more needs to be done on the second day.”Richardson pulled his hamstring in the first session and battedthroughout the afternoon with a runner – meaning that poorHorne faced an evening of rehydration despite scoring just four -anchored the innings, carrying through his good form from thewarm-up matches when he had scored 106 and 93. He alsolooked set to reach three figures, although he had virtuallyground to a halt against the spinners.Patient and unflustered throughout – even after being rattled onthe helmet by a skidding Vaas bouncer in the afternoon – heeventually chopped one on to his stumps, having occupied thecrease 325 painstaking minutes for his 84 (192 for two).It could have been different for Sri Lanka, who were left to rueanother fumbling performance in the field. Richardson the chiefbeneficiary, was dropped first by Mahela Jayawardene at firstslip when he had made 34 – a regulation chance – and then on63 by Romesh Kaluwitharana, playing his first Test for two years.Fleming, too, had moments of alarm, edging between slip and thewicketkeeper in the morning and pulling within inches of a divingKumar Sangakkara at mid-wicket later in the day.In all, it proved to be a frustrating day for the new captain,Hashan Tillakaratne, who stamped his authority early on byensuring his players wore their traditional caps during the firstsession. Unfortunately, the dropped catches exposed the sameproblems faced by his predecessor: the lack of penetrativesupport for Muralitharan.The offspinner caused problems throughout the day but after 27overs of effort, he left the field wicketless. The other spinnerswere economical but far less threatening.Horne’s wicket was the only one to fall in the first two sessions,a first Test victim for Prabath Nissanka, the 22-year-old fastbowler with rickety knees and tree-trunk thighs, who bowled animpressive spell first up. Horne appeared to have weathered thenew ball, digging in for 44 minutes, before being surprised bysome sharp bounce from Nissanka. He fended off a sharp chanceto short leg, where Dharmasena clung on to a fine one-handeddiving catch (20 for 1).And that was pretty much all Sri Lanka had to celebrate for along while thereafter. Advantage New Zealand, after a day whenaggression was firmly pushed into the background.

Kerala defended a moderate total with gumption to register a 73-run win over Goa in their Ranji one-day match at Visakhapatnam on Thursday.Batting first, Kerala started disastrously, with both openers removed with the score only on 17. Wickets fell at regular intervals, and it was not until K Chandrasekhara and M Suresh Kumar put on 113 runs for the seventh wicket that Kerala’s score achieved any substance. Chandrasekhara made 60 off 92 balls, while Suresh Kumar scored 75 off 78.Set 227 for victory, Goa collapsed in a hurry. SK Cheruvathur and S Mathen took three wickets apiece to hasten the end of their rivals, breaking the middle and lower order to bowl Goa out for 153 in only 39 overs.

Daryll Cullinan, the elder statesman of South African batting, and tyros Graeme Smith and Jacques Rudolph will all welcome Steve Waugh and his touring team in the South African A side’s three-day game against Australia starting in Potchefstroom on February 17.Cullinan, who missed South Africa’s tour to Australia but has run into form during the latter part of the South African limited overs season, Smith, the leading run scorer in the Standard Bank Cup, and Rudolph, who has still to play an official Test match for his country, represent probably the best of South Africa’s batting outside the current touring squad and each has a point to prove to the national selectors.While Cullinan’s omission from the party in Australia was widely expected, he still nurses a burning desire to prove himself against the toughest opponents in world cricket. Rudolph, meanwhile, was pencilled in at number three for the first Test in Adelaide before the selectors succumbed to an attack of nerves and played Boeta Dippenaar instead. Rudolph was then chosen for the third Test but omitted following the intervention of United Cricket Board president Percy Sonn. Smith, meanwhile, has simply forced his way into contention by weight of runs.If anything, this match should demonstrate that South African does have some batting depth in reserve, but seems a shade thin in bowling where Charl Langeveldt and Andre Nel will share the new ball supported by Andrew Hall and spinners Claude Henderson and Gulam Bodi.The teamDale Benkenstein (KZN captain), Gulam Bodi (KZN), Daryll Cullinan (Gauteng), Andrew Hall (Easterns), Claude Henderson (WP), Charl Langeveldt (Boland), Andre Nel (Easterns), Ashwell Prince (WP), Jacques Rudolph (WP), Graeme Smith (WP), Thami Tsolekile (WP). Twelfthman Arno Jacobs (North West).

I left England for Perth on New Year’s Day to join the Neil `Noddy’ Holder Professional Cricketers Training Programme and to play the second half of the season for local Grade I club, Hammersley. Also in attendance is Nicky Peng of Durham and, recently, Pete Trego, ex-Somerset and now with Kent.I have daily, for an hour, one-to-one batting coaching sessions with Noddy Holder, who is the main batting coach for Western Australia and the personal coach of Justin Langer. I have bowling coaching from Matt Nicholson, the Western Australia and ex-Australian Test fast bowler, who is looking into every aspect of my bowling action with a view to helping me to bowl quicker without losing the ability to move the ball. I am also having fielding training with Stewart Kerpennen, who also plays for Western Australia and is the `local Jonty Rhodes’. Therefore, I am working with people who are at the very top of the game.Often, nets start at 7.30 am because, by lunchtime, it is too hot for there to be any meaningful training. Last week, the temperature peaked at 42 degrees, which is ridiculous! I am also doing daily fitness workout with Matt Nicholson, who is a qualified sports trainer with, like myself, a degree in Sports Science. This consists of 3km runs along the beach, sprinting up sand dunes, 2 km swims and gym work. Also, sometimes we go to the local Scarborough Cricket Club where Mat will layout a `circuit’ or to do repetitive 400m runs. One day when he was feeling particularly mean, he took us to a local landmark known as `The Stairs’ which are 120 concrete steps going up a hillside. We had to sprint up the stairs and be timed. Ever since Noddy has had his academy, the record has been 18 seconds and, although it may be hard to believe, I actually returned 17 seconds on my first attempt. With us on that day was an Australian challenged me to a re-run. Again, I clocked 17 seconds while she returned 17.1 seconds and so some of this training must be working!Recently, I also did some schoolboy coaching at a local public school with Messrs Justin Langer, Doug Walters, Barry Richards, Rodney Hogg and Bob Massey! In such company, whoever was in my group drew the short straw! The coaching was over three days and it was a wonderful experience to be with such cricket legends. In fact, I had met Justin Langer about a week earlier at Scarborough Cricket Club when he told me that he was "looking forward" to doing the coaching with me. At the time, he had consumed a couple of beers, been fielding in around 38 degrees and so I had no way of knowing whether or not he was serious.When I first came out here, I had a stiff back courtesy of falling over while on a training run across Painswick Beacon just before departure. This meant that my early bowling was off no more than 10 yards by order. Happily, this has now cleared up and last Saturday I wound it up for the first time, much to the delight of my team-mates as there was a good carry on the pitch and the wicket keeper was taking most of the balls head-high. It now remains to be seen how it goes in the remaining weeks while I am out here.Grade I cricket is a good standard and played in a fiercely competitive way. However, there is no `sledging’ as everyone can play at that standard and so everyone has respect for the ability of the other players. There are a considerable number of `Grades’ to cricket out here so that, more or less, everyone can find a level to play at. This is in marked contrast to most Club cricket in England where virtually every side will contain one or more players who are not at the standard of the rest. The grounds are very large but often used for Aussie Rules in the winter and so the outfields are uneven. Some of the wickets have left a great deal to be desired and so batting has not been easy. The Australians do not complain and they simply get on with it. A sight screen is also a rarity and in our first game, there was no pavilion either! In fact, that game remains in the memory for a number of reasons. First, both sides bring three stumps and a ball. I wish someone had told our skipper, as we turned up with two stumps and no ball!Secondly, because there was no pavilion, we had to change under the trees where I left my kit bag containing the sandwiches I was also asked to bring to contribute towards the tea. At tea time, I discovered that my kit bag was FULL of ants who had invaded all my kit and had my sandwiches away. Thirdly, my first three balls in Australia. The opposition had a well-known local batsman who was already averaging above 60 for the season so far. My first ball hit him full amidships and we all stood around for five minutes while he recovered! My second ball saw him glove it to the keeper, where a large appeal was rejected by the umpire only for the batsman to claim, "Jeez, I gloved that" and he proceeded to walk. I did not know there was such a thing as a walking Australian opener. My third ball saw their next best batsman play all round a straight one and depart lbw. Their two best batsmen were in the pavilion, or at least they would have been had there been one.Unfortunately, my team were bottom of the league on arrival and we have stayed there. A promotion to Grade I from Grade II has coincided with the departure of about half the team and so they are in the process of rebuilding. Have batted in three matches and so far have scored 22, 24 and 10 & 40. The third game was played on a `shocker’ of a pitch that had not been rolled due to mechanical breakdown and the ball was moving everywhere. We scored 80 and 124 and the opposition scored 83 and 126-9. My 40 in the second innings took 3.5 hours and I took 18 overs to get off the mark! Part of my recent batting coaching with Noddy has focussed on concentration at the wicket and selling one’s wickets dearly. I thought I would put the theory to practice and I can assure you that that particular innings bored everybody rigid. However, in the context of the game, it nearly won the match because my team proceeded to drop four catches (two in the last over before the winning run was scored) and so we should have won.The only other thing of note was, the other week, I was asked for $20 on entering my club on the grounds that a 100 Club Draw was no good with 99 balls. I paid the money happily, thinking I was contributing towards Club funds, only to find that my last-minute purchase scooped the top prize of $600. I love taking money from Australians.

Adam Gilchrist has said that he subscribes to what he believes will be an increasing trend among international players to retire from one-day games to concentrate on Test cricket.He told the today that while it would not be “in the foreseeable future”, he could see a day when he may retire from ODIs and devote himself to Test cricket. The gruelling schedule of modern international cricket could result in more players looking to do the same sort of thing.Gilchrist said starting a family tended to change the perspective of players and while he still enjoyed his cricket, he was juggling around in his mind what he wants to do in the future.Gilchrist said that the usual time to think about such decisions – at the end of a tour, when “you’re tired and worn out” – was not the right time. But he did see that the option would be used more and more in the future. “There’s no hiding the fact that people are thinking that way and that’s going to be part and parcel of it. There’s some demand coming from somewhere for more and more cricket, so if that’s the way cricket decides to go, that’s going to be a spin-off effect.”

Defiant innings from young Victorians Jon Moss and Michael Klinger were not enough to stop Western Australia gaining a slight advantage at stumps on day one of their Pura Cup match.The Bushrangers crawled to 6-226 on a WACA pitch showing large green patches with the run rate barely keeping above two an over all day.Moss, 26, remained unbeaten on 60 with Victorian captain Paul Reiffel yet to score after the Bushrangers struggled to gain any real momentum throughout the day.It appeared from the outset that Reiffel’s decision to bat was a poor one after Victoria slipped to 3-60 just before lunch with Jason Arnberger (2), Matthew Mott (15) and Matthew Elliott (30) all back in the pavilion.Debutant quick Michael Clark (2-41) shone for the home team in the opening session with the former AFL player picking up openers Arnberger and Elliott.Kade Harvey (2-53) was the other wicket taker in the first session removing Mott for 15.But Brad Hodge and 21-year-old Klinger appeared to be turning the visitors’ innings around before spin bowler Brad Hogg trapped Hodge in front for 32.Klinger and Moss then put on a 64-run partnership before Klinger’s 189-minute knock came to an end on 58 midway through the final session.His 181-ball innings finished when he was caught flashing a cover drive to Michael Hussey for Harvey’s second wicket to leave the Vics at 5-169.Darren Berry was the last man out for the day, after surviving a confident caught behind appeal off the bowling of Clark. He was out for 20.Simon Katich took the neat catch in slips off the bowling of quick Matthew Nicholson (1-51).Moss, who’s looking to make his first century in the four-day game tomorrow said it was hard work out in the middle.”It was enjoyable to get away on that wicket, it wasn’t too bad, but they were bowling well so we had to just work a bit harder,” Moss said.”I would definitely love to go on with it (and reach a hundred) but I have to get myself in again tomorrow.”I just hope we can make as many as we can.”

The NTCA Ground’s indoor training facility is poised to receive a $40,000 upgrade courtesy of the Tasmanian Cricket Association (TCA) as they try and promote cricket as a statewide sport.New flooring, nets, lighting and paint are planned for the Launceston ground’s indoor facility. The TCA’s offering is significantly due to the redevelopment of Bellerive Oval in Hobart and is a bid to keep the northern venues’ facilities on par with those in the south.The NWTCA Ground is also expected to receive a similar gesture from the TCA.The indoor facility is primarily used as a training venue for junior players and for selection trials such as those for the junior Metro Cup cricket tournament.The TCA has planned sessions between junior cricketers and senior Tasmanian team members to help enhance the productivity of cricket in Tasmania at a junior level. Sean Clingeleffer, Brett Geeves, Scott Kremerskothen and Shane Watson all made the two hour trip to Launceston from Hobart to participate in a skills session with eighty budding cricketers. Four more similar sessions have been planned by the TCA which will occur before Christmas.