Barbadians Vasbert Drakes and Corey Collymore snubbed the media on Monday evening, denying the public the chance to hear their perspective on the West Indies cricket tour of India and Bangladesh.When asked if he had any comments for the media, Collymore snapped: "No, I going home," but was still seen lingering at Grantley Adams International Airport even after reporters left. Drakes, on the other hand, went from smiling and kissing his son to shouting and pointing at photographers who were taking his picture.This reaction by theall-rounder, who recently made his debut for the team because of changes in the eligibility rule, was clearly a shock to people waiting for family and friends at the airport.In sharp contrast were Pedro Collins and Ramnaresh Sarwan. Collins was the first person through the automatic gates and was embraced by his family and friends, but he spoke briefly to the media.The bowler said he felt he had to take charge of that department after Mervyn Dillon went home early with an injury, but then he too was hurt and had to be rested."Other than that I think we had a decent tour. I think the guys played some wonderful cricket, and the batting really clicked for us,"he said.Commenting on the different conditions, he noted: "The pitches were a bit different in Bangladesh, they give a bit more bounce, more carry. The pitches in India were mostly batting wickets . . . but once you bend your back it is hard work, and hard work will pay off."Although it is the Christmas season, Collins does not intend to eat, drink and be merry.He is very aware that the team has to be in camp by January 13 to prepare for the ICCWorld Cup."The physiotherapist gave everybody a programme you have to go through everyday. We have the camp coming up, so instead of being lazy I am going to be active," he said.

Clyde Butts and Ezra Moseley, members of the West Indies Cricket Board’s junior selection panel, will join senior selector Joey Carew in scouting for talent during the Carib Beer 2003 Cricket Series.Butts, a former Guyana captain and West Indies off-spin bowler, now chairman of the junior panel, and Moseley, a former Barbados and West Indies fast bowler, will assist Carew in the absence of Sir Vivian Richards and Gordon Greenidge.Sir Vivian will be attending the Cricket World Cup 2003 in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya in his capacity as chairman of the senior selection committee, while Greenidge has made himself available to help Bangladesh prepare for the same competition.The Carib Beer 2003 Cricket Series opens on Friday with matches in Kingstown, The Valley and Pointe-A-Pierre.

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.

India had batsmen in Mohammad Kaif and Rahul Dravid who produced the goods when they mattered, something New Zealand couldn’t generate in their own innings, and they inflicted a seven-wicket loss that should spell the end of New Zealand’s World Cup.The match in Centurion saw another New Zealand top-order batting collapse and the only remaining strand of hope of New Zealand making the semi-finals is for Zimbabwe to beat Sri Lanka tomorrow.But getting into the semi-finals in that fashion would be embarrassing for this New Zealand side who appear in a state of batting shell shock, almost completely out of touch with their regular game.A score of 146 was never going to be enough to trouble the highly-talented Indian batting line-up which is running high on confidence at the moment.Despite the best efforts of Shane Bond to bowl New Zealand back into the game to leave India 21 for three wickets, the shortcomings of the New Zealanders were ruthlessly exposed by India, just as they were by Australia earlier in the week.It is a cruel fact of sport that the catch dropped by wicket-keeper Brendon McCullum, when Dravid was on one, from Bond’s bowling will be remembered by many as the reason for New Zealand’s loss coming as it did when India were 22 for three wickets.That would be unfortunate. New Zealand lost this game, as they lost the earlier match against Australia, because of their lack of batting.McCullum’s was an unfortunate miss but as far as his tournament was concerned it was an aberration. The same could not be said of the batsmen who so often got themselves out in similar manner.New Zealand’s batting problems, the failure of the collective unit to work together, were borne out again in an effort that ranked high on the most abysmal perpetrated by the side.While they were dismissed for less against Australia, they could at least say that was attributable to the pace of Brett Lee.But on this occasion it was Zaheer Khan, a bowler of whom they had seen plenty in New Zealand, and who was bowling in far less amenable conditions, who undid the batsmen from a side supposedly playing for a World Cup semi-final place with his haul of four wickets for 42 runs.The wickets of Craig McMillan, easily caught when turning the second ball of the innings to square leg, and Nathan Astle, pinned plumb leg before wicket off the next ball, were blows that struck at the foundation of the innings.Scott Styris attempted to recover the situation with Stephen Fleming but when the score was 38 he had a ball from Ashish Nehra take the edge and fly to wicket-keeper Dravid to be the third to fall.McCullum was elevated to protect Chris Cairns but the plan failed as he was bowled by Khan, his 100th wicket in One-Day Internationals, for four runs and New Zealand were 47 for four wickets.Indian captain Sourav Ganguly marshalled his bowlers effectively throughout the innings, and everything he tried seemed to work out.Never more so than when he brought back Javagal Srinath for his second spell where he picked up the vital wicket of New Zealand’s in-form batsman, Fleming, for 30 when he attempted a back foot shot only to offer a simple catch to Sachin Tendulkar at mid-off. He took one for 20 off eight overs.The rout was complete when Cairns, having reached 20, attempted a cut shot of sorts to off-spinner Harbhajan Singh. The result of his mis-timed shot was a simple catch to Khan at backward point. New Zealand were 88 for six and the only question seemed to be whether they could avoid lowering their worst score in World Cup games, the 112 against Australia. Harbhajan ended with two for 28 off his 10 overs.The lower-order hung around long enough to keep the score slowly building but the longer they stayed, the more it highlighted the inadequacies of the top order players and their failure to make use of the good conditions.Once India got over the hiccup at the start of their innings with the loss of Virender Sehwag for one, Ganguly for three and Tendulkar for 15, and the opportunities, rather than definite chances, to fieldsmen who would have achieved the miraculous held they held them, Kaif and Dravid batted without great risk and sensibly accumulated their runs while all the time dragging down the New Zealand spirits.They each scored half centuries. Kaif played the more extensive hand, achieving his fourth half-century in ODIs and finishing on 68 not out while Dravid was 53 having scored his 44th half-century.From India’s point of view, Kaif’s finding of form was invaluable as he had been the one batsman in the order without a sizeable score and the New Zealanders will have done he and India a big favour today.Indian captain Ganguly said he was delighted with the bowling and fielding of his side and he knew that even when the side was in trouble they had the players capable of improving the situation.”We have done very well so far but we have still got the most important part to come,” he said.New Zealand captain Fleming said the side was never in the game and had produced a poor performance batting wise.”We needed to be a bit more polished in all areas and on days like this you have to post good scores,” he said.India will play Kenya in their semi-final next week and the prospect must be for Australia and India to play the final next weekend.

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.

Andover have boosted their Southern Electric Premier League strike force by snapping up economical seamer Jeremy Ord from Old Tauntonians & Romsey.Ord frequently conceded less than 20 runs from 12-over new ball starts in Premier Division 2 last season and is a more than useful addition to the Andover attack.Roger Miller continues to skipper Andover’s Premier 1 team and is optimistic that Toby Radford, who has just taken up a coaching position alongside ex-England spinner John Emburey at Middlesex, will keep fit this summer after breaking his arm playing for the Hampshire Cricket Board last year.Mark Miller, Jeremy Hayward, Ian Langdown and the skipper are likely to fill the top five batting places, while Richard Taylor will spearhead the attack.Little Cille van der Merwe replaces Gosport-bound Lee Wateridge behind the stumps while the spinning places are likely to go to Matt Hooper and South African Gareth Tate. Dean Woodhouse, who will miss most of the season due to work commitments, is likely to be replaced by his bother Stuart, who has joined Andover from Rowledge.Tim Keighley captains a young second team, with Paul Funnell and Marc Kavanagh heading up the batting alongside teenagers Steve Williams and Rob Palmer. Luke Graham and Mike Adams will head a strong bowling line-up as the side pushes for promotion from Hampshire League, CD1.Director of Cricket Andy Hooper will help with first team coaching, but the left arm spinner will be sorely missed as his contribution on and off the field has been second to none.

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.

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.

Geoffrey Boycott has said Andrew Flintoff could be an even more effective one-day international player if he was promoted to open the innings.Writing in , Boycott said: “For me Andrew Flintoff has been a revelation and shown he is England’s most valuable player.”Personally, I feel we need to experiment to find his best battingposition. He can do so much damage so quickly that I would like to see himtried as an opener.”He continued: “Adam Gilchrist of Australia moved from Test middle-order to one-day opener with amazing results. Like Gilchrist, Flintoff could soon put the bowling side on the defensive and wondering what the hell has hit them.”England beat Pakistan 2-1 in the NatWest Challenge and defeated South Africa byseven wickets in the NatWest Series final at Lord’s last week. These were two large steps forward for a new-look side which the England selectors hope will form the nucleus of the 2007 World Cup team.Boycott added: “I think they played splendidly, fielded athletically and looked as if they were enjoying themselves.”Even more surprising than his generally wide-ranging endorsement ofEngland’s players was his praise for the selectors, whose decisions he hasoften criticised. He said: “Our selectors have done well and our team has done even better.”But any thoughts that the usually hard-hitting Boycott had gone soft were dashed with his comments about Vikram Solanki: “He gets out cheaply too often, playing extravagant shots that are not on.”This was Boycott’s first major article since he revealed last month that hewas optimistic about winning his battle against throat cancer. He aims to return to television broadcasting when given the go-ahead from his doctors.Click here to read the article in full

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.”