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Australia captain Steven Smith will stay at No. 3 in the batting order in the absence of the injured Usman Khawaja, opening up a spot in the middle order for the day-night match in Adelaide.The squad for Adelaide will be named on Wednesday, and Smith’s pronouncement makes it likely that the selectors will opt for a middle-order option. While Shaun Marsh is favourite for the role, George Bailey is among the leading run-makers in the Sheffield Shield this summer and would add useful knowhow to a young team, while Glenn Maxwell is highly regarded if enigmatic, and made 98 and 38 in the Sheffield Shield match between Victoria and Western Australia at the MCG.”It depends who comes in but I think I’ll probably bump myself up to No. 3 with Usman being out,” Smith said. “I’ll keep that spot warm for him until he comes back.”Australia have other selection queries following the retirement of Mitchell Johnson, the indifferent form of Mitchell Marsh, and the heavy workloads endured by Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood in Perth. James Pattinson, James Faulkner and Moises Henriques have all been mentioned as possible inclusions.Smith stated his dissatisfaction with the Kookaburra balls used in this match, with an extraordinary 11 replacement balls required across the Test outside the usual allocation. However he expressed optimism that the pink ball would hold up well in Adelaide under conditions carefully concocted to support it.”It’s just up to the powers above me to sort that out with Kookaburra,” Smith said of the red ball. “It was a little bit disappointing the way we had to change so many balls throughout this Test match. I think it wastes a lot of time and it’s always different as a batter or a bowler to change the ball continually, to get in a rhythm. So hopefully they can resolve those issues.”We played the Shield game with the pink ball in Adelaide a couple of weeks ago and the ball stayed together pretty well. I think there was eight millimetres of grass on that wicket and it’s likely to be a pretty similar wicket for the Test match next week. Hopefully saying that the ball stays in shape the same way it did a couple of weeks ago.”As for the WACA pitch, which hosted the fourth highest scoring Test ever played in Australia, Smith said he was disappointed by its lack of life, but equally had no intention of handing too straightforward a chase to New Zealand on the final afternoon. The final target of 321 in 48 overs was never realistic, even before rain arrived.”It would have been nice to get about 360 off about 65-70 overs,” he said. “It was obviously pretty hard, I thought they bowled really well. As we saw there at the back end, the wicket was still extremely good so I didn’t want to give them much of a sniff. The two guys out there at the end, we’ve struggled to get them out this Test match. Well, Kane in both Test matches.”Traditionally the wicket out here has had a lot more pace and bounce. Going into the game that’s what the groundsman indicated it was likely to be like. It didn’t turn out that way unfortunately. I was a bit disappointed with the way the wicket played. It was really tough to take wickets. So I don’t think there was much more we could do.”

Orissa qualified for the Wills Trophy after 16 years, defeating Bengal by eightwickets in their final East Zone Ranji Trophy one day league match at the EdenGardens today. As a result, Orissa finished with eight points, sufficient forthem to make it to the Wills Trophy.It was a wrong decision by the Bengal think-tank that proved disastrous for thehosts. After winning the toss, Bengal decided to bat on a pitch that had a lotof life in the initial period, an advantage that was used to the hilt byDebashis Mohanty and Ajoy Barik. Bengal lost their first seven wickets within 20runs and the match was as good as over during the first hour of the game. Thedecision to bat was all the more surprising because only on Saturday, Bengalskipper Devang Gandhi had said they would like to chase. It was the grave errorin reading the pitch that prevented the finalists of 1998 from qualifying thisseason.Bengal managed to reach three figures only because of a doughty knock fromWrichik Mazumdar. He scored 37 in 80 balls and with Shiv Sagar Singh added 42runs for the ninth wicket. Before that, it was simply a tale of going and comingback. The slide started when the Orissa wicket-keeper Gautam Gopal took anexcellent catch on the leg side to dismiss makeshift opener Lakshmi Ratan Shuklaoff the bowling of Barik. Then Mohanty got into the act. With his outswingerworking nicely, Mohanty cartwheeled Nikhil Haldipur and Rohan Gavaskar. Barik onthe other hand had Gandhi hooking, only to find the fielder at square leg.Bengal had then been reduced to only nine runs for four wickets. Mohanty thenonce more produced a lovely break back to bowl Deep Dasgupta in his third over.Then in his fifth over he had Utpal Chatterjee playing on and with the fifthdelivery of the same over, had Sanjiv Sanyal edging to keeper Gopal. Bengal atthis stage, were 20 for seven. Srikkant Kalyani, Mazumdar and Singh managed totake the total to over 100. However, that would not have been possible had notthe Orissa team given away 25 extras, 20 of which came from wides and no balls.When Orissa batted, BBCC Mahapatra was bowled by Shukla trying to pull a ballthat kept low. Immediately after lunch, Shukla had Gopal caught at point with aball that bounced a bit more. However, Sanjay Raul batting with elan on a pitchthat had dried up, quietly guided Orissa to victory without a fuss. His drivingwithin the `V’ was a treat to watch. He remained unbeaten on 42 with five fours.With Pradip Das, the other opener, Raul added 78 runs to take Orissa to aconvincing win.

Lanky pace bowler Chris Tremlett, who finished school only two weeks ago, celebrated his home Championship debut with a decisive spell of four for 34 as Durham, chasing 211 on a difficult Rose Bowl pitch, fell to defeat by 47 runs.Tremlett, getting pace and bounce from a lively wicket, finished with creditable match figures of seven for 77 leaving Durham to regret an important missed catch early in the day. Neil Johnson was only 34 when he was put down behind the wicket by Andy Pratt off a straightforward chance.Johnson took full advantage to go on and make 86 not out, dominating partnerships with Shaun Udal, Alex Morris and Tremlett which produced 125 for the last three wickets.Simon Brown and Nicky Hatch each took three wickets as Hampshire were eventually all out for 230. At one stage they were 105 for seven, just 85 ahead, but Durham began their second innings in positive fashion fearing that a target of 211 may be beyond them in the unpredictable circumstances. So it proved once the in-form Martin Love had been superbly caught by Johnson diving at first slip for nine.Jon Lewis resisted bravely for 38 and Nicky Peng hit eight fours in a brisk and belligerent 49 before being caught at long leg. Tremlett dismissed Pratt and Ian Hunter in the same over, the 45th of the innings, and wrapped up a personally satisfying day by having Brown and Hatch caught at the wicket off successive balls. It was Hampshire’s third win of the season.

A steady rather than excellent batting display from Tamil Nadu’s toporder saw the home side gain a slight edge over Goa in their RanjiTrophy league match at Chennai on Sunday.Managing to bowl Goa out for 238, Tamil Nadu had a definite upperhand. MR Shrinivas took 5-57, playing a vital role in the collapse ofthe visitors’ batting line-up.Sadagopan Ramesh, opening the Tamil Nadu innings, must have beenhoping to impress the selectors with a sterling display and regain hisposition in the Indian team. He managed, however, to make only 35 off94 deliveries. His partner, Somasetty Suresh, made 65 off 130 balls,top-scoring in his side’s innings.Suresh fell with the score on 114, and Hemang Badani and Hemanth Kumarfell relatively cheaply. S Sharath and skipper Robin Singh thenstabilised the innings, taking Tamil Nadu’s total to 187/4 by theclose of play.

Worcestershire Royals threw away a great chance to consolidate their lead of the First Division of the National league when they saw Gloucestershire snatch a dramatic three wicket win at Cheltenham.The Australian Glenn McGrath had sent the home side reeling with a dynamic burst which rbought him threee wickets in seven balls for no runs.They were then on 76 for 7 in reply to Worcester’s 149 for 9 and McGrath had two overs left.But then in an astonishing decision acting-captain Stephen Rhodes withdrew him from the attack and with the pressure off Chris Taylor, a youngster in his first season at county level, and veteran spinner Martyn Ball who can no longer command a regular place, as the West County side fashioned a remarkable escape.They began to punch holes in the field and were to score 73 in 13 overs with each matching the other.A capacity crowd at the Cheltenham College who had given up the mathc as lost began to get behind them cheering eveyr run and when McGrath was finally recalled to complete his nine overs the game had taken a completely different appearance.Fifteen were needed off four overs and by then the eight wicket pair were fearing no one. McGrath at the start of the innings had sent down thunderbolts in an opening spell which saw just three runs taken off him, now Taylor planted one foot firmly down the wicket and drove four runs straight past him.It was more than bravado for it was his fourth boundary and he finished on 37 off 54 balls. Ball had two boundaries in his 30 off 37 balls, the second of them winning the match as he smacked spinner Richard Illingowrth to the cover boundary.The crowd swarmed onto the field to salute a famous, if unlikely victory, while Rhodes was left to reflect on a bad error of judgement for easing the pressure at the wrong time.His decision to bat first had also come under close examination for it was never easy to get the ball off the square against the persistent accuracy of Mike Smith who bowled through his nine overs of left-arm pace for nine runs and the wicket of Paul Pollard, bowled off his pads for eight.Vikram Solanki, whose enterprising 45 off 69 balls ended in a catch at long off, Ryan Driver with a big 29 and Rhodes, caught at cover off a full toss for 27 lifted Worcester’s score but it was a modest score on a good wicket of even bounce.Dominic Hewson (34) and Jack Russell gave Gloucestershire’s reply a steady start with 40 in 17 overs before Russell who had made just seven of them spooned a return catch to Richard Illingworth.The innings was in trouble on 56 when Hewson was run out by David Leatherdale’s sharp throw from cover point before Illingworth, three balls later, bowled Harvey around his legs for 11.A painstaking 11 overs for 20 by Matt Windows and Mark Alleyne promised to rebuild the innings but on 76 it all swung Worcester’s way. An uncertain Alleyne, going onto the back foot was bowled by Illingworth and this was followed by McGrath’s assult which saw Windows and Jeremy Snape depart leg before and Reggie Williams caught behind.Worcester were on course for their seventh league win in eight maches but then came that fatal blunder to remove McGrath and it became sackcloth and ashes.

Sheffield Collegiate secured their first National title a day after winning the Yorkshire Premier League. The final of the National Club Championship was being played at the Walker Trust Ground, home of Southgate Cricket Club after originally being abandoned at Lord’s.The ground had been swamped by two and half inches of rain on Friday but on winning the toss, Sheffield Collegiate captain Ed McKenna had no hesitation in batting. Collegiate struggled against some accurate bowling by Roger Myall and Paul Hacker. Hacker bowled through for 0 for 11 from his allotted 9 overs and support bowlers Jon Lord, Richard Halsall and Richard Smith kept the pressure on, all bowling tightly.Nick Gaywood scored an uncharacteristic 30 in 84 balls before Tasker brought some impetus to the innings. Myall returned to help mop up the tail, bowling Tasker for 31 (from 38 balls) and then dismissing John Hespe as Collegiate’s last four wickets fell for just five runs and Myall finished with 3 for 25 from his 9 overs.Eastbourne’s innings started disastrously, losing Richard Halsall for 0 in the second over. The first four batsmen were dismissed for just 13 runs with two wickets a piece from Richard Kettleborough (former Middlesex and Yorkshire) and Andy Wylie.They never really recovered and spinners John Hespe (2 for 19) and Mark Boocock (1 for 25) maintained the stranglehold as wickets continued to fall regularly. Wylie returned to trap last man hacker lbw and Eastbourne were bowled out for just 75 in 34.3 overs.John Carr, ECB’s Director of Cricket Operations presented the trophy and a cheque for £3,000 to wining Captain Ed McKenna with Paul Stevens picking up a cheque for £1,000 as runners-up. Andy Wylie was named Man of the Match for his bowling performance of 3 for 9 in 8.3 overs.

Indian Airlines skipper Vijay Dahiya won the toss in their semifinalencounter against the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in the MRF BuchiBabu Invitation tournament on Monday. On a flat wicket at the IITChemplast Ground, Indian Airlines were saved the blushes by MuraliKartik and Dodda Ganesh and their 95-run ninth wicket stand that sawIndian Airlines reach 267 just two balls short of 88 overs.Earlier in the day, Karnataka’s J Arunkumar and youngster ManishSharma failed to get the Airlines team off to a good start. Playingslowly from the beginning, Airlines were one down with just 21 runs onthe board. Rakesh Patel was the wrecker-in-chief in the morningsession. He scalped Arunkumar and then removed Laxman off the verynext ball. VVS Laxman will be disappointed with his first ball duck.The stylish Hyderabadi batsman favours batting in the middle order.Having gotten the chance at number three, all he could do was snickthe ball through to the wicketkeeper. Rohit Jhalani was not one tomiss out on a key wicket like Laxman, and snared the chance.Shafiq Khan, who slammed a ton in the last game he played, alsosuccumbed quickly, without even opening his account. MrithyunjayTripathi, one of the heroes of India’s Under-19 World Cup triumph inSri Lanka, had Shafiq Khan caught by Dhruv. The last thing IndianAirlines needed was a run out – and this was exactly what they got.Manish Sharma (20) was caught short off his ground by a handy bit offielding from Yuvraj Singh.At 27/4, the Indian Airlines team was in deep, deep trouble. Afighting half century from Ravneet Ricky managed to give the inningssome semblance of dignity. When he was dismissed just three runs shortof his half century by left arm spinner Rakesh Dhruv, there was moretrouble for Indian Airlines. A few quick wickets later they were 157/8and looking down the barrel.The fall of the eighth wicket brought India caps Murali Kartik andDodda Ganesh together. Both have played for India but without gettinga long run so they had a lot to play for. No one had more to play foron the day than Murali Kartik. Not long ago, he was expelled from theNCA on disciplinary grounds. The director of the NCA, Hanumant Singhhas also made it amply clear since, that they would not reconsidertheir decision. Every sweep Kartik played, every straight drivesmarted of this expulsion.Sparing no bowler, the Railways southpaw put the attack to the sword.With the wicket doing nothing whatsoever for the bowlers, all MohammedKaif could do was rotate the bowling around and hope that a wicketwould fall. By the time it did, it was too late. Kartik had slammedhis way to an unbeaten 62 that included one majestic hit that clearedthe ropes. Ganesh was not one to be left behind. Although he wascareful with anything pitched in the right spot, he was severe onanything that was not. When all rounder Reetinder Singh Sodhi bangedthe ball short at Ganesh, the day’s story was told. The Karnatakaseamer leaned back and clouted the ball well over the ropes on the legside. The Indian Airlines batsmen let out a whoop of joy from theconfines of the pavilion. However, in all honesty, they should havestill been out in the middle grinding an inexperienced attack into adocile pitch.Tripathi was handed a brand new ball in the 82nd over of the day. Theyoung mediumpacer responded to his captain’s call in fine fashion,breaking up the ninth wicket partnership that had made life so hardfor the NCA. Ganesh was out playing one shot too many, but had alreadyscored an invaluable 42.The last man in, Vineet Jain was shielded well by Murali Kartik.However, no one can be shielded endlessly. After surviving 16 balls atthe crease, Jain found the 17th too hot to handle. Succumbing totemptation, he attempted a stroke across the line to a straight balland was trapped plumb in front. The final score of the Indian Airlinesteam was 267 and at 157/8 they might not have thought they would getquite so many.With an awkward five overs to face, Sridharan Sriram and Shiv SunderDas walked out to the middle. Neither appeared to be playing forstumps. Ganesh sent down a couple of nippy overs that were left wellalone at one end. From the other end however, three bowlers got anover apiece. Vineet Jain managed to send down an over for just tworuns. The other two – Indian bowlers at that – were not as lucky.Murali Kartik sent down an over of bad deliveries. He was lucky to behit away for just two boundaries. Nikhil Chopra, sending down the lastover of the day to Sriram could not entice the youngster from Chennaiinto making a mistake.At the end of a long day’s play, NCA were 17/0. Tomorrow holds thekey, and if the NCA batsmen are organised and sensible, they should beon the way to reserving a spot in the final.

Arthur Morris, the former opening batsman who was the leading run-scorer in the famous 1948 Ashes series in England, has died at the age of 93. Morris was Australia’s oldest living Test cricketer and one of only two surviving members of the 1948 Invincibles squad captained by Don Bradman; Neil Harvey, 86, is now the only living player from that touring party.One of Australia’s finest batsmen of all time, Morris was a left-hand opener who made his Test debut at the Gabba in 1946 in a home Ashes series, and went on to play 46 Tests for 3533 runs at an average of 46.48, including 12 centuries. He captained Australia twice and in 2000 was named in Australia’s Team of the Century, where he was listed to open the batting with Bill Ponsford.”We have sadly lost a cherished link with our past,” Cricket Australia chairman Wally Edwards said. “Arthur Morris was a great man and one of the true greats of Australian cricket who until now had been a treasured connection to an extraordinary era of the game. When Australia’s best openers are discussed his name will always be one of the first mentioned.”Morris scored centuries in three consecutive Test innings during his debut series, against England in 1946-47, and he was especially prolific on the tour to England in 1948. In later years Morris liked to tell the story of how he was often asked where he was when Bradman made his famous final-innings duck at The Oval. His response: “I was at the other end”. Morris made 196 in that innings.However, it was his performance in the previous Test at Headingley that truly impressed Bradman. Set a target of 404 for victory on a dry, dusty pitch, the Australians reached what was then a Test record for the highest successful fourth-innings chase with only three wickets down, and most impressively they managed the entire score on the fifth day. Morris made 182 in just under five hours.”He showed that day every quality demanded of the real champion,” Bradman wrote in two years later. “A rock-like defence, powerful but studied aggression and a perfect temperament. Considering the situation and the state of the wicket, I doubt if a more valuable innings was ever played.”Morris was described by Bradman as having the ideal temperament, quiet and unobtrusive in manner and displaying no nerves, and possessing outstanding courage. Bradman wrote that technically, Morris was “a player of individuality – of distinctive style”, and “a genius [who] does things others could not, and should not, try to emulate”.”The way he holds his bat is unusual,” Bradman wrote. “He plays with stiff forearms when driving on the off, but despite the lack of wristiness, gets the power just the same. Often he will play with the bat well away from the pads when trying to cover drive. Technically, it is wrong, but he seldom makes an error.”One of the most impressive aspects of Morris’ record was the way he quickly adapted to foreign conditions. He averaged 41.18 in Test matches at home and 53.78 away. Remarkably, he played first-class cricket in four countries and managed a century in his first match in each nation: at home in Sydney in 1940-41; against Worcestershire in 1948; against Natal in 1949; and against Jamaica in 1955.His highest Test score came against England at Adelaide Oval in the 1951 Ashes, where he made 206 in 462 minutes as part of Australia’s first-innings total of 371. The next best score was Keith Miller’s 44. Australia went on to win the match to secure a 4-0 lead in the series.Morris will also be remembered as the 24th man to captain Australia in Tests, after stepping into the role for the third Test against West Indies in Adelaide in 1951 when captain Lindsay Hassett was a last-minute withdrawal due to injury. Morris led Australia a second time against England at the SCG in 1954, when captain Ian Johnson and vice-captain Miller missed with injuries.Arthur Morris was described by Don Bradman as “a player of individuality – of distinctive style”•Getty Images

Born in the Sydney beach suburb of Bondi in 1922, Morris was the son of a schoolmaster and made his debut in Sydney’s first-grade cricket at the age of 14 as a left-arm wrist-spinner. He gradually moved up the order and became an opener, and became the first player in history to score hundreds in both innings on first-class debut – when at age 18, he made 148 and 111 for New South Wales against Queensland.However, World War II interrupted his career – he served in New Guinea during the war – and he had to wait until he was 24 to make his Test debut. He married showgirl Valerie Hudson, whom he had met during the 1953 tour of England, but after Morris returned from the West Indies tour in 1955, he discovered Valerie had been diagnosed with breast cancer.She had delayed telling him for fear that it would affect his performance on the field. Morris retired from cricket as Valerie’s health deteriorated, and she died at the age of 33, only 18 months into their marriage. He married his second wife, Judith Menmuir, in 1968.An impeccably polite man with a good sense of humour, Morris was interviewed by the in 2008, the day before a Twenty20 match between Australia and a Cricket Australia All-Star XI. Asked if he was going to watch the match the following day, Morris replied: “I might. But not if I am going to miss .”Only last week, the new Arthur Morris Gates were unveiled at the SCG, and although Morris was too ill to attend the event himself, he was represented by his wife Judith. She said that when she had asked Morris why he had gates named after him, he replied “because I was an opener”.With Morris’ passing, wicketkeeper Len Maddocks, 89, is now Australia’s oldest living Test cricketer.

Sussex 277 and 259 beat Nottinghamshire 212 (Read 56, Swann 41, Collymore 4-60) by 73 runs
ScorecardJust after 12.30pm, Sussex wrapped up their first Championship victory of theseason by a comfortable margin of 73 runs over the home side, Nottinghamshire.It was an expected result, and there were no twists on the final morning tobeguile the small number of spectators.Nottinghamshire overnight were 114 for 5, with all their specialist batsmengone, and needing a further 172 runs to win the match. It was not impossible,as they are well off for allrounders, but in the context of this low-scoringmatch, it was always going to be unlikely.However, the confidence and application with which Chris Read and Graeme Swannapplied themselves from the start of play showed that Nottinghamshire had by nomeans given up the fight. They began steadily and then started opening up,selecting the right delivery to hit and untroubled by the bowling. Readbrought up his fifty (81 balls) with a superb straight drive to the boundaryoff Mushtaq Ahmed, and then pumped Corey Collymore through the covers for four.But this was the last real defiance offered, the last real challenge to Sussex’ssupremacy in this match. Perhaps Read relaxed his concentration momentarily, ashe pushed a catch, bat and pad, to short leg off Mushtaq and was gone for 56.Notts were 159 for six after a stand of 78 that had almost doubled the score.As has happened so often in this match, a blossoming partnership was cut offjust when it was on the point of changing the game.The writing was not on the wall yet, but it seemed to affect Swann. He too hadplayed his strokes confidently, despite one fortunate escape when a cover drivewent in the air between two fielders, but in the next over he played a weak shotoutside the off stump to Collymore and was caught in the slips. He scored 41;163 for 7.There were still two capable batsmen left in Mark Ealham and Paul Franks, andthey held up Sussex for a while. Again, however, nothing major developed asEalham departed for 11, out to a very sharp catch by Luke Wright in the gullyoff a firm hit from Collymore; 188 for 8.By now the writing really was on the wall, although the next pair did take thetotal past 200, before Darrin Pattinson pushed forward and was adjudged lbw toMushtaq for 9; 203 for 9. A visit by Charlie Shreck to the crease is never aprolonged pleasure, but Paul Franks did manage a couple of lusty blows, takingthe total to 212 and his own score to 30 before his partner was caught in theslips and the match was over.Collymore, a quiet unsung hero, did sterling work to take 4 for 60, and therewere two wickets each for Jason Lewry and Mushtaq, whose bowling, unlike hisappealing, is not yet quite back to its best. It was a well-fought match, withSussex just ahead for most of the time and never really losing their advantage.The pitch was by no means a rogue, but batsmen found it hard to play their shotsand only Matt Prior, the undoubted but unofficial ‘Man of the Match’ reallymastered it. Scoring was rarely quick, therefore, and though the connoisseurwould have found interest in the fight, the limited-overs spectator wouldprobably have labelled it in the ‘boring’ category.

OBSERVATIONS FROM THE UKAs a Zimbo now in the UK I was glad to get the opportunity to watch Zim live on the internet. Despite the results from the two Tests and the two one-dayers that have gone so far, I was still heartened from what I saw. No, not on the pitch, but in the crowd. The scenes of the crowd which consisted of black Africans was awesome. To see your fellow countrymen dancing and chanting even when Zim were not doing so well shows that the game really does have a future in Zimbabwe, and the population is now starting to realize just how good a sport it is. Zimbabwe is still, I believe, the best place in the world to watch cricket and the pictures on the TV proved this – bring on the World Cup.It was especially pleasing to see Blignaut do well in the Tests and the first ODI. I believe this guy has tremendous potential to be a top player when he is not relied on to be an opening bowler or merely a pinch-hitter. The same is true with Sean Ervine. He hit the ball so cleanly in the second ODI and look like he has the talent to become a very solid batter, but we must not rely upon him to bowl 10 overs in a ODI. He would work really well as the type of player who can bowl fiveovers and pick up a couple of wickets, which I believe he has the talent to do.I was pretty miffed to at the selections in the first Test of Mahwire and the second one-day international of Mwayenga. These two guys are capable bowlers, and with time one of them could certainly turn into a top-class bowler, but to throw them in at the deep end for the benefit of one test or one ODI is suicidal. They should have been given more time in domestic cricket and encouraged to play league cricket abroad for a while. If the ZCU do insist on picking them then give them a run in the team, as one game is hardly enough for these teenagers to get over their nerves. I think the same is also true of Barney Rogers and Matsikenyeri.The worry for Zimbabwe is now the bowling attack. Our batting looks at its strongest for a while, with our lower order able to chip in when they have to (which in the last two ODI they have!!) but with Streak out our bowling is just not Test standard. I really have no thoughts on who could fill the void there at the moment. Why is Pommie not playing at the moment? His experience and knowledge for the game would be useful right now. Also, do you know what happened to Brighton Watambwa? He seemed a good prospect.To finish up I would just like to say well done to Tatenda Taibu. His place had been questioned before this series, but now we can see that he just may well be our next Andy Flower!!Keep up the good work – Zimbabwe Cricket Online is an excellent read.Nick Byas (UK)Reply: We did mention in an earlier issue that Brighton Watambwa this season rejected a new contract and immigrated to the USA.

THE ZIMBABWE FIGHT-BACKSIt seems the Pakistan batters are having a feeding frenzy on Zim’s bowlers in the first two one-dayers. Great comeback in the first, but as you said the damage had already been done.Hopefully Zim will bat first in the three games in Harare and put some pressure on the Pakistan batters, otherwise I can’t see much else changing. Good to see Taibu and Ervine going so well. They look to have the talent to become two of the mainstays of the team in the future!Michael Shepherd (Australia)

OUR YOUNG PLAYERSI am very disappointed with the performance of the team in the current one-day series but it is something we expected. What I do not understand is why the selectors still go on and include young players into the team before they are ready. The inclusion of Waddington Mwayenga and Stuart Matsikenyeri was really a bad decision on the part of the selectors. Let the boys grow up and mature until they are ready to face up to international cricket.This has affected other young players with the example of Mluleki Nkala there for all to see. Henry Olonga might have bowled badly but if we don’t have other experienced players, we might as well stick with him. He has the pace and can take wickets. Where is Mpumelelo Mbangwa, or Gus Mackay for example or Everton Matambanadzo? These are some of the older guys available for the selectors to use.One wonders just what this has done to the confidence of these boys after the baptism of fire they got from the matches they played. It will take time for them to recover. What makes it worse is they are going to be thrown by the wayside after their failure now. In the place of Stuart, what happened to Mark Vermeulen, Dion Ebrahim or Doug Marillier? They may not be playing well at the moment but they have the vital experience.Hope the selectors do look at this and see what they are doing to our young players. A lot of soul-searching needs to be done.Hilario Chinondo (Austria)Reply: Everton Matambanadzo actually emigrated to the USA more than a year ago.

FED UPI don’t know about the rest of the supporters, but I am sick and tired of the results of out national team. It’s been a decade since our first Test, yet we continue to tolerate the poor results. It’s not the Development Programme, nor quality of our players that are problematic – the whole thing is mental. We do not believe we can bowl a side out during a Test. What are we doing about belief in ourselves?Prince Moyo (England)

FASTEST TO 50 FIFTIESThey are the scourge of bowlers. They graced the game with their mercurial presence and elegant batsmanship for a long time.Yeah, I’m talking about the special club of only ten batters who reached 50 fifties in LOIs. Haynes, M.Waugh, Sachin, Ganguly, Jayasuriya, de Silva, Azhar, Miandad, Inzamam and now our very own Andy Flower.The first five are pure openers. Azhar took lot of matches to attain this feat and the two Pakis rarely found themselves in grim adversity simply ‘coz of world-class bowlers in their squad. The latest inclusion in this special list, Andy Flower, can seldom afford such a luxury.It is a matter of conjecture what Andy Flower would have done had there been no shackles of enormous responsibilities on him. Still he is the one who reached this coveted milestone in the shortest time. Just 200 matches.Phenomenon is the word to describe you, Andy. Keep it up!(Dr) Situ Phalswal (India)