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IT’S been paradise for batsmen, hell for bowlers.The first five One-Day Internationals in the seven-match series between India and the West Indies have produced consistently phenomenal feats of high and fast scoring by both teams.On flat, true pitches and fast outfields, bowlers have had no answer to power-hitting batsmen who have belted a combined total of 39 sixes and 275 fours and scored at an average of over six runs an over.Chris Gayle, the tall left-handed West Indies opener, has scored three hundreds. The Indians, Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid, have had one each.Ramnaresh Sarwan of the West Indies and V.V.S. Laxman of India has fallen one short, Wavell Hinds of the West Indies and Ajit Agarkar have both also got into the 90s.The team batting second has won each time – and each time chased what seemed mammoth targets.India’s 325 for five off 47.4 overs to win the fourth match under the lights in Ahmedabad was the third-highest winning total in One-Day Internationals . The West Indies have scored over 280 each time to win their three matches.The poor bowlers – especially the quicker ones – have taken a pasting. None has managed an economy rate lower than West Indies captain Carl Hooper’s 5.13 with his off-spin.Merv Dillon is the most expensive West Indian at 6.33 an over, Agarkar the costliest Indian at 6.90.The West Indies lead the series 3-2 with the last two decisive matches in Jaipur on Thursday (starting 11:30 p.m. Eastern Caribbean time) and Vijayawada on Sunday.

Graeme Smith, the South African captain, says his players have expressed major reservations about playing the Champions Trophy in Pakistan this September. His comments are the latest voicing player concern over security in Pakistan after the ICC confirmed on Thursday that the tournament would remain in that country.South Africa toured Pakistan last October for a Test and ODI series and Smith said the security situation had worsened considerably since then, when a state of emergency was declared just days after their departure.”From the players’ point of view, we do have major concerns with security in Pakistan,” Smith told . “A lot has happened in Pakistan, from a security point of view, since we were there and those are things that are worrying us. Generally, that’s a full-player view. I don’t know any players who don’t have issues with regards to security in Pakistan.”There were bombings taking place in Karachi and bombings are taking place in Lahore now. Within three days (of us returning home), there was a state of emergency so we have seen how quickly things can develop.”Smith echoed the views of Tony Irish, the chief executive of the South African Cricketers’ Association, who said yesterday the players were disappointed with the ICC’s decision and also hoped Cricket South Africa (CSA) would seriously consider whether to send a team to the Champions Trophy or not. Smith said he would leave the players association and Gerald Majola, CSA’s chief executive, to take the final decision.”We have people working on that whom we trust, Tony Irish from the players’ association and Gerald,” Smith said. “We are in constant communication with them on how we feel as players. We trust them to make the right decisions.”David Collier, the ECB’s chief executive, said senior players in the England squad will be consulted and shown the security reports ahead of an ECB meeting on August 4.”We will want to have a very robust review of that (security) plan,” Collier said. “We’re in very close touch, not only with the Professional Cricketers Association, but directly with all the players. It’s very important that we are in very, very close contact over this period and clearly other boards around the world are in the same position.”Heath Mills, the chief of the New Zealand Cricket Players Association, did not even approve of sending a second-string team for the tournament and said that the decision should not be left to the players. “”This is an international security issue,” Mills told . “It shouldn’t be something left in the hands of the younger, less experienced and more vulnerable players. Of course they’ll feel under pressure to take the chance. It’s totally irresponsible to put them in that position.”

For a nation that heaps expectations on its cricketers, India’sdominance over England at Colombo was hugely satisfying, tosay the least. Coming after the equally exciting win at Lord’s inthe final of the NatWest Trophy, this game just goes to provethat India are now a daunting one-day outfit, and if anything willinstill fear into the hearts of their opponents, it is the battingthat Sourav Ganguly and Virender Sehwag showed off on Sundayevening.

Ganguly, in my opinion, has started enjoying his cricket more oflate, but Sunday must have provided more than the usual shareof enjoyment and entertainment as he sat gleefully at the otherend while Sehwag went berserk. A smiling, encouraging captainis always a big asset, especially to the younger players, for hetakes the pressure off by a few opportune words.Once Ganguly and Sehwag had added 192 runs for the firstwicket in double-quick time, the match was virtually in the bag.Sehwag was the first to be dismissed, but not before he hadsealed a knock that is best described as inspirational. Hisdaredevil style of hitting through the line and on the rise -andhis astounding talent at succeeding – is quite, quite remarkable.England’s bowlers, especially Andy Caddick, were perhaps guiltyof trying to bowl too fast at Sehwag, for the increased paceonly made the youngster’s job easier, enabling him to use thepace to his own advantage. On a belter of a track like thePremadasa, there is little point in just trundling up and down,and more variations must be tried to throttle the batsmen.Sehwag in particular has a tendency to play a few loose shotsearly in his innings, and England’s bowlers failed woefully tocapitalise on that. With the line and length they were bowling,they only had a chance to get Sehwag if they obtained somemovement off the track. But as I said, given the pitchconditions, that was not likely to happen.Nasser Hussain could really not have anticipated such anonslaught, and in fact he would have been quite happy once hisbatsmen had put 269 on the board. Given India’s earlybreakthroughs, it was quite a feat by England to reach thatcompetitive total. Ashish Nehra and Zaheer Khan bowled brilliantfirst spells, and the early exit of Marcus Trescothick – always apivotal man for England – must have given the Indians a hugeboost.Hussain got out to a really atrocious stroke, and his battingmade the Indian quicks look twice as fast as they really were.That shot was not at all warranted in the situation, and if this ishow England is going to play in Australia, I am not sure they willbe able to make too many dents on the opposition. But I did likethe attitude and approach of young Ian Blackwell, refreshinglydifferent and positive as compared to his experiencedcolleagues.I must say, though, that India’s main spinners were a hugedisappointment. Both Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh areexperienced enough at the international level, and there is littleexcuse for not being on top of their game, especially on subcontinental tracks that always hold promise for spinners. I havealways emphasised the importance of turning and flighting theball, and neither Kumble nor Harbhajan managed to do enough ofthat on the day.On current form, the South Africans will surely find the Indianbatting too hot to handle. With Sehwag and Ganguly striking topform, there isn’t much any bowling attack can do, and the onlything India must guard against is complacency – a quality thatseems to creep in often, especially after a hugely one-sidedgame.

Sri Lanka’s new chairman of selectors believes that experience will be thekey to success in the 2003 World Cup in South Africa, suggesting an imminentshift away from the youth focused selection policy pursued in recent years.The new policy follows the resignation of former Sri Lanka captain MichaelTissera as chairman after a disagreement with the Sports Minister, just daysbefore Sri Lanka’s first Test against England, which was quickly followed bythe resignation of two other selectors, Don Anarusiri and MaheshGoonatilleke.The Sports Minister Johnston Fernando accepted the three membersresignations and appointed Guy De Alwis as head of a new three-mancommittee. He is joined by Sinhalese Sports Club ground manager, televisioncommentator and former Sri Lanka cricketer Ranil Abeynaike and RogerWijesuriya, the only member to remain from the previous panel.De Alwis’s comments suggest that veterans Aravinda de Silva, 36, and HashanTillakaratne, 34, could force their way back into the one-day squad, ascould discarded all-rounder Chandika Hathurusingha, 33, who has been inoutstanding form in domestic cricket in recent times.”Today the game has become so competitive,” says de Alwis, “and I wonderwhether the youngsters at times can cope up with the pressure ofinternational cricket. I personally don’t think going for youth is the keyto success in the World Cup. Experience will be vital.”As has been the case with previous committees, World Cup success is theoverriding priority of the new committee: “Our main target is to win theWorld Cup in South Africa. We want to have a balanced side. We will talk tothe captain and the coach and will work out these matters.”De Alwis, a former wicket-keeper batsman who represented Sri Lanka in the1980s, reveals that he is looking forward to speaking to the experiencedcricketers who have been overlooked in recent past.He also sounded a warning to the players, demanding a consistently highlevel of performance: “Players must realise that they have to performconstantly at the top level. My committee is not keen on past merits andrecords. We will look at the performance.”If that means that hard decisions have to be made then so be it: “Some willbe definitely unhappy with us, but I have been called to do a job that Iwill do even if the stakes are high.”He is not yet ready to unveil the extent of the proposed changes: “I can’tbe specific at the moment as it would not be fair to discuss these withoutspeaking first to the captain and the team management.”

Clare Taylor MBE, England women’s most experienced bowler and World Cupwinner, has today become the first English woman to take 100 wickets in hertest and one-day international career.She joins only one other female cricketers to achieve the feat, theAustralian pace bowler Cathryn Fitzpatrick.Clare dismissed the India captain Anjum Chopra for just six runs as Englandbeat India by six wickets at the Grainville Ground, Jersey, havingrestricted India to just 59 runs, their lowest total against England.Clare, who was awarded the MBE in 2000 for her services to women’s sport,made her England debut in 1988 and was a member of the World Cup winningEngland team in 1993. She was made a Sport England Ambassador in 1999 andpromotes sport and a healthy lifestyle to young people in Yorkshire.Clare is a double England international, playing for England in the 1995Women’s Football World Cup, and at domestic level for Liverpool F.C. and hashelped her county Yorkshire win the Frizzell County Championship ten timesin the past eleven years.Speaking from Jersey, where England are currently playing the first leg ofthe Women’s One-Day international series against New Zealand and India,Clare said “I’ve had a fantastic career with England over the past tenyears, and I’m looking forward to taking more wickets this summer”.Debutant Isa Guha took two wickets opening the bowling for England on herdebut, and fellow teenager Laura Harper was Player of the Match taking 4-11.India face World Champions New Zealand in tomorrow’s match, with Englandplaying New Zealand on Friday to complete the first leg of the one-dayinternational series in Jersey. The teams then move on to Durham for thefinal three games and the final on Saturday 20th July at Chester-le-Street.

A stunning double century by Saeed Anwar lit up the second day of Pakistan’s three-day Vodafone Challenge match against Kent in Canterbury.Anwar plundered 138 of his 201 runs in boundaries – including three consecutive sixes off acting Kent captain Min Patel – as he and Saleem Elahi (94) put on 307 in an opening stand covering 71 overs.Both Anwar and Elahi batted for 279 minutes, scoring their runs at a run-a-minute, to clatter Kent’s weakened attack to all parts of the St Lawrence ground.The partnership and the innings came to an end when Anwar, five balls after reaching the second double century of his career, toe-ended and attempted drive against Amjad Khan to sky a catch to James Golding at mid-off.Pakistan immediately declared their first innings, just six runs behind, leaving Khan to reflect on a tough first-class debut and his maiden first-class wicket at a cost of 46 runs from just 8.2 overs.Elahi was always prepared to play second fiddle to Anwar’s virtuoso innings, sadly missing out on a century when his side declared after a 197-ball knock that included 10 fours.Afterwards Pakistan’s assistant coach Darryl Foster praised Saeed Anwar’s innings.”It was a great two hundred and it was the perfect leader you could have before a Test match. You couldn’t ask for much more,” he said.”It was a very big confidence booster for him and the Pakistan team to knowthat they have one of their top batsmen in such good nick with the Test comingup.”It is a marvellous pitch and we have had some excellent batting conditionsand now on the final day some of the other batters can have a hit.”In the final session of play Kent extended their lead to 100, but lost three wickets in the process. Saleem Elahi had to leave the field for treatment having been struck on the head whilst fielding at short leg.David Fulton top-scored for the hosts with 40, but Ed Smith fell to the final delivery of the day, stumped off Saqlain Mushtaq.First day centurion, Robert Key, endured a contrasting experienced today. Dismissed for 21 in the second innings, he also put down a sharp chance in the gully offered by Anwar when he had scored 83, with Trott being the unfortunate bowler.

Steve James` Benefit Committee announced today that the sum of£160,287.63 was raised during Steve`s Benefit Year in 2001.” I would like to thank, along with my committee, all the Glamorgan members andsupporters, plus all of the firms and organisations who have supported methroughout the year, ” said a delighted James.This figures passes the £153,000 raised in Matthew Maynard`s Benefit Year in 1996.

Imran Farhat’s splendid knock of 138 runs was no way inferior in quality to that of his rival opener Shahid Afridi’s blitz of 142, yet the former ended on the losing side only because his team mates did not possess enough experience and temperament to score quickly in the final stages of their innings. They ended up 59 runs short of the target of 320 set for victory by Pakistan Probables, after venturing to field first on a batting pitch at the KRL Stadium in Rawalpindi.A comparison between the batting exhibitions of the two rival openers would not be out of place at this stage. While Afridi made use of years of experience to lead nothing less then a massacre of the Chief Executive XI’s average, or may be slightly above-average attack, Imran Farhat, with not a bit of international experience to help his cause and confronted with a top-class bowling attack, crafted his innings like a mature batsmen.Had there been a little more experience in the Chief Executive XI’s batting line-up, the result of the match would surely have been different. But as it was, they ended up at 260 for three in their 50 overs after an opening stand of 137 between Imran and Taufeeq Umar (58) and then of 70 for the second wicket between Imran and Wasim (34) had laid an excellent foundation for later batsmen’s onslaught.The glittering performances of batsmen aside, full marks, however, to Wasim Akram who juggled his bowlers in arguably the most suitable manner at times when it seemed that Imran Farhat, with his flawless concentration, would run away with the match. He made prompt changes whenever he found his bowlers in trouble, and coming on to bowl himself as and when needed to put much needed breaks on the scoring rate. His field replacements also left little to be required.Earlier, put into bat by Rashid Latif, the captain of the Chief Executive XI, the opening pair of Shahid Afridi and Imran Nazir (61) made the best possible use of a placid KRL wicket to pile up 156 in only 21.2 overs for the first wicket. This partnership proved sufficient for Pakistan Probables to pass 300 runs in their allotted 50 overs, although none of the remaining batsmen could make worthwhile contributions.None of the Chief Executive XI’s bowlers had a good day simply because Afridi had gone on the rampage since the word go. Yasir Arafat got two wickets, whereas Naved-ul-Hasan and Faisal Afridi claimed one each, but they proved a bit too expensive.The Chief Executive of Pakistan, General Pervez Musharif, presided over the prize distribution ceremony after the match. Besides conferring the winner and losers’ check to the captains of both teams, he gave away the man of the match award to Imran Farhat. Saleem Elahi was declared the best fielder of the match.

Irrespective of the score, whenever Sachin Tendulkar comes to bat he isunder pressure. The pressure comes from all those people who look up tohim, who pray that he gets a century, who cheer like India has already wonwhen he comes in to bat, and who silently troop out of the stands once hegets out. When a visiting team comes to India, they know whom the Indianslook up to. While they love watching India play, there is no doubt thatTendulkar is the player they love watching most. There is a buzz when hecomes in to bat and if he fails, the crowd goes quiet for the rest of thegame.The great player that he is, Tendulkar gets a fair bit of adulationwherever he goes. Australians love their sportsmen and know a championwhen they see one. Out here in Australia, he is seen as a great champ andis highly regarded by everybody who follows the game.

One of the significant reasons for this is the praise that Sir Don Bradmanlavished on him a couple of years ago. Sir Don had said that Tendulkarreminded him of the way he used to play. While I don’t quite agree with that ­ the little I’ve seen of Bradman on film proves he was in a different league ­people in Australia sat up and took notice. Whenever Sir Don spoke,Australians did take note of what he said, and while some like me may nothave agreed with him on this point, their regard for Tendulkar only grew.Like most Australians, the first look I got of him was when he came ontour in the early nineties. He was only 18 years old, but handled theconditions remarkably well. He scored two Test centuries, including one inPerth, and negotiated the pace and bounce of the pitches with consummateease. All who saw him on that tour knew that he was a player to watch outfor. And Tendulkar has proved just that in the subsequent years.

During the nineties, Brian Lara, Inzamam-ul-Haq and yours truly have oftenbeen spoken of as the best in the batting business, along with Tendulkar.However, I would rate Tendulkar higher than the rest. Lara comes closebecause he is a proven match-winner, but he does give the oppositionchances. Tendulkar is technically superior, has every stroke in the bookand some of his own, and above all is remarkably consistent.But these are not the qualities that set him apart or make him the greatplayer he is. Those qualities are in the mind. His aggression, hisknowledge of his abilities and limitations and his awareness of what theopposition bowlers are capable of are what make him remarkable. He alwaystries to control and dominate and this makes him an extremely dangerousplayer when he gets going.The only flaw, if one can call it that, is that he can get carried away. Ibelieve Tendulkar recently admitted that this is a drawback in his game.Sometimes he gets into the mindset of wanting to hit every ball to theboundary, and that over-confidence sometimes leads to his dismissal. Butif I know the guy, he will soon be working on that aspect of his game as well.While Tendulkar is a master of both forms of the game, he has the one-daygame worked out pretty well. This was in evidence in the one-day seriesbetween India and Australia. In the first two games he was in ominoustouch but was dismissed because of his over-confidence. He decided he wasworth more than 35 explosive runs in each match and changed his approachin the third game. Result: a superb century in which he did not murder theopening bowlers like in the first two games, but still managed to get acentury at more than a run a ball.

Add to that the fact that he is an underrated bowler and you know whythe Indians love this wonderful cricketer so much. It would be verydifficult to pick any one knock and term it as the best I’ve seenbecause Tendulkar has always saved his best for Australia. It is alsovery difficult to predict how many centuries he will get before heretires. I reckon he’ll play another 8 to 10 years, and would besurprised if he does not get more than 40 centuries.I personally love to watch him bat from my position in the slips. While Ikeep hoping he gets out, I must admit that his strokeplay is a treat towatch from that position. A great ambassador for the game, he is oneof those players who will be regarded as an all-time great long after hehas stopped playing.

Dominic Cork has never been someone to miss the chance to make a point and following Hampshire’s final-ball victory against Somerset in the Friends Provident t20 final, where they claimed the title by losing fewer wickets, he said the performance would have proved the club’s critics wrong.The trophy was secured when Dan Christian, who had a runner after injuring his hamstring the ball before, scrambled a leg bye and Somerset didn’t take the chance to run him out. Both Cork and Marcus Trescothick agreed they’d never seen a finish like it, but Cork believes his team deserved its triumph after battling a growing list of injuries.Cork is only leading the side because of Dimitri Mascarenhas’s long-term Achillies problem, while Nic Pothas, Kabir Ali and Michael Lumb are battling various serious injuries. Even Christian was sporting a pair of black eyes after being struck by a bouncer in the Championship match against Somerset a couple of days before.”I’ve never seen a last over like that. It had everything – changes of ball, runners, wickets, the lot,” Cork said. “It was a chaotic last two overs but I’m proud of all the guys here for taking us over that winning line. Maybe Christian could have been run out but the umpires declared it a match won and that’s that.”The young guys who’ve come in have transformed this side,” he said. “We’ve been slaughtered throughout this campaign in some circles: why weren’t we playing this person? Why weren’t we playing that person?”But with all the work that’s been done bringing the young lads through the academy and then the Dad’s Army we’ve got, we’re able to put a team out that can play against the best and beat them.”Trescothick reflected on his team’s near miss and the frantic scenes on the final ball where they didn’t try to run out Christian who had left his crease despite having a runner. Somerset had looked out of the contest when Neil McKenzie and Sean Ervine were adding 79 for the fourth wicket, but they almost stole the game in the final two overs bowled by Ben Phillips and Zander de Bruyn.”We had the game, but clearly just did not think at the end there,” Trescothick said. “Christian had to be in his ground, so one of them is out of their crease. The umpires were waiting to see what we were going to do, but it ended up being a case where we were tied and they won due to less wickets.”Somerset’s cause wasn’t helped by a nasty injury to Kieron Pollard, who went to hospital after being struck on the right eye by a Cork bouncer in the final over of their innings. Pollard’s eye immediately swelled shut and Cork was visibly shaken by the incident although he showed his professionalism to bowl a superb over.”I wish him all the best because it’s not a nice thing to happen,” Cork said. “I went into their dressing room at the end and asked after him. It’s a bit of a sickener. Nobody wants that to happen and I hope he gets back soon.”