Jolly Rovers took only three overs on Sunday morning to wrap up theirMRF Buchi Babu invitation cricket tournament first round tie againstIndian Airlines by an innings and 108 runs at the IIT-Chemplastground.Airlines, 264 runs in arrears on the first innings and 148 for five in36 overs in their second innings overnight, were facing defeat. Butfew would have imagined that the proceedings on the final day wouldlast just three overs. Medium pacer L Balaji, in excellent form oflate, brought the innings to a swift end by picking up four wickets,three of them in one over to end the match. He had Vijay Dahiya legbefore for eight. And in the following over, he bowled Sagamdeep Singhwith the first ball, bowled Vineeth Jain with the fourth ball and hadSonu Sharma caught by J Harish to terminate the Airlines secondinnings at 156 after 39 overs. Balaji, who took six for 34 in thefirst innings had six for 35 the second time around giving him matchfigures of 12 for 69. Off spinner R Ramkumar who dismissed J ArunKumar for 45 on the final morning, took three for 46.In the three day quarterfinals, which commence on Monday, Jolly Roversmeet All India Associate Banks at IIT Chemplast ground. The otherpairings are: National Cricket Academy vs Indian Railways (CPT-IP),MRF vs New Zealand A (MA Chidambaram stadium) and Cricket Associationof Bengal vs Karnataka State Cricket Association (Guru Nanak collegegrounds).

Hampshire moved a step nearer a place in division one with a convincing five-wicket victory over promotion rivals Middlesex at the Rose Bowl.The match was all over two overs before tea on the third day as John Francis, making his Championship debut, struck the winning boundary to give Hampshire 15 precious points in their quest for an immediate return to the top flight.Middlesex began the third day 142 ahead at 232 for 5 in their second innings but they fell away rapidly against Alan Mullally and Dimitri Mascarenhas.The last five Middlesex wickets fell in less than an hour-and-a-half for 21 runs.Opener Andrew Strauss, 100 not out overnight, added only another 12 but carried his bat as wickets fell in quick succession at the other end.David Nash and Chad Keegan were both lbw and then Angus Fraser, Tim Bloomfield and Phil Tufnell followed them back into the pavilion without much resistance.Strauss batted for six hours, 14 minutes in compiling his third century of the season and hit 14 fours but it all proved to be in vain.Mullally, causing problems with his swing and movement, dismissed Nash, Bloomfield and Tufnell to finish with 3 for 70 but it was Mascarenhas who again emerged as the most successful of the Hampshire bowlers.His 3-21 gave him match figures of 9-47 and left Hampshire needing only 164 with plenty of time in which to get the runs.There were some early alarms as Giles White edged Bloomfield to first slip and Derek Kenway was caught at the wicket with only nine on the board, a situation which worsened after lunch when Robin Smith gave Fraser his second wicket of the innings after making only seven.But then Will Kendall was joined by Neil Johnson in what proved to be a match-winning stand of 91 for the third wicket with Zimbabwean Johnson the dominant partner.Kendall, who has struggled for form this summer, made a patient 38 before Fraser had him caught expertly by Stephen Fleming but Hampshire were not to be denied.Johnson and Francis took the score to 160, with four needed when Johnson’s fluent innings ended with a catch to Strauss at mid-wicket, the only fielder on the leg side.Johnson’s 74 included nine boundaries and came off 113 balls and left Francis to complete the formality of victory in the next over.Fraser finished with 3-46 but there was nothing he could do to prevent Hampshire winning comfortably.

Jagmohan Dalmiya, the new President of the Board of Cricket for Control in India (BCCI), held a press conference in Chennai on Sunday. The man, who has been the torchbearer for the globalisation of cricket in his capacity as the president of the ICC, finds his present role an honourable one. He said, “It is an enormous responsibility, a challenging task. I have been asked to arrest the slide Indian cricket is going through. It is not an easy thing but I will try to find out what went wrong and find a cure for it. I don’t believe in blaming the predecessor.”Dalmiya read out the BCCI media release and clarified a few points. About the appointment of Sunil Gavaskar as the Chairman of National Cricket Academy, Dalmiya said, “I had a chat with Gavaskar last evening. Despite his busy schedule he has agreed to accept this assignment. He will be giving the time needed for the NCA. It (Gavaskar’s busy schedule) may be a constraint, but is not an insurmountable one,” said Dalmiya.When asked about the reasons for Raj Singh Dungarpur’s resignation, Dalmiya said, “You’ve to ask Mr Raj Singh about it. My predecessor told me in the morning that he had received Raj Singh’s resignation letter. I didn’t go through the letter.”Dalmiya is the man in full control of the BCCI and made it clear to all and sundry about the same. “Cricket is passing through a crisis that all started with match-fixing. At the moment we are looking at the 2002 Under-19 World Cup and the 2003 World Cup.” He said that in spite of the fact of the best possible facilities, in the form of a foreign coach, sports trainer and consultants from Australia, the team had not delivered the goods.Even though he was not directly critical of John Wright and Andrew Leipus, there were enough signals to suggest that strong actions will be taken to change the fortunes of the Indian cricket team. “Something somewhere is missing… maybe at the administration, coaching or players end. We have not been able to achieve, we are still occupying the eight position in World cricket, just ahead of Zimbabweand Bangladesh.”Dalmiya made a firm statement, which is bound to have repercussions in the coming days, “Everybody has to be made accountable.”When asked about the corrective measures that will be taken to stop the slide, he said, “Only performance can stop this. More time has to be spend on this issue, one has to go to the root of the problem, locate it and take corrective measures.”About the comeback of Shivlal Yadav as a national selector, Dalmiya was quick to clear the air,”it is for the zones to make a choice about the selector.”Dalmiya said that top priority will be given to India ‘A’ tours, which will provide the second string players with enough exposure to the rigours of playing at a higher level.With regard to the domestic cricket, Dalmiya said that the present system will continue for two more seasons. The two-tier system will come into being from the 2003-2004 season, and teams would be classified on the basis of the results of 2002-2003 season. The BCCI President said that the Chairman of the technical committee Sunil Gavaskar had no access to any report by Geoff Marsh, who was hired by the board to look into the domestic structure. “No such report was tabled in the General Body meeting of the BCCI.”Dalmiya said that the Government had only barred the team from playing in Sharjah, Singapore and Toronto. “That is just three countries, if the Government doesn’t want it, we will have to abide, however, that doesn’t stop us from going to other 103 countries.” The new President was getting a bit carried away and was quick to realise that, he added, “globalisation is not the job of the Board, the board has nothing to do with globalisation, Indianisation of the game will happen, we should take the game to north-east… that we will do!”Addressing the most serious issue in front of BCCI, match-fixing, Dalmiya made it clear that the Board would not have any second thoughts on reconsidering the ban imposed on players. He said that the match fixing is a heinous crime and is like betraying one’s country.When asked about his name being linked to reports regarding the TV rights issue, Dalmiya went on the offensive. “In which report my name has come, I have not seen, can you just get me (the report)? It is just in newspapers… couple of newspapers have mentioned, I will sue them. I filed a case one and a half years back but they have not come for the hearing.”There was a quick mention about the PILCOM 1996 issue too, Dalmiya made it clear that it is just a difference of opinion between the board and Tax authorities that this can be sorted out. PILCOM was only a management body of the three boards(Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka) put together and hence should not be taxed for the revenue made out of the World Cup 1996. As a matter of fact the Punjab Cricket Association had moved three motions (PILCOM, Income tax 10 (23) and IS Bindra’ssuspension) and all were withdrawn unconditionally during the AGM on Sunday.As for the issue of the Income Tax exemption [10 (23)] that the BCCI was enjoying in the past being withdrawn with effect from 15th September 2001, Dalmiya said, “We have already got the exemption, it is a question of somebody going back andchanging it. Our contention is that it was a higher official in the Central Revenue Board of Taxation who has granted exemption. Only somebody higher up or at the same level can withdraw it; the exemption that had been granted is under the statute of Government of India that we are entitled to. It is not the BCCI that will suffer if the exemption is withdrawn, all 30 units will suffer, and everybody will suffer.”The Board President said that he would give top priority in having a Media Manager for the BCCI that everybody is kept well informed. Dalmiya has no problems in working with Niranjan Shah, who is loyal to the Muthiah faction. The astute businessman was quick to recall that in 1991 he, as the Board Secretary, got along well with the then President Madhavrao Scindia. Sadly, by the time the press conference came to an end the word slipped through that Madhavrao Scindia had been killed in a tragic air crash.

A hundred from Sridharan Sriram and a half-century from C HemanthKumar saw Tamil Nadu reach 261 for five at the end of the first day’splay against the Colombo Districts Cricket Association (CDCA) XI atthe MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Friday.Earlier in the day, Tamil Nadu captain Robin Singh won the toss andelected to bat. S Suresh, who came out with Sriram, was dismissedafter he had only made 15.Hemanth Kumar, who came in at one-down, settled nicely. In the companyof Sriram, he put on 109 runs as the Sri Lankan bowlers struggled.Hemanth made 55 with eight fours before CDCA captain ThilanSamaraweera had him stumped.Sriram then found a good ally in JR Madanagopal. The pair began tomilk the CDCA bowling, and Sriram reached his 100 off 196 balls withfive fours, only to be bowled by Sri Lanka leg-spinner Upul Chandanawithout scoring an additional run.Madanagopal’s vigil ended after he had made 43, as he also fell toChandana. MR Shrinivas, who came in as the nightwatchman, was alsodismissed; Tamil Nadu, thus, suddenly lost the advantage that they hadso painstakingly built up.What will give them heart, though, is the fact that their two seniorplayers – S Sharath and Robin Singh – are at the crease. Robin isbatting on 11 off 12 balls while Sharath is on 17 off 38 balls.

South Australia’s youngest player Paul Rofe got his first five-wicket haul in first-class cricket as Western Australia was dismissed for 227 on day one of their match at Adelaide Oval today.The 20-year-old former Australian under 19 team member bowled 23 extremely tight overs, including 11 maidens, for figures of 5-30, the best of his eight-matchfirst class career.Basing his attack on patience and accuracy rather than tearaway pace, Rofe said he modelled himself on Australian Test spearhead Glenn McGrath.”I love that guy a lot, to be honest, I love watching him bowl and the way he goes about his cricket, it’s fantastic,” he told reporters.Rofe’s haul began in his first over, the second of the match, when he had WA opener Scott Meuleman caught in the slips from his second ball before the Warriors had scored.Captain Simon Katich (42) joined Mike Hussey (40) and after a sluggish start their partnership blossomed late in the opening session, with 15 runs coming from the first over of part-time medium pacer Ben Johnson, the 21st of the innings.Katich belted two consecutive sixes off Mike Smith five overs later as they took the score to a seemingly comfortable one for 86 to recover from the shaky start.But Johnson struck back to have Hussey caught behind in the following over, then dismissed Katich in his next over, the last of the opening session, to put theWarriors back under pressure at three for 94 at lunch.Wickets tumbled cheaply soon after lunch, with Murray Goodwin caught in the gully slashing at a wide ball from left-armer Mark Harrity.Then Rofe chipped in to have Marcus North caught behind and Ryan Campbell caught at slip to have the Warriors six for 127, a slump of five for 41 in 20 overseither side of the lunch break.Brad Hogg and Matt Nicholson fought back with a dogged 57-run partnership, before veteran leg spinner Peter McIntyre bowled Nicholson as he was attemptingto sweep him over the midwicket fence.Hogg was the Warriors’ top-scorer with a dogged innings of 56 not out from 146 balls, although he had a life on 38 when Brad Young dropped him at first slip after he top-edged a cut shot from McIntyre’s bowling.It took the second new ball to finish off the WA tail, with Rofe bowling both Jo Angel and Brad Oldroyd in the space of two balls in his third over with the new ball to complete his five-wicket haul.Then Harrity bowled Brad Williams to end the innings.SA was none for six at stumps after three overs, with Young and Johnson at the crease.

It says something for Wade Cornelius’ attitude that he rated the advance in his batting average, minuscule as it may have been, almost as enjoyable as the career-best bowling figures of seven for 53 he achieved for Canterbury against Wellington at Rangiora today.The New Zealand Cricket Academy graduate this year helped rock Wellington to the point where they were 29/7 at one stage before a late recovery saw them reach 126.But Cornelius, bowling with fire and brimstone in not especially helpful conditions, provided an early example of his potential after only five first-class games.”They were my best figures in any form of cricket. I’ve had a couple of six-fors but just as important was the fact I was four not out when we batted and I moved my average from 0.2 to one, so I am on the right side of the ledger now,” he said.That was the immediate pay off for the Academy as a lot of work was put into his batting during his time at the centre of cricket learning at Lincoln University.But there was also plenty of attention paid to his bowling which was borne out today.”There was a bit of swing early on out there but it flattened out after a while.”But I always like playing out here, there’s always a bit of a crowd. I just decided to give it everything and bowl as fast and as intimidatingly as I could,” he said.Cornelius also acknowledged the support of the experienced Warren Wisneski at the other end.”I reckon he probably deserved a five-for more than I did. He is great to bowl with and there were stages when he would run up to me from slip and give me a hint. He’s good at pulling the reins in a bit when you are getting wound up and that is great.”He’s had so much experience and he is a bowling mentor for the guys,” he said.As Wellington tumbled to 29/7 Cornelius was surprised at the way they kept losing wickets in pairs. Both he and Wisneski were sitting on hat-tricks at different stages.It was the hope of every bowler that he could have such a haul of wickets early in his career, he said, but what it did show him was that he could go on and compete at first-class level.”I have to give a lot of credit to the Academy. I was averaging 62 with the ball before today and 0.2 with the bat.”I’ve got a long way to go but today’s performance was very satisfying.”The Academy had not resulted in any significant changes to his bowling action, rather fine tuning and the develop of an outswinger to the right-hander. That had worked well for him today while there was still shine on the ball.”I use it sparingly, if you let them see it too much they will work it out,” he said.”What the Academy did do was encourage me to know my action and it definitely helped my game,” he said.That was apparent to Wellington today as another name was launched onto the first-class scene in conditions that were not as helpful as bowlers generally like.And that bowling average of 60?It now stands at a much more respectable 30.25.

The Indians are in sight of a victory at the end of the third day’s play in the opening test match at Mohali. The hosts have a garnered a huge lead, and already there is enough encouragement for the spinners. The turn and bounce extracted by Richard Dawson towards the later stages of the Indian innings would have thrilled the Indian dressing room. Though Dawson went for more than a hundred runs, he was quite impressive, and personally he can look forward to a very enjoyable series.

England had a very good chance of putting the hosts under pressure after they were well-placed at lunch on the first day. Marcus Trescothick and Nasser Hussain had put up a very emphatic second-wicket partnership, with the Indian seamers providing many scoring opportunities. Tinu Yohannan looked better than his new-ball partner, Iqbal Siddiqui, who was bowling at a very gentle pace. Sanjay Bangar did not get his bearings right and was too full in his only spell. It was also unfortunate that he had to leave the field on his very first day of international cricket.With the spinners also going for runs in their opening spells, the situation was ideal for the visiting batsmen to put up a huge score on the board. But an error of judgement from Trescothick paved the way for the Indians to get back into the game. The English middle-order batsmen were all at sea against Harbhajan Singh even on a firm pitch, and one wonders about their plight on turners. Any side is dismissed on the first day is in trouble, unless it makes amends on the field. Shiv Sunder Das’ early dismissal may have spurred the visitors on, but the defiance of Deep Dasgupta and Rahul Dravid put paid to Hussain’s hopes.The Indians are tough nuts to crack at home, and the way in which they methodically went about their innings was appreciable. There was some talk of acceleration on the second day, but it was evident that the hosts were bent on batting only once in this Test. Dasgupta once again showed immense patience and determination to notch up his maiden hundred. He will have to open the innings in the remaining matches of the series, as there are hardly any volunteers to take on the responsibility.Dravid played in sedate fashion, and it was left to Sacin Tendulkar as usual to up the tempo of the innings. He made the required adjustments on a pitch where the ball was not coming on, playing some glorious shots all round the wicket. Both Dravid and Tendulkar missed out on an opportunity to get a century, but their contribution ensured a big lead for the hosts. Sourav Ganguly looked under the weather, and it was by no means an innings that he would be pleased about. There was a lot of indecisiveness in his shot selection and also in his footwork. It was very obvious that he is short of confidence, at least when it comes to Test cricket.England have only themselves to blame, as they made things very difficult for themselves by dropping fairly simple chances. The bowlers did a commendable job given the circumstances, and the lack of support was disconcerting for them. Andrew Flintoff let his frustration get the better of him by exchanging words with the Indian captain, but umpire Steve Bucknor controlled the situation extremely well. The well-built all-rounder bowled his heart out without any success, showing how cricket can be so cruel sometimes.The writing is now on the wall for the visitors and, going by the way that they batted in the first essay, nothing short of a miracle can save them from defeat. Things can only get harder for England as they are likely to play on turning tracks in both Ahmedabad and Bangalore. They may well rue the opportunity they missed at Mohali. Ganguly will settle for a win in this series, although they are not exactly playing the best of sides from the British Isles.

As Disraeli said, there are lies, damned lies and statistics, but an examination of the calendar year statistics reveals much of interest, and a few surprises. Calendar year statistics are affected by the number of games played, and in the Test arena, the Australians had the most opportunity to add to total runs and wickets, playing 14 Tests, with India, England and South Africa closely behind, each with thirteen – Pakistan played only 6 Tests, and newcomers Bangladesh 8. The team of the year in terms of win – loss ratio is not South Africa or Australia, but New Zealand with their three wins against a single loss edging out Australia’s 8 wins against three losses. Bangladesh lost seven of their eight matches, and the West Indies had a dismal year, losing six times and winning only twice.Batting averages are not affected by the number of games played, and the stars of the year were the Sri Lankan pair of Samaraweera and Tillakaratne, with averages of 140.7 and 136.4 respectively. One other player averaged over 100 – Tafeeq Umar made 104 in his only innings. Andy Flower had another superb year, averaging nearly 90, and Lara, Hayden, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Martyn, Kallis, and Tendulkar all averaged over 60. The top run scorer was Matthew Hayden, scoring over 200 runs more than the runner up, Brian Lara – but Lara had 7 fewer innings. Hayden’s 5 centuries puts him at the top of the list, with Jayawardene, Steve Waugh, and Justin Langer each making four. Gibbs, Kallis, Jayawardene and Tendulkar all passed 1000 runs for the year. Laxman’s 281 was the top score of the year, and Marvan Atapattu made two double hundreds.Examination of batting strike rate throws up some oddities – the list is topped by Paul Strang due to his rapid fire 38* at a rate of 136. Looking at those who have combined significant run-scoring with a fast strike rate, Adam Gilchrist stands out with 870 runs at the exceptional rate of 82 runs/hundred balls faced. Chris Cairns scored at a slightly higher rate, but had overall less success with the bat.The bowler of the year was undoubtedly Muralitharan, with his 80 wickets -twelve more than runner-up Glenn McGrath, despite playing in two less Tests. Muralitharan bowled more than anyone else, however, delivering 781.2 overs, and his strike rate was not exceptional. Of serious bowlers, Cairns and Gough lead the way in strike rate, although the list is topped by Danish Kaneria of Pakistan, his 12 wicket performance in the one Test he played also giving him the best bowling average of the year. The best bowling performance of the year was Harbhajan Singh’s 8/86, narrowly edging out Muralitharan’s 8/87. Harbhajan Singh in addition had two seven wicket hauls, and his 60 wickets put him behind just Muralitharan and McGrath. Courtney Walsh marked his final matches of Test cricket by bowling at an exceptional economy rate, conceding under two runs an over. Nathan Astle conceded a fraction less but bowled under 100 overs, and other notable economical bowlers include Hooper, Saqlain Mushtaq, Jayasuriya, and of course Muralitharan.Adam Gilchrist topped the wicket-keeping statistics with 52 catches and seven stumpings and this was combined with an exceptional batting performance. Ricky Ponting with 24 catches just beat out Mark Waugh for fielding honours. Gilchrist’s statistics make a good case for all-rounder of the year, although Andy Flower’s 25 dismissals were in five fewer Tests, and his batting average was nearly 90. Chris Cairns played only five Tests, but took 23 wickets at an exceptional strike rate as well as scoring over 250 runs very quickly, and Jacques Kallis topped 1000 runs, and took 35 wickets.It was a great year for Test cricket and one that perhaps drew attention away from the one-day arena. Zimbabwe played 37 one-day internationals in 2001 and Sri Lanka played 34 times. Bangladesh played only six, and England fourteen. The most successful team was Australia, losing only three times in their twenty-one matches, with South Africa narrowly behind. Zimbabwe lost 27 times. There was not a single tie in the 120 matches played this year.Given that Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe played so much more one-day cricket than anyone else, it is unsurprising that the top six run-scorers are from those two countries. Jayawardene tops this list with 1260 runs and completed the difficult double of 1000 runs in both Tests and one-day internationals. Jayasuriya, Grant Flower, Andy Flower, Atapattu and Carlisle also topped 1000 runs for the year. Tendulkar failed narrowly but his 904 runs were made in just 16 innings (those above all batted at least thirty times). Tendulkar made his runs at an average of 69.53, in second place behind Mark Waugh, who had a superb year with 809 runs at an average of 80.9. Both Tendulkar and Waugh made four centuries, Waugh recording the highest innings of the year (173).The fastest scorer in one-day internationals in 2001 was JJC Lawson of the West Indies! His three runs from the solitary ball he faced gave him a strike rate of 300. Statistical oddities aside, Harvey, Symonds, Azhar Mahmood, Nevin, Zoysa and Shahid Afridi all scored over 100 runs at a strike rate of more than a run per ball. Sehwag made an impression with his 439 runs at a strike rate of 99.54.The bowling averages are headed by occasional bowlers – Steve Waugh averaged 9.66 but only bowled 6 overs for 3 wickets. Of regular bowlers, that man Muralitharan stands out again, his 56 wickets costing only 18.19 each. He tops the wicket-taking list, and of regular bowlers only Shaun Pollock bowled with better economy. Vaas had a fine year taking 42 wickets at an average of 22.14 – capped by his world record 8 for 19. Waqar Younis took 41 wickets, despite playing in far fewer matches than Heath Streak who took one more wicket, and also had the second and third best bowling performances of the year, his 7/36 and 6/59 both coming against England.Adam Gilchrist and Mark Boucher tie at the top of the wicket-keeping table, both recording thirty-four dismissals, Gilchrist playing one fewer match. Shane Warne’s catching ability gave him the most catches by a non-keeper with 16, tied with Muralitharan and Jayawardene but playing 15 fewer matches.Do the numbers lie? Based on the statistics alone you might pick the following two elevens:Tests: Hayden, Gibbs, Tendulkar, Samaraweera, Tillakaratne, Kallis, A Flower, Pollock, McGrath, Harbhajan Singh, MuralitharanOne-day internationals:Tendulkar, Dippenaar, Jayawardene , M Waugh, Ponting, Kallis, Gilchrist, Pollock, Vaas, Waqar Younis, MuralitharanThe best teams? Probably not – but remember there are indeed lies, damned lies and statistics.

Fine weather in Christchurch yesterday and today has provided some breathing space for ground staff attempting to get grounds ready for the start of the ICC Under-19 World Cup on Saturday.Marquees have been placed over both the wickets on the Bert Sutcliffe Oval and the No 3 ground at Lincoln University where pitches are being prepared for the early round games.Weather concerns have also affected the grounds being used in Auckland and Dunedin for pool games.Colin Maiden Park in Auckland and Carisbrook in Dunedin are the other venues being used for the tournament.The weather is still unsettled over New Zealand and most forecasts are predicting more rain before the weekend.If there is fine weather for a lengthy period of time, NZC High Performance Centre turf manager Karl Johnson said the grounds at Lincoln should be at their optimum for the all important Super Six stage of the tournament starting on Sunday, January 27.What the recent sunshine has allowed ground staff at Lincoln to do is prepare one pitch under the marquee and one outside of it.Under the marquee, Johnson has been rolling and using heaters to dry off the surface.”No 3 ground is the wettest of the three but apart from that it has come up really well, especially considering it is only six months old,” he said.Johnson has been in touch with the groundsmen in the other centres and said they were all agreed that if they got good weather from now on it wouldn’t take them long to get back into the swing of things.”But another problem is that when you have had rain on 13 of the last 14 days with the covers on pitches you get a lot of disease among the grass. It is young grass and it becomes unhealthy and when you roll it, it can kill it,” he said.By comparison, the outfields were in outstanding shape.”There has been a lot of moisture for the outfields and they are looking great,” he said.One of the problems usually associated with cricket grounds in Canterbury in January is drypatch and Argentine stem weevil but the rain has eliminated that concern.Most encouraging for the teams taking part is Johnson’s claim that all concerned with the ground were “still really positive.”Teams in Auckland and Christchurch did get practice matches today, while those in Dunedin will play tomorrow and Friday.The Australian side will travel to Oamaru tomorrow, about 120km north of Dunedin and will play on an artificial pitch in Dunedin on Friday, while the West Indies will reverse the procedure. Kenya and Scotland did not want to play on artificial pitches and they will have a game in Oamaru on Friday as their only preparation for the tournament.

Warwickshire have accepted that they have not been able to draw the Surrey and England all-rounder Ben Hollioake to Edgbaston.Warwickshire had offered Hollioake a lucrative three-year contract, but he has said that he plans to sign a new one-year deal with Surrey.”We are disappointed to miss out because we thought Ben would be a valuableaddition to our squad for our first season in the First Division of the (county)championship,” said Warwickshire’s director of coaching Bob Woolmer.”It looks like he has decided against joining us. But he has to make the right decision for his career.”I hope for Ben’s sake that he has done that. But even without him I stillbelieve that we have got a squad capable of challenging for trophies.”Hollioake’s agent, David Ligertwood, said: “This was a difficult decision forBen to make, and there were good reasons to go with either option.”Hollioake, 24, is expected to sign his contract with Surrey over the next week.