South Africa swept to an overwhelming 208-run victory over Kenya at Newlands on Monday night, underlining the difference in quality between the two teams, but all is not lost for the Kenyans who meet India in what has effectively become the Standard Bank One-Day series semifinal in Paarl on Wednesday.On Monday, however, Kenya were comprehensively outplayed as South Africa thundered to 354 for three and then bowled the East Africans out for 146. Gary Kirsten (124) and Neil McKenzie (131 not out) helped themselves to sumptuous centuries and Mark Boucher hammered out 51 not out off just 20 deliveries as the Kenyan attack was ripped to pieces.It was one-way traffic throughout even though the South Africans rested four players to give everyone in their overstocked 15-man squad a game. The changes brought Kirsten back into the side after a thigh-muscle strain – although you would never have thought it from the way he scampered back and forth – and allowed McKenzie to come in at three.Kirsten was missed by Martin Suji on 12, a sharp return chance, but thereafter he and McKenzie took the Kenyan bowlers to the cleaners in a record, run-a-ball second-wicket stand which yielded 207. McKenzie, perhaps, played the more handsome strokes, but Kirsten could scarcely be matched for the way he found the gaps, barely wasting a loose ball and scoring a great many of his runs off the good ones.As with McKenzie, Boucher also took his chance to have a hit, hit being the operative word, as he thrashed his way through the closing overs to set Kenya a task that was, inevitably, going to be beyond them.The heroics of last Wednesday, when Kenya upset India, were quickly a thing of the past as Kenya struggled through their first 15 overs and, apart from Thomas Odoyo who made a brave 44, there was little real resistance. Charl Langeveldt finished the match with the figures of 9.3-0-21-4 and Boucher snapped up four victims behind the stumps.For the South Africans, though, there was immense encouragement in the shape of Nantie Hayward, playing in his first match of the tournament. Hayward, whose relationship with the one-day game has not always been entirely happy, bowled with genuine pace, working up to 145km/h in his first over and going through six overs in the first spell with far fewer loose balls than might have been expected.His form comes at a time when South Africa have a problem, if not quite a crisis, with their fast bowlers. Mfuneko Ngam and Allan Donald both went down with injuries at the weekend, but Hayward demonstrated that he could be the man to provide a cutting edge both in Friday’s one-day final in Durban and for the three-Test series against India next month.The Kenyans have had a tricky time of it in South Africa. Captain Maurice Odumbe was serving the second game of a two-match ban on Monday, although he will be available again on Wednesday; their manager was taken ill and underwent heart surgery last week; and Joseph Angara, who bowled so well against India, has had to return home because of a bereavement. Anagra’s unavailability opened up a space in the squad for Hitesh Modi who was already in South Africa on holiday.Still, they have beaten India once and they have everything to play for on Wednesday. You wouldn’t bet on India losing to the Kenyans for a second time in this tournament, but then again, you wouldn’t have bet on them losing to Kenya at all.

Being set a total of 312 for victory, Services played for safetyrather than victory, reaching a total of 244/6 by the close of play onDay Four of their Ranji Trophy league match against Haryana atFaridabad.Haryana’s overnight unbeaten batsmen added valuable runs with theremaining tailenders, and their innings closed at 220 all out.Services started shakily, losing two wickets for the addition of 32runs. PMS Reddy and Yashpal Singh, however, stabilised the innings.Reddy departed with the score on 128, having made 53. His partner wasdismissed less than 30 runs later, caught by Shafiq Khan off AmitMishra for 64. CD Thomson made a fine unbeaten 44 lower down theorder, ensuring, along with skipper Sanjay Verma, that Services didnot lose the match.Haryana, by virtue of their first-innings total, pick up five pointsfrom this match, while Services get three.

Part III: History at the OvalThe woeful showing of the Indian cricket team abroad was for long bestsymbolized by their record in England. Until 1971, out of 19 Testsplayed in that country since 1932, India had lost 15 and drawn four.In 18 of the Tests. they had conceded the first-innings lead. In noneof the Tests was there even a semblance of an Indian victory, and,indeed, on most occasions, the team went down without a fight.

In 1959, all five Tests had been lost. In 1967, the visitors had gonedown in all three matches. Along the way, there had been suchinglorious deeds as losing the first four wickets without a run on theboard, losing the first five wickets for six runs, and being the onlyside to be dismissed twice in one day. The vastly different wicketsand weather conditions, more than the strength of the opposition,meant that the Indians were always up against it on a tour of England.When the 1971 team landed in England to play a three-Test series,there were indications that the visitors would put up a fight andwould not go the way of their predecessors by losing all the Tests orgoing down tamely. But of course, winning a Test ­ let alone theseries ­ was deemed out of the question. True, more or less the samesquad had performed admirably in winning the series in the West Indiesjust a few months before. But whereas the West Indies were in therebuilding process, England were, in 1971, very much the best team inthe world, having just returned after regaining the Ashes inAustralia. They had a particularly good record at home, fielded aformidable all-round side, and were led by a shrewd and successfulcaptain in Ray Illingworth.The Indians took little time showing that there were a very differentlot from their gutless predecessors, winning five of the eight firstclass games prior to the first Test ­ including four in a row. In thefirst Test, they matched England in every department, even taking thefirst-innings lead ­ for only the second time in 21 Tests in thatcountry ­ and came close to winning before rain washed out play on thefinal evening. In the second Test at Manchester, however, the Indianswere distinctly lucky to escape with a draw. England had the better ofthe game, but rain again played spoilsport on the last day, with thehome team in a position of considerable strength.It was indeed a creditable feat by the Indians to come into the finalTest at the Oval with everything to play for, but England quickly putthemselves into an advantageous position by scoring 355 on the firstday. Rain washed out the second day’s play and, on the morning of thefourth day, India were all out for 284. With a handy lead of 71,England could strengthen their position if they scored quickly and setIndia a challenging target on the final day. This was what they haddone in the previous Test.However, this time, there was a distinct change in the script, thankschiefly to BS Chandrasekhar, who ripped through the England battingwith his deadly mix of leg-spinners, googlies and top-spinners. Inabout two-and-a-half hours, the formidable line-up of John Edrich,John Jameson, Brian Luckhurst, Alan Knott, Basil D’Oliveira, KeithFletcher, Illingworth and Richard Hutton were turned inside out asChandrasekhar finished with six for 38. Srinivas Venkatraghavansupported him well by taking two for 44, and the Indian catching,symbolized by Eknath Solkar’s famous catch to get rid of Knott, wasexemplary.Suddenly, the hunter had become the hunted. An unexpected avenue nowpresented itself before the Indians to win the Test and wrap up theseries. The English total of 101 meant that India had to make 173 forvictory in about eight hours. Time, however, was not really a factor;neither was the pitch which, but for the inevitable wear and tear,still played true on the whole. The psychological pressure of ahistoric victory was the major hurdle, and how the Indians handledthis would, in the final analysis, decide the outcome of the game.After the early loss of the openers, skipper Ajit Wadekar and DilipSardesai took the score to 76 at the close of play. Thus, on the lastday, August 24, which happened to be Ganesh Chaturthi, India requireda further 97 runs. Wadekar was out for 45 without any addition to thetotal but, amidst much tension, Sardesai and Gundappa Viswanath tookthe score to 124 before the former was out for 40. Solkar was fifthout at 134 and, as Farokh Engineer joined Viswanath, England espied aray of hope with India still 39 runs away from keeping their date withhistory.But Engineer quickly scotched their hopes with some daring shots, andthe two had carried India to within a stroke of victory whenViswanath, going for the winning boundary, was out for a gallant 33,made in three hours. It was written in Abid Ali’s fate to hit theclinching four ­ a square cut off Luckhurst ­ which set off amazingscenes of delight among the host of Indian supporters at the ground.Certainly the victory was the most famous in Indian cricket history;settling a historic series win and coming as it did on the 22ndattempt spread over almost 40 years, it set off a chain ofcelebrations all around the country, the like of which had never beenseen before.

The West Indies cricket team will tour Pakistan in February, ending any need for using a neutral venue, said General Tauqir Zia, chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board.The PCB in October shortlisted four sites to host the tour, following the September 11th attacks and subsequent military strikes on neighbouring Afghanistan.Dhaka in Bangladesh, Sharjah and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, and Rabatin Morocco were the venues under consideration.New Zealand cancelled its Pakistan tour in September and Sri Lanka refused a three-match one-day series later that month. The International Cricket Council ruled that alternative venues would be permitted in cases where it was unsafe to play. Zia maintained his country is ready to host a cricket tour.”There is no problem and I’m going to insist to the ICC that Pakistan is all right and that people should come and play here,” Zia said. “As far as I’m concerned the West Indies tour is already on, they haven’t said no, they said ‘we are coming.'”New Zealand would have been able to fulfil its tour commitments, Zia said, adding that the “Under-19 babies of Sri Lanka” finished their tour of Pakistan last week without incident.The West Indians last toured Pakistan in 1997 and lost all three Tests. The last international cricket event in Pakistan was an Asian Test Championship match against Bangladesh in Multan in August. Pakistan won by an innings and 264 runs.

The first rain-free day in Central Otago for a fortnight did not prove to be a happy omen for Otago who lost their State Shield match with Auckland at Molyneux Park in Alexandra today by seven wickets.The powerful Auckland side with eight former or current New Zealand representatives carried too many guns for Otago who never gave up trying but at the end of the day had to bow to a superior opponent.Auckland won the toss on a still sunny morning and asked Otago to bat on a pitch which had achieved a deserved reputation around the country as being full of runs.This game proved to be no exception but from an Otago perspective they trudged to an inadequate 206/7 with only new captain Craig Cumming (70), Andrew Hore (39) and Robbie Lawson (37) being anywhere near the mark.The Otago batsmen have tended to get bogged down this season and the number of balls not being scored from must be a concern to them and their coach Glenn Turner.The Auckland bowling was straight in the main but perhaps New Zealand representatives Dion Nash and Andre Adams with 45 and 47 off their 10 overs respectively would have liked to have been a little more miserly than their figures suggest. Mark Haslam with two for 30 from 10 overs, Chris Drum none for 31 from 10 and Tama Canning two for 36 from eight completed a satisfactory quintet for them.A major concern for New Zealand occurred when Kyle Mills only bowled one over and then went from the field with apparently an injured shoulder.Auckland began its chase with New Zealand openers Mark Richardson and Matthew Horne in fine form and they put on 104 for the first wicket before Richardson was out for a classy 47. Horne continued on in similar fashion with the scorebook totalling 144 when he was dismissed for 60.Both he and Horne had set strong foundations for an Auckland victory and it was over to the remainder of their batting lineup to continue the goodwork. Continue it they did through the fine innings of Aaron Barnes with 55 and Mills with 23 not out.They achieved their target with five overs and seven wickets to spare and looked very competent in doing it.The Otago bowling saw no-one really caned but they would have liked another 70 or 80 runs to bowl to. Kerry Walmsley had a very good none for 23 from eight overs, David Sewell none for 32 from seven, Craig Cumming one for 35 from nine which, when put alongside his 70 with the bat, represented an excellent debut as captain.Auckland deserved its win and Otago know they will have to increase their run rate dramatically if they are to have any success in this competition.

Auckland coach Wally Stamp believes that “business as usual” is the key to his unbeaten side winning a historic State League “three-peat” on Sunday at Eden Park’s Outer Oval.Auckland, the defending champions, have performed strongly in all key areas of the game over the past three weeks.”We’ve looked after our own game and made sure that our focus was on individual performance and our own team standards, rather than the mental application or any other weakness in opposing teams,” he said.”Our approach to the final is exactly the same. It never mattered to us who we’d be playing, because our focus has always been on looking after our own game to the best of our ability.”Stamp is expecting a good batting track aided by a fine weather forecast. The final will be played on the same pitch used by Auckland in the men’s State Shield earlier this month in which the side batting first made 275 runs before rain caused an abandonment.That’s good news for the unbeaten Aucklanders’ star batsman Emily Drumm. Drumm is in peak form, coming off an outstanding century against State Northern Spirit last Saturday.Auckland’s bowling line-up has also dominated the competition with Debbie Ramsay leading the attack, 14 wickets at 10.92. Ramsay will be playing her first final on Sunday after a finger injury kept her out of last season’s final.Meanwhile, Canterbury captain Paula Flannery says her players are determined to lift their game for the most important match of the women’s season.Seventeen-year-old left-arm pace bowler, Rebecca Steele, 14 wickets at 10.85, has topped the round-robin bowling statistics.The star-studded Cantabrian top order has been slow to come into form and further frustrated by a rain-affected summer, but Flannery said the team felt like it had been given a second life when they found out last Sunday that they had just scraped into the final.”We think the Aucklanders have had the title long enough and we’re going to throw everything at them,” says Flannery.”Everyone’s keen to prove that we can pull a victory out of the bag on the day that matters – and we do have a few key players who have been in a number of finals, so we can handle the pressure.”Six of this year’s CLEAR White Ferns are involved in the final, plus New Zealand ‘A’ captain and recent White Fern Emily Travers. This is the last opportunity to see members of the world champions in action before their imminent 2000 CricInfo Women’s World Cup final re-match with beaten finalists Australia in a home-and-away series beginning next month.Auckland are the defending champions and are unbeaten this summer. They have played 10 matches for eight wins and two no results. Before winning the 1999/00 State League final, the Auckland had not won the women’s competition in 26 years.The Canterbury have played 10 matches this summer for five wins, three losses and two no results.The State Canterbury Magicians required maximum points (including bonus points) from their last two matches to make the final, while State Wellington Blaze needed only one point from their last two matches last weekend, but failed.The finalists met twice in round-robin play. The winner on both occasions were the State Auckland Hearts, winning by two wickets and then 99 runs. The latter was a record margin against Canterbury. In last summer’s final Auckland beat Canterbury by five wickets in Christchurch. The year before that, Auckland defeated Canterbury by six wickets at Eden Park.Until 1999/00, the Canterbury had been the champion domestic women’s cricket side every year for a decade, and had dominated a history of inter-provincial competition that now spans over 60 years.Admission is free and host association Auckland Cricket is encouraging the public to bring a picnic and support Auckland’s most successful team this season.The teams are:Auckland: Kathryn Ramel (captain), Ingrid Cronin-Knight, Emily Drumm, Paula Gruber, Kelly Hill, Elfrieda Komp, Michelle Lynch, Debbie Ramsay, Rebecca Rolls, Natalee Scripps, Megan Tyler, Helen Watson.Canterbury: Paula Flannery (captain), Delwyn Brownlee, Sarah Burke, Kirsty Craig, Helen Daly, Maria Fahey, Beth McNeill, Nicola Payne, Hannah Rae, Rebecca Steele, Haidee Tiffen, Emily Travers.

Australia dominated all but one New Zealander to claim victory at Adelaide Oval today in the opening match of the women’s one-day cricket series.Australia won by 53 runs, despite the efforts of New Zealand opener Rebecca Rolls, to take a 1-0 lead in the six-game series.Rolls smashed 61 from 67 balls but found little support as the Kiwis were bowled out for 151 from 46.4 overs in reply to Australia’s 7-204 from 50 overs.Only two other New Zealanders – Paula Flannery (21) and Rachel Pullar (27 not out) – made double figures.Rolls, who struck nine boundaries, was the only Kiwi able to counter a pace bowling onslaught from Australian Cathryn Fitzpatrick, who claimed 2-13 from 7.4 overs.Medium pacer Julie Hayes also bewildered batters in snaring 2-20 from 10 overs while Karen Rolton also took two wickets.Earlier, Australian allrounder Melanie Jones top scored as the hosts compiled their competitive total.Jones struck an aggressive 40, the English-born 29-year-old involved in a valuable 65-run partnership with Lisa Sthalekar for the fifth wicket.The pair came together with Australia shaky at 4-93 in the 27th over but Sthalekar made a polished 33 to cap off contributions from captain Belinda Clark (27) and vice-captain Rolton (33).New Zealander Haidee Tiffen collected the bowling honours with 3-32 from eight overs while Nicola Browne claimed 2-29 from 10 overs for the reigning World Cup champions.The teams clash again tomorrow in a day-night fixture at Adelaide Oval.

A crushing six wicket victory over Taunton has allowed Hampshire’s indoor cricket specialists Winchester K.S. another crack at progressing to the National Finals, the competition they won six years ago.The county capital’s men easily qualified for the Regional Finals at Taunton in a fortnight’s time (March 3), and carry the Hampshire flag once more towards another prospective visit to Lord’s, where they were crowned champions in 1996.Having already scooped the Hammonds Jewellers South Hampshire title, Winchester, on their familiar home patch at Fleming Park made light work of the Somerset side’s challenge.Electing to field first, some outstanding fielding and tight bowling picked off Taunton for just 56, with Hampshire Board representative Dave Greetham collecting 2-6 and Havant & Waterlooville striker Jim Taylor (2-17) the main protagonists.Paul Marks and Taylor added a steady 30 in seven overs before Chris Wheeler joined the Wiltshire Minor Counties all-rounder to see the side home with 10 balls to spare.Wheeler is looking forward to the challenge ahead of the former European Champions, “Unless we lost an early wicket or two, the target was always going to be a straightforward chase.”The action starts at 2pm at the Indoor School at the County Ground, the home of Somerset County Cricket Club.

West Indies all-rounder Vasbert Drakes isn’t about to jump the gun. But he believes the regional side will be cocked and ready to fire at next year’s World Cup in South Africa."It’s all about maintaining our consistency, and living up to our true potential. Once we do those two things, we should be in there with a chance," Drakes told the SUNDAY SUN yesterday.For Drakes, once selected, playing in the World Cup puts him at an instant advantage, and summits him to a position of leadership. After all, he’s played professionally in South Africa, which is his home away from home.Fresh off playing in his belated first Test against Bangladesh a fortnight ago, and showing he can make an impact with bat and ball, Drakes expects the World Cup to be extremely challenging for West Indies."The World Cup could be the highlight of my career, so I’m really looking forward to playing, and proving myself. It’s a tournament that’s the equivalent to the World Cup in football, so every team will be coming in at full strength, and it’s a chance to excel at the highest level."Drakes said One-Day cricket had become extremely competitive over the last few years, but West Indies, though considered underdogs, could spring some upsets."The youngsters in the team have shown what they can do in recent times. Once we get our concentration together, I know we have the talent to do well. I don’t want to jump the gun, but I know we’ve come a long way over the past year, and once we play well, reaching the semifinals of the World Cup is a reality.""We have to be very conscious about what we need to do, and how we need to play against each opponent. If we can do that, we’ll be okay.According to Drakes, a level of maturity, mental toughness and teamwork was shown on their two recent tours."It’s not easy to tour the sub-continent and do well like we did. There’s the culture change, the different wickets, and the big crowds screaming at you, and it’s not easy to perform, but the guys stood up to be counted. That was very pleasing to see, from such young players."

SYDNEY, Jan 5 AAP – Matthew Hayden was tonight fined and severely reprimanded after an ugly incident in which a glass panel in his team’s dressing room door was smashed.Meanwhile, Australian vice-captain and wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist was also reprimanded for swearing as the pressure mounted on the home side to effect a 5-0 clean sweep of the Ashes series.International Cricket Council match referee Wasim Raja fined Hayden 20 per cent of his match fee, estimated to be about $2,200, after the Australian opener was found guilty of breaching the ICC’s code of conduct.He was charged after breaking the glass as he returned to the dressing room following his lbw dismissal for just two in the third over of the home side’s tense fifth Test run chase at the SCG.Raja said the penalty was decided in light of Hayden’s previously clean record.”At the hearing Matthew Hayden admitted the offence and apologised for his action,” Raja said in a statement.Hayden faced a maximum penalty of being fined half his match fee.Speaking about the Hayden incident after play, Australian coach John Buchanan said: “It’s something that’s unfortunate, you don’t want to see that.”The doors were closed and he just tried to get through the door, which he did, but the glass broke in the ensuing entree. But there was no bat throwing or anything like that.”Meanwhile, Gilchrist was charged with showing dissent at an umpire’s decision by action or verbal abuse after he swore when his appeal for caught behind off batsman Steve Harmison from Brett Lee’s bowling was turned down in England’s second innings.Raja said he warned Gilchrist about his future conduct.”At the hearing Adam Gilchrist admitted swearing and expressed regret at doing so,” Raja said.Gilchrist also faced a maximum penalty of being fined 50 per cent of his match fee.The incidents exemplified the pressure on the Australian team as it attempted to chase down a mammoth target of 452 for victory.Hayden’s dismissal came just two balls after batting partner Justin Langer was dismissed lbw by Andrew Caddick for three when replays clearly showed the ball was going down the leg side.Another sore point in a disastrous day for Australia was an elbow injury to spearhead Jason Gillespie.With the Australian bowling attack already severely undermanned in the absence of Glenn McGrath (side strain) and Shane Warne (dislocated shoulder), Gillespie slipped on some repaired foot marks on the pitch during his follow through while bowling in the second session today.In a bid to break his fall with his left hand, he jarred his left elbow and bowled one more delivery before leaving the field for treatment, unable to finish his 19th over or return to play at all today.X-rays revealed there was no fracture but Buchanan said it appeared Gillespie may have suffered some ligament damage.”He’s getting a final assessment tomorrow and will be available to bat if required,” Buchanan said.Gillespie’s misfortune was likely to mean the injury-prone paceman would sit out some of Australia’s upcoming one-day matches.But Buchanan said he probably would have been sidelined anyway as he was high on the waiting list for a rest.”We’re going to look at that format a little bit, looking at our quick bowlers and who is in need of possibly some rest,” Buchanan said.