Shutanshu Kotak and Prashant Joshi helped Saurashtra earn a drawagainst Maharashtra in the West Zone Ranji trophy match at MunicipalStadium, Rajkot on Tuesday. Maharashtra took five points based ontheir lead and Saurashtra were content with three.Resuming on an overnight score of 285 for seven, Saurashtra weredismissed for 314 in 112 overs giving Maharashtra a lead of 225 runs.Iqbal Siddiqui bagged three for 76 and Sachin Aradhaye picked up fourfor 75. The second innings had a disasteruos start when Sumit Tannawas dismissed off the second ball of the innings with no runs on theboard.One drop Kotak (75) and Joshi (78) shared a 125 run partnership forthe second wicket off 45.4 overs. Kotak battled for 154 deliverieshitting ten boundaries and Joshi hung around for 137 balls with elevenboundaries. Saurashtra ended the day on 204 for three off 70 overs.

Australian captain Steve Waugh carried out his threat to lead his playersoff the field on Tuesday after a fan threw a firework onto the field duringthe Australia-Pakistan Tri-Nations game at Trent Bridge.With Pakistan at 250 for six off 45 overs, a number of fireworks went off inthe stands. Supporters scrambled away and stewards and police moved in.But one of the fireworks, which didn’t appear to go off, landed on the fieldclose to fielder Brett Lee and Waugh, who had threatened before the game hewould take his players off the field if there was any further misbehaviourafter Sunday’s crowd invasion at Headingley, led them off.After an 18 minute delay, during the which the Australians agreed to resumeprovided there was no further trouble, the match resumed.The security at Trent Bridge had been beefed to prevent a repeat of Sunday’sscenes at Headingley where stampeding Pakistan fans left a steward withbroken ribs, a broken nose and a damaged spleen.More than 350 stewards were on alert and temporary, plastic fences just hungover the advertising hoardings in case anyone decided to run on the field.The measures have been taken by the local club to avoid a repeat of the twopitch invasions that have marred this 10-match series. After celebratingPakistan fans ran onto the field at Headingley on Sunday and the steward layinjured on the field, England skipper Alec Stewart took the unprecedentedstep of conceding the match to Pakistan to for safety reasons.Steward Stephen Speight, 31, said he had been trying to hold on to thestumps when he was kicked in the face and chest by a group of fans.”My head felt like it had just been kicked around a football field,” Speightsaid.In an emergency the plastic fences will be hoisted by the stewards to stopthe invading spectators and anyone caught running into the field will bearrested, according to the local chief executive David Collier.Thousands of Pakistan fans, who appear to have outnumbered the Australiansupport, made it virtually a home match for their side, sounding horns andcreating the sort of atmosphere that has become a typical Pakistan games inthis series.There had been no trouble until the fireworks went off in the Radcliffe Roadstand housing most of the Pakistan fans. Most of the fans moved away fromthe area where they were going off and some were cowering in their seats.Waugh took his players off while the two Pakistan batsmen, Rashid Latif andAzhar Mahmood, initially stayed out on the field before they also left thefield.

Pacemen Melvyn Betts and Tim Bloomfield shared the first day honours on an intriguing opening day of the clash between the Second Division’s top two clubs at Edgbaston.Betts sparked a Middlesex collapse with four wickets in eight overs after tea on his way to his second five-wicket haul for Warwickshire.But Bloomfield then struck three times in his first four overs as Warwickshire limped to 33 for three in 12 overs before the close.There was a little something in the pitch for everyone but both sides also made life difficult for themselves with some sloppy batting.The only innings of substance was played by Middlesex’s New Zealand batsman Stephen Fleming who stroked eight fours in a majestic 131-ball 67. But when he was unable to dig out a perfect yorker from Dougie Brown, Middlesex lost their way.Ben Hutton, who helped Fleming add 69 in 24 overs for the fourth wicket, carved to point as soon as Betts returned at the Pavilion End and the former Durham bowler then ran through the middle and lower orders.Middlesex needed a stubborn last wicket stand of 26 between Chad Keegan and Bloomfield to secure a second batting bonus point with Keegan making a valuable unbeaten 30 on only his second Championship appearance.Bloomfield took off his pads and immediately had Warwickshire in trouble when he had Ian Bell taken by wicketkeeper David Nash in his opening over.Warwickshire skipper Michael Powell turned Bloomfield to short leg and Warwickshire lurched further into trouble when nightwatchman Mohammad Sheikh nibbled Bloomfield to Paul Weekes to second slip at the end of an eventful day.

LONDON – England today recalled batsman Mark Ramprakash as an injurycover for left-hander Graham Thorpe in a 14-man squad named for thefirst Ashes cricket Test against Australia starting at Edgbaston onThursday.Thorpe, England’s most successful batsman during the winter in Pakistanand Sri Lanka and in the two Tests against Pakistan, is very doubtfulfor the game because of a lingering calf muscle injury.England will be strengthened by the availability of skipper NasserHussain, who has recovered from a broken thumb, allrounder Craig White,left-arm spinner Ashley Giles and maybe Thorpe, who missed theTri-Nations one-day series.While Hussain missed the second Test defeat against Pakistan at OldTrafford and then the one-dayers, White and Giles both missed thetwo-Test series and the one-dayers due to long-suffering injuries.Giles, England’s series-winning bowler in Pakistan last year, has beenhampered by a sore Achilles tendon.Also causing a headache for the selectors is Michael Vaughan’s knee cystwhich ruled him out of the last one-dayer against Australia at The Oval.”We currently have injury concerns about three players, Michael Vaughan,Ashley Giles and Graham Thorpe,” said chairman of selectors DavidGraveney.”Graham is the most serious concern at present and we will need to checkthe fitness of all three players at Edgbaston.”While the selectors did consider the worst case scenario in relation toinjuries, we have decided to call up only one extra player as cover atthis stage. We will review the situation, however, once the players areat Edgbaston and their injuries have been assessed by (physiotherapist)Dean Conway.”Mark Ramprakash is an experienced test player with a good recordagainst Australia and he has been in excellent form for his county thisseason. We feel he represents the best option as a cover player giventhe doubts about Graham’s fitness.”Ramprakash, 31, played the last of his 42 Tests against the West Indiesat Lord’s last year before losing his place with scores of 18, 0, 0 and2 in the first two Tests when he opened the batting.But in eight Tests against Australia, the right-hander, who moved thisseason from Middlesex to Surrey, has scored 615 runs at an average of43.93 inclusive of six half centuries.In all he has scored 1,796 runs at an average of 26.41 with a solitarycentury against the West Indies at Barbados in 1998 when he score 154runs.England has failed to beat Australia in the last seven Ashes seriessince winning it under Mike Gatting’s captaincy in the 1986-87 series inAustralia. Despite winning four series in a row, it was held 1-1 byPakistan and confidence going into the Ashes tests is low after a poorperformance in the one-dayers when the team lost all six games againstAustralia and Pakistan.England squad: Nasser Hussain (captain), Michael Atherton, MarcusTrescothick, Michael Vaughan, Graham Thorpe, Alec Stewart, Ian Ward,Craig White, Mark Ramprakash, Dominic Cork, Ashley Giles, Andy Caddick,Darren Gough and Matthew Hoggard.

Somerset Seconds ended the third day of their Championship match against Sussex at hastings in a strong position.Replying to the Cidermen’s 572 for 7 declared Sussex were all out for 135, with Pete Trego taking 4 for 21.There were also two wickets each for Jason Kerr and Matt Bulbeck.Following on Sussex had reaches 349 for 5 by close of play, still needing 85 to make Somerset bat again.At the end of a long hot day in the field Bulbeck ended with 2 for 65.

One of the features of New Zealand Cricket’s annual report is its tribute to Kiwi legend Bert Sutcliffe.His obituary, recording the feats of his cricket career, is superimposed over a magnificent photograph of the Bert Sutcliffe Oval and pavilion at Lincoln University.The photograph is taken in the late afternoon sun and is a superb study of the ground named in his honour and which was the site of the CLEAR White Ferns’ CricInfo Women’s World Cup victory over Australia last summer.His obituary noted: “Bert Sutcliffe is remembered universally for his modesty and personal integrity, and is most oft described as a true gentleman.”Bert Sutcliffe was also one of New Zealand’s finest ever batsmen.”He played in an earlier era but retained a genuine interest and appreciation for the modern cricketer. He met with many of the CLEAR Black Caps in recent years and was an inspiration to them.”The Bert Sutcliffe Oval will be a permanent memorial to him, along with New Zealand Cricket’s prestigious annual award, the Bert Sutcliffe Medal, presented annually in recognition of outstanding service to cricket.

Boland swing bowler Charl Langeveldt and Western Province captain and batsman HD Ackerman have been called up to tour Zimbabwe as South Africa’s early-season preparations were thrown into disarray on Monday.Ackerman owes his call-up to a stiff neck worrying Gary Kirsten while Langeveldt was brought into the squad after the withdrawal of Allan Donald with a particularly severe dose of flu.Ackerman will cover for Kirsten in the event of the left-hander failing a fitness test ahead of Friday’s first Test match in Harare.The situation regarding Donald, however, is rather more complicated. He attended the recent bowling camp in Johannesburg as well as the South African training camp last week, but on Sunday he was feeling so ill that he was sent home to Bloemfontein to recover.According to a press statement issued by the United Cricket Board, Donald "will definitely not take part in the two Test matches or the first One Day International on September 23 in Bulawayo. However, the convenor of national selectors, Rushdi Magiet, said today that if Donald had recovered he could be considered for the squad for the last two ODIs. The selection panel meets on September 24 to choose the squad for the second and third ODIs which take place on September 29 and 30 in Harare".Magiet told CricInfo on Monday that: "Allan’s very keen to play in the Test matches this summer, and we’re very keen to have him in the Test side. So we think it would be best for him to stay behind and get himself fully fit."All of which begs the question of how fit was Donald when he reported for the two camps staged in Johannesburg? Certainly, a convalescent period for flu which stretches over three weeks seems extraordinarily generous.Although he was perfectly entitled to spend the winter putting his feet up, he was expected, in terms of his UCB contract, to maintain a level of fitness. Given that Donald has been aware for some time of his selection for the Zimbabwe, it is disturbing that a single dose of flu should have ruled him out of the greater part of a month-long tour.Donald’s absence, nevertheless, should open the way for Andre Nel to win his first Test cap. As the extra fast bowler in the 13-man squad originally chosen to go to Zimbabwe, Nel should have good reason to believe that his patience throughout the West Indies tour is about to be rewarded.Certainly, it would come as a major surprise should the 26-year-old Langeveldt be drafted into the Test team. If he is believed good enough to play cricket now, after the winter break, then surely he should have been taken to the West Indies.

WELLINGTON – New Zealand Cricket will ask Australia to expand theitinerary of its November and December tour in Australia to compensatefor the cancellation of a tour to Pakistan.The cancellation for security reasons of the New Zealand-Pakistan oneday series this month and test series in October has left New Zealandwithout match play before the Australian tour begins.New Zealand Cricket will ask Australia to add at least two four daystate games to their agreed itinerary to give players some match playbefore the first test from Nov. 8-12.New Zealand recalled its team from Singapore, en route to Pakistan, inresponse to the terrorist attacks in the United States on Tuesday. TheNew Zealand A team also returned home early from a tour to India.New Zealand Cricket chief executive Martin Snedden said he wouldapproach Australian authorities on Monday with a proposal for anenlarged tour.Snedden said there was still a faint hope a tour to Pakistan might takeplace in some form next month, if the world security situationstabilised but he doubted such a change could occur in the timeavailable.”We might yet go to Pakistan but it does seem highly unlikely,” he said.”I don’t see much merit in a truncated tour but we will be keeping ouroptions open.”

The fiasco of India’s three-day tour game against a President’s XI in Chatsworth took a new twist on Tuesday when a statement from the KwaZulu-Natal Cricket Union officially abandoning the game was contradicted. It now appears that an inspection of the water-logged outfield will take place on Wednesday to see whether some play might be possible after the first two days of the game were abandoned.No one, however, believes this is likely, and officials from the KZNCU claimed that equipment borrowed by the Chatsworth organisers had already been returned to Kingsmead.The affair has been a debacle from start to finish and might have been comical had it not so disrupted India’s preparations for the first Test match which starts in Bloemfontein on Saturday.Although the sun has shone in Durban for the last three days and club cricket was played in and around the city on Sunday, the Chatsworth outfield has defied what attempts have been made to dry it out. There are drainage problems at the ground, but, as umpire Wilf Diedricks pointed out, it might have helped had the grass in the outfield been cut now and again.The fixture was allocated to Chatsworth, which is not a first-class ground, after community leaders formed action committees and threatened protest marches when it was learned that no World Cup matches would be played at the venue.As a sop, the Indians (who will be based in Durban ahead of the World Cup) were sent to Chatsworth to warm up for the Test series, but the folly of bowing to a form of emotional and political blackmail has now become all too apparent.This is not the first time that a team touring South Africa has been subjected to inadequate organisation and sub-standard facilities. Last year New Zealand were required to play a one-day game in Alice on a pitch that would not have passed muster in a schools’ match. In the event, the captains agreed not to use their quicker bowlers for fear of injury, but no lessons from this seem to have been learned.In the meantime, India practised at Kingsmead on Tuesday afternoon, but their real problem lies in the fact that those members of the party who flew in at the weekend will almost certainly have to go into the first Test without having had a bat or bowl in South African conditions.Would this be a problem for players such as Connor Williams, Indian coach John Wright was asked. "Well," he said wryly, "they’re all in the same boat aren’t they."

Tickets for the 3rd Test match of the West Indies Tour of Sri Lanka will go on sale at the BCCSL Headquarters at 35, Maitland Place, Colombo 7, from Tuesday, the 27th of November. The match is being played at the Singhalese Sports Club from the 29th of November to the 3rd of December.The BCCSL has reduced the prices of tickets to allow the cricket-loving public every opportunity to witness this thrilling series.Tickets are priced as follows:

SSC Pavilion Upstairs Rs. 100/= per daySSC Pavilion Downstairs Rs. 50/= per daySeylan Pavilion Rs. 50/= per dayPhilips Enclosure air conditioned Rs. 200/= per dayPhilips Enclosure non air conditioned Rs. 100/= per dayBCCSL Grandstand Upstairs Rs. 150/= per dayPublic Stands Western Hill Rs. 20/=Public Stands Eastern Hill Free Entrance

Tickets will also shortly go on sale for the Triangular One-Day-International Tournament which will be played at the SSC, R. Premadasa International Stadium and the Asgiriya International Stadium, commencing on the 8th of December,.