All posts by csb10.top

Adam Gilchrist, the stand-in captain, has called for a regular opening partnership to be established ahead of the 2007 World Cup and has thrown his weight behind Simon Katich. Gilchrist’s support has come after consistent calls for Phil Jaques, the New South Wales opener who made 94 on debut, to be given a regular place.”I think any team that’s settled is going to benefit from that regularity and being familiar with eachother,” Gilchrist said in . “For the best part of my career I’ve had two regular partners in Mark [Waugh] and then Matty [Hayden] and I’m starting to have batted a number of times with Kato [Katich].”You’d have to ask the selectors what they’re going to do with batting positions, but Simon has been very consistent since he’s come in as opener. He hasn’t nailed a big score, he knows that, but he’s certainly been the one that’s been the more consistent in getting the team off to a decent start. He’s getting comfortable in that position and learning it.”Everyone would like a regular batting line-up well and truly settled leading into the World Cup. It’s still 12 months away [so] there is still a fair bit of time to get that settled.”Katich is feeling tremendous pressure from the in-form Jaques. “[Opener] is where I’ve played for NSW, and that’s where I feel comfortable batting,” Katich said in the . “But obviously I’ve got to replicate that form for Australia. So far I’ve been relatively consistent but I haven’t got any big scores, which I need to do. That’s been frustrating. [Jaques] batted really well. Whether all three of us can coexist I’m not sure.”Jaques has been turning on the heat, averaging 104 and 56.55 in the ING and Pura cups this season, and with his 138 against Tasmania on Wednesday he became the first batsman in Australian domestic one-day history to hit four centuries in a summer. “I’ll just be working twice as hard.” Jaques told . “I’ve just got to go out and do my business and hopefully I can’t be ignored. I suppose the more runs you score the more the pressure mounts.”Michael Clarke is another contender for the opening job and has liked the role in his brief stints. “I do enjoy it,” Clarke told . “I enjoyed the VB series last summer when Matty Hayden and Gilly had a rest. Unfortunately it’s just too hard to get up there, the boys do so well there. Gilly and Kato have been fantastic. For me, I have to bide my time. I don’t mind batting six for Australia in the one-day team either.”

Australia’s selectors deferred the looming hard call on their batting order by adding Usman Khawaja to the squad for the Boxing Day Test, as it emerged that the captain Steven Smith will need to be managed carefully over the remainder of the summer due to hip and knee niggles.Picked to bat at No. 3 against New Zealand, Khawaja made sparkling hundreds in Brisbane and Perth before injuring his hamstring.In his absence, Shaun Marsh was recalled and promptly compiled a critical 49 in Adelaide before clouting the West Indies for 182 in Hobart.Marsh was thought to be the man to make way when Khawaja returned to full fitness, but his runs have left the selectors pondering how to deal with an unexpected batting logjam. Joe Burns, anointed as David Warner’s new opening partner following the retirement of Chris Rogers, has enjoyed a solid summer but has trailed off slightly in his past two matches. Smith stated his satisfaction with Marsh’s performance and also his preference to keep him in the middle order if possible.”I’m sure it gives the selectors a few headaches but I think that’s a great thing,” Smith said. “I thought Shaun played beautifully throughout this Test match. Him and [Adam] Voges certainly changed the course of the game. It was 3 for 120 and the game was in the balance. Those guys put on a terrific partnership and set the game up for us.”I’ve said that for a while now, I think he is best suited at five. He’s played some very good cricket at five. He did last summer as well. I was really impressed with the way he batted last week, he did well in tough conditions and tough circumstances, and again backing it up again this week with a big hundred. He’s batting really well.”Marsh will join Burns, Voges, Peter Nevill, Nathan Lyon and Nathan Coulter-Nile in being available for the opening two rounds of the Twenty20 Big Bash League, but Smith will not be joining them. Knee trouble he has been carrying since the back end of the Ashes tour of England flared up during the Hobart Test, and he also complained of a hip flexor problem to the team physio David Beakley.Smith has duly been ruled out of duty for the Sydney Sixers, along with Josh Hazlewood, Peter Siddle, James Pattinson (all rested) and David Warner (unsigned) in taking time out from the T20 tournament. In describing the niggles and how they affect him, Smith said they were easier to manage while playing Test cricket than shorter formats, so it is within the realm of possibility that he may need to sit out an ODI or two against India in the new year.”I’m experiencing a little bit of knee pain that I experienced before the first Test in Brisbane,” Smith said. “I landed on it yesterday and it sort of aggravated it a little bit, as well as a little bit of hip flexor soreness in my right leg as well. So I’m going to sit out the first two Big Bash games unfortunately. I think it’s just precautionary.”I don’t think I’ll be able to go at 100%, which is what you need to do in T20 cricket. I don’t want to do any further damage. I probably can’t run quite 100%, which I think in Test cricket you can hide that a little bit. Hopefully they improve over the next couple of weeks and I’ll be back to normal.”One issue that seems far less pertinent for Australia after their innings trouncing of the West Indies in Hobart is the matter of bowling workloads. Given a match that ran for less than half its scheduled duration, Hazlewood, Pattinson and Siddle can expect to be able to turn out in each of the Melbourne and Sydney Tests through the holiday period.”It was a clinical performance,” Smith said. “The game was in the balance and we were able to put on a big partnership that changed the course of the match. I thought the bowlers bowled terrifically. In the first innings Nathan Lyon really stepped up again and in the second innings it was nice to see James Pattinson back to his best and bowling fast.”He bowled extremely well. He wanted to go out and do it today, and enjoy it and I thought he bowled beautifully. I had a little word to him this morning actually and just said go out and enjoy it and have some fun and do what you do well – and that’s bowl fast. I think the ball came out a lot better today. He got the ball in the right areas and reaped the rewards from it.”In addition to recalling Khawaja, the selectors also included Steve O’Keefe in a 14-man squad for the SCG Test.

“So you think you are Klusener?” Anil Kumble shot out at Abhishek Nayar after being hit for three consecutive fours on the second day’s play at the Wankhede Stadium. Replay this for a moment: after Nayar stepped out to swing the first two balls to cow corner, Kumble shrugged, “That was just a slog”. He fired the next one in quick and short, Nayar went back to slap it to the cover-point fence and smiled at the comparison with Klusener.However, if Pravin Amre and Sachin Tendulkar had not helped, the aggressive 24-year old Mumbai allrounder would not be here today, having a chuckle on the cricket field. He was dropped after three ducks in the 2005-06 Ranji season but just as the self-doubt started sinking in, Tendulkar happened. Nayar recalls with gratitude a special 45 minutes he spent with Tendulkar at the Bandra-Kurla complex in suburban Mumbai.”I was down and was having problems with my batting. I was unable to get any power in my strokes off the back foot,” Nayar told Cricinfo. He says he could drive but knew his back-foot play was going to hinder his cricketing career. Tendulkar asked him to take his stance and play a few back-foot shots. Nayar, who crouches in his stance before shuffling across from an outside-leg-stump guard, tried changing his stance in the Under-16 and 19 days but felt uncomfortable and returned to what he knew best – attack. Tendulkar spotted that his weight was on the heels rather than toes and that Nayar’s shift in balance was not smooth.”He suggested a few drills – playing with a cone, he told me not to bother about changing my stance and talked a lot about the mental strength. He gave examples from his own career – how he once famously played out seven quiet overs from [Glenn] McGrath in a Test before returning the next morning and going onto the attack.”Nayar told himself that if such a famed batsman could swallow his ego and play according to the situation, so could he.Amre, Mumbai’s coach, worked on Nayar’s batting at the Shivaji Park Gymkhana club and gave valuable input on the mental aspect of cricket. Two years ago, Nayar says, he would’ve probably said something back at Kumble but not now. Because Amre has made him realise the importance of being cool, calm and collected.Flash forward to the 2006-07 season when, after playing three games without a point on the board, Mumbai recalled Nayar for a game against Gujarat. Ajit Agarkar was set to play the next game and Nayar knew if he failed there, he would be dropped again. Remembering Tendulkar’s words, he fought hard initially before exploding in the end to finish with 97 from 173 balls. He added 213 with Rohit Sharma, and that turned the tide for both player and team. Nayar was the third highest run-scorer for Mumbai, with 360 runs in five matches, and took 15 wickets to finish third in the bowling tally. Two breezy centuries this season, including one in the Irani Trophy, and life is suddenly sunnier for Nayar.

Unlike many others in India Nayar didn’t play much tennis-ball cricket. Instead, he started off with the leather ball as a 10-year old. One man who shares that uncommon trait is his team-mate Prashant Naik, who tackled Kumble with a straight bat to score a crucial 78 to help Mumbai stretch the lead in the first innings. Like Nayar, he too was drafted into the squad in the last season for the Gujarat game. He didn’t play, but instead of idling his time, Naik hit the gym and lost four kilogramsIf Nayyar’s association with Amre was at the Shivaji Park, Naik came under the former India batsman while playing for Air India, with which Amre was involved. Ironically, for a man who took a confident front-foot stride to tackle Kumble with aplomb, the front-foot movement used to be his major flaw. “I had a very short forward stride and I was struggling a touch with my front-foot play. Amre sir gave me specific drills [he was made to hit golf balls thrown at him with a shortened bat and had to stretch well forward to make proper contact] and that helped.”Naik too has a special Tendulkar moment. Earlier in his life, he used to bowl an assorted mixture of legspin and medium pace. On one occasion Tendulkar, batting at an adjacent net, spotted him bowling his spinners and told him to concentrate on just that. “He gave me tips on my run-up, action, follow-through and the other nuances of the art,” says Naik, who bowled a few overs today against Rahul Dravid, mirroring Tendulkar’s action. He has that same walk to the crease and although he doesn’t turn it big, you can see the Tendulkar imprint all over him.Naik played his junior grade cricket in Pune before he moved to Mumbai upon the advice of his cricket-crazy father and uncle. He missed the U-14 trials as he arrived late to the city, but was given a chance in the U-16 round. He impressed and has risen through the ranks to play for Mumbai and now dreams of representing India. The signs have been good, based on a century on first-class debut in the Mohammad Nissar Trophy recently, and 78 here.In Nayar, Kerala-born but raised in Mumbai, and Naik, from Pune, the defending Ranji champions have found two talents for the future.

Shane Watson is out of the Ashes and could be in doubt for the World Cup in March, after sustaining a 5cm tear to his troublesome left hamstring, just three overs into his comeback match at Adelaide. Watson had managed only 18 balls for Queensland against South Australia yesterday when he pulled up sore after bowling a bouncer.He left the field a short time later and did not bowl again during the innings. Watson originally hurt his left hamstring while bowling in a one-day game for Queensland in November. He had been named in the side for the first Test against England but the injury has kept him from being considered for any of the first three Ashes Tests.Watson had hoped to be fully fit by Christmas but Andrew Symonds should now retain his place in the team for the Boxing Day Test at Melbourne. The latest blow was particularly cruel given that Watson had made a dream start to his return claiming 2 for 13 from three overs before leaving the field.

Justin Langer continued his outstanding county season with 145 at nearly a run a ball in Somerset’s 87-run one-day victory over Middlesex on Sunday. Langer was well supported by Cameron White, who made 61 as the visitors piled on 332 at Lord’s.It was Langer’s second limited-overs century in the tournament and he is now second on the county one-day run tally for 2007, and third in the first-class list. His effort against Middlesex took 149 balls and he shared in a 136-run stand with White.Just when the home side appeared to be setting a platform to launch the big chase through a 52-run partnership between Eoin Morgan and David Nash, White became the hero with the ball, removing both batsmen and finishing with 3 for 37.On the same day at Worcester, Phil Jaques turned his poor form around to register his second hundred of the season. Jaques made 102 but was overshadowed by Vikram Solanki as they added 223 for the first wicket. Solanki remained unbeaten on 144 as Worcestershire cruised to 2 for 307 from 46 overs, easily overhauling Warwickshire’s 6 for 303.It was not such a memorable match for Doug Bollinger, however, whose first season with Worcestershire has not gone to plan so far. Bollinger took 1 for 63 from his ten overs, two days after he was taken for 75 from eight overs against Durham at Chester-le-Street. Kabir Ali, who has played Test cricket for England, also struggled and cost 94 from ten overs as Durham’s batsmen – including Michael Di Venuto with 49 – blasted their way to 4 for 332. Jaques and Solanki could not save the day and Worcestershire lost by 143 runs.Hampshire confirmed the value of having two of Australia’s best bowlers as they skittled Glamorgan for 146 to win by 137 runs at Swansea. Shane Warne – who earlier had enjoyed a cameo of 18 from nine balls – claimed 2 for 32 but it was Stuart Clark’s devastating opening spell that did for Glamorgan. Clark, who finished with 4 for 25, took three early wickets as the home side spiralled to 7 for 49. Glamorgan only climbed to 146 through some late hitting from Simon Jones and Dean Cosker.Clark and Warne were also effective in the four-day match against Warwickshire at Edgbaston earlier in the week but Hampshire’s batsmen let them down. Clark collected 3 for 65 and Warne 2 for 47 as they dismissed the home team for 262 in reply to Hampshire’s 169. Hampshire eventually escaped with a draw but found themselves sixth on the County Championship table for Division One.Marcus North signed off from his impressive stint with Gloucestershire, scoring his third first-class century from five games. North’s 109 helped his side to 394 against Northamptonshire at Gloucester and he followed up with 2 for 23 as the visitors struggled to 223. North, who is Gloucestershire’s leading run-scorer in first-class and one-day cricket this season, will be replaced next week by his Western Australia team-mate Ben Edmondson.At Hove, Stuart Law compiled his second century of 2007 as his team, Lancashire, finished with a slight edge over Sussex. Law made 119 and Brad Hodge scored 43 as Lancashire posted 330 in the first innings.Both batsmen failed in the second, however, and despite a nine-wicket match from Lancashire’s star bowler Muttiah Muralitharan, the match ended in a draw. Although nine players in their squad boast Test or ODI experience – Law, Hodge, Muralitharan, Andrew Flintoff, Sajid Mahmood, James Anderson, Dominic Cork, Mal Loye and Glen Chapple – Lancashire are third-last on the Division One table.A bold declaration by Langer backfired spectacularly at Lord’s. He called Somerset’s innings closed at 8 for 50, in an effort to expose Middlesex on a damp pitch. However, the home side clearly had not read the script and ploughed along to 252. That left Somerset with a hefty first-innings deficit and despite a better effort on the third day – White chipped in with 77 – Middlesex took the points and leapfrogged Somerset into second place on the Division Two table.In first place are Nottinghamshire, who narrowly missed another victory against Leicestershire at Oakham. Set 377 to win, Nottinghamshire were on course thanks in part to David Hussey, who continued his prolific form with 79 off 65 balls.But Hussey, who made his name leading enormous chases at Victoria, was caught behind and the visitors soon had little option but to play out a draw. Hussey now has 737 runs at 81.88 this season and is second only to Mark Ramprakash on the county run-tally.

A recent magazine survey suggested that 41% of Australian men would give up sex for a month if it meant their cricketers would regain the Ashes. This time next week, that period of abstinence could finally be at an end. Australia are 2-0 up with three to play, and need one more victory in tomorrow’s third Test at Perth to ensure the return of the Urn.Ricky Ponting, however, has taken an even more drastic vow than the readers of Zoo magazine. Mindful of all the hype and hysteria that consumed their campaign last time around, he has banned all talk of the Ashes from Australia’s dressing-room. Victory in the series will be a byproduct of victory in this match, he told reporters on the eve of the Test, and not the other way around.”That’s not what this week is about for our team,” said Ponting. “It’s about being ready for tomorrow morning, and playing better cricket than we did last week and at Brisbane. As soon as you start looking too far ahead in this game it can turn back and bite you, as we’ve seen in the past. The Ashes won’t be mentioned about the group at all.”We’re going out to win the game, and win the game as best we can,” he added. “But winning the Ashes will be a result of that, not something that’s going to motivate us to play well. We’re just going to have a relaxing afternoon and turn up tomorrow with a great attitude for the Test match.”Relaxation is the key for all the Australians, but particularly so for one man. Andrew Symonds, Ponting confirmed, will return at No. 6 for his 11th Test, with Michael Hussey and Michael Clarke bumping up the order to No.4 and 5 respectively. “I’m confident in him,” said Ponting. “I’ve watched him closely and he’s extremely excited to be around this group. He might have thought his Test career had passed him by a few months ago, but he feels better about his game than ever before.”Symonds averages 19 with the bat and 45 with the ball in his ten previous Tests, the last of which was against South Africa at Johannesburg in April, and admitted on Monday that he had been hampered by anxiety in the past. “What Symmo brings to the team is excitement and energy,” added Ponting. “We want him to have that around the group, but he needs to keep his emotions inside in check. Once he gets out there in the middle, he’ll no doubt be nervous, but he’ll have learned a bit from last time.”

Symonds was the pick of Queensland’s attack in their recent match against Western Australia at the WACA. He bowled medium-pacers in the first innings and offspin in the second, and Ponting predicted that his versatility would be a great asset to the Test team, especially when the Fremantle Doctor blows into town after lunch. “Apparently his medium-pacers nipped about and he was a handful,” said Ponting. “We’re going to need a few guys to bowl a number of overs up into the breeze, to give Shane and Glenn a bit of a rest, and Symmo gives us that.”Medium-pacers, spinners … it’s a far cry from the traditional pace-bowling paradise at the WACA, a fact that Ponting lamented, for all that Australia possess, in Warne, the best possible weapon for the new conditions. “It’s not good for the game if all our grounds lose character,” said Ponting. “This wicket is not as fast and bouncy as in the past, so I think it will turn and turn early. But whether it turns quickly, which is what Shane likes, we’ll have to wait and see. But in the form he’s in at the moment, you wouldn’t want to be facing him on a bit of glass.”Warne needs just six more wickets to become the first bowler to take 700 in Tests, a statistical skyscraper that puts into perspective Monty Panesar’s probable first appearance of the series. Andrew Flintoff was characteristically guarded when asked about the make-up of his team, but Ponting was already planning a hot reception for the new face.”He’ll be under pressure and no doubt he’ll be putting pressure on himself,” said Ponting. “If he plays he’ll be a bit nervous, and that’ll dictate the way he bowls. He might bowl quick and spear them in early on, so we will be very positive against him, try to put it right back on him and see how he copes. We’ve got a lot of left-handers, and they’ll enjoy the balls spinning into them.””Monty has started his international career very well,” added Flintoff. “He’s bowledwell, he’s got fine players out and he is someone who works really hard athis game and he’s improving all the time.” It was hardly a glowing endorsement of his credentials, but that is England’s guarded way at present.

Flintoff was hardly any more effusive about his friend Steve Harmison, whose woeful lack of form has been a key reason for England’s struggles in the first two Tests. “Everyone is staking a claim and everyone wants to play in this Test,” he said, when asked if Harmison was certain to start. “The lads have all worked hard and today all the bowlers have run in and hit the nets hard.”As Alec Stewart pointed out over the weekend, Harmison is a matchwinner, and therefore he has to play in a must-win match. But until the team-sheet is unveiled tomorrow morning before the toss, England’s bowling attack will remain one of sport’s most guarded mysteries.The likeliest change is Panesar for Ashley Giles, although that would completely contradict Duncan Fletcher’s first law of team balance. Alternatively they could field two spinners, with James Anderson – the pick of the bowlers in the warm-up match – missing out.A third and less trumpeted alternative would be the introduction of Sajid Mahmood for Anderson – Fletcher’s team balance would be maintained, with an extra dose of incisiveness thrown in for good measure. “These selection issues crop up,” shrugged Flintoff. “For four days at Adelaide it wasn’t really an issue and then for one-and-a-half hours of almost crazy cricket everyone’s looking at the side.”For four days that side performed and performed well I thought,” he added. “It wasn’t really an issue apart from at 12 o’clock on the Tuesday at Adelaide. But this Perth Test is huge. We’ve got to believe we can get back into the series.” If for no other reason than to keep Australia’s population growth in check.Australia 1 Justin Langer, 2 Matthew Hayden, 3 Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Michael Hussey, 5 Michael Clarke, 6 Andrew Symonds, 7 Adam Gilchrist (wk), 8 Shane Warne, 9 Brett Lee, 10 Stuart Clark, 11 Glenn McGrath.England (probable) 1 Andrew Strauss, 2 Alastair Cook, 3 Ian Bell, 4 Paul Collingwood, 5 Kevin Pietersen, 6 Andrew Flintoff (capt), 7 Geraint Jones (wk), 8 Sajid Mahmood, 9 Matthew Hoggard, 10 Steve Harmison, 11 Monty Panesar.

Mohammad Ashraful, Bangladesh’s captain, has called for the appointment of a full-time coach ahead of his side’s tour to New Zealand at the end of the year.”I feel we desperately need a permanent coach, whoever it may be, Shaun [Williams] or anyone else. There is a big difference between a permanent and temporary coach. You can’t expect teamwork with a temporary solution,” Ashraful told the .The Bangladesh Cricket Board has been looking for a national coach since Dav Whatmore refused a two-year contract extension after spending four years with the team. Interim coach Shaun Williams, who took over in June, was at the helm for a tour of Sri Lanka and the ICC World Twenty20 in South Africa. Neither of the two tours was successful for Bangladesh and the strategies of the team management have been criticised, especially after some haphazard batting in the Twenty20.National selector and former captain Akram Khan, who was part of the team management during the last two trips, also stressed on the need of a full-time coach. “I was only part of the selection process. I wasn’t involved in game planning,” he said. “Actually the captain and coach have the big role behind the planning. What I want to say is that we should have come out from the short-term solution immediately about the coach.”However, he expressed his satisfaction over the Twenty20 performance. “I think our performance was not bad because we fulfilled our target but the problem is that we were not consistent enough in any form of the game,” he said. “What I felt was that our team couldn’t play their natural game with the expectations getting higher.”Chief selector Rafiqul Alam also expressed his satisfaction over Bangladesh’s performance in South Africa. “The batting problems might remain in the Twenty20 format but what is most important is that nobody took us lightly. I believe if anybody is good in the five-day game then he will be okay in any format,” he said. “We have to shift our focus to the New Zealand trip and I think this year’s National Cricket League will be crucial for the players because we are trying many things to make it worthy including the financial encouragement.”Rafiqul also believed that the team needs a permanent coach. “A permanent coach is a very important part but as well as that, we have to find the right man for the job and in that case you have to compromise on time.”Responding to allegations that Ashraful had attitude problems during the Twenty20 and did not listen to anybody during the tour, Rabeed Imam, Bangladesh’s media manager, told Cricinfo: “Ashraful is a proactive skipper and he takes initiatives. He is confident enough to take decisions he feels are right and I don’t see any justifiable reason why some people should be critical of that. He’s also the senior-most pro in the side and has more experience at this level than any other player in the Twenty 20 team.”He has excellent working relationship with the coach, coaching staff and selectors and they can vouch for that. The players also find him easily approachable as most are his age or near about.”

Umar Gul is hoping to land a one-month stint with Glamorgan during the ongoing county season and before the start of Pakistan’s tour to England in the summer.Gul said he would play for the club if the deal is negotiated successfully and he gets clearance from the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). “I have been approached by Glamorgan for this season and if I get permission from the PCB then I would be delighted to play in the English season,” Gul told AFP.Gul only recently returned to international cricket, during the ODI series against India in February, having been out injured since March 2004. In his last Test appearance before a serious stress fracture of the back almost ended his career, Gul took five wickets against India at Lahore, helping his side to a famous win.Understandably, Gul has been inconsistent since his comeback, though he has produced a couple of impressive spells against India and in Sri Lanka. In his time away, others such as Rana Naved-ul-Hasan and Mohammad Asif have emerged as pace bowling options.Gul added, “I spoke to Bob Woolmer who has suggested that I play for one month for the county and join the Pakistan team if I am required for the England tour.” If he does sign up, Gul will join fellow countrymen Asif, Rana and Mushtaq Ahmed, the leg-spinner, on the circuit. And he will hope to emulate Waqar Younis, who enjoyed a successful stint with the county in the late nineties.Pakistan tour England between June and September for four Tests and five one-day games and a preliminary squad for the pre-tour training camp is due to be announced on Wednesday.

Trinidad and Tobago’s (T&T) women cricketers defied St Lucia – and the rains – to lift the West Indies Women Cricket Federation regional tournament league title in Barbados. Stacy Ann King and Anisa Mohammed played star roles in the victory at the Passage Road Ground. King hit a robust half-century to take T&T’s total to 213 in 48.3 overs, before Mohammed wrecked St Lucia’s innings, which ended 33 runs short of the revised target.St Lucia followed the tournament trend by winning the toss and asking T&T to bat. King responded by blasting 83, and T&T also had useful contributions from Devika Singh, who scored 22, captain Marissa Aguillera (17), as well as Gaitri Seetahal, who remained unbeaten on 24. Naralee Cooper took 4 for 35 off ten overs for St Lucia while her sister, Roylin Cooper, took 2 for 33.In reply, St Lucia stumbled to 49 for 3 after 14 overs, when rain interrupted the innings. Aguillera and Co would have been hoping desperately for the weather to clear, with the other two fixtures of the day – Barbados v Grenada and Jamaica v St Vincent and the Grenadines – being washed out.T&T had already failed to complete two matches due to inclement weather. In their first outing against Jamaica, T&T batted but were awarded a point after rain flooded the outfield. A day later, T&T were unable to take the field after the weather ruined their match against Barbados. But with successive victories against defending champs St Vincent and Grenada, they were level on points with Barbados going into today’s match. The bad weather meant only a win would ensure them the title. This time, the elements were on their side.St Lucia resumed their innings and were still in contention to pull off an upset at 116 for 6. However, Mohammed’s figures of 5 for 26, and Gaitri Seetahal’s 2 for 26, made sure there was no repeat of 2004, when T&T narrowly lost out on the title to hosts St Vincent, after suffering two rained-out matches. St Lucia folded for 138, chasing the revised target of 171. Swaylyn Williams top scored with 30 while West Indies batsman Nadine George (22) and Purner Thomas, who scored 20, also gave good support.T&T and Barbados will both enjoy a bye today, while the other four teams play for the other two semi-final spots in the knockout phase of the competition.

The Zimbabwe players’ representative, Clive Field, has said players will go on and sign the new contracts issued by the board on Monday.Field confirmed that agreements on the new contracts had been agreed by finalized by both sides, although the rest of the grievances raised by the players last Thursday still stand.”The original contracts had overlooked basic aspects,” said Field. “We were still negotiating things like the injury clause and match fees, otherwise there has been no significant rectification annexed to the contracts.”Also added to the contracts was a payment system where players will be paid retainers at a respectable external value. Other issues tackled were players’ safety, and the position of the players’ representative.”Over and above there are still governance issues that still have to be addressed,” Field added. “The contacts are the basis on which to engage the board, and we have cleared that hurdle. The players are hoping that those issues will be resolved. The chairman [Peter Chingoka] responded to the public statement saying issues of governance is not the players’ area. In a way he is right. But like we have said, when these things are having a marked effect on the players’ performance, they not only have a duty, but a right to say act. I hope the provincial chairmen will make the board accountable and discuss those issues at the board meeting [proposed for Saturday].”A total of 37 players were awarded contracts. Two were given international contracts, 14 signed senior deals and 21 junior contracts. Zimbabwe Cricket also agreed to pay overdue match fees for Tests and one-day internationals against New Zealand in August, and India in September, although there remain concerns about hoe much money the board actually has to meet its obligations.International contracts T Taibu, A Blignaut.Level One Senior E Chigumbura, P Utseya, D Hondo, B Taylor, D Ebrahim, H Masakadza, B Mahwire, V Sibanda, G Ewing, C Coventry, T Duffin, S Matsikenyeri, K Dabengwa, N Ferreira.Level One Junior C Mpofu, G Cremer, A Mwayenga, W Mwayenga, T Panyangara, E Rainsford, T Mupariwa, C Chibhabha, S Williams, A Ireland, T Mufambisi, T Hove, T Mawoyo, H Matanga, C Ervine, I Nicholson, J Nyumbu, I Chinyoka, T Garwe, B Mlambo, R Bennett.