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Kyle Mills and Ross Taylor joined the burgeoning ranks of New Zealand cricketers headed for the IPL last night, when they were snapped up by Mohali and Bangalore for US$150,000 and US$100,000 respectively in the second round of auctioning in Mumbai. With Daniel Vettori, Jacob Oram and Brendon McCullum already signed up, the competition is increasingly likely to conflict with New Zealand’s preparations for their tour of England in May.New Zealand’s first scheduled fixture of the England tour is on April 27, against MCC at Arundel, followed by a pair of three-day games against Kent (April 28-30) and Essex (May 2-5). The IPL, however, will be in full swing during those matches, and New Zealand Cricket are in discussions with their players’ representatives to allow dispensation for the five affected men to arrive in time for the final warm-up fixture against England Lions, which starts on May 8, a week before the Lord’s Test.”It’s a New Zealand Cricket decision and we have to abide by that, no matter which way it goes,” said Vettori. “They have asked us our views, and they have asked the team’s views. Obviously with five of us involved, it’ll set a different precedent than it would have with three, but we will work through it with Justin [Vaughan, the CEO] and whatever decision he comes to, we will abide by it.”There’s little doubt, however, where Vettori’s preferences lie. Having been signed up by the Delhi Daredevils franchise for a hefty US$625,000, he is understandably eager to play as many of the matches as possible. Realistically he and his team-mates could play in the first five or six rounds of the IPL, which begins on April 18, before joining the New Zealand squad in England in early May.Vettori’s argument is that New Zealand very rarely play warm-up matches on Test tours these days, and so it will make little difference to their preparations for England. What is more, if the senior players do sit out the early fixtures, it will provide an opportunity for younger players to be given invaluable experience of English conditions.”I’m not really worried about how it looks. I’m worried about how it affects the team and the dynamic,” said Vettori. “I know it’ll be a huge opportunity for some young guys to be assimilated into a New Zealand side. Like I’ve said a couple of times, we go away on most tours and don’t have any warm-up games. I don’t think we can say that we all need to turn up all on the same day because that’s the way it’s supposed to be, because we don’t do it on any other tour.”The junior guys are comfortable either way,” he added. “They’re comfortable if we turn up late and they’re equally happy if the whole team turns up together. I don’t think the preparation side is an aspect, it’s whether it fits for the team and the guys can handle it. If they can’t, then we have to sit back and say maybe it’s not the right thing. But if they can, then that’s the way cricket is probably moving.”Mills, who learned of his IPL acquisition from his wife, Diana, who had been tracking the auction online, believed that the opportunity to rub shoulders with some of the best cricketers in the world was more than adequate compensation for missing the early part of the England tour.Mills’ Mohali franchise is coached by Tom Moody, who has huge experience of county cricket with Worcestershire, and also includes regular England foes, such as Brett Lee and Kumar Sangakkara.” This will be a massive opportunity to pick Brett Lee’s brains for three or four weeks on how to bowl in England,” said Mills. “He was very effective against the Poms in England and in the Ashes last year, so I’ll be picking up a few tips on how to get the Poms out. In terms of a cricketing education, the players I’ll be playing with and against will be of huge benefit to me.”As to their possible late arrival, Mills was sure the players would adapt quickly. “That’s the nature of international cricket over these past five years,” he said. “You’re playing 11 months of the year, always chopping and changing from Twenty20s to one-dayers to Test cricket. I played a domestic one-dayer three days out from the last Test in Hamilton. So that’s the nature of professional cricket these days, we’ve all got to adapt quickly. We’ve all got experience of England before, so the transition shouldn’t be too hard.”

ScorecardIt was not the six- and four-hitting that Twenty20 cricket isnormally associated with. In fact there were only 15 fours in the firstinnings, and no sixes at all, as Karnataka scrambled to 142 for 7 at the Wankhede Stadium. Andthat proved to be too few as Punjab’s batsmen used all the freedomthey were given and won with one ball to spare. Ravneet Ricky, one of the fewbatsmen to approach this match without panic, cracked a superb unbeaten76, and ensured that his team made it just in time.After choosing to bat the going was tough for Karnataka. Much depended on the bighitting of Robin Uthappa, and when that proved a non-starter as he dragged Gagandeep Singh back onto his stumps, Karnataka had to battle hard for each run. Devraj Patil, the young wicketkeeper opening the batting, was fluent and effective, and he managed to keep one end running smoothly with 31. There was a lot of frantic running, mostly of the unnecessary andslightly panicked kind, and only one steady hand from C Raghu (32) andsome enthusiastic hitting from B Akhil (33) pushed Karnataka towardsrespectability.It was clear that the batsmen were not accustomed to playing Twenty20cricket, and perhaps attempting to do too much in the 120 balls affordedto them. The attitude of trying to pinch runs off every possibleopportunity was admirable, but some fairly adventurous attempts atimprovisation meant that Karnataka lost too many wickets too quickly. Hadthe fielding been of a higher standard – if the stumps were hit more often- Karnataka would not even have made it to 142.When the chase began it was a touch less frenetic than the first half.Punjab’s batsmen, knowing what they needed to achieve, did not try and hitevery ball out of the park. Ricky, opening the batting, dug in andclearly made up his mind to bat as normally as possible, while thosearound him went on an all-out attack.Karan Goyal steered one outside off to gully and Yuvraj Singh was atthe crease early. He seemed quite content blocking what he had to, in theknowledge that he could take on the bowler if and when needed, and clearthe field. A lazy clip off the legs for a boundary, followed by a checkeddrive that was no more than a punch which easily cleared mid-off were capped by a huge six off Sunil Joshi over midwicket. When Yuvraj, on 25, speared a catch up in the air off Raghu, and was well caught by Manish Pandey at long-off, Karnataka knew they had a big wicket.Dinesh Mongia, probably the most experienced Twenty20 cricketer of thislot, thanks to his experiences in county cricket, then took charge of the proceedings. He, like Yuvraj, was not overly stressed at playing out a fewdot balls, and instead concentrated on making it count when he went for thebig hit. And two such hits easily cleared the fence – one off Joshi andanother an audacious walk down the pitch to Akhil that ended up in the standsover midwicket. Just when it appeared that Mongia had done the job, he losthis wicket, for a crucial 35, ballooning a catch to short fine-leg tryingto play a cute scoop off Akhil.Fortunately for Punjab they had one batsman, in Ricky, who batted longenough. For the best part he just played normalcricket shots, only once trying something unusual, when the pressure wasreally on at the end, chipping a ball over the keeper’s head for a four.In the end, Ricky was the difference between the two sides, and he crashedone from Akhil through midwicket to rattle up the winning runs. Ricky wasunbeaten on 76 off only 50 balls, with 8 fours and 2 sixes.

County Championship
Two-up, two-down is the right balance for two leagues of nine teams. So, 2005 was a good season to get promoted back to the top flight as Lancashire, Yorkshire and Durham managed, but not such a great time to go the other way like Glamorgan, Surrey and Gloucestershire. The points system remains the same, but there should be some attacking cricket in the second division with just two promotion spots up for grabs, although safety in division one is now even more attainable with high-scoring draws.C&G Trophy
This is an interesting one. Previously the premier one-day tournament has been a knock-out format, under various sponsors, and dubbed the ‘FA Cup of cricket’. Now it has been changed into a league format, with two groups, leading straight to a Lord’s final. Each group – tagged North and South – consists of 10 teams. Scotland join nine counties in the north while Ireland take their place with the south. Each team plays each other once and the top team in each group progresses to Lord’s on August 26. But the changes appear to not have really been thought through. The idea was to give more 50-over cricket, the international standard, to county sides before the Natwest Series starts, therefore giving players a chance to hone skills and press claims for selection. However, because there are no quarter or semi-finals there will be a lot of dead matches with many teams out of the running for the final early on. In a busy season, counties could see these games as a chance to rest players therefore defeating the object of high-standard 50-over matches. C&G are not thrilled about the changes, apparently: they have already pulled their sponsorship for next season.Twenty20
This is quickly becoming the lifeblood of the domestic game and will again form the major entertainment in mid-summer. However, it will have to compete with the football World Cup so the attraction of Twenty20 will be given a eral – and tough – test. The group matches will be played from June 27 to July 11, with the quarter-finals two weeks later and Finals Day at Trent Bridge, the inaugural venue in 2003, on August 12.Pro40
If in doubt, stick ‘Pro’ somewhere near a one-day tournament and people will come flocking through the gates. Well, maybe not, but the ECB haven’t been able to find a new sponsor for the re-jigged, and in many ways downgraded, National League. It has been shunted to the back third of the season, following the C&G and Twenty20, and reduced to a 40-over contest where each team plays the others once. There are still two divisions with promotion and relegation and like the Championship this has been amended to two-up, two-down. However, a play-off between the seventh-placed team in Division One and the third-placed team in Division Two has been added and will provide the finale to the county season on September 24.Now, if you understand all that, you are ready for the 2006 season.

Sachin Tendulkar and Shane Warne will give a wealthy fan the opportunity of a lifetime with one-on-one tips during next Tuesday’s tsunami appeal match between MCC and an International XI at Lord’s. During the lunch break the highest on-line auction bidder for the prize will receive 15 minutes of coaching from Tendulkar before walking out to the middle to face an over from Warne, the world’s leading Test wicket-taker.Tom Graveney, the MCC president and former England batsman, said it was an incredible chance for a supporter to live the dream of batting against Warne at Lord’s in front of a large crowd and worldwide television audience. “We hope that this amazing opportunity, which has been made possible by the generosity and co-operation of Shane and Sachin, will raise a significant additional sum for the tsunami appeal.”The auction begins at 1400GMT on Wednesday, June 8 and closes at 1400GMT on Saturday, June 11. Bids can be placed at www.cricketrelief.org and the winner also receives two tickets to the match.

Tony Dodemaide is convinced Michael Vaughan’s men can give Australia a run for their money come next year’s Ashes series in England.And the former Australia pace bowler is in a good position to assess the strength of the “old enemy”, who have been outclassed in every Ashes campaign since they last won a series in Test cricket’s longest-running contest back in 1986-87.For the past five years Dodemaide, 40, has been head of cricket at Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) but is set to return home later this month to become the chief executive of Western Australia.And on the eve of his departure from Lord’s, which he labelled the “Vatican City of cricket”, Dodemaide told AFP he expected a closely fought Ashes series in 2005.”I think it will be more competitive,” Dodemaide said at Lord’s as behind him potential stars of the future were put through their paces during one of MCC’s Easter coaching course in the indoor nets. “England have got talented young players coming through. They’ve got an attack which is gaining in confidence.”The England team has been developing over time. It does take time. It did in Australia, it took several years for players to come through and to understand what was required.”But Dodemaide, who played 10 Tests and 24 one-day internationals in the late 1980s and early 1990s, added that English cricket as a whole would not be fully convinced of a reversal in fortunes until they defeated Australia. “Everyone in England does measure themselves against the old enemy so next year is a pivotal time. But on this indication they should perform strongly. So it’s perhaps fortunate that I am going now because if England do beat Australia next year it won’t be a good place to be.”However, not everything is rosy in the garden of English cricket. Legendary Australia wicketkeeper Rodney Marsh, now an England selector, publicly questioned whether the players he managed on England A’s unsuccessful tour of India had the determination and passion required to play at the highest level.Marsh’s comments were all the more acute as he is also the head of England’s academy and charged with developing the country’s next generation of Test cricketers.But Dodemaide said that the structure of English cricket, with its 18 counties, made Marsh’s job harder than it was when he held a similar post in Australia. “We take a pyramid structure for granted. There are only six states [in Australia]. I recall playing my first game of Premier League Grade cricket in Melbourne and the captain said to me ‘keep going because you are only two steps away from Test cricket’.”Because there are so few available places and the competition tends to be much fiercer players do come to the party or they are weeded out quite early. I don’t think there’s less capability in England; in fact there should be more because there’s so many more players playing the game.”

Left-arm quick S Vishnuvardhan claimed a career-best haul of 6-55 to propel Hyderabad to a thumping nine-wicket win over Railways in an Elite Group sixth round match that ended at Secunderabad on Monday.Railways, who after being asked to follow-on, were 71/0 at the end of the second day’s play found the task of saving the match too onerous on the third.The first to go was opener Shreyas Khanolkar, who had batted magnificently on Sunday. He added just two runs to his overnight score of 51 before falling to Vishnuvardhan. Tejinder Pal Singh, who came in next, put up a brief resistance in the company of the other opener, Amit Pagnis. But once the duo were dismissed – Singh for 36 and Pagnis for 31 – the Railways innings began to crumble.Murali Kartik (64) and Harvinder Singh (52) led a late-order fightback, but even their heroics could only gain Railways, who were dismissed for 290, a 66-run overall lead.Hyderabad, needing just 67 to complete the rout, went on to achieve the target with ease; opener Daniel Manohar scoring 46 of these of just 54 balls while remaining unbeaten.In another sixth round match at the Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi, the hosts continued their impressive fightback, setting Bengal a victory target of 339.The hosts, who resumed at 198-1, lost overnight not out batsman Gautam Gambhir for 96 in the morning. It proved an uphil struggle for the rest of the batsmen from there on. But with No 3 Varun Kumar chipping in with 34 and Sarandeep Singh making 33, Delhi were able to declare their second innings at 343/7.For Bengal, R Basu and Utpal Chatterjee claimed three wickets each.Needing 339 to win, Bengal were 2/0 when stumps were drawn on the penultimate day.At the Nehru Stadium, Guwahati, Assam, who resumed on 77/1, reached 304/5 at the end of the third day of their match against Tamil Nadu. Kiran Powar, who made 96, SB Saikia, who made 63, and NH Bordoloi, who made 53, were the batting stars for Assam on the day. All is then set for an intriguing final day with Assam needing 205 runs with five wickets in hand to gain the first-inninings lead.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India officials in Mumbai weretight lipped about the visit of Central Bureau of Ivestigation (CBI)sleuths from Delhi to the Cricket Club of India (CCI) on Monday.BCCI Executive secretary Sharadh Diwadkar told PTI that it was just a”courtesy call” and “we invited them (CBI sleuths headed by DeputySuperintendent Nikhil Duggal) to have lunch at the CCI. However, theywill be visiting the BCCI office in a couple of days before theirdeparture to Delhi,” Diwadkar added.Two CBI officers arrived in Mumbai on Sunday to visit the BCCI officeand get information about whereabouts of a bookie, who was involved inthe match-fixing scandal, and make a detailed enquiry over Telecastrights, sold by the board’s top officials.When queried as to what exactly transpired during the lunch, Diwadkarsaid “we did not discuss anything as such with the two gentlemen fromthe CBI but they have assured me that they would be visiting ouroffice soon.”The Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) joint secretary Prof RatnakarShetty was also present.

The Cape Cobras made a successful start in their defence of the MTN Domestic Championship (previously the Standard Bank Cup), with two wins in their first two matches of South Africa’s premier domestic one-day competition.The Cobras beat the Warriors at Newlands, Cape Town on Friday. Batting first, the captain Justin Kemp made 68 to boost the Cobras to 221 before a four-wicket haul from Charl Langeveldt, ably supported by 3 for 51 from Tyron Henderson, sent the Warriors crashing to a 90-run defeat. Andrew Puttick, the Cobras’ wicketkeeper, had a field day behind the stumps, pouching five catches.In Bloemfontein two days later, the Cobras picked up their second victory against the Eagles, in a match reduced from 45-overs a side to 20. Langeveldt was again among the wickets as the Eagles were restricted to 125 for 5. The chase was anchored by Puttick, who opened the batting and finished unbeaten on 64 as his side completed a seven-wicket win.In the opening game of the tournament on Wednesday in Bloemfontein, the Eagles, fresh from claiming the SuperSport Series, triumphed over the Warriors. Dillon du Preez, the leading wicket-taker in the SuperSport Series, grabbed four wickets while his new-ball partner Victor Mpitsang chipped in with three. Left-hander Arno Jacobs made an even 50 as the Warriors were rolled over for 148, a score that was hunted down by the Eagles with five wickets and 11 overs to spare.The Titans sailed to a six-wicket win over the Dolphins in Durban on Friday. A disciplined bowling performance from the Titans restricted the Dolphins to 164. Ahmed Amla scored an unbeaten 60 off 98 balls, while Paul Harris was the pick of the bowlers with 3 for 25 from his nine overs. Titans’ keeper-batsman Heino Kuhn top scored with 51, and useful contributions from Gulam Bodi (34) and Francois du Plessis (44) sealed the win.The Dolphins bounced back from that loss with a win against the Lions on Sunday in Durban. The Dolphins opted to field and did well to bowl out the Lions for 166 in 41.4 overs. The Dolphins didn’t cruise during the chase, but eventually scampered home with three wickets in hand, having been 69 for 4 and subsequently 138 for 6.The Lions‘ campaign had got off to a winning start on Friday in Johannesburg. A high-scoring encounter against the Eagles was won with only an over remaining. Morne Van Wyk’s 128, and useful 40s from Boeta Dippenaar and Dean Elgar guided the Eagles to a challenging 271 for 6 off 45 overs. However, a wonderfully-paced run-a-ball chase, powered by the Lions’ top three, left the Eagles on the losing side.Stephen Cook and Alviro Petersen set the platform with a 128-run opening stand. Both openers were run out – Petersen for 95 – but Neil McKenzie all but stayed till the winning runs were hit. McKenzie, who made it to the Test team for Bangladesh ahead of Herschelle Gibbs, made a 70-ball 87, before falling on the brink of victory in the 44th over. Roger Telemachus struck twice in the penultimate over, but Justin Ontong’s six off the last ball won it with an over to spare.Zimbabwe, featuring in this year’s competition, failed in their match against the Warriors in Bulawayo on Sunday. Tatenda Taibu made 52 as the hosts posted 213 for 9, which was not to be enough as the Warriors chased it down to earn their first points in the tournament from their third game. Juan Theron took four wickets while Jacobs top-scored with 68 as the Warriors coasted to a six-wicket win.

Zimbabwe seamer Anthony Ireland has signed a two-year contract with Gloucestershire, less than 24 hours after he retired from international cricket.Ireland, 22, who played one match during the World Cup, quit the national side on Wednesday and, as such, he will be treated as a Kolpak player. It is thought that he signed a six-month contract with Zimbabwe Cricket in February, as did the rest of the squad, but there appears to be little the board can do to prevent his departure.However, he is still owed his appearance fees and bonuses from the World Cup, and the board is likely to withhold these, given its track record on refusing to pay players who jump ship. The money, which is thought to be around US$3000, is due in June.Ireland represented Gloucestershire 2nd XI last summer while playing club cricket for Thornbury. “I am really glad to be playing for Gloucestershire,” he said. “I firmly believe that the intensity of the first-class game in England will improve my cricket quickly and I can’t wait to get started.””We are excited Anthony can now join us after featuring in the 2nd XI last year,” said mark Alleyne, the county’s head coach. “He is going to add significant depth to the bowling department and we look forward to his immense contribution.”

ScorecardDave Mohammed took a career-best 7 for 48 to confirm the formality of a Trinidad and Tobago victory 45 minutes into the fourth day and secure their passage into the final of the 2006 Carib Beer Challenge.The overwhelming 391-run win over opponents who had embarrassed them at Shaw Park in Tobago in late January was highly pleasing to captain Daren Ganga and coach Dave Williams. It was also T&T’s largest-ever margin of victory in the regional four-day competition.But the win was even sweeter because some of the key contributors were young players. “We had the youngsters coming through,” said Ganga, “with Jason Mohammed getting a hundred, [Richard] Kelly coming and playing an excellent [first] innings as well, [Amit] Jaggernauth and Dave Mohammed the two spin twins doing their job, so it’s good to see the youngsters pulling the team out of a situation that was very, very dicey.”Jason Mohammed, the middle-order batsman and recent West Indies Under-19 representative, deservedly pipped his namesake Dave for the Man-of-the-Match prize. Jason’s unbeaten first-innings 124 was the difference between T&T getting into a position of authority and being forced to chase the game.But spinner Dave’s match haul of ten for 92 further enhanced his best-ever season for T&T and underlined his credentials for higher representation. His work and the collective effort of the others prompted Williams to say: “All along we’ve been playing good cricket. This is just the continuation of the hard work that we have put in. So as the coach I’m pretty satisfied and I’m sure that we are going to go on and win this final.”Ganga, who did his part with a second innings 161, was pleased with the collective effort and then turned his attentions to next week’s final at home. “We played like champions today,” he said after the game. “To be able to beat a team in three and a little bit days, it’s very important for us to send the right message.”Attentions turned to next week’s final at home. ” We’re not going to get complacent. We know this is an opportunity for us to make history and to set a path that no other Trinidad and Tobago team has achieved. So it’s something that we are all hungry for. We know that whoever it is, whether it is Barbados or Guyana, it’s going to be a tough task. It’s a final, so everybody is gonna be coming with their A game.”But premier batsman Brian Lara is expected to rejoin the squad after missing this match, although Jason Mohammed should be retained, according to Ganga. “Playing in his second game, he has showed a great amount of maturity. I’m definitely sure he’s going to be involved in the final, so he’s just got to go from strength to strength.”In his team’s quest to complete the four-day double of Carib Beer Cup and Challenge titles come Saturday at Guaracara, Williams would like to see one thing improve. “We dropped a couple catches, but that’s how it goes sometimes. We probably need to do a bit more work in terms of our fielding.”