ScorecardAfter they were put in, Easterns soon crumbled to 68 for 5 before Pierre de Bruyn (18) and Godfrey Toyana (40) restored some hope and helped them to 197 for eight after 45 overs. In a tight bowling display from all the Boland bowlers, Wallace Albertyn stood out and was the main wicket taker with 3 for 24.Boland were well on the way to a victory, but some slow batting from Albertyn, and the big wicket of Con de Lange (57 off 69 balls) falling with 13 runs required off the last 12 balls, cost them dearly as they went down by four runs.Earlier in the innings, Chad Baxter had set Boland for what looked like a win with 51 off 67 balls, while Andrew Hall took the Easterns bowling honours with 3 for 31.

Despite on-the-field success, things are far from rosy at Gloucestershire, where an operating loss of £22,000 has been announced for 2003.The figures were worse than 2002, but there were underlying reasons. The levy received from the ECB was cut by £30,000 midway through the season, and the 2002 figures included a one-off donation of £100,000.”There is not enough money coming into the game in terms of people coming to watch,” Jim Harris, the county’s honorary treasurer, admitted. “It is essential that we provide the type of entertainment that crowds will want to watch and at a time they are able to attend.”Harris said that membership and admission fees would increase "substantially", but he explained that the cost of watching cricket remained cheap when compared with other sports. "I hope that members and spectators will accept that it is essential that we take this action," he added. " Running a first class cricket county in this century is not cheap if we wish to maintain the highest standards."

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Matthew Elliott made a magnificent 154 not out, taking Victoria to 8 for 331 declared in their Pura Cup game against South Australia, a lead of 106. His innings helped put Victoria within touching distance of securing home advantage for the final. South Australia survived four nervy overs, reaching 0 for 3 by the close.Elliott batted for seven hours to move to within reach of the fourth thousand-plus first-class season of his career. His fourth Pura Cup ton of the summer – he also has one ING Cup hundred – gives him 916 first-class runs, just 10 shy of team-mate Brad Hodge, who made a quickfire 73 at the start of the day. More importantly, Elliott’s innings took Victoria past SA’s first innings 225 and the two points earned means the only way they can miss out on a home final is if they lose this match spectacularly and then suffer two innings losses against Tasmania.Victoria, who last won the domestic four-day title in 1990-91, are now 12 points clear of second-placed Tasmania but have vowed to continue their aggressive approach in pursuit of outright wins. “We’ve talked about [the final] but I think we really need to just keep playing for six points, and keep playing to win games,” Elliott said. “That’s why we’ve been so good this year, we’ve always found a way to win games and we need to keep doing that into the final … we can’t take our foot off the pedal. I think tonight if we could have got one wicket it was probably worth 30 runs.”Elliott played anchor role to Hodge at the start of the day and then to Jonathan Moss (46) in the middle before opening his shoulders with the support of Berry (16) and Mick Lewis (16). The tail offered valuable support after Shaun Tait (3 for 55) hit back for South Australia with three wickets in successive overs before tea.

Victoria have included Ian Harvey, the allrounder, and Jason Arnberger, the opening batsman, in their 12-man squad for the Pura Cup final against Queensland, starting at the MCG on March 12. Meanwhile, Queensland have included Shane Jurgensen, the fast bowler who used to play for Tasmania, in their 14-man squad. Jimmy Maher and Ashley Noffke, who are both carrying injuries, were also called up.Harvey was a late withdrawal from Victoria’s match against Tasmania at Hobart because of a slight groin strain. But he proved his matchwinning ability in Monday’s Premier Cricket one-day final for Northcote, taking 3 for 11 from 10 overs, and smashing 65 from 56 balls to almost singlehandedly rout Melbourne University.That performance secured him a place in Victoria’s squad, along with Arnberger, who has not played a first-class match since Victoria’s win over New South Wales in Newcastle in early January because of calf problems. Arnberger replaced Matthew Mott, who has struggled at the top of the order recently, while Harvey came in for Brendan Joseland, the batting allrounder.Joseland made 6 and 51 and took 1 for 19 in his first-class debut against Tasmania, but made way for Harvey, who has played just three first-class matches for Victoria this season because of Australian one-day duties, and none since December. The chairman of selectors, Mick O’Sullivan, admitted that there was a “bit of extra pressure” choosing a team for the final but was confident Harvey was ready to play.”The selectors were conservative in their handling of Harvey last week,” O’Sullivan said. “He is an experienced member of this side and we had to make sure he was 100% for this week. His performance on Monday in the Premier Cricket one-day final satisfied the selectors that he is right to go and we are confident in his ability to perform over five days if required.”Jurgensen’s break in the Queensland squad came at the expense of his fellow fast bowler, Damien MacKenzie. Jurgensen has played three matches this season, taking 13 wickets at 23.15. Interestingly, when Queensland won the Pura Cup in 2001-02, Jurgensen played against them in the final, for Tasmania.Squads
Victoria Darren Berry (capt, wk), Jason Arnberger, Matthew Elliott, Ian Harvey, Brad Hodge, David Hussey, Mathew Inness, Michael Lewis, Andrew McDonald, Jonathan Moss, Cameron White, Allan Wise.Queensland Jimmy Maher (capt), Clinton Perren, Martin Love, Stuart Law, Aaron Nye, James Hopes, Chris Hartley (wk), Andy Bichel, Nathan Hauritz, Ashley Noffke, Joe Dawes, Chris Simpson, Shane Jurgensen, Brendan Nash.

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.”

Yesterday, it looked as though Justin Langer’s disappointing tour of Sri Lanka was about to get worse, when he was reported to the match referee for a supposed code of conduct violation. But he was cleared, and today he celebrated with a crucial century to put Australia in a dominant position in the third Test.On an eventful match
There has been a lot happening and though it was nice to get some runs personally, today was the perfect day for the team. Hopefully we are now set up to win our third Test of the series.On the code of conduct hearing
Yesterday was a silly little mistake, so I was really glad that common sense prevailed. It did affect me in yesterday’s middle session. When I found out at lunch [that I had been reported] I was disappointed, but at the end of the day you can’t let those things worry you and I did put it out of my mind.On coping with an attack of cramp
I wasn’t really sure what the rules were concerning cramping – whether I could have gone off or not. It all happened at lunchtime after an ice-bath; first my calf went and then my hips.When we went out to bat I warned Kato [Simon Katich] to be careful with the running because I was worried about cramping up, having had a history of it before. Both my legs went, my calves, my hamstrings, and then my quads. I kept thinking about Dean Jones and what Allan Border said to him in Madras. I knew I was playing for Australia and it never entered my mind to come off.On Sri Lanka
I haven’t had a lot of success in Sri Lanka – it is a difficult place to play. It’s an interesting place because in the top order you have got to get through the new ball. It hasn’t really been the spinners that have affected me in this tour. I just haven’t been able to get a start. I think you look at all the results over this series, if you get in, then it is a great place to bat, but there have been a lot of scores in the 10s and 20s and that is what has happened to me.On his reputation as a battler
Sometimes it is frustrating. I don’t know what I have got to do.I don’t know what I can do to change perceptions, all I can do is keep making runs and be proud of my career when it finishesOn Sri Lanka’s chances
I think it will be a very hard run-chase because the wicket is definitely spinning. But the biggest concern is the heat because what we saw this morning was that the guys had plenty of energy early on but the heat saps them and suddenly they are not putting as many revs on the ball. The first hour tomorrow will be crucial. But also wickets can fall just like that, so we will have to hang in there.

David Saker is returning to his native Victoria as their assistant coach. Saker joins his former coach Greg Shipperd on the coaching panel in a role which also includes responsibility for Cricket Victoria’s high-performance unit.Saker, who is 38 on May 29, played for Victoria as a handy medium-pacer before transferring to Tasmania in 2000. In all he took 247 first-class wickets at 30.10, and also scored 1384 runs down the order at 19.77. Latterly he was Tasmania’s assistant coach.He said: “I’m indebted to Tasmanian cricket for the opportunities they have provided me, and I’m just thrilled at the chance to further my knowledge and experience with Victoria. The Bushrangers obviously had a great season but the real challenge is to now ensure that success is sustained over a long period of time.”Commenting on a move which will see him return across the Bass Strait to Melbourne, Saker added: “The wheel has certainly turned full circle, but I felt the timing was right. I’ve been out of the Victorian scene for four years now and honestly can’t wait to get back involved.”Ken Jacobs, the chief executive of Cricket Victoria, said the selection process had been a thorough and comprehensive one. “The assistant-coaching/high-performance role attracted an outstanding field of candidates, another positive sign for Victorian cricket. The selection panel were very definite in their requirements and the board had no hesitation in endorsing the panel’s recommendation of David Saker. David was a terrific player for Victoria and we look forward to him having similar success as a coach.”Saker played 49 first-class matches for Victoria – taking 182 wickets at 28 – before joining Tasmania for the 2000-01 season. His three seasons in Tasmania left an indelible mark on Shippered, his coach at the time: “David just had this wonderful ability to inspire his team-mates through his actions. His competitiveness and passion for the contest were second to none and I think he will be really important for our group and in particular our young crop of bowlers.”Shipperd concluded: “He has a great understanding of what is required to succeed at first-class level, and is a great communicator – both key factors in his appointment.”

England 225 for 5 (Trescothick 63, Vaughan 61) trail New Zealand 384 (Fleming 117, Styris 108, Richardson 73) by 159 runs
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Chris Cairns produced a heroic bowling performance on his final Test appearance, to give New Zealand a slight edge at the close of the second day’s play at Trent Bridge. Cairns, who removed Andrew Strauss with his third delivery, and later returned to end bristling innings from Michael Vaughan and Andrew Flintoff, finished with 3 for 61 from 15 overs, after New Zealand’s injury jinx had deprived Stephen Fleming of two strike bowlers in Kyle Mills and Chris Martin.By the close Graham Thorpe was unbeaten on 30, with the nightwatchman Matthew Hoggard alongside him on 0, and England still trailed New Zealand’s below-par 384 by 159 runs – a total that owed much to Scott Styris’s classy 108, his fourth Test century. It all added up to a situation very similar to the one that England had faced (and surmounted) in the second Test at Headingley, but given the paucity of the Kiwis’ bowling options, it was dicier that they might have bargained for.England were possibly guilty of a touch of complacency, after the ease with which they had dispatched New Zealand’s last six wickets in the morning session-and-a-bit. But all such thoughts were dispelled when they were reduced to 18 for 2 in the seventh over, and then 140 for 4 in 30th, after Michael Vaughan and Marcus Trescothick had fallen in quick succession. Thorpe and Flintoff revived the innings by adding 81 for the fifth wicket, but Flintoff’s late dismissal put the match back in the balance.After two 150-run partnership in four innings, Trescothick and Strauss had become accustomed to setting out their stall for the long haul. But Strauss fell for a duck, nicking a thin edge through to Brendon McCullum off Chris Cairns, and when Mark Butcher continued his poor run of form by swishing James Franklin wildly to second slip, England were in a spot of bother.But you would not have known it while Trescothick and Vaughan were together. Vaughan, especially, has not looked in such good touch since his century against South Africa at Edgbaston last summer. His first shot of note was a screeching straight-drive, and he followed up by clipping Mills’s first ball in Test cricket for four. He did have a couple of moments of anxiety, however, when he was beaten twice in four balls by Styris, but he responded with an effortless swivel-pulled six off Franklin.At that stage Vaughan was motoring towards his 12th Test century, only for Cairns to produce one of his magical slower deliveries – an apparent half-tracker that kept deceitfully low and pinned him plumb lbw for 61. Trescothick responded with a thump through midwicket, but three overs later he too was gone – caught by Scott Styris at a floating fifth slip as he pushed firmly at Franklin.Flintoff and Thorpe set about rebuilding the innings, cautiously at first, but then with greater aplomb. Flintoff smeared a Cairns slower ball over long-on en route to his third half-century of the series, while Thorpe creamed a brace of drives to get his innings underway. But Cairns had the last say – after rain had forced a five-minute interruption, Flintoff reached his fifty with a steer through third man, but was trapped lbw for 54 with three overs remaining.Styris had earlier kept New Zealand’s first innings afloat with a wonderfully crafted century. Until today, it had been a disappointing tour for Styris – he had managed just 44 runs in his previous four Test innings, but made amends precisely when New Zealand most needed him. He brought up his hundred with a cool clip for four through midwicket, but celebrated with a grimace rather than a grin – he knew full well his team had squandered an opportunity to put the game beyond reach.

Styris received scant support from his middle-order colleagues who, after weathering another mini-storm from Steve Harmison, allowed themselves to get carried away against the medium-pace of Martin Saggers. At Headingley, Saggers had struck with his first delivery of the match: here, he needed a solitary sighter before prising Jacob Oram from the crease. In truth, it was a wretched delivery – short, slow and on leg stump, but Oram’s eyes lit up and he top-edged a swipe to Strauss, and was already trudging back to the pavilion before the catch was completed.In his place came Cairns, who was given a rapturous reception by the Trent Bridge faithful, and a pretty friendly one from Saggers as well, who after four more unthreatening balls, was withdrawn from the attack to make way for Harmison. But the extra pace was just to Cairns’s liking, and he creamed two boundaries in Harmison’s first over – the first, on the up and outside off stump, whistled through the covers in an instant.So back came Saggers at the other end of the ground, and for the second time in the morning, he made an instant impression. Cairns had mowed his second ball over the covers for four, but his third was not quite there for the shot, and Thorpe had a nervy wait under a steepling drive, before clinging onto a vital catch (331 for 6).Styris eventually skewed a leading edge off Ashley Giles to the substitute fielder, Nottinghamshire’s Bilal Shafayat, in the covers, and the innings crumbled in just three overs after lunch. Matthew Hoggard took three attempts to cling onto a Brendon McCullum’s uppercut at third man, before finding Mills’s outside edge to bring up his 100th wicket in Tests. There was some doubt about whether the catch had carried to Geraint Jones, but four balls later Hoggard wrapped up the innings, courtesy of another juggling catch, this time by Vaughan at backward square leg.By tea, Martin had already limped out of the attack with a tight hamstring, and in the evening Mills joined him on the treatment table with a side strain. It was the last thing that New Zealand needed, but with Cairns desperate to impress on his final appearance, it has not cost them dear so far.

American ProCricket, the league set to get under way on July 2, will proceed as planned despite the fact that several international players have pulled out, or have claimed they were never involved in the first place, just days before the scheduled start. The Indian Express reports that the ProCricket is set to take place in spite of the ICC instructing national boards not to allow contracted players to take part in the event.The ProCricket league hoped to attract international players from around the globe, and released a list of likely signings, but there have been several casualties already. Alec Stewart, who was one of the touted signings, has denied any knowledge of the league, while Andy Caddick, also mentioned in connection with ProCricket, has pointed to an existing contract with Somerset which leaves him with no chance of playing elsewhere during the time ProCricket is set to be conducted.The Indian board was quick to remind its players that ProCricket was not an official ICC event and that players did not have the permission of the home board to take part in the event. Despite this, several cricketers who are active in domestic cricket, including Nikhil Chopra, Ajay Jadeja and Rahul Sanghvi, have decided to go ahead and play in the tournament, according to a report in The Asian Age. These players will be exposed to disciplinary action from their respective state associations if they decide to take part in ProCricket.But in all this, Kalpesh Patel, the American ProCricket commissioner, is soldering manfully on, and believes that the venture will be a success. He told The Indian Express, “Only the non-contracted ones [players] are our interest. We are not in competition with anybody, so we are not a threat, as all the protocols will be followed.” He added that the ICC appreciated “our efforts and wished us well”.Patel insisted that all was well with ProCricket, basing this on his claim that the league is fully funded for the first three years. The interest raised by an exhibition match played in America on June 19 has also led him to be optimistic. “Actually we sent out invites to only 50 people, but around 900 turned up as we kept the gates open. Online bulletin boards have been talking about the opening match, so that is an indication that it is here to stay.”

Pakistan will host the next edition of the Asia Cup, scheduled to be held in 2006. On Sunday, the Pakistan Cricket Board was awarded the hosting rights for the tournament and Shaharyar Khan, the chairman of the PCB, said that the dates would also be finalised soon.This will be the first time that the Asia Cup will be held in Pakistan, “Pakistan could not host the Asia Cup because of our problems in cricket relations with India,” Shaharyar was quoted as saying in . “But now as we have started playing against each other and I don’t think there should be a problem in hosting the tournament in 2006.”Ashraf-ul-Haq, the chief executive of the Asian Cricket Council, confirmed that Pakistan had given their formal agreement for hosting the tournament. “The 2004 event was originally scheduled to be staged in Pakistan,” he added, “but had to be shifted to Sri Lanka last year. Now with the revival of Indo-Pak relations we deemed it fit to stage the event in Pakistan.”In the wake of the revival in cricket relations between India and Pakistan, the recently concluded Asia Cup was a hugely marketed event. The same newspaper estimated that the ACC had earned US$19million from the sale of rights to ESPN-Star.There was, however, no decision taken on the next edition of the Asian Test Championships, held previously in 1999 and 2001. “We need at least 45 days to host the Asian Test Championship,” Ashaf said, “and in the hectic international schedule a firm proposal will be discussed later.”The meeting also decided that the four Test playing countries will receive US$2.5million each from the tournament and Hong Kong and UAE will get US$300,000 each. The rest of the fund will be spent on the development of cricket in the associate-member countries.Oman and UAE, the two finalists in the 2004 ACC Trophy, will also participate in the 2006 event. However, if the ACC Trophy is held before the Asia Cup in 2006, the qualifiers from that tournament will get a chance to play in the next Asia Cup.