The Knights squad is full of expectation and ambition as we go about our preparation for the State Max, State Championship and State Shield competitions which will shortly be upon us.At our recent team training camp during the first week of October, the squad took the opportunity to catch up with each other after winters of either cricket in New Zealand, England, tours, or working and training back home.The highlight of catching up with one’s mates was well complemented with some constructive work on fitness testing, video analysis, strategic planning, nets and a State breakfast launch.The fitness testing undertaken by the Knights, under the expert guidance of Jason Wheadon, is the toughest I have been lucky enough to have experience.The results were encouraging in an age where the expectations of cricketer’s fitness levels now mirror that of other major sports. Each squad member did a 3000-metre time trial and then was required to complete 10 sets of 4 x 15 metre shuttles within 200 seconds.New programmes have now been issued by Jason and improvement goals set for the next round of testing in late-October. Rumour has it that our 3000-metre time trial compared favourably to those undertaken by some of the representative rugby teams. (As we achieve our improvement goals perhaps our props may be turning into open side flankers!).Our new coach Bruce Blair had his first opportunity to address the squad and has had a positive impact from the beginning. Initiatives introduced by Bruce such as video analysis, bowling grids and SWOT analysis (the identification of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats by the group) will bring a further dimension to our environment as we focus on that something special something that sports teams spend their lives pursuing – the winning edge.The planning and preparation being undertaken, together with the hunger that I have seen in our group certainly places us in a good starting position for the summer which lies ahead.Over the next few weeks the squad will be looking to turn in performances in club and minor association cricket which captures the eyes of the three selectors. With the depth we have and the younger players coming through the ranks the selectors will have much to discuss as they consider options for the State Max tournament and the State Championship which opens with a game against the State Otago Volts in Dunedin on November 26.

Pritam Gandhe, bowling his off-breaks with vicious effect, picked sixwickets as Uttar Pradesh collapsed in their first innings againstVidarbha on Day One of their Ranji Trophy league match at Kanpur.Aside from Uttar Pradesh skipper Gyanendra Pandey, who made 52, noneof the batsmen could make sizeable scores or put up match-winningpartnerships. Gandhe capitalised on this, returning innings figures of27.1-7-55-6.Replying to their rivals’ score of 210, Vidarbha lost opener VivekNaidu before reaching 14/1 by the close of play.

Captain Carl Hooper paid tribute to Sri Lanka after their three-nil drummingand hoped that his inexperienced side would learn from the humblingexperience.”Like I was after the first two Test matches, I am very disappointed,” hesaid. “At the end of the day we tried our best but didn’t achieve thedesired result.”I think they played well this series. They have got some class acts andsome good exciting players – just like we have – it’s just unfortunate thatwe weren’t able to put them under pressure, as I would liked to have seenhow they responded.””I have not seen a lot of Chaminda Vaas but after showing us a little bitof reverse swing in the first two Tests he really put his hand up here andbowled well. He’s obviously learnt over the years and even though thewickets are flat he can certainly swing it. We have a lot of respect for himand we can learn from him.”But West Indies problem was not just with the batting, but also with thebowling, which looked utterly impotent at times, as Sri Lanka piled upscores of 590 for nine in Galle and 627 for nine.”We were not as penetrative as we needed to be in the bowling department andI am concerned with the manner in which Sri Lanka were able to put up hugetotals fairly comfortably.”Brian Lara scored heavily and Ramnaresh Sarwan looked good but we neededsome of the other batters to chip in with three-figure scores.”Questioned as to the poor performance of the openers, he said: “The qualityof the opposition had something to do with it. I think Vaas worked out Chris(Gayle) early on and I think he should become a better player for it. Daren(Ganga), after getting a few starts, has struggled little bit. But I amoptimistic that they can come good for us.”But Hooper had nothing but praise of Brian Lara who scored 688 runs in theseries, including three centuries, and with some help from Ramnaresh Sarwanhad consistently resisted the Sri Lankan bowlers.”There has been a lot said in the Caribbean about Brian (Lara) being pasthis best but he is very important to this team and he was the differencebetween the Test matches lasting five days rather than three. We hope hisform continues and that some of the other batters can stick with him.

Set a total of 306 to win, Services opted for a safe draw and three points in their Ranji Trophy league match at Delhi on Monday.Jammu & Kashmir, 133/4 overnight, went on to score 242 in their second innings. The innings revolved largely around wicket-keeper Arshad Bhatt, who made a patient 98 off 177 balls. Bhatt came in at the fall of the fourth wicket and stayed till the end, becoming the tenth wicket to fall. He was also Arun Sharma’s fifth wicket; Sharma took five for 39.Services started steadily but lost openers K Chawda and PMS Reddy within the space of 29 runs. Thereafter, Jasvir Singh and Yashpal Singh played well. The former made 54 off just 55 balls, while Yashpal Singh made an unbeaten 51. At stumps, Services were 202 for the loss of four wickets.

A rare domestic one-day cricket hat-trick by paceman Nathan Bracken wasn’t enough to prevent NSW losing a helter-skelter ING Cup match against Victoria at the MCG today.Bracken’s dismissal of Cameron White, Darren Berry and Shane Harwood – all for ducks – from successive balls left Victoria reeling at 8-88 chasing the Blues’meagre total of 120 in sweltering conditions.But the steady Simon Dart (10no) and swashbuckling tailender Ian Hewett (29no) survived some anxious moments to get the Bushrangers home for a two-wicketwin and off the bottom of the ING Cup standings.NSW wicketkeeper Brad Haddin and first slip Mark Higgs were both unable to hold on to an edge from Hewett off Stuart Clark’s bowling with Victoria 11 runsshort of victory, while Michael Bevan was inches short of reaching a skied Hewett with three runs needed.”It was just one of those days,” said Hewett, who earlier conceded 12 wides in an erratic five-over spell with the new ball.”I got dropped and as soon as that happened I thought ‘this is our day’.”Hewett and Dart put on an unbeaten 33 for the ninth wicket – the third-highest partnership by either side on a day when the fast bowlers took full advantage of a bouncy MCG wicket.Early on, the Blues looked anything other than the team topping the ING Cup table as they capitulated to be all out for 120, with only Graeme Rummans (30)outscoring a sundries tally of 23 which included 19 runs conceded to wides.Shane Harwood worked up a good head of steam to finish with 3-22 and had two catches dropped off his bowling, while Ian Harvey and Damien Fleming chimedin with two scalps apiece as the Blues lost their last eight wickets for 63.The Blues gave themselves a chance of victory by running out both Victorian openers Rob Bartlett (1) and Matthew Elliott (18) – the latter to a brilliant throw from Bevan with only one stump to aim at.Then Bracken went to work.After dismissing highly rated duo Brad Hodge (18) and Harvey (17), he began the hat-trick by clean bowling White.He then had Berry controversially caught behind from the following ball, before skittling Harwood’s stumps.The left-armer finished with 5-38, although there were several eyebrows raised by skipper Bevan’s decision not to give him a 10th over with the game in the balance.”Really I don’t think we were ever in a position where we should have won,” said Bracken.”Even when we had them eight down there’s still two wickets to get and anything can happen.”The only other players to have taken hattricks in Australian domestic one-day cricket were Victorian paceman Alan Hurst in 1978-79 and WA’s Rob Baker twoyears ago.Bracken’s excellent limited-overs international form last year earned him a berth in the 2001 Ashes squad, but he has only been selected in the Australia A squad for the upcoming one-dayers.”I didn’t expect to be in the (Australian) one-day side, in my opinion I wasn’t bowling well enough,” he said.

The Young West Indies departed the Caribbean on Thursday for the ICC’s Youth World Cup in New Zealand. The team, which is captained by Narsingh Deonarine, is coached by Gus Logie and managed by Courtney Daley.Before departing though, the Young West Indies were encouraged by the WICB president, Wes Hall, to “uphold the finest traditions of the regional game during the Youth World Cup in New Zealand.” Hall, was at the Grantley Adams International Airport ahead of the team’s departure.”I believe that you can and will win the Youth World Cup, but it is important that you keep the flag of West Indies cricket flying very high and know that all six million of us in the Caribbean are behind you,” remarked Rev. Hall.He added: “Some of you were there when we beat the world at the Under-15 World Cup two years ago, some of you were part of the winning side that visited England last year, and so that gives me great hope that we can also beat the world at the Under-19 World Cup.”There is no doubt in my mind that you will do the West Indies proud. If you listen to the instructions of your coach and manager, and you all play to the best of your ability, I have no doubt that you will return to the Caribbean as champions like the Under-15s.”Rev. Hall outlined to the young players that there were just two rungs away from playing the game at the highest level and that should also help to inspire them.”It’s the Under-19s, then the A-Team, then the senior team and some of you may find that in another two or three years, you may be elevated to the top level of cricket,” he said.”So this is a grand opportunity for you to showcase to the world what we in the West Indies already know — at the junior level we are as good as anyone else in the world.”Manager Daley was equally confident, though he felt entering the competition with limited preparation will make the challenge of conquering the world even greater.”We would have preferred much more time to get ourselves physically prepared for the Youth World Cup,” he commented.”I do believe, however, we are prepared mentally for the challenge, but it will take some time for us to adjust once we arrive in New Zealand. I am still optimistic about our chances though.”Young West Indies failed to make it past the first round of the Youth World Cup in South Africa four years ago, but reached the quarterfinals in Pakistan two years ago which gave Daley much hope for his side.”We want to go all the way this time, but it will be a challenge and all we can do is take it one match at a time, and try to do the right things,” he said.”I think we have a good unit and I think that will help us having such a close-knit side. We have had someone in New Zealand instructing us about what we can expect, so that’s why I think we will be mentally, if not physically prepared.”Daley concluded his one desire for the trip would be to see the future of West Indies cricket enhanced by purposeful performances from his side in New Zealand.West Indies has been drawn in Group-D that will be contested at Carisbrook in Dunedin. They face Young Scotland on Monday, January 21, Young Australia two days later, and Young Kenya the following day.Squad:-
Narsingh Deonarine (captain), Dwayne Bravo, Alcindo Holder, Lorenzo Ingram, Gareth Matthew, Ron Matthews, Ryan Nurse, Donovan Pagon, Ravi Rampaul, Darren Sammy, Shane Shillingford, Lendl Simmons, Gavin Tonge, Tonito Willett.Officials: Gus Logie (coach), Courtney Dale (manager), Dave Cumberbatch (trainer).

New Zealand has been designated Middle Earth as a result of the release of the first film of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but it is the middle ground the CLEAR Black Caps are seeking in the National Bank Series decider against England in Dunedin tomorrow.New Zealand have proven great starters in one-day series, both in Australia and at home this summer.England have been great finishers in India and in New Zealand.

But the home team are looking for the recovery that will see them repeat a series victory in Dunedin, just as they did in a high-scoring contest against Pakistan last summer.However, looking to the local conditions is not likely to be sufficient on its own.New Zealand has had serious batting problems exposed, especially with Nathan Astle being taken out of the batting equation by his own fault or through decisions against him. However, all the batsmen go under the microscope tomorrow after a run of poor performances.Conditions should favour the batsmen and while batting first has to be the main consideration on such a good pitch, the fact remains that New Zealand did win after an outstanding 280-plus run chase last year.That sort of score will not be to the fore this year given the nature of the lower scores since the bouncer law came into effect, but the game still has the potential to be the highest scoring encounter of the series.New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming ruled out opening the innings as he did last year.The batsmen had been selected as openers and that was their role. Fleming’s job was to get the majority of runs on the board and said he would be doing that in the middle-order.He hinted that New Zealand would retain the same 11 as in Auckland, meaning Brendon McCullum will bat on his home ground with Ian Butler again 12th man.Fleming said the instructions for the batsmen were simple: “It’s a fine line between being aggressive and being reckless and we spent too much time in the reckless zone.”What I’m asking for, and looking for, as a batting unit is that you are getting one or two performances, or half performances but you’re getting nothing else, so it’s all or nothing. And it’s not one, two or three players, it’s one or nothing.”What we’ve got to get is contributions. If a guy is having his day you have got to get guys supporting that with 30, 40 or 50 while he goes on to get 80-100. That’s how you get the big scores and that’s when you see (Chris) Cairns, (Chris) Harris and (Andre) Adams come in and finish the innings,” he said.

England had been bowling very well at the top of the innings and Matthew Hoggard had produced two especially impressive opening spells.”There’s a fine line between giving them respect and taking the initiative, that’s what the guys at the top and the guys through the middle have to assess,” he said.Having another dasher of a batsman in McCullum at the top of the order was a case of trying to extend the strike rate.It didn’t use many more overs, but it did require a higher risk rate.”That is what we are trying to do, create a longer period of the ability to get a strike rate,” he said.Fleming was also looking to take impetus from the Carisbrook crowd.”It’s a good crowd, a great crowd. We enjoy it, they are very loud. These are our people. It’s like Auckland. That’s why we were so disappointed. It’s the first time we’ve ever played in front of a full house in Auckland and we wanted to win desperately.”It’s the same down here. We get a good crowd, they’re very passionate about it. We just want to do well, so we will tap into that if we can and play well and get them on our side,” he said.The weather forecast is for a fine day and the perfect finale to a 15-game campaign for the CLEAR Black Caps in which the overall count is six won, eight lost, and one to play.

England skipper Nasser Hussain praised the courage of his two opening bowlers for testing Australia’s nerves before the hosts managed a five-wicket win on the final day of the fourth Test in Melbourne.Despite the drama of the fifth morning, England are now 4-0 down in the series, but not before Steve Harmison and Andrew Caddick troubled Australia, who were chasing just 107 for victory.”It was a good morning for us,” Hussain told Sky Sports. “We still lost the Test match but at least we showed we can do something out here and that we’ve got a bit of character. That was about as enjoyable as we’ve had it out here this winter.”Cricket must be a mind game really because Australia have a history of struggling to chase low scores, and that was a really low score. The two big lads ran in hard and did well. It wasn’t an easy pitch to bowl on but they bowled well and all credit to them.””There will be some tired legs because we’ve gone in with four bowlers here and lost one of them with Craig White getting injured. So we’ll have to get the balance right as Sydney is a different pitch and we’ll have to look at what we need to do.”Australia captain Steve Waugh paid tribute to the spirit shown by the tourists.”England bowled really well this morning and they made us fight hard for our win,” Waugh said. “We didn’t play all that well today but all credit to England, they really gave it a go.””We’ve had some problems in the past chasing low totals – I think you can get yourself into problems when you don’t play your shots and play your natural game,” admitted the Australian captain.”England came at us really hard this morning and once you lose a wicket in the first over you start to doubt yourself a fraction in the dressing room, then you lose a couple more and all of a sudden it’s game on – any side is vulnerable under pressure.”Waugh himself was the subject of a belated appeal for caught behind, made after England’s wicket-keeper James Foster and other fielders had seen a replay on the big screen.”They appealed only because of what they saw on the screen, partly in shock and disbelief and also because of the rollicking they knew they were going to get from me at drinks that they hadn’t appealed for one of the greatest batsmen ever to play the game,” Hussain said.”But you can’t see something on the big screen and appeal on that, you can’t play the game like that. Most of the time we appeal on gut feeling and what we see and what we hear, that’s the way we play the game and it probably shows credit to our boys that they didn’t hear anything so they didn’t appeal.”

MELBOURNE, Dec 28 AAP – Australia snared four wickets before lunch here today to pile the pressure on England in the fourth Ashes Test at the MCG.The tourists were 7-185 on day three, needing another 166 runs to make Australia bat again after the home side declared its first innings yesterday at 6 (dec)-551.Craig White smashed two sixes off leg-spinner Stuart MacGill and was the top-scorer with 36, while James Foster had made eight.MacGill, Jason Gillespie and Brett Lee had two wickets apiece.The large block of English fans in the crowd predictably had a loud reception for Lee when he bowled the first over of the morning.Lee’s team-mate Justin Langer called them a “disgrace” yesterday for chanting “no ball” every time the paceman bowled.So the Barmy Army did so even louder today for Lee’s first few deliveries.Lee responded with another scorching spell of pace bowling, trapping Robert Key for a second-ball duck after MacGill removed nightwatchman Richard Dawson for the first wicket of the day.Nasser Hussain then tried to sweep MacGill on 24, but only managed an inside edge onto his pad.Short leg Matthew Hayden dived across the pitch to take a great catch, with Hussain unwilling to walk.John Crawley combined with White for a stand of 59, before Crawley tried to pull Gillespie from off stump and ballooned a catch to Langer at mid-wicket.

BRISBANE, Jan 21 AAP – Makeshift opener Clinton Perren completed an eight-hour assault on South Australia today as Queensland surged towards its fifth consecutive victory of the Pura Cup season.Perren unleashed a career-high 224, filling the opening spot vacated by Australian one-day batsman Jimmy Maher, to fling the Redbacks on to death row heading into tomorrow’s final day at the Gabba.The visitors will resume at 2-46 in their second innings, chasing 409 for victory, with captain Greg Blewett (21 not out) the main hope as he chases his third century in as many first-class matches at the Gabba.The Redbacks must match the patience of Perren, who crashed the tenth highest score by a Queenslander in an interstate match, as the Bulls rushed to 8-487 declared in their second innings.He faced 367 deliveries, hitting 33 boundaries as Wade Seccombe (70), James Hopes (39) and Lee Carseldine (37) helped Queensland overturn its 79-run first-innings deficit.Perren had resumed on 104 not out and celebrated the greatest day of his career when he carved Blewett to the backward point boundary to record his double-century, fulfilling a challenge set by his club teammate Maher earlier in the day.”Jimmy sent me a text message this morning asking if I’d ever scored a double century before,” Perren said.”I really hadn’t thought about it before that because I was only thinking it was nice to turn up to a match going out to bat on 104.”I’ve got a few messages from him since and it was pretty exciting to get 200 because I’d only got one double before, back when I was about 16 or 17.”Perren was a reluctant opener, hardly jumping at the prospect of replacing Maher when selectors asked him last Saturday.But he has booked himself into the opening role for the rest of the season as Queensland makes an ominous move towards its fourth consecutive Pura Cup title, eyeing a six-point lead if it wins tomorrow.They may be without Michael Kasprowicz tomorrow after the pace spearhead left the field with a calf-muscle spasm after bowling just two overs in the Redbacks’ second innings.But Queensland still inflicted wounds on the Redbacks. Joe Dawes (1-19) claimed the wicket of Ben Johnson (seven) while Adam Dale dismissed David Fitzgerald for a 34-ball duck.It completed a miserable day for Fitzgerald, who grassed a tough chance from Perren on 117.The Bulls were reminded of the value of Blewett’s wicket when the former Test opener smacked four boundaries in the final overs to limit the damage for the Redbacks.Ben Higgins finished 13 not out, joining 18-year-old debutant Mark Cosgrove as the men who must help Blewett fend off the Bulls tomorrow.The Redbacks need an outright victory to boost their hopes of overhauling frontrunners Queensland and Victoria in the race for a final berth.