All posts by csb10.top

Queensland captain Stuart Law has paid tribute to the depth of his state’s resources and the quality of its emerging players in the wake of its 235-run victory over Tasmania in the 2001-02 Pura Cup Final here in Brisbane today.”The new guys that came in (to our eleven) really stuck their hands up; they really wanted to win badly and they produced,” said Law after watching a side deprived of the services of Matthew Hayden, Jimmy Maher, Andy Bichel, Nathan Hauritz and Adam Dale hand its state its third successive first-class title and its fifth in the space of eight seasons.In the lead-up to the game, Law had stressed that his squad had been persistently faced by adversity this summer, highlighting the problems posed by injuries and the absence of an unusually large number of players to international commitments.And, in its aftermath, he could barely have been more fulsome in his praise of how his players had responded to the challenge.”We’re just over the moon with what the young guys coming into the side have achieved.”They did the job; they had to learn different methods and the way that we wanted them to play the game instead of fitting in with their natural, aggressive tone.”To go through 20-odd players for the summer is something new to Queensland. And to still come out on top at the end of the summer (represents) a fantastic effort.”I’m really proud of our guys.””It’s to do with the whole culture that we’ve created,” added Law of the Bulls’ extraordinary string of successes over the course of the last decade.”No-one’s more important than the next person (in our squad). You might have a guy who has played for 10 years but he’s no more important than a guy who’s playing his first game.”You’ve got a guy (like Daniel Payne) who’s coming in and playing his second game – which happens to be a Pura Cup Final – and he doesn’t score the runs that he wanted to score but he takes two of the greatest catches you’d want to see.”And not have any fear whatsoever in his body.”That says a lot for this cricket team and the way that (coach) Bennett King, and John Buchanan in years gone by, have set it up.”Queensland’s win ensured that there is now no captain in Australian domestic history who has led a state to more first-class titles than Law. Richie Benaud, who was at the helm during a golden period for New South Wales cricket, remains the only other leader with five victories to his name.Today’s triumph also sealed the first ever run of three consecutive title victories by a Queensland team, adding even further lustre to the run of success that has emphatically broken a 63-year championship drought.

The missing scorecard for matches played on 3 November has finally been uncovered.

KWEKWE SPORTS CLUB v ALEXANDRA SPORTS CLUBAt Kwekwe Sports Club; 3 November 2002.Kwekwe won by 82 runs.KWEKWET Duffin c du Plessis b Blignaut 25V Sibanda b Blignaut 3R W Price run out (Goosen) 35*D P Viljoen c de Grandhomme b D Marillier 55G A Lamb lbw b Anticevich 77T J Friend c Goosen b S Marillier 15J M Cornford not out 31M J Vaughan-Davies not out 21+D J R CampbellI M ChinyokaT KarambaExtras (lb 5 w 16) 21(6 wkts; 50 overs, 202 min) 283Blignaut 10 0 52 2du Plessis 3 0 22 0Benhura 4 0 29 0Stannard 10 0 32 0D A Marillier 10 0 58 1S J Marillier 10 1 64 1Anticevich 3 0 21 1ALEXANDRAD de Beer run out (Cornford) 36+G C Goosen c Campbell b Vaughan-Davies 4B Benhura c and b Viljoen 20D A Marillier c Price b Vaughan-Davies 30A M Blignaut c Viljoen b Lamb 25*B Bath b Vaughan-Davies 9I de Grandhomme not out 24C M Anticevich c Friend b Lamb 11S J Marillier b Price 1D D Stannard b Viljoen 0G du Plessis not out 15Extras (b 3 lb 4 w 17 nb 2) 26(9 wkts; 50 overs, 188 min) 201Friend 4 0 18 0Chinyoka 7 0 25 0Vaughan-Davies 9 1 35 3Price 10 1 25 1Viljoen 8 1 26 2Lamb 9 1 40 2Campbell 2 0 21 0Karamba 1 0 4 0QUEENS SPORTS CLUB v HARARE SPORTS CLUBAt Bulawayo Athletic Club; 10 November 2002.Harare Sports Club won by 110 runs.HARARE SPORTS CLUBS V Carlisle not out 128*T R Gripper lbw b Meth 4+B R M Taylor c Mabuza b Chirwa 134R Croxford not out 2A M DurhamB BalaB KoenH MutenderaA MhanduC CremerG Johnstone-RobertsonExtras (b 2 lb 3 w 10 nb 2) 17(2 wkts; 50 overs, 180 min) 285Chirwa 10 1 59 1Meth 5 0 24 1Mboyi 8 0 69 0Nyumbu 10 0 53 0van Rensburg 10 0 38 0Lombard 7 0 37 0QUEENS+W T Siziba c and b Durham 19M W Townshend c Carlisle b Durham 2*R J King b Mhandu 4N R van Rensburg c Carlisle b Gripper 16R Lombard b Durham 0M Mabuza lbw b Bala 26K Meth not out 62J Nyumbu b Johnstone-Robertson 1T Chirwa st Taylor b Cremer 11F Dube b Cremer 3T Mboyi not out 7Extras (b 3 lb 8 w 12 nb 1) 24(9 wkts; 50 overs, 160 min) 175Mhandu 8 1 28 1Durham 7 0 19 3Bala 10 2 21 1Gripper 7 0 30 1Johnstone-Robertson 8 1 28 1Cremer 7 0 25 2Mutendera 2 0 10 0Carlisle 1 0 3 0

Marvan Atapattu chance’s of playing a part in the forthcoming NatWesttriangular series have been boosted by the news that his finger injury isnot as bad as expected.Atapattu, hit on the hand by a delivery from Andrew Flintoff, saw aspecialist on Tuesday, who revealed that he had merely aggravated an oldfracture in his right index finger and sustained severe bruising.Atapattu is attempting to get hold of the sort of finger protector worn by, among others, England’s Alec Stewart, in order to guard his damaged digit while batting.Team manager, Chandra Shaffter, described Atapattu’s chances of playing inone-day series starting 27th June at Trent Bridge as "good," although thedecision to play will be "left entirely to Marvan."Aravinda de Silva remains on stand-by and did not depart on Tuesday with theother Test specialists. However, is not currently touring with the team.Sri Lanka started a series of warm-up matches at Hove. They will alsoplay at Taunton, Bristol and Northampon before their first game againstEngland at Nottingham.

SHARJAH – Australia is considering axing a batsman and playing fivebowlers to cope with extreme conditions in the second cricket Testagainst Pakistan starting in Sharjah tomorrow.Australian captain Steve Waugh acknowledged the tactic was a way ofcoping with the heat and humidity which marks this desert venue as oneof the most toughest places to play Tests.Waugh, while emphasising he was no longer a selector when on tour, saidhe would discuss the make-up of the side with chief selector TrevorHohns.The captain admitted the balance of the side had been upset by the calfmuscle injury which ruled out paceman Jason Gillespie.However, the extreme conditions had to be taken into consideration andAdam Gilchrist, with a Test average of over 60, was good enough to beused as a specialist batsman.”Yeah, that’s an option,” Waugh said of moving the West Australianwicket-keeper up to No.6.”Playing five bowlers in a Test match like this when it’s going to behard work for the bowlers in a lot heat – that’s one option that’s beentalked about.”But he gave only a wry smile when asked if it was a likely outcome.If so it would mean Andy Bichel and off-spinner Nathan Hauritz cominginto the side to replace Gillespie and at the expense of one of thebatsmen, possibly Mark Waugh.It would be a bold decision but it’s one the selectors have contemplatedin the past – notably in India last year when they wanted to play threepace bowlers but also wanted to use off-spinner Colin Miller.The downside is that it puts a lot more pressure on wicketkeeperGilchrist.Waugh said playing two spinners and two pace bowlers was an equallytough decision.”We’ve done it before but it’s going to be a bit harder in theseconditions.”Obviously the part-time bowlers would have to do more work because youcan’t be bowling 10-over spells in this heat as a quick – you’d getcarried off.”The conditions make the side more difficult to pick than normal.”In the end, there’s every likelihood Australia will stay conservativeand bring in Bichel for Gillespie, whose absence is the biggest problem.”It’s going to be a big loss without him.”He’s a strike bowler and as a captain I can always rely on him to bowlin the tough stages, he always puts his hand up – he always thinks ofthe team, he’s a big loss.”But we’ve got excellent people to cover – Andy Bichel is great team manand we’ve got Brad Williams flying in.”We’ve got plenty of options – I just don’t know how we’re going toline-up on Friday morning.”Pakistan’s team was more obvious, he said, with legspinner DanishKaneria certain to come in for Mohammad Sami after Pakistan took alopsided attack into the first Test, which Australia won by 41 runs inColombo.Waugh said the biggest threat came from paceman Shoaib Akhtar, who took5-5 in 15 balls during Australia’s second innings to give his side anoutside chance of victory.”We have to come up with a plan to nullify Shoaib Akhtar and his reverseswing,” Waugh said.”We think there is a way but we’re going to keep that to ourselves.”We’ve tossed around a few ideas and there’s one or two plans we’ve comeup with.”He said Shoaib’s ability to swing the ball severely at speeds of 150kphand land it in the right spot was “pretty unique stuff”.”The spells he bowls – I can’t imagine anyone else bowling them.”Shoaib has already proved himself at the venue, taking 10 wickets in thetwo-match series against the West Indies here in January which Pakistanwon convincingly.Waugh warned “there was nothing neutral” about Sharjah, which heconsidered as a home away from home for Pakistan.Australia: Steve Waugh (capt), Justin Langer, Matt Hayden, RickyPonting, Mark Waugh, Damien Martyn, Adam Gilchrist, Shane Warne, BrettLee, Andy Bichel, Nathan Hauritz, Glenn McGrath (12th man TBA)Pakistan: Waqar Younis (capt), Taufeeq Umar, Imran Nazir, Abdur Razzaq,Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq, Faifal Iqbal, Rashid Latif, Saqlain Mushtaq,Shoaib Akhtar, Danish Kaneria.

Railways steamrolled Vidarbha in their Central Zone Ranji one-day encounter at Indore on Thursday, but despite the five-wicket victory margin, they could not pick up the bonus point.Asked to bat first, Vidarbha racked up 241 for nine in their allotted 50 overs, with RS Jadhav top-scoring with 73 (80b, 9×4, 1×6). He was given some support by HV Shitoot’s quickfire 42 (43b, 3×4, 2×6), but no other batsman could really contribute significantly. For Railways, Jai P Yadav picked up four for 51.Railways experienced a few setbacks to get to 81 for three, but then Yere Goud and Raja Ali added 110 runs for the fourth wicket, virtually sealing the game in their team’s favour. Raja Ali made 67 (76b, 8×4, 1×6), while Goud made an unbeaten 85 (108b, 7×4, 1×6) that saw Railways home in 48.3 overs.Gagan Khoda ton spurs Railways winA sparkling 121 from opener Gagan Khoda saw Rajasthan register a 33-run win over Uttar Pradesh at the Daly College Ground in Indore on Thursday.Winning the toss, Rajasthan opted to bat first, and when 85 runs came for the first wicket, the decision proved sound. Uttar Pradesh were further tormented when Khoda and RJ Kanwat added 108 runs for the second wicket, the latter scoring 51 off 87 balls (2×4). Khoda himself hit his 121 off 133 balls (11×4, 1×6). Skipper PK Krishnakumar’s whirlwind 29 off 10 balls (4×4, 1×6) spurred Rajasthan to 276 for six in 50 overs.Despite battling scores of 56 apiece from Jyoti Yadav and R Shamshad, Uttar Pradesh were never in the hunt, and Kishan Choudhary scalped four for 61 off nine overs to send UP tumbling to 243 all out in 47.5 overs.Punjab crush Haryana at RohtakPunjab chased down Haryana’s total of 132 for the loss of only two wickets at Rohtak’s Maharaja Agarsingh Stadium to register a comfortable win. Haryana could not capitalise on winning the toss, and only Joginder Sharma at number seven could register a significant score. Sharma made 44 off 62 balls with a four and three sixes before his side was bowled out in 39.1 overs.Punjab cruised to their win largely on opener Manish Sharma’s sedate 53 (127b, 5×4, 1×6). Ravneet Ricky at number three then hit an unbeaten 42 to guide Punjab to victory in 43 overs.Services humbled by Himachal Pradesh and Aashish KapoorA solid batting performance from Himachal Pradesh saw them register a thumping 116-run win over Services at Gurgaon, garnering them a bonus point in the process.Winning the toss, Himachal started poorly, at one stage stumbling at 64 for three. But Amit Sharma and Nischal Gaur then added 137 for the fourth wicket, with the former making 94 (109b, 5×4, 2×6) and the latter 64 (82b, 2×4, 1×6). A dazzling 40 off just 19 balls (3×4, 3×6) from Aashish Kapoor then enabled Himachal to surge to 269 for eight in 50 overs.Kapoor was not content with that. Bowling his off-spinners, he took five for 38 off eight overs to hasten Services to a paltry 153 all out in 34.5 overs. Only one batsman – Yashpal Singh – managed to cross 20 before Jaya Krishnan hit out at number 11 to make 26 off 13 balls in a vain cause.Akash Chopra guides Delhi to eight-wicket winDelhi opener Akash Chopra hit a responsible 87 (100b, 7×4) to steer his side to an eight-wicket win over Jammu & Kashmir in their Ranji one-day tie at Faridabad.Batting first after winning the toss, Jammu & Kashmir could only reach 170 all out in 49.3 overs, with opener W Majeed top-scoring with 48. The target of 171 proved inadequate by far as Chopra and Mithun Manhas (53, 52b, 6×4) took their team from 59 for two to victory in just 31.5 overs, garnering a bonus point in the process.

Shiv Sunder Das completed 250 as India extended their total to an imposing 516 before being bowled out at Chelmsford. In reply Essex reached 173 for three by stumps on the second day.Das’s marathon effort included four sixes and 32 fours, and came off 380 balls. This morning he extended his partnership with Sourav Ganguly to 105 before Ganguly was stumped by Barry Hyam off James Middlebrook for 74 (two sixes, 10 fours).Das added another 78 with Ajit Agarkar before he was stumped for 20 off Timothy Phillips, who immediately added the scalp of Harbhajan Singh for a duck. Das was finally dismissed by the last ball of the innings, caught by Mark Ilott to become Phillips’ third wicket of the day.Tinu Yohannan took the first Essex wicket after Darren Robinson and Richard Clinton had put on 55, bowling Clinton for 23. Robinson was then caught by Wasim Jaffer off Harbhajan for 59, and the same combination accounted for Ravinder Bopara for 29. Andy Flower ended the day unbeaten on 45.

Kabir Ali has rounded off a memorable week by completing a hat trick of prestigious awards at the inaugural Worcestershire County Cricket Club Awards Dinner.The 21-year-old picked up the Hewett Recruitment Player of the Year Award and the Apollo 2000 Young Player of the Year, adding to the PCA Young Player of the Year title he was awarded earlier this week. Kabir was the County’s leading wicket taker in first class and one-day cricket this season and earned selection for ECB Academy this winter.He took 71 First Class wickets at an average of 25.08, becoming the third leading wicket taker in the country. During the season he took 5 five wicket hauls and had two ten wicket matches with a best bowling analysis of 7-43 v Oxford University and he also recorded best first class score with the bat with 51 not out v Northants.The Hewett Recruitment Player of the Year is awarded to the player who performed to the highest level over the course of the season. Performances in every First Class and One-Day fixture voted on by members of the media and Director of Cricket.The Apollo 2000 Yong Player of the Year is awarded to the outstanding young cricketer who has developed their talent and reached a consistently high level of performance during the season, as voted by the WCCC Coaching Staff.Vikram Solanki won the Premier Letting One-Day Player of the Year Award after a fine season in the abbreviated game scoring 929 runs at an average of 42.22 including two 100’s and 7 50’s.The Dick Lygon Award presented to the player who has made an outstanding contribution to the Club both on and off the field during the season, as voted by the Captain, Director of Cricket and President went to James Pipe.

Harold Stanley WEIR was born on 23 April 1904 at Croydon Junction, a suburb of Maryborough and later to be known as Baddow, the son of Margaret (nee Bryans) and James Weir. He was educated at the Central Boys State School in Maryborough and after he had completed the state scholarship examination he commenced working in the office of the Woocoo Shire Council, eventually reaching the position of Shire Clerk. On 21 November 1936 he married Dorothy Jean Stevenson and she pre deceased him. There were no children.A quite aggressive left hand batsman and a left arm bowler of a little above medium pace he played all of his club cricket in Maryborough with Tinana C.C. He twice visited Brisbane with country teams for the annual trial matches, the first in 1929-30 when he gained selection in the Queensland Colts team, and again in the following season. He performed quite usefully in these matches without doing anything outstanding, his top score being 55 for North against South in 1930.He was a regular Maryborough representative player for several seasons and in 1927 and again in 1931 appeared against the touring teams from New South Wales organised by EL (Gar) Waddy. He did not achieve anything of note in these matches but in 1931 he captured his only wicket in them, having Allan Kippax caught by Dr Otto Nothling in the first of the two matches played in Maryborough. In April 1928 he had one of his better matches when representing Maryborough against a Brisbane XI for he top scored in each innings scoring 27 out of 80 and 36 out of 106 and returned bowling figures of one for 19 and three for 27 in a match won by Brisbane.In his prime he retained a great degree of fitness and stood a little under six feet in height however in later years he became quite stooped. But he continued his daily walks around Maryborough and was well known to many in and around the city. As time passed his stoop became more acute and his walk became more of a shuffle. In May 2001 he walked into a moving motor vehicle and spent several months in hospital. On discharge he was not able to return to his home, a magnificent old Queenslander located on the top of a hill in Pallas Street, and spent his last days in Fair Haven where he passed away on 11 June 2002.Stan Weir was very much interested in the history of his home city and its surrounds and he was always a ready source of information when in the mid to late 1970s work was being carried out on the initial search for past Queensland cricketers. He also provided much information on those players who had represented each of Wide Bay and Maryborough in matches against the touring English teams in 1883, 1885 and 1887, as well as of players who had appeared against Victor Trumper’s XI in 1906 and in the various matches against Gar Waddy’s teams.

Western Warriors recruit Paul Wilson has agreed to play club cricket with Melville for the next two seasons.Wilson, 29, concluded negotiations with Melville president Malik Mascarenhas today.The powerfully built fast-bowler, who has played one Test and limited-overs internationals for Australia, will arrive in Perth next week.He will commence training with the Warriors on Monday, July 22.Wilson will be a specialist fast-bowling coach at Melville in assistance to former England Test batsman Paul Terry.Mascarenhas said recruiting Wilson was a major coup for one of Perth’s leading league clubs.”We wanted an experienced senior bowler to assist the development of our young cricketers and in particular our bowlers,” Mascarenhas said.”Paul fits that role for us and he comes to Melville with a reputation as an extremely good club man and genuinely good bloke.”We have been very close to winning a premiership in recent seasons and we think that recruiting Paul Wilson could perhaps take a step further to achieving our goal to win a title.”

Sri Lanka’s wicket-keeper batsman Romesh Kaluwitharana and veteran batsmanAravinda de Silva have not been offered fresh contracts with the Board ofControl for Cricket in Sri Lanka (BCCSL).The BCCSL will offer 12-month contracts to 15 players this weekend beforeSri Lanka’s 10-week tour of England. Four players will be given their firstever contracts.Kaluwitharana, 32, played in three games of the recently concludedtriangular tournament in Sharjah, but he was not picked for the Test matchesin England, although he could still be added to the one-day squad.For De Silva, 36, it was the second consecutive year that he has not beenoffered a contract. When contracts were offered for 2001-2002, shortly afterEngland’s tour of Sri Lanka, officials had privately questioned thecommitment of De Silva and the value of providing a contract.De Silva spent the year on the sidelines before being recalled into thetraining in January and then the Test squad last month. He now needs toprove that he can still retains the hunger to perform consistently at thehighest level before he is awarded a new contract.Players who have not received contracts can still be picked to play for thecountry on a tour and match fee basis. Indeed, there are five non-contractedplayers in the England squad.The four new players to receive fresh contracts are Buddhika Fernando,Thilan Samaraweera, Hashan Tillakaratne and Avishka Gunawardene. The firstthree clearly gain their contracts on merit, after impressive performancesduring the past year, but Gunwardene’s contract was a surprise having beendropped from both the Test and one-day squad.That decision was apparently swayed by his young age (24) and the fact thatover 40 One-Day Internationals are scheduled over the next 12 months.One other surprise ommission is the talented Tillakaratne Dilshan. Just 25years old and now back in the one-day squad, he has clearly been told toprove his value before being offered a contract.Those that have been excluded still have a chance to secure a contract, asofficials have indicated that three more will be awarded over the comingmonths because of this year’s busy schedule.Officials were reluctant to reveal the value of the new contracts until theplayers have signed for them, but last year the top players received anannual fee of US $ 40,000 with provisions to go over US $ 50,000 by way ofbonuses and tour fees. Fringe players received significantly less.The contracted players:Sanath Jayasuriya, Marvan Atapattu, Kumar Sangakkara Mahela Jayawardene,Russell Arnold, Hashan Tillakaratne, Thilan Samaraweera, Chaminda Vaas,Nuwan Zoysa, Buddika Fernando, Muttiah Muralitharan, Kumar Dharmasena, DilharaFernando, Upul Chandana and Avishka Gunawardene.