Auckland pace bowler, Chris Drum, has been called into the CLEAR Black Caps as cover for the injured Daryl Tuffey.Tuffey strained his hamstring while bowling against Australia in the first innings of the second Test currently being played in Hobart.Manager Jeff Crowe says it’s a sad blow for Tuffey.”Daryl’s been waiting for his chance on this tour and I have to say I really feel for the guy,” he said.The selectors preferred Chris Drum over James Franklin because of his ability to bowl into the wind.”In Perth the wind tends to blow down the ground.”If required we think Chris Drum, rather than James Franklin, is the better option for bowling extended spells into the wind,” says Chairman of Selectors, Sir Richard Hadlee who is in Hobart.Tuffey will not bowl again in the second Test and will most likely require a runner when batting.His injury will be reassessed tomorrow and a decision will then be made as to whether he is fit enough to be in contention to play in the third Test.If not, he will return home at the end of this Test.Drum will fly to Perth tomorrow and meet with the side before the start of the third Test.

Karnataka let slip a wonderful advantage to bowl out Kerala for a lotless than their final total in their Ranji Trophy league match atBangalore on Tuesday.Winning the toss, Karnataka put Kerala in to bat. They had theiropposition in all sorts of trouble at 57/5 and then 128/6, withVenkatesh Prasad blowing apart the top order with three wickets.Skipper Sunil Oasis put together 47, but it was not until SreekumarNair collaborated with KN Ananthapadmanabhan that Kerala lookedcertain to cross the 200-run mark.Bowled out finally for 228, off 67.3 overs, Kerala lost a good chanceto post a big total and put pressure on Karnataka. The home side madeit through to the close of play without losing any wickets; Karnatakawere 14/0 at stumps.

“It is not who is right, but what is right that is of importance.”Ring out the old – ring in the new. For Canada, 2001 has been both full of promise, but frustrating because of still vastly unfilled potential growth.The ICC Trophy 2001 was a brand new and untried format, the largest event of its kind and yet was ” the best of the previous Events.” To the many people at ICC, CCA and the CCA organizing sub-committee, we again extend our congratulations and thanks for their sterling efforts. The CCA Boards of Directors that stayed the course, approving the Bid process and the Event, sometimes in trying financial circumstances we salute you.””When spider webs unite, they can tie up a lion.”Against many odds, we have qualified teams for the U-19 world Cup in New Zealand in January 2002 and for the Senior world Cup in south Africa in 2003. We thank the many coaches, umpires, volunteers, scorers, families and supporters, all essential to continue Canada’s path to excellence.Most importantly we thank the commitment and sacrifice of the players and officials who got Canada this far. Far greater commitment and sacrifice is now needed. Can we deliver? We have done it before. We shall do it again. The players need your complete support, however. We have training and multiple prep tournaments in 2002 and in 2003 leading up to the World Cup. Youth players need to be groomed and encouraged to step up.We wish our fellow World Cup bound colleagues in Kenya, Holland and Namibia, the best in the future and in the World Cup. Kenya we trust will shortly follow our friends in Bangladesh to FM status.We in Canada continue to strive to follow them initially to ODI member status, in the immediate future. It is a beacon of hope for development in the vast Americas television market. Time waits for no one. ” Set a stout heart to a steep hillside.”We at the CCA wish the Full, Associate and Affiliate members of International Cricket a peaceful and productive year. ” Either men will learn to live like brothers, or they will die like beasts.” Battles should be fought on the cricket field with bat and ball, not with bullets and accusations or provocations.Canada’s international diplomatic and safety record are avenues for renewed cricket international prime-time event marketing. Our World Cup bound teams will benefit profoundly, as will Americas’ development.We hope that we shall experience a “cricket-year”- no new crises, no alleged or real exposé’s, no new actions, incidents or confrontations that bring the greatest game in the world into disrepute. We need action, not words. “Clapping with the right hand only, will not produce a noise!”We seek a year of recovery and of growth in Canada, in the Americas and around the whole fraternity of world cricket.To all but especially to our players, officials and volunteers and in the Associates and Affiliates, our best wishes. We offer that:”In order to succeed we must first believe that we can.””In every thought and action, think excellence.” It must follow.If frustrated, consider that “Patience is a bitter plant, but it has sweet fruit.” Press on. Respect and respectability shall come!” `God’ seeks comrades and claims love (respect?), the devil seeks slaves and claims obedience?”” To do all that one is able to do is to be a man, to all that one would like to do, is to be a God!” HAPPY NEW YEAR!

The England captain Nasser Hussain came to the defence of all-rounder Andrew Flintoff after two bad-tempered exchanges during England’s four-wicket defeat by India.The umpire spoke to Flintoff after he had words with Virender Sehwag, who had just snicked him to the third man boundary.”I’ve been absolutely chuffed with Flintoff on this tour,” Hussain said. “His attitude has been magnificent – he was absolutely knackered towards the end there.”At one point I saw him have a word and I just went up to him and told him hewas probably on his last warning, and told him no more of that and he said I wasright and that was that.”India’s acting skipper Anil Kumble agreed with Hussain. “I don’t think there was too much aggression out there, it was normal for a one-day international,” he said.Meanwhile Hussain offered no excuses for England’s defeat. “We had the best of the conditions and we just kept losing wickets,” he said. “There’s a little bit more bounce in this wicket and those of us who have been here a long time and are used to the low wickets, it caught some of us by surprise but it was still a 250 wicket batting first.”In all three games we’ve competed, but to bat like we did today wasn’t quitegood enough. You learn more from your losses than your victories so we have to learn what we did wrong and try and put it right.”We don’t let our heads drop, we always stick in. Just because wedid one of our disciplines averagely, it doesn’t mean the other two have to fallapart and we just give up.”

International cricket could face another crisis over the vexed question of throwing if Shoaib Ahktar is again reported by officials because of doubts over his action.Questions were raised about the Pakistani fast bowler’s obviously dubious delivery on television commentary and among former players and other viewers in the Caribbean during his five wickets devastation of the West Indies in their 170-runs defeat in the first Test here on Monday.But the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is adamant he should be cleared by the International Cricket Conference (ICC) on the advice of a report from the University of Western Australia’s department of human movement and exercise science last year.According to the PCB, the report stated that Shoaib was born with an “abnormal” bowling arm that will always give the impression of an unorthodox positionduring delivery.”No amount of practice or technique training can modify these two anatomical characteristics”, the report noted, adding that Shoaib “should be permitted to bowl for Pakistan without further concern as to his action”.Shoaib, 25, first attracted international attention with his pace and personality at the 1999 World Cup in England when he was dubbed “The Rawalpindi Express”, a reference to the city of his birth in Pakistan.He has had problems with his action, discipline and injury in the intervening years, all of which have led to his spasmodic appearances for Pakistan.He was suspended by a now-disbanded ICC panel on suspect bowling actions in 2000 to allow time for him to correct his problem.He has been since twice referred to its successor body, the bowling review group, by unconvinced umpires and match referees. A third report would mean automatic suspension for a year.Shoaib only returned to international cricket from injury last month in the series in Bangladesh after a break of a year. The first Test here was his third since he came back.The PCB has already circulated the University of Western Australia’s report to the ICC panel of umpires and match referees.It will further press its case that Shoaib should be cleared once and for all at the ICC’s executive board meeting in New Zealand in March.The PCB turned down the ICC’s offer to have former West Indies fast bowler Michael Holding correct flaws in Shoaib’s delivery after the most recent report from wary umpires. Its chairman, Lieutenant General Tauqir Zia said publicly the PCB would support Shoaib if he sued the ICC over the issue.The same university, as well as the University of Science and Technology in Hong Kong, similarly cleared the action of Sri Lankan off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan after he had been called for throwing by Australian umpires Darrel Hair in 1995 and Ross Emerson and Tony Macquillan four years later.Australian fast bowler Brett Lee, rated the present game’s fastest bowler along with Shoaib, also had his action passed after computer examination by the University of Western Australia.Former Indian left-arm spinner Bishen Bedi reopened the controversy over Muralitharan’s action last weekend, comparing it to a javelin thrower’s.Pakistani officials and players privately accuse the ICC of double standards in clearing Muralitharan and Lee while allowing a shadow to hang over Shoaib.However, the doubts have not arisen without good reason as the television replays during the Test here clearly showed.The pertinent law in the version revised in 2000 is law 24.3. It states: A ball is fairly delivered in respect of the arm if, once the bowler’s arm has reached the shoulder in the delivery swing, the elbow joint is not straightened partially or completely from that point until the ball has left the hand. This definition shall not debar a bowler from flexing or rotating the wrist in the delivery swing.Holding, now a respected international television commentator, noted during Shoaib’s spell on Monday that there was “a definite kink” in his elbow after it passed shoulder height and before straightening on delivery.

New Zealand’s batting performance against England at Wellington on Saturday night was more like the sort of display coach Denis Aberhart would like to see consistently from his side.The way batsmen appreciated their role, especially after being three wickets down for 52, had heartened him and continued further the advances the side has made since starting the summer in Australia.New Zealand had played only part of the game well in the first National Bank Series match against England in Christchurch.”But I thought in Wellington the guys played with enthusiasm and pretty well went out and put our game plan in place,” he said.”We had good partnerships, we lost wickets but the guys went in and took responsibility to set up another partnership, and work hard for a while. Then with the ball we started well and did some very good fielding.”The two good partnerships between Stephen Fleming and Craig McMillan, then McMillan and Lou Vincent had been crucial.”Whilst no-one went on to get big scores, the partnerships were the key and we had two or three little ones after that.”At 40 overs we were 181/4 which is one of the first times this year we’ve been able to get to the last 10 with wickets in hand which meant the last few could score reasonably well. We got 63 off the last 10 which set us up.”There are still things we need to get better at, but from a team point of view I thought the batting was pretty good,” he said.Aberhart said it was significant now that there was genuine competition for places in the side and while there is a core of 12, to be reconsidered after Wednesday’s game, there were several different options available within that group of players.It also helps make practice sessions livelier as several New Zealand batsmen found out today when fast bowler Ian Butler was most impressive with the speed he mustered.Pitch reports for Wednesday’s game suggest it should be the fastest pitch in the ODI series so far. That could make life interesting for batsmen as the allowable one bouncer an over has not yet been a factor in the series.Weather forecasts have been varied for Wednesday, just as they have been all over New Zealand this summer, but the latest had today’s fine weather to continue for at least another two days, setting up a tremendous match in Napier.

Hampshire’s Director of cricket Tim Tremlett was optimistic that Shane Warne will be fit in time for the World Cup in February, and subsequently to join Hampshire as captain for the 2003 season.”Reports” said Tim “coming out of Australia today (Monday) state that Shane has had an exploratory operation on his shoulder after suffering a dislocation during the VB Series match against England on Sunday.” (see ACB report below).Tim Tremlett had spoken today to new First team manager Paul Terry, and Hampshire physio Pat Farhart who are closely monitoring the situation. Pat had spoken to his Australian counterpart, who was upbeat about the situation.

In a perverse way, New Zealand’s loss to India by two wickets in Wellington last night, was just about ideal for the side.Captain Stephen Fleming said the TelstraClear Black Caps were under no illusions about where they were going into the World Cup next month.They went into today’s game to try some pre-determined things, one of them was to bat first in spite of the conditions which would have normally seen him bowl first.Despite the top order rout when they were three wickets for three runs, a position from which no team has ever won a One-Day International, the side had hoped to scrape together 180-200 runs that they felt would have been competitive.Some lack of discipline in the playing approach was exposed that hadn’t appeared earlier in the series.The bowlers had been notable for the way they had bowled to the required plans earlier but they had been guilty of conceding 16 wides today and that was too many.It had been a cardinal sin not to bat out the 50 overs and it was a lesson for the lower order batsmen.”We have players in the lower order who are very capable players and able to occupy the crease,” he said.Fleming wondered with the series tied up and the World Cup looming whether players were guilty of looking too far ahead.Once again the pitch was not the best for a one-day encounter and was symptomatic of much of what has affected New Zealand this summer.”The ball has dominated the bat and the guys are all frustrated but they know what they need to do,” he said.”It is creating a mental tentativeness that is holding the players on both sides back,” he said.Fleming said it was not known at what stage Chris Cairns would bowl in the series, if at all. It was something that would be worked on with the medical panel.

Motivated by a desire to see why a country of four million people like New Zealand could hold a third ranking in world Test cricket, Englishman Phil Relf has been studying what makes New Zealand cricket tick over the summer.Last year Relf jumped at the chance to be involved in a scholarship scheme for four English Level 3 coaches to spend time in either Australia or New Zealand. Three were chosen for Australia, where they spent three months, while Relf drew the “short” end of the straw and got six months in New Zealand.The coaches were asked to do a series of assignments looking at topics of interest like: grass roots cricket, cricket in primary and secondary schools, club cricket, coaching education, the Academy programme, age group tournaments and other aspects of how the game is administered and played here.The scheme, which is intended to be a regular initiative, is funded by the Lord’s Taverners Charity and the ECB tagged the money for this purpose.Relf, 32, is the full-time head of physical education at Sittingbourne Grammar School and does work with the Kent County Club and coach education for the ECB.The experience in New Zealand had been great for his appreciation of the tactical and technical areas of the game.What has impressed him in New Zealand has been the ease of exposure to the different elements of the game here.”There is much greater access to key people. For instance in Christchurch you have first-class players playing and practising with their clubs. Players like Chris Harris and Chris Martin have been involved at club level and that is great,” he said.While he has been in New Zealand, he has been playing with the St Albans Club in the local competition.New Zealand Cricket had been helpful in getting him get around the country to see how the various associations do their work and he has also been involved in Academy coaching and coach appraisals during the national tournaments staged at the High Performance Centre at Lincoln University.”I am sure that one of the reasons for success in the Southern Hemisphere is that players have to work a bit harder here,” he said.By that he meant that away from the international players, first-class players tended to have day jobs so that in order to advance they had to work harder at their game when they had the opportunity.It was something of a cultural factor, he said.And while the domestic one-day competition was quite intensive, certainly more than he had expected, players generally still had more opportunity to train during a season than was the case in England where players were on the road from game to game with very little time to do training.He has been impressed with the coach education, the New Zealand Academy programme and the open-minded and innovative approach that has been embraced by all concerned with the game here.”The Academy is so comprehensive in what it covers, and the good thing about it is that they are always looking to improve things. They are innovative in training methods and the Academy combined a work ethic with that innovation.”And this stretches through to the international side.”I have been most impressed with the preparation that goes in beforehand and the thorough use of information to look at the opposition.”People here are also prepared to look at other sports for ways of doing all sorts of things,” he said.England had been criticised for not looking outwards in the past and what he was doing was seen as one way to address the matter. Each country had different ways of doing things but there were features that could be adapted by each to their own advantage.Relf felt the return to two overseas players for each county would strengthen the game in England.He felt that New Zealand needed to extend the professionalism of its game.He also thought there was something of a problem for players who had been through the Academy when they returned to their home regions.It was a different world for them in their home areas, although he acknowledged that one of the aims of the Academy was to teach players self-sufficiency.Other concerns he noted were with pitches, practice facilities at grounds and the lack of spinners in the country, something that will strike a chord with most who have taken an interest in New Zealand’s recent history.

Over the weekend a group of young Somerset cricketers set off for South Africa on the trip of a lifetime that will culminate with them watching the Cricket World Cup Final later this month.The Somerset Under 13’s party of fourteen players will away for two weeks during which time they will take part in a specifically arranged cricket tournament in Johannesburg that will involve teams from Namibia, Botswana, St Stithians School, and Barbados.If the Somerset ream are successful in their early tournament matches, that include two day-night games, they could well end up playing against other Under 13 teams from England which include Cornwall, Worcestershire or Mid Wales who are also taking part.Somerset Under 13 John Davey, who accompanied the team along with Youth Development Officer Pete Sanderson and coach Ben Wellington told me just before the team departed from Taunton: "Without a doubt this will be the trip of their young lives. They have all worked hard to raise money to pay for themselves and have been looking forward to it for a very long time. There are some very talented players in the team and as you can imagine they are all very excited about it."Meanwhile nearer to home a group of nearly fifty Junior Sabre members of Somerset County Cricket Club went along to Ashton Gate to watch Bristol City beat Peterborough United on Saturday.The visit was part of the arrangement that Somerset have with the soccer club whereby all Junior Sabre members can enjoy free entry to some Bristol City home matches.Membership secretary Joanne Arnold said: "The tie up with Bristol City has been very well received by Junior Sabre members who all had a good time in the sunshine at Ashton Gate on Saturday."