The rain god, Pluvius, has emerged as the winner on day one of the much-anticipated Pura Cup clash between Victoria and New South Wales in Melbourne. Not so much as a single delivery was bowled at the Punt Road ground today, as the same soaking drizzle that has engulfed the Victorian capital for a number of days now continued unabated. In a testament to the bleak nature of the conditions, it took little over an hour for the decision to abandon the day’s play to be made.Given that the Victorian capital has already been the subject of persistent rain for much of the week, thoughts of any quick break in the dismal weather pattern might well be over-optimistic. Nevertheless, it seems that the umpires and the players have not completely abandoned hope of managing to make up much of the six hours lost today during the three days that follow.About the only other news to report from Punt Road to this stage of a fixture which brings together the two most ferocious rivals in Australian domestic cricket is that it appears that New South Wales opener Michael Slater may be fit to play in the match after all. The Test opener sent a scare through the Blues’ camp yesterday when he took a nasty blow on his right index finger in fielding a ball at a practice session. But, following X-rays and general treatment overnight, it is understood that the belligerent right hander was not feeling quite as discomforted this morning. The long delay to the start time will also markedly assist his chances of being fully fit to play by the time – whenever that might be – that the hostilities eventually begin.

Vidarbha drew with Uttar Pradesh on Thursday atthe Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground, Nagpur,in the Vijay Merchant (under-16) Central Zoneleague match. UP middle order batsman A Alam witha fine knock of 109 and Vidarbha bowler SohilBhengade with 5/35 shared the honours.Electing to bat, Vidarbha got off to a bad startlosing their first wicket in the first over of thematch, with captain Ali Akbar out for a duck. Thatwas followed by a retrieving stand of 108 for thesecond wicket between Faiz Fazal (52) and PushkarMenghal (50). From a relatively strong position of109/1, the Vidarbha innings collapsed and came toan end on 149 in 70.2 overs. Devendra Singh (Jnr)was the pick of bowlers with figures of9.2-3-36-3.UP were struggling at 24/2 when T Abbas and A Alamgot together. They put on a partnership of 122 forthe third wicket. Abbas was dismissed for 68 madein 96 balls and included 11 fours. Captain R Elahijoined Alam and kept the momentum going with apartnership of 91 for the fourth wicket as Alamwas dismissed reducing UP to 237/4. Alam’s inningslasted 232 minutes and he got his runs off 180balls. Alam was severe on the bowlers, smashing 15boundaries. The UP innings folded up with thedismissal of Alam though captain Elahi made 62.Sohil Bhengade did most of the damage capturingfive of the last six batsmen to fall. UP finishedat 286 all out in 90.1 overs.Vidarbha in their second innings made a splendidstart with openers Ali Akbar and Faiz Fazalputting on 115 runs. Ali Akbar made 71 of thoseruns, striking 10 fours. Faiz Fazal went on toscore a patient 84 (8 fours) in 229 balls.Devendra Singh ripped apart the batting, pickingup 4/49 as Vidarbha’s second innings came to anend at 238 in 101 overs. The UP chase was never onas there was little time left in the match. By theclose, UP were 70/0 in 12 overs. UP took home fivepoints and Vidarbha had to remain content withthree.

Sparsholt’s unbeaten Premier Division 2 start ground to a halt with a nine-wicket defeat by Trojans at Stoneham Lane.Against Trojans nagging seam attack they were pressed to reach 136-8 (Tim Richings 46) and, with a depleted bowling force, were unable to prevent Nigel le Bas (53) and Mario Mohammed (43) guiding the Stoneham club home.Old Basing sent down a staggering 51 wides – and effectively bowled eight additional overs – as Hambledon rattled up 291-5 at Ridge Meadow.Adrian Magrath (68) and Reg Norris (45) shared a century second-wicket partnership before Kelvan Finch (28), Matt Jones (27) and Alan Smith (26) put Hambledon out of sight.Gary Shotton (3-23) and teenager left-armer Dan Anderton (3-51) shared the spoils as Old Basing reached 164-8 (Dale Summers 48 not out).United Services are still searching for their first win, despite South African John Geoghegan cracking 90 before being run out against Cove at Burnaby Road.The US total of 204-8 (Gary Hounsome 44) was easily bettered – Hampshire Under-19 left-hander Neil Randall hitting an unbeaten 64 to ease Cove towards a seven-wicket win.Old Tauntonians collapsed to 107 all out after Easton & Martyr Worthy had notched 198-5.

• It was the 1719th One-Day International match in cricket history.
• It was England’s 326th and Pakistan’s 495th ODI match.
• It was the 47th match between these two sides. The record now reads :Pakistan 18, England 28, abandoned one.
• It was the 21st match between these two sides in England. The recordnow reads : Pakistan 6,England 15.
• Umpires Barry Dudleston and John Hampshire were officiating in theirfourth and 19th match respectively.
• Paul Collingwood (a 25 years old right handed batsman and right armoff break/ medium fast bowler) became 162nd player to representEngland in ODIs.
• Rashid Latif was making a comeback into Pakistan side after aboutthree years. He had last played for Pakistan against South Africa atCape Town on 23-04-1998.Latif thus missed 92 matches in between twoconsecutive appearances. Only Sajid Ali (154), Sikander Bakht (117),Aamer Malik (93) and Manzoor Elahi (93) have missed more matches inbetween two appearances for Pakistan.
• Inzamam-ul-Haq (79),when on 74,completed his 8000 runs in One-DayInternationals. He was playing his 244th match and 231st innings.Inzamam became second Pakistani and seventh batsman overall to achievethis landmark. Inzamam joined the august company of two Indians SachinTendulkar (10179 runs in 268 matches) and Mohammad Azharuddin (9378 in334), one West Indian Desmond Haynes (8648 in 238),one Sri LankanAravinda de Silva (8432 in 275), one Australian Mark Waugh (8245 in232) and fellow teammate Saeed Anwar (8162 in 224).
• Inzamam has now aggregated 2623 runs in 80 matches on opponents’ soils(excluding matches at neutral venues). He has now surpassed JavedMiandad’s Pakistani record of most runs in such matches. Miandad had atally of 2573 runs from 76 matches on opponents’ soils. IncidentallyWest Indian Viv Richards with 3921 runs from 88 matches holds theworld record in this category of statistics.
• The third wicket partnership of 150 runs between Anwar and Inzamam isPakistan’s best for this wicket against England. This obliterated theprevious highest of 145 between Ijaz Ahmed and Inzamam at Sharjah on07-04-1999.
• The wicket of Younis Khan was 56th for Darren Gough on English soil.With this he has equalled Ian Botham’s tally of most wickets at homesoil. However Gough needed only 33 matches as against Botham’s 47.
• The catch of Alec Stewart was seventh for Shoaib Malik as asubstitute. He has now equalled New Zealander John Bracewell andcountryman Shoaib Mohammad’s tally of catches. Only Sri Lankan UpulChandana (8) has taken more catches as a substitute.
• The victory margin of 108 runs was largest for Pakistan againstEngland in all matches. The previous biggest win for Pakistan overEngland was by 90 runs at Sharjah on 07-04-1999.
• The defeat was England’s second worst for England at home soil. SouthAfrica had registered a 122 run victory at The Oval on 22-05-1999 in aWorld Cup game which still remains England’s worst ever defeat at homesoil.
• Saeed Anwar was winning his 27th Man of the Match award. He has nowequalled Sri Lanka’s Aravinda de Silva’s tally of MoM awards. Now onlyIndia’s Sachin Tendulkar (38) and West Indian Viv Richards (31) havewon more awards than Anwar.

Division 1 (Time games)Andover 152 (Simpson 32, Langdown 30, Staddon 29, Dibden 5-51, Goldstraw 3-31)
BAT Sports 153-1 (Shirazi 84, Carson 46)
BAT Sports won by 9 wicketsBournemouth 247-8 (Swarbrick 63, Wilkinson 41, Miller 39, Cassell 32)
Burridge 161-9 (Dixon 32, Jackson 28, Waite 4-48, Kidner 3-24)
Match drawnBashley (Rydal) 245-6 (Thurgood 76, Neal 57, Loader 30)
Calmore Sports 246-4 (Hibberd 82, Goode 79, Pegler 39)
Calmore Sports won by 6 wicketsSouth Wilts 233-9 (Rowe 62, Lamb 40, Caines 34, Glasson 32, Wade 28, Loat 5-67, Hindley 4-73)
Havant 195-7 (Loat 50, Greenfield 44, Hindley 42, Tomlinson 4-38)
Match drawnLiphook & Ripsley 289-5 (Jansen 80, Riley 69, Smyth 65, Ford 3-128)
Hungerford 158 (Laney 57, Jansen 3-32)
Liphook & Ripsley won by 133 runsDivision 2 (50 overs)Old Tauntonians 166 (Ord 36, K Trodd 26, Docis 5-23)
Cove 169-2 (Randall 75, Benham 56)
Cove won by 8 wicketsHambledon 174 (Field 45, le Clerq 39, Felgate 4-53)
Trojans 175-4 (Mohammed 60, Subnaik 46)
Trojans won by 6 wicketsOld Basing 106 (Thorne 25, Maru 5-12, Hayward 3-18)
Portsmouth 101-0 (Cook 59, Pike 37)
Portsmouth won by 10 wicketsLymington 279-4 (Peacock 68, Trestrail 65, Craft 61, Young 36)
Sparsholt 176-9 (Nichols 29, Peacock 4-51)
Lymington won by 103 runsUnited Services 183-9 (Hounsome 46, Geoghegan 35, McKeever 32, St Green 3-30, Stone 3-52)
Easton & Martyr Worthy 185-9 (Sh Green 105, Brooks 6-40)
Easton & Martyr Worthy won by 1 wicketDivision 3 (50 overs)Alton 268-8 (Paddy Heffernan 79, Morgan 56, Balllinger 35, Mark Heffernan 30)
Havant II 159 (Mist 47, Owen 38, Ballinger 3-17, Rotherham 3-41)
Alton won by 109 runsBashley (Rydal) II 265-6 (Hall 82, Britton 52, Dean 35, Slater 5-62)
Waterlooville 184 (Shephard 76, Spinks 32, Marsh 4-50)
Bashley (Rydal) won by 81 runsUnited Services II 90 (Collins 6-30, Edwards 3-27)
Gosport Borough 93-5 (Rees 36)
Gosport Borough won by 5 wicketsHursley Park 298-3 (Harris 124, Marks 59, Halder 49)
Hook & Newnham Basics 301-3 (Kaminski 147, Lovelock 105)
Hook & Newnham Basics won by 7 wicketsPaultons 329-8 (Richman 103, Park 51, James 42)
Lymington II 177 (Stephenson 35, Tapper 29, Lamb 5-30, Wilde 3-56)
Paultons won by 152 runsRowledge 227-5 (R Yates 74, Booton 40, Mitchell 36, Wheeler 3-53)
New Milton 183-9 (Wheeler 94, C Yates 5-53)
Rowledge won by 44 runsFlamingos 201-6 (Merkel 84, J Greer 37, Manthorpe 26, Limb 4-24)
Portsmouth II 202-8 (Mitchell 94, Rogers 42, McMurray 5-35)
Portsmouth won by 2 wicketsSt Cross Symondians 229-9 (Parker 41, Slape 35, Perry-Lewis 34, J Adams 26, Stanley 3-37)
Purbrook 227-8 (McCoy 65, Stanley 36, Lipscombe 3-52)
St Cross Symondians won by 2 runsLeckford 173 (Howard 61, M Taylor 3-30, S Marks 3-42)
Winchester KS 177-3 (P Marks 54, Parsons 43, Wheeler 25)
Winchester KS won by 7 wickets

Chasing just 177 for victory over their East Midlands rivals, Leicestershire had reached 125-3 from 30 overs when bad light suspended play for the evening.Openers Vince Wells and Jonathan Dakin had made a solid start, putting on 36 in eight overs for the first wicket. Left-arm seamer Greg Smith twice had appeals for lbw against Wells turned down but then had pinch-hitter Dakin caught by Richard Logan at square leg as he tried to pull the ball over the infield.Shahid Afridi, on his county debut, began slowly but then reverted to his more usual aggressive style as he lofted AJ Harris for a huge six into the Radcliffe Road Stand.Having taken 2-40 with his leg spinners the Pakistan international was putting himself in pole position for a man of the match award on his first appearance for the Foxes but on 23 he wafted carelessly at Smith and gave Chris Read a routine catch behind the wicket.Darren Stevens failed to get off the mark before losing his off peg to Smith, whose ten-over spell of 3-36 had given Notts a glimmer of a chance.Play was then interrupted once again for bad light but at 7.20pm the umpires considered the conditions were fit enough for a resumption.Vince Wells and Ben Smith put on an untroubled 45 for the fourth wicket in ever-deteriorating light but at 7.55pm the umpires directed that a finish was not possible and that play would be carried over into the second day. Wells was unbeaten on 45 with Smith on 24.Victory should be confirmed for Leicestershire on Thursday morning when they require a further 52 runs to win, from 20 overs, with seven wickets in hand.Earlier Notts, put in to bat, had collapsed dramatically losing their last five wickets for just five runs, with 9.2 overs of the innings unused.Usman Afzaal top-scored with 49 out of the total of 176, a huge reversal in fortune after Darren Bicknell and Greg Blewett had posted 57 for the first wicket in 11 overs.The Leicestershire outfielding was particularly sharp with a contribution of four run-outs, although batting was undeniably difficult as a total of seven stoppages for rain seriously disjointed the innings.

Champions Surrey gradually tightened the screw on Division One leaders Yorkshire at Headingley after bowling them out for 206 to establish a valuable first innings lead of 72.They then batted with great care in their second innings to close the second day on 171 for four to leave them a healthy 243 runs in front.The seam of Martin Bicknell and Ed Giddins and the spin of Saqlain Mushtaq caused Yorkshire all sorts of problems after they had begun the day on 61 for two and only Darren Lehmann batted with any great confidence.The Australian held the innings together while making a solid 52 off 91 balls with six fours but he was then bowled attempting to hit Saqlain over the top of mid-on.Gary Fellows and Gavin Hamilton fell to Giddins and Bicknell respectively after getting into the 20s and it was left to the last wicket pair of Ryan Sidebottom and Steven Kirby to see Yorkshire to their solitary batting bonus point.In overcast and humid conditions, Jon Batty and Michael Carberry gave Surrey a careful start before Batty was trapped lbw by Sidebottom at 25 but Carberry and Nadeem Shahid continued to put Surrey in charge with a second wicket stand of 65.Off-spinner Richard Dawson then enjoyed the best spell of his career as he had Shahid well caught at short mid-on by Lehmann for 33 and in his next over he flung himself to his left to take a return catch from skipper Adam Hollioake before he had scored.Carberry went on holding up Yorkshire until he was pinned back on his stumps and dismissed lbw by Dawson but Alistair Brown and Ben Hollioake kept each other company until the close, defying deteriorating light to put on 42.Brown ended on 42 and Ben Hollioake 23 while Dawson took three for 56 in 20 overs broken only by the tea interval.

Michael Vaughan signalled his readiness for a return to the Test arena with a fine 82 on the first day of CricInfo Championship leaders Yorkshire’s clash with Leicestershire at Grace Road.Despite that they could only muster a disappointing 230 all out after winning the toss, but then struck back by claiming three Leicestershire wickets in five overs to swing the game back in their favour.Fast bowler Steve Kirby, who took 12 wickets in the match between the two sides at Headingley a few weeks ago, was again in inspired form against the club who released him after he had spent a couple of years on the Grace Road staff without playing a first team game.He had Trevor Ward caught at slip of an absolute beauty and then clean bowled Iain Sutcliffe with the last ball of the day. In between Paul Hutchison knocked back Ben Smith’s off stump to leave the home side in disarray at 23 for three.But it was the form of Vaughan which will have most pleased Yorkshire – and England. After a six-week absence following knee surgery, Vaughan produced an innings of real quality which should ensure his place in the England side for the final Test at The Oval against Australia.He batted for three hours and hit 12 fours before falling to a leg side catch by wicket-keeper Neil Burns off Phil DeFreitas.Vaughan and Matthew Wood shared a second wicket stand of 96 to set up Yorkshire for a big total. But Leicestershire’s bowlers pegged away on one of the hottest days of the summer and took wickets at regular intervals.Skipper Vince Wells had an impressive return of three for 37 off 18 overs, DeFreitas took two for six in a nine-over spell in mid-afternoon and Darren Maddy collected three wickets as well. And with no recognised spinner in the side because of injuries, fast bowler James Ormond proved his versatility with a lengthy spell of off-spin.

The Coromandel Cement Cup semifinal between KSCA XI and Chemplast XIis poised for an interesting finish. By stumps on the second day ofthe match at the RSI ground in Bangalore on Friday, KSCA XI had takena first innings lead of 16 runs and in their second innings, after twoovers, had not opened their account.With KSCA XI having made 365 for nine in the allotted 90 overs onThursday, the onus was on Chemplast to make a fitting reply in theirfirst innings. Openers Sujith Somasundar and Ganesh Kumar (43) gavethem a sound start putting on 86 runs off 20.4 overs. Ganesh Kumarthen left after having faced 66 balls and hitting three boundaries. SBadrinath joined Somasundar and the two shared a second wicketpartnership of 112 runs off 35.2 overs. Somasunder was heading towardsa hundred when he was out for 92. He faced 169 balls and hit 12 fours.Aditya Srikkanth then joined Badrinath and they increased the score by73 runs during a third wicket association that lasted 17 overs.At 271 for two in the 73rd over, Chemplast were in a strong position.At this stage, Aditya, son of former Indian captain K Srikkanth wasbowled by David Johnson for a bright 43. He faced 56 balls and hitfour fours and two sixes. Now KSCA XI came back into the match.Johnson and off spinner Vadeyaraj got among the wickets to effect amiddle order collapse as Chemplast slid to 288 for six. Badrinathhowever stood firm and he found an able ally in J Hariesh (31) withwhom he added 51 runs for the seventh wicket off 7.3 overs. Badrinathwho had come in the 21st over, was finally out in the 87th over afterscoring 102. He faced 187 balls hitting seven fours and two sixes.Sunil Joshi them came on to polish off the tail and Chemplast were allout for 349 in 89.3 overs. Vadeyaraj was the most successful bowlerwith four for 71 while Johnson had three for 94 off 16 overs. Joshifinished with two for 51. Play was halted due to bad light at 11.48and resumed after lunch. Play was again stopped due to rain at 2 pmand resumed after six minutes.Pistons-Roofit clash interestingly poisedDespite posting a healthy score of 295 in their first innings onThursday, India Pistons found themselves on the back foot at the endof the second day’s play in their semi-final clash against Roofit XIat MJWSC ground in Bangalore. The Mumbai side notched up 331 all outin 78.3 overs, earning a first innings lead of 36 runs.It was the quick batting of Baroda opening batsman Satyajit Parab thatset the ball rolling. Scoring an 82-ball 83 (15 boundaries), Parab wasinvolved in a second wicket partnership of 95 with Mumbai southpawJatin Paranjpe. Striking the ball well, the skipper of the Roofitside, Paranjpe, made 76 (118 balls, 13 fours). Hrishesh Kanitkar’ssedate 46 in the middle order helped the Roofit side get past theIndia Pistons total. In the 79th over of the innings, Roofit XI weredismissed for 331.In the India Pistons second innings, Reetinder Sodhi followed up hisfirst innings duck with another failure. The Punjab all-rounder madejust 4 before being sent back by Gujarat seamer Rakesh Patel. SMahesh, promoted up the order was unbeaten on 23 and Hemanth Kumar had32 to his name when the second day’s play ended. India Pistons were64/1 in 11 overs and now lead by 28 runs. The second innings isrestricted to 40 overs a side.

When is a batting average not a real batting average?That’s the question posed by University of Otago economics professor John Howells in an article which appeared in Dunedin’s Albion Cricket Club’s annual report.Always one of the more quirky, humorous and best presented club annual reports, the Albion club is onto a thought-provoking and contentious matter here.Howells asks after looking at the averages of the 1999 World Cup: “How could [Lance] Klusener have a batting average of 140.5 if his highest score was 52? How did [Tom] Moody, over five innings, have an average of 117 when his aggregate of runs was 117?”The reason for such statistical absurdities is the convention that batting average is calculated by counting only completed innings.”It is, in effect, the mean number of runs per completed innings of any batsman.”In simple terms, the score for not-out innings is counted but the innings itself is ignored when dividing the total of innings into the total of runs to determine average,” he wrote.Howells said not-out innings seriously inflated batting averages and pointed out that [Trevor] Bailey had 215 and [Wilfred] Rhodes 237 in their first-class careers. While in Test cricket, Steve Waugh had 18.9% (at the time of writing – Ed) and Imran Khan 19.8% of their innings as not outs.He also made the point that of 57 players listed in Wisden 1999 with an average of 50 or better and a minimum of 10,000 runs, 45 had 10% or more of not-out innings, 12 had 15% or more as not-out innings.”Given the incidence of not-outs, the procedure for calculating batting average generates results that are often bizarre and produces inflated averages which undermine the effectiveness of batting average as an honest and accurate measure of a player’s performance.Furthermore, it is not clear what sort of average is being calculated.”It is not a batting average for completed innings because not-out innings are included in the numerator.”It is not a batting average for not-out innings are excluded from the denominator.”The purpose of an average is to represent a group of individual values, but it is not obvious what it is that a batting average represents.”The public has been presented with an imposter dressed in the robes of a batting average,” he said.The answer was a simple and sensible alternative.”By removing the distinction between completed and not-out innings, batting average can be calculated simply by dividing total runs by total innings [call it RBA or ‘real batting average’],” he argued.In his article, Howells also refutes the arguments put up by those who would retain the status quo.He said there was no real difference between not-outs and completed innings and as a result no logical reason for not counting all innings as completed in calculating average.Of the 57 players with a first-class average of 50 or more in Wisden 1999, batting averages fell by 10% or more for 45 of them when the RBA was applied. Forty-eight players missed the 50 mark with only Don Bradman, Bill Ponsford, Vijay Merchant, Bill Woodfull, Sachin Tendulkar, Arthur Morris and Walter Hammond remaining in the elite category above 50.Howells concluded: “This review seeks to show how far the conventional batting average is out-of-line with actual on-field performance.”As a classic example of this, consider Bradman’s last Test innings. From press reports in 1948, and since, he was bowled within four runs of averaging 100 in Test cricket.”Not so!”To score 100 runs, ‘on average’, in every Test innings, Bradman needed 1004 runs from his last innings.”Again, recent statistics give Steve Waugh a Test average of 50.8.”Not so!”To score 50.8, ‘on average’, in every Test innings, he still needs 1778 more runs.”These two examples, and there are others, patently expose the schizophrenic nature of the conventional batting average, namely, its inability to recognise reality,” he argued.