Sir Richard Hadlee would be well within his rights to claim that there has never been a dull moment since he took on the job of chairman of New Zealand’s selection panel.Injury has been his, and his fellow selectors, Ross Dykes, Brian McKechnie, David Trist initially, and Denis Aberhart latterly, constant companion. Not injury of their own, but to their players.It seemed that things couldn’t get much worse than New Zealand’s African excursion of 2000/01 when the shuttling of players across the Indian Ocean did wonders for the airline profits of those concerned.But today, as he received news that fast bowler Shane Bond hadn’t recovered from his ear infection and needed to be covered in case he was unable to play tomorrow, he said that the injury concerns of the moment are the worst of his time in the position.”There is just no continuity in selection,” he said.The problems were not insurmountable but they were a frustration as the selectors tried to settle on their preferred combinations for the World Cup.

Often a contest between two equally matched minnows proves as fascinating and surprising as one between the top two teams in the world, and the Bangladesh-Canada Pool B encounter at Kingsmead on Tuesday proved that truism only too well.On the face of it, Bangladesh, with a few years of international experience and a recent World Cup under their belt, would have certainly been considered favourites. Canada, after all, had last been in international cricket in the 1979 World Cup, and with Bangladesh having played in South Africa only recently, the sensible money would certainly have been on them.The opening spells of the Bangladesh medium-pacers looked to bear out that prediction. Mashrafe Mortaza and Manjural Islam bowled tight line and length, affording the Canadian openers little chance to free their arms and go for their shots. Mortaza bowled John Davison neck and crop, and Tapash Baisya dismissed the compact Ismail Maraj caught at midwicket.Desmond Chumney stroked the ball fluently around for singles and hit a few sweetly timed boundaries in his knock of 28 (25 balls, three fours, one six) before he fell, run out after calling for a non-existent single behind square leg.Wickets continued to tumble for Canada. Captain Joseph Harris essayed a sweep to Sanwar Hossain and only succeeded in gloving the ball to Khaled Mashud behind the stumps, while Nicholas de Groot tried to work the same bowler to leg and got a leading edge to Alok Kapali at mid-off.Ian Billcliff, amidst the ruins, stood composed to the tune of 42 runs and 63 balls, hitting six fours in his impressive stay at the crease. He witnessed the dismissal of Fazil Sattaur, leg-before to Alok Kapali, before being run out himself. The end of the innings followed inevitably, but Bangladesh’s spinners, although efficiently restricting the run-rate, could not skittle out the tailenders before they took Canada to 180 all out in 49.1 overs – a defendable total, but moderate all the same.But the runs still had to be made, and Canada showed their willingness to make a fight of it right from ball one, when multiple fielders converged on the ball in the field, backing up sometimes as far as three deep behind the stumps. The bowling, however, was erratic to start with, and the errant line was punished as both openers flicked off the pads and drove through the covers with panache.Davis Joseph was the first bowler to break through, having Al Sahariar caught at mid-on, dragging the ball from outside off. Habibul Bashar departed soon after, trying to force a Sanjay Thuraisingam delivery through the off with minimal footwork and getting an edge through to keeper Ashish Bagai.Bagai had a much easier catch of it when Hannan Sarkar (25, 35 balls, four fours) played a similar shot off Austin Codrington, and at 46 for three, Bangladesh were in some trouble. Ehsanul Haque and Sanwar Hossain then added 30 runs for the fourth wicket before further damage was done. Joseph, in his seventh over of the innings, got one to seam away just a touch off the pitch, and Ehsanul (13, 17 balls) feathered an edge through to Bagai, who took yet another fine tumbling catch.Sanwar followed after another 30 runs were added to the team’s total, playing across the line to a John Davison delivery and trapped in front for 25 (24 balls). An over later, Codrington trapped Alok Kapali (18, 23 balls) in front of the stumps. Khaled Mashud, Tapash Baisya and Mashrafe Mortaza all dismissed themselves, playing loose or indecisive strokes to perfectly playable deliveries.Mohammad Rafique, a sturdy bat in his own right, slammed a couple of boundaries in desperation, but when he pulled Codrington awkwardly to the midwicket fielder inside the circle, he presented the bowler with his fifth wicket. The first five-wicket bag of the 2003 World Cup was just reward for the dreadlocked medium-pacer who on the day kept impeccable control over his line and length, forcing the batsmen to play at almost every ball and taking, in one evening, more than half as many wickets as he had in limited-overs contests till yesterday.Codrington’s performance also sealed the first major upset win of the 2003 World Cup as Canada triumphed by 60 runs over Bangladesh, ironic considering that Bangladesh was at the delivering end of an upset in the 1999 World Cup with their win over Pakistan. Canada, for their part, got a taste of the thrills inherent in World Cup cricket – pulling a team together to defy the odds and on a floodlit night taste victory for the first time.

The South Australian Cricket Association (SACA) has congratulated Greg Blewett who today plays his 200th first-class game.In his 12-year first-class career, Blewett, 32, has amassed more than 15,000 first-class runs at an average of 46.55.Included in his 200 games are 46 Test matches and he is a current Australia A representative.Blewett is the leading run-scorer for both the Pura Cup and ING Cup for 2002/03, with 751 at 50.06 in the four-day game and reaching 486 runs at 54.00 in the limited-overs competition.The SACA’s chief executive, Mike Deare, said it is an enormous achievement for one of South Australia’s finest batsmen.”Greg is an immensely talented cricketer, with natural abilities, who on and off the ground displays enthusiasm and passion for the game.””Greg is without a doubt one of the finest batsmen South Australia has seen and we congratulate him on this outstanding achievement. And, I am sure there will be many more cricketing successes and achievements ahead for him,” said Mr Deare.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, Mar.2, WICB: The West Indies World Cup 2007 official delegation currently in South Africa will report on their visit to the Cricket World Cup 2003 at a news conference on March 6 with chief executive officer of the CWC 2003, Dr. Ali Bacher.Head of the WWC delegation, Chris Dehring, has described the visit so far as very useful to the 17 West Indies government and cricket officials, who are about to complete their first week of meetings with a wide variety of entities involved in the organisation of the CWC 2003.Among those giving the WWC delegation the benefit of their experience so far were the Gauteng Cricket Board, Western Province Cricket Association, Nigel Rushman of Rushmans, the company responsible for accreditation and media management; Andrew Wildblood, a legal consultant; Peter Lennox of the Cape Town Tourism Association, and several officials of the CWC 2003.

Somerset have appointed Mike Ashwin from Midsomer Norton as their new pitch adviser.Mike, who has been working in groundsmanship for over ten years is currently the groundsman at Lansdown C.C. in Bath and Midsomer Norton Cricket Club, and recently completed a week long seminar at Cranfield University to receive the necessary training to enable him to undertake his new post.As a result of Mike Ashwin’s appointment, Somerset are now in the process of promoting their new pitch advisers scheme, and can arrange for him to visit schools and clubs in the county to offer advice and support.The Somerset Cricket Board are putting together a tariff of charges for the new pitch advisers services, which for a nominal fee will involve Mike in visiting the club or school and providing a pitch report, including an assessment of the square, ground cover and pests etc.The new pitch adviser will also take three core samples that will be visually assessed to identify the soil type and based on these findings will then make recommendations.Andrew Moulding the Somerset Cricket Development Officer told me: "This is a new service that will be greatly appreciated by all schools and clubs in the county, and will go a long way towards helping us to offer top quality playing surfaces for all cricket pitches in Somerset."He concluded: "This is an exciting development for everyone, and in the near future we hope that Mike will set up a Somerset Groundsman’s Association."Anyone wishing to make use of the new pitch advisers services should contact Andrew Moulding at the Centre of Excellence at the County Ground, telephone number 01823 352266.Meanwhile the Somerset County Cricket Club Appeal Year got underway with the Opening Lunch that was held in the Colin Atkinson Pavilion on Friday.One hundred and seventy four guests attended the occasion, during which a silver salver was presented to Richard Parsons in recognition of his fourteen year as chairman and a bouquet of flowers was presented to Sandra Parsons.After lunch, former Somerset player and first class umpire Roy Palmer entertained those present with his cricketing impersonations, including a superb `John Arlott’, and `Jethro’ stories which were very well received.Robert Appleyard who organised the event told me afterwards: "This was an excellent start to the Somerset Appeal Year, and I was delighted to see so many of the old committee presrnt."The next event on the fund raising calendar is `Roast with Robbo’ that takes place next Sunday, April 13th in the Colin Atkinson Pavilion. After Sunday Lunch guests will be entertained by Peter Robinson who will share some of his cricketing experiences, before ending with a question and answer session.Tickets for `Roast with Robbo’ are priced at £15 each and can be obtained from the main office at the County Ground, telephone number 01823 272946.

Billed as `twice the action; half the time’, the new Twenty20 Cup cricket competition being launched at The Rose Bowl appears to be an appealing concept as over one thousand tickets have already been booked within the first week of sales.At 5.30pm on Friday, 13th June, the Hampshire Cricket team will face the Sussex squad for two hours and 45 minutes of fast-forward cricket that should produce a summer’s evening full of high scores and fast action. Following on from the cricket action, The Rose Bowl will also be hosting a live concert starring both Mis-Teeq and D’Side plus additional supporting acts.With all seating around The Rose Bowl being allocated, the Hampshire Cricket membership and ticket office has been inundated with enquiries and bookings for the reserved seating, car park spaces and new park & ride facility."The telephone has just not stopped ringing." said membership and ticketing manager, Jill Smithers. "There has obviously been incredible interest from our members, but interestingly, the fast action concept and the after-match concert are proving a big hit with a much wider audience, including office and business social groups planning a great Friday night out, school parties and many people who would not normally be attracted to a standard cricket match. They are all anticipating a really great atmosphere around the ground."The Rose Bowl has also had considerable interest for the special `hospitality’ package that provides a hot supper and complimentary bar of beer, house wine and soft drinks for £60 per person.The Twenty20 Cup is the first brand new competition for county cricket for almost 30 years.Tickets covering both the cricket match and the concert are £15 for adults and £10 for under sixteens and senior citizens Further information and advance tickets can be obtained on 0870 243 0291.EndsIssued by: Hampshire CricketPress Contact: Jane Kerr 07976 549705Simon DalySales Manager – The Rose BowlTel. 023 8047 2002Fax. 023 8047 2122Mob. 07766 505794

Somerset failed to complete their hat trick of victories over international opposition when they were beaten by Zimbabwe at the County Ground on Tuesday.Chasing a total of 285 Somerset went into their final two overs needing eighteen runs to win, which had reduced to eleven by the last over, but try as they may the task was just beyond the young eighth wicket pair of Wes Durston and Gareth Andrew and they went down by just 3 runs.Earlier the visitors total had been based upon a fifth wicket partnership of 134 in 20 overs between Stuart Carlisle who made a fine 119 and Stuart Matsikenyeri who hit a breezy 66. Steffan Jones was the pick of the home bowlers with 2 for 40 from his ten overs whilst Simon Francis ended with 2 for 56.The key partnership in Somerset’s reply came from Peter Bowler and Keith Dutch who added 134 in 22 overs for the third wicket before Bowler was stumped for 93.His partner Dutch had the misfortune to be run out yet again, as he was on Sunday, whilst he was backing up at the bowler’s end when a fierce drive from Ian Blackwell was touched onto the stumps by bowler Heath Streak. The former Middlesex man had made 93, the highest one day score of his career and looked all set for a well deserved century.Skipper Mike Burns followed shortly afterwards to a sharp catch at backward square leg, and from 218 for 2 the hosts slipped to 270 for 5. Matt Wood and Blackwell were both run out which left the two Somerset youngsters facing a tough task that proved to be just beyond them.At the end of the game coach Kevin Shine said: "Once again we had an excellent pitch that produced a high scoring game, and once again we have got ourselves into a winning position, but failed because of two freak dismissals- Keith Dutch’s run out and Mike Burn’s catch at backward square.""We paced our reply well today, and Peter Bowler and Keith Dutch both played very well for us. Today we have played an international side and but for two freak dismissals we would have won," he concluded.

10.5 overs

In the end it wasn’t the thrilling finale that the competition deserved, but it nevertheless produced worthy champions as Surrey became the first ever Twenty20 Cup winners at Trent Bridge. After Jimmy Ormond had helped reduce Warwickshire to a miserable 115 all out, Ian Ward and Alistair Brown led Surrey to an emphatic nine-wicket win.Ormond was the star of the show and deservedly picked up a healthy cheque for the Man of the Match award. He led the way for Surrey on a seaming and bouncy pitch under the lights with an immaculate display of seam bowling. He ended with 4 for 11 and immediately put Warwickshire on the back foot with those four early wickets.Neil Carter and Nick Knight both played on to Ormond, and Jim Troughton couldn’t repeat his heroics of the morning as he and the other batsmen found life more difficult under the evening lights. Troughton only lasted three balls before he was caught by Brown at first slip off Ormond (22 for 3). Azhar Mahmood then got in on the act when Ian Bell fell to a peach of a delivery. The ball seamed and spat from just short of a length, and Bell could only fend it to Rikki Clarke at point (32 for 4).Batting wasn’t easy and the batsmen were just looking to survive, making it easy to forget this was a Twenty20 game – let alone the final. And things got worse for Warwickshire when the impressive Ormond picked up his fourth wicket, Dougie Brown, who nicked him to Jonathan Batty, the wicketkeeper, for a three-ball duck to leave Warwickshire in dire straights at 33 for 5.Trevor Penney (33) and Tony Frost (31) did their best to post some sort of challenging score with the odd big hit, but after they both fell the wickets continued to tumble. Collins Obuya heaved a few lusty blows, including a six off Saqlain Mushtaq over midwicket to bring up the 100 in the sixteenth over, but that was as good as it got.Obuya was caught in the deep going for another big hit, and when Neil Smith was needlessly run out by Waqar Younis with two overs remaining, it summed up a sorry batting display from the Warwickshire Bears – who were nursing very sore heads.Warwickshire needed quick wickets, so Ward smashing 20 off the first over, from Neil Carter, wasn’t quite what they were looking for. Ward spanked four boundaries off the wayward Carter, and Waqar, who must have been licking his lips with the seaming conditions and playing against his old club, couldn’t produce any magic.Ward and Brown were keen to wrap things up as quickly as possible and the fifty partnership came off only 33 balls, and they continued to shine under the lights and treat the full house to some dazzling strokeplay. Brown showed signs of getting back to his buccaneering best, especially when he launched the other Brown, Dougie, for a cracking straight six in amongst his three maximums.Knight turned to Obuya in a last throw of the dice, but he disappeared in to the Nottingham night, conceding 18 off his one and only over. Ward smote his fifty from 26 balls, and Brown notched his first half century of the competition from 32.In a comical touch fitting for such a successful new innovation, Knight bowled the last over himself among smiles and laughs with his old England team-mate Mark Ramprakash, who then put on a more familiar straight face, and cracked him through the covers for the winning boundary.Second semi-final

Scorecard

What promised to be a run-fest of a semi-final turned out to be a low-scoring thriller, in which Surrey scraped home by five runs and booked their place in the Twenty20 Cup final at Trent Bridge. Surrey’s score of 147 for 9 didn’t look like a winning one, but after an opening burst from Jimmy Ormond and Azhar Mahmood, Gloucestershire couldn’t quite recover.After their disappointing effort with the bat, Surrey made immediate amends with a blistering start in which Gloucestershire’s tri-nations top three only managed eight runs between them. Craig Spearman was bowled by Ormond for 1, Jonty Rhodes went first ball, edging Azhar Mahmood to Jonathan Batty, the wicketkeeper, and Ian Harvey skied Mahmood to Saqlain Mushtaq at mid on. That left Gloucestershire reeling on 17 for 3, and time for Alex Gidman and Matt Windows to step up.However, Saqlain gave it a rip in his mixed spell of 1 for 24, and Windows fell to a quicker ball which clipped his off stump. Gidman and Mark Hardinges then stopped the rot with a partnership of 52. Hardinges knocked 24 from 26, including three fours, and when he was bowled by Adam Hollioake, Chris Taylor carried on the good work with a four from his first ball.It was Gidman though, who kept Gloucestershire’s hopes alive with six fours and three sixes to all parts of Trent Bridge, including two huge hits over midwicket off Ian Salisbury in the sixteeenth over. But just as the game was tilting back Gloucestershire’s way, Mahmood struck again to remove Gidman for a fighting 61 from 49 balls.That left Gloucestershire needing 28 from 14, and then 17 off the last over, bowled by Mahmood, who was by then suffering from cramp and is a doubt for the final. Martyn Ball hit the third ball for four over extra cover, but Mahmood held his nerve to see Surrey through.Gloucestershire though will be kicking themselves after their usual one-day wonders in the field restricted Surrey to 147 for 9. Harvey was again at the fore. He mixed up his yorkers and slower balls to good effect and finished with 2 for 32, including Graham Thorpe, bowled second ball. Mike Smith, the most economical bowler in competition, was his miserly self with 0 for 11 from his four overs, and Ball looped his way to 2 for 26.However, Ian Ward battled away with a valuable 49 from 48 balls, by far the top scorer as the other batsmen struggled, and they will be hoping they can do better against the Warwickshire attack under the lights this evening. But in the meantime, let’s all enjoy a bit of Atomic Kitten.First semi-final

Scorecard

Trevor Penney and Jim Troughton led Warwickshire through to the first ever Twenty20 Cup final at Trent Bridge. Chasing Leicestershire’s under-par 162, Penney and Troughton overcame a mid-innings wobble, and cruised home with four balls to spare.Penney, who earlier kept wicket, made sure Warwickshire kept ahead of the run-rate with a classy 43 not out from 30 balls, and Troughton put his England disappointment behind him with a much more assured 33 not out from 21.Neil Carter was a surprise promotion to the top of the order, and the move paid off as he whipped a quick 35. But once Ian Bell was out for only four, and Nick Knight ran himself out for 32, the Leicestershire Foxes were back in with a sniff. However, Penney and Troughton put them back off the trail with 67 in six overs before Penney hit the winning boundary off Darren Maddy.Leicestershire made a disastrous start after choosing to bat first. Virender Sehwag was caught by Knight off Waqar Younis (3 for 21) for 5 and Trevor Ward fell for the same number of runs after he was brilliantly run out by Dougie Brown. However, Brag Hodge gave Leicestershire some sort of total with a dashing 66 from 50 balls, including a steepling six off Collins Obuya to bring up his fifty. He put on 59 with Maddy (26), but their 162 was never going to be enough.After the game, Philip DeFreitas, the Leicestershire captain, who only bowled one over due to a groin strain, said: “We were 20 runs short, and our fielding and bowling was not up to scratch. Warwickshire played extremely well and good luck to them in the final.”

In 1922 Hampshire defeated Warwickshire in the county Championship at Edgbaston after having been bowled out for 15, and asked to follow on. In fact the two captains had organised a game of golf the 3rd day. Although todays victory over Glamorgan did not emulate those heights, it was the first time since that 1922 fixture that Hampshire asked to follow their innings went on to an amazing victory.The seeds of doubt were sown in the Glamorgan camp the evening before, at 33-3 John Derrick their coach decided that the evening planned for a team dinner had to be cancelled.Two young men stepped up for Hampshire. Chris Tremlett already tried and trusted although prone to injury, playing his comeback match after split shins shone the brightest. Although there was cloud about to assist the seamers, Tremlett’s extra strength and bounce made the batsmen struggle, but it was James Bruce the other trojan of the day that made the early breakthrough when a quicker ball decieved the dangerous Michael Powell and he was well caught by substitute wicket-keeper Iain Brunnschweiler.Matthew Maynard who many of the Welsh supporters looked to to bring this game back managed to survive for 22 balls, before he was trapped by Tremlett for just 3. Dean Cosker the night-watchman then became Bruce’s third victim with a palpable lbw. Harrison, Croft and Dale all went to Tremlett giving the tall bowler a career best haul, before Dimitri Mascarenhas finished the match when he had Kasprowicz caught superbly in the slips by Simon Katich.Dale who was diagnosed with a broken rib bravely came out.History was made, but perhaps for the season remaining it could be a turning point.One down point of the match was that Nic Pothas has become the third player to sustain a hamstring injury, and is likely to be out for up to three weeks.

The Rose Bowl will host the final of the ECB 2nd XI Trophy on Monday 8th September (reserve day 9th September) where Hampshire 2nd XI will play Warwickshire 2nd XI starting at 11:00 am.The match is a 50 overs a side contest, played under similar rules to the Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy.Admission is free and the club hope that as many spectators as possible will be there to support the future of the club.Hampshire qualified by winning all their eight qualifying group matches then defeating Sussex in the semi-final at The Rose Bowl.Warwickshire reached the semi-final after winning 5 out of 6 matches, with two rain abandoned. They then defeated Derbyshire in the knock-out stage.