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At 10:00 am when the captains went out to the middle to toss, the weather was overcast and a little muggy. Robin Smith chose correctly and taking the conditions into account decided to bat. By 10:30 am, the clouds had cleared and the sun shone brightly. At 399-3, Robin now wonders why the gods have it in for him.Hampshire welcomed back Alan Mullally and Nic Pothas after injury, and gave a Hampshire first class debut to Jimmy Adams.To be fair to the Sussex weather, the Hampshire bowlers did not bowl very well in the morning session, and Zimbabwean Murray Goodwin and Richard Montgomerie took advantage of that and the improved conditions.Goodwin in particular was in top form, taking advantage of the short boundary at the members side he pulled and cut his way to a century just after lunch before finally Dimitri Mascarenhas caught him lbw.Montgomerie who was battling against a bad run of form, scratched around at the start, but he was there at the end 168 not out, his confidence improved especially after his century, striking 9 fours in a row.Tony Cottey sayed with Montgomerie for a 71 run partnership, before he edged Johnson to wicket-keeper Pothas, he was given out after the umpires consulted over whether the ball carried.The Hampshire bowlers toiled, but got their third wicket (and their first bonus point) when the dangerous looking Chris Adams was superbly caught by Shaun Udal off his own bowling.All in all a bad day at the office for Hampshire, and puts them even more unlikely to avoid the relegation bottom three.

The final day of Glamorgan`s Championship match with Kent at Swanseaeventually began at 3.50pm after another morning of continuous rain and apersistant sea fret. Both teams had patiently waited in the Swanseapavilion, hoping that the mizzle would lift in mid-afternoon, and with bonuspoints at a premium, both captains were eager for the chance to secure afurther point.As on the previous three days, the shroud of mist slowly lifted as the tidewent out in Swansea Bay, and in the 16 overs that were possible, both teamswere duly rewarded for their patience, each picking up a further batting andbowling point.Glamorgan resumed on 177-8, with Darren Thomas and Dean Cosker initiallythwarting Kent`s hopes of a third bowling point. Their partnership hadreached 36 as Darren Thomas guided Ben Trott to the third man boundary toput the Welsh county in sight of their first batting point. But in the nextover, Cosker was bowled off his thigh pad as he tried to fend off a shortball from Saggers.Eight balls later, Darren Thomas saw the Welsh county to their first battingpoint with a pull for two off Trott, and then with the doughty support oflast man Steve Watkin, Thomas then set about seeing the Welshmen to what hadseemed at first the unlikely prospect of a second batting point.Thomas duly became the top scorer in the Glamorgan innings when he straightdrove Trott to the sightscreen, before Watkin guided the ball to theunguarded third man boundary. Watkin repeated the stroke on two otheroccasions to take their partnership to 40, but then Thomas chipped Flemingto backward square leg where Robert Key took a chest high catch.There were 13 overs remaining as the players took to the field again, butbefore another ball could be bowled, the rain and mist descended again, andthe game ended in a soggy draw.In all, over 200 overs were lost in this, the first of three games whichform this year`s Swansea Festival. The loss of so much play was a hugedisappointment for the cricketing folk of south-west Wales, and inparticular the St.Helen’s Balconiers who have worked so hard over thewinter months to organise the Festival.After three days of thick low cloud, steady drizzle and a dank sea fret,there was hardly anything festive about the conditions at the historicSt.Helen`s ground. However, the weather forecasters are more optimistic aboutconditions for the rest of the week, so hopefully the loyal supporters willbe rewarded for their hard work with a prompt start to the Championshipmatch against Yorkshire at this ground on Wednesday.After so many blank days, they will be eager to get back out into themiddle, none more so than captain Steve James, who missed the openingfortnight of the season after a knee operation. So far in 2001, theGlamorgan opener has had just one Championship innings, in which he scored asingle, and he will be hoping to take his seasonal aggregate into threefigures with a more lengthy stay at the crease against Yorkshire.It was not that long ago that county batsmen at the start of each seasonaimed to join the small and illustrious group of players who had scored1 000 runs in first-class cricket by the start of June. Graeme Hick was thelast batsman to reach this landmark, back in 1988, but if the weatherpatterns of the past fortnight are repeated in the years to come, there is achance that no other county batsman will ever reach this milestone again.

Glamorgan look likely to sign Australian Michael Kasprowicz as their overseas player for next season.The 30-year-old fast bowler, who hasn’t played for Australia since the second Test against India two years ago, is set to sign a one-year deal.Kasprowicz, formerly of Leicestershire and Essex, replaces fellow countryman Jimmy Maher at Sophia Gardens.Kasprowicz told the South Wales Echo: “The opportunity came up and having heard such great reports from Jimmy Maher, I thought that’s the place I just have to get to.”Jimmy told me that the people of Glamorgan are a wonderful bunch.”

Former Transvaal batsman Moosa Mangera has died at the age of 67 in Johannesburg after battling cancer. He played 29 first-class matches, scoring 952 runs and taking 40 wickets in an 18-year cricket career that came to an end in 1989.Moosa was known for his athleticism, was nicknamed ‘monkey’, and besides cricket he represented Transvaal in football and athletics. He was their wicketkeeper for a couple of seasons, before earning a reputation as an energetic fielder.He played some memorable knocks for his side, including one in a crucial match against Natal in which he hurt himself, top-edging a bouncer on to his face. He was rushed off the field, but he returned with a swollen eye to score a half-century and set up a win.”This is sad news indeed,” Cricket South Africa (CSA) acting CEO Jacques Faul said. “He was a multi-talented sportsman who would surely have gained international honours in at least one of the codes at which he excelled had he had the opportunity.”More than that he was one of the characters who make cricket such a special game. On behalf of the CSA Family I extend condolences to his family and friends.”

The ICC’s chief investigator for corruption and match-fixing, Sir PaulCondon, is to visitPakistan in the last week of May. CricInfo has learned that thePakistan Cricket Boardinvited him during the ICC’s last meeting inMelbourne.Brig Munawar Rana, PCB Director, told CricInfothat as far ashe knew no investigation was on the agenda. “Our stance throughout hasbeen that wewould cooperate with the ICC on all matters, including corruption andmatch-fixinginvestigations,” he said.When asked whether Sir Paul would be meeting those Pakistanicricketers namedin the Indian Crime Branch’s report (which was released lastNovember, and on thebasis of which a number of Indian cricketers, including former skipperAzharuddin, werebanned for life) such as former captain Salim Malik, Brig. Ranaresponded that so far nosuch request had been made.Nine foreign players were named in the Indian report.A recent report emanating from India quoted Condon assaying that hewould be interrogating some Pakistani players.”In any case, if Condon requests such a meeting or meetings, ourresponse would bepositive and we would like to assist in any way we can. But since SalimMalik is not one ofthe contracted cricketers, we cannot make it mandatory for him to gothrough such ameeting,” said Brig. Rana.Sir Paul is currently touring Sri Lanka where he hasinterrogated former SriLankan captains, Arjuna Ranatunga and Aravinda de Silva.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsShane Watson powered Australia to another victory•ICC/Getty

Shane Watson has carried Australia in every match of this tournament and has now all but muscled them into the semi-finals with another outstanding all-round performance against South Africa. Watson picked up two wickets to help restrict South Africa and then crunched 70 from 47 balls to set up their successful chase of 147, as the Australians cruised to victory with 14 balls to spare.The South Africans were lacklustre with the bat and sloppy in the field, and while the result has not yet knocked them out of the tournament, they will need other results to fall their way if they are to progress to the semi-finals. For that to happen, Pakistan would need to lose to both India and Australia, and South Africa would need to beat India and then hope their net run-rate was good enough to sneak them ahead of Pakistan and India.By the same token, the win has not technically confirmed Australia’s place in the semi-finals, but their very strong net run-rate meant that for them to miss out, not only would India need to beat both Pakistan and South Africa but Australia would also need a disaster in their last match against Pakistan. The way Watson is playing, such an outcome seems about as likely as Simon Taufel being drafted in to Australia’s XI.For the fourth time from Australia’s four games in this World T20, Watson was Man of the Match. He ended the game on top of the tournament run tally and wicket list. It didn’t all go the way of the Australians early in their innings this time around. David Warner was kept quiet and then on 5 had his middle stump knocked back by Morne Morkel when he backed away and tried to release the pressure. Australia were 10 for 1 in the fourth over, and South Africa had a sniff.But Watson batted precisely as he had to. He picked up the first boundary of the innings in the fifth over when he cut viciously for four off Jacques Kallis’ first ball, and then plundered three boundaries off the next over from Morkel. Watson was away, and it didn’t take long before he was really heaving, lifting Robin Peterson over midwicket for six and pulling Wayne Parnell for six to bring up his half-century.By that stage, South Africa could not afford a single mistake, and they made one when Watson, on 52, skied Peterson and was put down by Parnell running in from long-off. Eventually Watson fell – caught by Parnell at long-off from the bowling of Peterson, oddly enough – but by then he had added another 18 runs and put Australia within sight of victory.Michael Hussey kept the runs coming – a lofted six over wide long-on from the bowling of Parnell was especially impressive – and South Africa couldn’t find a way to pick up the wickets they needed to slow Australia’s run-rate. They could have had one when Hussey advanced to Peterson and the ball skidded through, but AB de Villiers fumbled what should have been a straightforward stumping.