After a losing day one due to a soggy outfield, play finally got underway at the Allan Border Field and Queensland had the good fortune to the win the toss and elected to bat. When the players left the field for the bad light they were4 for 208 in a shortened day off 80 overs.Andrew Symonds innings of 98 off just 99 balls with ten fours and four big sixeswas the highlight of the days play following a slow start where the run rate barely crept above two runs an over. However Symonds had his luck, being dropped by Jeff Vaughan off Paul Wilson before he had scored.Mind you the rain over the preceding days had an impact on the outfield which was mainly to blame for the run rate but nonetheless the visitors did bowl well in the early stages.In the first session Jimmy Maher and Troy Dixon scored at a slow rate in the early stages and was Maher first to go, edging Swain to Bradley Young at first slip after taking nearly two hours over his 18.After lunch, Dixon’s slow knock came to an end after over two and a half hours of resistance when he edged Wilson to Manou for 30 and the Bulls were 2/62.Tall right hander Martin Love lost his wicket in the following over to Young and suddenly South Australia had a real sniff at 3/62.Stuart Law was joined by Symonds and they progressed to tea with Queensland 3/115 from 56 overs, Law was on 15 and Symonds 36.After tea and scones Law missed one from Swain but then Symonds went on the attack hitting Young for 20 off an over and doing likewise to Ben Johnson. At the close he needs just one for a century and how theSouthern Redbacks must be ruing that dropped chance

The Sinhalese Sports Club defeated Police Sports Club by eight wickets to secure their place in the semi-finals next weekend. SSC won the match with ease. They bowled out Police SC for just 112 in 36.2 overs before knocking off a Duckworth Lewis adjusted target of 111 in just 16 overs.The start of the match was delayed due to overnight rain. Play finally began at 11.15am and the scheduled overs were then reduced to 44. However, Duckworth Lewis was introduced after a bizarre interruption in play. Not because of rain or bad light, but because at 1am, a Sri Lankan army helicopter landed on the outfield and held up play for 60 minutes.SSC won the toss and had no hesitation in putting the Police into bat. There batsmen never settled against the SSC bowling attacking. Dilhara Fernando continued his impressive early season form with two for 14, the erstwhile campaigner, Pramodya Wickramasinghe, chipped in with two wickets for 10 runs and Tilan Samaraweera picked up two wickets with his off spin.The only Police batsmen to linger long at the crease were Thamara Aberathne, who scored 22, and Nihal Zoysa, who top scored with 27.SSC began their run chase in attacking fashion. Once again Avishka Gunawardene was in swashbuckling form. He added 46 runs for the first wicket with Upeka Fernando, his contribution being 26 from just 21 balls, including one six and three fours.Marvan Attapattu joined Fernando at the fall of Gunawardene’s wicket. It was Upeka Fernando though who stole the show. He was a delight to watch and scored 40 runs from only 33 balls. When he was dismissed Mahela Jayawardene (19) and Attapattu (22) guided SSC to the victory target.

With their batsmen looking in supreme touch, Haryana thrashed Himachal Pradeshby nine wickets in their North Zone Ranji Trophy One-day Tournament at the ModelSports Ground in Delhi on Thursday.Set to score 196 for a win, Haryana openers P Sehrawat (64) and Jasvir Singh (64not out) put on 97 runs before being seperated in the 23rd over by Nischal Gaur.Sehrawat was the only batsman to be dismissed, when he was bowled by Gaur. Hefaced 75 balls and hit seven fours and a six.On the dismissal of Sehrawat, Haryana skipper Parender Singh and Jasvir added102 runs during an unbroken second wicket stand off 22.4 overs. Jasvir faced121 balls and hit four boundaries. Parinder on the other hand needed only 79balls for his 63 while finding the boundary eight times.Earlier, opting to bat, Himachal put 198 on the board. One drop Nischal Gaur wasthe top scorer with 40 while the others chipped in with useful contributions. FGhyas was the most successful bowler with figures of four for 45 from his tenovers.

Chris Silverwood recorded figures of 5-20 to put Yorkshire in a dominantposition after the second day of their CricInfo Championship match against Glamorgan at Swansea.Silverwood’s impressive effort – his third five-wicket haul of thesummer – was largely responsible for bowling Glamorgan out for 104,replying to Yorkshire’s first innings of 280 all out.But strangely Yorkshire skipper David Byas failed to enforce thefollow-on, preferring instead to build on his side’s 176-run firstinnings lead.But the plan seemed to have backfired a little when Yorkshire foundthemselves 7-2 and then 53-4. By tea they had recovered to 87-4, a leadof 263.By the close that lead had been increased to 378 thanks mainly to a120-run partnership for the fifth wicket in 30 overs between Byas, whoregistered his second half-century of the match, and Gary Fellows.The damage to the Glamorgan first innings was done when they foundthemselves 4-3 inside three overs this morning thanks to Silverwood.James got a fine edge to the wicket-keeper while Powell and Maynard edgedto third and second slip respectively as Silverwood found plenty of lifein the Swansea pitch.Jimmy Maher did his best to launch a recovery along with Adrian Dale asthe pair added 56 in 18 overs.But then Dale and Maher perished in consecutive Gavin Hamilton overs asGlamorgan slumped to 61-5. There was more trouble just before lunch whenAdrian Shaw was caught at short leg off James Middlebrook. And afterlunch Glamorgan collapsed from 86-6 to 104 all out in the space of 4.1overs.

Kent’s rash batting coupled with an inspired spell of bowling by Glamorgan seamer Darren Thomas ensured honours finished just about even at the end of this first day of four at Maidstone.The hosts totalled 304 on a dry and fairly benign pitch at The Mote after winning the toss, a score that may well prove well below par once Glamorgan crack on from their overnight score of seven for one tomorrow.It was a day of what might have been for the hosts who, despite posting three batting bonus points, ought to have boasted two centuries to go with them.Ed Smith, fresh from an excellent 84 in Leeds last week, raced to 74 from 94 balls before clipping a catch to the diving Steve Watkin just before lunch.Opener Rob Key also appeared on course for his second Championship ton of the campaign when he attempted to cut Dean Cosker, only to pick out James Maher at slip to go for 97 in a shade over four and a half hours.The introduction of Thomas from the Rugby End coincided with a change in the weather and the Welsh seamer revelled in the overcast conditions by claiming four for 13 in 24 balls.The 26-year-old, aided and abetted by some wild strokes, sent back Matthew Fleming, Paul Nixon, Min Patel and James Golding in quick succession as the Kent middle order collapsed.The tenth-wicket pairing of Ben Trott (13) and Martin Saggers (27) repaired some of the damage by reaching 300, after which Saggers picked up the new ball to remove Maher leg before in the final over of the day.

Somerset skipper Jamie Cox is keen to take advantage of the fact that Yorkshire and Surrey are not playing in the fresh round of the CricInfo Championship.Somerset are currently third in the Championship and hope to close the gap on the two pace setters when they meet bottom club Northants at Wantage Road.”It’ll be good if we can get closer to them,” Cox explained. “We managed to get 10 points last week (against Yorkshire), and we batted well. We’re going okay and sitting where we need to be sitting. It’s about getting steady points.”Cox will miss the next two or three weeks with his broken thumb, leaving Somerset without several first team players to a mixture of England calls and injury, but rival captain, David Ripley, is taking nothing for granted.”Somerset are a good side. They have quite a small squad but always seem very together and close-knit. Obviously they’ll be missing (Andy) Caddick and (Marcus) Trescothick, but they’ve got guys to come in and take their chances.”Kent are level on points with Somerset, and entertain Leicestershire at Canterbury.”Leicestershire are playing good cricket and I expect them to come down here full of confidence,” Kent captain Matthew Fleming said. “They have shown they’ve got great strength in depth and they’ve got good match-winners with the bat and the ball.”Aftab Habib returns to strengthen the visitors’ squad.Middlesex and Warwickshire meet at Edgbaston in a top of the table Second Division clash, with Mohammed Sheikh’s medium pace expected to be preferred to the off-spin of former captain, Neil Smith, for the hosts.Middlesex’s coach, John Emburey, is expecting a tight encounter. “It’s a top-of-the-table clash and it’s not going to be easy,” he said. “They play some positive cricket and try to get their runs quickly. I’d imagine it’ll be a very close match between two evenly-matched sides.”Meanwhile Durham travel to West End to play Hampshire. Stephen Harmison is hoping to be fit for the visitors, but Nick Hatch has been included in the squad as cover. James Brinkley is away with the Scottish squad in Canada for the 2001 ICC Trophy.”Durham have been playing very well in the one-day championship and they are far more consistent in the championship this year,” Tim Tremlett, Hampshire’s director of cricket, said.Gloucestershire will have to cope without Jon Lewis who has a bad back, but Ben Gannon is expected to play as they travel to Derby. The home side welcome back Paul Aldred and Nathan Dumelow.Kevin Pietersen will miss Nottinghamshire’s home match with Sussex suffering from a pinched nerve in his back. Ex-Test player, 37-year-old John Morris is the man likely to replace him.

Well-known cricket coach and former Ranji Trophy player, KB Tarapore,who had trained many cricketers of repute including Rahul Dravid,Erapalli Prasanna and Brijesh Patel, died in Bangalore today after about of pneumonia, according to family sources.Tarapore was 78, and is survived by son Shavir Tarapore, aninternational umpire, and a daughter.Popularly known as `Keki’ to his friends and cricketers, he had playedfor the erstwhile Mysore state in the Ranji Trophy. He had alsocoached several junior cricketers.

Division One (Time games)Burridge 82 (0pts) (Francis 23, Taylor 5-11, Goldstraw 3-15)
B.A.T.Sports 94-0 (22pts) (Banks 69*)
B.A.T.Sports won by 10 wicketsHungerford 131 (1pt) (Maier 42, Pope 29, Williams 25, Motchall 4-31)
Calmore Sports 134-2 (21pts) (Cass 51, Goode 31, Pegler 28)
Calmore Sports won by 8 wicketsLiphook and Riplsey 156-9 (0pts) (Brown 45, Berry 30, Woodhouse 3-37)
Andover 157-1 (21pts) (M Miller 100)
Andover won by 9 wicketsSouth Wilts 199 (5pts) (Cranch 55, Woodhouse 34, Lamb 29, King 3-42, Taylor 3-45)
Bashley (Rydal) 202-7 (21pts) (Sexton 52, Knowles 40, Loader 34, Neal 32, Tomlinson 3-37)
Bashley (Rydal) won by 3 wicketsBournemouth v Havant – Match abandoned without a ball bowledDivision Two (50 overs)Cove 377-3 (22pts) (Benham 161, Randall 90, Tomsett 48, Smith 45)
Old Basing 75 (1pt) (Docis 3-13, Audsley 3-17)
Cove won by 302 runsEaston and Martyr Worthy 98 (1pt) (Steve Green 38, Neave 24, Prittipaul 3-18)
Portsmouth 99-2 (21pts) (Prittipaul 42)
Portsmouth won by 8 wicketsSparsholt 218-9 (21pts) (Richings 91, Kelly 34, Shotton 5-29)
Hambledon 162 (6pts) (Turner 59, Norris 26)
Sparsholt won by 56 runsTrojans 209 (20pts) (Williams 73, Lancaster 39, Subnaik 31, Ord 4-45)
Old Tauntonians and Romsey 180-9 (8pts) (Smith 45, M Trodd 34, Donaldson 3-41
Trojans won by 29 runsU.S.Portsmouth 204 (21pts) (Geoghegan 67, Ainsley 52, Allen 3-42)
Lymington 160 (7pts) (Craft 70, Lewis 3-22, Barsby 3-38)
U.S.Portsmouth won by 44 runsDivision Three (50 oversFlamingo 198-9 (20pts) (Fenigan 85)
Leckford 87 (4pts) (Bulpitt 26, McMurray 5-23)
Flamingo won by 111 runsAlton 159 (3pts)
Gosport Borough 162-2 (22pts)
Gosport Borough won by 8 wicketsHavant II 103 (0pts) (Ward 27, Cambray 4-30, Burns 3-30)
Hursley Park 105-1 (21pts) (Harris 31, Marks 27, Edwards 24)
Hursley Park won by 9 wicketsPortsmouth II 203 (21pts) (Joy 50, Mitchell 42, M Scott 30, Marsh 3-31)
Bashley (Rydal) II 110 (4pts) (Herbert 31, M Scott 4-20, Mitchell 3-31)
Portsmouth II won by 93 runsPurbrook 197-5 (20pts) (Repsold 85)
Hook and Newnham Basics 170 (4pts) (O’Kelly 54, Kaminski 33, McCoy 3-30, Stanley 3-34, Brewer 3-35)
Rowledge won by 38 runsSt.Cross Symondians 213 (21pts) (Rees 49, Francis 36, Parker 31, L Beck 4-59)
New Milton 183 (7pts) (Watts 38, Lipscombe 4-29, Padwick 3-35)
St.Cross Symondians won by 30 runsWaterlooville 217-9 (21pts) (Over 48, Baumann 39, Carr 3-45)
Lymington II 151 (6pts) (Carr 31, Phillips 29, Shephard 6-34)
Winchester KS 257-3 (22pts)
U.S.Portsmouth II 123 (1pt)
Winchester K.S. won by 134 runs

This morning, the sturdy ramparts of the Galle Fort were bedecked withred flags in preparation for a radical political rally this evening.However, the organisers of the rally surely picked the wrong day towhip up the local residents into an angry frenzy, for they will bejoyfully celebrating an emphatic Test victory.With the ground bathed in hot sunshine, the result of this match was aforegone conclusion. Sri Lanka duly won by ten wickets after theybowled out India for 180 in their second innings, their lowest everscore against their sub-continental neighbours ­- the second lowest wastheir 187 in the first innings.Rahul Dravid and Venkatesh Prasad showed up their partners for theirspineless exhibition on Friday evening when they batted studiously for51 minutes this morning to avoid an innings defeat. Muralitharan,however, finally trapped Prasad lbw to claim his 25th five-wicket haulin Test cricket.Muralitharan, in fact, had a frustrating morning when numerous legbefore shouts were turned down, as the Indian batsmen tucked theirbats behind their pads. The Sri Lankans believe that the off spinneris getting a raw deal and Sanath Jayasuriya admitted that Muralitharanwas “frustrated.” Nevertheless, he finished with eight wickets in thegame.Fittingly, man of the match Sanath Jayasuriya, who had done so much towin the game with a rollicking hundred on the second day, then strodeto the crease and finished the match with a trademark slash to thepoint boundary. Sri Lanka had beaten India for only the second time intheir 21-Test history, the last time being way back in 1985 whenDuleep Mendis’s side won 16 years ago in Colombo to record Sri Lanka’sfirst ever Test victory.Indian coach John Wright admitted his side had been “outplayed in alldepartments of the game.” He pinpointed Dilhara Fernando’s two-wicketburst at the end of the first day as the key moment in the match. “Theturning point was the two late wickets on Tuesday evening,” he said.”We had started well and I thought that a first innings score of 250plus might be competitive. In the event it wouldn’t have been becausewe bowled so poorly and kept feeding the best square cutter in theworld.”Ganguly looked disconsolate afterwards: “You can’t win Test matches ifyou score 187 in the first innings. We made a good start, but failedto capitalise on it.”He admitted that they needed to think hard as to how best to playMuralitharan: “A lot of the guys are playing Muralitharan for thefirst time, so it’s going to take time. The players that have scoredruns off him have been stroke players, so we need to look at that.”India now have four days to prepare for the second Test in Kandy. Aproposed rest on the beach has been cancelled and they leave for thehill country on Saturday. Wright said: “There are two more Tests andthe players simply have to pick themselves up and play with both prideand commitment.”The Sri Lankans were naturally delighted, but both captain and coachpointed to their recent failures in Kandy where they have squanderedopportunities to clinch series wins against both South Africa andEngland during the past 12 months. Sanath Jayasuriya simply said, “Wehave to change that sequence.”Sri Lanka coach praised the efforts of his side, but pointed out:”This was only one game. We are still at an infancy stage as far asthe reconstruction of the side is concerned. When we are through wewill ensure that we can win at home and abroad. It’s important that wedon’t get carried away.”The second Test now starts on Wednesday in Kandy, the antithesis ofGalle for Sri Lanka. They have now won four out of the six Testsplayed in Galle by thumping margins. In Kandy, however, they have losttheir last two games. That, at least, should provide India with somehope, even though their performance in Galle doesn’t even justifywishful thinking.

The working committee meeting of the Board of Control for Cricket inIndia will be held at the Cricket Club of India (CCI) in Mumbai onAugust 25.The main agenda is to finalise and make changes (if any) in theforthcoming foreign tours and home series starting with the Indianteam’s tour of South Africa, the tours by England and Zimbabwe toIndia and the Asian Test championship, according to a BCCI official inMumbai on Tuesday.The new format for the domestic circuit, including Ranji Trophy andDuleep Trophy, will also be discussed, the official said.Meanwhile, the BCCI has despatched invitations for the technicalcommittee meeting to be held at Baroda on August 11 to batting maestroSachin Tendulkar, leg spinner Anil Kumble and former Test stars ArunLal and Krishnamachari Srikkanth, the official said.However, it is still not clear whether Tendulkar, who is nursing a toeinjury, will attend the meeting as he is scheduled to undergo a secondbone scan on August 10 to determine how well the hairline fracture onhis toe has healed, the official said.The technical committee meeting will be chaired by former Indianskipper Sunil Gavaskar and the selection committee chairman ChanduBorde is also expected to attend the meeting with zonalrepresentatives, he added.