Tripura went into the last day of their Ranji Trophy East Zone Leaguematch played at Keenan Stadium, Jamshedpur on Wednesday at 92/2 still114 runs behind Bihar. And Tripura did themselves proud by batting allthrough the day and finishing at 333/7 in 135 overs. Bihar were helpedby some useful partnerships all along. But the star of the day forTripura was the right handed batsman Mridul Gupta who scored 99.Mridul was unlucky to have got out just one short of a hundred. Hefaced 167 balls and hit 15 sizzling fours. There were notable scoresby S Dasgupta (63) who added 78 in 24.1 overs for the fourth wicketwith Mridul Gupta. C Sachdev made 37 and added 92 in 26.4 overs withMridul for the fifth wicket. Bihar tried out nine different bowlersbut none were really sharp enough to make decisive breakthroughs.Tripura earned three points by the virtue of a draw. Bihar whodominated with the bat, had to be satisfied with five points thanks tothe first innings lead.

Punjab qualified for the Semifinals of the Vijay Merchant Trophy thanks to the first innings lead over Saurashtra. Rahul Arora missed out on the double century as he got out at 195. Arora was severe on Saurashtra bowling smashing 6 sixes and 19 fours in his 267 balls. He was given good support by T Kanish who made 88 (2 sixes, 6 fours) as they put on 198 for the seventh wicket in 45 overs. Punjab were all out for 493 in the 117th over. S Padhiyar picked up three of the four wickets to fall on the third day. At the close of play Saurashtra were 197/5 in 50 overs in their second innings. BM Chauhan made 46 and A Sinha 38 to steady the innings after losing J Yadav for a duck. S Padhiyar was inbeaten on 35 with CA Pujara on 32. Vipul Sharma picked up 3/26 to take the match tally to 8/69.

Yorkshire increased their lead at the top of the CricInfo Championship after a comprehensive 328-run win over Glamorgan at Swansea inside three days.The Division One leaders took 17 points from the game after bowlingGlamorgan out for 125 in their second innings by 3.30 today.At the start of day three Yorkshire batted on in their second innings toextend their overnight lead of 374 and set Glamorgan the daunting taskof 474 to win in five and a half sessions.Glamorgan would have had to re-write their record books if they weregoing to reach the winning post, but by lunch it became obvious thatonly rain that was forecast for later today and tomorrow would savethem.At lunch Glamorgan had disintegrated to 52-4 with Jimmy Maher, MikePowell, Matthew Maynard and Steve James all back in the pavilion, withthe damage having been done by Ryan Sidebottom and Gavin Hamilton withtwo wickets apiece.After lunch Hamilton continued where he left off by taking three wicketsin an over to remove Adrian Shaw and Darren Thomas in consecutive balls,as well as Alex Wharf.The match was wrapped by Darren Lehmann who ended a cameo from SteveWatkin. Watkin perished with a minimum of 150 overs of the match stillto bowl.In the process of posting a huge target for Glamorgan, David Byas scoredhis first century for three seasons, ending with 105 not out before thedeclaration.

The Pakistani gladiators Saeed Anwar (77) and Inzamam-ul-Haq (79) literally mauled England’s bowling to raise Pakistan to an indomitable position for victory. We saw, for a change, the Pakistan team in high spirits and tremendous form placing a target of 274 on the board, not easy for England to grab.

During England’s innings a drama full of thrills was enacted. Pakistan bowlers, for once, supported by top class alert and agile fielding demolished England to clinch a stunning victory by 108 runs. Except for Nick Knight who played a defiant innings of 59 not out, the remaining batsmen fell like ninepins. The triumph takes Pakistan to its encounter against Australia at Cardiff, with spirits high and full trust in their prowess.

Edgbaston was the venue of the NatWest Series curtain raiser where Pakistan won the toss and took the obvious choice of batting first. Pakistan included Shahid Afridi, one of the 3 players called in for this tournament, to face the new ball with Saeed Afridi. But England made 5 changes from their test squad, the most important being of Alan Mullally invited to launch the attack in place of Andy Caddick, down with injury.Shahid Afridi started with his traditional hurricane hitting to score 25 off 24 balls with 4 hits to the boundary. Not able to resist his impulse of playing high shots, he holed out to Mark Ealham at long on off Alan Mullally. Certainly not an impressive start, losing the 1st wicket at 34.The 2nd wicket went at 55 when Abdur Razzaq made a quick exit after being run out. Some tight fielding by England temporarily restricted the scoring, from 31 in the first 5 overs it dropped to 79 in 20 overs. Saeed Anwar was joined by Inzamam and he gave it a boost by hitting Mark Ealham for a mighty 6 followed by a blistering 4 in the 23rd over. With a tantalizing sweep to fine leg Saeed hoisted his 50 of the innings.

Pakistan’s 100 came in the 25th over and with two superstars on a hitting spree now, the score stormed upwards. In the 31st over Saeed delighted the crowd by hitting Ealham over the long on boundary for his 2nd six. The 100 run partnership came up in 106 balls when Inzamam had hit a sparkling 50.Climbing to a run rate of 5, the pair raised the total to 200 in the 40th over and provided the large crowd a feast of entertainment by playing thrilling shots all over the field. In full command of the game they carried on punishing the bowlers to the crowd’s delight.

Just as the 150 partnership off 157 balls came about, England struck back and ousted this dangerous pair. The paid for trying to slog for quick runs and made their way to the pavilion one after the other. Both Saeed (77) and Inzamam (79) did give the fans an exhibition of exhilarating batsmanship and with their departure Pakistan was 207 for 4.The batsmen who followed played with the sole object of providing Pakistan an impressive total and had raised it to 273 for 6 when 50 overs were up. Azhar Mahmood remained not out with an invaluable 38 scored with the help of 4 fours and a towering six, setting England a challenging target of 274 to win.Losing the opening pair of Marcus Trescothick (28) and Ally Brown (6) at only 48 England too made a depressing start but the run rate of 4.8 was quite impressive. It now was up to the rest to do what Pakistan had done but it came down drastically with the new batsmen taking the crease.Encouraged by early success, Waqar and Azhar Mahmood bowled a devastating spell. Alec Stewart (10) and Michael Vaughan (5) were the victims of spectacular catches taken by substitute Shoaib Malik and Saeed Anwar off a deadly Azhar Mahmood and England slumped to 86 for 4.Putting on more pressure, the bowlers continued to take their toll. Paul Collingwood (2) and Ben Hollioake (6) were the next to depart, bringing England down to 108 for 6. I have never seen Pakistan fielders as brilliant, sharp and agile as in this game.It simply was not England’s day. The procession continued with Dominic Cork bowled by Shahid Afridi, a stock bowler who bowls fastish leg breaks on the very first ball he delivered and England on a miserable 135 for 7. On his heels followed Marl Ealham and Darren Gough putting England down to 147 for 9.With only the last wicket to fall, the writing was on the wall. The partisan crowd full of Pakistan supporters invaded the ground and delayed the inevitable by over 35 minutes with the security personnel chasing them around and even the Pakistan skipper was called out for help. When play resumed for the final rites, Nick Knight had scored a heroic half-century but was unable to rescue his team and ran out of partners. England was at last out for 165 runs in 47.2 overs. Nick Knight remained unbeaten with a gallant 59.Pakistan won by 108 runs and Shahid Afridi with 3 wickets and Waqar Younis, Azhar Mahmood and Saqlain Mushtaq with 2 apiece were the bowlers who did the damage. Pakistan will now take on Australia at Cardiff on Saturday with renewed vigour and confidence, another thrill in store.

Undefeated Hampshire Cricket League leaders Ventnor travelled across to the mainland – only to find Eastleigh & Otterborne’s Doncaster Farm pitch had not been cut or rolled.The creases and boundary had been marked out, but both clubs agreed the pitch was unsafe to play on.Winchester KS turned up with only seven players and were forced to concede their County Division 1 game against Sarisbury Athletic.

Kim Barnett is preparing for a remarkable sixth successive Lord’s final tomorrow when Gloucestershire take on Surrey in the Benson and Hedges showdown.The veteran opening bat, who is 41 next week, has played in Gloucestershire’s last four victories at Headquarters and was in the Derbyshire side trounced by Lancashire in the NatWest Trophy final in 1998.So with such a wealth of experience, Barnett knows exactly what to hope for at Lord’s tomorrow – and that’s a pitch which offers some help to the bowlers.It’s not a statement you’d normally expect from an opening batsmen, but he said: “If it doesn’t move around, then it is going to help Surrey becausethey bat so deep.”They have got so much flair that if it becomes a batting paradise onSaturday they could be dangerous and capable of getting a big score.”If they get off to a flier they can do anything and they’re confident enoughto have a go. That’s your danger.”But if it gets to be a bit of a scrap and the ball moves around – andfielding and running between the wickets is an issue – then it will bring usmore into things. That’s what our guys thrive on.”If we take a couple of wickets then we tend to step up a gear. You need tobe knocking over two or three of their batsmen early on to calm them down a bit.It will be an interesting battle between two different sides.”Barnett knows the West Country side’s hopes have been dealt a blow by their lengthy injury list. Opening partner Tim Hancock has a broken bone in his hand while bowlers Jon Lewis and Mike Smith are also injured.He said: “I suppose you could say it is our biggest test because we have gotinjuries. Ideally you would want to take on Surrey with your full contingent.”Everyone who has come into the squad over the last three years has done anexcellent job. We’ve had a good squad of 14 to 15 players and nobody has let usdown.”To miss Hancock, with whom I have enjoyed a very good partnership, Smith andLewis is a big thing and it will be challenge for us.”But then we thought Yorkshire on their pitch against their bowlers in thesemi-finals was going to be a severe test. Again we were a little bit depleted, and we came through. There is also no reason why we can’t come through this one.”Barnett insisted: “People say our success is down to the team spirit but thatfacet tends to be over-played and there are a lot of good players in there.”People do get carried away because we have a good team spirit and shouldn’tunder-estimate the individual capabilities of the team.”Despite his advancing years, Barnett has just signed a new contract with Gloucestershire which will take him to the end of the 2003 season.He said: “As for myself I feel this is the best I’ve played since I’ve been atGloucestershire. I’m playing as well as I have done for two or three years.”My fitness is better than it has been for sometime since I had a kneeoperation last September and that has helped.”

Matthew Maynard scored his first century of the season to put Glamorganinto a strong position on the first day of their CricInfo Championship clash with Lancashire at Colwyn Bay.The former county captain has struggled for form for most of the 2001season but produced a vintage knock in the sunshine of north Wales.His century – his first at Colwyn Bay – came off 136 balls with twosixes and 15 fours, but he had a let-off on 77 when Joe Scuderi bowledhim with a no-ball.Maynard eventually perished for 145, ending a three-and-a-half-hour stayand a 166 partnership with stand-in skipper Adrian Dale of 166 in 41overs.Much then depended on Dale, especially as he lost Keith Newell, MarkWallace and Darren Thomas in fairly quick succession after tea.By the close, Glamorgan had reached 386-7 off 105 overs with Dale unbeaten on 92.Earlier Jimmy Maher fell seven short of scoring 500 runs in five inningsbefore being stumped by Warren Hegg off Gary Keedy.The Welsh county got off to a flying start thanks to openers Maher andIan Thomas, who was deputising for injured skipper Steve James.But at 84-0 Thomas was caught at first slip by Ryan Driver off GlennChapple, who finally got his man after having him dropped on 19 and 31in the space of 11 balls.Maher carried on a purple patch of 433 runs in his previous four inningsby scoring his fifth consecutive half-century from 71 balls with eightfours.Just after lunch the out-of-form Mike Powell was caught at slip offAndrew Flintoff as Glamorgan slipped to 167-3.

Owais Shah, the Middlesex batsmen is among seven players nominated for the prestigious Cricket Writers’ Club Young player of the year award, which will be presented at the annual dinner in London on August 31st.Shah is favourite to win the award after making five appearances for England against Pakistan and Australia in the one-day triangular tournament earlier this summer.Other contenders include Yorkshire off-spinner Richard Dawson as well as the promising Durham batsman Nicky Peng and Essex wicketkeeper Jamie Foster.The final nominations include batsmen Ian Bell and Robert Key of Warwickshire and Kent respectively and all-rounder Ian Blackwell of Somerset. To be able to win the award players need to be under 23 on May 1st and have to be eligible for England.

The Second Xl Trophy final between Somerset 2nd XI and Surrey 2nd XI will beplayed on Monday 10 September (reserve day Tuesday 11 September) at theCounty Ground, Taunton.

Danish Kaneria was delighted with his comeback Test performance andpromised to maintain the standard he has now set for himself.”I can’t be more delighted and satisfied with my performance. It wasmy comeback Test and I required to do something special to reclaim myplace in the squad,” the 20-year-old told reporters after the draw ofstumps on the first day.Danish was dropped after two Tests against England before he earnedthe selectors’ nod following a good performance on the tour to SriLanka with Pakistan ‘A’.”It is flattering to play in company like this and then steal thelimelight when champions like Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis are sharingthe new ball. You don’t get this opportunity everyday,” the Karachiitesaid.He termed his success to his training at the National Cricket Academyin Lahore and then the tour to Sri Lanka. “These were immense learningexperiences. But the senior players also assisted me during the camp.Overall, it has been a pleasing performance and I am looking forwardto maintain the standards I have set. But not everyday will I be ableto pick six wickets though I will persist hard to be among the wickettakers,” Danish said.Saeed Anwar, who perhaps got the right opponents to slam a crackingcentury, said he was keen to get the three figures for which heconcentrated very hard.”Although the bowling was relatively moderate, but one still needed tostay in the centre and concentrate. It has been a good innings underhot conditions which confirms how much I am keen to perform andcontinue to play for the country,” Saeed said.Saeed said his knees did bother him while emphasizing that he had beenstruggling in the past to play innings because of injuries to both theknees.He said completing 4,000 runs and joining the company of JavedMiandad, Salim Malik, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Zaheer Abbas and Mudassar Nazarwas a great honour. But added that he had not set any goals forhimself.”My priority is to play for Pakistan with distinction. My job is torun and I am keen to score as many runs as I can. I know myresponsibilities at top of the order and am looking forward tofulfilling the job to the best of my abilities.”