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Glamorgan CCC are pleased to announce a special `Buy One, Get One Free` ticket offer for forthcoming one-day matches at Sophia Gardens.If you buy a ticket for the National Cricket League game between the Glamorgan Dragons and the Essex Eagles at Cardiff on 13th July, you will get a ticket for the Glamorgan Dragons National League match at Cardiff against the Warwickshire Bears on 10th August ABSOLUTELY FREE!!!To book your tickets, call Glamorgan Cricket on 029 2040 9380

Sri Lanka skipper Sanath Jayasuriya praised his bowlers for an exceptional performance under lights at Newlands on Friday night.Sri Lanka scored a moderate 228 for six and restricted West Indies to 222 for nine after incisive spells from Man of the Match Chaminda Vaas, a miserly contribution from Muttiah Muralitharan and a nerveless last over from Pulasthi Gunaratne.”Our middle-order batting is not in good form and we need to get more runs on the board. The batting is a worrying factor. We are fortunate that the bowlers have been bowling well,” said Jayasuriya after his side’s exciting six-run win.”It was a big game for us after the disappointing loss to Kenya in Nairobi. Although we dropped a few catches our bowlers bowled really well,” he said.”It was a pressure game because we had lost our earlier match. This was a must win match and there was a lot of pressure in the middle,” he said.”It was not an easy wicket to bat on and the ball was not coming onto the bat. I think 228 was a very good total we were capable of defending with bowlers like Vaas, Muralitharan, Aravinda and me,” Jayasuriya said.Vaas was in superb form bowling his heart out for figures of four for 22 off 10 overs which won him the man-of-the match award.Vaas said: “I went back from South Africa and did some home work on my bowling with my coaches. I have got my rhythm going and I am bowling with the seam upright”.The 28-year-old is bowling at his best and the wickets he took for Sri Lanka were the big ones of Brian Lara (1), Chris Gayle (55), Wavell Hinds (2) and Ridley Jacobs (0).He ended his first spell with figures of 7-3-14-2 and when the Gayle-Chanderpaul partnership was gaining momentum he returned for his second spell to capture a further two wickets in one over and put the skids on the West Indies.Vaas’s four wickets puts him further up the ladder as the leading wicket-taker in the current tournament with 16 wickets from five matches, four more than his nearest rival Wasim Akram of Pakistan who has 12.Jayasuriya said the way Sri Lanka was playing at the moment he was confident they would do well in the tournament.”The way we are playing at the moment I think we have a good chance, but we need to hold all the catches and get more runs on the board,” said Jayasuriya.”If we can beat South Africa it will be much easier for us in the Super Sixes,” he said.When questioned why he brought on Pulasthi Gunaratne to bowl the crucial final over with West Indies needing 14 to win, Jayasuriya said: “We had a chat and most of us felt that Pulasthi was the ideal bowler for the situation. He had bowled at the death in previous international games for us and he had the experience.””We had a lot of faith in him although he didn’t bowl well in his first spell. We took a chance with him and it paid off,” said Jayasuriya.A dejected West Indies captain Carl Hooper said he was disappointed with his side’s batting.”The conditions in the evening was not a factor to our defeat. It is that that we batted poorly today. A score of 228, I reckon we should have got,” said Hooper.”We hoped that Chanderpaul would come through with Drakes chancing his arm. But Chanderpaul got out and although it was close in the end, the turning point was his dismissal,” he said.”Basically we lost this match and I think we are out. But cricket is a funny game and you never know what’s going to happen. We’ve got to win the match against Kenya and obviously get our spirits up. Who knows we could still be in the next round,” Hooper said hopefully.”I honestly thought we could do better than this. But to be knocked out is a bit hard to take. But cricket is a game. Cricket is about life. You’ve got to take it,” he said.

POINTE-A-PIERRE, Trinidad – Trinidad and Tobago skipper Daren Ganga, with 46 not out, was again leading his side’s batting as they battled back against Guyana on Day 3 of the first round of the Carib Beer Cricket Series at Guaracara Park, yesterday.Trinidad and Tobago were 214 for five in their second innings – 179 runs ahead – after Guyana made 338 to take first innings. Opener Imran Jan (49) and Dwayne Bravo (47) also batted well. (CMC)

In an hour-and-a-quarter of awesome power-hitting hereyesterday, Chris Gayle broke from the shackles of self-doubtthat have enmeshed him for the past five weeks and the realChris Gayle emerged.The tall, young Jamaican left-hander had been so transfixedby the rarity of failure that brought him a sequence of foursuccessive ducks he often stood at the crease with all themobility of Nelson’s Statue.For half-hour in the last and decisive qualifying roundmatch against Zimbabwe to see which would qualify forWednesday’s final of the LG Abans (the sponsors who are SriLanka’s equivalent of Courts) triangular One-Day series,there was no change.Gayle could hardly lay bat on ball and didn’t score hisfirst run until his 16th ball. Suddenly, out of a clear bluesky, a change in the bowling and a thumping off-drivenboundary led to an immediate transformation.TransformationClark Kent had become Superman and even Superman, fasterthan a flying bullet as he might be, would have been hardpressed to stop the missiles that began to fly from Gayle’sblade.Travis Friend, a lively but rookie 20-year-old, wasblistered for four fours in his first over on changing ends.Olonga, the mop-haired fast bowler who is Zimbabwe’s mostidentifiable black cricketer, went for three more throughthe off-side in the next over before the usually agilefielders had time to blink.Gary Brent’s first ball of the tournament was lashed, crossbatted, into the vacant seats at long-on for six.He had taken pain-killing injections in a shoulder to playand might have considered the sacrifice not worth it. Anover later, he was being despatched for three moreboundaries.By the time Gayle blasted off-spinner Doug Marillier toextra-cover and Olonga swooped to his left to hang on to ablistering catch, he had made 85 from 79 balls effectively63 balls, given his start with the six and 17, yes 17,fours. In other words, he collected 72 runs without needingto run.It was a reversion to the clean hitting that brought him somany runs in Zimbabwe and Kenya on the previous tour andover the past two seasons in the West Indies.Brian Lara, watching with his injured left elbow inplastercast but otherwise comfortable, would have done itwith more style. But he couldn’t have hit the ball harder.By the time he was out with the West Indies 121 for tworequiring 155, the match was all but over, and RamnareshSarwan and Ryan Hinds, the 20-year-old left-hander on debut,settled it with less spectacular methods.Given all the circumstances of a difficult tour, Gayle’sexplosive display, witnessed by no more than 1 200 or so atthe ground but appreciably more on television, was a joy.But it should be put into perspective. Only one of hisboundaries was off Heath Streak, Zimbabwe’s leading bowler,and he was not as convincing against the off-spin ofMarillier and Trevor Gripper as against the medium-pacers.Different storyWednesday night will be different but if he gets going, theSri Lankans will be in for a shock. At least the West Indieshave the chance of going home with something to show andthey did beat the hosts at the same Premadasa Stadium, venuefor the final, under lights in an earlier match.Gayle finished yesterday’s contest off with his blitz. PedroCollins and Corey Collymore, the Bajans from Boscobelle, andDarryl Brown, the Trinidadian from McBean on hisinternational debut, set it up at the start of the day.Collins had two wickets and Collymore one in their sharpopening bursts and Brown followed up with the next threefrom ten controlled and consecutive medium-paced overs.Had it not been for the tactical timidity that is typical ofthe leadership of this team, Gayle would not have had theopportunity to score half as many as he did because Zimbabweshouldn’t have managed half their total.Sent in, they were 53 for seven and in retreat when captainCarl Hooper withdrew his assault troops and let theopposition regroup.No pressureTo deep-set fields, without a soul close to the bat, theexperienced Streak gathered his singles and twos under notthe slightest pressure from the straightforward slow stuffof Hooper, Gayle and Hinds.He scored 57 from 88 balls with a swept six off Hinds’ leftarm spin and four fours with simple methods and shepherdedFriend, the No. 9, through a partnership of 60 from 17 oversand Brent, the No. 10, through a further 29.It was, to use the analogy of an altogether more seriouscontest a few thousand miles off here, as if the Americanshad halted their bombardment of Kandahar, the NorthernAlliance pulled back once they had taken Kabul and theTaliban was given breathing space to recover.It was a lack of decisiveness and toughness. This wasZimbabwe, after all, not Australia or South Africa, and acouple of young lower order Zimbabweans at that.And it was as crystal clear as the day itself that Collinsand Collymore were itching to finish it off themselves whenthey were removed after seven overs each. What it toldZimbabwe was that the West Indies expected trouble so thetwo main bowlers had to be saved when it came.Collins forced an edge from Dion Ebrahim first ball thatHooper dropped low to his right at slip and then rattledGrant Flower’s off-stump with a full length inswinger.Collymore took care of Ebrahim with a sharp breakback andCollins did Stuart Carlisle with one run across him.Collymore was running hot as he rattled Craig Wishart’shelmet with a bouncer before Hooper’s underarm hit ran himout but that was soon the end of the blitz.Brown, who took over from Collins, got rid of his earlynerves by finding Gripper’s edge with eighth ball andfollowed up with the prized wicket of Andy Flower, lbw to aperfectly pitched delivery from round the wicket, andMariller to Hooper’s sprawling catch at short extra-cover.It was time to bring back the heavy artillery while theadrenaline was still pumping through their veins. Instead,Hooper, the pacifist, elected for more conciliatory methods.It was left to Gayle to resume the barrage on thebeleaguered opposition.

HOBART, Dec 18 AAP – Queensland is looking for full points while Tasmania wants survival when last season’s Pura Cup finalists meet at Hobart’s Bellerive Oval tomorrow.”We’re always looking for six points and that would be a nice Christmas present,” Queensland captain Jimmy Maher said today.Maher was confident that even without Andy Bichel, who’s with the Australian one-day side, and Michael Kasprowicz, who’s nursing a torn hamstring, he had the bowlers to dismiss the Tigers twice.”I think we have the best attack in Australia as a group,” he said.His other big weapon is Martin Love, who plundered an unbeaten double century for Australia A against England at his last Bellerive appearance.”He very rarely misses out down here, touch wood,” Maher said.”It’s a happy hunting ground.”But Maher knows that Tasmania started its drive towards the final by flogging the Bulls in the corresponding fixture last season.”Tasmania’s had a rough start to this season, but on their day they’re capable of beating anyone,” he said.Tasmanian captain Jamie Cox said his team, which is bottom and still without a win, had to beat Queensland to stay in contention.”If we can’t win this one, we’re gone,” he said.Cox felt there were some promising signs from the last two matches — a narrow loss that should have been a win to New South Wales and first innings points against Western Australia in Perth.”This game will be a great indicator as to whether we’ve really turned the corner,” he said.The Tigers go into the match unchanged while Queensland was saved from last minute disruption when the national selectors preferred Brad Hogg to Nathan Hauritz as Shane Warne’s replacement.Maher said it would be disappointing for Hauritz.”But he’s only 21 and I’m sure there’s plenty of cricket ahead for him,” Maher said.Teams.Tasmania: Jamie Cox (c), Sean Clingeleffer, Michael Dighton, Michael Di Venuto, Xavier Doherty, Adam Griffith, Shane Jurgensen, Scott Kremerskothen, Dan Marsh, Scott Mason, Ben Oliver, Damien Wright.Queensland: Jimmy Maher (c), Brendan Nash, Martin Love, Andrew Symonds, Stuart Law, Lee Carseldine, Wade Seccombe, Ashley Noffke, Nathan Hauritz, Joe Dawes, Damien MacKenzie, Scott Brant.

BRISBANE – National cricket coach John Buchanan said his champion teamwould have to address the emotional and physical stresses that couldendanger its World Cup defence in 2003.Australia’s top cricketers will hold a pre-season meeting in Melbournein two weeks, with Buchanan keen to discuss the best ways to manage theemotional strains which prompted Michael Slater’s axing from the Testteam last month.Demands on players will only increase in the next 18 months, with justone short break between November and the World Cup in South Africa inFebruary 2003.The schedule includes tours of South Africa, Zimbabwe and Pakistan and ahome Ashes series, maintaining the physical demands on an ageing team.”It’s all something that’s in need of discussion and we need a generalawareness of what the total impact would be,” Buchanan said.”Physically it’s hard work for everybody, it’s the same mentally andthen you look at the emotional side of being away from your family forsuch a long stretch.”And that’s when the team is going well. It would be extremely difficultfor us if the team wasn’t doing that well.”Slater’s form suffered in the last 12 months, coinciding with apublicised fallout with wife Stephanie.The dashing opening batsman was eventually dropped from the Test team,with selectors admitting Slater’s axing was more than an on-field issue.”It’s an unfortunate product of what we’re talking about,” Buchanansaid.”The life of a professional sportsman isn’t that easy and Michael is notthe first person, nor will he be the last, to go through tough times.”It’s an extremely important issue for all cricketers.”I think we can [help the general situation] but I’m not exactly surewhat we’ll do just yet.”Buchanan wants the issue discussed when Australia’s 25 contractedplayers meet in Melbourne from September 24-25.The players and management will talk about the upcoming summer, whichincludes home series against New Zealand and South Africa before theAustralians pack up for a tour of South Africa and Zimbabwe.The schedule adheres to the International Cricket Council’s 10-yearplan, which requires each Test-playing nation to organise regular homeand away clashes.Buchanan and the Australians have already had a busy 2001, during whichthe coach estimates he will spend 250 nights away from home.”We’re resting right now and everybody has to make the most of thisopportunity to refresh, recharge, re-energise and re-think,” Buchanansaid.The Australian Test squad won’t regather until the week of the firstmatch against New Zealand, starting at the Gabba on November 8.

John Crawley has asked Lancashire to release him with three years of his four-year contract remaining.Crawley was recently replaced as captain after a poor season at Old Trafford. Lancashire’s chief executive, Jim Cumbes, confirmed the England batsman’s request.”It’s never good to have a disaffected player, especially one so early in hiscontract,” Cumbes told The Daily Telegraph.”These problems can be discussed and, I’m sure, worked out. It’s sad and agreat shame, because John came to Old Trafford as a young lad and has been withus all through his career.”Cumbes added that the club chairman Jack Simmons and his general committee would now discuss the matter further.Crawley, 30, made his debut for Lancashire in 1990 and has earned 29 England caps. After the retirement of Michael Atherton he is the county’s most senior player. He would be eligible for a benefit in 2003, which could raise as much as £350,000. The reasons for his decision are not yet known.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa March 23, AP – Sachin Tendulkar says he’d trade his Man-of-the-Series honour for another shot at the Aussies.The Indian batting maestro had an unassailable lead in the race for World Cup’s top individual prize before Sunday’s World Cup 125-run final loss to Australia.Tendulkar had 669 runs leading into the title match but, with India chasing a massive 360-run target, the opener was out for four, and on the fifth ball of the innings.It was a first appearance in the final in four World Cups for the world’s No. 1 batsman, and perhaps he deserved better.But he decided to go out in an attacking frame of mind. Tendulkar and opener Virender Sehwag agreed to go for their strokes as India chased Australia’s 359 for two – the highest-ever total in a World Cup final.Tendulkar struck one boundary but fell in the first over as he top-edged an attempted pull shot and gave Glenn McGrath an easy return catch.”Its an honor to be named the Man-of-the-Tournament, but I would have been happier if India had won the World Cup trophy,” Tendulkar said.The 29-year-old right-hander said he didn’t look at his performance as a batsman who had failed to score runs, but as a member of a team that had lost the final.”I don’t play as an individual,” he said. “We all play as India, I’m part of that team.”He said the Indian bowlers had performed credibly during the World Cup, but were wayward in the title contest.”I felt the bowlers were under tremendous pressure from the start. They found it tough to put the ball in the right area,” he said. “They’ve bowled really well throughout the tournament, it was just one of those off days.”Securing two points in Thursday’s semifinal against Kenya, in which he scored 83 runs and claimed two wickets, gave Tendulkar 14 points – four clear of the second-place Sourav Ganguly, the Indian captain, in the tournament’s player rankings.”We wanted this to be the best World Cup ever, and Sachin’s brilliant batting has helped the tournament captivate millions of people around the cricketing world,” the World Cup’s chief organiser Ali Bacher said before the final. “He thoroughly deserves the accolade.”The award, a gold trophy, was presented to Tendulkar by former West Indies captain Sir Garfield Sobers at the conclusion of the final.Tendulkar scored a tournament record 673 runs, including one century and six 50s. He is also the leading scorer in World Cup history and held the previous record for most runs in a tournament with his 523 in 1996.

The University of Gloucestershire is honouring Gloucestershire county cricketer Mark Alleyne at its annual awards ceremonies.The club captain, who has come to the forefront of the county game in recent years, made his first-class debut for Gloucestershire in 1986 at the age of 18. He has since gone on to represent England, and captained the England A team to Bangladesh, New Zealand and West Indies in 1999-2000.Gloucestershire’s success in recent years, particularily in the one-day game, has led to the county being recognised in the sporting world and this is to some extent down to Mark Alleyne. The University is proud of its local teams, and by conferring this honorary fellowship on Mark on 30th October 2001, is recognising this.”Mark is the sort of sportsman many students look up to,” said a University spokesperson. “We offer a range of sports degrees at the University and have links with many local clubs. To see someone with Mark’s dedication and determination is an inspiration, not only to the students on these degree courses but to all students.”Mark’s leadership skills have been fully demonstrated in the past few seasons, with Gloucestershire winning five competitions in two summers. Wisden has praised his “quiet authority, tactical sense and boyish enthusiasm”. He was named one of Wisden’s Five Cricketers of the Year at the end of the 2000 season.Mark joins his Gloucestershire team-mate, Jack Russell, in being given an honorary fellowship. It is recognition of his excellence as a sportsman, for his enthusiasm and determination as a leader, and for his contribution to the life of Gloucestershire.Other people being honoured are the Olympic triple jumper, Jonathan Edwards, Lord Ron Dearing and Lady Puttman.

A daunting target of 362 runs proved overwhelming for Nottinghamshire as they went down by 174 runs in a Benson & Hedges semi-final which was totally dominated by the opposition who registered their biggest win, in terms of runs, in this competition.Their middle order batsman, Kevin Pietersen fought a lone battle as wickets tumbled at the other end. Their only stand of some substance was for the fifth wicket when Usman Afzaal, 37, helped to put on 68.The hopelessness of their task, if not already clear by then, was made so when the next wicket fell in the following over, the 20th, reducing them to 120 for six and still needing 242.Nottinghamshire were, in effect, played out of the match as early as the ninth over when they were 47 for four. Later, after their token effort for the fifth wicket was ended, they lost five wickets for 28. By then it had become increasingly clear that it was just a case of going through the motions with their target beyond them.Pietersen, however, went on regardless, not just putting up resistance but, indeed, playing his shots defiantly. This tall, South Africa-born all-rounder who will be 21 on Wednesday, appears to have a full range of strokes and with his performance this season he has to be regarded as a great prospect for Nottinghamshire.When Surrey wrapped up the visitors’ innings in the 32nd over on 187, Pietersen, was left unbeaten with 78 from just 67 balls. Richard Stemp, with 29, had helped him to add 44 for the last wicket. Alex Tudor finished with three wickets for 52 while Martin Bicknell and Ed Giddins had two each.Earlier, Surrey could hardly have wished for a better start to their innings after deciding to make first use of their home pitch from which came a record-breaking proliferation of runs.The left-handed pair of opening batsmen, Mark Butcher and Ian Ward had the measure of the Nottinghamshire attack from the first over and it came as no surprise that the 50 was posted as early as the eighth over.Their progress to the hundred was almost precisely at the same rate of scoring, in the fifteenth over, by when the visitors had tried four bowlers.The conditions were perfect for batting and Surrey’s batsmen ensured the fine attendance on the lovely sunny morning were not deprived of entertainment.Ward was the first of three Surrey batsmen to reach half-centuries, his came from 42 balls as he drove Gareth Clough to wide mid-wicket for his seventh boundary. Man-of-the-match Butcher reached his 50 with the same number of boundaries, having faced 54 balls.Their strokeplay was delightful, both driving on either side on the wicket for most of their runs as the length maintained by Nottinghamshire’s bowlers did not allow for too many cuts and pulls at that stage.Surrey lost their first wicket when Ward was stumped from a ball that was fumbled by the wicket-keeper and then rebounded on to his stumps. From 112 for one they moved quickly on to 160 before the second wicket fell; Nadeem Shahid contributing 32 from only 21 balls.Butcher went on to pile up the runs until, on 84 from 86 balls, he mistimed and skied to mid-on. A 98-run stand for the fourth wicket between Alec Stewart and Alistair Brown came to an end on 304 with Brown, one short of 50 from just 37 balls, being held from a juggled return catch by Usman Afzaal who then claimed his third victim in the same 44th over with Stewart top edging behind the stumps.It had been a hard-hitting 67 at the rate of a-run-a-ball and after his dismissal there was one final display of aggressive batting to come. It was provided by Ben Hollioake who remained unbeaten with 39 off 23 balls. The second of his two sixes took Surrey past their highest score of 350, in the two knock-out limited-overs competitions.By the end of their 50 overs they had reached an awesome total of 361 for eight. Afzaal and Greg Blewett finished with three wickets each from 51 and 41 runs respectively.