Ricky Ponting scored his 11th one-day and Matthew Hayden scored an unbeatenhalf century as Australia romped to an emphatic nine-wicket victory againstSri Lanka in their triangular one-day international match on Tuesday.Replying to Sri Lanka’s disappointing 214 for eight, Ponting and Haydenadded 178 in 28.3 overs for the second wicket after the early loss of AdamGilchrist (26), taking Australia to the victory target with 15.3 overs tospare.The run-a-ball partnership was a record against Sri Lanka by Australia,surpassing the 157 scored by Steve Smith and Wayne Phillips way back in1985.Skipper Ponting, previously out of sorts in the tournament, regained hisbest form, playing shots all-round the wicket as he sped to a hundred injust 94 balls and finished with 106 from 97 balls having hit 14 fours andone six.Hayden played with less freedom, only launching a full-blown assault on SriLanka’s lacklustre bowlers once his captain had reached three figures. Thetall left-hander finished with 80 from 87 balls, hitting one four and foursixes.Sri Lanka, without the services of their injured star bowler MuttiahMuralitharan, and rested fast bowler Dilhara Fernando, went into the gamewith just three specialist bowlers.Chaminda Vaas apart, who claimed the early wicket of Gilchrist, they took ahammering with the inexperienced Prabath Nissanka and Chamila Gamageconceding 84 runs in 10.3 overs.Earlier in the day, a brisk start by the Sri Lankan openers had beenfollowed by a mid-innings collapse that saw four wickets fall for 36 runs.That left the tourists someway short of a defendable total against theAustralians on such a fine batting strip.The only joy for the Sri Lankans, who are currently involved in adistracting payment dispute with the Sri Lankan cricket board, was Aravindade Silva passing 9000 one-day runs.The 37-year-old right-hander, playing his 298th one-day international in acareer that has spanned 19 years, became the third man to reach themilestone after Sachin Tendulkar (11,546) and Mohammad Azharuddin (9378)De Silva, who will retire from international cricket after the World Cup,was forced to work very hard for his 44 from 73 balls, failing to hit asingle boundary.Avishka Gunawardene, Jayasuriya’s replacement, top scored with 45 from 72deliveries, hitting four boundaries, adding 64 runs in 14.3 overs withAtapattu (26), who was leading Sri Lanka for the third time in an ODI.But Australia’s bowlers, backed up good fielding, clawed their way back intothe game from the time that Atapattu flicked a catch into the hands of BradHogg at square leg.Wrist-spinner Hogg, set to be replaced by leg-spinner Shane Warne during thetriangular series final against England starting Thursday, bowled the keyspell, taking three wickets for 37 runs in his ten overs.Gunwardene was trapped lbw whilst trying to sweep, Kumar Sangakkara (42) wascaught in the deep as he aimed his third six and Mahela Jayawardene wasdeceived by a googly to be stumped for a second ball duck.When Arnold (14), who added 31 runs with De Silva for the fifth wicket, wasbowled by Brad Williams and Chaminda Vaas surrendered his wicket with alackadaisical piece of running, Sri Lanka’s innings ground to a virtualstandstill on 170 for five.De Silva added 31 runs with Mubarak before being caught in the penultimateover, and Tillakaratne and Mubarak scrambled 12 runs from the final over,but it was all too little too late.

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)

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.

Two bush clubs famed for producing two of Australia’s greatest cricketers are to go head-to-head next weekend in the final of the Highlands District Cricket Association 2002/03 first grade competition in rural New South Wales.Bowral United, the modern-day equivalent of the town club for which a young Don Bradman initially played his cricket, are to meet Wingello, the village Bill O’Reilly once played for.Bradman, the greatest Test batsman in history, was known during his playing days as the Boy from Bowral, having grown up in the Southern Highlands capital. And before Shane Warne’s rise to fame, many regarded “Tiger” O’Reilly as the best leg-spinner Australia had produced.Saturday and Sunday’s clash at picturesque Bradman Oval – a venue which in recent years has hosted numerous matches involving various international touring sides – will mark the first occasion that their old clubs have met in the Whyte Cup final since the Wingello Tigers reformed in the late 1990s.United was well beaten by Wingello in their semi-final encounter a fortnight ago, after making just 86 batting first – having also lost to the Tigers in the final of the HDCA’s separate one-day competition in December. However, the Bowral side won through to the season finale with a convincing seven-wicket first innings victory over arch rivals Moss Vale at the weekend.

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.

There could be a big-name casualty when South Africa’s United Cricket Board (UCB) announces its list of contracted players at the end of this month. Meetings at the weekend and next week will determine which players – and there will be a maximum of 20 – will be on the UCB’s books for the next 11 months.The suits who sign the cheques will be guided by Omar Henry, South Africa’s convenor of selectors, who will make recommendations on individual players. And Henry declined to give Lance Klusener a vote of confidence when Wisden CricInfo spoke to him on Wednesday.”We know what he can do and what he can’t do,” Henry sidestepped when asked if he was satisfied with Klusener’s performance during the past year. “Andrew Hall had a fantastic domestic season and he has done well in the South African team, and then there’s Albie Morkel and Justin Kemp. We didn’t know enough about them before last season. Now that we do we need to put Klusener’s name among those and discuss it.”Eric Simons, the recently appointed national coach, also couldn’t bring himself to back the previously pyrotechnic left-hander when asked whether there was a place for Klusener in his blueprint. “There’s always a place for anyone who is playing good cricket,” Simons said. “I’m happy with the way Klusener has performed … uhh, well, I’m not unhappy.”Klusener scored just one half-century in this year’s World Cup, and he was left out of the squad for the subsequent tour of Bangladesh. He was also deemed surplus to requirements for the South Africa A tour of Australia. That would seem to indicate that he will not be part of the forthcoming tour of England, because there won’t be any cricket in or involving South Africa before they arrive in the UK on June 16.If Klusener does not have his current top-tier contract renewed it will mark a spectacular fall from iconhood. He terrorised almost every bowler he faced in the 1999 World Cup, where he averaged 140.50 and was the single major reason why South Africa reached the semi-finals.His efforts were recognised when he was named Player of the Tournament, and when he was ordained as one of Wisden’s Five Cricketers of the Year in 2000.Klusener belied no sense of impending unemployment on Wednesday, and revealed that his services were being sought outside South Africa. Would he consider playing abroad if his UCB contract was not renewed? “Absolutely! I’d be off before the dust had settled,” Klusener told us.”I’ve certainly had offers from Australia, which are very inviting.” But there were cons as well as pros: “Playing in Australia would coincide with South Africa’s domestic season, which is a problem. And if I play in England that would mean a year of nonstop cricket.”Klusener, who’s now 31 and married with a young child, was philosophical about his prospects. “If there’s a future for me in South African cricket, that’s great. If there isn’t, that’s tough. It’s a big world out there.”Only the six players who will enter the second half of two-year contracts can be sure of keeping their jobs in the unsettled scenario in which South African cricket finds itself after a disastrous year – last season’s thrashing by Australia and this year’s World Cup debacle, where South Africa, the main hosts, were tearful first-round casualties.The smug six are Shaun Pollock, Jacques Kallis, Herschelle Gibbs, Makhaya Ntini, Mark Boucher and Paul Adams. Graeme Smith, as captain, must surely be contracted. Gone from the current pool will be Allan Donald and Jonty Rhodes, who have retired. Nantie Hayward (now with Worcestershire) and Roger Telemachus are unlikely to be re-signed – and nor is the unlucky Steve Elworthy.Klusener may well suffer a similar fate. If he does, it will be a clear case of “Come in No. 69: Your time is up.”

Richard Johnson has been ruled out of next week’s NatWest Challenge series against Pakistan after sustaining a knee injury. He played a limited part in training in Cardiff ahead of Saturday’s warm-up match against Wales and was ruled out for the next week after consultation with England medical staff.It is the latest in a long line of setbacks for Johnson, who was first called into an England squad for the trip to South Africa in 1995-96, but had to withdraw with a back injury. He had remained on the fringes ever since, but eventually made his international debut against Zimbabwe in last week’s second Test at Durham, at the age of 28, and picked up two wickets in his first over en route to figures of 6 for 33.Sussex’s James Kirtley will become Johnson’s temporary replacement, although he will not be in consideration for the Wales match. England are optimistic that Johnson will be fit again in time for the opening match of the NatWestSeries against Zimbabwe at Trent Bridge next Thursday.”Richard’s knee is swollen and sore and we have ruled him out of all cricket for the next week,” said Dr Peter Gregory, England’s chief medical officer. “But we are hopeful he will be ready to return for the NatWest Series.”

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

Bad weather and ground conditions at Kanpur have resulted in it giving up the Test it had been offered during New Zealand’s tour of India, and Ahmedabad has come into strong contention to host the Test.Local officials at Kanpur did not want to incur a bad report from the International Cricket Council (ICC), which now has stringent rules about the quality of grounds for Test matches.New Zealand Cricket are seeking confirmation of a news report that Ahmedabad and Mohali will be the venues. Officials at Ahmedabad have said that the Motera stadium will be in good shape for the Test.New Zealand’s players will be familiar with both venues as they were the site of drawn matches in their last series in 1999 while the only loss they suffered in the series was at Kanpur.

As had widely been expected, Virender Sehwag’s contract with Leicestershire has been cancelled by mutual consent.Sehwag has been suffering from a sore back, and a scan revealed a disc problem which requires a few weeks rest in order for him to be fit in time India’s series against New Zealand."We have both agreed that it is in his and the club’s best interests that he returns home to link up with the Indian team’s medical people," Phil Whitticase, Leicestershire’s coach told the county’s website. “His long-term health and fitness are of paramount importance.”Latika Khaneja , Sehwag’s manager, said that the injury was not serious but that "Sehwag felt it will be better to heal in time for the forthcoming cricket season."Leicestershire are believed to be trying to sign Australian Matt Nicholson as his replacement.