South Africa clinched the three-match one-day series against Zimbabwe withan easy 148-run victory in the second one-day international at Harare SportsClub.A good team effort, helped by some rather spineless Zimbabwe batting,gave them a two-nil lead, with the final match to be played tomorrow at thesame venue.It was another hot sunny day, and the pitch looked good enough for SouthAfrica to decide to bat on winning the toss, although one end had noticeablymore grass than the other. Situated on the other side of the square fromthe Test pitches, it yielded a little more pace.Zimbabwe made two changes to their team from Bulawayo. Captain HeathStreak, who had been nursing a back injury in the first match and paid theprice, had to withdraw and Guy Whittall took over the leadership. Streakwas replaced by the accurate medium-pacer Gary Brent, while Stuart Carlislecame in for Craig Wishart, who was ill. South Africa retained their winningteam.Travis Friend, bowling from the clubhouse end of the ground into the grassyend of the pitch, extracted some unusual bounce in his first over, but itdidn’t stop Gary Kirsten and Gibbs taking 12 from it, including a wide thatbounced above head-height and a hooked six by Gibbs.Gary Brent began withimpressive movement and accuracy, but Friend broke through with the wicketof Kirsten (10), who was surprised by the extra bounce and got a leadingedge that yielded a lobbed catch taken by the bowler himself.Gibbs and Jacques Kallis were determined to dominate and played someoutstanding strokes, although Kallis was missed off a hard chance to thirdman. He had scored 26 when Paul Strang came on to bowl, and immediatelychopped the first ball on to his stumps; South Africa 89 for two in the 17thover.It took an outstanding catch to remove Gibbs (69 off 77 balls), as Whittalldived full-length at midwicket to hold a low flick off his toes off adelivery from Strang; South Africa were 133 for three.Brent had retired with the honourable figures of 26 runs in eight overs; nowickets, but his accuracy might well have contributed to those at the otherend. Whittall replaced him to bowl with similar economy until Jonty Rhodesgot hold of him. He should have had Rhodes caught on the boundary, but itbounced off Alistair Campbell’s hands and went for six.Rhodes added 79 with McKenzie, reaching his fifty off 36 balls, before thelatter pulled Grant Flower straight to Mluleki Nkala on the midwicketboundary to depart for 40 in the 38th over. Rhodes (56) soon followed tothe same bowler, top-edging a sweep to be superbly caught by the divingStrang at fine leg.Flower did a fine restraining job, and medium-pacers Brent and Whittall werewisely given the final four overs. Pollock (15) fell to Whittall in similarmanner to McKenzie and then Klusener off the final delivery for 34. Theyfinished with 272 for seven wickets.Zimbabwe sprang a surprise by sending Strang in to open with Campbell,Ebrahim dropping to the middle-order position he finds more natural.Strang, in his unorthodox style, got after the bowling to score 19 out of 38before edging a catch to the keeper off Pollock.Masakadza (0) followed almost immediately, run out for the second timeagainst South Africa through inexperience, ambling through for a leg-bye andsurprised to be thrown out by Kallis at the bowler’s end.Campbell (21)then drove Kallis to mid-off; Makhaya Ntini, with a disappointing tour todate, caused Andy Flower (2) to chop a ball on to his stumps, and Zimbabwewere on their way out of the match at 50 for four.Stuart Carlisle and Grant Flower had to undertake a damage limitationexercise. Carlisle (31) played the more confidently of the two, but abrilliant diving catch far to his right by wicket-keeper Mark Boucherremoved him in the 25th over and left Zimbabwe needing a miracle at 94 forfive.It did not happen. Mutual hesitation with Ebrahim in the middle of a quicksingle led to the run-out of Flower for 20, while Whittall (0) tried to hitClaude Henderson against the spin to be caught in the gully. Ebrahim (15)was caught at slip off Henderson as Zimbabwe subsided peacefully for 124without much fight.

Justin Langer missed a century but he may have booked a Test berth after joining West Australian captain Adam Gilchrist in a run feast against Queensland at the Gabba today.Langer and Gilchrist brought about their own downfalls in the Pura Cup cricket match with rash shots in the 90s, but only after leading the Warriors into a solid position against the Bulls after two days.At stumps, Queensland was 0-41 in its first innings in reply to the Warriors’ enterprising 8(dec)-360.Langer had himself to blame for missing a ton, reaching 96 against a quality attack before he was bowled trying to slog Adam Dale (2-46).Gilchrist had a similar ending, skying Andrew Bichel (2-98) to Dale at wide mid-on, but the captain said the quick tempo was necessary after yesterday’s first day was washed out.Both players strolled off the ground with a slouch but Langer should have been happy after showing national selector Trevor Hohns he wanted to open against NewZealand in the first Test at the Gabba on November 8.Following another century from Tasmanian Jamie Cox yesterday, the pressure tightened on Langer to retain the Test position he won from dumped opener Michael Slater in the last match on the Ashes tour.He was cautious early, surviving a chance when Bulls ‘keeper Wade Seccombe spilled a tough catch from the second ball of the day.But he stepped up the pace until falling to the same rush of blood which ruined his Test tour of India earlier this year.Gilchrist, who was the batting star against a Queensland attack which failed to live up to its reputation, said Langer was ready to trade in his No.3 spot to become a full time opener in Australia, reprising the same role he had played in English county stints.”The option is there for him and he is in control of his destiny,” Gilchrist said.”It’s got our backing and, if he keeps getting runs, I couldn’t see where it would change.”He’s pretty comfortable and he’s determined to do well.”Gilchrist outshone Langer with a typically blistering knock, smashing 11 fours and four sixes from 102 balls, including a towering six over the backward squareboundary which wrecked his bat.His 154-run stand with Marcus North (47) helped make up for a bunch of missed opportunities from Simon Katich (25), Damien Martyn (22) and Murray Goodwin(24).Martyn was run out in a wasteful mix-up with Langer, who stood his ground when his partner called for a single from the non-striker’s end.It wasn’t a great day for the Bulls, with even Gilchrist admitting their bowling performance was “very un-Queensland-like”.There were too many short and overpitched balls, enabling Gilchrist, North and Langer to tear up plenty of runs on a Gabba pitch which zipped around early.Ashley Noffke dented his Test chances with an indifferent return of 0-76, while Michael Kasprowicz (3-89), Bichel and Dale took wickets without hitting theirstraps.Bulls openers Matthew Hayden (12 not out) and Jimmy Maher (29 not out) negotiated a tough period before stumps to ensure the home team would start its run chase intact tomorrow.

Dimitri Mascarenhas is expected to be fit again to play Perth Grade cricket by Mid January.Dimi bowled throughout the 2001 Hampshire season with a heel spur, and had to take pain killers regularly.

He had an operation on 26th November, and is presently recuperating in Perth.Dimi, seen here in plaster, plays in the Perth Grade league for top club Melville. “I want to get back to action just after Christmas, says Dimi, “but more realistically it may have to wait a couple more weeks to be able to bowl”.

The Wellington team to compete at the National Under-21 tournament in Christchurch starting on December 27 is:Sarah Bradbury, Amy Burgess, Belina Clifton, Amanda Cooper, Amanda Green, Emily Hobbs, Nicole James, Francis King, Asmita Rama, Sian Ruck, Megan Tuapawa, Megan Wakefield, Pam Yates. Coach: Andrew Cavill. Manager: Philly Gordon.Anna Corbin was unavailable for selection due to committments for the CLEAR White Ferns tour to Australia prior to Christmas.This team is a young team with seven secondary school girls included, but their selection is reward for hard work with an eye on future talent to play for the State Wellington Blaze.

Michael Papps’ maiden first-class century guided Canterbury to a dominant position against Otago at the Village Green in Christchurch today.The home side was 71 ahead at stumps on day two, having been bowled out for 315 today after resuming at 59/3.Where Canterbury might have collapsed, judging by performances in recent years, the patience of Papps, who made 158 not out, and flair of Chris Harris (70) was rewarded with what could be a decisive first innings lead of 101. The overnight pair put on 127 for the fourth wicket.”Last year I was quite often getting out between 20 and 40 and that was pretty disappointing, but it’s something I’ve been working hard on,” said Papps.”Especially last year my concentration wasn’t as good as it could have been,” said the right-hander. “I was working on trying to hit down the ground as much as I can and not playing across it too much.”A new upbeat attitude under coach Michael Sharpe has seen a number of players begin to reach their potential.”The boys have really got a plan in mind and all have targets that we’re working towards, so there’s a really positive atmosphere in the team. It’s been really good so far,” Papps told CricInfo.Aaron Redmond’s century at Rangiora, and Wade Cornelius’ 7-53 in the same game are examples of good players making the impression they are capable of. Warren Wisneski’s 5-74 here at the Village Green is another case of a Canterbury player regaining form after being in the doldrums.A break last winter after touring England with New Zealand A in 2000 and being part of the Academy in 1999 has left Papps rejuvenated.”I had a break and freshened up and I came back feeling fairly positive,” said the young batsman.Four fifties and a century for his club side East Shirley, as well as a fifty at Rangiora, when he was unlucky to be given out lbw have also helped.Today Papps was the man to prosper, with his only false shot a streaky four through the slips to bring up his century in 250 balls. Papps felt former Canterbury colleague Craig Cumming got a hand to the ball.Papps’ previous best was 84 against Otago at Village Green in February 2000.In making the highest Championship score this season, Papps hit 16 boundaries, mixing onside clips and straight drives with watchful defence in his seven and a half-hour knock.Now batting in his preferred position at No 3, Papps still plays as wicket-keeper at club level, saying “I’ll keep doing that to keep a bit a pressure on Hoppy (Gareth Hopkins), to keep him honest.””We’re going to hopefully bowl them out for as few as possible and chase whatever they set. It’s a pretty good batting wicket, but we’ve got to try and deny them runs and keep taking wickets. It’s a big day tomorrow,” he said.Papps has been a member of a winning Canterbury team at first-class level, in his second game, which was against Northern Districts in 1998/99. They haven’t won since, but will have a great opportunity to drive home their advantage tomorrow.But a word of warning came from the inspirational new coach Sharpe. “There’s a long way to go,” he said wryly.

Glamorgan CCC will confirm today the appointment of John Derrick as firstteam coach for the coming season.

Watch these pages for further details.

In a one-day international that was a classic of its kind, India won a thrilling match by 22 runs despite a marvellous innings of 121 from Marcus Trescothick. India had looked out of it when England were 224 for 4, but a dreadful umpiring decision that sparked a woeful collapse enabled India to take first blood in the six-match series.India got off to exactly the start they wanted. Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly set off at a rattling good pace, taking advantage of some English bowling that was slightly below par. There were enough wayward deliveries to allow run-scoring without risk-taking. The 50 came up in the tenth over and a total in excess of 300 could be envisaged at this stage.Paul Collingwood came on to bowl the 14th over of the innings only to be hit for a straight six by Ganguly, and was withdrawn from the attack after conceding ten from the over. Before the change could be effected, however, Andrew Flintoff had broken the partnership.The wicket, greeted with an eerie silence from the vast and otherwise noisy crowd, was something of a collector’s item. It will certainly feature prominently in Flintoff’s collection, for he hit Tendulkar’s stumps with a ball of fullish length that the batsman tried to work to mid-wicket.Three overs later, Ganguly fell to the same bowler. He also tried to fetch a ball from outside off stump towards mid-wicket with plenty of predetermination about the shot. He only succeeded in sending it high into the air for Nasser Hussain to take a testing catch with comfort.Dinesh Mongia was joined by VVS Laxman who became the third batsman to get out with mid-wicket in mind when well set. He chipped Darren Gough there when Gough had been brought back into the attack with the single aim of taking another wicket.Mongia, playing a sensible innings with a maturity that belied his inexperience at this level, reached his 50 off as many balls with only four fours and a six. He lost another partner when Virender Sehwag shaped a horrible slog to be bowled by Matthew Hoggard’s slower ball, and India appeared to have wasted a very good start.Mongia took a liking to Jeremy Snape’s off-breaks when he returned to the attack with two straight fours, despite the fact that long-on and long-off were set back, but then Snape snared his man. Mongia was bowled for an excellent 71 from 75 balls.Two more wickets then fell in quick succession. Ajit Agarkar was beautifully stumped by James Foster off a leg-side wide from an off-colour Ashley Giles, and Ajay Ratra was run out. Hemang Badani found a willing partner in Harbhajan Singh to stop the rot, and this pair manipulated the total to the level that India would have had in mind at the outset.England had been docked one over for a tardy bowling rate, and could be satisfied that it was not more than one. They were not satisfied with the start they made as they went after the impressive total.Trescothick got a single off Javagal Srinath’s first ball, but the bowler wrung an lbw decision out of the umpire as Nick Knight faced his first ball. Did it pitch outside the leg-stump? Not according to the umpire.Nasser Hussain came in with only one thing on his mind, and that was to get the scoreboard moving. Using the open face that he favours, he managed to locate the rope frequently enough, while Trescothick was totally uninhibited with his strokeplay.Both batsmen were dropped by Laxman at second slip. Trescothick was on only two when the fielder spurned a chance off Agarkar, and Hussain on 19 when Laxman again erred, this time off Srinath. That one did not prove as expensive, for Hussain was lbw to Anil Kumble’s second ball when he had scored 29. Despite the length of stride he got in, the umpire needed no time to think about his decision.Trescothick made the most of the fielding restrictions in the remainder of the first 15 overs, hitting sixes off Harbhajan Singh and Kumble and three fours off Harbhajan in the 15th over.Michael Vaughan was just beginning to look more comfortable having contributed 14 to a partnership of 59 off eight overs with Trescothick when he tried to lift Kumble over mid-off but failed to do so. Collingwood played his part before he too took an unnecessary liberty with Ganguly to offer a simple catch to mid-wicket.Trescothick meanwhile had brought up a memorable century from just 80 balls with 13 fours and two sixes. It was a gargantuan effort from a man who had left the field five times during the Indian innings feeling unwell. With Flintoff overcoming a nervous start to keep Trescothick company, they brought the required rate down to no more than five an over.Ganguly needed wickets; England needed to go steadily along. They might have done had Trescothick’s innings not come to an end in the unhappiest of circumstances. Srinath was brought into the attack, bowled a ball that pitched some six inches outside the left-hander’s leg stump. The bowler appealed and the umpire gave a shocking decision in his favour.It was the turning point in the match. There was an awful mix-up between Flintoff and Snape that resulted in Flintoff being run out at a crucial stage. Snape became the fourth lbw victim sweeping at Harbhajan Singh, and England’s challenge became forlorn.Foster chased a wide one from Agarkar to give Ratra his first victim in international cricket, Gough lasted no time at all and although Giles did his best to eke out the required runs at the end, he was out for 18 and India had won a great game of cricket.

During his 37 years at Somerset County Cricket Club the popular former all-rounder Peter Robinson has undertaken almost every job that there is to be done at the club.Currently Robbo is health and safety officer, cricket manager, manager of the Somerset Board Eleven and Somerset Under-19s coach, to mention but a few of the responsibilities that he undertakes at the County Ground.Robbo has just accepted the invitation from the Lloyd and White Youth Cricket League to take over as their president.Speaking earlier this morning he told me: “The league committee wrote to me recently and asked if I’d like to become their president. I’m honoured to take on the job.”I’m looking forward to carrying out my duties, and hope to get round to see some of the league matches this season.”

Augustine ‘Gus’ Logie has had a very distinguished career as a player and as a coach. He is a proven winner and a true gentleman, a reflection of the true spirit of cricket and the glory days of West Indies cricket. We wish him, the WICB, and players continued successes on and off the field.His CV is attached for reference purposes.Curriculum VitaeName: Augustine Lawrence LogieDate-of-Birth: 28th September 1960Marital Status: Married with 3 ChildrenEducation and Training:

The destructive force of Victoria’s seam bowlers has humbled New South Wales on day three of the top of the table Pura Cup clash as they won outright and claimed top of the ladder with 26 points. It was supposed to be tight contest of one versus two with both sides enjoying close to their best line ups.New South Wales had the relative luxury of Steve and Mark Waugh with other international representatives such as Michael Slater, youngster Michael Clarke and Simon Katich. Yet even with this strong line up, NSW could only manage a parltry 150 on the morning of day three maintaining a lead of 22 runs after Victoria’s first innings total of 269.With a performance like this Victoria look certain to be the Pura Cup favourite’s as their display over the past three days has been impeccable.Victorian captain Darren Berry said the win over New South Wales, a team with so many internationals was very satisfying but he believed the home team failed to offer any respect – a claim refuted by opposing captain Steve Waugh."[The win was] very very satisfying and to be perfectly honest I don’t think they showed us any respect whatsoever. Steve Rixon in the pre match said Victoria hasn’t been tested this year. We look forward to testing them. We will wait until after Christmas now for that test from someone else."I don’t say that with any animosity…we have been underrated and I think we have really good depth and our bowling attack is good and our batting side with [Matthew] Elliott, [Jason] Arnberger and [Brad] Hodge and Graeme Rummans, who has been a great addition to our teamwe are just going along quietly.""I was really disappointed leading into this match. We were looking forward to it, playing against some players who we have enormous respect for and I just thought Steve Rixon showed us no respect whatsoever," Berry said."We gave them plenty of respect. I always give opposition respect; if you don’t you pay the consequences. We were outplayed by a good side and to say we did not show them respect is wrong," said Waugh."I don’t know how he could say that. `Chuck’ should give himself a pat on the back and say they played well. I think it’s a ridiculous comment to make."With Mark Waugh and Clarke at the crease, NSW had a chance to make a lead and give their bowlers a target to bowl at. But the middle and lower order could only add 40 runs from their overnight total.Waugh resuming his innings on 35, added just 10 runs when Shane Harwood bowled him for 45. The 37-year-old shouldered arms and the delivery pitched outside off stump jagged back and took his bails off.Harwood showed great strength and bowled in tandem with Matthew Inness to wrap up the final wickets of the morning. Harwood’s figures of 5 for 54 were his best first-class figures and he chose an incredible time to do it.Victorian captain Darren Berry suggested Harwood may have shocked a few of the NSW attack."He’s got an extra yard of pace and I think he may have shocked a few blokes. The New South Wales batsmen probably had not heard of Shane Harwood before and I think he really stood up for us this morning," said Berry.Harwood, 28, has only played three games for Victoria, took a hat trick on debut and along with Mick Lewis and Matthew Inness Victoria have strong bowling line up."He [Harwood] is an exciting talent and along with Mick Lewis and Matthew Inness I reckon we have equal to any bowling attack in the country," said Berry.His next victim, Clarke, on 38, tried to pull Harwood but got no further than silly mid-on where Mick Lewis resided and took a good catch which was hit incredibly hard.Wicketkeeper batsmen Brad Haddin repeated the same shot and fell to Harwood after Lewis took a sitter at mid-on. With only bunnies to come the innings ended within three overs. Inness snapped up Stuart MacGill for a duck when Hodge caught him at cover.The wicket of Stuart Clark gave Harwood his five after the New South Welshman skied the ball high for Darren Berry to take a simple catch.Needing 23 for outright victory, Victoria lost Jason Arnberger for five when he flayed the ball to the slips cordon for Mark Waugh to take the catch off the bowling of youngster Doug Bollinger. Arnberger gave the 21-year-old five wickets for the match.Matthew Elliott (12 not out) and Graeme Rummans (six not out) took the winning runs from the sixth over to give the Victorians outright victory finishing the match on 1 for 25.