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S Badrinath has been retained as Tamil Nadu’s captain for the coming Ranji season. Apart from Badrinath and Dinesh Karthik, Tamil Nadu will have a largely inexperienced squad, with only five players who have played more than 10 first-class matches. L Balaji, the former Test medium-fast bowler, has been left out of the squad that was picked for the first two matches. The management plans to ease him back into competitive cricket as the season progresses.Even among the experienced players, Badrinath, Karthik and Yo Mahesh will be the first targets for India A teams, if not the national team in the case of the former two. Offspinner R Ashwin, who has taken 34 wickets in the five matches he has played, might be the one to lead in their absence.In the absence of T Kumaran, who was one of the seven players to have joined the Indian Cricket League (ICL), the pace attack will have to be spearheaded by Mahesh. C Ganapathy, the right-arm medium-pacer and Ramadoss Naresh, the left-arm medium-pacer, are the two other experienced pacers. Murali Vijay, the right-hand opener, who impressed in his debut season last year, will be the main hope in the batting department, along with Badrinath, Karthik and S Anirudha, who played in the Challenger Trophy.Squad: S Badrinath (capt), M Vijay, S Anirudha, Dinesh Karthik, Kuthethurshri Vasudevadas, R Prasanna, R Ashwin, C Ganapathy, V Yo Mahesh, R Naresh, R Srinivasan, P Amarnath, R Ramkumar, Abhinav Mukund and KH Gopinath

Jason Gillespie has been rewarded for his fantastic service to Australian cricket by being named captain of the Prime Minister’s XI for England’s tour opener in Canberra on November 10. While Gillespie is excited to lead the team, he will also be able to use the match as another opportunity to hold his spot in the Test side following his double-century and Man-of-the-Series displays in Bangladesh.Gillespie, who has played 18 Tests against England, has said he has “no chance” of playing at the Gabba on November 23, but Michael Kasprowicz and Stuart Clark have since suffered injuries that have set back their preparations. “To be given the opportunity to lead such a young and exciting side in what will be my first PM’s XI game is a fantastic honour,” Gillespie said. “To be the leader of the first side to take on England at the start of what is shaping as a great series is a real privilege.”Six players who appeared for Australia A in the winter’s Top End Series were selected, including Phil Jaques, Mark Cosgrove and Ben Hilfenhaus, while Tasmania’s Tim Paine will be the wicketkeeper. Mark Divin, the ACT allrounder, was chosen as 12th man in the side picked with input from the prime minister John Howard.”Apart from Jason, we have a young side and we hope they display their talents against this high-quality international side,” Andrew Hilditch, the chairman of selectors, said. “There are some young players with international experience like Jaques and Cosgrove, but we have some exciting young batting talent as well.”Young bowlers Shaun Tait and Ben Hilfenhaus impressed during the Australia A series earlier in the year and also during their stints at the Centre of Excellence. They are both very much in our thoughts moving forward.”The match will be the tenth time the Prime Minister’s XI have played England, with the locals winning six games and losing three. Len Hutton guided his team to victory by 31 runs in the first match during the 1954-55 tour – Richie Benaud scored 113 for the PM’s XI – and Mark Waugh steered the home side to a four-wicket triumph in 2002-03.Prime Minister’s XI Phil Jaques (NSW), Mark Cosgrove (SA), Tim Paine (Tas), Travis Birt (Tas), Adam Voges (WA), Shaun Marsh (WA), Cameron White (Vic), Jason Gillespie (SA, capt), Ben Hilfenhaus (Tas), Adam Ritchard (ACT), Shaun Tait (SA), Mark Divin (ACT, 12th man).

Matthew Hayden’s 46-ball 81 earned him the Man-of-the-Match award but he believes it was Suresh Raina’s knock that made the difference in the Chennai Super Kings’ first home game, one that they sneaked by six runs.Chennai lost two early wickets but Hayden and Raina (53) put on a century stand to lay the foundation for a 200-plus score. “He really played a better innings than me,” Hayden said. “Lot of effort and skill are needed to play like that.”Kepler Wessels, the coach, also felt Raina had made a mark on the tournament. “He has played two good innings in our matches so far,” he said. “He also has big responsibility on his shoulders when both Hayden and Michael Hussey would be going back to Australia to fulfill their national commitments.”Chennai’s win wasn’t without jitters, with Harbhajan Singh and Abhishek Nayar threatening to pull off an upset, but Hayden wasn’t surprised with the way the game ebbed and flowed. “In this format of the game, one is never secured and they came too close to our total. Such situations cannot be avoided.”Nayar said Mumbai were eagerly awaiting the return of Sachin Tendulkar, who is nursing a groin injury. “Irrespective of winning or losing, we will be cutting a cake to celebrate Sachin’s birthday tomorrow. We really hope that he comes back early.”

Martin Suji, Kenya’s veteran fast bowler who has been suffering with a serious knee injury, has been asked to help the national squad prepare for their forthcoming ICC Intercontinental Cup and ODIs.Suji, 36, has not played a representative match for 19 months and there must now be serious doubts whether he will play again. But in the meantime, he will help Alfred Njuguna to coach the team until a long-term replacement for Roger Harper can be identified. He has some coaching experience with the title-winning Kanbis side.Samir Inamdar, Cricket Kenya’s chairman, told Cricinfo that Suji could bring much to the table in terms of his vast experience and that he had “plenty to give back to the game”.

Concerned at the manner in which Australia lost the last three one-day internationals in the West Indies, Ricky Ponting has indicated that he won’t take anything for granted in the three-match ODI series against Bangladesh.”That hurt a little bit,” Ponting said of the losses in the West Indies. “I was particularly disappointed with the way we played those last three games and that was one thing we addressed this morning in the team meeting.”We made mistakes in those three games that you haven’t seen this team make for a long time. We didn’t respect the basics of the game and if you don’t do that in one-day cricket it’s going to come back and bite you every time.”We dropped a lot of catches we didn’t have batting partnerships, therewere a lot of misfields, those sort of things. Looking back we felt we’d let ourselves down big time.”Ponting indicated that Bangladesh’s batsmen would find the going difficult in the ODIs. Hannan Sarkar’s half-centuries in both innings of the Cairns Test didn’t go unnoticed, but Ponting reckoned that Sarkar would have to change his style of batting to score runs in the one-dayers.”He played Brett Lee as well as any top-class batsman in the past couple of years. He left anything that was short and if it was fuller he drove it through the covers.”But it won’t be easy to take that into the one-dayers. He played at his own pace in the Test and left a lot of balls – in the shorter version of the game he’ll have to come at us a bit more … if our bowlers can be patient and make them come at us I think we’ll get enough chances through the day."Australia have comprehensively won all three one-day internationals between the two teams, always bowling first and never needing more than 26 overs to overhaul Bangladesh’s total.

The Professional Cricketers’ Association (PCA) has refused to rule out the possibility of England’s leading players joining the Indian Premier League (IPL). Only Dimitri Mascarenhas has so far signed up to the IPL, while the likes of Alastair Cook and Kevin Pietersen have poured water on suggestions that they and their team-mates could be lured to the IPL by money.Currently, the IPL clashes with England’s county season but Lalit Modi, its chairman, maintains his willingness to shift the dates of future tournaments in order to accommodate English players. The ECB chairman, Giles Clarke, strongly believes that England’s players would rather play for their country than an Indian franchise, but Sean Morris, the PCA chief executive, is aware of the need for a balance.”We will ask the players how they feel,” he said. “We need to sit them down and ask their personal views – some might have different opinions to others. But I would like to think on behalf of the players we would be able to take advantage of this concept and allow them to reap the benefits.”There may be a very strong collective view but there may also be different circumstances for each individual which would affect their decision. We have a very open dialogue with the ECB right now, we met this week and will be meeting with them again next week, so there is a strong channel of communication.”Mr Modi is saying that he’s prepared to move his tournament to accommodate English players and that is music to everyone’s ears in this country.”The issue the PCA are trying to address with the ECB is the potential restriction of employment.”Their priority is England, they’ve all said that,” Morris said. “But I just hope we can come to a point where they’re comfortable with their arrangement with the ECB as their employers and take advantage of the increase in income into the game, because you’re a long time retired.”Restricting employees anywhere will cause friction in a relationship – over a period of time that will break it down.”Meanwhile Dougie Brown, the PCA chairman, insisted that for all the players’ loyalty to England, “IPL is not something that is going to go away – it’s going to be around for 10 years” and the ECB need to act sharply.”So we have to compartmentalise it within our own calendar, create a window of opportunity, or it will be a precarious situation that the ECB will find themselves in. You might find guys coming to the end of their careers will not sign a central contract, they will go and sign with the IPL instead. Suddenly you will be losing people a couple of years earlier than you might have.”

Kent captain Matthew Fleming claimed four wickets to inspire a late Kent comeback against Yorkshire.Bad light stopped play five overs prior to the scheduled first day close with the Tykes on 365 for seven – yet the visitors had been in fine shape on 327 for two just 73 minutes earlier.After winning the toss, the white rose county took advantage of a sublime St Lawrence pitch and a short leg-side boundary on the lime tree side of the ground to punish Kent’s injury-hit attack.After the early loss of Simon Widdup, Vaughan – the only one on Yorkshire’s three representatives appearing in this game to have also played in last week’s series winning Test against The West Indies, started the run glut with a stylish 69 in almost three hours.He finally went to an excellent catch by Rahul Dravid at second slip to give Fleming the first of his four for 77 return, leaving Anthony McGrath to add a further 195 for the third wicket in partnership with Australian Darren Lehmann.Scoring at almost five an over McGrath notched 14 fours and a six on his way to a 181-ball hundred.Lehmann, who has past 50 in his last six championship innings, was even quicker to three figures needing just 89 balls to reach his fourth century of the championship summer.With the Yorkshire score on 330, Fleming removed McGrath to a catch at the wicket and then ended Lehmann’s stay to a leg-side catch also by Nixon.Gary Fellows followed in similar fashion in Fleming’s next over, then David Byas and Simon Guy both went cheaply to Martin Saggers and David Masters respectively to give Kent a second valuable bowling bonus point in their quest to stay out of the relegation zone.

This is the last issue of ZCO for 2002. We plan our next issue for 3 January, and extend our best wishes for Christmas and the New Year to all our readers.CONTENTS

• Zimbabwe v Kenya, 3rd ODI – Scorecard | Report
• Club cricket:
  • P.G. Timbers Vigne Cup, Round 4
  • P.G. Timbers Vigne Cup, Rounds 6 and 7
  • Round 5 appeared in our last issue. We apologize for the continued absence of Round 3 and the fact that Rounds 6 and 7 are incomplete, but we are still waiting for the scoresheets from the Mashonaland Cricket Association.
• Interview: Kevan Barbour
• Zimbabwe’s World Cup 15 Preview
• 10 years on: Zimbabwe v New Zealand, Second Test, 1992/93
• Alistair Campbell first-class Career statistics
• Visit the CFX Academy website
• Letters

As I write the news has just come through that the ICC has confirmed Zimbabwe as the venue for their six first-round matches in the World Cup, thus confirming their claim that their judgement would be based on safety rather than political grounds. Their statement said that they found no good reason to change the venue in terms of security, but they will, of course, be monitoring the situation regularly.Kenya must have been disappointed with their tour of Zimbabwe, especially the last match at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo. Their strong batting line-up never really fulfilled its potential, although Zimbabwe’s bowling was not particularly demanding by international standards. In none of the three one-day internationals was Kenya able to exert any real pressure on Zimbabwe, although when Steve Tikolo and Maurice Odumbe were together in Bulawayo it looked for a while as if they might compile a really competitive total. But a run-out changed everything, and the batting collapsed to give Zimbabwe a relatively easy victory.In this issue we interview Kevan Barbour, who has been appointed to the ICC panel of umpires for the World Cup. He praises the Kenyan players and administrators for their attitude both on and off the field, an attitude that should be copied by players of more illustrious teams worldwide. The Kenyans have always been popular opponents for Zimbabwe, and not just because we can beat them. They have always been friendly, courteous and true to the traditions of the game.Unfortunately, this tour again showed the huge gap between Kenya and the Test-playing countries, apart from Bangladesh. If Zimbabwe, who are struggling against the eight senior Test-playing countries at the moment, can beat them so convincingly, how can anybody say Kenya is ready for Test status? What if they were to play Pakistan, who gave us such a hiding on our own soil and then lost four-one to South Africa?No doubt I will cop a lot of flak from certain people for saying so, but in my view Test cricket is degraded if it is not a true test, a true contest, between two teams in a competitive match. If the result is a foregone conclusion and the weaker team is unable to exert any pressure on the stronger, then Test cricket is devalued – and by this measure even Zimbabwe only just qualifies these days. We have played too many one-sided matches during the past year, and when South Africa hammered us for 600 runs for just three wickets last year it made Zimbabwe’s Test status seem a joke. Only the fighting spirit of the great Andy Flower saved us from one of the greatest humiliations of all time.Bangladesh occasionally have a brief flurry but in the end lose every Test match easily, except for the one against Zimbabwe where the last two days were lost to rain. The ICC should several years ago have started a major programme of home and away tours for both Bangladesh and Kenya with A teams from other countries to prepare them for Test cricket. Had they done so, right now Bangladesh would have been a lot more competitive than they are and would have been spared all their present humiliations.Some believe that after this World Cup Kenya will be awarded Test status, and I would have been all for it, had they been prepared properly. But valuable time has been lost, and it will at best be three or four years before Kenya can be competitive in Test cricket, whatever is done. If Kenya do earn Test status next year, I would be only too happy to be proven wrong, but with the sorry saga of Bangladesh before us, still unable to compete after 16 Test matches, I cannot see Kenya doing much better.Both teams deserve better than to be flung in at the deep end without first being taught how to swim. I am not saying keep Kenya out of Test cricket; I am saying that the ICC should pull out all the stops to prepare Kenya adequately for Test cricket so they will not embarrass themselves when they make the step upward.

There might be some outstanding performances to come on the field to make the World Cup of 2003 memorable for all the right reasons. However, there is every indication at this point to suggest that it is doomed to go down in the history books as the one that fell foul of all the ills of modern sport.There has yet to be a corruption scandal – praise be for that – but the start of the competition has been marred by the political posturing over security in Zimbabwe and Kenya, and now there is a drugs revelation.The Australian Cricket Board has confirmed that Shane Warne has been sent home after failing a drugs test.The leg-spinner has been tested positive for a diuretic – a substance that is often used as a weight-reducing drug. Warne will fly back to Australia immediately to undergo further tests. The initial one was a routine test carried out by the ACB.Warne has been on a fitness campaign for just over a year and his weight has come down steadily so that he looked to be in good shape. He suffered a shoulder injury during the one-day series against England that threatened his participation in the World Cup, but he overcame it well. Despite some soreness, he has been back in action ahead of schedule and was hoping to mark the end of his one-day international career in style.ACB chief executive officer James Sutherland announced the news at a press conference with the words: "I am here today to announce that Shane Warne has expressed his wish to stand down from the Australian World Cup team and will return to Australia today to complete further drug tests and face a hearing under the ACB anti-doping policy."This follows Shane’s advice to us that the Australian Sports Drugs Agency have told him he has tested positive for a diuretic on samples he provided in Sydney last month."Shane notified the ACB yesterday as soon as he received the news and he believes the failed tested is because of a flu reduction medication he took in Sydney last month."The ACB has referred the matter to the ACB anti-doping committee based on our belief that he may have committed an offence under the ACB anti-doping rules. The hearing will take place in Melbourne as soon as possible."There has been a testing programme in Australian cricket since 1998 and all the players have been informed about the intricacies of that policy.Sutherland went on to say, "We commend Shane about his approach, including coming forward as soon as the information was made available."We have advised the ICC of the situation and have applied to the technical committee for approval to replace Shane in the World Cup squad committee."Warne himself commented: "As James has said, I was shocked and absolutely devastated that the test sample indicated a presence of a prohibited substance. It’s not finalised until my B sample."I’m shocked because I have not taken performance enhancing drugs. I did take a fluid tablet before my comeback game in Sydney and didn’t know it contained any banned substance."I have decided to return home in the best interest of the team and address the situation personally which the ACB are supportive of."I want to repeat, I have never taken performance enhancing drugs and am confident it will be cleared up soon."My previous tests have always come back negative. I have spoken to my team-mates and they are supportive."Australian captain Ricky Ponting had to contend with the situation immediately prior to the important match against Pakistan at The Wanderers. He admitted that the news about Warne was not ideal preparation."It’s been a little disappointing for it to happen the way that it has. We just have to get on with things. We’ve got a big game of cricket and we’ve got to keep this completely out of our minds."Sport is littered with cases of players being caught for taking prohibited substances designed to help performance. Equally disturbing is the large number found guilty of taking prohibitive substances that are not designed to enhance performance and taken in all innocence. Nevertheless, if the scourge of drugs is to be eliminated or at least controlled in sport, there has to be a policy of zero tolerance.Shane Warne could well fall into the category of innocent victim of that policy. So far, he has followed the correct procedure and it must be hoped that one of the game’s living legends will not have his career tarnished by these revelations. He might not have always been an angel and, of course, he has yet to be proved guilty in this instance, but there are plenty who have committed worse crimes against the good name of cricket and got away with them.

Carl Hooper, the former West Indian captain, is expected to sign forLancashire next week, as a replacement for the injured Harbhajan Singh.Hooper, 36, had been expected to play against the Australians in the currentTest series in the Caribbean, but he retired abruptly after being replacedas captain by Brian Lara. It was not the first time Hooper had left theinternational stage – he emigrated to Australia in 1999, only to return ascaptain in 2001.Jimmy Adams, the man whom Hooper replaced as captain, defended his decisionto play county cricket ahead of Tests. “Test cricket is highest level of the game,” said Adams, “and if for whatever reason you don’t feel up to it, then leave it alone.” Adams also speculated that the way the captaincy issue had beenhandled was a significant factor in the decision.In all, Hooper played 102 matches for West Indies in a 15-year career,scoring 5762 runs at 36.46, with 13 centuries and 27 fifties. He also took114 wickets with his offbreaks, which are sure to come in handy on thespin-friendly Old Trafford wickets.