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Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen and thank you for coming to Lord’s today.As you are all aware, there has been a Special Meeting of the ECB’s Management Board this morning to discuss England’s ICC World Cup match against Zimbabwe in Harare on 13th February. It was a very detailed and thorough meeting and all the issues were fully debated and considered.As I think is widely recognised, the ECB Management Board has been confronted with an extremely difficult situation, not of our own making.The position of the Board has, throughout this public debate, been totally clear and consistent. The ECB is not a political body and we do not take decisions on that basis. We are not, of course, immune to, or unaware of, what is happening in the wider world, but we do not believe that it is our role to make subjective moral judgements about the various regimes in the different cricket-playing nations.These are matters for elected Governments to consider and take a decisive and early lead. They are not matters for sports administrators.However, that is not to say we do not care about these issues.We are fully aware of what is happening in Zimbabwe and we do not in any way condone the policies and actions of the political regime in that country. However, we do not believe that the cancellation of one cricket match in Zimbabwe will make any difference to the leaders of that regime.The ECB has always found it perverse and inequitable that we have been asked to make an isolated and purely symbolic gesture by withdrawing from this match. Sport, sadly, is once again being used a political tool to fill the policy vacuum that seemingly exists. Consider these facts:There are over 300 British companies currently trading in and with Zimbabwe; British Airways – the national carrier – flies to Harare twice a week; there are no wholesale economic or trading sanctions against Zimbabwe and no universal sporting sanctions have been applied, unlike in the case of South Africa in the past; Britain still maintains diplomatic relations with Zimbabwe; and no decision has been taken to date to expel Zimbabwe from the Commonwealth.But, despite this, cricket and the ECB in particular is still being asked to make a unique and unilateral sacrifice and pull out of this fixture. And, we are being asked to make this gesture with only four weeks to go before the ICC World Cup begins, despite the fact that it was known that this particular match was scheduled to be played in Harare as far back at October 2001.One wonders why it was acceptable for Zimbabwe’s athletes to parade around the City of Manchester Stadium during last summer’s Commonwealth Games. Apparently, it wasn’t wrong then for Britain to be engaging with Zimbabwean sportsmen and women. Why is it now?We have not been elected to take decisions of a political nature. Our primary responsibility is to safeguard the future of cricket in England and Wales and indeed within the wider international cricket fraternity, including of course Zimbabwe where the national cricket union is a fully multi-racial and apolitical organisation.From the tone of my remarks you will have almost certainly deduced that the ECB Management Board has this morning decided that we are going to honour our commitment to play Zimbabwe in Harare on 13th February. In fact the decision of the Board was unanimous.I have already outlined what our general thinking is on this issue, but there are other factors that have been taken into account by the Board in coming to this decision.I have previously referred to the patent unfairness of cricket and the ECB in particular being expected to make what would amount to a purely symbolic gesture when there are so many more meaningful ways in which the British Government, the Commonwealth and the international community could express its displeasure at what is happening in Zimbabwe.Moreover, I would reiterate that the cancellation of one cricket match will not make the slightest bit of difference to the Mugabe regime or in any way lessen the economic and political turmoil in Zimbabwe.Even if we were to make a unilateral gesture and withdraw from our match, there are still another five World Cup matches which are due to take place in the country. Unless it is for safety and security reasons, Zimbabwe will not be deprived of its opportunity to co-host the World Cup in accordance with an agreement that was arrived at as far back as 1994.Crucially, the ECB has consistently emphasised that withdrawing from the match would put us in breach of our contractual commitments to the ICC. This could expose us to the risk of unlimited damages which could have devastating financial consequences for cricket and have a ruinous effect on the fabric of the game in England and Wales. We are the national summer sport, but we are also a commercial organisation, with a relatively modest annual turnover and we simply cannot afford to absorb the sort of financial losses that might arise from any decision to withdraw from this match.As you know, we have put our case to Government but, despite effectively asking us to withdraw from this match in the national interest, they have refused to entertain the notion of compensating us out of the national purse. A position that contrasts, very markedly, with that of the Australian Government, who have taken a much more understanding view.However, one positive aspect of our recent meeting with the Government was that we told Ministers of our determination to deny the Mugabe regime the opportunity to exploit our presence in Harare. We will not take part in any ceremonial activities that could imply any support for the regime or be used as a propaganda platform.Put into perspective, playing this match in Harare does not mean that we are endorsing the Mugabe regime any more than playing in Pakistan means we are endorsing military rule in preference to democracy.Those who say otherwise might ponder whether the Government and certain sections of the media will deem it equally reprehensible for British athletes to participate in the Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008.The past few weeks have been very difficult ones for cricket. We fully understand the high emotions and strong feelings that have been aroused about our intention to play this match in Zimbabwe. We hope that the World Cup will be an uplifting occasion and source of pleasure and pride for many Zimbabweans. Sport alone does not have the ability to solve political problems but it can sometimes help to bring people together.The 2003 ICC Cricket World Cup will be a wonderful sporting spectacle in a continent desperate to have something to celebrate – and England intends to play its full part in accordance with the contractual obligations that we signed up to many months ago.Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes the ECB’s statement.

Canada opened up its 2001 ICC Trophy campaign with an impressive nine-wicket victory over Singapore at the Toronto Cricket, Skating and Curling Club today.The host side made early inroads into the Singapore top order after being asked to field first, removing captain Johann Peiris (3) and Narayanan Balasubbramanian (0) from consecutive balls in the second over.When young middle order batsman Josh Dearing (77) was joined at the crease by Zubin Schroff (27) with the score at 3/48 in the nineteenth over, it looked as though a short contest was on the cards. However the pair put together a partnership of increasing confidence and momentum, adding 67 off 108 deliveries.It took a quicker delivery from tidy left arm orthodox spinner Barry Seebaran (2/24 from ten overs) to break the stand, inducing an edge to wicketkeeper Ashish Bagai to dismiss Schroff.Dearing, the dominant scorer of the innings, reached his half-century on his maiden ICC Trophy appearance from 71 balls, a display which by that stage had already included three fours and two wonderful sixes down the ground. With the total at 132, he became the sixth Singapore batsman to be removed, by a skidding ball from fast medium bowler Sanjay Thuraisingham (2/20 off ten overs).His departure signalled the beginning of the end for the Singaporeans, with the final seven wickets falling for just 54 runs to bring an end to the innings at 169, three deliveries short of their full allotment.Thuraisingham, who showed an ability to generate handy pace despite a short stature and stocky build, and Seebaran were the most effective Canadian bowlers.Two players with influence from major cricketing countries were the other wicket-takers, with Australian John Davison and New Zealander Ian Billcliff, who took a sensational return catch to dismiss Sandeep Seth (5), snaring one apiece.A light sprinkling of rain during the lunch break briefly threatened to ruin what had been a wonderfully warm but humid day up until that point, but play resumed on time with no adjustments required.Openers Nicholas Degroot and Ishwar Maraj set about the target with real intent, particularly the left-handed Maraj who attacked with unorthodox menace, playing some effective lofted horizontal bat shots down the ground.The pair racked up an even hundred in just 19 overs together before Dearing wrecked Maraj’s castle with his score on 58, an innings which spanned just 56 balls and included eight boundaries.Degroot immediately boosted his scoring rate, and in tandem with Muneeb Diwan (22), wiped off the remaining 70 runs smartly to ensure an efficient win with 94 balls to spare.Degroot finished up with a polished 82 off 108 balls including nine fours, an innings which contained as many rasping drives as delicate late cuts to toy with the Singapore field.

SLC Board President’s XI squad

Udara Jayasundera, Kusal Mendis, Lahiru Thirimanne (capt.), Minod Bhanuka (wk), Milinda Siriwardana, Angelo Jayasinghe, Sachith Pathirana, Nuwan Kulasekara, Suranga Lakmal, Vishwa Fernando, Suraj Randiv, Lahiru Milantha, Lasanda Rukmal, Kasun Madushanka, Sahan Nanayakkare

Lahiru Thirimanne will lead the Sri Lanka Cricket Board President’s XI in the three-day encounter against the West Indians, at SSC. Batting allrounder Milinda Siriwardene, and seamers Suranga Lakmal and Vishwa Fernando, all of whom are in contention for Test call-ups, have also been named. Seamer Nuwan Kulasekara, offspinner Suraj Randiv and spinning-allrounder Sachith Pathirana find places in the Board XI squad as well.With Sri Lanka’s A team overseas, a younger crop of players also feature in this squad, including Kusal Mendis, the 20-year-old batsman who recently led the Sri Lanka Under-19 team. Other recent graduates from the Under-19 side include left-arm spinner Sahan Nanayakkare and wicketkeeper-batsman Minod Bhanuka.The match begins on October 8. It is West Indies’ only warm-up match on the island. The first Test begins on October 14.

Although still beset by general inconsistency and the technical deficiency of their batsmen, West Indies emerged from their third series in South Africa stronger than when it began.They won an overseas Test over established opposition for the first time in seven years, an entirely unexpected result, and an antidote to the defeatism that had enveloped West Indies cricket as a whole, in spite of their subsequent reversals. In Chris Gayle, holding on while Ramnaresh Sarwan regained fitness, they found a captain by chance, an unlikely leader with the indefinable quality of getting the best out those under him.Clive Lloyd, himself such a skipper in the glory days of the 1970s and 1980s, felt that Gayle has “got the sort of charisma that’s been lacking in the past”. “I believe he can become the hub of a team that is only a player or two short of becoming very good,” he said.The difference between the on-field performance when Gayle was in charge and when he was missing was marked. He must surely now retain the position with Sarwan, when he returns for the demanding home contests against Sri Lanka and Australia, as his deputy.South Africa’s captain Graeme Smith noted that this team showed “a lot more discipline, a lot more character” than he had experienced in his two previous series against the West Indies, home and away. Their coach, Mikey Arthur, was even more fulsome in his comments. Their defeats in the second and third Tests were by the irrefutable margins of seven wickets and an innings and 100 runs. They were the kind of results that had been widely anticipated prior to the series yet Smith said his team had “to work very hard” to draw level.John Dyson, the new head coach, acknowledged that South Africa had improved after their loss in the first Test and that they were the better team. Even so, West Indies were considerably handicapped by injury and illness. In the second Test, Fidel Edwards limped off after 4.5 overs with a strained hamstring, only to return to bat with a runner. It instantly removed the bowler whose pace had been a major factor in completing the first Test triumph a few days earlier.Gayle bravely came in last in the second innings with his own hamstring problem and a fractured thumb, effectively forcing him to bat on one leg and with one hand. Yet he still smashed three sixes and four fours in 38.His absence from the decisive Test was an incalculable setback but not the only one. Dwayne Bravo, an apprentice in such a role, had to fill the breach as captain without the services of one of the game’s most feared opening batsmen to take on the opposition’s loaded fast attack but, carrying a side strain, also without his own bowling. One was as serious as the other since there was no more likely wicket-taker in all conditions than Bravo with his controlled and varied medium-pace swing and cut.Nor was the misfortune at an end. There was no way back from a first innings deficit of 417 but, in ideal batting conditions, no one was more certain to make the South Africans sweat than Shivnarine Chanderpaul. Instead, he was the one doing the sweating, under several blankets as a debilitating flu prevented him from batting. Marlon Samuels filled his role, closing a series in which he finally affirmed himself as a Test batsman with a hundred, only his second in 27 Tests and seven years.This was a born-again cricketer, not the strokemaker who had infuriated all who recognised his ability with flashy cameos. He batted as long, all told, as the adhesive Chanderpaul, just over 17 hours, and actually received more deliveries, 674 to 662. Yet it didn’t curb his flair. His 46 fours were more than by anyone on either side.There were other advances. Jerome Taylor, pacy and probing, seldom had a poor spell and his batting prompted Dyson to encourage him to pay more attention to it. “He really should aim to become a genuine all-rounder,” Dyson said. “His batting is certainly good enough for it.” Denesh Ramdin, whose wicket-keeping was immaculate throughout, was another Dyson felt was worth more with the bat. “We’ve worked on Denesh’s technique just to tighten his defence,” the coach noted. “He’s got a good range of shots and a good head. He certainly has it in him to give us more runs at No.7.”Shortcomings remain. An opening partner for Gayle, bowlers not only with pace but with control and, according to Lloyd, a left-handed all-rounder who bowls decent spin are required to make the team competitive against the best. For his experience, Daren Ganga’s continued selection was understandable but no longer. Devon Smith couldn’t get a run, far less a game and Brenton Parchment didn’t look the part on debut.Opportunity knocks for someone not yet tried. Sarwan’s return to No.3 will be an obvious boost. Runako Morton, a 100 per cent trier, was given the awesome, almost unfair, task of filling the position once occupied by the likes of George Headley, Everton Weekes, Rohan Kanhai and Viv Richards but was never going to be up to it. As Edwards, Taylor, Bravo and Daren Powell dispatched the South African top-order cheaply in both innings in the first Test, a dangerous fast bowling axis seemed to have formed.Edwards and Powell are the quickest but their inconsistency was evident in the later Tests when they repeatedly pounded the ball in short and were just as repeatedly hammered. It was futile bowling that accentuated their already unflattering statistics and obliges selectors to look to other contenders. They, and all those who deal in speed, should have taken note of the formula for success of the Man of the Series, Dale Steyn – very fast, straight, with a little movement and the odd bouncer. The West Indies once produced Steyn equivalents by the score. They could do with one now.

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Trinidad and Tobago carried their unbeaten run into the KFC Cup final with a tough five-wicket win over Guyana at the Arnos Vale Sports Complex in St Vincent. A good bowling performance bowled Guyana out for 114 in 38 overs, and set a revised target of 109 from 42 overs, T&T chased it down with 14.4 overs to spare.Mervyn Dillon, the international discard, justified his recall to the T&T side with an impressive 4 for 35. He struck in his second over with the wicket of Royston Crandon, removed Travis Dowlin in his sixth, and then got rid of top-scorer Narsingh Deonarine (34). Lendl Simmons affected the run out of Shivnarine Chanderpaul to leave Guyana at 44 for 4, and they were never able to recover from that position. Ravi Rampaul, another bowler with international experience, finished with 2 for 18 from eight overs.In reply, T&T were in similar trouble at 64 for 5, but Sherwin Ganga, the left-handed batsman, and Rayad Emrit, the allrounder, took them to victory with an unbeaten sixth-wicket partnership of 46. Emrit followed up his spell of 1 for 28 from ten overs with an unbeaten 27-ball 30 to win the Man-of-the-Match award. Fast bowlers Esuan Crandon (3 for 29) and Reon King (2 for 39) shared the wickets to fall.Trinidad and Tobago will meet the winner of the second semi-final between Windward Islands and Barbados.

Zimbabwe 201(Higgins 74, Khadka 4-28) beat Nepal 199 for 9 (Chaugai 78, Cremer 3-36) by two runs
Scorecard

Zimbabwe held on by their fingernails to put themselves on the verge of a Super League quarter-final berth, but they came close to becoming the competition’s first significant casualty. Nepal should have won after reaching 150 for 2 in the 38th over chasing 202, but a series of rash shots meant Kanishka Chaugai’s fine 78 went to waste as seven runs from the final over proved out of reach.It was Zimbabwe’s legspin duo of Ryan Higgins – following a vital 74 to resurrect their innings from 90 for 6 – and Graeme Cremer who pulled the match out of the fire. Cremer brought them back onto contention with two wickets in two balls, breaking the partnership between Chaugai and Paras Khadka which was steering Nepal towards their target. Khadka played a huge fresh air shot and was stumped by miles, then Prem Chaudhary edged a cut first ball.Higgins, though, claimed the vital scalp, bowling Chaugai attempting an ambitious sweep. The Nepal captain could hardly tear himself from the crease and it is easy to understand why. He had done more than anyone else to put his country within touching distance of taking a memorable victory with a calm and assured innings.”My form is good but it means nothing if we lose,” he said following the presentation. Under-19 teams will make mistakes, but if they learn from them the process is working. Today, it appeared that Nepal had heeded the lessons of the England match and Chaugai epitomised this.After launching the innings with his customary flourish of searing cuts and drives, he switched into accumulation mode. As his second-wicket stand with Sharad Vesawkar passed fifty Chaugai was content to pick up the singles when Sean Williams set his field back to protect the boundary. All it needed was the batsmen to keep the cool, but as Chaugai admitted, “We got out trying to play some big shots, including me, and we couldn’t quite get there in the last over.”In the end it was the extra experience of the Zimbabwean team that counted. Cremer has played six Tests for Zimbabwe and finished with figures of 9-0-86-3 against South Africa at Cape Town, so is used to dealing with pressure situations. However, even Cremer, with his international experience, was affected by the tension and was not best pleased that a team-mate almost collided with him when he held the caught and bowled off Gyanendra Malla.As the margin grew narrower the arm waving became more furious and there were one or two rumbles of discontent from the boundary fielders as runs were scampered. Following the match Williams was a mightily relieved captain. “I wasn’t too confident at all to be honest, I thought the pitch would have been a little bit lower than it did. It was the wrong toss to lose and our boys did well to come back and win.”Williams was one of the early casualties with the bat, as Nepal held sway after choosing to field first. There was swing with the new ball and at 56 for 5 a humiliating total was looming. Higgins, though, set about the task of building respectability with a level head and straight, adding 96 with Glen Querl. Higgins used the long handle to good effect, showing the benefits of playing out a one-day innings however dire a position may seem.If it had appeared a bleak day for Zimbabwe with the bat, it had nearly got to the point of no return in the field. They dominated less than half the match but, at the vital times it was they who held their nerve.

Polly Umrigar

I rate Vinoo as one of the best left-arm spinners of all time. He could bowl on matting as well as on turf. The way he bowled at Feroz Shah Kotla was remarkable. If you look at the number of overs he bowled in the first innings and the number of runs he gave to take those eight wickets, his mastery over the Pakistan batsmen becomes clear.The Pakistanis, used to seamers, were comfortable against the new-ball pair of Lala Amarnath and GS Ramchand. But once Vinoo and Ghulam Ahmed came into the attack they began to struggle.On hard Indian wickets Vinoo used to bowl tirelessly, pitching it at the right length consistently, drawing the batsman out and deceiving him in flight. Vinoo was a master of deception in the air. Before the batsman had played a ball, Vinoo could judge as to where exactly to bowl to him. He normally attacked the off side with his flight, and he would get lbws with his faster ones, pushing the ball in with his arm.And so it was with the Pakistani batsmen, who were trapped one by one. To get 13 wickets in a match you need to have some class – and Vinoo was top-class.Fazal Mahmood

Vinoo was one of the most outstanding allrounders India has ever produced. He and I had played together for the Commonwealth team against the MCC at Ceylon earlier that year.In the Delhi Test Vinoo played havoc on Pakistan’s batting line-up. We were happily placed at 50-odd without loss in our first innings when he struck. He was simply unplayable throughout the match and, with the exception of Hanif Mohammad, he tormented all our batsmen with his deceptive bowling. He bowled with immaculate length and direction, spun it well, and intelligently exploited the soggy wicket. Often the ball came at us chest-high.Also, Vinoo was ably used by Lala Amarnath, who I think was one of the shrewdest Indian captains I have ever observed. Lala hailed from Lahore and had played with some of our players in the Ranji Trophy and zonal tournaments before Partition. He knew most of our cricketers and exercised his knowledge both on and off the field. Lala set an attacking field for his bowler, and Vinoo for his part was right on target from the first ball on.I would also put on record that we were playing our first Test, after having attained Test status only two or three months before. Our batsmen couldn’t cope with the pressure. But I am not offering an excuse to negate Vinoo’s great performance in the first Test. He was the best at Delhi.

East Zone 324 for 4 (Dhoni 114, Shukla 55*, Haldipur 52) beat Central Zone 182 (Jai P Yadav 50, Lahiri 3-15) by 142 runs
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Mahendra Dhoni cracked a fine 114 and helped East Zone amass a mammoth 324 for 4 against Central Zone at Jamshedpur. Central got nowhere near the target and with the fourth successive win in the tournament, East were crowned champions. This was the first time since the 1996-97 season that they had won the trophy. Nikhil Haldipur and Dhoni, the two openers, gave their team a blazing start by adding 108 in just 89 balls. Dhoni shared two more valuable partnerships through the course of the innings; 61 with Kiran Powar and 74 with Laxmi Ratan Shukla and these propelled East to 324. Central lost both their openers early and Jai Prakash Yadav (50) was the only batsmen to pass 30. Sanjib Sanyal (3-34) and Saurasish Lahiri were the pick of the bowlers and snapped up three wickets apiece.West Zone 161 for 4 beat North Zone 160 for 8 (Munaf 3-23) by 6 wickets
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North Zone stumbled to their third defeat in as many matches after managing only 160 against West Zone at Silchar. After opting to bat first, North were pegged back early as Munaf Patel got rid of Gautam Gambhir and Dinesh Mongia. Ajay Jadeja fell soon, and it was left to Mithun Manhas (44) to hold things together. North managed to reach a modest total thanks to some contributions from the lower order. But it all proved too little as West Zone cantered home with 12.1 overs to spare. Satyajit Parab (38) and Vinayak Mane (29) set up the platform and Niraj Patel (33 not out) and Ranjit Khirid (30 not out) finished the job easily. With this defeat, North languish at he bottom of the table. The final two matches on January 31 will only be of academic interest and East Zone will get to savour their triumph with a well-earned rest.

New Zealand won the first Test of the National Bank Series but left enough areas needing some attention that there would be no complacency going into the second Test starting in Hamilton on Thursday.TelstraClear Black Caps coach Denis Aberhart said today that he fully expected the Indians to come back hard at New Zealand.Although had they taken a look at the pitch at the ground they would have realised that they face more of the same, although possibly without quite the amount of sideways movement that occurred in Wellington.However, it is the New Zealanders who have to up their game.”We did the job required with the ball in the first innings and the catching was good in the second innings. I think if we look at the batting side of things we were disappointing and we know that.”I don’t expect the Indians to fall over quite as easily as they did in the first Test match.”They’re a quality side and we know we have got to be on top of our game and put the pressure on again here,” he said.There were no grounds for complacency and he didn’t think they would be a problem.While the side’s plan had worked well, Aberhart said there was always room to be better. The bowlers had stuck to their plans pretty well and were bowling in the right areas to the batsmen.But he expected greater application from them in this Test with the bowlers staying in their specified target areas a lot longer than they did in the first Test.Aberhart didn’t think the winning of the toss would be as crucial as it was in Wellington. The ground had a history of providing wins for teams whether they batted or bowled first.”We’re not concerned which way we end up doing it,” he said.”The pitch looks fine but two days out from the game I never take too much notice. I wait until the morning of the game because it can change so quickly over the two days. It has good grass cover and with a couple of days hard rolling it will certainly harden up.”We will need to show patience and that’s one of the things our batsmen have got to do. We do have people in our batting line-up who are able to do that,” he said.

Northamptonshire had built a solid platform in their bid to avoid the follow-on at the end of day two of the CricInfo Championship clash with Glamorgan at Cardiff.Australian Mike Hussey and Mal Loye helped Northamptonshire to 116-1 by the close needing a further 291 to avoid batting again after Glamorgan had declared their first inning on 556-7.All six of the top order scored half-centuries as Glamorgan strengthened their position after they had dominated the first day.Glamorgan eventually declared their first innings 20 minutes before tea when Robert Croft holed out just seven short of what would have been his second championship 100.Croft was the sixth Glamorgan batsman to 50 or more – equalling the feat that first happened in 1951 against Derbyshire at Cardiff Arms Park.Glamorgan had resumed this morning on 370-3 losing only the wicket ofAdrian Dale in the first session.After lunch Mike Powell perished 14 short of what would have been his second century against Northamptonshire this season, while Mark Wallace was run out and Croft was caught on the mid-wicket boundary.Northamptonshire negotiated a tricky seven overs before tea but shortly afterwards they lost Adrian Rollins, in his first championship game of the summer, trapped lbw sweeping to Croft.Spin could play a crucial factor in a wearing Sophia Gardens pitch butHussey and Loye did a good job in nullifying the threat of both Croft and Dean Cosker to both register half-centuries before the close.