Only two weeks of the Crusade left and it promises to be very tense as we push for one of the three promotional spots that are for grabs.Twenty-one points cover the top four teams so there is still plenty of room for some last minute shuffling.While I can look positively towards the finale of our four-day cricket, the same cannot be said about our one-day performances this year.This week has seen us lose heavily to Essex and Sussex which leaves us with only two wins from 14 games.We have, to be fair, had a few games washed out but our position, second from the bottom, is very disappointing.From my point of view it has been an incredibly frustrating experience with my scores reflecting my troubles.I have struggled on most occasions to adjust to the conditions, an example of this was against Essex when I was caught at slip looking to hit the ball through square leg. The pitches we have played on throughout this season have been diabolical!If we are not playing on old used wickets then we find ourselves on local club grounds that have been given an opportunity to host a one-day match.This is the problem that Middlesex faces as Lord’s is not always available due to finals or other occasions such as Test matches.Testament to this is that I have had only one bat at Lord’s in my coloured clothing. The rest of our home games have been scattered around the greater London area, similar to Sydenham Park in Christchurch for those of you who have played there.The frustration comes from wanting to play a brand of cricket that is attractive to watch and spectators can see some genuine entertainment.Instead we are forced to continually scrape and scratch on low, slow seaming wickets inching our way to scores between 100 and 150. I hear the argument that players should be good enough to adjust and I agree which adds to my frustration. But there is a bigger issue and that is competition.With many an activity now on offer during the weekends, players and officials must realise we are competing for the entertainment dollar. Bringing a family along to watch a game where a good score is below 150 with only a handful of boundaries does not make a good day out!We now have nothing to play for in this competition apart from the ole favourite of pride. The club needs to look now towards next year and I will be promoting the use of younger players into the side to gain precious experience.I, on the other hand, will be putting all my time into finishing the season on a positive note and then joining the New Zealand boys in Pakistan.This week, between games for Middlesex, I made my way up the M1 to Sheffield to play a benefit game for Darren Gough. It was an International XI versus an English XI made up mostly of Darren’s Yorkshire team mates. The International side had a nice blend – Viv Richards (captain), Mathew Sinclair, Fleming (New Zealand), Stuart Law, Greg Blewett, Ian Harvey (Australia), Franklyn Rose, Junior Murray, Phil Simmons, Ricardo Powell (West Indies) and Paul Strang (Zimbabwe). Rain ruined what could have been a big earner for Goughy but, we still managed 30 overs-a-side that attracted around 5000 Yorkshiremen to the ground.For the record we scored a healthy 316 only to be pipped in the last over by a Darren Gough six that left him 63 not out. I hope the Anti-Corruption Unit weren’t watching!

Just a few minutes after close of play on the last day of the CricInfo Championship season at Taunton during which Somerset had beaten Northants, Chief Executive Peter Anderson told me, “This was a fitting way to end the championship season. We played well all through the game, and when the pressure was on in the run chase we remained calm and reached the target in a professional manner, which has been the hallmark of our cricket this year.”Somerset Coach Kevin Shine said, “This was a lovely way to end the championship season, with a fabulous run chase. Who’d have thought it earlier on in the day.We have sent a fairly good crowd home happy after creating a one day atmosphere towards the end, which was lovely to see.”He went on, “Woody and Coxy got us off to a flying start, and it was brilliant to see Keith get the winning runs with a six.” All rounder Ian Blackwell, who took five Northants wickets in their second innings, and who has played such a major part in the Somerset success story this season said,” Two hundred and forty off forty two overs – we’d settle for that!”

The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), today announced a 14-member squad for next year’s International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Under-19 World Cup which will be held in New Zealand.The Under-19 World Cup, which will be held in January, 2002 will feature some 16 teams, and see the West Indies drawn in Zone D. Other teams in Zone D are Australia, Kenya and Scotland.The West Indies team will leave on January 10 for New Zealand, in time for the opening ceremony which takes place on January 14 in Christ Church.While in New Zealand, the West Indies will play two practice matches versus local opposition. The West Indies’ first match will be against Scotland on January 21. Their remaining preliminary matches against Australia and Kenya will be played on January 23 and 24 respectively. The ICC Under-19 World Cup will played from January 12 to February 10, 2002.The full team is:Narsingh Deonarine and Ron Matthews – GUYANA
Ryan Nurse and Alcindo Holder – BARBADOS
Donovan Pagon and Lorenzo Ingram – JAMAICA
Dwayne Bravo, Llendl Simmons and Ravi Rampaul – TRINIDAD & TOBAGO
Gareth Matthew (St. Kitts), Tonito Willett (Nevis) andGavin Tonge (Antigua) – LEEWARD ISLANDS
Shane Shillingford (Dominica) and Darren Sammy (St. Lucia) – WINDWARD ISLANDS
Reserves:Danza Hyatt and St. Clair Searchwell – JAMAICA
Denzil James – TRINIDAD & TOBAGO
Derick Bishop and Marlon Clark – BARBADOS
Jeremiah Harris – GUYANA
Team Management:Courtnay Daley – Manager – JAMAICA
Gus Logie – Coach – TRINIDAD & TOBAGO
David Cumberbatch – Physiotherapist – TRINIDAD & TOBAGO

A second-innings collapse from Maharashtra saw Mumbai pull off aseven-wicket victory in their Ranji Trophy league match at Mumbai onSunday.Reaching a first-innings total of 250 thanks mainly to some late-orderheroics, Mumbai must have felt that they did not have nearly enoughruns in the bank. Iqbal Siddiqui was the most impressive Maharashtrabowler, returning figures of 7-91.Ramesh Powar, however, returned his own impressive figures for Mumbai,taking 6-30 off 19.5 overs. The Maharashtra innings collapseddramatically; with only the openers getting to double figures, theside was dismissed for 98.Set a target of 65 for victory, Mumbai brushed off minor hiccups tonotch up a seven-wicket victory. They now garner eight points fromthis match, their first of the Ranji season.

England’s assistant coach, Graham Dilley is expected to rejoin the squad in Hyderabad during the next 24 hours after an illness scare.Dilley, 42, was taken to a Mumbai hospital last night suffering from theeffects of the sun. The former England fast bowler did not travel to Hyderabad early this morning, but has since confirmed that he is feeling better.Dilley expects to rejoin the touring party tomorrow ahead of the next warm-up game against a Board President’s XI. He felt unwell during a coaching session with the five players omitted from the tour opener in Mumbai.

Railways cantered to victory over Vidarbha, chasing a small total and winning their Ranji one-day match by five wickets at Udaipur.Winning the toss, Railways put Vidarbha in to bat, and their bowlers did not let them down. Barring a good opening partnership, none of the batsmen could put on stands until the very end, when Samir Khare and Harshal Shitoot added 66 runs for the sixth wicket.Chasing 225, Railways made light work of the total, achieving it in only 36.3 overs. Syed Raza Ali made an unbeaten 72 off just 62 balls, and he was well supported by skipper Abhay Sharma’s 49 off 32 balls.

When play finally began at the Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium in Hyderabad, the delay due to the wet conditions allowed enough time for only a 23-over-a-side game. But whether it was 50 overs or less than half as many, the story was much the same, with England struggling to come to terms batting on Indian conditions. Asked to bat first, they managed just 70/7 in 23 overs, a total the Indians overhauled with two overs to spare and for the loss of just one wicket. With this win, India go 2-0 up in the five-match series.Things began badly for the English, with the new opening pair of debutante Laura Spragg and Kate Lowe being separated before they could get the scoreboard moving. Spragg’s mighty heave over the on-side only resulted in her losing her middle stump. Lowe (1) and Newton (10) followed in quick time, giving seamer Jhulan Goswami three wickets in her quota of five overs. Jhulan’s lively spell earned her 3/8.After the fall of the third wicket, England’s innings fell apart in dramatic fashion. A series of batsmen attempting to heave the ball around the park resulted in little more than confusion. Instead of playing genuine cricketing shots and keeping the scoreboard ticking over, the English batsmen panicked and succumbed to steady if unspectacular bowling from the Indians.Slowing things right down, Anjum Chopra employed three spinners, with Neetu David (1/14), Deepa Kulkarni (0/22) and Nooshin al Khader (1/13) sending down 15 overs between them.Changing things around, skipper Chopra came out to open the innings with Anju Jain. The pair began slowly in the knowledge that the target was eminently attainable. Lucy Pearson, bowling a good line, was unlucky to have a close shout for lbw turned down when Chopra walked into a delivery that appeared to be headed straight for off-stump.A needless run-out saw Jain (10) depart, replaced by Mithali Raj. After the fall of the first wicket, Chopra accelerated the scoring rate, opening the face of the bat and playing the ball into the gaps on the off-side. Taking a few chances, the Indian skipper flashed hard at anything that was even slightly wide and consistently got away with it.Mithali’s (11) calming influence in the middle helped Chopra (37, 57 balls, three fours) steer India to a nine-wicket win. For her match figures of 5-1-8-3 earlier in the day, Jhulan was named the Hero Honda Woman of the Match.At the end of the match, Indian skipper Chopra said, “It was an important win for us. We were not too happy when we learned that the game would be truncated, but it turned out well in the end. I am glad we are 2-0 up in the series.” Her opposite number Clare Connor was visibly crestfallen. “It was a disappointing toss to lose, but we do not really want to make too much of that. There is no excuse really. We were outplayed once more,” she said.Connor went on to add, “I know we needed to put more runs on the board and take early wickets, but again today, that did not happen. Maybe we were a bit too frantic early on.” Putting up a brave face, the Sussex left-arm spinner ended, “There are things we did better today than in the first game at Chennai, so there are a few positives to take away from this game.”For the sake of the England team and the series, one hopes that the visitors can make the necessary changes to their game in a hurry and give India a better run for their money.

Auckland continued to make every post a winner in the State League competition today when they thrashed Otago by seven wickets in Auckland.Otago batted first and were all out for 65 with CLEAR White Ferns captain Emily Drumm unleashing her bowling arm to take three wickets for one run.Then, Auckland took only 22 overs to secure the winning runs for the loss of three wickets. Drumm was to the fore again with 34.There was no play at all in Hamilton for the Northern Districts-Canterbury game. An early lunch was taken and it was decided to start play at 3pm but that plan got washed out when more rain fell.Two more games will be played tomorrow.

The fifth days play of the Ranji Trophy quarter-final between Railways and Tamil Nadu held no great surprises, with Railways winning by eight wickets at the Karnail Singh Stadium, Delhi, thereby qualifying for the semi-final.Tamil Nadu centurion Sridharan Sriram added only 14 runs to his overnight total before being dismissed for 121, made off 187 balls with 15 fours. The only other batting contribution of note in the innings was that of Hemang Badani, who hit a rapid 56 off 46 balls, with five fours and two sixes.Skipper Robin Singh declared the innings closed on 326/6, setting Railways a target of 180 for victory. His bowlers, however, ran into early problems, not being able to break the first-wicket partnership until 71 runs had been added.Amit Pagnis was the first wicket to fall, scoring 42 off 75 balls. But TP Singh (43) and Yere Goud (25*) batted around an absolutely unflustered Sanjay Bangar, the first-innings double-century maker.Railways got to their target in 57.2 overs, with eight wickets to spare. Bangar saw his side through to the win with a sedate 52 off 173 balls. He needn’t have been so circumspect, though; Railways would have made it to the semi-finals even without an outright win.

St Cross Symondians have lost their unbeaten record but are still top of the NatWest Bank Under-16 Indoor Cricket League at the Hampshire Rose Bowl.They never recovered from a disastrous start and were well beaten by five wickets by Andover, who lie second in the table, 12 points behind.A hat-trick of run outs involving Hampshire Under-16 all-rounder Steve Williams put St Cross under pressure from the start and only Robert Miller (23) put up much of a fight as St Cross slumped to 103 all out.Williams (25), Robert Palmer (27) and James Manning (21) swept Andover to an easy 11-point win.But St Cross regained their impetus to successfully chase Mudeford’s formidable 149-5 and win by four wickets.Mike Chant (69 not out) and Scott Assinder (52) made the highest individual scores so far, but St Cross never looked back after a flying start by Miller (28) and James Burridge (27).James Irvine-Fortescue hit an unbeaten 40 to get St Cross home off the penultimate ball.Andover piled up the highest total to date when they reached 171-1 against Mudeford, with Williams (28), Palmer (27), Manning (26), Cellie van der Merwe (25) amnd Mark Copplestone (25) all retiring.Mudeford, totally bemused, managed 79-4, with only Steve Jacobs (29) and Chant (24) undefeated.