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The surprise talking point at the picturesque Rose Bowl, where Hampshire took on India just days before the npower Test series starts, was the wicket. At the end of the day, the Indians had been bowled out for 236, with Shaun Udal the hero. Enjoying his benefit year, Udal scalped 5/59, exploiting to the hilt a wicket not too different from the `Chicken tikka masala’ consumed in such large quantities here – tempting, and yet just a touch underdone.But don’t for a second believe it was all about the wicket. Sure, there were periods where it was two-paced, alternately shooting through below the knees and kicking up around chest height, but it was certainly not a wicket on which a strong Indian batting line up should have subsided in just 81.1 overs.Having left out both left-arm seamers, Ashish Nehra and Zaheer Khan, the Indians had no hesitation in electing to bat first. But it was bad news straight away. Wasim Jaffer and Virender Sehwag slashed their way to 39, giving a few chances before the former perished, giving medium-pacer James Tomlinson his maiden first-class wicket.Then came the man that all India look to, when the ball is doing a bit, the wicket less than flat and wickets falling – Rahul Dravid. Crashing Neil Johnson through the covers in fine style, the Karnataka middle-order batsman got even most die-hard Hampshire fans clapping. And there was more to come from the flowing blade. The footwork was excellent, the eyesight perfect, and the placement made sure the ball pinged the off side fence with regularity.The first sign of life in the wicket came when James Hamblin dug one in short to Dravid. Although not a compulsive hooker, Dravid went for the shot, mishitting the ball down to deep backward square leg. Tomlinson on the fence, sashayed a couple of steps forward, stumbled back and managed to get the tips of his fingers to the ball.Despite the calm at one end, with Dravid motoring along as one might, driving in to the Rose Bowl on the M3, there was much action at the other end. Sehwag (41) played half-cocked to Udal, inside-edging the ball on to his stumps. From then on, the offie who has more than 800 scalps in his career for Hampshire, knocked the Indians over, one by one.Sachin Tendulkar, who had delighted fans earlier in the day with his `Master Class’ program for Channel 4, could not give a practical demonstration of those fantastic powers of batsmanship. After awkwardly hitting Udal just short of mid off, Tendulkar top-edged a drive to the on side. With just three to his name, he walked back to the pavilion as Dimitri Mascarenhas held on to a swirling ball at short third man.Ganguly, never quite in control on a wicket that seemed tailor-made for Udal, came down the wicket and managed a couple of trademark drives over the infield, but could not last long enough. Cutting a ball that was too close to the body for the shot, the Indian skipper was caught behind off Udal. Celebration time at the Rose Bowl, as memories of last season flooded back when Australia were skittled out for 97 on a first-day wicket in their tour match.Dravid moved from strength to strength. The 50th over of the day saw him pull Mascarenhas to the deep backward square leg fence twice, with total control. Just as murmurs about his class were going about the sparsely-populated press box he lost his wicket, against the run of play. After concentrating superbly for exactly two and a half hours for 78 (10 fours, 1 six) Dravid was bowled by Mascarenhas, for whom revenge was sweet.Not quite as sweet as the fruits of toil that Udal reaped at the other end. Easily scalping an out of touch Sanjay Bangar, the Hampshire offie gleefully accepted yet another career 5-fer when a well set VVS Laxman (38) presented Zimbabwean Neil Johnson with a catch. The Indian tail, barring the Harbhajan Singh swat at the end of the innings, folded without much ado.A day to remember for Udal and Hampshire, and one surely to leave well behind for the Indians. The small consolation for the visitors came in the first of eight overs they bowled, when Bangar had Will Kendall caught behind for a duck. At 33/1 with a belligerent Johnson (30) at the crease, you know that Hampshire have come out tops on day one of this three-day match. The response from fans at this ground was terrific today, but you know it will be even better on the morrow. After all, what can be better on a warm summer Sunday, than watching your club side make a Test team hunt for leather?

Warwickshire players, Graham Wagg and Jim Troughton, will not fly to Australia on Sunday 13 October with the remainder of the National Academy squad due to injury.Wagg has a stress fracture of the back and Troughton has stress fractures inthe fibula bones of both legs. Whilst both players will attend the NationalAcademy programme introduction at Loughborough next week, neither willtravel to Adelaide before Christmas. They will re-habilitate with Warwickshire CCC.They will undergo medicals in December and it is hoped both will be able tojoin the Academy squad in Adelaide in early January next year.No replacements will be made for this initial training phase of the programme.

Hampshire Cricket is holding a Family Open Day at the Rose Bowl this coming Sunday 14th April from 11:00am to 4:30pm.The Open day is an opportunity to showcase the new facilities at the Rose Bowl site.The programme of events is as follows:

All Day Activities

Bouncy Castle
Throwing-the-cricket-ball competition
Meet Harry Hawk
Strolling Calypso Band
The Hampshire Shop – Half price sale
Coca Cola penalty shoot-out competition
Bowling-at-the-stumps competition
Watch coaching in action in the Cricket Academy


All welcome, admission is Free

Look forward to seeing you there …

Seventy years of international cricket is neither a very longtime nor a very short period but it is a duration for which someintrospection can, and should, be made. On June 25, when Indiancricket completed seven decades in the international arena,reflections predictably were mixed. During this period, Indiancricket had seen it all – the ups and downs, the heady triumphsand the disastrous defeats, the glorious and seamy aspects of thegame.Interestingly enough, the Indian team is right now in Englandwhere it all started on a summer day in 1932. CK Nayudu led hismen down the pavilion steps at Lord’s to take on the might ofEngland. The opposing captain was the redoubtable Douglas Jardineand, though, the thought of Bodyline had not yet entered hismind, he remained a shrewd and ruthlessly efficient leader. Hewas not going to take the babes of international cricket lightlyand it is good that he didn’t.For, within an hour, England were 19 for three. In NevilleCardus’ immortal prose, the sombre, yet thrilling, mood has beencaptured. Though India lost the inaugural Test match by 158 runs,they earned a lot of respect with Nayudu, Mohammad Nissar andAmar Singh coming in for special praise.Soon players like Lala Amarnath, Vijay Merchant, Mushtaq Ali andVijay Hazare attracted worldwide attention and by the end of the1946 tour of England, the great West Indian all-rounder LearieConstantine was predicting that “the time is not distant whenIndia will not only beat England on English soil but willchallenge and beat Australia, the West Indies and allcountries."Actually, that day was quite distant. Various factors on and offthe field, led to Indian cricket enduring the unendurable in thefifties, surely the decade when the game touched its nadir inIndia. The astonishing aspect was that greats like Vinoo Mankad,Polly Umrigar, Pankaj Roy, Dattu Phadkar, Vijay Manjrekar,Subhash Gupte and Ghulam Ahmed still graced the Indian side butthe team itself made little headway while making the headlinesfor all the wrong reasons.On one unmemorable occasion at Leeds in 1952, India contrived tolose their first four wickets without a run on the board, anunwanted record that still stands, half a century later. A monthlater at Manchester, India were bowled out for 58 and 82 in oneday, another unwanted record that stands to this day. Not verylong afterwards, at the Oval, India lost their first five wicketswith only six runs scored. In 1959, India were beaten by the WestIndies at Calcutta by an innings and 336 runs, then the secondhighest losing margin in Test history.Sure, Mankad and Roy shared a first wicket partnership of 413runs against New Zealand in 1956, a world record that stillstands as Indian cricket’s proudest statistical achievement. Butthis was an exception.Recovery, however, was round the corner. The sixties marked anupswing in the country’s cricketing fortunes thanks principallyto the leadership of Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, the key figure inIndian cricket during the decade in more ways than one. Under hisstewardship, there was greater solidity in the batting, vastimprovement in the fielding and with the emergence of the spinquartet, a bowling attack that terrorised batsmen the world overin much the same manner that the fastest of bowlers did.Defeats were still suffered – seven in a row at one stage during1967-68 – but by the end of the decade, Indian cricket seemedpoised for better things.However, not even the most optimistic Indian cricket followercould have envisaged what was to follow. By any yardstick, theIndia Rubber Year of 1971 was a watershed in the cricketingfortunes of the country.

The discovery of Sunil Gavaskar and the twin triumphs in WestIndies and England followed by another victory over England athome in 1972-73, created an euphoric mood never seen before.Throughout the decade, with Gavaskar and Gundappa Viswanath asthe batting kingpins and the spin quartet at the peak of theirpowers, the Indian team could challenge the best, win matchesoutside the country and perform feats that were straight out offiction like scoring 406 for four to beat the West Indies atPort of Spain in 1976. Sure, they were aberrations like thenotorious `Summer of 42′ at Lord’s in 1974 but these were theexceptions rather than the rule.In keeping with the momentum, could we then hope for betterthings in the eighties? Why not? For, even as time finally caughtup with the spin quartet, a tall, strong lad from Haryanaappeared on the scene.Indian cricket and fast bowling seemed to be two worlds apart butthen Kapil Dev was a class apart. He became the pivotal figure ofthe eighties as captain and all-rounder. The World Cup triumph in1983, surely something out of `Boys Own’ magazine, followed bythe victory in the World Championship of Cricket in Australia twoyears later meant that the popularity of the limited overs gamereached an all-time high.Batsmen like Mohinder Amarnath, Dilip Vengsarkar and MohammadAzharuddin proved to be worthy successors to Gavaskar andViswanath and the Indian flag was kept flying high symbolised bythe 1986 Test triumph in England, some reverses notwithstanding.What would the nineties bring? Sachin Tendulkar for one. Finally,an Indian was the best batsman in the world. Indian cricketrevolved around him, on and off the field. Anil Kumble took overthe spinning mantle and emulated Jim Laker by taking all tenwickets against Pakistan at the Kotla in 1999 while Tendulkarcould count on support from the likes of Navjot Sidhu, SouravGanguly, Rahul Dravid and Venkatsai Laxman.Despite the occasional setbacks, Indian cricket continued toattract worldwide attention and in the new millennium, as a hostof newcomers make their presence felt, it is difficult not tovisualise the first decade of the 21st century as possibly thegreatest period in Indian cricket history.

According to a report in The Island newspaper today, former nationalspinner, Roger Wijesuriya, has been appointed Chairman of a seven-memberJunior National Selection Committee.This is the first time that a Junior Selection Committee has been appointed.They will have selectorial responsibility for Under 19, 17 and 15 nationalsides.The committee includes Champaka Ramanayake, Don Anurasiri, RanjithMadurasinghe, all of who have played Test cricket, and Jayantha Seneviratne,Joe Samarimuttupulle and Aubrey Kuruppu.

England top-order batsman Mark Butcher has a slight crack to his right thumb but a best case scenario would have him fit to play in the second National Bank Test starting on Thursday in Wellington.Butcher injured his right thumb when taking the second slip catch that dismissed Lou Vincent from Andrew Caddick’s bowling this morning.He left the field immediately and was taken to hospital for a precautionary x-ray.It revealed a slight crack.A specialist advised the injury should be treated as soft-tissue damage.His ability to play would be determined by the amount of pain he was in.His injury will be re-assessed tomorrow morning and any decision on whether to call for a replacement will be delayed until that time.

Lahore Blues pulled off a sensational one-wicket victory over Karachi Whites to clinch the 43rd Quaid-i-Azam Trophy Cricket Championship on the third day of the five-day final at the National Stadium on Monday.The visitors held their nerves on a day of high drama to win only Lahore’s fourth title. On the last occasion Lahore City won a low-scoring final, also by one wicket, inside three days was at Thatta in 1996-97 because debutant Abdur Razzaq claimed a career-best seven for 51 and then struck the winning runs.On this occasion, it was another tailender, Waqas Ahmed, who had the satisfaction of striking the winning hit when he top-edged a pull just beneath the sightscreen for a boundary that brought the proceedings to an end at 5.40 p.m.Karachi Whites had all but sealed the match when they had their opponents on the ropes at 66 for six. The target of 184 seemed a long way off at that point for Lahore Blues. However, from then onwards everything started to go wrong for the home side.Wicket-keeper Humayun Farhat, a gutsy right-handed batsman, chanced his arms to wrest the initiative. Humayun, who turns 20 on Wednesday, lashed 63 off 53 balls with eight boundaries which changed the entire complexion of the match.Luck also played a huge part in Humayun’s daring innings. When he had reached 15 in his side’s score of 96 for six he was caught and bowled by Sami off a no-ball. On 27, Humayun survived a vociferous LBW appeal when umpire Nazir Junior gave him the benefit of doubt. On 40, Mohammad Masroor floored a fierce cut in the gully off Sami.Left-hander Mohammad Hussain also played an invaluable innings, slamming 29 off as many deliveries in a partnership that produced 63 off 51 balls in just 37 minutes.Lahore Blues were lucky to have a man of Wasim Akram’s vast experience coming to the crease at the dismissal of Hussain at 128 for seven. The former Pakistan skipper not only becalmed Humayun’s exuberance but also struck some lusty blows in making 23 off 30 balls with four boundaries.Akram was run out after the pair had put on 50 runs off 52 deliveries in 42 minutes. Humayun’s luck finally ran out when he holed to deep mid-off with only five runs required.Karachi Whites’ strategy of playing only two specialists pacemen proved fateful. Mohammad Sami bowled a marathon first spell of 14 overs on the trot. Having sent down 24 overs barely 20 hours ago, it was asking a lot from the 19-year-old frail-built fast bowler. Test leg-spinner Danish Kaneria, who bowled just one over on Sunday, was never utilized at all on a pitch that had hardened considerably on Monday.Earlier, it was the formidable Test duo of Akram and Razzaq that had Karachi Whites in tatters. Akram captured three wickets each in two spells and never let any batsman face him with a degree of confidence. Swinging the ball both ways, the 34-year-old left-arm demon pacer returned splendid figures of six for 36 in 17.5 overs.Razzaq bowled unchanged from the pavilion end to finish with four for 54 in 21 overs and gave the 21-year-old his his first match haul of 10 wickets in first-class cricket.Karachi Whites may claim that they were at the receiving end of some questionable umpiring by Aleem Dar. Shadab Kabir had the mortification of bagging a pair but he was given caught behind when it was obvious that the ball had not hit anything on its way to the keeper. Zeeshan Pervez was struck in line of the stumps but only after he had got a thick inside edge.Shahid Afridi was forced off the field when he struck a painful blow on his right elbow by Razzaq. He returned at the fall of fifth wicket but scored only two more before sliced a catch to cover.Moin Khan batted the longest – 79 minutes – for a dogged knock of 18 off 55 balls with two boundaries until he fell to Akram with the score on 104. Kaneria bagged a pair by losing his middle stump off the very next ball.

Australian cricketers Adam Gilchrist and Colin Miller and coach John Buchanan receivedanonymous phone calls seeking match information during the recent tour of India, it was revealed today.The unidentified caller rang during the third Test in Chennai, asking about pitch information, the state of the match and what theythought the likely outcome of the match might be, Australian Cricket Board chief executive Malcolm Speed said.The incident rekindled memories of the bookmaking scandal in 1994 when Mark Waugh and Shane Warne later confessed toselling weather and pitch reports to an Indian bookie during the tour of Sri Lanka.They were fined a total of $18,000 but the punishment was initially kept secret by the ACB.The latest incident was immediately reported to Australian team manager Steve Bernard and passed on to Speed.The ACB boss said that, on the face of it, the calls were not illegal because no offers were made to the players.The ACB reported the incident to the International Cricket Council’s anti-corruption unit and the Indian police for investigation.Gilchrist said his phone rang as he was preparing to leave his room to go to the team bus.”We get about 10 calls a day from Indian fans. This person was obviously of Indian descent. He said he was a very enthusiasticsupporter and asked how I thought the game would go,” the Australian vice-captain told AAP.”I said that hopefully we would do well and then he asked questions about the wicket and whether it would turn and would thathelp Warney (Shane Warne) and Miller.”It didn’t really set off any alarm bells then but then I asked who he was and he asked more questions, I said don’t worry aboutit and hung up.”It was reported to the management very quickly and they got us to write a statement and explain exactly what happened.”Then it became a non-issue and we could focus on the game.”Speed said the Australian players were now well aware of the risk involved in inappropriate approaches.”We don’t know whether this person was a gambler, a bookmaker, who this person was but I think the good news that cameout of it was that it was reported and dealt with straight away,” he said.Speed said Bernard had also established that no other player or team official had received anonymous calls seeking informationabout the match.The same caller rang Gilchrist, Miller and Buchanan “at about the same time”.”The players had been alerted that if they received any calls from persons not known to them who enquired about matters suchas this it’s reported straight away,” Speed said.”It’s the first step of the players’ defence against being compromised in a position like this.”Speed said any similar incidents had to be reported and documented.He said the players were happy to follow the protocol because they had seen what happened to those who had not done so inthe past.Meanwhile, Speed would not talk about his meeting tomorrow with Buchanan, who has been the subject of speculation hewould be dropped as a selector for the upcoming Ashes tour.”I’ll be talking to John about a number of issues tomorrow. It’s not appropriate that I discuss them today,” Speed said.A report from New Delhi later quoted Indian board secretary Jaywant Lele saying he was unaware of the calls.”We’ve so far not been informed by the Australian Cricket Board about any approach made by bookies,” Lele told AFP.”I cannot comment on the news because I do not know anything about this.”

For all the goodwill and excitement Afghanistan have generated with their heady rise, it does not change the fact that they are quite a raw side at the top level, and that they understandably view their second World Twenty20 as a learning experience. Causing an upset will be an unbelievable high, of course, but more than that, Nawroz Mangal, their captain, wants to show the world that Afghanistan can compete at the highest level in international cricket.”It is a learning phase for us and coming into this World Twenty20, the expectations are quite high,” Mangal said. “Everyone is saying Afghanistan is capable of creating an upset. We will put up a good show to prove that we belong to this stage.”Afghanistan have played just four games against Test-playing sides till date, losing by big margins. They will meet their first Test-level opponents, India, again tomorrow, after going down to them by seven wickets in the 2010 World Twenty20. Mangal said the side that walks out on Tuesday evening will be completely different to the one from two years ago. “India is a big team. We are very excited and looking forward to this game. Tomorrow you will see a different team from what we were in the last World Twenty20.”It will be a “totally different appearance” from Afghanistan tomorrow because they have progressed vastly since the previous World Twenty20, according to Mangal. “We rate ourselves highly. Boys have done brilliantly since last World Twenty20. We have much improved cricketers now in the team, bowling, batting or fielding.”Playing India and South Africa in the last World Twenty20 and after that we played a wonderful qualifier event…some of our main players were missing in that but we still played really well to qualify. After that, we played Pakistan and Australia and according to cricket experts, our performance was good. This time, we can learn a lot from the India game and [hopefully] put up a good show and give them a hard time.”Mangal said Afghanistan had done their homework when asked about their preparations against a good spinner such as R Ashwin. “We have done brilliantly in the past against quality spinners. We played [Saeed] Ajmal in the Pakistan game and yesterday, we played [Sunil] Narine, and we haven’t seen difficulties. We have done our homework against Ashwin. Hopefully the batters can cope and deliver.”Afghanistan’s rise has found tremendous support back home and the side’s manager Shafiqullah Stanikzai said there was widespread awareness in the country about their participation in the World Twenty20. “The support is quite huge. Almost everyone knows that Afghanistan are in Sri Lanka and participating in the World Twenty20. More than 50-60 people from Afghanistan have contacted me for tickets. Every single Afghan is supporting the Afghan national cricket team.”

ScorecardMichael Carberry scored his second century of the match before rain washed out any hope of a positive result against Durham at Basingstoke. Carberry, capped once by England against Bangladesh in March, hit 162 in the first innings and followed that with another 107 in the second innings. But when rain intervened Hampshire were 203 for 5 in their second innings, a lead of 304 with 44 overs of the match allocation still remaining.Hampshire were in a hurry when they resumed their second innings at 41 for 2 with Carberry and Michael Lumb putting on a rapid 150 for the third wicket in 47 overs. Both players made full use of the small boundaries at May’s Bounty with Lumb hitting four sixes and Carberry three.Lumb was the first to go at 191 when he lofted Ian Blackwell into the deep where Steve Harmison took the catch. Lumb, who had made 158 in the first innings, had to settle for 64 this time as Hampshire accelerated towards a declaration.Carberry fell when the score was 200, stumped by Phil Mustard going down the wicket to Blackwell. His innings also included 13 fours and came off 176 balls. James Vince became left-arm spinner Blackwell’s fifth victim when he was bowled without scoring but then it rained.Blackwell finished with creditable figures of 5 for 79 from his 25 overs but former England pace bowler Harmison bowled only six completed overs as Durham captain Mustard turned to his spinners.Hampshire dominated the first day by making 421 for 5 with Carberry and Lumb sharing in a record-breaking stand of 314 for the second wicket. But rain also accounted for most of the second day’s play so that only 11 overs were bowled.