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Ollie Rayner, the Sussex offspinner, has signed a new two-year contract with the club.Rayner, 22, enjoyed a reasonably successful season with Sussex whose star legspinner, Mushtaq Ahmed, has now retired. Rayner was Sussex’s third-leading wicket taker in the Championship with 31 at 33.61.”We’re delighted that Ollie has agreed to see his immediate future with us after such a promising season,” Mark Robinson, Sussex’s cricket manager, said. “Ollie’s one of our own and now has the opportunity to further cement his place in the team.”

Western Province and Border moved closer to the top of their respective groups with wins against Eastern Province and Griqualand West in the second round of the Standard Bank Cup.In Cape Town Western Province’s Andrew Puttick batted through the innings in scoring his maiden limited overs century out of a total of 231for the loss of two wickets. Opening the innings the young 21-year-old left-hander ended undefeated on 113 off 132 balls including 12 fours and a big six off the bowling of Mornantau Hayward. Puttick was also involved in a 147 run partnership with captain HD Ackerman who contributed 74 off 93 balls.Eastern Province chasing 232 for their first win in the tournament, started off well with Carl Bradfield (22) and Michael Price (34) laying a foundation with a 50 run partnership before a middle order collapse left the visitors on 72 for five wickets.Two wickets apiece for Charl Willoughby and Renier Munnik broke the back of the Jumbos innings putting the remaining batsmen under tremendous pressure and a position that the Jumbos could not recover from. Munnik took a further wicket to end on 3/37.James Bryant tried hard but he fought a lone battle ending on 58*. Together with Garnet Kruger, scoring his highest limited overs score of 20*, they took Eastern Province to 213/8 and denied Western Province the bonus point.Border Bears and Griqualand West Diamonds, both with the chance of moving to the top of Pool A, met in East London where the visitors won the toss and elected to field first.After losing the early wicket of Burton de Wett for one, Border soon recovered with Mark Bruyns (55) holding up one end allowing pinch hitter Tyron Henderson to post a quick 26 off 20 balls including four boundaries.A 53 off 59 balls from Steven Pope and an undefeated 48 from Pieter Strydom, whose first boundary sailed over the ropes for the only six of the innings, maintained the Border run rate at five runs an over.Two run outs from Craig Sugden and Laden Gamiet caused some jitters in the dressing room before a run-a-ball 23 from Justin Kreusch saw Border reach 221 for seven wickets in the allotted 45 overs.Griqualand West started off well with Pieter Koortzen and Loots Bosman putting together a 49 run partnership for the first wicket before Bosman, playing an uncharacteristic subdued innings, was caught for 24 and Koortzen run out for 35.Wickets fell at regular intervals but Wendell Bossenger (33) and Adrian McLaren (32) gave the visitors a glimmer of hope with a 58 run partnership in 45 balls, this after Strydom has captured three cheap wickets.At the end Griqualand West were bowled out for 203 in 43.5 overs leaving Border with a 18 run win, but no bonus point.

ScorecardPredictably, the loss of the entire third day’s play to rain condemned this match to a draw, and a rather dreary one Lancashire made of it, too. Roses matches do not lend themselves to contrived finishes, and there was little the players could do to give the match any meaning beyond the acquisition of bonus points – except that Lancashire might have looked to score a little more enterprisingly than they did.The chief culprit, if he could be described as such, was the Pakistani batsman Mohammad Yousuf, who began the day needing seven more runs to reach his first century for Lancashire. Play started on time on a dry but cloudy day, and it took Yousuf 36 minutes to move from 93 to 100, which came off 189 balls. Eventually he gratefully accepted a full toss from Richard Pyrah and hit it to the point boundary for four.His overnight partner, Paul Horton, had already passed 150, but on 152 he appeared to take his eye off a shorter, faster ball from Adil Rashid and had his middle stump knocked back. The two had put on 258 runs together, which equalled the Lancashire record for any partnership against Yorkshire, compiled by Horton himself and Stuart Law in the same fixture last year.Harry Makepeace might have smiled down in pleasure as Yousuf ground his way to a double-century, which, in the traditional spirit of Roses cricket, took him most of the day and included 36 runs off 85 balls before lunch. Perhaps this is an ungracious and exaggerated criticism of an innings of great concentration and application, scored at better than three an over – but having said that, a draw was certain and he showed few of the magnificent strokes of which he is capable. Yorkshire paid a heavy price for dropping him early in his innings, and he was dropped again on 168 by a sprinting substitute fielder from mid-off. He did see his team through to its fifth batting point, their only real objective of the day, but the real flair of the man rarely showed through.More understandable was Steven Croft’s efforts to score his maiden century. He began with some panache and played some handsome strokes through the covers especially, but slowed almost to a halt as he approached three figures, having already shared with his partner a record fifth-wicket stand of 197 for Lancashire against Yorkshire (beating 136 by Frank Hayes and Bernard Reidy in 1980). In particular, he struggled against the spin of Rashid, who eventually claimed his wicket for 96.Yorkshire’s bowling resources suffered considerably from the loss of their captain, Darren Gough, suffering from “stiffness and niggles”. Tim Bresnan bowled superbly at times, frequently beating the bat, but he was denied the luck he deserved. Rashid was grateful for the reluctance of the batsmen to dominate him, and was able to toss the ball high with impunity, experimenting with spin and his googly; he had a good workout of 46 overs for 133 runs and his two wickets. None of the other bowlers looked threatening, although Ben Sanderson claimed his first wicket in first-class cricket, having the unfortunate No. 5, ‘Faf’ du Plessis, who had to wait a very long time to get to the crease, caught at slip without scoring.After Lancashire reached 400, it was just a matter of time, and the teams – and umpire Peter Willey, apparently – were so keen to call it a day that the declaration came after Jacques Rudolph, captaining Yorkshire on the field, bowled just two balls of an over. Some individuals, mostly batsmen, will have good memories of this match, but by most it will soon be forgotten, its potential destroyed by a day of rain.

The world’s newest international cricket venue, the 141st tostage one-day cricket, will be unveiled on Monday in a mostunlikely location, at Tangiers in French-speaking northernAfrica.South Africa will take on Pakistan in the first match of theMorocco Cup 2002, a triangular tournament also involving SriLanka that marks the latest chapter in the growth of a remarkablecricketing empire.Its all part of an ambitious Dubai-based construction tycoon’sdream – part commercial, part utilitarian – to globalise the gameof cricket, especially throughout the Arab world.Abdur Rahmann Bukhatir’s involvement with cricket started in the1970’s in the desert city of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, whenhe created the Cricketer’s Benefit Fund Series (CBFS), afundraising vehicle for retired, underpaid Asian cricketers ofyesteryear.But the CBFS mushroomed into far more than a cricketers’ pensionscheme. Sharjah held its first official One-Day International in1981 and by the 1990’s the CBFS tri-series had developed into aregular biannual event, feeding Asia’s apparently insatiableappetite for limited overs cricket.And as the value of television rights soared throughout the1990’s, Sharjah became a financial honeypot, offering Asiancricket boards a valuable revenue stream and the playersastronomical prize money.But the new millennium brought fresh challenges, as the CBFS wasfaced was confronted by a grave image crisis, as Sharjah becameembroiled in the match fixing scandal that rocked internationalcricket.For years the plethora of matches played at Sharjah (no othervenue has staged more ODIs) had attracted suspicions thatbookmakers had successfully fixed matches.Amidst allegations that the tournament was fixed in favour ofPakistan, the Indian government stopped their team from visitingSharjah for three years.With England and Australia also wary of playing there, the CBFS’sfuture appeared to be in jeopardy, as the value of its televisionrights plummeted.Ironically, the crisis only served to broaden Buhatir’s horizons,as the CBFS moved into television production, setting up TajTelevision and launching a dedicated sports channel called TENSports, a development that paved the way for the new”made-for-television” stadium in Tangiers.Morocco will now provide TEN Sports with the compelling cricketcontent that it needs to compete with the more established sportschannels such as Star Sports and ESPN that dominate the Asiantelevision market.And despite its francophone heritage, the location has twodistinct attractions: a perfect Mediterranean climate thatprovides for a long season during the southern hemisphere winterand a nearby Asian population in Europe that Bukhatir’s hopeswill embrace the venture.”Morocco is very close to Europe and it will be very easy forIndians and Pakistanis living in Spain and Portugal to come andwatch matches,” said Bukhatir.But although CBFS’s involvement is primarily a commercialventure, Bukhatir is a fanatical cricket fan, possessing agenuine philanthropists desire to develop the game, a fact borneout by the scope and scale of his financial investment.They have already pumped close to USD 15 million into Morocco,building two stadiums in Tangiers and Rabat, as well as employingthree full-time coaches, including former Indian all-rounderMohinder Amaranath, to work with local cricketers.The infrastructure and coaches will help the Federation RoyaleMarocaine de Cricket (FRMC) – which Bukhatir helped set-up andacquire Affiliate Status of the International Cricket Council -to foster the game.Currently there are just 280 regular cricketers and eight teamsin Morocco competing in a 30-over league, but Amaranath believesthat the FRMC can generate much greater interest in the game.”Cricket in Morocco is like a new language,” he said. “When westarted two years ago no-one knew about the game, but they nowbetter. The game will grow in the future as people become moreaware.”Perhaps the CBFS is unlikely to convert large numbers ofMorocco’s football loving, cafe lounging public to cricket, butthey are certainly trying to capture local interest in Tangiers,offering free entry into the stadium and the chance to winvaluable prizes to those who turn up to watch the games.And the spectators are not the only ones offered incentiveseither, as the CBFS has put up an astonishing USD 250,000 pot ofprize money for the teams, ensuring that the triangulartournament will be taken very seriously indeed.At the moment the 5000-seater Tangiers Cricket Stadium is in astate of frantic half-completion. With 24 hours to go till thecurtain rises bulldozers are still landscaping, walls are stillbeing painted and terracotta tiles are still being hammered ontothe roof.Situated adjacent to the verdant lawns of the Royal Golf Club,looking out on to the hills surrounding Tangiers that are dottedwith plush white villas, the venue will be spectacular whenfinished.The interior is closer to completion and very impressive, withexcellent state-of-the-art facilities for the players, officials,media and the entourage of VIPs who are being invited to theinaugural tournament.ICC match referee, Mike Procter, who inspected the venue’sfacilities, was fulsome in his support: “The stadium is ideal forinternational cricket and I have no hesitation in recommendingits approval.”Crucially, the cricket facilities are finished. There are sevenpractice nets all in working order, the outfield is striped inlush, green grass and the pitch boosts a gleaming white colour,similar in look to the high scoring surfaces common at Sharjah.The exact nature of the pitch though is a point of conjecture.The two club standard matches played on it in June suggested thatit would suit the spinners, but local observers have suggestedthat it has now hardened up, potentially offering the fastbowlers some pace and bounce.That will be welcomed by the likes of hard-hitting strokeplayerssuch as Sanath Jayasuriya, Lance Klusener and Shahid Afridi, whowill already be relishing the challenge of clearing therelatively short boundaries.Certainly the CBFS will be hoping that the new venue starts witha bang. An exciting, high scoring tournament will go a long wayto justifying the whole ambitious project.But perhaps the most crucial factor that will determine whetherthe CBFS’s risky decision to delve into television is successfulor not will be whether they can lure India over to play in thenear future.To that end the CBFS is desperate for Morocco’s reputation to besqueaky clean, welcoming the advice of the ICC’s Anti CorruptionUnit enthusiastically and taking the issue of security seriously.Some measures are mere window dressing, such as the signboardnailed to the main entrance that announces in bold red writingthat, “BETTING AND GAMBLING ON CRICKET IS ILLEGAL AND STRICTLYPROHIBITED.”But the widespread use of video surveillance outside the dressingrooms and in the team hotels, as well as the now standard mobilephone ban, will make it harder for determined bookmakers tocommunicate with corrupt players.And should the Tangiers Cricket Stadium be successful infostering a clean image, there is even the possibility ofbecoming a neutral Test venue, as security fears continue todisrupt cricket in Pakistan and Zimbabwe.However, talk of Test cricket here is premature, first the localshave to be persuaded to embrace the game, a task that starts inearnest this week.

Time lost throughout October, due to pay negotiations between New Zealand Cricket and the Players’ Association, may yet prove an Achilles’ heel for New Zealand and its World Cup aspirations in South Africa later in the summer.Valuable time for coaches and players to formulate match plans, and an overall strategy, has been lost in this period because of the lack of communication between coaches and players as a result of the players withdrawing their services.Based on past experience, especially in 1992 and 1999, but probably also on other occasions, time is now of the essence.With this in mind, CricInfo New Zealand approached Martin Crowe, the captain of the successful and innovative campaign in 1992 which so captured the mind of New Zealanders, to ask what he would do now to ensure New Zealand was at peak pitch to make a full-scale assault on cricket’s Holy Grail.Crowe, who is recovering from knee surgery resulting from the injury that forced him out of international cricket in 1995/96, welcomed the chance to take part in the exercise.”I’ve always believed a World Cup campaign has to come from a long way back and I haven’t felt anything similar has been happening this year. It may have, but I have not been aware of it.”I know that in 1999 they did do that with a War Room and an identification of what they needed to do.”Our record of winning only four of our last 21 games is of serious concern, and not acceptable from a team of the standard and capabilities of our side.”It may be because of this players’ strike, but despite that, this is World Cup year. It is what the whole season has been designed for with seven One-Day Internationals against India.”I still feel there is a lot of experimentation going on after the debacle in Sri Lanka, even in the win over Bangladesh,” he said.Crowe said that taking part in the project was a useful exercise and he admitted to getting itchy feet as a result of it.Crowe in the past has worked with New Zealand players both individually and with the team but said he had not been involved since the VB Series in Australia earlier this year.While he hadn’t included the thought in his plan for CricInfo, Crowe said he thought there should be some consideration given to taking a fielding coach into the side this year and it might be worth asking former coach Steve Rixon to find someone suitable for the side.

Muttiah Muralitharan has pulled out of the Sri Lankan squad that will take part in the forthcoming NatWest Series of one-day internationals against England and India starting on June 27th at Trent Bridge.The off-spinner has been suffering from a shoulder injury that kept him out of the first Test at Lord’s and he was not fully fit for the matches that followed at Edgbaston and Old Trafford. Nevertheless, he bowled 64 overs in Birmingham and took five wickets, while he delivered another 62 overs in Manchester and took another three wickets. Despite his considerable efforts, Sri Lanka lost both matches.Now the Sri Lankan tour management are worried about the effect on his future fitness if he continues to play while carrying the injury and have decided that he should return home to prepare for the forthcoming series against Bangladesh. A replacement player has been requested.Chandra Schaffter, the tour manager, said: “The team management have decided to send Murali back to Sri Lanka. We did not feel he was fit enough to risk playing in a one-day tournament.”Physiotherapist Alex Kontouri added: “There’s no problem with him batting or bowling, but there would be a risk with him diving in the field.”Better news for the Sri Lankans is that Marvan Atapattu’s injured finger is making enough progress for him to be able to play against Gloucestershire in Bristol on Sunday, while pace bowler Nuwan Zoysa’s groin is not yet one hundred per cent but he should be fit enough to play in that game as well having come through a test against West Indies A at Hove on Wednesday.

To sit in the ‘Space Ship’ that is the press box at Lord’s, and watch Zaheer Khan lead the Indian bowling reminds you of just how much things are changing in the world of cricket. Gone are the days when most people thronged to the Marylebone Cricket Club in suits and ties, when the fax machines whirred noisily and refreshingly, when touring Indian sides were dependent purely on their spinners to do the job. Despite Javagal Srinath’s early retirement from Tests, the Indian pace attack finally looks as it should – as an attack, rather than a set of reluctant trundlers.Ajit Agarkar, Ashish Nehra and Zaheer Khan sat out the warm-up match against Hampshire just before the start of the Test series. Quite a few eyebrows were raised. How can the pacemen go straight into a Test series without serious match practice? Well, John Wright was categorical in saying that they needed rest, and that they were prepared well enough with practice sessions that simulated real match conditions. The NatWest series showed that this was not quite true.Beginning in conditions that aided movement in the air, both Nehra and Zaheer Khan sprayed the ball all over the place. A touch of nervousness? Striving too hard to make the best of conditions? Whatever the problem, it was left well behind as the Indians got down to the serious business of Test cricket at Lord’s.Zaheer Khan was always going to be the man to watch out for, with his strength and ability to get the ball to hold its line. Running in vigorously and building up to a crescendo as he takes a small leap before delivery stride and brings the left arm through with a quick action, Zaheer Khan certainly does not hold anything back. And it’s this more than anything else that brought him 15 wickets in the Tests in West Indies and 14 in the NatWest series.Unlike Zaheer Khan, Nehra is the sort of bowler to whom rhythm means everything. Not hitting the deck as hard as his counterpart, Nehra relies more on movement in the air. When she swings, and swings late, Nehra really becomes a handful. But as the best pacemen in the history of the game have said, the art of swing bowling is less understood than people would like. Countless columns have been written on the factors that make that five and a half ounces of leather swerve in the air as it careens down a 22-yard strip.The condition of the ball, the moisture in the air, the direction of the breeze, the bowler’s action, the wrist position at release, are just a few things that the experts will tell you about. But there are days, like today at Lord’s, when things just don’t go according to script for you. Nehra’s no-ball trouble and a lack of control gave the home side breathing space.Not so Zaheer Khan. Trapping Michael Vaughan in front of the stumps before England could get a run on the board, the lad bowled a spell of sustained hostility, recording figures of 6-4-5-1 in his first dig. Keeping the ball well up to the bat, Zaheer Khan kept the batsmen honest. Anil Kumble, doing a fine job coming in to the attack in the 19th over, had Butcher caught close to the bat. Then came Zaheer Khan’s next swoop. Playing inside the line of the ball, Graham Thorpe lost his off stump in the 30th over. At 78/3, England were in a position they would not have anticipated, having won the toss and elected to bat.But then, that’s the beauty of it. While there’s a script in the back of the mind, it’s seldom followed out in the middle. The cast in the drama this English summer has an unusual compostion. With the hype of ‘Bombay Dreams’ sweeping London, it’s ironic that the sobriquet coiners will not have the opportunity to wax eloquent about the magicians from the East, the tweakers, the Turbanator and what have you.Instead, it’s back to straight up and down, wicket to wicket medium pace that India will fire at England. Sure, this Lord’s wicket looks like it will take spin more than some others have in the past, and Harbhajan Singh might have been a shade more useful than the expensive Agarkar, but the writing is on the wall. Ganguly means business and he believes that his pacemen can do the job for him.With hindsight, he might wish that he had the services of Harbhajan. If proof of that was needed, it came when Virender Sehwag was brought on to bowl his offies, even as India’s third seamer bowled just 11 overs out of 90 for 49 runs. Agarkar has had a forgettable day, and he’d better pull up his socks for Ganguly to have the freedom to implement his pace plan effectively.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is to investigate the alleged disharmony in the team that has performed so pathetically in the Asian Test Championship final.A highly placed source in the PCB said instructions were delivered to the team manager Yawar Saeed Friday to evaluate the performance of every player “both on and off the field” and submit the report as soon as possible.”The manager has been specifically asked to discuss the mental approach of every individual before going into the crunch match against Sri Lanka as we have information that all is not well in the camp,” sources said, adding: “It has been an amazing turn-around in the last two weeks.””There looks disagreement within the team that looked united and well-knit unit in Sharjah. The matter needs immediate attention and addressed so that the situation doesn’t get out of hands.”A PCB official, however, played down the issue, saying: “It’s a normal procedure to examine all aspects of the game and investigate reasons of a bad performance which, realistically speaking, is unexpected.”Serious differences seems to have surfaced amongst the senior players, and between the captain and the team officials over the exclusion of Saqlain Mushtaq from the starting line-up, overlooking Wasim Akram from the squad of 14 and preparing a lively track with a green square for the final in the background that the top order had struggled in the four Tests against Bangladesh and the West Indies.Coach Mudassar Nazar has already claimed he was not consulted when the selectors finalized 14 players while skipper Waqar Younis is on records having said Shoaib Malik was preferred over Saqlain because of his better batting technique.Chairman of selectors Wasim Bari has minced no words in saying that he disapproved Waqar’s initial idea of promoting Shoaib on top of the order along with Taufiq Umer.Informed sources said almost all the players have approached the highest authorities and have expressed their displeasure against Waqar Younis.

The Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka will shortly launch a project to modernize and develop the Galle International Cricket Stadium, to fulfill a long-felt need to bring this Test venue’s facilities up to international standards.The project, which is expected to cost between 40 and 50 million rupees, includes a new grandstand with modern facilities, including seating for 250 spectators, a media box with a capacity for 140 media persons, dressing rooms for teams, separate catering areas, air-conditioned VIP areas, and boxes for the 3rd Umpire and Match Referee.The new grandstand will be built in the area that is presently occupied by the Galle Cricket Club and Southern Province Cricket Association offices, which will be demolished. The new building will house the offices of the Galle CC and SPCA.The project is scheduled for completion prior to the visit of the New Zealand in May 2003 for a Test series. Sri Lanka is also expected to host tours of the English and Australian teams next year.A separate project will see a new scoreboard constructed at this stadium at the same time.

Valuable tips from legendary cricketer Sunil Gavaskar and batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar helped India’s new opener Shiv Sundar Das tighten up his batting in the recently concluded Test series against the mighty Australians. “Gavaskar advised me to take the leg-stump guard and I followed the suggestion in the third Test at Chennai making 84 in the first innings”, Das told PTI here.”Till the Kolkata Test, I used to take a middle-stump guard, but Gavaskar pointed out that it left my leg stump exposed,” he said. The little master, Das said, advised him that as an opener, if he could play out the first one hour of the match, it would become easier in the subsequent hours. “It helped me immensely in the series decider.” Das met Gavaskar at a function at Chennai before the start of the third Test.Das had also been seeking advice from Tendulkar about the strategy he should follow against the Australians. “Tendulkar provided me psychological support and advised me to play my natural game without bothering about the bowling”, he said. Describing Glenn Mcgrath and Jason Gillespie as two of the best bowlers in the world today, the short-statured opener said Tendulkar often helped him prepare psychologically as to how to face their initial spells. Das along with lanky medium pacer Debasish Mohanty have been included in the list of 26 probables for the forthcoming tour of Zimbabwe.Das, the Orissa Ranji team skipper, said he learnt a lot during the series against the Aussies and was looking forward to the tour of Zimbabwe. “Many thought the series against Australia would be a litmus test for me. But I feel I have passed that test”, he said adding, “the way I faced the Australian attack, both pace and spin, gave me a lot of satisfaction”. Das said he batted with a positive approach throughout the series. “I had prepared by watching some of the Australians on the video and also watched their series against West Indies”.Regarding his back-foot strokes and negotiation of deliveries pitched outside the off-stump, which earned him kudos from cricket watchers, Das said he had benefitted immensely by practising on matting wickets at the club, under-16 and under-19 level in Bhubaneswar which had no turf wicket. “You get more bounce on such surface and that experience is paying dividends now”, he said.Besides, his one and a half month special training at the Australian academy, where he faced bowling machines, helped him hone his skills. Asked if he felt disappointed after getting out on 84 at Chennai, Das said “a century against the Australians would have definitely given me great satisfaction”. On his routine during his stay here, Das said besides regular practice, he was watching his own cassettes of the just concluded Test series and trying to iron out the mistakes. The team physio Andrew Leipus had also given a schedule for physical training to the players, he said.