The Guyanese national cricket team romped to a comfortable victorythis past Wednesday at the Ronald Webster Park in the Valley, Anguillaover the newcomers of the Cayman Islands in the 2000 Red Stripe Bowl.Guyana, who are one of the firm favourites in the 2000 Red StripeBowl, were graced with the presence of former West Indies’ masterclass batsmen, Carl Hooper, who returned to the Guyana National squadto help bridge the gap between the youngsters and first-class cricket.The Cayman Islands, who won the toss, asked Guyana to bat on atypically hard and fast Anguillian batting track which was once againproduced by ace curator Dale Rogers and his ground-staff crew.However, the Guyana team, initially made hard work of scoring runs asopeners Richardo Mohammed (15) and Azeemul Haniff (40) started slowlyagainst a very disciplined Cayman Island bowling attack that kept to agood line and length and continued to frustrate the young Guyaneseopening pair. However, when Mohamed fell to the bowling of KenuteTulloch, former West Indian one-day batsmen, Keith Semple tookadvantage of the inexperienced Cayman bowling attack and blasted 79from a mere 100 balls with seven blistering boundaries. After Hanifffell, offering a simple catch to mid-on, Semple was then joined byHooper, who played an equally important role as he charged to a quickfire 41 from 43 balls. Both he and Semple communicated well androtated the strike consistently as they were the beneficiaries of somegood luck and some poor Cayman fielding. Both were dropped early intheir innings and a total of 5 catches were put down throughout theinnings.After the fall of Hooper and Semple, however, the Guyanese battingfell away badly as they eventually laboured to a score of 224 for 9from their allotted 50 overs. The Caymnans must have been pleased withtheir bowling as they restricted one of the better batting sides inthe tournament. Off-spinner and former Jamaican bowler, larryCunningham, was the pick of the bowlers as he scalped 4 for 31 from 7overs.In reply, the debutants started well and were at one point 50 for 2from some 14 overs. After some light showers, the score was revisedand the Caymans were to chase 215 from 46 overs. The openers seemed tocope satisfactorily against the pace twins of Colin Stuart and ReonKing. However after Christopher Wight (one of four Wight brothers whomade their regional debut on Wednesday) was dismissed for 23 and LarryCunningham for 22, the Caymans folded inwards and collapsed for a mere75 for 9 from just 29.5 overs. Charles Greaves was unable to bat as heinjured his leg earlier in the day whilst diving to stop a ball atmid-off. West Indian leg-spinner, Mahendra Nagamootoo was the leadingwicket taker with his career best regional one-day figures of 5 for 13from his full ten overs.It was a convincing victory for the Guyanese as they hope to storm tothe next round in Jamaica later this month and once again stake theirclaim as ‘regional beaters’. With Carl Hooper back in the fold Guyanadefinitely have the resources to produce a winning streak. Hooperseems refreshed and there definitely appears to be a renewed spiritwithin himself as after the match he was openly speaking to manycricket fans with his wife and his young son, Carl Junior who himselfseemed to be very pleased with his fathers success.

Boland were on 217 for two at the close of play after the first day of thefour day Supersport Series match after bowling Free State out for 102 runsearlier in the day on Friday. They have a first innings lead of 115-runs.Boland won the toss and elected to bowl, which proved to be the correctdecision as Free State were reeling at 31 for three. Right-arm seamer CharlLangeveldt took five for 19 in 11 overs – his first five-wicket haul infirst class cricket.Medium pace seamer Brad Player backed him up with three for 11 in six oversas Free State slumped from 89 for four to 102 all out – six wickets fell forjust 13 runs.Boland’s Pieter Barnard and James Henderson proved that the pitch had fewdemons as they poured on the misery. Barnard ended the day unbeaten on 108,his ninth first class century and Henderson scored a more sedate 76.The two put on 171-runs for the second wicket – a Boland record – whichleft their side in a commanding position to claim the win. For their effortsBoland gained four bonus points while Free State earned none.Barnard started brightly, moving to his 50 off just 64 balls. His centurywas reached with a smashing straight drive off left-arm spinner KosieVenter. It took 165 balls and included 11 boundaries.Henderson was caught at slip by Louis Wilkinson off Venter just as hestarted to accelerate the pace having paced himself steadily. His fifty wasreached in 208 minutes off 147 balls with six fours.Free State were the victims of their own poor form as they played looseshots. Eight of the ten wickets were caught behind square on a pitch thatbad little life and even less lateral movement. Only Morne van Wyk offeredany resistance, scoring 39 before edging one to Louis Koen at slip offPlayer.

New South Wales’ bowlers have made a valiant late challenge on day one of their Pura Cup match against the Western Warriors at the WACA Ground here inPerth today. But it was still not enough to make amends for a dismal display with the bat that has left the Blues in difficulty in this match after an action-packedopening six hours of play.Warriors batsmen Ryan Campbell, Mike Hussey, Simon Katich and Murray Goodwin all fell to the visitors’ bowling attack, leaving the home side 4/111 at stumps inresponse to New South Wales’ paltry total of 131.Blues strike bowler Don Nash (2/26) removed Campbell (15) in the first over after drinks, following an attempted pull shot. Brett van Deinsen made no mistake withthe catch at short leg, leaving the Warriors 1/24 and bringing Katich to the crease.Several overs later, with the score on forty, fellow paceman Stuart Clark (1/29) caught Hussey (13) playing a defensive stroke. Hussey’s prod gathered anedge, and ‘keeper Brad Haddin gloved the catch easily.The Warriors’ plans of heading to stumps without any further losses were then disrupted again when Katich (40) was caught deep in the leg side field, becomingNash’s second victim and leaving the home side at 3/89 in the process. The Test aspirant unleashed a ferocious pull stroke but only succeeded in top edging the ballto Clark, who was stationed just inside the fine leg boundary at the time. Soon after, stand-in captain Shane Lee (1/11) enticed the former Zimbabwean international,Goodwin (15) into glancing at, and thin edging, a delivery arrowing down the leg side.The late wickets represented a form of welcome relief for the Blues, who had been on the back foot all day after a horror performance with the bat. From themoment that Jo Angel (3/39) vindicated the decision of Western Australian captain Tom Moody to invite the Blues to bat first by snaring the wicket of stubbornopener Greg Mail (4), the visitors’ batsmen struggled. Batsmen succumbed regularly and the Blues were even unable to profit from at least two dropped chances inthe Western Australian field. Angel, Gavin Swan (3/34), Moody (1/22) and Brendon Julian (3/28) all applied the clamps on their opponents and no batsmen everlooked like breaking free. Only van Deinsen (29), Michael Bevan (28) and Mark Higgs (23) appeared so much as vaguely comfortable.Left with a target of just 132 to secure first innings points, Hussey and Campbell then sought to complement the fine work in the field that had seen them snare sevencatches between them. A confident opening stand of twenty-four ensued before the latter departed to his mistimed stroke. Nash, Clark and Lee bowled admirably,and never let the Warriors’ rate of progress reach unmanageable proportions. But Katich’s cameo, and the development of a neat, unbroken stand of twenty for thefifth wicket between Marcus North (13*) and Moody (9*) left the Warriors holding a very clear edge by the end of the day. If the North-Moody association is leftunchecked for too much longer when play resumes in the morning, then the Blues are likely to be experiencing serious headaches again tomorrow.

If any one cricketer can walk on water then he’s Inzamam. He carried his test match form straight into one-day cricket. Pakistan was unable to take full advantage of this memorable innings as they fell a bit short of a commanding total. Who could have thought this burly chap would score over 8000 runs in one-day cricket when first chosen to play for Pakistan.

Pakistan elected to bat first on an ideal batting pitch. It used to be a rather benign one until it changed character once Alan Donald signed up for Warwickshire. All the test matches there started to finish within four days and most of the county batsmen started to take time off when it was their turn to confront the Mighty Donald. Ironically, Donald parted company with Warwickshire last season and this pitch has now changed character again.Pakistan started this game on the back of their victory at Old Trafford amidst some very unfair and strong criticism. If Pakistan players felt that English pundits were unjust, then they were justified. When a McGrath or Caddick stares down at batsmen its called ‘raw aggression’ but if Wasim and Waqar do it the English media call it ‘disgraceful intimidation’ and labels them as bad boys of world cricket.One cannot ignore that England lost the test because they had two bad sessions in five days and Pakistan’s skipper was good and aggressive enough to wrest the initiative well: Enough about the last test match. I just wanted to get it off my chest.

Afridi started Pakistan’s innings in his own fashion. Though he is exhilarating but one knows nine time out of ten this excitement will be short and sweet. Just when English bowlers looked helpless and baffled, he gave it away. I just cannot understand why he can’t settle down after he has given his team such an impetus.Razzaq was unfortunately run out. His dismissal was a blessing in disguise for Pakistan. Inzamam, in great form recently, needs as many overs at his disposal as he can. This is a strong reason why I want him to bat at number three. Saeed after a circumspect start did settle down to play an important innings. Together, they systematically destroyed the England bowlers. None of the bowlers seemed in control of the situation. Why did England drop Robert Croft for this game? In the face of a decent Pakistan partnership they had no back up bowler to support their new ball bowlers.Inzamam and Saeed entertained the full house at Edgbaston in brilliant fashion. Some of their strokes down the ground were truly memorable. Alec Stewart, desperate for a breakthrough, brought back his best bowler Darren Gough. All his teammates were horrified when he spilled a simple return catch off Saeed. Pakistan lost their two stalwarts in quick succession and consequently lost momentum. At this juncture, I’d have promoted the in form Younis Khan in place of Youhana. Anyway, Pakistan missed this trick and unable to score around 300 runs, which at the half way stage, looked a mere formality. After the productive Saeed – Inzamam partnership, 273 for 6 was certainly well below Par.

Pakistan started their defense in some extremely bowling friendly conditions. England is heaven for fast and medium pace bowlers and when you invite them to bowl in the evening you are simply asking for trouble. Wasim and Waqar bowled excellent opening spells aided by the evening heavy atmosphere moving the ball disconcertingly, in the air and off the pitch. It must have been disheartening for England because their own bowlers looked like club class bowlers in the afternoon sunshine.Waqar, bowling at a brisk pace accounted for his old teammate Ally Brown when he angled the ball away. Trescothick was looking dangerous when the captain outfoxed him too with a slower delivery. Then Shoaib Malik and Saeed Anwar splendidly caught Stewart and Vaughan. After the initial burst from Wasim and Waqar, England were never in the hunt for this game.Razzaq and Azhar seemed at home bowling in this one-day game. Razzaq in particular bowled at a sharp pace and looked a class act. I feel he likes this form of cricket. Lo and behold, Pakistan’s fielding standard was excellent today too! Shoaib Malik who came on as a substitute is the best athlete in the team.Towards the end, Shahid Afridi made a mockrey of the batsmen who could not wait to get out of the ground. In just two games all of England’s frailties have been exposed and they look disjointed in the absence of Nasser Hussain. Pakistan on the other hand, is fully committed to their captain who once again gave a commanding performance. There is no better time to take on the Aussies.

Ed:Mudassar Nazar is a veteran of 76 tests and 122 ODIs. He is currently the chief coach of Pakistan’s National and Regional Cricket Academies. In view of the overwhelming interest of users in CricInfo’s articles, we have invited him to write for us.

Australia chalked up an emphatic first win in the Vodafone Challenge series by overpowering Worcestershire on the final day at New Road.The tourists added 124 in 90 minutes before declaring at 360-8 and then dismissed the county for 188 to romp home by 360 runs with more than ten overs to spare.Damien Fleming instigated Worcestershire’s struggle with two wickets in successive overs on either side of lunch. Anurag Singh edged to second slip and Graeme Hick’s unhappy match closed with a first-ball nick to first slip.Philip Weston pulled successive fours off Nathan Bracken before he was lbw to the left-arm paceman for 22 and Glenn McGrath landed the decisive blows on his team-mates from last year when he was Worcestershire’s overseas player.The Aussies’ No 1 fast bowler accounted for Vikram Solanki and Kadeer Ali in his afternoon spell and came back after tea to post a final return of four for 31 in 12.3 overs.McGrath trapped Kabir Ali lbw for 39 after the young all-rounder had hit eight fours in the one notable stand of 66 in 20 overs with top scorer David Leatherdale.Matt Rawnsley went in McGrath’s next over and Leatherdale was ninth out for 72, a quality innings of 11 fours ended by a yorker from Bracken after the Yorkshireman had faced 113 balls.The Australians’ morning workout with the bat included a rousing 41 from 23 balls by Shane Warne, who then held two slip catches and took the wicket of Jamie Pipe, but the man of the match award went to Damien Martyn for his 108 on the first day.

The triangular tournament involving hosts Zimbabwe and tourists India and West Indies starts on Saturday, and it is as unpredictable a tournament as one is likely to find. Three unpredictable teams are taking part, and each one has its morale-sapping burdens to carry and overcome.Zimbabwe, fresh from their series-levelling Test victory over India, have been rocked by the news that their star batsman and wicket-keeper Andy Flower has withdrawn from the side, not only for the tournament but also for the series against West Indies. He injured a thumb during the Second Test and his hand will be in plaster for some time. These will be the first international matches that Flower will have missed since he made his debut in the World Cup of 1991/92. It is the end of a proud record.His withdrawal is likely to affect the morale of the other players who have always looked to him as the backbone of the team. However, some might just take the opportunity to rise to the occasion and lift their game to take responsibility for the loss of their world-class player.India have had to endure much harsh criticism for failing to win the series against Zimbabwe, as indeed they should have done. Their disappointment will be bitter, and they too will need to drag themselves up by their bootstraps and revive their damaged morale.For West Indies, their burden, apart from the retirement of Courtney Walsh, is the administrative upheaval that resulted in manager Ricky Skerritt being sacked and then reinstated, not to mention the recent resignation of the leading members of their Board of Control back home. This will surely have some effect on the players as it will affect their futures. Their coach at least will be under some pressure. They also have the disadvantage of having to adjust to local conditions in quick time.West Indies, according to Skerritt, consider themselves the underdogs for the tournament, and on paper that is probably correct. Zimbabwe and India both showed in their Test series that they have very good pace attacks, accurate and penetrative. For the first time now, the West Indies will have to play without a single one of their great pacemen of the last 20 years and more. Walsh is no longer around to hold their attack together, and the young and comparatively inexperienced pacemen will need to take on the extra responsibility to atone for his retirement.The West Indies’ wild card, though, is of course Brian Lara. Like captain Carl Hooper, he visited Zimbabwe during the eighties as a member – captain actually – of a Young West Indian team, so he knows what to expect, but a lot of water has passed under the bridge since then. Lara has yet fully to overcome the problems of not long ago being considered the world’s greatest batsman, with all-time Test and first-class records to his credit, and also of being the star player in a fading team. But it is hard to believe he will leave Zimbabwe without making his mark in a big way in at least one match, if not the whole tournament.India’s star is Sachin Tendulkar, who has been able to handle his fame more readily than Lara and will be eager to atone for his comparative `failure’ in the recent Test series. Zimbabwe, deprived of Andy Flower, now have to face the opposition without a world-class batsman in their ranks.Extra responsibility therefore falls on Zimbabwe’s bowlers to ensure that the opposition totals are kept within bounds. If Heath Streak’s knee starts to trouble him after a long season, they will have serious problems, but at least they have perhaps more back-up pace bowlers than ever before. Seamers of the quality of Bryan Strang and Pommie Mbangwa have been omitted; Eddo Brandes, according to many reports bowling consistently better than he has ever done, is not considered, and there are several other young pace bowlers who can step into the breach, even with Henry Olonga and Brighton Watambwa injured. But Streak, as the backbone of the attack and a vital batsman, especially in the one-day game, is irreplaceable.India have a powerful batting line-up that, apart from Shiv Sunder Das, has not yet done itself justice on pitches with more bounce than those to which they are accustomed. Sourav Ganguly has an outstanding one-day record and may well find his elusive form in this tournament, while VVS Laxman, if he exercises a little more judgement, could be devastating. Rahul Dravid will add stability.West Indies must be worried about their batsmen, most of whom have yet to come to terms with the Zimbabwean conditions. They have not performed well in their two warm-up matches, and gave the impression that they were rather too casual and failing to apply themselves seriously enough. That attitude will obviously spell failure unless they can make serious adjustments in quick time. But there is too much latent talent there to write them off.If forced into a corner, my prediction would be India against Zimbabwe in the final, with India winning. But in a tournament as unpredictable as this, that is mere guesswork. Much depends on Zimbabwe’s ability to live without Andy Flower, the success of the Indian batting and the inspiration of Lara. West Indian cricket will turn the corner sometime, and it might just be now.

The highlights of the second day’s play between Zimbabwe A and the WestIndian tourists at Kwekwe Sports Club were a fine century by AlistairCampbell and an exotic fifty by the maverick Bryan Strang, either side ofa dramatic middle-order collapse. The tourists finished the day 57 runsahead with all their second-innings wickets intact.Zimbabwe A resumed at their overnight score of 26 for no wicket in reply tothe West Indians’ 374. Campbell was soon playing the sort of innings thatmakes Zimbabwean cricket followers shake their heads in wonder andexasperation.Campbell has probably played as many “brief cameos” as any player in the world, but so rarely do they turn into anything substantial in Test cricket. Here he was playing the bowling with as much ease as Chris Gayle had on the previous day, driving and pulling with all the time in the world, completely unaffected by the swinging ball.Hamilton Masakadza less spectacularly matched him run for run, and this opening partnership had the potential to match that between Gayle and Daren Ganga the previous day. In theory, at least.Colin Stuart broke the stand, though, trapping Masakadza lbw with afull-length delivery, after making 33 of the 75-run partnership. Campbellby now had apparently run out of adrenaline, and he offered scarcely a shotin anger after morning drinks. He crawled past his fifty, and with Gavin Renniechoosing to fight his way back to form by defensive methods, the play wasfar from spectacular.The rather painful struggle continued after lunch against the West Indianspinners, the partnership coming to an end on 139 when Rennie (25) swungacross the line to Carl Hooper and was caught at the wicket. Campbellremained somnolent until he reached the seventies, whereupon he hit theunsuspecting Neil McGarrell for three fours in an over, and followed it upwith two more boundaries off Hooper.Soon afterwards, a delicate cut off Corey Collymore brought Campbell his20th four and his century, scored off 193 balls. He overshadowed thenormally lively Guy Croxford, who battled to score 16 before being bowled byStuart. He trapped Barney Rogers lbw first ball, and then bowled StuartMatsikenyeri in his next over to reduce Zimbabwe A to 236 for five at tea,Campbell still there on 133.Stuart struck again with the first ball after tea, bowling new batsman and homecaptain Mluleki Nkala with a ball that cut back in as he shouldered arms.Stuart was on a hat-trick for the second time in successive overs, but DonCampbell survived.Alistair had again run out of adrenaline and did little after tea beforebeing caught at the wicket for 140 off the second delivery with the secondnew ball, bowled by Marlon Black, who then had Don four overs later caughtdown the leg side for 12. Local ex-Academy player Travis Friend scored 17before departing to the same combination, a fine diving catch by RidleyJacobs this time.Then followed an entertaining last-wicket stand – no stand that includesBryan Strang ever fails to be entertaining – of 74 between Strang andRaymond Price. Strang as usual mixed the powerfully unorthodox with thealmost recognisable and the comical as he reached exactly 50 off just 34balls, whereupon Price (22) borrowed one of his partner’s strokes, only tomow a catch straight to mid-wicket. The tourists had their first-inningslead reduced to just 29. Black took three wickets for 49 and Stuart fivefor 58.As Strang injured a finger while batting, Price opened the attack with hisleft-arm spin opposite Friend, but to no avail. By the close the WestIndians had scored 28 without loss (Ganga 9, Gayle 17).

Somerset Seconds made short work of finishing off their match against Sussex at Hastings this morning.Resuming on 349 for 5, it was veteran all rounder Graham Rose, who had scored an unbeaten century earlier in the match who made the vital breakthrough that led to a collapse by the home team.Sussex were all out for 402 before lunch, with Jason Kerr ending with 3 for 42 to give Somerset victory by an innings and 38 runs.Somerset take 20 points from their second win in the Second Eleven Championship.The Seconds are in action again next Wednesday when they take on M.C.C. Young Cricketers in a three day match at Clevedon Cricket Club.

Middlesex host Warwickshire in a crucial promotion tussle in Division Two of the CricInfo Championship.Third placed Middlesex’s hopes have taken a knock of late, and they will be without leading bowler Phil Tufnell, who has been recalled to the England squad. Warwickshire lie just 1.25 points behind Middlesex in fifth place”Our confidence has been knocked a bit by our two heavy defeats to Sussex and Gloucestershire,” Middlesex coach Jason Pooley admitted. “But we’re a young side, and I think if we can have a good first session and get into a strong position on the first day we can get back to winning.”Elsewhere Sussex take on Durham, boosted by the news that they have a fully fit squad and a comfortable cushion at the top of Division Two. Paul Collingwood and Nicky Peng are injury worries for the visitors.Worcestershire entertain Hampshire at New Road in a vital game for the visitors’ promotion prospects. Hampshire are without Chris Tremlett and Alan Mullally.”I think the game will be evenly matched,” Worcestershire coach Tom Moody reasoned. “Their bowling attack may be a bit light without Alan Mullally who has bowled really well for them all season.”Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire contest the other game in Division Two, at Trent Bridge. Notts are adrift of the pack, while Derbyshire will be anxious to try to avoid the bottom spot that they currently fill.In Division One Lancashire host seemingly doomed Essex in a match the Old Trafford team need to win if they are to ease their relegation worries.

Craig White and Matthew Wood battered Lancashire in the Old TraffordRoses game with an opening stand of 309 in 65 overs.It was the second highest first-wicket partnership in Roses historybehind the 323 of Holmes and Sutcliffe for Yorkshire at Sheffield in1931.And it came after Lancashire captain John Crawley had won the toss, asking Yorkshire to bat. The response of White and Wood was to plungeLancashire into deeper trouble in their first game since coach BobSimpson announced that he would be quitting the club when his two-year contract finishes at the end of the season.Table-toppers Yorkshire left out Michael Vaughan who had declared himself fit after a six weeks lay-off due to knee trouble and then showed that they did not need him against a Lancashire attack who bowled poorly without the injured Peter Martin.White, whose England place is under threat, responded to the pressure by racing to his second Roses century off only 94 balls with a six and17 fours. He cracked two more sixes on his way to 150.Wood’s 100 came in 185 balls with 11 fours and the pair were in sight of Holmes and Sutcliffe when paceman Mike Smethurst had Lancashire’s first success of the day in the 65th over, winning an lbw decision against Wood on 115.Smethurst struck again shortly afterwards to remove Anthony McGrath but White finished unbeaten on 179 – two short of his career best – with Yorkshire 358-2 from just 76 overs.