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Somerset Cricket Museum continued it’s close association with the famous I Zingari Cricket Club when the curator Tony Stedall announced that Charles Clive Ponsonby-Fane had agreed to become the new patron.Mr Ponsonby-Fane, who resides at Little Brympton near Yeovil will be well known in cricketing circles because it was his great great grandfather Sir Spencer Ponsonby- Fane who back in 1845 was joint founder of I Zingari, which is probably the most well known of all wandering cricket teams.Those who have visited the Somerset Cricket Museum will know that one of the most impressive exhibits which has pride of place is a display of I Zingari memorabilia.The I Zingari items on show at the museum consist of a remarkable collection of material relating to the club and were originally assembled by the new patron of the Somerset Cricket Museum at Brympton before being kindly loaned to the museum.Sir Spencer Ponsonby-Fane played most of his first class cricket for Surrey, but had a long association with Somerset County Cricket Club and between 1891 until he died in 1915 at the age of 91 he held the post of President of the club.Speaking for the museum Mr Stedall told me: "We are absolutely delighted that Mr Ponsonby-Fane has agreed to become our new patron."

Today (Wednesday) marks exactly 249 days to go before the start of the ICC Cricket World Cup in South Africa in 2003 – a global sports event that will have a major music component throughout its 44 days’ duration.A committee set up to co-ordinate the big music component for the tournament has been hard at work in order to finalise among others, the theme song.Big names in South African music have been appointed to serve on the committee headed by playwright and chairman of the South African Music Awards, Duma ka Ndlovu. Members of the committee have been sourced from the government, musicians, recording companies and entertainment consultants.The ICC Cricket World Cup marketing director and member of the committee Ms Nomsa Chabeli said Monday that the committee has its work cut out in co-ordinating the huge music component that will keep the world on its feet as the 14-nations tournament gets underway.The World Cup starts on February 8 next year with a planned spectacular opening ceremony in Cape Town and the final will be played at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg on March 23. For the first time in a World Cup, a closing ceremony will be held.The music committee is currently going through a selection process for the official theme song and an announcement is expected to be made soon.Commenting on the music component of the 44-day tournament, Ms Chabeli said: "We will have three usages for the theme song. There will be a ceremonial version to be performed during the opening ceremony, a commercially popular version and one for radio and television advertisements."We hope to involve as many South African musicians as possible. We must create a situation where we can celebrate our African culture, create excitement, fun and camaraderie among not only cricket lovers, but all South Africans and indeed the whole world since this is an international event," said Ms Chabeli.She also announced that a national music co-ordinator would be appointed towards the end of June. "This person will look after all our music-related activities, including 12 night-before-match concerts at various venues, 54 carnivals during each day of the tournament, "meet-and-greets" at airports and official hotels, the massive roadshow from Nairobi, Kenya to Cape Town and other live performances."Artists interested in taking part in these performances will be called for later in the year. Details will be announced in the media.In addition it was announced that for the first time at cricket matches in South Africa, no fewer than five languages – Xhosa, Zulu, Sotho, Afrikaans and English – will be used by PA announcers during the ICC Cricket World Cup in South Africa next year.Twelve venues will host World Cup matches, and the predominant languages of the respective regions will be in use for all announcements in and around the grounds.For example, English and Zulu will be the order of the day at matches in Durban, English, Afrikaans and Xhosa at Port Elizabeth and East London, and English, Afrikaans and Sotho in Bloemfontein.Two PA announcers will be appointed at each venue.

Mark Ramprakash has hit back at criticism of him by former England all-rounder Ian Botham.Reacting to comments made by Botham that players such as Ramprakash and Hick have received enough opportunities, and applauding the decision of the selectors to look at different players, such as Ward and Sidebottom.But Ramprakash, who has begun the season at new club Surrey in fine form, feels Botham has singled him out for criticism.”I’ve been criticised before so that’s nothing new, but certainly Ian Botham does seem to get on my case a little bit. I don’t know why that is,” Ramprakash told Sportinglife.com.”It’s disappointing. Most players can accept constructive criticism, but when it appears to go beyond that then it’s disappointing.”From my point of view I would say I had 18 months in the side and averaged over 40. Then I was left out and I had a go at opener, which I was asked to do. I did my best but it didn’t work out.”I would hope that if I’m playing well and scoring runs then there’s not a line drawn through anybody’s name. I’m still working very hard to achieve all I can, and at the present time I’m very happy to be in the frame and be talked about as a possibility.”

Former Otago batsman Mark Parker has been named as New Zealand’s first confirmed victim of the Bali bombing atrocity, that killed nearly 200 people over the weekend.Parker, who was thought to be holidaying on the island while returning from a highly successful summer playing for St.Cross Symondians in the Southern Electric Premier Cricket League, was in the Kuta district of Bali when the bomb exploded.The news of the death of the 27-year-old son of New Zealand test player Murray Parker and nephew of the great John Parker, another Black Cap, has been taken particularly hard at his club, Onslow CC and in Hampshire, where he led his adopted team to promotion from the SPCL Division Three last season with 757 runs at an average of 84.11 – the best in any of the three divisions.It is believed that he suffered extensive injuries in the blast, according to Christchurch-based Daniel Whiston, who told New Zealand television station TV3 that “he tried to stop the bleeding and was conscious and talking before he died.”A close friend of All Black rugby captain Anton Oliver, he also led the New Zealand Under 20s side that contained current Black Cap international Jacob Oram and Joseph Yovich before playing three times for Otago in the Shell Trophy of 1996-97 alongside former England star Matthew Maynard and Kiwi off-spinner Paul Wiseman.John Morrison, the newly appointed ICC international panel match referee and friend of the family spoke of his disbelief while Gavin Larsen, the NZ medium-pace bowler said that Parker was “mega-talented and wanted to give first-class cricket another go with Wellington.””He was a great timer of the ball and should have played more first-class cricket.”The tragedy has rocked the Winchester-based cricket club in England where Parker had performed with great aplomb for the past three seasons, recording his best year in 2002 with two excellent centuries.An extremely popular figure with his team-mates at St.Cross, he was due to return for a fourth campaign with the club he helped secure promotion and second place in SPCL Division Three.All involved with the Southern Electric Premier Cricket League pass their condolences to his family and friends. A fine, talented young man so cruelly taken.

Jermaine Lawson widely acknowledges a couple of things about his sensational 15-ball burst of six wickets for no run that finished off Bangladesh in the first Test here Tuesday.One is that it gave him a headstart in his ambitious, if not far-fetched, stated quest to overhaul the record 519 Test wickets of one of his heroes and mentors, fellow Jamaican Courtney Walsh.It was not until his 33rd Test, when he was 27, that Walsh had his first return of six wickets in an innings – although he never had the benefit of bowling to opposition as inexperienced and weak as Bangladesh.Lawson is 20 and it was in his third Test.His second realisation is that his goal is a very long way off and that early success against a team hardly even first-class level doesn’t mean he has arrived. Quite the opposite."Now that I’ve taken six, I’ve got to lift my game every time I play," he says. "I want to carry on from here so that means I can’t relax or anything. I’ve got to keep my composure, keep my focus."Lawson states that he has always concentrated on his fitness. It’s evident in his sculptured, 6-feet-2-inch physique."I’d work out in the gym at least three times a week when I’m back home, along with the practice," he reveals. "I’ve got to be fit so that I can do well whenever I take the field.""You can’t go out there and bowl for two days if you’re not fit and certainly not if you want to be at the top level at all times," he adds.Potential spottedHis potential, first spotted when he was at Waterford High School in the southern parish of St Catherine, carried him into the Jamaica Under-19 team from where he graduated to the West Indies Under-19 team to the Youth World Cup in Sri Lanka in 1999.There was the advantage that Walsh and Michael Holding, two of the finest fast bowlers the game has known, were close by to offer encouragement and advice.Others like Jamaican coach Robert Haynes and Under-19 manager Linden Wright have also been solid supporters.Lawson was the leading wicket-taker in the regional youth tournament in Barbados in 1999 and attracted immediate attention at the World Cup in Sri Lanka later that year with a hat-trick against Zimbabwe.His speed, from a long, bounding run and loose-limbed delivery, marked him out as a definite prospect for a West Indies team needing to replenish the supply of fast bowlers that had worryingly dried up.He got his first senior call to the triangular series of One-Day Internationals in Sri Lanka last year.He had just a couple of matches but took the only two Sri Lankan wickets to fall in the second in Kandy, among them Sanath Jayasuriya, who was too late on a bouncer and lobbed a catch to mid-on.It was his 140 kph (90 mph) speed that secured his selection for the tour of India, traditionally not the most encouraging environment for fast bowlers, and Bangladesh.Chosen for the last two Tests in India, he managed only four expensive wickets (average 51.5). But they included Sachin Tendulkar twice and Rahul Dravid once and he got approving nods from thesit in judgement of their successors in the commentary box and in the Press.Such assessments were confirmed with his opening burst that accounted for Virender Sewag, V.V.S. Laxman, Dinesh Mongia and Dravid and virtually guaranteed a series-clinching victory in the decisive last One-Day International after the batsmen had amassed 315 for six.The yorker that flattened the left-handed Mongia’s off-stump and almost knocked him off his feet was a television image that excited every watching West Indian."Getting those four wickets in the final helped my confidence, no doubt," he says. "It made me work even harder on my game and I came to Bangladesh focused on doing well.""Doing well" is an understatement for his performance at the Bangabandhu Stadium that has placed him in the pages of Wisden.Record featNo other bowler has taken six wickets in a Test innings as cheaply as his three runs. Arthur Gilligan’s six for seven against South Africa in Birmingham in 1924 had been the previous mark.It was comparable, if only in statistical terms, with some of the bursts of the great Curtly Ambrose – his seven for one against Australia at Perth in 1993, his match-winning five for eight (final figures eight for 45) against England in Bridgetown in 1990, his six wickets as England tumbled towards their 46 all out in Port-of-Spain in 1994.Ambrose’s various bags included David Boon, Damien Martyn, Mark Waugh, Nasser Hussain, Mike Atherton, Alec Stewart, Graeme Thorpe and Robin Smith. Aminul Islam, Khaled Mashud, Alok Kapali and the other Bangladeshis don’t have quite the same ring about them.But Lawson already had big names in his book – Jayasuirya, Tendulkar, Dravid.The next challenges are imminent – the World Cup in South Africa in February and March, immediately followed by the series against the daunting Australians in the Caribbean in April and May."The World Cup is the biggest tournament in the game and the Australians the strongest team at present," he says. "That’s the kind of opportunity any cricketer looks forward to. I’m no different. I can’t wait."

TANGIER-With three innings of substance from the first four top orderbatsmen, Sri Lanka marched to their third win in four games withconsummate ease, reaching the target with six wickets to spare and eightof the regulation 50 overs remaining unconsumed.And while they were at it, they must have taught a thing or two toyesterday’s losers, Pakistan, about how to organise a chase.In a match that was of just academic interest, the Sri Lankan desire towin was palpably intense.Perhaps they wanted to use this opportunity to put South Africa in theirplace to score some psychological points before Wednesday’s final.The quicksilver innings by Sanath Jayasuriya (47, off 48 balls, 6 foursand 1 six) and Aravinda de Silva (unconquered 77, off 74 balls, 7 foursand 1 six) took the attack to Proteas. And a comparatively sedate knockby Kumar Sangakkara (57, off 90 balls, 4 fours) made sure that therenever were any hiccups.By the time, Sangakkara got himself run out, the third wicket stand wasworth 96, off 111 deliveries, and at 179 for three in the 35th over, SriLanka’s was never in doubt.Sanath Jayasuriya, adjudged Man of the Match in two previous games, wason top of the bowling from word go. He seemed all set to get to his 50thscore of 50-plus when he tried to cut Klusener to fine third man; it wastoo close to his body and the resulting edge was pouched by stand-inkeeper Boeta Dippenaar.Jayasuriya started off with a boundary at covers in the first ShaunPollock over, and another to square-leg in Telemachus’s next. He lostMarwan Atapattu (15, 19 balls, 2 fours) with the total at 40, and wasdropped by Paul Adams in the next over, but he kept batting in hischaracteristic cavalier style.He picked up a fancy for Roger Telemachus (5 for 41, for one wicket),and first he cut him to third man and then sent him for a six to square leg.His rapidfire innings had put Sri Lanka on the way to victory, as abelligerent de Silva maintained the pace that he had set. Aravinda tooka six and a four from the first two overs that he faced off MakhayaNtini and in between pulled Lance Klusener to square-leg fence. Havingdone this, he settled down to his trademark singles and twos, sprinklinga boundary here and there, never letting the bowlers breathe easy tillthe target was overhauled, though Mahela Jayawardene lost his wicketwith 11 runs to go.Lankans restrict Proteas:
Jacques Kallis led the way with 84 runs, and he, Lance Klusener andShaun Pollock hit four sixes between them as South Africa collected 67runs in the last 10 overs, to take the total to a respectable 220 for six.Having rested its quartet of main bowlers (with South Africans havingmade as many changes to their eleven as well), it was a commendableachievement for Sri Lanka to restrict Proteas to this total.Jayasuriya handled his limited bowling resources rather well. BuddhikaFernando provided two important wickets early on. But then Kallis andGraeme Smith, who had seen Herschelle Gibbs and Gary Kirsten fall toFernando within the first 25 deliveries, seemed to be scoring freely offthe medium pacers after 10 overs had yielded only 25 runs.Jayasuriya brought on the spinners, and had the gumption to bowl two ofthe last three overs. Though Pollock took two sixes off him as the lastover went for 15 runs, he got the wicket of Kallis (84, 125, 7 fours, 1six).Kallis, who held the innings together in two good partenerships for thethird and fourth wicket stands of 71 and 78 respectively with Smith andKlusener, should have been out at 59 off Aravinda de Silva. As thereplays showed, Buddhika ran and dived forward to scoop the ball withhis fingers clearly under it. But third umpire Daryl Harper thoughtotherwise.Anyway, once his two main medium pacers had bowled their spells,Jayasuriya totally relied on Upul Chandana, de Silva and himself, allthree consuming their full quota of overs. Chandana was the pick of thethree, taking three wickets for 32 runs that really stopped the flow ofruns and the momentum of the innings.Smith, clean bowled, was the first of Chandana’s three wickets. And hegot Boeta Dippenaar, after he had swatted de Silva for a six overlong-on, caught by Sangakkara when he tried to cut too close to hisbody, and Justin Ontong too was smartly stumped by Sangakkara.Sri Lanka may have rested the bowlers, but it had a full complement ofeight batsmen and all-rounders. Keeping that in view, 220 was not bigenough a total. The Lankans proved it by becoming the first side in thistournament to win batting second.

The spectre of industrial action loomed over the New Zealand sporting scene today when the country’s first-class cricketers, including internationals, told their national body they were not free to take part in an intensive programme of warm-up activities at the country’s High Performance Centre at Lincoln University.In the first hint of player power since the formation of a players’ association last year, the players, who came off their contracts to New Zealand Cricket (NZC) yesterday, have struck their blow for a better deal for first-class cricketers in New Zealand.While such action is common in more professionalised sporting countries, it is something new for New Zealand which really only embraced professionalism when the national sport, rugby, opened the doors to cash input in 1995.On that occasion there was an immediate foot race for the rights to the players with the threat of a breakaway body stealing the top players before they could be contracted to their more traditional administration, the New Zealand Rugby Football Union (NZRFU).An eleventh-hour agreement secured the players for the NZRFU and the industrial scene has been relatively quiet since.Cricket, by its very origins, has had a much closer link with professionalism. There were none of the amateur regulations that surrounded many other sports in New Zealand. Players were free to make their own arrangements at all levels in the game and several players were full-time professionals in England, including Glenn Turner, Richard Hadlee, Geoff Howarth, John Wright and John Parker.More recently Chris Cairns, Stephen Fleming and Shane Bond have had a taste of the life of a professional in England.Given the advance of players’ rights in other sports, most notably in the home of professional sport in the United States, it was only a matter of time before issues started to surface in New Zealand.And when the players’ association swung into cricket, their presence was welcomed by NZC chief executive Martin Snedden.However, there were signs of growing stature for the players’ group in the days before the announcement of the team to tour the West Indies in June. The announcement of the side was delayed a day due to outstanding issues.The greater demands on players in terms of the 10-year Test programme, the introduction of the ICC Champions Trophy, the increased exposure to the risk of injury, have meant that a collision point was sure to emerge at some stage.Players obviously eyed the pool of money coming out of guaranteed television income from tours and tournaments, especially the upcoming World Cup, and felt they were due a better share of it.That is not a new, or surprising, argument by any stretch and was the historical precedent behind the breakaway World Series Circus set up by Australian television magnate Kerry Packer’s organisation in 1977.What makes the situation interesting in New Zealand is the commitment administrators have made to developing the grass roots of the game, and their own development programme.These are areas where investment has the potential to be reasonably intensive and therefore vulnerable to action.The whole process is intensely interesting as it represents a new level of negotiation for both the players and administration. In many aspects it is foreign territory for both of them and with the larger international issues looming overhead, especially the rights of individual players to negotiate their own agreements in terms of personal sponsorships.By no choice of their own, cricket’s administrators find themselves in the vanguard of an issue that is likely to apply to many other New Zealand sports.Just as the game was one of the first to undergo rigorous internal realignment of its administration in New Zealand, so now NZC finds itself at the forefront in what are nothing short of industrial matters.The steps it takes are important not only for cricket in New Zealand, but undoubtedly for many sports yet to face similar pressures.DISCLAIMER: The views expressed here are not necessarily those of New Zealand Cricket or of the New Zealand Cricket Players’ Association.

A key phase in England’s build-up to the World Cup begins in Nottingham this afternoon, as they meet Sri Lanka in a day-night match at Trent Bridge, the first of ten games in the NatWest triangular series which also involves India.This series will be followed by the ICC Champions Trophy in Colombo, and a triangular series in Australia before England’s World Cup campaign begins against Zimbabwe in Harare on February 13.Matthew Hoggard and James Kirtley are likely to share the new ball for England, while Alex Tudor is set to make his one-day international debut.”We’re missing our two best bowlers really, but Hoggard has come in and donereally well and James Kirtley’s done fantastically for Sussex and deserves hisopportunity,” Tudor said.”It’s our chance to show the future and what it may be like after Caddick andGough have gone – this is our big opportunity to show that given the chance wecan do it.””It’s a great challenge for me because some of the batsmen in this series are among the best strikers of a ball in the world. If you want to be successful at international one-day cricket you have to learn how to bowl to these guys – you can’t shy away from it.It’s not going to be easy and you have to try and get the ball in the rightarea because the margin for error is minimal.”Meanwhile Sri Lanka’s coach Dav Whatmore says the tourists have put the disappointing Test series firmly behind them.”We’re looking forward all the time to the one-day game where you get a result on that particular day,” Whatmore said.”It’s happened to us before, losing a Test series before a one-day tournament.We’ve been able to turn it around and that is our objective in this tournament as well.” Open an account now at bet365 to bet on the NatWest Series

England’s women slipped to a comprehensive 63-run defeat at the hands of New Zealand in the final of the 2002 Tri-Series tournament at Chester-le-Street.After winning the toss and putting the tourists in, England started well with two quick wickets. Isa Guha induced an outside edge from Nicola Payne in the first over and Laura Harper held the catch at first slip. Emily Drumm was dismissed two balls later when she top-edged for wicketkeeper Mandie Godliman to take the catch.However a superb half-century from Katherine Pulford enabled New Zealand to recover to 161 before they were bowled out in the 49th over.England’s run-chase began slowly, and wickets fell steadily throughout their innings. Opener Claire Taylor top-scored with 32, but only two other Englandplayers reached double figures as they were bowled out for 98 in the 44th over.

Somerset got off to a disappointing start in their quest to win the last-ever Benson and Hedges Cup, when they lost to Warwickshire at Edgbaston in a rain-affected match today.Somerset skipper Jamie Cox won the toss and invited the home side to bat first. In an innings reduced to 41 overs Warwickshire made 263 for 6 with Nick Knight making what turned out to be a match winning 126.Less than an over into the Cidermen’s innings the rain fell heavily and the players left the field yet again. When they returned the Somerset batsmen faced the daunting task of scoring 222 off 27 overs, a rate of just over 8 runs per over.From the start the home attack of Sean Pollock and Douggie Brown were quickly on top, and Warwickshire were aided by two fine catches, one by Trevor Penney to dismiss Peter Bowler, and the second by Nick Knight to dismiss Jamie Cox for 25.A further rain stoppage left Somerset chasing 173, and by the end of their 19 overs they had reached 77 for 5, with Keith Parsons unbeaten on 25, to leave Warwickshire the winners by 94 runs, by the Duckworth Lewis method.Somerset can justifiably feel that they fell foul of both the weather and the Duckworth Lewis method at Edgbaston today, and will already be looking forward to their next game in the competition that is against Glamorgan at Taunton on Tuesday.With four games left in the regional rounds of the Benson and Hedges Cup Somerset will be keen to put today’s disappointment behind them and get back to winning ways on Tuesday.