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The Tasmanian Selectors have today announced the Cascade Tasmanian Tigers squad to play the Victorian Bushrangers in their first Pura Cup match of the season from Wednesday, 30th October to Saturday, 2 November 2002 at the MCG in Melbourne.CASCADE TASMANIAN TIGERS

Ricky PONTING (Captain)
Jamie COX (Vice Captain)
Sean CLINGELEFFER
Graeme CUNNINGHAM
Gerard DENTON
Michael DIGHTON
Michael DiVENUTO
Shane JURGENSEN
Daniel MARSH
David SAKER
Shannon TUBB
Shane WATSON
Damien WRIGHT

The 12th man will be announced on the morning of the match.Ricky Ponting has been named in the 13 man squad on the proviso that he is cleared to play by the ACB Selectors and coaching panel. The TCA is expected to have a firm indication of Ricky’s availability early next week.Graham Cunningham has impressed with his early season form with the bat and, on the weight of runs, has been included in the squad at the expense of Scott Mason. Scott Kremerskothen who played in last season’s Pura Cup Final is still recovering from an operation on his shins and was not available for selection.

Has there ever been a more brittle and fragile cricket side?England are incredibly delicate. Frail of mind, frail of spirit and frail ofbody.For the second time in three Tests, Nasser Hussain has been left a bowlershort. Chris Silverwood could only manage four overs before joining the longlist of injured English players.You would have thought that the English brains-trust would have planned longand hard for this Ashes series. That they would have earmarked a squad whofor a very long time would have winning the Ashes as their lone thought.Instead, this tour has turned out to be a shemozzle and sadly an indictmenton English cricket.Losing isn’t an issue.Losing without dignity or respect is.England could only field one bowler in this third Test who played atBrisbane. That one, Craig White wasn’t even part of the original touringparty!From the five bowlers at the WACA, only Richard Dawson and Steve Harmisonwere picked in the initial squad. All this and the tour is not even at thehalfway point.On paper, England were always going to be out-matched. They were always goingto do it tough. That was a given. What they had to do was assemble hardenedcricketers who would be mentally resilient against the Australians.Cricketers who would put us some semblance of a fight.For the nanoseconds in the series where England seems to be gaining somelevel footing or edge, immediately a poor stroke brings about an Englishbatsman’s demise or some wayward English bowling and fielding lets theAustralians off the hook.The bowling especially has been a problem for the English. They have beenbowling so poorly on this tour to date, you would think some members of theBarmy Army could do a better job.Casting an eye down the top wicket-takers of the last county season, thereare many names and not any of them are playing for England. Martin Saggers,Kevin Dean, Kabir Ali, Andrew Harris, Alamgir Sheriyar. Could these men doany worse than the walking wounded?Ian Ward with 1759 runs made the most runs in county cricket. Where is he?If county cricket isn’t the breeding ground for future English Testcricketers, what is? If they don’t value it as a system for producing Testcricketers, shouldn’t the system be changed?When they can’t manage to score 400 and can’t once bowl out the oppositionfor less, something is wrong.You have to go back as far as 1950/51 for the last time a side won the firstthree Tests of a long Ashes series. (Australia swept the shortened 1979/80series 3-0)Given what has transpired on tour to date, Hussain will have to do somethingspectacular to prevent England losing 5-0.

Nottinghamshire batsman Kevin Pietersen is likely to miss the rest of the English season after fracturing a shin bone.Pietersen, 22, has been in dominant form prior to the injury, scoring 639 runs in a 10-day spell, with four consecutive centuries and a career-best 254 not out.Notts’ cricket manager Mick Newell says it is “very unlikely” that Pietersen will play again this summer.”Kevin picked up the injury diving on the square when he was fielding against Glamorgan at Colwyn Bay on Monday,” Newell said. “Initially we thought the injury was muscular, but he went for an x-ray at the local hospital and they discovered a fracture in his left fibula.”

MELBOURNE, Nov 1 AAP – The Victorian wicketkeeper previously known as “Chuck” is now Darren “The Cannibal” Berry.Lost in the excitement of yesterday’s hat-trick for team-mate Shane Harwood was Berry wearing a baseball catcher’s mask during the Tasmanian first innings in the Pura Cup cricket match at the MCG.While Berry and Australian ‘keepers Ian Healy and Adam Gilchrist have worn batting helmets at times when standing close to the stumps, it was probably the first time the mask had been used in cricket.”I’m a big fan of Hannibal Lecter’s and I thought I’d try to impersonate him in my 125th,” joked Berry, who is setting the Victorian games record in this match.Dr Hannibal “The Cannibal” Lecter is sometimes detained in face masks and is the main villain in a trilogy of films, with Red Dragon currently on release.Berry’s more serious motive for the unusual face gear was some added protection when he stood up close behind the stumps to faster bowlers Ian Harvey and Matthew Inness.The slick glove man’s tactic with these quicker bowlers is to try to put the batsman under added pressure with something different, rather than standing a few steps away from the stumps.Berry has made leg-side stumpings off the Victorian medium pacers, catching the batsman off balance.He tried using the mask in the off-season and found no opposition from officials when he brought it out for yesterday’s play.Berry hacksawed off the “wings” – the extra protection on the sides of the mask – but otherwise it is a standard piece of baseball equipment.He has spoken to cricket equipment manufacturer Gray Nicholls about making a special mask for ‘keepers, which would have less facial padding than the baseball version.”It’s practical – I can’t believe no-one has done it before,” he said.”‘Heals’ has kept in a helmet and so has ‘Gilly’, but it’s not good in a helmet because of the bit at the back.”You don’t need that for a ‘keeper, you only need the face protection – it’s realistic.”

Former cricket board President Thilanga Sumathipala has been barred from attending the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Executive Board meeting in London this week by Sri Lanka’s Attorney General.Last month, the Sports Minister appointed Sumathipala as an alternative representative to Hemaka Amarasuriya, the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka (BCCSL) Chairman, despite Sumathipala not holding a formal position with the cricket board.The Minister’s unusual move (the BCCSL is normally represented at ICC Executive meetings by the BCCSL President or Chairman and the Chief Executive) drew intense criticism from the cricket board, eventually forcing five members of the ten-member interim administration and two selectors to resign in protest.However, the Attorney General was then forced to step in and prevent Sumathipala from representing the BCCSL after opponents drew attention to an unresolved legal injunction banning the former President from holding a position within the BCCSL.The BCCSL will now be represented by Chairman Hemaka Amarasuriya, Chief Executive Anura Tennekoon and Marketing Director Jayantha Kudahetty in the meeting that runs from 24-28 June 2002.

Richard Dawson and James Foster, the two players who made their Test debuts for England against India at Chandigarh last December, are amongst the 18 winners of the NBC Denis Compton Awards for 2001.The awards, which have been made every year since the scheme was first launched by Denis Compton in 1996, are given to one representative of each English county. The full list is as follows:Derbyshire – Luke Sutton,Durham – Nicky Peng,Essex – James Foster,Glamorgan – Simon Jones,Gloucestershire – Steven Pope,Hampshire – Chris Tremlett,Kent – Robert Key,Lancashire – Kyle Hogg,Leicestershire – Matt Whiley,Middlesex – Nick Compton,Northamptonshire – Monty Panesar,Nottinghamshire – Bilal Shafayat,Somerset – Matthew Wood,Surrey – Tim Murtagh,Sussex – Matt Prior,Warwickshire – Ian Bell,Worcestershire – Kadeer Ali,Yorkshire – Richard DawsonIan Bell, who briefly joined the England squad in New Zealand as cover for injuries, receives the award for the third consecutive year, while Luke Sutton, Nicky Peng and Chris Tremlett were also winners last year. For Denis Compton’s widow Christine, who presented the awards at the Brian Johnston Memorial Trust Dinner, there was particular pleasure that his grandson Nick was amongst the winners.Thanks to a £10,000 donation to the Brian Johnston Memorial Trust from Afrox Hospitals Ltd. (a BOC Group subsidiary), two of the players will benefit from three months’ specialised coaching and fitness assessment in Cape Town, beginning in January next year. The names of the players will be announced later after consultation with their counties.

Needing a further 336 runs to win with nine wickets intact, Mumbai arefacing a daunting task going into the final day tomorrow against arejuvenated Punjab side in their Ranji Trophy quarterfinal match atthe Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. At stumps on the fourth day on Friday,Mumbai, for the loss of opener Amol Rane (2) had scored 85 runs.In the morning, Punjab resumed at 124 for no loss and proceeded toamass 322 in their second innings. Punjab thereby set a stiff victorytarget of 421 for Mumbai. Ravneet Ricky was the first to be dismissedwith the score at 146 in the 50th over of the innings. Ricky who made55, was caught by Paranjpe off Rajesh Pawar. Seven overs later, hispartner Manish Sharma (93) also departed caught by Mhambrey off Pawar.Sharma faced 195 balls and hit eleven boundaries and three sixes.Punjab skipper Vikram Rathour (21), who came in at the fall of Ricky,did not last long and was caught behind by Amol Rane off SantoshSaxena. Then Yuvraj Singh (33) and A Kakkar (17) helped PankajDharmani to take the score to 290. It was Dharmani who played theleading role in the partnerships scoring his runs at will. But thefall of Kakkar triggered a collapse as Pawar ran through the side.Pawar ended with figures of 6 for 109. Dharmani was unlucky to be lefthigh and dry. Unbeaten with 73 at the end of the innings, Dharmanifaced 167 balls during his 275-minute stay at the crease. His inningswas interspersed with ten hits to the fence.Set a massive target, Mumbai were on the look out for a solid openingpartnership. But to their chagrin Gagandeep packed off Rane in thethird over of the innings. Rane was snared up by Sandeep Sanwal. ThenVinayak Mane (49) and Wasim Jaffer (33) safely negotiated the last tenovers of the day. With both Mane and Jaffer looking in good touch,Mumbai would be looking up to them and the experienced campaignersdown the order to try and force an unlikely victory.

With a 5-1 lead and one eye on the plane home, South Africa’s cricketers could be excused for taking preparations for the seventh and final one-day international against the West Indies a little easy. In fact, they have the perfect excuse – none of their training kit had arrived on the island by Monday night and practice was set to be little more than a chance for the players to familiarise themselves with the Arnos Vale ground and have perhaps the final touch rugby game of the tour.No matter how low key the preparations, the game will have particular significance for one member of the squad. On Wednesday, Jonty Rhodes will become the first South African to play in 200 One-Day Internationals.”I haven’t been big into milestones and statistics in my career and may be that’s a fault of mine,” Rhodes said as he relaxed on the beach outside the team hotel. “Maybe I wouldn’t have been left out of the Test side for a season and a half if I had a higher average.”Especially with a guy like Hansie around who was always going to play every game, it wasn’t as if I was ever going to be the most capped player. 200 was never really a milestone, the next World Cup is my goal. But there are 25 year-olds in the team who have already played 120 or 140 games – they’ll be playing 250 or 300, so it’s not that big a deal. I’m just grateful to have played 2, let alone 200.”I always thought through the years of sports isolation that I would end up like a Clive Rice or a Jimmy Cook or a Peter Kirsten, just playing county cricket and that was the extent of your international exposure,” Rhodes said.Rhodes admits his decision to retire from Test cricket has added an extra burden of pressure to perform when he pulls on his international colours these days. But if there were any doubts at all of the extra dimension he adds to the South Africa team, he has emphatically erased them since joining the tour in Jamaica a month ago.He is averaging comfortably over 50 with the bat and his standards in the field remain the highest in the world. A blinding catch to dismiss Chris Gayle in Jamaica and the match-winning run out of Brian Lara in Trinidad are only two of the highlights of a display which has had local fans and journalists alike slapping their thighs and exclaiming to the heavens in astonishment.Nothing short of the Arnos Vale ground slipping into the sea (which is not entirely impossible – it is perched between the airport runway and a palm-fringed beach!) would seem to be able to prevent Rhodes winning his 200th cap on Wednesday. Andre Nel is less likely to earn his second after pulling up lame during his impressive debut in Trinidad, but Boeta Dippenaar has made a full recovery from the twinge which forced him off the field in the same game.The desire to rotate roles within the side could also present JustinOntong with an opportunity to bat higher up the order – a chance snapped up by Justin Kemp in Trinidad whose 46 in a partnership of 92 with man of the match Neil McKenzie was the backbone of the South African effort.

Hampshire were made to endure an elongated session in the field on the warmest day of the season so far, and will have to work very hard if they are to gain anything from this Frizzell County Championship match against Warwickshire at Edgbaston.Alan Richardson, the Warwickshire seam-bowler and one of the real `bunnies’ in terms of batting on the county circuit, made his own team-mates and Hampshire’s bowlers look decidedly ordinary as he and his more exalted partner, Nick Knight continued to bat … and bat.Resuming on their overnight 274-9 and their tenth wicket partnership at a meagre 16, surely the plan was to dismiss the hosts for not much more and enjoy the bright sunshine and flattening wicket.Being without Mascarenhas, who remained off the field with a hamstring tear, should not have mattered but Richardson grew in stature as he continued to keep Knight company through 300. And then 350, while in doing so, passing his previous career best of just 17.The number 11, who has struck just 82 runs in his 31 first-class innings before this was producing some measured strokes against the variety of bowlers used by Robin Smith.Knight recorded the second double century of his career, while Richardson recorded his first ever half-century. From struggling overnight, Warwickshire were building a commanding first innings total.Then the records started to fall. The highest 10th wicket partnership against Hampshire was first, passing the 140* by Rodney Ontong and Robin Hobbs at Swansea in 1981. Then the best by Warwickshire, and the highest at Edgbaston.Richardson, with 10 fours and a six from a mammoth 199 balls, was finally dismissed for 91 by the occasional leg-spin of Giles White, swiftly stumped by Nic Pothas. He had broken the highest score for Warwickshire at number 11 and the highest against Hampshire in the same position in the process.It left Knight, unbeaten and carrying his bat through the innings on 255, the second best total for Warwickshire against Hampshire.The tenth wicket partnership had added 214 – the fifth best in County Championship history and a beleaguered Hampshire, who thought they would be bat in hand by at least 11.30am strode out four hours later than envisaged.It did not get much better, in losing Derek Kenway to Melvyn Betts’ second delivery in the second over.Will Kendall was well snapped up by Dougie Brown close to the wicket for a watchful 25 and Giles White’s 120-ball stay came to an end when he leg glanced a ball from England discard Ashley Giles into Ian Bell’s midriff for 36.Skipper Robin Smith and Neil Johnson safely saw Hampshire to the close at 89-3, still wanting another 234 runs to avoid the follow-on.Giles, who took both of the later wickets in the day, will be the lynchpin in Warwickshire’s hopes, as he is already finding plenty of turn.A DAY OF BROKEN RECORDS
Highest tenth wicket partnership for Warwickshire
(previous best – 141 AF Giles & TA Munton v Worcestershire at Worcester 1996)Highest tenth wicket partnership against Hampshire
(previous – 140* RC Ontong & RNS Hobbs for Glamorgan at Swansea 1981)Highest tenth wicket partnership at EdgbastonNick Knight’s career-best
(previous – 233 v Glamorgan at Edgbaston 2000)Alan Richardson’s career-best
(previous – 17* v Northamptonshire at Northampton 2000)Highest score by a number 11 for Warwickshire
(previous – 74 by Danny Mayer v Surrey at The Oval 1927)Highest score by a number 11 against Hampshire
(previous – 80* by George Hunt for Somerset at Taunton 1930)

Match facts

September 21-25, Bangalore
Start time 0930 IST (0400GMT)Ishant Sharma will look to regain his rhythm after a long lay-off due to an injured ankle•Getty Images

Big Picture

The last time the Indian domestic season’s curtain-raiser, the Irani Cup, commanded serious national attention was back in 2008, when Sourav Ganguly was famously omitted from a Rest of India side that was close to being a full-strength India team. Every year since then the Irani Cup has clashed either with an international series or, in the case of last season, with the Champions League Twenty20. This year, cricket fans’ attention is firmly on the World Twenty20 where the country’s biggest stars are, and with an India A squad currently touring New Zealand, several other Test hopefuls will be missing from the Irani Cup.Still, the Rest of India side has six members of the Test squad that recently faced New Zealand, and start overwhelming favourites to retain a trophy they have won in each of the last six years. There is also Wriddhiman Saha, India’s back-up Test wicketkeeper, and Dinesh Karthik has been picked ahead of Parthiv Patel, who captained Rest of India last season. Opener Shikhar Dhawan will have fond memories of last year’s Irani Cup, after hitting 150-plus in both innings, and will have to turn in something similar to return to the selectors’ attention after a poor A tour of the Caribbean.With domestic run-machines Cheteshwar Pujara, S Badrinath and Ajinkya Rahane also in the Rest of India line-up, Rajasthan have a huge challenge ahead. To make matters worse, they are missing several key players. One of the rocks of their top order, Aakash Chopra, has moved on to Himachal Pradesh, and two of their brightest young talents – middle-order batsman Ashok Menaria and fast bowler Rituraj Singh (26 wickets in four Ranji matches last season) – are with the A side in New Zealand.Their captain Hrishikesh Kanitkar said the side had the talent to cope with the losses. “Aakash Chopra was an important part of the team right from seeing off the new ball to making big runs. But his absence gives an opportunity to a youngster. Ankit Lamba is the man for the job. He has done very well so far.”If all that was enough of a challenge, Rajasthan have also lost their home advantage, as heavy rains forced the match out of Jaipur.

Players to watch

Ishant Sharma was fast-tracked into the Test side when still a teenager, and after a fruitful tour of Australia in 2007-08, India seemed to have discovered a top-quality fast bowler. It hasn’t quite gone to plan for Ishant, though despite almost always being a part of the XI since then. He seemed to have got his mojo back after a successful tour of West Indies last year, but forgettable series followed during the nightmarish visits to England and Australia. He is yet to play top-flight cricket after a lengthy lay-off due to an ankle surgery, and has lost his starting spot in the Test side to Umesh Yadav. With eight home Tests coming up, and India likely to field only two quicks in most of those, he needs to perform here to remind the new set of selectors of his ability.At 32, time is running out for S Badrinath. For ages he has been one of the most consistent batsmen on the domestic circuit, but kept out first by India’s legendary middle-order quartet, and then by younger challengers. His most recent India chance came during the Caribbean visit in June last year, where he began with a Man-of-the-Match performance in the Twenty20 (his only India match in the format), before failing three times in the one-dayers to again find himself on the sidelines. Recalled to the national squad after VVS Laxman’s retirement last month, he has to score big if he wants to grab the No. 6 spot from Suresh Raina.Left-arm spinner Harmeet Singh was one of the stars of India’s recent Under-19 World Cup victory, and came in for high praise for his performance, none higher than Ian Chappell’s comment that Harmeet was “the best spin bowler in any Test side bar England”. That compliment sits oddly with Harmeet’s struggle to get a first-class game: with Mumbai already having two left-arm spinners in Ankeet Chavan and Iqbal Abdulla, Harmeet has played only three first-class matches so far, despite debuting nearly three years ago. Even in the Irani squad, there is a senior left-arm spinner in Pragyan Ojha ahead of him. Will he get a game?

Pitch and conditions

Both captains had similar views on the nature of the track at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. Cheteshwar Pujara, who played in the Bangalore Test earlier this month, said: “Looking at the wicket, we will go for three fast bowlers. There will be help for the fast bowlers in the initial couple of days as we saw in the Test match and it might turn later on.” Kanitkar also said Rajasthan would look at a similar bowling line-up: “It will definitely help seam bowling. It has a bit of grass on it. But it is a wicket that supports fair cricket. We will also field three seamers.”

Quotes

“We are playing a domestic match after a long time. For those who have not played Tests and ODIs recently, it is an opportunity to keep in touch with the game and start performing and get confidence out of this match.”

“A couple of seasons back, Rajasthan have never won the Ranji for 76 years. So this record is not that imposing, it is just 10 years old. Hopefully, we will be able to win it this time.”