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ADELAIDE, Nov 19 AAP – Australian paceman Jason Gillespie won’t know until at least tomorrow whether he will be passed fit for the second cricket Test against England starting at Adelaide Oval on Thursday.Gillespie bowled in the nets today without feeling any soreness in his troublesome calf muscle but Australian team physiotherapist Errol Alcott wants to see how the 27-year-old feels tomorrow.Gillespie may then be required to bowl another spell in the nets to completely satisfy Alcott he is ready to play.If Gillespie is declared fit, the selectors will have to choose between fellow pacemen Brett Lee, who was axed for the first Test, and incumbent Andrew Bichel for the final bowling spot.

Matthew Hayden says the injury that has ended his tour of the West Indies will not finish his career. Hayden was sent home from the Caribbean after Australia discovered the tendinosis in his right achilles, which kept him out of the first Test, would stop him from playing the remaining two matches.It will be the biggest lay-off for Hayden in years, after he played 86 consecutive Tests until missing the WACA game against India in January with a hamstring problem. But Hayden, 36, brushed off reports that the niggling injury might prompt him to start thinking of retirement.”I’ll be back bigger and better than ever,” Hayden told the . “This isn’t the kind of thing that is going to end my career. With the way the calendar is at the moment, there is a good opportunity now to get it right before a pretty busy schedule starts up.”So we decided that, rather than push it, it would be better to just get it right once and for all and go from there. I am completely confident that I will get this right and be back soon.”The team’s medical staff thought Hayden could probably have played in the one-day internationals that will follow the Tests in the West Indies. However, their cautious approach means he will target the three home ODIs against Bangladesh starting in late August, ahead of the Champions Trophy in Pakistan and a Test tour of India.While Simon Katich is the top-order beneficiary for the remaining Tests in the Caribbean, Hayden’s absence from the one-day team means Australia will have an unfamiliar pairing regardless of who is chosen. They have not played an ODI since Adam Gilchrist retired at the end of the CB Series.Hayden’s replacement is yet to be named but of the men already in the one-day squad the most likely candidates to open are James Hopes, who filled in at the top twice in the CB Series, and the uncapped Shaun Marsh. Both have been in excellent form in the Indian Premier League, where they have opened together for Kings XI Punjab, and Marsh is the tournament’s leading run scorer.”That’s big news [Hayden’s departure], and big too for Shaun knowing that because now he’ll be playing over there,” Hopes told . “We’ve spoken about how good it would be to be able to bat together for Australia, a lot of the times in this tournament he’s been kicking on.”

James Whitaker has resigned as general manager of Leicestershire County Cricket Club. The Skipton-born Whitaker spent more than 20 years at Grace Road and was captain when Leicestershire won the County Championship in 1996 and 1998.”It is perfectly amicable as far as I am concerned,” Whitaker said. “I’ve spent 21 lovely years at Leicestershire and it is now time for me to utilise my energies elsewhere and look at other options. I just want to give myself some fresh air and review where I am up to.”Leicestershire narrowly missed out on the National League title on the final day of last season, and also lost the 2001 C&G final to Somerset at Lord’s.They are currently mid-table in the top divisions of both the Frizzell County Championship and Norwich Union League.

BRISBANE, Nov 2 AAP – Experienced Queensland batsmen Stuart Law and Martin Love posted half-centuries as the Bulls made England toil on the first day of the three-day tour match at Allan Border Field.At tea, the Bulls were 3-217 with Love unbeaten on 66 and a cautious Andrew Symonds on five.Law was the only man out in the middle session, nudging a return catch to Andrew Flintoff (1-44) after a well-made 68 in a partnership of 128 with Love.Law and Love looked confident at the crease against the attack which England seems certain to take into the first Test at the Gabba on Thursday.Andrew Caddick (2-45) took two wickets in the first session during an encouraging opening spell but the tourists have struggled for breakthroughs.Simon Jones (0-46) has bowled too short at times despite bothering the Bulls with some dangerous deliveries outside off-stump.Flintoff had bowled 11 overs in a confident sign he had recovered from a double hernia operation in time for the Test.Englishman Mark Butcher provided a worrying moment when he slammed into the fence when stopping a shot from Law reaching the boundary.Butcher appeared to be hurt but seconds later he ran back to his fielding position.

Gloucestershire County Cricket ClubMark Alleyne would like to invite you to Junior Gladiators’ Day on Sunday 16 June 2002Gloucestershire Gladiators v Middlesex CrusadersActivities commence 12 noonGame starts at 1p.m.

Somerset get their first opportunity of practicing on grass when the players report back to the County Ground on Tuesday morning after the Easter break for the next phase of their pre season trainingIn preparation for the new season, which gets underway with a three day match against Cardiff UCCE at Millfield School at Street on Saturday April 13th, the Somerset players have spent the last two weeks concentrating upon their physical fitness, and team building activities.Over the next fortnight however the focus of attention of the lead into the new season will switch to the player’s technical ability.This year’s beneficiary Rob Turner told me: "I’m looking forward to the next two weeks, when hopefully we will be able to get outside and play on the grass. As always the weather will be the all important factor, but the ground is looking in tip top condition and groundsman Phil Frost has been busy rolling the square and it looks good out there."The thirty four year old wicket-keeper batsman continued: "I think that we are planning to have our full championship side out for the match at Millfield, and we are all geared up for it. I hope that I’ll be playing because that’s where I went to school so it will be good to be back there."

The Border Bears earned themselves a place in the semi-finals of the Standard Bank Cup with a four-wicket win over hosts Boland on Wednesday night. Chasing a modest Boland total of 178 all out, Border hit the winning runs with a full over to spare.Any lingering hopes at neighbouring Western Province that rivals Bolandmight do them a favour were dashed when Border reached 170, guaranteeing theall-important bonus point and further participation in South Africa’s topdomestic one-day competition. Province must now concentrate on their goodstart to the first-class season.Border always looked like a more cohesive outfit, particularly as theyincluded both Mark Boucher and Makhaya Ntini on their return frominternational duty.Boucher in fact dispensed with the gloves and spent the Boland innings fielding at point – where he took two fine catches. Ntini again underlined just how far he has come in the past year with a fine, disciplined performace, returning figures of 2-25 from his nine overs.At one stage it looked as though Boland might struggle to pass 150, butLouis Koen at the top of the order and the recalled Jonathan Trott in themiddle both worked their way dilligently to half-centuries, and with theBoland Park pitch again playing slow, the home side might have fancied theirchances.They would have felt even more confident when the Border top-ordercrumbled spectacularly, Andrew Pringle picking up three wickets as theyslumped to 37 for four and then 78 for five. That was the cue though for asixth wicket partnership of 93 between man-of-the-match Pieter Strydom andWayne Wiblin.When Wiblin skied a catch to midwicket to depart for 46, the game wasall but over as Border needed just eight more runs. Strydom completed thebusiness with the minimum of fuss and finished unbeaten on 70.

The Pakistan cricket team for next month’s tour to England will benamed on Tuesday evening, officials said, adding that the announcementof the coach will be announced later.The chairman of selectors Wasim Bari said Monday that he was informedby the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) that all the players were declaredfit by the panel of doctors and were now available for selection.Bari, however, said the team would be finalized and handed over to thePCB on Tuesday. He said he would be submitting a 16-man squad for thetwo-Test series while team for the tri-nation oneday series would benamed later.Bari indicated there was a possibility that an additional player mightbe sent to England.As things continued to remain complex and intriguing, former captainsWasim Akram and Moin Khan were left facing the axe in the backdrop ofrecent happenings.Wasim Akram, after a dismal performance in the two Tests againstEngland at home, failed to take part in the three-Test series againstNew Zealand because of inter-coastal injury. Nevertheless, sources sayskipper Waqar Younis was strongly opposing the selection of Wasimthough the vote of the chief selector was in the left-armer’s favour.Rashid Latif is being favoured over Moin because of Waqar’s firmbelief in the talent of the former who first blew the whistle ofbetting and match-fixing in Pakistan cricket.Not surprisingly injury prone and joy-rider, Shoaib Akhtar has onceagain been assured of a place in the squad after returning unfit fromthe tour to New Zealand in February. Brig Rana admitted that Shoaibneither appeared before the panel of doctors nor played in the ongoing one-dayers on the pretext that he was suffering from stomachupset.Likely 16:Waqar Younis (captain), Inzamam-ul-Haq (vice-captain), Saeed Anwar,Yousuf Youhana, Abdur Razzaq, Azhar Mahmood, Mohammad Sami, FaisalIqbal, Younis Khan, Mohammad Wasim, Imran Farhat, Rashid Latif(wicketkeeper), Shoaib Akhtar, Fazle Akbar and Mushtaq Ahmad, SaqlainMushtaq.

A chapter has been extracted from the history of 1971 and rewritten. An inspired Indian team has finally proved to the worldthat they have it in them to win Test matches abroad. The Queen’sPark Oval at Port of Spain will always have a special place inIndian cricket history, more so now since, with this memorableTest win, India have three victories at this picturesque venue.

I am forced to conclude that Carl Hooper’s decision to bowl firstwent a long way towards deciding the final outcome. Ideally, onewould want to bowl the opposition out for a score around 200 runsif the most is to be made of such a decision. Hooper simply doesnot have the kind of fast bowlers who can rip through a battingline-up. The fact that India was allowed to score 339 in thefirst innings really exposed the limitations of the Windiesbowling department.Even though the West Indian bowlers had some success in removingthe Indian opening batsmen on the first morning, Rahul Dravidcame to the rescue and played yet another important knock. I wasvery impressed by the way in which Dravid handled the thirdorfourth-string West Indies attack. Even on a wicket that promisedlife and bounce, Dravid played some exquisite cover drives andthe flick through mid-wicket with élan.A shaky start from Sachin Tendulkar is a very unusual sight, butthe master batsman came into his own after he got the measure ofthe track and the insipid attack. One must pay glowing tribute tothe Mumbai maestro for his sheer appetite for runs and the mannerin which he scores them. Tendulkar was the mainstay of India’sfirst innings, and his 29th Test hundred, which equalled SirDonald Bradman’s record of Test centuries, helped India put up adecent first-innings total.It is also very heartening to see VVS Laxman play with so muchresponsibility. The stylish batsman applied himself very well,and the determination to excel was there for all to see. Thereshould be no doubts regarding talent, which he has in abundance.I believe that Laxman has finally sorted out his flings withcomplacency to adopt a more professional approach. He is a classplayer, and he proved that with a fifty in each innings at Portof Spain; he really deserved the Man of the Match award.The Indian pacers Javagal Srinath, Ashish Nehra and Zaheer Khanbowled well, proving that they have it in them to win Tests forIndia away from home. I must particularly commend Srinath for hislion-hearted effort in this match. I was also impressed by ZaheerKhan’s bowling; the delivery he produced to get rid of Brian Larain the first innings was a beauty. It is a rare sight these daysin Test cricket to see a bowler willing to attack to take awicket.It was Nehra who turned things around in the second innings,picking up the valuable wickets of Lara and Hooper. The youngsterhas a lot of talent, and it augurs well for Indian cricket that agenuine group of fast bowlers are coming to the fore.Appropriately enough, the West Indies is the ideal place for sucha pace attack to blossom.There was not much to cheer about in the West Indian battingdepartment. The batsmen did not apply themselves enough toconvert starts into big scores; such efforts may have changed thefinal result of this Test match. Looking at their bowling, twobowlers caught my eye – Adam Sanford and Marlon Black. Sanfordhas it in him to be a class act if he can concentrate on line andlength; if he can add some discipline to the whippy action, hecan surprise a few leading batsmen. Black is one bowler who lookslike never giving up, and it is a quality that will help him inthe long run.I had expected Harbhajan Singh to be more effective on the finalday and even run through the West Indies batting line-up. It wasa disappointing show by the young off-spinner, and, in the finalanalysis, it was the fast bowlers who won the Test for India. Intalking about the game, though, it must be said that the numberof umpiring mistakes in the match baffled me, and I hope theInternational Cricket Council (ICC) will ensure that such blatantmistakes are not repeated at the highest level of the game.Finally, I must congratulate Sourav Ganguly for this memorableTest win. There was an extra edge to his captaincy in this match,and Port of Spain witnessed some inspiring work in the field fromthe Indian skipper; the field placements, especially, weresuperb. A lot of thinking went into formulating the strategy forthis Test. Ganguly ensured that the plan was well-executed, andthis memorable Test win should hold Indian cricket in good steadin future endeavours.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsCarlton Baugh’s 40 was not enough for Jamaica to stretch Trinidad and Tobago•Anthony Harris/West Indies Cricket Board

Trinidad and Tobago may have narrowly missed making the finals of the Caribbean T20, but they put in a thoroughly disciplined performance against a listless Jamaica to settle for third place. The seamers, led by Kevon Cooper, restricted Jamaica to an inadequate 94 in a match initially reduced to 14 overs, before the openers strolled to the revised target of 89 in just 10.1 overs.T&T had the incentive to give their home fans something to cheer about, but Jamaica failed to derive any kind of inspiration. With the exception of Carlton Baugh, none of the batsmen batted with motivation, and it was a continuation of their performance in the semi-final yesterday.Jamaica captain Tamar Lambert won the toss and chose to bat under bright skies, but a sudden downpour forced the players indoors for more than 90 minutes. The Trinidad seamers hit the deck hard and got good carry off a moist surface, getting rid of the attacking opening pair of Chris Gayle and Xavier Marshall early. Gayle, who had a disappointing tournament, holed out to the trap at deep midwicket, before Marshall had his middle stump flattened by a Cooper yorker.Marlon Samuels failed to assume the role of senior pro and was dismissed in embarrassing circumstances. He squeezed the ball to cover and set off for a single but his partner Danza Hyatt was rooted to his end watching the ball. Samuels was stranded at Hyatt’s end giving T&T an easy run-out. Hyatt himself failed to make amends as he lost his off stump to Dave Mohammed trying to pull a ball which wasn’t short enough.Baugh gave the innings some impetus sweeping and cutting Sherwin Ganga for consecutive boundaries. He swept Mohammed over deep square-leg to bring up the first six of the game, and then picked up two crisp boundaries past point off the seamers. But the pressure increased on him as he lost a couple of partners and when Lendl Simmons served up a short delivery, he failed to clear Bravo at deep midwicket. Bravo bowled a fine final over, delivering three dot balls to Lambert as Jamaica limped to 94.Adrian Barath and Simmons made easy work of the target, which was reduced to 89 off 13 overs following a brief shower after 3.2 overs. The pair also ensured they kept with the Duckworth-Lewis par score and didn’t lose any wickets by the end of five overs, the minimum required to constitute a match. The persistent drizzle didn’t help the Jamaican bowlers as they struggled to grip the ball. Simmons used the opportunity to recover some form by going on the attack, often making room and clearing his back leg to muscle the ball away. Barath was powerful off the front foot, lofting and driving square on the off side to pick up five fours in his 39.The match was nowhere close to the intensity of the first semi-final yesterday, but the home fans weren’t complaining as T&T delivered the knockout blow.