Andrew Symonds unleashed his second knockout punch on Western Australia in as many days to ignite Queensland’s cricket season at the Gabba today.After terrorising the Warriors in yesterday’s four-day Pura Cup match, Symonds delivered another blistering attack in the one-day ING Cup match to guide the Bulls to a seven-wicket win.He smashed 91 runs from 57 balls in the Bulls’ total of 3-191 in 29.5 overs, cruising past Western Australia’s disappointing 7-189 from 50 overs.The Bulls had to win the match in 40 overs to secure a bonus point and that was never in doubt once Symonds began his onslaught in the third over, almostovershadowing Jimmy Maher’s excellent 71 not out from 81 balls.After scoring an unbeaten 75 from 43 balls in yesterday’s six-wicket win, Symonds came to the rescue of a Queensland team limping at 2-10, following the loss of Matthew Hayden (zero) and Martin Love (two).He belted two boundaries from his first three balls to continue the trademark sideshow which has earned him a reputation as one of the most exciting players in the country.He finished with 13 fours and two sixes, falling short of his first domestic one-day century when he chipped a catch to third man.Purists might grimace at some of Symonds’ miscued swipes but cricket rarely tosses up pure entertainers in the class of the 26-year-old.”Some days things just click and you hit your first ball in the middle of the bat and your confidence is really good,” Symonds said.”You’re moving your feet well and you’re lining the ball up well.”I’ve trained hard early this season so it’s good to get some runs on the board early.”Symonds’ placement was as impressive as his power, and the Warriors will be happy to leave Brisbane tonight just to see the back of the right-hander.But the Warriors bowlers were left with a tough task after their batsmen failed for the second time in as many days at the Gabba.The Bulls quicks knocked over the Warriors yesterday but the visitors were unhinged by a teenage spinner today who was only called up at the last minute when swing bowler Adam Dale withdrew with a shoulder injury.Nathan Hauritz cashed in with 3-23 from eight overs as the Warriors became bogged down on a surface which has become one of the favourites for Australianone-day batsmen.Test batsman Damien Martyn (82 from 130 balls) did his best but the loss of international teammates Adam Gilchrist (eight), Justin Langer (three) and Simon Katich (10) left the Warriors without enough in the bank.”It was a frustrating, disappointing day and we have to learn from it,” Gilchrist said.”But Queensland’s bowlers did a terrific job in the Pura Cup game and they did it again today. Their spin bowling was excellent and that gave them a good mix-up.”The Bulls were delighted to take full points from their opening match after making a pact to improve on last season’s below-par one-day performance.

Australia has today officially taken possession of Test cricket’s world championship trophy.Five months after his country’s team was officially anointed the world’s strongest Test outfit, Australian Cricket Board (ACB) Chief Executive James Sutherland was formally presented with the mace in a special ceremony at the Board’s offices in Melbourne.Australia became the inaugural number one when the new championship commenced operation in May, and a ceremony marking its achievement was staged in the team’s presence at Edgbaston in July.Until today, though, the home of the trophy itself has been Lord’s.Produced in silver and gold and bearing the logos of all ten Test playing countries, the 90-centimetre long mace is a spectacular creation. Specially commissioned by the International Cricket Council, it was designed and conceived by the prestigious London jeweller, Asprey & Garrard and is valued at $A100,000.Australia’s standing as the world’s most formidable Test team has been established on the basis of its results in home-and-away series against each of its rivals over a period that dates all the way back to 1997.Unlike trophies such as the Ashes urn, the Test championship model will not remain confined to a single location. Within a short period that follows any change at the top of the championship table, the mace will head to the headquarters of the new occupant of the number one position.Such a change in ownership of the top ranking could occur as early as January, when second-placed South Africa has the opportunity to topple the Australians in the three-Test series to be played on Australian soil.

What with one thing then another, no West Indies team couldhave entered a Test series less properly prepared than CarlHooper’s when it takes the field against Sri Lanka in thesouthern town of Galle tomorrow morning.It required the persuasive powers of Wes Hall, the newpresident of the board, and the kind of security assurancesotherwise reserved for heads of state to convince theplayers that they should venture into Sri Lanka in the firstplace.Until a few days before they departed, it wasn’t certainwhether Brian Lara, the key batsman, was fit enough to makeit.No sooner than he told the selectors that he was, ShivnarineChanderpaul, no less essential to the middle order,developed serious back problems and had to drop out.Wavell Hinds, not in the original squad but summoned ascover for Lara, found himself substituting for Chanderpaulinstead, only to promptly have his nose broken in a festivalknockabout in Kingston.Doctors, and selectors, deemed him fit enough to join thetour all the same, even if a week late. Be advised that heshouldn’t be placed too near to the bat when fielding.Once on the ground, the West Indies have found their welcomemost inhospitable, not from their cricketing hosts, thedisruptive rebel Tamil Tigers guerillas or the rivalfactions campaigning for the December 5 elections but fromthe weather. It’s the closing weeks of the monsoon season.Hooper, Lara and coach Roger Harper were on the last WestIndies team to tour Sri Lanka, over the first three weeks ofDecember eight years ago, when three days of the solitaryTest were washed out, just 106 overs bowled in the onefirst-class match and only one of the three One-DayInternationals ran its course.Assigned a mere two three-day matches prior to the threeback-to-back Tests this time, they have had to pass moretime slapping dominoes, listening to Shaggy or Shadow ontheir walkmans or simply watching the rain fall than gettingin any meaningful cricket.Come tomorrow morning and they would have had roughly twoand-a-half days match play as groundwork.At least Hooper himself, Chris Gayle, whose appetite forruns continues to be insatiable, Lara, Marlon Samuels,Ridley Jacobs and Daren Ganga have each had valuable time inthe middle. And those bowlers lucky enough to be chosen forthe match that ended yesterday had the workout of oneinnings.But, whichever way you look at it, it is all patentlyinsufficient, especially against opponents with homeadvantage who have played four Tests as recently as lateAugust and mid-September and who have just returned from atriangular One-Day series in Sharjah.It is a test for the motivational skills of Hooper, Harperand manager Ricky Skerritt, the proficiency of trainerRonald Rogers and the resilience of the players themselves.The most recent evidence is encouraging. The spate ofinjuries that decimated the team in Zimbabwe back in Junewith Lara departing before the tour started and Merv Dillon,Cameron Cuffy and Dinanath Ramnarine going before the Testsseemed to strengthen the resolve of those who remained.Gayle, Ganga and Hooper set the platform for the first Testvictory with a 500-plus total. Colin Stuart and NeilMcGarrell, who would probably not have been in the XIotherwise, finished off the job by an innings.Sri Lanka, it is true, are not Zimbabwe. They are a strong,well-balanced, confident team with a recent record thatplaces them fourth of ten on the ICC’s current Test leaguetable.But they are not Australia or South Africa either. They willbow to the pressure of a sizeable total and consistentbowling, supported by alert catching and sharp fielding.Such attributes have been in short supply in West Indies’teams of late and, given the present circumstances, it maybe too much to except them to suddenly materialise as if bymagic.Hooper and Lara, as the two classiest and most experiencedbatsmen, carry the task of giving the undeniably limitedbowling attack the leeway it needs. The West Indies’ abysmalaway record 18 losses against one win and one draw in 20Tests prior to Zimbabwe was caused by several things. Highon the list was a collective lack of heart and commitment.If ever they were needed, it is now.

Durham quick bowler Stephen Harmison returned match figures of 7-120 as the ECB National Academy XI beat their Australian counterparts by an innings and 31 runs in Adelaide earlier today.In reply to the ECB National Academy’s total of 601-8 declared, the CBCA were bowled out for 386 in their first innings with Harmison finishing with 4-78 and Yorkshire’s Steve Kirby taking 4 -100.Harmison then picked up 3-42 as the CBCA were dismissed for 184 in their second innings after following on.Chris Tremlett (2-27), Ian Bell (2-27) and Graeme Swann (2-31) were the other wicket-takers as the ECB National Academy XI made it three wins out of three this winter.The ECB National Academy XI’s next fixture is a four-day match against the Victoria Cricket Association 2nd XI starting on Jan 21st. The squad is scheduled to return home for the Christmas/New Year period on December 15th before flying out to Australia again on January 12th.The ECB National Academy is funded by Sport England and sponsored by Vodafone.

Michael Vaughan has admitted that he was disappointed with Indian appeal which led to his unusual handled-the-ball dismissal. The Yorkshire right-hander, who made an otherwise faultless 64 on day one of the third Test, said he was simply trying to help the short leg fieldsman.Vaughan’s attempted sweep at rookie spinner Sarandeep Singh struck his pad and was still spinning when Vaughan trapped the ball and tossed it back to the short-leg fielder. The bowler, along with Deep Dasgupta and Virender Sehwag, offered a muted enquiry, which left Umpire Jayaprakash with no choice but to give the batsman out.Although there has been no approach to the ICC match referee, Vaughan made his own feelings plain. “There was no way it would have hit the stumps. I was just disappointed that [they] appealed. Maybe they will look back and think they shouldn’t have appealed, but that’s hindsight,” he said. Vaughan fully accepted however, that the umpire was right to give him out under the laws of the game.Vaughan stopped to speak to Mark Ramprakash on his way back to the pavilion,clearly staggered at what had happened. His dismissal led to a mini-collapse, with Flintoff and Ramprakash falling to Sarandeep soon afterwards.Vaughan is the seventh batsman to be dismissed in such a way in Tests. The other Englishman was Graham Gooch, who palmed a delivery from Merv Hughes away from the stumps in the 1993 Ashes series.

Papua New Guinea and Bangladesh played a 40-over match in the ICC Under-19 World Cup Plate Championship in Auckland today with 18 of the overs being enough for Bangladesh to take a nine-wicket win.PNG were all out for 75 in the space of 22.5 overs after winning the toss and batting first. Three PNG batsmen made it into double figures. Clive Elly scored 11, Mahuta and Kohu Dai each scored 10. But that was the only small hint of positiveness in the PNG batting where the extras 12 were the highest score.Wassel Uddin bowled five overs and took three for 13 while Shafaq Al Zabir took four for 29 from his six.Aftab Ahmed Chaudhury provided the only solace for PNG when Bangladesh batted. He was bowled by Peter Arua for eight. Shafiul Alam hit 31 not out and Nafis Iqbal was 25 not out as the winning runs came in the 19th over.

The Kolkata police were made to toil hard to keep the enthusiastic crowdunder control during the days leading up to the first one-dayer at EdenGardens. The crowd scrambled desperately in a bid to buy the tickets butit was an impossible situation with more than half the population keento witness the match. This is what makes Kolkata unique and special andeventually the crowd was entertained by a superb display from bothteams. The hosts were made to work hard for their victory butunfortunately the incompetence of one umpire meant that they could notfully relish it.

Marcus Trescothick threatened to “sweep” the game away from the Indianswith a superb knock. His innings was reminiscent of the match-winninginnings Gooch played way back in the 1987 Reliance World Cup semi-final.Trescothick was not fully fit and that made the manner in which heapplied himself all the more remarkable. He seemed to have worked out aplan and though he struggled in the early part of his innings, he gaveGanguly plenty to worry about. Trescothick was very fluent during theTest series and he picked up from where he left off exhibiting emphaticstroke play. Such was his dominance over the Indian attack that thevisitors were maintaining a run-rate of over six for the best part ofthe innings before he was dismissed. Mind you, not very often does onesee an opener reach his hundred in the 26th over and that too with theteam score only reading 169.Trescothick was lucky early on and with Laxman spilling a catch offAgarkar, he made it count in a telling fashion. After he got a measureof the pace and bounce, he unleashed some powerful shots off the backfoot against the medium pacers. Ganguly was forced to bring on thespinners well within the first fifteen overs but the tall left-handernot to be perturbed. He used his feet very well and tonked both AnilKumble and Harbhajan Singh for a six apiece. Once the fieldingrestrictions were removed, he played very cleverly using Kumble’s paceto his advantage and sweeping Harbhajan at will. At one stage, Harbhajanwas at his wits’ end when bowling to the man of the match. As far as thehosts were concerned it was a matter of getting Trescothick’s wicket asthe others failed to provide him the required support. There were usefulpartnerships but Trescothick did the bulk of scoring in thosepartnerships.

Hussain tried in desperation by charging the medium pacers and though hepicked up a few streaky boundaries he was never convincing. Kumbleprovided the breakthrough by trapping Hussain in front off the verysecond delivery but there was an element of doubt, which though did notgo in favour of the batsman. If Hussain’s dismissal was doubtful, thenthe decision against Trescothick that swung the game in favour of Indiawas horrendous. Mr Sharma was the umpire who gave both the decisions andit appeared that he was prone to instant ruling. Agreed that leg beforedecisions are not easy but he would have been better off by taking timebefore he handed out the verdict. This particular gentleman has beenumpiring for well over a couple of decades but unfortunately his urgencyhas robbed off a fair bit of credit from the Indian victory.Moving on, it now remains to be seen if Sanjay Bangar, the only allrounder in the Indian squad will be pressed into service at Cuttack.There is no point in looking for all-rounders when the deemed one is notutilised. Anyway, if the first one-dayer is any indication, this one-dayseries will be enthralling.

Despite the success of Deep Dasgupta, the Indian selectors must be only too aware that his presence as an opener is merely an ad hoc solution and that a more permanent solution has yet to be found. On Friday, Gautam Gambhir may have helped them find it.Winning the toss on a typically placid Vijayawada pitch, skipper of the Board President’s XI Rahul Dravid had no hesitation in opting to take first strike. It was not the best fall of the coin that Zimbabwe could have had, for the last thing that a touring team needs in a lung-opener is to toil in vain under a hot sun.Yet that is exactly what the Board President’s XI achieved. An opening stand of 87 was helped by erratic bowling from pace Brighton Watambwa, who went for 42 runs in his first eight overs. His compatriot at the other end, Heath Streak, however, was as controlled as ever. He maintained good line and length, and a number of shouts went up from the fielders when well-directed deliveries rapped the pads of a Gambhir shuffling in his crease.But the openers saw off the shine of the new ball in safety and then blossomed into their shots. Gagan Khoda in particular played some aggressive strokes, even hitting a six off left-arm spinner Raymond Price. Gambhir kept him good company, hitting a number of fours in the process, and the pair raced along neck and neck after their initial circumspection.But Price struck back at Khoda when the Rajasthan opener, trying to hoik the ball to the long-on fence, only succeeded in spooning a catch to Travis Friend at mid-on. Khoda’s innings came to an end on 41, made off 81 balls with six fours and a six.Captain Dravid them strode out to the crease, no doubt wanting to use this practice match to get into the batting groove after a month-long injury lay-off. His intentions were made clear from the very first delivery as the batsman concentrated fiercely, eschewing risky strokes in favour of dour caution.As a result, the run-rate slowed somewhat, and the Board President’s XI had scored 113/1 at lunch. The play after the break, however, was chiefly formulated by two factors that seemed to pull in opposite directions. At one end was Dravid, bent on staying in the middle and batting himself back into form. At the other was a free-stroking Gambhir, quick to pounce on even half-bad deliveries and dismiss them to the fence.The result, as can be expected, was a nicely balanced partnership between the two, pleasing to watch if you were not a Zimbabwe bowler toiling under a hot sun. The runs flowed steadily, never in spectacular fashion but with the regularity of a metronome. Gambhir reached his century, his fifth in first-class cricket, off 147 deliveries, striking his 18th four by sweeping Price to square leg.Zimbabwe’s bowlers continued to struggle, and the Indian second-wicket partnership extended itself past the 100-run mark in the 51st over of the innings. Dravid played well, although his elegant strokes continued to find the fielder unerringly, even on a beauty of a batting track. His defence, however, was as barn-door-like as ever.Price was the bowler to suffer the most. His left-arm spin was innocuous on a featherbed of a pitch, and he was bowling to two fine players of spin. Both batsmen used their feet well, getting to the pitch of the ball to repeatedly drive Price on either side of the wicket. Gambhir reached his 150 in just this manner, stepping out to the spinner and stroking the ball through covers.Dravid reached his fifty a few overs later, but his innings ended there. Trying to force Price through the off-side, Dravid ended up cutting a ball too close to cut, and Tatenda Taibu behind the stumps cleanly took the catch to dismiss the Board President’s XI captain for a well-made 50 off 131 balls.Abhijit Kale took over where Dravid left off. He was, in fact, marginally more positive, and as a result the run-rate galloped along. Both Gambhir and Kale were in fine form during the league phases of the domestic Ranji Trophy competition, and they seemed determined to prove it at Vijayawada today.Given the nature of the knock, then, Gambhir could not have helped feeling disappointed at his dismissal just before the close of play. Trying to guide a Mpumelelo Mbangwa delivery to third man, Gambhir only played it straight into the hands of Andy Flower in the lone slip position. He had made 218 off 284 balls with 39 fours, a majestic knock that ended with an unfortunate lapse in concentration.The Board President’s XI went in at stumps with a good day’s batting behind them, having made 361/3. Kale was unbeaten on 40 off 80 balls, having slowed down towards the close, while Pravanjan Mullick faced 14 balls without opening his account.Zimbabwe captain Stuart Carlisle, unfortunately, cannot take away much hope from this tie. Barring his most experienced bowler Heath Streak, none of the others looked like taking a wicket at all, and it can arguably be said that all three batsmen dismissed perished at their own hand. The lone spinner seemed to merely go through the motions, getting neither appreciable loop nor turn, and the pacemen were too wayward to have any sustained effect on the batsmen.Gambhir’s mammoth ton must surely force the national selectors to look his way when they sit down to pick the team for the Test series on Sunday. Being left-handed and a natural stroke-player, he seems to be the ideal companion to Shiv Sunder Das, right-handed and an opener more in the stolid Gavaskar mould. Admitted that Gambhir’s century came on an ideal batting pitch, but the runs still have to be made, and the Delhi batsman showed the application and determination to make them.

An unbeaten century by opener Ghulam Ali helped Karachi Whites end their eight-year title drought in the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy National Grade-I cricket Championship with an emphatic eight-wicket victory over Peshawar at National Stadium Monday.Far from expectations of a tense finish at the start of the penultimate day of the five-day final, Karachi Whites cruised to their fourth crown – first since they completed a hat trick of titles in 1992-93 – 24 minutes before the tea break by reaching 254 for two.Whites, runners-up six times in the past eight seasons, made up for their disappointment in last year’s thrilling final at the same venue when Lahore Blues defeated them by one wicket.Moin Khan, the Whites captain, collected the coveted trophy and the winners’ prize of Rs 100,000 on behalf of his elated team-mates from former Test batsman Waqar Hasan, who was the chief guest on the occasion. His Peshawar counterpart, Arshad Khan had to be content with the runners-up trophy and a cash award of Rs 50,000.Ghulam, the ex-international 35-year-old right-hander, led the way with an unbeaten 113 – his 19th first-class hundred – off 195 deliveries to guide his side home in the match-winning 148-run partnership in 139 minutes with young Saeed bin Nasir.Appropriately, Ghulam stroked the winning runs with a lovely cover-driven boundary off occasional spinner Wajahatullah Wasti. Saeed finished with 66 not out with the aid of eight fours while facing 120 balls. His senior partner, Ghulam struck 14 fours and twice lifted off-spinner Arshad Khan for huge sixes during his 292-minute innings.Nightwatchman Tanvir Ahmed also played his role to perfection after the Whites had resumed at the overnight score of 38 for one. The tail-ender hung around for more than an hour-and-a-half to lash eight boundaries while contributing 44 off 65 balls. The second wicket stand between Ghulam Ali and Tanvir realized 78.Peshawar put up a disappointing show on the field Monday. A far cry from the scene in 1998-99 when the visitors won their solitary championship by innings over Karachi Blues. Their much feared pace trio of Kabir Khan, Fazle Akbar and Waqar Ahmed appeared well below par. Arshad, a man with decent Test experience behind him, under-bowled himself on a fourth day pitch.On the other hand, Moin, the former Test captain, marshalled his troops well since the squad included many young and promising players who needed guidance and inspiration.At the conclusion of the two-month championship, individual cash awards of Rs 10,000 each were also announced. Mohammad Ramzan of Faisalabad, Tahir Mughal of Sialkot, Humayun Farhat of Lahore Blues and Balochistan’s Mohtashim Ali were declared the best batsman, best bowler, best wicket-keeper and best fielder respectively.Karachi, overall, have now clinched the premier domestic competition on 17 occasions while finishing runners-up 10 times. The city won their first title way back in 1954-55 and their last before Monday five seasons back when Karachi Blues claimed the championship here on first innings lead against Peshawar.

December 7th saw the second away game for Lancaster Park, this time at Burwood Park, one of the smaller women’s grounds in Christchurch. We eventually won a rain-affected match by 55 runs against a youthful East Shirley team. In the other club match, St Alban’s thrashed a Riccarton side who had lost players to the weekend’s State matches – Nic Payne in good form, hitting 181 of her side’s 360 runs.Before each tour, England players must complete medical and physical examinations, so this week I was poked and prodded and pulled around by doctors, nurses and physiotherapists. Everything checked out okay. I also took the opportunity to meet up with a nutritionist to talk about my diet, in particular eating the right foods at the right times of the day. From our discussions, I’ll be eating much more breakfast and frequent light snacks throughout the rest of the day.December has seen the end of the real hard yards of training before the winter tour. Sessions at the gym have been much more physically demanding and sessions outdoors have concentrated on pure speed and agility. This has made rest and recovery all the more important and I’ve been very happy to add sports massage to the weekly diary!On Friday 13th the Canterbury Magicians headed down to Timaru to kick off our state league fixtures against Otago. After a team dinner that night, the squad had its final meeting and all players were in very good spirits. The Saturday match was fairly close, Otago winning the toss and electing to bat on a good pitch with a lightening fast outfield. They scored 210 for seven off their 50 overs with England’s other Clare Taylor getting her 50 with the last ball of the match. Canterbury then batted conservatively to reach victory in the 47th over with only three wickets down. In my first state match I got 59 runs and shared a good partnership with the in-form Payne.The second match on the Sunday was a much more one-sided affair. Canterbury bowled much better and took some outstanding catches in the field to dismiss Otago for 103, Beth McNeil taking five wickets. Canterbury openers Nic Payne and Kirsty Craig batted well to complete a 10-wicket victory and claim the first bonus point of the competition.After the game, I travelled down to Dunedin to spend some time with Romper (the other England Clare Taylor). We spent the first couple of days training and looking around Dunedin. I was fortunate enough to be able to talk to Billy Ibadullah about cricket and his thoughts on batting over lunch one day.Later that week, Romper and I headed off on a short tour of Southland. From Dunedin to Invercargill on the Southern Scenic Route, stopping here and there for pictures of beaches, sea lions and waterfalls. From Invercargill, through the foothills up into the mountains at Te Anau on the borders of the Fiordland National Park. The landscape is beautiful, the water clear and blue and very very cold, as I found out when I went for a short (very short) swim. After the landscape around the Milford track and the drive up to Milford Sound, Mitre Peak was a little underwhelming, it’s best seen in the morning rather than the gathering dusk in which we saw it!On the way back from Te Anau we stopped off in Owaka, a small farming community between Invercargill and Dunedin whose main cricketing claim to fame is Rachel Pullar, the current Kiwi opening bowler. We took a coaching session for some of the town’s young cricketers before staying the night on a working hill farm. Next morning we were put to work hand-feeding lambs.Christmas was fast approaching and after a game of cricket back in Dunedin, Romper and I headed back up to Christchurch. For Romper a flight to Melbourne for the Boxing Day Test and for me some last-minute shopping and then down to St Andrew’s for Christmas Day with the Tiffen whanau.I’ve had a lovely break from training and now it’s definitely time to get back into things. The state competition gets hectic from now with six state matches and four training sessions before the England girls arrive on the 16th. I’m looking forward to those matches which will be great preparation for the one-day internationals we’ll play later in the month.