Surrey won the first ECB Under 15 County Championship, sponsored by The Lord’s Taverners, when they defeated Devon in the final match of the Festival at Oundle School for the three sides that had won their Area Division 1. Surrey’s victory followed two drawn matches, and a third draw would have meant that the title would have been decided on the bonus points accumulated during the week.In the opening match Surrey, asked to bat, compiled 167 for 8 and declared after one ball of the 57th over to avoid the risk of conceding an additional bowling point to Yorkshire. The side batting first is only able to bat for 57 of the minimum 105 overs that must be bowled in the day, although they can declare earlier and only score batting points during the first 48 overs of their innings. Surrey gained 1 batting point when passing 125 runs and Yorkshire pocketed 3 bowling points when they took the 7th wicket. Surrey had been faltering against an accurate attack on a slow pitch with little bounce, and had recovered from 22 for 4 thanks mainly to Ben Kingsnorth and Anthony Shales. However when the 8th wicket fell at 105 a low score seemed in prospect. Laurie Evans and Akbar Ansari added 62 to post a reasonable target.In reply Yorkshire made a steady start but the introduction of the spinners saw the scoring dry up and in the end they managed only 90 for 7 in 48 overs to secure a draw, with Surrey taking 3 bowling points to give them 4 in total against the 3 gained by Yorkshire.On another fine day Yorkshire batted first against Devon, with Phil Critchley (58) and Greg Wood (32) putting on 92 for the first wicket. However the Devon captain, James Carr, removed them both on the way to a 5 wicket haul and with another spinner, Matthew Cooke, taking 3 wickets Yorkshire subsided to 141 all out in 50.5 overs.Devon lost early wickets and went into the final hour with their last pair, Jack Porter and Mickey Wilkinson, together. Yorkshire tried everything to part them but without success as the pair held on for a draw, Yorkshire taking 4 bowling and 1 batting point and Devon 4 bowling points. Luke Townsend with 4 for 41 and Andrew Bilton with 3 for 15, both from 17 overs, did the damage for Yorkshire.In the final match Surrey made slow but steady progress, with runs always difficult to come by and four wickets falling to LBW decisions as they reached 172 for 6, declaring after 54 overs with 1 batting point secured. Tom Parker scored 34 and Matthew Cooke took 3 for 47 in 20 overs.Surrey needed to take 9 Devon wickets to gain maximum bowling points to draw level on bonus points with Yorkshire (and win the title, having scored more bonus points in the match between the two sides) – Devon needed to win to gain match points and remove bonus points from the equation. Once again the faster bowlers could make little impact, although scoring was never easy, and after Josh Bess and Dan Bowser had put on 43 for the first wicket Akbar Ansari and Simon King worked their way through the Devon batting, each taking 4 wickets, and Devon were all out in the 50th over for 110.Frank Kemp, ECB Cricket Operations Manager, thanked The Lord’s Taverners for their generous support of the Under 15 County Championship, Oundle School for hosting the event and Ken Lake and his team of helpers for organising the competition so efficiently. He then presented individual plaques to the scorers, umpires and the three teams before presenting the Lord’s Taverners Trophy to Alan Cope, the Surrey captain.Summary ResultsSurrey U15s 167 – 8 dec, Yorkshire U15s 90 – 7 Match drawn
Yorkshire U15s 141, Devon 114 – 9 Match drawn
Surrey 172 – 6 dec, Devon 110 Surrey won by 62 runs

Rest of India 202 and 340 for 7 (Dravid 121, Laxman 99) beat Mumbai 297 and 244 by 3 wickets
Scorecard Day 3 Bulletin

Rest of India almost botched up what seemed to be a comfortable run-chase, but held their nerve to eke out a three-wicket win in the Irani Trophy match at Chennai, with a day to spare. A fourth-innings target of 340 was expected to be a tall order – especially on a pitch where no team had topped 300 in three innings, but a Rahul Dravid masterclass of 121, and a delightful, stroke-filled 99 from VVS Laxman, ensured that Rest of India were comfortably placed through most of the day.Through the first two sessions, Rest of India lost just one wicket, that of L Balaji, the nightwatchman, for a doughty 26. With Dravid and Laxman getting increasingly authoritative in the midst of their 168-run partnership, the Mumbai attack began to wilt, with leg-stump half-volleys being served with monotonous regularity after tea.Then, Laxman prodded at Sairaj Bahutule and was snaffled by Vinayak Mane at silly point just one short of a hundred (291 for 4), and Rest of India suddenly – and quite inexplicably – lost their way. Bahutule, who had until then been the most innocuous of Mumbai’s bowlers, struck again, forcing Dravid to inside-edge onto his pads. Vinayak Samant dived in front of the stumps to take a smart catch, and Mumbai sniffed a comeback. Yuvraj Singh slammed a cover-drive off Ramesh Powar, then rushed down the pitch for more heroics, but only managed a leading edge to Ajit Agarkar at point. And when Parthiv Patel gloved a lifter to Mane at short leg off Bahutule (312 for 7), Rest of India had lost four wickets for 21 runs, and were still 28 away from victory.However, Ganguly and Kumble stemmed the rot, mixing dogged defence with a few bold strokes. Kumble drove Bahutule down the ground, while Ganguly rocked back and pulled Powar to the midwicket fence, before slamming a full-toss to the same region to get the winning runs.Earlier, Dravid put forth yet another utterly compelling batting display, much like many of the innings he has played for India over the last couple of years. He was secure in defence, always getting in line and presenting the full face of the bat, and latched on anything off target. Sachin Tendulkar tried all the tricks in the bag – Nishit Shetty bowled a few overs of left-arm spin, while Tendulkar bowled both legspin and seamers – but nothing could budge Dravid. Powar, who had dismissed Dravid in the first innings, was dispatched for two sixes over wide long-on early in the piece to set the tone.Dravid’s resistance was entirely expected, but Balaji was a revelation. Though he did play and miss a few times against the seamers in the morning, he remained unruffled, studiously letting balls go outside off and defending resolutely at anything directed at the stumps. Frustrated by their lack of success, both Ajit Agarkar and Aavishkar Salvi banged in plenty of short balls, but Balaji simply dropped his wrists and swayed out of the way. Balaji was finally nailed on the sweep shot by Powar, but that only set the scene for Dravid and Laxman to take centrestage.Laxman had had a horror match so far, scoring 5 off 53 balls in the first innings, and then dropping a clanger off Tendulkar on the third day. Today, he redeemed himself, stroking the ball fluently on both sides of the wicket. He started off slightly tentatively, slashing one over the slips for four off Agarkar, but soon settled into his groove. Bahutule’s round-the-wicket, into-the-rough bowling was handled with excellent footwork, as Laxman either flicked it to leg or made room to drive through extra-cover. And when Powar was brought back shortly before tea, both Dravid and Laxman dealt almost exclusively in boundaries: Laxman stroked a couple of full-tosses for fours, then took a single and watched as Dravid struck two magnificent sixes, one over wide long-on and the other over the bowler’s head. Twenty-one came off that over, and the contest seemed settled. Then came the rush of nerves, and the mini-drama.

The heavy rain which left the Premadasa Stadium in Colombo awash on Thursday continued throughout this morning and put pay to the second ODI between Sri Lanka and England, which was called off at 6.05pm local time without a ball being bowled.The umpires made three inspections throughout the day, but play never looked likely due to the sodden outfield and boggy wicket. Even though the rain stayed away in the afternoon, Daryl Hair described the pitch as “not up to scratch” and after consulting both captains, called the game off.Marvan Atapattu was the happier of the two captains, as it now means Sri Lanka can’t lose the three-match series. Michael Vaughan, on the other hand, expressed his frustration, but insisted England would be well prepared for the final match on Sunday – assuming it’s not washed out.”It would have been wrong to have played in these conditions, and they weren’t going to improve,” Vaughan said. “It’s like a bog out there, the covering obviously hasn’t worked, but I just hope the rain stays off and we can get a game on Sunday.”It’s very frustrating, but you can only control what’s put in front of you. We’ll practise tomorrow and make sure we’re fully prepared for the last game.” However, those who have experienced the late monsoon before warn that Sunday’s game is also under threat.

The Indian selectors sprung a surprise, naming only a 20-man probables list for the four-match Test series in Australia. Announcing the line-up, SK Nair, secretary of the Indian board, said that the final squad of 16 would be named after India’s TVS Cup match against New Zealand at Hyderabad on Saturday.The list of probables includes Sadagoppan Ramesh as the third opener, while Deep Dasgupta has been named as the second wicketkeeper. There is no place in the squad for Sanjay Bangar, though. Among the other fringe players who made the list were Murali Kartik, Irfan Pathan, Aavishkar Salvi and L Balaji.The selectors also announced that Salvi would replace Ashish Nehra in the ODI squad for the Hyderabad match, and for the final, if India qualify. Nehra has been asked to play in Delhi’s Ranji Trophy match against Mumbai, which starts on November 15.The probables
Sourav Ganguly (capt), Akash Chopra, Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Rahul Dravid, Sadagoppan Ramesh, Hemang Badani, Yuvraj Singh, Deep Dasgupta (wk), Parthiv Patel (wk), Harbhajan Singh, Anil Kumble, Ajit Agarkar, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Murali Kartik, Aavishkar Salvi, Irfan Pathan, L Balaji.ODI squad for rest of the TVS Cup
Sourav Ganguly (capt), Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Rahul Dravid (wk), Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Ajit Agarkar, Parthiv Patel (wk), Harbhajan Singh, Anil Kumble, Zaheer Khan, Aavishkar Salvi, Murali Kartik.

Close Australia 400 for 5 (Ponting 176*, Katich 75, Langer 58) v India
Scorecard

A scintillating unbeaten 176 by Ricky Ponting was the outstanding performance of the day as Australia made full use of winning the toss at the Adelaide Oval. At close of play on the opening day, they had raced to 400 for 5 – the highest total in a day at this venue, beating Australia’s 387 on the second day against West Indies in 1968-69 – with useful contributions from Justin Langer (58) and Simon Katich (75).Apart from Matthew Hayden, all the Australian batsmen got starts, but Ponting capitalised on it, racing to his hundred off just 117 balls. He slowed down noticeably after reaching 150, despite which Australia finished the day with a run-rate of nearly four-and-a-half an over. All the Indian bowlers toiled – rather unsuccessfully – to beat the daunting combination of a flat pitch, a fast outfield with short square boundaries, and an awesome opposition batting line-up.Coming in at the fall of an early wicket, Ponting started off with an all-run four down the ground, before peppering the square boundaries on the off side with some sumptuous drives off either foot. He had a couple of reprieves early in his innings: on 12, a close lbw shout off Ajit Agarkar was turned down, while Virender Sehwag dropped a head-high chance at third slip off Irfan Pathan when Ponting had added just six. Once past those early jitters, though, Ponting didn’t give the Indians much respite.The tone for the day was set early when both the Australian openers drove through the line of the ball, trusting the even bounce and the lack of movement off the pitch. Sourav Ganguly packed the off side, and his bowlers largely stuck to an off-stump line, but the batsmen still threaded the gaps – in fact, every single one of the 16 fours Ponting struck in his first 100 runs were on the off side. Ganguly didn’t help the Indian cause by keeping the third-man region vacant for most of the day.These were ideal conditions for Hayden’s plonk-the-front-foot-and-drive-through-the-line style of batting, but Pathan – making his debut after Zaheer Khan missed out due to a strained hamstring – nailed him with one in the corridor which shaped away and kissed the edge of the bat (22 for 1).The dream start for Pathan and India soon went sour as Ponting and Langer went about their merry ways, cashing in on all the bad balls and sometimes putting away the good ones as well. Anil Kumble was soon pressed into service, but that only inspired Langer to go into overdrive – in one over he smote Kumble for two sixes and two fours. Kumble struck back in his next over, though, when Langer miscued a sweep to Sehwag at midwicket (135 for 2).That dismissal, which came at the stroke of lunch, was some respite for the Indians, but it only meant that one effective run-scorer was replaced by another, more graceful one. Martyn was in fantastic touch from ball one, stroking some gorgeous drives through the covers off Agarkar and Pathan, who, after an impressive first spell, fell away, struggling to find the movement he had obtained with the new ball. A big score was there for the taking, when Martyn (30) threw it away, steering a wide one from Nehra – the first ball of a new spell – to VVS Laxman at second slip (200 for 3).Steve Waugh smote a few through the off side in his 30, but was sorted out by a clever piece of bowling by Nehra. Bowling from round the wicket, he dug a few in short, then slipped in a full-length ball on middle. Waugh, weight on the back foot and probably expecting another short one, played all over the ball as it crashed into his stumps (252 for 4).A feature of this innings was the partnerships that the Australians put together for every wicket, and Simon Katich now joined Ponting to add the biggest one for the day. Katich first dug in, then showed that he could play a few strokes too, the most emphatic of them being a pulled six off Nehra, who came in armed with the second new ball. Galvanised by that shot, Katich raced along, even as Ponting quietened down and seemed to set his sights on his double-century.The 138-run partnership was finally broken off the penultimate over of the day, when Katich top-edged a pull and was caught spectacularly by Sehwag, diving full length and coming up with the ball in both hands (390 for 5). In walked Adam Gilchrist, and promptly dispatched the second ball he faced to the cover fence, and then pulled Kumble for another boundary before bringing up the 400 with the last ball of the day. In four Tests at the Adelaide Oval, Gilchrist has scored a mere 145 runs at 24.16. Time to set the record straight?

Close India 329 for 4 (Sehwag 195) v Australia
Scorecard

A scintillating 195 from Virender Sehwag propelled India to a position of strength on a riveting first day’s play at the MCG. India posted 329 for 4, though once again without any contribution from Sachin Tendulkar, whose horror run with the bat continued. Sehwag dominated the first two sessions and much of the third, putting on 141 for the first wicket with Akash Chopra and 137 for the second with Rahul Dravid, but Australia fought back strongly in the last session, taking three wickets for 33 to check India’s progress.Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman weathered a hostile spell from Brett Lee at the end of the day’s play with the second new ball, and Australia could have actually had a fifth wicket when Ganguly spooned a catch back at Lee, only for the bowler to put it down. India would be satisfied with their position at stumps, and delighted with Sehwag’s majestic effort, a contribution that went beyond anybody’s expectations.Sehwag’s innings was one utterly characteristic of him, but on a scale much larger than anything seen from him in international cricket thus far. It included, on the credit side, 25 fours and five bludgeoned sixes, and on the debit side, two hits on the helmet, a reprieve off a run-out chance in the fifth over of the day, and further escapes just before lunch when the third umpire gave him not out off a close line decision, and just after the break when Simon Katich at point put down a chance off Nathan Bracken.Sehwag made the best of his good fortune, and batted with greater patience and discipline than he had previously in the series. His batting early in the morning was watchful, and marked by a number of excellent leaves against Bracken, his tormentor of the last few months. He played the quick bowlers almost exclusively off the back foot, cutting past point or over the heads of the slips, and driving down the ground when the ball was pitched up to him. The pick of his shots was a soaring six off Stuart MacGill’s second ball of the day, played inside-out over extra cover with a free and easy swing of the bat.His fifty came right on the stroke of lunch, with a flashing cut off Lee, and by the time he brought up his hundred, powering Brad Williams through midwicket, he had hit 16 fours and a six. After getting to the landmark, he upped the tempo without doing anything excessive – by his standards – hitting another six off MacGill and clubbing Steve Waugh into the stands in the last over before tea.The Indian batsmen followed the basic rule of giving the first hour of the day to the bowlers and then imposing themselves on the opposition. They made less than 30 runs in a testing first hour after Ganguly had won the toss and elected to bat, but they were 89 for no loss by lunch, and added another 130 runs in the post-lunch session, as Sehwag ran amok against some increasingly ragged bowling. Even though they lost three wickets in the last session, they added another 110 to the score. Sehwag made more than half the runs scored in each of these sessions.The only wicket to fall in the first two sessions was that of Chopra, popping a catch off bat and pad to Katich off MacGill when just three short of a well-deserved fifty. A sentry at the gates of a city under siege could not have been more watchful than Chopra, who took the sting out of the Australian attack with his three-hour long vigil, mixing patient defence with nudges and deflections.The Australians wasted a number of chances and half-chances through the day, most notably in the fifth over of the morning with Sehwag on just 4, when Lee missed the easiest of chances to run him out at the striker’s end, with both batsmen stranded on the other half of the pitch.If Australia were still in the game at the end of the day, it was partly due to luck, but also to a crucial breakthrough made by Waugh, playing his penultimate Test on the ground where he made his debut against India in the Boxing Day Test in 1985.Waugh gave himself an extended spell after tea, but India progressed to 278 for 1, with Sehwag the cynosure of all attention as he rattled along merrily and Dravid, coming off his two splendid knocks at Adelaide, having worked his way unfussily to 49. Then, against the run of play, Dravid was suckered by Waugh into aiming a shot at a ball well outside leg stump, and chipped a catch to a fielder precisely positioned for that stroke just in front of square leg (278 for 2). Since Waugh had spent a good part of his spell bowling short balls at the two batsmen with a fielder on the square-leg boundary, Dravid possibly failed to note, and adjust his play for, the fielder coming up.Waugh wasted no time in taking himself off and bringing on Lee to attack Tendulkar. Lee’s first ball to Tendulkar was a loosener down the leg side. Trying instinctively to work it to fine leg, Tendulkar appeared to get the faintest of touches with the bat as the ball brushed his pad, and was caught down the leg side by a diving Gilchrist (286 for 3). The only Tendulkar-like stroke seen during hisbrief stay at the crease came from Sehwag, who whipped a Williams delivery to the square-leg boundary with the distinctive flourish common to him and Tendulkar.Sehwag’s response to the loss of two quick wickets was to swing the first ball of a new spell from MacGill over midwicket for six. Waugh was now prompted into bringing on the left-arm spin of Katich, bowling with several fielders on the boundary. Sehwag, on 189, lashed a full toss beyond the boundary for his fifth six, and moved to within one stroke of his double-hundred. The next ball was another full toss, and in trying to repeat the stroke, Sehwag holed out toBracken at the long-on boundary (311 for 4). It was an utterly captivating innings, the highest score ever by an Indian batsman at the MCG.Wisden Asia Cricket

Sourav Ganguly, India’s captain, effectively put an end to the suspense regarding player pull-outs for the upcoming tour to Pakistan by saying that the whole team would tour, but that concerns about security still remain.”Everybody will be going”, Ganguly announced. “We are still concerned about security, but the government is looking after it. We hope there will be tight security.”According to an AFP report, a security assessment by Yashowardhan Azad, the security who accompanied BCCI officials to Pakistan last week, was submitted to the Indian government, which would then make recommendations to the Indian cricket board. The report stated that risky venues were ruled out, and that Karachi and Peshawar were among them, The Times of India reported.Ganguly added that “all the team members are physically and mentally fit”, with the exception of Harbhajan Singh, “who is yet to recover from a finger injury”.Talking about his team’s chances in Pakistan, Ganguly was optimistic about a good showing after India’s tour of Australia.”We played very well in the series against Australia,” Ganguly said. “Considering the fact that Australia is the world’s number one team, even if we play 60 per cent of our game, we will win the Pakistan series.”

Frizzell County Championship Division One
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Lancashire 225 for 2 v Sussex at Old Trafford
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Match Reports: Day 1 – Daily Telegraph | Day 2 – Daily Telegraph |Leicestershire 151 for 6 v Kent at Leicester
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Match Reports: Day 1 – Daily Telegraph | Day 2 – Daily Telegraph |Nottinghamshire 316 for 5 v Middlesex at Lord’s
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Match Reports: Day 1 – Daily Telegraph | Day 2 – Daily Telegraph |Frizzell County Championship Division Two
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Somerset 409 v Derbyshire 32 for 0 at Taunton
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Match Reports: Day 1 – Daily Telegraph | Day 2 – Daily Telegraph |Northants 319 v Glamorgan 20 for 0 at Cardiff
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Match Reports: Day 1 – Daily Telegraph | Day 2 – Daily Telegraph |Gloucestershire 374 v Durham 2 for 0 at Bristol
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Match Reports: Day 1 – Daily Telegraph | Day 2 – Daily Telegraph |

The Western Australian batsman, Marcus North, has joined Durham as cover for Herschelle Gibbs, who will be absent on international duty at various stages of the 2004 season.North, 24, has played in the North East Premier League and will be returning to league cricket in between his spells with Durham. He recently enjoyed a prolific season with Western Australia, scoring over 1000 runs at an average of 56.52.”I’m delighted to be given the opportunity to play first-class cricket in England, especially at Durham," said North. "My wife is from the North East and the region is a second home for me. I’ve been in good form this year and hopefully I can continue that for the Durham fans.”North will make his debut at the start of the season, while Gibbs is still on international duty and will return in August during South Africa’s tour of Sri Lanka. “Marcus is a great asset," said Durham’s captain, Jon Lewis. "He is a proven run-scorer and can also contribute a few overs [of offspin]. His signing also gives us some form of continuity throughout the season.”Durham’s chief executive, David Harker, was also pleased with the signing. “Marcus should settle in fairly quickly as he has played for several years in the North East. He is an exciting young talent and should score plenty of runs during Herschelle’s absence."

According to Wisden Cricinfo sources, two USA-based candidates have applied for the post of chief executive officer of the USA Cricket Association.The two are named as S.M.X. (Bobby) Refaie, current Secretary of the USA Cricket Association, and Hassan Jalil, a cricket developer with extensive experience in South Asia and the USA. However, this could not be officially confirmed. Mark Waugh, former Australian Test cricketer, has been mentioned as a possible candidate, but this has also not been confirmed.US Cricketers are waiting with bated breath for the announcement from the ICC. The appointment of this CEO is expected to set the future direction of US cricket, and a lot is riding on the final outcome.