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Somerset County Cricket Club claimed another first when the Playing for Success Study Support Centre that is based at the County Ground was officially opened by Mr Michael Phipps, Divisional Manager from the Department of Education and Skills.In his opening speech Mr Phipps told the large group of representatives from the education and sporting world who gathered in the Centre of Execellence for the occasion that whilst three other first class counties, Durham, Leicestershire and Northants also have Playing for Success Centres, Somerset were the first Centre to be officially opened.The state-of-the-art ICT centre, which wasinitially launched at the ground in June, has already provided learning opportunities in literacy, numeracy and ICT for more than 100 young people.The students, aged from ten to 14 years, also benefit from the development of their personal and social education.A summer school was held during the summer holidays and regular sessions are held for up to 20 students at the end of the school day. The star pupil on each course is rewarded by a free membership to Somerset Cricket Club.Somerset chief executive Peter Anderson told those present: “It’s very pleasing that we have been able to put these facilities to good community use, and it is a delight to see the young people here at the County Ground.”The Somerset boss also paid tribute to Simon Lowe who is the Playing for Success Study Support Centre Manager. He said: “With all good ideas you need someone to put them into practice and Simon Lowe has done a superb job. He is very enthusiatic and a great ambassador for the Centre.”.Simon Lowe, a lifelong cricket enthusiast who taught PE and maths at Ladymead School in Taunton for 12 years before taking on his new job told me: “The centre is a fantastic place for young people to come and learn. The County Ground is a great setting for a classroom. Having the players as an integral part of the young people’s learning experiences and the environment of a professional sports club inspires them to attain higher levels than perhaps they are used to at school.”The Playing for Success Study Support Centre is open on four evenings a week, and at present is attended by students from four primary and four secondary schools in the Taunton area.

David Morgan, the ICC president-elect, has said he hopes new spectators, drawn to the game by Twenty20, will come to love the other formats as well.”I’m proud that Twenty20, a format first developed by the England and Wales Cricket Board, had such a widespread appeal, bringing in new, wider and young audience, which ICC welcomes,” Morgan said at the closing ceremony for the Indian Premier League.Morgan felt cricket was fortunate to possess three formats. “[That is] Twenty20, which thrilled so many people, one-day cricket which is equally thrilling and Test cricket, the pinnacle. In fact, last week all three formats were evident with two great Test matches in Kingston and Manchester.”Congratulating the Indian board and Lalit Modi, the IPL commissioner, for the tournament’s success, Morgan said it had changed the face of domestic cricket around the world. “It has provided opportunities for other cricket playing nations [to take it forward]. It has got widespread appeal and has attracted new audiences to the game.”There are plans to organise a Champions League – a tournament involving the top two domestic Twenty20 teams from various countries – in England in October this year, following the Champions Trophy.

I think England played very well at Trent Bridge in the second Test against India. Michael Vaughan did fantastically well – and I’m talking about his batting! He did well enough with the ball, but he is not the sort of bowler you throw the ball to when you get on a turner and expect him to bowl out a Test side. A couple of wickets here and there is useful, but it might come as no surprise to you that I spent the final stages of the Test bemoaning the fact that England had gone in without a front-line spinner. What’s more, I reckon Nasser Hussain might have felt much the same.He could certainly have justified playing a spinner on the last day at Trent Bridge because the ball was turning. Of course, there’s always the outside chance that I might be a bit biased, but I reckon you should always play a spinner anyway. If you want to play five bowlers, that’s great but surely there should be a place for a spinner among those five? I know we were struggling to get a quorum of fit seamers by the end, but it might not have mattered had we had a specialist spinner to take advantage of the conditions.Looking back, I can remember playing in England sides when we had only three seamers and me, and I was called into action about an hour before lunch on the first morning. It only needed one of the seamers to go round the park and I was on. With five seamers, there are loads of options and if you want to play that many, fair enough, but I can’t help but feel that selection is over doing it.I know there was once a feeling that the Indians were not that good against pace, but even if that holds water, you could still have four pace bowlers and find room for a spinner. Let’s face it, if you go into a match with five bowlers you must be able to find room for balance and variety by playing a spinner.For one thing, it’s not altogether fair on the seamers they did pick. By the time it comes to their turn to bowl, they could be out of nick. They stand around all day having been picked as a seamer and end up bowling just half a dozen overs. The other thing is that most of these quick bowlers are used to taking the new ball, either for England or for their counties, or at least coming on first change. It might not put them in the greatest frame of mind to come on third change when the ball is far from new and they’ve been grazing in the outfield for a while.I could understand it if the batting wasn’t firing so you might pick four seamers and go for the extra batting option, but five bowlers of the same type and no spinner doesn’t make sense to me. I know there were swingers and seamers and bang-it-in bowlers, but I would just like to think that the selectors might sit down and think they got it wrong for Trent Bridge. No big deal, but put it in the memory bank for next time. Next time? That’s Headingley, so it might have to be the time after next.All in all though, things are going well for England this summer. I thought the new boys did OK and looked at home. I know it’s said it’s easier to come into a winning team, but that again is a sign of progress. England are getting better as a unit, which is shown by the way they can slip the new boys in almost unnoticed as far as the efficiency of the team is concerned.We’ve got to keep it going now. Keep scoring the big runs, keep bowling the opposition out. Basic stuff, but so important and now we’re one up with two to play, keep the old size nine on the throat and not let the opposition get back into it. It’s happened before that we’ve been well on top and then allowed opponents to wriggle free. After the win at Lord’s, the draw at Trent Bridge must not be seen as a way back for the Indians. We need to hit hard again at the first opportunity.

It is important that the performance of the Indian team in their ICCChampions Trophy opening game against Zimbabwe be viewed withsympathy. This was obviously a weary touring side – incessant cricketfor months in various lands followed by a long drawn out row overcontracts is enough to affect even the fittest of players. They thenhad to make a long trip from London to Mumbai, then on to Chennai andfinally to Colombo – a delayed flight on the last leg to boot.Consequently, there was no mistaking the fatigue of the team memberswho took the field against opponents who on the other hand were freshand had not played competitive cricket for some months.Zimbabwe have almost always been tough opposition for India. In thehead-to-head record, India are way ahead but what this simple factwill not convey is the numerous occasions on which the Indians havehad to sweat it out before securing victory. In sub-continentalconditions, the Indians’ superiority is much more marked and in normalcircumstances, India should have won with some deal of comfort. Butagainst the background I have already described, the narrow margin ofvictory perhaps was not surprising.The batting did not exactly cover itself with glory. If the recoverywas strong – 87 for five to a final total of 288 for six – questionsmight well be asked as to why there was a crisis in the first place.Some complacency, a few faulty shot selections and yes, a bit ofstaleness were evident.One may be tempted to say all is well that ends well. But there islittle doubt that the famed Indian batting will have to perform up toreputation in the game against England. It is not a healthydevelopment if there are to be retrieving partnerships for the sixthand seventh wickets every time.Rahul Dravid is perhaps enjoying the finest phase in his outstandingcareer. He is right now at a stage when little is going wrong for him.His timing and shot selection is impeccable and it matters littlewhether he is playing in the West Indies, England or Sri Lanka orwhether it is Test cricket or the limited overs game.

For that matter, Mohammad Kaif also seemed to be carrying on fromwhere he left off at Lord’s on that memorable day a couple of monthsago. The young man represents the new face of Indian cricket. I alwaysthought his style and approach and technique was more suited to Testcricket and while that view remains, the manner in which he hasadapted himself to the quicker tempo of the limited overs game hasbeen admirable. He has obviously worked hard on his game and it isabout time he is given the opportunity to cement his place in the Testside too.Unfortunately, the bowling problems remain, whether it is Test cricketor the shorter version. While the four main bowlers more or less didtheir job creditably, the problem lies with the ten overs to be sentdown by non-regular bowlers. In 12 overs on Saturday, Tendulkar,Ganguly and Yuvraj gave away 78 runs. With the team management firmlybent on playing seven batsmen, there is tremendous pressure on thefour bowlers to come good and if any of them fail, the back-upstrength just does not inspire confidence.But there is no need for the Indians to press any panic buttons evenif they are in the proverbial group of death. The victory overZimbabwe does not guarantee the runners-up of the 2000 tournament aplace in the semifinals. A crucial match against England remains to beplayed.Perhaps VVS Laxman can replace Dinesh Mongia and Ajit Agarkar can takeAshish Nehra’s place. That could strengthen the team even if it doesnot solve the problem of the lack of a fifth main bowler. But with thepolicy of playing seven batsmen firmly in place, there is very littlethat can be done in this regard except to hope that the main bowlersare niggardly and that the remaining ten overs are not very expensive.The Indians have a few days to work out the necessary tactics andthere is no doubt that the team members will welcome the rest andrelaxation. Somehow one senses the players will rise to the occasionagainst England.

The second days play at Taunton ended neatly balanced with Yorkshire 261 runs ahead of Somerset with just one second innings wicket left.From their overnight score of 186 for 6, Somerset added another 46 runs before they were all out for 232 a lead of 19 over the visitors.Ian Blackwell who helped to claw the Cidermen back into the game on Wednesday was eventually out for 114 and Keith Dutch was out for 46, just 4 runs short of his half century.The Yorkshire second innings got off to a good start and seemed to be heading for a substantial total, but a tidy performance from the Somerset bowlers saw then reigned back to 280 for 9 at the close.After the close of play Somerset coach Kevin Shine told me: "It’s been another entertaining day’s play. From Yorkshire being 186 for 3 we have made a good fightback to get them to 280 for 9.It’s been a good hardworking performance in the field today by the Somerset team.

England captain Nasser Hussain, England women’s all-rounder Sarah Collyer and SM:TV presenter Tess Daly launched the npower Lions’ Den at the AMP Oval today.This initiative, from the ECB and npower, will turn a section of around 300seats at each Test Match Ground into a ‘Lions’ Den’ – an enclosure reserved for children. Youngsters in the Lions’ Den will benefit from discounted Test match tickets with every boy and girl receiving a free activity bag, a Lions’ Den T-shirt and cap, an educational activity book and a giant ‘Roar for 4′ paw.The Lions’ Den is an extension of the joint ECB and npower ‘Pride Side’initiative, launched last year, in which three lions and one lioness, based on the traditional lions logo of the ECB, have been created to increase the appeal of cricket to all types of children between the ages of 6-12 years old.Life-size mascots of the ‘Pride Side’s’ superhero cartoon characters – Shen,Maxie and Widget and lioness, Little M – will entertain the youngsters in the Lions’ Den during matches, demonstrating cricket’s continuing drive to rejuvenate and promote cricket at all levels and across ethnic, age, social and gender boundaries.Giving his full support to the exciting project, Nasser Hussain said: “Theseare excellent initiatives which will send out the right messages through every level of the sport. It’s vital that the game evolves to compete with other sports, and these ideas are great. We need to encourage our next generation of fans and players to love the game, and it’s very positive that the ECB and npower are getting together to try and achieve this.”Tess Daly said: “I wish they had this sort of thing when I was growing up!Speaking as a cricket outsider, the Lions’ Den is a terrific idea that should attract kids to the sport. Anything that promotes sport in such a fun way must be a winner.”Sarah Collyer said: “Offering youngsters a taste of the action may lead to more of them taking up the game. Cricket is obviously something I love playing and I am in favour of the game being taken to the widest possible audience, so making cricket accessible to kids like this is terrific news.”npower Strategy Director David Andrew said: “As a young brand – we’re only twoyears old – we are always striving to be different and do what’s not been done before. The Lions’ Den, powered by npower, provides a new experience for our younger cricket fans that they will remember, hopefully through to adulthood, which is a great thing for cricket generally. In the meantime, everyone has fun, which is exactly what we want.”ECB Commercial Director Terry Blake said: “A day out in the Lions’ Den will be both educational and fun. We hope to welcome school classes and junior cricket teams, as well as individual families, to the npower Test Match Series.”Ticket booking is available via www.ecb.co.uk or 08705 33 88 33.

Mathew Sinclair scored his third Test century in 148 balls of outstanding control when Pakistan asked New Zealand to bat first in the second National Bank Test at Christchurch’s Jade Stadium today.Coming to the wicket with New Zealand 102/1, Sinclair ensured the foundation provided by the opening pair was developed, and while four more wickets were lost on the day, New Zealand were in a good position to ram home their advantage tomorrow.It is the second Test century scored by Sinclair this summer, after he scored 150 in the second Test against South Africa at Port Elizabeth in December.The day ended with New Zealand 284/5. Sinclair was 100 not out and Craig McMillan one not out.New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming said it had been “a pretty good day, very positive.””We lost one, maybe two wickets, too many to say it was a good day,” he said.Fleming was full of praise for Sinclair’s innings.”He’s an all or nothing player. I don’t think there’s a cleaner striker of the ball that I have played with,” he said.Fleming said New Zealand would be looking to get up to around 400 tomorrow. That means Sinclair and his incumbent partner Craig McMillan have a big day in front of them.New Zealand did get their partnership mechanisms right, even if they go into the second day still needing the highest one of them all to be played.An opening stand of 102, followed by 61 and 85 represented a much more satisfying day than might have been expected after the calamity at Eden Park on Monday.Matthew Bell and Mark Richardson built on their 91-run stand in the second innings in Auckland with the first century partnership by a Kiwi opening pair since New Zealand played India in Ahmedabad in the 1998/99 season.Bell, with his ungainly stance taking guard outside leg stump looking like an 800 metre runner about to leave the mark, looked more confident. Although what will happen when the Pakistanis appreciate his fondness for leg side play and attempt to close that avenue off the test for him will be how he handles off side play.Whatever, it was encouraging to see him play his pull shots with confidence and continue the development of an opening combination with Richardson. It offered a completely different look at the top of the order.He did have a life on eight when dropped by Younis Khan while on 54 he looked to start walking after an edge from Waqar Younis was taken by wicket-keeper Moin Khan. He stopped walking back as Waqar ran past him appealing to the umpire, Dave Quested, again.Television replays suggested he was out, but it was some pay back for him after he was given out when not touching the ball in the first Test in Auckland.Richardson was not so quickly into his scoring groove, although one cover drive off Mohammad Sami was a fine shot.Fleming looked to be in a good scoring groove, especially when the first ball he faced was driven straight back down the ground for four from Saqlain’s bowling. Another pull shot for four off Fazl-e-Akbar was a fine shot.But just at the time he should have been starting to feel more comfortable he was run out for 32 with the score on 248.New Zealand finished the day on 284/5 having lost Nathan Astle at 276, edging the new ball from Waqar Younis to Moin Khan while nightwatchman Grant Bradburn edged Fazl-e-Akbar to Imran Farhat to third slip to be out for a duck at 282.

Pakistan Whites pair of Imran Nazir and Shoaib Malik won the fourthInternational Double Wicket Cricket Championship, stunning thefavourites Pakistan Blues duo of Wasim Akram and Yasir Arafat in thefinal by two runs at Gaddafi Stadium Wednesday night.Earlier, both the semi-finals were played. In a most thrilling game,Pakistan Whites beating the strong Pakistan Greens pair of AbdurRazzaq and Azhar Mahmood on the spin of coin. Both teams scored 80runs each.Chasing a target of 81, Pakistan Whites were cruising comfortably at78 without any loss with just three balls left. However, the matchtook a turn when Shoaib was caught off the fourth ball, which reducedthe total to 68. On the next two deliveries Shoaib Malik struck twosixes to level the scores.Shoaib scored 53 off 24 balls. Imran Nazir made 39 off 26balls.Earlier, Azhar Mahmood blasted 73 off 33 balls while Abdur Razzaqscored 20.Wasim Akram and Yasir Arafat defeated New Zealand pair of CraigMcMillan and Chris Harris by four runs in the other semi-final.Batting first, New Zealand made a net score of 36. McMillan scored 35off 26 balls while Chris Harris hit 28 without being dismissed.Wasim Akram conceded only 15 runs in four overs to claim two wickets.Chasing 37 for victory, Pakistan Blues made a bad start when Akram wasdismissed twice which reduced the total to -2. Akram and Yasir Arafateventually reached their target, scoring 40 for two dismissals. Akramscored 40 off 31 balls.In the final, the Pakistan Blues piled up 87 without any loss in theirallotted eight overs. Akram scored an unbeaten 44 off 27 balls whileYasir hit 42 off 21 overs.Imran Nazir and Shoaib Malik, who lost the group match to the samepair, rose to the occasion by striking 89 without any dismissal.Imran Nazir hammered 45 off 26 balls while Shoaib Malik contributed 37off 22 balls.The Pakistan Whites won a prize of US$6,000 while the runners-up,Pakistan Blues, received $4,000.

Sri Lanka’s world class spinner Muttiah Muralitharan’s chances of playing against England in the second cricket Test commencing at Edgbaston 11 days from today was put down as 60 percent by team physio Alex Kountouri, who will begin a period of rehabilitation with the bowler to get him back on the road again.For the past four weeks since he fell on his left arm and injured it in the one-day final at Sharjah against Pakistan, Muralitharan’s had his arm in a sling almost up against his chest.The sling came off after he arrived here on Saturday and Kountouri who examined him said: “He is better than I expected him to be. He’s got a fairly good movement of his arm and he’s got very little pain. For the moment his arm is still stiff because he hasn’t moved it for four weeks. We have got to get him working and hopefully, get some of the strength and movement back very quickly”.For the four weeks of recuperation, Muralitharan was treated by a specialist in Melbourne.Kountouri said Muralitharan did other work for his leg and stuff like that in Australia although his arm remained immobile. He said that Muralitharan would train three times a day to hopefully speed things up.”He will be doing basically strengthening exercises for his shoulder. He still can’t get his arm above his head. He will be undergoing hydrotherapy treatment trying to accelerate things. It depends how quickly he improves. I can’t see him bowling for another four to five days. He is not going to play in the next game before the next Test. It is going to be touch and go,” said Kountouri. “If he feels okay he will definitely play in the second Test. But at this stage it’s a bit too premature to say anything. I would say he’s got a sixty percent chance of playing. There is definitely and element of risk playing him without match practice. It all depends on how much pain he has.”We got him over here to give us an option to play him. As we get closer we’ll have a serious discussion with him, the coach, manager before taking af final decision. He’s a human being and he’s got a career ahead of him. If we can play him we will. if we can’t that’s it. The final decision is partly upto him and partly upto us,” he saidKountouri said Muralitharan was very positive and was keen to play. “He was very optimistic. It is a little bit of unknown quantity what he needs to do with his left arm. It all depends on how much of strain goes through when he bowls. We’ll find out very soon,” said Kountouri.

Dav Whatmore, the Pakistan coach, is pleased with his team’s performance in the Twenty20 series against Australia so far, after they won the first two matches to make the third and final T20 on Monday a dead rubber. Pakistan routed Australia in the first game, bowling them out for 89, but the second game was a much closer affair, with Pakistan prevailing off the final ball of the Super Over.”I am very much delighted,” Whatmore said. “Can’t do any more than to win two out of two, it was an exciting finish (in the second T20), different from that I thought it would be, but it’s good to have the experience of the Super Over leading up to the World Twenty20. We haven’t played too many Super Overs, so that was good.”The current series was a chance for Pakistan to prepare for the World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka later this month and Whatmore said his side were where they wanted to be going into the tournament. “You want to have some confidence going into it, no point entering a big competition without having some wins under your belt. Where we are in the world standard, there is a world ranking but it is still difficult to gauge. I think it boils down to who can play their best cricket over a small period of time.”Whatmore wanted Pakistan to win Monday’s final T20 and sweep the series. “You cannot say it is as big a game as if the series was 1-1, but it still important for us,” he said. “The pressure is off, we will be a bit more relaxed. There will be a change or two in the team, it is an opportunity to look at one or two other players but to remain as competitive as possible as winning is important.”Whatmore also said allrounder Shahid Afridi is unlikely to play on Monday as a precautionary measure, and that offspinner Saeed Ajmal had recovered from his shoulder problem. “Afridi has an impact injury (on his left hand), I reckon he might be close to playing, but I don’t think we will risk that. Another knock on that left hand might put him back another couple of weeks, which will be very bad for us. Saeed has a recurring problem with that left shoulder, but I am confident that he will play.”