Test opener Justin Langer is aiming to revitalise his summer in tomorrow’s day-night cricket match between Western Australia and South Australia in Perth.The ING Cup player of last season has failed to fire in recent Test series against minnows Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, scoring just 108 runs in four Tests at an average of 21.6.”I’m looking forward to kick-starting my summer. It has not been a great start to the summer. There are various reasons for that, but I am looking forward to kick-starting from a personal point of view with some runs under my belt,” he said.WA captain Langer said a lack of match practice heading into the recent two-match series against the Africans had not helped his cause.”It didn’t seem to trouble Matty Hayden or Ricky Ponting too much, but everyone’s preparation is different,” he said.”We had a long break leading into the Test series, I probably had 10 or 11 weeks before going straight into a Test match.”I think that is something that has to be looked at in the programming.”Meanwhile, Redbacks captain Greg Blewett said his players just wanted to start erasing memories of their disastrous ING Cup campaign last season, which netted just one win from ten matches.”Last season we just got into a bit of a rut. We were very competitive at the beginning of the season and then basically fell to pieces,” he said.”We were bowled out for scores of a hundred and things like that. I felt we completely lost confidence in that form of the game and it is the start of a new season and hopefully that is all forgotten.”Allrounder Mick Miller is in some doubt with a shoulder injury sustained in SA’s 56-run Pura Cup win over the Warriors at the WACA Ground yesterday.Blewett predicted all-rounders to be the major beneficiaries of Cricket Australia’s move this summer to reduce the number of players from 12 to 11 in the domestic one-day competition.”I think that is to get the allrounders back into the game because you could play the extra player with the 12, and that was generally a batsman or a strike bowler,” he said.”I think with 11 players now, that the allrounders are going to have to come back into it.”However, Langer and WA coach Wayne Clark thought the new “free-hit” rule would not be a major factor in the competition.Under the new rule which has been used in English cricket, if a no-ball is bowled the batsman can only be dismissed by run out or interference on the next delivery.”I am with Justin, it did not happen a lot when I was in England,” the former Yorkshire coach said.WA: Justin Langer (c), Michael Hussey, Jo Angel, Ryan Campbell, Beau Casson, Murray Goodwin, Shaun Marsh, Marcus North, Chris Rogers, Michael Thistle, Callum Thorp, Peter Worthington.SA: Greg Blewett (c), Mark Cleary, John Davison, Shane Deitz, Callum Ferguson, Andy Flower, Mark Higgs, Ben Johnson, Graham Manou, Mick Miller, Paul Rofe, Shaun Tait.

Scorecard

Andrew Flintoff: another day, another fifty, another Man of the match award

England comfortably won the final ODI at Dhaka and thus completed a 3-0 clean sweep in this short series. They were made to work a touch harder for it this time, but Bangladesh’s fighting total of 182, in which their lower order again helped them out, was still never going to be enough. Marcus Trescothick led the reply with a calm half-century before Paul Collingwood and that man Andrew Flintoff again led England home with 10 overs to spare, and to their third consecutive seven-wicket win.After Vikram Solanki, who scored only 11 runs in the series, again fell early with an angled slash outside off stump off Mushfiqur Rahman for 1, Trescothick and Michael Vaughan and took their time to build a winning platform – the first boundary of the innings, from Vaughan, didn’t come until the seventh over.The Bangladesh attack kept things tight, but only Rahman posed any real threat, and he trapped Vaughan lbw in the 16th over with one that moved in off the seam a touch and hit Vaughan plumb in front for 29 (66 for 2). Rahman bowled with good pace and movement, but after he finished his spell of 2 for 29 from his 10 overs, the game was all but over.Trescothick started to stamp a calm authority on the game, picking out the singles with ease and unleashing the odd big hit. He came down the track to Khaled Mahmud and smacked him over long-on for four, and then carved him over point for his fifth boundary. Collingwood, meanwhile, was happy to pick out the many gaps in the field, including a huge heave off the left-arm spinner Manjural Islam Rana over midwicket for four and a dazzling lofted cover-drive.Trescothick, just after reaching his fifty, then played around a straight one from Mahmud which kept low and bowled him (102 for 3). The under-fire Mahmud had some good news for once – but the sight of Flintoff striding out wiped the smile off his face pretty quickly.Flintoff waited for six overs to signal the charge. But after a quiet start he suddenly drove Rafique past mid-on for four and then deposited him over long-on to pass Ian Botham’s record of the most sixes by an Englishman in ODIs. That strike was Flintoff’s 45th maximum, beating Botham’s 44 in 65 matches. Then just for good measure, he smashed Tapash Baisya over midwicket for another four. And you know it’s your day when even the umpires don’t want you to get out. After missing a sweep against Manjural, Flintoff somehow survived a stumping which Akhtaruddin, the third umpire, decided wasn’t out.From then on, it was a stroll under the Dhaka lights for Collingwood and Flintoff, who collected his third Man of the Match award. He hammered a further three sixes to take it his tally to ten in the series, which he has dominated from the start. But at least the England batsmen were pushed a touch harder this time for their routine victory after Bangladesh made a much better fist of things to reach a respectable 182 from 49.1 overs.

James Anderson strikes early, catching Moniruzzaman off his own bowling

After the hapless Moniruzzaman was caught and bowled by James Anderson for a second successive duck (6 for 1), Hannan Sarkar and Habibul Bashar, arguably Bangladesh’s best batsmen, did their best to keep up the a refreshingly competitive run-rate. Collingwood checked their progress with a spectacular throw off balance to run out Hannan (35 for 2), but unlike the previuos two games, there was no sudden wicket landslide. Habibul, with the help of Rajin Saleh, put on a sturdy partnership of 31. It wasn’t exciting stuff, but it represented a definite improvement.But in between the odd big hit, England slowly reasserted the pressure, and Rikki Clarke undid all the batsmen’s good early work with two quick wickets. He struck with his first ball when Habibul played right across the line to a dead-eyed straight delivery and was lbw (66 for 3). In the next over, Gareth Batty’s first, Saleh attempted to sweep a straight ball, but only gloved it over his head to Chris Read for 19 (75 for 4). Things got even worse when Alok Kapali was bowled by Clarke trying a horrible pull shot off a ball far too full, and lost his off stump (83 for 5).Then followed the farcical run-out of Mahmud, the beleagured captain. He and Rahman both ended up at the non-striker’s end, and there was a slight delay as the third umpire worked out who was actually out. England wanted the more dangerous Rahman to go, but the crowd wanted the head of Mahmud – and they got it (103 for 6).However, England’s bowlers again failed to polish off the tail. Rahman injected 36 valuable runs, with five boundaries, to the total before he was unluckily given out lbw to Flintoff (139 for 7). Flintoff’s yorker then again paid dividends when he cleaned up Mashud, who hung around for 16. Manjural and Rafique further frustrated England until two late strikes by James Kirtley ended their innings on 183 with five balls remaining.Vaughan and his side now head to Sri Lanka with a clean sweep in both the Bangladesh series, but it’s a different story for Khaled Mahmud, who may well have played his last match for Bangladesh.

Following their selection in the Australian team for the first 3 Test against India in Brisbane next week, Steve Waugh, Simon Katich, Stuart MacGill and Nathan Bracken have been named in the SpeedBlitz Blues team to play Tasmania in an ING Cup match in Hobart on Saturday November 29th, 2003.The Chief Executive of Cricket NSW David Gilbert has announced the side, which hopes to win its third match of the Summer, after victories over Victoria and Western Australia.

Stephen Waugh (C)
Brad Haddin
Simon Katich
Michael Clarke
Mark Waugh
Phil Jaques
Dominic Thornely
Stuart MacGill
Nathan Bracken
Stuart Clark
Matthew Nicholson
Shawn Bradstreet

The South Australian Women’s Cricket Association has named a team of 12 to play New South Wales this weekend (December 6 and 7) at Bowral Oval.Australian vice-captain and 2003 Women’s Cricketer of the Year, Karen Rolton, is again captain of the State side, with SACA school cricket officer Shelley Nitschke named as vice captain.The squad sees the State debut for 18-year-old medium-pace bowler Neisha Iles and 19-year-old batter Rebecca Pollard.Also making her debut for the South Australian side is former England squad member, Caroline Atkins. The right-handed batter moved to Adelaide this year to further her cricketing career with the Scorpions.The Scorpions team to play NSW is:

Karen Rolton (c)	Julie Woerner
Shelley Nitschke (vc)	Caroline Atkins
Kris Britt	Rebecca Pollard
Lauren Ebsary	Neisha Iles
Jo-Anna Kenney	Olivia Magno
Emma Sampson	Heather Booth

This year also sees a new coach, with SACA cricket officer and last year’s assistant coach, Greg Quinn, taking over the mantle from Mark Sorell who was appointed as High Performance Coordinator within the SACA.

Nathan Bracken: one more injured Australian fast bowler © AFP

A hip injury has ruled Nathan Bracken out of Australia’s squad for the opening VB Series game against India on Friday. Bracken strained a muscle in his left hip while fielding in the last Test against India at Sydney. He was replaced by Brad Williams in the 13-man squad for the first few matches of the series, according to AAP, an Australian news agency.Bracken, who played 14 games over a period of three years, commented: “Obviously I am disappointed … I am hopeful that the injury can heal quickly.”He’s in luck. The official line was that it wasn’t a bad injury. “It is not a major injury,” said Errol Alcott, Australia’s physiotherapist. “We’re confident that he will improve quickly.”Bracken’s injury followed in the wake of a spate of injuries that have plagued Australia’s fast bowlers recently. In the last year, Jason Gillespie, Brett Lee, and now Bracken, have found themselves out of the team due to injury. Glenn McGrath, Australia’s leading fast bowler, has not bowled a ball in international cricket since July, following ankle surgery.

Andy Caddick is set to sign a new four-year contract with Somerset. Caddick, who has not played international cricket since the fifth Ashes Test last January, began work in the nets this week for the first time since undergoing back surgery last September.”I’ve had a couple of meetings with him and we’ll sort it out soon,” Peter Anderson, Somerset’s chief executive, told BBC Radio Bristol. “He looks OK in the nets although he’s only bowling off a few paces, but his back has mended well and he’s in good shape.”Caddick was rumoured to be moving to Warwickshire for next season, but if this deal with Somerset goes through, Caddick, 35, will end his career at Taunton, where he started it in 1991.

North Zone 279 and 191 beat West Zone 172 and 277 (Mane 127*, Martin 50, Sarandeep 4-99) by 21 runs
ScorecardA heroic unbeaten 127 by Vinayak Mane wasn’t enough to take his side to victory, as North Zone, helped by Sarandeep Singh’s 4 for 99, squeaked to a 21-run win in a tense, low-scoring thriller and booked a place in the final.Resuming from their overnight total of 92 for 2, Mane and Jacob Martin took the total to 148, but the slide began immediately after Martin reached 50, when he was nailed by Sarandeep. West Zone then lost wickets at regular intervals to slump to 225 for 7. Mane and Rakesh Patel threatened a revival, adding 43 for the eighth wicket, before Patel was caught behind off Amit Bhandari for 25 (268 for 8). West needed a further 31 at that stage, but managed only nine more as Bhandari and Dinesh Mongia cleaned up the tail.Mane’s gallant effort took all of 405 minutes and 249 balls. It was the second time in the match that a batsman had carried his bat through an innings: in North Zone’s second innings, Gautam Gambhir had made an unbeaten 111 out of his team’s 191.

Since he cemented his place in the Australian middle-order, Darren Lehmann has scored five centuries in nine games. After today’s unbeaten effort, he spoke to the press.On the conditions
It was hard work out there, pretty much all day, because of the field settings. The pitch spun a fair bit and it’s quite slow which made it hard to get into any rhythm.On his prolific run of form
I’m not sure that there is a secret – it’s just that I am playing well at the moment and it’s good to get some runs to make up for lost time. The pleasing thing is that I am quite relaxed at the crease these days and I suppose that comes with experience and confidence in your game. That seems to be the trick at the moment. I am playing the game for what it is – a game.On countering the threat from Sri Lanka’s spinners
You have got to have a plan [in Sri Lanka] and my plan seems to be working at the moment. I am quite confident coming down the wicket, which you have to back yourself to do over here. In the past teams have come here and let the spinners dictate, but we have certainly gone about it in a different way and had some success doing so.On the Sri Lankan defensive tactics
The wicket had enough to bowl attacking lines, but they did not back their bowlers enough. I was a little bit bored for a while but it is Test cricket and you focus pretty quickly back onto the job. It is just one of the things they do over here, they like to bowl to those kind of fields and you have to learn to cope with it. You have to come up with a plan to counteract their tactics, whether it is batting slightly outside leg or running up the wicket to work singles.

Hashan Tillakaratne – dug in when it most mattered© Getty Images

Sri Lanka’s embattled captain, Hashan Tillakaratne, produced a crucial unbeaten 74 to carry his side into a position of strength on the third day against Australia in Colombo. But afterwards he admitted he had been driven on by the belief that he was playing his final match for his country.”When I read the newspapers there were so many things being said and done,” said Tillakaratne. “I just went in there thinking it was my last innings. I just played my normal game and wanted to be there to the end and make a big score.”Until I got to about 30-odd I was struggling a bit, but after that I was okay. We all know that I have had a lean period, but after this knock I should be able to get more runs. I spoke to [the manager] Ranjith Fernando in the morning and asked him what I should do, and he was very supportive and encouraging and told me to play my naturalgame. If I am not scoring I don’t want to be a liability to the team.”It’s not the first time that Tillakaratne has had to bat for his career, and once again he produced the goods when it most mattered. “It was very important for me,” he said. “I rate this 74 as highly as my 136 I scored against India in 2001, when I came back into the side after two-and-a-half years. I thought that would be my last innings as well, but I managed to get a hundred there.”Three late Australian wickets put the cap on Sri Lanka’s day, but Tillakaratne warned that the fourth day would be another tough battle. “We were looking at a lead of 50-60 runs which would have been a psychological advantage for us,” he admitted. “But there are two more days to go and we have to pick up early wickets tomorrow. The wicket is starting to turn and it will definitely help our spinners. I think 250 is gettable on this track.”

Omar Henry: still in charge© WPCA

Omar Henry, South Africa’s convenor of selectors, kept his job today – although the board of Cricket South Africa streamlined the selection panel, which now consists of four members rather than the previous six. Henry will be joined on the panel by Gary Kirsten, who was named today as South Africa’s new high-performance manager; Eric Simons, the national coach; and one other selector, who will be announed shortly after nominations are received from the new provincial franchises.The four selectors will choose the squads for overseas tours and home Tests, but the make-up of the final XIs will be left to the coach and the captain, Graeme Smith, who was reappointed for another year in charge.Kirsten’s appointment to the new post of high-performance manager carries a two-year contract. Kirsten, South Africa’s most-capped player, will take responsibility for identifying and guiding young cricketers who show potential to play for the national team. He will work closely with the six provincial coaches, and will assist with the development of the players on both the technical and mental levels.The meeting also considered the case of Diteko Modise, the UCB’s former finance and administration manager, who has appeared for remand on criminal fraud charges. The board recommended that Cricket South Africa’s audit committee review the completed forensic audit report into Mr Modise’s allegedfinancial irregularities. The UCB has successfully applied to have his assets frozen.Before the meeting started, the board members observed a minute’s silence in memory of Krish Mackerdhuj, the former United Cricket Board president, who died in Durban on Wednesday morning.