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Following the departure of Nigel Russell as Chief Executive of Sussex CCC the Club has announced that for the foreseeable future the Club will be run by the current Operations Manager, Hugh Griffiths in the role of Acting Chief Executive. There are no plans at present to actively seek a new CEO.Mr Griffiths will take control of the administrative side of the Club whilst the cricket side will come under the guidance of Peter Moores in the new role of Director of Cricket. Mr Moores will be responsible for all aspects of cricket from the professional squad to youth development. He will report to former-Sussex captain John Barclay who was co-opted on the SCCC Committee in May this year as Cricket Chairman.David Green, Chairman, said: “Peter was appointed Director of Cricket over six weeks ago but we awaited the end of the season in order to set up a properly integrated cricket and coaching department under his direct control which has the depth and flexibility of personnel in order that Peter can continue to be hands on with the First XI during the season. With this in mind Mark Robinson is confirmed as Club Coach.”

This game may not have been attributed first-class status, but it had many of the qualities of an old-fashioned three-day game. Three declarations, plenty of runs and a successful run chase that concluded in the final over of the `last 20′ saw Hampshire defeat Loughborough UCCE at the Rose Bowl by three wickets.Resuming at 81-4, it looked unlikely that Loughborough would set Hampshire over 300 to win with little batting left and one of their key men, John Francis, injured. However, Chris Nash had other ideas.He struck 70 from 78 balls, and with support from Richard Wilkinson (36) pushed the lead to 308 when skipper Mark Powell declared at lunch. This was not before James Tomlinson had furthered his first team hopes with 4-66.Losing Derek Kenway early, Jason Laney and Giles White batted tidily, adding 139 for the second wicket before the former fell two short of a well-deserved century (144 balls, 13 fours, 1 six). White and Alex Morris fell in quick succession to make Hampshire’s task unlikely.However, a swashbuckling 39-ball 49 from James Hamblin, which included a huge six over the tents, he and skipper Will Kendall reduced the run-rate required and the target to a manageable level.Kendall, running 12 sets of twos as well as striking five fours was dismissed for 62 (69 balls), but not before he pulled up with a slight recurrence of the side strain which hampered his involvement in the game earlier, attempting a full off David Wigley.Nic Pothas, though, eased the home side home with four balls remaining; Ian Hilsum hitting the winning single.This may not have been first-class by status, but the game itself certainly was in entertainment and good cricket.

Air Commodore Ajith Jayasekera submitted his resignation on Thursday, July 18, to the Hon. Minister of Youth Affairs & Sports, as a Member of the Interim Committee of the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka, in order to take up the post of Manager of the Sri Lanka team.Air Commodore Jayasekera takes over his duties as Manager from today, Friday, July 19, 2002, for a period of two years. Air Commodore Jayasekera earlier served as Manager of the Sri Lanka team from December 2000 up to January 2002, which included tours abroad to South Africa, New Zealand and twice to Sharjah, as well as Test series at home versus England, India, the West Indies, and Zimbabwe, the Asian Test Championship Test versus Bangladesh, and triangular tournaments involving New Zealand and India, and West Indies and Zimbabwe.

The batsman he idolises got 774 runs at a mind-boggling average of 154.80 in his debut series here in the Caribbean almost 31 years ago. But the 25-year-old Shiv Sunder Das, with 1202 Test runs at an average of 40.06 (two centuries against Zimbabwe), knows well that emulating Sunil Gavaskar is probably impossible.India’s most dependable opener after Navjot Singh Sidhu, however, is a born optimist; he wants to score big hundreds in this series. “In fact, that’s the only area where I have failed in my previous tours. I played reasonably well in South Africa and Zimbabwe, but failed to convert those fifties into three-figure marks. My second hundred in Nagpur boosted my confidence. I am now eager to make the most of it and concentrate more,” said Das.Already, he has had seven opening partners in the 18 Tests in which he has appeared for the country. He is not complaining though. “It is an area where I can do nothing. If you are playing with a particular partner for some days, it improves on-the-wicket understanding. But basically, our (the openers’) job remains the same – to allow the batsmen scheduled to come later more freedom by seeing the polish off the new ball and putting some runs on the board,” he said.For the last six Tests, however, he has been opening with Deep Dasgupta and it is more than likely that the duo will open in the Guyana Test too. Dasgupta might have struggled behind the stumps, but with the batting gloves on, he averages almost 40 at the top of the order. So the team management is in favour of giving him a couple more opportunities.”Since we both come from the same zone, we have had earlier experience of batting together. He did play well and we have a good understanding. The way he played in South Africa was simply superb,” Das said about Dasgupta.The Orissa opener, meanwhile, had his preparatory sessions on the matting wickets of Bhubaneshwar, where the pacers were asked to bowl to him from 18-yards with wet tennis balls. “I did so to master the lifting deliveries and the pace. I know the West Indian bowling attack, sans Walsh and Ambrose, seems vulnerable, but on their own grounds, they can be formidable.”And although, they are losing outside their country consistently, they are still the team to beat in their own backyard. So, I’d tried to be as prepared as I could. I even watched the West Indies, Pakistan series in Sharjah to have a feel of how their faster bowlers bowl. I now know how Dillon and Cuffy bowl. That will be an advantage for me since I’ll be playing them for the first time in a Test match,” Das said.The West Indian wickets have become increasingly lifeless over the last few years. But Indian batsmen, as we all know, have always discovered new ways and new bowlers to get out whenever they have been abroad. And the capitulation had always begun at the top of the order. Das is determined to do his bit to put an end to that. If he succeeds, Sourav Ganguly’s India would surely be grateful.

Admirable fighting qualities on a wearing pitch earned Barbados a draw against England ‘A’ yesterday, but other results around the region left them in sixth place after the halfway stage of the Busta Series.Confronted by a pitch on which the bounce became increasingly low and bombarded by a series of boisterous appeals, Barbados could take some satisfaction from losing only five wickets on the last day to deny the visitors victory.Adrian Griffith’s 84 and support from Ryan Hinds and Courtney Browne, along with a defiant unbeaten half-century stand between captain Ian Bradshaw and Dave Marshall during the last hour-and-a-half, allowed Barbados to reach 229 for six when the match was called off with two overs remaining.When it was over, Barbados finished second best for the third successive home match, but they were still upbeat and admitted they were able to learn a few things from the international opposition.”We didn’t get the most points in this game. Sometimes that happens, but one of the important things was that we are playing against a good English `A’ team and they have taught us a lot about preparation, mental attitude, performance and professionalism,” said Barbados coach Hendy Springer.It was a view shared by skipper Bradshaw, who won the Man-Of-The-Match award, mainly for his unbeaten 109 in the first innings. He finished 18 not out in the second innings to add to his three wickets.”We have learnt from the disciplined approach that the English guys took,” Bradshaw said. “They were very consistent in terms of their line and length. That is something our bowlers have got to look at and try to emulate. They batted very patiently and that is something we have been trying to stress to the batters. You can learn from these guys. They are professional cricketers.”The three points carried Barbados to 21, 15 behind front-runners Jamaica with three round of matches remaining.England ‘A’ slipped to joint-third on 27 points, but their captain Mark Alleyne was pleased about the performance in spite of their inability to gain maximum points.”We played well enough to deserve an outright victory, but Barbados showed a bit of resilience today and we couldn’t quite force it,” Alleyne said.”But we will take a lot from this game into the next match, knowing we are good enough to force an outright victory against Jamaica.”The one thing that disappointed Alleyne was to find a pitch that was of the same quality as those he had encountered in St. George’s and Port-of-Spain.”In terms of pace, it was very similar very slow. It didn’t spin that much off the straight. We had to use the bowler’s footmarks a little bit,” he said.Barbados, resuming yesterday on 27 for one still 167 runs behind suffered an immediate setback when Sean Armstrong gave a bat/pad catch to silly-point after 20 minutes.They, however, would have been satisfied that Griffith and Hinds were able to survive until the lunch break.Hinds overcame an uncertain start and was able to keep England at bay for almost two hours before the visitors gained an important double-strike quickly after lunch.Afzaal finally won a decision for lbw when Hinds (30) was pinned on the back foot, and there was a similar verdict in the next over for fast bowler Jonathan Lewis who trapped Holder as the experienced batsman was trying to push forward.By then, Griffith had passed his second half-century of the tournament. Browne joined him, but the wicket-keeper/batsman had to contend with the uncomfortable spin directed outside the leg-stump in the rough.It was a ploy that brought England no success, and Griffith and Browne were taking Barbados to the tea interval when their sixth-wicket partnership of 60 was ended by a loose stroke from Griffith five minutes before the break.For most of the day, England depended heavily on their spinners, but the second ball did the trick. Alex Tudor, rested all day, induced Griffith into a half-hearted drive that lacked footwork.The ball took the edge of the bat and went to second slip where Vikram Solanki accepted his 16th catch of the season to end an important innings that lasted five hours and included four boundaries off 238 balls.When Browne was run out for 29 by a direct throw by Mike Powell from mid-wicket to the bowler’s end in the first over after tea, Barbados were behind by 15 runs and only four wickets remained.Bradshaw and Marshall had their early problems, but managed to stay together to add 50 before the match ended.

Winchester K.S. have booked their place in a Lord’s final for the fourth time in six years.The Southern Electric Premier League club’s indoor six, who have dominated the Hammonds Jewellers South Hants League at Eastleigh’s Fleming Park Leisure Centre for more than a decade, were in top form in the regional finals of the National Championships at Taunton on Sunday.They knocked out Cheltenham in the semi finals before coasting past Bovey Tracey of Devon to book their Lord’s ticket a week on Sunday (March 17).Two weeks earlier, Hampshire champions Winchester had seen off Tauntonat home in the first round but Cheltenham were expected to be more than a match for Jimmy Taylor’s troops.But, after Winchester made a modest 114-4 (Paul Marks 30 not out, Taylor30 not out) having been inserted, they skittled the Gloucestershire outfit for 89 (R Hall 33, Stuart Marks 2-20, Taylor 2-18) to win by 25 runs.As it turned out, Winchester’s total was the highest of the night by some distance as the bowlers made the most of a dramatically swinging ball, emphasised by Paul Marks, whose opening three overs cost just 15 runs.In the final, Bovey Tracey were given first knock and again Marks proved difficult to get away, reducing the Devon champions to 25-1 off sixovers.This set the tone for the innings and, with Taylor returning 2-17, Winchester restricted their opponents to 79-4 (B Elphick 22, N Davey 25*) in their12 overs – a target that was reached for the loss of just three wickets.Taylor and Marks again laid the foundations with some confident strokeplay against former Surrey and current Somerset strike bowler Ian Bishop.Taylor eventually played on for 20 while Marks retired for the second time on the night and, although Bovey Tracey took a couple of late wickets, Winchester, the national champions of 1997, had already done enough to return to HQ and battle it out with the three other regional winners.

Sourav Ganguly doesn’t enjoy a big reputation against short-pitched deliveries, but the India captain was forced to fend off a few testing balls off the field of play here yesterday.To his disappointment, the India players were stopped by a high-ranking local administrator when they attempted to take part in a light fielding session at the Antigua Recreation Ground just after midday."It’s difficult when you don’t get to practise on the Test match ground before the day’s play. That’s how it goes," Ganguly told reporters when asked if he was disappointed about the move taken by the Antigua Cricket Association official who threatened to call in police."We would have loved to practise, but if that’s the way their rule is, it is the same for both teams."With those opening remarks out of the way, Ganguly was given two bouncers. One stemmed from remarks in the Indian parliament that he was among a group of cricketers who had defaulted on taxes."They make so much money. I can’t remember all these things," Ganguly responded when asked if those charges could have a negative effect on his men at a critical stage of the Cable & Wireless series which is locked at 1-1 ahead of the fourth Test starting here today.The other bouncer Ganguly was forced to fend off surrounded comments he made on the quality of umpiring in the third Test at Kensington Oval.Under the International Cricket Council’s Code of Conduct, players and team officials are not allowed to publicly comment on the performance of umpires.But Ganguly, in a newspaper column in the Hindustan Times, said mistakes made by the TV replay umpire were unacceptable."One can understand mistakes made by the umpires in the middle, because they have a fraction of a second to decide, but not when you have 50 replays for something that was so obvious," the India captain wrote.Asked if he reckoned he could face a fine from the authorities for his actions, Ganguly said: "I didn’t comment on anything."A few minutes earlier, he told reporters: "I don’t want to stress on it. Everybody makes mistakes, but I hope it doesn’t happen again."

Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq has suggested the idea of having a franchise-based Twenty20 league in Pakistan to groom young talent in the absence of any international cricket.On his return from West Indies after featuring in the Caribbean Premier League for St Lucia Zouks, Misbah stated that a T20 league would help youngsters as it would give them an opportunity to play with international cricketers. “Though PCB is doing its effort to bring international cricket back [to Pakistan], in my opinion, we also should have our own [T20] league,” he told reporters in Lahore. “It is necessary to have it either in Pakistan or in Dubai as it will allow our youngsters to play with international stars.”Our players are not properly groomed because of no international cricket, and other countries get their young players groomed by having leagues where they get a chance to play with international stars. India is the biggest example where they are holding the league and getting their players well groomed.”Pakistan have been deprived of international cricket since a terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team bus in Lahore in March 2009. Since then, Pakistan have mostly been playing their home series in the UAE. Bilateral series for the youth teams, A team and academy level are on hold, which hinders the development of upcoming players.During Zaka Ashraf’s regime, the PCB was desperate to bring international cricket back to the country, but failed to convince any team to tour Pakistan. The board then launched a franchise-based Twenty20 tournament called Pakistan Super League, but it had to be postponed indefinitely due to logistical issues.Before 2009, Pakistan used to organise reciprocal tours around the world at all levels, apart from national bilateral series, but the practice has been put on hold as junior teams are also reluctant to visit Pakistan due to security issues. Though the board has managed to host international teams outside Pakistan, it has failed to afford a similar series for junior teams due to the lack of sponsors.Pakistani players featured in the inaugural edition of the Indian Premier League but have been ignored since relations between the two countries took a dive in the wake of the Mumbai terrorist attacks in 2008. Pakistan’s domestic T20 teams had also been ignored for the Champions League T20 until 2012.

ScorecardA career-best haul for left-arm spinner Ahmed Raza and a half-century from Shaiman Anwar helped UAE push ahead of Namibia on the opening day of the Intercontinental Cup match that saw 15 wickets.Namibia, who chose to bat at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium, were in trouble early on as debutant pacer Kamran Shazad struck in successive overs to dismiss opener Xander Pitchers and Stephan Baard. But from that point onwards, the innings belonged to Raza, whose dominance of the Namibia batting was reflected in his figures of 7 for 37 off 20.4 overs.Raza, introduced into the attack in the ninth over, bowled three maidens first-up and had debutant Michau de Preez caught behind for his first wicket. Bowling unchanged from one end for the rest of the Namibia innings, Raza induced a batting collapse that saw the visitors fold for 90.UAE were shaky at the start, too, as Namibia’s left-arm pacer JJ Smit struck off successive balls in the fifth over to dismiss Saqib Shah and Saqib Ali. UAE’s recovery was led by the in-form Shaiman Anwar who shared a 123-run third-wicket stand with Khurram Khan. Anwar scored a 90-ball 81, which included 10 fours and three sixes while Khurram played a more sedate 49 off 111 balls.Namibia tried out nine bowlers, including captain Raymond van Schoor, who temporarily gave up his wicketkeeping gloves to pitch in with three overs. The breakthrough, however, came from part-time offspinner Pitchers, who dismissed Anwar. Du Preez took the wicket of Khurram Khan with his legspin, while Smit got his third leg-before victim in Rohan Mustafa.

Sony Six has secured the exclusive broadcast rights for India’s tour of New Zealand, which is scheduled from January 19 to February 18. The tour consists of five ODIs, followed by a two-match Test series.”We are delighted to partner [with] New Zealand Cricket as the official broadcaster to this series,” NP Singh, the CEO of Multi Screen Media, which owns Sony Six, was quoted as saying in several newspaper reports.Sony has been the host broadcaster of the IPL since its inception in 2008, having rights to the tournament till 2017. It also has the rights to show the ongoing series in the UAE between Pakistan and Sri Lanka. NEO Sports Broadcast Pvt Ltd was the original broadcaster for international matches in New Zealand, but stopped coverage of the recent West Indies tour of New Zealand after the 3rd ODI in Queenstown.NEO Sports had signed a deal last year guaranteeing it exclusive broadcast rights across Asia, excluding West Asia, for both domestic and international cricket tournaments to be played in New Zealand till 2020.