* A 12 crore ‘fiat’ for Sachin; champion PalioToe injury or not, Sachin Tendulkar is still in the driver’s seat. Thelittle master, according to media reports, has signed a Rupees 12crore deal with Italian car major Fiat to promote their small carPalio in India.The contract, supposedly for two years, makes Sachin the ‘brandchampion” for the small car which will be launched in India in thethird week of September. Tendulkar’s “elevated level of performance,dynamic creative strokeplay and attitude” are what make him the idealchoice for the role according to Fiat officials.The deal is one of thebiggest endorsement deals ever in India, ranking very high even on theTendulkar chart.* Abid Ali new Andhra coachFormer Test star, Syed Abid Ali, has been appointed coach of theAndhra team, the Deccan Chronicle reported on Wednesday. The 59-yearold Ali, who scored 1018 runs and claimed 47 wickets in 29 Tests forIndia between 1967-68 and 1974-75, was excited about his new job. “Iwill be soon going to Visakhapatnam where I will be coaching between25 to 30 probables for about a month. The Ranji team will be selectedin this camp,” he said. Ali also added that he would be laying greateremphasis on improving the fitness of players, which he felt was a muchneglected area.* Prabhakar’s bail in doubtFormer Test cricketer Manoj Prabhakar’s bail application before theUttaranchal High Court in the Chit Fund case might be rejected afterone of the sureties decided to withdraw. Preetpal, who hails fromHaldwani are of Nainital district, pleaded before the Chief JudicialMagistrate (CJM), Nainital on Wednesday that he wanted to withdraw ashe was unable to furnish the bond of Rs 50,000.He added that he had agreed to stand surety only at the insistence ofhis relatives and he never knew Prabhakar personally. The Nainital CJMhad earlier agreed to grant bail to Prabhakar if he could find twosureties who would also have to furnish a bond of Rupees 50,000 each.Prabhakar, admitted to a private nursing home in Haldwani following asuspected brain stroke, is currently recovering in a hospital.

The abandonment of Glamorgan`s match at Worcester on Sunday, plus Durham`s nail-biting defeat by Essex, means that Glamorgan are on the verge of winning Division Two of the Norwich Union National League.As the table below shows, Glamorgan have a six point lead at the top of the table, still with two games to play, including Tuesday`s floodlit match against Sussex at Hove.Durham`s defeat put an end to their hopes of winning the division, and Worcestershire are now the only other county who could win the Division Two title. But for this to happen they would have to win their last two games by a very substantial margin and significantly improve their run rate, and at the same time hope that Glamorgan dramatically lose their games with Sussex and Middlesex by a very wide margin, so that their run rate drops.A win, tie or washout under the floodlights at Hove would settle the matter and clinch the Division Two title for Glamorgan.

P W Pts Net Run Rate1st Glamorgan 14 10 44 +17.662nd Durham 15 8 38 + 1.573rd Worcs 14 8 36 + 8.044th Hampshire 14 8 34 + 3.38

Hampshire received two modern BOLA bowling machines today, thanks to the generosity of the members of HCCC Bournemouth and New Forest area committee.The machines costing £1,800 each were delivered to the Hampshire County Cricket Club’s indoor school, where Nicky Batt, Vice-Chairman of the B&NF Area committee (see picture) presented to Tim Tremlett, Hampshire’s Director of Cricket the cheque.Supporters of Hampshire cricket from the Bournemouth and New Forest area have funded the purchase by the club of two state-of-the-art BOLA machines for the Cricket Academy.The money was raised by a number of social events organised by the area committee this year that included a cocktail party and a dinner, both at Ringwood, a Summer garden party (courtesy of Bill and Kate Slade) with musical entertainment provided by the Solent Brass Quintet who also played at the Australian match and a golf championship organised in conjunction with the County Golf Club.A memorable evening of Dixieland Jazz brought the 2001 programme to a rousing finale on Friday, September 28, at Fordingbridge. The Alan James Band with guest star Digby Fairweather entertained in style, and 80 supporters also enjoyed a buffet supper.Derek Grant, chairman of the Bournemouth and New Forest area committee, said: “Throughout the year our events have been well supported.”My thanks are due to the area committee members without whose assistance and support it would not have been possible to organise such a comprehensive programme of events. I should also like to thank the many supporters and friends who have attended our functions during the year.”The first event in 2002 is the annual cocktail party at Greyfriars, Ringwood, on Sunday, January 27.Tim Tremlett thanking the committee for their efforts and generosity on behalf of Hampshire, stated that these modern style bowling machines will have contant use, not only in helping the techniques of the club’s professionals, but the School of Excellence and Academy. Club cricketers in the area will also benefit.

Sri Lanka’s Marvan Atapattu may have started his international career indisastrous fashion, recording five ducks in his first six Test innings, buthe is now riding high and is widely acknowledged to be Sri Lanka’s mosttechnically accomplished player.During the recent Test match against Bangladesh the 30 year-old-Sri Lankanvice captain completed his fifth international double hundred, a feataccomplished by only three other players – Sir Don Bradman, Wally Hammondand Javed Miandad – in the history of Test cricket.

In a recent interview with CricInfo, Atapattu discussed various issues, fromhis disappointing start to his career to his growing reputation as a "bigscore" player.These are the excerpts of the interview.Q. How do you feel about the way things are going for you in internationalcricket at the moment?"The team is doing well and I am happy to be one of the 11 players who aredoing well am feeling great about the way things have gone for us in recenttimes."Q. How about being the vice captain of the side? How do you look at thisrole?"Many people are asking about it but personally, for me, being the deputy isnot a big deal. I know my responsibilities. Even if the duties are taken offfrom me I’ll be doing the same things with the bat or in the field. It’s nota big deal. I take it game by game, I try to do the little things I knowbest"Q. In recent times we have seen your appetite for big scores. From the eighthundreds you’ve got, you’ve converted five into double tons. Your commentsabout your desire to go for big scores?"In the longer version of the game I believe that you should go on once youhave made a start. That’s what I do. Never satisfied, always wanting to goon and improve. Also, there have been many instances where I have got outfor low scores. On many occasions I have got out below 10. So, when I get astart, I think you’ve got to make amends for your earlier failures and tryto go on."Q. You yourself admit that you’ve got out below 10 on many occasions. Infact in your Test career from the 84 innings you’ve played, you have beendismissed below 10 on 34 occasions. Does that mean that you are a shakystarter?"I am an opener and when you face the new ball bowlers fresh that canhappen. That’s the way I take it. But now you’ll tell me that’s not the casewith all the openers. Yes, each batsman is different. You see if you get outfor a good ball you can’t help it. It’s important to survive the initialburst and once you do it it’s a matter of going on and making a big one."Most of the batsmen get out quickly after getting the hundred. How hard doyou work to continue after passing the hundred?"I think the important thing is concentration. I concentrate very hard inthe middle even after passing the 100 mark. After going past the 100 mark, Ithink I am on zero and start to work from that point. After sometime I findanother hundred on the board. As I said earlier there have been too manyoccasions where I have got out for low scores, but when I have had theopportunity I have made the most of it."Q. You have scored four of those five double hundreds at home where it’sextremely hot and the conditions are really tough. How demanding it isphysically?"To be very honest with you I have not felt that uneasy. That’s basicallybecause I enjoy my stay in the middle. One of the other reasons I think whyI don’t get physically tired is due to fact that I collect most of my runsthrough singles and twos and more importantly I rotate the strike. So up tonow it’s not been that hard."Q. What do you reckon as your best double hundred?"The best was the one I got in Kandy against an awesome Pakistani attackwhich comprised of Wasim, Waqar, Razzaq and Mustaq Ahamed. I cherish thatinnings. We were two down in the series and I was hit byWasim early on. Itwas my best innings overall."Q. So many double hundreds, but not a single triple hundred?"Like to get one before ending the career. Any batsman would love to haveit. If I can get a triple hundred before ending the career that would be adream come true."Q. Well you had the chance to make a triple hundred against Bangladesh, butyou retried having made the 200?"Unfortunately most of us didn’t realise that. I was asked to retire there.As you say, there was the chance to get a 300, but didn’t realize howimportant it can be after a couple of years. When Bangladesh improve itwouldn’t look as bad as it looks now. We never thought about it and Idefinitely missed a chance there."Q. Do you regret it?"Yes. Now when I think about it I regret. The team management came out withthat idea to retire. They gave me the chance to make the 200 and then theysaid you better retire and give the others a chance and we’ll finish thisgame off. But that’s how it goes and people learn by their mistakes."Q. If we analyse your career, you’ve got a good average of 47 at home. Butaway from Sri Lanka it’s a paltry 29. Your comments?"Well if you analyse with most of the players that’ll be the case. Most ofthe batsmen will have a healthy average at home and a not so good one awayfrom home. But I admit that I have not been consistent outside the country.I am looking forward to improve."Once again some analyses show that you have prospered in the first innings,when you average over fifty, but struggled in the second innings, when youaverage only 17 or 18?"That’s something I realised very recently. In fact, it was one of theemployees of the cricket board who pointed that out. I gave that a seriousthought and I wonder how I didn’t realise that until someone else pointedthat out. If you ask me the reason, I think I relax a bit. And also there’sa psychological aspect I guess. If I fail in the first innings theconfidence will be down and I’ll then fail in the second as well. That’s anarea I badly want to improve on in the longer version of the game."Q. Let’s talk about your earlier days. I don’t think you would want to talkabout that too much. But anyway it was a disastrous start and how difficultwas it and what sort of things were going on in your mind at that stage?" Words merely can’t express what I felt and the pressure that I was under.It was a very difficult period. But in a way I am happy about that. I didn’tget the easy runs some of these guys are getting at the highest level. IfGod had given me them early on I don’t think I may not have worked has hardas I have on my game. I knew that it’s a matter of just one innings and Ihad to wait for seven long years for that one innings."Q. Do you feel that you were pushed too early onto the international scene?"I don’t think so. It can happen for a bowler, but I don’t think that itapplies for a batsmen. There are so many batsmen who have started very youngand done remarkably well. But it’s different for the bowlers."Q. Do you say that the hard times you had early on helped you to be a bettercricketer?"Yes. I realised how hard it is to make just one run at this level.Personally, for me, to get off the mark makes a huge difference. I don’tknow whether you all can see it from our side, but for me as soon as I getoff the mark things start happening. My feet start moving and I happen tofind the middle of the bat. I don’t know whether it’s purely psychologicalbut the truth of the matter is that. Once I get off the mark I feel reallycomfortable."Q. Any future goals?"Not really. What I want to do is just try and be in the side as long as Ican. As long as my body can meet the demands of international cricket I wantto represent the country."

The State Championship match between Wellington and Auckland will probably become a battle for first innings points on its final day after the loss to rain of the third day today and following the abandonment of the second under drenching showers.Only one innings and the fragment of another have been completed over the past three days as Wellington has found itself trapped under an almost tropical weather pattern which has brought constant high humidity and persistent, tepid rain.Umpires Dave Quested and Steve Dunne had little choice but to abandon play at 3.50pm on the second day as the Basin Reserve was lashed by volleys of heavy showers and less choice on Tuesday when they called an end to play shortly after lunch.There have been only a few, momentary breaks in the rain that has swept Wellington since Sunday afternoon and its effects have been compounding. The Basin Reserve, already lushly green, has absorbed much but cannot be expected to cope with such a continuous, heavy onslaught.Ground staff estimated today that they would need more than four hours without rain and with the help of a drying breeze to bring the playing area up to a standard which would allow play to begin. Even that would seem an optimistic estimate.Faced with that outlook and with a forecast promising continued showers, looking out at sheeting rain riding in front of a northerly wind, the umpires ruled at an unusually early hour that the prospects for play today were negligible.Rain is also forecast for tomorrow, though there was a slight improvement in overhead conditions as players left the ground. The weather outlook is for more of the enveloping drizzle and high temperatures Wellington has been suffering for most of the past four days.The outlook for this match is hardly brighter. Wellington reached a moderate 238 in their first innings after winning the toss on Sunday, then batting poorly. Their captain Richard Jones and No 4 Grant Donaldson both made 52, Andrew Penn 27 not out and James Franklin 21.Auckland were 3/0 by the close of play on Sunday. With a single day remaining and that threatened by showers, Auckland are likely to pursue the most obvious objective of first innings which would embellish handily their first round win over Central Districts.Wellington need an outstanding bowling performance to prevent Auckland surpassing their total on what has appeared a reasonable batting pitch, though the pitch has been hidden under blue plastic covers for the past two days.

The West Indies selectors have made yet another change to the team for the upcoming triangular one-day international series, which begins next weekend.Jamaican opening batsman, Leon Garrick, who was previously dropped from the one-day squad, will now remain in Sri Lanka for the triangular series while his compatriot, Wavell Hinds, will instead return to the Caribbean.Hinds’ premature departure from Sri Lanka comes as a result of a death in the family, and he is expected in the Caribbean on Sunday. Garrick, who has yet to play in any of the tour matches, can look forward to opening the batting with his regular (Jamaican) opening partner, Chris Gayle during the shorter version of the game.Gayle, who himself has flattered to deceive ahead of the current Test series, must also be looking forward to the one-day series to make amends for his sub-par performances so far. Meanwhile Ganga, who is less suited to the shorter version of the game, is expected to make way for Garrick at the top of the batting order.The West Indies, who have already conceded the Test series, must now play to salvage pride and bolster hope and confidence for their fans in the Caribbean who have been deprived – for the first time – of being able to see or hear commentaries of the tour.The triangular one-day series will involve the West Indies, Zimbabwe and host country Sri Lanka, and begins on December 8.

England’s most consistent Test batsmen during the last year, Graham Thorpe, who left the recent tour of India early in order to attend to marital problems at home, has made himself available to go back to India for the one-day series and then on to New Zealand.This was announced in a media release from the England and Wales Cricket Board today. It also said that Andrew Caddick, who withdrew from the England tour of India in the aftermath of the September 11th attacks, has also confirmed his availability for the one-day series in India and both legs of the tour to New Zealand.Graham Thorpe said: “The past few weeks have been a difficult time for me and my family and I am grateful to the selectors for giving me as much time as I needed to come to this decision.”I now firmly believe that I can commit myself fully to cricket again and I hope to play a full part in both the one-day series in India and the one-day and Test series in New Zealand.”Chairman of selectors, David Graveney, added: “The selectors appreciate that this has been a difficult time for Graham and we are delighted that he has decided to commit himself in full to the remaining part of this winter’s tour programme. He is our leading batsman and I am sure that he will have a significant part to play in both India and New Zealand over the next three months.”Thorpe had not appeared to be himself in the early stages of the tour to India before announcing that he was returning home on the eve of the second Test in Ahmedabad. It will be a source of delight in the England camp if he can return to his form of old as he takes his place in the middle order.Caddick had forged a top-class new ball partnership with Darren Gough before the Yorkshireman decided to make himself unavailable for the Indian tour prior to the announcement of the teams. Caddick then decided he was not happy with the security situation and withdrew from the Test tour to India.As well as going to India now, he is also available to return to the land of his birth, New Zealand. The composition of England’s team to contest the Test series in New Zealand will be announced in due course, but there are no changes to the original squads already announced for the preceding one-day series in India and New Zealand.The England party leave for India on January 10th.

Schools cricket has resumed in the province after the Christmas break. In their first round of matches Hillcrest College defeated Mutare Boys High at all age group levels. Although Boys High were well beaten, there is plenty of evidence that cricket is being played and enjoyed by pupils of this former colonial-era cricket powerhouse. Zimbabwe Cricket Union coaches have targeted the school for development. Unfortunately the old cricket fields are overgrown so all games are played away and practices are conducted at Mutare Sports Club.Last Saturday Hillcrest had a tougher test against Harare’s Eaglesvale High School with victories only for the Firsts, Under-15s and Under-14s. The first team also narrowly defeated Casuals Cricket Club by 7 runs in a 35-over local league match on Sunday. Managing only 127 all out (Mike Robinson 31; Jon Brent 2/17, Gary Knoll 3/21) the schoolboys restricted the old men to 120 in reply. Keegan Taylor took three for 24, Tina Mawoyo two for 7 and Andre Soma two for 12 – including former national player Kevin Walton whose splattered stumps on 18 bore testimony to a losing battle with Father Time. Vince Lewis (24) and Brent (33) took the game closer than expected, but the veterans ran out deserved losers after an 11th-wicket capitulation from captain Billy Taylor.Tina Mawoyo had a successful tour as captain of the Zimbabwe Under-16 team to East London in mid December last year. His side reached the semi-finals of the South African inter-provincial tournament. They started with an eight-wicket win over NorthWest and followed up with seven-wicket wins against Northern Province and Boland. A 46-run win over South African Country Districts projected them into the semi-finals where they lost a nail-biter to Western Province by 9 runs. Tina scored 35 against Northerns and 49 against Boland.Before the tour got under way the Under-16s had a warm-up game against the Zimbabwe Under-19s (prior to their tour to New Zealand for the World Under-19 tournament). To the embarrassment of all, the juniors thrashed the seniors by 76 runs. This is the side that chose not to select Manicaland seamer Justin Lewis – reportedly manager Steve Rhodes’s first choice. To make matters worse they called him up as a late inclusion – got him to pack and drive to Harare – only to send him home from the airport after further `consideration’. The agenda-driven policies of Zimbabwe cricket will continue to throw up casualties like Lewis so long as non-cricket priorities are used for team selections.Manicaland cricket has found a valuable new sponsor in Mr. Exhaust/Mr. Tyre whose Mutare Manager Shaun Buckley has put up half the cost of the newly acquired Z$1 million (U.S.$6240) pitch covers for Mutare Sports Club. An ex-seventies first-team player at Mutare Boys High himself, he recently emigrated back to his old home town from South Africa.More worrying is the news that former Manicaland player Dave `Gonzo’ Timms has been sending e-mails to friends in Nyazura requesting information on farm sales as he is considering a return from America.This Sunday sees a top-of-the-table clash between Manicaland and joint leaders Takashinga at Mutare Sports Club. Places in the side will be hard to come by as Test stars Flower, Campbell and Whittall are all playing.

Western Province pulled off a remarkable win in their opening Super 6 match.With the Eastern Province top order making merry despite being set a stifftarget, it looked like Ackerman’s declaration half an hour before lunch,which left the visitors a target of 290 in a minimum of 79 overs (3.6 to theover) would prove a failure. However, Willoughby stopped the rot with hisfirst hat-trick, and went on to take 4 wickets in 5 balls and 5 in 12 as aremarkable collapse saw EP slump from 188 for 2 in the 55th over to 199 allout in the 63rd. Willoughby finished with career best figures of 6 for 44.WP had scored freely before lunch, adding 139 in better than even time asKirsten and Trott both reached aggressive half centuries. The visitingattack was hampered by the absence of Hayward and Kruger.EP batted positively before and after lunch. The spinners Adams and Harriseach took an early wicket. However, Ackerman then turned to his seamers andthe bottom fell out of the EP innings.The win left WP top of the Super 6 log, now less than one full point aheadof Northerns.

Former cricket academy student Wisdom Siziba scored a century as Matabeleland got off to a disastrous start on the first day of their Logan cup match against Midlands at Bulawayo Athletic Club yesterday. Matabeleland were all out for 192 in 63 overs with Siziba scoring 103 runs, more than half the team’s score, while Midlands were 107 in reply at the close of play.New Midlands captain Dirk Viljoen won the toss and seemed to have made anunlikely decision when he sent the home side in to bat first. But his ployworked out as Matabeleland batsmen failed to utilize the flat pitch that isgood to bat on first.Matabeleland never recovered from an early loss of wickets, with most of their batsman failing to record double figures. Three of them went out without any runs on the board. Vice-captain and opening batsman Ryan King was the first to leave the filed of play when he was dismissed by Campbell McMillan, edging a ball into the slips where he was caught by an alert Sean Ervine, to depart for two runs.The visitor’s bowling attack tightened the noose and the home batsman couldnot withstand the pressure. Keith Dabengwa, one of the new faces in the squad, departed without scoring when he was trapped leg before wicket by James Kornford. Kornford claimed his second and last wicket when he dismissed Mecury Kenny, who was caught at first slip by Viljoen for 22 runs. Siziba and Gregory Strydom put on 21 runs for the fourth wicket before Strydom departed for eight, caught behind by wicketkeeper Colin Delport off the bowling of McMillan.Midlands introduced John Vaughan-Davies and the medium-pacer grabbed two quick wickets in the same over to leave Matabeleland reeling at 96 for six. He dismissed Mike McKillop and Gavin Ewing in the same style in the 29th over, leg before wicket. McKillop managed only eight runs while Ewing went out without scoring.Siziba and Warren Gilmour put some life into the home side’s innings, putting up 61 runs for the seventh wicket until Gilmour was caught at mid-wicket by Ervine off the bowling of Viljoen for 29 runs. Captain Colin Williams failed to live up to expectations as he went out for a duck, offering Viljoen a simple catch off his own bowling.Siziba was the last man to go when he was dismissed by Davies, caught behindby Delport, to end his fine performance, which saw him smash 12 fours.Vaughan-Davies was the pick of the Midlands bowlers, taking four for 38 injust seven overs. McMillan, Viljoen and Kornford grabbed two wickets each.In reply, Midlands lost Luther Mutyambizi who was trapped leg before wicket for nine and Craig Grant who was clean bowled by Ewing.Matabeleland manager Derrick Townshend admitted that his side did not get itright from the start but was optimistic that they would come back and win the match. He said the batting was a big let-down but Siziba’s feat was a remarkable one, though he ran out of partners.