The International Cricket Council (ICC) has accepted Vijay Malalasekera and Anura Tennekoon as Sri Lanka’s representatives for its annual general meeting which will be held at Lord’s later this month.The air of uncertainty that hung over the country’s representatives to the ICC was cleared at the ruling body’s cricket committee meeting held in London recently, when ICC chief executive David Richards met Sidath Wettimuny, who represented Sri Lanka from the Interim Cricket Board.The acceptance by ICC of Malalasekera, who heads the Interim Cricket Board, and Tennekoon, the chief executive officer, was conveyed to Wettimuny by Richards.The ICC will write to the Interim Cricket Board soon endorsing their decision.The fears that Sri Lanka may lose its ICC Test status as claimed by certain factions opposed to the Interim Cricket Board were also allayed at the London meeting.

After seeing his side through to a home fixture in the next round of the Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy against Glamorgan at Taunton on July 11th, Somerset Coach Kevin Shine told me: “We’ve won and that’s the most important thing for us. Mark Lathwell’s century was very good, and Jamie Grove bowled really well.”When asked why Richard Johnson had been left out of the side against Cambridge the coach told me: “We decided to rest Johnson, who had a slight hamstring niggle, but he will be fit to play on Sunday against Gloucestershire.”

Joseph Hill has been named Manawatu’s cricket player of the year.Hill scored 756 runs at an average of 94.1 for his Kia Toa club over the summer.Other club trophy winners were:Premier One:

• 50-Over Champions (2ZA Cup) – KTFCC
• Two-Day Champions (Barraud Cup) – Marist CC
• Eight-a-side Champions (Eight-a-side Trophy) – KTFCC

Premier Two:

• 50-Over Champions (Henry & Moody Cup) – Feilding CC
• Two-Day Champions (T R Moore Cup) – PNBHS

Premier Three:

• 50-Over Champions (Association Shield) – Palmerston CC
• Two-Day Champions (MCA Shield) – Palmerston CC

Premier Four:

• 50-Over Champions (A M Ongley Trophy) – Old Boys CC
• Two-Day Champions (Mark Briggs Shield) – PNBHS

Reserve Grade:

• Champions (Oakley Shield) – Old Boys CC

Overall Club Supremacy: Ongley Cup PNBHSIndividual Trophy winners:Batting:

• Premier One (Justice & Edmonds Cup) – J Hill (KTFCC), 756 runs @ 94.1
• Premier Two (Scorgie Shield) – C Mason (Palmerston CC), 304 runs @ 38
• Premier Three (MCA Cup) – K Stratford (KTFCC), 356 runs @ 56.7
• Premier Four (MCA Trophy) – H Brown (PNBHS), 385 runs @ 42.8
• Reserve Grade (Abraham Cup) – S Earle (Old Boys CC), 539 runs @ 81.5
• Women (MWCA Trophy) – K Legg (Old Boys CC), Ave 25.7

Bowling:

• Premier One (Taranto Shield) – R MacKay (PNBHS), 29 wkts @ 17.7
• Premier Two (Stewart Cup) – M Taiuru (PNBHS), 27 wkts @ 10.9
• Premier Three (MCA Cup) – L Martin (Palmerston CC), 36 wkts @ 8.31
• Premier Four (Rowe Trophy) – T Wilson (PNBHS), 28 wkts @ 8.9
• Reserve Grade (Association Cup) – L Nicholls (Old Boys CC), 27 wkts @ 12.5
• Women (MWCA Cup) – M Murray (Old Boys CC), 14 wkts @ 31.0

Qantas New Zealand Player of the Season: J Hill (KTFCC)Representative Trophy Winners:

• Gallichan Cup (Most Meritorious Innings) – 313-run partnership, J Hill (194) and P Ingram (180) v Horowhenua-Kapiti
• McVicar Cup (Most Meritorious Bowling) – G West, 6 overs, 2 maidens, 12 runs, 5 wickets, including a hat-trick v Hawkes Bay
• Oakley Cup (Best Fielder) – B Griggs, 8 catches, 2 stumpings
• Adrianne Stratford Memorial Cup (Most Promising Player) – I Sandbrook
• MCA Umpires Salver (Women’s Rep Player of the Year) – E Travers

Sri Lanka face a rigid international program at home from this month.Following the tri-nation one-day tournament at home against India and New Zealand, they play three Tests against India which end on September 2nd at the SSC.Then from September 6-10 they meet Bangladesh in Colombo in their first match of the Asian Test championships, after which there is a short break with a trip to Sharjah thrown-in in November for the tri-nation series against West Indies and Pakistan.In fact, Sri Lanka have the advantage of playing all their qualifying round matches of the Asian championships at home.West Indies are due to arrive for their first-ever three-Test series against Sri Lanka in mid-November after which they will participate in a triangular one-day contest with Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe comprising seven matches from December 8-19th. Zimbabwe will stay back after the triangular to play a series of three Tests against Sri Lanka from December 27-January 20, 2002.Sri Lanka will resume their matches of the Asian Test championships again when they meet Pakistan from January 31-February 4 and India from February 8-12th. Both matches will be played in Colombo.The final of the Asian Test championships will be played in Dhaka from February 15-19. The dates of the championships are tentative. Thus, Sri Lanka will play at least 90% of their matches in the international calendar between July 18 and February 19, 2002 at home.The schedule includes 12 Tests (plus one Test in Dhaka, if they qualify) and 12 One-Day Internationals (plus five or six ODI’s in Sharjah).In the meantime, the national squad (sans Aravinda de Silva) left Colombo for Dambulla on Tuesday to prepare themselves for the tri-nation one-day series.De Silva failed to arrive with the other three national cricketers Sanath Jayasuriya, Marvan Atapattu and Chaminda Vaas after participating in two fund-raising cricket matches at Trent Bridge for the Trent Bridge pavilion on June 30th and July 1st.Sri Lanka is due to play New Zealand on July 25th and India on July 28th at Dambulla in the second round of matches of the tournament, and the national pool of 26 players will train and play a one-day match there over the next three days, prior to the events.”We have played just one One-Day International against England at this venue and it is imperative that we familiarise ourselves to the conditions here,” said Sri Lanka coach Dav Whatmore.The tri-series comprises ten matches, of which Sri Lanka will play amaximum of seven, if they qualify to play in the final.

Yorkshire crushed Lancashire by seven wickets in the Roses battle at Headingley to preserve their 14-point lead at the top of Division One of the CricInfo Championship.Set a victory target of 157 in 78 overs, Yorkshire needed only 33.5 overs in which to score their runs and take a maximum 20 points from the match.Openers Matthew Wood and Craig White wasted no time in getting Yorkshire off to a cracking start, putting on 55 before White was bowled by left-arm spinner Gary Keedy with the second delivery after lunch.Wood went on to make 51 with ten fours off only 74 balls but this was slow compared with the onslaught that followed from Darren Lehmann.The Australian, who made a Roses record score of 252 in the first innings, plundered 48 from just 24 balls with seven fours and two sixes, both the big hits coming off Keedy.Lehmann gave a sharp chance to Mark Chilton at short leg before he had scored – a firm clip at Keedy hitting the fielder on the shoulder – but he again made batting look a simple operation and when he moved on to ten it gave him 1,000 Championship runs for the season.Keedy dismissed both Wood and Lehmann, who was clean bowled having a big swing, but he suffered when skipper David Byas blasted him for 14 runs in an over to end the match.Lancashire had set out on the final morning on 280 for eight with a lead of 122 and the ninth-wicket pair of Peter Martin and John Wood took their stand to 68 in 18 overs before Wood was run out for 35 by Gary Fellows’ direct hit from cover as the batsmen failed to complete a quick single.Martin reached his 50 off 79 balls with six fours but soon afterwards White had Keedy caught behind with the score on 314.Byas said afterwards: “This ranks as one of the most satisfying wins in a long time because Lancashire are a good side and for us to make 531 after they had reached 373 in the first innings was an excellent effort.”Darren Lehmann’s contribution was absolutely magnificent and stands head and shoulders above everything else but Matthew Wood batted beautifully in both innings and Darren Gough’s 96 was also a fantastic knock.”We have not talked about winning the Championship yet but with a game in hand it is in our own hands and if we can beat Surrey in the next match starting at Headingley on Wednesday it will be a step nearer.”

The Deodhar Trophy matches will be played in the North Zone fromFebruary 20 to 27. Four of the games will he hosted by the PunjabCricket Association and two each by the Haryana Cricket Association,Delhi and District Cricket Association and Himachal Pradesh CricketAssociation.According to the fixtures, North Zone will take on West Zone onFebruary 20 at Amritsar in their first encounter while they will meetEast Zone on Febuary 22 at Ludhiana. They will then play Central Zoneon February 24 at Una and finally South Zone on February 27 at NewDelhi.Central Zone will meet East Zone on February 20 at Jalandhar in itsfirst match. West Zone will play its three other league matchesagainst South Zone on February 22 at Jalandhar, against East Zone onFebruary 26 at New Delhi and against Central Zone on February 27 atFaridabad.South Zone will take on East Zone on February 24 at Mandi and willmeet Central Zone on February 26 at Faridabad in its other two leagueencounters.The following are the fixtures:February 20: North vs West (Amritsar), Central vs East (Jalandhar),February 22: West vs South (Jalandhar), North vs East (Ludhiana),February 24: South vs East (Mandi), North vs Central (Una),February 26: West vs East (New Delhi), South vs Central (Faridabad),February 27: West vs Central (Faridabad), North vs South (NewDelhi).

A first day batting collapse cost Hampshire Young Cricketers the chance of a place in the ECB Under-17 County Championship final.With Kevin Latouf at the helm, Hampshire were cruising along nicely against Middlesex at 95-2 at the half-way point of the innings.Drizzle and low cloud cover however turned previously favourable batting conditions into a bowler’s paradise – Hampshire losing seven wickets for 76 runs in a torrid spell immediately before and after lunch.Concentrating hard and defying a painful neck injury, Latouf (78) eased Hampshire to 169-9 before Shanklin’s Dave Griffiths (39) added a precious 32 for the last wicket with Matt Hooper.Hampshire’s disappointing 201 appeared a daunting total when Chris Wright (two) and David Wheeler ripped out the top order to have Middlesex rocking at 31-3.But the impressive Stefan James, who earlier took 5-43 with a splendid spell of left-arm spin bowling, turned the match around.Although Andover spinner Matt Hooper took 3-41, James used perfect second day batting conditions to his advantage, hitting an undefeated 81 to earn Middlesex a four-wicket win.

The MRF Buchi Babu Tournament winners New Zealand ‘A’ are amongst thetwenty two teams that would participate in the Moin-ud-Dowla Gold CupCricket tournament here from September 2 to 16. Shivlal Yadav, theHon. Secretary, Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA), revealed this tothe reporters in Hyderabad on Friday.The tournament, to be played on a league-cum-knock out basis, hasattracted Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) led by Test star AjitAgarkar, New Zealand ‘A’, besides newcomers Assam Cricket Association(ACA) and others, reports the Press Trust of India.The teams would be divided into four groups and two toppers from eachgroup would enter the quarter finals knock-out pace. The semi-finalswould be played on September 14, while the finals would be a day andnight affair on September 16.The winner would be richer by Rupees One Lakh besides the coveted GoldCup, while the runner-up would get Rupees 50,000. The event is beingsponsored by Coromandal King, Yadav added.Teams: Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Hyderabad Cricket Association(HCA) XI, Karnataka, Chemplast, All India Association of Bankers(AIAB), Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB), India Cements, Railways,Canara Bank, District-XI, Goa, Hyderabad, Indian Overseas Bank (IOB),Indian Bank, Vidarbha and Indian Airlines (IA) are among the teams totake part in the tournament.

The Sri Lanka cricket team is likely to be sponsored by a reputed local tea company with a big international market.WSG Nimbus who have the commercial rights to negotiate sponsorships on behalf of the Sri Lanka Cricket Board, is expected to finalise the deal by the end of the week.Dilmah which belongs to MJF Exports Ltd are on the verge of being signed up by WSG Nimbus as the new sponsors for the next three years.Cricket Board sources said the sponsorship figure is more than twice of what Singer (Sri Lanka) Ltd, the former sponsors, put up. Singer, sponsored the national team for two three-year terms since 1995 for a figure of US$1.6 million. The present sponsorship is expected to exceed US$3.0 million.Dilmah tea has a very big market in Australia and New Zealand and last month they moved into the UK. They also have sales in India.They are Sri Lanka’s biggest exporters of tea bags and concentrate more on the overseas market than at home.The company was founded in 1974 by Merril J. Fernando, a pioneer in the tea industry in this country and has been exporting tea for the past 15 years.”We made a strong bid for the sponsorship and we have been told by WSG that we are a very strong contender,” said Dilmah’s chief operations officer Imendra Ranaweera.Singer’s sponsorship with the national team terminated at the end of last month ending a six-year run during which period the country’s international stocks rose sky high with the highlight being the World Cup win in 1996.It was Singer who set the trend of team sponsorship for the national side six years ago. To a large extent they are responsible for boosting the morale of the side to attain the position it holds in world cricket today.

* Railways v Rajasthan at DelhiRailways left-arm spinner Murali Kartik gave his side a definitive edge on Day Two of their tie against Rajasthan at the Karnail Singh Stadium in Delhi. Railways, teetering overnight on 271/8, were bowled out for 292, Sanjeev Sharma picking up the final two wickets.Rajasthan got a fine start from in-form openers Gagan Khoda and Vineet Saxena, who put up a 92-run opening partnership. Khoda was the first to go, out for 60. The next eight wickets fell for 75 runs, with Kartik dismissing six of the batsmen. The spinner’s figures at the end of the day read: 34-13-57-6.* Madhya Pradesh v Uttar Pradesh at IndoreIn Indore, Madhya Pradesh, resuming from 246/5, were bowled out for 315. Nikhil Patwardhan, unbeaten overnight, added only one run to his personal score, but his partner, captain Sulakshan Kulkarni, made 60, adding bulk to his team’s total and ensuring it crossed the 300-run mark. For Uttar Pradesh, Nikhil Chopra picked up four wickets.Uttar Pradesh benefited from a solid opening stand of 78, but wickets fell after that and, at the close of play, five wickets had fallen for 164. Rizwan Shamshad, not out on a patient 35, and Nikhil Chopra, making an even more patient six off 41 balls, were at the crease at stumps.