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SYDNEY – Quarantine officials were “knocked for six” this week when theyfoiled two unlucky Sydneysiders’ attempts to import fresh turf and soilfrom London’s historic Lord’s cricket ground.Two packages, complete with certificates of authenticity, arrived atSydney’s international mail centre late on Tuesday night, marked as”sporting (cricket) goods”.The cricket-loving mail inspectors were forced to put personaltemptation aside and confiscate the prized earth.”They [quarantine officials] were quite surprised, ‘knocked for six’ wasthe expression one of them used. They were very surprised to findsomething of that nature,” Australian Quarantine and InspectionService’s (AQIS) NSW international mail manager Craig Hall told AAP.”They can understand the interest of it and how it is an unusual itembut from a quarantine perspective it unfortunately can’t be allowed inthe country.”According to the Lord’s official website, cricket fans were given theopportunity to buy some of the landmark’s turf, which has been removedthis month to make way for an improved and faster-draining outfield.Hall said the sheer size of the turf surprised the AQIS officers.”It is very unusual to get something of this nature, that is for sure,especially as large as this.”The turf itself is in lots of 40cm by 40cm so they are quitesubstantial pieces.”We come across a whole raft of products, everything from differenttypes of exotic foods, fruit, occasionally we get live animals. Everyday is a smorgasbord out here but we rarely come across sportingmemorabilia.”The two separate addressees have been given the chance to re-export thematerial, which will otherwise be destroyed, Hall said.”We have given them the option to send these items back overseas if theywish, at their own expense, or we will hold them for a period of timeand then destroy them.”In the wake of the foot and mouth outbreak in Europe last year, AQISstaff screen 100 per cent of all international mail entering Australiausing X-ray machines and quarantine detector dogs.

The lengthening shadows of September brought down the curtain on another first class cricket season at the County Ground, and for followers of the Cidermen there is nothing left other than to reflect on the season past and look forward to better things ahead in 2003.The club may have been relegated in both the County Championship and the NUL, but there was a breathtaking victory over Kent in the semi final of the Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy when against all odds Somerset won themselves a place in the Lord’s final, where despite disappointment in defeat was hard not to enjoy the occasion.There were also some memorable performances. Ian Blackwell’s hundred in the only championship victory of the season when he bludgeoned a Yorkshire attack which included several England bowlers is one that comes to mind. Incidentally, that was the last time that Marcus Trescothick played a four day game for the county.England boss Duncan Fletcher’s presence at the Yorkshire match probably played a major part in `Blackies’ selection for the ICC Trophy where he made a considerable impact to earn a call up for the one day squad to play in Australia, as well as a place in the Academy `Down Under’this winter, and everybody is delighted for him. The only down side for supporters is that if he becomes an England regular we will see less of him at the County Ground.Matthew Wood has come of age and those who were fortunate to watch him fall tantalisingly close to a double century against Kent, only missing out to the finger tips of David Masters will know that he is a talent that we will be watching for many years to come.Paceman Simon Francis has also developed considerably during the season after being thrown in at the deep end early on through injury to the established bowlers. Indeed it was the former Hampshire man who turned the semi final match against Kent with a superb run out that will be talked about for many years to come.Keith Parsons played a vital part in the C and G run, and was quite rightly named `Man of the Match’ in the quarter final against Worcestershire when he played a superb innings and took vital wickets.Matt Bulbeck happily returned to the first class scene and played a full season for the first time for several years, and showed that he was back to his old form taking a career best in the final game against Lancashire.Sadly the side has suffered more than it’s fair share of injury in 2002, compared to last year when the whole season was virtually injury free, and this has resulted in key players being missing at vital times.Away from the first team Somerset Under 19’s won the ECB Two Day competition when they beat Hampshire in one day, and Neil Edwards has been selected to go to Australia this winter with England Under 19’s, all of which has to be good for the future of the club.No it wasn’t all bad this summer, and when the 2003 season gets underway in 193 days time there will no doubt have been some changes, but the same fanes who witnessed the relegations in 2002 will all be back at the County Ground to follow the fortunes of their beloved Somerset and looking forward to getting involved in promotion battles.

First Division

Third day
Andrew Gale led Yorkshire to 525, way past Surrey‘s declaration total and in reply Surrey ended the day trailing by eight runs, having slipped to 56 for 2, including the wicket of Mark Ramprakash for 14. His hundred hundreds hunt stretches to another match, then; his next opportunity will now be against Somerset at Whitgift School next week. Gale’s 150, meanwhile, was his third first-class century, the 100 brought up with a straight single. Jacques Rudolph reached his hundred with the third ball of the day but was later trapped fairly high but playing no shot to Usman Afzaal, who bowled unchanged throughout the morning at The Oval. Rudolph and Gale helped Yorkshire save the follow-on – the mark coming with a straight six from Gale off Afzaal – in a stand worth 206, before pushing on to gain the lead. The powerful Tim Bresnan was left stranded on 84. Rana Naved-ul-Hasan could be out for a few weeks after retiring hurt from batting with a hamstring injury.Marcus Trescothick and Ian Blackwell gave Somerset the edge heading into the final day after their batting efforts helped to set Kent 271 at Tunbridge Wells. Charl Willoughby bagged three wickets and limited Kent to 134 for 5 after Trescothick made a big century, but Joe Denly was making a good fist of the chase. He was unbeaten on 64 and his side require a further 137 with 5 wickets in hand. It’s anyone’s game, but Somerset will be favourites.Fourth day
For John Ward’s account of how Sussex earned their first win of the season against Nottinghamshire click here.

Second Division

Third day
Glamorgan will in all likelihood be asked to follow on at Swansea after Johan van der Wath and Nicky Boje bowled them out for 278, still 253 adrift. van der Wath combined with David Sales to dismiss the openers Gareth Rees and Matthew Wood as Northamptonshire worked their way through a stubborn Glamorgan line-up. Michael Powell and Jamie Dalrymple made fifties but Northamptonshire are still very much in with a chance of the win despite rain scooping out a huge wedge of the second day.Leicestershire‘s batsmen manoeuvred their side into a dominant position heading into the final day against Essex at Chelmsford. Hylton Ackerman converted his overnight 90 to a century, then Paul Nixon made his second fifty of the game – he was left on an unbeaten 92, as three wickets fell for seven runs. Claude Henderson also struck a half-century as Leicestershire set Essex a daunting 445. Before the close, the home side lost Tom Westley to close 69 for 1.Warwickshire‘s game with Middlesex looks to be meandering towards a draw at Edgbaston, after Middlesex moved in sight of parity with Warwickshire, who are still to bat. Billy Godleman and Owais Shah closed the deficit to 17 runs – Godleman with 56 not out, Shah unbeaten on 46 – with Ed Smith Middlesex’s only faller.

Any hopes Hampshire Hawks had of gaining promotion to Division I of the Norwich Union League were thrown into disarray as they suffered a fifth successive defeat away to Northamptonshire Steelbacks, to languish well away from the top three.Being put into bat on the slow wicket and overcast conditions, Hampshire lost three early wickets to the seam of Darren Cousins, including that of Mascarenhas who suffered a first-ball dismissal for the second day running.The conditions were not ideal for fluent strokeplay and the sides came off for 20 minutes after a heavy shower, which meant that again Duckworth/Lewis would have a say in the matter.Three overs were sliced from the innings as John Crawley and John Francis shared 40 runs together before Crawley, playing his last match before joining the England team in Nottingham, stretched forward to the off-spinner Jason Brown and was well stumped.Nic Pothas, as he had done the previous day held the innings together but only Will Kendall offered him any support with 14 as the innings fell apart.The Steelbacks started well despite a few scares with Alan Mullally being particularly difficult on the track. But they had survived to 20 without loss after eight overs before more rain descended on the County Ground.Five overs were lost, leaving the home side to score a reduced 122 to win. But they had reached 52-0 halfway through the 15th over before the heavens opened once more and there was no further chance of play.It was not too difficult to surmise that the Steelbacks had won on a Duckworth/Lewis countback, although the 16 run D/L result flattered Hampshire.

India have a habit, for some reason, of choosing Port of Spain as theground to set many of their records, and Sourav Ganguly’s teamcontinued that tradition this time around. The Queen’s Park Oval sawtwo individuals garner two important records, making for an unusuallystatistics-heavy Test.Ganguly himself was one of those individuals, notching up his fourthTest win overseas to pass MAK Pataudi and Bishan Singh Bedi for mostvictories abroad. Bedi and Ganguly have comparable records; theyregistered their away wins in 22 and 20 Tests respectively. Pataudi,however, posted his wins even though he was skipper for a whopping 40Tests.Interestingly enough, the three captains under discussions are alsothe only three captains to win a Test in the Caribbean. Further, allthree wins came at Port of Spain.

In passing, the comparison of each captain’s performance in his awaywins proves extremely flattering to Ganguly. The current Indianskipper averages 76.25 in those four Tests; Pataudi, in contrast,averages a measly 24.40, while Bedi took 16 wickets in the threeTests.The other notable statistic from Port of Spain, of course, was SachinTendulkar drawing level with Don Bradman. While 29 centuries is stillan achievement, and nothing should detract from Tendulkar’sperformances thus far, the difference in speed is staggering enough tofurther burnish the glow on the Don’s halo.Tendulkar took 93 matches and 148 innings for his centuries – ahundred every 5.1 innings. Tendulkar’s Mumbai predecessor, SunilGavaskar, played 95 matches and 166 innings – a hundred every 5.72innings. Bradman played 52 Tests and 80 innings – a hundred every2.76 innings, or almost twice as often as Tendulkar. So if one thinksTendulkar prolific, the imagination boggles further at Bradman.One reason for Bradman’s superior record could have been his rate ofconversion. He finished his career with 29 hundreds but only 13fifties. Tendulkar has 31 half-centuries to his 29 fifties. Gavaskarhad made 35 fifties when he made his 29th century.

Tamworth:
Bedfordshire 364-5 and 45-0
Staffordshire 192 and 215
Bedfordshire won by 10 wicketsDean Park:
Dorset 339 and 101 (S Rintoul 57, C Shreck 5-60)
Cornwall 300 and 142-2 (B Price 74)
Cornwall won by 8 wicketsSouth Wilts:
Devon 368-8d and 181-6 d
Wiltshire 222-8d and 142 (MAE Richards 6-46)
Devon won by 185 runsLuctonians:
Herefordshire 291-9 and 243-4d (PS Lazenbury 119)
Cheshire 276-8d
Match drawnGrantham:
Lincolnshire 375-7d
Buckinghamshire 165 and 298-8d (AJ Ward 63, AJ Lock 52, PD Atkins 51)
Match drawnWelwyn Garden City:
Cambridgeshire 297 and 201-7d (A Akhtar 62*, PJ O’Reilly 5-34)
Hertfordshire 247-9d and 166 (SG Cordingly 61, PM Such 5-28)
Cambridgeshire won by 85 runsLamphey:
Wales 273 and 199-9d
Berkshire 153-1d (TD Fray 57*, FS Patel 78*) and 16-0
Match drawn

Glamorgan could have two representatives at the first Test against Pakistan, starting at Lord`s next Thursday – spinner Robert Croft and scorer Byron Denning.Byron Denning has already accepted an invitation to act as England`s scorer in the opening Test of the 2001 series. The long serving Glamorgan scorer will be in the scorer`s box alongside Tony Kingston of Northamptonshire as the two teams take the field, and after the announcement this morning of the England squad, it is not inconceivable that `Dasher` will be recording the efforts of spinner Robert Croft.Croft is one of thirteen names in the England squad, which includes uncapped Surrey batsman Ian Ward and Yorkshire`s Ryan Sidebottom. Croft is the only full time spinner in the squad, with Ashley Giles still recovering from a Achilles tendon strain.Many pundits are suggesting that Ward will get the nod in the final eleven, rather than the Glamorgan off-spinner, but Chairman of Selectors David Graveney has not discounted the fact that Croft could figure in the match. “Everyone seems to think Crofty is simply coming along to make up thenumbers, but with the weather being so unpredictable, we believespin could still play a part in this Test.”

They had clapped in the Premadasa media room after Darren Sammy finished his pre-final press conference on Saturday. They clapped in the Premadasa press box on Sunday after West Indies took the last Sri Lankan wicket to win the World Twenty20 2012. They clapped in the Premadasa media room after Sammy finished his post-final press conference. So rare have such occasions been for West Indies cricket after their decline that Sammy called this victory “the best moment for me”.The West Indies captain sauntered into the media room draped in the maroon West Indies cricket flag. He kept the World Twenty20 trophy proudly in front of him on the table. “My trophy is so big I can’t see you,” he joked with the first questioner.He spoke about treasuring the achievement for the rest of his life. He was asked whether his performance with both bat and ball in the final was an answer to the critics who had questioned his place in the side all along. He said when even Christ was crucified without fault, he himself was nothing. It was a much-criticised, large-hearted man speaking from his heart, and Sammy didn’t hold back tonight.”We will definitely cherish this moment. I will for sure,” Sammy said. “We’re going to relive it every day of our lives. This is the best moment for me in any cricket. This here (the trophy) is for the Caribbean people. West Indies fans all over the world have been craving success. I know they’re partying from Jamaica down to Guyana. And we know how to party. I think they’ll need a lot of bartenders.”Sammy said while the critics had a job to do, he had always believed in playing for the Caribbean people. “The commentators get paid to speak. The media get paid to write stories. I get paid to play cricket,” Sammy said. “Critics will always be there. Someone might find something wrong I did today even though we won. That does not worry me. The most important thing is that the team did well.”And I always say I live my life one way. Christ came to this earth, did nothing wrong and yet was crucified. I’m nowhere close to that man.”Anybody could have an opinion about me. I like it. My shoulders are broad enough. It’s been like that from the time I started cricket. Once I wear this [West Indies] crest (pointing to his shirt), I wear it on my heart. That’s what matters. If I turn up and don’t have a good day, I suck, I’ll come the next day and try and put in a better performance. I don’t play for glory. I play for the Caribbean people.”Sammy was asked what had won the game for West Indies, after they had been 32 for 2 at the halfway stage of their innings. He spoke about belief, and he spoke about God. “We have a strong belief in God. He works in mysterious ways. He performs wonders,” Sammy said. “Like I kept saying in every press conference, there’s a belief we had in the team. Yes, we expected them (Sri Lanka) to give us a good fight and they did.”Throughout the last year or so, we’ve been showing that never-say-die attitude, but we’ve not been winning games. In this tournament, we’ve won games. Every man believed that whoever was out there could do the job. Today, it was Marlon Samuels and (Dwayne) Bravo steadying the ship. In the end, every run counts. The bowling discipline was just brilliant, and the fielding. I said we needed our A-plus game, this here is proof of it.”After Marlon Samuels’ 78 had carried them to 137, Sammy said West Indies believed they had a chance. “The coach was saying that if we get the score we got in Pallekele (129 for 5 against Sri Lanka) on this wicket, we’ll win the match,” Sammy said. “The momentum we had from our batting carried through to our bowling. It was Dwayne Bravo’s birthday, so in the huddle, I gave him the chance to say the last words before we went on the field. He said, ‘let’s go out there and give it our all. If we do that and play how we can play, these runs are going to be a fighting total’. Ravi (Rampaul) started it off with his first ball, and we never looked back from there.”We have some of the most experienced Twenty20 players. Once we play the way we can, we’ll always be a force to reckon with. We didn’t brag about it but we believed we could go out there and take it one game at a time. I said hurdle by hurdle, and today was the final one. The coach said we’re climbing to the top of a mountain, and that’s where the prize is. We’ve got to go and take it. Today, we did that. We had different persons coming up with performances in different matches. The team has gelled well in this tournament. Signs of progress have been there, but this is the icing on the cake.”There have been questions raised about the unity of the squad in the past, and the board and the players have had numerous disputes, but Sammy hoped this victory could be the start of something new for West Indies cricket. “This is the moment here,” he said. “Issues done and buried. Twenty20 World Cup, 2012, Sri Lanka – West Indies champion.”And Sammy held the trophy up. And there was another round of applause.

Railways stormed into the final of the coveted Ranji Trophychampionship beating Punjab by 5 wickets at the PCA stadium in Mohalion Monday. This is the second entry of Railways into the title clashand comes after a gap of 13 years.Resuming at six without loss in pursuit of a target of 199, thevisitors began on a cautious note as they scored only 55 runs in thefirst session in which 36 overs were bowled. This was primarily doneto ensure that the Punjab team did not get an early breakthrough andrun through the Railways innings. The overnight batsmen Amit Pagnisand Sanjay Bangar successfully negotiated the opening spell ofGagandeep and Vineet Sharma.Spin was introduced as early as the 11th over to make use of thebowlers’ footmarks. The opening pair took the score to 47 runs beforePagnis, who struck two elegant boundaries of Sandeep Sawal, offered asimple return catch to the left arm spinner Babloo Kumar, as he triedto play the bowler towards midon.Tejinder Pal Singh who joined Pagnis, struck Sandeep Sawal throughcovers to open his account. A spanking straight drive by Tejinder offMunish Sharma was the shot of the day; none of the fielders budged asthe ball raced to the fence. The partnership between Tejinder andSanjay Bangar tilted the match in favour of Railways but with thescore on 110, Tejinder (34, 4×4) offered a simple catch to substituteDinesh Mongia, who was the lone fielder in the slip cordon.Yere Goud, known for his cool temperament proved to be an able ally toBangar as both of them kept the scoreboard moving by taking singlesand twos. They carried the total to 125 when Bangar needlessly chaseda wide delivery from Gagandeep only to be caught by wicket keeperVikram Rathore for an individual contribution of 47. Skipper AbhaySharma scored a boundary and a towering six off Sandeep Sawal.However, the bowler had the last laugh as he had Sharma caught in theslips by Mongia for 17 at the stroke of tea.At the score of 168, umpire S.Banerjee ruled Yere Goud leg before asthe batsman tried to play a full pitched delivery from Reetinder Sodhihalf cock. The usually dependable Goud had contributed 25 runs off 66balls including four hits to the fence. With 31 runs still requiredfor victory, there was a slight flutter in the Railways camp.But Raza Ali had other ideas, striking six boundaries in the course ofan unbeaten 32, with his winning shot coming off Sandeep Sawal.Shreyas Khanolkar remain unbeaten on 12 as Railways clinched the issuejust four balls before the mandatory overs were to begin. For PunjabGagandeep, Sodhi, Vineet Sharma, Babloo Kumar and Sandeep Sawalclaimed one wicket each.

North Zone need an almost improbable 378 runs on the final day to win their Duleep Trophy encounter against West Zone at the Nehru Stadium, Pune.On Thursday, West Zone’s two bowling stars, Irfan Pathan Junior and Sairaj Bahatule, removed the remaining two North Zone first innings wickets for the addition of just seven runs. The visitors eventual total of 238 gave West a healthy 158-run first innings lead. Pathan claimed four wickets while Bahatule claimed five.The West second innings got off to a steady start; openers Wasim Jaffer and Connor Williams (29) adding 68 before the latter was out. Jaffer celebrated the news of his inclusion in the Indian squad for the West Indies with a second successive 50 before being dismissed for 58 off 84 balls. Skipper Hrishikesh Kanitkar also made a significant contribution, toting up 45 off 97 balls before falling to Ashish Nehra, another man who was savouring the news of his re-admission in the Indian Test squad.The other top-order batsmen, however, struggled before Nayan Mongia gave vent to his anger at being dropped yet again, by making a fiery 76 off 76 balls with 11 fours and two sixes. West Zone, then, declared at 273 for nine, leaving North 432 to seal an outright win. Ashish Nehra, who claimed 4-55, was the most successful bowler for NorthNorth, made a steady start, reaching 54 for no loss in the 12 overs before stumps with Akash Chopra batting on 25 and Vikram Rathour on 26.