Bermuda’s 15-man squad for the World Cup was along expected lines, as they retained all but one of the players that contested the ICC World Cricket League (WCL) competition earlier this month – Oliver Pitcher, a batsman who missed the WCL because of injury, has been included ahead of Arthur Pitcher Jr.Most of the players virtually picked themselves and have occupied spots in the team ever since Bermuda gained a place in World Cup two years ago. Irvine Romaine will captain the side with wicketkeeper-batsman Dean Minors as his deputy.There is also room in the squad for left-handed batsman David Hemp. Born in Bermuda, the 36-year-old Hemp is currently the captain of Glamorgan. The squad also includes South Africa-born allrounder Saleem Mukuddem, and 17-year-old allrounder Malachi Jones, whose selection will make him one of the youngest players to appear in the tournament.Bermuda are making their first appearance at the World Cup and have been slotted in Group B, where they face Sri Lanka, India, and Bangladesh. The Bermudians play warm-up matches against England and Zimbabwe in St Vincent on March 5 and 8.Squad Irving Romaine (capt), Dean Minors (wk), Delyone Borden, Lionel Cann, David Hemp, Kevin Hurdle, Malachi Jones, Stefan Kelly, Dwayne Leverock, Saleem Mukuddem, Steven Outerbridge, Oliver Pitcher, Clay Smith, Janeiro Tucker, Kwame Tucker.
Gauteng prospered against Free State while heavy rain fell in Johannesburg and Durban and prevented play from getting under way in the other two SAA Provincial Challenge matches. A the Wanderers Gauteng scored 316 for 4 in the 70 overs of play that were possible. Having been put in by Free State, Gauteng made the most of the fair-weather conditions with William Motaung scoring 101, Diaan van Wyk not out on 76 and Douglas Gain adding 71 not out. At the close the two had put on 127 for the fifth wicket.The game in Benoni has every chance of getting underway on day two, while the chances of any play in Durban looks very slim. Rain is predicted for the second day and with the outfield waterlogged day the third day may also be washed out.
Jason Gillespie was supposedly out-of-form and leaving Brett Lee out looked to be a mistake. Both myths were quickly dispelled as New Zealand’s new-look top order flopped today in the toughest of acid tests.Only the retired Waugh brothers and the 12th man Brett Lee were missing from the side that met New Zealand in the last Test series in 2001. The result for New Zealand was an opposition with the same old faces presenting the tightest of on-field units and forcing the sudden reappearance of pressures unique to past battles with the world’s best bowling attack.Such is the unrelenting consistency of this attack that New Zealand’s first-innings ability to absorb the opening burst was quickly replaced by technical inadequacies hastened by Australia’s extreme mental pressure. Of the top seven batsmen, only Craig Cumming was genuinely undone by a good ball.A slow but steady start of 30 for 1 after 15 overs soon became a precarious 34 for 3 in 18 overs. From Shane Warne’s standard “oohing” and “aahing” post delivery, to Gillespie’s pounding of a perfect line and length, to Adam Gilchrist’s laughter at a struggling Craig McMillan, it was a blitzkrieg only the Australians are capable of.During the one-day series New Zealand turned to its sports psychologist for answers. If there is to be a repeat visit, McMillan should be first in the queue. After a heated verbal spar with Gilchrist at Brisbane in November, McMillan fell to the next ball. Gilchrist was at it again today as Warne claimed McMillan in comical circumstances.After a decent warm-up bowling around the wicket to Hamish Marshall, Warne chose the same approach from the first ball to McMillan. In the space of five leg-breaks into the footmarks, McMillan, the right-hander, went from confident to confused to incompetent.On his Test debut at the Gabba in 1997, McMillan went to 50 by lofting Warne back over his head for six: today he inexplicably padded off two full tosses. The second one had Gilchrist and others around the bat in hysterics and it proved too much for McMillan when he unnecessarily prodded the outrageously wide next ball to short leg.McMillan was not the only one to get in a tangle. Stephen Fleming and Lou Vincent both got pads in the way of bats and Nathan Astle blew a solid start with indecisiveness around off stump. Marshall did not have the confident air of a first-innings centurion. Gillespie and Michael Kasprowicz unsettled him with short-pitched deliveries and after a gusty 77-ball stay, Marshall lost his concentration and was bowled behind his legs by Warne.New Zealand’s collapse to 87 for 6 was a direct result of the bowlers devising a plan and executing it with precision. Gillespie was a standout, claiming Cumming with the perfect three-ball over. After seaming two away from the right-hander, Cumming was deceived when Gillespie cut one back. Vincent’s dismissal was a virtual replica. A Gillespie leg-cutter found Vincent’s edge but also Matthew Hayden’s butter fingers at slip. Two balls later Gillespie beat Vincent’s defensive lunge for a second lbw.Cricket fundamentals rather than complicated science underlie the Australian approach to bowling. The magic comes from the quick men putting the ball on the spot and hitting the seam with regularity. There is nothing stopping New Zealand from trying to emulate this. The other critical basic central to Australia’s performance today – a quick bowler in tandem with a quality legspinner – is something New Zealand can only dream of.
It was one of the sadder sights of recent times. There was Australia’s best young cricketer, Ricky Ponting, his face marked by embarrassment and a black eye, seated at a bare table next to the Australian Cricket Board’s chief executive Malcolm Speed.Against the beautiful backdrop of Hobart’s harbour, Speed announced that Ponting had been suspended for two one-day internationals for misbehaving at a Sydney nightclub. Ponting admitted he had a drinking problem. He and Speed explained it wasn’t that Ponting drank too much too often, but that when he started drinking he found it hard to stop – and often got himself into compromising situations. Ponting said he would seek counselling.It looked at the time, January 1999, as if the board was hanging Ponting out to dry, when previously it had tried to protect players in trouble. We soon learned it had little choice. A Sydney newspaper was poised to publish photos of a drunk and dishevelled Ponting standing outside that nightclub with a group of people he didn’t know.Here was the classic morality tale of modern cricket. The wonder boy, seen by many as a future Test player from the time he was 12, had now been exposed as a flawed character with a destructive social problem, someone who had embarrassed the game and himself in public. Here, too, was someone regarded as a future Test captain, someone who was now jeopardising that future.That is how it appeared at the time. But when you talk to some of the people involved back then, you realise that few lost faith in Ponting’s ability to mend his ways and recover the lost ground. They knew their man pretty well. Ponting’s impressive past two years prove it.The following season the Australian vice-captaincy was up for grabs. Adam Gilchrist won a three-way “contest” over Shane Warne and Ponting, then 24. Although many insiders believed the latter two were better candidates in a pure cricketing sense, Gilchrist got the nod because of his impeccable public and private image. The board, wearied by the misbehaviour of some players – especially Warne – took the safe route.Ponting’s path to the captaincy had hit a roadblock, a crossroads. Not only was the nightclub affair the lowest point in his career and life – for the two have been much the same for a cricketer destined from an early age to play for Australia – it was also the turning point in that career.As Ponting underwent counselling and gradually straightened himself out, Warne continued to get into scrapes, forever damaging his leadership prospects. Gilchrist, meanwhile, found the triple duties of captaining, batting and wicketkeeping too onerous. Eventually Ponting got his chance.Even then his supporters in the highest levels of administration had to push his claims against the long entrenched view in New South Wales and Victoria that, as the senior states, the captaincy should be theirs by right. And yet since taking over the one-day side Ponting has commanded Australia to a World Cup victory, made consistently high scores and generally led in fine style. It has been quite a turnaround for a kid from the tough northern suburbs of Launceston.Ponting grew up in a sporting family and played cricket for an uncompromising club, Mowbray. What the Mowbray players lacked in subtlety and worldliness they made up for in grit. It was not the most sophisticated environment but it did help make Ponting a determined character, a fighter. One of the ways of life in that environment was for young players to be left to learn on their own. There was little advice from senior men about how a youngster should behave in public. The view was that this kid could play – so let him get on with it.In the short term that approach landed the young Ponting in trouble. Perhaps in the longer term it worked for the best. These days, those who watch him at close quarters say he is self-reliant, a quiet and close observer, who prefers to learn from watching rather than asking. They also say they never lost faith in his ability to come through 1999 and go on to better things.”It’s not obvious how Ricky learns,” says David Boon, the national selector and former Test batsman. “You don’t have to sit him down and go through things with him. He picks things up from watching and listening. You don’t see him do it but he’s learning all the time.”Boon is a key figure in this story – first as a figurehead to Ponting, and secondly as a former team-mate and colleague. Boon’s role in Tasmanian cricket cannot be overstated: he doesn’t have a statue of himself at Hobart’s Bellerive Oval for nothing. He was the first born-and-based Tasmanian Test player, the one whose ambitions and talents were not thwarted by the casual cricketing environment of the early 1980s.Like Ponting, Boon was a star from an early age, a kid destined to go places. But unlike other gifted Tasmanian players of that time, Boon kept his eye on the main game. He liked a joke and a drink but he never stopped being professional.There were few senior mentors in Tasmanian cricket when Boon was coming through, no former greats who might turn up to state training to have a word with the next generation. You had to do it pretty much on your own, and Boon broke new ground by doing exactly that. Denis Rogers, chairman of the Tasmanian Cricket Association and a former ACB chairman, cites Boon as a key factor in Ponting’s development.”Boonie is still Ricky’s hero,” says Rogers. “Not because they are necessarily close but because of what Ricky has seen Boonie do. David has been a major influence but it’s never what he says – it’s what he’s done, and how he went about doing it. David doesn’t say a lot but when he does talk people listen.”Boon, naturally, plays down this view. “I think Denis is exaggerating there,” he says. “Ricky and I talk quite a bit and we did play together for a while. But I don’t interfere in anything. I leave him to do his job, which he’s doing very well.” Boon says he didn’t take Ponting aside during that difficult period in 1999 because he had confidence in him.”I never doubted he would come through that episode,” says Boon. “He’s got plenty of strength of character. You have to remember he saw leaders like Allan Border, Mark Taylor and now Stephen [Waugh] up close, and I know he watched them and learned from them.”He’s always been an outstanding talent but not all talented players are leaders. Ricky has always shown leadership qualities. And it showed great guts to admit he had a problem with drinking. He had the perceptive skills to identify the problem and the guts to do something about it. People forget he was young and in the limelight, and when you’re young you do a few stupid things. As you get older you learn from your mistakes. Ricky realised he had to sort himself out – and I knew he would.”That enforced self-reliance during Ponting’s early years has turned into a positive in recent times. Boon says no player has been a particularly close influence on him. One of his strongest supporters, however, has been Trevor Hohns, the national chairman of selectors, who says Ponting stood out years ago as a “shining light”.”Apart from the fact that he was a fantastic player, to me he exuded enthusiasm,” Hohns says. “He’s had a deserved reputation as a good tactical thinker, and all of this was pinpointed a few years ago. I wouldn’t say we had long-term plans for him as early as 1999 but we did have our eye on him. Certainly in the past few years some of the rough edges have come off. He’s taken the right sort of advice from the right people and gone out of his way to make the best of himself.”Hohns notes that Ponting has had the same manager for several years, unusual in someone whose career rose so quickly. “I think Sam Halvorsen has been a good influence on Ricky and helped him adjust to the public exposure players face these days.” Ponting has had to deal with it more than most. From that tough club environment at Mowbray he graduated straight to the academy in Adelaide, making him perhaps the first fully fledged youngster to move through that exclusively cricket system.A feature of Ponting’s leadership has been his stance on sledging, which seems stronger than that of the Test captain Steve Waugh. When South Africa’s Graeme Smith went public about the crudity of Australia’s sledging, Waugh implied it was part of the rough-and-tumble of Test cricket. Ponting took a harder line. “I don’t mind a bit of the friendly banter and gamesmanship,” he said, “but I’ve said right from the word go that I don’t like, and won’t like, any real personal barrages towards anyone. And if that does happen I’ll be more than happy to pull the guys aside and let them know that’s not acceptable.”Hohns believes Ponting’s stronger condemnation of excessive sledging was influenced by those dark days of early 1999. “I think the origins of his views on sledging were influenced by that issue. It made him aware of the public view players are under. They’re just normal people like us but they have had to realise that they’re famous. If they do something wrong people will see it. He realised back then that, to some extent, he is public property.”After a series of minor and major disasters caused by the poor behaviour – or perceived poor behavior – of this Australian team, Ponting’s rise to the leadership has been an under-recognised positive story. Those people, like Hohns, who spotted his strength of character years ago are now seeing their faith repaid. Ponting is the best fieldsman in the game, one of the very best batsman and a World Cup-winning captain. He will soon be a fine Test captain.As Rogers says: “Ricky’s come a long, long way.”Mark Ray is a cricket author, journalist and former Tasmanian player.
Former captain Wasim Akram was recalled Saturday to the Pakistan squad for the three-match one-day series against the West Indies in Sharjah.Also back in the side was off-spinner Shoaib Malik but there was no place for all-rounder Azhar Mahmood. Unconfirmed reports said Azhar was injured.The two will replace Danish Kaneria, Faisal Iqbal and Mohammad Zahid. Zahid’s comeback to international cricket was abruptly halted with the sad demise of his mother last week. He had to return from the desert city after joining the team a day later owing to delay in travel formalities. But the big news was the return of Wasim Akram who had bowled just 20 deliveries on the tour to Dhaka before limping off with a hamstring injury. Wasim underwent a series of tests before he was declared fit and available for selection by the panel of doctors.However, it is yet to be seen if Wasim will bowl with full throttle and is at his best. Since his 20-ball first Test in Dhaka early last month, he hasn’t played any competitive cricket.Wasim, who has over 440 one-day wickets, has been hampered by a series of injuries in the twilight of his career which has left big question marks over his fitness, endurance and chances to make the squad for next year’s World Cup in South Africa.After the three one-day matches, Pakistan has a demanding season ahead with the Asian Test Championship final against Sri Lanka proposed in March and followed up by the Sharjah Cup in April. New Zealand are also expected to make a rescheduled tour to Pakistan between April 20 and May 18.In September, Pakistan will appear in the ICC KnockOut tournament and then immediately host Australia. They leave for African safari in November and return in March after the World Cup.The three one-day matches against the West Indies will be played on Feb 14, 15 and 17 under lights.
England managed to put their CricInfo Women’s World Cup campaign back on track today with a solid all-round performance to defeat Ireland by eight wickets at Lincoln University’s BIL Oval.The Irish luck still continued with the toss but it then deserted the team for the rest of the day. The top order failed against the pace of Lucy Pearson and Clare Taylor and the game was vitually all over by the end of the 14th over when Ireland found themselves 23 for five.It is not in the Irish nature to lie down and we saw it again today as Catherine O’Neill and later Isobel Joyce, Saibh Young and Nikki Squire fought to the end but it was a rear-guard action after the early collapse. While 103 was a good effort in the circumstances, it was never going to be enough to defend against an England team ruthless in their search for respectability.Pearson picked up two wickets, Clare Connor two for one off her 4.2 overs and Taylor turned in the CricInfo Player of the Match performance with four for 25 off her 10 overs. The England fielding showed signs of frustration at times as a partnership between O’Neill and Squire developed in the middle of the innings. The pair took the score from 23 for five in the 14th over to 61 for six in the 30th when O’Neill, on 25, fell to an endemic Irish disease at this tournament, the run-out.Joyce’s 26 batting at number nine offered a lesson to the top order on how to accumulate but England had the fielding answers, accurate work by Arran Thompson in covers effecting two run outs and Kathryn Leng picking up a sharp catch at short cover.It was Thompson again in the thick of things when England started their chase for the modest target. She was dropped in the first over at first slip off Barbara McDonald and celebrated by carrying her bat through the innings, showing a preference for scoring through the covers on her way to an unbeaten 44. Barbara Daniels was the other main contributor to England’s total as they cruised to victory in the 30th over.With tight bowling and committed fielding, Ireland had the satisfaction of restricting batsmen who were looking for runs to just 24 off the last 10 overs but the total was never big enough to defend on another quality Lincoln pitch.The England coach, Paul Farbrace, took satisfaction from a performance in which his side had fielded and bowled “reasonably well” and “had got the job done” in the batting department.What he was not happy with was the mix-up early in the match that saw his team facing a potential problem over the failure to record a late change on the official team list. Laura Harper, named in the original line-up, aggravated an injury during warm-ups and the designated 12th man, Nicky Shaw, took her place on the field. It was not until the sixth over that the switch was noted.After much discussion, officials ruled that Shaw could remain as a substitute fielder and that, if required, Harper could bat but only at seven or lower.Farbrace said it was a mistake that no one involved would ever make again. He took responsibility as the coach: “I should have checked.” But from the sheepish looks around there would have been nightmares for other members of the camp if Shaw had bowled or batted before the switch was noted and the match had been forfeited.Noting that the technical staff had dealt with the matter very sensibly, Farbrace summed up the incident to the point: “Extremely embarrassing.”Looking ahead, he said this was the first of four matches the team had to win. “People might think that is pie-in-the-sky stuff but that is the only way we can approach it.” Australia is next!John Wills, the Irish coach, somewhat glumly reflected on two or three players performing in each match but never the same two or three. “We just can’t gel.”He was pleased with the fielding – “but, oh that catch” in the first over. He also had praise for the youngest member of the team, Isobel Joyce: “She looked completely at home.” And he acknowledged the work of Anne Linehan, the stand-by keeper, who recover from one blemish to bring off a superb stumping.Of the mix up at the beginning, he said that Ireland had been told of the substitution by the officials and had said that the rules should be abided by. “It was all dealt with very amicably.”Result: Ireland 103; England 105 for two; a win to England by eight wickets.
Celtic pundit Frank McAvennie believes it is a ‘boost’ that forward Daizen Maeda remained in Glasgow during the international break, as per Football Insider.
The Lowdown: Fitness concerns for Celtic
The Hoops have a crucial Glasgow derby on Sunday and may well be sweating on a number of players for the trip to Ibrox.
David Turnbull made a first appearance since December from the bench before the international break, whereas there is hope that Kyogo Furuhashi could play some part against Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side.
Maeda remained in Scotland instead of linking up with Japan due to concerns about his fitness, while Tom Rogic pulled out of the Australia squad with an ankle problem.
The Latest: McAvennie’s comments on Maeda
Speaking to Football Insider, McAvennie actually labelled Maeda staying at Lennoxtown during the international break as a ‘boost’ for Celtic.
He then described the possibility of Maeda, Furuhashi and Giorgos Giakoumakis all being fully fit at the start of 2022/23 as ‘magnificent’, saying:
“So Maeda’s not on international duty which is a boost for him.
“I think everyone expected a little bit more from him, not to say he hasn’t been really good.
“But here’s what I’m thinking, looking at Giakoumakis. It took him ages to settle in.
“Now he’s scoring a couple of goals in every game. Could the same thing happen to Maeda?
“He started a bit better, I know he scored on his debut. He’s not hit Kyogo levels.
“At the start of next season, after a full pre-season with the club, could we see him fully up to speed and scoring loads of goals?
“I think there’s a good argument to say it does happen. So we could be starting next season with Kyogo, Giakoumakis and Maeda all fit and firing, wow, that would be magnificent.”
The Verdict: Fingers crossed
With 34 goals between them already this term, the possibility of the attacking trio all being fully fit next season is an exciting prospect, as McAvennie mentions, but Celtic have bigger fish to fry before the 2022/23 campaign.
They are still on course for a domestic treble in the final stages of the current season, and having Maeda and Rogic available against Rangers on Sunday could be crucial.
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Postecoglou appears to be sweating on the condition of both players, and we should know more over the coming days in the manager’s pre-match press conference.
In other news: Update emerges for Ange on Celtic ace stretchered off during international duty
Ashwell Prince halted a South African slide on the second day in Cape Town after Dwayne Bravo’s three wickets left them facing the prospect of a significant deficit. However, West Indies produced a resilient effort to stay in contention, as Bravo put in a marathon 24-over spell, but Prince and Boucher added an unbeaten 87 to put South Africa back on course for a useful lead.It’s been a long while since West Indies have found themselves ahead in a series and for the majority of the day they were without Fidel Edwards, who was forced off the field after pulling up with a hamstring strain five balls into his fifth over. To compound the problems Jerome Taylor also left the field later in the day, severely cutting into Chris Gayle’s resources, at a time when South Africa were ripe for the taking at 131 for 5 following Bravo’s successes which included Jacques Kallis and Hashim Amla in eight balls. Gayle’s hand was forced when Bravo eventually needed a break – his 24 overs only broken by lunch and tea – and he used the spin of Rawl Lewis and Marlon Samuels in tandem during the final session.This allowed South Africa to claw back ground with Prince and Boucher putting their head down for some hard graft. Prince’s fifty took 129 balls as he made a vital contribution following a lean period although boundaries were a rare commodity as the outfield remained slow and the pitch tough for scoring. One delivery from Powell burst through the surface to suggest batting last will be a tricky proposition.It reinforced the feeling that West Indies’ total wasn’t as disappointing as it appeared and would have been worth closer to 300 with a quicker outfield. Shivnarine Chanderpaul was left unbeaten on 65 off 223 balls when Andre Nel cleaned up the innings in the first three overs of the day.South Africa were given a stronger start than of late with Graeme Smith and Neil McKenzie adding 46 – the first double-figure opening stand of the home season – but none of the top four could build on their starts. Taylor helped take up the slack after Edwards’s departure with a lively spell either side of lunch which brought two wickets. McKenzie was drawn forward outside off stump and the delivery held its line to take the edge and Gayle completed a regulation catch. McKenzie hadn’t been overawed during his first Test innings in three-and-half years, but his demise for 23 set a trend.Smith was far from convincing, always giving the impression that he was close to being trapped lbw or edging to slip, and fell in predictable style as he pushed away from his body. The catch would probably have carried to first slip, but Ramdin dived across and made sure of the scalp.With Amla and Kallis adding 59 for the third wicket South Africa were making strong progress towards taking control and Kallis was beginning to look especially dangerous. The breakthrough came when he was caught on the back foot and edged through to Ramdin, soon followed by Amla who was trapped on the crease by a delivery that shaped back in.Refreshed by the tea interval, Bravo continued to make inroads when he found AB de Villiers’ outside edge and three wickets had fallen for 11 in 10 overs. Last week in Port Elizabeth, Bravo savoured his first Test victory and did more than his fair share to try and ensure the wait for number two isn’t as long. His nagging length and accuracy – he conceded less than two-an-over – were ideally suited to a two-paced surface. One more strike and West Indies would have been into the long tail with South Africa’s prospects of levelling the series fading. Now, though, this is anyone’s game and an intriguing battle lies ahead.
If England thought their tour could not get any worse after two monthswithout a victory, they were wrong. Kevin Pietersen, the one batsman whohad challenged the Australia bowlers throughout the Ashes and in the firstone-day match, is flying home with a broken rib, further reducingEngland’s chances of breaking their winless streak.Pietersen was on 73 when he advanced down the wicket to a short ball fromGlenn McGrath and missed his attempted pull. The ball cannoned into hisribs and after a couple of minutes of regaining his breath and attentionfrom the physiotherapist, he batted on to reach 82.But in one last show of determination, a clearly uncomfortable Pietersenfought the pain to face questions about his tour-ending injury. Sittingin an awkward, rigidly upright position and speaking softly, Pietersendescribed his feelings at missing out on the chance to help England fightback in the CB Series. “Distraught. Absolutely distraught,” Pietersensaid. “It’s not how I planned it out. I’m just distraught to be leavingthis trip without any victories.”Although the official word was the fracture would keep him out for five tosix weeks, Pietersen was hopeful of recovering faster and insisted therewas no chance it would keep from playing in the World Cup. “I just have tobide my time,” he said, “but I’m a pretty quick healer and I’ll get myself as fit asI can as quick as I can.”Pietersen added that, although he had been hit several times in the ribs,this parting shot from McGrath hurt the most. “When it hit me I couldn’tbreathe for a couple of minutes and I knew it was a little bit moreserious than the previous times. It restricted my breathing and strokeplay.”But asked the injury might prompt him to rethink his tacticof charging fast bowlers, Pietersen’s reply was blunt and emphatic. “Idon’t think it’ll stop me in the future.” He even spoke toMcGrath on the field at the end of the game to thank him for the challengehe had presented during the Ashes.Although Pietersen’s part in the England show is over for now, he wasconfident the team could push on without him and even had the temerity tosuggest England would be a threat to Australia in the World Cup. “It’s nota one-dimensional team at all and I’m sure the guys who take my spot willdo a great job,” he said. “If we can pick up little key things thatimprove our game 10, 15, 20% … the World Cup is a knockout competition.”
Phil Jaques’ rollicking 61 propelled New South Wales into the final as Tasmania were bashed big-style, losing by a whopping 69 runs. The visitors made hay, galloping to 6 for 188 although Adam Polkinghorne did manage to puncture NSW’s middle order, taking 3 for 31.But by then the visitors were well on their way after Jaques and Daniel Smith put on 90 for the first wicket. Tasmania’s start contrasted a touch – their opening pair, Travis Birt and Michael di Venuto both made ducks.Such a setback in the confined sphere of Twenty20 is hard to recover from and so it proved, with Tasmania quickly folding to 119 all out. NSW will now face Victoria in the inaugural final on Saturday.If that win was straightforward, another contest at the same ground was less so. Controversy reigned in the mascot race as Tyro Tiger crossed the line despite appearing to have made a false start. Tully Tiger certainly thought he had – believing that his fellow beast hadn’t fairly earned his stripes, Tully took a full-on swipe at the victor. But perhaps Tully was just a paw loser.Meanwhile, another mauling was taking place in Adelaide – this time, Western Australia consigned South Australia to a 54-run defeat.The storyline was broadly similar to that which was played out at Hobart, with the side batting first piling up the runs – WA made 174 for 6 largely thanks to Ryan Campbell’s 55 – then both openers falling cheaply in reply – Darren Lehmann made 1, Graham Manou a duck – to leave another insurmountable run chase. SA, always up against it, were eventually bowled out for 120.