Sachin Tendulkar’s Ferrari 360 Modena, gifted to him by the Fiat group after he passed Don Bradman’s tally of 29 centuries last year, continues to attract controversy after it received exemption from the duty normally levied on foreign-made cars imported into India.The car arrived in Bombay on Friday after the duty of US$ 245,000 was waived on the US$-163,000-dollar Ferrari upon a request by Tendulkar to that effect.But the decision has drawn flak from various quarters, surprising considering Tendulkar’s normally high status in public esteem. “Sachin has earned enough for five generations, he needs no financial considerations,” said Pramod Navalkar, a leader of the Shiv Sena party.A survey conducted by the Indian Express newspaper revealed sharp public criticism as well. “They do this for Sachin and then spend hours checking the baggage of hockey players who have also brought laurels to the country,” said reader Vijay Kalantri. “Would hockey star Dhanraj Pillay have got the same treatment? Sachin can afford to pay and he should have.”Another letter said: “The duty would have gone a long way in alleviating suffering of poor farmers who sweat in the fields to make our country self-sufficient in food.”The chief minister of Maharashtra, Sushilkumar Shinde, defended the decision, however, saying: “Sachin has brought name and fame to India, we must accept that contribution by such gestures.” Tendulkar himself declined to comment on the isue.

Following a restructuring of the Canterbury Cricket development programme, Nigel Marsh and Andrew Reid have been appointed as community cricket co-ordinators for Canterbury Cricket. They will start work immediately.The new appointees will be working in the Christchurch metropolitan area to foster and promote cricket. Marsh and Reid will work promoting the MILO initiatives for junior players, implementing the Secondary School Support and Club Assist Programmes and encouraging growth in the women’s club competition.Both community cricket co-ordinators will work with selected clusters within the city, which will include Metropolitan Clubs and Secondary Schools. It is hoped that further expansion of the programme over coming years will enable Suburban clubs to be incorporated into the programme.Marsh has experience in the role. He worked with the Sydenham and Lancaster Park Woolston Clubs in the community cricket pilot scheme for two years. He has built up strong relationships with the two clubs and associated schools. Reid has recently been employed in a temporary role as community cricket manager for Canterbury Cricket. He also has a strong background in coaching, having worked with the Christchurch Junior Cricket Association and CCA Underage representative teams over recent seasons.

Ian Harvey has rejected an offer for a new contract from Gloucestershire, and has hinted he may look to join a new county for the 2004 season. His inventive bowling and hard-hitting batting has been instrumental in Gloucestershire’s one-day successes over the past five seasons, but he is set to return home to Australia to weigh up his options."I wish to take time to consider my future over the winter and may well take a break next summer," he admitted. "Should I decide to play county cricket next season, I do feel I need a fresh challenge.” Gloucestershire have won six trophies since 1999, when Harvey joined the county as a replacement for Courtney Walsh, and if they can see off Yorkshire in the final round of Championship matches, they will cap their season with promotion to the First Division.Gloucestershire chief executive Tom Richardson said: “We made Ian the best offer we could and are extremely disappointed he will not be continuing with us. He has played magnificently for us on numerous occasions, and we are extremely grateful to him for all he has done for the club.”

Teddy Griffith, president of the West Indies cricket board (WICB), has reacted to suggestions in the press that Australia might be asked to step in and host the 2007 World Cup because of concerns about the Caribbean’s ability to stagethe event.An interview published in the with a representative of the New South Wales board revealed that Bob Merriman, chairman of Cricket Australia, had voiced his concern about West Indies’ ability to host the World Cup, due to “their financial worries and the general instability in the area.”However, in a statement, Griffith replied by saying he had heard Merriman’s comments, but had “not yet had an opportunity to meet with him,” and claimed he was “in no position to say whether the comments attributed to him are accurate.”He added: “Indeed, the 2007 World Cup is an agenda item for discussion atthe ICC meetings over the next two days and it would be disappointing if anyfellow director were to seek to prejudice sentiment outside of the meetings.”To the best of my knowledge, neither the ICC board nor IDI Ltd (ICC Development International) board has met since the June meetings in London and Monaco respectively, to discuss the matter. WICB is fully aware of the significant challenges that it faces in hosting the 2007 World Cup.”And he insisted they would be up to the task: “We are confident that as a nation we have the capacity to deliver on our obligations. We expect the fullest support and cooperation from all our fellow members of the ICC as we undertake our tasks.”

Australia has traditionally been a happy hunting ground for fast bowlers, who relish the extra bounce on that the pitches offer. However, the true nature of those tracks places an extra premium on accuracy. Damien Fleming, the former Australian swing bowler, spells out the skills needed for a fast bowler to succeed in Australia.

Zaheer Khan: consistency will be key © Wisden Cricinfo

The best way for an Indian fast bowler to adapt here is by not doing or thinking much about it. Both the Indian left-arm fast bowlers – Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra – if they bowl well, will pose problems for the Australians.In India the ball swings more, whereas here the bounce is the most vital weapon. There might be periods when the ball will swing, but it won’t swing consistently throughout the five days. India are lucky that both Zaheer and Nehra swing the ball, but they need to deploy change of pace, and be accurate and patient because the Australian batsmen score quickly. You will have the bounce, but that will only work if you pitch it in the right place. For an Indian fast bowler it is much better than bowling back home. In Sydney and Adelaide bowling cutters – rolling your fingers across the seam for an offcutter or a legcutter – could work as the ball really grip on those tracks.As for the possibility of injuries while bowling in Australia, I should be the last person giving any kind of advice, having hardly played two Tests together. But to me there are three categories of injury prevention. The first is having the correct action: you need to have the shoulder and hip aligned side-on, as opposed to having the hip side-on and the shoulder front-on or vice-versa.Second, the need for physical strength: good core stability, and strength in the legs and shoulders. And third, to watch your workload: once you are into a Test you may be required to bowl upto 50 overs. And if you have bowled that many overs then there is the need to recover by doing some weights training, kick your strength up, and get some bowling done in the nets to get back to peak fitness again before the next game.Bowling on Australian soil will no doubt be harder on the feet for the Indians. However, they will enjoy the weather in Australia: the humidity levels, especially, will be far more bearable than places like Chennai and Kochi. Physically the Indians should be fine. The bigger task will be the mental battle of keeping the pressure up for the entire 90 over in a day, and making sure that they win more sessions than the Australians.

Scores at the end of the final round of the Commonwealth Bank Under-19 Championship Series:South Australia v Victoria
South Australia 7/356 dec (Littlewood 155, Crook 54*)
defeated
Victoria 245 all out (Evans 85, Crosthwate 38, Bailey 4/51, Smith 3/25)New South Wales v Queensland
Queensland 167 all out (Ross 47, Beadle 4/17)
lost to
New South Wales 6/170 dec (Clarence 35*, Coyte 35*, Fitzpatrick 3/67)Tasmania v Western Australia
Tasmania 214 all out
lost to
Western Australia WA 3/309 (Doropolus 75, May 159*, Pomersbach 49*)Australian Capital Territory v Northern Territory
Northern Territory 280 all out (MacDonald 103, Skewes 82, Poidevin 6/50)
defeated
Australian Capital Territory 194 all out (McCard 3/40, MacDonald 4/13)New South Wales have clinched the title.

Close India 284 for 3 (Tendulkar 73*, Laxman 29*) v Australia
Scorecard

Virender Sehwag: got India off to solid start with 72 © AFP

The young apprentices served up a fine entrée in the final Test between India and Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground, and then the modern masters got down to the task of preparing a substantial main course. As at Melbourne, Akash Chopra and Virender Sehwag set India up nicely with a century opening partnership. But the middle order did not squander the platform they had been gifted, and India finished the first day on 284 for 3. Sachin Tendulkar, the subject of much unseemly media speculation, constructed partnerships of 66 with Rahul Dravid and an unbeaten 90 with VVS Laxman on his way to an ominous 73 not out.The day began fittingly for a man who relishes the uphill battle. Steve Waugh lost the toss and watched the Indian openers tot up 98 runs before lunch. They spluttered to a start rather than roared to one. On a good bouncy pitch, Chopra and Sehwag began tentatively, playing and missing, prodding and poking, unsure of quite how to handle the swing and seam movement that Brett Lee and Jason Gillespie generated. Gillespie, back from injury, had trouble with his line, frequently bowling wide of the off stump, or on the batsman’s legs. Lee was quicker and more accurate, and any early breakthrough appeared likely to come from him.Then, in the space of two heartbreaking overs from Lee – heartbreaking for the bowler – the momentum shifted. First, Chopra edged a beautiful away-swinger and was caught behind – off a no-ball. The next ball was legitimate, and Chopra edged again, straight to Simon Katich at gully – Katich fumbled, and dropped it.Sehwag added sodium chloride to Lee’s lesions a couple of overs later, and again, a no-ball started it. Lee overstepped and dropped one wide outside off, Sehwag slashed over backward point for six. Lee overcompensated, drifted down leg, Sehwag clipped him to fine leg for four. Lee got his line right in the next ball, but not his length, as Sehwag punched a fuller ball in the corridor to the cover boundary. Singles followed, and 18 came off that over. Lee had been hit out of the attack.Chopra found his groove as the game went on, as his shot selection grew more assured, and fortune gave way to fortitude. Sehwag, meanwhile, opened up as the ball grew older. His aggression bordered mostly on the right side of recklessness; he put away most loose balls that came his way, but didn’t try any wild strokes against the good balls. When he did flash, he flashed hard.Just when Sehwag seemed set for another big innings, he edged a good-length ball from Gillespie after lunch, and was caught behind for 72 (123 for 1). Shortly after that, Lee earned a fine wicket. First, he unleashed a bouncer at Chopra, which Chopra left alone. Then came the yorker, which Chopra dug out superbly. Then, the faster inswinging yorker, which left Chopra clueless as it crashed into his stumps (128 for 2). Chopra had made 45 – once again, the openers had given India a good start. What would Rahul Dravid and Tendulkar make of it?Tendulkar, an irresistable force for so much of his career, was an immovable object. He played a solid and compact innings, with few expansive attempts to drive, and no expensive uppish slashes. He got his boundaries with the minimum of risk – as when he opened his account off a slightly underpitched yorker from Lee, meeting it nonchalantly with the full face of his blade, in a perfectly timed push to the long-on boundary.

Sachin Tendulkar: regained his touch with a careful innings © AFP

Dravid, at the other end, was his usual unyielding self, immaculate in his responses to every question thrown at him – from balance to footwork to every microscopic detail of technique. He was serene yet busy, solid yet fluid, and he outscored Tendulkar during their partnership of 66. He was clinical against loose bowling, much of which came, during his stay at the crease, from Stuart MacGill.Dravid cut and on-drove MacGill for fours in the first over after tea, then flicked and off-drove him for two more boundaries in his next over, and then chose the otherwise controlled Nathan Bracken for punishment, square-cutting him ferociously when he pitched short and slightly wide. But as in the first innings at Melbourne, he was out against the run of play, caught on his crease by an incutter from Gillespie for 38. At 194 for 3, India were on the same slippery slope as towards the end of the first day in the last Test.But Tendulkar and Laxman, promoted in the batting order above Sourav Ganguly, kept climbing. Tendulkar opened out as he grew more comfortable, using his wrists to work balls on off and further inside to the leg side, rocking back to punch or pull anything short. He did not allow the comfort with which he was playing to relax him, and played no loose strokes – though MacGill did fox him a couple of times, inducing edges that did not go to hand.Laxman’s last innings at the SCG was the gorgeous 167 in 1999-00, when he had nothing to lose. Today, he gave nothing away, as he settled in for the long haul. He found occasion to play his staple shots, the wristy flick to midwicket and the inside-out cover-drive, but was more a gatherer than the hunter he had been in his last Test here.In the previous Test, India’s middle order had made a meal of the start they had been given. But these men had worked too hard and dreamed too long of victory in Australia, and they batted as if they would not let anything come in the way of their just desserts.Waugh, no doubt, had other plans up his sleeves. After all, this was his party.Amit Varma is managing editor of Wisden Cricinfo in India.

Steve Tikolo, Kenya’s captain, has appealed to sponsors and the ICC to help develop cricket in his country. After Kenya’s loss to the Windward Islands in the Carib Beer series this weekend, Tikolo lamented the fact that it is extremely difficult for the game to grow.At present, all that exists is a one-day tournament which started in 1987, but lacks any sponsorship “We do not have a first-class season and all we play is one-day cricket,” Tikolo said. “This is no preparation for the longer version of the game.”Tikolo did reveal that the Kenyan authorities are considering the introduction of a three-day tournament in the next few months, but he said that is likely to be an uphill struggle without sponsorship. “Cricket is just catching on as a popular sport in Kenya and has to rival football and athletics,” he said, “so to attract sponsors is not going to be easy.”Kenya surprisingly made the semi-finals of the 2003 World Cup, but Tikolo insisted that achievement has done nothing in terms of support and sponsorship. “The ICC have more or less turned their backs on us since our showing in the tournament, and save for a limited-overs tournament in Sharjah, we have not had any serious cricket.”Tikolo’s comments come in the wake of Andy Moles, the coach, who insisted the ICC should grant Kenya Test status.

Dear Member,The AGM of The Members’ Club of Hampshire Cricket takes place at 5.30pm on April 14th in the atrium at The Rose Bowl . The agenda is shown below and attendance is limited to those showing a 2004 season membership card.The format will be similar to last year, as after the AGM at 6.45pm, there will be a Forum which will provide you with an opportunity to put your questions to the following panel:-

Kevan James – Radio Solent (Forum Chairman)Nick Pike – Managing Director, Rose Bowl PlcTim Tremlett – Director of CricketPaul Terry – First Eleven ManagerShane Warne – First Eleven Captain

Again Radio Solent will be broadcasting live most of this Forum and a proportion of the audience will be Radio Solent listeners.Your committee are keen to promote opportunities for members to meet with the players and officials, so following the Forum at around 8.00pm, there will be a Members’ and Players’ reception to be held upstairs in the Long Room. Entrance will cost £10 and be by ticket only. Wine, soft drinks and a light buffet will be included. This will provide a excellent opportunity to welcome our new captain, Shane Warne.We need to know numbers for the Forum and/or Players’ reception, so please complete the tear-off slip which will be posted to you shortly. We look forward to seeing you at this scene setter for the 2004 season.Roger Treherne, March 2004Chairman – Hampshire Cricket Members’ Committee
The Annual General Meeting of the Members’ Club will be held in the Atrium at The Rose Bowl, Botley Road, West End, Southampton on Wednesday April 14th 2004 at 5.30pm – to be followed by a Members’ Forum

AGENDA
1.   Minutes of the 2003 Annual General Meeting2    Matters arising from the 2003 Annual General Meeting3.   Chairman’s address including naming The Derek Shackleton Members’ Bar& The Arthur Holt Pavilion4.   To adopt amendment to the Rules of the Club5.   To elect the following*    Patron*    President*    Vice Presidents6.   To announce the names of members elected to the committee followingthe postal ballot7.   Hampshire County Cricket Youth Trust – 2004 “Howzat” Appeal – PeterTowler8.   Rose Bowl update for 2004 – Nick Pike9.   Presentation of Robin Smith’s testimonial cheque10.  Any other Business

Note: The minutes of the 2003 Annual General Meeting will be available for inspection at The Rose Bowl during normal office hours from March 17th until April 8th and for 1 hour prior to the start of this meeting

Lions 145 for 6 (Rowley 69*) beat Titans 135 for 8 (Cullinan 40*) by 10 runs
ScorecardThe second game of the Standard Bank PRO20 Series between the Titans and the Lions, at SuperSport Park, resulted in a thrilling encounter, with the Lions trumping their opponents by only 10 runs.Winning the toss, Daryll Cullinan, the new Titans captain, put the Lions in to bat on a hard flat surface. A good start of 13 off two overs was halted when Marthinus Otto and Adam Bacher fell off consecutive balls – the Bacher dismissal was a blinder with Alviro Petersen taking a brilliant low catch at backward point. Justin Ontong scored a slow 7, and his dismissal brought Hylton Ackerman and Grant Rowley to the crease. Together they took the total to 56 for 3 at the halfway mark of 10 overs. A 56-run partnership came to an end when Ackerman holed out to long-on for a run-a-ball 27. Vaughn van Jaarsveld made a brief visit to the crease before Derek Crookes flayed 15. Grant Rowley, however, was the hero for the Lions, scoring 69 off 45 balls and striking nine fours and a six. His effort helped the Lions to end on 145 for 6.A combination of good bowling and conservative batting had the Titans struggling at 42 for 1 after 10 overs with Petersen losing his wicket early and Jacques Rudolph and Martin van Jaarsveld making heavy work of the conditions. The match turned on its head when, with the pressure mounting, van Jaarsveld tried to force the pace and was caught on the fence. Rudolph was run out off the very next ball, followed by Kemp – also run out without facing a ball. Three wickets in three balls left the Titans on 68 for 4 in the 13th over. A third run out, that of Albie Morkel, increased the pressure, which even a short flurry from Brendon Reddy did nothing to relieve. And when Goolam Bodi was run out, it was all over. Cullinan smashed the ball around, scoring 40 off 21 balls but in the end, the four run outs and the miserly bowling of Charl Langeveldt was just too much for the Titans.It’s two games down and 13 to go. On current evidence, there’s still a lot of homework to be done to come to terms with this shorter version of the game. For the 7425 spectators, however, it was an evening of packaged entertainment and excitement and worth every cent of the entrance fee.