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All Today’s Yesterdays – July 16 down the yearsJuly 15| July 171973
When he was captain, nobody in world cricket had as much on his plate as Shaun Pollock, who was born today. Captain, premier strike bowler, lower middle-order counter-attacker, and possessor of one of cricket’s more ginger tops, Pollock was the real deal from the moment he came in against England in 1995-96, and cracked 66 and took 4 for 34 on his one-day international debut, at Cape Town. He is the pivot of South Africa’s side, the definitive allrounder in a team of them. He averages over 30 with the bat, and thrashed a Bothamesque, 95-ball first Test hundred from No. 9 against Sri Lanka at Centurion in 2000-01, a match in which his bowlingaverage dipped below 20. A masterful wicket-to-wicket bowler, his average, when he passed the milestone, was the lowest of the 41 men to have taken 200 Test wickets. His father Peter and uncle Graeme were pretty good as well. All he has to donow is find a way to beat those pesky Australians.1910
A fearless Aussie is born. Stan McCabe loved mixing it with the fast bowlers,and in the first match of the 1932-33 Bodyline series he walloped 187 not out in the first innings. No other Aussie managed even a half-century. McCabe was a batsman of the highest class, a brilliant hooker in particular. At Trent Bridge in 1938 he saved the match with ablistering 232 so good that it had even Don Bradman drooling. When McCabe returned to thedressing-room, The Don said simply: “If I could play an innings like that, I’d be a proud man, Stan.”According to the Wisden 100, it is the greatest Test innings played at Trent Bridge. McCabe died in Syndey in 1968.1895
At Taunton, Archie MacLaren completed a mighty 424 for Lancashire against Somerset, the highest score in first-class history at the time. It remained the highest in first-class cricket in England for 99 years … until Brian Lara shattered that, and a few other recordsbesides, in 1994.1981
The first day of an immortal Test. There was nothing miraculous for Englandat the start, just 90 overs of solid frustration as Australia ground themdown on a typically bowler-friendly Headingley track. At the close the Aussies were 203 for 3, with John Dyson having made a fine 104. Wisden CricketMonthly said he batted “like a Woodfull”. England were under the coshalready.1927
An MCC president is born. John Warr would rather be remembered forthat than his Test bowling average – it was 281. And his strike rate was awicket every 584 balls – or 97 overs. Both were the worst in Test historyuntil West Indian legspinner Rawl Lewis kindly plumbed new depths. InWarr’s defence, he was still a Cambridge undergraduate when he was pickedfor those Tests, in Australia in 1950-51. Most students struggle toget up before midday to brush their teeth, let alone to bowl to Hassett,Harvey and Miller on an Adelaide shirtfront. Warr later captainedMiddlesex – cue the famous Brian Johnston joke that “Warr’s declared”,whereupon an old woman in the crowd wakes up and enquires, “Who against?”1983
Against New Zealand at The Oval, Graeme Fowler and Chris Tavare became the first England openers toscore a century in the same Test innings for 23 years. And – shock, horror -Tavare’s was the quicker: his 109 came off 255 balls, Fowler’s 105 off 303.Mind you, it was Fowler’s maiden Test hundred, so you can understand hiswatchfulness. Allan Lamb cracked 102 not out as well, as Englandeased home by 189 runs.Other birthdays
1920 Anwar Hussain (Pakistan)
1936 Venkataraman Subramanya (India)

The West Indies Cricket Board has re-scheduled the outstanding fixture between West Indies B and India A in the Carib Beer 2003 Cricket Series, as well as the semi-finals and final.The first round match between West Indies-B and India-A that had been postponed because of the visitors’ late arrival in the Caribbean will now be played at Kensington Oval, starting on Friday."The WICB did not feel it was fair for India-A to forfeit the points for missing the first round match and, now that they have a chance to make it in to the semi-finals for the Carib Beer International Challenge Trophy, we had to shift our dates around," remarked Michael Hall, the Chief Cricket Development Officer of the WICB.The staging of the West Indies B/India A fixture means that the semi-finals and final of the Carib Beer International Challenge will be delayed by one week. They semi-finals will now start on March 28 and the final on April 4.Meanwhile, the WICB has confirmed that Mervyn Jones and Dalton Holder will umpire the West Indies B/India A fixture with Halley Moore, the reserve umpire.

The decision by the International Cricket Council not to reschedule England’s cancelled fixture against Zimbabwe has had further repercussions in that English umpires Peter Willey and Neil Mallender have expressed doubts about going to Bulawayo to officiate in the matches there and have been replaced by the ICC.Based on the evidence presented to the ICC by the England and Wales Cricket Board, Willey and Mallender had concerns about their safety if fulfilling appointments in Zimbabwe.Willey was due to partner Dave Orchard in the Zimbabwe versus Australia match in Bulawayo on Monday, 24th February, with Mallender as third umpire. Willey was also to be third umpire for the Zimbawe against the Netherlands game, also in Bulawayo, four days later.Billy Bowden of New Zealand will replace Willey for the Australia match, while Nadeem Ghouri of Pakistan stands in for the Dutch game. Mallender will be replaced by Brian Jerling of South Africa.In announcing the changes, ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed said: "Both umpires had separately advised the ICC that if the ECB did not send its team to Harare, they would be reluctant to fulfil their appointments in Bulawayo."Since the cancellation of the England match, they have reconfirmed their decisions that they do not want to stand in Zimbabwe."Willey said: "I advised the ICC some time ago of my concerns and indicated that if my employer, the ECB, did not send its team to Zimbabwe, I would be unlikely to travel to the country."Willey has always been regarded as one of the hard men of the game. Most of his international cricket was played against the might of the West Indies when they were at the peak of their powers because it was known that he would not flinch against their battery of fast bowlers. He is also regarded as one of the best umpires around but refused to allow his name to be put forward for the ICC Elite Panel because he did not want all the travel and time away from home that such an appointment would involve.Both Willey and Mallender will complete their other scheduled appointments. Willey is third umpire for the South Africa v Sri Lanka match in Durban on 3rd March, while Mallender will act as third umpire for the Australia v Namibia game in Potchefstroom on 27th February. He will also stand with Asoka de Silva in the Kenya v Bangladesh game at The Wanderers in Johannesburg on 1st March.

Funny about that.Trevor Chappell came to New Zealand yesterday. No devilish horns protruding from his close-cropped grey hair. No horned tail curled up inside his smart slacks. Not a sign of a cloven hoof.Here was the man whom New Zealanders vested with yellow-shirted infamy on February 1, 1981 after he finished a one-day win for Australia over New Zealand by six runs at the MCG by bowling the last ball underarm.Now Chappell, every bit the journeyman cricketer, has returned for a longish stay in New Zealand as coach of the Bangladesh side which will play first-class matches at Wanganui and Auckland and Tests at Hamilton and Wellington.No place for him to hide, to live down the endless procession of shock-horror dissertations by every Australian cricket after-dinner speaker who has visited New Zealand in the last 20 years.Chappell, who has played cricket for South Australia, Western Australia, New South Wales, and coached in Sri Lanka and now in Bangladesh, has been in New Zealand since 1981, to play in benefit matches for Bruce Edgar (102 not out on THAT day) and Gavin Larsen.He promises not to talk about the under-arm incident while here, and would probably prefer that everyone else dropped the cone of silence on that boring-boring piece of cricketing history.

The South Australian Cricket Association (SACA) has announced the South Australian team to compete in the Under-17 Youth Championships in Perth from January 3 to 14.Captain of the side is 16 year old James Harford, who was a team member in the Under-19 Championships recently held in Canberra. James scored three half centuries in six innings during the Under-19 carnival.Ten out of the thirteen players selected were members of the SA team which won the Under-15 National Championships in 2001.The South Australian Under-17 team is:

James Harford (c – Kensington)
John Pratt (vc – Prospect)
Paul Allegreto (Kensington)
Adam Carey (Southern Districts)
Chad Harper (Sturt)
Shannon Hurn (Northern Districts)
Tom Kurzel (Prospect)
Phillip Maddocks (Adelaide)
Logan Pastyn (West Torrens)
Gary Putland (Southern Districts)
Simon Roberts (Southern Districts)
Chadd Sayers (Woodville)
Simon Wiese (West Torrens)

Coastal “B” and Inland “B” teams to play at Pietermaritzburg, Collegians Club, 12 to 14 October (3-day) and 15 October (1-day) starting at 09:30.

COASTAL “B” TEAMS(3-day Team) (1-day Team)1. Mark Sanders 1. Mark Sanders2. Rivash Gobind 2. Rivash Gobind3. Derrin Bassage (WKR) 3. Derrin Bassage (WKR)4. Hashim Amla (Capt) 4. Hashim Amla (Capt)5. Warren Hauptfleisch 5. Kyle Bender6. Victor Xulu 6. Victor Xulu7. Ross Veenstra 7. Desigan Reddy8. Desigan Reddy 8. Ross Veenstra9. Rob McQueen 9. Keith Ingram10. Keith Ingram 10. Logan Pillay11. Logan Pillay 11. Lucky Dladla12. Lucky Dladla (12th Man) 12. Yadeen Singh (12th Man)Coach: Yashin EbrahimManager: PHil RussellINLAND “B” TEAM1. James Buller2. Mehmood Badat (WKR)3. Murray Hampson (Capt)4. Tahir Essack5. Philip Landman6. John Anderson7. Lenny Adendorff8. Devlin Samanathan9. Sachin Durasamy10. Murray-Cole-Edwards11. Mondli Ndlovu12. Sifiso ZuluCoach: Bruce Roberts

SYDNEY, Nov 5 AAP – New South Wales has turned to its contingent of Clark(e)s to fill the gaps for the Pura Cup cricket match against Victoria starting in Melbourne on Thursday.With Test trio Mark Waugh, Glenn McGrath and Brett Lee unavailable and wicketkeeper Brad Haddin back from a thumb injury, the selectors made four changes to the team which beat South Australia in three days at the SCG last week.Recalled alongside Haddin, who replaces Nathan Pilon, were paceman Don Nash, batsman Michael Clarke and off-spinner Anthony Clark.To make the scorers’ job even more difficult, fast bowler Stuart Clark will almost certainly be promoted to the starting XI after being 12th man against South Australia.The Clark(e) contingent have played together on only one previous occasion, in a drawn Pura Cup match against Victoria at the SCG last summer.Anthony Clark, who took six wickets at 47.66 in his opening season of first class cricket last summer, has already bagged a couple of five-wicket hauls in club cricket during the current campaign.His return of 5-109 for Fairfield against Bankstown last Saturday included the prized wicket of Australian captain Steve Waugh, who he bowled for 84.”I’ve worked pretty hard on my fitness and just hope to work on what I’ve started on last year and get a few more games this year,” Anthony Clark said.One of the vacant bowling spots seems certain to go to Stuart Clark, who took 5-64 against Tasmania but was relegated to drinks waiter against South Australia to accommodate Lee and Nathan Bracken.Depending on the Punt Rd wicket, the 12th man position would appear to rest between Anthony Clark and his Fairfield clubmate Nash, who was dropped for the last Pura Cup match.Victoria called up rising leg-spinner Cameron White to replace Shane Warne, who’s absent on Test duty.White, 18, made an impressive first-class debut against the Blues last season including a haul of 4-65.”I think that last year’s experience was very important for me, particularly the game at the SCG and I’m looking to build on those performances,” he said.White, who has just returned from a tour of New Zealand with the Commonwealth Bank Academy team, also said the recent chance to train with Warne had been a great learning experience.The Victorian selectors could not consider skipper Paul Reiffel, who had yet to recover from a back injury.Victoria has made a wretched start to the domestic season.It props up the Pura Cup table after two rounds and has also lost all four of its ING Cup matches.NSW is in second place on the Pura Cup table behind Queensland.Teams:Victoria: Matthew Elliott (capt), Jason Arnberger, Brad Hodge, Matthew Mott, Michael Klinger, Ian Harvey, Darren Berry, Colin Miller, Damien Fleming, Mathew Inness, Michael Lewis, Cameron White (12th man to be named).NSW: Shane Lee (capt), Michael Slater, Greg Mail, Michael Bevan, Mark Higgs, Michael Clarke, Brad Haddin, Anthony Clark, Nathan Bracken, Stuart MacGill, Stuart Clark, Don Nash (12th man to be named).

Somerset youngster Gareth Andrew made a dream debut for the Sabres in their opening match of the season at the County Ground in Taunton, but despite his impressive performances with both bat and ball his side still went down to Durham Dynamos by seven wickets.After Saturday’s victory over the same opposition in the county championship, this result will be a bitter disappointment to the Cidermen, who were without the strike force of Richard Johnson and Nixon McLean, who were both being rested in readiness for the game at Derbyshire on Wednesday, because of minor injuries.All rounder Keith Dutch was selected along with debutant Andrew, and Steffan Jones and Keith Parsons were both recalled to the team.With the weather threatening from the start it was no surprise that when Durham won the toss they elected to field first.The Sabres innings got off to a bad start when they lost Mike Burns with the score on 4 when he was bowled by South African Dewald Pretorius who was making his Durham debut.Marcus Trescothick and Jamie Cox took the Sabres onto 71 before Cox was out for 19 in the 13th over, followed shortly afterwards by James Bryant who failed to score.Parson received a warm welcome when he went out to the wicket and batted confidently for his 35 runs,before he was caught by Danny Law off Vince Wells.Trescothick was once again showing just what a talented player he is and delighting the crowd with an array of attacking shots, until he chanced his arm once too often and was caught by Michael Gough off Wells for 74.When Andrew went out to bat Somerset had slipped to 183 for 7 and looked in danger of being bowled out cheaply, but the young man had other ideas. He got off the mark with a leg glance to the boundary off Indian Test star Javagal Srinath, and from that moment he looked very much at home in the big arena.Along with Keith Dutch the young all rounder added 35 for the eighth wicket before he was caught by Gary Pratt at mid on from the bowling of Pretorious for 22.Dutch brought some late cheer to Sabres fans before he became another of Pretoroius for a hard hit 39, and by the end of the innings Somerset had moved onto 233 for 9.For the visitors Pretorious took 4 for 31 from his 9 over spell.The Durham reply seemed to be going along steadily enough until in the sixth over Andrew, who opened the bowling from the Old Pavilion End tempeted Gough to edge a catch to wicket keeper Turner, to claim his first wicket in the game at this level.Better was to follow when in the same over Vince Wells gave a hard chance to Trescothick at slip where the England man made no mistake. The youngster from Glastonbury had taken two wickets in one over and the ground was buzzing.More wickets could have so easily followed but it just wasn’t to be. A couple of chances went down, and by the time the players left the field because of the rain Durham had recovered to 112 for 2.When the player returned with a revised total of 215 to chase the visitors made no mistake, and thanks to a third wicket stand of 164 between Gary Pratt ( 101 not out) and Nicky Peng they reached their target for the loss of three wickets with 8 overs to spare.After the game Gareth Andrew told me: “I never dreamt that my debut would be as good as this. It just couldn’t have been better, it was just ideal. I felt nervous when I went out to bat and nothing can prepare you for that, but once I got off the mark a lot of positivity went through me. I felt even more nervous when I started my opening spell with the new ball, but once I got my first wicket I felt fine. Today was a dream debut for me.”

Hamilton’s long-awaited lights at WestpacTrust Park are about to become a reality.The first of the new lights which will allow day/night international cricket to be played in Hamilton was expected to be in place late this afternoon.Town planning consent for the move finally allowed the installation of the lights at a cost in excess of $1 million.Four light standards 50m in height are being placed at the ground. Two of the lights will produce 68 lumieres while the other two will produce 79 and 81 respectively.The lights will be first used on November 8 when trans-Tasman touch rugby internationals will be played at the ground.Permission has been granted for the lights to be used on 29 days each year.Hamilton is to stage a day/night game between Northern Districts and England at the start of the England tour while one of its State Shield domestic one-day matches will also be under lights.Northern Districts chief executive John Turkington said today that WestpacTrust Park had recovered well from its use as Waikato’s main rugby venue this year while renovations were done to the traditional rugby ground in the city at Rugby Park.”The pitch has been renovated and we have levelled the outfield,” he said.He saw no problems for the ground being ready for New Zealand’s first home Test against Bangladesh in Hamilton, starting on December 18.

• It was the 1724th ODI in cricket history.
• It was England’s 330th and Pakistan’s 498th ODI.
• It was the 49th match between these two sides. The record now reads :Pakistan 20, England 28, abandoned one.
• John Holder and Mervyn Kitchen were officiating in their 18th and 28thmatch respectively.
• Darren Gough was playing his 50th consecutive match since the matchagainst Australia at Brisbane on 10-01-1999.He became fourthEnglishman to do so after Ian Botham (67), Graeme Hick (55) and DavidGower (50).
• Marcus Trescothick became third Englishman to be dismissed off thefirst ball of a match. Others to achieve this dubiuos distinction forEngland are Barry Roberts (b.Roberts) versus West Indies atScarborough on 26-08-1976 and Derek Randall (c.Lloyd b.Roberts) versusWest Indies at Brisbane on 23-12-1979. In addition, Graham Gooch wasalso dismissed off the first ball in England’s innings (lbw Brandes)at Albury on 18-03-1992,but that was in the second innings of thematch.
• The eighth wicket partnership of 67 runs between Ben Hollioake andDarren Gough was England’s best for this wicket against all countriesobliterating the 62 run-partnership between Darren Gough and DermotReeve against Sri Lanka at Faisalabad on 09-03-1996. This alsoequalled the record partnership for eighth wicket by any side againstPakistan. Kenya’s Deepak Chudasama and Thomas Odoyo had also added 67runs at Nairobi (Aga) on 02-10-1996. Incidentally the previous highestpartnership for England for eighth wicket against Pakistan was apaltry 29 runs between Ronnie Erani and Robert Croft at Edgbaston on31-08-1996. Just for the record,the previous highest for England foreighth wicket in England was 55 runs between John Lever and Chris Oldagainst Australia at 04-06-1977.
• Gough’s innings of 40* is the highest by an English batsman at numbernine. This obliterated Martin Bicknell’s 31* against Australia atPerth on 09-12-1990.Incidentally West Indian Michael Holding holds therecord of playing the highest innings at this position with 64 againstAustralia at Perth on 05-02-1984.
• Gough now has an aggregate of 189 runs (ave.15.75) in 18 innings whilebatting at number nine – maximum for England. He surpassed Phil deFreitas’ tally of 151 runs (ave.15.10) from 20 innings. Just for therecord, Australia’s Shane Warne has scored maximum runs at thisbatting position – 421 runs (ave 14.03) from 47 innings.
• Waqar Younis (7-36) achieved the second best bowling performance inODIs. Only Sri Lanka’s Muttiah Muralitharan with 7 for 30 againstIndia at Sharjah last year has better figures in shorter form of thegame. Waqar also bettered Aaqib Javed’s Pakistani record of bestbowling in one day internationals. Javed took seven wickets for 37runs against India at Sharjah on October 25,1991. Waqar also putWinston Davis’ seven for 51 in to shade – the previous best figures bya bowler on English soil. He also eclipsed Australia’s Garry Gilmour’ssix for 14 – the previous best figures against England. Theaccompanying table lists the best bowling figures in a one-dayinternational :

• Waqar’s figures are now the best by a captain in ODIs. The previousrecord was on the name of West Indian Viv Richards who took six for41 against India at Delhi on 23-10-1989. The following table liststhe best bowling figures by a captain in a ODI match :

• Alec Stewart, by holding four catches in Pakistani innings, created anew record of most dismissals by an English keeper against Pakistan.The previous record was of three dismissals made on seven occasions(thrice by Stewart himself).
• The two wickets in this match has taken Darren Gough’s tally ofwickets to 147 from 94 matches making him the most successful bowlerfor England. Gough eclipsed Ian Botham’s record of 145 wickets from116 matches.
• Alec Stewart conceded the match due to pitch invasion by crowd. It wasthe second instance of a side conceding the match. The only otherinstance took place more than 22 years ago when Indian captain BishanSingh Bedi called his batsmen from the field when 23 runs were neededfrom 14 balls with eight wickets in hand in protest against thepersistent short pitched bowling of Sarfraz Nawaz whose fourconsecutive bouncers were not called wide. Though the World Cup matchbetween India and Sri Lanka at Calcutta on 13-03-1996 had to beabandoned due to crowd disturbance when India was 120 for eight inreply to Sri Lanka’s 251 for eight , the match was awarded to SriLanka by default by match referee Clive Lloyd.
• The defeat in this match has extended England’s streak of consecutivelosses to 10. The defeat was also England’s fifth in consecutivematches at home soilits worst performance. England had lost fourmatches in a row from 18-06-1975 to 31-08-1976.
• Waqar Younis was winning his 14th Man of the Match awardfirstagainst England in 13 matches.