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Brett Lee is hopeful that the ankle trouble that forced him to miss the World Cup will help him play at the highest level for longer. Lee expects to be bowling within two months and hopes to play in Australia’s Twenty20 World Cup campaign in September.”Having a bit of a layoff is good for the body,” he told . “I’ve missed a little bit of time with cricket. I had 19 months when I was on the sideline carrying the drinks [in 2004-05], and now this. Although I’m 30 I still feel like I’m 27 as far as bowling age. The body still feels really young.”Lee injured his ankle while training during the Chappell-Hadlee Series in New Zealand in February and underwent surgery to remove bone fragments and scar tissue from his ankle and have his ligaments reattached. “The ankle’s good – it’s been about three weeks since the operation now and it’s full steam ahead,” Lee said in .”I’m back doing cardio work, I’m not back running as yet, that will be early next month. In July, I should be back bowling. There’s no reason why I won’t be playing the next match Australia does.”With the cancellation of the Zimbabwe tour, Australia’s next engagement is the Twenty20 competition in South Africa. It is hardly the World Cup, but Lee will simply be glad to be back on the field after a frustrating few months.”Initially it took me a while to get over the disappointment of missing the World Cup,” Lee told . “Once I pushed that aside, I definitely know that this is going to help me long-term. I see it putting another year and a half hopefully on my career. It gives a chance for my muscles and bones to relax and get a bit of time off. I want to be the fittest I’ve ever been, and there’s no reason why I can’t be.”

The D’Artagnan of world cricket is the apt phrase employed by former New Zealand captain Walter Hadlee to describe the renowned English batsman Denis Compton, whose life’s innings has ended at 78.Hadlee first crossed swords of willow with Compton 60 years ago, and the association was resumed on New Zealand’s memorable 1949 tour and twice on English team visits here. “It was almost impossible to set a field for Denis Compton,” said Hadlee. “I found I could set tight fields for Hutton, Washbrook, and Edrich, but Denis confounded us because he was so innovative. He would shape up towards cover, and then sweep the ball to fine leg. He was a delight to be on the field with, and we were always sorry to get him out.”Compton was the first of the post-war sports stars, and his brilliant batting for Middlesex and England did much to restore public spirits ravaged by the global conflict. In his golden summer, 1947, he made 3800 runs, including 18 centuries, and shared many big partnerships with Bill Edrich. “The wonder of it is that he scored all those runs with just one bat,” said Hadlee. “I have seen that bat, and there were no marks down the edges – just criss-cross marks across the face.”For all his fluency of stroke, Compton had one flaw as a batsman – he was a poor runner between the wickets. In fact, when he called for a run it was usually the basis for negotiation,according to a county colleague. “He might well have been the originator of the ‘yes-no-come-wait-sorry’ call,” chuckled Hadlee. There is a story that Denis ran out his brother Leslie in the latter’s benefit match.Compton was also inclined to be forgetful. In 1949 he arrived at the Oval for the fourth Test and discovered he was minus his cricket boots. So he fielded in sandshoes. Experienced Canterbury left-arm spinner Tom Burtt claimed Compton’s wicket five times, but, as Hadlee recalled, “after he got 100 anyone could get him.”He was England’s youngest cap when he was chosen for his Test debut, against New Zealand, in the third 1937 match at the Oval. Although only 19, he batted with assurance and was unlucky to be dismissed on 65.”Joe Hardstaff, batting at the other end, drove a ball which glanced off Giff Vivian’s fingers and on to the stumps,” said Hadlee. “Compton, backing up, was caught out of his crease.”The exceptional Englishman scored centuries in both the first and second Tests against New Zealand in 1949, plus a scintillating 148 for Middlesex against the tourists. Twice he played Tests on Lancaster Park, one in 1947 and the other in 1951, when he scored 79, and added to his reputation for affability by cheerfully signing autographs when fielding on the boundary.In the field he was fast, with a good throw, although bad knees slowed him down later. He had a sharp eye in the slips, but could field well anywhere.A more than useful left-arm bowler, he often broke a difficult partnership with a Chinaman or a wrong’un.Walter Hadlee remembers Compton as a man forthright in his views, but nonchalant and easy-going of demeanour. “He was a very special man,” he said.

On his disappointment at getting out with a century in sight.
It was pretty hot and humid out there – it’s got to be up there with the hottest conditions I’ve ever played in – so there was a lot of fluid loss that I’d had to fight through. I’d done the hard part, so it was a bit disappointing to give it away. I guess I was caught a little in two minds, but then again, I was pleased to spend some time in the middle.On England’s early batting collapse.
It was a timely innings to a certain extent, as there was some extremely low bounce on occasions, and when that’s the case, clumps of wickets can fall at any time. But once you’re in it’s not so bad, as we proved with some useful partnerships between myself, Rikki [Clarke] and Gareth [Batty].Those conditions can be pretty exhausting. But that’s something we know we are going to face all over the world – here, in Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and Australia as well. But we’re trying to become a fitter cricket team, and if we do that, then we’ll be better prepared to cope.On keeping wicket in these conditions.
Well, I guess if you break 90 overs a day down into three sessions, then that’s not too bad – 15 overs an hour with the spinners operating as well, it isn’t a massive ask. I’m enjoying keeping to the spinners, in fact. I imagine that, come the Tests, a lot of overs are going to be bowled by Gareth and Ashley [Giles], and obviously when we’re batting we’ll see a lot of overs against us as well. It’s something we worked at, and it’s all part of the gameplan.On England’s tough fitness programme.
We tend to go to the gym every other day for weights sessions, and the pool is always there to improve your flexibility and to get your body temperature down. And then, of course, there are the ice baths … Nigel Stockill [the physiologist] has got us working hard. But we hope to be the best cricket team in the world by 2007, and as well as that, we hope to be the fittest. If we are the fittest, then we know we’re giving ourselves every chanceOn taking over the wicketkeeping duties from Alec Stewart.
Everyone knows that, whoever is to be the long-term replacement for Alec, he has to start making big runs straight away. Whether it’s at No. 6, 7 or 8, he has to be a focal allrounder – those are big shoes to fill. And from my point of view it’s going well so far. My aim in first-class cricket is to be as good as any top six batsman out there, but I’ve batted at 7 all my life and I feel comfortable there.I’ve only had two warm-up games, so it’s hard to tell whether I could be a No. 6 just yet. But I hope to develop my game to a point where, if the selectors ask me to bat at 6, I’ll be able to do a job. The Australian side sets all the standards at the moment, and with Adam Gilchrist averaging 50-plus at No. 7, I don’t think there’s any hurry to push me up the order. At the moment I aim to stay there and make big partnerships with the allrounders Flintoff, Clarke and Collingwood. That’s the structure of the side that we want.On his technique against the spinners.
My feet movement felt good today. That was something that was prevalent at the [ECB] academy. Rod Marsh had simple rules – if you can get down on your feet and take the guy on the full toss or half-volley, then do so. If not, then wait for him to drop short and then play him off the back foot, or just defend it.But with Duncan [Fletcher] there’s a very different way of playing spin, with his theories on sweeping and forward presses. These are the bits and bobs I’d like to incorporate into my game, because out here especially, the sweep is so important. You have to be quick on your feet and disrupt the bowler’s rhythm. I’ll let him talk you through it one day!

The final of the Standard Bank Cup will be between Gauteng and Easterns next week at the Wanderers. Gauteng booked their place today by passing Northerns’ total in the last over of their match at Johannesburg.PointsTableGauteng 234 for 4 (Cook 88, Bacher 96) beat Northerns 233 (de Villiers 99, Crookes 4-49) by 6 wickets
ScorecardA big crowd of nearly 8000 at the Wanderers watched as Gauteng overhauled Northerns’ total with two balls to spare, to set up a home final next week against Easterns. Gauteng’s triumph was all but sealed by a big opening stand of 176, in 32.3 overs, between Stephen Cook, who stroked 12 fours in his 88, and Adam Bacher, whose 96 included 14 spanking fours.Two wickets for Gerald Dros, and a wicket and a run-out for Justin Kemp, set Gauteng back, but they squeaked home in the final over. HD Ackerman played out two dot-balls from Alfonso Thomas, then managed a risky single to midwicket. Derek Crookes, the bowling hero earlier on with four wickets, squeezed the winning run to short third man and Gauteng were home.Earlier AB de Villiers had dominated Northerns’ innings, with 99 from 113 balls, including six fours and two mighty sixes. The next-best score was Dros’s 32. Gauteng’s experienced bowling attack kept the pressure on: David Terbrugge, the former Test fast bowler, conceded only 22 runs in his eight overs, and Crookes’s accuracy at the end meant that Northerns failed to bat out their 45 overs.

ST JOHN’S – West Indies cricket team management is ensuring its players do not fall victim to drug-testing that will be carried out during the World Cup in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya next month.Manager Ricky Skerritt said seminars had been done with the players in the past and there would be a follow-up tomorrow at the ongoing preparation camp in Antigua to sensitise the players."We have already run two workshops on [drug-testing]," Skerritt said. "One in Sri Lanka [last September] and one in India [October/November]. For most of the tour in India we had Dr Akshai Mansingh [a member of the medical panel] – and he did some ground work with the players as a follow-up."We also have in our programme this Saturday one of our medical panel doctors flying in from Jamaica to spend some more time with the guys."Skerritt said the West Indies Cricket Board had already informed the International Cricket Council about the medical condition of two players whose names were not disclosed."We have also made declaration on two players who use prescription drugs relative to certain health conditions that they have as required by the system that is in place," Skerritt said."What it means is that in the event these two players get tested and the particular test shows positive for those ingredients, it would have been declared well in advance for medical reason. That’s what the system allows and that has to do with prescription drugs."These are private medical concerns. This kind of thing will be going on in all of the teams. This is not any big mystery. But it is obviously personal medical situations."The Kittitian businessman said the game’s governing body was falling in line with international practices adopted by other world sporting authorities such as the International Olympic Committee."The ICC is making a big step on what they perceived as the need to comply with world standards. It sends a signal to us that throughout the ICC territories we are going to have to look in terms of implementing it our own local level sometime in the future."The ICC has made it clear that all future ICC tournaments will involve the Olympic-style, which is where it originated, drug-testing."Skerritt said the Windies players had no reservations about drug-testing and all the players saw it as a necessary requirement. He said they were not worried."Our players are not out to cheat. This is a step designed to prevent cheating of some kind. West Indies cricketers have not been the type of players to set about to cheat. So anything that is going to eliminate and prevent these kinds of activities, West Indies are not going to resist it," he said."We have provided the relevant information. We have tried to put it forward in ways which players understand. We had professionals explain [it] to the players. We feel that it is important. It is something new."West Indies wrap up their camp on Sunday before departing for South Africa via Barbados. They will have two warm-up matches before facing South Africa on February 9 at Newlands, Cape Town, in the tournament opener.

Middlesex supporters who braved the cold, overcast day at Southgate saw their team go down by seventeen runs to Hampshire in the Norwich Union League.At no stage did the Middlesex batsmen seemed able to settle into a substantial partnership in the face of some steady, accurate bowling.Chris Tremlett, coming on as first-change, struck with his first ball, having Andy Strauss held at mid-wicket for 12 and the second bowling change proved just as effective with James Hamblin trapping Ben Hutton leg before wicket in his first over. Middlesex were 51 for two in the 17th over.They suffered another blow eight runs later, losing Stephen Fleming for ten but Mike Roseberry and Robin Weston added 29 before the medium pace of Hamblin caused further damage.Weston skied to short mid-wicket in the 28th over, with the total on 88, a run later Simon Cook also skied, this time to mid-off, and with Roseberry caught at deep mid-wicket for 22, Middlesex were reduced to 109 for six.It was good accurate bowling from Hamblin who, playing in only his third league match, finished with four for 29 from nine overs.After top scorer Paul Weekes’ departure in the 43rd over, the end came quickly. His was the eighth wicket to fall after David Nash was run out in the previous over. Middlesex needed 26 from the last over and managed only eight.Earlier, after deciding to make first use of a wicket that was cut only about an hour or so before the start, as water had leaked under the covers on the pitch that was first intended for use, Hampshire began poorly.They lost the first wicket on 29 when Neil Johnson dabbed a ball on to his stumps and a run later Dimitri Mascarenhas went without scoring. Chad Keegan had picked up both wickets.Hampshire’s highest partnership came for the third wicket with 66 added between James Laney and Derek Kenway. They picked up the scoring rate which had fallen to the extent that after the first boundary of the innings had been struck in the first over the second didn’t come until the seventeenth.Kenway continued with his big hitting while wickets fell at the other end. After Laney’s dismissal on 96, Hampshire lost four wickets for 43 when Kenway’s lofted shot was held at deep mid-wicket. His 65 had come from 77 balls and included four boundaries and a six over long-off.The end of the Hampshire innings came rapidly with Keegan running through three wickets in the 44th over, all with the total on 164. He finished with five for 17 from eight overs, his best figures in limited overs cricket. Robin Smith remained not out with 18 as his team reached 171 for nine in the allotted 45 overs.

Garry Sobers has delivered an emotional lament on the state of West Indies cricket, attributing the decline of West Indies side to the rise of Twenty20 leagues. He made his comments in Colombo, ahead of the second Test of the Sobers-Tissera series, which he is attending.Sobers was particularly sorrowful as he reflected on what he felt was a dearth of motivation and pride in playing for West Indies, among modern players. West Indies are currently eighth on the Test ranking list, and seventh in ODIs. “My whole obligation was to West Indies cricket,” Sobers said. “As I’ve always said, I have never made a run for me. I have always played for the West Indies team and it was such a pleasure and joy to be able to do what I did. You know, records meant nothing. The team was important.”I don’t think we have that kind of person today. We might have them in different countries – we might have them in Sri Lanka, in England, in Australia – but I don’t think we have that kind of person in West Indies cricket anymore, who is quite prepared to play and give it everything for their country. And that hurts. Until we can get people who are willing to play for West Indies in the right way, I think we’re going to be struggling for a long time. Other countries are going to surpass us. “Sobers suggested that some West Indies players even focus on Test cricket only as a means to landing an IPL contract. There have been several instances of Caribbean players prioritising domestic leagues over playing for West Indies in the past few years. In January, Chris Gayle and Sunil Narine declined the retainer offered by the West Indies Cricket Board, ostensibly to remain free to play in domestic T20 tournaments.”I think T20 competitions are certainly destroying West Indies cricket, I’ll tell you that,” Sobers said. “When you look at the point of view of the players from the West Indies in particular, they come from very humble backgrounds. So if the opportunity is there for them to make money so they can help their families, then you can’t really blame them. But I think they should be able to use discretion and understand the difference. I don’t think Twenty20 will run away. I’ve always believed that Test cricket was the utmost, and if you were a cricketer, that was the sort of cricket that you’d want to play.”Sobers said that other cricket nations had maintained the primacy of international cricket much better than West Indies had. He believed, however, that the Caribbean could still produce talented cricketers who were capable of regaining some of West Indies’ former glory.”In the 1980s and 90s, West Indies were champions for about 15 years. I don’t think you’ll see that again in the history of cricket. At present we have lost a lot of that because I suppose we got too lazy. T20 cricket seems to be affecting West Indies more than any other nation. We’re all rebuilding. But some seem to be doing it faster than others. All the other countries seem to be doing it faster than the West Indies.”But I think we’ve got a lot of good players in the making, and I think they just need a bit more time. If they are handled in the right way and are given the right ingredients, I am quite sure that West Indies cricket will blossom again.”

Imran Khan, the former Pakistan captain, has blamed the country’s president, Pervez Musharraf, for Australia’s decision to postpone their tour to Pakistan. “Musharraf blindly follows the United States in the war against terror and we are paying the price,” Imran told AFP. “Because of that we are now at a stage when no one is ready to play cricket here.”Australia, who were scheduled to tour Pakistan this month for Tests and one-dayers, were unlikely to make the trip following former prime minister Benazir Bhutto’s assassination and continued violence in the country.”People feel the Australians are unjustified in pulling out, but Australia’s decision is understandable as everything that happens in Pakistan is magnified to larger proportions abroad,” Imran said. “Australians don’t live here and they don’t know that bombings are not aimed at sportsmen but terrorists’ targets are specific. No one has ever targeted sportsmen in Pakistan.”Australia haven’t visited Pakistan since 1998 and Ricky Ponting is the only member of that touring party who is currently playing. “Had they [Australia] toured it would have created a lot of interest as everyone wants to see them play here. That is gone now for at least until the tour is rescheduled.”Imran said Pakistan had come to a point where they could only host weaker opposition like Zimbabwe and Bangladesh. “Pakistan will also lose revenue by not hosting a high-profile series.”

Ricky Ponting believes Brad Hogg will play a key role when Australia take on South Africa in Wednesday’s semi-final in St Lucia. Hogg, the left-arm wrist spinner, took 4 for 29 as Australia thrashed New Zealand by 215 runs in Grenada and only Glenn McGrath (22) is ahead of Hogg’s 19 wickets in the tournament.”South Africa probably won’t play a spinner in their side,” Ponting said. “Those conditions and the way our spin bowlers are going, probably give us a bit of an edge.”Ponting also said New Zealand were fooling nobody but themselves in their attempts to downplay the defeat. Stephen Fleming tried to minimise the impact of the largest loss inflicted upon a Test nation at the World Cup, saying his side would just “wipe it off”.”I’d rather be in our dressing room than theirs,” Ponting said. “I’m sure they will be having all sorts of meetings over the next few days to talk about today’s game.”If they don’t think that’s going to affect them at all, then how is any psychological edge ever gained in any game? If we don’t take something out of today’s game, nobody ever can. We’ve just beaten New Zealand by 215 runs in a World Cup game, so they’ve got a lot of thinking to do.”Fleming said the one positive was they did not waste a good performance. “We haven’t wasted anything at all really, so we’re just going to get up, wipe it off and look forward,” he said. “Now it comes down to two games, and if we start analysing too much we won’t look forward to what is coming up – we have an opportunity to win two games for the World Cup.”Australia’s imposing total of 348 for 6, against a New Zealand side missing Shane Bond and Jacob Oram, was built around Matthew Hayden’s 103 and half-centuries for Ponting and Shane Watson.”We knew they’d have a weakened attack going into the game,” Ponting said. “We knew if we kept our partnership going we’d get a lot of bad balls.

“Our batting has been excellent and it’s getting better at the crucial part of this tour. It’s a really exciting time.”Fleming said his side was totally outplayed. “Once again, we’ve gone for more than 340,” he said. “It is a concern. It happened twice in New Zealand, and again here. If you keep going for that many runs, the flip side is at some point you are going to get bundled out cheaply.”However, Fleming is confident Bond and Oram will be back for the semi-final against Sri Lanka on Tuesday. “We are a dangerous side,” he said. “We can play like we did today, or we can play a semi-final and chase down 350. We are even more dangerous now that we have two games to win.”Asked if South Africa could beat Australia Fleming replied: “I do and that’s because it’s a one-off game. It could be the toss, Australia have a bad day or Herschelle Gibbs plays extremely well. There are so many factors in one day cricket.”

Zimbabweans 304 for 4 (Rinke 104, Taylor 80) beat Antigua & Barbuda 253 (Joseph 46, Mupariwa 3-30, Dabengwa 3-49) by 51 runs
ScorecardA hundred from Piet Rinke, who also top-scored in the tour opener, and a breezy 80 from Brendan Taylor guided the Zimbabweans to a morale-boosting 51-run win in their second warm-up against Antigua and Barbuda at Antigua’s Jolly Beach ground.Rinke, whose no-holds-barred approach made a mark in the recent series against Kenya, attacked from the off on his way to 104, and was third man out when the score was 191. If the hosts hoped that his departure would stem the flow, they found that Taylor, the side’s most experienced batsman, took up the cudgels.Faced with a daunting target, Antigua and Barbuda were given a good start by Ralton Philip and Sylvester Joseph, but both fell within two overs and thereafter the innings never regained sufficient momentum to seriously worry the Zimbabweans.Keith Dabengwa and Tawanda Mupariwa shared six wickets, and the only real concern was the poor form of strike bowler Edward Rainsford, whose four overs were hammered for 33.