The Under 23 Youth Cricket Tournament conducted by the Board of Control forCricket in Sri Lanka (BCCSL) gets underway this weekend with 20 teamscompeting for honours in the Premier Division.This time the twenty clubs will be spilt into four groups of five in thepreliminary round. Two teams from each group will qualify for thequarterfinals.The matches leading up to the quarterfinals will be two days affairs andfrom then on it will change into a three-day contest. A total number of 47matches will be played in the tournament altogether, with the finalscheduled on 26th, 27th and 28th of October at the Sinhalese Sports ClubGrounds.This year, two key players have shifted clubs. Promising batsman Ian Danielhas moved from Sinhalese Sports Club to Bloomfield Cricket and Athletic Clubwhile fast bowler Prabath Nissanka has left Matara and joined Bloomfield.The tournament features quite a few youngsters, who are pushing for placesin the national squad, including, Kaushalya Weeraratne, MuthumudaligePushpakumara, Michael Vandort and Jehan Mubarak.Bloomfield look to be one of the strongest sides with Ian Daniel, RashanPieris Prabath Nissanka and Kaushalya Lokuarachi teaming up for them.Last year Sebastianites Cricket and Athletic Club won the tournament.

Batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar says his injured toe is still troubling him while running but he expects to be back for the South African tour.”I am not in too much pain, although when I run, my foot gives trouble. So I decided to get expert advice,” Tendulkar, in Durban to consult Dr Mark Fergusson about his injury, said.Tendulkar had undergone a check up on Monday following which he was asked to undergo some tests. “Once we have conducted our tests we will prescribe treatment that will allow Tendulkar to continue to play without any problems,” Fergusson told PTI.”We are presently looking at some of the sports shoes he will have to wear,” he added.Tendulkar, who is accompanied by his Mumbai-based doctor Anant Joshi, said he was hoping to recover in time for the South Africa series in October.He said he had been referred to Fergusson by his teammates Anil Kumble and Javagal Srinath who had earlier consulted the South African specialist for their shoulder injuries and expressed satisfaction with the treatment.Tendulkar injured his right toe during the triangular one-day series in Zimbabwe and had to miss the ongoing tour of Sri Lanka.

Derbyshire ended an eight-match losing streak when they beat Lancashire by six wickets to end a grim season on a winning note.Chris Bassano took Derbyshire past Lancashire’s 159-5 when he hit the second ball of the last over from Glen Chapple over extra cover for four.Lancashire’s total looked a formidable one in a match reduced to 25 overs a side by overnight rain which delayed the start by two-and-a-half hours.Tim Roberts, playing in only his second National League game, made a high-class half-century from only 41 balls while Joe Scuderi hit an unbeaten 50.Derbyshire lost Steve Stubbings in the first over but Michael Di Venuto and Steve Selwood put the home side in charge with a stand of 82 in 11 overs.Di Venuto raced to 50 off only 39 balls and Selwood hit 33 from 30 balls before he hit a full toss back to Chris Schofield.Di Venuto was then bowled as he moved out to whip Schofield through mid-wicket and when Mathew Dowman fell in the leg spinner’s next over, Derbyshire had slipped from 91-1 to 117-4.But Bassano and Nathan Dumelow made sure they did not throw the game away and Derbyshire were given a helping hand when James Anderson started the penultimate over with three wides.With only two needed from the last over, Bassano settled the match in style but Derbyshire’s fourth victory of the season could not take them off the bottom of Division Two.

National League continued in Bulawayo over the weekend, but it was not a good day for the Bulawayo sides which both lost to the visitors. At Queens the home side lost to Kwekwe by 82 runs, while Macdonald Club lost to Universals by 33 runs.Queens upon winning the toss sent Kwekwe in to bat, and a solid 70 off 93 balls from former international player Dirk Viljoen and a 74-run partnership with former national captain and coach Dave Houghton saw Kwekwe finish on 240-8 in their allotted 50 overs. `Pommie’ Mbangwa was the pick of the local attack with four wickets for 30 runs.Chasing 241 to win at 4.4 runs per over, Queens after losing two early wickets never looked like causing an upset. Former provincial player Neil Van Rensburg was top scorer with 48 runs.Universals scored 294 for eight against Mac Club in their 50 overs due mainly to a superb innings from young Blessing Mahwire who in a most delightful innings narrowly missed a well-deserved century by 6 runs. Mahwire’s innings showed potential in that he is one of a very select band of players who is prepared to use his feet and hit in the so-called V, straight, which eliminates any chance of mishits and is not easy to contain, as young off-spinner Steve Brown found out.In reply Mac Club only managed 269 for nine, with Wisdom Siziba scoring a fluent 55, a most encouraging knock from one of the latest players to graduate from the Academy.Players in Matabeleland are also aware that the names of the Matabeleland Logan Cup squad are due to be announced shortly and are hoping early-season performances will catch the eye of the selectors.

Fans at today’s First Test match between Australia and New Zealand willbe entitled to either exchange their ticket or seek a full refundfollowing the washout of the third day.As less than 25 overs were played before the umpires decided to abandonthe match at 4.15pm, the Australian Cricket Board’s Refund Policy willapply.Holders of Ticketmaster7 tickets can exchange their ticket at the gateeither tomorrow or Monday for the remaining two days of the Test matchor seek to exchange their ticket for the VB Series One DayInternationals at the Gabba in January.Alternatively, they may seek a full refund. If they purchased theirticket at a Ticketmaster7 outlet, they should return to the outlet wherethey bought the ticket to arrange their refund.For those who purchased tickets by phone/fax/internet or at the groundtoday, they should mail the ticket and their contact details toTicketmaster7, PO Box 762G, Melbourne, 3001 within 30 days of the match.For any inquiries, contact Ticketmaster7 on 1300 13 61 22 or check theofficial ACB website – www.baggygreen.com.auYou can also view the ACB’s national refund policy here.

Cheltenham and Gloucester man-of-the-match winner Keith Parsons is back in light training.The local hero, who played a major part in helping the Cidermen win their first silverware for 18 years, reported back to the Chesterfield Hospital in Bristol recently to see the surgeon who carried out the operation on his knee back in October.Keith told me: “They were pleased with the way that things are going and they have taken my crutches away. I’m walking now and I can also go cycling and swimming, but it’s going to be a slow process and I won’t get back running until February.”Everything is progressing quicker than they first thought, and I’m happy to report that I am back in light training and have been down to the gym tonight.”I’m sure that all Somerset supporters will be hoping that Keith is back to full fitness in time for the start of the 2002 season in April.

Despite an earlier announcement, CLEAR Black Caps Nathan Astle, Craig McMillan and Chris Cairns will be unavailable for Monday’s round of the State Championship.Canterbury are to play Northern Districts in Gisborne. The replacements for the trio in the in the travelling 13 are Robbie Frew and Shanan Stewart.The full team is: Gary Stead (captain), Jarrod Englefield, Michael Papps, Aaron Redmond, Chris Harris, Gareth Hopkins, Wade Cornelius, Paul Wiseman, Warren Wisneski, Shane Bond, Chris Martin, Shanan Stewart, Robbie Frew.

Andhra Pradesh bowled Hyderabad out for 180 in their first innings, forcing them to follow on in their Ranji Trophy league match at Secunderabad on Thursday.Overnight on 55/1, Hyderabad lost wickets at regular intervals, and none of the batsmen could convert a start into a significant score. A Nand Kishore, at the top of the order, was the top-scorer, making 54 patiently off 208 balls. He was the seventh wicket to fall, with the score on 135, and only Jogram Shivaji Yadav lower down the order contributed further, making a brisk 36.Hyderabad did not do much better following on. At the close of play, they were on 68/2, with Nand Kishore unbeaten on 34 off 111. He was accompanied by Vanka Pratap, unbeaten on 12 at stumps.

Opener Sohail Idrees struck a fine 154 Tuesday as Lahore Blues put ona big second innings total against Islamabad on the third day of theirQuaid-e-Azam Trophy match at the KRL Stadium.Lahore finished the day on 382 for eight and are likely to bat on forsometime Wednesday morning in order to give Islamabad a difficulttarget to chase on the last day. The home side has a first inningslead of 64.The Islamabad bowlers toiled on a pitch helping the batsmen andLahore’s Sohail made full use of the conditions to crack 15 fours anda six in his 239-ball innings. Along with his skipper Bazid Khan whoscored 88, he was involved in a 189-run partnership for the thirdwicket.Sohail’s marathon knock was finally ended by pacer Rauf Akbar, whofinished the day with five for 63. He also put the brakes on Bazidwhose 88 from 150 deliveries had nine fours. Ali Naqvi had three for98.Meanwhile controversy gripped the match when play ended as the Lahoremanager Hafeez-ur-Rehman complained to the referee Rizwan Khateeb thatone of the groundsmen had dug up a bit of the pitch as covers werebeing brought on. But in actual fact it was Lahore’s Humayun Farhatwho while batting did the damage in the danger area which led to hebeing ordered by umpire Sadiq Mohammad to have his spikes changed.The move of the Lahore manager of wrongly blaming the groundsman tocover up a wrong of one of his players upset the Islamabad officials.They felt that the damage done was intentional and calls for a highlevel probe. They even threatened not to bat Wednesday.

Kicking off their Deodhar Trophy campaign on the right foot, North Zone beat West Zone by an eight-wicket margin at Amritsar, overhauling a target of 182 in just 44.2 overs.Winning the toss, West skipper Jacob Martin opted to bat. The openers put on 42 runs for the first wicket, but apart from one, none of the other batsmen, including Martin himself, could contribute significantly with the bat. West Zone collapsed to 181 all out in 45 overs, hit largely by Delhi bowler Amit Bhandari’s figures of 4-29.The exception in West’s batting line-up was Hrishikesh Kanitkar. Batting as well as he could amidst the ruins, Kanitkar made 73 off 95 balls, hitting four fours and two sixes in the process. His was the eighth wicket to fall, and West Zone tailenders added only 11 more runs after Kanitkar’s dismissal.Gautam Gambhir has come off a fine double century against the visiting Zimbabwe team, but he must be wondering what he has to do to make it into the national team. His knock of 45, however, was as even-tempered as ever, coming off 62 balls and featuring four fours.Gambhir fell with the score on 94, and Dinesh Mongia followed him back into the hut 20 runs later. But opener Manish Sharma took the support of Mithun Manhas to hit an unbeaten 99 off 146 balls, striking nine fours and two sixes. He tragically missed out on a century, but his innings was pivotal in taking North to its target in fine style.