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Fitzroy Doncaster’s batting star, David Plumpton has been named in a 13 man squad to contest the Bushrangers first ING Cup match of the season against the Southern Redbacks in Adelaide this Saturday.Plumpton, 25, was ecstatic with his selection. “Initially being awarded a playing contract was exciting enough, but I guess you then turn your attention to gaining selection. To be considered so early in the season is a bonus and if I make the twelve for Adelaide, hopefully I can really help the side get off to a winning start in the ING Cup competition”.The elegant right hander was last season selected in the Victorian Premier Cricket “Team of the Season” and played a major role in Fitzroy Doncaster’s premiership success, scoring 957 runs with a top score of 170.Joining Plumpton in the squad are Richmond paceman Ian Hewett and Melbourne’s batting all-rounder, Andrew McDonald. Jason Arnberger and Will Carr will return from Adelaide at the conclusion of the current Pura Cup match.BUSHRANGERSMatthew Elliott (c), Darren Berry, Ian Harvey, Shane Harwood, Ian Hewett, Brad Hodge, Mathew Inness, Nick Jewell, Michael Lewis, Andrew McDonald, David Plumpton, Graeme Rummans, Cameron White (one to be omitted)

1955-56
Pakistan won the first Test between the two countries, the matting pitch in Karachi and Zulfiqar Ahmed’s 11 for 79 proving too much for the tourists. Back on turf in Lahore, Pakistan wrapped up the series with a remarkable comeback, recovering from 111 for 6 to make 561 on their first innings. Waqar Hassan (189) and Imtiaz Ahmed (209 batting at No. 8) added 308 for the seventh wicket, but set 117 to win, they scraped home by four wickets with 18 minutes to spare. The third Test was blighted by rain.
Pakistan 2 New Zealand 0 Drawn 11964-65
Pakistan’s first series in New Zealand produced three fairly unmemorable matches. In Wellington, Pakistan were 64 for 6 after being set 259 in 188 minutes before Asif Iqbal dug in and secured a draw. Auckland was a turgid, low -scoring affair, summed up by the fact there were 71 maidens on the first day. Rain blighted the Christchurch Test where New Zealand closed on 223 for 5 chasing 314 in four hours.
New Zealand 0 Pakistan 0 Drawn 31964-65
Given what had happened a few months earlier, New Zealand’s visit in the middle of a tour of India was hardly the subject of keen anticipation, but the home support were left happy. Pakistan opened with an innings win in Rawalpindi, Pervez Sajjad returning 8 for 47. Hanid Mohammad’s 203 blunted the New Zealand attack after they had stuck Pakistan in on a rain-affected pitch, and in the final Test hundreds from Saeed Ahmed and Mohammad Ilyas steered Pakistan to an eight-wicket win.
Pakistan 2 New Zealand 0 Drawn 11969-70
A strong New Zealand side came away with a 1-0 win, their first away series success. Pakistan had the better of the opening game, Mohammad Nazir taking 7 for 99 on his debut, and New Zealand shut up shop after being reduced to 11 for 3 chasing 230 in three-and-a-quarter hours. The only positive result came in a low-scoring game in Lahore where New Zealand won by five wickets. In Dacca, Pakistan looked set to level the series when New Zealand, 17 behind on the first innings, slipped to 101 for 8. But Mark Burgess (119*) and Bob Cunis added 96 for the ninth wicket. That left Pakistan needing 184 in two-and-a-half hours, and when bad light stopped play they were 51 for 4. Any chance of a resumption was scuppered by crowd disturbances.
Pakistan 0 New Zealand 1 Drawn 21972-73
Pakistan gained revenge back in New Zealand, some solace immediately after a 3-0 loss in Australia. In the first and third Tests the bat dominated, but in Dunedin New Zealand were twice bowled out cheaply, Intikhab Alam taking 11 for 130, after Mushtaq Mohammad’s double hundred.
New Zealand 0 Pakistan 1 Drawn 21976-77
Pakistan’s formidable batting was the basis of their big wins in the first two Tests. In Lahore it was Asif Iqbal (166) and Javed Miandad (163 on debut) who dominated, and then in Hyderabad Sadiq and Mushtaq Mohammad both made first-innings hundreds. Miandad, who finished the series with 504 runs at 126.00, scored a double hundred in the Karachi Test as Pakistan made 565 for 9, but for the once New Zealand’s reply was equal to it.
Pakistan 2 New Zealand 0 Drawn 11978-79
Pakistan fielded a weakened side in Christchurch – four regulars were playing in World Series Cricket – where they recovered from a small first-innings deficit to win by 128 runs. Miandad started the fightback with 160 and then Mushtaq Mohammed (5 for 59) and Wasim Raja (4 for 68) bowled the home side out for 176. There was nothing between the sides in a dull draw in Napier, and in Auckland, New Zealand did well to salvage a draw but were never in with a chance of levelling the series. Wasim Bari caught seven of the first eight wickets to fall in New Zealand’s first innings to create a new Test record.
New Zealand 0 Pakistan 1 Drawn 2

The Kent Cricket Board today announced the appointment of Jamie Clifford as Director of Cricket Development in succession to Bill Dover who retired at the end of May.Jamie, 26, will take up the post on 1 July. He is currently Marketing Manager for Wisden Online and before that held posts with World Challenge Expeditions, the youth development and educational travel specialists. In 1994/5 he held a Short Service Limited Commission with the Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment. Jamie was educated at St Lawrence College, Ramsgate before graduating from Wye College.Commenting on his appointment, he said:
“My deep love of cricket was developed and nurtured in Kent; so I am delighted to have been offered this fantastic opportunity to contribute to the future of cricket in the county I have supported all my life.”Chairman of the Kent Cricket Board, Chris Swadkin, added:
“We are delighted that Jamie has accepted the job. We are sure that he will prove to be energetic and innovative in his approach. There is a great deal to be done within the recreational game in Kent. The Board has a clear plan and much looks forward to working with Jamie and his team to help raise the profile of the game of cricket throughout the county.”

Steve Waugh’s career with the Kent Spitfires took off in style at Canterbury, as Leicestershire Foxes’ 168, which looked competitive when Kent were 52 for four, was passed with two balls to spare. Waugh kept the Spitfires’ title hopes alive with an unbeaten 59 towards a five-wicket win in the last over, which takes them into undisputed third place behind the leaders, Worcestershire Royals, and Glamorgan Dragons. Waugh added 72 for the sixth wicket with Paul Nixon (33*) to secure the victory. Martin Saggers was Kent’s top bowler, with three for 22 off his nine overs, while Min Patel (two for 34), Mark Ealham and Matthew Fleming all gave good support. Neil Burns (35) was the top scorer in an off-colour performance by the Foxes.In Division Two, Surrey Lions kept a grip on their promotion hopes with a 70-run win over Hampshire Hawks. Adam Hollioake was hunter-in-chief under a moonlit night at the AMP Oval, with 32 and five for 43 as the Hawks were unable to clear the lower plains of the division. The Lions’ healthy 262 was built around Ian Ward (38), Ali Brown (49), Mark Ramprakash (50) and Scott Newman (37). Dimitri Mascarenhas (four for 45) and Neil Johnson (three for 42) were the main wicket-takers for the Hawks, whose reply never got much above ground level after Tim Murtagh bowled Johnson for 44. Mushtaq Ahmed was particularly predatory for the Lions, with one for 19 off nine overs as the Hawks were picked off like sitting ducks.

Play did not start until 3.15 at The Rose Bowl where Hampshire, resuming from their overnight 245-8, still needed 34 more runs to avoid being asked to follow on.James Hamblin and Chris Tremlett extended their ninth wicket partnership to 52 before Hamblin was adjudged lbw to DeFreitas, two short of a maiden half-century. Chris Tremlett and Alan Mullally crept towards the requested figure before, in what could only be described as a mental aberration, Tremlett drove the ball to Carl Crowe at mid-wicket only to see Mullally attempting a run. Sent back, the former Leicestershire fast bowler was yards out, and Hampshire were all out just six runs short of the follow-on target.Derek Kenway fell early in Hampshire’s second innings, as he edged Dagnall to the wicket-keeper, but Kendall and Crawley held the innings together for 60 runs before Crawley edged spinner Carl Crowe to Neil Burns, possibly a vital wicket for the visitors. Kendall and night-watchman James Hamblin safely negotiated the final overs.With a 74-run deficit, Hampshire will be looking to bat throughout the day to save the game, but with heavy showers forecast, they may be helped along the way. Defeat would give Leicestershire the honour of being the first visiting side to record a victory at the Rose Bowl in the Championship.

On a day when rain washed out most of the Norwich Union League programme, Glamorgan Dragons and Kent Spitfires managed to at least get in a 23 overs-a-side match in Cardiff and, furthermore, a thrilling encounter ended in a tie. James Tredwell was run out off the last ball going for the second that would have given the Spitfires victory after James Golding had managed the one run that brought the scores level.The Spitfires looked as if they would be performing a victory role going into the last over needing 6 to win with four wickets in hand. That was before Adrian Dale shot them down in flames by taking two wickets in three balls to leave them needing two runs off the last. They got one to Robert Croft at long-off, but his throw to the bowler’s end was straight and true and the first tie of the season had been achieved.It was not until 4 o’clock that play got under way with Matthew Fleming winning the toss for the Spitfires and deciding to invite the Dragons to take first use of the pitch. When the fall of wickets do not really matter in as much that a side is unlikely to be bowled out in such a short span of overs, the batsmen have license to play expansive strokes and that is exactly what was seen in the first innings.Croft set the tone, taking 23 from 13 balls, while his opening partner, David Hemp, reached 39 from 37 balls. Just to illustrate that it is unnecessary to smash everything to reach a decent scoring rate, there were only two fours and a single six in Hemp’s innings. Nevertheless, 33 runs were scored in the first three overs.Darren Thomas ensured that the closing overs would not go to waste either, finishing on 28 not out, and the Dragons would have no doubt been pleased with a batting performance that set Kent nearly seven an over if they were going to be successful.The Spitfires’ innings took off rather more slowly than that of the home side as Fleming and Robert Key put on 32 for the first wicket in six overs. It was not until Andrew Symonds joined Key in a third wicket partnership that produced 50 runs at better than a run a ball that things really started moving.Symonds made 32 from 21 balls with just one four and a towering six over mid-wicket before Thomas returned to the attack to have him caught at long-on. That left the onus on Key, who reached his fifty but fell three balls later, lbw to Croft.Mark Ealham is renowned for his one-day abilities and did not disappoint with 24 from 25 balls until he became the second of Dale’s wickets in the final over, setting the scene for the drama of the final ball.

Australia’s chances of recording a history-making seventh successive Ashes series victory over England received a major boost today when any lingering doubts over the fitness of pace bowlers Brett Lee and Jason Gillespie were dispelled. In respective tests ahead of the tour – which begins next month – both proved their readiness for the campaign by emerging unscathed from rigorous individual fitness sessions before a range of team officials at the Sydney Cricket Ground.The news represents a particularly heartening development for Australia, which will rely heavily on its fast bowling contingent during its three-month long visit to English shores. Having been forced to make do without an injured Lee on its way to a 2-1 Test series loss in India – its first series loss for eighteen months – the prospect of leaving him at home again would have represented an especially grievous blow. The New South Wales speedster, who has legitimate claims to being the fastest bowler in the world at present, has been edging his way back to full fitness after undergoing surgery to correct damage sustained to his right elbow in a one-day international match against Zimbabwe in early February.Gillespie, meanwhile, has been absent from the Australian line-up for long intervals over the last four years. He was a lionhearted performer in India and also played a major role in the preceding 5-0 whitewash of West Indies but has battled a succession of injuries around those two series. His latest came during the closing stages of the tour of India; stress reactions in his left foot forcing him to endure close to two months of general rest and recovery.Along with Glenn McGrath, Lee and Gillespie potentially form the most destructive pace bowling trio in world cricket. But circumstances have contrived to ensure that the three have only come together in the same Test eleven once – in Perth in December when, by no mere coincidence, their team powered its way to a crushing innings victory.Gillespie will now assume his place in the fourteen-man party selected to play in the NatWest Series of one-day international matches against England and Pakistan that begins on 7 June. Lee, for his part, will fly out of Australia on 18 June, joining Gillespie and fifteen other of his countrymen in readiness for the series of five Tests against England that commences on 5 July.

New Zealand’s hopes of forcing a result in their favour in the third National Bank Series Test with England at Eden Park will depend on how many more first innings runs they can score.With only 54 overs bowled on a rain and light-reduced first day, New Zealand are staring humiliation in the face at 151/5.It will be up to the unlikely combination of Chris Harris, playing his first Test in three years, and as a batsman, and Adam Parore playing his last to pick up as many runs as possible whether in skirmishes while in retreat, or in glorious assault.The former seems more likely considering the hold England’s bowlers have had on the early stages of the game after being given first use of a spicy pitch and being aided by some technically poor New Zealand top-order batting.But Harris, 55 not out out, and Parore, 19 not out, have added 65 runs for the sixth wicket and there is a hope that more will be on the way although rain around Auckland during the day, and overnight, will ensure that the spice has dropped only in quality from very hot to hot.Captain Stephen Fleming has made an art form of toss winning in the series with three out of three and he said while today’s was a difficult decision to make, it had been necessary to bat first to try and get runs on the board to put some pressure back on England.”I don’t think we are out of the game,” Fleming said afterward.His decision might have been questioned at 19/4, and he wasn’t wrong, but he said if New Zealand could grind it out and get another 100 or more it would be in the game a lot longer than it had managed in the first two Tests.”The pitch may also get a bit up and down and that would play into our favour as the game goes on,” he said.”The pitch is very similar to Christchurch and I can’t see it stopping,” he said.While New Zealand had lost the early wickets, he felt they were back in the game by stumps.What was plain however, was the top-order had their batting deficiencies exposed by the sheer professionalism of the England bowlers.Andy Caddick was to the fore in this regard with his four wickets to break into the 200 Club, which has a membership of eight others in England. He moved the ball around off the pitch and found holes where they shouldn’t exist for top-flight batsmen. He ended the day with four for 57.Backing Caddick’s efforts was the fielding, exemplified by third slip Graham Thorpe’s superb take to dismiss Nathan Astle.Much hand-wringing has accompanied the breakdown in New Zealand’s bowling resources with an inordinate amount of attention being paid to the less experienced replacement bowlers being called into action.Their lack of experience in bowling, and subsequent punishment, has camouflaged the batting problems which have hampered the side since their outstanding batting in Perth in December.Even the 2-0 Test series win over Bangladesh was hardly the batting self-help that might normally have been expected against such lowly-rated opposition.The single-most factor which has seen New Zealand out-played in the series has been the inability of its batsmen to score runs in their first innings.Without those runs, the opportunity has not been there to create pressure on what has been a thoroughly professional England side.It is significant that the first innings batting effort in Perth was the catalyst for the pressure that occurred on the Australians afterwards, just as it was the batting performance by New Zealand in Hamilton last year that put so much pressure on Pakistan.And today’s was symptomatic of batting issues surrounding the side.Mark Richardson, bowled by a leg cutter from Caddick, for four.Fleming, falling away to the off-side nicks the ball into his hip and it rebounds to Mark Ramprakash, for one.Lou Vincent, played a shot too far from his body and the ball made its way through a barn door-sized gap to bowl, for 10.Astle was probably the unluckiest of the batsmen when he had the ball take and edge and fly low to third slip where Thorpe dived to his lift and picked up a grass top catch to send Astle packing for two.It was significant that Harris was still there at the end, on 55 after 202 minutes batting. His lunging forward defensive might be the most ungainly sight since Andrew Jones’ leaping defence of the late-1980s, but at least it was effective. He played like a player who had the hunger and who wanted to be playing Test cricket.Parore started with a hiss and a roar but soon knuckled down in support and the hope must be that they can help New Zealand gain a minimum of another 100 runs. And that’s not forgetting the power of Andre Adams and ever-present promise of Daniel Vettori is in hand as well.There is plenty of cricket left in the match but it is New Zealand who must make the running.

Daryl Tuffey left Wellington reeling this morning as the Northern Districts pace bowler ripped through the championship leaders to the tune of seven wickets for 12 runs. And he added an extra four in the afternoon to complete his first 10-wicket match bag as Wellington crumbled to an outright defeat by an innings and 46 runs inside two days.Tuffey found a spot from which he exploited Wellington batting deficiencies as they failed to get into line. If he wasn’t just missing the edge, he was catching it, providing a busy morning for those behind the stumps. Grant Bradburn (3), Robbie Hart (2) and Mark Bailey (1) all shared in the Tuffey bonanza.Only Mark Gillespie, coming in at the fall of the seventh wicket, offered any resistance, contributing an unbeaten 33 to the paltry Wellington total of 78 in reply to Northern’s first-day 283.Tuffey gained his reward with accuracy, pace, lift and movement off a pitch that provided him with more assistance than he might have expected after it had been treated to the Hamilton sun of the first day. At the other end, Simon Doull (two for 30) provided the perfect foil, allowing the Wellington batsmen no relief.With the follow-on enforced, Wellington found little respite in their second innings as they chased 205 to make Northern bat again. This time Joseph Yovich, who had had a bit part in the morning carnage, did the early damage.He removed dangerman Matthew Bell (8) and Selwyn Blackmore (0) in his third over and added Richard Jones’ (2) scalp in his sixth and from there Wellington, at 15 for three, were back on the downward slide.They never recovered. First Stephen Mather (16) and then Chris Nevin (21), with his injured thumb, tried to stay with a solid Grant Donaldson (56) but the Northern bowlers were not to be denied.Tuffey added his four from 22 overs for 54 to his morning bag to give him 11 for the match, his appearance at the bowling crease heralding disarray in the Wellington ranks. Yovich took the last wicket to fall, ending with four for 40 off 22.3 overs. The spinners Bradburn and Bruce Martin chimed in with one each.It is a day Wellington may want to forget but Daryl Tuffey will certainly add to his scrapbook.Talking to CricInfo after the match, he said that it was the sort of pitch on which bowling slightly fuller than usual and accurately brought about the desired effect. There was a nice spot from which they were zipping off. It was particularly satisfying in that he did not believe he had taken best advantage of the conditions when bowling to the Wellington openers late on the first day.Despite his personal achievement, he placed particular emphasis for the team’s success on the bowling partnerships that had developed during the match. “It was Simon bowling maidens at one end while I took wickets at the other in the first innings. In the second, the roles were reversed as Joey took the early wickets.”Bowling, just as much as batting, is about partnerships. We developed good ones today, which we probably have not done in the past.”Of his national aspirations he said he hoped the selectors would take notice. “I have done what they asked – to come back here and take wickets.”

Sri Lankan cricket received a benefit of US $ 105,000 from the CricketersBenefit Fund Series (CBFS) during a gala dinner hosted by the CBFS. AbdurReheman Bukathir, the President of the CBFS, presented the benefit to SriLankan team manager, Ajit Jayasekera. The money will be donated to theex-Sri Lankan cricketers nominated by the Sri Lankan board.