Zimbabwe’s outcast white cricketers, with nowhere to play and big legal bills to pay, are considering staging a rebel tour of social matches across the UK.Discussions have only just begun, but if the tour goes ahead the 15 players currently at odds with the Zimbabwe Cricket Union would play a series of matches against teams such as the wealthy village side Lashings."There are quite a few logistics to sort out," the batsman Grant Flower told The Age newspaper. "But it is a possibility because the guys have got some good marketability in England at the moment."Heath Streak, the exiled former captain, looms as the man most likely to lead the proposed travelling outfit. "I’ve obviously got to make a living," he said."If there’s no resolution to this whole thing then I’ve got to look at making the best of the years I’ve got left in cricket and capitalising so I can get myself into a stable financial position to support my family … I’ve lost a lot of income out of not playing."Apart from the loss of wages, the players’ agent Clive Field estimates their legal bills at around 50 million Zimbabwean dollars. He said funding the players’ ongoing legal skirmish with the ZCU was a prime motivation behind the proposed tour, which was still "very much at the drawing board stage".Hypothetically, if the 15 rebels were accompanied by fellow Zimbabwean exiles Andy Flower, Murray Goodwin, Neil Johnson and Henry Olonga they could field a reasonably formidable outfit.The cricketing futures of most of the 15 are at this stage unclear. Streak is playing for Warwickshire, Sean Ervine has moved to Western Australia and Andy Blignaut has been mentioned as a possible replacement for Shane Watson at Tasmania. For the rest, any kind of tour – official or unofficial, rebel or otherwise – might seem a particularly tantalising prospect.

The first attendance figures are coming in for American ProCricket, and so far they look fairly promising.According to figures compiled by stadium managers, the first match attracted 475 people, the second drew 800 people, the third attracted 1,200 people, and the fourth had 2,100 people.The figures were compiled after days of controversy between supporters and detractors of ProCricket. The numbers include all attendees, including officials and non-paying guests.The steadily rising trend suggests that ProCricket may be catching on. It could eventually be operating on a self-sustaining basis by the end of the season, but that remains to be seen.

American ProCricket (APC) has finally unveiled the much-publicised big-name signings which it hopes will help attract fans and push the venture into the public consciousness in the USA.A month ago APC announced that it had secured the services of several high-profile cricketers, only to have to backtrack when various boards refused their players permission to participate. But it hopes that all the contractual issues have been sorted, although a quick glance at the list highlights a couple of potential issues.The most surprising name is Andy Caddick, who played the last of his 62 Tests for England in January 2003, but has since been bedevilled by injury. He is contracted to play for Somerset in the County Championship, a tournament which runs at exactly the same time as ProCricket. The other major English signing is Alec Stewart, who played 133 Tests for England – more than any other player – before he retired at the end of the 2003 summer.The organisers had hoped to attract a raft of current Indian players, but that intent was scuppered by the Indian board. Instead, it has gone for non-contracted players, including Nikhil Chopra and Ajay Jadeja, who last played international cricket four years ago, and Robin Singh, the former Indian one-day specialist who now coaches Hong Kong.The Caribbean also provides its fair share of names. Merv Dillon, Daren Ganga and Wavell Hinds, who were all omitted from the squad currently touring England, and former stars Curtly Ambrose, Cameron Cuffy, Dinanath Ramnarine, Richie Richardson, Franklyn Rose and David Williams are also playing.Three Australian cricketers – Simon Cook, Greg Matthews and Colin Miller – and a couple of Kenyans – Steve Tikolo and Brij Patel – complete the list.Each ProCricket club will field teams featuring three to four internationals and seven local players participating in each match.

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As the top two in each group go through, as well the best two runners-up, Worcestershire are virtually guaranteed their spot in the quarter-finals having won three out of four matches in the Midlands/Wales/West group. However, they will be wary of Glamorgan, who still have two matches to play, the second of which is against Worcestershire in what is likely be a top-of-the-table clash. Warwickshire, last year’s finalists, are currently second, and their last match against fourth-placed Gloucestershire could decide who takes one of those runner-up spots. Somerset and Northants, with only one win each, will have to wait another year.The North group is still wide open, with five of the six sides still mathematically able to make it through. Leicestershire, who made it to the semis last year, head the pack with six points, and a win at Derby tomorrow will take them through. Lancashire face Notts at Old Trafford in their last game, which will probably determine who else automatically qualifies with Leicestershire. Yorkshire, currently bottom with only two points, need wins against Lancashire on Wednesday and Durham on Thursday if they are to have any chance. Durham, though, are dead and buried after their defeat to third-placed Derbyshire yesterday.Surrey may be struggling in the Championship and the National League, but the Twenty20 Cup remains their speciality. They have made a faultless start in the defence of their trophy, and head the South group by two points without having lost a game. While they are already through, the race for second is between Essex, Kent and Hampshire. Essex, who benefited from their washout with Surrey with a point, currently lie second, and victory against Sussex – the only side in the tournament without a win at all – will rubber-stamp their position. However, if Sussex can at last find the winning formula, then the Kent v Hampshire clash at the Rose Bowl will be a shootout for the other qualifying place.Unfortunately for Middlesex fans, and the ECB, tomorrow’s first Twenty20 match at Lord’s will almost certainly be irrelevant as far as the table is concerned. Middlesex, one place off the bottom, will need a miracle to qualify. The game has been looked forward to – and sold out – for months, but Middlesex will need Essex to lose, Kent and Hampshire to tie, and then beat Surrey convincingly to go through on run rate. In other words, it’s as likely as a veteran MCC member joining in the Mexican Wave as Lance Klusener mows another six over the Mound Stand.The draw for next week’s quarter-finals takes place this Friday, with the finals day at Edgbaston on August 7.2004 Twenty20 Cup highlights
Andrew Symonds hit the first hundred of this year’s tournament, stunning Middlesex with a 43-ball 112 that included 18 fours and three sixes as Kent had no trouble chasing the Middlesex total of 155 at Maidstone, reaching the target in just 13.1 overs.Surrey equalled the tournament’s highest score when they amassed 221 for 8 against Sussex at Hove. James Kirtley bore the brunt of a blitz by Ally Brown (45) and Mark Ramprakash (46), going for 63 in his four overs. In the face of such a daunting target, Sussex, in keeping with their dismal domestic form, collapsed to 121 all out, with Adam Hollioake taking 4 for 14 in three overs.Brad Hogg may not have been in great bowling form earlier in the season, but he was Warwickshire’s matchwinner with the ball in their first game, against Somerset at Edgbaston. Hogg’s remarkable spell of 3.5 overs for just nine runs – and four wickets – set up a seven-wicket win. Hogg then took 4 for 30 with his mesmerising mix of slow left-arm spin and Chinamen against Glamorgan at Sophia Gardens to set up another victory, and has so far taken 12 wickets in the tournament at an average of only 6.66. Only Adam Hollioake has taken as many wickets.Worcestershire are top of their group largely thanks to the efforts of two players – Graeme Hick and Andy Bichel. Hick proved he isn’t a spent force with 72 off 53 balls against Gloucestershire, and 116 not out off only 65 balls against Northants. He is currently the leading runscorer in this year’s Twenty20 Cup, with 195 at an average of 65 – 17 ahead of Darren Maddy of Leicestershire. Bichel, meanwhile, is currently at the top of the batting averages, with 154 runs – he has only been out once – and has also taken six wickets.Darren Maddy has been in excellent form in this year’s competition. He smashed 51 from 27 balls against Lancashire in Leicestershire’s first match, had a rare failure against Durham, scoring a duck as Leics lost by 41 runs, but came back in some style with 111 off 60 balls against Yorkshire, the fourth Twenty20 hundred of the season. He is the second highest run-scorer so far, with 178 at an average of 44.5.

Mark Butcher may have been overlooked by England in their squad for the Champions Trophy, but he has proved to be a revelation in the 20-over format, scoring 53 off 38 balls against Hampshire, and 60 off 40 against Kent as Surrey won again. Adam Hollioake, his Surrey team-mate, took 5 for 34 in that match – the first five-wicket haul of the summer.Scott Brant took 4 for 20 to set up Essex’s second win, against Kent at Maidstone. Brant took the vital wickets of possibly the tournament’s most formidable opening pair – Shahid Afridi and Andrew Symonds.Dispelling thoughts that the entire competition would be dominated by batsmen, Durham’s Neil Killeen and Gareth Breese combined to send Leicestershire crashing to defeat at Grace Road. Killeen took 4 for 7 in four overs, one of which was a rare maiden, and Breese chipped in with 4 for 14.Nottinghamshire’s game against Yorkshire at Trent Bridge produced two remarkable innings, as Matthew Wood and Mark Ealham both narrowly missed out on centuries. After Notts won the toss and sent Yorkshire in, Wood cracked an unbeaten 96 off 62 balls as Yorkshire scored 207. But he was then outshone by Ealham, who hit nine sixes on his way to 91 in only 35 balls to help Notts scrape home by three wickets with one delivery to spare.In a low-scoring match at Hove, Dimitri Mascarenhas destroyed Sussex, taking 5 for 14 in 3.5 overs, including a hat-trick, as Sussex were bowled out for 67 in just under 15 overs. Hampshire didn’t do much better in reply, stumbling to victory in 19 overs as Kirtley and Robin Martin-Jenkins bowled their tally of eight overs for a total of 15 runs, picking up three wickets between them.

Mark Butcher has suffered another setback in his bid to prove his fitness ahead of the third Test against West Indies at Old Trafford next Thursday.Butcher has still not fully recovered from a thigh injury he picked up playing in a Twenty20 game before the first Test in July, and has now been forced to miss Surrey’s County Championship match against Worcestershire this week. According to Greg Mullings, the Surrey physio, Butcher “is working on strengthening his left quad and will have a fitness test prior to the Twenty20 Cup finals.”The Twenty20 finals and a one-day match are Surrey’s only matches before the third Test begins on August 12, and even if Butcher plays in those, the selectors will still have doubts over his fitness for a five-day Test.Butcher was passed fit to play in the first Test, but suffered whiplash in a car crash on the way to see the England physiotherapist for some treatment on his thigh only days before the start of the match, and aggravated the thigh problem lifting a box at his home last week.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has told the Mumbai High Court that it has decided to cancel the tender for its television rights, and has indicated that it will initiate two new bids. ESPN-Star Sports, which had gone to court to challenge the BCCI’s decision to award the rights to Zee Telefilms, has withdrawn the case after the cricket board’s notification.The board’s representatives told the court that their tender with Zee was “not concluded”, as the draft letter sent by them had not been accepted by Zee, and negotiations were still on. They said that they would make arrangements to telecast the matches themselves, and float two new tenders – one for the rights of the next three series, and the other for the next four years.ESPN-Star withdrew its petition after the BCCI’s announcement, but Zee was furious. Zee’s lawyer asked the court to note that the ruling on the case itself had not yet been given, and that the surety amount of US$20million that the board had asked for had been given and accepted.Zee said it would initiate legal action against the board’s decision. Subhash Chandra, the company’s head, made allegations of connivance between the Board and ESPN-Star Sports: “The court could also see it clearly,” he claimed. “But since the petitioner ESPN-Star Sports, in collusion with the BCCI counsel, withdrew the petition, the court had no option than to record the statement and pass no order.”It is obvious that the board’s worries are far from over. To start with, what was expected to be a windfall season for Indian cricket is likely to begin in the red. The forthcoming series against Australia, which was expected to be a licence to print money, may well now end up in a deficit. But as a BCCI official admitted, that is the least of their concerns at the moment: “Our problems might have just begun.”

A baggy green cap belonging to Sir Donald Bradman has been donated to the Bradman Collection in the South Australian state library. It’s the first one that the Collection will be able to put on display permanently as others have only been loans, albeit long-term.Popular opinion had held that there was only one baggy green given to each player in 1948. As that was Bradman’s last tour of England and his side finished undefeated, the value of those baggy greens is higher, especially Bradman’s one itself. But the sale of one of them last year set in train events that brought forward the other. An Australian collector purchased one for A$400,000 (about £167,000), and it was after publicity of this that the second, kept on display in the pavilion at Haileybury College near London, was eventually returned to Australia.Bradman gave his second baggy green from the 1948 tour to Owen Truscott for helping with his arrangements at the London branch of the Union Bank, and his son, Kevin had lent it to his old Haileybury in 1991. But after the auctioning of the first cap and the publicity of its value, Haileybury felt unable to the display, or keep, the cap securely and contacted Truscott.It was at his point that Kevin, now a retired lawyer from Melbourne, brought attention to the second cap to the Bradman Collection. After consulting with other 1948 tourists, Sam Loxton and Ron Hammence, Barry Gibbs, the manager of the Bradman Collection, had strong anecdotal evidence that there were two caps given to players in 1948. Gibbs then came across the contracts for that tour and had a closer look: they revealed that all the players had indeed been presented two, as had been the case in some later tours. And so Bradman’s second cap is now back in Australia, suurounded by more Bradman memoriabilia than anywhere else.Wearing a baggy green today has a near-spiritual significance, and adds to any occasion. Thus Michael Clarke discarded his helmet for a baggy green as he approached his first Test hundred last month at Bangalore, following the lead of Matthew Hayden who did the same at Perth at the end of last year when he overtook Brian Lara’s then Test record of 375.

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Daniel Vettori once again unveiled his batting talent with his second century in two games to lead Northern Districts to an accomplished seven-wicket win over Canterbury in the State Shield semi-final at Eden Park’s Outer Oval today.Vettori, who scored his maiden one-day century in the last match he played, outdid his earlier effort with 138. It was just the effort needed, for ND were in pursuit of a tall target – 262 – set due to Craig McMillan’s fine 124.But on the day McMillan had to take a back seat as Vettori, opening the batting as he has for ND this year, took complete control. ND maintained a high run-rate throughout, even though Nick Horsley and Alun Evans departed early. James Marshall then settled in with Vettori and together they added 193 for the third wicket.Vettori’s shots on the off side behind square and to cover have had a touch of the unorthodox about them. But today he opened up the whole compass and played some superb shots, defying the field placings with precision. However, Marshall too was in fine form and could not be overshadowed. His footwork was outstanding to the slower bowlers and he placed the ball where he pleased.Canterbury’s lack of penetration hurt them, for they tried everything and yet failed. The end came in the 46th over with the Marshall twins , James on 95 and Hamish with the winning boundary – at the crease. But Vettori’s innings had propelled ND into the record books for numerous reasons. The score of 263 was an ND record, his own century was the highest made by a captain in New Zealand cricket – and the first time anyone had two in two games. With McMillan hitting a century as well, it was the first instance of rival captains scoring centuries in the same game in NZ one-day cricket.ND will now play Central Districts in the final at New Plymouth’s Pukekura Park on Saturday.

Yuvraj Singh, who was the 12th man in the ongoing second Test between India and Pakistan, will now turn out for Punjab in their Ranji Trophy semi-final at Mumbai, starting on March 18. Mohammad Kaif will fly to Kolkata to replace Yuvraj and would take the field if necessary.This is the first time Punjab have entered the semi-finals since 2001 and face a stern test against the defending champions Mumbai at the Wankhede Stadium. Mumbai have not lost a single game at home since 2001, when, fittingly, they lost to Punjab in the quarter-finals. Mumbai, though, have been unstoppable in the last three years and barring a minor blip against Madhya Pradesh earlier this season, where they conceded the first-innings lead, they have cruised through without any trouble.Yuvraj, though, has consistently shown the ability to lift sides that he turns out for – both Punjab and North Zone – and his presence would surely be a boost for a much-improved Punjab. Gagandeep Singh, Amit Uniyal and VRV Singh comprise a potent pace attack and Mumbai’s batting brigade might just be put to test for the first time this season.Hyderabad take on Railways in the other semi-final in Delhi. Hyderabad will be without the talismanic presence of VVS Laxman, who boosted them to the knock-out stage, but Ambati Rayudu and Daniel Manohar, two talented youngsters, may just pick up the baton. Railways, though, start as favourites with a number of their players leading Central Zone to the Duleep Trophy triumph earlier this month. Their fortunes will hinge on Jai Prakash Yadav and Sanjay Bangar, both capable of tilting the scales with both bat and ball.The semi-finals of the Plate Group also gets underway on the same day. Haryana play Jharkhand in Chandigarh while Himachal Pradesh host Services at Dharamsala. The finalists will be promoted to the Elite Group next season.

ScorecardThe Dophins were on the verge of a comprehensive win after the third day of their four-day game against the Warriors at Durban. Chasing 101 for victory, they ended on 80 for 3, needing only 21 more. Resuming at 261 for 5 in their first innings, the Dolphins powered their way to 362 for 7 declared, a first-innings lead of 151. The Warriors were then bundled out for 251 in their second innings, with only Abongile Sodumo getting a half-century. The Warriors lost three wickets in their quest for a small target, but they ended the third day with victory a mere formality.
ScorecardA superb performance by the Eagles in the field put them in charge after three days at Potchefstroom. Replying to the Eagles’ total of 418 for 9 declared, the Lions were bundled out for 190 in their first innings. Following on, they fared slightly better, reaching 222 for 7, but still requiring six runs to make the Eagles bat again. Justin Ontong, Martin van Jaarsveld and Neil McKenzie all scored half-centuries for the Lions in their second innings, but no-one managed more than 58. Thandi Tshabalala, who took three wickets in the Lions’ first innings, took three more in the second, while Ryan McLaren has a match tally of five wickets so far.
ScorecardDespite an excellent 138 from Darryl Cullinan, the Titans were struggling to keep pace with Western Province Boland at Paarl. At close of play on the third day, the Titans, following on after being dismissed for 280 in their first innings, had reached 130 for 3, still trailing by 21 runs. Cullinan’s 138 shone through in their first innings, when no other batsman made more than 33. The Titans were in more trouble early in their second innings, losing three wickets for only 26, before Albie Morkel and Justin Kemp put together an undefeated 104 for the fourth wicket.