Holders Indian Railways thrashed Uttar Pradesh by 116 runs to enterthe semifinals in the CricInfo Trophy Senior Women’s National CricketChampionship in Jorhat on Tuesday.Chasing a target of 178 for victory, UP were bundled out for a paltryscore of 61 in 28 overs. Railways’ Renu Margaret (3 for 18),Rupapanjali Shastri (3 for 12), and Sunita Kanojia (2 for 16) ensureda facile win for Railways.Earlier, batting first Railways got of to a good start with all thefour top order batswomen among the runs. Railways totalled 177 for theloss of only four wickets with useful contributions from Megha (29),Balbir Kaur (32), Ranjini Venugopal (39) and Reshma Gandhi (30).

Shored up by big knocks from stumper Tilak Naidu and India all rounderSunil Joshi Karnataka piled up a massive 545 for 9 declared at the endof the second day in their clash against Hyderabad. Resuming on 279/4,the Karnataka team strode strongly ahead. The fact that they wereplaying at home must have helped a great deal.Vijay Bharadwaj could add just 12 to his overnight score and wasdismissed for exactly fifty. Naidu and Joshi then turned the heat on,piling up a mammoth 170 runs for the 6th wicket. The pair was finallyseparated when Naidu (122 runs, 209 balls, 17 fours) succumbed to theguile of left arm spinner Venkatapathy Raju. India mediumpacer JavagalSrinath then provided good company to Joshi and the two put on 54before Joshi fell, just 8 runs short of his century. His inningsincluded 10 hits that reached the fence and 2 two hits that crossed theropes. The fall of two quick wickets prompted Karnataka to declaretheir innings on 545/9.Whatever hopes the Karnataka side harboured of making early inroadsinto the Hyderabad batting were dashed by openers Daniel Manohar (30not out) and Nandakishore (16 all out). The two saw Hyderabad safelyto 48/0 at stumps.

An unbroken fourth wicket partnership of 93 runsoff 17.2 overs between AA Pagnis (58) and S RazaAli (56) steered Railways to a seven wicketvictory over Vidarbha in the Central Zone RanjiTrophy one day match at the Karnail Singh stadiumon Thursday.Batting first, Vidarbha were all out for 153 in 50overs. Wickets fell at regular intervals and theonly show of defiance came from opener AVDeshpande who scored 51. He faced 135 balls andhit four boundaries. TP Singh was the mostsuccessful bowler with four for 21.Railways lost three wickets for 62 runs but Pagnisand Raza Ali made certain of a comfortable victorywith 16.3 overs to spare. Pagnis faced 93 ballsand hit eight fours while the more aggressive RazaAli faced just 65 balls and hit nine of them tothe fence.

Thanks to centuries from Kim Barnett and Chris Taylor, Gloucestershire batted themselves into a dominant position on the first day of their Championship match against Notts at Trent Bridge. When bad light halted play half-an-hour early Taylor was unbeaten on 152 and Gloucs were on 356–5.Wayward early bowling enabled the visitors, who had won the toss and elected to bat first, to get off to a healthy start with 83 runs coming inside the first 20 overs. Notts then trapped Dominic Hewson lbw for 36 and sent Matt Windows back without scoring, but Kim Barnett batted superbly, feeding on anything short or wide, to reach lunch on 75 not out.Barnett batted in the same vein after the interval and completed a fine century (193 mins, 145 balls, 19×4) before steering the ball to Greg Blewett at slip off the bowling of Greg Smith.Taylor dominated the remainder of the afternoon session, reaching his own hundred just before tea (157 mins 149 balls l7x4) by hitting Usman Afzaal for consecutive boundaries. Of the 162 runs scored in the session Taylor had hit exactly 100 of them.Notts responded with a wicket immediately upon the resumption. Mark Alleyne tamely chipped Harris straight into the waiting hands of Darren Bicknell at mid on.Taylor pushed a single to bring the 300 up in the 80th over but then saw his new partner Jeremy Snape smartly caught by a diving Blewett at slip. Jack Russell, playing his first game of the summer after a back injury, got off the mark first ball and helped take the total past 350.With just eight overs of the day remaining Gareth Clough’s short–pitched delivery was pulled away by Taylor for the four needed to take him past 150 (253 mins 218 balls 23×4).

The Australians narrowly escaped a second limited-overs defeat of the week as their contest with Northamptonshire – the tourists’ final warm-up match ahead of their NatWest Series opener – ended in a tie at Wantage Road.Damien Martyn’s unbeaten 101 boosted the tourists to 234-3 in 50 overs – the innings interrupted three times by blustery showers – and Northants were 234 all out in reply, with last man Jason Brown run out attempting the winning run off the final ball of a pulsating game in front of an excited full-house crowd of 4,500.Martyn and Mark Waugh (88 not out) came to the rescue with an unbroken fourth-wicket stand worth 157 in 27 overs after Australia, put in to bat, lost acting-skipper Adam Gilchrist, Andrew Symonds and Michael Bevan for 77.Gilchrist bottom-edged an attempted pull at Darren Cousins into his stumps, and Cousins’ next ball trapped Symonds leg-before as he pushed half-forward.When Bevan chipped Tony Penberthy to mid-wicket the county side held the advantage, but Martyn (131 balls, 5 fours) and Waugh (89 balls, 8 fours) prevented any further alarms and gave the Australian bowlers something to defend.Northants’ run-chase was led by Mike Hussey, the Western Australia batsman whose central contract with the A.C.B. was not renewed last month. He made 73 from 106 deliveries and put on 64 with Alec Swann (24) to give his adopted side every chance of pulling off a victory.Michael Bevan tilted the balance back in favour of Australia by dismissing Swann and Hussey in the space of four balls, and the game continued to ebb and flow until Northants arrived at the last over, bowled by Ian Harvey, needing three runs to win with three wickets in hand.Lesroy Weekes scored two from the first ball and was run out off the second, and Harvey only conceded a solitary bye after that as Northants squandered their chance to emulate Middlesex by lowering the Australian colours.

The tall-talking Indian captain Sourav Ganguly and the team’s coolheaded coach John Wright on Tuesday differed on the causes for India’stame defeat in the second cricket Test against Zimbabwe in Harare onMonday.A dismal failure with the bat – he has aggregated just 49 runs in thelast seven Test innings – Ganguly blamed his batsmen for the defeat.As for the bowlers, “they did not bowl badly,” he said.Wright, a former New Zealand captain, however, had tough words forboth batsmen and bowlers from whom he expected greater discipline.Analysing India’s defeat which enabled the home side to level theseries 1-1, Wright said the Indian batsmen must have the disciplineand the ability to graft. “We must produce at least 300 runs onwickets that seam,” he said.”I think from the batting perspective, there are certain shots whichare more difficult to play in conditions such as here. We have toadjust in places where the ball moves around a bit,” he said.India made just 237 and 234 batting first and most of its top orderbatsmen were out chasing deliveries outside the off-stump. “That to meis the stand-out reason. You have to occupy the crease a little moreand rein in some of your attacking instincts,” the coach said.Ganguly conceded that his team lost the game in the first hour of thefourth morning. “You can’t lose seven wickets for 37 runs and expectto win. It was poor batting from top to number eleven,” he said.About his own inglorious role in the defeat, the skipper said “therewas a game plan for me to see off the new ball. I am a regular. It wasmy responsibility to see the new ball (off) and then hope thetailenders would do well later”.Wright was critical of the medium-pacers and the kind of line andlength they maintained in the series. “We bowled too short. I thinkour medium-pacers have to learn to make the batsmen commit more on thefront foot and bowl the off-stump line,” he said adding that currentlyIndia was not exactly overflowing with its bowling resources.”If you look at the two bowling sides, the Zimbabwe attack was goodenough to dismiss the Indian batting line up which, on paper, looksvery strong. I can’t see any reason why our bowlers can’t do thesame,” the coach said.Ganguly, however, didn’t blame his bowlers. “I don’t think our bowlersbowled badly. Even the way we fought to defend 157 was heartening. Ifwe had stretched the target to 225, it would have been a differentball game altogether,” he said.The skipper praised seamer Ashish Nehra and off spinner HarbhajanSingh for their bowling in the series. “Nehra bowled fantastically. Hewas our main bowler. We just didn’t have enough runs on the board (forhim) to win us the game,” Ganguly said and added “as for Harbhajan, ahaul of 32 wickets on these pitches was not possible. But still he dida good job. He didn’t go for many runs and tied up one end”.Though lamenting the lack of bowling resources, Wright conceded thatthe bowlers did “a great job” and said “they were not the reason whythis Test match was lost”.The coach said “I think we do lack quality bowlers but we have to workhard. We got to use our resources as best as we can. Having said that,I am very encouraged by the performance of Ashish Nehra. He has donebrilliantly on this tour. He seems to move the ball and has a verynatural talent”.Wright complimented Zimbabwe for the way they won the Test with adepleted attack and especially when one-down in the series. He saidtheir bowlers gave a very good exhibition on the final morning,attacking the stumps with the new ball.Turning to individual performances of the Indian players, Wright, whenasked whether it was a tactical mistake to have included Ajit Agarkarin place of Zaheer Khan, replied “Zaheer possibly was unlucky to missthis Test”.On the strange decision of including Hemang Badani to open the inningsbut sending in Sameer Dighe as Shiv Sundar Das’ partner, Wright said”It is one of the problems (you face) when you tour abroad with onlytwo specialist openers. If someone gets injured, you have got to tryout someone (else). In retrospect, I would take the responsibility forthe situation. I thought Dighe would do a good job there”.Asked why Rahul Dravid, who has a better technique against the newball bowlers, was not asked to open the innings, Wright said the vicecaptain was more comfortable batting lower down the order.”We have to find someone who wants to open the batting. I thinkselecting Dravid would be a short term and not a long term prospect,”Wright said. “Rahul is averaging 54 in Test cricket. He has opened ona couple of ocassions and hasn’t done too brilliantly. The figureswould suggest so. I feel, for Rahul we need to be looking at numberfive or six,” he said.The coach was very disappointed with the missed opportunity ofclaiming a rare series victory abroad. “I think we missed a goodopportunity here. I feel very disappointed for cricket fans in India.They would have enjoyed the first series victory in 15 years,” hesaid.

Surrey have not yet reached a decision over whether Graham Thorpe will play in the Benson and Hedges Cup final against Gloucestershire at Lord’s tomorrow.Thorpe only started training again yesterday after a six-week lay-off because of a calf injury.He appeared to rule himself out of the running by telling Channel 4’s cricket web site: “I have had a lack of match practice but there is nothing we can do about that. I wanted to play in the Lord’s final but I can’t go into a game like that having only had one or two nets. That wouldn’t be fair on Surrey or England.”But Surrey coach Keith Medlycott refused to rule Thorpe out of the running.He said: “He has had a long-term injury concern. He has not played forsix weeks but he is very close to being back to full fitness.”He has made very encouraging progress. He had an indoor net on Thursday andsuffered no reaction to that and has had a net and a run around at Lord’s today.The signs are encouraging.”Of course, as regards the final there is always going to be that questionmark about it being a humdrum of a game and you’ve got to give it 100% full on.”If Thorpey came and said `I’m sure I can play’ then we would have a decisionto make. He is one of the best one-day players in world cricket.”Thorpe, asked about his injury, said: “It’s getting better now.”But asked whether he would be playing tomorrow, he said: “The chances areslim. I would not say ‘no’ – but it is highly unlikely.”Meanwhile paceman Alex Tudor looks like being fit for the final. He missed the C&G clash with Yorkshire this week because of a side strain but Medlycott said: “He has had a fitness test and we will see how he is. At present I would say he’s 50-50 but the physios are quietly confident. We are optimistic.”If Tudor fails to make the final line-up he will be replaced by Tim Murtagh for what would be his first Benson and Hedges appearance.Mark Ramprakash, on the road to recovery from a hamstring strain, will play but Ian Salisbury will undergo a late fitness test on a foot injury.Medlycott said: “We will have to sit on the fence with one or two of themuntil the morning and give them every opportunity.”Gloucestershire, meanwhile, are likely to be without paceman Jon Lewis who is awaiting results of a scan on a back injury, having been out of the game for nearly six weeksHe took part in a net session at Lord’s but coach John Bracewell said: “He is doubtful and has not really had enough cricket. If it was a green seamer we might have taken a chance but it looks a very good wicket.”Batsman Rob Cunliffe and bowler Mark Hardinges have been added to the players on duty in this week’s C&G match against Durham.Squads:Gloucestershire: Hewson, Barnett, Windows, Harvey, Taylor, Snape, Russell, Alleyne, Ball, Cawdron, Averis, Hardinges, Cunliffe, Lewis.Surrey: Butcher, Ward, Ramprakash, Stewart, Brown, A. Hollioake, B. Hollioake, Thorpe, Bicknell, Saqlain Mushtaq, Murtagh, Giddins, Tudor, Salisbury.

Australian captain Steve Waugh has slammed the publication of John Buchanan’s now infamous Sun Tzu memo.The document, prepared by Australia coach Buchanan for the team but apparently mistakenly slipped under a journalist’s door, exhorted the tourists to turn the screw on England, and quoted extracts from fifth century BC Chinese general Tzu. It has since filled many inches of print in the media, despite both England and Australia players dismissing its significance.Waugh himself is insisting that he is not bothered about the memo itself or its leak. He said: “I really cannot see what is so significant about that memo anyway. He was just making personal notes to be read by the team. It is like finding a wallet which belongs to someone else – are you going to take the money or do you give it back to the owner?”I see a problem with people using our document when it is not theirs. It wasour personal stuff.”He remained adamant that neither he nor his team-mates have any reason to regret that Buchanan’s psychological musings have found their way into the public domain: “It is almost a pat on the back for us that you guys have taken it so seriously,” he told journalists.Waugh also left a question hanging in the air about the methods of the Australian coach, adding: “We can’t understand the memo anyway. If you can decipher it, let us know.”Michael Slater, the Australian opener, also seemed unperturbed by the story. Speaking to Channel 4, he said: “John Buchanan is a terrific man-manager. I have found it a big help throughout my career and it has worked for me”.Though many have questioned why the seemingly invincible Aussies need the help of a shadowy ancient Chinese general, Slater pointed out that “maybe, if a few other teams took on some of his ideas, then they may have as much success as he has had as coach of Australia”.

The mystery surrounding the death of Tertius Bosch deepened on Wednesday amid claims that early indications from a post mortem on the former South African fast bowler’s body show that he might have been poisoned.Bosch, who took the new ball in South Africa’s first post-isolation Test match against the West Indies in Barbados in 1992, died in February last year aged 34, apparently from Guillain-Barre syndrome, a debilitating wasting disease, after a long illness.At the time Bosch’s death was seen as a tragedy involving a popular sportsman and his young family. It now transpires, however, that even before Bosch died rumours had surfaced that there might be more to his illness that met the eye.As a result of these rumours, Bosch’s sister Rita van Wetten and her brother Toon Bosch hired a private investigator, Hennie Els, to examine the financial affairs of Bosch, a dentist, and the circumstances of his death.According to the Durban morning newspaper The Mercury, Els uncovered various financial irregularities as well as a second will which disinherited Bosch’s widow, Karen-Anne. Els’s investigations led to Van Wetten requesting that Bosch’s body be exhumed and a post mortem conducted. Karen-Anne agreed to the exhumation at the end of last week and the body was exhumed this week.It is at this point that the story takes a macabre twist. The specialist forensic pathologist who conducted the post mortem, Dr Reggie Perumal,is quoted in The Mercury as saying: “The body had been embalmed and was beautifully preserved, so I got really good organs, hair and fingernail specimens.”The clinical presentation was one which supported poisoning … His skin was dark with white spots, he had lost his hair and there were signs of kidney dysfunction.”I was testing for various forms of heavy metal poisoning, including amalgam lead (used in dentistry), the toxic component of which is mercury.”Dr Perumal also remarked that it was unusual for a body to be embalmed. “Why someone would want to delay the natural decaying process, I can’t say … But some people believe that the chemicals in embalming fluid remove traces of poison,” The Mercury quotes him as saying.Samples from Bosch’s body have been sent for laboratory inspection and the results will be passed on to Bosch’s family and to the police.Even more bizarrely, however, a relationship between Karen-Anne and attorney Henr Selzer has come to light. Selzer was the executor of Bosch’s first will and the relationship ended last week but not before Selzer was found to be suffering from symptoms similar to those that afflicted Bosch.Again The Mercury quotes Dr Perumal: "He (Selzer) appears to have similar symptoms to those of Dr Bosch. I will be conducting tests on him to look for similar poisons in his body.”The matter is further clouded by so far unsubstantiated hints of money-laundering and other extra-marital affairs. It has left a South African cricket public, which might have been thought to be inured to further shocks after the match-fixing scandal and an assortment of rows, aghast.Tall, strong and curly-haired, Bosch was capable of genuine pace during a first-class career with Northern Transvaal and Natal between 1986/87 and 1997/98. He played in only a single Test match, taking three wickets, and two one-day internationals.He was far more successful at first-class level, taking 210 wickets at 27,56, but it was always felt that he lacked killer instinct. Genial and well-liked, Bosch was regarded as simply too nice a guy to consistently strike fear into batsmens’ hearts.

India will play their only three day match ahead of the three-matchTest series against Sri Lanka from tomorrow at the P. Sara Stadium inColombo. Their opponents will be Sri Lanka Board XI, who’ve got sixTest cricketers in their ranks, four of whom may play in the firstTest in Galle.India’s one-day specialists have now returned to Chennai, whilst theirTest match replacements are slowly arriving in Colombo. Shiv SunderDas, Mohammed Kaif, Dinesh Mongia, Sairaj Bahutule and HarvinderSingh arrived in Colombo yesterday while fast bowlers Venkatesh Prasad, Javagal Srinath and opening batsman Sadagoppan Ramesh arrived today.Batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar will join the tour party if his footinjury is given the all-clear after a bone scan on Friday. Zaheer Khanis suffering from shin splints, but is expected rejoin the team intime for the first Test.The Indian cricketers practiced at the Sinhalese Sports Club thismorning and will decide on the final eleven for tomorrow’s game thisevening after a team meeting. However, all the Test specialists areexpected to play.Sri Lanka meanwhile have named a strong Board side, captained byThilan Samaraweera.The national selectors have delayed naming the squad for the Testseries and they will be watching the performances of the Board XIclosely. The Sri Lanka Test squad will be selected on Thursday.Hashan Tillakaratne has an opportunity to make the Test squad aftertwo years in the wilderness, while Kumar Sangakkara needs to prove hisform. Avishka Gunawardene will open the batting and is expected to doso in the first Test.With Nuwan Zoysa injured, fast bowlers Ruchira Perera, DinushaFernando and Suresh Perera have a chance to grab the remaining fastbowler’s slot.Sri Lanka Board XI: Thilan Samaraweera (Capt), Avishka Gunawardene(Vice-Capt), Michael Vandort, Kumar Sangakkara, Chamara Silva, HashanTillakaratne, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Suresh Perera, Sajeewa Weerakoon,Ruchira Perera, Dinusha Fernando.India (from): Sourav Ganguly (captain), Rahul Dravid (vice captain),Shiv Sunder Das, Sameer Dighe, Sadagoppan Ramesh, Md Kaif, HemangBadani, Sairaj Bahutule, Dinesh Mongia, Harvinder Singh, JavagalSrinath, Venkatesh Prasad, Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh and RahulSanghvi.