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Andre Adams, the former New Zealand allrounder, has signed a two-year deal with Nottinghamshire as a Kolpak player. Adams, whose Kolpak qualification is based on his West Indian parentage, played four matches for the county last season, taking 14 wickets to help them qualify for Divison One of the Championship.”With the likely absence of Ryan [Sidebottom] and Stuart [Broad] on England duty for most of the summer and Graeme Swann’s presence in the England one day squad, we felt that we needed to add depth to our bowling unit and Andre fits the bill perfectly,” Mick Newell, the county’s director of cricket, said.Adams played one Test and 42 ODIs for New Zealand before he ended his international career by joining the unofficial Indian Cricket League earlier this year. Nottinghamshire, though, have taken advantage of a successful appeal by South Africans Johan van der Wath, Andrew Hall, and Justin Kemp, against the ECB’s refusal to register them as Kolpak players due to their ICL careers, to ensure Adams’ signing

Gloucestershire GladiatorsvDerbyshire ScorpionsLast home game of the season and the first division is within sight.Sunday 8 September
Norwich Union LeagueStart : 12.00A feast of cricket and attractions featuring:-
King Edmond Gym Club
The Gladiator Girls Cheerleading Squad
And exotic animals from Bristol Zoo
For tickets in advanceTel: 0117 910 8010

Opening batsman Marvan Atapattu eased himself into form as Sri Lanka’spreparations for the first Test at Lords starting May 15 continued against aBritish Universities XI at Wantage Road on Thursday.Atapattu, who is expected to be a key figure during the three-match Testseries against England, scored 100 from 180 deliveries as Sri Lanka finishedthe first day of three on 318 for seven.With their one-day game against a Paul Getty’s XI washed out earlier in theweek, Sri Lanka would have been delighted to be back playing, continuingtheir adjustment to local conditions, even if the students represented aless than intimidating opposition.Sanath Jayasuriya – unusually restrained before he clipped a half volley topoint – missed out for the second game in succession, as did number threeKumar Sangakkara, whilst Hashan Tillakaratne, on his first outing, wascaught behind cutting before he got into his stride.Aravinda de Silva, however, once again showed good touch, opening hisinnings with a signature swivel pull for six, before attacking left-armspinner Rob Ferley and cruising to 57 from 52 balls, when he was bowledaround his legs attempting the most delicate of sweeps.Atapattu took longer to get into his stride, carefully constructing hisfirst fifty off 111 balls and showing good judgment outside his off-stump.Thereafter the runs started to flow more easily with his elegant coverdriving catching the eye.Later in the day, Russel Arnold chipped in with 43 off 64 balls andall-rounder Thilan Samaraweera made 21 from 52 balls.In the morning, Sri Lanka had picked Chaminda Vaas, Sri Lanka’s premier fastbowler, and Eric Upashantha for their first games of the tour in place ofleft-armers Ruchira Perera and Nuwan Zoysa.

Craig Spearman is to return to Central Districts next season, 18 months after announcing his retirement.Spearman said he was finished with first-class cricket when travelling to England after the highly-successful CD summer of 2000/01.But since then he has started playing for Gloucestershire, with great success in the County Championship, under the coaching eye of New Zealander John Bracewell.In six county championship matches to date he has scored 460 runs at 38.30, including two centuries and three 50s while in the Benson and Hedges Cup competition he scored 138 runs at 23.00 but most importantly, had a strike rate of 101.47.CD chief executive Blair Furlong said that while Spearman said he had retired from cricket when leaving CD, he then signed for Gloucestershire.”I approached him and asked him if he was coming home during the summer would he like to play the State Shield games for us. He said he would think about it and then came back and said, why didn’t he play the whole season for us?”We settled it last week. It will be like having the old firm back together as Greg Loveridge has come back from South Africa and has said that he would like to have another lick at cricket here,” Furlong said.He said Spearman was expected in late-September, early-October.”It’s good news for us. Our batting was pretty ordinary in lots of games last season and his being here will make a difference to the top of the order,” Furlong said.Central Districts have just named their winter squad. It is: Jacob Oram, Glen Sulzberger, Peter Ingram, Jamie How, Michael Mason, Gareth West, Greg Loveridge, Bevan Griggs (Manawatu); David Kelly, Lance Hamilton, Taraia Robin, Campbell Furlong, Peter McGlashan (Hawke’s Bay); Mathew Sinclair (Horowhenua-Kapiti); Greg Todd (Wairarapa); Ewen Thompson, Andrew Schwass (Nelson); Tim Anderson, David Good (Taranaki); Brent Hefford (Marlborough).

Former Australian all-rounder Greg Matthews has issued a warning to England’s victorious Test cricketers.”I am supremely confident that Australia will triumph by a clear two-Test margin,” Matthews claimed.Far from being impressed by England’s continued run of fine form and their crushing of Pakistan at Lord’s, Matthews preferred to point to the weakness of the opposition.”I am just looking at the black-and-white facts,” Matthews told BBC Radio Five Live. “Pakistan were exceptionally weak and England bowled exceptionally well – full marks to you,”Matthews conceded that Caddick or Gough had bowled well for England but insisted that neither would make it into the Australian team.”I think our bowling attack is terrific,” he said. “We have got the greatest fast bowler in the world at the moment in McGrath, we have got the quickest in Lee who is chomping at the bit and then we have got someone special in Gillespie. Damien Fleming bowls awesome swing, we have got the greatest spinner in the history of the game (Shane Warne),” he continued.”Caddick has done extremely well, but I just think that if you weighed them up man for man, who could squeeze into the Australian team? Goughie has just taken 200 Test wickets and he is inspirational, but he is not going to knock any of our guys out of the team. I am sorry Goughie, you are in my team, but on the bench.”In something of a surprise Matthews urged England to prepare turning pitches, contrary to most expectations that seamers will be the dominant force this summer.”I think I am being generous giving you a Test,” Matthews said, ” but that’s only because the only chance you have got is to prepare an absolute Bunsen Burner (turner) because that is the only weakness that Australia have shown over the last 15 years.”They do very well on seasoned wickets, they are exceptionally well lead, they are very well structured. There is not one stone that has been left unturned.”England are unlikely to take any notice of Matthews’ less than generous comments however. They have upset the form book often in the last 12-months, winning on the sub-continent while Australia lost, and Matthews’ remarks came on the day that Gough rose to fourth in the world rankings, ahead of Lee, Gillespie, Warne and Fleming.Nasser Hussain, too, is unlikely to pay much attention. He admitted to finding England’s turn around in fortunes so swift that even he was surprised.”At the moment you have to pinch yourself a bit, but success breeds confidence and the good memories from last year stay with you and next time we come to Lord’s there will be good memories again,” he said.”We are playing some good cricket at Lord’s and we’ve turned things around ourselves and when that happens the crowd gets behind us. Some of the noise during that Test I’ve not heard, apart from last year, for a long time, the noise and the roar when Gough and Caddick run in lifts the whole side and it puts pressure on the opposition.”Gough insisted that England have acquired a winning habit that will stand them in good stead.”We’re a good side, we have character, we have experience and we’ve got the habit of winning at the moment and if we can keep it going, it does make a difference,” he said.”It’s just like Manchester United in football, who’ve had a decent run over the last few years and they believe they are going to win the league every year. They have that belief and if you have that, you will take some beating. The last few Test matches, with the wins in Pakistan and Sri Lanka and the win at Lord’s in the first Test of the summer when the pressure was on us to perform, has given us that.”

Free State’s Morne van Wyk will captain a South African President’s XI against India ‘A’ at Ladium on April 12.TeamLoots Bosman (Griquas), Arno Jacobs (NW), Pieter Koortzen (Griquas), Marthinus Otto (Gauteng), Henry Davids (Boland), Morne van Wyk (capt, Free State), Albie Morkel (Easterns), Brendan Reddy (Easterns), Imran Khan (KZN), Johnson Mafa (Gauteng), Zahir Abrahim (Griquas). 12th Man Zubair Garda (Easterns).

For 4-1/2 hours yesterday, Daren Ganga unleashed thetype of strokes Caribbean spectators have rarely seen from him.But, one of his few mistakes, just before 4 p.m., led to a rapidtransformation in the proceedings on the opening day of the finalround Busta Cup match between Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago.With impeccable touch, Ganga, just back from Australia where he wasvirtually a strokeless wonder, fashioned his second regional firstclass century against Barbados that gave Trinidad and Tobago thehealthy platform of 181 for two.By the close, Barbados, guaranteed their 17th regional title once theywin here, staged a sterling fightback that bore similarities to theone they achieved exactly a week earlier against the Leeward Islandsin Nevis.In the space of an hour-and-a-half, six wickets fell for 50 runs andthe final score of 241 for eight was one Barbados would have beensatisfied with in light of the impact Ganga created.The 22-year-old opening batsman was typically solid in defence, butwas it a joy to see another side of him, courtesy of some top-classdriving through the off-side.His 105 off 186 balls included 16 sweetly struck boundaries, but itwas ended in disappointing fashion and triggered the Trinidad andTobago collapse in which fast bowler Corey Collymore and left-armspinner Ryan Hinds were the main wreckers.Hinds, still basking in the glory of his memorable 15-wicket matchhaul against the Leewards, removed Ganga with a juggled return catchfrom a shot that suggested the batsman was satisfied that a hundredwas enough.This is a Trinidad and Tobago batting side that revolves mainly aroundGanga, Lincoln Roberts and captain Richard Smith, and although theother two made useful contributions, Barbados ran through the middleand lower order with ease.Collymore ended the day with four victims – two of them having theirstumps knocked out – and also claimed the important scalp of Robertsfor 45 at an important stage when Smith was also in.The start of play was delayed by half-hour because of rain just before10 a.m. and there was appreciable moisture in the surface afterSherwin Campbell won the toss.Barbados’ bowlers, however, were unable to make inroads because theirline was not perfect.The only scalp during the pre-lunch session was the potentiallydashing opener Andy Jackson, his intended cut off Ian Bradshaw neatlyaccepted by Campbell at second slip.By lunch, taken at 57 for one, Ganga had already advertised hisimpressive strokeplay with spanking cover-drives and pulls offCollymore and Ian Bradshaw.He went to the break on 38 but on resumption he was troubled in anover from Hendy Bryan in which there was the possibility of a fendedcatch to a vacant gully. During that testing period, he also offered adifficult diving chance to Hinds at point.He soon reached his half-century but lost his second-wicket partnerImran Jan, who spent almost two hours in a stand of 71 that wasthoroughly dominated by Ganga.The left-handed Jan was solid only and never showed any signs ofaggression in his innings of 14 which was ended in spectacular fashionby a yorker from Collymore that sent the middle stump out of theground.Roberts came out with a positive approach and immediately offered asharp chance to Roland Holder at short-leg. It made no difference tohim and he proceeded to play with bold aggression in a somewhat chancyknock of 45.When he was on 14, Hinds dropped a return chance, but the ball wasstruck with such ferocity that the bowler was lucky that he was notdecapitated. Ganga and Roberts took Trinidad and Tobago to tea on 153for two with Ganga ten short of his third first-class century. It wasreached with an all-run four to extra-cover and was celebrated with ahard cut off Bryan’s next ball.Barbados got him in the following over and when Collymore came backfor a final spell, he immediately despatched Roberts, lbw, as he wasvery late in trying to push forward.At that stage it was 202 for four and Barbados still had plenty ofwork to do. But the pressure was eased by two double-strikes withdifferent balls.The old ball accounted for Keno Mason, bowled leg-stump with a sharpturner from Hinds, and Darryl Brown, a victim of a cross-batted shotagainst Collymore.The new ball was taken as soon as it was available and it gainedBarbados immediate success.Bradshaw induced the busy Dave Mohammed into a miscued pull andskipper Smith fell to a loose stroke that resulted in an edged catchto the keeper.

The influences of an Indian and South African are bringing out the best in Barbadian cricketer Dwayne Smith.For the last five years the 18-year-old Smith has admired and fashioned his cricketing skills after India’s star batter Sachin Tendulkar and South Africa’s allrounder Jacques Kallis.On Monday, Smith, borrowed ingredients from both to fashion a maiden, first-class century, which saved Barbados from defeat against the Leeward Islands.The former Garrison Secondary schoolboy was literally on show at the Ronald Webster Park in Anguilla. He cracked 102, an innings of great maturity that could signal a breakthrough.I always liked how Sachin [Tendulkar] and Jacques [Kallis] play, Smith said after his knock. I told myself, you can do it too. I thought I would bat for the team, and I knew once I batted as long as possible I was going to score.It was something he expected to complete at the youth level before the senior. But after three seasons in the three-day version of the game, he hadn’t been able to even yield a half-century, so naturally he was totally overwhelmed by the innings.He has never even scored a century at the Division 1 level for his club Caribbean Lumber YMPC. His dream of a first-class hundred is something he always envisaged.When I started playing cricket from age six I always learnt to be very attacking. When I grew older my dad (former Carlton Division 1 captain Wilbur Bruce) helped me to develop that kind of attacking batting and it is coming through for me.His father is also known to be a very attacking strokemaker.He (Dad) gives me great guidance. He tells me to play straight and always keep concentrating. He told me once I do this that things would work out. I know he is very proud with my innings and I have to thank him for helping me, said Smith, who is known to be quite shy.The returns have also been as a result of hard work in the nets with coach Henderson Springer.The coach always drills into my head `keep it straight and concentrate’.The manager (Tony Howard) always tells me as well to keep my cool and bat for the team and I just keep remembering that.Howard was delighted that the lad had heeded the advice and spoke of better things to come.Dwayne has been getting good starts and losing it. I had a stern talk with him and he and the coach kept working. Dwayne has a good eye once he continues to mix his defence with his shot selection; it is always hard to restrict him.In his five matches to date, Smith has scored 226 runs.The soft-spoken Smith has a simple reply to tell fans who constantly say his batting is similar to that of Collis King,the former aggressive Barbados and WestIndies player.The reply: I am Dwayne Smith, no one else!

The Pakistan Cricket Board has decided to appoint a full-time batting coach and has advertised for the post on its website. The role of batting coach is currently being handled by the head coach, Dav Whatmore, with the coaching staff also including Julien Fountain (fielding) and Mohammad Akram (bowling).The advertisement calls for candidates with at least Level III coaching accreditation, and at least five years’ experience working with top cricketers. The deadline for applying is November 4.Pakistan cricket teams have generally had plenty of quality bowling options to depend on, and the batting has been seen as the weaker department. The idea of having a batting coach has been circulating for last three years, but it didn’t get the PCB’s approval till now. This is the first time the PCB is looking to appoint a full-time batting coach. Previously, Geoff Boycott, Javed Miandad and Basit Ali had short stints as consultants during cricket camps.After the exit of Ijaz Butt as PCB chairman last year, his successor, Zaka Ashraf, planned to recruit a specialist coaching panel covering batting, bowling and fielding but ended up appointing Whatmore with the additional responsibilities of batting coach. The decision to hire a separate batting coach has been taken this week after a detailed review of Pakistan’s performance at the World Twenty20, where the team reached the semi-final only to lose to Sri Lanka by 16 runs while chasing a target of 140.Pakistan’s next assignment is the tour of India, to plasy a series of three ODI and two Twenty20s, followed by the South Africa tour that begins next February.