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Times were when former New Zealand women’s cricket captain Maia Lewis had the cricket world at her feet.And then her knees gave out.An attacking player, who looked set to unite with the likes of Debbie Hockley and Emily Drumm to give New Zealand one of the great middle-order batting units of all time, she disappeared around the time of her injuries and, understandably, lost motivation.But all has not been lost.Lewis is back in Wellington and working as a cricket co-ordinator for Cricket Wellington and looking to revive her cricket career at the age of 32.”I’m feeling really good. My injuries are over and I’m fitter than I’ve been for a long time,” she said.Lewis has had an ACL reconstruction and during the dark days with her injuries she had arthroscopies on both knees.”I realised around that time that cricket was not the be-all and end-all in life and it was nice to have a couple of normal Christmases for a change,” she said.However, the competitive streak began to surface again, initially on the indoor cricket scene.”I had a couple of good indoor cricket seasons. I played in the New Zealand team last year in a series against Australia and was in the New Zealand team at the recent World Cup.”Lewis started last season living in Whangarei, playing her club cricket in Auckland but playing for Wellington in the State League.In eight innings, with two not outs, she totalled 130 runs at 21.66, a low return by her own standards, but the threat is that if she regains some of her former touches she will further extend her career average of 33.65.Of all the current players who have played 10 or more matches in the State League competition, only Drumm (47.78), Paula Flannery (34.20), Nicola Payne (37.43) and Megan Tyler (36.94) have better averages.For the moment, however, Lewis is looking no further ahead than working and performing with the State Wellington Blaze.Wellington are blooding quite a few new players and Lewis’ experience will be vital in building the side.She does so with her only regret from her earlier cricket career being a feeling that he has never achieved her full potential.”I feel I am batting a bit better now. I’m more mature and playing more of my natural game. When I was playing before I was a bit robotic and I lost a lot of my natural game and I have regrets that I didn’t achieve what I might have done,” she said.So far this season she has had one match for her Naenae club against Eastern Suburbs in Wellington in which she made 50 not out while in the Central Districts competition, she has been captaining the young Wairarapa side and last weekend had scores of 47 and 78 for them.The Wellington scene is much healthier with a good core of players having to fight over places in the representative side. The side will still be a young one with most of the players between 17-23 years, with eight of the squad also in the Under-21 squad. But players were getting opportunities a little earlier than had previously been the case.They were getting exposed to tougher cricket earlier, and while college cricket numbers have diminished, there are more school players in the senior competition. Seven teams are competing in the women’s senior competition this summer.Wellington are also running a Super 8 competition in which 11 teams are entered. In a bid to attract more people to the game, who haven’t the time to make a greater time commitment there will be a twilight competition played in mid-week of 16 overs-a-side to start on January 12.

DISCOVERY BAY – Even amidst the euphoria of winning the Red Stripe Bowl, the top brass of the Barbados team was dishing out suggestions towards ensuring that the island builds on its first regional limited-overs title in 14 years.Among them was a call by captain Courtney Browne and coach Hendy Springer for coloured clothing, white balls and black sightscreens to be introduced at domestic level.Another was for better preparation of the team and the desire to see the younger players coming under the wings of seasoned players."We need to maintain these standards," Springer told NATIONSPORT after Barbados defeated Jamaica by 33 runs in an absorbing final at the Kaiser Sports Club on Sunday."I hope that the guys go back to Barbados and fit into their respective teams and give them some good stories and some things to think about as far as general development of cricketers and cricket is concerned."Winning a title is not all. If you get one or two younger players coming through, I think you have done your job. This will serve in good stead. We’ve won and we’ve got to maintain and build."It was Barbados’ first capture of the crystal Bowl and their first success in a Caribbean limited-overs championship since Malcolm Marshall’s team beat Jamaica at Sabina Park in 1988 when Springer was a player.Apart from calling for better preparation of the team in light of this season’s last-minute build-up, skipper Browne wants to see more encouragement for younger players to rub shoulders with seasoned campaigners."I know there has been a lot of talk about playing the youngsters, but at the end of the day young players will only learn quicker if they are playing with the old boys," Browne said.The suggestion for the facelift in Barbados’ club limited-overs matches was first mooted by Springer and supported by Browne."We’ve been playing one-day cricket in Barbados long enough and we don’t play anything that is remotely related to what happens at the international level. Yet we are expecting our guys to go to the international level and play and perform," Springer said."We should get out black sightscreens, white balls, coloured clothing, coloured pads, if we can afford it, or come as close to it as possible."We need to familiarise those guys at that lower level with what is happening at this level."The white ball does a lot more and it deteriorates a lot quicker than the red ball does," Springer added."If you play with it a couple of seasons, you get accustomed to it and when you get to this level and beyond, you know what to expect."Browne saw no reason why the recent changes to Barbados’ club season couldn’t be taken a step further."It might be a little difficult in the first year, but all the players will get accustomed to it," he said.

Australia have opened up a 278-run lead after a day of hard-fought Test cricket in the best traditions of the Ashes. England were dismissed for 325, with Glenn McGrath finishing with four for 87 and Jason Gillespie overcoming injury fears to ensure that Australia enjoyed a useful lead on first innings. Despite Andrew Caddick claiming two early wickets when Australia batted again, Matthew Hayden and Damien Martyn consolidated to take Australia into day four in a commanding position.When England resumed on 158 for one, it was the usually economical and precise McGrath who took the valuable wickets of Mark Butcher for 54 and Marcus Trescothick for 72 to prevent the tourists from making progress from their promising overnight position.Trescothick looked dangerous and showed his class when he drove two consecutive deliveries past McGrath to the boundary. Yet McGrath, slightly out of rhythm and looking laboured, made the breakthrough when Butcher shaped to drive but edged to Hayden in the slips.McGrath struck the next blow five balls later when Trescothick drove without conviction at a ball outside off stump and Ricky Ponting was waiting in the slips for the edge. After being tied down for a while by the pace duo, Trescothick played at a ball on the line which he had been happy to leave earlier in the morning.McGrath’s 100th and 101st Ashes wickets came at precisely the right time for his team. He could have done with another, however, as Nasser Hussain and John Crawley settled in to revive English hopes with a partnership that added 97 for the fourth wicket and appeared to be taking their side towards comfort.After lunch, however, Steve Waugh took the new ball with immediate success. Gillespie, this time was the destroyer. During this period the 27-year-old was electric. Passing a fitness test on his calf before play, he continually stretched the muscle during and after his spells.The injury did not seem to hinder Gillespie in any way as he continued to pose more of a threat than McGrath. After Hussain hoisted Gillespie for six to bring up his fifty, the bowler seemed to crank up the pace and accounted for Hussain with a beauty. He squared up Hussain with a ball at which he had to play and wicket-keeper Adam Gilchrist did the rest.With the cracks in the pitch beginning to open up, Gillespie struck again in his next over as Alec Stewart played an indecisive inside edge onto the stumps to be bowled without scoring and England had slumped to 270 for five.Now it was the turn of McGrath. Craig White had made 12 misjudged the bounce to lose his off bail without offering a shot to a ball that he thought would go over the stumps.The only recognised batsman left, John Crawley played patiently and responsibly as he pushed for ones and twos, then waited and punished the bad balls. His fifth fifty against Australia and the fourth in the England innings took all of three hours and 120 balls, but he was doing a fine job for his side.Crawley, however, could only watch as Andy Bichel stepped up to account for Ashley Giles for 13 – caught behind playing some way from his body – and Caddick in quick succession. With the injured Simon Jones unable to bat, Crawley was left on 69 not out.Australia started their innings in blazing fashion, as they tend to do. Justin Langer had hit four boundaries in his 22 from 25 balls when he edged Caddick to Stewart, while the same bowler produced an absolute snorter to account for Ponting. It flew from a length to take the shoulder of the bat on its way to Trescothick at first slip. Ponting took a long look at the pitch as he departed.Hayden was joined by Martyn to see the home side through to stumps, playing with controlled aggression to both finish with 40 not out.In the last 12 matches played at the Gabba, only three have ended in a draw. Rain has been the deciding factor in those three but, in the middle of a local drought, that consideration is not likely to come into play on this occasion. The Australians will be happier with that knowledge than England at this stage of the match.

Despite his side having to settle for a draw after dominating their championship match against Warwickshire, the Somerset coach Kevin Shine was in upbeat mood at the end of the day at the Taunton.Looking forward to the NUL game tomorrow against Warwickshire Bears he told me: “It’s quite simple we just have to win. Mathematically we could still stay up so we must get a result from the game tomorrow.”There will be two changes to the championship side that has faced Warwickshire over the last four days.Steffan Jones, who performed the twelfth man duties today comes in to replace Richard Johnson and Piran Holloway replaces Peter Bowler.

Sri Lanka will not often lose games when Muttiah Muralitharan takes five wickets for nine runs, but they did lose one such match against New Zealand at Sharjah on Tuesday.New Zealand started less than ideally, the in-form Nathan Astle being caught behind off Nuwan Zoysa’s first delivery. Chris Nevin, the other opener, brushed aside the setback and proceeded to cut and drive Chaminda Vaas with panache. Zoysa, far more impressive on the day, pulled things back by having Craig McMillan caught off a mistimed pull at long leg.Stephen Fleming started shakily but soon settled down, steering his side past those two initial hiccups and fabricating a stand with Nevin. But Sri Lanka, after the drinks break, brought a dual-pronged spin attack into play, and since one of those prongs was Muttiah Muralitharan, something was bound to snap.The batsmen started to look suspect against spin, pushing and prodding indecisively. Muralitharan feeds insatiably on such mindsets, and he had Fleming (34, 46b, 4×4) in his second over. Extracting his customary prodigious turn, Muralitharan completely foxed Fleming. The southpaw could not withdraw his bat in time and almost guided the ball to slip, ending a partnership of 55.In his next over, Murali induced a pull from Scott Styris, the ball turning enough to balloon into the air and then down the throat of Vaas on the mid-wicket fence. New Zealand were 92 for four, struggling to keep afloat.Nevin, who had played seam with calm elan, had appeared in obvious discomfort against Murali. He fell in an unfortunate manner, though. A bat-pad appeal was referred to the third umpire; the replay showed that the catch was cleanly taken, but that the ball had missed the bat. The third umpire, however, was required to rule only upon the legality of the catch, so Nevin (45, 5bb, 5×5) trudged back to the pavilion.More drama reared its head. In the 26th over, Sri Lanka appealed for a catch against Mathew Sinclair, and umpire Srinivas Venkataraghavan acceded. But Sinclair stood his ground, indicating that the ball had hit his arm, whereupon Venkataraghavan called over the Sri Lankan skipper and reversed his decision – a phenomenon as common as hen’s teeth in cricket. Sanath Jayasuriya, to his credit, took the reversal sportingly.The overs between 30 and 40 tumbled past in a hurry, the spinners delivering the ball and striding quickly back to their mark. The batsmen found themselves unable to force the pace; 34 runs and one wicket came off those 10 overs, the wicket that of Matthew Sinclair (28, 55b), caught at short third man trying the reverse-sweep.A late charge came from Jacob Oram, who struck 46 (33b, 5×4, 2×6) and helped New Zealand past the 200-run mark to 218 for eight. For Sri Lanka, the undisputed star was one familiar to that role – Muralitharan, whose figures of 10-3-9-5 were, to put it mildly, fantastic.Sri Lanka lost Jayasuriya early to Daryl Tuffey, but Sangakkara and Marvan Atapattu played sensible cricket, rotating the strike and dispatching poor bowling for four. Atapattu in particular played with elegant fluidity, merely stroking the ball for it to reach the fence.Sangakkara’s dismissal thus came against the run of play. Having just hit Ian Butler for four, Sangakkara (23, 41b, 4×4) looked to pull a short ball on leg-stump. The timing, however, was off, and Tuffey took a simple catch at square leg.The runs continued to flow, steadily rather than spectacularly. Atapattu, who has played the sheet-anchor role for his side so many times, appeared to don the mantle again today. He survived a sharp chance at point, and Fleming not only grassed it but injured himself in the process. Barring that minor blip, Atapattu batted sedately, playing according to the need of the situation.Mahela Jayawardene (38, 51b, 4×4) was dismissed with the score on 125, caught at long-off in going for an expansive drive. The really big wicket, however, was that of Atapattu, the set batsman. Trying to go for an over-the-top shot in the 36th over, he only succeeded in spooning it for Ian Butler at mid-on to hold a fine catch.The required run-rate, at this stage, had crept past the six-per-over mark, and when Romesh Kaluwitharana and Russell Arnold entered the final 10-over stretch, they needed 7.2 runs per over. The pressure, unsurprisingly, got to the batsmen, and Kaluwitharana was the one to succumb, playing across the line to be leg-before-wicket to Astle.The 45th over saw both Upul Chandana and Vaas fall to Styris in trying to go for the big hit, and when Arnold (24, 44b, 2×4) was caught behind in the next over, Sri Lanka were staring down the barrel. Muralitharan holed out soon after, and Sri Lanka had 12 to get off the final over with just one wicket standing.It was the wicket that fell ultimately, giving New Zealand a slender 11-run win that looked improbable earlier in the day. Sri Lanka still top the points table after this win on the basis of Net Run Rate, and Pakistan are now under even more pressure to win their next outing in this Sharjah Cup.

Sri Lanka’s squad for the Natwest triangular series has been modified afterlast-minute discussions between the team management, the selectors and theSports Ministry.In addition to the inclusion of batsmen Chamara Silva, Naveed Nawaz and Avishka Gunawardene, wicket-keeper batsmen Romesh Kaluwitharana and experienced fast bowler Pramodya Wickramasinghe, 30, have been selected.Prassana Jayawardene, the reserve wicket-keeper, will now fly home after theTest series with Aravinda de Silva, Hashan Tillakaratne, Ruchira Perera, Thilan Samaraweera and Eric Upashantha.Full Squad: Sanath Jayasuriya, Marvan Atapattu, Muttiah Muralitharan, Russel Arnold, Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara, Nuwan Zoysa, Upul Chandana, Dilhara Fernando, Buddika Fernando, Chaminda Vaas, Chamara Silva, AvishkaGunawardene, Naveed Nawaz, Romesh Kaluwitharana, Pramodya Wickramasinghe.

Peter Roebuck has been arrested on three charges of indecent assault.According to the BBC, the former Somerset cricket captain has been accused of inviting three teenage boys back to his Taunton home for private coaching before indecently assaulting them.Avon and Somerset police began their investigation after complaints by three 19-year-olds that they were assaulted, on separate occasions, between 1998 and 1999.Roebuck is the man widely credited with rebuilding the Somerset side after the debacle of the departures of Botham, Richards and Garner. He also captained an England XI in the Netherlands and is one of the most respected writers on the game.Roebuck was released on bail and will appear before Taunton Deane Magistrates on Thursday.

Guyana ensured their entry into the semi-finals of the 2002 Busta Cupwith a comprehensive innings and 42-run win over Leeward Islands athome. But their opponents, though picking up no points from theencounter, made it to the semi-finals themselves on the strength oftheir previous performances.Put in to bat, Guyana, bolstered by the return of ShivnarineChanderpaul and Carl Hooper, notched up a mammoth 442 in their firstinnings. Lennox Cush and Chanderpaul put on 253 runs for the thirdwicket, with Cush making 154 and Chanderpaul 140. The partnershipformed the foundation of a strong batting performance that included 54from Neil McGarrell.Mahendra Nagamootoo, relinquishing his captaincy role to Hooper,continued his fine performance with the ball, taking 6-71 in Leewards’reply. Only Fabian Adams at the top of the order and Runako Mortoncould even cross 50, and Leewards were bowled out for 237 in 80.2overs.Guyana afforded their opponents little respite after enforcing thefollow-on. Although Adams made yet another fifty, Leewards were bowledout for 163 in 62.5 overs. Nagamootoo took four more in this innings,but his 10-wicket match-haul was not enough to prevent the Man of theMatch award from going to Cush. McGarrell also took four wicketsLeewards’ second innings.At Trinidad, the hosts drew their match with Windward Islands, pickingup six points to Windwards’ three. Batting first, Trinidad & Tobagomade 380, a total comprised largely of Dwayne Bravo’s 122 and skipperRichard Smith’s 72. Windward Islands, however, replied positively,with Junior Murray hitting 105. The visitors conceded a lead of only40 runs, being bowled out for 340; Dinanath Ramnarine took fivewickets for Trinidad & Tobago.The second innings saw Darren Ganga at the top of the order hit 151not out, and his opening partner Imran Jan making 94 before beingdismissed. Trinidad & Tobago hit up 298/2 in 102 overs beforedeclaring and setting Windwards a target of 339. The visitors werenever going to make it, however, and the match wound down to theinevitable draw with Windwards reaching 96 for no loss in 24 overs.The match, however, gave Trinidad & Tobago the coveted semi-finalberth in the Busta Cup, where they will face off against Jamaica.Jamaica won their own match against Bangladesh ‘A’ by an innings and60 runs. Batting first, the hosts put up 368, with Wavell Hindsscoring 78, Ricardo Powell 86, and Gareth Breese 72.For Bangladesh ‘A,’ Hannan Sarkar at the top of the order hit 55 andAkram Khan a well-made 46, but none of the other batsmen could makeany significant score, and the visitors were bowled out for 166 in 70overs. Following on, they did little better, managing only 142 in 52.2overs. Darren Powell took 5-27 for Jamaica, earning the Man of theMatch award.Defending champions Barbados do not find themselves in the semi-finalsof this edition of the Busta Cup, even though they won their matchagainst West Indies ‘B’ by an innings and 263 runs. Batting first,Barbados notched up 557 in quick time, three of their batsmen makingcenturies. Skipper Sherwin Campbell hit 107, Kurt Wilkinson 135, andRyan Hinds 166. Floyd Reifer’s 54 and Courtney Browne’s 52 were almostnot needed.Suleiman Benn then took 5-87 in bowling West Indies ‘B’ out for 193.Following on, they did even worse, bowled out for 101 in 45 overs. TBest took 5-37 in the West Indies ‘B’ second innings, but the Man ofthe Match award went to Ryan Hinds for top-scoring in the firstinnings.

Central Zone took firm control over the proceedings of the game as they reduced North Zone to 198 for 6 on the second day of their CK Nayudu Trophy semifinal encounter at the BOS Engineering Ground in Cuttack on Thursday. Earlier in the day, Central Zone in their first innings folded up at a score of 343.Resuming at the score of 284 for 5, Central Zone lost the overnight batsman S Raza Ali (87) with the addition of only two runs. Afroj Khan (69) then took the total past 300 with the help of the tailenders while realising his fifty. He was the eighth batsman to be dismissed with the score at 333. During the 199 minute stay at the crease, Afroj faced 154 balls and found the signboards on eight occasions and cleared it twice.In response, North Zone were given a good start with openers M Bisla (44) and G Geri (15) adding 32 runs in 6.2 overs. Geri was the first to be dismissed, bowled by CS Atram. Then Dhruv Mohan (52) joined Bisla and took the score to 78 when Bisla was caught by A Deshpande off Raza Ali. This brought TT Dilip (25) to the crease and with Mohan he took the score along to 120. Dilip was the next to be dismissed caught by Raza Ali off N Chowdhury.Sumit Sharma and Mohan then forged a 72 run fourth wicket stand. As North seemed to coast along, they lost three quick wickets. Mohan who held the innings together departed after a 205 minute stay at the centre, bowled by Atram. Mohan faced 138 balls for a well compiled half century, in which he hit eight fours. Sumit Sharma joined him in the pavilion soon after, caught by Deshpande off M Srivastava. New batsman Paras Dogra was then bowled by Atram to leave the visitors in a spot of bother at stumps. V Singh (6) and S Singh (0) were unbeaten at close of play. CS Atram so far has figures of 3 for 46.

Whilst the lack of consistency was a disappointment, and would have cost usdear if it were the World Cup, Sri Lanka’s performance in the final of theSharjah ARY Gold Cup was very satisfying indeed and once again underlinedthe fact that when we play to our potential, Sri Lanka is a world classone-day side, which is very difficult to beat.It is especially heartening that we are presently winning the big games inone-day cricket. There were a few nerves on the morning of the final. Thestadium was packed full of supporters, most them cheering Pakistan with apassion, and we had lost three out of our first four games. It was a bigmatch and we went into it in poor form.Credit then to the players, who responded well to the pressure. It helped towin the toss of course. Chasing had proved difficult throughout thetournament and we had no hesitation batting first.Evening dew was not the problem that it was last October and our spinnerscould operate effectively under the lights. Moreover, we felt the ball spunmore during the evening and the fast bowlers enjoyed some extra nip in thefirst ten overs.So, why did we opt to field first against New Zealand? We were criticisedfor that decision, but the rational was simple. We wanted extra practice atchasing, an aspect of the game that had let us down on two occasions againstPakistan.Although we were glad to bat first in the final, the top order still had tocontend with the impressive Waqar Younis and Abdul Razzaq, who bowledtightly in the opening overs, restricting us to 33 runs in the first tenovers.Despite the early loss of Romesh Kaluwithrana and the relatively low scoringrate, however, Sanath Jayasuriya and Marvan Atapattu held their nerve,unlike Pakistan, who started to spill chances. We gradually raised thetempo, scoring 46 runs in the second ten overs, 53 in the third, 65 in thefourth, and 100 in the final ten. It was as good a batting performance asyou are likely to witness.Pakistan though were always in with a chance, even if they haven’ttraditionally enjoyed chasing. Ten overs of a rampaging Alfridi and it couldbe all over with the experienced Saeed Anwar and Inzaman ul-Haq waiting inthe wings.In the previous two Pakistan games we had failed to take wickets and theyhad scored freely throughout their innings. Somehow we had to reduce theirscoring rate. Deep-set fields had failed to achieve this. The likes of Anwarand Inzaman were too adept at massaging the ball into the gaps, so we had toforce them to play differently by bringing more fielders into the ring,requiring them to take more risks.As it turned out they may have started quickly once again, but they lostpriceless wickets, as Arnold, Muralitharan, and Fernando all took brilliantcatches. Saeed Anwar, who had batted brilliantly throughout the tournament,was not given the support he needed. It was a composed, professional, allround performance.This year we have won three out of the four international tournaments thatwe have participated, but we cannot rest on our laurels. There is still muchwork to be done if we are going to prosper in the next World Cup.The greatest worry at the moment is that the performance of the middleorder, which is not contributing with the necessary consistency. We have toaddress this. Personally I feel, as I have maintained throughout the past18-months, that there is no shortage of skill. The problem is mental and wehave to toughen up in this area. If we can cultivate the right frame of mindthen the consistency will follow.For the moment though it is time to rest and recuperate after five longmonths on the road. The players are tired and deserve a break. Not for toolong mind. In two weeks time the players will be getting back together tobegin preparations for the Indian tour.