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With the employment contracts of current West Indies team manager Ricky Skerritt and team coach Roger Harper expiring in March next year, the West Indies Cricket Board has started to advertise these posts both regionally and internationally.The advertising campaign started on Tuesday with a placement of the recruitment notice on the WICB’s website, www.windiescricket.com."For the next week or so, the recruitment notice will also appear in newspapers throughout the Caribbean and so we are looking forward to a huge response," remarked Roger Brathwaite, acting chief executive officer of the WICB.The closing date for applications for the two posts is Wednesday, January 15.Skerritt and Harper were appointed to their posts just prior to the Cable & Wireless 2000 home series against Zimbabwe and Pakistan.They have been advised that the WICB are advertising the posts and are willing to receive applications for the re-engagement of their services.

Scorecard
Just as one G Smith was frustrating England with a century on Sunday, another one was frustrating New Zealand junior England on the second day of the Under-19 Test at Worcester. The visitors finally closed on 371, Greg Morgan ending with 81, his dismissal bringing up five wickets for Liam Dawson before Greg Smith built a decent response to leave his side on 278 for 5.He was unbeaten on 104 at stumps, his innings coming from 198 balls so far over the course of three hours 20 minutes. The opener Alex Hales made 52 earlier, while wickets were shared around the New Zealand attack.The biggest stand of the day was between Smith and Dawson who had added 98 together when Dawson was run out on 43 to end what had been a useful day for him. New Zealand are well placed, though, with England still trailing by 94 runs.

It has been a burning issue for some time now, and it wastherefore surprising that it took so long for the InternationalCricket Council (ICC) to convene a meeting of captains toconsider the enormous amount of cricket being played. But theoutcome of the meeting – an ICC announcement rejecting thecaptains’ plea to reduce the number of matches and stating thatthe current number was “manageable” – was something of adampener.

Over the last two decades, ever since the limited-overs gamecaught the fancy of the global public, administrators have beenkeen to cash in on the craze, and the players have just had tofall in line. More and more tournaments at more and more venuesbecame the order of the day, all in the name of globalisation.Not too long ago, one could not have imagined the game beingplayed at Toronto, Morocco, Hong Kong and Nairobi. But by 2000,it was not uncommon for a country to play 10 or 12 Tests andaround 40 one-day internationals in a calendar year.Too much of anything can lead to falling standards, generaldisinterest and fitness problems, and at the start of the newmillennium, it was obvious that player burnout was becoming amajor issue. Little wonder then that, after the meeting of theTest captains at Lord’s on Monday, New Zealand skipper StephenFleming made it clear that the ICC would have to consider a majorshake-up of the calendar to prevent player burnout. Emphasisingthe fitness aspect, Fleming said that players needed more time torecover after matches. There is hardly any time these daysbetween games for players to tend to injury; one game followsanother ­ a weekend double-header is a case in point – and teamssometimes fly straight from one competition to another.Such a situation is bound to have an adverse impact on a player’sphysique, however strong he may be. With this in mind, Flemingvoiced his concerns about the amount of time between games,touching upon the stress being put on players. “If the volume ofcricket is going to remain at this level, a bit more care must betaken with scheduling,” Fleming said quite candidly.Limited-over matches are now the main money-spinners in cricket,which is the chief reason why organisers go overboard in stagingsuch tourneys. But there is a real danger of killing the goosethat lays the golden eggs, and this point has been brought upoften in the recent past. “We appreciate that the marketing sideof the game is important and that the volume of cricket is alsoimportant, and that by reducing it we reduce the amount of incomein the game,” said Fleming. “We understand that in professionalsport there are going to be sacrifices, but we want the ICC toshare our concerns about the amount of cricket being played.”The effects of continuous cricket have not gone unnoticed.Several of them have either retired from one form or other of theinternational game in recent years citing fatigue, or withdrawnfrom tours for personal reasons. South Africa’s Jonty Rhodesretired from Test cricket last year, saying that he would like tokeep himself fresh for the 2003 World Cup. Just a few days ago,star England batsman Graham Thorpe announced his retirement fromone-day cricket because he could not continue playing bothversions of the game. Indian pace spearhead Javagal Srinath wasanother who had frequently expressed a desire to be rested fromone-day games before he finally announced his retirement fromTest cricket last month.Player burnout is a more riveting issue in Indian cricket thanelsewhere. For one thing, it is safe to assume that among allTest nations, India plays the most one-day games. Secondly,fitness standards not being as high as in other countries, Indianplayers often carry minor injuries into the field of play. Agrowing incidence of niggling fitness problems has seen a teamdoctor and a physiotherapist in attendance for the last couple ofyears, but ultimately there is little doubt that the playerswould only welcome a less demanding schedule. At the Lord’smeeting, Indian captain Sourav Ganguly voiced his concern on theissue. “I did make a point about excessive cricket being playedthese days,” he said.However, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) hasdone well in agreeing that it would be a step in the rightdirection to reduce the number of matches. BCCI presidentJagmohan Dalmiya minced no words in saying that the currentschedule is too tight. “The ICC’s strenuous programme is makingthe situation difficult,”he said in Kolkata on Tuesday. Dalmiya,a former ICC chief himself, was of the view that Indian playerswere among those severely affected by non-stop travel and play.”The players sometimes don’t have 24 hours to rest. They have notime to recoup. But one has to fulfill commitments,” he said.Dalmiya also referred to the team’s hectic schedule in the run-upto next year’s World Cup in South Africa. India returned from atour of West Indies early in June and set off for England afortnight later to play a one-day series and four Tests, endingon September 10. The players will then jet out immediately toreach Colombo for the ICC Champions Trophy, scheduled fromSeptember 12 to 29. They then face the West Indies in a homeseries from October 1 to November 24 before leaving on a tour ofNew Zealand, scheduled from December 4 to January 14. The teamwill hold its final World Cup preparations at home before leavingfor South Africa on January 31 for the mega-event, to be heldfrom February 8 to March 23.In a bid to reduce the load on the players, the BCCI recentlypersuaded the West Indies and New Zealand boards to cut down thenumber of Tests by two, adding two one-dayers to the originalschedule. Besides reducing the number of playing days, the changeshould also help prepare the team better for the World Cup.Cricketers hardly get a break these days, what with India inparticular having gone into overdrive in matches being playedvirtually round the year. The players have begun to feel thestrain, and it is about time the administrators put the fitnessproblems of the players above monetary gains while drawing upfuture schedules.

WA Cricket Association members will tonight be invited to award Life Membership to two of the state’s finest servants, at the Association’s Annual General Meeting.Former Test and state cricketer and reigning Australian Cricket Board director Mr Wally Edwards and current Association Vice-President Mr Bill Bryant have diligently served the game for more than 40 years.Mr Edwards said today that being awarded WACA Life Membership was the finest achievement of a career that included playing three Ashes Tests in 1974."It is recognition of efforts through all facets of our sport over a very long period of time," said Mr Edwards."It’s a great honour, of which I’m sure anyone would be extremely proud."Mr Edwards represented Western Australia 22 times and played district cricket over three decades at three clubs. He commenced his career as a 15-year-old at Midland-Guildford in the late 1960s before he transferred to University. He concluded an illustrious club career with North Perth, leading the club to a premiership in 1977-78.Mr Edwards has been a WACA Executive Committee member since 1987. He is currently chairman on the important International and Interstate committee.He has actively served on four WACA club committees, through his playing days with Midland-Guildford, University and North Perth and is currently actively involved with Subiaco-Floreat where his son Phillip is an emerging young player.Mr Bryant was first elected to the Executive as Members’ Representative 21 years ago. He has served as Association Vice-President since 1995.He played club cricket with University and Mt Lawley and extends a long family history of outstanding service to cricket. He is a past Chairman of the Ground and Finance sub-committee and Chairman of the Ground Development sub-committee.Mr Bryant has also served as Chairman of the WACA Appeal Board and Chairman of the WACA Membership sub-committee.Mr Bryant’s father Richard was awarded Life Membership in 1956. His uncle Frank had the honour bestowed upon him in 1972, capping distinguished playing and administrational careers with the Association."This is a great honour for me to follow in my father and uncle’s footsteps. It is extremely gratifying to be involved with such a wonderful organisation as the WACA," Mr Bryant said."To be involved with cricket over the last 20 years, when we have seen such enormous development within our ground and such a powerful continuance of a production line of top class players to the Test team is extremely rewarding."Another of Mr Bryant’s uncles, also Mr Bill Bryant, played first-class cricket for Western Australia as well.The WACA Player’s Dining Room is named "The Bryant Room" in recognition of such powerful service from the family.

It is particularly tragic when a sportsman dies young, and the passing away of Narayanan Gautam at 34 was received in cricketing circles in Chennai with shock and disbelief. Gautam had been out of the spotlight for some time, and few were aware that he was battling cancer. He finally succumbed to it on Tuesday.A tall, elegant right-hander, Gautam was a well-behaved and soft-spoken youth; he preferred to let his bat do the talking. Style and timing were his trademarks, and I can well remember the fluency of his drives and the effortless manner in which he cut the ball square to the boundary. An element of power was seen in his leg-side shots, and he used the pull to good effect. He was technically sound, but above all was his temperament, which remained ice-cool under pressure.It was against the visiting New Zealanders in 1988 that Gautam made his first-class debut. He comfortably negotiated the swing and speed of Danny Morrison and Martin Snedden and the spin of John Bracewell to score 23 impressive runs. It was obvious that he was a batsman who could not be judged only by scores but by his class.Sure enough, Gautam fulfilled his potential by getting a hundred on his Ranji Trophy debut in 1990-91. The Gymkhana ground in Secundarabad reverberated to his cultured strokeplay. Tamil Nadu were 144 for three when he entered, and it soon became 149 for four. Gautam figured in a 193-run partnership for the fifth wicket with Robin Singh. At the end of that season, he finished second in the Tamil Nadu averages with 196 runs at 65.33.It was in the following season that Gautam showed he had both style and substance. Tamil Nadu made the Ranji Trophy final, and one of the reasons was the batting of Gautam, who had a tally of 543 runs with two hundreds -­ 129 against Goa and 190 against Uttar Pradesh. Against Goa, he and VB Chandrasekhar added 232 runs for the second wicket, erasing the 25-year-old state record of 210 between PK Belliappa and Kripal Singh; the 190 remained his highest first-class score. Throughout the season he batted at number three and lent both grace and strength to that pivotal slot.Gautam found runs harder to come by during the next season, but he remained an integral part of the Tamil Nadu batting. However, by 1993-94 the runs had completely dried up, and Gautham found it difficult to command a place in the state squad. The following year he switched over to play as a professional for Goa. A stroke-filled 62 against Hyderabad was his best effort, but that remained the extent of his first-class career. In all, he played 18 matches for Tamil Nadu and four for Goa.Considering his great start and the promise he held, Gautham’s final first-class figures of 1007 runs from 23 matches (35 innings) at an average of 30.51 with three hundreds and two fifties can be termed a mite disappointing. But for the few years he played, he was the shining example of a gentleman cricketer and a team man. Former Indian skipper Krishnamachari Srikkanth was among those who had a high opinion of Gautam’s capabilities.

The start of the first day’s play at Bath Cricket 2002 Festival was delayed until mid afternoon because of the damp conditions.Having won the toss and decided to put Hampshire into bat when the players did take the field returning fast bowler Richard Johnson quickly got back into his stride and with the score on 6 sent opener Derek Kenway back to the pavilion after having him caught by Peter Bowler.Will Kendall and Giles White put on 82 before Simon Francis, playing against his old county, accounted for White. Francis struck again 10 runs later when he disposed of Robin Smith for 10 to make the visitors 98 for 3.Kendall and Neil Johnson remained steadfast until the close of play by which time Hampshire had reached 149 for 3 off 48 overs, with Kendall unbeaten on 70.After the close of play Somerset coach Kevin Shine told me: " I feel OK about the day,there has been some good stuff, but perhaps it could have been a little bit better. We bowled short at times, but we didn’t have a lot of luck."The coach continued: "Johnno had an excellent comeback, it was just like he’d never been away, and there have been no repercussions, and once Simon Francis settled down he looked dangerous at times. Tomorrow we will be looking to get some quick wickets early on."

Dominic Cork has set his sights on the next World Cupfollowing his recall to the England one-day squad.Cork has not played a limited overs internationalsince New Zealand in 1997 but hopes his inclusion forthis summer’s triangular series is a sign of betterthings to come.”I am looking for a place in the World Cup in2003,” Cork said. “I played in the one in India,Pakistan and Sri Lanka and I would like to repeat thatexperience.”I am chuffed that I am getting another go. I amprobably a little bit fortunate with one or twoinjuries, notably to Craig White, that I’ve got in butI’d like to prove in England colours that I can playone day cricket.”Today’s call-up for the games against Australia andPakistan next month completes a successful Englandcomeback for Cork.He regained his place in the Test squad and wasawarded a central contract after proving he had made afull recovery from the back injury that cut short histour to Pakistan last winter.

Although the match Kent v Hampshire ended in a stalemate draw,a number of match and individual records were broken:Hampshire 671: 2nd Highest score by the county (just one run short)The all time record of 672-7dec v Somerset at Taunton 1899

J.P.Crawley 272: Fourth highest score for Hampshire,and the highest since the second World War.316   R.H.Moore        v Warwickshire at Bournemouth         1937304   R.M.Poore        v Somerset at Taunton                 1899280*  C.P.Mead         v Nottinghamshire at Southampton      1921It was the highest score ever made by a Hampshire batsmanon debut for the county:126   C.H.Abercrombie  v Oxford University at Southampton    1913151   D.O.Baldry       v Glamorgan at Portsmouth             1959101*  R.E.Hayward      v Sri Lankans at Bournemouth          1981It was the highest Maiden Century scored for Hampshire235*  M.L.Hayden       v Warwickshire at Southampton         1997216   C.B.Llewellyn    v South Africans at Southampton       1901232 for 4th wicket Crawley/Johnson was a record for Hampshire v Kent.266 for 1st wicket Key/Fulton was a Kent record v Hampshire.

Angelo Mathews has been appointed Sri Lanka’s Twenty20 captain for a period of one year starting with the Twenty20 against New Zealand at Pallekele on October 30. The 25-year-old allrounder succeeds Mahela Jayawardene, who quit the Twenty20 captaincy after the World Twenty20 final.”We are giving Mathews a free hand to captain the T20 side for one year, after which we will review his performance,” chief selector Ashantha de Mel said.Mathews has been vice-captain since July last year, and is the most obvious candidate to be Sri Lanka’s next captain in all forms. His elevation to the T20 captaincy is an indication that he remains the frontrunner for the Test and ODI captaincy.The selectors may also have to name a new Test and ODI captain as early as February next year, with Jayawardene set to reassess his role as captain after Sri Lanka’s tour of Australia. Jayawardene took the reins from Tillakaratne Dilshan in January, and has seen himself as a caretaker captain in that time, holding the position only until a younger team member is ready to lead.Fast bowler Lasith Malinga has been named vice-captain, also for a one-year term.New Zealand’s tour to Sri Lanka includes two Tests and five one dayers, in addition to the one-off Twenty20.

James Brinkley seized his second chance of a first-class career by bringing a Gloucestershire charge to an abrupt halt at Chester-le-Street today.The Scotland-born, Australia-raised seamer took 5-9 in 22 balls to finish with 6-32 as the visitors slumped from 188 for four to 198 all out.Queenslander Martin Love then stroked his second half-century of the match, finishing on 63 not out, as Durham reached 104 for two in the second innings to lead by 148.Brinkley’s previous best was the 6-98 he took on his debut for Worcestershire seven years ago. Injury restricted him to 19 games in four seasons before he was released and he played for Herefordshire last season.Neil Killeen apart, Brinkley looked as ordinary as the rest of the Durham attack as Kim Barnett led Gloucestershire’s recovery from four for two. Ian Harvey thrashed 36 off 34 balls and 42 runs came off the first six overs after lunch, 15 coming off one over from Steve Harmison. But the rot set in when Barnett’s dashing innings of 82 off 106 balls ended when he flashed at a widish ball from Brinkley and sliced to gully.There was no such extravagance from Love, who again looked totally composed as he reached 50 off 100 balls. Following the early loss of skipper Jon Lewis, bowled by his namesake for one, Love put on 54 with Michael Gough and shared an unbroken stand of 46 with Jimmy Daley.