The gutsy unbeaten 103 that Nasser Hussain scored to clinch victory at Lord’s might have been his last Test innings. Speaking to the media after guiding England to a famous win in the first Test against New Zealand, Hussain announced that he would decide, within the “next 24 to 48 hours”, his future as a Test cricketer.”I have to make some decisions in my life,” Hussain said. “I don’t really want to go in the middle of the series, I want to see it out and beat the New Zealanders but I don’t want to see a young lad who got 200 [runs] in a game left out for me – and without pre-empting the selection process, I doubt very much that he will be. The last thing I want to is to hold anyone back. I would hate that to happen to me.”I will have to talk to people in my life, my father. It is an emotive decision to have to make. The coach, Duncan Fletcher, was in my hotel room last night. We had a glass of Chardonnay and a long conversation. He is a very important person in my life. I am talking about reaching a decision over the next 24, maybe 48 hours.”Hussain also clarified that the thought of retiring wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment act, as a reaction to his matchwinning hundred. “This is not something I have just thought about now. I have been thinking it over since Barbados. You want to go out at the top. I wanted to think about this on my own, speak to my dad, and speak to other people.”Hussain, 36, is only four matches away from playing 100 Tests, but he stated firmly that the landmark wouldn’t necessarily tempt him to play longer. “This thing about 100 Tests is something other people have talked up. You set yourself goals but it is not the be-all and end-all. I’ve thought a lot about this. I want to end on a high. To get a hundred at Lord’s with the ovation and the crowd, then run through the long room with members patting me on the back was very special. While the fans still want me, this is a great thing to sit back and remember in the years to come.”

Scorecard

A maiden Test century from Geraint Jones, along with five wickets later on, put England firmly in control of the second Test at Headingley. At the close of an action-packed fourth day, Jones and Andrew Flintoff helped their side to a dominating 526 before New Zealand spiralled to 102 for 5 to give England a chance of victory tomorrow.England had the momentum all the way from Flintoff and Graham Thorpe’s stand in the morning, Jones’s century in the afternoon, and then those five wickets in the evening. For New Zealand, on the other hand, it was the worst day of their tour so far. They were dispirited in the field, blown away with the bat, and when you add to that a hamstring injury to Daniel Vettori, it was one to forget.The stand between Flintoff and Jones set the tone for the day. They came together just before lunch, and blasted England into a first-innings lead. They stepped on the accelerator with a battery of boundaries to rock the New Zealand attack. This was the third partnership of over 50, and the second over 100, between Flintoff and Jones, who are beginning to form an effective double act down the order.Jones cracked nine fours and a six on the way to his half-century. In that time, he twice lifted Chris Martin down to third man, and pulled Scott Styris for his fifth four. The boundaries just kept on coming as Jones took advantage of the continual short and wide bowling. He did have a life when, at 30, he attempted to cut another loose ball from Chris Cairns, but Brendon McCullum failed to hold on to the edge diving high to his right.Jones then cut Cairns to the fence to give England the lead, and, in the next over, he rocked back to smash Vettori through the covers. Two balls later Jones signalled his fifty by lifting Vettori over long-on and into the stands for six. Even though Flintoff was out shortly before tea, Jones continued unfazed as he carried on crunching the bad balls to the fence. He caressed Martin on the up for his 12th four, which also brought up the team’s 500, and an elegant cover-drive against Styris took him into the nineties.After a nervy tea break on 91, Jones pulled Daryl Tuffey to go to 99, and then pushed him into the off side for the magical moment. Dancing down the track, he punched the air twice as the England balcony rose to acknowledge what an important innings it was. However, the crowd were soon on their feet again when Jones’s sparkling innings came to an end. He cut another short one from Cairns, but this time he hit it straight to Stephen Fleming at point to be out for a round 100 (526 for 8).Flintoff, meanwhile, was his usual positive self from the off. He raced to his half-century, thumping Martin and Styris for five quick fours. Fleming took the new ball midway through the morning session, but that didn’t bother Flintoff. He pulled Martin into the Western Terrace for six, and signalled his eighth Test half-century by clubbing him over mid-on too.Vettori limped off the field with his hamstring injury midway through the afternoon, and everything was going wrong for New Zealand. Flintoff moved effortlessly along and he guided Styris past mid-on to take himself to 94, but then again the brain went at the crucial moment. He wanted to bring up the hundred with another big shot, but next delivery he miscued an off-drive and chipped the ball to Martin at mid-off six short of what would have been a deserved ton (457 for 6).Thorpe was the man who initially got England going. He was happy to play the supporting role as Flintoff took centre stage. He hit five fours, including a pearling drive through the covers off Cairns, but Martin temporarily lifted New Zealand’s low spirits with his wicket shortly before lunch. Martin fired in a swinging yorker which Thorpe was late to get down on, and he was clean bowled for 34 (339 for 5).

Ashley Giles gave Jones good support after Flintoff went. He cracked four quick boundaries in his 21 before edging Martin to Fleming at first slip (491 for 7). However, New Zealand’s celebrations – or lack of them – told their own story. Once Jones was out, however, the last two wickets failed to collect any runs. Martin Saggers clipped a Cairns slower ball to Shane Bond, the substitute fielder, at mid-off (526 for 9), and then Matthew Hoggard edged Tuffey behind to McCullum for 4.New Zealand trailed by 117 runs, and Mark Richardson and Fleming made watchful progress in their second innings on a pitch which showed increasing signs of misbehaving. Both batsmen made solid starts, but their resistance came to an end when Fleming, opening in place of the injured Michael Papps, inside-edged Flintoff off his pad to Andrew Strauss at short leg (39 for 1).Hoggard then produced a snorter to dismiss Richardson for a combative 40. The ball pitched short of a length and lifted sharply to take the edge through to Jones, who leapt as high as he could to take the catch (75 for 2). That was the vital injection England needed.McCullum, who had earlier launched a few meaty blows, was snapped up by a wonder catch from Marcus Trescothick. McCullum edged Stephen Harmison low to first slip, where Trescothick miraculously plucked the ball out of the air with his right hand (77 for 3). Then Hoggard struck again, trapping Nathan Astle lbw for 8 with an offcutter which kept a fraction low (84 for 4). Tuffey, in as nightwatchman, was powerless as Harmison launched another ripper which he could only glove in the air towards Jones, who took his second catch (91 for 5).Styris and Jacob Oram were left holding the wreckage together for New Zealand, but considering that both Vettori and Papps are unlikely to bat, the series could be all over early tomorrow.

How the day turned out
It’s nice to pick up two wickets. It was quite a close decision on the third. Overall, I’m quite happy with that.What Australia would have done if they won the toss
I haven’t talked to Ricky [Ponting], but normal practice would be to bat, so that we can bowl last. Whether that was going to be his intention, I’m not sure. But as conditions turned out, having three quick bowlers right from the outset was a favourable move.About the bad light
The light was pretty uneven all day. I think when you turn on the lights, it improves the conditions, but here it created more complications, because behind the bowler’s arm, it became a [great] deal darker. They [the umpires] made the right decision about offering the light.What the pitch is like
No matter where you go, you will always see something on offer to the new ball. I thought once the rain had intervened, there was some moisture on the wicket, [but] it settled down reasonably quickly.On Brett Lee
There’s been a temptation to play Brett Lee for the whole series, but as we’ve said all along, the three quick bowlers we have in the side have done a fantastic job.The thinking behind picking Nathan Hauritz ahead of Cameron White
Nathan probably is a better spinner. Cameron is a batsman-bowler. Nathan is a far more experienced spin bowler. If we were to go to a line-up with two spinners, he was going to be our second choice after Shane Warne.On McGrath and Kasprowicz’s illness
They’ve passed it on to somebody else now, so there you are [chuckle]. We’ll wait and see who comes down with it next.

On the afternoon of the first day of the Kolkata Test there appeared amoment that will surely find its way into all future histories of SouthAfrican cricket. At the fall of Jacques Rudolph’s wicket there arrived atthe crease the slim, bearded figure of Hashim Amla, the first player ofIndian origin to play for South Africa. Amla’s proud father, Dr MahomedH Amla, was present to witness his son’s brief but assured debut innings.I met Mr Amla on the second afternoon to speak to him about his son andabout the story of the Amla family in South Africa, of which Hashimrepresents the third generation. In some ways it is a classic immigrantfamily’s tale.”My father, Hassim, emigrated from Surat to South Africa in 1927, alongwith his two brothers,” said Mr Amla. “He was only fourteen then. By thattime there was already a tradition of Indian workers coming to SouthAfrica, mostly as farm labourers – it had been happening since 1860. Myfather worked for a while in a retail store, then as a commercialsalesman. My mother was South Africa-born, but her family too came fromSurat. I was one of ten children.”Those were different times. As children we were interested in sport, butwe never could think of a career in it. In any case there were noopportunities to represent your country because of the political system inplace then. It’s only since the nineties that opportunities have becomemore widely available to all South Africans. Hashim was lucky that, justat the time when he was growing up, everything had begun to change. Therewas a system in place and if you had talent, you could make it. Althoughwe were now South African, in some ways we still remained an Indianfamily. We have Indian food at home, and are respectful of Indiantraditions. In fact some people said to me yesterday that some of hisshots were very Asian in their execution, very wristy – even though helearnt his skills on South African pitches.”Hashim went to a school that had a cricketing background – Barry Richardswent to it, and also the swing bowler Richard Snell – and there theyspotted his talent early. He was only 16 when he was chosen to play a gameagainst the visiting England team. After that, every time a team came on atour and an invitation side was arranged to play them, Hashim would bepicked for it. In one such game he took 80 off the Australian team. So youmight say that even though he is quite young, he’s been waiting for hisopportunity for quite some time.”Mr Amla was born in 1950, and grew up in a world of segregation that hasnow thankfully been dismantled. He reflects on how much has changed in thespan of his lifetime. “Hashim is lucky that he did most of his growing uppost-1990, in a new South Africa. Now he is the first player of Asianorigin to represent the national team, and there’s another player, a kidnamed Imran Khan, who may soon be the second.” He observes that the largerforces of history have a great deal to do with the chances thatindividuals get. “Several high-calibre black players of an earliergeneration never got any opportunities. Basil D’Oliviera had to seek hisfuture in another country. So much has changed in South Africa.”So there is that side of the Amla family story, that can be placed withinthe history of twentieth-century South Africa, but, as with any immigrantfamily, also another side, with its roots in India. “I don’t think thatwhen my father arrived in South Africa, at the age of fourteen,” saysMr Amla, “he would have ever imagined in his wildest dreams that his grandsonwould one day play cricket for South Africa, and, what’s more, actuallycome to India to make his debut.”There is a symmetry to this story that seems to please Mr Amla very much.”This is my first visit to the country as well,” he says. “Unfortunatelyit is a short trip and I have to return to my practice as soon as the tour isover. But these have been days I will never forget. I need to come backagain.”Wisden Asia Cricket

John Buchanan, Australia’s coach, feels that the change in the bowling laws could give bowlers greater variety, and this, in turn, would make batsmen play differently. The ICC’s recent law-change for what constitutes a legal delivery had been criticised by past and present players, but Buchanan’s positive assessment meant that the ICC had at least one of modern-day cricket’s most influential figures on its side.After comprehensive testing, the ICC recommended that bowlers could straighten their arm up to 15 degrees. Muttiah Muralitharan’s doosra, a delivery that some reckoned explored that boundries of legality, was tested at 14 degrees earlier this year. Buchanan said that if Muralitharan’s delivery, as well as others, was now permitted, it would add to the game.”I believe it’s exciting what Murali, Harbhajan and Shoaib, and whoever else that has been under investigation, what they do in their bowling,” Buchanan said to AFP. “If bowlers can actually increase the variety of the type of deliveries they can bowl, then that’s a good thing for the game, because that means batsmen have got to counter that with their own skills.”It may mean that captains have got something else to work with. In a sense I think there’s a real gain in it if it’s handled correctly.”Policing bowlers has also been an issue raised by people with an interest in the game. Shane Warne recently asked, “I think it might [create confusion]. How does an umpire tell if it’s 12 degrees, 10 degrees, nine, 13, 14, whatever it is when it happens like that?”Tim May, a representative of the ICC panel that recommended that the law be changed, said that advanced technology and stricter guidelines would be put in place next year. He added that bowlers would have a fresh start with regards to reports for suspect actions.

"The great, green, greasy Limpopo river …" Celebrated in Rudyard Kipling’s Just So stories as the place where the elephant got its trunk*, and situated on the Zimbabwean border in the northernmost reaches of South Africa, it is not the most likely of places to spawn a Test cricketer – let alone two in a single match. But all that is set to change tomorrow morning, when AB de Villiers and Dale Steyn are expected to make their Test debuts.There has been no standing on ceremony where these two players are concerned: neither of them has yet completed a full season of first-class cricket, but already their selection belies Kevin Pietersen’s assertion that there is no future for young white talent in the South African set-up. Steyn has just seven matches under his belt, including a nine-wicket haul against the Warriors at Buffalo Park in East London, while de Villiers has but one century to his name which, happily enough, was scored in the very week he was selected for the national squad. As wild cards go, they seem precisely the type of hungry young carnivores who should thrive under Ray Jennings’s raw-meat-eating regime.Are they green? Most certainly. Greased? Well, in Steyn’s case, his brief dalliances with the speed-gun have recorded a none-too-sluggish delivery of 147.7kph, while de Villiers’s penchant for belting the leather off a cricket ball has resulted in some lightning-quick performances in the Standard Bank Cup. And as for "great", only time will tell, but at the ages of 21 and 20 respectively, they clearly have plenty of that on their side – de Villiers especially, who has a useful little sideline as a wicketkeeper.As befits an opening batsman, albeit a strokemaking one, de Villiers is the more cautious of the pair. He watches all questions carefully onto the bat, and meets the more testing ones with a confident assertion that he will "play his own game", whatever that game may be. But he can certainly play his strokes with dismissive disdain as well. Steve Harmison, surely a daunting prospect for any debutant, is driven straight back down the ground as "just another bowler", while Test cricket itself seems no big deal either – "bigger crowds, a bit more professional, that’s it really."

Steyn, by contrast, has a more up-and-at-`em attitude, and plays his cricket in a style not dissimilar to a young Allan Donald, with speed through the air and late movement his trademarks. Though he has been given licence to crank up his pace at Port Elizabeth, he seems mildly disappointed that the St George’s Park pitch is unlikely to favour an out-and-out attack. "You need to bowl a fuller length down there," he concedes, "so if they want me to ping a few guys on the head I might struggle. But I’ll be up for it I promise you."Steyn has an interesting admission that belies his surname, and is sure to make readers of Die Beeld wince – he speaks no Afrikaans. "I do try …" he insists, but explains that his parents were British Rhodesians and so there was never any cause to take up the language. Already, however, his ignorance has stood him in good stead at the crease. Faced with a gutful of vitriol from Nantie Hayward, his fiery forebear in the South African team, Steyn could do nothing but shrug: "I couldn’t understand what he was on about!"They may hail from the same province, and play for the same franchise, the Gauteng-based Titans, but there was little overlap between the pair as they worked their way towards national recognition. de Villiers’s home of Belabela is a good 500km from Steyn’s stomping ground in Phalaborwa, and by the age of six he had already moved to Pretoria, where his sports-mad family gave him little option but to pursue a career in cricket.de Villiers continued his sporting education in Ireland last summer, where he played club cricket for Carrick and laid waste to records left, right and centre. Steyn, by contrast, took a much less focussed route to recognition, and it was only once he’d left school that he realised he wanted a career in the game. "They play a bit up there [in Limpopo], but no-one takes the clubs too seriously. It’s up to you want you want to do. It’s your life."Though he was mentioned in dispatches for the tour to India, Steyn was wisely left at home for that trip, for the subcontinent is no place for a young fast bowler. But he won’t exactly be on familiar territory at Port Elizabeth either – he’s never yet played at the ground. Not that he’s fazed, of course. "I’m ready to play on any track," he says. "Just to be there at all is a bonus."(* courtesy of a tenacious crocodile)

The Pakistan team management has denied the rape allegation levelled at a team member, but the board has launched an investigation into the matter. has reported that the unnamed player accused of the crime denied it through his manager.The board has asked Haroon Rashid, the team manager, for a report before it begins the investigation. Zakir Khan, the manager of cricket operations for the PCB, who was alerted to the allegation by his Australian counterpart, said, “The fact is nobody knows what is the real story,” and admitted that they were baffled.”I cannot say anything more until we get to the bottom of what has happened,” said Zakir. “It has taken nearly three weeks for this woman or girl or whoever she is to come up with this. There is no police report and nothing else. We don’t know what is the legal procedure, so we will definitely be consulting people, lawyers also, on how to tackle this situation if it is true. It’s distressing for everyone.”The woman, who wanted anonymity, reported the matter to the Centre Against Sexual Assault, who informed Cricket Australia (CA) a while ago. A spokesperson for CA said that they had informed the Pakistan management of the allegations this late because the preparations for the tsunami relief game had been intense.”We should have told the Pakistan team management and we didn’t,” said the spokesperson. “There’s no excuse for that, although I should say that the last two weeks have been probably the most extraordinary two weeks in Australian cricket history in terms of what we’ve done and the outcome.”Bob Woolmer admitted that the team members were shocked when they heard the news. “There was stunned silence really. Everyone sort of looked at each other. Personally I don’t think anyone in the dressing-room was involved.”It’s totally against Islamic law. It’s totally against everything they believe in.”

The night before the third one-day international at Auckland, I told a colleague of mine in the UK that the expected slow wicket at Eden Park gave New Zealand a decent winning chance. “Why don’t you make all your pitches like that?” he asked. Despite New Zealand’s loss today, it’s a fair question.Rewind to the World Cup in the summer of 1992 when the names Greatbatch, Harris, Larsen and Crowe dominated match scorecards and became Kiwi legends. New Zealand racked up six successive wins in the pool stage, starting with the scalp of the defending champions Australia.Standing out like a lighthouse at Cape Horn was the offspinner Dipak Patel, New Zealand’s most unlikely and unexpected opening bowler. While his new-ball partners changed in virtually every game, New Zealand’s success was in no small way due to Patel’s ability to restrict runs in the first 15 overs. On slow tracks, the secret was not so much in deviation but in a lack of pace and clever field placements. It is unthinkable now that New Zealand’s new-ball duo in one match, against England, was Patel and the slow-medium bowler Chris Harris.If Bridgetown’s Kensington Oval was a fortress for the Caribbean quicks of the 1970s and 80s, Eden Park became the impenetrable battlefield of the lack-of-pace New Zealand attack in the World Cup. Batsmen of the calibre of Desmond Haynes, Imran Khan and Brian Lara found the wicket devilishly hard to score on and, in the 13 years since, little has changed. Australia’s 264 today was only the sixth time a total of over 260 had been achieved at Eden Park.Although New Zealand went into today’s match with just three frontline medium-fast bowlers, the question could be asked whether even that was too many. While Glenn McGrath was resting in the grandstand on his day off, Daryl Tuffey probably wished he had the same luxury after his new-ball effort went horribly wrong. Each of his first six deliveries were either no balls or wides en route to a 14-ball over first up and it came as no surprise that he was not seen at the crease again after conceding 25 runs from his opening two overs. At the other end Kyle Mills was removed after just four overs.In recent times New Zealand has struggled to take wickets or restrict runs inside the first 15 overs against Australia. Even back in the glory days of the 2002 VB Series when New Zealand won three from four, twice Australia got off to flyers – 95 for 2 in Melbourne and 70 for 2 in Sydney – before collapsing. Ditto the Chappell-Hadlee matches before Christmas – 95 for 1 and 101 for 1 – and the current series – 74 for 1, 96 for 1 and 81 for 1. Even the taming of Adam Gilchrist has not stopped the rot.The first 15 overs with the ball has become a battle for survival for New Zealand. Tuffey and Mills have been unable to find the swing which they are selected for and simply don’t have the pace to trouble Australia’s top order. Tuffey struggled with even the most basic of disciplines today, bowling straight.Perhaps then it is time to revert to the model devised by Martin Crowe and Warren Lees in ’92. And why aren’t all New Zealand’s pitches in this series Eden Park replicas? What would Stephen Fleming and John Bracewell do for the RPOs of 3.10, 3.44, and 3.81 achieved by Patel, Gavin Larsen and Willie Watson respectively? New Zealand showed today that they were no worse off using the lesser pace of Nathan Astle and Craig McMillan in the final ten overs.As a departing thought, is it best to bowl Daniel Vettori out with 15 overs remaining as happened today? Sure he’s turned in outstanding economical spells in this series but is that the best use of Fleming’s primary weapon? Crowe thought so in his column in the Sunday News last week when he compared Vettori to Larsen. However, with New Zealand’s death-bowlers so ineffective of late, there must be a decent case for Vettori being held back as Mark Taylor and Steve Waugh did so successfully with Shane Warne.Andrew McLean is a presenter of The Cricket Club, New Zealand’s only national radio cricket show.

WeatherTwo series are currently showing the best and worst of international cricket. While Pakistan and India share a competitive contest that improves international relations, South Africa is crushing and cursing Zimbabwe. New Zealand’s hosting of Australia falls on the downside: it won’t be a farce, but please hurry up and finish it.There are a couple of hurdles that make this three-Test affair a stop-off rather than the destination. For Australia the Ashes are smouldering and July’s events were more of a discussion point in the departure lounge before this tour began. New Zealand are also looking ahead to Sri Lanka’s return and two matches they could win. The same prognosis is unlikely even in their Christchurch dressing-room when the opening Test begins on Thursday.The Kiwis were supposed to resist Australia in the top-of-the-world one-day series before being grounded 5-0. Sri Lanka’s tour, postponed because of the tsunami, was meant to build confidence before Australia arrived. Instead it will probably be needed to restore it once they leave.Another problem affecting the billing is the familiarity of the teams. The neighbours have spent most of the season in each other’s backyard, and the relationship is gratingly predictable. They went on road trips to Tests at Brisbane and Adelaide in November, then faced three one-day invitations for the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy. The short games strengthened the relationship and forged great expectations for the reciprocal visit.Now the closely-matched friends are struggling acquaintances who can’t help but pick arguments. They have another three more weeks in close proximity. It is a compelling reason for Test schedules to avoid home-and-away series in the same season.The Australians have copied Homer Simpson and enjoyed the hospitality too much, giving their opponents nothing in return. They gatecrashed the Twenty20 wearing comparatively lame costumes; they made New Zealand suffer through their first five-match clean sweep on their beautiful grounds; they have sent batsmen to ruin figures of any vaguely promising recruit; and delivered Brett Lee on Michael Papps and Brendon McCullum. And to add insult to those injuries, Lee has been deemed surplus to requirements for this Test – he’ll need to do more than clatter batsmen on the helmet to usurp Mike Kasprowicz.Stephen Fleming was so fed up with answering questions about Australia that he banned talk of them at his press-conference table. Instead he has made jokes about his desperate injury situation and the search for replacements. “Anyone wearing whites or coloured clothes is in the frame at the moment,” Fleming said during the crisis.The coach has tried mixing wacky humour with bizarre ploys that successfully rile the Australians. Like a father trying to stay fashionable in his children’s eyes, John Bracewell attempts zany methods of protection from the bullies. He has succeeded in deflecting the attention from his players by becoming the main figure of mocking. The former gravedigger may be preparing his own. His plans have stayed the same – the results have become worse.While the one-day series was a mismatch between Nos. 1 and 2, the Tests pit the world champions against a seventh-ranked team already well below top health. Seven serious contenders were unavailable for the first Test with injury and New Zealand’s best hope is for Australia to think too much about Lord’s and Edgbaston and not enough about Martin, Franklin, Marshall and Cumming.

Similar slips happened in 1999-2000, when their batting was in trouble in each Test on seaming pitches, but they recovered in the middle of an amazing 16-Test winning streak. Damien Martyn returned to the side after a lengthy absence on that trip and has grown into a treasured batsman. His role will again be important if Chris Martin or James Franklin manage to send a shudder through Hayden, Langer or Ponting.The countries have played only 19 Tests in the Shaky Isles and New Zealand are well placed with five wins, the last coming four Tests ago in 1992-93 when Danny Morrison and Dipak Patel bowled them to victory and Martyn scored 1 and 74. The more relevant matches are the two in Australia four months ago, when New Zealand lost by an innings and 156 runs at the Gabba and 213 runs at Adelaide Oval. Four players – Mark Richardson (retired), Mathew Sinclair (poor form), Scott Styris and Jacob Oram (both injured) – are missing from the outfit that approached full strength, and Daniel Vettori and Nathan Astle are fighting uncomfortable injuries.Australia’s concerns ended when Matthew Hayden was passed fit from a shoulder problem, but fatigue could become a factor. Both teams have been running since September’s Champions Trophy in England, although the Kiwis had a midsummer’s break when the Sri Lankans returned home. It’s a potentially small opening that should make no difference, but the undermanned, overwhelmed neighbour must irritate any scratch in the hope of sending their familiar rivals packing.Peter English is Australasian editor of Cricinfo.

Following the ICC’s global award earned by the US Junior Cricket Academy of New Jersey in 2002, another junior program based in the USA is about to follow in its footsteps.The Colorado Junior Cricket Association (CJCA), sponsor of the Littleton Cricket Academy run by Dan Ruparel, has been named regional (Americas) winner of the ICC Development Program Awards for 2004. The CJCA will now compete with the other entrants from 26 countries throughout the developing cricket world for a shot at the global award.The regional award winners will each receive a specially-commissioned ICC trophy and a certificate of recognition. Each regional Flicx Junior Development Initiative Award winner will also receive a Flicx pitch.The global winner will be selected by a panel comprising Ehsan Mani (ICC president), Malcolm Gray (former ICC president), Dr Ali Bacher (ICC Cricket World Cup 2003 executive director) and Roger Knight (MCC chief executive and secretary). The global award winner will be announced at the end of March.