What a difference a day made to the spite buried in the Lincoln Green pitch when the State Auckland Aces’ lower order batted in nearly sublime conditions today compared to those of the first day.The New Zealand Academy could only feed deliveries into the Auckland run blender which then churned out 158 runs, off 266 balls, for New Zealand bowler Kyle Mills, 79 for Andre Adams and 62 for Tama Canning.Auckland when all out for 403, had a lead of 235 runs on the first innings, something that Academy opening batsman Jamie How set about righting on his own in a commanding innings of 80, from 75 balls. His onslaught only ended when he was bowled by left-arm slow bowler Mark Haslam.By stumps the New Zealand Academy had slumped to be 111/3 at stumps.But it was the Auckland lower-order that commanded the day, and probably the game.Adams and Mills set the trend for the day when digging Auckland out of their overnight hole of 122/6. They added 108 for the seventh wicket before Adams, who during the innings achieved the distinction of being the first batsman in five years of use at the ground to hit a ball far enough to break a window on the adjoining Lincoln University glasshouses – a significant achievement.He was out for 79 with his runs coming from 71 balls, including 11 fours and four sixes.The torture wasn’t over for the Academy however. Canning joined Mills and settled in for an even longer stay as 178 runs were added for the eighth wicket. Canning was next out, for 62 scored from 124 balls. Both Adams and Canning departed to Nathan McCullum’s off-spin, Adams being caught and Canning leg before wicket.However, Mills was still in the mood to score and he achieved his 150 before being the last man out, caught at backward square leg trying to blast How for what would have been the sixth six of his innings. He also hit 20 fours before finally being out for 158, scored off 266 balls.McCullum ended with three for 51 from 15 overs while Luke Woodcock took three for 84 and James Franklin had two for 55.How, who did not enter the Academy earlier in the year with bowling in his repertoire, continued his development as an off-spinner to finish with one for 25 from 6.5 overs.He was then straight into action with the bat in what developed into a lively opening response from the Academy, albeit unable to be maintained until stumps. He was first man out with the score on 98, but before six more runs had been scored, Woodcock, his opening partner, was bowled by Brooke Walker for 19 and Shanan Stewart was leg before wicket to Walker for a duck.The Academy faces a huge battle to avoid an innings defeat tomorrow, especially as Walker looks to be the bowler capable of making significant inroads into the batting with the Academy still 125 runs short of making Auckland bat again.

Watching the Indian team struggle these days without an all-rounder,my mind goes back to the early 60s. Frank Worrell’s all-conqueringWest Indian side had routed India 5-0 at home and then defeatedEngland 3-1. The side was being regarded as one of the best of alltime, primarily because it was said, it had the ideal combination forTest matches ­ five batsmen, two all-rounders, a wicket-keeper andthree bowlers.

Almost 40 years later, that would be still be the right combinationfor a successful Test team. Think of any of the great Test sides, andyou will see that they had one or two high-quality all-rounders. Ifone goes back even 80 years to the first side that is reckoned to beone of the great Test combinations of all time ­ Warwick Armstrong’sformidable Australian squad of the early 20s ­ it will be observedthat it had two fine all-rounders in Jack Gregory and the skipperhimself.Consider another combination that is considered one of the greatestsquads of all time ­ Don Bradman’s Invincibles, the Australian side ofthe late 40s – and you will see the name of Keith Miller figuringprominently in the many triumphs. Why, even take some of the mostsuccessful Indian teams and it can be seen that the all-rounder hasplayed an important role in victories. The Indian team of 1971, whichcompleted a double triumph in West Indies and England, had Abid Ali,while Eknath Solkar, because of circumstances, was also forced into autility role, performing creditably.The 1976 team at Port of Spain, which notched up one of the mostremarkable victories in Test cricket, had Madan Lal and MohinderAmarnath, while the teams that registered the great triumphs atMelbourne in 1981 and in England in 1986 had the omnipotent presenceof Kapil Dev. At Melbourne, Kapil had Karsan Ghavri by his side, whilein the twin triumphs in England five years later, there was anembarrassment of riches for, as skipper, Kapil could count on theservices of Roger Binny, Madan Lal and Ravi Shastri.The current Indian team, soldiering along without an all-rounder forsome time now, can take heart from the fact that some remarkablysuccessful sides have not possessed such a utility man. The formidableAustralian team of the mid-70s under the Chappell brothers regularlyfielded teams that were a combination of six batsmen, a battingwicket-keeper and four bowlers. Clive Lloyd’s fearsome West Indiansquad of the 80s also took the field with much the same combination inrunning up their record run of 11 successive wins, 26 matches withoutdefeat, and two consecutive `blackwashes’ over England.But of course, in such circumstances, both the batting and bowlingwere of the awesome kind. An Australian attack of Dennis Lillee, JeffThomson, Max Walker and Ashley Mallett was the perfect back-up to abatting line-up that included Rick Cosker, Ian Redpath, the Chappells,Ross Edwards, Doug Walters and Rodney Marsh. Similarly, in the 80s,Clive Lloyd did not really need the services of an all-rounder whenthe batting consisted of Gordon Greenidge, Desmond Haynes, RichieRichardson, Larry Gomes, Vivian Richards, Jeff Dujon and himself,backed by a fearsome bowling quartet of Andy Roberts, Michael Holding,Joel Garner and Malcolm Marshall.The present Indian squad has a niggling problem of a missing allrounder. But what prevents them from duplicating the feats of theAustralian and West Indian sides just mentioned is that the bowling isnot up to the mark, even on paper. The problem gets compounded whenthe batting, which on paper looks pretty solid and even exciting, doesnot perform up to potential. Certainly, on both form and reputation, aline-up of Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVSLaxman, together with the promise of Shiv Sundar Das and VirenderSehwag, does not compare unfavourably with the batting of both theoutstanding teams already cited ­ even if the bowling admittedly isseveral notches below the attacks mentioned. The onus is thus on thebatsmen to come good and to play up to potential if the side is to dowell. It is true that batsmen rarely win matches all on their own, butthey can at least save them, can’t they?

Sri Lankan captain Sanath Jayasuriya admitted that he felt Sri Lanka’svictory chance had slipped away during a nail-biting final hour in Kandy.Sri Lanka eventually won the match with just 16 minutes to spare as man ofthe match Muralitharan grabbed three wickets in 12 balls to finish off theWest Indies and win the match by 131 runs.Going into the final hour, with the light fading fast, West Indies still hadfour wickets remaining with Marlon Samuels and Mervyn Dillon going strong.”In my heart I had doubts that we could win it in that last hour,” he said.”But the light was okay and I had to keep persevering with Murali. Thewicket of Dillon allowed us to break through.”Jayasuriya was delighted with the performance of his two senior bowlers:Muttiah Muralitharan, who took ten-wickets in the game for the fourthconsecutive Test, and Chaminda Vaas.”Both Murali and Chaminda bowled really well. The ball bounced and turned inthe first innings, but getting wickets in the second innings was not easy.They bowled one line and kept the batsmen under pressure.””It was an all round performance that won us the game. Everyone is doingtheir job at the right time and we are playing well as a team at themoment.”He revealed that the presence of Lara had delayed the declaration, which wasmade after discussion with the senior players and coach Dav Whatmore.”Brian Lara and Carl Hooper were in our minds when we made the declaration.Lara can score a hundred at anytime. We didn’t want to lose. That was ourfirst consideration.””We felt though that 84 overs would be sufficient to bowl out the WestIndies on a fifth day wicket. The weather was out of our control. If it hadrained then that was bad luck.”

India took the initiative on day one of the first Test against England at Mohali, after the tourists were reduced from the promising position of 172 for 2 to 238 all out. At the close India had reached 24 for 1 in reply.With the pitch looking a seamer’s paradise before the start, the Indian captain Sourav Ganguly won the toss and gave his fast bowlers first use of it. All three of the faster bowlers, Tinu Yohannan, Iqbal Siddiqui and Sanjay Bangar, are making their Test debuts, as are England’s Richard Dawson and James Foster, who received their England caps in the now traditional on-field ceremony.India broke through in the very first over as Mark Butcher, after driving Yohannan through the covers for four, was caught at second slip by VVS Laxman off the same bowler. Nasser Hussain flexed his muscles with a delightfully cut boundary off a short, wide ball from Yohannan. After an uncharacteristically quiet start, Marcus Trescothick opened his shoulders at the end of the seventh over, driving a half volley from Yohannan through the covers for four.Siddiqui was on the receiving end as well, as Hussain first cut and then drove boundaries. Bangar fared little better, going for two more boundaries as England posted 50 in the twelfth over. Anil Kumble came on for Yohannan, and Trescothick looked fortunate to survive an lbw appeal when he was hit on the toe and credited with four runs to third man. He celebrated with boundaries through extra cover and long on, as England reached 70 for one at the end of an expensive first over for the leg-spinner. Hussain maintained the flow with two more offside boundaries off Bangar. Trescothick swept Kumble to fine leg for a single, and then reached the boundary with a similar shot off the same bowler to bring up England’s 100 and his eighth Test 50. Hussain hoisted the century partnership with a delightful dab to the third man boundary, and at lunch England were healthily placed at 107 for 1.Hussain soon reached his 50 in fine style, pulling to the boundary just in front of square. It was his eighteenth 50 in Tests. An error of judgement then led to Trescothick’s downfall, as he left a ball from Yohannan that held its line when Trescothick expected it to seam away. It sent his off stump cartwheeling. Trescothick had made a fluent 66 and England were 129 for 2. Graham Thorpe then got away with an uppish hook for a single. Siddiqui returned in place of Yohannan in the 43rd over, and Thorpe struck a half volley with perfect timing to the extra cover boundary, repeating the stroke in Siddiqui’s next over as he over-pitched again. But to his chagrin Thorpe was dismissed in the same over, flashing at a ball outside the off stump and giving a straightforward catch to Laxman at second slip. Siddiqui had his first Test wicket; Thorpe had made 23 and England were 172 for 3.Mark Ramprakash immediately made the most of a wide half volley from Harbhajan, driving it to the cover boundary. Hussain then advanced down the wicket to hit Harbhajan for four over mid-off, before being missed in the same over behind the stumps by Deep Dasgupta. An edge in Harbhajan’s next over fell just short of Laxman at slip. The England captain’s response to adversity was aggressive. Twice he hit Harbhajan over the top, first for a magnificent six over extra cover long off, and then a miscued swing over midwicket for three. Ramprakash took three more off Siddiqui as he pierced the covers again, and Harbhajan then made way for Anil Kumble. A single from Ramprakash brought up the 200, but Kumble then struck a vital blow, dismissing Hussain for 85, caught by Laxman at silly point off pad and bat as he pushed defensively forward. The tourists reached the interval on 207 for 4.England’s run rate dropped substantially after tea, and a bowling change by Ganguly paid immediate dividends as Ramprakash, playing Harbhajan defensively across the line, was beautifully caught at silly point by Shiv Sunder Das for 17. 224 for 5 became 227 for 6 when Flintoff perished for 18, aiming to hit Harbhajan over the top and finding Kumble at backward point. Harbhajan missed out on his third wicket in three overs when Dasgupta failed to gather a thin outside edge from Craig White.Harbhajan was not to be denied for long, dismissing Foster for a duck as he tried to sweep a ball from around his off stump. Kumble then dismissed White for five as he dabbed a late cut straight to Rahul Dravid at first slip without addition to the total. Dawson, popped up a straightforward catch for Laxman at silly point off Harbhajan, and Matthew Hoggard lasted just one ball, caught off bat and pad by the substitute Connor Williams at short leg to give Harbhajan his fifth wicket. He finished with 5 for 51, and on a day when many expected the seamers to dominate, seven wickets had fallen to spin and England had subsided to a mediocre total.England opened their attack with Hoggard and James Ormond, and Dasgupta immediately looked in good touch. taking four off Ormond as Hussain chased unavailingly to the midwicket boundary. Butcher was brought on as first change, and provided the breakthrough England desperately needed in his second over when Das left a delivery, which hit his off stump. Anil Kumble entered the arena as nightwatchman, and by the close India had reached 24 for 1.

The Hyderabad squad for the opening match of Quaid-i-AzamTrophy Grade-I tie against Bahawalpur has not yet beenannounced, till the filing of this report Monday , either bythe defunct District Cricket Association (DCA) Hyderabad orthe ad hoc committee.No statement has so far been issued by the ad hoc committeepertaining to the selection of team. The team was expectedto leave for Bahawalpur late Monday.Meanwhile, a rowdy scene was witnessed here at Niaz StadiumSunday when a practice-cum-warm-up match between two teamsof Hyderabad district was disrupted by around 60 to 70youths, who trespassed into the outfield and forced thecancellation of match.The joint secretary of DCA, which has been dissolved by itspresident Dec 24, has accused Mir Haider Ali Khan Talpur,chairman selection committee of the defunct DCA, of leadingthe youths to force the closure of match.Mir Haider has, however, denied the allegations and saidthat he had talked to Faheem Baig for calling a meeting ofselection committee to discuss names of team members.Witnesses said that a practice match between HyderabadGreens and Whites was in progress at 11.30am when around 60to 70 persons entered the ground, raising slogans.

The State Shield final between Wellington and Canterbury at the Basin Reserve, won by Wellington by 53 runs, was a match of serpentine twists and turns, of dizzying swings of fortune.There were in the match, played in bitterly cold conditions before an ardent and dedicated crowd, the best catch most spectators will ever see at close quarters and two or three others that were of the very highest quality.There were, in total, five run outs which scrambled innings and gave impetus to the batting collapses of both teams.Their were single incidents, moments of magical intensity, which changed the course of the match. And there was evidence of a vast reservoir of determination within the Wellington team which helped them become holders of all three major national cricket titles simultaneously.Wellington plunged from 146/1 after a 117-run partnership between David Sales and Richard Jones who were the game’s leading scorers to 192/9 before levelling off and reached 200/9, setting Canterbury 201 to win.And Canterbury were 73/1 in the 21st over and moving steadily towards their winning target when they were overcome by the same unsteadiness and lost nine wickets for 74 runs to be all out for 147.When Wellington’s innings ended, the advantage in the match belonged unquestionably to Canterbury. Wellington had aimed to score 230 runs after batting first and winning the toss and when they were 125/1 in the 30th over they should have gone on to an even more substantial score – to 250 at least.But two brilliant catches by Darron Reekers, another by Shanan Stewart and the run outs of Mayu Pasupati, Mark Jefferson and Paul Hitchcock knocked the stuffing out of their innings.Canterbury thought 201 a gettable total on a wicket which had been glued together for this match and which held its pace much better than either captain had anticipated. But as they paced their run chase, led at first by Paul Wiseman who made 42, they were knocked back on their heels by two moments of brilliance from the Wellington field.The most crucial was the run out of captain Gary Stead for 12 by Sales when Canterbury were 101. But the most spectacular was the catch taken by Pasupati near the backward square leg boundary which removed Aaron Redmond for six and left Canterbury 104/6.Spectators will never see, from one year’s end till the next, a catch as athletic, as dramatic or as influential as Pasupati’s. He made the catch diving full length above the ground and snatching the ball out of the air with one large, outstretched hands.That moment by itself knocked the stuffing from Canterbury, dented their confidence but at the same time led Wellington to believe deeply and unanimously that they were fated to win.Pasupati returned to the bowling crease to claim in a single over the wickets of Reekers, who had begun to mount a threatening rearguard action and was out for 24, and of Carl Anderson. Canterbury went on to dismissal at 147 and to comprehensive defeat.Wellington, in victory, were left in possession of all three of New Zealand’s major domestic cricket titles – the State Max title which they won last year for the third year in succession, the Shell Trophy and the State Shield.Of these the one-day championship was most satisfying. It has been 11 years since Wellington last won a national one-day title but the championship has eluded them, narrowly and in frustrating circumstances, several times in the interim.”When I took over as coach in Wellington they were very keen to get the one-day game right,” Wellington coach Vaughn Johnson said. “I felt in my first couple of years as coach I hadn’t done that.”That made this title especially pleasing.”Wellington captain Matthew Bell saw the completion of Wellington’s grand slam – a Tiger slam as it was hailed in a festive dressing room – as similarly significant.”To have come so close in the past and failed to win was disappointing,” Bell said.”You can say we have a different set up now and different players. The players involved in that period since we last one the one-day title have moved on but their history remains with us.”People had been talking all week about Wellington choking but we didn’t listen to that and more than anything we’re aware that we’ve now firmly laid that chokers tag to rest.”We’ve built something new here and we’ve won all three titles at one time to christen a new era for Wellington.”Stead, Canterbury’s diehard captain whose own dismissal had turned the game, was hard-pressed to determine how the game, that had once appeared so winnable, had eluded his team.”We were happy to have restricted them to 200,” he said. “They should have scored 240 or 250 with the start they got, 200 on that wicket we should have got.”But that’s the pressure of a big game. It was a strange game with five or six run outs, with all sorts of strange things, with all sorts of swings of fortune and they came through better than we did.”There are critical moments in any game and both sides experienced two or three throughout this game. Ultimately the partnership between Jones and Sales was the clinching factor if you look back at it.”The 117-run partnership between Sales and Jones was certainly the most productive of the match, as were their individual innings.Sales, opening the innings for the second time, made 62 in 129 minutes – hard graft – and Jones 71 in 122 minutes. Sales hit only six fours and Jones four. There were 12 fours in total in Wellington’s innings.But after Sales’ dismissal Wellington lost nine wickets for 46 runs in fewer than 14 overs – 6-33 in the last 10 overs during which not a single boundary was hit.But for the partnership between Sales and Jones, Wellington’s total would have been indefensible.Great credit was conferred during the Wellington innings on those two batsmen but also on the Canterbury bowlers and fielders.Redmond, who should have taken only a token role in bowling attack, ended up bowling 10 overs into a stiff and bitterly southerly breeze and took 2-46, including the wickets of Jones and Andrew Penn. Cleighten Cornelius bowled 10 overs and took 2-28.And Reekers’ catches helped propel Wellington down that headlong slope, from comfort at 146/1 to an eventual and dismal total which Canterbury might easily have surpassed.During Canterbury’s innings, Sales’ run out of Stead was crucial. He dived to stop the ball as the players comitted themselves to a single, then, in one motion, returned the ball to bowler Matthew Walker who whipped off the bails. The run out of Peter Fulton, a youngster who made a composed 29, was also crucial.”I suppose if you look at the game, we set ourselves up to get 250 and we were on target after 36 overs,” Johnson said.”We lost a couple of crucial wickets – Sales’ dismissal was crucial – and then a lot of wickets fell very quickly.”Canterbury put pressure on us and they held us to 200. We wanted more but we had to make that enough. Again the character in the side came through.”

In addition to the outside work that is being undertaken around the County Ground at Taunton, there is also a lot of work going on inside the Colin Atkinson Pavilion.Currently the bars and function rooms are closed to allow both areas to be completely refurbished.The work currently in progress in the bar and the function room includes fitting air conditioning and foul air extraction units, new carpets, curtains and new furniture.Mike Smith, who has been bars manager at the club for seven years, told me: “All of the work that is being undertaken is for the benefit of members and everyone who uses the pavilion throughout the year.”Very little has been done internally since the building first opened 20 years ago, so everything is being updated, including the fitting of a new public address system inside.”Upstairs the Somerset players’ dressing room has also been re-decorated and re-carpeted, and some of the furniture re-arranged to make more room to enable team meetings and discussions to be held more easily.The Colin Atkinson Pavilion re-opens for business on Friday March 1st, St. David’s Day, and the first function will, appropriately enough, be the Welsh Society Dinner the following day.

It was a good move by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI)to postpone the start of the Ranji Trophy quarter-finals by two daysin order to give leading players the opportunity to play for theirstates in the crucial games. So often in the recent past have theRanji Trophy knock-out matches been played without the nationalplayers that the country’s premier national competition has beendevalued and the fare dished out has, predictably enough, beenmediocre. There is no doubt that the participation of players likeSourav Ganguly, Dinesh Mongia, VVS Laxman, Sanjay Bangar, Zaheer Khan,Harbhajan Singh, Yuvraj Singh, Deep Dasgupta, Jacob Martin and ConnorWilliams raised the level of the contests, and there was much goodcricket in the four matches.The quarter-finals were not devoid of surprises, and the most emphaticone was the manner in which Baroda scythed through Hyderabad. Grantedthat Baroda are the defending champions and they had the homeadvantage, but not even their most ardent supporters would haveexpected them to win by an innings and 256 runs just 12 overs into thefourth morning. After all, Hyderabad had done well in the leaguestages, registering a comfortable 10-wicket win over Himachal Pradeshin the pre-quarter-finals and having India caps Laxman andVenkatapathy Raju supplemented by in-form players like Daniel Manoharand A Nandakishore in their ranks.

But, having tasted success last year, Baroda are no more the diffidentteam under the shadow of Bombay and Maharashtra that they were forlong. Zaheer Khan produced a dream spell in the second innings thatbacked up some admirable batting feats from Williams (157) and Martin(271). At the moment, then, it must be said that Baroda look goodenough to take the title for a second year running.Baroda’s semifinal opponents Punjab were always expected to get thebetter of Orissa, especially with the match being played at Mohali.The presence of Shiv Sundar Das and Debasis Mohanty had much to dowith this eastern state making the semifinals for the first time lastyear. The two were around this year too, but Punjab were a superiorall-round side. With Ravneet Ricky, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh,Pankaj Dharmani and Dinesh Mongia in their ranks, they never let slipthe slim advantage that the two-run first innings lead gave them, andpurposeful batting and incisive bowling saw them complete an emphatic243-run victory that should do a world of good for their confidenceagainst Baroda.

On the face of it, Railways defeating Tamil Nadu by eight wicketswould also seem to be a surprise. But on closer scrutiny, it cannotaccurately be termed as such. Railways, after finishing runners-uplast year, are a very different team. Their confidence is at an alltime high, and the side today is very different from the one that lostthree times successively to Tamil Nadu – in 1972-73, four years later,and then in the title clash in 1987-88. Of course, they are also amuch stronger side now, with Sanjay Bangar, Murali Kartik andHarvinder Singh, besides the in-form JP Yadav and the evergreen YereGoud in their ranks. They bat well down the order and have a wellbalanced attack. The manner in which Bangar (212) held the inningstogether was exemplary and, riding on such feats, Railways must fancytheir chances against Bengal. For Tamil Nadu, it was a match to forgetin a hurry, with both the batsmen and bowlers failing to come goodwhen it mattered the most.In making the semifinals for the first time since 1993-94, two-timechampions Bengal put up a commendable show in prevailing over Gujaraton the back of a slender first-innings lead. Only 32 runs separatedthe teams after the first innings, and there was time for Gujarat tocome back into the game. But the manner in which Bengal shut them outof the match by splendid batting in the second innings was admirable.And while the established stars like Deep Dasgupta, Rohan Gavaskar,Devang Gandhi and Sourav Ganguly did their job, it was theperformances of Subhomoy Das (77 and 107) and Sanjib Sanyal (123 and92) that played a vital role in Bengal’s victory.The two semifinals promise to be engrossing affairs, and with all theleading players taking part, the high standard of play is bound to bemaintained.

SYDNEY, Dec 15 AAP – Australia A centurion Jimmy Maher has urged Ricky Ponting’s senior side to remember Sri Lanka remain a threat despite the tourists’ heavy defeat at the Gabba last night.Maher, who has enjoyed a prolific season against the touring teams, added a 106 to the twin double-centuries he scored against England as Australia A racked up 8-312.Sri Lanka’s reply stuttered early and died as Sanath Jayasuriya’s side lost its opening tour match by 102 runs.But fewer than three months ago, it was Australia that was on the receiving end, slumping to a seven wicket defeat to Sri Lanka in the semi-finals of the ICC Champions Trophy.And Maher has warned they remain a threat, particularly in the latter stages of the triangular tournament – that also involves England – when off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan is expected to return from injury.”They will be a threat. On wickets like Adelaide and Sydney that turn a bit more, and certainly in Melbourne, I think they can be very competitive,” he said.”When Murali comes back in their side, (Aravinda) De Silva, Chaminda Vaas – you’ve got to remember the last time we played them in the Premadasa Stadium in Sri Lanka they comprehensively beat us.”They are a good cricket side and you never underestimate a Sri Lankan one-day side, with the likes of (Sanath) Jayasuriya, (Marvan) Atapattu and (Romesh) Kaluwitharana – they are all exciting players, hit the ball very hard and to all parts of the ground.”If they get away to a good start in a couple of games it’ll be very tough.”Complacency is not something Australia have been guilty of in the past and despite predictions of another unbeaten summer, Maher insists ponting will not allow any let-up in intensity.”You can never walk out and think it’s all going to happen. Obviously Australia are a fantastic unit, playing very good cricket, but on their day both these sides (Sri Lanka and England) could cause some problems.”I don’t think its going to be a walkover like everyone says. Sri Lanka have generally been a very good one-day outfit”.

SYDNEY, Jan 5 AAP – Six hours of rehabilitation work every day for the last 21 days have paid off for Shane Warne.His bowling arm is no longer in a sling and his World Cup prospects are no longer in doubt.Australia’s great leg spinner has reaped such great rewards from an arduous recovery program for his dislocated shoulder that he expects to be on the field again by the end of the month.He might even play an international tri-series game for Australia.But even if Warne doesn’t appear in a full-fledged international before the Australians leave for the World Cup in South Africa on January 30, the 33-year-old seems certain to test his arm under match conditions for Victoria or a grade side in Melbourne.”It all depends on how it progresses in the next week,” Warne said at the SCG nets today.”If the next week goes okay, if it goes as well as last week, then I’ll definitely play a game before we go to the World Cup.”I don’t know whether it will be for Victoria or in club cricket or for Australia or whatever – I’d have to play for Victoria first or club cricket to get some confidence first before playing in an international.”Warne, man of the match in Australia’s thumping victory over Pakistan in the last World Cup final, has been working feverishly on his shoulder with team physiotherapist Errol Alcott and fitness coach Jock Campbell since the dislocation at the MCG on December 15.He’s so vital to Australia’s World Cup title defence that coach John Buchanan has indicated he will be given until halfway through the two-month tournament to recover.”I’ve done the work, so I’m glad I’ve improved,” said Warne.”I’ve worked very hard for six hours a day – two hours of fitness with Jock and four hours with Hooter (Alcott).”I’ve been putting in so it’s good to see some progress – it’s all going well, really well. Hopefully everything will be sweet.”Australia’s first match at the World Cup is against Pakistan on February 11 at the Wanderers, Johannesburg.Assuming Australia breezes through the first round stage of pool games, the real business of the Super Sixes will start on March 7.Warne had his first tentative bowl in the SCG nets on Friday, delivering about seven overs without discomfort.