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Sir Donald Bradman, as anyone even remotely associated with the game of cricket is aware, ended his Test career with an average of 99.94. But that is not the highest Test career average of all time. In a freak case, a relatively unknown West Indian batsman going by the name of Andrew Gordon Ganteaume has an overall batting average of 112. A right handed opening batsman and wicket keeper, Ganteaume played just one Test against England in 1947-48 when he scored 112 in his only innings. For some obscure reason, he never played in another Test andthat explains the reason for his freak average, which remains the highest in the annals of Test cricket.A lesser known, but still rare, feat is to average 100 against any one country. It is possible that a batsman may have a specially good record against a particular country and there have been cases when a batsman has even averaged over 100 in such cases. Against India, for example, there are three cricketers who have an average of 100 plus and to avoid freak cases, I have maintained a minimum of five Tests as a benchmark.Batsmen from many countries have relished Indian bowling. Players like Walter Hammond, Gary Sobers, Ken Barrington, Zaheer Abbas, David Boon and Sanath Jayasuriya all have averages ranging from 70 plus to 80 plus in Tests against India. But the three who have topped the century mark against India are Sir Donald Bradman, Everton Weekes and Andy Flower.Bradman of course played only one series, in 1947-48, against India. In the five Tests, he had scores of 185, 13, 132, 127 not out, 201 and 57 (retired hurt). He finished with 715 runs at an average of 178.75.Weekes played ten Tests against India, five in an away series in 1948-49 and five in a home rubber in 1953. In the first contest, the West Indian right hander punished the Indian bowlers to the tune of 779 runs from seven completed innings. Four years later he was still at his ruthless best, knocking up 716 runs from eight innings (one not out). The carnage gave him a tally of 1495 runs at an average of 106.78.After this, many batsmen had a splendid record against India but fell short of averaging 100 plus. Sobers for example scored 1920 runs from 18 Tests at an average of 83.47. That obdurate English professional Ken Barrington always had a special taste for Indian bowling, particularly on our featherbed pitches at home. He ended up with 1355 runs from 14 Tests at an average of 75.27. In the seventies and eighties, Zaheer Abbas was the scourge of Indian bowling – but only on home turf. The elegant Pakistan right hander had a nightmarish tour ofIndia in 1979-80 and only a modest one when he led the side out here four years later. But in three successive series in Pakistan, Zaheer Abbas averaged 100 plus each time. But the poor record in India brought his overall average against this country to 87 from a tally of 1740 runs in 19 Tests. Burly, beer loving Australian opening batsman David Boon followed Zaheer Abbas as the scourge of Indian bowling. In 11 Tests, from 1985-86 to 1991-92, Boon scored 1204 runs at an average of 70.82.Walter Hammond, in the 30s and 40s and Sanath Jayasuriya in the 90s both threatened to top the 100 run average mark against India but they fell short. Hammond had successive innings of 167 and 217 in the 1936 rubber but a modest run in the three Test series ten years later saw his overall average slip to 79.28 from a tally of 555 runs in six Tests. Similarly, Jayasuriya had successive scores of 340 and 199 in two Tests in Sri Lanka in 1997. But his other scores were modest and his overall average stands at 78.20 with a tally of 782 runs from seven Tests.In the last few years, however a rather unfancied cricketer from Zimbabwe has taken heavy toll of the Indian attack. Andy Flower, the pugnacious left hander and wicketkeeper took little time in displaying his relish for Indian bowling when in the inaugural Test at Harare in October 1992, he scored 59 and one not out. A few months later in the return Test in India, he top scored in both innings with 115 and 62 not out. In the only Test back home in 1998, he had rather modest returns of 30 and 41 not out. But last year in the two Test series in India he really blossomed with successive scores of 183 not out (topscore), 70 (top score), 55 and 232 not out (top score). As the Indian team prepare to take on Zimbabwe, they are aware they will face an enormous obstacle in the 33-year-old former captain who currently has a tally of 848 runs from five Tests. Five not outs in ten innings have boosted his average to 169.60. close behind the Don’s figures. The coming two Test series in his country gives Flower the opportunity to go ahead.

World-class New Zealand all-rounder Chris Cairns told the audience at the launch of his book ‘Chris Cairns’ last night that he regards bowling as his trade, and batting as his enjoyment.Speaking at the function organised at the Christchurch Casino, Cairns said getting a five-wicket haul when bowling was the most satisfying aspect of the game.Cairns, who missed the last part of New Zealand’s international season when needing more surgery on his troublesome knees, said he was feeling very good.”My rehabilitation has gone well but it is all in the lap of the cricketing gods,” he said.Cairns said he wasn’t motivated by statistics in the way that Sir Richard Hadlee had been during his career, nor was he blessed with the superb bowling action that Hadlee enjoyed.”I have to work harder on my bowling, I’m not as gifted with my action as he was,” he said.A video presentation of some of the highlights of his career was shown during the evening and inevitably resulted in questions to him about some of the notable moments. He recalled the occasion in 2000 when hitting Australian fast bowler Brett Lee out of the Basin Reserve in the second Test of the series.The Australians had been getting frustrated with the way New Zealand were batting when Lee bowled a short ball to Cairns which he swung at, although his eyes were closed when he connected with the ball, which he hooked over fine leg and into the gardens outside the ground.”I walked down the pitch and Flem [Stephen Fleming] said to me ‘What have you done?’ and I said ‘I just wanted to have a whack at it.’ Flem described it as ‘a moment of clarity.'”Cairns did say that managing to get Australia’s leg-spinning maestro Shane Warne away at times during the last few years had been satisfying.”Warnie made me look so stupid during the first part of my career.”For me to have played alongside a bloke like that was a privilege. I remember at one stage during the Test in Hamilton I took a single with a hit to long off and as I ran by him I heard Warnie say: ‘Thank God for that’, and that was one of the highlights of my career to hear that he was pleased I was down the other end, because so often I had been trying to get down to get away from him in the past.”Asked who were some of the hardest bowlers to hit, Cairns said Sri Lanka’s Muttiah Muralitharan was ‘quite hard’ to hit, as were bowlers who didn’t put any pace on the ball.Among the speakers at the function were his New Zealand team-mates Chris Harris, Nathan Astle and Craig McMillan who poked fun at Cairns over some of their experiences with him during their careers.Others to speak were former New Zealand captain Martin Crowe and former chief executive of New Zealand Cricket Christopher Doig.Crowe recalled the morning of Cairns’ first Test, against Australia at Perth in 1989, when he travelled down in the hotel lift with Cairns.”He was white with fear, a broken man, he was too young at 19 and suffered a stress fracture to his back in that game.”But I also remember when he came back and took a six-for against England and then he went through the most hopeless cricket regime I’ve ever seen in 1995/96.”It took an Aussie, finally, after seven years to sort him out,” he said.Steve Rixon had told Cairns to go out and express himself and as a result for the last five years he had blessed New Zealand with his skill and had made commentary for Crowe a great joy.Crowe said that Cairns’ feats with bat and ball put him in a statistical club whose only other members were Keith Miller, Gary Sobers, Ian Botham and Imran Khan.Doig said it was fair to say that there was nobody who had given him more pleasure, nor greater concern, than Cairns.But there had been no doubt that the “Black Caps walked a little taller, played with greater self-respect when a fully-fit, focused and fizzing Chris Cairns walked onto the paddock with them.”Doig said when a fully-fit Dion Nash was also available the pair were formidable, bringing out the best in their respective games.”It was one of the great tragedies that it was so infrequently that they played together.”Chris had a fierce individual determination to carve out his niche in New Zealand cricket. He was passionate about doing well, and New Zealand cricket doing well,” he said.There were times when his frustrations would boil over and end up inappropriately in the media but he had grown to understand the processes needed to advance his own, and New Zealand’s game.”He emerged from the shadow of his father [Lance] and was the greatest all-rounder in cricket today,” Doig said and it was with huge satisfaction that Cairns had matured into an outstanding individual in his own right.

England are hoping that Mark Butcher will be able to play in the final Test against Sri Lanka at Old Trafford. Butcher wore heavy strapping on his left knee when England trained today, but came through without apparent discomfort.”The news about Butcher is encouraging,” said an England spokesman. “We will reassess the situation in the morning.”If Butcher doesn’t make it, England have a tailor-made replacement in John Crawley, who’s used to batting at number three and is an accomplished player of spin bowling.”I am obviously desperate to play,” Crawley said today. “It has always been a dream since March when things turned round for me to come back here and play a Test match.”After making the decision in the winter that I could not play here any more,I still had plenty of ambitions and dreams to come back here. At the start of the season that was just to come back here with Hampshire, but things have moved on a lot quicker than that.”Although it took Crawley months to extricate himself from his Lancashire contract following his replacement as captain over the winter, eventually joining Hampshire, he bears no ill-will towards his old club and hopes to have some support on his old ground.”During my time here I had a lot of support from players and members, so itwill be a little bit emotional for me if I do stride out here,” he said. “It is an opportunity for the crowd here to see my play again and for my family to see me play up here again as well.””My dad is the only one who is still in this area, but whether he will comealong or not is up to him,” said Crawley. “I think he was a bit shaken up about what happened in the winter. It is worse in a way because he could not actually put himself in a position to do anything.””The problems I have had here have stemmed from a very small minority ofpeople. It is a big ground, and I hope I will not come across those people.”I don’t really know what to expect. All I can say is I had many good memories here and many good years and I am very much looking forward to going out there and playing a Test match.”

It’s absolutely necessary to give positive support for the players in the Piton Malta Herman Griffith Primary Schools cricket competition.It is vital at this stage, I think, to create the correct psyche in players so young because the environment in which they learn their trade is crucial in their overall development.After all, what’s learnt in the cradle lasts forever. An incident I saw at the Lumber Company ground last week has convinced me even more that youngsters do indeed need the right kind of guidance to help them to blossom.I couldn’t imagine in my wildest dreams that a teacher would pull his players off the field, thereby causing the game to end prematurely.It happened at approximately 12:05 p.m., much to the dismay of supporters of both Holy Innocents and Lawrence T. Gay.At that stage the Lawrence T. Gay batsmen were beating the stuffings out of their opponents attack . . . 156/3 was the clearest indication that they were the superior team.With 20.4 overs bowled, lo and behold the teacher called his players off the field, engaged in heated discussion with the groundsman and Lawrence T. Gay officials. Soon after, the team bus arrived and took the players away. It left a sour taste in everyone’s mouth.The problem? Would you believe that after allowing so many overs to be bowled the teacher apparently suddenly realised that the pitch was too long?Admittedly, they were playing on a full-length pitch when in fact it should’ve been 18 yards according to competition regulations instead of the conventional 22 yards.The adjustment was made taking into account the age and size of the players.If the teacher raised the question about the length of the pitch as an issue, he was certainly within his rights, but the question remains: why didn’t he identify the discrepancy from the start or even well before the 20.4 overs were delivered?What made matters even worse was the crude way in which the issue was handled. You just can’t instruct 11 youngsters to leave the field just like that.In any event, if the game had been played to its logical conclusion, it means that neither side would have been disadvantaged because they would have played under the same conditions.Not only that, it would have been in order to play the game and then send in a letter of protest to the National Sports Council who would in turn make a ruling on the outcome.It was to the credit of the L. T. Gay management that they tried their very best to have the matter resolved in a civil way but the other side would have none of it.And we wonder "how the youth get so"? I know that we know.

As fleetingly as the English resistance appeared, it went away just asquickly. Unable to build on the foundation, Michael Vaughan had laid forthem, a score of 342 had to be settled for after 450 had seemed a possibility.Losing seven wickets for 47 didn’t do anything to dispel the perception of a brittle Englishlower-order line-up. Warne and Gillespie ripped through them without too muchfuss.There is not enough consistency for England if they wish to compete againstAustralia. They require sustained periods of excellence both with bat andball. Not glimpses of it.Vaughan basically played a lone hand as no other English player passed 50.Are England playing like the West Indies were a few years ago when all youhad to do was dismiss Brian Lara and the innings would unravel before youreyes?Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer knocked off 100 runs in the blink of an eyewith 342 looking more inadequate by the second.England can still lose this game by an innings. Something which lookedhighly unlikely when they were 2/240, but cricket is a game made up ofperformances by individuals within the fabric of a team.Superb efforts by Warne, Gillespie and McGrath dragged Australia back intothe game. They bowled tirelessly to restrict the Englishman and after thebreakthrough was made, homed in on the lengthy English tail.There is no doubt that cricket is a batsman’s game but it is the differencein class between the bowlers of the two sides which will decide this series,England do not have the same resources in the field that Steve Waugh cancall on. Not one of the English bowlers looks as though he is a constantthreat of taking wickets. They wait or pray for an Australian mistake asopposed to being able to force one.Losing three of their starting bowlers from the original tour party hasn’thelped matters either. The field placings must pay some attention to savingruns which allows the Australian batsmen even more freedom.The shortcomings of the bowlers comes back onto the English batsmen. Theyare then required to bat out long periods of time or do somethingextraordinary if England are to hope to have even a modicum chance ofsuccess.Different times to when England could boast class bowlers such as John Snow,Bob Willis, Derek Underwood, Ian Botham, Graham Dilley, John Emburey and Phil Edmonds.Facing bowlers such as these, the Australians didn’t have the carte blanchethey seem to have done.So where to for England from here? -Defeat in Adelaide means basically theend of the series and another long summer with the only point of interest beingwhether England can snatch a win in a dead rubber like they have on their last twotrips down under.

Chris Gayle’s typically punishing 83 off 79 balls, followed by Ryan Hinds’ telling all-round performance of 68 and six wickets, led the West Indies `A’ team to victory over Gloucestershire yesterday.The West Indies compiled 279 before they were all out with two balls of their 50 overs remaining and bowled the county team out for 235 in 45 overs to win on the last match of their England tour by 44 runs.Test opener Gayle struck a six and 12 fours to give the West Indians a powerful start after Daren Ganga batted on winning the toss.Ganga, caught at square-leg, and left-hander Devon Smith, taken at point, went cheaply.But Runako Morton (41 from 40 balls with seven fours) and the left-handed Hinds (68 off 86 balls with two sixes and five fours) took their cue from Gayle to revive the innings.After Gayle was dismissed by England international Jeremy Snape, Hinds and Dwayne Bravo (38 off 43 balls with three fours) added 82 and, even though the last six wickets went down for 38, the West Indies posted a challenging total.Gloucestershire started with two openers with West Indian connections: James Pearson, 18, who plays club cricket for Bristol West Indies and Tim Hancock, whose mother is Barbadian.But Pearson was bowled without scoring by the pacy Tino Best who also bowled Chris Taylor. The experienced Hancock fell to Jermaine Lawson for 27 before a fourth-wicket partnership of 111 between Matthew Windows and Snape renewed Gloucestershire’s hopes.As the required scoring rose to over eight an over, Windows and Snape fell within six runs of each other to Hinds, who added four more wickets as Gloucestershire subsided in spite of Alex Gidman’s run-a-ball 36 and bowling that gave up 12 wides and 11 no-balls.The West Indies ended the tour with five wins (over Ireland, British Universities, Sussex, Yorkshire and Gloucestershire) and two losses (to Sri Lanka and Kent) in the one-day matches.They had one win, one loss, one tie and three draws in the first-class matches.They fly to Toronto today for matches against Canada before returning home next week.

Central Districts achieved a $67,991 surplus in its financial performance this year, a turnaround of $143,209.In his annual report CD chief executive Blair Furlong said the surplus had been possible as the result of the New Zealand Cricket (NZC) grant to the association.Sponsorships, donations and grants were worth $1,173,767, up $67,103 on last year and almost the amount of the surplus.Like most associations CD had an increase in coaching and development costs for the year, up from $139,578 to $151,627.Administration also increased from $151,333 by $24,259. Women’s cricket (up $11,282) and junior cricket (up $8851) were also areas of increased costs.Furlong said that in addition to increased NZC funding the England One-Day International at Napier contributed to the income in several areas.”The dinner prior to the match was the largest we have hosted with 850 patrons attending. People who attended the function are still talking about how good the event was,” he said.Furlong marked Dipak Patel’s contribution in five years of coaching with the side.”Dipak coached the team with success in winning both the one-day and four-day competitions, a win over India and a very competitive draw against Australia.”Dipak managed to get a number of our players recognised at international and New Zealand A level and he improved significantly the competitiveness of the Stags at all levels,” he said.At the annual meeting held last weekend in Palmerston North, chairman John Fluker of Horowhenua Kapiti was challenged for his position by Graham Sherlock of Nelson but retained his position.A change did occur on the CD board when sitting member Bob Rankin was defeated by Taranaki’s Graeme Reardon. Other board members elected were, Sherlock, John Smith (Nelson), Trevor Smith (Taranaki), Viv Stephens (Hawke’s Bay) and David Townend (Manawatu).John Cunliffe (Marlborough) succeeded Dermot Payton (Wairarapa) as president of the association.Ian Colquhoun remains CD’s patron.

Following his first innings of 63, Jamie Troughton again made light of a slow wicket with a well made century to put Warwickshire in command after the third day of the Frizzell Championship match at The Rose Bowl.Hampshire gained a first innings lead of 27 thanks to an eighth wicket partnership of 42 between Dimitri Mascarenhas and Shaun Udal. Shaun Pollock who had spent much of the second day off the field after the news that his friend Hansie Cronje had been killed in South Africa, finished the innings off soon after.Nick Knight and Michael Powell put on 56 for the first wicket, before both were entrapped by Mascarenhas’ in swingers, Chris Tremlett accounted for Dominic Ostler following a wonder catch from Will Kendall, to put the home side in charge, however, England hopeful Ian Bell, who has been struggling for runs since returning from the English Academy, got his head down and with Troughton in charge the pair shared 90 runs. Bell whose 145 ball stay including 3 fours was out when he was dragged forward by Udal and was smartly stumped by Nic Pothas.Shaun Pollock took the bat to the ball, smiting 3 fours and a six before he drove at a quicker ball from Mullally and skied a catch to Nic Pothas who did not have to move from his position. Troughton remained not out after an innings of quality, from a young man with a future.Warwickshire, with 5 wickets remaining lead by 240 going into the last day.

Otago Cricket’s sponsors’ golf day looks set to be a bonanza for those lucky enough to be playing.Dedicated exclusively for sponsors of Otago Cricket the Anngow Motors $50,000 Golf Classic will offer a prize list like no other seen in the area.Top billing goes to a 2.3 litre Mazda6 Sport, valued at $47,000, and supplied by Anngow Motors in Dunedin. This will be on offer as a hole-in-one prize on the St Clair course’s tough fourth hole, a par three with an unforgiving reputation.However, a significant number of aces have been scored at the hole in recent years and Otago Cricket’s Events and Fund Raising manager Steve Davie is hoping the car will be won.”Our sponsors are vital to Otago Cricket’s continued progress and it’s exciting we’ve been able to organise this tournament for them,” Davie said.”It would be great to see the car go.”If the Mazda6, which won’t be launched internationally until late-August, early-September, isn’t won a $1000 cash prize will go to the closest to the pin.The other par threes will also attract plenty of interest with golf clubs and air travel to be won by those finishing closest to the pin. In total more than $55,000 worth of prizes will be on offer.A number of holes have already been sold for the tournament, to be played on November 15, and Davie expects a sell-out by the end of July. Hole sponsors will have automatic entry rights.

Who would have imagined that our national side would be leading the one-day series – against India in India, of all places – by two victories to one? It seems almost unbelievable, and their victory in the third match of the series was most convincing.It must be admitted that India were without their best batsman and bowler, in Sachin Tendulkar and Anil Kumble, respectively, as both are nursing niggling injuries in the effort to get fully fit for their coming tour of West Indies. Their absence would certainly have given Zimbabwe a great psychological boost, and we may well not have won the first match, at least, had either or both been present. It also appeared that India in this series have at times been suffering from overconfidence and have not played with the necessary discipline.Having said that, our most recent victory was won without Andy Flower, resting a thigh injury – the first official international match we have won without him since we beat Australia in the World Cup of 1983, if we want to check the records! The series has also come at a time when we would expect the team to feel distracted by the controversial elections going on back home, where their families were. In view of the results announced by the government, several of the players may well be thinking over their futures.And we did play with the discipline that India lacked, if we overlook the 14 wides bowled in the third match. We can now begin to suspect, with guarded optimism, that Geoff Marsh’s influence is beginning to pay off and the revival of spirit on a more regular basis is returning. One victory in the next two matches would see us win the series, an almost inconceivable thought, and on past experience that pressure may well be too much for our players to handle easily. But even if they are up to it mentally, the odds are still against them, because India have vast resources of talent and they will take the last two matches very, very seriously. Unless, in fact, their nerve has been broken, which would be a surprising state of affairs.It was great also to see two newcomers to the side play such a significant part in our victory. Pommie Mbangwa was playing his first international match for well over a year, and as usual bowled his accurate medium-paced line and length, a style which is at its most effective when the opening bowlers have made an initial breakthrough. And this had indeed been the case, the hero and Man of the Match being Douglas Hondo.Douggie has played one Test and one one-day international before, but on both occasions looked totally unready for it, pushed into international cricket by over-enthusiastic selectors. He had the talent, but it was still too raw. He has spent most of the past season playing club cricket in Australia, and we have published a couple of good reports in ZCO about his progress. On Wednesday’s showing he looked an unrecognizably better bowler.We have had players in the past who have surprised us with a remarkably good performance and then lapsed into anonymity again, but a first time always shows that the ability really is there and gives rise for hope.In this issue we are able to include some more articles by Trishna Bose on Zimbabwe in India, and also the updating of records. We have the new set of records for Zimbabwe v India in Test cricket and also the detailed Test career records of all the Zimbabwean players who took part in the recent Test series.Included also are biographies for three of the Academy players: Andre Hoffman, Innocent Chinyoka and Jordane Nicolle.