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South Africa 175 for 1 (Gibbs 93*, Smith 58) beat Zimbabwe 174 for 8 (Streak 54) by nine wickets

From a neutral spectator’s point of view, this was one-day cricket at its most unappetising. The side batting first – Zimbabwe – never scored enough runs and their lack of firepower meant that they had little chance of springing an upset when South Africa batted. The only surprise was that the half-full ground at Sophia Gardens had not left in search of a more even contest – the school bully picking on the smallest boy in the local playground for example – long before the formality of Herschelle Gibbs hitting the winning run.With South Africa finding their form, the odds were stacked against Zimbabwe anyway, and when Heath Streak lost the toss in conditions which were going to favour the bowlers early on, and on a ground where the side chasing is historically at an advantage, Zimbabwe were on the back foot. From the start of their innings through to the premature end of the match, they never got off it.South Africa’s decision to field under leaden skies at Cardiff was justified by a polished bowling performance which left Zimbabwe struggling to post any kind of total. Only a defiant fifty by Streak enabled Zimbabwe to reach 174 for 8 in their 50 overs, but that was far more than looked likely at the halfway stage when they were languishing at 67 for 4. South Africa were in no mood to be generous, and Graeme Smith and Gibbs powered them to within touching distance of the finishing line with clinical efficiency.Zimbabwe’s innings never gained any real momentum – the run-rate hovered under three an over almost throughout – and none of the top-order batsmen tried to break the stranglehold first applied by Shaun Pollock and Makhaya Ntini. Only one over in the first 25 went for more than four runs – the eighth of the innings from Ntini which produced 13 – and the batsmen found the combination of a seaming ball and some good ground-fielding almost impenetrable. The early frustration accounted for Doug Marillier – caught for 4 when he tried to pull a ball from Ntini which was on him quicker than he expected (11 for 1) – and Travis Friend, who was bowled by Charl Langeveldt attempting a indescript leg-side waft for 12 (36 for 2). When Jacques Kallis got one to leap at Dion Ebrahim there was little the batsman could do except fend the ball to the wicketkeeper, Mark Boucher (38 for 3).Grant Flower and Tatenda Taibu set about rebuilding, and for a time looked to have stemmed the flow of wickets. Taibu rode his luck, edging Ntini over Boucher’s fingertips off an attempted hook, but the introduction of Paul Adams brought the stand to an end. Adams’s variety worried the batsmen – some balls were bang on target, others surprisingly wayward – but Taibu was deceived by a straight one and trapped leg-before with the last ball of the 25th over. When Stuart Matsikenyeri clipped Andrew Hall straight to Jacques Rudolph at backward square-leg for 1 a sub-100 total loomed (80 for 5).Streak had other ideas and, circumspect at first, he then counter-attacked, smashing two fours off in one over from Hall, then cracking Kallis for a four and the next ball bringing up his fifty with a lofted six over extra cover. The crowd, subdued for most of the morning, finally, briefly, came to life. Kallis got his revenge with the first ball of his next over when Streak dragged a wide ball into his stumps for 54.Faced with an undaunting asking rate of under three-and-a-half an over, Smith and Gibbs could have bored the crowd into submission, but they chose to smash the bad balls, and there was no shortage of them from the wayward Zimbabwe bowlers. Smith reached his fifty without really looking convincing while Gibbs, who came into this match wondering where his next run was coming from, was not going to waste the opportunity to make a score, even if he will face more testing challenges in his local club’s nets. England’s bowlers will not have appreciated Zimbabwe’s profligacy in bowling him back into form.Gibbs, who was named Man of the Match, had two pieces of luck. He survived a confident appeal for a catch behind off Streak – the replays were inconclusive but Streak clearly through he had his man – and was then bowled off an Andy Blignaut no-ball. Gibbs might look back on this match as a watershed, but even if he had been dismissed on either occasion the outcome of the match would not have been affected.Smith eventually fell for 58, nibbling at Sean Ervine with 21 runs needed, but by then Zimbabwe’s body language showed that the white flag had long since been raised. They travel to Bristol to play England tomorrow needing to improve on every single aspect of their game. The gulf between them and South Africa today was a chasm, and their win over England at Nottingham must feel as if it was an age ago.

New Zealand set out to score 197 runs in 16 overs as their first goal against Canada at the World Cup match in Benoni today, but the pressure was too much and they had to settle for a five-wicket win after 23 overs.Benoni was witness to some outstanding hitting during the 70 overs on offer in the match as the game had a match average of 5.61 runs per over, of which New Zealand, in the 23 overs they took to achieve their goal, scored at a rate of 8.56.That meant New Zealand finished the preliminary round of the tournament with 16 points and a net run rate of 0.990. Whether that was sufficient to allow it to qualify for the Super Six was to be decided by the outcome of the South Africa/Sri Lanka match, a day-nighter due to finish this morning.New Zealand’s hopes of embarrassing Canada were stymied by another outstanding innings from transplanted Australian John Davison who leaves the tournament with the fastest century in World Cup cricket, scored against the West Indies, and the third fastest half-century, scored today off 25 balls.He had an outstanding tournament and it was only when the New Zealand slow bowlers Daniel Vettori and Chris Harris were brought into the attack that he was tamed. He was tied down and the starvation diet took its effect when he attempted to hit Harris out of the ground.Unable to get as much speed onto the ball as had been the case off the fast-medium New Zealand attack, he got under the ball and Chris Cairns at long on was able to take a comfortable catch just inside the boundary to end his innings on 75 off 62 balls. He hit four sixes and nine fours in his innings.Andre Adams and Jacob Oram came in for the treatment from him, their first spells ending in none for 31 off three overs for Adams and one for 23 off Oram’s first two overs, with three sixes having been hit off his second by Davison, the last of them a superb shot which cleared the grandstand and mid-wicket and ended up outside the ground.Once he departed, however, the scoring rate faltered and at 129 for six wickets it looked all over for Canada. But skipper Joseph Harris hit 26 before he got a brute of a ball from fast bowler Shane Bond and it was only in his quest for self defence as the ball rose on him that he got his hand in the way of the ball when holding the bat at head height. Wicket-keeper Brendon McCullum pulled in a fine catch.For some reason, both Oram, who was badly affected by cramp in conceding seven wides in the latter stage of the innings, and Adams persisted in bowling short balls to the tail-enders and this allowed 20 runs to be scored for the ninth wicket and 23 for the 10th.Bond troubled all the batsmen he faced and took three for 29 while Oram had four for 52 from his 10.Davison said the batting conditions in South Africa were similar to those he had been used to when playing in one-day cricket in Australia and that had been to his advantage.He did say that he was pleased he hadn’t been facing Bond but he generally worked on the principle of working to a plan of looking at the bowler’s field in an attempt to understand where he was likely to bowl to him. And on the good batting wickets he was able to back himself that he had made the right choice.While he had been tried opening the batting once or twice before, it was as the result of a team meeting that he was placed in the position this time around.Davison acknowledged the impact of Vettori and Harris in slowing his run scoring.”They bowled really well and it was a lot harder with the ‘keeper up to the stumps and harder to go down the wicket to them,” he said.Kiwi captain Stephen Fleming said New Zealand had several strategies to work on depending on how many wickets they lost with the 16-over version being the first choice.That became impossible with a poor start which saw him run out for five when sent back by Craig McMillan, Nathan Astle stumped for 11 and McMillan caught off a skier for 14.Then Cairns and Adams restored the situation by adding 65 runs so that when Adams was out for 36 in the 11th over, New Zealand were already 97 for four.Cairns was out for 31 when the score was at 114 for five when turning a soft shot to mid-wicket to be Davison’s third wicket. The all-rounder had opened the bowling with his off-spinners and was immediately a problem. He went on to bowl out his 10 overs to finish with three for 61.But Scott Styris and Harris took control of the situation by calmly working the ball around, occasionally finding the boundary. Harris became the fourth New Zealander after Astle, Fleming and Martin Crowe to score 4000 runs in One-Day Internationals.But they brought up their 50-partnership off 44 balls and once that was achieved the run down to the finish came within four overs as Styris raced to his fourth ODI half-century off 37 balls to be 54 not out at the end while Harris was 38 not out.It was helter-skelter cricket at times, but a reminder of the batting depth New Zealand has developed and which it dearly wants to put to use in the next phase of the tournament. But that fate is out of their hands.Fleming admitted his side had a nervous evening in front of them while they awaited the result of the Sri Lanka/South Africa match. Canada had played well against them and had put them under a lot of pressure.”I’m pretty happy, we did all we could with the bat,” he said. The side had trusted their lower order, despite their lack of opportunities in the tournament and they had come through well.

BRISBANE, Jan 31 AAP – Veteran Stuart Law found another speck of form at the Gabba tonight as Queensland set a competitive total for the beleaguered Victorian Bushrangers in the ING Cup clash.The Bulls posted 9-231 from their 50 overs, with Law clipping 46 from 42 balls to continue a gentle resurgence during one of his most trying years in professional cricket.The Bushrangers faced a battle to overhaul Queensland after a wretched week which began with an embarrassing 10-wicket loss to the Bulls in Ballarat and continued when captain Darren Berry was suspended for two matches for disciplinary reasons.Their bad luck continued when Bulls captain Martin Love won the toss and then hit 48 from 56 deliveries before Law chimed in with a valuable knock.His innings included six boundaries, showcasing some of the skills that enabled him to play 54 one-day internationals and one Test before he faded from the international scene.The 34-year-old was dropped from the Queensland one-day team earlier this year and struggled for runs in first-class matches but rediscovered his touch this month as the Bulls became short-priced favourites to win both competitions this season.He shared a 73-run stand with Clinton Perren (28 from 56) but the Bulls batsmen could not find the heavy punch to put away the Victorians, who are out of finals contention.Paceman Mick Lewis (3-43 from eight overs) took a wicket with his first delivery when Lee Carseldine fell to an excellent catch by debutant David Hussey at forward short-leg.Young leg-spinner Cameron White (2-34 from 10) did a sharp job containing Queensland’s batsmen during the middle stages, earning the wickets of Law and Ashley Noffke (12) while Jon Moss was also economical.He claimed 2-38 from his 10 overs, taking a return catch from Brendan Nash (33 from 38) and trapping Love LBW.The Bushrangers will field a batting line-up much different to the team which crashed for 65 last Sunday after Berry was left out, oversleeping when the Vics were completing a dawn training session on Wednesday.

International cricket’s current crisis moved forward by one pace today when the Indian selectors named Virender Sehwag in a 14-man squad for the first Test against England scheduled to start in Mohali on Monday.Sehwag was given a one-match ban by Mike Denness, the International Cricket Council’s match referee, after Sehwag’s behaviour in the second Test against South Africa in Port Elizabeth. This decision, along with other penalties handed out by Denness, resulted in India threatening to boycott the third Test. When Denness was not withdrawn for that match by the ICC, Denness and the appointed third-country umpire were replaced by South Africans and ICC deemed the match not to be an official Test.The Indian management, not accepting ICC’s edict, dropped Sehwag from that game, claiming he was therefore serving his suspension. However, if the ICC did not recognise the match as a Test, neither do they accept that the sentence has been served. The problem moved to the first Test against England, which must now be in doubt.The ICC has given the Board of Control for Cricket in India a deadline of 0630am on Friday to decide whether to name Sehwag in the starting eleven for the Test. If he is included, there is every possibility that this match will have official Test status withdrawn and that, in turn, might well lead to the cancellation of the series.It was always likely that BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya would want to at least see Sehwag named in the squad, for to do anything else would be seen as bowing to the authority of the ICC. It now remains to be seen how far towards the brink he is prepared to go. Face could be saved on all sides if the player was to be omitted from the final eleven for Mohali.India’s 14 for first Test:Sourav Ganguly (capt), Rahul Dravid, Shiv Sundar Das, Connor Williams, Sachin Tendulkar, Venkatsai Laxman, Virender Sehwag, Deep Dasgupta, Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Sarandeep Singh, Sanjay Bangar, Iqbal Siddiqui, Tinu Yohannan.

Boxing Day Test cricket in Melbourne has become part of Australia’s sporting calendar, almost like Melbourne Cup day on the first Tuesday in November. David Wiseman continues his look at how this developed.The Boxing Day fixture returned to Melbourne in 1980 when Australia met New Zealand but it was the game the following year which saw the concept become enshrined in the Australian sporting landscape.Australia had returned battered and bruised from the 1981 Ashes and hosted Pakistan for a three-Test series which they won 2-1. Immediately after, they hosted the West Indies for a three-Test series. At this time, the West Indians were at the height of their Calypso superpower status, as close to rock `n’ roll as cricket has ever come. Star-studded from one to 11 – Haynes, Richards, Bacchus, Lloyd, Gomes, Dujon, Murray, Clarke, Greenidge, Roberts, Holding and Garner – this was an ominous side and no-one could make burgundy and purple as funky as they did.Boxing Day 1981 was one of the greatest days ever witnessed in Test Cricket.Australia won the toss and batted on a difficult wicket. Soon they found themselves deep in trouble as 2/4 became 3/8, then 4/26 and 5/59.Greg Chappell was in the middle of his infamous "duck period" where he made seven ducks (five in succession) in 15 Test and limited-overs innings.While mayhem and carnage was happening at one end, Kim Hughes was playing the innings of his life at the other. When No 11 Terry Alderman joined Hughes at the crease, Australia were 9/155 and Hughes 71. Their 43-run stand was the second-highest of the innings and Hughes scored one of the contenders for the best centuries of all time. When Alderman was dismissed, Hughes was left unbeaten on 100 out of Australia’s 198.With 35 minutes left to bat, Dennis Lillee bowled the spell of his life. After Alderman had Faoud Bacchus caught at fourth slip for one, Lillee began to take control. He had Desmond Haynes caught at second slip to have the tourists at 2/5. Bay 13 was furiously cheering on Lillee and he reciprocated by trapping nightwatchman Colin Croft in front for a duck to have the West Indians stranded on 3/6.In came the majestic Viv Richards, who at the time was averaging 62 in Test cricket. With Bay 13 now in an absolute frenzy, Lillee bowled the unplayable ball to skittle Richards on the last ball of the day for two. At stumps, the West Indies were 4/10, and 14 wickets had fallen for 208.The West Indies would rally to make 201, Lillee taking seven wickets to see him surpass Lance Gibbs’ world record of 309 Test wickets. Lillee’s seven for 83 were also his best bowling figures in a Test.Australia started their second innings early on the third day with a deficit of three. On an improving pitch, half-centuries from Bruce Laird and Border saw Australia to 222. Their stand of 82 was the highest of the match. Bruce Yardley with 13 was the only other Australian batsman to manage double figures.Michael Holding was superb, taking six for 62 to give him 11 for 107 for the match, the best bowling figures by a West Indian against Australia. Wicket-keeper Murray took nine catches for the match, which set another West Indian record.The West Indies then needed a testing 220 for the victory.When Alderman removed Bacchus and Richards in the same over, the pendulum swung massively in Australia’s favour. Test debutant Jeffrey Dujon, playing as a batsman, made a stylish 43 but lacked support. All the Australian bowlers chipped in with Yardley cutting a swathe through the middle order with four wickets, and Lillee mopping up the tail taking the final three, all leg before wicket.Australia went on to win the match by 58 runs on the fifth morning. For the first time in 16 Tests, the West Indies had tasted defeat.Lillee’s 10 for 127 for the game was the seventh time he had reached the 10 wickets in a match milestone. He joined Syd Barnes and Clarrie Grimmett as the players to have done it most often.In what was a Test for records, Lillee’s 10 wickets gave him 85 for the calender year in 1981 which broke Kapil Dev’s 74 set in 1979.After such an incredible game, the institution of the MCG Boxing Day Test Match was surely here to stay.England’s tour of 1982/83 was keenly awaited after Ian Botham stole the Ashes back in 1981. Melbourne was to be a focal point for the series…

Kenya will stage two matches at cricket’s 2003 World Cup, joining Zimbabwe as South Africa’s co-hosts for the four-yearly showpiece, organizers said.Of 54 games, 46 will be held at 12 venues in South Africa, six at two stadiums in Zimbabwe, with the others taking place at Nairobi’s Gymkhana Club ground. The tournament is scheduled for February and March, 2003.”Logistically it presents a few problems but we’re delighted,” said South African organizing committee spokesman Rodney Hartman. “As Africa’s strongest cricketing nation, it’s incumbent on us to spread the sport as far as we can in the region.”Kenya has won eight of 41 one-day internationals before today, including a World Cup match with West Indies in 1996 and a game against India this week.The country is applying to the International Cricket Council to be admitted into the five-day form of international cricket.Former Test players Zaheer Abbas, Andy Pycroft and Allan Border will visit the country to review cricket-related aspects of the application for Test match status, the ICC said.Africa will be represented by four nations at the World Cup for the first time following the qualification of Namibia.Meantime, the 2003 World Cup winner will receive $2 million out a prize fund of $5 million, the ICC said. Prizes at the 1999 World Cup amounted to $1 million.

Invercargill Metropolitan has made a winning start to the Otago District Junior Board’s programme for 2001/02 with a seven-wicket win over Southland Country in the opening round.Batting first Invercargill amassed 163/3 by the time of the compulsory declaration with Shaun Fitzgibbon contributing 56 and Hamish Skelt finishing 63 not out.Country struggled in reply and was dismissed for 83 in the 39th over – James Crisp (4-19), Sam Harry (3-13) and Tim Riley (2-13) doing the damage.This weekend the two Dunedin teams square off while North Otago and Central Otago meet on December 2.

Fine weather and better pitch conditions in the latter part of New Zealand’s summer this year are likely to result in some serious thought being given to centralising the first rounds of the State Championship in order to take part of good pitch conditions.Successful Auckland coach Mark O’Donnell, who saw his side win the Championship and finish second, by 17 runs after leading the State Shield at the completion of the round-robin phase, to Northern Districts in the domestic one-day competition, thinks greater use could be made of the superior pitch conditions at the High Performance Centre at Lincoln University earlier in the season.It wasn’t a case of conceding home advantage for teams, it was a case of getting good conditions for all players as early as possible.Besides, no team could claim Lincoln as a home ground. Not even Canterbury. They never play there despite it being on their doorstep.O’Donnell is sure the idea will be on the table when coaches meet for their annual review of the season in Christchurch.While there was a longer term satisfaction in his side backing up their win of last year by regaining the Championship, he was disappointed the side hadn’t been able to finish with a victory over Northern Districts yesterday.”We would have liked to have won that game. We did try to win it but a little intensity went out of the game after hearing that Otago had beaten Wellington in Alexandra,” he said.He was delighted for his side nonetheless and said it had worked hard. While it hadn’t ended up with an ideal balance, especially after the attack lost Kyle Mills and Andre Adams for the World Cup, and Gareth Shaw to a stress fracture, Tama Canning had responded well to end up with the most wickets in the competition.O’Donnell offered a fresh perspective on the first-class scene in New Zealand, having been brought up in the system but having developed his coaching skills in South Africa from where he returned to take up the position with Auckland.The pitches generally had been a lot better after Christmas and the best deck he felt Auckland struck during the summer was for the Shield match against Central Districts at Pukekura Park in New Plymouth. Queenstown had also been a good pitch.He felt the last four games in the competition had been played too closely together and allowed no time for practice or work on technical aspects of the game for individual players.That resulted in players not being able to improve their techniques while also contributing to a deal of tiredness through the latter stages of the summer. It meant that most of the technical adjustment work for players had to be done in the winter, which had to be indoors and not as good as working outside.O’Donnell said it was vital that players going to international level had a solid record of first-class experience behind them. If that was played on better quality pitches then the transition, with the experience included, to international player would be much easier.He pointed to the impact that hardened first-class players like Mark Richardson, Robbie Hart and Scott Styris, had made when they stepped up.”It is good they have a lot of first-class cricket because it gives them a bit of an idea of what to fall back on if they get under a bit of pressure in international play,” he said.During the year he had been impressed with the batting of Craig Cumming for Otago, Richard Jones for Wellington, and Tim McIntosh and Matt Horne for Auckland.Paul Hitchcock had bowled well in one-day play while Ian Butler had been the pick of the bowlers on the first-class scene while Kerry Walmsley and Chris Martin had bowled well in matches against Auckland.O’Donnell said there was also a need to keep aiming for practice facilities to be developed to a good level and for matches to be played at as many international grounds as possible.

Part V: An Indian summer in EnglandThough the 1971 series victory in England was both notable and historic, there was an element of luck involved in it. 15 years later, however, India did not require good fortune to get the better of England. To further emphasize their superiority, they won in the first half of the summer, when conditions in England are even more alien, and they did so with margins that brooked no argument.On the eve of the tour of England in 1986, the mood in the Indian camp was upbeat. For one thing, the side had a balanced look about it. The seam bowling attack in particular was strong, a factor that was of utmost importance in the colder half of the summer. The spin support was adequate and the batting solid, if not spectacular.

But was all this good enough to win a series in England, where, in the first half of the summer, India had faltered in 1967, 1974 and 1982? In between, they had lost the 1979 series as well. To compound the odds, just the previous summer, England had regained the Ashes, defeating Australia by three matches to one. But they took on India close on the heels of a second successive Blackwash in the West Indies. However, the batting, manned by the likes of Graham Gooch, David Gower, Mike Gatting and Allan Lamb, seemed strong enough; in English conditions, an attack of Graham Dilley, Derek Pringle, and John Emburey could be pretty handy.India came into the Tests having shared the Texaco Trophy one-day series 1-1. And, over the first three days of the Lord’s Test, the honours were equally even. England, with Gooch hitting 114, scored 294; Chetan Sharma bagged five wickets for 64; India replied with 341. The major highlight of the Indian batting effort was Dilip Vengsarkar’s unbeaten 126, which made him the first overseas batsman to hit three Test hundreds at Lord’s. It was also Vengsarkar’s 10th century in 83 Tests. Batting for 327 minutes, he faced 213 balls and hit 16 fours. He was on 95 when Maninder Singh joined him for the last wicket, but he reached the coveted mark amidst tremendous excitement. In fact, Maninder and Kiran More (25) helped Vengsarkar add 77 vital runs for the last two wickets.If the runs added by Vengsarkar and the tail were crucial, the inspired spell by Kapil Dev on the fourth morning proved to be match-winning. The Indian captain removed Gooch, Tim Robinson and Gower, conceding just one run, in 19 balls. England were 35 for three and, even thoughGatting and Lamb initiated a recovery process, it was too little too late. Kapil finished with four for 52, while Maninder polished off the tail on his way to excellent figures of 20.4-12-9-3.England were all out for 180 by the fourth evening, and India hit off the required 134 runs for the loss of five wickets on the final day to register their first victory in 11 Tests at Lord’s. Kapil fittinglyfinished the match in style, hitting 18 runs in one over ­ three fours and a six over mid-wicket that won the game. It was India’s second win in 33 Tests in England, the first after 19 experiments of putting the opposition in, and the first in 21 Tests under the captaincy of Kapil Dev.A change in the English captaincy,­ Gatting replacing Gower,­ did not see any change in England’s luck in the second Test at Leeds. Gower in fact missed the Test because of a shoulder injury sustained on the eve of the game. Vengsarkar top-scored with 61 in India’s first innings total of 272, and the match was won on the second day itself, with England being shot out for 102. The batsmen had no clue about the swing of Roger Binny (5 for 40) and Madan Lal (3 for 18), the latter being summoned from the Central Lancashire league as a last-minute replacement for the injured Chetan Sharma.A lead of 170 was of match-winning proportions, even though England hit back by taking quick wickets in the second innings. The irrepressible Vengsarkar, however, stood firm and, again with the help of the tail, prolonged the innings till a total of 237 was reached. In the process, he got his second successive century in Test matches, again reaching it with last man Maninder Singh at thecrease. Vengsarkar batted five-and-a-half hours for his unbeaten 102, his 11th hundred and his fifth against England. A victory target of 408 was purely of academic interest, and only the margin of India’s victory was being debated as England started their second innings. They were ultimately all out for 128, their seventh successive Test defeat, 75 minutes after resumption of play on the fourth morning.Vengsarkar was again the hero of India’s 279-run win, but Sunil Gavaskar, who had found runs hard to come by, also had something to celebrate. The Leeds match was his 114th Test, equalling the world record of Colin Cowdrey. With the series already decided, the only interest was whether India could make it a clean sweep ­ a fate they had suffered in England on three occasions. But the final Test at Edgbaston was drawn, leaving India victors by an emphatic 2-0 margin. It has been the last notable series win for India abroad and it certainly finds place alongside the handful of memorable victories outside the country.

BAT Sports are firm favourites to land their first Southern Electric ECB Premier League title – thanks to local rivals Calmore Sports, who inflicted Havant’s first defeat of the season.Calmore’s narrow two-wicket win over last year’s champions has helped BAT establish a 17-point advantage over Havant with three matches remaining.If Havant fail to beat BAT in next Saturday’s top-of-the-table clash, the title will almost certainly be on its way to Southern Gardens for the first time.BAT, meanwhile, gave their own prospects a massive boost by bowling Bournemouth out for 112 before clinching a six-wicket victory.But it was Calmore, whom BAT visit in their final match on September 1, who set the cat amongst the pigeons by becoming the first club to nail Havant in a 50-over match since June last year.They pulled out all the stops with the ball – teenager Paul Cass (2-22) and Glen Motchall (2-38) having the champions reeling at 36-4 after Paul Gover had surprisingly decided to bat first.Richard Hindley (30) and Gover (20) himself pulled things around but, with Calmore bowling and fielding out of their skins, further breakthroughs were not long coming.The pair moved the score on to 81 before Paul Draper (3-29) triggered off a three-wicket collapse.He dismissed both Hindley and Gover, the Havant skipper providing Stuart Bailey with one of his four victims.From a desperate 99-7, Havant rallied to reach 144-8 through Phil Loat (23 not out), Graham Benton and Simon Greenfield.Calmore came out of the traps with all guns blazing after tea – Clive Surry (40) giving last year’s runners-up a positive 57-run start.The off-spin of Hindley (4-27) created doubts at 82-5 and, despite James Hibberd (28) further alarms at 120-8.But Tom Pegler (26 not out) played a timely captain’s innings and, with support from Pete Clark, got Calmore home at 148-8.Bournemouth lost the toss and had effectively lost the game once BAT pair Dan Goldstraw (3-19) and Mark Page (2-16) ripped through their top order on a damp Southern Gardens surface.Julian Cassell (16) put up initial resistance but, after a two-wicket break by Damian Shirazi (2-14), it was left to Peter Waite (28 not out) and Kristain Wilson (16) to lift Bournemouth’s total into treble figures.BAT wobbled at 33-2, but Richard Kenway (43 not out) and Dave Banks (37) took advantage of the easing conditions to steer the leaders to victory at 113-4.Hampshire’s Andy Sexton cracked 182 as Bashley (Rydal) piled up 287-2 before clinching an 85-run win over Andover.Sexton, who hit four sixes and 28 fours, dominated a 196-run opening stand with Neil Thurgood (61) before Andy Loader clipped 36 not out.Matt King (4-41) unsettled Andover at 45-3, but Roger Miller’s 83 kept the pot boiling before Andover were dismissed for 202 (Neil Taylor 3-48).Tim Lamb hit a season’s best 80 and Chris Steedon (50 not out) a maiden half-century as South Wilts beat Liphook & Ripsley by 74 runs to win their first match since June 2.In early difficulty at 25-3, South Wilts rallied, with Lamb involved in successive key partnerships, initially with Tom Caines (29), then Rob Wade (37) and latterly Steedon, who helped post 224-7.Michael Smyth (29), Rob Barnes (27) and Graham Tyler (26) all made starts for Liphook, but in the absence of a significant innngs, the visitors slowly slipped to 150 all out – Russell Rowe taking 3-34 after three previous batsmen had been run out.Burridge experienced few problems in dismissing Hungerford for 111(Owen Dawkins 31) – Paul Jenkins removing the middle-order with a 4-14 return – before coasting to a six-wicket win.A half-century by Neil Cunningham (52) put Burridge in the driving seat.