Surrey sit secure at the top of Division One of the county championshipafter defeating nearest rivals Yorkshire by 203 runs at The Oval. SpinnersSaqlain Mushtaq and Ian Salisbury routed the batting of the northern county.Though leading by 304 round overnight Surrey batted on with Martin Bicknellgiving courageous support to Alistair Brown who finished on 140 n.o.Yorkshire needed to score 330 runs to win but the day was dominated by thebowlers.Bicknell dismissed both Michael Vaughan, batting with a runner after having injured his ankle the previous day, and David Byas. Thereafter Surrey surged to success on the strength of their spinners however well Yorkshire tried to hold them up. When Anthony McGrath and Darren Lehmann were out the innings folded.

Rajasthan wrapped up a 6 wicket win over Uttar Pradesh on the fourthand final day of their encounter at the KL Saini Ground in Jaipur.Starting the day at 81/3 Uttar Pradesh collapsed spectacularly. RizwanShamshad, known for his free strokeplay, was run out after he had made31. This signaled the beginning of the end. No batsman who followedmade more than 20. The wickets were spread out for Rajasthan, withAslam returning the best figures of 4/52.Needing 136 for victory the Rajasthan team suffered a few earlysetbacks, losing openers Nikhil Doru and AS Jain with just 39 on theboard. However the experience of Gagan Khoda and RJ Kanwat was morethan sufficient to take Rajasthan almost all the way. Although leftarm spinner Gyanendra Pandey managed to dismiss Khoda after he hadmade 40, Kanwat remained unbeaten on 59 and in the company of SanjeevSharma saw Rajasthan through to their first victory of this Ranjiseason.

A memorable day for Darren Thomas who recorded his maiden first-class century that assisted his side to a healthy total after they had slumped to 128-6 after winning the toss.With Adrian Dale, who also reached a century, he put on 163 for the seventh wicket. Dale had already scored 55 when his 26-year-old partner arrived at the crease but Thomas got off the mark with a pull for six and continued his belligerent demolition of the Essex attack who saw their earlier enviable position recede alarmingly thanks to the flailing bat of left-hander Thomas coupled with some wayward bowling.Dale was the first to reach his century having struck 10 boundaries but with his score on 113, he edged a lifting delivery to keeper Barry Hyam to give the persevering Andrew McGarry his third wicket.Thomas, having arrived at his half-century from only 40 deliveries, then faced a further 106 balls accumulating his next 50 runs, spending nearly an hour in the nervous nineties before reaching his milestone innings that embraced 14 boundaries including one six.He was unbeaten on 119 at the close with Glamorgan on 335-7 and in sight of their fourth batting point which had appeared so unlikely earlier in the day.Mark Ilott had dismissed Stephen James in the second over of the morning and the introduction of McGarry into the attack was rewarded by two wickets in successive overs for the 19 year-old who removed Matthew Maynard and Jimmy Maher.Michael Powell fell cheaply to Ronnie Irani before Dale and Keith Newell added 51 for the fifth wicket to ease the pressure on the visitors only for left-armer Ilott to strike back with two wickets before Thomas joined Dale to steal the show.

Given the history of Rashid Latif’s chronic back trouble I did have reservations about his selection at this time. He’d been out of international cricket for a number of years and his relations with his teammates could hardly be described as harmonious. Under such circumstances one needs superhuman mental toughness in order to perform. Well, here we have it, he has given everyone ample proof on this tour, he’s the toughest kid on the block!

Waqar Younis won the toss again and predictably, elected to bat because Cardiff’s pitch looked a good one-day track. There was even bounce for batsmen to get excited about but then Pakistani batsmen were pitted against two of the best bowlers of modern day cricket. There were early signs, Brett Lee was not at his best but he was good enough to get rid of Shahid Afridi who looked ill at ease throughout his brief stay. Quite noticeably, not a single ball was pitched up to him and this unsettled him. You can bet on your life, these Aussies will give him the same dose every time, unless he changes his game.Razzaq was decidedly uncomfortable against Lee when he strolled in at number three. Saeed Anwar was equally so against Glen McGrath, who had him all at sea in his first spell. Using full advantage of his height, he extracted pronounced bounce out of this good batting pitch and once hit Saeed a painful blow on his left shoulder. Pakistan weathered this storm competently then lost it in a hazardous fashion.Razzaq and Inzamam threw their wickets away in a moment of madness. Both were stumped in the same over, trying to manhandle Shane Warne. I am afraid Warne is far too experienced a bowler to let these guys take liberties. Inzamam’s intended slog was atrocious, especially so early on. I know he’s been getting a lot of runs recently but he should cast his mind back on the last Australian tour when he looked so out of touch for most of the tour. He’s in great form and should make the most of it. It was a dreadful mistake and put Pakistan on the back foot immediately.Younis Khan must by now hate the English umpires. Peter Willey (an old friend) has always been rather trigger-happy. Out of his six international innings on this tour, Younis has unfortunately been victim of poor decisions on at least three occasions. He must be outraged as well as devastated. Remember, he is in good nick and could make all the difference to this ailing batting line up.

Pakistan from 85 for 6 managed to pile up 257 runs and Rashid and Youhana were quite magnificent. If only we could get a decent start in every game. Time and again Inzamam and Youhana have bailed Pakistan out in the last eighteen months. Imagine how belligerent these two batsmen would be if they came into bat at 150 for two.Rashid has been a revelation on this tour. Every week, we deliver a lecture on mental toughness in our National Cricket Academy and I can assure you, Rashid Latif will be requested to give more than one lecture on this subject.Pakistan missed him behind the stumps when he could not keep wicket because of an injury. He and Youhana made sure Pakistan remained competitive in the game by scoring very attractive fifties and one can say they did not deserve to be on the losing side.

When you are defending a total like this, it’s important not to concede free runs in the early overs. Pakistan let Australia off the hook and their batsmen romped off to an electric start. For some reason, Ricky Ponting saves his best for Pakistan and is so cocky against all our bowlers. Not many batsmen in the world can take as much liberty against Shoaib Akhtar as he does. He is super quick on his feet and relishes fast bowling. After hitting fast bowlers all over the field he just struts around like a king. I can tell you, many a fast bowler in my era would have hated his guts and done something to curb his style. Anyway, with Mark Waugh as his partner he took the score to 133 before Mark bid him goodbye.

It was a typical one-day dismissal. In trying to run Razzaq down to third man with an angled bat, Mark Waugh was comfortably caught behind. Mark had looked in supreme control of the game and it’s hard to imagine that a player of his ability has been made to fight for his place in the team during the last Australian Cricket season. Ricky Ponting, as is his wont, soon got carried away and trying to slog Saqlain over mid-wicket picked the wrong ball and was comfortably caught at long on by Razzaq.I was excited for a little while because Pakistan was given an opportunity to push at the Australians. Pakistan knew they’d have to bowl Australia out, to win this game as the Aussies had ample overs to canter home after this brisk partnership.I think Waqar should have introduced Saqlain a lot earlier than he did. Bevan is a master at work in the one-day game, especially when he does not need to score at a furious pace. His timing is immaculate and picking up gaps in the field is his hobby. He makes batting in one-dayers look so easy. He truly is a great batsman for this particular form of cricket.Steve Waugh made sure Pakistan stayed on the back foot. What a tremendous cricketer he is. At the start of his career there was a strong rumour this chap was a pushover if you bowl short at him. He’s proved everybody wrong.In the end it turned out to be a no contest. The Australians like in the World Cup final were all over our team. Maybe they have some kind of mental hold over the Pakistanis? Come on boys, it is time to push the Australians back.

Ed:Mudassar Nazar is a veteran of 76 tests and 122 ODIs. He is currently the chief coach of Pakistan’s National and Regional Cricket Academies. In view of the overwhelming interest of users in CricInfo’s articles, we have invited him to write for us.

Pakistan A captain, Hasan Raza, made his second century of the series, when he made an unbeaten hundred to help his side make 179 in their first innings of the Third ‘Test’ Match in Galle today. He made his first century at the First unofficial ‘Test’ Match in Dambulla and another 50 in the Second ‘Test’ Match in Colombo.The Pakistani captain reflected after the day’s play on his hundred: “I think this innings was very important because we’ve nearly got a 40 runlead. We don’t want to chase too many runs on this pitch, as it will favour the spinners and Sri Lanka have got three of them.”Hasan, who broke into the international scene at the tender age of 15 in 1996, has just played in two Test Matches so far.”At times I get very nervous, because I am so keen to play for my country,” he admitted. “I have performed well in the domestic season. I want to play for my country and want to play for a long time, like Javed Miandad and Zaheer Abbas.”I have made a few changes to my game as well and I now play lot straighter. I think the day of me becoming a regular member of the senior team is not far away,” he said.Talking about today’s performance, the 19-year-old from Karachi says he never thought of a century when the Pakistani last man walked into the middle. He had just completed his 50 when the number 11, Najaf Shah, walked to the crease. The pair put on a vital 52 run partnership, only five of which were scored by Shah.”I was lucky to get a hundred here,” he thought. “I tried to extend the lead of the side by keeping Shah away from strike, but when I was in the nineties, he faced lot of deliveries and I was praying that he’d not get out.”Though Pakistan had a wonderful start on the first day with their bowlers restricting Sri Lanka to 141, the Pakistani batsmen didn’t capitalize on that today. Hasan was disappointed: “We started off the day with three wickets down. We were expecting lot of things from Humayun Farhat, but he struggled and I was disappointed about the way some of the batsmen got out. Our batsmen tackled the fast bowlers pretty well, but against the Sri Lankan spin attack they were vulnerable.”However Hasan was delighted with the bowlers fought back. If Pakistan wins this game, they’ll win the series as well: “We have a good chance now of winning as we have already got through the cream of their batting. Kaneria is bowling in an attacking way at the moment and if we can get them out quickly in the morning, it’s going to be our day tomorrow.”

Spectators will be fined £1,000 if they enter the playing area duringthe First Ashes Test between England and Australia at Edgbaston starting tomorrow, the ground’s owners said.Warwickshire said it was imposing the toughest security measures in its 119-year history after a pitch invasion at the match at Edgbaston between England and Pakistan, and incidents at other grounds during last month’s NatWest series.While there is no history of crowd problems at Ashes matches,Warwickshire officials said they were also stopping supporterscoming on the field for the post-match awards ceremony.”We’ve learnt from those experiences and don’t want anyonetrespassing on the field,” WCCC Chief Executive Dennis Amisssaid. “We want people to enjoy themselves but at the same timewe’ve got to be more vigilant.”Australia batsman Michael Bevan sustained facial bruisingwhen he was struck by a full beer can thrown from the crowd duringthe NatWest Series final post-match ceremony at Lord’s.Stewards will be proactive dealing with troublemakers andthe club will press to prosecute those entering the field fortrespass, Amiss said.With Edgbaston capable of holding 19,000 spectators, stewardsmay be busy. Warwickshire have pre-sold all tickets for the openingfour days of a five-day Test for the first time.Australia’s dominance of the world game and an Englandrevival that has brought four wins and a draw from its past fiveTest series explained the popularity, said Amiss.”People want to watch a winning side,” Amiss said. “Ifpeople know that nine times out of 10 they are going to see theirside win, they’ll come and watch.”

Zimbabwe go into their series of two Tests against the West Indies,starting here tomorrow, against a troubling background of racial andadministrative problems.The latest manifestation followed last weekend’s annual generalmeeting of the Mashonoland Cricket Association, the largest member ofthe Zimbabwe Cricket Union (ZCU), when ten black and Indian clubspulled out and announced their intention to form a breakaway league.Stephen Mangongo, a spokesman for the aggrieved clubs, charged thatwhite members had used their 26-22 numerical advantage at the meetingto vote black nominees out of office.We have Blacks who have done well in administration for Mashonolandand national cricket, as well as Indians, he said. And then to comeand suddenly vote them out of office and look for some little blackkids with no proven track record is against development.Chief executive David Ellmann-Brown acknowledged yesterday that theZCU, the governing body for Zimbabwe cricket, was concerned about theramifications of the situation.It is naturally worrying and we are attempting to put things togetherto reconcile the differences, he said.Signs of trouble were evident in the first match of the triangularOne-Day series June 23 when Heath Streak quit as captain over thecomposition of a six-member selection panel that excluded him andcoach, former Australian fast bowler Carl Rackemann.Streak relented when he and Rackemann were included. But it upset theequal racial balance of the panel and three non-white members quit.They returned when Streak’s father, Dennis, resigned because of theconflict of interest. Rackemann has since announced he will quit hispost next month to return to Australia.A few days later, Andy Flower, the team’s leading batsman and ratedNo.2 in the world rankings after an outstanding year in 2000, referredto problems within Zimbabwe cricket when receiving the Sportsman OfThe Year award in Harare.He claimed there were no racial difficulties within the Zimbabwe teamour cricketers do not see colour and said it could be an example tothe country at a time of racial, social and political conflict.Peter Chinkoka, the black president of the ZCU, took issue with someof Flower’s remarks, emphasising that it was vital faster progress bemade on the integration of the majority black population into the gamein Zimbabwe.

A dramatic collapse, which saw Nottinghamshire slump from 73-0 to be all out for 149, typified their recent form and snuffed out any lingering hopes of a late-season push towards the promotion places.Put in to bat by Graeme Hick, the home side did well to survive an oft-interrupted morning session to reach 52 without loss from 16 overs.Darren Bicknell and John Morris continued to bat without alarm for the first half an hour after lunch but then both fell to Alamgir Sheriyar – Morris after reaching his 50 and Bicknell for 23.Morris’s departure was swiftly followed by those of Usman Afzaal, first ball, and Paul Johnson, second, as the left arm seamer took three wickets in four balls.Aussie Greg Blewett made 31 but only Greg Smith of the others reached ten. David Leatherdale swung the ball to good effect to claim three wickets while Andy Bichel and Chris Liptrot were also successful as Worcestershire collected all ten wickets in the period between lunch and tea.Worcester’s reply began in confident fashion, helped by a wayward first over from A J Harris, which yielded ten runs. Phillip Weston and Anurag Singh put on 36 before Greg Smith made the breakthrough.Weston tried to pull a short-pitched delivery but miscued the ball straight to Richard Logan at point.Hick joined Singh at the crease and despatched four boundaries before falling to Smith for 17, Afzaal taking the catch with the score on 64.Vikram Solanki managed only 14 before Smith caught him off the bowling of Harris. At the close Singh was still there on 60 with Worcestershire 130-3, only 19 runs behind Notts’ score.

Just past the 20th anniversary of Ian Botham’s extraordinary match winning innings at Headingley, Mark Butcher held his country in a state of excited anticipation to complete England’s first win over Australia in five Tests.He made a Test best 173 not out in an astonishing day’s cricket in which England started out trying to save the match and finished in a cascade of champagne with an amazing six wicket victory recreating the celebratory scenes of 1981 when Botham blasted England to an unlikely 18-run victory.In front of a packed crowd of more than 13,000 and under sunny skies, the Surrey left-hander, who was recalled to Test cricket only when injuries depleted selection choices, scored the winning runs by running Shane Warne down to the cover boundary.By then, victory had been inevitable for about five overs though the loss of Nasser Hussain for a valiant 55 and Mark Ramprakash for 32 in the previous over, had kept an enthralled Headingley crowd on the edge of their seats.It was spectacular, nerve-jangling stuff and all the more dramatic for the way in which the day had started, which was in disaster for England, as the ball fired about the pitch, keeping low and flying yards, high above the heads of the fielders.Mike Atherton and Marcus Trescothick started a familiar ball rolling, both losing their wickets in the first half-hour of play after just 11 overs of the innings completed.For the 18th time in his career, Atherton became another treasured statistic in Glenn McGrath’s bowling book and Trescothick was caught in the gully off Jason Gillespie.Needing 315 to win, England were 33 for two with their anchors weighed and the ship possibly heading for a storm.But a superb third wicket partnership between Mark Butcher and England captain Nasser Hussain put them back in the game and set them on course for victory. Both seemed relaxed and confident despite England’s npower Ashes series defeat at Trent Bridge.Together they added 181, a record for any partnership against Australia at Headingley (beating Bill Edrich and Alec Bedser’s stand in 1948) and took England to 214 for three, which was not only in the safety zone but put them in sight of an unlikely victory.Hussain hooked Gillespie for six which brought proceedings to a halt as ground staff scuttled behind a brick wall at the Kirkstall Lane end to recover the ball and there was another brief but more anxious stoppage when he was hit on the hand by Brett Lee, a blow that led to stunned silence and then a sigh of relief as he shook it and carried on.He and Butcher found difficulty in mastering the art of running between the wickets with three alarmingly close calls but the partnership only ended when Hussain edged Gillespie to the wicketkeeper having been at the crease for more than three gritty hours, hitting a six and five fours.England needed to keep their cool for the third consecutive session,requiring 93 with plenty of overs to spare and seven wickets remaining.Another big partnership developed between Butcher and his Surrey colleague Mark Ramprakash and their blitz on the Australian bowling led to a series of errors and fumbles in the field proving that the best team in the world are as prone to mistakes when under pressure, as any other team.When Butcher passed 116, the score he had made in two previous Tests, his confidence soared and even cut Gillespie for six, which as good as sealed England’s historic victory, – England’s second highest ever successful run chase against Australia, after the 332 scored in 1928-29.

Neil Johnson’s first Championship century for Hampshire re-kindled the promotion contenders’ hopes of forcing victory at New Road.The Zimbabwean all-rounder made 103 in almost four-and-a-quarter hours and enabled his hard-pressed side to match Worcestershire’s first innings total of 247.Hampshire then pressed hard for an advantage by capturing three early wickets and the home side will be looking for a big effort from Graeme Hick with their captain closing on 43 out of 88 for 3.Their openers had fallen to James Schofield, who attended Worcester Royal Grammar School and appeared in Worcestershire’s second team before finding a base in Southampton.Anurag Singh edged to slip in Schofield’s first over and Philip Weston drove to cover before Vikram Solanki top-edged Alex Morris for a sprawling catch by Jason Laney.At that stage, seven wickets had gone for 40 runs in the crossover of two innings since Johnson departed. The sudden return of batting problems only underlined the value of his performance in guiding Hampshire from 38 for 4 to 232 for 7 when he was caught at cover off Andy Bichel.The watchful left-hander had his moments with 14 fours and two sixes, but circumstances demanded that he should concentrate on survival.Will Kendall was first to provide substantial assistance by reaching 36 before edging David Leatherdale to slip and Robin Smith took over his role with 26 in a partnership of 76.Smith, coming in as low as No 7, gave a return catch to the accurate Chris Liptrot, who also removed Alex Morris for an impressive return of 3 for 43 in 22 overs.