One of cricket’s most famous paintings – Albert Chevallier Tayler’s picture of the Kent v Lancashire match at Canterbury in 1906 – has been sold at auction for £600,000.I was purchased by Andrew Brownsword, whose Charitable Foundation buys selected works of art in order that they can be retained for public viewing.The painting, which was commissioned by the county to commemorate their first Championship in 1906, hung in the pavilion at Canterbury until 1999 when it became too expensive to insure. It was then loaned to MCC and displayed at Lord’s.”The decision to sell the painting was a difficult one, but the finances of county cricket clubs are becoming increasingly fragile and, since it was no longer possible to display it at Canterbury, we took the view that the proceeds should be used to help to ensure the longer-term future of the club,” Carl Openshaw, Kent’s chairman explained. “From Kent’s point of view, this is the ideal outcome, since I understand that this unique painting will in the short-term at least continue to hang at Lord’s where it can be seen by future generations of cricket lovers.”Click here for the story of the painting’s origins.

ScorecardThe final day of Nottinghamshire’s match against West Indies A was abandoned without a ball bowled. Heavy thunderstorms have been sweeping through the country and the umpires called the game off before the scheduled start. This was the last first-class match of the tour for West Indies, who now finish their trip with a one-day match against Hampshire, at The Rose Bowl, on Sunday.

Derbyshire and Essex have progressed through to the final of the Twenty20 Floodlit competition.The second leg of the semi final between Derbyshire and Glamorgan at Derby produced a first for cricket as it was decided in extra-time after Glamorgan had won the full match to make it one leg each. The four-over-per-side decider went the way of Derbyshire as they defend 43, with Tom Lungley and Jake Needham producing tight overs, and restricted Glamorgan to six off the final when 11 were needed. Glamorgan had sealed the full match with five balls to spare after Richard Grant’s 50 and a rapid 34 from Ryan Watkins enabled them to chase down 157. Derbyshire’s innings was based around Travis Birt’s 51 and although it wasn’t enough, they held their nerve in extra time.Essex were left waiting for news of their final opponents after a comfortable six-wicket victory over Sussex at Chelmsford. Sussex failed to capitalise on an excellent start given to them by Chris Adams (51 off 23 balls) and Mike Yardy (36 off 33 balls) as they lost wickets regularly in the closing stages. Ryan ten Doeschate picked up wickets in each of his four overs to claim 4 for 24 as Sussex were pegged back to 181 for 8. Alastair Cook, drafted into the Essex side ahead of England’s ODI series, gave his side a rollicking start with 38 off 20 balls. After a flurry of wickets, Ravinder Bopara (58 off 35 balls) and ten Doeschate (38 off 20 balls) hurried their team to victory with 10 balls to spare.Essex meet Derbyshire in a two-legged final on September 13 and 15, with the first leg at Chelmsford. Sussex and Glamorgan feature in a third-place play-off over the same nights.

Roger Wijesuriya, the former Sri Lanka cricketer and national selector, has been appointed coach of Sri Lanka’s Under-19 team for a three-year period commencing November 1.Reacting to the decision, Wijesuriya, who has proved himself to be a successful coach at the school level, said: “I consider this appointment as a stepping stone towards becoming coach of the senior national team one day.”Wijesuriya has 14 years’ coaching experience of schools – he has trained St Benedict’s, St Peter’s (twice) and Royal, and has guided teams to the school championship title on six occasions. He also coached CCC to honours in 1995-96 when they won the division I title under Jerome Jayaratne.Wijesuriya, 46, played in four Tests and eight ODIs for his country in the 1980s as a left-arm spinner. After his retirement he served as a national selector for three years, and as member of the tournament and coaching committees of Sri Lanka Cricket. As a player, Wijesuriya was less than impressive, picking up one wicket in four Tests at 297, and needing an average of 97 overs to get a wicket. But as an U-19 player himself, Wijesuriya did better, getting 25 wickets in a series against Pakistan.”I think it was my school experience that got me the job. I consider it a challenge,” said Wijesuriya who beat former Sri Lanka wicketkeeper-batsman Romesh Kaluwitharana and former Josephian cricketer Harsha de Silva to the job.

Cricket World Cup officials have insisted that preparations for next year’s tournament remain on course, despite being forced to look at alternative venues after abandoning the Brian Lara Stadium.The stadium in southern Trinidad was set to host warm-up matches for Ireland, Pakistan, South Africa and Canada ahead of the tournament which gets underway on March 11 but the development fell several months behind. Those fixtures will now be played elsewhere, as confirmed by Chris Dehring – the World Cup managing director.”With less than six months to the start of the tournament, Cricket World Cup is very satisfied that the matter has been deliberated thoroughly, and a final decision for the good of the tournament has been taken,” Dehring said. “It certainly validates the monitoring process which is in place and shows that CWC has the situation under control.”The message to the cricketing world therefore, is that come what may, we are preparing to welcome fans from around the globe to a memorable event and, notwithstanding the odd bump or two, the Cricket World Cup train is building a powerful head of steam and is very much on track.”Donald Lockerbie, the CWC venue development director, credited the organisation’s “stringent monitoring programme” with a thorough assessment.”Earlier this year, other stadia (Sabina Park in Jamaica and Grenada National Stadium) were considerably behind in their construction schedules but, under careful monitoring, they are now on track,” he said. “Through ongoing monitoring and open communication channels there is full buy-in from all stakeholders involved with the tournament and 100 percent awareness that we must deliver a world-class event.”

Ricky Ponting, the Australia captain and batsman has been named ICC Player of the Year at the ICC Awards in Mumbai. It capped a prolific evening for Ponting who was also earlier named Test Player of the Year and was included in both the ODI and Test Teams of the Year.”It has been a satisfying year personally and also for the rest of the team,” Ponting said. “For me to be a part of that success has been great for me. To see Mike [Hussey] win an award and so many other Australians to be nominated indicates that the team is doing well at the moment. It’s a great night for Australian cricket.”To captain Australia is something I love and never take for granted. We had to show a lot of character immediately after [losing] the Ashes,” Ponting admitted. “And since then we have managed to do that. We have set a new standard for ourselves, we’ve worked hard and thankfully it’s paying off for us at the moment… I think we learned a lot from that Ashes series and we are a better team for that so I think we will be a very difficult side to beat this summer.”The challenge for us now is to try to win the ICC Champions Trophy final on Sunday and then head back to Australia and try to win the Ashes back. It’s going to be a busy time but we are really looking forward to it.”During the voting period of August 1 2005 to August 8 2006, Ponting played 16 Tests and 20 one-dayers. In Tests he scored a phenomenal 1,791 runs at an average of 68.88, including two centuries in his 100th Test match, against South Africa in Durban.”It’s a great thrill, even to be nominated on the short-list but to walk away with two awards is something out of this world, something very special,” he said. “It’s the sort of thing that is very satisfying when you look back on your career in years to come. I’ll be able to spend more time enjoying it then.””On behalf of the ICC I would like to pass on my congratulations to Ricky for winning this award,” Percy Sonn, the ICC president said. “He has shown over the last year that he is the best and it is great that we have this opportunity to recognise that. He is a credit to his team and his country and through his talent and hard work, he is a role model for all aspiring cricketers and sportspeople of all descriptions.”Ponting beat off competition from his team-mate Michael Hussey, and Mohammad Yousuf (Pakistan) and Muttiah Muralitharan (Sri Lanka). Last year, the award was shared by Andrew Flintoff and Jacques Kallis while in 2004 the award went to Rahul Dravid.

Virender Sehwag said that the Indian team would take tremendous confidencefrom their victory in the Pro20 game, and praised both his bowlers andbatsmen for the six-wicket victory at the Wanderers.”We clicked in both batting and bowling,” said Sehwag. “It’s a team game,doesn’t matter who performs. An Indian win is what matters.”It was India’s first experience of the Twenty20 format, with the inauguralWorld Cup less than a year away, and Sehwag was delighted with theexperience. “It’s an exciting form of the game and it’s very fast-paced,”he said. “You can learn with experience, and I’m sure that the Indianpublic will enjoy it when it’s held there.”Sehwag added that India’s first domestic Twenty20 tournament would help inpopularising the format. “It’s important to play it at the domestic levelbecause you can’t go into the World Cup next year without experience. Theselectors too can gauge which are the Twenty20 players.”Dinesh Karthik, whose unbeaten 31 fetched him the master blaster award,basked in the glow of the performance. A six off the first ball of thefinal over bowled by Robin Peterson set up the win, and Karthik suggestedthat it had been part of the plan, with nine needed from six balls. “I wasconfident that I could pull off a big shot,” he said. “I had it all workedout in my mind. I knew there were a couple of areas where to hit.”Karthik indicated that India had always been in control of the run chase.”It was important that someone put up their hand and did well,” he said.”Viru gave us a good start and Dinesh [Mongia] played very well andconsolidated. It was important to get off to a good start and from thereon, we did pretty well.”Karthik has played as a specialist batsman on the tour, with MahendraSingh Dhoni keeping his place behind the stumps, and he distinguishedhimself with some superb stops in the outfield today. “The team managementtold me that I would be required and what was expected of me, and Iprepared well,” he said. “It was fantastic of them to tell me what wasexpected of me.”I really worked hard on my fielding and the results were there. I don’twant to be a liability on the field. I want to make sure that I’m one ofthe top three fielders in India. Even if I play as a batsman, I can stopruns in the field.”If I was competing as a wicketkeeper, my mindset would be different, butnow as I’m competing as a batsman I have more opportunity to do well. Ihave six slots to push myself into the team.”Sehwag had to face the inevitable questions about being stripped of thevice-captaincy for the Test series. “I don’t feel any pressure,” he said,when asked how he had responded. “If I’m not vice-captain, it does notmatter. I’m happy with whatever the selectors have decided.”VVS Laxman, who will now be Rahul Dravid’s deputy in the Tests, arrived inJohannesburg on Friday morning, and Sehwag said that his arrival wouldgive the team a boost. When asked to comment on Sourav Ganguly’s selectionin the squad, he suggested that too much shouldn’t be made of it. “He’llcome in like any other member [of the team],” he said. “There will be nospecial treatment. His record is very good, and he’s played here before.He knows how to handle pressure at any time.”

Michael Hussey is quickly becoming Australia’s most complete batsman after steering the side through some unexpected trouble with an unbeaten 74. Pushed up a spot to No. 4 after Damien Martyn’s exit, Hussey grabbed the role as successfully as he has with most of his tasks since entering the Test squad a year ago.Only the Western Australians who laud Martyn would have missed him as one of their other local heroes coolly avoided the early trouble of a moist surface and then increased his rate as the juice disappeared. After crawling to four from 46 balls he stepped up as his team-mates fell to Monty Panesar and Steve Harmison and were dismissed for a disappointing 244.Andrew Flintoff and Sajid Mahmood were crashed for stunning off drives and Monty Panesar was regularly worked for square-driven boundaries as Hussey showed his shot-happy team-mates the way to succeed on his home ground. The half-century was Hussey’s eighth in his past ten innings and he was only cut short of a century by the lack of support from the rest of the order.The innings continued an impressive streak of 86, 91 and 61 not out in the series and he is not concerned by the absence of a three-figure return. “It would have been nice to get there but it’s been nice for me to contribute in a positive way to the team,” he said. “I’ve been able to contribute and we’ve won two Tests.”Hussey said he would bat anywhere if it meant he could play for Australia and he slipped easily into the No. 4 slot. “It was a bit different and I got nervous a lot quicker,” he said. “Usually I can kick back and relax for at least the first session, but I did enjoy getting in there early and getting into the fight.”England produced their best bowling day of the tour and Matthew Hoggard and Steve Harmison were particularly difficult when the pitch suited them in the opening session. “It was a good battle,” Hussey said. “There was plenty of moisture in it early but as it dried out I found it less challenging. I found it hard to get any rhythm in the first session then it slowly got better and better.” He expected it would become easier for batting as the game wore on.Australia started the day with a 2-0 lead but England finished it with a third-Test edge as they cut the advantage by 51 for the loss of Alastair Cook and Ian Bell. “We’re going to have to get early wickets tomorrow,” Hussey said. Australia are eyeing the long tail created by the inclusion of Panesar and Mahmood and are desperate to make inroads.

For nearly 35 overs, India had a vice-like grip on this match, but Rahul Dravid holed out to Riyad Emrit on the long-on rope, they went into freefall, 232 for 3 to 268 all out. “That was where we lost the game,” said a visibly disappointed Dravidafterwards. “To lose 7 for 36 on a flat wicket was not acceptable. Weneeded to do better in those end overs.”India had rested the likes of Sourav Ganguly, Zaheer Khan and HarbhajanSingh for this game, but Dravid was anxious to emphasise that the reversehad nothing to do with the 11 names on the team-sheet. “It’s not about thepersonnel, it’s about execution of the key moments in a match,” he said.”I think 340 or 350 would have been a good score.”The one new guy we tried out was Robin [Uthappa], and Suresh [Raina] alsocame up the order. Robin set the tone beautifully, but one of us needed tocarry on and get a big score. I’ll be the first to put my hand up and saythat I should have stayed to the end. In hindsight, we could have waited alittle longer before trying to force the pace. We didn’t get onesignificant contribution.”Once the batting imploded to give West Indies the initiative, the bowlersneeded to be close to their peak to force the issue. That didn’t happen,despite Chris Gayle going to the first ball of the innings. Sreesanthoffered up a wretched opening spell, and there were 25 wides in agenerally indisciplined performance.”Control of the shiny new white ball is something we’re working on, andsomething we’ve spoken about,” said Dravid. “We tend to give away too many runs in the first 10 or 12 overs. Maybe the bowlers felt today that wehadn’t given them enough runs to play with, and that they needed earlywickets. Having said that, Ajit [Agarkar] bowled superbly.”At 92 for 3, India might have sensed an opening, but it was all darknessthereafter as Samuels and Lara totted up 127 at a run a ball. “We werenever really in the game once they got going,” rued Dravid,before focussing on the few positives to emerge from the defeat.The obvious one was Uthappa, who batted with the fluency of the Sehwag ofold while careening his way to 70 from just 41 balls. Soon after he signed him for Liverpool, Bill Shankly used to send Kevin Keegan out to play with the exhortation: “Go and drop some hand-grenades out there, son.” Though it’s not known what Dravid or Chappell said,Uthappa certainly made an explosive impact. There were 11 foursand two sixes, the great majority straight off the bat’s sweet spot, andthe stands started bellowing out his name as the ball flashed past theropes.With seats on the flight to the Caribbean at a premium, at least one fromUthappa, Raina and Gautam Gambhir will miss out. The trio are pencilledin at the top of the order for this game and there was no doubt which manemerged today one step nearer a Caricom visa. Gambhir fluffed his lines, and mayhave to make way when Ganguly returns, while Raina yet again highlightedan exasperating inability to go beyond pretty 20s and 30s.Uthappa has had a stellar season for Karnataka, scoring over 800 runs, andthough Dravid had hardly had the opportunity to play alongside him, he wasfull of appreciation for the superb cameo. “He got us off to a flyingstart, set the tone and tempo for the innings,” he said. “These young guyshave courage and confidence and a lot of belief. He’ll realise withexperience though that when you get a start like that, you need to go on.That’s what he’ll learn with time. But for a guy playing just his fourthgame, to play like that was pretty special.”It was a view echoed by Brian Lara, who admitted that the opening flurryhad let him more than a little worried. “I’ve seen him bat in theChallenger, and once in the Caribbean,” said Lara, when asked to assesswhat he had seen. “It was unexpected, and all the shots he played wereexcellent ones. He looked very compact and at times, he made the bowlinglook very easy. At one point, I thought we’d be chasing 400.”Unfortunately for India, a youthful rush of blood stopped Uthappa short,and further indiscretions from Dravid and Tendulkar meant that a blazingstart was followed by a pathetic whimper of a finish.

Soon after the fall of the second wicket in the opening ODI match with Scotland at Mombasa, I passed Canadian coach Andy Pick on my way round the ground. “I know you’d be more interested in winning the game,” I told him, “but that stand was a new Canadian ODI second-wicket record.” We agreed it was another step, although a century stand would have looked better than 87 runs….and would have been a Canadian first for an ODI game. Canada’s best is a stand of 96 runs for the first wicket.John Davison’s innings had gone out with a blast, after Ashish Bagai had set the pace with shots blending power, technique and the all-important singles to keep the scoreboard moving. Three or four more big overs at that time and Canada would have been really surging…but that’s the nature of cricket, and sport in general.Davison had made 41, being deprived of two runs as one six hit a couple of leaves on the tree that is within the playing area. A ‘ground rule 4’, as they would say in baseball. The leaves fell in front of the media table, presumably dropping some 30 feet, if not more.The third wicket against Scotland added 122, but it included Ashish Bagai retiring hurt at 148 for 2. Qaiser Ali was then joined by Desmond Chumney. Bagai returned to the crease in the final over and ended on 64 not out. This was his third fifty in five ODI innings in Africa this Canadian winter and a new ODI personal best.Ali went on to record his best ODI score of 70, building on his innings of 174 against the Netherlands in the ICC Intercontinental Cup in December. Realistically, Ali needed a good score in ODI cricket, his previous best from four matches was just 12, set in South Africa after missing the opening matches due to an ankle injury.Chumney had gone to South Africa with a personal best of 28 in ODI cricket – not the kind of runs demanded from a specialist batsman. In Mombasa he matched that score, making it five innings in a row where he has matched or exceeded his ODI personal best. He reached 48 against the Dutch before his lack of acclimatisation took over in the opening match in South Africa.The naysayers, and there are several around the Canadian cricket scene, would no doubt like a balance to be struck. These records were not set against ICC Full Member countries. The first warm-up test in 2007 will be Bangladesh, who have been doing quite well, in late February in Antigua. The Canadian batting has failed during 2006-07. The major slump in the first innings against the Dutch in the Intercontinental Cup saw six wickets tumble in eight balls. A couple of the shots played in this phase lacked discipline but that type of incident is starting to become the exception.A couple of victims in that phase, Sunil Dhaniram and Ashif Mulla, batted well against Scotland. Dhaniram ended on his second ODI fifty. Mulla’s knock of 26 was probably better from a technical perspective than his 30 against Bermuda in Potchefstroom. Clearly he has been listening to the coach.The optimists, and those beyond that realm (Canadian cricket includes several of them, based on my experience), would delight in the January 14 headline from the Sunday Telegraph. “Pitiful line-up for World Cup” said Scyld Berry, in reference to England’s prospects. We can but dream, as the big showdown in St Lucia approaches on March 18.There is a gap in the playing levels of full-time players, especially those at elite levels, and most leading Associate country players. It has similarities to the way Rugby Union has moved since the introduction and rise of professionalism, or in a more traditional Canadian context, (ice) hockey.Both those sports face issues of player releases from club teams to the next layer of national team. Similar to the situation of Geoff Barnett being contracted to Central Districts, so he will not be in Nairobi for the World Cricket League Division 1; a major event from a Canadian perspective. Not to mention the potential $250,000 windfall for a top-two placing and a berth in the Twenty20 World Championships later in the year.Of course, another facet of Canadian cricket is that the selectors would have to pick Barnett: a “major league” topic in itself. There was talk at the CCA’s 2005 Annual General Meeting of having to sort out the selection processes. I think there is still some way to go until things get ironed out, but I digress.Either way, don’t expect a whole chain of surprise successes at the World Cup. People talk of Davison’s 111 versus West Indies in the last World Cup. it was a great achievement and a cup record, and there was also the win over Bangladesh. But on the down side, there was that 36 all out versus Sri Lanka, beating the previous low score in the World Cup that was set by Canada at the 1979 World Cup when out for 45 runs.This will be Canada’s third time in the World Cup. The way the batting is shaping up, there should be no disaster innings. Technique, application, the basics, shot selection. That, I believe, has been Andy Pick’s message to the National side and I am sure he would love to see that across Canadian cricket, particularly in the elite levels from youngsters upwards.In the meantime, on Saturday January 20, Canada face Kenya. A team Canada beat in an exciting ICC Intercontinental Cup match in the summer with batting application from different players in each innings, and solid efforts from the bowlers, especially Umar Bhatti.Bhatti will miss this week’s match with Kenya as his ankle recovers from a net practice injury sustained in Toronto. There is unlikely to be much help in the wicket for the bowlers, based on the two opening matches of this series. As Pick said on Thursday, “Kenya will be a difficult game. They are playing in their own conditions.” But if Canada can get among the runs, there is certainly hope.