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FULL NAME: Douglas Tafadzwa Hondo
BORN: 7 July 1979, at Bulawayo
MAJOR TEAMS: Zimbabwe Cricket Academy. Present club side: Universals
KNOWN AS: Douglas/Doug Hondo
BATTING STYLE: Right Hand Bat
BOWLING STYLE: Right Arm Fast Medium
OCCUPATION: Student at CFX Academy
FIRST-CLASS DEBUT: CFX Academy v Mashonaland, at Country Club, 2-4 March 2000
TEST DEBUT: Zimbabwe v South Africa, at Harare Sports Club, 7-11 September 2001
ODI DEBUT: Zimbabwe v England, at Harare Sports Club, 3 October 2001
BIOGRAPHY (updated October 2002)Douglas Hondo was regarded as one of Zimbabwe’s most promising young cricketers long before he made a belated, due largely to injuries, debut in first-class cricket for the CFX Academy in the Logan Cup competition of 1999/2000. He had then recently returned from a three-week course at the MRF Pace Foundation in Chennai, India, where he learned from Dennis Lillee, and was in his second year at the CFX Academy in Harare.The following season he was to make his debuts in both Test and one-day international cricket, with little success at first – until after a season playing club cricket in South Australia, which seemed to transform his bowling. He returned to regain his place in Zimbabwe’s one-day side, and responded with a remarkable 15 wickets in five matches.Like most of Zimbabwe’s young black players, Douglas had no parental guidance in the game – which was not their fault – but he does have an older brother who first introduced him to the game. His brother attended Queensdale Primary School where the late Peter Sharples built a strong cricket team from boys like the Hondos with no family background in the sport, and this was Douglas’ first connection with the game. Unfortunately his brother gave up cricket at high school when he began to play the bagpipes in Churchill’s famous band. He has a younger brother Daniel who is now 17 and has played for the national Under-13 and U17 teams, as well as a Logan Cup match for Mashonaland A.In Grade 2 Douglas himself joined Mr Sharples’ cricket group, encouraged by the enthusiasm and fun that were always part of the coaching sessions. He played for the school colts team from Grades 3 to 5, and then the school first team in Grades 6 and 7, when he was captain both years. He played as an all-rounder, opening both batting and bowling. In a match against Courteney Selous School he took nine wickets for 4 runs as they were bowled out for 8, and his highest score was 68 not out against Nettleton School. He thinks he averaged about 40 with the bat in junior school. He represented Harare East in the national primary schools cricket week in his Grade 7 year but did not produce any outstanding performances.From Queensdale Douglas followed his brother to Churchill Boys High School where he was immediately given a place in the school Under-15 team; he captained them the following year and in Form 3 he progressed to the first team, still as an all-rounder. In that year he took seven wickets for 10 runs against Gateway High School in the Prince Edward festival. He scored several fifties for the school team, and also an innings of 121 against Hillcrest. Peter Sharples was again his coach, having moved to Churchill School, partly perhaps at least to keep up his work with the boys he had coached so well.In representative cricket Doug played for Mashonaland at Under-13 level, without making the national side, but in 1994 he was a member of the national Under-15 team to go to the South African Week in Bloemfontein. The following season he played in a warm-up match against England Under-19s and in the Zone 6 tournament in South Africa, which was won by Zimbabwe.Unfortunately a back injury put him out of contention for a year, which meant that he missed the Zimbabwe Under-19 tour of England in 1997. During this time he kept himself going by bowling spin! He returned to cricket the following year without great success, but he applied for a place in the Zimbabwe Cricket Academy. He was put on the waiting list and eventually offered a place in January 1999.Injury hampered him a great deal during his first term, pulling an intercostal muscle during a warm-up in wet conditions which put him out of the Academy match against England A. He kept fit with some cross-country runs, but then missed the match against Denmark when he lost a toenail.He spent the off-season in England, enjoying a successful season playing for Lydney in Gloucestershire. He opened the bowling and batted at number six; he averaged 38 with the bat and took 38 wickets at an average of 19 in the league. His highest score was 127 against King’s School Staff, his highest score in any kind of cricket, 81 not out and six wickets for 61 against Froster, the top team in the league (Lydney still lost), and 85 against a strong Cheltenham team. The then CFX Academy director Gwynne Jones said that the club reported that he was the best overseas player they ever had – past signings had included Sri Lankan Test players. He worked well there with the youngsters and they were keen for him to return.The main benefit he obtained from playing in England, he feels, was that he learned to bowl much more accurately, length in particular. The slow pitches there turned short balls into long hops, while he found he was driven if he overpitched. He also experimented with inswing, with some success, and feels that playing cricket so much, in addition to gym training, developed his strength.Douglas did not enjoy much success on his return to Zimbabwe, but he was offered a second year at the Academy. Early in 2000 he went to India for coaching with Dennis Lillee, along with David Mutendera, and learned a great deal about all aspects of bowling which he is working to apply to his game. Lillee straightened up his entire action, improving his balance, helping him to conserve his energy without losing pace, and improving his fitness and suppleness. He can move the ball both ways off the pitch and claims to have three slower balls! He has also been working hard to develop his leg-cutter and his inswinger is improving all the time.Douglas is also keen to improve his batting, but he still goes in at number eleven in club cricket, frequently not getting a bat at all and giving him little opportunity to display his progress. His school and English performances prove that he has much more batting ability than he is generally credited with, and he feels he is able to bat either defensively or aggressively according to the situation.Douglas started playing club cricket when in Form 4, for the Churchill-based club Winstonians. The following year he was injured, but on his return he moved to Sunrise Sports Club for a higher standard of cricket. He returned from England to find cricket at that club also stagnating, so he moved to Universals so as to be able to keep playing in the first league. He finds all the players there most helpful, especially David Mutendera, Everton Matambanadzo and Ali Shah, who are all bowlers who can help him technically and also on the mental side of the game.After finishing at the Academy he was posted to Kwekwe, where he played a season for Midlands without much to show for it. So it was a major surprise to Douglas as well as everyone else when he was selected for the First Test match against South Africa in 2001/02. At this stage he had only 11 first-class wickets to his credit in eight matches, at an average approaching 50."At first I was called up to be a net bowler," he explains. "I was bowling well in the nets and I think the coach (Carl Rackemann) saw that. Brighton Watambwa got injured just before that Test, and I was told the day before that I was playing." Douglas obviously understates the situation, as he tends to do with modesty, but he was so impressive that he was chosen for his debut on his net form.Unfortunately, perhaps overcome by the occasion, he did not bowl at all well, but he was in good company as the South African batting slaughtered the feeble efforts of Zimbabwe’s bowlers to the tune of 600 for three declared. Douglas comforted himself with the thought, "It was not just me getting hit!"He did take the wicket of Gary Kirsten for 220 and at number eleven played two useful innings in support of Andy Flower, who had the match of his life with scores of 142 and 199 not out. Andy was last out in the first innings and was just one short of a double-century when Douglas, who put on 47 with him in the second innings, was dubiously adjudged lbw.He was dropped from the team for the Second Test, but shortly afterwards played in two one-day internationals against England. His selection in retrospect seems to have been a mistake, as he was much too inaccurate at that stage of his career and bowled just nine overs in two matches for 66 runs. "I had two catches dropped off Knight," he says, though.Not wanted for Zimbabwe’s tours, he went to Australia to play A Grade club cricket there. The Zimbabwe Cricket Union made arrangements with the Port Adelaide club for Douglas and Stuart Matsikenyeri to play a season there, and it proved the making of his bowling."It was good competitive cricket and I bowled 20 overs a match," he said. "In Australia they’re so disciplined that any bad ball will be punished, so I quickly learned to hit the deck, line and length, outside off, and that’s all I did." He thinks he bowled about 230 overs at less than three an over, taking about 20 wickets, during the course of the season. He had only two innings with the bat – "with three overs to go!"Comparing that club competition with cricket in Zimbabwe, Douglas says, "The good sides in the league were like a good Logan Cup team when they had their state players in. They also had state B team players and a few youngsters from the academies, and older guys, but who had the experience. So the teams were fairly strong."With one match to go before the end of the season, the club chairman approached Doug to tell him that the national side needed him in India. "I thought it was a joke!" he laughs. He had a busy work sorting out his ticket and visa, and then was off to India.He did not play in the first two matches, but was twelfth man for the second. This was the match when Andy Flower was injured, so he fielded for most of the Indian innings. Then came the revelation of the third match at Kochi, when he broke through the Indian top order. Dismissing Mongia, Ganguly and Laxman; with another reintroduced paceman, Pommie Mbangwa, dismissing Dravid, India were 51 for four. He later dismissed the last man, Zimbabwe went on to win the match and Douglas won the Man of the Match award.Playing in Australia got his disciplines right, Douglas says; not only was he more accurate but he also showed more pace and fire than he had shown in his brief international appearances before then. He took three wickets in the next two matches, including Ganguly again, and was naturally selected for the Zimbabwe team when they next played. Due to the Australian refusal to tour Zimbabwe, this was six months later, at the ICC Champions Trophy in Sri Lanka.Douglas spent the Zimbabwean winter working out in the gym with Henry Olonga, getting himself fit and not playing, before going to Sri Lanka. He felt he needed a break from bowling. In Sri Lanka he was the only member of a disappointing Zimbabwean pace attack to trouble the opposition, which comprised India and England, coincidentally the only two teams he had played against before in this type of cricket.He found extra bounce at times, although proving expensive, and took four wickets (Ganguly once more) as India slumped to 87 for five. But the rest of Zimbabwe’s bowlers were less threatening, and India recovered to win the match. Another four wickets came against England, but apart from bowling Nick Knight he had to wait until later in the innings this time. He also had to bowl against Marcus Trescothick, whom he names as the most difficult batsman he has bowled to, and he returned the unusual figures of six overs, 45 runs and four wickets."My disciplines were not up to the level they were when I came from Australia," he admits. "I’m working on that, so hopefully when they get better I will still be taking wickets. I tend to give one energy ball once in a while – I don’t know where it comes from, it just comes out!""This season I’m working on my batting," he says. "I want to become a full cricketer." With the ball he now bowls predominantly away-swingers, "when I get my action right! When it’s not that great I bowl off-cutters." He is thus able either to seam or swing the ball.As a pace bowler Doug usually fields on the boundary, but he prefers the covers or slips. He takes a pride in his speed in the field, diving a lot, catching very safely and saving many singles.Gwynne Jones, Academy director during Douglas’s time there, praises Douglas highly, as a genuinely nice guy with a good temperament, keen to do well, and one who could go all the way in Test cricket if he develops. Certainly with his recent startling successes in one-day cricket Zimbabwe followers are eager to see what he will do in the future, in both forms of the game.Douglas used to play rugby as a fly-half at school, and played for Mashonaland Schools for two years and in his final year for the Zimbabwe Under-19 B team. He also played first-team basketball at Churchill, but no longer plays any sports other than cricket.Douglas, who passed his A-levels, is hoping to take a computer course in the near future to give him some qualifications outside cricket, and he has a keen interest in computers.Cricket heroes: "I don’t have one in particular; I just admire the older guys who are still performing." In the past – "Sachin, Curtly, Courtney – all the great guys everyone looks up to."Toughest opponents: Marcus Trescothick. "The Indians are tough to bowl to because they come hard at you."Proudest achievement so far: "Playing for the team. Those four wickets in my last game against India."Best friends in cricket: "The guys in my team so far. I speak to Makhaya Ntini."Other qualifications: None yet.Other sports: None at present. "I watch a lot of rugby."Outside interests: "My music. I’ve got everything – every kind of music, I’ve got it."Views on cricket: "Cricket these days is now batsman-friendly. Bowlers don’t have anything going for us. But there’s nothing I’d change."

SYDNEY, July 24 AAP – Former Test captain Mark Taylor believes Steve and Mark Waugh may be using their non-selection in Australia’s one-day teams as a means to continue their Test cricket careers.While the brothers have said they’ll still push for selection for next year’s World Cup despite not being named in recent Australia and Australia A teams, Taylor believes they would be more than content if they simply maintained their Test spots.”Maybe Steve and Mark are thinking that if they try and focus on getting themselves in every game including the one-dayers then they’ll settle for just playing Test cricket,” Taylor said today.”It could well be the case – it’s just my guess.”It may be that they are worried if they say to themselves ‘ok, we’ll sit back and play Test match cricket’ that they might find their Test match form falls away and they find themselves under pressure for their Test spots as well.“It (showing an interest in playing the one-day game) might be a way of keeping themselves upbeat, fit and at the age of 37 challenging the 27 years as well.”Taylor said the Waughs were in a vastly different position to when he lost his one-day spot in 1997 and went on to play almost another two years of Test cricket.”My position was slightly different. I was dropped as an opening batsmen and it was always going to be difficult for me to get back into that role,” he said.”For them to get back in, it will mean a change of position and a change in the way they play their cricket.Taylor believed it would be very difficult for both Waughs to get back into the national one day team – the likely avenue being for one of them to be “re-invented” as an allrounder playing at number seven.”It will depend a lot on (current allrounder) Shane Watson. Hopefully the selectors will stick with him for a little while longer and give him an opportunity to flourish in that position,” Taylor said.”But if he doesn’t I think there may be an opportunity for one of them to slot into No.7.”Former Australian batsmen and standout one-day international player of the 1980s and early ’90s Dean Jones said the Waughs could still come back into World Cup reckoning with strong domestic one-day form.”Make no mistake someone will fail against Pakistan (in a one-day series in Kenya next month) and then they come under consideration,” Jones said.

The CCA Senior Selection Committee will shortly be annoucing a squad of players who will be asked to train for and to participate in events this year in preparation for the World Cup 2003 in South Africa. This is still a long list and the selectors reserve the right to make changes as needed in due course.The CCA is working through the ICC Americas office to further discuss with the WICB the prospect of increased assistance from the ICC and WICB this year. Included in those discussions will bethe upcoming West Indies ‘A’ team visit to Canada and the 2002 Red Stripe competition.

The South Australian Cricket Association (SACA) has tonight hosted theannual members Test Match dinner, which incorporated the presentation ofWisden’s Cricketers of the Year awards and the Spirit of Cricket award.Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack (English edition) each year announces fiveCricketers of the Year. For 2002, Australian Test players JasonGillespie, Damien Martyn and Adam Gilchrist, were among the recipients.The two other awards going to Andy Flower of Zimbabwe, and India’sV.V.S. Laxman, who did not attend the dinner.The Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack Australia each year announces anAustralian Cricketer of the Year and, in 2002, the award went to AdamGilchrist.The editor of the Australian edition of Wisden, Warwick Franks, attendedthe dinner to present the awards.In addition to the Cricketers of the Year, the gala dinner sawAustralian captain, Steve Waugh, presented with the Spirit of Cricketaward.The Spirit of Cricket award is given periodically by the MaryleboneCricket Club (MCC) to the player who best demonstrates a commitment tothe spirit of the game of cricket, as well as to the laws of the game.The award was presented by recent MCC President, and current Chairman ofthe MCC cricket committee, Ted Dexter.The SACA chief executive, Mike Deare, said the award presentationsreaffirmed that the Adelaide Test Match dinner is held in the highestregard by the world’s cricketing elite.”Having the MCC select the Adelaide Test Match dinner as the host venuefor these awards, is an enormous honour for the SACA and the State,”said Mr Deare.”Both the Cricketers of the Year and the Spirit of Cricket awards aretruly global and acknowledge the best cricketers in the world. We arevery proud to have played host to these presentations to our world-classcricketers.”

The one remaining semi-final place in the World Cricket League Division Five went to Afghanistan after Singapore failed to beat Japan by a convincing enough margin to pip them into second place in Group B on net run-rate.Singapore have every right to feel hard done by. Although they finished level on points with the Afghans, their one game which was washed out was against Bahamas, who failed to win any of their matches, while Afghanistan’s was against the unbeaten Jersey side.Singapore started today needing an overwhelming victory against Japan to leapfrog into second place. Their hopes were as good as extinguished before the halfway stage as they struggled to 201 in 35.4 overs. In gathering gloom Japan limped to 67 for 5 before rain brought an early finish with Singapore winning by 52 runs (D/L).In the three Group A matches carried over from yesterday, the two teams already qualified for the semi-finals, Nepal and USA took one point each after their game was washed out. Nepal made 182 but the heavens opened before USA could start their chase.The Nepal captain Binod Das said his team was confident ahead of its semi-final against Afghanistan. “We are upbeat as we have been playing good cricket,” he said. “As a team we are very confident of doing well in the semi-final. One thing we know about Afghanistan is they are inconsistent. They can be world beaters one day and inconsistent other days, so we hope we can have a good day against them.”We are not very aware of these things right now as our focus is on the cricket but we heard yesterday that the country was declared a republic so we are proud of that. The people of Nepal wanted that to happen and if we win this tournament and come back home with the trophy we are going to dedicate the win to the people.”The Afghanistan captain Nowroz Mangal hoped his team would learn from their mistakes and put up an improved performance on Friday. “We are not short of any confidence,” he said. “The biggest motivation for us ahead of tomorrow’s match is if we win it, we will take a big step forward in our quest to play in the World Cup. Every team needs time to adjust to new conditions and after playing four matches here, we know what we need to do tomorrow to swing the match in our favour. If experience is on Nepal’s side, then talent and potential is on our side and tomorrow we just need to pull together a good team effort.”In the other semi-final, USA will meet hosts Jersey. “It’s something to look forward to as if we want to move forward from this tournament into the other league and get to the World Cup then we have look to tomorrow’s game with great anticipation,” Steve Massiah, the USA’s captain, said. “It will be a tough test as Jersey were unbeaten in the preliminary rounds. As both the teams are in good form, I am sure we will have a good game.”Massiah said he was pleased with the performance of his team so far but warned his side of complacency. “It would be unfair to the guys not to be pleased after getting a perfect four from four,” he said. “We don’t fear any opposition and we just try to concentrate on our strengths and realise if we play to our full potential then we will be a hard team to beat. But we have to guard against complacency.”The Jersey captain Matt Hague said: “It should be a really good game as the USA has been in good form and so have we. There is a lot to play for and to get into the final and go to Tanzania would be something really special so we’ll all look forward to it and it should be great.”Hague acknowledged home advantage would be useful, but played down the fact that it would be a big bonus. “I suppose it helps a little bit but all the teams have played over here for a few games now so they should know the conditions,” he said. “FB Fields should be a good batting wicket, so as long as the rain stays away it should be good.”The two finalists will automatically qualify for the World Cricket League Division Four which takes place in Dar Es Salaam in October. The top two there will be promoted to Division Three, with that event held in Argentina in January 2009, and from there the top two will be invited to take part in the ICC World Cup Qualifiers in April.In the other Group A matches, Germany beat Norway by six wickets with more than 12 overs to spare after bowling them out for 147, while Vanautu had Mozambique at 88 for 4 when the match was abandoned because of rain.

Hampshire Hawks’ dismal season ended on a high note with an exciting 6 wicket victory over the Northamptonshire Steelbacks to bring the curtain down on The Rose Bowl Season. John Francis hit his first NUL century to guide his team home.Robin Smith captaining Hampshire for the last time, after the decision to hand over the reigns to Shane Warne in 2003, lost the toss, and on a sunny afternoon in front of a sizable crowd, the Steelbacks chose to bat first.Mark Powell and David Sales gave the innings a bright start with a century partnership, after Rob White had been dismissed sky-ing James Tomlinson to Alan Mullally at long leg.Powell played across a ball from Lawrence Prittipaul to be trapped lbw after hitting four boundaries in his 64, and Sales attempted an extravagant drive to be well caught by Will Kendall over his head. His 93 included a hugh six over long on and 13 fours.Jeff Cook and Tony Penberthy upped the tempo to post a stiff target of 286 for victory at 6.3 per over.Robin Smith went early when he drove a widish ball from Carl Greenidge to the wicket-keeper, the Neil Johnson who is still not sure whether he will be with Hampshire next season and John Crawley preparing for the Ashes tour put together 98 well worked runs. On Crawley’s dismissal Johnson was joined by John Francis for another useful stand.When Johnson finally fell to the Steelbacks skipper, the home side were still looking at 8 runs per over. This seemed to hold no fears as Will Kendall joined Francis in an entertaining stand that saw the two youngsters running between the wickets like gazelles, making easy singles into twos and putting the fielders under pressure. Kendall finally lost his wicket for a run-a-ball 31, but his inning was worth far more in terms of partnership of 99.

John Francis completed a maiden century to the delight of the crowd who had enjoyed an innings despite the turn of the weather which meant spectators scurrying for coats as the September evening turned cold. He struck 103* in just 83 balls with eight fours and two sixes.Hampshire retained the 7th spot in Division II, thus guaranteeing a home tie in the 2003 Cheltenham and Gloucestershire Trophy 3rd Round against Sussex.

ADELAIDE, Oct 24 AAP – Australia’s Test selectors are expected to fix their attention on the Pura Cup cricket game between South Australia and New South Wales starting here tomorrow as they weigh up their Ashes batting options.Should selectors decide it is time to end the career of Mark Waugh, SA captain and Pura Cup run-machine Darren Lehmann and 21-year-old NSW batting prodigy Michael Clarke are two names likely to come under strong consideration.Coaches from both states today pushed the claims of their respective charges, with Redbacks’ coach Greg Chappell saying he hoped this would be the only match his skipper played with SA this season.”He’s one of the better players in the country, so to have him back and his leadership as well is terrific,” Chappell told reporters.”But I hope he’s not around for very long, as much as we love having him around, we’d rather he go off somewhere else.”I think serious consideration will be given to Darren playing in the first Test and I would be disappointed and surprised if he wasn’t given serious consideration.”NSW coach Steve Rixon said Clarke, a former Australian under 19 captain, was a Test player-in-waiting.Rixon said that while Clarke would probably have to wait for his chance, if selectors decided it was time to build for the future by introducing a youngster to the Test side, Clarke would be well-suited to the task.”I’d like to see him a little further down the track, but there’s no way in the world he would let the side down,” Rixon said.”He’s a guy that, against the Englishmen in particular, batting in that middle order, he’d be well catered for.”If there has to be a change, and I’m not saying there should be, he would certainly not let the side down and he would blend into what is an outstanding cricket team.”Lehmann said he planned to ignore the speculation about his Test prospects, and just concentrate on trying to lead SA to its second outright win in two matches.”That’s all I’m worried about over the next four days, whatever outcomes happen with the Test match, if I play or if I get picked, I can’t worry about that,” he said.”It’s the next four days with South Australia that are the utmost importance in my mind at the moment.”

St Lucia’s new ultra-modern Beausejour Stadium has been labelled as the benchmark for future construction and development of international cricket grounds in the Caribbean.Additionally, West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) chief executive officer Gregory Shillingford feels the spanking facility will be extensively utilised when the region hosts the 2007 World Cup.His comments came in an official opening ceremony ahead of this weekend’s back-to-back One-Day Internationals between West Indies and New Zealand.The ground was first used for a first-class match between India and a Busta XI from April 26-28 when International Cricket Council (ICC) match referee Ranjan Madugalle was sent in to undertake an inspection to see if it would meet ICC’s minimum standards.I can report that the ground not only met the standards, but has become the standard-bearer for all present and future grounds in the Caribbean, Shillingford said to loud, continuous applause.Over the weekend, it will be the venue for the first double-header in St Lucia.It will not be the last.I am sure that in subsequent years, we shall witness not only regional one-day and four-day tournaments staged here under the auspices of the WICB, but also Tests and One-Day Internationals that form part of the ICC future tours programmes.Set in 22 acres beneath the hills, the 13 000-capacity stadium is highlighted by modern infrastructure, including four stands with bucket-type seating, 18 hospitality suites and a fashionable pavilion that contains large dressing-rooms and lounges for both teams.Its outfield, a perfect oval, is predictably lush green.Located close to the lively tourist resort of Rodney Bay on the island’s north-east coast, the stadium, when completed, should also have two turf and two artificial practice pitches behind the pavilion, along with catering facilities and public conveniences that can be used outside of match days.The price tag of the stadium is EC$40 million (about BDS$32 million) and is funded by the Government-run St Lucia National Lotteries.With leading officials having expressed a need for the upgrade of grounds around the region in time for the 2007 World Cup, Beausejour and the Queen’s Park Stadium in St George’s, which was opened in 1999, appear to have a head-start on the more established regional venues like Barbados’ Kensington Oval, Trinidad’s Queen’s Park Oval, Jamaica’s Sabina Park and Guyana’s Bourda.The ICC World Cup will represent the single biggest entertainment and sporting event that the Caribbean will ever undertake, Shillingford said.Without pre-empting the work of the Windies World Cup 2007, which is a subsidiary of the WICB, I am certain that St Lucia, with its 8 000 hotel rooms, cruise ship berthing facilities, international airports and a state-of-the-art cricket stadium, will feature prominently in the World Cup.

Hampshire return to Frizzell County Championship action at Old Trafford with several changes to the side that played Lancashire 10 days earlier, sustaining a bad defeat and the loss of eight points for a poor report on the wicket.Robin Smith is still recovering from chicken pox, and John Crawley is on England Test duties.Alex Morris is drafted in to the twelve, having last played in the opening match of the season at Canterbury, before back problems. Morris will play as a batsman only, after good contributions in the 2nd XI. Jason Laney is included following his brave 71 in the NUL match on Tuesday, as well as large second XI scores.Giles White, Derek Kenway and Lawrence Prittipaul are all absent, playing for the second string after a number of disappointing scores.Tim Tremlett, Hampshire Cricket’s Director of Cricket, was delighted that Jason Laney has shown some form, and says he deserves his chance. “We are desperate for points, to recover from our perilous relegation threatened position,” Tremlett said. “We must put the last couple of weeks behind us”.Hampshire Twelve: Will Kendall (captain), Jason Laney, John Francis, Neil Johnson, Nic Pothas, Adi Aymes (wicket-keeper), Alex Morris, Shaun Udal, Chris Tremlett, Alan Mullally and James Tomlinson.

South African captain Shaun Pollock said Australian selectors were right to have dropped Steve and Mark Waugh and gamble on a new-look squad for the World Cup defence next year.Pollock said veteran Darren Lehmann had been an ideal choice to help Australia through the uncertain period following the demise of two of the country’s greatest players.Australia has not lost a match since new captain Ricky Ponting took over last month, and take a 5-0 lead into Tuesday’s final clash with South Africa in Cape Town.”It takes a brave team to drop the Waugh brothers but if you look it’s probably the right decision,” Pollock said after Australia posted a world record run chase in Port Elizabeth yesterday.”It’s always difficult to replace experience but with the set-up in Australia it produces good cricket and tough cricketers.”When you replace someone like the Waugh brothers you’ve got to do it with a person like Lehmann, who has played 70-odd one-dayers.”With his experience, he’s a good foil to replace the experience of the Waughs.”Lehmann has been among the shining lights in an Australian team which was supposed to be rebuilding in South Africa after selectors moved on from the successful Waugh era.The departure of the Waughs left Australia without the experience of 579 matches but Ponting’s team reached new heights yesterday when it posted the winningscore of 7-330 with five balls to spare.The win featured 91 runs from Lehmann, whose years of experience in Australian and English domestic cricket have clearly helped Ponting and vice-captain AdamGilchrist.”We’ve lost nearly 600 games in experience but we’ve still got a lot of experienced blokes around us,” Ponting said.”I’ve played nearly 140 games now and Gilly has played 130-odd and then you have Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath so there is a lot of experience around.”The first few games here we did enough to win, just hanging around. We’ve all grown a bit from those games and we didn’t expect too much from that.”But Pollock won’t concede that South Africa has a huge mental problem against Australia as he tries to convince supporters that the Proteas are simply enduring a bad run.”They have a good side and they’re going to win a lot of games but I don’t believe they’re unbeatable,” Pollock said.”In the World Cup, if we did get to play them it would be a one-off game and anything can happen then.”Pollock has lamented the lack of experience in his team compared to Australia, which will start short-priced favourite to complete a 6-0 drubbing in the final match in Cape Town on Tuesday.