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Michael Hussey won the match award for his 60 in a rain-affected ING Cup game that seemed Victoria’s for much of the day, only for them to lose the plot and allow Western Australia to clinch victory by four runs.The game was shortened to a 24-over-a-side encounter after rain and a wet ground delayed the start. Cameron White then won the toss and chose to field. Soon Western Australia were 4 for 44, and White’s decision to insert the opposition was justified. However, Hussey scored runs rapidly, and he was aided by Kade Harvey, who made 19 in 19 balls. Hussey hit three fours and two sixes, and Jonathon Moss and White came in for severe punishment. Moss conceded 31 in four overs, while White gave away 35 in five.Victoria were on course for victory when rain came and affected the game further. They were 1 for 37 in 7.2 overs when their innings was reduced to 19 overs and the target to 108. Matthew Elliott reached his fifty and was partnered by Brad Hodge, who scored 28. However, both fell within three balls of each other (3 for 97). At that point, Victoria needed 11 runs in seven balls, a task that proved beyond them due to controlled bowling by Harvey, who conceded only three runs in the last over.

After being ruled out of the Champions Trophy with a bout of tennis elbow, Sachin Tendulkar is facing a race against time if he is to be passed fit for the first Test against Australia, starting in Bangalore on October 6.Though he no longer carries his team’s batting single-handed, Tendulkar’s absence has been keenly felt by India, who have been a shadow of their dominant selves in their recent one-day outings. They failed to qualify for the latter stages of either the Videocon Cup in Amstelveen or the Champions Trophy, and lost 2-1 to England in the NatWest Challenge.Australia would have a huge psychological advantage if he was not fit for the Test next month, and Tendulkar knows it. “I really want to play,” he told Mumbai’s Mid Day newspaper, after returning home from England, where he has been undergoing extensive treatment. “I am hoping and praying that I am fit for the series, but it is important to be in good shape for that challenge.”Tendulkar has received strict instructions from Anant Joshi, a sports medicine expert, about how best to speed his recovery. “Any untoward movement of the wrist or elbow will be a setback,” said Joshi, who added that the recovery has been slow, but positive. “I have asked him not to drive his car and lift anything.””I am pretty conscious of what I do with my left hand,” admitted Tendulkar. “I have to guard against even remote aggravation, and I even have to be careful while playing with my kids.”Even if he does recover fitness in time for Bangalore – which is a long shot – his form would be a worry. Tendulkar has not picked up a bat for six weeks, and his last first-class fixture was the third Test against Pakistan at Rawalpindi, which ended on April 18. He has missed just one Test series in a 15-year career, when a leg injury forced him out of the Sri Lanka tour in 2001.

When Michael Vaughan was appointed the England one-day international captain, the glamour and excitement of leading his country out against Australia at Sydney or South Africa at Cape Town must have been at the forefront of his mind. But his first game in charge is quite a different prospect – it’s against Wales at Cardiff.But any thoughts of a Welsh walkover will have been banished after last year’s fixture, in which a lacklustre England – captained by Marcus Trescothick – went down by an embarrassing eight wickets. Wales loved it – and they today announced their squad for this year’s rematch, sponsored by NatWest, taking place on Saturday, June 14.As expected, the majority of the Wales squad play for Glamorgan – including their overseas player Michael Kasprowicz – with only Steffan Jones (Somerset) and Tony Cottey (Sussex) coming from elsewhere. However, they do have their injury worries: Steve James and Darren Thomas are currently sidelined by knee injuries, Cottey has been struggling this season with a bad back, and Simon Jones is still out of action after the sickening knee injury he suffered against Australia last November. Geraint Jones, enjoying a fruitful season behind the stumps at Kent, unluckily misses out to Glamorgan’s Mark Wallace.And taking a leaf out of the Welsh rugby team’s book, the selectors scouted the cricket world for any potential adoptions. Craig Spearman, who has played 19 Tests and 51 ODIs for New Zealand and is currently playing for Gloucestershire, was born in Wales, and Stuart MacGill, Australia’s No. 1 legspinner (when Shane Warne isn’t available), has Welsh family. However, both have not been included, as they will be required by their counties for Twenty20 matches that same weekend, and, according to the management, “It was felt that as the current National Cricket League champions, there was already a good nucleus from within the Glamorgan playing staff and that they should make up the majority of the Welsh squad.”John Derrick, the Wales and Glamorgan coach, agreed. “We know that having lost the inaugural match last June the England team will be approaching the game with victory in mind, and of course it will be a very hard game indeed. But it’s a fantastic concept and we hope the Welsh public will again come out in force and support the Wales players in what we hope will be another memorable and successful occasion.”Duncan Fletcher, the England coach, has a foot in both camps after a brief spell in charge at Glamorgan, and he expressed his support and encouragement of what could become a more permanent fixture: “I know from my time with Glamorgan that the concept of Wales playing England is one that the whole of Wales embraces, but it provided us with a very important practice period in 2002 and we welcome the opportunity to repeat it.”He continued: “Certainly I believe there is room for this fixture as a regular on the cricketing calendar, not just to help us but also because of what it can do for the development and profile of cricket in Wales. After last year’s result we’re naturally keen to win the game and exact some revenge.”NatWest will be launching their “Summer of Cricket” in Cardiff the day before the game, as well as launching their newly sponsored Inter Cricket programme. The NatWest Interactive Zone will be on the ground on both the Friday and the Saturday.Provisional Wales Squad
Steve James (capt), Ian Thomas, Robert Croft, Michael Powell, Matthew Maynard, David Hemp, Adrian Dale, Tony Cottey, Jonathan Hughes, Mark Wallace (wk), David Harrison, Michael Kasprowicz, Darren Thomas, Alex Wharf, Steffan Jones, Andrew Davies, Dean CoskerThere are still tickets available for the Wales v England game, priced £25 for adults and £5 for juniors, and tickets for all of the matches taking place as part of the Festival of Cricket, including the NatWest Series One-Day International between South Africa and Zimbabwe on July 5, can be obtained either by calling in to the Glamorgan offices in Cardiff or by telephoning 029 2040 9380.For further information please contact:Mike FatkinChief ExecutiveGlamorgan County Cricket ClubSophia GardensCardiff CF11 9XRTel: (029) 2040 9380Mark HodgsonMedia Relations ManagerEngland and Wales Cricket BoardLord’s Cricket GroundLondon NW8 8QZTel: (020) 7432 1200

NSW will start the new cricket season slightly down on strike power with skipper Steve Waugh and pacemen Brett Lee and Nathan Bracken all missing from the Blues’ season-opening ING Cup clash with Victoria at Bankstown Oval on Sunday.Waugh (calf), Lee (rib) and Bracken (shoulder) could all also miss the defending champion’s second ING Cup fixture against Tasmania the following Sunday, but coach Steve Rixon stressed the players would not be rushed back.He said their unavailability opened up opportunities for several young players.”We’re not going to rush any of them back. It’s not imperative they come back,” Rixon said.”With Steve Waugh out, it gives Michael Clarke opportunities to bat with the bigger boys and with Brett Lee out it gives Don Nash a chance.”All-rounder Shane Lee is expected to lead the side with Waugh still recuperating from a torn calf he suffered on the Ashes tour.Lee, who tore a muscle attached to his ribcage during the fifth Ashes Test, underwent further treatment today, with team physiotherapist Pat Farhart estimating the paceman was two weeks away from returning to action.”It just needs rest and I’ve had six weeks off,” Lee said.Also expected to come back in the fortnight was one-day international player Bracken, who recently resumed bowling in the nets after recovering from a rotator cuff injury which required surgery.”He did it in a one-dayer on the Ashes tour,” Farhart said.”Nathan has been bowling for about two weeks now, slowly increasing his duration and intensity.”Even without those three internationals, NSW will field a star-studded side to be announced tomorrow at its season launch.Australian spearhead Glenn McGrath will lead a pace attack which will probably also include Nash and Stuart Clark plus one or two seam-bowling all-rounders in Shawn Bradstreet and Scott Thompson.Leggie Stuart MacGill, who equalled the competition single season wicket-taking record last summer, will lead the spin department with Michael Bevan and Mark Higgs also capable of contributing overs.The Blues will field a powerful fast-scoring batting lineup even in Waugh’s absence, with international stalwarts Bevan, Michael Slater, Mark Waugh and Shane Lee supplemented by young dashers Higgs and Brad Haddin.

ScorecardChadd Sayers picked up 4 for 41 (file photo)•Getty Images and Cricket Australia

Chadd Sayers and Daniel Worrall picked up four wickets each as South Australia consigned Tasmania to their third loss from four Sheffield Shield matches this summer. The Tigers were chasing an unrealistic 502 for victory; their main aim was to bat out the day for a draw, having started the morning in trouble at 3 for 42.Half-centuries to Jake Doran and Beau Webster were encouraging but there was not enough resistance to prevent the Redbacks running through the order. Doran made 50 and Webster was lbw to Sayers for 59, with George Bailey’s 37 and Hamish Kingston’s 24 the only other double-figure scores of the day.Sayers finished with 4 for 41 and Worrall ended up with 4 for 59, adding two of the last three wickets after picking up two in his first over of the innings on day three. Tasmania were dismissed for 199, handing South Australia a 302-run win.