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The moment came minutes after the tea break. The fifth ball of the 62nd over, bowled at 2.40pm, by Abdul Razzaq, was just short of a length and slanting into the pads, and Sachin Tendulkar moved across his stumps and tucked the ball to the on-side to scale another personal summit. With that run, he became the fifth player in the world, and the second Indian, to score 10,000 Test runs.Tendulkar, who came in to bat with the score on 156 for 2, after Virender Sehwag had powered India to a brisk start, was tentative early in his innings, playing out as many as 18 dot balls before getting off the mark. But he got under way with two crisp cover-driven fours off Shahid Afridi and from then on, with the scoreboard counting down the last few runs as he approached the milestone, his every run was cheered.After reaching the milestone he was especially fluent, showing shades of his old self, cutting and driving both the spinners and medium-pacers. Danish Kaneria’s attempts at curbing Tendulkar by bowling into the rough from around the stumps were wasted as Tendulkar got down on one knee and swept the ball fine for two fours, the second of which took him to his half-century. But just when he was looking dangerous, he went, edging a square-cut against Afridi to the wicketkeeper. Another record, the one that he is likely to cherish more, still awaits. For the moment, Sunil Gavsakar, the first man to score 10,000 Test runs, remains joint first with Tendulkar in the rank of century makers

The Central Districts side to play Auckland in the next round of State Shield cricket, at Pukekura Park, New Plymouth on Wednesday is:Glen Sulzberger (captain), John Nelson, Mathew Sinclair, Richard King, Ben Smith, Bevan Griggs, Campbell Furlong, Brent Hefford, Michael Mason, Andrew Schwass, Lance Hamilton, Jamie How.

HAMPSHIRE’S field of dreams has been named as the second best in the country in a survey of cricket grounds.The new multi-million-pound Rose Bowl complex at West End compiled 76 points out of a possible 100.The author Anthony Meredith was so impressed by the setting that he described the new venue as “a thrilling, unambiguous statement of self-belief. I wish I could award it 20 out of 10”.The writer, in his annual report for The Cricketer magazine, gave the club full marks for sign posting and car parks, and was also impressed by its catering, friendliness, and the scope of goods on sale at the ground.But he was critical of Hampshire – as well as many other counties – for their poor promotion of home players, describing their overall anonymity as “disastrous”.He also took every county to task over their marketing of the four-day championship.Canterbury was given the accolade of being the best ground with 86 points. Derby was denigrated as the worst, scoring just 45 points, one more than the home of English cricket, Lords. Both were slammed for their lack of atmosphere.Graham Walker, Hampshire’s chief executive, was encouraged by the results, but warned: “You ain’t seen nothing yet.”He added: “It’s like the car hire advert – `we may be number two so we have got to try harder’.”The county have their sights set on achieving Test county status. Durham’s Chester-Le-Street ground, which has been the county’s home for only six-and-a-half years was recently awarded a floodlit one-day game between England and India next summer, and Hampshire have been given ODI status from 2003.Hampshire have just started a £2m fitting out of the pavilion. This will include a Long Room, with a 240-seater restaurant, a members’ bar with seating for 200 people, and the club will be putting some 600 seats on the top deck which will be used for entertaining.The pavilion will also include refurbished players’ and umpires’ dressing rooms, plus an office for the director of cricket.”A lot of people have put a lot of hard work into this ground, but there is still a long way to go,” added Walker. “We didn’t score too highly in the `pizzazz’ and `heroes’ categories in the survey, so we have a lot more work to do.”But I can guarantee we will have a lot more pizzazz next summer.”

Somerset were left facing an uphill struggle if they are to salvage anything from their championship match against Worcestershire after ending the second day of the Bath Festival still needing 281 runs to avoid an innings defeat with all of their second innings wickets remaining.Resuming on 422 for 5, Andy Hall who was unbeaten on 30 overnight helped the visitors add a further 116 to their total before he was the last man out after becoming the third centurion for his team as Worcestershire were eventually all out for 538.The South African who was dismissed LBW by Keith Parsons after batting for a further twenty nine overs this morning, scored 104 runs that came from 115 balls, and included six sixes and eleven fours.There were two more wickets for Ian Blackwell today to give the slow left armer final figures of 4 for 131 from his 45 overs.The Cidermen’s opening pair of Piran Holloway and Mast Wood saw their first wicket partnership put on 40 runs before Wood was out for 8. Two runs later Holloway who had contributed 30 runs followed him back to the pavilion.James Bryant and Jamie Cox then seemed to have played themselves in and saw the Somerset hundred up before they both were out, Bryant becoming the first of Gareth Batty’s victims after he had scored 28 and Cox who was LBW to Hall for 37.Skipper Mike Burns followed shortly afterwards at which point tea was taken with the score on 138 for 5 wickets.After the break Blackwell scored 28 before he fell LBW to Batty, Rob Turner 23, Keith Dutch 17 and Nixon McLean was still at the wicket unbeaten on 35 as Somerset slipped to a disappointing 238 all out.Following on, Holloway and Wood remained unbeaten at the close by which time they had taken the score onto 19 without loss.At the end of the day Somerset coach Kevin Shine said: "This was not a good day for us. We just haven’t played the sort of disciplined cricket today that has taken us to the top of the table which was very disappointing, because conditions haven’t changed out there. They put together a formidable total and we should have done a lot better than the 238 runs we scored."He continued: "However at the close of play we have sat down and been very honest with ourselves about how things have gone today. We are top of the table and they are right behind us. We want to fight very hard and try to hang onto the credits that we have got ourselves so far this season."Meanwhile back at the County Ground in Taunton, Somerset seconds are also struggling to save the game against their Surrey counterparts.Chasing a formidable 600 for 8 declared the Second’s were all out for 248, with Antiguan policeman Anwar Prince top scoring with 129.Following on Somerset had moved onto 201 for 3 by the close, with Wes Durston unbeaten on 76 and triallist Ben Moore from Liverpool 30 not out. Earlier Cornishman Carl Gazzard had made 60.

South Africa women saw a narrow victory over ECB Women’s Development XI followed by a comprehensive defeat by England U21 Development XI in their second limited overs warm-up match ahead of the first npower Women’s Test match against England at Shenley.South Africa won the toss and batted first against an ECB U21 Development XI at Marston Cricket Club in Oxford – the tourists reaching 167 for eight from their 50 overs, with captain Alison Hodgkinson top-scoring with 56.She was assisted by Shandre Fritz, who made 23 from 25 balls before being run out. Some economical bowling, in particular from Steph Davies (Somerset) who returned 3-32 and Sarah Clarke (Surrey) 2-30, restricted South Africa.In reply, Arran Thompson led the chase with an unbeaten 84 to secure a seven-wicket victory for the England U21 team, as they reached 168 for three from 45 overs. South Africa left arm spinner Charlize Van Der Westhuizen took 2-32.The match followed a 10-run victory for South Africa the previous day at Marston against ECB Women’s Development XI. After their defeat to the newly crowned Frizzell Women’s County Champions Sussex the previous week, South Africa won the toss and elected to bat.They reached 179 all out in the final over, with the young Surrey spinner Sarah Clarke taking three wickets for 25 runs from her 10 over spell. Clarke’s excellent bowling was assisted by some high class fielding from the ECB team, including three smart catches by fellow spinner Laura Harper.South Africa’s highest scorer was right-hander Josie Barnard, who scored 31. Barnard, from Western Province, made her debut for South Africa last year against India.In reply, England reached 169 for nine off the last ball of the innings with Yorkshire’s Kathryn Doherty finishing the match on 42 not out. The ECB team rallied from 105 for eight, with a fine ninth wicket stand of 64 between Doherty and Jenny Gunn (22). Arran Thompson, the Lancashire captain, made 24 opening the ECB batting.South Africa’s leg spinner, Leighshe Jacobs, took 3-18 from 10 overs.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

A batsman opening the innings for the first time in Tests and another making his debut gave fantastic exhibitions of technique, concentration, and temperament, as South Africa wrested control of the Kanpur Test. Andrew Hall converted his maiden Test century into his highest first-class score, making a monumental 163, while Zander de Bruyn made a composed 83. Together, they ran the Indian attack ragged, adding 144 for the sixth wicket as South Africa closed the second day on 459 for 7.The move to open with Hall was a masterstroke, but even the South African think-tank wouldn’t have expected the benefits to be so substantial. His technique and his reading of the pitch were excellent, but the outstanding aspect of his innings was his unflagging concentration and his relentless hunger to keep accumulating the runs. There were a few expansive strokes along the way, especially when the bowlers offered him width outside off, but for the most part he played within himself, knocking the ball around for singles, and was totally unruffled by long scoreless periods. His previous-highest Test score – 99 not out against England at Headingley in 2003 – had come off just 87 balls, but here he played a totally uncharacteristic innings, but one that perfectly suited the needs of his team.If Hall’s defensive ability was a revelation, then so was the skill and composure of de Bruyn. With nine seasons of domestic cricket behind him, de Bruyn, 29, batted as if he was just turning up for another game for the Easterns. He was completely unfazed by the famed Indian spin attack and by a pitch which showed signs of breaking up, soon demonstrating why he has a first-class average of 42 and a highest of 266 not out. His first two scoring shots were fours – a straight-drive off Sourav Ganguly and a sweep off Harbhajan Singh – and, once set, he brought out some more adventurous strokes too, tonking Harbhajan for three sixes. In between those few moments of aggression were long periods of solid defence.

India had spent long fruitless hours in the field yesterday as well, but were saved by a couple of double-strikes by Anil Kumble. Today, there was little respite. Their best passage of play was in the first hour, when Sourav Ganguly and Zaheer Khan bowled superbly with the second new ball. Only 15 came from the first 12 overs, and there was a success to celebrate too, when Ganguly had Boeta Dippenaar caught behind for 48 (241 for 5). But as the early morning freshness evaporated from the Green Park pitch, so did the enthusiasm of the Indians in the field.The pitch was expected to provide plenty of assistance to the spinners, but though there were bits of the surface coming off on occasions, the ball seldom did anything unexpected. There was little pace in the wicket, and once Hall and de Bruyn saw off the early overs, they were rarely troubled. Ganguly tried most tricks in his bag – the three specialist spinners bowled lengthy spells, Sachin Tendulkar bowled nine overs of legspin, sometimes generating plenty of turn, while Zaheer threatened occasionally with his ability to reverse-swing the old ball. Nothing, though, could unsettle Hall and de Bruyn.Hall carried on from where he had left off on the first day. He was unusually quick to get through the nineties, though, stroking a couple of cover-drives off Ganguly and then sweeping Kumble for a four to reach his century, which came off 325 balls. His reaction to the landmark told the story – he raised his bat towards the dressing-room, shook hands with de Bruyn, and then promptly continued with his job.As the partnership continued to grow, the frustration told on the Indians in the field. There were a couple of shocking misfields – one of them, by Zaheer at mid-off, brought up Hall’s 150 – and some ridiculous appealing – a couple of times, Kumble, bowling from round the wicket, asked for an lbw verdict when the ball had pitched at least a couple of feet outside leg. He did finally get the breakthrough – and his fifth wicket of the innings – bowling Hall round his legs just before tea (385 for 6).After tea, a demoralised Indian team settled for a defensive line, with Kartik bowling a over-the-wicket, outside-leg line. The South Africans didn’t attempt to force either, and only 61 came from 33 over after tea. de Bruyn fell 17 short of a deserving century when he edged a drive to slip, and Harbhajan’s exaggerated celebration was an indication of India’s frustration in the field. Thami Tsolekile, the other debutant in the side, got his first international runs too, and with Shaun Pollock still around and Robin Peterson to follow, South Africa weren’t quite done yet.