The tradition soaked North-South match plus all the latest from Argentina

Grant Dugmore, in his role as the Argentine Cricket Association's Development Officer, knows who's doing what and why in Argentine cricket. Here he provides the latest from the stronghold of South American cricket:

"In Argentine cricket there is nothing bigger than the tradition rich annual North-South encounter.

The 101st edition of the three-day match will be played at the Hurlingham Club from 17th to 19th March, 2000.

Both sides have announced their 12-man squads for the annual contest:
North - Guillermo Kirschbaum (captain), Donnie Forrester, Alex Ferguson, Paul Ferguson, Martin Cortabarria, Andy Perez Rivero, Gaston Arizaga (all Belgrano), Murray Davis (v-captain), Mark Roberts, Malcolm Van Steeden, Sunjog Chauhan and Gerben Zwaga (all Hurlingham).

South - Christian Tuñon (captain), Hernan Pereyra (v-captain), Matias Paterlini, Lucas Paterlini, Tomas Francis, Nicolas Prince (all St.Alban's), Bernardo Irigoyen, Diego Lord, Martin Siri, Paul Ryan, Charles Gibson and Billy MacDermott (all Lomas).
Umpires: David Gibson and Dougie Ker.

It should be noted that selectors had only two stipulations to consider, that no professionals were permitted to play this year (a development move to promote local players), and only players in at least their second season in Argentine cricket were eligible.

Of the 24 named players, only three are non-Argentine-born, and only one has still to qualify to represent Argentina as per ICC Trophy regulations. The onus here remains on the development of indigenous cricketers rather than expatriates.

League cricket is slowly but surely drawing to a close in Buenos Aires. With one round to go, St.Alban's have already clinched the First Division title and are champions of Argentina for the second year in succession.

First Division Standings (one round to be completed 12/3/2000) (under headings played-won-lost-noresult/tie-batting bonus-bowling bonus-win difference bonus-win bonus-points)

The First Division is played with an innovative points system installed two years ago already aimed at providing one-day cricket that maintains a sense of interest and urgency right to the end. Teams can accrue batting points (max 5, for 150, 175, 200, 225 and 250) and bowling points (2,4,6,8,10).

They can also gain "win bonus" points dependant on the margin of victory, by runs (maximum 10 points, for every 10 runs, ie. team A wins by 62 runs, they get 6 extra points), or by wickets (for every wicket in hand, ie. team A wins by 4 wickets, they get 4 extra points).

The team batting second can accumulate their full quota of batting points even if the team batting first doesn't reach 250 or more. This is also done on a wickets-in-hand formula. For example, should team A be all out for 160, team B can gain an extra batting point for every two wickets they have in hand at the point of victory, maximum remaining five, so team B scores 161-3 to win, they get one batting point for 150, plus three for having seven wickets in hand, divisible by 2.

It sounds complicated but it isn't. Teams get 10 points for winning and 0 for losing. It keeps interest in games even if, as can happen, the result is a foregone conclusion long before the end, ie. team A 399 team B in reply are 145-9 after 48 overs, there's still points to fight for over the last two overs. We also operate a wide rule that is worth two runs, to try and emphasise the importance of straight bowling."