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After police had charged at disgruntled crowds buying tickets during the one-dayers, it was a change to see only a few dozen at the ticket counters before the second Test at Lahore. According to a report in Dawn, people were saddened by their team’s performance, and weren’t turning up. But one comment, from a presently disillusioned amateur local cricketer, summed up the feeling: “I have been disappointed from the performance of the team and I will again show any interest for the series if my team stages a comeback.”There’s a fifty-fifty chance of that happening, Wasim Akram writes in his column for The Times of India. But first, the pitch should have bounce and carry. Once that’s done, all Pakistan have to do is make sure their bowlers use it well. It’s the bowlers’ ability to move the ball both ways that can make the difference.By dropping Saqlain Mushtaq, Pakistan have signalled their intent to field four fast bowlers, like the West Indian team of the ’80s, Ravi Shastri writes in the same paper. “But to succeed,” he continues, “the Pakistan bowlers will have to show control and class like the West Indian greats.” He pondered whether the request for a green pitch at Lahore didn’t come too late, as the Indians had opened a large gap between the teams in the first Test – on a strip the Pakistani bowling attack didn’t look too happy about.”If the wicket is slow, how can you hit sixes in the third man region?” Javed Miandad comforted Andy Atkinson. According to Atkinson, even Sachin Tendulkar had given him a `thumbs up’ for the pitch. Atkinson fumed to The Times of India that even now no one had spoken with him about the kind of pitch they wanted. “And if they lose, then they will come and put the blame on me.” He added that Irfan Pathan and Mohammad Sami would move the ball around because they pitched it up, and that the strip would do a bit after the second day.”It will be faster than the wickets that you have seen on this tour so far. It will afford movement to the bowlers,” Shahryar Khan, the chairman of the PCB, said. Though this one would help the bowlers, the last pitch wasn’t bad. Pakistan lost not because of the wicket, but because they dropped catches.”The lack of urgency is pretty evident,” Shahryar said, helpfully adding, “Even a non-cricketing person like my wife can see that.”So could Rashid Latif, who attributed the players’ listless body language during the one-day series to matchfixing. Rameez Raja was fuming, according to . “Rashid only brings up the matchfixing issue when he is not in the team.” And then, he turned on Sarfraz Nawaz for his allegations. “Sarfraz must be the most irresponsible cricketer living today. He has been an embarrassment to the cricket establishment for many years.”Meanwhile, Pakistan’s foreign office had a more novel accusation to deny. The News reported that the Islamic Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal alleged that the Test defeat was a gesture of goodwill from Pervez Musharraf, the president, to help Atal Bihari Vajpayee, India’s prime minister, win the elections. A spokesperson for the foreign office refuted the claim. “Winning or losing is not part of confidence-building measures.”Javed Miandad had a unique confidence-building measure for his own team. The Nation quoted Miandad as saying, “Some one should hit a six like I did in 1986 to make this contest more even.”

Mike Powell and Alun Evans both scored centuries as Glamorgan’s batsmen dominated on the first day of their friendly against Cardiff Universities Cricket Centre of Excellence at Sophia Gardens.Powell, captaining a depleted county side, played himself back into form with a century off 140 balls with one six and 15 fours after Glamorgan were put into bat.Following CricInfo Championship scores of 0, 0, 1, 1, 7 and 16 in his last three games Powell was in desperate need of some runs.And against a rather tame student attack he didn’t disappoint as he and Evans added 218 in 46 overs. Powell started slowly but his second half-century arrived off just 59 deliveries.Between lunch and tea Glamorgan went to 115-2 to 311-4, but just before the interval Evans and Powell perished in consecutive overs.Glamorgan picked just three of the side who played in the first team that drew with Kent at Maidstone last week – skipper Powell, Mark Wallace and Simon Jones.Wallace was just one of three other batsmen to make notable contributions before Powell declared the Glamorgan innings on 373-7. Opener Ian Thomas made 38, Dan Cherry an unbeaten 34 and Mark Wallace supplied an impressive 19.The students were held up twice in their first innings by injuries. First wicketkeeper Adrian Shaw hurt a finger taking a leg side delivery from Simon Jones, who in turn hurt his foot forcing Alun Evans to bowl the last three deliveries.The Students finished the first day on 27-0, 346 behind Glamorgan, with the openers Alex French and James Cook having to survive some good new ball bowling from Owen Parkin and trialist Syed Bukhari.

The Telegraph’s Luke Edwards has delivered the latest update on Newcastle United’s plans for the upcoming summer transfer window.

What’s the story?

The journalist has claimed that contrary to what many people may have hoped or even expected of Eddie Howe’s side, the Magpies have “ruled out making expensive superstar signings this summer with (the) transfer budget likely to be less than the £90m spent in January”.

Then, amid some response from fans about the article, Edwards added on Twitter: “Reactions are mixed but I can tell most of the negative ones haven’t read the article. This is a sensible and pragmatic approach from #nufc who have been dismayed by ludicrous transfer stories since takeover. This is an accurate appraisal of things based on multiple sources.”

Newcastle fans will be gutted

After a run of form that has seen Newcastle well and truly climb out of a relegation dogfight, attentions will swiftly be turning towards the excitement of the summer transfer window and the kind of eye-catching business the Magpies will do.

The Tyneside club brought in the in-demand Bruno Guimaraes from Lyon for a big-money fee in January, and that deal certainly whet the appetite of many a supporter on Tyneside.

Indeed, speaking earlier this month, Frank McAvennie said: “The season’s over, they aren’t going to get relegated. I’m interested to see what they do in the summer. Some big, big players are going to come in. There isn’t much of a squad there, as we saw against Everton, so they need to strengthen their options.

“But they aren’t just going to sign average players to beef out the squad, they will be top, top players. I think Newcastle can fly up the table towards Europe next season because that squad will be so different.”

But, if Newcastle fans were hoping that this summer could see a massive spending spree to rival the real big guns across Europe, then it appears they are sadly mistaken.

Edwards’ update that the club may even spend less than what they did in January is extremely disappointing news not only for the club’s fan-base, but also for Howe, who no doubt would have been hoping and even dreaming of splashing the cash yet again.

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The Magpies boss not be happy at all with the club’s current plans.

AND in other news: Sold at £2.2m, now worth £90m: Ashley had a big NUFC disaster on “unstoppable” wizard

Scorecard

	Wasim Jaffer propped up West’s chances of progressing with an unbeaten 82 © AFP

Wasim Jaffer and Ajinkya Rahane led West Zone’s strong reply to England Lions’ 355 on the second day at the Moti Bagh Stadium in Vadodara. West, needing an outright win to advance, ended the day on 187 for 1 with Jaffer and Rahane still unbeaten.Earlier, the Lions’ overnight batsmen, captain Michael Yardy (169) and nightwatchman Graham Onions (31) guided their side to a solid 322 for 4 before a dramatic collapse allowed West back into the game. The Saurashtra pair of Sandeep Jobanputra and Rakesh Dhurv shared five of the last six wickets to spark West’s fightback.Jobanputra accounted for the overnight pair; bowling Yardy and then removing Onions in his next over before wicketkeeper James Foster fell to Dhurv for a duck. Liam Plunkett swung his bat around for a 22-ball 19, scoring all the runs in a partnership with Adil Rashid, who ground out 9 off 55 deliveries.After the Lions innings folded, West’s reply got off to a poor start with Sahil Kukreja offering Foster a catch in the first over. There were no more successes for the Lions as the Mumbai pair of Jaffer and Rahane forged a 187-run partnership to keep West’s hopes of progressing still alive.Jaffer, who has been a regular Test opener for the Indian side over the past two years, ended the day on a patient 87, including thirteen boundaries while Rahane was a touch more aggressive, stroking 18 fours in his 93.With a strong batting line-up – including Parthiv Patel, Cheteshwar Pujara, the highest run-getter in the Ranji Trophy this season, and Yusuf Pathan, who slammed a whirlwind century in his previous game – to follow, West will fancy their chances of racking up a big first-innings score to pile the pressure on the Lions.

Luke Butterworth, the Man of the Match in Tasmania’s Pura Cup win, drew high praise from Ricky Ponting © Getty Images

Ricky Ponting might have been 20,000 kilometres away in St Kitts, but he kept up to date with Tasmania’s maiden Pura Cup win at Hobart. And it could have been a suggestion from Ponting back in November that helped them to their 421-run victory – he advised Tim Coyle, Tasmania’s coach, to give Luke Butterworth more opportunities.Ponting played a one-day game with Butterworth for Tasmania against Victoria at Melbourne and was impressed with what he saw. Butterworth was Man of the Match in the Pura Cup final, scoring 66 and 106 and taking 4 for 33.”I said to the coach then [in November] that I thought he should play him for the rest of the Pura Cup season,” Ponting told . “I watched the way he bowled and he looked pretty capable with the bat and I thought he could slot into our side really nicely, especially on a wicket at Bellerive that might have assisted the seamers.”He has got a hundred in the final and he got 60 in the first innings as well. More importantly he has taken a lot of wickets in the last five games. He’s only a young bloke as well. He’s got a very bright future.”Ponting said the 15-hour time difference did not keep him from getting regular updates on Tasmania’s progress. “I’ve had a chat to the boys and I’ve been speaking to Michael Di Venuto who is a good mate of mine,” he said. “I haven’t had my phone off for the last two nights, especially last night when we were racking up all those runs.”Ponting, who is technically the Tasmania captain although he rarely plays for them, said Coyle had done well to get the most out of his young squad. “Full credit to the coach and what he has done down there,” he said. “He has stuck by a lot of the young blokes and given them opportunities. They have been the best team all year.”

The office of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 has expressed disappointment with the situation which has seen cement shortages across the Caribbean affecting preparation for the tournament. Don Lockerbie, the venue development director for the tournament, said the Caribbean was “let down” by the cement industry and called for something to be done immediately to `rebuild the situation’.”The Cricket World Cup office is very seriously monitoring the situation and we have made demands to the Local Organising Committees as to the nature and seriousness,” Lockerbie said. “We are aware of the shortages – there were shortages in nearly every territory. I am personally quite surprised that the industry could let down the region, when in the region of (US) $300 million has been invested in this project. The stadium development for the tournament deals with cement and blocks should have been a major one on everyone’s agenda.”Lockerbie said that the Cricket World Cup has called for reports from all the nine countries – with 13 stadiums, which will be hosting matches. He said Jamaica and Guyana have been the worst hit, but other countries also faced difficulties.The other countries hosting matches are Barbados, St Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, St Kitts, Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, and St Vincent and the Grenadines.Lockerbie said the situation was especially worrying as the senior assessors from the ICC will be touring the venues at the end of April to determine readiness.”Here we are, one month before the ICC’s tour, and the time where I wanted to see the greatest progress, is now hampered by an industry we needed the greatest help from. It’s a major let down,” Lockerbie said.”At this point it’s not unsolvable, we are far enough along and we hope the tournament is important enough that the Cricket World Cup project and the stadium development will be given priority, but this is an annoyance.”

Kanpur has been a lucky venue for Sachin Tendulkar. Will he fire again tomorrow?© Getty Images

The Green Park in Kanpur has been a lucky venue for India – they have won six out of eight games, and every one of their last four matches. The last time they lost a one-day international here was more than ten years back, in October 1994, when West Indies beat them by 46 runs. Since then, the Indians have beaten Zimbabwe (twice), England and West Indies. Pakistan haven’t played an ODI here. (Click here for all the results from ODIs at Kanpur.)

Going by past record, the Indian captain might be tempted to field first if he wins the toss. Five of India’s six wins here have come when chasing a target, and they’ve all been very convincing wins too – the closest margin was by six wickets with 11 balls to spare against England in the Nehru Cup in 1989-90. That was the match in which Krishnamachari Srikkanth, the Indian captain, made what turned out to be an inspired change to the batting line-up – chasing 256, India were 65 for 2 when out walked Chetan Sharma at No. 4. He blasted 101 from just 96 balls, and India were home in a canter.

Winning the toss isn’t such a blessing here – in nine games, the team losing the toss has won on seven occasions, including the last five ODIs.

And this should cheer up the bowlers from both camps – the highest score by the team batting first is 257, made by West Indies in 1994, and only twice has 250 been topped. In fact, that match against West Indies almost 11 years back is still remembered for the infamous go-slow tactics by Manoj Prabhakar and Nayan Mongia. Both dawdled at the crease instead of going for the runs – Prabhakar’s unbeaten 102 spanned 154 balls, while Mongia was not out on 4 from 21 – as India finished up on 211 for 5. In the last four ODIs here, the team batting first has scored 218 (in 39 overs), 165, 222 and 247.

Both seamers and spinners have done reasonably well here. Since 1996, the fast bowlers have 30 wickets at 32.43, with an economy rate of 4.89, while spinners have accounted for 16 wickets at 38.44 (economy rate 4.57). The Indian spinners have done much better, though, averaging only 28.69 and conceding only 4.12 per over.

Kanpur has been one of the more prolific venues for Sachin Tendulkar, who has scored 312 from six games at 78, including one century and two half-centuries.S Rajesh is assistant editor of Cricinfo.

Australia 359 for 5 (Hayden 126, Martyn 67, Symonds 66) beat India 151 by 208 runsScorecard

Matthew Hayden soaks up the applause at the SCG ©Getty Images

In a performance which was, if anything, even more ruthless than the one they put up in the 2003 World Cup final, Australia crushed India by 208 runs, clinching the VB Series in style and proving, quite emphatically, that they remained by far the best one-day side in the world. In the process, they inflicted on India their second-worst ODI defeat (after the 245-run loss against Sri Lanka in Sharjah in 2000-01), and ensured that a series which had so many memorable moments for India ended in dismal fashion.The match ran almost exactly to the script that was written at Johannesburg almost a year ago. For Ricky Ponting, who smashed an unbeaten 140 in that match, read Matthew Hayden, who struck a beautifully paced 126 here. Damien Martyn played the ideal foil for the second time with a fluent 67.Andrew Symonds and Michael Clarke then gave a brutal exhibition of power-hitting in the slog overs, as 110 came off the last eight overs, lifting the total to 359, exactly as many as in the World Cup. The best India could have hoped for from there was to salvage a semblance of pride, but even that turned out to be too much to hope for as the top five were back in the hutch within the first 15 overs.The Indians were on the back foot right from the start, after Ponting won the toss and opted to bat on a shirtfront. Already handicapped by the absence of Anil Kumble and Ajit Agarkar, the Indian attack had little in their bowling armoury to challenge the might of the Australians, and showed all the fatigue of having spent three gruelling months on tour. By the time the slog overs approached, Sourav Ganguly, like in the World Cup final, could only watch helplessly and wait for the 50 overs to be bowled out.Adam Gilchrist and Hayden began in typically frenetic fashion, bringing up the fifty in the eighth over, as both Irfan Pathan and Lakshmipathy Balaji, in an attempt to cramp the batsmen for room, drifted on leg stump and were duly punished. India briefly mounted a comeback, getting rid of Gilchrist and Ponting in quick succession, but then came the 173-run second wicket stand which laid the perfect platform for the final assault.Hayden’s was a typically characteristic innings, punctuated by plenty of clunky blows at the start off the seamers – his fifty took just 37 balls – and then some meaty slog-sweeps and down-the-pitch hoicks off the spinners. Equally importantly, he nursed a circumspect Martyn back into form during the crucial middle overs, keeping the runs coming at a fair clip and allowing Martyn to find his groove by milking the attack for singles.

Sourav Ganguly had nowhere to hide ©Getty Images

Realising that the pitch didn’t have much pace or bounce, Ganguly pressed the slower bowlers into service, and while that briefly reduced the run-glut briefly, regular service resumed as Hayden tonked a couple of sixes off Virender Sehwag and Murali Kartik, whose nightmare tour continued to get worse. Martyn gained in fluency too, reaching his fifty off 58 balls, and then unveiling some sumptuous square-drive and flicks.The third wicket partnership finally ended when Martyn holed out to Hemang Badani at midwicket off Pathan (230 for 3), and though Hayden went soon after, missing a too-ambitious reverse-sweep off Sachin Tendulkar (248 for 4), that proved to be a blessing for Australia, for it brought on stage Symonds and Clarke.Pulling and flicking the ball with awesome power, the pair put together a tremendous exhibition of power hitting. It wasn’t as if Ganguly didn’t try out different bowlers: Pathan, Tendulkar, Kartik, Nehra and Balaji all tried their luck, and they all disappeared for more than ten per over, as the pair added 99 in a mere 7.5 overs as the Indians became increasingly ragged in the field. Nehra finally landed a yorker on target to dismiss Symonds, but by then the demolition job had already been done to perfection.Thoroughly demoralised by the utter carnage in the afternoon, the Indians came out to bat knowing that the only question that remained was the margin of defeat. There were the odd sparks of defiance – Sehwag clipped the first ball of the innings, from Jason Gillespie, over fine leg for six, while Tendulkar played a couple of delightful flicks and punches off the back foot, but both were done the Gillespie-Lee combine – Lee, fielding at short fine leg, picked up a stunner when Sehwag attempted to hoick one to leg, and then picked up a more straightforward catch to get rid of Tendulkar.From there it went rapidly downhill for India, as 49 for 2 became 59 for 6 in the space of eight overs. VVS Laxman spooned a catch back to Lee, a dismissal which needed the third umpire to confirm it wasn’t a bump ball, Rahul Dravid was run out by Martyn’s direct hit for 0, ending a record 120-match run without a duck, Ganguly slapped a drive straight to point, and Yuvraj Singh nicked one to the keeper. The rest of the batsmen helped themselves to a few meaningless runs, but the contest was over well before Brad Williams got through Balaji’s defences to put an end to the Indian misery.

Sri Lanka’s selectors have recalled veteran left-hander Hashan Tillakaratne to their 15-man squad for the ICC World Cup next February.Tillakaratne, now 35, one will be Sri Lanka’s reserve wicket-keeper, replacing the popular gloveman Romesh Kaluwithrana.Kaluwitharana, 33, was not included in Sri Lanka’s provisional 30-man World Cup but had been rushed back for the Australia after his prolific run scoring in domestic cricket.But the naturally aggressive right-hander failed to convince the three-man selection panel, scoring six and 35 in matches against England and Australia.With Sri Lanka desperate for greater solidity in middle order after losing seven of their last eight games, the selectors have plumped instead for Tillakaratne who has only played two one-day games since the 1999 World Cup in England.But the left-hander has scored prolifically since returning to the Test side in 2001 and became the first Sri Lankan to score a Test century on South African soil during the recent tour.Hard-hitting opener Avishka Gunawardene also makes the cut despite not playing an international game since July.Seam bowler Buddika Fernando, who last played in the Morocco Cup, is the final addition to the squad, taking the place of pace bowler Nuwan Zoysa, who failed to play a game in the ongoing tri-series after a lackluster performance against Australia A.Zoysa, Kaluwitharana, left-arm seamer Sujeewa de Silva and off-spinner Thilan Samaraweera, who acted as cover for the injured Muttiah Muralitharan in the first part of the Australia tour, will now leave Australia.Tillakaratne and Gunwardene will join the squad in Australia for the second leg of the VB Series that re-starts on January 8 after the final Ashes Test.Aravinda de Silva, who missed Sri Lanka’s first three games because of personal reasons, will also be joining the squad, which will be bidding to regain form and confidence before the 14-nation tournament in South Africa.Sri Lanka’s squad includes nine frontline batsmen (two of whom also keep wicket), one specialist spinner and five fast bowlers.The absence of an all-rounder is final recognition of the dearth of genuine all-rounders in Sri Lankan cricket at the present. That means that Sri Lanka will be forced to play seven batsmen and four specialist bowlers in their final eleven.Part-time bowlers Sanath Jayasuriya, Russel Arnold and De Silva will fill provide support, contributing a minimum of ten overs between them.The squad is yet to be ratified by the sports ministry but the players are expected to depart shortly for Australia as Sri Lanka play a practice match at Melbourne on New Years Day.Sri Lanka’s players are still to sign mandatory commercial contracts for the World Cup after the Sri Lankan cricket board refused a demand for an 18 per cent revenue share for forgoing the right to personal endorsements with products that conflict with the official World Cup sponsors.Full squad:Sanath Jayasuriya (Capt), Marvan Atapattu, Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara, Aravinda de Silva, Russel Arnold, Jehan Mubarak, Avishka Gunawardene, Hashan Tillakaratne, Muttiah Muralitharan, Chaminda Vaas, Dilhara Fernando, Pulasthi Gunaratne, Prabath Nissanka, Charitha Buddika Fernando