Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

The fall of Chris Gayle, for an energetic 83 was the only real blip in a positive day’s cricket for the West Indies where they bettered India without ever seeming to strive hard to do so. Brian Lara won the toss and chose to bat, and after being denied the first session because of overnight rain, West Indies reached a comforting 207 for 1.India began well enough, with their fast bowlers – Sreesanth, fit again and making a reappearance to the Test eleven, and the ever improving Munaf Patel – putting the ball in the right areas often enough to give it a chance to swing or seam on a pitch that afforded much-needed bounce.What would have been especially pleasing to Bennett King, the West Indies coach, was Gayle’s decision to put caution before all else. Gayle left the ball alone with the assurance of a traditional Test opener, and West Indies had managed just 11 runs from seven probing overs. The ball had moved late, after pitching on a length not quite full enough to drive, especially for Patel, and to the credit of West Indies’ openers they did not chase the ball.Suddenly, just as the dark clouds gathered over the bay, Gayle straddled the crease and, with typically unapologetic power, rammed a Sreesanth delivery into the stands over long-on. The shot took Gayle to 4000 Test runs and also confirmed the belief that he could clear the ropes in this ground without being completely to the pitch of the ball.A short stoppage in play for a passing shower only helped West Indies’ cause. Rahul Dravid brought his spinners on, and though Anil Kumble was bang on target, and tough to get away for runs, Harbhajan Singh was very much to the liking of the long-limbed Gayle. With nimble footwork not being essential to success – other than on the dancefloors in Bassaterre – Gayle was able to take the attack to Harbhajan like an axe-murderer to a platinum blonde in a bad horror film.Five sixes and five fours later, Gayle had yet another half-century, and the ballboys at long-on and long-off, tired arms. Ganga, for his part, had stuck to his task, surviving the new ball despite some scares where the ball deviated enough to beat the bat and strike the pad or body and bounced away.Suddenly, though, the Indians were in a bit of disarray as the bowlers could not go past the bat in a threatening manner and the opening partnership bounded past the century mark. It was only on 143, of which Gayle made 83, that he shouldered arms to a Patel delivery from round the stumps that took off stump and gave India some respite.But if they harboured any hopes of one wicket leading to another, they were misplaced. Ramnaresh Sarwan, seemingly hell-bent on taking the attack to the opposition, batted positively, always on the front foot trying to force the ball away. India’s cause was not helped by Brian Jerling, the South African umpire standing in his first Test, refusing to entertain even the most earnest appeal from Kumble. Perhaps Jerling, like Ganga, was looking for the elaborate turn that simply was not there, but he denied more than one close shout that might otherwise have been given, and drove Kumble to distraction.At the end of the day, though, Ganga, who has come under some fire for his recent performances, was still at the crease, reposing the faith his captain had placed in him. Ganga was unbeaten on 64 from as many as 187 balls, Sarwan had 44 to his name and West Indies would be utterly pleased with their efforts. With rain perpetually around the corner and the pitch playing so true, it already seems asking too much to expect a result from this game unless West Indies put 600 on the board by the end of the second day, and India collapse. It could happen, but a sensible man would not bet on it.

Chris Gayle b Patel 83 (143 for 1)

Shoaib Akhtar, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan and Mohammad Asif have been included in Pakistan’s 30-man provisional squad for the Champions Trophy in India in October. All three fast bowlers are currently recovering from injuries and haven’t played any part in Pakistan’s ongoing tour of England.”The 30 probables have been submitted by the selection committee in consultation with the national selection committee”, Saleem Altaf, the Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) director of cricket, told PTI. “The squad would be trimmed to 15 by the end of this month. The deadline for submission of the squad is September 7 and hopefully we would be able to comply with the (ICC) advice well in advance.”The squad also includes Mohammad Hafeez, the opening batsman, who had an impressive A tour of Australia for the Top End Series, as well as Asim Kamal, Bazid Khan and Yasir Hameed. The uncapped players in the squad are Shahid Yousuf, Tahir Khan, Abdul Rehman, Mansoor Amjad, Akhtar Ayub and Samiullah Khan Niazi. Shoaib Malik, the allrounder, who pulled out of the tour of England due to an elbow injury, has also been included.Pakistan probables Inzamam-ul-Haq (capt), Salman Butt, Imran Farhat, Taufeeq Umar, Mohammad Yousuf, Younis Khan, Faisal Iqbal, Asim Kamal, Bazid Khan, Kamran Akmal, Zulqarnain, Danish Kaneria, Shahid Afridi, Abdul Razzaq, Yasir Hameed, Shoaib Malik, Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Sami, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, Mohammad Asif, Umar Gul, Rao Iftikhar Anjum, Mohammad Hafeez, Shahid Yousuf, Tahir Khan, Abdul Rehman, Mansoor Amjad, Mohammad Irshad, Akhtar Ayub, Samiullah Niazi.

Jacques Kallis has promised his side will show no mercy to Zimbabwe in their forthcoming three-match ODI series, due to begin at Goodyear Park in Bloemfontein on Friday.Kallis, standing in for Graeme Smith as captain, said his side will play as hard against Zimbabwe as they would against Australia as South Africa begin a season that will culminate with the World Cup in the West Indies next April.Kallis was quoted on a South African website as saying that the series would be ideal for a group of players, including himself, who have been out of action for a while. “This series is especially valuable for the players who have not been in action for a while. This is a good way for them to get back into things.”Kallis, who returns to international cricket after missing the tour to Sri Lanka with an elbow injury, confirmed that everything the Proteas do from now on would be with the World Cup tournament firmly in mind. Kallis has also had a bout of flu and was one of three players who did not participate in the team’s fitness tests at the University of the Free State on Wednesday.Kallis said he had just about shaken off a cold and that the elbow injury that had kept him out of the game was not troubling him much any more. “I have hit a few balls that were thrown to me. The high-intensity net practices during the next few days will be the real test. I believe I’ll be ready.”Mickey Arthur, South Africa coach, said the series would be useful for the Champions Trophy. “I expect Zimbabwe to be very competitive, but we are going to focus on our own performance. One could use these fixtures as practice matches, but we would rather ensure that our combinations and match-plans are in place for India.”South Africa will also play the Lions and the Titans after the three outings against Zimbabwe and then three matches in Indian before their first match of the tournament on October 15, against New Zealand. “We are going to play these two matches according to international one-day rules. They are part of the training camp in Pretoria before we leave for India.”One can practise in the nets as much as you want to, but it’s not the same as out in the middle. I want the lads to train with consequences. If you play the ball down someone’s throat in the nets, you continue batting. If you do so in a match situation, you have to go and take a shower. I want the players to train under pressure.”Shaun Pollock, with a sore calf, and AB de Villiers missed the fitness tests. Pollock was injured in a Twenty20 match while De Villiers has a minor foot injury. Smith, meanwhile is still recovering from ankle surgery and trained away from the rest of the team, watched by the team’s physiotherapist, Shane Jabaar.

Johan Botha, the South Africa offspinner, could return to international cricket soon, after his revised bowling action was examined by the ICC a fortnight ago. Russel Domingo, Botha’s coach of the domestic side Warriors, has expressed confidence that Botha’s amended action would be cleared by the ICC.”Some amendments were made and his new action has passed all the tests we have done so far,” Domingo was quoted as saying by News24. “Johan worked really hard during the winter and one can see he is hungry to start bowling. We are confident that he will be able to play a major role for us again.”Botha was called for throwing in his Test debut against Australia at Sydney in January this year, and was subsequently banned by the ICC after scientific tests in Perth proved that his action required remedial measures. Botha was assisted by Vincent Barnes, the assistant coach of the South African national team, Tim Noakes, the head of the Institute for Sports Science in Cape Town, and Shafiek Abrahams, the former South African spinner. The results of the test should be announced soon.

Barry Richards launched a scathing attack on the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), saying they had transformed the game by their sheer money power. He reckoned that recent changes in rules were also a result of commercialisation and BCCI had to be blamed much for it.Asked if ICC should do something to sort out the problems, Richards said “no, not ICC but BCCI because I feel it is BCCI who is running the show in world cricket. It is [BCCI] from where all the money comes from. Cricket is now played for money. Only few at the top posts in ICC or BCCI have been involved with high level of cricket. Perhaps they have certain other things like power and recognition in their minds rather than cricket. They have to compromise on many issues because of several factors.”About the advent of new technology and umpires being questioned about their decisions, Richards said it was all due to commercialism. “The money and commercialism is behind all this. The erosion in the authority and respect of umpires too is because of the high stakes involved. The demands for removing particular umpires from series or tournaments are not justified. In my opinion umpires are supreme. But it is ICC who selects them.”Richards also expressed his unhappiness over selection policies in South Africa. “The young players are disheartened when they come to know that there will be other factors at the time of selection. They start thinking of quitting cricket or move elsewhere. Kevin Pietersen is the biggest example of this apart from many others.”Richards said the time was not far when bowlers would become an extinct species because of money-driven policies of the cricket administrators. “Batting and fielding is on the rise but I am worried for the bowlers. The game has become too much batsmen-oriented. The fast outfields, field restrictions and flat tracks are all in favour of batsmen. See even in India millions would like to emulate Sachin [Tendulkar] but no one would like to become like [Javagal] Srinath.”One-day cricket and flat tracks are killing the art of bowling. I wonder whether in future there will be any bowlers at all,” said Richards, who is in India as a TV commentator for the Champions Trophy. “Something must be done to help the bowling otherwise who is going to bowl at all. Most of the legendry bowlers of present times like Glenn McGrath, Shaun Pollock or Shoaib Akhtar are in their 30s.”Where is the new crop of bowlers. Likewise India too does not have bowlers like [Erapalli] Prasanna, [Bishen Singh] Bedi and Chandrasekhar. The flat tracks are killing the art of spin.”He rated Australia and Sri Lanka as the strongest contenders in the Champions Trophy and felt the absence of a good bowling attack would cost India.”Australians are far superior. Among the rest, Sri Lankans have the best chance. If Dilhara Fernando bowls well they will excel. As far as the Indians are concerned, they don’t have the kind of bowling attack which can trouble opponents. Only Harbhajan Singh is effective. I feel [Anil] Kumble should have been there in the Indian team. Irfan Pathan too is good but he is not in rhythm.”

At 9.30pm tonight, England’s cricketers depart from Heathrow Airport to embark on the biggest challenge of their sporting lives – the Ashes series in Australia. Already, their ignominious exit from the Champions Trophy has been consigned to the dustbin of history, as Andrew Flintoff and his squad prepare to focus on the five Test matches that could make or break their reputations.”It’s going to be incredible,” Flintoff told The Sun on the eve of his side’s departure. “Our win last summer was the first time I’d experienced The Ashes and it was an amazing, emotional roller-coaster. But this series it is likely to be even bigger and tougher because we’re in Australia. It’s a fantastic prospect for everyone on the trip.”Flintoff was England’s leviathan in last summer’s epic triumph, scoring 402 runs and taking 24 wickets to secure the narrowest of 2-1 victories. He is now the captain of the side as well, taking over where Michael Vaughan left off, and is relishing the challenge of leading the team out at Brisbane on the morning of November 23, a date that has been etched on his brain for months.”I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t thought about what it will be like leading out England in those matches. There’ll be all the attention, all the spotlight, all the rivalry and all the history. Of course I’ve thought about it — and it gives me a tingle. I’m chomping at the bit to get started.”It has been a race against time to get Flintoff fit for this tour, after his 2006 season was disrupted by a long-standing ankle problem that required further surgery. But he had a decent work-out during England’s Champions Trophy campaign, spending some time out in the middle in the final match against West Indies and bowling five decent, if rusty, overs to boot.Even so, he will remember only too well his traumatic experience on the last Ashes tour in 2002-03, when he arrived unfit after undergoing a hernia operation, and was forced to fly home without playing a single Test. “It was a pretty miserable time for me,” he conceded. “But I’m fortunate to have another chance and I’m going to relish that rather than thinking what might have been.”I’m not one for making big statements or predictions but we’re going down there in a confident frame of mind. We’ll have to play well to succeed, probably even better than we did in 2005. But we have lads who can perform at the highest level. I believe we have a good chance.”England arrive in Sydney, via Hong Kong, on Sunday afternoon, where they will enter into a maelstrom of publicity as the Australian public gear themselves up for a massive contest. “I don’t know if the series can be as good as the one last year,” said Flintoff, “but one thing I know is, it will be very tough and competitive.”England open their tour with a one-day game against an Australian Prime Minister’s XI at Canberra on 10 November, followed by three-day games against New South Wales and South Australia.

Shahriar Nafees, the opening batsman, will lead Bangladesh in it’s first ever Twenty20 International, against Zimbabwe at Khulna. The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) today announced the squads for the first three one-dayers, the Twenty20 international, and the warm-up one-dayer against the touring Zimbabweans.Habibul Bashar will lead the BCB President’s XI in the warm-up one-dayer at Savar on November 26 and for the first three one-dayers. However, he was omitted from the squad for the Twenty20 international as was Khaled Mashud, the wicketkeeper. Mohammad Ashraful, the dashing middle-order batsman, and opener Rajin Saleh have been left out of all three squads owing to their poor form.The one-day series begins at Khulna on November 30, with the second and third matches scheduled for Bogra.One-day squad Habibul Bashar (capt), Shahriar Nafees, Khaled Mashud, Aftab Ahmed, Mohammad Rafique, Tushar Imran, Mashrafe Mortaza, Shahadat Hossain, Abdur Razzak, Syed Rasel, Saqibul Hasan, Farhad Reza, Mehrab Hossain JrTwenty20 international Shahriar Nafees (capt), Aftab Ahmed, Saqibul Hasan, Nazmus Sadat, Mohammad Rafique, Mohammad Rafique, Nadif Chowdhury, Mashrafe Mortaza, Shahadat Hossain, Abdur Razzak, Mushfiqur Rahim, Tapash Baishya, Mehrab Hossain JrBCB President’s XI Habibul Bashar (capt), Mehrab Hossain Jr, Nadif Chowdhury, Nazmus Sadat, Mahmudullah Riyad, Farhad Reza, Nazmul Hossain, Tapash Baishya, Tapash Baishya, Marshall Ayub, Musharaf Hossain Rubel, Ziaur Rahman

Shaun Pollock, the local hero who picked up his 400th Test victim in thefirst Test at the Wanderers, admitted that South Africa would need to lifttheir game by at least “20 to 30 percent” if they were to revive theirfortunes in the three-Test series against India. Pollock accepted that heand his team-mates had been well below their best in the 123-run loss, butwas confident that they had the quality to turn things around.”We have done very well in South Africa over the years,” he said, alludingto a record of only 14 defeats in 71 home Tests since readmission to theinternational game. “But we lost here in Durban against the Pakistanis[1997-98] and managed to turn it around. It’s always there in the back ofour minds that we don’t want to lose the series. In order to win it, we’vegot to win the next two. So it’s a huge Test match for us. We need tolevel the series here, go on to Cape Town and hopefully win there.”Pollock said that the mood in the dressing room remained upbeat, and thatthe team would make the most of one further practice session on Mondaymorning before the Test starts on Boxing Day. Pollock will spend Christmasat home with his family, but was clear that the Indians shouldn’t expectany belated presents once they cross the boundary line at Kingsmead.”We’re disappointed at having lost the Test match,” he said. “It was asevere blow for us. It damaged our pride a little bit, so we need to getthat back and we’re very keen to set the record straight.”Though he himself had a fine game at the Wanderers, having Rahul Dravidcaught behind for his 400th wicket, Pollock said that the collectiveperformance had been a depressing one. “We’re quite disappointed on thebowling front, we could have done better,” he said. “On the batting side,to be knocked out for 84 is just unheard of for South African sides,especially back home.”We haven’t focussed too much on that. We’re moving forward now, and weneed to hit the right areas in the next Test match. It’s a different kindof wicket, so what we discussed there doesn’t really count here.”He defended his new-ball partner, Makhaya Ntini, saying that everyone wasentitled to the occasional ordinary game, and expressed his doubts overwhether Graeme Smith would opt for a spin option in the shape of PaulHarris. And when it was put to him that South Africa’ bowling line-up hadbeen predictable and one-dimensional at the Wanderers, he came back with asharp response.”It makes good stories, doesn’t it?” he asked. “If you look at the fivethat played at the Wanderers, we’ve got the sheer pace of Dale Steyn whoshapes it away, and Makhaya Ntini who shapes it in. Andre Nel is a tallbowler who has got a different action, I’m the sort of the guy who hitsareas, and Jacques Kallis is a genuine away-swing bowler. If that’slacking variation, then I would hate to see a combination that has gotvariation. Probably the only thing we might have lacked was a spinner.”There was praise for Sreesanth – “The ball comes out of his hand lovely,the seam is upright” – but he hesitated to label India’s attack the bestto come out of the country. “I have played against an attack that hadJavagal Srinath, and I think he was the best fast bowler that India hasproduced,” said Pollock. “He was remarkable over the years, the way he gotthe ball to talk, not only in seamer-friendly conditions in South Africabut on some very flat wickets in India. So any attack that had him wouldprobably be the best Indian fast-bowling attack that I have seen so far.”There has been the odd rumour doing the rounds that the upcoming Testseries against Pakistan could be Pollock’s last, but he insisted that suchthoughts hadn’t been given any serious thought in the midst of a seasonthat will culminate with the World Cup in the Caribbean.”I always re-assess at the end of each season and see where I’m going,” hesaid. “I feel like I have got this one and another one, maybe, in me. Sono, there’s no retirement imminent.”The cricket fraternity, poised to lose two of its all-time greats atSydney, will be relieved to hear that.

Scorecard
Day 2
Bulletin
– Munaf stands out in drawn encounter
Day 1
Bulletin – Gambhir fifty powers Indians
Preview package
Preview – Munaf’s chance to stake a claim
Chappell quotes – ‘Opening is a specialist job’
News – ‘I am working hard to earn a recall in the team’ – Gambhir
News – India look to erase bad Durban memories
News – Gobind to lead KZN XI against Indians