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England A’s tour of Sri Lanka ended in disappointment with well-worn criticism over fitness and a lack of technique again to the fore.Rod Marsh, the Academy director whose term of office ends in September, was keen to push the positives, but the manner of the defeats against A teams from Sri Lanka and Pakistan were a cause for worry. "I told them it would be tough,” he said. “The weather, the grounds and the opponents all wore them down physically and that took its toll on them mentally."When it comes to playing tough cricket, it does not get any worse than March in Sri Lanka and, on the whole, I was pleased with the way they coped. There were some terrific individual performances."I don’t think a few of them realised just how tough it is to play cricket in this part of the world. You can tell them a million times, but it is not until they actually play in this continual, oppressive heat that they find out what it’s really like. When you see guys struggling with dehydration, it makes you wonder how the Sri Lankans and Pakistanis cope with it."To win here takes a lot of discipline, with the whole squad pulling together at every stage of the tour. Perhaps we had a few guys who wished they weren’t here because it was too tough, but in the main I was very proud of the way they played until the last three games."

Foot in mouth:
The decision after winning the toss on a flat pitch during a Twenty20 match should be a no-brainer: bat first and put the opposition under pressure during the chase. Even a cheerleader said she would bat first when Robin Jackman asked her the question moments before the toss. However, Harbhajan Singh decided to field, his rationale being that his team preferred to chase given that they fell narrowly short of the target against the Chennai Super Kings. As it turned out, the Mumbai Indians were restricted to 116 for 9 in 20 overs, the 66-run margin being the second largest of the tournament in terms of runs.Smack, smack:
Watching the Kings XI Punjab opener Karan Goel and Kumar Sangakkara batting together presented a sharp contrast: Sangakkara was reeling powerful drives off his bat while Goel struggled to find his timing. He even got hit flush on the helmet by a shirt ball from Dwayne Bravo that was far too quick for him and discovered that he had a bleeding lip. When he was ready to bat again, Bravo ran in and dished out another bouncer but this time Goel was ready. He used the width outside off stump to get under the ball and upper cut it high and far over the third-man boundary, drawing applause from Sangakkara at the other end.Pure intensity:
Time was running out for Brett Lee to make a lasting impact in this season’s IPL for he, along with the other Australians in the Test squad, will head home soon for a training camp ahead of their tour of West Indies. His first delivery to Sanath Jayasuriya – a searing yorker at close to 150 kmh – signaled the start of something special. Sure enough, he exhibited sublime reflexes when he slid low to his left to take a sharp caught and bowled catch off Jayasuriya and then showed off his fitness by swooping on the ball, and diving during the release to hit the stumps direct to run out Luke Ronchi at the striker’s end.Chawla turns the corner:
The first two matches in the IPL were a torrid examination for Piyush Chawla. He went for 19 off one over against Chennai Super Kings and 27 off two overs against Rajasthan Royals. He came on to bowl against Mumbai Indians when Bravo and Robin Uthappa were in the middle of a brisk partnership. He immediately caused problems, mixing up googlies with orthodox legbreaks and also varied his pace. The pressure built up to a crescendo when he bowled three consecutive dot balls to Bravo in the ninth over. With the required run-rate escalating, Bravo tried a rash hoick across the line to the fourth ball and lost middle stump. Chawla finished with fantastic figures of 2 for 16 off four overs.

Three of Indian cricket’s junior stars will begin a six-week stint at Australia’s renowned Centre of Excellence next week as part of the annual Border-Gavaskar scholarship. Vikram Rajvir Singh and Rudra Pratap Singh, both medium-pacers who played in the Under-19 World Cup in 2004, and Cheteshwar Pujara, the opener from Gujarat who impressed in the series against England Under-19, have been selected for the scholarship by a Board of Control for Cricket in India panel headed by Sunil Gavaskar, the former Indian captain.Vikram Singh had a promising start to his first-class career last season and made his mark for Punjab with 30 wickets in six first-class matches. Though just 20, he sent down some fiery spells and slowly emerged as one of the fastest bowlers in the country. Rudra Pratap Singh, who relies more on swing and accuracy, also had an impressive season, ending with 34 wickets in six games. Unlike these two, Pujara hasn’t yet made his first-class debut but he came to the spotlight with a fine 211 against the England Under-19 side. Now in its sixth year, the scholarships have been formative in the careers of several Indian Test cricketers like Mohammad Kaif, Shiv Sunder Das, Parthiv Patel, Lakshimiphathy Balaji and Gautam Gambir.During their stay at the Brisbane-based academy from June 20 to July 31 the players will receive specialist coaching and development support from some of Australia’s leading academy coaching staff headed by Tim Nielsen, the head coach. They will also participate in an emerging players tournament next month involving the New Zealand Cricket Academy, Australian Institute of Sport scholars and players from Karnataka.Trevor Robertson, the academy director, said the scholarships offered the young cricketers a tremendous opportunity to broaden their playing and personal experience. “Since the Border-Gavaskar scholarship was launched, we have seen a number of promising Indian players visit Australia to participate in some of our coaching programs and gain valuable experience under foreign playing conditions,” Robertson said in a Cricket Australia statement. “It’s a tremendous opportunity for the players and the three young Indian cricketers have been earmarked in their country as players of the future for India. The experience they will gain while at the Centre of Excellence will hopefully help their growth on a personal and playing level. Australia and India share a passion for cricket and we are pleased that through the Australia-India Council, we are able to provide an opportunity to host these talented cricketers.”The scholarship program was founded in 2000 as a joint initiative between Cricket Australia and the Australia-India Council (AIC). The scholarships are financially supported by the AIC, which was established in 1992 to strengthen and foster ties between Australia and India across a range of sectors, including sport. The Border-Gavaskar scholarship, named in honour of cricketing legends Allan Border and Sunil Gavaskar, is also supported by the Indian board.Previous Border-Gavaskar scholarship recipients
2000
Mohammad Kaif, Sridaran Sriram, Shiv Sunder Das2001
Deepak Chougule, Vinayak Mane, Parthiv Patel2002
Lakshimiphathy Balaji, Gautam Gambir, Thilak Naidu2003
Raiphi Vincent Gomez, Udit Brijesh Patel, Siddharth Trivedi2004
Shikhar Dhawan, Suresh Raina, Yalaka Venugopala Rao.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsJonathan Carter and Ryan Hinds stitched together their second successive match-winning partnership to help Barbados book their place in the semi-finals with a 54-run win against Grenada in Coolidge. The pair added 105 for the third wicket to take Barbados to 152 before the spinners sent Grenada crashing to 98.Barbados lost their openers early after being put into bat and the decision to promote Hinds to No. 3 and Carter to No. 4, after their previous match against Dominica, worked as the pair batted sensibly to lead the recovery. Carter was the more aggressive of the two, hitting four fours and four sixes in his knock, including one over midwicket off Rawl Lewis to bring up the fifty partnership. He was eventually dismissed for 61, caught at long-on off Ronald Ettienne. Hinds stood firm till the end with an unbeaten 45 off 48 balls and watched as Alcino Holder added some late fireworks with a 10-ball 22 to take the score past 150.Barbados’ left-arm spinning pair of Derrick Bishop and Sulieman Benn then inflicted a top-order wobble, reducing Grenada to 27 for 5, a position from which they never recovered. Benn finished with economical figures of 2 for 4 from four overs while Bishop finished with 3 for 19. The highest stand was 29 for the eighth wicket between Camilus Alexander and Dennis George but it wasn’t enough as Grenada failed to keep pace with the asking rate.Speaking after the match, Lewis, the Grenada captain, said: “We made too many mistakes in the field. They probably made about 30 or 35 runs too much, but saying that I think 150 was good. “We needed a good start and we did not get that, the wickets just kept falling, thus making it hard for you to play your normal game.”

Australia might be employing a fresh opening-bowling combination in an inexperienced attack, but Brett Lee and Nathan Bracken are not setting small goals in South Africa. The pair wants to match the efforts of immediate predecessors Jason Gillespie and Glenn McGrath, who is missing to look after his sick wife.Lee will lead the fast men in McGrath’s absence and he wants to embrace the role without giving up any of his speed. “I’m really looking forward to the challenge and I don’t see it as any more pressure,” he said in . “Glenn is ‘Mr Consistent’. He has the line and length to make my job easier, but I won’t be changing anything and I’ll be trying to lead from the front.”Bracken will help his junior, state and international team-mate as they try to lift a raw band of back-up options with Mick Lewis, Stuart Clark and Mitchell Johnson playing only 16 matches between them. “The way to keep improving is to know each other’s games better and try to get to where Glenn and Jason were as partnership bowlers,” Lee said in the . “Sometimes Glenn would go on the attack and Jason would pull it back a bit, and vice versa. Now we have to work out for this particular one-day tour how to get to know each other a lot better.”Bracken said he and Lee were complementary players. “Brett’s the sort of bowler that’s going to be attacking and at the batsman, which probably suits me a bit more than other guys because I’m trying to get the ball to swing,” he said. “If Brett’s attacking and being aggressive at one end and I’m doing the right thing at the other, it’s a good combination.”Ponting is happy for Lee to try to frighten South Africa’s batsmen, which he did on a couple of occasions in taking 15 wickets in the VB Series. “In England at different times he enjoyed it when Glenn wasn’t playing because he knew he was the guy who was the spearhead of the attack,” Ponting said in . “It’s important he remains that for us. When he’s bowling fast and swinging the ball it’s very difficult for any batsman.”We need him to keep doing that. We’ll have other guys around him that can do the tight job at the other end.”

HD Ackerman has been named as Leicestershire’s captain for the 2005. He replaces the Australian Brad Hodge, who joined Lancashire in October.Ackerman, 31, currently plays for the Lions in the SuperSport Series in South Africa. He has captained Western Province, Gauteng and South Africa A in the last five years. He played four Tests in 1997-98, and scored 161 runs in eight innings. He has on a three-year contract with Leicestershire and, under the Kolpak ruling, will not count as an overseas player.”I am delighted and honoured,” Ackerman told reporters. “It is a whole new challenge for me. I hope I can help to bring out the best in all the players at Leicestershire.”Darren Maddy will continue as vice-captain.

Mohammad Asif, the seam bowler, and Faisal Iqbal, the middle-order batsman, have been given pay raises by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) but both players will only be considered for the central contracts later this year.Abbas Zaidi, the director board operations of the Pakistan board, said both players had not been given the central contracts but only pay raises, in view of their encouraging performances in the last two series against India and Sri Lanka.While Asif has taken 24 wickets in his last three Tests including 11 for 71 in the second Test against Sri Lanka at Kandy earlier this month, Faisal scored a hundred against India at Karachi and followed it up with a matchsaving 60 against Sri Lanka in the first Test at Colombo.”They were getting monthly retainers of 30,000 Rupees (US$500 approx) but now this has been enhanced to 75,000 Rupees (US$1250 approx), the same as the players who have been given C category central contracts,” Zaidi stated. “This monthly raise is besides the match fees and other incentives paid to the players per Test and one-day international (ODI) appearances.”Zaidi said both players would be considered when the current contracts when fresh ones were issued from July 1. “At present, the central contracts are only for the 20 players who were awarded these earlier this year.”

Mark Waugh believes Adam Gilchrist must take more time with his batting as Australia search for their third World Cup in a row. Waugh, who opened with Gilchrist during the 1999 success, said if he scaled back his game slightly he could still be a force.”He is that good a player, he can score runs without trying to overhit the ball,” Waugh, who was named with Gilchrist in Australia’s all-time one-day team, said in the Herald Sun. “I think he has been too impatient. He has got to get through that first five or six overs. If he does that, he is one guy who can score heavily without even trying to.”Gilchrist stayed at home during the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy after not posting a half-century in eight innings following his 60 and 61 to start the CB Series. The birth of Gilchrist’s third child will keep him in Australia while his team-mates depart for the Caribbean today, but he will be available for the first game against Scotland on March 14.Matthew Hayden and Gilchrist will be the first-choice pairing, but Hayden is also pushing to be ready for the opening match due to a foot injury. Hayden has worked with a podiatrist to design a big-toe cap that he hopes will stop further pain after being struck by a Mark Gillespie yorker in New Zealand.”My best-case scenario is to be back for the warm-up games and my worst-case scenario is to be back just for the first game,” he said on Channel 7. “When I return the main problem will be the pain. It will take a while for the swelling to go down.”Waugh said it would be important for both Hayden and Gilchrist not to feel like they have to push the pace in the Caribbean. “Both of those guys at the top have got so many good shots in their armoury,” he said, “they just need to be patient and the runs will come.”

Rahul DravidOn getting back into the Test match scheme of things after a month of non-stop one-day cricketThat’s how international cricket is now. The [one-day] series happened very quickly, and we have to make sure we adjust and react quickly and change our mindset for the five-day game. It’s a challenge that most international cricketers face.On the likely team compositionWe’ve not decided on a final XI. That’ll be done tomorrow morning after assessing various factors like the weather. There’s clarity in my mind about the batting order, but I see no sense in revealing my strategy before the game.On the kind of challenge Sri Lanka would pose after being blown away in the ODIsI think they’ll bounce back. They’re a good team. We played very good cricket in those matches, and didn’t allow them to do so. We have to continue doing that.On Jayasuriya’s absenceLook, I don’t tend to worry about what the opposition is doing. There’s a danger of targetting one or two players and forgetting that they have other quality performers as well. Jayasuriya’s been a fantastic player for them, but we’re well aware that they have two or three young players who we need to watch for.On the threat posed by Muttiah MuralitharanMurali’s done well against us, but we’ve also had our share of success against him. I’d prefer to focus on how they will deal with Harbhajan Singh and Anil [Kumble] bowling in tandem.On whether Ganguly’s ability to bowl medium-pace might influence selectionSourav has been bowling a fair bit lately, and we will certainly be thinking of that as an option.On the pitchIt looks good, but might take some turn as the match goes on.On Sehwag not practicing yesterday and doing little work todayHe has a slight strain in his left shoulder. Nothing too serious. It was just a precautionary thing [to skip practice].On what he expected from the Chennai crowdIt’s always a great place to play. We’ve had some memorable matches here, and the crowd has always responded to good performances. It would have been very disappointing for them to see the ODI washed out, and I hope the weather holds over the next few days so that they get a good game of cricket.On whether having so many seniors back in the side complicated thingsIt makes it simpler. There are a few ex-captains there, and they will certainly help out with advice. I can’t do it all on my own.Greg ChappellOn how he approached his first Test in India as coachI know it’s a cliché, but it’s just another game. The cricket doesn’t change regardless of where you’re playing. The critical things, the basics, stay the same, and only the nuances change with the conditions.On Ganguly’s return to the teamIf he’s in the team, he will be a very important member. He’s fitted back into the group very well.

In a sign of how much of an issue fielding has become in Pakistan cricket – and it’s not as if the malaise is a new one – Wasim Bari, chairman of selectors, has said that cricketers intending to break into the national set-up will be considered only if their fielding is up to the mark.Speaking to the Karachi-based Bari said, “In modern day cricket, a player’s fielding ability has become a very important aspect and that is going to show in our selection process in the future.”Gone are the days when players could force their way into the national team entirely through batting and bowling performances.”After dispiriting performances in the field against India in the ODI series earlier this year, the seriousness of the issue has finally been acknowledged by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and Bari’s comments are the latest recognition of how embedded the problem is.Jonty Rhodes, widely regarded as one of the best fielders of all time, is due to arrive in Pakistan in June for a two-week stint to work with the national team as well as coaches in the National Cricket Academy. Critics, though, have questioned the value a stint as short as this has for a problem that begins, essentially, at the grassroots.But Bari added that along with his selection committee, stricter guidelines would be adhered to when judging a player’s fielding skills when picking the national team. “I would like to tell our young cricketers that they should not expect a chance to play at the international level if they can’t field well. It is that important.”The whole concept of how you play cricket has changed in recent times. And it is not just the one-day version of the game. A team’s fielding performance is becoming a decisive factor in Test matches as well. Look at England, they failed to win against Sri Lanka because they fielded badly.”Though Bari tactfully refused to point out specific players in the team who were poor fielders, he pointed to the improvement in standards of almost every team in cricket as proof that even Pakistan can change. “Even teams like Bangladesh have achieved enormous improvement in this department of the game and that has really impressed me.”I am not saying this as a chief selector but as an ex-Test cricketer that one of the Pakistan team’s biggest flaws lay in it is fielding. Pakistan can become one of the world’s best fielding sides but that needs a lot of hard work.”