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Chris Gayle, the West Indies captain, is optimistic that his hamstring injury will heal in time ahead of the first Test against South Africa starting December 26.”It’s improved a lot the last couple of days,” Gayle said. “The physio has been doing a terrific job and hopefully it improve over the next couple of days. I’ve been feeling pretty good, batting in the nets, but there’s still uncertainty. We’ll assess it finally on match day. It’s coming on pretty good.”Gayle, who was named captain in Ramnaresh Sarwan’s absence, will be replaced by Dwayne Bravo if he misses out. Bravo, who, like Gayle, has never captained West Indies in a Test match, has an unbeaten record in ODIs – leading them to victory in his first three ODIs in charge against Zimbabwe.West Indies’ main area of concern is their batting, after they lost a warm-up game against South Africa A in East London inside three days. “We have to put that behind us and try and get into the right frame of mind ahead of a very important game,” Gayle said.”We know where went wrong and we know there’s a lot of work to do. We know what we’re capable of. We just have to play basic cricket and get the job done, and if we get a start, we have to capitalise on it. You can’t allow the South Africans in, because once they get an opportunity then definitely we’re going to be up against it.”John Dyson, the West Indies coach, also remained positive. “I’ve been very impressed with the professionalism and enthusiasm the players have shown in the nets,” he said. “If we can take that forward to the middle we’ll be very competitive.”Meanwhile, Graeme Smith, the South Africa captain, said that he had fully recovered from a virus that ruled him out of the recent ODI series against New Zealand. “I started training about a week ago and I am feeling energised again.”South Africa go into the match at St George’s Park as strong favourites on the back of consistent performances in their recent matches. They have won three out of their four Tests this season – one against Pakistan and a brace against New Zealand, and have the likes of Dale Steyn, the right-arm fast bowler who took 20 wickets in the series against New Zealand, as well as Jacques Kallis, one of only two batsmen to score 1000 runs this calendar year, in their ranks.

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.”

Graeme Smith has warned that South Africa’s selectors are going to start taking a firmer line on players who do not perform consistently during South Africa’s upcoming tours. Following the tour to Sri Lanka in August, South Africa travel to England for the Champions Trophy, to India for a Test series, and back home for five Tests against England.”This year’s going to be more cut-throat. We’ve got to start delivering,” Smith told in South Africa ahead of the team’s four-day training camp in Pretoria. “The leeway now is gone. There are three tours coming up and there’s going to be nowhere to hide for anyone, including me. I’m aware of that and I’m looking forward to that challenge.”All of us can improve from last year, can become more consistent, can become harder, can win more games for our team, can handle situations better under pressure,” he added. “There are a lot of us who can look at ourselves and improve.”I want to see us taking bigger steps in getting certain positions right, handling pressure well in one-day cricket. If we need to defend 60 in 10 overs at the death we’ve got guys who can do it. If we need to get 100 off 110 balls with four or five down we’ve got guys who can finish those games for us. That’s where we’ve let ourselves down, especially in the last year in those crunch 50-50 situations.”This will be Smith’s first tour of Sri Lanka, and he will be leading the side in two Tests and five one-dayers. South Africa drew their last Test series in Sri Lanka in 2000, but were thrashed 3-0 in the one-dayers, and struggled against Muttiah Muralitharan’s spin on his home turf in both formats.”I know we lost badly there the last time,” added Smith. “We’ve got six or seven guys who have been there before and speaking to some of them, they say they got a major wake-up call, they didn’t realise how much it would turn. So we’ve had a bit of experience.”

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.

Steve Tikolo has delayed making a decision whether to stand down as Kenya’s captain in the light of their poor performances in the ICC Champions Trophy. In the aftermath of the loss to Pakistan at Birmingham, he told the media that he was ready to quit but he appears to have reconsidered his position following his return home.Tikolo was still insistent that he wanted to pass the reins on to a new captain and concentrate on his batting, but there are signs that he might wait until later in the year.Sharad Ghai, the board’s chairman, said that he was surprised by the original announcement. “We had talked about it," Ghai said, "and even if he felt the captaincy was affecting his batting, I thought he would come back home and at least lead the team through the Intercontinental Cup." Kenya meet Namibia in the Africa-group decider in Nairobi next month.Tikolo repeated his criticism of the ICC over their treatment of the team during the tournament. "Had it been Australia, England or South Africa batting under the conditions that we were in, the game could have been stopped," he explained. "There is no fairness in some of these things.”

Somerset are set to announce that they have signed two South Africans – Graeme Smith and Albie Morkel – as their overseas players for the 2005 season.Smith, who captains South Africa on their tour of India starting this week, has been linked with the county for several weeks, and news that he was just waiting for South African board approval before confirming was not a surprise. It is expected that he will replace Michael Burns as Somerset captain.”It’s a fantastic opportunity for me and Albie, and playing county cricket is something I have always wanted to do,” Smith told Reuters. “My first loyalties are to South African cricket and the UCB, and they have yet to approve the deal,” he added. “I’m hopeful they will see it as beneficial for all of us.”The intention is that Smith would arrive at Taunton in May, straight after South Africa have finished their tour of the Caribbean.Morkel, an allrounder who bowls right-arm fast-medium bowler and bats left-handed, has played three one-day internationals for South Africa. Their new coach, Ray Jennings, is a big fan and recently predicted that he would become a world-class allrounder.

An Australian under-19 side picked with the Youth World Cup in mind will play five one-day matches against India under-19 in September. Brian McFadyen, the coach, said the tour would give the 13-man squad valuable experience of the subcontinent’s conditions.McFadyen, the former Tasmania coach, said the trip would also offer the selectors a chance to look at the players for the World Cup. “The squad will certainly provide an insight into some of Australia’s most promising juniors,” he said. “We’re really looking forward to the tour and have selected a squad that we think is well balanced and capable of success.”Australia will begin with a three-day training camp at the Commonwealth Bank Centre of Excellence in Brisbane before travelling to India for matches at Faridabad, Mohali, Dharamshala and Delhi between September 18 and 28.Australia under-19 squad
Jackson Bird (NSW), Patrick Darwen (NSW), Aaron Finch (Vic), Ben Gledhill (Qld), Moises Henriques (NSW), Shannon Hurn (SA), Usman Khawaja (NSW), Jack McNamara (Vic), Graeme Skennar (Qld), Tom Stray (Vic), Chris Thompson (WA), David Warner (NSW), Philip Wells (NSW).

The Western Australian batsman, Marcus North, has joined Durham as cover for Herschelle Gibbs, who will be absent on international duty at various stages of the 2004 season.North, 24, has played in the North East Premier League and will be returning to league cricket in between his spells with Durham. He recently enjoyed a prolific season with Western Australia, scoring over 1000 runs at an average of 56.52.”I’m delighted to be given the opportunity to play first-class cricket in England, especially at Durham," said North. "My wife is from the North East and the region is a second home for me. I’ve been in good form this year and hopefully I can continue that for the Durham fans.”North will make his debut at the start of the season, while Gibbs is still on international duty and will return in August during South Africa’s tour of Sri Lanka. “Marcus is a great asset," said Durham’s captain, Jon Lewis. "He is a proven run-scorer and can also contribute a few overs [of offspin]. His signing also gives us some form of continuity throughout the season.”Durham’s chief executive, David Harker, was also pleased with the signing. “Marcus should settle in fairly quickly as he has played for several years in the North East. He is an exciting young talent and should score plenty of runs during Herschelle’s absence."

The players’ statement in fullZimbabwe Cricket took the unprecedented step of barring five journalists from its annual general meeting in Bulawayo today.Four local reporters and one from international agency AFP arrived at Queens Sports Club for the meeting only to find their entry blocked by Lovemore Banda, ZC’s communications and media manager. He told the five that they would have to wait for an official press conference later in the afternoon. However, the five refused to budge and two police officers were called to escort them out of the building.The move was all the more surprising as some of those ejected had been reminded less than 24 hours earlier that the meeting was taking place. And further confusion came when Ozias Bvute, the ZC managing director, told them that it was “not my decision.”It is likely that ZC banned the reporters as tough questions were expected in the light of yesterday’s statement issued on behalf of the country’s players which slated the board, accusing it of being “at best incompetent, and at worst, a bully”.

Hasan Durham, Bermuda’s left-arm spinner, has been reported for a potentially flawed action after the second ODI against Canada in Toronto, the ICC confirmed.A biomechanics expert appointed by the ICC and the Bermuda Cricket Board (BCB) will submit a report on Durham’s action in the next 21 days. The report will be submitted to the ICC who will send it to the BCB and until the BCB receives the report, Durham will be able to continue playing.However, if Durham’s action is found illegal he will be suspended from bowling in international matches and he would have to apply to the ICC for a re-assessment of his action to resume bowling.Durham was referred to the first stage of the process of checking potentially flawed actions after his was assessed by the match officials. The report was made by Ian Gould and Roger Dill, the on-field umpires, Karran Bayney and Ruban Sivanadian, the third and fourth umpires, and the match referee Jeff Crowe.