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After the demoralising Test defeat at Lord’s, I expected India tocome out fighting at Trent Bridge. Regaining lost pride issomething that Sourav Ganguly must have deeply desired. Butdespite rain washing out almost a day’s play, India almost contrivedto lose the match.

Ganguly’s decision to bat first in conditions favouring swingbowling showed the amount of trust he has in the inexperiencedIndian seam attack.Matthew Hoggard relishes bowling in such circumstances and he was soon making the Indian batsmen dance to his tunes. The prodigious movement that heextracted from the pitch and those wonderful outswingers provedwhy he has strong claims to being the best swing bowler in worldcricket today.Moving on, the manner in which Wasim Jaffer got out, playing awayfrom the body to drag the ball back onto the stumps, is preciselywhat every opening batsman must avoid. Granted that Jaffer’stechnique has a major flaw but even more annoying is his lack ofwill to survive. In comparison, a great opening batsman likeSunil Gavaskar always had both the technique and will to survive. simply hated to lose, and it is precisely this attitude thatthe present cricket team should try to acquire – the sooner, thebetter.One other Indian cricketer whose name and deeds should beremembered by every Indian player is Mohinder Amarnath. was a born fighter; his performances during the greattours of Pakistan and West Indies while making a comeback to thenational side are now part of our cricketing folklore. I do notknow how many people remember the fact that he was the Man of theMatch of the World Cup final in 1983. But, before that famousWorld Cup, amassed runs in Tests against Pakistan and WestIndies – against what should only be called as top-class bowling.Imran Khan was in his prime and so were the Windies pace battery.Why I am mentioning these heroes of yesteryears is because Iwould like the current crop of players to look back andunderstand the legacy these great players left behind. It hurt those great men to lose a Test match – it hurt their pride and they foughthard. I expect our current players too to show the same fierce desire to do well everytime they step out on to the field.Returning to the match, the Indian batsmen, after their dismalperformance at Lord’s, showed greater commitment at Trent Bridge.To score 350-odd runs in the first innings in not-so-suitablebatting conditions is indeed an achievement. The resolve theyshowed in the second innings to save the Test match wasparticularly laudable. I am glad that Sourav Ganguly, RahulDravid and Sachin Tendulkar fought hard to avoid defeat. A drawis far worthier than meek surrender. Now that they have survived,India can plan and play for a win.The Achilles heel of all touring Indian sides up to now has been theirfragile batting against the opposing pace attacks. AtTrent Bridge, however, the willow-wielders were not to be blamed. If there was any let down in the second Test, it came in the failure of the pace bowling attack of Nehra, Zaheer Khan and Agarkar. They were most disappointing in favourable conditions.It shocks me that someone like Agarkar who has the ability to swing the ball couldn’t do anything at Trent Bridge. The two left-arm bowlers were also a big let down, bowling too short and never at full pace. It is not the kind of effort that you expect to see from an Indian player; you need guys who are willing to give more than 100%. It is appalling that they allowed Craig White and Hoggard to add 103 runs for the ninth wicket.

Harbhajan Singh, for his part, had an opportunity to prove that he is the numberone spin bowler in the country. His line and length, though, wasa huge disappointment. I would be surprised if he is played aheadof Anil Kumble in the next Test match – that is if indeed Indiadecide to play a spinner at Headingley.I still have hope for this Indian team. Look at the spirit ofsomeone as young as Parthiv Patel. The kid has loads of talentand I hope that the team management persists with him. He has alsoshown enough skill with the gloves to prove that he is worthy ofhis place in the team. And if there was any doubt about hisbatting skills, watching the last one-hour of the Test match wassimply good enough. Now, if only the bowlers showed the samelevel of application and commitment.

On the eve of the 1994-95 tour of India by the West Indies, the hometeam were firmly installed as favourites to win the three-Test series.The Indian team was on a roll at home where they had registered ninesuccessive victories in the period from 1988 to 1994.

Against that, the West Indies had lost their No 1 ranking and theslide had started in real earnest. By the early 90s, the vast majorityof the stars of the all-conquering team of the 80s had retired. Tocompound matters, they were, for various reasons, without severalleading players including reigning captain Richie Richardson, fastbowlers Curtly Ambrose and Winston Benjamin and veteran opener DesmondHaynes.The side, led by Courtney Walsh, had one really big name in vicecaptain Brian Lara, who in the first half of 1994 had set the twofamous world-record scores of 375 and 501 not out. The captain, ofcourse, was one of the top fast bowlers in the world while CarlHooper, Phil Simmons and Keith Arthurton were cricketers with someexperience. But little was known about the other players in the sideand the chances of the tourists doing well were not rated highly.Things seemed to move according to prediction when India won the firstTest at Bombay by 96 runs to make it ten in a row at home. But thewinning streak was halted in the next Test in Nagpur in which the WestIndies earned a honourable draw. And in the final Test at Mohali, WestIndies scored a surprise 243-run victory to level the series againstall expectations.How did this turnabout come about? It would be easy to put it down toa sense of complacency on the part of the Indians. Indeed, it waslargely perceived that Indian captain Mohammad Azharuddin had let theWest Indies off the hook at Nagpur with a delayed declaration on thefinal morning.But that would be downplaying the fighting spirit displayed by thevisitors. Against all odds, the batting and bowling gelled together ata vital time and none personified this never-say-die attitude thanJimmy Adams. An obdurate left-hander with an insatiable appetite forruns, Adams proved a veritable thorn in India’s flesh by amassing 520runs at a more-than-Bradmanesque average of 173.33. He just loved tobat and hated getting out, signified by his figures ­ 39 and 81, 125not out and 23, 174 not out and 78 not out.Adams easily put into the shade his more illustrious colleagues, Lara,Hooper and Arthurton, though, the trio did pull in their weight nowand then, and by the end of the series, the Indian bowlers had ran outof ideas to get Adams out. More, however , was certainly expected fromLara, given his lofty reputation. But in six innings, his highestscore remained 91.The bowling hinged too much on Walsh and Kenny Benjamin and the paceduo did well in taking 17 wickets each. But Hooper’s off spinners werea welcome support and he even had a five-wicket haul at Nagpur.India did everything right ­ till the final day of the series when thebatting crumbled against the pace of Walsh and Benjamin. But for thisaberration, the traditional batting strength was in full bloom withSachin Tendulkar getting his eighth Test hundred while still 21.Navjot Sidhu and Manoj Prabhakar were the other century makers whileAzharuddin, Nayan Mongia and Sanjay Manjrekar chipped in with valuablecontributions.The eclipse of Vinod Kambli, however, was a sad sight. The left-handerwas a sitting duck for fast, short-pitched deliveries and could onlygarner 64 runs at an average of 10.66. It marked the beginning of theend of his Test career.In bowling, the spinners, not unexpectedly, were the dominant forcewith Anil Kumble and Venkatapathy Raju picking up 33 wickets betweenthem.It was also the first Test series since 1978 without Kapil Devrepresenting India. He had a rather melancholic end to hisinternational career in the first one-day game against the tourists,interestingly enough in his hometown of Faridabad. He was mauled byopeners Phil Simmons and Stuart Williams and went for 37 runs in fiveovers. Then in regaining his crease during a brief knock of 12, hedamaged his hamstring and a few days later, announced his retirement.The tour, in fact, was heavily loaded with one-day matches. Besides acontest between the two teams, there was also a new innovation ­ atriangular tournament involving New Zealand. West Indies lost a oneday series to India for the first time and also went down in the finalof the triangular competition, again to India.

BRISBANE – Captain Ricky Ponting says Australia’s batsmen must find away to defuse the likes of Shoaib Akhtar to prevent one bad day fromruining their World Cup defence next year.Shoaib reminded the Australians their World Cup in Africa could unravelin just a few overs during a lightning spell for Pakistan at the Gabbalast night.He claimed 5-25 from eight overs, enabling Pakistan to cruise to a91-run victory in the deciding match of the Super Challenge series.Ponting was the first of Shoaib’s victims, skittled by a blisteringinswinger, and the Rawalpindi Express claimed Damien Martyn and DarrenLehmann with his next nine balls.Australia opens its World Cup defence against Pakistan on February 11 inJohannesburg – a renowned fast bowlers’ playground because of thealtitude.”He bowled well, he bowled quick and he got them in the right areas,”Ponting said.”When you’re bowling 150km/hour and swinging the ball you’re alwaysgoing to be hard to play.”But we’ve got to find a way to combat that when the World Cup comesaround. We have to identify when someone is bowling well and get throughthose tough times.”We couldn’t do that this time and he ripped the heart out of ourinnings.”Australia’s batsmen were disappointing in the last two matches againstPakistan, folding for 167 and 165 against some pinpoint bowling.Australia’s bowling also had its patchy moments, the home team conceding87 runs from the final 10 overs last night.”We have a few areas we need to address and everyone as individuals hasto improve a fair bit before the next time we play,” Ponting said.”But I don’t think it’s a bad thing that we’ve lost. It’s going to be agood wake-up call to all of us.”When the World Cup comes along we can’t afford to have one game likewe’ve had over the last two games.”We’re losing wickets in patches as well and we haven’t got partnershipsat the top of the order and that’s something we need when the World Cupcomes around.”We’ll give the guys a bit of time to think about it and hopefully goaway and improve their games.”Australian selectors will also think about the all-rounder role becauseyoung Tasmanian Shane Watson didn’t nail the position against Pakistan.Watson was the sole all-rounder in the squad after selectors overlookedAndrew Symonds and Ian Harvey, but he conceded 0-46 from five overs lastnight.The 21-year-old has a mediocre economy rate of 5.49 runs per over fromhis first seven one-day internationals.”He struggled in the last game but the previous two games I thought hedid a pretty good job for us,” Ponting said.”He’s got some improvement to do with the ball, there’s no doubt aboutthat, and his batting is getting there as well.”There are a few areas in his game that he wants to improve on and he’llgo away and do that because he’s a very hard worker and has a greatattitude.”I’m sure he’ll come back a better player next time.”The Australians left for their homes or to English county teams today,awaiting news on their proposed upcoming series against Pakistan.

Yorkshire fast bowler Chris Silverwood is on England standby for the first Test against India at Lord’s.Although Silverwood will travel to Guildford with his county for tomorrow’s Frizzell County Championship match against Surrey, he will join the England squad at Lord’s if there are any more injuries.The call to Silverwood follows yesterday’s news that his county colleague Darren Gough had withdrawn from the England squad. Andrew Caddick, Marcus Trescothick and Alex Tudor have all withdrawn with other injuries.Coach Duncan Fletcher said: “We’ve put Silverwood on stand-by. He’s gone toGuildford and we’ve told him to be ready to come and join us if there are anyother injuries.”

Ricky Ponting’s dramatic century in Cape Town had the leadership hallmarks of a future Test skipper but he’s reluctant to see it that way.Ponting declared his 100 not out – reached with a six in the final to secure Australia’s four wicket win in the second Test against South Africa – among the best of his 10 Test centuries.The 27-year-old is still to earn the tag of match-winner from his 55 Tests but his Cape Town knock should erode some of his reputation as an inconsistent batsman under pressure.But Ponting laughed off a question about whether it was the innings of a future Test captain.”I don’t know about that,” Ponting said.”As far as my personal innings in a vital situation it was probably as good as any. That wicket out there was pretty good for batting as you could see by the scores.You had to bowl very well.”Ponting boosted his batting average to 45.09 and continued an impressive record since he was woken in Potchefstroom last month with the news he was Australia’snew one-day skipper, replacing Steve Waugh.He scored a century the following day against South Africa A and he showed maturity by remaining steady when Australia’s run chase hit bumpy ground in CapeTown.His first 50 runs were spiced by some dangerous moments but the Tasmanian put his head down after lunch on the final day to help steer Australia home.”I certainly took it upon myself once the top few batters were out and I wanted to make sure I was there at the end to give ourselves the best chance to win thegame,” Ponting said.”I think I played the situation pretty well.”As it turned out I paced things really well. It was just nice to be there at the end to hit the winning runs in a Test match.”

The weather caused more disappointment and frustration for Somerset at the County Ground today as their championship match against Leicestershire was abandoned as a draw without another ball being bowled.Heavy overnight rain prevented any play this morning but after an inspection play was due to commence at 2.30 pm. Just a few minutes before the start time rain started to fall and the players took an early tea.After a further inspection at 4pm the captains and umpires agreed to a 4.15pm start and the covers were rolled off. However within minutes of their decision it had started to rain again heavily the match had been abandoned.When I spoke to Somerset coach Kevin Shine there was no hiding his feelings. He told me: " After the way that we started on the first two days we felt confident of winning this match, but now we have had to settle for a draw. Yes of course we are disappointed but you can’t beat the weather."Looking ahead to the NUL game he told me confidently: " We are going up to Worcester tomorrow to win our first one day game of the season."

In a country that has endured a winter marred by grating weather, a foot andmouth epidemic, a one-sided Premiership, and some stuttering performances inthe World Cup qualifiers, the cricket fans are still smiling. England’scricketers enjoyed a winter of unprecedented success and their supporterswill now be looking forward to a prosperous summer.So far the battle for the Ashes has dominated the back pages, but theprospect of a clash between Pakistan and England is an intriguing one. Inthe one corner there is England, a team who played slow, methodical,determined, and prolonged cricket throughout the winter. A side whoremorsefully ground down their opposition over the first four days of theTests, before making a push for victory on the final one.In the opposite corner is Pakistan, led by the Waqar Younis and coached byPybus, who are the very antithesis of England. The low tempo, sustainedconfrontation is not for them. They come out of the blocks running, eager todismantle the opposition in the most spectacular manner possible. When onsong their prodigiously talented team produces a brand of high intensitycricket that no team in the world can match.Nasser Hussain will be praying that Pakistan don’t play to their potential.On paper, they have a fearsome battery of fast bowlers, most of whom arealso genuine all rounders. Who in the right minds would cherish the prospectof facing Wasim, Waqar, Akhtar, and Razzaq on a damp May wicket?Nevertheless, I expect England to win the two-Test series because they areconfident, mentally strong, and playing to a game plan in tune with theirnatural skills. The batting order typifies their newfound form. The toporder has to ability to compile a big score, but also to recover from a poorstart. The lower order put a high price on their wickets and they aretherefore a very difficult side to bowl out.Their bowling department may not match Pakistan’s for it’s sheer naturaltalent, but it is far more consistent. When they are bowling well they canrun through a side, but, crucially, when they come off the boil they usuallyremain tight and runs are still hard to find, which maintains the pressureon the batsmen.Everyone recognises Darren Gough as a world-class performer. He would playin any international side. The renaissance of Andrew Caddick, however, hasbeen a vital component of their recent success. If he was knocked about twoyears ago his head would invariably drop because of his sagging self belief.Nowadays though he is playing with terrific confidence, appears mentallystronger, and his performances are therefore consistently impressive.England’s biggest weakness at the moment is their spin department. I wouldn’t be surprised if Michael Vaughan was the sole spinner in the side for muchof the season and England employs four fast bowlers. With the slippery Whiteand probing Cork to complement the opening duo they should be able to pilethe pressure onto the Pakistani top order.It should be a great series. No one quite knows how Pakistan will perform,but they looked together in Sharjah and Waqar appeared to be a captain incontrol. If that kind of unity prevails this summer then England will havetheir work cut out to record their fifth consecutive series win.

The six-day cricket coaching camp for the Indian probables, starting in Bangalore on Sunday ahead of the coming Zimbabwe tour, is expected to be an indepth exercise in redrafting the strategy to end the country’s victory drought overseas.The camp, in preparation for the tour commencing from May 28, has assumed significance as it comes against the backdrop of India’s stupendous home Test series win over Australia.The Board of Control for Cricket in India has named 26 probables, virtually retaining all those who played against Australia. The selectors are expected to meet in Mumbai on May 17 to pick a 15-member squad for the tour.Skipper Sourav Ganguly, batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and the new batting star VVS Laxman are among those picked for the camp.Harbhajan Singh, who played a key role in India’s success against Australia, Virendra Shewag and Yuvaraj Singh would be keen to impress the selectors during the camp, expected to lay emphasis on physical fitness of the players.Notable among those omitted are Nayan Mongia and speedster Venkatesh Prasad.Ace leg spinner Anil Kumble, who has returned from Johensburg after undergoing a surgery to his shoulder, is back at the nets, but is unavailable for the Zimbabwe tour.Indian coach John Wright, who played a key role in shaping the side inrecent times, has already gone on record saying he would involve players, selectors and team managers in a thorough introspection to find out the reasons for the country’s failure when it plays away from home. The camp would also focus on the need to address the problem posed by a long Indian tail.Besides the Test series, India will play in a triangular one-day series involving Zimbabwe and West Indies. Wright and Andrew Leipus, the physio of the Indian team, have already arrived, while the probables were all expected to reach Bangalore by Saturday evening.The following are the probables: Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Hemang Badani, Sadagopan Ramesh, Shiv Sundar Das, Mohammad Kaif, Yuvraj Singh, Virendra Shewag, Dinesh Mongia, Samir Dighe, Ajay Ratra, Das Gupta, Javagal Srinath, Ajit Agarkar, Zaheer Khan, Harvinder Singh, Ashish Nehra, Debashish Mohanty, Rakesh Patel, RS Sodhi, Harbhajan Singh, Sarandeep Singh, Rahul Sanghvi and Sairaj Bahutale.

Australia will target Hashim Amla with verbal aggression and engage him in a “psychological war”, according to a dossier of team game-plans published in News Ltd newspapers in Australia. The papers claimed that the leaked document contained Australia’s “secret” plans to combat each of South Africa’s players, and including peppering Jacques Kallis with bouncers and going after the legspinner Imran Tahir.However, it is the plan to use verbal tactics against Amla in an effort to break his concentration that will create the biggest stir. The document also mentions Australia’s intent to send down plenty of short balls to Amla, who is the No.2 batsman in the world on the ICC Test rankings, and was one of South Africa’s strongest performers in the two-match series against Australia last year. He led the run tally with 239 at 59.75 and made two of only four centuries in the series.Earlier on Wednesday, before the plans were published, Ricky Ponting was asked in Brisbane about whether sledging should be expected in the series, which begins at the Gabba on Friday. Ponting said Australia had no preconceived plans to sledge, but he conceded that in the heat of the battle for the No.1 Test ranking, things might get verbal at some point.”Whenever South Africa and Australia play the rivalry and the way we go about our cricket is very similar,” Ponting said. “I expect it to be good, hard tough Test match cricket. Whether that means there’s words spoken or not, I don’t know. That’s stuff that happens in the heat of the battle. We’ve got no preconceived ideas about going out there and sledging or talking. We’ll hopefully do the talking with bat and ball.”This will be the first series between the sides in which Australia will have the advantage of having as their mentor Mickey Arthur, the former South Africa coach who has worked with most of Graeme Smith’s squad in the past. Ponting said Arthur had been useful in devising plans against the South Africans, including how a powerful attack led by Dale Steyn would attack Australia’s batsman, and how best to rattle South Africa’s top order.”We’ve done our homework on all of their players,” Ponting said. “We’ve got very specific plans with the way we’re going to bowl to a lot of their batsmen. As a batting group we’ve spoken long and hard about the way their bowlers will bowl to us as well. It’s nice to know that stuff and a bit of inside information from the coach on how their bowlers will probably try to bowl to us as well is good.”We’ve got some areas for their batsmen that we’re going to target. Our young quicks are dying to get out there and have a crack at some of their top-order players. You can expect some fireworks. Some of their top order can expect a lot of short balls as well, that’s an area that we think we can really attack them. All in all our preparation so far has been good.”The dossier printed in Thursday’s newspapers also suggests the Australians will aim to trap Graeme Smith on the crease and dismiss him lbw, and test Vernon Philander’s endurance and his ability to come back for third and fourth spells. As well as attacking what it calls an “impatient” Tahir, the file encourages batsmen to go hard at Morne Morkel.The publication of the plans was reminiscent of an incident in 2000 when a dossier compiled by then-coach John Buchanan was leaked on a tour of New Zealand.

East Zone Under-16s were 219/3 at close of play on the second day against North Zone Under-16s in the final of the Vijay Hazare Trophy at the Rajinder Singh Institute Ground, Bangalore, on Friday.North Zone resumed at 398/7 and played on for another 23 overs, before being bowled out for 491. Gaurav Gupta remained unbeaten on 177 made off 250 balls including a six and 24 boundaries.Captain A Iqbal claimed the wickets of Abhishek Sharma (25) and Ankur Jund (0). Gupta and Sharma shared an eighth wicket partnership of 98 runs in 21.1 overs.Last man Puneet Sharma (0) held on for 15 balls before being trapped lbw by SK Ray. Iqbal was easily the best of the bowlers with the figures of 33-10-110-5.East Zone got off to a steady start with R Mohanty (48 with 8 fours) and M Biswas putting together 68 runs for the first wicket. A Garai and Biswas then added 56 runs for the second wicket, before Biswas was bowled by A Bali. Biswas made 45 off just 49 balls with the help of nine boundaries.SP Priyadarshan (38) struck five fours and a six in his 94-ball innings adding 65 runs for the third wicket with Garai. At close of play Iqbal (7) was batting with a resilient Garai (66). Garai has so far faced 193 balls, striking nine fours in his 206-minute stay at the crease. Bali has been the most successful bowler, taking 2/59.