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Kishore Pradhan, the curator of the VCA Stadium in Nagpur, where the third Test between India and Australia begins on October 26, has said that he is preparing a sporting pitch for the encounter. Speaking to , Pradhan said that the surface would “offer bowlers and batsmen an even chance”.”There is some grass but we can’t remove that as the wicket surface may get spoilt,” he continued. “We have stopped watering it since Wednesday.” Meanwhile, Shashank Manohar, the president of the Vidarbha Cricket Association, which is hosting the match, affirmed that he would go out of his way to ensure that the nature of the pitch was not dictated by anyone.”I have got no instructions from either the BCCI or the Indian team management. Even if I do, I am not going to oblige them,” he said, speaking to . He said that he was acting according to a circular issued by the BCCI earlier in the year, which called for sporting wickets “that would have enough bounce so as to encourage quicker bowlers and also improve strokeplay of batsmen”.Manohar had not approved of the pitches prepared for the first two Tests. “Those were very poor wickets,” he said. “A little bit of grass here will help the pitch get some pace and it’ll prevent it from breaking up.” He emphasised that both teams would benefit from the conditions.”In addition to the short boundaries,” he said, “the wicket has even bounce, something that should suit quality batsmen. If the Indians think of themselves as a good batting unit, they should not worry … if you are a cricket lover, you want the best team to win, and not your home team at the cost of quality cricket.”

Despite being ruled out of India’s two remaining Test matches against Sri Lanka, fast bowler Javagal Srinath is almost certain to be fit to tour South Africa in October.Srinath suffered a fracture in his left hand after being struck by a Dilhara Fernando delivery during the Galle Test match against Sri Lanka, but his orthopaedic surgeon Dr HPC Khincha said that the injury was not “serious” on Monday.”He may not be able to bat or field for three weeks,” Khincha told the Press Trust of India. “That he has bowled in a match after getting injured is a good sign. Srinath has a fracture of the left fifth metacarpal bone joining the little finger and the wrist.”Srinath did not bat again in the match but took five wickets in the first innings.Apart from Srinath, India are currently having to do without Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Ashish Nehra and Anil Kumble while captain Saurav Ganguly’s position has come increasingly under pressure.

The Indian goose is as good as cooked and South Africa, wanting itwell done, batted throughout the third day of the second Test at theChinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore on Saturday. In scoring 472 for eightby stumps and obtaining a first innings lead of 314 runs, the visitorshave certainly sharpened the nails. After all, that’s all South Africaneed to do now. Put the lid on the coffin and slam the nails home.Resuming with a lead of almost a hundred, South Africa made steadyprogress. Daryll Cullinan showed his aggressive intent yesterday andtoday he continued in the same vein. After getting to his halfcentury, Cullinan lost his wicket. The fall of Cullinan’s wicket wascompletely against the grain of play. Just when things were lookinggood for the Gauteng batsman, he was undone by a Kumble delivery. Asis becoming customary on tracks like these, the ball bobbled off thebat to the fielder standing close, Wasim Jaffer in thiscase. Cullinan’s 53 included five boundaries and that unforgettablestraight six off Kumble.Lance Klusener, who has not looked at ease with the bat all tour camein next. Indian bowling ‘attacks’ have a habit of bringing strugglingbatsmen back to form. Today was no exception. Klusener got a goodmeasure of the Indian bowling on a wicket that was slow andlow. Though the ball was turning, it was along predictable lines andKlusener had no difficulty in picking his spots and scoring fluently.At the other end, Kallis brought up his half century with a bigsix. Kallis has played the sheet anchor role to perfection on thistour.Having waited all day for Klusener and Kallis to reach theircenturies, and following that the South African declaration,spectators had more waiting to do. In tragic fashion, both Klusenerand Kallis fell short of the mark.Having done all the hard work, both batsmen fell to thespinners. Klusener was the first to go, driving a ball from Kartikstraight to Tendulkar at mid off. In the end it was a soft dismissal,after what had been a fighting innings from a man who struggled withthe bat in recent innings. Klusener’s 97 came off 169 balls.Kallis was easily the more solid of the pair that put on a 164 runpartnership for the fifth wicket. However, his caution might just havedeprived him of a Test century on Indian soil. Dabbing at a ball fromKumble, that perhaps did a little more than he expected, Kallispresented Jaffer with a simple catch under the helmet. Kallis felljust five runs short of his hundred.After the two well set batsmen were dismissed, the wickets fell inquick succession. Having bowled long spells without reward, Kumble andKartik finally got their names on the scoreboard for the rightreasons. Having done the lion’s share of the bowling, Kumble ended theday with figures of 67-15-136-5. Kartik was less successful and49-10-123-2 would have hardly been the returns he hoped for.An overnight declaration is inevitable. This will mean India have toscore 314 to avoid innings defeat. With such a massive lead, it wassurprising that the South Africans even batted as long as theydid. However, one thing emerges strongly from this exercise: theIndians, with three spinners, on a spinning track, will have toproduce a batting miracle to save this match. All is not well withIndian cricket.

Australia and Pakistan begin psychological warfare tomorrow in the first of two NatWest Series encounters rendered meaningless before the teams meet in the final at Lord’s on June 23.England’s run of defeats means that the remainder of the qualifying games are largely irrelevant although there will no doubt be some mind games played at Chester-le-Street tomorrow.And Australian coach John Buchanan has hinted that there could be some experimentation from both sides.”It is nice to be in the final. That being the case, there will be a littlebit of room for some experimenting along the way – but certainly we want to keepthe winning run going,” he said.”With the future in mind, it is important for us to continue to have a lookat Pakistan. I dare say they will put on the field a couple of players who we have not seen before, so that will be useful.”He added: “There is the luxury of having got to the final, which means wecan maybe look at one or two different things we would like to try.”We may take a few more liberties than we would normally do. We will betrying to play our best cricket but we will also have an eye on the future.”Australia’s renowned rotation system means tomorrow Glenn McGrath will be rested for the first time in the series, to be replaced by Brett Lee. Ricky Ponting is given a day off while Damien Fleming is back after a minor calf injury.Waqar Younis, who has said he believes it is essential his team wins at least one of the two clashes with Australia before the final, has a fully fit squad to choose from – but offered no further clues as to who would be taking the field.Australia: M Waugh, A Gilchrist (wkt), M Hayden, M Bevan, S Waugh (captain), DMartyn, A Symonds, S Warne, B Lee, J Gillespie, D Fleming.Pakistan (from): Salim Elahi, Shahid Afridi, Yousuf Youhana, Inzamam-ul-Haq,Abdur Razzaq, Waqar Younis (captain), Rashid Latif (wkt), Saqlain Mushtaq,Younis Khan, Wasim Akram, Azhar Mahmood, Saeed Anwar.

The second unofficial Test Match between Sri Lanka A and Pakistan A playedat NCC Grounds in Colombo today, like the first game in Dambulla, proved tobe a keenly contested affair and at the close of play the game remainedevenly balanced, with Sri Lanka claiming a marginal advantage.Pakistan, who looked well set on 102 for two at one stage, lost steadywickets throughout the afternoon, as the Sri Lankan fast bowlers started tofind their groove. The left-handed Toufiq Umer held the innings togetherwith a three-and-a-half hour 69. They were eventually bowled out for 229.Sri Lanka then survived a potentially dangerous eight over spell as theshadows started to stretch across this tree-lined ground. The Pakistaniopeners bowled with great fire and enthusiasm and managed to winkle outDammika Sudarshana, who was caught at third slip. Avishka Gunawardene,however, responded with typical disdain, smashing four boundaries before theclose.Sri Lanka, though delighted to have bowled out a talented Pakistan battingline-up through a combination of probing fast bowling and poor Pakistanirunning, will have been disappointed to have failed to fully exploit moistconditions during the morning session after winning the toss.They selected three fast bowlers – including Suresh Perera and IsharaAmarasinghe who did not play in Dambulla – so the decision to bowl first wasa fair one, even if Pakistan were unperturbed – they apparently wanted tobat.Unfortunately for Thilan Samaraweera, the captain, the openers, AkalankaGanegama and Ishara Amarasinghe, failed to find their radar and allowedPakistan to recover from the loss of an early wicket: Faisal Naweed in thefifth over, who was trapped leg-before wicket with a delivery from Ganegamathat looked gun barrel straight.Imran Farhat, a stocky left-hander, then played stylishly with Toufiq Umer,another left-hander, and the pair added 58 for the second wicket beforeIshara Amarasinghe, a strong-shouldered young prospect with genuine pace,trapped Farhat leg-before wicket for 27 in his first spell after theluncheon interval.Hasan Raza, who has been an up and coming player for an age, failed tofollow his hundred in the first match when he was caught behind off SureshPerera, who grew in confidence throughout the day. The Pakistan innings wasback in the balance at 102 for three.Qaiser Abbas and Toufiq Umer, who had by now completed a fine fifty, added afurther 35 runs, before Michael Vandort, a palm tree of a man, stretchedsmoothly down at second slip to catch Abbas for 23.The turning point of the innings came in the 56th over of the innings.Pakistan were 160 for 4 and looking strong with Touqir Umer on 69. He wasbatting with Misbah-ul-Haq, similar in style to his namesake Inzamann, butalso in his destructive running between the wickets. Within the space ofeight balls Umer and the wicket-keeper batsmen Humayan Farhat were back inthe pavilion having been run out.Pakistan’s tail had been opened and the Sri Lankan fast bowlers sensed someeasier pickings. Misbah-ul-Haq did his best to make up for the run outsthough with an entertaining 34, full of placid defensive strokes, delicatelate cuts, and lumbering clumps through mid on. Inzamann would have beenproud to share his name.After Yasir Arafat and ul-Haq had added 15 for the eight wicket Pakistanlost three wickets for 25, before Irfan Fazil (26) warmed up for his bowlingwith some entertaining blows at the death and added 17 for the final wicket.Perera, who bore the brunt of Fazil’s aggression, ended the innings whenTillakaratne Dilshan took his third catch of the innings behind the stumps.

A dramatic West Indies batting collapse inspired by spin wizard MuttiahMuralitharan pulled Sri Lanka back into the first Test in Galle onWednesday, to leave the match evenly poised after the second day.West Indies, who started the day well placed on 316-3, extended their scoreto 409-4 at lunch, before collapsing in a heap during a frenetic hour afterlunch, in which six wickets fell for 69.Sri Lanka, replying to 448 and thus first needing 248 to avoid the followon, started like they wanted a first innings lead by lunch the next day,racing to 37 off the first five overs.They slowed after the fall of Jayasuriya (25 off 19 balls), who was caughtat backward point trying to hit his fifth boundary, but lost no furtherwickets before bad light stopped play, finishing on 103-1.Opener Marvan Atapattu unbeaten on 46 from 107 balls and wicket-keeperbatsman Kumar Sangakkara on 27 from 85 balls.Muralitharan had toiled away for 40 overs on the first day without his usualsuccess, taking just one wicket. On the second morning, he was not useduntil the second hour, but in his third over of the day he deceived CarlHooper (69 from 120 balls) in air to end a stylish innings from the captain.It also brought to a close a West Indies record 153 run fourth wicketpartnership against Sri Lanka that had threatened to overwhelm the hometeam.Still, with Lara at the wicket at lunch, Sri Lanka looked in deep trouble.Muralitharan then swapped ends and soon captured the prize scalp of Lara(178 from 293 balls), who gloved a sweep and was smartly caught by an alertSangakkara diving forward, to leave the West Indies 423-5.The tourists then capitulated. Chaminda Vaas, probing away diligently fromthe Fort End, joined in the action with Muralitharan, and the pair pluckedout the remaining five wickets for 14 runs.Marlon Samuels foolishly tried to drive a flighted off-break against thespin and was bowled through the gate for 16. Ridley Jacobs nibbled anoutswinger from Vaas and Mervyn Dillion flashed a snick to first slip.Three balls later Muralitharan finished off the innings as DinanathRamnarine was picked up at silly point and Colin Stuart was bowled firstball.Muralitharan had finished with 6-125, the 29th time he had taken fivewickets in an innings (only Richard Hadlee has taken more). Moreimpressively, he had taken 5-21 in the day from 13.3 overs.Speaking afterwards, with a Cheshire cat-like grin, he said: “During thefirst day my rhythm was not quite there, but today it was coming out reallynicely.”We always thought that if we could get Lara out we get all the otherwickets quickly, as they had some inexperienced batsmen to come and it iseasy for me to take the wickets of tailenders,” he said.Sri Lanka, instead of facing a total in excess of 500, that had seemedprobable, they were left with a manageable total on the best batting pitchseen at Galle in its seven Test history.All three results remain possible. In 1998 England scored 445 at the Ovalagainst Sri Lanka and believed they had safeguarded the game only to see theopposition rattle up 591, before Muralitharan grabbed nine wickets in theEnglish second innings to win the game.Muralitharan was upbeat about the team’s chances: “Unfortunately, Lara got abig one, but this is a batting wicket and still we can get a result if wescore around 500. By the fourth and fifth day it is going to spin a longway.”The West Indies will believe that any lead will be useful on a turningpitch, which this is sure to be by the fourth and fifth day. Sri Lanka arestill a not inconsiderable 345 runs adrift.Both Atapattu and Sangakkara played well. Atapattu drove fluently straightdown the ground for two boundaries and square cut McGarrell for another,whilst Sangakkara played himself in carefully, before hitting four fours inthe final hour.The tourists look like they will depend heavily upon Mervyn Dillion, whobowled a testing ten over spell with the new ball, and leg-spinner DinanathRamanarine, who came on in the 23rd over of the innings.Dillion’s new partner, Colin Stuart, who looked impressive in Matara beforehe retired with leg cramps, lacked rhythm and was wayward, conceding 22 runsin his first three overs.Neil McGarrell, playing his first game of the two-week long tour, lookedrusty and failed to trouble the Sri Lankan batsmen unduly with his flattrajectory.

Toronto, Canada – Yet again so near but so far for the spirited Argentina cricketteam. A horrible bowling start saw the USA race into a commanding position before adetermined fightback and some characteristicly outstanding fielding, on the groundand in the air, saw Argentina bowl out the USA for 243 in 47 overs. Another resoluteand intelligent batting display saw Argentina on target nearly all the way through,until later in the innings when the pressure of runs and a sudden USA hat-trick sawArgentina’s innings end for 202 in the 49th over. Hero was Argentina’s Player of theSeries, Matias Paterlini, with a cultured 63, well-supported by 37 from skipperKirschbaum, and 34 from make-shift opener Perez Rivero. At one point 78 without loss,and later 142 for 1, too many careless runs, in my opinion in excess of 80, givenaway by untidy bowling, saw the task tantalisingly out of reach.

Mel Cairns, the wife of former New Zealand allrounder Chris Cairns, has denied that an alleged discussion about match-fixing in a Manchester bar ever took place.The jury in Chris Cairns’ perjury trial had previously been told about a night out in Manchester in 2008, when Eleanor Riley, the former wife of Lou Vincent, one of the main prosecution witnesses, gave evidence that Cairns had said he was confident he would get away with fixing because “everyone was doing it in India”.Mel Cairns, who was appearing via video link, was present on the night, which involved several hours of drinking. Asked by Cairns’ barrister Orlando Pownall, QC, whether there had been any discussion of fixing, she replied: “Absolutely not.”Vincent was playing for Lancashire at the time, having previously been involved with the Indian Cricket League (ICL) alongside Cairns, where he said he was under “direct orders” to fix matches.Chris Cairns is accused of perjury and perverting the course of justice during his 2012 libel case against Lalit Modi. He denies all charges.Mel and Chris Cairns met in 2008, when he was still married to his previous wife. They subsequently lived together in Dubai, where Cairns has said he was looking to get involved in the diamond trade. The couple were married in 2010 and have two children.It was put to Mel Cairns by the crown prosecutor, Sasha Wass, QC, that she was lying to protect her husband. Wass had previously alleged that the money Cairns was paid by an Indian diamond company was “a reward for fixing cricket matches”.Mel Cairns said: “I would never lie to help my husband in court.”An Australian who played college basketball in the US, Mel Cairns works with professional athletes in sports marketing and management. She said she “absolutely would not have a relationship” with Chris Cairns if match-fixing had been discussed after they had first met.Mel Cairns was giving evidence over video from the couple’s home in Canberra because she said they could not afford for her to travel, although she had wanted to be with Cairns during the trial, which began more than four weeks ago.”It broke my heart to watch Chris walk every day, alone to and from court, and knowing he was going home alone by himself,” she said.The trial continues.

Former India fast bowler Ajit Agarkar has called for the selectors to scrutinise MS Dhoni’s role in the Indian team, and not merely as captain. Agarkar felt the selectors should look at Virat Kohli’s performance as the Test captain by comparison, and make a call on Dhoni’s role in the limited-overs format after the ongoing South Africa series.

‘Dhoni way too practical at times’

Ahead of the five-match ODI series against South Africa, Agarkar said he was “delighted” that India’s squad was boosted by the genuine pace of Umesh Yadav, something he felt was lacking in the T20Is.
“MS Dhoni keeps saying you don’t need to be a fast bowler, you need to be a good bowler, but it has been shown in T20s, you need bowlers with quality. They [ fast bowlers] can and will have bad days in the shorter format. And that’s where I think the selectors need to almost put their foot down at times with MS Dhoni. He is, at times, way too practical, which doesn’t work for the team anymore.
“You would rather have someone [like Umesh] who can make a difference with those one or two wickets which can change the game rather than someone who is going to bowl line and length all day.”
India’s medium-pace trio of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohit Sharma and S Aravind collectively managed just the one wicket in the two T20Is played, while conceding over eight, nine and 12 an over respectively.

Speaking to ESPNcricinfo ahead of India’s ODI series against South Africa, Agarkar said “the selectors need to have a closer look at what MS Dhoni is doing, not just as captain, but as a player as well”.Agarkar was especially concerned by Dhoni’s declining individual form. “He has been a great player for India, but you don’t want him to become a liability for the team. And he needs to perform a lot better than he has [been]. Just because he has done it over the years, doesn’t mean it’s okay for him to fail.”Agarkar was also highly critical of Dhoni’s decision to bat at No.4 in the one-day format, insisting that such a move would be “unfair” on somebody like Ajinkya Rahane and “would not work for the team.”‘I’m not convinced he should bat at four,” Agarkar said. “Just after a World Cup, you’re now trying to develop your team for the next World Cup. Four years is a long time, but for Dhoni, towards the end of his career, to put himself up, I’m not sure about it. You can understand if there are batsmen who can’t bat 3 and 4. But there is Ajinkya Rahane, who has been one of your best players in Test cricket and I don’t think he can bat lower than four in ODIs yet, unless he changes his game over his career.”Dhoni seems to have lost that ability of going out there and smashing it from ball one. He obviously takes his time. But he batted up the order in Bangladesh, and India still lost the series. All his career when people wanted him to bat up because he is so good and has that destructive ability, he has always maintained that he wants and needs to bat at No.6, where he can handle the pressure.”It’s a hard job batting at 5, 6 and 7. I’ve seen Yuvraj and MS himself do it for so long, but that doesn’t mean that it changes at this stage in his career. You’ve got to have guys who are good at certain numbers. And at the moment MS by promoting himself, is getting a Rahane or anyone else who bats there, into trouble. I would still have Raina and Dhoni at 5 and 6, so contrary to what a lot of people have said, I don’t think Dhoni should be batting at four at this stage in his career.”Agarkar believed the selectors might have some big decisions to take at the end of the ODI series against South Africa, on the future of the Indian team in ODIs and T20Is.”Looking at the results, India have generally been good in ODIs, but you’ve lost the World Cup semi-final, then you’ve lost in Bangladesh where Dhoni was captain twice, and you’ve now lost a T20 series. Yes, the T20s can go either way very quickly so you don’t want to judge someone, but for Dhoni this is a big series,” he said.”The selectors maybe need to look at where the Indian team is heading because Virat Kohli has done well as captain in Test cricket so maybe the selectors need to make that call after this series.’

Sydney Sixers’ senior pro Brad Haddin has called for a reinstatement of some form of the Champions League T20, on the day it was announced that the Big Bash League prize money was being bolstered through compensation funds for the cancellation of the tournament three years before its television contract expired.The BBL, due to commence on Thursday with a Sydney derby between Thunder and the Sixers, has had its stakes raised by the addition of an extra $600,000, up from $290,000 last summer, though the vast majority of this will go to the clubs rather than their players.In the latest episode of an ongoing haggle over money between Cricket Australia and the Australian Cricketers Association, the board wanted any player prize increases to come out of the player payment pool already set aside for male contracted players, rather than the CLT20 compensation, a figure believed to be between $80 and $100 million.

Haddin bats for Lyon’s World T20 place

Nathan Lyon is the best spin bowler in Australia across all formats and should be allowed to demonstrate it at next year’s World Twenty20. That’s the view of Brad Haddin, who said Lyon did not have anything to prove to selectors in the game’s shorter formats despite his continued absence from the ODI and T20 squads.
“He’s the premiere spinner in Australia isn’t he?” Haddin said. “He’s been bowling outstanding for the last 18 months whether it be a white ball or a red ball, he just hasn’t had much opportunity to play with the white ball. But his form over all forms of cricket is outstanding.
“I don’t think Nathan has to do anything different to be honest, his bowling’s been exceptional for a long period now and every time he gets an opportunity with the white ball it’s no different. Just the way the schedules are hasn’t had much opportunity to play with the white ball, he was outstanding during the Matador Cup and he was great for the Sixers last year. I’m a bit biased, I think he’s the premiere spinner in Australia.”

While Haddin said he felt players were “pretty content” with present prize money levels, he urged CA to work at refashioning a global club T20 competition that provided added incentives for teams to perform in the BBL. “It’s disappointing that it’s not there,” Haddin said. “It’s a great tournament, and with the Sixers we are lucky that we have got a couple of really key Australian players who enjoy coming back for the tournament as well.”It’s a massive carrot; you can’t hide behind that fact, for state associations and Australian cricket as well. From a players’ point of view, and NSW Cricket and the Sixers, we’d like to see something go ahead. You can’t get past the fact it is an attractive tournament to play in. I hope they find something to replace it, because it’s a great carrot for not only international players but domestic players to get to play in a different country but also to play all around the world.”The CLT20 was founded as tournament jointly run by the boards of India, Australia and South Africa in 2008, and won a 10-year television deal worth $900 million with Star Sports off the back of the success of the inaugural IPL earlier that year. However it did not draw in the TV ratings or advertising revenue the broadcasters had hoped for, leading to a deal to conclude it ahead of the contract’s 2018 expiry.The proliferation of T20 leagues is a major undercurrent to the problems faced by the West Indies, something Haddin acknowledged by noting that most of the region’s best players would be turning out in the BBL this summer rather than the concurrent Test series. Haddin did not seem overly fussed by the decline of the West Indies Test team.”That’s their choice,” he said of the likes of Chris Gayle, Darren Sammy and Dwayne Bravo. “If you want to see the best of the West Indies come to the Big Bash. We’ve got Andre Russell, I think he was player of the tournament in the IPL this year, so there are some talented West Indians out there, they just happen to be playing Big Bash and not Test cricket.”If the [Test matches] only go for two and a half days, there’s obviously days where there’ll be Big Bash scheduled, I think the concept of this tournament’s just been getting bigger and bigger every year. If the West Indies have been playing the way they have last Test – I think they’ll come out and show some fight in the next two – but it’s an opportunity for people to come and see some young cricketers and also some of the greats in the Big Bash.”Since his Test retirement, Haddin has tried his hand at several pursuits, and admitted he could now see himself carving out a career of several years as a T20 freelancer. “I’m pretty lucky I finished my Test career with no niggles and my body’s in good shape,” he said.”It’s a great opportunity to go and play Twenty20, you only have to prepare for one form of the game, and if someone’s bowling really fast I can stand outside leg and have a swing and say I was trying to move the game forward and not be scared!”This is the start of my campaign now to move forward and hopefully play all around the world. I’m just excited about the Big Bash, it’s going from strength to strength and getting bigger every year.”