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Two days before the first Twenty20 international, New Zealand assembled for what is perhaps their most important summer – or what passes off as summer in these parts – of cricket in recent times. And already they sound in awe of playing what they reckon to be the best side in the world across all forms in a series that will earn New Zealand cricket almost as much money in 45 days from TV rights as rugby, the No. 1 sport by a long margin, does in a year. Listening to coach Andy Moles and batting mainstay Ross Taylor might make the series sound a like hopeless mismatch but they know it will take India time to adjust to conditions and that will be the chance to hurt them.New Zealand also carry some confidence having pushed Australia to the limit in the Chappell-Hadlee Series in Australia but Moles conceded they missed a trick there. “Having gone 2-0 up in Australia, the feeling in the camp was pretty good,” Moles said. “We probably just stood back a little bit, and waited for the Australians to give us an opportunity to win the game. We need to be proactive and go out and win the games against the Indians, who are probably the No. 1 side in the world.”And not merely in the limited-overs game. “I think all facets,” Moles said. “You look at the last 18 months; they have gone around the world, and at home, they have played really good cricket.”Taylor mirrored Moles’ sentiment. “Over the last 12-18 months, they have been consistent, they have beaten Australia, and things like that. Definitely they are the world’s best team at the moment. It’s exciting for us to play against them to see where we are at on our home turf, and hopefully have some success and show the New Zealand public a good series.”The sense of being overawed stems from their lack of experience. Sachin Tendulkar alone has scored 3263 more Test runs than the combined New Zealand Test side. And the respect and sense of awe show. “I grew up watching them,” Taylor said. “As a youngster Tendulkar was someone I looked up to. When you play at this level you probably want to put all that aside. Some of these players will be a bit star-struck, but come match day they will be fine.”The money pouring in adds to the hype. NZC will rake in approximately NZ$25 million from TV rights for the tour while rugby, the national obsession, gets them around $34.8million. “I knew the figures were being bandied around, but that doesn’t really play on my mind,” Taylor said. “First and foremost you have your own personal standards to try and attain. Obviously that’s doing well for yourself and your country. So if you do well, all the money and the rest takes care of itself.”But New Zealand also know they will be playing in conditions they know much better than their opposition, who don’t have history on their side. “Certainly in the past the Indian teams haven’t toured too well,” Moles said. “But they put a lot of that to bed over the last couple of years. From our point of view we are really proud to play at home. We like to defend our ground, we will look to put India under pressure when we can and hope to expose the weaknesses they have.”

Moles did not, however, elaborate on what those weaknesses were. “We haven’t really gone down that road as yet,” he said. “But if we can get the ball to bounce a little bit … and they are coming from Sri Lanka where wickets are really low. So we have to bowl well with the new ball.”Taylor said while the conditions would lend some evenness to the contest, India would do much better than last time round. “I think a lot of people made a lot of it the last time they were out here,” he said. “The wickets have improved a lot since then. I don’t think India need to worry a lot about green seaming wickets. I am sure over the next month or so Indians will see how the conditions have changed.”The day was rainy and windy and India opted for indoor nets but, looking at the way the New Zealand public and the team have responded to India, it hardly seems they are away from home. After two days of fanfare around India’s practice, New Zealand practised without many watching on. Moles and Taylor drove the luggage truck to the ground themselves. And Moles knows it’s Taylor and the other seniors who will have to drive New Zealand in this summer of expectations. “The seniors need to step up. And they are aware. They are seeing it as a fantastic opportunity to show their ways as well. For us to perform well, we need our senior players to play well.”

The ICC will address the fiasco of last week’s abandoned Test at the Sir Viv Richards Stadium when its chief executives meet in South Africa next week.”A week ago we were all downcast after that disastrous abandonment which brought a great deal of unwanted negative publicity to the game,” ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat. “We never want a repeat of that situation and next week we will start the process of seeing what lessons we can learn from it when the matter will be discussed in Johannesburg.”The two teams and the playing control team showed willingness to get on and play at a venue which hadn’t staged a Test match in three years while local officials, including Andy Roberts and ARG curator Keith Frederick, plus countless volunteers made the ground fit for play inside 48 hours. The match was another example of why Test cricket continues to endure. For sustained tension and excitement there is nothing like it.”The West Indies Cricket Board will also conduct an independent one-man inquiry and a full announcement by its president Julian Hunte is expected in the coming week.”We are going to appoint a one-person inquiry into the matter. I’m sure the government of Antigua will also be doing so,” Donald Peters, the WICB chief executive, told the .That will not be of consolation to the thousands of England fans who had arranged to be in Antigua for the match. While most were able to see the re-arranged game, many missed the last couple of days as they had return flights booked based on the dates of the original game.The embarrassment of the mess at the new stadium has been compounded by reluctance of anyone to accept responsibility. The West Indies board have blamed the local organisations but the Antigua Cricket Association and the Leeward Islands Cricket Association are as adamant it was not down to them.Some also point the finger at the ICC for what they argue was pressure put on the WICB to build a new, and unloved, venue in Antigua.However, Lorgat was in no doubt where the buck stopped. “It’s clearly the WICB’s [responsibility],” he said, hinting that the future of international cricket at the Sir Viv Richards Stadium was in doubt.

England XI 424 for 8 and 271 for 5 (Strauss 103, Cook 50) beat St Kitts Invitational XI 251 (Panesar 4-53) and 221 (Rogers 79) by 217 runs
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Andrew Strauss bounced back from his first-innings duck to post England’s third century of the match, then followed up with his first victory as full-time captain, as England crushed a St Kitts Invitational XI by 217 runs at Basseterre. After resuming on 118 for 0 overnight, England declared on 271 for 5, leaving St Kitts an improbable 445 for victory. They were eventually bowled out for 221 inside two sessions, with Monty Panesar adding three more wickets to take his match tally to seven.Strauss, who had been dismissed by the second ball of the match on Sunday, retired immediately after reaching his landmark from 116 balls, just as his opening partner, Alastair Cook, had done after his half-century in the final session of the second day. The first bona fide wicket of England’s innings was that of Matt Prior, who collided with his partner, Ian Bell, in mid-pitch and was run out for 3.Bell, whose place is under severe scrutiny in this game, once again left room for debate about his future with a pretty 49 that, like his first-innings 36, contained several classy moments but ended in a weak fashion when he scuffed a drive to mid-on against the offspinner, Trevier Smithen. Stuart Broad, who confirmed today he will not be taking part in this year’s IPL, hit five fours and a six in a 35-ball 36, leaving just enough time for Adil Rashid and James Anderson to face 12 deliveries each.On a day when England’s injury worries were alleviated, both by the positive news of Andrew Flintoff’s side injury and the appearance of Owais Shah as a substitute fielder following his eye problem, England were able to leave the field feeling satisfied with their overall showing across the three days. Victory came with 20 minutes of the match to spare, as the spin pairing of Adil Rashid and Panesar whittled through the tail from a comfortable tea-time position of 100 for 3.England shared the wickets around with all six of their bowlers claiming a scalp. Steve Harmison removed the teenaged opener, Kejel Tyson, for the second time in the match, before Broad chipped in with two wickets before tea, Steve Liburd and the captain, Shane Jeffers, for 41. Once again only Codville Rogers, who resisted in the first innings with 63, was able to come to terms with the variety of England’s attack. He top-scored for the second time with 79.

Mahela Jayawardene, the Sri Lanka captain, said his team were fortunate to have the cushion of a 500-plus lead against Bangladesh. Set 521 in Mirpur, the hosts gave Sri Lanka a few anxious moments, but were eventually dismissed for 413.”The way they played, I mean they batted very well. So credit should go to them,” Jayawardene said. “The only good thing is that we had 521 runs behind us and we knew we had to be patient, bowl in the good areas and create opportunities. It was big effort from our bowlers on a very slow wicket towards the end.”Jayawardene said the team was aware that it would be tough to dismiss Bangladesh for less than 200 on a surface favouring the batsmen, which is why they declared only after putting themselves in a comfortable position. “We got five sessions to get them out. They batted very well, especially the middle order and the lower middle-order. [Mohammad] Ashraful, Shakib [Al Hasan] and [Mushfiqur] Rahim at the end batted very well and credit to them.”Jayawardene said Sri Lanka had been wary of being complacent against Bangladesh, despite the poor record of their opponents who have only one Test victory. “You know in the last couple of Test matches they were very close to winning against New Zealand and probably one [Test] against South Africa as well,” he said. “So we knew they are capable of doing so.”Mohammad Ashraful, the Bangladesh captain, said the team had performed “pretty well”. “Our bowlers bowled well in the first innings, but some decisions went against us that allowed the opponents to post a good total on the board. We knew we did not bat well in the first innings, but I will say we played pretty well throughout the game.”Ashraful raised Bangladesh’s slim hopes of a win with a century, adding 112 for the sixth wicket alongside Shakib Al Hasan. Bangladesh continued to fight after Ashraful’s dismissal, with Shakib combining with wicketkeeper Mushfiqur Rahim in a 111-run stand, a Bangladesh record for the seventh wicket.”Our target was to play session by session on the final day and perform better. We never thought of the outcome,” Ashraful said. He felt Bangladesh could have pulled off a record chase – the highest is West Indies’ 418 for 4 against Australia in Antigua – had either he or Shakib remained at the crease.”Unfortunately, I got out and Shakib missed his century. Once he left, we gave up hope. But we did not lose heart as Rahim was in very good form in the last couple of series.”

In recent times, pre-match press conferences have often been the first skirmishes in a little game that Steve Waugh liked to call mental disintegration. Prior to this Chennai Test, though, veiled barbs and snide asides were in short supply, with both captains singing from a Show-must-go-on hymn sheet. It’s been a traumatic fortnight for everyone concerned, and Mahendra Singh Dhoni wasn’t just speaking for himself when he said: “The best thing that I could give to India at this juncture is a good game of cricket. That is what we are here to do as professional cricketers.”What happened in Mumbai put things into perspective. Cricket, like most sports, borrows many metaphors from the battlefield, but its rightful place in the larger scheme of things was brought home over the 60 hours that cold-blooded assassins ran amok in a hotel that has been home away from home to generations of cricketers. “We were not really thinking about cricket at that point of time,” said Dhoni. “When it happened we were so sad. We were glued to the television.”In that 70 hours or so, I really slept for just six hours. We were not thinking about cricket but thinking about what a ghastly thing was happening over there. It was really tough. The sentiments were quite low. We did a good job not to play the one-day series.”For Kevin Pietersen and his men, the terror attacks meant a trip home and consultations with loved ones and board officials over whether the tour should resume. There have been anecdotes aplenty down the years to illustrate the whingeing-Pom stereotype, but cowardice and lack ofcommitment certainly won’t be labels attached to this English side. Pietersen spoke of how much he and his players love playing in India, and win or lose, they have done the three lions on the crest proud just by being here.The platitudes will stop tomorrow morning though. For both sides, this is a pivotal series. Pietersen has to ensure that the focus is on the here and now, and an upwardly mobile Indian team, rather than on the Ashes series which is less than a year away. For India, conquerors of Australia not so long ago, this is a chance to push on and make a serious bid for the top ranking.In many ways, it’s also the start of a new era. As Dhoni said at the press conference, modern-day Indian captains had grown so used to Anil Kumble being there as a perennial Plan B [A when it was a turning track] that the idea of going into a series without him seems almost bizarre. Both Amit Mishra and Yuvraj Singh are stepping into large boots, and the best thing they can do is chart their own course. The minute Mishra worries about 600 wickets, or Yuvraj about 7000 Test runs, then they’re lost.The other Indian in the spotlight before the game was Rahul Dravid, once the unshakeable pillar of India’s batting. Once again, Dhoni’s backing for the struggling titan was unequivocal. “He has been shaping up really well in the net sessions,” he said. “We know the amount of talent he has got, and he is also one the most committed cricketers around. He will definitely get scores in the series.”When Pietersen was asked whether he considered Dravid a weak link, he almost scoffed. “I would never say that Rahul Dravid is a soft area of any line-up,” he said with a wry smile. “He’s a serious player. They don’t call him The Wall for nothing.”

England’s selection has clearly been influenced by the expectation that the pitch will take turn as it wears, but while the spin tussles will be fascinating, it could be the pace bowlers that break open the game with inclement weather forecast for the next few days. Andrew Flintoff’s mastery of reverse swing was a huge factor in England’s triumphant Ashes campaign of three years ago, and in Ishant Sharma and Zaheer Khan, India have two men who can match him.Tony Greig isn’t the only one to be amazed by the strides that Zaheer has made with the ball over the past two seasons, and his tenacity withthe bat has also been indicative of a man who truly values each cap he gets. Just as important to Indian hopes will be Harbhajan Singh, who has to assume the Kumble mantle. Too often in the news for the wrong reasons, his renaissance, against Sri Lanka and Australia, came at just the right time.Monty Panesar will hope to match him, while Pietersen clearly expects big things from the combative Swann. It’s the other two components of the attack that have the most question marks surrounding them though. James Anderson can go from red-hot to ice-blue-cold in the same game, while Steve Harmison doesn’t travel with the enthusiasm of Dr Livingstone. Virender Sehwag and Yuvraj have been targeted in the past with short-pitched bowling and Harmison’s natural length could be the decisive factor if England decide to go down that route.India start favourites, but mental resilience will play even more of a role than the humidity at a venue that has seen famous English and Indian victories. The crowd’s enthusiasm will be essential as men on both sides, shocked out of the protective bubble that they usually inhabit, try to get on with the task of playing a game.

Scorecard
There were no glorious uncertainties on the fourth day in Mysore with Karnataka needing a little more than two hours to complete a straightforward victory, their first of the season.Andhra’s slim chances of making the 292 more runs they needed became slimmer still when their most dependable batsman, Gnaneshwara Rao, fell to a spectacular one-handed catch by Robin Uthappa at mid-off in the fourth over of the day.The Karnataka quicks tested new man AG Pradeep and ASK Varma with a series of bouncers but it wasn’t until the introduction of spin that the next wicket fell. Sunil Joshi struck in his first over, getting Varma to nick one to the keeper.Karnataka were looking to finish things early, keeping four men around the bat to the spinners. Andhra were at 49 for 6, with Pradeep, their last recognised batsman, at the crease. He decided to go after the bowling, a lofted on drive off KP Appanna which landed just within the boundary. He followed that up with a six over long-on off Joshi in the next over as Andhra moved briskly to 97 for 6.Appanna, however, brought Andhra’s charge to an abrupt halt. M Suresh’s attempted backfoot drive ended in the gloves of Naidu, Pradeep’s front-foot defensive rolled onto the stumps after deflecting off his pads, GV Sarath Babu was bowled playing down the wrong line, and last man P Vijaykumar’s wild heave connected only with air to allow a simple stumping for Naidu, his sixth dismissal in the innings and ninth of thematch.Karnataka may have got their season back on track but question marks remain over their fragile batting. Robin Uthappa and Rahul Dravid had satisfactory games but the other specialist batsmen had a match to forget.

On Thursday, England take on India in Kanpur while Australia return to their favourite fortress in Brisbane to face New Zealand, and there’s also the second day of South Africa’s warm-up Test series against Bangladesh at Bloemfontein to enjoy. With that amount of cricket action around the world, the Harare Sports Club is unlikely to be the centre of much attention. Nevertheless, for the home side, Zimbabwe, the venue plays host to a significant occasion, as they take on Sri Lanka in their first home international in almost a year.West Indies were the last team to visit the troubled country, back in December 2007, when they wrapped up a 3-1 victory in a five-match ODI series. Since then, the team has endured an itinerant existence against a backdrop of political unrest – in January they lost a low-key away series against their fellow outcasts, Pakistan, before taking part in a rain-ruined triangular tournament with Kenya and Ireland in Nairobi in October, and a Twenty20 tournament in Canada. A five-match series against Sri Lanka, World Cup finalists in 2007, is the most appetising contest they’ve had in months.To judge by recent history, however, the visit could be another embarrassment for Zimbabwe. On their last visit in 2004, Sri Lanka’s unchallenged dominance paved the way for the country’s ongoing suspension from Test status. They lost both five-day games by margins in excess of an innings and 200 runs, then were overwhelmed 5-0 in the ODIs. To make matters worse, Zimbabwe’s captain and lone star of that series, Tatenda Taibu, could be missing from this encounter. He is currently embroiled in a dispute with Zimbabwe Cricket over pay and conditions.On the flip side, Zimbabwe could welcome back the services of their talented but temperamental allrounder, Sean Williams, who announced last month that he was pulling out of the series out of frustration at a lack of proper cricket. He missed the pre-series training camp but was back in action in the nets during Sri Lanka’s warm-up match at Bulawayo last week. Given the paucity of their resources, the selectors are unlikely to leave him on the sidelines regardless of his attitude towards them.That Bulawayo match – a four-day affair – finished as a draw to give Zimbabwe some hope that they’ll be able to muster a challenge, although with Kumar Sangakkara rattling up a massive 174 and Chamara Kapugedera 150, there aren’t many doubts about the form of Sri Lanka’s batting line-up. That said, they were bowled out for 235 inside their allotted 50 overs in their final warm-up on Monday, prompting their coach, Trevor Bayliss, to accuse them of lacking application.”We need to get back into gear and quickly,” Bayliss told AFP. “I’m sure it will be very different when things get serious from Thursday.” With Muttiah Muralitharan still lurking and as hungry as ever for wickets, not to mention their new spin sensation, Ajantha Mendis, it’s hard to see how Zimbabwe will muster enough runs to mount a serious challenge in the course of the series.Zimbabwe squad Prosper Utseya (capt), Chamunorwa Chibhabha, Elton Chigumbura, Keith Dabengwa, Timycen Maruma, Hamilton Masakadza, Shingirayi Masakadza, StuartMatsikenyeri, Christopher Mpofu, Tawanda Mupariwa, Forster Mutizwa, RaymondPrice, Edward Rainsford, Vusimuzi Sibanda, Tatenda TaibuSri Lanka squad Mahela Jayawardene (capt), Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Udawatte, Chamara Kapugedera, Jehan Mubarak, Thilina Kandamby, Upul Tharanga, Farveez Maharoof, ThilanThushara, Nuwan Kulasekara, Ajantha Mendis, Dilhara Fernando, Muttiah Muralitharan, Angelo Mathews, Dammika Prasad.

In a change from last season, the Pentangular Cup, played between Pakistan’s provinces, will kick off the first-class season when defending champions Sind take on runners-up Federal Areas in Karachi next week.On the same day, October 25, Baluchistan, who were at the bottom of the table last season, will start their four-day match against North West Frontier Province (NWFP) in Quetta. Punjab will play their first game in Islamabad against the Federal Areas between October 31 and November 3. Each team will play the other once, with the final in Lahore from November 24 to 28.The Pakistan Cricket Board had wanted the tournament’s format revamped to avoid the lopsided nature of some of the results in the previous edition – particularly in matches involving under-strength teams like Balochistan and NWFP – but failed to convince the regional associations on the changes. The tournament’s format has changed frequently since its inception in the early 1970s, with the number of teams at times going up to as many as seven.Last season the tournament was played in March and the championship was decided on the basis of points at the end of ten matches. Sind took home Rs1 million as the Cup winners.

Matthew Hayden has attributed his remarkable success against spin in India to a camp held under the supervision of Bishen Bedi and Erapalli Prasanna in Chennai in 1999. Before Hayden toured India in 2001, he tallied only 536 runs in 13 Tests at an average of just over 24 but he accumulated more than 500 runs in the three-Test series.”It [the spin camp] was a very important camp. Based on that experience I was able to formulate a gameplan and batting strategy,” Hayden said. “Importantly, I came to understand the mindset of a spinner. I practised a variety of shots, tried out lots of options and developed my game against spin.”Prasanna remembers a young Hayden, pushing for the ball and not allowing it to come to him. “We told him, either you take the ball on the full or wait. And we also talked about his sweep shot. Some batsmen usually take the left leg out and expose the middle stump. We asked Hayden to get in line a bit more before he plays that shot forcefully. He was obviously a very keen student.”Hayden later asked Ross Harris, then the curator at the Allan Border field in Queensland, to replicate Indian conditions for practice just before coming to India in 2001. “He asked me to try and make a slow turner for him … well, the first week we tried it rained, so that didn’t work, and the next week was the weekend of the A Grade one-day final,” Harris once told ABC. “It was dry and we got him a wicket. I think he just decided to believe in himself, and that’s why he asked me to try and prepare some wickets.”Moving on to the current series, Hayden said Australia are likely to adopt the same defensive approach that brought them success in their 2004 tour of India. Unlike their earlier tours, Australia set deep defensive fields right from the start and preyed on the patience of the Indian batsmen. “Most likely that’s the way we will go about it here. It’s actually difficult for both teams; it’s against our nature to play a defensive game but we did taste success with it last time,” Hayden said. “In India, the game can seem to meander for quite a while before it suddenly changes in a session. So patience is very important to succeed here. It’s going to be a very interesting series.”

Hayden said he believed the sweep – which he developed with help from Border and Bobby Simpson – would remain his most productive shot against spin in the current series. “As I had told you before, that was something I practised a lot for the previous series as the ‘go-to shot’ for scoring against spinners. It has worked very well for me and I will continue to do that.”His inspiration, he said, would be his performances on previous tours. “My tours here have been the greatest preparation. I am feeling very comfortable and confident with my game at the moment. The Indian series is one of the great challenges in cricket and I feel up to it mentally. Yes, I didn’t play in the West Indies but I’m back from injury and I have worked hard. And I have, as you know, had success in India. Even in the IPL – I did really well here. So I’m feeling pretty confident actually.”There has been speculation in the media over Hayden’s retirement from ODIs and he stressed that he sees a role in the near future. “Look, I won’t be playing in the next World Cup for sure but I am still very keen to play in the immediate future.”

Having kicked off two months ago, the Under-23 Youth Tournament Division 1 is nearing its close, with Sri Lanka Under-20 Schools unexpectedly making it to the semi-finals alongside defending champs Sinhalese Sports Club, Nondescripts Cricket Club and Colts Cricket Club.The U-20 Schools side, comprising many of those who represented Sri Lanka at the Under-19 World Cup earlier this year, were introduced this year to the competition in order to ensure the players in the national U-19 squad have continued exposure to cricket.Danesh Dissanayake, the team’s joint coach, hailed the ‘achievement’, with the young team qualifying for the semi-finals ahead of some reputed clubs. “We had to win our final group match to qualify for the semi-finals and the boys showed that they are capable of taking up the challenge when we defeated Moors SC by 55 runs on the first innings,” Dissanayake, who in charge of the team with Janak Gamage, said. “For most part of the tournament we did not have some of our key players who were sitting for their Advanced Level examinations. But the replacements have proved equally good.”Led by Ashan Priyanjan, Sri Lanka’s U-19 World Cup captain, the team won against Saracens and drew eight games, obtaining first-innings points in four of those. Dissanayake said the decision to include the Schools team in the tournament was questioned after their first game, in which they conceded first-innings points to Chilaw Marians Cricket Club. “But as the tournament progressed we improved and we managed to prove them wrong by reaching the semi-finals.”Priyanjan has been the third-highest run-getter in the tournament, scoring 395 runs at 43.88 with a century and a fifty. But it has been the spin-bowling attack that has given U-20 Schools the edge over their competitors. Offspinner Sanjaya Fernando has taken 34 wickets at an average of 12.76, with a best of 14 for 47 against Saracens Sports Club, while left-arm slow bowler Sachith Pathirana has taken 29 wickets at 27.51. Along with medium-pacer Ishan Jayaratne (21 wickets), the duo have been instrumental in Under-20 School’s success so far.For Colts CC, the path to the semi-finals has been made easier by Angelo Mathews, a former Sri Lanka U-19 captain. Mathews is the only batsman to score three hundreds in the tournament. His 428 runs in five games, at an average of 107, also earned him a place in the Sri Lanka A squad to tour South Africa. He averages 107 in five matches from which he has the leading aggregate in the tournament with 428.Meanwhile in the Under-23 division II tournament, Bloomfield, Colts and Negombo SC have qualified for the semi-finals. The fourth team will be decided at the completion of the group matches.