For Shivnarine Chanderpaul, it was a time for reflection after a remarkable innings that should have propelled West Indies to victory over Australia on Tuesday. A cataclysmic collapse destroyed those hopes, and Chanderpaul was obviously disappointed that the rest of the batting order couldn’t build on a superb opening partnership of 136 runs.”Obviously, we got off to a very good start, but it is another thing to finish the game and not leave it open,” he said, before the team trained at the Royal Selangor Club ground. “Last night, we were ahead and from there, we let the game slip.”Chanderpaul said that he enjoyed his batting, and gave some insight on the blazing approach that served him so well against Australia. “No one knows what’s going to happen on a surface like that,” he said. “I thought you could get a ball anytime that can get you out. So, when I went out, I decided to have a look early on and then start playing my shots. Chris [Gayle] was struggling a bit initially and the ball was doing a lot. Both of us were struggling a bit and eventually, I got through a few shots and just kept going on from there.”Brian Lara had spoken after Tuesday’s game of West Indies having a psychological edge over an Indian side that they beat 4-1 two months ago, but Chanderpaul was a little more cautious when it came to assessing the opposition. “Every win will help us, because we’ve been down and will have to get our confidence back,” he said. “We all know what Sachin [Tendulkar] can do,” he added, aware that the game’s most successful batsman hadn’t toured the Caribbean.”The wicket is not that is easy to bat on. You can get a ball that can take off or it might seam around all through the game. We know Sachin can bat well, just like others in the team. Our gameplan would be to restrict them to a decent total, which we think would be quite easy to chase.”His thoughts were echoed by Ian Bradshaw, who bowled a tidy spell against Australia to finish witn 2 for 37. “They [India] have a very talented batting line-up, you can’t afford to focus on one or two individuals,” he said. “It’s just a case of sticking to our team plan and restricting their batting as best we can.”Though the bowlers got plenty of encouragement in the opening match, Bradshaw reckoned that the pitch had been a sporting one. “There’s a little bit of seam movement and a bit of bounce for the fast bowlers, but the performance of both teams yesterday showed that it is a wicket where runs can also be scored.”

Younis Khan, the Pakistan captain, and Bob Woolmer, their coach, haveadmitted that they were “very disappointed” with the events that led to acouple of their players testing positive for banned substances, addingthat they would have to accept part of the responsibility for the same.Both refused to divulge too many details but said that the team couldn’tafford to be bogged down by this setback, especially before their crucialChampions Trophy opener against Sri Lanka tomorrow in Jaipur. Younis, while denyingspeculation about a third player coming under the scanner, admitted that thenews had come as a jolt but hoped that his team could pick themselves upand raise their game in tomorrow’s clash.Interestingly it was Woolmer who’d mooted the idea of testing players fordrugs – when the ICC officially instituted random dope tests for theChampions Trophy. “I instituted the idea of having our players tested fordrugs to try and obviate anything that might happen at a particular venueor tournament,” he told the media in Jaipur. “So we asked the medicalpanel to give the players drug tests – which they did at the end ofSeptember. So I take responsibility for that.”This is the first time that drug testing is officially instituted by theICC,” he continued. “Therefore we thought we’ll pre-empt that by having tosee what the players were doing. In a coach’s life, you prepare. The teamplays on the field, but you try to prepare the team. You try and make theenvironment to the best it can be, you try and give the players the bestopportunity you can. So what we need to do is to test our players – infact 25 players were tested – and unfortunately, the timing was not right,but there we are. If it’s going to happen, it happens.”However, he refused to be drawn into discussion about the exact reasonbehind the players taking banned substances. “I’ve been involved withProfessor Tim Noakes at the Sports Science Institute in Cape Town on theseparticular issues,” he continued, “and I do understand what happens. Theimportant thing is that the Pakistan Cricket Board will make a statement and let’s leave it at that for now.”Younis, who clarified that the delay in sending the results of the testsmeant the news broke on the eve of their first game, echoed the sameviewpoint. “In today’s situation, players take any small thing and itturns out to be a banned substance,” he said. “It’s all our responsibility- players, management. Hopefully it won’t happen again.”For a team that’s been shrouded in controversy over the last three months,the Champions Trophy couldn’t have got off to a more inauspicious start.Yet, Woolmer had no doubt that they would “rise to the challenge”.”We haven’t discussed this as a team yet as the events have happened veryquickly from yesterday to this morning,” Woolmer reflected. “We will besitting down with the team this evening and will chat it through. I’mpretty confident that the team will take any adversity in their stride andthey’ll rise to the occasion and play good cricket tomorrow. We have toput these issues behind us, as we have with all the other issues and get onwith playing cricket, because that’s our job, that’s what we’re paid to doand that’s what we have to do. We’ll make it very clear that we’re goingto go out there and fight very hard. It’s very important for us to try andgain two points against Sri Lanka tomorrow.”It’s been a tough few months for Woolmer, who’s had to experienceconsiderable turbulence as the Pakistan coach. He admitted that it was aunique journey – when asked if he thought about quitting the job – addingthat his love for the game was keeping him going. “There are a lot ofthings that go through your mind when these things happen,” he explainedemotionally. “One thing that holds me is that I love the game of cricket.I’ll be more excited tomorrow to get on the field and play some cricket. Iwill be honest – I haven’t come across anything like this in my life, itwill be a wonderful experience for me, it is a wonderful experience forme. It’s difficult to understand why it’s happening but it is happening,and therefore I have to deal with it as it happens. But I enjoy cricket, Ilove cricket and cricket is my first passion and only passion. I do thisjob because of that reason so whatever happens, happens.”

Mark Vermeulen has been granted bail by the Magistrate Court judge in Harare. He appeared charged with arson after a fire at the Zimbabwe Cricket Academy in the Highlands district of the capital.He was asked to pay $500,000 (US$2000) as bail and also had to lodge deeds to his property with the court. His Zimbabwe passport was also confiscated.Vermeulen has to report to Harare’s Highlands Police Station everyday during his bail term, and he will have to seek special permission to travel outside a 40km radius of Harare. He is prohibited from going near any Zimbabwe Cricket property.Vermeulen, who said that he was forced to confess, was in a relaxed mood and chatted to friends and guards. His brother, Roland, and Andy Blignaut were in court and it is believed that Blignaut helped him to raise the bail money.Outlining the prosecution case, state attorney Tawanda Zvekare said Vermeulen had threatened to “destroy” the governing body (ZC) after being told to play for a local club to have his form assessed before he could be considered for selection for an upcoming tour of Bangladesh. “This did not go down well with the accused who verbally threatened that he was going to destroy Zimbabwe Cricket in two weeks,” Zvekare explained.He first tried to set fire to the association’s boardroom at the Harare Sports Club ground on Monday by sprinkling methylated spirit on the curtains and then setting it alight, said Zvekare. But when that fire caused only minor damage, he went the next day to the training academy where he managed to burn down the pavilion.Vermeulen was not asked to enter a plea but his lawyer, David Dhumbura, complained to the court that his client had been forced to “make indications to the police without the presence of his defence team.”

On a day when Sourav Ganguly and Irfan Pathan saved Indian blushes, it wasHarbhajan Singh – whose cavalier 47 in the final session exasperated thebowlers – that came to address the media. The official line was that bothmen were too exhausted, though it didn’t stop them jogging around the parkwith their team-mates as the evening shadows lengthened across SedgarsPark.Harbhajan sounded bullish after contributing his bit to a determinedfightback. “We can take a lot of confidence from today’s battingperformance,” he said. “When you make 300 runs in a day, it’s abig positive. One of our goals coming into this game was to make 300 runsin a day. That has been achieved. Now we need to do well with the ball aswell. The way Sourav [Ganguly] and Irfan [Pathan] batted was veryheartening.”He refused to point the finger at any of his top-order mates, whoseslipshod batting against the pace of Morne Morkel had India reeling at 69for 5 at lunch. “I feel it’s always just a matter of one innings,” hesaid. “All these batsmen have been successful in the past, and there’s noreason why they can’t score again. I think once they make runs in oneinnings, they will start contributing regularly.”If we play to our potential in the Test matches, the seamers and spinnersas well as the batsmen, we can do a good job against South Africa. I’mlooking forward to bowling here. I don’t know if it will help thespinners, but it will be good to get a long bowl before the first Test,should I play in that match.”One person who won’t be playing any part at the Wanderers next week isMorkel, but surely the day’s not far off when he’ll get his first nationalcap. He had figures of 4 for 29 before lunch, finishing the day with 4 for74. Had Vaughn van Jaarsveld not spilled Ganguly in the gully, and JacquesRudolph not dropped Zaheer Khan late in the day, the figures would havebeen even more impressive.When asked about the experience, Morkel called it a privilege to bowl tothe likes of Sachin Tendulkar. “They were my heroes growing up,” he said.”I was lucky enough to be able to play against them today, and to get themout was very special. I can go home now and sleep well tonight, knowingthat I have gone a good job.”Allan Donald had written recently that he considers the 22-year-old MorkelSouth Africa’s next potential fast bowler, and there were definitelyshades of the man they called White Lightning as he scythed through thetop order using pace and bounce as his primary weapons. “I had my ownlittle plans for them,” he added. “I had an idea what lengths to bowl tothem. I wanted to hit the deck hard and get it to climb. I could’ve had afive-for but unfortunately, a couple of catches did not stick.”On a day where he did very little wrong, the Indians will be grateful forthose small mercies.

Scorecard

There are just two “Tests” in which West Indies and Sri Lanka hopefuls can make an impression on their respective selectors. The West Indians did not have a good first showing. Yesterday at Guaracara Park, the Caribbean batsmen turned up but really didn’t play in decent November conditions. The result was 130 for 6 on day one of the first four-day “Test”.Even with the preparation moisture in the surface, the experienced West Indies A line-up had no genuine excuse for their weak showing. Coach David Williams and captain Sylvester Joseph had enough confidence in the strip to bat first when play was finally possible after lunch. The entire first session had been lost because of soggy sections in the bowler’s run-up at the southern end.And while there was not a great deal of sideways movement for the Sri Lankan seamers, Nuwan Kulasekara bowled a disciplined off-stump line and kept the ball up to the vulnerable West Indians. The result was five wickets for him. Four of those came in his decisive first spell of eight overs with the new ball when he took 4 for 15 runs. He feasted on the plethora of left-handers.Running the ball across them, he got opener Sewnarine Chattergoon to snick to Jeevan Mendis at third slip before he had scored; had Wavell Hinds edging to wicketkeeper Kaushal Silva for another duck; and induced a tentative Ryan Hinds to give a catch to captain Tilan Samaraweera at first slip. Kulasekara also trapped Joseph lbw as he shouldered arms to one that came back at him.The West Indians desperately needed someone to drop anchor. And for most of the post-lunch session, Devon Smith seemed to be that man. For just about two hours and 80 balls, he was patient and responsible in getting to 21. But in the closing overs before tea, he lost the plot, drove loosely at left-arm seamer Ruchira Perera and was bowled.Narsingh Deonarine, the fifth left-hander in the top six, went to tea with wicketkeeper Patrick Browne and the total on 55 for 5. The scores of missing fans at the Park were spared more agitated discussions among themselves about the state of the game in the region. Those who came in after work, though, saw some more encouraging stuff.Recognising the crisis their side was in, Deonarine and Browne set about sensibly starting a recovery. Aggressive counterattack was not necessary, just calm occupation. And that is what the left-hand right-hand pair managed to do in the final session – accumulate runs where available without taking unnecessary risks.Kulasekara was not as effective against them in that determined mood. Samaraweera tried five bowlers against them, including the spin pair of Sajeewa Weerakoon and Kaushal Lokuarachchi in tandem. Left-armer Weerakoon almost broke through when Deonarine had reached 28 and turned him through the hands of the forward short-leg fielder. It was a vital escape for Deonarine and Windies A.Together with Browne, he eventually added 64 for the sixth wicket in just under two hours. It was not eye-catching stuff, although both batsmen allowed themselves a few liberties as their stand grew. But Kulasekara was determined that they would not steal his thunder. Re-introduced for one final spell, he got Browne to play across a delivery which trapped him lbw. It was a misjudgment which tipped the balance more firmly in Sri Lanka A’s favour.

Kyle Mills, Scott Styris and Jacob Oram, the injured New Zealand bowlers, have not been included in the squad 14-man squad to tour Australia for the Commonwealth Bank series beginning on January 12.The squad was not very different from the one currently involved in a five-match series against Sri Lanka. James Marshall, who averaged 18.33 in the first three one-day games against Sri Lanka, wasn’t included in the squad for the month-long series.John Bracewell, the New Zealand coach, said that the management did not want the injured players to enter a fitness race and get back into international cricket too early. “They will return when ready, even if it is part way through the tour,” he said.”Because of the looming World Cup, we are managing the selection process for this tour differently to other tours,” Bracewell explained. “The selectors have reserved the right to interchange the squad at any time during the tour.”The Commonwealth Bank series, in which Australia, England and New Zealand meet each other four times before the top two teams play out a best-of-three finals, begins with Australia playing England at Melbourne.New Zealand squad:Stephen Fleming (capt), Nathan Astle, Ross Taylor, Peter Fulton, Hamish Marshall, Brendon McCullum, Craig McMillan, James Franklin, Dan Vettori, Jeetan Patel, Andre Adams, Mark Gillespie, Michael Mason, Shane Bond

Scorecard

Ravi Shah’s fighting century proved the difference as Kenya held their nerve to beat Scotland for the second time this competition. Shah rescued Kenya from the mire at 90 for 5, after they lost five wickets for 23, to lift them to 259. Steve Tikolo then needed all of his experience to produce a vital three wicket-burst which staved off a determined Scotland assault with the bat, as Kenya won by seven runs.After Kenya chose to bat, Shah had his work cut out when all about him were losing their heads, but he kept his and put on a crucial 117 with Thomas Odoyo for the sixth wicket. Inspired by Shah, the tail gave him full support and Kenya managed to bat all of their overs as Shah smashed his way to 113 from 121 balls. His knock included eight fours and three sixes, Odoyo added 36, and each of those runs was vital.Kenya’s innings started brightly enough, with Maurice Ouma and David Obuya sharing an opening stand of 67. But Ouma’s run out on 14 triggered a collapse as five wickets fell in quick succession.At this stage Scotland would have fancied their chances of killing off the innings early and hunting down a revenge win against Kenya, who beat them in the first round of this competition. But Shah wasn’t going to give up – and he turned the innings on its head.Scotland then had a mountain to climb and they were doing well in scaling the heights, their openers, Fraser Watts and Majid Haq, putting on 99. Both made 59. They continued to rack up the runs and were well set at 217 for 3 when Tikolo turned things around for Kenya. He grabbed the next three wickets for no runs, puncturing Scotland’s momentum so thoroughly that they were unable to recover.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

South Africa, inspired equally by their pace attack and opening batsmen, crushed a bedraggled Pakistan by ten wickets in the only Twenty20 international at the Wanderers. After Alfonso Thomas led the bowlers in restricting Pakistan to a meager 129 for eight, Graeme Smith and Loots Bosman launched a spectacular attack against a rusty-looking attack to see South Africa home with 8.3 overs to spare, an absurdly large amount in such a short game.The unbeaten stand between Smith and Bosman was the highest for any wicket in this form of the game and the margin of victory, the most emphatic in Twenty20 internationals. Ahead of a five-match ODI series, due to begin from Sunday, this was as forceful a statement of intent as any.Smith’s good work began early, winning a handy toss and inserting Pakistan in what appeared to be bowling-friendly conditions. Bowlers are meant to be fodder in this format, bowling straight and hoping for the best but they were liberated here. The ball swung and jagged so much, an attack of Shaun Pollock, Thomas, Roger Telemachus, Johan van der Wath and Albie Morkel effectively became spinners on speed.Pollock was beating the bat from the start, making Imran Nazir’s first over back in quasi-international cricket a particularly testing one. It was a brief return, as off the first ball of the second Thomas found Nazir’s edge.Mohammad Hafeez and Kamran Akmal, shorn of keeping duties, settled briefly for a 47-run stand. They mixed swipes with boundaries and singles before and when Hafeez pulled an easy six over square leg, Pakistan were progressing well. But that was only a precursor to an almighty totter.Hafeez fell to Pollock, having brought the fifty up. van der Wath came, bringing pretty outswingers with him and had Akmal edging one immediately, giving de Villiers another opportunity to make a difficult catch look simple instead.

Telemachus was getting movement Murali would’ve been proud and with one sharply incoming concoction, he struck Shahid Afridi a painful blow in the groin, forcing him to retire hurt. Just before he finished, Telemachus ended a promising 26-run stand between Abdul Razzaq and Shoaib Malik, either side of a 20-minute rain break. The bowlers continued to swing it, the batsmen to miss it; Morkel kept up the good work a lovely and the remaining batsmen were wrapped up quicker than you could say tail-end bunnies.Whether it was the conditions or the bowling we’ll never know, but when Smith and Bosman came out, they tore into Pakistan. Rana Naved-ul-Hasan and Shabbir Ahmed began tightly but it wasn’t to last.Bosman sparked it, with a 16-run over from Naved-ul-Hasan, the fifth of the innings, inclusive of a fabulous pulled six. It rubbed off onto Smith who tonked 17 off the very next from Abdul Razzaq. Razzaq looked like a man who hadn’t played in two months, dragging the ball short, allowing a pumped Smith to merrily ransack him repeatedly over and through midwicket. Having been so willing an hour or so earlier, Pakistan’s bowlers found the pitch in no mood to be as friendly as it had been to their counterparts, offering little of the swing and none of the bite.As fours and sixes rained down, Pakistan disintegrated, bowling short, serving up no-balls and misfielding with alarming regularity. Akmal continued his appalling catching form, dropping Bosman at long-on, in the ninth over. It hardly mattered that he was an outfielder, the game was up anyway. The openers brought up their fifties, and the team’s hundred in the 10th over, and a few deliveries later sealed an emphatic win. Fittingly, they did so with another six.

Tasmania will play in the Pura Cup final starting on March 19 but their opposition and the location of the match are still undecided with one round left. New South Wales are in prime position to secure a place against the Tigers but Western Australia and Victoria remain in the mix.Three games begin on Thursday and all could shape the final. The top-of-the-table clash between Tasmania and New South Wales at Hobart looms as the key match and a win to the Blues would close the door for the Warriors and the Bushrangers.However, Tasmania have plenty of reasons to compete as a loss would force them to travel to Sydney to play off for the title. The importance of hosting was clear after last year’s final, in which Queensland, needing only a draw to lift the cup, batted Victoria out of the contest with 6 for 900 in their first innings.The Tigers must forget about their last effort against New South Wales five weeks ago, when the Blues smashed them by an innings and 165 runs at Sydney. Even a draw would ensure a Hobart final for the first time and give Tasmania their best chance yet to win their maiden Pura Cup.Tasmania, led by George Bailey in the absence of Dan Marsh with a calf injury, are unchanged after completing an easy eight-wicket victory against a dreadful South Australia on Sunday. New South Wales could not finish off Queensland last week and question-marks over Simon Katich, who led the Blues with 205, and Grant Lambert, the in-form allrounder, make the Tigers favourites.Western Australia and Victoria each must win their last-round matches to have any chance of extending their campaign for another week. The two teams are four points behind New South Wales, meaning if they both win and the Blues do not, Victoria progress to the final as they would have the most outright victories.The Warriors, who are fourth, have a high quotient so they would likely make it through should they win and both Victoria and New South Wales lose or draw. However, they are the team relying most on results from other games.

Western Australia should be confident for their Adelaide clash with a Redbacks unit that has lost six of its nine games this season. The Warriors inflicted one of South Australia’s worst performances this year when they thrashed the Redbacks within two days in January, as Steve Magoffin and Ben Edmondson twice tore the heart out of the top order.Justin Langer led the Warriors with two superb innings as they went agonisingly close to beating Victoria on Sunday. His terrific state form has added venom to an already strong line-up that features Marcus North, Adam Voges and the competition’s leading run-scorer, Chris Rogers.The Bushrangers face a more difficult task at Brisbane, against Queensland, a side they have not beaten in a Pura Cup match since 2004. It will be even harder without their leading wicket-taker, Shane Harwood, who has a buttock strain.An inexperienced attack consisting of Peter Siddle, Clinton McKay, Dirk Nannes, Grant Lindsay and Bryce McGain is available for Victoria, which is perhaps an appropriate end to an injury-plagued season for the state’s bowlers. The batting looks stronger, with David Hussey, Nick Jewell and Andrew McDonald all in form.Last week’s games gave the Tigers and the Blues the chance to seal their own destinies; only Tasmania took the opportunity. Now three teams are fighting for one place in the final and just one thing is certain: their efforts to this point of the season mean little unless they win this week.

Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

The minnow-bashing was not as brutal as South Africa’s, but Australia motored along like a well-oiled machine and exploded during the final overs to bat The Netherlands out of the match with 358 for 5. After being stranded in the nineties twice this year, Brad Hodge reached his maiden one-day hundred during what was a perfectly paced innings. Defending 359 was always going to be a cake walk and Australia’s battery of fast bowlers was too hot for The Netherlands to handle and they were skittled for 129.The pitch was a belter and Ricky Ponting jumped at the chance of more batting practice. Adam Gilchrist provided the propulsion at the start, but once Australia lost him and Ponting with the score on 116, Michael Clarke and Hodge were impossible to contain during their partnership of 204.Hodge will be fighting for a spot in the XI once Andrew Symonds returns and he was impeccable today. Although both batsmen’s strike-rates were nearly identical when they reached their fifties off successive balls, Hodge soon left Clarke behind.Hodge finished with 123 off 89 balls with seven sixes, one short of equalling Ponting’s World Cup record. He had taken 61 deliveries to get to 50, but in his next 28 hammered 73. His favoured region was the arc between square-leg and long-on, though he sent several over the cover boundary as well. Only after Hodge was bowled by Peter Borren did Clarke step out of his shadow. He biffed three sixes off consecutive deliveries right at the death to make a sprint for his hundred, but with two balls left and eight to get, he took a single and had to settle for 93.

The Netherlands did themselves no favours by dropping both Gilchrist, on 34, and Ponting, who continued where he had left off against Scotland. Fortunately for them Gilchrist holed out on 57 and Ponting (23) was caught and bowled splendidly by Ryan ten Doeschate. If The Netherlands had hopes of an Ireland-esque performance after those quick wickets, Hodge and Clarke gave them a bitter reality check.The Netherlands openers showed stomach for a fight when Bas Zuiderent and Darron Reekers managed 36 for the first wicket at nearly six an over. But when Nathan Bracken deceived Reekers with a slower ball and trapped Alexei Kervezee leg before two balls later, The Netherlands began sliding swiftly towards defeat.They were struggling at 36 for 3 when Glenn McGrath was brought on at first change. Two balls later he nailed Luuk van Troost before making Daan van Bunge his 50th World Cup wicket.All the Australian bowlers used got wickets and Shane Watson didn’t even get an over. There were encouraging signs for Brad Hogg, who used his googlies and quicker balls to bamboozle the clueless Dutch tailenders. He picked up 4 for 27 as The Netherlands folded with 23.1 overs to spare.