For a match which had a shadow of politics over it in the run-up, the finale happened amidst fireworks – the big, booming, fill-the-sky-with-lights kind of scenes – for the handful of spectators who hung around after India had been beaten in Rajkot. MS Dhoni arrived for the press conference, waited a bit for the noise to die down and then decided he ought to enjoy a bit of the show himself.When he finally came back to address the media, matters were more to the point. One of the topics addressed was that the batting shuffle in the third ODI was one of the ways India’s line-up could look to become flexible and ensure their batsmen adapted to the pressures and demands of batting at various positions in ODIs, a push put of their comfort zone.India were set a target of 271 by South Africa, and like the previous two ODIs, the side opted to shuffle its batting order again. Virat Kohli walked out at No. 3, a position many feel he is best suited for, and he responded with 77, his first fifty since the World Cup. Dhoni himself came in at No. 4, a position he has said in the past he wanted to bat at but could not because of the relative inexperience in the line-up. Ajinkya Rahane, who played at No. 3 in the two preceding ODIs, came in at No. 6 below Suresh Raina, by when Morne Morkel and the rest of South Africa’s attack had effectively throttled the chase.One reason for the shuffle, Dhoni had said in the post-match presentation, was that India hadn’t quite settled on a stable order at five, six, and seven and needed a stronger batting hand at No. 7.”I want to bat up the order but I also want people who can contribute lower down the order. So I have to mix and match it and what will be good will be if I can bat a number of overs, create a partnership and if I have played enough deliveries I can play the big shots later on,” Dhoni said. “That’s the thinking behind it, but it means that a few of the other batsmen will also have to accommodate according to that. They may score at times, they may not score at times, but the good thing is they’ll get experience of batting down the order.”Also because at times I felt the Indian batting line-up becomes quite rigid – ‘This is my batting slot and there is where I will bat’ – but at times when you bat down the order you get to know what are the difficulties. I won’t say it’s easy to bat up the order but you always have the cushion of three-four batsmen behind you so you know you can play your big shots. But once you are batting at five or six, No. 7 is quite thin so when you are looking to play the big shots, you have to back yourself and say, ‘Okay I can’t really mistime it.’ These are the pressures that you have to go through if you are batting down the order.”Some part of that churn, to bat people at different positions and see who fits what role, also happened when India toured Sri Lanka recently. Rohit Sharma and Rahane had swapped positions three and five for the first two Tests, batting around Kohli at No. 4. After the first ODI in Kanpur, Dhoni had stated how Rahane batting at No. 3 gave the home side a lot of strength on paper, and while he promoted Kohli back to No. 3 today, Dhoni said the team could revisit the idea of keeping him at No. 4, as they look to strengthen the lower half of their batting order.”If I have to bat up the order, someone has to bat down the order,” he said. “There’s a lot of confusion when it comes to the media side because they want me to bat at four but they want Virat to bat at three and they want Jinx (Rahane) to bat at four. It’s not really possible, there are only two slots and only three batsmen.”There will always be a question. As I said, I’ve explained it, we want Virat to bat at three but at some point we’d love to have a look at him at four. Usually the No. 4 batsman will get to play 30 overs and 30 overs is a good number of overs to score a hundred and it also adds depth to our batting.Not to forget we are still looking for somebody at No. 7 who can play the big shots and if that doesn’t happen, the extra pressure has to be absorbed by the top six batters. So you have to find people who fulfil that job and also you have to play with five bowlers because the part-timers find it slightly difficult to bowl full quota of ten overs. So there are a lot of things that you have to manage and accordingly decide which person suits the position the best.”In Rajkot, India scored only 37 runs during overs 31 to 40 with Dhoni and Kohli in the middle, and it left the lower order with too much to do at the end. And with the pitch slowing down considerably, India found the big shots harder to execute. Dhoni, however, also pointed out that India’s slow start had an impact on the chase.”I think that was the crucial phase, that and the first ten. I don’t think we got enough runs in the first ten, especially the fact that the wicket kept getting slower,” he said. “And 30th to 40th was again a crucial period. We wanted to bat quite late but at the same time we started playing the big shots close to the 37th over but we were not really able to connect. Both me and Virat were set and we wanted to play the big shot but we never really middled anything.”Also not to forget the outfield here is big which meant that when you are playing the big shots more often than not you have to clear the fielder. It was a tough one when there’s less pace on offer you can’t use the pace of the bowlers.”

ScorecardPeter Forrest’s 71-ball 57 formed the base for Queensland’s winning total of 209•Getty Images

Queensland had the better of a sluggish pitch at Blacktown Oval to defeat Victoria in an attritional, low scoring Matador Cup match.The Bushrangers captain Matthew Wade sent the Bulls in to bat in western Sydney and would have been content when the Queenslanders were only able to cobble a tally of 209 all out.However, a Bulls bowling collective led with typical thrift by the former captain James Hopes was able to corral the Bushrangers so successfully that only Wade was able to score his runs at anything like the rate required without giving his wicket away cheaply.James Pattinson also hinted at his immense batting ability in the most productive partnership of the innings, but it was too little, too late after the Bushrangers had slid to 7 for 79.The Bulls owed much to their stand-in captain Peter Forrest, who played with admirable composure for his 57 from 71 balls, pulling together much of Queensland’s score with the help of a restrained Nathan Reardon.At the time of his dismissal the Bushrangers would have felt happy with their work, but as it turned out the Queenslanders had already made one more run than Wade’s men would manage.

The two greatest batsmen of their generation will now get a chance to bat together as captain Sachin Tendulkar drew Brian Lara’s name along with 13 other players as part of the “Sachin’s Blasters” squad for the Cricket All-Stars series beginning at Citi Field on Saturday.In a random draw conducted Thursday in Times Square, Tendulkar drew Lara as well as former Indian teammates VVS Laxman, Sourav Ganguly and Virender Sehwag. Tendulkar also no longer has to spar with Glenn McGrath, having picked the Australian pacer for his side in a bowling group that also includes Curtly Ambrose, Shaun Pollock and Muttiah Muralitharan.While the luck of the draw meant that Tendulkar wound up with his Indian batting brethren, Shane Warne wound up drawing a slew of his former Australian teammates to play for “Warne’s Warriors” including Matthew Hayden, Ricky Ponting and Andrew Symonds. Warne also wound up with a dream fast bowling trio of Courtney Walsh, Allan Donald and Wasim Akram.While the first 26 players were drawn by lots, Shoaib Akhtar’s status was decided by a coin flip. Warne called heads, but the coin came up tails, drawing a big sigh of relief from Tendulkar. The first All-Stars match begins on November 7 at Citi Field in New York with two more in Houston and Los Angeles on November 11 and 14.Sachin’s Blasters: Sachin Tendulkar (c), VVS Laxman, Sourav Ganguly, Virender Sehwag, Brian Lara, Mahela Jayawardene, Carl Hooper, Lance Klusener, Shaun Pollock, Moin Khan, Graeme Swann, Glenn McGrath, Muttiah Muralitharan, Shoaib Akhtar, Curtly AmbroseWarne’s Warriors: Shane Warne (c), Matthew Hayden, Ricky Ponting, Michael Vaughan, Jacques Kallis, Kumar Sangakkara, Andrew Symonds, Jonty Rhodes, Saqlain Mushtaq, Wasim Akram, Daniel Vettori, Courtney Walsh, Allan Donald, Ajit Agarkar

A second wicket partnership of 123 runs off 175 balls between NikhilHaldipur (92) and Rohan Gavaskar (53) placed Bengal in the driver’sseat in their Ranji Trophy Super League match against Delhi atCalcutta on Thursday. Bengal finished the day at 194 for four wicketswhen play was called off 19.2 overs before the scheduled close of playdue to bad light.Earlier, the Bengal bowlers had restricted Delhi to 236 in the firstknock with opener Akash Chopra being the top scorer with 95. It was amarathon knock that saw occupy the crease for 437 minutes. He faced328 balls and hit 12 boundaries. He was the last batsman to bedismissed off Utpal Chatterjee, caught at slip by SauravGanguly. Laxmi Ratan Shukla took the wickets of Rahul Sanghvi andSanjay Gill to finish with four wickets while Sumit Panda started theslide dismissing Nikhil Chopra in the third over of the morning.Bengal were rocked early as Gill had Devang Gandhi caught behind for aduck. Then Haldipur and the junior Gavaskar took over. Both playedfreely in front of the wicket and never allowed the bowlers todominate. Haldipur was severe on Robin Singh (jr) whom he hit forthree fours in an over. Just when he looked set for his sixth RanjiTrophy hundred he holed out to mid on of the bowling of RahulSanghvi. It was a rash shot. His 92 was compiled off 118 balls with 16boundaries. Gavaskar completed his 50 gliding Chopra to the fine legfence. But he perished in the next over bowled by Sanghvi. He tried toloft him over mid off and was caught by Chopra.In walked Ganguly. The 8000-odd crowd which had gathered to watch himhowever, were disappointed as he fell for five. He was not fullyforward to a ball from Chopra and the resultant pad-bat was snapped upat silly point by substitute Gautam Gambhir for only five. At stumpsSrikant Kalyani (23) and Syed Saba Karim (11) were taking Bengaltowards their first target of five points for the first innings lead.

For six uplifting hours at Kensington Oval yesterday, Wavell Hinds transformed the West Indian pessimism of the recent past into real hope for the future, immediate and long-term.The tall, slim, 23-year-old left-hander’s commanding 165, his first hundred in his fourth Test, was the backbone of a total of 283 for five that carried the West Indies to a lead of 30 when fading light brought an end to the second day of the second Test 3.2 overs before the scheduled, extended close.Ever eager to take on Pakistan’s varied, high-class bowling on a batsman-friendly pitch, Hinds used his bat with such effect that his chanceless innings was embellished with 24 resounding boundaries in almost every direction.He disdained the modern practice of applying the pad as first, not second, line of defence and was only troubled by the late left-arm inswing of Wasim Akram, one of the game’s most successful bowlers in his 94th Test.Whenever he had the chance, he thumped the ball with genuine power.Just as significant, his performance was an irrefutable indication that worry over the present state of West Indian batting, especially at a time when the future of the mercurial Brian Lara remains in considerable doubt, has been somewhat exaggerated.The optimism was boosted over the final hour and 50 minutes by the mature debut Test innings of Ramnaresh Sarwan, at 19, slim and diminutive and seeming to be a boy on a man’s mission.His approach belied the appearance. Like Hinds, it was positive and his right-handed technique was solid and attractive.He despatched Abdur Razzaq and Wasim Akram for two disdainful boundaries through midwicket and aided Hinds in a fifth-wicket partnership of 69 at a time when the West Indies have been so often been inclined to go into terminal collapse.He resumes this morning on 28 with a heavy obligation since the current advantage of 30 is negligible for a team that must bat last.Curtly Ambrose is by his side, having fulfilled his nightwatchman role, with Ridley Jacobs and the other three fast bowlers to follow.The West Indies’ situation would have been considerably more comfortable had Hinds not failed by ten minutes to last out the day.He fell to a tired hook shot off Waqar Younis with the second new ball that lobbed from the splice of the bat to mid-on.It was a stroke the Pakistanis had fed him throughout with varying results. Some were airily miscued but short of fielders, others were thumped to the boundary, none with more authority or relish than three in one over from Wasim Akram.Hinds began his critical innings quarter-hour into play when left-handed opener Adrian Griffith’s fine leg-glance off Waqar Younis was taken down the leg-side by the tumbling wicket-keeper Moin Khan.Enjoying the benefits of an accommodating surface from which even the tried and proven Pakistanis could make little impression, Hinds outlasted his three senior partners: Sherwin Campbell, who made 58 and with whom he added 133 for the second wicket, and fellow left-handers Shivnarine Chanderpaul and captain Jimmy Adams, both dismissed cheaply.He immediately advertised his approach with two confident off-side boundaries in the same over from Waqar and, by lunch, already had nine fours in 51, three off Mushtaq Ahmed whose leg-breaks and googlies had so confused him in the rain-ruined first Test in Georgetown.In his 40th Test, Campbell carries a heavy burden of responsibility but he has had an indifferent season. Kensington is his home, and favourite, ground where he has gathered two of his four Test hundreds and, once settled after a difficult opening salvo from Wasim Akram, he indulged himself in his preferred backfoot strokes and looked better and better on the hard, true, grassless pitch.He hooked Waqar and Akram for sixes and, when Mushtaq’s leg-break justbefore lunch dropped short enough, he sent that over the square-leg boundary.A fourth six came from the unusual device of a straightforward leg-glance to long-leg. Akram’s return cleared Moin’s head, a clutch of slumbering fielders failed to back up and, as Waqar set off towards long-off in pursuit of the wayward ball, Campbell and Hinds converted the original single into six.As the partnership developed, frustration clearly set in for the Pakistanis.Twice, Hinds mistimed strokes that just eluded fielders, while four times Moin and Akram argued over the state of the ball with umpires Rudi Koertzen and Eddie Nicholls before they finally had their way and it was replaced.They regained their composure during the lunch interval and batting was not nearly as easy on resumption.Once more, Akram posed difficult questions with his late swing that confused Hinds and brought three lbw appeals in the same over, one of which, off a full toss, was as close as they get. Hinds was then 62.At the opposite end, Campbell’s dismissal after a steady innings was unlucky. He played Saqlain into his pad and could not prevent the ball rolling back to dislodge the off-bail.When Abdur discomfited Chanderpaul with a wicked bouncer that brushed the glove on the way through to Moin just before tea and Adams was given out 35 minutes into the final session to a slip catch off a prodigious off-break from Saqlain that television replays clearly showed missed the bat, the West Indies were still 40 behind.It was a difficult time for two young batsmen. But Hinds and Sarwan saw it through like veterans.

Vikram Solanki’s century (113) and debutant James Pipe’s half century(54) helped Worcestershire to move to 231 for 5 in 64 overs afterbeing 8 for 3 against Warwickshire at New Road today.James Pipe, reserve wicketkeeper to Steve Rhodes, was included as aspecialist bat due to impressive performances in the second XI. He wasquick to gain attention with a wide range of shots in his 64 ballinnings. But it was Solanki, who took the centre stage with his secondcentury of the season off 140 balls after being dropped on 81.Worcestershire after winning the toss made a disastrous start, losingPhilip Weston and Graeme Hick for ducks and Paul Pollard for five bythe eighth over of the innings. Then Solanki and David Leatherdalestemmed the rot with a fourth wicket partnership of 67 runs in 23overs.

Prolonging both its miserable early season run of form and an horrific record in Brisbane, Victoria has slumped to a crushing ten wicket loss at the hands of Queensland today in the teams’ Pura Cup clash at the Allan Border Field. The win, which came on the final afternoon, catapults the Bulls into a clear lead on the Pura Cup table and leaves the Bushrangers firmly entrenched at the very opposite end of the standings.Openers Matthew Hayden (118*) and Jimmy Maher (103*) and paceman Joe Dawes (6/98) were the heroes of the Bulls’ win. With a first-class career best, it was the redoubtable Dawes who played a major role in limiting the Victorians to a second innings score of 326 through the first part of the final day. Around another fine early-season innings from the rejuvenated Brad Hodge (101*) and a hard-hitting century from Ian Harvey (100), the hulking right armer joined with Adam Dale (3/87) to trigger a crucial late collapse from the Victorians for the second time in three days. Of particular significance was the eleven over burst shortly before lunch that produced the loss of the wickets of Darren Berry (13), Paul Reiffel (7), Colin Miller (5) and Michael Lewis (1).As for Hayden and Maher, they could barely have made the Bulls’ progression to their victory target of 229 from a possible fifty-nine overs appear any more comfortable. Hayden was at his domineering best, all but sealing a spot in the Test team to play West Indies in a fortnight with his second major contribution for the match. Continuing his rich vein of form, the busy Maher was also in command, albeit against an attack which seemed overawed by the placid nature of the pitch.”We are such a strong side,” said a beaming Hayden after the match. “To win two games on this kind of wicket, a southern type of wicket is great and I just can’t wait to get back to the ‘Gabba … where we have a huge home ground advantage.””We’re always trying to get out of our comfort zone and create chances that will make us champions.”Champions they are a long way from becoming yet, but the Bulls’ start to the season is certainly reminiscent of the record-breaking run that started them on their way to the first-class title last summer. From their opening three games, they have already plundered fourteen points and their depth of resources will serve them well again when each of the states is affected by the loss of its international representatives shortly.For Victoria, on the other hand, a season which promised so much is rapidly starting to become unglued. No side in recent memory has been as badly hit by injury but, save for Hodge, it is hard to identify too many players in their line-up at present who are playing at close to optimum potential.

The Nashua Titans coach, Dave Nosworthy, is energised after a well deserved break and is planning an early start to the forthcoming season selecting the following off-season training squad to commence practice on Monday, 28th May 2001 at 14h00 at SuperSport Park.Players currently in South AfricaGerald Dros, Finley Brooker, Allahudien Palaker, Steve Elworthy, Rudi Steyn, Victor Faul, Nigel Brouwers, Aldin Smith, Tetaan Henning, Johann Botha, Pieter van Rooyen, Gary Hampson, Craig Parker, Nick van Woerkom, Dale Nation, M.P. Ferreira, Charl Victor, Raymond Magardie, Maurice Arenstam, Mulligan George, Shafiek Abrahams, Rudi Bryson, Ian Kuiler, Neil McKenzie & Robert van Wyk.Players OverseasDavid Townsend, Martin van Jaarsveld, Pierre Joubert, Jacques Rudolph, Greg Smith, Quentin Still & Dirkie de Vos.Players attending the National AcademyJohann Myburgh, Kruger van Wyk & Dewald Senekal.Players attending the Northerns AcademyRuper Bailey, Friddel de Wet & Alviro Peterson.IMPORTANT – PLEASE NOTE
The final Nashua Titans Squad, ‘B’ XI Squad and Colts Squad will be selected and finalised before the end of August 2001. The above squads can at any time be adjusted and altered as they are very flexible squads.

Pakistan won the second Test match of the two-test series at Old Trafford by a convincing margin of 108 runs and levelled the series 1-1. Earlier, England won the Lord’s Test by an innings and 9 runs inside three days. The victory at Old Trafford kept Pakistan’s record intact of not having lost a series in England since 1982. In fact, they had won all the test series played between 1982 till the 2001 rubber. England’s resurgence in international cricket, after a poor run for past several years, is being hailed. Their consistent creditable performance, as shown in the last five series, can be attributed to a methodical display of discipline and professionalism. Indeed, the English team is performing well with renewed vigour and determination and expected to do well in the forthcoming Ashes series.Here is a brief review of current 2-test series:Lord’s Test
Pakistan packed their squad with all three quick bowlers. The demon fast bowler, Shoaib Akhtar, who bowled the quickest delivery of recent times at 97.7 mph against Australia in the NatWest Series match, was also included despite fitness problems. Waqar Younis won the toss and put England into bat. The decision did not succeed as English batsmen prevailed over the Pakistan bowling to score 391. Graham Thorpe scored 80 and Nasser Hussain contributed 64. He was injured by a sharp rising delivery from Shoaib Akhtar. With Saeed Anwar and Inzamam-ul-Haq failing to deliver, Pakistan followed on after being dismissed for 203. Only Younis Khan played a resolute knock of 58. Darren Gough claimed 5 for 61 and Andrew Caddick 4 for 52, with 15 wickets falling on the third day. Pakistan performed worse in the second innings, being dismissed cheaply for 181. Abdur Razzaq (55) was the lone resistance against a lethal England attack of Gough, Caddick, and Cork. The Man-of-the-Match Andrew Caddick claimed 4 for 54 whereas Gough and Cork took 3 for 40 and 3 for 41, respectively.Old Trafford Test
England looked well set for another victory chasing a target of 370 when they were 85 for none at the close of play on the fourth day. They moved on to 201 for 2 by tea on the final day. It was only after tea that the match turned around completely. First Waqar Younis, Wasim Akram and Abdur Razzaq bowled hostile spells and then Saqlain Mushtaq completely exploited the situation, as 8 wickets tumbled with the addition of only 60 runs. In the end England lost fairly and squarely by 108 runs. Earlier, Pakistan won the toss and posted an imposing 403, mainly built around a magnificent 114 by Inzamam-ul-Haq. Rashid Latif and Younis Khan also came good with 71 and 65. Gough, Caddick and Hoggard claimed three wickets each. In reply, England was going great guns when Graham Thorpe and Michael Vaughan combined for the third wicket partnership producing a record 267 runs. A smart throw on his follow through by veteran Wasim Akram ended Thrope’s innings at 138, with Vaughan (120) also following soon. Pakistan came back strongly and forced England to concede a 46-run crucial first innings lead. Pakistan started disastrously in the second innings. Saeed Anwar was the notable failure. Inzamam, Younis and Youhana joined hands to first restore and then consolidate an innings, which looked in trouble at 63 for 3. The innings took a more formidable shape when Rashid Latif (21) and Wasim Akram (36) scored quick runs to give visitors a total of 323. Once again Gough, Caddick and Hoggard shared three wickets each. Inzamam was declared the Man-of-the-Match and also the Player-of-the-Series for Pakistan. Graham Thorpe was the Player-of-the-Series for the home side.

The unofficial Test series between Sri Lanka and Pakistan was delicatelypoised tonight after a frantic second day of the final four-day game atGalle today. Fortunes fluctuated throughout the day and both sides stillharbour realistic hopes of victory, even if Pakistan hold the upper handafter a five wicket haul by Danish Kaneria.Bizarrely, on such a fine batting pitch, twenty-six wickets have now fallenin the first two days and, barring bad weather, a conclusion withinthree-days now appears a certainty. Sri Lanka now have a lead of 108 withjust four second-innings wickets remaining.Sri Lanka’s bowlers, led by Thilan Samaraweera, fought their side back intomatch in the morning as they took six wickets for 47 runs. Hasan Razaresponded by compiling a 52-run partnership for the last wicket andcompleted his second hundred of the series in the process. The crucialpartnership, quite possibly a match winning one, left Pakistan with avaluable 38 run lead.Avishka Gunawardene then shrugged off the early dismissal of ShanthaKalavitigoda in the Sri Lankan second innings with another powerful displayof batting. He wiped out the deficit in a flash, as he as he carved thefaster bowlers, particularly Najaf Shah, who was disdainfully pummeled for14 in his second over, around the ground in a 56-ball half century.Raza was quick to introduce Danish Kaneria, Pakistan’s promising legspinner, and though the brawny left-hander played more studiously, the legspinner eventually had him caught at cover in near identical fashion to hisfirst innings dismissal. It ended a 73 run partnership for the second wicketthat was swinging the match towards Sri Lanka.Kaneria then ran through the brittle middle order. Chamara Silva (4) wastrapped leg-before wicket in Kaneria’s next over, Michael Vandort (35) wassnapped up at short leg, Malintha Warnapura (1) was caught behind as hetried to sweep, and Jevantha Kulatunga (7) top edged a sweep as he tried tobreak the shackles. Sri Lanka had lost five wickets for 27 runs and slippedfrom 94 for one to 121 for six.An undefeated seventh wicket partnership of 25 between Thilan Samaraweeraand Prasanna Jayawardene halted the slide and gives Sri Lanka hope tomorrow.When Pakistan arrived this morning they were confident of compiling aseries-winning first innings lead on a fine batting pitch, but came unstuckafter the introduction of Samaraweera. The off spinner, a revelation in thethis series with 20 wickets so far, swept through the middle order afterRuchira Perera had trapped Misbah ul-Haq leg-before wicket in the third overof the day.Yasir Arafat, Humayun Farhat, and Irfan Fazil were all snapped up by thebat-pad catchers; all defeated in the air as they groped forward to smotherthe spin. Pakistan went into lunch on 122 for seven.Straight after the interval Dinusha Fernando picked up the wickets of KashifRaza and Danish Kaneria with Pakistan still 14 runs adrift of Sri Lanka’sfirst innings score.Sri Lanka’s recent cricket history, however, is littered with frustratinglast wicket partnerships that have allowed their opponents to grab back theinitiative. Hasan Raza, who was on 55 when the ninth wicket fell, exposedthat weakness again, as he upped the tempo.Given solid support by Najaf Shah, who scored just five of the 52 runpartnership, Raza induced a sense of panic with a series of bold, sometimesinnovative, strokes. Immediately after reaching his four-hour hundred,however, scored off 197 balls, Najaf Shah was trapped leg-before wicket toend the innings.