Mohammad Akram satisfied with raw attack's performance

A combination of injuries and illnesses compelled Pakistan into fielding a pace attack with only two Tests worth of experience in Centurion. It gave their bowling coach Mohammad Akram insight into their resources - a look into the future - and he said he was "pretty satisfied" with what he saw, although there are some concerns.

The most obvious issue is that the 19-year old debutant Ehsan Adil may not be able to take further part in the match after pulling his calf muscle in the fourth over before stumps. He went off the field after the first ball of his 13th over and Akram could not confirm the severity of the injury. "He will get 14 or 15 hours of rest tonight and we hope he will bowl tomorrow," was his only answer.

Should Adil be ruled out, it will be a sad end to what must have been a dream-like few hours for the teenager. He was under no illusion that he was brought to South Africa to play Test cricket. According to Akram, Adil knew he was traveling to gain experience. "We brought him on this tour to give him some exposure," he said. "We started a policy to take young players with us since we do not have international a cricket in Pakistan because then they can learn from being around the squad."

Only because Junaid Khan's thigh wound had not healed and Umar Gul's fever had not broken, was Adil was given a debut. "We didn't have any choice," Akram said. "There are a lot of injuries in our camp but Gul and Junaid were our first choice."

Circumstance dictated the strength of the side Pakistan could play and it would be unfair to judge them on the performance that ensued. Their inexperience showed. In between challenging deliveries, there were too many runs offered, particularly off wide deliveries and an unacceptable number of no-balls. Hashim Amla said as much. "There were times when they bowled well but then we would often get a loose ball and we could take advantage of that," he said.

Rahat Ali showed improvement from his debut at the Wanderers, where he was both expensive and ineffective. In Centurion, he was only the former. He persisted with a length that was too full and invited the drive and could not rein it in. Adil had a better measure of the length, although he was not as quick as he had been talked up to be.

Akram was impressed with Adil's early spell, in which he claimed the wicket of Graeme Smith, but saw him taper off towards the end of the day. "He bowled well this morning even though there were a bit of nerves because of the debut," he said. "It became difficult later on, especially against players like AB de Villiers and Amla. It is never easy. Our bowlers are still learning and they will learn."

South Africa's top six have 296 matches of experience to draw from and only Mohammed Irfan looked a real threat. He did not make the batsmen play enough but he was dangerous because of his bounce. "It wasn't a bad start for the youngsters," Akram said.

He was hopeful things could only get better, especially because of the conditions. "I expected the cracks would open up by day three but I see they are opening up on day one," Akram said. "When that happens, you can't keep Saeed Ajmal out of the game. I don't expect him to do wonders on day one. Maybe later on."

For now Akram can only hope Adil pulls recovers overnight and the injuries, for which he had two explanations, don't mount. "At home, we are used to soft ground but here in South Africa, the ground is very heavy. That could be one reason," he said before placing more responsibility on the players and staff for the spate of niggles. "We really need to work on our fitness as well. I admit that."

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Could have been more ruthless - Henriques

As he walked out to bat in his first Test innings, Moises Henriques felt like his legs were made of jelly. The first-afternoon pitch looked like something that had been played on for a full five days already. R Ashwin was spinning Australia into a trance. Wickets were falling much too quickly for their liking. Plenty of fans and pundits back home had questioned the selection of Henriques, not that he was thinking about that as he walked out. Still, by the end of his innings of 68, he had silenced a few critics.

In the post-war era, only three other Australians had scored as many as Henriques on debut from No.7 or lower. Two of those men, Greg Chappell and Adam Gilchrist, went on to become legendary figures in Australian cricket. The other, Greg Matthews, had a more than handy career over the course of a decade. Of course it is much too early to judge what sort of Test player Henriques will become, but he has made a fine start. If he can add a few wickets he will be hard to budge for the rest of this tour at least.

Throughout his innings he batted with the captain Michael Clarke, who must have been impressed by the patience displayed by Henriques during his 132-ball innings and their 151-run partnership. Clarke, who in the lead-up to the match said batsmen who made a start in this series could not afford to throw it away, will be pleased with the way Henriques admonished himself after falling lbw to a sweep.

"I certainly think I had the opportunity to make it my best innings [in all cricket] but it was a little bit disappointing, I really wanted to get through the day and make sure we finished five wickets down," Henriques said. "I could have been a little bit more ruthless at the end. But if someone said you're going to have 60-odd on debut I'd take it."

He didn't try to copy Clarke's nimble-footed approach against the spinners but he benefited from his captain's ability to throw Ashwin and his colleagues off their rhythm. Henriques said Ashwin had been a handful but he believed the pitch would also offer some assistance for Australia's fast men, given that Ishant Sharma and Bhuvneshwar Kumar both found some reverse swing as the day wore on.

"He [Ashwin] is a little bit taller and puts some really good work on the ball, the ball is fizzing and can bounce or not bounce, or spin or not spin," Henriques said. "But the other [spinners] are still really disciplined. It wasn't their day today but guys like Harbhajan have taken 400 Test wickets and come day three or four when the wicket is really starting to play some tricks, they're certainly going to come to the game.

"[There was] not much seam movement or anything like that but both their quicks were getting it to reverse and I think with our quicks they'll probably penetrate the wicket a little bit more than what those guys did. Hopefully with guys like Jimmy [Pattinson] and Peter [Siddle] and Mitch [Starc] with a little bit more airspeed, there [will be] reverse swing. The key with reverse swing is to try to bowl to new batsmen with it and be smart with your fields."

Henriques batted on a surface that threw up clouds of dust whenever the players kicked away a stone, and it will only become much more difficult to bat on as the match progresses. Australia reached 316 for 7 at stumps and if Clarke and the tail-enders can push the total up towards 400 on the second day, India might have their work cut out for them.

"The footmarks and the loose ground out there is something like a three-day wicket," Henriques said. "Even back home in Australia you wouldn't see that on day three or four. To have that loose soil out there, come days four and five the ball's going to start playing some tricks."

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Shafayat ton rescues Tuskers

Mountaineers 475 for 7 (Lamb 157, Maruma 105*) and 13 for 0 drew with Tuskers 298 (Shafayat 67, Nyumbu 65) and f/o 312 (Shafayat 152, Williams 83)
Scorecard

Tuskers, helped by a defiant century by Bilal Shafayat, held Mountaineers for a draw after following on at Mutare Sports Club. Trailing by 134 runs at the start of the fourth day, Tuskers faced a tough task of saving the match with seven wickets in hand. They lost overnight batsman off the fifth over of the morning, but Shafayat and Sean Williams forged a 143-run partnership that helped the Tuskers clear the deficit. Shafayat carried on after the fall of William's wicket and completed his second century in as many matches. By the time he was out, he had helped Tuskers use almost the entire quota of the day.

Mountaineers had chosen to bat in a bid to get close to Tuskers in the points table and declared their innings after scoring 475 on the second day at a healthy rate of 3.50. Greg Lamb and Timcyen Maruma scored centuries while Kevin Kasuza and Kudzai Sauramba chipped in with half-centuries.

It was Shafayat who held together Tuskers in the first innings too with a half-century, but Mountaineers bowlers struck regularly and had reduced Tuskers to 223 for 9. Some late resistance by No. 11 Jason Nyumbu, who scored 65, helped Tuskers to get close to 300. Shingi Masakadza and Maruma shared four wickets each.

Tuskers maintained their unbeaten record in the competition and are placed at the top with 35 points, six ahead of Mountaineers.

Mashonaland Eagles 352 (Kondo 98, Mupariwa 4-61) and 384 for 8 (Matsikenyeri 77, Munyaradzi 5-45) drew with Southern Rocks 427 (Masvaure 94, Pardoe 90)
Scorecard

Mashonaland Eagles scored over 300 runs on the last day of their match against Southern Rocks, but it was the Rocks who took one point form the drawn match because of their first-innings lead.

Once the Eagles chose to bat, opener Keith Kondo anchored the innings, after they lost two quick wickets, with 98. He was accompanied by Stuart Matsikenyeri who made 76. Scores in forties from Sikandar Raza and Forster Mutizwa from the middle order took them past 350 after Tawanda Mupariwa took four wickets.

Rocks had a similar innings when they were struggling at 26 for 3 and were steered to safety by opener Matthew Pardoe. After he also got out in the nineties, Richmond Mumtumbami (76), Prince Masvaure (94) and Trevor Garwe (75) made sure they got a first innings lead of 75 runs.

With more than a day to spare, Rocks would have fancied a chance of dismissing the Eagles again but six out of their top seven batsmen contributed with useful scores which ended the match in a draw. The Rocks are second from the bottom with 15 points while the Eagles are at the bottom with only one point.

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Unplayable Finn lays platform for England

25 overs New Zealand 67 for 5 (Finn 2-6) v England
Scorecard

If occasionally knocking over the bowler's end bails can be deemed a weakness, it is the only blemish against Steven Finn at the moment. His new, shorter, run up is designed to address that issue and it has taken none of the pace and aggression away from him, qualities which again were too good for the New Zealand top order as England got on top in the series decider.

Finn's early aggression created another crawl through the Powerplay before a run out blunted New Zealand's recovery through Ross Taylor and Grant Elliot. When Taylor cut at Stuart Broad and got a toe-end to the keeper, England had sight of a long tail.

The pitch, a drop-in surface, hard and flat, was tailor-made for Finn and his opening over showed he was in his element on a bright, warm day in Auckland. BJ Watling faced him like a schoolchild in his first adult net session. He only lasted four of his balls. The first delivery whistled past his shoulder, the second jagged back sharply, the third seamed away beating the outside edge and the fourth was fended to second slip as Watling was beaten for pace.

Finn's opening five overs were unplayable. They went for just five runs, one of them a wide. He found plenty of bounce and moved the new ball both ways. His second wicket was reward for his probing of Hamish Rutherford. He had tried several times to get Finn away through point but failed to find the necessary timing. He gleefully accepted the chance to hit a much wider delivery outside off - the worst Finn had sent down - and, in his eagerness, nicked it to the wicketkeeper.

The over was the second of consecutive wicket maidens as New Zealand made another limp effort of the opening Powerplay. Returns of 33 for 1 in Hamilton and 21 for 2 in Napier were trumped by 18 for 3 from the first 10 overs here.

James Anderson was a little more workable. He overpitched to Kane Williamson, who drove him superbly down the ground, and dropped short to Ross Taylor, who swatted him in front of square with a hook. But Anderson still only went for 12 in his first five overs and had Williamson caught behind when he uncharacteristically felt for a ball which held its line just outside off stump to take a thin edge.

New Zealand eventually began to go somewhere when the opening bowlers were removed. Though Chris Woakes and Stuart Broad bowled tight lines, neither has the nip of Anderson or the pace of Finn and they were easier to drop around and singles were generated in the circle. Taylor also drove Broad past mid on with a sign of his form from Napier.

Graeme Swann, who conceded his most expensive ODI figures in the second match, was introduced and he aided New Zealand's recovery as they worked him around and Elliot exploited a lack of turn to come down the pitch and twice drive over extra cover.

It was steady but important work but the partnership was ended in calamity at Taylor clipped to long leg and sent Elliot back having initially charged back for a second run that was on. It left New Zealand's gun pair - Taylor and Brendon McCullum - at the crease too early for their liking. McCullum's hitting will be needed if New Zealand are to get anywhere close to a defendable target. Plenty are required on probably the smallest international venue in the world. So tight are the boundaries that if it was a new ground it would not be ratified by the ICC.

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Fresh start for cricket-starved Zimbabwe

Match facts

February 22, 2013
Start time 0930 local (1330 GMT)

Big picture

Think of a match involving Zimbabwe in 2012 and you could be forgiven if you failed to recall a single one. Bizarrely, Zimbabwe played just eight internationals in total (three ODIs, four T20s and a Test), losing all, in a forgettable year. Their last one-dayer was 11 months ago, on the tour of New Zealand. They played a tri-series in South Africa in June but their victory couldn't be seen by a worldwide audience as the series was unofficial. They haven't played as a unit in an international since they limped out of the World T20 in September after two games. They were due to host Pakistan and Bangladesh but none of those tours materialised. Ironically, their current tour of the West Indies, beginning with the first of three one-day internationals in Grenada, features seven games, almost the total they played in the last 12 months. They had just one practice game, against the University of West Indies Vice Chancellor's XI, in which their batsmen found form. The lack of sufficient match practice, and, importantly, time together might be to their disadvantage as they take on West Indies.

West Indies, on the other hand, have been busy travelers, having made trips to USA, England, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Australia. Their recent form has been patchy, having lost all five one-dayers in Australia, before rounding off the tour with a big win in the one-off T20. Their batting was the biggest disappointment. Now against easier opposition, they have chosen to rest their regular captain Darren Sammy and Chris Gayle. Dwayne Bravo takes over the captaincy and he said his first task is to get the team to regroup after a tough tour and get back the winning habit. Having won the World T20, the expectations among their home fans would have skyrocketed.

Form guide

West Indies LLLLL
Zimbabwe LLLWL

In the spotlight

Ramnaresh Sarwan was recalled for the Australia tour after 18 months, but failed to perform in the three opportunities he got. He was retained for the one-dayers against Zimbabwe and in absence of Gayle and Sammy, he will look to make the most of this second chance. It couldn't have been easy for Sarwan, fitting back in to the same environment which gave him negative vibes. Water has passed under the bridge and Sarwan is happy to be back in the set up, having overcome the mental barriers that pulled him down. He smashed 90 for the Vice Chancellor's XI on Wednesday. His best is yet to come.

Vusi Sibanda has started off the tour well, cracking 147 off 114 balls before retiring out in the warm-up match. An attacking batsman, Sibanda hasn't been a consistent scorer, with an underwhelming average of 23.93 for an opener. His record against West Indies is relatively better against other teams - 447 runs with four fifties.

Team news

Denesh Ramdin returns to the side as the wicketkeeper after Devon Thomas was dropped after an ordinary tour of Australia with the bat.

West Indies (probable) 1 Johnson Charles, 2 Kieran Powell, 3 Darren Bravo, 4 Ramnaresh Sarwan, 5 Kieron Pollard, 6 Dwayne Bravo (capt), 7 Andre Russell, 8 Denesh Ramdin (wk), 9 Kemar Roach, 10 Tino Best, 11 Sunil Narine

Zimbabwe (from) Brendan Taylor (capt), Hamilton Masakadza, Vusi Sibanda, Tino Mawoyo, Kyle Jarvis, Tendai Chatara, Chris Mpofu, Prosper Utseya, Regis Chakabva, Malcolm Waller, Keegan Meth, Craig Ervine, Chamu Chibhabha, Tino Mutombodzi, Natsai M'shangwe

Stats and trivia

• West Indies and Zimbabwe have not played each other in an ODI at St Georges.
• The teams last met in a bilateral series in the West Indies in 2010. West Indies took the five-match series 4-1 after losing the first match.
• Zimbabwe have played 21 ODIs in all in the West Indies, winning four and losing 15.

Quotes

"Cricket is played on the day and if we don't do the right things, Zimbabwe are going to beat us."
Dwayne Bravo, the West Indies captain, warns against complacency.

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Australia calm despite Hyderabad blasts

Cricket Australia has denied reports the team will refuse to travel to Hyderabad for next week's second Test after bombings in the city on Thursday night. The two blasts, which killed at least 11 people, came on the eve of the first Test in Chennai and nine days out from the second Test in Hyderabad.

Although it is too early to determine whether the second Test will be shifted to a different venue, some news reports on Indian television on Thursday night suggested the Australian team would not travel to Hyderabad after the bombings. However, a CA team spokesperson said those reports were not true and it was premature to discuss any such move.

"We're aware of the unfortunate incident in Hyderabad," a Cricket Australia team spokesperson said. "The safety of the squad is of paramount importance and the Australian team management and CA staff are liaising with the BCCI, local authorities and Australian High Commission to ensure we have all the appropriate information. To date, we have no information to suggest there is any threat to the team in Chennai as a result of this incident."

The two blasts hit the Dilsukhnagar region of Hyderabad about ten minutes apart and it was believed more than 50 people were injured, on top of the confirmed fatalities. India's prime minister Manmohan Singh labelled the bombings "a dastardly attack".

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Rankin hopes to reach Test heights

Being big and bad has helped many bowlers to a successful Test career and Boyd Rankin hopes his main selling points can help him become the next.

At 6ft 7in, Rankin is brushing shoulders with contemporaries whose ability to look down on others has helped them into Test cricket. Steve Harmison, Chris Tremlett and Steve Finn have all recently been picked for England on their height and aggression (at least with the ball in hand) and Rankin also offers those qualities.

Alongside focusing on the 2013 season with County Champions Warwickshire, Test cricket is Rankin's main aim after he ended his career with Ireland following the World T20 in Sri Lanka last September. Rankin, 28 and from Londonderry in Northern Ireland, now wants to play for England.

"I've always said I'd love to play Test cricket," Rankin told ESPNcricinfo. "I retired from Ireland to try and concentrate a bit more on Warwickshire. It got to the stage where I was playing all year round with Ireland, Warwickshire and England Lions and I wasn't getting a lot of rest and I was picking up a few injuries on the way so I thought the best way to go was to stop playing for Ireland and concentrate on county cricket and see from there.

"I think I bring something different with my height and my size, there's not many guys around that can offer that and I think I've got a chance that way."

Rankin had a good record for Ireland, with 43 wickets in 37 ODIs at 32.34 and 17 wickets at 21.41 in 15 T20s, but he must prove his red-ball skills are good enough for international cricket if he is to force a way past an ever-lengthening queue for a place in the England bowling attack.

His recent returns for Warwickshire have been encouraging. He took 55 first-class wickets at 25.80 in 2011 and was selected for England Lions that summer. He toured with the Lions in Bangladesh before a foot injury checked his progress; his 2012 season was halved and he took 16 wickets at 32.18 on his return.

The problem flared up again after Christmas, ruling Rankin out of the Lions tour to Australia and forcing him to stay in Birmingham and work with Warwickshire bowling coach Graeme Welch.

"He's been great with all the bowlers since he's been here," Rankin said. "I did quite a lot of work with him up until I picked up this injury. I was changing a few things with my action and that was going really well. I'm looking forward to getting that going again. He's worked wonders with the likes of Keith Barker and Chris Wright."

Welch was in the running to become Warwickshire's new director of cricket after Ashley Giles left Edgbaston to become England's one-day coach but was beaten to the position by Giles' former assistant, Dougie Brown. Rankin was sad to see Giles go, having been one of his first signings after joining from Derbyshire in 2008, but can see no trouble with Brown's new regime.

"It's been a very smooth transition over," Rankin said. "The squad is in a good place at the moment. It's just a matter of continuing on the work that was done with Ashley. Dougie is his own man and there have been quite a few things already set in place.

"With the injury, I haven't really been involved as much as I would have liked to but obviously Dougie loves the club and wants the best for every player. But the things are pretty settled and it's been pretty straightforward for him."

Boyd Rankin was speaking from the StreetChance supported by Barclays Spaces for Sports national cricket tournament at the Birmingham NIA. StreetChance is a Cricket Foundation project which uses cricket to engage young people in inner-city areas affected by anti-social behaviour and youth crime. Find out more at www.streetchance.org

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BBL chief McKenna's dual roles under spotlight

Mike McKenna's contentious dual role as Cricket Australia's chief of commercial operations and custodian of its disciplinary codes is expected to be placed under the spotlight as part of the former AFL executive Adrian Anderson's review of CA integrity.

While McKenna's job as CA's commercial head and executive in charge of the Big Bash League is not in question, ESPNcricinfo understands there have been mounting concerns within the governing body about the management of disciplinary matters.

McKenna has overseen this area since the departure of the former head of cricket, Michael Brown, in 2011, and the move of the former general manager of cricket operations, Geoff Allardice, to the ICC in 2012.

Anderson is expected to submit his report into CA's integrity management by the middle of 2013, with his review to include, according to a CA statement, "anti-doping policies and disciplinary processes, domestic cricket anti-corruption and CA's involvement in the ICC's global anti-corruption program". There is the strong possibility McKenna's role will be re-shaped, with responsibility for disciplinary process moved elsewhere within the organisation to guard against conflict, and perceptions of conflict.

Standards of on-field behaviour during this summer's BBL degenerated, culminating in the ugly bust-up between Shane Warne and Marlon Samuels at the MCG. As BBL chief and also disciplinary czar, McKenna was in the invidious position of trying to increase the commercial value of the tournament while also having oversight for the code of conduct hearings that had Warne let off with a one game ban and $5000 fine while Marlon Samuels subsequently escaped with a mere reprimand.

Other incidents prior to the Warne/Samuels affair were not pursued at all, and while some elements of CA were content to have the BBL publicised by any means, others were unnerved by the appearance of poor player behaviour being effectively condoned. This raised alarms given the tournament's aggressive marketing towards families and children: CA's spirit of cricket initiatives were made to appear empty commitments to the conduct of the game.

Since the end of the BBL, closer attention has been paid to player behaviour in domestic matches, as demonstrated by CA's insistence that Ricky Ponting front a hearing and be fined for throwing his bat when dismissed in a limited overs match at the WACA ground on Tuesday. It is expected that all contracted players will be briefed again about their behavioural responsibilities before next summer.

"Public faith in the integrity of sports results they see on the playing field is absolutely critical and we want everything we do pressure-tested by an independent specialist expert to be sure we are as good as we can be," CA chief executive James Sutherland said in announcing the review. "While the timing is coincidental, and while the ACC report had no evidence of cricket concerns, its publication is a timely reminder that no modern elite sport is immune from risk."

Anderson was the AFL's general manager of operations from 2003 to 2012, responsible for a raft of changes to the governance of the game, its rules and disciplinary procedures. He was instrumental in the revamp of the league tribunal, and in setting up the competition integrity unit that investigated allegations the Melbourne Football Club "tanked" games in 2007.

The exit of Anderson from the AFL followed indications that the league's chief executive Andrew Demetriou had passed him over in order to anoint the former head of commercial operations, Gillon McLachlan, as his future successor.

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Tiger Pataudi 'liberated Indian cricket' - Gavaskar

Mr. N Srinivasan (president, BCCI), Mr. Wally Edwards (chairman, Cricket Australia), David Richardson (chief executive, ICC), chief executives of the Australian and Sri Lankan Cricket boards, Michael Clarke and the Australian cricket team, Mahi [MS Dhoni] and the Indian team, some of my former team-mates and other former cricketers, ladies and gentlemen.

That was the easy part. Now comes the difficult part. And the difficult part is that right till the Nawab of Pataudi jr passed away, I never knew how to address him. The first time I played under him was for the Vazir Sultan Colts XI in the Moin-ud-Dowla Gold Cup. The Vazir Sultan team used to comprise players who were doing well at school and inter-university level. We used to have the odd first-class player, but generally it was a team of young players trying to make their mark in first-class cricket in India. Some of them, like me, hadn't even played first-class cricket. So we were all very excited to be playing under the captain of the Indian team.

Nawab of Pataudi had been captaining the Vazir Sultan team for a couple of years. So, it was a huge excitement, and a great time for us to be there. On the eve of the match we had a cocktail party given by the chairman and the managing director of the Vazir Sultan Tobacco Company. We put on our best attire and went for the party, hoping to come across and meet our captain. Nawab did put in a brief appearance, had a quick drink with the chairman and the managing director and before we could introduce ourselves to him, he was gone. We were about 16 years old at that time, socially challenged, and so we were in one corner. All the executives of Vazir Sultan were in another corner, and we never got the opportunity to speak to Tiger.

There were one or two who had played the previous year with Nawab of Pataudi and we were all in a bit of a dilemma as to what to call him. The ones who had played with him in the previous year were of no help as well. So eventually the team decided to get into a huddle in which we were debating and discussing as to how we should address the Nawab of Pataudi. None of us could zero in on how we should address him?

So eventually we decided that whoever did well the next day - if you were a batsman and got a fifty, if you took a wicket or a catch - that person's responsibility was to ask the Nawab what we should address him as.

The Nawab came just 10 minutes before the toss was to take place and sat on the massage table. There was a masseur who came and gave him a massage and we were in one side of the dressing room, still waiting to be introduced to the Nawab of Pataudi. He wasn't even sure who we were - who was the batsman? Who was the bowler?

We lost the toss and went out on the field. As luck would have it, there was a run-out and I was the one who had affected it, so all the players fielding in the vicinity gathered together. The Nawab was sat on the ground tying his shoelaces. There were four-five of us around him. And suddenly I saw the eye-contact being made with me by them. I was pretending as if I didn't know anything. Then of course, there was a bit of a whisper 'ask, ask ask'. So it was my turn to ask him because that's what we'd decided the previous evening.

I gathered up enough courage and said, 'What do we address you as? Nawab saab, captain, skipper, Pats, Tiger?' These were all the names that we'd heard him being addressed as by various other people. But we were all kids. The Nawab finished tying his shoelaces, looked up at me, turned and went away. So, we were none the wiser.

I met him several times after that. I spent a lot of time with him when I got into the Indian team. But I could never actually call him anything. Every time there was an opportunity to talk to him, it went directly to him, instead of calling him by any name. So that really is going to be the tough part today. I did manage to speak to saiba, Sharmila. She is unwell so she wasn't able to come. But just because he's addressed by just about everyone in their conversations, be it cricket or anything else, as Tiger, with your permission, I am going to address him as Tiger.

Tiger was an extraordinary cricketer. To be able to play cricket with just one eye - and the splinter that went through his eye, you could actually see the scar in the eye when you were close to him - and score almost 3000 [2793] runs is something terrific. I mean, it's hard enough to see the cricket ball with two eyes, and here was a man who played with just one!

He used to bring the peak of his cap over his right eye almost as if taking the sun out of the equation, closing his eye, and he would play. He had a very wide two-eyed stand, not quite Shivnarine Chanderpaul, but almost there. And it was incredible how he could play shots on both sides of the wicket.

The best thing about Tiger was that with his batting style and his approach to the game, he liberated Indian cricket. Till then Indian cricket was more about letting things drift than making things happen. Tiger changed the entire outlook and mindset. He stepped down the pitch to the spinners and lofted the quicker bowlers over the infield, which wasn't done before.

Yes, India started playing Test cricket in 1932-33 with two very aggressive players in Col. CK Nayudu and the one and only Lala Amarnath, who could hit the ball anywhere. But after that Indian cricket went into a state where it was about making sure things were pretty much status quo, rather than making things happen.

Our batting cricketing upbringing was such that if you hit three balls six inches above the ground, your coaches would make you run a lap of the ground as punishment with the bat held high in the air. And therefore, caution was probably the watch-word rather than aggression. And Tiger changed all that. He changed all that by being bold, by taking on the bowlers rather than being dictated by them. And he changed the entire mindset.

India was a team which was being run-over by just about every other team. But when Tiger came in, he gave the team the belief and the confidence that they could play against any opposition, do well, and even go on to win. His charisma was such. It was incredible. He was one of those cricketers that you could never take your eyes off. If he was standing at covers and the action was going on in the middle, you would be looking at Tiger Pataudi. Yes, to a peripheral vision you were watching the action but he had that magnetism.

He was very good-looking as well. I keep saying that the 1960s has to be the most glamorous decade in Indian Cricket. We had some really good-looking guys and they were dating some gorgeous women. Tiger Pataudi himself was dating the leading film star of India - Sharmila Tagore. There was Salim Durani, who was a film star himself in his own right. There was Budhi Kunderan - he was short and dark, but he wore tight trousers on and off the field and dated models.

Farokh Engineeer had a lot of exotic dates if I might say. Even now I think Farokh makes heads turn, although I'm not sure if he's able to turn himself. And then there was my hero, ML Jaisimha. He always had women around him.

At that stage, when your hormones are raging, you say to yourself, 'Wow! This game must be something'. So, for my generation, the incentive to take up cricket was that. I'm not too sure about what the current generation thinks - for them maybe it's the IPL. But for our generation it was really the mere possibility that we could meet a film star, date her, take a model out. That was the incentive. Well, it didn't quite happen that way. Of course, Ravi [Shastri] has been rather more successful in that regard.

Tiger also was an outstanding fielder. I think in the history of Indian cricket, Tiger has to rank among the top-three Indian fielders ever. Tiger himself, Eknath Solkar, who is no more with us, and Mohammad Azharuddin - these three would be, in my view, the top-three fielders of India. Wherever they stood - close-in, in the outfield - they were outstanding.

Tiger, with that one eye, could hit the stumps quite regularly - pretty much as regularly as a Jonty Rhodes or a Ricky Ponting did. Whenever the run-out opportunity was there, Tiger hit the stumps. And that is the crucial thing. If you hit the stumps and the run-out opportunity is not there, it doesn't really mean much.

And Tiger was a prankster. I think there would be many of my former team-mates who would stand up and put their hands up to say that they were the victims to his pranks. With the media he was always playing up. He went knocking on his team-mates' doors wearing masks and scaring the living daylights out of them. And this is something you would not really expect of someone who was of royal lineage. Yes, he was a man of few words but he was a practical joker as well.

I remember Vishy [GR Vishwanath] was one who suffered. When they went to play a match in Bhopal, they suddenly decided that they'd go on shikaar [hunting]. None of the guys had ever held a gun before in their lives apart from Tiger himself. But they all agreed to go.

As they went into the jungle, suddenly they were surrounded by these dacoits. Everybody had a gun up their throats and it was quite scary. Vishy, till today, he sweats every time he thinks about it. Erapalli Prasanna tried to run from there and was shot. Tiger wasn't able to control his laughter so the dacoits took him away into the bushes.

They tied poor Vishy to a tree. Vishy was, of course, given by Tiger his silk kurta and all the brocades, etc. for the day. So the dacoits said, 'no, no, you are the Nawab'. Vishy was trying to explain to them that he was just Gundappa Vishwanath and that the Nawab of Pataudi was somewhere else. They said, 'no, look at your outfit. You are the Nawab'.

There was another cricketer as well who was tied to a tree - I will not name him. Every time he said that he should be let off as he was an Indian Test cricketer, the gun came closer. It was quite an experience until I think the time when Tiger and Prasanna, who were supposed to have been shot dead, walked through the bushes. By that time the joke had gone on too much. The dacoits were actually Tiger's servants who had dressed up and taken these people hostage.

It was that aspect of his character that he brought to the game as well - the fun aspect.

And I think that's the aspect that perhaps, we could do more with in modern day cricket. Yes, the intensity and the passion has to be there when you're representing your country or any team for that matter. But along with it if just a little fun element comes in, I think it will be fantastic for the game of cricket.

Cricket today is in a very, very happy place. I think there are more people playing the game and in more countries of the world. There are also more millionaires playing the game today. Twenty20 cricket is helping to globalise the game, taking it to emerging countries like America, China and maybe Europe as well. And I think that is the format you should probably look at if you want to globalise the game. But I think - and this is what Tiger used to say as well - that we keep on tinkering with the game too much. We keep making changes in the game and that makes it difficult for the countries that are not cricket savvy to understand the game. The success of football, golf and tennis is because the rules are very simple. They're very easy to understand and therefore, there's no confusion in the minds of those who have never played the game before, or in whose country it's not a primary sport. That's something that cricket administrators need to look at.

However, I still believe that Test Cricket is still the pinnacle of the game. It is, as all the players present here will readily acknowledge, the format by which they're going to be recognised as good, great or ordinary players. Performances in the T20 and 50-over format are well and wonderful but at the end of the day it is Test cricket by which the players know they're going to be rated.

Administrators, particularly in the four or five major countries out of the ten Test playing countries, need to make sure that Test cricket is the pinnacle. For that you need to have pitches which are balanced rather than the ones which are one-sided. We need pitches on which the best are tested against the best because at the end of the day it's not just the test of your technique or skill. It's the test of your courage and temperament. I've always believed that it's the temperament that separates the men from the boys and that can only be found out in the cauldron that is Test cricket. That is something I would request all the administrators to have a look at.

Ravi Shastri and Mr. N Srinivasan already said that Tiger Pataudi was a man of few words. We are also in the age of T20. So, I'm not going to carry on.

There's a Test match to be played in a couple of days and it's the beginning of a series that has always been an exciting one. I want to wish both teams plenty of luck - just a little bit more for the Indians as they need it a bit more than the Australians do. The Australians have been winning while the Indians have not.

I hope and I know that it will be a wonderful series. India-Australia series has always been very well contested and well-fought. But just like Tiger did, let there be a bit of fun element as well in the game. When a batsman scores a fifty or a hundred or a bowler picks up a wicket, let there be a little smile. A little bit of a smile makes a huge difference. It makes the television viewers and everybody feel great, and the youngsters will like to take up the game as well.

Once again, I wish both teams the very best. To Mr. Srinivasan and the BCCI, thank you so much for inviting me to speak at the inaugural MAK Pataudi Memorial Lecture. I guess, once an opening batsman always an opening batsman. Thank you so much everybody.

And Tiger, if you're up there and listening, just want to say a big thank you to you as well, for enriching this game and on behalf of all those who came in contact with you.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much.

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Langer hopes to halt Hogan deal

Justin Langer, the Western Australia coach, will do "everything he can" to stop Michael Hogan joining Glamorgan for the English season.

Hogan, a 31-year-old fast bowler, is set for a move to Glamorgan on a two-year deal as a British passport holder. The contract requires him to forego playing as a domestic cricketer in Australia.

But Langer is desperate to keep him in Perth, describing him as a cornerstone of the Western Australian attack who could also help mentor the state's youngsters. "He's our best bowler," Langer said. "I am doing everything I can to talk him into staying."

Hogan has taken 117 first-class wickets at 28.57 in his career and has 17 wickets at 27.61 in this season's Sheffield Shield, where Western Australia sit bottom of the table.

Should he make a u-turn it would replicate the decision of Alviro Petersen, the South Africa batsman, who had signed a similar deal with Glamorgan only to decide he would remain as a South African-based player after all.

Such recruitment decisions will be analysed by former Somerset director of cricket Brian Rose, who has been appointed to conduct an independent review of Glamorgan.

Rose, who left his post at Somerset at the end of last season, will review, among other things, the coaching structure and player development pathway. He will meet key figures from the county and his initial findings are expected by the start of April.

"Brian has extensive cricket experience and is widely respected," Glamorgan chief executive Alan Hamer said. "We are delighted that he has agreed to help with this review, which underpins our respective strategic plans."

Cricket Wales chief executive Peter Hybart added: "We welcome Brian's involvement and are committed to increasing the numbers of talented young cricketers capable of playing professional cricket for Glamorgan."

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Sialkot go top after innings win

Karachi Blues 265 (Zaman 64, Haroon 61, Irshad 5-81) and 121 for 2 (Zaman 61, Rehman 47) beat Lahore Ravi 175 (Akmal 56) and 209 (Mirza 70, Akmal 54, Anwar 5-61) by eight wickets
Scorecard

With an all-round performance, the Karachi Blues secured an eight-wicket victory against Lahore Ravi at the Gaddafi Stadium.

Lahore, after being put into bat, stumbled to 6 for 3. After a 48-run stand for the fifth wicket, they suffered another collapse as they lost four wickets for only 19 runs. A half-century from Adnan Akmal got them to 175.

The Blues, in their first dig, put up a competitive 265. Fakhar Zaman top-scored with 64, with Tariq Haroon contributing 61. Mohammad Irshad's 5 for 81 helped keep the Blues in check through the course of their innings.

After conceding a 90-run lead, Ravi were in trouble as they were reduced to 57 for 4 through an effective bowling performance from Anwar Ali, who took 5 for 61. A 124-run stand between Akmal and Mirza steadied the innings, but Ravi lost six wickets quickly after that, and folded for 209. The Blues' batsmen went about their 120-run chase quickly, sealing the match on the third day.

Sialkot 563 (Ayub 160, Malik 152, Jahangir 92) beat Rawalpindi 294 (Amin 75, Mufti 54, Bhatti 4-71) and 209 (Naeem 71, Ahmed 53, Malik 5-64) by an innings and 60 runs
Scorecard

Centuries from Mohammad Ayub and Shoaib Malik, who also took a decisive five-wicket haul in the second innings, helped Sialkot beat Rawalpindi by an innings and 60 runs.

Rawalpindi were put into bat, and they were unable to build substantial partnerships over the course of their innings. Umar Amin, who top-scored with 75, and Adnan Mufti, who scored 54, were the chief contributors. Bilawal Bhatti was the pick of the bowlers with 4 for 71 as Rawalpindi were dismissed for 294.

Sialkot, in reply, started well, with opener Majid Jahangir scoring 92. Ayub and Malik were then involved in a 225-run stand for the fourth wicket. Contributions towards the end from Mansoor Amjad (54) and Zeeshan Mushtaq (32) helped push Sialkot to 563, before they declared with seven wickets down, giving them a 269-run lead.

The Sialkot bowlers reduced Rawalpindi, in their second dig, to 76 for 4 before Shoaib Ahmed and Babar Naeem put on a 111-run stand for the fifth wicket. Rawalpindi lost their next five wickets for just 22 runs, as Malik and Bhatti combined to bundle them out for 209.

The win puts them on top of the points table, after three matches.

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Gavaskar stresses primacy of Tests

Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar has called for balanced pitches to make sure Test cricket remains the prime format of the game. He said the shorter formats might be good for the globalisation of the game and might provide financial security to the players, but Test cricket remained the pinnacle. Gavaskar was speaking at the inaugural annual MAK Pataudi lecture in honour of former India captain, Nawab of Pataudi, also fondly known as Tiger, in Chennai.

"T20 is the one that is helping to globalise the game," Gavaskar said, "taking it to countries, to emerging countries and taking it to countries like America and China and maybe Europe as well. I think that is the format you probably need to look at if you want to globalise the game.

"However, I still believe that Test cricket is the pinnacle of the game. I think it is, as all the players here would readily acknowledge, that is the medium, that is the format by which they will be recognised as good players or great players or just ordinary players.

"The performances in T20, the performances in the 50-over format are well and wonderful but at the end of the day, it's Test cricket … how do you do at Test level is what the players know they will be rated by."

Gavaskar said the onus was on the administrators to retain the primacy of Test cricket. "And that is what the administrators also need to make sure," he said. "Particularly the major countries, the ten Test-playing countries - and out of that I would imagine there are four or five major Test countries - they are the ones who should ensure that Test cricket remains the pinnacle."

The pitches, he said, were crucial. "For that I think you need to have pitches with balance," Gavaskar said, "rather than pitches which are one-sided. Pitches which give the opportunity for the best to be tested against the best. Test cricket is a test not just of skill or technique, but it's a test of your courage and your temperament. And I have always believed that it is temperament that separates the men from the boys. It can only be found out in the cauldron of Test cricket. I would request all the administrators to have a look at it."

Gavaskar also said the administrators shouldn't change the rules and laws too much. "I think - and this is what Tiger said as well - that we often tinker too much with the game. That we keep on changing this and we keep on changing that, which makes it difficult for countries which are not cricket-savvy to understand the game.

"The success of football, of tennis and of golf is because the rules are very simple. It is easy to understand, therefore there is no confusion in the mind of those who have never played the game before and whose primary sport in their country is not any of these sports. I think this is something cricket's administrators need to look at."

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SA triumph in straightforward D/L chase

South Africa Under-19s 157 for 4 (Fortuin 62) beat England Under-19s 205 for 8 (Velani 78, Jackson 62, Sigwili 4-34) by six wickets D/L
Scorecard

South Africa moved a step closer to a series whitewash with a six-wicket victory at Stellenbosch but their run chase was given a generous donation by the Duckworth-Lewis method.

The game's second interruption for rain came as South Africa required 84 to win in 90 balls with seven wickets remaining. They were on course for victory, if needing to raise their run-rate by a significant margin. But the revised target made the task very straightforward as they resumed with 33 to win from 30 balls - a target that proved no issue as they won with eight balls to spare.

Victory may have come anyway as Clyde Fortuin was marshalling the innings well. He and Jason Smith added 56 as the chase made good progress. But had Fortuin been dismissed with plenty of work left to do - as would have been the case without rain - England could have got home.

As it was their middle-order blow out cost them. Having elected to bat they would have wanted to set a more challenging score. Callum Jackson and Kishen Velani put together a stand of 133 but progress was slow and, as new batsman tried to accelerate in the last 10 overs, wickets tumbled six wickets fell in as many overs and only Gavin Griffiths at No. 10 made another double figure score.

Nqazibini Sigwili's left-arm seamers did the damage with 4 for 34 as South Africa went on to knock off the target, aided by the Duckworth-Lewis system.

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Dhaka's different match-winners

Shakib Al Hasan and Mosharraf Hossain, two stars of Dhaka Gladiators' 43-run win against Chittagong Kings in the final of the BPL, faced dissimilar questions after the victory, for both are at different stages of their careers.

Shakib was asked questions about cars he had won, and what makes they were. Mosharraf, the 31-year-old left-arm spinner, faced questions on stage fright, playing with stars and learning about his strengths and weaknesses. He answered them with glee, for his three wickets had triggered a middle-order collapse, and had earned him the Man-of-the-Match award. It was his finest performance in a 12-year career, in which he had played three ODIs for Bangladesh close to five years ago.

"It was the biggest stage for me, but I just wanted to do things as I have done earlier in my career," Mosharraf said. "I wanted to keep things tight and take wickets, basically help my team-mates do less. It was a very good batting wicket where scoring at ten an over wasn't difficult. I just wanted to cut out the runs and get the wickets."

Long years in domestic cricket have made Mosharraf a perfectionist. He would have loved to finish with a four-wicket haul, but a catch fell between two fielders off his last ball. "I could have done a lot better. I bowled one really bad ball towards the end. I also had one catch that wasn't taken, but I am happy with the three wickets. It is a really big day for me."

Mashrafe Mortaza, his captain, was pleased to see one of his unheralded players do well. "I had full confidence in Mosharraf, simply because he was in superb form ahead of the BPL. He had taken five-fors and ten-fors at will almost, so it was just a matter of telling them that what they are doing is great."

Mosharraf banks on steadiness. He has 255 first-class wickets, so he isn't afraid of tossing the ball at a batsman. Against the Kings he did flight a few, but they were few and far between. He depends on a tight line around off stump, mostly forcing the batsman to cut the ball. That is how Ryan ten Doeschate perished, when he attempted to top-edged a cut to Tillakaratne Dilshan at point. It was a big wicket, and Mosharraf was in the centre of the team huddle, something that doesn't usually occur.

In that same huddle was Shakib, whose feisty 41 off 29 balls had given the Gladiators a good start. On the morning of the final, Shakib retained his No. 1 ranking as a Test allrounder by default. He missed a few matches through injury but when he returned, it was with some runs and a lot of control with the ball, though the bowling came off a shortened run-up and wickets weren't too frequent.

He had a quiet BPL by his standards, though 329 runs and 15 wickets are impressive numbers. He had won the Man-of-the-Tournament award last year for a dynamic show for Khulna Royal Bengals. When asked about the difference between his first Man-of-the-Tournament prize and the second, Shakib said: "I think the only difference was the model of the car."

Shakib will be off to Australia for a check-up on his injured shin, before deciding whether he will play in Sri Lanka, where Bangladesh are due to tour next month. Mosharraf will go back home after taking the plaudits. And in a few days, he will return to the Shere Bangla Stadium to begin preparation for Central Zone in the Bangladesh Cricket League final, which begins on February 22.

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Warner confident of playing first Test

David Warner is preparing to bat with a splint - and through pain - in the first Test in Chennai as he continues his recovery from a fractured thumb. Warner faced pace bowling in the nets on Tuesday and was due to take part in a full fielding drill on Wednesday in what was effectively the final hurdle he needed to clear to prove his fitness after sitting out of cricket since he was struck on the thumb by Mitchell Johnson in the WACA nets late last month.

Warner suffered a crack in the joint and he expects to feel pain and have limited movement in the thumb for some time, but that is unlikely to keep him off the field. Warner said only "a proper injury", one that stopped him from running, fielding or throwing, would keep him out of Test cricket and he said he was prepared to put up with the pain he was enduring in the thumb to play for his country.

"I am very confident of playing," Warner said in Chennai. "I have had four long days of training. I have been hitting for an hour each session to get a feel of hitting the ball and putting myself under fatigue to see if I will get any pain as I go on. I have iced it every time after training. It has been sore, yes, but that's what is going to happen with a break.

"They said to me initially three to four weeks, it's now coming up to the end of the third week and it is still pretty sore. I am having a full training session in the field [on Wednesday] so I will know then 100 percent if I can catch balls. I caught some balls at 50 percent and felt no pain at all. I have a splint that I can use when I'm in the field, which protects the thumb and while I'm batting. At this present time, I am 100 percent ready to go."

Warner is well aware that if he plays in Chennai, it will not be a pain-free experience. Although India are likely to use a spin-heavy attack, Warner will still need to face Ishant Sharma with the new ball and he is relying on his splint to help protect him from any further damage from rising deliveries.

"There is a rubber piece which sits at the end of the thumb, I have a guard that sits halfway underneath and covers the top part so if I get hit, it gets protected," he said. "I got hit yesterday in the nets on it by a spinner. It was a bit painful but I'm all right. I have a nice hard plastic case as well on the outside so touch wood I don't get hit but, if I do, I will be right."

Provided Warner gets through the new ball, much of his work in this Test is likely to be against spin, with India considering including three slow men on a dry pitch expected to take plenty of turn. Despite having missed both the warm-up matches, Warner is confident he has the game to succeed against spin in Indian conditions.

"It's important to either get down the wicket or get real deep in your crease," Warner said. "If you can put them off their game, then you know you're in for a good day. My game is to be decisive - either go forward or go back. If I'm caught in between, that's where my downfall is. I feel my game is better where I'm putting the pressure on the bowler. You've got to show intent, try and look to score, but that doesn't mean scoring off every ball. You have to respect the good balls, and when the ball is there to be hit, use your feet."

One of his foes in the Indian spin department could be Harbhajan Singh, who in past series has riled the Australians with his chat on and off the field, and could be set to play his 100th Test in Chennai. Warner, who is arguably the most verbal of the current batch of Australians on the field, said he hoped he could use his bat to end any trash talk.

"I don't think there will be much chirp," Warner said. "I think that we're all good mates off the field. I think the IPL has set a good balance between all the nations, because everyone has played with each other in different IPL franchises. When we we're on the field we're very competitive. But there is a line there that no one ever crosses.

"I know you're going to get a little bit of banter from certain people but you're going to have to learn to cop that and that's how it is. We dish it out at home, we've got to be prepared to take it. Come game one, you've got your normal culprits as usual ... we all know who they are. They'll come out and start firing but you know what - it will only last probably half an hour if you get on top of them."

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NZ steady after early Anderson blows

25 overs New Zealand 89 for 2 (Taylor 37*, Williamson 32*) v England
Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details

Ross Taylor, beginning to find form after his self-imposed international exile, and Kane Williamson dragged New Zealand up from an uncertain start on a good batting pitch in Napier, after Alastair Cook had won the toss and chose to bowl. James Anderson and Steven Finn applied a chokehold during the Powerplay, as England sought parity in the three-match series, but Taylor and Williamson had begun to wrestle themselves free by the halfway stage of the innings.

Anderson, fresh from passing Ian Botham as England's leading wicket-taker in international cricket, had talked of bowling until he was 40 before the match. You suspect even as an Oldsmobile he would cruise in smoothly but the current model is a genuine handful and more experienced drivers than BJ Watling have nicked to first slip pushing at Anderson's length ball, which just veered away enough to take the edge in the seventh over.

Anderson and Finn built the early pressure, refusing the batsmen width to attack the short square boundaries. Hamish Rutherford did manage to find the rope, squeezing the ball away off his hips and then flashing, in the air, behind point but his debut one-day innings was ended by a piece of Anderson guile. Rutherford eyeballed the pitch when a length ball sat up rather more pertly than he expected, causing him to punch uppishly to extra-cover where Alastair Cook clung on diving to his left, but the effect of Anderson cutting his fingers over the ball was telling.

At the end of the Powerplay, New Zealand were 21 for 2 and a total in excess of 300 looked a long way off. The last time these two teams met a Napier, they split 680 runs precisely down the middle, with Luke Wright keeping New Zealand to six off the final over to force a tie. Paul Collingwood, Dimitri Mascarenhas, Owais Shah and Wright shared 20 overs that day but, with the shift in their strategy towards specialists, England's attack looked a meaner machine five years to the day on.

When the first change came, Anderson had figures of 6-2-11-2. Finn had also gone at less than two an over and New Zealand had to attempt to force the pace against Chris Woakes and Stuart Broad. The latter experienced some issues with his length and Taylor then took two fours off Woakes' third over to drag the rate up a little. The introduction of Graeme Swann emphasised the quality at Cook's disposal but Williamson showcased his own qualities with a straight punch down the ground for a one-bounce four against the offspinner.

While England were unchanged, New Zealand made three switches to the XI that won by three wickets in Hamilton at the weekend. Injuries to Martin Guptill and Mitchell McClenaghan meant places for Rutherford and Trent Boult, while Tim Southee was fast-tracked back into the side after a thumb problem in place of Andrew Ellis, for his first international appearance since the tour of Sri Lanka.

New Zealand 1 Hamish Rutherford, 2 BJ Watling, 3 Kane Williamson, 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Grant Elliott, 6 Brendon McCullum (capt & wk), 7 James Franklin, 8 Nathan McCullum, 9 Kyle Mills, 10 Trent Boult, 11 Tim Southee

England 1 Alastair Cook (capt), 2 Ian Bell, 3 Jonathan Trott, 4 Joe Root, 5 Eoin Morgan, 6 Jos Buttler (wk), 7 Chris Woakes, 8 Stuart Broad, 9 Graeme Swann, 10 James Anderson, 11 Steven Finn

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India lack BCCI support - Connor

Clare Connor, the ICC women's committee chairman and former England Women's captain, has blamed the BCCI for India's poor showing at the Women's World Cup.

India finished in seventh place after failing to qualify for the Super Six stage with just one victory from the group phase. Connor has said the team did not receive the support they deserved from their board.

Connor is now head of women's cricket at the ECB who have made the England Women's team the best-resourced in the world but says standards have slipped in India and the BCCI are at fault.

"Generally India have been strong but other teams, Sri Lanka and West Indies who have accelerated so much in the past four years, are overtaking them," Connor said in an interview. "The Indian players and the support staff will look to the BCCI for more support."

"There is such passion for cricket in this country. It probably asks the question whether the women have had the support they deserve because their standards have slipped. While that is partly the responsibility of the players I don't think they had as much support going into this tournament as they would need. That is a shame because they were the hosts and we wanted to bring the World Cup to India because of the passion for the game. It is a shame they didn't make it further in the tournament.

"If there is more support from the BCCI, then standards will rise. The passion is there for the game, people just need to know more about women's cricket probably, and hopefully that support will grow."

Connor said the world cup was a "huge achievement" for the women's game but it was disappointing that the BCCI didn't put as much weight into the tournament as it has done for men's competitions. The Wankhede Stadium was dropped at a late hour to host the final of the Ranji Trophy.

"For me personally the disappointment is that the BCCI has not pulled its way as much as it could have done for the Indian women's team and to support the profile and exposure of this tournament.

"The market for women's cricket in India is massive. It is why we wanted a successful tournament here. We wanted to engage this cricket-mad nation and we wanted people to support the Indian women's team more. We want to grow the game. We want there to be role models and the aspiration to play towards the highest level. Hopefully on television that message would have got across a little bit.

"India is really important for the women's cricket. It has so much passion for the game that has not necessarily flowed into the women's game. Over time I hope that will happen with more high-quality cricket being played. It has huge finance in terms of backing the game. I hope this tournament has gone towards opening up some minds that were closed towards women's cricket in the past."

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Baroda win thriller after Yusuf ton

West Zone

Yusuf Pathan found his touch again with a typically aggressive 116, off only 102 balls to help Baroda overhaul Saurashtra's 299 at the Poona Club Ground, but it was a tense affair with Baroda getting there by one wicket. It was a terrific knock under pressure as Baroda were in trouble at one stage at 29 for 3 and later 127 for 5. Jyot Chhaya joined Pathan at the fall of the fifth wicket and the pair added 135 for the sixth wicket with Chhaya blasting five sixes in his 55-ball 82. The stand took the game away from Saurashtra. Pathan had all but taken Baroda over the line, when he was dismissed by Jaydev Unadkat 19 away from the target. His was the eighth wicket to fall, giving Saurashtra the edge. Bhargav Bhatt made the difference with a 13-ball 21 to help Baroda sneak home. Earlier, half-centuries by Sheldon Jackson and Rahul Dave took Saurashtra to a tall score. Dave missed his century by four runs.

D Subramanian made it a debut to remember as his 61 helped Mumbai beat Maharashtra under lights in Pune. His half-century, plus a couple of 40s by Siddhesh Lad and Aditya Tare helped Mumbai to 255. For Maharashtra, Ankit Bawne was the only player to offer resistance with 63. The middle order failed to contribute as Mumbai took control after the 35th over and restricted Maharashtra to 205.

South Zone

Centuries by the openers Robin Uthappa and KL Rahul helped Karnataka to their fourth straight win, over Hyderabad in Porvorim. Karnataka posted 305 and half-centuries by Hanuma Vihari and Bavanaka Sandeep kept Hyderabad in the hunt, but a four-wicket haul by Stuart Binny sealed the match for Karnataka. Hyderabad won the toss and had to wait 34 overs for their first breakthrough. Uthappa and Rahul added 206 before Uthappa was trapped lbw for 103. It was a continuation of Uthappa's dream run, which includes recent scores of 169, 54 and 49. Rahul was dismissed four overs later for a 107-ball 110, which included nine fours. Manish Pandey made a quick 42 to help Karnataka get close to 300, but the rest of the batting collapsed. Ironically, the Hyderabad bowler who bowled the maximum quota of 12 overs was their most expensive, Ashish Reddy, who leaked 88 but picked up three wickets. Hyderabad responded strongly with a stand of 140 between Vihari and captain Sandeep for the third wicket. SL Akshay's spell changed the course of the game. The seamer got rid of Vihari for 84, and then Sandeep for 72. With both well-set batsmen dismissed, Karnataka made further inroads. Akshay's spell led to Hyderabad losing four wickets for 27, with the bowler finishing with figures of 4 for 50. Binny cleaned up the lower order to help Karnataka win by 47 runs.

Half-centuries by Sanju Samson and Sachin Baby helped Kerala to their third win, beating Tamil Nadu by five wickets in Margao. Tamil Nadu chose to bat first and it was their captain Dinesh Karthik who led the way with a 55-ball 73 that included eight fours and three sixes. Yo Mahesh smashed 40 off 18 balls to lift Tamil Nadu to 257 for 7. Sreesanth was expensive, conceding 83 off his 11 overs. The chase was led by Samson and Baby, who came together at 127 for 4 in the 28th over and added 94 for the fifth wicket. Baby fell for 61, but Samson remained unbeaten on 85 to see his team through.

A knock of 125 from opener Srikar Bharat, his highest List A score, and a combined bowling effort led Andhra to a 170-run victory over Goa in Vasco da Gama. Chasing 261, Goa, with eight batsmen scoring in single digits, folded for 91. The 119-run opening stand between Bharat and Prasanth Kumar, who scored 37, and a 74-run stand between Bharat and B Sumanth, who scored 45, were the bedrock of Andhra's innings. In reply, Goa were jolted early by seamer Syed Sahabuddin, who reduced them to 19 for 3. Andhra bowlers kept chipping away at Goa, and the game was wrapped up by the 26th over.

East Zone

It was a low-scorer at Eden Gardens as Bengal beat Jharkhand by three wickets chasing a modest 162. Bengal justified their decision to field when they had the opposition at 84 for 6. Laxmi Ratan Shukla and Iresh Saxena made inroads in the top and middle order, before Shami Ahmed took three lower-order wickets to bowl out Jharkhand in the 38th over. Kumar Deobrat was the top scorer with 45. Bengal got off to a poor start, losing their top three to single-figure scores. A couple of 30s by Subhomoy Das and Wriddhiman Saha put Bengal on the recovery path. Things got tight at 136 for 7, but Shami's three sixes in his unbeaten 23 ensured the hosts got through.

Another low-scorer was played out at the Jadavpur University Complex in Kolkata, as Odisha beat Tripura by four wickets. Odisha chose to field, and all seven bowlers contributed in bowling out Tripura for 165 within 46 overs. Manisankar Murasingh was the top scorer with 32. Odisha got of to a poor start when they lost two wickets by the fifth over. Tripura sensed they were in with a chance when they had the opposition at 87 for 5. A stand of 51 between Lagnajit Samal and Rakesh Mohanty put Odisha back on track. Mohanty remained unbeaten on 42.

Central Zone

An unbeaten 101 off 94 balls by Jatin Saxena helped Madhya Pradesh beat Rajasthan by six wickets at the Holkar Cricket Stadium. The Madhya Pradesh bowlers did well to restrict Rajasthan to 211 after winning the toss. Wicketkeeper Dishant Yagnik was the top scorer with 63 and the only batsman to pass fifty. Anurag Singh finished with 3 or 41. Saxena came in at the fall of the first wicket, in the third over, and stayed till the end. He hit 15 fours in his knock and shared stands of 83 and 87 with Anand Singh and Rameez Khan respectively.

It was a one-sided affair at the Emerald High School ground in Indore as Uttar Pradesh piled on 286 and thrashed Vidarbha by 96 runs. Uttar Pradesh were put in to bat and there were half-centuries by Tanmay Srivastava, Prashant Gupta and Akshdeep Nath. An opening stand of 94 between Srivastava and Gupta set the platform and towards the end, Nath smashed an unbeaten 70 off just 47 balls to push Uttar Pradesh to 286. Akshay Kolhar was the only batsman to offer resistance for Vidarbha with 76. Imtiaz Ahmed was the most effective bowler for UP with 3 for 38.

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Dhaka Gladiators vie for second title

Match Facts

February 19, 2013
Start time 1800 (1200 GMT)

Big Picture

Dhaka Gladiators will play with a Chris Gayle-sized hole in their line-up for the final. But credit to the make-up of their team. They take on Chittagong Kings, against whom they first lost a match before winning one. It is shaping up to be a close contest as the Kings have picked up momentum at the right time, but the Gladiators are a side heavy on Twenty20 specialists.

The Gladiators have had a solid campaign so far, much of it due to their squad that was the best on paper before the tournament started and remains so, through the 13 matches. Mohammad Ashraful, Shakib Al Hasan, Anamul Haque and Darren Stevens have led with the bat while Alfonso Thomas' Twenty20 experience has been vital with the ball, picking up 17 wickets. Shakib and fellow left-arm spinner Mosharraf Hossain have taken the bulk of the wickets together and their combined eight overs will again be important.

Kings' strength is in their bowling, especially left-arm spin. Enamul Haque jnr has taken 18 wickets and his four overs will most likely be played out quietly by the rampant Gladiators. The batting will be propped up by Ryan ten Doeschate who has played several vital knocks, but the lack of runs from Ravi Bopara is a problem that needs to be solved on the big day.

Form guide

(Most recent first, completed matches)
Dhaka Gladiators WWLWW
Chittagong Kings WWLWL

In the spotlight

After Gayle's departure, Shakib Al Hasan will again be the most important player in the Gladiators' line-up. Shakib has had a quiet tournament so far, though there have been the odd contributions. He will bat at No. 3 and the four overs of left-arm spin will hold the key for the defending champions in the final.

Enamul Haque jnr has been the vital performer for Chittagong Kings even on bad days. Apart from the wickets, he offers control in a bowling attack that is slowly shaping up at the right time of the tournament.

Team news

Since Luke Wright is in New Zealand and Chris Gayle returned after one match, Ashraful is likely to open and Josh Cobb could make it to the playing eleven of the Gladiators.

Dhaka Gladiators (probable): 1 Tillekaratne Dilshan, 2 Mohammad Ashraful, 3 Shakib Al Hasan, 4 Anamul Haque (wk), 5 Darren Stevens, 6 Kieron Pollard, 7 Josh Cobb, 8 Mashrafe Bin Mortaza (capt), 9 Alfonso Thomas, 10 Mosharraf Hossain, 11 Saqlain Sajib

The same line-up is likely for the Kings as they have won two games on the trot with this eleven.

Chittagong Kings (probable): 1 Naeem Islam, 2 Jason Roy, 3 Ravi Bopara, 4 Nurul Hasan (wk), 5 Ryan ten Doeschate, 6 Mahmudullah, 7 Kevon Cooper, 8 Jacob Oram, 9 Ariful Haque, 10 Taskin Ahmed, 11 Enamul Haque jnr

Stats and trivia

The war of the wicket-takers will be a sideshow in the final. Thomas has 19 wickets while Enamul is on 18 wickets.

Quotes

"We have to play our best cricket because there's no second chance. I am confident of the team, because we have done very well throughout the competition."
Dhaka Gladiators captain Mashrafe Mortaza is upbeat about defending the title.

"There are no favourites in a Twenty20 match, but Dhaka Gladiators are a good side."
Chittagong Kings captain Mahmudullah is not underestimating the opposition.

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Ajantha Mendis takes 11 in innings win for Army

Army Sports Club strengthened their position atop the Group A ladder, while Tamil Union and Sinhalese Sports Club moved to the top of the Group B table, after the third round of the Premier League Tournament. Army recorded their second innings victory on-the-trot ,against the Lankan Cricket Club, while SSC took first innings points in their clash with NCC. Tamil Union won by eight wickets for the third time, defeating Galle Cricket Club at the Galle International Stadium. Most of Sri Lanka's Test cricketers had returned to their club teams for this round. Six of the ten matches yielded outright results.

Army's spin duo have been in outstanding form during the tournament, and they were once again the architects of victory, sharing all but one of the 20 wickets between them in Panagoda. Ajantha Mendis was named in Sri Lanka's preliminary Test squad for the Bangladesh series this week, and he celebrated by taking seven first innings wickets for 67, to dismiss Lankan Cricket Club for 200, after they chose to bat first. Only Lakshan Edirisinghe passed fifty for Army, but enough batsmen got starts to hand them a 131-run lead, before they unleashed the spinners on the opposition again. It was legspinner Seekkuge Prasanna's turn to get a big haul in the second innings, as he took 6 for 36 while Mendis got 4 for 38. Mendis is now the top wicket-taker in the league, and Prasanna is third. LCC fell for 107, and lost by an innings and 24 runs.

The big clash of round three was between Sinhalese Sports Club and Nondescripts Cricket Club at the SSC ground, and first innings tons from Dimuth Karunaratne and Thilan Samaraweera helped SSC to 511, after being sent in, before Sachithra Senanayake secured first innings points with the ball. Karunaratne and Samaraweera both made their second first-class centuries in the season, but while Karunaratne is tuning up for the Bangladesh series, in which he is almost guaranteed to open for Sri Lanka, Samaraweera's 136-ball 111 came in a week when he was dropped from Sri Lanka's Test side. Senanayake then took four wickets, and Dhammika Prasad took three, as the hosts dismissed NCC for 232, with Dinesh Chandimal being the only batsman to put up significant resistance, making 89. SSC opted not to enforce the follow on and made 232 in the third innings, which effectively made an outright victory impossible. Offspinner Tharindu Kaushal was also picked for Sri Lanka last week, and had arrived at SSC with an average under 9. But his incredible first-class figures were dented slightly in his third match, as he collected 5 for 154.

Sri Lanka's selectors will be pleased at the nature of Tamil Union's victory over Galle Cricket Club in Galle, as the players they have chosen for the Bangladesh series were largely responsible for the result, at the venue at which they will play their first Test, in three weeks. Suranga Lakmal nabbed five wickets in the first innings and Shaminda Eranga took three, as Tamil Union skittled Galle for 137, before Ashen Silva and Jeevan Mendis - who have both been picked in the Test squad for the first time - made the only first innings fifties in seemingly difficult batting conditions. If it's Galle, it usually means a Rangana Herath five-wicket haul, and he obliged with 5 for 20 in the second innings, while Eranga took four more. Galle were dismissed for 131 in the second dig, and Tamil Union waltzed to victory, having been in the lead by 89 after the first innings.

Panadura Sports Club defeated Bloomfield Cricket and Athletic Club by 101 runs in a big group A clash in Panadura, thanks largely to the efforts of Prasanna Jayawardene, Dilruwan Perera and Chamara Silva. Jayawardene is still recovering from the broken thumb he suffered during the Boxing Day Test, and has not resumed keeping wickets, but held Panadura's first innings together, with a 94-ball 77. In response to the hosts' 214, Bloomfield could only score 131 as Perera and Chathura Peiris took seven wickets between them. An unbeaten 104 from 105 balls from Chamara Silva then made the match safe for Panadura, who declared at 285 for 5 in the second dig, then dismissed the opposition 102 runs from their target. Suraj Randiv took three wickets in each innings for Bloomfield, and made a fifty as well, but he travelled at over five an over.

Elsewhere, a 333-run opening stand between Udara Jayasundera and Ian Daniel helped Ragama Cricket Club take first innings points in their match against Burgher Recreation Club in Colombo. Jayasundera made 222 and Daniel 172, after BRC had made 367 in their first innings. Malinga Bandara took 6 for 90 for Ragama in the first innings.

Another exceptional partnership helped Moors defeat the Colts Cricket Club by six wickets, after the Colts seemed to be heading towards victory. Isham Ghouse and Janaka Gunaratne put on an unconquered 260 together in the fourth innings, after their side had slipped to 53 for 4 in pursuit of 308. Neither team had managed 150 in the first innings, though Colts took a handy 46-run lead, but the pitch settled down as the match wore on, making the steep fourth-innings chase possible. Akila Dananjaya bowled 16 overs in the match for Colts and took 2 for 61. Dilhara Lokuhettige, Sajeewa Weerakoon and Chaturanga de Silva all took five wicket hauls.

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Semi-final postponed after washout

Chittagong Kings v Sylhet Royals - Match abandoned without a ball bowled
Scorecard

Heavy rain in Mirpur from Sunday afternoon forced the semi-final of the BPL between Chittagong Kings and Sylhet Royals to be shifted to Monday. The match will now be contested from 6:00pm, according to the BPL governing council secretary Ismail Haider Mallick.

The unseasonal rain began on Saturday evening, and even on Sunday morning, it was merely cloudy with some parts of Dhaka getting rain. But by the afternoon, there was heavy rain in Mirpur, which continued till early evening. The groundstaff worked all day to keep the covers on, but stopped using the super-sopper or draining out the water after 7:00pm on Sunday.

Since the BPL is a domestic tournament, the playing conditions is in the hands of the home board, and the BCB decided to take the game to the next day, as it was already a rest day in the earlier provided schedule.

Mallick, however, added that if the rain continues on Monday and the same situation crops up, they would either have to run the 5-over game, or one-over eliminator or even the toss of a coin could be used to decide the winner.

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'Australia's technique found wanting' - Tiwary

Manoj Tiwary sounded the first unofficial salvo of an otherwise far 'kinder, gentler' run-up to an India-Australia series in a long time when he said that a good number of Australian batsmen had been "wanting" in their technique against the India A spinners on day two of their three-day practice match at the ICL Guru Nanak College Ground in Chennai.

Tiwary, a free-spirited batsman, became the second centurion in the India A innings, scoring 129 as his team was all out for 451 just before tea on a rain-affected day. After the day's play, with Australia scoring 131 for 4 and losing all four batsmen to the spinners Rakesh Dhurv and Jalaj Saxena, Tiwary didn't hold back, either on opinion or prediction.

"They haven't played the spinners as well as they could have - because I think the technique was [found] wanting," he said. Australia were tootling along at a good clip against the four India A medium pacers before spin was introduced in the 21st over. Left-arm spinner Dhurv had Ed Cowan leg before in the 23rd over and Australia lost three more wickets before stumps. Off-spinner Saxena had Phil Hughes stumped and Usman Khawaja bowled, both scoring 1. Of all the batsmen, it was only Shane Watson who looked completely in control.

Tiwary said of the bulk of the Australian top order, "They were not sure of their defence to be honest. That's why they were not stretching enough to play the spin and not going back enough to play their shots." Australia are without captain Michael Clarke and opener David Warner and Tiwary was not without his assessment. "If this is the way they are going to bat, it's going to be difficult for them to be honest… to face quality spinners like Bhajjupa (Harbhajan Singh) and Ashwin and Ojha. The way they are bowling, it will be very difficult for them."

Should the wicket in Chepauk, where the first Test begins on February 22, be like what it was at the Guru Nanak College ground - slow, low, with very little pace and minor turn - Tiwary predicted more worries for "all their bowlers."

Watson though said there was, "absolutely no doubt about what India is going to hit us with." The start of the tour, he said, was proving to be a "big learning curve for a lot of the guys" and that the best approach to playing spin in India had to be "proactive." Spinners he said must "certainly" be attacked. "You can't just allow them to settle in a certain line and length and allow them to be able to bowl that ball over and over again. At some stage that ball is going to turn and bounce and do something. As individual batsmen, we have to find a game plan to have as much success as we can."

Australia's lesser-experienced batsmen, he said, were however, "very talented guys."

"They have scored a lot of first-class runs in different conditions and it won't take a very long time to find a game plan and a technique that will work here."

Lost in the assessment of Australia's response to the two rather unheralded Indian spinners was Tiwary's own performance; every time he has been given an opportunity against touring sides, he has scored runs this season, getting 93 against England A before his century in Chennai. "I came out to play this match, not to impress anyone but just to make myself happy after scoring runs. I was very conscious about getting big runs here to prove myself that I can score runs against quality opposition as well," he said.

One of the shadow men for spots in the Indian Test middle order, Tiwary more talked about for his one-day game said, "My dream has always been to play Test cricket. It depends on the selectors what they think about me and whether they can show some faith in me. My job was to score runs and I will do that as long as I play first-class cricket and four-day cricket."

The push for an India spot, he said, demanded a high degree of determination because of the competition. "You know the competition is so high you can't miss out in an innings because you will go back few months of selection." When asked whether he considered his game good enough to handle fast bowling adequately, he said that he was concerned what his game "looked" like. "What I can do is I can score runs and if you can only look ugly and score runs, I will still go for runs. It doesn't matter if I look odd or ugly in facing quick bowlers. I know my game and I know how to score runs. That's how I have been able to score more than 5000 runs in seven or eight years of first-class cricket."

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De Kock's hundred gives Lions opening win

Lions 185 for 1 (De Kock 126*, Bodi 40) beat Cape Cobras 183 for 5 (Vilas 63, Phangiso 3-31) by nine wickets
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

Quinton de Kock starred with an unbeaten 126 as the Lions beat Cape Cobras to register an opening win in the tournament in Potchefstroom. The Cobras had set a target of 184, but their chances of winning the game were quickly quashed by a 124-run opening stand between de Kock and Gulam Bodi. After Bodi fell, de Kock took most of the strike, as he went from 74 off 48 balls to 126 off 69, scoring 52 runs in just 21 balls. De Kock sealed the match by striking three consecutive boundaries off Charl Langeveldt, as the Lions won inside of 19 overs.

The Cobras were asked to bat as opener Richard Levi (40) and Dane Vilas gave them a solid start. Aaron Phangiso then struck with two wickets in two balls, claiming Owais Shah first ball. Justin Ontong and Vilas helped stabilize the innings before Ontong fell to Phangiso. Qaasim Adams was sent in, and proceeded to score a rapid career-best 43 off 22, helping the Cobras score 183 in their quota of 20 overs.

Warriors 128 for 2 (Jonker 66*, Ingram 46) beat Knights 136 for 7 (Cloete 37, Theron 2-23) by eight wickets (D/L method)
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

A 109-run stand between Christiaan Jonker and Colin Ingram earned a comfortable victory for the Warriors against the Knights in a rain-affected match in Kimberley. As rain intervened, the target was reduced from 137 to 127 from 18 overs, and a half-century from Jonker, took Warriors home with 11 balls to spare.

The Warriors started abjectly when Ashwell Prince was out lbw on his first ball to Johan van der Wath. Jonker and Ingram batted briskly as they effectively took the game away from the Knights. Jonker scored a career-best 66 off 44 balls, striking six fours and four sixes. Ingram played a vital supporting role with 46 off 43. In the end, Davy Jacobs sealed the match with a six off the first ball of the 17th over, to give the Warriors an opening win in the tournament.

The Knights were put in to bat, with Rilee Rossouw and wicketkeeper Gihahn Cloete putting on a 65-run stand for the second wicket after Loots Bosman was dismissed in the third over. However, once Cloete was run out in the 12th over, the Knights had a difficult time putting together substantial partnerships. They ended up reaching 136 for 7 at the completion of their 20 overs. Rusty Theron finished with figures of 2 for 23, at an economy of 5.75.

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My dismissal the turning point - Misbah

Just as a captain is supposed to, Misbah-ul-Haq went down with his ship, as Pakistan lost the Newlands Test in four days, and with it the series. He went as far as to say he was responsible for their downfall, a brave but necessary admission from a leader who should not bear all the blame but was willing to do so.

On 114 for 3, Pakistan were 100 runs short of what many thought would have been a total challenging enough to be match-winning. To get there, Misbah had to bat a while longer. He had no problems facing Robin Peterson and was sweeping with ease, until one went wrong. His mistake was that he top-edged to short fine-leg and he acknowledged it was a costly one.

"That was the turning point. After that, the collapse started," Misbah said of his dismissal. "We really blame ourselves. We made mistakes and we couldn't afford to do that."

Pakistan, however, had let themselves down long before Misbah's second-innings dismissal. Allowing Robin Peterson to score 84 at No. 8 and take South Africa to within 12 runs of Pakistan's first-innings total was what Graeme Smith regarded as most significant. "The way Robbie batted was pretty inspirational," he said. "We knew that getting as close as we could to their total was going to be key."

A lack of adequate back up for Saeed Ajmal was Pakistan's main problem and Tanvir Ahmed's selection remained a mystery. Tanvir offered neither pace nor movement and, although his first-innings runs were valuable, he did not perform in the role he was selected for.

Mohammed Hafeez was used too sparingly and brought on too late and as South Africa crept up on Pakistan, they erased the advantage. "The lead should have been 70 or 80 runs," Misbah said.

Although Pakistan began their second innings on level terms, mentally they were behind, and then their openers departed in the space of two overs. "The third innings can be the toughest of the Test match," Smith said. "You've got to make a play and if you are not positive enough the game can get you. That's what happened to Pakistan."

Still, Pakistan entered day four with the opportunity to take control, especially with the knowledge that their nemesis, the new ball, was a session and more away. Their shot selection and decision making let them down though. Asad Shafiq lacked awareness when the ball bounced behind him and he didn't know where it was until it had hit his off stump. Sarfraz Ahmed mysteriously left a Peterson delivery that spun back and bowled him, and Umar Gul chased a wide one.

Feats such as bowling England out for 72 would have inspired Pakistan but Newlands is not the UAE - although Graeme Smith said conditions were "not ideal" for the home side - and South Africa are not England. Like the previous world No.1 side, they struggled against Ajmal and had Pakistan set a higher target, Misbah expected the mindset would have been different.

"Whenever you are chasing 250 in the last innings and Saeed Ajmal is on the opposition side, it is difficult," Misbah said. "And pressure is different when you are chasing 250 to when you are chasing 180. Ajmal really gave us a chance but we could not [put] pressure from both sides and runs were flowing. If we could have bowled more overs and restricted them, it might have been different."

Smith admitted his side did not have a method to counter the Ajmal yet. "It can be guesswork at times. He bowls a quick pace and delayed action makes it difficult to use your feet. The toughest part is to pick which way the ball is going. And he is very consistent and a lands a lot of balls in the right areas."

Ajmal's ten wickets are an achievement that will long be remembered and marvelled at. "He is a world-class bowler and he proved that today against a top quality side by taking ten wickets against South Africa in South Africa," Misbah said. "They know he can cause problems for them."

Pakistan need a lot more of Ajmal's type of discipline to earn a consolation win in Centurion. They have already provided a sterner contest than South Africa have had all summer and have got better over the two matches.

"We lost the Test series but we know we are playing against the No.1 team in the world in their own conditions and we will try to put a better showing there," Misbah said. "We want to stick to the basics and spend time at the crease. There was a little bit of panic today at the time when Peterson was bowling. We can't do that. Experience makes a big difference in this kind of game. You need to have experience to develop."

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England short again as SA seal series

South Africa Under-19s 270 for 8 (Oldfield 82, Smith 49*, Shaw 3-45) beat England Under-19s 260 for 9 (Tattersall 83, Shaw 52, Valli 3-33) by 10 runs
Scorecard

South Africa Under-19s held their nerve in another close finish to take an unassailable 3-0 lead in the series. England again fell marginally short in their chase, despite a 48-run partnership in less than five overs for the ninth wicket that threatened to snatch them an unlikely victory.

Josh Shaw, England's No. 9, hit a 46-ball 52 but England needed 18 to win off the final over and Shaw was run out trying to get back on strike. The 17-year-old, who also took three wickets during the South Africa innings, helped Jonathan Tattersall lift England from 154 for 7 in the 37th over and continued to carry the fight when Tattersall fell for 83.

Early strikes had left England floundering at 51 for 4 in pursuit of 270 and South Africa captain Yaseen Valli took 3 for 33 with his offspin to make further dents in the chase.

South Africa had recovered from a tricky position themselves, adding 115 from the last 12 overs, a burst which was to prove crucial. Both scorecards had a very similar shape to them, as Greg Oldfield's 82 from No. 5 provided the base after they had been 48 for 3 and Jason Smith made a run-a-ball 49 to help trampoline the hosts to an imposing total.

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West Indies want to win it for their people

"We have a strong belief in God. He works in mysterious ways. He performs wonders." Darren Sammy said that at an emotional press conference after West Indies had made an unbelievable comeback in the final to win the 2012 World Twenty20 in Colombo.

Four months later, these could easily have been the words of Merissa Aguilleira before West Indies' maiden Women's World Cup final appearance, made possible by an unbelievable win over Australia in their last Super Six match. "I think it was just God who saw us through in that game," Aguilleira said. West Indies had never beaten Australia before in any format, but Aguilleira now believed her team have the psychological advantage over a side seeking their sixth World Cup.

If they can beat Australia for the second time in five days, West Indies will have won two world titles in a matter of months. And like Sammy had that night in Colombo, Aguilleira spoke repeatedly of doing it for the people of the Caribbean.

"Every morning when I finish my prayers and look at the phone with all the messages and support … at the moment the Caribbean is in a total chaos concerning cricket. It would mean so much for them if we can bring home the trophy. It will mean everything to us.

"Cricket is the only thing that brings all the people of West Indies together. The more we go there and represent them the better it is for the people of the Caribbean."

Sammy's motto was, "One team, one people, one mission". The men's team may or may not actually follow that, but several players of Aguilleira's team have spoken of how united they are. Stafanie Taylor said the bonding has only increased over the years. Shanel Daley spoke of how some of her best friends in the team are from different island nations. Aguilleira concurred.

"This tournament has been a rollercoaster for us, full of ups and down and I guess that is where the true spirit lies where we can come back from … you feel you can see yourself through," Aguilleira said. "We had faith in God and we keep trusting him and he really carried us through this situation. I must say we stuck together as a team. We motivated each other."

West Indies managed one win in the group stage, sneaking into the Super Six by having a better net run rate than India. They went on to win all three of their Super Six games. Aguilleira pointed to her side's comeback in the South Africa series before the World Cup. "Heading back to the South Africa series in West Indies, we lost two matches and then went on to win the last four. So I guess this is definitely a rehearsal of sorts that has happened before."

West Indies have played Australia and New Zealand only in World Cups. Aguilleira hoped their maiden final appearance would lead to more fixtures against the top sides. "That's one of our concerns. We really need to be playing the top teams more often. We believe the ability we have and we know that we can compete against the biggest sides so it is all about giving the opportunity. The board [WICB] will have to take that perspective and eventually that will happen."

For now, West Indies had "nothing to lose" and had "gained everything". Aguilleira said she had mentioned earlier in the tournament that West Indies were here to compete, unlike in the 2009 edition where "we took part." "To know that we came from nowhere and to be in the finals, that shows the progress which is happening right now."

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Derbyshire announce 2012 profit

Derbyshire have announced a profit of £23,310 for 2012, a further sign that the club is in good health ahead of their return to Division One of the Championship. The club have generated a surplus for the second year running - and the sixth in seven - despite a wet summer that caused financial headaches for several counties.

Derbyshire recently revealed plans to redevelop their Derby ground, with a view to hosting games at the 2019 World Cup, as part of a six-point blueprint to develop and promote cricket in the county.

"After a very challenging summer for English cricket, in which we were competing with both the weather and sporting spectacles such as the London Olympics and Euro 2012, our financial results for the year are very pleasing indeed," the chief executive, Simon Storey, said. "The profit is testament to the hard work of everyone involved and it caps a special year for the county both on and off the field."

Derbyshire chairman, Chris Grant, added: "It has been a momentous year for Derbyshire County Cricket Club and - given the economic climate - posting a profit for the second successive year is an excellent achievement. Even more importantly we are embarking upon an exciting period both on and off the field with no debt and on a sound financial footing."

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