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Every cricket game, no matter how boring it eventually turns out to be, begins with a touch of mystery: who’s going to win the toss? Well, in Indian domestic cricket, that mystery may no longer remain. In a conclave held by the Indian board (BCCI) in Mumbai, attended by coaches and captains of first-class teams in India, it was suggested that the toss be eliminated from the game, with the visiting team having the option to decide whether to bat or bowl first.Sunil Gavaskar, the head of the BCCI’s technical committee, explained that this move would level the home team’s advantage, besides tackling, to some extent, the issue of doctored pitches. Of course, with the toss written into the laws of the game, this might not be so easy to implement. “I know the toss is a part of the game,” said Gavaskar. “If we [decide to] implement this suggestion, we will see how we can go around it.”In a move to make sure that there were more results in the Ranji Trophy, India’s premier first-class tournament, it was suggested that playing days be increased to five instead of four. A fair amount of cricket is also lost in the winter when fog makes play impossible in the northern parts of India; the conclave suggested not holding any matches in the north during December and January.Other suggestions included raising the financial penalty for slow-over rates, standardising all equipment, such as rollers, used throughout India’s many first-class centres, and improving the quality of the balls being used. The SG Test balls currently in use have been found unsatisfactory, and alternatives are being explored, both from SG and from their rival ball manufacturer, Kookaburra.Gavaskar also stressed on the need to control misbehaviour on the field. “I told them [match officials] to be fair and [to] come down heavily on the offenders,” said Gavaskar. “Gamesmanship is fine but there cannot be a place for personal abuse in the game.”

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India bounced back to level the series in the second one-dayer at Lucknow, but they made hard work of their run-chase after cruising in the early stages. Anjum Chopra was the star of the slow, surviving an injury scare to hit 71 and set up the four-wicket victory after England set them 163.Under gloomy skies, there was nothing miserable about Chopra’s bright knock even though play was held up at one stage for ten minutes after she flicked a leading edge into her face. But she carried on without further ado in her matchwinning innings. She was indeed the backbone, and with Monica Sumra she eased India to 95 before the first wicket fell. India were rolling along, but some tight bowling pegged them back before they finally edged home in the final over.The bowling wasn’t always on the button, though; sometimes it threatened to be more on the noggin. Rosalie Birch was particularly culpable, the ball twice slipped out of her hand and she delivered two no-balls which resulted in the rare indignity of a slow bowler being taken off for dangerous bowling.But if it was hard work for the bowlers, it was equally difficult for the batsmen on a dull pitch with low bounce. Nevertheless, England’s coach Richard Bates expected his charges to score 220 after opting to bat first. But their going was slow and it got tough early on when Amita Sharma knocked the stuffing out of the top order with three quick wickets. The middle order proved similarly wobbly.”We should have been able to bounce back from there, though,” said Bates, “our batting is full of depth.” Still, partnerships were hard to come by and wickets were given away, puncturing any momentum until Caroline Atkins, at No 6, and Beth Morgan at No 8 stitched the innings back up. Together they put on 62 for the eighth wicket.Jane Smit helped to rally the score, too – “the last three played sensibly, how the others should have done” Bates fumed – but even so, a total of 162 for 8 from 50 overs should never have posed too much of a problem. India weren’t helped by a pitch which broke up during their innings, but they paced their innings well.”We didn’t deserve to win,” said Bates, a sentiment echoed by England’s captain Charlotte Edwards. “Electing to bat first was OK,” she said, “but we did not play good shots. At 1-1 the series is nicely set up.”Mithali Raj, India’s captain, was relieved that her team had recovered from defeat in the opener to bring themselves back into the series. While Bates was left to rue England’s below-par performance, Raj was delighted that her side were firing on all cylinders. “It’s good that we did well in all departments of the game,” she said. The teams come together again on Sunday for the third of a five-match series which is wide open and up for the taking.

The medical commission which performed tests on Shoaib Akhtar earlier this week suggested that he had been suffering from stress to his lower rib cage during the third Test against India at Rawalpindi.Akhtar, who was accused of feigning injury and not bowling for nearly half of India’s innings, was in heated mood when he addressed the media after the findings were released. The News quoted him as saying, “I have made my statement and it is for them [PCB] to decide. The injury has since healed, partially, and I have been resting for the past fortnight.”Shoaib went on to talk about how the fitness levels required for batting and bowling were completely different. “You need the whole body to be perfect when you bowl – it is different when you are batting. I am surprised how someone can think I was not badly injured. I have always done justice to my job and given my 110%.”The commission carried out the tests on Wednesday, including a bone scan at the Shaukat Khanum Hospital. According to the scan report, “There is intense increased tracer uptake in the 11th left rib posteriorly going towards the lateral side of the chest. Rest of the scan is within normal limits. Result is suggestive of local pathology involving 11th left rib posteriorly and laterally in view of patient’s history. This appears to be due to persistent stress.”The final report will be released later on Friday.

This is not an issue worth agonising over. At a time when Caribbean societies are grappling with matters affecting the quality of life in our very small countries, engaging in heated arguments over the captaincy of the West Indies cricket team is both irrelevant, unnecessary and a complete waste of time and energy that should instead be devoted to finding solutions for the real problems of crime, violence, the rising cost of living and entrenched social inequalities.To cut a long story short, Chris Gayle, once fully recovered from his injuries sustained in southern Africa, should be confirmed to lead West Indies in the upcoming home series against Sri Lanka and Australia. Full stop. We don’t even need to have one of those bigging up-type letters of congratulation from the West Indies Cricket Board president.Just send out the press release confirming the appointment and spare us the mamaguile lyrics. Yes, there is a process to be followed, but if the selectors choose not to recommend Gayle after considering the manager’s and coach’s reports from the just-concluded tour, then Gordon Greenidge and his colleagues better just go and find something else to do.Likewise, should the WICB directors or executive or whichever relevant arm of this complicated organisation decide not to ratify that recommendation, it will merely confirm long-held suspicions that horse trading and settling scores are higher on their list of priorities than the best interests of West Indies cricket.None of this should be misconstrued as an attempt to elevate the 28-year-old Jamaican to the status of a Sir Frank Worrell (apologies to Julian Hunte, who, in one of his buttering up specials to Clive Lloyd, described the current team manager as the greatest West Indian captain ever). It’s just that the evidence in South Africa was blindingly obvious that Gayle, for whatever reason, has been capable of uniting the team and getting them to play with a greater level of commitment and consistency than has been seen in recent times.Of course, as with most issues in the public domain, merit and performance don’t count for much. It’s just about like or don’t like, based almost entirely on prejudices and perceived injustices.So the pretentious debate implies that some heinous injustice will be meted out to Ramnaresh Sarwan should he be overlooked for the captaincy in favour of this troublemaking Jamaican with no manners. To claim that race (we just can’t get away from it, can we?) has nothing to do with the issue is a blatant, unadulterated lie. As we see in our politics, we are still some distance away from reaching the level of societal maturity where the majority view is influenced primarily by performance on the job.But then we are not alone in that regard. Just wait until either Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton is confirmed as the Democratic Party’s candidate for the office of President of the United States and watch how all the colour or gender biases will come to the surface in the land of the free and the home of the brave.

There are also those who try to mask their true feelings with the disingenuous claim that Sarwan is the incumbent as captain and only missed out on the tour of Zimbabwe and South Africa because of injury.Again, this ignores the reality that the WICB has always made such appointments on a tour-by-tour or series-by-series basis, at least since those bad old days when leadership was based on which territory the Test match was being played.In any case, what is the big hasikara about acknowledging that Gayle, for all of his many failings and occasional brushes with authority, has exceeded expectations as a leader? Is it so unbearable to concede that the hard-hitting left-handed opener, who always seems to be in a world of his own on the field, is actually well respected by his team-mates and therefore able to get his message across very effectively?As for the contention that this is tantamount to rewarding bad behaviour, just keep in mind that the very same was said at certain times during the careers of Worrell, Lloyd, Lara and almost every captain of note we have ever had. One man’s insubordination is another man’s refusal to accept stupidness, and it’s only with the passage of time that the true picture emerges.The point is that no decision is ever made in West Indies cricket with the benefit of universal acceptability. You do this, and one group feels slighted. You do that, and another segment starts to kick brass.So it’s up to the people in the decision-making positions to have the strength of their convictions, whatever the consequences, and be guided by the fundamental principle of seeking the best interests of the regional game.The perpetual state of flux that is the WICB suggests that such people are in critically short supply. Then again, the same can be said of most of our parliaments.Chris Gayle may ultimately prove to be a complete failure as captain, widening already existing divisions within the ranks and maybe even accelerating the decline into irrelevance. Yet all of that is speculation and supposition. What is fact is the noticeably different attitude and determination of the entire team (not just the Jamaicans) when he is at the helm.Just confirm the man as captain and let’s move on to the real issues of the day.

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Centuries by Martin Love and Brendan Nash left Queensland in total control at the end of the second day of their Pura Cup match against Western Australia at the WACA. They ended on 9 for 415, a first-innings lead of 225 runs. There were runs, too, for Chris Hartley who made 73.The day had started well enough for WA, who captured two early wickets with the cheap dismissals of Clinton Perren and Lachlan Stevens, who were both caught behind (127 for 4).But Love stayed firm and marked his return to form with a stylish 106 which he carved out over four hours. He played particularly well through the offside, teasing the ball through the gaps despite a heavily loaded offside field and will be relieved to have finally come good, having averaged 14.88 in his nine previous innings this season.The Bulls’ other centurion, Nash, also had a point to prove: it is his first match this season and his 107 should ensure that it won’t be his last. He put on 94 runs for the fifth wicket with Love to hand Queensland the advantage. Hartley and Nash then extended the lead, sharing a sixth-wicket stand of 114.Steve Magoffin was the pick of WA’s attack, taking 3 for 76 against his old side, although his showing was marred by 13 no-balls. WA’s hopes of appearing in the Pura Cup final are fast receding. They need an outright win to have any hope, but their chances are looking slimmer and slimmer against Queensland who have not conceded a point to the Warriors at the WACA in six years.

In the aftermath of their first-Test defeat against England at Port Elizabeth, South Africa’s captain, Graeme Smith, has appealed to the United Cricket Board for stability, warning that the side will be unable to progress unless the upheaval surrounding selection issues was brought under control.South Africa’s squad for the second Test at Durban will be announced tomorrow, the first to have been unveiled since the appointment of the new convenor of selectors, Haroon Lorgat, who took over from Omar Henry ahead of the Port Elizabeth Test. Nicky Boje is sure to be back in the squad, and Herschelle Gibbs is also in the selectors’ thoughts once again after recovering from injury. However, Smith is adamant that South Africa need to follow England’s example, and stabilise the entire structure surrounding the national side.”We do need to know what our best team is,” said Smith. “We’re a young side, and we need to stabilise all areas from the selectors down to the coach down to the team. A new convenor of selectors means different issues. A new coach wants different things to happen in the team. We have to start working towards a goal. Every time we start again, it’s back to the beginning.”As a captain you’re starting the same processes you started six months ago,” he continued, “with new players, a new coach and a new convenor of selectors. At the moment we keep starting a goal, and then we have to start again with the next one two months later. It’s crucial that South African cricket stabilises.”The more you jump around, the worse things become. Everyone’s got different beliefs and different thought processes about what needs to happen. Within the team, you’ve got to identify key positions and key players. If the convenor of selectors changes in four months’ time, we’re going to have different views again.”I’m expecting a phone-call today,” confirmed Smith, who believed there would be some “good consultation” before the team is unveiled. The return of Gibbs, who tests his fitness in a match for Western Province on Wednesday, will be a key issue, while Jacques Kallis’s ankle injury remains a big concern.”[Jacques] bowled about 15 minutes the other night and he woke up a bit stiff the next morning,” said Smith. “The physio is working hard, but that’s one we’re not sure of. But it will be nice to have Nicky back, and if Herschelle can perform the way he did last year, I think the England team will fear him a bit. He’s the type of guy who can turn a Test match on his own and take the game away.”Gibbs would doubtless take over from AB de Villiers at the top of the order, while Zander de Bruyn also seems likely to miss out to allow the talented young batsman Hashim Amla a chance for a home debut in front of his home crowd. “He’s a talented boy,” said Smith about Amla. “If he gets his opportunity I’m sure he’ll do well, as he knows the ground well. But we are inxeperienced, and that’s a reality for us. We are a young side and we’re developing key areas of our game. We’re selecting a squad of 14, so we’ll see what the selectors decide.”

Looking back on the first Test, Smith awarded his side a mark of “six-and-a-half out of ten, and probably lower” after England wrapped the match up on the fifth morning at Port Elizabeth. Though they battled hard to stay in contention throughout the match, South Africa were eventually outplayed on the decisive fourth afternoon, and slipped to defeat in less than ten overs’ play today.”We’ve got to learn to play for five days,” said Smith. “We’re very good at coming back when we get ourselves into hard situations, but it’s when we start the Test match on an even keel that we’ve got to do better. We’ve got to learn how to dominate those days.”There was a suspicion that England had not played to their full potential in this match, especially Steve Harmison, who managed a solitary wicket, but Smith didn’t think they had much more to give. “I think they played pretty well,” he said. “We don’t expect them to get too much better. Maybe some of their key performers might find a little bit more rhythm, but we expect ourselves to improve a lot.”And he insisted: “Durban offers us an opportunity. We’ve got a couple of days away, so we have to regroup pretty quickly. We’ve got to improve on one or two things in our game, especially under pressure. But we know how it feels to be 1-0 up – England came back [to level the series] against us last year. Maybe you relax and take one or two things for granted.”I think we did well to get ourselves back into contention,” added Smith. “The only thing that was a worry was the extras.” South Africa conceded a staggering 35 no-balls in the first innings, and the eventual cost to his team was more than 60 runs. “Without those, we could have had a much bigger lead. We’ve got to be harder on ourselves – in a Test match you can’t afford to give any freebies away. And if you give freebies away it ends up biting you hard towards the end of the match.”Smith remained hopeful of a return to winning ways, however, and the expected return of Boje will open up a few options in the bowling department. “It’s important to have a spinner, even if the track’s not turning. In the first innings he can hold up an end and you can attack from one end, and [Ashley] Giles did play an important role of giving his quicker bowlers rest.”[England’s] whole attack works well together, and that’s the key to a team performance. On any given day you’re not going to have everyone performing well. One or two guys have to put up their hands and take responsibility. That’s how it works. The England team played well, and they’re confident now.”Smith concluded: “Durban will be very hot and humid. It is one of our bounciest wickets, and it’s got good pace. But I’m more concentrating on where we can improve. In Test-match cricket you can’t play for one or two days, or for one or two sessions in a day. That’s just not good enough. If you have two good sessions and one bad session you’re really behind the eight-ball. So we’ve got to improve and be hard on ourselves and show a bit more presence.”

Jason Gillespie has backed himself to earn a spot in the Australian team set to tour South Africa. “I think I am a real show for the Test tour [of South Africa],” said Gillespie, who recently had an hour-long chat with Trevor Hohns, the national selection chairman.Rubbishing the critics who cite his age as a reason to keep him out, Gillespie said, “It’s funny … I hear comments in the press that they are searching for a new generation of quicks yet they are picking guys that are older than me or the same age. That makes me laugh. Pidgey [Glenn McGrath] is 36. I’m not too old at 30. Kasper got picked again at 32. Andrew Bichel played his last game at 34. Age shouldn’t come into it at all”.Expressing confidence about his form he said, “I feel I am bowling really well. I haven’t bowled quite as well in the ING competition but the four-day competition I am really pleased how they are coming out in the four-day game. I know I am good enough to play Tests. It is only a matter of time”.Gillespie believes his experience of South African conditions – he took 22 wickets in six Tests at an average of 26- will be an asset and weigh in his favour. “I have been to South Africa two or three times before and I know what it needs to play Test cricket. I have played a few of them now.” But he also added that he didn’t see himself in the contention for the ODIs. “I am not getting my hopes up about selection. I have always said I was more of a chance to go for the Tests. I didn’t think I was a chance for the one-dayers.”Gillespie has found support from Darren Lehmann, his former team-mate. “If Glenn [McGrath] doesn’t go to South Africa Jason [Gillespie] is a must,” Lehmann said. “He has been there twice before and done well. If they don’t take him then I think it’s the wrong mix. They need some experience there. Brett [Lee] has held up magnificently but if Glenn wasn’t there you would need some experience.”Looking back on a disastrous Ashes series Gillespie believed he slipped in the mental department and admitted to a lack of focus. “If I had my time again I would think about the game more and pay attention to detail. I am not making any excuses but my mind was wandering the whole tour. My wife told me at the start of the tour we were going to have a baby and I know now I wasn’t switched on to play cricket.”The Australian one-day side leave for South Africa on February 20 and the Test side will be selected at the end of the five-match ODI series.

With only two months until the World Cup each team’s preparations should be ready for the final polish. However, the three sides contesting the month-long CB Series, which starts with Australia facing England at the MCG on Friday, still have many experiments to complete as they countdown to the Caribbean.Australia seem to have less to worry about than England or New Zealand and they already benefit from the momentum built from the Ashes whitewash and the rust-shaking limited-overs win in Tuesday’s Twenty20. Despite the smooth progression through the first half of the season, Ricky Ponting’s outfit is still tinkering with its bowling attack and the No. 4 spot while Matthew Hayden is due to return to the unstable opening slot opposite Adam Gilchrist.Michael Clarke will nestle into the spot behind Ricky Ponting following the retirement of Damien Martyn and the move will be crucial in giving him more time in the middle following shifts lower down the order. “We think that’s a really well-balanced side then with Clarke at four, Andrew Symonds five, Michael Hussey six, that sort of line-up,” Ponting told . “[Clarke] has been dying to get a chance up the order, his chance has come now.” In this team of powerbrokers he must perform almost immediately or risk being shifted by the might of Symonds or Hussey.Brett Lee has a chest problem and will miss his second match in a row, giving some of his younger rivals a chance to settle. Ben Hilfenhaus, the swing bowler, has joined the squad but Ponting said he would miss the opening affair along with Brad Hogg, allowing Mitchell Johnson and Cameron White opportunities alongside Glenn McGrath and Stuart Clark.Ponting has outlined his starting plans but the tactics of his initial opponents are in such doubt even the team management must be unsure of their preferred line-up. Michael Vaughan is back as captain and trying to lift a squad that has struggled for the past two months.”That’s our biggest challenge – to make sure we get them in a good mental state for Friday,” Vaughan said in the Sydney Morning Herald. “We realise it’s going to be tough but when tough times come about you need tough people, and that’s what we need from all the players.”

Questions remain over Vaughan’s recovery from a knee injury and there are doubts over whether to choose Paul Nixon or Chris Read as wicketkeeper. Andrew Flintoff is also a concern as he attempts to recapture the all-round form that deserted him when he led the Test side to a 5-0 loss. The batting order is noticeably stronger with Vaughan at the top, but the bowling is less assured even if Monty Panesar gets a chance to prove himself in what should be his debut series.England have 16 players in their squad but the options don’t drip with class and if they reach the three-match finals they should be considered a success. They managed only five wins in 20 ODIs last year and one of those was against Ireland. Australia succeeded in 20 of 29 games in 2006, including the Champions Trophy final, while New Zealand started the year by drawing a five-match series with Sri Lanka.New Zealand enter the tournament on Sunday against Australia at Hobart and they will try out a squad without three of their regulars. Stephen Fleming’s side, which was dismissed for 73 on Saturday, has landed in Tasmania missing Scott Styris, Jacob Oram and Kyle Mills, who may appear in the squad if they recover.However, they do have Shane Bond, who has 24 wickets against Australia in seven games, and he will attempt to scare the local batsmen during the four preliminary encounters. Each team plays eight matches in the qualifying round before two progress to the finals in what could be the last season of the three-team format.Squads
Australia Adam Gilchrist (wk), Matthew Hayden, Ricky Ponting (capt), Michael Clarke, Michael Hussey, Andrew Symonds, Cameron White, Brad Hogg, Brett Lee, Nathan Bracken, Stuart Clark, Mitchell Johnson, Glenn McGrath.England Michael Vaughan (capt), Andrew Strauss, Ian Bell, Kevin Pietersen, Andrew Flintoff, Paul Collingwood, Jamie Dalrymple, Ed Joyce, Paul Nixon (wk), Chris Read (wk), Jon Lewis, Sajid Mahmood, Monty Panesar, James Anderson, Liam Plunkett, Chris Tremlett.New Zealand Stephen Fleming (capt), Nathan Astle, Peter Fulton, Hamish Marshall, Craig McMillan, Brendon McCullum (wk), Andre Adams, Ross Taylor, Daniel Vettori, Shane Bond, James Franklin, Mark Gillespie, Jeetan Patel, Michael Mason.

Kenya 237 (Odoyo 53) beat Zimbabwe A 152 and 73 (Odoyo 5-31) by an innings and 12 runsKenya’s tour of Zimbabwe got off to an excellent start when they beat Zimbabwe A by an innings and 12 runs with more than a day to spare in the opening match of their brief visit.The first day ended with honours just about even. Zimbabwe won the toss and batted, but were almost immediately in trouble, slipping to 66 for 6 at lunch before recovering to 152 thanks to a last-wicket stand of 55 between Allan Mwayenga and Christopher Mpofu. Kenya found the going equally hard, sliding to 111 for 6 by the close.But on the second day, Kenya established an 85-run lead, thanks largely to Thomas Odoyo’s 53, and then skittled Zimbabwe A out for only 73, Odoyo leading the rout with five wickets. Zimbabwe A’s top order was again found wanting as they slumped to 29 for 5, with Dion Ebrahim, the most expereinced player in the side, collecting a pair.

Ricky Ponting has told Shaun Tait to take some time getting his line and length right before letting rip with his fastest deliveries. Tait, who took 2 for 45 from eight overs in Australia’s World Cup opener against Scotland, has been asked to think about how he can contain batsmen as well as claiming wickets.”Early on in the overs, I can get carried away and bowl too fast,” Tait told . “Ricky said to me take it easy, have a couple of deep breaths and get your line right before you try and bowl 160kph and rip your shoulder off the bone. He just wants me to be pretty free and bowl like I bowl.”Tait is likely to take the new ball, bowl during powerplays and return at the death during Australia’s title defence. However, the small dimensions of Warner Park, the St Kitts venue for Australia’s group matches, mean he has little margin for error.”If you get some unlucky nicks through third man or fine leg, it is pretty hard to cut off because they are such small boundaries,” he said. Tait has used short-pitched deliveries effectively but realises he cannot afford to become predictable against quality opposition.”You can’t just keep coming in and bowling bouncers and going for heaps of runs,” he said. “I have to be able to contain as well. The last couple of [warm-up] games I have done it OK. Through the middle period, I have done OK. From what I have seen so far, the inswinging yorker with reverse swing can be a good ball.”