Sri Lanka 228 for 9 (Atapattu 65, Sangakkara 53) beat India 203 for 9 (Tendulkar 74) by 25 runs
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Sri Lanka underscored their supremacy at home with a 25-run win over India to win the Asia Cup in style. The R Premadasa stadium reaffirmed its status as one of Sri Lanka’s safe houses. You can seemingly do what you like, but once Sri Lanka have a score on the board – and it may be as low as 228 – they defend it tooth and nail. They have all the weapons they need in a canny left-arm seamer, a vicious off-spinner and a host of other spinners who seem born to deny batsmen the space and time needed to score. India began their innings needing to score at 4.58 runs per over to win and by the 40th over the asking rate reached 8.9. And soon, they were put out of their misery.When Marvan Atapattu won the toss and unhesitatingly chose to bat, India’s chances of winning the Asia Cup receded ever so slightly. Soon, Irfan Pathan, in his exuberant manner, did his bit to level the odds with a fine first spell that got rid of the dangerous Sanath Jayasuriya, trapped in front of the stumps (28 for 1). Ashish Nehra, one of two other left-arm fast bowlers in the Indian line-up, did his bit by removing Avishka Gunawardene (31 for 2).Then, just when India sniffed a chance of kicking Sri Lanka when they were down, Atapattu and Kumar Sangakkara came together in a match-winning 116-run partnership for the third wicket that took Sri Lanka out of the woods. An already slow pitch grew steadily slower and lower and the spinners began to come to the fore.But Atapattu showed the way, putting behind the niggling self-doubts that would have been caused when he survived a confident shout for lbw early on. Twin drives on either side of the bowler, all along the turf, played with the full face of the bat, left fielders with no chance and the packed house at the Premadasa stadium increasing their already-earsplitting support of the home team.

Sangakkara had his own share of luck, but to his credit, toughed it out to make an invaluable 53. First, he was dropped on 6 by VVS Laxman at second slip when a flashing drive off Zaheer Khan only resulted in an edge. Two carved boundaries through point, one crunching cut off Harbhajan Singh and a forceful pick-up shot over midwicket signalled Sangakkara’s ability to put the chance behind him. However, on 38, Sangakkara was left stranded mid-pitch when he played the ball down to short third man and thought about pinching a single. Lakshmipathy Balaji, on the field as a substitute, fired the throw in at near-yorker length and Dravid failed to collect. But it was third-time lucky for the Indians when Sehwag got a ball to sneak past Sangakkara’s bat and kiss the outside of the off stump (147 for 3).At this stage it became clear that the fancy totals of 270 and 280 that were freely bandied around by pundits was not on the cards. Tendulkar (2 for 40) and Sehwag (1 for 32) did a fine job in tandem, and Sri Lanka only managed 228 for 9 from their 50 overs.India’s run chase began as a mirror image of Sri Lanka’s. Chaminda Vaas and Nuwan Zoysa bowled to the field set to them, put the ball in the right places, took the pace off the ball, and got rid of two batsmen with only 26 on the board. Virender Sehwag was trapped in front by Vaas while Ganguly’s nibble at a ball was exhilaratingly snatched at slip by Mahela Jayawardene.With Sehwag the powerhouse back in the hutch India shifted to the lowest gear. Tendulkar battled for survival, only chancing his arm when the ball begged to be hit, and VVS Laxman tried to find his groove. Laxman could not have chosen a worse match to feel his way back into international cricket after an injury. He batted 34 balls for 12, but the boundaries simply were not forthcoming and his attempt to manufacture a shot only ended in his spooning the simplest of chances to Tillakaratne Dilshan off Jayasuriya (62 for 3). Rahul Dravid, India’s crisis man, got off to a fine start under the circumstances, stealing singles to the keep the strike rotating. Then, with 16 to his name he shaped to cut Upul Chandana and Dilshan snapped up a sharp chance at slip after a quick juggle (96 for 4).Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif, heroes of many an Indian run-chase, came and went without much impact. Yuvraj struggled to get the ball away, repeatedly sweeping and missing till he waltzed down the track and was clean bowled by Chandana (119 for 5). Kaif attempted an ambitious chip before he got his eye in and only holed out to long off (135 for 6). Chandana ended with 3 for 33 from 10 overs of innocuous-looking yet deadly legbreaks.But surely, while there was Tendulkar there was still hope. After Billy Bowden repeatedly reprieved Tendulkar on close shouts, his painful innings of 74 (100 balls, 7 fours, 1 six) came to an end when he was bowled through the gate by Dilshan. India were 140 for 7 needing 99 from 64 balls, and were dead and buried. The match ground to its inevitable end, only delayed by some old-fashioned slogging from Zaheer.

Elite Group

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Ajay Jadeja produced an unbeaten 103 as Delhi piled on a massive total at the Roshanara Club Ground in Delhi. Resuming at 258 for 2, Delhi lost Aakash Chopra (78) and Mithun Manhas (95) early in the day. However, Jadeja found an able ally in NS Negi and the two added 81 in quick time. Jadeja, who was elevated to the Delhi captaincy in the beginning of the season, cracked 15 fours in his knock on his way to his 18th first-class hundred.
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The Karnataka batting disappointed for the second successive game as they struggled on the second day at Bangalore. Barrington Rowland, the opener, managed a battling 59 but the rest hardly put up a fight. Earlier in the day, Timil Patel (59) helped Gujarat past the 300-mark and his 66-run partnership with Siddharth Trivedi took them to a competitive 330. Vinay Kumar, the medium pacer playing just his second first-class game, finished with impressive figures of 5 for 83. Gujarat’s total, though, may end up being more than enough.
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After Ravneet Ricky’s century had put them in control yesterday, Punjab were pegged back a bit on the second day at Amritsar. Punjab were kept down to 422, after being 297 for 3 overnight, with only Chandan Madan making an impact with a lively 43. Pankaj Dharmani added 23 to his overnight score before he was lbw to Rajagopal Sathish, the part-time medium pacer. Gagandeep Singh, the opening bowler, then prised out the Assam openers before a 92-run third-wicket stand put the innings back on track. At stumps, though, Assam still had a lot of catching up to do.
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Nikhil Patwardhan’s valuable 80 helped Madhya Pradesh fight back on the second day against Mumbai at the Wankhede Stadium. Patwardhan added 94 with the last three batsmen as MP inched past 250 in the face of some disciplined bowling. Mumbai then struggled against Sunil Dholpure, the offspinner making his debut, who snapped up the prize wickets of Wasim Jaffer and Amol Muzumdar and had them hobbling at 87 for 5. Vinod Kambli counterattacked with an 89-ball 68 and, along with Ajit Agarkar (37), helped Mumbai finish on level terms when stumps were drawn.
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Jai Prakash Yadav made a vital 93 and took Railways to 348 on the second day at the Karnail Singh Stadium at Delhi. Yadav added 43 with last man Santosh Saxena before falling to Ranadeb Bose, the medium pacer, who finished with 5 for 67, his fifth five-for in first-class cricket. Yadav then removed both the openers with his medium pace in an economical spell of 16 overs, conceding just 23 and Saxena picked up two more as Bengal were precariously placed at 153 for 4 at the close.
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Yusuf Pathan’s breezy 92 helped Baroda tighten their stranglehold on the second day at the Nehru Stadium at Pune. Pathan, who creamed eight fours and a six, stitched together vital partnerships with the lower-order batsmen and Baroda reached 446 in their first innings. Iqbal Siddiqui, the medium pacer, finished with a six-wicket haul. Maharashtra began well in their chase and were 72 for no loss at the end of the day.
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Sreedharan Sharath compiled his second successive century this season as he took Tamil Nadu to a competitive 353. Unlike his first hundred, which was made in a run-feast, this one was made when the rest struggled. He spent more than eight hours in the middle and put together some useful partnerships with the tail. Rudra Pratap Singh, the left-arm opening bowler, ended up as the most successful bowler with 5 for 96.

Few reporters had good words for either the ICC or the ECB as they repacked their bags and prepared to head for Zimbabwe

“After promises from David Morgan [the ECB chairman] that they would never again be placed in such an invidious position, leadership has failed them once more,” wrote Derek Pringle, one of the 13 originally banned, in The Daily Telegraph. But he also warned: “Uncertainty and obfuscation are the stock-in-trade of places like Zimbabwe and this tour is by no means settled.”Writing in The Guardian, Mike Selvey said that Robert Mugabe had acted with “the timing of a top comedian”. He added: “[Mugabe] sat them on a whoopee cushion to end all whoopee cushions. Guess what lads, just when you thought you had it taped; just when the Sons and Daughters of News International had delivered their 11th-hour get-out trump a la Cape Town; just when, for the very first time, the members of the International Cricket Council, a body with all the natural flexibility of a whalebone corset, had moved onside, you are all coming to play after all because we are letting your scribblers in.”But The Times‘s Simon Barnes said that rather than blame Morgan, it was the ICC who were at fault. “No one in the ICC is prepared to consider that this is exactly what Mugabe wants of them. Rather worse, no one in the ICC has felt that support for a murderous dictator is not morally sound … and as the ICC politicos assume their posture for the next round of power struggles in the game of cricket, so members of the Movement for Democratic Change in Zimbabwe are murdered. Once again, the ICC is relishing England’s discomfiture. And if a few more Zimbabweans have to wear electrodes on their balls as a result, that’s a small price to pay for pleasure.”Back to The Daily Telegraph where Kate Hoey, the former sports minister who last year visited Zimbabwe under cover, said that she had repeatedly warned the ECB not to be “drawn into a position where they would be used by the master manipulator Mugabe as a pawn in his battle for unfettered power. Now they have ended up looking pathetic with Morgan, in particular, resembling nothing more than a half-dead mouse.”The Independent warned that when England arrive, their visit will attract “considerable anger because it coincides with a controversial bill that critics of the Mugabe regime claim is driving out the aid organisations which have been a last line of defence for a population already threatened by famine and an HIV-Aids epidemic.”Meanwhile, in Zimbabwe the overtly pro-Mugabe Daily Herald merely reported that today’s one-dayer had been postponed because England would be arriving late in Harare. It mentioned in passing that some media had been given accreditation late, but didn’t touch on the real crisis which threatened the series.

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.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

Michael Vaughan returned to form as England first lost, and then regained,the initiative on a rain-affected day at Johannesburg. They made a gloomystart, losing three quick wickets after a rain delay – but Vaughan sharedtwo fifty partnerships in the final session of the day, with AshleyGiles and Steve Harmison, as England fought their way back from a middling 278 for 7 to a prosperous 411 for 8 when indifferent light brought an early close.Such riches looked unlikely as the clouds hovered over England earlier inthe day. Their batsmen were unsettled after waiting two hours for play tobegin, then they were taken off for bad light again … and a combination of a juiced-up pitch and clammy overhead conditions that were conducive to swing bowling made their job no easier when they returned.Makhaya Ntini struck twice in quick succession, first trapping thewide-eyed Matthew Hoggard, a rabbit in the floodlights, as he fended to AB deVilliers in the gully for 5 (273 for 5). Then, after play was halted for 20 minutes, Andrew Flintoff became Ntini’s fourth victim as his brainless back-foot prod to a widish delivery flew straight to Graeme Smith at first slip. Flintoff made 2, England were in trouble at 275 for 6 – and there was worse to come.Vaughan valiantly held up one end, playing a largely defensive game andovercoming his teen angst as he passed 20 for the first time in seven innings in this series, having reached 10 in all of them. But he soon lost his new partner, Geraint Jones, for 2. This time it was Shaun Pollock’s turn to strike as Jones pushed forward at a good-length ball that left him off the seam, and Smith was in action again. England, who had been cruising at 262 for 2, were now sinking after losing five wickets for 16 runs.But after an extended tea brought on by more bad light, the fightback began. It was spearheaded by Vaughan, whose increasingly brilliant innings lit up proceedings. His was a true captain’s knock, as he hooked and shook his way tohis second fifty in 12 Test innings. And where Vaughan led, his mate Giles followed, creaming Pollock for four fours in seven balls. Between them, they brought up their fifty partnership in 70 balls as England grabbed back the initiative.

It was not a chanceless innings from Giles, as he flirted with slip andgully. And then, just as England were inching towards the par first-inningsscore at the Wanderers – a portentous 333 – Giles’s luck ran out. Dale Steyn made an immediate mark when he was brought back into the attack, and Giles flashed hard to Herschelle Gibbs in the gully (329 for 8).But Vaughan stood firm, bringing up his half-century with a quiet single, whileHarmison found his groove. He looked nervous at first, but then he found his feet, and even had the temerity to send first Steyn, then Ntini, back over their heads for two cracking fours.Another fifty partnership – from 66 deliveries – was secured as Ntinisprayed a wide one which Harmison slashed through point. And it didn’t stopthere. Vaughan and Harmison have so far put on 82, and they were still unbeaten at the close. The previous-highest partnership for England’s ninth wicket in South Africa was 71, by Harry Wood and Jack Hearne in 1891-92.For his part, Harmison enhanced his allround credentials, following up his top-score of 42 at Cape Town with an undefeated 32 here. It took his batting average for the series to 29, to go with a bowling average of 61. You’d have got long odds on that six weeks ago.But Smith pooped England’s impromptu party, complaining repeatedly about the light until Steve Bucknor offered it to the fielding side. Smith’s relief, andEngland’s frustration at the decision, neatly reflected the shifting balance of power in this game. It looked unlikely in mid-afternoon, but Vaughan’s men were left holding all the aces by the end.

From 1-0 up to 3-1 down, England’s one-day campaign has taken a decided turn for the worse. A jammy tie at Bloemfontein – where South Africa were a mis-hit full-toss away from victory – was followed by three defeats in a row, and whatever the scoreline might claim of Wednesday’s seven-run reversal at East London, the last two games have been as one-sided as they come.In fact, without the extraordinarily brusque strokeplay of Kevin Pietersen, there would hardly have been a contest at all. His series aggregate of 338 runs includes 175 in those two matches alone – 75 from 85 balls at Cape Town (where no other batsman passed 20) and an astonishing 100 not out from 69 balls at East London, which was England’s fastest one-day century of all time, and Pietersen’s second in four matches.So it is no exaggeration to suggest that England’s hopes of salvaging something from this series are already resting on his broad shoulders. Happily for England’s flagging resolve, he was far from satisfied after his final-ball six had secured a hundred – but not a victory – at Buffalo Park. “It was fantastic to get a hundred, but I’m not happy with the result,” he told Sky Sports straight after the match. “We’ll be looking to knock them over at Durban and Pretoria, and tie the series.”How England hope to knock them over, however, is less clear. In the absence of Andrew Flintoff, and with Steve Harmison beset with form and homesickness demons, the attack is severely lacking a cutting edge. Darren Gough, with his snazzy new haircut, has been urging his 34-year-old knees into an heroic assault on the bowling crease, while Kabir Ali has impressed in patches. But Matthew Hoggard has been demonstrating why he has not played one-day cricket in over two years, while Paul Collingwood and Marcus Trescothick are liabilities as the fifth bowling option.Michael Vaughan was particularly critical of his bowlers after they had conceded a ground-record 311 for 7 in the last match. “The bowling is an area we definitely need to address,” he admitted to reporters. “To get within hitting range was a great effort by the batters, but we allowed them to score too many, and if you do not get wickets, you are going to face a barrage in the final 15 overs.”That is precisely what happened, as Graeme Smith and, especially, the big-hitting Justin Kemp launched into the bowling. They took 111 runs off the final 15 overs, taking advantage of the short boundaries and a lacklustre attack. Smith finished on an unbeaten 115 – his second one-day century – but the Man of the Match award rightly went to Kemp, whose 80 came from 50 balls, and included seven massive sixes. “It is dangerous at the other end when he comes in,” said Smith. “He is playing superbly, and it is great to have people at the bottom who can hit the ball out of the ground.”Nine years ago, England capitulated from a 1-1 scoreline to a 6-1 defeat, and such is the way this series has gone, that something very similar is on the cards at Durban. It represents quite a turnaround for a side that, at the start of the series, had managed just one win in their last 13 matches – and that had come against Bangladesh.But ebb and flow was the feature of the Test series, and with Pietersen in tow, England will not have given up hope of squaring the series just yet. “We have pushed them really hard in four of the first five games,” said Vaughan, “and I believe we can turn it around and force a 3-3. If we can exert some pressure they could fold like any team in the world.

Daryl Tuffey has been fined NZ$1000 after he admitted to a charge of serious misconduct by New Zealand Cricket (NZC). A misconduct inquiry was initiated by NZC after reports arose of an intimate video clip involving Tuffey and a Christchurch woman. He admitted to the event, and said that he had deleted the video, which was filmed by two English tourists.Hugh Rennie, who conducted the inquiry, said in a statement that Tuffey was repentant at the matter and that his admission of guilt was made “immediately and voluntarily”. According to the report, what made a private matter public was the existence of the recording. “Mr Tuffey accepts that the existence of this recording takes his conduct outside his private rights in respect of his off-field conduct”.Keeping in mind Tuffey’s frankness, the scale of his misdemeanour and the action he took of deleting the recording well before the inquiry had been initiated, Rennie said, “I have considered whether, on the face of facts of this case, termination [of the contract] should be imposed. Taking into account all the matters I have summarised above, I am certain that it should not be imposed and so I find. I have considered whether a warning and councelling may be sufficient. The finding itself may be a warning…”Rennie understood that the publicity this case had received brought its own set of tribulations, but considered that “a financial penalty is the only effective way of condemning the serious misconduct which has been admitted”, and directed Tuffey to pay the amount to NZC.The film segment at the hub of the inquiry was reported to last between 20 to 30 seconds, according to the findings, and was “associated with other video material of a similar nature, which did not involve Mr Tuffey…” The two British men who had filmed Tuffey showed the video clip to numerous people, one of whom protested and asked them to delete it immediately. This was not done, for when Tuffey met them soon after, he was shown the clip, which he deleted.Rennie accepted Tuffey’s version of events, including his statement that while the encounter with the woman was of a sexual nature, it did not involve sexual intercourse. Tuffey said he had no prior knowledge that a video would be made. Rennie stated, “He first became aware of this while the clip was being made.” What made matters worse for Tuffey, besides becoming involved in the first place, was that he did not take immediate action to have the recording destroyed, according to the report.

Omar Kureishi, the noted Pakistani sports columnist and broadcaster, has died, aged 77. He had been afflicted by a heart disease for some time, but the condition took a downturn on March 3 and he was admitted to a hospital in Karachi, where he died yesterday.Kureishi was renowned for his observations and fiery opinions which appeared in the for 25 years. His quick wit won him a global fan-following and he wrote for publications in England and the Middle East as well. The cricketing fraternity in Pakistan – a large part of who counted themselves among his many friends – expressed deep sorrow at his death. Shaharyar Khan, the chairman of the PCB, was quoted as having said to APP: “I can think of no better tribute than to liken Omar Kureishi to a Neville Cardus and John Arlott rolled into one. Omar’s ascent to the pinnacle of his profession was due to his impeccable integrity, fairness and meticulous attention to detail.”Chishty Mujahid, the commentator, said, “He was my mentor and I learnt a lot from him. With his death an era has come to end. He was a kind-hearted man and I knew him while travelling with him at home and abroad.” Wasim Bari added that his passing away was a national loss.Kureishi became a noted cricket commentator in the 1950s and 1960s after acquiring a degree in international relations from the University of Southern California. After joining the , he became the resident editor of the . He was later asked by Air Marshal Nur Khan, who led the country in the 1965 war against India, to join the national airline, PIA. Kureishi accepted and, together, the two put into place a system that allowed sportsmen to earn and play.

Amid the sponsorship imbroglio surrounding Caribbean cricket, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, the newly-appointed West Indies captain, is upbeat about his new role in the side and positive about the team playing to its ability in the first Test against South Africa which starts on March 31. Chanderpaul was named the captain after Brian Lara choose not to accept the invitation by the West Indies cricket board to join the team, owing to the omission of other players.”I’m feeling ok and I have done some captaincy for my country and also on tours for West Indies so it’s nothing strange to me,” said Chanderpaul to the Caribbean Media Corporation. “It’s just that it’s my first time in Test cricket, which might be a little different, but it shouldn’t be so much of a difference. It’s all cricket so I’m not worried too much about it.”Chanderpaul, who has led Guyana on several occasions, was also appointed the vice-captain for the VB Series in Australia. The selectors have named three debutants in the squad for the first Test in Guyana: Narsingh Deonarine, Dwight Washington and Donovan Pagon. “I’m positive, we all are positive and once we play to our abilities – and all the guys are very talented – and once we can play to that and play better than South Africa we will win.”West Indies have a poor record against South Africa, having won just two of the 15 matches played between the two teams. However, Graeme Smith, the South African captain, has expressed his concerns about facing a newly shaped team. “It is an issue in some ways that we are not too aware of what we are coming up against, but we have to find out as much information as we can on the guys,” said Smith to . “I think it boils down to ourselves. If we really concentrate on performing well, getting our things right, our game right, it will be beneficial to us.”So we really should be concentrating on our own game and making sure we are a 100 per cent ready by the time we get into that Test match and thinking on our feet out in the middle is another crucial point.”

The bundles of thick cables by Gate 7 at Green Park were a dead giveaway. They ran into a room filled with black boxes containing equipment that is more widely travelled than the Indian team. This was where Trans World International (TWI) had set up a studio; pictures from here are uplinked and then broadcast to over 100 countries.A producer there took me under his wing, and into the room whereimages are cut, replays rewound, statistics culled, and the sound onthe stump-mike amplified after close decisions. “How long do youthink this took to set up?” he asked, sweeping his arm around theroom. “Five-and-a-half hours, including testing.” The room was packedwith equipment and the floor littered with wires. Then, over speakersset up across the room, a voice announced: “We are back on air.” Itwas the director, hunched forward in his chair before a wall ofmonitors covering every conceivable angle on the field. There werefeeds from the stump camera, the ones placed on either side for run-outs, and even one focused on the commentators, who picked up the cueimmediately. “The partnership [between Rahul Dravid and Mohammad Kaif] is 67 off 102 balls,” came Rameez Raja’s voice over the speakers on resumption.When the tour ends, the men and women with TWI, the production companyassigned by the Indian board to produce this series, will have been at it for45 successive days. For the cricket fan, the tour involves three Testsand six one-dayers. For the people producing the series, even the daysin between count. Planes need to be hired – “Don’t even ask about thecost of one of those,” said the producer – bureaucratic localassociations need to be dealt with, visas need to be acquired. All of thisneeds to be done in an instant, as had happened this time aroundbecause the BCCI awarded production rights only three days before theseries began. Even in the high-pressure atmosphere of live production,this was some task. “We asked the guys to remain on standby in case wereceived the rights,” the producer said. His work was helped by thetiming of the series, because there were no other sports events at this part of the year. This meant that the cameramen and technicians were all free to cover the cricket.This team has 45 members, 12 of whom are on the cameras. Most are hiredhands, in one country one day, a continent away the next. But some areregulars. Like the statistician, who doesn’t need to be BCCI-approved.In fact, once the rights are awarded to the lowest bidder, the cricketboard does not play much of a role, barring the selection ofcommentators. While this could be seen as a progressive step, thelocal cricket bodies then take it upon themselves to improve ordegrade situations. “I don’t want to come back here ever again,” acrew member said, referring to the facilities at Kanpur. “The lightswent out yesterday. The night before an international match! Incomparison, Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Jamshedpur were television-friendly. Here, we have to pay for the fans, the tables, even thedrinking water.” What about food? He laughed.Dilemmas are avoided by a reconnaissance team. They arrived in Kanpur three days before the game to figure out what was needed, which holes needed to be plugged, what exactly the ground allowed them to do. This job requires patience, luck, and a spot of divine backing.Once the stage is set, the task is exacting. The drinks break was metwith a surge towards the loo, and between innings the crew had 15minutes for lunch. Between overs they hovered above their consoles,and stepped into action when the countdown before the next over began.It is a task that requires absolute concentration, for when things runsmoothly, only the bumps are remembered. “We could have a great daywhen everything works out well,” the producer sighed, “but if we makeone mistake, that’s what people will recall.”With live television, mistakes are inevitable. For some time, with thechanging appearance of the game, the way it is portrayed has changedtoo. There are nearly five cuts between balls, giving it the slick appearance of a Hollywood action movie. The scope for mistakes is high as the director announces relentlessly, “Six, take six, ten, take ten …” to switchcameras rapidly between deliveries. But these mistakes could also beglossed over in the barrage of imagery.Besides this, there is much to be done on a typical matchday. Wake upat five, be at the ground by six, get everything going, handle thegame, pack up by eight or nine, send off the equipment by aspecially chartered cargo plane, hit the sack by midnight, and catch aflight at an unearthly hour not long after. The times vary, but theintensity remains the same. Did this not drive them mad, I asked theproducer? “You simply get used to it,” was his reply.”What about Delhi? How will you manage that?” I queried.”We’ll manage it somehow.”Producers frequently agree that dealing with cricket coverage in Indiatends to be chaotic, with unbelievable demands placed on productioncompanies at short notice. But even by the hectic standards of today,the last game of the tour threatens to create the most dire problems.One observer at the Ferozshah Kotla said yesterday that it was far from complete. This, the obsessive security and the placement of President Musharraf’s viewing box could all prevent cameras we take for granted from functioning normally. You don’t miss a run-out cam until it isn’t there, do you?I left them as Rameez ambled into the studio, looking spiffing in a pinkshirt, amid technicians loading boxes and preparing for the next match. Outside were generators in trucks travelling by road to Delhi.These generators, according to one source, had been due in Delhi at5pm today. There was no reason for it. The Delhi association justwanted them there by five in the evening.That’s what production is like. Mostly maddening, and sometimes quiteinexplicable. But you simply get used to it.