“.” (Fine leg and long-on are on the boundary, third man is in the circle.) With this imaginary field in place, Irfan Pathan ran in to bowl to Yuvraj Singh in the Indian team’s net session at the Supersport Park in Centurion. With one more day in hand before embarking on their World Twenty20 campaign, the Indians chose this venue – a 45-minute drive from Johannesburg – to have a hit before flying to Durban later in the day. The Indians’ lack of experience (only one international) in this format is a major handicap, but there was every attempt in this short net session to practice specific skills in the limited time available before their first match on Thursday.For the type of field set, Irfan’s delivery wasn’t a bad one – it was full and just outside off – and Yuvraj’s attempt to scoop it over third man failed miserably. Mahendra Singh Dhoni was more successful, though, and there was plenty of applause from his team-mates when he cleverly guided one from Pathan over the slips.After the nets, Pathan spoke of the need to “think on one’s feet” – a term that has been, and will be, used plenty of times throughout the next two weeks. In the ODIs, the Indians have occasionally given the impression of lacking flexibility; the first match against Scotland might give them some room to breathe, but thereafter the tests will get significantly tougher. And to Pathan it didn’t matter that this was supposed to be a fun tournament: “It might be fun for the crowds, but not for us. We have to enjoy the game, but it’s very important that we perform well.”To be fair to the Indians, there was enough purpose in their two-hour session to suggest they were taking the tournament seriously. While most of the players were busy in the three net pitches next to one another, Dinesh Karthik was getting some individual attention from Gregory King, the team’s trainer. He kept lobbing underarm balls, and Karthik played a million one-handed straight-drives, with the right hand gripping the bat and the left hanging loose. After a proper practice session, he returned to a smaller net area to repeat the bottom-hand drill.With Robin Uthappa, King had something else in mind. With the pitches here likely to offer bounce, Uthappa – who is likely to open the batting – had a long session practising the pull as King carefully aimed deliveries around the shoulder and head. (“I don’t want them bouncing over the head”.)With a line-up that includes Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Uthappa, Yuvraj, Dhoni and Karthik, the batting is in reasonably good hands, but the bowling is a greater worry, and the fielding the greatest. In both areas, there wasn’t much to suggest any relief, with Ajit Agarkar continuing to spray it wide of the off stump. RP Singh fired in some good yorkers, but Sreesanth – who had an injury scare earlier in the day when he bruised a finger while fielding – slid it down leg, and then, when he got the direction right, overstepped the popping crease, which was quickly spotted by Venkatesh Prasad, the bowling coach. The penalty: a free hit off the next ball, which was delivered from about two feet behind the return crease. Pathan stressed on the importance of keeping it simple: “We should try variations only when the batsmen are getting after us,” he said, but in this format of the game he should expect that scenario more often than not.Before the batting and bowling sessions was the cursory fielding and running-between-the-wicket drills, and there was little urgency in either. The team has six new faces, and while most of them are better fielders than the players they have replaced, it is tough to see fielding bail India out when the going gets tough.The Indians have another practice session in hand before their first game against Scotland on Thursday, and while the Scots might test them a bit, the real battle will begin on Friday, when they have the small matter of taking on Pakistan.

Reconstruction of the Galle International stadium will continue after a heritage dispute over a three-storey building that would block a historic 16th century fort was resolved by Mahinda Rajapakse, the Sri Lanka president.”The president [ Rajapakse] called all the relevant parties and had a discussion at which everything was cleared,” Jayananda Warnaweera, the stadium curator, told AFP.Duleep Mendis, the CEO of Sri Lanka Cricket, confirmed that the rebuilding was on schedule. “The ground will be ready for the Third Test [against England in December],” Mendis said.The stadium had been destroyed by the tsunami on December 26, 2004.Earlier, Parakrama Dahanayake, the president of the Galle Heritage Foundation, had expressed concern over the the blocking of the fort. “The view of the fort will be completely blocked by the new building that is coming up,” Dahanayake said. “The view is obscured and the Galle Fort may find itself struck off the World Heritage list as a result.”

Dilip Vengsarkar, India’s chairman of selectors, has expressed confidence in Mahendra Singh Dhoni as captain.”I have been watching Dhoni from close quarters for quite some time now. I found him to be a very good student of the game,” Vengsarkar told . Before his appointment as captain following Rahul Dravid’s resignation, the selection panel had elevated Dhoni to vice-captain for the tour to England. “He is extremely focussed, down to earth and very disciplined. He is modest about his achievements and possesses good man-management skills. He has all the qualities of a good captain.”Vengsarkar has been at the helm of India’s selection affairs for over a year now, a period in which the team had an early exit at the World Cup in the West Indies, followed by a win at the recently-concluded World Twenty20 in South Africa. “Well, it was rather satisfactory because, apart from the early exit from the World Cup, the team did reasonably well, winning a Test for the first time in South Africa,” he said about his tenure. He indicated that he was undaunted by the task. “I have been selecting teams for a decade and a half. It is nothing new.”Vengsarkar also said the selectors’ decision to bring back Sourav Ganguly and Zaheer Khan was vindicated by their performances. “There has to be a good blend of youth and experience in the team. In the Tests, temperament plays a major role,” he said. “Though Sourav and Zaheer were not in the best of forms when selected, as selectors, it was important for us to back our gut feeling.”On Munaf Patel, Vengsarkar said he could be recalled if his regains both form and fitness. “Munaf has the potential to become the front-line bowler for India. However, he must realise that to bowl consistently fast match after match, he must be extremely fit. He just cannot be a line-and-length bowler, not in Test cricket.”

The Pakistan Cricket Board has decided to defend Mohammad Yousuf and said that the Indian Cricket Leage (ICL) cannot stop him from playing for his country after the league organisers sent out a legal notice to the batsman.”The ICL has no case against Yousuf and they cannot stop him from playing for Pakistan,” Nasim Ashraf, chairman PCB, told the . “Yousuf did sign a contract with them but later he changed his mind and cancelled it. As a player he had the right to opt for any offer which he thought was better for him.”Yousuf, who after cancelling his contract with the ICL, signed a national contract as well as signing up to play in the India Premier League (IPL), a recognised league that is run by four different national boards and is approved by the ICC. He was served a legal notice by the ICL after several attempts to contact him failed.”We can confirm that we have indeed sent out a notice to Yousuf,” Ashish Kaul, executive president of the ICL, told Cricinfo last week. “We have been trying to reach out to him and sent out three reminders to discuss some crucial issues after the PCB clarified recently that Yousuf will not play in the ICL and make himself available for Pakistan.”However, Ashraf rejected the impression that the ICL can use any legal ways to stop Yousuf from playing for Pakistan in India next month. “The ICL is claiming that they will not stop any of their recruits from playing for their country then how can they stop Yousuf from representing Pakistan.”The ICL did have a clause in their contract that said that a player cannot give priority to national duty over the ICL but now they say that the clause has been removed and they claim that their players can leave the league to play for their national teams whenever required. I believe in such circumstances they have no justification to stop Yousuf from playing in India.”Ashraf confirmed that if the matter was to go to court, Yousuf will have the full backing of the PCB. “We will fully defend Yousuf, if he is taken to court using all legal means.”Yousuf recently represented Pakistan in the second Test against South Africa and is currently involved in the five-match ODI series against the same opposition, where he scored a match-winning hundred in the second match in Lahore.

Group A

A resolute display by the Multan batsmen lifted their team’s score considerably against Karachi Whites at the United Bank Limited (UBL) Sports Complex. Facing a Whites total of 391, Multan made a strong reply by reaching 274 for the loss of five wickets by the close of play. They are, however, still 117 behind Whites and will have to continue in the same vein if they intend to save the match or at least gain the three first-innings lead points. Debutant Rameez Alam made a valuable 60, off 166 balls in almost four and a quarter hours with the help of four fours. With Ansar Javed (24), he first added 54 for the third wicket and another 81 for the fourth with Naved Yasin, whose 49 came off 92 balls with seven fours. Sohaib Maqsood and wicketkeeper Gulraiz Sadaf later posted 115 for the unbroken sixth-wicket stand. The 20-year-old Sohaib scored his maiden half-century, making 85 off 98 balls in a little over two hours with seven fours and three sixes. Gulraiz, who has recently represented the Pakistan Under-19 team, was unbeaten at 32 at stumps.Habib Bank Limited (HBL) needed another 283 to win against Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) with seven wickets in hand at the Sheikhupura Stadium. After WAPDA, third placed in the table behind HBL and National Bank of Pakistan (NBP), had acquired a crucial 56 runs first-innings lead, they scored 274 in their second innings getting an overall lead of 330. Habib Bank slid to 48 for 3 in their second innings. Althoug slow left-armer Aslam Qureshi took 5 for 57 yesterday to complete a match haul of 10 for 85, the WAPDA batsmen flourished. There were three individual half-centuries, of which Tariq Aziz’s 68 was the highest. From 48 for 5, Tariq and Sarfraz Ahmed (52) lifted WAPDA with a sixth-wicket stand of 95. Nawaz Sardar (42) and Farooq Iqbal (51) added 75 runs for the eighth.At Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad required another 118 to win with all ten second innings wickets in hand, after having bowled Hyderabad out for a poor 160 in their second innings. Seamer Asad Zarar took 10 wickets in the match for Faisalabad, with figures of 5 for 67 and 5 for 47.Spurred by a maiden first-class century by opener Hasnain Abbas (117), Pakistan Customs made 382 for 7 in their second innings, setting Sialkot a target of 303 at the Jinnah Stadium in Sialkot. Sialkot were at 19 for 1 at stumps. Hasnain’s first-wicket partnership with offspinner Murtaza Hussain, who came in as the night-watchman, yielded 164 runs. Murtaza scored 56 and later, Rehan Rafiq contributed 55.

Group B

Abbottabad piled on the agony, as they reached a total of 432 for 9 in their first innings against Karachi Blues, here at the Abbottabad Cricket Stadium. Blues had earlier made an impressive 363 in their first innings, to which Abbottabad had replied with 198 for 4 by the close on the second day. Although they made a total in excess of 400, Abbottabad however were actually only 69 ahead of the visitors. Riaz Kail reached his maiden first-class century, his 112 coming off 201 balls with 20 fours. With Mohammad Kashif his fifth-wicket stand was worth 104. Kashif, with 72 off 162 balls with ten fours and later Iftikhar Mahmood, with a splendid 88 not out with ten boundaries, both achieved their highest first-class scores. Iftikhar was involved in several useful partnerships with the tailenders. Blues’ left-arm spinner Azam Hussain sent down as many as 60 overs in the Abbottabad innings and picked up 4 for 128.Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) jumped up to the first spot again as they defeated then table leaders Islamabad by a whopping innings and 169 runs, inside three days at the Diamond Cricket Club Ground in Islamabad. Facing a PIA first-innings total of 404 for 8 declared, Islamabad crashed to poor scores of 126 and 109 in reply after being forced to follow-on. PIA’s seamer Aizaz Cheema was at his devastating best, taking 7 for 24 in the first and 4 for 48 in the second innings to attain a match haul of 11 wickets for a mere 77 runs. Former Pakistan Under-19 star Anwar Ali, after having made his career-best score of 74 on the second day, helped Aizaz bundle out Islamabad with figures of 5 for 25 runs in just eight overs with his right-arm fast-medium.At the Arbab Niaz Stadium in Peshawar, Sui Northern Gas Pipeline (SNGPL) also gained the same number of points as PIA and Islamabad – 36 each – as they comfortably defeated Peshawar by ten wickets with a day to spare. Facing a first-innings deficit of 140, Peshawar were bowled out for 154 and that gave SNGPL a target of just 15 to win. Seamer Imran Ali excelled for the winners with 5 for 78.Although they lost eight second innings wickets for 175 runs at the Mirpur Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi enhanced their overall lead against Lahore Shalimar to 312 with a full day to go.The Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL) openers had a field day against an ineffective Quetta bowling attack, at the Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) Stadium in Rawalpindi, as they compiled 265 runs. Quetta had earlier piled up a massive score of 460 for 9 declared. ZTBL opener Afaq Rahim from Mirpur scored his sixth hundred and his highest, as he made an unbeaten 151 off 288 balls in 353 minutes with 20 fours. Umar Javed, with an unbeaten 101 off 246 balls that included six fours and a six, incidentally scored his maiden century in first-class cricket. ZTBL, however, are still 195 behind Quetta.

Pakistan’s plans to adopt a ground rotation policy for next month’s home series against Zimbabwe suffered a minor setback after Jinnah Stadium in Sialkot was declared dangerous for spectators.A PCB official told that the idea of holding an ODI at Jinnah Stadium was dropped after it was discovered that one of the pavilions at the stadium was in “pretty bad shape”.”It would have been risky to stage a match in Sialkot because of that particular pavilion,” the official said. “Also the road leading to the stadium is in a shambles. We will now host an international match in Sialkot sometime later.”Sialkot hasn’t hosted an international match for over ten years. A Quaid-e-Azam trophy first-round match between National Bank of Pakistan and Sialkot was abandoned due to unplayable pitch conditions in October.Zimbabwe arrive in Pakistan on January 12 for a series of five ODIs and a three-day and four-day game.

Chris Gayle, the West Indies captain, has said it was tremendous beating South Africa on their home soil, especially so with a relatively young and inexperienced side. “It was really pleasing to see how we operated under pressure,” Gayle told the . “We just have to try and keep on improving and maintaining the discipline.”Gayle said West Indies now have to focus on improving on their performance in Port Elizabeth where they won their first away Test against a sizeable opposition since June 2000 when they beat England in Birmingham. “This is a different challenge. We usually win Test matches at the end of the series when it’s already lost. Now, we are one-up at the start of a series so we’ll see how we cope with it for the next couple of days. We know what we’re here for so we’re not going to be complacent.”Though he admitted that leadership was important, Gayle insisted that every player must be given the chance to prove himself. “Sometimes too much is expected of them too soon. You have to give them time to develop as persons and as cricketers as well.”Of his own style of captaincy, Gayle said he tells it like it is. “I’m not going to lie or anything like that. It’s not for you to take what I say personally, whatever the situation, but to understand and look into yourself to see where improvements can be made.”Looking forward to the second Test, Gayle said West Indies expected South Africa to come back strong and hard at them. “We’ll be prepared for it,” he countered. “We’re looking for the fight. Challenges are what we expect, so we’ll try to cope with it. Cape Town is always a good wicket so hopefully we can put up an even better performance there than we did in this game.”Graeme Smith, the South African captain, said South Africa were better individually and as a team than they had shown the four days in Port Elizabeth and promised they would rebound in the next Test. He said the three days of rain preceding the match had hampered South Africa’s preparations but refused to use it as an excuse for the defeat.The second Test will start on January 2, followed by the third and final one in Durban on January 10.

New Zealand are determined to make a clean sweep of Bangladesh when the two sides meet for the third and final one-day international at the Queenstown Events Centre. Inclement summer weather disrupted practice on the eve of the game and more is forecast on game day, but the mood remained upbeat in the home camp.The hosts go into the clash having already clinched the series 2-0 courtesy a 102-run D/L method win in Napier but John Bracewell, New Zealand’s coach, hoped to build on two wins against Bangladesh after disappointing tours to South Africa and Australia.”Rhythm, momentum going into the Test series, the goal is to continue building confidence and lift of our performance from the other two games – setting the bar a little bit higher each time,” he told the . “For us, confidence and self-assessment is extremely important. It’s not necessarily important what the opposition is doing, it’s what we’re doing and I think we can still lift the bar.”After struggling in their last two series, New Zealand’s batsman put up runs – albeit expectedly – against Bangladesh, chasing 202 with six wickets left and posting 335 for 5. The bowlers were unable to dismiss an out-of-form Bangladesh batting line-up in Napier but Bracewell put faith in his opening pair, Kyle Mills and Chris Martin. Mills has seven wickets in two games, including 4 for 40 in Napier and Martin has conceded less than three runs an over despite not having taken a wicket.”I’ve been pleased with the heat with which Chris has bowled. Without Shane Bond, he’s our go-to player, and he’s still learning the skills [of one-day bowling],” said Bracewell. “He’s only played 11 or 12 one-day games [since his debut in 1999] so he’s still making the adjustment from that continual line and length at test-match level.”Mark Gillespie, the right-arm medium-pacer, remains a doubt after aggravating his left shoulder in Napier and will be assessed before the match. Michael Mason could get a game on a track that traditionally favours seam bowling. It is unlikely that offspinner Jeetan Patel will play.A loss to Bangladesh would send New Zealand from third to fourth place on the International Cricket Council’s ODI rankings.Bracewell’s opposite number, Jamie Siddons, said his side had no pretensions about upstaging their opposition. “We don’t pretend that we’re going to compete with New Zealand on a regular basis at this point in time. We are learning, but it’s going to take time. They’re young players, some are only playing their first or second game of their lives at this level.”There’s a learning curve they have to go through and we’re going to suffer some pain. We’re suffering that pain now – there’s no way around it.”Only Mohammad Ashraful, Aftab Ahmed and Tamim Iqbal have scored fifties in the series and the middle order has generally come a cropper against seam bowling. With two Tests looming, Bangladesh need to pick up their game.Teams (likely)New Zealand: 1 Jamie How, 2 Brendon McCullum (wk), 3 Peter Fulton, 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Scott Styris, 6 Mathew Sinclair, 7 Jacob Oram, 8 Daniel Vettori (capt), 9 Kyle Mills, 10 Michael Mason, 11 Chris Martin.Bangladesh: 1 Tamim Iqbal, 2 Junaid Siddique, 3 Aftab Ahmed, 4 Mohammad Ashraful, 5 Shakib Al Hasan, 6 Mehrab Hossain Jnr, 7 Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), 8 Farhad Reza, 9 Mashrafe Mortaza, 10 Abdur Razzak, 11 Shahadat Hossain.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball commentary
How they were out

A proficient and professional allround display from England took them to an emphatic 50-run win over New Zealand in the second and final Twenty20 in Christchurch. With the one-day series two days away, England are bristling with confidence and New Zealand have it all to do.England were in control from the outset, with Phil Mustard and Luke Wright launching an exuberant attack at the top of the order before Paul Collingwood and Owais Shah steered them to 193 for 8, in an excellent fifth-wicket stand of 102 – England’s highest in Twenty20s. Impressively, all their bowlers played a part with Ryan Sidebottom particularly accurate while Dimitri Mascarenhas’s underrated dobblers accounted for Jamie How and Scott Styris. New Zealand were never in the hunt and particularly missed Jacob Oram, their standout player in the first Twenty20 two days ago.New Zealand’s chase of a demanding target began badly, Jesse Ryder falling with the score on 14 before Brendon McCullum, the stand-in captain in Daniel Vettori’s absence, was bowled by a fine yorker from Sidebottom and New Zealand were reduced to 19 for 2. There are doubts over Vettori’s involvement in next week’s one-day series – he has an ankle injury – and today’s loss has piled the pressure on McCullum, who is struggling to manage the three roles.Ross Taylor briefly threatened to make a fist of things with a brutal 21, lifting James Anderson for a six over midwicket and a rocketed four through the same leg-side region. And when he smashed Stuart Broad for the biggest six of the night over midwicket, there were tentative signs that New Zealand could yet chase down 194. It wasn’t to be, however, and Taylor was well caught by Bell jogging backwards at cover.How cracked 31 from 25 before he was bowled around his legs by the canny Mascarenhas – an awful shot in the circumstances – and Daniel Flynn, flown in to replace Oram, lasted two balls to leave New Zealand limping on 94 for 7. Kyle Mills, with 30 off 22 balls, briefly threatened a revival but when Sidebottom bowled Paul Hitchcock for 13 – finishing with impressive figures of 2 for 19 from his four overs – it was as good as over.England were livewires in the field and accurate with the ball, but neither adjective could be used to describe New Zealand’s effort earlier in the evening. Mills and Chris Martin both began tidily, but Wright and Mustard took advantage of the very short leg-side boundary to immediately levy the balance putting on 65 inside six overs. Mustard got off the mark with a fortuitous outside edge for six, over point, following it up with an ugly clubbed six over long-off.Meanwhile, Wright – who before today hadn’t taken to international Twenty20s – was less assured but soon capitalised on a wayward comeback from Hitchcock, replacing Jeetan Patel. Like Patel, who was pummelled in the first Twenty20 two days ago, Hitchcock was treated with disdain by Wright, who whistled a ferocious four through the covers before lifting him over the top for six. After five overs, England were 57 without loss and motoring.However, Wright’s dismissal in the next over brought about a mid-order slump that gave the home crowd something to cheer about. Kevin Pietersen went for 3 and Ian Bell – who ran himself out with a brainless single to mid-on – for 1. England’s hopes of passing 200 were fading and, when Mustard was superbly held by Mills on the long-on boundary, New Zealand had the visitors at 76 for 4.In came Shah and Collingwood and they immediately turned England’s fortunes around with a fine stand of 102 in just 10.2 overs. Shah got off the mark with a neat pull off Styris, but he spared the punishment for Ryder who was carved for 16 in one particularly drab over – the highlight, a flat and fiercely struck six over long-off. Collingwood was even more urgent than Shah, favouring the leg-side to smack Tim Southee over the top for six before driving the same bowler past extra cover.England were suddenly on the charge again and Collingwood brought up a 24-ball fifty with his third six, flinging Mills over the square leg boundary and also registering his and Shah’s hundred stand. Hitchcock, after being lambasted for 37 from a couple of overs, found redemption when Shah smacked him straight to long-off. The very next ball, Collingwood mistimed another leg-side heave and found How lurking at long-on.Mascarenhas survived the hat-trick delivery in his own inimitable style, upper-cutting him over backward point – but although he couldn’t replicate his six-hitting furore of two days ago, England’s 194 was more than enough.

There has been much talk of the huge wages in the Indian Premier League but Shane Warne will certainly earn his money after being named both captain and coach of the Rajasthan Royals, the Jaipur team. Kepler Wessels, the former South African captain, will coach the Chennai Super Kings.Warne’s franchise is owned by Emerging Media who paid $US67million and their chief executive Fraser Castellino was pleased with snaring him. “We were looking for a legendary cricketer whom all players will look up to,” said Castellino. “Shane’s commitment and astute cricketing brain makes him one of the most respected cricketers in the history of the game.”Warne will be assisted by a strong support staff, which will include former Indian team physiotherapist John Gloster. “Shane Warne’s extraordinary achievements on and off the field, combined with his unique understanding of the game, has made him a living sporting legend,” Gloster said. “It is this leadership and experience that will develop the success and spirit of the Rajasthan Royals. All the players will look up to Shane’s commitment and astute cricketing brain.”The Chennai management were also happy with their choice of Wessels. “We wanted somebody who would keep the focus on cricket, be a good task master, and help us win the tournament,” VB Chandrasekhar, who is part of the management, told Cricinfo.It is understood that L Sivaramakrishnan, the former India player and currently, a commentator, had mooted the idea of roping in Wessels. Sivaramakrishnan and Wessels are part of the commentary team in Bangladesh for the home series against South Africa.Wessels and Warne join a high-profile list of names of IPL coaches, which includes Martin Crowe (Bangalore), John Buchanan (Kolkata) and Tom Moody (Mohali). Robin Singh is the coach of the Hyderabad outfit while Delhi had named Victoria’s Greg Shipperd as their coach. Mumbai is yet to select a coach.Team huntThe Chennai franchise have roped in Aniruddha Srikkanth, R Ashwin and Sudeep Tyagi, the UP fast bowler. Though they have 15 players in the roll and theoretically need just one more but they are looking to sign up six more players as they fear some of the international stars might not be available for the full tournament.The Mohali team has signed up VRV Singh and two under-22 players in Karan Goel and Uday Kaul, which mean they have 13 players and need three more players to complete the squad.Mumbai have picked Ajinkya Rahane and Abhishek Nayar from Mumbai and Maharashtra’ wicketkeeper Yogesh Takawale and Baroda’s glovesman Pinal Shah.Hyderabad have already 16 players on their rolls. VVS Laxman (C), Adam Gilchrist, Andrew Symonds, Herschelle Gibbs, Shahid Afridi, Chaminda Vaas, Chamara Silva, Nuwan Zoysa, RP Singh, Rohit Sharma, N Arjun Yadav, Dwaraka Ravi Teja, Pragyan Ojha, D Kalyankrishna, P Vijay Kumar, Y Venugopala Rao, Haladhar Das (wk). Head coach: Robin Singh. Assistant coach: Kanwaljit Singh. Manager: Vijay Mohan Raj.