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As far as falls from grace go, Yuvraj Singh’s has been steep enough to warrant a parachute. After a magnificent century at Lahore, albeit in a losing cause, the Indian team management were impressed enough to consider him indispensable. When Sourav Ganguly returned for the Rawalpindi Test a week later, Aakash Chopra made way, despite having been part of four hundred-run partnerships with Virender Sehwag in the eight Tests where they opened together.At the time, Yuvraj was supposed to slot in as an opening batsman, but after India knocked Pakistan over after tea on the opening day, it was Parthiv Patel who strode out to face the wrath of Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Sami. The logic then was that the in-form Yuvraj was too precious to be sacrificed at the top, and Ganguly went so far as to say that he deserved to play in his natural habitat – the middle order.Six months on, Yuvraj did poorly in the opening Test against Australia at Bangalore, but he was hardly alone in that regard. And after a solitary failure as opener in Chennai, he finds himself surplus to requirements, with Chopra -axed for Chennai – curiously back in the fold. If Yuvraj is confused, you could scarcely blame him. Considered a better bet at the top of the order than Chopra just ten days ago, he’s now not good enough for a middle-order slot, even with Ganguly missing.Mohammad Kaif’s gritty 64 in Chennai won him the vote, which doesn’t say much about the team’s philosophy of keeping faith in its players. After all, if Patel – whose keeping continues to be wretched – can be persisted with, why not Yuvraj, who has hardly had enough opportunities to be labelled a failure? Indian cricket can’t afford a profligate approach to young talent, what with Test-class performers so thin on the ground.

After three months of wall-to-wall one-dayers, it might have been expected that Test cricket would return to centre stage with relative calm and order. But the first day of the first Test at Georgetown provided enough thrills and spills for even the most impatient spectator. Shivnarine Chanderpaul’s magnificent 69-ball hundred took the plaudits, but when the dust settled it was Australia who ended the day with a firm grip on the match.That Australia took such a stranglehold was largely thanks to their assured batting in the final session, coupled with some indifferent batting from West Indies and three poor decisions from the umpires – the most crucial of which was that dished out to Brian Lara.But it was Chanderpaul who won the hearts of his home crowd with the third fastest Test hundred (in terms of balls faced) at a time when West Indies appeared to be down and out. He came in to join Lara, who had looked at his imperious best during his brief stay, at 53 for 4, and within an over was the last recognised batsman as Lara departed.Whereas Chanderpaul is renowned for dogged – some would say downright dull – rearguard actions, this time he attacked, and in style, unleashing a string of quite exquisite cuts, pulls and drives. None of the bowlers were spared, and so wayward were they that for an hour after lunch Australia were rendered impotent. Catches were dropped, overthrows given away and brows grew more furrowed as Chanderpaul and a hobbling Ridley Jacobs added 131 for the sixth wicket at six an over.The support given by Jacobs was invaluable. He pulled a thigh muscle early on attempting an ambitious sweep off Stuart MacGill, and played almost all his innings on one leg and with severely limited mobility. And yet he kept his end up, and even produced the shot of the day, a towering drive off MacGill which cleared the triple-decker stand at long-on. If Chanderpaul’s innings was savage dissection, Jacobs’s was courageous determination.The problem for West Indies was what happened either side of that stand as ten wickets fell for just 106 runs. The rot started as early as the fifth over when Devon Smith (3) was on the sharp end of the first dubious decision of the day (9 for 1), and an over later Daren Ganga was bowled for 0 by a ball which kept a little low (10 for 2). Lara, briefly threatening to unveil a masterpiece, needed someone to stay with him. Instead, Wavell Hinds holed out to Justin Langer at mid-off courtesy of an infuriatingly loose drive off Brad Hogg (47 for 3), and next ball Marlon Samuels edged to Matthew Hayden at first slip. But the hammer blow came in the next over when Lara was given leg-before for 26 (53 for 5). It was a dubious decision from Asoka de Silva, and it seemed set to usher in another humiliating capitulation.But Chanderpaul and Jacobs fought back, and it took the afternoon drinks interval to end their resistance. Two balls after the break Chanderpaul fell leg-before to Andy Bichel trying to pull a ball which wasn’t short enough (184 for 5). The blow to his knee was sickening and he hobbled off to add to West Indies’ injury worries. Four balls later Vasbert Drakes sparred at Bichel and was excellently caught by wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist low down to his right for 0 (184 for 6).Merv Dillion’s spirited assault was cut short by the inconsitent MacGill – aided by another poor lbw decision from de Silva. He made 20 in a breezy eighth-wicket stand of 38 with Jacobs, and the last rites were completed after tea with the increasingly distressed Jacobs left high and dry.Australia’s customary aggressive response was briefly checked when Hayden (10) paid for his own calling error, failing by inches to beat Drakes’s sharp pick-up and throw (37 for 1). But Langer and Ricky Ponting relentlessly ate into the deficit, and as the day drifted towards a close it was increasingly hard to see where a wicket was going to come from. The forecast of intermittent rain over the next four days already appeared to give West Indies their only hope of salvation.

In terms of match practice, India could have done without the final day of the three day practice match against Sri Lanka Board XI being abandoned, but Indian skipper, Sourav Ganguly was philosophical. “It’s a little bit disappointing, but we got a day to bowl and day to bat. So it’s something rather than nothing,” he said.When a journalist asked whether he had ever come across such a sub-standard wicket, Ganguly avoided another controversy: “All I can say is that I have been involved in a match which was abandoned due to similar conditions.”The curator of the venue, Milroy Muttuvele, tried to get the game going by repairing the pitch after the captains had called for the umpires to let them have some match practice. His efforts were unavailing, as the game was called off after a 3pm inspection.Ganguly said: “They tried their best you know. Normally in a cricket game you can’t do too much about the wicket once the game starts. But since two captains requested some practice, it went on. It was a mutual effort, but unfortunately we couldn’t get going because the wicket was still wet.”The visitors played four batsmen who have come fresh from India for the Test series, and the captain emphasised the positives. “The openers got some runs. I got some runs as well. Sameer spent some time in the middle, so it’s not bad,” Ganguly said. “It would have been nice if the middle order batsmen had got a go as well.”But the Indian skipper added that they must start again from the beginning when the Test match comes around: “We got some good batting practice, but a Test match is a different ball game: the pressure is much higher.”The Indians go into the crucial Test series with just two days’ match practice. Ganguly added: “Now we’ve got to go for the Tests straightaway. The conditions are similar to India; it’s no different to back at home.”In the absence of star player Sachin Tendulkar and the consistent VVS Laxman, Ganguly is aware that the Indians need to rethink their batting strategy for the Test matches. “Probably Rahul would bat high in the order I might move up the order as well,” he said.

The Karnataka – Hyderabad encounter petered out to a tame draw on the fourthand final day at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium at Bangalore. When ‘play’ wascalled, openers Daniel Manohar and Nandakishore were at the crease with 9and 0 respectively. Having been forced the ignominy of a follow on,Hyderabad showed that their batting had more stuff than was on display intheir first essay. Manohar, who grafted well, was caught at forward shortleg off the bowling of Sunil Joshi just one run short of his fifty. Thisbrought Ranji Trophy star VVS Laxman to the crease.The day belonged to the him, and he celebrated his recall to the Indian team by scoring an unbeaten century. In the previous season, Laxman made over a thousand runs in the Ranji Trophy. His innings of 100 not out (159 balls, 11 fours, 1 six) helped Hyderabad reach 233 at stumps. In the meantime, Nandakishore was snared by Anand Yalvigi for 43. Vanka Pratap (26 not out) and Laxman (100 not out) saved Hyderabad the blushes.

Bermuda’s national cricket team may have some of their senior players back – but now they have nowhere to train.Gus Logie’s training squad is currently doing gym work as the BCB tries to find them a home ahead of the tour to Dubai and Kenya. And though he now has the likes of Janeiro Tucker, Kwame Tucker, Chris Foggo and a host of stars of the Under-19 team at his disposal, Logie has nowhere to coach them.”The National Stadium has been made unavailable to us. I’ve been told we won’t be able to use it from September 21 to October 15. I don’t know why. We are just doing gym work and we are trying to sort something out with Bailey’s Bay and Berkeley so that we can have some cricket sessions. It’s not an ideal situation but that’s where we are at. It’s always been a problem [lack of training facilities] but we just have to deal with it.”The situation is made worse by the fact that many of the island’s cricket grounds are now in the process of converting to football pitches for the upcoming soccer season.Logie added that wide-ranging improvements were needed to Bermuda’s cricketing infrastructure – not just for the national team but for the domestic league as well.”Those of us who watch cricket on a weekly basis have seen the standard of the pitches and of the grounds. You can’t say that it is good. We need to improve it. We need to put more effort towards improving everything we are doing.”Reprinted with permission of the Bermuda Sun

Malcolm Speed, the ICC’s chief executive, has backed Darrell Hair in the aftermath of the Oval Code of Conduct hearing and said that he wants him to stand again in international matches.In an exclusive column for Cricinfo, Speed emphasised that Hair remained a member of the ICC’s Elite panel. “His decision-making marks him out as one of the ICC’s top officials and I very much hope he will stand again at the highest level. And in that regard it was pleasing to see comments from both Inzamam-ul-Haq and Shaharyar Khan last weekend expressing similar sentiments.”Speed also emphasised that there was “nothing sinister” about the decision to withdraw Hair from the Champions Trophy. “Prior to the hearing we received a letter from the BCCI president Sharad Pawar raising his concerns about a potential negative reaction from some followers of the game there and the security implications this may have.”We listened to this view and sought independent security advice which highlighted a heightened risk and the need for 24 hour protection. In the circumstances we decided it was in the best interests of Darrell and the tournament not to send him to the event.” The BCCI, however, has denied that it raised specific security issues with the ICC.Speed also admitted that ideally the hearing into events at The Oval should have happened sooner but “for a variety of reasons that was not possible this time, not least because the issue confronting everyone involved the real world, was unprecedented and provoked high emotion.” He added: “Cricket must learn from this experience.”Far from undermining the authority of the umpires, as some have claimed, the hearing maintained it. By banning Inzamam-ul-Haq for four matches, Ranjan [Madugalle] confirmed players cannot take the Law into their own hands, no matter how wronged they feel. The fact the Pakistan Cricket Board have not appealed the ban is a clear indication it accepts that.”But he also acknowledged that the issue of ball tampering needed “careful consideration” by both the MCC, who are responsible for the Laws, and the ICC’s own cricket committee.

Tom Moody has called for Sri Lanka to round off the honeymoon period of his coaching tenure with a resounding victory against Bangladesh in the second Test on Tuesday.Sri Lanka waltzed to a comfortable two-and-a-half day, innings and 94-run victory in the first Test and are expected to win the second game easily to complete a 2-0 clean sweep. It comes on the heels of a 2-0 series win over the West Indies as well as winning the triangular Indian Oil Cup, that included India.But Moody realises that after two months in charge, a period during which he has quickly gained the respect and trust of the players, life is about to get tougher with tours to India, New Zealand and Australia fast looming on the horizon.”We have had a great run over the last two months and it is important for us to finish off on a positive note as we will not be playing at home for some time now,” Moody told AFP after the team’s final training session.Moody expects the batsmen to deliver: “I don’t think the conditions were ideal for batting [in the first Test]. The wicket didn’t represent a good Test pitch. I believe we’ll be playing on a very good cricket wicket here and if we don’t score heavily and get some big scores, then I would be a little disappointed.”Sri Lanka look set to call-up Russel Arnold for his first Test in 14 months after Tillakaratne Dilshan injured his right elbow during the practice session. Dilshan was hit painfully on the elbow joint by one of the net bowlers and was unable to flex the joint on Tuesday evening.Sri Lanka’s only other possible change may be the third seamer. Dilhara Fernando bowled only four overs in the first Test and the selectors may consider the option of an allrounder or extra batsman. But with the P. Saravanamuttu pitch set to offer better batting conditions Fernando is likely to get another chance.Bangladesh, meanwhile, are looking to salvage some pride after what has been a disappointing tour. Their successes in England had raised expectations, but they’ve never challenged Sri Lanka’s superiority and have badly missed the extra pace of Mashrafe Mortaza in their bowling attack.After their spectacular collapse against Muttiah Muralitharan last week they took a two-day break to refresh and regroup. When they resumed practice on Saturday afternoon Habibul Bashar, the skipper, noticed a new spring in the step of his players.Dav Whatmore pinpointed the first day collapse from 155 for 2 to 188 all out as the pivotal period of the last game. “A score of 155 for 2 gives every indication that the boys can go and put up a decent total,” he said. “It is unfortunate that they didn’t as I know they are capable of being more competitive.”Sri Lanka (probable) 1 Marvan Atapattu (capt), 2 Sanath Jayasuriya, 3 Kumar Sangakkara, 4 Mahela Jayawardene, 5 Thilan Samaraweera, 6 Russel Arnold, 7 Chaminda Vaas, 8 Rangana Herath, 9 Muttiah Muralitharan, 10 Lasith Malinga, 11 Dilhara FernandoBangladesh (probable) 1 Javed Omer, 2 Shahriar Nafees, 3 Habibul Bashar (capt), 4 Mohammad Ashraful, 5 Aftab Ahmed, 6 Tushar Imran, 7 Khaled Mashud, 8 Mohammad Rafique, 9 Syed Rasel, 10 Enamul Haque, 11 Shahadat Hossain.

New Zealand 141 for 8 in 46 overs (Tiffen 35) beat England 129 in 41 overs (Brindle 34*, Milliken 3-29, Steele 3-14) by 18 runs (D/L method); England won series 3-2
Scorecard

New Zealand won the rain-affected final match of the NatWest Series at Old Trafford. It was a timely boost for the world champions, who had already lost this one-day series, ahead of the solitary Test of their tour, at Scarborough next weekend (August 21-24).It was a low-scoring match, with New Zealand managing only 141 for 8 from 46 overs before the heavens opened. Sara McGlashan made 22, and Haidee Tiffen 35 from 71 balls, as New Zealand struggled to get the bowling away. England’s new-ball pair of Lucy Pearson – tight throughout this series – and Jenny Gunn kept the runs down, going for only 29 and 23 runs respectively from their ten-over allocations.The rain brought a long interruption, and for a while it seemed as if the match would have to be abandoned. But eventually the skies relented, and England came out to bat, facing an adjusted target of 148 from 46 overs. They started slowly, then three run-outs derailed the innings. Arran Brindle (formerly Arran Thompson) applied herself for 34 in 79 balls, but no-one else exceeded Charlotte Edwards’s 23 from the top of the order. Louise Milliken and Rebecca Steele both took three wickets, with Steele’s costing her only 14 runs from 10 overs.England eventually fell 18 runs short of their revised target, being bowled out with five overs left, but had the consolation of taking the series 3-2.

A week that started in chaos and confusion in West Indies’ cricket ended with another contentious, controversial issue last night.As the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) tried to establish whether Chris Gayle had violated its eligibility rule, the selectors refused to pick the Jamaican opening batsman for the first Cable & Wireless Test against Australia in spite of advice from the board that Gayle was eligible until the matter had been fully investigated.Gayle’s decision not to represent Jamaica in the Carib Beer International Challenge final against Jamaica at Kensington Oval and instead play in the lucrative Double Wicket World Championship in St Lucia, has left the WICB seeking legal advice to ensure that the right procedure was followed in determining whether Gayle was in breach of the eligibility rule.`Not aware’Jamaica Cricket Association (JCA) president Jackie Hendriks, who is serving as tournament referee in the Double Wicket World Championship, submitted a report to the WICB in which he said he was "not aware that any formal permission was given by the JCA for Gayle to miss the [Carib] final".The WICB has also asked Gayle to submit a report on the circumstances that led to his non-participation in the Carib final, before making a decision on whether he was in breach of the eligibility rule.Meanwhile, the WICB advised chief selector Sir Vivian Richards that until such time as a decision has been made to the contrary, Gayle was eligible for selection on the West Indies team.One is left to presume that the 23-year-old Gayle, who had seemingly established himself as the West Indies’ premier opening batsman in the past two years and whose 28 Tests have brought him 1 588 runs (ave. 35.28), has been dropped.In deciding on a review, the WICB considered that, on the face of it, Gayle could be in breach of the eligibility rule which states in part:"A player becomes eligible for selection to the senior West Indies team when he makes himself available for selection to his national side in a competition immediately preceding the selection of a West Indies team for an international series."During the course of yesterday’s third day of the Carib International final, there was the feeling that a dramatic announcement was in store.A Press release was promised early in the day, but it did not come until after 7 p.m.

Unseasonal rain, accompanied by more seasonal cold, brought an end toZimbabwe’s longest season after West Indies, chasing 348 to win, had progressed from 42 for one overnight to 98 for one. The play that did take place suggested a draw would have resulted anyway, so West Indies won the two-match series by virtue of their victory in Bulawayo. Zimbabwe’s sole consolation was that they had fought back at the last ditch with great honour.Zimbabwe continued their surge for victory in miserable weather in front of an almost empty ground, as no schoolchildren were bussed in for the final day, no doubt to the benefit of their health. The cricket was not quite as dismal as the weather, but Zimbabwe’s seam bowlers could find no assistance from the pitch or conditions. Chris Gayle and Ramnaresh Sarwan simply took batting practice, under no pressure, and after half-an-hour a tame draw seemed the most likely result.It took over an hour for Zimbabwe to turn, in desperation, to a spinner, and immediately Raymond Price found some sharp turn. West Indies seemed to have no vision of victory, and perhaps, had the weather allowed, Price might have caused them some flutters.20-minutes before lunch the drizzle began and the players were able to seek the shelter of the pavilion; not so the media, who had no escape from the makeshift media centre still in existence at this ground, which has proved unsuitable throughout the winter.Less than 10-minutes were lost, though, and immediately on resumption Taibu missed stumping Sarwan off Price. Hamilton Masakadza bowled his leg-breaks for the first time immediately before lunch, and missed a low, hard return catch from Gayle.Only 20 minutes after lunch drizzle drove the players off the field again. This time it developed into a heavy downpour, while the ground staff stayed out in it, trying desperately to save a match that, in such unpleasant climatic conditions, probably nobody wanted. The rain had stopped by tea, which was taken early.The end came rather farcically. Five further balls were bowled, enough for Gayle to reach his 50, when further rain drove the players off the field; it stopped, the players returned, so did the drizzle . . . they played on briefly until common sense finally won the day. Another downpour then made it clear that the match was ‘de facto’ over long before the ‘de jure’ announcement was made. West Indies finished with 98 for one (Gayle 52, Sarwan 31).