“What do you think is a safe total on the subcontinent” a journalist asked Greg Chappell after the high-scoring game at Ahmedabad. The answer came in a trice: “As much as possible.”And so we are at dry, hot and dusty Rajkot, where India have won three out of seven, for another one-day game which may well turn out to be another contest between bat and bat. Of course, the crowds come in to see the ball soar over the sight screen, to see batsmen unfurl their entire array of strokes, to see mammoth totals being erected and then chased. A pitch that can last the distance is “a really good one”, the curator who can prepare it has done “a excellent job”. And the entire half of the players, calling themselves bowlers and being treated as if they don’t need to exist, need to try their best to limit the damage. One wonders how Javagal Srinath might have felt at the end of the World Cup final, when he conceded 87 runs in his 10 overs, to hear that it was a “really good wicket”.Dravid rested, VRV Singh injuredIndia have decided to rest Rahul Dravid and S Sreesanth for the game while VRV Singh was ruled out with an inversion injury to his left ankle. That left them with a squad of 12 and Greg Chappell said that the Supersub would be named tomorrow morning. Dravid had not taken the field during the second half of the previous game, owing to cramps sustained while batting, and the team-management thought it best to rest him for the game. “He is fit enough to play tomorrow,” Chappell added,”but we thought it best to rest him so that he can be ready for the final game”. It would also give them an option to continue with their experimentation policy and rotation of players.Sri Lanka are unlikely to make any changes to the side that won at Ahmedabad and Marvan Atapattu confirmed that Nuwan Zoysa, who had twisted his ankle in that game, was fit to take the field. Farveez Maharoof tasted some success with the ball, after a harrowing time in the first four games, and might be continued to be used as the Supersub.Take guard, score hundred“If Sachin sees the pitch, he will be too tempted to play,” said Rasik Makhwana, the curator. “He has never scored a hundred here and this will be his best chance to entertain us with a century.” The surface had a glassy, polished look about it with no trace of green, no indication of wear, and absolutely no sign of hope for the faster bowlers. “The first half an hour may provide a bit of assistance,” said Makhwana with an impish grin, “after that, well …”.However, none of these held true when, last month, Sourav Ganguly walked out onto the same pitch to begin one of his most important innings, for East Zone in the Duleep Trophy. There was a sporting bounce, movement off the surface and ample assistance for the faster men, a fact that stumped the local press who were accustomed to batsmen feasting on a typical Indian paata wicket. Two weeks on, and normalcy appears to have been restored.Are you a policeman? Do you like cricket?Three years back, Virender Sehwag produced an innings of such mayhem that even the security guards were in a daze. Chasing 300 against West Indies, India were bulldozing along at 200 for 1 in the 28th over, thanks to Sehwag’s pulverising 82-ball 114, when it began to rain. Not water but bottles as a section of the crowd bombarded the West Indies fielders. And what were the police doing? Watching cricket, dummy. This time, though, the authorities have said that the policemen will not watch the game, but the crowd, and made efforts to hire those not interested in cricket. How they succeeded in finding people to fit that criterion, nobody will know but chaos reigned on the eve of the match with security, fans, pressmen, and administrators blaming each other for the mess.TeamsIndia (likely) 1 Sachin Tendulkar, 2 Virender Sehwag (capt), 3 Gautam Gambhir, 4 Yuvraj Singh, 5 Mohammad Kaif, 6 Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), 7 Irfan Pathan, 8 Ajit Agarkar, 9 Harbhajan Singh, 10 Murali Kartik, 11 Rudra Pratap Singh, Supersub: Suresh Raina.Sri Lanka(likely) 1 Sanath Jayasuriya, 2 Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 3 Upul Tharanga, 4 Mahela Jayawardene, 5 Marvan Atapattu (capt), 6 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 7 Russel Arnold, 8 Chaminda Vaas, 9 Dilhara Fernando, 10 Nuwan Zoysa, 11 Muttiah Muralitharan, Supersub: Farveez Maharoof.

Lou Vincent, the New Zealand opener, believes that New Zealand have helped shatter Australia’s aura of invincibility, following yesterday’s thriller in the second one-day match at Wellington.New Zealand’s heart-breaking two-run loss last night – in which electric fielding from Australia in the last over triggered a frenetic finale – has not deterred Vincent, who hit a rapid 71 to give his side a manic start as they began to chase a seemingly improbable 323 for victory. Speaking to stuff.co.nz, Vincent commented on what he saw as vulnerability in the Australians. “You put pressure on any good players and you can create opportunities,” he said. “You get a couple of full tosses and away you go.”Vincent was referring to Brett Lee, the fast bowler who conceded 85 runs, 19 of which came in the 49th over. Daniel Vettori, captaining New Zealand in the absence of the indisposed Stephen Fleming, echoed Vincent’s sentiments. “It was a pretty emphatic turnaround, I couldn’t ask for too much more in terms of the way we played Brett Lee,” Vettori said. “We talked about facing Lee and what we were going to do and guys went away and worked on their own things. Lou obviously decided to take it to them and he played exceptionally well.”Earlier, Andrew Symonds’ blistering 156 from 127 balls had taken Australia to a huge total, but spirited displays from New Zealand’s lower order took them agonizingly close. New Zealand’s final score of 320 was the fourth-highest second innings total in one-day international history.

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

Sri Lanka finally fought their way out of a poor patch with their first win of the VB Series at the Gabba which has thrown the tournament wide open. It may be just their third win in their last 13 one-dayers, but it was a resounding one, crushing South Africa by 94 runs. Kumar Sangakkara and Jehan Mubarak both struck fifties to propel them to 6 for 282, which proved to be an insurmountable total on an excellent pitch.It was a swift comedown for South Africa after the jubilation of beating Australia, at last, earlier this week. And when the post-mortem comes in the dressing room, the toss will probably be first up for dissection. Graeme Smith chose for his team to endure a long, hot day in the field and then, after falling early for three, he watched his side grind their way towards inevitable defeat on a used pitch. Afterwards he was adamant he did the right thing. “The pitch played well right through,” he said. “Our basics let us down.”He can say that again. Basically, South Africa dropped catches, bowled waywardly and then their batsmen were hopelessly outspun by the usual magic from Muttiah Muralitharan and some delightful legspin from Malinga Bandara: each grabbed three wickets. Jacques Rudolph and Mark Boucher both impressed with fifties, but theirs was a cause made hopeless from the outset as Chaminda Vaas started the rot with a controlled spell. He finished with 2 for 21 from eight overs.South Africa’s own attack wasn’t helped by being shorn of Nel, Ntini and Kallis and although Shaun Pollock inevitably held his end up – with 1 for 39 from his ten overs – the other bowlers were just too loose. But full marks to Sri Lanka for some stylish strokeplay.Sangakkara simply sizzled with his 88, while Mubarak dazzled in striking 61 from 67 balls, his highest international score. Sangakkara certainly used the flat surface well, and the pace of the ball, too, as he opened the face of the bat regularly and effectively. As usual, he was able to get himself a decent start but making it count was a bigger test for him, after getting out in the fifties twice in his last three innings.He was cantering along at nearly a run a ball in sight of his fifth ODI century before his wasteful dismissal at the hands of Pollock, a wicket prompted in part by Marvan Atapattu’s stickiness at the other end after Mubarak had fallen.While they were together, Sangakkara found a willing and able partner in Mubarak. The pair, who put on a well-deserved 108 for the second wicket, came out counterpunching and scored quickly after the early dismissal of Upul Tharanga.The dashing Mubarak played positively, his graceful hands caressing the ball to the boundary time and again, particularly square of the wicket, although he offered the odd well-timed straight drive, too.But he was lucky to celebrate his fifty after Johan Botha totally misjudged a chance in the deep off Monde Zondeki and missed the ball completely. As the bowler clasped his hands to his head, Mubarak ran three and brought up his half-century with a sheepish look, rather than the usual bat-waving. Botha made amends for the slip, though, with a quicker one which trapped Mubarak without too much further damage. Still, Mubarak’s was a richly deserved score in a smashing, confident display.Yet pumped up though it was, Sri Lanka’s eventual total still wasn’t quite as inflated as they would have hoped for until wickets slow-punctured their momentum in the later stages. Zondeki finally got in among the wickets in the first over of a more-controlled second spell – he removed Tillakaratne Dilshan – and, with Botha, he began to apply the squeeze to quieten Sri Lanka a touch. Credit must be given here to South Africa, who finally stepped up their game with some impressive fielding after those early fumbles.Their reply got off to a wobbly start and they were soon in trouble at 3 for 57. As wickets tumbled they soon fell behind the run-rate and when their Supersub Jacques Rudolph, in superb nick, became South Africa’s second run-out victim for 53, the momentum fell right away.Rudolph, in aggressive mode, strode to his well-constructed fifty with an array of shots – there were crashing cuts, dinky leg glances and some powerful drives. But he soon found himself in some difficulty against Muralitharan, who found immediate rip when he entered in the 18th over. From then on in it was all Sri Lanka and they will now head into their next clash on Sunday with Australia in buoyant mood.

Sri Lanka

Upul Tharanga c Boucher b Kruger 16 (1 for 33)
Jehan Mubarak lbw b Botha 61 (2 for 145)
Tillakaratne Dilshan c Gibbs b Zondeki 15 (3 for 172)
Kumar Sangkkara 88 (4 for 211)
Mahela Jayawardene c Prince b Botha 14 (5 for 244)
Marvan Atapattu (6 for 259)

South Africa

Graeme Smith lbw b Vaas 3 (1 for 8)
Boeta Dippenaar b Kulasekara 10 (2 for 30)
Herschelle Gibbs run out (Perera/Sangakkara/Kulasekara) 7 (3 for 57)
Jacques Rudolph run out (Perera) 53 (4 for 93)
Ashwell Prince c Kulasekara b Bandara 29 (5 for 127)
Justin Kemp b Bandara 10 (6 for 152)
Shaun Pollock c Atapattu b Vaas 4 (7 for 179)
Andrew Hall b Muralitharan 4 (8 for 184)
Johan Botha lbw b Muralitharan (9 for 188)
Mark Boucher c Dilshan b Bandara 62 (188 all out)

Parthiv Patel, the wicketkeeper-batsman, who has opened for India several times including the Rawalpindi Test last year in which he made 65, said he preferred the opening position. “Opening gives me confidence,” said the diminutive player who made 47 as an opener for Gujarat in their Elite Division Ranji Trophy match against Mumbai at Ahmedabad on Wednesday.”I was batting confidently. I am a bit disappointed about the manner in which I got out,” Parthiv said, adding that he was able to successfully negotiate the seaming ball on a green track.”The ball was seaming in the morning and I had planned to get a big score under my belt which would have given me added confidence before the tour of Pakistan,” Parthiv told mediapersons. He said he was under no pressure when he was about to reach his 50. Parthiv fell at 47 off Ramesh Powar.He said he was well aware that he was touring Pakistan as a second wicketkeeper but was “ready to grab any opportunity” during the Test series and make the most of it.

Colin Graves, Yorkshire’s chairman, has called for a bigger share of the money which goes to the 18 first-class counties to go to those who host Tests.As things stand, all counties receive around £1.35 million from the ECB, although those which host major matches do receive extra income – in Yorkshire’s case, that amounts to around £500,000.Speaking to the Yorkshire Post, Graves critcicised the way the money was distributed. “As I see it, the problem is that the first-class counties have always had the vote on this and when you consider there are something like six counties with Test grounds and 12 counties without Test grounds, it doesn’t take a genius to work out what’s happening.”I fully understand the other side of an argument, but we’ve got a Test ground and all the costs that go with that, so I think that needs to be taken into account.”Closer to home, Graves also slammed the county committee, which was formed to represent and raise the membership, accusing it of being “a talking shop in need of an overhaul”.He told the paper: “So far, the members’ committee hasn’t worked and I’m not going to make any secret of that fact. It’s supposed to help attract more members but, as far as I can tell, it hasn’t been successful. The Yorkshire board doesn’t run this committee; the committee appoints its own chairman and it’s up to its members at the end of the day. The committee can still have a useful role to play, but it certainly needs to be more pro-active.”Few on the committee would seem to disagree with that, although some members say the board is to blame. Simon Parsons, who resigned from it last year in frustration at its lack of power, said: “The members’ committee does not serve any useful function. It is a waste of time, a pointless exercise. It has no powers and, consequently, does not have the ability to best serve members’ interests, which was the whole point of its creation.”Although some believe the committee has served its purpose and should be wound up, Graves was not in agreement. “It can still work, but it needs to be more than a talking shop and, in some cases, a moaning shop. It needs to move forward for the good of the club.”

Today’s Zimbabwe Independent has reported that Zimbabwe Cricket have sacked Stephen Mangongo, the Zimbabwe A coach, for the second time in two years.In 2004, Mangongo was suspended by the board after being accused of issues within Takashinga Cricket Club, where he is the club chairman. He was subsequently reinstated to take joint charge of the A team with Andy Pycroft.The newspaper claimed that Mangongo’s latest fall out stemmed from his inability to work with Kevin Curran, the national coach, whose appointment was the subject of opposition from players. Mangongo was close to many of the team, and also to the stakeholders who opposed the peter Chingoka-led board.As a coach, Mangongo was credited with bringing on a number of leading black players – including Tatenda Taibu and Hamilton Masakadza – and for a time was a national selector.Mangongo’s dismissal was confirmed by Wilfred Mukondiwa, ZC’s human resources manager. “I can confirm that at the inaugural meeting of the interim board on January 18, the board resolved to appoint Andy Pycroft as Zimbabwe A coach as part of the restructuring exercise,” he told the Independent. “The board then decided that the appointment of Pycroft alone was adequate. It took time for that decision to be confirmed.”

Rahul Dravid’s 100th Test turned out to be a bitterly disappointing one, and at the post-match press conference, the captain admitted that his decision to field first at Mumbai was a mistake. However, he stressed that the result could still have been a better one had the top-order batsmen done their job.”Yes, in hindsight when you look at the result of the game definitely I would have changed the decision I made right upfront,” he stated. Clarifying the reasons for the move, he said: “We’d taken five bowlers, and we had three seamers, and we thought there’d be a bit more bounce and seam movement early. We thought we could get a few wickets there, restrict them to a low score, and then bat big in the first innings to set the game up. It didn’t do as much as we expected in the first session, they batted well, and once they’d got 270 for 3 on the first day we knew we were on the back foot.”Dravid refused to accept, though, that the decision at the toss was the major reason for the defeat. “Obviously the decision to bowl wasn’t the right one, but having said that we could have lost the toss and we would have fielded in any case. We could have played much better cricket, especially our batting in both innings, I think the top-order batting has let us down right through the series. We did well to recover to 279, but then again in the second innings I don’t think this was a 100-all-out wicket.”Going into the final day, Dravid indicated that he was satisfied with the position India were in. “I was very happy with the way we bowled yesterday. Our bowlers did a great job to restrict them and I was very happy with the situation as it was in the morning. I thought if we could get to lunch and to tea with wickets in hand, we could really have a crack at the target in the last session. It’s not easy to chase 300 in the last innings especially in India when the ball is turning and a bit of reverse-swing happening. I think we did ok till lunch. Then losing those two wickets in the first two overs after lunch was really the killer blow.”After Dravid’s and Tendulkar’s dismissal, the rest of the Indian batting caved in a shockingly spineless display. Dravid attributed that to “wrong options under pressure”. “Some of the shots we played weren’t up to mark, but when you’re put under pressure that can happen sometimes.”Expectedly, the move to go into the game with five bowlers came in for comment, but Dravid stressed the need to move in that direction, especially if the aim was to start winning outside India. “We feel that going ahead and looking at some of our results in away series, five bowlers is quite important to our combination. You can argue that if we had only four bowlers we might have given more runs in the first innings, or we wouldn’t have been able to bowl as well as we did in the second. We do weigh the pros and cons of six batsmen, but if we want to win a series abroad and if we want to be competitive as a team as England have shown in the Ashes and even here, then we do need five bowlers.”Along with top-order batting, the other area of serious concern for India was their catching: of the 16 chances missed in the game, ten were from Indian fielders, and Dravid admitted that the performance in the field was a let-down. “The situation would have been quite different had we held our catches. We’re working on it. With a few changes in our combinations, some of the fielders in specialist positions have moved out and the boys not fielding in specialist positions have to work on it. We have five batsmen, so all of them should be good catchers; we can’t expect bowlers to be catching in the slips.”The big finds of the series were Munaf Patel, who took 10 wickets at 21.70, and Sreesanth (nine at 25.66). Dravid had a word of praise for them, and also for Anil Kumble and Wasim Jaffer. “Our bowlers – Munaf and Sreesanth – came good for us. They showed good spirit and it’s a good sign for the future. A group of three-four bowlers are bowling with good pace, in good areas, showing good attitude. So that’s one of the pluses in the series. Anil bowled brilliantly and batted well too, while Wasim looked composed as an opener.”Finally, he was all praise for Andrew Flintoff, England’s captain and Man of the Series. “He was phenomenal and truly deserved the Man-of-the-Series award. Every time he went out, he scored runs, was their best bowler on view right through the series and kept coming hard. I think he did a great job as a captain in his first series and he’s truly shown why is the greatest allrounder in the world at the moment.”

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Zimbabwe players and officials have demanded the resignation of Malcolm Speed, the ICC chief executive, on grounds that he failed to address the sporting crisis in the country. In a letter to Speed, the chairperson of all seven provinces, players’ representatives, former Zimbabwe Cricket directors, and other “stakeholders” said that the ICC should not recognise the Zimbabwe Cricket management of Peter Chingoka and managing director Ozias Bvute.”They remain in their positions only because the Zimbabwe government arbitrarily appointed a temporary committee, most of whom know nothing about cricket” Associated Press quoted Richie Kaschula, a former international bowler who was recently sacked as full-time selector, as saying. “The ICC declined to intervene, which should have been their duty.” The letter also cited the ICC’s ineffectiveness in handling the two-year-old crisis and said Speed was wrong to allow Chingoka to investigate himself and Bvute following widespread allegations of corruption.Chingoka and Bvute have faced criticism in the past. In October of 2005, there were calls for both to resign after claims of financial mismanagement. Chingoka and Bvute were arrested by Harare police following Reserve Bank investigations but released on the instruction of Zimbabwe’s attorney general.Speed was also accused of doing nothing to enforce his instructions to Zimbabwe to solve player strikes. “We believe that in the interests of cricket worldwide you should do the honorable thing and resign your position,” the letter concluded.Copies of the letter have been sent to every Test-playing country seeking support.

The BCCI today played down the warning it had issued to Virender Sehwag, explaining that it was more of an `advice’ rather than a `warning’. The board was responding to widespread criticism that it was trying to gag the players.”It is a warning. Advice is part of the warning”, Niranjan Shah, the BCCI secretary, told PTI. “How can you call it a media gag on players? It is only a policy decision by the board that the players other than the captain, cannot talk about other players, selection and board policies. The matter is closed.”Sehwag, in a recent interview to PTI, had said that the team often missed Sourav Ganguly’s presence in the side, even as he conceded that it is the prerogative of the board and the selectors to decide on the former captain’s future. On the topic of player burn-out, Sehwag stated that the matter had been raised by Rahul Dravid, the Indian captain, with Sharad Pawar, the BCCI president, during the tour of Pakistan earlier this year.Sehwag had telephoned Shah seeking permission to take his wife along on the upcoming tour to the West Indies, which was granted. Shah then advised Sehwag to refrain from speaking to the media regarding board policies and selection issues and instead communicate directly with the board without hesitation.He said, “If he (Sehwag) had some problem he and the other players need only to sit across the table with us and sort it out. Why go to the media? Why drag Dravid’s name and say they had a discussion with the board president? These are internal matters.”Does he go to the media when he wants an increase in TA/DA or players’ fees?” he asked.The BCCI has been firm on its instructions to Indian players on speaking on sensitive topics, which began during the Ganguly-Greg Chappell spat last September. Harbhajan Singh was the first player to voice his opinion on the issue, speaking out in support of Ganguly, following which the board took swift action. The board also imposed restrictions on the players regarding writing columns for newspapers and other publications – only the captain, coach and manager have permission to do so.Referring to the player burn-out issue, Shah explained that India was in no way violating the ICC’s new Future Tours Programme. “Playing against India at home or here means big money for the other cricket boards”, he said. “That’s the naked truth and we need to help them.”

A 29-member preliminary squad for Pakistan A’s tour of Australia was announced on Thursday by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).Pakistan A skipper Hasan Raza, who was fined for indiscipline during the EurAsia Cricket Series in Abu Dhabi, heads the list.A Test discard, Raza and three other players were fined by the PCB after they were caught by the UAE police while traveling in a speeding car during the EurAsia Series.The Karachi batsman is expected to be retained as captain of the Pakistan A team for the tour of Australia starting in late June as he led the team to the title in the EurAsia Series in Abu Dhabi.Pakistan are to play four-day, one-day and Twenty20 matches during the tour of Australia, with Australia, India and New Zealand also sending their A teams for the series to be played in Cairns and Darwin.The national selection committee, headed by former Test cricketer Wasim Bari, has included several under-19 players in the preliminary squad. “We want to send some youngsters to Australia to give them some vital exposure,” said Bari.The players selected in the preliminary squad will attend a conditioning camp getting underway in Lahore from May 25. The final squad for the tour of Australia will be announced by June 11, said Bari.Preliminary squad: Misbah-ul-Haq, Yasir Hameed, Hasan Raza, Rafatullah Mohmand, Mohammad Hafeez, Shahid Yousuf, Shahzad Malik, Fawad Alam, Naved Latif, Yasir Arafat, Mohammad Salman, Amin-ur-Rehman, Wasim Khan, Abdul Rehman, Tahir Khan, Mohammad Irshad, Asad Ali, Anwar Ali, Akhtar Ayub, Jamshed Ahmed, Najaf Shah, Asif Hussain, Mansoor Amjad, Mohammad Khalil, Rizwan Akbar, Samiullah Niazi, Saeed Anwar Jr, Imran Tahir and Naumanullah.