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Scorecard
How they were out

A 93-run opening stand between Wasim Jaffer and Gautam Gambhir gave India the advantage at stumps on day one after Munaf Patel’s 5 for 59 had dismissed the England XI for 238 at the IPCL Stadium in Vadodara. Cutting, driving, glancing – and edging, on occasion – the dominating duo capped a good day’s performance for the home side.Matthew Hoggard banged it in and Gambhir flayed him over gully; Steve Harmison followed suit and Jaffer uppercut him for four. Then he sprayed it down leg, and was glanced fine for another four; pitched up, the same bowler was driven coolly through mid-wicket. At the other end, Gambhir eased Hoggard through the covers for another boundary, and the Indians were on their way. Andrew Flintoff was introduced in the 12th over and Jaffer greeted him with two back-foot cuts for four. It was hot, yes, and England’s bowlers were not at their peak, but that takes nothing away from Gambhir and Jaffer. Occasionally there was lift and late movement, but both batsmen knew where to draw the line between aggression and recklessness.Ian Blackwell, bowling from the Media End, snapped their solid partnership by trapping Jaffer leg before off the last ball of the day, but the platform for a thrilling day’s play tomorrow had been set.If their batting was aggressive, then the Indian bowling throughout the day was inspiring.The moment that got the smattering of a crowd on their feet – and broke the backbone of England’s resistance – was Munaf’s spell after tea. Following a series of productive stands, England had fought back from early setbacks, but Munaf produced two beauties late in the day to dismiss Geraint Jones (46) and Matthew Hoggard off successive deliveries. Jones, cleaned up by a full, swinging delivery that nipped back just a tad, was almost brought to his knees as the bowler raised his arms in triumph. Hoggard, pushing forward to an identical delivery first-ball up, looked back to see his stumps flattened to the first raucous cry from the sparse audience at the ground. Following these strikes, the hardworking Shib Paul removed Liam Plunkett (37) before Munaf castled Steve Harmison to signal the end of England’s innings.Munaf’s aggressive display was synonymous with the Board President XI’s bowling efforts in the first session. He, Vikram Singh and Paul vindicated their captain’s decision to bowl first on a green wicket by stifling England from the get-go. Vikram, bowling with control and good pace and setting the tone for England’s indiscretions, put the pressure on Marcus Trescothick (18) to take an unnecessary third run and run himself out. Paul was rewarded for a tight line with the wicket of Ian Bell (17), edging to second slip, while Andrew Strauss (23) – who cut a poor figure during 51 painful minutes at the crease – chopped a full delivery from Munaf right onto his stumps to signal a dreadful start for the tourists. And just when England needed their biggest star to see off the fast bowlers and produce a thriller, Andrew Flintoff (1) prodded the tamest of drives straight to mid-off off Munaf.From 78 for 4 at lunch, England were given a good fightback with a series of crucial partnerships. Jones, the most resolute of the Englishmen, was involved in two key stands, first with Kevin Pietersen, then with Blackwell (34), with whom he added 59. Pietersen’s enterprising 47 from 57 included 22 runs from a Vikram over to launch England’s brave reply, but it was cut short due to cramps in the lower back. If there was a puacity of runs for the England batsmen in the first session, Jones dug his heels in to play an innings that, while entirely unattractive, offered much-needed defiance. At times made to jump and sway away from a rising delivery, he settled in to produce some good shots; a pull over square leg made way for a square cut over point, and Jones was on his way.Snapping this association was the wily Ramesh Powar, who did well to maintain India’s advantage. While keen to go after him, the loss of early wickets meant that any further carelessness on England’s part could not be afforded. Sensing this, Powar teased the batsmen, mixing his deliveries and landing the ball in the sweet spots, and a crucial contest began to unfold. He cut and missed on more than one occasion, but just when Blackwell was getting into the stride of things – he slog-swept Powar, lofted him back past his head and then lapped another four past the wicketkeeper in the space of five deliveries – he prodded forward to a floater and was snapped up by Venugopal Rao at slip.To compound England’s woes, Jaffer and Gambhir came to the fore with a sensible display of batting. England’s capitulation earlier in the day was in sharp contrast to the confidence of the Indian duo at the end of the day. Where England faltered against an inexperienced bowling attack short of stars, India’s opening duo showed that they were up to the task against a formidable, Ashes-winning combination. The signs, ahead of the first Test on March 1, appear quite positive for the hosts.How they were outIndian Board President’s XI
Wasim Jaffer lbw b Blackwell 48 (93 for 1)
England XI
Marcus Trescothick run out (Jadhav) 18 (24 for 1)
Outside edge to third man, caught short on the third run by a good throwIan Bell c Jaffer b Paul 17 (62 for 2)
Andrew Strauss b Munaf 23 (64 for 3)
Andrew Flintoff c Vikram Singh b Munaf 1 (72 for 4)
Ian Blackwell c Venugopal Rao b Powar 34 (182 for 5)
Geraint Jones b Munaf 46 (232 for 6)
Matthew Hoggard b Munaf 0 (232 for 7)
Liam Plunkett c Jaffer b Paul 37 (234 for 8)

Steve Harmison b Munaf 4 (238 for 9)

India’s Test captain Virat Kohli has come out in support of day-night Tests, even expressing his willingness to play with the pink ball. Test cricket, the long cherished traditional form of the game, will start a new chapter in its evolution when Australia and New Zealand play the inaugural day-night Test starting at the Adelaide Oval from November 27.In recent weeks, there has been a raging debate among players, administrators and fans on the feasibility of day-night Tests, particularly the challenges of reading a bright coloured ball during late evenings, and the difficulties batsmen are likely to face due to an exaggerated swing. The main reason to play day-night Test cricket, according to the ICC, is to promote the longer form of the game and arrest the fast-declining crowds at grounds.For Kohli, day-night Tests are both an experiment as well as a forward-looking step in the game. “It is a landmark Test,” Kohli said, speaking on the eve of India’s third Test against South Africa in Nagpur. “It is a big experiment. It is a big step towards changing something in Test cricket. I hope it works. I hope it can be another option as well.”I’m glad two teams have actually agreed to play an official Test like that as an experiment. Credit to Australia and New Zealand, both, that they have decided to do this. Hopefully it will be better for the game. It will be a step which we all might remember few years down the line. Let’s hope so.”Incidentally, Kohli is the first Indian voice, be it player or administrator, to give an opinion on day-night Tests. Kohli said he was open to playing such a match because he saw it as a positive step to promote Test cricket.”As I said, it is a step towards something. If it is officially put into place it will be something different, it will be something exciting. As cricketers we all should be willing and accepting of the fact that we need to step forward and contribute to the game however possible. If this is a step towards improving the excitement and the popularity of Test cricket, then I think every team should be in for it.”Kohli has never featured in a match involving a pink ball, so he said his opinions on the challenges were based on what he had heard recently from other players.”I have heard a few of the players giving feedback on playing with the pink ball. The only thing that they were concerned about is that during twilight it is hard to pick up the ball. During the day it was still fine. And at night it was okay as well, but when the floodlights are not sort of on and the sun is going down is when they found it very difficult.”

In the third last over of the day, Munaf Patel dug in a short one to Misbah-ul-Haq, saw him pull fiercely towards short midwicket, watched Harbhajan Singh stretch his arms out wide, saw him grass the chance, and kicked the ground in anguish. Watching from mid-on, Anil Kumble turned heavenwards. On most days it might have been Kumble doing the kicking.Cricket teams take a bit of time adjusting to their new leader, finding their way before settling into a rhythm. India, especially with the Test and one-day leadership now split, might take a bit longer than the rest. But going by their start to the Test series, a day that they bossed for large parts, it would appear the Kumble work ethic has caught on well and early. India’s first day of the series was played out under Kumble’s giant shadow.On a flat pitch that didn’t offer much seam movement, India persevered. With typical Kumble-esque persistence the four-man attack made the most of their resources, stuck to the basics, utilised the early swing and induced errors. A part-timer, Sourav Ganguly, exceeded expectations and a possible weak link, Munaf, charged in with fire. There weren’t any magic balls, no banana-swingers that swung from leg to off, but just good old line and length. Cricketers love to harp on about the “right areas”. This was the day when they really found them.There were some symbolic passages too. Just like Kumble has experienced through his career, India’s bowlers struggled to extract lbw decisions from umpires. Appeal after appeal was met with a negative response with a few close shouts going Pakistan’s way. And just as Kumble has struggled to get rid of the opposition’s tail of late, the rest of the bowlers had a tough time dislodging them too.Munaf, for the first time in more than a year, showed he could be quick and disciplined at the same time. He burst on to the scene as an erratic fast bowler, tried to convert himself into an accurate medium-pacer and ended up as a confused bundle of nerves. Gettingthrough a day even seemed a bridge too far. This was a Munaf transformed: managing to consistently clock 135kph and generating movement off an unresponsive pitch (one that Ganguly later termed “only down, not up and down”). He bowled the most – 20.4 overs – and his only wicket, that of Shoaib Malik, was through the ball of the day.Zaheer Khan backed him up efficiently but it was Ganguly, maintaining a robotic length, that had most surprised. Rarely has he bowled 12 overs on the first day of a Test and probably never done so in such a metronomic fashion. He entered the Test with his spot under a bit of scrutiny, what with Yuvraj Singh making waves in the one-dayers, but blossomed in a department where, as he candidly confessed, “there is no pressure”.”There was a swing,” he said when asked if it was his best spell, “but I was happy I could hit the right areas. The conditions helped early on.” Was he, India’s most successful captain, impressed with Kumble’s first day at the office? “Fantastic,” he beamed, “he even gave me 12 overs.”Kumble, like he often has, ran the risk of being unnoticed – despite being the most successful bowler, he sent Ganguly for the post-match press conference. All his three wickets were with quick, straighter deliveries and he profited from a pitch where the ball died on the batsmen. When he castled Kamran Akmal his wicket-tally at the Feroz Shah Kotla went up to 50. The number may just get a marginal mention but India refused to forget the Kumble-way through the day.

Listen to Graeme Smith and Shaun Pollock at the press conference

Weighed down by his own batting woes and shocked by the manner of the123-run defeat, Graeme Smith had cut quite a disconsolate figure after thefirst Test at the Wanderers. Less than three weeks later though, the moodwas very different, after a five-wicket win that he called one of thehighlights of his career. Victory in Durban in the Boxing Day Test gaveSouth Africa a route back into the series, and at Newlands, on a surfacemore suited to the Indians, Smith’s side came back magnificently to scripta famous final-day triumph.”I think it’s a massive win in all of our careers, to come back from 1-0down in a three-Test series,” he said after the game. “I remember afterthe Wanderers [defeat] being asked how difficult it would be.Realistically we knew how difficult it would be. I think we just playedsuperb cricket. We’ve never given up, and shown character at key moments.To win in Durban like we did was obviously fantastic. But this win here atNewlands, considering the conditions and considering that they were 254for 3 at the end of day one, was incredible.”They had to do it the hard way, with unseasonal rain keeping the playersoff the pitch for more than three hours after Smith and Shaun Pollock hadgiven the team a rollicking start in the morning. “Obviously a little bitof panic starts to set in,” said Smith, when asked about the mood in thedressing room as the rain poured down. “You don’t know when it’s going tostop. The Black southeaster is always rare, and you don’t know if it’sgoing to stop or not. Polly and I had huge momentum going into that raindelay. We were definitely on top of the Indian team at that stage. Theywere panicking. Virender Sehwag was coming on. It was disappointing tocome off. But having got back on and finished off the game, we’re prettyrelaxed now [laughs].”The decision to move Pollock up to No.4 proved an inspired one, thoughSmith accepted that it had been laced with risk on a pitch where AnilKumble was expected to wreak havoc. “I phoned Polly last night and toldhim that I was thinking about moving him up to bat with me in themorning,” said Smith. “Between the new ball, which was difficult, and thereverse-swinging stage, there was a time where you could score prettyfreely. I think both teams did. This morning, it was important for us totake the initiative up front. Shaun’s the guy with all the experience andthe ability, and he’s a good thinker on the game. It was the right choiceand luckily it paid off. It was one of those decisions you live or dieby.”After Smith and Pollock departed, it was left to Jacques Kallis andAshwell Prince to seal the win, though Kallis exited just two runs beforethe stands erupted in joy. “There were one or two discussions that tookplace after I got out,” said Smith, when asked if he had been tempted topromote an attacking player like Mark Boucher or Herschelle Gibbs. “Ithink Ashwell’s becoming a serious pressure player. He’s a man stepping upon a lot of big occasions for us.”He proved it last year against Australia, and he’s proving it again now.His game’s really compact, and at that stage another partnership wouldhave got us home. You’ve got to rely on your guys to do the job. We’dtaken the one risk, and the guys did a superb job of taking us home.”The win was all the more satisfying considering that it came on a pitchthat Wasim Jaffer described as an “Indian” one after his opening-daycentury. “Those that say we can’t produce spinners’ wickets to developslow bowlers should have seen this one,” said Smith with a grin. “It wasdisappointing, but it was fantastic to win on it. It means we’ve learntfrom our trips to the subcontinent. Our ability to play spin, whicheveryone questions all the time, has definitely improved.”There were two factors in this game. One was the reverse swing, with thedry surface and some very skilful bowlers. And obviously, the spinnersplayed a huge part. Our ability to put India under pressure in theirsecond innings was the key. They didn’t score runs and we picked up fourwickets after lunch. That gave us the initiative. Still, chasing 211 on apitch like that is a huge achievement.”Smith wasn’t overly critical of India’s tactics on the final day, thoughhe did admit that one particular decision perplexed him. “We were sayingat the end of the game: what if Tendulkar had bowled 20 overs [he bowled3.1]? He was getting a huge amount of turn and has a great googly thatguys struggle to pick.”Kumble never posed the threat that he was expected to, and Smith said thathis batsmen deserved a lot of credit for that. “I think the key for me wasto get off strike as much as I could, and to keep mixing up whether I wentforward or back,” he said, talking of his approach on the final morning.”Any bowler that feels a bit of pressure doesn’t settle into a line andlength. And I also had to get rid of silly point [laughs].”

In the final analysis though, the win was set up by some superb bowling onthe fourth day, with India’s batsmen retreating into a defensive shellfrom which they never emerged. “We knew that we really had to squeezeIndia after lunch,” said Smith. “I heard comments that we were a bitnegative with [Paul] Harris bowling into the rough. At that stage, we justwanted to make sure that India went nowhere. We knew that if we could getthe ball to reverse, we had the guys to make the ball work for us. Pauldid a superb job in partnership with Jacques [Kallis] initially and thenShaun [Pollock].”Shaun bowled best with the reverse-swinging ball in the first innings andhe did it again. You don’t get to 400 Test wickets if you don’t know whatyou’re doing. He’s the guy that’s stepped up the game for us beautifullythroughout the series. I don’t know how many more compliments we can givethe guy but he’s certainly a superb asset for us [smiles].Pollock was the man of the series, for his 187 runs and 13 wickets at aScrooge-like average of 16. After a couple of seasons of relativeunderachievement, he had an outstanding series against India, and was fullof praise for the manner in which the team had bounced back. “All the guyshave shown a lot of character, from the guys who walked in for theirdebuts, Morne Morkel and Harris, to the guys who were perceived to be outof form [Smith] that bounced back and got big runs,” he said. “We’ve shownwhat a fighting team we can be.”We’re not proud of where we’re rated in the world rankings at the moment.We’re working on trying to get up, and that was a motivating factor forus.”The last word has to go to Smith, who led his team magnificently when thechips were dwindling and there were calls from a few quarters for his headon a plate. “Senior players are always the ones who are watched,” he saidwith no trace of rancour in his voice. “Even when we lost Jacques [Kallis,to a back injury] in Durban, a number of guys stepped up at the time. Andin this game, our senior guys all contributed superbly.”And it’s not only what you see on the field. It’s what happens in thedressing room, what they say to the young guys, the experience they bring.That’s invaluable. At one point, Makhaya [Ntini] was asking me if he couldgo and bat next [laughs]. He backed himself as a senior player to go andfinish the game. As a captain, to have guys in your team who want to takeresponsibility is a huge asset.”How Rahul Dravid must long for the same.

With the Twenty20 World Cup round the corner, Ricky Ponting has offered a tempered endorsement of cricket’s newest format, saying while the money generated from this format is beneficial to the game, there is a danger of overkill affecting the players.”I’ve never been a big fan of Twenty20 cricket, but I gather that there’s a lot of interest and money in this version of the game,” Ponting said, “and we need money for the growth and development of the game. That said, the international calendar is packed these days and on top of that Twenty20 cricket won’t do much for the players.” He was in Bangalore as part of a sponsored event for school children.The Twenty20 World Cup will be held in September in South Africa, and Ponting’s Australia will be heavily favoured to add to the one-day championship they retained in April. The shortest format of the game has gained popularity since its international debut in 2004-05, when New Zealand hosted Australia. That win included, Australia have won three of the five Twenty20s they’ve played.With a fairly lukewarm reaction to the recent Afro-Asia Cup, critics have been quick to say that there’s little to separate such games and the hundreds of charity, exhibition and benefit games that are played around the world. Ponting didn’t pick sides in the debate but agreed that perhaps the scheduling of such events should be revisited.”They have all got their place, I suppose,” he said. “I was having a chat with Rahul Dravid recently and he told me that this probably wasn’t the best time to organise such a series. It’s the off-season for some teams and the weather’s pretty hot. Even the scheduling of India’s tour to Bangladesh wasn’t the best; you had a Test match washed out there. We in Australia are following the policy of rotation and resting the players to save them from fatigue and burnout.”It was more than rotation and rest, of course, that helped Australia to their third consecutive World Cup title in the Caribbean. Australia had lost five one-day internationals in a row leading into the tournament but turned things around when it came to the crunch. Ponting credited this to a strong core group and belief.”It was important that I sat down with all the players and had a discussion with them,” Ponting said. “In New Zealand, we played good cricket despite the fact that we were missing five or six of our main players. And in the World Cup our confidence got going after some good results in the initial games, especially after we notched up that victory in the big game against South Africa.”The team is now in the hands of Tim Nielsen, who succeeded John Buchanan as coach. “He’s a respected man”, Ponting said of Nielsen, “and he’s done some very good work down at the Commonwealth Bank Centre of Excellence at Brisbane. The players and I are excited to work with him. It should be a good relationship.”Ponting was in Bangalore as a guest of ING-Vysya to provide tips to 350 schoolchildren. He arrived on the dais to thunderous applause from the children, clad in white, and a few doting mothers. After fielding a volley of questions from the enthusiastic emcee – including a ‘rapid-fire’ round where he was as quick with his witty responses as he is on the pull – and the media, Ponting spent close to two hours with the children in the nets and off the ground. Ponting batted against them, turned his arm over a couple times and the children were seen listening in rapt attention to his batting tips.Talking of these aspirants, Ponting said: “They are the stars of tomorrow and I’m happy to see love for cricket among these children.”

Scorecard

Ben Edmondson and Steve Magoffin upended their former state as Queensland fell to an innings loss inside seven sessions at the Gabba. The fast bowlers moved to Western Australia in search of opportunities and they reminded the Bulls of what they had missed, picking up four wickets each and knocking the home side over for 133.The Bulls began the day at 3 for 88 but were soon in trouble after losing Craig Philipson for 15 when he was bowled by Brett Dorey. Giving the hosts no chance of a recovery, Edmondson broke through James Hopes, Chris Hartley and Andy Bichel in four overs to stop Queensland’s thoughts of making Western Australia bat again.Steve Magoffin removed Ashley Noffke and Daniel Doran in three balls and ended the game before lunch when he dismissed Nathan Rimmington in his next over. Magoffin claimed 4 for 21 off 12.2 overs while Edmondson picked up 4 for 46.Shane Watson, the No. 3, was trying to impress as he aimed for a World Cup spot, but he ran out of partners and was stranded on 46 not out. The outright loss was Queensland’s third in a row at the Gabba.

Past West Indies cricketers drank and were subjected to curfews but they respected their profession and would never go overboard. This admission was made by former captain Clive Lloyd at the launch of his new biography in England.Lloyd, who is now a director of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), said he never condoned indiscipline and the players he led to global dominance in the 1970s and 1980s knew where to draw the line.”If you have rules and people break them, they know they’ll get punished. I think you need curfews if you have young people in the squad,” Lloyd said. “Discipline has always been something that I’ve believed in and the guys in the West Indies team knew that from day one. They said that once they saw me annoyed, they knew they’d overstepped the line.””We always had curfews and we had respect – respect for one another, respect for your profession and respect for the people you represent,” he added. However, Lloyd said that curfews weren’t imposed for the tour matches as the players had their free time then.Lloyd, who is also a committee member at Lancashire, Andrew Flintoff’s county, explained how drinking was not the only way to build team spirit but it had been a part of professional sport for many years.”Respect has got to be earned. You have to do the right things and lead by example. If you do things like Andrew has done, then you let yourself down,” Lloyd said.But Lloyd said former England coach Duncan Fletcher was wrong to speak out about Flintoff’s behaviour during the Ashes tour and could have handled the situation better.Fletcher said, in a serialisation of his autobiography, he had to cancel a training session in Australia as Flintoff, who was captain in the absence of Michael Vaughan, was under the influence of alcohol. Although Lloyd admitted drinking had always been a part of professional sport, he accepts Flintoff overstepped the mark.”Sportsmen have been drinking for years, it is not something new, but you don’t want to overdo it. I think there’s a limit because you need to be fresh and you’ve got to be thinking straight. We went out drinking but the point is we never overdid it. We went out as a group and knew it was important to do the right thing.”

Tom Moody, the coach of Sri Lanka, believes his side’s recent success in England was a stepping stone towards achieving greater goals in the future. After a difficult, inconsistent six months Sri Lanka, under the inspirational Mahela Jayawardene, exceeded expectations and played with the natural flair that was traditionally their strength and Moody was quick to single out the team’s journey.”The success of the team on the tour just didn’t happen, but because of a lot of hard work that was put in 12 months prior to it. Everyone’s got to take credit for that,” Moody told reporters. “There’s been a lot of work done by the individual players, support staff, management and senior players. As a team we gained enormous confidence and we look to improve even further in all aspects of our game.”If we don’t rest on our laurels on one good tour but continue to make that progress we had made in the past 12 months, we are in good shape. Everyone wants success but at times we all need to be patient for that success particularly when we are looking to groom the next generation of youngsters,” Moody said. “Players don’t instantly turn into super stars overnight; sometimes it takes 6 months, 12 or 24 months for a player to adapt to the speed of the game at international level in Test and one-day cricket. There’s no question the talent is here in Sri Lanka.”Moody added that the most significant aspect on the tour of England was the performance and consistency of the side. “It started to take place after a few weeks when the team adjusted to the conditions and accepted a number of things we had to face over there,” he said. “On Saturday evening of the first Test at Lord’s the reality of the situation really hit home. The group of players dug very deep and showed not only themselves but the England team and the Sri Lankan public that they had some genuine characters.””They fought back from a hideous position to save the Test match. From that point the penny may have dropped that we can compete in the series, that we can win over here,” he said. “The hard work that we are doing is working. Let’s persevere with that hard work and believe in ourselves. The results beyond that point speak for themselves.”Sri Lanka, who had a week off following their nine-week tour, will start fitness training from Thursday in preparation for the two-Test home series against South Africa starting on July 27.

Don’t feel so bad. Save your anguish for much worse that is yet to come.Given what West Indies cricket has been through in the past decade, defeats to South Africa and Bangladesh in two three-hour vupping sessions are no real cause for any additional weeping and wailing, unless you’re one of those who believes that success or failure in the ICC World Twenty20 is an indicator of anything meaningful in the longer versions of the game.If cricket’s latest and most popular hybrid is your bowl of , and lifting the new trophy after the final on September 24 would have soothed all the aches and pains of previous disappointments, go right ahead and bawl for murder.Test cricket too boring? One-day internationals too long? Cool. Should this abbreviated variety carry all your hopes and aspirations for a return to those increasingly distant years of Caribbean glory, then the mournful demeanour following elimination in the first round of the tournament in South Africa is fully justified. However, if you dare to entertain the radical notion that an obsession with the Twenty20 game will actually bury us even further down the pit of cricketing irrelevance, then there should be the realisation, in appreciating all of this in a wider context, that the two losses in three days at the Wanderers are merely symptoms of an incurable malaise.This bigger picture is only relevant if Test cricket is still accepted as the highest form of the game, a standard at which greatness is truly measured and a level to which all young players should aspire. If not, there’s no point reading any further, because what follows is an attempt to put the damaging consequences of the sport’s version of instant gratification within the sobering realities of a West Indian context.In the first place, we must appreciate that the vast majority of our current crop of cricketers lack the maturity to be able to adapt to the significantly different demands of the increasing varieties of the game. We lack the mental strength to concentrate for long periods, and as such, seem far more competitive the shorter the contest is.Yet even in the narrow confines of 50 overs-per-side, or now the 20-over version, we remain blighted by inconsistency: incomparably brilliant one day, woefully inadequate the next. Whereas every catch was held and every fielder fired in his returns over the top of the stumps in Nottingham in the finale to the England tour two months ago, the same players struggled often to fulfil the very basics of cricket in Johannesburg yesterday and last Tuesday.Chris Gayle was at his most spectacular in the tournament opener, but only the hopelessly naive would have been thrown into despair at the sight of the opening batsman walking back to the pavilion within the first over less than 48 hours later. All of the ingredients that contribute to consistency are critically deficient. There is brilliance, no question. But like the fireworks around the ground on that first night, they glow spectacularly for only a brief moment.With one or two exceptions, there aren’t too many boring old light bulbs around, the kind that glow continuously. Not always eye-catching, but almost always switched on to the context of the moment. Apologists may wish to tolerate this period as just a phase or a cycle, or use some other description which ties in the implication that it is only a matter of time before the good times start rolling again.

Yet more and more, the grim realisation takes hold that we are living in West Indies cricket’s Dark Age, not because of what happened yesterday or two days earlier, but because the social circumstances in the Caribbean that produce players and administrators of the current variety will not be reformed for at least another generation.But wouldn’t the fun and excitement of Twenty20 give us cause to smile? Only if we can see no further than the next towering six or the next bunch of dancing girls and boys that accompanies the white ball’s disappearance beyond the boundary. Batsmen who already suffer from a flawed temperament will only become more heavily addicted to measuring the worth of an innings by sixes, fours and strike-rates. Bowlers incapable of following one good spell with another will now see the sum total of their contribution to the game as 24 balls, barring wides and no-balls. Conversely, fielding should be much sharper, but only if players are able to cope with the concentrated pressure that the shorter forms of the game impose. Recent evidence is not encouraging.All of this analysis becomes irrelevant, however, if the men in the middle, and their assortment of minders and ego-protectors, fail to acknowledge that radical treatment is necessary to, at the very least, slow the spread of the cancer.Ricky Ponting accused his players and himself of playing diabolical cricket and not respecting the game in the aftermath of Australia’s shock defeat to Zimbabwe on Wednesday. Such strong words, though, are too insulting and demeaning for our proud, sensitive West Indian ears. “Learning experience” is as offensive as we are prepared to go.If we are so fundamentally insecure and lack the honesty and integrity to acknowledge the shameful reality of what lies before us, then we should accept that the last 12 years were just a prelude of what is to come.Thank goodness it’s only a game.

Virender Sehwag’s remarkable double-century against Pakistan at Lahore this week was not sufficient to lift him up from seventh position in the latest LG ICC Player Rankings. Ordinarily, an innings of 254 from 247 balls would have sent Sehwag surging up the list, but such was the torpid nature of the Gadaffi Stadium pitch that his efforts barely registered.In five days just eight wickets fell while 1089 runs were scored, even with men of the stature of Shoaib Akhtar and Danish Kaneria in the Pakistan attack. Five other batsmen scored centuries, including Sehwag’s opening partner and captain, Rahul Dravid, who climbed two places to joint-fourth with Australia’s Matthew Hayden.Inzamam-ul-Haq was a rare failure, making just 1, and has slipped down to sixth. But his middle-order colleagues Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf have both made gains after their scores of 199 and 173 respectively. Yousuf is ninth and Younis tenth, with career-best ratings for each of them.Further down the list, Shahid Afridi’s blitzkrieg batting on the second day has moved him up five places to joint 39th, while Kamran Akmal, whose 81-ball century was the fastest by a wicketkeeper in Test history, is up to 52nd spot. Both players have career-best hauls of rating points.There were five bowlers from among the world’s top 20 on show in Lahore and unsurprisingly, all of them lost rating points. Irfan Pathan has dropped out of the top ten, slipping two places to 12th position, but India are still represented in that top ten by Anil Kumble, down one spot to ninth place. Pakistan’s representatives are Shoaib Akhtar, unchanged in fourth, and Danish Kaneria, down one position to 14th.For the complete rankings click here