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.

The Indian Cricket League (ICL) has sent a legal notice to Pakistan batsman Mohammad Yousuf for cancelling his contract. A top official with the ICL has said that action had to be taken after several unsuccessful attempts to get in touch with Yousuf to seek clarifications regarding certain statements made by him and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) over the recent weeks.”We can confirm that we have indeed sent out a notice to Yousuf,” Ashish Kaul, executive president of the ICL, told Cricinfo. “We have been trying to reach out to him and sent out three reminders to discuss some crucial issues after the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) clarified recently that Yousuf will not play in the ICL and make himself available for Pakistan.”Yousuf had reversed his decision to commit to the ICL following a meeting with PCB chairman Nasim Ashraf. With the board adopting a tough stance on all players who’ve signed up for the ICL, Yousuf signed a central contract with the PCB and made himself available for Pakistan. He subsequently signed up for the Indian Premier League (IPL), a franchise tournament launched by the Indian board which has already roped in several international stars.Yousuf had explained his withdrawal from the ICL by stating that he wasn’t aware of a certain clause which says that priority had to be given to the league instead of Pakistan when international matches are happening simultaneously. Responding to this, Kaul said that there was no such clause, and that if a clash of dates were to occur, the ICL would have accomodated it. Kaul said that efforts had been made to get in touch with Yousuf and clarify such comments.The inaugural season of the ICL – a Twenty20 tournament – is set to begin in November, though the schedule is yet to be announced. Players who’ve already signed up have undergone a beginner’s camp in Chennai and an advanced camp is set to begin as well.”We are likely to announce the schedule, details of the teams and the team colours in a week’s time,” Kaul said. “The details of the venue of the advanced camp will be announced soon as well.”Kaul added that no new players have signed up over recent weeks, and denied reports that New Zealand’s Craig McMillan was one of those approached.

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.”

England Lions, or England A are all set to be the foreign team in this season’s Duleep Trophy. England A, incidentally, were the first foreign team to play the Duleep Trophy when the concept first came into existence in the 2003-04 season.Niranjan Shah, the BCCI Honorary Secretary, confirmed that talks were on and that the ECB had “more or less agreed” to send the team for the Duleep Trophy. The ECB, in fact, looks at it as an opportunity for its fringe players to get exposure in the sub-continent conditions, the London-based Daily Telegraph reported. The official confirmation is likely to come by Thursday.In 2003-04, Kevin Pietersen, Matt Prior and Sajid Mahmood toured with the England A team, who lost both their matches outright to East Zone and South Zone.

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.

The Twenty20 internationals Ashley Noffke and Luke Pomersbach return to their state teams on Friday after making useful contributions in the victory over New Zealand on Tuesday. Noffke, who picked up 3 for 18 in the 54-run win, will play for Queensland in the Pura Cup match against New South Wales at the Gabba as they try to get off the bottom of the table.The Bulls have only four points from five matches and will look to Noffke to provide more strong performances after an outstanding season. Ryan Broad, the opener who has recovered from a side strain, comes into the Queensland unit at the expense of Nick Kruger.Western Australia welcome back Pomersbach from suspension and his eventful Twenty20 performance – he scored 15 after being called-up when Brad Hodge was injured shortly before play. His inclusion came with a phonecall when he arrived at the WACA carpark, but he has two days to get used to playing for his state after being banned last month for heavy drinking.Pomersbach is one of a string of changes to the Warriors for the fixture with South Australia in Perth on Friday. They have lost Adam Gilchrist, Brad Hogg and Michael Hussey to international duty while Ben Edmondson has picked up a side strain and Sean Ervine has been dropped. Luke Ronchi, Aaron Heal, Brett Dorey and Theo Doropoulos join Pomersbach in the outfit.The injured Andy Delmont and Graham Manou travelled to Perth as part of South Australia’s 13-man squad, which also includes Daniel Christian, who is in line to make his first-class debut. Christian has performed strongly for the Redbacks in the one-day format since moving from New South Wales.Queensland squad Shane Watson, Ryan Broad, Clinton Perren, Jimmy Maher (capt), Aaron Nye, Chris Simpson, Ashley Noffke, Chris Hartley (wk), Daniel Doran, Michael Kasprowicz, Grant Sullivan, Chris Swan.New South Wales squad Greg Mail, Phil Jaques, Simon Katich (capt), Dominic Thornely, Phillip Hughes, Peter Forrest, Daniel Smith (wk), Grant Lambert, Beau Casson, Doug Bollinger, Stuart Clark, Matthew Nicholson.Western Australia squad Chris Rogers, Justin Langer, Adam Voges (capt), Shaun Marsh, Luke Ronchi, Luke Pomersbach, Theo Doropoulos, Darren Wates, Aaron Heal, Mathew Inness, Steve Magoffin, Brett Dorey.South Australia squad Matthew Elliott, Daniel Harris, Mark Cosgrove, Daniel Christian, Callum Ferguson, Nathan Adcock (capt), Shane Deitz, Andy Delmont, Graham Manou (wk), Jason Gillespie, Dan Cullen, Ryan Harris, Paul Rofe.

Shane Bond might have played his last game for New Zealand, with the chief executive of New Zealand Cricket (NZC) Justin Vaughan conceding he was running out of time to stop Bond joining the Indian Cricket League (ICL). Bond’s agent Leanne McGoldrick would not confirm if the fast bowler had signed up, only saying that he intended to honour his NZC contract which expires in May, and officials of the ICL, when contacted by Cricinfo, said he’d signed up but would speak only off the record.If Bond has accepted a lucrative deal with the ICL, it would effectively end his international career as the league does not have the backing of the ICC. Vaughan said there was still a chance Bond could stay with New Zealand, although it appeared unlikely.”We’d love to see him playing for New Zealand and that is why we have turned over so many stones, but at the moment we are on the back foot,” Vaughan told the . “I can’t say for certain he has signed but I understand that is what his agent is saying.”Even if he has signed with the ICL, we’d love to see if there was a way to get him out of that contract. We’ll fund all the support to get him out of it, similar to what Pakistan has done with Mohammad Yousuf.”New Zealand are desperate to retain their best fast bowler, even though his injury curse continued late last year when he suffered an abdominal tear on the tour of South Africa. The problem ruled him out of New Zealand’s current series against Bangladesh, although he was expected to be fit for the series against England, which starts in February.Vaughan said it must have been frustrating for Bond to manage only 17 Tests in his stop-start career. Despite numerous unsuccessful meetings with Bond to try and convince him to instead join the officially-sanctioned Indian Premier League, Vaughan would not criticise Bond’s decision.”I know we haven’t seen very much of him lately, but you always hope your last injury is your last one,” Vaughan said. “I don’t think it is a question of loyalty here. He is a champion and we’d be very sorry to lose him.”The paper reported that Bond’s ICL deal was likely to be worth NZ$600,000 – about three times what he earned as an NZC-contracted player. If his decision is confirmed it would give New Zealand serious headaches about whether he could be chosen for future Test and ODI series.Vaughan has previously said that the selectors should consider other players ahead of those who had already joined the ICL, including Hamish Marshall and Daryl Tuffey. Extending that to include Bond would be a hard decision for NZC, given his excellent record of 79 Test wickets at 22.39.”Our preference is for the selectors not to choose those players,” Vaughan said. “It is not a ban, but it would be fair to say if he has signed we would prefer he didn’t play in the England series.”

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