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Ramnaresh Sarwan has praised Chris Gayle for the way he handled the leadership of the West Indies team in the recent series of limited-overs matches in England and Ireland. Gayle was appointed to lead the West Indies side after Sarwan injured his shoulder in a fall during the second Test against England and had to return home.”I think he was really outstanding, and you have to commend Chris for the way he handled the team during the ODI series,” Sarwan said at the launch of the Digicel youth coaching clinics at the Cave Hill campus of the University of the West Indies. “Obviously, he was under a little bit of pressure from the West Indies Cricket Board, and the way he came out showed his maturity, and I thought everyone supported him well which is really good to see.”Though the selection committee had picked Gayle to captain the limited-overs side, the executive committee of the WICB ignored his nomination, and instead chose Daren Ganga, who had led the Test side in the absence of Sarwan. An emergency meeting of all the directors of the WICB then overturned the decision of the executive committee, and Gayle responded by leading the side to a 2-1 series win over England and to the top of the table in a quadrangular series in Ireland.Sarwan noted that Gayle’s “super cool” demeanour more often than not belied the ability and qualities that his team-mate possesses. “When you look at Chris the individual, lots of people have a lot to say about him and his body language on and off the field,” Sarwan said. “But it just goes to show that you should never judge a book by its cover. I think he has shown his commitment to West Indies cricket and the public should not really judge an individual who has wholeheartedly supported West Indies cricket.”Sarwan joins Gayle and Denesh Ramdin in Barbados for the first in the series of Digicel coaching clinics that will take place throughout the region over the next three-and-a-half weeks.

Canterbury posted their second win over Central Districts in a week and had Michael Davidson to thank for the success in Christchurch, which pushed them to the top of the table. Playing his third first-class game, Davidson captured nine wickets for the match and his first half-century as his side sealed an eight-wicket, three-day victory.Half-centuries to Peter Ingram (83), Bevan Griggs (55) and Timothy Lythe (52) pushed Central Districts to 226, but they managed only 148 in the second innings as Davidson added a career-best 5 for 39 to his 4 for 55 on the opening day. Michael Mason, the New Zealand bowler, hit 39 not out to extend the home team’s target to 89 and then took the only two wickets to fall. Davidson’s 56 and 82 not out from Kruger Van Wyk were essential in getting Canterbury to 286 and they did not let go off their first-innings advantage.The previous leaders Wellington slumped to an embarrassing two-day defeat to Otago after their first-innings 76 was followed by 150 in Dunedin. Wellington needed 267 to make the home team bat again and the total was a long way from their reach as Bradley Scott picked up 4 for 36 and Nathan McCullum captured 3 for 20 to end the match before its scheduled halfway point.After their successful first day, which was sealed with James McMillan’s four wickets, Otago showed there were no problems with the pitch by making 342. The opener Craig Cumming fell seven short of a century and was well supported by Aaron Redmond in a stand of 134. Redmond finished with 56 while Greg Todd, the No. 3, added 48. Michael Burns and Charlie Shreck limited the damage with three wickets each, but Wellington were soon in more trouble when they batted for a second time. They stay on 24 points while Otago move closer to the top three with 16.It took six rounds but the defending champions Northern Districts finally have their first win on the board after beating Auckland by seven wickets in Gisborne. In a low-scoring match Gareth Hopkins was the only man to threaten a big score, before he fell for 99 in the first innings as Auckland reached 186.Peter McGlashan (51) helped Northern Districts secure a handy lead as they made 283 despite Colin de Grandhomme’s 4 for 65. Another Hopkins half-century – he made 52 – could not mask Auckland’s troubles and Tim Southee’s seven wickets for the match left the home side needing only 101 for victory. James Marshall and Daniel Flynn guided them home early on the fourth day.

Wasim Akram has urged Australia not to pull out of their scheduled tour of Pakistan despite further unrest in the lead-up to next month’s elections. Australia have a tentative plan to play three Tests and five ODIs in Pakistan starting in mid-March but the visit will not go ahead unless a Cricket Australia security delegation decides the players will be safe.Despite further bomb attacks in Pakistan this week, Akram believes Australia’s cricketers would have nothing to fear. “I think everything will be fine after the elections,” Akram told the . “Things will settle down.”Australia should play in Pakistan. They will be safe there, and there will be so much security around them. It is not sporting figures who are being targeted.”After the assassination of the former Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto in late December some Australia players were concerned about proceeding with the tour. However, Stuart MacGill was one who remained keen to go ahead with the visit, provided the unrest in Pakistan eased after the February 18 elections.

Zimbabwe’s tour of Pakistan gets underway on Monday with a four-daymatch against a strong Patron’s XI captained by Shahid Afridi. Stripped ofTest status, the Zimbabwe officials had wanted to play the longer version against strong teams to get their playersback in the mindset of Test cricket. However, with small boundaries onoffer at the DHA Cricket Stadium – a venue where Zimbabwe played a Test inNovember 1993 – it is difficult to expect much defensive play, especiallywith the likes of Afridi and Brendan Taylor being involved.Prosper Utseya, Zimbabwe’s captain, and Robin Brown, their coach, said that the team was on the recovery path and the confidence levels were high after a couple of high-profile victories in the recent past: Zimbabwe beat Australia in the World Twenty20, and won an ODI against West Indies at home recently.”We are young in age, not experience,” Brown had said. “We played four-daygames in South Africa with good results and the more cricket we play, themore experience we will gain. We’re not too far away from getting back towhere we were.”With wins against Australia and West Indies preceding the 100% record in South Africa, it is difficult to tag them as pushovers. A flat track with lots of cracks awaits them inthe four-day match, one that will test their all-round abilities,something Brown is eager to prove to the sceptics.However, even though Patron’s XI contains only a handful ofinternationals, most of them have had terrific starts to the domesticseason. While Afridi, Fawad Alam, Sarfraz Ahmed and SamiullahKhan have been in touring parties before, the likes of Sohail Khan, KamranHussain and Naumanullah will be hoping to impress the selectors further.While Naumanullah was adjudged best batsman in the recently concludedQuaid-e-Azam Trophy, Sohail has grabbed 65 wickets in nine matches duringhis maiden domestic season and Kamran, the 30-year-old left-armfast-bowler, has not only managed 568 runs but also 35 wickets in theTrophy.Zimbabwe’s practice session was delayed in the morning as their luggagehad not arrived yet, while some of the Patron’s XI players were busy at the National Stadium, where they are participating in a high-performers camp. The action will shift to the DHA Cricket Stadium from tomorrow, and the pitch and the conditions suggest plenty of fireworks – with maybe a few broken windows of the surrounding houses – over the next four days.Squads
Patron’s XI – Shahid Afridi (capt), Khalid Latif, Nasir Jamshed, AfaqRahim, Naumanllah, Fawad Alam, Kamran Hussain, Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), YasirShah, Wahab Riaz, Sohail Khan, Samiullah Khan Niazi, Rizwan Ahmed, RaufAkbar, Khurram ManzoorZimbabweans – Prosper Utseya (capt), Gary Brent, Chamu Chibhabha,Elton Chigumbura, Keith Dabengwa, Timycen Maruma, Hamilton Masakadza,Stuart Matsikenyeri, Christopher Mpofu, Tawanda Mupariwa, Ray Price, VusiSibanda, Tatenda Taibu (wk), Brendan Taylor, Sean Williams

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

Given how Bangladesh were terrorised by the short ball in this Test, it was entirely appropriate that South Africa wrapped up the match and series with one. And unlike the five-wicket defeat in Mirpur, there was nothing remotely heroic about the innings-and-205-run capitulation in Chittagong, with a world record partnership between Graeme Smith and Neil McKenzieillustrating the huge chasm that still separates Bangladesh from the best practitioners of cricket’s most demanding form.When Mashrafe Mortaza couldn’t avoid fending one to the left of McKenzie at gully, it was the final act of a match that once again didn’t go into the fourth afternoon. With Aftab Ahmed unable to bat after a sickening injury on Sunday, South Africa needed only four more wickets to set theseal on a very satisfactory outing.An eighth-wicket partnership of 56 between Abdur Razzak, who remained defiant on 33, and Shahadat Hossain briefly halted the victory charge, but with Robin Peterson scalping an unexpected five-for, the result was never in doubt. Bangladesh managed a few half-century partnerships during the course of the Test, but the fact remained that their tally over twoinnings didn’t even come close to matching Smith and McKenzie.The batting frailty was all too evident at the start of the fourth day. Razzak’s periscope approach to batting resulted in a comical four over the wicketkeeper off Dale Steyn, and South Africa didn’t have very long to wait for the breakthrough. Peterson was aiming at the cracks from the outset, and Mushfiqur Rahim edged his first ball of the morning to Jacques Kallis at slip.Enter Mohammad Rafique to tremendous applause in his final Test innings. Two balls later, exit Rafique – a biff back to the bowler that Peterson was never going to drop. Shahadat, with a few sorties down the ground, and Razzak with his patented carves over slips added runs in a hurry, but the South Africans were amused rather than annoyed, and when Shahadat holed out to long-off to give Peterson number five, the Last Post could begin.South Africa now look to India, and a series that will really be a test of their mettle in subcontinent conditions. As for Bangladesh, they have three one-dayers to look forward to. The format suits their hit-and-miss batsmen, and they did hammer South Africa at the World Cup last year.Jamie Siddons just won’t be expecting any miracles in Tests, especially not with an FTP that barely gives them matches to iron out the many kinks that continue to bedevil their play at their highest level.

Karnataka 195 and 195 for 1 (Pawan 76*, Dravid 77*) lead Mumbai 337 (Naik 78, Kukreja 66, Kumar 3-50, Joshi 3-67) by 53 runs
Scorecard

Karnataka batted their way out of trouble and towards a position of strength on a track that got progressively slow, wiping out the 142-run first-innings deficit and ending the third day with a 53-run lead against Mumbai at the Wankhede Stadium. The batting was propelled by KB Pawan and Rahul Dravid, who scored 76 and 77 and put on an unbroken 126-run partnership, after Vinay Kumar grabbed three quick wickets to wrap up Mumbai’s innings in the morning.Only four wickets fell on the day as Karnataka made slow progress – barring the first ten overs – at 2.53 runs per over. The intent, it seemed, was to first avoid defeat before thinking about the possibility of a win. They might up the ante tomorrow, declare with 200 ahead and leave around 50 overs for Anil Kumble and Sunil Joshi to come into play on a fourth-day track.However, the openers were refreshingly positive early on. Rowland, out for a duck in the first innings, got a huge stride forward and, though Ajit Agarkar did beat him on a couple of occasions, he put away the bad balls, twice driving Rajesh Verma through the covers. When Agarkar bowled two bouncers in an effort to push him on the back foot, Rowland went for the cut and the pull, top-edging one to the third man boundary. Though the execution wasn’t perfect, the intent to attack was obvious.Pawan, edgy throughout his stay in the first innings, hit his stride slowly. He drove Verma through the covers and got behind the line of Agarkar’s deliveries before Mumbai turned to spin, in the form of Ramesh Powar, in the tenth over.Powar flighted a majority of deliveries and pushed the occasional one through but couldn’t repeat his first-innings magic on a track that had lost its venom. Rowland fell soon after lunch, missing an intended drive off Rajesh Verma, which brought in Dravid. Unlike the first innings, Dravid made a tentative start: he was beaten by the fourth delivery he faced, was struck on the pad by the eighth and was cut into half by the tenth. Two balls later, though, he hit a gorgeous straight drive off Verma and followed up that boundary with a shot driven straight into the stumps at the other end.Amol Muzumdar, Mumbai’s captain, chose to attack him with Iqbal Abdulla. With a silly point and short leg in place, Abdulla pushed through deliveries on the middle-stump line. Dravid let a few to turn past him and jabbed at one which flew to the non-existent backward short leg.Powar came on from the pavilion end and Dravid used the crease well, going back to create the length for his dabs. After a few deliveries that turned in from outside off came one similar to the ball that got him out in the first innings: the ball landed on the middle and off stump and spun in as Dravid leaned forward to defend. However, on this occasion, the turn was slow and allowed Dravid the time to roll his wrists over the ball and play it just short of backward short leg. The next one was a lovely flighted delivery that dipped rapidly causing Dravid to check his drive.Dravid went into a mini-shell after that, stuck on 19 as he played out 14 deliveries, before he asserted himself against Powar: twice in succession he waltzed down the track to swing flighted deliveries over long-on, forcing Powar out of the attack.There was solid support from Pawan who, by then, batting fluently. When Powar shortened the length, Pawan was quick to pull. One such shot fell agonisingly beyond the outstretched hand of Wasim Jaffer, who had run in too far from deep midwicket before heading back. Undeterred by that close shave, Pawan pulled another short delivery over Jaffer’s head for the first six by a Karnataka batsman in the match.The duo continued to consolidate in the last session – 47 runs came in 22 overs – as proceedings slowly grinded to a halt.Earlier, Kumar was rewarded for his fuller length, and his day’s figures read 6-1-13-3. Agarkar fell first, trapped in front as he played across the line, Vinayak Samant went to a fatal flirt outside off stump for Thilak Naidu to hold a fine diving catch to his right and the left-handed Abdulla was caught plumb in front to a delivery that straightened.

David Parsons has been confirmed as the ECB’s new performance director after holding the position in an acting role since Peter Moores became England coach. The ECB has also announced Richard Halsall as the national fielding coach.Parsons, whose appointment takes effect immediately, has been the ECB’s main spin bowling coach and was the favourite to get the job for the role. In the last 12 months he has initiated and developed the ECB spin programme and worked closely with players such as Monty Panesar and Adil Rashid.His appointment was welcomed by Hugh Morris, the board’s managing director. “David has been acting performance director for the last six months since Peter Moores took over as England coach,” Morris said.”During that time David has ensured the smooth running of the National Performance Centre at Loughborough University, and has worked closely with Peter Moores to ensure the best possible support and preparation programmes for the England team.”He has played a central role in developing and delivering the England Performance Camp in India, in which he has embraced the expertise of coaches such as Martyn Moxon and Ashley Giles.”His ability to attract such names demonstrates that he will be ideally suited to the role of performance director because one of his main challenges will be to provide the current England Performance Programme, and future England players, with the best possible coaching advice and support to ensure they can maximise their potential.”Moores was also pleased that Parsons, a level four ECB coach, had been chosen to take his old position: “David has done an outstanding job as acting performance director and I am delighted he has secured the position on a permanent basis. He will have a very important role to play in developing our future England players.”Meanwhile, the team of specialist coaches on hand to assist the England squad has been increased with Halsall’s appointment as fielding coach. He is currently the head of sport science and PE at Wellington College in Berkshire and has been involved in coaching England junior squads as well as being fielding coach at Sussex for the last five years.”It is an exciting challenge for Richard who will aim to raise the standards of fielding throughout England and Wales to ‘world class’ levels,” said Morris. “His innovative approach and willingness to learn from some of the world’s top fielders as well as considering implementing skills and techniques from other sports will be important in taking the art of fielding to a new level when he joins the ECB in March.”Moores added that Halsall is an important addition to the coaching team: “The appointment of a national fielding coach demonstrates the importance of this aspect of the game to all our international teams,” he said. “Richard has an excellent track record, is open to new ideas and I am really looking forward to working with him again in the near future.”

The Board of Control for Cricket in India has moved within one step of professionalising the national selection panel with its finance committee clearing a proposal to pay the selectors, so far honorary, a match fee beginning from Pakistan’s tour of India in November.Under the proposal, which is expected to be ratified by the BCCI’s working committee, each of the five selectors will receive a match fee of Rs 50,000 (US$ 1262) per Test in addition to a daily allowance of Rs 15,000, taking their total earning from a Test to Rs 125,000 (US$ 3156). For one-day matches, the fee will be Rs 65,000 (US$ 1641). Niranjan Shah, the board secretary, told Cricinfo that the new system was likely to be implemented as early as next month.Currently, the selectors, who attend Tests and one-dayers at home, are paid only a daily allowance. Only one selector accompanies the team on tours.Reforming the selection committee, which is chosen on a zonal basis, has been a long-pending issue before the BCCI. John Wright, India’s first professional coach, had singled out the selection process as one of the weakest aspects of Indian cricket.While the zonal system is expected to stay, making the selectors professional is seen as the first step towards accountability. It remains to be seen, though, if the board will abandon its policy of nominating selectors and invite applications from suitable candidates when the terms of some of the members of the existing committee, headed by Dilip Vengsarkar, expires.

It wasn’t the most exciting of matches, but the win helped Pakistan clinch the Mobilink Cup and reverse the trend of recent losses in Multan. Convincing but not attractive, the unassailable 3-0 lead will be a relief for Pakistan, given their decision to field a young and inexperienced bowling attack.The home side were greatly indebted to Shahid Afridi whose 52-ball 85 not only bailed Pakistan out of a hole – 78 for 5 – but also provided a holiday crowd precious moments to make their presence felt. Equalling Sanath Jayasuriya’s record of 245 sixes in ODIs, Afridi’s knock showcased his increasing maturity of late.”It was a tough situation to come and bat in,” Afridi said after thematch. “We had just lost quick wickets and we needed to rebuildeffectively and post a good total.”Known for his aggressive batting irrespective of the situation, Afridi initially relied more on singles and twos rather than using the long handle. A mishit did bring him his first boundary but Afridi managed to play himself in with plenty of twos, cutting the spinners and driving straight down the ground. From then on, it was all power hitting.”After a cautious start, I played my natural game. There was no pressure on me and the situation demanded quick runs. Fortunately, my attacking ploy worked and it ended up as a positive innings. Zimbabwe have a good bowling line-up and it was not a case of taking them easy. It was merely playing the bowling on merit and even though getting a century would have been a huge honour, I’m happy with my effort in helping Pakistan post a good total.”Zimbabwe could take a lot out of their much-improved bowling performance – before Afridi intervened, that is. Robin Brown, Zimbabwe’s coach, put the failure to contain Pakistan after a brilliant effort by Tawanda Mupariwa down to a lack of experience.”We basically lacked the killer instinct that is required to polish things off,” Brown said following the 37-run defeat. “Obviously (we are) disappointed by the effort we put in, it would take a lot of skills and effort to contain the strong Pakistan line-up, something we are lacking.”Mupariwa, in his first match of the tour, was Zimbabwe’s best bowler, finishing with 4 for 46, his best ODI figures. After the wicket of Younis Khan off his first ball of the day, he added the scalps of Nasir Jamshed and Mohammad Yousuf, courtesy of a sharp caught-and-bowled.”It was hard work paying off,” Mupariwa said. “They have an experienced top order and it was something special to get those wickets that early on. The plan now is to work harder and get as many wickets in the next two matches to hopefully make the scoreline look 3-2.”

Zimbabwe’s effort with the bat was rather surprising. Adopting a defensive approach, it seemed batting practice was what the touring side was after rather than overhauling Pakistan’s total. With Brendan Taylor and Sean Williams – promoted to No. 3 – untroubled under lights, and with Pakistan keen to limit boundaries rather than look for wickets, an earnest chase might have spiced things up.After both batsmen made fifties, Zimbabwe required 128 off 17 overs with seven wickets in hand. Instead, they only managed 235, hit only nine fours and failed to clear the boundary even once. Brown, however, dismissed claims of a defensive approach.”I wouldn’t say it was a negative approach. Pakistan bowled really well. They bowled in the right areas and there weren’t that many bad balls,” he said. “Therefore, it made things really difficult for us and although the batsmen were well set, hitting boundaries became really difficult and the asking-rate kept climbing.”There are, however, things to be improved upon,” Brown admitted. “Most of our batsmen have been among the runs. Two of our batsmen scored fifties today. We need to look to get 6-7 fifties in a match and only then will we be able to win. Hopefully, we can learn quickly enough to win the next two matches.”

India Under-19 were dismissed shortly before stumps on the third day for378 off 83.2 overs in the first ‘Test’ at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai.The tourists were three for no loss in the second innings, needing afurther 348 runs for victory.England Under-19 had been dismissed for 285 in 109.3 overs in themorning session. The visitors added only four more runs before they were bowledout, taking a slender 28-run lead into the second innnings. VidyuthSivaramakrishnan took the wicket, that of Monty Panesar. Justin Bishop remained unbeaten.Indian openers Gautam Gambhir and Vinayak Mane came good in the secondinnings. Both hammered the medium pacers, piling on 58 runs in 13 overs.Gambhir displayed his explosive strokes in a brief stint at thecrease. He could not carry on to convert it into a big knock when he wasdismissed off the last ball of the 13th over. Kyle Hogg trapped him legbefore for 29.Mane was lucky as he was dropped three times. Monty Panesar failed to latch on to a mistimed pull shot at mid-on, with Mane on 24, and in the 29th over, Bell dropped Mane in the slips off Pattison. He was finally dismissed for 93 when Hogg held on to a catch off Pattison. He had hit 13 fours and a six in his 99-ball innings.The first session of the day produced 127 runs for the loss of one wicketin 32 overs. Ishan Ganda and Mane added 70 runs for the second wicket in 19overs. Ganda was lucky as he was dropped in the 29th over at backward pointby Nikki Peng off the medium pace of Pattison. Soon after lunch, Pattison enticed Ganda with a similar delivery and the batsman obliged with a similar stroke but this time Peng held on to the catch. Ganda was dismissed for 19 off 66 balls with one boundary.Gnaneshwar Rao, a century-maker in his last match, was soon out, trying to drive but succeeding only in returning a catch to Pattison to fall for tworuns. The top scorer of the first innings, Alind Naidu came out to bat and unleashed a barrage of wristy strokes. He raced on to 30 off 42 balls with four boundaries. He played two consecutive late cuts despite Bell being in the slips. But he holed out to Bell trying the same stroke on the third occasion.The visitors enjoyed the tea break as they had both the explosive Naidu andMane back in the pavilion. The Indian score was 243 for five wickets.Little did they know that the Indians had other plans. In the post-teasession, skipper Ajay Ratra and Kashinath Khadkikar turned the tide infavour of the hosts with a 141-run partnership off 24.5 overs for the sixthwicket. Ratra dominated as he raced to 94 from 92 balls. The partnership was broken when Khadkikar mistimed a drive to give Robert Ferley a return catch. Khadkikar walked back with 65 runs off 98 balls and seven boundaries to his name.Ratra became the second batsman to just miss his century when he chased an outswinger from McGarry and Mark Wallace behind the stumps latched on to the catch. Ratra had hit 13 boundaries. The Indian tail wagged as Dharmichand scored 26 runs off 32 balls including two fours. The hosts ended their innings when Siddarth Trivedi was taken by Pattison off Ferley.Pattison was the most economical bowler, bagging three for 32. Ferley picked up three for 93 with his spinners. McGarry and Kyle Hogg chipped in with two wickets each.The visitors faced one over from Vidyut and finished on three without loss.The England fielding had been poor. They dropped as many as six catchesduring the day. Panesar was guilty of not guarding the fenceeffectively. In fact, Panesar had a long and hard day in the field as hestruggled to gather the ball. The batsmen took on his throwing arm as theycollected extra singles off his throws from the boundary.