Each match has its unique way of making you rise to the occasion, said Sachin Tendulkar at a press conference before the Irani Cup at Chennai. As it turned out, it was Sourav Ganguly who provided him with the necessary inspiration, by putting Mumbai in to bat when he had the strongest batting line up in the country – save for Tendulkar’s absence – at his disposal. What little green there was in the wicket, was matched only by the look in the eyes of Rest of India’s batsmen as Tendulkar and Sairaj Bahutule ground a tired attack into the damp Chepauk dirt.There’s no doubt that people pay to watch Tendulkar bat, and the best value for money is available at the MA Chidambaram stadium. In six Tests at the ground Tendulkar has failed to score a century only twice. He’s scored more Test runs here than at his home ground, the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai, and his average at Chennai is a better-than-Bradman 102.No wonder then that the green seats of the pavilion terrace had enough bottoms on them to raise a steady din all day. Clattering away on bucket-seats with an old pair of drumsticks, an irritatingly energetic young supporter made it amply clear that he cared not a damn what happened to the game. He merely wanted to watch Tendulkar bat all day.That Tendulkar was nowhere near his best had no effect on the enthusiasm of supporters. Every defensive push to mid-off was cheered, every clip off his ample thigh was watched all the way to the fine-leg fielder and every boundary was roaringly acknowledged. Overwhelming support notwithstanding, all was not well with Tendulkar. He cursed himself for repeatedly failing to make contact with his favourite paddle sweep. Even as he sailed passed the milestone of 17,000 first-class runs, this was nowhere near vintage Tendulkar.The Chennai crowd didn’t care though. Sections of the stands were actually packed, waiting for the Tendulkar hundred. If he reached the landmark before stumps, another would follow the next day, they reckoned. When he survived two vociferous shouts for lbw off successive Zaheer Khan deliveries, the crowd booed Zaheer for appealing and one cynic suggested that the lbw rule did not apply to Tendulkar on this ground.For most of the day Tendulkar was pleased as punch with the crowd. But there was one period shortly after tea that tested his patience. Every little flutter of cloth, every old man walking around looking for coffee, every flag-waving lout, every tiny thing in the crowd caused him to stop play. When a nattily dressed woman in a bright pink top and the latest fashion in sunglasses walked across to the press box to have a word, Tendulkar backed off. Not because she was a pretty face, which she is, but because Meena Dalal, treasurer of the Women’s Cricket Association of India, was distracting him.”The women’s season is just about to kick off,” said Dalal. “But equally importantly, talks with the Board of Control for Cricket in India are going well and our association is likely to merge with them by 2005. That’s just what women’s cricket needs.” Not minutes after she’d said that, the Rest of India side got what they needed. A quick delivery from Zaheer reared off a length, surprised Tendulkar and kissed the outside edge of the bat on the way to Rahul Dravid behind the stumps.He had spent over four and half hours at the wicket for 94, but Tendulkar was finally gone. All at a sudden, Ganguly’s decision to field did not look so bad. As if someone had pulled the plug at the cinema, the stands emptied out. “The story’s over, what’s left now? You guys might as well pack up and leave,” said one man as he walked past the press box. Not the most appropriate thing to say, but then again, not too far from the truth either.

Western Australia 293 for 5 (Hussey 67, Goodwin 58) beat South Australia 194 (Deitz 60, Flower 54) by 99 runs
ScorecardTwo old stagers and three new names added up to five points for Western Australia as they began their ING Cup campaign with a comprehensive 99-run win over South Australia at the WACA in Perth.After Murray Goodwin (58) and Michael Hussey (67) used all their experience to guide WA to their sizeable total of 293 for 5, the debutant Michael Thistle (3 for 32) and up-and-comers Beau Casson (4 for 31) and Peter Worthington (2 for 31) did the damage with the ball to secure the points.A run-a-ball 54 from Andy Flower gave Redbacks fans a hint of what they can expect from their Zimbabwean import this summer, but it was WA’s own Zimbabwean who made the real impact, this time with his bat not his mouth. Goodwin is facing a charge next week of making detrimental comments, after airing his views about the number of black players in the Zimbabwe side ahead of the recent Test series against Australia. Goodwin got his retaliation in first against the Redback bowlers, hitting eight fours in his 58 off 62 balls.After the early loss of WA’s new skipper Justin Langer for 11, Goodwin and Hussey put on 118 for the fourth wicket, giving WA’s unheralded bowlers a decent canvas on which to work. Thistle, only in the side because of his state’s bare bowling cupboard, will never forget his first over in WA’s colours: he was hit for four first ball but took and a wicket with his second.WA were without Paul Wilson, Darren Wates, Kade Harvey, Michael Clark, Brad Williams and Brad Hogg through injury and international call-ups, and Thistle – a towering 23-year-old – was welcomed to WA’s first team by John Davison, who pulled him contemptuously to the boundary. Thistle’s riposte was to have Davison, Canada’s World Cup hero, caught in the gully next ball by a juggling Marcus North.SA’s captain Greg Blewett was Thistle’s second victim, his tight line and length inducing a swipe which edged the ball to Langer at second slip. After Thistle’s opening spell of 2 for 22, Flower showed Zimbabwe exactly what they are missing with an abrasive knock.With Shane Deitz contributing a chancy 60 – he might have been run out three times if throws had hit the stumps direct – for a while SA looked as if they were going to make a fight of it. But after Worthington had Flower caught behind cutting too close to his body, caught Deitz off a top-edged sweep and then had rookie Callum Ferguson (4) also caught by the keeper, WA took control.Casson’s destruction of the tail with his left-arm spin gift-wrapped the bonus point for WA, last year’s ING Cup finalists, and consigned the Redbacks to their 10th loss in their last 11 games in the competition.

The CCA has recieved the following from John Lovelace:-“Karran and I have downloaded, printed and delivered to the Mills’ familycopies of the expressions of condolences from the cricketing community fromacross the country. The feeling of empathy from cricketers everywhere, atthe untimely death of Damian has been truly overwhelming and is a testamentof the love, respect and high esteem in which Damian was held.I have been with the Mills’ family often over the past few days, and I cantruly say that the response from the cricketing community is muchappreciated by the family.While they are occupied with their grief, on behalf of the Mills family, Iwish to convey to cricketers from across the country, the family’s heartfeltthanks and gratitude for the love and support you are sending at this time.It does provide the family with a measure of solace to know that Damian wasloved.Once more, thanks to all.John.”

In our new series, My Australia tour, Indian cricketers of the past describe their experiences while touring Australia. In our first instalment, Karsan Ghavri speaks to Samanth Subramanian about the 1977-78 and the 1980-81 tours.

There’s so much to see in Australia, so many places to visit, that thetourism alone makes playing cricket there a unique experience. The wildlife was a big draw for me; to go to their well-maintained national parks and wildlife sanctuaries was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. It’s also interesting for the way the Australians play the game on their own turf. They’re always very aggressive and in-your-face, although, as is well known, they never hesitate to be chummy off the field.In 1980-81, we were all – the Indians and the Australians – invited by Sir Don Bradman to his house for dinner. We sat at a huge oval table for dinner, and Dennis Lillee and Kapil Dev happened to be sitting next to each other. So Kapil just asked Lillee: “Dennis, why, every time you bowl, do you swear at the batsmen?”Lillee said: “Kapil, I’m steaming when I bowl express, and I look for a wicket with every delivery.”Kapil: “But I don’t swear at the batsmen, and I look for a wicket with every delivery too.”Lillee: “You’re not an express bowler. You’re just a medium-fast bowler. With express bowlers, the frustration comes out more. When you become an express bowler, you will do the same thing as I do now.”Ironically, Kapil went on to win the match for India at Melbourne. On the fourth day, he did not come on the field because he was injured. But in the last innings, Australia were three down, and I’d picked up two wickets in consecutive deliveries. So on the next day, Kapil came in on painkillers and ran through the side on a pitch of uneven bounce.The 1977-78 series was a very interesting one, because they won the first two Tests and we won the next two, and the fifth one involved us chasing a big target, which we lost by 40-odd runs.During that tour, Ashok Mankad was a member of the Indian team. He and Jeff Thomson were very good friends, always having a glass of beer after the game. Thomson used to give Ashok quite a few gifts, because Ashok was very fond of western music, and Thommo used to provide him with all the latest songs in the evening.On the field, however, the first thing he bowled to Ashok was a bouncer, followed by some colourful swearing. Ashok went down the wicket, tapping the pitch and meeting Thommo on his follow-through. He asked him: “Thommo, we’re friends, man!”Thommo said: “We are friends … but not on the field.”The Australians are aggressive cricketers, and they play hard and fight it out. But off the field, they’re nice guys, friendly and easy-going.

Harbhajan Singh successfully underwent surgery on his injured right index finger in Melbourne on Friday (Dec 19). In all likelihood, the rest and rehabilitation process will take three months, putting him out of the tour of Pakistan.Dr Greg Hoy, a finger specialist, operated on the injury Harbhajan sustained during a one-day international in Dhaka earlier this year. Harbhajan was described as being “in a cheerful mood” by Shivlal Yadav, the Indian team manager, after the hour-and-a-half-long surgery. A decision on his return to India will be taken when the squad reaches Melbourne on December 22.The operation could have taken place earlier, but for Harbhajan’s fear of going under the knife. The aggravated injury forced him to sit out the Adelaide Test.

Ricky Ponting couldn’t quite achieve an unprecedented clean sweep at the Allan Border Medal awards in Melbourne, but he still enjoyed a successful evening as the elite of Australian cricket gathered to celebrate their successes of the past 12 months.The Australian team flies out to Sri Lanka on Saturday, and that series will be Ponting’s first as Test captain. It is therefore appropriate that he has been recognised as Australia’s best Test cricketer of the past year, as well as their most valuable overall player.Ponting’s identity as the Allan Border Medal-winner was one of the worst-kept secrets in Australian sport. The new world-record-holder Matthew Hayden, who didn’t have too bad a year himself, said last week that the decision was a foregone conclusion. And so it proved, as Ponting secured a total of 139 votes, 48 more than Hayden in second position, and almost double the number polled by Adam Gilchrist (70) in third.Ponting, who was last year’s Test player of the year, scored 1503 runs at an average of 100.20 in 2003. He also became the first player since Don Bradman to score three double hundreds in a single year. His one-day form was no less prolific, and he had been widely tipped to secure all three major categories. In the end, however, he was pipped to the one-day post by Gilchrist, who made 1463 runs in a period that began with the opening fixture of last year’s World Cup, at a phenomenal strike rate of 105.63 and an average of 45.71.In a closely-fought category, Gilchrist polled 28 votes to finish four ahead of Brett Lee and Ponting, and five ahead of Andrew Symonds. Gilchrist secured the award in the second-last game of Australia’s season, the first final against India at the MCG on February 6. He scored two centuries in the past year, with a highest score of 172 against Zimbabwe in the VB Series, as well as 60 catches and a stumping.Ponting, who was the only man to play in all 37 matches, made 1317 runs at 43.90, including his World Cup-winning innings of 140 not out, while Lee was Australia’s top wicket-taker with 49 at an average of 19.87, but his absence from the recent tri-series in India scuppered his prospects of the award. Votes were awarded on a 3-2-1 basis by a panel of former cricketers and media representatives.The evening also featured a tribute to David Hookes, who died last month, while the former Test players Alan Davidson and Hugh Trumble were officially induced into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame. The women’s player of the year award went to their fast bowler Cathryn Fitzpatrick; New South Wales’ Simon Katich was named as the State player of the year, while South Australia’s paceman Shaun Tait picked up the Bradman award as the best young cricketer of the year.Ponting is the fifth winner of the Allan Border Medal, following in the footsteps of Glenn McGrath (2000), Steve Waugh (2001), Hayden (2002) and Gilchrist (2003).

, the commemorative DVD celebrating Sussex’s final push towards the County Championship last year, will probably be of little interest to non-Sussex followers, but it is worth watching just to remind yourself how much county cricket still means to players and supporters.The camera follows the squad for their remaining three games of the season, showing match footage interspersed with starring roles from Peter Moores, the dedicated coach, Chris Adams, the no-nonsense captain, and Mushtaq Ahmed, the heartbeat of the side. Team talks, tactics and tension provide most of the off-pitch entertainment, which successfully captures the atmosphere leading up to the magical moment.After a win against Middlesex, celebrated by the first of many renditions of "Sussex by the Sea", and a thrashing by rivals Lancashire in the penultimate game at Old Trafford, graphics remind us that only six points stand between Sussex and history. And once Mushy has walked off to a standing ovation after grabbing his 100th wicket of the season, 300 runs is all that remains to gather those title-winning bonus points.Cut to another speech from Adams. "We’re not there yet," he growls, "we need to have big balls and big belief." Then, as if on cue, Murray Goodwin pipes up: "I don’t want to sound selfish," he says, "but I want to be there when we pass 300 and hit the winning runs." And the rest, as this DVD says, is history.Back in a jubilant dressing room, Mushy tells the team that he is as proud of them as if they were his brothers. Somehow it seems right that he has the final say.

England 319 and 99 for 3 (Butcher 46*) beat West Indies 208 and 209 by 7 wickets and lead the series 2-0
Scorecard

It didn’t take long: inside half-an-hour England had knocked off the 28 runs they needed to secure victory, a 2-0 series lead, and retention of the Wisden Trophy. The last rites came with stunning speed, as Mark Butcher cracked consecutive fours off Adam Sanford, one through the covers, and the winning one straight down the ground.England will have had one eye on the skies when they woke up this morning, after the umpires controversially took the players off last night. But it dawned fine in Port-of-Spain, meaning it was only a matter of time.Nonetheless England, so assured in the gloaming last night, made a hesitant start in the bright sunshine. Nasser Hussain survived a close leg-before shout off Sanford’s first ball of the day, then nicked his second and was caught behind for 5 (71 for 3). It could have been worse. Before he’d scored, Graham Thorpe edged Sanford, but this time Ridley Jacobs tried to take the regulation chance one-handed, and floored it.Thorpe wasn’t in the mood to hang about, cracking three fours in Sanford’s next over, and Butcher was as busy as he had been last night. Brian Lara’s trial on the field was mercifully short. But the recriminations around the Caribbean aren’t over yet. Already Ricky Skerritt, West Indies’ manager, is throwing in the towel. Lara might not be far behind.Andy Ganteaume – famous for scoring a century in his only Test innings, in 1947-48 – gave the Man of the Match award to Stephen Harmison, for the vital first-innings spell that wrenched back the initiative England’s way after Chris Gayle and Devon Smith had kicked the match off with a century partnership.Steven Lynch is editor of Wisden Cricinfo.

Mumbai 476 (Mazumdar 51, Raju 6-139) beat Hyderabad 166 and 158 (Rayudu 53, Bahutule 6-53) by an innings and 152 runs
Scorecard
Sairaj Bahutule weaved his web around the Hyderabad batsmen as Mumbai romped into the final with a massive victory at the Wankhede Stadium. Hyderabad capitulated for just 158, to follow up their first-innings debacle, and were whipped by an innings and 152 runs. Bahutule, who engineered the collapse, finished with 6 for 53 with his legspin.Mumbai began the day with an imposing 389 for 3 and Amol Mazumdar soon completed a confident half-century. The Hyderabad bowlers had suffered a severe mauling yesterday, with Vinayak Mane and Vinod Kambli smashing hundreds, and a total in excess of 500 was very much in sight. But they struck some vital blows this morning and restricted Mumbai to 476. Venkatapathy Raju, the left-arm spinner, picked up three important wickets and the offspinner Shivaji Yadav spun out the tail.The Hyderabad batsmen put up a sorry show in the second innings as well. Ambati Rayudu and Anirudh Singh put on 71, but that was the only consolation in a miserable batting effort. The last six managed only 15 between them as Nilesh Kulkarni, the left-arm spinner, and Bahutule got stuck in. Rayudu also played the lone hand in the first innings, but his elegant 95 was the solitary light in a dismal batting show.Railways 251 for 5 (JP Yadav 73*) trail Tamil Nadu 481 by 230 runs
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Tamil Nadu tightened their grip on their semi-final at Chennai as they prised out five Railways batsmen on the third day. Chasing a daunting 482 to gain the first-innings lead, Railways went about their task in a very patient manner. Sanjay Bangar survived 255 minutes for his 47 and got them off to a solid start. But Somsetty Suresh and Ramakrishnan Ramkumar, the left-arm spinner, picked up two wickets each and put Railways in trouble at 122 for 4. But they managed to wriggle out due to Jai Prakash Yadav’s unbeaten 73, which included eight fours and three sixes. But Yadav will need plenty of support from the tail, if Railways are to grab that lead.Orissa 318 and 110 for 3 (RR Parida 74) lead Madhya Pradesh 258 (Ojha 74, Patwardhan 71) by 170 runs
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At Cuttack, the pendulum swung back Orissa’s way as they sat cosily on a 170-run cushion by the end of the third day. Things had been completely different at the end of the second day, though, with Madhya Pradesh coming back well into the game. MP began the day at 132 for 2, still 186 runs behind, but they were reduced to 177 for 8 as lunch approached. Nikhil Patwardhan’s 71 was largely responsible for lifting them to 258. Earlier, Naman Ojha was run out after a well-made 74. The Orissa bowling was led by Deepak Mangaraj (3 for 61) and Sanjay Satpathy (4 for 75). Orissa finished on 110 for 3 at stumps with Rashmi Ranjan Parida anchored the innings with a 145-ball 74.Maharashtra 546 for 7 (Kanitkar 180, Jadhav 132, Satbhai 84) lead Haryana 236 by 310 runs
Scorecard
Maharashtra, as they have done in most matches this season, piled on a mammoth total at the Nehru Stadium in Pune. Hrishikesh Kanitkar hammered 180 and Satyajit Satbhai, the wicketkeeper, contributed 84 as Maharashtra went about batting Haryana completely out of the match. Kanitkar stroked 19 fours in his 498-minute innings, before he was caught behind off Gaurav Vashisht, the offspinner. Satbhai remained unbeaten at the end of a day in which Haryana were given a thorough hiding.

Pakistan’s one-day international allrounder, Yasir Arafat, has signed for Scotland as a replacement for Rahul Dravid.Arafat, 22, has made two ODI appearances, both against Sri Lanka. The first was at Karachi in 1999-2000, and the second at Sharjah a year later. He will also be playing club cricket for Clydesdale. .”I’m looking forward to the challenge of playing against other international cricketers from the English counties,” said Arafat. “I’ll be working hard for the Saltires and I’m hopeful we can build on the success the team enjoyed last season.”Dravid, Scotland’s overseas player last year, has opted to take a break from cricket after the completion of the Test series against Pakistan.