The Bangladesh Cricket Board has approved a plan to add three more Test venues to its existing two. The move comes after Bangladesh successfully hosted the Under-19 World Cup at eight venues, including the Bangabandhu National Stadium and MA Aziz Stadium, the two grounds where all home one-dayers and Tests are staged.The stadiums short-listed by the board are Chittagong Divisional Stadium, Shaheed Chandu Stadium in Bogra and Khulna Divisional Stadium. Rafiqul Islam Babu, the secretary of the board’s ground committee, was hopeful of staging a match at the new venues in the near future, even though the ICC inspectors had yet to assess the grounds.”If everything goes accordingly we are hopeful of holding at least one one-day international each in Bogra and Khulna during our home series against New Zealand,” Babu said. “I think there is little chance to get a negative response from the ICC inspectors because the three venues have already impressed the high-ups of the game’s ruling body during the U-19 World Cup. Ehsan Mani has already spoken highly of the Khulna Divisional Stadium. The ground staff have already put everything in place and I think all the venues are ready to hold international matches. Besides, the media committee is also working out details of the facilities needed for each venue.”The three new grounds will ease one major problem the board currently faces – it has to share its current stadiums with the country’s football and hockey boards, a factor that makes preparing pitches a difficult task.

Cricket Australia will request the ICC to grant next year’s Super Series official status, thus raising the stakes in the high-profile clash between the world’s number one team and the best of the rest. reported that James Sutherland, chief executive of Cricket Australia, and Matthew Hayden believed that the matches were important enough to merit mention in the record books.”I see that at the moment the ICC haven’t given the matches official Test status or one-day status, ” said Sutherland. “I actually don’t agree with that. I think the matches are big enough and worthy enough of having official status so that they do go in the record books. That’s something that we’ll certainly be talking to the ICC about into the future so they can re-address that issue.”Hayden was just as enthusiastic about the high-profile series, and said that the Australians would take the competition seriously. He too wanted to see the series made official. “I’d prefer to see it as Test-match status,” he said. “It’s a genuine, best-of-the-era side versus what has been a really great side in the Australian cricket team. It’s unique in that we’ve never come across a tournament like this in the past. It certainly begs to be a great competition.”While he was eager to take on the rest of the world, Hayden believed that the six-day Test could be the start of a new wave of timeless Tests, because sometimes, five days just weren’t enough. The Sydney Test against India last January was a case in point. Fox Sports quoted him as saying: “I know it’s a lot of cricket and a massive ask, but there are just some things you can’t get a result out of. That wicket last time at the SCG in particular was an absolute belter. It tended to be more of a bat-a-thon than anything, so it would have been good to see that played out over time.”The bat-a-thon Hayden was referring to resulted in 1747 runs scored over five days, at an average of 350 runs a day, for the loss of only 25 wickets. But while Hayden believes that it would result in more decisive matches, timeless Tests are an unlikely proposition because of commercial considerations and broadcasting limitations. Incidentally, the last was played between England and South Africa at Durban in 1939, and it dragged on for 10 days. Well-placed at 654 for 5, England needed only 42 runs for victory. However, they were thwarted by the fact that they had to catch a ship back home on the eleventh day.

10.15am England 568 and 71 for 0 (Trescothick 34*, Strauss 27*) lead West Indies 416 by 223 runs
Scorecard

Despite an iffy weather forecast it dawned fine in north London today, and England’s openers will soon be out in the middle again, looking to build on a lead which is already substantial at 223. In an ideal world Michael Vaughan would pile on another 250 runs or so and declare around tea-time, giving himself at least four sessions to bowl West Indies out again on a slowish pitch which is taking a little turn.But Plan A, as Brian Lara has discovered, doesn’t alweays work. Despite the currently cloud-free sky, the weather may yet intervene. But piling on the runs isn’t impossible on this pitch, as England’s openers demonstrated last night, putting on 71 in 22 overs without apparent effort. Marcus Trescothick’s first two shots, which he eased through the covers for fours, might have caused the bowler, Tino Best, a restless night.In the first innings West Indies’ bowling was wayward, and their fielding worse. Lara will want a better collective effort from his men today, and maybe a little help from the clouds, which have largely deserted him since that overcast first morning, when he put England in only for the cumulo-nimbus to roll away amd reveal acres of blue sky.

The Champions Trophy, a biennial extravaganza organised by the ICC, was started with the intention of spreading the game to all corners of the globe. The inaugural competition was held in Dhaka in 1998, and the knockout format inevitably produced some thrilling fare. The carnival moved on to Nairobi and Sri Lanka in the next four years, and the fourth edition will pan out over the next two weeks in England. Though form might suggest otherwise, history favours India and South Africa, two teams that have never failed to reach the semi-final stage. Strangely enough, Australia have floundered in this tournament and have never made it past the last four. The Czech tennis player Ivan Lendl once said “Grass is for cows” when asked about his record at Wimbledon. Dare one say it, but will the Aussies soon be muttering about how “Knockouts are for boxers”?

The Champions Trophy down the years

Wills International Cup in Dhaka, 1998South Africa came into this tournament with an enviable record. After Brian Lara’s heroics had shunted them out of the 1996 World Cup, the team led by Hansie Cronje won 45 of their next 59 matches, and started as one of the favourites here. Jacques Kallis sparkled with both bat and ball, with his 5 for 30 ripping through West Indies in the final. A rollicking 113 in the semi-final against Sri Lanka – when the next highest score in the match was 30 – was also equally vital. West Indies rode on the efforts of Mervyn Dillon and Philo Wallace, the beefy Barbadian opener, and surprised many by beating both Pakistan and India to reach the final. Australia were done in by Sachin Tendulkar’s brilliance – not for the first time that year. His 141 and 4 for 38 singlehandedly dumped them out.ICC Knock-Out in Kenya, 2000Chris Cairns chose the perfect moment to pull a rabbit out of the hat, as his explosive century helped New Zealand to their first victory in a major one-day final. Cairns missed the semi-final against Pakistan, another thrilling run-chase, and played in the final despite a dodgy knee. But had it not been for Cairns, New Zealand would surely have struggled to get past a buoyant Indian side. Sourav Ganguly had recently been appointed captain after the match-fixing imbroglio, and he nearly made the tournament his own. With 348 runs in four matches – Saeed Anwar was second on the list with 209 – he piloted the batting with some intoxicating strokeplay. Two other Indians burst on to the international stage in this event. Yuvraj Singh’s stunning 84 on debut thwarted Australia, while Zaheer Khan arrived with his heady mix of swinging yorkers and bubbly aggro. Ganguly’s hundred in the semi-final did South Africa in, while his 117 in the final seemed to have sealed it. But then Cairns sneaked in through the back door.ICC Champions Trophy in Sri Lanka, 2002For the first time, a Test-playing nation was chosen as the venue for staging the Champions Trophy (Bangladesh weren’t part of the Test family in 1998). Also, unlike previous years, the teams were divided into four pools. Eventually, the rain ruined what had been an entertaining tournament, and forced Sri Lanka and India to share the title. Sri Lanka proved yet again that they were close to unbeatable at home, as their phalanx of spinners engineered a crushing seven-wicket win over Australia in the semi-final. India, who had recently triumphed in the NatWest Series in England, continued their purple patch, with Virender Sehwag emerging as one of the stars of the tournament. South Africa, not for the first time, choked when the semi-final was all but wrapped up. With 70 required, Herschelle Gibbs retired hurt after a dazzling 116, and the rest crumbled in he face of some inspired Indian bowling and fielding. And the bowling hero? Sehwag, of course.

The series may have been lost in the end, but South Africa’s tour of India was an important learning experience – both on and off the field – that will reap benefits further down the line.There were fears before the tour that a young and inexperienced outfit would make fools of themselves, but they need not worry that they have let either themselves or their supporters down. As Omar Henry, SA’s convenor of selectors, says: "They confronted the difficulties of the subcontinent and I think they surprised people with how they performed. There is still room for improvement, but there were very good signals, and we can bank on seeing the benefits of the tour later on."Far more experienced touring teams have fared much worse in India, and for the former South African coach Graham Ford the most pleasing aspect of the tour was the number of runs the visitors managed to score."I thought the batsmen did exceptionally well because their concentration had to be superb, and the main thing to come out of the tour is that the team would have grown considerably in terms of the mental aspect," Ford told Cricinfo."Andrew Hall has always had the ability to bat up front, but he now knows how to play when conditions don’t suit him. And Zander de Bruyn also did fantastically well," added Ford. "We have a bit more of a tail these days, but it’s okay because I think the guys re-established themselves as a quality batting side."For Henry, the most impressive feature of the tour was the inauguration of a whole new attitude to touring the subcontinent. Before, South African teams used to closet themselves away in their luxury hotels, but the current squad adopted the excellent attitude of getting out there and experiencing India."First and foremost, the team have found a way to enjoy the subcontinent. Their whole attitude and approach has been far more based on enjoyment," said Henry. "Touring the subcontinent is a major test of character."And Henry added that nothing had given him more pleasure than the team’s "buzz" on the field: "It was a joy to watch the guys playing the way they do in South Africa. There’s been an absolute change in mindset."Henry mentioned the batting of Jacques Kallis, Hall’s innings at Kanpur, the bowling of Makhaya Ntini and the fielding as the major positives to come out of the tour, but there was no progress on the vexed issue of South African spin bowling.Said Ford: "Nothing’s been done in 12 years about a spinner, and we just seem to go round in circles." He was happy, however, with the other bowlers. "There was nothing wrong with the back-up bowling. They were consistent and had the skill and discipline to stick to the game plan."Ford believes South Africa are in reasonable shape heading into the home series against England. "The team has gone forward in a lot of aspects," he concluded, "and provided the selectors make good decisions for the series against England, we should be very competitive."

“On the day they were going to kill him, Santiago Nasar got up at five-thirty in the morning.” It is doubtful whether, when Gabriel Marcia Marquez waspenning the first lines of his classic novella , he had a Test match between Pakistan and Australia at the MCG in mind. He captured immediately within them the impending sense of doom, the inevitability of the tragic fate that hung around Santiago Nasar, the unwilling and unknowing protagonist at the centre of the tale. And a similar sense reverberates around the fate of the second Test.The real tragedy of Perth wasn’t in the result or the second innings 72 – New Zealand were bowled out for a similar score recently after all and India’s much-vaunted upper order was embarrassed repeatedly in India. What really lit the effigies and had analysts bemoaning the loss of competitiveness was the supine nature of the surrender, the demeaning of the concept of a contest. Apart from the first session, it never was one. If Pakistan can make it so in Melbourne, if they can shed blood, make Australia sweat and compete for five days, then neither camp, you sense, will be too unhappy.However, Pakistan already slim chances of making a fist of it received a further blow when Inzamam-ul-Haq was ruled out due to his recurring back problem. In his absence, Yousuf Youhana will take over as captain – only his second Test in that role – while Asim Kamal or Yasir Hameed will battle it out to fill up the vacancy in the batting line-up.Quite apart from this latest setback, it is difficult to see what remedial measures Pakistan’s batsmen can make to such inherent technical and mental failings in the space of a week. They can call upon, at least, Shoaib Malik, whose composed presence can add some steel to a lower order that is little more than fodder for the likes ofShane Warne, Glenn McGrath and Michael Kasprowicz. They might be tempted too, to provide the resolve and grit of Kamal with its most searching examination yet.But with an upper order in disarray, much will still depend on their bowling. Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Sami at least can take some memories from Perth, andDanish Kaneria might get more reward for his efforts here than he did at the WACA. But Shoaib’s bursts, as dangerous as they can be, are rarely sustained and against a line-up as deep as Australia’s, losing momentum is akin to losing the match.So what can you say about Australia? There is something worryingly inevitable about this team. There is always someone; waiting to drag the team out of ahole, waiting to transform a crisis into a matchwinning situation, waiting in the wings to take over, be it a Michael Clarke or a Brett Lee. Matthew Haydenis in the middle of a poor run, yet has scored over 1000 runs in the calendar year, as have Justin Langer and Damien Martyn.If Langer, who alone scored more than Pakistan at Perth, misses this match, they can still call upon the assured presence of Simon Katich. Their bowlingattack, obviously, remains unchanged; Kasprowicz joins McGrath as the latest in a line of Australian fast bowlers who have exercised a complete strangleholdover Pakistani batsmen for more than a decade. Warne had, by his standards against Pakistan (79 wickets in 13 games), a quiet game at Perth and isunlikely to do so again.And finally, there is the stark contrast between the two captains. Ponting was alert, sharp, a bundle of energy in the field and alive to situations. Furthermore, he looked in ominous form in the second innings at Perth. He was up against the worst of Inzamam – lethargic, uninspired, tactically rigid and, crucially, out of sorts with the bat. Youhana, given the unenviable task of taking over on the eve of the match, is unlikely to do much better.It is against this backdrop of seemingly presaged gloom that the eighth Test between these two at the MCG and the first since 1990, takes place. Recent history is alluring; Sarfraz’s spell in 1978, the battles between Wasim Akram and Mark Taylor 12 years later, Geoff Marsh’s magnificent one-handed catch to dismiss Ijaz Ahmed in the same match.Overall, Pakistan have won two Tests to Australia’s three at this hallowed ground. In that 1990 game, Pakistan distinguished themselves by battling valiantly in a lost cause against an Australian side just beginning to assert its pre-eminence in the game. The hope all round is that this contest can match that one, but the belief remains that the chronicle of Australia’s 300th Test win has already been foretold.Australia (from): Justin Langer, Simon Katich, Matthew Hayden, RickyPonting (capt), Damien Martyn, Darren Lehmann, Michael Clarke, Adam Gilchrist (wk), Shane Warne, Jason Gillespie, Michael Kasprowicz, Glenn McGrath, Brett Lee.Pakistan (from): Salman Butt, Imran Farhat, Yasir Hameed, Yousuf Youhana (capt), Younis Khan, Asim Kamal, Shoaib Malik, Abdul Razzaq, Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Sami, Danish Kaneria, Kamran Akmal (wk), Naved-ul-Hasan, Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Khalil.Osman Samiuddin is a freelance writer based in Karachi