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Brian Lara has predicted that even a full-strength team West Indies will have a tough time on the tour of Australia that starts next month. West Indies lost all Tests on their previous two visits to Australia, and Lara felt the Ashes defeat earlier this year will make the home side even more determined to win.”I fear the West Indies could be in for a bit of a hiding,” Lara told the . ”I think one of the handicaps will be that they haven’t played together for a long time, due to the dispute with the board.”That, coupled with Australia coming off an Ashes defeat with a captain who is under some pressure. They will be trying to get their team back on track. I fear West Indies will feel a backlash from that.”Caribbean cricket had been in turmoil since July when the region’s leading cricketers called a strike after a contractual dispute with their board, which forced West Indies to field second-string sides for the home series against Bangladesh and the ICC Champions Trophy. West Indies turned in poor performances in both those contests, and fears that a weakened side would tour Australia receded only last week when the stand-off moved closer to resolution.Lara felt the return of experienced players including Chris Gayle, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan would help but didn’t expect any Test victories for West Indies. “I will just be happy if we play good cricket, and play cricket over five days and not throw in the towel.”The last time the two sides met in a Test series was in the Caribbean last year, when Australia pulled off a hard-fought 2-0 victory.

New Zealand Cricket (NZC) is confident that it will have a new coach in place by the end of the year, in time for the home series against Bangladesh starting in early February. There were reports in New Zealand’s Sunday newspapers that John Wright was keen on the job and Duncan Fletcher has also expressed his interest in replacing Andy Moles.John Dyson has also said he would be interested and the former New Zealand coach Steve Rixon is hoping to get the job again. There have even been suggestions from the former captain Martin Crowe that the current skipper Daniel Vettori should be allowed to guide the side without a coach in the long term.That is the scenario being played out in the short term as the squad takes on Pakistan in the UAE, where the one-day series is locked at 1-1. NZC’s chief executive Justin Vaughan said the temporary situation was working well, after Moles stepped down as coach shortly before the team flew out to Abu Dhabi.”The current Black Caps coaching setup is working effectively,” Vaughan said. “Reports back from UAE are that the team are training and preparing well and morale is very positive. The result in the second ODI was very encouraging. The squad has a strong coaching and support team, and Daniel is continuing to provide leadership as captain, with additional input from Mark Greatbatch who is there as a selector.”New Zealand could well use the same setup during their home Tests against Pakistan, which begin later this month. Vaughan said NZC would not be hurried in to making a decision, although they were keen to have a coach in place by the time Bangladesh arrive early next year.”This will be a thorough process,” Vaughan said. “There’s no rush – it’s important that we make the right appointment. We have begun a scoping exercise to clearly define the exact requirements for the position. This is an essential first step which needs to be completed before any meaningful conversations can be held with potential candidates.”The position will not be openly advertised, and we shall actively identify potential candidates we want to talk to. I can confirm I have received a number of strong inquiries from both New Zealand and overseas.”The departed coach Moles has said he would like to take a break from cricket for a few months after the turmoil that surrounded his exit.

ScorecardSouth Australia’s bowlers made solid progress on a rain-interrupted opening day of the Sheffield Shield season in Adelaide, where Tasmania reached 5 for 149. Several batsmen made starts but nobody could pass the 30s as the Redbacks’ seam-heavy attack chipped away.The hosts had left out the specialist spinner Cullen Bailey and in the damp conditions the faster men were expected to do the bulk of the work. However, the part-time slow offerings of Aaron O’Brien accounted for Jonathan Wells for 32 and the Redbacks may have wondered about their decision.But Tasmania’s batsmen found it hard to build momentum against the seamers and the occasional medium-pacer Mark Cosgrove picked up Alex Doolan for 37. A partnership between last year’s captain Daniel Marsh and his successor George Bailey followed, until Bailey (34) cut Peter George into the hands of Michael Klinger.Marsh followed soon after for 13, making Chris Duval the fifth single-wicket taker right on the verge of bad light halting play. The day had started with a 44-run opening stand until Ed Cowan, in his first game for Tasmania having switched from New South Wales during the off-season, was bowled by Mark Cleary for 23.

Robert Key has warned that next year’s expanded Twenty20 tournament must not come at the cost of the County Championship. Key, whose Kent side lost the semi-final against Somerset on Saturday, supports the increase in matches but wants the ECB to ensure it doesn’t mean that four-day games are crammed in at either end of the season.From 2010, the newly-named P20 will include two groups of nine teams and be played over a longer period of the season to build on the appetite for the shortest format. Key, who missed out on an England recall for the deciding Ashes Test at The Oval despite being widely tipped, believes the mid-season period of 20-over cricket is a good idea so long as the four-day format doesn’t suffer.”What is my worry a little bit is that, either side of Twenty20 with an expanded period, are we going to get crammed in with four-day game after four-day game with one-day off?,” Key said. “At the minute, we’ve just gone four-dayer, one day off, another four-dayer, a one-day game, one day off, another four-dayer and then this [Twenty20 Cup].””We’ve got to make sure we keep the quality in the four-day game. It is hard work for bowlers to keep backing up and doing the business in back-to-back games.”Kent had a packed schedule leading into Finals Day, having played for 13 days out of 15 including three Championship matches, and the same demands were faced by Sussex. Key refused to blame the fixture list as an excuse for Kent’s seven-wicket defeat, but it highlights the demands faced by county players. His team finished a match against Northamptonshire, fellow semi-finalists, on Friday afternoon and travelled straight to Edgbaston, once again sparking the quality verses quantity debate that surrounds English domestic cricket.”If you have got a period of Twenty20, it gives your bowlers a rest,” he said. “I know it is pretty hectic but they are only bowling four overs compared to playing Championship and 50-over cricket all the time. It will help the bowlers, that period”I think Twenty20 is a fantastic form of the game. It seems to me the public love this form of the game and it breaks up the summer pretty well,” he added. “It is brilliant we’ve got more Twenty20 but we’ve got to be careful we don’t end up playing back-to-back Championship games throughout the whole year.”

John Dyson, the West Indies coach, has said his team played well against Bangladesh but lacked the experience to push for wins. West Indies lost the Test series 2-0 and are also down 2-0 in the one-day series, looking to avoid a series whitewash when they play the third ODI in St Kitts.”I’d like to have a win and I’m sure the boys would as well,” Dyson said. “I think they’ve actually played some good cricket over the series but we just did not have the experience to get a win.””Bangladesh batted well. I think we saw our inexperience come through in Dominica.” West Indies had scored 274 but Bangladesh chased it down with three wickets in hand and an over to spare. “When you have a group of guys who have only played a handful of games between them, it’s a real pressure cooker in 50-over and Twenty20 cricket,” Dyson said.Dyson said Bangladesh had played very well over the series and it wasn’t fair to say they had got success only because they were playing a weaker team. “Everyone seems to ignore the fact that they have played good cricket. They aren’t as weak as some people seem to think they are.”West Indies were delivered a scare in the second ODI when Darren Sammy picked up a groin injury but Dyson was confident he would be fit for the final game. “He [Sammy] bowled today [in the nets], he had two spells and he showed no signs of any problems from that. He’s batted extremely well in the nets, so at the moment he’s showing no signs of any problems at all. I expect him to be 100% fit.”

Ricky Ponting has labelled Duncan Fletcher a “hypocrite” after the former England coach’s comments that Australia had no right to claim the moral high ground on Spirit of Cricket issues. While Ponting maintained he had not complained excessively about the hosts’ “ordinary” time-wasting late on the final day in the drawn Cardiff Test, Andy Flower, the current England mentor, said the captain “made a meal” of the incident.As England’s last two batsmen held on they sent on the 12th man Bilal Shafayat and the physiotherapist Steve McCaig to prevent the visitors from delivering more overs. “[Fletcher] is sort of saying he didn’t condone what they did the other day,” Ponting said. “It seemed a little bit hypocritical, some of the stuff he had to say.”Fletcher wrote in the Guardian about Ponting putting pressure on the umpires at Sophia Gardens and their sledging. “If any side in the world doesn’t play within the spirit of the game it’s Ponting’s Australians, yet here he is sitting in judgment on England because he’s frustrated that his bowlers failed to complete the job,” he said. “Ponting getting frustrated – does that remind you of anything?”Ponting yelled at Fletcher on his way to the dressing room after he was run-out by Gary Pratt, the substitute fielder, at Trent Bridge in 2005. “We are good mates, Duncan and I,” Ponting said wryly at Lord’s. “I’m not one little bit worried at all about what Duncan has had to say. He is an irrelevant person in my world and probably in the cricketing world right at the moment.”The chapter adds more tension before Thursday’s second Test at Lord’s, but don’t expect any reduction in the number or intensity of exchanges between players. On the final day in Cardiff Kevin Pietersen and Mitchell Johnson argued during the warm-ups and Stuart Broad and Peter Siddle bumped shoulders in the middle before the emotional finish. Siddle also hit Graeme Swann with a series of painful short balls, but Swann responded with an incredibly valuable 31.”It is not an Ashes series without a few of those [incidents],” England’s captain Andrew Strauss said. “As pressure builds, that strains people and once they are put under pressure they react in a number of different ways. One thing which I think is important is that the series continues to be played in a good manner and I certainly think on those first five days, it was played in that manner.”The Australians are often accused of pushing – or breaking – the rules but maintain they adhere to the over-riding Spirit of Cricket and their own stricter code. Steve Waugh has been at Lord’s this week and felt neither team was particularly out of order in Cardiff.Ponting is Waugh’s successor and has no problems with the conduct of his team. “I don’t think I have ever been pulled up for anything outside of playing within the spirit of the game,” Ponting said. “We have always had the finger pointed at us about that sort of stuff. But we never seem to get in too much trouble from the authorities about the spirit of the game.”He said the fall-out from the time wasting had been “overcooked”. “There is so much hype around the series that little things like that can turn into really big things,” he said. “The entire game, I felt, was played in terrific spirit, it was on for young and old out on the field as we saw with the Siddle and Swann battle. But otherwise it was a great Test match.”In 2005 the Australians were considered too friendly with their opponents and fell to a 2-1 series loss. Strauss said the circumstances and personnel for this contest were different and the dynamic from previous battles had changed. “Players do what feels natural to them,” he said.

UAE international Saqib Ali has been banned for a year after he was found guilty of attempting to assault an umpire during a local Twenty20 cup tie.The Dubai-based National newspaper reported that Saqib had a heated argument with Mohammed Asif, who was standing as the square-leg umpire, after an appeal for a catch behind was turned down by Asif’s colleague. It is claimed that Saqib then grabbed a bail and threw it at the umpire – it missed, but Saqib had to be hauled away by team-mates.Emirates Cricket Board chief executive Dilawar Mani said: “If a council has banned a player or takes disciplinary action, as a matter of principle, all other regional councils will honour that decision. And we will stand by them.”Saqib has the right to appeal. He hasn’t done it so far. A lot will depend on if he wants a review of the decision. And if he appeals, another meeting can take place and review that decision.”The ban means he will miss the ACC Twenty20 Cup and World Twenty20 Qualifiers, as well as most of UAE’s Intercontinental Cup matches.Abu Dhabi Cricket Council (ADCC) general secretary Inam-ul-Haq told the National newspaper: “Saqib was apologetic and admitted his misconduct on the field. He said that he got ’emotional’ but we can’t allow him to go unpunished for such a serious offence.”Saqib has captained the UAE and is a current international. He has a responsibility. We have taken this decision after a thorough investigation, and after speaking to the umpires, some of the players, the scorers and an ADCC official, who were present during the match.”

The teams couldn’t be more different, and their journey to the semi-final illustrates that. If Royal Challengers Bangalore, under Anil Kumble, are playing as a team with the seniors and youngsters performing as a unit, Chennai have depended on individual performances to fuel them. Chances are that in the season-end IPL XI, only Anil Kumble will make it from Bangalore while Chennai will provide Matthew Hayden and Suresh Raina, with MS Dhoni missing out only because of Adam Gilchrist. It’s a contest between Chennai’s flair v Bangalore’s old-age resilience. Chennai’s batsmen v Bangalore’s discipline.It’s also a battle between two captains. The moment of Bangalore’s campaign came when Anil Kumble was asked about his rather aggressive fist-pumping celebration after dismissing Yuvraj Singh in a tight game. “You have to do it; else they will say you are too old for Twenty20!” It captured Kumble’s personality perfectly; perhaps it has rubbed on to the team, largely comprising the same non-performing and “aged” Test-stars from last year.Bangalore’s transformation has been one of the great stories of this IPL. Perhaps, like Deccan Chargers, their dismal performance last season hurt them deeply. Under Kumble, Bangalore have performed united, almost above themselves. Their bowling, barring Kumble, is not going to cause sleepless nights to any batsmen. Their batting doesn’t seem to have the X-factor to post or chase big totals. Yet they are where they are now. The seniors led the way and the youngsters have begun to follow them.The moment that highlighted Chennai’s problem came a couple of games ago when Dhoni admitted to being irritated and angry at his bowlers and fielders. Even earlier in the tournament he spoke about the need to improve. But the bowlers have repeatedly let him down, till the crucial game against Rajasthan which saw them through to the semi-finals. The uber-cool Dhoni has become a bit edgy. He has talked about how he is losing his temper as he is finding it difficult to grab the attention of the fielders manning the boundaries. Kumble has been his old fierce self. The good thing for both is that the players respect them and don’t take criticism in the wrong way.Bangalore’s turnaround has been spectacular. What has caught the eye is that the lesser- known players have also started to pitch in with vital contributions. Everyone has had their moment under the sun. Many of them have produced the best performances of their careers in this IPL. R Vinay Kumar bowled two of his best deliveries to remove Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly. Manish Pandey had his best outing with the bat in the last game. And even greats like Jacques Kallis and Rahul Dravid have quashed the perception that they won’t shine in this Twenty20 format. Even Kumble, by his own admission, struggled last year. Ross Taylor has started to finally come good with three quality innings. Virat Kohli hasn’t been consistent but has had couple of good outings. Robin Uthappa has been a disappointment, though, with only one good knock so far. That has hurt Bangalore as he could have provided the fire-power with the bat to take them to big totals, which they have managed only once.Chennai’s problems have been with the ball. Dhoni has preferred allrounders like Jacob Oram and Albie Morkel rather than specialist bowlers but both have struggled to come good. The top batsmen, however, have all come out firing in the tournament. And Raina has also proved to be more than a handful with his offspin.The prediction? Either Chennai will have a one-sided victory with Hayden, Raina and Co firing on all cylinders or Bangalore will scrape a hard-fought win.

Zimbabwe Cricket has confirmed that the domestic Twenty20 tournament has been switched from Harare to Bulawayo. The competition, which takes place between May 13 and 16, will be staged at Queens Sports Club and Bulawayo Athletic Club.”Bulawayo Metro Province has been very forthcoming in making a stronger case for the competition to be held in Bulawayo and we reached a final decision to that effect last week,” a ZC spokesperson told Cricinfo.Bulawayo Metropolitan Cricket Association chairman Bradley Staddon told the Sunday News that the switch was “a good development for Bulawayo because we have not hosted any cricket for a long time. We want to put together a good event and prove to Harare that we are capable of hosting a big tournament.”The board has been under fire for moving the entire Logan Cup to Harare, and no major cricket has been played outside the capital for more than a year. The two grounds in Bulawayo are reported by local sources to be in good condition.Defending champions Easterns, along with Centrals and Northerns are expected to start arriving in Bulawayo on May 11, two days after home side Westerns get back after completing their Logan Cup campaign.There will be two matches each day at the same venue, with the first getting underway at 9.30am.

Match facts

Thursday, March 26, 2009
Start time 10.30am local (21.30 GMT)MS Dhoni is looking for India’s 100th Test win, and their first series triumph in New Zealand in 41 years•AFP

The Big Picture

One down with two to play, New Zealand have it all to do. So comprehensively were they outplayed in all aspects in Hamilton that a reversal of fortunes is a tall task: their top order was woefully inadequate, the fast bowlers were a distant second to Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma and Munaf Patel, and Harbhajan Singh comfortably outperformed Daniel Vettori in the spin department.The gulf was wide in the first Test, but New Zealand have been putting in the hard yards over the last four days to give themselves the best chance of bridging the gap. What they’ll hope for now is to get some early momentum at McLean Park, take the honours in the first two sessions, and hope India feel the pressure. Some quick Indian wickets with the new ball could still swing things their way, but if India survive the early exchanges, it could be another long Test for New Zealand.MS Dhoni has a superior team on paper, and proved that in the first Test, but India need to guard against complacency. While they’ve been winning more frequently overseas since 2000, series wins haven’t been that easy to come by. The last time they won the first Test of a series outside the subcontinent – against South Africa in 2006-07 – they promptly lost the next two to lose the series. However, Dhoni has plenty of incentive to ensure that this isn’t repeated: India haven’t won a series in New Zealand since 1967-68, and a victory in Napier will break that dry spell, and also bring up their 100th Test win.

Test form guide

(last five matches, most recent first)
New Zealand – LDDLL
India – WDWWD
India have beaten Australia, England and New Zealand over their last five games, while New Zealand have suffered heavy defeats against Australia and India during this period.

Watch out for …

Jesse Ryder has shown, over the course of this series, that he can mould his game according to the needs of the team. He was aggression personified in the ODIs, but he showed wonderful temperament and maturity in putting together his first Test hundred in extremely trying circumstances in Hamilton. He has a solid technique, his confidence is sky-high, and the Indians haven’t yet figured out how to bowl to him.Harbhajan Singh picked up his best overseas haul in the previous Test. With him, one good performance usually leads to another. Against an inexperienced New Zealand batting line-up lacking in quality against spin and on a pitch expected to assist slow bowlers, Harbhajan will back himself to take another bagful of wickets.

Team news

Jeetan Patel is likely to come in for the disappointing Kyle Mills, who did his cause no favours with a lacklustre performance in Hamilton – 1 for 119 in 24.2 overs. Moreover, in two previous Tests in Napier, Mills’ stats are equally mediocre – none for 128 in 44 overs. New Zealand also need to decide if Daniel Flynn has recovered from the bruising he suffered on his hand in the first Test. He practised despite a swollen hand on the eve of the Test, and a final call will only be taken after a comprehensive fitness Test on Thursday morning. If he fails to make the grade, Jamie How will take his place.New Zealand (likely): 1 Tim McIntosh, 2 Martin Guptill, 3 Daniell Flynn/Jamie How, 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Jesse Ryder, 6 James Franklin, 7 Brendon McCullum (wk), 8 Daniel Vettori (capt), 9 Jeetan Patel, 10 Iain O’Brien, 11 Chris Martin.India will almost certainly play the team that won so convincingly in Hamilton. There were question-marks over the third seamer before that game, but Munaf Patel dispelled them emphatically with match figures of 5 for 120.India (likely): 1 Gautam Gambhir, 2 Virender Sehwag, 3 Rahul Dravid, 4 Sachin Tendulkar, 5 VVS Laxman, 6 Yuvraj Singh, 7 Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt & wk), 8 Harbhajan Singh, 9 Zaheer Khan, 10 Ishant Sharma, 11 Munaf Patel.

Pitch & conditions

The pitch has come in for plenty of comment in the days leading up to the Test, with reports of a fungal growth forcing the groundsmen to shift the surface. However, Phil Stoyanoff, the chief curator, denied those reports, and predicted a typical Napier track. “There is always a little bit in it in the first session, and then it pans out to be an absolute belter, and has good consistent bounce,” Stoyanoff said. “Lot of runs get scored here.”That, coupled with forecasts of sunny weather over the next four days, is good news for India’s batsmen, but not so encouraging for New Zealand. Andy Moles, the New Zealand coach, has publicly called for a pitch which offers more help to the fast bowlers, but with the home team looking to play two spinners, that looks highly unlikely.

Stats and trivia

• New Zealand haven’t yet won a Test here – in seven games they’ve lost two and drawn the rest. India’s only Test here was in 1990, which they drew.
• The only Indian from the current squad to play a Test here is Sachin Tendulkar, who missed his maiden Test century by 12 runs in 1990.
• Jeetan Patel has taken ten wickets in two Tests at McLean Park, at an average of 29.20. Vettori hasn’t been as incisive, averaging 47.75 for his eight wickets at this ground.
• The team batting second hasn’t yet won a Test here: both Sri Lanka and England won when batting first.

Quotes

“We need our batsmen to bat 120 overs, we need our bowlers to be consistent for longer, and we need to lift ourselves in the field. It’s every part of the game, and if we don’t do that we will get the same result as we did in Hamilton.”
“For us the next step is day one of the Test match. As I said a Test match goes on for five days, it’s not like it’s decided in one day. We have seen sides losing a game after having a brilliant day. It’s all about consistently doing well over a period of time.”