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Bangladesh, Pakistan and Kenya will get in their final bit of practice ahead of the Twenty20 World Championship in a four-nation tournament beginning in Nairobi tomorrow. Uganda will relish the opportunity to play against higher opposition and dip their fingers into the slam-bang form of the game that has grown in popularity.The tournament begins with Kenya taking on Bangladesh and Pakistan playing Uganda. The most anticipated match, between Bangladesh and Pakistan, is on September 2.Geoff Lawson, the former Australian fast bowler and current coach of Pakistan, sees the tournament as an opportunity to practice. “We can prepare strategies, try and find the right balances, work out plans and play any number of practice games but that can only take you so far,” Lawson said. “Until the first match happens, we won’t really know what to expect.”Pakistan, with big names that can attract the crowds in Nairobi, are easy favourites to lift the tournament because of their Twenty20 experience. Shoaib Malik, who recently said that the captaincy has made him stronger, Imran Nazir and Shahid Afridi are all big hitters of the cricket ball, and Mohammad Asif and Shoaib Akhtar are two exciting fast bowlers who form a lethal opening combination.Bangladesh, who have not played international cricket since late July, warmed up for the Twenty20 World Championship with a number of practice matches in Mirpur, near Dhaka. Mohammad Ashraful, the captain, hoped this tournament would offer much-needed exposure ahead of the bigger prize in South Africa.”It is good for us to play in this tournament since we expect the Kenyan conditions to be the same as in South Africa,” he told AFP. “We have not played many Twenty20 matches and this tournament will help gauge the playing abilities of the players.”Kenya struggled recently against the A sides of India and Sri Lanka and have little experience of the Twenty20 game. Uganda, led by Joel Olweny, have four Under-19 players – Roger Mukasa, Arthur Kyobe, Charles Waiswa and Ronald Ssemanda – and three new faces in Martin Ondeko, Kebba Nicholas and Jeremy Kibuuka-Musoke.The four-day competition will be completed when Pakistan face Kenya on September 4; two days later the teams – barring Uganda – fly to Johannesburg for the inaugural Twenty20 World Championship.

Shaun Pollock, the South Africa allrounder, has announced his retirement from international cricket following the second day’s play against West Indies in Durban. The current Test, his 108th, will be his last and the one-day series that follows the final matches for his country.”I’d like to thank Cricket South Africa for allowing me the opportunity of representing my country for the last 12 years,” Pollock told a press conference after the day’s play. “I thoroughly enjoy the honour and privilege of wearing the Protea badge and take with me some remarkable memories having played against some great players.”I made the decision at the start of the season that the West Indies series would be my last,” he said. “I have been fortunate to be in a team that has had the calibre of players to beat any opposition on any given day. I have made some wonderful friendships and have played against some remarkable characters.”Pollock, 34, regained his Test place for the deciding match against West Indies after not playing in the five-day game since January 2007. He currently stands on 420 Test wickets, the most by a South African, and 387 in ODIs. There is a chance he will finish with 400 in both forms depending on his success in the one-day series against West Indies.Pollock was thrust into the captaincy of South Africa in April 2000 when Hansie Cronje was drummed out of the game, and he faced the biggest challenge of his career – to lift a shocked and demoralised South African side. However, after a solid start to his captaincy, he lost some credibility after a 3-0 drubbing in Australia in 2001-02, and was later blamed for South Africa’s disastrous World Cup in which they failed to qualify for the Super Sixes.As a result, Pollock immediately lost the captaincy and was replaced by Graeme Smith. Though his nagging brilliance around off stump remained, his pace and ability to take wickets at the top of the order dipped in latter years.”I realise I have been blessed by God,” he said, “and feel I have nurtured my talents to the best of my abilities.”

Rahul Dravid has declared himself ready to open in the Boxing Day Test against Australia and he believes India’s promising middle-order prospects can no longer be ignored. While Dravid would not confirm if the plan was set in stone, India gave a strong indication of their strategy by sending him in with Wasim Jaffer to begin their rain-affected tour match against Victoria.Dravid survived the 158 minutes of play that were possible, reaching 33 not out, and a move to the top of the order in the Test might open the door for Yuvraj Singh to retain his place after he made 169 in the final Test against Pakistan earlier this month. Sachin Tendulkar did not play in that match and will need to slot back in, leaving the selectors to ponder the make-up of their batting order.”We’ve had a very strong middle order over these years, a lot of the same people have played in the middle order a lot,” Dravid said. “We’ve got a lot of good young middle-order batsmen coming in who can’t really be ignored.”Three of his top-order colleagues fell around him and the Junction Oval but Dravid was typically careful, happy just to spend some time at the crease after his disappointing Test series against England and Pakistan. In the three Pakistan Tests he felt he didn’t have “the rub of the green”, and scored 38, 34, 50, 8 not out, 19 and 42.”It’s been a strange series in the sense I got a few starts, maybe played a couple of average shots as well,” Dravid said. “I’ve spent a bit of time in the middle so I feel like I’m playing well, I’m moving my feet and batting well.”But he will have to take that confidence into the unfamiliar role of opener in the first Test, and if Melbourne’s thundery weather continues as expected on Friday and Saturday his preparation might be very limited. Dravid has opened 13 times in Tests, averaging 33.54, and he has not filled the role since February 2006.”I’ve batted all my career in different positions,” he said. “Batting at three you probably come in early a few times as well, but it is a little different. It’s a little bit with the mindset, you’re used to batting in a particular position.”Right from the time I was in school I played in the middle order so you get used to something like that. But as a professional cricketer and as a professional sportsman you’re adaptability is important. The critical thing for me is the changeover – you have just ten minutes [between innings].”India’s impressive results last time they toured Australia – the 2003-04 series was drawn 1-1 – came largely through strong batting and Dravid conceded he would be under pressure to maintain that standard if he opens in the Tests. “As we showed last time if we can get through the early part with the new ball without the loss of too many wickets, we’ve got the kind of batting and people who can make it count later on,” he said.The three-day warm-up match in Melbourne was reduced to only the post-lunch session as heavy rain bookended the day’s play. A torrential downpour came right on tea and the Junction Oval was almost completely under water, but within an hour and a half the rain had stopped and the grass was again visible.Dravid said it would be disappointing if India’s only practice match was washed out ahead of the first Test in what he called the most challenging tour of all. Last time they visited Australia India had good weather for their two tour matches before the series began, and Dravid said that preparation was ideal.”We would definitely have liked more than one warm-up game,” he said. “[But] international cricket is cramped nowadays. We’ll just have to do the best with what we’ve got.”

The last remaining general public tickets for the Ashes Tests at the Gabba and the MCG will go on sale on Wednesday. There are 950 tickets remaining for day two at the Gabba Test, 2000 for day three and 3500 for day four. About 950 tickets are still available for day two of the MCG Test, 4000 for day three and 15,000 for day four.About 1600 tickets also remain for the Twenty20 international between Australia and England at the SCG on January 9. The Test and Twenty20 tickets can be bought on the internet, by phone or through outlets via the ticket agency in the state where the matches will be played. They go on sale from 10am AEDT on Wednesday.There are also about 2000 tickets still available for day five of the second Test at Adelaide Oval. The Adelaide tickets were part of the original allocation and are on sale now.

Records tumbled on arguably the most one-sided first day of a Test in 128 years of international cricket. It was gruesome to watch, but at least the statisticians had something to get excited about.First to go was Zimbabwe’s lowest Test score. Their previous-worst was 63, at Port-of-Spain in March 2000, when they wilted in the face of what seemed to be an easy victory target of just 99 runs. But today was worse: only Stuart Matsikenyeri made double figures, although curiously there was only one duck as Zimbabwe succumbed for 54. Click here for a list of the lowest innings in Tests.As South Africa toyed with the bowling as if it was the Father’s Match at school, another record loomed into view. The biggest lead that a side batting second had established by the end of the first day in any Test was 233, when England ran up 286 for 8 after bowling out Australia for 53 in 75 minutes at Lord’s in 1896. That 109-year-old record was soon in tatters – like Zimbabwe’s spirits – as the runs cascaded after tea, a session in which South Africa scored 249 in 33 overs.Jacques Kallis, soon after smacking three successive sixes off Graeme Cremer, hurtled to his half-century in just 24 balls – the fastest-known in terms of balls faced, relegating Ian Botham’s slaptastic 26-ball fifty at Delhi in 1981-82 down a place.There was also the little matter of Makhaya Ntini’s 200th Test wicket – he’s the third South African (after Allan Donald and Shaun Pollock) to get there, and the 46th from all countries – and Mark Boucher’s 300th Test dismissal behind the stumps (only Ian Healy and Rod Marsh have made more). There was even one bright moment for Zimbabwe: Tatenda Taibu scored his 1000th Test run.Wisden doesn’t do records for hurt pride, or the Zimbabweans might have clocked up a few more. But Cremer’s figures of 9-0-86-3 were a candidate for Most Unusual in Tests (Asanka Gurusinha runs him close, with a spell of 1.5-0-25-2 in 1986-87), while Tatenda Taibu’s persistence with a slip and a gully almost all day would have come in high on the mythical Most Optimistic Field Placings table.

Lancashire handed the National League title they have won for the last two years to Gloucestershire by beating Somerset in a thrilling day-night match at Old Trafford.Somerset were the only team who could overhaul Gloucestershire but they fell 10 runs short of Lancashire’s 236 for four despite a brilliant century from their Australian captain Jamie Cox – with Gloucestershire’s players watching nervously in a Brighton hotel.Lancashire are still virtually certain to be relegated but at least they salvaged some pride despite the absence of four England players – Mike Atherton, Andy Flintoff and the injured John Crawley and Peter Martin.Sourav Ganguly was their hero, scoring his third one-day century of the season after stand-in skipper Warren Hegg had won the toss and chosen to bat.Ganguly, who has failed to score a century in the Championship, made 102 from 137 balls with eight boundaries, sharing stands of 82 with Mark Chilton and 115 in 19 overs with Neil Fairbrother.It took the Indian left-hander’s tally in 11 National League games to 532 runs at an average of almost 60, in addition to 262 runs from four NatWest Trophy innings.Fairbrother also played a key role with another one-day masterclass, scoring 62 from 56 balls with six fours and a pair of sixes over long on.Mark Lathwell gave Somerset’s reply the perfect start with 53 from 83 balls including six stylish boundaries.He was bowled by Gary Keedy but as long as Cox was in, Somerset’s title hopes were very much alive.The Tasmanian cruised to three figures in only 98 balls despite only hitting five boundaries, including a straight six off Chris Schofield.But Schofield played a vital part in Lancashire’s victory, claiming the wickets of Michael Burns and Ian Blackwell and also running out Keith Parsons with a direct hit from backward point.But as so often for Lancashire, it was Ian Austin who applied the finishing touches.Somerset needed 23 from three overs when Austin returned to the attack and he put Somerset under so much pressure that Cox was run out by Glen Chapple.Austin then polished off two wickets in the last over as Lancashire enjoyed only their fifth win of the season.But they will hardly have enjoyed handing the title to Gloucestershire, who virtually condemned them to relegation at Bristol on Monday after beating them at the semi final stage of both the NatWest Trophy and Benson and Hedges Cup earlier this season.

Sourav Ganguly was greatly relieved yesterday when the ICC rescindedhis two-match suspension, which allowed him to play the second Test against South Africa in the Kolkata. As Ganguly noted at the pre-match press conference this morning, he had already missed four out of eight Test matches this year to injury, andhad been troubled by the prospect of having to sit out another two Tests.But there is also another reason why the captain does not want to missout on a chance to play. He is in a rather beleaguered state at the moment,and his authority is open to question as never before. But he canjustly claim to have had a major influence of shaping this Indian team, and hewants to prove that he still belongs among them, as both leader andplayer.India’s form in both Tests and one-dayers has been a distinct three orfour notches below that of last season, and there’s only so long thathe can keep fending off the charges being levelled at him by his critics.Ganguly also did he himself no favours by pulling out abruptly of theNagpur Test, and he has spent so much time on the sidelines this seasonthat he has every reason to fear that his players may grow used tobeing without him.There could be nothing better for Ganguly in the short-term than avictory, something to clear the darkening clouds of dissatisfaction andresentment that have built around in the cricket-watching public’sperception of Team India. Critics have asked if he still has thepassion and the energy for the captaincy, a draining task at the best of times.He needs to answer them with results. He could also do with a big score,as it has been a year – Brisbane in early December 2003 – since hisbatting had a major effect on a Test match, and also because his record atKolkata has been poor. Even though he is a veteran, he probably has more atstake in the game than anyone else.It is not without reason that Ganguly’s critics say that the time hascome to give up the top job to another man. It is possible that even some ofthose sympathetic to Ganguly might believe this is the course of actionthat is best for him. Captaining the Indian side, absorbing theintense scrutiny and measuring up to the expectations of millions ofpassionate followers must be the toughest assignment in world cricket,and not something the strain of which a man can bear for more than afew years.An example of this was witnessed by this writer this very morning.After a stint at nets, Ganguly walked off the ground and into the pavilion. Agroup of people, perhaps about 70 strong, had managed to get into theground to watch the players, and as Ganguly passed below they made arush for the railings, calling out: "Dada! Dada! Dada!"Why were they calling out in such a frenzy to a man occupied with his work and with a dozen important things on his mind? For a wave of the bat in return,perhaps, or some other mark of acknowledgement – some little thing totake away as a sign that they had been in proximity to the captain of India,and shared some interaction with him.Sometimes it must seem to Ganguly as if all of India is on its toes,shouting at him in many accents: "Dada! Dada! Dada!" Can he continue tosteer his way through the tumult for much longer? We shall know – maybenot at Kolkata, but soon enough.

CAPE TOWN-After its initial loss against Australia, each of its remaining four fixtures is a key game for Pakistan. They have to win them all to stay in the hunt for a spot in the next, Super Sixes round. For England, Pakistan’s opponents in Saturday’s day and night game, things are even tighter for comfort.Not in the best of spirits, with the Zimbabwe controversy and the resulting acrimony doing their cause no good, and carrying too many walking-wounded in their ranks, England have beaten both the minnows and forfeited their tie against Zimbabwe in this ‘Group of Death’. So, the Pakistan fixture is a moment of reckoning for them. Win and they live to fight another day; lose and their campaign is more or less over.Technically they would still have a slight chance, but with Pakistan, India and Zimbabwe in the equation for the two remaining Super Sixes slots with Australia in the lead, the challenge for England from a loss here would not just be steep, it would fall in the realm of impossible, for they would have to beat both Australia and India for a comeback.And with the margin of error being truly non-existent for both sides, it goes without saying that the tie is going to be an extremely well-contested one.Pakistan for its part, as Waqar Younis said in the pre-match briefing here at Newlands, is not just keen to survive, they were focused to win and gain points, as points are essential to carry them to the Super Sixes but “also come handy for qualification to the next knock-out round, the semis”.Pakistan has an edge over England in terms of record, as they have not lost a World Cup game to the latter since 1983 – winning five on the trot in the meanwhile, including the 1992 World Cup final. And in their last meeting in an event, the NatWest Trophy in England in 2001, Pakistan blanked them out in all three matches.”Yes, we know England well, and are aware of what it takes to beat them. We just want to play to our potential”, said Waqar, meaning thereby that if Pakistan just does that, it would be enough for them to prevail over their opponents.That said, both sides have their own fair share of problems. The England captain, Nasser Hussain, who sat out the unconvincing win over Namibia, is still not 100 per cent. Suffering from soft tissue damage around his neck, he ventured out for a spell at the nets but only to soon withdraw. Ian Blackwell and Ashley Giles too have been suffering from a twisted back and tonsillitis.All three, the England coach Duncan Fletcher said in the customary pre-match press conference, were better, but a final decision on whether they would take the field or not would be taken on the morning of the match.Fletcher conceded that Pakistan remain a threat, not just to England but to any side in the world. He singled out Akram and Saqlain as potential match-winners. Perhaps he deliberately ignored mentioning Shoaib, but he too along with Akram and Saqlain was likely to cause a few nightmares of his own to English batsmen.Pakistan’s bowling generally remains in fine fettle, and quite capable of blowing away England. “We’re giving Shoaib the new ball, because with his pace he could get us early wickets, and Wasim is bowling beautifully well,” said Waqar. “Our only weak showing so far was against Australia in the middle overs, and that cost us the game. I believe Saqlain can play a role here”, said he.But it is the batting and not bowling which is causing Pakistan management a great deal of discomfiture. Having already played out a different set of openers in two matches, and still unsatisfied with the results, the one-down position too remains unsettled. But the mother of all worries is the form, or the absolute lack of it, of Inzamam-ul-Haq. Quite inexplicably, he is woefully out of touch. On the eve of team’s departure for the World Cup, he had promised that to bolster the frailty in the batting, he would be willing to bat a notch higher, at number three.That promise remains unfulfilled, and Pakistan has been worse off due to it. If Inzamam walks to the middle at one-down, it could serve Pakistan in good stead in more ways than one. Firstly, he could hope to have the time to play himself back into form. Secondly, if he fires, it could stem the rot in the middle order, which has not made a substantive contribution in any of their two matches so far, leaving it only for the late order to give respectability, and not added impetus, to the total.But Waqar dispelled any likelihood of Inzamam playing at one-down: “He is comfortable at number four; the team also requires him to bat there”.Toss, as Waqar Younis mentioned, would be a vital factor. “I’m sure whosoever wins would bat first and try and put runs on the board”, said he, adding, “Since both our teams are struggling for form in batting, I hope it would be our bowling which would make the difference”.With no fitness problems, the Pakistan management would be hoping that the anxiety regarding the batting takes care of itself in this encounter.Going into the match, Pakistan does have an edge over England – in terms of morale, fitness, resources etc. They only need to make sure that they maintain a high level of intensity, and fire on all cylinders.

Steve James has admitted defeat in his battle to overcome a long-standing knee injury and has announced his retirement from first-class cricket.James, 36, had a year remaining on his contract, but after sitting out the 2003 season he was forced to bow to the inevitable when six operations failed to make any real progress. Already a regular writer on cricket and rugby, he will devote himself full-time to journalism. Aptly, he announced his decision in a Sunday newspaper.”There are a lot of different emotions but I guess the main one is sadness,” James said. “I had a serious operation last June and I knew then it was 50-50 whether I’d be able to play again. I had another year on my contract and I felt I had another couple of years in me but it’s not to be. The decision was made for me.”James, who played twice for England in 1998 (“At least they couldn’t call me a one-Test wonder,” he once said), made his Glamorgan debut in 1985, sscoring 15890 runs at 40.63. For much of the 1990s James was one of the most prolific batsmen on the county circuit, but in recent years injury blunted his effectiveness.He was appointed as Glamorgan’s captain in 2001, leading them to the Sunday League title in his first season. He resigned last summer when it became apparent that he would not be able to play during the season.

A year that began with a nerve-jangling finale to Steve Waugh’s farewell Test ended with a shambolic one-day defeat to Bangladesh, and in between, Indian cricket took in more peaks and troughs than the average submersible on the sea-bed. The team that even Waugh acclaimed as second only to his near-invincibles last January logged a deflating series loss to Australia and a string of abysmal one-day performances that left them perilously close to the bottom of the scrap-heap.It had all started so promisingly, with the spectacular hijacking of the Waugh farewell . VVS Laxman and Sachin Tendulkar scripted glorious centuries as India piled up 705, and but for two magnificent knocks from Simon Katich – not to mention a curmudgeonly 80 from Waugh on the final afternoon – Anil Kumble would have bowled India to the most storied series win in her history.Three months later, the pain of that near miss was alleviated by the conquering of a frontier that had hitherto been impenetrable. Having withstood the pressure of global attention – even CNN started a news bulletin with references to the opening game – India edged out Pakistan 3-2 in the one-day series, before administering two crushing innings defeats in Tests at Multan and Rawalpindi. The first of those was dominated by the free-stroking Virender Sehwag, whose romp to 309 surpassed Laxman’s Kolkata effort of 2001 as the highest score made by an Indian, and the furore over the declaration that deprived Tendulkar of a double-hundred.Though Pakistan regrouped to square the series in Lahore, they were routed in the final Test, as Rahul Dravid reeled off one of his rock-of-ages efforts for 270. Demoralised by the sheer weight of Indian runs, Pakistan were also undone by some exceptional bowling, with Irfan Pathan – the most exciting talent India has unearthed since Tendulkar – and Lakshmipathy Balaji providing sterling support for the ubiquitous Kumble.After that series, Sourav Ganguly spoke of how only a mite more consistency was required to move within menacing range of the Australians. But once India came back after a three-month sojourn to play incalculably poor and pallid cricket, Ganguly’s pronouncement seemed like a poorly-timed jibe at fate. With players and officials still thrashing out details of central contracts, the team stumbled in the final of the Asia Cup in Sri Lanka, and then made depressingly early exits from the one-day tournament in Amstelveen and the ICC Champions Trophy. On all three occasions, India were given a walloping by a Pakistan side that appeared to be far more innovative and dangerous under Bob Woolmer.With the season having started under the haze of defeat, the last thing India cricket needed was a thunderstorm to wash away many of the gains of the previous two years. But that was precisely what it got, with the disgraceful events at the BCCI elections – still under scrutiny by the Supreme Court – and the tug-of-war over TV rights doing irreparable damage to preparation ahead of the showpiece series against Australia.

Jagmohan Dalmiya’s unquenched thirst for power and influence manifested itself in the form of four electoral votes and the installation of a puppet president – Ranbir Singh Mahendra – whose sole claim to notoriety lay in a scathing report that almost ruined Ganguly’s career when he was tour manager to Australia in 1991-92. And with the BCCI having become the Augean Stables, the TV-rights golden goose was nearly carved apart by Zee, a network with a conspicuous lack of pedigree in cricket broadcasting, and ESPN-Star, whose august standards had slipped as a result of pandering to TRPs and the page 3 fan.In such a backdrop, defeat against Australia was almost inevitable, especially once the visitors unveiled the glittering talent of Michael Clarke during the opening Test at Bangalore. Humbled in that game, and then stymied by inclement weather in Chennai, India plumbed the depths on a green-tinged Nagpur surface where Australia meted out a fearful 342-run hammering. Victory on a Cambodian-minefield pitch in Mumbai meant little in the final analysis, merely expressing the desperation of a side that had lost its way.Facile Test victories over South Africa and Bangladesh – illuminated only by Kumble and Tendulkar surpassing individual landmarks – glossed over the inadequacies in the final months, but a Boxing-Day knockout courtesy the world’s weakest one-day side was another none-too-subtle reminder of how far the World Cup finalists have fallen. A team that started the year dreaming of life beyond the clouds ended it with feet firmly rooted to terra firma, and petty administrators with all the credibility of a tawdry music-hall act can take much of the dubious credit for that.Top performers:Anil Kumble proved that it was never too late to get better. He shook off the years and shrugged off suggestions that he was past his best by harvesting 74 wickets, the most he has ever taken in calendar year. With a bit of help from the end and kinder umpires, he could have bowled India to a series win Australia at the beginning of year and at the end of year, he became India’s highest wicket taker in Test. And he is far from finished.Virender Sehwag was the only Indian batsman whose Test form lasted through the year even though he copped a miserable half in one-day cricket. He added three hundreds, one of them a triple, to his tally and stood tall amidst the rubble in the home series against Australia.

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