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As the pundits assemble their predictions for the series between Australia and South Africa, a glance at the last meeting leaves as many questions as answers. A 1-1 stalemate across two hectic Tests in Cape Town and Johannesburg, the series was over all too quickly.In Dale Steyn’s words: “It was like the first two rounds of a boxing match, two heavyweights. Just as soon as we found our feet the Aussies were on their way home.”The Australians were relieved to be doing so, for the result they secured had arrived despite the most chaotic back-room environment imaginable. The Tests took place in between the announcement of the Argus Review’s caustic findings and the finalisation of the new coaching staff, selection panel and team performance regime. The dressing room was in a state of considerable flux, with the captain Michael Clarke virtually the only man sure to be there in the long-term.A few weeks from becoming national coach, Mickey Arthur was still with Western Australia – Troy Cooley a reluctant interim mentor after the departure of Tim Nielsen. Two of Cooley’s assistants, Justin Langer and Steve Rixon, were applicants for the senior job. The new bowling coach, Craig McDermott, was trying to instill methods far removed from those advocated by Cooley over the previous five years.Gavin Dovey, the team manager, was less than six months into the job after replacing Steve Bernard. And Andrew Hilditch was serving out his final tour as part-time chairman of selectors, his replacement John Inverarity making a visit to observe. Pat Howard, the newly-minted team performance manager, also dropped by.Looking back, Clarke told ESPNcricinfo the difficulties of that tour, and the trip to Sri Lanka that preceded it, were the making of his captaincy. Having secured strong results on those two tours, Clarke reasoned that things could not get too much more difficult, and the establishment of a settled support network around him will be a decided advantage entering the return bout with South Africa, this time to be played over a more satisfactory three Tests.”That’s really been forgotten, the fact we had so many changes in that South African series and even in Sri Lanka, but we managed to still have success,” Clarke said. “I’ll never forget that, I’ll never forget the work and the time I had to put in to try to bring the team together to perform against such a good team in their own backyard. Credit to the players, because their attitude, their work ethic, their will to try to help the team win, was what managed to help us to win in Sri Lanka and then also level the series in South Africa.”We’re in a better place now, that’s for sure, but so are South Africa probably. They’ll be flying high in confidence after beating England. We’ve got to play our best cricket, if we play our best cricket I’m confident. Last summer I said I was confident we could beat India if we played our best, and I feel exactly the same now. If we play at our best against South Africa in these conditions, we can beat them.”Clarke’s evolution as a leader made another important step between Cape Town and Johannesburg. On day one of the first Test he played as well as he ever had, braving a grassy pitch and the formidable South African attack to crash a bold 151. At the time it felt like an innings that would not be forgotten, yet by the end of the second day it was ancient history. A maelstrom of wickets, 23 in all, had seen Australia toss away their advantage and South Africa sprinting to victory. If he had been considered a singular individual in the past, Clarke now knew beyond all doubt that as captain, he would be defined by his team’s results.”Personally I think it’s probably the best hundred I’ve made for Australia,” Clarke said. “I needed to make runs for the team, they had a very good fast bowling attack in conditions that suited fast bowling, and while I managed to get through my first 10 balls I think I got hit in the head three or four times, hit in the gloves another six times or so, and I managed to turn that around and score some runs.”But when I say that I think it’s my best Test hundred, it’s one of the most irrelevant Test hundreds because of how the game panned out. I was very disappointed in the second innings, I didn’t make many runs. I’d just scored 150 so I was the one player who was in form and I needed to make runs in that second innings. I’ll never be happy, however many runs I’ve made I want to make more. I’m greedy when it comes to batting, I want to keep making runs and help this team win. If we’re not winning, you won’t see me happy, that’s for sure.”So Clarke was a nervous man throughout the Johannesburg Test, which began with the mighty gamble on the 18-year-old Pat Cummins’ debut. It ebbed and flowed, albeit at a slightly more leisurely pace than Cape Town, and Clarke’s batting contribution was minimal: 11 and 2. He achieved plenty in the field, coaxing a remarkable display out of Cummins and also making the most of Nathan Lyon’s spin on a surface not expected to favour spinners.By the end, when Cummins coshed the winning boundary with just two wickets to spare, Clarke was mentally exhausted. But he was also delighted, and the matter of how many runs he had scored simply did not matter. Out of a chaotic beginning, his team was on the way up.”My value on winning has always been the same, do whatever the team needs you to do to win. If you need to try to hit your first ball for six, because that’s what the team needs, then you do that. That hasn’t changed over the years, I’ve always felt that way,” Clarke said. “I guess it re-emphasised that, it showed me that I’d rather get a duck and win.”When you’re younger you don’t see things that way, it’s one of the things Ricky told me when I took over the captaincy, he said you’ll see the team have success and that’ll give you as much if not more joy than your own performance, and that is 100% true. Jo’burg is a great example, I didn’t score many runs in that game, but the fact that we still won, I enjoyed that a lot more than making 150 in Cape Town.”

ScorecardHarbhajan Singh took five wickets as Essex avenged their CB40 defeat against the Netherlands earlier in the season with a comfortable victory in their Group A tie at Colchester.Ravi Bopara’s return to action following a month’s absence for personal reasons lasted just 11 balls from which he gathered only a single. Bopara had missed England’s second Test with South Africa at Headingley and also pulled out of a an England Lions fixture.A loose stroke outside the off stump against Mudassar Bukhari ended with wicketkeeper Wesley Barresi taking a fine diving catch to send him back to the pavilion. Bopara later found consolation with three wickets.In contrast, half-centuries at better than a run a ball from Tom Westley, Ryan ten Doeschate and James Foster lifted Essex to a total of 314 for 8, their highest total in 40-over cricket. Netherlands could only respond with 197 all outWestley smashed nine fours and a six while making 59 from 40 balls as he opened the innings, before being dismissed when he offered a return catch to the first delivery sent down by left-arm spinner Pieter Seelaar.Ten Doeschate made 52 from 46 balls with the help of three fours and a six before he also fell to Seelaar, this time leg before.Foster upped the tempo with 79 from only 48 deliveries before departing in the last over of the innings when bowled by Logan van Beek.Faced with their huge task, Holland did manage to get off to a fine start and the first 50 was raised in the sixth over thanks to Stephan Myburgh whose quickfire 33 included three sixes before he was caught in the deep attacking off-spinner Harbhajan Singh.That was followed by a partnership of 69 in a dozen overs between Michael Swart and Tom Cooper before the latter also became a victim of Harbhajan, trapped lbw for 35 reverse sweeping to give the bowler his second wicket.Swart’s commendable effort came to an end shortly afterwards. Immediately after completing his half-century from 51 balls, he departed lbw to Bopara and following his dismissal, the visitors never threatened to find the acceleration needed to pose any sort of threat.

ScorecardChris Rogers scored his first one-day century for Middlesex•Getty Images

Chris Rogers returned to haunt Gloucestershire as Middlesex stole a crucial march in the race for a Clydesdale Bank 40 semi-final place.Needing victory to take charge of Group A, Gloucestershire instead suffered a crushing 10-wicket defeat on the final day of the Cheltenham Festival, a result which casts doubt over their qualification hopes.So often a thorn in Gloucestershire’s side during four seasons spent with Derbyshire, Rogers, the 34-year-old Western Australian, dominated proceedings at the College Ground, clubbing his way to a consummate hundred and sharing in a match-winning unbroken stand of 218 with Dawid Malan as Middlesex chased down a victory target of 215 with 9.3 overs to spare. The result saw them move above Netherlands to assume leadership of the group.None of Gloucestershire’s bowlers was spared as Rogers made 122 runs from 102 balls to register his first one-day century for Middlesex, smashing 18 fours and a six in the process. Malan proved equally uncompromising, cutting and pulling his way to a chanceless 89 from 81 deliveries with seven fours and four sixes to put Middlesex in control of the group.Rogers and Malan’s partnership was the highest for the first wicket in any one-day match for Middlesex, surpassing the 210 posted by Paul Weekes and Ed Smith against Northumberland at Jesmond in 2005.Insufficient though it was, Gloucestershire’s total of 214 for 8 was built around Dan Housego’s enterprising innings of 68 from 67 balls. Having spent four years on the staff at Middlesex without playing a single one-day game for them, Housego, a 23-year-old right-hander, no doubt felt he had a point to prove.His decision to leave Lord’s and return to Gloucestershire several years after graduating from their Academy has at long last afforded him an opportunity to establish himself as a regular selection in all forms of the game. Highly motivated, Housego certainly enhanced his burgeoning reputation on a two-paced Cheltenham pitch, timing the ball impressively during stands of 67 in 14 overs with Benny Howell and 60 in seven overs with Alex Gidman for the third and fourth wickets respectively.He helped Gloucestershire rebuild their innings following the early loss of New Zealanders Hamish Marshall and Rob Nicol and then accelerated on his way to a CB40-best score, aided by seven fours and a huge six over extra cover off Irish leg-break bowler Paul Stirling.Gidman proved even more destructive, twice hoisting Neil Dexter over mid-wicket for big sixes in a whirlwind knock of 27 from 23 balls that had a 4,000-plus crowd on their feet. But Gidman skied a catch to square leg off Gareth Berg and Housego departed soon afterwards, held at long-on in the act of driving Stirling to leave the score on 153 for 5 in the 30th over.Ian Cockbain and Ed Young picked up the cudgels in a stand of 48 in six overs for the sixth wicket, but the home side’s progress again faltered in the face of some accurate and hostile bowling at the death from England star Steven Finn and fellow paceman Tony Roland-Jones.Having accounted for overseas debutant Nicol with the new ball, Finn returned to clean bowl Young for 19, finishing with 2 for 27 from eight overs, while Roland-Jones dismissed Cockbain for 31 and Jon Batty in similar fashion to return figures of 3 for 24 and outshine his more illustrious team-mate.

ScorecardDavid Hussey made 37 from 25 balls•Getty Images

It took until a little after 7pm for some sun to shine on the canary yellow shirts of Australia’s cricketers as they familiarised themselves with a grey English summer against Leicestershire. By then Michael Clarke’s tourists had the match in their keeping against modest opposition, and more importantly had taken the chance to spread the day’s workload widely among an XI with limited experience of winning in England.Taken in isolation, few of the visitors produced compelling performances. David Warner caught the eye with a percussive 74, and Clint McKay’s combination of wholehearted seam-up and the odd perplexing slower ball reaped four wickets, but the rest offered cameos that provided the on-field equivalent of a brief net. A day of 70 overs’ cricket was a productive result given the overhead conditions for most of the match, and better than they may get in Belfast against Ireland, where heavy rain is predicted.Of the batsmen only Shane Watson and Steve Smith failed to see out 20 balls, while all the chosen bowlers put in fair shifts. James Pattinson’s first spell on English soil was a decidedly slippery burst of two overs with the new ball that accounted for Leicestershire’s acting captain Joshua Cobb and beat the bat half a dozen times, and Watson warmed into his work so effectively that he was taken off after nipping out two home batsmen in his third over.Mitchell Johnson’s return to the Australian XI for the first time since last November’s tour of South Africa was less wayward than some of his unhappier English spells have been, but he was the only specialist bowler not to take a wicket once called on, and could not complete the day without hearing a reprise of the heckling he received during the 2010-11 Ashes in Australia. The spinners Xavier Doherty (five overs for 28, one wicket) and Steve Smith were not particularly successful either, and will sympathise with West Indies’ Sunil Narine.Leicestershire’s target was first revised to 256 off 41 overs, then became 239 off 36 after the day’s third rain interruption. They never threatened, as McKay, Pattinson, and Watson went about their work, held up only briefly by Greg Smith and Matthew Boyce.Low cloud and misty rain had delayed the toss until midday. Clarke chose to bat, the pitch tinged green but firm enough to reward assertive batsmen, particularly as Leicester’s attack was modest. Peter Forrest, Brett Lee, Pat Cummins and Ben Hilfenhaus sat out for the visitors.Warner opened with Matthew Wade ahead of Watson at No. 3, a shift back to the ODI batting order that had been favoured in Australia. Watson had opened on slower West Indian pitches, the better to capitalise on his muscular hitting while the ball was still new, but he seems more likely to come in at first wicket down as a minor concession to his likely bowling demands on this tour.Nadeem Malik’s opening spell was tidy, leaving Wade and Warner to gain more change from the slippery but less accurate Nathan Buck – an England Lions representative. Wade was the more careful of the two batsmen, playing his first significant innings in England, but both he and Warner split the field often enough in an opening stand of 69 that warded off any perceived threat from the new ball.It was Abdul Razzaq, the former Pakistan allrounder, who found a way past Wade, straightening one enough to win an lbw verdict as Australia’s wicketkeeper failed to get forward. Warner took a liking to the modest left-arm spin of James Sykes, hoisting him for a trio of sixes. They were broken up by the dismissal of Watson, however, who tried to pull a short ball in the same direction but did not clear deep midwicket.Rain arrived shortly after Clarke had reached the wicket, and the further delay cut the innings by another six overs. Though Warner retired on resumption, his innings left a stronger impression than several that were to follow. Clarke clipped his way to 29 then was bowled slogging at Cobb the ball after lofting him for six, David Hussey played busily but shelled Nadeem into the deep, and George Bailey’s 21 was brisk but ended when he failed to cover a Razzaq delivery that snapped back to splay the stumps.Smith’s return to the Australian side after a summer with New South Wales was also underwhelming, tallying only 11 before he too failed to clear the boundary, and McKay could last only one ball against Razzaq. However Johnson and Pattinson hit out well at the end, looking a pair of twins in their upright and powerful left-handed stances.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball commentaryStuart Broad took five wickets during the evening session to swing the match back England’s way•Getty Images

That Shivnarine Chanderpaul values his wicket like few others is not a matter for debate. His team-mate Darren Bravo felt it, the umpire Marius Erasmus felt it and, most painfully of all, the England bowlers felt it. All three found at the start of an international summer that getting him to leave the crease is no easy matter.More than 18 years since he made his Test debut, Chanderpaul is ranked the No. 1 Test batsman in the world, which is proof enough that, at 37, his appetite for batting has not diminished. He finished the opening day of the first Test unbeaten on 87 from 175 balls, with his average against England in England climbing beyond 69.That England could claim nevertheless to have got the job done was down to the competitive zeal of Stuart Broad, who became stronger as the day progressed and who took all five wickets in the final session, with old ball and new, as West Indies faltered from 181 for 4. But as well as he bowled in a session that Chanderpaul was threatening to flatten, and as fulfilled as he looked as he acknowledged the applause, it still felt like a coda to a Guyanese day.Chanderpaul’s innings was not without collateral damage as he played a central role in the run out of his team-mate Darren Bravo in mid-afternoon. He was guilty of ball watching when he clipped Graeme Swann backward of square, took a couple of paces forward, enough to lure Bravo into attempting a rash single, whereupon he made a timely return to his crease shortly before Bravo arrived alongside him. Matt Prior’s transfer of Ian Bell’s throw to the bowler’s end was inaccurate enough for Swann to have to dive to his left to retrieve and complete the run out with a measure of relief.England came close to dismissing Chanderpaul on three occasions. Three overs after the run-out of Bravo, umpire Erasmus upheld James Anderson’s appeal for lbw, around the wicket, after Chanderpaul raised arms and was hit on the pad. But Chanderpaul reviewed it with the calm demeanour of a batsman who knew his angles and Hawk-Eye suggested the ball was comfortably missing off stump.Swann could have had him lbw on 63, but England failed to review. By the time he was on 74, England’s captain, Andrew Strauss, gambled on Stuart Broad’s conviction that he had him lbw – never a wise move – and the ball was shown to have pitched outside leg stump.England’s seam bowlers bowled wide of off stump at Chanderpaul until tea, often to 7-2 fields, respectful of his strength through the legside. They attacked the stumps more in the final session. Graeme Swann invited the sweep and his offspinners went for 14 in an over. Through it all, Chanderpaul’s river rolled along, not as rapid as the Demerara in his native Guyana, more a languid plotting of the safest route through the mangroves. He bats to his own moods, at No. 5, because he is comfortable doing so; to question that, as has Brian Lara among others, is to invite his failure.A cool, inhospitable English spring was a daunting challenge for the West Indies and when Anderson, England’s player of the year, has a Dukes ball in his hand, the task is all the more challenging. He predictably made inroads in what for him were near-perfect bowling conditions with two wickets by lunch, bowling Kieran Powell with a superb delivery that snaked back to take the top of off stump and disorientating Kirk Edwards first up with an inswinger out of the Harry Potter school of wizardry before removing him with a full and straight one. Anderson even gave the on-field pep talk before play began. He is a man of few words and has probably found that an equally difficult skill to master.

Smart stats

• Shivnarine Chanderpaul continued his great run in England. He has now scored 1044 runs in his last ten Tests in England at an average of 80.30. It is also his ninth fifty-plus score in the ten matches.

• Chanderpaul’s half-century is his 60th in Tests. Only Sachin Tendulkar, Allan Border, Rahul Dravid and Ricky Ponting are above him on the list of batsmen with the most half-centuries.

• Stuart Broad picked up his first five-wicket haul at Lord’s. It is also the eighth five-wicket haul for an England bowler at the venue since the beginning of 2007.

• Broad’s five-wicket haul is his fifth in Tests and second against West Indies. The performance is the fifth-best bowling performance by an England bowler against West Indies at Lord’s.

• James Anderson is now level fourth with Brian Statham on the list of England bowlers with the most wickets at Lord’s (45 wickets). Ian Botham is on top with 69 wickets.

• The 81-run stand between Chanderpaul and Marlon Samuels is the fifth-highest fifth-wicket stand for West Indies at Lord’s. Chanderpaul was also involved in the highest (125 runs) with Dwayne Bravo in 2004.

• It is now 24 years since a West Indian opener scored a century at Lord’s. Gordon Greenidge did so on that occasion as West Indies won by 134 runs.

It was no surprise that England chose to bowl. The pitch was white and gleaming but it was what lay above and below that mattered. The groundsman, Mick Hunt, regarded underlying moisture as inevitable and up above the cloud cover added to the sense that batting would be difficult. As it turned out, there was more swing – and mostly for Anderson – than seam and the surface was slow. Anderson was outstanding as he swung the ball lavishly before lunch; Bresnan was steadfast and economical. But Broad’s final-session flourish salvaged a more difficult day than they might have imagined.But West Indies’ recent history also made Strauss’ decision a logical one. West Indies sides coming to England used to invite a sense of awe. These days, for many they bring a sense of regret, a regret at their inability to stand alongside the first-tier nations, illustrated by their record of two wins in their past 30 Tests.The great West Indian sides could strut their stuff in midsummer in conditions that were more in their favour, but weaker West Indies sides have become the English season’s support act and so must play their Test cricket earlier when conditions are stacked against them. It makes their task of recovery doubly difficult. They often came close to having a good day, particularly at 181 for 4, at which point Marlon Samuels, who had added 81 with Chanderpaul for the fifth wicket, drove uncertainly at a fullish, wide one from Broad and edged to backward point.England followed their two wickets before lunch with two more in the afternoon. Adrian Barath, who had included some cultured cover drives in his 42 – nine boundaries in all – fell to a gully catch by Anderson, who fell backwards as he parried, but caught at the second attempt. England had failed with an lbw review against Barath earlier in the over, but retained their two reviews because Broad had overstepped.Bravo had fortunate moments even before his run-out. There was reason for England supporters to rue Andrew Strauss’ conservatism when Bravo edged his first ball, from Anderson, at catchable height through a vacant fourth slip. Swann should also have caught him at second slip off James Anderson in the previous over, the ball rebounding off his chest. There is something about catching the ball out of the egg-and-bacon backdrop in the Lord’s pavilion that can defeat the best of slip catchers.But England’s catching sparked up in the final session as Broad picked off Chanderpaul’s unreliable allies at regular intervals. Denesh Ramdin was undone by extra bounce. Then came three wickets with the new ball: Darren Sammy, working too square on the leg side and caught off a leading edge; Kemar Roach, chipping a return catch; and Fidel Edwards, caught at the wicket to end the day after Chanderpaul had got off strike from the first ball of the final over.Broad walked off to the flattery of a contented crowd. But there, somewhere in the corner of his eye, was a batsman of immense durability. He remained not out, and is still England’s unsolved challenge for the Test series that lies ahead.

Match facts

Tuesday, April 17, Bangalore
Start time 2000 (1430 GMT)Steven Smith has impressed with his big hitting, calm head and outstanding fielding•AFP

Big picture

When the squads were assessed before the start of the tournament, Pune Warriors were deemed to be one of the underdogs and Royal Challengers Bangalore, one of the favourites. So far, those assessments have proved totally off the mark.The Royal Challengers’ overseas players may be megastars, but the Warriors’ foreign recruits are multi-faceted cricketers providing the team plenty of options. Jesse Ryder, Marlon Samuels, Steven Smith and Angelo Mathews can all bat and bowl, and can lift the fielding standards as well. The Indian contingent has also delivered so far. Rahul Sharma is starting to prove that last season was no fluke, Ashok Dinda is beginning to win admirers for his ability to consistently bowl it full and Ashish Nehra has been regularly around 140kph mark.In contrast, Royal Challengers are having a hard time. The fifth bowler has been a particular concern for them – leaking 71 runs in the defeat to Chennai Super Kings, and 69 in the meltdown against Rajasthan Royals. S Aravind had impressed last season in the IPL, but had a horror outing on Sunday. Royal Challengers had also been hamstrung by a shortage of allrounders in their line-up, limiting their bowling options. That could be changed by getting in either Tillakaratne Dilshan or Andrew McDonald, but at the expense of whom? Daniel Vettori is the captain, Gayle and de Villiers are automatic picks, and Muttiah Muralitharan has looked the best of the side’s bowlers so far.

Players to watch

Warriors probably signed Marlon Samuels more for his batting skills, but he has consistently proved useful with his flat and fast offspinners. His quicker delivery was clocked at 127kph against Super Kings. However, It will be interesting to see how he bowls as he has been reported for a suspect action.In the previous match, Royal Challengers had one of their favourite sons, Rahul Dravid, in the opposition. This time, they will be up against another local lad and former Royal Challengers batsman, Robin Uthappa. The $2.1m rated Uthappa has already made a couple of decent contributions with the bat, and he will be looking to score at the Chinnaswamy Stadium to remind his old team what they are missing.

2011 head-to-head

The teams met only once last season, when Royal Challengers’ powerful top order, led by Virat Kohli and Chris Gayle, set up a total that proved too much for the faltering Warriors.

Stats and trivia

• Chris Gayle has hit 77 sixes in IPL, only six off the record held by Adam Gilchrist. However, he has played less than half the games Gilchrist has.
• Legspinner Rahul Sharma is second on the list of most economical bowlers in the IPL, only behind R Ashwin.
  

  Quotes

  “Let us not forget that we had not begun too well last season either and yet managed to enter the final.”

  “I am surprised that he has been warned. Because if you go around the IPL,you will see worse actions.”

Darren Sammy, the West Indies captain, has said he has 14 fit men available for selection for the four-day tour match against the England Lions, starting on Thursday. Marlon Samuels flew in from India, where he was playing in the IPL, on Tuesday and Assad Fudadin, who was delayed due to visa issues, joined the squad on Wednesday morning. According to a West Indies spokesperson, Narsingh Deonarine, the only missing member from the 15-man Test squad, was due to arrive on Thursday, but would not be available for selection in the Lions match.Sammy welcomed the new arrivals and said it would bolster the confidence of the team ahead of the Lord’s Test, starting on May 17. Sammy was happy to have virtually a full squad to pick from. “I’m quite pleased to see Marlon and Fudadin this morning. It is very good for us,” he said. “We welcome them and it’s good for them they are here to practise with us today. The whole family is united and now we are preparing ourselves for the first Test match.”It is understood the visa delay in the case of the Guyanese pair of Deonarine and Fudadin was inevitable. The West Indies selectors had waited for the home series against Australia to finish before announcing the Test squad for the England tour at the end of April. Once named, Deonarine and Fudadin then had to apply to the UK embassy for visas because nationals from Guyana and Jamaica do not get a free entry, unlike the other Caribbean countries. A further delay may have been caused by the UK Border Agency tightening its visa screening process.But Sammy did not want to gripe about something not in his control, saying the team would move forward. “We were aware once we were leaving the Caribbean that Narsingh and Fudadin were trying to sort it out,” he said, “and Marlon was with Pune Warriors in the IPL. You just move on with things and handle distractions.”Sammy said all his players, including Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Fidel Edwards, who had been reported as fitness doubts, were available for selection. “We will come up with the best eleven in these conditions to prepare ourselves for the Test match,” Sammy said, adding with a smile that team manager, Richie Richardson, would not be needed to handle 12th man duties.The visitors have not had much too much else to smile about in the last week, due to the cold and rainy weather prevalent across England. In their first tour match, against Sussex at Hove, only 34 overs were possible across three days. The forecast for the Lions match is not encouraging either.Sammy said it was frustrating, having been forced to stay indoors last week and now resorting to indoor nets in Northampton. But Ottis Gibson, the West Indies coach, has been keeping the players busy by asking them to go through video footages and involving them in various team and one-on-one meetings. Such exercises, Sammy said, allowed the players to bond together. “It is disappointing because our main goal here is to play cricket, get out in the middle. But we have no control over the weather,” he said. “We are just moving along.”Edited by Alan Gardner

Robbie Joseph claimed his second six-wicket haul of the game to lead Leicestershire to a 52-run victory over Glamorgan at Grace Road. It completed an outstanding debut for Joseph who took more than 10 wickets in a match for the first time. He took 6 for 64 as Glamorgan crashed to 183 all out in their second innings chasing a target of 236.Leicestershire skipper Matthew Hoggard claimed three wickets and despite some aggressive batting from Mark Wallace and Graham Wagg, the hosts completed victory by mid-afternoon on the third day.But there was a sting in the tail for Leicestershire as they were deducted five points for a slow over rate, collecting only 15 points for the win. Glamorgan were also docked a point. Quite how many sweaters Leicestershire’s bowlers were removing on a chilly day to be docked five points is impossible to hazard.Leicestershire made the start they wanted, taking four wickets in the first eight overs of the day. All of them came from successful lbw shouts as Glamorgan’s batsmen struggled against the accuracy of Hoggard and the pace of Joseph.First to go was Stewart Walters with nine runs added to the overnight score of 21 for 1. Joseph beat him with a fine delivery that nipped back and thudded into the batsman’s pads giving umpire Steve Garratt an easy decision to make.The next three wickets fell for one run in the space of four overs as Glamorgan slipped from 45 for 2 to 46 for 5. Joseph picked up his third wicket of the innings, trapping Will Bragg back in the crease for another plumb lbw and Hoggard continued to turn the screw, pinning Ben Wright on the back foot while Moises Henriques went the same way, hit on the pads offering no shot.Joseph’s figures were spoiled a little when Mark Wallace top edged a six off him and, after a rain shower halted play for 35 minutes, a determined stand between Wallace and James Allenby put the brake on Leicestershire’s progress.The sixth-wicket pair added 41 runs in the last nine overs before lunch off the bowling of Wayne White and Nadeem Malik but their partnership of 59 was broken in the first over after the interval, Joseph returning to the attack to have Wallace caught behind. Wallace’s excellent 47 came off 48 balls and contained a six and five other boundaries.That proved the turning point as, despite a quickfire 33 from Graham Wagg, Glamorgan were all out for 183 with Joseph picking up the wicket of Robert Croft to finish with match figures of 12 for 111.

MS Dhoni has said that India were at the receiving end of both the controversial decisions today in their big loss to Australia, which has left them only a small window in the back door if they are to make it to the finals. David Hussey was ruled not-out in an appeal for handling the ball under Law 33 as it was deemed he stuck his hand out to avoid an injury. Sachin Tendulkar was trying to complete a tight run when he found the bowler Brett Lee in the way near the striker’s end. In going around Lee, he lost on valuable time and was caught short by a direct hit.For Dhoni, Hussey was out “plain and simple” despite the explanation given by umpire Billy Bowden. Dhoni’s argument was that Hussey’s hand was stuck out far enough in front of his body to make self-preservation a dubious argument. “Like you said, protecting yourself [holding his hand close to the body] I was also happy, but if you are protecting yourself [stretching his hand further] it is not good.”Dhoni reasoned with the example of the dismissal of Inzamam-ul-Haq in Peshawar in 2006 when he blocked a throw with his bat. “I was involved in another run-out in Pakistan, where Inzi defended something that was right at his face, and he was given out,” Dhoni said. “In this case David was really lucky. I think he should have been given out, but it is not in my hand.”However, Dhoni forgot a technicality in Inzamam’s case because he was given out for obstructing the field. Hussey couldn’t have been ruled out for obstructing the field because he touched the ball with the hand not holding the ball. Hussey’s case falls under the handling-the-ball law, and that law has provision for self-preservation.Dhoni equated Hussey’s outstretched hand to a handball in football. “In his judgement he was protecting himself, but his hand was too far ahead,” Dhoni said. “Just like an example, a soccer incident where your hands are popping out and it hits your hand, you get a penalty irrespective of what’s happening. So that’s why I said, plain and simple, it is out.”About Tendulkar’s run-out, Dhoni complained of different yardsticks on different days. “I need to give an example of what happened in the Brisbane game that I was playing in [on February 19],” Dhoni said. “Vinay [Kumar] was bowling, we had a slip, and we didn’t have a midwicket. And the ball went to the point fielder, Vinay crossed the wicket and he was coming towards midwicket [to back up the throw].”The umpire came up to him and said, ‘You are not allowed to do that.’ But he was doing something that was well within the laws of the game. I don’t think we can justify the fact that Lee was going towards the point fielder. I don’t think he had any business there. Then he stopped right in front of Sachin, which means you have to take a longer way, across him. That’s my reading of that particular run-out.”In the game Dhoni spoke out, Bowden and Steve Davis were the umpires, but Dhoni doesn’t remember who out of the two warned Vinay. Dhoni felt that tonight Bowden – the umpire at the non-striker’s end when Tendulkar was run out – should have intervened.”It was a bit unjustified,” Dhoni said. “He [Tendulkar] had to take those extra yards. As the incident I spoke about, which happened a few games ago, I think Billy should have said something, because he was in a better position to see where exactly the bowler was and where he stopped. It was very difficult for Simon [Taufel, the leg umpire] to take a call because he had no clue as to which angle the batsman was running, and where Lee actually stopped.”Dhoni wasn’t in the middle to remind the umpires of the Brisbane incident, but he felt it wouldn’t have made any difference. “Once the decision is given, you can only sit there and cry and cry and it still goes in the opposition’s favour.”Dhoni did call for clearer laws, though. “As I said, you look at it [the Hussey incident] and it seems out,” Dhoni said. “I don’t know why it was given not out. But what also can be done is to have hard lines as to this is what it is. What happens is, you have different umpires in different games, and like the umpire said [even] if it was an Indian batsman he would have given not out, but it’s not there at that point of time. Things like this happen once in a while. It should be like, ‘This is what happened, okay we should give him out.'”Because if there are a lot of ifs and buts, you have these umpires coming in for two or three games, and we keep on shuffling them. I may have a view in a particular game, but I may not be there in another game and the new man coming in has a different view and by that time it is our batsman who is standing there. So we will be on the receiving end from both the umpires.”Dhoni said India could have done better to come back from those decisions. “The umpires took the decision so no real point blaming the decision because at the end of the day that will stay,” Dhoni said. “What can be done is, in case of the Sachin run-out, the next batsman going in can try to stabilise the innings. In case of the David Hussey run-out, the next bowler can put pressure and try and get the batsman out. This is how it goes. Once the umpire has taken the decision, it stays.”Shane Watson, Australia’s captain, said that Bowden and Taufel were two of the most respected umpires, and he was sure they had made the right call in interpreting the law. When asked about the Tendulkar decision, Watson cheekily said that he thought Tendulkar was upset with Gautam Gambhir’s call.Edited by Abhishek Purohit

Jimmy Hansra has been named the captain in Canada’s 18-man preliminary squad for the 2012 World Twenty20 qualifier, which begins in Dubai from March 13. The final 14-man squad will be named on February 13.Top-order batsman Zubin Surkari, who scored 5, 19 and 2 in the Carribean T20 in mid-January, was left out of the squad. The only other player to miss out from the squad that played in the Carribean T20 is left-arm spinner Salman Nazar. Canada had lost all their four matches in that tournament.Sixteen Associate and Affiliate teams will compete in the 72-match qualifying tournament in the UAE, for two available spots in the World Twenty20. Canada are placed in Group A, alongside Afghanistan, Netherlands, Papua New Guinea, Hong Kong, Bermuda, Denmark and Nepal.Squad: Jimmy Hansra (capt), Rizwan Cheema (vice-capt), Manny Aulakh, Harvir Baidwan, Rustam Bhatti, Khurram Chohan, Parth Desai, Jeremy Gordon, Tyson Gordon, Ruvindu Gunasekera, Zahid Hussain, Nitish Kumar, Usman Limbada, Henry Osinde, Hiral Patel, Raza-ur-Rehman, Junaid Siddiqui, Hamza Tariq