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Match facts

Sunday, April 27, 2008
Start time 16:00 local, 10:30 GMT

The Big Picture

“Live Punjabi, Play Punjabi” is the motto of Kings XI Punjab and their mission is to be the most successful and entertaining franchise in the IPL. Having just won their first game on Friday they’re entitled to some chest-thumping, but up against another feisty North Indian side, arguably the strongest in the tournament, they’ll need to be at their best. The Delhi Daredevils have won two out of two and, with an excellent blend of youth and experience, look the team to beat. This will be Brett Lee’s last appearance for Punjab – Simon Katich and Kyle Mills also leave India on April 28 – and his side could really use a repeat of his heroics against Mumbai Indians. Watching Lee and the man he replaced as Australia’s spearhead, Glenn McGrath, in the same match along with India’s two biggest hitters is enough to get the adrenalin running. A special Sunday beckons.

Watch out for …

… Lee versus Delhi’s in-form openers, Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag. Delhi have only lost two wickets in two games, but Lee is a different proposition given his form. Also keep an eye out for anything Kumar Sangakkara does. The tournament’s third-highest run-scorer, his 94 off 56 balls against Mumbai was a stellar effort and was highlighted by his ability to throw bowlers off target. He has the bowling attack of the tournament to deal with now.

Team news

James Hopes missed the last game with a stomach upset and if fit, he will take his place back at the top of the order, which means Ramnaresh Sarwan will go back to the bench. Sunny Sohal went for a fourth-ball duck and he could easily be replaced by either Sahil Kukreja or Tanmay Srivastava, the Under-19 batsman. Punjab are extremely unlikely to tinker with the bowling attack that wrapped up a 66-run win in Mohali. Having Hopes back in the attack will be a big boost.Punjab (probable) 1 Karan Goel, 2 James Hopes, 3 Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 4 Yuvraj Singh (capt), 5 Mahela Jayawardene, 6 Tanmay Srivastava/ Sahil Kukreja, 7 Irfan Pathan 8 Brett Lee, 9 Piyush Chawla, 10 Sreesanth, 11 VRV Singh.It’s hard to envision Delhi changing their winning combination, even with AB de Villiers joining the team on game day. Their bowling, with Glenn McGrath, Mohammad Asif and Farveez Maharoof, is nagging and the middle order is yet to even get a bat. If Shoaib Malik gets time at the crease, expect fireworks.Delhi: (probable) 1 Gautam Gambhir, 2 Virender Sehwag (capt), 3 Shikhar Dhawan, 4 Shoaib Malik, 5 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 6 Manoj Tiwary, 7 Rajat Bhatia, 8 Farveez Maharoof, 9 Mohammad Asif, 10 Yo Mahesh, 11 Glenn McGrath.

Cricket Australia has confirmed that Sri Lanka and India will each have only one warm-up match in Australia before being thrust into the Test series on their 2007-08 tours. The unusual summer scheduling has also meant the traditional Prime Minister’s XI fixture has been pushed back to late January in the lead-up to the one-day tri-series.Sri Lanka take on Queensland at Brisbane’s Allan Border Field in a three-day clash starting on November 2. They meet Australia at the Gabba for the first Test of the season beginning on November 8, followed by the second Test at Hobart from November 16.India’s only chance to acclimitise to the Australian conditions before the Boxing Day Test at Melbourne will be in a three-day game against Victoria, starting on December 20 at Melbourne’s St Kilda Cricket Ground. The second Test at Sydney begins on January 2, before India’s next tour match against an Australian Capital Territory XI – comprising ACT cricketers and players invited from other states – at Canberra from January 10-12. The third Test at Perth starts on January 16 and is followed eight days later by the fourth at Adelaide Oval.Sri Lanka then return for the tri-series with India and Australia, and they will take on the Prime Minister’s XI at Canberra on January 30. Their warm-up continues with a one-day match against Tasmania at Bellerive Oval on February 2, before the limited-overs series begins the following day.

While England were being pasted 5-0 by Sri Lanka you could have forgiven one man for allowing himself a wry smile. But England’s forgotten man, Surrey allrounder Rikki Clarke, is having none of it. “No, obviously I’d like to be playing for England,” he says. “I’m also an England fan, I want them to do well.”England players were dropping like flies, Clarke was simply dropped from the selectors’ thoughts – at both senior and now A-team level – despite hitherto solid performances for England A, despite being named in the 25-man development squad and despite strong showings for Surrey.”It’s quite strange that I’ve been named in the England Development Squad of 25 and you don’t even get in the A-team,” he says. “There’s people coming in from the outskirts.”He’s had to watch while Tim Bresnan (“a great prospect”) and Jamie Dalrymple (“he’s done well”) were brought in above him. He’s generous in his praise of the new boys, whom he calls the youngsters – somewhat ironically as he’s 24 and Dalrymple, at 25, is actually his senior.Clarke seems older, though, perhaps because he’s so battle-hardened from having taken punch after punch in his short career. “That’s cricket for you – so many highs and lows and setbacks. There’s been so many disappointing sides to cricket, being dropped and left out. You just get on with it. And that’s what I’ve done again.”But he’s not battle weary – yet. “It just makes me stronger as a player.” And his answer is to let his game do the talking. It’s a well-rehearsed response too with, by his reckoning, ten setbacks for England already. “Another one isn’t going to affect me too much.” And he means it.He remains, much like fellow allrounder Paul Collingwood who was on the England fringes for years, surprisingly unbitter. And look where Collingwood is now.If there’s one thing that’s changed recently it is that he is now cautious. Does he think he will make the World Cup squad? “Don’t know,” he replies in a beat. “I really don’t know. I thought that I would be playing against Sri Lanka this one-day series. I thought I would be in the A side against Pakistan. All I can do is just concentrate on what I’m doing for Surrey, making runs and taking wickets.”

He would, of course, love to return to the West Indies in 2007 to some happy, balmy hunting grounds. “I just love to play cricket in the Caribbean,” he says. “You’ve got Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago… And St Lucia is a wonderful place.”It’s only just come about as a Test ground, but it’s fantastic – they really look after the outfield. There was a proper party atmosphere when I played there – there were lots of schoolkids, there were whistles, the buzz really takes you through. There were a lot of bars, and it’s got everything in a compact place. I’ll definitely go back there for a holiday.” Time will tell whether that will be a working holiday.But it’s not just the one-dayers that figure large in Clarke’s aspirations. He has dreams of making his Test debut. “Hopefully I can make my debut for England it they pick me,” he says, “and start afresh.”Now, many people may have forgotten he’s already played two Tests, against Bangladesh, but surely the man himself can’t have wiped those games from his memory? “It seems ages ago, it really does. But that’s what I loved. People said, ‘Oh it’s only Bangladesh’ and for me Bangladesh isn’t really a Test match. Hopefully it won’t be too long before I get another chance.”In the meantime he can concentrate on his vice-captaincy of Surrey – he’s being groomed as their future skipper – and leading them in the Twenty20. “I’m enjoying it; it’s quite hectic, you lose your voice shouting.”He can cling to the development squad, too, although the purpose of the squad is something of a moot point, especially when the England management haven’t had that much communication with Clarke since they named the 25.He talks to them, though, sending out strong messages with his 165 against Leicestershire when he missed out on one-day selection. “I’ve always liked to prove a point.” How many more signals does he need to send, though? “You can only go so far keeping on proving a point but hopefully I’ll read that stage where it’s impossible not to pick me.”

It is difficult to tell whether it was too late for the cricket season or too early for the pantomime season. Either way, it is fair to say that the attempt to stage indoor cricket in the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff at the weekend was not an unqualified success. It is all very well to hire some of the biggest names in cricket to pack the Rest of the World team, give the England team the ugly label of “The Brits,” get Sky TV to cover it and offer prize money equivalent to winning the World Cup, but if it is perceived as nothing more than a gimmick, it will not work.The organisers claim that 11,000 spectators attended over Friday and Saturday evenings, but how many of these were paying spectators is not known. There is usually a fair degree of “papering the house” at such events, to borrow a theatrical expression. In a stadium that holds 73,000, the lack of an audience stripped the occasion of any meaningful atmosphere.The television commentators strove manfully to take it seriously, even offering comments suggesting that had the architects made the playing area just a little bigger by having the lower tier of seating retractable to give longer boundaries and claiming that there would still have been room for a decent crowd. On this evidence, it would have been possible to retract all the seating bar a few rows at the top and the crowd could still have been accommodated and the playing surface could have been bigger than the MCG.Those same commentators were wired to selected players out in the middle. Not many of the comments from the players were particularly illuminating while James Foster nearly suffered another injury when diving behind the stumps and landing on his battery pack. If Duncan Fletcher was watching, he must have winced every time one of his Ashes party were involved in the action. As for David Fulton, he was out to the very next ball after David Lloyd had asked him a question from the commentary box. No wonder Lloyd said he felt a bit responsible.One of the perimeter advertising boards was for HM Prison Service. Perhaps that was an opportunity to wheel out cricket’s best-known inmate, Lord Archer, as an umpire. It would have been in keeping to list him as Geoffrey rather than Jeffrey Archer had they done so, because Andy Flower had the name “Flowers” on his back, Matthew Fleming was “Flemming” while Nathan Astle was announced over the public address system as “Jeff Astle.” Perhaps the late West Brom and England centre-forward had made an impact in Cardiff in his playing days.The idea of giving bonus runs depending on which tier of seating was located by big hits did not really add to the entertainment factor, while only one player, Shahid Afridi, hit a maximum 12. He hit the roof, but Astle – be it Nathan or Jeff – was the only batsman to reach the top tier and record a ten.No doubt buoyed by the prospect of sizeable pay cheques, the players were entering into the spirit of the occasion, albeit as they would a benefit or exhibition match. Dominic Cork even tried to give Saeed Anwar a stare. The batsman simply laughed at him, reducing Cork to all the threat of a pantomime villain. “How’s that?” “He’s not out.” “Oh yes he is!” would have completed the surreal exchange.For the record, the Rest of the World won the first match by seven wickets and the second by two runs. The organisers claimed they were pleased with the inaugural event. That suggests there will be more, but surely gimmicks have a limited life? It will never take the place of cricket.

Slowly but surely, county cricket’s two-divisional system is separating the wheat from the chaff. But the chaff is not going without a fight. The focus may be on the top flight, but this season promises a promotion battle royal between several big teams with even bigger points to prove.Without question, the second division’s biggest drawcard will be found down at Hampshire’s Rose Bowl, where Shane Warne is making his fashionably late return to county cricket, and as captain as well. His appointment is further weighty evidence of Hampshire’s ambition, although it will take all of Warne’s nous to galvanise a weak squad. He will at least be assisted in his endeavours by two fellow Aussies, Michael Clarke and Shane Watson, whose youthful talents ought to mix well with the rest of the dressing-room.Talking of Aussies, Ricky Ponting’s arrival at Somerset is quite a coup, and even though his availability will be strictly rationed, his mere presence ought to lift a side that, last summer, was threatened with the collective sack by their chief executive, Peter Anderson. On another positive note, Andrew Caddick may be around rather more often than has been the case in recent years. He still expects to walk back into the Test team when he recovers from his back injury, but England’s successes in the Caribbean mean he’ll have a point or ten to prove in the Championship first.There’s only one man on the county circuit who can match Warne and Ponting in the box-office stakes. Darren Gough’s much-publicised move to Essex is undoubtedly a risk, given that only one of his knees still functions, but with the fiery Scott Brant and Danish Kaneria’s wiles to complement the bowling attack, Gough should be spared too much donkey-work. Furthermore, he will be reunited with his kindred spirit Ronnie Irani, and his former Test captain, Nasser Hussain, so there should at least be a bubbly atmosphere down at Chelmsford.Like Essex, Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire are two other sides whose pedigree alone suggests they ought to be in the top flight. But dressing-room harmony was in short supply for either team last year. Notts have at least buried the hatchet with the prolific Kevin Pietersen – which could be the single most important achievement of the winter – but they have made some wise signings in the off-season as well, after their instant relegation in 2003.Mark Ealham is one of the more prominent new faces at Trent Bridge, where his canny medium-pace and lusty lower-order hitting are sure to fit in nicely. Other changes include Ryan Sidebottom, who has moved south from Headingley, while David Hussey – the younger brother of the prolific Mike – is an astute overseas acquisition who is unlikely to be called up by Australia … just yet.Yorkshire have signalled the start of yet another era, by calling David Byas back into the fold as coach, and passing the captaincy to the unassuming and diplomatic figure of Craig White. Darren Lehmann’s return is sure to make a huge impact, international appearances permitting, but their biggest coup was the poaching of Ian Harvey from Gloucestershire. Harvey, one of Wisden’s Five Cricketers of the Year, achieved just about as much as he humanly could while at Gloucestershire, but the challenge of carrying Yorkshire back to Division One could bring out the very best of his mercurial talents.Leicestershire are another side whose underachievements have been underpinned by internal strife, but unlike Yorkshire and Notts, they have very little to work with after a winter spent scouring the bargain basement. The former Test cricketers, Claude Henderson and Ottis Gibson, are two intriguing signings, especially given that they are not classified as overseas players, although the Essex pair of Darren Robinson and Jon Dakin are not names to set the world alight.With a settled squad and two familiar overseas players in Matthew Elliott and Mike Kasprowicz, Glamorgan should be among the favourites for promotion this season. Although Steve James was forced to admit defeat last year and bowed out of the game with a persistent knee injury, Glamorgan’s new captain, Robert Croft, will be available throughout the season after retiring (again) from Test cricket. Matthew Maynard, meanwhile, is a hugely influential sidekick.Like Glamorgan, Durham are another unfashionable club with big prospects this season. In Shoaib Akhtar and Herschelle Gibbs, they have signed two of the most explosive performers in world cricket, and a timely performance from either of them could propel Durham to victory on any given day. And, every once in a while, they will also be able to call on Steve Harmison to share the new ball with Shoaib – a particularly mouthwatering prospect.Gavin Hamilton’s arrival from Yorkshire is intriguing – a change of scenery could be just what he needs after his game was devastated by a dose of the yips two years ago – but as yet Durham are not quite the finished article. They have made significant strides under Martyn Moxon, but promotion might just be out of reach this season.Which leaves us with Derbyshire, county cricket’s perennial whipping boys, who haven’t even got Dominic Cork in their ranks to whip a young and put-upon squad into shape. Another serious blow was dealt to Derbyshire’s hopes when Michael Di Venuto pulled out with a long-term injury. As a former captain and coach of Zimbabwe, Dave Houghton is used to getting the best out of embattled teams, but he is sure to have his hands full this season.

The West Indies selectors have recalled Chris Gayle for the third Test against Australia and announced the return to fitness of Shivnarine Chanderpaul (after knee injury), Ridley Jacobs (groin) and Jermaine Lawson (chicken pox).Wavell Hinds, Pedro Collins and David Bernard, the debutant allrounder, were dropped for the Test starting at Bridgetown, Barbados, on May 1.Gayle, who was controversially dropped for the first two Tests, returns after West Indies were thrashed in the first Test at Georgetown (by nine wickets) and the second at Port of Spain (by 118 runs).Gayle was axed for allegedly violating an eligibility rule that demanded playing in the West Indies domestic tournament for selection to the national side. He had missed the final featuring his Jamaican side, and instead participated in an international double-wicket tournament in St.Lucia.Brian Lara, the captain, made the mandatory upbeat noises, saying, “My approach in the remaining matches will be very positive. I am very optimistic about our batting in the remaining matches but in the bowling we need to do some work to limit the Australians.However, he hinted that West Indies could continue their curiously defensive strategy of playing seven specialist batsmen by saying: “One of things we do not want is to lose the next Test match, if we can get a draw it would be great, so we need to be careful who we select in the next match.”The squad 1 Chris Gayle, 2 Devon Smith, 3 Daren Ganga, 4 Brian Lara (capt), 5 Ramnaresh Sarwan, 6 Shivnarine Chanderpaul, 7 Marlon Samuels, 8 Ridley Jacobs, 9 Mervyn Dillon, 10 Vasbert Drakes, 11 Jermaine Lawson, 12 Omari Banks, 13 Carlton Baugh (wk), 14 Tino Best

Mark Butcher carried his bat for his first century of the season as Surrey rushed to 281 all out on the first day of their CricInfo Championship match against Glamorgan at The Oval today.Butcher, 29 this month, dominated the rain-effected day, hitting 21 fours in 215 balls to record an unbeaten 145.Glamorgan’s seamers took Surrey wickets regularly, with nippy, chest-on right-armer Andrew Davies recording a career-best 3-76.It was the first time that a Surrey player had carried their bat against Glamorgan. Butcher told CricInfo: “I think we’re in a very good position. We managed to get a competitive total and with 280 we’re definitely in the game.”With regard to England he said: “I’ve been playing pretty well for the last one-and-a-half our two months. It was just a shame about the last Test.”The left-hander was the last player to carry his bat for Surrey, making 109* against Somerset in 1998.Surrey’s other four Ashes representatives, in a team of 10 Test players, failed to reach 30 as Darren Thomas (3-69) and season’s debutant Davies found bounce and pace in The Oval wicket.Butcher passed 50 in 65 balls and went in for lunch 69* with Surrey in trouble on 133-5.When on 70 Glamorgan’s captain, Adrian Dale, missed a difficult catch at second slip off Davies – the only chance that Butcher gave.Until a lengthy last wicket stand of six, Surrey had added 142 in 32 overs after lunch, with captain Martin Bicknell (replacing Adam Hollioake who had a stomach muscle strain), Ian Salisbury and Saqlain carrying on from where Tudor (27) had left off in support of Butcher.The 30-Test veteran passed 100 in 142 balls, recording his 16th first-class century.Glamorgan finished on 64-2, losing Jimmy Maher in Bicknell’s (who is to have an achilles operation at the end of season) third over.Three balls later Bicknell clipped Ian Thomas’ off bail for his 47th wicket of the season, which left Surrey on top at the close.

Darren Cousins roared in with a sensational three-wicket burst at Wantage Road to earn in-form Northamptonshire a victory that virtually assures them of promotion into the Championship’s Division One for next season.The former Essex paceman snapped up Gloucestershire’s last three wickets – Martyn Ball, Jon Lewis and Tom Cotterell – in the space of nine deliveries with the second new ball, seeing Northants home by an innings and 74 runs with ten balls to spare.The visitors looked to be heading for safety at 202-7 with eleven overs of the final hour gone, but Cousins then induced a fatal error from Ball who miscued an attempted pull, and the two tail-enders were dispatched swiftly.It was a fifth straight Championship win for Matthew Hayden’s men, who have extended their lead at the top of the second division table with two rounds of matches remaining.Off-spinners Jason Brown and Alec Swann made important early inroads, Brown dismissing opener Tim Hancock with his first ball of the morning as Gloucestershire crumbled to 110-5 either side of lunch, despite a battling 39 from Dominic Hewson.Skipper Mark Alleyne (18) and Jack Russell (41) held the fort for an hour-and-three-quarters until Hayden produced a master stroke by calling up veteran seamer Paul Taylor to bowl his occasional left-arm spin. The move paid off handsomely as Alleyne edged to Hayden himself at slip, and Russell was bowled looking to cut.Jeremy Snape (23 not out) looked set to deny his former county, but Cousins swept away Gloucestershire’s remaining batsmen to clinch a magnificent win.

Stephen Katwaroo, the West Indies Under-15 captain, has spoken of his delight in securing the 2008 CLICO International Under-15 Championship final at Queen’s Park Oval, Port of Spain. West Indies beat Pakistan by 89 runs, with Kraigg Brathwaite top-scoring in their 228 for 9 with 82.”It was a great performance from the guys,” Katwaroo told the . “We were looking forward to the final and we played hard cricket so we did not expect anything less than winning.”It was a good contest; we just played the best we can and here it is, we are champions,” Katwaroo said. “It was a match we had to win and the guys were eager for revenge. That game [against Pakistan in the knockout final] was just a warm-up match and we put everything into this game and like everyone said it was a good final. We put our best foot forward and did the best we can.”It can’t get better than this. This is a West Indies team, and as youths, all of us are mentally and physically fit. The guys understand the game, they understand the concept and that was basically what got us through the tournament.”The best wicketkeeper award went to Pakistan’s Muhammad Waqar Khan, while Ramon Senior’s 11 wickets earned him the best bowler award.”It was a great feeling to win the league championship,” Keith Arthurton, the former West Indies batsman turned Under-15 coach, said. “We knew what we needed to do and they had a score to settle with Pakistan so it is great that we came out on top.”

“I was not expecting this,” said Ishant Sharma on the call he received from Professor Ratnakar Shetty, the BCCI’s chief administrative officer, at noon on Friday. Shetty had called to inform Sharma that he should get ready to leave for Bangladesh to join the Indian team for the remainder two-Test series as a replacement for Munaf Patel.”Even if I wasn’t thinking of getting a call now I know anything is possible”, says Sharma, who came into the national reckoning late last year when he was a strong contender to replace the injured Munaf Patel for the Test series in South Africa. The fact that call never materialised doesn’t bother Sharma, whose stock has been rising like his height especially over the last two seasons.Tall – he stands 6’4″ in socks – and lanky, Sharma found his way into the Delhi side in 2005-06 through with his prolific performances in the Under-19 matches, where his disconcerting bounce had batsmen running for cover. The art of pitching it short has always been his USP. Twenty-nine wickets at 20.10 made him the state’s best bowler, and ninth nationally in terms of most wickets.Sharma believes he is steadily understanding the nuances of becoming a better fast bowler by focusing more on “line and length, and trying to be more patient.”Chetan Chauhan, Delhi’s coach, says his attacking instincts form the strongest facet of Sharma’s repertoire. “He is an attacking bowler and is not shy of letting go of the short one irrespective of the batsman,” says Chauhan, no stranger who himself had copped quite a few from the best fast men of his time. Chauhan’s confidence in Sharma comes from his hard work and his readiness to bend his back. “He is young and a very hardworking boy who has worked himself into the side. He loves to train, practice and gives his heart and soul when he is bowling, which is a great thing for a fast bowler.”In June 2006 had carried a feature story on the probable ‘Third XI’ for India which contained names that could be doing rounds in the years to come. Talent Research Development Officers (TRDOs) across the country were asked to nominate their choices and Sharma’s name was a popular one among the pundits, who predicted an India cap sooner or later.Aakash Chopra, Delhi captain last year and one-time India opener, feels Sharma has the ability to handle pressure. “He has been a revelation, has handled pressure well and has hunted profitably along with Ashish Nehra.” Chopra feels being in the Indian dressing room is a learning experience for anybody and it will help Sharma understand himself much better.Sharma agress completely. “In the end cricket is all about experience, so being involved in the Indian dressing room would definitely be a learning experience and I want to enjoy that.”