Old age is going extremely well for Glenn McGrath. He doesn’t look like growing into a cranky retiree and is happy to poke fun at himself. As he left the field beaming at his stunning 6 for 50, he broke off from his ball-raising and grabbed at his lower back, pretending to be an aching grandfather. The crowd laughed as it cheered.”The boys were into me today for the number of times ‘old’ appeared in the headlines,” McGrath, 36, said. “I was having a bit of fun, I wasn’t having a go at anyone.”In two days McGrath has swept away the game’s version of the Zimmer frame and is walking proudly. England’s batsmen must wish he would limp off over the horizon as they again faltered against such a durable bowler. McGrath has 548 wickets and his opponents have severe trouble, facing a deficit of 626 runs with two days remaining.”To get that five-for, I couldn’t have hoped for a better Test comeback,” McGrath, who hasn’t played since January due to his wife’s illness, said. “When Ricky Ponting put down that chance off Ashley Giles I thought that was it, but he gave me a couple more overs than he probably wanted and I got the last two wickets.” Stuart Clark collected an impressive 3 for 21 and also exploited the conditions.McGrath’s excellent workout ended at 23.1 overs and he was given an extended rest when Ponting refused to enforce the follow-on. Looking fresh at the end of the day, McGrath said giving the bowlers a break and the widening cracks were behind the decision.”We’re only two-and-a-half days through the Test so it’s not about how quickly you can try to win,” he said. “We hit the cracks a few times and it will definitely be playing on the English batsmen’s minds. The longer the game goes the tougher it’s going to get.”However, McGrath was also quick to recognise the strengths of the surface. “To have lost 10 wickets for about 750 runs, you’d have to say it’s a pretty good deck.”

ScorecardTushar Saha’s magnificent spell of left-arm spin, the best figures by a Tripura bowler, put his side in a commanding position at the end of the second day’s play at Agartala. Saha, who ended with a superb 5 for 8 in 10.5 overs, and Vineet Jain (4 for 40) made full use of a lively pitch to reduce J&K from 91 for 4 to 128 all out. Tripura ended the day on a confident 129, with R Bainak, Rasudeb Dutta and SD Chowdhury making handy contributions.
Scorecard
Jai Prakash Yadav rocked the top order while Sanjay Bangar ran through the tail as Railways shot out Madhya Pradesh for 158, gaining a 145-run lead. Yadav prised out three quick wickets to leave MP limping at 44 for 4. Syed Abbas Ali put up a fight, stitching together a 69-run stand for the fifth wicket with Amay Khurasia (21) but Yadav trapped him to re-open the floodgates. One run later, Bangar removed Khurasia and proceeded to rip apart the tail as MP folded up meekly.
ScorecardJ Arunkumar’s 78 helped Assam strengthen their position at the end of the second day at Guwahati, finishing on 288 for 6 with a lead of 154. Stitching together useful partnerships – of which the 73-run stand between PK Das and Arunkumar was the most prominent – Assam took control. Six of the seven top-order batsmen crossed 20 and though they chose to crawl along at less than three an over, Assam had gained a firm footing in the contest.
ScorecardPowered by Faiz Fazal’s 70, Vidarbha finished 100 runs in arrears, with five wickets standing, by the end of the second day at Palakkad. Vidarbha were comfortablyplaced at 132 for 1 when the run out of Alind Naidu sparked of a mini-collapse, losing 3 for 4. However, O Afzal lifted Vidarbha out of trouble with an unbeaten 35. Earlier, Cheruvillil Deepak, overnight on 5, made 41 and steered Kerala to a healthy total.
ScorecardSourabha Sehgal prised out three quick wickets, including centurion Yashpal Singh, as Orissa fought their way back at Cuttack. Services were sitting pretty at 310 for 4 when Sehgal got into the act, removing Sarabjit Singh before inducing Yashpal to edge behind. A cosy 317 for 6 turned to 319 for 8 when Sehgal and Sanjay Satpathy dealt two further blows. Niranjan Behera made an unbeaten 39 to steer Orissa to 71 for 2 at the end of the day.
ScorecardAshok Thakur, the Himachal Pradesh left-arm seamer, impressed with a five-wicket haul to bundle out Jharkand for 146, giving his side an imposing first-innings lead of 140 on the second day at Dharamsala. Jharkand, after wrapping up the opposition early, lost wickets at regular intervals, with opener Manish Vardhan the only batsman to offer some resistance, scoring 43. Thakur gave his side the upper hand, getting rid of the top order. Himachal got off to a shaky start in their second innings, losing three wickets for 46, but Paras Dogra and Maninder Bisla added an unbeaten 49 till stumps to strengthen their position in the match.

A day after refusing to confirm his retirement, Glenn McGrath is expected to announce his departure date at the MCG today. McGrath has called a press conference for 1.10pm local time to “discuss his future plans” and is tipped to follow Shane Warne into Test retirement at his home ground in Sydney.McGrath, the leading Test wicket-taker with 555, has endured a week of speculation that he will walk away from the international game after the World Cup. Regaining the Ashes at Perth on Monday has meant a number of Australia’s senior players have ticked a significant box in their career goals after they were responsible for handing over the urn at The Oval in 2005.Having returned from an 11-month Test lay-off to start the current series, McGrath opened with 6 for 50 at the Gabba but even though he has produced some crucial spells he has been below his best during the series. Aged 36, McGrath has spent 13 years in the Test set-up after making his debut as a stringbean fast man against New Zealand at Perth.He started with match figures of 3 for 142 and was immediately dropped and it wasn’t until he was part of the first victory in the West Indies for 32 years that he became an essential member of the side. The 1994-95 Caribbean campaign was crucial to McGrath as he refused to be intimidated by the home side’s bowlers and fearlessly bounced them despite his limited ability with the bat. Australia sealed the series and McGrath’s reputation continued to be enhanced.Employing a simple action and applying regular check-ups, he was able to nag away with an unrelenting line and pick up kitbags full of wickets with movement off the seam. A shy and calm man off the field, he had no problem firing up when bowling and his behaviour often came under scrutiny. In the West Indies in 2002-03, when he arrived late to the series after his wife Jane was diagnosed with cancer, he had an angry, finger pointing exchange with Ramnaresh Sarwan. He admitted to “carrying on like a pork chop” at times but Australia would not have changed anything about their long-term spearhead.McGrath passed Dennis Lillee’s 355 Test wickets – it was the most famous Australian bowling milestone until Shane Warne overtook it – at The Oval in 2001 and became the country’s first fast man to play 100 Tests when he achieved the mark at Nagpur in 2004. It was a particularly satisfying record as he was out for a year with a serious ankle problem requiring two bouts of surgery. He briefly considered retiring and there were questions over whether he could return to his best. It became a regular theme during his career.Following his long lay-off to care for his family when his wife experienced another relapse of the disease in January, McGrath’s comeback ability was doubted again. He started slowly in the Malaysian tri-series and was part of Australia’s first Champions Trophy victory in India before re-setting his sights on England.

Supporters in the United Kingdom did not understand the McGrath fuss when he first toured England in 1997 and Australia lost the opening Test at Edgbaston. He stepped in quickly to assure them he was a player of the highest quality. In the rain-ruined second Test at Lord’s he was responsible for knocking England over for 77 with his incredible 8 for 38.Michael Atherton was a victim, one of 19 times in his career, and they were his best figures until he produced 8 for 34, the second-best haul by an Australian, against Pakistan at the WACA in 2004-05. When it comes to wickets he has an almost photographic memory and his removal of the opposition’ best players are recalled proudly. Brian Lara was taken 15 times in Tests while Alec Stewart was also high on the list with 10. His comedic 61 against New Zealand two years ago also showed the hours of work he put into his often-ridiculed batting.McGrath passed Courtney Walsh’s world record of 519 wickets during the one-off Super Test against the World XI in 2005-06. It was suitable company for such a wonderful bowler. A country boy from central New South Wales, McGrath has grown from a spindly adolescent who was told he couldn’t bowl into one of the most durable fast men in Test history. His record over 122 matches is amazing and will always be treasured.

If anyone thought England’s tour of Australia couldn’t get any worse they’ll need to think again – the coloured clothing is coming out. The tri-series acts as the final run-up to the World Cup, but first there’s the chance for England to shed some inhibitions in the Twenty20 International at Sydney.The game hasn’t quite worked out how to judge the latest format of limited-overs cricket, with Ricky Ponting’s comments showing that it still has some way to go to achieve respectability. However, it is rapidly becoming part of the cricketing landscape with most major nations now playing a domestic version and the inaugural Twenty20 World Championship taking place in South Africa in September.There are also plenty of issues providing interest for the match at the SCG, most notably the return of Michael Vaughan as England captain. If any form of cricket will test out his knee it will be the quick-fire nature of Twenty20.He will bring some much-needed calmness, and a fresh outlook, to the battered England squad which is once again lacking major experience. Paul Collingwood, England’s middle-order fulcrum, is aware that the senior players have a key role to play in guiding the youngsters.”I can always remember my debut watching [Shahid] Afridi smashing it over backward point off Darren Gough and thinking to myself ‘what is going on here?”‘ Collingwood said. “It’s likely to be exactly the same for the new guys. There will be times when they will probably miss a good line and length by a matter of inches and get smashed for a big six. This is what you learn at international level – the margins are so small and you have to be right on your game.”England have played three Twenty20 Internationals, winning one – against Australia at the Rose Bowl in 2005 – and losing both their matches last year against Sri Lanka and Pakistan. Australia hold a 50-50 record having defeated New Zealand but lost to England and South Africa. They also managed to beat South Africa in the first game in Australia last season.Australia can never take a sporting contest lightly, but following on from Ponting’s remarks Andrew Symonds says they won’t be gauging much from the result. “You still do have that element of pride at the end of the day but it doesn’t have that complete sense of seriousness about it. If you win, you win, but we won’t be taking it into the first one-day international saying ‘We rolled England in a Twenty20 game’.”Australia have resisted the temptation to use the match as a chance to rest leading players such as Ponting and Adam Gilchrist, although Glenn McGrath and Stuart Clark do miss out, giving Ben Hilfenhaus, the Tasmania fast bowler, a chance. Cameron White, who set Twenty20 records during his time at Somerset last season, is also back in the frame. Despite Ponting having his reservations about the format don’t expect Australia to take their foot off England’s throat.

Zimbabwe 239 for 6 (Fletcher 69*, Butchart 34*) beat Australia 226 for 7 (Wessels 76, Marsh 50*; Fletcher 4-42) by 13 runs
Scorecard

This match will be remembered by the Zimbabwean players for the rest of their lives, the country’s first victory in an official international match, at their first attempt, and against such renowned opposition.

Naturally the Zimbabwean players felt extremely nervous going into this match. Their team contained a number of experienced players of genuine international standard but, apart from John Traicos who had played for South Africa in three Tests against Australia in 1969/70, nobody had played at that level before. They were chiefly apprehensive about facing the renowned Australian pace attack of Dennis Lillee, Jeff Thomson (although both were by now past their best), Geoff Lawson and Rod Hogg. Only Ken MacLeay of the Young Australian team which had recently toured Zimbabwe was selected in the Australian party, and he was not playing in this match, so they had never met any of the opposition on the field before, although they had seen them in action on television or video. On the other hand, they knew that they were the underdogs and nobody expected them to win, so there was no pressure on them from that point of view.

The unusual feature about the Australian batting line-up was that it contained six left-handers — Wood, Wessels, Hookes, Yallop, Border and Marsh — in the first seven, captain Kim Hughes being the only exception. There was a lot of discussion about that, and it was felt that Vince Hogg and John Traicos would have an advantage as both would tend to move the ball away from the left-handers, Hogg swinging the ball in the air and Traicos spinning it off the pitch. Jack Heron had played against several of the Australians in league cricket in England over the last few years, so he was best equipped to give the others some inside information on the players.

Vince Hogg remembers that there was a lot of confusion between himself and his namesake Rodney Hogg of Australia, and he received numerous phone calls at the hotel that were intended for the Australian.

Zimbabwe were also plunged in at the deep end in another way, by having as their first venue the historic Nottingham Test ground of Trent Bridge, rather than the more homely county grounds on which they were to play their next four matches. The ground itself did not awe them, though, so much as the occasion and the opposition. With the Zimbabwe team being little known in England, the crowd was not big enough to intimidate or inspire them.

They were greatly encouraged by the South African Clive Rice, who was at that time captain of Nottinghamshire. He was very supportive and sat in the changing rooms with them, giving them all the advice he could about the pitch and the opposition.

It was a warm sunny day as Australia put Zimbabwe in to bat on winning the toss, which probably worked to the Zimbabweans’ advantage, as their fears were mainly about the Australian bowlers and would probably have struggled to chase any target the opposition might have set. At the time, though, most of the Zimbabwe players would probably have preferred to field first, to give them a better chance of feeling their way in and adjusting to the new situation.

The pressure was strongest on Ali Shah and Grant Paterson as they went out to open the innings, but they handled it superbly. Paterson took first strike against Lawson, and was immediately under way with a glance to fine leg for a single. Later in the same over Shah opened his account with another single for a hook to fine leg.

Lillee and Thomson, now towards the end of their careers, had not opened the bowling, the new ball being entrusted to Lawson and Hogg, who were now the quicker bowlers, especially Hogg. When Lillee came on, he soon had a minor altercation with Paterson. The batsman hooked a ball to fine leg and started running, watching the ball as he did so. Lillee, never a man to give way, remained firmly rooted in his follow-through and Paterson accidentally brushed his elbow as he passed him. Lillee, with characteristic graciousness, advised Paterson that if he did that again he would break his arm. Paterson did accidentally brush him again not long afterwards, and this time responded to Lillee’s sweet talk by telling him to ‘wind his neck in’. He received some short-pitched balls after that, but at the age of almost 34 Lillee was no longer quick enough to intimidate by pace alone. According to Robin Brown, the Zimbabweans had to face quite a few ‘verbals’, but they handled them well.

Overall the Zimbabweans had no real problems with Lillee’s bowling, as neither he nor Thomson bowled at the pace they expected; Lillee was actually rather erratic early on. The pitch had given a little help to the bowlers to start with, but the Australians hadn’t really used it to full effect, being too inaccurate. Thomson’s first ball was at a great pace well down the leg side and beat everybody, including the wicket-keeper, to go for four wides.

Both openers, however, fell to Lillee with successive balls. Ali Shah remembers that he had tried to square-cut the pace bowlers but the stroke was constantly blocked by the fielder at point. He had been trying too hard to reach the boundary instead of looking for the single and was feeling frustrated. Trying to cut the ball finer and find the gap, he hit it too fine and Marsh dived in front of first slip to take the catch. Next ball Paterson tried to hit the ball over the field and was caught in the covers, and Zimbabwe had to rebuild. Andy Pycroft successfully survived the hat-trick ball. It was, though, a remarkable effort by the two young openers to have shared a fifty partnership together first time out against such renowned opposition.

Heron and Pycroft restored the situation somewhat before Heron was caught behind off change bowler Graham Yallop, and then Dave Houghton was immediately and controversially given out caught at the wicket. Houghton admits he clearly snicked the ball, which was taken by wicket-keeper Rod Marsh, immediately flicked into the air in celebration, but dropped as it came down again. Houghton stood his ground, to be given not out by the umpire at the bowler’s end. The Australians were unable to accept this, and they turned to the square leg umpire, who raised his finger, although he had not apparently been consulted by his colleague.

Pycroft fell the ball before lunch, bowled by a ball from Allan Border which pitched outside leg stump and turned unexpectedly. He remembers Duncan Fletcher, next man in, coming to him during the lunch interval and asking him, “What’s it like out there?” Fletcher had played more cricket than anyone else in the side except Traicos, but he had never played at this level and was clearly ‘unbelievably nervous’. After the interval he escaped with an early life before he settled in.

Kevin Curran shared a valuable partnership of 70 in 15 overs with Fletcher before he was also given out in what may have been another dubious decision; he was convinced, as were the other Zimbabweans, that David Hookes in the gully had successfully claimed a catch for a ball he had taken on the bounce. Curran still wasn’t prepared to walk even when given out, and Fletcher had to prevail on him quietly to leave the crease.

This brought in Iain Butchart, and he and Fletcher proceeded to dominate the Australian attack, hitting it to all corners of the ground in an unbroken partnership of 75 in 13 overs. Butchart admits to being ‘absolutely petrified’ on his arrival in the middle, with Hogg and Lawson bowling again, but Fletcher steadied him by telling him quietly simply to stick in there and he would be all right; his job was just to stay there so they could get as many runs as they could. And so it proved.

Butchart was edgy to start with, getting away with some early snicks and taking a lot of verbal abuse from Hogg in particular. He played mainly a supporting role and does not consider it would have been a good one-day innings in today’s context. He did play one particularly remarkable stroke, hitting Thomson over his head to the sightscreen.

From a precarious position at 94 for five, the team recovered to 239 for six, which they considered to be competitive; in Pycroft’s words, “We thought we were in with half a chance if we managed to peg them down.” The Australians had dropped about five catches during the course of the innings. The partnership between Fletcher and Butchart is still a World Cup record.

Graeme Wood, and even more particularly Kepler Wessels, who opened for Australia, began very slowly, which meant that the required run rate steadily rose. At the start of the innings the Zimbabwean aim was simply to bowl as tightly as possible and give nothing away. When Fletcher eventually dismissed Wood after an opening partnership of 61, to a fine catch at the wicket by Houghton, and Kim Hughes fell immediately, the Zimbabweans dared to believe that they were back into the game, especially as the required rate was now over five runs an over. Hughes flicked his first ball uppishly backward of the square-leg umpire, only to be well caught low down by Shah diving forward.

This was despite the loss of Vince Hogg, who had had to leave the field with a back injury after bowling six economical overs, leaving the team a bowler short. He had expected to bowl his 12 overs on the trot, but in his sixth over he pulled a muscle in the bottom left-hand side of his back. He had warmed up well, and felt perhaps it was due to the excitement of the occasion and his efforts possibly to bowl a little quicker than usual. He was replaced in the field by Gerald Peckover, a brilliant fielder and one of the fastest men over the ground, and the Zimbabweans could feel the Australian frustration as so many runs were saved by the whole team. The bowlers bowled a tight leg-stump line to the left-handers and this plan worked well, with Traicos especially being most effective. They gave the left-handers no width to hit the ball and kept them tied down.

This put the Australians under a little extra pressure, especially as Wessels was finding it particularly difficult to keep the runs coming. This perhaps caused his eventual run out. Allan Border played a ball from Rawson to Heron at point, who saw Wessels at the non-striker’s end backing up, so he shied at the stumps, to hit them with Wessels only just in his crease. However the quality of this piece of fielding reminded the batsmen not to take any chances with the Zimbabwean fielders. In the same over Border hit the ball again just wide of Heron and called for a run. Wessels, remembering who was fielding, hesitated, but with Border committed he had to run. Heron swivelled and, with only one stump to aim at, threw down the stumps at the striker’s end with Wessels still well short of the crease. This was probably the turning point. On the other hand, Wessels had being doing a job holding an end up to make it possible for his partners to play their strokes — only none of them were actually able to do so to great effect.

Dave Houghton also remembers the dismissal of Yallop as important. They had been told he was a player who liked to flick off his legs, but tended to do so uppishly. The Zimbabweans placed Pycroft on the boundary in preparation; Pycroft had perhaps moved in a little too far, and ended up taking a superb one-handed catch reaching high above his head. This came not long after Traicos had taken a superb catch in the covers to dismiss David Hookes.

Andy Pycroft rates this as one of the best fielding sessions he had ever seen from a Zimbabwean team, and he himself was to take two brilliant catches in the deep, the second on the very edge of the boundary to dismiss Border from a stroke that looked likely to carry for six. He pays tribute to the magnificent bowling of Traicos, who did not take a wicket but conceded only 27 runs in his 12 overs. He beat the left-handers ball after ball; Pycroft remembers him beating Hookes for four or five deliveries in a row during one over.

After Border and Lawson fell in quick succession to leave the score on 176 for seven, it was finally clear that, barring a remarkable turn-around, Zimbabwe would win the match. Marsh was still there, and he was the only Australian batsman successfully to attack the Zimbabwean bowlers, fighting like a tiger to win the match for his team, but the cause was now lost.

Right up until the last over, though, the Zimbabweans still didn’t grasp the fact that they were heading for victory. Rawson was entrusted with the last over, which he bowled very well, despite a gigantic six by Marsh. He pitched the ball right up in the blockhole and was otherwise very hard to score from.

Fletcher was clearly the Man of the Match, with an unprecedented double of 69 not out and four wickets on his one-day international debut. Traicos had bowled even better without luck.

There was a crowd of perhaps between five and ten thousand, containing quite a number of Zimbabweans who had either emigrated or were over to follow their team. There were only about twenty or thirty of them, but they were waving the Zimbabwean flag and giving constant vocal encouragement to their team. One of them apparently made a small fortune by gambling 100 pounds on a Zimbabwean victory at odds of about 200-1, and he treated the team royally in the bar afterwards. There was also much support from local Englishmen, many of them from the Birmingham area who had befriended them the previous year, but the most vocal contributions came from the Australian camp followers.

Shah remembers chatting to some people after the game, and in response to a question said that if the team played as well as this in the next match they would have a good chance of beating India. He was unaware that they were reporters, and this came out in the press the next day that Zimbabwe were confident of giving India a hiding! The unfortunate Shah found himself fined, as the team were not allowed to talk to reporters.

Despite the surprise of the Australian defeat, there were no serious problems or incidents between the teams on the field and the match was played in good spirit throughout. There were few Australians who came into the Zimbabwean changing rooms afterwards, though, to shake hands and congratulate them on their victory. Pycroft remembers that Hughes as captain did so, as did Lillee and Wessels, the latter known to many of the Zimbabweans from the time when they played against him in the South African Currie Cup. Wessels the Zimbabweans appreciated as a person too; he was reserved but pleasant, and easy to talk to. Vince Hogg and Iain Butchart think Graeme Wood and Allan Border also came in after the match. The rest, who struck the Zimbabweans as being arrogant at the best of times, appeared to be most embarrassed and left the ground immediately. As for the Zimbabweans and their supporters, celebrations carried on throughout the night.

The opinion of the Zimbabweans was that there was clearly in-fighting in the Australian camp — in fact, it consisted virtually of three camps. There was the Packer contingent, those who had been the mainstays of Kerry Packer’s World Series cricket, centred around Lillee, Thomson and Marsh. There was Hughes with a few of his supporters, and there was a type of neutral party in the middle which included Allan Border. When Houghton spoke with some of the Australians in the hotel that evening, he found members of the different factions reviling each other with gusto. The Zimbabweans felt that this was a major reason why such a talented team did so badly in that World Cup, although Rod Marsh disagrees.

Dave Ellman-Brown also feels that Hughes was a weak captain who was unable to keep control of his team, especially his bowlers. Although Lawson appeared to give no problems, Hogg appeared to be out of control, while Lillee and Thomson resented the captain. He saw a division between the ‘hierarchy’ and the juniors, under a captain unable to keep control and a manager who he believes was the wrong manager, the president of the board, who was also unable to control that tearaway bunch of players.

There have been suggestions that the Australians lost the match because they were grossly overconfident, but Marsh again does not accept this. His position is that the Australians were aware that anything could happen in one-day cricket and that they were well prepared for the match; the Zimbabweans just played the better cricket.

Heading into his fifth, and likely final, World Cup, Sachin Tendulkar admits that the expectation of millions of Indians isn’t as daunting as made out to be, and that if it was, he would have stayed home. “It’s not just me, but the entire nation which dreams about this,” he told reporters in Jamaica. “It’s extremely important. We have tried our best in the past and we will continue to do that.”If there has been no success in the recent past, it doesn’t mean that we will never achieve it. If we lose hope, then we may as well be back in India. But we have hope and we have pride.”Tendulkar, one-day cricket’s highest run-scorer (14, 783 from 381 games) missed India’s tour to the West Indies last year, but believed they could do well in the World Cup. “I am looking forward to having a good World Cup. I am hoping that both my batting and bowling will come good,” he said. “I am not under any pressure at this time I feel quite confident and I am ready to go.”Tendulkar was a highlight at the 2003 World Cup, hitting a record 673 runs as India rode on eight consecutive wins to reach the final against Australia.Greg Chappell, India’s coach, said the side had a good chance of clinching their second title but wouldn’t let the pressure get to them. “We are one of a number of teams who have a good chance of doing well. We are quietly confident that we have the make-up to do well in the tournament and that’s the important thing.”Rahul Dravid, the captain, believed India were one of the most balanced sides in the tournament. “We have a pretty good team and we are very confident. I know that all the other teams will be aiming to play their best cricket but we are very confident that this is going to be a very good tournament for us.”India play two warm-up matches at Jamaica, against the Netherlands and West Indies, on March 6 and 9, before heading to Trinidad where they face Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Bermuda in the first round of the World Cup.

Scorecard

Western Australia stumbled in their bid to keep their slim final hopes alive, wobbling to 2 for 23 in reply to South Australia’s 260. Ryan Harris struck twice as the Warriors faced a shaky 11-over period after the Redbacks again threw away a promising start to their own innings.South Australia were playing only for pride as they tried to avoid the prospect of finishing a season winless for the first time since 1976-77. The Warriors need a win and other results to fall their way to sneak into the Pura Cup decider against Tasmania.Danny McLauchlan, the left-arm fast man in his second first-class match, was Western Australia’s most dangerous bowler and finished with 3 for 75. He removed Darren Lehmann for 66 after Lehmann and Mark Cosgrove showed good signs and took the score to 2 for 125.Lehmann faced 92 deliveries before he edged McLauchlan onto the stumps trying to guide the ball to third man and when Cosgrove departed for 57, the Redbacks had tumbled to 6 for 179. They threatened to fall short of 200 until the lower order mounted a salvage operation, with Harris and Jason Gillespie adding 46 between them.Harris continued to fight with the late dismissals of Justin Langer (10) and Aaron Heal, the night-watchman, for 0. He had both batsmen bowled and only Chris Rogers survived, reaching 12 not out at stumps.

Do you regret your decision at the toss?
Not really, there was something in the wicket early on. It was the right decision, we bowled quite well. We did not have luck upfront beat the bats a few times, hit the pads a few times. They played well after that to reach 250.What are your plans for the future?
It’s too early really to think about anything. A lot of hard work has gone into the preparation in the last year and to be knocked out of the tournament so early is a huge disappointment for all of us.How emotional are you at this point?
Like I said, very disappointed.Can you say something about the Irfan Pathan mystery? He is always in the squad but never picked in the XI.
I think we picked the team based on what the best combination is for the day. There is a tour selection committee with a lot of experience and we decide who’s going to play and who’ s not going to play, everyone cannot play in the 15, and some guys miss out. He played against West Indies. He was unfortunately injured against Sri Lanka. He played in the Deodhar Trophy, he was declared fit and he came here. At this point we did not think he was in our three best seamers so he did not play.There was a lot of talk about Vision 2007. Where do we go from here?
It’s really early to collect my thoughts. Really disappointing, a lot of hard work has gone into it over the last year. We did not play well in this tournament and did not deserve to go into the second round.Did you think the target was gettable today?
255 was gettable. I’m disappointed with the top order. Definitely I thought it was a gettable target. I think we had the extra batsman. We lost wickets at regular intervals. We needed one big partnership, we did not get that. We definitely should have made a much better chase of it than we did in the end.Do you have any hope that Bermuda can give a shock result over Bangladesh and help you qualify for the Super Eight?
Not really. Well, anything can happen in cricket. To be honest we have not really played well enough. The things which were in our control we have not done well enough.India had a good build up to the tournament. Where do you think it went wrong?
The lead up to this tournament was pretty good. The confidence was quite high and the boys were playing good cricket. That’s the nature of one-day cricket, we had a bad game against Bangladesh where we did not really bat well upfront. That sort of put pressure on us. Today again we did not play well enough. The way the tournament is structured you have one banana-skin game and you can be out of the tournament quite quickly. We started slowly too but had enough games to pull ourselves us back. This time we did not have that, that’s where we fell I suppose. The first game against Bangladesh we did not play anywhere near our potential.

It’s not happened for the first time, the batsmen crumbling, choking under pressure…
Some of these guys have had success before as well. It’s a question of may be the guys going back and looking at their performances, how they performed in the important games and critical games. Yes, we have not batted anywhere near our potential. We picked what was the best batting line-up in the conditions but I guess we were the best batting line-up in India, but we did not bat well enough in these two games. It is definitely something to think about.Is this the worst defeat of your career?
It’s disappointing. It’s not a nice thing to lose in the early part of the World Cup. We have invested a lot of time and effort in it and it has not gone our way. It’s a big event and you really want to do well. Sports is like that, sometimes your best plans and all your ideas just don’t work.Both Pakistan and India have crashed out despite the conditions being similar to that in the subcontinent…
Both the teams did not play good cricket. I think Pakistan stumbled against Ireland and we stumbled against Bangladesh. In a tournament like it is, you have one bad day and you could be in big trouble and that’s what happened to Pakistan and India. I am sure there is a lot of thinking to do in both the countries.Is it time to look at the entire system?
I have just come out of a game and I have had no time to collect my thoughts and think about these things. But when you lose like this, that is what you should do. When you have a few setbacks, when there are disappointments, or when things like this happen, then it’s time for the people concerned to sit back and look at the whole issue and see how we can go forward and how we can g et better and keep improving, and perform better in the tournaments to come. So, yes it is obviously time for people who make decisions to sit back and reflect, and look at how we can make things better. We have to think about it rationally. I guess there is always a lot of emotions that gets involved in all these things. But it is time to look back rationally and see how we can move forward.Are you worried about security back home?
Not really. I hope the players wouldn’t be under any physical danger. To be honest, I don’t expect that to be the case. I am sure people will be disappointed, and fair enough. They have invested a lot of hope in this team and we haven’t delivered. So, they are entitled to be disappointed. But I just hope that no-one in is in any physical danger.Are you happy with the effort of the players in the tournament?
We put a lot in this game. Definitely against Bangladesh, I was pretty disappointed with just the all-round effort. But today I thought we put in hard in the field. The boys were up for it, they came out really hard and tried their best. I just think we didn’t execute well with the bat. I think 254 was a very gettable score on that wicket. We didn’t execute our plans well with the bat. We just kept losing too many wickets and that’s never a good thing when you are chasing a score like 250 at five runs and over.Do you realise the enormity of this defeat?
Nobody realizes the enormity of the defeat than the players. The players are the one who put in a lot of time. They worked really hard for this. It is an opportunity they get once in four years. It is something that you really look forward to in your career. So no-one understands the enormity of this more than the players. Definitely there is a lot of introspection and disappointment in the dressing room.It’s been difficult for India in the Caribbean…
We have done quite well in the Test matches here. Yes, we haven’t done well in the one-dayers in the last couple of series. It just hasn’t worked out for us. We, as batsmen, have just not been able to adapt to these wickets. The nature of these wickets somehow has been that, as a group, we haven’t been able to adapt to and score the kind of runs that we should.Have some players overstayed their welcome?
It is too early, and it is not for me to say these things. I am just out of a grave game of cricket. I have just lost a game of cricket. I guess there is a month now and obviously the people who make decisions will have to sit down and think about it and see what they feel is the best way to take things forward or how they felt that things should move forward.Shouldn’t some one stand up and take responsibility?
We definitely do take the responsibility. I am not sitting here and trying to shirk responsibility. I am the first one to stand up and say that we should have done better, and it starts with me. I am not trying to put the responsibility on anyone. People are asking me what’s the way forward and what do we do. I haven’t really thought about stuff like that. Till about 24 hours ago, I truly believed that we will still be in this tournament. I didn’t have the time to think what’s ahead of us. But I am not trying to say I don’t take any responsibility. I take full responsibility for the fact that we haven’t progressed to the next round.

Will you continue as captain?
I was appointed captain till the World Cup. So I am not even the captain at this point of time. So it’s not my decision to make.How does it feel for the senior members to never have won a World Cup?
It will always be a disappointment. I have played in three World Cups, and we did well in one of them. So, yeah it’s not an ideal scenario. It’s not something that, if you were writing a fairy tale, you wouldn’t write it this way. But that’s\ what sports is about. Sometimes, you don’t get to choose the way everything works out for you. That is the beauty and cruelty of sport.Can you compare this campaign with the one in 2003?
I just think we probably had a little more breathing space there to regroup there and bounce back. The way the format was in the last World Cup, it guaranteed you five or six games. So it gave you an opportunity to get into a bit form. I thought we batted a lot better in the last World Cup. We got some good scores, we chased down some good scores. I think we just adapted better to those conditions in the last World Cup then we did here, in this first week that happened so quickly for us.The captain and coach keep saying ‘everything is fine, we are going to win.’ Why doesn’t it happen?
I haven’t come across a single captain or coach as yet, who starts before a match saying we are going to lose it. Nobody will come to a press conference and say that we are going to lose the match. That’s not what you do. Definitely, we expect our batsmen and our bowlers and everyone to do well.Where did you lose?
We didn’t play good cricket. Where did we lose? We gave them 254 runs and we didn’t chase it down. We ended up with 180. No one-one feels worse about it than the players. I know you guys feel bad and disappointed about it. The players also feel disappointed. It’s a lot of time invested by the players. It’s a lot of their dreams, a lot of their hopes that go into tournaments like this. When it doesn’t work out for them, they feel it more than anyone else.

A lot has been said by key personnel involved in this West Indies tour of England. However the real significance of their comments prior to the squad’s departure last Tuesday lies between the lines.When Mike Findlay, the manager, chooses to emphasise that an insistence on proper conduct is a significant aspect of his role, and that no indiscipline will be tolerated during the next two months on the road, it is a tacit admission that the generally lamentable attitude of contemporary Caribbean cricketers had sunk to a new low during the ultimately disastrous World Cup campaign.When new coach David Moore stresses the need for players to appreciate the value of fitness and proper overall preparation, he is in fact confessing that, at least for much of his tenure as assistant coach to fellow Australian Bennett King over the past two-and-a-half years, the essential work ethic was nothing short of deplorable. Additionally, Moore’s praise of the work of regional colleagues, when questioned about any aspirations of continuing as West Indies coach beyond the England tour, suggests that he senses the tide at the decision-making level has shifted from employing a foreigner.It is a shift that could be reinforced in the coming weeks, although he will probably argue, as Roger Harper and Gus Logie – his counterparts on the last two visits to England – did, that as vital as his function is, it is still only one aspect of a system that deteriorated before our eyes over the past 10 years or so.Harper at least savoured a Test victory, by an innings and 93 runs inside three days at Edgbaston, to get the five-match series in 2000 off to a dream start. Logie, in contrast, had the misfortune of being in charge (that terminology could be hotly debated, given what prevailed during the tour) of the squad in 2004 that was whitewashed in the four-match series, although there was considerable consolation in the Champions Trophy triumph four weeks later before coaching responsibilities were passed on to King and company.That first Test in Birmingham seven years ago remains a significant landmark in the almost uninterrupted slide since then, for it is the last time that the West Indies won a Test away from home against an opponent other than Zimbabwe or Bangladesh.Then, Jimmy Adams’s team had three first-class matches leading up to the series opener. In 2004, with Brian Lara at the helm, they reached the final of a tri-nation limited-overs tournament involving the hosts and New Zealand, and then played two first-class fixtures ahead of the first Test at Lord’s. Now, they have a solitary three-day match against Somerset leading into next Thursday’s start of the four-Test series.Of course, with the World Cup having dragged on for almost two months, all international teams are in the same boat. The difference is that West Indies and England are the first to get back into the longer version of the game, and while the members of the home team would have played at least a couple of matches for their respective counties ahead of the Lord’s opener, the tourists will be trying to cram all the preparation they can manage into the next three days.The County Ground at Taunton holds a special place in the hearts of older West Indian fans, for it was there that Viv Richards and Joel Garner played their county cricket for more than a decade until an acrimonious departure in 1986. So it is inevitable that when the diehard fans of Somerset gather on the opening day tomorrow at their favourite venue to see the current crop of West Indians taking on the home boys, there will be more than a little reminiscing about the day “Smokin’ Joe” hit so-and-so out of the ground, or the time when “Big Bird” mowed down so many top-class players in a single spell.Given their genuine admiration for Caribbean cricket, they would certainly like to forget the performance of the last West Indies team that came to Taunton. That was near the end of the 2000 tour, a week after the unbelievably humiliating two-day defeat in the fourth Test at Headingley.

The 269-run loss to a Somerset team that won just two first-class matches all season was almost as dispiriting, and preceded a 158-run defeat in the final Test at The Oval that gave England the series 3-1 and a first hold on the Wisden Trophy since 1969.The only familiar face tomorrow among the tourists, for those who were at The County Ground seven years ago, will be Chris Gayle (Ramnaresh Sarwan had flown home for a friend’s funeral). Gayle was dropped from the Test side after scoring zero in the only innings at Edgbaston and did nothing against Somerset to merit a recall for the series finale. He is remembered, however, for summoning veteran fast bowler Curtly Ambrose from the pavilion, on an overcast day, to bring out his sunglasses, which he promptly placed on top of his head. It didn’t take much perception to recognise then that Gayle, like so many others in the squad, had effectively switched off.If Findlay, Moore, Sarwan and whoever else can get Gayle to focus on batting instead of fashion tomorrow, they will be able to take credit for at least one minor achievement on what is going to be a very difficult tour.

Zimbabwe A 38 for 2(Chauluka 18*, Odhiambo 1-10, A. Luseno 1-19) trail Kenya Select 147 (C Obuya 42, Maruma 4-30) by 109 runs
ScorecardKenya Select put up a poor display with the bat on the first day of the four-day match against Zimbabwe A at Harare Sports Club, being bowled out for 147 inside two sessions. Zimbabwe closed on 38 for 2.The Kenyans won the toss and reached 28 for 0 with few alarms before it all started going wrong. David Obuya and Jimmy Kamande were parted when Obuya edged Prince Masvaure to Hamilton Masakadza in the slips, and Tony Suji followed for a first-ball duck.Graeme Cremer should have had a second wicket when Kamande spooned a return catch but somehow Cremer, who had possibly too much time to get under the ball, spilt it. But the miss was not too costly, and Kenya reached lunch at 91 for 5. Only the captain, Collins Obuya, seemed equal to the task and he played some powerful pull shots after the interval.Legspinner Tymicen Maruma, who ended with 4 for 30, tied the batsmen down, and when he showed signs of tiring, left-arm spinner Keith Dabengwa replaced him and polished off the innings.Zimbabwe A got off to a shaky start themselves when the in-form Tino Mawoyo edged Alfred Luseno into his off stump for 4. Bonaparte Mujuru was the caught behind for 4, and Kenya squandered a chance to end the day on a high when Hiren Varaiya botched a run-out opportunity. Eric Chauluka cut to point and set off for a run but Masakadza sent him back when he was halfway down the track. In all the confusion Varaiya threw the ball late and allowed Chauluka to scramble home.The Kenyans, who failed to win any of their four Logan Cup matches preceding this game, will need to produce a much better performance on the second day if they are to claw their way back into this match.