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Boosted by the absence of Graeme Smith, West Indies will approach the first Twenty20 international against South Africa in Port Elizabeth with confidence.Chris Gayle, the West Indies captain, has made optimistic noises since landing in the country and, despite falling behind the Duckworth-Lewis target in the warm-up match against Makhaya Ntini XI, West Indies can be expected to put up a stiff fight.With three straight wins against Zimbabwe, after suffering a loss in the opening ODI, West Indies have some momentum on their side. Gayle will also take confidence from the opening match of the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup, where he lashed a 57-ball 117. It didn’t prevent a defeat but definitely provided a big early scare.”We respect the South Africans,” Gayle said, “but we don’t fear them. They are a good team and are playing good cricket at the moment, so we know the challenge at hand. But we are confident and we believe in our ability. We played well in Zimbabwe and we are here in South Africa to continue the good work. They will be in for a fight.”Chasing 177 in the practice match on Friday, West Indies started off shakily, losing their top three batsmen for 34, but were to be steadied by Shivnarine Chanderpaul. His rollicking 44 set the platform but the onset of rain, at 101 for 5, did West Indies in, falling short of the D/L target by five runs.South Africa, though, will be hard to beat. Smith, who has been advised three week’s rest after contracting an infection during the tour of Pakistan, will be replaced by Shaun Pollock as captain. Morne van Wyk will fill Smith’s absence at the top of the order. They are currently the second-best ODI side, according to the ICC rankings, and are usually buoyed by their local support.The first Twenty20 match will be followed by the three Test matches (Port Elizabeth from 26 December, Cape Town from 2 January and Durban from 10 January). The second Twenty20 is scheduled for January 18 at the Wanderers in Johannesburg.

The Indian selectors have decided to go in with a full-strength squad for the two-Test series against Bangladesh later this month. There was speculation that some players from the A team would get a look-in, but the 15-man squad included only one newcomer – Gagandeep Singh, a 23-year-old seamer from Punjab. Shib Sankar Paul, who was in the Indian squad for the Mumbai Test against Australia last month, was also included. Ajit Agarkar was left out, while Ashish Nehra wasn’t picked because of a side strain.Gagandeep made his first-class debut in 1999-2000, and has an impressive domestic record – 154 wickets in 34 matches at the superb average of 19.72. However, with Zaheer Khan and Irfan Pathan in the line-up, it is unlikely that Gagandeep will win a place in the Tests in Bangladesh.The first Test will be played at Dhaka from December 9, while Chittagong will play host to the second match, from December 16. The Tests will be followed by three one-day internationals. SK Nair, the secretary of the Indian board, added that the Indian squad for the one-dayers would be announced on Thursday.Indian squad for Bangladesh Tests
Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Sourav Ganguly (capt), Mohammad Kaif, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Irfan Pathan, Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Murali Kartik, Shib Sankar Paul, Gangandeep Singh.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is reportedly upset that Jagmohan Dalmiya, the president of the Indian board, held his press conference to announce the itinerary of India’s tour to Pakistan earlier than scheduled. The schedule for the tour was to be announced simultaneously by the two boards, with Dalmiya holding a press conference at 5pm IST, and Rameez Raja, PCB’s CEO, holding it at the same time, at 4.30 pm Pakistan time. (Pakistan is half-an-hour behind India.) However, Dalmiya’s press conference began at 4.40pm IST. The tour schedule was later touted in the media as a victory of the BCCI over the PCB.Speaking to the Indian Express, Rameez said: “We [Dalmiya and he] had agreed that we announce it at a promised time. But the BCCI gave out the details half-an-hour before us. I will certainly speak to Mr Dalmiya about it.”Dalmiya refused to be drawn into the matter, saying that it was a controversy created by the media. The puzzling aspect of the story, however, was that journalists in India knew a day in advance that Dalmiya’s press conference would be at 4.30pm the next day, which makes it all the more curious that the PCB did not know. The PCB, in fact, seems to have panicked to try to make their announcements before the Indian one. Agha Akbar Khan, the sports editor of the Lahore newspaper, The Nation, told The Indian Express about the confusion: “The whole event was so hurriedly organised that everything happened at the last minute. The PCB was not aware of Dalmiya’s announcements and when they got to know they sent out invites to one and all. Luckily, one of my reporters was around and could attend the briefing.”Dalmiya announcing the itinerary is a minor issue,” he concluded, “but the whole thing gives me a feeling that Indians want to show that they are in charge.”

South Australia will offer four New South Wales players contracts before the end of the week in a bid to boost the struggling state’s batting stocks. Greg Mail, Aaron O’Brien, Tom Cooper and Grant Lambert could all be heading to Adelaide if the Redbacks coach Mark Sorell, who flew to Sydney on Monday for talks, has his way.South Australia deliberately targeted players on the fringe of the Pura Cup-winning New South Wales squad that includes ten Cricket Australia-contracted players. “We’re feeling pretty confident,” Sorell said. “They’re at a very strong state where lack of opportunity has been an issue and we think they will fit in very nicely here.”Mail, 29, played only four Pura Cup matches for the Blues last season despite making nearly 300 runs. Lambert, a useful 30-year-old allrounder, was used six times for 163 runs at 27.16 and nine wickets at 30.77. O’Brien did not feature at all, following semi-regular appearances over the previous six seasons, and Cooper is an uncapped rookie. Sorell said Cooper, 21, would be an investment for the future.South Australia must also find a captain for next summer after Nathan Adcock lost his Pura Cup position mid-season. However, none of the New South Wales players have been offered the job. “We have some good internal candidates at the moment,” Sorell said, “and we’ll address leadership when they sign.”The Redbacks have already picked up Michael Klinger from Victoria and are not chasing any other players. However, Sorell was disappointed to have lost out to the Bushrangers on Chris Rogers.Sorell also wants to keep the spin duo of Dan Cullen and Cullen Bailey even though squeezing both of them into the side in 2007-08 was almost impossible. “I’m confident that that will happen,” Sorell said. “It’s a priority, there’s no doubt about that.”He is also hoping to retain Ryan Harris, the allrounder, but questions over his status have been raised after he used his British passport to sign as a local player with Sussex. South Australia want to speak to Harris over his intentions for the next Australian season.

Desmond Haynes, one half of one of the greatest opening combinations Test cricket has ever seen, has expressed concerns about the West Indian team’s readiness for English conditions, and said that unfamiliarity with the moving ball could hamper the players.The Barbados Daily Nation reported Haynes’s doubts about the possibility of West Indian success in England – a far cry from the confidence his team exuded while touring in the past. “We are going to England in a couple of weeks’ time and there is no preparation in place where the guys can go into an indoor facility somewhere in the Caribbean to start playing against the moving ball.”I am not too sure of our preparation for that tour and that is why I have a little problem with how well we will do in England,” he said. “Because we just came off two tracks that were very, very flat. There was no sideway movement, playing against Bangladesh. That preparation, to me, is not adequate at this level.”Haynes, who played 116 Tests, most of them in concert with his fellow Barbadian opening partner Gordon Greenidge, pointed out that few players had experienced English conditions, unlike in the past, when many West Indian team members (including Haynes himself, in a prolific career with Middlesex) were fixtures on the county circuit. Of the one-day squad picked for the tour, only four players – Brian Lara, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ridley Jacobs – have significant experience in England.”It is harder on these players now than it was with us because there were about nine guys in the West Indies team that would have played in England or were playing in England for a county or something like that,” said Haynes. “We were strong back in the 1980s because we had the opportunity to play county cricket.”His comments came after the West Indian team’s dismal performances against South Africa, England and – to the mortification of many – even in the first Test against Bangladesh. The loss to a resurgent England earlier this year raises the possibility of a whitewash – and for a change, it’s England that will go into a series against West Indies wielding the whip.

Shaun Pollock
On the pitch
It wasn’t easy as there was not a lot on offer, but it was nice to have the sea breeze and get a little bit of movement in the air. In the subcontinent if you can get [the ball] to do something, to cut or swing, it obviously makes the batter think a bit. There was a little bit of that with the two new balls and it worked for us.On South Africa’s day
It was important we got off to a good start, and we got two early wickets and picked up more pretty regularly through the day. If you said 279 for 7 on that deck on the first day of a Test match we would have been more than happy. Those last two wickets were definitely the cherry on the top, and I’m sure that knocked them a little bit in the dressing-room. Our first innings is really important. If we can cash in and put a big score on the board and they have to catch up, then we are in control.On Jayawardene’s innings
He played really well and kept us out there. He was patient and applied himself on a pitch that was batsman-friendly.On whether the pitch will deteriorate
The ideal thing from our perspective is not to think there are gremlins. We have got to go out there looking to be positive. Even if there are balls that are turning big or going through the top, we are going to have to try and play every ball on its merits.Mahela Jayawardene
On Sri Lanka’s day
It was a very difficult day for us. We lost early wickets and every time we thought we could get on top of them we lost more wickets. I knew I had to bat as long as possible. We are disappointed that we lost two wickets towards the end. If we had been five down tomorrow it would have been a very good day. But I think we have a couple of decent guys inside who can hang around a bit. I think 350 would be a very good score on this wicket, because it is very slow and spinners will get a lot of turn on it. South Africa will have to bat last. Hopefully, we can do the job.On South Africa’s bowlers
South Africa bowled to a very good plan, especially the quicks. They knew that they didn’t have that much in the wicket so they bowled to a decent line and length. We had to be very patient to get our runs. When a couple of us played bad shots they put the pressure on. [Nicky] Boje bowled well, getting some turn, and the others just stuck to their task, bowling one side of the wicket trying to force us to make a mistake.On batting on the Galle pitch
I enjoy batting on this track, but it is usually a much better wicket than this. It was pretty hard as the ball was not coming onto the bat and I had to wait for the bad stuff. I could not force myself and try to dominate the bowlers. It will get worse, there is no doubt about that. Murali was talking a lot in the break after Boje got some turn. I never expected the pitch to give that much turn so early in the game, so I am sure that Murali and Upul [Chandana] will look forward to bowling on it.

Another Chennai Test, another Australia collapse. Those who were here three years ago could tell you that it wasn’t Harbhajan Singh’s 15 wickets or Sachin Tendulkar’s century that won India the series. No, it was Steve Waugh’s hand. When the man renowned for his steely temperament decided to play catch with a Harbhajan delivery that was spinning back towards the stumps, Australia were 3 for 340, and on course to give India the hiding to end all hidings. Matthew Hayden was at his intimidating best at the other end, and Waugh himself had seldom been troubled during his innings.But that momentary lapse of reason left the door ajar for Harbhajan, and a little over an hour later, Australia had subsided to 391 all out. The world champions don’t do anything by halves, and when they lose the plot, it can make the average B-grade Bollywood potboiler look coherent. At Kolkata a week earlier, with VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid having played the innings of their lives, Australia were handily placed to salvage a draw on the final day, going to tea at 3 for 161, with the Hayden-Waugh combination occupying the crease.But once Waugh was caught in the close-in cordon by Hemang Badani, the last seven batsmen were loath to make the scorers work unduly hard, adding only 46 more before subsiding to 212 all out. This penchant for stunning collapses hasn’t been restricted to matches in India either. In the series opener against India at Brisbane last year, Australia went from 2 for 268 to 323 all out. And in the Adelaide match, where they lost despite piling up an imposing 556 in the first innings, the last five second-innings wickets added just 13.Of course, only a foolish punter would write off Australia’s chances here. In Sri Lanka a few months ago, they conceded first-innings leads of 161 and 91 in the first two Tests, storming back to win both despite a certain Muttiah Muralitharan being in opposition. But the stumble from 2 for 189 to 235 today certainly gives India hope. Like the boxer who strives incessantly for a knockout despite being way ahead on points, Australia remain suspect to the sucker punch, and Anil Kumble’s haymaker certainly laid them out cold.

Asked to rate his first-innings knock a couple of days ago, Rahul Dravid had responded with the realism that is a feature of his persona. “It is satisfying to score a hundred in Australia,” he had said, “but the true value of the innings will only be judged by what result it achieves for the team.” After ensuring the unbelievable for his team, he was willing to term his performance, a staggering 305 runs from 835 minutes of occupying the crease, as the greatest of his life. His captain was more effusive. “Rahul batted like god,” said Sourav Ganguly.God indeed. Because he offered India deliverance. From 85 for 4, he forged a partnership with his old ally, VVS Laxman, that first frustrated Australia and then drove them to desperation. And then, as they sought frantically for a breach in the second innings, Dravid stood before then like an immovable object, offering a straight bat to anything remotely threatening and latching on to every scoring opportunity. Australia blew their chance when Adam Gilchrist dropped him early because after he had got over his early tentativeness, he didn’t offer them a sniff. “It was a remarkable achievement,” said Steve Waugh, paying Dravid repeated compliments after the match, “to come back after a double-hundred and to be able to concentrate so hard, it is an outstanding performance.”Dravid said there were times today when his concentration flagged. “But it has always been a strong side of my game, so it wasn’t difficult to get it back. The motivation wasn’t hard to find. There was history for the making, there were many team-mates, our coaching staff, who have worked so hard over the last two or three years, I knew I had to do it for them.”He said the gameplan had been simple. “I knew that if we batted out the overs, we were going to win. It was my job to stay there and let the others bat around me. I had a few partnerships, a brief one with Sehwag, a good one with Sachin and another good one with Laxman. To be able to stay there till the job was done is a quite a special feeling.”Inevitably, comparisons were sought with Eden Gardens. “I have not had a chance to sit back and think about this. May be things will sink in better a few days later. But Eden Gardens was a very emotional affair, very special. But in terms of what it could mean to us as a team, and what this could lead to, this win is significant.”Ganguly offered the same sentiments. “We have been winning Tests abroad in the last couple of years. But to win in Australia, to go one ahead is special. I have been here as vice-captain in 1999. I remember the atmosphere in the dressing room then, and I can feel the difference now.”When asked if his team was not intimidated by Australia, Ganguly said while many members of his team may look soft from outside, there was a lot of steel within. “Don’t go by how they look,” he said, “we have plenty of tough guys. Rahul, Laxman, Kumble, Zaheer, Ajit, they are all very strong in their head. I am proud of them.”We know Australia will come hard at us in the next two Tests. But we will be ready for them. We know, and they know, that we can beat them. I have always said that we are the second-best team in the world. And now if we beat them, and with some of their top players going out, well …”The job isn’t done yet. “Perhaps we will party tonight,” Dravid said. “We have a few days of break coming up. Then it’s back to work.”Sambit Bal, the editor of Wisden Asia Cricket magazine and Wisden Cricinfo in India, will be following the Indian team throughout this Test series.

Sourav Ganguly, India’s captain, has stoked the rivalry between his team and the touring Australians ahead of the first Test, which starts at Bangalore on October 6.”The Aussies know that we are the only side that comes hard at them, and that will be a huge psychological advantage for us,” Ganguly told AFP. “I am certain they are worried about playing us. We are always formidable at home and they know it. I am not saying we will certainly win the series – you can’t predict that – but it will be a very, very close contest.”The Aussies bring out the best in us,” Ganguly continued, “and I am confident the same will happen again despite a very ordinary start to the season, where we played poor cricket.”Australia, who last won a Test series on Indian soil in 1969 under Bill Lawry, have lost five of the last seven Tests they have played there since 1996. In 2001, India fought back from a drubbing in the first Test to win the next two and grab a stunning 2-1 series victory in the final match. When they toured Australia last year, India managed to hold them to a 1-1 draw.”Maybe you are only as good as the team you lead, but I have never shirked away from the responsibility given to me,” he added. “It’s my job to lead from the front. There will always be a lot said when we are not doing well, but in the end what matters is that the captain and the team are willing to stand up and be counted.”When asked whether Sachin Tendulkar’s likely absence from the first Test due to a tennis elbow injury would give Australia the edge, Ganguly countered: “I think the Aussies will be hurt more by the absence of captain Ricky Ponting. It affects the team when the captain is not around, and the Australians are no exception. It will put them under a lot of pressure.”Ponting has been ruled out of the first two Tests of the four-match series with a broken thumb. He suffered the injury while fielding during Australia’s defeat to England in the semi-finals of the Champions Trophy last month. Adam Gilchrist has been named as the stand-in captain during his absence.

Shoaib Malik, the Pakistan allrounder, is set to undergo a shoulder operation in South Africa next week to try to improve his suspect bowling action.”Malik’s problem is that due to those two accidents his arm tendons have become loose,” Shaharyar Khan, the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) told Reuters. “So when he bowls one gets the impression there is a problem with his action. The operation is being carried out to loosen his tendons so that his arm extension improves and he faces no more problems with his action.”Malik, 24, has been reported twice owing to problems caused by the after-effects of two road accidents which have limited the mobility of his arm extension. Malik was reported for his suspect action during the Paktel Cup one-day tournament in October 2004 but the Pakistan board suggested that the kink was the result of an accident which Malik suffered a year before that. Malik’s action was cleared last May after he went to South Africa to have his action tested.