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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.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out – West Indies

Needing to take eight wickets in a day, Pakistan’s bowlers put in a sustained bowling performance to finally end West Indies’ resistance and seal the series 2-0. Shivnarine Chanderpaul battled hard with a spirited 69, but West Indies, hampered by the fact that several batsmen failed to carry on after getting starts, folded to 244 for 9, and with Ramnaresh Sarwan not being fit to bat after taking a blow to the foot, the match finished more than an hour before the scheduled close.West Indies seemed to have done enough to save when they progressed to 226 for 5 at tea. The injury to Sarwan – he was hit on the toe by a vicious inswinging yorker and has been ruled out of the ODI series with a hairline fracture – meant that West Indies were, for all practical purposes, six down, but Chanderpaul was playing flawlessly. Moreover, the light was getting murky too – the last 20 minutes before tea was played under floodlights – which suggested play would be called off significantly before the scheduled close.The second over after tea changed that equation completely. Danish Kaneria, who bowled with unflagging enthusiasm on a slow pitch, slipped in a quicker one which straightened and trapped Chanderpaul in front. Next ball, Daren Powell prodded one straight to silly point, and suddenly West Indies had slumped to 227 for 7. It would have been even better for Pakistan had Kamran Akmal snaffled an outside edge from Ramdin in the previous over – the ball just evaded his outstretched right hand, and Ramdin lived on. Abdul Razzaq, the unlucky bowler, soon got some reward for a superb spell of reverse-swing bowling when he trapped Jerome Taylor in front, and with the light improving, there was little chance of the rest of the West Indian batsmen lasting the distance.In the end, a pitch which had been castigated all around produced a match which went into the final session, and the credit for stretching the game that far on the final day was largely due to Chanderpaul. His ability to play late was especially beneficial, and he waited for the swing and seldom committed to a stroke. Against Kaneria, he used his pad to good effect, stretching forward to negate the rough, and frustrating Kaneria into either overpitching or dropping it short. Either way, it allowed Chanderpaul to ease him away for runs. Till he was finally done in by a superb quicker one by Kaneria, Chanderpaul showed exceptional nous in tackling both pace and spin in testing conditions.Ultimately Pakistan won with some time to spare, but that didn’t look likely through the first hour in the morning, when Brian Lara and Sarwan started proceedings. In St Lucia earlier this year Lara had saved the Test against India with a last-day century, and he threatened to repeat the feat, batting with utmost assurance whether in defence or attack. With the pitch still encouraging low bounce, Lara batted well outside the crease against the seamers, defending solidly to keep the good balls at bay, but also punishing the loose ones. Nazir swung the ball and beat his outside edge a couple of times, but he also felt the heat of Lara’s strokes, being clipped off his legs and square-driven for two glorious fours. Lara was just one short of another fifty, when, clearly distracted by a five-minute delay due to sightscreen problems, he drove too early off the back foot and spooned a catch to cover.Till that breakthrough, West Indies were moving along smoothly, with Sarwan getting into his stride as well. He was too eager to attack at the start, mistiming a couple of drives early in the day, but gradually settled in with some excellent strokes of his own – a cover-drive off Gul was a classic, but Gul got his own back soon after. Buoyed after Lara’s dismissal, he bowled a scorching yorker, similar to the one that had comprehensively bowled Sarwan in the first innings. Sarwan got his foot in the way this time, but that only meant a painful blow which required him to be helped off the field, and eventually ruled him out of the rest of the tour.Those two blows swung the game Pakistan’s way, and it got even better for them when Runako Morton gifted his wicket away after a brief blitz. He creamed Kaneria for 16 in an over, including two lofted shots down the ground which fetched a four and a six, and a square-cut for four. However, in the first ball of Kaneria’s next over Morton threw it away, slapping one off the back foot straight back to the bowler.West Indies struggled to 144 for 4 at lunch, and though Dwayne Bravo and Chanderpaul added a promising 57 for the fifth wicket, Nazir put the game back in Pakistan’s favour when Bravo guided one to slip. That opened the door somewhat, and when Kaneria struck twice immediately after tea, there was no coming back for West Indies.

If selected, Chris Cairns, the New Zealand allrounder, will pose a potent threat against Australia in the upcoming Chappell-Hadlee one-day series, believes Garry MacDonald, the former Canterbury coach.In a sort of rejoinder to John Bracewell’s comments on dropping Cairns from the side that lost 0-4 in the one-day series against South Africa, MacDonald has stated that Cairns is “really starting to get his game together” with both bat and ball. MacDonald is currently coach of Cairns’ Lancaster Park-Woolston club, and has seen Cairns’ productivity first-hand over the past few months.Cairns, told to go back to club and first class domestic cricket and improve his fitness following an indifferent season, took his club to a six-wicket victory against Burnside-West-University on November 12, hitting an unbeaten 79 from 71 balls, and followed that up the following day by dismissing the Marist top order. “He’s gone up another groove today with his bowling,” MacDonald said to stuff.co.nz, after Cairns captured three wickets for 15 runs against Marist. “That’s the quickest he has bowled this season. I was talking to the Marist boys and they said it was whistling through.”Playing against Australia will be an obvious challenge over club opposition, but MacDonald believes that what he saw of Cairns this past weekend was enough to justify his return to a beleaguered New Zealand side. “I don’t think he is putting any more effort into it. It’s just that his rhythm is coming back and his fitness is up. Like a powerful car, he has gone up a couple of gears.”In a similar emphasis on Cairns’ form, Dave Nosworthy, the current Canterbury coach, maintains that there could be no question over his contribution at the batting crease following a 101-ball 118 against Central Districts in a warm-up match last week. “Chris has been excellent,” said Nosworthy, who has been monitoring Cairns as he plots his international rehabilitation. “He’s played a full part in everything we’ve done and has shown the way, really,”

The Indian offspinner Harbhajan Singh has been reported to the ICC after the officials at the Chittagong Test decided that there were doubts over his doosra, a delivery which turns away from the right-hand batsman. Unofficial sources suggested that the degree of elbow-flexion involved was 22 degrees, well beyond the ICC’s previous tolerance levels.The report was made by Aleem Dar and Mark Benson, the on-field umpires, Mahbubur Rahman, the TV umpire, and Chris Broad, the match referee, at the end of the second Test against Bangladesh.Malcolm Speed, the ICC’s chief executive, explained that Broad had informed both the ICC and the India team management of the report. “Having closely reviewed the action Harbhajan Singh employs during this delivery, the match officials decided to report the bowler to the ICC and, in line with the protocol, notified the India team management of this course of action.”This issue now comes under the ICC’s bowling-review regulations which stipulate that over the next six weeks an expert biomechanist from the ICC’s Approved List should be appointed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India to work with the bowler to clearly identify and address any flaws that may occur during the delivery action.”Harbhajan was reported in November 1998, and underwent corrective coaching in England afterwards. He is the sixth player to be reported since the ICC revised its process for dealing with suspect actions in 2004.”All bowlers’ actions are scrutinised and the match officials are empowered to make a report where they have concerns,” Speed explained. “Every bowler is treated in the same way by the ICC, and this report is no different from the five others that have been received in the past 12 months. Harbhajan Singh will now work with an expert team over the next six weeks to address these concerns. He can continue to play international cricket and cannot be reported again during this period. At the end of that time the ICC will be provided with a specialist report on the remedial action, if any is required, that has taken place. This report will be circulated to the elite panel of umpires and referees for their information.”

BAT Sports chased a massive 266-7 to beat ECB Southern Electric Premier League champions Havant by one wicket – the winning run coming from a wide off the very last ball !The astonishing victory has put the championship trophy within reach of BAT, who win surely clinch the title at Liphook & Ripsley next week.BAT won after requiring 137 off the last 20 overs, 28 from three and nine runs off the final over bowled by Yorkshireman Bevis Moynan.With one ball remaining, the Tobaccomen had tied the scores at 266-9.But Moynan’s vital last ball strayed down the leg-side to give BAT a thrilling victory.For once, prolific New Zealander Neal Parlane was not at the forefront of BAT’s victory charge.Trapped leg before by Moynan for 32, BAT relied upon Damian Shirazi to anchor the innings.He did it to perfection, batting a large slice of the evening session, sharing a 72-run start with Parlane and then 119 with Dave Banks (50).BAT lost wickets as they chased the target – four batsmen, including Shirazi (92), being dismissed for 32 runs at one stage – but were hit back into the picture, initially by Chris Thomason (20).But it was Archie Norris’s cavalier 22 not out, including three exquisite cover drives, which won the game."His innings swung it, no doubt about that," said Havant skipper Paul Gover, who spent a sleepness wondering how the game had got away."We batted superbly to get 266-7, but our bowling was abysmal. I don’t recall us ever bowling so badly."All credit to BAT, but we gave them 48 extras, including 29 wides and no balls. "In other words we bowled almost six extra overs at them," he moaned.Havant’s total was built around an opening stand of 129 between Steve Snell (67) and Simon Barnard (44).Andy Perry (59) and Chris Wright (38) helped the total to 266-7, with Dan Goldstraw taking 3-47.Andover produced one of their best wins of the season when they nailed Bashley (Rydal) by seven wickets at London Road.Bashley were never allowed to get going with the bat and found their 167-8 comfortably beaten.Mark and Roger Miller, together with off-spinner Gareth Tate (2-23), were particularly effective for Andover.Brad Thompson (39) was prominent as Bashley reached 101-3, but three wickets fell for only eight runs before Neil Taylor (21), Kevin Nash (19 not out) and Matt King (15 not out) thwarted the middle-order collapse to lift the visitors to 167-8.Nash struck an early blow for Bashley, but a second consecutive half-century by Rob Atkins (50) and an unbroken partnership between Toby Radford (41) and Roger Miller (28) swept Andover to a convincing seven-wicket win.

Set a total of 306 to win, Services opted for a safe draw and three points in their Ranji Trophy league match at Delhi on Monday.Jammu & Kashmir, 133/4 overnight, went on to score 242 in their second innings. The innings revolved largely around wicket-keeper Arshad Bhatt, who made a patient 98 off 177 balls. Bhatt came in at the fall of the fourth wicket and stayed till the end, becoming the tenth wicket to fall. He was also Arun Sharma’s fifth wicket; Sharma took five for 39.Services started steadily but lost openers K Chawda and PMS Reddy within the space of 29 runs. Thereafter, Jasvir Singh and Yashpal Singh played well. The former made 54 off just 55 balls, while Yashpal Singh made an unbeaten 51. At stumps, Services were 202 for the loss of four wickets.

Martin Bicknell broke through Leicestershire’s batting by taking five wickets for Surrey in a spell which had the visitors in trouble at 33-6 by the close at Guildford: they were just 63 runs ahead. He followed his seven first-innings wickets by dismissing both openers, Darren Maddy and Iain Sutcliffe, and taking three more wickets in ten balls.Earlier Leicestershire appeared to have gained a good grip on the game with James Ormond taking six wickets in Surrey’s 288 runs total which owed almosteverything to Ian Ward (107). Nadeem Shahid (47) and Ward took Surrey from93-1 with some positive stroke-play but the partnership was broken byleg-spinner Anil Kumble in the last ober before lunch.
Ally Brown, who had plundered the Leicestershire bowling a week ago, was forced to leave the field temporarily after being struck on the left wrist by a ball from Ormond. Yet Surrey pressed on purposefully with Ward and Ben Hollioakeputting on 75.On his return to the crease Brown partnered Ward through to his hundred butthe young quick bowler had him caught at the wicket for 34 and in the sameover dismissed Bicknell for a duck. Ward fell at last to DeFreitas afterbatting for 215 balls and hitting 14 fours. Ormond and Kumble then wrapped up the remaining wickets.

New Zealand have suffered the most number the sixes from Gilchrist’s bat , with 21 hits clearing the boundary. India have been fairly successful in keeping the left-hander quiet, with only 10 sixes in 24 innings.

New Zealand’s suffering is not surprising considering Daniel Vettori has been whacked for 17 sixes. Three left-arm spinners – Vettori, Enamul Haque and Nicky Boje – top the list. That Gilchrist favours them is indicated by the fact that 42 of his 100 have come against them.

Gilchrist’s maximum of eight sixes falls well short of Wasim Akram’s record of 12 in an innings.

Apart from Chris Cairns, Gilchrist has the best percentage of sixes every innings compared to the rest of the batsmen in the top six six-hitters in Tests.

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Scorecard
A fine maiden first-class hundred from Tim Paine and half-centuries to Michael Bevan and Travis Birt put Tasmania firmly in command over a butter-fingered Western Australia on day one at the WACA. On the same ground on which Western Australia posted a mammoth 3 for 608 a week ago, Paine and Bevan, who added 132 for the second wicket, cashed in on dropped catches – both were reprieved in one over from Ben Edmondson – to take toll of the bowling.Justin Langer, the Western Australia captain, won the toss, inserted Tasmania under overcast skies, and Sean Ervine, the former Zimbabwe allrounder, quickly removed Michael Di Venuto (14). But if Langer thought the early wicket would start a slide, Paine and Bevan had other plans. Paine, 21, was playing only his fifth match for his state and easily beat his previous best of 36 in an unbeaten 119 that included 13 boundaries.Bevan got his first impressive Pura Cup score of the season, an 87-ball 83, and hit Edmondson for consecutive sixes over fine leg shortly after lunch. He eventually fell to a catch behind off Ervine, the most successful bowler with 2 for 35 from 16 overs. Bevan’s dismissal ushered in Birt, who progressed to 71 before he edged Aaron Heal’s left-arm spin to Luke Ronchi eight overs before bad light ended play.

Steve Waugh, the former Australian captain, says Shane Warne is an insecure player. In his keenly-awaited autobiography he also hits out at Ian Chappell and the national selectors.Waugh, who retired as Australian captain in January 2004 year after 168 Test matches and 10,927 runs, confirmed rumours that during the 1999 World Cup Warne had problems with his captaincy. “Shane needs constant support, encouragement and reassurance that he is the man. He loves to be loved.”Waugh has little time for Ian Chappell, another former Australian captain, who once described him as a selfish cricketer, but says he was baffled as to why Chappell didn’t like him. “It might have been that I praised the work of Bob Simpson, the former Australian coach, who was his sworn enemy, or that I didn’t spend hours in the bar drinking and regurgitating old cricket stories.”Waugh, 40, also talks about his brother Mark’s involvement in supplying pitch and weather information to an Indian bookmaker, for which he was fined by the Australian board in 1998. Waugh said he was assured by his twin brother that he had indulged in nothing more serious than supplying match information. He said seeing Mark walk out to bat at the Adelaide Oval to a chorus of boos, after his penalty had made the headlines, was “one of the toughest couple of seconds of my cricket life”.Test cricket’s longest-serving player says his sacking as one-day captain in 2002 had come three years after Trevor Hohns, chairman of selectors, had first suggested he was close to being dropped. This came after Australia’s rough start to the 1999 World Cup, which they eventually won. Waugh’s place in the side was saved by his match-winning century in the Super Six match against South Africa at Leeds. “I was a little shocked at how cut-throat the selectors’ attitude was.”Waugh writes that when the axe finally fell, he was informed of it by Hohns in his Melbourne hotel room on the day the Allan Border Medal was being given away in February 2002. “I didn’t have a problem with the decision. However, I did have an issue with the lack of man-management skills involved. Surely, after so many years playing and being the captain of a side that had been ranked No.7 when I took over and was now No.1, at least one phone call or conversation letting me know how the selectors saw the bigger picture would have been nice. The clinical efficiency of my dismissal stung me most because as a player I had always given everything.”Waugh also lifts the lid on his most famous sledging incident – his toe-to-toe confrontation with West Indian paceman Curtly Ambrose in 1995. The episode in Trinidad has gone down as the turning point in a series that began Australia’s domination of Test cricket in recent times. The diluted version of what Waugh said to Ambrose would have it that he incensed him by saying: “Just you bowl.” The truth is revealed in Waugh’s autobiography. Ambrose repeatedly stared down Waugh during a searing spell, and Waugh, who sized up the towering quick, said: “What the f— are you looking at?”Waugh also dwells on the difficulty of dropping Michael Slater following his personal troubles during the 2001 Ashes tour of England. “It’s funny with Michael … in his first book I was his mentor and in the second I had become his tormentor. You can read into that what you like. I put more time and effort into Michael than anyone else at the time, except perhaps his wife. I tried to help him as much as I could.”John Howard, the Australian prime minister, will launch Waugh’s book on October 23 at Sydney with publishers Penguin reportedly paying 1.3 million US dollars in the biggest advance paid for an Australian book.