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Several of India’s batting heavyweights helped themselves to half-centuries as the home side got halfway to West Indies’ 590

The Report by Siddarth Ravindran24-Nov-2011
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Darren Sammy removed Virender Sehwag for the third time in the series•AFPFor the third day in a row, the batsmen had an easy time at the Wankhede Stadium. Several of India’s batting heavyweights helped themselves to half-centuries as the home side got halfway to West Indies’ 590. Gautam Gambhir and Rahul Dravid didn’t make it to triple figures, but Sachin Tendulkar was well on his way towards reaching the most talked-about milestone of the year.West Indies didn’t declare overnight, allowing their final pair to bat on, and after 15 minutes of entertaining tail-ender swings, Devendra Bishoo was bowled by offspinner R Ashwin, who completed his second five-wicket haul in his debut series.A typically quick start followed from India’s openers: Virender Sehwag routinely scything the ball through cover, and Gambhir poking the ball either side of point for runs. Gambhir was a touch loose to start with – chasing and missing several wide deliveries and surviving an early lbw appeal off Fidel Edwards – before getting more fluent.Edwards and Ravi Rampaul bowled with aggression but there wasn’t much extra bounce or sideways movement to encourage them. West Indies resorted to a defensive field half an hour into the innings – seven fielders on the off side, with two of them in the deep in front of point.It was the least pacy of the West Indian quicks, Darren Sammy, who snapped the opening stand at 67. He got one to slide past Sehwag’s inside-edge and hit the stumps, signalling with three fingers that it was the third time he had dismissed Sehwag in the series.The tempo was predictably slower after Sehwag’s exit, and West Indies could have added to the advantage after lunch. Dravid seemed to have hurt his back after slipping when Gambhir turned down a single. Gambhir had a reprieve when he guided Sammy towards first slip, where Kirk Edwards made a lazy attempt at a catch, barely getting a finger on the ball.Smart stats

Virender Sehwag moved to joint-second position with Brian Lara and Jacques Kallis on the list of Test batsmen with the most sixes. He now has 88 sixes and is second only to Adam Gilchrist, who has 100 sixes.

Rahul Dravid became the second batsman after Sachin Tendulkar to reach the 13000-run mark in Tests. He has now scored 13061 runs at an average of 53.31. Dravid is the fastest to the mark in terms of matches (160) but Tendulkar got there in 11 fewer innings.

Dravid also passed 1000 runs in a calendar year for the third time in his career. Among Indian batsmen, only Sachin Tendulkar (6) and Sunil Gavaskar (4) have done so more times than Dravid.

Gautam Gambhir scored his second consecutive half-century of the series and went past the 3500-run mark in his 44th Test.

Tendulkar’s half-century is his 63rd in Tests bringing him level with Allan Border on the list of batsmen with the most Test half-centuries.

Dravid, who scored his 62nd half-century, was involved in his 48th fifty-plus stand with Tendulkar. This is the highest for any batting pair in Tests.

Dravid’s half-century is his 13th against West Indies. He now has 18 fifty-plus scores against them, which is second only to Sunil Gavaskar’s tally of 20.

R Ashwin’s 5 for 156 is his second five-wicket haul in Tests. The 156 runs conceded by Ashwin is sixth on the list of most runs conceded by an Indian bowler in an innings against West Indies while picking up five or more wickets.

After those close calls, Gambhir and Dravid were more solid against the West Indian quicks. Dravid reached 13,000 runs by classically driving a half-volley for four, while Gambhir’s increasing confidence was on display as he launched one over midwicket to reach his half-century. With Bishoo off the field for half the post-lunch session, getting his injured knee attended to, Dravid feasted on Marlon Samuels’ gentle offbreaks, crashing him through covers for successive fours.Both batsmen were set, and the track was still a shirtfront, but West Indies managed to wheedle out a wicket, when Rampaul banged in a bouncer that Gambhir threw his bat at. The ball flew through to the keeper, and though the Snickometer showed nothing, the umpire was convinced there was an edge.The crowd wasn’t too disappointed since it brought in Sachin Tendulkar, continuing his quest for the century that has eluded him since March. Tendulkar used his feet well against the spinners right from the start, and quickly progressed to 20. After tea, the crowd had more to cheer as he upper-cut Fidel Edwards into the stands beyond third man. It was a shot he repeated against a quicker one from Samuels, getting four for his effort.Dravid, meanwhile, worked his way to 1000 runs for the year, and his half-century soon after. He showed his presence of mind off the final delivery before tea: after he defended the ball, it spun alarmingly back towards the stumps, but he reacted just in time, booting the ball away when the it was inches away from the wickets.His sixth hundred of 2011 – his personal-best for a calendar year – seemed inevitable as he soldiered on untroubled after tea, jumping down the track to power Bishoo over mid-on before powerfully square-cutting Edwards for another boundary. He coaxed the ball past mid-off to move into the eighties, but was dismissed off the next delivery, top-edging on to the stumps.Tendulkar carried on, unfurling several stylish boundaries to march past 50, a landmark that was greeted by his home ground with expected boisterousness. VVS Laxman also joined in the fun, showing off the wristy whips to midwicket that make him such a delight to watch. Both had a moment of worry each: Laxman top-edging towards a vacant point region, and Tendulkar surviving on 58 as Cartlon Baugh put down a regulation outside edge.Those two wickets would have swung the match in West Indies’ favour. Instead, with only 13 wickets toppled in three days, and the track showing little signs of degenerating, it remains an even game with chances of an outright result receding.

Luke Wright, the England allrounder, has undergone knee surgery in Sweden on the injury that curtailed his 2011 season

ESPNcricinfo staff31-Aug-2011Luke Wright, the England allrounder, has undergone knee surgery in Sweden on the injury that curtailed his 2011 season and his recovery will take until Christmas.He had been out of action since mid-July and after trying various methods, including injections, to recover it was decided that surgery was the only option. “He’s been around the ground, watching, but is missing cricket and is a bit bored and a bit frustrated,” Mark Robinson, the Sussex coach, told local radio.Wright played in England’s Twenty20 international against Sri Lanka, at Bristol, earlier in the season but had drifted out of the ODI side following the World Cup and it is unlikely he would have figured against India even if he’d been available.Meanwhile, Wright’s team-mate Monty Panesar has signed for Sydney grade team Randwick-Petersham who he will join in early October. The move will ensure Panesar continues to play cricket ahead of England’s winter tours of UAE and Sri Lanka where he will hope to be the second spinner selected.Panesar has had a solid season in the Championship with 56 wickets at 28.98 and has also been a regular in Sussex’s one-day side. He last played for England against Australia, at Cardiff, in 2009 when he helped secure the famous draw alongside James Anderson but was part of the Ashes tour last winter.

England’s captain, Graeme Swann, admitted that a bit of pressure, a bit of inexperience and a bit of ineptitude all added up to a horror show

Andrew Miller at The Oval25-Sep-2011England’s captain, Graeme Swann, admitted that a “bit of pressure, a bit of inexperience and a bit of ineptitude all added up to a horror show”, as an entirely unfancied West Indian team rallied round in defence of a below-par target of 114, and pulled off an impressive 25-run victory thanks to a Man-of-the-Match spell of 3 for 9 in four overs from the debutant left-arm spinner, Garey Mathurin.Needing less than a run-a-ball from the outset, and with the memory of their ten-wicket cruise in the first Twenty20 on Friday night, England began their run-chase fully expecting to seal a 2-0 series win and conclude their international summer on another upbeat note. But Mathurin’s nerveless spell, in his very first appearance in any form of cricket in England, choked their ambition from the Powerplay onwards, and left the lower-order with too much momentum to claw back.”God works in mysterious ways,” said Mathurin, a childhood friend of the captain, and fellow St Lucian, Darren Sammy. “Everybody has their turn and it’s just that my turn came at the age of 28. The English people hadn’t seen me before so I knew I could go out and get the job done. We have a good team unity going on and the cohesiveness just worked.”The result left Swann feeling a touch humbled at the end of what has been a remarkable season for England, but even after being bowled out for 88, he felt that his side had been “exceptional” in the first half of the contest, and believed they would probably learn more from this setback than could ever have been learnt in victory.”For half the game we were exceptional and we put ourselves in a position where we should never ever lose a game of cricket,” said Swann. “Let’s face it, to not chase 113 in international cricket is unacceptable. West Indies bowled and fielded well, but not well enough to bowl a team out for 88. It was good fielding mixed with a bit of panic, and four run-outs is crazy chasing such a small total on such a big field.”After a short end-of-season break, England head off to the subcontinent next week to embark on a five-ODI tour of India, where their failure to deal with a turning surface will doubtless impact on the type of wickets they can expect to face when they arrive. Further down the line, England will be defending their World Twenty20 crown on the spin-friendly surfaces of Sri Lanka next year, and on this evidence, they need to work on their manipulation of the field as much as their boundary-clearing ability.”For all the positives of Friday night, there were quite a few negatives that need to be ironed out of our game before we play on pretty similar tracks over the next 12 months,” said Swann. “We are going to face spin in the first six overs again, and if we can take one good thing out of the way we batted, it’s that it’s completely unacceptable, and won’t be allowed to happen again.”It’s a harsh environment in international cricket and you find out a few things about people when they are under the pump,” he added. “Today, one or two guys didn’t respond that well, but I’m sure, knowing this team as I do and the way they have trained, it’s a mere blip. I wouldn’t write off any of this XI who have played tonight, or indeed any of the 14 in the squad, because they are all superb cricketers.”In England’s defence, their side was missing several of its most experienced campaigners, not least Eoin Morgan, whose deft use of the angles would have been ideal for keeping the run-rate moving. But Swann believed the chosen team should still have performed much, much better. “I’d love to find an excuse for them and say they’re inexperienced, but they’re not inexperienced in Twenty20 cricket,” he said. “I’m not just blaming the top six, I’m blaming the 11 players with the bat because we were pretty appalling.”The left-arm spinner, you can’t argue with 3 for 9, but the three guys who got out to him will probably look at the shots they played and be pretty horrified,” he added. “We allowed him to get exceptional figures and he did catch us on the hop. But I’d hope each batsman who got out will look at it and think ‘I won’t do that again’. We were still in the game at six-seven down at a run-a-ball, but of the wickets that fell, very few were caused by the ball deviating. It was poor shots and poor execution of those shots.”For Mathurin and his team-mates, however, the result was the ideal tonic for their defeat on Friday night, and went a long way towards answering their many critics – in the Caribbean and worldwide. “Yeah, we had a point to prove,” said Mathurin. “England played really, really well on Friday, so we were playing for some pride, and then we were coming back hard at them. We knew we could do it. Hopefully this shows everyone the energy and enthusiasm we have got, and hopefully everyone sees what we can do.”

Australia A surged to a 90-run win over Zimbabwe XI in the opening match of the A Team Tri-Series on a bright, sunny day at Harare Sports Club

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Jun-2011
Scorecard
Australia A surged to a 90-run win over Zimbabwe XI in the opening match of the A Team Tri-Series on a bright, sunny day at Harare Sports Club. Half-centuries from Nic Maddinson and Callum Ferguson carried the Australians to 232 for 8 and Zimbabwe XI reached 94 for 1 in reply before offspinner Nathan Lyon’s introduction prompted a dramatic collapse. John Hastings scythed through the lower order and Zimbabwe XI slumped to 142 all out with 11 overs remaining, much to the disappointment of the spectators who had been tempted in by the prospect of free entrance to the game.The Zimbabweans had put in a far more spirited performance with the ball than they did with the bat, seamer Chris Mpofu leading the way in a tight seven-over opening spell that yielded the wickets of openers David Warner and Aaron Finch. Australia A were 33 for 2 with Finch’s dismissal, but recovered through a 98-run stand – the highest of the match – between Maddinson and Ferguson as Zimbabwe’s spinners uncharacteristically failed to exert any pressure.Zimbabwe got the breakthrough when Maddinson was tempted out of his crease by Prosper Utseya’s flight and stumped for 63, and Mpofu then returned the attack to have Ferguson caught behind shortly after bringing up his fifty for this third wicket. The Zimbabweans continued to chip away at the lower order, and with runs not easy to come by on a spongy, early-season wicket Australia A were thankful for captain Tim Paine’s unbeaten 37, which ensured a competitive total.In the event, it was more than enough. Brendan Taylor started well but chipped a return catch back to Luke Butterworth to be out for 17 in his first match as captain. It still looked as though Zimbabwe XI would make a fist of their chase in the course of Vusi Sibanda and Hamilton Masakadza’s patient 62-run partnership for the second wicket, but Lyon struck in his first over, removing Sibanda for 37, and from then on Australia A never lost their grip.Lyon took the heart out of the middle order with the wickets of Regis Chakabva, for an eight-ball duck, and Craig Ervine, and Hastings then put paid to Zimbabwe XI’s hopes of salvaging the innings in the space of four deliveries. After a frugal first spell, Hastings was brought back on and removed former national captain Elton Chigumbura and Forster Mutizwa with consecutive deliveries.Utseya survived the hat-trick ball but was pinned in front of his stumps immediately afterwards to give Hastings his third wicket of the over and reduce Zimbabwe XI to 122 for 7. Masakadza brought up a fighting half-century but Lyon returned to get rid of allrounder Keegan Meth for his fourth wicket, and the win was quickly wrapped up thereafter.Australia A, who face South Africa A at the same venue on Thursday, picked up a bonus point to take their tally for the match to 5, while Zimbabwe XI remain pointless.

The stakes are high for Ireland as they prepare for their first international assignment – a two-match ODI series against Pakistan – since the 2011 World Cup

ESPNcricinfo staff27-May-2011The stakes are high for Ireland as they prepare for their first international assignment – a two-match ODI series against Pakistan – since the 2011 World Cup, an opportunity to restate their credentials as worthy participants in 2015. The ICC had axed the Associates from the next World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, but will reassess the tournament’s composition at its annual conference in June, following criticism of the decision to limit participation to the ten Full Members.Ireland’s coach Phil Simmons, however, has said his side will not be looking at the series solely as a chance to prove a point to the ICC. Ireland were easily the most impressive Associate team in 2011 World Cup, where they beat England in a major upset, stretched West Indies and Bangladesh in the league phase, and pulled off a convincing win against Netherlands.”I don’t see these matches as a case of proving the ICC wrong,” Simmons told PA Sport on the eve of the first ODI in Belfast. “I think the cricket world knows that it [the ICC’s] is the wrong decision. We will go out there and prove things to ourselves, that we can beat these top teams. The more we beat them the closer we will get to what we want to achieve, which is getting higher in the world rankings.Ireland’s World Cup showing may not have impressed the ICC, but Simmons believes it has earned his side respect from their opponents. “The big teams think about us a bit more now,” he said. “I don’t think they come and just play us without discussing us. They may have done that a year ago, but now they will plan for us better so we have to be on our game. We’ve crossed a stage since last year where we go into games now planning to win, not planning to survive. It’s not a case of ‘are we going to make 200’ but ‘how are we going to win the game’.”William Porterfield, the Ireland captain, also said the 2015 World Cup wouldn’t be the main focus of his team, but acknowledged that a good showing against Pakistan wouldn’t hurt their chances of getting a favourable decision from the ICC. “We’re looking for positive results from the games. If we do that then it will enhance our chances and give us more ammunition,” he said. “We’ve looked at these games as massive games for ourselves.”We’re always crying out for more of them regardless of what is going on at the high table. To be honest it’s a great opportunity for us to go out and play against the fifth-ranked team in the world. But from the standpoint of the World Cup, yes it is important.”Pakistan arrive straight from the West Indies, where they drew the two-Test series 1-1. Simmons said the drastic change in conditions could be a problem for the visitors. “I think the weather can help us,” he said. “If it’s as cold as this then there is always that little bit of an advantage. The main thing here is that they’ve seen us play in our conditions, and we are good in these conditions. We are hard to beat. We almost beat Australia in Dublin last year. Since then we’ve got more confidence, you saw that in the World Cup, and if we can play with that confidence we can win for sure.”Waqar Younis, the Pakistan coach, was wary of Ireland’s abilities to spring surprises, and said they deserved to remain in the World Cup. “Just looking at the World Cup, because I haven’t seen much of their cricket outside that, they played like champions. It was top-level cricket,” Waqar said. “The ICC have got a different ruling but I personally believe they have a good side and they are getting better day by day.”They are a good side, young and very enthusiastic,” he said. “They chased 300-plus against England. Who thought they could do that? They are a very positive side and they are big fighters. We know what they are capable of. We have to be very, very careful.”Waqar admitted that acclimatising to the weather change was going to be a challenge for his side. “Coming from 35-40 degrees with a lot of humidity there, and coming into this weather, it is hard to adjust, especially with all those flights as well,” he said. “I think we are professional enough to adapt to the conditions very quickly.The games will be played in Belfast, on May 28 and 30 respectively.

Graeme Swann told police he was on the way to buy a set of screwdrivers to rescue his trapped cat when he was arrested for drink-driving a court heard at the start of the trial

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Feb-2011A blood sample taken from Graeme Swann shortly after his arrest on suspicion of drink-driving last year may have been contaminated, according to a forensic expert who gave evidence at the player’s latest hearing at Nottingham Crown Court on Tuesday.Swann, who is currently on paternity leave before linking up with his England team-mates ahead of their World Cup opener against Netherlands on February 22, was stopped near his home in West Bridgford shortly after 3.00am on April 2 last year, as he drove a white Porsche Cayenne towards a local supermarket, having arrived home to find his cat trapped under the floorboards.During his original trial in August, Swann admitted to having drunk three or four glasses of white wine to celebrate his birthday, and was alleged to have told the arresting officer, PC Steven Denniss, he “shouldn’t have probably been driving”, when pulled over for driving a high-performance car in an area beset by a spate of recent burglaries.The second of two blood samples showed that Swann had 83mg of alcohol in 100ml, which is over the legal limit of 80mg, although his solicitor argued that he had no case to answer, because it ought to have been the first that was used for testing. In December, however, district judge Julia Newton decided the trial should go ahead.Dr John Mundy, a forensic alcohol consultant who previously worked for the Metropolitan Police’s laboratory, told the court that the sample could have been contaminated by the rubber bungs used to plug the vials, and make the reading appear higher than it actually was.”If you get a bung that has contaminants – and they do have contaminants – I have seen quite bad contamination that can get into the blood and as such can interfere with the alcohol analysis one way or another,” he said. “It means that it would add to the alcohol amount because you have a small area of contaminant adding to the large area of alcohol and that would cause the alcohol to go up.”Swann denies one charge of drink driving. The trial continues.

A patient half-century from allrounder Jim Allenby helped Glamorgan set Gloucestershire a target of 385 at Cardiff

ESPNcricinfo staff16-Apr-2011
Scorecard
A patient half-century from allrounder Jim Allenby helped Glamorgan set Gloucestershire a target of 385 at Cardiff. That was after the home side declared their second innings at tea on 370 for 9.By the close Gloucestershire had moved on to 42 for no wicket, needing another343 runs to win on the final day. It was something of a turnaround in fortunes for Glamorgan, who had been 26 for 4 and 54 for 6 in their first innings at the start of the opening day.Glamorgan had resumed their second innings on the third morning on 185 for 3 – an overall lead of 199. And they were indebted to Mark Wallace and a level-headed approach by Allenbyafter they lost both Ben Wright and Will Bragg in the space of four overs.Ben Wright was run out by a direct hit from Ian Cockbain while Bragg was snaffled at slip off Vikram Banerjee. But Wallace played confidently while Allenby adopted a cool head as thesixth-wicket partnership added 55 in 21 overs.Even though Wallace was dropped on 18 and then survived an lbw appeal, and Allenby saw off strong stumping and caught behind shouts, the pair soldiered on to take the Welsh side up to 247. But Wallace was caught on 37, leaving Graham Wagg, who had a runner aftersuffering a hamstring injury while bowling on day one, to continue the job ofsetting up a winning position.Glamorgan had moved on to 276 for 6 by lunch but with the ninth delivery with the second new ball Jon Lewis had Wagg caught behind for 19. Allenby, who reached his half-century in three hours from 127 balls with six fours, was joined by James Harris, who made a useful 25 before miscuing Banerjee to point.Allenby followed six overs later, holing out to cover as he was dismissed for 68 from 158 balls with seven fours. Dean Cosker added a mighty six just before Glamorgan declared at tea.After the interval, and with four sessions remaining, openers Cockbain and Richard Coughtrie began steadily with the former driving Harris for three fours through the offside.Cosker entered the attack in the eighth over and immediately posed a few problems for the young openers as Coughtrie nearly spooned a return catch to the slow left-armer, whose first six overs were all maidens. But the Gloucestershire openers survived the final 25 overs, with Cockbain 33 not out overnight.

Journalist Matt Law of The Telegraph has now shared a big Tottenham Hotspur managerial update in the last 48 hours, and it involves Brighton boss Graham Potter.

The Lowdown: Spurs eye Pochettino reunion?

Since rumours started to emerge of Paris-Saint Germain’s interest in bringing Spurs head coach Antonio Conte to the French capital, a potential return to N17 for Mauricio Pochettino has been touted by the press.

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A sort-of managerial swap deal between Conte and the Argentine is allegedly on the cards despite club hierarchy having reservations over bringing Pochettino back to Hotspur Way.

However, the 50-year-old isn’t the only coach on Spurs’ mind if they do in fact their current boss, with Law now sharing an interesting update.

The Latest: Law makes big Potter claim…

According to The Telegraph’s reliable source, Seagulls boss Potter is now emerging as a favourite to replace Conte if the latter man were to leave.

Lilywhites chiefs view Potter as an alternative to Pochettino and it is believed that the Premier League manager could be prompted to ‘consider an approach’ from Tottenham.

This is due to the potential exits of star Brighton duo Marc Cucurella and Yves Bissouma with sporting director Dan Ashworth also already gone.

The Verdict: Standout?

While Pochettino is arguably the most obvious target given his proven top level experience, knowledge of Spurs and affection for the club – we believe Potter stands out as the best alternative if Conte does leave.

Lauded as a ‘world class’ manager by former Liverpool star Adam Lallana, the 46-year-old has worked wonders yet again this season at the Amex with Brighton comfortably safe from relegation yet again.

He’s also received lofty praise for his open, exciting brand of attacking football down south with Man City boss Pep Guardiola having waxed lyrical over the ‘gentleman’ Potter and his brilliant tactical set up (The Argus).

Alasdair Gold, commenting on Spurs’ links to the Englishman after Jose Mourinho’s dismissal, revealed that members of the Lilywhites squad actually hold Potter in high esteem – with Brighton’s style of play leaving a ‘lasting impression’ (Twitter).

We believe supporters certainly shouldn’t discount him as an option.

In other news: ‘Expected to leave’ – Fabrizio Romano says Conte could lose ‘monster’ Spurs player, find out more here.

Wolves are trying to persuade Ruben Neves to sign a new deal at the club instead of leaving this summer, according to journalist Pete O’Rourke.

The Lowdown: Neves’ future unclear

The 25-year-old has continued to be a key player for the Old Gold in the Premier League this season, having found his best form since the arrival of Bruno Lage and being hailed as ‘amazing’ by team-mate Jose Sa.

However, there is constant speculation surrounding Neves’ future at Molineux, with Barcelona continually linked with a summer move for the player, among other clubs.

Wolves would clearly love the midfielder to stay put, though, and a significant update has now emerged regarding the Portugal international’s situation in the Black Country.

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The Latest: O’Rourke on Neves’ future

Speaking to GiveMeSport, O’Rourke claimed that a new deal is in the offing for Neves at Compton Park, as Wolves try to keep hold of arguably their most prized asset. The journalist outlined:

“I think Wolves are going to find it hard to keep hold of him this year. Talks are ongoing over a new deal, but I think there’s a realisation on both parties here that maybe the time has come for them to move on.

“I’m sure Ruben Neves in the summer will have a big decision to make on his future.”

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The Verdict: Neves still likely to leave

While there is some hope that Neves will extend his stay at Wolves – and it would feel hugely significant if he does – it still feels as though a summer exit is more likely.

The lure of joining Barcelona could simply be too great to ignore, should an offer arrive, with few players getting the opportunity to play for such an iconic club.

Neves does seem to genuinely love Wolves, though, and if loyalty takes over and he sees positive progress under Lage, it may yet happen that he signs a new deal. If that does materialise, it would arguably feel more important than any new summer signing.

In other news, Wolves are eyeing up a move for one player. Find out who it is here.

Andrew Strauss’s first senior hundred in Australia ensured that England began their Ashes campaign with a win against Western Australia, but he chose to focus on the achievements of his bowlers

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Nov-2010Andrew Strauss’s first senior hundred in Australia ensured that England began their Ashes campaign with a win against Western Australia, but he chose to focus on the achievements of his bowlers in getting the team back into the game after their opponents had started the day in the strong position of 1 for 109.”We’re very pleased, especially because of the position of the game at start of play,” he said. “It was looking like a tough ask to force a result from there. But we had two choices. We could have come here and gone through the motions today – but what we did was come in and hit the ground running.”Steven Finn’s early dismissal of Michael Swart exposed Western Australia’s middle order and sparked their collapse to Graeme Swann’s spin and Stuart Broad’s seam, and Strauss credited the young bowler’s turnaround after he had struggled to find the right length in the first innings.”Steven bowled an outstanding spell right from the start, and we got some momentum. We’re delighted with the way the bowlers bowled, and it was a good effort from the batters to chase down that score. Steven was rusty in the first innings, but got better as it went on.”Anderson and Broad were spot on in that first innings, but Finny really set the tone today. He was consistent length-wise and caused all the batsmen some trouble. That was really encouraging, as was the way the bowlers bowled in partnerships and applied pressure. That’s what you’ve got to do out here.”At one stage of their second-innings capitulation, Western Australia lost four wickets for 12 runs and one of those dismissals – that of captain Marcus North – arrived via an inspired piece of fielding from Eoin Morgan. Morgan had only been on the field for one over so that Strauss could take a bathroom break, and the England captain joked after the game: “I was in the loo actually. It was an inspired bit of captaincy on my part.”Even more inspired was Strauss’s aggressive ton, as he did more than simply anchor England’s pursuit of 243 in 52 overs. Strauss insisted that time at the crease was vital to his batsmen’s acclimatisation, but conceded that they were likely to face much sterner challenges from Australia’s Test attack.”It’s important we play well and win as many of these games as possible. It’s also important that batsmen get used to the conditions. The best way to do that is by spending a lot of time in the middle. It was satisfying to get a hundred and see the guys home. But I’m sure there are sterner tests ahead. It’s always good to get runs early in the tour, but it doesn’t count for anything come the first Test match.”Strauss was particularly pleased with England’s increasing intensity in the field as the match wore on. “None of us have played any cricket for a few weeks,” he added. “In the first innings, I thought we got stuck in net mode a little bit and probably didn’t react as well to the conditions as we could have done.”We were better second time round, and I hope we should get better with every innings we play. These conditions are different to England, so your shot selection has to be slightly different and the balls you score off are slightly different. There are times you’ve got to be patient, probably more so than in England.”