With most Indian fans basking in the euphoria of what happened in Brisbane, and with Les Burdett having promised a batting-beauty pitch at the Adelaide Oval, it’s easy to forget that India were bundled out for 110 here just four years ago. Back then, a good pitch couldn’t quit counterbalance India’s lack of quality, or some decidedly dubious umpiring against Sachin Tendulkar.Four years on, Tendulkar’s thunder, and just about everyone else’s, has been stolen by the Indian team management’s decision to fly in Murali Kartik. Considering that he gets into Adelaide only late Thursday night, it’s unimaginable to think of him starting the match – jetlag and all – if India have to bowl first.Sourav Ganguly wasn’t revealing too many cards at the pre-match press conference, saying that the team would have a good look at the wicket tomorrow before deciding on whether to play two spinners or not. It was blistering hot in Adelaide two days ago, and though it has since cooled down, the wicket is expected to be dry, and full of runs over the first three days.Anil Kumble, reduced to a stock bowler the last time India toured, could be given a chance to make amends. “He’s a handy customer if the pitch is dry,” said Ganguly. “He’s also a bit of a skidder off the pitch. But I’m not sure it’s right to say that he’d be doing the third seamer’s job. He’s a spin bowler at the end of the day.”If Kartik’s midnight-hour finds him a spot in the XI, Harbhajan Singh, who finished with 1 for 169 from 35 overs at the Gabba, might be the one to make way. “He’s been working hard in the nets, and is a quality bowler,” said Ganguly about someone he has always backed wholeheartedly. “But he has to improve, that’s the way we’re looking at it.”Steve Waugh wasn’t overly worried by the fact that India might go in with two spinners. “We’ve got two of our own in Simon Katich and Stuart MacGill,” he said. “The pitch looks very good, with lots of runs. I can see both sides making lots of runs batting first. It should be a good wicket for three days at least.”Brad Williams, who flew in from Perth yesterday, will come into the side, replacing Andy Bichel, who was carted around by the Indians at the Gabba. It was a tough call for Australia to make, given that Bichel had taken ten in his last outing at the Adelaide Oval, in a Pura Cup match against South Australia two weeks ago.Waugh reckoned that India’s strength lay in their middle order, and said that early wickets were essential to put pressure on them. Speaking of Tendulkar, who got another dodgy decision in Brisbane, he said, “There’s always pressure when you fail in an innings. Adam Gilchrist also made a duck at the Gabba, and no matter how good a player you are, there’ll be a few nerves when you walk out to bat the next time.”He also singled out VVS Laxman as a player to watch. “He’s an amazing player with a great eye,” said Waugh. “When the ball isn’t moving too much, he’s a real danger, but we’ve got a plan for him.”If the pitch deteriorated over the final two days, Waugh reckoned that MacGill could be a possible matchwinner. “He’s always been a wicket-taking bowler, and he’s very confident. The Adelaide pitch will help him, and I can sense a big performance from him. He’s been building up to that.”Ganguly accentuated the positives from Brisbane – “On previous overseas tours, we have usually lost the first Test and been under pressure” – but whichever attack he goes in with, there will be no margin for error. The Adelaide Oval has the shortest square boundaries in Australia – 63m from the middle to the rope – to compensate for what is possibly the longest straight boundary in the world at 95m.

Even a miscued sweep from Matthew Hayden could go for six in the general direction of the river. There will be no safety in spin numbers for India, not here. Unless the bowlers are spot on, they’ll be chewed up and spat out. And the same applies for their Australian counterparts.If the team that wins the toss makes in excess of 500, they might not have to bat again. So watch that spin of the coin carefully tomorrow. It could well determine the outcome of a series that is no longer as cut-and-dried as everyone thought it would be.TeamsAustralia (likely) 1 Justin Langer, 2 Matthew Hayden, 3 Ricky Ponting, 4 Damien Martyn, 5 Steve Waugh (capt), 6 Simon Katich, 7 Adam Gilchrist (wk), 8 Jason Gillespie, 9 Nathan Bracken, 10 Brad Williams, 11 Stuart MacGill.India (likely) 1 Akash Chopra, 2 Virender Sehwag, 3 Rahul Dravid, 4 Sachin Tendulkar, 5 Sourav Ganguly (capt), 6 VVS Laxman, 7 Ajit Agarkar, 8 Parthiv Patel (wk), 9 Anil Kumble, 10 Zaheer Khan, 11 Harbhajan Singh.

Close Auckland 164 for 5 (Horne 16*, Young 3*) trail Pakistan 318 by 154 runs
ScorecardPakistan could not get in too many overs against Auckland on the second day of their match at Eden Park’s outer oval. Morning rain prevented any play until 1.40pm, and the late start left Auckland in no man’s land at stumps.They were still 154 runs short of Pakistan’s total, and it may be that for any real benefit to come from the match, a declaration will be required early tomorrow so Pakistan can leave Auckland a target.However, Rob Nicol, another promising batsmen, scored 60, including three sixes and six fours, off 107 balls. Both overnight batsmen, Mark Richardson (23) and Tim McIntosh (32), were dismissed by Shabbir Ahmed, who ended the day with 2 for 24.Matt Horne dug his way to 16 not out in over an hour and a half. He was accompanied by Reece Young, the wicketkeeper, who remained on three not out. Mohammad Sami had a horror day, bowling 11 no-balls and ending wicketless from his 14 overs for 51 runs.

Close Canterbury 443 and 58 for 1 beat Auckland 403 on the first innings
ScorecardAn interesting finish had been building for the Canterbury-Auckland showdown, but it was negated by Christchurch’s weather. Only 1mm of rain fell in Canterbury over the month of December, but some welcome relief for parched grasslands meant there was an early end to the game at Hagley Oval.Two periods of four overs and six overs were possible before misty drizzle set in and forced the umpires to abandon the match soon after the lunch break. Peter Fulton was 28 not out at the end with Shanan Stewart 15 not out.There is a break in the Championship now while the annual one-day domestic series, for the State Shield, is played. It begins on January 9.Close Central Districts 350 and 291 beat Otago 209 and 298 by 134 runs
ScorecardOtago were looking for a substantial total to beat Central Districts at Pukekura Park in New Plymouth. They were set a target of 433 to win, but in spite of some hard hitting by their lower-order, they were unable to get any closer than 134 runs short.It was a deserved change of fortune for Central Districts who, in earlier games in the competition have been unable to finish off opponents. But this time Jamie How’s career-best bowling of 3 for 55, Lance Hamilton’s 3 for 45 and Michael Mason’s 2 for 34, allowed CD to take maximum points from the game.Marcel McKenzie (58), Nathan McCullum (53) and Warren McSkimming (32) offered some defiance but ultimately it wasn’t enough and Otago finished the fifth round, second from the bottom and CD were fourth.Close Wellington 250 and 190 beat Northern Districts 125 and 221 by 94 runs
ScorecardWellington moved into second place in the State Championship after claiming maximum points from Northern Districts on the final day at Westpac Park. Wellington started the last day needing only three more wickets, and conceded only 31 more runs in doing so.In a low-scoring game, the requirement of 316 to win was always going to be tough for Northern Districts and they were unable to dominate a competent Wellington attack. James Franklin continued his good allround season by taking 3 for 65. Matthew Walker’s ability to tie down an end was a useful weapon throughout the game and he took 2 for 18 in the second innings, from 21 overs.Mark Gillespie added 2 for 50, Luke Woodcock 2 for 44 and Jeetan Patel 1 for 18. Wellington took their points to 14, six behind competition leaders Canterbury.

Zimbabwe have announced the national and A squads to face Bangladesh.Zimbabwe A will play in a three-day warm-up match at the CFX Academy in Harare from February 14 to February 16. Alester Maregwede, the wicketkeeper, will lead the team, with Travis Friend as his deputy.Zimbabwe A Alester Maregwede (capt, wk) Stuart Matsikenyeri, Jordane Nicolle, Trevor Gripper, Blessing Mahwire, Douglas Hondo, Gavin Ewing, Vusumuzi Sibanda, Richard Sims, Douglas Marillier.Meanwhile, the Zimbabwe selectors have announced that they will finalise their starting eleven for the first Test, on Febraury 19, on Wednesday 18.Zimbabwe (from) Heath Streak (capt), Tatenda Taibu (wkt), Grant Flower, Dion Ebrahim, Stuart Carlisle, Stuart Matsikenyeri, Andy Blignaut, Raymond Price, Blessing Mahwire, Sean Ervine, Trevor Gripper, Douglas Hondo, Gavin Ewing.Bangladesh (from) Habibul Bashar (capt), Rajin Saleh, Khaled Mashud, Kumar Baishya, Hannan Sarker, Shahriar Hossain, Mohammad Ashraful, Aziz Khan, Manjarul Islam, Anwar Hossain, Mushfiqur Rahman, Alok Kopali, Mohammad Rafique, Alamgir Kabir, Monjurul Islam, Al Shahriar

Scott Styris, the New Zealand allrounder, has insisted his team are not getting the praise they deserve as they sit one win away from clinching the one-day series against South Africa.After celebrating their six-wicket win at Dunedin to put them 3-1 up in the six-match series, the squad are now targeting Saturday’s day-nighter at Eden Park as the biggest game of the summer.However, Styris, who scored 69 off 62 balls at Dunedin, said it was taking time for the team to get the credit they deserved from commentators and the public. “We know we’re a good team, we’ve got a lot of good players and with so many guys standing up to be counted we should have this confidence,” Styris said. “The typical New Zealand way of praising the opposition and not us, we don’t buy into that. We feel it’s always "they didn’t play well" or "the wicket doesn’t suit them". It’s not "we played well", and that’s been disappointing.”Styris added: “The attitude’s changing a little bit with the clinical performance last night, and hopefully it will continue to change and people will now say this is a good New Zealand side rather than saying South Africa played poorly.”New Zealand had an optional training session at Eden Park today, and there was excitement building already about Saturday’s match, not only because Chris Harris, the popular allrounder, will be joining the squad, but also that South Africa are the only side New Zealand have never won a Test or one-day series against.”We’re hugely excited. We’re trying to tick off everything we haven’t achieved in New Zealand cricket history and we’re really set on achieving this goal,” Styris said.”This is another one, if we can do that then we move on to the Test series and tick one more off.”

The West Indians’ humiliation at the hands of England has stirred Sir Garry Sobers into criticising the team’s preparation – but he defended Brian Lara’s position as captain.Sobers, one of the finest allrounders of all time, said that West Indies have paid for not taking England seriously enough and not treating them with respect. “I think we underestimated England,” he told BBC radio. “We returned home after performing so well on tour to South Africa and thought we would do well at home. We hadn’t heard much about England’s bowlers so we underestimated them. Complacency is the only conclusion I can come to for these results.”But with no shortage of pundits and former players rounding on West Indies, Sobers was at pains to point out that they were not a bad side. “[They are] a good team, make no mistake about that. I think they have a lot of ability. They came back from South Africa after scoring over 300 runs every time they batted. That’s a very good sign of the calibre of the players we have.”And Sobers refused to add his voice to those calling for Lara to be sacked. “Brian’s contribution has been tremendous. His record in South Africa and Zimbabwe was very good, and he came back as the world’s No. 1 batsman,” he argued. “The captaincy didn’t affect his form in South Africa. He shouldn’t be replaced … who is there to replace him anyway? We haven’t reached the standard yet where we can afford to replace him.”Lara himself would not be drawn into the subject of captaincy. “I’m devastated and it’s very hard to put my feelings into words,” he admitted. “We have to re-group and put our emotions back together. The guys are in shock. We need to get it together and get going in Antigua.”

Scorecard

After four days of clubbing records, Victoria set Queensland the biggest of them all – pull off the biggest run-chase in 110 years of domestic cricket to win the Pura Cup. Queensland began their second innings needing 576 to win, and stumbled to 2 for 56 by the end of the fourth day.With a Queensland victory as close to an impossibility as sport can produce, Victoria appeared certain to seal their first first-class title since 1990-91. The wickets of Jimmy Maher (0) and Martin Love (14) made it even more likely that, on a wearing pitch on the fifth day, Victoria would have no trouble finishing things off.Not content with posting a monumental 710 in their first innings, Victoria bowled out Queensland for 275 and then, instead of enforcing the follow-on, batted again. Perhaps chasing revenge for years of away losses to Queensland, Victorian captain Darren Berry opted to inflict more misery on the bowlers and let Matthew Elliott and Jason Arnberger slog for two hours.Berry’s declaration at 1 for 140 left Queensland a victory target of 576 in 105 overs and any whiff of a successful chase disappeared on the first ball when Michael Lewis had Maher brilliantly caught at first slip by Cameron White, who dived to his right and stuck out a right hand after the ball bounced off Berry’s left glove.Lewis then bowled Love before Queensland steadied to 2 for 56 at stumps, with Clinton Perren 32 not out and Stuart Law 8 not out, with another 520 runs required.Berry’s decision to bat again raised eyebrows but allowed his bowlers to freshen, as the left-arm fast bowler, Allan Wise, was missing from the roster because of stress fractures in his left foot. It also allowed Elliott (55 not out) and Arnberger (72) to post their second 100-plus partnership of this game.Arnberger was savage on Nathan Hauritz, smashing three successive sixes and a four off his sixth over. Elliott broke another record, this time for the most runs in a first-class season by a Victorian batsman – if one includes his 48 against the touring Indians.He finished the season with 1,429 runs – the most by a Victorian and the most by any player in a Sheffield Shield/Pura Cup season (1,377). Law, who will bow out of Australian first-class cricket at the end of this match, after 16 seasons, was given a guard of honour off the ground by his teammates after Victoria’s declaration.”I was trudging off [thinking], ‘Thank Christ we’re not fielding again’, and all of a sudden I look up and see my teammates and I’m still in the middle of the pitch,” he said. “Our guys have been brilliant to me all year, I’ve had four or five farewells now in different situations and we just kept managing to get another game in.”It was special, it meant a lot to me, it means I’ve got respect from a lot of people who’ve played with me and against me.”

Rameez Raja, the chief executive of the Pakistan board, has said that he has no intentions of resigning. Addressing a news conference at the Gaddafi Stadium, Rameez spoke about how Shaharyar Khan, the chairman of the PCB, backed him completely and that the allegations of corruption targeted at him were completely baseless.”If they [ex-cricketers] consider it is a right way in which they can compel me to leave the office”, he said, “they are wrong because my chairman has reposed his full confidence in me.”If someone thinks that I will be stepping down due to the negative criticism on me after defeats to the Pakistan team, he is wrong. I do not have such plans.” Rameez had been severely criticised for performing the dual role of both the CEO and a TV commentator.Meanwhile, the PCB has initiated disciplinary action against Rashid Latif for making match-fixing allegations during the one-day series. In a letter to Latif, Shaharyar said that his case has been referred to the disciplinary committee for investigation as well as follow-up action. Latif, reputed for his whistle-blowing, responded by threatening to reveal a lot more on match-fixing and exposing many more players.Latif was quoted as saying by The News that he had certain “details and information” which had led him to question the result of the fourth one-dayer at Lahore. “If the board wants to open the Pandora’s Box, then I cannot help it. But I have been in constant touch with the ACU [Anti-corruption unit of the ICC] on this issue and have already given them whatever information I had with me.”

The pension scheme announced by the Indian board last month for retired Test players and umpires will be launched across the country simultaneously on May 21.Announcing this, the BCCI said in a statement: “Functions will be organised across the country to hand over cheques for the first month’s pension to retired Test cricketers and umpires on the same day and same time.”The functions will be held at Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kanpur, Jaipur, Indore, Baroda, Chandigarh and Pune. The statement also clarified that in case the player was unable to attend the function at any of the venues, a representative of the board would deliver the cheque to the his residence the same day.Under this scheme, 174 former players and officials will receive a monthly amount of Rs 5000 (approx UD$ 113). Currently, only those who have played or officiated in Tests are eligible for the benefit.

Sachin Tendulkar has said that it is important that India start their Asia Cup campaign “with a bang”. The Press Trust of India reports that Tendulkar said, “India will try hard to start with a bang in the Asia Cup, beginning in Sri Lanka from July 16. It is a fresh season,” at a press conference in Chennai.Tendulkar acknowledged the role played by the training camp in Bangalore and looked forward to the next one in Chennai. “We had a nice and useful camp in Bangalore and we will take it forward to be focused in the limited-overs tournament in Sri Lanka. The weather condition in Sri Lanka is akin to what we have here [in Chennai].” The Indian team is scheduled to attend a training camp in Chennai from July 3 to 8.Tendulkar described the list of probables selected for the one-day series in Sri Lanka in glowing terms. “The probables announced after the Bangalore camp are excellent and the team for the Asia Cup to be selected here will also be strong and excellent.” He explained that several innovative exercises were conducted in the Bangalore coaching camp and that the each player had a specially tailored regimen to follow. “We were made to play kho-kho as this sport requires a lot of physical fitness”When asked about the composition of fast bowlers in the Indian team Tendulkar was guarded. “It is the selectors’ job but the team’s combination would be decided on the kind of wickets that are prepared. Pitches in the Emerald Island are good. When we go there, we will get to know whether they will suit fast bowling or spin or batting.”Tendulkar also refused to be drawn into the debate of whether a specialist wicketkeeper should be used in the one-dayers also. “There is no point in holding a debate on this. Fifteen players will give different opinions. It is the selectors who are the best judges and I will leave it to them. It would not be prudent to sit here and make an assessment and plan things in respect of the composition of the team and specialist wicket-keeper.”