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The shock at Ramnaresh Sarwan’s omission from the eleven for the second Test yesterday was surpassed only by Brian Lara’s frank explanation for the decision.”It’s a time for Sarwan to reflect and come back strong,” Lara told the world at the toss. “He is one of our main players. We know that. There’s no doubt about it. It’s an opportunity for him to spend some time off the field and see what it’s like and come out back into the middle maybe more energetic and more purposeful.”It marked an unmistakable change in a policy that readily accommodated deceptively talented underachievers in the West Indies team in recent times. The names Carl Hooper and Marlon Samuels spring readily to mind. Lara’s message was loud, clear and long overdue. It would have registered large, not only with Sarwan but with everyone vying for selection.It was that, from now on, no one is guaranteed a place, not even the vice-captain, not even a quality batsman with 64 Tests and over 4,000 runs to his name recently ranked No 2 at ODI level. Sarwan’s character will be sternly tested by this development.Only a few days before the Test, he was acknowledging his slump in form and saying that he was “more determined than at any other time…to put together a score in this Test match”. Now he must wait, perhaps even until next summer’s tour of England, for his next Test.He has come through adversity of different kinds before – the death of a cherished girlfriend midway through his first overseas tour, several blows to the helmet from unsympathetic fast bowlers, the initial loss of the vice-captaincy – and ought to come through this as well. But it is a unique experience for him, watching a Test match from the pavilion. It is the first time he has been dropped since his difficult period in Australia in 2001.A Test average of 38 – and falling – after six years in international cricket is unworthy of a batsman blessed with the special touch. Most irritating, after all this time, is his failure to eliminate the errors that have repeatedly brought his downfall. He has been caught 13 times in Tests off the hook or pull. His square-on position early in his innings has exposed him to slip catches and lbws. Repeatedly, rank carelessness has cost his wicket at crucial times, most recently in the second innings of the first Test and the first innings of the last against India last season.All of this would have been noted on coach Bennett King’s laptop and in Lara’s consciousness. There is a lesson to be learned from the player who took Sarwan’s place in Multan. Runako Morton is short on genuine class, big on heart and determination. There is no certain selection for him. He has had to depend on the shortcomings of a batsman with twice his ability and his own hard work to squeeze in.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

On the same day when he equalled Sunil Gavaskar’s tally of 125 Test appearances and on the same ground where Gavaskar equalled Don Bradman’s record 29 hundreds, Sachin Tendulkar blended solid defiance with controlled aggression and reached a much-anticipated landmark, putting India in firm control of the second Test at Delhi. Contrasting knocks from VVS Laxman and Sourav Ganguly – one effortless, the other gritty – shored India up from a dicey situation but on such a day, everything was bound to be overshadowed with one little man and one mighty world record.Come tomorrow, and it would have been exactly one year since his last century, against Bangladesh at Dhaka, and Tendulkar had often admitted that century No.35 was a bogey which he wanted off his back. He began his innings with the game on an even keel but by overcoming Muttiah Muralitharan’s craft and Chaminda Vaas’s nous, by ruthlessly cashing in after surviving two perilous lbw appeals, and by showing glimpses of his glorious youth he ensured India were in a position to dictate terms for the rest of the game.It was an innings that sported a rich array of strokes – a classical flick off Dilhara Fernando, a full-throttle cover-drive off Vaas – completing his follow-through while on his knees – three successive fours off Murali – feet twinkling, bat flourishing – a lofted six off Malinga Bandara, and a back-foot slap with a Caribbean touch. When on 24, he was trapped in front by a Fernando incutter; when on 38, he stretched forward to an offbreak from Murali and got away with a touch-and-go call but once he completed his half-century, he methodically dismantled the attack. The moment he reached the 90s, every run was greeted with a volcanic reaction and at precisely 16:44:19pm, he rocked back and turned one from Vaas to backward square leg, took off for a single and punched the air with delight as the entire stadium erupted with joy.The focus was firmly on Tendulkar but there was a hugely important innings panning out at the other end as well. Ganguly, who was fortunate on 11 when Kumar Sangakkara fluffed a stumping, ground his way to a crucial 39 not out by the end of the day. A couple of cover-drives, eased with finesse, promised much and he found the gaps with ease. Delhi has been a lucky venue for Ganguly – with four scores of more than 50 – and he will get a chance to re-establish himself in the Test side.Both these were vital innings but what had really set India up was 69 golden runs from Laxman, who had lit up the overcast Feroz Shah Kotla when India ran the risk of being derailed. Laxman, batting at No.3 after a little more than a year, was fortunate at the top of his innings, with a close lbw shout turned down and a flashy inside edge eluding the stumps, but soon opened out with some delicious strokeplay. Wafting the bat like an artist’s brush, he effortlessly wrenched India out of a wobbly situation with languid strokes all around the ground. Seam movement from Vaas was countered with grace, Murali was thwarted and the inexperienced Bandara was simply dismissed. Laxman appeared in complete control, and all set for one of his massive hauls, before he nicked a superb Murali doosra.Play had begun half-an-hour late, owing to excessive dew on the ground, and Vaas gave Sri Lanka a near-perfect start by dismissing Gautam Gambhir, the local boy playing his first Test on his homeground, cheaply. Dravid, who opened the batting for the first time since November 2001, was immaculate in reading the movement of the ball, punctuating his knock with five fours, but he was occasionally hassled by the variety that Murali, who came on as early as the eighth over, displayed. Murali unfurled his entire range and would surely rue a few umpiring calls, but destiny, as he would know, is a strange animal and there is little one can do when certain events are written in the stars.

Gautam Gambhir lbw b Vaas 2 (2 for 1)
Rahul Dravid c Mubarak b Muralitharan 24 (56 for 2)
VVS Laxman c Sangakkara b Muralitharan 69 (133 for 3)

Australia’s women’s cricket team, the Commonwealth Bank Southern Stars, will play seven one-dayers and a one-day practice game in a three-week long tour of India.This will be Australia’s first tour of India in over 20 years, notwithstanding the World Cup in 1997-98. Australia emerged victorious in the World Cup, beating New Zealand by five wickets in the finals at Eden Gardens.Australia begin with a game against India A at Mysore on December 9, and will then play the first two games of the series at the same venue.After the tour, Australia will take on New Zealand at Perth before embarking on a World Cup campaign to South Africa, which will be followed by the Ashes in August 2005.Itinerary of India tour
December 9 Australians v India `A’
December 11 Australia v India
December 13 Australia v India
December 16 Australia v India
December 19 Australia v India
December 22 Australia v India
December 24 Australia v India
December 28 Australia v India Australia squad 1 Belinda Clark (captain), 2 Karen Rolton, 3 Alex Blackwell, 4 Kate Blackwell, 5 Leonie Coleman, 6 Shelley Nitschke, 7 Cathryn Fitzpatrick, 8 Julie Hayes, 9 Melanie Jones, 10 Lisa Keightley, 11 Clea Smith, 12 Lisa Sthalekar, 13 Emma Twining

National League Division TwoDivision Two Table Hampshire 216 for 8 (Kenway 78) beat Northamptonshire 162 (Mascarenhas 4 for 22, Udal 4 for 40) by 54 runs
ScorecardDimitri Mascarenhas and Shaun Udal took advantage of The Rose Bowl lights as Hampshire bowled out the league leaders Northamptonshire for a meagre 162 and won by a comfortable 54 runs.While the Northants bowlers struggled to extract life from the pitch, Mascarenhas darted the ball around at will, and took the two big wickets of Mike Hussey and Phil Jaques early on, both trapped lbw with the ball swinging in to their pads. That left Northants on a stuttering 19 for 3 and two more wickets from Mascarenhas sank them in to further trouble at 50 for 5.David Sales provided some resistance with 73 from 115 balls, but while his team-mates continued to perish at regular intervals, he was fighting a lost cause. He was eventually last man out, bowled by Udal, who wrapped up the tail with 4 for 40 as Northants crashed to 162.For Hampshire, Derek Kenway held the innings together with 78 from 112 balls, and put on 75 for the second wicket with James Hamblin, who scored 32. It was Hampshire’s seventh win of the season and pushed them up to third spot of the second division.

With the upcoming tour to Sri Lanka by the West Indies cricket teamless than two weeks away, and with concerns in the Caribbean high overthe safety of the West Indian players, assurances have been receivedby the sport’s governing body in the West Indies. These assuranceshave come from the Chairman of the Board of Control for Cricket in SriLanka (BCCSL), the Chairman of BCCSL Mr. Vijaya Malalasekera.The BCCSL Chairman gave those assurances to the president of the WestIndies Cricket Board (WICB), Rev Wes Hall. The officials of bothcricket boards held bilateral discussions while attending the recentlyconcluded International Cricket Council (ICC) meeting in Kuala Lumpur,Malaysia. As a result of these discussions, the BCCSL chairman saidthat the BCCSL and the people of Sri Lanka will undertake measures toguarantee the safety and comfort of the West Indies cricket teamduring its tour to Sri Lanka scheduled for November to December 2001.The BCCSL officials have also informed the WICB that nationalelections have been announced for 5 December,2001, and, if required,match fixtures will be adjusted marginally to avoid interference withthe elections.Meanwhile, during joint discussions, President of the Zimbabwe CricketUnion (ZCU), Mr. Peter Chingoka, has assured the WICB that the ZCU issatisfied with the arrangements in place for team safety and the ZCUwill be participating in the Tri Nations One-Day Internationaltournament between Zimbabwe, West Indies and host country Sri Lanka,scheduled for December.The three countries will continue to liaise with each other to ensurethat player safety remains assured.

Stuart Broad has hailed this summer’s victory over Australia as “the most special Ashes win I’ve been involved with”, but says that England know from bitter previous experience not to let their focus slip when they return to Test action against Pakistan in the UAE next month.Broad, whose career-best haul of 8 for 15 on the first morning at Trent Bridge was the defining moment of the summer, is one of four survivors from the England team that travelled to the Emirates in January 2012 as the No.1-ranked Test team in the world, but finished up on the wrong end of a 3-0 whitewash.Despite competing with the ball on that trip, with Broad himself topping the averages with 13 wickets at 20.46, England struggled with the bat in each of the three Tests, being dismissed for fewer than 200 in four of their six innings. In the second Test in Abu Dhabi, they were set 145 for a series-levelling victory but were shot out for 72 by Pakistan’s spinners, Saeed Ajmal and Abdur Rehman.”[It’s a] really tough [challenge],” Broad told ESPNcricinfo. “But we have got guys of experience who have toured there before. Myself, Jimmy [Anderson], Belly, Cooky, we know the challenges we’ll face there, we know we’ll have to spend long times in the field to create pressure to take wickets and bat a long time.”In addition to winning the Ashes, England have won plaudits this summer for the approach they have taken to their cricket, with a new positive attitude reaping dividends across all three formats.Nevertheless, England’s Test record remains erratic, with four defeats in their last nine outings against West Indies, New Zealand and Australia. In particular, the nature of their two crushing defeats in the Ashes – on the slower, less seam-friendly surfaces at Lord’s and The Oval – doesn’t bode well for the challenges to come.”The biggest skill as an international cricketer is adapting to conditions,” said Broad. “Not every wicket you can go out and play hugely positively on.”I’ve not played at Sharjah [the venue for the third Test], but the wickets in Dubai and [Abu Dhabi] offered a tiny bit of seam but very slowly so we just bowled really straight.”But as a batting unit I remember we just got bowled and lbw a huge amount, which is not what you’d expect from world-class players. So that’s something we’ll have to learn from as a batting unit, to make sure we are playing straight, and look to get big runs because that’s what will determine the UAE trip, big runs on the board.”Broad is mindful of England’s tendency in recent years of following notable series wins with disappointing follow-ups – a pattern that was set in motion with a 2-0 defeat against Pakistan in 2005 following the euphoria of that summer’s Ashes, and continued two winters ago with the 5-0 whitewash that followed straight on from England’s successful home campaign against Australia in 2013.However, he believes that the current England team is at a different stage of its development to previous outfits, and credits Andrew Strauss, the team director, with instilling a new ethic that will help them to retain their focus throughout a tough winter that also includes a Test series against South Africa in December and January.”I think when Straussy came into the job, he had a long-term vision,” said Broad. “Obviously we had a huge goal to win the Ashes this summer but it’s further than that. We want to be a team that the fans enjoy watching, our style of cricket has changed, we are playing a style that people will want to tune in and watch and come to the ground and see.”We want a style of play that will take us a long way with the fans but also get us to the top of the world, and I think we are developing that. Obviously our inconsistencies have been well documented – win, lose, win, lose – but that keeps you on your toes and makes you want to improve when you are training.””There’s a huge goal this winter,” he added. “I’ve not been involved in a Test series win against South Africa, and we got beaten heavily in the UAE last time. There are a lot of goals and a lot of motivation for a lot of success this winter, and when you have a young squad and guys who are desperate to succeed, you can take the team a long way.”Broad, who was not involved in the one-day series against Australia, has been enjoying a rare period of down-time since the Ashes, with a chance to reflect on a remarkable summer in which England’s success was closely linked to his personal achievement. His 21 wickets at 20.90 enabled him to become only the fifth England bowler to claim 300 in Tests.”It was extra special because we weren’t expected to win,” said Broad. “Australia came into the series with such form and dominated the World Cup. If you read all the newspapers and saw all the predictions before it started it was Australia, Australia, Australia.”It was a whole team effort, a group of guys who threw themselves in the series. That’s why it felt so special. We have an end goal to be the best in the world in Test match cricket. That might be a few years away but we know we have the talent in changing room to reach that.”

After a year which included the disastrous Ashes campaign and a hernia operation which kept him out of the series against India, Steve Harmison says he understands his bowling better and is “desperate” to play for England again.”It has been a nightmare year,” he told the . “But what I believe I’ve learned is that I need to stop worrying and start enjoying my cricket again, playing with a smile not a frown.”While he was sidelined due to hernia, Ryan Sidebottom, Stuart Broad and James Anderson all turned in strong performances to stake their claim for fast-bowling slots in the Test side.”Maybe I’ve got to accept that with my action and the way I bowl I’m going to have wayward spells, and instead of beating myself up about sending one way down leg side, I should concentrate on where the next one is going.”Harmison, who has been playing for the Highveldt Lions in a bid to get match fit for the Test series against Sri Lanka, gave the example of last week’s match against the Cape Cobras to explain his new approach to bowling.”In the past I would probably have agonised too much over the rubbish, but now I was thinking ‘Give me the ball because I’m also bowling some top stuff’. By sticking at it I bowled better as the match went on and ended up with nine wickets and a great deal of confidence.”Harmison said the advice of Allan Donald, who was a bowling consultant with England in the summer, was also extremely helpful.Harmison, 29, also reiterated his desire to play for England but added, “if I’m supposed to be in the side for line and length consistency I shouldn’t be. Let’s be honest, I’m not the best 83mph bowler available to England or the best at 85mph. But when things are going right, with my height and bounce, I can be the best 90mph-plus bowler.”He will join his England team-mates in Sri Lanka on Tuesday and the first Test starts in Kandy on December 1.

On the start his bowlers gave him
I think we stuck in well throughout and kept the pressure on them all the time. They had to play some big shots in the last part of the innings, which as you saw some wickets fell. I thought 258 was gettable and the guys talked before the match about actually chasing. They thought the pitch looked very good and it would stay that way for the entire 100 overs. So first of all, it was a good toss to lose. It’s a situation where we have to just move on from here, with the same sort of a game plan. Everyone’s trying to make a contribution.On the resurgence in West Indian cricket
I just think that we had a tournament in Malaysia recently, and even before that we played India and won the series 4-1. Our one-day game has always been pretty good. It just [needs] a little bit of fine tuning. We did that in Malaysia. We were forced to play the qualifying round here, and that in itself gave us a little bit of competitive cricket. So I think it’s the fact that we are building up momentum, and the guys are believing in themselves, believing in the plans and executing it well. It’s great to see the guys go out there and stick to the plans, work hard and get the results. We just have to keep the momentum going now, analyse each game even if you have to lose. Win or lose, just go back and think about it. I think it is going to be exciting times ahead for us, in the one-dayers especially.Australia and West Indies have won two matches each in the last four encounters between the two teams. Did Lara think there was unfinished business with the Australians?
I wouldn’t say it is unfinished business. I just feel it’s nice to be playing the world champions inthe final. It says a lot for our effort – getting past South Africa in the semis and beating the likes of India and even Australia in the first part of the tournament. So we are looking forward to the challenge. Australia, of course, have gained some momentum since they lost to us in the first match. I am sure they are very, very buoyed and confident of their chances on Sunday. I think we have to go back to the drawing board again, work on a few things and realise that we are going to play a completely different opposition to the one we played against. In that first game in Mumbai, Australia were playing their first match on that pitch and so we had a sort of an advantage. It’s not unfinished business. It’s a game of cricket, we are looking forward to the challenge and we will back ourselves.

On whether Lara thought West Indies would win so easily
Of course not. It’s a semi-final and you are going to think that South Africa will come and throw everything at us, if not for the first 15 then for the entire 50 overs. I think it’s the way Chris Gayle and Shivnarine Chanderpaul started, they transferred the pressure on South Africa. They came out ready to apply pressure on with the likes of Pollock, Ntini and Nel. The fact that in 15 overs or so we were almost close to our 100 put them on the back foot. They just had to play catch-up cricket after that. So it was a good effort and everybody must be commended.On captaining a batsman like Chris Gayle
He is excellent. Chris Gayle has always been a top player – with the bat, with the ball and in thefield. He is very chirpy as well, and he has a great influence on the guys, which is tremendous. He might seem a bit comical on occasions, but he takes his cricket very seriously. In the practice sessions, his preparation is great and he is reaping the rewards right now.On what advice he gave to his batsmen
South Africa’s two win in the tournament was actually bowling second. The fact that in the first 15 or 20 overs, the game is almost over for the opposition – they got five, six wickets against Sri Lanka and also Pakistan. Our first decision was to try and stay out there, see the pitch. But maybe in the first over, the guys realized that there wasn’t much in the pitch, nothing like Mohali or Ahmedabad for South Africa, and we played accordingly.On Gayle firing in the final
It’s a brand new game and the fact that we have certain requirements of the opening batsmen – if it is Chanderpaul or Gayle, they have to fulfill those requirements. Chris has done that on a few occasions in this tournament and I am almost sure that he does not want to leave the centre-stage to anyone come the final. He will be eager to go out there and replicate what he did today.On starting the World Cup as favourites if they win here
Favorites or not, we have to play the World Cup. We are the hosts and we will be in Jamaica for the first, hoping to come out of with maximum points and move on. A lot of teams have said we are very unpredictable and maybe that is a fact. But the fact is then they are not going to take us easy. We have played very good cricket, we have beaten Australia on a couple of occasions recently and I don’t think anything is going to be different in the Caribbean. I am almost sure the likes of South Africa, India and Pakistan – whoever we play against – know what we are capable of. I don’t mind whatever tag they place on us. We still got to go out there and execute, we still got to play better than the other team on the day.

Scorecard

South Africa warmed up for their one-day series against India with a comfortable win against a Hyderabad XI. AB de Villiers shone with the bat striking an impressive 55 while Johan Botha, the uncapped offspinner, was the pick of the attack with 3 for 34.It was a useful workout for the South Africans, who arrived in India on Saturday, ahead of a series which pits two of the in-form teams of the moment. South Africa are touring on the back of a 4-0 demolition of New Zealand and India have just completed an even more commanding 6-1 drubbing of Sri Lanka.The performance of Botha will have been heartening for the South African selectors, who are still searching high and low for spinning talent. With Nicky Boje not making this trip, due to the fear that he would have been arrested over alleged links to match-fixing, it is the perfect chance for the next South African slow bowler to make their mark.Botha, who until a year ago was a medium pacer, is competing for a place alongside Robin Peterson and Justin Ontong and made the right first impression.The time de Villiers spent at the crease was also a boost for the tourists. He failed to produce a significant innings against New Zealand and this is an important series as he tries to establish himself as long-term opening partner for Graeme Smith in ODIs, in the same way he has in Tests.The five-match series kicks of on Wednesday with the first match at Hyderabad.

Sunil Gavaskar believes Sourav Ganguly’s form is plummeting because the Indian captain is spending too much time worrying about his team-mates. Gavaskar, who joined the squad as a batting consultant after receiving a call from Ganguly, now has him as one of his biggest problems.Ganguly made 45 in the first innings of the first Test but the nine he made at Chennai was torturous. Lacking in confidence and poking tentatively at Michael Kasprowicz’s off-cutters, he was dropped on nought and four before falling to Jason Gillespie. “As captain he is always bothered about the performances of the others,” Gavaskar said. “As a result his own batting has suffered. He should get over it.”Ganguly is struggling to find the right opening partner for Virender Sehwag and of greater concern is the inability of Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman to torment Australia again. Laxman has 38 runs in three innings while Dravid has made 86 and Ganguly 59. “They are all quality players, they have all performed in the past,” said Gavaskar.The imminent return of Sachin Tendulkar for the third Test will be easing Ganguly’s mind. Tendulkar has been having a daily net session at the MIG Cricket Club in Mumbai, where he played as a boy.Tendulkar’s last game was a one-dayer on August 1 but Ganguly denied such a long layoff would make him too rusty. “I don’t think it will be a problem,” said Ganguly. “He is a cricketer par excellence. He will be able to get back into rhythm straight away.”Tendulkar’s latest net session began with barely a soul in sight. He started by bowling his legspinners with a yellow and red tennis ball. He batted while one of his best mates, Atul Ranade, bowled. Tendulkar faced a tennis ball for a few minutes then graduated to a match ball.Ranade bowled slowly until Tendulkar told him to “make it interesting”. Tendulkar stroked cover drives and late cuts and most of the other shots in his wide repertoire. Not once did he wince in pain. Asked whether he would play at Nagpur he said: “Should know in four days.” Tendulkar will have a fitness test on Sunday.