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Khurram Manzoor hammered 112 as Karachi Whites scored a crushing 158-run victory over Karachi Blues in the first round of the National Junior (Under-19) Grade-I One-day Cricket Tournament Monday.Karachi Blues, last season’s champions, were restricted to 134 for eight in their allotted 50 overs after being a daunting 293 for victory.Karachi Whites piled up 292 for six after skipper Khalid Latif won the toss and had no hesitation in batting first.Khurram, who ironically played for the Blues in the just concluded National Championship three-day fixtures, led the onslaught. He put on 85 for the third wicket with Shiraz Ishaq (40 off 47 balls, five fours)Khurram’s 116-ball knock included as many as seven sixes and three fours and added 124 for the fourth wicket with Faraz Patel, who finished on an unbeaten 82 off 74 deliveries with three hits to the fence.Bahawalpur, meanwhile, scored a nail-biting victory by one wicket with just one delivery to spare against Quetta at National Stadium.Needing three in the final over, bowled by medium-pacer Arun Lal, Bahawalpur lost two wickets but scampered home in the end.Earlier, Quetta made 188 for seven in their 50 overs with skipper Abdul Hameed scoring 45.Our Sports Reporter adds from Rawalpindi:Rawalpindi made a Grand Prix start to the tournament by scoring a straightforward five-wicket victory over Peshawar.Put into bat first at Rawalpindi Stadium, Peshawar could manage just 161 in 40.5 overs, falling to the leg spin of Mazhar Malik and slow left-armer Afzal Javed, both of whom picked up three wickets each.Opener Abdul Nasir was the chief scorer for Peshawar cracking a 34-ball 41, a knock that had five fours and two sixes.Although the target appeared easy, Rawalpindi suffered early hiccups that saw them three wickets down for 26.But then Usman Saeed batted patiently, hitting an unbeaten 57 with six hits to the ropes. Usama Shabbir also played cautiously in scoring 33 not out as the home side achieved the target with more than seven overs to spare.Our Sports Correspondent adds from Lahore:A fine all-round performance by Mohammad Saeed (51 and 3-21) enabled Lahore Blues defeat Lahore Whites by seven wickets at Gaddafi Stadium Monday.Chasing a moderate target, Lahore Blues scored 183 for three with 2.1 overs to spare. Saeed blasted 51 off 53 balls with the aid of seven fours and one six.Asim Ijaz slammed an unbeaten 54 off 97 balls, hitting two fours and a six.Earlier, Umar Javed scored undefeated 49 off 84 balls without any boundary as Lahore Whites managed 180 in 46.4overs.At Sheikhupura Stadium, the home side defeated Islamabad by seven wickets.Summarised scores:*At Pindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi:Rawalpindi beat Peshawar by five wickets.PESHAWAR 161 in 40.5 overs (Abdul Nasir 41; Afzal Javed 3-21, Mazhar Malik 3-21);RAWALPINDI 166-5 in 42.3 overs (Usman Saeed 57 not out, Usama Shabbir 33 not out; Gulraiz 2-32, Zohaib Khan 2-24).*At Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore:Lahore Blues beat Lahore Whites by seven wickets.LAHORE WHITES 180 in 46.4 overs (Umar Javed 49 not out, Raza Ali Dar 37, Salman Qadir 21; Mohammad Saeed 3-21, Azhar Ali 2-21, Asim Ijaz 2-27, Khurram Irshad 2-47);LAHORE BLUES 183-3 in 47.5 overs (Asim Ijaz 54 not out, Mohammad Saeed 51, Adnan Raza 39, Fahad-ul-Haq 27 not out).*At Sheikhupura Stadium, Sheikhupura:Sheikhupura beat Islamabad by three wickets.ISLAMABAD 162 in 44.1 overs (Shakir Mahmood 41, Wasim Abbas 34, Mohammad Fiaz 24, Usman Nabi 22; Khalil Ahmed 2-15, Salman Ali 2-22, Nawaz Sardar 2-31);SHEIKHUPURA 163-7 in 37.5 overs (Khalil Ahmed 48, Kashif Imran 32; Mohammad Altaf 4-45, Saif-ur-Rehman 2-43).*At KCCA Stadium, Karachi:Karachi Whites beat Karachi Blues by 158 runs.KARACHI WHITES 292-6 in 50 overs (Khurram Manzoor 112, Faraz Patel 82 not out, Shiraz Ishaq 40; Mohammad Saleem 2-26, Fawwad Alam 2-49);KARACHI BLUES 134-8 in 50 overs (Ibrahim Akhtar 30, Khurram Ibrahim 24; Aftab Ahmed 2-25).*At Arbab Niaz Stadium, Peshawar:Fata beat Kohat by 36 runs.FATA 247-8 in 50 overs (Johar Hussain 69, Altaf Ali 26, Mumtaz Khan Afridi 26; Majid Sharif 4-38, Fawwad Shah 2-30);KOHAT 211 in 44.3 overs (Usman 117, Fawwad Shah 20; Riaz Afridi 3-38, Hussain Akbar 3-56).*At National Stadium, Karachi:Bahawalpur beat Quetta by one wicket.QUETTA 188-7 in 50 overs (Abdul Hameed 45, Arun Lal 32, Shaukat Ali 28; Mohammad Asif 3-28, Asif Imran Raza 2-32);BAHAWALPUR 189-9 in 49.5 overs (Asif Iqbal 37, Fahad-ur-Rehman 35, Muneeb Mubashir 27, Mohammad Atiq 22 not out; Arun Lal 3-33, M. Qasim Khan 2-32).

England have decided to tour Zimbabwe later this year, according to David Morgan, the ECB’s chairman. The board had earlier hinted that they would pull out of the tour, protesting against the policies of Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe’s president.However, the growing fears about the potentially crippling financial penalties imposed by the ICC if they boycotted the tour prodded the ECB into a change of mind. England were also under the threat of losing their status as hosts of the ICC Champions Trophy in September.Speaking to the Independent on Sunday, Morgan said there were few reasons to cancel the tour. “The only way that I can see us not fulfilling the tour is either because of government directive or because of safety and security. And let me emphasise we don’t see them as being issues at the moment.”Morgan added that if England did cancel the tour, tough measures would be taken. “I have little doubt that if without acceptable non-compliance we decided not to go, the members of the ICC would find it necessary to ensure that we paid an appropriate financial penalty.”His comments came at a time when Zimbabwe cricket was reeling after the abrupt dismissal of several players. Following the sacking of Heath Streak, Zimbabwe’s then-captain, more than a dozen white players were fired by an increasingly politically managed Zimbabwe Cricket Union. It prompted Streak to call on the ICC, asking it to intervene in the spiraling conflict between the players and the cricket board.The English government had originally opposed the tour of Zimbabwe for political reasons, but had stopped short of ordering the cancellation of the tour – a move that would have made it easier for the ECB to avoid the ICC’s penalties.”Despite having a lot of support and encouragement, there was a clear message from the nine other full members [of the ICC], the three representatives of the associate countries and the president and chief executive that we should tour Zimbabwe unless [our] government tells [us] not to go or it’s unsafe, which would be acceptable non-compliance.”

Take away the pressure and Zimbabwe play better. They did much better forthree-quarters of their final World Cup match of 2003 against Sri Lankabefore collapsing to give Sri Lanka a rather easy victory in the end by 76runs.The turning point of the match, as so often but now for the last time, wasthe dismissal of Andy Flower. Zimbabwe were looking on course to challengethe Sri Lankan total of 256, with the Flower brothers together, but it wasone of those instances where an umpiring error turned the match. UmpireBrian Jerling gave Andy out lbw, failing to detect an inside edge on to thepad, and that brought Andy’s international career to an end. But it can besaid that a side that packed in so quickly after that error didn’t reallydeserve to win anyway.But at least Zimbabwe looked a better team this time that the sombre crewthat took the field against Kenya. Sri Lanka batted on winning the toss,but a combination of a slow East London pitch, not ideal for a one-daymatch, and accurate seam bowling, especially by Heath Streak, made scoringdifficult. Perhaps there was also for them the pressure of knowing theirfuture in this World Cup depended on the result. Against Zimbabwe they maywell have decided to play it safely, ensure a satisfactory total rather thangamble on a high one, and trust their bowlers to remove Zimbabwe’s fragilebatting.It was a policy that might have got them into trouble had it not been forthe Andy Flower dismissal. Zimbabwe did their best to give Andy a memorablefinale to his great international career with a victory and showed morevibrancy in the field than they did against Kenya – where they could hardlyhave shown less.They gave Travis Friend and Stuart Matsikenyeri their first games of thecompetition, but Alistair Campbell was one of the casualties expected tostand down. This meant yet another opening partner for Craig Wishart -believe it or not, his fifth in eight matches. He has opened in turn withMark Vermeulen, Guy Whittall, Vermeulen again, Dion Ebrahim, Campbell andnow it was Doug Marillier’s turn. Any comment on selection policies here issuperfluous.Wishart himself has not made the most of this tournament since his recordinnings against the weak Namibian team. Time and again he has done the hardwork, made a start and then lost his wicket: after 172 not out, his scoreshave been 12, 10, 21, 30, 5 and now 43. What a waste! He has been dumpedby the selectors numerous times during his career, and they may well takethe excuse to do so again. He has the talent to succeed against anybowling, but has only partially done so, and he may well regret his failureto make his place in the side rock-sure when he had the chance.Zimbabwe’s bowlers did a good job until the pressure mounted at the end ofthe Sri Lankan innings. Then the batsmen cut loose, with Kumar Sangakkarathe most outstanding, and they wilted. However they were not alone in thisas the New Zealand bowlers had nothing to be proud of when Streak took themapart two matches earlier.There seemed to be more vitality in the fielding, too. There were somegreat saves by several players, but on the debit side there were missedcatches.Zimbabwe began their run-chase superbly. Their batting against Kenya hadseemed quite brainless. If they had expected to go in and help themselvesthen, they were soon disillusioned, and if such a realistic Plan A existed,where was Plan B? Or maybe Plan B was simply ‘chuck your wicket away’.But now we had Wishart and Marillier taking the attack to the bowlers,driving with confidence even on a pitch not best suited to it. EvenChaminda Vaas, so long a thorn in Zimbabwe’s side, came under attack andtemporarily lost his accuracy. There was some good running between thewickets, another aspect of batsmanship that had apparently been thrown outof the window against Kenya.Travis Friend did a good, if brief, job at number three with 21 off 20balls, and with the Flower brothers in command Zimbabwe needed at one stage117 to win in 22 overs with seven wickets left. Then came the umpire’sfinger of doom, and Zimbabwe quickly subsided.Andy Blignaut was Zimbabwe’s hope when he came in at 150 for five, thenStreak at 178 for seven, but both fell quickly and tamely. Only GrantFlower and Sean Ervine held up the march of the Sri Lankans at all; theothers hastened back to the pavilion in no time.The post-Andy Flower era is upon us. It will be an era of unreliablebatting and sorry collapses – unless we can find specialist batsmen willingto put their hands up and take responsibility as Andy did. Perhaps somebodywill rise to the occasion, but at the moment there is no sign of it.Finally, how about this for an alternative Zimbabwe eleven? Johnson,Madondo, Goodwin, Hick, Andy Flower, Penney, Paul Strang, Andrew Whittall,Bryan Strang, Adam Huckle and Brighton Watambwa; twelfth man EvertonMatambanadzo.This now is a full team of players who should be available for Zimbabweright now but are not. Trevor Madondo (sadly dead) and Paul Strang(long-term arm injury) cannot play for reasons beyond their control; therest chose to leave over the years. We now need those who have remainedfaithful to Zimbabwe to make sure they use their talents to the full and donot let Zimbabwe down.This is not really happening at the moment. We may be short of talentcompared to eight other countries, but we have enough potential talent to bedoing far better than we are at the moment. At least there is someimprovement in that we were competitive for most of the match against SriLanka. It is sad we couldn’t have been competitive to the end. If we had,we might still have lost, but it would have been a thriller.Guys, we need players who relish the pressure, relish the fight, relish theresponsibility. Where are you?

John Morris marked his last appearance at the County Ground in Derby with a second century in a game that died a slow death on the fourth afternoon.Kevin Pietersen scored his maiden double hundred and with Morris, shared a Nottinghamshire sixth-wicket record stand of 372.When the game was finally laid to rest at 5.20pm, 1,665 runs had been scored which is the highest match aggregate in Derbyshire’s history.The fact that only 25 wickets fell on four days uninterrupted by the weather indicates how dead the pitch was and much of the last two sessions was an exercise in futility.Derbyshire had been in with a chance of victory in the morning when Kevin Dean took three wickets in 27 balls to reduce Notts to 185-5, only 139 in front.He must have been close to trapping Morris lbw before he had scored but once the former Derbyshire batsman had negotiated an uncertain start, the game moved towards stalemate.Pietersen played superbly when the contest was still very much alive and then plundered some undemanding bowling, including seven overs from wicket-keeper Karl Krikken, to race towards his double century.He clubbed nine sixes and 23 fours in his unbeaten 218 and Morris hit two sixes, 17 fours and one five in 136 not out which took his personal tally for the game to 306.Morris is retiring at the end of the season and he was given an affectionate send-off on the ground where he started his career back in 1982.The sixth-wicket record in England of 411 was in their sights but Morris had started to block long before the end and Pietersen also played a dead bat through the closing overs of a game that also yielded 159 extras, another record for a Derbyshire game.

India Pistons set up a title showdown with Chemplast in the Moin udDowlah Cup in Hyderabad on Sunday with a comfortable 49 run win overIndia Cements. In the semifinal clash at the Gymkhana ground, Pistonswere dug out of a hole by the familiar crisis man Robin Singh whoshepherded the lower order to 218 with a priceless unbeaten 80. Inreply, Cements were never in the running, losing wickets at closeintervals and it was only a lone hand of 77 by Sunil Oasis whichhelped them to 169.In the morning, Tamil Nadu seamer J Gokulakrishnan bowled an incisivefirst spell of 5-0-26-3 to leave Pistons reeling at 33/3 after havingbeen put in to bat. Vikram Rathour and JR Madanagopal restored someorder with a battling 44-run stand before both fell in the space oftwo runs to leave Pistons in grave peril at 79/5. Pistons were missingReetinder Sodhi for this vital game, the Punjab youngster havingfallen ill after yesterday’s game and flown back home.Robin was thus the last hope and he responded with the typical gustoof a man who thrives under the challenge of a pressure cookersituation. Two more partners left him along the line after brief showsof solidarity to leave Pistons at 135/7. But although No’s 9, 10 and11 made precisely 13 runs between them, they helped Robin add 83 forthe last three wickets with the skipper running out of partners aftermaking 80 in 90 balls inclusive of six fours. Gokul finished top ofthe pack among the Cements attack with figures of 4/46.Robin led with the way with the ball too, dismissing Jesu Babu withhis first delivery. The other opener VB Chandrasekhar was not hisusual aggressive self, hanging around for 43 balls to make 19 beforeleg spinner Balaji Rao dismissed him. Balaji Rao delivered anothertelling blow by removing S Sharath for three and at 61/5, Cements werein dire straits. Left arm spinner Satyajit Medappa then stepped in andcleaned up the tail in spite of Oasis’ heroics. The Kerala Ranjiplayer was last out for 77 (106 balls, 6 fours, 3 sixes) as Cementsfolded up ignominiously for 169 with 14 balls to spare.

The Punjab team has lodged a formal complaint against Harbhajan Singh to the BCCI, even as the Indian board took a serious view of the “slapping” incident during the post-match proceedings at Mohali and asked him submit his explanation before April 28. Harbhajan allegedly hit Sreesanth, his India team-mate and IPL rival, after Friday’s match between the Kings XI Punjab and the Mumbai Indians.”Kings XI Punjab confirms that a formal complaint against Mr Harbhajan Singh was submitted to the BCCI earlier today,” a media statement issued by the team said. “The complaint is in relation to yesterday’s incident following the match against Mumbai Indians, where Mr Singh made an unprovoked attack on Mr Sreesanth. The Kings XI Punjab team and management consider this behaviour unacceptable and against the spirit of the game.”Meanwhile, Niranajan Shah, the BCCI secretary, said that Harbhajan needed to clarify the reasons that prompted his act of indiscipline. “The BCCI has taken serious note of the incident that took place between Harbhajan Singh and Sreesanth at Mohali after the IPL match. The BCCI condemns the behaviour of Harbhajan as a contracted player of the board and he is called upon to explain why disciplinary action should not be taken against him. And [Harbhajan] has been asked for a clarification by Monday evening [April 28].”Earlier Farokh Engineer, the match referee in the Mohali game, had told Cricinfo that he hasn’t received any verbal or written complaint from the Punjab team. Engineer also said he did not witness the alleged incident. “In the absence of any evidence I am in the dark. I don’t know what went on on the pitch and what triggered the alleged incident,” he said.Engineer has sought video evidence from the television broadcasters before taking any action. “If the incident is true some action will be taken. If there is definite, conclusive proof then it’s just not cricket.”Under the level 4.1 of the ICC’s Code of Conduct, physical assault of another player, umpire, referee, official or spectator will result in a ban of between 5 Tests of 10 one-day internationals up to a life ban for the player or official concerned.Meanwhile, there are unconfirmed reports that Harbhajan might be asked to step down as captain of the Mumbai Indians till the issue is resolved. Harbhajan was asked to lead the side after Sachin Tendulkar failed to recover from a groin injury. Bought at a cost of US$111.9 million, Mumbai are the most expensive of the eight IPL franchises but have yet to win a game.

Bangladesh’s 62 against Sri Lanka was depressing but there have been much worse … here are the lowest team totals since World War Two

26 – New Zealand v England Auckland, 1954-55
England took a first-innings lead of 46 in the second Test of the series, but on a far-from-difficult pitch, New Zealand were bundled to an innings defeat in 104 minutes. England’s pace attack of Frank Tyson and Brian Statham, the brisk seamers of Bob Appleyard and the spin of Johnny Wardle (who finished with 5-5-0-1) found little resistance, and once John Reid and Bert Sutcliffe, New Zealand’s two quality batsmen, had departed cheaply (Sutcliffe’s 11 was the only score in double figures) the rest folded. It was – and remains – the lowest Test total, beating South Africa’s two scores of 30 against England in 1984-95 and 1924.42 – New Zealand v Australia Wellington, 1945-46
New Zealand again, this time in their first Test against Australia (and their last for another 27 years). “It had been so wet in Wellington for a week before the scheduled start on March 29 that it was not feasible to mow the outfield,” Walter Hadlee, New Zealand’s captain, explained. “The pitch was saturated and a new one was cut out alongside the prepared one.” He won the toss, batted, and his side reached 37 for 2 on the stroke of lunch – then lost eight wickets for five runs. Naturally we are disappointed,” Hadlee said with all the understatement of those less media-savvy times. “We failed and that is all there is to be said.” It was the same story in the second innings, 54 all out and an innings defeat.

42 – India v England Lord’s, 1974
A bizarre match. The first three days were hot and sunny, and midway through Saturday’s play India were 131 for 0 in reply to England’s 629. By the close, they had been bowled out for 302 and were 2 for 0 following on. “There are lots of runs left in the pitch,” wrote John Woodcock after the rest day. But the morning was overcast and the ball, which had done little, suddenly started moving significantly, both off the pitch and through the air. In Geoff Arnold and Chris Old, England had two bowlers ideally suited to the conditions. In 70 minutes Old took 5 for 21, Arnold 4 for 19 and India were routed. They only lost nine wickets as Chandrasakar was injured and so unable to bat, but it made little difference.46 – England v West Indies Port of Spain, 1993-94
England began this innings with a chance for victory. Their only solace by the end was that they had avoided their lowest Test score, by one run. The damage was done on the third evening. Mike Atherton fell lbw to the first ball of the innings, and the level of incompetence thereafter was best illustrated by Mark Ramprakash’s crass run-out to the fifth ball of the same over. It was downhill from then on and an hour later England closed on 40 for 8. “It was the worst hour of my life,” reflected Atherton, the situation made worse by the fact that England had been in control of the match throughout and needed just 194 to pull the series back to 2-1. In The Independent Martin Johnson wrote: “There were rumours that England’s sponsor Tetley Bitter would double its financial support if its name was removed from the team shirts.”47 – New Zealand v England Lord’s, 1958
Heavy overnight rain meant that New Zealand were caught on a drying pitch and against Jim Laker (4 for 13) and Tony Lock (5 for 17) they were almost clueless. Again, Reid and Sutcliffe were the main line of resistance, Sutcliffe’s dogged 18 the top score. Reid swished Lock into the Tavern Stand for six and then holed out to mid-on trying another big hit, Sutcliffe opted for defence, while Lock polished off the tail with 4 for 1 in 49 balls. New Zealand fared little better in their second innings, scoring 74, and with 22,000 in the ground and the match over by 3.30pm, the two sides played an exhibition match.

47 – West Indies v England Kingston, 2003-04
In the nine years since England’s humiliation at Port-of-Spain, West Indies cricket had gone into sharp decline, and from 13 for 0 early on the fourth day, they lost ten wickets for 34 runs. Steve Harmison shredded them with 7 for 12, and it seemed the side had hit a new low. It later emerged that West Indies had trained once in the five days leading up to the match, instead attending psychological sessions, ironically watching motivational videos of basketball legend Michael Jordan stressing the importance of practice. And as the post-mortems started, several West Indies players were found joining in parties in the stands.51 – West Indies v Australia Port of Spain, 1998-99
The moment when the reality of a decade of decline finally hit home. In the first Test West Indies were set an improbable 364 to win, but they never came close. Within an hour they had slumped to 16 for 5, and were left to claw their way past some of Test cricket’s most unwanted records, aided by nine overthrows gifted by the Australians. In 19.1 overs and 102 minutes, they were humiliated. “Cricket is my life,” Brian Lara, the captain, said afterwards. “I think it’s important that before I retire that I lead West Indies back on the way to the top.” He did his utmost for the rest of the series, which was eventually drawn 2-2 thanks to three Lara centuries of matchless brilliance. But the Trinidad debacle still lingered. “Afterwards there was some angry finger-pointing and heated words between players and officials, while the mercifully small crowd swarmed round the pavilion and shouted, `Fire them, fire them,’ to no-one in particular,” noted Paul Weaver in The Guardian. Others shouted `Rubbish’ to everyone in particular.

52 – England v Australia The Oval, 1948
The Times reported that England’s batting was deplorable while Australia’s bowling, fielding and catching was superb. In two hours and 25 minutes on a drying – but far from treacherous – Oval pitch England were blasted away by Ray Lindwall (6 for 19). Only Len Hutton, who opened the innings and was last man out for 30, showed any kind of technique. The next highest score was Norman Yardley’s 7. Australia found the going much easier and closed on 153 for 2, but the day is best remembered as the one on which Don Bradman was bowled for a second-ball 0 in his final Test innings.53 West Indies v Pakistan Faisalabad, 1986-87
Another West Indies low, but this one stands out as it came at a time they were the unchallenged world No. 1. In the opening Test they took a first-innings lead of 89 and were left chasing 240. But on a crumbling pitch Imran Khan blasted out both openers and then Abdul Qadir exploited the conditions to the full to take 6 for 16. It was West Indies’ third defeat in 54 Tests. They bounced straight back with an innings victory in the next Test.53 Pakistan v Australia Sharjah, 2002-03
Pakistan’s dismal effort came 24 hours after they had been bowled out for 59 in a ‘home’ match at Sharjah (sides refused to tour Pakistan in the aftermath of September 11). The conditions were uncomfortable – both days were played in sweltering heat – but that didn’t bother the Australians. Pakistan succumbed to “a feeble procession of wafts and drives” reported The Guardian. “It feels a little bit hollow I must admit,” said Steve Waugh, Australia’s captain, as he rubbed salt in a gaping wound. “You expect to work a little bit harder to win a Test but we’ll still take it.” It was the lowest two-innings total (112) in Pakistan’s 50-year Test history, and they were in effect defeated by Matthew Hayden’s 119. It was the fourth lowest match total by one team in Test history.54 New Zealand v Australia Wellington, 1945-46
54 West Indies v England Lord’s, 2000
54 Zimbabwe v South Africa Cape Town, 2004-05
Three scores tie for 11th. The first was the second innings of New Zealand’s first Test against Australia mentioned above. The second came on a remarkable second day at Lord’s where spectators saw all four innings of the match. England, replying to West Indies’ 267, were bowled out for 134, but the high fives had hardly finished before West Indies’ own second innings was falling apart at the seams. Andy Caddick bowled 13 overs unchanged from the Nursery End and took 5 for 16, including 5 for 7 in 9.5 overs after tea. West Indies made 54 and England went on to win a nail-biter by two wickets on the third evening. Zimbabwe’s score against South Africa was amassed in a little more than the first session at Cape Town, and by the close South Africa had underlined the massive gulf in class between the sides by scoring 340 for 3, a lead of 286. It broke the record for the biggest lead on a first day’s play in a Test match (England, 233 v Australia at Lords in 1896).

Amit Varma and S Rajesh discuss the second day of the Jamaica Test
Download MP3 (right click and select “save target as”; 1.87 mb
Streaming Audio: Real :: WMA
Audio length: 7.58 minsRahul Dravid has set up many of India’s greatest wins, such as at Headingley, Adelaide and Rawalpindi, but in each of those Tests other batsmen had also pitched in. In contrast, he’s virtually doing it alone at Jamaica, and his half-centuries here are worth big centuries at any other Test. Amit Varma and S Rajesh discuss what a monumental role Dravid is playing in this Test, as well as this is turning out to be such a low-scoring pitch – it’s not all about the pitch.Listen in.Download MP3 (right click and select “save target as”; 1.4 mb
Streaming Audio: Real :: WMA

On losing two late wickets
We would’ve loved to have gone in just two down. But we do have a lead of 9, and six wickets in hand. And there are three quality batsmen left – [Damien] Martyn, [Darren] Lehmann and [Michael] Clarke. It will be a good test for them. We’ll be looking to establish a total that makes it difficult for India.On what he considered a total that Australia could defend in the fourth innings
Eight, and we’ve got nine (laughs). No, it’s very hard to set totals. Many recall that last time we played here when 160 was almost too many. We’d love to set them 250 or 300, but for that to happen, the batsmen need to do what [Mohammad] Kaif and [Parthiv] Patel did – get in and stay in. The objective is to get at least one decent partnership and have others play around that.On his team have coped with the oppressive heat and humidity
We’ve had good recovery procedures. And we’re certainly ahead of India in that we haven’t had a player get crocked yet.On employing a night-watchman
Stephen [Waugh] changed that, he wanted to demonstrate that the Australian team was different. Ricky [Ponting] has the same bent of mind, as does Adam [Gilchrist], but we will use night-watchmen if we need to. This evening, Jason survived with the aid of two glorious byes (smiles).On Gilchrist coming in at No.3
Let’s hope we can keep everyone guessing here in India. It was discussed in the build-up to the tour, and there was an option to move him up the order. It was a move supported by everyone, and he did really well, but unfortunately for us, he’s no longer at the crease.On whether the sameness of the pace attack might result in Brett Lee being given a go later in the series
This sameness you talk of brought us a stunning victory in Bangalore. During the break, we’ll reassess the situation to see where we’re at, and revisit the selection process. But I’m happy with the way the three quicks are going. They’ve been a foil of sorts and also penetrative, allowing Shane Warne his first five-wicket haul in India. Brett [Lee] is champing at the bit, like our other support players. But we’ll only decide once we get to Nagpur.On how the fielding let his side down
We made a number of errors yesterday. If we’d taken even 50% of those chances, I believe the two first-innings totals would have been comparable. We compounded the errors of the first day when we didn’t bat as we should have done.On whether the Indian tail’s defiance surprised him
We bat all the way down, the Indian players know how to handle the bat so it wasn’t a surprise at all. But whether they continue to be effective for the remainder of the series remains to be seen.

And, finally, there is only the cricket. After a pre-tour build-up that almost counted as an entire tour in itself, weeks of diplomacy, goodwill, speculation, rumours and the inevitable war of words will be given a brief respite as some actual cricket is played at last.The Pakistan camp, no matter how much Inzamam-ul-Haq played down Pakistan A’s stunning victory over the Indians, will take heart not necessarily from the result, but from the manner of it. Defeats in inconsequential warm-up games rarely act as portents of things to come, but the ferocity of Taufeeq Umar and Imran Nazir’s assault on the Indian opening bowlers will ensure that some psychological ground will have been gained – not much, maybe, but definitely some. Javed Miandad, the coach, no stranger to taking advantage of the slightest of mental openings, will certainly not play down its significance.There will, in all likelihood, be some impact on the Pakistan line-up at Karachi. Shahid Afridi – who was not likely to play as an opener according to Wasim Bari some weeks ago – might well find himself in the front line against Zaheer Khan and co. tomorrow. In view of Inzamam’s claim that his side will hope to repeat the attacking policy adopted by the A team, this seems even more likely.The key to Pakistan’s performance will, as so often in recent years, lie in the bowling. Shoaib Akhtar, as well as being in destructive form in recent months, has been unusually quiet: the word is that his preparation for the series has been unusually intense and focused. The extent of his recovery from his World Cup mauling from Sachin Tendulkar will provide another intriguing aside in the mind-games stakes, although it probably won’t be as pivotal as has been trumpeted.That this series won’t just be the Shoaib-Tendulkar show is mainly down to the maturity of the supporting cast. India’s batting line-up, even without Tendulkar, is as strong as any in world cricket, and Pakistan’s bowling attack, while not as varied as it has been in recent years, is still destructive. The exploits of Shoaib and Mohammad Sami are becoming legendary, but the performance of Shabbir Ahmed, if he plays, will be crucial. While the extra pace of Sami and Shoaib can reap spectacular rewards or sow the seeds of disaster, Shabbir brings a steady, consistent, repetitive approach to his bowling – something that is vital in the one day game. Shabbir has been suffering from a mysterious finger injury, and although Miandad would only say that a decision on his inclusion would be taken on the morning of the match, Bari rated his chances of playing at about 70%.But, so often, it is the little things that make the difference in cricket: a no-ball here, a wide there, a stolen single here and a saved four there. India’s progress in the one-day game has been helped considerably by the improvement in their fielding, boosted by the presence in particular of Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif. But Pakistan, despite an indifferent showing in New Zealand, have improved their fielding beyond measure over the last year as well. Younger players, in the shape of Shoaib Malik, Imran Farhat and Sami, have injected a vitality that will be further enhanced by the expected return of Afridi. Both Inzamam – himself a much-improved outfielder – and Miandad were keen to ensure that the down-under dip was a temporary one. They worked hard at the training camp on fielding skills, and other basics such as running between the wickets. Both were happy with the amount of work the squad put in.It is hard to argue against the popular notion that the series boils down to Pakistan’s bowling against the Indian batting. Both teams are young with old hands at the helm, while few players on either side have regular experience of playing against each other. Which side handles the pressure of playing the oldest of enemies better might well turn out to be the decisive factor in this long-awaited series.Pakistan (probable): 1 Imran Farhat, 2 Shahid Afridi, 3 Yasir Hameed, 4 Yousuf Youhana, 5 Inzamam-ul-Haq (capt), 6 Abdul Razzaq, 7 Moin Khan (wk), 8 Shabbir Ahmed, 9 Saqlain Mushtaq, 10 Shoaib Akhtar, 11 Mohammad Sami.India (probable): 1 Sachin Tendulkar, 2 Virender Sehwag, 3 SouravGanguly (capt), 4 Rahul Dravid (wk), 5 VVS Laxman, 6 Yuvraj Singh, 7 Mohammad Kaif, 8 Murali Kartik, 9 Irfan Pathan, 10 Zaheer Khan, 11 Ashish Nehra.