Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh and Ashish Nehra will miss the Challenger Series in Bangalore in the second week of September. SK Nair, the secretary of the BCCI, has announced the teams for the tournament, while saying that these three players would not be playing because of injuries that would be monitored by Andrew Leipus, the Indian team’s physiotherapist. Sehwag’s back, Harbhajan’s finger and Nehra’s ankle are the zones of affliction.The Challenger Series is an important tournament in India’s calender because it is the only event in which the Test and one-day stars of the national team play alongside the cream of the domestic circuit. Top players like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly rarely get time off the busy international calender to play in the Ranji Trophy or the Duleep Trophy, India’s two main domestic tournaments. It thus becomes difficult to guage how good India’s wannebes really are.Three teams contest the Champions Trophy: India Seniors, India A and India B. India regulars are equitably distributed among these teams, which are generally evenly matched. From a perspective of one-day cricket, the Challenger Series is a good hunting ground for talent ready to break through to the highest level. It also provides a look at the captaincy styles of the frontrunners for the top job in the national side. While Sourav Ganguly is captaining India Seniors, Anil Kumble and Rahul Dravid are captaining India A and India B respectively. John Wright coaches India Seniors while Sandeep Patil and Ashok Malhotra will look after the other teams – but the results are hardly likely to reflect on them, given that they will have had no time to groom their squads.The squads
India Seniors Sourav Ganguly (capt), VVS Laxman, Hemang Badani, Ambati Rayudu, Sanjay Bangar, Parthiv Patel (wk), Amit Mishra, Murali Kartik, Sarandeep Singh, Zaheer Khan, L Balaji, Reetinder Singh Sodhi, Akash Chopra. Coach – John Wright.India A Anil Kumble (capt), Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Rohan Gavaskar, Mohammad Kaif, Wasim Jaffer, Sridharan Sriram, Ajay Ratra (wk), Irfan Pathan, Ajit Agarkar, Mithun Manhas, Ramesh Powar. Coach – Sandeep Patil.India B Rahul Dravid (capt), Shiv Sunder Das, Satyajit Parab, Vijay Bharadwaj, Yuvraj Singh, Dinesh Mongia, Thilak Naidu (wk), JP Yadav, Avishkar Salvi, Siddharth Trivedi, Sairaj Bahutule, Amit Bhandari. Coach – Ashok Malhotra.

Inzamam-ul-Haq has been appointed the new Pakistan captain, starting with the forthcoming series against South Africa and the New Zealand tour later this year, it was announced today. Also in the squad to face the South Africans were Rashid Latif, who resigned as captain yesterday, and the recalled Mushtaq Ahmed.Inzamam recently led Pakistan to a 5-0 whitewash against Bangladesh while Latif was serving a five-match ban for an incident in the Multan Test. Inzamam’s appointment caps off a remarkable turnaround in fortune and favour. Only a month ago he was in the international wilderness, and although he was recalled to bolster Pakistan’s middle order in the first Test against Bangladesh, he made a duck in the first innings and only mustered another 88 runs in his next three knocks. But his matchwinning unbeaten 138 in the one-wicket victory at Multan showed that he still has what it takes.Lt-Gen. Tauqir Zia, the chairman of the Pakistan board, said in a statement: “I had a lengthy discussion with Inzamam-ul-Haq and he looks geared up and motivated to lead the Pakistan team. He understands that he has a tough job in hand and realizes that he not only has to lead the team in a tough series against South Africa but also continue the good job done by Rashid.”Inzamam added: “I am delighted that the establishment has put faith in my abilities. I will put in my best and will try to carry on the good work done by Rashid Latif. There will be pressure on me. But I guess after playing for 13-odd years, one has to raise his hand and say yes I can handle this pressure and shoulder the hopes of millions of Pakistan supporters.”Mushtaq’s recall rounds off a remarkable year for him after his 100-wicket haul for Sussex in English county cricket. Aamer Sohail, Pakistan’s chairman of selectors, said of him: “The opposition [in England] might not be as tough as the South Africans. But the great thing is that he is bowling well and taking a lot of wickets. There is no denying the fact that a lot is expected of him in the forthcoming series.”The revised series against South Africa starts on Oct 3, with the first one-day international at Lahore.Squad
Mohammad Hafeez, Yasir Hameed, Yousuf Youhana, Inzamam-ul-Haq (capt), Younis Khan, Abdul Razzaq, Shoaib Malik, Rashid Latif (wk), Mohammad Sami, Shoaib Akhtar, Umar Gul, Shabbir Ahmed, Saqlain Mushtaq, Mushtaq Ahmed, Faisal Iqbal, Salman Butt.Reserves: Asim Kamal, Imran Farhat, Faisal Athar, Danish Kaneria, Kamran Akmal (wk), Abdul Rauf.

A powerful partnership today catapulted Tasmania to a 122-run after day two of the Pura Cup cricket match against South Australia.But the Redbacks staged an 11th-hour comeback, taking four wickets for just eight runs at Bellerive Oval in the closing session of play.The Tigers were 8-358 at stumps, well clear of the visitors’ first innings total of 236.When former skipper Jamie Cox and allrounder Shane Watson came to the crease this morning, Tasmania was 1-39.By lunch, Cox and a hard-hitting Watson had amassed 114 runs.Their partnership continued into the second session, lasting almost four hours and yielding 213 runs in total.When the Redbacks finally broke through to claim Cox as their second wicket on the fifth ball of the 77th over, the Tigers were four runs ahead.Relieved of the pressures of captaincy, Cox has rediscovered his form.Indeed, one of the reasons he relinquished the position this season was to concentrate on being “No.1 batter again.”The 34-year-old scored his 30th first-class century before being caught at square leg for 119 by 12th man Trent Kelly off a ball from left-arm orthodox spinner Mark Higgs.Watson, meanwhile, waved his bat triumphantly when he brought up his century with 13 fours and one six that sailed across mid-wicket on the last ball before lunch.En route, he clocked up his 1,000th first-class run after starting the day 80 runs shy.Watson, who is confined to the crease because of a back injury, was caught by keeper Graham Manou off a ball from Mark Cleary.Cleary also despatched Michael Dighton LBW for 21 and added Damien Wright (five) to his tally.He then bowled Xavier Doherty for a golden duck.The right-arm fast bowler was denied a hat-trick by Adam Griffith, who defended the delivery.But Cleary still managed to finish with a tidy 4-83.Paul Rofe, meanwhile, took Sean Clingeleffer for a duck and caught and bowled Michael Di Venuto for 50.Tigers captain Dan Marsh was 37 not out at stumps, with Adam Griffith yet to score.Play resumes at 11am (AEST) tomorrow.

The following two Christchurch Metropolitan teams have been selected to compete at the Canterbury Under-19 regional tournament to be held at Mandeville from Nov 30-Dec 2.Metro Red:T Astle, S Barry, J Bennett, H Fisher, M Goldstein, B Newton, L O’Sullivan, M Peacock, J Pearce, B Rad, C Small, J Vernall.Coach: Garfield CharlesMetro Black:K Ambler, J Baxendale, D Broom, P Carey, M Fielding, R Hurring, T Johnston, D Matthews, C Rennell, D Saunders, D Yesberg, A Young.Coach: Neville LyonsPractice for both teams at Christ’s College nets at 5.30p.m. on Wednesday Nov 26.

Gareth Batty’s preparations for today’s first Test in Galle took an alarming turn on Monday afternoon, when he got into difficulties while swimming in the sea in front of the team hotel and had to be rescued by two lifeguards.Batty, who admitted he had “feared the worst” while he was being bashed against the rocks by a rip-tide, was nonetheless able to take part in the final practice session with just a few cuts and bruises to show for the ordeal. “It shook me up at the time,” he said afterwards, “but it hasn’t affected my preparation for the Test – everything is cool.”Batty had been body-boarding with Matthew Hoggard and Michael Vaughan when the incident occurred. All three players were dragged some 30 feet into deeper water, although Hoggard – the strongest swimmer – was able to kick for the shore. It was Vaughan, who scrambled onto the nearby rocks, who raised the alarm.”Vaughany could tell I was struggling and was getting pretty animated on the rocks,” said Batty. “It was his waving that caught the attention of the five or six blokes on the beach. I know that when you get caught in a rip you are supposed to relax and let it take you where it wants, but it’s not quite as easy as that when there are lots of jagged rocks about. They caught me in quite a few places and I have a few nicks on my arms and legs.”It is a notorious stretch of coastline – only last week a tourist drowned in the nearby town of Hikkaduwa. “We always tell Europeans it is OK to swim, but always near the shore,” said Wellage Gamini, one of the lifeguards who helped pull Batty from the waves. “The problem was the players went too near the rocks, where the tides are strongest.”

The Indian squad currently touring Australia have impressed many critics with their work ethic and team spirit, and the latest to join their fan club was Bruce Reid, the team’s current bowling coach. Speaking to the Press Trust of India, Reid gushed about the manner in which the Indians approached this tour, right from planning against opposition players to their positive attitude throughout the series. “I was so impressed with their mindset,” he said. “There is much to learn from the Indians for the other Test nations.”Reid continued: “They were just not worried about individual reputations. They just played as they saw it. At team meetings they barely mentioned the names of the Australian bowlers. They played each ball as they saw it, but it was irrelevant who bowled it. I know they rated Jason Gillespie very highly, but they felt the more they talked the bowlers up the more of an issue they would become, so they hardly spoke of them.”Reid also raved about the manner in which the Indian batsmen dismantled Stuart MacGill. MacGill took 14 wickets in the series, but they came at the high cost of 50.79 apiece. “When coach John Wright tried to teach his players how to play spin, they laugh at him. They just don’t rate it. You should use your bat all the time against spin and it seems to get them in far less trouble. All of them play that way. They just try to avoid pad-play.”The Indians’ tendency to back their instincts came in for praise as well. “For all their technical mastery, the Indian batsmen backed their instincts and were not overly obsessed about making technical adjustments to cope with conditions and pitches,” Reid observed. “They never got technical about things at all. In the nets, you would never hear them talking about their backlift or where their top hand was. They just played.”Past Indian teams have often worried about the grass on the pitch, but Reid remarked that this squad wasn’t too bothered, and believed in playing their natural game. “They just didn’t worry at all whether the wickets were fast or slow or whatever. It was the same with practice wickets,” he said. “I’ve played in teams who have whinged about practice wickets but it never worried the Indians. They’d just go in and have a bash.”There was special mention of Akash Chopra, who finished with a modest average of 23, but spent plenty of time at the crease, ensuring that the middle order would not have to face the new ball. “He never made a 50 in the Tests but you cannot underestimate the role he played in sticking around to protect Rahul Dravid from the new ball. It just made a huge difference and it’s been a long time since any openers have done as well in Australia. He is so gutsy.”The team spirit shown by the entire squad didn’t go unnoticed either. “In the past, if they were coming out for warm-ups, some of the older guys and the big individual stars might have come ten minutes after the rest of them. This time they would all come out together. They did everything together.”

Scorecard
Defnding champions New South Wales played out a tense draw against Queensland at The Gabba, a result which makes it almost impossible for them to retain the Pura Cup.Set 327 from 55 overs to win in the second innings, NSW managed 8 for 277 with Man of the Match Phil Jaques blazing a run-a-ball 146. When Jaques dragged on a slower ball from Michael Kasprowicz, NSW were 8 for 270 with 33 balls remaining. Stuart Clark and Doug Bollinger then stonewalled to leave Queensland with only two first-innings points from the captivating match.The result left NSW fifth on the Cup table with only 11 points from eight matches and no realistic chance of playing in the final. They are 11 points behind second-placed Tasmania (22) and seven behind Queensland (18). To add insult to injury for NSW, their appeal against the one-point penalty, incurred for a slow over-rate against Victoria in December, was dismissed by Cricket Australia today.Starting the final day on 6 for 125, 306 in arrears, Mark Waugh (90) and Matt Nicholson (35 not out) put on 118 runs fopr the seventh wicket, and Steve Waugh declared the innings after Mark’s dismissal. Jimmy Maher, the Queensland captain, opted against enforcing the follow-on and then made a sporting declaration of his own after they smacked 2 for 124 in 18 overs. Clinton Perren’s quickfire 57 was the highlight.NSW looked a strong chance of winning when Steve Waugh was in full flight with Jaques. Waugh was in sparkling touch, racing to 28 off 20 balls before Joe Drawes trapped him leg-before with an in-cutter, ending a 55-run stand which put the NSW Blues back on track after they slumped to to 3 for 141. Jaques and Greg Mail (50 off 67) had given the them the perfect launch-pad with a 101-run stand before Kasprowicz (4-74) triggered a minor collapse.Kasprowicz induced an inside edge from Mail for wicketkeeper Wade Seccombe to take a brilliant diving catch. This gave Kasprowicz the dual milestone of 800 first-class wickets and the record as the leading Queensland Shield/Pura Cup wicket-taker (384). The previous record belonged to Carl Rackemann.Kaprowicz then followed up by dismissing Brad Haddin (10), also caught behind, before latching on to a skied pull shot from Dominic Thornely (1). Mark Waugh fell for 5 when he scooped Kasprowicz to Craig Philipson on the third man boundary. And despite Jaques’s sparkling efforts, NSW ended 50 runs short.

John Dyson, Sri Lanka’s coach, has praised his team for pulling off a nailbiting one run victory against Australia, a result which he believes will be a major confidence-booster for the rest of the series.He said, “All along I’ve said that if we play as well as we can, we can beat theAustralians. To come out on top on Sunday, when the Australians had at onestage looked like finishing off the match, is just a great confidencebooster.”Dyson was all praise for Chaminda Vaas, who kept his cool in the dying moments. “The bowlers stuck to their task beautifully and were well supported on the field. Vaasy’s last over in particular will go down as a textbook over. He showed us how to finish off a final over under pressure.”The main thing in one-day cricket is not to lose heart, but to keep the fielding performances as high as you can possibly can. I thought that if you get a wicket and it happens quite often that when one wicket falls not long afterwards another goes and all of a sudden you are back in the game. That’s what happened yesterday [on Sunday]. We got a couple of important wickets Damien Martyn, Matt Hayden and all of a sudden we were right back into the game. The boys stuck at the job. They didn’t throw it away and go through the motions. They kept fielding and bowling well and kept looking for opportunities.”About the Australians, Dyson had this to say: “I don’t think Australia lost focus of where they were going. We just played well enough to stop them achieving it. They worked out their batting plans very well. At various times in the past, someone like Bevan has been there towards the end to get the runs for them. He was there again and in the second last over he hit a six off Murali. There aren’t many who could do that. And all of a sudden they were back in the game. It came down to a tight last over and Vaasy showed his class with his experience bowling the perfect over.”Dyson was all praise for the Sri Lanka’s effort and said, “I thought the boys played extremely well. There was this terrific opening stand between Sanath [Jayasurya] and Marvan [Atapattu]. Then Mahela [Jayawardene] and Sanga [Kumar Sangakkara] did a good job. There was a little bit of disappointment in the rest of the batting. It is because they haven’t played many one-day matches in the past six months or so. We’ll have to talk it out.”He spoke about two turning points in the match which caused it to swing towards Sri Lanka – the dismissals of Ricky Ponting and Matthew Hayden. “All dismissals were important because they slow the run-rate straight away and puts extra pressure on the next guy coming in. To me Ponting and Hayden’s dismissals were very important or we could have been in trouble.”Dyson also praised the pitch on which the two matches were played on. “The wicket was very good on both days. Brett Lee got a ball through Sanga and hit him on the helmet. The ball carried all day and it didn’t spin viciously.”He said that it was a gamble to go with only one fast bowler but added, “but on this occasion it paid off. It does not mean that in every game we are going to do that. We took the decision to suit the wicket.”

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.

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.”