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Brett Lee was at one corner of the ground, batting at a practice net, launching balls deep into the outfield, hitting repeatedly over cow corner. Brad Hogg and Nathan Bracken were sprinting right across the length of the ground. Adam Gilchrist was moving to his left and right, taking catches as someone glided the ball off fierce throws from Mike Young. Hogg was bowling at one stump with Troy Cooley gathering the ball.Looking at the Australian team practice, different people doing different things in all directions, you wouldn’t have a clue what they were up to. But they certainly do.Ricky Ponting, speaking after the win in Vadodara, put their win down to the preparation they put in soon after the loss in Chandigarh. Looking at their practice, there promises to be no let-up for the Indians. In the past teams have managed to sneak a few wins in against Australia in dead rubbers, but Sunday’s sixth ODI at Nagpur is anything but a dead rubber. It’s a chance for Australia to win the series, and equally it’s a chance for India to play freely, with nothing to lose and everything to gain, and enjoy the slight lessening of pressure, if such a thing exists in this cricket-crazy country.While Australia are relentless in their application of pressure on the opposition on the field, they are not machines in the manner in which they prepare. Given the heat in which they’ve had to play some of these games, and the travel that’s been involved, they’ve been careful to give themselves the right workloads at the right times.”Once we’ve got into this series, with only two days between games, we haven’t trained that hard physically. We’ve worked very hard on our skills and making sure we’ve got our skills right for each game and for the different conditions we’re playing in,” explained Ponting. “Today we had a team meeting back at the hotel and an optional training session.”It’s really up to the players to come down to training and get whatever they want out of training. The coach, physio and fitness trainer sit down a day in advance and map out what sort of training will be ideal for us. Then they leave it to the players to get what they want from the training.”The Australian team got Friday completely off, with only travel interrupting what would have been a day for rest and recuperation. And Ponting believed that days like this were crucial to preparation, but cautioned that it might not be the best thing for all teams in all circumstances. “It depends where you are as a team. If you’re struggling as a team and certain individual players are struggling then there probably shouldn’t be days off,” he said. “Those players [who are struggling] themselves should want to get out there and do something about their game.”If you do get a day off you should use it properly. Rather than sitting around and doing nothing it’s a chance to get to the gym or the pool and get some work done. As long as it’s in your interests and your best preparation for the game that’s all you should be thinking about.”

A critical factor in Australia’s success in this series has been the effectiveness of their new-ball attack. Mitchell Johnson and Brett Lee have left a gaping hole in the Indian top order in all but the Chandigarh match. It’s no coincidence that it was the only game India won. Johnson and Lee have 14 wickets between them, at an economy rate well under five an over.Some credit here must go to Troy Cooley, the bowling coach, who has put in the hard yards with both these bowlers, and Ponting acknowledged this. “Troy has been terrific since he’s been back in Australia, after spending a couple of years with the England team where he did a great job. I actually grew up with Troy and played all my club cricket with him so I know him very well and our relationship is very strong,” he said. “If you talk to any of the fast bowlers he has been associated with in the last couple of years they all say the same thing, that he’s very thorough, very professional, knows a lot about fast bowling. Mitchell Johnson will be the first to say that he’s got a lot of help from Troy in his career.”While preparation is a bare minimum, it’s execution of these plans that makes the difference between winning and losing. That said, the Indian board needs to take a hard to look at how they have allowed this team to prepare for success. Playing against the best team in the world the Indians have no coach, and a cricket manager who was only appointed for the series at the last moment. Fortunately the team has a settled support staff when it comes to physical fitness, some of whom work harder than the some of the players, but when it comes to skill training you have to ask if this Indian team has all the support it needs.To say that India won in England without a coach is neither here nor there. When they take the field for the last two games the Indians can still win and upset the pundits’ prediction. But it will be despite not having the best preparation, not because of it.

Ray Price, the Zimbabwe left-arm spinner who was part of Heath Streak’s rebel strikers in 2004, is to return to international cricket after being handed a call-up for Zimbabwe’s series against the West Indies later this month.Price returned from England two weeks ago after rejecting a new contract with Worcestershire where he spent four seasons. In 2004, he was one of 15 players who went on strike to oppose Zimbabwe Cricket’s (ZC) regime. But despite his apparent wish to one day play for England – he is three years into a four-year qualifying period – Price is rejoining the country of his birth.He has taken 69 wickets in 18 Tests at 35.86, but he was most productive in the 2003-04 season, taking 33 wickets at 22.42 from five Tests.He is understood to have been given a contract by ZC after consulting Streak, Trevor Gripper and other former team-mates.

Gloucestershire and Nottinghamshire were frustrated by the rain on the second day of their promotion tussle at Bristol.Only 16.4 overs were possible, during which time Gloucestershire moved from 13-0 to 73-1 in reply to Nottinghamshire’s 216.A draw is unlikely to be any good to either side in their bid to go up, and an unsettled weather forecast for the final two days of the game could force the captains to set up a contrived finish.No play was possible in the morning session. An attempt was made at 12 noon, only for the players to come off for bad light just as the first ball was to be bowled.The action finally started at 1.20pm and Nottinghamshire enjoyed success in the third over of the day.Dominic Hewson pushed forward at a David Lucas delivery and was caught by Guy Welton at short leg for three.That left the home county on 13-1 in the eighth over, but the next 13 overs produced 60 runs as Kim Barnett and Matt Windows cut loose.Barnett was the main aggressor with an unbeaten 41 from 65 deliveries, with six fours cracked through the off-side.All of them were taken off pace bowler Andy Harris, who was punished for offering too much width to his former Derbyshire colleague.Windows had a couple of boundaries, one off Lucas and one off Harris, in his unbeaten 18, which was good enough to take him past 1,000 first-class runs in a season for the second time.Windows has now scored 1,004 runs this campaign, with 14 of those scored for the First Class Counties XI against New Zealand A.

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A whirlwind century from Yusuf Pathan took West Zone to a strong 349 for 7 at stumps on the first day against Central Zone in Rajkot. Opting to bat first, West were off to a confident start as the Mumbai pair of Ajinkya Rahane (50) and Sahil Kukreja (72) forged a 124-run partnership. Central then fought their way back into the match as Sanjib Sanyal removed both of them before Sanjay Bangar dismissed captain Parthiv Patel. Pathan walked in at the fall of the fourth wicket on 174 and blitzed a 66-ball 107 to give West the upper hand. He carted 13 boundaries and five sixes during his 88-minute stay and made all his runs in a 136-run stand with Chetheswar Pujara, who made a sedate 44. For Central, Bangar and Sanyal finished with three wickets each, but Sanyal was expensive conceding five runs an over.
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Fifteen wickets tumbled on a dramatic first day as North Zone seized the advantage in their encounter against South Zone in Ahmedabad. Medium-pacer Vikramjeet Malik tore through the top order while Delhi’s Rajat Bhatia cleaned up the tail as South were bundled out for 157. After being put in to bat, South were off to a solid start with openers Ravi Teja (41) and Swapnil Asnodkar putting on 37, before Malik snared five wickets, including the big one of captain S Badrinath, in a five-over burst, to leave them tottering at 69 for 5. South lost three more quick wickets before a 68-run partnership between Vinay Kumar (41*) and Kalyankrishna (31) brought in a semblance of respectability to their scorecard.North’s reply started with a 58-run opening stand before they had a collapse of their own: they lost four wickets for seven runs to Karnataka’s duo of Vinay Kumar and NC Aiyappa and lost Bhatia shortly before the close to finish the day on 104 for 5.

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The undefeated reign of the Lahore Badshahs came under threat on more than one occasion in the battle between the two new Indian Cricket League outfits in Hyderabad. It was the last match of the league stage for both teams, ironically at different ends of the spectrum; both had got off to winning starts in their first game of the tournament, but while the Badshahs had conquered all other teams on their way, the Ahmedabad Rockets had fizzled out after a successful launch.The Badshahs, who had rested a few key players in their previous game, were back to full strength for the final match ahead of their semi-final clash against the Kolkata Tigers on April 2. Inzamam-ul-Haq decided to bat at the toss, and though Imran Farhat fell early, Imran Nazir and Taufeeq Umar set up a solid foundation with a 60-run stand.Sumit Kalia then thrust the Rockets into ascendancy with three wickets in the tenth over – removing Umar, Nazir and Humayun Farhat for a first-ball duck – to leave the Badshahs in peril at 62 for 4. Kalia wasn’t done though and got the emperor, Inzamam, in his next over; his spell at close read 4-0-20-4. Hasan Raza led a revival with his 34-ball 43, but four wickets in seven balls meant the Badshahs were headed for a score around 140.However, Heath Streak’s sky-high confidence of having dismissed Azhar Mahmood and Mohammad Sami off the first two balls of the 20th over were quickly grounded when Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, who’s been given the green signal to play for Yorkshire, smacked two sixes and a four to push his team’s score to 151.The Badshahs bowlers began chipping away early, and by the seventh over, the Rockets were reduced to 43 for 4. Sridharan Sriram and Anshu Jain then strung together a 48-run stand. Mushtaq Ahmed got Sriram to tickle one to the wicketkeeper Humayan, and the Rockets needed a further 63 from 42 with five wickets remaining.Jain didn’t give up and Streak gave him company at the other end, and the equation came down to 22 off 12. Naved-ul-Hasan was entrusted the ball for the penultimate over, and there was no reciprocation of favours towards Streak, as only four runs were conceded, Streak having managed only two off four deliveries. Mahmood’s task of bowling the final over was made easier, and he didn’t make a mess of it as the Badshahs extended their winning streak to seven, romping home in a 11-run win, their closest match so far in the tournament.

After picking up four wickets to help England’s Performance Programme (EPP) side beat an MRF XI yesterday, Graham Onions, the Durham fast bowler, is confident he can push for a spot in the senior Test side in the next 12 months.Onions, who only played 11 Championship games last summer, was the pick of the attack on Friday as he claimed 4 for 41 in EPP’s 111-run win and is convinced his time spent with the development squad in India can help him earn higher honours.”I actually feel that I’m closer than I’ve ever been and although it sounds daft, I also thought I was very close last year, when I went to Bangladesh with England A and I had a very good winter,” Onions told the . “I came into the English season and picked up some good wickets and got 8 for 101 against Warwickshire, which obviously stood me in good stead.”But then unfortunately I got a call from the selectors saying they were going to go with Ryan Sidebottom, which was a bit of a blow. In the end though, you think well at least I’m getting a call. Now, from doing a lot of hard work I like to think I’ve improved and that I’m a step ahead from where I was last year.”Onions first caught the selectors’ eyes in 2006, earning himself a call-up to England’s provisional 30-man squad for the Champions Trophy. He was later called up as a replacement to Darren Gough in September 2006 for the final three one-dayers against Pakistan, but has yet to make his debut.

ScorecardWest Zone made easy work of a target of 226 against East Zone in Hyderabad, finishing the match within 40 overs to secure the bonus point. Wasim Jaffer began the chase with an aggressive knock, Ajinkya Rahane kept East at bay during the middle overs, before Abhishek Nayar sealed the deal with a 27-ball 49.East, after opting to bat, started steadily with the openers Sourav Ganguly and Arindam Das adding 63 in 14 overs. Ganguly scored five fours in his 30 before falling to a tame pull and the rest of the top order failed to carry on after making starts. At 124 for 4, East were in need of a revival and it was Saurabh Tiwary who led the way with his second consecutive half-century, adding 65 for the fifth wicket with Laxmi Ratan Shukla. Tiwary, known for his aggressive batting, showed a lot of urgency in his 65, hitting four fours and two sixes.East lost their way in the slog overs after Venugopal Rao struck twice to send back Shukla for 25 and then Wriddhiman Saha for 3 with the score reading 198 for 6. There was no late-innings surge from the lower order to boost the total as East settled for a middle-of-the-road target.Jaffer began the chase in earnest, dealing almost entirely in boundaries. His 43-ball 48 contained ten fours and looked set for more before the seamer Shib Paul knocked back his middle stump. Parthiv Patel and Rahane added 57 for the third wicket to help West coast towards the target. When Rahane fell for 60, in the 31st over, West were well ahead of the required rate and an unbeaten stand of 69 for the fifth wicket between Nayar and Venugopal Rao finished things off in a hurry. Nayar smashed seven fours and a six in his knock.East face Central Zone at the same venue on Sunday while West head to Visakhapatnam to face North Zone in three day’s time.

Brendon McCullum knows New Zealand’s Test tour of England is more important, but he admits it will be difficult to depart the Indian Premier League after his final game on Tuesday. McCullum was an early star of the experimental tournament, smashing 158 in the opening contest, and is aware the atmosphere of the warm-ups in England will be significantly less than at the throbbing stadiums in India.”It’s going to be hard to leave this,” McCullum told the Dominion Post. “This is where it is all happening, but having said that I understand that there is a tour to England about to begin which is really important.”Five New Zealand players were given permission to arrive late and while the tourists start the opening game against MCC on Sunday, McCullum will be preparing for his final fixture for Kolkata on Tuesday. The first-class affairs with Essex and England Lions will be the only chances for the quintet to switch from Twenty20 to Test mode and adjust to the conditions.”The couple of warm-up games before the Test are going to seem incredibly low key when compared to what is going on here,” McCullum said. “The hype here is huge. The Kolkata fans are regarded as some of the more passionate and so we’ve not ventured outside the hotel very often.”McCullum said the opening week of the IPL had been “pretty special” and he compared it to a golfer making the cut at the US Masters. “The fanfare is quite amazing,” he said. “As a young kid I always aspired to play in front of big crowds, it was always something I wanted to do, but you don’t really imagine things like this.”After being bought for US$700,000 at the auction, McCullum felt the pressure before the opening game and classed his century as a career highlight. “At the World Cup you had to wait about two months until the semi-finals came around, but here it was only about two minutes,” he said. “I think it was because of the occasion … and probably most of all the expectation because of the value placed on me.”

Crisis follows crisis with unrelenting frequency in West Indies cricket and the latest, already formed, has become more pressing three days before the first Test against South Africa on Boxing Day.As their feeble batting crumbled to their second meagre total and three-day defeat in East London against South Africa’s second-string team on Friday, there remained doubt over whether captain Chris Gayle would regain fitness by then and be able to lead the team for the first time in a Test.Media manager Philip Spooner said on Friday that the decision would be delayed until the eve of the match after day-by-day assessments by the medical staff, physiotherapists Jacqui Mowat-King and recently arrived Australian, CJ Smith. Gayle, who tore his right hamstring muscle in the second ODI in Zimbabwe on December 2, has returned to batting practice in the nets and resumed catching, running and stretching exercises, Spooner said.But Gayle was realistic in his assessment of his injury. “I’ve been getting better and I’m really looking forward to playing in Port Elizabeth,” he added. “Physically I’m feeling strong again and mentally I’m there. I have been doing work in the nets and trying to get back in the groove again.”Gayle is not only captain, albeit in place of the injured Ramnaresh Sarwan, but even more significantly the only available batsman apart from the perennial Shivnarine Chanderpaul with more than 50 Tests (68) and an average better than 35 (38.28). His handy offspin would also be missed in an attack based around pace.He has thrived on his previous trips to South Africa, with two hundreds in three Tests and an average of 61, plus an unbeaten 152 in the final ODI, four years ago and 117 against the home team in the ICC World Twenty20 Championship last September.The seriousness of his absence at the top of the order was simply emphasised by the double failure of the two openers, Devon Smith and Daren Ganga, in the East London match, the only one prior to the three back-to-back Tests. The left-handed Smith was out for ten and five, making a grand total of 51 runs in eight innings in matches in Zimbabwe and South Africa. Ganga, who played the first of his 45 spasmodic Tests here nine years ago, fell for 10 and 0, his first innings on tour since he was not in the ODI squad in Zimbabwe. For both, such setbacks would be psychologically shattering. Both struggled in the last series in England last summer, and must be aware they have all but exhausted their chances.The only other opener in the team is Brenton Parchment, the one newcomer, whose highest score in his four knocks on tour have been 15, 25, 5 and 10.Ironically, injury also kept Gayle inactive during the 2003-04 tour. He pulled a calf muscle on the first day of the first Test in which he batted at No.9 with a runner and missed the second. On his return, he blasted a 78-ball hundred (eventually 116) in the third Test, 145 in the next match against Easterns, 77 and 107 in the fourth and final Test and 152 not out in the final ODI.