Scorecard

A tight bowling performance and some entertaining batting from the openers took India A to an easy win in their first one-dayer against Kenya at the Gymkhana Ground in Nairobi. Praveen Kumar backed up Pankaj Singh’s 4 for 29 with three economical wickets before blazing an unbeaten 57 from 27 deliveries to take India to their target of 99 in 7.4 overs.Mohammed Kaif won the toss on an unusually chilly Nairobi morning and decided to put Kenya in. Singh struck with the first delivery of the third over when he got David Obuya to nick one behind to Parthiv Patel. Kumar removed his fellow opener Maurice Ouma, edging to second slip, Singh got rid of Tanmay Mishra and Kumar bowled Tony Suji to make it 18 for 4. Captain Thomas Odoyo managed 43 from 53 balls, amid further strikes from Singh, Kumar and Yo Mahesh, but his fall – he was last out – left India with the relatively simple target of 99.They set about their task in spectacular fashion. Kumar hammered Peter Ongondo’s first delivery, a rank half-volley, over extra cover for six. In the second over, bowled by Nehemiah Odhiambo, he picked up six more over the deep square boundary followed by a square cut and a lofted drive over cover for boundaries.Those shots took him to 28 from 11 deliveries while his partner Yusuf Pathan was still on 1. He was not about to shy away from the sumptious bowling on offer, however, and smashed Ongondo over long-on and into the car park region.Rajesh Bhudia was brought on earlier than he would expected, in the fourth over, and Kumar picked up two sixes, the first a Mahendra Singh Dhoni-like whip over deep midwicket and the second a regulation pull in the same direction, to raise India’s 50 in 4 overs. Lameck Onyango was introduced in the fifth over and Pathan immediately swept him for two before hitting him for six. Fours came at the same alarming rate as Kumar and Pathan (29 from 20 balls) finished an easy run chase.Both captains conceded that winning the toss was very important. When asked at the post-match presser what he would have chosen to do had he won the toss, Odoyo said he would have fielded in an attempt to utilise the overcast conditions.

New balls, please
Chris Gayle had already smashed five sixes before the tenth over gotunderway, but he saved his biggest of the evening for Albie Morkel. Seeingthe manner in which the short balls had been dismissed earlier, Morkeltried to pitch it up, lost the plot slightly, and sent down a full toss.Gayle needed no second invitation: the right leg moved outside leg as hegave himself room, and the result was a savage carve over backward point,well over the stands outside the ground. Normally, that would have held upplay for at least a minute, but here, umpire Darryl Harper, standing atsquare leg, scurried across even as the reserve umpire, Karl Hurter,rolled another ball onto the ground. The delay hardly lasted five seconds,and play was ready to resume even before you’d realised the ball had beenchanged.Wounded Polly
Everyone in South Africa loves Shaun Pollock – there were huge cheersevery time he hit the stump while bowling in practice just before playbegan – but not much went right for him when it was his turn to bowl inthe middle. Gayle took him apart completely, but his one little moment tosavour in that hopelessly one-sided battle came in over number 12: apainfully slow bouncer pitched in the middle of the track, climbed andthen looped down even as it was reaching the batsman, Gayle, and soflummoxed him that he could only watch transfixed as it lobbed past him tothe wicketkeeper. Pollock and the crowd loved that bit of deception.Unfortunately for them, the rest of the went decisively against good ol’Polly, who was left nursing rather embarrassing bowling figures by the endof the day.Butterfingers
A target of 206 should have been difficult, but West Indies decided toplay gracious guests. Dwayne Bravo started the rot, allowing the ball topop out from his hands to give Gibbs a reprieve at 20; the virus thenspread to Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who spilled an admittedly difficultchance from Gibbs; Marlon Samuels then capped a miserable day for WestIndies in the field by dropping a sitter off Justin Kemp. Add all thewides sent down, and it’s easy to see why they lost.Eyeball to eyeball
It might be all fun and music for the crowd, but a couple of incidents inthe match showed that Twenty20 is serious business. Daren Powell startedoff with a vicious short ball which caused Graeme Smith immensediscomfort, and then began a glaring contest with Gibbs, who is neverone to back away. Fidel Edwards then continued the eyeball confrontation,sometimes bowling with such searing pace that the ball was still climbingwhen it reached the wicketkeeper.Ramdin to the rescue
The game was all about bat hitting ball and ball disappearing beyond theboundary, but there was one other performance that stood out too. WestIndies’ bowlers, perhaps not satisfied with a format that only allowseach of them 24 deliveries, bowled wide after wide, and Denesh Ramdin dartedaround like a dervish, gathering most of them cleanly. In the fifth over,when Daren Powell lost control altogether, Ramdin saved four byes bymoving down leg side and then diving full length to make a clean gather. Afew overs later, standing up to Dwayne Smith, he was at it again, making a cleantake way down leg despite being blinded by the batsman. The catch he tookto dismiss AB de Villiers capped a fine night’s work for him. If only thesame could have been said of the rest of the West Indian performance inthe field.

Chris Harris hopes he can still play domestic matches for Canterbury this season despite signing with the Indian Cricket League (ICL). Harris joined his former New Zealand team-mates Chris Cairns, Nathan Astle and Hamish Marshall in joining the ICL, which does not have official backing.Harris turned down a new deal with Canterbury for 2007-08 as New Zealand Cricket said none of its nationally or provincially contracted players would be released to play in the ICL. But Harris expects his ICL commitments to finish in late December and he would like Canterbury to consider picking him after that.”I’d like to think I could play for Canterbury again but there is a lot of water to go under the bridge yet,” Harris told the . “It was hard turning down the Canterbury contract but I wanted to keep my options open. I’d still love to play for Canterbury, if they wanted me in the future.”Although he turns 38 next month, it appears Harris still has plenty to offer at first-class level. Last season he made 428 runs at 42.80 in the State Championship, and collected 13 wickets at 41.38. He was Canterbury’s leading one-day run-scorer with 362 at 60.33 and has just returned from a stint in the Lancashire league, where he topped the competition’s wicket tally with 83 victims.He said reports that he could be paid up to NZ$500,000 for signing with the ICL were not true but the deal was still worth his while. “The numbers are nothing like what have been quoted in the media but are still significant,” he said.Harris was confident the ICL would draw a strong following from the Indian public with big names like Brian Lara and Inzamam-ul-Haq already committed to play. “Given how the world Twenty20 event took off and that India won it I’m sure it will be well received over there,” Harris said. “It should be great for the game.”

Former Zimbabwe captain Terrence Duffin is set to make a comeback when he turns out for Zimbabwe A in their South African Airways Challenge Pool B match against South African provincial side Gauteng at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo.Duffin last played competitive cricket at the beginning of May when he turned out for Southerns in the Logan Cup. He aggravated a thumb injury that he suffered against South Africa in September last year and missed out on the first-class matches against India A and South Africa A, and was not considered for the Twenty20 World Championship in South Africa last month.A good performance from Duffin will certainly see him being called up to the Zimbabwe senior national team set to play against Sri Lanka. Duffin is expected to bring solidity into the Zimbabwe top-order batting order and should combine well with Tino Mawoyo.Blessing Mahwire, the fast bowler, has replaced Mawoyo as captain and looks set to lead the bowling attack while legspinners Graeme Cremer and Tafadzwa Kamungozi will fight it out should coach Andy Pycroft opt for one slow bowler.The South Africans arrived in Zimbabwe’s second largest city on Wednesday afternoon and held one practice session at the match venue.Gauteng are captained by Shane Burger and coached by Lawrence Mahaklane.On Sunday, the two teams meet in a limited overs match at the same venue before the South Africans head back home.Zimbabwe A Blessing Mahwire (capt), Terry Duffin, Graeme Cremer, Trevor Garwe, Prosper Tsvanu, Alester Maregwede, Regis Chakabva (wk), Kamungozi, Tino Mawoyo, Eric Chauluka, Tendai Chisoro, Admire Manyumwa, Steven Nyamuzinga.Gauteng Shane Burger (capt), Richard Cameron, Richard das Neves, Yunus Keiler, Johnson Mafa, Dumisa Makalima, Brian Mathebula, William Motaung, Omphile Ramela, Warren Swann, Jean Symes, Dane Villas.

Captain VVS Laxman, Arjun Yadav, Pragyan Ojha and Daniel Manohar will be the only four Hyderabad players with an experience of more than 10 first-class matches going into the Ranji Trophy. Hyderabad have been reduced to this situation after almost all of their team defected to the Indian Cricket League (ICL). D Ravi Teja (5 matches), Praneet Arjun (3), Anoof Pai (2), Amol Shinde (2) are the other players with any experience at first-class level.Even Laxman, expected to play Tests for India, might be available for only two games, away matches against Bengal and Punjab. Yadav was appointed the vice-captain for the season. Hyderabad will hope Teja and Arjun build up on their strong debuts last season: Teja, a right-hand opening batsman, scored an 84 against Maharashtra and Arjun, right-arm medium-pacer took four Mumbai wickets in his first showing.Squad: VVS Laxman (captain), Arjun Yadav, DB Ravi Teja, S Daniel Manohar, S Anoof Pai, Amol Shinde, Habeeb Ahmed (wk), Pragyan Ojha, Praneet Arjun, SM Shoaib, Ashwin Yadav, A Lalith Mohan, Vishal Sharma, Mohammad Ahmed Shakeer, Danny Dereck Prince

Twist and shout
Andrew Symonds’ innings started in a hurry despite a slip on the damp surface. Opening with a cut from his second ball, he followed it with a cover-driven boundary and turned his ankle running on the grass next to the pitch. He grimaced and limped but continued to bat and when he planted Muttiah Muralitharan for a straight six he had 14 from five balls. After making an unbeaten 50, his injury prevented him from fielding.Flattened again
The squash ball has returned to haunt Sri Lanka. Adam Gilchrist chopped one up to strengthen his grip during the World Cup final against them and struck 149, which created claims in Sri Lanka that it was against the rules. The appliance was back in his glove today when he hit his 100th six in Tests.Overloaded
Sri Lanka’s struggling fast bowlers were placed under more pressure with the absence of Farveez Maharoof due to a stress fracture in his ankle. Muralitharan took the load at one end and Lasith Malinga and Dilhara Fernando carried most of the duties from the other. Once this series is over, the Sri Lankan attack may put in for group stress leave.Lights out
Bad light has caused regular disruptions during the first two Tests and the reduction in play has upset some spectators. However, Adam Gilchrist was in no doubt about the decision to call play off early. “It was difficult to see out there,” he said. “It’s more cut and dried here, where there are no artificial lights [like in Brisbane]. That’s where it gets confusing and uncertainty comes in for everyone. Here it’s a pretty clean-cut decision.”Rugged up
The sweaters Sri Lanka have lugged around were not wasted as the weather turned cold, misty and windy at Bellerive. It was good for the sailors wanting to use their spinnakers, but it made things even more uncomfortable for the hand-rubbing visitors.

Gary Kirsten has signed a two-year deal to coach the Indian national team. He will start work on March 1, 2008, almost a year after his predecessor, Greg Chappell, resigned from the post.Kirsten signed the contract after clarifying a few last-minute details pertaining to his young family and also to the feelings of senior players in the team who had been anonymously quoted as saying that the appointment of a coach was “unnecessary.”Sharad Pawar, the Indian board president, told Kirsten on Tuesday afternoon that all the senior players were looking forward to having him on board and agreed with Kirsten’s suggestion that he meets up with the team before they depart for Australia.”I will go back to India soon to meet up with the squad before they fly to Australia on December 17 and then I will join them again in a transition phase for the third and fourth Tests against Australia in the New Year,” Kirsten said. The Indian board, in a press release, has confirmed that Kirsten would interact with the squad during the third Test against Pakistan in Bangalore.”It is a huge honour and I’m looking forward to the challenge with as much enthusiasm as any challenge I’ve ever faced. I’m not naive – I know how big the job is and I know it won’t be easy, but it’s also something I really want to do, and do well,” Kirsten said.When Kirsten takes over full-time, his first assignment will be a three-Test series against South Africa. “That’s exciting. I really don’t think it will feel strange or odd. I will be doing everything I can to help India win. But Australia comes first and everybody’s energy must be focussed on producing success on what is the hardest tour in cricket,” Kirsten said.

South Africa’s unexpected defeat in the first Test in Port Elizabeth against West Indies has prompted the selectors to call up Neil McKenzie to strengthen the batting. McKenzie, who hasn’t played a Test for over three years, will join the existing 12-man squad for the second Test starting in Cape Town on Wednesday.The South African batsmen struggled in both innings in Port Elizabeth, bundled out for 195 and 260 as they lost by 128 runs. Their biggest concern would be opener Herschelle Gibbs, who made a pair. Coach Mickey Arthur admitted those concerns but didn’t feel the need for a major overhaul.”There is no panic but we have decided to strengthen our top order batting,” Arthur said. McKenzie, a middle-order batsman, is most likely to replace Gibbs and Arthur was confident he had the technique to open the batting.McKenzie has been on the fringes of a recall after a fine domestic season, scoring 501 runs for the Lions in seven SuperSport Series matches. He also made 182 and 34 for South Africa A against the New Zealanders and 54 against the West Indians before the first Test, a match in which he captained the side to a 10-wicket win.He was called up as cover for the injured AB de Villiers for the second Test against New Zealand at Centurion but eventually missed out as de Villiers was later declared fit.

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