A West Indies-Australia Test at the Gabba is always a special occasion tomark the start of summer. It doesn’t matter that the last contest wasdramatically one-sided, an upturn of the thrashings delivered by thetourists in the 1980s, or that the current squad is still searching forbatsmen to support Brian Lara consistently and bowlers to putty over theAmbrose and Walsh gaps. In Australia the West Indians turn heads and raiseexpectations.The tourist’s second Test at the ground flamed their reputation and began amagical season that ended in a street parade through Melbourne to farewellFrank Worrell’s side. Forty-five years ago the game’s most famous tieoccurred at a venue as unrecognisable today as the squad for the three-Testseries is to its world-beating predecessors. Despite their dramatic decline, the West Indians retain their enticing charm and their arrival inBrisbane two weeks ago was covered in the news pages of , which sent a reporter to follow them shopping.During the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s West Indian teams felt likeextended family to Australians, arriving most years before Christmas andstaying for summers that didn’t want to end. They battered Australia and ithurt fingers, chests and pride, but their brilliant batting and fearsomebowling was respected and privately enjoyed. These memories linger and willburden Shivnarine Chanderpaul’s side over the next month. It is not his onlyworry.Since West Indies inflicted Australia’s last home series defeat in 1992-93they have won only two Tests on two tours. The last trip in 2000-01 was a5-0 disaster, beginning with a total of 82 in Brisbane and finishing withthe end of the captain Jimmy Adams’s career. Australia can be a crueldestination for leaders and the scheduling has made Chanderpaul the firstsustained target of Australia’s Ashes-loss backlash. A disparate World XIwere flattened last month and nothing acts as a better wedge for Caribbeanplayers of proud nations than a series of demoralising losses.A battery of fast bowlers, shorter than West Indies have traditionally had, has been employed toupset Australia this time, but with most of them relatively inexperienced it is notknown whether they will be positively or negatively charged. Corey Collymoreis the senior man and is jostling for positions with Fidel Edwards, JermaineLawson, Daren Powell, Tino Best and the allrounder Dwayne Bravo.The batting is more settled following Wavell Hinds’s finger injury and MarlonSamuels’s double-century against Queensland, but Brian Lara, who is 316 runsfrom Allan Border’s world record, is again the marked man. How and when hesnaps his out-of-form streak will almost certainly determine West Indies’competitiveness against a team still holding world-champion status.For Australia the series is a chance to re-assert dominance and they arealso using it to tinker for the future. Shane Watson is set for an extendedrun as allrounder despite struggling for influence in both disciplinesduring his two previous Tests, and a new opening combination has been forcedby Justin Langer’s withdrawal with a fractured rib. Michael Hussey will makehis debut but with Michael Clarke, the new No. 4, being followed by Simon Katich,Watson and Adam Gilchrist, the batting order carries rare uncertainty. Both sidessense a contest of opportunity.Australia haven’t lost a Test at the Gabba since 1988, when Curtly Ambroseintroduced himself with a six-wicket, Man-of-the-Match performance alongsideMalcolm Marshall and Courtney Walsh. Viv Richards, batting in his 100th Testbehind Greenidge, Haynes, Richardson and Hooper, was bounced three times bya young upstart named Steve Waugh.West Indies ruled the world during that decade and the regular defeatssteeled Australia as their long-term replacement. England unveiled some softspots during the winter and West Indies must rain regular and strategicfollow-up punches if they are to turn an empire’s one-series stumble into aCaribbean-style crumble.Australia 1 Matthew Hayden, 2 Michael Hussey, 3 RickyPonting (capt), 4 Michael Clarke, 5 Simon Katich, 6 Shane Watson, 7 AdamGilchrist (wk), 8 Shane Warne, 9 Brett Lee, 10 Nathan Bracken, 11 GlennMcGrath.West Indies (probable) 1 Chris Gayle, 2 Devon Smith, 3 RamnareshSarwan, 4 Brian Lara, 5 Shivnarine Chanderpaul (capt), 6 Marlon Samuels, 7Dwayne Bravo, 8 Denesh Ramdin (wk), 9 Jermaine Lawson, 10 Fidel Edwards, 11Corey Collymore.

ScorecardSreesanth rocked the top order, Somasetty Suresh ripped the middle while Sreekumar Nair removed the tail to bundle out Jharkhand for a paltry 189 in their first innings and following on Jharkhand were 13 for 1 at stumps as Kerala gained complete command over the Plate match at Palakkad. Manoj Joglekar offered the lone resistance with an half-century. Earlier Fernandez Robert hit 59 to lift Kerala, overnight at 320 for 6, to 399.
ScorecardMadhusudan Acharya and Sandeep Singh shared five wickets between them to engineer a stunning collapse as Tripura, well placed overnight at 63 for 1, crumbled to 112 before Vidarbha rode on half-centuries from Amit Deshpande and Alind Naidu to reach 184 for 5, 228 runs ahead, at stumps on the second day at Agartala. Acharya, the offspinner, struck twice off successive deliveries to reduce Tripura to 91 for 6 before Sandeep, the medium pacer, got into act, grabbing two wickets in an over to further push Tripura to 104 for 8. Vidarbha then consolidated their hold on the game through a 107-run partnership for the second wicket between Deshpande and Naidu.
ScorecardHalf-centuries from B Songavkar and Shitanshu Kotak powered Saurashtra, overnight on 269 for 4, to 439 before they reduced Goa to 50 for 3 to dominate the second day’s play at Rajkot. Songavkar and Kotak added 92 runs for the sixth wicket after the departure of the overnight centurion Cheteshwar Pujara who added 34 runs today. Sandip Maniar grabbed two wickets to push Goa on the backfoot by close of play.
ScorecardMohammad Aslam grabbed three wickets to bundle out Assam, overnight at a comfortable 198 for 5, for 240 before Rajasthan batted their way to a position of relative strength at 172 for 4 by the end of the second day’s play at Udaipur. J Arunkumar, overnight centurion, took the score to 223 for 5 when he fell triggering a collapse; 5 wickets fell for the addition of 17 runs. Naresh Gehlot, the left-hand middle order batsman, hit an unbeaten 42 to consolidate the Rajasthan innings after the openers had put a 76 run stand.
ScorecardPowered by an 119-run stand between Arshad Bhatt and Kavaljit Singh for the third wicket J&K reached 257 for 5 by the end of the opening day against Madhya Pradesh at Indore. While Bhatt’s was a breezy effort, 89 off 146 balls with 11 fours and a six, Kavaljit played a patient hand. The duo’s efforts were consolidated by an unbeaten 41 from Pranav Mahajan. The match had been postponed by a day since the J&K team had not arrived in time due to flight delay.
ScorecardS Sehgal starred with an seven-wicket haul as Himachal Pradesh collapsed from 120 for 2 to 168 all out before Orissa reached 18 for 0 at stumps to dominate the opening day’s play at Cuttack. Owing to bad weather and problems in flight connectivity the match between Orissa and HP was postponed by a day. Half-centuries from Mridul Gupta and Rajeev Nayyar had lifted HP to a comfortable position before Sehgal got into the act.

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A controlled half-century from Justin Langer, and some expansive hitting from the rest of the top order, carried Western Australia to a convincing six-wicket win against Queensland at Perth. The left-arm chinaman bowler, Beau Casson, was the pick of the WA attack, with 3 for 30, and only a late charge from Andy Bichel boosted the score towards 200.Once WA sped away at more than a run-a-ball the result was never in doubt. While Langer played himself in the other batsmen attacked with freedom. Luke Ronchi blasted 31 off 25 balls, leaving the stage set for Ryan Campbell in his final one-day game before retirement. His 41-ball 40 was a fitting way to finish his limited overs career, during which time he has never been afraid to express himself.Once Campbell had fallen to Michael Kasprowicz, Shaun Marsh and Langer added 86 in 18 overs. Langer eased to his fifty off 87 balls and WA managed to secure the bonus point by winning within 40 overs.Despite the comprehensive defeat, the day had begun promisingly for Queensland. Jimmy Maher and the debutant, Ryan Broad, opened with a stand of 70 in under 19 overs. But Casson’s three wickets stalled the innings and he was backed up by tight bowling from Peter Worthington. Bichel cut loose in the closing overs, striking five fours and three sixes, but he was soon receiving similar treatment from the WA batsmen.

Chris Nevin’s attacking 133 off 131 balls helped Wellington crush Northern Districts by 81 runsat the Basin Reserve in Wellington on Sunday. Opening the innings, Nevin shared some useful stands with the top order and was joined by James Franklin after Wellington lost half their side with 147 runs on the board. The two put on 109 for the sixth wicket with Franklin who scored 58 off just 46 balls with two sixes. Nevin brought up his century off 112 balls and was eventually dismissed by seamer Graeme Aldridge with the score on 260. Chasing 297, Northern Districts never looked to be in the hunt as they folded up for 215 in 44.4 overs, despite a counter attack from Daniel Flynn. Jesse Ryder, the medium pacer, dashed all hopes for Northern Districts picking up four wickets for just 39 runs. Flynn, who was fighting a lone battle in the middle, was the last man dismissed, for 82.

ScorecardMichael Di Venuto, the Tasmania opener, scored 105 as his team staged a spirited comeback against Western Australia in the Pura Cup match at the Bellerive Oval in Hobart. Tasmania ended the day at 229 for 6, giving them a lead of exactly 100.Di Venuto, by far the best Tasmanian batsman in either innings, added 140 for the second-wicket with Michael Bevan, who made 61. Di Venuto took the attack to the bowlers, scoring 16 boundaries while Bevan played a more sedate knock, giving good support to his partner. Tasmania eased past their deficit with nine second-innings wickets remaining and looked set to cause a few worries in the opposition camp.However, after Bevan’s dismissal, Western Australia came right back, picking up four wickets in the space of 36 runs. Shawn Gillies, the Jamaican-born medium-pacer in his Pura Cup debut, orchestrated the collapse, accounting for Di Venuto, Daniel Marsh and Sean Clingeleffer in a four-over burst. George Bailey (38) and Brett Geeves survived until stumps.In Western Australia’s first innings Chris Rogers, who reached his 13th first-class century, played the lone hand as most of the other batsmen struggled. Rogers was eventually dismissed for 135 as the Warriors were bowled out for 215. Adam Griffith, the Tasmania opening bowler, bagged five wickets.

Faisalabad were left with only 76 runs to win the opening match of the 2005-06 Pentangular Cup Cricket Championship, when they bowled out Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) for 283 in their second innings at the Gaddafi Stadium on Friday.After having dismissed PIA for a pathetic 69 runs on the opening day, Faisalabad had gone on to make 277 in their reply, which gave them a first innings advantage of 208 runs. Although PIA did considerably better in the second innings, with two full days to go, their effort has not been enough.The depleted PIA team once again faltered against the relentless medium-fast attack of Samiullah Niazi and Asad Ali. Samiullah captured 4 for 74, taking his match haul to 8 for 105. Asad Ali’s 3 for 71 gave him an analysis of 7 for 90.Following his first innings duck, Agha Sabir made a worthy 44 off 93 balls for PIA with eight fours. Captain Yasir Hameed, the Pakistan discard, hit 10 boundaries in his 55 off 90 balls. Veteran Mahmood Hamid (47), young allrounder Jannisar Khan (44 not out) following his bowling figures of 5 for 63, and offspinner Tahir Khan (34) contributed substantially but PIA, batting one man short due to an injury to Aizaz Cheema, were all out before the day’s close.The season’s Patron’s Trophy champions National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) ran up an impressive total of 357 for 6 on the opening day of their match against national champions Sialkot at the Multan Cricket Stadium.Captain Naumanullah scored his eighth first-class hundred, as he compiled the day’s top score of 142. He stayed at the crease for five hours 24 minutes, facing 213 deliveries and hit 25 fours.With Hyderabad’s Faisal Athar, his second-wicket partnership was worth 112 runs. Faisal scored 72 that came off only 94 balls with 15 boundaries. Later, allrounder Mansoor Amjad capped off a satisfying day with an unbeaten 62, having faced 110 balls with eight fours.Incidentally, three Sialkot players are assisting National Bank in this match. Imran Nazir, Shahid Yousuf and Mansoor Amjad are on the Bank’s rolls and thus unavailable for their home region’s cricket team.

Adam Gilchrist has recommended that Australia rest some of its key players for the Champions Trophy one-day tournament so that they are fresh and ready to take on England in a bid to regain the Ashes later this year. Australia, who lost in England 2-1 last year, host them in the 2006-07 season, and Gilchrist recommended that the selectors plan the teams for the season around that series.”We have to get our priorities right there,” Gilchrist was quoted as saying in Sydney Morning Herald. “It is important that selectors, administrators, players and whoever else needs to be involved sits down and nuts that out.”I am not saying no-one goes, or all key players [don’t go to the Champions Trophy] … I don’t know. But we have to sit down and address it, definitely. I think we have to look very, very seriously at that lead into the Ashes.”There is the Champions Trophy, and I believe there are potentially other games of one-day cricket that may come up prior to that. We are going to have to be very careful about what we want to prioritise as most important.”While Gilchrist made his views clear, they certainly didn’t find much support from Cricket Australia – Michael Brown, their operations manager, ruled out a “mass rest”, instead stating that the best team will be selected.”We are worried about the whole seven months of cricket. The ICC Champions Trophy is clearly important to Cricket Australia. We’ll be sending a very, very good team, the best team available at the time,” Brown said. “For us, the ICC tournaments are of number one importance. We have never won a Champions Trophy and would like to win it. I can’t stress this enough about the Champions Trophy: we’ll be going with a team that we intend to win it [with].”Part of our strategic plan is to lead the world in cricket performance, so to entertain the thought that we’re going to be mass resting players is not going to happen. What we will do is individually manage every player’s workload over the period because let’s not forget that some players over the next 12 months play very little cricket.”There are suggestions that England might rest some of their players – including Andrew Flintoff – for the Champions Trophy. However, Brown defended Cricket Australia’s stance on the matter by pointing to the schedules for the two teams: England play seven Tests and ten ODIs in the summer before heading to India for the Champions Trophy in October; Australia, on the other hand, have a five-month break before the tournament.”What we will do is prioritise the whole summer,” Brown said. “We’ve got an incredible six or seven months of cricket and we’ll prioritise to make sure that all our players are prepared in the best way they can be for every match they play.”

Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) set National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) a tough target of 375 runs to chase in their fourth-round Pentangular Cup Cricket Championship match at the Multan Cricket Stadium.Strong batting by the PIA top order helped them reach 339 for 8 in the second innings before captain Yasir Hameed made the declaration. PIA had earlier gained a 35-run first-innings lead over NBP who ended the day on 58 for 2 with Umar Gul picking up both wickets. They still need another 317 runs to win the match with eight wickets in hand.Yasir Hameed struck form for PIA, after a run of low scores, with his 12th first-class hundred. His 101 off 183 balls included 11 fours. The two openers were dismissed after a 94-run partnership before Yasir was joined by Kamran Sajid for a third-wicket partnership of 130 runs. Kamran’s 52 off 94 balls included five fours.Earlier, Agha Sabir had contributed 52 off 138 deliveries with seven fours. Small but useful contributions by the remaining batsmen took the PIA score to 339 for 8. Umar Gul hit three fours and two sixes while making 29 off just 19 balls.NBP are in danger of losing their top place in the table and with that the opportunity of winning the Pentangular Cup. Faisalabad have played all their matches and have a total of 27 points while NBP have 18 with one more game to play.PIA will raise their tally to 18 points with a win here, with their last match coming up in the fifth and final round that gets underway on Sunday. Another win for PIA as well as NBP — who play Karachi Harbour in their last encounter — will bring the tournament to an interesting situation. In this scenario, Faisalabad, NBP and PIA will all end up with 27 points each. The winner will then be decided on the basis of the best net run-rate.

The move of Beau Casson, the left-arm wrist spinner, from Western Australia to New South Wales is under threat after Cricket Australia set a grievance tribunal hearing for May 29. The Western Australian Cricket Association was unhappy to see their No. 1 first-class spinner leave despite desperate attempts to keep him, and lodged a report relating to Cricket New South Wales’ dealings for the transfer.A Cricket Australia spokesman said rule four of the 2005-09 Memorandum of Understanding said: “A state association must not (and must ensure that its constituent clubs do not) hold discussions with a CA contracted player or state contracted player who is bound to another state association concerning the possible transfer of that player without first informing the player’s home state association.”Casson announced on May 8 he was leaving the Warriors in the hope of getting a start with the Blues, whose slow-bowling stocks already include Stuart MacGill, Jason Krejza and Steve O’Keefe, while Nathan Hauritz will arrive in Sydney during the off-season. The hearing will take place at Cricket Australia’s office in Melbourne and be heard by Ron Beazley, the Cricket Australia code of behaviour commissioner, Steven Skala, a Cricket Australia representative, and John McMullan, the Australian Cricketers’ Association’s representative.

The news that Michael Vaughan will, almost certainly, be unavailable for the Ashes this winter has dented England’s defence of the urn markedly. But before the Ashes, there is the small matter of facing Pakistan for a four-Test series and in the next week the selectors will choose Vaughan’s replacement as captain.Andrew Flintoff filled in for Vaughan during England’s tour of India in the winter, as well as the Sri Lanka Test series. He too, however, was forced out of the current one-day series against Sri Lanka and will almost certainly miss the first Test against Pakistan. Andrew Strauss has had the unenviable job of leading a depleted and confidence-shot England side in the one-dayers, which Sri Lanka lead 4-0 with one to play.”From my point of view I just want the best person for the team and we’ll be deciding that before the first Test,” Duncan Fletcher, the England coach, commented.The other alternative could be Marcus Trescothick, who has filled in on occasions, but he has only just re-established himself back in the side after flying back from India with personal problems. On Wednesday, he flat-batted suggestions that he was the man in waiting but said he has “done it in the past – and if they offer it to me again then I’ll think about it.”We won’t be making any quick decisions about who is going to captain the side in the winter because at the moment we don’t know,” explained David Graveney, chairman of selectors.”Until the situation becomes a little clearer later in the summer we won’t be looking at that issue. We need to get as much information as possible about the injured players before we consider things.”I have been ringing him every day during this period and he has been battling really hard to recover from this injury, working long hours on his own in the gym so we all feel for him.”He is a human being so he’s bound to have got down during this period,” he said. “He is desperate to play for England and has been hearing how England can’t play without Michael Vaughan so you can just imagine how that has made him feel.”