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You have to envy VVS Laxman. Not for his sinuous wrists, not for his graceful movements, not for his languid batting style but simply for having the pleasure of standing at second slip when India’s pace bowlers are in operation. Standing between Sachin Tendulkar, at first slip, and Sourav Ganguly, at third, he is often the silent participant in some intense discussions, ones where the two on either side chirp away merrily.While they’re batting together, though, there’s no third party. Yet they rarely relent. During their 96-run stand this morning, the early parts of which were spent negotiating the second new ball, mid-pitch conferences raged along. Whether it was advice, tactics, or plans for the evening is anyone’s guess but they often resembled doubles partners on a tennis court. They’ve played together for about ten years, they’ve opened the batting for long in the one-day format, and they’ve played under each other’s captaincy. You’d think they would have exhausted all they had to say; it appears they’ve just got started.India’s biggest challenge today, with the sun out and the pitch playing true, was to negate the effects of the second new ball. Ganguly, usually circumspect in these conditions, flowed; Tendulkar, who you’d expect to be more solid, dug a small hole for himself. Almost every time Ryan Sidebottom beat Tendulkar’s bat, or appealed for a leg-before, Ganguly had a word with his partner.At the other end, Ganguly eagerly took on Chris Tremlett and James Anderson, cover-driving as if all was well. Ganguly’s statements about the ball doing “a bit in the morning” and Sidebottom bowling “well to Sachin” must go down as big under-statements. It was doing much more than a bit, and he did much better than well. “To get through the second new ball in the morning was important,” he said. “And we knew if we could get runs on the board, we’d be in a good position to win the match.”Both handled Monty Panesar expertly, using their bats more often than their pads. Tendulkar stepped out on a few occasions, crunching an aggressive cover-drive over the infield, while Ganguly took a few big strides forward and caressed him all along the ground. What was the plan then, did they have any specific targets? “There were no targets,” dead-batted Ganguly. “Just bat. It was just the third morning of a match and there was a lot of time left. We thought we’ll just bat and whatever comes, comes.” More like, just chat.

It’s tough to spot similarities in their batting, or indeed their personalities. One is quiet, the other tends to be brash; one is a great batsman who struggled to lead, the other a great captain who sometimes struggled with the bat. Both had their innings sawed off with dubious umpiring decisions – one stood transfixed before trudging off, the other rushed off spewing venom, flaying his bat angrily. Tendulkar was spotted cooling off with an ice-cream; Ganguly was “alright”. “Some go your way, some go against”, said Ganguly who started the press conference with “I don’t want to speak about the decision” and ended it with “You have to live with it”. Simon Taufel, it seems, can breathe easy.Does he think India can pull off their first Test win at Trent Bridge? “I think 480 is still a big total. We were 280-290 ahead, and the wicket is going to deteriorate. On the third day of a Test anywhere in the world, the wicket is going to be good. It’s the fourth and fifth day it’s going to deteriorate.”But, crucially, what does he have to say about Tendulkar’s knock? “There’s nothing you can talk about Sachin, he produces it every time and hope he keeps doing the same.” If he does, and if Ganguly too keeps joining him, it’s time those stump mikes were shifted to the middle of the pitch.

Former England captains reacted with dismay at England’s spectacular defeat to Australia in the second Test at Adelaide on Tuesday. Duncan Fletcher’s team selections came under the microscope, especially his decision to play Ashley Giles ahead of Monty Panesar, who Fletcher hailed as the best finger spinner in the world earlier this year.A downcast Geoff Boycott, commentating for BBC Radio, feared the upbeat Aussies could “bury” England. “I personally don’t think they can pick themselves up,” Boycott said. “Australia are cock-a-hoop, they are in good form and are confident.”The batsmen are making too many mistakes. You can’t keep depending on Paul Collingwood, Kevin Pietersen and Ian Bell. Andrew Flintoff and Geraint Jones are not making enough runs. And I don’t see how England are going to get 20 wickets.”Alec Stewart also said England’s bowling attack was under-performing. “Flintoff and Hoggard have caused Australia problems but Steve Harmison has taken one wicket in two Tests while both Giles and Anderson have struggled,” Stewart said. “And we are not looking like taking 20 wickets. That is my biggest issue. Harmison has improved slightly but he has only taken one wicket in the series.Nasser Hussain said Fletcher’s men now faced the “biggest test” of his reign. “He will come under the immense pressure in the next week or so,” Hussain said, according to London’s newspaper. “His selections have let him down and let England down in Giles and Jones. There have been no runs and no wickets and Giles dropped a crucial catch.Ian Botham insisted Fletcher had to wield the axe ahead of the third Test in Perth, and wondered whether Panesar would finally be deployed. “I am asking questions,” Botham said. “A lot of people are asking questions. Is Monty Panesar here or has he gone home? I am totally confused. I was confused at the start of the series and I am even more confused now.”I am not taking anything away from Australia, they have been magnificent, but we have two players who have hardly played any cricket in a year – Jimmy Anderson and Ashley Giles, two key bowlers.”

Ireland will now play South Africa and not Pakistan as part of their World Cup warm-ups, the ICC has confirmed.An ICC spokeperson said: “This is to rectify an anomaly that was indentified in the original practice match schedule. The changes have been made with the agreement of all the teams involved.”Ireland were due to play Pakistan in Trinidad on Tuesday March 6, and then again in Group D in Kingston on March 17. To resolve the issue, it has been agreed that South Africa will now warm up against Ireland on Monday March 5.Ireland’s other warm-up game is against Canada on Thursday March 8.Anyone who has purchased tickets for the two affected matches will be contacted by the ICC shortly.

Six, six, six
Chennai, chasing 188, had lost two wickets in the space of five balls and the required rate was hovering near nine an over. Sixteen deliveries without a boundary wasn’t helping their cause, but the big-hitting Albie Morkel swung Chennai back by plundering 23 runs off the 14th over, bowled by Virender Sehwag. The first ball was heaved over midwicket for a massive six, the second biffed dead straight for the same result, and the hat-trick followed with another clout over midwicket. That spectacular comeback from Morkel made the difference when push came to shove.AB pulls off a blinder
Mahendra Singh Dhoni was threatening to finish the match himself, batting sensibly as wickets fell around him, but a stunning catch from AB de Villiers cut him short. Sehwag called back Vijaykumar Yo Mahesh to bowl the penultimate over and Dhoni skipped down to drill a full delivery towards long-on. The ball was dipping on de Villiers, harrying in from the boundary, but he dived forward and cupped it off the ground, refreshing memories of Ajay Jadeja’s similar stunner to dismiss Allan Border in the 1992 World Cup.Chamara surprise
Chennai seemed to have just four overseas players in their squad but everyone was caught on the wrong foot when Chamara Kapugedera, the Sri Lankan batsman, was named in the XI. Apparently he signed over the weekend and sneaked ahead of Makhaya Ntini, who hadn’t managed to get a wicket in three games. He didn’t have a great start, though: going for 15 runs in his only over. Things weren’t much better when he batted though his presence did play a part in Chennai moving towards the target.

Dubbing Sourav Ganguly a “baccha” (kid), Jagmohan Dalmiya, the president of the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB), today said he was committed to helping all players including Ganguly.”He is a . It’s not right to talk about ,” Dalmiya said responding to persistent questions from journalists on whether he would still back Ganguly who had sent an email days before the CAB elections accusing the ruling faction of ‘playing’ with his career.As CAB president, Dalmiya said he was committed to help the players of Bengal. “I’ll definitely help him. [But] why only Sourav? As president and secretary of BCCI I stood by [Virender] Sehwag during the ball tampering controversy. I also supported Sachin [Tendulkar], Harbhajan [Singh] when the going got tough for them. I have always looked after players. It is a religion for me. And, I cannot compromise on this,” he told a media conference in the small hours after defeating Prasun Mukherjee, the Kolkata Police Commissioner .Asked whether he would fight for Ganguly’s return to the Indian team, Dalmiya said “Why not? I’ve always been optimistic about his return. I’ve always said that there is a lot of cricket left in him.”Dalmiya said, however, that if the CAB members wanted, there could be a discussion on Ganguly’s allegation that his [Dalmiya’s] faction had leaked Greg Chappell’s email to the Board last September. Chappell’s email, containing damning observations about Ganguly as a player and captain, had created a huge controversy.

Shane Warne on Friday urged selectors to bring in fellow leg-spinner Stuart MacGill to bamboozle the West Indies in the second Test at Hobart starting on November 17.MacGill was left out of Australia’s massive 379-run victory over the tourists in last week’s first Test for seamer Nathan Bracken, but there is a push to get the wrist-spinner to reunite with Warne for the second encounter. Statistics show that the West Indies have a history of weakness facing leg-spin bowlers.Warne, Test cricket’s leading wicket-taker, has captured 54 wickets in 17 Tests against the West Indies at 30.18, while MacGill has 48 in 12 Tests at 31.89. With the pair bowling at their peak — they have taken 28 wickets between them in their past two Tests together — Warne believes he and his spin partner can inflict more pain on the tourists on a Bellerive ‘turner’.”If conditions suit down there, I’m sure we can do well like we have in the Super Test (against a World XI) in Sydney recently. I think both of us are bowling better now than we have before. We went to Sri Lanka [last year] and bowled together, and against Pakistan this year in Sydney, and the Super Test — in those Test matches we’ve bowled together, I’ve been fully fit and he’s been bowling well. We’ve done very well together, so I’m sure we can cause a lot of batsmen out there a bit of heartache.”In 1999, Warne was dropped for the first and only time in his Test career on the tour of the Caribbean, and injuries after that prevented him from playing against the West Indies until last week’s first Test in Brisbane, where he took 5-48.Selectors are also tinkering with bolstering the middle order with debutant Brad Hodge and all-rounder Andrew Symonds, which could mean MacGill might miss out again.

With the one-day series safely in the bag, Pakistan are now eyeing victory in the Test series against West Indies. Speaking to the media after Pakistan’s comfortable 40-run win the second match in St Lucia, Younis Khan, who led the team in the field after Inzmam-ul-Haq was injured during batting, said: “We’ve never won a Test series here, so it’s my golden chance. We are playing our best cricket for a while.” Younis will captain the side in the first Test, as Inzamam will be serving a one-match suspension.Younis also said that the tours of Australia and India had helped toughen the team. “I think the tough tours to Australia and India have helped us gel as a team and believe in ourselves,” the BBC website quoted him as saying. “Those tours were a turning point for us.”Shoaib Malik, who won the Man-of-the-Match award for scoring 51 and bowling ten overs of tidy offspin, reckoned that Pakistan’s total of 258 was below par. “In my opinion, the score was a little short – it was a 270-plus [wicket] – but if you work hard in bowling, then you can manage.” Pakistan, who came back from a 2-0 deficit to beat India 4-2 in the ODI series last month, have now won six one-dayers in a row.For West Indies, on the other hand, it was another disappointing defeat, their eighth consecutive one, which equalled their worst run – they had been beaten eight times in a row in 1999-2000, when they lost three matches in Sharjah and then five in New Zealand. (click here for more details.) Shivnarine Chanderpaul, their captain, blamed the defeat on the batsmen. “Obviously the batting has been letting us down in most of the games and we need to pick it up,” he said. “Our experienced batsmen need to take on the responsibility and do the job.”He was encouraged, though, by the presence of David Scott, the performance-enhancement specialist who has come down to see the last two matches of the series. “It gives us an opportunity to talk to him and see if there is anything he can provide to help us approach the mental side of cricket.”West Indies play the last match of the series at the same venue today (Sunday, May 22), after which the two teams will be involved in a two-Test series.

The Goa middle order put up a brave fight but there was preciouslittle substance in the rest of the batting and Andhra took firstinnings points as their rain affected three day KSCA Coca Cola Trophymatch ended in a draw in Bangalore on Tuesday.Andhra declared at the overnight total of 285 for five. Goa’s toporder made a mess of things and at 65 for four, they were down in thedumps. However Amit Jadav and Gaurish Phadte initiated the recoveryprocess by adding 77 runs off 34.1 overs. Phadte’s 42 was scored off116 balls and was inclusive of six boundary hits. Jadav and S Misquinthen kept the momentum going with a sixth wicket partnership of 36runs off 12 overs before Jadhav was out for a gallant 50. He faced 160balls and hit three fours and two sixes. Once Jadhav was sixth out at178, the tail offered little resistance. Misquin made a valuable 34off 60 balls with four fours and two sixes but Goa were all out for204 off 86.4 overs. Balaji Krishna Singh was the most successfulbowler with four for 51. Due to dampness of the pitch, play started 50minutes late. Andhra got five points and Goa three.

Graham Thorpe, the England batsman, has urged his team not to be intimidated by Australia’s reputation when the Ashes begin at Lord’s on July 21. Thorpe, who has missed the last two Ashes series, came back to the Test arena in September 2003 against South Africa, and has been in good touch since then.”I can visualise towards July and think what it’s going to be like,” Thorpe told AFP. “It will be a massive occasion and the lads have to relax and enjoy what is going on. If we play the men rather than statistics and figures it will be our best way of playing against them. We won’t do well being tense and worrying about their record or who we are playing against. You have to have a certain amount of belief regardless.”England, who are currently the No.2 team in Tests, have been in terrific form in the last 12 months, having won their last four series. “Come what may it is important not to beat yourself up if you have a bad day. Being realistic we will have some bad days against Australia and you have to get out of bed the next day with a smile on your face and enjoy it.”Australia have dominated the Ashes since 1989, but a resurgent England side would be confident of a better performance this time around.Having missed the last two series, Thorpe was hopeful of playing this year’s Ashes. “I would love to be fit because it would be great to have an opportunity to play against them with this England team,” said Thorpe, who made a hundred on debut against Australia in 1993. “We have a lot of good performers and I know we are going to have to play as a team and to our highest potential against them.”This summer I have not got a great deal to lose, it has been a pretty good journey in the past 18 months, probably the best period I have played for England.”