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If we are to move from our ‘A’ status to Black Caps as the result of this tour, runs and plenty of them are required by the batsmen, and bowling results from the bowlers.So far we have managed to make the semi-finals, after a close first-up game with Mumbai.The pressure is on us now for what has been an interesting tournament.Taking off from New Zealand we took a step down from the usual business class and it was economy class for the guys as we headed for our mid-evening arrival in Chennai from Singapore.Most of us managed a decent amount of sleep with the aid of some videos and sleeping pills. It always amazes me how much your feet swell when flying. My shoes feel two sizes too small when I go to put them back on again!The next day was a rest day as we waited for the other members to join us from England. They arrived at midday and we ended up having a light workout at the gym and a swim in the pool.We couldn’t practice this day as there was a bit of political turmoil resulting in a riot and a few deaths. But it was safe in the hotel which is absolutely magnificent. It is set out away from the centre of the city, which is fine by us, as we don’t plan on venturing out much as we have plenty of cricket ahead of us.The next three days were spent training and acclimatising. The days are very hot and humid, and the practices went well as the team slowly got used to the conditions. We trained on the first day at 10am and then earlier to become accustomed with actual playing hours which begin at 9:30am, meaning departure from the hotel was around 7:30am.Our first game was against Mumbai, who had a young team, with a few experienced players such as current Indian seamer Ajit Agarkar.Fortunately, I won the toss and we batted. Although we had a bad start as Richie (Mark Richardson) was run out in the first over. However, Matt Horne and myself rectified the situation with a healthy second wicket partnership, which saw Matt score 111 and myself 47. We ended up with 329 and I was a little nervous before we finally bowled Mumbai out for 319. A close call first up and we were glad to get through to the quarter-finals.We had a quiz night in between games for which the team has been divided into four groups of four. It is important to have regular social outings to keep everyone active on tour and take our minds away from cricket.After winning the toss for the second game we again batted first. It is so critical to bat first as you get to dictate the pace of the game, and have the opportunity to bat the opposition out of the game. We play well this game and score 474/8 declared. Hamish Marshall and myself score fine hundreds to set up the win.For me batting almost a full day in the heat and facing a fair amount of spin bowling and shining through with a hundred was very rewarding.As a team we decided that if you are a batsman and score in between 0-20, then that’s just bad luck, and you never got started.But, if you score between 21-99 then you are part of the problem as you have made a start and should go on to make a significant contribution to the team, which is 100-plus.As this is a NZ ‘A’ team, we are all trying to force our way into the Black Caps, and we know the only way to do this is by scoring heavily and making big hundreds. Nothing less will do.

ScorecardJake Carder pulls during his 58•Cricket Australia

Cricket Australia XI’s top order all chipped in with handy knocks, helping the team secure the lead against West Indians on the second day of the tour match in Brisbane.West Indians, who began the day precariously placed at 154 for 6, were led by Carlos Brathwaite’s patient 47, but received little by way of support from the other players, as the team eventually folded for 243. Medium-pacer Simon Milenko was the pick of the hosts’ bowlers, collecting 5 for 76, while James Bazley and Cameron Boyce shared two scalps apiece.CA XI began their reply positively, as the openers Jordan Silk and Jake Carder shared a 68-run partnership. Carder was the more aggressive foil of the two, stroking 58 off 77 balls, but both batsmen fell in quick succession of each other. The hosts, though, did not lose any momentum, as Nick Stevens (46) and Josh Inglis (44) kept the runs flowing by stringing together an 86-run partnership. Once again, CA XI lost two quick wickets, but once again, the visitors failed to make the most of their breakthroughs, as Jimmy Peirson and Matthew Short put up an unbroken stand of 52 to grab the lead. CA XI were 4 for 245 when stumps were called, leading by two runs.

Andy Bichel has continued his outstanding county season with a six-wicket haul against Justin Langer’s Somerset side. Bichel, 36, was one of several old hands who starred in another rain-affected round of first-class matches, claiming 6 for 63 to give Essex the edge in their draw at Taunton.It was his best bowling performance in three matches this year for Essex, where he had already found form with the bat by striking centuries in each of his first two games. Bichel’s victims included Langer for 24 and Cameron White for 1 as Somerset were bundled out for 153. White also recorded his finest bowling figures this season, taking 4 for 28 in Essex’s first innings of 282.Spectators at Chester-le-Street could have been forgiven for thinking the Durham-Hampshire clash was a veterans’ benefit match. Hampshire had Shane Warne, 37, and Shaun Udal, 38, spinning in tandem while the danger bowlers for Durham were Ottis Gibson, 38, and Paul Wiseman, 37.Gibson was unquestionably the hero, becoming the 79th bowler in first-class cricket to take all ten wickets in an innings. He collected 10 for 47 to reduce Hampshire to 115 in the first innings and Warne could only manage 2 for 56 in reply as Durham set the visitors a near-impossible 359 for victory. Wiseman chipped away at Hampshire and took 5 for 65 but Warne had some impact with the bat, scoring 50 to help his side escape with a draw at 9 for 262.There was another draw at Headingley, and it was another old-timer who outshone his younger friends. Darren Gough, 36, led Yorkshire with 6 for 50 as Surrey were dismissed for 229. Gough’s team-mate Jason Gillespie – a spring-chicken at 32 – took 1 for 52. Earlier, Matthew Nicholson had grabbed 4 for 85 in Yorkshire’s 307.Travis Birt finally scored his first half-century of the year for Derbyshire in their draw with Glamorgan at Derby. Birt, who now averages 22.90 from seven matches, made a brisk 70 from 75 balls in the second innings as the home side chased 276 from no more than 46 overs.Robert Croft made the chase impossible when he rattled through the top order and finished with 6 for 44 but Derbyshire clung on and reached 9 for 195. Derbyshire’s Australian-dominated top order had been entertaining in the first innings, when Michael Dighton made 43 from 40 deliveries and Simon Katich posted 42 from 45.

Daren Ganga will lead Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) in the Stanford 20/20 Tournament, which has a grand prize of US$1 million at stake. Ganga will have the services of West Indies team-mate, wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin, who almost inspired the West Indies to an unlikely victory in the fourth Test against India in Jamaica earlier this month.Discarded West Indies pacer Mervyn Dillon will also get an opportunity to shine for his country as he will be leading the T&T bowling attack, which also features allrounder Rayad Emrit and spinner Ken Hazel.The squad has a good balance of youth and experience, including newcomer Sean Siloch, who was vice-captain of the Presentation College Secondary Schools Cricket League championship team of 2000, which also featured opener Tishan Maraj. Siloch has also played a big part in the success of top National Cricket League club FCB Clarke Road United.The T&T team will also be strengthened with the return of former West Indies one-day specialist batsman Ricardo Powell, who is set to make his comeback after injury. West Indies Under-19 batsman and vice-captain William Perkins will be seeking to establish himself as a solid bat in the middle order after his exploits at the U-19 World Cup earlier this year.Kieron Pollard, another U-19 player, will get the chance to impress with his consistent batting and handy right-arm spin bowling. Pollard will be in action along with his team-mate, Mario Belcon, both members of the triumphant Trinidad and Tobago squad who captured the Under-19 Challenge last year. Other members of the national team include Shazam Babwah, Samuel Badree and Nicholas Ramjas, the offspinner.Trinidad and Tobago open their campaign against the Cayman Islands on July 25 in Antigua.Squad: Daren Ganga (capt), Sean Siloch, Ricardo Powell, Samuel Badree, Nicholas Ramjas, Mervyn Dillon, Denesh Ramdin (wk), William Perkins, Shazam Babwah, Kieron Pollard, Rayad Emrit, Ken Hazel, Mario Belcon
Manager – Omar Khan Coach – David WilliamsCricinfo adds:
Ricardo Powell and Rayad Emritt took T&T to a seven-wicket win over St Lucia in the second of two practice matches at the Beausejoir Stadium. Powell, who recently announced his return from injury and a self-imposed break from the game, made 48 and Emrit an unbeaten 54 as T&T chased down 116 for the loss of just three wickets in 13.5 overs. The two added 87 for the second wicket to get their side off to a perfect start ahead of the Stanford 20/20 tournament.

Over the past 12 months, Adam Gilchrist’s batting had subsided to such an extent that the only table he topped was the one for the most ducks – five. After scoring a cavalier century against a Zimbabwe team taken apart by the rampaging Matthew Hayden, nine subsequent Tests – starting with the draw against India at the Gabba last December – produced just 412 runs at 27.46, with only two thrilling innings in Sri Lanka, 144 and 80, revealing the true depth of his talent.When he came to India in 2001, Gilchrist was about to embark on a hot streak that would result in his name being mentioned alongside the most destructive batsmen to have ever played the game. And though Harbhajan Singh worked him over in the final two Tests of that gripping series, Gilchrist’s thrill-a-minute century at the Wankhede Stadium had helped Australia romp to victory inside three days.That was a truly exceptional innings. After Sachin Tendulkar’s one-man show had taken India to 176, Australia collapsed to 5 for 99 once Harbhajan had warmed his fingers. But Hayden, on the comeback trail and with everything to prove, and Gilchrist wrested the game from India’s grasp with a scintillating 197-run partnership, with Gilchrist’s effort a force-ten gale of sweeps, cuts and lofted drives that left opponents and fans open-mouthed.His century today may have come at a cracking pace, but had nothing of the devil-may-care approach that characterised that 84-ball evisceration. This was cool, considered, and utterly effective. The sweep, a shot that touring batsmen can sometimes be unduly obsessed with, wasn’t unveiled till he had made 87, and there were very few risky darts behind square.Instead, he cut and drove with tremendous fluency, clearing mid-on and mid-off with nonchalant flicks whenever he felt the need to puncture the bowlers’ confidence even further. And far from being weighed down by the cares of captaincy, Gilchrist appeared to thrive, shepherding a slightly jittery Michael Clarke past a memorable hundred on debut.But while the new order may have lit up the Australian batting – Gilchrist being the exception – it was the old guard to the fore as India’s best batsmen were decimated before stumps. Glenn McGrath has played only two Tests in the last 14 months, and after England’s batsmen had treated him with some disdain in the ICC Champions Trophy semi-final, there had been a few ignorant voices pronouncing his demise.

McGrath answered the snipers with relish, deceiving Aakash Chopra with one that darted back, and then getting rid of Rahul Dravid with a peach that eased between pad and tentative bat. Yuvraj’s statuesque waft completed a perfect afternoon’s work, and McGrath’s amazing figures on Indian soil – 19 wickets at 18.26 before this Test – might look even better come the end of the series.Shane Warne proved a point too. VVS Laxman had batted quite beautifully for his 31, flicking and driving Warne with the same panache that had precipitated the turnaround in Kolkata three years ago. But Warne toiled away manfully on a pitch that was only taking slow turn, and got the most prized wicket – Laxman has 965 in his last six Tests against Australia dating back to that Eden Gardens epic – with a ripping legbreak that was as good as anything Mike Gatting or Jacques Kallis were flummoxed by.But the two stalwarts of the old firm were both outshone by another – Michael Kasprowicz, whose story epitomises the virtues of perseverance. Virender Sehwag’s wicket might have been a bit of a gift, but the delivery that seamed away and lifted to take the edge of Sourav Ganguly’s bat was one of many corkers that he bowled in mid-afternoon. Never the speed gun’s favourite, Kasprowicz has been a sterling performer in subcontinental conditions because of his ability to swing and reverse-swing the ball while cutting it both ways off the seam.Such bowlers with a penchant for hard yakka, as Aussies like to call it, are rarely valued in this part of the world – where there is an increasing tendency to value hype and image over substance – but how India could have done with a Kasprowicz out there as Gilchrist and Clarke pushed them ever closer to the precipice.

It may be deep in the heart of football season, but Australia has a home Test cricket series less than a month away. And all is not well.Glenn McGrath has been a champion for so long that we’ve been taking him for granted. Wind him up and watch those ungainly limbs somehow coalesce to deliver 5 1/2 ounces of red leather in exactly the spot batsmen don’t like. Time after time. Never missing a beat; a chronometer among fast bowlers.For a decade McGrath has been Australia’s pre-eminent new-ball specialist, and by most reckonings one of the greatest bowlers of all time. The figures don’t lie. In 95 Tests he has taken 430 wickets – second only to Shane Warne (517) among Australians, and sixth on the all-time list. With five more wickets he will have only Muttiah Muralitharan, Courtney Walsh and Warne ahead of him.McGrath’s signature delivery is the one that lands at an awkward length in the so-called “corridor of uncertainty” just outside the line of off-stump. He’s not all that quick, but he’s relentless, and it is reflected in not only the number of wickets he has taken, but in the strike rate (52.0) and average (21.71), which are exceptional. Time, however, is the master of all cricketers. Especially fast bowlers.McGrath is 34. He has now delivered that bit of leather 32,314 times in Tests and one-dayers. The sheer physical work has taken its toll, particularly on his ankles. Previously renowned for being injury-proof, McGrath had surgery twice last year, and has missed Australia’s past nine Test matches.The growths on his ankle bone were obviously restricting him before he opted for the scalpel. In the five preceding Tests, McGrath’s returns were ordinary – 10 wickets at an average of more than 36. The last two of those matches were against Test bunnies Bangladesh. And compared to Jason Gillespie and Stuart MacGill, he struggled. Plainly, McGrath is no longer the bowler he was.The question is, can he regain his old form? He had hoped to use Australia’s recent tour to strife-torn Zimbabwe as the springboard back to the top. But the Tests were cancelled, and the tour was reduced to three meaningless one-day internationals and practice matches against third rate sides.McGrath flew home this week with a sum total of 37 African overs under his belt and a threadbare return of 2-110. He declared it useful, but it was hardly encouraging. By the third match he had suffered the indignity of being relegated to change bowler behind Gillespie and the resurgent Michael Kasprowicz.McGrath himself thought that was a fair call, but said he was happy that he had improved with every outing, and was “not too far away” from full form.”The last one-dayer it was starting to feel really good,” he said. “The rhythm was coming back then and I think that with another couple of matches, the zip and everything would have come back. I’ll try to keep bowling the next couple of weeks and then hopefully I’ll be ready to go.”Fast-bowling coach Geoff Lawson is among those who are not so sure, arguing that McGrath has problems with his technique. “Technically he’s still making some errors that we don’t normally see from him,” he said. “He’s been taking a big step in, in his delivery. When he runs straight through he’s much better.”Lawson said the flaw was restricting McGrath’s ability to get his right shoulder far enough around, which robs him of both speed and accuracy.”I’ve haven’t seen him bowl so many wide balls and short balls for a long time,” Lawson said. “It’s just not there. He’s getting poor figures against people who can’t play that well, and that has to be a worry.”While it is dangerous to read too much into a tour like Zimbabwe, McGrath has been back in action for four months and still the engine is spluttering.He’s played a couple of grade matches, a Pura Cup match, a NSW Second XI match and the four games in Zimbabwe, sending down more than 130 overs.And while he says there hasn’t been much “ouch” in his ankle, neither has there been any Ooh-Aah in his bowling. “McGrath’s a very hard trainer, Lawson explained, "but when you get to that age, injuries are so much harder to come back from."Next stop for McGrath is an indoor net at the Sydney Cricket Ground, then the Centre of Excellence in Brisbane. Net bowling is only part of the answer, and he knows it. So does Ricky Ponting.”It’s all about him getting his rhythm back in the middle,” Ponting said. “You can do as much bowling as you like in the nets, but it’s nowhere near as valuable as game practice is. He’s got a bit of work to do yet, but with 400-odd Test wickets to his name, I’m sure he’ll be back playing well again pretty soon.”When asked, Ponting said he expected to toss the new ball to McGrath when Australia plays Sri Lanka in Darwin on July 1. But only after an initial “maybe”. For the past 10 years there has been no maybe about it. Start of Test innings equals throw new ball to McGrath. No maybes. The skipper’s hesitation betrayed his concern.While in Zimbabwe, McGrath spoke of his ambition to reach 100 Tests, 500 wickets and to keep playing until the 2007 World Cup. It’s a tantalising thought, especially in days when cricketers are keen to extend their careers into their late 30s because they can earn sixand seven-figure sums a year.It may be all right for batsmen, but fast bowlers need to be exceptional to stand up to it. Which makes Courtney Walsh’s record all the more remarkable – he played well into his 39th year.In Zimbabwe, McGrath raised the prospect of winding back the speed, of mellowing into fast-medium in the style of Allan Donald, Dennis Lillee, and perhaps most effectively, Richard Hadlee. They substituted grunt for guile and continued to take quality wickets when age had stiffened their bones.McGrath, though, has never been an express bowler, and finds it difficult now to get much above 130kph. He is a more front-on style of bowler, and the transition might not be so easy.Gillespie, who has now assumed the mantle of Australia’s leading fast bowler, believes reports of McGrath’s demise as a new-ball bowler are premature.”He’s an opening bowler and he has been an opening bowler all his career,” Gillespie said. “No doubt, if the opportunity was there for him to have a different role he would embrace it and enjoy it. But I know he loves opening the bowling. It doesn’t bother me, he can open the bowling any time he likes.”

Glamorgan`s batsmen took full advantage of a good wicket and friendly bowling in amassing 434 in their first innings of the three day match against Cardiff UCCE at Sophia Gardens.Five of their batsmen made half-centuries, with only David Hemp missing out against the undergraduate attack. Steve James and Adrian Dale opened proceedings with a breezy partnership of 69 for the first wicket. Adrian Dale played some fluent strokes and showed no ill effects after his recent shoulder operation before being dismissed for 38.Steve James was equally quick to punish any loose deliveries, and the Glamorgan captain had made 81 in even time before he was caught behind.In the afternoon session Mike Powell and Matthew Maynard each made attractivehalf-centuries, and benefitted from time in the middle. Maynard top-scored with 92 from 101 balls, and his forthright innings contained 14 fours and 3 sixes.Wicket-keeper Mark Wallace also made a jaunty 55 from just 44 balls, and in thepost-tea session, Darren Thomas became the fifth Glamorgan batsman to pass thefifty mark before being last out for 57, as Glamorgan were bowled out for 434 in the 83rd over.The Cardiff students had reached 13 without loss from 8 overs before bad lightbrought an early end to the day`s play at six o`clock.

Just 24 hours after seeing his side triumph against Leicester in the Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy at Lord’s, Somerset Coach Kevin Shine told me, “This was a dream realised for the team. The atmosphere in the dressing room was electric. We are very proud for the players and very proud of what they have done for the club.”The coach went on, “Everything that we have done with them in training at the club came into play out in the middle. There were tough times out there but they won through which was very pleasing. We hope that we can use this as a launch pad for more success.”When I asked about the celebrations afterwards, the Coach told me, “To be honest the boys were very, very tired. On Friday they were nervous and tense, on Saturday out on the field they played their hearts out, so by the middle of the evening they flagged.”What about the National League game against Warwickshire on Monday I asked. He told me, “It’s going to be tough for them, but our job is to lift them for the tomorrow’s game.”The coach told me that the team for the game at Taunton tomorrow was likely to be the same as that which beat Surrey Lions in the floodlit game a fortnight ago. “There will be no Caddick nor Trescothick,” the coach said, “we wont see them again this season, which is a real shame, but there is nothing that we can do about it. We just have to dig deep, and go hard at the next two weeks.”

David Warner’s determination to post bigger scores is driven partly by the proliferation of flat pitches in Australia and around the world. On the morning he was dismissed for 253 after collaring 244* on day one of the WACA Test against New Zealand, Warner said flat pitches were necessitating his desire to bat for longer periods.Much comment has surrounded the WACA surface for this Test, with the ABC Grandstand commentator Jim Maxwell describing it as a “chief executive’s pitch”, and Tom Moody expressing his disappointment at its relative lack of pace and carry. While Warner said it would be wise to suspend judgment until Australia’s fast battery had bowled on the strip, he pointed out that friendly batting surfaces were pushing him to redefine his own approach.”The key factor here is the type of wickets we’re playing on, they’re nice and generous for batsmen, the bowlers are really going to have to work hard,” Warner told before the second day’s play. “That’s something we know in Australia as a batsman you really have to cash in, we’re fortunate enough to play on very good wickets, and around the world I think in general the wickets are pretty batter friendly today.”It [the pitch] was a bit disappointing, you see generally after lunch or even tea time it does quicken up, but it felt like it got a bit slower through the middle. The second new ball came through a little bit, but I think it also has something to do with their bowlers only reaching 130-135 and they’re quite tired. When we’ve got two bowlers at 140 plus, that’s when we can see if the wicket has actually fastened up. But generally pretty slow for a WACA wicket.”Friday was the first time Warner had managed to bat a full day in a Test match, after he went close on day one of the first game at the Gabba. Leaning heavily on singles and strike rotation with Joe Burns and then Usman Khawaja, Warner said his play had been dictated largely by the field settings of Brendon McCullum, who was notably more conservative than he had been in Brisbane.”It wasn’t really in the back of my mind to achieve that, it was more about trying to take the singles that were on offer, that allowed me to do that and achieve batting out the day for the team,” Warner said. “That’s what it comes down to, if the fields are a little bit more attacking you can play your shots a bit more and it might create the chances, there were odd occasions when Brendon did bring the field back in, but for us it was rotating that strike.”I really did enjoy it, putting another 100-run partnership on with Joe, but to go out with my childhood mate Ussie and see him and be out there and hug him for his hundred and our 300 partnership, our family will be so proud of that because we’ve grown up with each other, to be out there and put what we used to do when we played together as youngsters, to put it out here on the global scale is fantastic.”Warner described putting up a 300-plus partnership with his childhood mate Usman Khawaja as “fantastic”•Getty Images

Warner described some of the concentration battles he had fought across the day, which related mainly to his natural desire to hit out or premeditate shots once he was settled and the bowlers began to tire. “I think the battles come when you start predicting shots before the bowler’s bowled,” he said.”That’s one thing when you’re in and feel like you’re really in, you’ve got the second person in your mind actually talking to you. That’s the hardest thing about this game, when you’ve got so many singles on offer bring able to rotate the strike, the big shots are always in the back of your mind. When I was on 190 and BMac was on, I just felt like I could hit every ball for six, and that’s what happens in your mind.”Even with the spinner at the other end you’re thinking ‘how can I get to that 200 fast’ and that’s by hitting those big shots. But you still have to respect the bowler, and I was actually quite nervous when he came on to bowl, so I was hoping he put one in my half, which he did. I tried the little dinky shots down leg but they weren’t working either.”Since the start of the West Indies tour that preceded the Ashes, Warner has sworn off alcohol, something he said he was doing in part to be united with his pregnant wife Candice. However, he admitted he would ponder a beverage after this match, now that it has reaped his highest ever Test score.”A lot of that decision was to try to get through England and our summer, to give my body the best opportunity to get through the summer,” he said. “Also it helps when you’ve got your wife who’s seven months pregnant now, her not being able to have alcohol it’s more about myself setting a goal to see if I can go her full term with not having alcohol. Going well so far but I think I might need one after this game.”

More for Mascarenhas?
Dimitri Mascarenhas may return to the IPL for a second spell with the Rajasthan Royals at the end of May, according to Hampshire chairman Rod Bransgrove. Mascarenhas, who will be available to play from May 12 to 26, could come back if Rajasthan qualify for the semi-finals. “We’ll wait and see what the Royals do in the IPL and where we’re at before that’s discussed.” Bransgrove told the . “Things have worked out very well between us so far, they’ve been decent people to deal with.” Rajasthan are chasing a third successive win in Bangalore today.Orange country
Kumar Sangakkara, who cracked 94 off 56 balls to set up Kings XI Punjab’s 66-run win over the Mumbai Indians, received the orange cap for becoming the highest run-scorer of the tournament. Sangakkara has scored 168 runs at 56.00 with a strike-rate of 173.19. Rest assured, Brendon McCullum, behind by just five runs, will be keen on taking the cap back as the Kolkata Knight Riders square off against the Chennai Super Kings in game one of a Saturday double bill.