What a wake-up call! Two Jamaican fast bowlers are learning some of the finer points of their craft from an Australian at India’s pace academy. It’s like the ladies at the breakfast shed travelling to Moscow to get certification from a Moroccan on how to make a decent callaloo.This is the reality of West Indies cricket. It doesn’t really matter whether the Stanford 20/20 is staged again next year, the year after that or ever again. It makes no fundamental difference to the state of the game in the region whether the money-spinning Super Stars showdown with South Africa comes off any time in the foreseeable future.Ken Gordon and Dinanath Ramnarine can sign off on MOUs, agreements and procedural protocols till they run out of ink and the situation will remain the same. Former players can fall out with administrators, and vice-versa, and all we will have at the end of the day is more bacchanal to sir into the mix.The fact that Jermaine Lawson and Andrew Richardson are benefiting from the tutelage of Dennis Lillee in Chennai is not in itself reason for alarm. No one in the Caribbean should be so swell-headed as to believe that it is a step down to learn from others about fast bowling, especially from someone so accomplished as Lillee, a man generally accepted to be one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time.Nor should we be holding our noses at our players seeking to brush up on their technique by journeying to India, a country that, before the advent of Kapil Dev almost 30 years ago, seemed to consider fast or medium-fast bowlers as the human equivalent of sandpaper.What this reality reinforces, however, is that other nations are well advanced in their recognition of the need to implement effective systems, along with importing the necessary expertise, to literally get up to speed with the requirements of the modern game.The likes of S Sreesanth, Munaf Patel, Irfan Pathan and RP Singh may be a poor imitation of the fearsome Holding, Roberts, Croft and Garner, but the point is that Indian cricket is progressing significantly in one aspect of the game that they previously ignored altogether. And, of course, we don’t need any reminding of who won the decisive final Test just over two months ago on a “result” pitch at Sabina Park.To suggest that bringing an end to two years of bitter disputes between the West Indies Board and the Players’ Association with some words on sheets of paper, or trumpeting that the glitz, the money and the organisational efficiency of the Stanford Twenty20 have put our cricket back on track are utter foolishness.Just in case anyone forgot, West Indies were at the bottom of the ladder among established Test-playing nations before all of these threats and stand-offs began. The confrontational climate certainly would not have helped the situation, but the fractious arguments didn’t trigger the decline.Ironically, it was just as WIPA was starting to rumble that Brian Lara captained the regional side to a remarkable Champions’ Trophy triumph in London almost exactly two years ago. Now, in his third stint at the helm, Lara leads the Caribbean squad on a three-month journey through Asia that I expect will underline why we should be one of the favourites to lift the World Cup in our own backyard next year, although a potential downside is that we will also again realise how far behind we are in the longer version of the game.Put aside the embarrassment of having to qualify for a competition in which we are defending champions, and the upcoming schedule offers real possibilities to solidify a limited-over squad that performed so impressively against the Indians in the Caribbean earlier this year. A potential 18 one-day internationals, from Kuala Lumpur next Tuesday to Karachi on December 16, represent an ideal proving ground to not only fine-tune skills and tactics, but, more importantly in the context of the West Indian psyche, to build momentum and confidence in the countdown to the World Cup.Yet along with all of that fast-paced action, there is a three-Test series in Pakistan where we will get a true appreciation of how far we have to go to get back to being consistently competitive in what is still the ultimate proving ground in cricket. Even in the heyday of the pace quartets and the great batsmen, the West Indies struggled to win in Pakistan, so expecting a series win, or even a draw now seems decidedly unrealistic.But, more important than the actual results will be how these talented but still inconsistent cricketers play the longer version of the game. There is no question that the talent is there, however it is the attention span that remains the greatest challenge to captain, coach and the individual players themselves. The shorter the game, the better we are. Bowl with discipline, bat brilliantly, field spectacularly, we can do all of that. But sustaining that effort for session after session, day after day remains an elusive quality collectively.Given the current trends in our cricket, this is more than likely to be an Asian adventure of mixed returns, underlining why, for all of the God-given ability, we probably need to take more of our players away from their comfort zones-to Chennai or elsewhere-to re-learn the disciplines that once seemed to come so naturally.

Kenya have only brought in one new face for their series of three one-day matches against an Australian Academy side at Nairobi Gymkhana starting today.Rakheb Patel, a 17 year-old allrounder, was drafted into the 14-man squad after good performances in the Nairobi league. But three of those who were in the side for the recent Bangladesh series – Brijal Patel, Jimmy Kamande and Timothy Muange – were dropped.Also returning are Alfred Luseno, probably Kenya’s fastest bowler, who has missed recent matches because of a shoulder injury, and Nehemiah Odhiambo and Kalpesh Patel.Kenya’s selectors will be watching the top-order performances particularly as it is those that caused so much trouble in recent matches.The second and third matches take place at the same venue at the weekend.

Scorecard
How they were out

India Blue rode on a batting masterclass by Sachin Tendulkar to thrash the Greens by a massive 266 runs and assure themselves of a place in the final of the Challenger Trophy. Tendulkar set the Blues up for a massive total, blazing his way to a 100-ball 139, while Irfan Pathan, Rahul Dravid and Mahendra Singh Dhoni all chipped in with half-centuries in quick time. Chasing an improbable 382, the Greens were never in the hunt and crumbled to a measly 115 in less than 27 overs, in the process handing India Blue victory with the all-important bonus point.The story of the day was Tendulkar. He has already notched up four Test hundreds at this ground, and today he continued his love affair with the MA Chidambaram Stadium, toying with the bowling and charming the crowd with a quite dazzling display of strokes all round the park, creaming 20 fours and four sixes, almost all of them struck with a precision, timing and authority that had the holiday crowd in raptures. In fact, the Blues got 236 runs in boundaries alone (35 fours and 16 sixes), far more than the opposition managed in all.The fall of an early wicket – Tanmay Srivastava, a 16-year-old left-hander drafted in from the Green squad, fell third ball – prompted Tendulkar to exercise caution up front, with his first 14 coming off 24 balls. Pathan did most of the damage at that stage, but once Tendulkar wassatisfied that he had got his eye in, there was no doubt who held centrestage. On an excellent batting strip which offered no seam or spin, there was little that India Green’s modest attack could do.The fun started in the 11th over of the day, when Lakshmipathy Balaji, attempting a comeback into the national team and buoyed by his first-over success here, bowled one perfectly in the corridor on a good length, only to see Tendulkar caress the ball on the up through cover. That over produced a couple more fours, and thereafter it was mayhem, as Tendulkar unfurled his entire range. Nehra was driven on the up with minimum effort, and then gently caressed past point, while Praveen Kumar’s modest pace gave Tendulkar plenty of time to either shuffle across his stumps and flick to leg, or make room and drive through off. The one bowler who felt it the most, though, was Piyush Chawla.In the last edition of the tournament, Chawla had nailed Tendulkar with a googly. But here it was revenge time. Chawla wasn’t helped by some reckless captaincy by Mohammad Kaif, who brought him into the attack at the start of the third Powerplay. Tendulkar deposited a six over long-on to get to his fifty, and then got 14 more in the next three balls, including a glorious inside-out cover-drive and another down-the-pitch hoick over long-on. As if that wasn’t enough, Chawla was then slog-swept and reverse-swept off consecutive deliveries as Tendulkar went into overdrive. Kaif was soon forced to turn to his part-timers, which for Tendulkar meant more opportunities to find the boundaries, by conventional and unconventional means. He finally fell to Saurasish Lahiri, the Bengal offspinner, but by then India Blue were going at more than seven an over.

While Tendulkar played the key knock, the rest of the batting all chipped in. Pathan played a crucial role at the start, tonking a couple of huge sixes over long-on and third man and playing the No.3 role to perfection; Rahul Dravid settled in while Tendulkar blazed, and then spanked Lahiri for three sixes en route to a run-a-ball 62, while Dhoni applied the finishing touches to perfection, being chiefly instrumental in ensuring that 109 came off the last ten. Praveen, the birthday boy, and Balaji were carted for boundaries almost at will as India Blue finished with the third-highest total ever made in a one-day match in India.The only hope for India Green was a blazing start, but both Sourav Ganguly and Wasim Jaffer fell before they got into their stride. Ganguly, in need of a big knock to stake his claim for a national berth, began with three glorious silken drives through the off side, while Jaffer played a coupleof pleasing drives, but the runs still only came at around five an over. With the asking-rate mounting, the batsmen attempted more strokes, and fell in the process.Jaffer led the procession, falling in a manner that has been his undoing in international cricket too, square-driving a delivery which bounced more than he anticipated. Ganguly, who had been cheered enthusiastically throughout in the field earlier this afternoon, perished next for a 30-ball 24, cutting tamely to backward point. Suresh Raina and Mohammad Kaif, who both fell for ducks, played strokes they wouldn’t want to see the replays of. In fact it was the forgettable day for the five Uttar Pradesh batsmen, who combined a total of four runs. Parthiv Patel battled it out with a fluent 43, driving and cutting with panache before tamely tickling one to the keeper. The rest of the batting was a complete shambles, allowing Harbhajan Singh to help himself to flattering figures of 4 for 10.

India Blue
Tanmay Srivastava c Jaffer b Balaji 0 (2 for 1)
Irfan Pathan c Lahiri b Chawla 54 (132 for 2)
Sachin Tendulkar c Kaif b Lahiri 139 (226 for 3)
Rahul Dravid c Ganguly b Nehra 62 (286 for 4)
Yuvraj Singh c Chawla b Kumar 19 (326 for 5)
Dinesh Mongia c Kaif b Balaji 1 (328 for 6)
India Green
Wasim Jaffer c sub (Jadeja) b Munaf 12 (31 for 1)
Sourav Ganguly c sub (Jadeja) b Munaf 24 (48 for 2)
Suresh Raina c Harbhajan b Pathan 0 (52 for 3)
Mohammad Kaif c Mongia b Pathan 0 (55 for 4)
Parthiv Patel c Dhoni b Harbhajan 43 (88 for 5)
Praveen Kumar st Dhoni b Harbhajan 0 (88 for 6)
Saurasish Lahiri run out (Pathan/ Dhoni) 2 (91 for 7)
Piyush Chawla c Patel b Harbhajan 2 (100 for 8)
Hemang Badani c Agarkar b Mongia 16 (109 for 9)
Ashish Nehra c Yuvraj b Harbhajan 0 (113 all out)

ScorecardKenya dominated the first day of their ICC Intercontinental Cup tie against Bermuda, bowling them out for 133, and then finishing on 119 for 3. Thomas Odoyo got his third five-wicket haul in first-class cricket as he ripped through the Bermuda batting line-up.In the first seven overs Bermuda lost three wickets, all courtesy Odoyo, with just 16 runs on the board. A 32-run partnership between Clay Smith and Saleem Mukkudem seemed to steady things a bit but two more wickets fell by the time the score reached 50. Wickets continued to fall at regular intervals and another brief attempt to revive the innings was thwarted by Odoyo when he got Dean Minors, the top-scorer for Bermuda, trapped leg before for 28. Nehemiah Odhiambo and Hiren Varaiya, a slow-left arm bowler, chipped in with a couple of wickets each, and though the last two wickets hung on to add 39, Bermuda were bowled out in just 59 overs.Kenya slumped 61 for 3, with Mukkudem taking all three wickets, but Steve Tikolo scored an unbeaten 45 and added 63 for the fourth wicket withTanmay Mishra to steady the innings as Kenya ended the day just 14 short of Bermuda’s total.

Scorecard

Gerard Denton rattled Queensland with 6 for 62 but a 128-run partnership for the ninth wicket helped the Bulls limit the damage in their Pura Cup match against Victoria at the MCG. Queensland were in desperate trouble at 6 for 52 in the first session before the Bushrangers struggled to finish them off and allowed Ashley Noffke and Mitchell Johnson to pile on the runs in their ninth-wicket stand.The Bulls, who had chosen to bat, avoided the very real prospect of being bowled out before tea and pushed their score to 272, giving Victoria the chance to reach 0 for 39 at stumps. Noffke passed fifty for the eighth time in his career, bringing up the milestone from just 45 deliveries and making the Bushrangers pay after Jon Moss put down a tough one-handed chance at point when Noffke was on 6. He then played a more steady role and finished unbeaten on 81 from 143 balls, including 13 fours. Johnson earned his highest first-class score of 54 as the pair took the total from 8 for 140 to 9 for 268.In a dramatic morning session first Denton then Andrew McDonald ploughed through the Queensland top order. Denton’s first spell of seven overs included six maidens and gave him 3 for 3. He had Lachlan Stevens bowled for 3 in his first over, Martin Love trapped lbw for 2 in his second and Jimmy Maher lbw for 14 in his seventh.Just when Andrew Symonds appeared to be steadying the ship, McDonald tore through his partners with three wickets in the space of four balls. Like Denton, McDonald proved the old adage that if the batsman misses the bowler should hit, as he had Clinton Perren (3) and James Hopes (0) lbw from successive balls and Chris Hartley bowled for 0.Symonds was the only one of Queensland’s specialist batsmen who looked remotely comfortable, but he struggled to time the ball and opened his shoulders only occasionally on his way to 62. His 68-run partnership with Andy Bichel (33) put the Bulls back on track until both batsmen were dismissed before tea.

Scorecard

South Australia’s poor season continued as they failed to reach the 193 required to take first-innings points against Queensland at Adelaide Oval. The Redbacks crashed to be all out for 171 and by stumps had allowed the Bulls to skip away to a 159-run lead thanks to a Clinton Perren half-century.South Australia’s batting continued to look fragile – only Darren Lehmann and Shane Deitz have scored centuries this season – as the Queensland bowlers all chipped in to defend their small total. Deitz was again the shining light with 51 batting at No. 8 but he had little support.The home side were proceeding nicely at 1 for 39 but three wickets in the space of four overs put the Bulls back on top. Ashley Noffke recorded the best figures of 3 for 48, while Shane Watson, Andy Bichel and Mitchell Johnson made two breakthroughs each. But the news was not so good for the visitors when Watson left the field after bowling three overs, having re-injured his left hamstring.Queensland, whose key batsmen have also struggled recently, found form in the second innings as Perren and Jimmy Maher added 128 for the second wicket. Perren’s 78 not out was only his second half-century in nine innings this season, while Maher fell just before stumps for 49, one short of his first fifty in 2006-07.

Iqbal Qasim, the former Pakistan left-arm spinner and current national selector, was admitted to hospital over the holidays in Pakistan, following a heart attack.Qasim was admitted on Sunday, but family sources told a newspaper that he was now in stable condition after an angioplasty. “Iqbal is making a steady recovery and is held in the hospital because of chest infection.”Qasim played the last of his 50 Tests in 1988-89, against Australia, eventually ending with 171 wickets. He remains the most successful of Pakistan’s left-arm spinners though missed out on a number of Tests in his career as Abdul Qadir’s legspin was generally favoured.He has since retirement worked in several coaching positions and is currently employed as head of sports for National Bank of Pakistan. He has been serving on the national selection committee, headed by Wasim Bari, for the past four years along with Ehteshamuddin.

Gold League
Rawalpindi reached the top of the Gold League table with 21 points after they beat Faisalabad by 232 runs in their fourth-round Quaid-e-Azam Trophy Cricket Championship Gold League match at the Iqbal Stadium in Faisalabad.Resuming at their overnight score of 277 for 8, Rawalpindi, who have never won the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, added only eight more before being bowled out. Faisalabad, chasing 337, were bowled out for 104 in 32.5 overs with no batsman scoring even 20. Sohail Tanvir got 4 for 24 and ended with a match haul of 7 for 73. Najaf Shah and Yasir Arafat got three each and both ended with six for the match.Rawalpindi displaced Peshawar from the first position after Peshawar succumbed to a two-wicket defeat to Sialkot on January 26. Faisalabad remained at the bottom of the table with no points from their three matches.Rawalpindi will next play Karachi Urban at the National Stadium Karachi while Faisalabad will host Peshawar in the fifth round of the tournament starting February 1.A stubborn display by the Lahore Shalimar batsmen, coupled with poor light conditions, deprived Karachi Harbour of an outright victory as their match came to a draw on the final day at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore.Lahore Shalimar were set a target of 383 and were 44 for no loss at the end of day three. But only 31.4 overs of play were possible on the final day and Lahore Shalimar ended at 176 for 3.The opening stand between Humayun Farhat and Ahmed Shehzad powered Lahore Shalimar to a 107-run start. Farhat hammered 59 off 61 balls with nine fours and a six while Shehzad made 42 off 77 balls with eight fours.Atif Maqbool got 2 for 71 with his offbreaks and Aamer Sajjad (35) was at the crease along with Arsalan Mir (11) when stumps were drawn.Karachi Harbour managed three points having gained a lead in the first innings. This takes their overall tally to 12 after four matches placing them fourth in the seven-team points table. A win would have given them nine points which would have enhanced their total to 18 and put them on par with Peshawar at second place.Silver League
A seventh-wicket partnership of 108 between Bilal Khilji and Kamran Hussain helped Multan earn a creditable draw against Abbottabadin their Silver League match at the Multan Cricket Stadium.Set a target of 321 Multan had made 71 for 3 at the end of day three. On the final day they batted just short of 86 overs and lost nine wickets to reach 291 at stumps.But a draw meant that Abbottabad had to be content with only the three points for gaining a first-innings lead. Multan, meanwhile, stay at the second spot in the table with 21 points to their credit.Kashif Naved, unbeaten overnight at 31, set the tempo for Multan’s fight for survival contributing 65 off 109 balls. Then, from 142 for 6, Khilji and Hussain pulled them out of trouble. Khilji remained unbeaten on 73 batting for almost four and a half hours while Hussain hit 51 off 100 balls.Sajid Shah, Abbottabad’s right-arm fast-medium bowler, took 3 for 52 that gave him a match haul of 9 for 100. Junaid Khan chipped in with three for 51 with his left-arm medium-fast bowling. Multan, who were demoted from the Gold League last season, must win against Islamabad in the fifth round at Diamond Club Ground in Islamabad if they are to make the Silver League final against the same side.

At least there’s no danger now of peaking too soon in the countdown to the World Cup.A run of seven losses in the last nine one-day internationals – sealed by the 160-run mauling at the hands of the apparently-resurgent Indians in Vadodara – has severely dented a lot of the bravado and confident expectations of home team glory come April 28 at the new Kensington Oval.In keeping with the wildly fluctuating moods of fans in the region, and indeed many passionate followers of the game around the globe, the side that was being hailed three months ago as a genuine chance to lift the World Cup on home soil is now being rubbished at every turn. That volatility is the same in the considerably larger theatre of Indian cricket, where there seemed a genuine sense of hopelessness following the tour of South Africa. Yet, judging by the bubbling enthusiasm in the glow of the 3-1 series win over West Indies, the general impression is that everything is now back on track.Just as Brian Lara’s freakish run out dismissal at the non-striker’s end typified the decline in West Indian fortunes, Sachin Tendulkar’s blazing assault on the way to a 41st ODI hundred has given new life to millions of fans on the subcontinent who fluctuate from misery to merriment depending on the form of their hero.Not surprisingly, the emotive responses from Kolkata to Kingston are excessive. Indeed, the degree to which both sets of fans and media indulge in triumphalist celebrations at the faintest hint of success merely guarantees that the weeping and wailing will be equally extreme when things go wrong.

It’s the same everywhere. England’s indulgent glorifying at reclaiming the Ashes in September 2005 has been counter-balanced by the vitriol generated by a disastrous tour of Australia. The Australians, for their part, are now being accused of going over the top in trumpeting revenge over the old enemy mere months after pulling out the long knives for Ricky Ponting and company. So it has been, so it will be. And so you just try to pick sense from nonsense and seek, as objectively as possible, to assess strengths, weaknesses and the way forward in the six weeks leading up to the opening World Cup match against Pakistan at Sabina Park.A team that could annihilate South Africa in the semi-finals of the Champions Trophy, defeat Australia twice in consecutive tournaments and get the better of India in six of eight matches before this latest series doesn’t just transform into a collection of bumbling incompetents overnight, even if it may appear that way.If the capitulation two days ago suggests that all is lost, keep in mind that a combined 34 runs was the difference between victory and defeat in the first two matches, while a late stumble in the successful run-chase in the penultimate fixture only took some of the gloss off the pursuit. This is not a question so much of ability as focus, hence the infuriating inconsistency. We’ve been waiting 12 years now for that to change. Expecting a wholesale transformation in less than two months is a bit on the unrealistic side of the equation, even with the revered Clive Lloyd now back as team manager (the official title of Team Co-ordinator is just a waste of four extra letters and a hyphen to say the same thing).We essentially have to make the most with what we’ve got, and let us not pretend that there is not the proven performance to keep the flames of hope from being extinguished completely.

In Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Chris Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Lara and Marlon Samuels, the West Indies have a top five to match any team in the world, not merely on the basis of potential or exaggerated expectations, but runs, and in the case of Gayle and Samuels, decent bowling spells as well. Denesh Ramdin may seem to be under pressure, but that is of his own making. It’s not as if he hasn’t already excelled at the very highest level, so the challenge is his-no-one else’s-to return to his best and stay there for the foreseeable future. The previous two sentences also apply precisely to Dwayne Bravo, so just replace “wicketkeeper-batsman” with “all-rounder” because I’m running out of space.On the bowling side, apart from the options provided by Bravo, Gayle, Samuels and even Sarwan, opening bowlers Ian Bradshaw and Jerome Taylor showed throughout much of 2006 that they can be relied upon to keep even the most rampant opponents in check more often than not. One or two wayward spells here and there can’t change that reality.That’s nine players. Make it ten if Dwayne Smith is retained for his useful bowling and brilliant all-round fielding only, because relying on anything from his batting is like expecting every World Cup venue to be 100% ready by the time the first ball is bowled. On this basis, only one spot remains to complete an 11, with a further four to finalise a 15-man squad. That is enough to guarantee all sorts of emotive speculation over the next few days, enough for the uninitiated to feel that the sky is falling on West Indian cricket.Maybe it will, but then again, there is the chance that it won’t. It is that chance that keeps us celebrating, agonising and coming back for more.

Stephen Fleming said New Zealand’s task of remaining in form for six weeks would be a challenge but the length of the World Cup meant no side would go through undefeated. Bangladesh upset New Zealand in their opening warm-up game but Fleming and Lou Vincent led the team to a good win over Sri Lanka three days later.Fleming said following on from New Zealand’s unprecedented 3-0 victory over Australia in the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy, the loss to Bangladesh served as a wake-up call. “What it does show is we can’t afford to have a good week here and there – we have to be on song for two months and that’s always been a challenge for this side,” Fleming told .”You have to come down a little bit to come back and the Bangladesh loss did that,” Fleming said. “If we hadn’t bounced back and beat Sri Lanka, who are close to favourites, I’d be concerned, but we did so I’m looking forward.”Fleming said the Super Eights format would mean it was even harder for a team to win the tournament without dropping a game than in 2003. However, in that World Cup, Australia won all of their 11 matches and this year, a side would also need to win 11 to have a perfect record.”The winner here is going to lose games,” Fleming said in . “Form at the right time, winning key moments and key games will be crucial.”He said Australia’s five straight losses leading up to the Caribbean proved there were “no clear favourites”. “[The Chappell-Hadlee series] gave us the confidence that we needed,” Fleming said. “We were doing a lot of things both on and off the field which were spot-on but the performances on weren’t reflecting that.”New Zealand begin their World Cup campaign on Friday when they meet England in St Lucia. Peter Fulton, the batsman who broke his little finger in the warm-up game against Sri Lanka, was optimistic he could play on Friday if required.