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The encomiums flowed for Sachin Tendulkar after his 141 nearly allowed India to chase a target of 330 at Rawalpindi. Writing for Press Trust of India, Rashid Latif called Tendulkar cricket’s "Kohinoor[diamond]", and the best batsman he had ever seen. "Time and again I thought, has there been a better batsman I have seen in my life? I couldn’t think of anyone, not even Viv Richards," wrote Latif."Tendulkar’s genius was apparent in the way he made adjustments in his batting, and that’s why he is Tendulkar and not Virender Sehwag. While Sehwag doesn’t make any attempt to understand the bowlers’ strategy, Tendulkar sizes up the situation instantly … A pure genius. We are very fortunate to have been born in the same era as Tendulkar and watched him in action."* * *Pakistan dailies have alleged that the Indian camp is resorting to mind games to get the better of Pakistan. In a piece titled "Fired-up Pakistan avenge Karachi defeat" The News said that the Indians had deliberately mislead the opposition into thinking that Ashish Nehra would not play at Rawalpindi. "One wonders what kind of medicine the Indian team has invented that saw Nehra getting fit in hours rather than days… [It] was just a stunt that aims at playing with the minds of opponents." On the same subject, The Nation said: "Indian trick turns into reality as Nehra is out for a week". (Nehra split a webbing on his hand during the Rawalpindi and has been ruled out for a week.)Ganguly’s comment about Shoaib Akhtar’s action didn’t go down well with the Pakistani media either. In a piece titled `Pakistan prepare to tackle Ganguly’s mind games, The News quotes a Pakistan team official as saying: “We know that the Indians have been behind a whisper campaign about Shoaib’s action being under scrutiny in this series by the umpires and match referee through their media corps. We realise it is all a ploy to start a controversy in the press about Shoaib’s bowling action and try to put him under pressure and disturb him in this series as he is a potential match-winner. But he is ready for such a situation.”The article even alleged that Ganguly had deliberately asked an Indian journalist to question him on the over-rate issue after the Karachi match, so that he could hit out at the ICC’s system of only fining the errant team, and not docking overs.* * *Meanwhile, the post-mortem into the Rawalpindi match continued, and The Times of India came up with a novel reason for India’s defeat: the boring diet of their players. The daily reports that the Indians had daal [lentil] soup, and then chose between Italian pasta with sauce or plain rice with daal, with "boring boiled vegetables", mashed potatoes and vegetarian sandwiches. The Pakistanis, on the other hand, tucked away into plenty of chicken and mutton, with some ras malai [milk-based dessert] thrown in as well. The newspaper also spoke to Zahid Rasool Hasmi, the catering head of the Marriott Hotel, where the two teams were putting up. "We had nothing to do with it [the menu], the Indian team management wanted it."* * *The News, a Pakistan daily, says that the reason Mohammad Sami and Shoaib Akhtar were more effective at Rawalpindi was because they followed Imran Khan’s advice. Imran, says the newspaper, gave the two fast bowlers a simple suggestion: “Just go out and attack the batsmen. Don’t worry about the runs or the extras."The daily quotes a source from the Pakistan team as saying: “He [Imran] felt that Shoaib and Sami were struggling because they were in two minds [about] whether to attack the batsmen or contain the runs.” Sami had conceded 74 runs at Karachi, but came up with superb figures of 3 for 41 at Rawalpindi, while Shoaib took 3 for 49 in that game.

Nothing is straightforward where Zimbabwean cricket is concerned these days. Less than 24 hours after three of the current new-look Zimbabwe side issued a public denial of weekend reports that they were planning on joining the banned rebels, a local journalist has claimed that the three only did so under duress.On Sunday, several media outlets carried articles suggesting that Dion Ebrahim, Douglas Hondo and Mluleki Nkala were all on the verge of withdrawing from the Zimbabwe squad.On Monday, the Zimbabwe Cricket Union issued a statement on behalf of the three, which concluded: “We the undersigned have no intention of boycotting or pulling out of the squad. We are proud to be selected and will fulfil our commitment to Zimbabwe cricket.”But the local pressman, who does not wish to be named, overheard a heated exchange in the team’s hotel on Monday which left him “convinced that [the players] were forced to make the statement”.He apparently witnessed Stephen Mangongo, Zimbabwe’s new convenor of selectors, shouting at Hondo. “You are being stupid,” he yelled. “How can you side with those white racists?”Mangongo, a known pro-Mugabe hardliner, is a key official at Takashinga, a club closely linked with the drive for more black players in the Zimbabwe game. An administrator of Asian descent met him last week, and the conversation is quoted in today’s Guardian. “When this whole Streak issue came up, Stephen looked at me and demanded, ‘Are you with the whites or the blacks? You guys must decide’.”There is also confusion surrounding the relationship between Dion and Maqsood Ebrahim. The ZCU statement claimed it was “untrue and false” that the two were related. But that doesn’t tally with what Dion Ebrahim has said in the past. “I once spoke to Dion Ebrahim and he told me that he is related to Maqsood Ebrahim,” said a local source. “He said Maqsood is his uncle, and now I am shocked that he is denying it.”The demoralising effect events are having on Zimbabwe’s cricketers was highlighted by comments from one of their up-and-coming players (who again, for obvious reasons, didn’t want to be named).”It’s so sad it has come to this,” he said. “I remember when I was 12 or 13, watching a Test match from the nets at the Harare Sports Club and looking at the players on the field, wishing … hoping that one day I would have the honour of playing for my country and wearing the prized baggy green. My Test cap sits at home now: whether I will have the pleasure of donning it once again is uncertain.”Why can’t I just play cricket and fulfil a lifelong dream of one day walking off the field for the last time while the sun goes down at the Sports Club, take my cap off and leave because it’s my time … Sit in the changing-room and say farewell to all my friends who too have fought for the honour to wear and fight under the baggy green. What a nightmare this is for all of us.”

WeatherTwo series are currently showing the best and worst of international cricket. While Pakistan and India share a competitive contest that improves international relations, South Africa is crushing and cursing Zimbabwe. New Zealand’s hosting of Australia falls on the downside: it won’t be a farce, but please hurry up and finish it.There are a couple of hurdles that make this three-Test affair a stop-off rather than the destination. For Australia the Ashes are smouldering and July’s events were more of a discussion point in the departure lounge before this tour began. New Zealand are also looking ahead to Sri Lanka’s return and two matches they could win. The same prognosis is unlikely even in their Christchurch dressing-room when the opening Test begins on Thursday.The Kiwis were supposed to resist Australia in the top-of-the-world one-day series before being grounded 5-0. Sri Lanka’s tour, postponed because of the tsunami, was meant to build confidence before Australia arrived. Instead it will probably be needed to restore it once they leave.Another problem affecting the billing is the familiarity of the teams. The neighbours have spent most of the season in each other’s backyard, and the relationship is gratingly predictable. They went on road trips to Tests at Brisbane and Adelaide in November, then faced three one-day invitations for the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy. The short games strengthened the relationship and forged great expectations for the reciprocal visit.Now the closely-matched friends are struggling acquaintances who can’t help but pick arguments. They have another three more weeks in close proximity. It is a compelling reason for Test schedules to avoid home-and-away series in the same season.The Australians have copied Homer Simpson and enjoyed the hospitality too much, giving their opponents nothing in return. They gatecrashed the Twenty20 wearing comparatively lame costumes; they made New Zealand suffer through their first five-match clean sweep on their beautiful grounds; they have sent batsmen to ruin figures of any vaguely promising recruit; and delivered Brett Lee on Michael Papps and Brendon McCullum. And to add insult to those injuries, Lee has been deemed surplus to requirements for this Test – he’ll need to do more than clatter batsmen on the helmet to usurp Mike Kasprowicz.Stephen Fleming was so fed up with answering questions about Australia that he banned talk of them at his press-conference table. Instead he has made jokes about his desperate injury situation and the search for replacements. “Anyone wearing whites or coloured clothes is in the frame at the moment,” Fleming said during the crisis.The coach has tried mixing wacky humour with bizarre ploys that successfully rile the Australians. Like a father trying to stay fashionable in his children’s eyes, John Bracewell attempts zany methods of protection from the bullies. He has succeeded in deflecting the attention from his players by becoming the main figure of mocking. The former gravedigger may be preparing his own. His plans have stayed the same – the results have become worse.While the one-day series was a mismatch between Nos. 1 and 2, the Tests pit the world champions against a seventh-ranked team already well below top health. Seven serious contenders were unavailable for the first Test with injury and New Zealand’s best hope is for Australia to think too much about Lord’s and Edgbaston and not enough about Martin, Franklin, Marshall and Cumming.

Similar slips happened in 1999-2000, when their batting was in trouble in each Test on seaming pitches, but they recovered in the middle of an amazing 16-Test winning streak. Damien Martyn returned to the side after a lengthy absence on that trip and has grown into a treasured batsman. His role will again be important if Chris Martin or James Franklin manage to send a shudder through Hayden, Langer or Ponting.The countries have played only 19 Tests in the Shaky Isles and New Zealand are well placed with five wins, the last coming four Tests ago in 1992-93 when Danny Morrison and Dipak Patel bowled them to victory and Martyn scored 1 and 74. The more relevant matches are the two in Australia four months ago, when New Zealand lost by an innings and 156 runs at the Gabba and 213 runs at Adelaide Oval. Four players – Mark Richardson (retired), Mathew Sinclair (poor form), Scott Styris and Jacob Oram (both injured) – are missing from the outfit that approached full strength, and Daniel Vettori and Nathan Astle are fighting uncomfortable injuries.Australia’s concerns ended when Matthew Hayden was passed fit from a shoulder problem, but fatigue could become a factor. Both teams have been running since September’s Champions Trophy in England, although the Kiwis had a midsummer’s break when the Sri Lankans returned home. It’s a potentially small opening that should make no difference, but the undermanned, overwhelmed neighbour must irritate any scratch in the hope of sending their familiar rivals packing.Peter English is Australasian editor of Cricinfo.

ScorecardGloucestershire built a useful lead over Bangladesh A by the close of the second day despite Tushar Imran’s 119 giving Bangladesh a slender advantage on first innings. Phil Weston provided the backbone to Gloucestershire’s second innings with a workmanlike 63.Starting the day on 98 for 3, Tushar and Alok Kapali, the overnight batsmen, extended their partnership to 122. Kapali struck 12 boundaries in his 105-ball 59 before he was trapped lbw by Malinga Bandara, the Sri Lankan legspinner, who is filling one of Gloucestershire’s overseas slots while Upul Chandana is on international duty.Bangladesh then encountered the unknown quantity of William Rudge, a 22-year-old medium pacer bowler making his first-class debut. He snapped up three quick wickets – including Mushfiqur Rahim, the young wicketkeeper-batsmen who made such a positive impression on his test debut at Lord’s – to leave Bangladesh floundering on 195 for 7.Tushar found some valuable support from Shahadat Hossain and the pair added 43 before Tushar was caught off Jon Lewis. Bangladesh ended with a lead of 19 but Gloucestershire lost Kadeer Ali – who followed his first innings duck with just a single – before the deficit was erased.However, any thoughts Bangladesh had of running through Gloucestershire were halted by Weston and Ian Fisher as they added 97. Although Mushfiqur Rahman removed both before the close Bangladesh are going to face a testing target on the final day.

A powerful batting performance gave the New South Wales Breakers a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three finals series against Queensland Fire at North Sydney Oval.Set 175 for victory, NSW started well with a 51-ball 50 to Alex Blackwell before Leah Poulton’s unbeaten 70 and Michelle Goszko’s 48 sealed the eight-wicket win.Kasee Marxson guided Queensland with 72 but only three other batters reached double figures as they were dismissed for 174 in 48 overs.Sarah Andrews was the best of the NSW bowlers with 3 for 35 while Emma Liddell, Julie Hayes and Nicole Goodwin picked up two each. The second match is at the same ground on Saturday with the third final on Sunday if required.

A Yorkshire club player has been jailed for three years after a row which started during a Sunday league match ended with an umpire suffering a fractured arm in a revenge attack.York Crown Court was told that Mahmood Akhtar was so incensed when he was given out leg-before by Qadeer Hussain in September 2002 that he instigated an attack with a baseball bat during a game a week later.Hussain was fielding during the subsequent match when Akhtar and his brother, Gulfam Zaqar, ran onto the field and began hitting him. Hussain’s teenage nephew, who tried to intervene, was also assaulted. Zaqar also pleaded guilty to the charge of grievous bodily harm and assault and is awaiting sentencing.”The fact that you didn’t wield the baseball bat serves you not a jot,”the judge told Akhtar. “The fight that followed was a cowardly attack upon this man. Your brother attacked him with a baseball bat with such effect it caused him serious injuries.”During the hearing, Akhtar’s solicitor had told the court that his client’s life “revolves around his family, his work and the people at his local cricket club.”

Netherlands 326 for 7 (ten Doeschate 158) v Kenya
Scorecard

Netherlands took a firm grip on the first day of their Intercontinental Cup match against Kenya at Nairobi Gymkhana. At the close they had scored 326 for 7, with a superb 158 from Ryan ten Doeschate forming the foundation of their innings on an easy-paced pitch.Netherlands, who won the toss, suffered an early loss when Rajesh Bhudia bowled Tom de Grooth offering no stroke, but ten Doeschate immediately signaled his intent by cracking three fours off Thomas Odoyo.Odoyo got his revenge when Bas Zuiderent was caught by Rahul Bhudia off a skied hook, but that brought in Tim de Leede, who had made a good hundred against Kenya A on Sunday, and he attacked from the off. A savage pull early in his innings was dropped by Hitesh Modi, who immediately left the field with a broken finger which is likely to rule him out of the remainder of the game.ten Doeschate completed a chanceless century in an afternoon session dominated by Netherlands, bring up his maiden first-class hundred with a four and a straight six off Steve Tikolo. The only setback came when de Leede gave a straightforward return catch to Brijal Patel.Daan van Bunge (32) helped ten Doeschate add 130 for the fourth wicket either side of tea, but he never looked at all settled and was finally caught behind by Maurice Ouma of the bowling of Ashish Karia. At 261 for 3, Netherlands were in the driving seat, but in the final 90 minutes the Kenyans fought their back into the game.Karia eventually snared ten Doeschate when he drove tiredly to Tikolo at extra cover. He had batted for almost five hours and hit four sixes and 15 fours. Alexei Kervezee was unfortunately run out when Luuk van Troost’s straight drive was deflected into the stumps by Tikolo at the non-striker’s end. Kenya’s final success came when Peter Ongondo removed Darron Reekers with the new ball shortly before the close.

The man who endorsed Bennett King as coach of the West Indies team four years ago has regrets today.Dr Rudi Webster, who suggested to the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) that King would be a good choice after observing him at the Shell Cricket Academy in 2000, also feels that King should be given his walking papers if his record doesn’t improve.”I’m seeing a side of him now that I didn’t recognise,” Webster said. “His motivation when he was at the academy was very different from what it is now. I think he saw the academy as a stepping stone to a higher level, so he was really excellent.”Webster was speaking during a conference for senior Caribbean sports journalists at which he said King sent his application and his CV to him before it was forwarded to the WICB.”I’m sorry to say that I’m the person who recommended him to the WICB,” Webster said, also expressing his displeasure over certain comments made by King. “Having achieved his goal, and having been given the enormous power he has, and being an academic coach who describes people like some of our great players, and some of the great Australian players as dinosaurs.”Dinosaurs. I think that is the greatest insult from someone who has not had any achievement in international cricket, just two or three titles with Queensland. We have a fellow in Barbados, Hendy Springer, who has six or seven wins.”I think it is dreadful that someone like that could say such things about these great players and his great cricketers from Australia when he himself has achieved nothing in international cricket.”

Jason Gillespie could become a victim of South Australia’s woeful season and salary-cap problems, revealing he does not have a contract for next season. Gillespie said he would be keen to continue his career interstate if the Redbacks failed to secure his services.Gillespie has been far from South Australia’s worst performer in 2006-07, with 26 Pura Cup wickets at 29.34. The Redbacks have had trouble with their veterans this season, dumping Greg Blewett from the one-day side in December and axing Matthew Elliott from the Pura Cup team for their most recent match.”I don’t know where I stand with South Australia, whether I’m required for next year,” Gillespie told Adelaide’s . “I guess I’ll find out pretty soon. I’m still off contract so I guess I’m a free agent. You never know, maybe there’s a state keen on me and I’ll weigh up that option.”Obviously the Redbacks are my first option and I’d like to sign a two-year deal with them, but if that doesn’t happen then I’ll have to look elsewhere. In recent years, South Australia have signed some guys to long contracts and they haven’t performed, so maybe they are a bit concerned about my longevity.”Gillespie was dropped from the Australia Test team after the 2005 Ashes loss but returned for two Tests in Bangladesh last April. He earned the Man-of-the-Series award with eight wickets and a stunning 201 as night-watchman.However, he was ditched straight afterwards and believes he has virtually no chance of earning another recall. “I can’t see myself getting another Cricket Australia contract,” he said. “I believe they only gave me one last year because of what happened in Bangladesh.”My chance of playing for Australia again is about as remote as you can get. The selectors have played their card, they have lost faith in me, they don’t want me around and that’s their call. I’m not saying I deserved to be in the World Cup but it’s a bitter pill to swallow when you get man of the match in your last two Tests and you aren’t in the picture.”

How important was it personally to follow up the 148 against Pakistan with an innings of real substanceIt was very important. The 183 not out [Jaipur] was very satisfying because the conditions were so different. Against Pakistan, we had batted first, but in this case, we were chasing a very big total.Did it give you extra satisfaction that three of your innings against Sri Lanka involved being there at the end of a run-chase, a familiar Achilles Heel of Indian sides in the past?I’m just happy that I fulfilled the responsibility that was given to me by the team management. It doesn’t matter whether it was batting first or chasing, I did what I was asked to do.How have you adjusted to being shunted up and down the order?It’s been a new thing for me. I’ve batted at a lot of different slots in the past few games, as high as No.3 and as low as No.8. But I’m getting used to it now.How have innings like the 148 and 183* affected your life, and added to the pressure?There’s always pressure to do well when you play for your country, but when I get to the middle, it all disappears. I never think of such things while batting.Which bowler have you found the hardest to face since making your debut?I think all international bowlers can test you. But Muttiah Muralitharan and Shane Bond were certainly testing.How hard do you work on fitness, given the double-role that you have to play?We work very hard. It also depends on the preparation you do in off-season, and also the in-season training that we do with Greg King.Do you feel your wicketkeeping has improved, and do you think you might get a chance in the Test team now? I’ve worked very hard on improving my keeping, but that’s a question you should ask the selectors. When I’ve been given a chance in ODIs, I have done well. Hopefully, I can do well if given a chance in Tests too.Are there any areas of wicketkeeping that you have worked on specifically? Mainly just footwork. I’ve been concentrating on that.Is it difficult keeping to the likes of Harbhajan on Indian pitches? Of course. Both Anil bhai [Kumble] and Harbhajan are a real challenge. But personally, I find keeping to Veeru [Sehwag] even more difficult. Don’t ask me why! (smiles).How do you account for the dramatic turnaround in India’s fortunes since Zimbabwe?That’s a question that Greg Chappell, as coach, is best equipped to answer (laughs).