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The first Test in Jamaica uncovered more issues than it dealt with and it is unlikely many of them will be solved definitively during the second game in Antigua from Friday. Will West Indies be back as a mid-table force or will their batting inconsistencies prevent them from climbing above No. 8? At what point are Australia in their drop from untouchables to mortals, and when will the performances of the world champions level out?Was the destruction caused by Fidel Edwards and Daren Powell in the second innings at Sabina Park something that can scare opposition teams regularly? Is Stuart MacGill the two-year answer to the tourists’ spin bowling problems? Will Twenty20’s Dwayne Bravo ever feel comfortable defending for more than a couple of overs? And what difference will the return of key players make?Immediate answers are impossible, but the range of questions confirms the new levels of interest in the series. The relatively tight opening contest has given life to an affair that was expected to be one-sided. Matthew Hayden’s absence for the rest of the series and the possibility of Chris Gayle and Jerome Taylor regaining fitness could bring the two teams’ standards further together over the next two games.Stuart Clark’s fine second-innings bowling on Monday managed to cover up Australia’s batting frailties, but the hope that Hayden would provide some cement at the top has gone. Simon Katich will sneak ahead of Brad Hodge, who is squeezed out despite comfortably out-performing Katich in pressure situations during the opening game. However, further twisting to an already unsettled order was considered unnecessary. Michael Clarke, who is back from compassionate leave, will re-enter at No. 5 and will be vice-captain for the first time in a Test.”There’s no doubt [Clarke] is jumping out of his skin,” Ponting told AAP. “He did what he had to do back in Australia and it’s been a tough time … He really loves playing cricket for Australia and with a bit more responsibility now and a leadership role in the group he is blossoming every day.”Strength in Australia’s middle order is important because the sight of the fallible opening pairing of Katich and Phil Jaques will provide a lift for Edwards, Powell and Taylor. The West Indies fast men looked like world beaters at Sabina Park and Australia will need to find better ways of coping during the inaugural Test at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium.During the World Cup last year Australia played three games on the new arena, which still had a sandy outfield, and the conditions offer another unpredictable element to the Test. So far both sides have trained at the smaller, older Recreation Ground and the players will get their first look at the North Sound pitch the day before the game.After their strong comeback on the final day in Jamaica, and with the rust shaken from their break between Test series, Australia’s position is comfortable and a draw would retain them the Frank Worrell Trophy. It is hard to gauge whether West Indies are under pressure or happily playing above themselves. While there was disappointment at their final-day collapse, there was pleasure at home and overseas in the way they stood up to Australia for much of the contest.

People in the Caribbean are talking cricket again and the local players will be expected to continue their harassment of the world champions. If they can cope with the increased demands then there will be opportunities to create further holes in Australia’s redeveloping outfit.Gayle’s entrance would provide some much needed stability, especially after Brenton Parchment’s unconvincing contributions in Jamaica, and his leadership will also allow Ramnaresh Sarwan to concentrate solely on batting. The side desperately needs to support Shivnarine Chanderpaul and an uncluttered mind would be the best thing for Sarwan, who failed twice last week as the stand-in leader. A groin injury has meant Gayle has not been able to play since the Sri Lanka series, but the problem is improving and the side will be more formidable if Taylor overcomes a back complaint.John Dyson, the West Indies coach, said during the week his players realised at Sabina Park that the Australians were not superhuman. It is an important step for any side that wants to move from also-rans to contenders, and the view worked for Australia in the 1990s when they were trying to steal the trophy.In the other camp Tim Nielsen was so impressed by West Indies that he believed they were capable of improving to No. 3 or 4 in the rankings. The evolving Australia were surprised by the initial fight of West Indies and now realise that even if their batting clicks and their bowlers are on song, the series is not likely to be one where the world champions beat up on the easy beats. When they were last in Antigua a year ago that scenario would have been unthinkable.

The international season is building up to a great climax as England and India head to The Oval at one-all and winner takes all. I do hope that the England boys go there in the right frame of mind and now too down hearted after what happened at Headingley. The Indians will be more upbeat about the situation, but I think that England should take note of what else has happened during the summer and not dwell on a single bad match.They should go out there and rely on the qualities that have been evident so far this season and I think it will prove to be a great occasion. They need to fall back on the confidence they’d been building up before those bad days in Leeds. They need to go and enjoy it and not get too nervous about it all.Everyone is saying that the pitch at The Oval will suit the Indian spinners and I know from personal experience that there will be turn and bounce for them as the game progresses. Having said that, I also know that if you lose the toss, it is a belter of a batting wicket early on. But we can’t get worried about the toss or what their bowlers might do. We’ve got to go out and bowl how we have been all summer until we got to Headingley and just relax and enjoy it all.If they worry about the performance at Headingley, they won’t perform properly at The Oval. Apart from possible the Australians, no team wins all the time, and even the Aussies get it wrong sometimes. The England boys have got to react to the situation now. This is when they need to stand up and be counted and produce, because this sort of match is why the players are involved in Test cricket. They should want to get out there and prove themselves in front of what is always a big, noisy crowd.It was only a year ago that I was receiving my Oval call up to go and play against Australia. Now I’m battling to beat an ankle injury – just to disprove the theory that I don’t turn anything nowadays! I thought it might have been a stress fracture and I would be lucky to get away without it being amputated. But now I am hoping to be back helping Middlesex towards promotion, hopefully as Division Two champions.I was absolutely gutted the other day at Lord’s when we lost to Derbyshire. Speaking as someone who has just gone past the 2,000 run mark in my first-class career, I like to think of myself as something of an all-rounder, and I can honestly say that I was batting like one as we fought for a draw. 59 balls I faced, with great fortitude, as I hung on for an hour and twenty minutes and then, just as we were in sight of safety, I was given out lbw. I felt like a proper batsman as I trudged off -absolutely spewing because I hadn’t managed to keep Ashley Noffke company through to the end. Normally, I just go on my way with scarcely a backwards glance, but not this time.So now I am hoping to be fit to resume against Essex in the vital promotion clash at Chelmsford. It’s a real 40 pointer, with them being second and us first, but all the promotion contenders have a game in hand over us. We don’t play in the last round of matches, but that’s not as bad for us as it might seem. There’s a chance the other games will be affected by the weather at that time of year and the fact that all our rivals are playing one another means that there shouldn’t be any silly declarations that could have an influence on the final table.When a season builds up like this, I think it’s great for the game and really justifies the two divisions and promotion and relegation. If it all goes horribly wrong for us, though, I think I’ll reserve the right to rethink that one.

BRISBANE – Australian wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist has been hospitalisedwith an infected elbow just three days before the opening Ashes cricketTest at the Gabba.Gilchrist was today hooked up to an intravenous antibiotic drip and willremain in St Andrew’s Hospital in Brisbane until tomorrow.Australian team physiotherapist Errol Alcott said the treatment wasprecautionary and Gilchrist was still expected to be fit for the firstTest against England starting on Thursday.”It’s a hot swollen, very tender elbow and it hurts a little bit to moveit,” Alcott said as the Australians trained at the Gabba.”So we figure rather than being down here and landing on it andaggravating it and exciting the inflammation we’ll put him on bed restand some antibiotic treatment.”We’re confident he’ll be back on deck shortly, we’re planning to leavehim overnight and review him tomorrow around mid-morning and see how wego from there.”Alcott said at this stage no replacement had been called for.Gilchrist noticed tenderness around his right elbow on Saturday and thearea become more troublesome yesterday when he joined teammates inBrisbane.”It’s frustrating not being able to train straight away and interruptthe build up to the Test match but I’m working on the basis this is afrustration and nothing more,” he said.”I’m keen to get back on deck as soon as possible and my expectation atthis stage is that I will be fully fit and ready to play in the Testmatch come Thursday morning.”Australia now has two injury problems leading into the Test with pacebowler Jason Gillespie battling a calf strain.Gillespie trained lightly in the nets today and will have an extendedworkout tomorrow.Alcott said Gillespie had felt “a bit stiff” from his 10 overs for SouthAustralia in Saturday’s ING Cup match against NSW in Adelaide.”Tomorrow we’ll have a good session and we’ll review him then,” saidAlcott, who rated Gillespie’s chances of playing as “pretty good”.Gillespie’s inclusion would leave selectors a difficult choice betweenBrett Lee and Andy Bichel to be 12th man for the first Test.Former Australian fast bowler Merv Hughes believes Lee should retain hisTest spot because English batsmen are scared of the paceman.”If you have a look at Brett Lee at the Gabba, when he comes in to bowlthe crowd just lifts and if you watch the English batsmen they just seema little bit more nervous,” said Hughes.”He’s there for the fear factor.”Australia’s other matter to sort out this week is some changes tofielding positions.Mark Waugh’s retirement from international cricket means a new secondslip will have to be found with Ricky Ponting or Damien Martyn favouredfor the job.Australia may also be looking for another candidate to field at shortleg with Justin Langer reportedly wanting a change due to medical adviceafter five blows to the head in the past 12 months.”Hopefully my prowess in the gully could perhaps have me overlooked forthat position,” said Langer’s close friend and opening partner MatthewHayden.”I guess the versatility shows that most of the side can field anywherethough.”Late today it looked as if Darren Lehmann, recalled to the Test side toreplace Mark Waugh, could be asked to take over from Langer in thebat-pad catching position

Day 3 of 3March:
Staffordshire 224 and 267/6d (RP Harvey 103)
Cambridgeshire 278-8d and 96-7
Match Drawn, Staffordshire 7, Cambridgeshire 6Falmouth:
Wales 123 and 179
Cornwall 273 and 31-1
Cornwall won by 9 wickets, Cornwall 22, Wales 4Sidmouth:
Cheshire 251-8 and 93
Devon 159 and 186-7 (D Townsend 53*)
Devon won by three wickets, Devon 19, Cheshire 5Bournemouth:
Dorset 178 and 141
Oxfordshire 125 and 198-4 (G Peddy 67, R Williams 74*)
Oxfordshire won by 6 wickets, Oxfordshire 20, Dorset 5Jesmond:
Northumberland 426-8 and 244-4d (JA Graham 51, S Chapman 81)
Lincolnshire 298 and 196-5 (OE Burford 67)
Match Drawn, Northumberland 12, Lincolnshire 10Shifnal:
Shropshire 284-9d and 231 (MJ Marvell 71, JBR Jones 60*)
Herefordshire 245-8d and 271-2 (I Dawood 148*, PS Lazenbury 78*)
Herefordshire won by 8 wickets, Herefordshire 22, Shropshire 6Day 2 of 3Barrow:
Buckinghamshire 250-9d and 149-2
Cumberland 247 all out (GA White 138)

New Zealand waved goodbye to the prospect of a third placing in the ICC Test Championship when failing to win the second National Bank Series Test at the Basin Reserve against England but a win in Auckland could still see them claim fourth ahead of England.Already England have secured the William Jordan Rosebowl for another term – the trophy is awarded to the winner of home series between the two countries. The only time New Zealand has won it remains the summer of 1983/84.The third Test starts in Auckland on Saturday. The New Zealand team for the Test will be named tomorrow.It won’t be remembered as a match of accurate umpiring and if it proves to be the last of Steve Dunne’s career it will not be the most shining example of efficiency, a point that should have been brought home to him by the on-field responses of both sides to some decisions – muted as the responses may have been under requirements of the International Code of Conduct.The message was plain, the players were not happy, and the all-seeing television eye would suggest they had good cause.New Zealand batted through 84 overs on the last day today, having been left a target of 356 in 86 overs, but under the conditions it was never on. When play ended two overs early, New Zealand were 158/4 with Nathan Astle (11) and Craig McMillan (17) unbeaten.It was always going to be a fine balancing act for England captain Nasser Hussain. He was always conscious of the threat posed by Astle after the Christchurch onslaught, but in reality the prospect of a repeat here in Wellington was always going to be unlikely.A different pitch, different circumstances, and different needs for Astle’s team.Ten years ago in Christchurch Phil Tufnell went through the New Zealand side in an afternoon as the home team lost seven wickets for 53 runs.But Ashley Giles did not offer the same problems to the New Zealand top order that Tufnell managed.And while the Basin Reserve came under scrutiny in the match, one thing has generally remained constant about the ground since the mid-1980s, at least, it doesn’t quickly deteriorate and, in fact, gets better the further the match goes.Losing the first day and most of the second helped ensure there would be no dramatic break up of the pitch on this occasion.It was at best one of those days which provides frustration for all but the most fervent admirer of Test cricket.England came out and went for the bash to add 97 runs in 18 overs, courtesy largely of 75 runs blasted by Andrew Flintoff who was let off the leash and given free rein to pummel the New Zealand attack, which he did.The one disappointment for England had to be the failure of Marcus Trescothick to achieve his third Test century in a situation made for him. He was out for 88 to Daniel Vettori’s bowling.At one stage Flintoff was in danger of setting the world record for the fastest 50 in Test matches although the actual amount appears to be in some dispute. Some claim Ian Botham’s 26-ball effort at Delhi in 1981/82 is the record while others say Kapil Dev’s 30-ball effort at Karachi in 1982/83 is the fastest.Whatever the record, Flintoff didn’t make it as his 50 came off 33 balls. He was eventually out, offering a simple return leading edge to Vettori when on 75, scored off 44 balls. He hit two sixes and nine fours.If there was any satisfaction for New Zealand’s bowlers it was that Vettori stayed composed under the circumstances and took three for 90.In New Zealand’s response Mark Richardson fell to a good, over-the-shoulder catch by Graham Thorpe from Giles’ bowling at fine leg, at least by the time he caught it, for four.Lou Vincent then came and played an applied innings, although he was given a huge stay of execution when Dunne failed to give him out caught off his gloves by Mark Butcher at silly mid-off.Vincent scored his second half century of the match and was 71, from 181 minutes and 170 balls, before he was trapped leg before wicket by Matthew Hoggard.Earlier, Matt Horne had played a more compelling innings, and one that should probably see him retained for the third Test, of 38 in 109 minutes.Stephen Fleming provided a crease occupation intent on saving the Test with 11 runs scored in 143 minutes.Hoggard did cause a minor flutter of expectation with Vincent and Fleming’s wicket but Astle and McMillan batted without error to keep the series alive.New Zealand knew what they had to do to win the Test in terms of bowling, and they failed. Some change seems likely for the last Test, probably the selection of Daryl Tuffey for Chris Martin.But the home side also need to remember that their two first inning batting efforts in the Tests to date have been poor when they are capable of much better and without those runs they are never going to put the pressure on England in the later stages of the game.

Madhya Pradesh took a 140 run first innings lead over Uttar Pradesh on thesecond day of their Central Zone Ranji Trophy clash at the Green Park inKanpur on Friday. After bowling out Madhya Pradesh for 283, Uttar Pradeshwere 12 without loss from six overs in their second innings at stumps.Useful knocks by Harvinder Sodhi and Nikhil Patwardhan were the feature ofMP’s innings after they resumed on 121/3 this morning. UP’s left armpaceman Shalabh Sriwastava struck for the third time when he had DevendraBundela leg before on his overnight score of 39. Sodhi (57) and Patwardhan(49) added 82 for the fifth wicket before the latter was dismissed legbefore by Aashish Zaidi at 204.It was the first of four wickets in a row for Zaidi, including the ones ofSodhi and 39 year old skipper Chandrakant Pandit. The third seamer in the attack, Mrityunjay Tripathy, mopped up the tail by trapping the last two men infront. MP were bowled out in the 121st over, Zaidi finishing with 4/89.Five of the ten victims were leg before. UP openers Nasir Ali and JyotiYadav played out the remaining 26 minutes without mishap, the hosts needinganother 128 to make their opponents bat again.

Azhar Mahmood saved Pakistan from embarrassment withan unbeaten 80 after an unknown off-spinner wreckedtheir batting at Derby.Nathan Dumelow, a 20-year-old making his first-classdebut, took four wickets, three in 19 balls, as thetourists crashed from 101-1 to 182-9.But Mahmood and Shoaib Akhtar shared a last wicketstand of 80 to give Pakistan a lead of 96 and by theclose, Derbyshire were 66-2 in their second innings.As well as Mahmood batted, the day belonged to Dumelowwhose only other taste of senior cricket had come onMonday in the Benson & Hedges Cup at Leicester.To bowl for 22 overs unchanged against top players ofspin was a superb effort and he thoroughly deservedhis success after his second ball was hit for six byImran Farhat.He kept his nerve and flighted the ball to take theprize wickets of Yousuf Youhana and Inzamam-ul-Haqbefore he bowled Abdur Razzaq second ball for a duck.Derbyshire rate him highly and skipper Dominic Corksaid: “He is a wonderful talent. There are some goodplayers of spin among those victims.”Pakistan will be concerned at the way they struggledagainst a weakened county team but will be encouragedby the performance of Mahmood who played well in acrisis.Unfortunately there were some incidents off the fieldwhen a small number of Pakistan supporters wereejected from the County Ground after bottles werethrown from a stand.No one was hurt but the club’s chief executive JohnSmedley said: “We are sorry it came to this, I don’tthink anyone knows what started this off.”

Mark Chilton and Glen Chapple took carried Lancashire to an emphatic 10-wicket victory over Derbyshire in their third round tie in the Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy at Old Trafford.Coming together when David Byas was forced to retire hurt on five, the two carried Lancashire to victory with more than 20 overs to spare. Chapple’s 81 runs came off just 69 balls, with 11 fours, and Chilton’s 76 was off 82 balls with 10 fours.Earlier Dominic Hewson engineered a partial Derbyshire recovery after their top order was blown away by Lancashire’s seam attack, with Peter Martin the star.But Hewson, a close-season signing from limited-overs specialists Gloucestershire, made 63 as the visitors recovered from 39 to six to reach their eventual total of 167.Martin ended with figures of two for 21 from nine overs, and there were also two wickets apiece for Kyle Hogg, Andrew Flintoff and Chris Schofield.Nasser Hussain’s excellent run of form continued as the England captain made 96 (99 balls, one six, 12 fours) to put Essex on course for a five-wicket win over Middlesex at Chelmsford. Set a stiff target of 292 to win, Essex were indebted to their captain Ronnie Irani for completing the job after Hussain had laid the foundations.Irani made an unbeaten 86 (five sixes, three fours) off just 73 balls to delight the home crowd and pilot his side to victory with 11 balls to spare.Earlier Sven Koenig (116) and Paul Weekes (76*) both scored at a run a ball to set up Middlesex’s total. And a swashbuckling, unbeaten 39 from Simon Cook (off just 15 balls) provided extra impetus at the end of the innings.

Ricky Ponting has told his team to maintain its newly-found high standards after Australia’s breakthrough victory ended a five-Test winless streak and squared the Ashes series. The crushing 267-run success gave the hosts some much-needed momentum as the sides heads to Melbourne for a Boxing Day Test that will now be a blockbuster.”We got a nice old hiding in Adelaide last week and so to bounce back as drastically and dramatically as we have done, it says a lot about us and where we’re at,” Ponting said after missing the final morning with a broken little finger. The result caused a dramatic shift as the campaign swung in a similar way to the see-sawing 2009 Ashes in England.”There was a lot of emotion in this win, we hadn’t had much to celebrate up to now,” Ponting said. “We have now set a new set of standards this week, this is the best way for us to play our cricket, and we have to maintain those standards. We have had a better team performance here than we have for a long time and it is important we don’t take this for granted, but make sure this win is significant.”Australia have picked an unchanged 12 for Melbourne and have the option of adding a standby player if Ponting’s injury continues to be a problem. Phillip Hughes and Steven Smith held their spots after unconvincing contributions and Michael Beer retains his place as Australia seek stability.Beer, the left-arm spinner, was released to play for Western Australia in their Sheffield Shield loss to Tasmania and went wicket-less in 11 overs. Australia had huge success with a four-pronged pace attack at the WACA but will need more variety on the drop-in surface in Melbourne, where Beer is in line to debut in front of a crowd that could top 90,000.”He’s grown up in Melbourne his whole life, so he’ll know what the conditions are going to be pretty much down there,” Ponting said of Beer. “Whether he plays or not will depend on what the wicket looks like a couple of days before the game.”After the innings thrashing in Adelaide, Ponting thought “here we go again” when Australia slumped to 5 for 69 on the first day, but they recovered through the batting of Michael Hussey, Brad Haddin and Mitchell Johnson. Johnson then surged Australia ahead in England’s first innings before he and Ryan Harris finished off the match.The Australians were the target of fierce criticism after their performances in the first two Ashes Tests and this was the first time they have sung the team song since they beat Pakistan at Lord’s in July. “It has been warranted,” Ponting said of the public and media reaction over the past month. “Yes, it has been pretty harsh, but you expect that when you’re not performing the way people want you to perform. That is the way the team has taken it.”We’ve not been that worried about it, we’ve just tried to be better to give you guys something good to say about us and we’ve done that this week. The feeling around our group has been great and nothing has changed. I’ve just waited for it to click together like it has done this week and that is what makes me so proud of the guys.”The last Ashes series had a handful of key turning points and this campaign has a familiar feel as two solid sides trade blows without any knock-outs. England won the second game at Lord’s after being out-played in the drawn opener, while Australia drew level in the fourth Test before losing the match and the urn at The Oval.Ponting said his side had gained momentum and confidence after failing to grab it in Brisbane and Adelaide. “We’ve got the tide going back in our direction now and, more importantly, we’ve got some of our key players going well,” he said. “Like Mitchell, who is on top of the world and has as much confidence as he’s ever had in his career.”Mike Hussey is in the same boat, as is [Shane Watson], Ryan Harris, Ben Hilfenhaus and Brad Haddin, so we’ve got a number of guys playing somewhere near their best and that is why I’m confident in this group. It is amazing what impact confidence and that winning feeling amongst the group can have. It can make the team achieve some special things.”Australia squad Shane Watson, Phillip Hughes, Ricky Ponting (capt), Michael Clarke, Michael Hussey, Steven Smith, Brad Haddin (wk), Mitchell Johnson, Ryan Harris, Peter Siddle, Michael Beer, Ben Hilfenhaus.

The former Kent batsman Tony Pawson, who became the Observer cricket correspondent, has died at the age of 91.Pawson played 69 first-class matches, mostly for Kent and Oxford University, scoring seven hundreds as he made 3807 runs at 37.32. He was Kent’s oldest surviving capped player.As a 15-year-old, in 1937, he scored 237 at Lord’s when playing for a Lord’s XI against a CF Tufnell’s XI and in 1947 he represented MCC against the South Africans playing in a team alongside Denis ComptonCricket was not the only sport where he made his name. He won a blue at Oxford, represented England at football and at the 1948 London Olympics as well as playing two football league matches for Charlton Athletic. In 1982 he was a member of the England fly fishing team that won the World Championship and in 1988 was awarded on OBE for services to angling.Kent’s honorary curator, David Robertson, said: “Tony Pawson enjoyed his cricket, and set out to make sure spectators shared that enjoyment. I have many happy boyhood memories of his batting and fielding at Canterbury. His running between the wickets, especially with Godfrey Evans as his partner, was always an eagerly awaited feature of the game.”Jamie Clifford, the Kent chief executive, added: “The club is saddened to learn news of Tony Pawson’s passing and our thoughts are with his family and friends. Tony made a great contribution to Kent Cricket and many of our members have fond memories of watching him play at the St Lawrence Ground.”During his time as a cricket correspondent he was also chairman of the Cricket Writers’ Club in 1980 and 1981.