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A little over a year ago, Matthew Hayden set a then world-record score of 380 at Perth. On that occasion the opposition were Zimbabwe, a side with a popgun attack. When Hayden returns to the WACA for the first since then, for Thursday’s first Test, he will face a far more threatening attack.As if he needed reminding, in the Perth nets, he was given an indication of what to expect when struck by a short ball from team-mate Brett Lee, Australia’s likely 12th man in the match. Hayden, who suffered no ill effects, said: “These nets are pretty quick as it is and I copped one on the finger but I’ll be right.”It had been Hayden’s hamstring which had left him a doubtful starter, but he confirmed that it was now fine and that he would be fit to play. And so his thoughts turned to the Pakistan attack.”This one’s obviously a physical challenge … something that you get up against and it’s basically do or die,” he said. “It’s as simple as that really. That physical element to playing fast bowling is definitely there.”

He also admitted that he was still regularly reminded of his 380. “I’ve heard some fantastic stories actually of [people’s] memories, from childbirth to just the experiences they had to remind them of that day,” he grinned. “It’s an exciting thing, even old Ernie Dingo was on the TV yesterday, touring around the ground, and saying ‘This is where Matt Hayden made 380’, so it’s certainly a very happy memory. When I’m out in my own boat fishing one day I’ll certainly get time to reflect on those experiences and really enjoy them.”Hayden was not at his best in the two-match series against New Zealand, and he has now gone 13 innings without notching three figures. But it is hardly a crisis, nor is the fact that Ricky Ponting has gone 16 innings – almost a year – since his last century.And while the WACA was expected to be hard and fast, Glenn McGrath reiterated that it wasn’t just about steaming in and bowling as quickly as possible. In nine Tests on the ground, McGrath has never taken a five-for. “It’s a very fine line,” he shrugged. “You’ve got to hit that right length otherwise you can go for plenty of runs. We’ve got good game plans. The last thing we’ll want to do is go and try to blast them out and have it not work.”

Harbhajan Singh and Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who missed the mandatory fitness tests prior to their inclusion for the first two Tests against South Africa, will undergo the procedure at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore on March 21.Both Harbhajan and Dhoni were included by the selectors in the 14-member squad, and were asked to report to the NCA for fitness tests on March 21. Harbhajan was a doubtful starter for the series since he had been suffering from a hamstring injury, while Dhoni had sprained his finger during the second final against Australia in the CB Series.If Dhoni doesn’t clear the test, Dinesh Karthik will take up the wicketkeeping duties, while Harbhajan’s absence may pave the way for Piyush Chawla to take over the second spinner’s role behind captain Anil Kumble. Fast bowler Ishant Sharma has already been ruled out of the first Test, and his selection for the second is subject to fitness.Sachin Tendulkar is another member of the 14-man squad who has not taken the test. According to new BCCI norms, players who have been out of action for a month need to prove their fitness at the NCA ahead of any series. Although Tendulkar had taken part in the CB Series earlier this month, he had been advised two weeks’ rest by John Gloster, the outgoing team physio. However, Tendulkar later said he was fit to take part in the series.

Digicel, the sponsor of the West Indies team, has regretted the leaking of a confidential memo to the public. A statement from the company said, it was "disappointed that an internal memo, given to the WICB as a confidential communication has reached the public domain,” according to the BBC website. The West Indies team has been embroiled in a controversy ever since the memo, which suggested that players were more keen on having a good time off the field than performing on it, leaked out to various sections of the media.Digicel also reaffirmed their commitment to sponsoring the West Indies team. It is currently in a US$20million contract over five years with the team. "We are enthusiastic about developing the many initiatives which will support the growth of the game," said the statement. This comes hot on the heels of the West Indies Players’ Association threatening legal action against a newspaper which published the memo.In the memo, Richard Nowell, the sponsorship liaison, reportedly lambasted the team for its behaviour, calling the team, "the poorest ambassadors from any representative team I’ve come across." The West Indies Cricket Board is scheduled to conduct a tour debriefing on February 20, and are expected to discuss the contents of the memo in this meeting.

Dive for the prize
Behind-the-wicket catching has been a severe problem for Australia over the past month, but there was no issue in the micro-seconds it took Matthew Hayden to leap high to his left and stun Mahendra Singh Dhoni. The batsman had driven hard at Brett Lee and Hayden, standing at second slip, latched on to it like he had a bucket on his hand. It was the Australians’ catch of the series.Another not out
“Now for the hat-trick, Billy,” a spectator in the Bradman Stand shouted after Sourav Ganguly was finally ruled caught from his scoop to Michael Hussey at cover. Mitchell Johnson’s previous delivery to Ganguly looked plumb to viewers behind the wicket, but Billy Bowden, who has spent much of the Test shaking his head to appeals, was not swayed. The hypothetical hat-trick ball was easily covered by VVS Laxman.Foot fault
Sachin Tendulkar arrived in a hurry, driving his first ball hard into the foot and shin of Phil Jaques at bat-pad before it ricocheted to Andrew Symonds at cover. The Australians were confident they had achieved a miracle dismissal, but the replays raised doubt over whether it bounced short of Jaques’ foot and Tendulkar was rightfully reprieved.Jekyll and Hyde
Tendulkar’s 13 continued his trend of under-performing in the second innings against Australia. He managed only 52 runs for the entire series at the second attempts, but he more than made up for it with 440 at 146.67 in the first ones during an unforgettable collection of a couple of hundreds and another two half-centuries. Australians will remember his time here fondly.Gilly’s last dismissal
Adam Gilchrist bid farewell to Tests by making sure Mark Boucher would have just that little bit extra to do when he inevitably regains the world record for dismissals. Gilchrist took a leg-side catch off Brett Lee to dismiss Laxman and in his final session held on to Virender Sehwag’s edge and celebrated wildly. In between the two catches, his last effort in Tests was nearly decided for him when, standing up, Stuart Clark boomed in a bouncer. Agile to the last, he managed to put his gloves in front of his face just in time.Bruised and broken
Brett Lee’s bouncers have been hostile this series and he made Rahul Dravid retire hurt after one got big on the batsman and hit his right middle finger. That was on Dravid’s 15th dot ball of the day, and although he played out one more over he couldn’t grip the bat properly and left the field for an x-ray. It showed a break.The Billy and Asad show
The Test may have been petering out to a draw, but the umpires decided they could still have some fun. As they waited for the teams to arrive back on the pitch for the final session, Bowden and Asad Rauf took the match ball and started practising their slip catching in the middle. They may well have inspired Hayden.

Even as Chennai faces a cyclone threat ahead of the first Test against Sri Lanka, doubts have emerged over the venue of the third tie with the hosts, the Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association (UPCA), informing the Indian board that it was yet to get control over Green Park Stadium in Kanpur.Kanpur is scheduled to stage the third Test from December 18 but the failure of the municipal corporation to hand over the ground to the UPCA has thrown the match into jeopardy. “It is not correct to say we have expressed our inability to host the match. We have informed the Annual General Meeting that we have not been yet allotted the ground,” Jyoti Bajpai, the UPCA secretary, said. Bajpai’s clarification came amid speculation that the match could be shifted out of Kanpur. Asked if the board had told the UPCA about a change in venue of the match, Bajpai replied in the negative.Bajpai said normally the UPCA took charge of Green Park, which it leases from the municipal corporation, 30 days before a match. “On our behalf, we are pursuing the matter. The scoreboards and other facilities that have been in our control are in condition,” he said.In the past too, the UPCA and the local authorities have been at loggerheads with regard to the conduct of matches. The state officials have not hesitated to flex their muscles as was witnessed during the one-day international against Pakistan in April 2005 when the sale of tickets were allegedly taken over by the police.

Jason Gillespie, who took 2 for 20 today, said that Shane Warne would have plenty of opportunities to take wickets tomorrow. "Shane is a quality bowler," he said. "He could extract something out of the wicket even though there is not a lot of rough on it. There is a lot of assistance for the bowlers if you can put the ball in the right spot. It still has got bounce, which is important. There is enough in it to keep you very interested."Gillespie added that Australia will be looking at every opportunity to force a win, and that anything over 350 would be hard to get. However, John Dyson, Sri Lanka’s coach, was sceptical of Warne gaining much assistance from the pitch. "This wicket has not been as friendly to spin bowling as the ones back in Sri Lanka," Dyson claimed. "Obviously the batsmen reckon it is a little bit easier to play Shane than some of the other pitches they’ve faced him on."Assessing the situation of the game, Dyson said: "It is very much in favour of the Australians. They can dictate what happens. We’ve got to try like crazy to limit their scoring and make it extremely difficult for them to score." He continued, "I think we did pretty well after tea for a while, then [Damien] Martyn came out and played a superb innings at the finish."At the start of the day I was hopeful of getting a lead and unfortunately it didn’t work that way," he added. "[Thilan] Samaraweera batted extremely well to get us where we finished up. It was unfortunate to lose Kalu [Kaluwitharana] early and a little disappointing with the tail. In the last nine months we had a few matches where the tail had really kicked. Unfortunately it didn’t today."

Lahore Lions made heavy weather of a modest target, beating Hyderabad Hawks by three wicketsin an ABN AMRO Cup league match at Lahore. Chasing 200, Lahore lost three early wickets before half-centuries by Rashid Riaz and Adnan Raza provided stability. Naeem-ur-Rehman, the medium-pacer, then struck back with three wickets, all lbw, to leave Lahore in a spot of bother at 157 for 7 but Raza guided his team to victory with an unbeaten 69. Earlier, Hyderabad failed to capitalise on winning the toss, losing wickets regularly. Shahid Qambrani, continuing his good form after his ton in the previous game, was the only batsman to cross fifty.An unbeaten 112 by Afaq Raheem helped Islamabad Leopards canter to a easy nine-wicket win against Karachi Dolphins in an ABN AMRO Cup league match at Islamabad. Raheem struck 17 boundaries and added 146 with Bazid Khan for the second wicket to see the side through. Sent in to bat, the Karachi batsmen struggled against some quality bowling by the Islamabad bowlers. Rauf Akbar and Zohaib Ahmed, the opening bowlers, shared seven wickets between them to bundle Karachi out for 190. Akbar had the best figures of 4 for 44 and cleaned up the tail.Sialkot Stallions bagged their first win in the tournament beating Rawalpindi Rams by three wickets in an ABN AMRO Cup league match at Karachi. Batting first, Rawalpindi finished on 221 with half-centuries by Mohammad Wasim (74), the former Pakistan batsman, and Yasir Arafat (64*). Tahir Mughal and Mansoor Amjad took three wickets each for Sialkot. Sialkot began their chase losing two quick wickets before Atiq-ur-Rehman (60) steadied the innings. The middle-order batsmen chipped in with useful scores as Sialkot got home with over four overs to spare.A scintillating 118 off only 85 balls by Ali Naqvi helped Abbottabad Rhinos beat Quetta Bears by four wickets in a high-scoring duel at Abbottabad. Set a target of 315, the Rhinos won in the final over, guided by Ahmad Said (50*), the wicketkeeper. Naqvi’s innings included six fours and sixes, taking the attack top the bowlers before being run-out in the final stages of the chase. Earlier, Quetta were propelled by their lower order, with half-centuries by Faisal Irfan (78), the captain and Hameedullah Khan (64). Both scored at over a run-a-ball. Adil Nasar finished the innings in style, scoring 42 off only 23 balls with three sixes.Faisalabad Wolves beat Multan Tigers convincingly by fifty runs in an ABN AMRO Cup league match at Faisalabad Chasing 265, Multan lost wickets at regular intervals and never really looked like winning. Adnan Akmal, brother of national wicketkeeper Kamran, showed some fight late in the innings but was short of assistance at the other end. Earlier, Misbah-ul-Haq, the Faisalabad captain, scored a valuable 65 to take his side to a competitive total before being stumped off Majid Majeed, the offbreak bowler who finished with four wickets.Teams batting second in the second round games in the ABN AMRO Cup have generally emerged triumphant, as Peshawar Panthers prevailed in a high-scoring duel beating Karachi Bears by five wickets thanks to an unbeaten 117 by Mohammad Fayyaz. Fayyaz and Rafatullah Mohmand (51) took the game away from Peshawar, with a 90-run stand for the second wicket. Earlier, Khurram Manzoor (50), Naumanullah (81) and Hasan Raza (70) helped Karachi post a tall score of 284. Fazl-e-Akbar was the best bowler for Peshawar picking up three wickets.

Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly will face off in the Ranji Trophy Super League final, with both Mumbai and Bengal fielding full-strength squads. Zaheer Khan, Ajit Agarkar and Ramesh Powar have also been included in Mumbai’s 19-member squad, which has four internationals, for the five-day match starting on February 2 at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium.Ganguly is the lone current Indian player in the Bengal squad. The scheduling of the one-day series between India and Sri Lanka, beginning on February 8, has allowed for the senior players to participate in the Ranji final.Squads
Mumbai Amol Muzumdar (capt), Sachin Tendulkar, Ajit Agarkar, Zaheer Khan, Ramesh Powar, Sahil Kukreja, Wasim Jaffer, Hiken Shah, Rohit Sharma, Abhishek Nair, Wilkin Mota, Vinayak Samant (wk), Nilesh Kulkarni, Swapnil Hazare, Rajesh Verma, Iqbal Abdullah, Prashant Naik, Bhavin Thakkar and Kshemal WaingankarBengal Deep Dasgupta (capt), Arindam Das, Subhomoy Das, Sourav Ganguly, Abhishek Jhunjhunwala, Manoj Tiwary, Rohan Gavaskar, Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Shiv Sagar Singh, Ranadeb Bose, Sourasish Lahiri, Amitava Chakraborty, Kamal Hassan Mondal, Sourav Sarkar and Ashok Dinda

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out