Lions brushed aside an uninspired Guyana in front of a healthy home crowd in Johannesburg to boost their chances of making the semi-finals

The Bulletin by Siddarth Ravindran19-Sep-2010
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Richard Cameron was in sparkling form•AFP

Lions brushed aside an uninspired Guyana in front of a healthy Johannesburg home crowd to boost their chances of making the semi-finals. After Guyana’s batsmen showed a lack of nous, and put up an inadequate total, Richard Cameron and Alviro Petersen blunted their attack to pilot the Lions to victory with nearly five overs to spare. Guyana never looked like repeating the heart-warming run of Trinidad & Tobago, who powered their way to the final of the Champions League last year, and their slim chances of reaching the final four ended with this crushing defeat.Guyana’s batsman looked to thrash almost every delivery, and mistimed plenty of strokes, but never attempted to dab the ball around to rotate the strike when things weren’t going their way. A late flourish lifted them from the depths of 88 for 6 to the relative respectability of 148, which still proved too trifling a target.The express pace of Craig Alexander and the sideways movement extracted by some of the Lions other quick bowlers proved too much for Guyana. The trouble started in the very first delivery of the match when Travis Dowlin escaped an extremely close lbw call. His short stay foreshadowed the Guyana effort: filled with thrashes and flails for little reward, and one panicky piece of running before he fell in the second over.Ramnaresh Sarwan is the most important batsmen in the Guyana line-up and he came out firing, cracking four boundaries in five deliveries to kickstart the innings. However, his performance was cut short in the fifth over by a spectacular diving catch by John Symes, at backward point, off Craig Alexander’s first delivery. In the next over, their other experienced batsman, opener Sewnarine Chattergoon who had faced only three deliveries in the Powerplays, holed out to mid-on.From 42 for 3, debutant Steven Jacobs stepped up to push Guyana forward. He was often beaten by the movement, and his timing was mostly awry, but he slipped in some flamboyant boundaries to take Guyana to 77 after 11 overs.Lions were well on top soon after due to some muddled running that led to the run outs of Christopher Barnwell and Esuan Crandon. Jacobs also perished, one of his mistimed strokes finally carrying to long-off. Ethan O’Reilly bowled a pinpoint yorker and a low full toss to take out middle stump twice in the 17th over to end with career-best figures of 4 for 27 and put Guyana in further trouble.Guyana somehow managed to push their total close to 150, thanks to some free-swinging from Lennox Cush who finished on 19 off 10 including a massive six over long-off.The chase began brightly with both Petersen and Johnathan Vandiar picking a boundary each. Lions’ only moment of bother was when Vandiar nicked Esuan Crandon behind in the third over, bringing together Cameron and Petersen who bludgeoned the weak Guyana bowling to bring up Lions’ second win in three games.Petersen sparked the innings to life after a quiet spell following Vandiar’s exit by thumping Esuan Crandon over long-on for a 102-metre six and then cracking him past point for four. It was mayhem after that – only two of the remaining overs of the chase went for less than 11 runs as Cameron went into overdrive. Helped by a gift-wrapped bunch of short deliveries from the Guyana spinners, Cameron soon overtook his captain with a series of pulls and carves.Petersen was content to let Cameron take most of the strike, and quietly moved to his second consecutive half-century. Cameron more than doubled this previous career-best of 36 before the victory was completed in the 16th over, keeping Lions firmly in the mix for a semi-final spot.

South Africa are in favour of using the Umpire Decision Review System (UDRS) in their upcoming Test series against India

Firdose Moonda24-Oct-2010South Africa are in favour of using the Umpire Decision Review System (UDRS) in their upcoming Test series against India. Gerald Majola, Chief Executive Officer of Cricket South Africa (CSA), confirmed to ESPNcricinfo that the board is still negotiating with its Indian counterparts over whether the system will be used during the end-of-year tour.”We have to persuade India because at the moment they don’t want it,” said Majola. As per ICC regulations, the host team can take the take the call on whether to use UDRS, in consultation with the visiting country. Majola said the South African players want to use the system because they think “it’s the most fair way for decisions to be made.”South African captain Graeme Smith voiced his conditional approval for the UDRS in a more measured manner. “Technology is obviously an important way forward in cricket. It will be beneficial to the game and the players are behind. I think if the Umpire Decision Review System (UDRS) is going to be successful it needs to be implemented properly by the ICC and not on a 50/50 basis like we have seen so far,” Smith said. “It must be used all of the time and not for selective series’ like we see now.”Recent history may explain Smith’s issue with consistency. In their last four Test series, South Africa have used the UDRS three times. They first used it against Australia in the 2008-09 season, then against England at home last season and, most recently, in their three-test series in the West Indies in June. They did not use it in the series in India in February this year, when the choice lay with the hosts.India have made no secret of their dislike for the system since they first used it in a series against Sri Lanka in 2008. In the three-Test series, India made only one successful review, compared to Sri Lanka’s 11. They haven’t used it since then, with senior players such as Sachin Tendulkar openly saying they prefer Hot Spot, as they feel it is a more accurate tool for establishing contact between bat and ball or pad.There is the possibility that Hot Spot will be used during the South Africa-India series, even though it wasn’t part of the production in the recently-completed series between South Africa and Zimbabwe. Hotspot was used during the home series against England. The broadcasting rights have since changed hands. Previously the national broadcaster, the South African Broadcast Corporation, was responsible for the production; now Supersport is. Both services still broadcast live matches.The exact technology tools to be used in the series will be decided in the coming weeks. It is almost certain that South Africa will have ball-tracking technology, Super Slo-Mo and a clear stump mike, the three requirements needed for the UDRS system, should India change their mind. The first Test starts in Centurion on December 16.

The England and Ireland cricket boards have announced that their sides will play an ODI in Dublin in August 2011

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Oct-2010The England and Ireland cricket boards have announced that their sides will play an ODI in Dublin in August 2011. The game will be held at Clontarf Cricket Club which hosted a one-dayer between Australia and the home team earlier this year.”We are pleased to have agreed this fixture with Cricket Ireland,” England Cricket Board CEO David Collier said. “Irish cricket continues to make excellent progress and I am sure that Ireland will provide tough opposition for our one-day squad ahead of The NatWest Series against India later in the summer.”Warren Deutrom, CEO of Cricket Ireland, echoed Collier’s views and was confident that his side would compete well with England. “Our matches against England are always special. We look forward to hosting household names including Andrew Strauss, Kevin Pietersen, Graham Swann and not forgetting Eoin Morgan [who hails from Ireland]. We know that the progress we continue to make on the world stage means that we go into this game confident of taking the scalp of England to atone for the agonising three-run defeat from our last encounter.”

New Zealand are toying with the idea of opening the innings with Brendon McCullum in the upcoming series against India

Sriram Veera in Ahmedabad01-Nov-2010New Zealand are toying with the idea of opening the innings with Brendon McCullum in the upcoming series against India. McCullum announced his decision to quit wicketkeeping in Tests in June so that he could bat higher up the order, but said he would continue to keep in the limited-over formats. New Zealand’s top-order woes have been a persistent theme for a long time, and they are hoping that McCullum will provide the solution.Daniel Vettori said there would be a team meeting in the late evening on November 1, where they would decide whether to bat McCullum as an opener or at No.3. “I think he can set the tone opening or at number three,” Vettori said. “Much like (Virender) Sehwag does for India. He really sets the tone for the team and takes a lot of pressure off the rest of the batsmen. I think Brendon can do that role, whether it is opening or at number three.”Wouldn’t it have been better if the decision on the opening role was taken before coming to India? “I suppose it’s the nature of not having a warm-up game and also, it’s the nature of our cricket as well,” Vettori said. “Those top three positions have been unsettled for the history of our game. It is a continual problem and something that we are always searching for. We are really hoping Brendon, with his experience as an opener in one-day cricket and his good form in Test cricket last year, can be a real solution.”McCullum sees it as an “exciting” opportunity and said he has decided to play aggressively. “In the past, I have been caught between the two approaches – aggression and fiddling around – and there have been a few interesting innings. Now I have decided that my best course of action is to be aggressive. I can take heart from the success of attacking openers like [Chris] Gayle, [Virender] Sehwag, Tamim Iqbal, [Tillakaratne] Dilshan or [Matthew] Hayden over the years.Those players have remained true to their nature and have been a success. I want to bat aggressively at the top and do well for my team.”McCullum said his preparations for Tests have changed since he gave up the gloves. “It’s a lot different but I don’t want to get it too complicated. If you are just a batsman you can spend a lot of time grooving your technique. But I am a reactive and an instinctive batsman. I don’t want to change that. I have just the lead-up to this Test in this new role; I am sure I will learn how to prepare as I go along.”

New Zealand’s one-day woes continued into a ninth straight game as their batting failed to cope with moist early-morning conditions, before Gautam Gambhir collared them again

The Bulletin by Sidharth Monga04-Dec-2010
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
M Vijay was not at his most fluent, but barring that India had few worries in Vadodara•AFP

New Zealand’s one-day woes continued into a ninth straight game as their batting failed to cope with moist early-morning conditions in Vadodara. Zaheer Khan, coming back after injury, and Munaf Patel swung and seamed the ball all right, but New Zealand will look back at how unremarkable their response was. With the pitch easing out in the afternoon, Gautam Gambhir made the chase look ridiculously easy, becoming only the eighth captain to score centuries in back-to-back ODIs.From the time he won the toss and put New Zealand in, Gambhir hardly put a foot wrong, keeping his perfect captaincy record and India’s unbeaten home season intact. New Zealand’s openers gifted their wickets, the middle order went into a shell, and even though James Franklin and Nathan McCullum added 94 for the eighth wicket, it was never going to be enough. Not with Gambhir making room and peppering the off side with drives and cuts, bringing up his fifty in 30 balls, out of India’s 64 then.Watching Gambhir bat, the struggle New Zealand went through early in the morning seemed far away. Brendon McCullum, making a comeback himself, laid out a welcome mat for Zaheer, guiding a widish delivery straight to second slip. Martin Guptill ran himself out soon after.Between those dismissals, Williamson set the template for the day. His front foot went across to the first ball he faced. It swung in enough down the leg side to be called a wide, but Williamson had fallen over trying to correct the movement. Neither Williamson nor Ross Taylor could get rid of that tendency during their short stays. Taylor’s wicket, though, came in a tame fashion as he tried drive Zaheer on the up. The shot was played away from his body, and an inside edge ensued.Taylor’s No. 4 position has been a matter of debate, with arguments that he should take more responsibility and bat at No. 3. Williamson’s inability to counterattack only seemed to highlight that notion. For the third game running, he got off to a slow start, and did little to hit Munaf off his plan.Munaf loves to bowl back of a length, just outside off, and wobble the ball slightly either way. He tends to get a bit rattled when somebody uses that predictability to come down and hit him. In this series, though, no one has come close to doing that. And once Williamson allowed Munaf to do what he wanted, that lbw call seemed a matter of time with the batsman regularly falling over.Modern captains tend to go into the containment mode once the 15th over ends irrespective of how many wickets they might have got. Gambhir, who had put New Zealand in, was refreshingly old-school. When he saw R Ashwin turn the first ball, he set Test-match fields for Scott Styris and James Franklin. Yuvraj, at leg slip, soon came into action taking a sharp low catch to send Styris back. Daniel Vettori did a B McCullum, guiding Yusuf Pathan straight to slip for another sharp catch for Yuvraj, who later returned to leg slip to get rid of Gareth Hopkins too.Having fallen behind the over-rate, though, Gambhir omitted to use four of Zaheer and Nehra’s overs. Facing part-time spinners on a pitch that had eased out a bit, Franklin and N McCullum had little trouble building a partnership. It was almost as if Gambhir was not concerned at all by their stand.The way he turned out with the bat, Gambhir need not have worried either.After having been at the wrong end of Gambhir’s off-side play in Jaipur, New Zealand tried to cramp him up, and found that Gambhir was equally adept at scoring through the on side. He flicked the second ball he faced fine for a boundary. In Kyle Mills’ next over, he picked the gap between mid-on and midwicket. In Mills’ next, Gambhir started making room and went into his favourite off side. He capitalised on the correction on the next delivery, moving to 23 off 11.Andy McKay got the same treatment: wide ball, four; too straight, four; wide again, four. With time, Gambhir’s favourite chips over extra cover and midwicket came out too. He might have seemed to slow down after reaching his fifty, but he took only 58 further deliveries to get to the hundred.M Vijay didn’t struggle like he did in Jaipur, but had to stay content with being the lesser partner in the opening stand. And like he did in Japiur, Virat Kohli came out and scored a half-century in the company of his captain as India cantered home.

A round-up of the fourth day of the tenth round in Division One of the Quaid-E-Azam Trophy

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Dec-2010Water and Power Development Authority moved to within three points of the top of the table after a convincing win against Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited at the Lahore City Cricket Association Ground. SNGPL collapsed on the fourth day, losing eight wickets for 63 runs to hand WAPDA a 157-run win. It was a meek surrender from SNGPL, after opener Naeemuddin had given them an outside chance of winning by guiding them to 123 for 2 by the end of the third day in their chase of 344. Naeemuddin could add only six more to his overnight score of 74 before he was dismissed by seamer Kashif Raza. WAPDA Seamer Sarfraz Ahmed helped himself to four wickets as only two of SNGPL’s last seven batsmen made it to double figures.A tantalisingly close match between Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited and Pakistan International Airlines at the Iqbal Stadium in Faisalabad ended in a draw on a curtailed fourth day, but both sides had their chances to win. Chasing 256, ZTBL were 195 for 7 when stumps were called. ZTBL would have fancied their chances of getting to the target when they reached 120 for 2, courtesy of a half-century by opener Zohaib Khan. They then began to lose wickets steadily with Shoaib Malik picking up two scalps with his offspin. ZTBL captain Imran Nazir tried to hold the middle order together with his 34, but when he fell to seamer Najaf Shah, it was PIA that had the better chance to win. Unfortunately, only 67.4 overs were bowled on the fourth day, which meant there wasn’t enough time for a result. The day began with ZTBL taking PIA’s last two wickets quickly to set up the chase. Seamer Rehan Riaz picked up one of them to finish with figures of 7 for 59 in the innings.

ESPNcricinfo previews the sixth and final ODI between New Zealand and Pakistan in Auckland

The Preview by Nitin Sundar04-Feb-2011

Match Facts

February 5, Auckland

Start time 12:00 (23:00 GMT)
New Zealand’s decision to bench Tim Southee for the fifth ODI was inexplicable•AFP

Big Picture

Write off Pakistan’s World Cup chances at your own peril. Despite having setbacks hurled at them from every corner, they have managed to recreate the flair that epitomised their cricket in the 1990s and early 2000s. The manner in which they have won the series also highlights the depth and balance their squad possesses.The Christchurch win was old-school Pakistan: keep wickets in hand and explode in the slog overs. In Napier, Misbah-ul-Haq executed a perfectly calibrated run-chase, while in Hamilton, relentlessly attacking bowling in the middle overs and enterprising fielding won the game. The fast-bowling department is potent and full of variety and the openers are in good touch, with a century apiece in the last two games. Everything is falling into place, including Shoaib Akhtar’s perfect lengths while hitting speeds of 150 kph. There is a visible unity in the ranks that makes a mockery of the rumoured cliques within the set-up. And now they even know who will lead them in the World Cup.With the series in the bag, Pakistan may want to test their reserve strength in Auckland. New Zealand, on the other hand, don’t seem to have clarity on their first-choice XI. Tim Southee – the one bowler who has tormented Pakistan throughout the tour – was benched for the must-win game in Hamilton. The batsmen have hurtled along listlessly, expressing themselves more freely on Twitter than at the crease. Jesse Ryder has struggled with injury and off-field distractions, Jamie How has stuttered against pace and accuracy. Brendon McCullum’s push down the order has not yet worked, and Ross Taylor is taking time time to find his range. Can New Zealand stumble upon stability amidst this shambles?

Form guide

(Last five completed games)
New Zealand: LLLWL
Pakistan: WWWLL

Players to watch out for …

His pace may have gone down, but Jacob Oram has returned well as a bowler, following his troubles with a knee injury. His batting, however, is yet to make an impact in this series. His last half-century came in February last year, against Bangladesh. The last time he passed fifty against top opposition, though, was in June 2008 against England. Can he find his form ahead of the World Cup?Abdul Razzaq has made the new ball his own, allowing Pakistan to retain their express fast bowlers for the latter stages of the innings. He has whistled in at around 130 kph, kept them short of a length to deny scoring opportunities, and got the odd legcutter to nip away and create havoc. His batting, however, is yet to create the damage he is known for. If he finds his groove on Saturday, New Zealand’s bowlers could be in for some pain.

Team news

Mohammad Hafeez’s bowling exploits have rendered Saeed Ajmal redundant. Given Ajmal’s variations, he may have a bigger role to play in the World Cup, and could get a game here. Will Sohail Tanvir get another chance to rediscover his late swing?
Pakistan (probable): 1 Ahmed Shehzad, 2 Mohammad Hafeez, 3 Kamran Akmal (wk), 4 Younis Khan, 5 Misbah-ul-Haq, 6 Umar Akmal, 7 Shahid Afridi (capt), 8 Abdul Razzaq, 9 Wahab Riaz / Sohail Tanvir, 10 Umar Gul , 11 Shoaib Akhtar / Saeed Ajmal
New Zealand will hope for Daniel Vettori’s recovery in time for the match. Unless Southee is being kept fresh for the World Cup, he should figure in the starting XI.
New Zealand (probable): 1 Jesse Ryder, 2 Martin Guptill, 3 Jamie How, 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Scott Styris, 6 James Franklin, 7 Brendon McCullum (wk), 8 Daniel Vettori (capt) / Nathan McCullum, 9 Jacob Oram, 10 Tim Southee / Hamish Bennett, 11 Kyle Mills.

Stats and trivia

• This is Pakistan’s first bilateral ODI series win since November 2008. That series, against the West Indies, was also the last time Younis Khan scored a century
• Misbah-ul-Haq leads the run-charts for this series with 203 runs

Quotes

“It doesn’t make a difference whether Misbah leads the side or I lead the side because we both are playing for our country”

“I am not a fan of rotation. You try to pick your strongest side. It gives you the best chance of winning and getting some momentum going.”

Adrian Barath, the West Indies opener, has said the 2011 World Cupgives West Indies the opportunity of showcasing their performances on the world stage

Sa'adi Thawfeeq05-Feb-2011Adrian Barath, the West Indies opener, has said the 2011 World Cup gives West Indies the opportunity of showcasing their performances on the world stage and a chance to get back to what they were about two decades ago.”We fancy our chances and it’s good to have our name back on top of world cricket and showcase our performances at the world stage. There is no better place to do it than the World Cup. It starts right here acclimatising to the conditions similar to India where most of our games will be played. We will definitely be looking forward to having a good World Cup.”My personal thoughts on the World Cup are that the team clicking at that point of time will win it. To me it’s anyone’s tournament right at this point of time. The West Indies are looking at another World Cup win.”Barath who hails from Trinidad, the same island as the great Brian Lara, was thrilled to score his first hundred in ODI cricket in the first game of the ODI series against Sri Lanka. “It was a great moment for me and for West Indies cricket because it’s been a while since a century has been scored in Sri Lanka in an ODI. It was special for me. I had my eyes set on an ODI century last year but unfortunately the series got called off. Thankfully the series did come off and it happened. I am thankful for the opportunity that came to me to score the hundred.”Helping 20-year-old Barath achieve his maiden ODI hundred was the experienced middle-order batsman Ramnaresh Sarwan. “I am a junior player and I try to learn as much from the senior players. Sarwan is someone who really showed me the way. Every so often he would come down the pitch and have a word with me.”Opening the batting with Chris Gayle, who is very different from Barath physically, as well as in his approach to the game, makes it difficult for opposing bowlers to settle. “With a left-hand right-hand combination and as he is tall and I am short it is difficult for bowlers to rally and strike their lengths especially if we are rotating the strike.”Gayle is someone who has been in the team for a while and I have grown up seeing Gayle playing for West Indies. It’s an inspiration for me basically to start my career and bat with someone like Chris. He is someone who can take the attack to the bowlers and I can play that role as well but on the day Chris really gets going I am prepared to play the supporting role.”Barath added that Sri Lanka fast bowler Lasith Malinga was one to watch during the World Cup. “We all know that Malinga is a world class bowler in this version of the game and in T20. We all know his unique action. Most of the guys are not used to it but at the end of the day we are going to be looking at footage of Lasith and ways of playing him.”As a team already we have looked at these things but he is on spot at the moment and any player on spot is a force to be reckoned with. All credit to him, he’s been bowling well and he has good form at the moment. We’ll be definitely looking to counteract his bowling.”

Dale Steyn will undergo a fitness test ahead of South Africa’s match against Netherlands in Mohali on Thursday

Firdose Moonda in Mohali02-Mar-2011Dale Steyn was among three South African players to pass fitness Tests ahead of the game against Netherlands on Thursday. JP Duminy and legspinner Imran Tahir were the others.Steyn injured his side after colliding with Graeme Smith during a football match during the team’s warm up in Delhi on Sunday. Duminy had a lower back spasm and Tahir was suffering from a respiratory tract infection which is said to have cleared.With the Mohali pitch likely to offer more for the seamers, there was speculation that South Africa would not go in with three spinners, as they did for the first match against West Indies. Tahir, in particular, was earmarked as the bowler to be rested, especially after falling ill. van Zyl indicated otherwise, saying that Tahir made an effort to adjust his follow through after he was warned for running on the pitch in Delhi. “We worked with him yesterday and we will do a bit more work on it today. It doesn’t seem like it’s a huge thing and it won’t have any great effect on the way he bowls.”Dale Steyn was one of three South African players to undergo fitness tests ahead of the Netherlands fixture•Getty Images

If Tahir plays, it may mean no space for the two left-armers, Lonwabo Tsotsobe and Wayne Parnell, both of whom missed out on South Africa’s first match. van Zyl said he is not allowing himself to be persuaded into leaving out some of his big-name players, irrespective of the fact that South Africa are playing an Associate team. “If you underestimate your opposition it may become tempting to do that,” he said. “They are an opponent like any other and we are approaching them in exactly the same way.”The respect South Africa are treating the Netherlands with is a reflection of van Zyl’s attitude towards the Associate teams. Even though the ICC plans to shut them out of the World Cup in 2015 and cut the tournament down to 10 teams, van Zyl thinks they add value to the global showpiece. “I think they need to be here. It’s important for world cricket.”Left-arm spinner Pieter Seelaar caught the eye of van Zyl who described him as a “very good bowler” and said the attack in general “bowls well wicket to wicket.” However, like many others, he feels their batting is their strength. “They have some really good batsmen. We saw how Ryan ten Doeschate performed against England.”Even though that batting line-up was reduced to 115 against the same West Indian side South Africa put to the sword, van Zyl said a big victory is not on his mind at all, and he wants his men to simply get the job done. “Our goals are not much more than winning the game.”

Mitchell Johnson has said Australia will target Virender Sehwag’s rib-cage with the short delivery in a bid to get him out quickly during their World Cup quarter-final against India

Brydon Coverdale in Ahmedabad22-Mar-2011As that great innovative thinker Homer Simpson once said when faced with a difficult problem, “I’ve been working on a plan: I’ll hide under some coats and hope that somehow everything will work out”. That’s pretty much how a fast bowler must feel when Virender Sehwag is in his stride. But no pile of coats could offer that level of escapism, nor shield a man from the roars of an Indian home crowd.Fast bowlers will tell you they don’t get frightened. The biggest, meanest men in the side, it is their job to inflict pain, not suffer it. But Sehwag can send the world’s toughest and quickest into the foetal position, as he almost did to Morne Morkel in Nagpur last week. It’s something of a paradox, therefore, that the man who has handled Sehwag as well as anyone in recent years is Mitchell Johnson.Johnson is quick and awkward, but can be more fragile than your average fast bowler – belt him a few times and you can almost sense him searching for a suitable stack of coats to crawl under. But somehow, his style has worked against Sehwag. Perhaps it’s Johnson’s unpredictability that has been the undoing of Sehwag; a couple of loose balls might be dispatched, but followed by another attempted boundary from one that is too close to cut, or so accurate that it should be respected.Whatever the case, in the past five years, no bowler has dismissed Sehwag more often across all formats than Johnson, who has claimed his wicket nine times from 18 games. That’s a trend Johnson wants to continue in Ahmedabad on Thursday, and he believes the best way to attack Sehwag is to bowl at his body.”I don’t mind bowling up into his rib-cage to be honest,” Johnson said. “He seems to struggle with that a bit. I guess [also] putting pressure on him, if he gets a single it puts pressure on the batsman at the other end. That’s one way we thought about it as well. It’s always a good challenge to bowl to someone like that, he doesn’t really use his feet but he can hit the ball hard. It will be a pretty good start to the game if we can get him early.”In the bowlers’ meeting I asked the question how many times he has scored four from the first ball. He likes to get scoring quickly. He’s a dangerous player and we’ll be looking to get him as quickly as we can. We’ll stick to our plans and stick to what we know best of what works against him.”The Australians do seem to have worked Sehwag out better than most sides. His one-day average against Australia is 22.65, notably worse than it is against any other nation, excluding Associates, and it’s ten innings since he has made a limited-overs fifty against them.Getting rid of Sehwag early would be the perfect start for Australia, given that he is India’s leading run scorer in this World Cup. That’s partially due to his 175 against Bangladesh, an innings that ensured the tournament opened with a bang. Since then, India have looked to Sachin Tendulkar, who has scored two centuries, and Yuvraj Singh, who has been a consistent threat.But the Australians know that, as formidable as India’s batting line-up is, there is always the possibility of a collapse. Against South Africa, India lost their last nine wickets for 29 runs; against England they lost their their last seven for 33; and against West Indies their last seven were skittled for 50. It’s a trend that Johnson finds encouraging.”If we can get two or three of their big guns early on it changes the way they think about their game. It’s something we’ve spoken about and we’ll work hard to try and do it. You always target their best players and Sehwag and Tendulkar are their best players, so we think it can change the way they think.”But finding a way through the batting order of Sehwag, Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli and Yuvraj is easier said than done. It will be the biggest challenge yet for Australia’s attack, which the selectors always intended to be a wicket-taking group, and the offspinner Jason
Krejza will also need to work out how to control the world’s best players of spin.”As a bowling unit we feel pretty confident, us three quicks going together, we always look forward to bowling over 140kph and swinging the ball,” Johnson said. “There’s been talk about the wicket, Sehwag said it will be slow and a bit of a turner, but we have our spinners, Krejza can spin the ball a fair way. It’s leading up to be a very good game and we’re looking forward to it.”And if Australia’s best-laid plans don’t work, and they can’t find any coats in the Ahmedabad heat, they might have to resort to another of Homer’s problem-solving strategies: “I’m not normally a praying man but if you’re up there please save me, Superman.”