Pakistan’s cricket board has announced a list of probables for the Pakistan A tour of Kenya. A camp will be held from July 12. Wasim Bari, the chairman of selectors, said that a few senior players who did not make the grade for the Asia Cup would instead be considered for the tour to Kenya.Pakistan A kick off their tour with a four-day game against Kenya on August 8, before participating in a tri-series with the hosts, as well as India A.Camp probables
Taufeeq Umar, Babar Naeem, Asif Zakir, Naved Latif, Nomanullah, Shahid Yousuf, Usman Tariq, Naveed Qureshi, Shadab Kabir, Shoaib Khan, Afaq Rahim, Naseem Khan, Faisal Ather, Qaiser Abbas, Salman Qadir, Junaid Zia, Bilal Asad, Mansoor Amjad, Azam Husain, Zulqarnain, Nasir Khan, Irshad Mohammad, Mohammad Khalil.Itinerary
August 5-8 Kenya v Pakistan A
August 11 Kenya v Pakistan A
August 12 Kenya v India A
August 13 Pakistan A v India A
August 14 Kenya v India A
August 15 Kenya v Pakistan A
August 16 Pakistan A v India A
August 17 Kenya v India A
August 19 Pakistan A v India A
August 20 Kenya v Pakistan A
August 21 Final
August 22 Reserve day

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."

Sandeep Patil, the India A coach, has revealed that he recommended Dinesh Karthik ahead of MS Dhoni when consulted by the national selection panel before they picked the squad for India’s three one-day tournaments. Patil, speaking to Wisden Cricinfo from his Shivaji Park residence in Mumbai, believes that Karthik would make an ideal No. 6 for both Tests and one-dayers. But that’s not all: Patil also unearths a medium-pacer who takes five-fors on flat decks, and an opener who scores big:

How would you compare Karthik and Dhoni?
I feel Dinesh Karthik is an ideal No. 6 batsman for Tests and one-dayers, and he is in the mould of Adam Gilchrist, Moin Khan and Romesh Kaluwitharana – who can win a match on his own. I can’t say the same thing about the other Indian wicketkeepers in the recent past. If Karthik is given the same number of chances as Parthiv Patel, I will be proved right. I recommended Karthik to the selectors, but it was a very close call. Dhoni is also a safe wicketkeeper, and Dhoni produced two brilliant hundreds. Geoffrey Boycott wasn’t impressed with Dhoni in the training camp at Bangalore, but I told him not to get discouraged since his style was unique.Sairaj Bahutule was the star performer. But where do you see his career going from here on?
He is dead serious to play for India. In fact, he told me that “I will definitely play for India now.” He led Mumbai last season, and suddenly he has taken the step that he has to do something extra to replace Anil Kumble. He got a chance when Kumble was injured – now he wants to replace Kumble when he is bowling well.Who were the other players to catch your eye?
The two surprise packages of the tour were Dhoni and Dheeraj Jadhav [the opening batsman from Maharashtra who topped the batting charts last season]. I had heard that Jadhav was slow with his run-scoring, but he scored almost 160 in a day against Kenya. He smashed a hundred in a session the next day and finished on 260 not out. I wouldn’t put him ahead of Aakash Chopra, but he poses a big threat.And the bowlers?
Bahutule was fantastic, but Shib Shankar Paul was another surprise performer. He got five wickets consistently on really flat wickets in Harare. People say that players from weaker states make it to the side through the back door. But Paul proved that wrong with his performance.Any disappointments at all?
Munaf Patel, the fast bowler from Mumbai, was a big disappointment. He developed a shoulder injury and I see it more of a mental problem than physical. The physio checked Munaf and said everything was OK. But he could not bowl and finish his spells. He played one-and-a-half matches in a one-and-a-half-month tour.Do you think the quality of the reserve team is getting closer to that of the national team?
Last year, six players from the A team played for the senior team. This year, Karthik has played. This tells me that this concept is working out well. If any senior player has to be replaced, there is a ready substitute available.What about the fitness standards of the players?
I would still say that they are more gym-fit than match-fit. There is no need of going to the gym after you score a 200 or take five wickets. They will be better off if the same energy can be used in a match to score a fifty or take three wickets.What about your own future as a coach?
I get appointed only on a tour-to-tour basis. For the past one year, I have been asking BCCI to inform me in advance so that I can plan my own programme. But it is not happening. When India A played against New Zealand at Rajkot last year, the board secretary called me on the eve of the match and asked me to join the team. That is unfair.

On how the match was poised
We’re 415 runs ahead and we still have seven wickets left. I’d like to think we are in a strong position going into Day Four.On whether this was his best spell in India
Figures-wise it was one of the best spells. But it came on the back of great bowling by Glenn McGrath, Michael Kasprowicz and Shane Warne. I was lucky to get a couple of wickets in the end, but all these guys played really well. That’s the beauty of the Australian side, it’s knocking the opposition out, and it doesn’t really matter who gets them.On the main thing he has learned from bowling alongside McGrath
The one big thing would be to just put the ball in the right areas again and again. This builds up pressure and often results in partnerships being broken.On the pitch
The wicket was green and had a bit of carry. It was so different from most of the Indian wickets, which are flat, low and suit the spinners.On whether he was surprised that the Indian batsmen did not counter-attack at any point
To be honest, it was good bowling out there. When you got guys like McGrath, Kasprowicz and Warne bowling tight, it becomes very difficult to score. Zaheer [Khan] and Ajit [Agarkar] too did the same for India after lunch with some good bowling as Justin Langer and Simon Katich struggled, but were lucky to get through that phase without much damage.On not enforcing the follow-on
We could have gone either way. I am not the captain so I can’t comment. We were in a strong position when we bowled out India in the morning. We could strengthen our position by some good batting, and we did that.On what sort of lead would be enough
No idea. I am not going to speculate on how many runs we need. We will just keep batting and look at tomorrow afternoon to have a bowl at India.On whether Damien Martyn’s knock in the first innings was the difference between the two sides
Damien was awesome on the first day. In a game where most of the batsmen have struggled to score, to get a hundred was great. Michael Clarke made 90 and Simon made 99 today which means we played really good.On going past Clarrie Grimmett’s record of 216 Test wickets
It’s always nice to pass former Australian greats. It’s very humbling to do that. But at the end of the day it’s just a number.

India 185 for 0 (Sehwag 85*, Gambhir 85*) trail South Africa 510 for 9 dec (Hall 163, de Bruyn 83, Kumble 6-131) by 325 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

Over the first two days, South Africa had ground out 459 runs from 182 overs on a pitch which was reckoned to be too slow to allow uninhibited strokeplay. Today, Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir put the conditions in perspective – though the quality of the bowling attack had a large hand to play – as India scored at almost four-and-a-half runs per over to finish the third day at Kanpur on 185 without loss, with both Sehwag and Gambhir on 85 apiece. Earlier, South Africa declared their first innings on 510 for 9.For a crowd which had become used to stodgy defensive batsmanship over the first couple of days, today’s play was a refreshing change – 236 were scored from 51.4 overs, and despite no play being possible in the morning session due to fog, the spectators got their money’s worth.Of the South African bowlers, only Shaun Pollock had played a Test in India before, but even he struggled to extract any seam movement from the track. He kept the runs down early on, but in the final session both batsmen comfortably drove through the line of the ball, confident that the ball wouldn’t deviate.Makhaya Ntini was completely ineffective on a track which didn’t suit his style of bowling at all, while Robin Peterson, the only specialist spinner in the side, barely managed any turn at all. It was as different from the Australian bowling line-up as you could expect, and the Indian openers cashed in.Despite their singularly toothless attack, the South Africans did have a couple of chances to break through, but their fielders made a mess of those opportunities. When on 29, Sehwag charged down the track to Peterson and missed. Unfortunately for South Africa, so did Thami Tsolekile, their wicketkeeper, and the ball sped away for four byes. Earlier, Gambhir had been reprieved on 5, when Justin Ontong, substituting for Boeta Dippenaar, who was hit on the head by a ball during nets, failed to get his hands on a fierce cut shot.Gambhir wasn’t entirely convincing in the early part of his innings, playing and missing a few times and miscuing a couple of pull shots, but he slowly grew in confidence. He was helped by a few inviting leg-stump half-volleys by Andrew Hall just before tea, and after the break uncorked some flowing cover-drives off the seamers, and reached his maiden Test half-century by lofting Peterson over long-on for six. Throughout the innings, he comfortably outscored Sehwag, and though both ended on 85, Gambhir faced 27 fewer deliveries.Sehwag, on the other hand, was extremely choosy with his strokeplay early on. Mindful of the lack of pace in the track, he often checked his drives, and when he did execute them, he was careful enough to hold back the moment of impact just a fraction to ensure that the ball didn’t go airily. Once he gauged the pace of the track, though, the drives through the off side flowed effortlessly – orthodox ones against the seamers, and inside-out drives off Peterson. A cheeky reverse-sweep took him to his half-century, and by close of play, both him and Gambhir were in sight of their hundreds, and the follow-on target of 311 looked piddly.Earlier, South Africa showed plenty of urgency in the 8.4 overs they batted. Pollock remained unbeaten on 44, but the impetus to the innings this afternoon came from Peterson, who slammed 34 from just 24 balls. Coming to the crease after Anil Kumble trapped Tsolekile in front for his sixth wicket (467 for 8), Peterson played bold lofted shots against all three spinners. He struck three fours and a six – a superb straight hit off Harbhajan Singh – but was bowled attempting another huge hit.With the total looking imposing enough, Graeme Smith declared, but by close of play, India had already made significant inroads, and in double-quick time.

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.”

ScorecardJamaica crushed Leeward Islands by 176 runs to notch up an easy win at the Kaiser Sports Club in Discovery Bay. Requiring 309 to win, Leeward Islands were bundled out for 132, giving Jamaica 12 points from their first Carib Beer Cup match of the season. Resuming at 16 for 2, Leeward kept losing wickets at regular intervals. They slumped to 57 for 6 before Ridley Jacobs (32) and Stuart Williams (31) delayed the inevitable with a 59-run stand. However, Odeon Brown then wrapped up the tail quickly, finishing with 3 for 22.
ScorecardWith rain having reduced Trinidad’s match against Guyana into a two-day affair, a draw was the only possible result. Resuming at 82 for 3, Guyana were bowled out for 163, but they fought back to have Trinidad struggling at 120 for 7 when play was called off. Narsingh Deonarine and Damodar Daesrath were the stars for Guyana. Deonarine scored 93, easily the highest score in the match, to prop up Guyana’s innings. Daesrath, the captain, then struck with ball, taking 5 for 34 as Trinidad struggled to bat out the day. The result meant that both teams got four points each.The match between Barbados and Windward Islands was washed out without a ball being bowled.

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.

ScorecardJason Arnberger led Victoria’s unlikely chase for an essential outright victory with his third half-century in eight days against Queensland at the MCG. In an aggressive 139-ball display Arnberger, who added 60 and 71 against Tasmania, hit 14 fours and one six in making 95 on a batting wicket so good it should prevent an outright result.Matthew Elliott and Arnberger made a brisk start as they attempted to overhaul Queensland’s 416 after Jimmy Maher closed the innings during the second session. But Mitchell Johnson ended the 69-run stand with the first ball after tea when Elliott was lbw for 35, and Brad Hodge followed for 5 when he was caught at square leg off Joe Dawes. Graeme Rummans was the other not out batsman at stumps on 26.Queensland have almost destroyed Victoria’s chances of reaching the final as the Bushrangers need to win the game outright to stay in contention to defend their title. Time started to run out when Shane Watson scored 94 and the Bulls added 102 before lunch. Watson tried to reach his century with a six but mishit Cameron White and was caught by Elliott at short cover.

While it is generally assumed that the best cricket archives are found in the main cricket-playing countries, one of the best such archives is right here in the USA, at Haverford College in Pennsylvania. The C. Christopher Morris Cricket Library and collection is the largest collection of cricket literature and memorabilia in the Western Hemisphere.It includes over a thousand volumes, and a very large collection of related printed and photographic materials and items of cricket history. The initial suggestion for a cricket repository at Haverford College was made by John Lester, who proposed that cricket, “with a history and literature second to none,” should be given a permanent home in the United States. Haverford College would be an especially appropriate headquarters, he pointed out, because the library already held a considerable nucleus of material including a complete run of the original American Cricketer, a long run of Wisden’s Almanack and much other cricket literature no longer obtainable.The Library’s primary efforts focus on preserving the history of the game of cricket, especially in America, in all forms. The library’s mission is to be a repository where cricket records and memorabilia are exhibited, catalogued, researched and preserved for posterity. It is a place where the traditions of this unique game remain as an available part of the American heritage and where new generations may learn.Recently, the Library has added extensive computer capability at allow internet access to its collection. It has also started a collection of cricket videos, both historical and current in content, that are available in the library for viewing. The C. Christopher Morris Cricket Library is an experience into the rich history of the sport in America with the collection and exhibits bringing to life over 150 years of active cricket the US.