Ricky Ponting, Australia’s captain, has been ruled out of the first Test against India at Bangalore, which starts on October 6, with a fractured left thumb. The injury occurred while Ponting was fielding at slip during Australia’s loss to England in the semi-final of the Champions Trophy at Edgbaston yesterday, with diagnostic scans revealing a break. Ponting will return to Australia for medical consultation, with his prospects for the rest of the series yet to be determined.”Ricky was in considerable pain overnight and got very little sleep, so we had the injury seen to as quickly as possible today," explained Errol Alcott, the Australian physiotherapist. “The scans have detected a fracture in his left thumb, and we feel that it is in his best interests to get home now and receive the best possible medical advice. We can’t make any bold predictions about a return date for Ricky until he has seen a hand specialist back in Australia.”Ponting, who averages almost 56 with the bat against India in Tests, expressed his sadness at missing the first Test, but backed his side to fill in admirably without him. “I’m obviously very disappointed but have great faith in all of my team-mates to do the job in my absence," he said. "I’ll do everything I can to get back as quickly as possible, but to achieve that I will have to be guided by the experts. I desperately want to be on that plane to India, and if everything goes according to plan, I’ll still be able to play some part in the series, sooner I hope, rather than later.”In the meantime, the boys know exactly what needs to be done because we have put a great deal of work into preparing for this tour. This series means so much to us all. It could be one of the biggest Test series ever played, so to be missing the start of it is really disappointing.”Ponting’s replacement in the 16-man squad is yet to be named, and the position of captain will also be reviewed in his absence.

Ah, the first one-day international of the Australian summer! Time to dust off the hole-in-the-ozone-layer-deflecting hats. Time to test the endurance of the plus-30-factor sunscreen. Time to iron the singlet tops, shorts, and/or amusing costumes, and enter the stadium arguing about possible match-affecting weather patterns, while casting a glance at the unpredictable early-December skies. Yes, the first pyjama party of the long, hot season took place tonight in Melbourne.It was the inaugural game of the newly-instigated Chappell-Hadlee Trophy between Australia and New Zealand. Players were donning red ribbons to raise awareness for HIV/AIDS. And boy, was the match hyped: Michael Clarke even strode to the crease wearing the No. 23 shirt handed to him earlier in the week by Shane Warne. The game itself was slapdash and wham-bam and took place at Melbourne’s Telstra Dome. Under a closed roof.That’s right. There was little need for the hats and sun-screen, and even less requirement for climatic investigations or text-messaging the weather bureau. The much-touted state-of-the-art roof, capable of retracing in 20 minutes, was shut tighter than a politician’s wallet, and anyone expecting a typical summer’s evening of cricket had obviously boarded the wrong tram. The Telstra Dome’s overseers were calling it the advent of a new sporting era. Some fans, however, were calling it anything but cricket.”The weather and this game are supposed to go hand in hand,” claimed Daniel from the neighbouring suburb of North Melbourne. “In here it’s more like a mad scientist’s laboratory.” He slumped down in his seat, ignoring the personalised pop-up screen capable of displaying statistics, bowling changes and field placements on demand. “All this high-tech stuff doesn’t mean much to me. It’s a simple game. Why complicate it?” he moaned. “The wind should dictate the bowling. The light should influence the batsman. In here we don’t know if it’s day or night, hot or cold. I’m part of some controlled experiment.”

In the upper section, a group of New Zealand supporters agreed. “I can’t believe I’ll go home tonight without a T-shirt tan,” laughed Rebecca from Auckland, as she displayed her black shirt with the silver fern proudly emblazoned on the back.”Where’s the smell of sunscreen? Where’s the breeze? Where’s the atmosphere?” asked her husband Morris. He’d opted for the beige polyester figure-hugging World Series Cricket-inspired T-shirt, set off by the Dennis Lillee-inspired terry-towelling headband. “Somehow it doesn’t seem like the kind of stadium you could grow to love.”Fair point. The Telstra Dome in Melbourne’s Docklands isn’t exactly what you’d call lovable. The grey, metallic architecture is far from pretty. Four years old and having already undergone three name changes, it’s eons away from being historical, and with a capacity of a tad over 53,000, it’s not really a behemoth to pack ’em in the aisles, so doesn’t hold a candle to the MCG or Eden Gardens. What it lacks in form, however, it makes up for in content. This shiny, easily accessible venue hosts a plethora of top-notch sporting events, including Australian Rules footy, soccer, rugby league, rugby union – and the odd bit of international cricket. As the 30,000-strong crowd applauded, Mexican waved, and brandished a sea of blow-up plastic fingers in the air, even detractors had to admit that the Telstra Dome is a very efficient host.And for those who still needed convincing, there were the sporting optimists, ready to embrace the venue and all its facets. “I first saw cricket here in the winter of 2000 when the South Africans played, and I came again for the Pakistan game in 2002,” said Martin from the nearby city of Geelong. “It’s fascinating to watch the game with the roof closed,” he continued. “You don’t get distracted by anything, and can concentrate on what’s going on in the middle. The outside world doesn’t exist, and sometimes that’s a good thing.”His friend Nigel was keen to interrupt: “It’s more egalitarian than other cricket venues,” he nodded, while enjoying his own pop-up screen. “No-one is in the sun all day. No-one has to complain about the seating. Everyone can get to the bar. The toilets are clean. It’s a spectator’s dream come true.”Fair point too. The Telstra Dome is perfectly functional. By the end of the night, as the Kiwis snatched victory, and the fans went into applauding, Mexican-waving and finger-brandishing overdrive, it seemed the perfect, slapdash, wham-bam start to the limited-overs circus. And everyone had forgotten that the roof was closed.Christine Davey is a freelance writer based in Melbourne.

Hitesh Modi, Kenya’s captain, had a big reason for missing the battering that his team went through in the hands of Scotland at the InternationalCricket Council Intercontinental Trophy in the United Arab Emirates.Hitesh, son of Subhash Modi, one of the leading umpires in Kenya married Sharmillee Saujani at the Kadwa Patidar Hall in Harrow, north London in atraditional Hindu ceremony that was attended by dozens of people from the two sides of the relationship.Modi stepped into the shoes of Steve Tikolo immediately after the team returned home from the ICC Champions Trophy in England. Hitesh’s father, a former chairman of the Kenya Cricket Umpires and Scorers Association (KCUSA), read tributes of his son from the cricketing community the world over, including personal messages from India captain Sourav Ganguly and his Pakistan counterpart.Hitesh and his newly wedded wife flew to the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius for their honeymoon.

Dav Whatmore did not tear his hair out in disgust at the end of the third day’s play. But, that was only because he has abundant reserves of that one thing he pleads with his team’s supporters to display, and his batsmen seem to lack – patience. Few teams in the world could have gone from 239 for 4 to 333 all out in the first innings, and then to 118 for 9 in the second dig, in such violently erratic fashion, despite a masterly 158 not out from one of the batsmen. Mohammad Ashraful’s rousing knock, easily the best of the series, beat back the ghosts that have haunted Bangladesh, but could not do anything to alter the result – a near-certain innings defeat after Irfan Pathan bagged his third five-for of the series.That Bangladesh are not celebrating the day, and will spend the night awaiting yet another series whitewash can only be put down to three things. A lack of will from their top order, the Indian bowlers’ hunger to soldier on despite heat and dust, and a slice of bad luck in terms of umpiring decisions. Umpiring mistakes don’t often even out, but if any team deserved to get the better end of the deal, it was Bangladesh. On the day, both Mark Benson and Aleem Dar gave borderline decisions that, while maybe not impact on the result, certainly punctured the morale.The main problem Bangladesh’s batsmen have faced in recent times is their inability to pace an innings, to sustain an attack. But Ashraful showed that not everyone was inept. He is special to Bangladesh cricket in a way no-one else is for the simple reason that, of all the records that are have been registered when Bangladesh played, his is the only one to be proud of – he remains the youngest cricketer to score a Test century, when he did against Sri Lanka when only 16 years and 362 days old.Then, as if to prove it was no fluke, he played an innings of unrestrained exuberance against a full-strength Indian bowling attack to rack up 158 not out, the highest Test score by a Bangladeshi. But, the statistics, as always, do not tell the true story. Ashraful’s real success was the manner in which he blunted the Indian bowling, tired them out, and then mastered them. His innings was just the sort of thing needed for Bangladesh to throw in the face of those who claim there is no talent in Bangladesh. Whatmore, and others, have banged on about the fact that the talent in these parts is exactly the same as the type of talent in other parts of the subcontinent.After a very minor spell early on, where he suffered the hangover that has caused the demise of Bangladeshi batsmen against Pathan – playing neither forward nor back – he sorted himself out and was decisive. Even in this period of early nerves, the runs came, a flicked boundary off Pathan and a streaky edge to the third-man fence, signalling that there was no question of simply hanging about.From there on, he proved Whatmore’s point about talent in the manner in which he handled the bowling. There was superb use of the wrists, to the extent that he was comfortable flicking medium-pacers over the infield; there were drives off the front foot, on the up, even when the ball was not fully pitched up; there were square-drives when the ball begged a straighter bat; there was even a latest of late cuts, that drove Sachin Tendulkar, the bowler, up the wall.For Ashraful, the runs never dried up. He was in a zone, and carried the team with him. He walked out to bat first thing in the morning with the score on 54 for 3, and when he reached his century, Bangladesh were 208 for 4. He was so fluent that, despite Aftab Ahmad scoring almost as briskly, he scored 100 out of the 154 runs added in that period.It’s obvious that Ashraful is the sort of cricketer to whom confidence is everything. It’s a well-worn cricket-writers’ cliché that a batsman grew in confidence as an innings progressed, but today, that was exactly what happened. When Ashraful went in to lunch, he had 62 to his name, from then on, it took only 25 balls to reach 100. Remarkably, the last 24 runs to three figures came off just nine scoring shots.Once past 100, there was virtually nothing the Indian bowlers could do. VVS Laxman was offered a sharp chance at midwicket when Ashraful flicked Zaheer Khan his way, but that was the only chance in a masterful innings. Sadly, Ashraful’s innings turned out to be a lone blossom in a bed of weeds.

The former Zimbabwe left-arm seamer Bryan Strang has bounced back into the picture after he was named in a 17-member Zimbabwe A side to play four limited-overs matches in Namibia.Strang, 32, has not played for Zimbabwe since 2001 because of a career-threatening injury. His bid to make a first-class return hit a brick wall last year when Zimbabwe Cricket banned him after he said that Zimbabwe should have not hosted World Cup matches in 2003 on moral grounds.Strang has played a number of matches for Old Hararians in the national league this season, and is one of the leading wicket-takers despite having lost pace and bowling off a shortened run-up.He played 26 Tests and 49 ODIs for Zimbabwe between 1995 and 2001, taking 56 Test wickets. His last appearance was against West Indies at Harare Sports Club in July 2001. Between 1995 and 2001, Strang formed a useful opening bowling partnership with Heath Streak.

Mark Waugh has slammed the current Australian selection panel and claimed that there is a bias towards picking players from Queensland. Waugh, who is being pushed as the New South Wales candidate for the national selection panel, revealed that he had been baffled at Andrew Symonds playing ahead of Simon Katich on Australia’s tour of Sri Lanka last year and even termed it as “one of the worst decisions” he had seen. He also felt that Nathan Hauritz and James Hopes were undeservedly given chances ahead of Stuart MacGill and Cameron White.In a column for , Waugh wrote that half the selection panel was from Queensland (Allan Border and Trevor Hohns) and said that “people subconsciously favour what’s close to their heart and home.””I think there are a couple of Queenslanders in the past season or two who have been lucky to gain a spot in the one-day or Test teams,” Waugh continued. “Andy Bichel is probably the exception, but I can count three players and situations that would support the theory that the bananabenders are receiving a leg-up.”Though Queensland have been the benchmark in recent years in domestic cricket and that inevitably gives you more oomph at the selection table, there is that lingering thought that in 50-50 calls, the Queenslanders are getting the rub of the green.”Speaking about Katich’s exclusion from the side after making a brilliant hundred in the Sydney Test against India, Waugh said: “Admittedly, Symonds’s offspin may have been handy on the spin-friendly pitches but Katich can bowl decent left-arm spinners and the position was primarily for a batsman.”The next selection, which was a major surprise, was the inclusion of Nathan Hauritz in the tour party to India ahead of the second-best spinner in world cricket, Stuart MacGill. Hauritz is a pretty good one-day bowler but he was averaging about 50 or 60 with the ball in first-class cricket at the time and to think he could be Australia’s second spinner on such an important tour was a selection totally from left field.”Waugh was also surprised at James Hopes being picked for Australia’s current tour of New Zealand. “I played against Hopes last season,” he said, “and I couldn’t see him wearing Australian colours. Despite Hopes’s recent improvement, I believe Cameron White could consider himself most unlucky. He has better overall figures than Hopes and led Victoria to a Pura Cup win last year.”The strength of the current Australian team, Waugh believed, allowed the occasional blunder and he also acknowledged that “by and large the selectors have done a good job.” Yet, he thought it was a time for change so that other states could get “a fairer run for their money”.

The venue for Pakistan’s tour match against an Indian Board President’s XI is a nameless wonder. After four years in existence, the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) ground still hasn’t been christened. As one of their members quipped in jest: “The baby has started walking after 25-odd first-class games, but it has yet to be named.”But the baby’s got good looks as well. A small and glittering green plate of a ground has a perfect snow-capped background in the form of the Dauladhar hill-range. These white-carpeted mountains add to the serenity of the venue, as do the blazer-clad-men with their traditional Himachal bushairi caps, who were busy getting ready for the party.It’s been a fraught preparation. From the moment Dharamsala was announced as the venue for the tour game, it has been the centre of the wrong sort of attraction. First, there were the visitors who complained about the altitude problems (Dharamsala is some 1317 metres above sea level). Then, fearing snowfall, which just ended a week prior to the start of the match, people were asking if it was a “warm-up game” or a “freeze-down affair”.No sooner had the snow disappeared from the ground than the Lama Drama began. His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, who has a summer palace in Dharamsala, had been invited to inaugurate the game. But the Pakistan Cricket Board, apparently, didn’t want to ruffle feathers with China, a nation that doesn’t recognize a free Tibet and, incidentally, some pundits think could become the next cricketing superpower.However, the drama was ended by the man himself, who dissociated himself from any further controversy by deciding not to attend the match; instead his blessings went to the thousands who flocked to his palace for his more-popular teachings, and the governor of the state was instead pencilled in as the chief guest.The pulse of the place, by itself, is steady and calm. Normally if a small place like Dharamsala is hosting a match of international stature, all streets would be painted red. The only paint conspicuous to the roving eye was the white colour of the snow. But people do know the game is happening. Over a plate of thugpa (popular Tibetan meal) two monks, taking a break from their lessons, were heard saying: “Mohammad Kaif, captain …” the rest was in Tibetan.Near the ground the frenzy is highly vocal. Just behind the practice nets is the hostel of the Sports Authority of India, which houses a batch of 80 girls, who are training in various sports. As the Pakistanis arrived fresh, early on Wednesday morning, the girls went mad, shouting their favorite player’s name. The biggest and the loudest cheers went to … Afridi, no. Inzy, no way. Razzaq. Nah.”Sami, Sami, Sami…” went the chant as the man with a boyish face and straight and long black hair went about his routines. When Mohammad Sami didn’t respond the girls almost pleaded, “Saaaammmmiii, please, yaahaan [Sami, please look this way].” Then they were heard wishing: “Happy Birthday”. A quick flick through the player profiles showed that two players – Shahid Afridi (March 1) and Inzamam-ul-Haq (March 3) had reasons to celebrate this week.The girls said they were offering belated wishes to Afridi. They clearly do know their cricket … or at least, their cricketers. An obvious question came to mind: which team do they support? Surprisingly, their verdict was split. Either way, they had earned their free passes.

Scorecard
Daniel Manohar’s fighting 63 kept Hyderabad afloat in a low-scoring tussle at the Karnail Singh Stadium in Delhi. Like Anirudh Singh in the first innings, Manohar shone bright amid a faltering scoreline as the middle order hardly made a contribution.Resuming 103 for 4, Railways managed to gain a slender 14-run lead thanks to Jai Prakash Yadav and Murali Kartik. But the bowlers continued to dominate the proceedings with Pragyan Ojha, the left-arm spinner, completed a five-wicket haul.Tirumal Suman and Manohar began the Hyderabad reply in spirited fashion and their opening partnership could turn out to be decisive. But Suman’s dismissal by Murali Kartik triggered a mini collapse with four batsmen falling without reaching double figures. Manohar, though, battled on and was undefeated at the end of the day.Railways hold the smallest of advantages. One or two wrong moves can settle this one.

Virender Sehwag and Shahid Afridi; safely we can say that cricket has never known the likes of them before. It may not ever again. They turn matches in instants we know and that is not so rare. But cricket has known, and knows now, many who can do it, yet it is fitting that the chances of a decisive result were created by Afridi today and are likely to rest on Sehwag tomorrowYesterday, Sehwag through his very ballast tore into a daunting first innings total carrying the world’s heaviest batting line-up with him and created momentum within it. And today, Afridi single-handedly created time when there seemed none. When Anil Kumble and VVS Laxman defied Pakistan for 53 runs, it wasn’t so much the lead they ate into as the time. They took, potentially a crucial hour and a half from Pakistan in which to build a sizeable target. In just over an hour, he found that lost time and set up a match.But what holds more allure than changing a game is the way they do it. Almost certainly both would have played the way they did, whatever the situation. Context is not important because they create it. When Irfan Pathan peppered Afridi with bouncers and three men patrolling the long-on, deep-midwicket and square-leg boundaries, he didn’t shirk, he took him on, pulling twice for six and once for four. When Anil Kumble tried to curb the scoring by bowling a leg-stump line, Afridi didn’t pad, he tried to reverse pull him, failing once and succeeding the second time. Would he do the same if Pakistan were trying to save a match? He did in Kolkata.By expressing themselves, both regularly shun traditions in what can be a stifling sport. We look, particularly in batting, for correct techniques, of playing within certain areas with the bat at certain angles, with certain stances and grips. Sehwag and Afridi challenge this openly, they rebel against this conformity.Sehwag in a floppy hat yesterday seemed right, for it stirred a refreshing spirit, of flexibility not rigidity, of not being confined. Leaning like a lethargic lord, with one hand on bat and other on hip, he could have been playing at club or school level, or even in a maidan. The hat, as opposed to helmet, made for a cute and apt symbol for this. Not for him is the endeavour for perfection or precision in his technique, in his strokes. He does what is necessary, get bat on ball and score runs by doing so. High left elbow, straight bat, nimble footwork, they are rendered meaningless by his brazen defiance of the essence of batting. In any case, he is gifted with admirable traits, but he doesn’t strain for them, they come naturally. Simply, if the ball can be hit, it will be and if it can’t, it won’t. All else, how he does it, against whom he does it and in what situation he does it, this is frivolous.Afridi is more rustic, more rudimentary but within him rests a similar approach. The very first ball he faced today was pulled for four as if playing a tape-ball midnight Ramzan tournament in Karachi. There was no lining up of the ball, of attuning to the light or the pitch. No strokes were practiced diligently between deliveries, no poses were kept. Only the ball was struck, as hard as possible with minimal concession made to technique or footwork. Here instinct is masterand Afridi its slave.If Sehwag is the more destructive and successful, it is because he has a sharpened batting nous. He wouldn’t charge down the pitch as Afridi did today to lollipop tempters, but over an hour, both are equally ferocious, and often Afridi can be more so. Of course, we should treasure them because of the way they have changed this game, one that seemed consigned to a meandering, high-scoring draw from the very first day. But what we should cherish even more is the inimitable manner in which they have done it.

Scorecard
Mansoor Amjad turned in an outstanding allround performance as Pakistan A thrashed their Zimbabwean counterparts by 272 runs in a four-day match at Harare. Resuming at 203 for 6 in their second innings, the Pakistanis added 70 more before declaring at 273 for 9, and then skittled the Zimbabweans out for just 112.The hero of the day was Amjad, who resumed on 54 and went on to make 99 before being bowled by Graeme Cremer. The disappointment of missing his hundred by a run was soon mitigated when he came on to bowl, as he ran through Zimbabwe’s batting line-up for the second time in two games. He finished with a match haul of 9 for 42, as only Neil Ferreira, the opener, managed a score of more than 20.Pakistan A had earlier won the first four-day game by three wickets. The two teams will now clash in three one-day matches, to be played on May 18, 21, and 23.