When Brian Lara dropped down the order in the tournament, several eyebrowswere raised. He was, after all, far and away the best batsman in theline-up, and the others had not really proved themselves consistently -Ramnaresh Sarwan aside – to hold places in the middle-order ahead of him.But now, looking back with the ample benefit of hindsight, it has proved amaster-stroke. His controlled 71 against Australia, which set up a win,was the proof that his thinking had worked.Come final, though, there’s a chance that Lara could come up the order -not because the West Indians are trying to pull a fast one, but becausethey have been playing according to the situation all tournament, and thishas been integral to their success. With pitches and conditions varyingfrom venue to venue adaptation has been the key to success, and WestIndies have done that so far.And Ricky Ponting will, by no means, be surprised if Lara reverses thetrend and comes out to bat early in the do-or-die final. “If they loseearly wickets, I don’t think he’ll come in that early. But if they get offto a good start, I think he’ll come higher up the order,” said Ponting.”We saw the game against India when he probably regretted the way in whichhe came so low because the game nearly got away from them. I don’t thinkthey will do that again.”It’s always dangerous to say that a team has turned a corner, or come ofage, because these days it takes just one bad tournament to undo all thegood work done before. But there have been times in the past when WestIndies have been over dependent on Lara, and collapsed in a heap once theopposition got him out of the way. It has not been the case here. DwayneBravo has scored his first ODI hundred, Runako Morton has gone fromlongest duck to unbeaten near-hundred against world champions, IanBradshaw is on the verge of toppling Brett Lee as the No. 1 bowler in theICC rankings . Lara admitted that this team’s resurgence was well oncourse. “It’s been tremendous. All the guys have been supportive,” hesaid. “Some have played 50 Tests and 100 ODIs. There can only be onecaptain at any time, but there must be a group of leaders within any team.It’s not just on the field, but in practice, in team meetings, you have tobe able to see all of that to realise the contribution some of these guysmake. I’m happy with the way the nucleus of this team is coming together.I’m very confident of the immediate future of West Indian cricket. I justhope it does not break down at any point.”

In this day and age certainly – perhaps it’s been the same all along -cricketers are sensitive to criticism, and calling a team unpredictable isnot always taken well. But Lara certainly didn’t seem to mind the factthat his team were tagged thus. “I love the tag unpredictable, which meansthat no opposition, no matter how strong they are can think that they’regoing to roll us over,” he said. “Of course Australia are the favourites.They’re world champions, No. 1 in the world, going into the match you’d beunwise to think otherwise. We’re looking to excel and carry that throughto the final. The two games where we’ve had hiccups in this tournamenthave both been after we’ve qualified for the next phase.”The Australians, especially in big matches of this kind, have a tendencyof turning up the aggro a notch or two, Batsmen go after bowlers early on,not allowing them to settle. Bowlers get under the skin of batsmen with achirp or two. But Lara did not thinking it was wise to try and fight firewith fire. “I just think you need to play sensible cricket. TheAustralians come and try to impose themselves on any opposition theyplay,” he said. “You have to play intelligent cricket, match them at alltimes, and take that extra step when the right time comes. Playing withflair or attacking cricket is not going to scare the Australians. You haveto play sensibly, put in a good team effort. The smarter team is going towin.”Very early in the tournament, a senior journalist who has watched Lara play overthe years, suggested that there was something different about him when headdressed a press conference. He suggested that the arrogance that camewith youth and stardom had given way to something more mellow. And themanner in which he answered a question on the Ashes – a fairly absurd onegiven he was playing in a big final the next day – saying, “I have a finalto play tomorrow, sorry,” showed that this was certainly a different Larafrom the one of a few years ago, when he might lost his cool a touch. Thebeauty about Lara, though, is that the slowing of reflexes thatinevitably accompanies aging has more than been compensated by thegaining of experience. He can still bat with the same authority andfearless power that he showed all those years ago.The one thing that underscores the change in Lara as a man, though, isthat he talks so little of himself and so much of the team, and even afterattending approaching a dozen press conferences of his this tournament,you don’t get the feeling that it is purely management-speak, like you dowith some other international captains or coaches. “We have grown as ateam, there’s a lot more self belief in this camp,” he said. “Clive Lloydhas come in and we have some good coaching staff but the ultimate thing is- the fact of the matter is – that the guys are believing in themselves alot more and they want to prove themselves as worthy contenders ofretaining the trophy.”

Brett Lee and Shaun Tait should be unleashed on the England batsmen in a fast-bowling partnership reminiscent of Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson, according to Ian Chappell. Writing in his column in London’s Chappell said the extreme pace and late swing of Lee and Tait would be the best way to rattle England in the first Test starting at Brisbane on Thursday.”Glenn McGrath and Brett Lee were always certain selections for the Gabba but I would round out the Australian pace attack with the explosive Shaun Tait,” Chappell wrote. “Lee and Tait, L & T, pace and more pace. My mind wanders back to 1974-75 when another L & T combination, Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson, pace and more pace, produced a Brisbane blitz that quickly changed the dynamics of an Ashes series.”The Gabba is the fastest and bounciest pitch in Australia and that is the ground where the Lee and Tait combination is most likely to work.” Chappell said using Lee and Tait would also help Shane Warne.”With the [potential] loss of Watson, Australia are likely to opt for a more conservative pace attack of McGrath, Lee and [Stuart] Clark, one attacking bowler and two miserly metronomes,” he wrote. “This could force the England batsmen to attack Shane Warne, the correct way to play the champion leg spinner.”However, play Tait instead of Clark and this means the balance is in favour of aggressive pace bowling and the requirement to score quickly off Warne won’t be so great; push and prod at the leg spinner with a bit of bounce in the pitch and batting life expectancy recedes faster than Brisbane’s twilight.”Tait, who left the field with leg cramps on day two of England’s tour match against South Australia, returned on day three and bowled six overs.

Andrew Strauss has been cleared of injury after being struck flush on the helmet by a bouncer from Brett Lee during England’s second innings in the fifth Test at Sydney.Strauss was taken to a hospital nearby soon after for precautionary scans but team officials released a brief statement saying there was no serious damage. James Anderson later told reporters that Strauss was fine. “He’s all right. He’s wandering around the dressing room with a bit of a lump on his head but apart from that he’s ok,” Anderson said.Strauss was struck in the third over of England’s innings and as the ball crashed into the protective plastic covering covering his temple, he immediately fell to the ground. The blow prompted initial concern among Australian players, several of whom rushed to his aid while medical help was called. Strauss hadn’t opened his account at the time, though he recovered sufficiently to make 29 before being dismissed by Stuart Clark.Shane Warne, at first slip when Strauss was hit, admitted the players had been worried as he was struck. “He got hit really hard so we all went up and made sure he was OK. There was some concern and once we knew he was OK we went back and he played pretty well after that.”

Less than three months after sacking him, Nasim Ashraf, chairman of the Pakistan board, has reappointed Mushtaq Ahmed, the former Pakistan legspinner, as assistant coach for the tour to South Africa, set to begin from January 2.Mushtaq had been removed from the post hours before the Pakistan team left for the Champions Trophy in October, one of Ashraf’s first moves upon taking over the chairmanship of the board. At the time, he was deemed as “irrelevant staff” by Ashraf, though speculation centred around a combination of his close friendship with Inzamam-ul-Haq and his implication in Justice Qayyum’s report on match-fixing.But at a press conference in Lahore, Ashraf said Mushtaq was capable of serving the team. “Mushtaq has impressed me a lot with his cricketing knowledge and I think he can be a better choice for the South African tour,” he said. Mushtaq is expected to remain with the team through the whole tour, while Waqar Younis, the bowling coach, will return home after the Tests.

South Africa 417 and 199 for 3 (Amla 64*, Kallis 60*)beat Pakistan 313 and 302 (Farhat 68, Nazir 40) by seven wickets
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out – Pakistan
How they were out – South Africa

Hashim Amla and Jacques Kallis staved off any threat from Pakistan to ease South Africa to victory in the first Test. Proceedings today weren’t about entertainment for the hosts – ironically Pakistan ‘s exciting and explosive batting of yesterday had put paid to that – they were just about getting the job done. In the end, a convincing victory came easily, by seven wickets, thanks to the pair’s unbroken stand of 119.Kallis’s efforts in particular would have made the most clinical of surgeons proud. He delivered a series of calm, precise dissections of the field, his soft hands delicately cutting into Pakistan’s morale.His were just small, neat cuts but they were enough to do the damage. He was in control from the moment he arrived at the crease, early in the opening session, following Harris’s uppish drive off Mohammad Asif to covers where Faisal Iqbal snapped up a tidy low catch.Amla didn’t exactly do a hatchet job, either, although Kaneria stitched him up twice in the first over and later he prodded the odd nick in front of gully. He also stabbed a leading edge which popped back just short of Kaneria. But he continued to play watchfully, grew in stature, and picked off the singles as South Africa solidified their position.The visitors looked to Kaneria’s wrist to provide the threat on a wearing pitch, but although he found turn and landed the ball in the right areas, Amla and Kallis played him well. Asif tired towards the end of his morning spell, allowing a host of no-balls to creep in. His lacklustre efforts were matched by Pakistan’s fielding, allowing precious singles to slip through their fingers.The nightwatchman Harris was the only faller in a rain-truncated morning session and his departure merely opened the way for a calm Kallis to join Amla in chipping away at the target. Rana Naved-ul-Hasan was brought into the attack after lunch, and though he found a touch of reverse, he couldn’t find the edge and the South African pair continued serenely on their way.They each reached their half-centuries with ease and, by the middle of the afternoon, victory was sewn up, eventually with just as much ease.

England warmed-up for their quadrangular tournament in Chennai with a 97-run win against India B at the India Pistons Ground. Claire Taylor led the way striking 52, as England used 13 players, then Holly Colvin impressed with the ball claiming 5 for 31.Taylor’s innings took just 40 balls and she used the sweep to good effect before retiring after completing her half-century to allow others a hit. Charlotte Edwards contributed a run-a-ball 46 and looked to dominate throughout her knock. The middle order ensured momentum was maintained and Laura Marsh capped the innings with 20 off 13 balls.A solid bowling effort followed and was backed-up by some sharp fielding. Isha Guha made an early breakthrough but the Indians moved to 86 for 1 before Guha struck again. However, they were never in touch with the target and Colvin ran through the middle and lower order, while Beth Morgan and Laura Newton grabbed one apiece.England’s second warm-up match is on Monday when they take on India A at the main stadium in Chennai.

Following the arrival of Bangladesh, Canada, and Bermuda during the last week, the remainder of the teams for the World Cup are expected to touch down in the Caribbean over the next few days.Scotland, one of the six Associate sides taking part in the competition, will get the ball rolling on Monday, when they arrive in Barbados, where they will play warm-up matches.”I would have to say that everything is ready,” said Michael Hall, the tournament’s cricket operations director. “Obviously, as you would expect, there are a number of issues that crop up from time to time.”Certainly one of them that has cropped up is the change of a squad member with respect to Australia, but we work around these issues, and we are very confident that when these teams do get to the Caribbean, the experience that they have is going to be a pleasant and excellent one for them.”Brett Lee withdrew from Australia’s 15-man squad with an ankle injury and has been replaced by Stuart Clark, while Adam Gilchrist also announced on Saturday that he would now be available for Australia’s first match of the competition, following the birth of his third child.”As far as I am concerned, the World Cup, in some respects, began last week when Bermuda arrived in Antigua,” Hall added. “But certainly from a cricket operations perspective, the World Cup does begin in earnest the minute the teams begin to touch down in the Caribbean as most of them will do towards the latter end of next week.”Thursday is a huge day for arrivals, when nine teams, including Ricky Ponting’s Australia, touch down in the Caribbean. The other sides arriving on that day will be Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, Netherlands, India, Kenya, South Africa, and Ireland. England and Pakistan arrive on Friday to complete the list.The official warm-up programme will be contested from March 5 to 9 before the competition officially opens on March 11 at the Trelawny Multi-Purpose Stadium in Jamaica. The hosts West Indies face Pakistan in the opening match on March 13 in Jamaica.

Brian Lara will retire from one-day internationals when West Indies are knocked out of the World Cup. Lara is likely to have only two matches left following the loss to South Africa at Grenada on Tuesday.”I think this is the end of my one-day career, for sure,” Lara said. “I honestly feel that my game is over and we should give it to one of the younger players. It’s really tough playing one-day internationals out there.”West Indies go to England for a tour in June and Lara said he would “love to sit back and watch and see the team do well”. “I want to leave a team that plays better,” he said. “And that is still my hope. These might be my last two one-day internationals but I still want to see the team moving out of this competition learning something from it and that’s all I can hope for.”Lara has played 297 ODIs and scored 10,354 runs at 40.60 with 19 hundreds and 63 half-centuries. His hopes of bowing out with a home World Cup victory have faded after a disastrous Super Eights stage and there has been heavy criticism of his captaincy.

There are two reasons why Australia and New Zealand are among the runaway favourites for this World Cup. Firstly, both teams just keep on winning; secondly, they refuse to let little issues like injuries to key players get in the way of their momentum.When Brett Lee went over on his ankle during a practice session in New Zealand in February, it was widely assumed that Australia’s best hope of a third successive World Cup had gone with him. But into the breach stepped the raw gunslinger, Shaun Tait, whose Man-of-the-Match award against England represented a notable coming-of-age.Two years ago, Tait was flung in at the deep end for the pivotal fourth Ashes Test at Trent Bridge after an elbow injury had laid Glenn McGrath low. But none of the callow youthfulness he displayed then was on show in Antigua. Touching 94mph in a venomous new-ball spell, he beat both Michael Vaughan and Andrew Strauss for pace, then returned in the final Powerplay to extract Paul Collingwood before he had time to settle.Eyebrows were raised when Tait was named as Lee’s replacement as Australia’s strike-bowling option. He didn’t exactly set the world alight on his one-day debut at Sydney in January, finishing with two expensive wickets as England won the match that began their CB Series comeback, and by the time of his first World Cup outing against Scotland in Basseterre, he had mustered just five wickets in four outings, three of which had ended in defeat.Since then he has been a revelation, bagging 11 wickets in six matches, and improving his pace and direction with each match. “I’d been a bit disappointed throughout the tournament with my first few overs of every game,” Tait said. “I haven’t been hitting my straps quite like I should be. So today I just brought my lengths back a bit and bashed on the wicket a bit more. I bowled a lot straighter and controlled it a lot better.””He’s been taking wickets in every game, which is great,” the captain Ricky Ponting said. “The pleasing thing is he took a look at his bowling and found an area where he could change things a little bit. It’s great to see younger guys working on their games, and then getting some results out of it. Shaun did a terrific job, bowling through the middle of the innings.”Tait’s success, coupled with the impending retirement of McGrath, raises the intriguing prospect of both he and Lee tearing in during future Australian one-day games. “I’d love to have both guys in my team if they are going as well as they can,” Ponting said. “Brett’s got away from the out-and-out strike bowler he’s always labelled as – Taity is that for us at the moment.”The more he plays the more he’ll understand the ways to go about bowling in different conditions. Brett’s a bit more advanced and he understands his game very well. He takes wickets but he doesn’t go for runs, which was something that always plagued him early in his career. He’s been the best bowler in the world in one-day international cricket.”

Seam bowler Andrew McGarry has joined Essex until the end of the season as the county search for injury cover. It is his second stint at Chelmsford after he played 15 matches between 1999 and 2003.McGarry was called into the Essex squad as a non-contracted player for the Championship against Glamorgan at the end of April. He went wicketless but did enough to encourage the club to sign him up.”Once you play somewhere you don’t expect to get a second chance, so to get another go is really good,” he told the Essex website. “I’ve matured and have a bit more experience. Obviously I haven’t played much on the first-class scene for three years but I’ve played a lot of minor counties cricket [for Suffolk] and have learnt a bit more about myself so will hopefully come back a better bowler.”David East, the chief executive, said: “Andrew has bowled well for us in our early season matches and demonstrated that he has matured as a cricketer. We have a number of injuries to our seam bowlers at present and Andrew’s addition to the squad will give us further options over the next few months.”McGarry went straight into the Essex squad for their three-day match against Cambridge University.