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In every sense, except the one that matters most, Colombo’s weather has been regular as clockwork. At three o’clock this afternoon, with the groundstaff hovering expectantly between two practice nets in the middle of the Premadasa Stadium, the clouds rolled over and the rain came pouring down. It was the same story yesterday afternoon, and in all probability, it will be the same tomorrow as well, when the second one-day international is due to get underway.As things stand, the rain may be regular, but, in fact, it shouldn’t be raining at all. The current weather pattern has got the locals stumped. Sri Lanka’s captain, Marvan Atapattu, was at a loss to explain the conditions, which are usually dry and sunny by this time of the year, with the monsoon left long behind. “It is pretty unusual,” he said. “I can’t remember it raining this consistently in the past.””We can’t control the weather, so we leave it well alone,” said John Dyson, Sri Lanka’s new coach, who was still beaming at the facile nature of his first match in charge. Nevertheless, as an Australian, Dyson was far more bullish about his homeland’s prospects in Saturday’s rugby World Cup final, than he was about Sri Lanka’s chances of a clean sweep in this series. Strange really, seeing as he shares his name with a vacuum-cleaner manufacturer.”I would expect England to come back strongly,” warned Dyson. “After the Bangladesh series, maybe they were finding their cricket a little too easy. Tuesday’s game will have been a useful wake-up call, if that is what they needed. It is clear that they are starting to gel into a good unit, so I’d be surprised if they play like that again.”They were magnanimous words, but the gloomy weather has been the only appropriate reflection of England’s current mood. Just about everything that could go wrong in the last 48 hours, has gone wrong. As if the massacre in Dambulla wasn’t bad enough, England are now facing up to the probable loss of half their strike force for the first Test at Galle. Only minutes after Steve Harmison’s withdrawal had been confirmed last night, James Anderson twisted his ankle playing squash, and now faces a two-week lay-off.”The injury is less than 24 hours old and we will need a few days to assess it,” said Dean Conway, England’s physio. “We are quite optimistic at this stage that he will be back in 10 days to two weeks, but that is based on a quick judgment.” With Richard Johnson staying out in Harmison’s place, and Matthew Hoggard already flying out to join the squad, no decision has yet been taken on whether a replacement will be required for Anderson.But it just so happens that the next cab off the rank – to use the Australian vernacular – is the man against whom Anderson was playing when he suffered his injury. “We were just trying to get a bit of a sweat on,” protested James Kirtley, who is sure to take Anderson’s place tomorrow. “It seemed like a good idea at the time.”I was actually at the other side of the court, attempting a return,” he added, disassociating himself from the injury as far as he possibly could, “when I heard a thud. We immediately feared the worst.”Kirtley is well aware of the success that another skiddy English paceman enjoyed in the 2001 series: “Darren Gough and I are not dissimilar in style.” It remains to be seen whether Kirtley would be as able and willing to go through his full repertoire of slower balls and legcutters to make an impact, although, it has to be said, the conditions are far more favourable than they were for Gough’s tour.For the time being, however, England’s chances of a swift revenge are very much in the hands of the elements. The most recent match to be held at the Premadasa Stadium was the Champions’ Trophy final between Sri Lanka and India, in September last year. That match really was scheduled slap-bang in the middle of the rainy season, and the upshot was a two-day farce in which no Champion could be determined, and no Trophy could be awarded outright.Once again, a reserve day has been scheduled – just in case – although that is unlikely to find much favour with either England’s players or their punters. Saturday’s rugby final might just ensure that the ground would be devoid of travelling supporters, long before the rains had their say.Sri Lanka (probable) 1 Sanath Jayasuriya, 2 Romesh Kaluwitharana (wk), 3 Marvan Atapattu (capt), 4 Kumar Sangakkara, 5 Mahela Jayawardene, 6 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 7 Upul Chandana, 8 Chaminda Vaas, 9 Dinusha Fernando, 10 Muttiah Muralitharan, 11 Nuwan Kulasekara.England (probable) 1 Marcus Trescothick, 2 Andrew Strauss, 3 Michael Vaughan (capt), 4 Paul Collingwood, 5 Andrew Flintoff, 6 Rikki Clarke, 7 Ian Blackwell, 8 Chris Read (wk), 9 Ashley Giles, 10 Richard Johnson, 11 James Kirtley.

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On a rain-affected day in which only 56 overs of play was possible, Barbados took control of their match against Guyana through centuries from left-hand batsmen Jason Haynes(111) and Ryan Hinds(101 not out). Resuming on 58 for 2, the pair kept the Guyanese bowlers at bay till the penultimate over of the day, when Haynes edged legspinner Leon Johnson to slip. They added 212 runs for the third wicket to leave Barbados in charge at 256 for 3 at stumps on the second day, a lead of 71. It was Haynes’ maiden first-class century, and contained 11 fours, while Hinds, who made 95 in the previous match against Windward Islands, capitalised on a dropped catch to reach his seventh century. Guyana used as many as eight bowlers but were unable to make much of an impact on a Kensington Oval track which was perfect for batting.
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A solid batting performance gave Jamaica a 187-run first-innings lead and put them in charge of their game against Combined Campuses and Colleges. Former West Indies batsman Wavell Hinds top scored with 87 while Xavier Marshall contributed 69. Marshall, who started the day on 50, added 54 for the third wicket with nightwatchman Andre Russell(33). Fast bowler Jamal Nowell then removed both batsmen before Hinds and Brendan Nash were involved in a patient 85-run stand. However, the tail caved in meekly, with the last six wickets falling for 38, as Jamaica were bowled out for 286. Nowell was the highest wicket-taker with four, while left-arm spinner Kavesh Kantasingh picked up three, including that of Hinds. In reply, the visitors had reached 36 at stumps, losing the wicket of captain Shirley Clarke in the process.
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Leeward Islands dismissed Windward Islands for 134 to gain a handy 67-run first-innings lead before their batsmen consolidated the advantage by reaching 179 for 5 at stumps. After being bowled out for a paltry 201 in the first innings, Leewards stormed back into the match with the help of former West Indies fast bowler Adam Sanford’s four wickets. Windwards lost their last six wickets for 41 runs to be bowled out at the stroke of lunch. Leewards’ captain Omari Banks led their batting with an unbeaten 51 to ensure they maintained the upper hand in the game. Montcin Hodge (21), Steve Liburd (24) and Javier Liburd (36) also chipped in with useful contributions.

It’s hard to remember when last a team was in such disarray before a must-win Test match. Pakistan’s injury problems began as a bothersome aside but have now taken centre stage as they have only three fit bowlers going into the Kolkata Test. India, on the other hand, are sitting pretty, with their one doubtful starter, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, having recovered fully from a twisted ankle. An SOS has been sent to the Pakistan selectors, but with flight connectivity to Kolkata not being the greatest, it will be a challenge to get someone in with enough time to spare to take the field in the second Test.More than a few experts have been surprised by the rise of Sohail Tanvir, who with his unorthodox action, delivering not quite off the wrong foot but releasing the ball before his leading foot lands, was a novelty in Twenty20 cricket before sneaking into the one-day team. Now, with one Test under his belt, he is likely to lead Pakistan’s pace attack, with Umar Gul out, and Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Sami struggling with chest infections and illness. Tanvir has Danish Kaneria and Abdur Rehman as his only fully fit bowling partners.Although India must be secretly boosted by Pakistan’s troubles, Anil Kumble insists his team are not thinking of the composition of the opposition side. “Ideally we should look to control what we can control. The team is raring to go and that is a good sign,” said Kumble a day before the game.It’s not a bad approach to take, for Pakistan could just be at their most dangerous if Shoaib or Sami, or both, are somehow fit when play begins on Friday, though that seems desperately unlikely. Pakistan now truly have nothing to lose and everything to gain, and this will mean that any relief they get is a positive and should boost them going into the game.India, meanwhile, have a choice of their own to make, with a thought to bring in a third spinner in Murali Kartik. However, in order to do so, they will have to do some significant juggling, either using one of the middle-order batsmen as an opener and leaving out Dinesh Karthik, who has scored heavily in Tests this year, barring the last game, or play just one fast bowler and use Sourav Ganguly as a medium-pace option. Both seem unlikely, though Ganguly did play a significant part with the ball in the first Test.”I think Sourav has done well in the last game, and I don’t think he should change whatever he has been doing to satisfy your definition of success,” said Kumble when asked about Ganguly’s effort with the ball. “I think his role in the team, as a bowler it was very important for us in Kotla. I am sure he will get a bit of bowl here as well. I hope he will be more successful here than in Kotla.”Either way, the decision on the playing XI will be made late in theday, after consultation with Dilip Vengsarkar, who is expected to arrive in Kolkata on the eve of the match. The only thing that could tempt the Indians into playing three spinners is the pitch, but it’s tough to say if there are strong enough indications that the pitch will crumble. The curator insists it will begin to take turn on the third day, but such predictions are dangerous.”It seems to be a decent wicket and it should play well,” said Kumble. “But it is for us to take the momentum from Kotla and ensure that we turn the screws on early. We need to bat to our potential, and we should not let them off the hook as we had done in the first innings in Kotla.”What makes it harder to believe that the Indians will play three spinners is the fact that Harbhajan Singh was quite significantly under-bowled in the first Test. He bowled 15 overs in the first innings and 17 in the second, and on both occasions even Zaheer Khan had sent down more overs.It’s too early to judge Kumble the captain, after just one Test match, but already he appears to be a man in control of his team. He’s been playing the game at the highest level for 17 long years and there’s little he has not experienced first hand.Malik, however, barely portrays the same picture. Again it would be unfair to slate Malik without inside knowledge of how he interacted with his team, but on the field he has not looked a leader. He has looked like just one of the boys, and with the results not coming, and the runs also reducing to a trickle, the pressure is fairly and squarely on Malik. One thing’s pretty clear, though, if he gets through these testing times unscathed, things are only going to get easier for him.Teams
India (probable): 1 Dinesh Karthik, 2 Wasim Jaffer, 3 Rahul Dravid, 4 Sachin Tendulkar, 5 Sourav Ganguly, 6 VVS Laxman, 7 Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), 8 Anil Kumble (capt), 9 Harbhajan Singh, 10 Zaheer Khan, 11 Munaf Patel.Pakistan (from): Salman Butt, Yasir Hameed, Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf, Shoaib Malik (capt), Misbah-ul-Haq, Kamran Akmal (wk), Sohail Tanvir, Mohammad Sami, Shoaib Akhtar, Danish Kaneria, Abdur Rehman, Yasir Arafat, Faisal Iqbal.

The Nairobi Provincial Cricket Association was plunged into another crisis with the resignation of Nilesh Lakhani from the executive.Lakhani, who is chairman of the Parklands club, is seen as one of the people within the NPCA who actually gets things done, and his resignation will be a serious blow to the credibility of the already beleaguered executive. The NPCA has already lost its chairman and secretary this year.What will really hurt the NPCA is the stinging attack on the executive’s abilities in his letter of resignation. “I have looked at the position and have concluded that I have no confidence in the way that NPCA is currently operating,” he wrote. “It is no secret that there is no proper management in the NPCA executive. It is something we have been criticised for by everyone who has any sensible interest in cricket.It has been difficult for me to understand not only who is running the NPCA but also how it is run. At present the NPCA has no “official” chairman, it has no vice-chairman and now it has no “official” secretary . How long are you going to continue like this? And yet we continue to pretend to the outside world that we have no problems without accepting our fault.”I have taken little part in attending NPCA meetings over the past several months … [because] the way in which NPCA executive meetings are called is pathetic. I usually receive an SMS around 4.30 pm on a particular day saying that NPCA executive will be meeting at 7.00 pm on the same day to discuss urgent matters. How can you operate in this way and expect commitment from members?”Lakhani’s attack on the NPCA comes after months in which the executive has been roundly condemned from all sides for its lack of openness and accountability and its continual stalling of the introduction of a new constitution and an AGM.This might turn out to be the straw that breaks the camel’s back and it will be hard to see how, bereft of its last credible administrator, the current executive can carry on with any credibility.

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Garnett Kruger destroyed Western Province Boland as the Lions romped into the semi-finals with an eight-wicket win at Newlands in Cape Town. Both teams came into the game with an outside chance of claiming the last semi-final spot. Province needed to win to stay in the running while the Lions needed to win with a bonus point to nudge the Warriors out of the fourth spot.The important toss was won by the Lions who put WPBOL in to bat first. Asteady start saw the home team reach 70 for 2 after 17 overs. Whatfollowed left the Newlands faithful stunned as some poor shot selection sent a steady stream of batsmen back to the change-rooms. In the space of 16 balls Kruger (5-21) destroyed the middle order leaving WPBOL reeling at 76 for 7. A slight revival between Con de Lange (30) and William Hantam (35), putting on 65 for the eighth wicket, helped Province struggle to 142.The Lions, having to chase 143 in 36 overs to make it into the semi-finals, set off at a good pace with Stephen Cook and Adam Bacher bringing up the 50 in the 11th and the 100 in the 22nd. Cook was first to go for 27 (110-1) but Bacher’s rich vain of form continued as he remained unbeaten on 77. He also became the the first batsman to pass the 500-runs mark for this season. HD Ackerman was the only other batsman to fall as the Lions reached the target in 30.2 overs.In Western Province’s defence one has to question the South African board’s fixtures committee. For a side to complete four fixtures in eight days, two of them back-to-back and 1,000 miles apart, when some teams have already completed their commitments was surely loading the dice.

Rawalpindi were dealt a big blow by match referee Abdul SamiKhan Thursday when he slapped a one-match ban on pacemanMohammad Zahid and fined him Rs 5,000 for imtimidatorybowling.Zahid was involved in a tiff with Rest of Punjab batsmanMohammad Fazil Wednesday in the Quaid Trophy match at theKRL Stadium and indulged in what the umpires said was an”intentional attempt by the bowler to hurt the batsman.”The referee summoned Zahid and after a hearing decided topenalise him, although Rawalpindi officials made desperateattempts to have the decision reverted.The match itself seemed headed for a draw as the Rest,resuming at the overnight 250 for five accumulated 423 intheir first innings – a lead of 174.By the close of third day’s play, that came 18 overs early,Rawalpindi in their second innings were 122 for one, still52 behind and a full day still to go.The Rest total revolved around a fine unconquered 127 bySufian Munir, who was 50 overnight. His 204-ball innings waslaced with 19 fours and he was involved in three importantpartnerships. The first stand with his overnight partnerFazil yielded 89 for the sixth wicket and later along withAbdur Rauf, he put on 53 for the eighth wicket. But it washis last wicket partnership of 88 with Mushtaq Ahmed thatreally boosted the Rest total. Mushtaq was in a punishingmood and struck six sixes and five boundaries in a knock of68 runs.Babar Naeem took the bowling honours with three for 71followed by Azhar Bhatti and Yasir Arafat who claimed twowickets each.Rawalpindi were given a good start to their second inningsby their openers Naveed Ashraf and Babar, with both strikinghalf centuries.When play ended prematurely due to bad light, Babar wasstill at the crease on 56 and with him was Mohammad Wasim on10.Azhar Abbas took the only Rawalpindi wicket to fall.

It’s been a heck of a one-day season for Central Districts and Otago and not even good conditions in Invercargill today could provide the spark for an end of competition extravaganza for them.Central Districts left Queen’s Park, one of the more attractive grounds around New Zealand, with a 99-run victory and some satisfaction at last in what has been a disappointing defence of their national one-day title.The Stags won the toss and batted on a good wicket, reaching a total of 242/6 in their 50 overs. Hawera-born Peter Ingram scored his first century off 130 balls and was ably supported by Richard King 40 with whom he shared a 106-run partnership, and Ben Smith 28.Ingram was last man out of the six CD batsmen dismissed, in the 47th over.A key factor for CD was the fact all their batsmen got into double figures to reach their 242 total. The Otago bowling was adequate with Kerry Walmsley one for 37 and debutant Anthony Wilkinson none for 38 from his 10 overs, the best of the bowlers.The Otago off-spinners Nathan Morland (none for 39 off eight) and Nathan McCullum (none for 44 off seven) were a little expensive in comparison.On such a good batting wicket 242 seemed getable but alas the Otago batting which has been erratic all season had one of its bad days.So often it has depended on Andrew Hore giving the side a good start but he was out for a duck in the first over having faced only four balls. Craig Cumming scored only two, Lee Germon a duck and Martyn Croy one.Only Simon Beare, in his first Otago game, scored a fine 61. More will be heard of him. Morland with 28 assisted at No 8 but that was about it for Otago. Dismissed for 143, they lost by almost a hundred.Bowling for the Stags, Ewen Thompson with four for 41 from eight overs was a signal performer but Michael Mason with four for 16 had an outstanding spell. Brent Hefford one for 21 and Andrew Schwass one for 17 were both very economical and bowled a lot tighter than their Volts counterparts, though the early loss of Volts wickets neccessitated caution from a batting aspect.The Central Stags batted and bowled far better than their opposition and thoroughly deserved their victory over the Otago Volts.

SYDNEY, March 7 AAP – Steve Waugh, cricket’s patron saint of hopeless causes, today answered the prayers of the New South Wales’ faithful, scorned the “doomsday prophets” and heralded the new messiah in the form of Michael Clarke.With NSW needing an outright win in the Pura Cup match against Queensland at the Sydney Cricket Ground to secure its first state final in almost a decade, Waugh and Clarke scored emphatic centuries to put the home side well in control.At stumps on day two, the Blues were 3-343 with Waugh not out on 107 and Clarke unbeaten on 106 after raising his ton from 87 balls in an even 100 minutes.With a lead of 255, seven wickets in hand and two days to play, NSW is primed for a win which looked implausible 24 hours earlier when it trailed on the first innings by 88 runs after being bowled out for 102 before dismissing Queensland for 190 in return.With Victoria grinding its way to first innings points against Western Australia to take the edge in the race for the final against the Bulls, the Blues know an outright win will be needed if they are to play their first final since winning the old Sheffield Shield in 1993-94.Things looked grim for that prospect when Michael Slater (4) went in the second over and when Waugh came in at 2-96, the score was effectively 2-8.”There was pressure on, we had to get something happening,” Waugh said.Waugh responded by hitting his first two balls to the boundary and his early strokes had an aura of irritation about them – as if he was swatting away a horde of annoying flies.But he soon settled down to play a typically grafting innings, making his century in three hours off 158 balls with 17 balls.”I’ve been hitting the ball well – all those doomsday prophets weren’t right were they, I’m still playing OK,” Waugh said, referring to those who were calling for his Test career to end earlier this summer.While he was playing “OK”, Waugh said Clarke was something else all together.”It was a great innings, outstanding, the people who were here today will remember that for a long time.”Someone in the crowd said `he’s the new Doug Walters’ and he’s probably not far away from that.”While Waugh’s 73rd first-class ton was desperately needed by his floundering team it was set in the shade by Clarke’s afternoon assault on the tiring and injury-depleted Bulls attack.Clarke’s half-century came off 56 balls, with six fours and a six and his second 50 took only 31 balls, many of his late boundaries coming after Michael Kasprowicz and Ashley Noffke had taken the new ball.Clarke, with fabulous aggression, deft footwork and a flashing blade pounded every bowler and at one stage earned a backhanded compliment from Kasprowicz, who mimicked a defensive shot – non-existent in Clarke’s repertoire today – after yet another good ball had been smote to the boundary.Clarke said he’d been nervous when he came out to bat, mainly because he’d made ducks in his previous two innings.”All I wanted to do was get off the mark,” he said.Clarke said Waugh gave him the green light to attack once NSW was in a strong position.”I asked Steve Waugh what he wanted me to do and he said “you’re hitting them well, keep going”.”I felt comfortable so I just went for my shots.”The twin centuries from the master and the apprentice give the Blues a strong chance for a win, with the dual wrist spin of first innings destroyers Stuart MacGill and Simon Katich likely to be dangerous when Queensland bats again.”We were always pretty optimistic we’d be in a good position at the end of the day,” Waugh said.”We batted terribly on the first day – they bowled well but that was as bad as we could possibly bat and we know that Queensland is going to bat last on a wicket that’s going to suit us.”

“Taj President. Call me anytime”, came the text message, minutes after I asked Hemang Badani if we could have a word before the Ranji Trophy final. With the big game starting only on May 4, Badani could have been at his Chennai home, putting his feet up, playing with his 10-month-old son Hrishit and enjoying a lazy May-day lunch. Instead, he was in Mumbai, impatient for the game to begin.You would expect Badani to be keen. The Wankhede Stadium has done more for him than for most Mumbai cricketers. It was here in 1999 that Badani first exhibited his hunger, and ability, to bat at the highest level. In a tense match that Tamil Nadu eventually lost, Badani drove, threaded and whipped his way to a career-best 162 in the Ranji Trophy semi-final. His captain, Robin Singh, made 183 and Tamil Nadu threatened to walk away with the game. Threats, however, don’t work when Sachin Tendulkar is around. Tendulkar played with passion and verve to carve out 233, and Tamil Nadu were beaten – by one man.This time around, though, there’s no Tendulkar to worry about – he’s away getting medical attention in America.”Even the last time,” says Badani, “we were so close to winning. It was always touch and go, even with Sachin [Tendulkar] batting so well. He stole the game away from us, but we did ourselves no favours with our fielding. He was dropped in the slips – a sitter – when he was just 34 and we also missed a few run-out chances late in the innings.””Even after all that, we were never too far away from winning. You know as well as I do that a few decisions went against us,” adds Badani with a rueful chuckle. Perhaps he is speaking of the time S Mahesh had Santosh Saxena trapped plumb in front, only to be denied by the umpire, when Mumbai still needed a run to take the all-important first-innings lead.But despite Tendulkar’s absence, there’s still plenty for this Tamil Nadu team to mull over. The brisk medium-pace of Ajit Agarkar and Avishkar Salvi, on a wicket that has been relaid recently, will ask a few questions of Badani and his team.”I’ve played with Ajit [Agarkar] since the Under-16 level and I know his game really well,” said Badani. “We first toured England together as teenagers for Star Cricket Club and we go back a long way. Salvi is another one to watch out for, with his height and the bounce he generates.””They’ll prepare a wicket that has something in it for the mediumpacers. Their best spinner is Sairaj [Bahutule] and he’ll be wondering how to bowl to all the left-handers in our side. So you would have to say that Agarkar and Salvi are the biggest threats. But we’re not scared, or worried about them,” a confident Badani says.You have to believe Badani when he says so. Despite being out of the Indian team in recent months, he has been discussed at every selection meeting. “The frustrating part about playing for India and then being dropped is the fact that you know you can perform at that level, and you still have to sit out. Whatever anyone might say, there’s a huge gap between playing domestic cricket and playing at the international level. You can make all the runs you want in domestic games but only when you make them at the highest level do you really know that you have it in you,” says Badani.Tendulkar certainly thought Badani had it in him. It was after that memorable 1999 Ranji semi-final that he marked Badani out for higher honours. “Sachin spoke to me after the game and told me one thing. You have a fantastic downswing and follow-through, he said. Whether you’re going through a bad patch or not, never change that. This will make all the difference at the highest level.”Badani will walk out to the middle on the fourth of May with those words in mind. “It could be a very big match for me. I feel this could be the best thing that happened to me – something that needed to happen. If I can make a hundred, and help Tamil Nadu win … ” he trails off. He doesn’t have to say more. You know what he means: this match could be the one that propels him back into the Indian team.

Bangladesh 97 and 178 (Bashar 54, Al Sahariar 36; MacGill 5 for 65) lost to Australia 407 for 7 dec Australia, as expected, won their first Test against Bangladesh by an innings. They weren’t quite at their ruthless best, but they didn’t need to be. Bangladesh showed a singular lack of application in their first innings, though they showed some spine in the second before a sudden middle-order collapse brought them to their knees. Steve Waugh was in a relective mood after winning his record 37th Test as captain; Dav Whatmore could only watch in despair as Bangladesh lost his first Test as their coach; Stuart MacGill, the chief architect of Australia’s domination on the final day, picking up his seventh five-wicket haul, was exhilarated. Here is what they had to say:Steve Waugh
On what makes Australia special: It’s about our scoring rate and how quickly we can get our runs and put the opposition in. it’s a positive way of playing the game and we like to win in quick time.It helps when you have someone like Adam Gilchrist batting at number seven who can make the game go forward so quickly and put a lot of pressure on the opposition. We score so quickly that we have extra time to take those 20 wickets and we can put a lot of pressure on their batsmen.That’s the way cricket should be played and if all the countries can take a leaf out of that book then it’s good for world cricket.On how Tests involving Australia hardly ever last five days: A lot of the games are finishing early, but I think the quality of cricket we put out in that period of time is much better than five dull boring days. I’d rather have three exciting days and make the spectators enjoy the cricket we play; we rather play that way as well. I hope the public appreciate the way we play and I think we’ll continuethat way.Dav Whatmore
On what he makes of the team he’s just taken charge of: I’m just being a little patient to make assessments given the class of opposition that we faced here. It will take a bit more time to really separate and go on and I think we have to be patient before making any firm assessments.The positives from the game: There were indications of fight here and that’s promising and, really, the game, for me, wasn’t about winning or losing. It’s about being to see what we can do under pressure and try to match the opposition and be as competitive aswe possibly could.There were times when I thought Australia had to fight for their runs – the first 100-150 runs it was a real struggle for them. If it was any other team I believe there was enough pressure applied to pick up more wickets, which has a stabilising effect when you come to chase runs in the second innings, but it wasn’t to be.On how he felt at the end of the game: I don’t think any coach is satisfied – maybe [John] Buchanan [Australia’s coach] might be a bit more satisfied. I’m not sure if I will be satisfied for a long while yet, but it’s a matter of identifying areas where we need to improve -it’s a fairly easy area to identify for us – and going ahead and working on it.Stuart MacGill:
On the seventh five-wicket haul of his 24-Test career: I’ve learned through my career that when you get a chance with the ballyou have to make the most of it, so I’m really quite satisfied with how it went today.On how so many of his wickets in this game came from the wrong `un: Normally 90% of my wickets come from my legbreak and even in the first innings I got both my wickets with something different. In this game I felt if I was consistent with my legbreak perhaps thevariation was a chance and it was.On how county cricket has helped his bowling: I’ve been playing for Nottinghamshire in the English county championship and we play on really slow wickets and I think it’s improving my bowling because the margin for error is much smaller over there and I have to work alittle bit more on my consistency.On Mashrafe’s Mortaza’s slog against him (14 runs in an over): That last six I got hit for was definitely one of the biggest sixes off my bowling.Click here to read day 2 quotes.