Unplayable Ntini trounces West Indies

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

Makhaya Ntini: 13-wicket hero© Getty Images

Makhaya Ntini recorded his best Test figures of 7 for 37, to complete a sensational 13-wicket match haul and set South Africa for an emphatic eight-wicket victory on the final day in Trinidad. AB de Villiers and Graeme Smith then rubbed salt into the open wounds by rattling along to a 117-run opening stand in the second innings, and though both then fell before tea to massage the margin of defeat, Jacques Kallis and Jacques Rudolph sealed the win 15 minutes into the final session.It was, from start to finish, an utterly depressing day for West Indies. They had resumed with an overnight lead of 119 and a faint hope of saving the match, but squandered their position with a collapse of five wickets for 24 runs in just 59 balls of the new ball, four of them to the unplayable Ntini. Then, with a meagre target of 144 to defend, their hopes were utterly deflated in a ten-minute spell either side of tea, when Reon King twice committed the ultimate – and in West Indies’ case, the long-overdue – crime of taking a wicket with a no-ball.On an increasingly devious track, de Villiers had decided that a swift denouement was in order, and beat Daren Powell out of the attack with three classy overs in his opening over. He continued in similar vein until, in the penultimate over before lunch, King removed his off stump with a beauty. David Shepherd, however, had already signalled the no-ball, and as a grinning de Villiers led the teams off for lunch, King remained out in the middle, scratching the popping crease like a disconsolate rooster.He measured and re-measured his run-up, but it was all to no avail. In the third over after the resumption, Smith flinched a dolly to short midwicket, but once again King had overstepped, and Brian Lara was already grimacing as he stooped to complete the catch. From that moment on, the fight went out of the West Indian performance, and though they salvaged some pride with two late wickets, the sight of Ramnaresh Sarwan dropping Rudolph at gully with two runs needed for victory was a more apt commentary on the day’s events.In fact, West Indies’ solitary bright spot came in the third over of the morning, as Sarwan, 93 not out overnight, brought up his seventh Test century with a firm push for four down the ground. Thereafter, Ntini entered the attack to share the new ball, and the end of the innings was swift and dramatic.Ntini made the big incision with his third ball of the morning, as Dwayne Bravo flashed hard at a wide one and feathered an edge through to Mark Boucher behind the stumps. He was gone for 33, and Ntini had completed his second haul of ten wickets in a match. One over later he surpassed his previous-best performance, against England at Lord’s in 2003, when Courtney Browne was trapped on the move to become a very rare lbw victim (188 for 7) – it was just Ntini’s 13th such dismissal in 57 Tests and 217 wickets.

Andre Nel adds to the West Indian collapse© Getty Images

Andre Nel then got in on the act as well, as Powell deflected a thick edge towards second slip, where Jacques Kallis, quick as a flash, reached to his right to pluck a lightning chance. Sarwan could do nothing but look on and hope for the best. Pedro Collins played down the wrong line and lost his off stump to Ntini, and after an emphatic four through point from Sarwan, King was beaten for sheer pace as Ntini completed his share of the rout.Ntini’s match figures of 13 for 132 were the best by a South African in Test history, surpassing a record that had stood for 53 years – Hugh Tayfield’s 13 for 165 against Australia at Melbourne in 1952-53. It was a performance made all the more memorable by the absence of Shaun Pollock, who has been South Africa’s premier strike bowler since the retirement of Allan Donald, and showed that the succession is in safe hands.How they were outWest IndiesDwayne Bravo c Boucher b Ntini 33 (180 for 6)
Lapse in concentration, swished at a wide oneCourtney Browne lbw b Ntini 2 (188 for 7)
Caught on the move, hit just inside the lineDaren Powell c Kallis b Nel 1 (189 for 8)
Flying edge, plucked at second slipPedro Collins b Ntini 0 (190 for 9)
Played down wrong line, lost off stumpReon King b Ntini 0 (194 for 10)
Beaten for pace, stumps splatteredSouth AfricaGraeme Smith c Gayle b Bravo 41 (117 for 1)
Loose drive to first slip
AB de Villiers b Powell 62 (119 for 2)
Squared up by one that kept fractionally low

'I take it one game at a time' – Agarkar

Ajit Agarkar: back on track © Getty Images

On how he feels about his recent displays
I’ve worked pretty hard, and things have been very positive, starting in Zimbabwe. I try to take it one game at a time.On what’s changed for him
Not much really. I’ve worked a bit with Ian Frazer who pointed out a couple of things that needed tweaking in my action. Just technical things like my right hip not going through and the entire body momentum being behind the ball at the time of delivery. Sometimes, it’s the basic things that you miss.On how disheartening it was to be in and out of the side despite being India’s best ODI bowler since the 2003 World Cup.
That’s in the past now. Each time you’re not picked, you view it as a challenge and go back to try and do well in domestic cricket. We play so much cricket now that there are bound to be opportunities and you just have to make the most of what comes your way. You can only control what’s in your hands, and each time I go out, I give a 100% for the team.On criticism from former greats
I don’t read it. What can you do anyway? They can have their opinion, and I certainly can’t stop them talking. I just go out there and try my best, and play the game because I love it.On whether he has enjoyed the new-ball responsibility
Yes, I have. But I feel I can do a job both with the shiny hard ball first up, and the soft one at the end of an innings.

Double jeopardy – Shoaib takes two in two

Moin Khan
We hadn’t made much of an impression on the batting till then – they were 150-odd for 2 and Dravid looked set and comfortable. Then, right after a drinks break, Shoaib produced this amazing yorker which took Dravid’s leg stump.I remember those two balls really well, particularly the second one, which got Sachin. When he walked in, the crowd had gone wild and given him a standing ovation.Shoaib was bowling really well at that period in the game, and he had found some good rhythm in that spell. For a brief while he looked as if he was going to get a wicket with almost every ball. The way he was charging in, his attitude, it was phenomenal. He just wanted to impose himself on the game and do something; you could really see it.The ball that got Sachin looked the better of the two to me – middle stump and fuller. Both the deliveries were quick obviously, but it was more the swing that did it, and the lateness of the swing. I had seen some Wasim and Waqar specials but these two weren’t far off. When Sachin was bowled, the crowd went completely quiet and you could only hear Shoaib and some of the other players going ballistic.Rahul Dravid
I was batting with Sadagoppan Ramesh and we had been in for a while. Shoaib had come on to bowl and had completed a few overs when we had a drinks break.He was bowling sharp but not with much venom. I told Ramesh, “We’ve got a good partnership here. Let’s keep it going. Shoaib generally bowls three or four good overs and after that we can cash in.” The ball had just started to reverse swing a little bit.First ball after drinks, bang! I saw it clearly as it left his hand – it looked like it was going to be overpitched. It started from outside off stump and came back in a long way. The ball was too good for me on the day.I walked back to thunderous applause. Having scored only 24 runs, I found this a bit strange, till I realised it was for Sachin, who was coming out.I had hardly settled down in the dressing room when there was a roar and then pin-drop silence. I looked up at the television screen in the dressing room, but I needn’t have. You could sense what had happened. Because the television pictures are slightly delayed, I saw Sachin being bowled.It was too good a ball to receive first up. I was set for a while and yet he got me. Sachin had no chance. Those two balls turned the Test match around.

Andre Adams gets another chance

Andre Adams: another opportunity to prove his worth© Getty Images

Andre Adams has been thrown a lifeline by John Bracewell, the New Zealand coach, who has said that Adams still has an international future as long as he sorts out his attitude.Adams, who turns 29 in a week, joined the New Zealand squad for the first time in 14 months yesterday after falling off the radar last season and not even being considered for New Zealand A. A perceived casual attitude, injuries and inconsistent performances meant that he was left off the list of 20 New Zealand contracted players in April.Adams was summoned this week from Lancashire league cricket with Colne, to cover for injury niggles to Daryl Tuffey (thigh), Chris Cairns (ankle) and Jacob Oram (side) ahead of Saturday’s NatWest Series final against West Indies at Lord’s.Bracewell said he was determined that Adams wouldn’t be cast to the international scrap heap, and had organised a programme with the team’s psychologist, Gilbert Enoka. “He’s a talented athlete, and we won’t give up on Andre,” Bracewell said. “He’s talented enough to play international cricket again, but you can’t drift through life on talent alone.”You’ve got to have discipline and professionalism, and a day in, day out attitude. You can’t just turn it on like a light switch.”After returning home from a limited role in New Zealand’s tri-series win in Sri Lanka last May, Adams admitted it all went downhill. “Last year was a really difficult season for me. I didn’t do the things I wanted to do, got more and more frustrated and started taking it out on team-mates and anyone else around me,” Adams told New Zealand Press Association, having brushed with officialdom several times in recent seasons after clashes with players and umpires. “I got frustrated with where I was going, which was nowhere fast.”He said he was stunned to get the call-up from Lindsay Crocker, the New Zealand manager, earlier this week, but admitted it got the pulse racing again. “You don’t realise how much you want it till you get the phone call. I’ve been trying to tell myself it’s OK, I don’t really need it, but as soon as you hear Lindsay’s voice at the end of the line, I was jumping out of my skin to get here.”

Vettori steers NZ to 52-run lead

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

Craig Cumming is bowled between his legs. Sri Lanka ran through New Zealand’s middle order on the second day at Christchurch © Getty Images

Shane Bond ripped through Sri Lanka during an extraordinary day’s cricket to leave New Zealand on the verge of victory in the opening Test. Sri Lanka made a promising start with the ball, dismissing New Zealand for 206 to restrict the lead to 52, but then collapsed to 125 for 8 at stumps.Bond’s demolition job started with the fortuitous run-out of Sanath Jayasuriya as he deflected a firm straight drive from Upul Tharanga onto the stumps at the non-striker’s end. Despite this cruel blow, Sri Lanka were very much in the game on 44 for 1 an hour after tea, just eight runs adrift of New Zealand.But just when Bond appeared to be nearing the end of his opening spell, Stephen Fleming pulled off a brilliant one-handed catch at first slip. Tharanga played a slashing drive, Fleming parried the ball up and deftly pouched it between his fingers on the turn. The catch turned the match emphatically towards New Zealand.Sri Lanka then folded with a succession of soft strokes. The bowling was good but the pitch was far from treacherous and Sri Lanka’s middle order will have to shoulder the blame for what should be – barring some heroic batting from Kumar Sangakkara, the last remaining specialist, tomorrow – a heavy defeat.Mahela Jayawardene erred with a wide drive, edging a James Franklin delivery to slip, Chamara Kapugedera failed to get behind a back-foot drive to be caught at point and Chamara Silva completed a pair on debut as he spooned a slower ball to mid-off. Sri Lanka had lost four wickets for two runs in the space of 24 balls.Sangakkara did provide some resistance with a gutsy 63 from 97 balls, an innings that grew more belligerent as Sri Lanka’s cause became more desperate. However, with the allrounders – Prasanna Jayawardene, Chaminda Vaas, Farveez Maharoof – unable to give him substantial support, his efforts are likely to be unrewarded.The lead now stands at 73 with only Muttiah Muralitharan still to bat. If Lasith Malinga, who looked uncomfortable at the crease before the close, and Muralitharan can stay with Sangakkara to engineer a target of 150 plus then there could still be a remarkable twist to the game. Such a lead, however, seems fanciful.Sri Lanka will have been bitterly disappointed by their predicament after such a spirited display from their bowlers, especially the two senior pros, Muralitharan and Vaas, but also Malinga who bowled with aggression and discipline. Maharoof chipped in with the key wicket of Stephen Fleming, the breakthrough that prompted a late collapse.Like Sri Lanka later in the day, New Zealand sacrificed their wickets in a mad flurry. They stumbled from the relative comfort of 106 for 2 to a parlous 113 for 6. Muralitharan snared Craig Cumming and Nathan Astle in the same over and Vaas dismissed Jacob Oram and Brendon McCullum in similar fashion.Daniel Vettori helped steady the innings with a characteristically industrious 63, adding a crucial 75 with Fleming either side of lunch. While Fleming focused on survival, batting 158 balls for his gritty 48, Vettori frustrated the Sri Lankans as he survived several strong appeals early on and then ticked along at a steady rate.When the afternoon drinks break arrived, New Zealand were 188 for 6. Sri Lanka, though, clawed themselves back again, claiming the last four wickets for 20 runs to give them a chance of building a decent target for Muralitharan to defend – the main justification for Jayawardene’s gamble at the toss. Alas, for Sri Lanka, all the hard work was wasted with another flimsy batting display.

Adams completes his set of centuries

Chris Adams: a full set of centuries© Getty Images

Chris Adams, the Sussex captain, joined an exclusive club today by scoring centuries against all 18 first-class counties.Northamptonshire was the last side on his list, and he ticked them off with his 40th first-class hundred at Hove, as Sussex built a large total in reply to Northants in their Division One match.Adams, 34, began his career with Derbyshire in 1988 and moved to Sussex ten years later. Taking over the captaincy, his ultimate achievement was leading Sussex to their first Championship title last season. Adams joined Mark Ramprakash and Carl Hooper, who both completed their full sets of county centuries last season. Among current players Stuart Law and Graeme Hick have both made centuries against 17 different counties: Hick has never made one against Worcestershire, while Law needs one against his old county Essex, who are not in the same division as his current team, Lancashire.Adams played five Tests and five one-dayers for England between 1998 and 2000, and averages just under 40 in first-class cricket.

Bulls retain winning team

The XXXX Queensland Bulls will stick with an unchanged line-up for Friday night’s ING Cup clash with Victoria at the Gabba following their opening win of the season against Tasmania.The Queensland selectors have also shown faith in the one-day line-up by naming the same twelve players for the Bulls opening Pura Cup match against the Bushrangers starting on Sunday at the Gabba.The Pura Cup selection means that former Tasmanian and Western Australian representative Shane Jurgensen is set to make his first class debut for his home state.If Jurgensen plays, he will become the 13th player to represent three States in Australian first class cricket.University of Queensland batsman Steve Farrell, who was 12th man in the four-wicket win over the Tigers, is also a chance to making his first class debut while left-arm paceman Mitchell Johnson is in line to play his first Pura Cup match since 2001.The Bulls players will take to the field against Victoria in their opening first class match of the summer with their initials and their order of selection for Queensland featured on their playing shirts.Friday’s ING Cup match starts at 2.30pm, with gates opening at 1.30pm.A crowd in excess of 10,000 is expected, with the game being promoted as Volunteers’ Day.This is the third season in a row that Queensland Cricket, Volunteering Queensland and the Brisbane City Council have combined for a “thank-you” to the hard-working volunteers and voluntary organisations of Queensland.Volunteering Queensland have provided complimentary tickets to their registered volunteers and organisations, with the BCC providing free Council buses to the game.ING Cup, Friday, October 31 (D/N).
XXXX Queensland Bulls v Victorian Bushrangers:
Stuart Law, Daniel Payne, Martin Love (c), Clinton Perren, Lee Carseldine, James Hopes, Wade Seccombe, Nathan Hauritz, Mitchell Johnson, Joe Dawes, Shane Jurgensen, Steve Farrell (12th man to be named).Pura Cup, Sun Nov 2 – Wed Nov 5:
XXXX Queensland Bulls v Victorian Bushrangers:
Stuart Law, Daniel Payne, Martin Love (c), Clinton Perren, Lee Carseldine, James Hopes, Wade Seccombe, Nathan Hauritz, Mitchell Johnson, Joe Dawes, Shane Jurgensen, Steve Farrell (12th man to be named).

Dinusha and Dilhara Fernando included in Test squad

Dinusha Fernando selected for 1st Test
© Getty Images

Sri Lanka’s selectors have included Dinusha and Dilhara Fernando in a 15-man squad for the opening Test against England, which starts next week.The two pace bowlers will be competing for one place as Sri Lanka are set to play only two quicks on a surface that is expected to offer bountiful assistance to the slow bowlers.Sri Lanka included three specialist spinners – Muttiah Muralitharan, Upul Chandana and Kumar Dharmasena – in the squad, as well as offspinning allrounder Thilan Samaraweera.Chandana is tipped to edge out Dharmasena and play his first Test for 16 months, although Sri Lanka also have the option of playing all three spinners and batting Romesh Kaluwitharana at number six.That appears unlikely though considering Sri Lanka’s recent vulnerability in the middle order so Tillakaratne Dilshan, Michael Vandort and Thilan Samaraweera are effectively competing for the final batting slot.Russel Arnold, who captains a Board President’s XI against England on Wednesday, misses out on a recall, as does Nuwan Zoysa, who was pushing for a return to the squad.Sri Lanka, now captained by Hashan Tillakaratne, have not won their last three series but have fond memories of Galle, where they trounced England by an innings when the two sides last met in 2001. They have won six out of the eight Tests played at the south coast venue, losing only to Pakistan in 2000.Squad Hashan Tillakaratne (capt), Marvan Atapattu, Sanath Jayasuriya, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Thilan Samaraweera, Kumar Dharmasena, Upul Chandan, Chaminda Vaas, Dinusha Fernando, Muttiah Muralitharan, Dilhara Fernando, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Romesh Kaluwitharana (wk), Michael Vandort

Chris Rogers joins Derbyshire

Chris Rogers, the 26-year-old Western Australia batsman, has joined Derbyshire for the 2004 season, as a replacement for Michael di Venuto, who has had to undergo an operation to cure a troublesome back injury.Rogers, who will join up with the squad in early April, was one of the stars of Western Australia’s recent season, averaging 51.68 in their Pura Cup campaign. “Chris has a proven record in first-class cricket," said David Houghton, Derbyshire’s director of cricket.”I am looking forward to the challenge of playing county cricket for Derbyshire," said Rogers, "and playing on English wickets.”

Ed Smith credits Waugh for new-found steel

England’s new recruit, Ed Smith, has credited his excellent form this season to Australia’s captain, Steve Waugh, who played for Kent for the last six weeks of the 2002 season.”I think watching Steve Waugh from the other end last season definitely helped me,” said Smith. “We batted together. He was out of nick until the last innings when he scored a hundred – which led to him having an amazing spell back in Australian domestic cricket. But what he taught me, through me watching rather than listening to him, was bringing a positive mental attitude to every ball.””I scored a hundred in each innings against Nottinghamshire at Maidstone recently," said Smith. “The test for me was going out after the first one and finding that extra bit of hunger to get the second. The important thing for me is keeping that hunger. I have been mad at myself for not having made my case more strongly in the past, and a little bit of that anger is now manifesting itself.””This season I have been batting with those five years of frustration in me," added Smith. "I know I could have been better, freer, more positive." He was certainly a carefree strokemaker in his early days, as demonstrated by a century on his first-class debut for Cambridge against Glamorgan. But eventually, being asked to open the innings took its toll on Smith’s approach. "I found the demands of opening the batting curbed my natural inclination to hit the ball and I was more inhibited in my strokeplay.”In 2000 Smith moved down the order to No. 3, and has profited from some minor adjustments to his game. “I have not started playing differently – even if perhaps I am now more prepared to play bigger shots, which is helping me to convert fifties into hundreds. Last summer I had a string of fifties. I was in great nick, but there were only two hundreds. But now I am definitely playing more freely.”

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