Scorecard

Graham Thorpe, with one of his greatest innings, not only kept England in the third Test, but shifted the momentum of the match their way on another absorbing day at Bridgetown. Thorpe scored a magnificent 119 not out, and dug his side out of a big hole to help them to a slender first-innings lead of two. West Indies then lost Chris Gayle shortly before stumps, and closed with a lead of just 19.England didn’t find the going easy for most of the day, and the only man who stood up to the impressive Bajan barrage of fast bowling was the dependable Thorpe, who rolled up his sleeves up and gritted it out. He can’t have played many more important innings in his long career. He used all his street-fighting savvy to grab the game by the scruff of the neck and drag England past West Indies’ modest 224.While his team-mates played uncharacteristically sloppy shots, Thorpe was prepared to wait for the bad balls. Placement and timing were the features of his innings, and he collected 13 fours in all, most of them behind square. Just as importantly, though, he hung in there for over five hours. At tea, England were tottering at 162 for 8, and Michael Vaughan would probably have settled for somewhere around 200. However, Thorpe slowly changed the whole mood of the game. He added 32 with a watchful Simon Jones, and then an even more priceless 39 with Stephen Harmison for the last wicket.In that time, he notched up his richly deserved century – England’s first of the series, but his 13th overall, in his 86th Test – by stepping down the track and crunching Fidel Edwards on the up past mid-on and to the rope. Thorpe punched the air in delight, and received rapturous applause from all quarters of the Kensington Oval. The adoring Barmy Army, along with the England balcony, appreciated just what a critical knock it was.Thorpe guided England to a two-run lead, and his vigil overshadowed what was West Indies’ most impressive allround bowling display of the series so far. Edwards, the youngest of the quartet, led the way with four wickets, two of them in the first ten minutes of the day, as England, bar Thorpe and the tailenders, failed to keep cool heads under the sustained pressure.England’s first casualty was Mark Butcher, in the fourth over of the day. He flashed at a wide, lifting ball from Edwards, and Gayle pouched it in front of his face at first slip (24 for 2). Vaughan was never at ease, and he perished trying to pull Edwards, caught behind by Ridley Jacobs for 17 (33 for 3).England had scored only 13 runs in the first 45 minutes, and it was up to the old heads of Thorpe and Nasser Hussain to drag them out of trouble again. They managed to ride out the storm for the majority of the morning session, but just as they seemed to be guiding England to lunch with no further flutters, Corey Collymore finally had his first success of the series when he bowled Hussain through the gate (65 for 4).

The wickets kept on coming in the afternoon. Andrew Flintoff was again out to a soft shot. He tamely patted Tino Best off the back foot straight to mid-off for 15 (90 for 5). Chris Read, under pressure to make runs, hit a couple of handsome drives, but was trapped in front by Edwards for 13 (119 for 6). Ashley Giles played an inelegant swat at Pedro Collins and was gobbled up by the substitute, Barbados’s Antonio Mayers, at third slip (147 for 7). Matthew Hoggard then stuck around for 13 balls until he was leg-before to that effective Collins inswinger (155 for 8).All this meant that Thorpe was fast running out of partners, but Jones and Harmison stuck around for the ride as England won that crucial last session. Jones bravely kept Thorpe company for 37 balls until he was spectacularly caught by Ramnaresh Sarwan at short leg off Best. Jones clipped the ball off his toes, and Sarwan flung up his hands more in hope than anything else, but the ball miraculously stuck in his palms (187 for 9). Harmison then again proved he can hang around when he needs to, and he shut up shop for 29 balls until he was bowled by Collins. But Thorpe had kept the huge British contingent happy, with his magical hundred at the other end.West Indies then had a tricky ten overs to face before the close, in which time Gayle was done up like a kipper. He slammed three short ones from Harmison to the boundary, but was then bowled all ends up by a yorker, which he swished at optimistically without moving his feet at all (19 for 1). Gayle won’t want to see the replay.Bad light forced the players off shortly afterwards, frustrating England’s hopes of removing Lara as well, but Gayle’s wicket has put them fractionally ahead. Early wickets tomorrow will make them strong favourites to remove that 36-year-old monkey from their backs.Freddie Auld is assistant editor of Wisden Cricinfo.

Cable & Wireless, the telecommunications giant, will be a regional sponsor of the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies. According to the deal, Cable & Wireless will be the main telecoms provider for the event.Paul Aspen, the executive vice-president of C&W, was happy about the deal. “We are very pleased that we have been able to work with the ICC and the Global Cricket Corporation to come up with an agreement which allows us to be a regional sponsor of the event.”At the signing ceremony, held in St Lucia on Saturday, Campbell Jamieson, the ICC’s commercial manager, Chris Dehring, the CEO of the World Cup, and Brian Lara all expressed happiness with the arrangement: Lara in particular recalled the long association Cable & Wireless have had with the West Indian team throughout his career.

Alf Valentine, who has died in America at the age of 74, was a vital cog in the first great West Indian team – the one that shocked England in 1950 by winning the series 3-1.England had been forewarned about the Three Ws – Frank Worrell, Everton Weekes and Clyde Walcott – who formed the batting spine of that strong 1950 side. But they hadn’t expected to have to contend with two contrasting top-class spinners as well.It was some of the most inspired selection by any Test side. Before the tour Valentine, who turned 20 shortly after he arrived in England from Jamaica, and Trinidad’s Sonny Ramadhin, 21, had played just two first-class matches apiece – the trial games for selection. Although they didn’t set the world alight – Valentine took only two wickets, for 190 – they obviously impressed someone, and were called up for the boat trip to the UK.Valentine was tall, and bowled briskish left-arm spin with a whirling action. He ripped the ball savagely: one of his team-mates thought he could probably turn the ball on glass. Ramadhin, meanwhile, bowled a mystifying mixture of offbreaks and legspinners, with his sleeves rolled down (and often with his cap firmly in place).They seemed to bowl almost all summer. The 1950 team’s only real weakness was a lack of class in pace bowling, and Ram and Val would soon be wheeling away after a few perfunctory new-ball overs. In all Ramadhin took 135 wickets on the tour at 14.88, and Valentine 123 at 17.94 – the next-best was the medium-pacer Gerry Gomez, with 55 at 25.58. Valentine went for less than two an over throughout: his 1185.2 overs cost only 2207 runs. With Ramadhin sending down over 1000 overs too, both the spinners bowled more than twice as many overs as anyone else, except Gomez (680.3). Valentine must have drained quite a few bottles of the surgical spirit that he applied to his sore spinning finger after a long spell.It was the same story in the Tests. In the first, at Old Trafford, Valentine marked his debut with 8 for 104 (and 3 for 100), taking the first eight wickets to fall in his first Test. But this time the batting misfired, and England won comfortably. Then came the famous Test at Lord’s – West Indies’ first win on English soil, at Lord’s too, the match that inspired a famous calypso about “Those two little pals of mine, Ramadhin and Valentine”. What shocked MCC members almost more than Ramadhin’s 11 wickets and Valentine’s seven was the sight of West Indian supporters dancing on the hallowed turf after the game, which their side had won by a whopping 326 runs.With Worrell and Weekes running into form West Indies won the series going away. At Trent Bridge they put on 558 – Worrell himself made 261 – then turned the spin twins loose. Valentine bowled 92 overs in the second innings, a record at the time, and took 3 for 140: Ramadhin (who was later to claim that record) claimed 5 for 135 in 81.2.And West Indies wrapped things up at The Oval with an innings win, despite Len Hutton’s double-century. This time Valentine took 10 for 160 – a devastating 6 for 39 in the second innings – to take his series tally to 33 from four Tests, a West Indian record until Malcolm Marshall muscled past it in 1988.Both spinners were shoo-ins as Wisden Cricketers of the Year, and Leslie Smith’s essay on Valentine probably explains why he was no great shakes as a batsman: “He scored no more than 49 runs on the tour without ever reaching double figures. This may have been due to the fact that his eyesight was far from perfect. He began the tour without spectacles, but midway through the season another member of the team asked him the score. Valentine said he could not see, despite the scoreboard and the figures being large and clear. Arrangements were then made for him to be supplied with spectacles, which he obtained under the National Insurance scheme, and he wore them for the rest of the tour. He used sticking-plaster near the temples to prevent the spectacles slipping, but with or without them Valentine was a fine bowler and an object-lesson to Englishmen in the value of true finger-spin.”Even with glasses, Valentine never quite hit such heights in Test cricket again, although – again overbowled – he did take 24 wickets in Australia in 1951-52, in a series the Aussies won 4-1 (it would have been much closer but for an unlikely one-wicket victory in the fourth Test at Melbourne). Illness and injuries began to restrict him, and he played only two Tests in England in 1957, without taking a wicket. Nonetheless he was the first West Indian bowler to take 100 Test wickets, finishing with 139 at 30.32.He played in the famous Tied Test at Brisbane in 1960-61, although he only took one wicket. His most important contribution to that match probably came in Wes Hall’s epic final over. One ball was pushed towards mid-on, and Hall scampered over himself and fielded it, and unleashed a wild throw that missed the stumps at the bowler’s end by yards. Fortunately Valentine was alert, and backed up the throw to stop the overthrows that would have won the game for Australia.But with Lance Gibbs beginning to make his mark – he took three wickets in four balls in the third Test, and a hat-trick in the fourth – Valentine’s days were numbered. He toured England in 1963, without playing in a Test, and faded from the scene. He finished with 475 first-class wickets at 26.21 – with a best of 8 for 26 against Lancashire in 1950 – and 470 runs at 5.He played a few seasons of Birmingham League cricket, before moving to America with his second wife in 1978 (his first wife, with whom he had four daughters, had died). A chance visit to a Sydney care home during that 1960-61 tour had made him want to devote his life to helping underprivileged children, and in America the Valentines were foster-parents to a succession of abandoned children, often taking in up to a dozen at a time.Alf Valentine returned to England in 2000 and joined his old pal Ramadhin – who has lived in Lancashire for many years after playing for them in the ’60s – for a testimonial event that was not a great success. He had a stroke a few weeks ago while recovering from a back operation, and spent his last days in a wheelchair. He died at his home in Orlando, Florida, on May 11, just 13 days after his 74th birthday.

Shane Watson and Andrew Symonds are being considered as possible replacements for Brad Williams, who was yesterday ruled out of next month’s two-Test series against Sri Lanka.Symonds made his Test debut in Sri Lanka in March, and in the two Test matches he has played, has scored just 53 runs at 13.25 and taken only one wicket. Watson, who returned to the one-day side in Zimbabwe after overcoming back stress fractures, is yet to play a Test for Australia.Matthew Nicholson, from New South Wales, and Damien Wright, from Tasmania, are also in strong contention if the selectors opt for a fifth fast bowler, but Trevor Hohns hinted that he may take this chance to pick an allrounder. “This does test our fast bowling depth,” Hohns said. “Normally we would like to replace like with like but this does offer an opportunity to include an allrounder.”Nicholson, who played has played one Test, against England in 1998, was the leading Pura Cup wicket taker last year with 39 at 30.35. Wright finished the summer with 37 wickets at 26.48, while Paul Rofe, a South Australian, who took 35 wickets at 27.02, will also be discussed.

Sourav Ganguly has said that while he was encouraged by India’s performances last season, the players needed to guard against complacency and ensure that they improved on their display this year. Looking ahead to the 2004-05 season, which kicks off with the Asia Cup on July 16, Ganguly told Press Trust of India: “It is an important season for us. Last year was good and successful. We have to follow it with another good season – that is how you become a strong and good side.”Ganguly, who turned 32 today, admitted that his players could be rusty after a three-month layoff, but said that the challenge was to get into groove early. “The important thing is that we have to settle down quickly because just like any other team we are coming out of a two-and-half-month layoff. Getting the rhythm straightaway is never possible; so it is a challenge for us to get into rhythm and optimum level of confidence as quickly as possible.”India go into the Asia Cup as favourites, but Ganguly refused to underestimate their opponents. “It is always going to be tough since Sri Lanka will be playing at home and Pakistan is a good side. It is going to be tough for all three sides when they compete against each other.”India had played through most of last season without a couple of frontline bowlers, but the three-month rest has allowed both Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh to recover, a fact which delighted Ganguly. “I think after a long time we are back in full strength. Considering this we hope to do well in the Asia Cup.”Harbhajan back in the team is a huge bonus for us. If he can raise his standards on par with Kumble along with Zaheer, Irfan Pathan and [Lakshmipathy] Balaji, I am sure we will have an edge over the other teams.”

Victoria 162 (Harvey 79, Griffith 7-54) lead Tasmania 101 by 61 runs
Scorecard

Twenty wickets fell on the opening day of Tasmania’s Pura Cup clash against Victoria at Hobart, with Victoira fighting back to bowl Tasmania out for 101 after themselves being skittled for 162.A career-best 7 for 54 from Adam Griffith gave Tasmania a great start as Victoria were bowled out inside two sessions. Griffith, who began with the scalp of Graeme Rummans and picked up Jonathon Moss, Brad Hodge, Cameron White and David Hussey to have 5 for 27 by lunch. After the break he added the wicketkeeper Peter Roach and Mathew Inness, who shared vital partnerships with Ian Harvey. Harvey, who came in with Victoria on 5 for 24, held the innings together with a gutsy 79.Sparked by Michael Lewis and Harvey, who each took three wickets, Victoria then battled back to dismiss Tasmania in the last over of the day for a miserable 101. Harvey dismissed Dan Marsh and Sean Clingeleffer before taking the crucial wicket of Michael Bevan for 19. In the last 14 overs, Tasmania lost eight wickets for 41.Marsh, Tasmania’s captain, said that the game was still in the melting pot.”There’s still plenty left in the wicket for our bowlers, so we’ve just got to bowl well and then get whatever they set us. It should still swing and seam and when you look at it, only one bloke [Harvey] played very well and pretty much everyone else struggled.”

England’s tour of Zimbabwe has been plunged into further controversy after the journalist Derek Pringle refused to restrict his coverage to cricket only.Pringle, a correspondent with , now faces deportation after his editor ordered him not to sign a declaration that would commit him to covering nothing but cricket. The was one of 13 media organisations whose representatives were banned last week by the Zimbabwean government, which prompted the England team to stay in South Africa until the ban was lifted.”My editor told me on no account to sign any such guarantee,” the former Test player Pringle was quoted as saying on the BBC’s website. “If they want to deport me for that, then so be it.”And Pringle suggested that he may not be the only British journalist to refuse to sign the document, depending on what their editors advise. “A lot of them haven’t discussed it yet at length with their editors. “Mike Walters, the Daily Mirror’s correspondent, has been told not to travel at all by his paper and he is travelling home. I’ve been told one or two others have been told not to sign any such declaration.”It is not the first time the has taken a firm stance in Zimbabwe. Described at various times by the regime as an agent for MI5, the paper has repeatedly highlighted political abuses inside Zimbabwe. In April, another of its correspondents, Mihir Bose, was deported from the country for what he claimed were fabricated accreditation reasons.England will play the second of their one-day series against Zimbabwe on December 1. The series was reduced from five to four matches following England’s delayed arrival after the debacle over media accreditation last week.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball commentary

The combination of an irrepressible Glenn McGrath and a bouncy WACA pitch proved too lethal for Pakistan, as they crashed to their fourth-lowest total in Tests and a massive 491-run defeat. McGrath scythed through the top order taking the first seven wickets, and ending with incredible figures of 8 for 24 – his best in Test cricket – as Pakistan were bundled out for just 72 to tumble to their most comprehensive defeat in terms of runs, and the fourth-largest of all time.Even the most die-hard Pakistani supporter would have known before play started today that only one result was possible in this game, but what was expected of the players was some gumption and fight. However, none of them had any clue against the bouncing ball, as batsman after inept batsman hung his bat out to dry, and was snaffled by one of several catchers behind the stumps. The stats for today’s play will make for appalling reading for a Pakistan fan – 9 for 54 in 25.3 overs.Four years ago, playing at the same ground against West Indies in 2000-01, McGrath had taken a hat-trick, nailing Sherwin Campbell, Brian Lara and Jimmy Adams. Today, he was in line for a repeat act when he dismissed Abdul Razzaq and Inzamam-ul-Haq off successive balls, and though Kamran Akmal kept the hat-trick ball out, there was little Pakistan could do to thwart him. Homing in on a perfect line around off, he swung and seamed the ball around, and hardly conceded any run-scoring opportunities. Jason Gillespie ended up wicketless at the other end, but with some luck he could have had a few in the bag as well, as Pakistan’s batsmen, with their abysmal defensive techniques, were disasters waiting to happen.The procession started in the fifth over of the day, when Salman Butt steered a drive to Matthew Hayden at gully (2 for 34). Younis Khan fell soon after, presenting Shane Warne with some catching practice at first slip. When Razzaq poked at another one and nicked to the wicketkeeper, Inzamam walked out, batting at No. 6 because of a back injury which kept him off the field for more than a session yesterday. One ball later, he was disconsolately trudging back, given out caught behind off another jaffa (5 for 49).

Yousuf Youhana played a couple of blistering cover-drives on his way to 27, but his innings could have ended well before that – his first two scoring strokes were both flails outside off which evaded the slip cordon, and he then tried to duck under a bouncer from Gillespie with his bat hanging in the air, but Ricky Ponting spilled the chance in the slips.Youhana’s luck finally ran out when he tried to draw away from a hook off a superbly directed bouncer, but only managed a faint tickle to Adam Gilchrist (7 for 64). At that stage, McGrath was in line for a perfect ten, but Michael Kasprowicz joined in the fun, taking two of the last three wickets to fall as the innings folded in the final over before lunch.Bob Woolmer, the Pakistan coach, had admitted before the series began that his side looked like beating nobody. The expectation then was that the players would lift their game for the big occasion. Today’s shocking batting performance means that Australia would be odds-on favourites to deliver their third consecutive 3-0 series thrashing to Pakistan.

The Duleep Trophy, the Indian domestic competetion between zonal teams, has been advanced so that the national players can participate in the tournament. It will now be held from February 15 to March 12. The Indian board also announced that Bangladesh would take part in the tournament.According to Ratnakar Shetty, the joint secretary of the board, the dates had been brought forward “in order to give the Indian players better exposure to the longer version of the game prior to the Test matches against Pakistan.”The Duleep Trophy was previously scheduled to be held from February 25 to March 22 in various venues across central zone. Pakistan are scheduled to visit India in the last week of February to play three Tests and five one-day internationals.The Ranji Trophy one-day knock-out tournament has been postponed by two months and will now be held in Mumbai from April 8 to 14. The other domestic ODI tournaments – the league phase of the one-day tournament, the Deodhar Trophy and the Challenger Trophy – remain the same. However, the dates of the Ranji Trophy semi-finals will now be held between March 18 to 22 while the final is scheduled for March 30 to April 3.Click here for revised Duleep Trophy schedule

Zimbabweans 206 and 138 for 6 (Matsikenyeri 45, Maregwede 44, Morkel 4-26) lead Combined Easterns/Northerns XI 275 (Seymore 82, Harris 46) by 69 runs
Scorecard

A collapse late in the day left the Zimbabweans in danger of losing their tour match against the Easterns/Northerns XI at Willowmoore Park in Benoni. By the close of the second day the Zimbabweans, who trailed by 69 on first innings, had turned that round into a lead of 69 – but only had four wickets remaining.There was an early wobble when Barney Rogers and Hamilton Masakadza both fell to Morne Morkel for ducks, but then Stuart Matiskenyeri and Alester Maregwede combined in a stand of 76 that took Zimbabwe into the lead. However, then disaster struck: first Matsikenyeri fell to the slow left-armer Paul Harris for 45 after hitting eight fours, and then next ball Brendan Taylor was also bowled (86 for 4).Maregwede ploughed on to 44, but then Morkel returned to have him caught behind by Heino Kuhn for 44. Elton Chigumbura also fell to Morkel for 3, and although Tatenda Taibu and Sean Williams survived until the close they will have a lot to do if what is scheduled to be a four-day match is not to end early on the third day.Earlier the combined XI took their score from 132 for 2 to 275. Andre Seymore, the captain, added only five to his overnight 77, and was the first to go as his team slipped to 209 for 8. But a handy 46 from Harris, who hit five fours and a six and put on 63 for the ninth wicket with Reeze Telling (28) gave their side what could be a crucial advantage.