Inzamam-ul-Haq, the Pakistan captain, has signalled to India that Pakistan will seek to avenge last year’s defeat at home. Beginning today, Pakistan embark on their first tour to India in six years, with a practice game against the Board Presidents XI on March 3.”India will be under pressure at home. We lost the home series last year, now it could be India’s turn to lose a home series,” Inzamam was quoted by . “The Australian tour has been a big learning experience for all of us and I think we are in a position to reap the benefits in India. We definitely want to make amends for last year’s defeats.”India recorded their first series victory in Pakistan last year when they won 2-1 in the Tests and 3-2 in the one-dayers. The composition of the Pakistan team has changed since then, prompting a precautionary note from Virender Sehwag, who said that the anonymity of some Pakistani players could help Pakistan. Bob Woolmer was appointed coach in place of Javed Miandad. “Woolmer has helped change the attitude of the boys which is more positive and professional,” Inzamam continued, “and I think they can take the pressure of playing in India.”Haq said that the absence of Shoaib Akhtar, who opted out of the Test series with a hamstring injury, would be felt though he expected his spinners – Arshad Khan and Danish Kaneria to do the bulk of the bowling. “Our strength is playing as a unit. These two spinners [Arshad and Kaneria] have a big role to play in India. They are the ones on whom we will be depending a lot in the Tests as we are expecting slow turning tracks and we have been practising for such conditions.”Inzamam, who will be making his 100th Test appearance in the Third Test at Bangalore, will have a lot to prove on this tour. Imran Khan, the former Pakistan captain, had called for Inzamam’s axing after Pakistan’s below-par performance in Australia. In the wake of severe criticism, Inzamam was uncertain about leading the side any further. “It’s a huge challenge for the team as well as me. We can beat India in India provided we remain mentally strong and play as a team, because team spirit will be a deciding factor.”

Zimbabwe has proposed two Tests besides a triangular one-day series for India on their scheduled visit in August and September. As per the suggested itinerary, India will arrive in Zimbabwe on August 25 and play a one-day tri-series, also involving New Zealand, before the two-Test series. The one-day tournament will be played in a double round-robin league format.”We have sent the itinerary to SK Nair [secretary of the Indian board] and are waiting for the BCCI’s response,” Qhubekani Nkala, the general manager of the Zimbabwe Cricket Union told the Press Trust of India.New Zealand are scheduled to play two Tests against ZImbabwe before the tri-series, which is slated to begin on August 26. India’s first match against New Zealand is planned for August 28 and the final for September 9. India will then play a three-day warm-up match from September 11 followed by two Tests starting on September 17 and 25 respectively.Proposed itinerary:
Aug 25: India arrives in Bulawayo
Aug 26: Zim vs NZ, 1st ODI, Bulawayo
Aug 28: Ind vs NZ, 2nd ODI, Bulawayo
Aug 31: Zim vs Ind, 3rd ODI, Harare
Sept 2: Zim vs NZ, 4th ODI, Harare
Sept 4: Ind vs NZ, 5th ODI, Harare
Sept 6: Zim vs Ind, 6th ODI, Harare
Sept 9: Final, Harare
Sept 11-13: Warm-up game, Mutare
Sept 17-21: Zim vs Ind, 1st Test, Bulawayo
Sept 25-29: Zim vs Ind, 2nd Test, Harare
Sept 30: Departure.

Michael Vaughan was delighted with England’s performance, as they beat Australia by three wickets at Bristol, and saved special praise for Kevin Pietersen’s 91 from 65 balls, which sealed the win. “I thought we were outstanding in the field to restrict them to 250,” Vaughan told Sky Sports afterwards. “We didn’t chase too well until Kevin Pietersen came in and played an unbelievable knock, almost genius-like, to see us home. It was one of the best innings I’ve seen in one-day cricket.”But Vaughan was also quick to praise the rest of his team, especially Steve Harmison who took 5 for 33, his best bowling in one-day internationals. “I thought he was outstanding. Those three wickets in that over really changed the game. Australia had a good start, Gilchrist and Hayden were playing well but Steve took those three wickets and really put Australia on the back foot. That was the changing point in the game.”Harmison’s fourth wicket came courtesy of a stunning catch at backward point by Paul Collingwood and Vaughan claimed that, too, was the best he had seen. “He’s been doing it for quite a while now, taking some of these catches, and today it was the best catch I’ve ever seen. They change games and that was the turning point in the game.”It was a good day, the momentum is with us and must continue it. We go to Trent Bridge to win on Tuesday and we look forward to playing the Aussies again on Thursday. This was only one game and we’ve got a long summer ahead of us.”Pietersen was quick to praise the rest of the England side after his innings guided England home. “I just seem to be timing the innings right at the moment and long may it continue,” he said. “The boys played brilliant cricket today, we didn’t chase as well as we would have liked to, but from the start with Steve Harmison 5 for 30 against Australia, that was absolutely amazing. Paul Collingwood’s catch, Michael Vaughan, all the boys, it was a really good team effort today.”Pietersen said that today’s innings has to rank right up their in his short career, but he still rates one of his South African centuries very highly. “It was against the best side in the world but the third hundred I got at Centurion in South Africa, I thought that was a pretty good knock, and to change the fans around to get a standing ovation after all I copped in South Africa was a pretty special moment. But this will definitely go down as one of the best and hopefully it continues.”However, Ricky Ponting was left to reflect on another defeat – Australia’s fourth in a row – but said that he could see signs of improvement from his team. “We played a lot better today and we were actually in quite a good position with 10 or 12 overs to go but we fell over at the end.”But there was some good batting involved in that, Pietersen played exceptionally well. We lost three for nothing but still managed to post a good score so we’ve got a lot of good things coming out of the game and there was a lot better feeling out in the field.He praised Michael Clarke and Mike Hussey, who came together with Australia on 63 for 4 and added 105 to rebuild the innings. “They played beautifully in a difficult situation after losing three quick wickets when they went in. They steadied things up with a very mature partnership and got us back into the game, but unfortunately we weren’t quite good enough at the end.”

India have a chance to climb to second place in the ICC Test Championship table. If they win their four-Test home series against Australia they will climb to second, beating their previous-best of fourth.The table as it stands:

Position Team Rating1 Australia 1292 England 1093 Pakistan 1074 India 1045 Sri Lanka 1036 South Africa 1027 New Zealand 948 West Indies 739 Zimbabwe 5110 Bangladesh 1

If India win all four matches their rating would climb from 104 to 115, while Australia’s would fall from 129 to 119. A narrower winning margin would obviously leave a bigger gap between the sides, but even if India only win the series by a one-Test margin (1-0 or 2-1) they will boost their rating to 111 – still good enough for second place. If India merely draw the series, they will still go up one spot, to third. Australia, on the other hand, have to win 3-0 or 4-0 to improve their rating.Full scenarios for the India v Australia Test series:

India 500 for 5 dec and 209 for 6 dec drew with New Zealand 340 and 209 for 6 (McMillan 83*, Astle 51*, Kumble 4-95)
Scorecard

Victory was in sight for India in the first Test, never more so than when they had New Zealand six wickets down for 169 just before tea, but in the end the portents of the last two days and of history proved to be sound. Craig McMillan and Nathan Astle both made their second fifty-plus scores of the match, and batted for over 40 overs to make the game safe for New Zealand. The Test match, which was at its crackling best on the second evening when Zaheer Khan shot out the New Zealand top order, meandered to a draw, as India could not recreate that intensity and found the task of labouring for every New Zealand wicket too difficult after a point.The best moments of the day came in the first two sessions, which saw some fascinating tussles between the Indian spinners and the two best New Zealand batsmen on the day, Lou Vincent and McMillan. Anil Kumble, lost from view over nine months of nothing but one-day cricket, was seen again in his best form.Kumble bowled 33 overs in the day, as did his fellow spinner Harbhajan Singh, and it was only when he tired late in the afternoon that New Zealand began to play him with assurance. Sourav Ganguly only turned to him in the 13th over of the day, but when he came on he immediately made an impact, hurrying a ball through the defences of Daryl Tuffey and hitting his middle stump (68 for 2). India scented victory when Stephen Fleming fell shortly after to the wiles of Harbhajan, and then Kumble struck again, hitting Scott Styris flush on the front foot with a quicker delivery and ending his brief three-ball visit to the wicket (86 for 4).But New Zealand put together two crucial partnerships after this, as first Vincent and McMillan and then McMillan and Astle put paid to India’s chances. Vincent and McMillan produced a spurt of runs for New Zealand in the hour after lunch, taking full advantage of some adventurous field placements by Ganguly, and taking New Zealand past 150. It was Kumble again who brought India back into the game, in an over that exemplified the battle of wits fought between the New Zealand batsmen and him.

Kumble, who bowled over the wicket for most of the day,came round the wicket at the beginning of the over with two close-in fielders on the leg side, and just a mid-on and a deep square leg behind them. Vincent knocked the first ball for four through the yawning gap at midwicket, and then, emboldened by the stroke, rushed down the pitch to the next ball to take it on the half-volley and hit it away through the same gap for another boundary.Kumble came back over the wicket, and plugged away again at an off-stump line, but the rush of runs seemed to have had some effect on Vincent. Having hardly made a run on the offside all day, he shaped to cut a Kumble legbreak, was defeated by its lack of pace off the pitch, and bottom-edged it onto his stumps, spinning away in agony as he surveyed the damage behind him (150 for 5). Vincent batted with exemplary discipline for his 67, from 184 balls. He put on 64 for the fifth wicket with McMillan.

India might reflect that they got as far into the New Zealand batting as they did because of Nathan Astle’s indisposition. Astle suffered a stomach upset, and only came into bat at No.8, after Jacob Oram was out (169 for 6). In the first innings he had led the way for New Zealand with good support from McMillan, but this time the roles were reversed.McMillan’s 83 not out, off 191 balls, was the effort that put the game beyond India, for he batted with assurance, and the determination of one who has just returned to form after a long spell in the doldrums – his highest score in his eight Test innings before this game was 18, and he was dropped from the side for the tour of Sri Lanka. As in the first innings, he did much of his batting down on his front knee, sweeping or lapping the spinners.Often there was an element of risk in these strokes, as they flew off the top edge into the leg side. But even if these shots were not strictly necessary, he seemed to feel that playing them prevented the building up of the tension that comes from being scoreless for long periods of time. His methods were sometimes unconventional, but they worked, and New Zealand will proceed to the second Test at Mohali still level in the series.Now if only they could so something to their bowling, they could begin to think of winning it.Chandrahas Choudhury is a staff writer with Wisden Asia Cricket.

The ICC’s hearing to investigate accusations of racism levelled against the Zimbabwe Cricket Union (ZCU) has been scrapped after what one of the two members of the panel described as “the inflexible attitudes of both parties”.The hearing was adjourned last night when the panel ruled that evidence from certain witnesses could be given without ZCU officials being present. The panel will now rely on evidence from written submissions to compile its report.The hearing started yesterday but the trouble started after the first witness – who was not one of the rebel players – had finished giving evidence. Chris Venturas, acting on behalf of the players, argued that the presence of three ZCU officials – Ozias Bvute, Max Ebrahim and Tavengwa Mkuhlani – would intimidate witnesses. Despite objections by the board’s lawyers, the panel agreed to the request and ended proceedings early to allow both sides to consider their positions.The panel – Goolam Vahanvati, India’s solicitor-general, and Steven Majiedt, a South African High Court judge – hoped that both sides would discuss the situation overnight, but there was no communication at all between them. With the ZCU refusing to accept the ruling, stalemate ensued.One prospective witness told Wisden Cricinfo that the hearing should never have been held in Zimbabwe. “It was obvious the ZCU was going to create a hostile atmosphere and intimidate the witnesses,” he said. “They did just that and have got away with it.”Ehsan Mani, the ICC’s president, said today’s events were “disappointing”, before explaining how the ICC will proceed. “I am disappointed that the hearing did not go the distance,” he said. “I would prefer to have had the oral evidence heard by the two-member panel, but this has now proved impossible. I will now await the report into the allegations.” The panel will now consider written submissions from both parties as it prepares its report for the ICC Executive Board.Prior to the start of the racism hearing, the ICC had agreed that the findings would not be acted upon until after a dispute concerning a number of other allegations involving the ZCU and some of the players had been resolved. “It is now important that the two parties move ahead quickly with the disputes-resolution process,” said Mani, “so that the issues can be dealt with and the report of the racism inquiry can be acted upon.”

The injury-hit Sri Lankan squad got something to cheer about after Sanath Jayasuriya’s MRI scans showed no serious tendon damage from his shoulder dislocation. Described as “very lucky” by his doctors, he is now set for a quick return to the field, possibly against India on Wednesday afternoon, assuming the swelling and soreness of the injury can subside in time.Jayasuriya’s high-risk decision to bat in the first one-day international against India created concern that he might have aggravated damage to his rotator cuff, the most important tendon in the shoulder joint, but the scans only revealed a build-up of fluid. The final report from the MRI scan is to be reviewed in Colombo on Monday by Dr David Young, Sri Lanka Cricket’s Melbourne-based surgeon.”The doctor told him he was very lucky,” confirmed Michael Tissera, SriLanka’s manager. “There appears to have been no tendon damage and only some fluid build-up in the joint. We are not sure at this stage about exactly when he will be able to return but he will definitely play again in this tournament.”Jayasuriya sat out the team’s two-and-a-half hour training session on Monday morning and is almost certain to miss Sri Lanka’s game against West Indies on Tuesday, although Marvan Atapattu was keeping his cards close to his chest at a media briefing: “We will assess his position tomorrow and if he is fit he will obviously play. There is a good chance of Upul [Tharanga] playing and opening if Sanath cannot play.”Sri Lanka have also been boosted by the news that Nuwan Zoysa’s back injury, which forced him to be sent to Colombo for assessment, has turned out to be a back spasm and not the feared strain or stress fracture. “We sent Zoysa to Colombo thinking there was a back problem but it seems to have been just a back spasm and he feels much better now,” revealed Atapattu. “We will assess him when we get back to Colombo with a full fitness test.”Chaminda Vaas’s hamstring injury is also responding well to treatment,although Atapattu made it clear that his return would be delayed until he was really needed: “Chaminda has progressed a lot and has been receiving treatment from CJ Clarke [the physiotherapist] every day. We will keep him for the more important games and will try to delay his comeback as much as possible.”

Scorecard
England’s captain Clare Connor admitted before the decider at Taunton that to win the NatWest Series would be “beyond our wildest dreams”. They may have had a dream summer, winning the Ashes and playing themselves right back into contention in this competition, but in the end, reality bit back in a gripping series-decider, as Australia held their nerve to clinch a four-run victory with just three balls to spare. In a summer of nailbiters, this was right up there with the best.Such a tight finish never looked remotely on the cards in the opening exchanges. Australia looked every inch the World Champions as they cruised to 260 for 6 after Clare Connor sent them in. Quickfire half-centuries from Karen Rolton, Lisa Keightley and Lisa Sthalekar combined to set England their stiffest target this year, but from the moment that England’s openers, Laura Newton and Charlotte Edwards, responded with a stand of 94, an intrigued Taunton crowd sensed an upset.Edwards made 57 and Newton 61, but the introduction of Cathryn Fitzpatrick, for possibly the last match of her 14-year career, changed the face of the innings. Fitzpatrick dismissed Edwards en route to figures of 4 for 52, and as the runs/balls equation approached parity, England’s running began to cross the divide between inspired and suicidal.Arran Brindle, who has enjoyed a superb summer, held the middle-order together with a 49-ball 50, but England’s prospects were hampered by an elbow injury to Connor, who did not appear until Brindle played around a full delivery from Fitzpatrick at 240 for 6. But suddenly her lurking presence down the order was an asset, and when she clipped two boundaries off her pads, England were suddenly favourites for a famous victory.But Beth Morgan was run out by a brilliant direct hit from square leg, and Katherine Brunt backed up too far and was beaten as Fitzpatrick fielded and shied in her followthrough, which left Connor to score the final six runs with just Isa Guha for company. But, with four balls to come, she top-edged a swirling chance to Kirsten Pike off Rolton, and Australia had clinched a 3-2 victory in nailbiting circumstances.Connor couldn’t hide her disappointment after the game, but when the pain of defeat has subsided, England will be delighted with their efforts this summer. They have just reclaimed the Ashes for the first time in 42 years, and until their two straight victories to level this series, they hadn’t beaten Australia in a one-dayer since 1993. And rather like their male counterparts, they are a young team on the up, while an ageing Australian side have displayed some rare signs of fallibility on this trip, even though they held their nerve at the end. Those of a superstitious bent might like to ponder that ahead of next week’s showdown.England 1 Charlotte Edwards, 2 Laura Newton, 3 Claire Taylor, 4 Clare Connor (capt), 5 Arran Brindle, 6 Jenny Gunn, 7 Lydia Greenway, 8 Jane Smit (wk), 9 Katherine Brunt, 10 Isa Guha, 11 Clare Taylor.Australia 1 Belinda Clark (capt), 2 Lisa Keightley, 3 Karen Rolton, 4 Lisa Sthalekar, 5 Kate Blackwell, 7 Alex Blackwell, 8 Cathryn Fitzpatrick, 9 Sarah Edwards, 10 Julia Price (wk), 11 Kirsten Pike.