All posts by csb10.top

1982-83
Sri Lanka’s first official tour of India in 1982-83 was a mixed bag; they lost all three one-day internationals, but achieved an honourable draw in the inaugural Test. Doubts over Sri Lanka’s stickability and class had persisted before the series, but their draw earned them respect in the cricketing world – as did their adventurous strokeplay, with which they have become synonymous.
India 0 Sri Lanka 0

1985-86
The series which broke Sri Lanka’s duck. The Sri Lankans’ energetic and well-organised pre-season training proved decisive – in stark contrast to India’s near total lack of preparation. They very nearly reached the milestone of their first victory in the first Test, but resolute and dogged batting from Vengsarkar – and typically tropical weather – denied them the opportunity. The second Test was the emotive moment for cricket’s then-newest Test nation. Despite a slow batting performance, their bowlers were on target and utilised the familiar conditions better than their Indian counterparts. A defiant 78 by Kapil Dev threatened to deny the home side, but Ratnayake took the catch off his own bowling to seal the victory, leading to a nationwide celebration and a public holiday the following day.If the second Test was for Sri Lanka’s bowlers, the third proved the resolution they had as a batting team. Set 377 to win, Sri Lanka stumbled to 34 for 3 before their two most accomplished batsmen – Roy Dias and Duleep Mendis – saved the innings (and the match) with a partnership worth 216. Bad light called off play when Sri Lanka’s tailenders were in; they won the series 1-0.
Sri Lanka 1 India 0

1986-87
Sri Lanka’s inability to come to terms with spin bowling proved their undoing when they toured India. Plenty of runs were made in the lead-up to the series but not against sufficiently testing bowlers of the quality they were to face in the three Tests. Wettimuny, in making 79, and Ravi Ratnayeke contributed Sri Lanka’s first three-figure opening partnership in Tests. Their first-innings total of 406, which was interrupted by rain and fog, was quickly and aggressively matched, and bettered, by the Indians, who racked-up 676 as the game petered out to a draw. The second Test resulted in India’s first Test win against Sri Lanka, thanks to India’s spinners and, in particular, Maninder Singh who took 7 for 51 with his slow-left-armers, to give him ten wickets in the match and seal a comprehensive innings-and-106-run victory. The third Test belonged to Kapil Dev who, on the third day, took his 300th Test wicket to achieve the “double” of 3000 runs and 300 wickets in Test cricket. This was India’s first series win at home since 1981 when they beat Keith Fletcher’s England side.
India 2 Sri Lanka 0

1990-91
A shortened and hastily arranged tour of India for Sri Lanka who were ill-prepared for it. They lost by an innings and eight runs, with the aptly-nicknamed “Muscles”, Venkatapathy Raju, utterly decimating Sri Lanka’s first innings in taking 6 for 12 in 17.5 overs. Despite a low, turgid pitch, Raju gained turn and bounce, which the visitors were completely unable to cope with. The Sri Lankans were a better match for the Indians in the one-day series which followed, despite losing 2-1.
India 1 Sri Lanka 0

1993
An acrimonious tour, with Peter Burge constantly fielding complaints from the Indians about the quality of the umpiring. It was India’s first overseas Test victory since 1986, when they beat England at Leeds, and ended their 27-Test drought. Only 49 minutes of play were possible in the first Test, but the Indians hit their straps in the second Test. It was Manoj Prabhakar’s impressive allround performance – 95 in the second innings, and eight wickets in the match – which proved the difference between the two sides. Set an improbable 472 for victory, only Aravinda de Silva could defy the Indians with a six-hour knock of 93. But he threw away his wicket and, with it, Sri Lanka’s chance of saving the Test. He continued his good form in the third Test, with a splendidly crafted 148, but Sri Lanka left themselves vulnerable in scoring just 351. The only threat of defeat for Sri Lanka lay in their second innings, but Mahanama compiled a classy 151 to steer the home team to safety.
Sri Lanka 0 India 1

1993-94
As was the case in India’s tour of Sri Lanka a few months earlier, the umpiring proved controversial and cast a shadow over the series. Wisden’s account of the series read: “Sri Lankan manager Bandula Warnapura claimed the batting failures of the first two Tests owed as much to the players’ nerves, waiting for the next bad decision, as to bad shots…” An uninspiring start by the Indians in the first Test was rectified by Tendulkar and Navjot Sidhu, both hitting hundreds in India’s 511. Sri Lanka then crumbled to Kumble in both innings who, on a turning pitch and despite injuring his spinning hand, demolished the visitors as India walked home by an innings and 119 runs. Sri Lanka were up against another total in excess of 500 in the second Test at Bangalore, with Mahanama seemingly the only batsman capable of batting for an extended period. Kapil Dev, adding two wickets to the three he picked up in the first innings, drew level with Richard Hadlee’s tally, and broke down with the emotion of the event. India again won by an innings to secure the series victory, and made it 3-0 with another innings victory in the third Test.
India 3 Sri Lanka 0

1997
A mini two-Test tour for India, who had been whitewashed in the one-dayers, with both sides rich in batting and sparse in bowling. Unfortunately, the pitches offered little chance of a result, and both matches ended in turgid draws. India’s 537 for 8 declared was quickly matched by the Sri Lankans. Their enormous 952 for 6 was, by 49 runs, the highest-ever innings total, and Sanath Jayasuriya broke a record, too: his 340 was the fourth-highest innings in Tests and the first triple-hundred by a Sri Lankan in first-class cricket. The second Test provided slightly more enjoyment for the bowlers, but Jayasuriya’s 199 again proved just how poor India’s bowlers had performed: in particular, their two senior bowlers, Venkatesh Prasad and Anil Kumble.
Sri Lanka 0 India 0

1997-98
The lack of penetrative bowling was again the main factor for both teams, a few months after India’s tour of Sri Lanka. With the pressure mounting on India’s captain, Sachin Tandulkar, his 148 at Mumbai in the third Test wasn’t enough to prevent his sacking as skipper. Of India’s bowlers, only Javagal Srinath showed his class. Each of the three Tests ended in draws, with Sourav Ganguly the undoubted star of the batsmen, with two hundreds and a 99.
India 0 Sri Lanka 0

2001
Sri Lanka had great reason to celebrate their series victory in 2001 – their first in four home series. They had earlier lost to Pakistan, drawn with South Africa and lost to England. India, playing without Tendulkar for the first time since April 1989, could muster just 187 in the first innings – their lowest total against Sri Lanka, until they fared even worse in the second innings. Muttiah Muralitharan ran through their batsmen, many of whom hadn’t faced him before, to guide Sri Lanka through to victory by ten wickets. Despite the convincing performance at Galle, they let slip the opportunity to go 2-0 up with a complacent performance at Kandy. Ganguly, who hadn’t made a half-century in his last 13 Test innings, returned to form with an unbeaten 98, including 15 fours, as India convincingly beat the hosts to level the series at 1-1. The third Test at Colombo belonged to Muralitharan who, with 8 for 87 from 34.1 overs, decimated India’s first innings. The home team returned to batting form in their reply, with four of their top-eight reaching hundreds in their 610 for 6 declared. Only Shiv Sunder Das (68) offered the necessary resistance, before two superb run-outs and three more wickets for Muralitharan brought Sri Lanka a series win.
Sri Lanka 2 India 1

2005-06
Sri Lanka played hard, intense cricket, but were outplayed by a team that beat them on talent and matched them in intensity. The best-of-three Test series started in wet, sorry Chennai thanks to cyclone-induced rain washing out the first three-and-a-half days of play, but Sri Lanka dominated, grabbing a bit of the psychological advantage for the rest of the series. A probing spell of left-arm seam from Chaminda Vaas engineered an Indian collapse on day five, for their lowest-ever total against Sri Lanka, before the batsmen, led by the classy Mahela Jayawardene, managed some useful practice ahead of the second Test at Delhi. Anil Kumble continued his romantic affair with the Feroz Shah Kotla, stretching his tally to a stunning 48 from five games, as India wrapped up an emphatic 188-run win to take a 1-0 lead. That was extended to a comprehensive 2-0 series win in Ahmedabad with Kumble and Harbhajan Singh wrapping a spell around the tourists. The powerful duo were the dominant figures of the match, scheming and plotting, spinning and bouncing, wicket-taking furiously. Stand-in captain Virender Sehwag decided to ask his spinners to open the bowling on the fifth morning and it paid off. Kumble and Harbhajan allowied Sri Lanka to add only 14 runs to their overnight score before they were all out for 249, losing by 259 runs.2008
The two main talking points of India’s tour were the new umpire review system – allowing each team three unsuccessful requests per innings – and Ajantha Mendis, Sri Lanka’s mystery spinner, though still a rookie at the Test level. India were outclassed by both. Sri Lanka batted them out of the contest in the first Test at the SSC, with four batsmen recording centuries in the first innings and India falling woefully short in their reply. There was no fightback in the second innings either and India eventually lost by an innings, Muttiah Muralitharan taking a ten-wicket haul, though they were clueless against Mendis as well – in particular his carrom ball. A blinder of a double-hundred by Virender Sehwag in Galle helped India draw level, despite Mendis’ ten-wicket haul. Sri Lanka fought back in the final Test at the P Saravanamuttu Stadium in Colombo with an improved batting performance to win the series 2-1. The famed Indian middle-order came a cropper against quality spin and the team on the whole was criticised for not using the review system intelligently, unlike their opponents. Mendis laid out his path to superstardom with 26 wickets in his debut series. India claimed the one-day series 3-2, thanks to the return of Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who opted out of the Tests. He negotiated the spinners well and finished the series as the leading run-scorer.Tests Sri Lanka 2 India 1
ODIs India 3 Sri Lanka 22009-10When India’s batsmen stuttered on the opening day of the first Test in Ahmedabad, it was not an accurate indicator of what was to follow in the three-match series: a 2-0 win in India’s favour, including two innings victories. There were several bits of trivia to come out of the series. In the drawn first Test on a lifeless track came in for much criticism, Tillakaratne Dilshan became the first Sri Lankan batsman to score a century in India since 1997 and Mahela Jayawardene recorded his sixth double-century. The second Test, in Kanpur, marked India’s 100th victory. India’s dominance in that game started at the top, with Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir putting on a 233-run opening stand, the third-highest for India at the time. The greater show of authority, though, was yet to come. In the final Test in Mumbai: Sehwag scored 293 runs at a strike-rate of 115.35 to flatten Sri Lanka. In the one-day series that followed, it was the Feroz Shah Kotla pitch that made the most headlines. The dangerous, variable bounce on offer in the fifth match, which resulted in Dilshan being fiercely struck and the chairman of the BCCI’s grounds and pitches committee being sacked, caused officials to abandon the game after 23.3 overs. The series also marked Sanath Jayasuriya’s 20th year in cricket.Tests India 2, Sri Lanka 0
ODIs India 3, Sri Lanka 1
Twenty20s India 1, Sri Lanka 1

Ricky Ponting has been ruled out of today’s Twenty20 match against India in Melbourne as he continues to struggle with a back injury. Ponting batted in the nets on the morning of the game but Australia decided not to risk him and will now attempt to have him ready for Sunday’s opening CB Series match against India at the Gabba.”He pulled up pretty sore this morning,” Australia’s coach Tim Nielsen said. “His back is just not 100% and with the uncertain nature of Twenty20 cricket and the frantic nature of it we’re just a bit concerned that if he has to dive in the first over if we’re fielding and pulls up very sore it could leave us one short.”Michael Clarke will captain Australia for the second time in two months and he is set to lead a side with one debutant after Nielsen confirmed David Hussey would play his first match in Australian colours. Brad Hodge will slot into Ponting’s No.3 position and Ben Hilfenhaus has been named the 12th man.Nielsen said with the first tri-series match only two days away there was no guarantee Ponting would be available, and the travel to Brisbane was a concern. “Today’s decision was all about today,” Nielsen said. “We’ll have to keep assessing him and see how he goes each game from here.”Nielsen was confident his players could move on from the controversial Test series and he was impressed with the resolve of the individuals in the team. “Don’t for a second think that this is an easy thing to go through for anybody,” Nielsen said of the aftermath of the Sydney Test. “It’s been draining on our whole group. To be able to continually come out and play as well as we have as a group of individuals and as a collective team is something we’re very proud of.”

Dwayne Bravo, the West Indies allrounder, will be joining the Mumbai Indians squad to replace the injured Sri Lankan fast bowler Lasith Malinga.Lalchand Rajput, Mumbai’s coach, confirmed that Bravo was the unanimous choice of the “few” names discussed by the team think-tank. “The decision to pick Bravo was a collective decision,” he told Cricinfo.Malinga, recovering from a knee injury that he picked during the CB Series in Australia, and, had to miss the Caribbean tour but was confident last week he would be fit to join the Mumbai squad. But Rajput said “we got a report that his recovery might take a further two to three weeks. So we decided to have a back-up”.Charl Langeveldt, the South African pace bowler was amongst the names discussed but Bravo nosed ahead by virtue of being an allrounder. “We wanted an allrounder and not another regular bowler”, Rajput said of the outcome of the team meeting that took place on Thursday. Bravo will be the fourth West Indies player to feature in the IPL joining Shivnaraine Chanderpaul, Chris Gayle and Ramnaresh Sarwan.Bravo would only be available for short period before he returns home for the Australia series but the Mumbai team management felt they could extract the most out of him before he heads back. Bravo will also miss Mumbai’s opening game against the Bangalore Royal Challengers at home as he arrives only on Sunday but will get to be part of seven of their 14 league matches before he heads back home on May 14. “We know he would be returning on May 15 but by then we would have played most of our games.”While confirming the signing, Reliance, owners of the Mumbai team, did not disclose the price they had offered him. A sum in the range of US $200-250,000 wouldn’t be amiss considering his international record. Bravo may not have a good Twenty20 record – he averages 11 in seven Twenty20 games and has just two wickets at 55 – but he could light up the show like he did in the first game of the ODI series against Sri Lanka recently, grabbing four wickets and playing a handy cameo as an opener.Bravo’s late call-up means that he misses out on Trinidad & Tobago’s Carib Beer Challenge match against Jamaica, starting on April 24. The development was confirmed by Trinidad’s manager, Colin Borde, who said the experience of playing in the IPL would be beneficial for Bravo.”I think everybody is excited for him going up to the IPL and playing with Sachin Tendulkar, Harbhajan Singh, [and] Shaun Pollock,” Borde told CCN TV6, a television station based in Port-of-Spain. “I think it’s good for him and as a Trinidadian you must feel proud … he’s the first guy to get in the IPL.”

Darrell Hair has admitted he can be “stand-offish” and has vowed to improve his communication skills after being reinstated as a Test and one-day international umpire. Hair is back after being demoted following his role in the forfeited Pakistan-England Test in 2006, but he believes it is time to “move on”.”Well it caused me a lot of stress, I suppose it caused a lot of people some stress along the way,” Hair told Sydney radio . “The laws now have been changed to take those decisions out of the hands of the umpires and I fully support the way that that’s going to happen in future. So, it’s time to move on.The ICC ruled Hair’s “rehabilitation”, which included a course at Sydney University, has been completed and he remains contracted for another 12 months. “Every day in life you like to pick up something and move forward,” he said. “So I won’t say my whole attitude to umpiring has changed but I think I have picked up a few things that are going to be very helpful to me in the future.”Probably just … having a broader understanding of what everybody else is thinking and the old communication issue of making sure that what you say and what you want is understood by the other people. I’ve always been a little bit … stand-offish in that I’ve always preferred to let them play the game themselves and only get involved when things go overboard but maybe there’s a case to be made for a little bit more work in that area.”The ICC will keep Hair away from games involving Pakistan, who are upset with the official’s elevation. “I’ve got no comment on anyone else’s reaction really,” he said. “I’m just going to look after my own patch and go out there and umpire the matches that I’m appointed to and do that to the best of my ability, which is what I’ve always done.”

The top names in action

Yuvraj Singh scored only 2 with the bat in Punjab’s four-wicket loss to Rajasthan. He took 2 for 16 with the ball during Rajasthan’s chase of 131 but it was not enough to prevent defeat.Wriddhiman Saha struck a 47-ball 81 as an opening batsman in Bengal’s 61-run win over Hyderabad in Nagpur. Saha’s knock included seven fours and five sixes.Irfan Pathan‘s career-best T20 figures of 5 for 13 powered Baroda to a 49-run win against Assam in Vadodara. Irfan ran through Assam’s top order inside seven overs to ensure Baroda defended 165 with ease.

Hat-tricks

Two for the day, from Ishwar Pandey (Madhya Pradesh) and Piyush Chawla (Uttar Pradesh).Pandey struck in the third over against Andhra, after MP opted to field, dismissing Srikar Bharat, Prasanth Kumar and AG Pradeep. He claimed his fourth wicket in his next over, finishing with returns of 4 for 20 to send back Andhra’s top four for a tally of 21. MP chased down the 96-run target with five wickets and 10 balls to spare.Chawla’s hat-trick was spread over two overs in UP’s seven-wicket win against Maharashtra in a match curtailed to 12 overs after fog delayed start of play. He dismissed Shrikant Mundhe and Rahul Tripathi off the last two deliveries of the eighth over and took Nikhil Naik’s wicket off the first ball of the 11th over to complete the hat-trick.

Wakaskar’s blast in vain

Saurabh Wakaskar blasted 118 off 55 balls and Asad Pathan hammered a 59-ball 81, but Railways still ended up on the losing side, as Delhi gunned down 211 for an impressive four-wicket win. Asad and Wakaskar shared a second-wicket stand of 185, but their partnership ultimately counted for nothing, as Delhi’s top and middle order – led by a 53 from Aditya Kaushik – all chipped in with handy knocks to seal the victory with four balls remaining.

Karnataka’s disappointing campaign continues

After suffering early exits in the Vijay Hazare Trophy and Ranji Trophy, domestic heavyweights Karnataka had to endure a three-wicket defeat against Services in Cuttack. Karnataka were kept to 121 for 9 thanks to a three-wicket haul from Raushan Raj, and Services chased down the paltry total with an over to spare.

Other brief scores

The on-going schools cricket season in Sri Lanka has been thrown into chaos as a result of the government imposing an indefinite ban on all school sports because of an escalation in the on-going war in the north against the Tamil Tigers.The ban came into effect on Wednesday when an education ministry circular announced an indefinite cessation in all school competitions. Almost immediately the Sri Lanka Schools Cricket Association postponed all matches. The final of the Under-13 tournament scheduled to be held at weekend will be the first casualty.The move followed a suicide bombing at the Fort Railway station in the heart of Colombo which killed several students and the coach of DS Senanayake College baseball team.This ban will seriously affect the on-going schools cricket season and also the major matches of leading schools in Colombo, including the oldest contest between Royal and St. Thomas’, St. Peter’s and St Joseph’s, and Ananda and Nalanda, which are scheduled to be played next month. The period January to first week of April is the height of the school cricket season with more than 130 schools being involved in competition around the country.The England Under-19 cricket team, which stayed back after the one-day triangular against Pakistan and Sri Lanka to play some practice matches, made a hasty departure ahead of schedule for Malaysia to take part in the Under-19 World Cup.According to the original schedule, they were not due to leave until February 9.Sri Lanka Cricket’s director of operations, Bandula Warnapura, stated: “I don’t know the exact reasons why England left earlier than schedule. They wanted one of their practice games to be rescheduled for an earlier date and we obliged them. They however played the three practice games before departure.”

ScorecardDawid Malan’s impressive form continued but England’s batting slumped•Chris Whiteoak

Pakistan A set up a series decider against England Lions with a six-wicket victory in the fourth one-dayer in Dubai. They cut off a promising England start to dismiss them for 181 then survived a batting wobble of their own to reach the target with more than three overs to spare as Asif Zakir hit an unbeaten 68.Pakistan A’s spinners combined effectively after England had made a flying start with an opening stand of 60 in less than 10 overs between James Vince and Dawid Malan. But the next-best stand was 36 between Malan and Liam Dawson as the innings ended with five-and-a-half overs unused.England hit back through some impressive pace bowling as Craig Overton and Jake Ball removed the openers before Dawson and Tom Westley made further inroads to leave Pakistan A 66 for 4.But then the bat started to dominate again as Zakir and Zohaib Khan formed the best stand of the match by adding an unbroken 116 to hunt down the target. Zakir hit the one six of the match when he dispatched Dawson having gone to fifty off 78 balls.It was again a run out that had sparked England’s problems when Vince was found short for the second innings in a row when he chanced a third to fine leg then Westley fell for his second duck of the series. Malan, who missed the third match with illness, continued his fine form with a fluent half-century but when he was fourth out the innings fell away – the last six wickets going for 62.Bilal Asif took 2 for 35 while Mohammad Nawaz was miserly as he collected 2 for 22 in 9.3 overs.

Wasim Jaffer and Laxmi Ratan Shukla have been named captains of the West and East Zones, respectively, for this season’s Deodhar Trophy.Jaffer, after a dismal Test tour of Australia, has been in solid form during the Ranji Trophy one-dayers. His 349 runs at 116.33, with a best of an unbeaten 178 from just 132 balls, are a main reason Mumbai top their group.The West team comprises names such as Rohit Sharma, who scored 235 runs in ten innings during India’s CB Series triumph, Ajit Agarkar, Parthiv Patel, Yusuf Pathan, Under-19 winner Iqbal Abdullah and Munaf Patel, who also featured in the tour of Australia.Sourav Ganguly and Manoj Tiwary have been named in the East team, as has another victorious U-19 player, Saurabh Tiwary.The limited-overs tournament will be played at four centers in South Zone from March 14.Teams
West Zone: Wasim Jaffer (captain), Ajit Agarkar, Ajinkya Rahane, Parthiv Patel, Venugopala Rao, Rohit Sharma, Yusuf Pathan, Abhishek Nayar, Mohnish Parmar, Iqbal Abdulla, Munaf Patel, Sandeep Maniar, Siddharth Trivedi, Kedar Jadhav, Pinal Shah.East Zone: Laxmi Ratan Shukla (captain), Sourav Ganguly, Anustup Majumdar, Arindam Das, Manoj Tiwary, Ranadeb Bose, Wriddhiman Saha, Shib Shankar Paul, Ireash Saxena, Haladhar Das, PR Sinha, Saurabh Tiwary, Ishank Jaggi, Manish Vardhan, SS Rao, Deeraj Goswami, S. Purkayastha.

It is not yet December and already the most exciting part of Australia’s home Test summer is done. At least, such is the popular thinking among Australian cricket fans. November brought New Zealand, a team capable of providing a stern test of Steven Smith’s men. It also brought the novelty of a day-night Test with a pink ball. December brings a West Indies team whose only away Test wins since 2007 have been against Bangladesh.Cricket Australia know that Boxing Day and New Year’s Tests against West Indies will be far from the draw cards of the Ashes or Border-Gavaskar Trophy, and they have hence back-loaded the season with limited-overs matches against India. It is against this backdrop that captain Jason Holder and his team-mates have tiptoed into the country almost unnoticed, preparing for a tour match in Brisbane starting on Wednesday.Holder knows the task ahead of him is immense. Even with home advantage earlier this year, West Indies could not avoid a 0-2 loss to Australia. But things have changed since then. Holder has replaced Denesh Ramdin as captain, Smith has succeeded Michael Clarke in charge of Australia, and West Indies will also not have to face the retired Mitchell Johnson or the injured Mitchell Starc. Holder hopes those changes to Australia’s personnel will help his side.”We don’t come with just some belief, we come with a lot of belief,” Holder told reporters in Brisbane on Monday. “If we don’t believe, there’s no point being here. We have to play aggressive cricket, we have to play smart cricket. The Australians are the No.2-ranked side in the world. They will come at us pretty hard, as we saw in the Caribbean.”[In the Australia-New Zealand series] We saw weaknesses where we can exploit. There’s some new faces, mixed with some guys who have been in rich veins of form. It’s important that we put some pressure on their middle order.”If we get early wickets with the new ball, we can get guys like Shaun Marsh, guys who are trying to make their way back into this side, put them under some pressure to score. Once we can do that it should be a relatively competitive series. They have some in-form batsmen, David Warner and Steve Smith, so it’s just important that we put some pressure on their middle order.”To do so, Holder has a simple plan: move the ball. Swing it, seam it, and test the techniques of Australia’s batsmen. The first Test is in Hobart, where cloudy overhead conditions can sometimes help swing bowlers, but it is also often a good pitch on which to bat. Holder watched with interest as Australia piled on the runs on flatter decks in Brisbane and Perth before struggling in Adelaide.”Not only do we have the pace, we have bowlers with the skill to extract movement,” Holder said. “I saw in the first two Test matches there were some pretty flat pitches and the ball didn’t do much. The Australian batsmen and the New Zealand batsmen were able to capitalise.”One of the crucial things in this series will be to extract some movement. I saw what movement did in this last Test match with New Zealand and Australia, with both sides being a bit at fault and being caught out. It’s important our bowlers look to do something with the ball.”Equally, the West Indies batsmen must find a way to counter Australia’s bowlers in their own conditions. On Tuesday morning, they will find out which bowlers have been picked for the first Test in Hobart, with James Pattinson likely to be in the squad alongside Peter Siddle and Josh Hazlewood, although Hazlewood may be rested at some point in the series.In the series in the Caribbean earlier this year, no West Indies batsman managed to score a century and Holder himself topped their run list with 116, despite batting at No.8. It is six years since West Indies have visited Australia for Tests and their entire top six has changed in that time, meaning plenty of learning ahead for the batsmen in these three Tests, although Marlon Samuels has played Tests in Australia previously.”It’s one of the biggest challenges,” Holder said. “They’re a very good side playing at home, it’s just important that we learn as quickly as possible and not be intimidated by their bowlers, just be confident. If we make improvements then I’ll be quite happy at the end of the series.”

Saket Bhatia and Sanjeev Sharma, with a sixth wicket partnership of112 runs, were instrumental in Rajasthan gaining a first innings leadof 26 runs on the third day of their Central Zone Ranji Trophy leaguematch at the KL Saini stadium in Jaipur on Wednesday. Replying to UP’s270, Rajasthan were all out for 296. In their second innings, UP were81 for three at stumps.Resuming at 183 for five, Rajasthan lost their sixth wicket only at253 when Bhatia was leg before to Salabh Srivastava for 79. Bhatiafaced 184 balls and hit ten fours. Sanjeev Sharma kept going till hewas ninth out at 296. For his 85, he faced 180 balls and hit 11 fours.The bowling honours were cornered by opening bowlers AW Zaidi (5 for84) and Srivastava (4 for 98).Openers Rohit Prash (26) and Jyoti Yadav (28) gave UP a good start byputting on 46 runs. But in the last hour, UP lost three wickets to bein a position of some anxiety at close.