An in-form Wasim Jaffer will lead West Zone © AFP

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.

	Darrell Hair, who umpired in Nairobi last year, will be back in the big league after being reinstated by the ICC © Ian Jacobs/Cricinfo Ltd

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.”

	Dwayne Bravo: the latest Mumbai recruit © Getty Images

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.”

Terry Oliver is taking on a new post after a reshuffle at Queensland © Getty Images

Trevor Barsby, the former opening batsman, will begin coaching Queensland immediately following a restructure that pushed Terry Oliver into the new position of high performance manager. Oliver has looked after the Bulls for six years, but the team has struggled in the Pura Cup over the past two seasons, finishing fourth and last, and has lost some long-term players in Jimmy Maher and Michael Kasprowicz.Queensland Cricket completed a two-month review of its major teams before settling on the revamped structure. Oliver departs for the West Indies on Saturday as an assistant with the national team and when he returns he will oversee all of the state’s elite programmes.Barsby, a level three coach, played 111 first-class games for Queensland and will step up from his post at the Queensland Academy of Sport, where he has worked since 2005. “I’ll be looking to use the experience I had as a player with Queensland, through the good times and the bad, to work with the current group,” Barsby said. “This decision allows the Bulls to focus on playing and the coaches to focus on coaching.”After starting his state career in 1984-85, Barsby experienced some painful near-misses in the Sheffield Shield before scoring 151 in the breakthrough win in 1994-95. He retired after the 1996-97 success in Perth.Damien Mullins, the Queensland Cricket chairman, said Oliver’s role was the most significant appointment since John Buchanan was hired in 1994. “It comes after some intensive scrutiny of how we have managed our elite programmes in the past,” Mullins said. “Terry takes on this position after following a pathway through Queensland Cricket that has seen him progress through our system, first as a player and then as a coach, so that he has a deep understanding of all of our processes.”Oliver was in charge when the Bulls won the 2005-06 Pura Cup and the 2006-07 FR Cup. “I’m excited about taking Queensland in a new direction,” he said, “while also maintaining contact with the Bulls and working closely with Trevor.”

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

Rumesh Ratnayake, who took nine wickets in Sri Lanka’s inaugural Test win in 1985 © Getty Images

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

Muttiah Muralitharan deservedly earned the Man-of-the-Match award in the 2001 series © Getty Images

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

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.”

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

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.

With the World Cup only a few million seconds away- probably- the excitement is now reaching boiling point, especially for those of us who’ve allowed ourselves to get carried away with the idea that England can actually win.

While the dream of seeing Rio Ferdinand lift the coveted trophy in just 40 days time, may be just like the dream I used to have of bedding Pamela Anderson when I was younger- i.e, never going to happen, rather than anything wet, I still can’t help but have a faint glimmer of hope, dare I say even  expectation.

It’s at such  times that the cynic in me raises his gloomy, pragmatic head and reminds me that not only are England seemingly destined to never win the World Cup in my lifetime but that, along with certain other things are pretty much guaranteed at this summer’s tournament. Here’s a list of ten things that will more than likely happen in the next few weeks.

10. Let’s not drag it out or hide it in the middle or near the bottom, England go out on penalties. There I’ve said it. Despite my overwhelming faith in Wayne Rooney and unshakeable optimism bordering on blind faith, the odds are that England will be eliminated on penalties. I may be wrong and of course I hope I am but as the World Cups of 1990, 1998 and 2006 showed us, not to mention Euro’s 1996 & 2004, the national team’s predilection for penalty elimination in major tournaments has become something of a tradition.

9. A co-commentator/pundit will use the tournament to try and get the job full-time or impress us all and instead merely become very annoying. I remember in 1994 listening to John Fashanu state: “He’s just nutmegged the defender- which is pushing the ball between your opponents legs.” before being thanked by his colleagues for explaining such things to the many people who may be watching football for the first time. There was also the Martin O’Neill; I’m going to get my point across, even if it runs through the second half performance of France ’98. Let’s of course not forget the various Ron Atkinson ’isms’ which lit up Japan and South Korea 2002- on second thoughts, let’s forget all about them. I’m half expecting Ian Holloway to be wearing a fez in the studio banging a tambourine and ‘amusing is all with ‘crazy‘ metaphors- the joker.

8. Maradona will cost Argentina the world cup with a bizarre substitution. I was going to say silly tactical decision but giving the plumped, shaking slightly, Hand of God’s fondness for those it seemed a bit too broad. I expect it to be a substitution that does for the two-time winners. Just as it did in Germany 2006 when Jose Pekerman removed man-of-the-match Juan Riquelme during the quarter-final game against the hosts. The difference between then and now is that Pekerman was by all accounts a sane individual despite making a poor decision, something his successor could never be accused of. Expect Lionel Messi to be dragged off for only hitting the bar with a 30-yard lob, or perhaps Juan Sebastian Veron to be asked to fill in between the sticks following a goalkeeping error, with Maradona in charge- of the team if not his faculties – anything’s possible.

7. There will be no surprise packages. This sounds harsh, after all doesn’t every World Cup have a team that comes from nowhere to get to the quarter-finals or even the semi’s. Okay, you may get an African nation in the last eight, but would that really be a shock? I don’t think the final four of the tournament will be of any great surprise, expect Keaton, McManus, Fenster, Kint, et al to be there- did you see what I did there? In other words, Germany, Spain, Brazil, Argentina-unless Maradona acts quicker than I expect- to all be there or there abouts.

Which leads me onto my next one…

6. Germany will progress further than England. Again I’m listening to my head rather than my heart as I still think we, yes ‘we’ are going to win the World Cup and am so confident have even bet an entire tenner on it, but realistically ‘we’ won’t. Not only that, our former military adversaries- oops don’t mention the ’you know what’ always seem to do better than we do when it comes to  the World Cup -unless it’s in England of course, and there’s a Russian linesman. Since the day that everyone over fifty won’t stop going on about, Germany have almost always gone at least one better than us. Mexico 1970’s quarter-final defeat to them was the beginning of a pretty shabby run from England. 1986 we made the quarter-finals they made the final. 1990 we made the semis, they won it. 1998 we made the second round; they made the quarter-finals. 2002 we made the quarter-finals they made the final. 2006.…..you get the point.

Click here to see the TOP 5

5. Emile Heskey will not score a single goal.

4. Peter Crouch will.

3. Nelson Mandela will be shown on the television at least 54 times a day and how far South Africa has come as a nation over the past 16 years will be mentioned at least every 3 minutes by every commentator.

2. A Premier League player will win the Golden Boot. At first this may seem like I’m stating the obvious as due to the fact Ji Sung Park plays in the EPL then there can be no doubt what I’ve said is true. However with Fernando Torres- if he makes it, not to mention Wayne, oh you know the one, Rooney that’s it. Plus Carlos Tevez, Robin Van Persie and Didier Drogba all representing their country, it’s not the most far-fetched notion I’ve ever heard of. Unlike a recent ten pound bet I made earlier.

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1. A single person will be blamed for England’s exit. As far back as I can remember -or even  google for that matter, without fail at every major tournament it has been the act of one man that has let this nation down. Sometimes before we’ve even got -or not got- to a tournament, look up Assenmacher if you don’t believe me. It was David Beckham in ‘98, David Seaman in 2002- by some critics, not all I might add, 2006 it was obviously Cristiano Ronaldo for having the temerity to wink after Rooney got sent off. Let’s not forget the Euro’s as well, where we’ve even seen a penalty spot, come under scrutiny for England’s exit. Admittedly you could argue that if Fabio Capello picks the wrong side or whatever, then obviously he’ll be to blame but I’m not talking about that, I’m on about burning effigies of Stephen Warnock for giving away that 93 minute throw-in on the half way line that led to the equaliser. Or perhaps we’ll find ourselves boycotting Spain as a holiday destination because David Villa dived in the box to win a penalty against us. Chances are though it could be some previously unheard of referee who finds himself public enemy number on in England for making a suspect decision which was without a doubt the turning point in our quarter-final game.

Read more of Justin’s work at his excellent blog ‘Name on the Trophy’

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Veteran Manchester United midfielder Paul Scholes believes he has just one more season left in his top-flight career.

Scholes, 35, has been part of the first-team picture at Old Trafford since 1994 and has made almost 650 appearances for the Red Devils.

However, the former England international has revealed he could hang up his boots at the end of next season.

"I am coming to the end of my playing career and I maybe have one year left," said Scholes, who signed a new 12-month contract in April.

"I have started doing my coaching badges back in England and hopefully one day I will be able to coach kids or coach some kind of team somewhere."

Meanwhile, Scholes does not expect long-serving United boss Sir Alex Ferguson to be retiring any time soon.

"It goes without saying what a top manager he has been," he continued.

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"The amount of players he has brought through the youth team is great and it gives hope to all the kids in the youth team that if they are good enough he will definitely use them.

"It has just been fantastic working with him and I think there is a good few years left in him yet."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email