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

Denesh Ramdin and Ramnaresh Sarwan kept their cool in a tense finish to hand West Indies a 1-0 series lead after a rain-hit game in Christchurch. New Zealand were favourites when the West Indies needed forty off the last four overs, but Ramdin knocked off 21 runs off his next ten balls to put the visitors on course for a win in the match shortened to 28 overs a side.The equation had boiled down to four runs off the last over, after offspinner Jeetan Patel leaked 14 off the penultimate one. Tim Southee, who had sent down an outstanding final over in the tied Twenty20 game in Auckland, was again given the responsibility of bowling the final six deliveries. He gave away only two of the first three balls, but a couple of scampered singles finally broke New Zealand hearts.While it was Ramdin who applied the final touches, it was Sarwan who kept West Indies in the game, anchoring the innings with a calm half-century. Captain Chris Gayle had biffed a 31-ball 36, but two deliveries after launching Daniel Vettori over midwicket for six, he was bowled by a quicker one, leaving Sarwan to shepherd the chase.The wickets kept tumbling at the other end but Sarwan refused to panic. He collected the singles, punished the loose balls, and didn’t buckle under the pressure exerted by a tight spell of bowling from Vettori and Jacob Oram. New Zealand had seemed in control for much of the chase until the final onslaught from Sarwan and Ramdin.West Indies may be pleased with the win but one cause for concern was that there was little contribution from the younger batsmen in the side. In the absence of Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who missed the game with a hand injury, the team look too reliant on their two senior batsmen, Gayle and Sarwan.By contrast, New Zealand posted a competitive 152 despite the failure of Brendon McCullum and Ross Taylor, with four batsmen reaching 25. After opting to field, the visitors got the dangerous McCullum early before rain came down in the seventh over just as Jesse Ryder was beginning to cut loose. Play was held up for four hours.Ryder and Jamie How kept the runs flowing on resumption before Ryder holed out to deep cover off Nikita Miller in the 12th over.New Zealand struggled to regain momentum after that dismissal; they were unable to score more than five off any of the next ten overs. The pressure created by Miller and Jerome Taylor led to the dismissal of several New Zealand batsmen and the hosts slid to 97 for 5 in 22 overs.Oram pulled them out of the rut, taking 17 off a Gayle over, and Grant Elliott’s big-hitting towards the end boosted New Zealand beyond 150. However, with Elliott not having bowled in both matches of the series, the hosts must work out whether they need a specialist batsman at No. 7.

The Delhi Daredevils and the Mumbai Indians have completed the first of five stages of the first-ever IPL transfer. Officials from both teams have confirmed that there has been an expression of interest over a swap between Mumbai fast bowler Ashish Nehra and Delhi batsman Shikhar Dhawan.The IPL transfer window opened on December 22 and Cricinfo had reported that Delhi were “looking specifically” for an Indian fast bowler. “We are pursuing the matter but it’s a long process,” Delhi’s chief operating officer Amrit Mathur told Cricinfo.The ‘expression of interest’ was only the first step of the process. The two franchises now have to reach a transfer agreement after which the players have to sign new contracts. The IPL has to then approve and register the change before the financial details of the deal are hammered out.Nehra played 14 matches for Mumbai during the inaugural season of the IPL and took 12 wickets at an average of 29 and economy-rate of 7.76. Dhawan scored 340 runs in 14 games for Delhi at a strike-rate of 115 with four fifties.

Mark Cameron, the New South Wales fast bowler, could join Shane Warne as a player-coach in the Indian Premier League, with Kolkata Knight Riders interested in procuring his services. Matthew Mott, a coach with New South Wales and Kolkata, has spoken with the franchise’s executives about the possibility of recruiting Cameron for the forthcoming season.Cameron, who has played 11 first-class games and six Twenty20s, has been a strong contributor for the Blues in recent seasons, helping not only with the ball but also in a coaching capacity. He has developed a system that allows coaches to monitor player workload, which has proven successful at state and national level in Australia.Mott was hopeful of employing Cameron for both his bowling and coaching abilities. “I have left it with [Kolkata], but I think he could do a great job as both a player and a coach,” Mott said. “I have told people what I think, but have stayed away from the negotiations.”A potential sticking point to Cameron’s proposed move to the IPL is a back injury sustained during New South Wales’ Sheffield Shield victory over Tasmania. Cameron, 28, bowled with the assistance of painkillers to collect five wickets for the match, and will undergo scans this week to determine the severity of the injury.Mott has been active in scouting Australian talent for Kolkata this season. He played a significant role in the Knight Riders’ signing of the young allrounder Moises Henriques for a contract worth up to $US300,000.

Jacob Oram, the New Zealand allrounder, has said he has recovered from his Achilles tendon injury sustained during the ODI series at home against West Indies, which kept him out of the recent one-dayers against Australia. Hoping to get back to full fitness ahead of the home series against India, Oram said he will be playing as a batsman in Central Districts’ Twenty20 clash with Otago on Friday.Oram, though, was keen to resume his bowling duties as well. “Would I have got eight years [in the national side] if I had stuck with just batting?” he told the New Zealand daily, the . “I don’t want to do that. It’s like asking someone to do half the job. I’m not a batsman, I’m an allrounder, and I’m enjoying what I’m doing.”I fully agree that the best way to stay injury-free is to do it [bowl] as soon as you pick a ball up. Then your body adapts to the rigours of bowling. I didn’t really put it in until my early 20s and that’s pretty late to start bowling.”The 30-year-old Oram said his tendon was close to being 100% repaired after a slow build-up in the gym. “If I left it any longer, the Indian series would be gone and the season would be a write-off,” he said. “I’m confident I will be OK.”Oram said that over the last five weeks, he had given the injury some time to settle down and worked on strengthening the calf before resuming bowling. Oram admitted that getting injured so often was frustrating, but said he had learned to cope. “I wouldn’t say it ever gets easy, but I am so used to it now, I don’t get too upset.”Oram has suffered a few injuries lately, starting with a back problem during the Test series in Bangladesh in October, which also ruled him out of the two-Test series in Australia in November. He then fractured a finger while turning out for Central Districts in the State Championship in the last week of November. A calf strain kept him out of the two-Test series at home against West Indies, and was followed by the Achilles tendon problem during the subsequent ODI series.”Those are the cards you’ve been dealt,” Oram said.The series against India will extend from February 22 to April 7, and comprises two Twenty20 internationals, five ODIs and three Tests.

Australian captain Karen Rolton believes that though they are favourites to win the Women’s World Cup, there are a few teams who may give them a tough fight.”While we are confident, we know that England, India and New Zealand will be tough opponents,” Rolton said.Australia, who have won the tournament five times, and are also the defending champions, will be enjoying home support this time around, but it may not always work to their advantage, according to Rolton.”We won’t be disrespectful of any of our opponents, because in such a tournament as the World Cup, upsets can occur,” she said. “Women’s international cricket is getting better and better each year and while it is an advantage to be playing at home, there are also some disadvantages, such as more family and friends around.”Rolton also singled out England as the biggest threat to the crown. “England will be well prepared for this tournament. I think as many as nine of their girls have been out here playing grade cricket and they have been playing this season, for as long as we have, so they won’t be out of season.”England captain, Charlotte Edwards, predicted that this year’s tournament would be the closest for many years. She said the difference in playing standards between the countries had considerably reduced and England were ready for the challenge.”We had a great winter out here last year, winning the Ashes and drawing the one-day series,” Edwards said. “Australia are the favourites, especially playing at home, but we will be up for any challenge.”

Easterns thrashed a weakened Westerns side by an innings and 275 runs at Zimbabwe Cricket Academy in the opening round of the 2008-09 Logan Cup. With a number of their key players on duty with Zimbabwe’s A team, Westerns’ batting was always off the pace as they were bowled out for 156 and 110. Had Easterns’ fielding not been sloppy they would have struggled to reach three figures. Westerns’ bowling wasn’t much better as Easterns cruised to 541 for 9, with Forster Mutizwa (124), Steven Nyamuzinga (120), Stuart Matsikenyeri (111) and Hamilton Masakadza (107) all making hundreds.At Harare Sports Club, Northerns beat Centrals by three wickets in a much closer if low-scoring contest. Centrals made 184, Malcolm Waller providing the backbone with 69, and Elton Chigumbura’s 82 helped Northerns reply with 186. Waller was again in good form, making 73, as Centrals scored 180, setting a target of 181. ed Rainsford took 4 for 20 but that was not enough to prevent Northerns edging home, Ray Price leading the charge with 58 off 77 balls.

Former Pakistan captain Ramiz Raja has said the absence of Pakistan players in the IPL in South Africa will seriously affect the television viewership of the event in the country. Though the players will miss the entire tournament, they will be engaged in a limited-overs series in the UAE against Australia starting April 22 and Ramiz hoped the interest will pick up after series ends.”The event’s moved out of India, there are no Pakistani players playing, so the interest in our country has definitely gone down,” Ramiz told . “With hardly any international cricket in mid-May the fans will turn towards the IPL and the GEO Super sports channel showing the matches is also drumming up the event.”The captain Younis Khan – a member of the Rajasthan Royals last season – added that the Indian fans too will miss not having them around. His team-mate Sohail Tanvir was the leading wicket-taker in the competition last year.The Pakistan Cricket Board had earlier banned its players from participating in the IPL after the country’s relations with India deteriorated after the terror attacks in Mumbai in November. When the tournament was moved out of India – over security reasons – the Pakistan players were hopeful of returning but IPL officials said it wouldn’t be possible as the squads had already been finalised earlier.”We are even willing to travel to South Africa and sort out this matter with the IPL franchises,” Salman Ahmed, who is negotiation with the IPL on behalf of the Pakistani players, told AP. “The franchises have given them nothing in writing. It is in their contracts that a notice will be served before any such termination or suspension, but in this case nothing as such is indicated with any of the players.”Prior to the 2009 IPL auction, the contracts of Shoaib Akhtar, Younis, Shoaib Malik, Shahid Afridi, Salman Butt and Mohammed Hafeez were terminated by their franchises and four others – Umar Gul, Misbah-ul-Haq, Kamran Akmal and Tanvir – had their contracts “suspended”, allowing their teams to replace them at the draft.It is reported that there is a sense of resentment that the franchises did not inform them before cancelling the contracts and it is believed the players are mulling legal action.

Match facts

April 30, 2009
Start time 12.30pm (10.30GMT, 16.00 IST)

Big Picture

Delhi Daredevils will want to see the back of Adam Gilchrist and Herschelle Gibbs fast•AFP

Supersport Park in Centurion plays host to the clash of the two best teams in the tournament – Deccan Chargers and Delhi Daredevils – in the first of Thursday’s double-header. Deccan, with a 100 per cent record this season, are unrecognisable from the side that propped up the table in 2008. Herschelle Gibbs and Adam Gilchrist have fired at the top and there have been no batting collapses. The bowling has also looked more potent, thanks in no small way to Fidel Edwards, who will play at least one more game before heading to England to join his West Indies team-mates.Delhi look the most likely team to upset Deccan’s momentum. They were on a winning streak of their own but were upset by Rajasthan Royals and an incredible 83-run stand between Graeme Smith and Yusuf Pathan. That defeat was an eye-opener to several cracks; the fielding wasn’t upto the mark and Daniel Vettori had a rare bad day at work. They will want to bounce back with a statement in this battle of the heavy weights.

Form guide

Delhi: Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir have failed to fire, individually and in partnership. Sehwag has a highest score of 38 and Gambhir 16. Sehwag’s shot selection needs to improve but surely it’s only a matter of time before he finds his feet.Deccan Chargers: Gibbs, with 183 runs, is pushing Matthew Hayden (215) for the orange cap for the highest scorer and should claim it on Thursday. RP Singh and Lasith Malinga are tied on nine wickets and Pragyan Ojha is just behind at eight. So Deccan have a chance to keep the orange and purple caps.

Watch out for

Gibbs v de Villiers: There has been very little to separate this pair who have used the home advantage to the fullest. de Villiers has 176 runs, just seven behind Gibbs. The most striking similarity, apart from their electric fielding, is the power of their on-side shots.

Team news

For Delhi, Glenn McGrath is yet to get a game. Paul Collingwood has also been a passenger and he doesn’t have much time left before heading back to England for the Tests. But Delhi will have to rest either Tillakaratne Dilshan or AB de Villiers and it’s a tough choice considering their splendid form.Delhi: (probable) 1 Gautam Gambhir, 2 Virender Sehwag (capt), 3 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 4 AB de Villiers, 5 Mithun Manhas, 6 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 7 Daniel Vettori, 8 Dirk Nannes, 9 Pradeep Sangwan, 10 Amit Mishra, 11 Ashish Nehra.Deccan may not want to upset their winning combination.Deccan: (probable) 1 Adam Gilchrist (capt/wk), 2 Herschelle Gibbs, 3 Dwayne Smith, 4 Rohit Sharma, 5 VVS Laxman, 6 Venugopal Rao, 7 Azharuddin Bilakhia, 8 Pragyan Ojha, 9 Shoaib Ahmed, 10 RP Singh, 11 Fidel Edwards.

Head-to-head record

Deccan were steamrolled at home by nine wickets as Sehwag bludgeoned an unbeaten 94 in chasing a target of 143. It was a much closer affair at the Feroz Shah Kotla where Deccan fell short by 12 runs chasing 195. Mishra signed off the victory in style with a hat-trick.

The ECB chief executive, David Collier, has defended the decision to stage a low-key two-Test series against West Indies so early in the English season, saying that the board had no choice but to go through with the fixtures because of contractual obligations with the host broadcaster, Sky.The ECB signed a new four-year deal with Sky television last summer, which obliges them to stage seven Tests and 10 one-day internationals each summer. “We had broadcasting contracts in place anyway that we would either have to re-negotiate or breach in some way, shape or form,” said Collier.After a first Test at Lord’s that finished before the weekend, the second Test at Durham has been marred by poor spectator turn-out and bad weather, with the first day attracting only 3000 advance sales and the second day being washed out entirely.But Collier insisted the ECB were right to go ahead with the series, which falls outside the Future Tours Programme having originally been allocated to Zimbabwe. He claimed that in an Ashes year, the need for the Test side to hone their skills in home conditions was paramount, especially with the ICC World Twenty20 taking up valuable practice time in June.”We believe Test cricket is very much the pinnacle, and we believe very, very strongly that an Ashes summer is a major summer for us,” said Collier. “I think we would have been criticised had we not had any preparation for the England team, particularly at a time where a number of young players are starting to establish themselves in the side.””From a playing point of view we desperately wanted a Test match or two Test matches, which is the minimum for an official ICC Test series. I think from a cricket point of view it is important we play Test-match cricket. From a cricketing point of view it was the right thing to do.”

India’s preliminary squad for the Champions Trophy included usual suspects, a handful of young hopefuls and one oddity – the reappearance of Rahul Dravid in India’s 50-over plans. Dravid last played a one-day international in October 2007 and was jettisoned from the team after a torrid home series against Australia, in which he scored 51 runs in five innings.He was out of form and looked out of place in an Indian team that had transformed into an athletic outfit filled with power-hitters after the World Twenty20 victory in South Africa. Since that defeat against Australia, India had a terrific run in ODIs, winning seven out of nine series: at home against Pakistan and England, in Australia, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, and the most recent one – in West Indies – was the fifth success in a row.So, even though the pool of contenders for the tournament in South Africa is as large as 30, why is Dravid among them? Is his selection merely whimsical, to make up the numbers? Or is there reason and rationale behind a move that appears to be a step in a direction opposite to the one in which the one-day unit has progressed under MS Dhoni?The key may lie in the answer to the question: what does Dravid possess that the current Indian middle order doesn’t? He may not be endowed with bowler-shredding skills that the current middle order formed by Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma and Yusuf Pathan possess but Dravid has a water-tight technique, one that has brought him success on various pitches, fast or slow, across the globe. And he has rarely been fragile against the short ball, a weakness currently dogging the Indian batting line-up. A weakness that caused them to crash out of the World Twenty20 in England and one that troubled them during the first two ODIs in the Caribbean.Two of India’s newest batting success stories, Rohit and Raina, have been most susceptible to the rising ball. They were prolific in the subcontinent, on small grounds and flat pitches in New Zealand, and on slower pitches during the IPL at the end of the domestic season in South Africa. On a spicy Lord’s surface against England and West Indies bowlers targetting the body, however, Rohit and Raina had severe problems. They were pinned in their creases, given precious few balls to drive or cut, and eventually done in by deliveries that reared off a length, denying them time and space to play to their strengths.Rohit and Raina were not alone in their struggle – Gautam Gambhir, who favours stepping out of his crease to alter the bowler’s length, and Yusuf were also contained by the shorter line of attack. The malaise did not go away when India left England’s shores either for several batsmen came undone against the rising delivery during the first two one-day internationals in West Indies.The word has inevitably spread and bowlers everywhere will target the bodies of India’s young brigade until each individual is able to make adjustments to overcome the problems caused by short-pitched bowling. There are only two months to go before the Champions Trophy kicks off, and the inclusion of Dravid in preliminary plans is possibly aimed at solidifying a batting order which will be tested on lively pitches at the start of the season in South Africa. He could be back-up – if the likes of Raina and Rohit fail to show sufficient improvement in form and technique.His inclusion is a warning to the young batsmen who took over the slots occupied by the likes of Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman. They took India to dizzy heights, winning the inaugural World Twenty20 and the CB Series in Australia but now their adaptability, which the aforementioned trio possessed in abundance, is being tested. Since Dravid was excluded from India’s one-day plans, four batsmen have played five innings or more at No. 3, a position that belonged to Dravid in his prime. Of those four, only Gambhir has succeeded, averaging 44.35 in that position, while Raina (23), Yuvraj Singh (18) and Rohit (14.50) have been more comfortable lower down the order.Dravid’s inclusion, however, is likely to be a short-term solution, possibly aimed at papering over India’s weaknesses for the Champions Trophy rather than a long-term answer. If he were to be selected, it would mean that possibly four out of India’s squad will be on the wrong side of 30 – Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Zaheer Khan being the other three – marking a compromise by default on the standard of fielding that has lifted India’s performances in recent times.Whatever the reason behind the selection, the Indian selectors must convey their intentions to Dravid. They have to tell him what they expect from him and whether he is merely on stand-by in case India’s current young batsmen continue to unravel on tougher pitches overseas against bowling attacks intent on exploiting their weaknesses. Since his exclusion from the limited-overs side, Dravid has moved on as a player and person, dividing his time between Test cricket, IPL and a young family. His inclusion among the 30 probables was a bolt from the blue, and it is likely that he was as surprised as the rest of us.