Tinashe Panyangara, one of Zimbabwe’s most promising young players, is set to join an English club side this summer.The Zimbabwe Independent reported that Panyangara has agreed to sign for Holton-le-Clay in the Lincolnshire Premier League. He is now waiting for a work permit.Panyangara was non committal. “I might be going, I might not,” he told the newspaper. “My agent should be working on something like that.””This will be a good place for him to start with, and I’m sure he will be a star,” Holton-le-Clay vice-chairman Adrian Portus told the Independent. “That will give him a good ground to progress in his career.”

Greg Chappell and Inzamam-ul-Haq voiced their concerns over the pitch at Lahore which has aleady yielded over 700 runs inside two days. Chappell said that it reminded him of the pitch at Faisalabad in 1980 which Dennis Lillee descibed as a bowlers’ graveyard. Australia made 617 in 211 overs and Pakistan replied with 382 for two as the match was drawn.Chappell who scored 235 in that match said at a news conference, “I still think that was the best batting pitch I played on. But I would say this one is 75 percent close to it. It’s a good flat batting wicket with not a blade of grass seen on it and I don’t think the wicket would change much, but we have to wait and see because there are still 270 overs remaining in the match.”Chappell, however, pointed out that the end result could not be taken for granted. “What I know is that we are under pressure and need to bat well for the next few days to save this Test.”Inzamam-ul-Haq said he feared for a drawn first Test if his bowlers failed to enforce a follow-on on India on the third day. “I know it will be tough for the bowlers because there isn’t much in the wicket. But we need to give our best shot because not every day you post a huge score at an average of over four runs an over. We will come out all guns firing and see what happens. But one thing is for sure; we need to grab even the half chances on this track,” he said.Inzamam indicated that Danish Kaneria could hold the key to extract some turn from the surface. “Danish is a lanky bowler who turns the ball. He has improved tremendously over the years and mixes his deliveries well. But he needs to keep a cool head on his shoulders because there would be times when he would be hit against the turn or good balls would be punished severely.”Inzamam was full of praise for his batsmen, especially Shahid Afridi. He said, “Younis Khan played a gem and it was so sad to see him run-out for 199. But Shahid Afridi is someone who keeps everyone on the edge of their seats when he is batting. After he struck four straight sixes, I thought he had a good chance of hitting two more because Harbhajan (Singh) looked confused by then and had again came over the wicket after being struck for two sixes while bowling round-the-wicket.But Harbhajan is not a bunny and bowled the last two balls intelligently and avoided from going into history as the only bowler to be hit for six sixes.”Chappell added that he had not seen anything else like it. He said, “It’s one of the best hitting I’ve seen. I’ve seen Ian Botham, Clive Lloyd and of course Adam Gilchrist, but Afridi’s innings is up in the top group. No ground is big enough to keep him quiet. Our bowlers tried their best.”

ScorecardWestern Australia edged to a 13-run win against Tasmania despite a fighting 105 by Michael Di Venuto at the Devonport Oval. Shaun Marsh guided WA to a competitive 6 for 236 before their bowlers turned in a fine performance to dismiss Tasmania for 223 in 49 overs.Di Ventuo played a lone hand in the chase and received support only from George Bailey, whose 45 was the other score above 20. He and Di Venuto added 95 runs for the fourth wicket and Tasmania needed a comfortable 52 runs off 63 balls when Bailey fell (4 for 185). WA turned on the pressure and dismissed Rhett Lockyear and Luke Butterworth in quick succession (6 for 190), but it was Di Venuto’s wicket, after he had made a brilliant hundred, that derailed the run chase. Ben Edmondson was the best bowler with 3 for 31 and Peter Worthington chipped in with 3 for 34.After being asked to bat, Justin Langer and Luke Ronchi got WA off to a solid start with an 88-run stand. But it was Marsh who held the innings together after three quick wickets reduced them to 3 for 96. Marsh was unbeaten on 81 – he struck three fours and three sixes – and added 95 runs with Chris Rogers for the fifth wicket to take the score to 236. Ben Hilfenhaus provided some controversy when he was ordered from the attack by the umpires for delivering two head-high full tosses in a row.

A drawn match in Port Elizabeth between Eastern Province and Bolandallowed Western Province to comfortably win Pool B of the competition.Boland started the day on 99 for 4 and extended that to 373 for 6thanks to a career-best 158 from Henry Davids and a maidenfirst-class hundred from Wallace Albertyn. With no time available forEastern Province to chase the 326-run target, the game fizzled into a draw with the home team finishing on 105 for 4 with Umar Abrahams not out on 51.On the final day at Potchefstroom, North West drew with Northerns to end their hopes of reaching the Provincial Challenge final next week. Having taken a first innings lead of 55, the North West’s hopes were dashed as the Gauteng opening pair of William Motaung and Jean Symes both recorded hundreds. Motaung, who had to retire ill on 77 returned to the crease at the fall of the fourth wicket to complete his hundred while Symes scored 133, his maiden first-class century. Totalling 476 in their second innings Gauteng had all but closed the game up and North West had to settle for the draw scoring 33 for 2 when the match was called off.

Viv Richards, the former West Indies captain, has said that England have taken a step backward after wresting the Ashes from Australia last year.”It’s all well and good winning a series at home against the best in the world as they did in the Ashes. But you only become great when the odds are really stacked against you and you come out on top,” Richards told BBC Sport. “As it stands, England have gone backwards quite a bit since the summer.”England lost the Test series 2-0 in Pakistan in December 2005, and go into the final Test against India in Mumbai, trailing 1-0. Richards said that to be a great team England had to win in both Pakistan and India.”I remember India and Pakistan were really hard places to tour – the hardest in the game in fact,” said Richards. “It’s not just that their teams are so hard to beat; the conditions are tough and generally most of the team are ill. When you overcome that – what I like to call beating a bad dog in his backyard – only then do you become real world beaters.”England have to win at Mumbai to draw the series and Richards said that with someone like Andrew Flintoff, whom he compared with Ian Botham, at the helm the tourists can pull it off.”I’ve been watching Freddie on the TV and he sounds really pumped up. It’s a really tough ask to win but I wouldn’t put anything past him,” Richards said. “He’s a really magnificent player and, at times, it’s like a mirror of Ian Botham. I always felt Freddie had really underachieved but now he’s superb in every game. He’s the aggressive player England have missed for so many years.”When he and Kevin Pietersen are at their best at the crease, it kind of reminds me of West Indies when we were at our peak.”

Part one: 1948-19751975-76 West Indies
As at the end of the tour, the Indian team trudged along the tarmac towards their home-bound aeroplane at Kingston’s Norman Manley Airport, they resembled Napoleon’s troops on the retreat from Moscow. They lost a hard-fought series 2-1, but their one win broke records after they scored 406 for 4 at Port-of-Spain, a after which Clive Lloyd vowed never to rely on spinners again. He was as good as his word, and in the series decider at Kingston, India were battered into submission. Injuries and illness meant that the entire squad was on the field at one time or another, and Bishan Bedi infamously declared India’s second innings on 97 for 5 in protest at sustained short-pitched bowling as West Indies wrapped up the series.
Tests: West Indies 2 India 1 Drawn 11978-79 India
It was a young and inexperienced West Indies team who toured India, but to their credit they lost only one of the six Tests and drew the remainder. The majority of their best players had opted to play World Series Cricket for Kerry Packer and co in Australia and the tour said much about the West Indies’ strength in depth and India’s gradual decline from power – despite the emergence of Kapil Dev. Indeed it was Kapil who led India to their series-winning victory in the fourth Test. After Norbert Phillip and Vanburn Holder had reduced India to 84 for 6, it was left to the teenaged Kapil – handicapped by a high fever – to score 26 of the 41 runs coming in at No. 8, as India edged home by three wickets.
Tests: West Indies 0 India 1 Drawn 51982-83 West Indies
After a trying series against Pakistan, India’s long-standing captain Sunil Gavaskar was replaced by their dynamic all-rounder Kapil Dev – but it didn’t make much difference in a series which lacked ferocity. After losing the thrilling first Test, where West Indies reached the required 172 in the last over of the match, India batted resiliently to earn a draw in the second. But the West Indies stormed back in the fourth with a crushing win, thanks to bowler-friendly conditions and a lively pitch. Only Mohinder Amarnath stood out for India’s batsmen, hooking Roberts, Holding and Garner for sixes despite a blow on the mouth which caused his temporary retirement in the second innings. He stood alone, though, and West Indies blew them away by 10 wickets.
Tests: West Indies 2 India 0 Drawn 3
ODIs: West Indies 2 India 11983-84 India
Despite an arduous itinerary the West Indies won the six-Test series three-nil, with little challenge to their authority. For the second consecutive series, Clive Lloyd was West Indies’ main run getter, averaging 82.66 in the Tests; it was a tribute to his character that, despite his 39 years and a nagging back problem, he buckled down to play one long innings after another. And by the end of the series, India had played 29 consecutive Tests without a victory, their longest barren stretch. Malcolm Marshall almost single-handedly (92 runs and eight wickets) won the first Test for the West Indies, after Gordon Greenidge’s brilliant 194. And despite Kapil Dev’s 9 for 83 in the third Test, Michael Holding demolished the Indians with a vicious and match-winning spell of bowling to take the visitors 2-0 up in the series. India initially faired better in the fifth Test as the West Indies stumbled to 88 for 5 before Lloyd hit a magnificent unbeaten 161 and Marshall (6 for 37) yet again routed India for 90 to hand the West Indies a compelling series victory.
Tests: West Indies 3 India 0 Drawn 3
ODIs: West Indies 5 India 01987-88 India
“The Test matches, regrettably, were received as enthusiastically as sandwiches filled with the leftovers of the Christmas turkey,” so wrote Wisden in the account of this tour, such was the disastrous planning by the Indian board. After a thrilling first Test at Delhi, in which Viv Richards clobbered a run-a-ball hundred, the second at Nagpur was bizarrely cancelled at the 11th hour, in order to fit in two further ODIs in addition to the five already scheduled, and moved it to Mumbai. After draws in the second and third Tests, India stormed back in the fourth thanks to Narendra Hirwani, making an astonishing debut, who took eight wickets in both innings to match Bob Massie’s feat of taking sixteen wickets on his début, against England at Lord’s in 1972. Hirwani, a bespectacled 19-year-old, was indebted to the wicketkeeper Kiran More who stumped six batsmen in the match, five of them in the second innings, to lead India to a crushing 255-run win to level the series.
Tests: West Indies 1 India 1 Drawn 2
ODIs: West Indies 6 India 11988-89 West Indies
Even without playing to their full potential, West Indies were vastly superior to India in both the Test matches and the one-day internationals. After the first Test was washed out, the West Indies asserted their authority in the second, aided by poor Indian fielding. Ian Bishop bowled with admirable accuracy given his inexperience and, though the West Indies only gained a 56-run first-innings lead, Marshall blew India away in the second innings with 5 for 60. The most disappointing aspect of the series was India’s inability to take advantage of a turning pitch in the third Test, at Port-of-Spain. Their failure and their rout underlined the decline of the art of spin bowling in a country where it abounded only a few years earlier. Of the three Indian spinners, Arshad Ayub was the most successful. On what was a spinner’s pitch, Marshall again frightened India with 11 wickets in the match. It was Bishop and Courtney Walsh to the fore in the fourth and final Test at Jamaica, with Walsh following up first innings 6 for 62 with another four in the second. Walsh had another role to play earlier when Viv Richards, chuntering and fuming at his dismissal, provoked the partisan crowd into throwing bottles at the accused wicketkeeper More. It was left to Walsh and, later, Richards to plead for peace.
Tests: West Indies 3 India 0 Drawn 1
ODIs: West Indies 5 India 01994-95 India
An outbreak of pneumonic plague in the western state of Gujarat raised doubts about whether this tour would take place at all. Eventually, the West Indians arrived a week late – and they left the preservation of their reputation very late too. Having gone one down in the First Test at Bombay and drawn at Nagpur, they waited until the last day of the tour to hit back and level the series. West Indies had not lost a Test series since their 1-0 defeat in New Zealand in March 1980; the turnaround at Mohali near Chandigarh, was a great escape for Courtney Walsh and his party on a tour when little went right. Without Richie Richardson (exhaustion) and Curtly Ambrose (shoulder), they lacked menace. India swept to a their tenth successive home Test victory at Bombay, when Javagal Srinath (4 for 48) helped dismiss the tourists 96 runs short. It was a match which swing both ways for four days, and only when Prabhakar dismissed Phil Simmons and Brian Lara in the first over did India finally scent victory. Carl Hooper and Jimmy Adams’ brave rescue act in the second Test appeared to give the West Indies confidence and, on the final day in the third Test, they hit back to level the series and remain unbeaten since March 1980. A blistering 91 from Brian Lara set India 358 to win, but Kenny Benjamin blew them away for 114 with five wickets.
Tests: West Indies 1 India 1 Drawn 1
ODIs: India 4 West Indies 11996-97 West Indies
Both teams had just lost their preceding series – West Indies in Australia, India in South Africa – so both had plenty to play for on India’s first tour of the Caribbean for eight years. In the event, they were thoroughly frustrated by the weather. The first Test was spoiled by rain on the last day and the final two Tests were so reduced that not even two innings could be completed. The two outstanding players in both teams – Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara – failed to live up to their star statuses. Both produced measured performances – Tendulkar hit 92 at Barbados and Lara a patient 103 – but more was expected of them. The pitches were lifeless and dull until both captains pleaded for one with a bit of spice – and got more than they bargained for at Barbados. Set just 120 to win, India capitulated for 81 with Ian Bishop, Curtly Ambrose and Franklyn Rose providing to give the West Indies a rather hollow series-victory.
Tests: West Indies 1 India 0 Drawn 4
ODIs: West Indies 3 India 12001-02 West Indies
India had realistic expectations that their eighth tour of the Caribbean would allow them to break their wretched overseas record. They possessed a well-balanced team: Sachin Tendulkar remained the premier batsman of the day, supported by Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman. Although they took a lead with a hard-fought victory in the second Test, they didn’t take into account either their own antipathy towards the faster, bouncier pitches they would encounter in Barbados and Jamaica, or West Indies’ lingering resilience at home. The home side’s limited bowling attack demolished India in the third at Barbados to level the series, and after a draw in the fourth the West Indies batsmen gained a 212-run first-innings lead in the fifth Test to set-up a comprehensive 155-run win, and a 2-1 series victory. Again, though, the two star batsmen – Tendulkar and Lara – failed to shine. Tendulkar’s 117 in the second Test was more grafting than domineering; his 79 in the first and 86 in the last were more authentic. In between, he had three ducks (fourth, second and first balls) and an eight. Lara, hindered by immobility in his elbow, never gave a glimpse of the breathtaking form he had displayed in Sri Lanka.
Tests: West Indies 2 India 1 Drawn 2
ODIs: India 2 West Indies 1
2002-03 India
The West Indies decline in the 1990s accelerated into an alarming freefall and they were fortunate to only lose the series 2-0. They remained stuck in a vicious circle; they were diffident and lacklustre on the field; their batsmen threw away starts and their bowlers never believed they could get wickets. Following-on in the first Test at Mumbai, they capitulated to Harbhajan Singh (7 for 48) after Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid both hit blistering hundreds. Singh was at it again in the second at Chennai, taking 5 for 30 to reduce West Indies to a paltry 167. They never recovered; despite a gutsy 78 from Ramnaresh Sarwan in their second innings, they fell to a convincing eight-wicket defeat. However, the two massive losses sparked something in Carl Hooper’s men who, in the third Test at Kolkata, were a team rejuvenated. As Wisden noted, “the batsmen applied themselves, the bowlers bent their backs, the fielders threw themselves around, and actually believed it mattered.” Three batsmen made hundreds, leading the visitors to 497 – their highest score of the series by some margin. Though India soon matched it in their second innings, and in doing so closing the game out, it at least demonstrated the West Indies had the talent, if not the sustained determination, to compete on the subcontinent.
Tests: India 2 West Indies 0 Drawn 1
ODIs: West Indies 4 India 32006 West Indies
India, sans Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Zaheer Khan, came agonisingly close to victory in the first Test in Antigua, before West Indies’ last-wicket pair played out 25 balls to escape with a draw. The second Test played out in similar fashion, but India fell three wickets short. Roles were reversed in St Kitts where the hosts refused to enforce the follow-on, but couldn’t trouble India’s strong line-up in the second innings. It all set up the tone for a classic final Test in Kingston, which swayed one way and the other before India wrenched victory. Rahul Dravid, at the peak of his powers, played out of his skin on a track as treacherous as any seen in the 2000s. “Without his two masterful efforts the result would probably have been reversed,” Wisden reported later. “If his 81 on the first day was executed with a shield – he dodged the dangerous deliveries and kept out the straight ones – his second-innings 68 was played with a sword.” India rode on the captain’s masterclasses, and some inspired bowling from Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble, to seal their first series win in the Caribbean in 35 years. It was more than little solace for a side that had slumped to a 4-1 drubbing in the ODIs that preceded the real thing.
Tests: India 1 West Indies 0 Drawn 3
ODIs: West Indies 4 India 12006-07 in India
This one-day international tour was hastily organised after India called off their tour of New Zealand to gear up for the World Cup. It was quaint planning for West Indies to charge off to the other side of the world just as the Caribbean stadiums were being readied for action. Still smarting from a 4-0 thrashing in South Africa, India found their feet in front of the packed stadiums back home. However, there was no real pattern to the series. With the games spread across four zones, the pitches were strikingly different. The teams went from a run-glut at sunny Nagpur to slow torture at muggy Cuttack. The last two surfaces were pancake-flat, but both games featured collapses brought on by reckless batting. Throughout the series old hands came to the fore: Sourav Ganguly returned, Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar produced a stunner apiece, while Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Rahul Dravid chugged along. Unfortunately, the series was remembered for all the wrong reasons due to the match-fixing allegations against Marlon Samuels. The Jamaican was later banned for two years.ODIs India 3 West Indies 12009 in West Indies
Both teams entered the four-match ODI series after contrasting campaigns in the World Twenty20 in England. India, fatigued by the IPL, stumbled out of the Super Eights while West Indies did well to reach the semi-finals. India were without Sachin Tendulkar and Zaheer Khan for the West Indies tour and it gave opportunities to test their bench strength. India prevailed in a high-scoring thriller in the first match in Jamaica, which produced 658 runs. West Indies hit back strongly in the second game, keeping India to 188. It was a bizarre looking scorecard, with MS Dhoni scoring 95 in an otherwise sorry performance. Runako Morton sparkled with an unbeaten 85. The third game was another low-scorer, but rain interruptions and Duckworth-Lewis took the game to a last-over finish. India needed 11 as MS Dhoni held his nerve and took his team through to a series lead, which turned into a series win after the final game was washed out.ODIs India 2 West Indies 1 No Result 12011 in West Indies
The timing of the tour didn’t allow India time to recuperate after an exhausting World Cup, followed by a stretched IPL. Seniors like Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag opted out so the team that landed in the West Indies included a few fresh faces. West Indies were without Chris Gayle from the start due to his dispute with the board. Nevertheless, India still looked formidable with Test specialists VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid. Sabina Park witnessed yet another masterclass from Dravid on a difficult pitch as India took a 1-0 lead. Rain halted India’s charge in Barbados. India made a bold declaration to bring the Test to life, and Darren Bravo sucked the life right out of it with an innings of application and resolve. India set West Indies 281 to get in 83 overs, Ishant Sharma helped them take early wickets, but Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Carlton Baugh thwarted India for 322 deliveries between them. Oddly, India stopped short of making it a 2-0 finish in the third Test in Dominica. India needed 86 off 90 balls but controversially called it off. Their coach Duncan Fletcher defended the move saying batting was getting more difficult on the fifth day pitch. West Indies discovered a solid middle-order batsman in Kirk Edwards, who made a century on debut in Dominica. India took a 3-0 lead in the one-day series that preceded the Tests, but took their foot off the pedal in the final two games.
Tests: India 1 West Indies 0 Drawn 1
ODIs: India 3 West Indies 2
T20: India 1 West Indies 0

Zimbabweans 304 for 4 (Rinke 104, Taylor 80) beat Antigua & Barbuda 253 (Joseph 46, Mupariwa 3-30, Dabengwa 3-49) by 51 runs
ScorecardA hundred from Piet Rinke, who also top-scored in the tour opener, and a breezy 80 from Brendan Taylor guided the Zimbabweans to a morale-boosting 51-run win in their second warm-up against Antigua and Barbuda at Antigua’s Jolly Beach ground.Rinke, whose no-holds-barred approach made a mark in the recent series against Kenya, attacked from the off on his way to 104, and was third man out when the score was 191. If the hosts hoped that his departure would stem the flow, they found that Taylor, the side’s most experienced batsman, took up the cudgels.Faced with a daunting target, Antigua and Barbuda were given a good start by Ralton Philip and Sylvester Joseph, but both fell within two overs and thereafter the innings never regained sufficient momentum to seriously worry the Zimbabweans.Keith Dabengwa and Tawanda Mupariwa shared six wickets, and the only real concern was the poor form of strike bowler Edward Rainsford, whose four overs were hammered for 33.

The D’Artagnan of world cricket is the apt phrase employed by former New Zealand captain Walter Hadlee to describe the renowned English batsman Denis Compton, whose life’s innings has ended at 78.Hadlee first crossed swords of willow with Compton 60 years ago, and the association was resumed on New Zealand’s memorable 1949 tour and twice on English team visits here. “It was almost impossible to set a field for Denis Compton,” said Hadlee. “I found I could set tight fields for Hutton, Washbrook, and Edrich, but Denis confounded us because he was so innovative. He would shape up towards cover, and then sweep the ball to fine leg. He was a delight to be on the field with, and we were always sorry to get him out.”Compton was the first of the post-war sports stars, and his brilliant batting for Middlesex and England did much to restore public spirits ravaged by the global conflict. In his golden summer, 1947, he made 3800 runs, including 18 centuries, and shared many big partnerships with Bill Edrich. “The wonder of it is that he scored all those runs with just one bat,” said Hadlee. “I have seen that bat, and there were no marks down the edges – just criss-cross marks across the face.”For all his fluency of stroke, Compton had one flaw as a batsman – he was a poor runner between the wickets. In fact, when he called for a run it was usually the basis for negotiation,according to a county colleague. “He might well have been the originator of the ‘yes-no-come-wait-sorry’ call,” chuckled Hadlee. There is a story that Denis ran out his brother Leslie in the latter’s benefit match.Compton was also inclined to be forgetful. In 1949 he arrived at the Oval for the fourth Test and discovered he was minus his cricket boots. So he fielded in sandshoes. Experienced Canterbury left-arm spinner Tom Burtt claimed Compton’s wicket five times, but, as Hadlee recalled, “after he got 100 anyone could get him.”He was England’s youngest cap when he was chosen for his Test debut, against New Zealand, in the third 1937 match at the Oval. Although only 19, he batted with assurance and was unlucky to be dismissed on 65.”Joe Hardstaff, batting at the other end, drove a ball which glanced off Giff Vivian’s fingers and on to the stumps,” said Hadlee. “Compton, backing up, was caught out of his crease.”The exceptional Englishman scored centuries in both the first and second Tests against New Zealand in 1949, plus a scintillating 148 for Middlesex against the tourists. Twice he played Tests on Lancaster Park, one in 1947 and the other in 1951, when he scored 79, and added to his reputation for affability by cheerfully signing autographs when fielding on the boundary.In the field he was fast, with a good throw, although bad knees slowed him down later. He had a sharp eye in the slips, but could field well anywhere.A more than useful left-arm bowler, he often broke a difficult partnership with a Chinaman or a wrong’un.Walter Hadlee remembers Compton as a man forthright in his views, but nonchalant and easy-going of demeanour. “He was a very special man,” he said.

Ashwell Prince, recently appointed South African captain in place of the injured Graeme Smith, understands that his first assignment is not short of challenges. With Smith, Jacques Kallis and Shaun Pollock missing in action, Prince has singled out July 27, the first day of the Colombo Test against Sri Lanka, as a day of reckoning.An excited Prince, 29, said he was honoured to be named the first coloured captain of South Africa. “I am inexperienced when it comes to captaincy, but obviously I’m delighted that I’ve been given the chance,” Prince told SuperSport.com. “I’m sure the United Cricket Board could have looked at other candidates. Those candidates have a lot of experience, and I will have the opportunity to draw from their experience.”With just 21 Tests under his belt, Prince’s first-class captaincy career is limited: at the helm for eight SuperSport Series matches for former Western Province Boland over two seasons ago, he won three, drew one and lost four. In addition, he captained South Africa A to a seven-wicket win.The last time South Africa toured Sri Lanka, in 2004, they lost both the Test and one-day series. The troika of Smith (ankle), Kallis (elbow) and Pollock (paternal leave) has left a 251-Test experience gap, but Prince put faith in his side.”Missing three premier players will have a huge effect on our team, but we have a good young side,” he said. “We have a good pace attack with Makhaya Ntini, Dale Steyn and André Nel, and Nicky Bojé will play a role in conditions favourable for him. I wouldn’t like to put too much pressure on one bowler to take lots of wickets. There is a nice balance in the attack, and we must spread the load… to get 20 wickets.”Prince was quick to recognise a rejuvenated Sri Lanka, who finished a successful tour of England earlier this month. “Sri Lanka are playing very good cricket, having beaten England 5-0 in the one-dayers after doing well to come back from 1-0 down to draw theTest series,” he said. “On home ground they will be much more formidable, so it’s going to be a tough tour. The most important thing is to get the best out of the guys, and to get them to perform in those conditions.”

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

In the days following Pakistan’s defeat at Headingley, Bob Woolmer has been consoling himself with the fact things are not be as bad as they seem for his team. On the first day at The Oval he was given a glimpse of what might have been as Mohammad Asif, returning to the side after recovering from his elbow injury, helped skittle England for 173. Asif and Umar Gul finished with four wickets apiece before Imran Farhat cemented the advantage with a shot-filled half-century.Asif’s last Test match was in April against Sri Lanka, at Kandy, and he ended with figures of 11 for 71. Since then he’s been sorely missed by a team also shorn of Shoaib Akhtar and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan but spent the early part of this summer showing his potential with Leicestershire. It was a gamble by the Pakistan management to select him for this match – he only arrived back in England three days ago – but that makes his figures of 4 for 56 in 19 overs even more commendable.The pre-lunch action was limited to just eight overs as heavy showers scudded across the ground, but Asif had already slotted into the ideal line and length for the muggy conditions, after Inzamam-ul-Haq’s brave call to bowl first. The first breakthrough went to Gul, as an out-of-sorts Marcus Trescothick slashed to gully, but it was Asif that opened up the match for Pakistan.His wickets came from perfect swing and seam bowling at a lively pace. Andrew Strauss, after again producing some fluent shots, was pushed back before reaching out for a pitched-up delivery. However, Asif outdid himself with the next ball as he produced a full, swinging beauty that kissed the edge of Kevin Pietersen’s bat as it moved late in the air. A little under 12 months ago Pietersen secured the Ashes with 158 at this ground; his stay couldn’t have been any shorter this time around.England’s man for a crisis in recent times has been Paul Collingwood, but Asif soon added him to the wicket column with a delivery that nipped back and would have taken middle. Asif was making the ball move at will, but also knew how to utilise the conditions to his advantage and made clever use of the short ball.For the first time in the series England’s batting had its back to the wall and Inzamam took the chance to give Danish Kaneria a bowl. As if to epitomise the turnaround he struck with his fourth ball after having to wait an eternity in the previous three Tests. Ian Bell propped forward and got an inside-edge onto his pad and out to silly point as England stumbled to 91 for 5.Chris Read played two fine innings at Headingley but the situations were not quite as tricky as the one facing him this time. His task became no easier when he lost Alastair Cook, who had played with a calm assurance as all around him fell, when he was trapped by a yorker from Shahid Nazir. Billy Doctrove eventually raised his finger as he started to wander away from the stumps.

The innings was given a brief revival through its best stand with Read and Sajid Mahmood adding 46. Kamran Akmal missed a chance to stump Mahmood before he had scored but the rally was unlikely to last long with the ball now reversing, a potent threat against the tail.After Asif’s work against the top-order it was Gul – deservedly so – who wrapped up the tail in a manner that revived memories of Pakistan’s last visit to The Oval, in 1996, when Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis produced a fine display of reverse swing. Gul has been the stand-out performer in Pakistan’s struggling attack and here benefited from having a reliable partner at the other end. He ended the innings in two balls by bowling Read – who’d faced just five balls out of 31 – then yorking Monty Panesar first ball.England’s bowlers didn’t heed the lessons of watching the Pakistanis and fed Hafeez and Imran Farhat – the fourth opening combination of the series – a series of loose deliveries. Still, though, Pakistan’s opening jinx struck when Hafeez was forced to retire hurt with a leg injury as the pair were on the verge of a rare fifty stand.Mahmood handed England a fillip before the close when Younis Khan was caught down the leg-side but Farhat moved to an aggressive fifty off 63 balls. However, Mohammad Yousuf was spilled twice when Read and Trescothick couldn’t decide between them who should take an edge off Hoggard, on 5, then Cook missed a low effort in the gully four runs later from the same bowler. For a day, at least, it was hard to believe which team holds the 2-0 advantage.

How they were out

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