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It’s been three years since England won a one-day series at home but the current batch, eager to put a seal on the trophy tomorrow, appear to be headed in just the right direction. It was against India that England last triumphed in a home one-day rubber, back in September 2004, but this unit seems genuinely capable of a one-day renaissance. It’s early days yet but the signs shouldn’t go unnoticed.Paul Collingwood is leading a young side that’s winning. Every member of this squad is likely to last till the next World Cup, something that doesn’t hold true with other international sides. Collingwood is the only member of the side who is above 30, yet he’s arguably the fittest of the lot.The youngest two members carried them to victory at Old Trafford. A few months back they couldn’t win a game, now they seem to possess all the riches. As if winning the series wasn’t good enough, England want to win the rest of the games. They’re talking of playing their best cricket from now on and have mentioned the word “ruthless” too often for comfort. Collingwood is talking of “miles to go”. Such greed.”To win three games so far is a good achievement but we’ve done nothing yet,” said Collingwood. “We’ve got one more game to win but we want to win the last three. I’ve said from the start as long as we are moving forward as a team I’m happy. But you always want to win. It would mean a lot for the confidence of the team, going forward into the Twenty20 [World Championship] and on to Sri Lanka.”Both teams are sweating over injury concerns to fast bowlers – Andrew Flintoff and Zaheer Khan are doubtful starters – who could be crucial in conditions which are likely to favour them. The weather is mostly chilly, with a stiff breeze blowing across the ground, and given the 10.15 am start, the early overcast conditions could play a part in the compositions of the side and the decision at the toss. If Dravid wins this one too, like he is done in his previous seven, there could be some serious investigation. He’s losing games but defying probability.India must be feeling like a football side that’s two goals down with a man sent off. Zaheer is unlikely to play, while his replacement, Munaf Patel, hasn’t hit full fitness. The law of averages suggests Ajit Agarkar will have a bad game – he’s had a good game just two days ago, remember – and RP Singh is on the wane. Dravid spoke about having their backs to the wall. It’s actually more like guns to their foreheads.A picture in the Headingley Long Room captures three of Yorkshire’s greatest batsman. There’s Herbert Sutcliffe, smiling eagerly from a wheelchair, flanked by Len Hutton and Geoffrey Boycott, kneeling on either side. They traverse three generations. Sutcliffe was born in 1894, Hutton in 1916 and Boycott in 1940. Between them they total 57 Test hundreds and 19,640 Test runs. Their feats at the first-class level were simply colossal.There’s another batsman, who also turned out for Yorkshire, whose feats surpass those of the trio. Sachin Tendulkar, who was Yorkshire’s first overseas pro back in 1992, returns to his English home. Four fifties in the last seven games point to his current form but it’s here and now, with India needing to win, that he’d want to stamp his authority.His opening partner, Sourav Ganguly was unwell and missed the practice session but is expected to walk out for his 300th one-dayer tomorrow. The two, the most prolific pair in one-day history, have 50 fifty-plus stands between them and a solid start, especially in demanding conditions, will be essential to get India away.Once they drew level at Bristol, India spoke about a five-match series. Now they can look forward to a three-match contest and if they end up losing the next two there’s always a one-off slug-out waiting for them at Lord’s.England (likely) 1 Matt Prior (wk), 2 Alastair Cook, 3 Ian Bell, 4 Kevin Pietersen, 5 Paul Collingwood (capt), 6 Owais Shah, 7 Ravi Bopara, 8 Stuart Broad, 9 Chris Tremlett, 10 Monty Panesar, 11 James Anderson.India (likely) 1 Sachin Tendulkar, 2 Sourav Ganguly, 3 Rahul Dravid (capt), 4 Yuvraj Singh, 5 Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), 6 Dinesh Karthik, 7 Ajit Agarkar, 8 Piyush Chawla, 9 Ramesh Powar, 10 RP Singh, 11 Munaf Patel.

Australian Academy 240 for 3 (Bailey 136) beat Zimbabwe Board XI 236 for 9 (Sibanda 92, Chibhabha 59, Sullivan 5-46) by seven wicketsThe Australian Academy completed their tour of Zimbabwe with another resounding win in the third one-dayer at Harare Sports Club, defeating a Zimbabwe Board XI by seven wickets with almost 25 overs to spare.Zimbabwe batted soundly and their innings was built on a 98-ball 92 from Vusi Sibanda while Chamu Chibhabha chipped in with a breezy 59. Right arm fast bowler Grant Sullivan led the attack with 5 for 46 in 10 overs. However, with the Australians’ batting in such devastating form, this was never likely to be enough.Even allowing for that, George Bailey’s onslaught was remarkable – he bludgeoned 136 off 65 balls to make a mockery of the target of 237. In all, he hammered ten sixes and 14 fours out of 160 runs made while he was at the wicket. The first two batsmen fell cheaply – making 1 and 8 – but the score was nevertheless 88 when the second wicket fell. Ed Rainsford bore the brunt of Bailey’s hitting, taking 1 for 67 off nine overs.Adam Voges and Callum Ferguson put on a more sedate and unbeaten fourth-wicket stand of 80 in ten overs to steer the Academy to victory with almost half their allocation of overs in hand.The Academy won all six matches in Kenya and Zimbabwe, and were never pushed in any of them. It underlined the gulf between the two countries and what amounted to a young Australia side.

Ricky Ponting may be happy with Australia’s performance but the side’s success means more selection difficulties for the New Zealand series.Darren Lehmann’s torn hamstring spared a tough call in Mumbai and he is again fighting for a place with Michael Clarke, who averaged 57 in his first series, and Simon Katich for the first Test, starting at Brisbane next Thursday.”I know Darren Lehmann still has a lot of good Test cricket left in him but when someone like Michael performs as well as he did on the last tour he looks to be the future of Australian cricket,” Ponting told reporters. “It’s going to be very hard for the selectors.”Ponting, who missed the first three Tests with a broken thumb, said he hoped Australia would play another series in India before 2010, when the next one is scheduled. “The most disappointing thing for me when I got injured at the start of this tour was that I had a very poor time last time. I’m sure that I have some very unfinished business in India.”He added that he was confident that Shane Warne would be fit to face New Zealand. “It seems he’s pretty likely to come up for the Brisbane Test. He believed that in 10 to 14 days, he should be right.”And after calling for an ICC inquiry into the state of the pitch for the fourth Test at Mumbai, Ponting was still critical of the wicket. “To have the whole series ruined by a very poor surface in the last Test was very disappointing for all the players and spectators.”

Though a number of changes are likely to take place in the Pakistan domestic structure, the board will not do away with the inter-departmental tournaments, which will remain an integral part of the format. Talking to The News, Shaharyar Khan, the chairman of the Pakistan board, said that televising domestic matches and formulating a new code of conduct, which would require players to play a minimum number of matches to qualify for selection to the national team, were also likely.Shaharyar also stressed the role of the departments and banks. “In the new format,” Shaharyar said, “we will allow the top eight departments and banks to compete in a first-class tournament and a one-day competition while there will be no limit on number of departments, organisations and banks in the grade two competition which would be held on a promotion and relegation basis.”Shaharyar said that the new domestic format would be announced later this week and that it would be in place on an experimental basis for the next three years. “We have now got to the final stages of finalising the domestic structure and in this regard I would be holding a meeting with former players on Tuesday and then we will have a meeting with the Advisory Council members on Wednesday.”There was also a chance, according to Shaharyar, that the board might consider increasing the number of regional teams in the premier first-class competition. He also confirmed that there would be a final in the regional tournament from next year.About the introduction of the Twenty20 Cup, Shaharyar said that it would be held in the festive season of Ramzan and was being introduced to serve as entertainment for the younger generation and the families. He added, “We are not going to treat Twenty 20 Cup as a barometer for judging any player but we will try to ensure the best players take part in this competition.”

Bangladesh cricket got a welcome boost with the news that the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has been handed a new stadium in the capital Dhaka.Until now the BCB has had to share the almost decrepit Bangabandhu National Stadium with a number of other sports organisations, and pitches had to be laid before major games. This not only proved extremely expensive, but also meant that players were unable to practise before matches.The BCB have been given the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium, and the grant of US$500,000 which it was given by the International Cricket Council will be used to make the stadium the most modern in the country.The Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium was built in the 1980s and, until now, has been used mostly used to stage athletics and football. Athletics meetings will now switch to the Bangabandhu National Stadium, while football will also get its own new venue at Kamalapur.

Warriors skipper Adam Gilchrist led his side to victory in its opening one-day cricket match against South Australia with a man-of-the-match performance at the WACA today.The Warriors claimed a bonus point when they dismissed the Redbacks for 213 in reply to their 5-269.Gilchrist smashed 84 runs off 67 balls to set WA on the way to victory.But he was challenged for best-on-field honours by rejuvenated Warriors paceman Brad Williams (4-44), who claimed the vital wicket of Redbacks vice captainGreg Blewett for 80 in his best ever one-day haul.South Australia’s efforts mirrored that of their hosts with a brilliant opening knock and a standout pace performance.The Warriors looked set for a score well in excess of 300 after Gilchrist and Damien Martyn (34) opened the innings in blazing fashion before left arm pacemanMark Harrity (3-51) struck.Gilchrist had promoted Australian teammate Martyn in a bid to quell the destructive influence of Test teammate and South Australian speedster Jason Gillespie.The plan worked as the pair saw Gillespie off and in the process compiled 107 runs off 19 overs.The Redbacks’ hopes of containing the Test pair looked lost after paceman Brett Swain left the field in the 19th over with a fractured left collarbone.SA was already missing pace mainstay Paul Wilson, who succumbed to a knee injury last week and Gillespie was not troubling the WA top order.The Redbacks needed a hero and Harrity answered, claiming Martyn two balls after his teammate had been escorted off the ground.The usually flamboyant strokemaker was willing to play the anchor role to Gilchrist’s raging bull and made just 34 when he presented a simple edge to Redbacks keeper Graham Manou.At the other end, Gilchrist was in a venomous mood, plundering 84 runs from 67 balls before becoming Harrity’s second victim when he skied an attempted drive to Jeff Vaughan at extra cover.The Redbacks made a solid start to the run chase, reaching 147 before Williams had Blewett brilliantly caught at backward square leg by Mike Hussey.With captain Darren Lehmann back in the pavilion for 1 thanks to an excellent catch by Hussey off all-rounder Darren Wates (1-45), the Redbacks were alwaysgoing to struggle.A brave resistance by all-rounder Brad Young (44) was not enough and the Redbacks fell two runs short of denying WA the bonus point.Leg spinning all-rounder Brad Hogg cleaned up the tail, claiming 3-10 of 3.2 overs.Lehmann said the loss of Swain, coupled with the absence of Wilson and the imminent departure to international duty of Gillespie, would severely test the Redbacks’ bowling stocks.”They’re a little bit slim,” he said.”But if you look on the bright side it gives the young blokes a chance and they’ve got to step up and get a taste of first class cricket and hopefully play well.”Gilchrist admitted to being pleasantly surprised at his form considering he’d barely picked up a bat since returning from the Ashes tour.”It was surprisingly good, obviously if you get a couple away early it helps,” he said.”I was a little bit fortunate, I probably nicked a couple of Dizzy (Gillespie deliveries) that could have gone to hand but went to the boundary.”You’ve got to cash in on a day like that.”

Scorecard

Pakistan Under-19 seized the advantage by reducing England Under-19 to 290 for 9 on the opening day of the second Test at the County Ground in Derby. Middlesex batsman Billy Godleman stood firm at one end and scored 115 but Pakistan’s bowlers pegged away at the other, taking seven wickets for 118 runs after England were 172 for 2 at one stage.Rory Hamilton-Brown’s decision to bat initially paid off as England’s openers, Godleman and Alex Wakely, added 95 for the first wicket. Rawalpindi fast-bowler Mohammad Aamer gave Pakistan the first breakthrough when he bowled Wakely for 43 and Mohammad Rameez soon had Adam Lyth caught behind with England on 107 for 2.Ben Wright and Godleman added 65 for the third wicket but Pakistan made inroads by dismissing Wright while Imad Wasim picked up the wickets of Hamilton-Brown and Ben Brown in quick succession to reduce England to 190 for 5. Rameez ended Godleman’s 249-ball innings which included 12 boundaries to put Pakistan on top.Wasim ended the day with 3 for 43, while Rameez and Azhar Attari took 2 for 81 and 2 for 44 respectively, to finish a satisfactory day for Pakistan after they had been routed by an innings and 58 runs in the first Test.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

A massive six off the penultimate ball of the match by Narsingh Deonarine earned Guyana the inaugural Stanford 20/20 title, as they beat Trinidad and Tobago by five wickets in St John’s on Sunday. Chasing a target of 176, Guyana went into the last over requiring 14, but Ramnaresh Sarwan and Deonarine clubbed two sixes off Samuel Badree to seal a thrilling five-wicket win.Sarwan remained unbeaten on 49, but the platform for the successful run-chase was laid by Travis Dowlin, the opener, who slammed 80 off 60 balls, with 11 fours and a six. His partnership of 110 in 14 overs with Sarwan put Guyana on course after they had lost two wickets with only 23 on the board. Dowlin eventually retired hurt with back spasms, but Sarwan then took over, and though Guyana lost three quick wickets towards the end, they had just enough firepower to take them past the finishing line.T&T’s innings was earlier propped up by Daren Ganga’s 34-ball 47 and a late blitz by Denesh Ramdin, the wicketkeeper, who blasted an unbeaten 38 off just 14 balls. William Berkins and Mario Belcon got them off to a good start, adding 44 for the first wicket in less than six overs, before Ganga took charge. Ricardo Powell fell cheaply, and after 16 overs T&T only had 110 on the board. Ramdin then walked in and provided the impetus, adding 61 with Ganga, who was dismissed off the penultimate ball of the innings.The target seemed a daunting one, but despite a few wobbles, Guyana ultimately sealed the win to take home the US$1million prize money.

Brett Lee has given Australia a fresh fitness worry ahead of the third Test on Thursday, following his admission into a Birmingham hospital late on Monday afternoon after experiencing swelling and discomfort in his left knee.Australia’s physiotherapist, Errol Alcott, told reporters at the team hotel that doctorswere confident Lee would respond to treatment for the infection, but he remained in hospital overnight, and that he would not travel with the team to Manchester this afternoon. Lee is presently on an intravenous drip and Alcott described his condition as “comfortable”, adding that the injury to Lee’s left knee may have been related to a cut he sustained while fielding during last month’s first Test at Lord’s.Asked about Lee’s chances of playing in the third Test, Alcott added: “He’s 50-50but that’s what I always say.” The injury first came to light before Lee batted on Sunday when he complained of soreness. He went onto score an unbeaten 43 that almost guided Australia to a stunning victory in the second Test at Edgbaston, a match England won by two runs to level the series at 1-1.Australia, the winners of the last eight Ashes series, are already facing up to the absence of their fast-bowling spearhead, Glenn McGrath, who sustained an ankle injury in the warm-up before the start of play last Thursday. “Glenn is proceeding as well as expected,” added Alcott. “He had a scan today and that showed extensive ligament damage, but we knew that anyway.”If Lee was to be ruled out, it would be a huge blow to Ricky Ponting’s team, who do have the uncapped paceman, Shaun Tait, in their squad as cover. Prior to Lee’s injury, Australia selectors were already discussing the possibility of calling up the allrounder, Shane Watson, who is playing for Hampshire.

Duncan Fletcher, England’s coach, has called for calm after England’s embarrassing drubbings in the last two NatWest Series matches. Despite a couple of woeful batting displays in which England have been bowled out for 147 and 101, Fletcher has urged the selectors not to make any changes to the team.”I’d like to see the side stay the same.” Fletcher said. “We’ve been through this with the Test side and it’s because they’ve stayed together and know their roles that they are functioning so well.”Even though there have been calls for specialist players to play in the side, rather than allrounders like Ian Blackwell and Anthony McGrath, who Bob Willis yesterday described as “average county players”, Fletcher is adamant he is taking England on the right path. “We have to find allrounders,” he stressed. “People talk about bits and pieces players, but all these allrounders in Australia and South Africa started out as bits and pieces players and they are now quality allrounders and that’s what often happens.”He continued, “You very rarely find a genuine allrounder straightaway. I’m sure at one stage Andrew Flintoff could have been looked at as a bits-and-pieces player and now he’s a quality allrounder – as you get experience that’s what happens.”Since the 2003 World Cup, eight players have made their one-day debuts. Rikki Clarke, Anthony McGrath, Jim Troughton, Richard Johnson, Rob Key, Kabir Ali, Andrew Strauss, and Geraint Jones have all been given a go, and Fletcher now wants to introduce some stability. “The reason for the low scores is that the side hasn’t stayed the same,” he said. “All the time we’ve had new guys coming in and they’ve not settled in the roles they are made to play.”Regarding England’s performances so far, Fletcher couldn’t hide from the poor batting, and stressed the importance of getting a good start. “Even if you’ve got an experienced middle order, it’s always important in one-day cricket that you have a good platform,” added Fletcher. “The openers or the top three have got to go out there and give us a good start.”England’s next match is tomorrow in a day-night match at Headingley against West Indies, who are still riding high from their seven-wicket win against England at Trent Bridge, and can effectively put England out of their own tournament if they win tomorrow.”I am quite happy with the start, but if you look at the table New Zealand are ahead so we need to win tomorrow to make sure we go back to the top,” Brian Lara, West Indies’ captain, said. “This game is still in the early stages of the tournament and we will be looking at it as a must-win situation for us and leave it at that.”He added: “Even then if England were to win their remaining matches after tomorrow there would be a slim chance they could still get in. But that is not our worry, our worry is that we win early up so we make sure we are in the final and give ourselves time to prepare during the remaining matches.”England (probable) 1 Marcus Trescothick, 2 Michael Vaughan (capt), 3 Geraint Jones (wk), 4 Andrew Strauss, 5 Paul Collingwood, 6 Anthony McGrath, 7 Ian Blackwell, 8 Ashley Giles, 9 Darren Gough, 10 Stephen Harmison, 11 James Anderson.West Indies (probable) 1 Chris Gayle, 2 Shivnarine Chanderpaul, 3 Devon Smith, 4 Ramnaresh Sarwan, 5 Brian Lara (capt), 6 Ricardo Powell, 7 Dwayne Bravo, 8 Ridley Jacobs (wk), 9 Ian Bradshaw, 10 Ravi Rampaul, 11 Jermaine Lawson.