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To choose his favourite Test matches over 15 years Shane Warne looked to the beginning and the end. Until less than three weeks ago, his best memory was his third Test, against Sri Lanka at Colombo in 1992, but it was eclipsed by Australia’s remarkable comeback win at Adelaide to all but seal the return of the Ashes.”I didn’t think I’d ever top 1992 but Adelaide definitely pipped that,” he said during his retirement announcement. “That’s the best Test match I’ve played in.”The Colombo game, however, has always remained special for Warne and it was where he first realised he could make an impact at Test level. After taking 0 for 107 in the first innings, Warne watched on in the second as Sri Lanka pressed towards the 181 they needed for victory. Greg Matthews claimed four important wickets and with about 30 runs remaining, Warne, 22, weaved his magic.”Allan Border told me to warm up and I thought ‘oh no, we’re in trouble here’,” Warne said. “I came on and I bowled a maiden and I thought ‘it’s not over yet’. As the next couple of overs went on I took 3 for 0 and I sort of felt like I’ve actually finally contributed.” He finished with 3 for 11 as Sri Lanka fell 17 short. It was the first of countless match-turning performances.Warne said he could not have performed his great feats alone. Terry Jenner’s influence has been well documented, but the man who has affected Warne the most is somebody he could end up sitting next to in the Channel 9 commentary box. “Ian Chappell has probably been the biggest influence on my cricket career,” Warne said. “I would have loved to have played under Ian Chappell. I could listen to his stories and listen to him talk forever. Of all the people I’ve spoken to about cricket, he makes the most sense.”Australia’s last great legspinner before Warne, Richie Benaud, also had a significant impact. “Richie is the man isn’t he?” Warne said. “He knows everything about everything. He’s great to talk to, he’s good company, he’s fun and he’s a legspinner as well. He’s helped me out through some tough times too, just the odd phone call here or there.”It could be Warne who Australia’s next generation of slow bowlers turn to for advice. The spin stocks might look thin, with the exception of Stuart MacGill, but Warne said there were plenty of potential Test players itching for a chance. Dan Cullen, Cameron White, Cullen Bailey, Nathan Hauritz and Beau Casson are some of those who will compete to take his place.”We’re very lucky that we’ve got some excellent spin bowlers in the country,” he said. “It’s a matter of those guys taking their opportunities. It’s probably a pretty good time to get some younger players into the side because we’ve got a very experienced side at the moment.”

Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden are among an extensive list of Australia’s frontline players who have signed with the Indian Premier League, according to a report in the . The paper said the BCCI had outlaid more than $2 million to secure the stars for the Twenty20 tournament.Andrew Symonds, Brett Lee, Nathan Bracken, Michael Hussey, Brad Haddin and Mitchell Johnson were also reportedly on the list. The IPL has already attracted Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath, with Simon Katich and Jason Gillespie also set to play.The paper reported that Neil Maxwell, a player agent, will hand the groups’s IPL contracts to Lalit Modi, the BCCI vice-president, in Dubai on Sunday. Next year’s tournament is likely to take place in April, meaning several of the Australian-contracted players might be unavailable as the team will tour Pakistan and West Indies around that time.Australia’s states also have questions over who an Australian player would represent if their Indian franchise and their home state both reached the Champions League following the IPL. “We’re still very much at the thrashing-out stage, but I’ve been led to believe that if that happens, someone like Brett Lee’s first commitment would be to his home state,” Dave Gilbert, the chief executive of Cricket New South Wales said.”These sorts of things must be spelt out at the start, so there can’t be any grey areas. It would be good to get this worked out as soon as possible.”

It’s quite intriguing that despite having played 15 one-dayers in the West Indies, India are yet to play a game at Sabina Park. The two games that were scheduled on their previous tour, in 2001-02 were both washed out and a spate of showers on match eve, and forecast for thunder showers, threatened to ruin a much-anticipated clash. The locals, though, were confident that the match would carry on uninterrupted and spells of bright sunshine added weight to the same.Now to the 22 yards that usually receives most of the attention. Charlie, the groundsman who’s been around since 1959, delivers an obituary on the bounce at Sabina Park. “It’s the clay you know, they change it sometime in the early ’90s. Then they relaid it and it lost its main quality. Now it’s slowly coming back. The pitch for the one-day games will have decent bounce, but the ball comes on to the bat. The Test match pitch will be different. More bounce, more pace.”Jeffrey Dujon, the legendary wicketkeeper who grew up playing on this ground, thought similarly. “This pitch will be different compared to what the Indians encounter at the other venues,” he told Cricinfo. “It can get a bit lively out here and bowlers will definitely have a say.” Would he pick a favourite? “For the sake of the series, I’d like to see it 1-1 after two games.”For that to materialise, Brian Lara’s boys may need to pull out a special performance. “One must remember,” Dujon points out, “and that’s the bottom line – it’s going to be No.3 against No.8. West Indies’ might have comprehensively beaten Zimbabwe but they weren’t up to the mark in all departments.” India, on the other hand, were coming off a sizzling run. In case he’s a numbers man, and is aware of India’s recent chasing record, Lara wouldn’t like to be fielding second. Dravid might not mind it either way and the game at Montego Bay would have given them a good workout while batting first.In all probability, this series might turn into a battle of flexibility with Dwayne Bravo, Dwyane Smith, Marlon Samuels and Chris Gayle on one side pitted against Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Irfan Pathan, Virender Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh on the other. Barring a minor miracle, Ramesh Powar will not play and Dravid hinted that Sreesanth would be allowed time to recuperate as well.Yet, none of these players’ performance may matter if one man decides to take matters into his own magical hands. Lara remains the talisman and has often made a mockery of plans and strategies. He’s back as captain and this series provides him a chance to assert himself and to inspire through personal performance.Kingston is abuzz. Most haven’t seen too many players in this side and there’s an anticipation to watch Irfan Pathan bowl, to watch Yuvraj Singh blast. But the real excitement surrounds Dhoni, especially because of his instinct to dominate, his audacity to invent new strokes, and his attacking methods even when under pressure. “This boy born in the West Indies maan,” said one spectator when Dhoni spanked a six outside Jarrett Park in Montego Bay. “You stole him away from us.” It’s that kind of endearment.There’s a small matter of the Indian coach as well. Greg Chappell, Dujon felt, wouldn’t have forgotten the hammering that Australia took against the mighty West Indian side of the ’80s. “He had a terrible time against us in the only series I played against him. He could not score a run and people keep such things in mind. He would surely try to get back at us.”India (probable)
1 Virender Sehwag, 2 Rahul Dravid (capt), 3 Yuvraj Singh, 4 Suresh Raina, 5 Mohammad Kaif, 6 Venugopal Rao, 7 Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), 8 Irfan Pathan, 9 Ajit Agarkar, 10 Rudra Pratap Singh, 11 Munaf PatelWest Indies (probable)
1 Chris Gayle, 2 Runako Morton, 3 Brian Lara (capt), 4 Ramnaresh Sarwan, 5 Shivnarine Chanderpaul, 6 Dwayne Bravo, 7 Dwayne Smith, 8 Carlton Baugh (wk), 9 Jerome Taylor, 10 Fidel Edwards, 11 Corey Collymore.

Luke Wright, the Sussex allrounder who is part of England’s Twenty20 World Championship squad, has been called into the one-day squad to cover for Andrew Flintoff, Ravi Bopara and Chris Tremlett.England are still hopeful that Flintoff will be available for the sixth one-day international against India, at The Oval, on Wednesday after he was ruled out of the fifth match at Headingley with a sore left ankle.Bopara took a blow on his right thumb when he tried to take a return catch off Gautam Gambhir during India’s innings. He immediately left the field, one ball into his second over, and went to hospital for x-rays where a dislocation and minor fracture were confirmed. He batted after taking a painkilling injection, but bowling and fielding will be the problem.Meanwhile Tremlett, who missed the Headingley match with an injury to his right foot, had an injection on Monday and won’t be available at The Oval. He will be reassessed ahead of the final ODI, at Lord’s, on Saturday.However, Ryan Sidebottom has been cleared to rejoin the squad after recovering from the side strain he picked up during the final Test at The Oval. He was denied match practice on Sunday when Nottinghamshire’s Pro40 match against Lancashire, at Old Trafford, was washed out.Flintoff is expected to rejoin the England squad for training at The Oval on Tuesday. “I feel for him,” said coach Peter Moores. “He has been great since he has been back. He has had a real buzz about him, a real energy and people have seen that when he has been on the field.”You could see he had his passion back which is what he is like when he plays his best cricket. He has been a real boost for the squad and has been involved in deciding how we should play in one-day cricket, which has been really helpful for myself, Paul Collingwood and the team.”The people I have spoken to so far are still pretty optimistic and he may be okay on Wednesday, then he can get on and play the sort of cricket he loves to do. All we can do is go through the right processes and keep our fingers crossed that the ankle will settle down. It isn’t too major and he can get himself away, then it becomes a manageable problem.”Both Flintoff and Bopara are now in doubt for the Twenty20 squad which will fly out to South Africa the day after the final ODI against India on September 9. England’s first game is against Zimbabwe, at Cape Town, on September 13.

Scorecard

Queensland swept to an innings-and-16-run victory over Western Australia to lift themselves off the foot of the Pura Cup table. The home side threatened to put up a fight as Justin Langer and Chris Rogers added 166 for the first wicket, after the Warriors extended their lead to 301, but the Queensland attack worked as a unit to dismantle the resistance.After his first-innings failure, Langer spent useful time in the middle ahead of the first Test especially in light of Phil Jaques’s recent stunning form. He and Rogers scored at four-an-over before James Hopes broke through and the slide started. Chris Hartley’s fine match behind the stumps continued as he collected an edge off Langer and quickly pocketed another chance as Michael Hussey fell for a duck.Four runs later Rogers’s resolute innings came to end six short of a century as Andrew Symonds made the first of two incisions. The middle order was then jolted by Mitchell Johnson’s pace as he again hurt the Warriors with big-name scalps. Damien Martyn was caught by Symonds before Adam Gilchrist’s lean run continued with another nick to the keeper.With the powerful top order sliced apart the only question was whether the Bulls could wrap up the points with a day to spare. The tail didn’t offer much meaningful resistance as the wickets continued to be shared around with Shane Watson nabbing a brace. Johnson completed the rout when he removed Ben Edmondson as Hartley took his 10th catch of the match.

England have sent Andrew Flintoff back to the ECB Academy in a desperate attempt to get him fit for the first Ashes Test at Brisbane on November 7.Flintoff’s slow recovery from a hernia operation in the summer has left England with a serious problem ahead of the opening Test, and with their physiotherapist Kirk Russell grossly overworked, it has been decided to give Flintoff intensive one-on-one treatment at the Adelaide Academy.”While Andrew’s recovery programme is running behind schedule, we remain confident he will be able to take part in the Ashes series,” said Duncan Fletcher, the England coach. “We feel the medical team at the Academy are best placed to give Andrew the intensive one-on-one treatment he needs.”Flintoff added: “Hopefully, I will become fitter quicker by having intensive treatment. I certainly still have aspirations and hopes for the first Test. I am definitely not ruling myself out.”A year ago, Flintoff was included in the inaugural Academy squad, but was then summoned to India after a rethink from Fletcher. It shows how far he has come that, within 12 months of being surplus to requirements, he is the pivot without which England cannot function.Two other key cogs in the England machine, Michael Vaughan and Darren Gough, have both been ruled out of the two-day match against Western Australia, which begins at the WACA in Perth on Thursday. They are also unlikely to play in the three-day match against the same opponents that begins on Monday.”Vaughan has a very good chance of playing in the next three-day match against Queensland, starting in Brisbane on November 2,” Fletcher said. “Gough is pretty positive. He has bowled on each of the past two days and there has been no reaction. He is feeling pretty bullish at this stage.”We don’t want to push him too soon. We’ll just have to wait and see. We won’t know whether he is ready for the Test unless he is ready for the Brisbane three-day game.”It looks increasingly likely that England will have to call for reinforcements at some stage, with Alex Tudor the man most likely.”Tudor is at the Academy in Adelaide and otherplayers are around in Australia, practising, and if the injuries don’t work out, we may have to make a decision to bring them in,” Fletcher said.Fletcher also played down his side’s 58-run defeat in the tour opener at Lilac Hill on Tuesday, in which Steve Harmison bowled seven consecutive wides.”We had only been here three or four days and we were not playing our one-day squad and it was our first workout,” he said. “He [Harmison] took a bit of a beating, but he is not even in our one-day bowling squad, and this was a one-day game. He pushed the batters onto the back foot a bit.”

Division One

In what was effectively a meaningless match once Nottinghamshire had beaten Sussex, Essex – this year’s champions – were restricted to 201 for 8 in the 40 overs against Durham at Chester-le-Street. Andy Flower demonstrated his immense class and ability in one-day cricket with a chanceless 81 – and Andre Adams was typically impish in his 40 – but Essex were outdone by fine spells of bowling from Neil Killeen (2 for 26) and Ottis Gibson (2 for 32). Durham knocked off the required 202 with Phil Mustard (84 from 86) and Jimmy Maher (70) putting on a superb 152-run opening partnership – but it wasn’t enough for Durham to avoid relegation.Sussex’s title hopes were blown away by a remarkable spell of bowling from Gareth Clough whose 6 for 25 helped dismiss them for just 110 at Nottingham. Only Chris Adams’s 24 offered the visitors any hope of bailing the sinking ship, before Nottinghamshire knocked off the required runs with the minimum of fuss. Darren Bicknell clobbered an unbeaten 53 and there were useful contributions from Will Smith (22) and Stephen Fleming (26 from 33). Sussex’s defeat handed Essex the Pro40 Division One title.James Anderson marked his comeback with 2 for 31 to help Lancashire beat Glamorgan by the comprehensive margin of 109 runs at Old Trafford. Lancashire’s bristling 256 for 7 was formed by Nathan Astle’s aggressive 71-ball 78 and a pair of brisk 40s from Dominic Cork and Mark Chilton. Glamorgan set off disastrously, losing three for none at one stage. And though Mark Wallace (28 from 29) briefly threatened, he was left with too great a task and Glamorgan were dismissed for 147, allowing Lancashire to avoid relegation.Lance Klusener’s 5 for 33 blew away Middlesex’s fragile batting line-up as Northamptonshire walked to an easy 28-run win at Northampton. Setting the visitors 199 after Chris Rogers belted 70 from 75 balls, Middlesex lost Paul Weekes with the first ball of their reply and were soon 17 for 3 when Ed Joyce was bowled by Matthew Nicholson. Owais Shah (63) and Jamie Dalrymple (57) appeared to have the game by the neck until both were dismissed by Monty Panesar, leaving Klusener to mop up the tail with ease.

Division Two

Robert Ferley’s 3 for 25 handed Kent an unlikely 42-run win over Gloucestershire at Canterbury as the hosts dismissed Gloucestershire for just 134. The visitors, chasing 178, were batting nicely at 51 for 1 with Craig Spearman launching five fours in his 31. But a sudden flurry of wickets left too much for their lower-order before Ferley, the slow-left-armer, struck three times in as many overs to send Gloucestershire packing. Nevertheless, they were crowned Division Two champions.Paul Nixon continued his fine one-day form with an unbeaten 38 to edge Leicestershire home by four wickets against Derbyshire at Grace Road. Chasing 223 the home side were boosted by a typically aggressive 74 from Darren Maddy, containing 10 fours and a couple of lofted sixes. Although Derbyshire’s six bowlers each struck once, Nixon the aggressor was in dominant mood, smashing three sixes and three fours in a blistering 38 from just 23 balls.A fine 51 from Arul Suppiah led Somerset to a facile win over Surrey, chasing down 178 in just 20.3 overs at Taunton. Suppiah and Matthew Wood (37) put on 59 for the first wicket and Suppiah received further good support from James Hildreth (39) and Ian Blackwell, whose typically pugnacious 27 guided his side home with a flurry of boundaries. Earlier, Surrey’s stuttering total was compiled largely thanks to a run-a-ball 38 from Mark Butcher and 40 from Jon Batty, but they were restricted by Charl Willoughby and Wes Durston who took 3 for 44.Greg Lamb’s four wickets and a solid 60 helped Hampshire fell Yorkshire by five runs in a tense encounter at Headingley. At 201 for 5, with Adam Lyth and Tim Bresnan batting sensibly, the target of 221 was well within reach until Lamb and Shaun Udal struck, sending Yorkshire tumbling to 215 all out with two balls to spare. Hampshire’s innings was led by a pair of 60s from Dominic Thornely and Lamb; Thornely was particularly aggressive in smashing seven fours and a six.

The future of Headingley has again been thrown into doubt after the local council unexpectedly stalled on financing Yorkshire’s planned purchase of the ground, just two weeks after appearing to come to an agreement.The county has agreed to buy the venue for £12million to comply with one of the ECB’s requirements for grounds wishing to host England matches. But the move depends on Leeds City Council providing a loan of £9million.The financing was expected to be rubber-stamped this week but the council’s executive board has decided it needs stronger guarantees on repayment. Mark Harris, the council leader, said: “It is public funds we are talking about and it would be irresponsible for us to accept what is currently on the table.”In a statement Yorkshire said: “This is a position which the club understands and we shall therefore employ every endeavour on our side to ensure that agreement is reached in the course of the days ahead. Since we have already reached agreement on all matters of principle, the club believes that the remaining points of detail can be resolved quickly and without difficulty.”Yorkshire now face a race against time to secure the financing and complete the purchase of Headingley, which is currently rented from the owners of the adjacent rugby club, by the end of the year. If they do not they will invalidate an agreement with the ECB under which Headingley was assured of the right to host England matches for the next 15 years, provided they took ownership of the ground by 2006. Yorkshire plan to increase the ground’s capacity from 17,000 to 20,000 with significant developments of the Grandstand and Kirkstall Lane ends.

How much of a role Chris Cairns will play on New Zealand’s forthcoming tour of South Africa remains to be seen, but he did enough in the ICC KnockOut 2000 final against India at the Nairobi Gymkhana Club on Sunday to keep his shares up for some time to come.Cairns played through the pain of a dodgy right knee – he was only passed fit to play on Saturday – to produce a match-winning 102 not out and steer New Zealand to an heroic victory by four wickets in a nerve-jangling last overs scramble. This on top of an unbroken 10-over spell that put the brakes on India after Saurav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar had given their side a flying start.”This is the greatest ever,” Cairns said afterwards. “I’ve been playing for a few years now – getting pretty old – and this is far and away the greatest moment of my New Zealand career. New Zealand’s never got to a final before, let alone won it, so this is just the best.”His knee will be scanned when New Zealand arrive in Johannesburg on Monday,after which a decision will be made on his immediate future, but if he numbed the pain on Sunday night with a few celebratory drinks, who could blame him.For the first 25 overs of each innings, India seemed to have taken the gameaway from New Zealand, but on both occasions the Kiwis dragged themselves back into the match.Ganguly and Tendulkar’s opening stand of 141 in 26.3 overs should have set up a total of around 300, but Cairns, Scott Styris and Nathan Astle slowed things up in the middle overs and India failed to kick on.Ganguly said that India had batted “stupidly” in the closing overs as his side reached 264 for six. But they had them on the board. New Zealand still had to get them.And although Zaheer Khan bowled erratically during his first three overs, which cost India 30 runs, Venkatesh Prasad nipped out Craig Spearman and Stephen Fleming in his opening burst to prise the door open for India.For the first 25 overs of their reply, New Zealand kept up with the run ratebut in the process, lost wickets and at the halfway stage they were 135 forfive. No one had been able to stay long enough to get a stand going, but Chris Harris joined Cairns and the foundations of an outstanding partnership were laid.They batted together for just over 25 overs and when Harris went for 46 withnine balls of the match remaining, they had put on 122 for the sixth wicket.They had seen the run rate go up to around eight an over, but neither batsman panicked, and it was the Indians who dropped their eyes first.Cairns was a colossus, picking and choosing his moments to hit. He reckonedthat with the Gymkhana Club’s short boundaries and another of Andy Atkinson’s perfect pitches, the target was always on. “I felt pretty comfortable after we’d bowled,” he said. “Two-sixty on a small ground, that’s 220 on a normal ground.”But someone had to stay there and get them and in the end it couldn’t have been much closer, Cairns getting the winning run with two balls to spare.For New Zealand, then, a memorable triumph and deserved success. They playeddetermined, gritty cricket throughout the tournament and the mark of the side is the number of times they have had to play catch-up cricket and always come through. This is a very handy one-day team with each member pulling for his team-mates.If Cairns had not been fit, Paul Wiseman would have played and Fleming gave him a vote of confidence too. “You’ve got to walk with people you believe in,” said Fleming.Ganguly was understandably disappointed, but he has a young team capable ofplaying scintillating cricket at times and with three or four world-classplayers as the backbone. More importantly, this team seems closer together,more of a unit than is often the case with Indian sides. If they are kepttogether, India could fast become one of the best teams in the world on aconsistent basis.

Scorecard

Shoaib Akhtar continued to ease his way back towards fitness with 11 promising overs against West Indies A at Shenley. The match was originally scheduled as a two-day game, but was switched to two separate one-day matches. However, following interruptions for rain and bad light it will go down as a limited overs game that ended in a draw.A decision on Shoaib’s fitness will be taken after he has bowled in tomorrow’s second one-day match although he remains more likely to feature in the one-day series than the final Test at The Oval.”It is less necessary to field such players after we have lost the Test series,” Bob Woolmer, the Pakistan coach said, “but that doesn’t mean we don’t want to win the Oval Test. We want to win the last Test to prove our critics wrong. I don’t think we have done badly, England played better.”Asked if Shoaib could be risked, Woolmer said it was still possible. “If it’s necessary,” he said. “I wonder if it is necessary, just for the sake of winning a Test then why can’t others who are match fit and doing well not do that?”Shoaib had a stress fracture and what he has to do is to play little bit of cricket, and the perfect scenario I see for him is to get fit for the five one day internationals, the ICC Trophy then the home series against the West Indies. That is really the sort of path I want for him.”I don’t want to make this judgement before talking to him. If he bowls 15-20 overs by Sunday then I will ask him because he will be in a better position to tell. Today he looked trim and slim but he hasn’t bowled for six months,”Shoaib started in style by bowling Devon Smith with the fifth ball of the day, but couldn’t add to his tally as Lendl Simmons struck a fine 106 off 122. Simmons and Runako Morton added 86 for the second wicket and both batsmen hooked Shoaib for six. Dwayne Smith then added 116 with Simmons to turn the West Indies innings around from 99 for 4. Samiullah Khan picked up three figures during a lively spell.Richard Kelly then struck with the new ball and Dwayne Smith removed Salman Butt as Pakistan slipped to 51 for 3. However, Imran Farhat enhanced his prospects of a Test recall with an unbeaten 43-ball 62 before the light closed in and the teams agreed to a one-day draw.