All posts by csb10.top

ScorecardNick Jewell’s 70 was the best score for Victoria, who face a challenging chase on the final day•Getty Images

Victoria require another 366 runs for outright victory after two declarations kept their match against South Australia alive at the MCG. Victoria closed their first innings 271 behind and the Redbacks reached 2 for 109 before they ended their reply, setting the hosts a target of 381.The Bushrangers, who were 0 for 15 after seven overs, will have to do much better on day four than they did today after being out-played. But the leaders still have a chance to add to their four-point buffer over their opponents during the 106 remaining overs.Cameron White decided to declare after his side stumbled to 6 for 246 at tea in the hope of gaining an outright result. A big reply had depended on significant scores from Brad Hodge and David Hussey, but the hosts lost some early wickets to end that aim.Nick Jewell was in charge of setting up the innings and he achieved that with 70, but Hodge was bowled by Jake Haberfield for 11 and Hussey went having got to 61. Jewell and Hussey had added 117 for the third wicket when the opener edged Peter George to first slip, and nine balls later Hussey fell to Dan Christian. Andrew McDonald and White went cheaply before Matthew Wade collected an unbeaten 42 and the declaration came.Michael Klinger followed his 207 not out in the first innings with 29 while Mark Cosgrove had 44 when they were called in. John Hastings removed the openers Daniel Harris and James Smith for the final wickets of a busy afternoon.

Samit Patel, the allrounder discarded by England’s selectors for being unfit more than seven months ago, has set himself a target of returning next county season a trimmer man.”I’ve got to come back with a totally different body shape,” he told the . “I want to look like a different cricketer next season. People are going to judge me on how I look. It’s not a nice way to be judged, but it’s about time I put in some hard graft in the gym. It’s got to be done.”Patel, who burst onto the international scene late last season with some impressive displays against South Africa, was dumped from the one-day squad to tour West Indies for failing to reach a suitable level of fitness. He was told in no uncertain terms that improvements were needed if he wanted his England place back. Patel has not been in contact with the ECB for some time but will meet with Hugh Morris, the managing director, to discuss his future this week.”The communication from the ECB wasn’t good, but I don’t want to get into the nitty-gritty of that,” he said. “It hurt, but I can’t blame anyone but myself. I’m going to come back strongly and prove a few people wrong.”I probably have to do more fitness work than most with my body shape, but I haven’t done that in the past. I’d try to sack it off, do short sessions and cheat here and there. I could hide behind my cricket skills, but I can’t do that any more. Now I’m getting to a different level on the treadmill and thinking, ‘I wouldn’t have done this before.’ It’s a big part of my life now. I watch [Nottingham] Forest, see the missus and go to the gym, that’s about it.”Since the harsh reality hit home, Patel, 24, has been working hard to reach the required levels both with the England Lions and with Nottinghamshire. He was desperate to learn from the tough experience and come back a better player.”It hurts not to be involved in South Africa at the moment and the Lions has to be my way back in,” he said. “If I’m not one of the 15 best cricketers in England after the senior team, then I think there’s something wrong. I don’t think they want to pick me, but I’m desperate to be part of it again.”Patel has received the support of Mick Newell, his county coach, who saw at first hand a player working flat out to earn a second chance. “It did affect his game, there was quite a bit of turmoil in his head,” said Newell. “He was feeling angry towards a lot of people, instead of directing that towards himself. Now he’s just got to knuckle down and do some things he’d rather not be doing on cold, dark days in the middle of winter.”

Bennett King, John Dyson, Brendan Nash – the Australian influence in the West Indies camp over the past few years has been conspicuous, if not always successful. The reigns of King and Dyson as the past two coaches provided mixed results at best, but Nash has so far been a winner in shoring up the middle order since moving from Queensland two years ago.His 92 in Adelaide left him with a solid average of 38.37 from his 11 Tests and as the team’s No. 6, he has often had to forge important partnerships with the bowlers. Steve Waugh trusted his tail-end colleagues to survive and they improved so much that Jason Gillespie scored a Test double-hundred, and Nash has consciously tried to bring a similar approach to the West Indies lower order.Their efforts have been rewarded; against England in February this year, it was only through dogged lower-order resistance at St John’s that West Indies held on for the draw that allowed them to win the series. On the second day in Adelaide their final three pairs added an invaluable 115 as Nash anchored the effort rather than assuming his partners would fail and therefore going for broke.”That’s something that I’ve brought to the team,” Nash said. “I’m not the typical West Indian-style batsman, if you like, that maybe batting with the tail would look to press on and hit the ball in the air and that type of thing. I put some faith in the lower order and they responded quite well. I think that’s how you get the best out of them and that showed today.”Nash arrived in the West Indies in 2007 after losing his state contract with Queensland and he found that in the Caribbean there wasn’t a great history of expecting tailenders to make regular contributions. There were exceptions – Jerome Taylor scored a century in Nash’s debut Test – but he was keen to see more consistent run-making from the bowlers.”It was sort of seven-out all-out,” he said. “Our bowlers always say that they can bat a little bit. I think they never really got given the opportunity. They’ve worked very hard, our lower order, on building partnerships if there’s a batsman in there.”That’s something that we’ve talked about. They’ve worked hard in the nets and the coach has always stressed that. Don’t give them an easy Test wicket, basically. The lower order took that on and put it into pretty good use today.”Nash combined with Sulieman Benn for a 44-run eighth-wicket stand and then with Ravi Rampaul in a highly entertaining 68-run final partnership that built on the 63-run combination between Nash and the allrounder Darren Sammy. The concentration of the lower-order men made it all the more frustrating for Nash that it was he himself who ended the innings when he missed a Mitchell Johnson ball that ducked back in.”It was pretty disappointing not only for myself but for the team as well,” Nash said of falling short of what would have been his second Test century. “Ravi was looking quite good there, the last-wicket partnership we would have liked to have pressed on a little bit. It was just one of those things in Test cricket – you don’t focus for one ball and it’s all over.”But it would have been all over far earlier had Nash not knuckled down to help the side to 451. He conceded he felt under pressure to deliver having kept his place in the side while Travis Dowlin, who impressed with his concentration at the Gabba, made way for the returning Ramnaresh Sarwan. It wasn’t easy for Nash after he retired hurt on the first day, having been struck on the forearm by a rising ball.”It was quite numb and painful,” he said. “I couldn’t grip the bat. It was in between the two bones in my arm so it was a tissue, muscle area. It was a little bit difficult [to bat today]. I couldn’t really feel like I could grip the bat and put much power behind the shots, so that’s why it was a lot of flicking and that type of thing, deflecting.”Almost inevitably, it was Johnson, his former flat-mate, who delivered the painful blow, but Nash won’t hold it against him. “After the series I’m sure we’re going to catch up and say hello and have a drink after the series,” he said, “hopefully with a 2-1 win to us and the beer will taste sweeter.”

New Zealand have arrived in Abu Dhabi for the limited-overs series against Pakistan and their captain, Daniel Vettori, is looking forward to the relative peace and quiet of the UAE following a turbulent week at home, which culminated in the resignation of coach Andy Moles.”If anything it’s exciting to get out of New Zealand, get away from the scrutiny for a little bit, and come here and do what we do best,” Vettori was quoted as saying by . “It’s difficult from the perspective of having to front it all, I suppose, as captain and a selector as well. It means the focus has been on me for the explanation, so coming here takes a bit of heat off that.”Having taken up the coaching job less than a year ago, Moles resigned after holding mediation talks with New Zealand Cricket (NZC), following reports that senior players were unhappy with the lack of technical and tactical support being provided by him. It was agreed Moles would step down, after a review of the team’s performance in Sri Lanka and at the Champions Trophy suggested that changes should be made.The sudden developments left NZC with no time to appoint a new coach, or even an interim one, but they were confident Vettori’s leadership would hold the team in good stead against Pakistan. Partly fulfilling the role of coach is the latest addition to Vettori’s roster of responsibilities which includes the duties of captain, selector and key allrounder. Vettori, however, didn’t think it would be much of a burden.”I don’t feel like I have to pick up any slack in terms of coaching the side or anything like that, but it’s about coming over here and getting the job done,” he said. Vettori also has no deputy after NZC relieved Brendon McCullum of the vice-captaincy in order for him to focus on his batting but did not name a replacement. New Zealand, however, still have their assistant coaches, Mark O’Donnell and Shane Jurgensen, and manager Dave Currie, who will have an enhanced role in the team set-up.The Pakistan coach Intikhab Alam, however, said New Zealand “could find the going tough without a coach”. “From where I see it, it is very important for an international cricket team to have a full-time coach,” he told the . “It could be tough for him [Vettori]. I mean, the whole idea of having a coach is to ensure that the captain is spared from any headaches and can focus on leading his players on the field in the best possible manner.”New Zealand and Pakistan clashed in the semi-final of the ICC Champions Trophy in South Africa, a contest that New Zealand won by five wickets. Vettori hoped to build on that success during the upcoming three-ODI and two-Twenty20 international series and wanted his team to display more consistency.”I think you could say we’re mercurial sides,” Vettori said. “Inconsistency probably plagues both teams and you look at both teams and say there are some really talented players and guys who can win games but how often are we consistently doing that? We know we’re going to battle hard against Pakistan and we need those key players to step up to either win games or nullify Pakistan’s key players.Several of New Zealand’s key players, though, are out with injuries or are recovering from injuries but Vettori said there was “a little bit of confidence in the side” despite that and they believed they were “good enough to win”.Jesse Ryder, Daryl Tuffey and Grant Elliott did not travel to the UAE while, among those who did, Kyle Mills has a shoulder niggle and Vettori and Jacob Oram are recovering from hamstring problems. “I think New Zealand teams unfortunately have dealt with that on numerous occasions and they understand how to get up for them,” Vettori said. “I think we’ve shown ourselves to be a resilient side and it creates opportunities and also gives the likes of Scott Styris, who is an extremely experienced guy, to come back into the side and prove his worth.”If those guys perform, it means we’ve got a strong squad to pick from. That’s been one of our biggest disadvantages that we don’t have a big pool of players who consistently compete on the world stage and, when injuries take over, we’ve struggled. Hopefully there’s a little bit of silver lining for us.”

After Delhi Daredevils’ comprehensive defeat at the hands of Victoria at the Feroz Shah Kotla on Friday, their captain Gautham Gambhir has admitted that a lot will rest on him and Virender Sehwag to steer the team through to the next stage of the Champions Twenty20 League. Delhi managed only 98 for 8 before Victoria coasted home by seven wickets in 17 overs.Delhi, one of the pre-tournament favourites, are without key foreign players like Daniel Vettori, AB de Villiers, David Warner and Paul Collingwood.”Obviously, there is responsibility,” Gambhir said. “There is huge responsibility on me and Sehwag when experienced players like Vettori, AB de Villiers and Collingwood are not there and we are ready for that.”The newly laid pitch at the Kotla had come in for criticism from Gambhir, who said it was “not an ideal wicket for a Twenty20 game.” He said his batsmen didn’t plan the innings well based on the conditions.”We just didn’t bat well,” he said. “We were looking for a score around 130-140 and in the end we felt 30-40 runs short.”We always knew there will be low bounce in this wicket but the way we started off, we should have made 130-140 which I feel was a match-winning total in this wicket. We just didn’t have any partnership.”He said the Victoria bowlers set a fine example by keeping the hosts to a below-par score. “I must say they outplayed us today. They bowled really well and we found it difficult to score runs,” he said. “We thought if we could get some early wickets, we are in the game but that didn’t happen. The way [Rob] Quiney batted, he took the game away from us.”Delhi need to win their next match, against Wayamba on Sunday, to stay in the competition.

ScorecardThe predictable draw materialised before four o’clock on the final day, with the match almost as evenly balanced as was possible. There was much of interest, though, in the final stages of the first innings, as Sussex looked likely to take a sizeable lead. Some fine Lancashire pace bowling, with Sajid Mahmood pre-eminent, decided otherwise, and eventually only an entertaining last-wicket partnership gave Sussex a slender advantage in the first innings – which was as far as this rain-ravaged match could go.Sussex resumed at their overnight score of 119 for 1, facing 236, with Michael Yardy and Ed Joyce on 64 and 39 respectively. They did not have an easy time of it, as Mahmood in particular worked up a good pace and found some movement off the pitch. He bowled a testing opening over to Joyce and in his next he fired in a full-length delivery as the batsman moved across his stumps to trap him lbw for 40. This ended a good partnership of 94 between the two batsmen.Only six runs were added for the loss of Joyce in 5.2 overs before the umpires took everybody off for bad light, and 55 minutes were lost. The bowlers were less challenging on their return, and Murray Goodwin batted enterprisingly for his 29 off 36 balls, running well between the wickets, before edging a good fast delivery from Mahmood that moved away from him. At lunch Sussex had moved to 164 for 3, but Yardy had only added 14 runs during the morning, struggling to find his form of the previous evening.Mahmood again impressed after lunch, but Yardy stood firm, along with Carl Hopkinson, whose most impressive stroke was a superb drive between the bowler and mid-on for four, taking him to double figures. Ironically, it was only when Mahmood took a break that things began to happen for Lancashire, perhaps a case of fatal relaxation with the most dangerous bowler off, and once the slide began it could not be arrested.Oliver Newby, who has had an undistinguished season before today, replaced Mahmood at 190 for 3, and immediately Yardy, to his disgust, followed a ball that moved away from him and edged it to the keeper; he scored 86 off 175 balls. Hopkinson almost holed out to mid-on from an injudicious pull, but in the same over from Kyle Hogg, Andrew Hodd edged a catch to second slip. Dwayne Smith smacked first Hogg and then Newby for extravagant fours to midwicket, but was then trapped lbw for 8 by a yorker from Newby.Hopkinson was next to go, for 19, Laxman taking another good diving catch in the slips, but Newby looked the more dangerous of the two, moving the ball in sharply to the right-hander – perhaps a little too much at times, as when the left-hander Piyush Chawla was facing, with five slips and a gully behind him. Robin Martin-Jenkins was another lbw victim to Hogg, perhaps a little unluckily, and five wickets had fallen in 31 balls for 13 runs, Hogg taking 3 in 16. This was worsened when Ollie Rayner tamely popped a ball from Newby into the slips; Sussex were now 209 for 9.In the old days of points awarded for a first-innings lead, there would have been an interesting tussle now. Chawla, joined by Corey Collymore, was playing an entertaining innings, even when he failed to make contact with the ball. On his arrival, his favourite stroke was the push at the ball from Newby that whistled past his outside edge; as time went on, this progressed into the swish – which generally also failed to make contact. Finally he did get the wood to work for him, and smashed Hogg for six over cow corner.The two batsmen ran well together, and their partnership of 31 enabled Sussex to lead the home county by four runs on the first innings, for what it was worth. The bowlers never did find the edge of Chawla’s bat, for Mahmood returned in place of Hogg and quickly held a firm return catch from Collymore, who made 4. Chawla was unbeaten for his quixotic 32. There were three wickets each for Hogg and Newby, while Mahmood took 4 for 87 – and deserved more, as it was surely his threatening pace that softened up Sussex in preparation for their collapse.An early tea was taken, but afterwards two balls sufficed to persuade the umpires that the light was inadequate. Although it improved, it was used as an excuse to bring an early end to a match which was now literally pointless, thanks to the week’s unpleasant weather.

Stuart Clark has arrived in Cardiff, London, Birmingham and Leeds to headlines extolling his chances of playing in each of the first four Tests of the Ashes. On the first three occasions, he was omitted. And he is hardly dusting off the baggy green ahead of this latest fixture either.Unlike Brett Lee, who all but dared the selectors not to pick him during a bullish press conference on Wednesday, Clark is circumspect when assessing his chances for Headingley. Certainly, he is frustrated at having been overlooked so far in the series – particularly when team balance, rather than form or fitness, has been the selectors’ reasoning – but Clark harbours no demands or ultimatums on the eve of the fourth Test.”I haven’t got any massive statements; I’m just waiting for an opportunity,” Clark told Cricinfo. “It looks like there may be some carry and a bit of variable bounce as well. I’m as keen as ever to play. Whether I get no wickets or 20 wickets, I just want to play. It’s killing me just training and not playing.”I thought I was a real chance for the first Test. I thought I was going to play, but I never really knew. For Lord’s, with the way they’d played at Cardiff, I thought it would be pretty hard to change the team. And with Edgbaston, after the bowlers went better in the second innings at Lord’s, I thought it would be hard to change the team again. I think it’s a balance thing.”Clark again appears in a straight selection shoot-out with Peter Siddle for Australia’s third pace slot on a dry Headingley wicket, although there remains the possibility that Nathan Hauritz could be omitted in preference of an all-pace attack. Either way, Clark can expect another tense Test eve as he awaits to learn his fate; a situation becoming all too familiar on this tour.It was only two years ago that Clark claimed an Ashes series-leading 26 wickets at 17.03 in an Australian side that contained both Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne. He went on to play a leading role in Australia’s ensuing series victories over Sri Lanka (home), India (home) and West Indies (away), but encountered elbow problems on the subsequent tour of India, and again upon his return to Australia.The injury, prompted by outfield throwing rather than bowling, required season-ending surgery and opened the door for Siddle and Ben Hilfenhaus. Both contributed to Australia’s stunning victory in South Africa, earning themselves enough selection credits for the first three Tests of the Ashes series.Whether there remains enough for a fourth is still in question, however, given the manner in which Siddle and Mitchell Johnson hemorrhaged runs at Lord’s and Edgbaston. Clark’s unnerving bounce and unerring accuracy would appear the ideal remedy to Australia’s profligate bowling, and his tour record of nine wickets at 25 from three practice matches indicates his readiness. But has he done enough to convince Jamie Cox, Australia’s on-duty selector?”I think they’ve seen enough to suggest that my arm injury is behind me,” he said. “Whether they questioned it after the Worcestershire game I don’t know, but I think during the Northants game I let go of any of those worries they might have had. I’m not having any grief from it. In India it was restricting me because it was starting to swell. I would lose movement, but I’m not having any dramas with that at all. It feels as good as gold.”It’s just about waiting for an opportunity. That may never happen, but I can only keep training. I’m actually sick of training. It’s getting to the stage where I just want to play now. It’s the Ashes in England, so that has added significance. But, really, I don’t care who it’s against at this stage. I just want to play more cricket for Australia.”

The England allrounder Andrew Flintoff has undergone surgery to his injured right knee and is expected to be on crutches for a minimum of six weeks.Flintoff, who retired from Test cricket after England’s victorious Ashes campaign which culminated in a 197-run win over Australia at The Oval, underwent a routine arthroscopy and micro-fracture to two small areas in his right knee last night.The recovery period is expected to be lengthy. Prior to the operation, Flintoff identified England’s one-day series against Bangladesh next February as a realistic goal to recover from this latest surgery. And despite this latest setback, he remains determined to become the best one-day cricketer in the world.”The recovery will require him to be non weight-bearing for the first six to eight weeks post surgery,” the ECB said. “At the end of this six-to-eight-week period, the knee will be reviewed by his surgeon and the timescale for ongoing rehabilitation further determined.”Flintoff ended his Test career by helping England beat Australia in the fifth and final Test, clinching the series 2-1 and regaining the Ashes.

There was a certain irony that on the day plans for a major Twenty20 tournament in the USA were announced, the USA Cricket Association’s chief executive, Don Lockerbie, was at Lord’s watching an Ashes Test, a format many seem to think is growing less relevant by the year.Lockerbie was in town to meet with leading administrators to advance his plan to make the USA a major cricketing destination. While he wants to build the USA into a leading cricketing power, he also believes Twenty20 cricket is a format made for the American audience.”I’d like to see a successful, world-class, best-players-in-the-game tournament, an invitational franchise league or something like that, in the near future,” he said. “That would be the dream. It’s too early to say what kind of format that would be, but we’re putting out a tender for proposal.”Will that, as has been rumoured, be another IPL? “The IPL as I look at it now is a remarkable, fantastic model to follow. Look at what it’s been able to do. Our hat is off to Lalit [Modi] and the people behind this fantastic sports property.”So, of course, you want to look at it as a model to emulate, or as a model to partner with, or at least to come up with something that has its own fresh appeal.”The USA is a country that wants to see the superstars, and that’s what we have to focus on. We have to invite them to come and play in the USA, and eventually we hope to develop our own superstars.”The USA already has one major venue, in Florida, and Lockerbie said more are planned, either in new areas, such as Indianapolis, or by expanding existing facilities in California and New York.”The proof will be, is the USA ready to undertake these type of events? When the US was announced back in the late 1980s as the host for the 1994 [football] World Cup, the world laughed and said ‘what are they going to do with our game’. And yet we still hold the record for the most tickets sold at a football World Cup.”Before the world laughs at the US taking on cricket, it’s important to say we’re going to do it well, we’re going to do it smart, we’re going to do it best and with the world’s experts and put together a programme that will be successful.”And he added that his plans were very much in tune with the ICC and would fit in with the existing international calendar. “We’re going to make sure what we do has ICC backing. That’s the promise we made when we did a presentation to the ICC in Dubai [in April].”We made a commitment we will be a significant contributor to the world of cricket and a good partner. I don’t see us as a competitor, I see as being a partner in something that will make sense to the game as it continues to evolve.”Unlike many previous comets who have blazed into US cricket with bold ideas only to disappear without trace, Lockerbie has the professionalism and drive to make you think he really can pull off these plans. A highly-regarded sports organiser and event administrator, he was venue director at the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean and is well connected in not only the game but also the corporate world, something vital for the backing he seeks.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were outThe joke was on the Indian batsmen as the fast bowlers had them in all sorts of troubles•AFP

The West Indies fast bowlers – even without Fidel Edwards – embarrassed the Indian batting line-up for the second time in three weeks, setting the foundation for a series-levelling win. They bowled aggressively and smartly, reducing India to 82 for 8 before a 101-run ninth-wicket stand between MS Dhoni and RP Singh kept the match alive. Chris Gayle and Runako Morton replied with a 101-run partnership of their own, ensuring there was no late drama in a game that was mostly dominated by West Indies.Two days ago 658 runs were scored on the same Sabina Park pitch by the same set of batsmen, but the early swing exposed some technical flaws with the Indian line-up. There were personal milestones for Ravi Rampaul and Denesh Ramdin along the way, Rampaul taking career-best figures of 4 for 37 and Ramdin five catches.Gayle’s captaincy stood out early on. He employed two slips as soon as he saw some swing. Jerome Taylor didn’t need any of the slips in the first over, when he bowled the perfect outswinger to Dinesh Karthik, shaping in, pitching off, moving away, making the batsman play, and getting the edge through to the keeper.If Karthik had no option but to play at Taylor, Gautam Gambhir and Rohit Sharma played unnecessary shots to Rampaul in the next over. Bowling to Rohit, Rampaul wanted the second slip out, but Gayle persisted. And how it worked. Rohit chased a wide outswinger, Ramdin went too hard at the catch, but the second slip took the rebound. Seven for 3 in 1.4 overs, and there was still a long queue outside the Sabina Park.By the time the crowd finally settled, Yuvraj Singh was promising another treat. By the end of 12 overs India seemed to have weathered the storm, only momentarily. Yuvraj had reached 35 off 32, quite a contrast to Dhoni’s 11 off 31. It was all fine until then, because the partnership read 47 off 62.But neither Gayle nor Taylor was done yet. Taylor was asked to bowl his seventh over on the trot, and he got Yuvraj with the first ball. Gayle was not going to wait for mistakes now. Back came Rampaul, in came a leg gully and a slip, and out came the open secret: the bouncers. After an edgy nine-ball stay, Yusuf Pathan edged an accurate bouncer from Dwayne Bravo. Ravindra Jadeja repeated his dismissal from the first match, pushing at a delivery away from his body. After the second slump of the innings, India stood at 70 for 6, and Dhoni looking for some support from the other end.Harbhajan Singh and Praveen Kumar didn’t show any appreciation of the fact that there were close to 30 overs still to go, getting out to flashy shots, and soon India were 82 for 8. But Rampaul’s fourth wicket came in his tenth over, a maiden, and Taylor and Bravo were nearing the completion of their quotas as well.Dhoni took the batting Powerplay in the 23rd over, and farmed strike, even refusing singles to RP. Gayle got through the Powerplay overs without much damage, but had to opt against an all-out attack because Bravo and Taylor had only two overs each to go. He also seemed to have sensed that the pitch had eased out, and was happy to contain. Dhoni and RP, meanwhile, batted sensibly.Dhoni wasn’t in the cleanest of touches, but took charge of the rescue work. RP hung around him, and between them they brought up only the fifth 100-run stand for the ninth wicket in ODI history. RP’s 23 was his personal best, and Dhoni looked set for what would have been a fifth century. But Bravo and Taylor came back well, making sure India didn’t play their full quota. Dhoni was the last to go, for a responsible 95, to a perfect slower ball from Taylor in the 49th over.If India thought they were carrying some momentum into the defence, they had another think coming. The maiden bowled at the top of the innings, by Praveen Kumar to Gayle, was a false start too. When Morton stood tall and slapped the first ball he faced for four, it confirmed that the pitch held no horrors, at least not after the first few overs in the morning.That being the case, Gayle took a liking to the medium-pace of Ashish Nehra, RP and Praveen. In the over after that maiden, Praveen’s quick reflexes saved his life: the straight pull from Gayle reached the boundary even before one could say “thank god”. Gayle immediately put his hand up to apologise.There was no sense of apology in the way he took the left-arm medium-pacers for 37 runs in their first five overs, killing the contest right there. When Gayle finally fell for a 46-ball 62, Morton had scored just 30. Morton stayed solid after his captain’s fall, getting to his tenth fifty and taking West Indies home with 15.5 overs to spare.