New Delhi, February 24
While one always wishes the West Indies come good once again, to re-live the hoary days and dominate the world of cricket, but somehow their faith in themselves seems to be a little too fragile.

They managed to make debutant leg-spinner Imran Tahir look much better than he should have been, and then capitulated to Dale Steyn’s searing pace to end at 222 in 47.3 overs, way short of what would have been a fighting total.

Tahir was good, but not that good. His has quite a lot of variation in his bowling, but nothing like what his figures display (4-41 off 10 overs), and the Caribbean boys played the wrong line, or across the line to make him return with the best figures for any South African debutant.

The South Africans have gauged their goings on in the sub-continent pretty accurately, and they decided to go in with an unprecedented three-spinner attack, with Steyn and Morne Morkel doing the seam-up business.

Even more remarkably, skipper Graeme Smith decided to open the bowling with off-spinner Johan Botha, and that looked like a masterstroke as Chris Gayle fell in the very first over.

But Darren Bravo came in, and showed why he is considered to be the next Brian Lara. Apart from the family connections - Darren is Lara’s first cousin and half-brother of Dwayne Bravo - the left-hander showed the sort of class needed for coming good in this business.

While he and Devon Smith were around, it looked like the South African ploy would, after all, come apart. Bravo was super in his knock of 73 as the second-wicket stand of 111 runs looked like creating a foundation for the Caribbeans to really put the fight across to the South Africans.

But once he had played the wrong line to Botha and was trapped in front, the wheel wobbled, and then finally fell off.

Smith patted one back to Tahir and in the leggie’s next over, Ramnaresh Sarwan also fell lbw.

Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Dwayne Bravo then looked like re-creating some sort of a fight back, adding 58 runs for the fifth wicket before Chanderpaul charged down the pitch after playing an expansive reverse sweep and Bravo was forced to respond, falling way short.

Chanderpaul didn’t really make amends, ambitiously hoisting Tahir and after that, things went south in a pile. From 213 for six, the West Indies fell to 213 for nine in the space of ten balls.

The West Indies’ demise had a lot to do with the early dismissals of Gayle and Kieron Pollard, who was trapped in front by Steyn, and their impetuous approach against Tahir.

Otherwise, it could have been well beyond the double nelson they ended with.

After his heroics in the IPL a lot was expected from the flamboyant Keiron Pollard but he fell leg-before for a duck.

Captain Sammy too failed to open his account.and that meant that the West Indies were always going to struggle to post a challenging total.

The South African reply did not begin on a great note with both Amla and Kallis back in the pavilion with only twenty runs on the board.

While Roach claimed the wicket of Amla, the dependable Kallis fell to spinner Benn.

But after the fall of these two wickets, the South Africans were steadied by skipper Smith and De Villiers as the two played some confident shots on both sides of the wicket.

At the halfway stage, South Africa had reached 124 for the loss of two wickets. De Villiers was unbeanten with 61 and Smith was batting with 43.

Earlier, South African bowling was led by Dale Steyn and Imran Tahir who claimed three and four wickets respectively.

South Africa went into the match with three specialist spinners and Smith invited West Indies to bat after winning the toss.

Nagpur, February 24
Skipper Ricky Ponting will be desperately looking to get his act together when Australia take on New Zealand in a Trans-Tasman battle at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Jamtha here tomorrow.

While New Zealand were utterly dominant as they blew away Kenya in their opening round match in Chennai, the Australian batsmen save Shane Watson were rusty against the Zimbabwean bowlers although they managed a comfortable 91-run win in the end.

If Ponting's men will like to put up a better all-round show, the Daniel Vettori-led Blacks Caps will be keen to focus hard on the match despite the devastating earthquake in Christchurch that has led to a loss of several lives. Such has been the telling effect on the squad that New Zealand team are left without a physio and trainer.

Physiotherapist Dayle Shackel and trainer Bryan Stronach have left home to take care of their affected families. In fact, the Board of Control for Cricket in India were requested by New Zealand Cricket to release NCA trainer Paul Close but that Indian board could not spare him.

In fact, it was seniormost all-rounder Scott Styris who spilled the beans on twitter. "Does anyone know of a physio here in India?

Unfortunately BCCI won't let us borrow their kiwi born academy physio whilst ours heads Back to Christchurch to take care of their demolished house? Would only be for a week or so till he comes back," Styris posted on his twitter account. It is there to be seen how well the Kiwis can focus on the on-field activities after a tragedy of this magnitude. When the Black Caps trained during the morning session, it was more like going through the motions -- banter and laughs.

After the England vs Holland game, which saw nearly 600 runs being scored, one can expect another run feast on the Jamtha featherbed where the bowlers will find it difficult to contain the batsmen. — PTI

Colombo, February 24
With Muttiah Muralitharan all set to retire from international cricket after the World Cup, Sri Lankan team wants to win the coveted trophy as a farewell gift for the spinning legend.

The 38-year-old veteran, who holds record 800 wickets in Tests and 521 in ODI, quit the longer version of the game in July last year and is now playing in the mega-event for the fourth and the final time. "He is a special person, a legend. Everyone in the team wants to give him (Murali) a good send off. We want to win the Cup for Murali. It will be a great tribute," said teammate Chamara Kapugedera during the team's practice session here at R Premadasa Stadium.

The right-handed batsman also said that Sri Lanka, the 1996 champions and 2007 runners-up, were keen to lift the trophy for their fans. "The Sri Lankan crowd have been very supportive of us, even in bad times. So we are working hard to bring the Cup home again for our supporters too," Kapugedera said. Sri Lanka, on Saturday will take on Pakistan, who have never lost a World Cup match against the formers in their six previous meetings. — PTI

Nagpur, February 24
New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori today said that it has been quite difficult for them to focus on the big game against Trans-Tasman rivals Australia after the devastating earthquake that rocked Christchurch on Tuesday.

"It's been an incredibly hard build up. For a lot of guys coming to train gives them a chance to get their minds of other things. But then, it's a big game in the World Cup.

It's a Chappell-Hadlee game which means a lot to people back home," a sombre-looking Black Caps captain told the mediaperson in a press conference which was over within seven minutes.

The World Cup clash between the two sides here tomorrow has been named a Chappell-Hadlee game as there are no bilateral ODI series lined up this year. Vettori admitted that it is indeed a 'helpless' situation for the squad as they are not being able to take a stock of the situation back home.

"It has been difficult but we have tried to put things into perspective. Not only the people of Christchurch but the whole country has been affected by the incident. The team feels helpless in such a situation."

Already two of their support staff members — physiotherapist Dayle Shackel and trainer Bryan Stronach — have left for Christchurch from Chennai after getting reports about their homes being damaged. Vettori conceded that it has been difficult without their regular support staff members but their difficulty is nothing compared to what Shackel and Stronach are going through.

"It's difficult but it's nothing compared to what they are going through. They have gone back home to look after extent of damage caused to their houses and to take care of their families. We have got a local physio (Sanil Koyili) who has been great so far. We have to adjust till they come back."

The left-arm spinner said that the match against Australia will be a lot tougher but they can take confidence from their victory against Kenya in Chennai the other day. "It's a different and a lot tougher challenge though we will take confidence from our comprehensive win against Kenya."

New Zealand beat Kenya by 10 wickets with their pace duo of Hamish Bennett and Tim Southee sharing the maximum of spoils.

The New Zealand skipper attributed the success of his pacers to the induction of South African speedster Allan Donald, who is working as bowling consultant for them.

"Allan Donald brings in wealth of experience but the main thing is the confidence he has given to our bowlers. Tim Southee and Hamish Bennett worked really hard with him and enjoyed his expertise. Basically he brings in a lot to the table."

Vettori termed the wicket as a good one and predicted a high-scoring affair. "It's a good wicket. We played the Irish warm-up game here where lot of runs was scored. It's a day game so dew won't be a factor. However, the pitch might get slower as the game progresses."

About Nathan McCullum opening the bowling, Vettori said, "That's an option we tried in the last match. There is nothing different you do on sub-continent pitches. You try and bowl straight. — PTI

Bangalore, February 24
England's middle-order batsman, Ravi Bopara, today reckoned that Sunday's high-profile match against India would be one of their toughest in the ongoing World Cup, but added that their spinners can trouble the hosts if the game is played on a turning track.

"This is one of our toughest challenges in this tournament. We know what the Indian batsman are capable of, but we do have our plans to keep them quiet. We will see on Sunday," Bopara told reporters ahead of the team's training session at the Chinnaswamy Stadium here, the venue for the high-voltage encounter.

"If it is a spinning deck we have got our own spinners who can cause problems. A pitch that spins is going to cause trouble for any team. It is going to cause problems for India as well. A lot is going to depend on the conditions," he added.

Bopara is aware of the enormity of the India game. "Every match is big for us. Even the game the other night was also big for us. But against India in India is going to be huge.

"We are not thinking too much about it. If you think too much about it you will get out of the mould. We want to stay relaxed." Talking about the side's strategy for the crunch match, Bopara said the plans have been chalked out.

"We have plans against each bowler and every batsman but it is how the batsman feel on the day. We generally play aggressive cricket. We know in places like Bangalore, there can be high totals like 270-300. It is a good wicket to bat on, especially against the seamers. It slides on to the bat quite nicely. Last time I played in Bangalore it did not spin," he said. — PTI

Ludhiana, February 24
In order to counter absenteeism among coaches, the Sports Department of Punjab has formulated a plan to ensure attendance of coaches on the ground. According to the plan, the coaches would take pictures of their trainees on the field and send the multi-media message (MMS) to Chandigarh.

This footage would be stored in the main server following which the coaches would be marked as present. The Sports Department is also going to install a biometric card system to monitor the attendance of staff at the department. The officials would put the impression of their fingers in the machine to mark their presence.

Confirming the development, Director of Sports Pargat Singh said the project is currently in the pipeline and the system would be introduced after the Punjab Games.

Ludhiana, February 24
After receiving criticism from all quarters for the constant decline of sports in the state and ignoring players who brought laurels during the Commonwealth Games, the government is now all set to shower money during the inaugural edition of Shaheed-e-Azam Punjab Games.

Confirming the development Punjab Deputy Chief Minister, who is also holding the portfolio of sports minister, said that nearly 2 crore would be given away as prize money during the course of the Punjab Games schedule from February 28 to March 6. The total budget of the games is Rs 3.76 crore.

The players of 11 sports disciplines, including basketball, football, athletics, weightlifting, hockey would slug it out during the games.

BRIEFLY

ICC awaits Pawar’s response on ticket fiasco
NEW DELHI: ICC Head of Media and Communications Colin Gibson today said that the governing body is awaiting a response from its president Sharad Pawar regarding the controversy involving sale and distribution of tickets for World Cup final. Left red faced after World Cup's official ticketing website -- kyazoonga.com -- crashed because of overload, the ICC shot off a letter to Pawar asking him to intervene in the controversy involving the sale of tickets for the summit clash. "The International Cricket Council is awaiting a response from him to decide on the further course of action," Gibson, also the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 Media Director said. The move from the ICC came after rush for tickets saw the site crashing in just 20 minutes after tickets for the final at the Wankhede Stadium on April 2 were put on sale. Only 4000 tickets are available for the general public for the final.—PTI