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Rahul Dravid appeared relaxed and cheery despite India’s nine-wicket loss in the second Test. His counterpart, Inzamam-ul-Haq, was equally candid in the post-match press conference.

Rahul Dravid
On the reasons for the defeat
They [Pakistan] played well over three-and-a-half days. They played better cricket than us. It is as simple as that.On what the team could have done better
You can look back upon [a lot of areas] and do [things] differently. I wish we had batted better, got the tail out quicker, but the toss is not the only reason. We didn’t bat well enough in the first session, and as you saw, the wicket was up-and-down towards the end. It would have been interesting if either team was chasing 250 on the last day. In hindsight we could have done it differently. If I knew that we would be four down at lunch, we would have done things differently. But we don’t have the benefit of hindsight.On whether his run-out in the second innings was the turning point
One run-out cannot be the turning point. It is the team that plays better that wins, and they [Pakistan] were deserving winners.On not making runs as captain
I was looking forward to this Test. But I played a poor shot [in the first innings]. I was disappointed personally, and hopefully, I will have the opportunity to correct this in Rawalpindi. And make some runs on this tour.On Pakistan’s tail wagging in the first innings
In the first innings we could have done with 75 more runs. And we could have restricted them to less. We needed 150 runs from somewhere. Shoaib Akhtar showed the character to stay at the wicket, something that is not in his nature. Credit to him.On whether mental fatigue led to a rare occasion when India’s batting failed in both innings of a Test
There was no mental fatigue, at least I hope not. We were all very keen and excited to play well here. It’s very hard to point out exact reasons why we failed twice. We know we are most dangerous when we bat well and put runs on the board.On whether umpiring decisions going against India made a difference
We were better in Multan, they were better than us here, and in both games the better team won. Umpiring is part and parcel of the game. I believe that both teams should accept what they get in terms of umpiring.On the fact that India has won the first Test of a series and then immediately lost the next in away series
We definitely think that we have not [handled] this aspect well. We have to find solutions to that problem. I don’t think complacency was a factor. It is not as if we did not try hard enough. That is something we can rule out. We have changed a lot of things over the last two-and-a-half years and hopefully this is something we can change.On the positives India can take out of this match
Yuvraj [Singh] was brilliant. He was batting under pressure and did brilliantly for someone who is playing only his third Test. [Irfan] Pathan and [Lakshmipathy] Balaji showed great heart on what became a flat wicket on the second and third days. They ran in hard consistently. Viru [Virender Sehwag] has been fantastic and Parthiv’s attitude towards the end showed guts and character. I couldn’t have asked for more.On Umar Gul’s spell in the first innings
I admit [Umar] Gul was a surprise package, an inspired selection. Hats off to the young kid. He did well to put the ball in the right areas. He broke the back of our batting and was deservedly the Man of the Match.On the fact that India won comprehensively in Multan and that Pakistan also completed their win with plenty of time to spare
It has been an evenly contested series. Neither team has had a clear advantage. Whoever executes their plans better is going to win. It will be the same in Rawalpindi.On coming back from defeat
It’s disappointing to lose – personally and as a team. I don’t deny that. But character is how you pick yourself up and come back. It does hurt but you have to look ahead and stay positive.On whether the deciding Test would be more intense and competitive
It has been intense and competitive right through. It can’t get any more intense than it already has. Rawalpindi is an important game, the last of this tour.On whether the team was affected by speculation about who would be dropped if Yuvraj Singh was to be included in the third Test
It did not affect the side. That’s the beauty of the game. In this part of the world all sorts of things are discussed, in board-rooms and living-rooms, but there was no talk about this in the dressing-room.

Inzamam-ul-Haq
On the criticism after Multan
This was a very good comeback by our team after what happened at Multan and it was a good answer to the criticism. The boys were very demoralized after the defeat but the criticism in the press was overboard. I was very disappointed by a lot of remarks from ex-Pakistani players and greats. I expected them to try and lift our team after what had happened but they did the exact opposite and I wasn’t very happy with that.On India batting first
I wasn’t that surprised – there was some support for the bowlers and I would’ve bowled anyway had we won the toss. There was something in it for the first few hours.On Rawalpindi
It’s the decider and it is a crucial game. We have to work even harder for that match. There are still some weaknesses in the team. We know that but they will have to be ironed out for the next game. I will not take these lightly at all, and we intend to work even harder now.On Javed Miandad’s hints at retirement following the criticism
The criticism has been intense and uncalled for. I feel similar to Javed that if it continues then it will become difficult for me to carry on as well. If I had said something like this following Multan, then people would have said that I have lost. I am saying this now, after a victory, because I want to make it clear that it is difficult to work under this amount of pressure. Criticism is okay but it has to be positive and constructive.On the new players and selection for the next Test
We will have to see what happens in the next few days. There are still injury concerns, but these players all played extremely well. We will decide on their status closer to the next game.On the failure of the India batting
We know India has a very strong batting line-up and that is why it was so important to take such a big lead. Our bowlers then bowled very well, to a good line and length and it worked. A failure in one match doesn’t mean that their batting isn’t strong, but our bowlers are also confident now for the next game. We will have to work even harder for the next game.On the pressures of captaincy
Captaincy is about handling pressure, but I would argue that international cricket is itself mainly about how you handle the pressure.On confidence
The boys were obviously down after the first game but they now have their confidence back. It will spur them to work even harder for the next match.On the lack of crowds
I think the one-day series played a part as it was held before the Test matches. Also, the security and all its concerns probably helped to keep a few people away, but with a win now, hopefully, more people will turn up for the next game.On Shoaib Akhtar
There was no question of him not wanting to play this Test. He was obviously down after Multan but he is a human being. Like everyone else he goes through bad patches, he performs sometimes and sometimes he doesn’t. He can still bowl better than he did today although his rhythm is coming back. Hopefully he will be in full flow in the next Test.On the fielding
We need to improve our fielding still. It was okay but it can get better. And no, I don’t think we need a coach for it.On the turning point in the game
Rahul Dravid’s run out in the second innings.On his own form and Sachin’s
My own form is good at the moment and I hope to continue it. Sachin is a big player and he will perform no doubt. But if he has another match like he did here then I won’t mind.On the tiff with Kumble
We spent so much time on the field together I just thought we should have a chat. It was nothing special.On the overall progress of the team
The entire squad has been working hard and they have done well. There are some areas that we need to work on and we are still learning as a team. But there is a picture emerging of a team now and a group of players who, if they continue to work hard, will be of benefit to the team.

The second phase of the bidding process for the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies has begun. The Venue Assessment Team (VAT), the ICC and the World Cup organising committee began the tour yesterday and will visit all the countries bidding to host matches in the tournament.The VAT, comprising experts from various sports, began the tour with a two-day visit to Lauderhill in Broward County, Florida. They will then move on to Antigua (June 8 and 9), St Kitts (June 9 and 10), Jamaica (June 10 and 11) and Bermuda (June 11 and 12).The touring party had covered St Lucia, Grenada, St Vincent, Trinidad, Guyana, and Barbados in the first part of the tour from May 24 to 29. After the first leg, the VAT had held private meetings with local bid committees while the officials had discussed venue arrangements and related matters with the governments and cricket officials.Expressing satisfaction with the work done so far by the VAT on the verification tour, Chris Dehring, the managing director of the organising committee, said: “This tour is a critical phase in the venue selection process following which the VAT will prepare a technical report for submission to the CWC [Cricket World Cup] board who they will also fully brief on their findings.”The VAT will present their technical report on June 24 to the board who will make the decision on the venues and allocate matches. That will require an approval from the ICC, who will then announce the list of venues to host matches on July 4 and allocate matches on July 13.

Any team that goes into the final Test of a three-Test series 1-0 up must feel that half its job is done. Would Sourav Ganguly go for a draw on a batting-friendly surface at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore to secure the series win?Ganguly said he would not.”We will play this Test like we played the last two,” he said. “We will play to win.”Inzamam-ul-Haq, Pakistan’s captain, who will be playing his 100th Testtomorrow, agreed that the pitch would help India play for a draw. “Butwe have no choice,” he said. “We have to go for a win. It doesn’tmatter if we lose, but we must win.”The conditions and the pitchThe weather at Bangalore was unusually warm, and bowling in theafternoon sun would be sapping. Both teams had fifth-bowling optionsin Shahid Afridi and Sachin Tendulkar, and these men would no doubtplay a key part in giving the frontline bowlers a break. There mightnot be much work for the faster bowlers here: the pitch was stripped bare, and Bob Woolmer, Pakistan’s coach, described it as “a batting paradise”. The pitch was expected to help the spinners later in the game, though. Winning the toss, thus, was important, as whoever batted first would have a great opportunity to pile up a big score in ideal conditions, and then bowl fourth.The teams

Pakistan“We’re going to play with aggression,” Inzamam-ul-Haq said the day before the Test at Kolkata began. “We’re going to try and play a positive game.” He said that the Kolkata match was Pakistan’s for the saving. “On the pitch we could have batted through the whole day. It was a failure on the part of the batsmen that we didn’t.”Inzamam indicated that two changes were likely in the Pakistan side. He did not say what those were, but birdies indicated that Yasir Hameed would replace Taufeeq Umar, and Arshad Khan would replace Mohammad Khalil.IndiaWinning this Test would be a “big achievement for the team”, said Sourav Ganguly, not just because it would give India a 2-0 series win, but also because they would jump to No. 2 in the ICC’s Test rankings. “The 14-15 guys who have worked for this over the last three, four, five years will be satisfied,” he said. “It will be great for Indian cricket.”No changes were expected in the Indian team, but Ganguly’s form withthe bat was a worry. “I understand that I need to get runs,” he said. “I’ll try and get a big score here.”

Steve Rixon, the former Australian wicketkeeper and New Zealand coach, has joined the call for Matthew Hayden’s exclusion from the Australian team for the fifth Ashes Test, which starts at The Oval on September 8. Hayden has struggled throughout the series, scoring only 180 runs in eight innings at an average of 22.50, and Rixon reckoned it was time for Simon Katich to move up the batting order as Justin Langer’s partner.”I’d be leaving Matthew Hayden out and letting Simon Katich open,” Rixon told . “I’ve no doubt Ricky [Ponting] will want him in the team, but it shouldn’t happen. I’m a fan of Matthew Hayden. He’s been sensational for Australia. But this is a one-off Test with everything – and I mean everything – at stake. It’s the biggest match Australia has played for as long as I can remember. Matthew is a frustrated batsman. Even he would have to admit he’s out of form. It’s been too long since he’s made a big score.” Hayden hasn’t scored a hundred in his last 15 Tests, and averages only 30.23 over that period.”He can come back for the next Test, but he shouldn’t be in this one,” Rixon continued. “I’ve never seen him play the way he is at the moment. Some of the balls he misses, he wouldn’t have hit it with two bats.”If Hayden plays, I hope he gets runs and proves me wrong. But we need batsmen to go out there and fight to save the series. Katich will do that. He was ready for the innings of the life before he was taken out through no fault of his own,” Rixon said, referring to Katich’s 183-ball 59 at Trent Bridge, an innings which was cut short by a dubious lbw decision. “Simon showed that’s it’s possible to bat for a long time against these bowlers when you get tough. The selectors need to be strong on this.”Meanwhile Jason Gillespie, another Australian who has been struggling throughout the tour, rejected suggestions that there will be wholesale changes to the Australian team after the current series. Gillespie was dropped from the fourth Test after taking just three wickets at 100 apiece in the first three.”I honestly don’t believe there is a feeling of a sea change within the team,” Gillespie told . “There is talk of this being an older team but you’re only as old as you feel. We all feel fresh, the batsmen are hitting the ball well, the bowlers are doing well, it’s business as usual.”So, I don’t know if I buy into that sort of talk. That sort of talk always happens when you’re not playing well. “We’ve played a couple of bad games, we haven’t played to our usual standards, and you have former players in the media having their bit to say, which is fine. We know we can do better, it’s time for us to fine-tune our skills and we’ll silence [the critics] when we win at The Oval.”

The ICC has announced that Johan Botha, the South African offspinner, has been suspended from bowling in international cricket. The decision follows his action being cited during the third Test against Australia at Sydney last month.Dave Richardson, the ICC’s general manager – cricket, said that the ban will apply until Botha can be shown to have remedied his action. “The independent report has identified excessive levels of straightening in both his off-break and doosra deliveries,” Richardson explained. “It’s now up to Johan to remedy the concerns that have been identified ahead of a reassessment which will be necessary if he is to return to international cricket. Johan is a young player and there’s nothing to stop him making a successful return to international cricket with a remodelled action.”Botha, who underwent independent testing by a team led by Professor Bruce Elliott at the University of Western Australia on February 1, had not been reported before. He now has to submit to fresh independent analysis to establish that he has remedied his action. The timing of any reassessment is at the discretion of the United Cricket Board of South Africa and the player.Botha has 14 days to appeal. But if he returns to international cricket and is again ruled to have been bowling with an illegal action with 24 months of his return then he faces an automatic one-year ban.Botha is the fifth player to have undergone an independent review of his action since a new process for the review of suspected illegal actions was introduced in March 2005. The other players are Harbhajan Singh, Shabbir Ahmed, Shoaib Malik and Jermaine Lawson.

Simon Jones could face disciplinary action from the International Cricket Council after an excited celebration when dismissing Ramnaresh Sarwan during the afternoon session of the second Test at Port-of-Spain.The outburst occurred when Jones won a leg-before decision against Sarwan to leave West Indies teetering on 56 for 3, still 55 behind England. Jones, whose follow-through took him to within inches of Sarwan, screamed in his face and had to be firmly ushered away by team-mates. “I didn’t say anything to him,” Jones insisted. “I just shouted.”Billy Bowden, the umpire, had a word with Jones shortly afterwards, and it is now up to Mike Procter, the match referee, whether he wants to take any further action under the ICC’s Code of Conduct.Jones admitted after the close of play: “The umpires had a couple of words and I apologised for what happened. Obviously I got a little over-excited, but there was nothing malicious there. I didn’t say anything to him. There’s no hard feelings with Sarwan. I was very annoyed with myself for the first ball I bowled him, a rank half-volley, and was just excited to get his wicket.”Jones went on: “Today was the first time on tour that I have felt really good. I tried to relax and that helped a lot. I was way too tense in the first Test. I think we [the bowlers] are working really well as a unit. We are all confident, and you can see that from the way we batted tonight. It would have been nice to knock them off tonight, but we just need another 30 or so and hopefully we can celebrate tomorrow.”

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

Muttiah Muralitharan loves the Asgiriya stadium but at least one bowler will walk away from this ground, irrespective of the result, as infatuated by it. No sooner had Muralitharan sat down to contemplate his 51st five-wicket haul, one that had seemingly shifted a taut Test decisively away from Pakistan in the afternoon, he was contemplating coming out to bat, barely two hours later. For this he can blame Mohammad Asif who with a second five-wicket haul – 11 for the match – ensured that the daunting advantage Muralitharan had gained – a 109-run lead – had been hacked considerably. On an insanely fluctuating day, Sri Lanka crashed to 73 for 8, with Sanath Jayasuriya unlikely to bat, a lead of 182 and the match, still and again, in the balance.Had Glenn McGrath been watching Asif today, he might have allowed himself a smile, but only after recoiling in horror first at a decent mimic. In 12 overs, he loitered around off-stump and cut and seamed through Sri Lanka. For nine overs, Kumar Sangakkara and Upul Tharanga had played and missed but also scored runs occasionally and at 22 for no loss, it was game, set, almost match. Even the loss of Tharanga, cleaned up by a superb offcutter, didn’t seem to matter too much.It was only after Sangakkara went five overs later – inside edging one that came in and not out as he expected – that the madness began. Admittedly, Asif doesn’t seem an easy proposition to face, but using your bat can’t be a bad idea. Thilan Samaraweera, though, probably didn’t think so, offering no shot – as he had done in the first Test – in Asif’s next over. As in the first innings, Asif didn’t let go thereafter. Some luck, when Farveez Maharoof was adjudged lbw, brought him his first ten-wicket haul and Tillakaratne Dilshan’s misjudgement, driving to the wrong length at the wrong time, brought him his second five-wicket haul of the game.Unlike the first innings, he received support from at least one of the three other medium-pacers. Abdul Razzaq began essentially as a run-check but after sending back Mahela Jayawardene in the middle of Asif’s tribute to McGrath, he became something more. Quite what is not certain, but Sri Lanka clearly sussed him as some pie-trundling clown, not a man with a Test hat-trick here. Both Nuwan Kulasekara and Malinga Bandara swung the bat and were duly dismissed in successive overs as a scarcely believable day closed. Bandara’s wicket was the 20th since the morning, when Asif had swiftly brought to close Sri Lanka’s innings.That Asif was even out there again was due mostly to Muralitharan, who began his work, inevitably, in that last over before lunch. Pakistan started the day in a frantic and unsettled manner. An umpteenth new opening pair in Imran Farhat and Kamran Akmal greeted each other just before they greeted the bowlers. The latter introduction wasn’t an easy one. For some time, Farhat drove repeatedly but connected only with air and his first confident stroke came in the eighth over, when he struck Maharoof for a crunchy drive inevitably through square cover. Akmal began in a casino, playing roulette with the slips and gully as Maharoof was prodded tentatively through gully in the second over. His next over found Akmal entirely out of sync; jabbing uppishly and uncertainly through gully again, outside-edging a drive, before attempting to pull but only cracking his bat and apologetically hitting the ball straight for two.

Both, however, survived and just before the drinks break, they celebrated a fifty partnership. Sri Lanka tightened after liquid nourishment and having put together a string of maidens, Kulasekara struck. Farhat would have wished he had driven air, instead of catching the thick edge that went straight to Jayasuriya at gully, who duly, in his last Test, split the webbing on his hand. As revenge for dropping him yesterday, it was bizarre retribution for Farhat.Then arrived the Kandy-man Muralitharan, bearing no lollipops. Two balls after coming on, he got turn, bounce and Akmal, but his best work came a little after lunch when for 11 overs, Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf pretended the Sri Lankans were Indians. A flurry of boundaries, cut late or driven, mixed freely with singles sensible, cheeky and suicidal, and gave Pakistan bluster. When Younis uncertainly edged Pakistan’s eighth boundary since lunch, a quick-time fifty-partnership came up. Had Maharoof not began his previous over, the first of a new spell, with a no-ball that castled Younis, the partnership would have been less.Muralitharan soon balanced Maharoof’s transgression. Yousuf, having cut him late successfully earlier, tried again, only now with less room, less time and more spin to deal with. He didn’t. It spurred Sri Lanka’s fielders and Maharoof at the other end, who soon kept his front foot in check and got Younis to play a half-cut, half-push but fully poor shot to slip.The meat of Pakistan’s batting gone, Muralitharan let the ball do the talking, though Sangakkara’s constant chatter meant it wasn’t alone. Shielding the doosra, he persisted with the offbreak. Angles were changed, flight was tinkered and so was speed. Faisal Iqbal, no mug against spin and freshly confident, swept a four only to be deceived next time he tried it by a rare doosra. Abdul Razzaq’s dismissal was tastier; fed a loopy, wide offbreak which he duly lashed through point for four, he was beaten next ball by a flatter, sharper offbreak. Inzamam’s run-out just before tea heralded, spiritually at least, the end of Pakistan’s innings and Danish Kaneria’s scalp – Muralitharan’s fifth – did it factually. He wouldn’t have expected coming out to bat 25 overs later, though to be fair no one would have. It was that kind of day.

Sri Lanka
Nuwan Kulasekara b Asif 13 (271 for 9)
Lasith Malinga c Razzaq b Kaneria 9 (279 all out)
Pakistan
Imran Farhat c Jayasuriya b Kulasekara 23 (57 for 1)
Kamran Akmal c Jayawardene b Muralitharan 33 (71 for 2)
Mohammad Yousuf b Muralitharan 17 (121 for 3)
Younis Khan c Samaraweera b Maharoof 35 (125 for 4)
Faisal Iqbal lbw Muralitharan 5 (140 for 5)
Abdul Razzaq b Muralitharan 4 (149 for 6)
Inzamam-ul-Haq run-out (sub) Kapugedera (162 for 7)
Umar Gul c Sangakkara 4 (166 for 8)
Mohammad Asif run-out Malinga (166 for 9)
Danish Kaneria c Sangakkara b Muralitharan 4 (170 all out)
Sri Lanka
Upul Tharanga b Asif 12 (22 for 1)
Kumar Sangakkara b Asif 18 (41 for 2)
Thilan Samaraweera b Asif 5 (46 for 3)
Mahela Jayawardene b Razzaq 15 (56 for 4)
Farvez Maharoof lbw Asif 1 (57 for 5)
Tillakaratne Dilshan c Akmal b Asif 11 (65 for 6)
Nuwan Kulasekara c Gul b Razzaq 6 (72 for 7)
Malinga Bandara c Akmal b Razzaq 4 (73 for 8)

Andrew Flintoff, the face of Sky Sports cricket as they embark on their first full summer of home international coverage, has extended his sporting experience in a host of different directions as part of a new mini-series to help promote the game.Entitled “Ready Steady Freddie,” the slot will feature on Sky Sports’ new Saturday morning entertainment show, Cricket AM, which is modelled precisely on the established Soccer AM programme that has proved to be popular, enduring and award-winning.”I’m a bit of a one-trick pony,” claimed Flintoff, although the range of challenges he has so far taken on suggests otherwise. He has practiced his rugby goal-kicking with England’s fly-half Charlie Hodgson, taken boxing lessons from the world welterweight champion, Ricky Hatton, and picked up darts-playing tips from the multiple world champion, Phil “The Power” Taylor.”I’ve enjoyed it to be honest,” said Flintoff. “It has been great to meet different sports people and see how they go about doing their business.” Some of the tips have proved more useful than others, given that Flintoff’s closest friend in the England team, Steve Harmison, actually took a dartboard on tour to India with him.”The manager wasn’t too happy with the excess baggage,” laughed Flintoff. “He had a pole, an oche and everything. We had interconnecting rooms on the trip, and just played darts for six hours a day.” For all of Taylor’s coaching, however, Flintoff struggled to keep up with his team-mate. “Harmy was far better than anyone else,” he joked, “but then he’s been going to social clubs since he was eight!”The Cricket AM show will be hosted by the former BBC children’s TV presenter, Simon Thomas, and Anita Rani, the former presenter of an Asian magazine programme, “Desi DNA.” Other innovations include a cartoon pairing, “Willow and Stumpy”, who will attempt to demystify the game in the manner that Simon Hughes, Channel 4’s analyst, did so effectively in recent seasons, and a Sunday morning chat show in the style of “What The Papers Say”.”The shows are designed to appeal to devoted cricket fans and newcomers to the sport alike,” said a Sky Sports spokesman. “Each sets out to entertain as well as educate and together they will cover all levels of the game from grass-roots to Test match cricket.””2006 is a huge year for cricket on Sky Sports,” added Barney Francis, executive producer for cricket. “This range of programming boasts something for everyone this summer.” In addition to all Test, one-day and Twenty20 international cricket, the coverage will include more than 60 matches at domestic level from the County Championship to the Pro40 tournament, as well as women’s and Under-19 internationals.

Following their warm-up games against the senior Zimbabwe World Cup squad this week, plans are afoot for Zimbabwe A to take on the South African franchise side, the Titans, at the end of March.The Titans are a formidable team who have just recently won the SuperSport Series – South Africa’s premier first-class trophy. The Titans squad contains several South African internationals in Paul Harris, Alfonso Thomas, Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and the captain, Martin van Jaarsveld.They promise to be stiff opposition for the inexperienced Zimbabweans, but tours such as these are essential for Zimbabwe to build up a base of experienced players following the recent spate of retirements which led to Zimbabwe withdrawing themselves from the Test arena. Zimbabwe are set to resume Test cricket later in the year.Speaking on Thursday, Kenyon Ziehl, the chairman of the national selection committee said: “Most of the guys in the side are extremely talented players who are pushing for slots in the national team but still need a bit more time playing List A cricket. The operations department is currently working on a Zimbabwe A programme with prospects of the Titans from South Africa coming down for a couple of games at the end of March.”There are also plans to invite South Africa A in May and a possible tour to India as the year progresses but the final details of these tours still need to be confirmed.

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

It was the Brian Lara show all the way at the Adelaide Oval, as he uncorked an innings of stunning class and vintage majesty on the opening day of the Adelaide Oval. His eighth double-century – an unbeaten 202 – lifted West Indies to 7 for 352 at close of play on the opening day, and left him just 12 runs away from breaking Allan Border’s record for the highest aggregate in Test cricket.Dogged by poor form and bad luck throughout this series, Lara fought back in style at a venue which has always been a lucky one for him – he now averages 94.83 here. As has happened so often in the past, though, none of the other West Indian batsmen offered him substantial support – the second-highest score was a measly 34 – which ensured that despite Lara’s monumental effort, West Indies still only had a par score on the board on a pitch which is an excellent one for batting.Coming in to bat at 2 for 19, Lara had to battle hard for his runs – and for survival – early in the piece. The ball was swinging, conditions were slightly overcast, and both Brett Lee and Glenn McGrath had their tails up. Lara negotiated both, not entirely comfortably, but his biggest test of the day came from an unlikely source. The first ball that Andrew Symonds bowled to him nearly had him trapped in front – though replays showed that Aleem Dar made an excellent judgment as the ball pitched just marginally outside leg – and then, throughout that eight-over spell, Symonds probed ceaselessly with his swing and control.

Lara survived that, battling his way to a 67-ball 27 at lunch. After that, none of the Australian bowlers had much of a chance. The twinkle-toed footwork gradually returned, the uncertain shuffling around the crease stopped, and those supple wrists soon began to work their magic: when the legspinners tossed it high and wide, Lara took the bait, crashing the drives either side of cover; when they drifted towards leg, the sweep shot – including a single-handed one – did the trick. As the confidence returned, so did the ability to pick the gaps and make use of the short boundaries square of the wicket. When Lee returned for his second spell, he was greeted with a scorching square-drive – little footwork but all flourish – and then a pull shot which brought him his hundred.By the final session, Lara’s mastery over the Australian bowlers was complete. Though this was a first-day pitch, both Warne and MacGill got reasonable turn from it, but Lara’s presence meant they were far less effective than they might have been otherwise – off 107 balls, they leaked 88 runs to him. Ponting took the second new ball as soon as it was due, but that only increased the flow of runs for Lara. On 190 with just three overs to go, Lara turned it on in style, pulling Lee in front of square for four, flicking him for a couple, and then unleashing another pull which crashed into the square-leg fence – his 20th four – and brought up his double-hundred. The Adelaide crowd, which had given him a rousing welcome in the morning sensing that it was probably be his last Test in Australia, rose to a man to applaud an outstanding effort.At the end, the score was a damning indictment on the rest of the batsmen. Wavell Hinds, back in the team in place of Chris Gayle, and Devon Smith were consumed by the pace and swing of Lee, who bowled an inspired opening spell, and while Shivnarine Chanderpaul fell to a fine delivery, some of the others were guilty of throwing it away – Ramnaresh Sarwan fell to the pull for the umpteenth time, while Dwayne Smith tried to smash the cover off the ball when what was needed was sensible support for Lara.The best support acts came from the batting heroes at Hobart, Dwayne Bravo and Denesh Ramdin. Bravo batted with all the assurance he had shown at the Bellerive Oval, scoring a fine 34, while Ramdin handled both the spinners and the new ball with aplomb till he was trapped on the shuffle late in the day. With only the bowlers for company, expect Lara to turn it on from the start on the second day. And expect another standing ovation when – and if – he gets those 12 runs.

Wavell Hinds c Hayden b Lee 10 (1 for 16)
Devon Smith c Hayden b Lee 7 (2 for 19)
Ramnaresh Sarwan c Symonds b Lee 16 (3 for 53)
Shivnarine Chanderpaul c Gilchrist b Symonds 25 (4 for 121)
Dwayne Bravo c Ponting b MacGill 34 (5 for 237)
Dwayne Smith c Symonds b MacGill 14 (6 for 263)
Denesh Ramdin lbw b McGrath 27 (7 for 333)