If Rahul Dravid’s partnership with VVS Laxman bailed India out of a tricky situation, then his 182-run stand with Sourav Ganguly shut New Zealand out of the contest, and ensured that the best result they could hope for was a draw. Ganguly’s innings was played out in three different parts: in the first session, he scarcely played a convincing stroke, scoring 19 from 73 balls. For much of that period, he made generous use of his pads.

The fluency started to come into his batting towards the later part of the afternoon session, when he scored 56 from 101 balls. As the table indicates, his footwork became more assured too. The 55 minutes after tea was when Ganguly was at his best, hitting 25 off 37 balls. Overall, Ganguly’s not-in-control percentage was 20 – that is, once every five balls he played-and-missed, edged, or was struck on the pads. For Dravid, that figure was only 12%, a figure which suggests the mastery which he displayed for more than a day and a half.

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When New Zealand lost four wickets in next to no time in the morning, Australia could have been forgiven for expecting a repeat of Faridabad, where the same batting crumbled from a similar position. Instead, thanks to Jacob Oram and Daryl Tuffey, Pune gave its cricket fans a much more climactic game, and although Andrew Symonds slammed Australia home by two wickets, New Zealand’s fielding lent more than a helping hand towards that result.Set 259 for victory, Australia needed four off the final over, and after two of those runs had been notched up, Brendon McCullum dropped Brad Williams’s wild slash. Symonds clouted the very next ball to Lou Vincent at short midwicket, and even as that was grassed, the batsmen ran the single needed. Had they been taken, either of those chances could have potentially reversed the result of this game and may even affect New Zealand’s chances of making the TVS Cup final.Vincent had already dropped Symonds once at short extra cover, and his wicket at that time would have dented Australia’s hopes severely. Chasemeister Michael Bevan departed shortly afterwards for 50 (204 for 6), and it was Symonds who nudged Australia steadily towards 259, taking 10 runs off the last two balls of the penultimate over and keeping a cool head throughout.Symonds’s final assault built upon a 108-run fifth-wicket partnership between Bevan and Michael Clarke (70), who came together with Australia in some distress. Daryl Tuffey had Adam Gilchrist caught at mid-off (34 for 1), Matthew Hayden caught at slip (40 for 2) and Damien Martyn bowled off an inside edge (54 for 3). Scott Styris then bowled Ricky Ponting, and at four wickets down for 54, some calm batting was urgently needed.Bevan had provided that so many times in the past that it was now almost second nature, but Clarke’s supply of it was a revelation. Displaying excellent hand-eye coordination and some canny shot selection, Clarke rotated strike easily, and displayed an array of strokes and a willingness to improvise. He used his feet regularly to Daniel Vettori, once coming down the pitch and dragging him from outside off for a mighty six over midwicket. At the other end, Bevan batted away with minimum fuss; even his six off Chris Harris over long-off bore the stamp of business rather than pleasure.After Clarke inside-edged Tuffey onto his stumps (173 for 5) and Bevan, uncharacteristically, made an error of judgement during the final phase of a chase by top-edging a pull, Symonds stuck it out relentlessly. Ian Harvey and Andy Bichel played their part by sticking to a run-a-ball formula.Earlier Brad Williams, having found at Faridabad a script that pleased him, took ball in hand with the sole purpose of creating a sequel. Consistently moving the ball either way in his opening spell, Williams trapped both Chris Nevin and Scott Styris lbw by getting some nip into the batsmen. In between, he induced Lou Vincent to jab an outswinger to slip, and when he bowled Craig McMillan through the gate (21 for 4), New Zealand had their backs to the wall.

After Bichel came into the attack, however, the pressure eased. The prodigious movement, which had so far worked against New Zealand, now started to contribute to the number of extras, and Cairns and Stephen Fleming had just started to mount a recovery when Bichel snaffled Cairns with the 10th ball of an over. After having delivered three wides and a no ball, Bichel got one to move into Cairns and trap him lbw (68 for 5).Fleming went into Test-match mode after that. He survived a difficult caught-and-bowled chance off Harvey, but his shield looked impenetrable until he skied a pull off Symonds to midwicket in a rush of blood (130 for 6).Harris soon slashed Williams to deep cover (151 for 7), but thereafter followed New Zealand’s best partnership – of 68 runs for the eighth wicket. Oram, using his height to good effect by striding forward and covering all swing, thumped bad balls for four and nudged singles otherwise. McCullum was content to turn the strike over repeatedly to Oram. A vicious six off Bichel over midwicket brought up the 200 for New Zealand, but soon after, Oram was struck on the ribs by a full toss that slipped out of Symonds’s hand. Although it was entirely accidental, it seemed to shake him up a little. Oram savaged 14 runs off the first five balls of that over, hitting cleanly and powerfully, but he moved to leg for the final ball – a full, straight delivery – and was bowled (219 for 8).Oram’s innings had wrested back the initiative for New Zealand, and McCullum and Vettori intelligently kept the scoreboard ticking over in the final few overs. Perhaps New Zealand could have used a few more slogged fours during that time, but more than anything else, they could have used their normally high levels of fielding, for if any game was lost by dropped catches, this one was.

The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) has defended its decision to impose a £160 (US$225) “cricket surcharge” on tickets made available to England supporters who are travelling to the Caribbean in April next year to watch the series between England and West Indies.The Caribbean – Antigua and Barbados in particular – has become a popular destination for cricket-watching overseas tourists, and on England’s last visit in 1997-98 there was considerable local unease with the number of tickets allocated to visitors as many locals were unable to watch games. The cash-strapped WICB has looked to derive revenue and stem burgeoning demand from the tourists with the levy, leaving many supporters fuming with accusations that its actions amount to little more than “blackmail and theft”.The WICB explained that the extra revenue would be spent on developing the local infrastructure ahead of the 2007 World Cup, and that the massive demand for the St John’s and Bridgetown Tests had left them with little option. “We recognised that there is always a huge influx of supporters from the United Kingdom and Europe and that we haven’t managed the ticketing procedure properly in the past,” Darren Millien, the WICB’s marketing executive, told the Times newspaper. “Installing up to 7000 visitors in our small, 8000-seat stadiums has brought us harsh criticism from our own supporters, who were unable to get into the matches. This way we will be able to increase the stadium capacity by installing temporary stands and manage the situation properly, so that we have a much fairer distribution of tickets.”Five-day tickets for the third Test in Barbados range in price from £289 to £348, while similar packages for the final Test in Antigua cost between £258 and £389. Tickets for the less-popular Jamaica and Trinidad Tests are cheaper, but are still more than £200 for a five-day pass. At between £40 and £70 a day, it compares with the most expensive seats at any Test ground in England. A final sting in the tail is that there are no refunds on any day if more than 15 overs are bowled.One Cricinfo reader wrote to us to say that the increase was “a disgrace”. He explained that in 1998 he paid a total of £55 for the five days of the Barbados Test and planned a return visit with his family in 2004, but that the new prices were out of his budget. But according to London-based New Century Marketing, who are handling ticket sales to England supporters, there has been little drop-off in demand, with some stands in Barbados and Antigua sold out within days of tickets going on sale.

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Ashley Giles emerged as the unlikely hero for England, returning to form with three wickets to give his side the edge on a rain-affected first day at Galle. It was a tale of two halves either side of a two-hour rain delay in the afternoon: the first one belonged to Sri Lanka, but England hit back to take the honours in the second as Sri Lanka closed on 138 for 4.On another brutally hot day, Michael Vaughan was beginning to rue his failure to call correctly at the toss – today was his eighth reverse in his last nine internationals – as Sanath Jayasuriya and Marvan Atapattu fended off the new ball and passed 3000 Test runs together as an opening pair. Atapattu was as watchful as ever, while Jayasuriya started with a bang, but then also knuckled down to solid defence.England’s bowling was economical rather than threatening. Paul Collingwood, making his Test debut in place of Nasser Hussain, who has a viral infection, was brought on for a brief spell and found some useful shape with his outswingers. Gareth Batty, who had to be dragged from the sea after a surfing incident on Monday evening, was brought on ahead of Giles, and bowled with good flight and spin, but with no result.Atapattu and Jayasuriya slowly stepped up the pace. Jayasuriya had a couple of chances to free his arms and gleefully carted the ball past point, even though he also cut a couple of streaky boundaries, especially off Batty. And just as the dark clouds approaching the ground seemed to pose the most threat to the batsmen, Giles eventually made the breakthrough in his second over. Jayasuriya, on 48, lunged forward and clipped the ball off the pad straight to Collingwood at short leg (76 for 1).It was a welcome relief for England and eased the pressure in the horribly humid conditions, but just as they had something to shout about, the customary afternoon storm swept across the ground. The groundstaff, which had been in place for half an hour, knew what was coming and dragged the collection of covers onto the ground as the players scurried for shelter.But a change in weather brought a change in luck for England. After play resumed, Andrew Flintoff made an immediate impact with the wicket of Atapattu. Flintoff hurled a short ball down the leg side and Atapattu gloved it to Chris Read for a watchful 29 (88 for 2).

Meanwhile, Kumar Sangakkara was in a hurry to make up for lost time, and he took a liking to Matthew Hoggard in particular. He smashed him through midwicket the first ball after the restart, cut him past point to signal the hundred, and then drove him through the covers for another boundary.But Giles seized the initiative as the Sri Lankans gradually went into their shell. Bowling round the wicket, he first snatched the big scalp of Mahela Jayawardene. The ball pitched on middle and leg and then straightened to take the inside edge, and flew to Collingwood at silly point via the pad (132 for 3).Then Hashan Tillakaratne fell for a duck when he attempted to cut Giles through point. Leaning back, he wafted at the ball and edged a sharp catch to Read, and after looking lost in the morning, England were suddenly in control (132 for 4). Unsurprisingly, Sangakkara and Thilan Samaraweera accepted the offer of bad light at 6.05pm local time, and England could reflect one a good first day’s work.

Sir Everton Weekes, the former West Indies batsman, has urged the current side to show more mental toughness after their two crushing defeats in the first two Tests against South Africa.West Indies were hammered by 189 runs at Johannesburg, and by an innings and 65 runs at Durban. They now face a tough task to get anything out of the final two Tests, at Cape Town and Centurion Park.”The mental attitude needs to change,” Weekes, who scored 4455 runs in 48 Tests, told . “The players are not bad but they are down now. They need to pull themselves together.”Weekes, though, is confident that West Indies won’t suffer a 4-0 whitewash, like they did four years ago when they went down 5-0 against South Africa. “We’re still building and we have a lot of good young players,” insisted Weekes. “I believe we can come to the fore in a year or two.”He added: “Players will emerge more as the team progresses. We have seen some positives even though we’ve lost. There has been some good batting. Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan showed lots of grit and determination in the last Test.”Weekes, however, pointed out the bowling and fielding as areas of concern. “Allround as a team we have not been good. The bowling has not been consistent and we dropped too many catches,” he said. “I can’t see us bouncing back enough to win any Tests but we can draw. To win Tests you need 20 wickets and if we look at bowling, 20 wickets seem hard to get on these pitches.”He concluded: “But all is not lost, we’ve got to go through this period. When you’re rebuilding, these things will happen.”

Barbados 285 and 372 beat Trinidad & Tobago 265 and 146 by 246 runs
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Champions Barbados completed their seventh straight victory, crushing Trinidad & Tobago by 246 runs at Pointe-a-Pierre. T&T, 60 for 4 overnight, subsided for 146 on the final day, with only Gibran Mohammed, their wicketkeeper, holding Barbados up for long with an undefeated 39. Daren Ganga, the T&T captain, didn’t add to his overnight 16 before falling lbw to Fidel Edwards, and Edwards ended some last-wicket fun from Marlon Black, who clubbed 16, by having him caught behind to finish with 4 for 48.Close 3rd day Leeward Islands 190 and 76 for 1 need another 329 runs to beat Jamaica 200 and 394 for 3 (Gayle 219, Lambert 60*)
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Chris Gayle clattered 219 at St. Elizabeth and Jamaica raced to 394 for 3 at almost four runs per over. Maurice Kepple and Tamar Lambert helped themselves to half-centuries and Leeward Islands were set 405 for victory. They began their chase solidly, and were 76 for 1 at stumps with Wilden Cornwall unbeaten on 42.Close 3rd day Kenya 139 (Patel 59, M Nagamootoo 5-45) and 172 for 7 (K Otieno 70) trail Guyana 444 by 131 runs
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Kenya found themselves in a deep hole at Georgetown, as they crumbled to 172 for 7 after being asked to follow-on. They had collapsed in the first innings too, in the face of some fine legspin by Mahendra Nagamootoo. Beginning the third day 104 for 5, the Kenyan lower order didn’t offer any resistance. None of the last five batsmen reached double figures and Kenya followed on, still 305 runs in arrears. Kennedy Otieno anchored the innings with a fine 70 and Hitesh Modi chipped in with 44. But the rest didn’t improve on their first-innings efforts with Neil McGarrell, the left-arm spinner, snaring three wickets. Nagamootoo finished with 2 for 37 and only the final rites remained at the close of play.Close 3rd day West Indies B 197 and 175 for 6 (Richards 59) trail Windward Islands 427 (Smith 154, Sammy 61) by 55 runs
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Windward Islands were in a comfortable position at Grenada, as West Indies B were battling for survival. Having secured a 230-run lead, Windward Islands consolidated their position by reducing their opponents to 175 for 6 at stumps on the third day. Fernix Thomas (3 for 19) and Darren Sammy (2 for 31), the two opening bowlers, took all five wickets between them, as only Austin Richards passed the 25-run mark. All the other batsmen managed starts, but couldn’t kick on to a big score. Earlier in the day, Sammy had impressed with the bat with his 61 proving vital in propping up the Windward Island’s total. He got good support from Rawl Lewis (45) and Lindon James (36). Kenroy Williams was the most successful of the West Indies B bowlers and finished with 3 for 86.

Heath Streak has resigned as Zimbabwe’s captain. Streak made a series of demands to the Zimbabwean Cricket Union, threatening to quit the game altogether if they were not met: but the ZCU called his bluff, and he has been replaced by Tatenda Taibu with immediate effect.According to the ZCU, Streak presented their board of directors with anultimatum during their quarterly meeting. His demands included the immediate review of the selection panel, to leave a maximum of four selectors who would not be directors or commentators and who should have played first-class or Test cricket.Streak apparently said he had no confidence in the teams being selected, and added that he was under stress as he was doubling up as the players’ representative, and the players were continuously raising grievances to him. Streak had earlier said that he was not happy with the management of the team, or with Geoff Marsh, the coach, saying that he had misrepresented him to the selectors.But the acrimony between Streak and the ZCU became apparant when the ZCU issued a statement claiming that Streak had been sacked and that he had retired “from all forms of cricket”. This was denied by Streak. “I don’t want to say anything until matters have been cleared,” he said. “Things aren’t exactly as they have come out. What has happened so far is not my wish.”Streak, who is still only 30, has played 59 Tests and 183 one-dayers. He has had two stints as Zimbabwe’s captain but, despite the odd success, he was unable to change their fortunes. If indeed he has played his last game for Zimbabwe he will follow other big names, such as Andy Flower, Alistair Campbell and Henry Olonga, out of international cricket.Streak recently signed as one of Warwickshire’s overseas players for the coming county season. It may be that he will be available to play rather more often at Edgbaston than he originally expected.Taibu, the diminutive wicketkeeper, had been Streak’s vice-captain in recent series. He will take charge for Zimbabwe’s home series against Sri Lanka in two weeks’ time, when he will become their first black Test captain. He is not 21 until May 14, and so also stands to become the youngest Test captain of all – the record is currently held by Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, who was 21 years 77 days old when he first captained India, in 1961-62.

England 285 and 422 for 5 (Vaughan 140, Trescothick 88) drew with West Indies 751 for 5 dec (Lara 400*) to secure a 3-0 series win
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Michael Vaughan produced a captain’s innings of 140, to put his personal seal on an historic 3-0 series victory in the Caribbean. On a soporific final day in Antigua, the game briefly sparked back to life when West Indies’ spinners grabbed three quick wickets with the final hour approaching, but Graham Thorpe and Geraint Jones stemmed the jitters and batted with enough common sense to force Brian Lara to call off the hunt.It was a peaceful end to a high-octane series, but nothing could dampen the spirits of the Barmy Army, who sang lustily to the bitter end, and no wonder. Only one other side in history has ever pulled off a 3-0 away win in the Caribbean – Ian Johnson’s 1954-55 Australians, whose team included such luminaries as Richie Benaud, Keith Miller, Ray Lindwall and Neil Harvey. It remains to be seen whether the likes of Steve Harmison, Andrew Flintoff and Simon Jones will be spoken of in the same breath.After Lara’s phenomenal unbeaten 400, England did remarkably well to avoid being crushed by his sheer weight of runs. Despite following on after a first-innings bout of vertigo, Vaughan and Marcus Trescothick had regained England’s composure by the fourth evening to close on 145 for 0, and that was the hard part done. It was always going to take something out of the ordinary for West Indies to wrest the initiative back from there.Both Trescothick and Vaughan were quickly into their stride as the day resumed, cutting and square-driving a West Indian attack that appeared resigned to its fate. The pair had been England’s missing links throughout the series, but by the time their partnership ended at 182, they had almost exactly doubled their tally from seven previous efforts.It took a bizarre dismissal to separate them. Trescothick had moved to within 12 of his hundred, when he played forward to a full-length slower ball from Edwards, and somehow squeezed a catch to Ramnaresh Sarwan in the covers. It was a puzzling end to a cathartic innings, and Trescothick was as bemused as any onlooker as he trudged off – had he not checked his shot, he would surely have played it straight into the ground.Vaughan, however, was determined to seal the series with a captain’s knock, and he crashed to his hundred with a gorgeous cover-drive off Edwards, and then followed up with another one in the same over, just for good measure. He had one scare on 99, when Tino Best skimmed his bails with an offcutter as he shouldered arms, but Vaughan would no doubt put it down to impeccable judgment. This was the third time in four English follow-ons that he had made a century, and it was his most significant batting contribution since a similarly backs-to-the-wall effort against Sri Lanka at Kandy last December.After lunch, and with Lara off the field, the game began to drift as West Indies’ spinners wheeled away and Vaughan moved effortlessly towards another milestone. But Sarwan, West Indies’ stand-in captain, brought himself into the attack and in his very first over, he rolled a legbreak across Vaughan’s bows for Ridley Jacobs to snaffle a faint deflection off the glove. Vaughan was gone for 140, and England weren’t entirely out of the woods just yet.

After their crucial contributions earlier in the series, Nasser Hussain and Mark Butcher were the perfect partnership to carry England to safety. Hussain, who was undoubtedly playing in his final innings in the Caribbean, bristled with attacking intent, with Best’s comeback over with the new ball disappearing for 11 runs. Butcher, meanwhile, sailed past his fourth fifty of the series – a metaphor for England’s serene progress.But it wouldn’t have been fair to let the series drift away without a final plot twist, and it was the innocuous spin of Ryan Hinds who sparked the final session into life. His first victim was Butcher, who had made 61 when he aimed a heave over midwicket and snicked a thin edge through to Chris Gayle at first slip (366 for 3). It was so thin, in fact, that Gayle wasn’t fully aware that he had made the breakthrough.Four overs later, Hinds struck again as Hussain swept ambitiously out of the rough and was bowled round his legs for 56 (387 for 4). At this stage, England still trailed by 79, and while Andrew Flintoff could have knocked that deficit off in a matter of minutes, he was determined to emulate his first innings and play sensibly. He wasn’t able to resist temptation, however, when Sarwan lollipopped up a rank full-toss, and Lara pocketed a simple miscue at midwicket (408 for 5).Lara quickly recalled his pacemen for one final victory push, but there was to be no fairytale ending for West Indies. Instead, as Vaughan held aloft the Wisden Trophy and England embarked on a lap of honour, they had to satisfy themselves with a reclaimed world record, and the belated recovery of their pride.

Michael Vaughan is confident he will be fit to play in the second Test against New Zealand, after scans on his injured knee revealed "no real damage"."It’s terribly disappointing to miss a Test match", said Vaughan, "but the positives are that it doesn’t look like I’m going to be out for too long."After injuring his knee at practice on Monday, Vaughan was carried off on a stretcher, causing much concern to his team-mates and England fans alike, considering his previous history of knee trouble.”What happened was a bit freaky," he admitted. "But I have had the knee operated on a couple of times and there are a few tears in the cartilage that I have had dealt with before. It was a big precaution to be carried out of the nets in the way I was, but it is a knee that needs looking after. What might have looked a bit dramatic was the right thing to do at the time.”Vaughan praised the choice of Marcus Trescothick, who has not captained England in a Test match before, as his replacement: “He is a level-headed guy who will give it his best shot; the team are in the capable hands of an astute man out there in the middle."

Harbhajan Singh has warned opposition batsmen to expect a new “magic ball” when they face him next time. Talking to the media during the Indian team’s fitness camp in Bangalore, Harbhajan said: “I have been working on a magic ball. I won’t tell you [anything more on that]. You will see it definitely … it is going to be a surprise.”Harbhajan hasn’t played competitive cricket for more than six months due to a finger injury which cut short his tour of Australia. However, he said that he was now fully fit after following a rehabilitation programme under the guidance of Andrew Leipus, the team physiotherapist. “I have started bowling since the last one month or so. I am feeling confident the way it’s going. I have been working on fitness. Let’s see how it works. I just can’t wait getting into the middle.”Talking about his prolonged absence from the game, Harbhajan said: “[Missing out on the series in] Australia was the most frustrating. I wanted to do well there. Unfortunately, I could not play the full series. I just played one Test and got injured,” he said. “It was frustrating to sit out and watch.”Harbhajan also indicated that he would play a few matches for Indian Airlines, his employer, to gain match-practice before the start of the international season.