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The two most exciting and beguiling cricketers of their time, Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar, are on opposite sides for the first time in five years.Yet the West Indies and India start the Cable & Wireless series today battling each other to escape the lower reaches of the latest International Cricket Council (ICC) ratings.Lara, the brilliant West Indian returning after a three-month layoff through injury, and Tendulkar, the little Indian maestro, share a host of records, 46 Tests hundreds and averages in excess of 50. But the ICC places their teams ahead only of Zimbabwe and Bangladesh.Tendulkar, whose average of 58.57 from 91 Tests places him among the all-time batting elite, needs only another two centuries to surpass the legendary Australia Don Bradman’s incredible 29 in 52 Tests (from which he averaged just .06 short of an even 100) and nudge closer to the overall record of 34 by another great Indian, Sunil Gavaskar.Millions of his adoring countrymen will be following his progress, fully expecting him to feast on the inexperienced West Indies bowling.The West Indies rely on Lara, the flamboyant left-hander from Trinidad, to reply in kind.They have not always been able to depend on him as India has Tendulkar, for his form tends to fluctuate with his moods. But when he puts his mind to it, as he did in compiling Test cricket’s highest individual score, 375, against England in Antigua eight years ago and more recently in three Tests in Sri Lanka last December when he compiled 688 runs at 114.66, not even Tendulkar is as devastating.He dislocated and fractured his elbow in an on-field collision in a subsequent One-Day International, an injury that required two months to properly heal.Since then his match cricket has been confined to an innings of 71 against a touring amateur club team from Surrey in Port-of-Spain two weeks ago. But he reports no discomfort batting in the nets.Captains Carl Hooper of the West Indies and Saurav Ganguly of India are adamant that there are 22 players on the field, not just two, and that the series will surely be decided by more than the anticipated face-off between Lara and Tendulkar.The numbers strongly favour India, even given their appalling record overseas where they have not won a series since they overcame Sri Lanka 1-0 in Sri Lanka eight years ago and the West Indies’ resilience at home where they have fallen only twice in the past 28 years.Apart from Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Ganguly and opener Shiv Das are Indian batsmen who average over 40. Lara is the only West Indian in that league.While the veteran leg-spinner Anil Kumble has 316 wickets to his name and fast bowler Javagal Srinath 219, the West Indies are so short of experience the spearhead of their attack, Merv Dillon, has just 76.

England A saw their Busta International Shield title hopes slideaway into the Georgetown culverts today after Ramnaresh Sarwanput paid to their semi-final plans to win first innings pointsagainst Guyana.The 20 year-old Test batsman made 110 from 274 balls in aninnings spanning just over six hours. It was his fifth firstclass century and his first on home soil and while Carl Hooperexhibited power and good judgement for his 91 yesterday, thehugely talented Sarwan showed patience and good timing, steeringhis side past the 293 target set by England A to secure firstinnings points.Now, all Guyana have to do to progress through to the final nextweekend is to draw this match. England A meanwhile have tocomplete an outright win to qualify and after losing both IanWard, John Crawley and Michael Powell in the closing stages, thistask has taken on gargantuan proportions.England A’s batsmen played enterprisingly in the final session,their wickets falling in the chase for quick runs as they soughtto build up a big second innings total and leave themselves withenough time on the final day to bowl Guyana out.The opening stand between Ian Ward and Michael Powell was one ofthe best of the tour so far, as both players took risks to getthe ball away. Ward pulled Mahendra Nagamootoo over mid wicketfor six and Powell attempted his trademark reverse sweeps, two ofwhich spun to the boundary.But with the total on 124, Ward tried the pull shot again, thistime to pace bowler Reon King but Carl Hooper was in line to takean easy catch at mid wicket and the Surrey opener, who hasenjoyed a successful tour with the bat was dispatched having made56.Crawley faced two balls before he became King’s second victim,struck on the pads to receive an immediate verdict from umpireEddie Nicholls and Powell went the same way, in the over beforestumps, having struck a impressive 59, his half century comingfrom 103 balls and three fours.By the close, England A were 165 for three, having scored at morethan four an over in the 39 bowled in the innings and their leadover Guyana had extended to 129 runs.It could have been more had Sarwan not played a faultlessinnings, denying England A any chance of a sniff at his wicket.He struck 12 boundaries, leaving no quarter of the Bourda grounduntouched and received rousing encouragement from a small butboisterous crowd who in between barracking for Sarwan foundenough energy to make Ryan Sidebottom’s life uncomfortable, hisspectacular hair, ambitious footballing displays and aggressionattracting a series of insults from the folk behind long on.There was a delay as a stray dog wandered onto the field andmooched around, untroubled by any official for more than fiveminutes. It even found time to make a deposit, under the nose ofan irritated Ward who gestured to the groundstaff for one of themto come and clear it away, quickly.Clearly he too was getting stick from the crowd since he thensuggested the poop be scooped in their direction, prompting thebiggest reaction of the day.Sarwan’s innings came to a close when he finally holed out toWard at long on off Graeme Swann’s bowling, in a spinners spellthat saw that last three wickets fall for 21, both Swann andChris Schofield earning four wickets a piece.Guyana made 336, a lead of 43 runs but according to England Acoach Peter Moores, a plan of action for the remaining sessionswas formulated and immediately deployed.”We knew we had to get runs quickly and decided we wanted to putat least 160 on the board by the close of play. Our openersplayed extremely well and we were happy that we made quickprogress” he said.”It would have been nice to have got Sarwan out sooner but heplayed extremely well and although we bowled well, he didn’toffer up too many opportunities.”Tomorrow we will aim to get around 250 but the key thing isleaving ourselves with around 60 overs to bowl them out and thenI think we are still in with a very good chance of winning.”Our policy is all or nothing. We are definitely prepared tosacrifice a defeat in the pursuit of victory because we badlywant to get into the final so we know what we have to do” hesaid.

Owais Shah was unbeaten on 86, his highest championship score for two years, when heavy rain arrived at Chester-le-Street with Middlesex on 182 for two after 62 overs.On an excellent pitch, the Durham attack posed few problems for Shah or Stephen Fleming as they shared an unbroken stand of 133 in 37 overs.Shah’s top championship score was 76 last season, but recent signs of starting to fulfill his potential continued in a blemish-free innings.Michael Roseberry was largely responsible for running out Andrew Strauss in the third over then laboured until the 25th over against his former county. On a much better pitch than the immature surfaces he had to endure during his disappointing spell as Durham captain, Roseberry made 17 before he pushed forward and edged Neil Killeen to wicketkeeper Andrew Pratt.But Fleming followed his century at Bristol on Saturday by clipping the ball sweetly off his legs and cutting fiercely on his way to 63 not out.After slow progress in the morning, 97 runs were added in 25 overs before the rain arrived.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsJames Franklin held his nerves in the last over to ensure a New Zealand win•Associated Press

A solitary Twenty20 it was, but it featured multiple narratives, an emotional return for Yuvraj Singh and his fans, an anti-climax for India and an incredible comeback from New Zealand. After Brendon McCullum had punched a furious 91, Virat Kohli counter-punched with a majestic 70, leaving India with 49 to get off 42 deliveries with seven wickets remaining.That is when the Chennai pitch started to behave more like a typical Chennai pitch; the ball had come on nicely till then. MS Dhoni and Yuvraj struggled to get the ball off the square, James Franklin and Jacob Oram took all pace off the ball to make it harder, and the asking-rate surged suddenly. Dhoni, having promoted himself ahead of Manoj Tiwary and Rohit Sharma, ended unbeaten on a perplexing 22 off 23 deliveries, failing to find any timing on his swipes and slogs and reduced to nudging singles on the leg side.With 20 needed off the last eight deliveries, Yuvraj managed to heave Oram over deep midwicket for six. With 12 needed off the last five, Dhoni managed to pull Franklin to deep square leg for four. With six needed off three, Yuvraj heaved and was bowled for 34 off 26.There was still time for one final narrative. Enter Rohit, under pressure for his lack of form, with six still needed. He tried gamely, swinging both the remaining deliveries for a couple of runs each, but India had to pay for tapering off after Kohli’s dismissal in the 14th over.

Smart stats

• New Zealand’s win is the seventh by a margin of one run in Twenty20 internationals. New Zealand had beaten Pakistan in Barbados in 2010 by the same margin.

• New Zealand have won the most Twenty20 matches against India (4). They are also the only top team never to lose a single match against India.

• Brendon McCullum’s 91 is the second-highest score in an Twenty20 international against India. The previous record for a New Zealand batsman (69) was also held by McCullum. McCullum has three fifties in four innings against India.

• McCullum, who is the highest run-getter in Twenty20 matches, also holds the record for the most fifty-plus scores (10).

• India’s score of 166 is their third-highest in a losing cause (in chases). The highest is 186 against Sri Lanka in Nagpur in 2009.

• The number of wickets lost by India (4) is the fewest in an unsuccessful chase (minimum 15 overs in the innings).

• MS Dhoni has three20-plus innings at a strike rate less than 100. Two of those are against New Zealand. On each of these occasions, India have gone on to lose the game.

India’s defeat was the last thing on the Chennai crowd’s mind when Kohli, opening in place of the injured Virender Sehwag, was raining boundaries on New Zealand during his 15th fifty-plus international score this year. Wide deliveries were swatted away with disdain, length deliveries were willed into gaps with confident pushes, spinners were lofted inside-out over extra cover, fast bowlers were charged at and hammered down the ground.Kohli’s assault and his 60-run second-wicket stand with Suresh Raina allowed Yuvraj to ease into his comeback knock. The crowd erupted when Yuvraj thick-edged Adam Milne past slip for his first boundary and swung Daniel Vettori over deep midwicket for his first six. In between, he was let-off when McCullum and Kyle Mills collided trying to take a top-edged pull off Milne.It was Franklin who began the turnaround when he had Kohli lofting his second delivery to wide long-off. New Zealand also had McCullum to thank, for lifting them from 2 for 2 with a calculated 91 that highlighted his importance to his side, especially in Twenty20s. McCullum had support from Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor, but he was almost single-handedly responsible for New Zealand reaching a competitive score with a knock that began watchfully, and then exploded into a frenzy of powerful hits over extra cover, down the ground and over midwicket.McCullum often begins a Test innings with a charge down the track and it was probably the two early wickets that made him play with some caution initially. Rob Nicol and Martin Guptill came out swinging but were bowled by incoming deliveries from Zaheer Khan and Irfan Pathan.McCullum broke free in the fifth over, flicking and cutting Zaheer for boundaries. L Balaji, making his T20I debut and playing his first game for India since February 2009, was inside-edged past short fine leg and sliced over point for boundaries in the next over.Williamson, a calm man under pressure usually, ensured he gave the strike to McCullum, who was now in control enough to ward off his usual self-destructing tendencies.Sweeps, reverse-sweeps and scoops were kept away. The one time he tried a reverse-sweep, on 38, he got away with a close lbw shout against R Ashwin, with the umpire ruling there was an inside edge when replays indicated there wasn’t any. McCullum’s one good innings during the Test series against India was ended when the umpire did not spot an inside edge. It was his turn to benefit today.McCullum went after Ashwin, lofting him over extra cover for boundaries and down the ground for sixes. Ashwin, the lone spinner playing ahead of the recalled Harbhajan Singh, went for 34 in three overs.McCullum was only nine short of what would have been his second T20I hundred when he was eventually bowled after missing a sweep off a slow cutter from Irfan in the 17th over. Taylor and Oram were around to take New Zealand to a respectable score.India rode on Kohli’s brilliance in the chase, bottled up for a while after he fell, and when they tried to catch up, it was too late.

South Africa Under-19 are in a very strong position to win their opening New Zealand tour match outright, with an 236-run lead heading into the third and final day.Otago Under-19 were 21/0 overnight but soon found themselves in all sorts of trouble.A wicket off the very first ball of the day saw a slide begin from 21/1 to 60/7, at one stage losing five wickets for a mere nine runs during the collapse.Only Mark Joyce stood between the South Africans and the follow-on enforcement, putting on fine stands of 45, 27 and 25 for the final three wickets with Matt Adair, Ben Ryan and Jamie Murley. Number eight Joyce was last man out for 60.It was very much the old cricket story of the tail wagging, and in this case the vigorously wagging bottom order reduced the first innings deficit to 123.For South Africa Johan Botha had the incredible figures of 18 overs, 13 maidens, 10 runs, 6 wickets. He bowled very well and many of the Otago batsmen looked back in horror to see either stumps knocked out of the ground or catches spurting to the slip cordon. The poplars and silver birch trees may have watched in silence, but they couldn’t fail to have been impressed by his performance, on a day he could rightly call his overseas debut.Imran Khan, with figures of 18.2-4-62-2, came in for some punishment from Joyce, but otherwise bowled impressively with an unusual action that sees almost no use of his left arm.Craig Thysen (1-21 from 12 overs), Gerhard de Bruin 0-33 from 15 overs) and Monde Zondeki (0-20 from 13 overs) all bowled economically, with Zondeki looking very fast on occasions.The South African fielding overall was not as slick as Otago’s had been the previous day, exerting far less pressure to boot. They will have plenty of work to be done to get into shape before next week’s opening Youth Test against the New Zealand Under-19s.South Africa commenced their second innings with a lead of 123 runs and the knowledge that Otago had to bat last on the pitch which has yet to deteriorate significantly.James Schorn, who top scored with 94 in South Africa’s first innings, looked in fine touch in his second visit to the crease. Together with captain Rivash Gobind he set about cementing his side’s already strong situation.Both batsmen played some classic shots that suggested they had the ability to be players of the future for South Africa. They negotiated the final period of play very well and saw their team reach 113/1 with Schorn 47 not out and Gobind unbeaten on 56 at the close.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsJames Anderson can only look on as Ryan Harris celebrates Paul Collingwood’s last-ball dismissal•Getty Images

Australia are closing in on a series-levelling victory at the WACA after ripping out five England wickets during the final session to back up Michael Hussey’s 116 which continued his phenomenal series. Mitchell Johnson and Ryan Harris both struck in the final five minutes of play to finish with two apiece while other scalp, the key one of Kevin Pietersen for 3, went to the hardworking Ben Hilfenhaus as England lurched to stumps on 5 for 81.Those final few moments did huge damage to England who were already struggling. Jonathan Trott had played well for 31 before fencing at Johnson and, in a sign of how fortunes have changed, Ricky Ponting parried the ball at second slip only for Brad Haddin to snap up the chance. Ponting immediately left the field for treatment on a finger so missed the final-ball drama when the out-of-form Paul Collingwood edge Harris to third slip, the ball after nightwatchman James Anderson declined a single to take the strike off Collingwood.Hussey and Shane Watson, who fell five runs short of his hundred, were chiefly responsible for building Australia’s strong position as they extended their fourth-wicket stand to 113. After that, England staged a fightback with Chris Tremlett claiming his maiden five-wicket haul as the last six wickets fell for 55 but, despite the positive talk of a repeat of South Africa’s 414-run chase in 2008-09, history was always unlikely to repeat itself.Australia were mightily pumped up for the final session, knowing the quick bowlers could go full throttle. Ponting wasn’t afraid to switch the bowlers around and it was a change of ends for Harris that brought the first breakthrough when Alastair Cook was struck on the back leg. Cook asked Andrew Strauss if it was worth a review, but wasn’t supported by his captain. The ball would have clipped the bails.

Smart Stats

• Shane Watson’s 95 was the fourth time he has fallen in the nineties in his career. He has two centuries and 14 fifties.

• Michael Hussey’s century was his second of the series and the 13th of his career. He averages almost 61 in home Tests but just over 39 in away Tests.

• The 113 run partnership between Hussey and Watson was the third century stand for the fourth wicket for Australia against England in Test matches at Perth.

• In 11 innings since June 2010, Kevin Pietersen has scored 477 runs with one century and two fifties. He has scored less than 10 in five of these innings.

• Of the ten previous occasions that Australia have set a target over 300 at Perth, they have gone on to win on seven occasions and drawn twice. The only loss came against South Africa in 2008.

Johnson had been brought on in the sixth over and offered a couple of boundary balls, then tightened up to off stump and found Strauss’s edge which flew comfortably to Ponting at second slip. Whereas Hussey had given a lesson in what to leave, England’s batsmen were far less certain.Pietersen also chased a wide delivery that he poked to first slip to give Hilfenhaus his first wicket since the third ball of the series. Pietersen had escaped a pair with a pull to fine leg but hadn’t settled when he hung his bat out, although it was nothing less than Hilfenhaus deserved for a probing spell. For Pietersen it was his lowest contribution when he has batted twice in a Test. Like his team, it’s been quite a comedown from Adelaide.Throughout the match it has been tough for batsmen when they first come in, which emphasises the importance of the lone hundred so far from Hussey. His latest masterclass made him the first batsman to hit six consecutive fifty-plus scores in a Ashes Tests, a run dating back to his futile hundred at The Oval in 2009. He also became the leading run-scorer in the series, overtaking Cook, and made this the most prolific series of his career. Not bad for a player who nearly lost his place before it all started in Brisbane.He brought up his hundred with a crunching pull, the manner in which many of his boundaries arrived as England maintained the plan of feeding his strength. He was barely troubled by any of the short-pitched offerings, which although working against some of his team-mates were a futile and wasted effort to Hussey.Hussey has an impressive conversion rate of fifties to hundreds, but the same can’t yet be said of Watson. He’d barely put a foot wrong during his innings, unfurling some thumping drives against Steven Finn as he moved carefully to 95 and within sight of his third Test century. Tremlett then got one to hold its line on middle which Watson missed, but the batsman called for a review thinking he’d hit the ball.It was a small window for England, which looked to have become a little bigger when Steven Smith was given caught at slip off an inside edge by Billy Doctrove, but this time the UDRS worked in Australia’s favour when no nick was detected and the ball was also heading over the stumps. It was a skittish innings from Smith, who could also have been run out, before Tremlett’s move to round the wicket worked as Smith gloved down the leg sideHaddin began with a sweep for six over midwicket against Swann, who only bowled five overs in the day and struggled, but got an inside edge into the stumps to give Tremlett a fourth. The lower order couldn’t offer Hussey much support as Johnson drove to cover, Harris pulled to deep midwicket and Siddle edged to third to slip to hand Anderson his 200th Test wicket.Hussey finally departed to the pull, when he picked out deep square-leg to give Tremlett a deserved five-wicket haul, but his innings had set up victory that will arrive on Sunday. And from the position Australia were in on the first afternoon, that’s an astonishing turnaround.

Work on the development of Hampshire’s Ageas Bowl ground, including the construction of a hotel and media centre, has been halted after the contractor went into administration. Hampshire, however, are confident that the delays will not impact on their ability to host England matches, with a Test against India scheduled for 2014.Rod Bransgrove, Hampshire’s chairman, said that there had been “plenty of buffer built into the programme” and that the immediate priority was to minimise the impact to local subcontractors, after developer Denizen ran into financial difficulty. The ECB confirmed it had been in contact with the club and would monitor the situation but was not currently concerned about the staging of matches next summer.”We’re not anticipating any problems,” Bransgrove said. “We’ve already spoken to and are in contact with potential step-in builders. We’re fine in terms of scheduling, we had plenty of buffer built into the programme, so in terms of meeting our obligations for the summer we don’t think they’re going to be affected at all.”A new Hilton Hotel forms the major part of the development and that may now not open in time for the 2014 season, as had been planned. While the hotel is 75% complete, the state-of-the-art media centre – which, unlike the hotel, would fall within the ECB’s remit – is “virtually finished”, Bransgrove said. An inspection was made by the ECB’s major match group in September and a further visit is planned before next season to assess the ground’s readiness for India’s arrival on July 27-31, in what will be only the second Test match Hampshire have hosted.The Ageas Bowl project, which includes additional conferencing and hospitality facilities to help expand Hampshire’s business outside of cricket, is one of many in which counties have been assisted by their local councils. The £48m development has benefited from an investment of £38.5m by Eastleigh Borough Council, which anticipates 500 jobs and £50m in extra annual revenue for the local economy being created.A Hampshire statement said: “Whilst there will inevitably be a short delay to the opening of the hotel, funding to complete the project remains in place and the process to replace Denizen as the main contractor is already underway. This development will not affect the ground’s ability to host major events in 2014.”

Sri Lanka Cricket is looking to the expatriate community in Europe for development funds, SLC secretary Nishantha Ranatunga said, after the board appointed a representative in the region on Friday.United Kingdom resident and textile tycoon Sarath Abeysundara was tasked with raising money for district and school cricket in Europe, and SLC is hopeful he will ease the burden on SLC’s stretched domestic budget.”Mr. Abeysundara’s job is to try and help the board build relationships with the Sri Lankans living in Europe and to raise funds for developments in districts and schools,” Ranatunga said. “We’ve told him to come up with a few options on how he would raise funds for SLC, which he was very keen to do. He has raised funds for SLC before, which we were aware of.”Ranatunga said Abeysundara had links to county team Leicestershire and served on SLC’s foreign committee in the UK – one of several of the board’s outposts abroad. He is also an elected member of SLC’s sponsorship committee, under whose purview the assignment falls.

Misbah-ul-Haq has admitted he “misread the pitch” at the Harare Sports Club in their seven-wicket loss to Zimbabwe in the first ODI. Misbah had won the toss and elected to bat on what he thought would be a good pitch for the team batting first.Even though they were cruising at just under five-runs per over till the 38th over with eight wickets in hand, they only managed 244. Pakistan won both Twenty20s last week on the same ground after batting first after they lost the toss on both the occasions.”We misread the pitch. It was looking like it was going to be slow in the second innings, but I think it was slow in the first innings and played better in the second,” Misbah said.Misbah gave Zimbabwe the credit for chasing a competitive target of 245 with 10 balls to spare. Their top order scored nearly three-fourths of the runs and handled Pakistan’s spinners deftly as Mohammad Hafeez and Shahid Afridi went wicketless.”I think Zimbabwe really deserved it,” Misbah said. “They played really well and played better than us. Specially the way their openers batted, there was no panic in their batting line-up and they did it comfortably. The way they bowled and batted, they really took the game away from us. They are a much improved side, especially in home conditions, they are a better side. I think we have to go back and think where we went wrong to really improve our batting, bowling and fielding.”Misbah stated that their total of 244 was not enough and that their bowling and fielding let them down. Pakistan fielded five bowlers, but their bowling struggled as they failed to break Zimbabwe’s opening partnership.”I don’t think it [244] was enough, you can’t say it was a fighting total on this pitch,” he said. “Maybe we fell 30 runs short. Still, you need to bowl and field very well but we were missing something in the bowling line-up, especially with the new ball and our fielding wasn’t up to the standards.”Opening bowlers are our strength – both of them [Junaid Khan and Mohammad Irfan] give us breakthroughs in the first 10 overs with the new ball, but we were struggling and not getting wickets at the top so that is where we are missing [something]. I think it is really important to get wickets at the top to put the opposition under pressure.”Pakistan are not playing a second-string side on this tour, the way India did earlier this month when they were led by Virat Kohli, even though they play South Africa and Sri Lanka later this year. Misbah defended the selectors’ decision of naming a full-strength squad for the current tour instead of giving youngsters a chance.”In Pakistan people feel that we should win these matches and a lot of people were saying that you should try youngsters and this and that,” he said. “Almost 60% of the players are already new in this team, they are just making their way into international cricket, they are playing regularly at the moment. This team is already relatively new and we played with our full strength. We got the team here, we played with our full strength and we lost.”I think we have to change this psyche because in international cricket all the teams are good enough. And specially if you are playing in their own conditions, you need to be 100% focused and you need to be 100%. Otherwise, if you give them just a little bit of chance, they can do these sort of upsets. We need to just come back strongly and play our A game, our best game then you can really win these games.”The remaining two ODIs of the series will be played on Thursday and Saturday on the same ground before the two-Test series starts next month.

Jagmohan Dalmiya, the interim BCCI chief, has been re-elected Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) president for another term.Dalmiya was re-elected unopposed at the 82nd annual general meeting of the CAB in Kolkata and also retained the panel of the two joint secretaries, Subir Ganguly and Sujan Mukherjee, and treasurer Biswarup Dey. Dalmiya, 73, has been heading the board since 1993, except a 19-month period starting December 2006 when he was unseated from the position for alleged embezzlement of funds from the 1996 World Cup. He was elected the board president again in July 2008.The only change in the board was the election of former BCCI joint secretary Gautam Dasgupta as trustee and board chairman. The four other members, who are also new, to the trustee board are – Russi Jeejeebhoy, Samar Kar, Shibaji Roy and Shivkumar Kalyani.