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ScorecardGareth Berg claimed career-best figures of 6 for 58 as promotion hopefulsMiddlesex tried to make up for lost time in their rain-affected CountyChampion ship clash against Glamorgan at Cardiff. The match did not begin until the third morning after the opening two days had both been complete wash-outs.With the visitors needing 20 points from their final two games to securepromotion, they were keen to make early inroads after stand-in skipper ChrisRogers won the toss and decided to bowl first. It was the right decision as Glamorgan were bowled out for only 157 in their first innings in 45.4 overs with Middlesex replying with 169 for four – a lead of 12 with Rogers still there on 81.Berg, who had not played since May because of a dislocated finger, produced animpressive display of swing bowling in helpful, overcast conditions and wasbacked up by Tim Murtagh (three for 57), who now has 74 wickets for the season. Glamorgan lost captain Alviro Petersen in the opening over of the day when he drove his third delivery straight to Sam Robson at third slip off the bowling of Murtagh without having troubled the scorers.Fellow opener Gareth Rees made a breezy 35, including seven fours, before hedrove rashly at Berg straight into the in the hands of Ollie Rayner at secondslip. Stewart Walters was also dismissed by Berg for just one, England Test captainAndrew Strauss taking the catch at first slip, before Jim Allenby was trappedlbw by Corey Collymore for three.Will Bragg and Nick James guided Glamorgan through to 102 for 4 at lunch. Bragg moved passed 50 for the ninth time this summer in 70 balls before he was caught and bowled by Berg for 52, leaving him 26 short of 1,000 first-class runs for the summer.James was the next to fall for 27 when he was caught by Strauss at slip offMurtagh. Graham Wagg was dismissed with a lovely out-swinger that was snaffledby Rayner at second slip for 10 before Dean Cosker (nought) holed out to StevenCrook at point off Murtagh.Berg then bowled Will Owen (nought) to claim the third five-wicket haul of hiscareer before he secured career-best figures bowling John Glover, also for aduck. Like Glamorgan, Middlesex did not find it easy batting and they lost Straussleg before wicket to Wagg for nine in the sixth over.Rogers scored a 73-ball half-century but he lost Sam Robson (21), Dawid Malan(eight) and former Glamorgan captain Jamie Dalrymple (eight) at regularintervals. He finished the day 19 runs short of his century, alongside John Simpson (35not out).

The Bulawayo defeats were not the finale that Alan Butcher and Brendan Taylor would have wanted to mark Zimbabwe’s second-coming to international cricket, though the overall 3-2 victory no doubt pleased both players and fans. Zimbabwe may have secured the series even before the teams made the five-hour trip south from Harare, but the two losses at the Queens Sports Club would have stung.While the biggest crowd of the series built up through the morning, Shakib Al Hasan was busy building a competitive total for Bangladesh. Naturally, there was some discontent later in the day as the home side was rolled over for 160.No, Zimbabwe weren’t complacent, coach Butcher made clear up front. “We weren’t on holiday,” he said. “Bangladesh came back and played well in the third match in Harare. We knew from playing against them in the past that they had more to offer than they showed in the first two games.”Man-of-the-Series Brian Vitori’s absence due to injury, Butcher said, made quite a difference. “Brian Vitori bowled magnificently in the first two games and tore their batting apart. He wasn’t very successful in the third game and missed the last two with a niggle.”Butcher also said Bangladesh may have underestimated the hosts early on in the series. “They may have been complacent, thinking they would roll us over and then before they knew it, they lost the series. I am disappointed to lose the last two games [though], it has taken a bit of the gloss off.”With Zimbabwe set to host Pakistan for one Test, three ODIs and two Twenty20s in September, Butcher said the side needed to look at what’s worked for them in this series and use that knowledge to improve further. “There are still things we need to work on to keep moving forward. We played as a collective unit. There have been a few outstanding performances, of course Brian Vitori and the experienced players contributing in most games.”Stuart Law, Bangladesh’s newly-appointed coach, said it was time to review the way things worked in Bangladesh cricket. “I understand Bangladesh are very passionate about their cricket. They do things differently and I think sometimes it might not be to the benefit of the cricket team,” he said. “What’s happened over the years obviously hasn’t worked, because Bangladesh hasn’t lifted off the bottom [of the rankings].”I know I’m going to upset a lot of people when I mention these things, but if we really think hard about it, a lot of things have got to change. Not just from the players’ side, but from all walks of life relating to Bangladesh cricket. It’s not a negative or harsh thing to try something different to make the boys better and start climbing that ladder.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Zimbabwe celebrate the victory which secured them the ODI series against Bangladesh•Associated Press

Mushfiqur Rahim’s run-a-ball century went in vain as Bangladesh lost a thrilling match in Harare to hand Zimbabwe the series, with two games left to play. Mushfiqur took Bangladesh within touching distance of victory, after coming to the crease in the 18th over and steadily chipping away at the required rate. He defied a Zimbabwe attack that has dominated the Bangladesh batsmen so far, but he perished one shot away from victory.He was the backbone of Bangladesh chase and provided the vertebrae for debutant Shuvagoto Hom and Mahmudullah to branch out onto but it was not enough. After Zimbabwe put on a par score of 250 on pitch that was good for batting, Mushfiqur would have felt that he had done enough in the middle overs when he built the foundation for the Bangladesh chase, only to see it unravel in the last eight overs, with a sublime show of toe-crushing death bowling from Kyle Jarvis.Together with Hom, Mushfiqur moved Bangladesh to within 66 runs of victory when Brendan Taylor called his troops together for a huddle. They had a series win within reach and he wanted to express the importance of showing that they can defend a total, not just chase one. The very next ball, Hom was run out after pushing the ball to extra cover and taking off for a suicidal run. Mushfiqur was unmoved, taking on Prosper Utseya and Brian Vitori with five boundaries off the next four overs.Vitori was in danger of going wicket-less but removed Mahmudullah with a short ball with his last delivery and caused a major dent in the Bangladesh challenge. Two balls later, Nasir Hossain was also victim to a miscued pull shot, this time from Chris Mpofu. Still, Mushfiqur soldiered on, pulling Mpofu for four and getting it down to 16 from 12 balls.Jarvis removed Shafiul Islam with a full delivery and Mushfiqur responded with a six over midwicket. Jarvis struck back, this time taking out Rubel Hossain with a perfect, inswinging yorker. With eight needed off the final over, Mushfiqur reached his maiden century off the first ball before surrendering to a full delivery, lofted to long-on, to give Mpofu a second wicket and end Bangladesh’s fight.Despite their defeat, Bangladesh seemed to have finally learned from the lessons of matches past and the Zimbabwe innings earlier and benefitted from composure upfront. The openers, Tamim Iqbal and Imrul Kayes, put on 50 their best partnership of the series and negotiated Vitori and Jarvis without taking many risks and scoring mostly in singles.Utseya was the unlikely hero for Zimbabwe, claiming the wicket of Imrul, who he trapped lbw and Siddique, from a caught and bowled. Tamim was run out by Mpofu, after attempting a second run, without his bat, which he dropped mid-way down the pitch, ending his best innings of the tour so far.Shakib did not have to do a repair job, for a change, but found himself bogged down by accurate bowling, mostly from Hamilton Masakadza, who helped push the required-rate up to seven. Eventually, a phenomenal effort from Utseya, who pulled off a caught and bowled diving low to his left, marked the end of the captain’s efforts.Mushfiqur and debutant Shuvagoto who showed the same maturity Nasir did in Sunday’s match, formed a potent partnership and put on 61 runs in ten overs, to trouble Zimbabwe and almost take the game away from them. When Shuvagoto was run out, it started a dramatic collapse for Bangladesh, who lost their last six wickets for 60 runs.Like the top order, Bangladesh’s bowlers, especially the seamers, also showed marked improvement from the first two matches, making use of tighter lines and lengths in favourable conditions that were cool and cloudy. Although there was not much in the way of movement, the seamers were accurate and forced Brendan Taylor and Vusi Sibanda to play a defensive game.Taylor’s lack of footwork cost him for the third time when he slashed at a short and wide ball and was caught at slip. Sibanda followed seven overs later, his execution of the pull shot letting him down again, as he top edged a short Rubel delivery. Tatenda Taibu played more sensibly and was able to capitalise on the pressure release in the 19th over, with the introduction of Nasir.Taibu was dropped three times in his 83, twice when he was on 41, but he displayed some nifty footwork, particularly against the spinners, who were less disciplined than their pacemen. Masakadza accumulated at a slower rate, catching up with Taibu only after crossing the half-century mark.The pair took the batting Powerplay in the 38th over showing intent to capitalise with two established batsmen at the crease. But, Rubel and Shafiul were up to the task, bowling yorkers with distinction, one of which uprooted Masakadza’s leg stump.Zimbabwe’s acceleration continued and they added 52 in the last six overs with Elton Chigumbura using his licence to go wild. It was that burst that proved to be the difference between the two sides.The victory marks the first time Zimbabwe have won an ODI series against a Test playing nation in five years, when they beat Bangladesh 3-2 at home. The remaining two matches in the series will be played in Bulawayo.

Matthew Hayden will come out of retirement to play for the Brisbane Heat in this summer’s Big Bash League. Hayden, who will be 40 by the time the season starts, has officially signed up as the Heat’s 14th player, and he will give up his responsibilities as a board member of Cricket Australia and Queensland Cricket in order to play domestically again.He hasn’t played since the 2010 Champions League, and hasn’t played in Australia since his retirement from Test cricket in January 2009. However, Hayden was keen to get out in the middle again, and the deal was also attractive in a business sense, with his company, The Hayden Way, set to take an equity position with the Heat.”I have had little interest in the T20 format domestically whilst it remained a state based format, which to me, was a pathway or development program to national interests,” Hayden said. “A system, I hasten to add, that I received the benefit of as a player.”But an eight-team Big Bash League structure – involving separate organisations running these entities with private equity stakeholders in the future – has launched the ‘business of cricket’ and relaunched my interest as a highly viable business decision, adding value both to The Hayden Way, and also to me personally on the field.”The Brisbane Heat coach, Darren Lehmann, said the team jumped at the chance to have Hayden on board. “I took no time at all to say yes when the possibility of Matt playing for us was first floated,” Lehmann said. “The man is a legend of our game and brings so much to any team he plays for, whether that’s on the field, in the dressing-room, in the boardroom or away from the field with the fans … it is just outstanding.”

The 2011-12 Ranji Trophy Super League, India’s premier first-class domestic competition, will begin on November 3, the tours, programmes and fixtures committee of the BCCI has announced. The tournament’s league stage will end on December 24, with the knock-out rounds slated between January 2 and 23, 2012. The second-tier of the Ranji Trophy, the Plate division, will run parallel to the Super League, with the winners of the semi-finals qualifying for the knock-out stages of the main event.The Indian domestic season kicks off on September 1, with the Raj Singh Dungapur Trophy for corporates. The eight-day, 50-overs tournament will be played in Vishakhapatnam, Chennai and Bangalore. Reigning Ranji champions Rajasthan will take on Rest of India in the Irani Cup match from October 1 in Jaipur, which will be followed by the one-day Challenger Trophy in Nagpur from October 10.The Duleep Trophy will be on from January 27, followed by the Vijay Hazare Trophy – the inter-state one-day competition – from February 20 to March 12. The zonal one-day competition, the Deodhar Trophy will begin on March 16.The inter-state Twenty20 knock-out competition, the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy scheduled between March 23 and 27, will round-off the season. Qualifiers for the knock-outs will be held in September-October this year.

Ranji Trophy groups:

Super League, Group A: Rajasthan, Karnataka, Mumbai, Railways, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Saurashtra, Orissa
Super League, Group B: Baroda, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Delhi, Gujarat, Bengal, Madhya Pradesh
Plate, Group A: Andhra Pradesh, Services, Kerala, Vidarbha, Himachal Pradesh, Tripura
Plate, Group B: Maharashtra, Goa, Hyderabad, Jharkhand, Assam, Jammu & Kashmir

ScorecardSurrey maintained their perfect start to the Clydesdale Bank 40 with a comfortable 48-run win over Group B rivals Scotland in Edinburgh. The visitors always looked on target for a fourth victory in as many games after some devastating late hitting from Matt Spriegel helped them to 257 for 7 batting first.Scotland’s bowlers had done well to rein in Surrey after an initial onslaught from Steve Davies and Jason Roy, but Spriegel helped his side take 52 from the final 20 deliveries as he finished unbeaten on 82 from 73 balls. It proved a match-winning blast as Scotland battled manfully in pursuit, but simply failed to supply the same type of power hitting to finish on 209 for nine. Neil McCallum top-scored for the hosts with 53 from 51 balls.After his batting heroics, Spriegel claimed the first Scottish wicket when he bowled Fraser Watts and when fellow opener Ryan Flannigan fell from the last ball of the 10th over Scotland were 50 for 2. By contrast, Surrey had been 93 for 1 at the same stage – after Davies and Roy’s powerful start – but the hosts patiently built towards the total in the middle overs thanks to a 72-run stand between McCallum and Preston Mommsen for the fifth wicket.Mommsen departed for a run-a-ball 45 when England Lions seamer Jade Dernbach had him caught by Tom Maynard but with McCallum in touch Scotland reached 200 in the 37th over – the same stage Surrey passed the mark. But where Spriegel stepped up another couple of gears McCallum could not, despite twice clearing the ropes, as he also perished to Dernbach shortly after reaching his half-century to snuff out home hopes.Earlier, Surrey made a blistering start to their innings as they quickly overcame the second-over loss of skipper Rory Hamilton-Brown when he offered a return catch to Matthew Parker. Davies and Roy flayed the Scotland attack in the initial overs as they scored at more than nine an over in a devastating 89-run stand.Davies was particularly brutal, smashing 40 from 28 balls, but his dismissal slowed the rate as Surrey lost three for 17. Roy had looked equally at ease in reaching 52 from 36 balls, but was stumped trying to take the long handle to off-spinner Majid Haq who then also accounted for Maynard.It served to bring caution to Surrey’s batting and the loss of Zander de Bruyn (35) and Chris Schofield (4), both to 20-year-old seamer Josh Davey, pulled the handbrake further as Spriegel offered only sporadic evidence of the late hitting to come. The visitors had only just passed 200 in the 37th over when Gareth Batty departed, but it served as a green light for Spriegel to open his shoulders, clearing the boundary on three occasions, in what proved a match-winning blast.

The return of allrounder Rajeev Vohra is a boost for Germany ahead of the World Cricket League Division 7 tournament in Botswana, captain Asif Khan has said. He also backed newcomer Ashwin Prakash to perform.”Rajeev Vohra is returning to the side after a two-three year gap. He’s a medium-pacer and middle-order batsman who is also extremely agile in the field, so he’s going to be important. Ashwin Prakash who is an offspinner who bats a little will also be a key factor in our side for this event.” Asif also singled out Tawan Rawat – who attended the ICC’s Europe Academy in La Manga, Portugal – and the in-form Milan Fernando and Farooq Ahmed as players to watch.On the playing conditions, Asif said he is interested in seeing how his spinners fare in Botswana. “The artificial surfaces mean they will have to come up with a different way of bowling to take wickets,” he said. “I’m looking forward to seeing how the likes of Kashif Haider perform in these conditions.”Despite the side coming into the tournament straight off Germany’s winter, Asif believes the preparation has been adequate. “Preparation for WCL Division 7 began the moment we got back from the Division 8 tournament [in which Germany placed second to qualify for Division 7] in Kuwait last year.”We’ve used the winter season to do a lot of indoor training, working mainly on our batting and fielding skills. In December and January there were specific indoor sessions across the regions to help players prepare for the event, while in early April we got together as a full squad and trained indoors. As part of our final preparation, last weekend we played a couple of warm-up matches against the Danish A side.”Germany take on Japan in their first match on May 1.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsShane Warne and Rajasthan Royals were all over Mumbai Indians•AFP

Mumbai Indians’ first batting collapse of the tournament gave Rajasthan Royals a small target of 95 to chase on a dry and cracked pitch in Jaipur. Although the home team had to fight hard for their victory, it ended up being a comprehensive one.Sachin Tendulkar expected conditions to be difficult for batting but he probably didn’t expect that none of his batsmen would score more than 17. Mumbai started confidently with Tendulkar driving the second ball through point and Davy Jacobs punching the ball over long-on for the first six of the innings. Jacobs went three balls after that shot when he played across the line to an Amit Singh delivery that uprooted middle stump.In the next over, Tendulkar was stumped off the bowling of Ashok Menaria to give the left-arm spinner his first wicket in Twenty20 cricket and deny the spectators the possibility of a Tendulkar versus Shane Warne special. Menaria showed confidence in flighting the ball and reading the batsmen’s intentions. He was rewarded for a second time when he bowled a short delivery to Ambati Rayudu, who charged down the pitch and offered Menaria a simple return catch.Shane Warne brought himself on and had success in his second over, inviting Rohit Sharma to drive in the air to Johan Botha on the long-off rope. Kieron Pollard scored his first run of this year’s IPL with a flick through square leg and together with Andrew Symonds had to set about rebuilding the innings.The pair lasted 33 balls before Johan Botha trapped Pollard lbw, as he completely missed the offbreak. Botha struck twice in his next over, bowling Symonds with a ball that kept low and enticing R Sathish to charge down the pitch and get stumped. The procession continued when Lasith Malinga was dismissed for one by Amit Singh.Mumbai avoided the ignominy of being bowled out within the 20 overs as Harbhajan Singh swatted at four deliveries in the final over before finally connecting for a six. But, they finished on their lowest total in IPL history.It was always going to be difficult to defend 95 but with an aggressive bowling attack, Mumbai may have had some hope. Lasith Malinga started in his usual toe-crushing fashion while Munaf Patel was also accurate. He got an early breakthrough with a slower ball that Rahul Dravid scooped to Tendulkar at midwicket.Ali Murtaza, who was brought in in place of Abu Nechim, was bowling a difficult line and length and with the pitch keeping low he was almost impossible to get away. Watson and Botha saw off his first two overs and although the required-rate was never going to trouble them, they picked the balls to hit well.Botha slog-swept Harbhajan for six while Watson hit Pollard for a straight six over his head. They handled Murtaza with greater ease in his second spell and the chase was turning into a stroll. Tendulkar brought Malinga back into the attack, and after three full balls, he banged one in short to Watson who was caught behind off an edge.Ross Taylor joined Johan Botha and the pair concentrated on rotating the strike, which was all they needed to do. Two fuller deliveries were punished with Taylor stroking a ball through the covers for four and Botha lofting one over midwicket. Botha took Rajasthan to the brink and was bowled with just five runs left to get for the win. Rajasthan have now won 14 out of 18 home games in IPLs, with 11 of those wins coming in Jaipur.

As that great innovative thinker Homer Simpson once said when faced with a difficult problem, “I’ve been working on a plan: I’ll hide under some coats and hope that somehow everything will work out”. That’s pretty much how a fast bowler must feel when Virender Sehwag is in his stride. But no pile of coats could offer that level of escapism, nor shield a man from the roars of an Indian home crowd.Fast bowlers will tell you they don’t get frightened. The biggest, meanest men in the side, it is their job to inflict pain, not suffer it. But Sehwag can send the world’s toughest and quickest into the foetal position, as he almost did to Morne Morkel in Nagpur last week. It’s something of a paradox, therefore, that the man who has handled Sehwag as well as anyone in recent years is Mitchell Johnson.Johnson is quick and awkward, but can be more fragile than your average fast bowler – belt him a few times and you can almost sense him searching for a suitable stack of coats to crawl under. But somehow, his style has worked against Sehwag. Perhaps it’s Johnson’s unpredictability that has been the undoing of Sehwag; a couple of loose balls might be dispatched, but followed by another attempted boundary from one that is too close to cut, or so accurate that it should be respected.Whatever the case, in the past five years, no bowler has dismissed Sehwag more often across all formats than Johnson, who has claimed his wicket nine times from 18 games. That’s a trend Johnson wants to continue in Ahmedabad on Thursday, and he believes the best way to attack Sehwag is to bowl at his body.”I don’t mind bowling up into his rib-cage to be honest,” Johnson said. “He seems to struggle with that a bit. I guess [also] putting pressure on him, if he gets a single it puts pressure on the batsman at the other end. That’s one way we thought about it as well. It’s always a good challenge to bowl to someone like that, he doesn’t really use his feet but he can hit the ball hard. It will be a pretty good start to the game if we can get him early.”In the bowlers’ meeting I asked the question how many times he has scored four from the first ball. He likes to get scoring quickly. He’s a dangerous player and we’ll be looking to get him as quickly as we can. We’ll stick to our plans and stick to what we know best of what works against him.”The Australians do seem to have worked Sehwag out better than most sides. His one-day average against Australia is 22.65, notably worse than it is against any other nation, excluding Associates, and it’s ten innings since he has made a limited-overs fifty against them.Getting rid of Sehwag early would be the perfect start for Australia, given that he is India’s leading run scorer in this World Cup. That’s partially due to his 175 against Bangladesh, an innings that ensured the tournament opened with a bang. Since then, India have looked to Sachin Tendulkar, who has scored two centuries, and Yuvraj Singh, who has been a consistent threat.But the Australians know that, as formidable as India’s batting line-up is, there is always the possibility of a collapse. Against South Africa, India lost their last nine wickets for 29 runs; against England they lost their their last seven for 33; and against West Indies their last seven were skittled for 50. It’s a trend that Johnson finds encouraging.”If we can get two or three of their big guns early on it changes the way they think about their game. It’s something we’ve spoken about and we’ll work hard to try and do it. You always target their best players and Sehwag and Tendulkar are their best players, so we think it can change the way they think.”But finding a way through the batting order of Sehwag, Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli and Yuvraj is easier said than done. It will be the biggest challenge yet for Australia’s attack, which the selectors always intended to be a wicket-taking group, and the offspinner Jason Krejza will also need to work out how to control the world’s best players of spin.”As a bowling unit we feel pretty confident, us three quicks going together, we always look forward to bowling over 140kph and swinging the ball,” Johnson said. “There’s been talk about the wicket, Sehwag said it will be slow and a bit of a turner, but we have our spinners, Krejza can spin the ball a fair way. It’s leading up to be a very good game and we’re looking forward to it.”And if Australia’s best-laid plans don’t work, and they can’t find any coats in the Ahmedabad heat, they might have to resort to another of Homer’s problem-solving strategies: “I’m not normally a praying man but if you’re up there please save me, Superman.”

In the beginning they were the almighty force, but that was 35 years ago and the current West Indies team doesn’t send out ripples of fear ahead of the tenth edition of the World Cup. With some relatively new faces in the squad, familiarity, either with each other or their public, may not have run its fingers through their hair long enough to give them a distinct style (although it should be remembered that Clive Lloyd’s lustrous team of 1975 was at pretty much the same stage when that tournament began). The West Indies are without Brian Lara, who retired after leading the team four years ago, and Chris Gayle, who was rarely enthusiastic about leading the sides, has been replaced as captain by Darren Sammy, who is loud and proud about his passion for the game and the region.The Test team in the making may not yet be something to shout about, but there are some reassuring saplings sprouting in the ranks. Kemar Roach, named man of the series for the three-Test series versus Sri Lanka, invokes something of Malcolm Marshall. Darren Bravo brings Lara to mind. Brendan Nash carries the dependable aura of Larry Gomes (and Shivnarine Chanderpaul) and Adrian Barath, who made a hundred in the warm-up game against Kenya, might bring something of Rohan Kanhai. Add the potential explosiveness of Gayle, Kieron Pollard and Dwayne Bravo, and the there could be some highly entertaining cricket when they take the field for their opening encounter against South Africa on February 24.World Cup pedigreeThe West Indies were the first two champions in 1975 and 1979 and were the finalists when India won it in 1983. They have slid down the pecking order since then, a solitary semi-final place in 1996 being the highlight of subsequent campaigns.Recent formWest Indies have not had any dramatic shifts in form for more than a decade. In the last few months, their biggest series has been a trip to Sri Lanka under new captain Sammy. The Test series ended damply at 0-0 as rain washed out practically all the matches, but there were encouraging signs as Gayle made a triple hundred in the First Test, Darren Bravo made a string of half-centuries, and Roach was the leading wicket-taker. However, they lost the rescheduled one-day series 2-0, with first game being washed out as rain continued to plague them.PredictionIn the first round of matches, West Indies play South Africa, the Netherlands, Bangladesh, Ireland, England and India. Not to underestimate their opponents (early upsets are part of the World Cup thrill; remember Ireland?), but they should hold their own against half of those teams. That said, with India, South Africa and England amongst the favourites to win the cup, the West Indies will be happy to make it to the knockout stage.WatchabilityThe team is an intriguing blend of potential and power. Gayle can be stupendous when he gets going; Pollard is pure, powerful entertainment and Dwayne Bravo can, some of the time, be all things on a cricket field. Add to that the fresh talent found in Darren Bravo, Barath and Roach, the dependability of Chanderpaul, and the hunger of a recalled Ramnaresh Sarwan, and you have a team worth staying up all night for.Key playersKemar Roach does not have much international experience, but whenever he’s stepped out on the field, he has attracted attention. He made his Test debut in July 2009 in a ramshackle series with Bangladesh marred by a players’ strike, and emerged as the leading wicket-taker of the series, a feat he repeated against Sri Lanka. Roach does many delightful things with the ball and he has demonstrated an aggressiveness that harks back to an Ambrose era. Unfortunately, in the continued absence of Fidel Edwards and Jerome Taylor, he has been hampered by a lack of support at the other end, and the team has not operated at full throttle with its bowlers for some time now,Six years younger than his brother Dwayne, Darren Bravo’s family loves to boast that he is the most talented of the brood. Darren has startled many onlookers by his physical resemblance to his cousin Lara, which was exacerbated by his technique and stance bearing an uncanny likeness as well. A genuine find for the West Indies, Darren is full of form, style, confidence and a sense of the different demands of each phase of play. Despite his youth, has a mature head on his shoulders and will add solidity to the batting along with Chanderpaul.If one had to characterise West Indies cricket over the past 15 years or so, Chris Gayle would be the epitome of its nature. He appears entirely indifferent to discipline and authority, is languid in his movements and not afraid to bare his teeth at anyone who dares to challenge him (especially if it comes from officialdom, like the WICB). Yet he obviously has a zest for life and cricket, and once it is ignited, he can be brilliant, as he showed in making 333 against Sri Lanka. Twenty20 has been his playground for a while, long enough for his name as an entertainment brand to be bigger than a retainer contract with the West Indies board. So he knows what it is like to put on a good show. If he can give the team the kind of starts he is capable of producing, making the knockout stage will become a lot easier.