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The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has rejected the ICC’s offer to speak directly to the Indian players regarding the Members Participation Agreement (MPA).David Richardson, the ICC general manager, cricket operations, had suggested that the ICC be allowed to deal directly with the Indian players regarding issues concerning them.”It has been made clear to the ICC that they cannot deal directly with the Indian players,” Niranjan Shah, the BCCI secretary told PTI. “They have to come through the board.”Shah added that the Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh cricket boards expressed similar reservations on the ICC dealing directly with players.”Not only the BCCI, but Sri Lanka Cricket, the Pakistan Cricket Board and the Bangladesh Cricket Board have said at the recent ICC meeting that on any issue related to the players, the ICC has to approach the boards first. As per norms in international cricket administration, any issue that concerns a player has to addressed through the respective board. Similarly, any relevant matter raised by the players is communicated to the ICC by the board concerned.”The MPA lays down guidelines and restrictions that the players must follow for ICC events, including those that deal with ambush marketing. While almost all the other ICC members are ready to sign the MPA, the BCCI announced last week that it would not do so it in its present form because it affected its commercial interests.Percy Sonn, the ICC president, had cautioned India that its chances of being the co-hosts of the 2011 World Cup could be jeopardised if they refused to comply with the MPA but hoped that an agreement would be reached. However, Shah said that the BCCI wasn’t very concerned, as the event is still five years away. He added that a letter had already been sent to the ICC, detailing India’s stand on the MPA.

Saleem Altaf, the director of cricket operations of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), will take up the issue of Inzamam-ul-Haq’s exclusion from the Super Series squads at the ICC Chief Executive’s Committee meeting in Dubai starting on Sunday. The ICC Super Series will involve matches between Australia and a World XI, to be played in Australia in October.Abbas Zaidi, the PCB’s director of board operations, said that Altaf would not question the integrity of the ICC selectors, but would present Pakistan’s view that clearer methods and criteria were needed for selecting the World XI teams. “This is a follow-up to the letter we’ve already sent to the ICC outlining the outrage and resentment in Pakistan over the exclusion of Inzamam from the ICC World eleven Test and one-day teams that play Australia in the Super Series next month,” Zaidi was quoted as saying in , a Pakistan-based daily. “We are not asking the ICC to reconsider Inzamam’s selection for the World eleven squads but we are only saying it would be better if the ICC make its committees more broad-based.”Zaidi said that the PCB would ideally like to have a representative on the selection panel. “Obviously the PCB comes under pressure as to what it is doing to protect and promote its players and cricket at the ICC level when such a thing happens that Inzamam is not considered good enough for selection in either the Test or one-day squad,” he said. “[Altaf] would also stress on the need to have more country representation on the ICC selection committee on rotation basis with each country getting an equal chance on the committee.”Inzamam has scored 940 Test runs at just under 59 since the start of 2004. As a one-day player, he averages 46.14 with the bat in that period.

Ehsan Mani, the president of the ICC, said today that he believed England should be allowed to stage the Champions Trophy in September as planned. There had been speculation, ahead of tomorrow’s ICC meeting in New Zealand, that England’s reluctance to tour Zimbabwe might lead to the tournament – which features all ten Test-playing nations, plus Kenya and the United States – being moved elsewhere.But Mani said that his view was that the tournament should not be affected by any bilateral issues between England and Zimbabwe – no matter how serious they were. “Clearly there are potentially very serious issues that need to be resolved relating to England’s scheduled tour of Zimbabwe,” he said. “I believe that through the Board and the ICC’s disputes-resolution process there are mechanisms in place for these bilateral concerns to be effectively dealt with.”However, it is important that these genuine issues between two ICC members do not spill over and impact on broader issues that could affect all countries, such as the venue for the ICC Champions Trophy 2004.”He concluded: “Ultimately this decision is in the hands of the executive board, and I will be guided by the views of the directors – but I will put forward my view that we should be seeking to clearly separate these matters so that we avoid confusing bilateral issues with multilateral concerns.”By an ironic twist of fate England’s first match in the Champions Trophy is scheduled to be against … Zimbabwe.

Pakistan’s final practice session prior to Sunday’s ICC Cricket World Cup 2003 match against Namibia will be held on Saturday at 10:00 hours at the De Beers Diamond Oval, Kimberley.Pakistan captain Waqar Younis will later hold a pre-match press conference at the Stadium, at approximately 1200 hours. All media are invited to attend the press conference. There will also be an opportunity for vision and pictures during training (10:30hrs – 12:00hrs approx).Saturday, Feb 15: Nasser Hussain will hold a press conference at 1 pm (Meeting Room 2, Holiday Inn Garden Court, East London) ahead of Sunday’s match against Holland.England will practice from 2-5 pm at Buffalo Park, East London.The West Indies team will conduct a coaching clinic with the Easterns Academy under 19 players on Sunday 16th February 2003 at 14h00-15h30 at the Lords Cricket Ground, Mayet Drive, Actonville, BenoniThe players and management will be available to the media after the clinic.A South African media conference will be held at 13h00 on Saturday 15th in the Jacaranda Room at the Sandton Sun, Johannesburg.A free, broadcast-quality radio interview with Australian captain Ricky Ponting, ahead of his side’s second World Cup match against India tomorrow (15 February 2003), is available now on the Australian Cricket Board’s official online news agency,www.mediagame.com.au.

After seeing his side go down by eight runs to one-day kings Gloucestershire Gladiators in the Norwich Union National League, Somerset Coach Kevin Shine told me: "I’m very disappointed that we lost. We bowled and fielded well to restrict them to 219, but then batted disappointingly. This was a game that we would have hoped to have won."The coach went on: "in any game there are often a couple of turning points, and I think for us one was the catch that dismissed Peter Bowler when he was going well, and the other was when Keith Parsons was run out, just as he was getting into his stride."Looking ahead to next weeks’ match he said, "we’re now in the wrong half of the table, and need to be aware of this. We just have to pick ourselves up and get ready for Nottinghamshire Outlaws."

The strikes down the ground are high and sweet. His pull is whiplash-quick and the cut severe. So it’s not his strokeplay Jermaine Blackwood seeks to sharpen in Sri Lanka. It is his instinct to survive. “If I’m at the crease for a long period of time, I’ll be making runs,” is his belief.Blackwood has been among West Indies’ brightest emerging talents over the past 18 months, in which he has put together an encouraging record spanning 11 Tests. He averages 42.47 from 20 innings so far, and has runs against quality Test attacks.His maiden innings of 63 against the likes of Tim Southee and Trent Boult suggested West Indies had unearthed a good batsman. His excellent turn against James Anderson, Stuart Broad and England in the middle of the year, confirmed it. He hit 311 runs at an average of 77.75 in that series, having struck a first Test ton, then hit the winning runs in a chase that leveled the series.A relatively lean series against Australia followed, but Blackwood has rebounded in Sri Lanka, hitting 92 from 135 balls in the second dig in Galle, while his team-mates floundered around him. Blackwood says it was restraint that allowed him to unlock his attacking game, after having fallen for 11 in the first innings.”I made a mistake in the first innings playing to a ball outside the off stump that I shouldn’t be playing to,” he said. “After I get out I go back and rethink my innings. I got out there in the second innings and told myself I’m not going to play any balls outside the off stump early up. I did that and in the end I got a good result. I was trying to push into a century but in the end I get out in the last. I thought it was a good innings.”It is the kind of restraint he seeks to refine and reproduce. Sometimes hailed as a disciple of the destructive school of Caribbean batting, Blackwood said he is learning to incorporate prudence into his attack.”There’s one major issue that I’m still working on – shot selection early up in my innings. Once I’m past that early phase it’s quite easy for me. I used to play a lot of shots and loved to feel the ball on my bat. When I reached Test level I realised it’s much different because you get less bad balls in Test cricket than you do in first-class. So I need to learn to be much much patient. Once I’m patient I’m adapting to that very quickly.”Blackwood was among the few West Indies batsmen to survive long spells from Rangana Herath, and even ventured two straight sixes and a four in one Herath over, near the end of the Galle Test. His team has come to Sri Lanka with a poor reputation for playing slow bowling, but Blackwood is undaunted by Sri Lanka’s top spinner.”Herath is a wonderful bowler, but a bowler is a bowler,” he said. “Once he bowls a bad ball, I’m going to hit any bowler. If we can bat him out, it’s going to be much easier for us.”Right now my defence is pretty good, as you can see. Last game Herath was bowling brilliantly and I was batting easy. For me it’s about staying patient and batting more sessions. If I do that I’m going to score more runs. I just need to control my tempo while I’m batting and trust my defence.”Blackwood has not made a limited-overs debut yet, but said Tests had always been his dream format and remains his “pride and joy”. He wants a hundred in his next match, as every batsman does, but he has high hopes for his batting statistics as well. He averages 45.66 so far in 2015, with one hundred and four fifties from 14 innings.”I do want to get my Test average for this year up to 50,” he said. “For that I’m on the right track right now. My gameplan is very simple. If I see a ball to hit, I’ll hit it.  Choosing the right ball to hit – that’s what I’m working towards.”

Openers Steve Titchard and Steve Stubbings have recorded the second highestpartnership in Derbyshire’s history but their feat carried little relevancebeyond the statistical as their team’s Championship fixture with Kent endedin a tame draw at Canterbury today. Titchard and Stubbings battedundisturbed through the fourth and final day of the match to take thevisitors to a second innings score of 293/0 before play was called off inlate afternoon.Titchard’s unconquered 141 represented his highest score for his new teamsince his transfer from Lancashire at the start of 1999, while Stubbings’135 snared him a morale-boosting maiden hundred for the county. Bothplayed very straight – on and off drives were in abundance – but neitherthe pitch nor the attack posed too many terrors. It was a measure of theextent to which the match had lost any genuine meaning that Kent captainMatthew Fleming even found time toward the end to ensure that all eleven ofhis players received a chance to bowl at some stage of the day. The hometeam also took the opportunity of resting Rahul Dravid and Min Patel justafter tea, sending on substitute Ben Trott and physio Martin Sigley intheir places as the inevitable early finish loomed.By the time that the match was finally brought to a merciful halt at5:20pm, the teams had each taken nine points away from it. This a resultwhich leaves Kent entrenched in sixth place on the Division One table butwhich has seen Derbyshire relegate Hampshire to bottom position. It isHampshire which Derbyshire meets in its next match (beginning on Wednesdayat Derby). Kent’s players, meanwhile, stay at home to ready themselves fora clash with Leicestershire which starts the same day.

Shane Warne has said he would be keen to spend time bowling with Yasir Shah in the nets while he is on a brief visit to Dubai this week.There is a vast amount of mutual respect between the two legspinners – Yasir, who has climbed to No.2 in the world Test rankings, counts Warne as a hero and he in turns says Yasir is a “fantastic, wonderful bowler” – and Warne, who is due to leave on Friday, suggested he would try to join a Pakistan net session ahead of the final Test in Sharjah.Warne has previously met Yasir in Adelaide during the World Cup and has chatted with him again since – although admitted a few language issues – and as he prepares for a return to cricket in his All Stars venture in the USA he was enthused about forming a legspin pairing, however briefly.”I would love to have another session with him,” he said. “If I can find some time this week I’d love to go down and have a bowl with him. I’m looking to get as much practice as I can.”Warne, who was in Dubai to launch the Icons of Cricket golf event, was flying as Yasir took four wickets, including the last one of Adil Rashid with just 6.3 overs remaining, to clinch the second Test but had seen enough to be further impressed, although he did have some words of advice.”I think he’s a fantastic, wonderful bowler,” Warne said. “Sometimes, from what I’ve seen, he looks a bit impatient – he has all the toys, he just needs to slow down a little bit, take a breath. Just chill out and set a batsman up a little bit more rather than just ripping legbreaks, wrong ‘uns, straight ones, going around the wicket, over the wicket. He just needs to toil away a little more.”Warne also had further words of encouragement for Rashid who claimed just 2 for 191 in Dubai after almost conjuring a remarkable victory for England in Abu Dhabi with 5 for 64 in the second innings.”They are completely different bowlers, Yasir is a real hustle-and-bustle legspinner, to me he’s the best in international cricket at the moment, and Rashid will hopefully get better. He’s not as fluent as someone like Yasir, but that doesn’t mean he’s not as effective. If he gets his confidence up I think he can be a real handful.”Rashid has twice been thrust into bowling first with Alastair Cook losing both tosses so far and Warne said that the role was something even he had to learn during his career.”I ended up doing it a lot,” he said. “I had to learn, it’s all the subtleties of a legspinner, patience, changing position on the crease, not bowling the same ball twice, don’t attack too much with the field, basically try to tie up an end – especially here where it’s so hot, so the quicks can rotate.”It’s about trying to beat them in flight, get them driving. My line would change a bit, you’d go a bit wider, then you’d use the faster, straighter one as a major weapon. But the hard spun legbreak is the real key and you just had to try that as much as you could. That was basically it for the first two days.”

The Indian board (BCCI) has begun its formal search for a candidate to coach the national team, issuing an advertisement listing their requirements on several top cricket board websites. The BCCI has fixed September 15 as the last date for receipt of applications. The prospective coach will have a two-year term starting from October 1.The applicant must have played first-class cricket, will require Level III coaching accreditation obtained from Australia, England or India, and must have previous coaching experience with a national side or an elite coaching centre, among other pre-requisites.The successful candidate will be required to work closely with the selection committee and interact with a review committee to be set up by the board and be capable of building positive relations with the public and media.Communication and organisational skills have been emphasised, along with basic knowledge of Indian cricket and “Indian culture and ethos”. Basic IT skills will be required, while being familiar with performance analysis software.I KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
a) Working closely with the selection committee and interacting periodically with the review committee to be set up by the Board
b) Should have the ability to plan and manage programs for the elite cricketers
c) Should be capable of building positive relations with the public and media
d) Should be capable of motivating players and thus helping them to optimise their performances at all times
e) Should be familiar with the use of performance analysis software packages
f) Should be available to conduct clinics and workshops for the local coaches
g) Should have excellent communicating skills as he is required to communicate at different levels like players, team management, selectors and the board
h) Should be capable of providing the team with tactical expertise
II KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND EXPERTISE
a) Should be a qualified coach with minimum level III coaching accreditation from Cricket Australia, England or India
b) Should have played at least level of first-class cricket
c) Extensive coaching experience and expertise in working with elite cricketers
d) Should possess basic IT skills to be able to operate the match analysis program
e) Should have been a coach of an international or national team or a coach at an elite coaching centre of international repute
f) Should have basic knowledge of Indian cricket, Indian player pathway and Indian culture and ethos
g) Should have basic knowledge of Sports Science and Sports Medicine
h) Should be capable of handling the team under high pressure situations
i) Should possess outstanding organizational skills
j) Should have knowledge of international coaching trends
k) Should have experience in using video technology
III GENERAL INFORMATION
a) The appointment as coach shall be for a period of two years, starting from October 1, 2007
b) The job requires a great deal of time away from home traveling with the Indian team both in India and abroad
c) Terms and conditions are negotiable

1991-92 in India
Wisden report | Cricinfo site
Nearly 22 years after being isolated from the international fold due to apartheid, South Africa arrived in India for a three-match one-day series. Thousands of fans lined the streets of Calcutta to greet the team and Eden Gardens – which hosted the first match – reportedly exceeded its capacity. India prevailed in a low-scoring game, but significantly for South Africa, it was their discovery of a world-class fast bowler in Allan Donald who took 5 for 29. India won the next game at Gwalior, and with it, the series. South Africa earned a consolation win in the final match in New Delhi, as Kepler Wessels and Peter Kirsten guided the side home in a high-scoring encounter under lights. Even in defeat, the South Africans returned home with indelible memories over the response from the Indian public, and an emotional captain Clive Rice was quoted in as saying, “I know how Neil Armstrong felt when he stood on the moon.”
India 2 South Africa 11992-93 in South Africa
Wisden report | Cricinfo site
India had the privilege of being the first international side to play a Test in South Africa since 1970 and the series got off to a cracking start in Durban, when Kapil Dev dismissed Jimmy Cook from the first ball. Praveen Amre’s dogged century on debut on a bouncy track, kept India afloat in a drawn match. The start of the second Test at Johannesburg followed a similar script, and it was Brian McMillan’s sound allround performance which helped his side hold the upper hand in another draw. The third Test at Port Elizabeth finally yielded a result, as India were blown away by Allan Donald, who finished with match figures of 12 for 139. The only bright spark for India was Kapil’s scintillating knock of 129 amidst the ruins. Both teams went on the defensive in the fourth and final Test in Cape Town which was also drawn. Batsmen from both sides showed no urgency and India’s sloppy catching wrecked their hopes of squaring the series. The seven-match one-day series was hardly a contest, as the Indians were outclassed in all departments, save for two victories.
Tests South Africa 1 India 0
ODIs South Africa 5 India 21996-97 in India
Wisden report | Cricinfo site
A strong South African side led by Hansie Cronje arrived in India for their first full Test tour. The tour began with a tri-series also featuring Australia, as South Africa – after winning all their league games – choked in the final against India. The pitch for the first Test at Ahmedabad came under intense scrutiny, as the batsmen succumbed to the inconsistent bounce. South Africa fancied their chances with a target of 170, but weren’t prepared for Javagal Srinath, who gnawed through the batting with 6 for 21 to seal a surprise win. The second Test at Calcutta witnessed a strong comeback by South Africa, though it was an unforgettable game for individual performances – Azharuddin’s blistering century off 74 balls, Lance Klusener’s dream debut with innings figures of 8 for 64, and Gary Kirsten’s twin centuries. The teams then headed to Kanpur for the decider and South Africa were exposed in a Kanpur pitch where the ball barely rose above the knee level. Azharuddin’s piled on the agony with 163 to set South Africa an improbable target. The win was a fitting end to the home season for India and was a rosy start for Tendulkar as captain.
Tests India 2 South Africa 11996-97 in South Africa
Wisden report | Cricinfo site
Flying stumps and chin music greeted the Indians in the first Test of the return series in Durban, as South Africa earned sweet revenge for their loss in India, bundling out India for 100 and 66 in either innings. The lack of exposure to fierce pace and bounce was evident as India – both innings combined – failed to last an entire length of a day’s play (72.3 overs). In Cape Town, the gulf between the two sides widened as South Africa piled on three centuries in their first innings. With half the side back in the pavilion and a massive deficit of 471, Sachin Tendulkar (116) and Mohammad Azharuddin (105) displayed one of the more remarkable rearguard actions seen in Test cricket, both flaying the bowlers at will, at a frenetic pace. Unfortunately, it was a case of ‘good while it lasted’ as India folded up in the second innings to concede the series. Bad light dashed India’s hopes of winning the Johannesburg Test, which marked the emergence of Rahul Dravid as a world-class Test batsman. In the one-dayers, South Africa took the tri-series also featuring Zimbabwe, beating India in a closely-contested final.
Tests South Africa 2 India 01999-00 in India
Wisden report | Cricinfo site
Wounded after an embarrassing 0-3 whitewash in Australia, India – in a vulnerable state – were caught off guard by South Africa in home conditions. Failure of the Indian top order was one of the main reasons, especially in the first Test in Mumbai, barring Sachin Tendulkar. South Africa made heavy weather of a modest target, rescued by Mark Boucher’s crucial 27. South Africa rubbed it in further in the second Test in Bangalore, batting India out of the match and their 0-2 defeat ended one of their most miserable seasons. Importantly, South Africa’s series victory ended a 13-year jinx by visiting teams in India. Tendulkar quit the captaincy, and India rebounded in the one-dayers, under Sourav Ganguly. The final ODI in Nagpur was famous for the match-fixing allegations against Hansie Cronje, Nicky Boje and Henry Williams, which came to light shortly after the tour.
Tests South Africa 2 India 0
ODIs India 3 South Africa 2

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–>2001-02 in South Africa
Wisden report | Cricinfo site
Another tour tarnished by controversy, this time the ‘Mike Denness affair’ taking centre stage. The first Test at Bloemfontein went without incident, notable for Virender Sehwag’s debut century, as South Africa romped to an easy win. The second at Port Elizabeth was overshadowed by match referee Denness’s ruling, in which he found Sachin Tendulkar guilty of ball-tampering and handed out one-Test bans for five other Indians for excessive appealing. The Indian board protested, stating that there may have been racial connotations in the ruling and after much pleading agreed to play the third Test. India drew the second match, lost the third by an innings, though the match was unofficial. South Africa won the Standard Bank tri-series also featuring Kenya.
Tests South Africa 1 India 02004-05 in India
Wisden report | Cricinfo site
South Africa’s third Test tour of India was almost a non-starter, as South Africa threatened to pull out if they failed to get any assurances that Herschelle Gibbs and Nicky Boje will not be prosecuted by the Indian police in the match-fixing scandal. However, both players pulled out and the tour went ahead as scheduled. India were expected to wrap up the series comprehensively, against a South African side struggling for form, but things didn’t quite go to plan at the start. The first Test at Kanpur was played on a featherbed of a pitch, with Andrew Hall frustrating India no end with an obdurate 163. After a dull draw, a relieved India took the second Test and the series in Kolkata, with the old firm of Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh sharing all ten second innings wickets. Scheduling problems meant that the one-dayers had to be played at a later date.
Tests India 1 South Africa 02005-06 in India
Cricinfo site
A year later, South Africa returned for a five-match one-day series to fulfil their obligations from the previous visit. One couldn’t have asked for a better contest, with South Africa undefeated in 19 matches, and a resurgent India with a 6-1 victory against Sri Lanka behind them. South Africa drew first blood in Hyderabad, as India – barring Yuvraj Singh who scored an incredible century – stumbled on a seaming pitch. The pitch dictated the result of the second match as India pulled things back comprehensively on a slow turner in Bangalore. Seasonal rain in Chennai washed out an eagerly-awaited contest. Protests in Kolkata following Sourav Ganguly’s exclusion and Greg Chappell’s alleged ‘finger gesture’ to the protestors took the sheen out of the fourth one-dayer, and Graeme Smith helped South Africa blaze to a ten-wicket win on another seaming track. With only two possible outcomes, India squared the series in the fifth match in Mumbai, as Dravid steered India home in a pulsating contest between bat and ball.
ODIs India 2 South Africa 22006-07 in South Africa
Cricinfo site
A rollercoaster of a series had several moments of cricketing excellence and was thankfully shorn of the controversies of India’s previous tours of South Africa. India were thrashed 4-0 in the one-dayers, which made what followed in the first Test at the Wanderers all the more remarkable. India, led by Sreesanth’s five-wicket haul, sliced through South Africa to bundle them out for a paltry 84. For a change, India’s batsmen demonstrated sound application and patience to bat South Africa out of the match and Ashwell Prince’s 97 wasn’t enough to deny India their first Test win in South Africa. Prince was one of the architects of South Africa’s comeback win at Kingsmead, scoring a hundred before Makhaya Ntini added the finishing blows with five wickets as India fell chasing a challenging 354. The third Test at Newlands was evenly contested for the most part, with India’s new-look opening pair of Wasim Jaffer and Dinesh Karthik dictating terms on the first day. However, the momentum shifted to South Africa, with Graeme Smith finding form with the bat. India contributed to their own downfall with their go-slow tactics, followed by an inexplicable collapse and shabby fielding display on the final day, all of which pointed to South Africa’s remarkable series win after conceding the first Test.
Tests South Africa 2 India 1
ODIs South Africa 4 India 0
Only Twenty20 international was won by India2007-08 in India
Cricinfo site
Sehwag scored his, and India’s, second triple-hundred in Tests to join Sir Don Bradman and Brian Lara in one of cricket’s most elite lists, and lit up a match that was a statistician’s delight but destined to be a draw before a ball was bowled. The Chennai pitch, once firm and sporting, had played slow and low in recent years, and this one proved no different. In sweltering heat, India were not tempted to play an extra fast bowler, and South Africa, lacking quality spin options, turned to the slow left-armer Paul Harris. It consigned the game to be dominated by batsmen.Contrasting scenes in Ahmedabad, where South Africa beat India inside three days. Dale Steyn and Ntini relished the extra bounce and lateral movement the pitch offered, bowling India out for 76, just one run more than their lowest total at home. The innings lasted only 20 overs in all, the shortest ever in a Test on the subcontinent, and India had given up the game on a platter. When South Africa replied – on a pitch that was easing up, against fast bowlers who did not have the same bite – the runs came easily. While India’s middle order applied themselves in a much-improved show, the pressure of being so far behind told, and South Africa chipped away at the wickets.Another three-day Test in Kanpur and India had squared the series. South Africa did well to get to 265 in their first dig, with the wickets shared around in Kumble’s absence. When India’s turn came, the going was not easy, but Ganguly and Laxman found ways to score where others had failed. India batted throughout the second day to secure a slender lead, and on the third morning a spirited last-wicket stand of 46 between Sreesanth and Ishant Sharma put India 60 ahead. Dhoni gave a sign of things to come, opening the bowling with Harbhajan Singh, who had bowled intelligently and creatively in the first innings. South Africa’s batsmen responded strangely, almost in protest at having to play on such a surface, attempting to block their way out of trouble rather than trying to put some runs on the board. The approach was never going to succeed with almost three days of play left, and merely hastened the end.
Tests South Africa 1 India 1