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Scorecard
Graeme Welch hit his second first-class century and then removed two of Essex’s top order to put Derbyshire in control at Chelmsford. Derbyshire’s last four wickets added 193 runs as Ant Botha and Mo Sheikh combined in partnerships of 91 and 79 with Welch. After starting the day on 22, Welch fell four runs short of a career-best after facing 193 balls, but his innings had given Derbyshire’s attack the rare luxury of having a total to bowl at. Ravinder Bopara gained four wickets for his wholehearted contribution, but generally the injury-hit Essex attack struggled. Their top order didn’t fair any better, quickly slumping to 34 for 4. Sheikh backed-up his runs with two wickets, as he vindicated David Houghton’s decision to give him his first Championship game of the season. A total collapse was in prospect until Andy Flower and Ronnie Irani shored up the innings by adding 89 and guiding Essex through to the close of play. They are still a long way behind.
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Lancashire enjoyed the better of a truncated day at Old Trafford as they chipped away at the Northants batting. James Anderson struck in his second over, removing Northants’ key batsman, Martin Love, for a rare duck. Rob White counter-attacked in aggressive fashion, striking five fours and a six in his 30-ball innings until he was run out. Bilal Shafayat and Usman Afzaal took the score along to a promising 115 for 2, but Northants then lost three for 23. Dominic Cork removed Shafayat and Afzaal when they were well set in the 40s and Muttiah Muralitharan snapped up David Sales, at silly point via bat and pad, for nine. However, with a day already lost in the match, Lancashire may not have the time to press home their strong start.
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HD Ackerman played a captain’s innings to rescue Leicestershire on the second day at the Oakham School festival. He received sterling support from his fellow South Africa, Claude Henderson, as they added an unbroken 103 for the eighth wicket after Leicestershire had been struggling at 191 for 7. For Ackerman it was his first century of the season and provided much-needed stability to Leicestershire’s innings. Their predicament came despite an opening stand of 91 between Darren Robinson and Darren Maddy, but Maddy’s dismissal on the stroke of lunch sparked a collapse. Aaron Laraman claimed two wickets and Nixon McLean removed Dinesh Mongia and John Sadler in two balls. Ian Blackwell also chipped in with a brace before the fine fightback from Leicestershire. Ackerman and Henderson resisted the eight bowlers that Graeme Smith, leading Somerset for the first time, used to try and force the breakthrough.
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Durham were indebted to some determined lower-order resistance as they fought their way back into contention at New Road. All Durham’s batsmen, except last-man Mark Davies, reached double figures, but none scored more than Phil Mustard’s 39. The top order all flattered to deceive as Worcestershire’s seam attack picked up regular wickets. Chaminda Vaas removed both openers and Matt Mason trouble the middle order, but it was Ray Price who snapped up the big wicket of Paul Collingwood for 26. At 141 for 6, Durham were struggling to reach 200, but the Division Two leaders have already shown they are able to battle back from tough situations. Not for the first time this season the tail rescued the situation. Mustard continued his decent form with a lively 39 and Liam Plunkett showed he could bat as well as bowl with a valuable 37 at No. 10. Kabir Ali picked up both batsmen to finish with 3 for 72, but Worcestershire’s day ended on a poor note when Steven Davies was caught behind during the eight overs they faced.

Until the end of the Indian tour of Pakistan, we will be running a daily Paper Round of what newspapers in India and Pakistan, and from around the world, are saying about this series. This is what the media had to say today:Kapil Dev has denied that he is India’s bowling coach. Speaking to The Times of India, he said: “The media has got it all wrong. I won’t be the coach as such. I will be just giving tips to the bowlers. It’s like the Bangalore camp at the start of the season. We [Sunil Gavaskar and others] gave them a few pieces of advice.Kapil also spoke about his improved communication skills. “You have heard me talk to the players earlier. I will be doing the same.”He shared some of his memories of Pakistan. “Pitches in Pakistan are no different from here,” he said. “On the first tour, I was too raw, they hit our spinners all over the park. On the other tours, I got some helpful tracks. I remember a fast pitch at Sialkot, where Navjot Sidhu got a hundred. Also, a Lahore pitch, where the ball moved a lot.”* * *Imran Khan has tipped India to win the one-day international series and Pakistan to win the Tests. Speaking to the Press Trust of India, he said, “[The] Indian batting is strong but Pakistan’s bowling attack is very balanced. So I foresee India doing well in one-dayers because batsmen win you one-day games. In Tests, Pakistan will have an edge as bowlers get you [the] 20 wickets need for a win.”He brushed aside the relative freshness of Pakistan’s side as being a factor in the series. “Pakistan has a young side,” he said, “but youth brings with it aggression and if they are aggressive in their approach, they can beat India.”* * *Zaheer Abbas agreed with Imran that India’s batting would pose Pakistan a few problems. Speaking to Dawn, he said, “India’s bowling is adequate without being extraordinary, but their batting strength is much stronger than Pakistan’s, on paper. Pressure, for sure, will be on the home side because of the high expectations. Although Pakistan’s bowling is stronger, it will entirely depend on the fitness and form of fast bowlers Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Sami.”Despite India’s batting strength, Zaheer thought Pakistan would win the one-day series. “The Indian bowling line-up lacks spin penetration and [Murali] Kartik is not [a] great turner of the ball,” he said. “I feel that with Shoaib and Sami leading [Pakistan’s] bowling line-up, followed by support bowlers such as Abdul Razzaq, Saqlain Mushtaq and Shahid Afridi, Pakistan have an upper-hand in the one-dayers.”* * *Dawn has reported that Shabbir Ahmed is available for selection against India. Shabbir has returned from Australia after a week’s training with Darrell Foster, the coach assigned to help him rectify his action. A PCB spokesman has said that Foster’s report regarding Shabbir’s action should be available in the course of this week.

SYDNEY, March 8 AAP – New South Wales will go into next week’s Pura Cup final with the psychological edge over Queensland after crushing the defending champion by 241 runs at the Sydney Cricket Ground today.Man of the match Stuart MacGill, who took the new ball in Queensland’s second innings and finished with 4-76, said the experienced Blues line-up was set to win its first final in nearly decade after bowling out Queensland for 190 and 148.The Blues didn’t bat so well themselves in the first innings, making an abysmal 102, but they corrected that with a second innings of 8(dec)-477 with Steve Waugh (138) and Michael Clarke (120) making masterful centuries.MacGill, who took nine wickets for the match, set up the win when he opened the bowling and took four wickets in the session from lunch to tea to spin Queensland out of the contest.He said the experienced Blues – with Test players like the Waugh brothers, himself and Michael Slater – would take an edge to the Gabba next week.”Queensland’s been a very good team for the past five years (but) I guess the edge we have the moment is experience – there’s a lot of inexperienced players in the Queensland side because they have so many representatives in the national set up.”MacGill was expecting a Gabba pitch which wouldn’t suit him as much as the SCG but said Queensland’s inability against the turning ball would still be a factor.”It would be silly to write these blokes off as far as spin goes – they’re just learning that’s all.”Blues captain Steve Waugh decided to give MacGill the new ball when he saw Clinton Perren – a known MacGill bunny – coming in to open the batting.”When they changed their batting order by opening with Perren – a move to get him away from the spinners – I thought I’d put the pressure back on them straight away,” Waugh said.Perren was the first to go and he went with a child-like send-off from MacGill, who put his hands to his cheeks and wiggled his fingers while pulling a face.MacGill said it was just a tactic to let his long-time friend know who was boss.”I’ve dismissed Clint a number of times now and sometimes players let their minds get involved … and while I’m on top I want to stay there.”I didn’t swear at him. I don’t think saying boo to somebody qualifies as anything too nasty.”Clint and I have been friends for a number of years and we’ve been having a friendly rivalry for years – I don’t know if there’s anything significant there but if there is I want to be the one on top.”Queensland, while inexperienced, will go into the final with its bowling stocks replenished.Captain Martin Love said the injured pair of Joe Dawes and Adam Dale were “definite” starters next week but that all-rounder Lee Carseldine was in doubt after hurting his back taking a catch in this match.The defending champion will also be sweating on the health of Stuart Law, who has a bruised wrist which kept him out of this match.Love said the conditions in Brisbane would be a major factor in his side’s favour in the final.”Next week will be different – we’re playing at the Gabba not the SCG and it’s going to be a completely different game.”

Division One (Time games)Burridge 82 (0pts) (Francis 23, Taylor 5-11, Goldstraw 3-15)
B.A.T.Sports 94-0 (22pts) (Banks 69*)
B.A.T.Sports won by 10 wicketsHungerford 131 (1pt) (Maier 42, Pope 29, Williams 25, Motchall 4-31)
Calmore Sports 134-2 (21pts) (Cass 51, Goode 31, Pegler 28)
Calmore Sports won by 8 wicketsLiphook and Riplsey 156-9 (0pts) (Brown 45, Berry 30, Woodhouse 3-37)
Andover 157-1 (21pts) (M Miller 100)
Andover won by 9 wicketsSouth Wilts 199 (5pts) (Cranch 55, Woodhouse 34, Lamb 29, King 3-42, Taylor 3-45)
Bashley (Rydal) 202-7 (21pts) (Sexton 52, Knowles 40, Loader 34, Neal 32, Tomlinson 3-37)
Bashley (Rydal) won by 3 wicketsBournemouth v Havant – Match abandoned without a ball bowledDivision Two (50 overs)Cove 377-3 (22pts) (Benham 161, Randall 90, Tomsett 48, Smith 45)
Old Basing 75 (1pt) (Docis 3-13, Audsley 3-17)
Cove won by 302 runsEaston and Martyr Worthy 98 (1pt) (Steve Green 38, Neave 24, Prittipaul 3-18)
Portsmouth 99-2 (21pts) (Prittipaul 42)
Portsmouth won by 8 wicketsSparsholt 218-9 (21pts) (Richings 91, Kelly 34, Shotton 5-29)
Hambledon 162 (6pts) (Turner 59, Norris 26)
Sparsholt won by 56 runsTrojans 209 (20pts) (Williams 73, Lancaster 39, Subnaik 31, Ord 4-45)
Old Tauntonians and Romsey 180-9 (8pts) (Smith 45, M Trodd 34, Donaldson 3-41
Trojans won by 29 runsU.S.Portsmouth 204 (21pts) (Geoghegan 67, Ainsley 52, Allen 3-42)
Lymington 160 (7pts) (Craft 70, Lewis 3-22, Barsby 3-38)
U.S.Portsmouth won by 44 runsDivision Three (50 oversFlamingo 198-9 (20pts) (Fenigan 85)
Leckford 87 (4pts) (Bulpitt 26, McMurray 5-23)
Flamingo won by 111 runsAlton 159 (3pts)
Gosport Borough 162-2 (22pts)
Gosport Borough won by 8 wicketsHavant II 103 (0pts) (Ward 27, Cambray 4-30, Burns 3-30)
Hursley Park 105-1 (21pts) (Harris 31, Marks 27, Edwards 24)
Hursley Park won by 9 wicketsPortsmouth II 203 (21pts) (Joy 50, Mitchell 42, M Scott 30, Marsh 3-31)
Bashley (Rydal) II 110 (4pts) (Herbert 31, M Scott 4-20, Mitchell 3-31)
Portsmouth II won by 93 runsPurbrook 197-5 (20pts) (Repsold 85)
Hook and Newnham Basics 170 (4pts) (O’Kelly 54, Kaminski 33, McCoy 3-30, Stanley 3-34, Brewer 3-35)
Rowledge won by 38 runsSt.Cross Symondians 213 (21pts) (Rees 49, Francis 36, Parker 31, L Beck 4-59)
New Milton 183 (7pts) (Watts 38, Lipscombe 4-29, Padwick 3-35)
St.Cross Symondians won by 30 runsWaterlooville 217-9 (21pts) (Over 48, Baumann 39, Carr 3-45)
Lymington II 151 (6pts) (Carr 31, Phillips 29, Shephard 6-34)
Winchester KS 257-3 (22pts)
U.S.Portsmouth II 123 (1pt)
Winchester K.S. won by 134 runs

Hampshire surpassed their highest score of the season, and their biggest innings total in matches against Derbyshire. Needing a massive 373 to avoid the follow on, Derbyshire advanced to 188-2 by the close, just half way towards their task.Prittipaul lost his wicket early in the day, when Derbyshire took the new ball, however, some big hitting from Dimitri Mascarenhas and Shane Warne game the home side maximum batting points for the first time this season.Simon Lacey with 4-98 was the pick of the Derbyshire bowlers.Mascarenhas hit a huge six off Lacey and with 10 fours splayed the Derbyshire attack. Warne was equally belligerent as he sent two sixes into the adjoining flats.When Hampshire was finally out at 1:40, the visitors set about recovering. Makeshift opener Luke Sutton and Steve Stubbins put together 85 runs, before Shane Warne bowled the latter leg stump. Australian Michael Di Venuto then joined Sutton. Both reached their 50s, Sutton in a patient 145 balls, Di Venuto in a quick fire 63.The Australian attempted a cover drive off Mascarenhas, the catch being gobbled up by White, but Sutton who has only opened twice before this season was still unbeaten at the close.With the wicket showing signs of turn, Hampshire will be looking to their own Australian – Warne, and off-spinner Shaun Udal to force Derbyshire to follow on and give them an extreme outside chance of survival in Division One.At the end of the day, both teams joined members in a barbecue at the County Ground to celebrate its pending closure.

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

There was a 25th century and 10,000 Test runs for Rahul Dravid and a large crowd to celebrate, but little else went India’s way at Chepauk as a rejuvenated South African side dominated the fourth day’s play. Makhaya Ntini, given a pasting by Virender Sehwag on Friday, led the revival with a vastly improved spell and Dale Steyn’s pace then proved far too much for the tail to handle as the Indian lead was restricted to just 87. Faced with a potentially tricky session of batting, South Africa responded with aplomb, finishing the day 44 ahead with nine wickets in hand.Neil McKenzie fashioned another stylish half-century and Hashim Amla carried on from where he left off in the first innings, and the partnership was already worth 78 by the time stumps were drawn. It was Graeme Smith, though, who set the tone for the riposte, with a nonchalant clip off the pads off Sreesanth, and three fours in a wretched opening over from RP Singh.The Indian pace bowlers had learnt nothing from the discipline shown by their South African counterparts in the morning and wasted the new-ball possibilities with their lack of line and length. RP was all over the place, and the few variations tried didn’t work either, with McKenzieeasily cover-driving a telegraphed slower ball from Sreesanth.After eight overs of uninspired pace, Anil Kumble had had enough. Harbhajan Singh came on at one end and Sourav Ganguly at the other. It was an inspired gamble as Harbhajan struck with his ninth delivery. Bowled from round the wicket, it didn’t turn much and evaded Smith’s forward prod before thudding into his pad. Smith’s 35 had taken just 30 balls and gave the innings the momentum it needed.That was as good as it got for India. Kumble took Ganguly off after two tidy overs, but even spin at both ends had little effect against two men who had batted with such authority in the first innings. McKenzie twice lofted Harbhajan over mid-on for fours, and also swept with impunity, while Amlacut and drove as well as he had on days one and two. In just 18.1 overs, the deficit was wiped out, with India’s lack of attacking options on a sluggish pitch painfully exposed.Kumble switched to round the wicket, and troubled both men with the odd delivery that really took off but by stumps South Africa were once again in a position to dictate terms.Earlier, two wickets, ten balls apart, had deflated the sizeable crowd that had braved the heat and humidity to sit in the stands. For 26 minutes, the dream had stayed alive, but then a thick outside edge ensured that Brian Lara’s record score of 400 would remain intact for a while yet. Sehwag’s epic finished at 319, the highest score ever by an Indian, beating the 309 he made in Multan four years ago to the day.South Africa had taken the new ball first thing in the morning, and runs proved a lot harder to come by. Sehwag finally pulled Ntini to the midwicket boundary to surpass Chris Gayle (317) on the all-time list, but a big swish at the next ball went to McKenzie’s right at first slip. Hisinnings had spanned 304 balls and after an initial deathly silence, the crowd roared its appreciation.The applause for Sehwag spilled over into a welcome for Sachin Tendulkar, but he lasted just five balls at a venue where he has four Test centuries, two of them against Australia. Again, Ntini was the man, angling one in to take the edge through to Jacques Kallis at second slip.Dravid scored just three from the first 30 balls he faced in the morning but a terrific off-drive off Steyn appeared to boost his confidence. Ganguly then eased Morne Morkel through the covers to bring up the 500, and after an hour of play Smith once again turned to Paul Harris. There was no immediate impact, with Dravid cutting for four and Ganguly playing another dreamy drive through cover. A single to midwicket off Morkel then took Dravid into five figures in Tests, and he celebrated with an off-drive off Harris.Ganguly, fortunate earlier when an inside-edge off Morkel just missed the stumps, fell for 24 with the interval in sight, as Mark Boucher took a stunning catch off the bottom edge. Dravid finished the session on 99, and the third ball after the resumption was clipped down to the long-onboundary to go past two of the biggest names on the centurions list – Greg Chappell and Vivian Richards – but he fell soon after, edging Ntini to Smith. His 111 had taken him 291 balls, but he had been the perfect foil for the rampant Sehwag.VVS Laxman resumed after lunch with two pleasing cover-drives off Harris, but after an initial audacious reverse-sweep, Mahendra Singh Dhoni failed to settle. Both Ntini and Steyn tested him with the short ball, and it was to be his undoing. Steyn came up with one that Dhoni just about evaded while ducking, but the next squared him up comprehensively and tookthe glove through to Boucher.Kumble, Harbhajan and RP were all bowled by brilliant deliveries that reverse-swung, with Steyn upping his pace as high as 148 kph. Sreesanth was then struck a painful blow just above the wrist, and South Africa’s torment ended soon after when Harris, who bowled 53.1 overs, caught Laxman off his own bowling. By then, the tenor of the game had changed utterly, with the high notes of Friday’s Sehwag sessions a fading memory.

Points table

Uganda and Cayman Islands booked their places in the semi-finals of the World Cricket League Division Three as ball dominated bat on the second day of the tournament in Darwin. Both teams made short work of their opponents, comfortably winning low-scoring games in the first session.The wins gave Uganda and Cayman Islands maximum points from two games in Group B and left Tanzania and Hong Kong winless with just one match remaining. Despite Italy’s second successive win, Group B remains wide open as PNG and Argentina have one win from two games. After Tuesday’s rest day, PNG will meet Italy at Nightcliff while Argentina meet Fiji at Kahlin Oval in the last group matches.

Argentina bounced back from a thrilling one-wicket defeat to Italy on the opening day by recording a five-wicket victory over pre-tournament favourites Papua New Guinea at Gardens. Skipper Estaban MacDermott inspired the Argentineans with a match-winning spell of 4 for 22 as PNG were bowled out for 91. Argentina achieved the target for the loss of five wickets with Donald Forrester remaining unbeaten on 44. MacDermott described the victory as the biggest in Argentina’s cricket history. “All the effort that was put in is now paying off,” he said. “By defeating PNG, we have shown that we can compete at this level.”Italy recorded their second victory in the competition by overpowering Fiji by 37 runs. Batting first, Italy scored 186 for 9 with Nicholas Northcote top scoring with 37. Fiji were bowled out for 149.

Uganda defeated Tanzania by four wickets at Power Park with Charles Waiswa taking 3 for 7 as the Tanzanians were dismissed for 64. Although Benson Mwita made Uganda work hard for their victory by taking 4 for 23, his efforts were not enough to stop Uganda stumbling to a four-wicket win.Cayman Islands’ experience of playing in the Stanford Twenty20 tournament and the Intercontinental Cup was on display for the second successive day when they recorded a straightforward eight-wicket victory over Hong Kong at Nightcliff. Franklin Hinds was the star for Cayman Islands when he took 4 for 22 as Hong Kong were skittled for 67.

Mohammad Kaif has retained his place in the Indian one-day squad for the tour of the West Indies, starting in the second week of May. The selectors announced an unchanged squad for the Caribbean tour, where India are scheduled to play five ODIs.Kaif, plagued by a prolonged form slump, found a berth in the 15-member line-up as the selectors felt that it was not necessary to change the winning combination. Virender Sehwag, another player whose form has been questionable, has been retained after his breezy knock of 73 in the second one-dayer against Pakistan at Abu Dhabi.”We all decided that we should back Kaif,” Kiran More, the chairman of selectors, said. “His past record is good and he’s an outstanding fielder too. Yes, his form is worrying. Even Virender Sehwag had a form slump but played a brilliant innings of 73 yesterday [against Pakistan at Abu Dhabi].”Robin Uthappa, the young opener, and Ramesh Powar, the offspinner, clinched their berths owing to performances against England and Pakistan. Sachin Tendulkar, currently undergoing a rehabilitation programme following a shoulder surgery last month, had opted out of the limited-overs segment of the tour. His availability for the four Tests that follow the one-dayers will be known on May 10 when he undergoes a fitness test.The team for the Tests will be announced after the third one-dayer at St. Kitt’s on May 23. The decision to retain the same squad means that Anil Kumble and VVS Laxman continue to remain out of India’s one-day scheme while Sourav Ganguly, the former captain, was ignored again.Indian squad
Virender Sehwag, Robin Uthappa, Rahul Dravid (capt), Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Suresh Raina, Venugopal Rao, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), Irfan Pathan, Ramesh Powar, Harbhajan Singh, Ajit Agarkar, Sreesanth, Rudra Pratap Singh, Munaf Patel.

Warning: Batting against Bangladesh can seriously damage your health. That is the lesson that Michael Vaughan and his men learnt way back in 2003-04, and on Monday they will be reminded how vast the gulf between the best and the rest is, when they take on Australia in the Twenty20 tour opener at the Rose Bowl.Visualising the step up in class is one thing; putting it into practice is quite something else, as England found out to their cost in November 2003. Following a facile one-day series clean sweep in Dhaka and Chittagong, they crossed the Bay of Bengal to Dambulla … where Sri Lanka obliterated them by ten wickets, after chasing down a target of 89 inside 14 overs.Now, as then, meaningful practice has been in short supply for England. They might have expected a Hampshire side led by Shane Warne to put up some resistance, but once Darren Gough’s hat-trick had reduced them to 14 for 6, that game was dead as a dodo. It did allow the squad a timely chance to practice their slogging when a 12-over knockabout was arranged to fill the spare overs – and Kevin Pietersen took full advantage with a 15-ball 46 – but Brett Lee, Glenn McGrath and Jason Gillespie will prove harder to take liberties against.England is the birthplace of Twenty20 cricket, but the team has never yet played an international of that length. Indeed, three of the squad, including Vaughan himself, have yet to take part in the county competition either, because it clashes with the annual NatWest Series. Australia, therefore, have the edge in terms of experience after their bad-haired encounter with New Zealand earlier in the year, and judging by the way Andrew Symonds treated the Leicestershire attack yesterday (92 not out from 59 balls), they can’t wait to be reacquainted with the format.Ricky Ponting was the star of Australia’s first Twenty20 game, thumping a formidable 98 not out from 55 balls against their beige-and-moustachioed New Zealand opponents, and he was back on the offensive during an interview with BBC radio last night, claiming that the only man who would make his team would be Andrew Flintoff. “We have most bases covered,” said Ponting, “but the one thing we haven’t got is a world-class all-rounder – a Flintoff sort of player.”Such jibes are nothing new in Ashes confrontations, but they do highlight the immediate and unavoidable need for England to hit the ground running in this campaign, starting from the moment the first ball is bowled at 5.30pm on Monday. The Twenty20 format and atmosphere could not be further removed from the first Test at Lord’s, but for two sides that are currently brimful of confidence, there are some vital psychological battles to be won and lost in the coming weeks.

For that reason, England have resisted the temptation to pack their team with Twenty20 specialists – Darren Maddy is one name that has cropped up regularly – and instead have backed the 14 men chosen for the NatWest Series and Challenge. Steve Harmison, who missed the Hampshire fiasco with an injured ankle, is expected to play, and has four overs in which to lay down the first of his many markers this summer.It is England’s batting that is the greater concern, however, for they misfired a touch against Hampshire, until Pietersen and Andrew Strauss – with a welcome and timely contribution – baled them out. Monday’s encounter promises fun, frolics, a full house and several fireworks. But it will also be fearsomely competitive, and the first glimpse of what promises to be an epoch-making series.England (probable) 1 Marcus Trescothick, 2 Geraint Jones (wk), 3 Michael Vaughan (capt), 4 Andrew Strauss, 5 Andrew Flintoff, 6 Kevin Pietersen, 7 Paul Collingwood, 8 Kabir Ali, 9 Simon Jones, 10 Darren Gough, 11 Steve Harmison.Australia (probable) 1 Matthew Hayden, 2 Adam Gilchrist (wk), 3 Ricky Ponting, 4 Damien Martyn, 5 Andrew Symonds, 6 Michael Clarke, 7 Mike Hussey, 8 Brad Hogg, 9 Brett Lee, 10 Jason Gillespie, 11 Glenn McGrath.

Arjuna Ranatunga, the former Sri Lankan captain and serial Warne-baiter, haslabeled Shane Warne as a potential liability for the forthcoming Test seriesagainst Sri Lanka and described Australia’s current team as “unimpressive.”In an interview with Australia newspapers, Ranatunga, now a politician,believes Sri Lanka’s batsmen have little to fear if, as expected, Warne isnamed in Australia’s Test squad on Friday for the first time since aone-year drugs ban.”I feel that they will struggle, especially under these conditions,”Ranatunga is quoted as saying. “The present Australian team areunimpressive, when you look at the teams they used to have with the Waughsand Glenn McGrath.””Sri Lankan sides are quite good with spin … and Warne might have anissue here. Warne has been out a long time and he might struggle to getthrough the Sri Lankan batting line-up.” Ranatunga added, “The Australianspin attack is not impressive at all when you see that we have Muraliand others on our side.”Ranatunga had made a pastime out of baiting Warne ever since, on the eve ofthe 1999 World Cup, Warne suggested that the Sri Lankan team would be betteroff without Ranatunga.Ranatunga urged Sri Lanka’s current team to stand up to Australia in thefield. “I don’t know about this team but we used to feel when we gave it[verbally] back to the Australians they would crumble. I was one person whowas always against sledging but that was how it seemed. I’m not sure whatthis [Sri Lankan] team will do.”