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How they were out

A burst of wickets from Andre Nel, who finished the day with figures of 4 for 58, towards the close helped South Africa counter an aggressive century from Ricky Ponting, who had given Australia the early momentum with solid support from a belligerent Matthew Hayden. By the end of the day though, Australia were perilously placed at 8 for 239 after having chosen to bat, and South Africa will rightfully feel that they made the most of a good situation. Ponting’s decision to bat first on a tricky pitch – damp spots delayed the start by 30 minutes – could come in for some criticism.The day began badly for Australia as Phil Jaques, the debutant, was sent on his way with two runs on the board as he inside-edged Shaun Pollock to short leg via thigh pad. The South Africans missed a trick or two, bowling the wrong line and length to Ponting when he first came in, then spilled a simple chance, and paid the price for it. Ponting was keen to stamp his authority on the game early, and took a few chances. Off just the third ball he faced, he flashed straight to where third slip would have been, but was let off as the slips cordon was split. Then, on 17, he mis-hit a pull off Jacques Kallis straight to Nel at midwicket only to see the chance go straight into the fielder’s hands and out.Soon after he was let off, Ponting stroked three boundaries, one pull in front of square and two hook shots placed beautifully over square leg, and the momentum was with him. South Africa’s bowlers, perhaps a touch too excited at bowling on a pitch that provided some seam movement and a bit of uneven bounce thanks to the damp spots, failed to consistently pose questions to the batsmen.Hayden sensed that this was not a pitch to bash the ball from the word go, and knuckled down to keep the bowling out. Graeme Smith packed the cover region, tempting Hayden to drive the quick bowlers over the top, but he resisted, choosing instead to defend watchfully till the bowlers landed the ball where he could hit it. And eventually they did, providing width, and he took full toll, carving the ball through cover-point by opening the face of the bat just a touch.Ponting, who had chanced his arm a little early on after choosing to bat, then settled into a good rhythm, and brought up his half-century with a piercing straight-drive back past the bowler. Soon after Hayden raised his fifty, biffing the ball through cover. Two well-set batsmen were taking their time and generating good value for strokes, a far cry from how the day began. Even with the occasional ball beating the bat and several loud shouts for lbw, Ponting and Hayden put together a 152-run partnership for the second wicket that put Australia on track.Hayden, who would have been looking to put up his feet up at tea, fell just before the interval, following one from Pollock into Graeme Smith’s hands at slip. His solid 65 was warmly applauded by the crowd, but the roar that greeted Brad Hodge’s entry told you that it had been a while since a Victorian had walked out to bat in a Boxing Day Test. Fresh on the back of his 203 not out, Hodge got off the mark with a top-edged pull that disappeared over the keeper’s head. Hodge, though, was tentative, and did not last long. Pollock had his third wicket when Hodge chased a wide delivery that swung late, only for Smith to take a good catch to his left at slip.Ponting raised his century with a pull down to fine-leg and the 70,000-plus crowd at the newly refurbished MCG gave their captain a rousing ovation. Mike Hussey began well, driving confidently square of the wicket, and Ponting continued to entertain, pulling with some confidence and success before he fell, against the run of play. Nel got a ball to bounce a bit more than Ponting expected and the attempted big drive went straight to gully. Nel, whose earlier gaffe had seen Ponting add 100 extra runs, celebrated exuberantly.Andrew Symonds’s credentials as a Test allrounder then took a further bashing as he fell for a first-ball duck, and with two wickets in two balls, South Africa had got right back in the game. Then, six runs later, Nel rammed home the advantage, having Adam Gilchrist caught at point with a ball that got big on the batsman. Shane Warne had a crack or two but was gone soon enough, and when Makhaya Ntini trapped Brett Lee in front of the stumps in the last over of the day, the South Africans walked off the field a happy bunch. From 2 for 176, Australia had lost six wickets for 63 runs, leaving South Africa to contemplate a hugely satisfying near-knockout on Boxing Day.How they were out
AustraliaPhil Jaques c Rudolph b Pollock 2 (1 for 2)
Matthew Hayden c Smith b Pollock 65 (2 for 154)
Brad Hodge c Smith b Pollock 17 (3 for 176)
Ricky Ponting c Gibbs b Nel 117 (4 for 207)
Andrew Symonds c Boucher b Nel 0 (5 for 207)
Adam Gilchrist c Gibbs b Nel 2 (6 for 213)
Shane Warne c Boje b Nel 9 (7 for 227)
Brett Lee lbw b Ntini 4 (8 for 239)

A captain’s knock of 102 by Aamer Bashir lifted Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) in their Patron’s Trophy Cricket Championship Quadrangular Stage round match against Habib Bank at the Multan Cricket Stadium on Monday. His knock was the only high point of an otherwise dispirited batting display by PTCL on the second day of the four-day encounter. Having been put in to bat on Sunday’s opening day, they were however helped to a decent total of 271.Batting at number five, Aamer struck 15 fours and a six after his team had started the second day at their overnight 58 for 2. While Aamer batted with authority and assurance, wickets tumbled around him at regular intervals. He dominated the fifth-wicket stand of 95 with Mohammad Hussain, the former Pakistan left-handed all-rounder, whose contribution was 34 off 90 balls with five fours.For Aamer, 33, who was playing on his home ground, the 155-ball knock in just over three and a half hours was his 16th hundred in 178 first-class matches. All five Habib Bank bowlers used by Hasan Raza, the Pakistan middle-order batsman, claimed wickets with Fahad Masood emerging as the best of the lot with 3 for 55.By the close of play, in yet another match disrupted by poor weather and fading light, the Habib Bank openers had negotiated just two deliveries without putting any runs on the board. Only 18 overs were bowled on the first day, on which PTCL lost their opening pair while reaching 58. Yesterday, a total of 62.1 overs’ play was possible.PTCL, who have yet to win a Patron’s Trophy title, are pitted against Habib Bank, record seven-time winners of the competition. The latter in addition also shared the trophy last season with Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) after the final was rained off. After a group-league round among 10 teams divided in two groups of five each, the top two teams from either pool have qualified for the tournament’s Quadrangular Stage round. The side finishing on top of the points table will be crowned the season’s Patron’s Trophy champion. The Quadrangular Stage round will see each of the four teams playing three matches. The other two outfits that have made it this far are PIA and five-time Patron’s Trophy champions National Bank of Pakistan (NBP).The other match between Pakistan International Airlines and National Bank of Pakistan, due to start at the Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) Stadium in Rawalpindi, saw a completely blank day due to rain in the city.

Gerry Hill, who played as an allrounder for Hampshire for more than two decades, has died at the age of 92.Hill made his debut in 1932 after being spotted playing cricket by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in the New Forest, and played through to 1954.His best season was in 1935, when he took 93 wickets, including a career-best 8 for 62 against Kent at Tonbridge, a performance which earned him his county cap. He batted in all 11 positions for Hampshire with four centuries, including a top score of 161 against Sussex at Portsmouth. At one time Hill was the unwelcome owner of the record for the most runs conceded in an over (32).

Wellington defeated Northern Districts by 90 runs in their State Championship match at Hamilton, despite a fighting century by Joseph Yovich. Chasing a challenging 354, Northerns were in all sorts of trouble at 33 for 5 after Scott Rasmussen cut through the top order with an incisive spell of fast bowling. Yovich, coming in at No.7, started the fightback and was supported by Peter McGlashan, the wicketkeeper, who hung around for a patient 29 off 89 balls. Yovich was finally dismissed for 111 and helped take the score to 183 before he was caught by Kyle Mills off Jesse Ryder. His innings came off 212 balls with 21 fours and his stay at the crease caused a few anxious moments for the fielding side, given their commanding position earlier in the day. Graeme Aldridge offered some resistance with an unbeaten 40 but by then, the loss of wickets prevented them from pulling off an unlikely victory. Rasmussen finished with four wickets while Elliot bagged figures of 3 for 52. With this win, Wellington retain their position at the top of the points table.Min Patel, the former England left-arm spinner, took his second five-wicket haul in as many matches, guiding Central Districts to a 140-run win against Auckland in their State Championship match at Palmerston North. Patel’s 6 for 121 ended Auckland’s spirited chase as they were bowled out for 315, in pursuit of 456. Tim Lythe and Matthew Horne, the overnight batsmen, both made half-centuries before Patel accounted for both and cut through the middle order, dismissing Rob Nichol (43), Lou Vincent (13) and Reece Young (8). Tama Canning hung around for nearly two hours for his 43 before getting bowled by Michael Mason. Andre Adams (24) played an entertaining cameo towards the end to take the score past 300.

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

Adam Gilchrist sounded the charge and the bowlers finally turned in a performance that befits their standing as Australia clawed their way back into this Test match. On a see-saw day in this amazing Test, Gilchrist’s stunning 144 and a good showing with the ball gave Australia their best day, though Bangladesh will still harbour hopes of an upset. It’s been that kind of match.Australia had begun the day needing to chalk off the 83 required to avoid the follow-on, something they have done just twice since 1988. Gilchrist, in a departure from his slam-bang affair with cricket, buckled down to play an innings that should draw comparisons with his death-defying unbeaten 149 against Pakistan at Hobart in 1999. To be reduced to a state of submission by Bangladesh was something Australia would not have expected when they arrived here. Gilchrist has played better, but never under such conditions and in this regard his innings was something else.He is a batsman who has flourished with a basic technique, two powerful shots – the cut and the pull – and a reliance on great bat speed. In this innings there was none of that and what was most impressive was how he made a conscious effort to play straight. Mohammad Rafique, who bowled a fine spell, was played with the deadest of defence and when Gilchrist drove through mid-off and mid-on it was not the usual chip; rather, it was a controlled drive with a higher follow-through. Another factor was his footwork. Feet and bat went together, whether it was back to the quicks or down the track to the spinners.Having seen Australia past the follow-on, he trained his sights on chipping away at Bangladesh’s lead in an exhilarating post-lunch session. Gilchrist upped the tempo brilliantly by clubbing three sixes off Enamul Haque jnr after the interval, but Rafique held his nerve to grab the remaining three wickets. Having set Jason Gillespie up with the previous ball that bounced and turned, Rafique cleverly threw a quicker one and Gillespie, playing for the turn, was cleaned up for 26 when the ball rocked through and hit off stump. Stuart Clark was then trapped lbw for 0 and when Gilchrist slogged him to Shahadat Hossain at deep midwicket all of Bangladesh rose in a tumultuous roar.

Rafique was a revelation today as he produced fine loop and turn to prove why he is a top-class left-arm spinner. He mixed his deliveries well: he pushed the quicker ones in and when he tossed it up he found that dangerous drift that was missing in the morning session. The tail was pushed on the back foot more than once while Gilchrist was made to miss more than one cut against the quicker floater. His return of 5 for 62 was just reward for the veteran, and he exemplified the never-say-die spirit of this Bangladesh outfit.Perhaps taking a cue, Australia’s bowlers came to the party. Any Bangladeshi hopes of a first-innings repeat with the bat came crashing down as the game received another flip after tea. Shahriar Nafees had given Bangladesh a rapid start with a 38-ball 33 – though he was dropped by Shane Warne and Matthew Hayden – but a fed-up Brett Lee picked up his first wicket of the match with a furious yorker. Gillespie then got Javed Omar to edge to Gilchrist before Michael Clarke pulled off a brilliant piece of fielding from square leg to send back Habibul Bashar. Rajin Saleh turned Lee fine and called for a sharp single, but Clarke’s throw caught Bashar just short of his crease. Stuart Clark then got into matters when he struck Mohammad Ashraful lbw for 4. Aftab Ahmed and Saleh added 47 in a gritty stand but an ugly swipe across the line to Stuart MacGill resulted in the demise on the stroke of stumps.Australia will be boosted by the performance of Warne, who finally returned to bowl and found the control that had left him on the first day, and MacGill. Warne was extremely unlucky not to pick up a wicket in a mesmerising spell in which he tempted, teased and turned the ball. More than one ball whizzed past the bat in a session in which Saleh and Ahmed were left to prod and plunk their pads forward against a deadly legspin duo that refused to give in.This match is far from over, however. This pitch will deteriorate and a target of 350 will test any side, not least one that was dismantled by a 35-year old spinner in his first appearance against them. Australia may have enjoyed their best day of this enthralling Test match, but Bangladesh still have plenty to say.How they were outAustralia
Brett Lee lbw b Mortaza 15 (156 for 7)
Jason Gillespie b Rafique 26 (229 for 8)
Stuart Clark lbw b Rafique 0 (268 for 9)
Adam Gilchrist c Shahadat Hossain b Rafique 144 (269 for 10)
Bangladesh
Shahriar Nafees b Lee 33 (48 for 1)
Javed Omar c Gilchrist b Gillespie 18 (58 for 2)
Habibul Bashar run out (Clarke) 7 (66 for 3)
Mohammad Ashraful lbw b Clark 4 (77 for 4)
Aftab Ahmed lbw b MacGill 17 (124 for 5)

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

Normal service resumed after the blip at Jamshedpur as India completed a 5-1 series victory with an authoritative seven-wicket win in the final one-day international at Indore. Chasing 289 without Virender Sehwag and Mahendra Singh Dhoni might have seemed a daunting task but after the ease with which debutant Robin Uthappa and Rahul Dravid set up the chase, it seemed natural that India’s finishers, Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina, completed the job in what is fast becoming stereotypical fashion.India’s perfectly planned chase overshadowed England’s batsmen who saved their best batting performance for last. Kevin Pietersen began the assault with an ambush that blinded India in minutes. Paul Collingwood and Geraint Jones sustained the momentum before going into overdrive in the slog as England finished on 288 with Sreesanth picking up career-best figures of 6 for 55.If England thought that Dravid and Yuvraj were the key to India’s chase, they overlooked Uthappa who went on to make 86, the highest score by an Indian on debut. Dravid and Uthappa took advantage of an inexperienced attack on a placid pitch to give India their first century opening stand of the series.Uthappa nerves, if any, would have dissipated after hitting two fours off James Anderson in the first over of the innings. Against Dravid, the inexperience of the bowlers was plain to see as they bowled full and on his pads. His first commanding stroke was a rocketing pull off Mahmood to fine leg but a perfectly balanced and wristy flick off Anderson was a sight to behold. Uthappa lost the race to fifty but caught up and overtook Dravid by clobbering Anderson’s fifth over for 15 runs.Uthappa and Dravid fell within the space of five balls after a 166-run opening stand – Uthappa caught unawares by a throw he didn’t expect to come to his end, and Dravid trapped in front by a straight delivery from Mahmood. It was England’s only window of opportunity to claw back but Yuvraj and Raina slammed it shut.During their 115-run partnership for the third wicket, they picked up singles at will with punchy drives in front of the wicket and powerful cuts and pulls on either side. The risk was non-existant and boundaries were not even needed to keep up to an asking-rate that had climbed to over six after the openers fell. The ten overs after India lost Dravid produced fifty runs and with eight wickets in hand, it was a matter of when rather than if India would win.

However, India didn’t have it this easy throughout the match. England had lost Andrew Strauss and Matt Prior in successive overs from Sreesanth when Pietersen strode to the crease at 47 for 2. After a circumspect start, he manhandled VRV Singh for 26 runs in his second over. Not satisfied with devastating one Singh, Pietersen clubbed three consecutive fours in the very next over, off RP Singh. The third Powerplay produced 54 runs and Dravid brought on his spinners to rein in the run-rate.Ramesh Powar and Yuvraj dried up the boundaries and, Pietersen struggled to maintain his skyscraper strike-rate and eventually holed out to deep midwicket. In this series, Pietersen’s scores read 46, 71, 77, 33 and his 64 today adds to the list of century opportunities gone abegging.With the innings gaining momentum, Collingwood and Jones added 40 between the 30th and 40th overs with minimum fuss. In contrast to Collingwood, who hammered RP Singh for a four and a six early in his innings, Jones faced 27 balls before finding the fence. He cut loose during the slog, bludgeoning Powar into the stands at long-on and Collingwood duplicated the stroke a ball later to bring up his fifty. Jones capitalised on VRV Singh’s lack of confidence, taking 16 runs off his seventh over, and reached his half-century with consecutive boundaries off Pathan.A flurry of wickets hampered England’s progress at the death and several batsmen offered catches to long-off and long-on to give Sreesanth six wickets, but most of the other bowlers suffered, with VRV Singh going for 73 in seven overs. The score seemed a challenging one, but for team on a run-chase roll, it turned out to be quite inadequate.

EnglandAndrew Strauss c Karthik b Sreesanth 25 (42 for 1)
Matt Prior c Pathan b Sreesanth 2 (47 for 2)
Ian Bell run out Yuvraj Singh 32 (110 for 3)
Kevin Pietersen c Uthappa b Yuvraj 64 (165 for 4)
Geraint Jones c Karthik b Sreesanth 53 (257 for 5)
Paul Collingwood c RP Singh b Pathan 64 (267 for 6)
Ian Blackwell c Raina b Sreesanth 11 (274 for 7)
Kabir ali c Rao b Pathan 1 (277 for 8)
Liam Plunkett c VRV Singh b Sreesanth 6 (288 for 9)
Sajid Mahmood c VRV Singh b Sreesanth 9 (288 all out)
India
Robin Uthappa run out Jones 86 (165 for 1)
Rahul Dravid lbw Mahmood 69 (166 for 2)
Suresh Raina b Ali 53 (281 for 3)

Stuart MacGill, the Australian legspinner, has urged the national selectors to persist with him in a bid to prolong Shane Warne’s career. He also admitted that the realisation that his days as an Australia cricketer were numbered had added a sense of urgency to his performance in the first Test against Bangladesh last week.”I think that if you ever — and there’s not many of them — pick up little troughs and plateaus in Shane’s career they’re predominantly based around workload … They’re all following hard seasons or are either immediately before or after operations,” MacGill told . “And in all of those situations there would have been definitely plenty of scope to play a second wrist spinner and I think that you can maybe avoid those situations completely if you do share the pain a bit. It’d work out great for me because I’d play more and probably will stretch Shane’s career a little bit, too. I don’t necessarily see there being a huge difference between the end of Shane’s career and the end of my career.”MacGill gave the example of the Dhaka Test, when Warne was forced to leave the field on the first day with a shoulder strain. “In the Ashes everybody was looking at Shane’s 40 wickets, which is an amazing achievement but if you look further than that maybe the last week was a physical manifestation of that workload,” he said. “(It was) the end of a very, very long season and maybe if I had played a couple of more times in between it would have been avoided.Despite an impressive 191 wickets at 27.35 from 39 Tests, MacGill has found it hard to cement a place in the side. With Warne coming back extremely well since his one-year ban – he picked up a record 96 wickets in 2005 – the 35-year old New South Wales bowler has found himself spending entire series on the bench or carrying drinks. “It’s not as if you’re going to be saving me up for later,” he said. “We’re similar ages and we’ve both got other things to do, so it would be great to be used at the moment.”MacGill also admitted that he knew this tour of Bangladesh could be his last. “I certainly can’t see another Australian tour for me, unless I miraculously hit one-day cricket,” he said.”The next scheduled tour is Zimbabwe in the middle of next year, which I won’t be part of (because of a political boycott). From there, there is a Pakistan tour the year after, so this would be my last Australian tour, I would say. The Ashes summer is there but I don’t know when I am going to be used, so you don’t know what’s going to happen. I have got to make sure I cash in in these games because I might not get another Test.”The second Test against Bangladesh starts at Chittagong today.

There are serious concerns over the fitness of Andrew Flintoff after he picked up an ankle injury during the third Test against Sri Lanka. He admitted struggling through the match and was unable to bowl during England’s brief stint in the field on the fourth morning. England have delayed naming their one-day squad until a further assessment on his condition has been made, but Duncan Fletcher has already said it would be a bonus if Flintoff played.He went for a scan following the third day’s play – when he’d bowled off a shortened run and at reduced pace – and he is now waiting on the advice of specialists. At the post-match presentation he told Sky Sports: “I struggled through this game and have got a little bit of soreness. I went for a scan yesterday which showed some bone fragments around the ankle.”Duncan Fletcher, the England coach, admits it’s a major worry: “It has got to be a concern because he is such a major player for us; also he helps get the balance of the side right. When it comes to the one-dayers I have sat for two days with [assistant coach] Matthew Maynard and a few of the players thinking about how we can balance the side.”How do we add five players to the squad which allow us batting depth and still have quality bowlers who can knock sides over? We have also got to have a look at whether Fred can play just as a batter. There are a whole lot of permutations which are difficult to answer at the moment.”Last year Flintoff had surgery on the same left ankle and was nursed back into full bowling action ahead of the Ashes. “It’s around the same area they have found these fragments,” Flintoff said following England’s 134-run defeat at Trent Bridge. “Whether they have been there all along or they are new, we’re not sure. It’s up to the specialists to look at the scans and then we’ll have more of an idea what to do.”If surgery is required, the England management will want to give Flintoff as much time as possible ahead of the Ashes to recover and if there is any doubt he will surely be left out of the one-day squad. With Michael Vaughan only just beginning his comeback, Flintoff was expected to be named captain but that might now be handed to Andrew Strauss or Marcus Trescothick. England will also have to watch the fitness of Kevin Pietersen, who suffered a grade one hamstring tear in the final Test.

Following England’s crushing defeat to Sri Lanka yesterday Duncan Fletcher, the England coach, has bemoaned the glut of injuries to have affected his squad, while defending Andrew Strauss’ captaincy in the light of a 5-0 whitewash.Mid-way through the series, the excuse of injuries to key personnel began to wear thin among the media. The young players drafted in weren’t performing to the best of their ability – Jamie Dalrymple excepted – as Sri Lanka exposed the softest of underbellies. However, Fletcher defended his team in the aftermath of the most humiliating trouncing.”It doesn’t reflect our ability,” Fletcher said. “We had to pick a squad of 14 after the Australians toured and we are missing eight of those 14. It would be very interesting if Sri Lanka were missing eight of their players and we had eight of our players back. That is the formula you have to look at. What then would the result have been?”The eight Fletcher speaks of include Andrew Flintoff, England’s talismanic allrounder, cheerleader and “go to guy”. Had he been fit and firing, he would almost certainly have captained England ahead of Strauss whose introduction to international leadership was as uncompromising as it gets.”You must give him [Strauss] credit for some of his captaincy under such difficult circumstances,” Fletcher insisted. “It takes a bit of time with young players and we have a lot of young players, who have tried their damnedest and you cannot fault them for trying.”Normally when you reach a period of rebuilding you would leave four or five players out of the squad, here we are leaving eight out and it takes time to build a side,” he added.”You look at any sport – how long did it take for people to build their rugby sides, their soccer sides? How long did it take us to build that cricket side that went on to win the Ashes? It took three or four years to build that.”England’s selectors will this week decide on Michael Vaughan’s replacement as captain for the first Test against Pakistan which gets underway at Lord’s on July 13. Though Flintoff captained against Sri Lanka in the Test series earlier this summer, he too is likely to miss the first Test.

A high voltage behind-the-scenes drama was sparked off in the Indian dressing-room by Rahul Dravid’s abrupt declaration in the Multan Test which left Sachin Tendulkar stranded only six runs short of a double century, the then coach John Wright has revealed.Tendulkar, batting on 194 in the first Test against Pakistan, left no one in doubt that “he felt let down”, Wright said in his just-published book , disclosing for the first time the tense moments the Indian camp went through although publicly every effort had been made at that time to play down the controversy.Acknowledging that the team managament had a “hot potato on our hands”, Wright said he spent a sleepless night whereas captain Sourav Ganguly, who missed the Test because of an injury, was worried that the issue would snowball and end up dividing the team. Wright says no one could be blamed in particular for the situation which could have been avoided had he himself been able to convince Dravid to declare earlier.”Midway through the final session, Dravid declared, as you do when you’re 675 for 5. What Indian captains don’t tend to do, however, is declare when Sachin Tendulkar is on 194 not out. The matter became a full-fledged sensation when Tendulkar told a press conference he was disappointed not to get his double century.”Wright said had he been the captain, he would have declared a lot earlier, allowing Pakistan to face about 25 overs and with Tendulkar on about 170. But the former New Zealand captain also pointed out that Tendulkar needed to “move on” after tea when things got slow. “Dravid wanted less time in the field, but got caught a bit betwixt and between. At tea he told the batsmen he wanted 15 or 16 overs at the Pakistanis, and after tea a couple of messages went out. As I sat there watching the innings grind on, it crossed my mind that Tendulkar needed to get a move on,” Wright continued. “A final message went out saying they had one more over. Then Yuvraj got run out going for a quick single and Dravid called them in.”Wright felt there was fault all round. “I should have convinced Dravid to declare earlier and he should have grasped that it’s one thing to declare when a batsman’s 170 or 180, quite another when he’s 194. And Tendulkar should have pushed to get there quicker.” Once Tendulkar publicly expressed his disappointment, Wright knew they had a “hot potato on our hands”.”I talked to Dravid, who agreed that he had to have a chat with Tendulkar before things got out of hand. That combination of steeliness and serenity, so evident in Dravid’s batting, is the mark of the man: nothing fazes him. He’s a mature and intelligent individual; all the hype and fuss goes over his head because he can stand back and put the issue in perspective.”Tendulkar, Wright felt, “felt let down”. “He’d been playing for India since he was 16; he’d stood up for his country in bad times and tough conditions, and often been the only man to do so. Having given so much for the team, over such a long period, he probably thought this was one time the team could give something back to him. Even the greatest have their goals and dreams and milestones, and a double century against Pakistan in Pakistan would have been a memory to treasure. After a sleepless night, I spoke to Tendulkar who confirmed that he’d wanted the team to cut him some slack. Then he and Dravid talked it through and resolved the matter.”