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The pitch at Goodyear Park in Bloemfontein was the focus of attentionbefore the first Test match between India and South Africa. The SouthAfrican coach Graham Ford was not too pleased after taking a look atit; he assumed that the pitch would favour the visitors. It was moreor less devoid of any grass and had some cracks, which could haveraised a few eyebrows in the Proteas camp.

Shaun Pollock made no mistake after winning the toss; he put India tobat first, invariably trying to get maximum out of the little moisturetrapped in the pitch. South African pace attack proved to be more thanuseful, even without Allan Donald. They had India reeling at 68/4 onthe first day; it wasn’t a pretty sight, the Indian top-ordersurrendering without a fight.I think the Indian team management got it wrong by not playing ConnorWilliams. The selectors picked him as a specialist opener and there isno reason to hold him back. At some point or the other he has to beplayed and remember, Williams has scored a lot of runs in the domesticcircuit.Rahul Dravid volunteering to open the batting meant that VirenderSehwag could be accommodated in the side. Dravid failed as an opener,not once but twice in the first Test. He is a very important player inthe Indian team and I think that Dravid should play at number three.Having got selected ahead of Williams, Sehwag had to play at his verybest to justify his inclusion. Along with the little maestro SachinTendulkar, Sehwag grew in confidence and played one of the best debutTest innings played by an Indian. It was quite remarkable to see thefighting quality in this young lad. He complimented Sachin Tendulkarvery well and forged a partnership, which is something I will cherishfor a long time to come.Sehwag’s knock was a treat to watch, his composure was impeccable andhis poise was of the highest order. I am particularly impressed by hisback-foot play and the shots that he played through the off-side. Histiming and the way he left the short-pitched deliveries go, wereclearly the signs of a class player. Even though this was not the bestSouth African attack by a long way, Sehwag’s technique and competencegave me the impression that Tendulkar was batting on both ends.Tendulkar’s innings had character and it seems the maestro can onlyget better. He unleashed an amazing repertoire of strokes to pushPollock and Co. to despair. The manner in which he played those shortpitched deliveries to third-man was sheer joy to watch. Only a playerof true genius could play such strokes; no wonder then that Tendulkarreminded Sir Don Bradman of his early days.After having done reasonably well with the bat, thanks to Tendulkarand Sehwag, Indian bowlers threw away the opportunity by allowing theSouth African openers to score runs freely. The Indian attack wasbereft of any planning and they bowled on both sides of the wicket,much to the liking of Gibbs and Kirsten. With that any hopes of afirst innings lead or even putting pressure on the home side was lost.Anil Kumble’s bowling has been a bit of a mystery. He has not beenconsistent with the length. It is beyond my comprehension how Kumblecould keep bowling short, given the fact that he is a tall man. Itjust epitomised the purposeless Indian bowling.India allowed South Africa to put up an imposing first innings leadafter watching Klusener bulldoze a quick-fire century. In my viewIndia lost the Test on the first day itself. India scored rapidly tomake 372 runs on the first day, entertaining for the spectator but adisaster for the team. South Africa was given enough time to plan andexecute their strategy. There was no pressure on them and they won theTest at a canter.India’s batting in the second essay was pathetic. None of the batsmen,except Ganguly was dismissed by a good ball. There is a lot of work tobe done before the second Test match to deny the South Africans awhitewash. The manner in which Laxman and Das got out wasdisappointing, someone need to tell them that they can’t take theirplace in the team for granted.Harbhajan Singh was sorely missed in Bloemfontein; he is a matchwinner and will be available for the second Test. The big question isas always the much famed Indian batting, which is getting a bitcrowded in the middle.

Extra grass may be left on the Adelaide Oval pitch in an attempt to help preserve the condition of the experimental pink ball in this week’s Sheffield Shield “rehearsal” between South Australia and New South Wales, to be played in front of a host of key observers.ESPNcricinfo understands that the oval’s ground staff will be encouraged to leave more grass on the surface than they otherwise would, in order to avoid the sort of abrasive conditions that played havoc with the ball during the Prime Minister’s XI match in Canberra. Should the gambit prove successful, a similar strip can be expected for the third Test of the Trans-Tasman series between Australia and New Zealand.Such a surface may offer more early assistance to pace bowlers than might have otherwise been the case, while also affecting the drop-in pitch’s capacity to deteriorate and take spin later on in the game. However the prospect of the pink ball not being able to last the distance in a Test match is considered the greater concern.Ground and pitch conditions have been shown to be critical to the way the ball behaves, as demonstrated by the contrast between Manuka and the more lush surrounds in which the New Zealand tourists used the ball during their recent practice sessions in Hamilton. The touring wicketkeeper BJ Watling said the ball held up far better in New Zealand conditions than those seen in Australia’s capital.”We had a good couple of days in Hamilton where it was quite lush and the ball held up alright there,” Watling said in Sydney. “It didn’t rip up like it did in Canberra, so there’s going to be different situations and we’re going to have to deal with whatever happens.”Representatives from Cricket Australia and the Australian Cricketers Association, plus production crew from Channel Nine, will all be in Adelaide watching how things progress and preparing for the Test match to be played at the same ground in a month’s time. They will be as interested in proceedings as the players themselves, many of whom have never played a game with a pink ball.Like Australia’s captain Steven Smith, the deputy David Warner will be making his pink ball debut in Adelaide, at the same time as he seeks to prove his fitness for the first Test of the series at the Gabba after being out for two months with a thumb fracture. Warner said he was getting into the headspace of being prepared for anything come Wednesday and wanted to be able to bat under lights.”I haven’t played with it yet,” he said. “We’ll have to wait and see when I get to bat, hopefully I can bat under lights and see what it’s actually like. I’m excited about it and I think so should everyone else be.”In general it doesn’t matter what ball you play with, if you’re preparing for a game, any time you play whether it be 50 overs or four-day form, you’re still in your own mind of trying to score runs and build an innings. It’s irrelevant what ball you use, you need to gain time to get up and ready for a Test match.”We play one-day cricket and we play red-ball cricket, you throw a pink ball in there, it’s all the same game. Yeah it’s day-night, we’ve played day-night with a white ball, but the game is cricket, we have to play how we know. If there is a little bit of uncertainty about being able to see that ball, I’m sure the issues will be raised afterwards.”As for his not-quite-healed thumb, Warner said he was prepared to play through pain to take his place as one of only a handful of senior players left in the Australian Test side. “I think I got hit against India in Brisbane on the same thumb last season as well and the pain is always going to be there,” Warner said. “It is about me getting through that pain. You speak to any wicketkeeper in the world – they are playing with broken fingers so I am not complaining at all. Unless I cop another one on the thumb while I am practising or batting out in the middle, that is the only thing that will hinder my selection for the first Test.”Two weeks ago the doctor said to me come three or four days before the first Test it should be completely healing. You are never worried about getting hit, the thing about cricket is you always have to go in there with a positive frame of mind.”

Sussex pace bowler Ollie Robinson left Middlesex facing the prospect of their heaviest County Championship defeat of the modern era after a rain-affected third day at Lord’sThe right-arm seamer tore out the heart out of the home side’s top order with figures of 4 for 23, which included a burst of 3 for 8 in 14 balls.When the weather closed in to provide temporary respite for the beleaguered Seaxes they were 61 for 4 still needing 282 to make Sussex bat again.Perhaps more pertinently, Stuart Law’s side require a further 51 to better their loss by an innings and 232 runs to Sussex at Lord’s in 2005 – their worst defeat against a county side since before the outbreak of World War II.Robinson, in his first match since injuring his shoulder against Durham in April, had taken three wickets on the first day as the Lord’s tenants were hustled out for 138. In more seamer friendly conditions he was close to unplayable second time around.The 25-year-old and his new-ball partner Mir Hamza set Middlesex openers Max Holden and Sam Robson a searching examination in the morning gloom.Both bowlers beat the bat a number of times and it was no surprise when Holden edged a ball leaving him a touch on the off-stump line to Luke Wells at fourth slip.Holden will have been left doubly frustrated by the fact just four balls later, rain and bad light intervened for the first time, driving the players off for an early lunch.The shortened first session meant Robinson had plenty of energy in reserve to take up where he left off upon the resumption and he did so to devastating effect.Moving the ball both ways off the seam, he castled Robson with one which trapped the batsman on the crease and bowled him through the gate.Home skipper Dawid Malan was then undone by one which went the other way, feathering the thinnest of edges to Chris Jordan at first slip.Worse was to come for Middlesex when Stevie Eskinazi poked tentatively at another ball on a nagging off-stump line to give Wells his second catch of the day.Nick Gubbins and James Harris staved off any further drama before the rain came again to prevent any further play.

Irfan Pathan in 2003, L Balaji in early 2004, Sreesanth in 2005, Munaf Patel in 2006, and RP Singh in 2007. Over the last five years Indian fast bowlers have emerged, won Tests, sustained injuries, got dropped, made comebacks, and got injured again. Somewhere along the line, Zaheer Khan was reaffirmed as the spearhead of the attack while Ashish Nehra has been forgotten. India’s fast-bowling machinery resembles a political sham: promising much before fizzling out.A series is beginning tomorrow and India have one dependable quick (Zaheer), another erratic one who is coming back from injury (Munaf), and a tyro who has also only recently recovered (Ishant Sharma). Sreesanth, a proven match-winner, is injured, along with RP Singh, who was a revelation on the England tour. Pathan has been sent back to the grind of domestic cricket, and VRV Singh, a young fast bowler, also has injury problems. Ranadeb Bose, the highest wicket-taker in the 2006-07 Ranji Trophy, has shown signs of being a limited medium-pacer while Ishant will need to add control and movement if he expects to cut it at the highest level.With seven challenging Tests ahead – the final four in Australia will require them to play three fast bowlers – India have to address several serious questions. When their first-choice fast bowlers are fit, both physically and mentally, India have a handy and even threatening pace attack. But bowling fast is an injury-prone business and the Indian bowlers have proven to be more brittle than most. And when a couple of them get injured, the thinness of India’s bench-strength has been exposed.The irony is that India’s success away from home this decade has been dependent on their fast bowlers. Pathan and Balaji played significant roles in the historic victory in Pakistan in 2003-04, while Rahul Dravid felt Munaf and Sreesanth had performed better than any other pair over the previous ten years during the 2006 tour to West Indies. Sreesanth single-handedly swung the Wanderers Test in India’s favour last year, and England’s batsmen struggled to pick the prodigious swing from RP Singh and Zaheer this summer.So have India handled their bowlers judiciously? RP’s case gives us a few answers. Over the last five months he’s bowled 268 overs in 18 one-dayers, three Tests and the World Twenty20. Sreesanth, dropped for the ODIs in England, and Zaheer, who missed the World Twenty20, at least had enforced breaks. Nobody, it seems, thought of giving RP a decent rest.Munaf’s case is even more damning. He was a problem during the ODI series in England for which he was chosen even though he wasn’t fully fit. Venkatesh Prasad, India’s bowling coach, openly questioned Munaf’s inclusion and suggested he wasn’t impressed with the selection. That was the latest in a long line of injuries that have blighted Munaf and nobody, it seemed, could determine when he was fit. Now, on the back of only three first-class games, one of which was a poor performance in the Irani Trophy, he’s almost certain to share the new ball in the first Test which begins tomorrow.The most worrying aspect, with less than a month to go for the tour of Australia, is the lack of fast-bowling options. The recent Challenger Trophy showed the paucity of talent – Pankaj Singh and V Yomahesh impressed but have a long way to go before being selected- and it’s tough to imagine Praveen Kumar and Joginder Sharma surviving Test cricket.Apart from winning against Pakistan, India also need to ensure against injuries over a possible 15 days Test cricket and hope that their crocked personnel return stronger. He’s yet to turn on the ignition but Kumble must already feel like a racer driving on empty. After 17 years, though, he may be used to it.

Mickey Arthur, South Africa’s coach, expressed his disappointment at theNewlands pitch, but insisted that his side would go all out for the winthat will clinch the series. He commended his bowlers for having kept theIndian scoring rate under control, and hoped that a couple ofbreakthroughs with the new ball on the second morning could swing the gamehis team’s way.”We are disappointed with the wicket,” he said, not bothering to dress uphis despair in diplomatic terms. “It certainly isn’t what we were lookingfor. But you’ve got to play on whatever track you get.”The new-ball bowlers didn’t make the Indian openers play enough, butArthur said that he was satisfied with the effort put in, adding that theshort-pitched tactics had been worthwhile given the manner in which Indiacapitulated at Kingsmead.”We bowled pretty decently as a unit,” he said. “India haven’t got awaywith the game. We still have the new ball and if we can strike early blowstomorrow morning, we’ll be really happy.”I don’t think the Indian batting had much confidence after Durban. We hadto try and expose the chinks with the short ball. The follow-up deliverywas always the important one.”Even if the second new ball, now 10 overs old, does the trick, the onuswill be on South Africa’s batsmen to pile up a formidable total to stay inthe game. “We realise that our first innings with the bat is really goingto be crucial,” said Arthur, though his reading of the pitch seemed alittle bizarre.”Against New Zealand, it was a similar pitch,” he said, perhaps forgettingthat that Test had been played in late April, with winter imminent. “Itturned on day one and then went on to become a good track. We areobviously hoping that’s the case.”Though Paul Harris came through well on his debut, troubling most batsmenduring the course of a tidy 24 overs, the sharp turn out of the roughmight have sent a few shudders down South African spines. “We were justtelling him after play, that we didn’t expect him to bowl the most numberof overs,” said Arthur. “Especially not on the opening day of a Test inSouth Africa.”Arthur praised Wasim Jaffer’s innings and said that India’s decision toopen with Dinesh Karthik hadn’t caught his team cold. “We saw him in thenets in Durban, and were pretty sure that he might open here,” he said. Asfor what lay ahead, Arthur remained cautiously optimistic.”If we can restrict them to less than 380, we’ll be very happy,” he said.”We’re still looking for a win and will try and go as far as possible toachieve that. Our mindset is to win. We won’t hang on for a draw.”If the odd puff of dust late this evening was any indication, they mighthave to do just that against Anil Kumble.

At SuperSport Park, Centurion the Titans moved back to the top of the Standard Bank Cup table after stuttering to a two-wicket win in a match that could have gone either way against the luckless Cape Cobras who now prop up the bottom of the league without a win in five outings.Set a small target of 171, the Titans got off to a cautious start as Cobras bowlers maintained a disciplined line to subdue most of the Titans batsmen. Charl Willoughby’s immaculate line and length was rewarded with 3 for 21 in an uninterrupted nine overs. Ian Harvey took 1 for 12 in a spell of seven overs while left arm spinner Con de Lange took three wickets in the middle of his spell.With the Titans at 125 for 7 after 36 overs, the match was in balance but Johan Myburgh kept his head scoring a match winning 59 not out as the Titans scraped home with six balls to spare.The Cape Cobras had earlier also struggled to come to terms with the quick and bouncy SuperSport Park pitch and, after being asked to bat first, they were kept under pressure throughout their innings. Losing four wickets for 71 in the first 20 overs had not helped their cause, but JP Duminy (43) and Henry Davids (40) put on a near match winning partnership of 60 for the fifth wicket.Having done all the hard work both were run out after just getting into the forties. With the tail not contributing and 170 all out the Cobras, against an in-form Titans team, looked to be completely out of the game.

Despite suffering last-match losses, South Australia and Tasmania have named unchanged line-ups for the Pura Cup match at Bellerive Oval tomorrow. The Rebacks lost outright to Queensland last week at Adelaide while Tasmania were overpowered by Victoria at Hobart.South Australia Graham Manou (capt), Mark Cosgrove, Paul Rofe, Dan Cullen, Nathan Adcock, Callum Ferguson, Greg Blewett, Tom Plant, Ben Cameron, Jack Smith, Mark Cleary, Shaun Tait.Tasmania Daniel Marsh (capt), Michael DiVenuto, Michael Bevan, Sean Clingeleffer (wk), Jamie Cox, David Dawson, Michael Dighton, Xavier Doherty, Andrew Downton, Brett Geeves, Adam Griffith, Damien Wright.

An exotic dancer from Melbourne has joined the chorus of women making allegations about Shane Warne’s behaviour, following claims made by the South African Helen Cohen Alon, that he had harassed her with text phone messages.The dancer, a married 38-year-old, has apparently come forward because what she perceives to be unfair treatment meted out to Cohen Alon, who was recently described as a “hairy-backed Sheila” by the former Test batsman David Hookes.”She says all the things that happened to her, this South African woman, happened to this woman as well,” said Harry M Miller, an Australian celebrity agent. “The stuff this woman alleges, if it’s true, will make a huge noise everywhere.”Meanwhile a former employee of Cricket Australia (CA) claimed they received regular complaints about Warne. “There’s just too many ladies with too many stories,” she told Channel Seven with her face hidden and voice distorted. “He made life very difficult for the staff there.”But CA general manager Peter Young said he didn’t know what the fuss was about. “I’ve been here for nine months and it’s not a fact that we get complaints about Shane Warne every day of the week,” he said. “We received calls about Shane when the anti-doping case was on, and we have received complaints about him this week in regards to the allegations, which remain only allegations at this stage.”Warne’s behaviour again in the spotlight

The chief executive of the England and Wales Cricket Board, Tim Lamb, believes it will be possible to persuade England’s players that it is safe to tour India next month, despite the ongoing military action in Afghanistan.ECB officials have called a meeting with the players to discuss the situation next week.Lamb told the BBC: “We’re confident that we’ll be able to persuade the players that the situation in India is not quite as serious as certain people have been led to believe.””We do understand that players are apprehensive, as this is a difficult and delicate situation, but that’s why we’ve called a meeting.””We can’t force people to get on the plane but the meeting will hopefully make them more confident about going to India.”Several England players, among them Graham Thorpe and Craig White, have expressed concern about whether it is safe to undertake the trip.

ScorecardSteven Smith struck 17 fours and four sixes for his unbeaten 152•Getty Images

Quality won out in the day/night Sheffield Shield match at Adelaide Oval, with New South Wales obliterating South Australia in three days that served as a dry run for the floodlit Test to be played there next month.After Steven Smith and Ed Cowan continued on their merry way to set SA a distant target, the Blues bowlers shared the wickets to end the match early.Mitchell Starc was again a fiendish proposition, but he was well supported by Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon, a combination that will next be seen against New Zealand at the Gabba.Starc’s dismissal of Travis Head for a duck maintained his recent domination of SA’s new captain, and though Callum Ferguson frustrated the Blues with a defiant 96, the result always seemed likely to be sealed a night early.