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Mitchell Johnson delivered on a promise to team-mates to “puff my chest out” against England on Sunday despite his series-long struggles with the ball. Johnson was involved in a handful of disputes with the hosts on the fourth day and the manufactured aggression resulted in an up-and-down performance of 2 for 92 in 21 overs.Johnson’s form leading into the game was so bad he was considered a risk, but he improved with each spell until his verbals to Graeme Swann and Stuart Broad led to an expensive conclusion of 33 in his final four overs. “I probably let them off the hook a little bit,” he told FoxSports. “I got caught up in the moment a little bit too much, but I was pretty happy with the way I went. I burred them up a little bit as well, which was good to see. I haven’t done too much of it this series and that’s what it all about.”Speaking about his cricket for the first time since the start of the Ashes, Johnson said the side, which is behind 1-0 in the five-match series, had been too quiet during the draw at Cardiff and the defeat at Lord’s. “The whole team wanted to really stand up to these guys and show a bit more intent out there,” he said. “In the first two Tests I was just bowling a ball and walking back, not really getting in their faces. Even if I said nothing, at least get in there and give a bit of a stare. Let them know that we’re there.”If Johnson had followed up with verbals or evil eyes he would have looked even more out of place, especially given his wayward performances which contributed to England’s success in London. The attempts of intimidation by the young pace attack, which also includes Peter Siddle and Ben Hilfenhaus, weren’t overly effective at Edgbaston as Australia gave up a 113-run deficit on first innings. England’s bright resistance from their tail-enders, led by Broad’s 55, ensured the hosts finished the skirmishes on top.The first signs of spice from Johnson came during a brief spell after lunch to Flintoff, who went on to muscle 74, and the pair swapped words and angry stares. “The aim for me was to be a bit more aggressive with my bowling,” Johnson said. “To get in there, puff my chest out a little bit and get into the contest. That seemed to work for me. I started to feel a lot better about things.” He picked up Ian Bell with a second strong lbw appeal and followed up with Swann’s wicket when he chipped a slower ball to cover shortly before the innings ended at 376.Johnson blamed his wild performances in his opening two Ashes Tests on putting too much pressure on himself – “I might have built it up a bit too much” – and maintained his form was not influenced by his mother saying his girlfriend had “stolen” him from the family. “Nothing on the outside affects the way I play my cricket,” he said. “That’s all left behind. It’s all about what happens on the field.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out
MS Dhoni’s calm, unbeaten 46 led India to a 2-1 series lead•Associated Press

MS Dhoni and India kept their nerve on a frustrating day of rain delays to take a 2-1 series lead in St Lucia. It was still anybody’s game when India needed 11 off the final over, but Dhoni slammed the second ball over deep midwicket to put the visitors on course for victory.India threatened to lose their way in the chase after a solid start provided by Dinesh Karthik before Dhoni hauled them past the line. The rain-breaks initially readjusted their target to 195 in 27 overs before a further shower reduced it to 159 in 22 overs.When Karthik fell after a fine 47 India needed a relatively comfortable 111 from 89 balls, and at the next rain-break they needed 64 from 51 balls with nine wickets in hand, but a succession of wickets left India requiring 34 in four overs. It came down to the last over. Curiously, Chris Gayle turned to Jerome Taylor, who had a poor game, instead of Ravi Rampaul, who had bowled a pretty decent 20th over. Dhoni killed the contest in the second ball with a six over deep midwicket. He picked the slower one and used his bottom-hand to swipe it with the wind over midwicket boundary. Dhoni and Yusuf Pathan got the remaining four runs with a ball to spare.Dhoni had shepherded the tail end of the chase calmly, taking care to preserve his wicket even as his partners deserted him. Yuvraj Singh holed out to long-on and Rohit Sharma swung to deep midwicket but Dhoni hung around, hitting the occasional four to make sure the game didn’t get away from India. And he effectively finished the game with that six in the last over. However, it was Karthik who set the platform with a fine knock, with a little bit of help from West Indies.On this soft track, West Indies erred by bowling short to Karthik, who, unlike a few of his team-mates, likes playing the pull shot. It was slightly surprising that Jerome Taylor didn’t repeat his first delivery – a gem that was full and shaped away late past the outside edge – to Karthik again during his opening spell. It was that delivery that had got Karthik in the previous game too but that length was rarely seen today.Karthik looked in fine touch, unfurling several spanking pulls and cuts. He started with a pull, followed it with a caressed extra-cover drive before playing a fierce upper cut over backward point for three consecutive boundaries against Taylor. Karthik never let the momentum slip after that. Even Dwayne Bravo bowled short at him and Karthik pulled him for a four and a stunning six. In between, he kept the singles and twos coming. It was a polished performance which was cut short by an unnecessary scramble for a single after Gambhir had cut straight to Rampaul at backward point.Gambhir played a sedate hand today. He didn’t look too comfortable at the start, almost ran himself out on three occasions, and hit his first boundary only in the 12th over. However, unlike in the recent past, he didn’t try to hit his way out of trouble; he was willing to look ugly. He eventually fell, edging behind an attempted cut Sulieman Benn but Dhoni made sure India won the game.Just as they tried gamely in the end of the chase to create a flutter, West Indies had earlier batted well to post a competitive total despite the frequent rain breaks. Dhoni won a crucial toss and made the obvious decision to bowl as no one knew how many overs the team batting first will get to play on a rainy day at St Lucia. West Indies rallied through a frenetic start provided by Gayle and a composed knock by Ramnaresh Sarwan to reach 185 for 7 at the end of their allotted 27 overs.Gayle started like a runaway train, putting immense pressure on Ishant Sharma and Ashish Nehra. Time and again, Gayle thrust his back foot back and across, opened his stance and depending on the line, hit to the on or off side. The stand-out shot, though, was when he disregarded the line and swat-pulled an Ishant delivery from well outside off to deep midwicket. Gayle didn’t spare Nehra too, lashing him through covers before unfurling a delicate flick shot. However, Gayle fell to Nehra first ball after a break for rain, edging a cut against a short and wide delivery.Sarwan, though, kept the scorecard moving along by maneuvering the ball into the gaps for singles and twos. In between, he whipped and pulled Yuvraj to boundaries but ran himself out, turning back for the second run after tapping to square leg. He kept his cool and tried gamely to adjust to the new scenario provided by the frequent interruptions.Sarwan was helped by a lovely cameo by Darren Bravo. His innings was filled with several delicious strokes that had a touch of Brian Lara. There were two fine sashays down the track against Yusuf Pathan for lofted boundaries but his best shot, and the shot of the day that evoked memories of that great left-hander, was a fabulous cover drive off RP Singh. Up went the bat as he crouched on his knees before swinging through the line of the length delivery up and over covers. Denesh Ramdin swung his bat in the end to finish the innings with a flourish but it was to prove insufficient in the end.

Essex have bolstered their Twenty20 Cup squad by signing Mark Hardinges, the 31-year-old allrounder from Gloucestershire.”I am really excited and pleased to get the call from Essex. If I can help in any way in what is already a good side I will be really happy,” Hardinges said. “I have made two previous finals days of the Twenty20 Cup so I am keen to win it with Essex and this bunch of lads…[is] more than capable of going that step further. My aims for my time at Essex are to enjoy myself and to contribute to a really successful unit. I am available to play for Essex from now until the end of July.”Paul Grayson, the Essex coach, added: “The main reason we have brought Mark into the team is that we may not have four of our main players for the entirety of the Twenty20 Cup owing to ICC World Twenty20 call ups (Ravi Bopara, James Foster, Ryan ten Doeschate and Graham Napier).”We are serious about winning the Twenty20 Cup this season and we want to be sure we have the best team available. We could have been left with a light squad and Mark brings experience as a consistent one-day performer. His name became available and this was an opportunity we could not miss.”

Steffan Jones, the Somerset seam bowler, has joined Kent on a month-long loan deal.Kent have suddenly found themselves short in the pace-bowling department after Stuart Clark had to abort his deal after being called-up by Australia, while Amjad Khan is still recovering from the knee injury he picked up in West Indies.”Kent have some injury problems and approached us to see if we had anyone suitable to help,” Brian Rose, the Somerset director of cricket, told the club’s website. “We recommended Steffan and he was very eager to go. It is much better for him to be playing first-team cricket than to be confined to our second XI.”Somerset can recall Jones at any time if he is needed for first-team action.

Match facts

April 27, 2009
Start time 12.30pm (10.30GMT)

Big Picture

RP Singh and Adam Gilchrist have been crucial components in Deccan Charger’s unbeaten run in South Africa•AFP

Three wins out of three have made Deccan Chargers, the table toppers, the surprise package of the tournament. A beaming Adam Gilchrist said at the presentation after beating Mumbai Indians that they got more points in the first week of the tournament than they ever managed last year. A big reason for that is the marked improvement in their bowling. A top-heavy batting has been backed by the efforts of RP Singh, Pragyan Ojha and Fidel Edwards who have not only picked wickets but also strangled the runs. They look a far more settled unit and Chennai Super Kings cannot afford to take them lightly.Chennai will look back at their defeat against Delhi Daredevils with regret, given that they squandered a sound start and their next game against Kolkata Knight Riders was washed out a ball being bowled. The failure of their middle order to contribute is a worry and the early departure of Andrew Flintoff to injury is a setback. Rain denied them a chance of making a comeback against Kolkata.

Form guide

Deccan: RP Singh currently holds the Purple Cap for the most wickets (8) and his team-mate Ojha is joint second with six. Both have managed to keep their economy rates under six, which has added potency to the bowling attack.Chennai: Matthew Hayden, the tournament’s leading run-scorer with 166 runs, has scored nearly 33% of the runs. At this rate, Chennai may not want to swap him for another overseas player.

Watch out for

Adam Gilchrist v Matthew Hayden: The retired stars have topped the run charts for their respective teams and their reflexes are intact. Trusts them to share secrets about each other with the bowlers.

Team news

For Chennai, Joginder Sharma hasn’t made any significant contributions in the three games and it may not be a bad idea to replace him with a spinner. Deccan on the other hand may not want to tinker with their winning line-up.Chennai: (probable) 1 Parthiv Patel, 2 Matthew Hayden, 3 Suresh Raina, 4 MS Dhoni (capt & wk), 5 Albie Morkel, 6 Jacob Oram, 7 S Badrinath, 8 Joginder Sharma, 9 L Balaji, 10 Manpreet Gony, 11 Muttiah Muralitharan.Deccan: (probable) 1 Adam Gilchrist (capt/wk), 2 Herschelle Gibbs, 3 Dwayne Smith, 4 Rohit Sharma, 5 VVS Laxman, 6 Venugopal Rao, 7 Ravi Teja, 8 Harmeet Singh, 9 Pragyan Ojha, 10 RP Singh, 11 Fidel Edwards.

Head-to-head record

Adam Gilchrist’s half-century powered Deccan to a comprehensive seven-wicket win at the MA Chidambaram Stadium last year but Chennai had their revenge at Hyderabad winning by the same margin. Chennai’s victory was significant because it had earned them a semi-final spot.

Jerome Taylor, the West Indies fast bowler, will undergo a fitness test to determine whether he will be available for the England tour. Taylor had missed the final home Test and the one-day series against England with a side strain before a motor accident ruled him out of the IPL.”Paul Campbell, president of the Jamaica Cricket Association (JCA) and David Cameron, vice-president of the WICB, will arrange a fitness test for him,” team manager Omar Khan said, “and once he is okay, he will be expected to join the team by April 27.”The West Indies squad – except Chris Gayle and Fidel Edwards who will have a short stint in the IPL, and senior players Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan – left for England on Wednesday.Denesh Ramdin will lead the team during three warm-up games in the absence of Gayle, who will join the squad ahead of the first Test. Ramdin drew confidence from the 1-0 victory against England in the recent Tests in the Caribbean, which was their first series win against serious opposition in five years.”We did well against them here and it’s the same guys, so we just need to go out there and put everything together,” Ramdin said. “So far, the guys have done the job for us, so I don’t see why we should not go out there and do it again.”Ramdin acknowledged England would be tougher opponents in their backyard but didn’t think they would have too much of an advantage. “They are playing at home and they are going to come at us … they are used to their conditions,” he said. “A lot of the younger players played a lot of league cricket in England, so it’s not an unusual experience; they just have to go out there and execute.”

John Dyson, the West Indies coach, hopes that Dwayne Bravo’s return to the national squad will help his side become consistent and maintain their form after the 1-0 Test series victory against England.Bravo missed the Tests because he was recovering from ankle surgery but has been named in the squad for the Twenty20 international against England in Trinidad on March 15. “He’s always keen and it is great to see that,” Dyson told . “It’s terrific to see he is OK and I am really looking forward to him coming back and playing well. He will add another dimension to our team that will hopefully make us that much stronger and more consistent.”He has regained full fitness, but obviously after being out for a while he needs to regain his feel for international cricket and form. It will be great to have him involved.”Despite their victory against England, Dyson felt that West Indies need to be consistent in order to improve at the international level. “The really good teams are consistent with their performances, we still need to get that with our bowling and the same with the batting,” he said.Although their batsmen battled hard to secure tense draws in Antigua and Trinidad Dyson said a couple of batting spots were still open. “We need Devon Smith to step up in the opening role and put up some really big scores, we need to get someone in the number four spot to get some big scores as well – Ryan Hinds showed some glimpses batting under pressure,” he said. “There are a couple of spots that need someone to put up there hand and say ‘I am here and I am going to hang on to that spot’.”One of the biggest letdowns in the recent series was Daren Powell who managed only six wickets in four Tests at an average of nearly 70. Dyson, however, backed the bowler. “He [Powell] has to have faith in his ability and work on various aspects of technique that are appropriate to finding the consistency he wants. One of the other difficulties is that when you look at alternatives in the regional competition there are not too many (quick bowlers) throwing up their hands by getting consistent returns.”West Indies have had several improved performances since Dyson took over as coach but he was keen to ensure that the intensity did not drop this time. “Each time we show a glimpse of doing well, the enthusiasm level definitely picks up but then drops back down because perhaps of a loss or bad performance,” he said.”In this series the thing that is consistently mentioned as the most heartening factor of the performances is that the guys are fighting and not falling over like a deck of cards.”

John Dyson, the West Indies coach, wants his players to learn from their mistakes in Antigua and make sure they don’t have to fight for a draw again. The outstanding efforts of Ramnaresh Sarwan and the lower order helped them survive with nine wickets down, but Dyson said it should be a warning sign.”We showed some good character in Antigua,” he said, “although I was a bit disappointed with the way we battled and bowled but the end result showed a lot of character. England will come at us even harder this time and we need to be consistently putting big totals on the board in the first innings. England showed you can control the game by doing that.”West Indies let the game slip right from the opening session after Chris Gayle put the visitors in on a surface that was expected to aid the quick bowlers but turned into an excellent batting track. During the game Dyson said hindsight was a wonderful thing and he still supported Gayle’s decision. “It was made for all the right reasons,” he said. “We lacked intensity and passion, which then came out on the last afternoon when we should have been stamping our authority on the game.”Although Daren Powell was one of the heroes of the rearguard, playing out the final 10 overs with Fidel Edwards before the light faded, he has come under pressure for his sub-par performance with the ball. But Dyson has seen first hand how hard Powell is trying to overcome his problems and believes he can strike form.”Daren is an honest assessor of his own performances and he realises that it would be great for him to put in some big performances with the ball,” Dyson said. “If you watch him work in the nets and around the whole scene you realise he is a very hard worker. I think one of these days we are going to see a spell from Daren that turns his fortunes right around. I’m just waiting for the day when it all clicks for him and he walks away with a five-for.”West Indies’ last-gasp draw had them celebrating as though it was a victory while England looked as if they had lost. Coupled with the loss of Andrew Flintoff because of injury and Matt Prior’s flying home to see his new baby, it would suggest that momentum is heading the home side’s way.”Both sides have played some excellent cricket and both sides have played some poor cricket,” Dyson said. “England have been hit by a couple of injuries so it’s a difficult one to say who’s got the momentum.”West Indies will again face a challenge off the field with hordes of England fans set to flood the Kensington Oval, outnumbering local supporters. But Dyson wants his players to use that to their advantage and put in a performance to silence the visiting fans.”It’s a motivating factor for both teams. If you are out there with people yelling against you it still acts to motivate you. We expect larger numbers of England supporters here than locals, but it makes you want to do something about it.”

Argentina coach Hamish Barton has said he believes the World Cricket League Division 3 could be the closest event yet as six sides battle to secure the two remaining places at April’s ICC World Cup Qualifier.”It is going to be a very close tournament and there isn’t going to be much between the teams,” said Barton. He predicted that the wickets would play in a similar way to those in Australia during the first World Cricket League Division 3 tournament back in May 2007, where Uganda and Argentina secured promotion only to then be relegated from Division 2 in Namibia.Barton admitted he had used a variety of techniques to try and find out as much as he could about the opposition, particularly Afghanistan and Hong Kong, which has involved scouring the internet for footage, particularly of Hong Kong’s participation in the Asia Cup 2008, and talking to as many players as possible.”I was talking to the USA players at the ICC Americas competition, who didn’t even make it beyond Division 5, and they said that anything can happen at these tournaments. Sometimes matches will even go down to who gets the luck at the toss of the coin.”

Mohammad Ashraful, the Bangladesh captain, said the team were relieved after levelling the series 1-1 in Mirpur. Facing the prospect of a series loss against a team ranked below them, Bangladesh battled hard for a six-wicket victory on Wednesday, and the captain believes they will definitely win the three-match contest if they play at their best in the decider on January 23.”It was an important match for us and I am just feeling good,” Ashraful said. “It could have been more convincing but we won the match and are now looking forward to the last game.”Ashraful was happy with the performance of the bowlers, but expressed concern over the team’s inability to bowl out Zimbabwe. After 18.3 overs, the tourists were in trouble at 47 for 6, but managed to survive 50 overs and post 160 on the board, a competitive total given the low-scoring affairs that have taken place in the past week in Mirpur.”After reducing Zimbabwe to 47 for 6, we tried hard to break the seventh-wicket [stand] between [Sean] Williams and [Prosper] Utseya, who adopted a defensive strategy,” Ashraful said. “Even though they had a 96-run stand, it was a slow partnership. We did not give runs freely.”Naeem [Islam] bowled well so did Shakib [Al Hasan] during that partnership. We could not pick wickets because they did not play any lofty shots. They just stuck to the basics and took singles or doubles.”Bangladesh’s decision to have a think-tank has also helped, Ashraful said. “We do have a group of five, which sits and analyses games and performances and also plans for the future. I think it was a positive step we have taken and I am sure it will yield positive results in the future.”One decision Bangladesh got right on the day was at the toss, where they chose to field. Ashraful admitted he had erred in batting first in the series opener, which Zimbabwe won by two wickets after Bangladesh were dismissed for 124. “I think that my decision to bat first in the first match was a wrong one and we also batted badly in that match,” he said. “We all looked at the wicket first and then decided that if we win the toss we would field first. The wicket was also better than Monday and I think even if we batted first on this wicket it wouldn’t have been a problem. Our batters and fielders were also good today.”Ashraful managed only 5 in a chase guided by Mehrab Hossain jnr and Raqibul Hasan, taking his tally to 71 in six ODIs this year. He was caught at short cover while swinging at a wide delivery off left-arm spinner Ray Price. “Yes, it was a bad shot, but it could have been better had I hit on top or below of the ball.”I will try to play better in the next match and put on some runs on the board. I am not thinking of the captaincy as I am getting support from all and I am trying my best.”