Sourav Ganguly has dismissed notions of India “choking” in finals and believes their performances in the last few years justify his rebuttal. Under Ganguly, India have reached 12 finals and finished as outright winners just once. On two of those occasions, they were joint champions.Pointing to a few two-team series which went into the deciding game, Ganguly told the Press Trust of India that his team’s record wasn’t as bad as it was made out to be. “We won in West Indies when we were 1-1. We then beat Pakistan when we were 2-2. These were as good as finals. Then of course there was the NatWest title [when India beat England at Lord’s].”In three out of the last four one-day tournaments involving more than two countries, India were thwarted by the mighty Australians in the final stage. “We have lost to them [Australia] because they are such a good side. They lift themselves in the big match and we must similarly try to do on Sunday.”Sri Lanka nearly pulled off a fantastic victory in the previous game, despite the absence of Chaminda Vaas and Muttiah Muralitharan. “They will be boosted by Vaas and Murali,” said Ganguly, who quickly added, “it isn’t as if we would be playing them for the first time, we know how to tackle them.”

New Zealand A 289 for 6 dec (How 61, Canning 60) and 68 for 4 (Bhayat 4-37) lead Lions 175 for 7 dec (Crookes 101*) by 182 runs
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The Highveld Lions staged a stunning recovery through Derek Crookes and Goolam Bhayat after New Zealand A had taken the upper hand in their three-day match at the Isak Steyl Stadium, Vanderbijlpark. New Zealand A had notched up 289 for 6 declared and 68 for 4 in response to the Lions’ 175 for 7 declared.The Lions’ innings began in disaster as Stephen Cook was bowled before a run was on the board. Adam Bacher, Neil McKenzie, Justin Ontong, Matthew Harris and Hylton Ackerman all failed, one after the other, in spectacular fashion. THe Lions were staggering at 29 for 6. Richard Sherlock (3 for 20) was the pick of the bowlers.But, just when New Zealand A had established a stranglehold on the game, Crookes set to work. Coming in to bat at No. 8. Crookes cracked an amazing 101 not out off 148 balls (19 fours) and took South Africa A to 175 for 7, where they declared. Werner Coetsee (26 from 71 balls) kept Crookes good company.New Zealand A’s second dig did not go too well as Bhayat, the mediumpacer, picked up the top four for just 37 runs off 9.4 overs. On 68 for 4 New Zealand A are now 182 ahead with one day left to play.

South Australia 254 & 6 for 289 dec beat Victoria 223 & 202 (Moss 50, Tait 4-34) by 118 runs
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A young South Australian side has upstaged Pura Cup champions Victoria by grabbing an outright victory in their Pura Cup match at Adelaide.Victoria were bowled out for 202 after being set 321 to win on the final day. Shaun Tait and Paul Rofe shared the honours with four wickets and three respectively, while Victoria’s captain Jonathan Moss hit 50.Full report to follow.

Chaminda Vaas led a spirited recovery to lift Colts to a handy 276 for 7 by the end of the first day’s play in the Premier League final against Burgher RC at the Sinhalese Sport Club.Vaas hit eight fours in his undefeated 60, and has so far put on 77 for the eighth wicket with the former Test slow left-armer Niroshan Bandaratilleke, who has made 44 not out.Earlier Burgher’s new-ball pair, Priyankara Silva and Chamara Soysa, had Colts in some trouble, taking three wickets apiece. Soysa struck early to remove Shantha Kalavitigoda for 7, but then Sajith Fernando (41) put on 88 with the left-hander Muthumudalige Pushpakumara, who top-scored with 69 – he biffed 12 fours and faced only 97 balls – before he was dismissed by Sajeewa Weerakoon. After a middle-order slide it was left to Vaas and Bandaratilleke to pick up the pieces.

New Zealand Cricket want to host one-day and Twenty20 domestic competitions with Cricket Australia to help improve the quality of their game. Martin Snedden, the NZC chief executive, said he had met with his CA counterpart James Sutherland to discuss the events earlier in the year.”We first started talks six or seven months ago and we’ll have quite a bit of contact over the next few months with the reciprocal tours,” Snedden told the Sydney Morning Herald. “We’ve not discussed it further, but it’s still out there and it’s a live issue.An initial proposal suggests a week of Twenty20 matches between the state and provincial teams and a game between the winners of each country’s one-day competition. “My view is that the more playing time and exposure our cricketers have to different players and conditions, the better it is for us,” Snedden said. “But it’s also a question of whether Australia would be willing to go ahead with some of these things.”Stephen Fleming has already suggested that North and South Island sides compete in the Pura and ING cups. New Zealand played in knockout one-day touraments in Australia for three years until 1974-75.

John Davison might be able to devote more time to Canadian cricket after he was dropped by South Australia in a move which could signal the beginning of the end of his time with the state.Although Davison is currently South Australia’s one-day vice-captain, Paul Nobes, SA’s chairman of selectors, said that Davison had “no future” with the state.”Davo’s form hasn’t been up to the standard we would like,” Nobes admitted. “He’s been dropped from the first-class arena and now the one-day arena. As a 34-year-old, the way we’re heading, his chances are very, very limited.”Davo is pretty much resigned to the fact,” Nobes added. “It’s just one of those things … the time has come.”

Inzamam-ul-Haq has said that Pakistan will concentrate on preserving wickets early in the innings as they bid to upset Australia in the first match of the VB Series finals at Melbourne on Friday. Having managed back-to-back victories over Australia and the West Indies in Perth, Pakistan go into the first final full of confidence, with Brian Lara declaring them a big threat to the home side.Pakistan piled up an imposing 307 in their final league game against the West Indies, with Inzamam making 74 and Yousuf Youhana contributing a classy 105, and the unheralded Rana Naved-ul-Hasan then grabbed 4 for 29 as the West Indies were edged out in a tense finale.According to Inzamam, the steady starts have been a major factor in the recent success. “If you look at the last couple of games, if you save wickets then in the last 20 or 30 overs you can score anything,” he was quoted as saying in . “The last game against the West Indies they had a couple of wickets in hand and they scored 340-odd runs so it is important that we apply that.”Pakistan won one and lost two of its round-robin matches against Australia, and Inzamam said, “I know it is tough opposition but if we really work hard then well, hopefully we will perform well in the finals.” He pronounced himself satisfied with his own form, and also pinpointed exceptional performances from the likes of Rana.”My form is good, that is why I am looking good,” he said. “The last two games he (Rana) has really done well — they (the bowlers) really feel hunger and I think he has set the example.”Away from the feel-good atmosphere in the Pakistan camp, Shaharyar Khan, the Pakistan cricket Board supreme, expressed the fear that Pakistan were losing ground as a Test-playing nation. With the tour of India now less than a month away, Shaharyar said, “It is obvious that the gap between our Test and one-day performances is big and this is something we remain concerned about even if we have made the one-day finals in Australia.”According to him, the lack of nous in the Test arena was easily explained. “The main reason for this is we are nurturing too many of our young players on one-day cricket and they just have not developed the mental strength and aptitude to play test cricket,” he said. “So we are working on a plan to balance the number of Tests and one-dayers our team plays in the next few years.”And the first step we have taken is to ask the Wales and English Cricket Board to consider playing four Tests and three ODIs in Pakistan later this year instead of three Tests and five ODIs.”For the moment though, Test matches will be far from Inzamam’s mind, as he and Bob Woolmer, the coach, aim to script an improbable victory that would set the team up for a challenging tour of India, and also erase some of the painful memories of a 3-0 drubbing in the Tests.

Mental strength is such an important characteristic, but a calf injury will get a player more sympathy than a sick mind. Steve Waugh’s most enviable trait was not run-scoring or baggy-green pride, it was the grey matter his cap protected. Unforgiving, unflinching, almost all-conquering, Waugh’s brain was the model for long-term success.Waugh grew to understand the power of the mind and set about dismantling those of the opposition with his mental disintegration. Michael Slater was a successful and senior member during the early years of Waugh’s captaincy, but while his team-mates were looking for flaws in their rivals, Slater was experiencing problems with a pattern that was last year diagnosed as bipolar disorder. His behaviour started taking noticeable turns in 2000 and over the next year his actions created much publicity but received little help. Team-mates turned from him, and professional assistance was too far away.Slater this week revealed he suffered from the manic depressive disease, which causes large mood swings, and was worried about how his announcement would be received. The threat of admitting weakness has lasted much longer than his playing days. Society says injury-induced retirees are glorified; those with sick minds are signed off as nutcases.”Are people going to think I’m a fruit loop,” he asked Enough Rope’s Andrew Denton as he shared his secret. Twenty percent of Australians experience some sort of mental illness, yet an opening batsman who thrilled and spilled in a Test career of 71 Tests, scoring 5312 runs at 42.83, was more cautious – scared even – than facing Ambrose and Walsh at their fastest.The sad case of Slater, who believes the disorder was a by-product of the spinal disease Ankylosing Spondylitis afflicting him since he was at the Cricket Academy, highlights a disturbing cricketing anomaly. The mind is a player’s greatest weapon but maintenance and repairs are generally left to the individual.Why don’t teams tour with psychologists? A usual support-staff contingent includes a coach, manager, physiotherapist, masseuse and sometimes an assistant coach, bio-mechanist, yoga instructor and chef. Bodies are temples, but minds are like mini-bar bills and are the user’s responsibility. For help it’s usually necessary to make an international phone call or have a chat with a senior figure behind the nets.The problem with the in-dressing-room solution, compared to the confidentiality of a professional, is the trusted player or coach has a team duty to pass on information about the sufferer’s mindset. Forget the personal damage, what could it do to the side? Waugh, who praised his former team-mate for talking publicly about the illness, made the selectors and Malcolm Speed, the then Cricket Australia chief executive, aware of Slater’s slide in 2001 and he was dumped, never to return, for the final Test of the Ashes tour.While losing the one-day series 5-0 to Australia, John Bracewell said his batsmen were offered the use of Gilbert Enoka, the team’s psychologist, and the reaction was the stereotypical “send them to couch” humour. At his next public outing Bracewell effectively told the doubters to grow up. Psychologists were part of professional sport.Slater will forever wonder whether things could have been different. It now seems absurd that Waugh’s golden calf injury sustained at Trent Bridge in 2001 was a national concern and the state of Slater’s seriously worsening state of mind was mockingly dismissed. Waugh recovered to play at The Oval and scored a gutsy 157 not out; Slater’s combined problems – panic attacks that rushed him to hospital, reactive arthritis that folded him into a wheelchair – forced him to retire at 34. Leaping, helmet-kissing celebrations like his Lord’s 152 were old, fanciful dreams.The first signs of Slater’s bipolar disorder came in 2000 with his television commentary debut in England, and grew to become as common as a couple a day. Panic attacks are worse than any hamstring strain or bone-spur operation. The health problems were compounded and contributed to by the separation from his wife Stephanie, the accusation that he was addicted to cocaine and the awful, false rumour that he was the father of Adam Gilchrist’s child.

During this time Slater gave regular signs of his trouble. Glass of wine in-hand, he jumped on stage to sing with Jimmy Barnes at the 2001 Allan Border Medal, then there was the Rahul Dravid outburst, the buying of his long-saved-for Ferrari and four tattoos when one would have done. “This might clear up for a few people why my behaviour appeared erratic,” he explained of his decision to go public.Why it wasn’t dealt with, and why he wasn’t properly helped as it was happening remains a mystery. The talk on that Ashes tour was Slater was running quickly off the rails, but he was left on his own. Slater said he felt isolated as his friends turned their backs.Now a commentator who talks like he batted – fresh, mostly relaxed and highly entertaining – Slater’s eye-sparkle remains but his body looks worn out for a 35-year-old. He hopes for a long career but worries the “fruit loop” reaction could hinder his prospects. If his bipolar revelation has that effect it would be a greater injustice than the lack of support he received as he careered out of international cricket.”I wish I’d been stronger,” Slater said. “I was too sensitive and wore my heart on my sleeve.” Perhaps he was just right: there were far more highs than lows. Perhaps the people around him should have worried more about their caring than the cracking up. Mental injuries must be treated more seriously than any grade-one muscle tear.

Gerald de Kock, Cricket South Africa’s media manager for the past two-and-a-half years, has resigned in order to return to broadcasting. His post will be taken up by Cricket South Africa’s communications officer, Moabi Litheko, a former SABC sports journalist.De Kock said it had been a difficult decision because he enjoyed working for South African cricket, and especially the national team. “But in the end,” he said in a statement, “I decided to take up an offer to return to broadcasting, my first love, and to spend more time with my family.”Cricket South Africa’s CEO, Gerald Majola, said de Kock’s resignation was a great loss as he had set extremely high professional standards. “However, in Moabi Litheko we have an outstanding replacement whose background is communicating to millions of South Africans on sport, and who has proved an asset as our communications officer.”

The picturesque ACA-VCDA Stadium, located on the outskirts of Visakhapatnam, will host its first international game tomorrow when India defend their 1-0 lead against Pakistan before an estimated 26,000 spectators.The stadium was built only recently and has hosted just one international team before, when the touring New Zealanders took on a Board President’s XI here in 2003. Unlike Kochi, the venue of the last game, which had several tiers of stands built upon each other and seated more than 60,000, the stands here are comparatively low, allowing spectators a view of the beautiful hills that surround the ground. But in the preparation for the game there is evidence of thought and care not seen at Kochi, with a temporary shelter put up over the stands to protect the paying public from the hot April sun.For the players out in the middle, though, there will be no such respitefrom the baking heat, though it is more breezy here than at Kochi, and thelow-lying stands allow the breeze into the playing arena. Even so, cricketin this weather is as much a test of endurance as of skill. As RahulDravid suggested in the pre-match press conference, the team that copeswith the heat better is the one likely to win.Certainly there were signs of disorientation in the way Pakistan batted atKochi, after fielding in the first session and being given the runaroundby Virender Sehwag and Dravid, so there is little doubt that the sidewinning the toss tomorrow will choose to bat first. The pitch is expectedto be a belter, and the evenly grassed, well-cut outfield looks like itwill give batsmen full value for their strokes.India are expected to field the same eleven that played at Kochi, and tookthe team to the biggest-ever victory by India over Pakistan by a runs-margin in an ODI. Pakistan are sure to make some changes, if for no otherreason then from the worry of going two-down in the series. Their bowlinglooked a little toothless at Kochi, especially after the opening bowlershad gone off, so it would not be a bad idea to bring Danish Kaneria intothe side; and the batting line-up, which flopped so badly in the firstgame, might benefit from being tweaked slightly so that Shahid Afridiopens the innings.There are indications though that Younis Khan, who missed the last gamebecause of illness and whose return would boost the team’s confidence, maynot play tomorrow, and for good reason. These are conditions that will sapthe fittest and hardiest of men, and may not be the best place to test outif a player has made a full recovery.Teams (probable)India 1 Sachin Tendulkar, 2 Virender Sehwag, 3 Sourav Ganguly (capt), 4Rahul Dravid, 5 Yuvraj Singh, 6 Mohammad Kaif, 7 Mahendra Dhoni (wk), 8Harbhajan Singh, 9 Zaheer Khan 10 Lakshmipathy Balaji, 11 Ashish Nehra.Pakistan 1 Shahid Afridi, 2 Salman Butt, 3 Shoaib Malik, 4 Inzamam-ul-Haq(capt), 5 Yousuf Youhana, 6 Abdul Razzaq, 7 Kamran Akmal (wk), 8 ArshadKhan, 9 Mohammad Sami, 10 Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, 11 Danish Kaneria.