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England 301 for 3 (Pietersen 32*, Collingwood 11*) v West Indies
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

Andrew Strauss led from the front once again with a superb 142, and Alastair Cook produced his highest Test score for 14 months, as England bounced back from their Antigua disappointment to dominate the opening exchanges of the fourth Test in Barbados. The pair batted straight through the first two sessions in a partnership of 229, an English record for the first wicket against these opponents, but West Indies still revived their hopes of staying in touch in the game by claiming three wickets for 80 in a tidy final session.By the close, however, England had negotiated six overs of the new ball to reach an imposing 301 for 3 after winning the toss, although Kevin Pietersen, unbeaten on 32, was lucky to reach the close after being badly dropped by a diving Jerome Taylor at square leg on 20. Nevertheless, for the second Test running, the kingpin of England’s innings was the new captain, Strauss, whose 142 was, arguably, even more imposing than last week’s first-day 169 at the ARG. He capitalised on a swift but true surface to crack 17 fours and a six in a 210-ball masterclass, an innings that confirmed he has found himself a rich vein of form.Starting with his twin centuries at Chennai before Christmas, Strauss has now made four hundreds in five fully-fledged Tests, and crucially, each of those innings has demonstrated the same compact self-discipline that was a hallmark of his performances at the start of his career in 2004-05. Furthermore, his average as England captain (a spell that began with two hundreds in four Tests against Pakistan in 2006) has now climbed above 60. England desperately needed a man who could rise above the chaos, both on and off the field, and sure enough they have found him.As had been the case at the ARG last week, Strauss cashed in on every slight error in width or length, but retained the discipline to leave comfortably alone outside off stump. His driving was particularly imperious – anything remotely full was met with a cool stride and a rapier flash of the blade. He did offer one genuine chance, on 58, when Chris Gayle at first slip fluffed a regulation opportunity off the luckless Fidel Edwards, but all in all it was a performance of the highest quality, and racked up at a tempo that even his old mucker, Marcus Trescothick, might have struggled to match.

Strauss is not renowned for being a quick scorer – indeed he was dumped from the one-day side after England’s last visit to the Caribbean for the 2007 World Cup. But the manner of some of today’s strokeplay suggested he was getting his eye back in after his two-year hiatus, ahead of the ODI series that follows next month. He cashed in with 11 fours in the morning session, including four in consecutive deliveries from Edwards and Benn, whom he smashed through the covers to reach his fifty from 71 deliveries. And midway through the afternoon session, his century was brought up with a Pietersen-esque flourish, a dismissive slap for six over midwicket, again off Benn.Indeed Strauss, who went to tea on 136 not out, might have banked on adding many, many more, had it not been for arguably the best ball of the series – a definitive bolt from the blue from Daren Powell, who had been wayward and wasteful in his first two spells of the day, before sweeping Strauss off his feet with a perfect late-swinging yorker with the seventh ball of his third. Stumps splattered and brought to his knees, it was an undignified ending to a fantastic performance, but the largely English crowd rightly gave their captain a huge ovation as he returned to the pavilion.Cook, as is his wont, took longer than his captain to settle. Evidently still suffering from the technical flaw that has undermined his recent form, at first he wasn’t entirely certain of the whereabouts of his off stump, but showed enough durability to ride out the early part of his innings. Long before he redeemed himself with that yorker, Powell fed him a brace of woeful short balls to get his feet moving properly, the first of which Cook did well to reach, before the long-suffering Benn was belted over midwicket for only his second six in international cricket. (The first, at Wellington 11 months ago, was a top-edge).Cook’s biggest problem in recent months has been rebooting his innings after passing fifty – his last hundred came at Galle in December 2007, and he has since fallen between 50 and 76 on ten occasions. By tea he was 16 runs shy of his eighth Test century, and well set to break that particular hoodoo, but sadly for his piece of mind he was unable to do so. On 86, he edged at a catchable height straight through the gap between keeper and first slip, but it was his addiction to the hook shot that proved his downfall. An earlier miscue had flown safely down to third man, and a second swish had fallen tantalisingly short of square. At the third time of asking, however, he ran out of fortune, as Ryan Hinds dived athletically at midwicket to give Taylor his first breakthrough of the day.Cook was gone for 94, and suddenly England, at 241 for 2, had two new batsmen at the crease. Pietersen, his feet stuck in the crease, took his time to get going as West Indies teased him with the lollipop offerings of Brendan Nash, but it was the man at the other end, Owais Shah, who succumbed in a tentative hour before the new ball was called for. Benn, extracting some purchase from the wicket, found a bit of extra bounce outside off stump, and Devon Smith claimed a chest-high catch at first slip to end a tortuous innings of 7 from 47 balls.West Indies’ grand finale to the day could have gone even better had Taylor, charging in from square leg, clung onto the spiralling top-edge from Pietersen, as Edwards worked up his habitual head of steam in the lengthening shadows. Instead it was England, who coincidentally made exactly the same score on the first day of the Antigua Test, who reached the close with their heads, shoulders and most of their torsos in front. Even so, having dropped Steve Harmison in favour of Ryan Sidebottom, and with no out-and-out fifth bowler in the absence of Andrew Flintoff, they still face a stiff challenge to claim 20 wickets, as and when their turn to bowl comes.

Finally, we return to the cricket. Dubai, doping, security, isolation, political and financial jiggery-pokery can all at long last be fully damned and forgotten for a while. On Tuesday, eleven plays eleven, on a 22-yard brown strip, in a big field, a ball and bat the utensils. We forget sometimes that, really, it is a simple and beautiful game.As much as the elements, the line-ups, key performers and whatnot, rust and possible decay will be on the minds of Pakistan as they take on Sri Lanka. The two last met during the 2008 Asia Cup, in what seems another age. Since that meeting, Pakistan have played five ODIs against their opponents’ 15. It is a staggering statistic. Where young men such as Ajantha Mendis have blossomed, young men such as Sohail Tanvir have not really had a chance to do much at all.Sri Lanka come into the series primed, toughened and wary after a character-testing tour of Bangladesh. Pakistan are looser, altogether less coherent and with little practice other than domestic cricket behind them. It will make a difference even if conditions are Pakistan’s. “The one edge I would give Sri Lanka is that they have played more than us,” said Shoaib Malik. “They have been playing regularly and that gives them an advantage but we are at home.”It makes sense, then, that in such uncertain times Pakistan go back to what they know best: pace. Talk leading up to this has been of fast, bouncy pitches and Malik admitted, having looked at the surface yesterday, that he had considered going in with four fast bowlers. He wasn’t so sure after a second look today, but given that there is only one specialist spinner in the squad, pace will be the way.So, it was sadly predictable that Shoaib Akhtar would take some of the focus. Once Malik had added the caveat “if he plays” to some obligatory praise (“He is an asset”), reporters started sniffing. Will he play, Malik was repeatedly, perhaps unfairly, asked. No definitive response came, but it shouldn’t be a surprise whichever way.Pakistan may punt on a man who hasn’t played an ODI in over a year, or they may stick to the three men who did so well in Abu Dhabi, Umar Gul, Sohail Tanvir and Rao Iftikhar Anjum.Will Sri Lanka care that much? When you have such a potent spin attack of your own – the best according to Malik – the opposition matters less than it should. Pakistan have thought long and hard about Mendis and Muttiah Muralitharan. Malik reckons Pakistan have played Mendis better than most teams but that is an assessment based on only 14 international overs. And Mendis has taken seven wickets even then.Shahid Afridi reached the ground before any of his colleagues today and practised against a bowler from 15 yards, before asking a local to come at him with Murali’s action. Pakistan’s batsmen have done similar over the last couple of days.The pitfall of such targeted preparation – and Mahela Jayawardene is too canny to not know it – is that it often allows someone less heralded to sneak through. Spin may be in the air, but Sri Lanka’s pace reserves are nothing if not healthy. You’d think that missing Chaminda Vaas, Dammika Prasad and Lasith Malinga is a bum deal, but you might think again if you knew that Farvez Maharoof, Dilhara Fernando and Nuwan Kulasekara are around instead.If pitches do really help the fast men in this series, then these aren’t bad men to take advantage of it. Two very good bowlers, Jayawardene said when he arrived, “but we have other very good ones as well.” If their batting clicks – as it hasn’t since the Asia Cup – then there really aren’t many better-equipped ODI sides around.Thus, a fine series is set. Pakistan will battle, if only because they have hardly played. Sri Lanka will be formidable hurdles to overcome. But as Karachi’s National Stadium finally buzzed into life and officials, press, groundstaff busily went about pre-match rituals, thoughts of a result weren’t so important. The game is back and it is on.

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

This was a match Tillakaratne Dilshan made his own. He set up Sri Lanka with 162 and 143 and completed the job by wiping out the Bangladesh lower-order and finishing with figures of 4 for 10 to wrap up the series 2-0 and script the fifth-biggest margin of victory in Tests in terms of runs. Set an improbable 624 to win in five sessions, Bangladesh wilted first to the spin of Ajantha Mendis before Dilshan struck. It was all over in two sessions.It could have ended even earlier but Sri Lanka delayed their declaration till lunch, by when their lead stretched to mammoth proportions. The expected tactic in the morning was to allow Dilshan and Thilan Samaraweera to reach their respective hundreds before declaring, though only one of them managed to do so. The declaration came after Chamara Kapugedera reached his second half-century of the match and the lead stretched beyond 600.Bangladesh were left to chase 521 in Mirpur and made a fist of it thanks to telling contributions by three batsmen. Mushfiqur Rahim, the only common link between that game and this, was left to steer a sinking ship on his own. With the target out of reach, the best Bangladesh could have done was to save the game but Mushfiqur, in the end, was had too much to do.A strong and steady start was required from the openers but the only promising element was a textbook cover drive by Tamim Iqbal off Dilhara Fernando in the second over. The excitement was short-lived when both openers perished with just 22 on board. Mahela Jayawardene went in for the kill by introducing Mendis in the eighth over and he struck immediately, getting Imrul Kayes to edge to first slip. Tamim fell in identical fashion to his first-innings dismissal, edging Chaminda Vaas to the wicketkeeper and it was the curtain raiser to an all too familiar story.The incoming batsmen weren’t allowed to settle in as Mahela crowded fielders around them, something his counterpart Mohammad Ashraful failed to pick up on yesterday. Slips were employed for the spinners but the placement was different for Dilhara Fernando. Due to the slow nature of the surface, the possibility of slip catches were unlikely, so Mahela stationed them in close catching positions on the on side at silly mid-on, short square-leg and short midwicket. Though the fielders didn’t necessarily come in to play, one could sense that Mahela was trying to make things happen and that may have psychologically played a part in Bangladesh caving in.Junaid Siddique was trapped in front off Mendis and Ashraful, trying to cut loose, failed to pick the googly off the same bowler. Raqibul Hasan was then squared up by a deadly reverse swinging yorker from Fernando. At that stage Bangladesh had lost half their side for 52 and the prospect of wrapping up the game by the afternoon was inevitable.The decibel levels went up when Mushfiqur and Shakib Al Hasan came together and added 92 for the sixth wicket. Shakib had a packed off side field that he pierced with firm punches off the backfoot off Fernando. In such an insoluble situation, attack seemed the best form of defence. He picked on their best bowler, Mendis, by regularly making room, targeting him on the off side and straight down the ground. Mushfiqur was solid in defence off a very off-colour Muttiah Muralitharan, who didn’t quite possess the sting and bite of his partner Mendis.Mushfiqur tucked away deliveries with the turn and pushed the singles while his partner took the aggressive route. Dilshan was introduced just before the final drinks break and drew Shakib forward with the flight, only to have him stumped off Prasanna Jayawardene, whose glovework has improved this series. Dilshan fired his offbreaks from round the wicket and sliced through the tail with the same exuberance he displayed with the bat. The adjudicators for the Man of the Match and series couldn’t have had it easier.He missed the chance to score two scores of 150 plus in a Test when he was squared up by a brute of a delivery from Enamul Haque Jnr which spun from the rough outside the legstump, skidded and clipped the offstump before he could even react. When he slashed Shahadat Hossain past backward point, he joined Duleep Mendis, Aravinda de Silva, Asanka Gurusingha in the list of Sri Lanka batsmen who have scored centuries in both innings of a Test.His overnight partner Samaraweera wasn’t so fortunate to record a century as he was trapped on the backfoot by a vicious delivery by Shakib which turned square. Kapugedera charged the spinners, threw them off balance with reverse sweeps and paddles and marched on to record a half-century. A declaration was expected after he got to his fifty but curiously, there were no signs of it before lunch. The field was spread out and the whole situation seemed very farcical as the batsmen blocked their way till the interval. It seemed as if Bangladesh’s brave attempt at 521 in Mirpur had prompted Mahela to delay the declaration and an amused Ashraful was seen chuckling. By the afternoon though, he wasn’t smiling any more.

The coach Tim Nielsen has said Australia’s bowlers were too slow to adapt to the conditions during the series loss to India, but believes they are now more aware of the right time to switch tactics. Australia tried for conventional swing for too long instead of working on reverse during their trip to India, but they should have a chance to show their new skills at the WACA during the first Test against South Africa, which starts next week.”We will change our plans quickly if we need to,” Nielsen said in the Sydney Morning Herald. “We were too slow to adapt in India. We took too long trying to get the ball to swing conventionally, rather than just accepting what was happening and working on the reverse.”Nielsen said the tactic, which also upset Australia in England in 2005, had become a “normal mode of attack”. “Teams have had to change their thought processes a little bit to embrace it,” he said. “There’s no point bowling it bolt straight for 20 or 30 overs when there’s no conventional swing about.”Nielsen said movement through the air would be a factor at the WACA, especially if the Fremantle doctor breeze was around. The selectors are due to announce the squad for the first Test on Monday, with Jason Krejza a concern due to the ankle injury he sustained before the second match against New Zealand last month.Despite Australia’s changing side, Nielsen said the players were capable of standing up to South Africa and he has talked tough in the lead-up to the series. “I don’t want people thinking that because we’re a young team we can’t take it to them,” he said. “[South Africa] are a young, aggressive and competitive team, with a good fast bowling line-up and an equally good top six.”They will be a good challenge for us, but I know we can match it with them. These six Tests will be a real good battle.”

Only two outright results in the first round highlighted the cautious manner in which teams approach the first few games. The main interest in the second round will be if the teams let go of their inhibitions, many of whom will lose players part of India’s ODI squad against England. A look at the Super League matches starting Monday:

Group B

Baroda v Uttar Pradesh in Vadodara
This is the clash of the semi-finalists from last season, the two strongest teams in Group B. UP will miss Suresh Raina, who joins the Indian team. Similarly, Baroda, playing their first match of the season, will lose Yusuf Pathan, their key player. This will be a rare occasion, though, when Irfan Pathan will play for them and Yusuf will be away on national duty. The Moti Bagh Stadium pitch usually assists the fast bowlers.Maharashtra v Andhra in Nasik
The Nasik featherbed, on which Tamil Nadu scored 648 for 3 and failed to take 20 wickets, will be in the focus again. Maharashtra, the hosts, will hate to be on the receiving end once more, against an Andhra side who conceded a first-innings lead to UP. The team who loses this match could well end this season languishing at the bottom.

Group A

Gujarat v Mumbai in Surat
The only two teams that managed outright wins in the first round. Both the teams had everything going for them and will look for more of the same. Mumbai have called up Vinayak Mane in place of Rohit Sharma, another of the players who will leave to join the Indian ODI side.Hyderabad v Delhi in Hyderabad
Delhi, the defending champions, had a tough first match, where they had to work hard to bowl Punjab for a below-par total. They weren’t left with enough time to force a result. Hyderabad had a tighter game, where they held on for a 27-run first-innings lead against Orissa. Delhi will miss Virat Kohli, and Hyderabad Pragyan Ojha.Punjab v Rajasthan in Mohali
Rajasthan, with a new captain in Venugopal Rao, had a disappointing start to the season – an outright loss to Mumbai. They would want to set things right against Punjab, who will be without Yuvraj Singh. Punjab struggled against Delhi, especially with their bowling. They are one of the teams yet to recover from the hole the ICL has left them in. A loss here for either team might jolt their chances of making it to the knockout stage.Saurashtra v Orissa in Rajkot
While other teams have lost out on first-choice players because of the India-England series, Saurashtra have lost out on their first-choice venue, the Madhavrao Scindia Stadium. Khandheri Cricket Stadium will be making its first-class debut with this match. Saurashtra have other problems to sort out too. Semi-finalists last year, they were thrashed by Gujarat by an innings and 227 runs in the first round. Orissa, the surprise package from last season, have only one point from their first match.

The provinces competing for the Pentangular Cup will be hit by the absence of the players named in Pakistan’s14-man squad for the three-ODI series against West Indies in Abu Dhabi during the tournament’s third- and fourth-round matches. Five players, included in the squad of seven for the Hong Kong Sixes, will also not be available for the third-round games.The two teams most affected are defending champions Sind, and Punjab. Sind will be without Shahid Afridi, Fawad Alam and opening batsman Khalid Latif, all part of the ODI squad, as well as Faisal Iqbal and Anwar Ali, who will be in Hong Kong. Punjab are worse off, with Shoaib Malik, Nasir Jamshed, Salman Butt, Kamran Akmal and Saeed Ajmal in the ODI squad and Mohammad Talha and Mohammad Salman, a wicketkeeper, in the Sixes team.Four of Federal Areas’ players will be absent: fast bowlers Shoaib Akhtar, Ifthikar Anjum and Sohail Tanvir and opening batsman Raheel Majeed. Baluchistan, who upset Sind in the previous round, have lost two players in Misbah-ul-Haq and Abdur Rauf. North West Frontier Province, who were already without captain Younis Khan, playing for South Australia, will also be without Umar Gul, who was captain in Younis’ absence.The Abu Dhabi ODIs take place from November 12 to 14, and the players will attend a two-day training camp in Karachi. They will return for the two final rounds of matches. Sind’s Sohail Khan and Federal Areas’ Yasir Arafat are standbys for the ODIs, and will be available unless they are called up to the squad.The reserves called up by the teams are:Punjab: Ayub Dogar, Azhar Ali, Zulqanain Haider (wk).Sind: Asad Shafiq, Ali Asad, Afsar Nawaz, Uzair-ul-Haq, Tabish Khan.NWFP: Armaghan Elahi.Balochistan: Sohaib Maqsood, Asad Ali.Federal Areas: Mohammad Aamer, Mohammad Rameez, Kamran Hussain.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball commentary
How they were outZimbabwe swept aside Ireland with a convincing 156-run thumping in the first ODI of the Kenya Tri-Series in Nairobi. In pursuit of a challenging 303, Ireland lost their first four wickets inside 14 overs – a position from which they could never mount a serious chase, despite an entertaining 38 from the in-form Kevin O’Brien.It was an important win for Zimbabwe, especially since they were easily beaten by the might of Uganda yesterday. Today, they justified their Full Member status against one of the leading Associates. The question is: can they sustain their dominance over the entire tournament?Elton Chigumbura led the attack with verve; surprisingly, his new-ball partner was Prosper Utseya, whose offspin and flighted deliveries frustrated Ireland. Niall O’Brien and Gary Wilson both fell to Chigumbura’s short-of-a-length attack, and for all the Zimbabweans’ admirable discipline, there was less on evidence by Ireland. This was no better exemplified than by William Porterfield’s careless slap off Utseya.At the halfway stage Ireland had tripped to 72 for 6, but there was a brief period of forlorn entertainment when Kevin O’Brien took three huge sixes off 20-year-old Timycen Maruma, each hammer blow clearing the long-on and long-off boundaries with ease. He lost his wicket attempting a fourth off Keith Dabengwa.Ireland nearly survived all 50 overs, but struggled against Ray Price whose ten overs went for just seven runs – the most economical figures by any Zimbabwean in ODIs. Dabengwa mopped up with 3 for 17 from six tidy and controlled overs.It was Zimbabwe’s batsmen who set up the win, however. Hamilton Masakadza was again in terrific form, lacing 72 from 66 to form a solid opening partnership of 71 with Cephas Zhuwawo. Both Peter Connell and Boyd Rankin, one of Ireland’s rising hopes, were treated with disdain; they bowled too short too often. Crucially, Zimbabwe never panicked or lost concentration in the usually sticky middle overs; Tatenda Taibu and Chamu Chibhabha grafted 102 in 21.1 overs of intelligent batting.Chibhabha only hit two fours in his rhythmical 51, but rotated the strike intelligently with Taibu. However, he fell two balls after reaching a 67-ball fifty, beaten by the extra bounce and pace of Rankin. But Taibu was patient and resolute throughout, nudging singles and working the ball into the gaps behind square. Only occasionally did he choose the aerial route, petulantly slogging Kyle McCallan over midwicket before lifting Botha over the same region for another boundary.They were boosted over 300 by Chigumbura’s uncomplicated bashing . He scored 33 from just 19 balls – a tactic Ireland tried to replicate in their chase without success. The next match is between Ireland and Kenya on Saturday, before Kenya face Zimbabwe on Sunday.

Darren Gough’s first-class career is officially over after he was left out of Yorkshire’s squad for their must-win encounter against Sussex at Hove on Thursday.Gough, who turned 38 last Thursday, made his Yorkshire debut as an 18-year-old in 1989, and took 453 of his 855 first-class wickets for the county. His final first-class outing came against Somerset at Scarborough last week, when he picked up figures of 2 for 52.Gough said of that final performance: “I wanted to go out in style today – and that proved to me I am ready to retire, I am absolutely shattered now.””I bowled as quick as I have for a long, long time in my first spell. I had the opposition saying that is the quickest they have faced all season and when they say stuff like that, I’d like to finish on that note.”With Yorkshire precariously placed at second-from-bottom in the first division, their best means of avoiding relegation lies in beating their fellow strugglers, Sussex, and that necessity has over-ridden sentiment for Gough.”I wasn’t disappointed because I picked the team!” Gough told BBC Radio Five Live. “Some people said I should go for the romantic ending but it’s not aboutme, it’s about Yorkshire staying up.Gough, who won the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing in 2005, has a career in the media awaiting him. “I would like to keep in touch with Yorkshire but I don’t think I’ll be acoach there, it’s not something I want to do,” he said. “But an ambassador’s role wouldbe ideal.”Gough’s final wicket in first-class cricket was an old adversary, Australia’s former opening batsman, Justin Langer. “When I look back I’m glad my last wicket was Langer,” he said. “I’ve had some great battles against him and it’s nice to know my last wicket in Yorkshire was someone as good as him.”Gough retired from Test cricket in 2003 after sustaining a career-threatening knee injury, but managed to battle back to fitness and remained a regular fixture in England’s one-day sides for another three years.After making his international debut against New Zealand in 1994, Gough played in 58 Tests and 159 ODIs, claiming 229 and 234 wickets respectively – the latter a England record that has yet to be surpassed. Arguably the highlight of his career was a Test hat-trick against Australia at Sydney in 1998-99, although his best figures of 6 for 42 came against South Africa in front of his home crowd at Headingley, in a performance that sealed a memorable 2-1 series win.For their final match of the season, Yorkshire will be captained by the former England batsman, Anthony McGrath, while the 19-year-old Jonathan Bairstow – the son of the former Yorkshire and England wicketkeeper, David – is in line for his first-class debut.

Some of South Africa’s senior players could be playing for their futures at Lord’s and Cardiff next week, following the 126-run thrashing at The Oval which surrendered the one-day series against England at the earliest possible moment. Mickey Arthur, South Africa’s coach, didn’t pull any punches after the match and said it was time for the side to starting looking ahead.”Everyone is under serious threat at the moment,” he said. “We are going to need some big performances from them. It’s up to the youngsters in the next two games to put their hands up and stake a claim for places.”Arthur didn’t mention names, put the obvious players under increasing pressure are Makhaya Ntini, Herschelle Gibbs, Mark Boucher and Jacques Kallis. The latter two probably have more leeway, but the form of Ntini and Gibbs has been a key reason why South Africa have struggled in the three matches.With Shaun Pollock no longer providing 10 bankable overs of nagging accuracy, South Africa’s raw quicks have provided too many scoring opportunities and Ntini hasn’t been able to stem the flow. They got away with it in the Tests because the batsmen made enough runs, but in the one-day game they have been exposed. Gibbs was recalled to take on the bowling in the early overs, but has been tied down by England’s pace attack and hasn’t been able to release the pressure. At Gibbs’ age of 34, failure is normally just a one-way street.”Our bowling has been below par too, but in all three discplines we have been poor,” said Arthur. “This one has been hugely disappointing, but the fact is it’s time for us to move out of an era of one-day cricket that we had and move forward for the World Cup in 2011. Our attack is very inexperienced and in some key batting areas we have a lot of younger players. The guys now need to refocus and grab their chances.”This is the first time South Africa have lost three ODIs on the bounce since the 2005-06 CB Series, when they fell short in two games against Australia and one against Sri Lanka. The last occasion they lost three times to the same side was against Sri Lanka in 2004. They are clearly suffering the end-of-tour blues that affects many sides – not least England in the recent past – and it has been hard to find the same sort of motivation that came with their desire to win the Test series. However, Arthur refused to make any excuses for the poor performances.”It’s two different formats. It was a very special Test victory for us. We ended one part and started another,” he said. “We had different guys coming in [after the Tests], with new energy, so I can’t use that as any excuse. The only thing is that after the Tests we had a long time together without doing much. It was very frustrating not getting out and working on our skills. It took the momentum away from the tour a little, but it’s no excuse.”I’ve been disappointed about how we’ve been outplayed in all three areas. We have fallen down on the basics and that’s an area we hammer away on. We haven’t managed to do them properly and that’s my major worry. I see it as a major challenge for my management team. We haven’t been in this position for a long while now.”South Africa have been mentally sat on the plane home since Graeme Smith struck that winning boundary at Edgbaston. When Smith finally gave in to tennis-elbow, Kallis was Arthur’s first pick as a stand-in captain for the rest of this series, but he didn’t exactly bring the boundless enthusiasm which has been spread throughout the England camp by Kevin Pietersen.If captain and coach can’t motivate their players for a late victory they will slip down from second in the ranking to mid-table, swapping with their hosts. After claiming the Test series they so desperately wanted, South Africa wouldn’t have bet on leaving with so much uncertainty over the future.

A three-man board committee looking into Mohammad Asif’s detention in Dubai in June, for allegedly possessing drugs, has completed its report. One PCB official told Cricinfo the findings were “pretty conclusive”.The report has been sent to Nasim Ashraf, the PCB chairman, but as he is currently away on a break, no final decision is expected until he returns during the middle of the month.The official told Cricinfo a ban has been recommended, though he was unwilling to delve into any details about its duration. It is likely the ban will be for a number of matches.”The evidence and reports we received were pretty conclusive about the charges,” the official said. “A central clause of the player’s central contract has been violated so a ban for a certain number of matches is likely.”The committee, which consists of Shafqat Naghmi, Zakir Khan and Nadeem Akram, had been formed when Asif finally returned to Pakistan, after 19 days at Dubai airport’s detention centre. They initially faced a delay as they waited on legal documents from Dubai but have since interviewed and heard Asif’s side of the story.Asif is also embroiled in a separate doping mess, after he tested positive for a banned substance during tests conducted while he was playing for the Delhi Daredevils in the Indian Premier League (IPL).Asif was scheduled to go to Switzerland for the B sample test but the trip has been postponed owing to visa delays. Asif was meant to be there on August 6th but is now likely to be delayed by a couple of days. The IPL had set up a three-member tribunal to look into Asif’s results, and the PCB suspended him from all forms of the game pending the results of the IPL inquiry.The fast bowler previously tested positive for nandrolone, the banned anabolic steroid, along with Shoaib Akhtar, just before the 2006 Champions Trophy in India. Though he was banned for one year by a tribunal, the punishment was overturned a month later on appeal.