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MS Dhoni blamed India’s defeat in their first warm-up game at Lord’s on their performance at the death in the New Zealand innings, where 31 runs were conceded in the last two overs.Ishant Sharma was India’s stand-out performer with the ball, taking 4 for 25, and while the experiment of using him in the middle overs paid off, the tactic of holding back the length in the last few overs didn’t. The penultimate over of the New Zealand innings, bowled by Irfan Pathan, was taken for 15, and RP Singh was clattered for two fours and a six by James Franklin in the final over as New Zealand put up a match-winning score.”Instead of yorkers, we wanted to bowl back of the length deliveries in the final three overs,” Dhoni was quoted as saying by . “We have seen other teams do it regularly so we wanted to use this opportunity of warm-up game to try it out. Unfortunately, it didn’t work today. If we have to go to the basics of bowling yorkers, we would do so.”It’s just not about doing well in the first few overs or in the end. It’s critical that teams don’t lose too many wickets between 6 and 10 overs. That’s why somebody like Ishant can be critical in the middle overs. He could dry up the runs and batsmen could lose wickets in trying to go after him.”Ishant was Kolkata Knight Riders’ highest wicket-taker in the IPL, finishing with 11 from as many games but his record in international Twenty20’s has been indifferent – he averages 51 with just two wickets in four games. “I think it would give him great deal of confidence,” Dhoni said of his four-wicket haul. “He is a bowler who should be bowling at the start and also in the end. In between he came and got us those crucial wickets.”Ravindra Jadeja and Suresh Raina had put India in sight of a comfortable win, taking them to 126 for 3 in the 15th over in pursuit of 170. But Raina’s miscue off Jacob Oram triggered a slide as New Zealand’s bowlers, particularly captain Daniel Vettori, who finished with 3 for 24, stymied the chase to help their team win by nine runs. It marked New Zealand’s fourth win against India in the Twenty20 format, though the warm-up games are not considered official.”Four defeats in four matches is a bit of concern,” Dhoni said. But he was confident of his players’ ability to combat Vettori despite the New Zealand captain’s success against India. In fact, Vettori was largely responsible for India’s only loss in the World Twenty20 in 2007, a tournament they eventually won. “In one of the overs he was also hit for 20 runs by Suresh Raina. So it’s not as if he can’t be attacked or 40-50 runs can’t be taken off his bowling,” he said.Though Dhoni was upset with the slip-up, he said there were alternatives in place to rectify what went wrong. “Quite disappointed with the defeat but we have back-up plans and so I’m not really worried,” he said. “Besides, we missed quite a few key players.”Yuvraj Singh was down with food poisoning and Virender Sehwag sat out due to a shoulder injury. However, both are expected to be fit for India’s next warm-up tie against Pakistan on June 3. “A couple of guys had food poisoning but I’m sure everyone will be fine before our next warm-up game.”Daniel Vettori, meanwhile, attributed New Zealand’s win to a team effort. “I think we managed our innings well,” he said. “It was a very good performance. Rohit (Sharma) and (Suresh) Raina were destructive and to come back from there, I must say I’m reasonably happy.”The contest proved a high-scoring one, relative to some of the matches in the IPL in South Africa, and Dhoni felt the size of the ground could cater to similar games. “One side is always shorter and teams try to take advantage of it. If it’s managed well, even a score of 80 runs from the final eight overs is possible,” he said. “However, once the asking rate goes beyond nine and half, it becomes difficult.”Going by the trend set in the IPL, Dhoni felt spinners would again play a prominent role in this competition. “Most of the sides have quality spinners in their ranks as they understand slow bowlers have a huge role to play. Spinners, I am sure, will have a bigger impact in this tournament.”

ScorecardGraham Onions ripped through Durham with 6 for 31 on the day of his England call-up•Getty Images

Graham Onions had one of those days cricketers dream of, celebrating his England call-up with 6 for 31 as Somerset were skittled for 69 on the second day at Taunton. Onions was woken by a phone call from Geoff Miller to tell him of his selection and soon showed why he has been propelled into the Test side with an outstanding display on a good batting surface.Durham had few problems reaching an imposing 543 before their strong pace attack showed up Somerset’s woeful bowling performance. It took Onions, Steve Harmison and Callum Thorp just 28.2 overs to dismantle the home side with a mixture of swing, seam and bounce – although they also benefited from a couple of marginal umpiring decisions – with six batsmen making ducks. Put straight back in by Will Smith they fared better, reaching 83 for 1, but still trail by a massive 391 and there was no doubt about the man of the day.”There was a bit of added pressure. Steve said that people will now be watching, but I just had to keep doing the same things,” Onions told Sky Sports. “I had a lucky start to get Marcus Trescothick and that gave me confidence.”Onions persisted on an ideal line and length to take advantage of the help in the surface. Justin Langer hadn’t been wrong to bowl first, but his attack completely failed to support him while seven dropped chances were gifted to Durham. However, although the visitors cashed in, the expectation was that Somerset would do the same. Two weeks ago they’d responded to Warwickshire’s 500 with 672 for 4 so it was a position they were used to. This time, though, they were facing international class opening bowling.It was fascinating viewing with one bowler riding on the crest of a wave having just been selection and another, Harmison, hurting (hopefully, at least) at another omission. Harmison certainly put the effort in, reaching 89mph in his early overs, but the direction was a little awry. Onions slightly fuller length and tighter line brought the rewards, beginning with Trescothick who was beaten by one that nipped back a little then Arul Suppiah was the next as got a leading edge.Given the day he was having, it was no surprise that Onions was twice the beneficiary of umpiring calls that could have gone the other way. He gained a leg-before against James Hildreth when it didn’t look as though the ball had done quite enough to take off stump as the batsman shouldered arms, and his fifth wicket came when Peter Trego was given out down the leg side when it appeared more arm that bat on the ball.Sandwiched between those strikes Harmison made a brief mark mark when Zander de Bruyn was also given out down the leg side, but it was only a momentary halt to the Onions show. Craig Kieswetter, in fine form this season, edged a drive to third slip and three balls later Onions had five.Smith is a fortunate captain to have such a pack of quicks at his disposal (Liam Plunkett is away with the England Lions and Mark Davies injured) and when Thorp entered the attack life was no easier for Somerset. He found Omari Banks’ edge which was well held at second slip then crashed through Alfonso Thomas before finding a beauty to square up David Stiff and take the off stump.All the while Langer was stood at the other end and when he eventually had the chance to face again he managed a rueful smile. He is a perfectionist and expects high standards, but his team-mates had fallen well below them. There was little he could do and Charl Willoughby soon carved to backward point to give Onions his sixthThe clatter of wickets after lunch overshadowed the fine effort of Dale Benkenstein as he piled up 181 to ensure Durham’s solid first-day effort wasn’t wasted. When Phil Mustard fell early Somerset would have hoped to restrict the total to around 420, but Thorp and Claydon provided excellent support to Benkenstein before he was last-man out. It’s not often people forget such an innings, but by the end of the day only one performance was on everyone’s lips.

Kamran Khan, the Rajasthan Royals left-arm seamer, has been reported for a suspect action. Rudi Koertzen and Gary Baxter, the on-field umpires for the IPL game between Rajasthan and Chennai Super Kings at Centurion on April 30, said they had concerns over Kamran, 18, and hence requested the authorities to review his action.The two on-field umpires and TV umpire Amish Saheba reviewed footage of the game and believed Kamran’s action needed further scrutiny. The matter has now been referred to the Rajasthan management and the IPL’s technical committee.”The matter has now been referred to the team management of the Rajasthan Royals and the IPL’s technical committee as per the laws of cricket that govern our game,” Lalit Modi, chairman and commissioner of the IPL, said. “I now await the report from the technical committee and will then decide on the future course of action.”Kamran can continue to play until he is proven guilty of an illegal action. In five IPL games he has taken six wickets at 20.66, limping off the field during his last over against Chennai on Thursday.Shane Warne, the Rajasthan captain, said the team would back Kamran wholly. “Kamran has made a big impact in this IPL. He is a young man with a great work ethic and a huge appetite to learn,” said Warne. “With these attributes in mind, we are confident that this issue will be resolved very quickly. However, our first priority is a swift recovery from his knee injury from the last game. We currently await a full medical report after his MRI scan today.”Kamran, from Azamgarh in the north-Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, was spotted by Rajasthan team director Darren Berry at a talent scouting camp earlier this year. He impressed Warne instantly after bowling one over against the Cape Cobras in a warm-up game played a couple of days before the IPL kicked off. He was the bowler chosen by Warne to bowl the decisive ‘super over’ in the win against Kolkata Knight Riders.

The controversy over John Buchanan’s multiple-captain strategy for the Kolkata Knight Riders does not seem to have affected Sourav Ganguly, who was among the runs in a practice tie against the Eagles in Bloemfontein on Wednesday.Ganguly hit a brisk unbeaten 61 and was well-supported by Cheteshwar Pujara (66 not out) as KKR ran out winners by nine wickets, the Kolkata reported. With the IPL beginning on April 18, the pre-tournament form will come as a welcome boost for Ganguly, who was embroiled, before leaving India, in a controversy surrounding Buchanan’s theory.”I don’t wish to comment on the captaincy issue. But, yes, it’s nice to get runs in one’s first match in new conditions. However, there’s a long way to go, there’s plenty of work to be done,” the paper reported Ganguly as saying.Buchanan’s concept of having multiple leaders, later altered to ‘one captain, many strategists’ would redefine leadership in cricket. It has been on trial during these warm-up games, albeit with little success. The first two games against the same opposition on Tuesday, with Laxmi Ratan Shukla at the helm, resulted in heavy defeats – by 48 runs and four wickets respectively.Ganguly, who sat out both those matches, replaced Aakash Chopra on Wednesday. Although it remains uncertain if the side would have a regular or rotating captain, Ganguly would no doubt have made a firm claim.Ajit Agarkar and Charl Langeveldt also showed good form with the ball picking up two wickets apiece. However, an injury to wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha, who underwent surgery on his left thumb late on Monday, caused some concern.”Nothing can be assumed till the stitches are removed. For now, we’ve just got to wait and watch,” said Joy Bhattacharjya, KKR’s team director.

West Indies 349 for 4 (Nash 70*, Chanderpaul 52*) trail England 546 for 6 (Collingwood 161, Strauss 142, Prior 131*) by 197 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

Brendan Nash and Shivnarine Chanderpaul overcame the potentially devastating loss of their captain, Chris Gayle, to a hamstring tear, as they batted clean through the final 51.5 overs of the third day in Trinidad to leave West Indies tantalisingly placed to secure the draw that will give them their first series victory since 2004. By the close, they had added 146 for the fifth wicket in a typically obdurate alliance, as England’s five-man attack was worn down after an energetic performance in the first half of the day.Though the small matter of 14 years and 112 Tests separate the careers of Chanderpaul and Nash, the similarities between the two are striking. Both left-handed, and both possessing temperaments that could freeze the Caribbean Sea, they nudged and prodded England’s bowlers to distraction for three sapping hours, having come together midway through the afternoon session with the scoreline an unflattering 203 for 4, and with Gayle already lined up for an MRI scan after pulling up lame moments after completing his 10th Test century with a rash single to midwicket.Chanderpaul himself is not in the rudest of health – he tweaked his groin while fielding on the second day, and hobbled to the middle as Gayle departed in the other direction. But he made light of his injury by setting himself to occupy the crease first and foremost, and run as an afterthought – 29 jogged singles formed the backbone of his innings, although he did rack up a rare two to fine leg to bring up his 73rd score of fifty or more in Test cricket.Relatively speaking, Nash was more expansive, cracking 12 fours in 167 balls, including an expert uppercut over third man off Amjad Khan, to bring up his fifty in the third over against the new ball. All but the last of those boundaries came in the arc from third man to cover, as he dealt exclusively in width, flailing with precision as England over-reached in search of that killer delivery. He had one massive let-off on 24, when Monty Panesar rapped him on the pads as he sized up a pull, but with both of England’s referrals wasted on the second evening, there was no recourse to video evidence. Nor was there much likelihood of any favours from the umpire, Russell Tiffin, who was driven to distraction by Panesar’s at times idiotic appeals.Though there was very little turn on offer, Panesar was undoubtedly the pick of England’s bowlers on his return to the side. He showed confidence and variety in equal measures, regularly tossing the ball up and even unveiling a rare arm-ball. Having dismissed Devon Smith in his first over of the innings, Panesar claimed his second scalp in the afternoon when the debutant Lendl Simmons fell lbw for a diligent 24 from 79 balls, and he ought to have had the prize scalp of Ramnaresh Sarwan as well, only for Paul Collingwood at slip to shell a sitter when Sarwan – who passed 600 runs for the series with his first scoring stroke – had managed only 12 from 28 balls.Instead the honour of Sarwan’s wicket went to the debutant Amjad. His four-over burst on the second evening had displayed raw pace and nerves in equal measure, but this time he got his line right straightaway, and Sarwan was pinned in front of middle by a fourth-ball outswinger, a decision so plumb that Gayle at the non-striker’s end advised his team-mate not to waste a referral.For half an hour, Amjad’s approach could not be faulted, as he pushed 90mph on occasions while maintaining a willingness to experiment on an infamously unresponsive pitch, and he forced Simmons, who made 282 against England’s bowlers in St Kitts last month, to wait for 23 deliveries for his first run in Test cricket. But then, almost without warning, Amjad’s accuracy deserted him. No-balls and leg-side full-tosses flooded into his repertoire, as Matt Prior behind the stumps was made to leap one way then the next. By the close, England had conceded an extraordinary 61 extras, the most ever gifted to West Indies in an innings. Among these were 30 byes, including four in the penultimate over of the day that took them past the follow-on mark. Prior, to his embarrassment, is the only keeper to have conceded that tally twice.The ease of West Indies’ late-evening progress was a vindication for Gayle, who had much to prove after his controversial tactics in the field on the first two days. By rights he should still have been out there himself, for up until the moment of his injury, he was once again reprising the frill-free side of his game that surfaced to such match-changing effect in Jamaica last month. Having blazed along to 49 from 65 balls overnight, he was a transformed character upon the resumption, waiting a further 11 deliveries to reach his fifty, and a full 18 overs before adding to his eight boundaries. His innings was a masterclass of subdued diligence, but then came his injury, and suddenly West Indies were looking vulnerable.The injury occurred during a hectic passage of play which began with a casual clip off the pads against Stuart Broad. Owais Shah at midwicket misfielded badly, and Gayle, on 99, attempted to take advantage. Within seconds he knew he had made a bad error of judgement and had Shah’s subsequent shy hit the stumps, it would have beaten Gayle’s stretch for the crease by a matter of inches. But though he survived, his celebrations were muted in the extreme, as he slumped to his knees and beckoned for help. After lengthy treatment on the outfield he was helped back to the pavilion, having led from the front with 10 fours and two sixes in a 161-ball innings.But West Indies have not and surely will not buckle in this series. There is too much at stake for them after 15 barren series, and the discipline shown by Chanderpaul and his acolyte Nash sapped every ounce of energy from England’s fielders. James Anderson, suffering from a stomach upset, was below-par, while Graeme Swann was comfortably outbowled by Panesar, as doubts once again surfaced about his troublesome elbow. By the close West Indies were well set to emulate their game-breaking performance at Bridgetown last month, as England found themselves in a familiarly futile situation, and still searching for a combination that can deliver 10 wickets in an innings, let alone 20 wickets in a match.

One over from Andrew Flintoff was enough to show West Indies the task they face to save this Test. He doesn’t need a diagram to show him where to bowl, but in this match he has the help of a football marking on a perfect length. That the over was bowled to Chris Gayle merely rubbed in the fact that West Indies had asked England to bat first. No wonder Gayle’s swagger was not as noticeable as it was in Kingston.”When you are consistently hitting that area the ball is misbehaving quite a bit,” said Paul Collingwood. “But the other parts of the pitch are behaving quite well and there’s not a lot in it for full [length]. The short balls are going through quickly, but the more you hit that halfway area there is inconsistent bounce. Hopefully we can home in on that tomorrow. It looks like Freddie’s length and we all know how accurate he can bowl.”In the 36 hours that the groundstaff had to prepare this surface they used a road-roller to try and flatten the ridge as much as possible. England’s end result of 566 for 9 showed that the trick worked for a while, but an increasing number of deliveries have started to interest the bowlers.Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff both received balls that kept low from Jerome Taylor at the Factory Road End. Gayle was then on the wrong end of the opposite extremes as one climbed past his nose before the next kept low by his ankles. The mind-games had started and when Gayle drove lazily to mid-off it was the shot of a distracted man.However, John Dyson, the West Indies coach, had no qualms about the surface. “There were a few balls that misbehaved, but one of the things I’ve said about Test wickets in the last 12 months is that some of them are just too good.”They aren’t meant to last six or seven days. You expect them to wear and play a few tricks. Just how many tricks it will play we won’t be sure on until we see it tomorrow. The main tricks have been made by the soccer line, not the wicket itself.”In the aftermath of the abandonment on Friday, Gayle joked that this Test should be played back in Jamaica. At the time it was said with tongue firmly in cheek, but the demeanour of West Indies throughout the opening two days has been of a side that doesn’t want to be here. Unlike England, they don’t appear to have been able to put all the various issues out of their minds.”I was a little disappointed with the way we bowled today,” Dyson said. “On a wicket like that you have to be very patient and we fell back into an old habit of being to be aggressive.”Fidel Edwards was an exception as he ran in hard throughout and bowled with intelligence and extreme pace, and Brendan Nash stood out in the field for the manner he continually cajoled his team-mates. Nash’s Australian upbringing shone through, for Aussies don’t accept anything except total commitment. It’s a trait the home side will need plenty of in the next three days.In the aftermath of West Indies’ stunning victory in Kingston both Dyson and Gayle called for calm. They realised that an evolving team was going to have some days like this. Now they have to show that when the going gets tough they can battle it out. That will be a true test of how far this side has come.

Sri Lankan fast bowler Lasith Malinga has been included in the squad for the Twenty20 international against India after an absence of nearly a year due to a knee injury. The selectors, however, have rested important players from the match on February 10, including captain Mahela Jayawardene, vice-captain Kumar Sangakkara and bowlers Muttiah Muralitharan, Ajantha Mendis and Nuwan Kulasekara.Selection committee sources said the players were being rested from the first Twenty20 international in the country keeping in mind the team’s hectic schedule this year. Tillakaratne Dilshan will captain the side and will have Chamara Kapugedera as his deputy.Sri Lanka are scheduled to host Zimbabwe, New Zealand and Pakistan in 2009, a year in which they also play the World Twenty20 in England in June, and the Champions Trophy in September-October.Among the players in the 15-member squad is 35-year-old Indika de Saram. Saram, a wicketkeeper-batsman who played a few games for Sri Lanka between 1999 and 2001, had complained to the sports minister about his exclusion from the squad for the Twenty20 tournament in Canada last October despite his impressive showing in local competitions.Sri Lanka Twenty20 squad: Tillakaratne Dilshan (captain), Sanath Jayasuriya, Jehan Mubarak, Chamara Kapugedera, Chamara Silva, Indika de Saram, Lasith Malinga, Dilhara Fernando, Farveez Maharoof, Kaushalya Weeraratne, Malinga Bandara, Jeevantha Kulatunga, Dilhara Lokuhettige, Mahela Udawatte, Thilan Thushara.

Match facts

Tuesday, January 20
Start time Noon (07.00 GMT)

The Big Picture

The hastily arranged series against Sri Lanka is just what Pakistan cricket needs: it quenches their fans’ thirst for high-quality cricket, it should ease the board’s massive financial problems and will hopefully shift the focus from a spate of controversies surrounding the country’s cricket in the past few months (emphasised by the ludicrous situation of the board potentially facing a lawsuit from their own legal advisor).Both sides enter the contest in impressive ODI form – Sri Lanka have lost only five of their past 20 games, and Pakistan have done even better, winning all but three of the previous 21 matches – but the numbers are significantly boosted by the spate of matches they have played against weak opposition.As with the build-up to every series since his debut, this one has seen much of the talk centre on mystery spinner, Ajantha Mendis, who recently became the quickest bowler to 50 ODI wickets. The compressed contest, three matches to be played in five days, leaves Pakistan’s batsmen little time to reassess their strategy against him during the series. They have prepared to counter his threat by practising on shorter pitches but they aren’t the only batting unit entering the series with worries.Sri Lanka have breached the 200-run mark only once in their last eight games, all of which were against the unthreatening bowling attacks of Zimbabwe and Bangladesh. Their captain Mahela Jayawardene has demanded improvement from his batsmen and, given the form he is in – averaging 8.33 in his last nine innings – he needs to set the example.

ODI form guide (most recent first)

Pakistan WWWWW
Sri Lanka WLWWW

Watch out for …

With Chaminda Vaas cutting down on his ODI workload, Nuwan Kulasekara has become Sri Lanka’s premier quick bowler in the 50-over game. His numbers over the past year – 40 wickets at 19.15 – compare favourably with Muttiah Muralitharan’s over the same period.Younis Khan was Pakistan’s leading run-getter last year, and his role becomes even more crucial in the absence of the experienced Mohammad Yousuf. He is in irrepressible form as well, with three hundreds and three half-centuries in his last eight matches.

Team news

The bad news for Pakistan is that Shoaib Akhtar is yet again a doubtful starter for tomorrow’s game. Pakistan are likely to play three fast bowlers, with Saeed Ajmal, Shahid Afridi and Shoaib Malik sharing the spinning duties. Misbah-ul-Haq is also unwell, but though is confident of playing, he may miss out, in which case Umar Amin is likely to be included in the playing eleven.
Pakistan: Salman Butt, Khurram Manzoor, Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq, Shoaib Malik (capt), Shahid Afridi, Kamran Akaml (wk), Sohail Tanvir, Shoaib Akhtar, Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal
Jehan Mubarak hasn’t been in the best of form lately and could make way for allrounder Angelo Mathews.
Sri Lanka: Sanath Jayasuriya, Upul Tharanga, Kumar Sangakkara (wk), Mahela Jayawardene (capt), Chamara Kapugedera, Thilan Thusharsa, Angelo Mathews, Farveez Maharoof, Nuwan Kulasekara, Muttiah Muralitharan, Ajantha Mendis

Pitch and conditions

The pitch in Karachi looked on Sunday like it might be good for bowling, but has become drier and looks like a more traditionally subcontinental, batting friendly surface. The National Stadium was a batting paradise during the Asia Cup last year, with teams regularly able to chase down totals in the region of 300.The weather forecast is perfect: sunny with the temperature expected to be in mid-twenties.

Stats and trivia

• Murali needs only nine more wickets to go past Wasim Akram’s tally of 502 and become the leading wicket-taker in ODIs
• If Sri Lanka win all three matches, they will move up two places in the ranking to fourth
• No Pakistan batsman has scored a century against Sri Lanka since Mohammad Yousuf more than four years ago
• Upul Tharanga has not made a half-century in his last 17 innings

Quotes

“We did think to play with four seamers until Monday, but after seeing the pitch today we are now thinking of playing with three seamers.”

“There are periods when you go through tough times as a team and you need to pull through them. That’s what character is all about.”

Sachin Tendulkar, who scored a century in his first outing for Mumbai in nearly two years in the Ranji Trophy semi-final against Saurashtra, has said he does not favour neutral venues because of the lack of partisan crowds. Though he has enjoyed playing at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, which Tendulkar said was “one of his favourite grounds in the world”, he preferred a venue which was either side’s home ground.”The wicket should be monitored, that is important,” Tendulkar said. “But it’s fun to have the home crowd supporting you. When you are playing away from home, the crowd is against you. You get that intensity and the atmosphere inside the stadium is different. You learn a lot – sometimes the crowd is behind you, and when you are away from home, the crowd is against you. You are always learning something.”There are no international matches scheduled for India till March when they tour New Zealand and Tendulkar said he decided to play the Ranji semi-final to get some batting practice. “Making a hundred in this game is something I was hoping to do, and I am glad it worked out. When I was holidaying with my family, I hadn’t practised at all. I went for practice one afternoon here, and came here and scored runs.”Obviously, there is less pressure in matches like this, and with the situation we were in when I walked in to bat, I thought I would just go out and play my shots.” Tendulkar hit nine fours and five sixes in his 160-ball 122 before retiring ill.”I was feeling a little uneasy,” he said. “I have been having a bit of a headache since the day before. I have been popping Crocins. Probably because of the heat again, it came back. I didn’t want to aggravate that, so I had to leave the field.”Tendulkar said he had always enjoyed being part of the Mumbai side. “I grew up playing with these guys – Amol [Muzumdar], Sairaj [Bahutule], Ajit [Agarkar], Zaheer [Khan]. There are plenty of youngsters in the team too. It’s fun, talking about cricket, sharing knowledge with each other. It’s not just one-way traffic where I am telling them and they are not. It’s generally talk about cricket, it can only help you. I don’t think by discussing and talking any cricket, it can ever harm you.”

Brett Lee is desperately hoping Australia can retain their hold over Graeme Smith when the first Test starts in Perth, where Lee will be leading one of the least experienced Australian attacks in recent memory. Stuart Clark was due to have surgery on Monday afternoon to remove bone spurs from his right elbow and it meant Lee’s fast-bowling support would come from Mitchell Johnson, playing his 16th Test, and the second-gamer Peter Siddle.There was also a chance the offspinner Jason Krejza, who has one Test to his name, would round out the attack ahead of the allrounder Shane Watson. Their task will be all the more difficult against a South Africa batting line-up so powerful that three of their group are in the top six Test run scorers in 2008.Second on the worldwide list is the captain Smith, who averages 71.73 in Tests this year but has a dismal record against Australia. Smith has played Australia eight times for an average of 22.25 and has made only one half-century, and it is a trend Lee wants to see continue.”We know what we’re up against with Graeme Smith,” Lee said in Perth ahead of Wednesday’s first Test. “The reason why we’ve had success on him in the past is because we’ve done our homework. We’ll be trying our hardest to try and do the things that we’ve done in previous games to try and knock him over.”He has got some big scores against us as well, but the first Test I think, especially the first session, is going to sum up the whole series. If we happen to bowl first, then we have to really set the tone. If Graeme Smith gets away, which he’s shown on a number of occasions especially against other countries, he can lock himself in for the big score.”The responsibility for getting Australia away to a strong start in the field will largely fall to Lee, who has 56 Test wickets at 29.19 this year but was down on form and speed on the recent tour of India. Lee regained some of his spark against New Zealand on a flat pitch in Adelaide, where he grabbed a career-best nine wickets for the match.”Personally the NZ series was perfect for me as far as a great lead-in to South Africa,” Lee said. “I was really happy with the way I bowled, especially the last game, the second Test in Adelaide. I felt like the ball came out the best that it has in a long, long time.”

Clark also struggled for impact in India before finding some form at home, only for his elbow problem to flare up so severely that surgery was required. The operation might have ended his summer but it has opened a door for Siddle, who bowled tremendously fast in the nets on Monday.”Siddle will definitely play,” Australia’s captain Ricky Ponting said. “We’ll just have to look at the wicket a bit more closely tomorrow. The wicket is still a little bit damp. It was a very hot day in Perth yesterday and I think the groundsmen needed to pump a little bit of water into it.”Australia are unlikely to finalise their starting XI until after they train on Tuesday and while Krejza initially appeared to have the edge over Watson, he could miss out if the pitch proves especially lively. Australia used four fast bowlers in Perth last season only to lose to India when the surface failed to offer as much spice as expected.The WACA curator Cameron Sutherland said this year’s pitch would act differently from the one used last summer, when the preparation was impeded because the ground hosted the domestic Twenty20 final three days before the Test. He predicted bounce and carry, which could help Watson’s chances of adding to his eight Test caps.”It’s a lot more life in it at the moment, a lot greener surface [than last year],” Sutherland said. “It probably was like a day two wicket on day one of the Test last year. This year the surface is a lot greener and probably where we’d want it to be more this year.”But after their error in judgment in selecting the attack last season, Australia know they cannot afford to make a similar mistake against the world’s No. 2 Test team. And Lee is well aware of how much rests on him to spearhead the bowling effort against a side that is confident of its chances.”This is probably the most important Test match of the series,” Lee said. “This is the one that sets it up. The team that can walk away with the win here, will definitely set the tone for the rest of the summer.”