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India’s fine start to the one-day series, where they amassed 338 and held on for a 14-run win, shouldn’t mask some of the problem areas. A key concern facing them, especially with the World Cup around the corner, is the middle overs – both in the batting and bowling departments.Interestingly, the problems in both areas are interlinked. Added to that is a fielding malady where there aren’t any easy solutions. The squad for the last two matches of the series is to be selected on January 25 and tomorrow’s game becomes paramount for more than a few players.In the absence of Yuvraj Singh and Virender Sehwag, the bowling options are severely restricted. Suresh Raina doesn’t offer much while Dinesh Karthik is a wicketkeeper. Raina has already been left out of tomorrow’s clash, replaced with the genuine offspinner Ramesh Powar who is handy with the bat as well.Powar has the flight and the guile to tease the batsmen but he’s only been used sparingly, with Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble jostling for the sole spot. Kumble is expected to return for the last two matches and Powar will have to turn in a special performance tomorrow to retain his place. Ditto for Karthik, who might find it difficult to hold his place if Yuvraj or Sehwag returns.The other concern is the batting in the middle overs. Mahendra Singh Dhoni muscled and Rahul Dravid innovated on Sunday, as 112 runs flowed in the last 10 over, but one shouldn’t ignore the problems that India have had in that area recently. Is Joginder Sharma the answer to the vital allrounder’s slot? We might get an early indication tomorrow in what promises to be a make-or-break game for him. He’s had a great domestic season with both bat and ball but will he be able to bridge the vast gap between the first-class and international levels?In case he isn’t up to scratch, India would do well to fall back on Sehwag. Of course, of late Sehwag has been more vulnerable to phantoms in his psyche than demons on the pitch. But even during that miserable phase in South Africa, he managed a 50-ball 40, with six fours and a six, from the middle order. That pitch, at Cape Town, was taking some spin and that’s what India are likely to encounter in the World Cup. And he can bowl. With Irfan Pathan still struggling to get back his bowling touch, Sehwag and Yuvraj, along with Tendulkar and Ganguly, could handle the allrounder’s duties.Compounding India’s worries is their fielding. They dropped four catches in the first game and Dravid is, understandably, concerned. “We are not natural athletes, especially the senior guys,” Dravid said. “So we have to find that balance between the younger and the senior guys and the seniors have to work on their fielding. We have to still try and get to as good a level as we can. There are some guys in this side who obviously cannot become brilliant. But we have to try and improve and obviously hold all our catches.”We are working very hard on our fielding and we are looking to improvingevery day. But we need to find the balance between picking the youngsters andthe experienced guys. When we pick a lot of youngsters, the criticism was thatthere are not enough experienced players, so when you pick the experiencedplayers you have to accept that the fielding is not going to be brilliant.That’s a fact and you just have to accept it. So we have to look at thepluses and the minuses and we have to get the right balance. Thatis a situation we are faced with and we have to deal with it.”India will grapple with all this and more as they head into the second one-dayer. They will be hoping that Cuttack provides them with some, if not all, of the answers.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsAhmed Shehzad applauds Umar Akmal following his 40-ball 93•PSL

Umar Akmal bludgeoned the highest score of the Pakistan Super League, his 40-ball 93 guiding Lahore Qalandars to their first win of the season, against Quetta Gladiators in Dubai. The 63-run defeat was Quetta’s first of the tournament, after they had set the early pace with three consecutive wins.Not many could have seen Akmal’s blast coming when Lahore crawled to 62 for 1 in 10 overs. But with Cameron Delport providing the initial spark and Akmal the finishing punch, Lahore cruised to 194 for 3 at the end of 20 overs. The pair added 95 runs in only 42 balls, with Delport smoking a 55-ball 73, an innings that featured eight fours and three sixes. Although the carnage could have been cut short – Akmal survived a close lbw shout off the third ball he faced and Zulfiqar Babar was visibly distraught when it was given not out.Babar eventually trapped Delport lbw when the batsman attempted an extravagant reverse flick, but any hope Quetta had of drying up the runs were quickly dashed by Akmal, who treated himself to six fours and eight sixes, including 18 runs off the penultimate over, bowled by Umar Gul. Akmal could not reach his maiden T20 ton, but he made sure Quetta needed to score at nearly 10 an over right from the off. They could not.Lahore’s spinners took wickets at regular intervals and only Mohammad Nawaz (42) and Sarfraz Ahmed (31) offered any resistance. Once Sarfraz was dismissed in the 13th over, Quetta lost their next six wickets for 13 runs and folded for 131. Zafar Gohar was the pick of the bowlers, collecting 4 for 14, while Ajantha Mendis chipped in with 3 for 17.

Mitchell Johnson says he couldn’t have done more over the last year to force his way into Australia’s Test side after being named in the 13-man squad for the first Test against Sri Lanka.Before that match, which is at the Gabba from next Thursday, he has the chance to impress in the second warm-up match at Allan Border Field on Friday.”I think I’ve done what I can over in India and over the past 12 months or so,” he told Sportal.com. “It is out of my control but my fingers are crossed.”He faces an anxious wait to see if he made the final cut ahead of fellow fast bowler Shaun Tait but being the only left-arm pace bowler in the squad may help. He also impressed in India recently, where he was the leading wicket taker with 14 at an average of 18.57 including a five-for.But Johnson, who has yet to make his Test debut, has been here before: this time last year he was waiting to see if he would get the nod for the Ashes ahead of Stuart Clark. He lost out then and his wait for a Test continues.”I don’t want to get my hopes up and be too confident but deep down I’m hoping.”

Ricky Ponting will need to take a big risk if Australia are to equal the world record of 16 consecutive wins. The mark set by Steve Waugh does not bother Ponting, who refuses to be swayed by statistics, but winning matters a lot to him.India’s impressive first innings has shorn Ponting of time, which has been one of his greatest assets since the drawn match against South Africa in 2005-06. Now he has to dictate proceedings with a declaration that has many consequences.A victory would retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, continue the streak and evaporate the confidence gained by the tourists over the first four days. If India overcome the total set by Ponting suddenly the series is level and the captain will have lost his fourth Test in 40 games. The disruptions caused by rain and bad light on Saturday, which cut 12 overs from the day, did not help Australia’s momentum and a draw remains the most likely result even though play will start half an hour early on the final day.Australia will begin with a lead of 213 that was secured by Matthew Hayden’s 123 and Michael Hussey’s 87 not out. Ponting’s dilemma over how many runs to set India is an unusual one for him. For most of his rule there have been a couple of days to dismiss his opponents rather than the limited opportunities that will be available on day five. This time he has to weigh up his tunnel-vision for victory with the reality of miscalculating a total and suffering defeat. A target of 320 would probably be out of India’s reach, but 270 over two-and-a-bit sessions might be enticing. It is a tricky call.The next Test starts in Perth on January 16 and Australia will be confident of a quick success if the pitch delivers the same steep bounce that was a feature of Australia’s Twenty20 victory over New Zealand last month. India’s discomfort against the short ball will be on display and the series is likely to be decided there if the home side’s fast bowlers perform. It could be a reason for Ponting to play it safe in Sydney.During one of the handful of rain breaks a video of Waugh’s unbeaten run from 1999-2001 was shown to entertain the remaining spectators. It could have stirred the Australians as they sheltered in the dressing room. They spoke about the record only once in the lead-up to the game – Ponting told them to ignore it and concentrate on this match – but it must be hard to avoid getting excited by the chance to equal a world mark.The sense of history and the push for new limits was a feature of the partnership between Waugh and the coach John Buchanan. Buchanan was overseeing the team for the first 12 victories of this streak, but his replacement Tim Nielsen does not motivate the players with the same sort of carrots. When the declaration comes it will be Ponting’s decision and it will show how much he is willing to gamble on victory.

Three former Australian Test players, Damien Martyn, Michael Kasprowicz and Matthew Elliott, have signed up with the unofficial Indian Cricket League (ICL). Kasprowicz, the fast bowler, and Elliott, the opening batsman, retired from the game in Australia earlier this month while Martyn has not played since walking away during the 2006-07 Ashes.Martyn had reportedly joined the ICL ahead of its inaugural tournament, but didn’t take part when it was held late last year. “These high-stature Australian cricketers will definitely boost the quality of cricket and strengthen the teams, making the league showcase competitive cricket,” Kapil Dev, the chairman of the ICL, said. “It will provide our young domestic players the challenge to test their skills with some of the best exponents of the game, thus fulfilling one of the key objectives of ICL.”Elliott had indicated he would join the ICL when deciding to stand down at South Australia. “I’m thinking about it,” Elliott said. “It’s more about what’s best for me after my cricket career.”The three will join fellow Australians Stuart Law and Ian Harvey in the league, while Michael Bevan and Steve Rixon are in charge of the Chennai and Hyderabad teams. Jimmy Maher, who will play his last game for Queensland from Friday, and Jason Gillespie, who is expected to retire in the next couple of weeks, are also expected to be chased by the ICL. Any Australians who play in the unofficial Twenty20 event are banned from taking part in domestic competitions at home.

ScorecardChris Read’s century put Notts into the lead•Getty Images

Chris Read helped himself to a second century of the season as Nottinghamshire dominated day three against Middlesex at Trent Bridge. Having passed three figures for the first time this summer in the four-day game between the sides at Lord’s back in April, the Notts captain was at it again, this time on home soil.Having been dropped on 54, Read, the 36-year-old former England wicketkeeper, went on to score 108 from 206 balls as Notts built a useful first innings lead.Resuming on their overnight score of 180 for 4, Notts found themselves in a spot of trouble when Samit Patel was bowled, in the third over of the day, at 184 for 5 and Steven Mullaney holed out to Tim Murtagh off Ollie Rayner 45 runs later. At that stage, they still trailed Middlesex by 145. But despite losing 15 overs to rain, Notts pushed on after lunch with Read and Brett Hutton adding 157 for the seventh wicket.Read, who missed six weeks of the season from the middle of May due to a hamstring injury, struck eight fours in reaching his half century, off 101 balls, and posted three figures for the first time since mid-April, off 190 balls. Having been dropped at slip by Ollie Rayner on 54 – a sharp chance to Rayner’s right hand – he eventually fell to Toby Roland-Jones, at 386 for 7.The captain’s job was made all the more easy by Hutton, who batted beautifully to post his highest first class score of 72. The 22-year-old bowling allrounder brought up his own half-century off 121 balls, with seven fours, and looked comfortable throughout against a Middlesex attack that offered precious little as the day wore on.Hutton continued to bat with due care and attention after his skipper’s departure and with Luke Wood, who was dropped on 0 off the bowling of Dawid Malan, he added 25 for the eighth wicket. But he finally departed at 419 for 9 and at that juncture Notts declared with a first innings lead of 45. Middlesex opener Sam Robson and nightwatchman James Harris successfully negotiated the final two overs of the evening and trail Notts by 38 runs with all 10 second innings wickets in hand.

John Buchanan is in the final week of his seven-year coaching role with Australia, but he has not stopped talking about the future by suggesting Michael Clarke could be the next captain. After being dropped two years ago, Clarke has returned stronger and more mature and has been a crucial part of Australia’s march into the World Cup final with 464 runs, including 60 not out in the semi-final win over South Africa.The leadership debate is not an immediate issue as Ricky Ponting is only 32, but Buchanan has tipped Clarke as a contender when he retires. He was a captain of the Australia Under-19s and was named deputy to Michael Hussey for the one-day tour of New Zealand in February before he went home with a hip injury.”I see him growing as a person and he is obviously performing pretty well in the field,” Buchanan said in the Sydney Morning Herald. “Obviously he is [considered a future captain] because he should be around the team for years to come.”By that stage he will be a senior player and should have an incredible record behind him. But who is to know what will happen in the future?”Clarke began his Test career in India when his friend and coach Neil D’Costa was his manager, but before the Ashes series he swapped to the management group that looks after Matthew Hayden. “He is associating himself with the right people,” Buchanan said in the . “No disrespect to people before him, but for Michael’s future he needs to associate and be educated by the right people. I see him making those sort of choices.”While Buchanan looked ahead, he also allowed himself to go back over the relationships with some of his current and former charges. In the Herald Clarke, Hayden and Shane Watson were listed as some of Buchanan’s successes, but he regretted he was unable to connect with the legspinners Shane Warne and Stuart MacGill.”People are not compatible with each other all the time and probably their style and my styles were never going to nicely coalesce,” he said. “There have been moments when they have gone in the same direction and moments when they haven’t, not necessarily due to them or due to me. It’s just the way it is.”I always regret that you don’t have the perfect relationship with everybody because if you don’t it’s very difficult, I think, to bring out the best in them. That to me is one of the roles of the coach, that you’re always trying to expand somebody’s horizons and if you don’t have a good relationship with someone there’s no way you can achieve that. I regret that.”

The Indian board (BCCI) has told Cricinfo that it will be lodging a complaint with the ECB following confirmation that the PCB has issued No Objection Certificates to Mushtaq Ahmed and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, allowing them to play county cricket in 2008.The two players are involved with the unauthorised Indian Cricket League and Niranjan Shah, the BCCI’s secretary, told Cricinfo that “we have an understanding with the other countries’ boards that they can’t allow players who are associated with the ICL to be allowed to play at any level, regardless of the reason the player has a contract with his board or not.”If the news is true that the two players have been given NOCs by the PCB then we will take up the issue with the ECB since the two counties – Sussex and Yorkshire – come under the jurisdiction of the England board.”The ECB, however, is legally powerless to take any action in the light of the NOCs being granted and is likely to pass the matter back to the Indian board to sort out directly with its Pakistan counterparts.The situation is further muddied by confusion within the PCB about the issuing of an NOC to Naved-ul-Hasan. On Thursday, Shafqat Naghmi, the PCB’s chief operating officer, told Reuters that “the factual position is that some counties had asked the PCB to issue NOC’s for these players. But we’ve now informed them very clearly that since these players are not contracted to us nor eligible to play in Pakistan we don’t come anywhere into this issue at all.”But less than a day later, Naghmi gave Cricinfo an altogether different picture. “Our board’s policy on the ICL remains as it has always been and these players cannot play in Pakistan,” he said. “But the board also felt that there is no legal or moral reason in stopping someone from playing cricket in another country. That is subject to their laws. So, on this basis, we have sent an NOC, which maybe wasn’t as well-worded as planned, but the intention was made clear.”Stewart Regan, the Yorkshire chief executive, told Cricinfo that the NOC had in fact been received last week and was dated March 17. “We have a signed letter that is very clear in confirming they [the PCB] have no objection,” he said. This was then sent to the ECB, along with the player’s registration form, and was accepted by the board.Today’s news follows the revelations last week that the ECB had refused registrations for five players because of their participation in the ICL. But with Pakistan approving Mushtaq and Naved-ul-Hasan, and in so doing leaving the England board with no room for manoeuvre, there are certain to be some terse exchanges between the PCB and the BCCI in the coming days.

Jonty Rhodes is one of the favourites to become England’s fielding coach as the new management team continues to expand the back room staff. It is hoped the position will be filled by the time the one-day squad meets up again for the seven-match series against India in the second half of August.England dropped three catches during the deciding one-dayer at Trent Bridge on Sunday – two in the outfield by Alastair Cook and Ian Bell, plus one by wicketkeeper Matt Prior – while the ground fielding was caught out by aggressive West Indies running. The boundary sweepers often struggled to collect the ball cleanly while those inside the circle rarely managed any direct hits.”As with the rest of the support team we want the right person to do that job,” said England coach Peter Moores. “When we’ve got the right bloke we can look to bring him in and see how he goes. We have seen that in other specialist positions for coaches.”We are talking about people who could make a genuine difference to international performances – and they don’t always grow on trees. If we get a fielding coach we want him to influence fielding in England not just at England level.”Rhodes, who was famous for his work at backward point in his career, has previously held a similar post with South Africa and Pakistan. His former team-mate Allan Donald is currently England’s bowling coach until the end of the Twenty20 World Championships.

Trent Johnston, Ireland’s captain, has challenged his young squad to produce the goods against the might of India who they face in a one-dayer on Saturday at Stormont, Belfast.Only seven members of the squad which beat Pakistan to reach the Super Eights of the World Cup remain, but Johnston insists that – in spite of being in a phase of regeneration, not to mention beset by injuries – they can still challenge India.”At the World Cup people questioned where the next generation of Irish cricketers would come from – well here they are,” Johnston, 33, said.”These matches could be the start of a new era. We’ve got a new coach [Phil Simmons] who is bringing new things to the table and a group of young players with new ideas.”Of course we’re looking to rebuild but the fact that we still have a strong squad shows we’ve got a lot of depth.”Roger Whelan, Gary Kidd, Alex Cusack and Thinus Fourie – who have five international caps between them – are all set to play against India and Johnston has backed them to produce the goods.”Playing these sides is great as the young lads get to test themselves against legends of the game like Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid,” he said. “Just to say you have faced those players is incredible and every one of our lads is looking forward to it.”It’s important the younger guys make the step up but we are confident they are ready. When they are given a chance like this they need to grab it with both hands.”After India, Ireland face South Africa on Sunday before the two touring teams pair off in three further one-dayers next week.Click here to leave your thoughts.