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Hopes that the USA would become a major force in world cricket were effectively ended with the announcement by the ICC that Project USA had been scrapped.An ICC statement said that “in light of the inability of the United States of America Cricket Association to address the fundamental governance issues of the game inthe USA, the executive board decided to immediately terminate its initiative to stage international cricket in the USA to generate funds to develop the game in this country.”Ehsan Mani, the ICC’s president, said that the board was left with littlechoice but to make this decision. “The decision to terminate Project USA is taken with some regret. Cricket is growing in America and Gary Hopkins who was appointed to run this project had done some excellent work in preparing the way for international cricket to be played there,” Mani said. “Nevertheless, the success of this project relies on having an effective governing body for cricket in the United States.”Our experience in dealing with the USACA and the current controversyover the governance of the game in this country has convinced the boardthat it cannot support investing ICC members funds in this project andit has been terminated.”Constant in-fighting within the board and growing animosity between senior officials led to the ICC suspending the project in February. But rather than grab the bull by the horns, the USACA executive did almost nothing except provide further examples of its inability to act decisively.In the same week that the ICC met, the USACA’s president, Gladstone Dainty, embroiled the association in further controversy when he suspended the secretary and attempted to disqualify candidates after the poll had closed.There was also a feeling in some circles that the ICC needed the USA more than USA needed it and that it wouldn’t dare to abandon the project. That was always a risky strategy, and that particular bluff has been well and truly called.

The Pub Charity CCA Club Cricket draw for Saturday is:MEN’S CRICKET1st Grade Men:R4 – 29 Nov & 6 Dec (2-Day Trophy)2nd day of 22nd Grade Men:R4 – 29 Nov & 6 Dec (2-Day Trophy)2nd day of 23rd Grade Gold Men:29 & 6 Dec (2 Day)2nd day of 23rd Grade Red:R5 – 6 & 13 December (2-day Trophy)Christs College v St. Thom St. Thom 1,STAC v TBHS TBHS 1,St. Bedes v SBHS SBHS 1,Burn HS v CBHS Burn HS 1.3rd Grade Black:R5 – 6 & 13 December (2-day Match)CBHS Blue v CBHS Black Straven 1,CBHS Red v St. Bedes St. Bedes 1,SBHS v Burn HS Clare Park 2,Ricc HS v STAC Ricc HS 1,CC Bye.4th Grade Men:Mar v BWU Burn 2,St A B v St A A Hag 4,LPW Yabbage v OC Cavs Elm 3,ES Hooters v Syd Muppets Syd 2.5th Grade Men:BWU Blue v LPW Yaks Ensors 2,BWU Maroon v BWU Gold Ilam 2,OC Tan v Ricc Gold HSC,St A v BWU SNCC HC 3,Ricc Hogs Bye.6th Grade Men:Mar Gold v Parklands Ilam 1,OC Tan v Syd Red Syd 3,LPW v OC SGC Ensors 3,St A v Mar Fozzie B’s HC 7,Syd Blue v BWU Syd 4.President’s Men:Ricc+ v LPW Red Wool 2,Mar v HSOB Gold HC 8,OC v St A Blue Ilam 4,LPW Gladiators v St A Gold HC 9,ES Gold v Syd Burw 3,Hospital v ES Blue Clare 1,BWU v Sum Misfits Burn 3.(+Indicates holder of the G Frampton Challenge Cup)WOMEN’S CRICKET1st Grade Women:R8 – 6 Dec (1-day Cup):ES v St A Burw 2,LPW v OC-Country Gar 2.1st Reserve Grade Women:St A v OC-Country Ilam 6,BWU v ES Burn 4,Syd v Ricc Ilam 5.2nd Grade Women:St A v LPW Wool 1,Syd v Hare Red 2,OC-Country Bye.3rd Grade:Ricc v Horn Polo 3a,LPW v St A Polo 4a,BWU v Syd Polo 2a.4th Grade Primary Girls (Grade redrawn):Senior Trad:St A Gold v LPW HC 3,ES v St A Grammar HC 7,OC-Country v Horn HC 8.Junior Trad:St A v Syd Selwyn House HC 9.Junior Average:St A v LPW HC 4,HSOB v Syd HC 5,Cath G v President’s XI HC 6.

Having outplayed the Kenyans in the longer version of the game – thefour-day unofficial tests, Sri Lanka ‘A’ are gearing up to face Kenya in aseries of three unofficial one-day internationals beginning at theWelagedera Stadium here tomorrow.Sri Lanka ‘A’ coach and manager Roshan Mahanama is keen to strike firstblood and main Sri Lanka’s dominance over the tourists.”The first game of any series is important and we won’t be taking theKenyans lightly,” said Mahanama. “It is important that we continue toperform well as a team.”The overs game is something which the Kenyans are quite familiar with andthey are quite capable of giving Sri Lanka ‘A’ a good run, provided they canovercome the disappointment of their 3-0 whitewash in the ‘Test’ series andtheir batting, their strongest department, clicks.”The one-day version suits the boys more, it is just that they should gettheir disappointment out and start afresh. We have played a lot more one-daycricket and we are going to regroup ourselves, get the disappointment of thestring of defeats and rethink for a start of a new series,” said Kenyan teammanager Harilal Shah.One player whom the Kenyans will miss a lot is Thomas Odoyo who was forcedto return home due to a hamstring injury on his right leg.”We will miss him very much because he is a very powerful hitter of the balland he is a good bowler.quite quick. Odoyo recently went to South Africa forthe triangular between Kenya, India and South Africa and he ranked among thevery higher echelons of cricketers with ICC’s high performance manager BobWoolmer (the former England player and SouthAfrican coach),” said Shah.”We’ll miss Odoyo, but some players will have to play better thanthemselves, to compensate for his loss,” he said.>From the Sri Lanka ‘A’ squad of 14, batsman Anushka Polonowita and fastbowler Kaushalya Weeraratne are unlikely to play leaving the only change inthe side to be decided between left-arm spinners Rangana Herath and SajeewaWeerakoon. Herath with his experience will probably get the nod.Fast bowler Dulip Liyanage and all-rounder Gayan Wijekoon are likely to gettheir first game against the tourists. The rest of the squad figured in therecently concluded ‘Test’ series.Kenya will be hoping their captain Maurice Odumbe will strike form in thisseries. He managed only 72 runs in six innings in the ‘Test’ series gettingout on the last four occasions to his vis-à-vis Upul Chandana.They have a complement of 15 players to select their final 11.The pitch at Welagedera Stadium is generally slow and tends to keep low,which may not be the ideal one for a one-day game.The second game is scheduled for Saturday at De Soysa Stadium, Moratuwa andthe final one on Monday at the NCC grounds.SRI LANKA ‘A’ (from):Upul Chandana (captain), Avishka Gunawardana, Upekha Fernando, TillekeratneDilshan, Chamara Silva, Prasanna Jayawardene, Muthumudalige Pushpakumara,Rangana Herath, Pulasthi Gunaratne, Dulip Liyanage, Gayan Wijekoon, SajeewaWeerakoon, Kaushalya Weeraratne, Anushka Polonowita.KENYA (from):Maurice Odumbe (captain), Kennedy Otieno, Ravindu Shah, Steve Tikolo, HiteshModi, Otieno Suji, Collins Obuya, Lamech Onyango, Martin Suji, Brijal Patel,Joseph Angara, Josphat Sorengo, David Obuya, Thomas Odoyo, Mohammad Sheikh.UMPIRES: Gamini Silva and Jagath Nandakumara, Match Referee: Ashley deSilva.

Zimbabwe had a lot of hard work to do as they resumed on 31 for threeafter dismissing India for 237. This they did with a lot of credit,thanks mainly to a gutsy innings of 80 not out from Grant Flower, wholifted his team from a shaky 110 for five to a lead of 64 runs at theclose with two wickets still in hand. At stumps on the second day ofthe second Test match at the Harare Sports Club ground on Saturday,Zimbabwe were 301 for eight.In the morning, Dion Ebrahim began with confidence, playing someparticularly impressive drives, although he played and misseddangerously at times. Andy Flower though only occasionally showed hisbest form and was perhaps fortunate to survive an lbw appeal by AjitAgarkar when on 18. Despite that, he passed 1000 runs in Test cricketagainst India alone.The primary aim was clearly to occupy the crease during the firstsession. India stuck to their pace trio for more than 90 minutes, withAgarkar perhaps the best, restraining Flower and enjoying no luck.They kept an attacking field and, with the slow outfield, threes weremore frequent than boundaries.When Harbhajan Singh belatedly came on, Flower immediately came tolife. He reverse-swept him for four, and then swept and glanced afurther ten runs off the next three balls. But his eagerness to seizethe initiative proved his undoing, as off the final ball of the overhe pushed a catch to forward short leg and was dismissed for 45. Itwas another good catch by Shiv Sunder Das. This was only the secondtime India had ever dismissed him for less than 50 in a Test; on theprevious occasion he made 30.Ebrahim sadly fell on 49, trying to hit across a quicker ball fromHarbhajan and being trapped lbw. At lunch Zimbabwe were back introuble at 113 for five, and Harbhajan had the interesting figures of3-1-16-2.Grant Flower and Heath Streak dug in with determination after lunch,but both were free enough to play the odd powerful stroke, and werenot afraid to attack Harbhajan. With India maintaining an attackingfield with four close catchers, it was enthralling cricket.Streak, on 11, became the first Zimbabwean to achieve the Test doubleof 1000 runs and 100 wickets. They batted until half an hour beforetea until Steak (40) suffered an unlucky dismissal similar to that ofSachin Tendulkar the previous day – when Steak was the bowler. Theroles were reversed now, as Streak misread Tendulkar’s googly and paidthe penalty for padding up, the ball ricocheting from his pad on tothe stumps. Zimbabwe were now 175 for six.Grant Flower, hitherto quiescent, now opened up with the aggressiveAndy Blignaut as his partner, and a flurry of runs ensued. Just aftertea, Flower celebrated his 50th Test match with a fifty, the first ofthe innings after three forties. India were frustrated by the umpire’srejection of an appeal for a catch at the wicket against Blignaut offHarbhajan when he was on 29, and television replays seemed to indicatethey were unlucky. Blignaut celebrated with a remarkable six overextra cover, taking Zimbabwe into the lead, but then moved down thepitch to be stumped for 35.Travis Friend, in his maiden Test innings, scored a valuable 15 beforebeing bowled by Ashish Nehra, while Brian Murphy (17 not out) also dugin to give Flower invaluable support. India spared no effort, butfound the Zimbabwean tail much harder to shift with the second newball than the top order had been with the first. They fielded superblyand bowled well, with Javagal Srinath the only bowler who seemed belowform.

Mitchell Starc’s ankle injury flared up again during the Ashes and subsequent ODI series in England, but ‘surgery will be a last resort’ according to Australia’s physiotherapist Alex Kountouris.”Our plan is to continue manage Mitchell [Starc] and monitor how his ankle responds. Whilst surgery has been discussed, like most other situations, it is a last resort, particularly as it will involve a lengthy lay off from playing (3-5 months),” Kountouris said.Having featured in 26 of Australia’s 27 games in all formats this year, Starc has had to contend with a heavy workload. He was rested for the fourth ODI against England at Headingley after taking a cortisone injection. Starc also needed painkillers to get to the bowling crease in the Cardiff Test.”During the recent Ashes Test and ODI series in the UK, there have been times when Mitchell has struggled and required cortisone injections to treat the inflammation within the joint”, Kountouris said.”As part of his management, we have had regular MRI scans that have confirmed the presence of some bone spurs, that cause the inflamed joint.”Starc, however, returned for the decider, which Australia won emphatically, and the most recent scan did not show any ‘significant deterioration’. He will have a 10-day break before the Bangladesh tour, starting October 9.Australia also have a packed schedule ahead with home series against New Zealand, West Indies, and India, before tours to New Zealand and South Africa. The schedule culminates with the World Twenty20 in India, starting March 16.Cricket Australia chairman of selectors Rod Marsh hoped that Starc would continue bowling and lead the attack in the World T20:”We have got some pretty important cricket coming including the T20 World Cup and we would like to see Starc lead the attack for that. But if he can’t, he can’t. But at the moment the plan is for him to keep going.”Starc, who had already gone under the knife twice for his ankle issues, had earlier missed the start of the IPL this year because of a knee niggle.

Dion Nash and Kyle Mills scored centuries and forged a partnership, hardenedby the flames of adversity, which reshaped Auckland’s Shell Trophy matchagainst Wellington and gave it balance at the end of its third day today.Nash has worked hard to reinvent himself as a batsman recently, as injurycontinues to curtail his effectiveness as a bowler, and his 281-minuteinnings of 100 – part of a 185-run eighth wicket stand with Mills – made aclamorous announcement of his success in that endeavour.Nor is that success confined any longer to the batting crease. Nash’s broadsmile tonight was provoked by equal elements of delight at his battingperformance, Auckland’s strengthened position and the discovery that theprognosis for his bowling is not as bleak as it recently seemed.Nash was able to turn his arm over in the nets on Tuesday night for thefirst time in a long while and he tentatively forecast last night that hewould be bowling some cautious medium pace before the Trophy season ends.Nash beamed also at the effort of his outstanding partner Mills, a darkhorse batting No 9 in the Auckland order, who reached his highest firstclass score, his maiden first class century and was 107 not out when stumpswere drawn.The pair came together at lunch, after Wellington had taken six wickets inthe morning session to have Auckland 109/7, to limit their overall lead to66 runs and to threaten to end the game by the end of this, the third day.On them in a sudden heated rush fell all the responsibility of the Aucklandinnings. If they failed, so too would Auckland and there seemed no otherpossibility than that Wellington would add an outright win to the firstinnings points they achieved on Tuesday.Nash and Mills resolved themselves to stay together as long as fortuneallowed and to do as much as resolution permitted to repair Auckland’sposition. Neither imagined that, almost four hours later when Nash was outafter having completed his fourth first class century in 281 minutes, Aucklandwould hold the upper hand in the match.Despite Nash’s fall within half an hour of stumps, when Auckland were 294and after he and Mills had come within four runs of a 62-year-old eighthwicket record for the province, the match was all but saved. Mills went onto his century in 242 minutes, from 185 balls, and Auckland was 317 atstumps, 271 runs ahead of Wellington with a day remaining.”In some ways it was a difficult wicket to get in on but when you got in itbecame easier,” Nash said. “At lunch I just said to Kyle we’ve got to get towherever we can get to. We’d just lost a lot of quick wickets – Wellingtonhad started to get some reverse swing before lunch and had nicked a coupleout – and I said we’ve just got to bat as long as we can.”Kyle’s a good young guy and so we just got our heads down and did what wecould. At the start it was just a bit of fun but we got further and furtherand we started to realise we were making a difference.”My only disappointment was that I got out before Kyle got his centurybecause I would have liked to be there with him when that happened. Butthat’s the way it goes. I think that we’re at least in the game now. They’llhave to play well to win.”Nash said he hadn’t been conscious this season of greater pressureaccumulating on him to succeed with the bat, now that he is being chosen forhis batting ability and no longer for his bowling.”More than anything I want to be part of the Auckland side and to becontributing to it as much as I can,” he said. “I’ve had a few starts thisseason and haven’t gone on and I’ve had a few failures but I’ve just keptplugging away, hoping the runs will come.”The most extraordinary feature of Mills and Nash’s partnership, more thanthe success of two players who have been styled as bowlers first, batsmensecond, was the way in which their resilient partnership altered the moraltenor of the game.When Tama Canning was out to the last ball of the morning session andAuckland had plunged from 16/1 at the resumption to 109/7, the Wellingtonbowlers and their supportive fieldsman, were cock-a-hoop, certain of theirsuperiority.But Mills and Nash began, throughout the early part of their partnership, tochip away at the mental citadel Wellington had built themselves. Gradually,brick by brick, Wellington’s massive confidence fell away.By the end of the second session, the Wellington bowling attack seemedragged, weary and frustrated. They no longer found wickets easy to come byand their body language expressed their flagging will and theirexasperation.Wellington did not bowl well throughout the second and third sessions. Whenthey couldn’t break Nash and Mills partnership, intimidate the batsmen oreasily chip them out, their effort began to falter and their will failed.Wellington coach Vaughan Johnson leapt to his bowlers’ defence and said theywere understandably tired after two hard and hot games in Wellington and inNapier. Wear and tear is beginning to leave its mark on the Wellingtonattack: Andrew Penn has torn a large flap of skin from his foot and had tohave a local anaesthetic today before he could bowl and Carl Bulfin hasdeveloped tendonitis in both knees.But Johnson admitted the Wellington bowlers faltered in their task today.”I’m disappointed with the fact we didn’t bowl at times as we should have,”Johnson said. “We dropped in intensity and that was disappointing but wehave too look at the positives and the positives were that we got into thembut we just didn’t finish them off.”I have to say I’m 100 per cent supportive of the way Nash and Mills batted.I hated it…hated every minute of it but I’d have to pat both of them onthe back for it. They were two of the best innings I’ve seen in all the timeI’ve been around first class cricket.”

Scorecard
Haryana took 15 Jammu and Kashmir wickets on the third day to inflict an innings defeat on J&K. Resuming their first innings at 92 for 5, in reply to Haryana’s 174, J&K could add only 82 and were asked to follow-on. Irshad Hassan scored 44 of those runs and ended up with 51. Amit Mishra took three wickets today to end up with a four-wicket haul in the first innings.An even more abject cave-in followed in the second innings as the 30 extras were the highest contributors in the total of 107. Gaurav Vashisht took five wickets and Jitender Billa took his second three-wicket haul of the match to hasten what always seemed an inevitable rout.
ScorecardIn a remarkable day’s play, Vidarbha lost their last six wickets for 6 runs, then skittled Gujarat out for 121 and made a steady start in pursuit of 226 runs to win the match outright. Resuming the day at 189 for 4, Vidarbha reached 202 without any further loss, but the next six fell within eight overs, the last four scoring ducks.Niraj Patel scored 71 out of Gujarat’s 121 as they folded up in 54.1 overs. Alind Naidu bowled 13.1 overs for 18 runs and took four wickets to bring Vidarbha back into the match. Sandeep Singh took three wickets. At stumps, Vidarbha had scored 31 runs without any loss, setting up an exciting last day’s play.
Scorecard
Manish Vardhan, the Jharkhand captain, carried on from his overnight 113 to ensure Jharkhand went past Goa’s 336 and by stumps, Jharkhand had attained a first-innings lead of 69, which might not prove enough to force an outright result on the last day. Vardhan scored 179, while Saurav Tiwary and Arun Vidyarthi scored half-centuries. Vidyarthi ended the day at 72 not out. The scoring was surprisingly slow as only 188 runs were added during the 90 overs, even though they lost only three wickets.
Scorecard
A good start by Madhya Pradesh came apart in the middle and they were asked to follow on by Railways after being bowled out for 221. MP had made 100 runs for the loss of one wicket when Sanjay Bangar and Madan Yadav struck twice in two balls. After that MP never really recovered, as Harvinder Singh and Karan Sharma took three wickets each to bowl them out with a day and eight overs left to force a result. Naman Ojha top-scored for MP with 44.
ScorecardServices attained a comfortable 147-run first-innings lead over Assam, but could not enforce a follow-on that could have allowed them go for an outright win. Assam, resuming the day at 92 for 3, never really got going, as the highest contribution in their innings came from Services, by the way of 59 extras. Rakesh Sharma, the left-arm medium-pace bowler, took a five-for on debut, and Arun Sharma and Ashish Mohanty took two wickets each.

Canada 285 for 7 wickets (Qaiser Ali 72, Ashif Mulla 66*, Chumney 45, Kamyuka 3-34) beat Uganda 176 for 7 by 109 runsCanada earned a substantial 109-run win over Uganda in their final match before the World Cricket League Division 1, which starts on Monday.Canada began slowly but Desmond Chumney helped increase the scoring rate against accurate bowling from Uganda’s opening pair. The innings gained momentum with a sixth-wicket stand of 115 runs between Qaiser Ali and Ashif Mulla. Ali before Sunil Dhaniram’s late cameo of 23 runs in three overs. Opening bowler Kenneth Kamyuka took 3 for 34 runs in 10 overs, but Junior Ruyange bowled well even though he conceded 16 wides and a no-ball.Uganda’s openers both fell to Umar Bhatti, who took 2 for 17. Salem Hamza and Junior Kewbhia moved the score to 69, but the innings began to founder and although Richard Okia showed defiance with consecutive sixes off Kevin Sandher, but the eighth-wicket pair settled into a pattern of playing for a respectable total, adding 57 in the last 16 overs. Don Maxwell bowled 10 overs for just 14 runs, with Sunil Dhaniram conceding just 12 from seven overs and taking a wicket.Ashish Bagai captained Canada to this win as John Davison and George Codrington sat out the match. Bhatti returned after an ankle injury.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

Records continued to tumble at the Gaddafi Stadium as Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid led an emphatic Indian response to a mountain of a total on a start-stop fourth day of the first Test at Lahore. Blasting his way to the second-fastest double-hundred of all time, Sehwag propelled India to 403 for no loss, all but certain of leaving with a draw and starting afresh at Faisalabad. Dravid, overshadowed but essential, cruised to a masterful century himself, his first as captain, and played his part in getting 77 adrift of the follow-on mark.What Pakistan did on the first two days, India showed they could match and a 50-year-old record, for the best opening partnership of all time, came under threat. Zooming along at an astonishing run-rate of 5.4, India’s openers, thriving in batting paradise, engineered a thunderous reply undergloomy skies. Sehwag produced an off-side masterclass – only nine of his 46 fours came on leg side – while Dravid, factoring in the controversy surrounding the opening dilemma, offered stupendous support. Yet, a look at the scoreboard would reveal that India hadn’t even avoided the follow-on in what must surely rank as one of Test cricket’s most famous batathons.Mild overnight rain and gloomy skies meant that more than an hour of play was lost this morning – 185 minutes were lost all day – and the only highlight of a brief two-over session that followed was Sehwag muscling his way to his hundred, his first in nine months and the fastest by an Indian opener. Once lunch was out of the way, he didn’t even have to worry about the elements. Starting this game with a Bradman-esque average of 98.2 against Pakistan, he pounded his way to his second successive double-hundred against them, as blinding strokeplay blended seamlessly with cheeky strike rotation.For Sehwag, the key is in the simplicity – minimal footwork, maximum balance. When short, slash; when full, drill; when pitched on a good length, slap; when flighted, loft; when short and wide, carve; when fast, biff; when slow, bash. This isn’t cryogenics; just an art he makes look soeasy. He was dropped twice – once by Inzamam when on 125 and then by Shoaib Malik, a tough one, on 199 – and wasn’t given out when he gloved to Kamran Akmal when on 150. He missed a few but rarely did any of this matter. Shoaib Akhtar was blunted; Mohammad Sami, spanked; Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, dismissed; Danish Kaneria, destroyed; and the rest scattered. This was Mohammad Yousuf and Shahid Afridi in one body; a controlled blitz on a gloomy day.Dravid’s was an innings in contrast – absorbing the pressure before opening up with style – but it should be gauged on the controversial events that went before. Opening for the ninth time in a Test, he displayed supreme composure against the faster men, brushed off repeatedstoppages for bad light and soon unfurled an array of gorgeous strokes. The 124-ball fifty was a lesson in solidity but the second fifty, off 78 balls, was a treat for its controlled aggression. Finding the angles to a tee, he gently threw the bowlers off rhythm and then capitalised on theloose offerings, several of which were directed on his pads.The duo surpassed the record for the highest opening partnership for India against Pakistan, bettering the mark made by Sunil Gavaskar and Krishnamachari Srikkanth at Madras in 1986, and were 11 away from beating the world-record 413 by Pankaj Roy and Vinoo Mankad in 1956. If the light holds for the rest of the game, statisticians could have a tough time keeping up with the run flood on a chappati-flat pitch and both teams could already be keeping on eye on the surface at Faisalabad.

Saqlain Mushtaq is unlikely to be considered for the Pakistan squad to tour India after failing to recover in time from knee surgery. Saqlain, whose last Test appearance produced unflattering figures of 1 for 204 against India at Multan last year, is still on crutches, and has little or no chance of getting games under his belt before the squad is chosen on February 18.Saqlain enjoyed a wonderful tour in 1999, when his offspin was the difference between the two teams in an epic Chennai Test decided by his dismissal of Sachin Tendulkar. But despite an impressive haul of 208 wickets in his 49 Test, Saqlain has been on the periphery in recent seasons, with Danish Kaneria now firmly ensconced as the premier slow bowler.Another to miss out on the Indian experience will be Umar Gul, whose intelligent use of swing and seam won Pakistan the Lahore Test against India last year. Gul broke down during that game and was subsequently diagnosed with three stress fractures in his spine. South African specialists, who have been monitoring his progress, don’t expect to have a clear picture until at least June.In Saqlain’s absence, the likes of Shahid Afridi – who was in great form in the VB series and who made a thrilling Test hundred at Kolkata in 1999 – might come into contention to supplement the spin-bowling component.There are also injury concerns over Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Sami, neither of who played a part in Pakistan’s improved displays at the denouement of the VB Series in Australia. However, both should be fit to face India, if selected.