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

Pakistan fought hard and managed to claw their way back into the second Test against West Indies at Sabina Park, ending the third day with a healthy lead of 193. The day began badly for West Indies, and there was no respite till it ended.But if they were flat in the first session, they were downright lax in the second. Bowled out for 404, with a token lead of 30, the home fast men sprayed the ball, allowing Pakistan to race away to a fabulous start in their second innings. At tea, Pakistan had wiped out the deficit and were 86 for 1.Pakistan managed to wrap up the West Indies tail fairly quickly after lunch, with Shahid Afridi getting into the act. He accounted for the tail-enders Tino Best and Reon King easily enough, and then induced a false shot from Wavell Hinds. Slipping one in just outside the off, Afridi induced the cut, but the ball was too close to the stumps for the shot and the resulting edge flew to the lone slip fielder. Yasir Hameed accepted the sharp chance, and the West Indian innings ended.Then West Indies served up a wide selection of freebies. The customary no-balls came with wides, the odd dangerous beamer, and a seemingly unending supply of short and wide deliveries that Hameed and Shoaib Malik tucked into with relish. Pakistan’s 50 came up in only 43 balls, at a run-rate of around 7 runs per over.Hameed and Malik breezed along, largely untroubled, until Corey Collymore, the hero of the first innings, came into the attack and put the ball in the right areas often enough to beat the bat. Hameed, perhaps lulled into a false sense of security because of the poor bowling he faced in the first spell, slashed at a wide one and watched as Devon Smith took a good catch to give West Indies the breakthrough (66 for 1).The early ineffective bowling of the West Indians set the tone for the day and allowed Pakistan’s batsmen to get on with their job without much pressure. The gamble of using Malik at the top of the order paid off. He played his shots without inhibition, and rattled up 64 off 79 balls before being caught behind off Collymore (119 for 2). Asim Kamal lasted only two balls, and all of a sudden Collymore had his third wicket, and became the first West Indian bowler to take 10 wickets in a match since Courtney Walsh against England at Lord’s in 2000. Pakistan’s step had faltered with their score on 119 for 3.Inzamam-ul-Haq, returning to the team after serving a one-Test ban, received a let off when a catch was grassed. He made sure that West Indies paid for their mistake, scoring an unbeaten 64 to steer Pakistan to stumps. Pakistan’s lead of 193 could already be enough to level the series. But before they start thinking along those lines, they need to make sure they close out the game, and not repeat West Indies’ mistakes.Brian Lara had given West Indies a fighting chance of closing out the second Test with his century on the second day. But they squandered the opportunity in the first session of the third when Shabbir Ahmed struck twice in as many balls to give Pakistan the edge. The first hurdle, wiping out Pakistan’s lead, had just been achieved.The session began uneventfully enough, but that proved to be the calm before the storm. First Danish Kaneria was warned for running on the danger area by Darrell Hair. Struggling against Lara’s clever footwork Kaneria’s already ordinary game took a serious turn for the worse. He could not adjust his follow-through enough to please Hair and when he repeated the offence was barred from bowling further in the innings, ending with figures of 1 for 94 from 28.5 overs.Strangely Kaneria’s predicament turned out to be a blessing in disguise for Pakistan, as they did not hesitate to take the second new ball, and Shabbir took full toll. With just his second delivery he produced a snorter to Lara, who only managed to edge it to the keeper (326 for 5). Lara had moved along to 153, but his dismissal gave Pakistan a foot in the door. Shabbir then got rid of Courtney Browne with his very next ball, again caught behind (326 for 6). Wavell Hinds managed to spend long enough batting around the tail to reach 63, and take West Indies to a slender lead. At that stage West Indies were on top, but no-one expected them to fritter away such a good position.

How they were out

Pakistan 2nd inningsHameed c Smith b Collymore 26 (66 for 1)
Flashed at a wide one and edged to slip.Malik c Browne b Collymore 64 (119 for 2)
Tiny inside edge.Kamal lbw b Collymore 0 (119 for 3)
Missed a straight one.Younis c & b Gayle 43 (194 for 4)
Popped a simple return catch.West IndiesLara c Akmal b Shabbir 153 (326 for 5)
Tickled a snorter that leapt from a length.Browne c Akmal b Shabbir 0 (326 for 6)
Chased a well-pitched outswinger.Powell c Akmal b Shabbir 14 (356 for 7)
Caught in two minds and only managed an edge.Best b Afridi 18 (385 for 8)
Inside-edged a big drive on to his stumps.King lbw b Afridi 0 (393 for 9)
Played back to a straight ball, plumb.Hinds c Hameed b Afridi 63 (404 for 10)
Slashed a wide one to slip.

Sachin Tendulkar has been all but ruled out of the first Test between Indiaand Australia starting in Bangalore tomorrow. Tendulkar, recovering from apainful tennis elbow which has kept him out of cricket since August, arrivedin Bangalore on Wednesday morning, but Andrew Leipus, the Indian team’s physio, said that he was “very doubtful” for the Test.Tendulkar has been included in the Indian squad for the first two Testsdespite not having had a net session for six weeks. Leipus, who checked himyesterday, said there had been much improvement. Sourav Ganguly, the Indiancaptain, however, was hoping against hope. “You, me, all of us are hopeful,”he was quoted as saying in the Times of India, “that¹s what I can say.”Tendulkar¹s absence clears one issue for the Indian team, though. Barring drastic measures, it is now almost certain that Aakash Chopra, whose stolidresistance laid the foundation for many huge Indian totals in Australia,will open with Virender Sehwag, and Yuvraj Singh, who scored an electrifyingcentury against Pakistan at Lahore, will bat at No. 6. VVS Laxman, who the Australians fear even more than Tendulkar, is likely to take the No. 4 position.

Kiran More and Pranab Roy have been retained as members of India’s national selection panel. The three men joining them will be VB Chandrasekhar from the South Zone, Yashpal Sharma from the North Zone and Gopal Sharma from the Central Zone.The new committee will meet later this week in Bangalore to pick the Indianteam for first Test starting on October 6. None of them are present at thepractice match between India and India A in Bangalore.More will be the chairman of selectors. Yashpal is the seniormost member of the panel, with 37 Tests and 42 one-day internationals to his name, but More has been a selector longer, and got the appointment on those grounds.Syed Kirmani, who was the chairman in the previous committee, wasunfortunate to go out after serving only one year. But he was serving outthe term of his fellow-Karnataka member Brijesh Patel who resigned midway onhealth grounds, and as per the zonal quota system, it was Tamil Nadu¹s turnto nominated the South Zone representative. They chose Chandrasekhar, acavalier opening batsman who played seven one-dayers between 1988 and 1990, with one half-century to his name.Gopal Sharma, who is the only player from Uttar Pradesh to have played Testcricket, replaced Sanjay Jagdale from Central Zone. Jagdale has served outhis full four-year quota. Yashpal took the place of the fellow Delhi-ite KirtiAzad.Interestingly, More and Roy, the only surviving members, were embroiled in acontroversy over an alleged bribe offer from Abhijit Kale from Maharsatra.Kale is currently serving out a suspension after More and Roy reported himfor offering them a bribe for a place in Indian side. However, questions hadbeen raised about the timing of the revelation ­- More and Roy had kept thematter to themselves for months ­- and there had been speculations that theywould not be re-nominated.

Rahul Dravid, the Indian captain for the tri-series in Sri Lanka, has said that captaincy would not be an additional burden and that he would continue to bat the way he always did.”I am really excited; it’s an honour to lead the side. There is certain amount of pressure every time when one plays for India,” Dravid was quoted as saying by . He said that he would not feel the additional pressure of captaincy. “I think it [captaincy] is going to be a huge challenge. I don’t see it as an additional burden. I have to obviously give time for my captaincy,” said Dravid. “There will be a time when I will have to concentrate on batting and forget captaincy. I have done it before, so I am looking forward to it.” When asked whether he was looking forward to a long stint as captain, he said that he had been named captain for just the Sri Lanka series and that he was looking at his captaincy with the same perspective as batting – one game at a time.Dravid said that he was hoping for an improved performance when the tri-series gets underway in Sri Lanka on July 30 with the West Indies as the third side. “It’s going to be a huge challenge. We have not particularly done well [against Sri Lanka] in one-day cricket. But we have a good chance to correct that,” said Dravid “All the guys are very keen. With the new coach we are looking to put some new things in place and hope to start the new season on a positive note.”He said that the new faces in the squad had a good opportunity to showcase their talent in the absence of Sourav Ganguly, who is facing a six-match ICC ban, and Sachin Tendulkar, who is recovering from surgery for a tennis elbow. “Definitely, it’s a good opportunity for youngsters to set a mark and show that they can do it at this level.” Dravid added that if the ICC ban was lifted and Ganguly were to play it would be very good for the team. “Sourav has tons of experience,” said Dravid. “He is a very experienced player; a very successful one-day player. It’s fantastic to have him back in the side when he does come back.”Greg Chappell, the Indian coach, said India was geared up to play in Sri Lanka. He also said that the selectors had done a good job and he was happy with the squad for the tri-series in Sri Lanka. “The selectors have done a very good job,” said Chappell. “We have got a squad which is fully fit; that’s always a good thing. We are ready to go and play some cricket now.”

Shane Warne hopes he will be able to make an early comeback from his thumb injury, in time for the two-Test series against New Zealand which starts at Brisbane on November 18.Warne, 35, missed the fourth Test against India at Mumbai after fracturing his right thumb in two places in a net session the afternoon before the match. But he is now confident of making an early return for the first Test at Brisbane.”I’d say I’m a 50-50 chance for the first Test,” Warne told reporters at Melbourne’s Tullamarine Airport after flying home. “If it heals quickly over the next couple of weeks, it should be fine.”But Errol Alcott, the Australian team’s physio, was less optimistic about Warne’s chances of an early return. Alcott said the injury could take a month to heal, which would rule him out of both Tests.The selectors would then be faced with the choice of retaining the offspinner Nathan Hauritz, who deputised for Warne in the fourth Test and took three wickets in the first innings, or calling back Warne’s fellow legspinner Stuart MacGill. Cameron White, Warne’s understudy on the Indian tour, is viewed as a batsman who bowls, rather than a front-line spin option.

Even if Ken Gordon and the fresh dispensation at the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and Dinanath Ramnarine and whoever else represents the West Indies Players Association (WIPA) agree tomorrow to end the insipid squabbling that has dragged West Indies cricket to the depth of despair, it will not be the end of the matter.Perceptive man that he is, the new WICB president no doubt recognises the potential perils of the fallout from a dispute that gradually degenerated into the language of the rum shop, tore players apart to such an extent that two West Indies touring teams had to be separated into different hotels in Colombo and even set off a furious, widely publicised argument between two prime ministers at a Caricom summit.He has declared settlement of the dispute with the WIPA to be one of his immediate priorities. As president of the organisation charged with ensuring the overall well-being of West Indies cricket, he obviously shares the hope of every West Indian to have all the players available for selection. He would not be president if he didn’t.It is what happens when that is achieved that must concern him and his colleagues, as much as it does Ramnarine and his.How will players at such odds with each other suddenly bond together in a unified West Indies team-or, for that matter, any territorial team?How will selectors properly assess the progress indisputably made by several of those who chose to go to Sri Lanka and the form and fitness of those who chose not to, given that there is no first-class cricket before the tour of Australia for three Tests in November?How will coach Bennett King manage to engender the same spirit that earned the team of ridiculed reserves in Sri Lanka such respect that Sri Lankan captain Marvan Atapattu said he would rather tackle India in the one-day final?If I may be so bold, let me put forward a suggestion to the new president and his board that, I believe, would kill with one stone the encircling corbeaux ready to continue feeding on the carcass of West Indies cricket.It is for the staging of two four-day competitive trial matches next month in Guyana, the only territory virtually guaranteed dry weather at that time.September 16 to 19 and 22 to 25 are the dates I’ve jotted down.The squads, each of 13, would comprise all the players originally chosen for the Sri Lanka tour, those who appeared in the Tests in Sri Lanka and any others the selectors deem deserving from the “A” team on its simultaneous tour of Sri Lanka.They would be integrated equally, meaning that those who went and those who didn’t would play alongside each other in the same team under a designated captain.Bennett King would be coach of one squad, his assistant David Moore of the other. Bryce Cavanagh would be there as trainer to maintain the fitness of those players who have kept up with their training programmes and spruce up those who haven’t.Each outfit would ideally have a former West Indies player as technical consultant, or whatever title the board can come up with, not only to assist on cricketing matters but to help develop reconciliation between the players.The purpose of the exercise would be three-fold.It would, above everything else, bring all the players together and impress on them that there is no “Real West Indies” and no “Bogus West Indies”, but simply One West Indies that desperately needs to break the culture of defeatism that has enveloped it for a decade and more, no matter who represents it on the field.If there are those who have a problem playing with their fellow West Indians and fellow cricketers, president Gordon, coach King, the selectors and every one else must advise them that there is no place for them in any West Indies team.Secondly, the occasion would provide proper preparation for what, at present, is the toughest assignment of all, a Test series in Australia in November.Without such groundwork, whatever West Indies team takes it on will go short of match practice, more especially those who have had no meaningful cricket since the end of the international home series in early June.In this regard, it is mind-boggling, but significant, that so few are playing club cricket where it is available in their home territory.The matches would also create competition for places, a missing element that has tended to promote complacency in West Indies teams for some time. It doesn’t mean that Brian Lara, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Ramnaresh Sarwan or Chris Gayle would have to score hundreds to guarantee their places.Selectors are always persuaded more by experience and proven records than temporary form but there are only a few in the West Indies at present who qualify on the former basis.The organisation of such an event at short notice is clearly more difficult than it sounds. The WICB’s record on this account is not encouraging and it already has the regional One-day tournament penned in for sometime in October, prior to the team’s departure for Australia on October 22.In the present circumstances or, come to think of it, any circumstances a One-day tournament is utterly irrelevant as preparation for a team heading off to the other side of the world to contest three Tests against the game’s most powerful opponents.Even if things between the WICB and the WIPA were all sweetness and light, a couple of competitive, four-day matches would still be far more beneficial.There are bound to be some complications that haven’t occurred to me but no doubt will to the WICB and the WIPA.In the meantime, I put forward the following possible squads from which the two elevens would be chosen:Squad one Devon Smith, Xavier Marshall, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Daren Ganga, Brian Lara, Wavell Hinds (captain), Narsingh Deonarine, Omari Banks, Dwayne Smith, Denesh Ramdin, Tino Best, Corey Collymore, Pedro Collins. Coach: Bennett King.Squad two Chris Gayle, Ryan Ramdass, Runako Morton, Shivnarine Chanderpaul (captain), Sylvester Joseph, Dwayne Bravo, Carlton Baugh, Ian Bradshaw, Dave Mohamed, Daren Powell, Fidel Edwards, Deighton Butler, Dwight Washington.The assumption is that Jermaine Lawson would still be subject of the ICC’s bowling review committee and ineligible on that score for Australia and that Marlon Samuels and Ryan Hinds remain out of favour, reportedly for failing to keep up with their assigned fitness regimes.

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

Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer produced Australia’s first century opening stand of the series to give them the ideal base as they pursued England’s first-innings 373 on the second afternoon at The Oval. But their progress was halted after tea when bad light and surrounding thunderstorms took the players off. England’s tail had rallied at the start of the day, but their efforts only proved that this pitch is still full of runs and the Australians are determined to cash in.It was surprising when Australia took the offer of bad light as soon as the teams reappeared after the tea interval. They are the side that has to win the Test to hold the Ashes and England won’t be bothered how much time is taken out of the match. Although the downpours that hit the north and west of London skirted around Kennington, drizzle did arrive and the light never improved. Michael Vaughan would have been delighted to spend some time in the dressing-room to allow him and his attack to come up with some new ideas to tackle a new problem – a productive opening stand from Australia.Langer was by far the more fluent of the openers and, after carefully negotiating the first burst from England’s pace bowlers, he greeted Ashley Giles with two huge sixes, signalling his intent to dominate. Hayden, meanwhile, had to battle away as he strived to find the touch which has eluded him for the entire series. But the longer he stayed there the easier it became, and by the tea interval his footwork was more positive than at any stage this summer.

England did have the opportunity to force a breakthrough, albeit via an unlikely source. After Giles’s first over was dispatched for 14, Vaughan turned to Paul Collingwood, England’s fifth bowler in the absence of Simon Jones. Collingwood is by no means a frontline bowler but he surprised Langer with extra bounce and a flashing edge flew to the right of Marcus Trescothick at a wide slip. But Trescothick moved late and could only get one hand on the ball, parrying it to the boundary. Langer was on 53 at the time and was playing with ominous confidence.The difference in England’s attack from the previous four Tests was stark. It would be stretching the point to say Vaughan was searching for options but he was certainly missing a fifth frontline option – despite Collingwood’s impressive spell. Steve Harmison was not at his best and with just the four main choices Vaughan needed everyone firing.Giles switched ends and brought a modicum of control as well as creating the occasional moment of concern for Langer out of the footmarks, who was lucky to escape a close lbw appeal from an attempted sweep. But those areas will concern England too, with Shane Warne having already performed wonders in the first innings. However, there is a lot of work for England to do before they can consider batting again and they would gladly take a single breakthrough at the moment.The signs at the beginning of the day were that Australia were focused and up for the challenge. Brett Lee struck in his first over to dislodge the dangerous Geraint Jones with a delivery that pitched on the off stump and held its line to clip the woodwork.

With Jones’s demise adding to the late fall of wickets on the opening day, Australia were engineering a promising position and England were in danger of falling short of the 350 that was really a minimum. However, Giles has a useful habit of scoring runs when England need them most – his heroics and Trent Bridge will still have been fresh in his mind – and he began to play his shots once he was joined by the fast bowlers.Matthew Hoggard hung around for 50 minutes of resistance before he was fooled by a Glenn McGrath slower ball and spooned a catch to Damien Martyn at mid off. The Australians then felt rightly aggrieved when Rudi Koertzen missed an edge from Giles as he flashed at a wide ball from McGrath. Ponting was incensed by the decision, and Giles proceed to increase the Australian frustration by hitting out with Harmison.Both batsmen chanced their arm, with Giles giving himself room to hit over the off side and Harmison unleashing his powerful short-arm pull. Harmison them took three consecutive fours off Brett Lee, including a stunning straight drive. Warne, though, brought an end to the fun when he claimed his sixth wicket, but he had Billy Bowden to thank as the ball which struck Giles in front would have spun past the off stump. Australia will have felt it evened up the umpiring decisions after the earlier rough call.The bowlers – or more specifically Warne – had done their job and England’s total was no more than par on an excellent surface. It was then down to the Australia batsmen, who haven’t fired as a unit in this series when it really matters, to play their part by setting the foundations for a huge total. The batting may have spluttered so far but judging by the start made by Langer and Hayden they could well have chosen the most important moment of the summer to make an impact.

EnglandGeriant Jones b Lee 25 (325 for 8)
Matthew Hoggard c Martyn b McGrath 2 (345 for 9)
Ashley Giles lbw b Warne 32 (373 all out)

Scorecard

New South Wales’ top order all chipped in with useful contributions, helping them pip South Australia by three wickets with just one ball to spare in an ING Cup match at the Bankstown Oval in Sydney. Needing 246 for victory, no-one scored more than Michael Clarke’s 55, but all the batsmen made handy additions to the score, ensuring that New South Wales walked away with four points.Simon Katich, the NSW captain, won the toss and chose to field, and his decision immediately paid off when Matthew Elliott was dismissed by Brett Lee for a fourth-ball duck. Graham Manou, though, held firm, scoring a useful 52, while Darren Lehmann propped up the innings with an enterprising 75, scored from just 83 balls. Lee finished up with 2 for 61, and also struck Jason Gillespie on the ribs, forcing him to go for a precautionary e-ray, while Glenn McGrath was at his stingy best, conceding just 30 from ten overs.New South Wales’ run chase got off to a fine start, with Phil Jacques and Simon Katich adding 80 for the opening wicket in less than 15 overs. Both were dismissed in quick succession, but Clarke kept the chase going with his half-century, while the rest of the batsmen all added vital contributions. Clarke hit six fours in his knock, but got two lucky reprieves – on 17 he was put down by Gary Putland at long-on, while Manou, the wicketkeeper, dropped him on 49. Things got uncomfortable for NSW when Jason Gillespie bowled a superb 49th over, conceding just two runs and taking the wicket of Lee. That left the team needing seven for victory off the final over, and after the first four balls produced five, Nathan Bracken finished it off with an edged four off Mark Cleary.After the game, Clarke expressed his delight at his innings, but expressed his disappointment at the manner of his dismissal, a hoick down to long-off. “I definitely enjoyed yesterday and I enjoyed today, but I was disappointed with the way I got out today,” Clarke said. “I would have liked a few more today, but I feel like I’m hitting the ball pretty well. I’m working as hard as I can.”Lehmann, the South Australian captain, put the defeat down to poor fielding. “They played very well [but] we missed a couple of chances, and dropped Clarke. If we had held our chances and fielded a bit better we would have won the game quite comfortably.”The win was the second one for NSW in as many games, and took their points tally up to ten.

A body representing West Bengal’s film-making community has thrown its weight behind Sourav Ganguly by appealing to the public to not attend the fourth one-dayer between India and South Africa at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. Ganguly’s omission from the one-day side first and then subsequent removal from captaincy in Tests has provoked outrage in his home state, but the film-makers’ appeal to boycott might not be successful, as a member of the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) told the Kolkata-based that ticket sales had been satisfactory.Actors Biplab Chatterjee and Rupa Ganguly of the West Bengal Motion Picture Artists’ Forum asked for an inquiry to be initiated into the manner in which Ganguly was dropped, and sent a memo to Rahul Dravid, the new Indian captain, Kiran More, the head of selectors, and Gautam Dasgupta, the BCCI secretary. However, Dasgupta said that no such memo had reached his notice, and played down the protests by saying that they did not concern the board.Security arrangements for cricket matches in India are heavy and omni-present, but whether their presence will be beefed up for the forthcoming match in light of the protests remains to be seen. A senior CAB official said, “Police are aware of such protests, but I’m yet to get information about any extra security for them.”

The Netherlands may only have one player at the ICC’s Winter Training Camp (WTC) but top order batsman Tom de Grooth has no complaints about being lonely. On the contrary, the 26 year-old has thoroughly enjoyed meeting players he has only previously seen as members of opposing teams and, more importantly, believes he has taken his game forward.”It’s not been difficult at all for me,” said de Grooth. “Within the first couple of days I was mixing in with the other players, I’ve made some good friends and had a good time. It has definitely helped my game too. I’m playing in different conditions, working with players and coaches from different countries and just the act of talking cricket every day makes you think more about what you are doing.”The fact the Netherlands are so sparsely represented at the WTC is down to a combination of factors. By the time the camp was confirmed, in September, several players in the frame for inclusion had made other commitments. Those commitments included playing overseas – one player is in New Zealand and another is in Cape Town, South Africa – permanent jobs and studies. But although de Grooth was committed to starting studies himself, he was still able to attend.”I’ve just begun a four-year course in Commercial Sports Economics in Amsterdam,” he said.”I have had to do some work for the course while I have been here but the good thing about it is that it is designed for sports people so they allow you to fit your sporting commitments around the studies.”So, how has the 11-week residential camp helped de Grooth improve? “Overall I think that I now know my game a lot better and I am clearer about my gameplans against certain types of bowlers,” he said. “There are one or two little technical things that I have tried to bring into my game like standing more upright in my stance so I am more balanced. We have had sessions with sports psychologists and I have talked a lot about cricket with (WTC head coach) Andy Moles, (bowling coach) Bob Cottam and (spin bowling coach) John Davison.”I’m sure the fitness work I have done has also been of benefit and I am keen to keep it up. It has become easier to concentrate for long periods and keep going when I bat and when I am in the field. The things I am doing are all relatively small but put together hopefully they will help make me a better player.”Part of de Grooth’s work in Pretoria has also involved sessions with Davison trying to improve his offspin, something that he has neglected for several seasons ahead of the camp. “I had not really done much bowling for the past three or four years because of shoulder surgery,” he said.”It’s definitely the area I can improve most because the ideal is to make myself into another bowling option in a match, a sixth or seventh bowler in a one-day game. My bowling is not where it should be yet but hopefully the work I have put in here will mean that I will only improve with more bowling in game situations.”Those game situations may come as early as next March with the Dutch planning a tour of South Africa ahead of likely ICC Intercontinental Cup and possible ODI commitments in Kenya. And even though de Grooth has his studies to think about he said he still intends to be part of that touring squad, if selected.”Cricket is number one for me until the World Cup,” he said. “I want to make as much time for it as I can and I would love to be on that tour.”His Dutch team mates, who have been training indoors for the past month, start their World Cup build-up in earnest this weekend with a meeting to map out their preparations. And after what he has seen at the WTC, de Grooth has a clear message for that meeting.”We are going to have to put in a lot of hard work from hereon,” he said. “I have seen lots of commitment here from players and we have to match that. We have to put in extra work where we can, breaking into small groups if necessary, but the other countries with players here are all pushing forward and we must match that in order to keep up.”Realistically the Dutch will struggle to qualify for the Super Eight stage of the 2007 event given their group also includes World Champions Australia and South Africa, currently in first and second places in the LG ICC ODI Championship table respectively. But also in their group is fellow Associate country Scotland and that is the game the Dutch are already targeting.WTC head coach Moles offered his assessment of the progress made by the Dutch batsman in Pretoria:Tom’s probably the most experienced player here and is older than most others at the WTC. As a senior player we have used him to captain one of our sides when we have played games. He has done a good job. In those matches he has made one good score but has also found ways of getting out, which is frustrating. He’s got experience and ability and we have emphasised it is now time for him to come to the party and get big scores on a regular basis. Tom’s biggest challenge is to make sure he is not happy with mediocrity. He has got the game and his attitude is excellent but now he must go on and make the most of the talent he has.