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On the tournament being wide open with different teams beating each other
Yes, it’s reflective of what I said at the start of the tournament. Any one of the eight teams are capable of winning this tournament. The results and performances have been reflective of that. There have never been any real favourites. That’s how it will be leading into the World Cup – seven or eight teams have a chance. Tomorrow’s game is an important one for us; we’ve got the chance to take things in our own hands. If we put in a good performance tomorrow then we have a chance of progressing further in this tournament.On the dew factor and whether India had an edge because they were used to playing these conditions
I don’t think you can say any team can be used to playing under dew. I don’t think anyone has cracked it, but we are as used to it. I’ve played five or six games in these conditions. It does play a part and you have to look at ways to counter it. You have to look at your strategy, at your combination. Irrespective of it we need to play as best as we can. It will play a part in the game, whether it affects the outcome, I don’ know.On the conditions during South Africa’s win against Sri Lanka
Pitch didn’t play any different from what we expected it to play. As evening wears on there’s a bit of movement for the seam bowlers with the hard new ball but as the ball gets older, softer, you lose the ability to utilise the ball. I think the South Africans bowled very well upfront, knocked over four of the Lankan top order very early and that made the difference.On whether there was a danger in premeditating conditions and picking a team based on that instead of just putting the best eleven on the park
That could be a danger but I think you got to have a balance of both. You can’t keep a blindfold to conditions as well; you can’t just say the conditions don’t exist. We’re trying to keep a balance. Irrespective of dew we’ve got to play good cricket. South Africa showed yesterday that whether you bat first or bowl first it doesn’t matter, you’ve got to play good cricket.On dealing with different things, like failure, as captain and as a batsman
I try not to confuse the two things. I’m there as a batsman and try and do the job as a batsman and I’m there as a captain and have a job to do as captain. I have certain responsibilities and roles as a captain and I try not to get them muddled up. Irrespective of whether I score runs or not, I have a responsibility as a batsman and try and fulfil that to the best of my ability. I mean obviously it does help if I score runs in the sense that it helps the team in terms of the batting. If all the batsmen contribute, it helps the batting but I personally try not to confuse the two.On Sachin Tendulkar returning to bowling fitness
He’s coming along well, bowling a few balls in the net. We’re trying to get him into it slowly. No point rushing him into something and risking it. We’ll take it slowly, monitoring it carefully. We’d like him to be able to bowl as we know how effective he can be and we’ve got some very important cricket coming up. So we might see him bowl a few overs in the games. He’s been bowling about 30 balls in practice but obviously it’s a bit different in practice and nets. The pressure and intensity is a bit different. You can’t always replicate that. But it’s an ongoing process to getting him back to bowling consistently, but hopefully he’ll be back to bowling 10 overs when the big tournament comes up.On what specifically the team had been working on in the last four days
We’ve been working at staying at the wicket, ensuring that we build partnerships. The tournament has not been very easy on batsmen. If guys who’ve got set have gone on and got a big score, it’s made a big impact on the game. These are the things we’ve been working on.On whether India’s recent inconsistent record against West Indies was a concern
Not really, it’s a new game, a new tournament. I don’t see the past as having too much of a bearing. Yes, we haven’t had a great run but I don’t think the past can have a bearing on what we do tomorrow. Tomorrow’s really about us focusing on playing good cricket. That’s the nature of the one-day game.On whether the team has thought about being knocked out of the tournament
Not really. We’re not thinking about defeat or leaving the tournament early. We have won the first game in the tournament and have put ourselves in a position where we control our destiny and I’m not thinking of losing.On the West Indian pace attack hitting their straps
I saw a fair bit of the Australia-West Indies game and I think they’re bowling well and like I said before, I think Windies are going through a period where they’re playing very good cricket. They seem to have found some of their key players in form. I think we were not very far from that. Our performance in the last game, and with some of our key players performing, it gives us back that depth and balance. There are a couple of areas we can get better. We can get back to that kind of consistency and performance we showed a little while back. It’s just a question of a few more players getting back into the kind of groove they can. The pieces are falling into place.

Scorecard

Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan pulled their weight with the bat as Guyana sealed a semi-final spot in the KFC Cup, beating Windward Islands by a handy 55-run margin at the Carlton Club Ground in Black Rock. Chanderpaul made 65 while Sarwan scored 62, helping Guyana amass 252 for 7 in 43 overs. In reply, Windwards could only manage 197, with Darren Sammy (50) making the only significant contribution.Chanderpaul smashed two fours and four sixes in his knock, which came off just 58 balls. He was involved in a couple of handy partnerships, adding 59 for the second wicket with Krishna Arjune (47), and then putting together 84 for the fourth with Sarwan. Rawl Lewis, the Windwards spinner, was the most successful bowler, taking 3 for 57 from eight overs.Windwards’ run-chase got off to a poor start when Junior Murray got out for a duck, and wickets fell at regular intervals thereafter as thet slumped to 88 for 5. A 63-run stand between Sammy and Lewis (29) gave them some hope, but Guyana continued to chip away at the wickets and ended up with with a comfortable win.

Two uncapped young players, AB de Villiers and Dale Steyn, have been included in South Africa’s 13-man squad for the first Test against England that starts at Port Elizabeth next Friday (December 17).de Villiers, 20, is a right-hand opening batsman for Titans, while Steyn, 21, who also plays for Titans, is a right-arm fast bowler. Though de Villiers can keep wicket, if he is picked as an opening batsmen, as is likely, Thami Tsolekile will retain the gloves.The squad was announced by Haroon Lorgat, South Africa’s new convenor of selectors. “de Villiers and Steyn are two of the most exciting young players in the country at the moment,” he said. “AB has been in rich form in the SuperSport Series both this season and last and has followed that up with good form in the Standard Bank Cup. He will be a strong candidate to open the batting with Graeme Smith.”Steyn has that rare commodity, real pace, and although he is relatively inexperienced, he has shown tremendous potential this season and his form has been outstanding.”Herschelle Gibbs and Andre Nel are both recovering from injury and so were not considered for the squad, while Nicky Boje, who has recently had minor surgery to remove a growth from his neck, will have to pass a fitness test before the game. The only change from the side that lost at Kolkata last week is Justin Ontong, who has been left out.”We have stuck, by and large, to those players who toured India, and displayed grit and courage in very tough circumstances,” Lorgat added. “We need battle-hardened mentally tough players for this series, and I believe we have them.”South Africa squad for first Test
Graeme Smith (capt), AB de Villiers, Andrew Hall, Jacques Rudolph, Jacques Kallis, Hashim Amla, Boeta Dippenaar, Zander de Bruyn, Shaun Pollock, Nicky Boje, Thami Tsolekile (wk), Dale Steyn, Makhaya Ntini.

Heads of Government of West Indian nations will be getting the message on plans for the staging of the ICC Cricket World Cup in the Caribbean in 2007 during their CARICOM meeting in Montego Bay, Jamaica on Sautrday.The managing director of the organising committee, Chris Dehring, will head a high-level West Indies Cricket Board delegation, including president, the Rev West Hall, chief executive officer Roger Braithwaite and the venue development consultant, Don Lockerbie.Dehring said: “This meeting with the Heads of Government is very important as we move into high gear in our preparations for the 2007 Cricket World Cup. For the Caribbean to reap the tremendous rewards that would be derived from a successful event, there must be a total regional effort spearheaded not just by cricket officials but the governments and the private sector. We are very encouraged by the keen interest and support being shown by Caribbean governments at this time and this augurs well for the successful staging of the largest event that would ever have been held in the region.”

Somerset Head Groundsman Phil Frost has won the coveted Groundsman of the Year Award for a record breaking fifth time in the space of seven years.”Frosty” who was born and brought up at nearby Wellington has been in charge at The County Ground since 1988.The award is based upon the marks awarded for the wickets at both Taunton and Bath by the first class umpires from each of the matches played during the season.Phil Frost told me that the award this season had come “as a total surprise,” and went on “I really didn’t expect to win it this year. We had such an awful start to the season because of the bad weather.”

Three weeks after returning home from the World Twenty20 Qualifier in Ireland, each player from USA’s 15-man squad is yet to receive nearly $2000 in stipend payments that were promised to them ahead of the tour. The news was initially reported by ESPNcricinfo on Monday after learning of the situation from multiple players in the squad.However, the USA Cricket Association is laying blame on the ICC for what it says was a broken promise to take care of the players while the board is under ICC suspension. USACA officials were due to meet with ICC chief executive David Richardson and ICC general counsel Iain Higgins in New York on Tuesday to discuss a variety of issues related to the suspension, including finances, and the ICC claims it never agreed to pay the players. USACA vice-president Owen Grey has pointed the finger squarely back at the ICC.”Ask the ICC why they refuse to pay the players,” Grey told ESPNcricinfo on Monday. “You suspend a nation and you said the players must not suffer. You’re supposed to pay the players and you decided that yes you’re going to pay the players and then you renege. So go ask Ben Kavenagh, David Richardson and Tim Anderson. You hear that a nation is suspended and the ICC wants it both ways.”The ICC told the manager John Wilson up in Dublin that they sent the money to USACA to pay the players which is a bloody lie. The ICC got the request about the stipend for the players through [USACA liaison] Vincent [Adams] to Tim Anderson, Ben Kavanagh, Faisal Hasnain and David Richardson. They were supposed to pay the players. They didn’t do it. They said they sent the money to USACA which is a lie.”ESPNcricinfo reached out to ICC officials late Monday to get their version of events relating to the stipend payment. An ICC spokesperson responded on Tuesday, stating that though USACA did make a request, no agreement was ever made by the ICC to provide a supplemental stipend beyond the $60 a day that all players from each of the 14 teams received from the ICC as meal money during the tournament.”The ICC didn’t agree, and is not in a position to pay the USA players,” the ICC spokesperson said. “USACA was advised of this several weeks ago. In saying this, despite USACA’s current suspension, the ICC remains committed to providing the best players in the USA with opportunities to compete internationally. It is for this reason that the USA was allowed to compete in the recent ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier and the ICC Americas U19 Championship, while USA players have also been selected for the upcoming ICC Americas Combine.”On Sunday, USACA announced a national $100,000 tournament in Florida to be played by the best clubs of USACA member leagues. However, Grey was adamant that the tour stipend payments for the 15 USA players should come from the ICC and not from any other funding sources.”The players are out $27,000 as we speak, which should have been paid before they left Dublin last month,” Grey said. “The pay scale was $60 per day for dinner and a $100 stipend. In 2013, when we weren’t suspended, USACA paid the players $120 a day plus they got $50 dinner money from the ICC for the same tournament in Dubai. The meal money was increased $10 a day this year so we said fair is fair, pay them $100. So the players are out $100 per day which is $1800 per player.”

The Somerset Spring Newsletter, which is always a sure sign that the new season is just around the corner, will be sent out to all members early next week, and will be read no doubt from cover to cover by everyone.The actual logistics of packing and sending out the newsletter and the other enclosures to all of the membership is a well oiled machine which has been set up and running very successfully for several years.Chris Bass, who operates the scoreboards for the club during the summer has sent across the following information about the mail out which I am sure everyone will find enlightening.”A group of volunteers, normally around seventeen of us, gather in the Colin Atkinson Pavilion every September, November and March. The office staff produce the computer-generated envelopes which must be literally “stuffed” with the various articles members are to receive, often as many as fifteen separate items. Some need to be folded, but all must be bundled together into individual envelopes – yes – over 7000 of them!The envelopes are then counted religiously into Royal Mail boxes. There is no production line, no machine, just honest human endeavour and concentration from the volunteers involved.Many of those involved have been carrying out this task for years, uncomplainingly. No doubt fuelled by the players’ success and the spirit prevailing within the club at presentour team is growing.The forthcoming mail out is on Monday march 11th and the norm is to draw stumps around mid afternoon. Any fellow members wishing to join us are most welcome. Please give your contact details to Chris Bass who can be contacted before the season by leaving a message at the ground.The Club provide an excellent lunch, drinks, coffee and tea. The banter enjoyed by all is superb, so why not offer your services to help with this very worthwhile activity.”Thanks Chris for putting us in the picture. Perhaps now when all of the members open their envelopes next week they will know better what effort has gone into to getting them posted out.

ScorecardPaul Grayson’s 87 proved the difference in the Minor Counties knock-out final, lifting Suffolk to an insurmountable 219 – and the trophy. Some tight bowling then had Cheshire stumbling to 26 for 3 and then squeezed them for the rest of their innings: Suffolk-ated as the tabloids may have had it.Cheshire will now have to content themselves with a tilt at the Championship honours, having already claimed the Western Division, with their final against Eastern winners Northumberland.This final, though, belonged to a determined Suffolk who pulled themselves back from 73 for 4, with the experienced Grayson played with an elegance and timing reminiscent of his first-class days. His stand of 85 with Chris Swallow (38) was the key partnership as they rebuilt and then marched on to a solid score.Having chosen to bat, Suffolk were in early trouble against the tight lines of Chris Finegan and Adam Syddall. Finegan starred with the ball, taking three wickets, and had a hand in a run-out and two catches. He bowled with a hint of swing, and trapped Ben France (24) playing across the line. Soon after he ran out Tobias Hembray, going for a needless second.Enter Grayson and Swallow, who both played unflappably, Grayson bringing up his fifty with a cover-drive punched off the back foot as he drove his way to a decent total. Nathan Dumelow, formerly of Derbyshire, eventually broke the partnership, Swallow rushing down the track and Matthew Dawson’s neat hands doing the rest. Danny Woods struck soon after, inducing a thin edge off Phil Caley (1), and then Finegan dismissed Nick Warn for 7, flashing outside off.But again Grayson stood firm, seeing Suffolk past 200, until he finally swiped to long-on. The innings tailed off quickly, Jason Whittaker trapping Paul King lbw (0) and claiming Martin Smith holing out to long-on to bring the innings to a close.This may be a clash of the minor counties, but there was some major talent on display, not least Grayson. Paul King and Martin Smith were hostile from the start, and Cheshire’s top order had no answers to their control.Ben Spendlove briefly threatened with 49, but his dismissal – Justin Bishop tempting him to feather his awayswinger through – prompted a minor collapse of some major wickets: James Duffy popping a simple return to Grayson, then Bishop struck again with a similar removal of Chris Bassano. A consolation fifty came for Matthew Dawson, but his efforts were more damage limitation than anything and Ben France cleaned up with four wickets.King and Bishop bowled intelligently in a game of one-sided chess – not to mention Smith, Grayson and later on France – and soon it was checkmate for Cheshire.