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Andrew Leipus, India’s former physiotherapist, has said playing Twenty20 cricket will help improve players’ fitness as it is an intense game which requires them to practice harder. “It will be very challenging how they cope up with new demands,” Leipus, who was in Mumbai for a fitness camp for youngsters, told , a Mumbai-based tabloid. “There will be less recovery time and the demand for physical fitness will be more.”Mahendra Singh Dhoni will lead a young Indian side to the Twenty20 World Championship in South Africa next month.Leipus, who worked with the national side from 1999 to 2004, also stressed the importance of having good trainers at the domestic level. “You need qualified support staff,” he said. “There is a general notion here [in India] that former players can do everything. But it’s not so. You need to have good trainers. There are so many good trainers here but it is sad that the board turns a blind eye.”The reason why many players had recurring injuries, Leipus said, was because there was no trained person to assist them to recover completely from the injury. “There is no proper network and coordination. Injury issues should be rightly addressed at all levels. Even the players are so anxious to play because of the fear of losing their spot, sponsors, and many other things.”Leipus said the players found it difficult to cope when they moved from the domestic to the international level, and wanted the juniors to get as much knowledge of international standards from the national players as they could, to help them later on.

Bails don’t budge
The last ball of the 70th over had an otherwise resolute Jacques Kallis in a spot of bother. Harbhajan Singh, with a 6-3 leg-side field, got one to turn and spit up from outside off stump and Kallis stayed back to uneasily fend it off. What followed drew loud gasps from all who saw it. The ball struck Kallis’ glove, rolled onto the stumps and made contact. The bails, however, stuck to the grooves and remained intact. The next time the ball deflected off Kallis’ bat the bails did come off, but by that time he’d helped himself to 132.Heads up
India’s fielding on day two was pretty ordinary, but there were moments when it appeared they didn’t care. On two occasions between lunch and tea, the fielder at cover collected the ball and passed it to mid-off, as is customary, who proceeded to throw it towards the bowler – andmiss the man altogether. The first occasion it was Irfan Pathan on the receiving end, who’d already seen a needless throw give up three runs, and on the second it was Sreesanth, walking back to his mark, who almost ducked as a lob went over his head. These were elementary errorsthat many school coaches would have sent their wards for laps of the ground for.Cheeky, cheeky
AB de Villiers has played some energetic innings in one-day cricket and while batting on 98 he pulled out a typical ODI shot to reach three figures. Clearly itching to get to the mark – he tried to hit one down the ground the over before – he walked right across his stumps and paddledSourav Ganguly from outside off down to fine leg. That shot has became rather en vogue, and de Villiers pulled it off like true pro.A four-storey shot
de Villiers scored a brilliant century against West Indies in last year’s World Cup, virtually on one leg, and today he raised his highest Test score with a shot off one leg. Skipping down the track to Harbhajan, he was beaten in flight but went through with his almighty heave, falling over and landing on his back. While de Villiers lay there in a heap, and the Indians craned their necks as the ball made its way onto the deep midwicket roof. That ball travelled at least 100 metres. It was a shot that would have made Rohan Kanhai and Denis Compton proud.No, is how you do it
As people looked up and wondered how to get that ball down from the roof, thankfully one of the manual scorers, already on the roof skipped across the tiles and threw the ball back onto the field. It was a fine throw to the bowler’s end, right in the line of the stumps before Pathan intercepted it with one hand. It was the best throw all day. This kid could be the news channels’ colour story of the day.Drama queen
Harbhajan was clearly the most animated player on the field and at the start of the 130th over he caught a bump ball off de Villiers and had the crowd excited by pretending to celebrate the dismissal. Spurred by the spectators’ response, Harbhajan repeated his act in the next ball. More drama from him four overs later when Sourav Ganguly failed to back up to stop five overthrows off his bowling. Harbhajan, peeved at such incompetence, gave Ganguly an earful.

Scorecard

New Zealand Cricket Players Association (NZCPA) Masters XI eased to a comfortable seven-wicket victory over New Zealand Under-19s in the first of the World Vision Cyclone Relief Fund Twenty20 matches in Hamilton. After limiting the U-19s to 103, NZCPA Masters XI knocked off the runs with more than three overs to spare.The U-19s won the toss and opted to bat, but started poorly, losing Michael Bracewell in the second over. Jeet Raval hit a couple of boundaries and a six before falling to Kerry Walmsley. Kane Williamson (18) and Corey Anderson (14) also got starts, but a middle-order collapse left the U-19s tottering at 59 for 6. An unbeaten run-a-ball 22 from Greg Morgan lifted them past the 100-run mark.The NZCPA Masters XI, comprising mainly former New Zealand internationals, got off to a rapid start, with openers Matt Horne and Mark Bailey plundering 64 runs in the first seven overs. Both fell in quick succession but Andrew Jones and Justin Vaughan played steady knocks to ensure the NZCPA side coasted to victory.The match was one of two fixtures to raise money for people affected by Cyclone Sidr which devastated Bangladesh in November. The touring Bangladesh team take on a New Zealand Cricket XI in a day-night Twenty20 match later today.

Andrew Strauss’s arrival in New Zealand has been delayed after flight problems at Johannesburg airport. He was due to make his debut for the Northern Knights on Wednesday, but that has now been pushed back to the clash against Otago on Sunday.Strauss had been on a family holiday in South Africa but after boarding his plane the main door would not close properly. The subsequent delay meant that he was unable to make it to New Zealand in time for the match against Canterbury.The stint in New Zealand, where Strauss will play in the State Shield and Twenty20 tournaments, had been organised with the aim of pushing for an England recall. That has now already happened after he was named in the 16-man Test squad for the tour of New Zealand in March, so his domestic stint is a chance for him to acclimatise before joining up with the squad.

Scorecard
Points table

Tasmania lost three wickets and knocked 148 runs from their massive chase of 484 against Western Australia at the WACA. Michael Di Venuto, who was in his final outing for his state, went for 45 to Mathew Inness, another player who is stepping down, and Travis Birt (17) and Dane Anderson (47) also departed, leaving George Bailey and Dan Marsh with the work to do on the final day.Luke Ronchi’s brutal 93 off 76 balls, which was backed by half-centuries to Marcus North and Luke Pomersbach, allowed North to declare at 8 for 318, an advantage of 483. Ronchi’s first eight scoring shots were boundaries and he finished in a hurry during another aggressive display.He raised his fifty with a six and the innings was closed when he became Tim Macdonald’s second wicket. North had already strolled to 69 and Pomersbach gained 68 to give the Warriors few worries as they built their buffer. Brett Geeves and Luke Butterworth also captured two victims before the declaration arrived. The Warriors will finish third and Tasmania fourth whatever the result.

The Trinidad board have announced plans to install floodlights at the National Cricket Centre by next year April.”We have got approval from the ministry of Public Utilities and lights will be installed soon at the ground,” Forbes Persaud, the board’s chief executive, told CMC Sports. “They have already erected the posts to accommodate the lights and I am sure as soon as the elections are over, things will be put in place to have the lights installed at Balmain.”There are also plans to erect a multi-purpose pavilion at the ground with a seating capacity of 3000.Persaud added that the board had been able to acquire 17 acres of state land, south of the NCC and construction work will begin there. He said a huge car park, as well as other recreational facilities, are planned for the area.”We also intend to assist the national senior team in every way possible -so that they could continue their winning ways,” Persaud said. “On Monday, myself and Deryck Murray [president] will meet with the management of the national senior team, Omar Khan, Daren Ganga and David Williams to discuss what is the best possible approach to take, as far as planning for the retention of the Carib Beer title in concerned.”

Cricket Kenya has confirmed that it will host A-team tours by India and Sri Lanka in August.India arrive early in the month to play two three-day games against the national side, and then Sri Lanka join them to take part in a triangular one-day series in which each side plays the others twice with a final in Nairobi on August 23.The deal is a boost to the Kenyan board whose media deal with Nimbus means they need to attract overseas sides to play in the country. It will also assist the board’s attempts to secure lucrative local sponsorship deals.The series will be followed by a Twenty20 tournament which will act as a warm-up ahead of the Twenty20 World Championships in September. Bangladesh are understood to be one of the participating countries, although negotiations continue about which other side will make up the numbers.

Fast bowler Iain O’Brien has been released from New Zealand’s squad for the upcoming Chappell-Hadlee Series.O’Brien was included after Shane Bond was ruled out due to an abdominal strain, but he too will take not part in the series after a poor start to the tour. His four overs during New Zealand’s warm-up loss at Lilac Hill cost 52 runs, though he did pick up a wicket.O’Brien, 31, has yet to make his ODI debut but played in both Test losses in South Africa last month.He will return home in time to play for Wellington in their State Championship match against Central Districts starting in Napier on Monday.New Zealand play Australia in a Twenty20 international in Perth on Tuesday before the first of three ODIs at the Adelaide Oval on December 14.

On a paata Uppal track, Baroda’s spinners absorbed the impact of a 131-run opening stand between Ravi Teja and Daniel Manohar and bounced back to restrict Hyderabad to 220 for 4 by the end of the first day’s play. The significance of the spinners, the left-arm-right-arm combo of Rajesh Pawar and Yusuf Pathan, was very crucial in keeping the hosts to that score, after Teja – in keeping with his season form – and Manohar dominated the opening session and set the platform for an imposing first-day’s total.Pawar and Yusuf sent down 52 overs for 107 runs and picked up three wickets to restore parity after the hosts began so well. But it was the other Pathan, Irfan senior, who gave the opening to the spinners by luring Teja to edge a loose drive for 71 from 118 balls. Irfan’s first spell read 7-0-35-0, and he recovered from Teja’s blitz and got better as the day progressed.Both Yusuf and Pawar applied the squeeze effectively and Hyderabad could only muster 55 in 32 overs after lunch before losing three more wickets in the last session for 43 runs. Yusuf sent down one miserly over after another, getting some bounce with his quick offspin while Pawar slowed the pace, gave the ball air, and tried to beat the batsmen in flight.As the day wore on both, Pawar in particular, got it to turn. Manohar was strangled by spin in the second session; he got into trouble on a few occasions, failing to keep his drives down and kept short cover and bowler interested. Pawar finally struck, luring him to drive one back low to his left. The Hyderabad gates were ajar and Baroda broke through.Mohammad Shakeer, on debut, swaggered in under an old-fashioned floppy hat and tried to live up to the billing of being an attacking batsman. He went for a slog sweep off his first delivery, and missed, but continued to attempt big shots. He swatted an Irfan bouncer, slashed him twice to the deep point boundary and cut Pawar for another four. But it was this same aggression which consumed him, as he top-edged a slog sweep to the wicketkeeper.Soon Yusuf got one to turn and jump at Arjun Yadav, who stabbed it behind the wicket and Baroda finished the day on top. Earlier, however, it looked a different ball game altogether when Teja unfurled an array of strokes to give a great start to the hosts. He impressed in his 164-minute stay in the middle and is likely to be a very valuable player for Hyderabad in the years to come. He was relaxed at the crease, moving his feet nicely and looked comfortable on front and back foot. He started off with a crisp on-the-up punch off Irfan through mid-off before the bumper barrage began.

Since the comatose pitch offered no swing or seam movement, Irfan decided to change the angle and length for Teja. He went around the stumps and punctuated full-length deliveries outside off with a few bouncers. After Teja nonchalantly pulled a couple to the boundary Irfan deployed an in-out field. A deep square leg was brought in, in addition to fine leg and a short leg. More bouncers came and Teja, mindful of the two catching men, chose to defend.A couple were fended away to the off side but for the most part he was composed. There was a glimpse of the Hyderbadi wrists too when he late cut Irfan to the third man boundary. He had scored 24 runs from 26 balls in Irfan’s first spell and had seized the early advantage for the hosts.However, twelve balls into the post-lunch session he threw it away as he chased an Irfan delivery that was well outside off and shaping away. Yet again, as eight fifties and one hundred show, he has been dismissed after getting a start. “He has to work on the conversion rate. He has the talent, the shots, brilliant attitude and the future looks really bright,” Vivek Jaisimha, Hyderabad’s coach, said. “It’s up to him how far he can go.”In a game that is likely to be decided by the first-innings lead, Hyderabad could well end up paying for his shot selection.

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

Yuvraj Singh’s electrifying 70 led the batting charge and Sreesanthdelivered the telling blows with the ball as India produced a magnificentperformance to beat Australia by 15 runs and set up a dreamall-subcontinent final against Pakistan at the ICC World Twenty20. Formuch of their pursuit of 189, Australia were well in contention, withMatthew Hayden and Andrew Symonds muscling balls to the rope, but Indiakept their nerve superbly to clinch another famous victory.Thousands of Indian flags were waved with abandon as Kingsmead came toresemble Little India, but Australia were still marginal favourites with41 needed from the final four overs. Symonds was still there,having biffed his way to 43 from 25 balls, but the moment Irfan Pathanpegged back his off stump with a delivery that evaded the attempted cut,the momentum shifted decisively towards India.Harbhajan Singh conceded just three runs in the next over, yorking MichaelClarke in the process, and Rudra Pratap Singh then returned to bowl anoutstanding over, having gone for plenty in his opening spell. When theinexperienced Joginder Sharma was handed the ball for the final over, 22were needed. Michael Hussey, the master finisher, was on strike, but therewas to be no comeback here. A miscue induced by Sharma’s lack of pacelanded up in Yuvraj Singh’s hands at deep midwicket, and Brett Lee wasthen cleaned up by a yorker as the Indian players started impromptuvictory jigs on the field.Australia were left to reflect on a middle-order meltdown, and anastonishing second half of the Indian innings where Yuvraj, Robin Uthappaand Mahendra Singh Dhoni drove, flicked and bludgeoned 128 runs. Uthappaadded 84 with Yuvraj in just 39 balls, and Dhoni provided the finalflourishes as India ensured that Australia would have a TableMountain-like target to scale.Yuvraj, who had missed the South Africa game after his 12-ballhalf-century against England, carried on in six-hitting vein, pullingStuart Clark, the top wicket-taker in the competition, for a huge one overmidwicket. Adam Gilchrist responded by bringing back Brett Lee, but Yuvrajresponded with a sensational pick-up short over square leg for six, takingIndia to 60 for 2 at the halfway stage, marginally better than the 57 for3 they had against South Africa.Virender Sehwag had gone cheaply, edging Mitchell Johnson behind, andGautam Gambhir’s bright 24-run cameo ended with a stunning catch in theoutfield, but that merely set the stage for dazzling strokeplay thatripped up whatever plans the Australians may have had.Symonds came on and was straight away flicked for four, before both Yuvrajand Uthappa pulled him for sixes in a 19-run over. Neither NathanBracken’s slower variations nor Clark’s steadiness could stem the tide, asYuvraj played sumptuous shots over cover.Another massive pull for six off Clark took him to 50 from just 20 balls,in an over that went for 21, and the return of Johnson provedjust as expensive, with Uthappa slamming a straight six and poweringanother over midwicket. Australia were wobbling, but respite came in theshape of a nonchalant direct hit from Symonds after Yuvraj had turned downUthappa for a single.Dhoni, usually a watchful starter, was into his stride right away, carvingSymonds down the ground, and with Yuvraj carrying on merrily, Gilchristturned to his final bowling option, Clarke. The first ball was heaved forsix over midwicket, but Yuvraj didn’t quite time the next one, and Husseyran in to take the catch.Australia came out prepared to swing, and RP Singh, who had sent SouthAfrica tumbling out of the tournament on Thursday, found the best openingpair in the business a different proposition. Gilchrist repeatedly flickedhim over midwicket, once for six, and also lofted one straight down to thesightscreen.Hayden struggled against Sreesanth, whose eccentricities shouldn’t obscurejust how beautifully he bowled. There was pace and swing as Haydenrepeatedly swished at air, but it was Gilchrist that departed first,castled by a wonderful delivery that swung back in. That was the signalfor Hayden to move through the gears, and Sharma was the first to feel theimpact, taken for two huge sixes over midwicket as 18 came from the over.

Brad Hodge didn’t last long, heaving one to short fine leg, but the adventof Symonds changed the complexion of the game. Both men heaved Pathan forsixes in an over, and Dhoni’s gamble to give Sehwag an over, after he hadtweaked his hamstring while batting, backfired. Hayden heaved a six to getto 50 from 40 balls, and another loft down the ground saw 20 come from theover.When Symonds then clattered Harbhajan over midwicket for six more, the DJstarted to play Kylie Minogue’s Can’t Get You Out of my Head, areflection perhaps on how the match was moving inexorably towardsAustralia. It was clear that India needed a hero, and they found one inthe swing bowler with the long stare and the quirky mannerisms.Sreesanth came round the wicket and send Hayden’s off stump for a walk toend the 66-run partnership, and though Symonds continued to swing to thebitter end, the rest of his mates weren’t up to the task. Sreesanthfinished with sensational figures of 2 for 12, but the no-name Sharma’slast-over best summed up what was a tremendous team effort.Australia will have to wait to get their hands on this trophy, but forIndia and Pakistan, who exited the World Cup in such humiliatingcircumstances just six months ago, Monday afternoon at the Wanderers can’tcome soon enough. It will surprise no one if the DJ decides to kick offthe festivities with .