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All rise: Ian Bradshaw believes West Indies can lift their game and win the World Cup © AFP

Ian Bradshaw hasn’t ruled out a West Indian World Cup victory, despite a run of three Super Eights defeats on the trot for the hosts. The West Indies need to beat South Africa on April 10 to stay in the tournament and, as Bradshaw put it, would need to be “near perfect” to become the first host nation to lift the trophy.”It is pretty straightforward for us from here on in – we have to try and win each game and win as convincingly as possible,” Bradshaw, 32, told Reuters. “Now we must improve each and every aspect of our game and leave nothing to chance. We have to play near perfect games from here on in.”If we work hard we can get out from the Super Eights then we are confident that we can play two good games, in the semi-final and the final, to win the Cup. We still have dreams of lifting the cup on the 28th, it is not beyond us but first and foremost we have to take care of these three games.”The West Indies have been criticised by many quarters, not least former players and the local media, and Bradshaw said it had not gone unseen by the team. “You are conscious of it. Family, friends and the fans are disappointed because they are looking for more from the team and we ourselves are really disappointed because we started well and just fell off in the last three games, which were unfortunately critical games for us.”That has put us in the situation where we have to win the last three games and have other results turn our way. It means getting the runs on the board, bowling tight and taking wickets and having the energy in the field.”Bradshaw has played just two of West Indies’ six games so far, but said he looked at the game against South Africa as if he were a certainty.

Paul Collingwood: looking to convert periods of domination into a positive result © Getty Images

Already down 2-0 in the seven-match series, England need to turn the momentum around quickly, else the second half of the series could be reduced to a time for experiments and trying out new talent. India hold the whip at the moment, but they would do well to remember that one season back they were 2-0 up in an ODI series at home against Pakistan, and then went on to lose four in a row.Though England lost at Delhi and Faridabad, they have by no means been outclassed – in both matches, they held the whip for significant portions, and could have been 2-0 up with better application and some luck. Paul Collingwood said as much in a chat with the media before the game: “We are not down and out yet. There were passages of play when we dominated during the series. Really, we have got to transform that into a win in the game on Monday,” he said. “I think it is probably the mental side of it rather than anything else. We have got the skills and personnel. We have to take that a little bit further and elevate it.”Despite the results, India’s performance, especially their batting, has hardly been convincing – at Delhi they lost their top five for 80, while they slumped from 61 without loss to 92 for 5 at Faridabad. Rahul Dravid, though, sought to play down the batting concerns, and instead chose to concentrate on the superb comeback in the second match. “The top order performed well against Sri Lanka, South Africa and Pakistan. Overall I am happy with the batting in the one-dayers,” Dravid emphasised. “I agree there could have been a few more runs from the top order especially in the last two games where we could have done better. “[But] the last game was won by two batsmen [Suresh Raina, who made an unbeaten 81 and Mahendra Dhoni, who made 38].”A major concern has been the form of Virender Sehwag, who has only managed three fifties from his last 30 ODIs. However, Dravid indicated that the think-tank would keep their faith in the Sehwag-Gautam Gambhir duo at the top of the order. “We have got good starts though we would have liked them to have carried on. But this is a seven-match series and hopefully they would do so in the remaining games.”The pitches at both Delhi and Faridabad made run-scoring a difficult proposition, but Dravid indicated that batsmen will have more reason to look forward to the one at Goa. “It looks a good cricket wicket. It looks firm. It seems to be a better wicket than the one in the last game. I can’t say what will be a good score on this wicket but it probably looks to be a 250-plus score wicket.”What won’t please either side, especially England, is the hot and humid conditions at Goa. “It is a big challenge, the humidity, for both batsmen and bowlers,” Dravid said. “We need to make sure we stay hydrated.” Collingwood echoed those sentiments: “The key is the humidity. It is very hot and I think it is going to be a cauldron out there. We have to be careful about dehydration. We have played in Sri Lanka which is close to these conditions. We have experienced this before and it should not be an issue.”The heartening news for India is that Munaf Patel has recovered from a bruised heel and is available for selection. India might opt to play him in place of Sreesanth, who has gone for 79 in 11.5 overs in the first two games.India (from) Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid (capt), Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Suresh Raina, Venugopala Rao, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), Irfan Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Ramesh Powar, Sreesanth, Ajit Agarkar, Rudra Pratap Singh, Munaf Patel.England (from) Matt Prior, Andrew Strauss, Vikram Solanki, Owais Shah, Ian Bell, Kevin Pietersen, Andrew Flintoff (capt), Paul Collingwood, Geraint Jones (wk), Ian Blackwell, Liam Plunkett, Kabir Ali, James Anderson, Matthew Hoggard, Gareth Batty, Sajid Mahmood.

Cold comfort: Shane Warne was forced to settle for a draw at Canterbury © Getty Images

Scorecard
Hampshire were denied their third win of the season after a superb rearguard from the Kent lower order. When Geraint Jones was bowled by Shane Warne for 22, Kent were 279 for 6 with more than a session still to play. However, Matthew Dennington struck his second half-century of the match, and it was by no means a blocking innings – he struck 10 fours from 63 balls – as he and Darren Stevens began to frustrate Hampshire. But when Dennington and Stevens fell within four runs of each other the writing was again on the wall. That was until Simon Cook and Min Patel used their experience – and no little skill – to thwart all of Warne’s variations, plus the pace and bounce of Chris Tremlett. Warne managed to breach Cook’s defences but Patel and Amjad Khan saw out the final stages of the match. The entire Kent batting order played their part – even the nightwatchman Martin Saggers made 23 – and Martin van Jaarsveld struck 77. But he was overshadowed by the heroics of the tail as they prevented Kent from slumping to their third defeat of the season.
Scorecard
Surrey’s seamers ripped through the Glamorgan batting line-up in just over 90 minutes of the final morning at The Oval. David Hemp and Michael Powell began intent on continuing their boundary blitz of the previous evening. But neither lasted very long as the Surrey bowlers exploited the overcast conditions. James Ormond dismissed Powell for a 98-ball 93, and Mohammad Akram was too good for Hemp. Rikki Clarke then found some movement – and found himself on a hat-trick – when he had Darren Thomas caught behind and then castled David Harrison first ball. The end came swiftly with Akram finishing with 4 for 63 to complete a very satisfactory reversal for Surrey following their thumping defeat, at the hands of Nottinghamshire, last week.

The Bushrangers play South Australia in two one-day practice matches on Tuesday 28th and Wednesday 29th October at the Albert Ground.The squads for the matches are as follows:

Day 1	Day 2	SA
Darren Berry (C)	Mathew Inness (C)	Greg Blewett (C)
Nick Jewell	Matthew Elliott	Mark Cleary
Jason Arnberger	Jason Arnberger	Chris Davies
Matthew Mott	Graeme Rummans	John Davison
Michael Klinger	Michael Klinger	Shane Deitz
Aiden Blizzard	Liam Buchanan	David Fitzgerald
Liam Buchanan	Aiden Blizzard	Andy Flower
Shane Harwood	Adam Crosthwaite	Ryan Harris
Shane Jones	Bryce McGain	Mark Higgs
Brett Harrop	Marc Carson	Graham Manou
Michael Lewis	Will Carr	Paul Rofe
Darren Groves	Robert Cassell	Shaun Tait

A Deodhar Trophy match between East Zone and North Zone at Ludhiana that started two hours 20 minutes late was abandoned at 2 p.m. due to rain, the points being equally shared between the two sides.East Zone, winning the toss, put their opponents in to bat. North Zone’s innings was restricted to a maximum of 33.3 overs due to the truncated nature of the game. As the situation warranted, the batsmen threw everything at the leather during that innings. Manish Sharma, coming off an unbeaten 99 in his previous match, made 64 off 74 deliveries, striking 10 fours before becoming the third wicket to fall.Mithun Manhas hit an unbeaten 22 off 19 deliveries that, along with a couple of other scores in the 20s from the middle order, took North’s total to 179/5 in their allotted overs.Another rain interruption revised the target for East Zone to 167 off 31 overs, a situation that guaranteed some exciting cricket. But when East were on 25/2 after eight overs, Ashish Nehra taking both wickets, the game was stopped due to further rain.

Having already qualified for the knock out phase, Tamil Nadu couldafford to go all out to press home their advantage against UttarPradesh at the Green Park Stadium in Kanpur. The presence of Test capSadagoppan Ramesh at the head of the order helped bolster a battingline up that was in good nick as it is.Opening the bowling for Uttar Pradesh, Ashish Winston Zaidi struckearly, getting rid of Ramesh after the south paw managed just sixruns. However, that was all the joy Uttar Pradesh were entitle to asSridharan Sriram stole the limelight with a scintillating unbeatenhundred. Well supported by hard hitting youngster Hemang K Badani,Sriram notched up milestone after milestone in the course of theday. Reaching his fifty off a sedate 121 balls, Sriram then increasedthe tempo, requiring only an additional 61 balls to reach the threefigure mark. Sharing a 109 run partnership with Badani, Sriram tookTamil Nadu to a position of real strength.When Badani (62) was stumped by Manoj Mudgal off the bowling of RazaUttar Pradesh might have thought they finally got the breakthroughthat would help them restrict the rampaging Tamil Nadu side. No suchluck. JR Madanagopal walked out to the middle and joined theunstoppable Sriram. Helping himself to an unbeaten 80 that includedfive boundaries and two sixes, Madanagopal saw Sriram through to152. With Sriram unbeaten on 152, stumps were called. At 311 for 2, itwould be safe to say that Tamil Nadu are firmly in the driving seat atthe end of the first day.

Wolves will be facing off against Patrick Vieira’s Crystal Palace this afternoon in their latest Premier League fixture.

Having lost their two previous league games on the road against Arsenal and West Ham United, the Old Gold are back at Molineux today to try and secure all three points against the south London club.

On the chalkboard

In terms of which players Bruno Lage could pick in his starting XI to take on the Eagles today, one man who didn’t start against West Ham last weekend but who we think should be in from the beginning this time around is Daniel Podence.

With Lage picking Hwang Hee-chan and Francisco Trincao on the wings at the London Stadium, who both failed to test opposing goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski with even a single shot on target throughout their time on the pitch, this could persuade the manager to put Podence back into the team.

Despite netting just one goal and providing two assists in the league so far this season, Podence has still proved to be an attacking threat by averaging 1.2 shots per game (surpassed only by Raul Jimenez and Ruben Neves), along with the highest average of key passes per game in Lage’s squad with 1.3.

Taking all this into account, it could be the best option for the 45-year-old to make some changes to his team this afternoon, particularly in attack, to see if this would give the home side a better chance of securing victory at Molineux and putting their disappointing run of form behind them.

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Having been previously labelled by Michael Kightly as a player who is “exactly what Wolves need”, today could be another opportunity for Podence – who is currently earning £52k-p/w according to Salary Sport – to show everyone how important he can be for his side, especially if he can add another goal or assist to his record for the campaign and help the Old Gold to a timely victory.

In other news – 49 tackles won: “Phenomenal” Wolves gem has been Lage’s “standout” player this season

	Shoaib Akhtar: “I have no problems against the [Pakistan] board for not giving me a contract” © AFP

Shoaib Akhtar has refused the special retainership he was offered by the PCB after being overlooked for a central contract. But the fast bowler insists he is optimistic over his international future.Based on a formula devised by the board, taking into account players’ performance over the last six months, 15 players were awarded contracts, but Shoaib was overlooked. He was, instead, demoted to a retainership, having been awarded a Category A contract last year.”Central contracts are not an issue because I play for my country and not for money. I will not accept retainership,” Shoaib said after training at the Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore, with Pakistan’s 15-man squad for the fifth ODI against Zimbabwe. Having sought permission from the team management, Shoaib bowled in the nets for an hour and said later he was optimistic over his future.”I have no problems against the board for not giving me a contract. In fact, thinking of financial gains instead of putting the needs of my country first would’ve been a source of embarrassment on my part,” he said. “I turned up for my country when I was ill because I was required [during the Test series against India] and I will do so again whenever required. I’m fit, I’m strong and I’m ready to resume my international career with Pakistan with or without a contract.”Although ruing the missed opportunity to play against Zimbabwe, Shoaib confirmed that he will take part in the forthcoming Pentangular Cup in order to prove his fitness and form. Omitted from the squad for the Zimbabwe series, the PCB had requested Shoaib to prove his match fitness by participating in the tournament before being eligible for selection for theseries against Australia.”I will certainly take part [in the Pentangular Cup] and prove my fitness. I don’t know what the fuss was about prior to the series [against Zimbabwe]. Omission from a squad is part and parcel of the game. Even Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis went through that phase. However, I wanted to play the series as it would’ve proved useful in preparing for the Australian series. They [the Australians] will not be easy to beat even though we will be playing at home.”Shoaib also played down reports that he was more interested in seeking a career in Bollywood, reiterating that cricket remained his focus. “It’s my life and I can do what I want. I don’t know why the PCB is making a huge fuss of all this especially when I haven’t even signed anything yet. For the moment it’s cricket but I might think about a film career when it comes to it.It has been speculated that Shoaib was demoted primarily due to reasons of discipline and fitness, arising from last year’s tour to India. But Shoaib said he had the coach’s backing and had done nothing wrong.”There were no issues of discipline with me on the Indian tour and coach Geoff Lawson praised my attitude and concentration, so all those things were baseless that I fell short on discipline.”Shoaib Malik, Pakistan’s captain, said the fast bowler’s return to fitness was an encouraging sign for the future of the team. “He is a great bowler and an asset to the team,” Malik said. “His fitness and form will only benefit Pakistan, especially with a tough series against Australia coming up.”

It’s almost time to say goodbye © Getty Images

West Indies’ last two World Cup games are shaping up as a valedictory to the captain Brian Lara, who will retire from one-day internationals after the tournament. Lara, who turns 38 on May 2, said: “My day in the sun is over. It’s tough playing one-day internationals out there.”Lara, who has appeared in 297 matches scoring 10,354 runs with 19 centuries, will almost certainly finish his career against England at the Kensington Oval on April 21. West Indies can still make the semi-finals but need an unlikely sequence of results to allow them into the last four.Lara will continue to play in Tests and after the 67-run defeat against South Africa he looked ahead to the tour of England. “We’ve got to pick ourselves up,” he said. “Cricket is going to go on.”Lara is in his third stint as West Indies captain and has been the subject of much criticism for the team’s lacklustre performances. He said the campaign had been a major personal disappointment. “It’s a situation where you are playing your last few one-dayers and you hope you can end up in a World Cup final or a semi-final,” he said.It is his fifth World Cup but West Indies have only once reached the last four during his career when they were beaten by Australia in Mohali in 1996. Lara denied that contract negotiations, which were still going on when the tournament started, had affected the West Indian performance.”We’ve got a players’ association and a West Indies Cricket Board,” he said. “These matters are handled at that level by people who are astute enough to understand the delicate situation. We are just the players.”Whatever the situation, when we go on the cricket field we try our best. I know the disappointment of the cricket fans. I am sad that we have disappointed the Caribbean and our supporters around the world.”We feel it a lot and we know the man in the street is definitely disappointed. When we go to practice and see the people waving on the side of the road, we understand what cricket means to them.”West Indies still have to play against Bangladesh on April 19 and England two days later. “We’ve got to dig deep,” Lara said. “It’s tough playing games where you’re not really involved in the tournament but you’ve got to put that aside and show some character and pride.”Graeme Smith, the South Africa captain, said it would be sad to see Lara go. “He’s been an unbelievable performer for the West Indies,” he said. “I hope the team plays for him in his last two games. He’s been a credit to the game.”

Dennis Brookes, the former Northamptonshire and England batsman, has died at the age of 90.A right-hand opener, Brookes scored 30,824 first-class runs in a career which spanned the Second World War, including 28,980 for Northamptonshire, more than anyone else. He also holds the record for most appearances for the county (492) and most hundreds (67). After retiring, he continued to serve the county as 2nd XI captain, coach, assistant secretary, and finally president.His one Test appearance came in the Caribbean in 1947-48 when he was part of a weak England side led by Gubby Allen. Brookes appeared in the first Test, scoring 13 and 7.At the time of his death he was the eighth oldest living Test cricketer, and the second oldest from England behind Mandy Mitchell-Innes.