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

South Africa might have harboured hopes of a demolition act with the ball after they chose to bowl first against Scotland but it was their batsmen who carried out the dismantling job, completing a seven-wicket rout at Basseterre. Graeme Smith was largely responsible for the win, his 91 – a personal World Cup best – helping his team finish the job with 26.4 overs to spare.Scotland, though, didn’t disgrace themselves. The openers weren’t overawed by South Africa’s varied pace attack while spirited batting by the lower order saw 55 coming off the last five overs to bring up their highest total in World Cup games.Yet they didn’t have too many answers when Smith and AB de Villiers kickstarted the chase with a blitz, adding 134 in less than 16 overs and stamping their authority at Warner Park. It took just two deliveries in the first over for Smith to reveal his assertive self, two crisp fours setting the tone with Paul Hoffmann erring on the fuller side. He drove powerfully through the covers and wasn’t prepared to spare anything short, rocking back and pulling in front of square. Majid Haq’s offspinners were swept, sometimes with force and sometimes with tact, and he gave away 35 in his seven overs.Having missed out on a golden opportunity to cash in on the run-orgy against Netherlands, de Villiers made up with a fire-starting 62. Whipping off his pads and scurrying between the wickets, he provided Smith good company. There were two towering sixes against the left-arm spin of Glenn Rogers but he fell to another overambitious attempt, holing out to Dougie Brown at long-on.Smith didn’t relent, even though the heavens opened up for a brief period when 40 were required, and only fell with nine needed. Scotland strangely didn’t utilise even a single Powerplay in the match.

Earlier in the day, South Africa’s seamers didn’t exactly tear Scotland apart but winkled out wickets at regular intervals. Scotland’s openers, Duncan Watts and Majid Haq, approached the task sensibly, biding their time on a pitch with good bounce but offering little seam movement. Makhaya Ntini, who’d missed the opening game, clocked around 140kph on a regular basis but neither batsman was hurried or overawed. Both handled the short balls with confidence – Watts even hit an audacious front-foot six over midwicket – and calmed the nerves.South Africa’s second-string seamers were more successful. Andrew Hall struck off his very second ball, tempting Haq into a fatal poke outside off, while Charl Langeveldt went one better, striking with his first delivery.Watts, who’d looked composed till then, flashed at a good-length delivery and edged to first slip. Gavin Hamilton tried an overambitious drive too early, hitting straight to cover, while McCallum, who’d endured a frustrating 18 balls without scoring, attempted to charge down the track and was yorked by a straight one from Langeveldt.Scotland weren’t willing to fold up, though. Brown entered in the 25th over, after Scotland had struggled to 71 for 4, and guided the tail impressively. He struck just three fours but kept the scoreboard ticking, allowing the tailenders to play the aggressive shots. The trio of Colin Smith, John Blain and Paul Hoffmann – Nos. 9, 10 and Jack respectively – managed 56 runs between them and pulled off some entertaining strikes in the slog overs. Hoffmann hit three fours and a six and was responsible for Scotland adding 55 in the last five overs. It was a fine way to finish but, as is often the case in these one-sided contests, it was never going to be enough.

Akram Khan, the former Bangladesh captain, has replaced Golam Nowsher Prince as a member of the national selection committee. Prince resigned from the post citing personal reasons.”I played with both the committee members so it is not a big deal to work with them. I am really looking forward to taking the challenge because there is a lot of scope to work in this field,” Akram told .Akram will begin his selector duties on June 1 after completing his commitments with the DOHS Club. Prince’s resignation has been accepted with effect from May 31. The second-term of the current selection panel expires at the end of July and it is unlikely that Faruque Ahmed and Athar Ali Khan, the former opener, will stay for another term.”The fact is that the team is shaping up but still I am personally thinking about whether it would be good to quit the job at the top. But we have still more than two months in our hand,” said Faruque. “It is not only a matter whether board will renew our contract rather it’s also a subject of whether we will be interested to continue the job.”

The Zimbabwe High Court has once again postponed the trial of Mark Vermeulen, the country’s former batsman, who is facing charges of arson to enable medical examinations into his mental fitness to continue. The outcome of the examination will determine whether he is fit to stand trial.Vermeulen was charged last year after he allegedly set on fire to the Zimbabwe Cricket Academy in Harare. He was also accused of setting ablaze a section of Harare Sports Club (HSC), which houses Zimbabwe Cricket’s (ZC) headquarters.Legal experts say should Vermeulen be convicted, he faces up to 25 years in jail.His lawyer, advocate Eric Matinenga, in an interview yesterday said: “He’s been remanded to June 15. There are still medical consultations [regarding his state of mind] to be done and that has necessitated the remand.”Vermeulen was granted Zim$500,000 bail ($2,000 at the official rate but $11 on the black market) last November and ordered to surrender title deeds worth Zim$300 million and travel documents to the court as part of the conditions.He has also been allowed to play in domestic competitions, pending the outcome of his trial.

Surrey have signed Harbhajan Singh, the India offspinner who was surprisingly overlooked by the selectors for their tour of England next month.”Let’s be honest, Surrey haven’t had the start to the season that we would like,” Alan Butcher, Surrey’s cricket manager said, “and we feel that a world-class spinner is an important part of improving our performance in the second half of the year.”Harbhajan is a great wicket-taker and with the club expecting Azhar Mahmood to play for Pakistan in the Twenty20 World Cup later this year, we no longer have to worry about a possible gap in our line-up from August onwards. Azhar has made a great contribution to the club, and it’s clear that international duty is a distinct possibility for him later this year, so we want to be prepared.”Harbhajan, 26, last played a Test for India against West Indies 12 months ago, but is pleased to rejoin Surrey who he represented in 2005.”This is obviously a great opportunity for me personally,” he said, “and I can’t wait to get out there and play some great cricket for Surrey. I want to make every performance count, with both bat and ball, and really look forward to catching up with my old team-mates soon.”

Kenya’s selectors have delayed naming a squad for their Intercontinental Cup match against Namibia, in view of growing doubts surrounding the future of the Kenyan Cricket Association.The selectors met in Nairobi this morning, but it soon became clear that some had deep reservations as to their authority to pick a side to represent the country against such a backdrop, and also with so many leading players either unavailable or on strike.Officially, the naming of the squad was delayed to allow the availability of certain individuals to be confirmed, but Cricinfo understands that it is unlikely that any announcement will be made until the ICC makes a ruling on the authority of Cricket Kenya, the government-backed new body, to run Kenyan cricket.Cricket Kenya was officially recognised by the Registrar of Societies in Nairobi earlier today, and meetings of all the provincial associations will take place tonight to decide if they are willing to support it and not the KCA.If the provinces do give CK their support then Ochillo Ayacko, the sports minister, is likely to request an urgent meeting with the ICC to ask for its backing. If the ICC does so – and given its recent attitude towards the conduct of the KCA, that seems a real possibility – then CK could be running Kenyan cricket as soon as the end of this week.That would leave the KCA totally marginalised. About all it would be left to worry about would be forthcoming legal action against it brought jointly by the Coast Cricket Association and the Nairobi Provincial Cricket Association – that case is due to be heard in Mombasa tomorrow – and another action by Nairobi Gymkhana over an outstanding debt. A hearing over the legality of the minister’s action, scheduled for March 7, would then be rendered a virtual irrelevance.

Kapil Dev, the former Indian captain, has questioned Sachin Tendulkar’s abilities as a match-winner after failing in the first Test against England at Lord’s. Tendulkar scored 37 and 16 in a close draw.Kapil said that Tendulkar has not been able to perform under pressure and deliver in crunch situations. None of the four middle-order batsmen – Rahul Dravid, Tendulkar, VVS Laxman and Sourav Ganguly – managed a half century as India made 201 in the first innings and just managed to hang on in the second and save the game before bad light on the fifth day resulted in a draw.”Every time people hope big things from Sachin Tendulkar but often it is only disappointment that we are left with,” Kapil told Aaj Tak, a Hindi news channel. “He is thought to be the backbone of the Indian team but many times he has not stood up to the occasion.”Tendulkar found form in the three-match one-day series against South Africa in Ireland which preceded the England tour, winning the Man-of-the-Series award. He went on to score an exhilarating 171 in the tour game against England Lions at Chelmsford, before the Lord’s Test.Kapil felt that Tendulkar was presented with the best opportunity to silence his critics and play a match-winning knock in the second innings with India set to chase 380. Tendulkar fell to Monty Panesar for 16 on the penultimate evening, struck leg before in front of offstump.”Figures say that Sachin has not been able to perform under pressure,” he said. “Sachin has big records to his name but until he wins matches for India in these conditions, people will raise fingers at him.”Kapil praised Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s unbeaten 76 in the second innings, an under-pressure knock which rescued India from a certain defeat.”He has the ability to win matches for India on his own. He was tentative on the last day of the Test match and was not able to play freely.”

Ray Mali, the president of the International Cricket Council (ICC), arrived in Zimbabwe on a six-day working visit, travelling with his wife Peggy. The pair arrived in Bulawayo on the eve of the opening one-day international between Zimbabwe and South Africa at Bulawayo, and were met at the airport by the chairman of Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC), Peter Chingoka.Mali plans to assess how the ICC can help the embattled ZC ahead of a possible return to Test cricket. Speaking on his arrival, he said: “I am here to get first-hand information so that I can be well-informed whenever I talk to my board about Zimbabwe in the future.”Chingoka said ZC was confident that his visit would be beneficial for cricket in the country “because Mali understands the need and challenges of transforming the sport from elitism to one accessible to the majority. Before he took over the ICC, Ray was president of Cricket South Africa and we worked very well with him then.””What is happening now is a continuation of that relationship because, as ICC president, he has said he wants to see the game taken to new heights in all the ten full member countries.”During his stay, Mali will tour cricket facilities in Matabeleland North, Bulawayo and Harare Metropolitan provinces.

Adam Gilchrist says the players still don’t know what to expect at the Twenty20 World Championship as they will be competing for a trophy, unlike earlier international matches where entertainment was the key. “I think there is a little bit of unknown as to what’s going to happen,” Gilchrist said before Australia’s departure to South Africa.”We’ve tasted Twenty20 cricket, and it’s been a real entertainment package, but in every game we played there’s never been anything up for grabs. It’s almost been like an exhibition game if you like.”Three players including Ricky Ponting have stayed back but are expected to join the team before Australia’s first match against Zimbabwe on September 12. Ponting cited “private family reasons”, while Shane Watson has a hamstring problem and Stuart Clark is attending to his ill son.Gilchrist, who will lead the team in case Ponting misses out, said it would be interesting to see how teams approached the tournament. “I’ve no doubt that once we get there, and given that there’s a world title up for grabs, it will get serious,” he said. “But I do hope the entertainment factor stays. I would encourage everyone to try and embrace that entertainment part of the game.”He said the World Championship might push administrators to consider slotting in more Twenty20 matches in international schedules, though perhaps at the expense of one-day internationals. “I think world cricket will have a clearer understanding of how serious, how much we need to play Twenty20 cricket and what role it will have in the cricket calendar [by the end of the tournament],” he said.”I don’t know necessarily if it will be the be all and end all of Twenty20, but I do think it’s here to stay for a number of reasons … and it may be a case of, if Twenty20 cricket continued to grow, it might limit the 50-over game to a certain extent, with the need to tailor the program to fit both in.”The Twenty20 World Championship starts on September 11, with the final to be played in Johannesburg on September 24.

When the Indian team for the first three ODIs of this seven-matchseries was named, the one big name missing was Virender Sehwag. WithHarbhajan Singh and Irfan Pathan returning to the team on the basis ofperformances in the ICC World Twenty20, it was widely assumed – and theselectors speaking privately did nothing to dispel the notion – that therewas no reason for Sehwag to worry and that in the course of the one-dayseason he’d get a look in. As of now, though, there’s still no place forhim.”This is the best batting line-up we’ve got. Sachin, Sourav, followed byRahul, then Yuvi, myself and Robin,” said Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the Indiancaptain, at the end of the fifth match, when asked about why the line-upwas changed around. “It just didn’t work today. We didn’t get thepartnerships we wanted early on.” Obviously he was referring to theline-up he had on his hands, and not whether Sehwag figured in the plans, but it’s interesting that the talk over Sehwag has died down almost completely as the series has progressed.What’s more, with India still in with a chance of levelling the series3-3, although that’s unlikely given just how hard the Australians haveplayed each of these games, it makes it extremely difficult for the teamto think about resting one of its senior batsmen. The results, however, donot change the fact that India have a large volume of cricket – both ODIand Test – in the coming year. In fact this was the rationale behind theselectors and the team management contemplating a rotation policy in thefirst place. In the 12 ODIs India would play against Australia andPakistan, it was believed that each of Tendulkar, Dravid and Ganguly wouldsit out at least one match.With Dravid struggling for runs, and he’s hardly been at the crease enoughto judge what kind of form he is in, the selectors have a tough decisionon their hands. In different circumstances, with the series decided oneway or the other by the time game six came around, Dravid would have beenrested. But now, with only 44 runs from five matches, there’s hardly acase to rest him, and dropping him in the first series after he steppeddown as captain would be cruel to someone who has served the team’s causeexceedingly well in both forms of the game for several years now.If India win the next game then the temptation to rest someone willrecede further as the seventh match will provide an opportunity to level aseries that once looked gone for all money. If Indialose, then again it will be hard to consider someone like S Badrinath inplace of one of the senior batsmen, for a solitary win from seven gameswould hardly be acceptable returns for Dhoni in his first series ascaptain. However, the temptation to play Badrinath will be strong, forDhoni will remember how Rohit Sharma could barely get a knock in England,and delivered so brilliantly when drafted in the ICC World Twenty20.Robin Uthappa’s case was no different, with him sitting out the best partof the one-day series in England, only to turn matchwinner at the firstopportunity he was afforded. In short, it’s a tricky conundrum, and onethat Dhoni will have to deal with delicately and sensibly.Australia, for their part, have their own selection dilemmas, buttypically have their own way of dealing with these things. Brad Haddinmight have scored 156 from his two innings, scoring half-centuries ineach, but when the time for Ricky Ponting’s return from injury came along,he was left out, with Brad Hodge, the more senior batsman, retaining hisplace in the team despite a string of poor scores. Few teams other thanAustralia would have chosen this path, and on top of this they’ve evensent Adam Voges, who was in the squad as cover for Ponting, back home.Already, he’s in action, playing domestic cricket for the WesternWarriors.

Ricky Ponting thought he had India under pressure from the very first ball and Mahendra Singh Dhoni conceded that India were “never really in the game,” as the two rival captains addressed contrasting press conferences soon after Australia took an unassailable 3-1 lead in this seven-match series. While Ponting was detailed and articulate in his responses, Dhoni understandably had less to say, and though he was jovial and doing his best to keep his humour, clearly did not enjoy the way things had gone.”I’m not sure if we outsmarted India but we certainly outperformed them, especially the way Mitchell [Johnson] and Brett [Lee] bowled with the new ball. We assessed our last performance [in Chandigarh] and even when we lost I didn’t think we did that much wrong,” said Ponting. “We tightened up on a lot of areas that we felt we needed to. I always say that we play better cricket in a tournament or series as the games proceed. We certainly played our best game today. We did everything right with the bowling and fielding and then to chase the target down with only one wicket down on a wicket that was tough to bat on against spin was really good. It’s almost as good as any one-day win we’ve had I think.”When asked what went wrong for India, Dhoni began by popping the question right back at the journalist. “What went wrong? Apart from the toss everything went wrong. We lost early wickets and never came back into the game,” said Dhoni. “Then when we bowled we didn’t get the breakthroughs. Their batsmen were beaten early on but didn’t nick any. We were never really in the game.”The one thing the two captains agreed wholeheartedly on was Sachin Tendulkar’s batting in his 400th ODI. While other batsmen scratched around or perished before they had the chance to do so, Tendulkar was in sublime touch, scoring 47 and looked good for a lot more. “Sachin was the only one who was dominating, apart from the ball that got him,” said Dhoni. “It was like he was batting on one wicket and the rest of us were struggling on some other wicket.” And Ponting did not hold back when talking about Tendulkar’s innings. “Sachin looked very good today. For someone like him he struggled a bit in the last game. Today he drove the ball beautifully,” he said. “Some of the drives off Brett early on were as good as anything you’d see. He was obviously up for it in his 400 th match.”

While Dhoni refused to use being tired – either mentally or physically – as an excuse for the loss, he conceded that the non-stop cricket was making things difficult. “It’s quite tough on the guys. The conditions are difficult, hot and humid here. It’s tough on the players but they don’t really have an option when playing for the country,” he said. “You have to be tough and give your 100%, but when you play four months in a row it does get tough.”Ponting put down his team’s overwhelmingly-strong performance to the kind of preparation that went into this game, beginning with the loss in the last one ain Chandigarh. “You end up assessing things a lot more when you lose. It’s pretty simple when you win. Quite often you end up talking about the same things when you’re winning,” he said. “We had a couple of really good meetings yesterday – first a bowling meeting, then a batting meeting and a team meeting. We spoke of our deficiencies – too many extras, not enough wickets with the new ball, losing wickets at crucial times – we didn’t do any of those things today.”You try and prepare as best as you can for every game. On that wicket I thought I was going to be facing some left-arm spin at some stage so I worked on that in the nets yesterday. Overall our preparation for this game was excellent. We knew it was going to be really hot. We had a light session yesterday and worked on our skills.”Ponting also sought to downplay the issue of on-field chatter that has clouded this series. “I don’t think we were doing the talking at the start of the series. Some of the banter stemmed from our encounter in the Twenty20 game. Some of that spilled over to the early games here,” he said. “The Indians obviously came back feeling very happy about what they achieved at the Twenty20, as they should. There’s been way too much made of this. There hasn’t been any chit-chat since game two and here after game five, we’re still talking about it.”After a performance of this kind, though, there’s really not much need for chatter. The ball, bat and gloves spoke more than enough for the Australians.