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The West Indies captain Chris Gayle acknowledged that his side have little time to prepare for the second Test against England, on Thursday, but called on his side to adapt to the chilly conditions if they’re to square the series at Chester-le-Street.England headed to an impressively slick ten-wicket win at Lord’s yesterday, dismissing West Indies for 256 in their second innings. They collapsed meekly for 152 in the first innings and again in their second, when they lost their last five wickets for just 34 runs, and Gayle was at a loss to explain why.”It’s a tough one to actually answer,” he told PA. “It’s very disappointing, but we have to try and put that behind us now and have the self-belief to go out and get the job done in Durham. That will be in tough conditions, but we’ll just have to cope with it and make sure we are well-prepared. We are looking forward to it.”The tough conditions Gayle spoke of relate to the early start of this year’s summer season. With the Ashes acting as the main event, the ECB has had to shoehorn this brief two-Test series just before next month’s ICC World Twenty20, and the early cold conditions have unsurprisingly not been to West Indies’ liking. John Dyson, the coach, responded to criticism of his side’s body language when the team was seen with their hands thrust into their pockets, insisting that they were using hand warmers.”The majority of the time I was batting out there, that wind was hitting me in the eye and there was a lot of water in the eyes as well,” Gayle said. “It makes a big difference, but this is the disadvantage we have to cope with. You just have to tough it out and try to get the job done as well as possible.”I’ve never been in England so early for a tour, and the conditions are always going to be a bit different from later on in the summer. But we have to adapt,” he said. It would be nice if we get that opportunity to tour a bit later. There would be a lot more sunshine – that would be good.”Indeed, Gayle insists that the two sides “are very even-steven,” while stating that the difference between them had much to do with the conditions. However, West Indies struggled to cope with the moving ball, and in particular the bowling of Graham Onions who took seven wickets on debut.”We’ve had a bit of Onion, and it’s burned us in the eye,” Gayle said. “We hope we can stop that in the next Test match. He’s not express but he bowled well and hit the right areas.”You have to give credit to any bowler picking up five wickets on their debut.”

The trial has begun for Chris Lewis, the former England allrounder, who is accused of smuggling more than 3kg of cocaine from St Lucia, with a street value of more than £140,000.Lewis, 41, was arrested last December after a routine inspection of an early-morning flight from St Lucia by customs officials. He was later remanded in custody, and today, appearing at East Croydon Crown Court, the court learned that Lewis and a friend, Chad Kirnon, were found with cans of tinned fruit in their possession.Opening the case for the prosecution, Tom Wilkins said that both men had travelled to St Lucia to visit friends and family. “The question is, did they know that they were bringing in cocaine? They had come from St Lucia together and flown out there together. They knew one another and, the Crown says, they were acting together.”He added: “It wasn’t fruit juice the tins contained, it was a brown liquid with cocaine dissolved into it.”At the time of his arrest, when he was told the tins contained drugs, he replied: “Is there some mistake?” Police also seized a silver cannabis grinder which contained traces of the drug. When Lewis’s luggage was inspected, his Puma cricket bag was found to be labelled with Kirnon’s name, Wilkins told the court.This was “the first of a number of links between these two defendants and what they were, together, up to,” Wilkins added. The trial continues.

At the fourth time of asking, a tearful Charlotte Edwards has at last won a World Cup by leading England to their third overall title following a very successful year. And this might be the most important victory yet, with the triumph sending a message to the other boards that backing the women financially helps.”Now looking back on my sleepless nights there was an expectation for us to do well this tournament,” said Edwards after the match. “There has been a huge amount of money pumped in to develop our girls. We knew we were up against a really good team today. We’ve repaid a lot of people that have shown a lot of faith in the girls.”The maternal Edwards’ brand of leadership is full of tough love and it has paid off handsomely, with her charges playing consistent – if not quite perfect – cricket, and wanting to do well for their captain and themselves.”Unbelievable, really,” said Edwards of the win, although she might be the only one to think so. England’s victory has not come as a surprise. They always had the potential to win the trophy and, ominously, they do not feel they played their best cricket despite lifting the $35,000 trophy. “We’ve not played a perfect game of cricket in the tournament and there are a few areas we need to work on.”This is certainly true, but they were still the best side in the tournament and just winners. England will now regroup with several warm-up matches before the World Twenty20 at home.”I suppose it won’t sink in for a couple of days,” Edwards concluded. “It’s an amazing feeling and a day I will cherish for the rest of my life. I’m loving cricket, it’s my life.”A disconsolate Haidee Tiffen admitted that England had outplayed them, but still thought her side “had a sniff.” Tiffen was appearing in her second World Cup final, but had to experience the pain of losing for the first time. “It was just another day for us at the office,” said Tiffen. “Unfortunately it was a bad day for us, but I can’t take anything away from England.”And she can hold her head up high. Like Edwards, she has been a positive influence on her team who fully deserved their place in the final. They just could not do it on the day as the pressure told.England showed nerves too, but rose to the occasion just when it mattered. Their victory is not just one for themselves. As bizarre as it sounds, it could ultimately be a win for New Zealand, too, if their board can take note of how England won the final and what resources they could use in the future.That will be of little comfort to New Zealand right now as their players come to terms with the loss, but England have proven how to win the World Cup and just what a little faith can do.

Match facts

Friday March 20
Start time 9.30am (13.30GMT)

Big picture

Another format and another chance for England to register their first international win of the winter? Don’t hold your breath. Barring their series win against South Africa last summer they haven’t been much good at one-day cricket for a long time and are facing a West Indies side full of energy and confidence. England don’t have a settled opening pair or a settled bowling attack and are forever experimenting to try and find a combination that works. It all fell flat in the Twenty20 as they were comprehensively thumped and the guessing game is set to continue.West Indies have far fewer issues to worry about and are hoping to be boosted by the return of Chris Gayle after his hamstring injury. During their struggles in recent years the 50-over variety has provided the occasional moment of success as their deficiencies weren’t exposed in the shorter format. Their top order can match any for destructive qualities, while Dwayne Bravo’s availability boosts all departments. The collection of useful spinners and medium pacers are ideally suited to the slow surfaces that are now common and the fielding continues to show marked improvement. It hasn’t been said very often of late, but West Indies start as clear favourites.

Form guide (most recent first)

West Indies LNLWN
England LLLLL

Watch out for …

Fidel Edwards has been fast, hostile and fairly unlucky all tour. He could have had a bag of wickets in the Test series but dropped catches cost him and this one-day series provides the chance to earn some reward. He doesn’t really bowl much differently in the shorter format, and is never afraid to mix up bouncers with yorkers, and although his extra pace can make scoring easy he offers an important strike option for Gayle.England don’t have anyone with the pace to match, but Stuart Broad has developed impressively during the tour. He enjoyed more success with the white ball in the early days of his international career, which bodes well for the matches ahead as he will share the new-ball duties with James Anderson. He is showing more variety, too, developing slower-balls and cutters to suit the different surfaces, and is quickly becoming Andrew Strauss’s go-to man.

Team news

Strauss has declared himself fit after a minor hamstring problem but Andrew Flintoff hasn’t yet recovered from his hip injury and continues to miss out. England won’t reveal their side until the toss, but it seems likely that Steven Davies will get another chance to open alongside Ravi Bopara. West Indies will give Gayle a last-minute fitness test although he is hopeful of being ready, while it is a surprise that Sulieman Benn has been dropped after his superb spell in the Twenty20. Offspinner Nikita Miller has been recalled to the squad after a strong domestic seasonWest Indies (possible) 1 Chris Gayle (capt), 2 Devon Smith, 3 Ramnaresh Sarwan, 4 Shivnarine Chanderpaul, 5 Kieron Pollard, 6 Lendl Simmons, 7 Dwayne Bravo, 8 Denesh Ramdin (wk), 9 Darren Sammy, 10 Jerome Taylor, 11 Fidel EdwardsEngland (possible) 1 Ravi Bopara, 2 Steven Davies (wk), 3 Kevin Pietersen, 4 Owais Shah, 5 Paul Collingwood, 6 Andrew Strauss (capt), 7 Dimitri Mascarenhas, 8 Stuart Broad, 9 Gareth Batty, 10 Amjad Khan, 11 James Anderson

Pitch and conditions

The Providence Stadium in Guyana has replicated the slow, low pitches of the old Bourda ground so the quick bowlers shouldn’t expect too much encouragement. It will be a match for the medium pacers and spinners, which could also make scoring hard work. As ever on the South American mainland the weather will play a part with a chance of rain pretty much at any time.

Stats & Trivia

Quotes

“I had a little bit of a hamstring niggle but I’ve been working hard with the medical staff and I feel absolutely 100% fine.”
“I’m really looking forward to the five matches, it’s going to be competitive and I’m looking forward to the challenge ahead.”

Bryce McGain, the uncapped legspinner, started slowly on his second major trip with the Australian team by missing the plane to South Africa. McGain didn’t make the flight from Melbourne to Sydney to meet the national squad and finally joined his team-mates on Tuesday morning.”It’s amazing what 10 minutes late at one end can multiply out to at the other,” McGain said in the Australian. “My plane hadn’t left Melbourne for Sydney when I got there and I said to them, ‘Just let me on the plane, don’t worry about my bags’, but they wouldn’t do it. It was about ten to eight and they couldn’t get me to Sydney by 10.30am.”Unfortunately there was a lot of kerfuffle around flights into Sydney that day and the next plane was delayed and so my solution was to fly via Hong Kong. It was interesting, I caught up on a bit of lost sleep and finally arrived here this [Tuesday] morning. I thought there was going to be all sorts of grief when I got there but it seems OK.”McGain said he hadn’t slept in and the paper said he was unlikely to face a serious punishment. Now 36, McGain started the tour of India last year before heading home for shoulder surgery.If he can make an impact in the three Tests, which start in Johannesburg on February 26, it will be a relief to Australia, who have struggled to fill the spot left by Shane Warne in 2007. Nathan Hauritz has been the most-used slow bowler since Stuart MacGill retired and is also on the trip.

With five batsmen and four bowlers among the top ten in this season’s Ranji Trophy runs and wickets charts, West Zone start as favourites against East Zone in their Duleep Trophy semi-final, which begins tomorrow at the Brabourne Stadium.A top order comprising Wasim Jaffer, Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara – the top three run-makers this year – and a bowling attack led by Dhawal Kulkarni [the joint highest wicket-taker] along with Siddarth Trivedi , Ramesh Powar and Samad Fallah make West an intimidating prospect. And this is not even their first XI: Sachin Tendulkar, Zaheer Khan, Rohit Sharma, Munaf Patel, the Pathan brothers [Irfan and Yusuf] and Ravindra Jadeja are away on national duty. Even in their absence East have much to worry about.East have two internationals in their ranks – Shiv Sunder Das, their captain, and Manoj Tiwary – who will need to take charge if they are to match their formidable rivals. They will also need the best out of the new-ball pair of Ranadeb Bose and Basanth Mohanty, who might find the Kookaburra ball to their liking, especially in the morning session.Most of all, East will need a superlative team effort. Das, leading East for the second successive year, said it was a challenge captaining players from five different states (Bengal, Orissa, Jharkhand, Tripura and Assam) but said he was getting used to it. He admitted West are a “strong” opponent, but said he had faith in his seamers to do the job. “The side that plays the new ball (both batsmen and bowlers) well will hold the upper hand. And I back my seamers [Bose, Mohanty and Ashok Dinda],” Das said after the training session.Both captains spoke about the true behaviour of the pitch, expected to be lively in the first session with enough moisture for the fast bowlers to create an advantage. There have been results in all the three games played at the ground this season and another one cannot be ruled out over the next four days. The curator has left a light grass cover, so some action is expected in the first session at least on the first two mornings with spin coming into play in second half of the match.Although the line-ups are to be picked on the morning of the game, the pace-conducive pitch will influence the final XIs with both teams likely to adopt a five-bowler strategy (three seamers and two spinners).Apart from bonding as a unit, certain players will aim to further their ambitions of making it to the next level. “If they perform for themselves it will help the team. They can think of getting not only on the New Zealand tour but also into the India A squads,” Jaffer said. Between the two teams there are five players with a BCCI contract – Jaffer, Parthiv Patel and Cheteshwar Pujara from West and East’s pair of Wriddhiman Saha and Ashok Dinda – and all of them will look to make an impact to attract the attention of the selectors.Of the five, Parthiv will entertain strong hopes of making a comeback at least as a stand-by wicketkeeper for Mahendra Singh Dhoni on the New Zealand tour. Even if Dinesh Karthik has been making a statement with the bat his keeping remains a concern and Parthiv will hope the selectors give him another chance after recalling him for the third Test of the Sri Lanka series last year. He has had a strong domestic season with the bat, piling up 526 runs in eight games at 47 – including a double-century – and leading Gujarat to the Ranji quarterfinals.Teams
West Zone (likely): Wasim Jaffer (capt), Parthiv Patel (wk), Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara, Kedar Jadhav, Bhavik Thakker, Ramesh Powar, Rajesh Pawar, Dhawal Kulkarni, Siddarth Trivedi, Samad FallahEast Zone (likely): Shiv Sunder Das (capt), Dibyendu Chakravarthy, Manoj Tiwary, Rashmi Parida, Nishit Shetty, Niranjan Behera, Wriddhiman Saha, Ranadeb Bose, Ashok Dinda, Basant Mohanty, Anand Katti.

Tony Judd, the Australian coach, is returning to the Scotland set-up as assistant coach and performance analyst.Judd was previously Scotland’s head coach in 2003 before standing down following the successful Intercontinental Cup run in 2004 having decided he didn’t want the position full time.Now he will work alongside current head coach Peter Steindl, who is also supported by Adrian Birrell as a batting consultant.”It’s good to have such a lot of experience behind us as we enter this new era of professionalism in Scottish cricket,” Steindl said. “We are very lucky to have coaches of Tony’s and Adrian’s ability within the set-up.”Judd’s return has been aided by an increase in ICC funding which has enabled Scotland to expand their coaching resources.”It’s great to be back in harness in support of Pete,” he said. “We have an important year ahead of us, and I’m looking forward to working with the players once again.”

Nepal beat Malaysia in a one-sided match to clinch the ACC women’s Under-19 trophy at the Prem Oval. After the senior side won the inaugural ACC trophy last year, Nepal’s youngsters put in an impressive performance in Thailand, not dropping a single game on their march to the title.Malaysia, who had earlier made the highest total of the tournament and beaten favourites Hong Kong to qualify for the final, were bowled out for 45, in a score that included 30 extras. No batsman scored more than 3. Sonu Khakda picked up 3 for 9 while Rekha Rawal, Nepal’s highest wicket-taker in the tournament, took 2 for 11 to take her tally to 12. Nepal wrapped up the chase in 11.5 overs with opener Maya Rawat scoring 15 off 18 balls.Nary Thapa, the Nepal captain who also led the senior side to victory last year, said Nepal had a winning combination of players. “We’ve been playing a long time and have enough confidence in matches,” Thapa was quoted as saying on the ACC website.Malaysia’s coach V Kalidas was pleased with his team’s performance as well. “Nepal played well, no doubt about it but I am proud of the way my girls tried with the ball,” Kalidas said. “These girls are young enough to keep getting better in future tournaments.”Thailand claimed the No. 3 spot in the team standings for the tournament after beating Hong Kong by four wickets in the play-off at the Chiang Mai Gymkhana. Hong Kong’s innings, like Malaysia’s, was boosted by 30 extras that took the total to 75. Keenu Gill and Charlotte Chan top scored with 9 each, while Pornthiva Olarakchat and Piraorn Kamla shared six wickets between them. Gill and Chan troubled Thailand during the chase, reducing them to 40 for 5 before Nathakan Chantham and Pimpika Jindakam took them to safety with an unbeaten 33-run partnership.Singapore‘s tournament ended in disappointment as they lost to UAE by 17 runs at the Chiang Mai Gymkhana to finish at last place. After their bowlers conceded 49 extras in UAE’s total of 96, Singapore’s batsmen plodded to 79 in their 25 overs. Captain Priyanjali Jain top scored with 23 to become the team’s leading run-scorer in the tournament with 99 runs.

A Conservative councillor has attacked Birmingham City Council’s decision to lend Warwickshire £20 million in order to fund the redevelopment of Edgbaston.The ambitious plans were unveiled in October and include increasing capacity by 5000 with the construction of a new stand. In addition, and to help recover the loan, there will be corporate hospitality suites as is now common with modern cricket grounds.At the time Warwickshire claimed they would need to borrow £10 million, but a row at Birmingham City Council has broken out with rumours that the club will need at least double that figure. For a club who have struggled to break even in the past two years, there are deep concerns over how they will repay such a significant loan.”Some important questions need to be asked. The council helps many organisations but is it right to give financial support by means of a loan considering our other priorities?” James Hutchings, chairman of the council’s finance committee, told the .”During the past couple of seasons the cricket club has barely broken even. If they are only just breaking even how can they afford to pay £1 million annual interest charges and at some stage repay the loan? It wouldn’t be very friendly for the council to lend them the money if that drives the club into financial failure.”Edgbaston is just one high-profile ground in England to announce extensive redevelopment plans. Both Lord’s and The Oval, in London, have promised to expand their capacities and protect their financial future with corporate hospitality, and even hotels. Last week, the MCC expressed concern that their new development – which is estimated at £200 million – may run into difficulty if, as is threatened, the ECB decrease the number of Test matches hosted at the home of cricket.”There is a big question mark in my mind as to whether [Edgbaston] will be able ever to repay the loan and whether the council has more urgent things to fund,” Hutchings said. “The cricket club are very keen to retain Test match status and I absolutely support them in that.”A spokesman for the council said discussions were ongoing.

Scorecard

Sunil Dholpure snared 12 wickets in the match to help Madhya Pradesh open their campaign with an emphatic victory in Indore. Vidarbha’s second innings bore several similarities to their first: their openers, Faiz Fazal and Amit Deshpande, top scored and their batsmen had no answer to Dholpure’s offspin.Medium-pacer Sanjay Pandey took the first two wickets to fall but Vidarbha progressed to 75 for 2 before succumbing to Dholpure. They lost six wickets for 37 runs, and had their last two batsmen to thank for not losing by an innings. Madhya Pradesh were eventually left with a target of 27 which their openers knocked off in 6.1 overs.
Scorecard
There was a third-day finish in Rohtak as well, with Himachal Pradesh’s Vikramjeet Malik taking 13 wickets in the match to consign Haryana to a 103-run defeat. Himachal, who were in the Super League last season, resumed on 185 for 4 only to slump to 238 all out. The collapse would have been even more dramatic had it not been for former Indian offspinner Sarandeep Singh lashing a 21-ball 25.Haryana’s chase of 254 rarely looked like succeeding with eight of their batsmen making single-digit scores. Debutant Rahul Dewan was the only batsman to offer resistance, scoring a combative 66. The rest struggled to cope with Malik, who went one better than his six wickets in the first innings, to ensure five points for Himachal Pradesh.
Scorecard
The match between Kerala and Goa in Palakkad lurched towards a stalemate with Kerala crawling to 327 for 3 in their first innings by the end of the third day. Though they lost only one wicket in the day, Kerala pottered along at less than two-and-a-half runs an over. VA Jagadeesh was dismissed in the third over of the day after which Sreekumar Nair and Preambhastn Prem ground out an unbroken 216-run partnership. With an outright result improbable, the match has now been reduced to a tussle for the three points on offer for the first-innings lead.
Scorecard
Tripura’s tailenders, led by Vineet Jain’s breezy 58, left their side well-placed for an outright win against Services in Delhi. After conceding a 95-run first-innings lead, Services had clawed their way back into the match by reducing Tripura to 93 for 7. However, their bowlers were unable to finish the job and Tripura’s last three wickets realised 137 valuable runs. Jain slammed five fours and four sixes in his knock while wicketkeeper Tushar Saha made a 33-ball 38 to help push Tripura’s lead beyond 300.To make matters worse for Services, they lost two wickets off the last two overs of the day to finish on 55 for 3, needing another 261 more runs.