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Brad Hogg relishes the challenge of bowling to Sourav Ganguly, India’sbest batsman over the last 12 months. Ganguly was Hogg’s first Test victim, back in1996 in Delhi, and he was thrilled to have dismissed him in both innings inMelbourne.”Ganguly was my first Test and international wicket and it was good to get him outin his 100th Test match,” Hogg said. “And to get him out twice was pleasing but atthe end of the day we have another Test match, so I have to be on my game to do thesame thing.”Hogg nailed Ganguly with a flipper in the first innings, skidding on to the stumps,and induced a close-in catch in the second. Not only did Hogg ably support thefast bowlers, with four wickets in the big win, but also silenced doubters about hisability to bowl to India’s much-vaunted batting line-up.Hogg’s googly has troubled batsmen in the one-day format but he pulled out theflipper to surprise India in Melbourne. “I really have not bowled it for the pastcouple of years,” Hogg said of his flipper. “A couple of the boys have told me toput it in my locker. It is just one of those things I thought if there is a momentthat I might just try it in a game and it just happened that it worked, so yeah ifyou have got it you might as well use it as the saying goes.”Hogg said he viewed the MCG opportunity as a chance to fill Stuart MacGill’s shoesbut went on to suggest that he was ready to take his spot. “But you never know whatis going to happen down the track,” he said. “I could not play tomorrow and play ayear later. I have just come in here and want to lap up every moment as much aspossible and you never know what is around the corner.”Was there any area of his game that he was keen to work on for Sydney? “Patience, Ithink. I’m an impatient bloke myself. It’s important I bowl with the same patiencethat the faster bowlers did. The pitch at Sydney has changed quite a bit. I guessspinners may have to work a lot harder. It was a bit nerve-wracking in the earlystages in Melbourne. But my batting in the second innings calmed it down a bit.Nerves are about wanting to do well.”

ScorecardAjit Agarkar spurred West Zone to their second successive win in the Deodhar Trophy as they romped to a massive 180-run win against South Zone at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. After winning the toss and choosing to bat, West began steadily but unspectacularly. Half-centuries from Satyajit Parab and Niraj Patel gave the innings backbone, but it was Agarkar’s assault at No. 7 that turned the tide in West’s favour. Agarkar slammed an unbeaten 70 off a mere 44 balls, hitting seven fours and 3 sixes. His innings pushed West Zone to a healthy 287 for 7 from 50 overs. When South Zone replied, the wheels came off. None of the batsmen could top 31, and a slew of single-digit scores saw them slump to 107 all out. Siddharth Trivedi, the medium pacer, picked up 4 for 40.
ScorecardNorth Zone thrashed East Zone by seven wickets at the Moti Bagh Stadium in Vadodara to further their chances of glory in the latest edition of the Deodhar Trophy. After winning the toss and putting the opposition in North’s bowlers did the job, hustling East Zone to 146 all out. Only Rohan Gavaskar (48) and Sanjib Sanyal (64) made it to double figures as Amit Bhandari (4 for 35) led the bowlers. The target was never going to pose a threat to a strong batting line-up, and North Zone cantered to victory in less than 37 overs.

On a pitch tailor made for their quartet of spin bowlers, Tamil Union look set to spring a surprise in the first semi final of the Premier Limited Overs tournament at Premadasa International Stadium tonight. They have bowled out the tournament favorites, Colts Cricket Club, for a meager 174 in 48.4 overs.Tamil Union have one of the strongest spin attacks in the land. Led by the irrepressible Mutiah Muralitharan, who picked up five wickets for 15 runs in 9.4 overs, the spin bowlers took nine of the wickets to fall. The Colts batsmen struggled to play them on a slow paced pitch that spun extravagantly.Colts CC had won the toss and begun confidently, despite the loss of Romesh Kaluwitharan for just six runs in the sixth over of the innings. Chaminda Mendis and Kulatunga compiled 67 runs for the second wicket and Colts CC looked set for another impressive total.However, Upul Chandana turned to Mutiah Muralitharan in the 16th over of the innings and in partnership with left arm spinner, Niroshan Bandaratilake, he turned the course the course of the match. Colts CC lost four wickets for just six runs and slumped to 92 for five.Kulatunga had played some sparkling shots including a brace of boundaries in Ranga Dias’s first and last over. However, he was less assured against the spinners, and started the slide when he charged down the wicket to Muralitharan and was caught at cover. He had scored 35 from 52 deliveries.Sajith Fernando walked to the crease in confident fashion but was caught in the very next over as he top edged a sweep. Then, Chaminda Mendis, who had scored a solid 35 from 69 balls, was clean bowled by Muralitharan four balls later. In the same over Sujith Janaka looked unlucky to have been adjudged caught behind.Were it not for Chaminda Vaas (18) and Eric Upashantha (34), who added 45 runs for the seventh wicket, Colts would not have even surpassed 150. The pair batted patiently and sensibly. Aware of the responsibility that now lay on their shoulders, they eschewed risks and concentrated on picking up singles.Just when they looked like they were on the verge of grasping the initiative back, Chaminda Vaas tried to pull sweep Upul Chandana and was brilliantly caught by a tumbling Brijesh Jeganathanan on the mid wicket boundary.The skipper wasted no time in recalling his premier bowler and Muralitharan just proved too good for the Colts lower order. They lunged and prodded as best they could but were eventually bowled out for a total that looks too small.

2nd day
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsAfter declaring at 458 for 8, led by Zander de Bruyn’s 134, the Titans and a few diehard SuperSport Park supporters were given a lesson in aggressive batting with Davey Jacobs’s excellent 149 off 134 balls, sending the ball to the boundary on 21 occasions and clearing it a further five times. His dominance with the bat was evident when Gerhardus Liebenberg contributed only 22 to their century partnership, while Boeta Dippenaar contributed 31 to the second-wicket hundred stand. Dippenaar will continue on day three with 34 on the board.2nd day
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsAt Kingsmead, after dismissing JP Duminy for 112, the Dolphins made quick work of the tail to restrict WPBOL to 346. Mfuneko Ngam, having spent most of the day on the physiotherapist’s table, returned to take two wickets with the 16 balls he bowled on day two. Shaun Pollock finished with four while Lance Klusener, Johann Louw and Ngam took two each. Dolphins struggled to 133 for five before Pollock (52*) and Hashim Amla (106) recovered the innings to 236 for six. A lot of hard work remains for the Dolphins to save the game.2nd day
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsA concerted batting effort from the Lions, scoring 375 with Werner Coetsee undefeated on 70, made way for their bowlers who also got in on the act as the Warriors faltered with very little fight to be struggling at 134 for seven when bad light brought an end to their misery. In trouble at 46 for four, Mark Boucher and Pieter Strydom put up some token resistance but wickets fell at constant intervals to leave them floundering at the end of the day. With very little batting to come Strydom will have to dig deep to get his team back into the game.

Scorecard

Chasing under lights yet again in the second game of their one-day series against Pakistan, South Africa could not resist the pressure for long enough to make a realistic assault their target of 268, falling short by 42 runs. Pakistan’s second win in three days at Lahore gave them a 2-0 lead in the five-match series.The script followed that of the first match quite closely. After Yousuf Youhana missed another chance of a century, a late flurry brought Pakistan vital runs. Boeta Dippenaar then shepherded South Africa’s chase until it crumbled against some tight bowling and fielding.Tonight it was Mohammad Hafeez’s part-time offspin that derailed the chase. Hafeez had Dippenaar, Jacques Kallis and Jacques Rudolph all sweeping at deliveries too full for the stroke, bowling Dippenaar and trapping the other two lbw. Mohammad Sami, who had Graeme Smith caught at slip in the fifth over, returned to reverse-swing the old ball, knocking back the stumps of Robin Peterson and Andrew Hall with immaculate yorkers.The South African chase looked healthiest when, after Smith’s dismissal, Kallis and Dippenaar added 89 for the second wicket. Dippenaar played the sheet-anchor and rotated the strike well, while Kallis took advantage of Umar Gul’s discomfiture at the clouds of hovering insects. Despite the insecticide sprayed during the interval, Gul pulled up short more than once, turning to his team-mates to de-bug his eyes. His line and length became progressively more erratic, and Kallis capitalised. Off consecutive balls from Gul he flicked a four to square leg, cut him for four more, and then clipped one behind square to the fence.But Kallis’s eventual dismissal to Hafeez was the beginning of the end. Neil McKenzie survived a stumping chance but then pushed the ball to Sami at mid-off and went for a non-existent single. Sami got in another direct hit when Dippenaar called Mark Boucher for a run after dabbing it to backward point. Younis Khan ran out the final semblance of batting resistance in Shaun Pollock, and Pakistan had sealed the result long before Ntini smashed the final ball of the day over long-on for a huge six.Yousuf Youhana, captaining on the field after Inzamam-ul-Haq strained a leg muscle while batting (he’s in some doubt for the next game, at Faisalabad on Tuesday), led his side cannily. He could have used some of that judgment when he was batting earlier on: for the second match running, he squandered a splendid opportunity to get a century.Ntini and Pollock had got rid of Yasir Hameed and Hafeez, the openers, by keeping a strict rein on line and length. But things changed with Youhana’s arrival. Suddenly the bowling seemed to hold fewer demons, and the runs started to flow. That, apparently, was not to South Africa’s liking: after Youhana hit him for four, Hall elbowed him during a single. When Youhana objected, Hall eyeballed him and launched a verbal tirade. Only the intervention of the umpires and a stern warning to Smith, South Africa’s captain, prevented the incident from snowballing.Inzamam hobbled off in the 17th over, and Javed Miandad, Pakistan’s coach, signalled to Youhana to stay put. But almost immediately Youhana tried to tickle Kallis to third man and was caught behind – an almost identical dismissal to his one in the first game.Shoaib Malik, after his whirlwind assault on Friday, looked set for an encore, and indeed did thump fours off Kallis and Alan Dawson. But Ntini’s return for his second spell proved decisive. Bowling full and straight, he had Younis caught behind before inducing Shoaib and Abdul Razzaq to inside-edge into their stumps. Rashid Latif was adjudged run out by the third umpire – there was some doubt about the decision – and suddenly Pakistan were struggling to reach 250.They did eventually get there, courtesy of some big hitting from Inzamam, back with a runner and disdainfully punishing Hall in the final over of the innings. The over cost 16, most of them to Inzamam, but in the final analysis, they hardly mattered. Pakistan won the match easily enough, with 42 runs to spare, and they now need to win only one of the remaining three matches to take the one-day series.

In 1964, after winning the Ashes in England, Australia went over to Holland for a friendly game against the Dutch, and were rather embarrassingly beaten by three wickets. Forty years on, they travel to Holland again, to take on India and Pakistan in a triangular tournament, and once again, they are the overwhelming favourites.No disrespect is meant to India and Pakistan by this: both sides have won more than they have lost in the last two years, but Australia have been in a league of their own. They have won 44 of the 53 one-day internationals they have played since the start of 2003, a win percentage of 85. In the same period, India have won 27 out of 49, while Pakistan have won 28 out of 48. Ricky Ponting has won 56 of the 70 games in which he has captained, a win-loss ratio of 5.6. Ganguly’s is 1.22, while Inzamam’s is 2.11.The figures lay out the story accurately enough: this Australian side is one of the greatest one-day teams ever, a one-day version of The Invincibles, under a captain who will certainly end as one of the most successful; India and Pakistan are both strong up-and-coming sides, but not quite in the same league as Ponting’s men.Australia have never won the Champions Trophy, and that is their first big target this season. The Videocon Cup is just low-hanging fruit, a good tournament to get the players into match practice against decent opposition. Adam Gilchrist won’t be there in Holland, and the world is still getting used to an Australian one-day side without Michael Bevan, but Australia’s bench strength is still awesome.India come into this tournament after a defeat in the Asia Cup final, and desperately need to get some kind of momentum going before the Champions Trophy. They have 15 men in their squad here, one more than they did at the Asia Cup, which means that they do have the batting back-up that they missed there when VVS Laxman was injured. Ironically, now some of their bowlers are falling ill, but they have enough back-up for that.The Indian selectors, led by Syed Kirmani, probably India’s greatest wicketkeeper, have made a serious effort to find a keeper-batsman who can relieve Rahul Dravid of his burden behind the stumps. But Dinesh Karthik, the man they have picked, is unlikely to play in this competition, as Ganguly has made no secret of his preference for the seven-batsmen strategy. Karthik may get a game at the NatWest Challenge a few days from now, though.Pakistan may feel they were unfairly done in by the bonus-point system in the Asia Cup. Well, they begin this competition by playing India, whom they had beaten then, so here’s an excellent chance to prove a point. Inzamam has done a difficult job with quiet dignity since taking over as captain, and has won 20 of his 29 matches in charge. Bob Woolmer’s appointment as coach could play a big role in harnessing Pakistan’s talent, and their progress will be interesting to watch over the next few months. There are bound to be patches of outstanding play, but can they perform consistently over an extended period of time?It isn’t yet known how the pitch at Amstelveen will behave, but expect some high-scoring matches. The straight boundaries are less than 60 yards away, and there are plenty of big hitters on both sides who will relish the opportunity to hit some sixes. Shahid Afridi, Virender Sehwag and Matthew Hayden must all be licking their lips, and the spinners won’t fancy bowling to Ganguly and Inzamam either. The cricket will be entertaining and, fingers crossed, it will be hard-fought as well.Amit Varma is managing editor of Wisden Cricinfo in India. He writes the blog, 23 Yards, for this site.