Sehwag finding his feet, finally

Keen to make up for a string of poor scores in four successive innings in his debut county season, explosive Indian batsman Virender Sehwag struck a 20-ball 32 before rain stalled what could have been another of his blitzkriegs.

Roped in by English county side Leicestershire, Sehwag finally seemed to have found his bearings, unleashing some fine-looking strokes in the four-day match against Surrey at the Oval yesterday. In the 20 minutes of play that was possible in overcast conditions on the third day, Sehwag, resuming at his overnight 14, had no problem sighting the ball hurtling out of the gloom and his first scoring shot was an immaculate straight-driven four off Martin Bicknell.

Bicknell's next ball was struck powerfully through the covers and after four overs the score had reached 32 for two with all the runs being scored by Sehwag. Just then rain intervened. Leicester now have the fourth and final day left to knock up 328 runs with eight wickets in hand, weather permitting of course. Sehwag, who made just two runs in the first innings, will have to build on his start if he is to help his side save or win the match.

Brief Scores: Leicestershire: 200 and 32 for two (Sehwag not out 32).
Surrey: 560 for eight declared (Mark Ramprakash 152, Ian Salisbury 101 not out, A D Brown 73, A J Stewart 71).

Lanka, Pakistan captains challenge their batsmen

Rival captains Marvan Atapattu of Sri Lanka and Rashid Latif of Pakistan have challenged their batsmen to produce runs when the second round of the limited-overs tri-series starts today.

"My batsmen must start valuing their wickets, they need to quickly fight a way out of the batting slump," Atapattu said as his team prepared to defend its five-year winning record of limited-overs series at home. To protect their record, Sri Lanka need to avenge their 79-run series opener loss to Pakistan when the teams meet again tomorrow.

"One's got to accept that Sri Lanka's batting is going though a terrible lean patch," said Atapattu. "This has gone far too long, but we've worked hard on our batting and hope to reverse the trend -- it's time now for the batsmen to deliver." He said his batsmen are capable of dominating at the Rangiri Stadium, where the swinging, bouncing ball has given bowlers the ascendancy.

The fresh and lively pitch, with excessive moisture during the morning session, has turned the matches into a virtual lottery as the toss plays a crucial role. Batsmen have struggled in the conditions, but Latif said it gives his young lineup the perfect learning environment. "So what if conditions are tailormade for pace bowlers? The batsmen must learn to handle such adversities," he said.

Streak wants tougher opponents

Zimbabwe captain Heath Streak said he wished his side had faced better teams ahead of next week's opening Test against England at Lord's on Thursday.

In last week's tied match against Worcestershire, both Zimbabwe-born England batsman Graeme Hick and South African fast bowler Mornantau Hayward were missing from the county's lineup. In Zimbabwe's current match, Sussex have left out Pakistani leg-spinner Mushtaq Ahmed, England paceman James Kirtley, former England batsman and club captain Chris Adams, and improving all-rounder Robin Martin-Jenkins.

Streak, speaking after the second day yesterday of a scheduled four was washed out, said he understood why counties were keen to rest key players. But the pace bowler, some of whose team's batsmen may have had extra time at the crease because of the counties' selection policies, added: "Obviously, yes, we would like to play against stronger county sides. Around the world you see state sides or provincial sides putting out their strongest possible team. They try not to let the touring side dominate, making sure they have a tough time in their warm-up games."

He suggested that in future it might be more beneficial all-round if tour matches in England pit the visiting side against Test hopefuls. "I don't think it's a conspiracy thing," he said. "It is up to each and every county to select their team. Maybe if they [the authorities] had looked at giving an incentive or combining counties it would be better."

Waugh defends player behaviour

Steve Waugh has defended his players' behaviour during their recent Test series in the West Indies and strongly hinted he wants to continue as Australia's captain in the longer version of the game.

Waugh told reporters on his arrival home today that while his players had stepped out of line on a couple of occasions, their conduct had generally been good and there was no animosity between the teams. Australia won the four-Test series 3-1. The Ricky Ponting-led one-day side plays the first of seven internationals today.

"The heat of the moment got to a few players [but] from a playing point of view it was probably the friendliest series I've been involved with," Waugh said. "On and off the field the guys had a lot of interaction, talked with each other a great deal, and helped each other with cricket."

Waugh was told by Australian cricket boss James Sutherland to haul his players into line after a heated onfield row between fast bowler Glenn McGrath and West Indies batsman Ramnaresh Sarwan in the fourth and final Test. McGrath later apologised for his actions and Waugh said he hoped people would not judge the tour on that one incident. "I'm not making excuses for it, but it does happen, that's the reality of the situation," he said.

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