India's tour of West Indies

Fourth Test, St John's, Antigua:
India 226-3 v West Indies.

India look set for to reach a massive total in their first innings against the West Indies, despite the fall of Sachin Tendulkar for his third duck in four innings.

Wasim Jaffer and Rahul Dravid compiled impressive half-centuries to put India in the driving seat.

Tendulkar edged an out-swinger from left-arm paceman Pedro Collins to wicket-keeper Ridley Jacobs.

The last time the 29-year-old suffered a first-ball demise was against Pakistan in 1999, when paceman Shoaib Akhtar claimed his wicket in Calcutta.

Scorecard | Match report

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Sir Viv Richards, probably the best batsman of his era, believes Indian superstar Sachin Tendulkar should work on consistency.

The West Indian legend was commenting on Tendulkar, the apparent successor to his crown, in Antigua, where India are playing the fourth Test of their current Caribbean series.

Sir Viv's words came in the same week that Sunil Gavaskar announced he had spotted a recent flaw in Tendulkar's technique.

Asked to compare the Indian batsman with Trinidadian Brian Lara, Sir Viv told BBC Radio: "I believe Tendulkar could have been a bit more productive in terms of consistency. But when Brian Lara is on fire there isn't a better sight in world cricket."

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The Board of Control for Cricket in India has taken the first step towards trying to produce faster Test wickets.

Indian pitches traditionally favour spin bowlers, with little bounce or lateral movement for the seamers.

But the BCCI believes they have had an adverse effect on the national team's performance away from home.

India have not won a series outside the Asian continent for 16 years and their batsmen have been exposed on lively tracks in Australia and South Africa.

Groundstaff are to re-lay the wickets at 10 international stadia - in Delhi, Mohali, Madras, Bangalore, Calcutta, Cuttack, Bombay, Ahmedabad, Kanpur and Nagpur.

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West Indies skipper Carl Hooper defended his decision to put India in to bat as the tourists looked set for a large first innings total in the fourth Test in Antigua.

Left-arm fast bowler Pedro Collins (3-65) was the only bowler to enjoy any success as India reached 226-3 on the opening day at the Recreation Ground.

"We've four fast bowlers and the Indians haven't been batting well, so it wasn't a strange decision," Hooper said.

"When you make decisions, whether they're right or wrong, you've got to stand by them."

Australia's tour of Pakistan

The Australian Cricket Board is considering the possibility of playing a series against Pakistan, scheduled for later this year, at a neutral venue.

The Australian team was due to tour Pakistan in September and October but it was thrown into doubt by a suicide bombing in Karachi earlier this week which prompted New Zealand to pull out of a Test match and fly home.

ACB spokesman Brendan McClements confirmed, however, that they were now looking at alternative venues, including Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates and Morocco.

Sri Lanka in England

Darren Gough has confirmed the seemingly inevitable and officially ruled himself out of England's first Test against Sri Lanka at Lord's on 16 May.

It means that both teams will be missing their premier bowling weapons, with Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan out because of a shoulder injury.

Gough has a knee problem and has not played any cricket since the end of the one-day series in New Zealand in February.

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By the time the first ball is bowled at Lord's on 16 May, Duncan Fletcher and Nasser Hussain will have pored through any number of permutations before deciding on a starting eleven. Different pitches require different bowling attacks.

And whereas England used two specialist spinners in India, and one in New Zealand, they may decide to do without any slow bowlers at all, leaving Ashley Giles out.

May in England seldom provides the right conditions for even the most artful purveyors of spin. And with Darren Gough ruled out the door is open for one or two seam bowlers who are not among the contracted 11.

Miscellaneous

Fast bowler Andy Caddick has become the first player to receive an official reprimand under the new England and Wales Cricket Board disciplinary code.

He was reported by umpires David Constant and Roy Palmer for a show of dissent during Somerset's County Championship match against reigning champions Yorkshire at Taunton.

Caddick was found guilty of a Level One breach of the new code - showing dissent at an umpire's decision by word or action - and any repeat within the next 12 months would result in the automatic imposition of three penalty points.

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