GAYLE BACK IN JAMAICA SQUAD FOR 4-DAY

KINGSTON, Jamaica: Off-spinner Jamie Merchant is the only new face in an experienced Jamaica 13-man squad for their opening match of the Regional Four-Day Championship starting here on Friday.

The 22-year-old, overlooked for last October's Super50 limited overs tournament in Guyana, has finally earned a call up to the senior team which also includes discarded West Indies opener Chris Gayle.

Merchant can also bat and is expected to boost Jamaica's lower order.

Gayle has been included but is expected to head off to Bangladesh shortly where he has commitments in the new Premier League Twenty20 championship there.

Australia-born left-hander Brendan Nash, also discarded by West Indies selectors after averaging 33 from 21 Tests, has been included in the line up.

Nash last played for West Indies against India in June last year.

The squad, which will be led by Tamar Lambert, is packed with experience with the likes of West Indies wicketkeeper Carlton Baugh, exciting all-rounder Andre Russell and out-of-favour Windies left-arm spinner Nikita Miller in the brew.

No room has been found for Windies one-day batsman Danza Hyatt who media reports indicate has been left out because of lack of fitness and loss of form.

West Indies batsman Marlon Samuels and pacer Jerome Taylor have made themselves unavailable because of their commitments in the Bangladesh Premier League

Jamaica are four-time defending champions and will launch their campaign against Windward Islands at Sabina Park.

SQUAD: Tamar Lambert (captain), Nikita Miller, Chris Gayle, Simon Jackson, Brenton Parchment, Donovan Pagon, David Bernard Jr, Carlton Baugh Jr, Odean Brown, Andre Russell, Andre Richardson, Jamie Merchant

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Will world champions be able to regain their pride?

After a nightmare for Indian cricket team in test series losing by 4-0 to Aussies, the two matches T20 series is going to start tomorrow. Will Indians be able to beat Aussies for the 1st time in the tour?

Most of the players will be changed on both sides. The major changes are already made as George Bailey is starting his career as Australian captain and also Brad Hogg returns to the side almost after four and half years. Dhoni is going to join the Indian team back as a captain, as he was banned for one test match. Sachin Tendulkar will sit out.

Brad Hogg, who retired from international cricket almost four years ago, is also expected to comeback after fine bowling performances in Big Bash League. Brett Lee also returns after fixing his injury that ruled out him from South African tour. Both of the teams seem ready for the fight.

George Bailey said: "I'm nervous about both ( captaincy and debut ) , from the playing aspect you're anxious to get out there and perform really well, and the captaining side of things I'm really comfortable with that, it's more getting to know the players as quickly as I can."

MS Dhoni said, He is excited to face Bailey as a captain. Bailey and Dhoni both plays for  Chennai Super Kings in IPL. Dhoni further added about Bailey and said. "He's an interesting character, he plays good cricket, he's someone who can play his strokes, he's very intelligent and understands the game well,''
Dhoni also said: "We play with a lot of emotion. Indians are known to be emotional people. But it's not something we haven't done in the past. We have been able to do this. In England when we went into the ODIs I felt the boys performed really well apart from the rain that affected our bowling performance because of the wet ball. Apart from that the fight was good over there. Not really worried. Hopefully it will go our way."

Here are some facts and figures of the two sides.

HEAD TO HEAD MATCHES:

India and Australia have played four T20 matches so far and honours have been shared. India won first two meetings at Durban during World T20 2007 and then at Mumbai a month later while Australia claimed clash at Melbourne in 2008 and the one during World T20 2010 at Barbados.

Overall, Indians have done marginally better than Aussies in International T20s, winning 16 out of their 31 games with 13 defeats, a tie and a no result while Aussies have 23 wins from 45 games besides 20 defeats, a tie and a no result.

INDIA T20 SQUAD:

 MS Dhoni (captain & wk), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Suresh Raina, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Manoj Tiwary, Parthiv Patel, Irfan Pathan, Ravindra Jadeja, Praveen Kumar, R Ashwin, Zaheer Khan, Umesh Yadav, R Vinay Kumar and Rahul Sharma.

AUSTRALIA T20 SQUAD:

George Bailey (captain), David Warner (vc), Shaun Marsh, Aaron Finch, David Hussey, Travis Birt, Dan Christian, Mitchell Marsh, Mathew Wade (wk), Xavier Doherty, James Faulkner, Brad Hogg, Brett Lee and Clint McKay.

RECORDS:

79 not out by Rohit Sharma at Barbados is highest score while Nathan Bracken, Shaun Tait and Dirk Nannes have picked 3 wickets each in a match. 188/5 by India at Durban is the highest score. There is just one century stand in Ind v Aus T20 match, i.e. for the 1^st wicket between Shane Watson and David Warner.

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Panesar Blames Himself For Defeat.

After a painful defeat against Pakistan, England's left arm spinner Monty Panesar took the blame for England's dismal defeat in the second Test. Since Panesar took six wickets in Pakistan's second innings and was also the not out batsman in England's inexorable decline to 72 all out, it was an unexpected mea culpa.

But Monty Panesar, who made his return to the Test team after almost three years and 29 matches, insisted it was a fair cop after his return in the first innings on a turning pitch. "I should have taken wickets at a quicker rate," he said. "Thirty-three overs with one wicket possibly cost the match."

Panesar might have made more of the circumstances than his 1 for 91 but, after such a long international absence, it was always probable that he would take time to rediscover his rhythm. He re-established his partnership with the off-spinner, Graeme Swann, who took over from him as the side's leading (and usually solitary) spinner early in 2009.

The pair spent four years as a spin partnership at Northamptonshire, starting in 2001 when they each took eight wickets in a 202-run win against Leicestershire.

"I have got to go away and learn how to take wickets quicker," Panesar said. "In the first innings Swann carried me. He has been great for me. I have always enjoyed the partnership with him."

These are beneficial times to be a spinner in Test cricket. The UDRS has opened up a new world of possibilities and as Panesar pointed out it is not simply lbw that is in greater play.

"I think DRS in general has had an impact on all spinners," he said. "Batsmen can't play defensively with the pad. You have got to use the bat and it's bringing the outside edge and the inside edge into play. That is keeping the finger spinners in the game a lot more and umpires are beginning to see that the ball hits the stumps more often than you thought it would."

Panesar seems certain to keep his place for the third Test, which starts in Dubai on Friday. If it is played on the same surface as the first match in the series at the International Cricket Stadium it will offer both sets of spinners cause for optimism.

It would be perverse for England to change the bowling, especially as, despite Panesar's protestations to the contrary, it was the batsmen who cost England the game in an oddly inert collapse. Whereas in the first innings of the first Test, when Saeed Ajmal prompted their downfall, they played too many shots, in the second innings of the second Test in Abu Dhabi they played too few.

Nobody is saying much as yet but Ravi Bopara must come into serious consideration for a place. England have confirmed that they are not replacing the injured Chris Tremlett making Panesar's participation more likely. They also have two spare fast bowlers, Steve Finn and Graham Onions.

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