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Shane Warne pointed the finger at his mum for giving him a banned drug, but Mitchell Johnson refuses to blame his mother for his off-the-rails Ashes campaign. At the start of the series, Vikki Harber said her son had been stolen by his girlfriend Jessica Bratich and since then Johnson has failed to regain the form that made him one of the world’s most frightening bowlers.”The message I want to say is hopefully things can work out and be resolved,” Johnson told the Australian magazine Women’s Day. “It probably might seem, at this time, like things have been distracting me. I was a bit disappointed with what has been going on, but I don’t let things like that distract me. Otherwise, you are thinking about what’s going on when you are in the field and you can’t focus.”Johnson, who moved from Queensland to Western Australia last year to be closer to Bratich, has not been in contact with his mother since the start of the year, but told the magazine he hoped she would be at his wedding next May. While Harber has also rejected claims she was responsible for her son’s poor Ashes form, which has contributed to Australia being 1-0 down, Johnson’s interview continues to drag out the episode.Despite his comments, Johnson has been terribly distracted and disjointed in the opening two Tests and those around the team believe the public nature of the issue has contributed to his slumping shoulders. He has also been desperate to fix an ailing action, with his low arm position causing severe uncertainty over his direction.While he has eight wickets in the series, the victims have come at 41.37 apiece and he is giving away four runs an over. After a horrible performance at Lord’s, where he struggled with the slope and delivered a host of short and wide offerings, there were few signs of recovery in his match return of 1 for 107 from 18.1 overs in the tour match against Northamptonshire.Allan Border, the former Australia captain, believes Johnson should stand down for a week after he “totally lost his radar”, and has prescribed 15 overs a day in the nets to re-find his form. “He won’t have to worry about going at six an over like he did in the last Test,” Border said in the Australian. “There won’t be any of the pressure and scrutiny that comes with being in the middle of a Test match.”Despite their attack leader’s awful slump, the Australians are determined to remember Johnson as the tormentor of South Africa and are likely to give him a final chance to re-find his power at Edgbaston from Thursday. “He got some pretty good pace [at Northampton] and was difficult to face in the nets today,” Michael Clarke said. “He’s on the way back, feeling more positive about how things are going, and looking forward to hopefully getting another opportunity on Thursday.”Clarke hasn’t spoken to Johnson about his confidence levels but has talked to him about his on-field work. “He’s still bowling at a good pace and in the practice game the other day, especially that last spell, he was back to really good pace,” Clarke said. “I don’t think results always indicate how well you bowl, he had a lot of runs go through slip and backward point.”With Brett Lee out after being limited to operating off a couple of steps in the nets, Stuart Clark is the biggest threat to Johnson or, possibly, Peter Siddle. However, the allrounders Shane Watson and Andrew McDonald may also come into contention depending on the weather.The pitch is expected to be excellent for batting but rain is forecast for the early stages of the match, forcing the Australian selectors into what they believe is their toughest choice in three years as a panel. They plan another phone hook-up on the eve of the game.Clark is fit and in reasonable form following elbow surgery and if he is left out it will continue a frustrating tour for a man who has 90 Test wickets at 22.96. “It’s easy for anyone to get down when you’re not getting an opportunity,” Clarke said. “He’s bowling well in the nets and he bowled really well in the practice game. He’s looking forward to getting a chance, hopefully.”

Victoria have confirmed the signing of Dwayne Bravo for the domestic Twenty20 competition next summer as the states line up to secure international players with help from Cricket Australia. Bravo will join the Bushrangers for the Big Bash tournament, which falls between West Indies’ Test and one-day commitments in Australia.The addition of Bravo to a Victorian squad that has won three of the past four Twenty20 tournaments signals a shifting away from the state’s traditional policy of not importing international players. The Bushrangers can also bring in a second overseas signing but they have not yet decided whether to take that option.”He’s on the way up, only 25 years of age and we’re particularly looking forward to him being with our squad and our young players throughout the Big Bash competition this year,” Tony Dodemaide, the Cricket Victoria chief executive said. “It is a bit of a departure from our traditional policy over the years but we see Dwayne’s signing particularly as being exciting for us for all the qualities he brings.”The Victorians believed Bravo would be the ideal replacement for fellow allrounder Andrew McDonald, who they hope will be involved in Australia’s Test series against Pakistan when the Big Bash is on. Bravo’s Twenty20 record is strong; he was West Indies’ second leading run scorer and top wicket taker at the ICC World Twenty20 and performed well in this year’s IPL.”We’re expecting Andrew to be involved for Australia, so it’s a strategic cover, if you like, that Bravo, an allrounder, replaces an allrounder in McDonald,” the coach Greg Shipperd said. “We think strategically it’s a wise move as far as our interests being successful again in that competition goes.”We certainly know it can work. You put any world-class player into any team … it’s going to improve their side. That is what’s going to happen this year for us. We’re certainly contemplating another option but we’re mindful of finding the right balance between developing our own players and also of being as competitive as we can.”Bravo will join Victoria on a normal state contract, which means that technically he would be available for selection in the FR Cup and Sheffield Shield competitions. However, Dodemaide and Shipperd said they had no intention of using him in anything but the Twenty20 tournament.New South Wales have expressed their interest in signing Shahid Afridi, who was one of the heroes for Pakistan in the World Twenty20 triumph, while the other states are also considering potential imports. Last year Western Australia brought in Pakistan’s Umar Gul for the Twenty20 tournament, while South Australia signed his fellow countryman Sohail Tanvir.

Kevin Pietersen has been ruled out of the one-day series against West Indies with a minor right achilles tendon injury. He will be treated over the next week and the ECB are confident he will be able to take part in the ICC World Twenty20.The injury, which Pietersen has been managing up to now, flared up during the second Test against West Indies at Chester-le-Street, but the only time he spent off the field was a short period on the fourth morning when he was feeling nauseous.”The injury would not necessarily prevent him from playing,” said Nick Peirce, the ECB chief medical officer. “But by giving him a precautionary period of time out to receive some concentrated treatment and rest we are enabling the niggle to settle down in preparation of the ICC World Twenty20 and the Ashes. This is not an injury that would preclude him from participating in either event.”Pietersen said that although disappointed at missing the three ODIs – the first cricket he has sat out for England since he fractured a rib during the 2006-07 CB Series – that it was important he was fully fit for the contests ahead. “The medical advice is to rest the achilles and although I’m frustrated to be leaving a happy and successful dressing room I’m absolutely confident this will help me overcome what has up until now been a minor ongoing injury.”I hate missing out on playing for England but understand that in this instance it’s necessary in order to overcome the injury,” he added. “Even though I won’t be lining up for England during this series I’ll be watching and supporting the team closely. I’m looking forward to being back in the England line up for the World Twenty20 and the rest of an exciting summer of cricket.”England have not called up a replacement to the squad which means that Ian Bell and Eoin Morgan will be vying for the vacant batting spot at Headingley.

Andy Flower celebrates his 41st birthday today, and as he blows out his candles, he will be making a few wishes for the summer ahead. Top of that list will be a successful Ashes campaign, but before that England must overcome West Indies and regain the Wisden Trophy. It’s a challenge they can ill-afford to take lightly.On Wednesday the selectors will announce the squad for the first Test at Lord’s, and it will be Flower’s first real chance to put his imprint on selection. Had he harboured any doubts as to the difficulties of the England coaching post, he was rudely awakened with Andrew Flintoff’s latest injury, which will create further questions at No. 6 to go with the already vexing problem of the No. 3 position and the third fast bowler.The comparison with the England team of four years ago could not be more stark. In 2005, Michael Vaughan’s men were fit, settled (apart from the late inclusion of Kevin Pietersen after Graham Thorpe had faced Bangladesh) and in form. England’s Test squad works in a four-year cycle around the Ashes, but just two months out from the next contest with Australia, it is impossible to predict how many changes will occur between now and July 8.There are the usual two options for replacing Flintoff: either play six frontline batsmen, or an extra bowler. In their most recent Test, against West Indies in Trinidad, England went with the latter option as they sought to level the series. With the recent history of Lord’s being dominated by draws that could be an option again, but six batsmen remains the likelier option in May.That opens the door for Ravi Bopara’s recall in the middle order following his brief appearance in the Caribbean, where he made a maiden century in Barbados. He has been the one English success story at the IPL, and is desperate for another shot in the Test side.”I knew someone was going to miss out in that last Test in Trinidad and I had a feeling it was going to be me, even though I’d just scored a hundred,” Bopara told the . “It was disappointing but you’ve just got to get on with it”I always knew that I could get runs at Test level I just needed that opportunity again. And I was desperate for it. But I knew I had to create it myself. It wasn’t just going to happen. I’m really happy with the way it went and now that Fred’s injured, I’m definitely eyeing up that No6 spot.”Bopara is viewed as the long-term solution at No. 3, but for now the race appears to be between three more senior batsmen – Owais Shah, Ian Bell and Michael Vaughan. Shah, the man in possession, has the most tenuous claims to the position after failing to make the most of his opportunity in West Indies, where he made 133 runs at 22.16 and twice ran himself out. He has also spent the last two weeks on the benches of the IPL while others have been pressing their claims in county cricket.Bell has certainly hit the ground running at the start of the season, responding to the selectors’ call for him to go away and score plenty of runs. After missing out for MCC against Durham, he opened his Championship account with 172 against Somerset (albeit on another road at Taunton) followed by 108 in the Friends Provident Trophy.”It’s fantastic that Belly has come back and hit the ground running, he had a very frustrating tour [in West Indies] to be fair,” Andrew Strauss said. “The one thing we said we wanted from him was hundreds and he’s demonstrated his ability to do that and hopefully it will continue.”As Bell scores runs to nudge the selectors he is trying to fight off the claims of Vaughan. The former England captain had been far less convincing early in the season with scores of 24 for 20 against Durham in the Championship, but managed a timely 82 against Sussex in the Friends Provident Trophy. He has said he wants to be judged on the runs he scores, not his experience, but he holds a central contract and the temptation to bring back the man who masterminded the 2005 success will be great.The selection issue don’t stop there. Down at the other end of the order there is a desperate search for another wicket-taking bowler. If Steve Harmison makes it, the selection will be by default rather than weight of success. Given the way he performed late last summer after an extended spell with Durham, it could be worth leaving him in county cricket for another six weeks and bring him back when the Australians arrive. Ricky Ponting still bares the scar of their Lord’s encounter in 2005.Either way, there is room for at least one more quick in the squad. Harmsion’s team-mate Graham Onions is gaining support after a decent start to the season, while Sajid Mahmood possesses that extra bit of pace and Tim Bresnan, the Yorkshire allrounder, is an outside bet. None, though, are exactly screaming out to be selected. How Flower must wish it was different, but no one said he was going to be easy.Possible squad Andrew Strauss, Alastair Cook, Ian Bell, Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood, Ravi Bopara, Matt Prior, Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann, James Anderson, Steve Harmison, Sajid Mahmood

Match facts

April 26, 2009
Start time 12.30pm (10.30GMT)

Big Picture

Time is running out for Kevin Pietersen to make an impression on the IPL•AFP

A campaign that began so brightly with a 75-run victory for Bangalore Royal Challengers has gone into freefall. Since that victory against Rajasthan Royals, Bangalore have suffered three consecutive defeats and languish in the bottom half of the league. In order to end the losing streak in Port Elizabeth, Bangalore will have upset the Delhi Daredevils, considered by many to be favourites for the title.Bangalore’s worries stem from a top order that has failed to make use of the Powerplay overs by losing too many wickets. Their best performance during the first six overs was 49 for 3 against Kings XI Punjab on Friday. They are facing a problem similar to the one in the inaugural season where the overseas players failed to make a significant contribution. Their troubles have deepened with Rahul Dravid, their best batsman so far, having returned home on paternity leave.Bangalore’s bowlers haven’t been in top form either – they’ve managed to take only 20 wickets in four games, 11 in the last three – and they are up against perhaps the most in-form batting line-up of the tournament. Delhi suffered a crippling blow against Chennai Super Kings, losing both Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir cheaply, and few would have expected their overseas batsmen, AB de Villiers and Tillakaratne Dilshan, to perform the way they did. They batted with methodical aggression and have reduced the dependency on Sehwag for posting huge scores.

Form guide

Bangalore: The overseas players haven’t pulled their weight. Kevin Pietersen has scored 43 runs in four innings while Jesse Ryder and Ross Taylor have 32 and 36 respectively from three. Robin Uthappa has been poor at the top of the order as well with 35 runs in four innings at a strike-rate of only 71.Delhi: Gambhir is the only top-order batsman from Delhi who hasn’t got going. Sehwag plundered Punjab in a rain-curtailed innings while Dilshan rescued Delhi after the loss of two quick wickets with a feisty half-century against Chennai. The innings of the tournament, however, was de Villiers’ 105 off 54 balls in his first innings of the IPL.

Watch out for

de Villiers v Bangalore’s South Africans: Bangalore’s squad includes Jacques Kallis, Mark Boucher, Dale Steyn and Roelof van der Merwe and coach Ray Jennings, all of whom will have a fair idea of de Villiers’ strengths and weaknesses. Of the four, though, only Kallis and Steyn may play and they’ll strive to prevent the sort of damage de Villiers inflicted on Chennai.

Team news

Delhi haven’t picked Glenn McGrath in their starting XI as yet, preferring the faster left-armer Dirk Nannes instead. Nannes, however, went wicketless against Chennai and Delhi might consider replacing him with either McGrath or the allrounder Farveez Maharoof.Delhi: 1 Gautam Gambhir, 2 Virender Sehwag (capt), 3 AB de Villiers, 4 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 5 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 6 Manoj Tiwary, 7 Daniel Vettori, 8 Dirk Nannes/Farveez Maharoof/Glenn McGrath, 9 Aavishkar Salvi, 10 Pradeep Sangwan, 11 Ashish Nehra.Bangalore’s main concern is replacing the reliable Dravid, but a lack of quality Indian Twenty20 batsmen in the ranks makes it a hard task. They had dropped Steyn for their last game and strengthened their batting by brining Taylor in but the move did not pay off. It might be time to consider using either Cameron White or Mark Boucher to bolster the middle order.Bangalore: 1 Wasim Jaffer, 2 Jesse Ryder, 3 Jacques Kallis, 4 Kevin Pietersen (capt), 5 Robin Uthappa (wk), 6 Ross Taylor/Cameron White/Mark Boucher, 7 Virat Kohli, 8 Praveen Kumar, 9 R Vinay Kumar, 10 Pankaj Singh, 11 Anil Kumble.

Head-to-head record

Delhi won both their contests against Bangalore in the 2008 season. The first match was a close contest with Bangalore falling short of Delhi’s 191 by 10 runs. Delhi’s margin of victory at the Chinnaswamy Stadium was five wickets with ten balls to spare.

Stuart Broad’s development as an international player over the last year has been highlighted after he was named England’s most valuable player by the Professional Cricketers Association.He finished eight points ahead of Kevin Pietersen after taking 64 wickets and scoring 464 runs in all cricket from the start of the 2008 English season to the end of the recent West Indies tour.He enjoyed an impressive tour, where he was England’s leading seamer with 12 Test wickets at 30.58 despite a series of flat pitches. He claimed career-best figures of 5 for 85 at Sabina Park. Alongside his wickets he became a reliable lower-order batsman with half-centuries against New Zealand and South AfricaIn one-day cricket he claimed 5 for 23 against South Africa at Trent Bridge and was a regular threat with the white ball as he moved into the top 10 of the world rankings.In the individual formats, Broad finished top of the MVP category in ODIs, third in Twenty20 and fourth in Tests. His closest rival for the overall award was Pietersen who amassed 1789 runs in all formats including five Test centuries and two in ODIs.

Andy Flower, England’s interim coach, has given a stark assessment of Steve Harmison’s position in the team and said he is currently not up to standard.England travelled to Trinidad ahead of the final Test on Friday 1-0 down in the series after the high-scoring draw in Barbados, but Flower made clear there is unlikely to be a swift return for Harmison.Harmison was dropped for the Test at the Kensington Oval after two lacklustre performances in the series, and question marks are now being raised as to whether to can rekindle the required pace and hostility to lead the attack.”At the moment he hasn’t, otherwise he would have done it,” Flower said. “But I don’t think by any means that Steve’s finished. He’s still got a hell of a lot to offer. Fast bowling is long, hard workand at the age of 30 it is only going to get harder work, so it is up to Steve really. He’s got to put in the performances which make the selectors pick him time and time again. I’ve only known Steve a little while and we are still getting to know each other better now.”In his Sunday newspaper column, Harmison said he would seek talks with captain Andrew Strauss to learn what he has to do to win back his place. Flower, though, added that it was down to him to show that he still wants to put in the hard work required to succeed at the top level.”If hard work is just a base that you start with, that’s what he’s doing at the moment, but for you to be a successful international cricketer you have to be very hungry,” Flower said. “Only he knows how hungry he is to carry on the hard yakka of a fast bowler’s life. I think he still wants to do it: he’s proud of his career and proud to play for England.”England’s attack desperately lacks a cutting edge with Harmison a shadow of the bowler who blew West Indies away in 2004 and also without the injured Andrew Flintoff. Somehow they have to conjure up 20 wickets at Port of Spain if they are to level the series and retain the WisdenTrophy.”We hope that the Trinidad pitch does a bit and makes for more interesting cricket, let alone provide the chance for one of the sides to win,” Flower said. “Even though the pitches are flat, however, we also have to be looking at that subject of 20 wickets as well.”It seems unlikely that Ryan Sidebottom will retain his place after he struggled in Barbados, claiming 1 for 146 off 35 overs. Sidebottom’s selection was a surprise because a few days before the match Flower had spoken about his “chronic” Achilles problem and the ankle washurting again afterwards. Given all Sidebottom’s injury issues in the last six months his long-term future must now be in doubt.Once certain change for the final Test is the return of Matt Prior behind the stumps after he flew back to the Caribbean following paternity leave. His replacement, Tim Ambrose, hit an unbeaten 76 in the fourth Test and kept tidily, but will now move aside with Prior a contender to bat at No. 6 so England can play five bowlers.

A docile pitch at the National Stadium in Karachi helped turn Pakistan’s first two days of Test cricket in 14 months into an ordeal. It hardly offered any assistance to their pace attack, and Pakistan coach Intikhab Alam said that the track, on which Sri Lanka amassed 644 for 7 declared, was not what the home team had expected.”I am not very happy with the state of the wicket,” Alam said even while admitting the team had performed poorly on the opening day. “I will be very honest with you that we [Pakistan] were not expecting such a wicket. We needed a wicket which had grass and some bounce because we rely on our fast bowlers. The curator was told that we needed such a wicket but unfortunately it was not made.”Alam declined to comment on whether the curator, former Test player Agha Zahid, should be sacked, but said the use of the centre square for domestic games would have hampered preparations. “I’m sure some discussion will be held on this and what should be done for the future. Wherever you go in the world they don’t touch the centre wicket – it’s especially reserved for Test matches. They play on the side wickets, but here the problem is that the sponsor wants to play on the centre wicket because they want to televise the [domestic] matches.”Pakistan leaked 406 runs on the first day, and Alam admitted the team had erred by not plugging the third-man region, an area where Mahela Jayawardene and Thilan Samaraweera scored easy runs. “After every day’s play we discuss the performance and yesterday we analysed that we should not have given them free runs,” he said. “We positioned a third man from the start of the second day and also a sweeper to make sure that they do not score quickly.” Alam said the matter had been discussed with captain Younis Khan, whose positive approach did not pay off on the opening day.With both Muttiah Muralitharan and Ajantha Mendis posing a threat to the batsmen during their short spells on Sunday, Pakistan face a tough challenge to match Sri Lanka’s total. “Pressure is always there on a professional player,” Alam said. “Our strategy is that a batsman who walks in should stay at the wicket and with right shot selection, big partnerships can be forged,” he said. “I don’t see anything unusual in the wicket.”Pakistan’s lone specialist spinner, Danish Kaneria, was largely inconsistent, and conceded 170 runs off 46.2 overs for his three wickets. It was the 33rd time he had given over a 100 runs in an innings – this being his 94th innings. “I did talk to him and if you see his performance today, his line was much better,” Alam said. “He was playing after a long time [it was Kaneria’s first international game since December 2007].”I was not very happy or satisfied with our bowling attack. We bowled either too full or too short. The wicket was a type on which we should have bowled a bit short of a length. Today the bowlers’ line and length was very good and at one stage they had scored 19 runs in the first 15 overs. The idea was to frustrate them and not let them score quickly.”The worst of the bowlers, though, was debutant Sohail Khan, who was taken for 131 off 21 overs: an economy-rate of 6.23. Sohail was picked ahead of 20-year-old Mohammad Talha, who had impressed in recent domestic games. “Our consensus was that he had more experience than Talha and had been playing domestic cricket for quite sometime,” Alam said. “He had taken a good number of wickets in domestic cricket at these very same venues. Unfortunately two catches were dropped off his bowling but it’s a part of the game.”

Pakistan’s ICL recruits have finally restarted a legal process to fight the bans imposed on them by the PCB from playing domestic and international cricket. A letter has been sent by the legal firm of retired judge Fakhruddin G Ebrahim to the PCB on behalf of the players. Currently, however, the communication is not “a legal notice”, a board official said.”No legal action is being taken just yet but we have received a letter from the firm,” the official told Cricinfo. “The letter asks us why we have banned them and under what rules.”The board has not responded yet, though it is understood the issue will be brought up at the ICC executive board meeting due to take place in Perth on January 31. Only after a clearer picture emerges from there will they respond to the queries.The move comes more than a year after a group of ICL players, led by Imran Farhat and Taufeeq Umar, first attempted to take the matter to court. They started the process towards the end of 2007 but it then petered out. The process has started again, said a prominent ICL player, because the environment is ripe for it.”We tried doing it in 2007 but Nasim Ashraf [the then PCB chairman] had too many connections in the government of the time,” the player told Cricinfo. “Whenever we did something or tried, it would come up against a dead end because Ashraf would use his friends in power to stop proceedings. So we decided to just wait it out till the government changed. Now it has and so has the administration and we feel, from the comments they have made, that we can progress this time.”The current board administration under Ijaz Butt has been far more ambiguous about the ban on the players than the one under Ashraf and seems far more willing to look for ways out of the situation. Pakistan has 19 players in the ICL – some of them, like Abdul Razzaq and Mohammad Yousuf, still good enough to play for the country.Javed Miandad, the PCB’s director-general, has openly called for the bans to be removed claiming they hurt Pakistan and are only in place to appease BCCI interests. Butt, however, has been vague and often confused over the stance. He insists it is up to the ICC to resolve the matter and that the PCB does not want to ban the players.”We don’t want our players to be banned because they have contracts with the ICL,” Butt said on a TV show two weeks ago. “But unfortunately we can’t do anything unless the ICC changes its stance on this issue.”The PCB has not directly banned the players, We have banned them under the ICC rules,” he said. “The rules state that no tournament can be held without the home board’s permission and, in the case of the ICL, the Indian board [BCCI] does not recognise it as it runs its own league, the IPL.”Board officials have been examining legal aspects of the case since before the letter was sent to fully brief Butt before he attends the Perth meeting. The letter has been sent on behalf of almost all of Pakistan’s 19 ICL players and Moin Khan, coach of the ICL’s Lahore Badshahs team, is believed to be handling the matter as a representative of sorts.

After an opening-day defeat, Afghanistan put themselves back in contention with a 13-run win over much-fancied Hong Kong at Belgrano on the second day of the ICC World Cricket League Division 3. The match went to the wire thanks to Hong Kong’s late-order batting, with 98 added for the last two wickets.Afghanistan’s top order, which completely failed on Saturday, showed much greater stability. Openers Karim Khan and Shafiqullah Shafaq demonstrated excellent shot selection in a stand of 72, but when both fell within the space of three balls, Hong Kong were right back in the game.Quality spin bowling from Nadeem Ahmed (2 for 23) and Najeeb Ahmed (2 for 35) helped contain some solid middle-order batting, although no-one managed to go on and make a really big score.Afghanistan’s final total of 201 in 49.5 overs looked just about par on a bouncy pitch, but Hong Kong’s reply never got going, none of the top eight passing 20. At 90 for 8 the match was petering towards a foregone conclusion, but Munir Dar, who made 49 off 38 balls, including three consecutive sixes off Mohammad Nabi, rekindled the excitement. Nevertheless, when he was bowled by Samiullah Shenwari that appeared to be that. But Nadeem Ahmed at No. 11 continued to attack, smacking 27 from 18 balls before top-edging a hook to Mawais Naziri on the boundary edge.”In the end it was a good effort, especially from Munir, as he looked like he was desperate to win the game and it could have gone either way,” said Hong Kong skipper Tabarak Dar. “He has won us the game at No. 8 before and we bat all the way down to 11 so we always have a chance of winning the game.””It was a very good game,” admitted Kabir Khan, Afghanistan’s coach. “There were plenty of nerves but I was very confident in my team and it was a good win for us as it kept alive our hopes in the tournament. I was worried as we didn’t have any of our regular bowlers left and Nabi started bowling medium-pace as it is a short ground and it doesn’t spin and anything could go for six. The players have started thinking now and they are adjusting to different situations which makes me proud to be with them and proud to be their coach.”Hosts Argentina have it all to do after a second successive defeat, going down to Papua New Guinea by 21 runs at St Albans Club, with Rarua Dikana, who took his second five-wicket haul in as many days, doing all the damage.Dikana took 5 for 5 in 8.4 overs after PNG had been bowled out for 127. They started well, Vani Vagi Morea’s 39 off 35 balls dominating an opening stand of 59. But after he was dismissed the innings fell away, Diego Lord taking 4 for 34.Argentina slid to 28 for 4, but recovered to 69 for 4 before Dikana ripped through the lower order. “I think there’s still a long way to go, but two wins from two games is good,” Dikana said. “We still have a lot of improvements to make, especially in our batting, and we need to play better against Uganda. It’s so far, so good for us. “I’m enjoying my time with the ball in this tournament. I concentrate on bowling in the right areas and we do a lot of work on this and try and make the batsmen play.”A brilliant 81 not out from Roger Mukasa helped Uganda to a nine-wicket win over Cayman Islands at the Hurlingham Club with more than 23 overs to spare.Cayman Islands’ form has already made them favourites to be one of the two sides relegated, and their batsmen again failed to post anything close to a decent score as they were bowled out for 104.