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Signs are emerging that Pakistan is pushing to normalise cricketing relations with India, after the meeting last week between PCB chairman Ijaz Butt and officials within the BCCI in India and, in the absence of any likely bilateral series, it appears the IPL’s third season could be the icebreaker. Pakistan’s board has cleared its players for the tournament, reversing a decision it took for the second season, and has received inquiries from the IPL on the status of its players.Pakistani players were not allowed to take part in this year’s edition of the IPL after their own government refused to give them permission to travel to India. The decision was based primarily on security concerns and whether or not Pakistan’s players would be safe in India in the aftermath of the Mumbai terror attacks a year ago. The tournament was eventually shifted to South Africa for security reasons but Pakistan’s players were still not allowed to take part.However, the board is hoping the situation may be different this time round, indicating that permission has been granted to the players by the board and higher authorities. “The PCB has given permission to players to take part in the IPL,” Butt told Cricinfo. “Abdul Razzaq recently approached me and he has been given permission as well as others. Lalit Modi emailed to ask what the status of our players regarding IPL was and, when I met him in India, I told him the players were available and the relevant authorities had given permission.”Whether they get the opportunity to take part this time, however, is not in the hands of the PCB or the Pakistan government for clearance will have to come from the Indian government. The first push for a thaw in cricketing relations from the Indian side has come from its IPL franchises, not bound by political and geographical considerations, seeking simply the best players to take the field.Most IPL franchises were quick to seek the return of Pakistan players to the 2010 edition of the lucrative Twenty20 league after Pakistan won the ICC World Twenty20 in June. Modi, the IPL commissioner and BCCI vice-president, subsequently clarified that the IPL had no problems in letting Pakistani players participate, subject to government clearance from both sides; even if Pakistan has given them permission, ultimately the decision will be made by the Indian government.

Florida as neutral venue?

Reports in Pakistan upon Butt’s arrival claimed that a series with India was scheduled on a neutral venue next year, possibly in the USA, a suggestion first mooted by Shashi Tharoor, Indian minister of state for external affairs. But no such thing has been discussed, Butt said, only that Florida might emerge on cricket’s map as a neutral venue at some point soon.

Eleven Pakistani players – including Shahid Afridi and Umar Gul, the stars of Pakistan’s World Twenty20 campaign – were recruited by the Kolkata, Rajasthan, Delhi, Hyderabad and Bangalore franchises before the inaugural IPL. However, the franchises opted to retain the contracts of only four of them – Akmal and Tanvir (Rajasthan), Misbah-ul-Haq (Bangalore) and Gul (Kolkata) – after it became clear that they would not be able to play in the second season of the league following the Mumbai attacks. But players such as Saeed Ajmal, Mohammad Aamer, Razzaq and Umar Akmal are likely to attract interest this time round, as is a revitalised Afridi who was dumped by the Deccan Chargers after a poor first season with them.That is as far as the door between the two boards will be nudged open for now. Hectic schedules for both teams means that it is unlikely there will be a bilateral series between them till at least 2011, Butt said, confirming what the BCCI said last week. “Right now it is too premature to give a time frame for a return to bilateral ties. Schedules are tight for both of us till 2011 and an appropriate window has to be found for the series. It will come out over the passage of time,” he said.Though it is still over a year away, the 2011 World Cup on the subcontinent could play a critical role in deciding which way the relationship goes thereafter. Concerns have been raised over whether or not Pakistan will play any of its matches in India; currently they are scheduled to play most of their games in Sri Lanka, but if they go far, then playing in India will be unavoidable. Butt said no discussions on the topic had taken place yet and was unwilling to comment on the possibility of Pakistan playing in India then, but it is likely to become a significant issue over the next year.

Indian captain MS Dhoni has been declared fit to play the second Test against Sri Lanka in Kanpur starting tomorrow. Dhoni hurt his finger during the Ahmedabad Test which ended in a dull draw last Friday and the team management rushed wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik to the city as a last minute back-up. Karthik will now return to Dharamshala to join his Tamil Nadu team-mates for the Ranji Trophy match against Himachal Pradesh, also starting tomorrow.Dhoni had arrived at Green Park on Sunday without any taped fingers nor did he seem in any sort of pain. He batted his full quota during training, hit powerful, flat-bat strokes, and enthusiastically bowled seam-up immediately after removing his batting pads.With Karthik returning, the left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha too could be released for Hyderabad’s Ranji Trophy match. India are likely to persist with Harbhajan Singh and Amit Mishra for Kanpur.Dhoni had played an important role in the first Test, scoring a century and adding 224 runs with Rahul Dravid, a partnership that helped India reach 426 in the first innings after a top-order collapse. He then held a spectacular diving catch to his left to dismiss the Sri Lankan opener Tharanga Paranavitana.Sri Lanka, however, were not so lucky. They lost Dammika Prasad, who suffered a grade one hamstring strain, for the second Test. Prasad’s spot could be taken by Dilhara Fernando or Ajantha Mendis, should Sri Lanka play a third spinner.”We are not considering Dammika for this match,” Kumar Sangakkara said. “He is recovering very well and we hope he will be available for selection for the third and final game in Mumbai. Prasad’s injury means we can play three spinners if we want to.”

Australia 3 for 339 (Katich 99, Watson 89, Hussey 81*) v West Indies
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were outSimon Katich led Australia’s batting with an innings that was composed until he reached 99•Getty Images

Australia’s summer of batting near misses and bouts of pain continued, but they won’t be too bothered after staying well ahead of West Indies on the opening day of the final Test. While Ricky Ponting was forced to retire hurt with a throbbing left elbow and Simon Katich and Shane Watson left agonisingly close to deserved centuries, the hosts quickly forgot about their below-par performance in Adelaide and were on track for a series win after posting a formidable 3 for 339.Ponting’s elbow was the greatest concern for the hosts after he walked off on 23, but he was cleared by x-rays and will bat when required. The damage for West Indies, who could not provide lasting support for Kemar Roach, could stay a bit longer on a pitch that looked fun for batting – except when Roach was operating.Roach woke the tourists from their morning slumber during a five-over burst from the Lillee-Marsh End in the middle session, forcing Ponting’s retirement and removing Watson for 89. Strangely, he was not given the ball again until the second new ball was taken and was allowed an over into the wind before being replaced. He walked off with 1 for 67 in 13 overs, figures which don’t reveal the damage he caused.In between Roach’s spells the spinners strangled Katich and Michael Clarke, giving some justification to the strange method of employing them both straight after tea. Katich was the most unfortunate, finding square leg with his sweep of Sulieman Benn to register his second 99 in Tests. He left without emotion but it was a wasted opportunity that maintained Australia’s record of not owning a century in the three-match series.At least Watson didn’t briefly lose his mind, with Roach’s sharp ball going away and brushing his edge on 89, but it didn’t ease the pain of missing a maiden hundred, just as he did after reaching 96 in Adelaide last week. The day began with a 132-run stand between Watson and Katich, a partnership which was so comfortable it seemed like they would be unhappy if they didn’t reach 600. By stumps, on a pitch missing the traditional steepling bounce, Hussey had taken them to comfort with a bright 81.

Smart stats

• Simon Katich fell on 99 for the second time in his Test career, joining seven other batsmen who’ve suffered this fate. The only other Australian in the group is Greg Blewett.

• Australia lead quite comfortably in terms of batsmen who’ve been dismissed for 99 – it’s happened to them 22 times, nine more than England, who are in second place.

• Michael Hussey’s half-century is the 13th for Australia in this series, but no batsman has managed a hundred yet. West Indies have seven 50-plus scores, of which three have been converted into hundreds.

• In seven innings, Katich and Shane Watson have added 644 runs for the first wicket at an average of 71.55, with two century stands.

Ponting headed for hospital shortly before tea after being shaken by the spell of Roach, who had picked up the captain twice in the series. Life was immediately uncomfortable for Ponting, who ducked and turned his head in response to a 146kph short ball that arrived as his second delivery.His arm remained high to take the impact and following a delay for treatment he was breathing deeply again when hit in the stomach jumping back to Roach. Ponting is now 34 and was noticeably slow at the start, although Roach had some inspiration after the captain said in the lead-up to the match that the extra speed did not worry him.The injury continued to bother Ponting for the next 36 minutes and he managed to ignore the pain briefly to pull Roach for six, not worrying about the two men on the boundary. However, he was grimacing again following a pull off Dwayne Bravo and went off to give Hussey a chance to secure his spot.On his home ground, Hussey produced his most authoritative innings of the series, pulling powerfully on occasions and working the ball cleverly. His innings peaked with three fours in Roach’s opening over with the second new ball and he will be desperate to reach three figures on the second morning when he resumes with Marcus North (23).Katich held everything together during his considered display, giving the strike to Watson as the allrounder entertained with pulls, cuts and crisp drives during his 15 boundaries. After surviving a drop from Chris Gayle at first slip on 7, Watson moved freely throughout and a pull and an on-drive took him to 89, but he slipped against Roach and walked off without a lengthy bat raise.For most of the morning Katich was content to complement Watson and had scored 4 by the time his partner was 27. He was the ideal support for Watson and then Ponting, attempting to help his leader through the discomfort. There were brief bursts, with a couple of boundaries in overs from Bravo and Gavin Tonge, but he lost focus at the wrong moment. Clarke followed with a rash shot on 11 to hand Narsingh Deonarine a reward for his casual offspin.Deonarine and Travis Dowlin had come in for the injured Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Adrian Barath, leaving West Indies to hope for a small first-innings target in their push to level the series. Tonge was called in for his debut, replacing Darren Sammy, and he found it difficult to offer Roach any long-term help. Tonge went for five an over and Ravi Rampaul and Bravo created few moments of fear for the hosts.The spinners combined for 37 overs and reduced the run-rate after tea, but the visitors will have to create more chances, rather than waiting for things to happen, if they are to challenge over the final four days. At the moment Roach is the only real danger to Ponting and his men. As the captain re-discovered, his threat is serious.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Hammad Azam, not for the first time, shepherded Pakistan to a tight win•Getty Images

Hammad Azam, not for the first time, guided Pakistan to a tight win to ensure their progress into the final of the Under-19 World Cup. West Indies, backed by Kraigg Brathwaite’s 85, had posted a competitive 212 and looked good defend it after an early burst by their seamers had reduced Pakistan to 49 for 4. But Hammad, aided by valuable contributions from Rameez Aziz and Mohammad Waqas, fought hard with an unbeaten 92 to seal victory by four wickets with nine balls to spare.With conditions supporting the seamers early on, Jason Holder, fresh from a match-winning five-for against England in the quarter-final, dented Pakistan at the start of their chase. He nipped out the openers Ahmed Shehzad and Pakistan’s highest scorer Babar Azam in no time. Pakistan captain Azeem Ghumman fell next after promising to revive his team in a 26-run stand with Ahsan Ali, but when both fell within a space of 14 runs, West Indies were favourties.Hammad has been Pakistan’s saviour with the bat in the tournament. He has proved extremely handy at the death, helping his side to nerve-wracking last-over wins against Bangladesh and India, but the challenge today was tougher. His partner Rameez held one end together, taking 81 balls for his 39 which included just two boundaries, but Hammad ensured the pressure of a creeping run rate did not hamper the stand. He found the fence with consistency and rotated the strike well to add 90 for the fifth wicket.Rameez’s dismissal gave West Indies another opening, but their hopes of choking the runs were thwarted by Hammad’s attacking partnership with Mohammad Waqas. They added 64 in less than nine overs, with Waqas racing to 29 in 23 balls to get Pakistan within striking distance. Waqas holed out to long-on in the 48th over but Hammad swept a boundary three balls later to bring the equation down to 6 off 13.Pakistan were given a reprieve in the penultimate over when Hammad was dropped by Trevon Griffith in the deep, and Sarmad Bhatti ended the suspense by smashing Akeem Dewar over extra cover.West Indies had been boosted by Kraigg Brathwaite, who continued his excellent run in the tournament, scoring his fourth half-century. His team had recovered from 7 for 2, thanks largely to a stand of 98 between him and captain Andre Creary. Amid a disciplined bowling performance from Bhatti and Raza Hassan, who took two wickets and effected a run out, there was some attacking batting towards the end of the innings by wicketkeeper Shane Dowrich that lifted West Indies to a competitive score. But it failed to measure up to Hammad’s determination, which guided his team to its fourth World Cup final.

Just what is it with the Eden Gardens and dramatic collapses? Nearly a decade ago, in the match that few in this part of the world will ever forget, Australia were in complete command at tea on the opening day. Matthew Hayden had biffed his way to 97 in typically muscular fashion and the scoreboard showed 193 for 1. Four balls after the interval, he went to hit Harbhajan Singh against the turn and found Hemang Badani at deep midwicket. Six more wickets fell in the final session, with Harbhajan taking a hat-trick, as Australia closed on 291 for 8.On the final day of the same game, Waugh’s side plummeted from a relatively secure 161 for 3 at tea to 212 all out. That collapse changed the course of an enthralling series, but what we witnessed in 25 overs after tea today was an even more drastic reversal of fortune.Alviro Petersen’s debut innings had ended shortly before tea, but there’d have been few alarms in the dressing room with the score a rudely healthy 228 for 2. But two indiscreet shots, from the two men who were the foundation of the victory in Nagpur, and everything changed. Hashim Amla misjudged a pull off Zaheer Khan, and Jacques Kallis top-edged a slog-sweep off Harbhajan that VVS Laxman took brilliantly over his shoulder while running towards fine leg.”When you looked at it at tea, we were in trouble,” said Gary Kirsten, India’s coach. “Let’s be honest about that. All credit to the bowlers for turning it around. They showed tremendous resilience. They have bowled pretty well this series without the rewards. When you’re picking four bowlers every Test, it’s an enormous workload on them. We’ve got to give them credit for the way they run in Test after Test. This is our fourth on the trot.”Perhaps the key passage of play had come just before the tea break, when Ishant Sharma gave a glimpse of what he can do when the rhythm is right. He went wicketless in a four-over spell that cost 12 runs, but Amla, who had eased to a hundred with few alarms, suddenly appeared troubled. Zaheer, who replaced Ishant, continued the good work, putting together an outstanding spell either side of the interval – 6-3-11-2.”We’ve felt that he’s just on the edge of doing some good stuff again,” said Kirsten of Ishant’s spell. “We know that he’s an exceptionally talented bowler and he’s just coming back to some really nice form. He bowled a nice aggressive spell. He wanted to get his pace up closer to the 140s where he wants to be. He was letting the ball go beautifully today. It was a very important spell because more than getting wickets, it set the tone for what we wanted to achieve after tea.”Suddenly, the same attack that had looked largely innocuous for the first two sessions found its bite. More importantly, chances were grabbed, and the stumps hit to catch the dangerous AB de Villiers out of his ground. “If you’re not getting wickets because the ball’s doing a bit, you’ve got to build pressure,” said Kirsten. “And there’s no better way of building pressure than getting a few wickets.”It happened to us in the first Test. We were going nicely with the bat, we lost a wicket and pressure was created. We did that in this game. We mustn’t always be looking for assistance to get wickets. When you can create pressure by doing some creative things on the field, which I thought we did today, batsmen play very differently.”Harbhajan Singh’s pitch map from Hawk-Eye•Hawk-Eye Innovations

For two sessions, with both spinners seemingly incapable of bowling a maiden, the decision to go in with two slow bowlers and leave Sreesanth out had looked decidedly dubious. Amit Mishra was unlucky with a couple of leg-before shouts, and Harbhajan far from amused after Laxman dropped a straightforward chance at slip when Amla had made just 60. But there were too many four balls, and too little pressure, especially with a debutant at the crease.”We’d always like to have a third seamer, and two spinners,” said Kirsten, explaining the omission of Sreesanth. “But the balance of our team doesn’t work that way. We either have to opt for three seamers and one spinner or two and two. We felt that an extra spinner on this wicket is going to be important.”And after the criticism that Harbhajan Singh has received in recent times, Kirsten was understandably delighted with his efforts after tea, with both Ashwell Prince and JP Duminy quickly joining Kallis in the pavilion in a passage of play that utterly changed the complexion of the game. “I thought Harbhajan bowled really well in the last game, and I thought the South Africans played him very well,” he said. “Even though he was in good rhythm, he needed to come up with ways to get wickets. I’ve been very confident that his rhythm has got better and better as the series has gone along. When the confidence is going and the rhythm’s good, he’s going to get wickets.”The [Dale] Steyn menace looms large on day two, but Kirsten was quietly confident that there was nothing in the conditions to worry his batsmen. “We didn’t feel it took too much turn,” he said. “We didn’t feel that it offered that much assistance to the seamers. There’s a long way to go in the Test, but it looks a fairly good wicket at the moment. There was a lot less grass on the wicket today than there was yesterday, otherwise we would have gone for three seamers.”There was little encouragement in the Nagpur pitch either, but Steyn still ended up with a 10-wicket haul. It’s advantage India for the moment, but on a pitch where there’s been enough bounce for those willing to hit the deck hard, it would be foolhardy in the extreme to discount South Africa. Back in 2001, India were dismissed for 171 after Waugh had stretched Australia’s innings to 445 all out. If Monday sees that kind of drama, the roof might just come off a stadium that’s already half rubble.

Mohammad Yousuf has insisted he will stay on as captain despite Pakistan’s staggeringly unsuccessful tour of Australia. The PCB chairman had earlier called for a change in captaincy following the conclusion of the tour, but Yousuf maintained the results in Australia didn’t warrant him stepping down from his post. Pakistan’s chief of selectors, Iqbal Qasim, offered his resignation in the immediate aftermath of Pakistan’s 5-0 loss in the ODIs, but Yousuf wasn’t willing to follow suit.”If the chief selector has resigned it’s his thinking,” Yousuf told reporters on his return from Australia. “I didn’t do badly as captain, not as badly that I should resign or quit. I accepted captaincy when no one was willing to take captaincy for the tours. I took it [captaincy] only because of the country and will continue for the country in future.”Yousuf took over the reins when Younis Khan quit citing dissent within the team and took a temporary break from international cricket. Since then, Pakistan drew a Test series in New Zealand 1-1, before the capitulation against Australia. They had fought hard in Melbourne and especially in Sydney, where they failed to chase 176, but ended up losing all three Tests.”Under the circumstances we went there, I think we did well to draw the series in New Zealand. Our players were inexperienced but I think we did well in the Australia Tests,” Yousuf said.

Shaun Marsh’s lingering back problem has given Michael Hussey a chance to gatecrash the World Twenty20 after he was called into Australia’s squad for the opening two games of the New Zealand tour. Hussey’s Twenty20 prospects seemed bleak when he was left out of the original unit and he has not been required since the team was knocked out in the first round of last year’s global event in England.Andrew Hilditch, the chairman of selectors, said Hussey had a chance to push for a spot in the World Twenty20 squad for the event in the Caribbean in April and May. “Hussey has shown excellent form throughout this Australian summer, is well equipped for Twenty20 cricket and thoroughly deserves this opportunity,” he said.Hussey, who remains a key figure in the 50-over team, has played 18 Twenty20 internationals and scored 226 runs at a strike-rate of 134.52. The first match of the tour is in Wellington on Friday and is followed by the game in Christchurch on Sunday.Marsh, the opener, hurt his back in the warm-up before the third ODI against West Indies two weeks ago and has been hampered ever since. “While he continues to improve there are still some signs of the injury,” Alex Kountouris, Australia’s physio, said. “He will continue to be monitored before a decision is made on his availability for the one-day component of the tour to New Zealand.”

Rajasthan Royals have said that they had reservations about playing allrounder Ravindra Jadeja, because he breached his contract, even if the IPL had not banned him for a year. Rajasthan’s chief executive Sean Morris said Jadeja, who failed to renew his contract for 2010 and was found negotiating with Mumbai Indians, had ignored the franchise’s core values and now had to pay for his mistake.”To tell you exactly what our position was: While we believe we should fight for the young players, because we have invested in them, we still had to consider whether we would allow him [Jadeja] to be part of the Rajasthan Royals team,” Morris said in Nagpur on the eve of Rajasthans’s clash with Deccan Chargers. “We have got really strong values within Rajasthan Royals, lot of loyalty and integrity within the team and the squad, so as a team we still would have made a decision whether to allow him to play or not.”The IPL governing council had banned Jadeja for a season at the behest of BCCI president Shashank Manohar after details about him violating rules came out in the open. They allowed the player to appeal against the decision and also heard representations from the Rajasthan and Mumbai franchises. Arun Jaitley, a lawyer who is also part of the governing council, chaired the hearing, upheld the ban and released a strongly-worded verdict. “The player contrived a situation to his advantage by breaching the player trading rules and not signing his third year contract for IPL 2010 with the Rajasthan Royals,” Jaitley said. Rajasthan had lodged the initial complaint and “further alleged that he was in communication with the Mumbai Indians team in violation of disciplinary rules.”In Shane Watson’s absence, and injuries to Graeme Smith and Dmitri Mascarenhas, Rajasthan were struggling after the first few matches. Shane Warne, Rajasthan’s captain, admitted Jadeja’s all-round skills were being missed but they had to comply with the IPL’s decision. According to Rajasthan the ban had “adversely affected the franchise even though they were not at fault”. Morris said they did grow desperate when Smith and Mascarenhas were forced to return home. “It is one of the few hurdles that we faced with a few injuries at the beginning of the tournament all at once,” he said. “But we got over it.”However, Morris said Rajasthan had forgotten the Jadeja episode and were happy to have been the bridge which allowed him to break into the Indian team. “We brought him on as a player hopefully for the benefit of Indian cricket. We firmly believe in investing in young Indian players. If you look at the overseas players that we have, they spend an awful lot of time working with young Indian players for our benefit, to make us a better team, but we also hope that leaves some form of legacy.”My final point on Jadeja is it is over. Good luck to him for the World Cup (ICC World Twenty20). We hope that he is a big success for India.” When asked if that meant Rajasthan would not bid for Jadeja during the player auction later this year, Morris denied that would be the case. “No, what I meant was about the Jadeja ban for this season,” he said.

ScorecardDavid Harrison blew away Worcestershire with 7 for 45•PA Photos

Glamorgan paceman David Harrison put the skids under Worcestershire by taking acareer-best 7 for 45 in the County Championship Division Two match atNew Road.The 28-year-old was in impressive form to dismiss the hosts for 134 in 47.5overs with Moeen Ali making a defiant 85 not out. By the close Glamorgan were 228 for 4 off 46 overs after being boosted by Ben Wright’s unbeaten 71 which contained one six and eight fours off 99 balls.The eventful opening day, however, belonged to Harrison who proved far too hotto handle for Worcestershire whose only bright spot in a gloomy innings wasMoeen’s innings which included 13 fours off 135 balls. It followed the 126 and 70 not out he scored in his side’s previous Championship match when they drew with Surrey at Whitgift School in Croydon.New Road skipper Vikram Solanki’s decision to bat after winning the toss wassoon under the microscope after half his side were out for 62 in 17 overs on anoccasionally unpredictable wicket.Their alarming decline began when Phil Jaques departed to the fourth ball ofthe day when he pushed forward to James Harris and was caught behind by MarkWallace for his third Championship duck on the trot.The Australian’s fellow opener Daryl Mitchell departed shortly afterwards whenhe got a leading edge to a Harrison delivery and was snapped up at mid-off byHuw Waters.The procession continued when Solanki fended Harrison to Jamie Dalrymple atsecond slip while Alexei Kervezee nicked Harris to Wallace. Ben Smith, the only other Worcestershire batsman to reach double figures by making 15, played down the wrong line to Jim Allenby’s third delivery and was trapped lbw before in-form Moeen completed his well deserved half-century with nine fours off 66 balls.Ben Scott was caught low down at cover by Gareth Rees off Harrison immediatelybefore lunch when Worcestershire’s score stood at a grim 88 for 6 off 28.4overs.Their plight soon began to worsen after the interval with Richard Jones, AlanRichardson and Jack Shantry all being trapped leg before by Harrison. Six-footer Harrison then picked up his fourth wicket after lunch, for a cost of just 18 runs, when he had Imran Arif splendidly caught in the slips by MarkCosgroveGlamorgan did not have it all their own way in the early stages of their replywith Cosgrove being caught in the deep by Shantry when going for a big hit offArif while Mike Powell was bowled by Richardson after surviving a slip chancebefore getting off the mark.Rees and Wright steadied matters, however, with a 59-run stand in 12 oversbefore Rees (42) fell to Shantry who then removed Dalrymple. By then Glamorganhad already taken a first innings lead.

Eoin Morgan is widely regarded as being the catalyst for England’s remarkable upsurge in limited-overs cricket, having produced a string of crucial performances in South Africa, Bangladesh and, of course, during the recent World Twenty20 triumph in the Caribbean. But even he admitted he was surprised to have been fast-tracked into the Test squad for Thursday’s first Test against Bangladesh, as the England selectors opted to take a punt on his temperament, and test his mettle in five-day cricket ahead of the Ashes this winter.With his extraordinary range of innovative strokeplay, Morgan has showcased an ability to find the boundary in any given situation – a trait that has proven invaluable in the shorter-form games. However, it is his cool and calculating demeanour at the crease that has persuaded the management to overlook an indifferent first-class average of 36, and Morgan is confident that he can transfer his mindset to the form of the game he grew up watching as a youngster in Dublin.”It did surprise me, slightly, to get the phone call the other day,” said Morgan. “I was over the moon too, because to get a phone call like that is every kid’s dream. Test cricket is my biggest aspiration, and my biggest dream. It’s where I want to be, to test myself against the best, and it’s been that way since I was a kid, when one-day cricket wasn’t televised in Ireland, but there was a lot of Test cricket.”When asked if he believed he was capable of batting for five or six hours at a time, Morgan joked: “I think so, certainly, though I might get about 400″, before admitting that overcoming his previous tendency towards ill-discipline was the biggest challenge that awaited him in the switch from one-day to Test batting.Morgan has not played a first-class innings since August 2009, when he completed a tricky season for Middlesex with scores of 16 and 17 against Glamorgan at Swansea. In the whole summer, he mustered 445 runs in 20 innings at 24.72, with his solitary century coming against Leicestershire at Southgate in April.”My head wasn’t in the right place,” he admitted. “We had a lot of consecutive games, and I couldn’t seem to get a score under my belt, but a lot’s changed since then. I’ve a lot of runs under my belt now and feel quite confident about my game. I wouldn’t say I get bored. Where my failure has been is ill-discipline – and I think I’ve corrected that to a certain extent. I’m far from having the perfect game; I’m always learning, always improving. But I think I’m in as good a place as any now, to play.”Morgan credits a lot of his development in the past six months to the influence of England’s coach, Andy Flower, whom he said had pushed him hard to improve his game while at the same time instilling in him the confidence to express himself at the crease. “He’s been on about the basics, doing the simple things,” he said. “It has helped my game massively, because it allows you to get yourself in and spend time at the crease. Once you get in, it’s yours.”It remains to be seen whether Morgan will unfurl his most flamboyant range of strokeplay during the Lord’s Test, including his so-called “paddywhack” reverse-sweep, but he did not believe he would let his style be cramped too much by the occasion. “I think [the pace] will be a lot more spanned-out, but if the game does dictate a certain shot and the percentages are in my favour, I’ll play it,” he said. “There’s a mind-set [for Test cricket] of going out and just batting [for a long time], but still making the bowler do what you dictate to him.”I have a different style to everybody else,” he added. “I’ve played the reverse-sweep millions of times. I’ve got out to it 10% of the time, but it’s scored me 90% of the runs. It will be a case of assessing how valuable is the shot going to be to me. I might not play it for a year, but if it’s going to score me a lot of runs, maybe I will. My temperament is a major part of my game, and I take confidence from that – knowing I’ve put my performances in under pressure.”Just as Craig Kieswetter was drafted into the Bangladesh tour to gauge his suitability for the World Twenty20 campaign, so Morgan’s Test elevation has been fast-tracked with one particular contest in mind, but right at this moment, he insists that the prospect of an Ashes tour is a distant blip on the horizon.”It would be a dream if I was involved. But that’s a long way away; there’s a lot of cricket to be played between now and then,” he said. “This time last year I couldn’t score a run for Middlesex, but between now and then, opportunities will arise – and I hope I can take them. I’ve had lots of support from both sides of the Irish Sea, and I’m in good enough nick now to back myself to score some runs.”