Colin Croft Audio Reports and interviews with Colin Croft To listen to these recordings you need a copy of RealPlayer - which you can download free of charge from the Real.com website 3rd Test, West Indies v Pakistan, Antigua Day 5 (Mon 29 May): Close report by Colin Croft. (Duration: 1:58 mins) Lunch report by Colin Croft. (Duration: 1:53 mins) Viv Richards. "It was great a lot of people were here to see what went on today." (Duration: 1:05 mins) West Indies coach Roger Harper. "Too tight for comfort, but a victory nontheless. One that we'll take, one that we'll savour for a long time. I think it was a real lesson in teamwork at the end of it." (Duration: 1:52 mins) Javed Miandad. "It was a great game, either team could win. I think the main thing is everybody enjoyed the game, it has been a tremendous series and I think my boys played well." (Duration: 1:14 mins) West Indies team manager Ricky Skerrett. "It was the kind of victory that you're really going to look back on for many, many years. It was nail-biting, and everybody's elated." (Duration: 1:40 mins) Curtly Ambrose, who is retiring after the England tour. "I think I've served West Indies quite well over the years, and I've thought about it long and hard." (Duration: 2:21 mins) Pakistan captain and coach Moin Khan and Javed Miandad at the press conference. (Duration: 5:37 mins) West Indies captain Jimmy Adams "The highlight for me was to have restricted them to their second innings totalled, that gave us enough time to win the game. Its always difficult if you're batting second and you are short of time." (Duration: 6:24 mins) Man of the Series Wavell Hinds "The tour of England will be a tough challenge and I'm up for it." (Duration: 1:08 mins) Day 4 (Sun 28 May): Close report by Colin Croft. (Duration: 1:27 mins) Tea report by Colin Croft. (Duration: 1:52 mins) Lunch report by Colin Croft. (Duration: 1:33 mins) Pakistan team manager Mohammad Nazir. "I think it has been a great test match so far, very absorbing, very interesting, and fortunes have been smiling on both teams. At the moment there is still a lot of game left." (Duration: 1:46 mins) West Indian coach Roger Harper. "I think the game is still in the balance, it will all depend on that first session tomorrow." (Duration: 1:05 mins) Jeffrey Dujon. "We were before in a position of relative comfort, things are a little bit different now. We're going to have to put our heads down, obviously this is getable, but Pakistan are in a position where they're going to have to attack us." (Duration: 8:07 mins) Day 3 (Sat 27 May): Close report by Colin Croft. (Duration: 2:02 mins) Tea report by Colin Croft. (Duration: 1:57 mins) Lunch report by Colin Croft. (Duration: 2:10 mins) WICB turn down request from selection committee to increase squad to tour England this summer to 17 players. Colin Croft reports. (Duration: 0:50 mins) Wasim Akram "I've been working hard on my fitness, knowing that I'm reaching 34 next month I'd like to play for another couple of years. In the end the hard work prevailed, I got the wickets at the right time when my team needed it." (Duration: 4:20 mins) Day 2 (Fri 26 May): Close report by Colin Croft. (Duration: 1:15 mins) Tea report by Colin Croft. (Duration: 1:19 mins) Lunch report by Colin Croft. (Duration: 1:15 mins) Brian Lara and Corey Colymore have been assessed as fit for the England tour. Colin Croft reports. (Duration: 1:05 mins) Errol Dennis, winner of the 'bowling for dollars' competition staged by the West Indies Cricket Board. "I was under pressure, trying to bowl twenty-something deliveries straight... that gets to me." (Duration: 6:43 mins) Courtney Walsh "Whenever the chips are down and people try and write me off, I seem to just try to remind them that I'm still around playing." (Duration: 6:10 mins) Shivnarine Chanderpaul "I want to thank the Lord, and the guys in the team who believed in me, and everyone who helped me get my form back." (Duration: 4:26 mins) The two umpires - Doug Cowie (Duration: 2:42 mins) and Billy Doctrove (Duration: 4:49 mins) Day 1 (Thu 25 May): Close report by Colin Croft. (Duration: 1:26 mins) Tea report by Colin Croft. (Duration: 1:34 mins) Lunch report by Colin Croft. (Duration: 1:14 mins) Yousuf Youhana "Both centuries were good, but this one more. My team again is in need of a good innings. My team depend on me. I've not had good performances the last two or three months, but my captain and my coach have backed me. They have given me tips every day." (Duration: 3:14 mins) Roger Harper "Hopefully we can restrict them to something around 290, not any more than that really. We have two wickets to get and really we'd like to dismiss them for less than that." (Duration: 2:52 mins) Previews: Preview by Colin Croft. (Duration: 1:41 mins) West Indies coach Roger Harper. (Duration: 2:59 mins) Ground curator at the Antigua Recreation Ground, Keith Frederick. (Duration: 2:59 mins) 2nd Test, West Indies v Pakistan, Barbados Day 5 (Mon 22 May): Close report by Colin Croft. (Duration: 1:07 mins) Tea report by Colin Croft. (Duration: 1:22 mins) Lunch report by Colin Croft. (Duration: 1:34 mins) Pakistan's Javed Miandad and Moin Khan. "The way our team and batsmen batted in the second innings, they put pressure on the West Indies but we were unlucky, we didn't get enough time or a target we could set, because at the crucial time we lost some wickets." (Duration: 5:08 mins) West Indies captain Jimmy Adams. "Both teams played some good cricket. We showed a lot of fight, a lot of character over the five days. I think we've set the series up for a pretty interesting game in Antigua." (Duration: 6:07 mins) Man of the Match Wavell Hinds. "Its good to know that I have a hundred, but each and every innings starts at nought, and you have to go back to the drawing board. No innings is always a perfect one, and you have to do a bit of homework. Its a different surface, different ball, different environment altogether." (Duration: 1:53 mins) West Indies coach Roger Harper. "We've been saying all along that the batting has been a source of concern, I think in this game it was good to see the batsmen getting some good scores." (Duration: 3:11 mins) Day 4 (Sun 21 May): Close report by Colin Croft. (Duration: 1:24 mins) Tea report by Colin Croft. (Duration: 1:36 mins) Lunch report by Colin Croft. (Duration: 1:29 mins) Ground Curator of the Kensington Oval, Prof Edwards. "Good pitch, good for batting. Not everyone was too pleased with it. Its played beautifully so far, but its reasonable to suspect that by tomorrow or maybe this evening a few balls may be keeping low." (Duration: 5:12 mins) Stephen Alleyne, Vice President of the Barbados Cricket Association. "Whereas before the nature of the tour to england was such that it was a very lucrative one as far as West Indies were concerned, the nature of bilateral international relations between touring countries and host countries has changed somewhat.. we will not much as much from this tour as we did from the previous tour - but I think over a cycle of tours it will all work itself out." (Duration: 12:35 mins) West Indies team manager Ricky Skerritt. "There's an opportunity for a wonderful finish tomorrow. The first hour I think is going to be determinant as to how the day is going to go. We could look forward to some continued competitive cricket." (Duration: 1:05 mins) West Indies captain Jimmy Adams. "Its going to be hard cricket all round, but I think the fellas are up to the challenge. We fought our way back in today, the fellas really stuck to the job and I think we have everything to play for tomorrow. (Duration: 1:52 mins) West Indies coach Roger Harper. "In the first session they got a few too many runs, if we had bowled as well as we're capable of bowling or anything like we bowled in the second session today and the last session, they would have been, say, 60 runs less." (Duration: 1:53 mins) Dr Rudi Webster. "We must take the first step first, and get the three wickets early in the morning. I think that has got to be our top priority, because that would give us time to get whatever target they set." (Duration: 3:09 mins) Day 3 (Sat 20 May): Close report by Colin Croft. (Duration: 1:29 mins) Tea report by Colin Croft. (Duration: 1:50 mins) Lunch report by Colin Croft. (Duration: 2:00 mins) West Indies captain Jimmy Adams. "We don't have Courtney 100% fit. Looking back on all the games that we've played so far, to have Curtly and Courtney giving us that start has made a big difference. But, be that as it may, the Pakistanis played well." (Duration: 2:11 mins) West Indies batsman Ramnaresh Sarwan. "Of course I wanted to try and get a hundred, but the team was more important. I tried to rotate the strike as much as possible on the fourth or the fifth ball, and just try and keep as much strike as possible." (Duration: 3:07 mins) Day 2 (Fri 19 May): Close report by Colin Croft. (Duration: 1:19 mins) Tea report by Colin Croft. (Duration: 1:53 mins) Lunch report by Colin Croft. (Duration: 1:26 mins) Former Australian middle order batsman David Hookes. "I think the Australian Cricket Board were weak in their handling of the Shane Warne / Mark Waugh situation, by putting it under the carpet. There's no way you can go back and penalise them again, its not their fault, but I think the ACB as a leading cricket country lacked guts and decision making at the time." (Duration: 12:26 mins) West Indies Chairman of Selectors Mike Finlay. "Sarwan came in for the first Test, and he has approached this with a great deal of maturity, maturity beyond his years - this augers well for the future of West Indies cricket." (Duration: 1:15 mins) Coach Roger Harper. "I think its fantastic to see the young guy getting himself a century, a very well played century. I think the fact that he carried on for such a long time shows he's coming of age, and he's maturing." (Duration: 1:46 mins) West Indies batsman Wavell Hinds, who scored 165. "Its great to score the first Test hundred at home. Its nice to know that I can attack and defend." (Duration: 4:13 mins) Day 1 (Thu 18 May): Close report by Colin Croft. (Duration: 1:26 mins) Tea report by Colin Croft. (Duration: 1:31 mins) Lunch report by Colin Croft. (Duration: 1:34 mins) Yousuf Youhana, who scored a century on the opening day of the Test. "The special thing for me is my coach has signed "good luck" on my bat, my wife has come here too and that is very lucky for me. The team was under pressure but the wicket was very good for batting." (Duration: 2:00 mins) West Indies captain Jimmy Adams. "I would say that ten wickets in a day I think is a fantastic effort. If you wanted to be critical, it could have been 220 all out, or 210 all out. At the end of the day I'm still very, very pleased to have ten Pakistani wickets at the end of the first day on this pitch." (Duration: 6:02 mins) Pakistan captain Moin Khan. "It was a tremendous effort by Yousuf. We are looking to get West Indies out as quickly as we can - our bowlers are doing a tremendous job for Pakistan and we hope they will do that tomorrow as well. The pitch is perfectly alright and it is very good for batting." (Duration: 1:33 mins) Roger Harper. "We would have liked to restrict them to a much smaller total. I think at times we weren't as consistent as we'd have liked to have been." (Duration: 2:35 mins) Former England all-rounder Robin Jackman. "I think they're two very evenly matched teams. Pakistan probably have a better balance inside from a bowling point of view, they've got two great strikes bowlers in Younis and Akram, and two great spinners in Saqlain and Mushi. I think they would have gone into this game slightly favourite because of that variation in attack - however the West Indies fast bowlers are always a major factor." (Duration: 9:11 mins) Former Pakistan captain, now turned broadcaster, Rameez Raja. "I'm impressed with Sarwan, I thought he played really well in the 4-dayer." (Duration: 4:47 mins) Maurice Foster, former West Indies all-rounder. "Jimmy Adams has been able to get the players together - that has been lacking for years. The cohesion, the team spirit ... the whole body language would suggest that the players are now playing for the people of the West Indies, they are more committed." (Duration: 7:75 mins) Previews: Colin Croft previews the 2nd Test. (Duration: 1:15 mins) David Holford, head of the players' representative association. "The thing that has interested me most about the team is their fighting spirit. You can expect there to be fluctuations in the level of talent from year to year... but what I think is absolutely necessary is that the team show committment." (Duration: 15:59 mins) Brigadier Nasir, team manager for Pakistan. "Its going to be a good contest, and I wish that they had brought Lara into the team now that they had selected him for England." (Duration: 3:17 mins) Wasim Akram. "I believe that winning always gives you confidence, but losing at times can give you a wake-up call." (Duration: 3:04 mins) Pakistan captain Moin Khan. "Unfortunately Shoaib got fever last night, so he may be not able to play in the second Test match. I'm not sure if he'll be fit tomorrow or not, but he's still looking forward to playing." (Duration: 1:46 mins) West Indies captain Jimmy Adams. "I'm very happy to have Lara in the team. His ability, his seniority in terms of the experience that he has, him as a person... I'm just really delighted that he's back playing cricket." (Duration: 4:49 mins) West Indies team manager Ricky Skerritt. "I'm very excited about Brian rejoining the team, I think he'll add tremendous strength to the team, and personally I'm optimistic about his role in the team and I'm confident we're going to see a better team as a result." (Duration: 5:13 mins) Roger Harper. "We'd like to see the top order batsmen producing collectively, coming together as a unit. I wouldn't say we have problems, we just want to see the guys continue to put in the effort." (Duration: 4:09 mins) Mike Finlay, West Indies Chairman of Selectors. "When you're selecting a squad and you look at the composition, you have to make some hard decisions. I've had a long chat with Powell and Joseph, tried to assure them that its not the end of their career, and they need to go now and work hard, continually, to improve their cricket and to perform, so that they're always in the eyes of the selectors." (Duration: 7:40 mins) Sherwin Campbell. "This is the first time in a long time that I've seen a pitch so bare of grass - maybe this is a pitch I can look forward to tomorrow and the next five days, to get a good knock on it." (Duration: 1:10 mins) 1st Test, West Indies v Pakistan, Bourda, Guyana Day 5 (Mon 9 May): Colin Croft reports on the rained-off final day in Guyana. (Duration: 0:58 mins) ICC match referee Peter Burge. On the Guyana washout: "The weather's been terrible and this morning it doesn't look much better. We had some overnight rain. Its disappointing for the people who want to come and see cricket." On the problems with English cricket: "There are too many visiting players playing. They've given Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath what I think is a ridiculous amount of money to go to England. I think that's what wrong with cricket in England. There are 5 Australians captaining county sides who don't captain anything at home." (Duration: 9:25 mins) Pakistan captain Moin Khan. "The West Indies are also struggling with their batting, they are a good bowling side. So we're trying to get them out for a low score and we could have won this Test match if the rain hadn't come." (Duration: 1:57 mins) West Indies captain Jimmy Adams. "What does help is that you're not on and off. Play is called off for the day as opposed to intermittent showers which I think does more harm than good in terms of your concentration." (Duration: 2:43 mins) Interview with former Guyanan West Indies opening batsman Faoud Bacchus. (Duration: 10:31 mins) Umpire Rudi Koertzen. (Duration: 4:15 mins) Umpire Steve Bucknor. (Duration: 5:51 mins) Secretary of Guyana Cricket Board. (Duration: 4:39 mins) Day 3 (Sun 7 May): Lance Gibbs - former West Indies off-spinner. "I feel that we were the greatest side in the world for quite a long time, and its expected that things are going to fall down. But this happened so rapidly that it was unbelievable." (Duration: 3:29 mins) Colin Croft reports on the rain-shortened third day of the Guyana Test. (Duration: 1:07 mins) West Indies captain Jimmy Adams. "The first session really didn't go according to plan, we lost wickets too quickly. I think we had a good enough wicket to put some pressure on the Pakistanis. But we still kept fighting all the way down, and that partnership between McLean and Chanderpaul really brought us back into the game. " (Duration: 2:09 mins) Nixon McLean. "When I started it was just a matter of survival. It got a bit easier as the day went on." (Duration: 2:47 mins) West Indies coach Roger Harper. "It was pleasing to see the way we fought back. I really thought we could have been in a better position." (Duration: 2:07 mins) Day 1 (Fri 5 May): Roger Harper - West Indies coach. "We were hoping at this point we would have been batting and Pakistan would have had much less runs on the board, but they batted very well, the wicket flattened out at a bit. Inzamam just continued his good form and Razzaq provided the perfect partner for him. (Duration: 1:55 mins) Jimmy Adams - West Indies captain. "It was a good start this morning, we got the wickets, we managed to make use of the early moisture that was there. If there's one disappointment its not so much in the wickets column, its more in the runs. I think there were too many boundaries scored." (Duration: 5:40 mins) Javed Miandad - Pakistan coach, on Abdur Razzaq. "I am very pleased and happy. He has so much talent and so much ability." (Duration: 3:06 mins) Chris Dearing, the Marketing Executive of the West Indies Cricket Board, talks about the new sponsorship agreement with BSkyB. (Duration: 9:19 mins) Previews: Dr Rudi Webster - sports psychologist for the West Indian team. (Duration: 5:24 mins) Ramnaresh Sarwan "Of course I'm happy, its what I've been working all my life for and now I am here. I have to continue working hard. Getting here I think is easy but I have to maintain my position." (Duration: 2:25 mins) West Indies captain Jimmy Adams "Its an wonderful indication of the level of talent we have in the caribbean that we can have players this young representing us. " (Duration: 5:50 mins) Mahendra Nagamootoo "I feel I could cope with it. I have to put in dedication and hard work." (Duration: 2:37 mins) Courtney Walsh "The team played so well against Zimbabwe that we want to carry that forward." (Duration: 2:38 mins) Curtly Ambrose "Pakistan are an entirely different proposition. With no disrepect to Zimbabwe, Pakistan are a much better team and its not going to be easy facing them in a Test match here. But we're full of confidence." (Duration: 2:47 mins) On the eve of the 1st Test, Colin Croft previews the match and reports on the options available to the selectors. (Duration: 1:21 mins) Colin Croft examines the West Indies team selection (Duration: 1:17 mins) Wasim Akram on the match-fixing allegations surrounding Pakistan and their World-Cup match with Bangladesh: "As far as I myself am concerned, I know that I haven't done anything wrong, and no-one can point the finger at me. I think Bangladesh played well, fair and square, and they won the game fair and square. (Duration: 3:06 mins) Pakistan captain Moin Khan talks about his team's injury problems and looks ahead to the Test match (Duration: 5:36 mins) West Indian coach Roger Harper "We played successfully against Zimbabwe and we are hoping we can maintain that competitive edge and build on the sort of team spirit, teamwork and commitment that we showed in that series." (Duration: 4:31 mins)