A short leg may have meant an early departure for Ricky Ponting © Getty Images

... an Australian wag in the press box joked under his breath: “The Hauricane will be licking his lips — he might even get two second-innings wickets.” Hauritz is self-aware enough to understand his unflattering image. “I would be shocked if they didn’t have a go at me,” he said before the Test. “If they can get on top of me early, it will be very hard to come back from that.” It was hardly the sort of declaration of intent that we have come to expect from Australian spinners, but times and personnel have changed. Hauritz is simply the latest man standing in a game of musical chairs that the Australian selectors have been playing with their spinners over the past 2.5 years since Shane Warne retired. They have tried seven specialist spinners since then; their combined efforts have yielded 51 wickets at an average of 54.

In the Sun-Herald, Peter Roebuck wonders if Nathan Hauritz might have the last laugh, which could be the sweetest of ironies.

Back in the Sunday Times Simon Barnes suffers as England's bowlers are outplayed by Australia's batsmen.

Panesar is a man diminished. He was powered for a time by the belief that everything would be made all right, but now that has gone from him. Nor does he seem to have much else. Meanwhile, Graeme Swann, now England’s first choice as spinner, simply couldn’t get it right, and that made for suffering all round. It is not a moral failing to be outplayed . . . but it is even more painful than just messing it up. The real cause of this suffering wasn’t that England could have done better, it was the fact that they probably couldn’t.

In the Observer Mike Brearley wonders why there wasn't a short leg in place for Ricky Ponting who gave a chance at that position early in his innings before going on to score 150.

... to someone who lunges so far this is just where he is vulnerable; if the ball comes back off the seam, or if the batsman looks for marginal swing away and gets too far over to the off side, he is liable to get an inside edge on to front pad. Secondly, having the short leg in place might well make him play differently, might make him less keen to get forward, and this opens up greater possibilities of getting an lbw decision.

In the same paper, Simon Jones, Ashes hero of 2005, talks about how it feels to be reduced a spectator for this series as he continues to struggle with injuries.

England's toothless attack in this Test may prompt the selectors to recall Steve Harmison, writes David Lloyd in the Independent on Sunday.

However Simon Hughes writes in the Sunday Telegraph, the calls for changes in the XI is to miss the point.

It was the decisive footwork, straight bat and appetite of the Australian batsmen that in the end secured them a position of such dominance. The England bowlers need to match their discipline. Same bowlers, different bowling.

Scyld Berry is already looking ahead to the second Test at Lord's, where England last won a Test in 1934.

Malcolm Conn in the Australian writes that the Test has been a major embarrassment for England and has raised questions over the strength of Andrew Strauss as a leader.

And there are a couple of Ashes diaries to keep track of in the Sunday papers in Australia. Here's Mike Hussey's first installment for the Sunday Telegraph, while in the same paper Kerry O'Keeffe says that his Ashes-watching trip began with him feeling so ill on the plane that "pet pigs in the hold have requested masks".

July 11, 2009

'Clarity' is all about the money

Posted 1 day, 13 hours ago in New Zealand cricket

When certain New Zealand players asked for some "clarity" about dates for the New Zealand home summer, it was obvious they were keen to make sure those didn't cut across their IPL commitments, writes Dylan Cleaver in the New Zealand Herald. This is the modern reality, apparently.

People are quick to put the boot into Twenty20 for razing the cricket landscape but Twenty20 isn't necessarily the problem - the IPL and the salaries it can offer is.

Can you blame Jacob Oram for wanting some guarantees he is going to be able to fulfil his $1 million contract with the Chennai Super Kings? He's probably not going to earn much more than a measly $250,000 (cough, splutter) playing for his country over the next 12 months.

West Indies cricket in a hole

Posted 2 days, 4 hours ago in West Indies cricket

The ICC's Dave Richardson has proposed that Test cricket be divided into two tiers. Based on rankings and the current WICB and WIPA disagreement, it is quite possible that West Indies find themselves in the lower rungs of international cricket. Trinidad and Tobago Express reports.

The most highly-paid players ever in the history of West Indies cricket and, arguably, the greatest underachievers, are again at loggerheads with the administrative managers of the game here with money once again being central to the dispute, the latest incarnation of the WICB seemingly unable to arrive at a series of systems that would have forestalled the kind of international embarrassment occasioned by a players' strike at the onset of what was supposed to have been a team-fortifying tournament.

It cost the West Indies public millions of dollars to get the islands into shape to host the 2007 World Cup. Taxpayers' money runs West Indies cricket and the Jamaica Gleaner feels the boycott by the players and the inefficiency of the WICB is nothing more than an attempt to hold the game hostage.

Continue reading "West Indies cricket in a hole"

Better off without Dravid?

Posted 2 days, 4 hours ago in Indian cricket

Pradeep Magazine, in the Hindustan Times, feels that picking Dravid for the ODI squad is a step in the wrong direction, especially at a time when the Indian team should look to move forward and plan for the future. Srikkanth has said that the country has a vast reservoir of young talent, perhaps it is time to give them a go instead.

True a Gautam Gambhir or a Rohit Sharma should not take their places in the team for granted. The whole world by now also knows that Suresh Raina has serious shortcomings when the ball climbs to his ribcage, but the return of Dravid, at best, can be a temporary solution. It can’t serve any useful long-term purpose and what Kris Srikkanth’s selection panel has done is take one step backward while trying to move ahead, especially when the same people never tire of reminding us that India has a vast reservoir of young talent. So, why not dip into that and find right answers to genuine problems, instead of recalling a man who himself may be finding it mystifying that he is back in the one-day squad.

Chastened England search for wickets

Posted 2 days, 5 hours ago in Ashes

With Australia piling on a big total on day three, Vic Marks writes in the Guardian that Andrew Staruss' attack looked increasingly bedraggled as the day progressed and says this is a good match for an aspiring England bowler to miss.

We were back in Caribbean mode, where the dead, grassless surfaces eventually sapped their energy. There Broad expressed the view that he was pining for England and the green, green grass of home. The attack found some of that at Lord's and Chester-le-Street and they smiled. But here they have been emasculated once again and they have been reminded that Australians are more ruthless, more disciplined than Test cricketers in the Caribbean

With the England attack made to look toothless by the efficient Australian batting, Simon Barnes writes in the Times that the third day was one of real suffering for the home side.

Andrew Strauss, the England captain, looked like Ron Weasley in the Harry Potter books, trying the spell to open doors, but finding them for ever locked, no matter how he waved his wand or uttered the magic word: “Alohomora!” He tried with all his bowlers in turn, but hardly a door did he open all day.

Michael Henderson writes in the Daily Telegraph that though much of the talk ahead of the Ashes was of England's superior slow bowling, neither Monty Panesar nor Graeme Swann have made a strong case for a place in the XI for the second Test.

And if one man has to go it will be Panesar, who can just about hold a bat, and whose fielding is barely junior house-match standard. Three years after his Test debut, his general lack of competence, which some find endearing, remains shocking.

And in the Independent Peter Roebuck writes that Ben Hilfenhaus has been the best fast bowler on display in the match so far.In the same paper, Angus Fraser suggests that asking England's new-ball bowlers to concentrate on bowling short has cost England.

Authoritative Ponting has England worried

Posted 2 days, 5 hours ago in Ashes

	Ricky Ponting remains England's walking nightmare © PA Photos

After watching Ricky Ponting's 150, Gideon Haigh writes in the Times that the innings was a perfect batting tutorial. He also reflects on how Ponting has grown as a captain over the years.

The members of that dressing room have returned Ponting’s gaze with something approaching awe. Like the later Allan Border, he has become captain to a circle of cricketers who grew up watching him play. They look to him for the kind of craftsman’s runs he has provided at Cardiff and for the talismanic link he represents to past success.

In the Guardian Paul Hayward writes that the "the look of thunder on his [Ponting's] mug" shows just how determined the Australian captain is to avenge the defeat in 2005.

Booed on to the field and then clapped back off 150 runs later, Ricky Ponting wore his most demonic game face. A smile may not crack the captain's features until he has avenged the 2005 outrage. "Punter" Ponting's tight, resentful countenance is a study in the uses of adversity.

And in the Independent James Lawton writes that Ponting's innings set the tone for a day of utter dominance.

You've gotta love Peter Siddle

Posted 2 days, 7 hours ago in Ashes

Barney Ronay gets candid about his affection for Peter Siddle, how Siddle could be the perfect friend. There are many qualities that are appealing about Siddle, writes Ronay in the Guardian.

With Siddle you'd get the kind of friend who wouldn't ever just stay for a half because he's got an early one the next day, or, alternatively, stick around and talk for hours about how he isn't entirely sure his current job is effectively extending his marketable skill set. Or have food allergies, or even know what food allergies are, or ride around on one of those irritating fold-up bicycles, or affect a highly vocal and pedantically well-informed liking for dub reggae.

July 10, 2009

Sunny's days

Posted 3 days, 4 hours ago in Indian cricket

Former Indian opener Sunil Gavaskar has turned 60 today. The Hindustan Times' Anand Vasu asks him about the World Cup win in 1983, the walkout in Melbourne in 1981, his relationship with Kapil Dev and more.

When you started, where did the self-belief come from and what made your success possible?

To be honest, I did not have plenty of self-belief when I made my debut But I was optimistical- ly confident and maybe that helped me. The fact that I was an opening batsman from schooldays helped me enormously in developing a method to combat attacks.The fact that I had to wait so long to play for Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy made me determined, and I think determination and concentration were the key.

In the same paper, Gavaskar's uncle, Madhav Mantri, the former Indian wicketkeeper, remembers Gavaskar's early days - from being mixed up with another baby in the hospital where he was born, to earning his first school cap.

Also read Ayaz Memon's interview of Sunil Gavaskar on cricinfo.com.

Who better to talk about Gavaskar than Sachin Tendulkar? The Master Blaster's close association with Gavaskar goes back to Sachin's school days, and continues to date. Sachin talks about his experiences with Gavaskar in the Hindustan Times.

During our first few meetings, it was one-way traffic as I hardly spoke. For one, I was in awe of him, and then, I wanted to make the most of being privy to the wisdom of Sunil Gavaskar. When our coaches told us to follow a particular routine and we asked why, the reply was:”SMG did this”. He was the ultimate example, and to our coaches and to us, if he did something, then we had to do it as well.

Initially, Gavaskar wanted to be a doctor. He also also mentions that playing in his balcony helped him practice with a straight bat. Read many more interesting facts about Gavaskar in his interview with Lokendra Pratap Sahi in the Telegraph.

And on Cricketweb, Swaranjeet Singh writes that Sunil Gavaskar was just the sort hero Indian cricket fans were craving for.

We were fed up of being the good guys who were happy to come second. Players who had long been playing for their batting averages than for the side ... Players who were always individuals and never members of a 'Team India' that never existed. And finally, players most of who were widely accepted as being uncomfortable (to put it mildly) against the quicker stuff. Sunil Gavaskar circa 1971 changed all that.

Veteran cricket journalist Partab Ramchand writes in Dreamcricket that Indian cricket can be divided into two eras - before Gavaskar and after Gavaskar.

Freddie the talisman

Posted 3 days, 6 hours ago in Ashes

Andrew Flintoff is still the talisman for England he was in 2005 but he is no longer the heart of the team, only a very handy bonus when fit, writes Simon Barnes in the Times.

He got the upstart Hughes, befuddling him and inducing an inside edge, and a rather good catch from Matt Prior. Cue the next Rodin statue — legs once more straddled, chest inflated like a bellows, arms wide, hands high, no smile, gaze level: Freddie Rex. The entire team were ignited with hope and belief. Nothing to do but watch the next wicket fall. The snag was that it didn’t. Flintoff gave us a blazing six overs then took a break. Ricky Ponting and Katich set about digging in. It was as if a light had gone out. It was as if Australia and England had given themselves over to a ritual, a routine in which the England bowlers toiled without reward while the Australia batsmen moved gradually from safe to ominous, and Flintoff watched.

According to James Lawton in the Independent, England's attack, when it came right down to it, was Andrew Flintoff.

Meanwhile Flintoff's victim, Phillip Hughes makes for compelling viewing, writes Vic Marks in the Guardian.

Hughes disobeys most of the openers' rules. They are supposed to minimise risk at the start of an innings. The most common way to be dismissed against a new, hard ball is from an outside edge. So the received wisdom is to be wary outside the off stump, to make the bowlers come to you and then to clip them away on the leg-side. An inside edge usually goes nowhere; the outside edge is perilous. But Hughes does it the other way round. His back foot stays on leg stump and his eye is so good that he can hit anything slightly wide of off stump in an arc between extra cover and third man. It is tough for fielding captains to defend those areas square of the wicket.

In the same paper, Barney Ronay writes that being their first home Ashes series, Sky Sports have shaped their summer around hopes of another subscription-shifting grand bouffe of high-cholesterol Big Moments that 2005 was full of. But it's not like that any more.

"I. Don't. Think. They. Have bowled. To Hughes. That well," muttered Michael Holding, almost managing to convince you he really was cross. And as Andrew Flintoff finally beat Hughes' flailing bat David Lloyd erupted with: "Well bowled! That's a reminder of 2005!" Bumble, you felt like saying, it's OK. We understand. Times change.

July 9, 2009

Sixty not out for Gavaskar

Posted 3 days, 18 hours ago in Indian cricket

	The 1983 World Cup win is the one feat Gavaskar was thrilled to achieve © Getty Images

It was Mr Worthington, the Indian school team probables coach, who changed Sunil Gavaskar's game completely in 1966 from a front-on position to side-on in 30 days. That's the been the biggest turning point in the batting maestro's career. Clayton Murzello in Mid-Day gets him to talk on a variety of subjects from sports officialdom to the 1981 Melbourne walkout, on the occassion of his 60th birthday.

One colleague/friend you miss most?

Eknath Solkar for sure. We grew up together as cricketers. We used to ride in buses from the Brabourne Stadium. Ekki would get off at the Hindu Gymkhana while Milind Rege and me used to proceed to Nana Chowk. I really miss Ekki and we had some wonderful times. After nets we used to go out for idli dosa. Often it would be three masala dosas shared by the three of us. Two lassis shared too. And we were always fighting about paying the bus fare. Ekki was such a simple guy but was very confident of himself. I miss 'Kaka' (Ashok) Mankad too and Sardeeman (Dilip Sardesai) but I miss Ekki the most.

Groundhog Day for West Indies

Posted 4 days, 3 hours ago in West Indies cricket

The West Indies board and players' association are at loggerheads once again over contracts and the team has boycotted the first Test against Bangladesh. In caribbeancricket.com, Lawrence Romeo calls it a Groundhog Day for West Indies fans, since, like in the movie starring Bill Murray, they find themselves in a repeat situation of what has happened several times before.

Do the leaders of their organizations, Messrs. Hunte and Ramnarine - even though they were once President and Director respectively of the WICB - know each other? Do they care about reaching a beneficial outcome? Have they considered moving beyond the initiation stage of the negotiation and onto the problem solving stage, and hopefully on to some resolution? If as leaders they cannot figure out the way forward beyond the never ending cycle of strike and temporary appeasement, then they are failing as leaders and must either agree to be led, or step aside. Who is the CARICOM leader responsible for cricket, and when is that person going to step up? Can CARICOM, in the face of the failure of all other efforts banish the WICB as an entity from doing business in the Caribbean and start afresh with a new managing organization?

Goodbye to Lee and Clark?

Posted 4 days, 5 hours ago in Ashes

	Waiting for a brain explosion © Getty Images

The first day of the Ashes 2009 is over and the analysis is pouring in. In his blog in Sydney's Daily Telegraph Robert Craddock hopes Australia stick with Ben Hilfenhaus, Mitchell Johnson and Peter Siddle even it means the end of Brett Lee and Stuart Clark.

None of the young trio have reached their full potential but they skittled South Africa and will test England to the point where Clark and Lee could be squeezed out for good if the frontliners remain uninjured. The only member of the attack who was vulnerable entering the Test was surprise selection Hilfenhaus and he was Australia’s best bowler, a man born to bowl in England with his natural swing. Johnson’s position is non-negotiable and Siddle’s close to it. Hilfenhaus will get better the more he plays. He is the future as much as the present. I hope Australia gives him a decent run. Unfortunately there is no Shane Warne around to trim totals of 400 back to 310.

In the Independent Peter Roebuck writes that the limitations of Ricky Ponting's captaincy were increasingly exposed in the last two sessions of the day.

Far from seeking a fourth wicket, though, the tourists went into their shell after the break, relying for an eternity upon presentable spinners sent down by a specialist and a part-timer. Accordingly Pietersen and Paul Collingwood were able without any particular difficulty to rebuild the innings with sweeps and dabs to cover, shots indicating a reluctance to drive on a grudging deck. Inexplicably, Nathan Hauritz was retained for 14 overs. Presumably Ponting felt obliged to support him and the tactic was overdone. No wickets fell, or looked like falling, for two hours and still he did not intervene. Hilfenhaus was not called upon all afternoon. Upon his reappearance he produced the spell of the day, and was unjustly denied Pietersen's wicket.

In the Guardian, David Hopps declares Cardiff's debut as a Test venue a success.

Somehow this stadium works. It is intimate without being overly cramped, the atmosphere was lively without being crass, the crowd appreciative and knowledgeable. Never before have so many Welsh men and women gathered in one place to support England. They did so with no sense of shame.

Kevin Pietersen looked set for a big score when he tried to play a reverse-sweep to a delivery pitched outside off and top-edged an easy catch to short leg. In the Times Richard Neale asks whether KP is a cricketing genius who should be allowed a free rein or a selfish cricketer who puts himself above the team.

In the Courier Mail, Malcolm Conn writes that Pietersen's brain, or rather when it explodes, will prove the axis on which the series turns.

July 8, 2009

'I will be a captain again'

Posted 4 days, 17 hours ago in Bangladesh cricket

	Mohammad Ashraful: "I am a cricketer above all." © Getty Images

Mohammad Ashraful seems to have taken the loss of captaincy in his stride, possibly because having played under all Bangladeshi Test captains so far, he had seen them all leave as well. He had resigned to his fate and knew that the same would happen to him too. But Asharful is confident that he "will be a captain again" in the future. Read Utpal Shuvro's translated interview on the Banglacricket.com forum.

There has never been a lack of effort on my part. Unfortunately, I have not been able to show results. I will definitely be able to do so in the future...I did not give up the captaincy even when I wanted to. If I had quit, questions will surely be asked next time I am made captain.

England should start the Ashes as favourites

Posted 5 days, 4 hours ago in Ashes

	Is Graham Onions ready for the Ashes? © Getty Images

Geoffrey Boycott believes England go into the much-anticipated summer series as the form side. Break this Ashes series down into five categories - captaincy, seam bowling, spin bowling, batting and fielding - Boycott says England have the advantage in at least two and can compete on level terms in the rest. Which is a big change from recent series when, on paper at least, it has been Australia all the way. Read on in the Sydney Morning Herald.

Former England coach Duncan Fletcher posts on his blog in the Guardian that Graham Onions should play ahead of Monty Panesar. Fletcher believes Kevin Pietersen's batting can lead England to success if the selectors pick the right bowling attack.

It is good to see, though, that England resisted the trap of picking Steve Harmison just because of the way he bowled to Phillip Hughes. You can't pick a bloke just to dismiss one batsman, and in any case I believe the seamers who were selected have the ability to keep him quiet. The crucial thing is to make sure Hughes plays with a vertical bat: if you give him width to free his arms he can be dangerous.

In the same paper Mike Selvey says England must be prepared to grind it out in the Ashes and that Cardiff's secrets add to the uncertainties of a series that shows every sign of being attritional.

The Wisden Cricketer magazine have both Gideon Haigh and Peter Siddle writing for their blog, which should make for entertaining and insightful reading during the series.

Vic Marks wonders if England's bowlers, who combined brilliantly four years ago to spearhead an Ashes victory, can conjure up a repeat. He looks at England's bowling options for Cardiff.

David Hopps caught up with former Australian batsman and English county veteran Stuart Law, who bluntly says people should get off Andrew Flintoff's back. Law explains why we should cherish England's talismanic all-rounder for his commitment to the cause.

In the Independent James Lawton suggests that maybe 2005 should be wrapped in mothballs and brought out only when the heat of current Ashes action has passed, such is the standard it set for those who followed.

Marcus Berkmann, author of noted books on cricket such as Zimmer Men and Rain Men, is enslaved for the next seven weeks and says England cricket fans have learned nothing from their past sufferings.

As a fresh generation of stars prepare to make their own moments of history, Will Hawkes tracks down the heroes from series past to ask which contests and controversies have remained with them, and what they have been doing since drawing stumps on their careers.

The Times' Mike Atherton wonders if England's cricketers remember that beautiful but bleak day in Sydney two-and-a-half years ago, and if so, the wave upon wave of Australian triumphalism crashing over them? Do they remember the humiliation they felt on becoming part of only the second England team to be whitewashed on Australian soil?

Allan Border is concerned about Australia's attack, he writes in the Herald Sun, while Peter Lalor in the Australian looks back at the 2005 series.

July 7, 2009

Poms smell the blood of the Australians

Posted 5 days, 15 hours ago in Ashes

	Can Andrew Strauss do a Michael Vaughan? © Getty Images

England have enjoyed a better preparation and start as favourites for The Ashes. Australia have some superb players but appear disjointed. It's been a long time since an Australian team has relied so much on ifs and buts. But things can change, an inspired moment, a great innings and suddenly the bubble is back. Peter Roebuck writing in the Sydney Morning Herald hopes cricket will surpass its humdrum setting.

Over the years Englishmen have rarely gone to cold, damp Wales with any high expectations but this time their optimism is evident. They come in search not of coal or five-pointers but in pursuit of a disrupted Australian cricket team. They come seeking the Ashes...

Although lacking the messianic zeal to regain the Ashes that gripped the population last time around, the hosts are desperate to put the supposedly gum-chewing, unyielding, leathery visitors in their place. More than is sensible and much more than their opponents, English cricket measures itself by results in Ashes series. It is an odd obsession that tells of respect, fear and regret.

To play for Zimbabwe again

Posted 5 days, 19 hours ago in Zimbabwe cricket

Alester Maregwede played international cricket for Zimbabwe between 2003 and 2005 and is now playing club cricket in Australia where he took his side to its first title in 20 years and won a number of awards on the way. He spoke to zimcricketnews.com about his hopes of playing for Zimbabwe again, playing with Andy Flower and the new franchise system for domestic cricket in the country.

As a kid I played with Andy Flower for the same club, when I was actually the captain, and he passed on a lot of things to me that even now I still use. He also gave me a copy of a book, Mental Toughness in Sports, and what he followed in it is what got him to be the Number 1 batsman in the world. At 24 they said I was too old to be playing and they pushed me into coaching, I had to do 2 years of it and playing and proved that I was good enough to play,and still one of the fittest. I haven't given up playing for my country and I will be making a return - I have always wanted to return to international cricket when we start playing Test cricket again, Test Cricket is the Cricketers ultimate Test.

Freddie owes us, big time

Posted 6 days, 5 hours ago in Ashes

Paul Weaver writes in his Guardian blog that Andrew Flintoff has borrowed freely from the goodwill of the English public and now he owes them - big time.

There are two images of Andrew Flintoff and they flicker like holograms, struggling for primacy in the mind's eye. One is of his heroic deeds, with both bat and ball, in the Ashes of 2005, when he was truly immense; in the other he reels, like a stage drunk, as he celebrates that famous triumph in Trafalgar Square.

Today, on the eve of another Ashes series, the first picture has faded a little and it is the second that is illuminated by the stronger beam of light. Flintoff has much to do. What he achieves this year against a beatable Australia will help define him. Whether he plays like a match-winning all-rounder or galumphs around like an overgrown mascot will shape our memories of him and, perhaps, even his own.

Weaver also speaks to Stuart Clark, who is ready to take his chance despite a lack of preparation. Surprised by all the fuss over his visa issues and prospect of Gloucester giving Australia a helping hand, Clark says he had no control over matters.

Also in the Guardian, James Anderson tells Donald McRae he wants to be the man who stands up in the key moments during this series, while David Hopps says the concerns about Cardiff hosting the first Test will be forgotten if the Welsh fans "rush down from the valleys as supportively as the Welsh weather".

In the Daily Telegraph, Ricky Ponting recalls each of the five Tests that led to Australia losing the urn in 2005.

In his Guardian blog Andy Bull speaks to John Buchanan, who is revelling in his role reversal as England's adviser.

"You've had a number of Australian coaches come over into the English sporting system to provide some expertise. I'm just one of those pieces that can be imported and hopefully provide some knowledge and assistance."

Mike Selvey is going so say sorry on his next trip to Trent Bridge, because a failure to recognise an unfairly derided fast bowling legend more than 40 years ago still haunts him to this day.

Cricket culture or celebrity culture?

Posted 6 days, 5 hours ago in Ashes

Nick Bryant, the BBC's Sydney correspondent, writing in the Australian, wonders if the winning culture of the Australian cricket team has been overtaken by celebrity culture.

The emergent face of Australian cricket, at once dazzling and disorientating, stares out this month from the glossy front covers of two glamorous magazines. The first features the Australian vice-captain, Michael Clarke, resplendent in a pair of metallic denim jeans that look so ball-crushingly tight they would struggle to accommodate a stray Murray mint, let alone his protective equipment. The second shows Mitchell Johnson's girlfriend, Jessica Bratich, wearing significantly less apparel; a green and gold bikini emblazoned with the Southern Cross.

Both are reminders that the changes overtaking Aussie cricket are not limited to the exodus of playing legends but extend to its off-field philosophy and dressing-room culture. In pondering the relative decline of a team in transition, the focus naturally has been on the absence of Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Adam Gilchrist, Justin Langer and Matthew Hayden. But something else is missing, as well: the sheer bloody-mindedness of the Border years, and the austerity and discipline of the Waugh era. Has not a winning Australian cricket culture been contaminated by the fripperies of Australia's celebrity culture, as the fear factor has come to vie with the celebrity X factor?

July 6, 2009

Flintoff not dicking around

Posted 1 week ago in Ashes

"I've had a dicky ankle and a dicky knee, but that's behind me now, so I can concentrate on playing some cricket instead of being a professional rehabber." Thats Andrew Flintoff keeping it simple ahead of the Ashes. He spoke to the Guardian's Laura Barton.

If there is anything anyone does have on Flintoff, he would prefer not to know. "I don't read the paper every day or worry about what anyone's saying," he says. It is a tactic he has developed over the years, initially as a way of dealing with the constant speculation over his weight and his injuries, and then as a method of blocking out the commotion over the Ashes win.

In the Times Shane Warne writes that Graeme Swann is about to learn if he can live with great expectations.

Swann’s character could really get under the skin of the Australians and if I was the England captain, I would give him full licence to be himself. He isn’t to everyone’s taste. If he is dictating terms, he will have a strut about him and that arrogance and cockiness will be obvious. In that state, he could disrupt Australia’s rhythm.

Graham Onions has featured in selectorial thoughts for years, writes Stephen Brenkley in the Independent, but only recently has he lived up to his evident potential. Onions has enjoyed a fine season, the highlight of which came with his five-wicket bag on Test debut, and he is the man of the moment. But is he a certainty for Cardiff?

And the last of the summer whine blog has a hilarious 'moving tribute' to the recently retired Michael Vaughan.

The Red Bull run

Posted 1 week ago in Ashes

In the Courier-Mail, Robert Craddock looks at the many sides of Kevin Pietersen, the man with the greatest potential to unsettle Australia during the Ashes.

Kevin Pietersen is hyperactive at the best of times but he becomes even more so when he throws down a can of caffeine-infused Red Bull just before he bats. He does it to give an electric edge to his senses and, as a consequence, often has a slightly manic appearance about him when he arrives at the crease. That, in turn, can prompt him to set off for death or glory singles to get off the mark - the Red Bull run as it has been dubbed in England. The Australian side is aware of this little foible, and so they should be.

...

The reason he currently has an Achilles heel injury is that on the recent tour of the West Indies he repeatedly jogged up a mountain in St Kitts. He may seem like a maverick but there is a disciplined side as well. He has a fetish for promptness and his biographer Paul Newman said in every interview session he had with Pietersen for their book, Newman never once arrived first.

July 5, 2009

A phlegmatic captain

Posted 1 week ago in Ashes

Disastrous Ashes tours usually end in the demise of an England captain. Andrew Strauss, of course, shrugs off such a hypothetical suggestion. He seems capable of shrugging off just about anything. He comes over as the most phlegmatic England captain in living memory, writes Vic Marks in the Observer.

"One of the things that is fundamental to my captaincy and that I have talked a lot about is player responsibility and not encouraging them but making them make decisions for themselves. Vaughan did that and so did Duncan Fletcher. When the England team were playing well under him the environment was the best I have experienced in any cricket." So Strauss recognises that it is crucial to recapture the mood of 2005. "There's no doubt that if you want to play well against Australia you have got to take them on and be prepared to scrap. Anybody who goes in there and just thinks 'Oh no, we'll just stick to our own game' is going to come unstuck. Our players are absolutely certain that they will go out there and go blow for blow.

Afridi reincarnated

Posted 1 week, 1 day ago in Pakistan cricket

	Shahid Afridi has somehow tamed himself © Getty Images

To a nation that is still savouring the victory at the ICC World Twenty20 it may not go down too well, but the fact of the matter is that there is something more important to celebrate and talk about. It was a tournament where Shahid Afridi reinvented himself and that would mean much more to Pakistan than just the victory, provided, of course, he can keep it going, writes Humair Ishtiaq in the Pakistan daily Dawn.

The biggest gain is in his success to curb the irritating tendency to hit everything out of existence. His one-dimension batting technique was simple: close the eyes and hit through the line. But no more. It was truly and simply refreshing to watch Afridi ducking under the short balls and leaving the ones that wobbled around early in his innings. That he chose the shortest version of the game, which is more about the wham-bam stuff that he is known for than the straight-bat niceties, was a bit ironic but refreshing nonetheless.

Is the warrior ready for curtains?

Posted 1 week, 1 day ago in Sri Lankan cricket

Ignored for the Test series against Pakistan, Chaminda Vaas has now found himself having to defend comments from Ashantha de Mel, Sri Lanka's chief selector, that he has decided to quit the five-day game. Writing in the Sunday Times, SR Pathiravithana recalls the first time he saw Vaas and admires how that raw teenager morphed into Sri Lankan cricket's unsung hero.

At times I wonder without Vaas maturing along the line and forming that compatible duet would Muralitharan have been able to climb the heights that he has conquered today? It’s a known fact that for a bowler to succeed there should be another to block the flood gates at the other end.

An Ashes feud that lasted for life

Posted 1 week, 1 day ago in Ashes

The Observer is running extracts from a new biography on 'Bodyline' bowler Harold Larwood and the animosity between him and the greatest ever batsman, Don Bradman. Have a read:

He had taken his wicket just once, after Bradman had scored a double century. His track record against him was so meagre that he scarcely seemed, at least to Larwood himself, to be the bowler to interrupt Bradman's imperious progress. "He was cruel in the way he flogged you," said Larwood. "He made me very, very tired." But Bradman also made him "very, very angry". For there were professional and personal scores to be settled.

Speaking of feuds and rivalries, in his blog in the Observer Paul Hayward writes that despite his fitness problems and boozy indiscretions, Andrew Flintoff is still England's most important player.

The most compelling individual sub-plot to the coming marathon is whether Flintoff still has it in him to be the wrecker of Aussie hopes. After four ankle operations, and one in his knee following an ill-starred cameo in the Indian Premier League, the imagination's dark parts see him carted out of this series on a stretcher. If he survives through to The Oval, he will haunt Australia's batsmen and bowlers through sheer force of personality as well as the brutish power of his physique.

David Gower believes the outcome of this summer's series will hinge on the England captain’s handling of his biggest stars. If Andrew Strauss can achieve the same with the likes of Kevin Pietersen and Flintoff, he will be in clover, says Gower. He writes in the Sunday Times:

Strauss is good and also has that cool exterior. What he has yet to prove is that he possesses more of those Vaughan-, Brearley- or Illingworth-like traits. To win this Ashes series he will have to be braver than he was in the Caribbean, where caution in Antigua and, with trickier equations involved, in Trinidad cost him the series. He did at least show us in that series that he can raise his own game in response to the demands of captaincy and if he can do that again over the next couple of months, a lot more will fall into place. It has long been a pet theory of mine - not exactly a mind-blowing one, I admit - that if your own game is in order all the decision-making becomes a lot easier.

Staying with the Ashes but on a lighter note, the Observer catches up with two Irish pop mavericks who are giving England's cricketers an unexpected pre-Ashes boost in song. Neil Hannon (of the Divine Comedy) and Thomas Walsh (of Pugwash) discuss growing up as cricket fans in Ireland, the game's quirky appeal, and England's chances this summer.

July 4, 2009

Panesar provokes more questions for selectors

Posted 1 week, 2 days ago in Ashes

	Oh Monty, Monty ... © Getty Images

The Guardian's Mike Selvey believes Monty Panesar looks a better option than Adil Rashid for the Ashes. Australia have been troubled by orthodox left-arm spin, moreover, most recently from South Africa's Paul Harris, and should a second spinner be required then Panesar would provide the best option.

He picked up three tail-end wickets on Thursdayand has suggested that he will return to his default pace with little attempt at variation, which is right in some respects as he is an attritional bowler. This is right in some respects – he is best as an attritional bowler – but naive in others: the main variation he has failed to exploit, which has cost games, is to go round the wicket to left-handers when the ball turns, concentrating too much on the rough.

Paul Weaver, in the same paper, says Ravi Bopara, England's new No 3, has spent his short lifetime surprising all and sundry with his natural ability. His defining moment has arrived.

Kevin Pietersen cannot wait for the Ashes to begin. He tells the Daily Telegraph's Jim White that the first day of the second Test at Edgbaston in 2005 was the day that changed everything.

There is no modesty about KP, false or otherwise. And when you look back at that Edgbaston day, and remember him slogging Shane Warne and making a dashing 71, it was all laid out before us: that was our batting future, the soon to be indisputable crux of the England side, the man on whom all fortunes hang. And didn't he know it. Yet, incredible as it seems when you recall his assurance, his self-possession that day, it was only his second Test match. He had emerged seemingly fully formed, as if he was made for the moment.

Have England got a good 'thing' going, asks Barney Ronay in his Guardian blog. It turns out England's cricketers will be 'reconnecting' with their natural game in order to win the Ashes.

England are not exactly on the rise, Australia are not in total disarray, while both sides have strengths and weaknesses that could be identified from Pluto. Thats Peter Roebuck looking at the Ashes in the Sydney Morning Herald.

James Lawton, in the Independent, looks at what makes Australia such a successful team on the world stage.

Also in the Independent, Chris McGrath relives the history of verbal duels without which an Ashes summer really wouldn't be cricket. Wives, mothers, children – when a war of words breaks out, nothing is off-limits.

Gideon Haigh, in the Times, says Ricky Ponting's touring team may not match the 2005 crew for star quality, but their team spirit compares favourably.

July 3, 2009

Ashes grounds rated

Posted 1 week, 2 days ago in Ashes

Lord's unsurprisingly ranks as the top ground for an Ashes Test while Sophia Gardens is one of the least preferred among 45 county cricketers surveyed in the London-based magazine Property Week.

3.) Headingley – 42.8%

The home of Yorkshire County Cricket Club scraped into third place by 0.4%. Only one of the 45 cricketers polled said it was his Ashes ground of choice. Five said it was second favorite, 20 said it was third favorite, 18 said it was fourth and 1 said it was least favorite. Headingley is also embarking on redevelopment of part of the site. In March it was granted planning consent for the £21m, 45,000 sq ft Carnegie Pavilion. The pavilion, being built by Bam Construction, is expected to complete in May 2010.

4.) Oval – 42.2%

The Oval could do with some improvement, so it is just as well that the Kennington ground was granted planning consent by the Secretary of State earlier this month for a £35m redevelopment which will increase capacity to 25,000 and will include a four-star 168 bed hotel. Surrey County Cricket Club and Arora International Hotels developing the plans. In the survey, only one cricketer said the Oval was his favorite ground to host an Ashes test match. Eleven put it as second choice, eleven at third, 17 at fourth and five in fifth.

The ultimate showdown

Posted 1 week, 2 days ago in Ashes

Nothing compares to the Ashes, says Mike Selvey in the Guardian. The Border-Gavaskar trophy between India and Australia may come close, but it has to settle for second best in the battle for the ultimate contest. What makes the Ashes special is the memories it evokes, be it Merv Hughes' mustache or 90,000 fans at the MCG.

The build up. Glenn McGrath's predictions, Shane Warne's mischievous teasing, the mental disintegration that was Steve Waugh's watchword, batsmen "targeted", the war of words, England keeping their counsel. Then the expectation of the opening day, all-too-often the tone set for the series in the first exchanges: Michael Slater's withering square cut at the Gabba, the twin English groans of disbelief there as Nasser Hussain blundered with the toss and Steve Harmison tried to knee cap his own mate at second slip in the following series. But there was Harmison four years ago hitting Justin Langer. "These blokes mean business," said the batsman as he received treatment for his bruised arm.

The way we did it in 2005

Posted 1 week, 2 days ago in Ashes

An attacking Simon Jones, good form as a team and plenty of preparation. These are just a few things that worked for England the last time Australia toured, helping them regain the Ashes. Winning coach Duncan Fletcher writes in the Guardian on the details of England's famous triumph, in yet another rewind to 2005.

The key player for me was Simon Jones, who was even ahead of Kevin Pietersen in his importance to the side. We needed an attacking bowler who could get five wickets on a consistent basis, because Andrew Flintoff tended to hold up an end rather than rip through the opposition, Steve Harmison blew hot and cold and Matthew Hoggard was better against the left-handers than the right-handers.

Time for Sharma and Raina to step up

Posted 1 week, 3 days ago in Indian cricket

Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina have an abundance of talent, but their perfromances on the field haven't stacked up high enough. In the Indian Express, Harsha Bhogle asks if Sharma and Raina can grow from T20 stars to being consistent in all forms of the game.

It is a call that Rohit Sharma and others like Suresh Raina must take. Do they want to make T20 their universe, exist as a series of short, incandescent bursts, where failure is frequented as often as success? Or do they want to take their extraordinary ability towards other horizons? It is not as easy a decision as it seems for sooner or later they will be confronted by that enemy of ambition — the comfort factor. A sharp fast bowler who makes life uncomfortable can only come at you for 12 balls, or maybe even six (notice how T20 is slowly replacing the word ‘over’). There are always a couple of bowlers you can punish. And forty five minutes is about as long an innings will last.

Conveniently ignoring the truth

Posted 1 week, 3 days ago in Ashes

Simon Wilde, in the Times, reminds readers of a certain 5-0 whitewash which has been forgotten by the British media in the run up to the Ashes. The 'series in between' has been conveniently airbrushed from memory, Wilde says.

The whole country seems determined to hark back to 2005. Maybe it's in our genes, the same genes that encouraged Lord Nelson to put the telescope to his blind eye so that he could ignore an order to retreat at the Battle of Copenhagen. Except Nelson had a strategy. This is just ignoring inconvenient truths.

Sitting in one of his favourite pubs, The Victoria near Richmond Park in south-west London, Bob Willis tells Brian Viner of the Independent why he feels England cannot win the Ashes this summer - because the Australian batting is too strong. Willis also reminisces his favourite Ashes memories, including 'that' match at Headingley in 1981.

We all know what happened on the pitch, of course, but what about afterwards? "Oh, Brears, Beefy and myself were dragged off to a press conference, and by the time we got back to the dressing-room everyone else had gone. They were going all over the country for Natwest Trophy second-round fixtures the next day. So Beefy and I had a pint together, and that was it. It wasn't until I was driving home and it was the lead story on [the Radio 4 news programme] PM, that the penny dropped as to what we had actually achieved."

Genuine swing bowling has always been instrumental in Ashes success through the years, with Bob Massie and Terry Alderman being just a few examples. Can it be the turn of England's James Anderson this time around? Simon Hughes has the answer in the Telegraph.

July 2, 2009

Don't bury the past, England

Posted 1 week, 4 days ago in Ashes

If England are really set on learning from history, of course, they don't need to look quite as far back as 90 years. A couple would do. It was a little series called The Ashes, and it took place in 2006-07 in Australia, where they were walloped 5-0. It's no use pretending that the whitewash never happened. England will have to look back at that series and seek revenge, much like Australia did when they lost in 2005, writes Emma John in the Guardian.

People who suffer traumatic experiences are frequently known to repress them, bury them so deep inside their psyche that they can't consciously remember them. Personally, I am convinced that in December 2006 I spent a glorious time with my Australian relatives; that my stay in Perth was marked by a five-day period of festivals, feasting and spa treatments before moving on to Melbourne on Boxing Day for a magical three days hanging out with Kylie. I just need an explanation for the involuntary spasms whenever I hear the words "Mike Hussey".

I've looked at the teams that each may like to send out on to the park (for example, I've assumed that Shane Watson will be fit). How do the Ashes class of '09 stack up? asks Mike Atherton in the Times.

Kevin Pietersen v Michael Clarke
I expect Pietersen to rise to the occasion and cement his position as one of the great batsmen of the moment. Like all captains, Ponting hates the feeling of not being in control of events in the field and Pietersen is the player who can change the course of a game in a session. Clarke, though, has questions to answer: he has never been that successful in England, either for Hampshire as an overseas player or in the 2005 series, and technically he has looked suspect against the moving ball. Verdict: Pietersen

In the Times, Rick Broadbent chats with former England captain Mike Gatting, who speaks on varied matters such as the importance of Flintoff, the perils of success in England and dwindling crowds at games.

Instinctive cricket rules

Posted 1 week, 4 days ago in Pakistan in Sri Lanka 2009

Mike Haysman, who's off to commentate on the Sri Lanka-Pakistan series, is excited about the prospect of watching two teams who rely on instincts and sometimes throw the coaching manual into the sea. Read on in Supercricket.

That is the beauty of cricket in Asia. Coaching is not restrictive. It is correctly used to sand paper some rough edges but it encourages instinct and expression. Enormously strong wrists will be in action as deliveries that would normally be driven straight as per coaching manuals are whipped away square on the leg side in a disdainful manner. Mystery spinners will hoodwink batsmen as unconventional finger and wrist action will unravel some of the best wielders of willow around.

In the Island, Aravinda de Silva shares anecdotes of his finest memories of playing against Pakistan. Rex Clementine met him.

"I remember landing a day or two before the match in Pakistan. The second ball I faced, I just tried to on-drive, probably I was overconfident and managed to flick it back to Saqlain and I was caught and bowled. It was very disappointing as the team was expecting much from me. But that made me determined to do well in the second innings and score some runs. It was tougher in the second innings. We lost early wickets and the wicket wasn’t easy to bat on. It was very satisfying to score a hundred there.

July 1, 2009

One rule for one, one for Fred?

Posted 1 week, 4 days ago in English cricket

Andrew Flintoff's dodgy alarm clock has given the England management a difficult few days ahead of the Ashes after the allrounder missed the bus during their team-bonding trip to Belgium to view the war graves. It led to Andrew Strauss being asked how they are going to deal with Flintoff and both he and Hugh Morris were on the defensive. In the Daily Mail, Paul Newman says that the ECB could soon be in a tough situation.

To let himself and England down when the team were supposed to be opening their eyes to the wider world and learning about those who gave their lives for the country seems particularly crass. This is a big test for the Strauss-Flower regime. They have made an excellent impression as a partnership capable of lifting England from the depths to become credible Ashes challengers.

But they cannot allow Flintoff to be bigger than the team, not when they have won more Tests without him than with him in the last four years. And not when his lack of Test hundreds and five-fors make it hard to still think of him as the irreplaceable all-rounder that he has always been considered.

In the Times, Mike Atherton says that although the issue may soon be forgotten if Flintoff and England perform well, it was very bad timing.

If it does emerge that Flintoff was drinking, Morris will be made to look both foolish and economical with the truth. Thanks, Fred.

Andrew Strauss didn't need it. Attempting to deflect criticism away from his all-rounder, he was forced to concede that what Morris called an “alarm clock issue” is not specific to Flintoff. The team, Strauss said, have a timekeeping issue generally. Ravi Bopara is known to have missed a team meeting this summer, but from what Strauss said yesterday, it is a more widespread challenge for his team to defeat. After that, the Aussies should be a cinch.

Who's the better leader?

Posted 1 week, 5 days ago in English cricket

Was Michael Vaughan a better captain than Ray Illingworth, whose 12 England victories trail behind his total but who won them when the pickings were not so easy from emerging nations such as Bangladesh and Zimbabwe and when the West Indies at their mightiest ruled the game?

Was he better than May, who retained his talent as the most stylish of batsmen even when saddled with responsibility?

Was he better than Mike Brearley, whose 18 triumphs in 31 Tests, including seven series successes, notably the Botham Ashes of 1981, gives him a win ratio of 58%?

Frank Malley writing in the Independent has his reasons to believe the comparisons are futile.

Generations from now, Michael Vaughan's place in English cricketing history will be defined by the epic, and frenetic 2005 Ashes series. He was much more than the magician who turned Andrew Flintoff into a national hero that summer, the senior role model brave enough to let the then rookie Kevin Pietersen bat with unbridled exuberance, and the mentor who encouraged Simon Jones to produce swinging exocets that defied the laws of physics. Oliver Brett has more in his blog on the BBC website.

For old times' sake

Posted 1 week, 5 days ago in Ashes

Next week's Ashes will once witness proper cricket again, with a past that embraces a bit of chicanery and mutual loathing as well as great deeds and more affection, if you look for it, than there used to be. David Foot in his blog on the Guardian website remembers how, for two days in 1948, how the Australian 'Invincibles' masterfully lit up Taunton with unceremonious brilliance.

All of us were caught up in a crescendo of excitement. The country at that time might be weighed down by shortages, war-weary demeanours and all the signs of the demob-suit aura. But, come on, we were here to see the Australians. Not quite the Ashes, but the next best thing.

There was no time for prolonged English celebrations after the desperately tense win at Edgbaston in the second Test in 2005. The next match at Old Trafford started four days later. John Westerby in the Times relives the moments with a few cricketers and fans.

Matthew Hoggard

After such an intense experience as the Edgbaston game, it was crucial to be able to switch off from cricket for a couple of days. I went home and cut the grass, played with the dogs and had a couple of barbecues.

Ken Grime Old Trafford match manager

At 5am, our overnight security people had alerted us that there were people camping outside the ground, so some of our stewards were at work by 6am. I set off to drive in from Bury about 6.50am and I was surprised when I saw a couple of lads wearing England shirts at our local bus stop. Then there were a few more at the next stop. And the stop after that. When I got to the ground at 7.40am, I wondered whether there might be a bit of a crowd gathering. A bit of a crowd? The ground was already surrounded.

June 30, 2009

Freud in the slips

Posted 1 week, 6 days ago in Miscellaneous

Both Test cricket and psychoanalysis are out of tune with a world that demands quick results. Former England cricket captain Mike Brearley, now Britain’s leading psychoanalyst believes, that it is a big loss. Psychoanalysis according to him “tells stories in similar depth, with repetitions from different points of view. And these things take time, as does Test cricket. Edward Marriott has more in Prospect magazine.

Certainly, despite its genteel reputation, few games are as psychologically arduous. On-field aggression is rife: former Australian captain Steve Waugh once described his sledging techniques as “mental disintegration”; while South African batsman Daryll Cullinan was so distressed by Shane Warne’s intimidation that he took time out for therapy, only to be greeted on his return with the words “I’m going to send you straight back to the leather couch,” from his tormentor. Long foreign tours have also seen intense homesickness suffered by players like Steven Harmison, and contributed to Marcus Trescothick’s breakdown and resignation from the England side in 2006.

Fifty-over cricket will survive

Posted 1 week, 6 days ago in Cricket

In an interview to Sharda Ugra of India Today, the ICC president David Morgan talks about various issues regarding the future of cricket - the primacy of Test cricket in the face of Twenty20, the changes mooted to spice up Tests, the survival of the 50-over format and the Champions Trophy, plus the prospect of more freelance players in the T20 leagues.

Let me take you back to India's last tour in the UK in 2007. There were seven ODIs and at the Oval, India were 2-3 down and India won a marvelous match at the oval on a beautiful sunny day and the ground was packed. It was 3-3 and there were Indians throughout the UK who wanted to buy tickets to the last match a few days later here. And for anybody to say that fifty over cricket is finished internationally, they only have to look back to that seven-match series. It was electric, wonderful, skilful, and of course it provided a whole day's entertainment as opposed to requiring two T20 matches to provide the same duration of entertainment.

June 29, 2009

Test cricket is dead

Posted 1 week, 6 days ago in Indian cricket

When did you last take a train ride for the sheer pleasure of the journey? When did you last lie on the grass and stare at the clouds for half a winter’s day? When did you last spend a day at home watching movies back to back? What do these questions have to with cricket, you ask? Samar Halarnkar writes in the Hindustan Times that the world changed before we realised it, that it became flatter, and we started living 24/7/365. And that, in turn, has distracted us from Test cricket.

The purists may fume, and the experts may fulminate, but I believe Test cricket is ready to go the way of the Premier Padmini, the record player and the Bajaj Chetak. Everything that is iconic has a time, an era. After watching the frenetic energy, the raucous fans, the heady mix of modern glamour and cricket and the sheer number of T20 games this year, I am convinced that the era of Test cricket is nearly done.