"Sachin did not have to work that hard on his game" © Getty Images

Kapil Dev has no doubts about Sachin Tendulkar's performances. He knows Tendulkar's record over 20 years is impeccable. But he still feels he is an under-achiever. Read what Kapil has to say in his column for the Asian Age.

When I say all this I mean it as a compliment to his talent and a criticism of his under achievement. I firmly believe that for a batsman of Sachin's talent, he should have made 10 Test double hundreds, a 300 and at least one 400. In the same breath, I would say that I would ideally have liked to see him go from 30 to 50 in three overs and to go from 50 to 80 on any pitch, against any bowling in 5 overs. He may use up another 5 overs to get to 95 and then safely get his century. Here is a man who can hit sixes at ease than anyone else in world cricket but after 50, he usually takes 5 overs to get to 55.

In DNA, Ayaz Memon writes that had it not been for Tendulkar, the match-fixing controversy could have debilitated the game in the Indian subcontinent. It was primarily because of his personal and professional credibility that Indian cricket could emerge from that crisis relatively unaffected.

In the Hindustan Times, Pradeep Magazine says preserving Test cricket would be a real tribute to Tendulkar.

The same paper also carries an image montage of Tendulkar as well as snippets from Navjot Singh Sidhu and Atul Ranade, a very close friend of the man himself.

The Wanderers on December 13, 1992, is vivid for writes Vijay Lokapally. The one-day match over, the Indian team, soundly beaten, was limping back. From the comfort of the press box one saw Tendulkar take off suddenly, chasing a burly South African supporter. That night he would have outpaced the fastest man on earth. He closed in on the prankster and brought him down in a flash. Read more in the Hindu.

Nirmal Shekar believes it is impossible to outgrow Indian sport’s most celebrated boy wonder.

Outlook's Rohit Mahajan says the media, as always and like everyone, wants a piece of him, and Tendulkar knows it's part of the deal, goes through the inquisition with immeasurable patience, trying to ensure that everyone's happy.

Jacques of all trades, and the master too

Posted 5 days, 20 hours ago in England in South Africa 2009-10

	"I have come a long way in the Twenty20 game" © Associated Press

Jacques Kallis is an old dog who has learnt new tricks thanks to Twenty20 but blushes at Kevin Pietersen's claim that he's the best ever, writes Stephen Brenkley in the Independent. Sometime in the next few weeks when he takes his second wicket in the one-day series, he will become the only player to have scored 10,000 runs and taken 250 wickets in both Tests and one-dayers.

Today Kallis plays his 10th Twenty20 match for South Africa. It is a form of the game that many would have spurned to preserve their careers elsewhere. In his case T20 might not only have prolonged his career but embellished it. He has become a different type of cricketer, particularly as a batsman, though he has added new tricks to his muscular seam bowling to confound what is said about old dogs.

Entertainer of the year: Graeme Swann

Posted 5 days, 20 hours ago in English cricket

On the field he is a combative, off-spinning allrounder. Away from it, he is a motormouth comedian, poking fun at his team-mates and sparking the dressing-room spirit that helped inspire England to Ashes victory. Emma John caught up with Graeme Swann in the Observer.

Swann, England's first-choice spinner, offers far more to the team than the best banter on the bus. While his contributions to this summer's series – 14 wickets and 249 runs – may not sound the stuff of legend, his performances came at crucial times; when the Australian batsmen were threatening to take a game away from England, his appearance in the attack, skipping through his delivery stride with his wraparound sunglasses clinging to his head like Robocop, was a comforting sight. Swann's irrepressible batting was also vital in a series where the lower order did much of the best work on both sides; and he took eight wickets in the deciding Test at the Oval, including the final one to win the Ashes. Forget 2005, says Swann, for him, this was the best Ashes series ever. "It still gives me goosebumps..."

'West Indies cricket is a mess, but I can help'

Posted 5 days, 21 hours ago in West Indies cricket

	Richards is prepared to put himself forward for the cause © Getty Images

Over a rum punch in Docklands, representing his native Antigua at an international trade show organised by World Travel Market, Sir Viv Richards. casts an imperious eye across the modern game. He is not ecstatic. Speaking to the Observer's Kevin Mitchell, cricket's knight reflects on a lack of fight in the game, West Indies' decline and the Allen Stanford saga.

"It's sad ... it's very sad. To those of us who played at a time when things were good, it is crazy to know that these guys are sitting back and watching the goings-on, guys who could make a healthy contribution to West Indies cricket. Players now are a little shaky. They know the sacrifices people have had to make, they know about the legacy. It sends shivers through your spine. It's difficult to describe, a sense of anger."

ECB can afford Ashes return to terrestrial television

Posted 5 days, 21 hours ago in Television

It seems to be in some people's vested interests to make the debate about the Ashes returning to terrestrial television a complicated one, writes Scyld Berry in the Daily Telegraph. There are only two basic principles involved – and pretty simple they are too.

Moments of national resonance like Botham's 149 not out, or the whole Ashes series of 2005, have to be on live television and free for the sport's well-being. Edited highlights of Hamlet won't persuade anyone to become a prince. The second principle is that English cricket can afford to have home Ashes series on free-to-air, even if it costs the projected £30 million a year.

Steven Davies: sending Matt Prior a warning

Posted 5 days, 21 hours ago in England in South Africa 2009-10

Steven Davies, in line to be England’s first left-handed Test keeper since Jack Russell, has wintered with national teams of one kind or another every year since first playing for the Under-19s at the age of 17. This will be Davies’s first full England tour and he must expect to spend it playing understudy to Matt Prior, even though the Surrey wicketkeeper has set his sights on his friend’s Test place. He spoke to the Sunday Times.

He will be required to be a senior professional at Surrey, a club going through a rebuilding process, where young players will be looking to him for guidance. “When I first played for Worcestershire it was quite hard coming into a professional team full of adults. It was just an honour to be on the field. I’m more vocal now but at Surrey the young bowlers will be looking to me for advice. That will be good. I was pretty comfortable at Worcester. This will be a challenge.”

Do Wright thing: bring back Baz

Posted 5 days, 21 hours ago in New Zealand cricket

	McCullum: still there, still having his say, still being heard, and back in form © Getty Images

Eric Young writes in the Sunday Star Times that Brendon McCullum should be reinstated as New Zealand vice-captain. The person who is the captain of New Zealand is now also its vice-captain, coach and selector, and Young isn't sure whether this is madness or genius but he is certain it can't last for long.

McCullum deputised in the Twenty20s but by all accounts the Kiwis were lucky to scrape together 11 fit players. Is McCullum now the man to captain the Test team? And how, with Vettori doing all the jobs that matter, is leadership being encouraged within that dressing room? Do we look down the list, arrive at someone such as Ross Taylor and throw the dice? Or do we hand the captaincy back to McCullum, beg forgiveness and ask him to please treat it with respect?

Curiosity remains contagious over who is a) best suited or b) likely to get the New Zealand coaching job as the team's performances fluctuated in the UAE over the past week. The Herald on Sunday's Peter Williams sought the views of a trio who, over the past 60 years, have either played for, captained, coached or selected the New Zealand team.

Mark Richardson, in the same paper, says that he finds it hard to take the two Twenty20 internationals between New Zealand and Pakistan overly seriously.

West Indies worth a flutter

Posted 6 days ago in Australian cricket

Kerry O’Keeffe, writing in the Sunday Telegraph, thinks West Indies are a good outside bet in the three-Test series against Australia, who have been focussing on their one-day triumphs.

The bottom line is the boys this winter lost the Ashes. Ponting has committed Australian cricket's mortal sin ... again! Beating India in a meaningless limited-overs series soon after the Ashes calamity is a little like crashing out in the first round of singles at Wimbledon but winning the mixed doubles.

Australia need an early Test kill and while Chris Gayle's West Indians might appear vulnerable, they could be very dangerous. Their pace quartet of Jerome Taylor, Kemar Roach, Gavin Tonge and Dwayne Bravo screams potential to take 20 wickets on the right surface.

Luke Pomersbach is returning to Western Australia training after being suspended for drink driving. John Townsend spoke to him and the story appears in the Age.

November 14, 2009

Tendulkar makes time stand still

Posted 6 days, 21 hours ago in Indian cricket

	"No, I didn't have a problem" © Getty Images

In a sport that specialises in the manufacture of instant stars and transient celebrities, Sachin Tendulkar is the real thing, writes Gideon Haigh in the Times of India. Even now, 20 years after his debut, there's always a place of occasion every time he comes to the crease, no matter the game, no matter the place.

In his column for the same paper, Steve Waugh remembers what a tough time he had setting a field for Tendulkar, what with the deafening noise making it impossible to communicate with fielders.

In the Hindustan Times, Anil Kumble notes how it had always been predicted that Tendulkar would be destined for greatness, that he would go on to be the highest runscorer for India, beat every batting record there was to beat, create history. He did all that and more.

In the same paper Sukhwant Basra says that behind the public reserve is an animated man.

Mid-day has reprinted the first print interview with a 13-year-old Tendulkar, as well as recalling the first television interview with Tendulkar, conducted by Hindi film actor Tom Alter at the PJ Hindu Gymkhana in January 1989.

India Today has dedicated an entire section to Tendulkar.

On his blog Doosra Redux, Dileep Premachandran says Tendulkar is India's greatest unifying factor.

Amitabh Bachchan’s oeuvre resonates little with the man in Tamil Nadu’s interior, just as Rajnikanth is little more than an object of curiosity to someone in Punjab. But Chennai or Chandigarh, Guwahati or Cochin, Tendulkar walks out to undiluted acclaim. With the exception of Gandhi, perhaps no other Indian has managed to rally so many behind the flag.

Ashes proposals put sport on a sticky wicket

Posted 6 days, 22 hours ago in Television

The irony of yesterday’s recommendation that Ashes cricket be restored to the protected list is that this was an outcome few involved in the discussions wanted. For a sport that has been insulated from the recession, a reduced budget will be hard to take, writes Mike Atherton in the Times.

Where will the blows be felt? Across the board probably: central contracts for England players, grassroots cricket and the county game.

John Stern doesn't think making the Ashes free-to-air is that big a blow. He writes in the Wisden Cricketer: "I’m not convinced that the proposed re-listing of The Ashes does anything other than score the Government a few Middle-England brownie points."

History repeats itselt, thanks to hidden hands

Posted 6 days, 23 hours ago in Pakistan cricket

	After the World Twenty20 it all went downhill for Younis Khan © Getty Images

Whatever happened lately with Younis Khan is not a new thing in Pakistan cricket. This tussle between the players, the officials and the cricket board is an ongoing process, writes Rashid Latif in the Pakistan daily Dawn. Sometimes a captain bears the brunt, at other times an official comes in the line of fire.

The big question is how long will these hidden quarters be allowed to make or break the team in Pakistan? They throw their weight when a makeshift opener is accommodated but when specialist openers are picked, these very forces take a U-turn and slight the captain for the move. The same is the case with playing the younger players or resting the experienced ones. When the younger players are provided with an opportunity, these forces jump to the defence of seniors and question their omission? And when the younger players are given the backseat to accommodate the stalwarts, these very forces make life hell for the selectors and the captain?

North’s star still not certain of shining at the Gabba

Posted 1 week ago in Australian cricket

	Marcus North was outstanding in England © Getty Images

After three centuries in seven Tests Marcus North’s place should be certain, but Chloe Saltau reports in the Age that he is still not prepared to declare his position safe.

Anyone who has followed North's seamless transition from first-class stalwart to reliable Test batsman will be aware of his reassuring presence in the previously unstable No. 6 position, and know that his occasionally nervous starts can be followed by lavish, sweetly timed strokes. Despite all of this, after a decade aspiring to a baggy green, North is not yet willing to ink his name into the starting XI for the first Test against the West Indies. ''I don't take anything for granted,” he said, “and I guess that is probably because it took so long to get there.”

Chris Gayle’s squad arrived in Australia on Friday and the Sydney Morning Herald’s Peter Roebuck outlines his plan for cricket in the Caribbean.

The West Indies ought to be disbanded as a cricketing force. Followers of the game with memories of mighty deeds and fine gentlemen might regret the break-up but the culture has been ruined and every attempt to improve it thwarted. All the more reason to stop the charade.

Instead, let Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Barbados, Jamaica and the Leeward and Windward islands fend for themselves. In that case, their cricket might be informed by the commitment to the cause for too long missing from West Indian cricket.

November 13, 2009

Zimbabwe beg for firepower, new leadership

Posted 1 week ago in Zimbabwe cricket

It was generally agreed that Zimbabwe’s recent 4-1 series defeat in the spin-haven of Bangladesh was not an accurate appraisal of their overall performance on the subcontinent, writes Enock Muchinjo in the Zimbabwe Independent, but what of the two ODIs in South Africa in familiar conditions this week? In recent months Zimbabwe Cricket has made appointments in crucial areas such as selection and coaching. In this editorial, Muchinjo examines a few dynamics that need addressing.

A tale of two captains

Posted 1 week ago in Bangladesh cricket

	Shakib or Mashrafe? © Getty Images

After a successful year the Bangladesh cricket team looks like a settled one. With India and Sri Lanka visiting in January for a tri-series, followed by a Test series against India, the BCB have one crucial question to answer - who will be captain of the national team, Mashrafe Mortaza or Shakib Al Hasan? In the Daily Star, Sakeb Tahsin Subhan attempts to answer the question.

Both players are equally deserving of the position. Shakib has put his name in the hat through the successes that Bangladesh has enjoyed in the past year, as well as his own individual performances. Mashrafe has impressed all and sundry throughout his career as a committed player who commands the respect of his team. The momentum is with Shakib having led the team well in successes, but it is Mashrafe's team that he led in the fast bowler's absence.

Call for Tests to be free could bowl a googly

Posted 1 week ago in Television

The Crown Jewels affair has kicked up quite a storm, what with sports chiefs threatening legal action against ministers over a plan to reclaim the Ashes for free-to-air television. Proposals are for one list of live sport that must be shown on non-subscription channels, with the secondary list of events that must be available as highlights being scrapped.Taking the Ashes on to free-to-air only means that the ECB will have to sell its rights to cash-conscious terrestrial broadcasters, and that's not gone too well in certain quarters.

Former England spinner Ashley Giles writes in the Guardian that broadcasters should be given a fair hearing.

In the Times, Dan Sabbagh says the financial impact on cricket will be significant.

In the Independent, Robin Scott-Elliot says other sporting bodies will be similarly affected.

Strauss should be Twenty20 captain

Posted 1 week ago in England in South Africa 2009-10

England should not panic after their defeat on Tuesday, believes the former coach Duncan Fletcher, though the split captaincy is a cause for concern. Andrew Strauss will not be involved in the Twenty20 games against South Africa but he should be, writes Fletcher in his Guardian blog.

Strauss is an underrated limited-overs player. He is England's leading run-scorer in one-day internationals this year. Many people would never guess it, but in that time he has also scored more boundaries than anyone else in the team, too. Tactically he is an extremely shrewd judge of how to pace an innings.

Those skills should cross over. There is not much difference between the structure of 50-over cricket and Twenty20. It is just that the windows which make up the different phases of the match are tighter. Strauss is the ideal man to cement the innings together. Essentially, in the ODIs England have played this year the team have been batting around him. Leaving him out is a little like pulling the keystone from the arch.

Will Yousuf succeed where Younis 'failed'?

Posted 1 week ago in Pakistan cricket

The rumpus created by Younis Khan’s decision to abdicate the reins of leadership for the sake of ‘taking time off from the sport’ is simply too hard to digest, writes Khalid H Khan in the Pakistan daily Dawn. Younis was never really allowed to settle down into the job by a group of players with vested interests, but is Yousuf the best replacement?

Without being disrespectful to Yousuf, it’s a point worth noting that probably the most lethargic fielder in the current national team will lead the country while his deputy Kamran Akmal is a man who is known for ruining Pakistan’s victory hopes by crucial mistakes behind the timber. Where will Yousuf hide himself on the field will make compelling viewing on TV sets during the coming Tests in New Zealand? There is no guarantee that Yousuf will continue to lead Pakistan if the results of New Zealand Tests are not favourable enough.

An editorial in the same newspaper says it isn’t surprising that no one is buying the official line. Younis 'asked for a rest’ and that is why Yousuf was appointed captain of the Test team for the series against New Zealand. That explanation, not so cunningly, glosses over a key point: what compelled Younis to go into hibernation?

Not a run machine

Posted 1 week ago in Indian cricket

	A familiar sight for 20 years © Getty Images

As November 15 comes around, much of the Indian cricketing fraternity and media is recalling their first memories of seeing Saching Tendulkar bat at the international level. On that day Rajdeep Sardesai, now CNN-IBN's editor-in-chief, was glued to the TV watching a 16-year-old Tendulkar with curls and rosy cheeks take on Pakistan’s fast bowlers. Twenty years later, he says, the locks are showing a hint of grey but Tendulkar is still doing what he does best: score runs for India. Read on in the Hindustan Times.

His real achievement is beyond the boundary. We live in an age of instant stardom and mini-celebrities, where fame is an intoxicant that can easily consume the best of us. Sachin, remarkably, has been almost untouched by the fact that he is contemporary India’s biggest icon, arguably bigger than even an Amitabh Bachchan or a Shah Rukh Khan. As Khan revealed in an interview, at a party there was a big noise when Big B entered. Then, Sachin entered the hall and Bachchan was leading the queue to grab hold of the cricket champion!

November 12, 2009

A gloomy summer comes into view

Posted 1 week, 1 day ago in Australian cricket

Peter Roebuck, writing in the Age, says Australian cricket is facing its most deflating summer for decades.

Following hard upon the feckless nomination of Chris Gayle as leader of the West Indies, the news that Younis Khan had stepped down as Pakistan captain is a hammer blow. Pakistan and the West Indies are the summer's main attractions but both will arrive as fractured outfits. Whether the Younis decision or Gayle's reappointment is the bigger calamity is a matter of opinion. It's a close-run thing. All the evidence suggests that it's going to be a long summer and a hard sell.

In the Australian Malcolm Conn says Test cricket continues to be devalued, with a chronic oversupply of largely meaningless one-day games robbing most Australian players of any match preparation before the West Indies series.

Life at the bottom of the hill

Posted 1 week, 1 day ago in English cricket

In all my years involved in cricket I don't think I have ever seen an international cricketer of long-standing and considerable achievement have his career at the top level terminated so ruthlessly, in the middle of a series as well, as Matthew Hoggard, writes Mike Selvey in the Guardian.

But now he has a new challenge. Last week he agreed a three-year contract with Leicestershire, as captain. In so doing he goes from the top of the hill, with England, to the bottom. He will go with optimism that he will be the one to make a difference. On one level, he can be the kid in the sweetshop, bowling when he feels like it (which will be mostly), to the fields he wants. No one will be in his ear.

Tendulkar's 20th year

Posted 1 week, 1 day ago in Indian cricket

"We all regard Test cricket as No. 1, compared to one-day and Twenty20 cricket, so the match fees and income from playing Test cricket have to be significantly more than from T20s. Then people will want to play more Tests than other formats," Sachin Tendulkar tells Pradeep Magazine in the Hindustan Times.

Hayden goes north to spread cricket’s word

Posted 1 week, 2 days ago in Australian cricket

Matthew Hayden is passing on the message that anyone can play cricket and Larine Statham reports in the Daily Telegraph on his trip to the Tiwi Islands.

Hayden wants more Aboriginal kids to embrace the baggy green and to become professional cricketers. "I'd love to see an indigenous player playing what is a really great game," he said. "It has been a sport that has really only been among mainstream Australia and I think there is a massive opportunity to change that."

November 11, 2009

Time for revenge

Posted 1 week, 2 days ago in England in South Africa 2009-10

South Africa have much at stake when the ODI series against England starts at the Wanderers later this month. The old rivalry and the recent spat between the two captains will also spice up the occasion, writes Arthur Turner on Sport24.

Another aspect that is important for coach Mickey Arthur is to start developing a squad for the next World Cup that is now less than two years away. There are certain positions that he will have to get clarity on before the tournament. A good example of this is the role of Albie Morkel. Will he be considered as an all-rounder or as a batsman?

Selectors spring Sreesanth surprise

Posted 1 week, 2 days ago in Indian cricket

	What was the thinking behind recalling Sreesanth? © Getty Images

Anand Vasu writes in the Hindustan Times that's it's a pity Indian selectors aren't allowed to explain their decisions, because they would have found it virtually impossible to defend the recall of medium-pacer Sreesanth, who has done little of note to return to the national fold.

In 2009, Sreesanth has played nine first-class matches, taking five wickets in an innings only once, for Warwickshire against Yorkshire, and even there he conceded more than six an over. In total he had 24 wickets at 35.58, conceding 854 runs from 232 overs.

On his blog Smoke signals Prem Panicker wonders whether selecting Sreesanth, a player who was given a final warning last month for a series of disciplinary problems, sends the right signal. He also analyses the inclusion of S Badrinath and M Vijay.

Tedious World Cup still too long

Posted 1 week, 3 days ago in Cricket

Malcolm Conn says in the Australian the World Cup is still too long and remains cluttered with meaningless matches.

The tedious format of the International Cricket Council's showpiece may have been changed and reduced by a week but the schedule released for 2011 in the subcontinent is another damning example of television ruling sport. While the missionary zeal of opening the tournament to lesser nations may have been well-meant in the comfortably paced, almost amateur 1970s, the hectic nature of modern international cricket has made matches against the minnows irrelevant.

Conn also writes about Jane McGrath Day, which will be held during the Sydney Test to raise money for breast cancer care.

November 10, 2009

Tendulkar's 20th year

Posted 1 week, 3 days ago in Indian cricket

On November 15, Sachin Tendulkar will complete 20 years as an international player, having made his Test debut against Pakistan in Karachi in 1989. Pradeep Magazine has interviewed the batsman in the Hindustan Times, which also has other articles about Tendulkar's formative years.

VVS Laxman said his favourite Tendulkar hundreds were the ones at Sharjah in 1998 against Australia in ODIs, and the Cape Town century in 1996-97 for Tests.

Leander Paes, the Indian tennis player, recounts how he and Tendulkar once played more than 30 table tennis matches in Goa in 2000 and how cricket is lucky that Tenulkar picked it as the sport of his choice.

India gets a wake up call

Posted 1 week, 3 days ago in Indian cricket

The side aspiring to be the best one-day team in the world has just been jolted - severely. India were up against a depleted Australian side - four injuries before the series, five during it - yet failed to use their home advantage to record victory. The World Cup is just 14 months away, and suddenly India look vulnerable and under-prepared, writes Suresh Menon on Dreamcricket.com.

What is India’s bench strength? Would they have been able to send out half a dozen players as replacement to Australia and return with a series victory? Who is the second best off spinner in the country? Or the sixth best medium pacer?

"Um ... ah ... marvellous!"

Posted 1 week, 3 days ago in Offbeat

If you like cricket and no-holds-barred comedy, chances are you're a fan of The Twelfth Man. If you're any of Richie Benaud, Tony Greig, Ian Chappell or Bill Lawry, chances are you've had your share of club cricketers and college co-eds cracking up at what you say - through Billy Birmingham's skilled impersonation. The Australian satirist who has mercilessly and articulately parodied the idiosyncrasies and character traits of Australia's Channel Nine commentary team tells stuff.co.nz that his popularity is down to the fact that Australians and New Zealanders have two favourite past times - sport and "taking the piss".

"I think that comedy and sport are the great levelers, they're the things that bring people of all socio-economic groups and all age groups together and the Twelfth Man stuff seems to have really hit the mark for many people on many levels and it gives me a sense of great pride to have delivered that sort of enjoyment to so many people over the 25 years. It's been an absolute pleasure to have made people laugh as much as I have."

The Ashes part of television's 'crown jewels'?

Posted 1 week, 3 days ago in English cricket

The return of live Ashes coverage to terrestrial television after 2013 would cost the sport at least £120 million, English cricket officials will argue after a ten-month review of events reserved for free-to-air broadcasters. The ECB is expected to demand an independent economic impact study before the government adds the Ashes to the “crown jewels” list, writes Ashling O’Connor in the Times.

The ECB argues that protecting the Ashes would threaten its grassroots programme and future investment in the game because free-to-air broadcasters, which struggle to schedule five-day Test matches lasting up to 35 hours, would not pay as much for the rights. The sport’s governing body is also worried about the future of Test match cricket as a commercial product if pay-TV operators could buy only England’s less glamorous fixtures against opposition other than Australia.

KP's back, but will he get a hero's welcome?

Posted 1 week, 3 days ago in England in South Africa 2009-10

As England's biggest talent (and ego) arrives in South Africa, the Independent's Stephen Brenkley gauges the mood of the dressing room, from a side that won the Ashes without him.

Pietersen himself may feel somewhat unburdened and although he has always paid generous lip service to the team ethos in the past, there has always been the suspicion – because it was based on reality – that if he did not do it they might not. Equally some players are transformed by Pietersen at the other end and Paul Collingwood, for instance, looks a better batsman with Pietersen around. As the off-spinning all-rounder Graeme Swann put it yesterday: "It's exciting for us that he's coming back, and, you never know, he might have to fight for his place." Swann was being typically jocular but it was a joke imbued with a certain seriousness. The top-of-the-bill act has not been indispensable.

November 9, 2009

Ten reasons to follow the Plunket Shield

Posted 1 week, 4 days ago in New Zealand cricket

The domestic summer of cricket kicks off on Tuesday morning with the first round of Plunket Shield matches. And as tvnz.co.nz's Max Bania writes, there are plenty of reasons to get down to your local oval, soak up the sun and support New Zealand's grassroots cricketers.

Never mind that it's only because New Zealand Cricket were unable to secure a new sponsor after State Insurance pulled the pin. After sitting idle for 35 years, the fabled century-old log of wood is to be dusted off and presented to the winners of this year's four-day competition. Second only in prestige and mystique to the Ranfurly Shield, it's a prize that will be dearly coveted by all teams and adds much intrigue to this year's fixtures. The defending champions? Otago, whose then-captain Glenn Turner was the last man to hold the shield aloft at the end of the 1974/75 season.

Laidback Hodge sheds his goals

Posted 1 week, 5 days ago in Australian cricket

Brad Hodge, the Victoria batsman, has changed his approach this year, writes Peter Lalor in the Australian. He is more laidback and isn't concerned if he doesn't add to his six Tests.

In the past he has willed himself into a mountain of runs and rage as he attempted to get into the Australian side. He wouldn't say no if the selectors asked him to pull on the baggy green should Michael Clarke not be fit for Brisbane later this month, but he's not fussed if they don't and he isn't waiting by the phone.

Hodge has redefined his approach to the game and for the first time there is no over-arching aim. "I really haven't got any goals this year," he said. "Every other year I've had goals and tried to achieve them, because I thought that would see me picked at a higher level.”

John Dyson, the former West Indies coach, is another who is back on the state scene. He has been appointed as a a talent scout for Cricket New South Wales, Jamie Pandaram reports in the Sydney Morning Herald.

November 8, 2009

Gayle is the anti-Ponting of world cricket

Posted 1 week, 5 days ago in Twenty20

It is a great thing for cricket that Ricky Ponting is fighting for the game's traditions – retaining the sanctity of Test cricket - but it will prove an unwinnable fight. Chris Gayle on the other hand is the anti-Ponting of world cricket writes Robert Craddock in the Courier Mail. It's a disturbing thought when you consider the example Gayle set when he showed up just two days before the start of a Test series in England, straight from the IPL.

Players are becoming quite shameless about their split loyalties. During the first season of the IPL, Gayle sent England's Kevin Pietersen a text saying "man, you should be here $$$$$$$$$". Gayle loves the big bucks.

The impossible dream

Posted 1 week, 5 days ago in Sri Lankan cricket

Sri Lanka have made six tours to India over the last 27 years, played 14 Tests, and are yet to win one. As this current squad departs for India against the weight of history, SR Pathiravithana, in Sri Lanka's Sunday Times, evaluates the ammunition in possession if they are going to create history.

The Lankans embark on this tour with a lot at stake. Though we harp on the point that we have only a limited number of Test matches during the next few moons first Sri Lanka has to beat India on their own soil and do it convincingly to keep their position as the second in the ICC Test rankings. I do not know if they manage to draw the three Tests what it would be, but if they lose badly in Tests India may overtake the island nation. Then with the disparity of the quantum of Test cricket that the two teams play within the next calendar year Sri Lanka may never be able catch up with India. This also may put paid to Lanka’s aspirations of becoming the “Best Test playing Nation” in the foreseeable future.

Ashes hero and all-round good bloke

Posted 1 week, 5 days ago in England in South Africa 2009-10

	"I want to play 100 Tests" © Getty Images

In the Independent, David Lloyd speaks to Stuart Broad. The England allrounder, seen by many as a very central player in England's future, talks about a summer that changed his life and how he is desperate to help his country reach No. 1 in the world.

The stirring deeds of July and August – collectively and individually – are history now, however, and we will soon discover if they were the start of something big or, as happened four years ago when Australia were last sent home empty-handed, a terrific but pretty much isolated success story. "We are very conscious of the fact that winning the Ashes is not the be-all and end-all," says Broad. "We won them, brilliant, but now we have to build on that if we want to be the best team in the world."

Simon Wilde, in the Sunday Times, says Kevin Pietersen will do well to tread cautiously in South Africa, and not just until he is sure that his repaired Achilles tendon is sturdy enough to withstand everything he wants to put it through.

The main challenge he faces is that even before his lay-off he no longer looked the player he once was. His technique looked a mess, his footwork and decision-making were uncertain and he was not dictating terms as he once had. Opponents had wised up to him and a ploy of bowling to a fuller length on off-stump was paying dividends. The strategy was based on Pietersen’s high backlift — always a potential area of weakness early in an innings — and his penchant for playing across the line.

November 7, 2009

20 not out

Posted 1 week, 6 days ago in Indian cricket

When Tendulkar first took guard in his country's colours, the Berlin Wall had just fallen, Nelson Mandela was behind bars, Allan Border was captaining Australia and India was a patronised country known for its dust, poverty, timid batsmen and other outdated caricatures, writes Peter Roebuck in the Sydney Morning Herald.

Over the decades it has been Tendulkar's rare combination of mastery and boldness that has delighted connoisseurs and crowds alike. More than any other batsman, even Brian Lara, Tendulkar's batting has provoked gasps of admiration. A single withering drive dispatched along the ground eluding the bowler, placed unerringly between fieldsmen, could provoke wonder even among the oldest hands. A solitary square cut was enough to make a spectator's day. Tendulkar might lose his wicket cheaply but he is incapable of playing an ugly stroke. His defence might have been designed by Christopher Wren. And alongside these muscular orthodoxies could be found ornate flicks through the on-side, glides off his bulky pads that sent tight deliveries dashing on unexpected journeys into the back and beyond. Viv Richards could terrorise an attack with pitiless brutality, Lara could dissect bowlers with surgical and magical strokes, Tendulkar can take an attack apart with towering simplicity.

Player power

Posted 1 week, 6 days ago in New Zealand cricket

Hasn't the time come when this power of the players was reined in by their employers, or at least harnessed until there was some semblance of consistency about the team's results? asks Peter Williams in the Herald on Sunday.

Vettori is undoubtedly the best player in the country and in a team that can only be regarded as dreadful under-performers, he wields huge influence simply by virtue of his on-field deeds. Even some of the great New Zealand players and personalities of generations past - like Tom Lowry, captain for the first two tours of England, and manager too for the second in 1931, or John R Reid, captain, star all-rounder, national selector, and de facto coach from 1958 to 1965 - never seemed to pull as many strings as Vettori does today.

Player power in the New Zealand team could rise to new heights if the players successfully lobby for a manager, rather than a coach, to replace Andy Moles, writes Paul Lewis in the Herald on Sunday.

In the same paper, Andrew Alderson looks at the John Wright conundrum - Wright reportedly wants the job but the players aren't exactly falling over themselves with enthusiasm at the prospect.

Too many articles about volume of cricket?

Posted 1 week, 6 days ago in Cricinfo

It's not just the players who are sick of giving interviews on excessive cricket. The media too are tired of writing about it. Alan Tyres in the Wisden Cricketer explains what it's like to step on the cricket treadmill.

One senior correspondent on a national paper admitted: “Actually, I’ve got a button set up on my keyboard – one of the IT lads did it for me – that I can press and it just generates all the key phrases ‘burnout… sovereignty of the five-day game… intensity of Test cricket… what would Cyril Washbrook have made of it all…’ and rearranges them into something approaching a coherent article.”

Pietersen has style of original Brylcreem Boy

Posted 1 week, 6 days ago in England in South Africa 2009-10

He's not held a cricket bat on an international playing field for months now, but Kevin Pietersen has a lot of focus on him as England go into a highly anticipated series against South Africa. Pietersen should receive a 'warm' welcome from South Africans when he joins up with the England party next week, but don't expect that to bother him one bit, writes Brian Viner in the Independent.

Now he is five years older and wiser, witness the disappearance of that preposterous white stripe from his hair. It has been replaced, moreover, by an eminently sensible Brylcreem bounce, which augurs well, because the last Brylcreem Boy to play cricket in South Africa, in 1948-49, scored what remains the fastest triple century in first-class cricket.

World Test Championship could reignite game

Posted 1 week, 6 days ago in Test Championship

The time is right for a World Test Championship, writes Mike Atherton in the Times. The concept is nothing new, he says, and a version exists, although you need a degree in quantum mathematics to understand how the ICC’s ranking system works — and, indeed, international captains routinely rubbish its significance.

Test cricket is routinely sold out months in advance in England and is held in high esteem by players, administrators and the cricket-watching public. Therefore, we are often unaware of the indifference felt by the majority of cricket-playing nations towards the five-day game. The empty stands that greeted the two top Test teams in South Africa last winter prompted MCC to commission research into the popularity or otherwise of Test cricket. The findings did not make for happy reading.

Never another like Tendulkar

Posted 1 week, 6 days ago in Indian cricket

Sachin Tendulkar's Hyderabad epic brought back memories of the legendary Chennai Test in 1999 against Pakistan, when he fought cramps to take India so close to the finish line. AR Hemant does a forensic analysis of both scorecards and discovers some bizarre and startling parallels. Read on in India Today.

Before Chennai, India had never lost a Test match in which Mongia scored fifty or more (five fifties and a hundred).

Before Hyderabad, India had never lost an ODI in which Raina score fifty or more (11 fifties, two hundreds).

In a piece on Rediff.com which has plenty of theology thrown in, Prem Panicker tries to make sense of the Sachin Tendulkar phenomenon in the wake of the glittering 175 against Australia. After saying Tendulkar is treated like god by Indian fans, Panicker asks of the constant references to the batsman's statistical achievements such as the 17,000-run milestone: "Is 'god' god, if you have to parse his deeds against those of the mortals?"

Here his description of the 175:

It was all there, every single element of the Tendulkar mythos: the majestic certitude of the straight-backed thumps through cover and extra cover; the nonchalant ease of his many waltzes down the wicket to hit straight with slide rule precision; the calm certitude with which he repeatedly split the field and, when it was drawn in tight, carried it; the unparalleled balance of his many whips off hips and pads; the schoolboy cheek of the impossibly late cut; the exuberant energy with which he repeatedly traversed the 22 yard strip for singles taken with the judgment of a Solomon

Tendulkar's endurance remains a source of wonder to Panicker.

What does it say of Tendulkar that having raised the bar to impossible heights in 1998, he is able to effortlessly vault over it 11 years later?

We have for the space of two decades repeatedly witnessed the alchemy of genius effortlessly convert the impossible into the seemingly inevitable.

In his column for the Hindustan Times, Ravi Shastri says Tendulkar will need another special effort if India are to stay alive in this series.

Too much power for Vettori

Posted 1 week, 6 days ago in New Zealand cricket

Adrian Seconi of the Otago Times argues that in the absence of both a coach and a vice- captain, and having been vested with the powers of a selector, Daniel Vettori has too much control over New Zealand cricket.

What is the difference between Daniel Vettori and Brian Tamaki? The Black Caps do not bow when they approach Vettori . . . yet.

Whether it is by circumstance or Machiavellian design, the left-arm spinner has acquired enough power to dim the environmentally friendly and energy-efficient lights over Seddon Park.

He's now a selector, the stand-in coach, the captain, a leading bowler and one of our best batsmen.