Liz Clarke writes in the Washington Post that though a majority of Americans still don’t understand the rules of cricket, the sport is gradually gaining popularity in New York, Florida and Washington. Some have even said cricket is America's fastest-growing sport, with 15 million fans and an estimated 200,000 players.

To most Americans, cricket is a puzzlement. Even savvy sports fans know little more than it’s traditionally played in white trousers, involves a flat wooden bat and lots of running back and forth. Fewer still realize it has a rich tradition in the United States; it predates by 140 years the national pastime of baseball, which is cricket’s direct descendant.

But cricket hotbeds exist — particularly in New York, Florida and California — spurred in the late 1970s by immigrants from the West Indies, which ruled the sport at the time. It was fueled anew as a wave of workers from south Asia arrived for the tech boom of the late-1980s and ’90s.

Alastair Cook's apparent fragility in the field is misleading, writes Vic Marks in the Guardian, for he looks in complete control while batting, and his presence in the middle - like at Lord's in the second innings - is reassuring to his team-mates watching from the dressing room.

He does not yet have the earnest authority of Strauss, the self-assurance of Michael Vaughan or the cunning ability to manipulate the subject matter of Nasser Hussain. He is co-operative, eager to please, but sometimes a little nervous. Yet this picture of apparent fragility is utterly misleading.

Ian Bell, too, had a rewarding Test at Lord's and his knock that helped England seal the run-chase indicated he'd put his troubles during the winter behind him, writes Tom Collomosse in the Independent.

That England were challenged by West Indies at Lord's could work out better for the hosts than a one-sided, three-day victory, writes Nasser Hussain in the Daily Mail.

Timeri Murari, the author of “The Taliban Cricket Club”, tells Fiona Fernandez from Mid-Day that he was inspired to write the book after the Taliban decided to promote cricket in Afghanistan, when all other forms of entertainment was banned.

In 2000, when I read that the Taliban regime was going to promote cricket, I thought it was totally surreal that a tyranny would introduce cricket into Afghanistan without any knowledge of a game that encourages and nurtures individuality, confidence, courage, defiance, within the democracy of cricket. The Taliban had banned every form of entertainment from music to movies, from clapping to chess. Then, out of the blue, the tyrannical regime announces cricket can be played. That Taliban announcement was the genesis of the idea, I played around with it, trying to figure the story.

Shivnarine Chanderpaul has been a source of trouble for England bowling attacks for a while but Simon Hughes, writing in the Daily Telegraph, spots a potential area of vulnerability that needs to be probed further.

Camped on the back foot, nurdling and squirting runs square of the wicket on either side, he has made a handsome living out of scoring ugly runs. Because of his back-foot preference, he looks instantly vulnerable to the fullish ball that swings in towards the stumps. But England were hampered by a cold wind and the ball largely refused to swing.

Pitching it up to Chanderpaul may provide an answer, writes Nasser Hussain in the Daily Mail. Vic Marks weighs in on the matter in the Guardian.

West Indies arrived in England with an undercooked top order to face one of the best bowling attacks in their home conditions. The youngsters could have benefitted had the senior batsmen like Chris Gayle and Ramnaresh Sarwan been part of the squad. Unfortunately, the unresolved issues between the players and the board have come at a cost for the team, says Tony Cozier in the Trinidad Express.

Michael Vaughan, the former England captain, put forward another, far more unconventional, on the BBC radio commentary. It was for the team bus to stop through Leicester on its way north to Nottingham for the second Test that starts Friday and pick up Sarwan.

It won't happen, of course. Even if the West Indies were minded to ask him to return, it is doubtful whether he would for he remains resentful of the way he has been treated by the present dispensation.

In the wake of recent spot-fixing controversy in the IPL, Sanjay Dixit in the Daily News and Analysis argues that the problem is systemic and goes much deeper than just the involvement of players.

Though the overt stake is much reviled, it is the covert system of riches on offer which is eating into the vitals of the system of Indian cricket. Apart from the hypocrisy of honorary jobs and non-profit character of different associations, the IPL has also brought a massive corrupting penumbra into the system which is not being acknowledged by most.

Simon Hughes, in the Daily Telegraph, writes of how the current West Indies pace attack is different from the one in the eighties. The tables, he says, have turned and it's England's bowlers who've made life difficult for batsmen.

But West Indies’ real problem is Darren Sammy. As captain he may have been a cohesive force but as a player he does not have serious Test credentials. His bowling is innocuous, hovering around the 75 mph mark, and offers too many scoring opportunities. His honest dobbers are only marginally better than Jonathan Trott’s

Meanwhile, in the Sunday Telegraph, Steve James assesses the form of Ian Bell and debut of Jonny Bairstow.

The truth is that Bell had a bit of a stinker last winter, making just one half-century in five Tests. But he was hardly alone in his struggles. And there was credit in the bank. Boy, was there credit in the bank. His final Test innings of last summer was 235 against India at the Oval. He made four other centuries during the calendar year of 2011, in which he averaged 118.75. Quite simply he was then the best batsman in the world.

"Quiz Srinivasan Narayanaswami about cricket and the president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI)—cricket world’s wealthiest administrative body—will dish out rote responses with his much-publicized, trademark straight face. But talk golf, and the 67-year-old beams, gushes and even jokes, no longer sounding like a scratched vinyl record," writes Anupama Chandrasekaran in the Mint.

Srinivasan was the eldest of two boys and two girls born to T.S. Narayanaswami—a mathematics major who jointly set up India Cements with S.N.N. Sankaralinga Iyer. The latter’s family, which divested its entire stake in India Cements by 2007, runs the Chennai-based Sanmar Group, with interests in shipping, metals and speciality chemicals. As an engineering student in the 1960s at Madras University, Srinivasan played cricket, hockey and tennis. But he figured he should stick to his books.

If not Twenty20's Bradman, then Chris Gayle is its WG Grace, its Ranjitsinhji, says the Old Batsman, in his blog: in the format's infant years, Gayle is a conceptual force, its vision of the future.

Cricket will reach its agreements with T20, and years from now people will recall its first quaint decade and smile at how old and proper it all looks. A few sages, cryogenically preserved, will be able to say they saw Chris Gayle bat, this format's Grace, this format's Bradman. WG would certainly approve of how little he says, and of how little he runs.

BCCI’s decision to give a one-time payment to retired cricketers in acknowledgement for their services to Indian cricket has helped many former cricketers. G Vishwanath, from the Hindu, speaks to some who have received the benefit payment.

“It's a tremendous gesture by BCCI. Even the monthly gratis payment is also going to continue. Having money and not parting with it is bad, but the BCCI has done the right thing and recognised us,'' Former captain Nari Contractor said.

“It's a great gesture from the BCCI. We are all becoming old and still have some commitments and liabilities. This money will help us,” Chandu Borde said.

Former England fast bowler Chris Old, who was part of the team that won the Ashes in 1981, took 143 wickets from 43 Tests during his career. Old, now working part-time in a supermarket in Cornwall, spoke to Suzannah Hills from the Daily Mail and discussed his career and life after retirement.

“The Ashes series of 1981 still seems special to people. A lot of people say they remember where they were when they watched it. So it's nice when you get recognised for that,” Old said. “Some people do recognise me - and it's pleasing when they do because I'm still very proud of my cricket career. It's generally older people because it's over 30 years ago since I played in Test matches for England. I think some of my colleagues at Sainsbury's (supermarket) are aware of that history too - but a lot aren't. Perhaps I could have made more of it but that's not the sort of person I am.”

Before the start of the first Test between England and West Indies, Brian Lara said that Shivnarine Chanderpaul should bat up the order. But Scyld Berry, writing for the Daily Telegraph, says that without Chanderpaul batting at number five, West Indies would fall apart.

Chanderpaul holds the world Test record for batting the longest period without being dismissed. You try doing something for 1,513 consecutive minutes: that is some feat for a start. Then try doing it for 1,513 minutes with 11 fit men trying to thwart you. He ought to be sponsored by a motoring organisation. He repairs innings when they break down, salvaging collapses and wrecks. Some have criticised Chanderpaul for not batting higher than five. Maybe they have a point; or maybe they are talking about strong batting sides. Without their left-hander’s glue at No5, West Indies would fall apart.

After spending huge sums of money to bid for their IPL teams and players, team owners are now looking to break even and post a profit. Labonita Ghosh, from the Economic Times, speaks to an official from Kolkata Knight Riders, who says the franchise is looking to spend money on grooming and managing talent. But their aim is to keep operating costs low by restricting the size of their squads.

This year Knight Riders decided to spend their $2 million purse more judiciously. After splurging on marquee players like KKR skipper Gautam Gambhir ($2.4 million) and Yusuf Pathan ($2.1 million) last year, this time they invested in just three players: de Lange, Brendon McCullum again (for $900,000) and a complete nobody called Sunil Narine (for $700,000); at least two of them have proved to be match-winners.

“In the last two years, we have got players like James Pattinson, Shakib Al Hasan and Marchant de Lange practically at base price because nobody else knew about, or wanted, them. This will eventually open up a new revenue stream for us," Venky Mysore, the CEO and MD of Knight Riders said.

England’s wicketkeeper Matt Prior marks the fifth anniversary of his Test debut today at the same ground and against the same opponents as he first made an international impression. Stephan Shemilt, writing for bbc.co.uk, says that in a span of five years, Prior has become one of the best wicketkeeper-batsman in the world.

At 43.09, Prior's batting average is the highest of any England wicketkeeper to have registered 100 victims and scored 2,000 runs, and is only bettered in world cricket by Andy Flower, Adam Gilchrist and Kumar Sangakkara, who has given up the gloves to concentrate on batting.

Vic Marks, writing in the Guardian, says that England’s selectors decision to pick Jonny Bairstow, 22, for the series against West Indies is a bold choice and one that sets the pulse racing.

In the 2005 series against Australia, the selectors had to weigh the merits of the brash young Kevin Pietersen, or the vastly experienced old pro, Graham Thorpe? The right choice seems obvious now, but it was not clear-cut at the time.

This week the selectors have leant in the same direction they did in 2005. They have taken the bold course. Bairstow sets the pulse racing; his instincts are to take the bowlers on; he has a touch of charisma. The selectors are taking a bit of a punt on a bright young man in form. And we are all intrigued.

The obvious alternative, James Taylor, is Thorpe-like in his approach rather than his experience. He would have felt like a safer choice. He is not such a swashbuckler. His batting seems more attuned to the tempo of Tests. Everyone has been talking about him as a Test prospect for a couple of years; he captained the Lions in the winter. Meanwhile Bairstow, though capped several times in one-day cricket, has sprinted up on the rails as a Test player.

The BCCI’s disbursement of a one-time payment to retired cricketers in acknowledgement for their services to Indian cricket has helped many players. But those who haven't got their due are unhappy. Makarand Waingankar, writing in the Hindu, says that if the scheme benefited 165 former cricketers, it has hurt cricketers who played Ranji Trophy till 1957–58 when it was played on a knock-out basis.

This is the biggest blunder that the Board has committed. It is shocking that consideration wasn't given to those who have played in the pre 1957-58 era and are now more than 80-years-old. Most of them are ailing with age related problems, expecting their children to pay for their illness.

Younger players who are still earning have got their bank balance enhanced but the real needy, the old cricketers who have no means of earning continue to suffer. The three criteria for allocation of money made it obvious that youngsters will be the only ones to benefit as the cut off retirement date was 2003-04.

The criteria should have stated a minimum age of 60. Had that been the case, many old cricketers could have profited. Not only was there no age limit but a further obstacle was created in the name of a minimum of 75 first class matches. Till 1985 only 55 Ranji matches per season were played. This means a player could play maximum of four league matches per season in the zonal league. To play 75 first class matches he would have had to play non-stop for 19 years!

An editorial in The Asian Age states that the BCCI should have had the anti-corruption systems in place five years ago when the IPL started. The board now needs to clean up the mess quickly so that the game is not held at ransom.

Loose talk by five cricketers in a media sting has landed them in a spot. There should be little sympathy for such fringe players who thrived in the system and yet mock at it. Unlike in the British sting which led to the jailing of three Pakistan cricketers as there was clear evidence of wrongdoing, nothing beyond vague charges of misdeeds has emerged so far in India. But there is no doubt that they have brought the game into disrepute once again.

It is the start of another new season and Pakistan have a new captain in Mohammad Hafeez which appears a logical step for the future. But Hassan Cheema in The Dawn argues that this might just be the continuation of an old existing pattern in Pakistan cricket.

In a more prosaic country and institution, this would be nothing more than a passing of the torch. In Pakistan cricket, though, this is the PCB showing its hand – publically admitting to not being fully supportive of their captain. What will that do to the carefully manufactured team morale? What happens if Pakistan performs badly in the World T20 under Hafeez? What happens if the team’s performance in other formats dips – and one of the reasons for that is this decision? How will the players react to seeing the first crack in the castle’s wall?

Brian Lara, following the West Indies team in England, believes that the current team has the resources to compete against the No.1 Test side but they will need to dig deep. Writing in The Trinidad Guardian News, Lara feels that the individuals in the team must stay hungry, disciplined and dedicated to grab the chances as a wounded England team could be vulnerable.

England, late last year, were comprehensively beaten by Pakistan, and managed to pull off a drawn series in Sri Lanka—and still they remain at the top of the ICC Test rankings. Credit to them: they have distanced themselves from the pack and could afford a hiccup or two. They are wounded from their winter results and could react in a couple of ways. It will do the West Indies team no harm if England decides to aggressively seek and destroy their opposition. That is not their normal successful approach, applied in the past to get them to the top of the world cricket rankings. They are a team that went about their plans in a patient and methodical manner, striking only when the time was right. My advice to Sammy and his boys is to frustrate the England team into making mistakes, the same way they did it to us back in 1990 in the Caribbean.

Sir Donald Bradman once said that Sachin Tendulkar’s batting technique was similar to his own. Mike Brudenell, writing in Detroit Free Press, says that though both are legends of the game, no modern day batsman can be compared to Bradman, who scored at an average of 99.94.

Sachin Tendulkar or "the Little Master," as he is nicknamed -- is certainly one of the best cricketers ever, ahead or standing right there alongside Sir Garfield Sobers, Wally Hammond, Brian Lara, Sir Jack Hobbs, Shane Warne, Sir Vivian Richards and Imran Khan as legends.

But the number 99.94 will forever separate him from the greatest -- the player who stands head and shoulders above any cricket player of any era, perhaps any sportsman or sportswoman in history. Sir Donald Bradman played international cricket in 1928-48 and was the best batsman in the world in every single year.

The Australian's lifetime batting average of 99.94 in Test cricket -- the highest form of the game played between cricketing nations -- dwarfs the next best by South African player Graeme Pollock at 60.97 and Tendulkar, down the list, at 55.44.

Former India allrounder Syed Abid Ali, now based in California, has said that BCCI’s decision to reward him with Rs 60 lakhs for his contribution to Indian cricket made him “feel as great as winning a match”. Speaking to Clayton Murzello from Mid-Day, he said that the reward came at a time when he needed it the most.

“The reason I am so grateful is because I really need the money. Somehow, God has sent it to the BCCI and the people there have been gracious enough to pass it on. At the moment, it feels as great as winning a match,” Abid Ali said.

“I want to do something for my country. No one gave me an extended opportunity… not even Andhra. I really want to do some coaching in India. Coming to America has taught me how one should be professional. I’d love to get involved with Indian cricket,” he said.

Bad weather can mar a game of cricket with even a steady drizzle putting play on hold for long periods. Rob Bagchi, writing in the Guardian, says that before the mandatory covering of pitches began, downpours could produce some enthralling passages of play.

"The elements are cricket's presiding geniuses," wrote Sir Neville Cardus, the effervescent nonpareil of this parish, and it seems apt to reflect on the intrusions of the weather this shower-wracked May as the Spin hourly checks the forecasts for the prospects of play at Lord's on Thursday.

Some of the greatest matches have been given a helping hand towards immortality by the rain. Indeed the England v Australia Test at The Oval in 1882, the one that inspired the sardonic notice "in affectionate remembrance of English cricket" and began the Ashes tradition, was settled by Frederick Spofforth's match figures of 14 for 90 and his mastery on the sticky dog.

The IPL governing council has suspended the five players named by a sting operation alleging corruption until an inquiry into the accusations is conducted. However, suspension isn’t enough, writes Sandeep Dwivedi in the Indian Express, the BCCI now needs to get to the bottom of the IPL scandal.

The high-profile owners enjoy a distinct advantage since the IPL, as promised at its inception, doesn’t really provide a level-playing field. Player retention has been a prickly issue and that too needs to be more transparent. The close study of player-owner contracts shouldn’t just stop with the likes of Pandey, Srivastava or Mishra. Why not make the icon players’ salaries public as well?

But therein lies the problem. When the president of the BCCI himself owns an IPL franchise, lines blur and probes could run into walls

There is nothing new about the IPL mess, writes former India cricketer and now member of parliament Kirti Azad in DNA. All that has happened is that the league has spawned a deeper mess.

The parliamentary affairs minister (read Rajiv Shukla), who is hardly seen in Parliament, is the first to rubbish the allegations, and goes on to give to anybody who cares to listen, homilies about not getting swayed by hearsay, and seeks to deflect the core issue by appointing some committee to probe the allegations. And, suddenly we have heavyweight politicians, who are all associated with some cricket association or the other, jumping into the fray and helping to obfuscate issues.

An editorial in the same newspaper states that the BCCI cannot escape blame - it has also contributed to the present state of affairs.

N Anathanarayanan in the Hindustan Times writes that while the Indian board floats in money, it fights shy of taking issues head on. Will the larger issues be swept under the carpet, he asks.

While players face action after purportedly claiming to the TV reporters that they might agree to spot-fix, what about their claims that franchises pay in black to buy players? Why the delay in announcing an investigation into this claim? It doesn't reflect well on the senior board officials, especially with the BCCI president himself owning a franchise

With the first Test between England and the West Indies just hours away, Jonathan Agnew, writing on bbc.co.uk, says that West Indies’ players today lack the swagger on the field that their predecessors had in the 1980’s.

There was a time when Caribbean chaos had a certain charm about it - but not anymore. The game has moved on, and I can't see how the West Indies side will ever regain its swagger on the field until the administrators sort out their shambolic organisation off it.

That said, there have been some recent signs of improvement, with West Indies almost beating Australia last month. It needs perspective in that they have won only two Tests of the 30 they have played since Jerome Taylor routed England in Jamaica in 2009, but for those of us who love the unique beat, rhythm and character of West Indies cricket, it was at least a cause for optimism.

Chris Gayle, Kieron Pollard and a host of other West Indies players have missed out on the Test series against England due to commitments with the IPL. Rob Smyth, writing in the Guardian, says that West Indies will find it difficult to beat England at home considering they have been stripped of their best talent by the lure of Twenty20.

The largest group are in India, playing in the IPL. Although other sides have suffered – most obviously Sri Lanka with the retirement of Lasith Malinga – no side embody the struggle between Test cricket andTwenty20 better than West Indies. Chris Gayle, who has again illuminated the IPL with a series of outrageous assaults, played the last of his 91 Tests in 2010. The irrepressible all-rounder Kieron Pollard has never played a Test, and focuses on the short form to such an extent that Holding once said: "Pollard, in my opinion, is not a cricketer."

Not that Holding begrudges the hired guns their bounty. "You can't blame any cricketer for wanting to secure their future. The ICC needs to make sure these Twenty20 tournaments are well structured and don't interfere with other people's cricket. Test cricket may still go on but it will soon become irrelevant. That is the direction I see it going unless the ICC grabs hold of the game and does something about it."

England’s cricketer of the year James Anderson, who made his Test debut nearly ten years ago at Lord’s, has established himself as the spearhead of the top-ranked team in the world. He’s picked up more wickets in the last year than any other fast bowler except South Africa's Vernon Philander. Speaking to Tom Fordyce from bbc.co.uk, Anderson says that consistency and patience is the key to succeeding in international cricket.

“In the last 18 months I've probably doubled my Test wicket tally, which tells you something about the first eight years of my career," Anderson said. “I always believed I could perform at the top level. I knew on my day that I could be brilliant. But there were a lot of times when I would be at the other end of the scale, and that scared me a little bit. I didn't know what was coming from day to day."

"To be successful round the world you need as many weapons as possible. It gives me such confidence to know that I can go anywhere in the world and have the skills to take wickets."

Derek Pringle, writing for the Daily Telegraph, says that James Anderson stands on the threshold of Ian Botham territory as England's leading wicket-taker.

From the precocious fast bowler with the cockatoo hair who burst into the England team almost a decade ago, to the no-nonsense performer he is now, Anderson has refined his focus and his bowling to the point where he could make an assault on Mt Botham, and become England’s greatest Test-match wicket-taker of all time.

He is fifth in the England roll of honour with 258 wickets, 125 behind Botham’s record of 383. But he is in such command of his trade that, injuries permitting, he can count on taking at least 40 wickets a year, which would see him reach the landmark around the end of 2015, at the ripe old age of 33.

In an interview with S Dinakar in the Hindu Australia fast bowler Ben Hilfenhaus talks about swing bowling, what makes him effective against right handers, his take on the switch-hit and more.

Swing bowling is a brave art isn't it. There is very little margin for error when the ball is pitched up. And in the limited overs format, even quality outswingers can be edged or slashed to the fence.

I agree. But I guess it's all about control and belief. My aim is to zero in on the right areas. And outswing can be effective in the shorter formats as well. You can deny the batsman room too, pitch it on middle and hit the off. It is very important to get your line right and not stray down the leg-side.

Denis Compton’s grandson, Nick, has been making headlines for his good showing in county cricket with three first-class hundreds for Somerset this season. Stephen Brenkley, writing for the Independent, says that during Nick's formative years at Middlesex and Lord's, he realised that his grandfather was indeed something special.

Throughout Nick's career as a professional cricketer, with justifiable designs on playing for England, Nick has lived in the shadow of his grandfather. It is a measure of the younger man that he has come to terms with precisely what that means. "I remember old ladies, 70 or 80, coming to the gate. Whether I played cricket or not, I don't think they really cared, but the chance to talk to me and go back to being 30 or 40 made their face light up," Nick said.

Tom Alter, writing for firstpost.com, talks about the rise of the young Nick Compton and draws comparisons with his legendary grandfather Denis.

Nick Compton – the grandson of the great Denis – has by far the most runs in the county season – 736 at 122.66 – (the next highest has less than 500) — and is on the way to scoring 1000 runs in May, a feat which even his grandfather never accomplished.

Pakistan’s new Twenty20 captain Mohammad Hafeez may be seen as a clean and a confident player who has worked his way up the ranks with strong performances in domestic cricket. Osman Samiuddin, writing in the National, says that at a time when players are jostling for spots and even leadership roles, Hafeez’s man-management skills will be put to the test.

Captaincy should not overwhelm him, at least not immediately. He has led domestically, though more relevantly has been an involved and influential deputy to Misbah-ul-Haq, a man from whom the captain has often sought advice and support. As it is, his grasp of people will be more important. Pakistan's Test side is stable but in flux elsewhere. Players are jostling for spots and roles, even leadership.

Shahid Afridi and Shoaib Malik, former captains, are their own centres of influence. Misbah was not happy about the T20 snub – naturally – and though the pair are close, these decisions change the dynamics of a relationship.

In all this, Hafeez's own game will come under increased scrutiny. As worthy as his contributions have been – he still judges his returns as batsman first – he is still one purple patch from being a top batsman; he needs hundreds and more fifties, not just delicious 30s and 40s. That kind of player is never too far from being cast aside.

With the first Test between England and West Indies only days away, England’s batsman Jonathan Trott tells Nick Hoult from the Daily Telegraph that England knows the importance of respecting the opposition and giving them the attention they deserve.

“We are OK but not as buoyant about our cricket as we were before the Pakistan series,” Trott says. “We have realised we are human and also have a better understanding of what we need to do. When you are going well, and keep winning, sometimes you need an odd bump in the road to show you where you need to improve."

“Look at Pakistan. We were caught off guard with their attack and underestimated them, if I am honest. We will never do that again with any Test team. It shows the importance of respecting the opposition and giving them the attention they deserve. I am not saying we did not give Pakistan the attention they deserved but we had just thumped India 4-0 and we underestimated them a tiny bit."

Steve James, in the Daily Telegraph, predicts a tough time for West Indies and plenty to look forward to for the England batsmen.

This England team like playing West Indies as much as the modern-day child does a Nintendo DS. It is said that the strength of this West Indies team lies in its bowling, and its attack does have some pace, but just check the England team’s batting averages against this lot compared to their career averages. There will be little quaking in boots.

In the Guardian, Vic Marks agrees the Test series should be comfortably won by England.

In the Daily Mail, James Anderson speaks to Peter Hayter about his formative years as a professional cricketer and the challenges ahead.

In the Daily News, Richard Dwight pays tribute to Mahadevan Sathasivam, a stylish batsman who played till1950 and is considered one of Sri Lanka's great cricketers.

What was so distinctive about Satha was, that he brought to his batting a lackadaisical approach and an air of nonchalance, that was so deceptive to leave fielders, bowlers and wicket keepers confused. For on the contrary he was always alert, fleet of foot with supple wrists and hands and feet moving in obedience to the ticking of his mind while at the crease.

His very delicate late cut to the slips with much finesse, was likened to the elegance of a swordsman, slicing through a stalk leaving the flower undisturbed, to remain on the stalk, without falling. He was an unconventional type, both on and off the field, a versed to his style being cramped by rules and regulations. Extraordinary as he was, lack of practice or the latest of nights, did not bother him at all.

In the Times of India, Mukul Kesavan rips into the IPL - its decadence, its unabashed celebration of team owners, its use of cheerleaders and the many conflicts of interest.

The tournament is historically interesting because it is republican India's first public celebration of decadence. One charac- teristic feature of decadence is a contempt for convention and procedural scruple. Indians are familiar with this in everyday life, but the IPL is a departure in that the people involved with it legitimise and defend conflicts of interest explicitly and in full public view.

A modern cricketer has so many options to choose from, first there’s county cricket, then the Indian Premier League, the Big Bash League, the Bangladesh Premier League and soon the Sri Lanka Premier League. Former England captain Alec Stewart, writing on bbc.co.uk, says the global nature of cricket has caused several modern problems.

I appreciate that players can make decent money playing the IPL, so I would love to see the organisers and the ICC come together and try to find a window so that the IPL takes place when there is no international cricket being played.

While it's good news for the Windies that Chris Gayle will be available for their English tour, it is bad news for Somerset that he now will not be able to play Twenty20, and I have certain sympathies for them. To lose a player of his calibre at a relatively late stage is not easy.

Another modern issue is that because of the IPL and the amount of international cricket that is played, it is now quite unusual to see a county have the same overseas player for the entire season.

As players become richer and more powerful, and their options proliferate, Richard Lord, writing in the Wall Street Journal, says the art of managing players is changing and exerting top-down control is in many cases simply no longer possible.

This yet again underlines the need for professional, dispassionate, level-headed administrators at all levels of the game. The old-style autocrats who controlled the game for so long simply don't cut it anymore. The need for the kind of root and branch reorganization of the game's administration recommended by the recent Woolf Report – and promptly and predictably rejected by a number of those autocrats - has never been more urgent. This is not just an issue of there being transparency in the way the game is run; this is something that's necessary in order to keep the best players actually performing at international level. Look at soccer, where the domestic game has largely taken over, except for roughly once every two years when there's a big international tournament. Don't imagine that it couldn't happen in cricket.

Rob Smyth in the Guardian revisits the winter of 1989-90, when England took on West Indies in the Caribbean, during which they came remarkably close to winning the Test series against the all-powerful hosts.

West Indies won 2-1, although England deserved at least a draw and could have won the series. By the end of the series half the batting line-up were soldiering on with broken bones. Failure, if that's what it was, doesn't come much more heroic. And it was a fair trade to lose the series in return for the win at Jamaica. The memories of that Test will always keep us warm.

Australia's wicketkeeper Matthew Wade, who is part of their 15-man ODI squad to England, tells the Age that his focus will be on the tricky wicketkeeping conditions in England during their pre-Ashes visit in July. Wade, who has never set foot on English soil, will get his first look at the late swing that has confounded many a foreign gloveman.

''I'm looking forward to going over there and testing my skills in those conditions. It can almost be a little bit easier at times when everyone knows the ball is going to wobble around a bit so if you do fumble a few everyone knows what's going on,'' he said.

''I'll do a heap of work here in the next two or three weeks with [Victorian coach Greg Shipperd], with the ball swinging, speak to the right people who have played over there. I have to try to get better, that's the next thing for me, if I want to stay on the international scene."

With changes in regulations for UK's visa policy frequently leaving cricketers with visa problems and delayed entry into the UK, Vic Marks, writing in the Guardian, says that some of the 21st century restrictions are a pity. For example, if they were applicable 40 years ago, people might not seen players like Viv Richards play county cricket.

Mitchell Starc's recent deportation from England highlight some of the pitfalls a county now has to face when hiring an overseas player in the 21st century. There are complex visa requirements and the player concerned must have fulfilled certain criteria – he has to have played a minimum number of international matches within the last year.

Then there are so many competing fixtures at international level and at the IPL so that his availability is severely reduced. So the finishing school that county cricket once offered overseas players has lost some of its lustre.

Australia fast bowler Lisa Sthalekar, who has played 168 matches for her country, has released her autobiography entitled 'Shaker: Run Maker, Wicket Taker'. Sthalekar, who is on tour with the Southern Stars in India, told the Australian Cricketers’ Association website, that she chose India to release the book as it was her birthplace.

“The motivation behind it was to educate people on my background, women's cricket and the sacrifices female athletes make,” Sthalekar said. “I launched the book in India because I had completed it and the Southern Stars were about to tour there. Also, it was my birthplace and a country that I love to visit.”

“Having lost family members, I know how easy it is to lose memories and stories. Hopefully my book can be passed down not only in my family but the next generation of female cricketers. There isn't the footage or story telling of the games that I have played unlike the men,” she said.

In ongoing season of the IPL, Pune Warriors captain Sourav Ganguly has shown some signs of form, but they have been, according to Gaurav Kalra, like a little peek of sunlight on a miserable overcast day. For the better part, Ganguly has been what we never imagined he could be: ugly, ungainly, listless. What then is it that cajoles him to keep returning to the IPL? More from cricketnext.com.

I suspect for Ganguly the IPL provides a stage. The ideal platform to relish the thrill of competing again. To be at the centre of a contest and emerge victorious at the end of it. Perhaps in a hidden corner of that restless mind a regret gnaws away. Did he call time too early on his international career? Could he, like his great compatriot Rahul Dravid, have endured the stumbling blocks and played a few more years? Could he like VVS Laxman not have ignored the cynics and stubbornly soldiered on? Hasn't the spot vacated by him struggled to find a worthy occupant? I am only guessing here, but could it be that the IPL is Ganguly's last straw to clutch at after an unfulfilled international career. A career that, in his mind, had possibly another wind left?

Sachin Tendulkar talks to Bobby Ghosh and Nilanjana Bhowmick about his expectations of himself, the importance of enjoying his cricket, on his inner monologue while batting, and more. More from an interview in the Time magazine.

Sometimes I chat to myself, sometimes I don’t. Most of the times, it’s my subconscious mind that’s working. I don’t have time to complicate my mind, so I try to keep it empty. Being in “the zone” is when you’re not thinking of anything, merely reacting.

So much happens [on and off the field] that sometimes you forget to enjoy the game. That’s when things don’t go smoothly. I only realized that in 2006, after I after my [shoulder] surgery, during my rehab. I played a couple of practice games, and there was not too much media, not too many people watching. I realized something was very different: I was enjoying cricket. In retrospect, it was important for me to play those games. That was game changer for me. I didn’t even realize it had become so much about commitment and pressure, and doing this correctly.

Mumbai has seen batsmen of all kinds writes Makarand Waingankar in the Times of India. Some set the crease on fire, while some set the mood by cracking jokes. But there was one player who just never said die - Manohar Hardikar

Hardikar was described as a captain "who knew his players much better than the players themselves knew of their ability" . He had a wry sense of humour that would convey the message, and he would always say it with a straight face.

Possessing an uncanny knack of reading situations, he has had some terrific performances to his credit considering his limited ability. Wearing the whites gave him a new nature and brought tenacity in him.

When to retire and what to do with your new life? Sometimes answering those questions can be harder than playing the sport you love, finds out Michael Vaughan, as he interviewed several athletes as part of a television documentary exploring how sportsmen handle retirement. More in The Telegraph.

As the end of a career looms we all say the same things. John McEnroe tells me the two things he said he would never do again were play and commentate. He has done both. That sums it up. We all say we will never go back. But we do. We love talking and playing the game we excelled at.

Recognising that, but also accepting you can’t perform at the level you once did, and acknowledging the next generation, is part of the healing process. For some it takes an instant. For others a lifetime.

Michael Vaughan on his opportunity to meet some of his sporting heroes to find out how they dealt with facing the end of their sporting lives for a BBC documentary.

I retired in 2009 and never really struggled because, like George Foreman said to me, you have to use your sport to help your life afterwards. I did that during my last year at Yorkshire, planning for my next life by having meetings about starting a business and media career. But I still felt weird in those first nine months after finishing, not turning up at the ground and performing, not having the crowd applaud a good shot.

During the documentary I spoke to a variety of people who have experienced lots of different feelings after retirement. Those included former Arsenal and England captain Tony Adams, tennis player John McEnroe and boxer George Foreman to badminton's Gail Emms, golfer Darren Clarke, rugby player Matt Hampson and ex-England bowler Matthew Hoggard. But one of the big things that comes across in the documentary is that we all get addicted to the sport we play and there's not many who can do without it. I certainly couldn't do without the cricket.

The IPL governing council have tried their best to make the tournament a level playing field by putting a cap on spend during auctions and limiting the number of players a team can recruit. But Aakash Chopra in CricketNext argues that the spending during trading window also needs to be capped to keep the teams balanced.

That really is the point - if there's so much emphasis on bringing parity at every level, why isn't the same principle followed in the trading window? Why isn't there a cap on the money a team can spend outside the auctions? Precisely the point Gilchrist raises.

West Indies spinner Sunil Narine - left out of the tour to England - has been one of the bowling stars in the ongoing IPL season for his franchise Kolkata Knight Riders. His non-selection for the England tour, is a great shame writes Amol Rajan in the Independent.

It is a great shame that Narine has not been selected for the Test squad touring England – and that the selectors didn't have the courage to partner him with taller off-spinner Shane Shillingford. Mendis was nullified by video technology and straighter batting. Except in Muttiah Muralitharan's case, it tends to be masterfully orthodox spin bowlers – Shane Warne, for instance – who thrive. As Narine will soon discover, mystery is temporary but mastery is permanent.

Has the IPL hit rocky waters in terms of advertisers? While the overall television viewership ratings have dipped for the IPL, the league continues to be a highly sought-after property on TV, the Financial Express' Payal Khandelwal finds.

Marketers who have pulled out of the league this year think that the current viewership numbers do not justify the ad rates that SET Max is offering. “We backed out this year primarily because of the dip in popularity of IPL and we expected that dip to continue further and it is. Even the absolute reach has gone down,” says Mayank Shah, group product manager, Parle Products. “I think that IPL is a good property with a good amount of viewership but the price is not right. They have to rationalize the price and charge a fair amount. If they were offering the right price based on the viewership they are getting, we would have been on-board. They should have cut down the rates by 30%. There is also fatigue associated with cricket now and the performance in international cricket hasn’t been good either. Also, you need to keep innovating a property like IPL and IPL is not doing that.”

Hilary Beckles, in Trinidad Express, about the saga of West Indies' stars walking away and playing cricket elsewhere.

West Indian Test cricketers are among the top world cricketers in terms of pay and remuneration. They are not underpaid. They are easily in the elite of Caribbean skilled workers, earning millions of dollars after, let's say, a five-year period of regional representation. Their refusal to represent the region in its international encounter should be placed in this context. It's not a choice between poverty and riches but between riches and more riches; and between standing up for the region and walking away from it.

At a time when the popularity of Twenty20 cricket leagues is on an incline, Osman Samiuddin, writing in the National, says that the T20 cricketer is not always in sync with national pride as he must choose between club or country. It’s a choice that is difficult, as many boards can’t compete with what franchises pay.

If a player chooses a Twenty20 league over a national commitment then he must also be prepared to be dropped and not be considered for national selection. That must work both ways. Chris Gayle has chosen to come back - for now - which perhaps shows cricket to have lately underestimated the pull of national representation.

England batsman Jonathan Trott, who has scored 2319 from 28 Tests at 52.70, is being touted as England’s best number three in a generation. Tom Fordyce, who interviewed the batsman for bbc.co.uk, writes that though Trott appears to have been born for Test cricket, he began his career as a reckless batsman who tried to hit the ball all round the ground.

You think you know Jonathan Trott as a batsman - obdurate, intensely focused, obsessed with accumulating runs, a player who appears to have been born for long Test innings. It's the first of many misconceptions. "I haven't always been like this," Trott says, surprised. "It's something I've developed and worked on. As a young player I was actually quite a reckless batsman. I get bored quite easily, and I'd often try to hit the ball all round the ground. But as I got older I began to realise what batting was all about. I watched a lot of great players to see what you need to be successful at the top level."

If you had to be named after a fictional character, PG Wodehouse's Mike Jackson would do nicely, says Stephen Brenkley in the Independent, and that's where Mike Griffith, the next president of MCC, got his.

The chap who gave Mike Griffith his handle was the inestimable Mike Jackson, hero of several stories written by the equally inestimable PG Wodehouse long before Bertie Wooster and his manservant Jeeves were created. Griffith is indubitably proud of the association, though it continues to cause problems even at 68. Banks, lawyers and what might be called official organisations have made a habit of sending back documents asking him to amend it by ensuring his full and proper name is included.

They have never quite brought themselves to say as much but the tone has been this: "Dear Sir, please do not be so juvenile. This is a serious transaction and we note that you have called yourself Mike, an abbreviated, boy's name. Please be sure in future to append your full given name."

Few batsmen fail as rarely as Shane Watson, states the Old Batsman blog, but unfortunately, few succeed as rarely as Watson either. It's against the nature and the history of batsmanship to be out for a median score as often as Shane is. Ultimately the greatest quality in batting is to be able to stay in, because everything else springs from that. Why can't he do it?

Hashim Amla has made 52 per cent of his Test runs in boundaries and sixes. Jonathan Trott has made 44 per cent of his that way, Alastair Cook 46 per cent, Ricky Ponting 48 per cent, Kevin Pietersen 54 per cent. Watson has a percentage above all of them at 57. Only freaks like Sehwag with 67 per cent and Chris Gayle with 75 per cent go beyond him, and they each have two triple centuries in Test cricket. The stats suggest two things about the way Watson plays: that he needs boundaries to build his score, and that he gets out trying to hit them once the field goes back. Both are symptomatic of a player who either doesn't look at where the field is, or who can't keep hitting the gaps. That's guesswork, though. Perhaps Shane is just a rebours.

In 2009, Kamran Khan was Rajasthan Royals’ mystery pick and hailed by captain Shane Warne as as the “next big thing”. Today Khan, who was reported for suspect action during the 2009 season, finds himself harvesting his wheat crop, after his team, Pune Warriors, didn't need his services for the ongoing season of the IPL. Devendra Pandey in the Indian Express tracks Khan's journey.

While the Royals retained him the next year [2010], he was picked by the Pune Warriors in their maiden season in 2011. He played only one match then, and none in 2012.

“That’s when the taunts began,” says Kamran. From being invited as chief guest to every event in his village, the cricketer has now become an easy target. “It’s almost like they were waiting for me to fall,” he says. “Not many people here understand cricket. They now tell me how useless I am, and how my career is over because I chuck.”

The Men's Hour podcast on the BBC website features former England cricket captain Adam Hollioake as he steps into the cage to fight for the first time, and investigates the rise of mixed martial arts among men.

The number one team in Test cricket playing in their home conditions, cold weather and lively pitches are just few of the problems that the West Indies team will encounter on their tour of England. But under a gritty captain in Darren Sammy, West Indies team is showing a change in attitude, says Tony Cozier in The Trinidad Express.

They are certainly no match for England on paper, they are still to shake off the self doubt created by years of failure on the field and in-fighting off it and their captain continues under relentless pressure to prove his worth as a player. Yet Darren Sammy and his players have demonstrated a constant, refreshing, 100 per cent commitment to their responsibilities. It has not always been so of late.

As the increased, involved crowds in the recent home series against Australia revealed they are winning back the support of those who had become disillusioned with the repeated bickering between the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and the West Indies Players Association (WIPA) and, not least, by the losses in the preceding four series since the turn of the 21st century in England, the oldest foe.

The demographics of English cricket have changed in the last decade, with more players from privileged backgrounds making it to higher grades of cricket, says Scyld Berry in The Telegraph. Of the current lot of top cricketers, only Ravi Bopara comes from a state school background. Berry talks to Bopara to highlight what english cricket is letting slip through its structure.

The England and Wales Cricket Board is beginning to monitor the players’ social background, but it would not offer an official comment beyond pointing out that 4,000 state schools and 1.5 million pupils have been introduced to cricket under their Chance to Shine programme.The trouble here though is that only 5 per cent have progressed to club cricket.

Only one batsman from an English state school is anywhere near the Test team: Ravi Bopara, 26, who spent the winter as England’s reserve batsman but started this season with a century for Essex at Headingley, while his team-mates could hardly lay a bat on the moving ball.

By pitting John Wright's intuitiveness against John Buchanan's ingenuity, two opposite ideologies, NZC created a situation that was expected to go out of hand. Paul Lewis in The New Zealand Herald questions NZC's orignal design of a bipolar power structure which has taken Wright as a casualty.

By setting these two on divergent paths, NZC painted themselves into a corner, nailed their feet to the floor, set the timer on the bomb and then put on dark glasses in the hope that it would all go away. They forced themselves to choose between Buchanan's scientific vision for NZ cricket or Wright's more intuitive, commonsense approach.

That decision was maybe made easier as, when faced with ending Wright's contract or those of Buchanan and his small army of Australian assistants, the good of New Zealand cricket maybe came down to dollars and cents.

Paul Thomas in the same paper writes about ups and downs of a coach's job and how Wright should be the least surprised by NZC's treatment.

The dizzying ups and downs of a coach's existence have been compared to a rollercoaster ride or being stuck in a lift that shuttles from the basement to the penthouse and back, seldom stopping at the floors in between.

Michael Clarke's captaincy has already yielded solid results for Australia at home and in the Caribbean. However, Richard Hinds in Sydney Morning Herald highlights that it is Clarke's unbridled support towards Brad Haddin that marks his growth as a leader.

Clarke's loyalty to Haddin might seem straightforward, indeed compulsory for any decent leader. Still, it provides another indication of how quickly and comfortably Clarke has grown into the captaincy.

The other, more compelling, sign of Clarke's leadership is his intuitive stewardship. The kudos Ricky Ponting received in his early days as captain was the consequence of results achieved by a stellar squad. Clarke seems to have a more profound influence on what happens on the field.

Sachin Tendulkar needs to keep a straight bat if he's to remain immortal, says Mukul Kesavan, in the National.

A birthday tweet by Tendulkar summed up the new tone deafness: "Hello friends, you can join my birthday chat and send me your wishes at 12.30pm today. Dial 5100100 from your Airtel phone." However blasé fans become about endorsements, there is something a little off about a great man leveraging his birthday to produce a revenue stream for his sponsors. It almost begged the question: "And how do I say happy birthday if I'm on Vodafone?"

Someone about to be canonised ought to count the cost of individual self-promotion at a time of collective defeat. A sportsman as adored as Tendulkar owes it to himself and his admirers to rein in his handlers when they crank the machine too hard.

In bestowing upon Sachin Tendulkar the status of a god, we will eventually make him our victim, says Ajaz Ashraf in Pakistan's Daily Times.

Call it a Sisyphean tragedy of the Indian kind, a tragedy still in the making, slowly, imperceptibly. As Tendulkar’s body becomes vulnerable to the ravages of age — eyesight weaker, hand and eye coordination a little out of sync — he will increasingly fail to intercede for the Indian team, as happened so frequently on the last tours of England and Australia. Yet our abiding faith in the god of cricket will lure us to hope as the diminutive champion steps out on the field to bail out his struggling team. Should he get dismissed cheaply, as is likely to happen more frequently than before, the fickle among us will cite parliamentary records to wonder why taxpayers should bear the expenses of a rich man who is mostly absent from the Rajya Sabha, as is likely because of the crowded schedule of Indian cricket.

The quality of West Indies’ fast bowlers in the 1980’s was a cut above the rest, with Malcolm Marshall, Michael Holding and Joel Garner testing batsmen around the world. Derek Pringle, writing in the Daily Telegraph, says that as West Indies tour England later this month, their fast bowlers can still hurry England’s batsmen.

Those anxiety levels, along with the pace battery that caused them, are long gone, but a new clutch of quicks has the speed to discomfit Andrew Strauss and his batsmen, especially if they fail to find form ahead of the first Test on May 17.

Former Australian batsman Marcus North, who played for Derbyshire, Durham, Gloucestershire, Hampshire and Lancashire during his career, says in the Sydney Morning Herald that he considers himself extremely privileged to be able to play county cricket in England, as it has contributed to his life as cricketer and as a person.

I have no doubt without my experiences and performances in England I would not have represented my country or be living the lifestyle I am able to lead with my growing young family. It's not a right to play professional cricket, it's a privilege. Never take it too seriously and enjoy every moment of the journey, regardless of how good or bad.

Now that Rahul Dravid has quit the international scene and Ricky Ponting's future is clearly in doubt; now that Sachin Tendulkar has been nudged towards a life in politics and Andrew Strauss's future is the cause for concern; who will be the next leader of the pack, asks Ted Corbett, in the Hindu. His answer: Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who, as he writes, has had a fine career, yet you might feel you hardly know anything of this contrary genius.

No batsman in history has ever — to use a cliché Roebuck would never bring himself to write — let his bat do the talking more often. Whether he has been batting in the shadow of Lara, or Chris Gayle or briefly in charge, Shiv has stood quietly in the background, concentrating so hard he did not have to talk, and apparently oblivious to the events around him.

Now we must recognise that he is one of the ‘10,000 Club' that is reserved for the truly great and praise the fisherman's son who hauled in a great catch without ever causing great waves.

With the FA Cup final between Chelsea and Liverpool only a few days away. David Green says in All out cricket that a handy cricket team could be selected from among players who have appeared in the FA Cup final in the past.

The links between the FA Cup Final and cricket are closer than you might think. Indeed, I’ve managed to rustle up a XII who featured (or nearly featured in the case of our 12th man) in at least one FA Cup Final and who also played first-class cricket.

In this year’s IPL, on average about 40 runs have been scored at the death in the first innings for the first 35 matches. Ant Sims, writing in Daily Maverick, says that death bowling is a fine art, but as batsmen are increasingly stamping their authority on the final overs of a match, is the yorker becoming extinct?

Death bowling is a bespoke art, mastered by only a few and, while the yorker has been the traditional go-to ball in any bowlers’ arsenal, these deliveries are becoming increasingly rare. The game has evolved and batsmen are becoming more skilled, especially in the shortest format of the game. Those who wield the willow are continuously inventing new shots. Shots that would have most MCC members choke on their tea and biscuits. Batsmen are becoming smarter and where a towering paceman would once have a diminutive batsman shaking in his spikes, they’re now simply scooping their balls over the keeper and flashing a cheeky smile.

With eight wins in ten matches, Delhi Daredevils is the team to beat in the IPL this season. Team mentor TA Sekar, writing on delhidaredevils.com, says that though Virender Sehwag may lead a group of experienced match winners, he has encouraged the younger players to perform under pressure.

He has led many match-winners, offering the bowlers so much support with just the right amount of inputs. For example, he got teenager Pawan Negi to bowl when Rajasthan Royals was 56 without loss in six overs and told the left-arm spinner to not bowl full length to Ajinkya Rahane and Rahul Dravid since both drive well through the off-side. With bowlers like Morne Morkel and Umesh Yadav – who bowled the decisive last two overs in the team’s memorable victory in the home game against Rajasthan Royals – Viru tells them to bowl freely. By backing his bowlers so much with the right advice and the fields that they would like, Viru is doing a great job.

Former Australian batsman Justin Langer, writing for cricketcountry.com, says if cricket is a religion in India, it is theatre and night club in the Caribbean.

In the West Indies, cricket is a combination of theatre and a night club. The passion for the game is intense, but regardless of the result, the West Indian people seem to have so much fun. From the moment we arrived at the ground each day, to the moment the last drinks are called in the hotel, there is music, loud, loud music. People dance and sing and smile and laugh. When they are not doing that, or drinking beer or rum, they are talking cricket. To be more specific, they are usually arguing more about cricket, than just talking about it. Such is the passion, that they are all experts, who have an opinion on the fortunes of their national team and the triumphs or downfalls that go with being the West Indian cricket team.

Sunil Gavaskar, was, and always will be, the pioneer of modern Indian cricket, according to Tom Alter. However, today, Alter writes on firstpost.com, he sees his childhood cricket hero escorted into a television study, decorated with the fake ribbons of a game which he graced and made his own.

Forced to make glib chat with people whose knowledge of his sport would have been a deep insult to him in his playing days. Forced to make an entry to the sound of a blaring band and blaring words. While cricket; his cricket; our cricket – is reduced to a sideshow of a sideshow. And yet he plays along – trying, somehow, to maintain some little dignity amongst the crass glitter.

Sunil Gavaskar – did he have to? Sunil, did you have to?

Sachin Tendulkar’s nomination to the Rajya Sabha has been generally cheered by the nation. But some have questioned it on the ground that as per the Indian Constitution, no sportsperson is eligible for nomination. However, Soli Sorabjee, former attorney general for India, says that such an argument is unsound and that the Rajya Sabha nomination should not be confused with the conferral of a Padma award. More in the Indian Express.

What is the meaning of the word “sport”? According to dictionaries, “sport is a game, competition or activity needing physical effort and skill”. Sport is an occupational activity that certainly requires skill to produce a desired result. It is undeniable that the sport of cricket requires skill. Therefore, on an expansive interpretation of the expression “art”, sport would be included in it and the nomination of a sportsperson to the Rajya Sabha is perfectly constitutional. It bears emphasis that the purpose of nomination is that the nation may have the benefit of the views of eminent and experienced persons when legislative measures relating to a particular subject, with which they are familiar, are debated.

In the same newspaper, Rajeev Shukla, minister of state for parliamentary affairs, writes that too many people have been unduly critical of the government’s move to bestow this much deserved honour upon Tendulkar and his acceptance of the same, without really pausing to examine the intentions on both sides.

As West Indies arrive in England for the Test series, Stephen Brenkley writes that cricket in the Caribbean, once so joyous and victorious, is in an unholy mess. It is not simply that the team is losing too often, but that the game is being so woefully run that there is a serious danger of the world passing it by. More from the Independent.

The recent domestic first-class cricket competition was an embarrassment and a shambles. It lacked both a sponsor and quality, with match after match being done and dusted in three days.

There is talk of secession in the air and going it alone, whether it be in Jamaica, or Trinidad, or Guyana. Talk is one thing, action another and a split by one or more seems unlikely. If for no other reason than it would leave any breakaway country without international cricket for at least a generation, while it regrouped and sought full membership of the ICC.

The success of the IPL in India has distorted the cricket landscape, writes Greg Chappell in The Hindu. Cricket has gone through massive changes in recent years and continues to do so. Whether the game will survive is not the question; now, it is can the three formats survive?

IPL is no longer a domestic competition. The ICC must recognise this and clear the international calendar for the IPL to preserve the integrity of Test cricket, or risk weakening it immeasurably.

Test cricket has to be respected by the custodians of the game first and foremost. Central contracts must recognise the importance of the longer version of the game and remunerate Test cricketers handsomely.

While cricket continues to enjoy prime position with the Indian sports' fan, the question arises - can India possibly fall in love with a different sport? The Economist's Schumpeter blog looks at how the gap between cricket and other sports in India could just shrink.

This year a clutch of new contests is cropping up in India. Each aims to replicate at least some of the success of the Indian Premier League (IPL), the glitzy domestic cricket tournament which started in 2008 and is now worth billions of dollars

What is more, a rising middle class can afford to follow more than one sport. And the new leagues do not have to start from scratch in finding an audience. Hockey is widely seen as India’s second game. Football has long had pockets of support in certain states, particularly in West Bengal and in the former Portuguese colony of Goa. The English premier league is gaining popularity across the country, especially among wealthier Indians who have lived in the west.

In the Times of India, Makarand Waingankar looks back at the fun-filled career of former India wicketkeeper Farokh Engineer.

"Polly [Umrigar] and Nari [Contractor] knew I was very keen on a certain young lady when we were playing a match away. I received a telegram with her name saying how much she missed me and she couldn't wait for me to return. It said that she would be at VT station to greet me when I arrived. After emptying my whole bottle of after shave and desperately waiting for her to come at VT Station, I found out that the telegram was sent by these chaps. They managed a great laugh at the expense of my broken heart," Farokh recounts.

In the Guardian Shehan Karunatilaka, the author of Chinaman, picks his ten favourites cricket books, including classics like Beyond a boundary and Don Bradman's Art of cricket.

For more on cricket books, check out our Must-Read books section.

England’s fast bowler James Anderson recently said he wanted the current side to be one of the greatest England teams there has ever been. Andy Bull, writing in the Guardian, says that the next two years will decide whether they are the best England side in history.

Over those next two years England play series at home to the West Indies and South Africa, away to India and New Zealand, and then to Australia at home and away. If they stay unbeaten through that run, they will have earned that legacy Anderson says they hunger for, as one of the greatest XIs England has ever had.

Ed Jackson, writing in the Sydney Morning Herald, says that despite Australia’s recent Test success against West Indies. The Australian team has weaknesses that could be exposed against stronger opposition over the next 18 months.

Ahead are some of the toughest assignments Clarke’s men could possibly face. World No. 2 South Africa heads to Australia at the end of 2012 before next year offers a tour of India that leads into back-to-back Ashes campaigns. There are several Australian players still struggling to prove themselves. Opener Ed Cowan will go into the home series against South Africa's world-class pace line-up of Dale Steyn, Vernon Philander and Morne Morkel knowing he is running out of time to make a big score. The Proteas' pace guns will provide plenty of questions for Australia's batsmen, with Shane Watson yet to solidify his role at No. 3 and veterans Ricky Ponting and Michael Hussey never far from scrutiny.

For the league to survive, IPL 5 must draw more fans and profit in its second half, says Desh Gaurav Chopra Sekhri in the Indian Express.

If initial projections had remained consistent, by season five one would have expected the league to have exponentially increased its collateral revenues, especially gate receipts and merchandise. But one fears that the IPL is still clubbed with or compared to other entertainment properties. If that fear becomes a reality, it will soon be considered a seasonal reality show with dwindling popularity as the novelty factor wears off, much like the Indian Idol model.

Two months into his job as Pakistan coach, Dav Whatmore speaks to the National's Osman Samiuddin about why he decided to take up the post, his plans for the side and how difficult coaching in the subcontinent can be.

I'm about winning. I don't want to be involved with teams that are not having good times. I really need to enjoy what I am doing, work hard and enjoy the performances of the boys. They work their bums off to get wickets and runs, catches, and that gives me a real big boost and then the result comes that you want ...

West Indies' bowling is their strong suit and their coach is familiar with the conditions, but will their batsmen step up to the challenge posed by the England quicks, asks Alec Stewart in BBC Sport.

The likes of Kirk Edwards (50) and Darren Bravo (49) have good batting averages early in their Test careers, but have they got the technique and temperament to battle it out against one of the best bowling attacks in the world? Will they score enough runs to allow their bowlers an opportunity to bowl England out twice?

West Indies rely too heavily on the magnificent Shivnarine Chanderpaul ... he can be relied upon to score runs at number five, but he is going to need valuable contributions from others if West Indies are to stand a chance against England. To that end, it is a shame that Chris Gayle will not play in this series ...

Mark Geenty, writing for Fairfax NZ News, says John Wright stepped in at one of New Zealand Cricket's darkest hours and, in a cruel irony, walks away with the sport plunged back to the abyss of December 2010.

The former [NZC] chief executive Vaughan trumpeted Buchanan's signing as director of cricket a year ago ... Having finally snared the prized signature of Wright six months earlier, this was an awful message to send. Would Graham Henry or Alex Ferguson suddenly have to answer to a former rival coach installed above them in the pecking order? ... The minute Buchanan took his seat as second-in-command at NZC headquarters in Christchurch, Wright got jumpy. The two get on at a personal level, but are polar opposites with their cricketing philosophies.

David Leggat, writing in the New Zealand Herald, says for the next couple of years, it's Buchanan's way or the highway for those involved with New Zealand cricket.

... From Wright's perspective, if he felt his hands were being tied, his approach compromised by his boss, then he could not continue on that basis. You hope he won't be lost to the game. He is a good cricket man, whose heart, in terms of New Zealand cricket's welfare, is in the right place. You can also be sure that the person who replaces him will be on the same wavelength as Buchanan. For at least the next three years, New Zealand Cricket can't afford it to be any other way.

How do we assess Sachin Tendulkar’s entry into the Rajya Sabha, asks Ashok Malik in the Times of India. While Tendulkar is a cricketing legend, can he contribute to Rajya Sabha’s legislative business?

The political class – and this problem is not limited to the current government – now increasingly sees Rajya Sabha nominations as it does Padma awards: just another patronage device, just another set of perquisites to distribute to grab media headlines or as a diversionary manoeuvre. The likelihood of one of the 12 Rajya Sabha nominees now not being a prime-time television superstar is getting smaller and smaller. The constitutional quest to bring to Parliament in New Delhi intellectual voices from outside the capital and its incestuous circles – and the cricket industry is part of these circles – has been all but defeated.

Dale Steyn produced arguably the most testing spell in IPL history against Mumbai Indians on Sunday and picked up two wickets for ten runs. G. Viswanath writes in The Hindu that bowlers like Steyn and Lasith Malinga have always had attention riveted on them and have produced some magic moments in the IPL.

Malinga took 4 for 16 in 3.4 overs in Sunday’s match and played his part in Mumbai Indians fifth win in nine matches, but it was Steyn’s utmost show of human potential as a fast-bowler-cricketer on the field that had the spellbinding effect. No wonder he was declared the man of the match.

In Mint, Sandipan Deb writes that this IPL is different from the rest in terms of fan support. People are watching it not for the sake of following a particular team, rather rooting for certain teams to lose.

In spite of Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s immense popularity, especially among the young, there is a small group of people who want Chennai to lose. These are, I have found, people who are very committed followers of the game—guys who live several time zones away from India but can reel off statistics and argue why, say, a Pragyan Ojha should be playing more regularly for India. They accuse Dhoni of playing favourites in the Indian team, preferring a Rohit Sharma over a Manoj Tewary, and getting his way every time because of his IPL Chennai connections—Board President N. Srinivasan and Selection Committee head K. Srikkanth. Above all, they suspect Dhoni of having engineered Sehwag’s dropping from the team for the Asia Cup. So, Dhoni must pay.

Though Afghanistan lost its first ODI against Pakistan in February 2010, the team’s spirited performance impressed a host of cricket commentators and analysts. In the Daily Times, Zakir Hussain Syed talks about how the PCB wasn’t credited enough for the development of Afghan cricket during the match.

What really disappointed me was the apparent lack of knowledge of commentators regarding Afghanistan’s pathway to this newly acquired eminence. They just mentioned Pakistan’s role in a cursory manner regarding Afghanistan’s newly developed love for cricket

In the Indian Express, Rohan Swamy talks to the owner of a new cricket museum that is set to open on May 2 in Pune. The "Blades of Glory" museum has bats of players who have scored over 10,000 runs, bats signed by each of the World Cup-winning teams, a room reserved for bowling legends, among other bits of memorabilia.

In the Sunday Telegraph, Scyld Berry lists three reasons for the fall of West Indies cricket from the glory days - the lack of quality openers, the West Indies board, and their captain Darren Sammy.

In the last 20 years West Indies have produced only one consistently good opening batsman: Chris Gayle. All the others have been found wanting. Their domestic structure — a few first-class games on pitches which the West Indian board have allowed to become ever slower — is inadequate.

All talk of the new West Indies' team spirit and character needs to be put in perspective, as they prepare for their toughest challenge yet, in England. And it remains to be seen if the coach Otis Gibson will be allowed to build on any perceived gains from the series just ended, writes Fazeer Mohammed in Trinidad and Tobago Express.

Uprooting the deeply-embedded ills of West Indies cricket and replanting and nurturing a culture of professionalism, with all the dedication and discipline it entails, takes considerable time. Given that he has already rubbed so many of the star boys who used to be regulars of the side the wrong way, any tide of discontent against him may swell to an irresistible tsunami if the feared seismic events at Lord's, Trent Bridge and Edgbaston come to pass.

West Indies will be without their one-day Bradman on the tour of England, says the Guardian's Barney Ronay, and this takes away some of their sheen.

He [Gayle] is simply a grand talent and an attractively extreme individual. Where pretty much every other international cricketer – including the pop-kid batting tyros of India's new wave – retains that sense of journeyman familiarity, an air of scotch egg and room service and check-in desk, Gayle always looks as though he's just stepped off the bridge of his own disco-spaceship, staffed by a team of semi-feral Venusian mermaids.

Kings XI Punjab and Delhi bowler Parvinder Awana tells the Hindustan Times' Shalabh Manocha about how he went from the Araula village near Noida to a training camp in Australia and ended up with a career in cricket instead of the police force.

Some things are destined to happen, believes pacer Parvinder Awana. The Delhi boy has become a key man for the Kings XI Punjab, but had his uncle not pushed him into cricket, Awana would have been either catching criminals or farming. “It was my uncle who insisted that I joined the cricket academy at the National Stadium. I never dreamt that I would make it this far,” said the pacer. “I cleared the physical test required to join the police force and was all set to join when I opted for cricket as a career.”

If Sachin Tendulkar doesn’t deliver on the parliamentary turf, he needn’t be embarrassed, says Iftikhar Gilani in DNA, and gives us a brief of what the other cricketers-turned-politicians - who were elected - have done during their terms.

Azharuddin has listed just five questions in the three years since he won the Lok Sabha polls from Moradabad. He is yet to pilot a private member bill or participate in any discussions on a government bill. He has not yet asked any supplementary questions. But he provoked a discussion on the “need for inquiry on the death of an IAS officer” in 2009 — his saving grace. Once, he participated in a debate on general budget ...

Sachin Tendulkar's acceptance of a Rajya Sabha nomination has been followed by cynical reactions in the media on Tendulkar having allowed himself to be swayed by a political agenda. Venky Vembu in First Post raises the question - how will Tendulkar contribute to the Parliament?

On the face of it, of course, there is of course enough in the move to feed the innate cynicism that resonates within all of us. Nominating someone so popular as Sachin for a Bharat Ratna or a Rajya Sabha nomination is a no-brainer, a way to harvest goodwill on the cheap. You can be sure that the Congress will milk this during the next elections, perhaps by enlisting Sachin to campaign on its behalf.

Suresh Menon resonates similar views in Dream Cricket.

But scratch deeper and the stench of cynicism hits you. A ruling party reeling under corruption charges, with inefficiency as its watchword and policy paralysis as its manifesto is in urgent need of shifting the focus from an old story which has re-emerged: Bofors, the 25-year old scandal. When you can’t change the logic of an argument, change the argument itself. Ride piggy-back on the character and record of one of the whitest reputations in the country.

Rajdeep Sardesai expresses his surprise on CricketNext and argues that for a cricketer, who has seldom voiced his opinion on public issues, Tendulkar's decision has confused everyone.

The editorial in The Hindustan Times raises doubts on the induction of celebrities such as Tendulkar in the Parliament while a cartoon in The Hindu has a humourous take on the issue.

Viewership reports for IPL5 have pointed towards decline in TV ratings, a troubling trend which will impact the league when sponsorships are renegotiated. Desh Gaurav Chopra Sekhri in Business Standard comments on the stagnation of franchise loyalty while European football leagues expand their audience in India.

This year’s revenue and profitability plateau could severely impact the value of the sponsorships going into the central revenue pool, which are being renegotiated as the IPL enters its much-anticipated season 6. Given that the big-ticket contract renewals for title sponsorship and official sponsors start after IPL 5, it’s imperative that the league continue to flourish and attract increased viewership. It needs to, in addition, start converting unique viewers into die-hard fans. By season 5, one would have expected the league to have exponentially increased its collateral revenues, especially gate receipts and merchandise. It appears, however, that the IPL is still clubbed with, or compared to, other entertainment properties. If that fear becomes a reality, then the league faces an uphill battle to remain relevant as an asset in the emerging and growing domain of professional sports.

Kumar Sangakkara, former Sri Lanka captain, believes that Test cricket is the No. 1 format and the players and officials have a big role to play in safeguarding the primacy of the format. In a chat with V V Subrahmanyam in Sportstar, Sangakkara says that Twenty20 format has its advantages too.

If someone is a good cricketer, he can be good in any format. But again, you have to strike a balance. Schedules are tight. See, India plays a lot of cricket — many teams will love to play so because of the financial benefits they get. Even Sri Lanka plays a lot at home and away. Whatever said and done, Test cricket is the ultimate form of cricket. That's why I believe there should be a minimum of three Tests in a series.

Players perform and go, but stadiums remain as the custodians of sport. Rohit Brijnath in Live Mint writes about how stadiums are theatres and museums at once.

For sporting travellers—like the grown bankers I saw reduced to babbling boys as they prepared for a maiden visit to the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) last winter—the geographies that matter in sport are not cities, but the arenas within them. The Nou Camp, Fenway Park, St Andrew. Nope, never been to any. Nor to Rio’s Maracana, which is why it would be sinful not to pack a bag for the 2014 World Cup and at least stand in an arena which, during the 1950 World Cup, held 199,854 people.

Brian Viner in The Independent chats with arguably the oldest trio to represent a team - the septuagenarians who have been part of Ealing Cricket Club for the last 57 years.

Fisher was 16, Lindley 14 and Price 13. Today they are 73, 71 and 70, and inevitably a little creakier, but still as fit as septuagenarians have any right to be. Fisher, a wicketkeeper with 1,219 catches and 510 stumpings to his name (to put that latter figure in perspective, the aforementioned Rod Marsh made 88 career stumpings, Alan Knott 207 and Bob Taylor a mighty 264), insists that he has no more trouble bending his knees than he ever did. More perspective is required: Lindley's exact contemporary Geoffrey Boycott hung up his boots in 1986.

Cricket has long favoured batsmen at the expense of bowlers. While batting continues to get easier with shorter boundaries, flatter pitches and favourable rules, a bowler's job has been made increasingly difficult. But this year in county cricket, batsmen have struggled. Derek Pringle in The Telegraph enjoys the mismatch and says that bowlers have always been at a disadvantage with rule changes.

Over the centuries, the game’s law-makers and administrators have tended to be batsmen, ready to claw back any advantages bowlers have gained with an over-compensation in favour of those who wear the pads. After all, most of the game’s Laws seek to make a batsman’s life easier and a bowler’s harder.

West Indian allrounder Marlon Samuels was recently reported for a suspect action while playing for Pune Warriors in the IPL. Richard Lord in The Wall Street Journal reviews the current system of assessing the straightness of a bowlers arm. He says cricket is overly reliant on an imperfect gauge – the human eye – when other, more accurate methods of assessment are available.

The difference between a bent arm and one that straightens ought to be, well, straightforward. But judging with the naked eye how many degrees an arm has extended while taking issues such as abduction and wrist rotation into account, not so much. In other words, you can't trust the naked eye where chucking is concerned. So it's time to take the responsibility for reporting bowlers out of the hands of the on-field umpires, who have quite enough on their plate already and simply don't have the tools at their disposal to make a decision that could seriously affect someone's career.

The IPL was initially promoted as a city-based league with the emphasis on building a strong local connect, says Hindustan Times' Sanjjeev Karan Samyal, but somewhere along the line that concept has been lost.

... Teams have shown an unwillingness to expend energy in trying to promote local talent in their teams. For most of them, it’s just about fielding the best XI and hoping that success will automatically ensure fan connect. Otherwise, how do you explain some of Mumbai’s best players plying their trade outside, which is also the case with Delhi and other franchises.

Among Mumbai’s Ranji Trophy players in the IPL, Rahane and Ankeet Chavan are with Rajasthan Royals, Abhishek Nayar is with Kings XI Punjab, Iqbal Abdulla is with Kolkata Knight Riders and skipper Ajit Agarkar is with Delhi. Only Sachin Tendulkar and Rohit Sharma are regulars in the MI playing XI. Sharing the feelings of the Mumbai cricket fraternity, a young pace bowler who was with MI for the first three seasons before being off-loaded, says: “Where are the Mumbai boys in the team? No one looks after the interest of the local players.”

Neil Manthorp, in the Mail & Guardian, says it may seem counterintuitive to celebrate Cricket South Africa's slow but inevitable slide into a humiliating credibility void, but it is the prospect of what lies ahead that is so exciting. Haroon Lorgat or Dave Richardson, he says, would be the prime candidates to run cricket in the country after the clean-up.

Given cricket's messy politics and selfish personal agendas, there is a legitimate argument to be made for the appointment of an "outsider" with a strong background in business. But that argument is mightily outweighed by the desperate need for a working understanding of a game -- and industry -- that is close to unique in the world of sport.

South Africa's status in the global community has been maintained only by the performances of the national team for the past two years. It is a short-term situation that cannot last. The new man needs to have an empathy for the grassroots of the game as well as for its pinnacle. Richardson, a lawyer from the Eastern Cape with a long and distinguished international playing career and an equally successful administrative one, is almost too good to be true. If a CV of the ideal candidate was drawn up, it would be hard to believe his was real.

Albert Cotter, a slinging fast bowler who played Ashes cricket in Australia and England between 1903 and 1912, died as an Anzac in the Australian Lighthorse charge on Beersheba, Paige Taylor tells us in the Australian. Based on research by Perth historian Andrew Sproul, the article says his death was never explained, even to his family.

"It seemed strange to me that so little was known about him, and that his death attracted so little attention," said Sproul, who is in Cotter's home town of Sydney this week to launch the book he researched with NSW lawyer Max Bonnell; Tibby Cotter: Fast Bowler, Larrikin, ANZAC ... Sproul believes the circumstances of Cotter's death were one of the reasons it was glossed over at the time and later. "We now believe he was shot by a Turk who had surrendered but had not been checked for weapons," he said.

As much as possible in an era before television or internet, Cotter was a celebrity, His face was on cigarette cards and in newspapers throughout the British Empire. He changed the game of cricket forever as the first bowler to use the bouncer as a regular intimidatory weapon and the first to bowl to a slips cordon. Cotter's bowling style was like Jeff Thomson's. Cotter's strike rate is equal to Glenn McGrath and Dennis Lillee.

The ability to successfully negotiate a 90mph delivery separates a good batsman from lesser mortals. Few sports can match cricket's need for super-fast, unconscious reaction. The Economist looks at the reflexes required by a batsman to counter fast bowling.

Whether you are Virender Sehwag or a village-green clubber, it will take you around 200 milliseconds to react to the ball. The best batsmen are set apart by what happens in the next 200 milliseconds, which the book calls the preparation stage. This means deciding on the shot, moving into the correct position and swinging the bat. (The third stage, hitting the ball, accounts for the last 100 milliseconds.) And here the margin between us and them is miniscule.

Padmakar Shivalkar was a talented left-arm slow bowler who played first-class cricket for Mumbai but never found a way to the national side. Unfortunately for him, he played his cricket at the same time when Bishen Singh Bedi was India's lead spinner and selectors never considered playing both. Makarand Waingankar in The Times of India looks back at Shivalkar's accidental entry into the world of cricket.

Fate was cruel to this man. It took him to a certain distance, but not to the next level. Paddy was stuck in transition. Life always kept him in the queue and at the end of it, brutally conveyed that his wait had been useless. He never got to play for India, despite claiming 589 first-class wickets at an average of 19.69. Of what use was his talent? It didn't fetch him contentment. It didn't get him happiness.

Mark Ramprakash tells the Daily Telegraph's Nick Hoult that the batting conditions in England now are the worst he has faced in 25 years as a professional, and that the game’s administrators are devaluing the County Championship.

"The pitches are doing plenty throughout the game. It has been very difficult and it is more about trying to bat a very aggressive way whenever possible. I don’t feel that is proper batting. I feel proper batting is treating the ball on its merits."

While doubts are being raised about the popularity of IPL or the alleged decline in TV ratings, Lalit Modi in an interview to Firstpost says that the IPL model is still viable, but will need constant evaluation.

You only need to re-invent something if it’s broken and, whatever people might be thinking, the IPL isn’t broken. But what any event needs is constant evaluation to ensure it doesn’t go stale and the IPL is no different in that regard. When we set up the IPL, one of the fundamental criteria was to be innovative on an ongoing basis and people should always be looking at new, exciting ways to package this prized asset. Show business and glamour are definitely part of the package but at the end of the day it’s about cricket and some of the finishes we’ve seen already in IPL5 prove that the IPL is alive and well! The secret for the future, is to use that strength as the cornerstone of ongoing development to maintain its long term health.

Amul butter's cartoon ads, with their witty takes on current events, are among the longest-running ad campaigns in history. MxM India has a selection of some of their best ads based on the IPL.

Jesse Ryder’s decision to travel to the IPL with a clinical psychologist shows the kind of pressure that’s dogging cricketers, says Sriram Veera in the Mumbai Mirror. And, he says, it's not a new story: even New Zealand legend Richard Hadlee, had for one moment, considered taking his own life.

This was in the ’80s, when the Kiwi legend was at his peak. He suffered from depression, and the man who was so used to terrorising batsmen, found himself dealing with heart palpitations, dizzy spells and severe headaches. “(There was) total negativity to everything and little things became major...a dead fly on the floor and you have to start picking it up and put it in the rubbish bin,” Hadlee said. “I had no desire or strength to train or run a lap of the park. I was mentally and physically exhausted." It was at this point that Hadlee contemplated suicide. “It was a fleeting thought ... (but) it was something that crossed (my) mind."

Hadlee’s battles against the Black Dog, as Winston Churchill referred to the illness, is evidence that mental health issues have plagued cricketers for a while, though it’s only now, slowly, that the stigma attached to such revelations are starting to dissipate.

That Jamaica won its fifth consecutive four-day title, this time without stars like Chris Gayle and Andre Russell, is testament to the tenacity of the captain and support staff. However, while the success should be toasted, there are still concerns over the standard of the domestic game, writes Hartley Anderson in Jamaica Observer.

In identifying the winning formulae on the field of play, Lambert, who obviously stands apart as the best skipper in the region, is an excellent starting point. As has previously been stated in this space, the burly all-rounder possesses a mature cricketing brain way beyond his years and is a direct throwback to Tucker, who was such an outstanding leader at all levels in the region.

As a breakaway from the norm, two IPL franchises, Pune Warriors and Kolkata Knight Riders, have started featuring cheerleaders in Indian attire, showcasing the local culture. It also keeps the moral police quiet and takes the sensibilities of the Indian viewers into account. Opinions are divided. Shamik Bag in BBC looks at how cheerleading has changed in the IPL since 2008.

From pizza ingredients, music and fashion to automobile engineering, Indian tastes, ethics, political compulsions and needs have gradually been added to the product mix by multinationals. By all indications, even cheerleading at the IPL is no exception.

With the Indian Premier League now in its third week, the Twenty20 versus Test cricket debate continues to rage on. While some pay little attention to the shorter format, there are others who consider the five-day game passé. Dileep Premachandran, weighs the arguments from both sides in The Sunday Guardian, he says, whether it’s Tests, ODIs, T20 or gully cricket. The special players recognise that the basics don't change.

Virat Kohli is the Indian face of Royal Challengers Bangalore, and they certainly don't pay him peanuts. But the riches and fame haven't dimmed his desire an iota when it comes to playing for India. In the final analysis, it's all about that one word – desire. If Pandey doesn't make it, it'll be because he just doesn't want it as badly as Kohli does. As for Kohli, he'd be a star regardless of whether he plays Tests, ODIs, T20 or gully cricket. The special players recognise that the basics don't change.

Sourav Ganguly led Pune Warriors to a win over Delhi Daredevils with an all-round performance. But the image that will stay in the memory of his fans was his celebratory sprint. Avijit Ghosh in The Times of India writes about why Ganguly generates a range of emotions among cricket followers.

A lot of people make that mistake. Ganguly isn't a regional icon; he is a national hero. No other cricketer, barring Tendulkar, gets such positive reception nationwide. And there are reasons for that. People love him for his leadership skills and for his unfailing self-belief. They love him for being a fighter and for wearing his emotion on his sleeves. No cricketer can create human drama like Ganguly. And it doesn't matter that his cricketing skills - the all-round show at Kotla notwithstanding -- are sharply on the wane.

Dilip Vengsarkar, the former India captain and former chairman of selectors, tells DNA's Derek Abraham that he sees shades of Rahul Dravid in Ajinkya Rahane. Vengsarkar also says that Rahane has been a finished product for a year now.

Given his talent, technique, temperament and range of shots, I think the No 3 position suits him best. He is extremely focussed, hard working and also modest — a quality missing in most players these days.

After a difficult winter, questions have been raised about Andrew Strauss' batting form. Graeme Swann, though, has come out in support of his captain. He talks to Steve James in The Telegraph about Strauss' value in the team.

“I’d have seen it as an issue only in a very black and white point of view,” he says, “As in if a football team loses five on the trot and it’s the manager who gets the boot and the players don’t get anything said against them. I’d have said: ‘Let’s sit down and look at those five Tests and ask at what point was his captaincy a glaring issue?"

Jamaica won the Regional 4-day competition in West Indies for a record fifth consecutive time. The Jamaicans have gone one better than the Barbados team in the 1970s, which had won four straight titles and shared a fifth one. However, Tony Becca in The Gleaner says that the overall quality of cricket has been low.

In 1980 West Indies was strong, the West Indies team was the best in the world, the regional tournament was good, one of the best in the world in terms of quality, and Barbados were champions of a strong West Indies.

In 2012, although it is looking up, West Indies cricket is below expectations, the regional tournament is weak, one of the weakest in the world, and Jamaica are champions of a disappointing West Indies.

South Africa born New Zealand fast-bowler Neil Wagner has generated considerable interest in New Zealand through his performances in first-class cricket. Now, as he becomes eligible to represent New Zealand, Dylan Cleaver in The New Zealand Herald previews his imminent call up to the national side.

He remains a Plunket Shield glutton, leading the wicket-taking charts by a mile in the past two seasons. Overall, his numbers are very good, with more than 230 wickets at close to 23.5 runs each.

But if eyewitness reports of reduced pace are true and the tailing off is not by design, then you have to wonder if his left shoulder has lost a bit of pop. If so, he might find the gulf between first-class and test cricket as vast as everyone else does.

From India's World Cup glory to his fight against cancer and the IPL, Yuvraj Singh tells all in an interview with Shirin Sadikot for ipl20.com.

"The World Cup was the highest high of my career. And from there to plunge into the lowest phase of life, it was very hard to digest. At first, I didn’t believe it was happening and I was not ready to accept it. It took a while for the feeling of winning the World Cup to sink in. And then to be diagnosed with cancer was very difficult to digest. It took me close to two months to get to terms with the fact and understand what actually was happening to me."

Ian Bell is back in action this week for Warwickshire after a difficult winter for England where he struggled against Pakistan and Sri Lanka. He made just a single half-century in five Tests and lost his place in the one-day team, following a 2011 where he scored runs for fun in the longer format. However, rather than being too down he believes he still has many good years ahead of him at the top level as he tells Paul Bolton in the Daily Telegraph.

You look at Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke. They both struggled for 12 to 16 months, then all of a sudden they came out of that and got double hundreds and triple hundreds.

Two weeks into IPL, The Alternative Cricket Almanack has prepared a tongue-in-cheek assessment of each team's performance so far and a roadmap for success.

So, you’ve spent anywhere up to $333m in buying your franchise, nearly $10m assembling a handful of world-class players, and you’ve dusted down the mantelpiece in anticipation of showing off your brand new, shiny Kingfisher Fair Play Award. Now, just sit back for eight weeks, and hope that everything clicks into place, whilst you console Preity Zinta as she holds back the tears every time a young Kings XI bowler gets hit for six. Sounds great, right? In theory, yes. You’ve done the groundwork, and it’s too late to entirely overhaul any struggling personnel.

Staleness and complacency can creep into sides, as and poor tactics and strategy will inevitably be the bane of your side. With that in mind, out of the goodness of my own heart, we have devised report cards for each team – please note that grades are not just based on overall performances, but also based on how each side is faring with their available resources.

In the National, Osman Samiuddin writes that only the PCB and the Bangladesh board president Mustafa Kamal will benefit from the proposed Bangladesh tour of Pakistan.

Mustafa Kamal, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) chairman, has often dangled the prospect of a visit to Pakistan to curry favour, amounting until now to a string of broken promises.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has long been wary. But their need for international cricket to resume in Pakistan has compelled them into the agreement whereby both boards nominate Kamal for the ICC vice-presidency and eventual presidency (it is their turn under the ICC's current rotational system of presidential appointment in which two boards put up a joint candidate). In turn, Kamal sends Bangladesh for a tour.

The BCCI's benefit scheme for former players from the proceeds of the IPL play-off matches will exclude several cricketers due to the eligibility criteria of having played at least 75 first-class games, says Makarand Waingankar in the Hindu. He writes that the board should also look at the monetary needs of umpires and ground staff.

There are players like M. Balan Pandit of Kerala. In 24 years of playing first class cricket, Pandit played only 46 matches. From 1946 till 1958, he played in the Ranji knockout format. Not having played 75 first class matches, such players do not stand to gain anything from this scheme and they are more than 80 years old.

Munir Hussain, the pioneer of Urdu cricket commentary in Pakistan, talks to the Dawn's Shazia Hasan about how the idea developed and panned out more than four decades ago.

Cricket commentary on radio and TV was always done in the English language in Pakistan until 43 years ago when the airwaves carried a new voice treating listeners and viewers to cricket commentary in Urdu. The voice behind the microphone may have sounded alien initially but it wasn’t long before Munir Hussain became a household name among the lovers of the gentlemen’s sport here.

“We used to hear hockey and football match commentary in Urdu but for cricket the commentary was always done in English. Still I took the idea of doing cricket commentary in our national language to the then General Manager PTV Aslam Azhar who along with his producers, including brothers Athar Viqar Azeem and Akhtar Waqar Azeem, decided to take my test,” remembers the pioneer [Munir]. “I had been practicing for it for a long time but they rejected me initially ... "

It’s sweaty, the timings are inconvenient, the teams have hardly any local players, but every IPL match sees huge crowds and wildly extrovert behaviour, says Dilip Bobb in the Indian Express, and proceeds to explore why that is.

It’s [also] obviously nothing to do with the extra attractions like cheerleaders or accompanying band-baaja; the novelty has worn off and some cheerleaders are even sporting saris this time around. The fan frenzy, including wearing team shirts, waving flags, screaming hysterically and performing high-fives with total strangers, is so out of proportion to local or even state representation that it clearly points to something deeper and more psychological.

Bangladesh's decision to tour Pakistan and to end its three-year exile from hosting international matches may be welcomed by Pakistani fans, players and politicians. Al-Amin does a reality check in Daily Star. He says that despite security assurances from the highest quarters, a recent spate of terrorist attacks shows Pakistan is still not a safe place to play cricket.

Is Pakistan now safe for a cricket team to tour? Kamal is convinced and so is the highest authority of Bangladesh. But ask anybody else or even a Pakistani and he will whisper in your ears, "Peace must return to Pakistan before cricket does".

In an editorial in the online edition of the New Age, the writer says that the decision to send the Bangladesh team to Pakistan should have been taken by top officials of the board in various capacities, security experts and the Bangladesh government itself.

There is no doubting that no one understands the common cricketer's mind, heart, soul, and insecurities as well as Sourav Ganguly, says Bikash Singh on Yahoo Cricket.

When you consider all the issues the Pune Warriors had to go through in the run up to the [2012] IPL — the late entry, the fact that influential teams such as Mumbai and Chennai had been able to corral all the players they wanted, the unfortunate loss of Yuvraj Singh, the threatened Sahara pull out of sponsorship of the national team and with it, uncertainty over the fate of the Warriors — it is remarkable what he has achieved. Within a short period of time, he has managed to instill confidence and combativeness into his unit, and that is fundamental to success.

Boria Majumdar, in Open, tells us how the BCCI went from paying Rs 5 lakh for matches played in India to be telecast, to being paid Rs 3,851 crore by broadcasters for the rights to Indian cricket.

In under 20 years, cricket has become one of India’s most lucrative businesses. This dramatic transformation is recorded here in the voices of the men who played starring roles in either promoting the cause or standing in its way. This oral history is constructed by piecing together excerpts from interviews these men have granted me over the years and from primary documents and letters written by them ...

George Bailey, Australia's Twenty20 captain, says in his blog that it's a passion for the game that drives the success of players like Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke.

It's the thirst for knowledge, competition and never ending search to fill the unbridled passion these guys have for the game of cricket. That's what makes them the legends of cricket we know them as - it’s really what separates anyone in their chosen field from good to exceptional. Passion.

I am often asked what it's like having Ricky Ponting come back and play for Tassie; Does he train harder? Does he embrace the team? Does he fit in? The first thing that always strikes me with Punter has been not how hard he trains (though I will get to that) but how excited he is. About training. Playing. Picking up your cricket bat.

Pakistan is hosting Bangladesh for a couple of limited overs game at the end of this month. The return of international cricket in Pakistan has been welcomed by the PCB and the players alike while the need for adequate security arrangements has been stressed. However, Hassan Cheema in The Dawn argues if it is really worth the risk.

Surely, the proposals for international teams and players to tour Pakistan should come when we have reached a semblance of normalcy and peace. Instead we have decided to assume our existing state as normalcy. What do we have to gain from a tour? An improvement in the image of the country? For the sake of what? A probable attack and the loss of lives for guests of this country? We are told that they’ll be provided maximum security: this, a country which couldn’t protect its most popular leader and the governor of the largest province (in addition to many other parliamentarians and mere plebs whose lives apparently count for less) in the past five years alone. The reluctance of many to visit Pakistan may have something to do with how much they value their lives – rather than a vast conspiracy by the BCCI.

Ajinkya Rahane's century in the IPL was thrilling to watch, but the batsman should remember that success in the IPL is fickle and should not believe that this innings is a passport to the Indian team, writes Ashish Magotra in First Post.

T Suman, Manpreet Gony, Siddharth Trivedi, Kamran Khan, Paul Valthaty and others have found the going outside the hyped confines of the IPL quite difficult to handle. And that is why Rahane should use the IPL and not let the IPL use him. He must use this tournament to generate hype, to garner the attention of the selectors and then make the most of the chances he gets for India. The IPL is but a step in the ladder that will get him to a regular spot in the Indian team.

The Beatles are a prominent presence in Osman Samiuddin's take in the National on James Anderson's development into a top fast bowler.

... the real sign of how much Anderson has evolved was this winter just gone in the UAE and Sri Lanka. It is not that fast bowlers do not, or cannot, prosper here. Eighteen wickets in five Tests, four of which were lost, should not mask the fact that Anderson was the best fast bowler through the two series.

Here was an athlete in a beautiful, rare space in his career, at its absolute peak, in control, secure in his mind, grooved technically, physically fit: just perfectly and delicately synched.

In his blog on Cricketnext, Gaurav Kalra stoutly defends Twenty20 from those who consider it hit-and-giggle cricket.

A "spell" or an "innings" is nothing but a passage of play. In cricket lexicon we compartmentalize these to be of greater value in longer formats. Perhaps that is so. But T20 is often a window, a snapshot to the possibilities that this sport can produce. The romantics chase a story line in Test matches. And while those are compelling, little passages of play in a T20 game can be just as rewarding. Unless the premise precedes the argument and a hypothesis must be established whatever the evidence.

The West Indies is the only nation in Test cricket that currently finds itself unable to place its best team on the field of play. In the Barbados Advocate, Professor Sir Hilary Beckles asks why the West Indians in particular pick cash over country while it's less than acceptable in other countries like Australia.

We love cricket and cricketers, and wish the West Indian legacy of excellence restored and respected. In 1995 the intellectually brilliant Michael Manley, then too ill to write another classic work, summoned me to Jamaica to discuss the future of West Indies cricket. He saw the tsunami coming! He insisted that I write about the trends discussed. I had no choice. He was insistent. And I did. Out came a book in 1998: “The Development of West Indies Cricket: The Age of Globalisation”. At the time there was no 20-20; no IPL; no Big Bash; no rejection of country for cash! But we saw it coming! We ran with words into the street to warn the nation. No one listened! It was a classic Noah moment. Then the rain came.

With the news of Bangladesh confirming their tour of Pakistan, more specifically Lahore, Saleem Khaliq in The Express Tribune asks whether the country really is ready to starting hosting a big series, with news of unrest in Karachi over the last few weeks.

The solution is to start low — invite smaller teams like Lashings who seem to be eager to come here provided there is good money and security involved. It’s not that the Pakistan team is being isolated from world cricket like the South Africans were. We’re still playing. And we need to continue playing. If the series goes ahead without any glitches, the proposed Pakistan Premier League can then be the next step in restoring teams’ tour of the country.

Kevin Pietersen's comments on England's lack of enthusiasm in the IPL is perhaps wrongly mistaken as "jealousy". In the Guardian, Vic Marks writes that Pietersen is missing some of his team-mates in the IPL, but despite Pietersen's protestations there is no particular reason why the English public should take too much notice of the IPL over here. But nor should they be too snooty about it.

The IPL is the place to be. It has become an irresistible magnet and an incentive for any young batsman to learn to play a few shots. For the modern cricketer it is the equivalent of Laurence Olivier appearing in Friends: the audience is massive, so too the remuneration even if this is not the ideal stage on which to display a true maestro's talents.

Sachin Tendulkar does not slow down when approaching a 100, nor does India lose when he does well, says the Setpiecegoal blog, backed up by exhaustive statistical evidence.

Siddhartha Vaidyanathan, in his blog, presents a counter - and a counter to the counter - to Mukul Kesevan's article on Tendulkar, 'How not to close a great career'.

I find it amazing how people nit-pick when it comes to SRT’s apparent slow-scoring that affects the team. First, nobody ever cares to see how long he took from 40 to 50 or 70 to 80. They will always zero in on his strike-rate from 90 to 100.

Aleem Dar, the ICC elite umpire, endorses technology as it helps in correcting mistakes made by umpires. Dar says that umpires are human, and they can make mistakes. But it is more important to concentrate on the next delivery and not be affected by it. In an interview to PakPassion.net, he talks about everything umpiring - technology, travel, development of quality umpires - and lighter moments in cricket.

Wisden Cricketers' Almanack has been published every year since 1864 and Howard Jackson in The Independent celebrates the 149th edition by comparing the book with great works of fiction.

To this degree Wisden is essentially a commemoration of success, unlike great novels which are commemorations of failure. But I would still be inclined to put Wisden on my fiction shelves, so fantastical, like a tale from Kafka or Borges, is its illusory narrative of order.

West Indies took a first innings lead against Australia in the Barbados Test and attracted the attention of cricket lovers around the world. Alan Tyers in The Telegraph expresses his sadness at the current state of West Indies cricket and wishes to see more competition from cricket's erstwhile tormentors.

Even still, say many of their long-suffering admirers abroad, the West Indies had at least competed for three days. And they had been sporadically impressive during the two recent Test series against India. In last month’s one-day internationals against Australia, the West Indies drew, and even drew a big crowd to one match, as well as sharing the two Twenty20s.

It is often said that world cricket needs the West Indies. But when even West Indian cricketers do not need the West Indies, like the Indian Premier League’s Bravos, Gayles and Pollards, it is no surprise that a battling (or, at least, skirmishing) defeat is considered no disgrace for Darren Sammy’s men.

Twenty20 leagues have rendered financial security on cricketing careers across the world. But in an age where talent didn't necessarily transform to fortune, a young Indian wicket keeper burst to the scene only to disappear soon. Prem Panicker talks to Sadanand Vishwanath on his life and struggles in Yahoo.

Back in 1985, Sadanand Vishwanath was 23, with limitless talent, ditto potential. And then it all disappeared, down a bottle and up his nose — he would only play 14 more one-dayers and three Tests after that magical day.

Now on the cusp of 50, Sada came visiting on the day earlier this week when Indonesia shook and India trembled; oblivious to it all, he looked back on his life with a certain calm resignation. “Fame is heady,” he said. “It is so sudden, it catches you unprepared. It is intoxicating, it gets to your head and messes with it.”

Alan Igglesden, the former England and Kent seamer, was first diagnosed with a brain tumour in 1999. He seemed to have won the battle with the cricket-ball sized tumour, but in 2009 the tumour began to grow again and Igglesden had to undergo a major brain operation. Yorkshire Cricket has his story.

Much of the attention in the IPL is focussed on batsmen and big hits, but in the match against Mumbai Indians on Monday, Dale Steyn's magical spell for Deccan Chargers put some of the spotlight on the bowling (though Rohit Sharma's last-ball six ended up taking the headlines.) On Yahoo Akshay Iyer analyses Steyn's bowling.

Steyn started with a good length delivery; his next ball was outside the off stump; the third was a slower delivery that not only deceived Levi but narrowly missed the off stump; he followed this up with an excellent bouncer; the fifth ball was a short delivery and the last delivery was the sucker punch as a swinging yorker sent Levi's middle stump tumbling over. This is an over that can be watched over and over for its sheer brilliance in setting up a batsman for his dismissal, and should be made a must-watch not only for all aspiring fast bowlers, but also for opposition batsmen.

Ian Bell, writing in the Independent, says after a couple of very good years with very few failures, the series against Pakistan and Sri Lanka had been a real struggle for him.

I know that things haven't gone my way, but I can honestly say that I haven't lost any confidence in my ability to do well for England. I've developed so much as a player over the last two or three years and last summer I got to No 3 in the ICC's batting rankings. It has been disappointing, but it is certainly not due to my taking my foot off the pedal.

I still believe I'm a good player of spin and I've got some strengths in that department which I've proved over a period of time, and I will still come out and play the spinners exactly as I have always done. I will still look to come down the pitch and hit them over the top, and I will still look to sweep against them.