Scyld Berry finds that the itinerary outlined by the Indian board for England's tour in March has "confirmed the widespread view of cricket's most eccentric organisation".

Main venues where large crowds would be guaranteed and thousands of England supporters could be accommodated - like Madras, Bangalore, Delhi and Kolkata - are conspicuously absent from the schedule of three Tests and seven one-day internationals.

Instead, Ahmedabad and Nagpur have been selected.

Both are renowned for not being on the tourist route, and have only one hotel each that approaches international standard ... the board justified the venues by saying that they had a policy of rotation and that various associations take it in turns to stage home Test matches. The reality is that the board are overwhelmed by political squabbles and lawsuits.

And in the Times, Christopher Martin-Jenkins is equally unimpressed:

At best, the tour itinerary being proposed for the second half of England’s winter cricket is indicative of bungling by the Indian Cricket Board and weakness on the part of the ECB. At worst, it is evidence of a calculated insult to English cricket.

Reverse swing, mints, Freddie, KP, dodgy substitute fielders? If you, as many others, thought any of the above factors decided the Ashes then, well, you'd be wrong. For, as (unsurprisingly perhaps), reports from New Zealand gleefully suggest, Ricky Ponting thinks Billy Bowden had a part to play as well.

It’s first-Test week and The Australian carries a page of reports including an interview with Matthew Hayden and an analysis of Brett Lee’s career. After saying he enjoyed the Ashes challenge, Hayden offers Andrew Ramsey some batting philosophy: “form is a myth, it’s dealing with information gathered in hindsight.” Read the full musings here.

Malcolm Conn ploughs through the statistics to discover the Gabba is the last place Brett Lee took a five-wicket haul, against New Zealand four years ago.

Bob Woolmer has revitalised Pakistan - but how they will do in the forthcoming series is still impossible to predict, writes Osman Samiuddin

All is going swimmingly in England. Cricket is enjoying a surge in popularity and kids are flocking to play the game. But, as Stephen Brenkley reports, a change in the rules as to who can coach means that those children might be turned away as there will be no-one to teach them.

It is feared that although the new structure will lead to better allround coaches, the courses' intensity will lead to fewer people wishing to take them. A bigger problem than a short-term lack of new coaches might be a long-term lack of cash from the Government.

Was Sourav Ganguly's exclusion a right thing to do? Nirmal Shekar, in The Hindu, thinks so but feels that Ganguly's era shouldn't be evaluated merely on the basis of its vicious final flicker.

Yes, he overstayed his welcome. Yes, his form was horrendous for the most part of the last two seasons. Yes, his skills as a batsmen are hardly comparable to the gifts possessed by Sachin Tendulkar or Dravid ... But, NO, Ganguly doesn't deserve to be despised. Internet hate campaigns directed at the former captain point to the darkness in their authors' soul rather than diminish anything that Ganguly has accomplished, either as leader of men or as a batsman.

Meanwhile R Kaushik writes, in the Deccan Herald, that a glittering one-day career seems to have come to a standstill as Indian cricket pushes for enthusiastic youngsters.

Without the fizz of Chris Cairns, New Zealand lack the fear factor, says Dylan Cleaver in the New Zealand Herald.

Mark Richardson adds that New Zealand's current tour is going the same way as their trip back in 2000.

Peter Roebuck writes that Ricky Ponting, after a bright start as leader, has endured a period of decline.

... hesitancy has been detected in Ponting's captaincy. He has been making strange noises about collaboration and keeping his players and board happy. A cockatoo might as well have started squarking like a kookaburra.

Also check out Chloe Saltau's piece on Shivnarine Chanderpaul, where she lists out the challenges facing the West Indian captain.

As Sourav Ganguly prepares for time in the sidelines, Kunal Pradhan asks if it's the end of the road for the most fascinating sportsman of this era?

Lokendra Pratap Sahi chats with Rahul Dravid on his latest role as Indian captain, the Super Series, and more.

Alex Loudon, the England offspinner, travels to Pakistan with a secret weapon - the doosra which he learnt from the son of a famous Indian pop star. Read Stephen Bishop's article to find out more.

The official ECB line is that Andrew Flintoff did not fly to Pakistan with the rest of the England squad as he was grabbing a few days rest after the exertions of the Super Series. But on Thursday he was to be found dashing all over London promoting his new book, Being Freddie.

In between he found time to chat to the pursuing media pack about homesickness and the price of fame. Read about his day in The Guardian and The Independent.

The Age’s impressive coverage throws up two more interesting stories today, the first about Brad Hodge and his omission from the Test squad, and the second detailing allegations of ball tampering in a state Second XI match.

It is not only his batting, which at its languid best can make Marcus Trescothick's footwork seem like a qualification for a starring role in Riverdance, but the whole way he approaches being in the game's top echelon. He is the absolute antithesis to the gym culture into which everyone must now buy: burp rather than beep test.

He is generally impassive, immovable if given out lbw (in one Test we saw the game restart before he had crossed the boundary rope), hates fielding with a passion, has been responsible for more cockups between the wickets than anyone else in cricket history and, with the coach Bob Woolmer, currently forms perhaps the most corpulent management team seen since Warwick Armstrong ran the Australian side on his own.

Harsha Bhogle celebrates Sachin Tendulkar's return:

He snapped out of his trance, rediscovered himself and saw he was 32, not 45, younger than he was before

After being voted as the batsman of the year last season, Hamish Marshall's form has gone from bad to worse. Can he turn it all around in the ongoing ODI series against South Africa? Richard Boock writes on the challenges he faces.

Rod Marsh is worried about the depth of Australia’s pace-bowling stocks, but if Mitchell Johnson, the left-arm fast man, makes it the selectors will have one problem solved. The Age’s Chloe Saltau takes a look at Queensland’s exciting prospect.

Cricinfo’s report of Marsh’s comments is here.

In Zimbabwe, the truth is not always welcome. Zimbabwe Cricket yesterday used the pro-government Herald to denounce Cricinfo’s recent reporting as being biased.

The website’s uses a correspondent who uses a pseudonym Stephen Price who has clearly taken sides with those who are rebelling against the board’s authority.

What the article, a thinly-disguised plant by the board, fails to grasp is that reporting the truth is not taking sides. It also fails to deny that the meeting and vote of no confidence referred to took place. Zimbabwe’s stakeholders are fed up with the management, and no end of media manipulation can hide that fact. This is the paper that ignored the defeats by Kenya, and neglected to mention any of the anti-board incidents which have occured in recent months.

And why does our man in Harare use a pseudonym? Because in Zimbabwe, journalists who oppose authority have an unfortunate record of being singled out for persecution. The pseudonym is not cowardice so much as self preservation.

Franz Cronje, Hansie's elder brother, has said a film is to be made of the former South African captain:

"We started on the script more than a year ago and a lot of work has been put into it..."

His book has been flying off the shelves in South Africa.

An excellent, revealing and mostly amusing account of Simon Hughes' last few days as Channel 4's "Analyst," a position he had occupied since Channel 4 begun their coverage of cricket in Britain in 1999:

Go out for dinner with friends including Nasser Hussain, whose contribution at the outset of this England revival should not be forgotten. Mind you, I'm not going to tell him that, since he's in an argumentative mood and keeps his baseball cap on throughout the meal.

Full account at the Daily Telegraph

He's stumped the veterans, blooded untried stags. What is the Chappell XI vision about and will it work for India, asks G Rajaraman.

With the Australian team for the first Test set to be announced on Thursday morning the Sydney Morning Herald’s Trevor Marshallsea takes a look at the prospects of Stuart MacGill getting a start at the Gabba. He suspects it won’t happen.

A former national player has also been selected to return to his state team in an official capacity for the first time in seven years. Dean Jones, reports The Age, will be back in Victoria’s squad as a guest speaker.

Quality allrounders are difficult to keep quiet and Shane Watson has been gaining plenty of attention this month. Today he says in The Age that Bennett King, the West Indies coach, has been the biggest influence of his career after rebuilding his technique following stress fractures.

Watson also displays the desire to grow into Andrew Flintoff’s bulky shoes and adds another aim in the Herald Sun when he says he wants to become Australia’s king of reverse-swing.

Martin Blake of The Age is confident Australia’s future is bright after watching Daniel Cullen, the country’s young slow-bowling hope. “The good news is that he can seriously bowl. Cullen didn't even take a wicket in the ING Cup match against NSW at Bankstown on Sunday, which is scarcely a recommendation. But it's the shape of his bowling and the reaction of the Blues' batsmen that was noticeable.”

A Cricket Australia contract holder, Cullen's profile is here.

Simon Jones won't be touring with England until next year's India trip, but he's not about to let the grass grow under his feet. As the new face of Jaeger, he's got a burgeoning modelling career to think about.

Geoffrey Dean reports on how Grenada has battled to recover from the destruction inflicted by Hurricane Ivan ...

The once billiard table-smooth playing area is now a bumpy field, grass knee-high in most places, with bushes and plants growing even taller

But now the Chinese are helping ensure that the National Stadium is ready for the World Cup ...

As Zimbabwe cricket seems hell-bent on self-destruction, even the local media, who operate under strict controls, have had enough. In the Zimbabwe Independent, Darlington Majonga highlighted the frustrations of cricket lovers:

Whereas Zimbabwe's pride has been shredded on the field of play, it's the off-field politics that threaten the future of the game ... the future of Zimbabwe's game is under siege from smart hooliganism. People whose thinly veiled agenda is to sate their egos at the expense of the game have sabotaged Zimbabwe's cricket.

Steve Waugh’s autobiography was launched on Sunday and his yarns are already smothering tables throughout the country. In The Australian there are tales of mints, his brother Mark and sledging Brian Lara while in the Sydney Morning Herald he hopes Out of My Control is the best sports book ever written.

Mints are also popular in The Courier-Mail’s report where the waft of marijuana gets a mention following a Sheffield Shield win in the mid-1980s. Cricinfo’s news coverage of the book is here while Waugh’s profile shows his greatness in words and numbers.

Peter Roebuck, the Sydney Morning Herald columnist, spends a day out at Bankstown in Sydney’s western suburbs looking at South Australia’s Jason Gillespie. “Gillespie's slowing is a reminder of the intolerance of sport. A field is an examination room for athletes. Even a man with hundreds of Test scalps to his name is only as good as his last performance. Naturally Gillespie feels he can reverse his slide.”

England embark on their tour of Pakistan on Wednesday. Michael Atherton, who played on the previous trip in 2000-01 and now writes for The Sunday Telegraph, describes what awaits the squad in the coming months.

I suppose it was inevitable. "Reality TV" has found its way into cricket, with the news that the Indian TV station, Channel7, is launching Scorpio Speedster, "a nationwide talent-hunt for India’s fastest bowler." More info here.

Matthew Hoggard reveals the secret to a successful marriage, and the contents of his kit bag, as he prepares for his trip to Pakistan with England:

Another bag contains the essentials for life lived out of a suitcase: the DVDs, the PlayStation and the books. I’ve also sneaked in a few little home comforts and nibbles that could come in handy, such as chocolate, Pot Noodles and Super Noodles, the sort of things you can rustle up in a minute in your hotel room and remind you of home at the same time. These little extras can help the time to fly by while you’re away.

And he's also a fan of the legendary sitcom Only Fools and Horses, which makes us wonder: which character would he be? Read the full article at The Times

Harold Larwood’s main weapon of the Bodyline tour was the ball, but a bat he used in the infamous 1932-33 series has sold at auction in England for £5200. See Larwood's profile here and check out his Test statistics.

Dealing with stroppy twelfth men and prima-donnas at the breakfast table, and putting up with Michael Vaughan hanging around with his kit-bag, just in case. It's all part of the job of Graeme Smith, Super Series captain.

West Indies arrive in Australia next week for three Tests and the tour previews are already starting. Apparently fitness is an early concern and the The Courier-Mail reports a local trainer has been appointed to get them in shape.

Brian Lara is mentioned as preferring skills work to push-ups and he gets top spot in Cricinfo’s list of the most celebrated Test losers.

Ricky Ponting's wild outburst at Trent Bridge created something rare - a Duncan Fletcher smile. "He didn't smile back," Fletcher writes in The Guardian. "He was in a terrible temper for some reason."

Simon Hattenstone feels that the World XI that took on Australia were the cricketing equivalent of The Beatles minus Ringo Starr.

The Super Series was largely about making money off the field … but if the Australians appeared to have an extra spring in their step on it, perhaps Gideon Haigh in the Guardian has identified the reason why:

The Australians received a £14,200 match fee and £32,450 each as prize money. Added to his one-day booty, Ricky Ponting's fortnight earned him £75,670. The World's players had to scrape by on their match fee, also £14,200.

Lokendra Pratap Sahi chats with John Buchanan on the Ashes defeat, Super series, Shane Warne and more.

Waleed Aly writes of a Test that became a contest of no consequence.

The conventional explanation for their [World XI's] insipid exhibition has had much to do with players who are used to being the axis of their side having to learn new roles in a team of like axes.

Another must read: Peter Roebuck's analysis of Australia's dominance in the Super Test.

Peter Badel talks to Shane Warne, Brian Lara and Andrew Flintoff about how they handle fame, and the pitfalls that come with it.

The debate about the Super Series and third umpires will rumble on for a while yet, but Mark Waugh has no doubts about either:

The Super Test concept doesn't especially grab me. The technology they're trying out doesn't have me convinced either. I'm not being a spoilsport, but I don't really know if we need either of them

Read his comments in the Sydney Morning Herald.

"In the midst of the technology imbroglio," writes Mike Coward, "Jacques Kallis has made a valiant stand for the old-fashioned values of this wonderfully old-fashioned game that is Test cricket."

(Link via email from Zainub)

Also check out Mukul Kesavan's take on the concept of the Super Series, which he feels is the "first step from corporeal to virtual cricket".

G Rajaraman analyses the signals that the national selectors have sent out while announcing the captain and the team to play Sri Lanka:

The message to Dravid is clear. The message to Ganguly is clearer: And the message to the rest of the squad is the clearest: Performance would count, not past reputation.

Peter Roebuck writes on a day when cricket showed its best and worst faces at the SCG. "On the bright side, the bowling was terrific," he says, before adding, "On the dark side, spectators charged a mint to enter the ground were not allowed to watch the replays shown to the third umpire and were also ill-served as the elite of the game left the field whenever the light deteriorated."

Samuel Barclay Beckett: playwright, Nobel Prize winner...and a gritty left-hand opening batsman © Getty Images

This year's Nobel Prize for Literature went to the playwright Harold Pinter. Only three playwrights working in English - George Bernard Shaw, Eugene O'Neill and Pinter's main influence, Samuel Beckett - had won the prize before him. And curiously (or not, depending on your point of view), like Beckett, Pinter has a love of cricket.

Beckett played two first-class games (check his player profile) for Dublin University against Northants. And while we've all known Pinter is a life-long cricket fan, Robert Winder reveals more in today's Guardian:

The game is not, however, a light-hearted social affair to him. He grew up awed by Len Hutton and co, and fell for cricket not as some raffish country house pursuit, but as a bold theatre of aggression. His cricket is not simply picturesque; it is Pinteresque, with glints of malevolence in its courtesies, steel beneath its smile.

This is not to say that his own approach is grim; merely that it is serious. He plays cricket as if it matters - so it does matter. It counts.

As if cricket wasn't already the sport of the Gods; it also creates Nobel Prize-winning writers!

The Royal Mail's commemorative Ashes stamps, released earlier this month, were launched by Ricky Ponting's cousin, Ben Adair, from Northern Ireland.

Ben is the grandson of widow Betty Moore (73), who lives in the Loopland Fold at Castlereagh, Belfast, and Oz skipper Ponting (30) is the son of Betty's niece Lorraine and her husband Graham Ponting, in Tasmania.

"His grandmother is my sister Jean, who emigrated to Oz under her maiden name of McConnell when she was 15, just as World War II was being declared," says Betty. "She married a Tom Campbell and she is now 79 and, like me, enjoyed the cricket during the summer.

"In fact, her son Greg Campbell - Ricky's uncle - was once an Australian Ashes cricketer too."

[Via Belfast Telegraph].

If there's anything you didn't know about Andrew Flintoff, read Simon Hattenstone's piece at The Guardian. You will no doubt be aware of most of it but there are some gems, not least from Bob Simpson:

Simpson says Flintoff was "pretty cuddly" at that time but he thinks the size thing has been overemphasised.

"He was a huge man, but he was no beast ... he moved beautifully."

An interesting article in The Age by Greg Baum highlights Australia's ageing problem:

The first problem is that the Test players almost never appear in the domestic competition. The 12 players who form the core of the national team played a total of 10 Pura Cup matches between them last season. Eight did not play at all. Some have not played for years. This must depress the quality of the competition. Shaun Tait dominated the Pura Cup last season, but looked far from Test ready when called up in the emergency in England. Cameron White was picked for the Super Series, but was trusted with only three overs in three matches.

England face similar problems, with many counties objecting to the strict restrictions imposed upon the players by Duncan Fletcher.

Russell Degnan writes of Test cricket's enduring appeal. It's worth a read, if only to reconfirm what we already knew...

The problem for people who don't understand cricket is that they really don't understand cricket. They see silly men dressed in white running around a field: characters speaking in pompous Victorian language. We see best laid plans, Shakespearean tragedy, heroism and psychological torment. Alas, 'tis their problem, nay ours.

(Via prolific emailer Zainub)

Australian male pride has been aroused by the news that Cathryn Fitzpatrick, women's cricket's fastest bowler, has been drafted in by John Buchanan to help the men's side prepare for the Super Test.

"I can't cop that," Terry Alderman said. "There are highly talented fast bowling coaches around the country who can't get jobs yet they get someone like that in."

And Dennis Lillee chipped in with tongue firmly in cheek:

"You never know ... if she paid attention to what I was saying, she might be able to add something of value."

Read the full story in the Age.

Harsha Bhogle writes in the Indian Express:

[N]obody [in the BCCI] is taking a hard decision about television rights as well. Most people in the board are businessmen and I would be interested in knowing if they would start looking for vendors ten days before their product is to be launched.

Meanwhile, IS Bindra, an interesting man with interesting thoughts, says that, in the absence of a decision, he will team up with the six other associations staging one-day games against Sri Lanka and award their own rights because they are losing too much money.

I hope that is an ultimatum, an attempt to precipitate a solution (and not a deeper plan!) for otherwise the players could well turn around and say that if the board makes a loss, or a smaller profit, they lose too. Can they then say that they will award their own rights since it is their talent that brings in the money in the first place?

When small decisions are glossed over, for whatever reason, they become major problems. And Indian cricket has major problems. In my first job, if I had taken 14 months to shortlist names for an ad film, I would have been sacked. Indeed, things would not have been allowed to go that far. In Indian cricket they have but I see the same faces around!

Indeed. But companies are accountable to their shareholders. Who is the BCCI accountable to?

As the ICC’s Super Test starts, the consensus in the media seems to be that only a dramatic match is likely to save what, despite the best efforts of the ICC’s marketing men, has generally been a very disappointing couple of weeks.

It is summed up in The Guardian, where Gideon Haigh says that Smith has six days to save the world.

What looked such an easy sell on the marketing men's whiteboard now faces a stern six days of interrogation. A fully-fledged Test match that will even count in official records should be a somewhat different matter, but the World XI will have done well if cricket devotees are still talking about the series in a fortnight's time … at least everyone will be relieved when the teams take the field today, for the ratio of press conferences to actual days of cricket is in urgent need of redress.

And in the Caribbean, the Trinidad & Tobago Express follows a similar line:

Rubbished as a bunch of over-paid, under-performing party-goers on an expensive holiday, the long-term viability of the Rest of the World XI and the Super Series are at stake. Officials of the ICC have attempted to put a brave face on the no-contest so far, but will surely be aware that their latest money-spinning concept could die a swift and unlamented death if the Test team, led by Graeme Smith, capitulates in anything like the manner of the disinterested rabble skippered by another South African, Shaun Pollock, in the artificial setting of the Telstra Dome.

But in the Melbourne Age, Peter Roebuck says that the Test won’t be as one-sided as the three ODIs:

Rust, carelessness, and burliness hindered all save the unsung at Telstra's notoriously chilly dome. Most of the visitors had about as much spark as a labrador after a three-course meal … [but] the weaknesses detected in the 50-over side, namely slow running between wickets, lazy fielding and feeble pace bowling, will not matter as much. A powerful batting order will have time to settle with a view to building the sort of innings each has played a dozen times in this company.

Sanjjeev Samyal speaks to Darren Berry, one-time understudy to Ian Healy, who is upset at the quality of wicketkeepers today. He says:

The name of the game is sacrifice glovemen for better batsmen — Andy Flower, [Adam] Gilchrist and Geraint Jones, who is terrible, — which is disappointing. Keeping has become a secondary option. Now, the selectors look at how many runs he can score.

Berry's advice to selectors everywhere:

Pick the best wicketkeeper and the best people to ask would be Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh, because those are the guys who are going to suffer.

Amid rumblings that those in high places are not amused that the Super Series has been given a lukewarm reception in the press, Mike Selvey's column in the Guardian will hardly help. He describes the World XI as:

A disparate bunch of talented individuals, thrown together for a series of exhibitions and a number of them appear to have gone along just for the ride and the loot.

And in case those who run the game weren't listening, he signs off as follows:

It is a lesson, though, to the ICC, whose brainchild these super-mismatches were. Great players do not necessarily a great team make. It is why the Who were a supreme band and Blind Faith were not.

Simon Briggs in the Daily Telegraph also fails to be convinced, describing the side as "a dispirited and apparently apathetic group" and warning that the World XI concept is facing a swift end unless something dramatic happens at the SCG:

The funny thing about 1970s revivals is that they never seem to catch on. Fondue sets, prog rock, Rest of the World cricket teams: fans of retro chic soon realise that they died out for a reason. And unless Andrew Flintoff or Jacques Kallis can do something spectacular over the next few days, the ICC are likely to reach the same conclusion.

The question on everybody's lips is answered, in part, in today's Times:

The question is how much does she [Caprice] know about the game? At the launch of the World Cup, Caprice, who had dated Rod Stewart and Tony Adams, showed a Cardus-like insight by saying: “I like watching baseball and I’m told cricket is similar, although longer.” Maybe Pietersen is not with her for her analysis.

She'll get an idea of just how much longer when her bloke takes on Australia in the Super Series Test on Thursday.

An Indian biscuit manufacturer has paid a tribute to Sir Don Bradman by announcing it is to make biscuits bearing his name. Read all about it here.

A week ago billionaire Allen Stanford announced a $28 million investment in Caribbean cricket, mainly via a prestigious new Twenty20 series, but as the reality sets in, the debate has started.

In The Jamaica Gleaner, Tony Becca writes:

Twenty20 cricket is not first-class cricket, and yet West Indies cricket is about to find itself in a position where, for example, the first-class champions of the region collect a paltry US$7,500 and the Twenty20 champions a whopping one million US dollars.

But in the Barbados-based Nation, Vaneisa Baksh disagrees:

Cleverly sensing the powerful attraction of Twenty20 cricket to this generation, Stanford has affixed his programme to its rapidly spreading culture. Purists may argue that it is not cricket, but the truth is that although it might be a different ball game, it may yet provide the nurturing ground for building the skills required for Tests ... it can become a critical educational tool for young cricketers, teaching them how to focus their minds, and to feel the immediate consequences of lapses.

The Jamaica Observer describes Stanford as the "Caribbean Packer", and asks for more clarity:

We believe that there is need for more, and better, particulars from Mr Stanford and his associates ... it all has a ring of Kerry Packer's cricket, which, at the time split the international game between the official teams and the superstars who migrated to World Series Cricket. That turned out to be a nasty affair which was pathetically handled on both sides. We hope this is not a case in which history is attempting to repeat itself.

The Courier-Mail’s Robert Craddock argues it’s time for the fast men to get some concessions in a batsman’s world.

As the Super Test approaches Malcolm Speed, the ICC chief executive, tells Jim Wilson of the Herald Sun the match will determine whether the concept is worthwhile after an “extremely disappointing” one-day component.

In The Age Nabila Ahmed writes the series has been great as an international exercise but not for much else.

The verdict of Sambit Bal, the Cricinfo editor, is here.

Peter Lalor in The Australian reports how the world's cricketers now have all the trappings of success:-

English playboy-cricketer Kevin Pietersen arrived with celebrity model Caprice on his arm. Jacques Kallis made his way through the airport with fiancee and former Miss South Africa Cindy Nel on hand. Kallis's compatriot Graeme Smith and his girlfriend, bikini model Minki van der Westhuizen, were due to check into the luxury hotel with the rest of the team early in the afternoon. The international cricketers will tell you it's an honour to be selected in the World XI and to play in such a star studded side. A career highlight. The trimmings aren't bad either

A superb assessment of the not-so-Super Series from Gideon Haigh in the Guardian:

The 3-0 clean sweep was over by 8.48pm, so that there was time for the crowd to go home and catch a remake of The Poseidon Adventure on Channel Seven, thereby watching two much-vaunted vessels capsize in the same evening. In fact, some remained to boo the World XI at the presentation ceremony. "I'm sure that was a friendly boo," said the MC, Simon O'Donnell. That's what they call staying on message.

Sanjjeev Samyal watches Shane Warne get some action at his old club.

Let’s start the end-of-the-one-day Super Series debate in Melbourne with The Age, the city’s broadsheet. Peter Roebuck writes the World XI was “badly led, poorly selected, abysmal in the field … and mauled”. Greg Baum believes the limited-overs series had no point and was hampered by poor timing, despite “spectacular hitting, artful slow bowling and lots of beach balls”.

The Herald Sun’s Ron Reed says the three-match contest could not have been more one-sided if Australia were playing Zimbabwe and Bangladesh.

On the minnows theme, Malcolm Conn of The Australian talks to Ehsan Mani, the ICC president, about creating a second tier of international sides.

For Cricinfo’s coverage of the third match go here.

Graeme Smith’s captaincy of the World XI has received a mixed reception. Vic Marks of The Observer profiles Smith – he is only 24 and has “always been captain” – and decides he was born to lead the world. Ian Chappell is a critic of Smith’s appointment and his view, which was reported by Cricinfo last week, is here.

Speaking of the Super Series, Mark Richardson, the former New Zealand opener, writes on the New Zealand Herald website that the contest will remain an exhibition because of the associated gimmicks.

A player-column post today. Glenn McGrath says in The Sunday Telegraph Australia have proved a point in the Super Series after the Ashes campaign that people can’t stop talking about.

Darren Berry, the former Victoria keeper, believes the England series lacked only one thing – a world-class gloveman. He runs his eye over Australia’s next line of stumpers in The Sunday Age.

In the Sun-Herald Mark Waugh goes even further by choosing an entire Australia team for the future, with Phil Jaques as opener and Chris Hartley the wicketkeeper.

Kevin Pietersen has a new model girlfriend, having made the short hop from Paris to Caprice. The Surfer is not the only one to struggle to write much more about this - the Australian Herald Sun, who ran the story, managed only three paragraphs.

(Link via email from Zainub.)

Peter Roebuck feels it's the right time to pick Shane Watson in Australia's Test side:

The time has come to give Watson his chance in Test cricket. Australia's ageing bowlers need a hand from a fifth man. Watson can add the oomph that has been missing from Australia's line-up.

Also check out James Willoughby's take on "Australia’s genuine allrounder".

Children in inner city London are being introduced to a new kind of game - tapeball cricket - to get them into cricket, writes Matthew Pryor in The Times.

Peter Lalor of The Australian writes on the potential of television:

Broadcasters have done a great job translating the excitement of live one-day cricket on to the box. Cricket's next technological revolution, if there are more games like this, might involve channelling excitement from the loungerooms to the arena.

Andrew Flintoff, not content with winning the adoration and respect of Australia's public, has received further praise from Shane Warne - and not just of his cricketing prowess. At a lunch held in Melbourne, Warne told reporters that Flintoff opened beer bottles with his teeth after play during the Ashes, and was quite content to drink with team-mates or opposition. Champion cricketer - champion drinker, too. On ya, Freddie!

More interesting than the usual "over the moon" guff, Marcus Trescothick explains to the Daily Telegraph when England realised that they had the better of Australia.

The Age debates whether the Super Series is a great initiative or a gimmick. The respected writers Peter Roebuck and Greg Baum go head-to-head here.

Shane Warne was on course to win the Walter Lawrence Trophy for the fastest century of the summer, but he was pipped at the eleventh hour by Ian Blackwell. That sort of luck just sums up Warne’s season, says Frank Keating in The Guardian.

China are the latest country to embrace cricket, as Forbes.com reports. Read Cricinfo's take on this story, here.

Malcolm Conn writes on how crucial Shaun Tait's recovery is for Australia and says, "Tait is the only long-term fast-bowling prospect in the country".

Are mixed sex cricket teams outrageous? Lucy Mangan asks in the Guardian.

Update: BBC readers respond to Marlar's comments.

Sharad Pawar, the Union Agriculture minister who recently contested for the post of board president, speaks to G Viswanath about his passion for sports and youth welfare, love for cricket, and his ways of working with sports federations in an exclusive interview to The Hindu.

Mini Kapoor writes in The Indian Express on the tough choice Sourav Ganguly faces ahead of him but is convinced that he has to step down as captain.

About 1000 fans follow Shane Warne back to his club roots as he makes a rare appearance for St Kilda. Not a bad day for statistics – he takes three wickets, scores 11 and signs more than 400 autographs. See the story in The Sunday Age here. Warne's club record is less intimidating than his Test one, and his Cricinfo player page is here.

With Matthew Hayden’s one-day sacking there is a vacancy at the top of the order. The Age takes a look at a couple of contenders, starting with Simon Katich.

Steve Waugh’s golf is in good condition, but before leaving the Dunhill Links tournament in Scotland he signs Australia’s card. He tells AAP they are not a team on the wane.

"Did you know that Brighton College are playing girls in their First XI? Girls! I think it's absolutely outrageous." Robin Marlar is not backward in coming forward with his opinions, as The Sunday Telegraph discovers. What, the paper asks him, if a girl bowls at 80mph? "Then, I'd be asking some serious questions about whether she's had a sex change."

Gosh. Somewhat amazingly, in the light of these comments, Marlar voted in favour of women becoming members of the MCC – although he wrote off the MCC as an anachronism years ago. And he is now its president. Read about his appointment – and about more of his explosive opinions - here.

Oh, and as for girls playing for Brighton College’s 1st XI, well, it’s not the first time. England’s captain Clare Connor has had that honour in her time; read Jenny Thompson’s interview with her here, as she faces up to missing her first international series for ten years.

Bob Simpson, the former Australian captain, lays out the several problems affecting the game in the country and suggests methods to combat them.

Read the whole article in The Sportstar magazine.

The haircuts were new age and the attacking play was revolutionary but, writes Poet Laureate Andrew Motion, it was cricket ancient as much as modern that made the summer so compelling.

Also check out the Observer Sport Monthly's recap of the Ashes.

Is Graeme Smith the best man to lead the World XI side? Read Peter Roebuck's take in Natal Witness.

Neil Manthorp wonders if the Super Series will become a new 'ultimate' in cricket and if selection to the World XI would guarantee millions.

In The Age, Brendan McArdle predicts the increasing demand for allrounders in Australia. He writes:

Things have changed dramatically since Australia won the past World Cup with a Test-class pace attack. The next tournament [World Cup] in the West Indies in 2007 could feature as few as two specialist bowlers in the starting XI, with the balance of the bowling done by all-rounders.

But what are the selectors thinking? Merv Hughes, one of the Australian selectors, speaks to Malcolm Conn about the difficulty of the task.