Come back soon, Shane © Getty Images

Shane Warne has flown off to live in England for two years with his family, according to a report in Melbourne’s Herald Sunday Sun. Warne will play for Hampshire after retiring from Tests in January.

While Warne is leaving Australia, Darrell Hair is moving back. Robert Craddock writes in the Sunday Mail of the umpire's return to Sydney.

In the Sunday Age Chloe Saltau meets up with Richie Richardson, who can’t understand why the World Cup crowds have been so small.

"I'm not saying we are rowdy people but we are accustomed to taking our own food and drink and enjoying ourselves. Visitors are saying to me they are not getting the Caribbean feel."

	Shaun Tait has discovered how to channel his energies into high-class fast bowling © Getty Images

In The Age, Chloe Saltau profiles Shaun Tait, who grew up in a small town in South Australia and still has that country aura about him.

The new spearhead of the Australian attack is stretched out on the turf of the Antigua Recreation Ground, home of one his fast bowling heroes, Curtly Ambrose. He is as natural and as uncoached as a modern international cricketer can be. As Phil Tait [his father] puts it, "he's not up himself".

It seems there was a lot of fast-bowler aggression in Tait from a young age.

His dad recalls an under-12s game abandoned after Tait broke the cheekbone of an opponent, and a week-long suspension from school after a kid picked a fight with him, and paid the price with a busted eye-socket

Ricky Ponting’s column in The Australian focuses on Matthew Hayden’s meticulous planning. He says Hayden showed a healthy respect to Makhaya Ntini, Jerome Taylor and Daren Powell but targeted other bowlers in his two most recent centuries.

Robert Craddock reports in the same paper that Glenn McGrath believes Shane Watson has the ability to be one of the great allrounders in modern cricket.

Batsmen may be happier and safer wearing helmets, but, according to the Sydney Morning Herald, they prevent fans seeing the batsmen's faces, which, market research has found, makes it hard for them to relate to the players.

But, as Philip Derriman notes, it’s not all gloom.

If they're bad for TV, they're about the only thing in cricket that is. In other respects, cricket is a broadcaster's dream. It lasts all day; the main action is concentrated in a smallish area; it's essentially a one-on-one (bowler-against-batsman) contest; the game lends itself to endless analysis by commentators; and the short breaks between overs are ideal for slotting in commercials.

Andrew Flintoff is still having a tough time in the West Indies, according to David Hopps in The Guardian.

The nets at the Providence Stadium were under water a few days ago, not quite deep enough for Flintoff to dream of some more late-night watersports but damp enough to make them dangerously frisky as England practised ahead of their opening Super Eights game against Ireland. When one delivery went through the top, Flintoff stalked into a different net. The next ball flew off a length and struck him on the glove as he took evasive action. He immediately abandoned his net session and threw his bat 10 metres into the side netting.

	'It is perhaps time to reflect on just why this event has captured the imagination of absolutely no one on the entire planet who doesn't live in Bangladesh or Jamaica' © AFP

Michael Davies, a British-born television producer, feels the World Cup shouldn't have gone on after Bob Woolmer's death, but then offers ten satyrical reasons not to care about the tournament.

Sample this:

This is beyond tragic; it is sickening. I have no idea about the motives for the killing, but I can guarantee this. If Woolmer's death is related to cricket, then his killer hated sports. Had no appreciation of sports. Knew nothing of sports. To kill someone in the name of sport is to kill sport itself. This event died the moment that Bob Woolmer died.

with this:

Despite now having lived half of my life in America, despite the fact that I now pronounce schedule "skedule," shower every day and visit the dentist regularly, despite having been exposed to the pure joy that is the NFL, the NBA, the Little League World Series and even NASCAR, I still love marmite, and I still love cricket. Even if I have to watch it in a window the size of a postage stamp on my computer.

Davies doesn't care if Bangladesh beat Ireland in the final, but hopes England win.

A lot of people are taking potshots at the Indian team following their World Cup debacle. Greg Chappell's future is the debate of endless newspapers, television channels and tabloids. Rahul Dravid's credibility as captain has been questioned. Irate fans have stoned houses and burnt effigies. Javagal Srinath, writing in the Hindustan Times, just questions what is best for Chappell.

Should he, given an opportunity, continue and try to implement his 'processes', or should he leave in a dignified manner? If he quits, the next question would be, who should replace Greg? India's premature exit has opened up a Pandora's Box.

Robert Craddock, writing in The Australian, says the lack of support for West Indies in Antigua has given the World Cup another black eye.

The opening of the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium proved an anti-climax with the 20,000-seat structure barely half-full. The Antigua government did all it could to make yesterday's game a promotional hit by declaring a national holiday. But local fans have become incensed at the rules of the tournament which do not allow food, drink or musical instruments to be brought into the ground.

Chloe Saltau takes up a similar theme in The Age.

Viv Richards, who was sitting in his own stadium, praises Matthew Hayden after his 158 against West Indies. "He is a guy on top of his form and he's peaking at the right time,” Richards told AAP.

The Tonk, the Sydney Morning Herald’s blog, wonders if it has been too harsh on Hayden.

Writing in The New Zealand Herald, Chris Rattue rues the ICC's decision to continue with the World Cup in the aftermath of Bob Woolmer's death.

Cricket remains in a dark cell; its showpiece a sham, feels Rattue. Sport, in the end, is supposed to be enjoyable, yet its top table invariably involves a distasteful feast.

The ICC chose to continue with this tournament in the aftermath of Woolmer's demise.To have scrapped the tournament, to have so publicly succumbed to the evils that permeate their game, would have been a disaster to their minds.

A close and difficult call, but it has given the good people of cricket, in other words the majority, a deserved chance to bring their planning to fruition. It should, unfortunately, be their last chance, although who would bet on a sport having the gumption to fully admit to its problems by scrapping this gigantic sham.

Where did world tournaments go wrong? Because they surely have.

Click here to read more.

	© Getty Images

The West Indian reputation for getting things right only at the last minute has been taken to extremes here. At first glance the Providence Stadium, built in partnership with the India Government in a suburb on the East bank of the Demerara River half an hour’s drive from the capital, Georgetown, is a splendid facility.

So is the handsome looking “Buddy’s International” hotel that has sprung up next to it. Those staying there, however, do not, as intended, include the teams, rather guests who speak of damp cement on the walls and pneumatic drills working through the night. Across the road, the press box has poor visibility and all the signs of a desperate race to be ready on time.

In The Daily Telegraph, Simon Briggs discovered that the media might have a few problems in covering the game itself.

It takes more than a nicely tended outfield to make a decent cricket ground, however, and problems are expected with the incidentals: things like power sockets, phone lines and broadcasting facilities. The BBC team turned up to find nothing in their booth but a table and chair. Unless equipment can be shipped in from St Vincent, their commentary could end up being broadcast over crackly mobile phone lines.

And in The Age, David Hopps confirmed that all was not well.

Outside the stadium yesterday, the car park consisted of pools of water standing in tons of sand. A merchandising tent stood forlornly next to a concrete mixer and a pile of pallets. Diggers lay idle; you could spot World Cup employees by their official uniforms and harassed expressions.

In The Age Chloe Saltau writes the game is in danger of branding itself out of existence.

Australia and New Zealand will host the game's most prestigious tournament in 2015 and you can be sure it will look pretty much the same as this one, except the signs will change slightly. Like world cricket's governing body, Cricket Australia is on the warpath to ensure cricket is played in "clean venues", which means ridding the grounds, the spectators, the skies, the loos, for goodness sake, of anything that might put the noses of its commercial partners out of joint. Authorities will make no apologies for bullishly protecting their sponsors but they should not play the game's fans for fools, either.

Andy Roberts says in the Herald Sun nobody should interfere with Shaun Tait’s raw action.

The Australian’s Peter Lalor has been blogging over the government’s talks of boycotts for Australia’s tour to Zimbabwe in September.

Shane Warne is getting married again ... but this time it’s for the television comedy Kath and Kim. For a full run down of the episode head to the Daily Telegraph, but here’s a sneak preview.

Warney weds sporting tragic Sharon Strezlecki, played by Magda Szubanski, in the next series and filmed his romantic turn at St Kilda's Luna Park in Melbourne. The cricket legend has been referred to as Sharon's "unrequited love'' in previous episodes, but in a plot twist, Strezlecki is forced to wrestle her "dream man" from best friend Kim Craig.

Rajan Bala writes about the text messages he received from Greg Chappell which reveal that the Indian coach was not happy with the World Cup squad.

On February 16, after an article of mine appeared in this paper Greg sent me a SMS, which I am reproducing for the sake of the public. "Excellent article. Almost spot on. Even to the last selection meeting. I fought for youth. The senior players fought against it and the chairman went with them out of fear of media, if youth didn’t perform. Kartik will be a very good batsman and by the way is a potential leader. You are very right about Yuvi. Regards, Greg."

It was the morning of the ODI against Sri Lanka in Visakhapatnam. The time the SMS was received — 08.16.31. For those who did not read the article, it would be helpful for their comprehension of the situation in a context.

As far as Dinesh Kartik is concerned, I had hinted he should not be taken as a second wicketkeeper, implying he be should taken as a batsman and called as such. Hence Greg’s explanation. About Yuvraj Singh I had written, "For heaven’s sake, let nobody consider Yuvraj Singh as a future captain."

In an candid interview in the Jamaica Gleaner with Barbara Ellington, Powell talks about his career, future plans and reason for choosing to live in Trinidad.

The much talked about move to Trinidad was entirely Powell's decision. Many people think he moved there because his wife is Trinidadian.

"My life outside of the Jamaica Cricket Board and the West Indies Cricket Board was not respected. I was once suspended for indiscipline because during an out-of-town training camp, my wife came to spend a weekend with me that included Valentine's Day. I did not play much after that, I felt disenchanted and my career went downhill. I was making fairly good money but I could not get a mortgage without a contract," Powell said, adding that at the time he had a son on the way, a daughter plus a wife, and had to think of the future. "I decided to make it family first and now my priorities include our business."

But he said he had been getting offers from Trinidad before the move and continues to have tremendous opportunities in his adopted home. "I was welcomed with open arms. Don't get me wrong, cricket opened many doors for me for which I will always be grateful," he said.

	Brian Lara rates Glenn McGrath as highly as McGrath rates Lara © Getty Images

After 12 years of battles Brian Lara and Glenn McGrath prepare for what may be their final meeting by swapping a series of compliments.

"He was definitely the toughest fast bowler," Lara said in News Ltd papers. "He just didn't give you opportunities to score … Series after series, Glenn came at me with the same plan. He has been an outstanding competitor. Players like myself and Sachin (Tendulkar) want to be dominant, but he is one of the bowlers you don't want to face."

McGrath, who has dismissed Lara 15 times, was also generous in his praise for a man he first met on the 1995 Caribbean tour.

"I would have to rate him the best I bowled to," McGrath said. "Technically, Tendulkar was more correct but Lara was genuinely more dangerous. He has all the shots and could be very destructive. I always loved the challenge of bowling to him."

In a no-holds-barred column in The Daily Telegraph, Mark Nicholas has launched a stinging broadside at the ICC and the way it handles the world game, which, he says, is based on greed overruling good sense.

“It is a cliche to say that the ICC are toothless. Often this is so because, as a deeply political body, they choose to be. The list of unanswered questions is an embarrassment. Corruption, throwing, ball-tampering, doping, cheating and the use of technology, Zimbabwe, Darrell Hair and the Oval Test, are all issues over which the ICC have come to no firm conclusion.”

And as for the terrible murder of Bob Woolmer, Nicholas is not even sure that will be satisfactorily sorted.

“Cricket and cricketers live in their own vacuum. Visitors are amazed by the size and breadth of the clique. Sometimes this makes us blind. Already there is a view that the case will be swept beneath the veil of the clique, perhaps even that "murder" will become "accident" in some form or another. Certainly, commentators already feel that a scapegoat will be found elsewhere.”

The USA’s ABC News reports how China has used the World Cup to score diplomatic points over rivals Taiwan. The Chinese involvement in building various stadia in the Caribbean has been well documented, but it appears the knock-on effect has been more wide reaching:

China gave Antigua a $55 million grant to build the Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Stadium. It gave $30 million to Jamaica for a new Trelawny stadium. St. Lucia has both a cricket and a football stadium courtesy of Beijing. The 70,000 people of Dominica have received the aid equivalent of $1,600 per person in the form of a cricket grounds, new drains for the capital and better roads.

The immediate reason for this largesse is Beijing's determination to diplomatically isolate Taiwan. Says Harry Sung of the Taiwan Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Washington, D.C.: "Their top priority is to isolate Taiwan. Most of the remaining countries that recognize Taiwan are located in the Caribbean and Latin America."

China's cricket diplomacy led to two West Indian countries, Grenada and Dominica, derecognizing Taiwan as an independent country. Of the remaining 24 countries that recognize Taiwan, four are in the Caribbean and two of these play cricket.

A shocking first-round exit meant that India ended the World Cup with more questions than answers.

	© Getty Images

R Kaushik writes in the Deccan Herald about a set of individuals who failed to play as a team.

The distinct lack of cricketing communication between those that have been around for a decade and more, and those who are just cutting their teeth in international cricket left the latter confused and a little disillusioned. The wealth of knowledge and experience gained through hours of battle remained unshared, and that has always been one of the great tragedies of Indian cricket.

Meanwhile, in the Daily News and Analysis, Kumar Shyam writes an open letter to board president Sharad Pawar.

Mid-Day's Khalid Ansari sees only one solution: Windows of the mind must be opened to let in refreshing winds of change. Heads MUST roll at the BCCI, its selection committee, coaching staff and in the team itself.

Chloe Saltau writes in the Sydney Morning Herald about Australia’s smooth entry into the Super Eights while Robert Craddock reports in The Australian about the success of targeting Shaun Pollock.

Mark Ray, the former captain, writes in The Age about Tasmania's development from interstate rivals to Pura Cup winners.

The knives are out after India's debacle in the World Cup. The critics are having a field day.

Pradeep Magazine, writing in the Hindustan Times, says tough questions need to be asked.

Why has a team that was once being thought of rivalling Australia (in Tests) as the best in the world, disintegrated into one that is disjointed, filled with insecure players ill at ease and suspicious of each other.

Things like scribes being sent text messages or emails about players (and it getting back to them), haven't helped. Many, from players to officials, blame Chappell for this insecurity, saying his "divisive methods" made almost every senior distance himself from the team's collective vision. A stage was reached this month when some alleged the coach had told them that Tendulkar was "more interested in becoming captain" and Ganguly was "aloof and disinterested".

Ashok Malik, of the Pioneer, believes sweeping changes need to be made.

This world cup was supposed to be the grand farewell of Indian cricket's "Greatest Generation"; instead it became the whimpering valediction. Retirement beckons, and well before the 2011 world cup in the subcontinent.

Kunal Pradhan reckons the " laptop vision has failed miserably and ... it’s about time India rejected the process and its architects."

	Dwayne Bravo: allround talent © AFP

Cricket is, and always has been, Bravo's obsession, although this is not unusual for a young West Indian. He has used what he calls his God-gifted talent to attain every one of his goals to date. 'I have always played cricket, no matter what,' he says. 'If I had a piece of stick or an orange in my hand I would always play. I loved shadow batting. I used to pick my own team. I would pick a West Indies team - in the days of Desmond Haynes, Richie Richardson, Carl Hooper and those guys - and an England team and they would compete against each other.

	There has only been one story in the cricket this week © AFP

From a World Cup of tantalising possibilities, it has become a Cup of Woe. Rather like the feeling of emptiness and despair which overcame us when the 1985 European Cup final proceeded while the bodies were still being removed at the Heysel Stadium, does anyone really care about the cricket?

Also in the Independent on Sunday, Stephen Brenkley gives a very personal tribute to Woolmer.

But his greatest virtue had nothing to do with his cricketing prowess. It was that he had time for everybody. There was no side to Bobby. In the high-pressure world of big-time cricket, he did not seal himself in a bubble. He wanted to embrace the whole world.

A common theme is also that Woolmer should have been England coach, probably back in 1999 when David Lloyd took over, and, even at the age of 58, would have commanded an interview to take over from Duncan Fletcher. Simon Wilde, in The Sunday Times, looks at Woolmer the coach

Meanwhile, in the Sunday Telegraph Mike Atherton insists the ICC can no longer decide the game’s future with the focus solely on money.

There is no suggestion that Woolmer's murder has anything to do with corruption. Even so, it is time for the administrators of the game to take note; time to put the game's long-term interests first, rather than the need to make decisions with purely money in mind, no matter what the consequences.

Just ask yourself why we have seen so many mis-matches in the opening week of the tournament and why there are more teams, 16, than ever before, even though some of them would struggle to beat a good London club side. With Ireland and Bangladesh going through to the second stage of the tournament, the ICC should be careful what they wish for.

The the same paper, Lord MacLaurin, the former chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board, has called for a major review of the ICC.

	The return home will be unpleasant for Dravid and his team © AFP

The Hindustan Times reports the Railway Minister, Lalu Prasad, claimed that villagers like him could play better cricket than the team. Lalu raged:

"It's shameful to see such underperformance. They all should be sacked and fresh faces must get a chance to play for the country. The top order batsmen have really been playing poor cricket."

The Times of India probed into what was wrong with Indian cricket, taking apart the players, the coach, the captain, the selectors, the board and the fact that there is too much cricket.

A system that breeds mediocrity, over-hyped stars who could put Bollywood to shame, a plethora of cricket 'academies' that spin money, but don't teach kids how to spin a ball, an army of self-proclaimed coaches with dodgy records and a variety of officials who know as much about cricket as we know about PILCOM accounts

The Telegraph, a Kolkata-based daily, puts its sarcastic foot forward and does not take kindly the fact that India's remote chance of remaining at the World Cup depends on Bermuda beating Bangladesh.

We’re familiar with the Bermuda Triangle. But, now, the eternal optimists are looking for a Bermuda Miracle! If we’ve got to depend on Bermuda to bale us out, then we may as well not play top grade cricket.

This World Cup will always be remembered as the Bob Woolmer murder World Cup, writes Vic Marks in The Observer. Cricket, he writes, has long since lost its innocence, particularly in the subcontinent and England have no idea how lucky they are.

Play badly and Michael Vaughan's men will receive flak in the press and some grumbles from former players, while the Barmy Army defiantly supports them come what may. As Woolmer used to say on the golf course when his opponent deposited the ball into the water: 'The ball's in the lake; nobody died.' Some sense of perspective remains.

But play badly for Pakistan or India and the consequences can be more severe. It is not only effigies of fallen heroes that can be burnt; so, too, can their houses. In Ranchi, Mahendra Dhoni's home has been damaged after India's defeat by Bangladesh. And it may be that a stunning defeat for Pakistan caused a madman to assault the coach. This is serious stuff - we are no longer in pedalo territory.

	© Getty Images

Glenn McGrath says in his News Ltd column the organisers made the right decision to keep the World Cup running despite Bob Woolmer’s death.

I can understand the feelings of people who say the World Cup should have been abandoned out of respect to Bob but, being a great cricket man, he would have wanted it to continue and at least now we have the chance to honour his memory.

Mark Waugh takes aim at Sunil Gavaskar and defends Australia’s on-field behaviour in his Sun-Herald column.

The Australian teams I played for, and those I've watched since retiring, play hard but fair. They play within the rules while other teams, especially those from the subcontinent, don't mind pushing the rules. I cite such things as their preparedness to call for runners when maybe the batsman doesn't warrant one, or by fielding specialist fieldsmen as substitutes, as not being in the spirit of the game. And then there's examples of ball tampering.

In The Daily Telegraph, Peter Foster looks at the bookmakers who still stalk cricket, seven years after the ICC set about rooting corruption out of the game.

From the back-streets of Karachi and Mumbai to the gleaming towers of Hong Kong and Dubai, cricket's bookmaking underworld is still operating. Chief among those nations are the sub-continental rivals of India and Pakistan where, despite betting on cricket being illegal, millions of pounds regularly change hands over a single game. Annually, the profits can be counted in billions.

But the nature of gambling has changed, forced to adapt from the brash efforts to influence entire teams to a far more subtle approach.

It makes grim reading. In the same paper, Simon Hughes gives a first-hand report from the subcontinent.

On a trip to Pakistan some years ago, I stopped by an anonymous club match one afternoon. Two batsmen were slowly playing themselves in. After one apparently featureless over, a gaggle of spectators suddenly engaged in an unseemly scuffle. When some time had elapsed and peace was restored, I ventured over to investigate what had happened. It emerged that one man had bet another the over would be a maiden. When a leg-bye was run off the last ball of the over, they couldn't agree who had won the wager (despite the extra it still constituted a maiden) and fists flew.

Michael Henderson, never one to take the safe option, writes a long article in The Daily Telegraph on Pakistan cricket and its place in the modern game.

“While India have the money to confront the old order, the Pakistanis like to portray themselves as maligned outsiders, an image their players have reinforced in the past three years by favouring a hard-line Islamic faith.”

And he finishes with a swipe at the ICC and its reaction to calls for the tournament to be scrapped.

“The ICC will disregard him, of course, arguing that the show must always go on, if only to avoid shelling out millions to compensate the television companies covering this bloated tournament.”

No, we're not talking about a particular player, rather these gold and diamond-encrusted cricket balls. Yours for a snip at £35,000 each:

Each ball is comprised of 295.6g of yellow gold and is studded with 5,728 natural diamonds with a total weight of 31.5 carats. The lady weighing this one up is Bollywood actress Mahima Chaudhary.

Reportedly, two will be presented to India's best player of the World Cup and their "best interim player", whatever that means. Blingtastic.

Ricky Ponting speaks in his column in The Australian about the rivalry between Australia and South Africa.

“We have been staying at the same hotel as South Africa for the past nine days yet haven't had much contact. I don't make a point of stopping to spend ten minutes chatting with Jacques Kallis or Herschelle Gibbs. There are plenty of nods and glances."

Robert Craddock writes Ponting is keen to give “nightmares” to some of South Africa’s younger players.

Peter Roebuck’s column in the Sydney Morning Herald looks at Bob Woolmer’s death.

How did it come to this? How did we allow a game to become a murder scene? A respected son has been cold-bloodedly killed under the noses of the game's greatest players, in the middle of the game's most prestigious event. Until these past few days, it could hardly be imagined that any game could suffer such a loss.

	St Lucia will hope for a large crowd like this one when it hosts the semi-final on April 25 © Getty Images

The editors of the Jamaica Observer hope that the massive publicity generated by the murder of Bob Woolmer has not hurt the image of the nation.

We hope that now that strangulation has been confirmed, our authorities will move with all dispatch to find out and disclose who is the culprit or culprits, if they have not yet done so.

Nobody needs us to spell out how important it is to the image of Jamaica that the real culprits be found as soon as possible, to prevent us from being blamed unnecessarily for something we did not do.

Meanwhile the tourism boom expected across the Caribbean islands hosting the World Cup is yet to kick off and the locals are getting worried. The Voice, a Jamaican website based in UK, reports that the turn-out has been poor following the opening game between West Indies and Pakistan.

Prior to the start of the tournament, St Lucian’s had expected the vast majority of supporters to come from England but the consensus is that having spent a small fortune on the recent Ashes tour of Australia not as many fans would be able to afford the journey to the Caribbean.

The situation has left many feeling frantic about what the immediate future holds. With St Lucia scheduled to host a semi-final match on April 25, many will have considered themselves to have missed out if there is no change before then.

Chloe Saltau speaks to Trent Johnston, the Ireland captain, who is staying four rooms down from the one Bob Woolmer was found in at the Pegasus Hotel in Jamaica.

"It's sort of spooky," Johnston said in the Sydney Morning Herald. "There wasn't too much sleep had last night after the press conference where they escalated the investigation to the level they have. It's lock your door and that sort of stuff.

"The police were down the hallway today, and it looks like the forensic guys are in there turning the place upside down. It's a strange feeling to have excitement one moment [at beating Pakistan] and then to find out that someone who was actually part of the game has passed away. It's unbelievable."

In cricket news Robert Craddock writes in the Courier Mail the South Africans want to target the spinner Brad Hogg at St Kitts on Saturday.

	Mark Shields is the deputy commissioner of Jamaican police © AFP

Robert Craddock looks at the developments of the Bob Woolmer investigation in the Courier-Mail, asking a number of questions and profiling Mark Shields, the deputy commissioner of police.

Shields is known as a man of understatement in his dangerous home city, one who does not light fires for the sake of it. Shields knew the instant he walked into a press conference and announced there was suspicion that Woolmer had been murdered that he was destroying Kingston's Cricket World Cup.

He was detonating cricket's version of an atom bomb and sentencing match events to small print. Suddenly, nothing else mattered in the tournament.

News Ltd papers quote an unnamed South African player saying: “If they lay a murder charge, they may as well call the tournament off.”

The Guardian’s Omar Waraich runs through some possible causes of Woolmer’s death, but in the same paper Neil Manthorp says his passing is unlikely to be connected to the upcoming release of a new book.

In England’s Daily Telegraph Ben Fenton looks at the role of Shields, a former Scotland Yard detective, in the investigation.

Cahal Milmo of The Independent writes Woolmer made little effort to disguise his rapidly growing dissatisfaction with the side he managed.

Chloe Saltau writes in The Age about a real-life Caribbean mystery.

The Australian carries a report of the suspicious circumstances of Woolmer’s death and who they expect will be interviewed.

	Going easy on the minnows? © Getty Images

Robert Craddock, writing in The Australian, thinks he knows why.

It is understood commentators have been told by Global Cricket Corp producers that it frowns on them denigrating the minnows. However, it is deemed acceptable for commentators to call an event a mismatch but not to say some of the nations do not deserve to be in the tournament.

Some commentators who agree with the directive and feel the minnows are a necessary part of global expansion are happy to abide by it. Others, who feel the tournament has been devalued by their presence, would rather speak their mind.

And Craddock concluded by saying that some of the players themselves are aware of the real picture.

The widespread feeling that the minnows are enjoying every moment of their matches against the big boys is wide of the mark. Several Dutch players privately conceded they feel embarrassed by their team's efforts.

Keep your eyes and ears open and see if what you are watching tallies with what you are being told.

In the Hindustan Times, Pradeep Magazine pays tribute to Bob Woolmer. He shares his memories of the man, the first time they met, and the subtle intricacies he noticed in a man dedicated to the game.

A golden duck wasn't exactly the cricket World Cup debut Ross Taylor wanted but as the Englishman who spectacularly caught him later discovered, worse things happen at sea.

Lows like that have been more than compensated by an inordinate number of highs among a career still in its formative stages – a maiden century, a century against Australia and the joy of an unprecedented Chappell-Hadlee series win over world champions Australia.

Speaking to Chris Barclay for the website stuff.co.nz, Taylor says he's enjoying anonymity despite the West Indies' reputation as a passionate cricketing destination.

	116 kilograms of pure athleticism! © AFP

Another headline screams, 'Cricket's cult figure takes off' - at closer inspection, we see its that man Dwayne Leverock, who yesterday proved that fat men can jump when he plucked a one-handed catch at slip, diving full stretch to his right.

"Amid the shock of Bob Woolmer's sudden death, British tabloid fury at "Freddie" Flintoff's drunken shenanigans and sub-continental teeth-gnashing at underperforming superstars, Leverock has become the rolled-gold feel-good hit of the Caribbean summer." writes Kai Chen.

Click here to read more.

Ryan Watson, Scotland's stand-in captain, is best known as Graeme Smith's former captain while in school in South Africa. But it was one defining moment which forced him to rethink his future in the country and settle down elsewhere, one which was literally a matter of life and death.

As a 23-year old, Watson was held at gunpoint by robbers at home in - you guessed it - Johannesburg, where he was pushed into a closet, after which the thieves robbed his car. Watson recounts those chilling moments in The Scotsman.

The incident put me off a little bit, and I also didn't get a contract [in provincial cricket] that year and there were some other problems. I might go back some day, but I just live on the mentality 'see what happens'.

Peter Roebuck, writing in the Sydney Morning Herald, says Bob Woolmer lived and died a cricketing man.

By and large the relationship was mutual because cricket enriched, almost defined, the Englishman's existence. To reflect upon his contribution is to observe its constancy and extent. In a career spanning several decades, he served in many capacities and did not fail in any of them. Had he been asked to prepare a pitch or stand as an umpire he would have agreed. Cricket was his canvas and his laboratory. Fatefully, it also became his life.

In the Caribbean, The Indian Express' Sandeep Dwivedi finds out that Paul Davey, an Irish film-maker, has about ten hours of exclusive footage that tells the incredible story of 15 no-hopers who have caused one of the biggest upsets in World Cup history.

Davey now plans to make a film out of Ireland's surprise success story.

Though he plans to edit his work to about 50 minutes for the festival circuit and eventual television release in cricket-playing countries, the heart-warming and still-evolving storyline could interest even big producers, Davey hopes.

	Bob Woolmer played, coached and commentated on the game all of his life © Getty Images

Tributes from the cricketing world have poured in for Bob Woolmer, the deceased Pakistan coach and ex-England Test player.

Neil Manthrop, a close friend of Woolmer, has a lot of memories of the man outside cricket - whether it was planning a surprise for his wife on their silver anniversary or playing a round of golf. He writes on Supercricket website:

There they stood, wine glasses in hand, having enjoyed a meal of which few could remember better. Seconds passed before, slowly but surely, a silver sports car was driven amongst us. It had an enormous, silk bow tied around it and a card which read: "Happy Anniversary - love you always, Bob."

The whisper had alerted everyone to the surprise, everyone that is, but the recipient. The whisper had told us that the lady had dreamed, all her life, of driving an open-topped sports car with the wind blowing in her hair and the scent of the Cape filling her senses.

From England batsman to international innovator, he was always admired, writes David Hopps in the Guardian.

He was among the pioneers of video analysis as a coaching aid, now an accepted part of the game. He recognised the extent with which information technology would revolutionise the game. He always preferred to guide rather than dictate and a gentle, caring and always humane approach to life was regularly evident.

Writing in The Times, Ivo Tennant recalls the times spent with a close friend; a student in love with the game, too generous with his time, and whose door was open to everyone.

I shall miss his flow of e-mails, his kindness, his coaching tips to my son and, above all, his zest for life. There was no such thing as a difficult moment with him: the relationship between the star coach and the “ghost” of his columns and his autobiography was an even one — even though he had given so freely of his time that sometimes he could not recall that he had made a particular observation. It did not matter because these were usually spot-on. No one cared more about the game, or understood it and those who peopled it, better than Bob.

Dav Whatmore, speaking to the Sydney Morning Herald, says the wins of Bangladesh and Ireland should be a lesson to the knockers, who include Ricky Ponting.

"It goes to show, given an opportunity, certain teams will grasp it if they've got some talent. It should be a bit of a lesson to everyone who is a knocker of this sort of thing. The Australian captain comes from Tasmania, and Tasmania got some good help along the way, I might add, going back.”

Robert Craddock writes in The Australian about Ireland’s upset over Pakistan and he also says teams are starting to show their true colours.

	A disastrous day for Pakistan © Getty Images

An outspoken former test fast bowler Sarfraz Nawaz termed defeat as the "worst ever point in Pakistan's cricketing history. "While watching the match live on TV, I was just cursing myself and saying, 'What's going on?'" Pakistan had lost to Bangladesh in 1999 in another upset results of the World Cup, but Nawaz said Saturday's loss had no match of it. "The wicket was suitable for seamers and Ireland won the crucial toss, but we lost fair and square without putting up a fight," he said.

Meanwhile New Zealand are celebrating almost as much as the Irish as they will no longer meet Pakistan, as they had expected, in their Super 8 tie on April 9 in Guyana. But after Ireland's performance, is it wise to celebrate? Lindsay Crocker, the New Zealand manager, hastens to explain that is not the case. Read the Herald on Sunday for more

"It shows the danger in counting your chickens, everyone looking at the groups assumes the two big teams will go through," Crocker said of Pakistan's exit. You just can't count your chickens."

Amid all the celebrations at Ireland’s fightback to tie with Zimbabwe last Thursday, what many overlooked was that the result was another major blow to Zimbabwean cricket. A Test nation, with an income from the ICC of many millions of dollars, should not be humbled by part-timers … although Pakistan showed two days later that lightning can strike twice.

In The Sunday Telegraph, Sycld Berry argues that restoring Zimbabwe’s Test status in November – which is what the Zimbabwe board are telling anyone that will listen will happen – would not only be bad for the game but also bad for the standing of the sport inside the country itself.

Quite apart from the ethics involved in allowing a nation which has Robert Mugabe for head of state to participate in the world community, Zimbabwe seem to be even more unfit for Test cricket now than when they were suspended.

The last of Zimbabwe's Tests was one of their better performances too: they lost by no greater margin than 10 wickets. Their previous seven Tests against countries other than Bangladesh were all lost by an innings and large amounts of runs, South Africa winning one Test in two days.

If the ICC want to help, the world body should organise and fund three years of competitive cricket for these Zimbabwean cricketers. They need to gain the experience of winning; they need a batting and bowling role-model in their side to learn from, and that can only mean an overseas player unless Streak returns. Being plunged again into the deep end of Test cricket from November will do them vastly more harm than good.

	Normally you would bet on the Australians, but... © AFP

In the Sun-Herald Peter Roebuck tips South Africa and New Zealand for the Caribbean decider.

Australia will take a lot of beating. Their batting remains formidable. Ricky Ponting is the best batsman around, Michael Hussey is resourceful and Brad Hodge is dangerous. Much will depend on the openers. If Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden fire, the rest will fall into place.

Mark Waugh says in the same paper Australia will need to be flexible throughout the campaign.

In The Age Darren Berry writes Victoria's batting let them down in the domestic summer.

In his column in The Age Greg Baum looks at the relationship between Australia and India and wonders if “the gap can ever be bridged”.

Former Australian prime minister and cricket enthusiast Robert Menzies wrote once that Englishmen and Australians were of such like minds that "thankfully, we don't have to be too tactful". Between Indians and Australians, it is not so simple.

Jon Pierik writes in The Australian about Daryll Cullinan’s doubts over Michael Clarke and Shaun Tait.

"I would be very, very worried if [Clarke] was batting in my top four," Cullinan said. "Temperament wise, it's going to be a make-or-break World Cup for him, because there is going to come a moment where the pressure and the focus is going to be on him."

"Why is nobody asking any questions about the political situation in Zimbabwe?" asks Andy Bull in The Guardian.

Cricket is the only activity in which Zimbabwe has an international presence. If the ever-deteriorating social, economic and political situation there is going to get any wider attention it is now. Why, then, is the silence on the matter so complete? Partly it is because most sports journalists like to keep sport and politics in separate boxes: "It is not my concern, it is not my area of knowledge and it is not my job".

"A common criticism made of top-flight sportsmen is that they lack perspective. Trapped in their mollycoddled little world, most have very little idea of what is taking place outside the confines of their team. Such an appraisal cannot be aimed at Shane Bond," writes Angus Fraser in The Independent.

"As a policeman you are constantly in uncomfortable situations and have to deal with them," said Bond. "It is the same as a sportsman and learning to deal with these is a bonus from doing the job. I remember doing a few raids at gang houses that weren't particularly nice and going to mortuaries. It puts bowling at someone like Kevin Pietersen into perspective."

Jon Pierik reports in the Herald Sun Glenn McGrath is set to finish his career at first change.

In a comment piece Pierik writes World Cup officials should be ashamed of the high ticket prices for local supporters in St Kitts.

Barely 3500 fans were at Warner Park Stadium, which has a capacity of 10,000. The average wage in St Kitts is about $US120 a week yet Hill tickets cost $US25 per adult, and more than $US50 for a family.

It may not have happened in St Kitts yesterday, but it has happened once before in history. The Herald's correspondent, Neil Drysdale, reflects on the moment in 1882 when the world order was turned upside-down.

The occasion is worth celebrating, not least because, exactly a month later, the majority of these same Australians were involved in one of the most significant acts in sporting history when they beat England at The Oval and proved the catalysts for a subsequent 125 years of ferocious Ashes rivalry

According to some, he is the best-ever batsman never to realise his full potential. Lawrence George Rowe remains the biggest enigma of West Indies cricket. Mid-Day's Sanjjeev K Samyal caught up with him in Jamaica.

It was the beauty of the strokes… the flair, the timing, good hands, good feet, good eyes that co-ordinate the kind of ease against fast bowling that makes it look slow; the nimble footwork to get down the track to spinners like (Bishan) Bedi, (Erapalli) Prasanna and (BS) Chandrashekar and play them with ease. I think that’s what made the crowds come and see me. In this stadium (Sabina Park, Jamaica), I have played probably more memorable knocks than any other batsman in the West Indies.

"Sunil Gavaskar's increasingly puritanical tone reached new levels of ridiculousness when he said Australia's cricketers would be in danger of being belted if they carried on in a bar as they do on the cricket field,” writes Chloe Saltau in The Age.

"The former Indian captain and apparent moral guardian of the game made a second outburst about the behaviour of Ricky Ponting's team in response to the skipper's objection to his earlier criticism - that the Australians are disliked around the world because of ugly on-field behaviour."

Allan Border and Darren Lehmann are also upset.

Jon Pierik writes in the Herald Sun pressure is mounting on Australia to stop their tour to Zimbabwe in September.

In the Sydney Morning Herald Trevor Marshallsea speaks to Nathan Hauritz about his move to New South Wales, who play Tasmania in Monday’s Pura Cup final.

	'All in all, the Jamaicans don’t care what he does after the game, they just want their favourite son to rock them at the ground' © AFP

Was it planned, or is it a symbolic fluke that today's Caribbean cricket carnival begins on the 40th anniversary of Sir Frank Worrell's death? Frank Keating, in the Guardian, fondly looks back at the
Caribbean influence in the most rich and significantly memorable passages of his cricket watching.

The West Indies today, and for the next two months, unites as a single entity - as it only does in its cricketing - to show its collective soul and spirit. You could say that no man was a more crucial catalyst than Sir Frank in establishing and stabilising the very cohesive essence of West Indies cricket, which is actually made up, of course, from a scattered comity of islands in the Gulf of Mexico each with disparate governance, character and cultures.

And in Mid-Day, a Mumbai-based tabloid, there's talk of how torchbearers of Kingston’s Melbourne Cricket Club are keeping the faith in their star player Marlon Samuels. They believe that their beloved Samuels can do no wrong and will never be involved in any activity that will harm his team, and no one knows Samuels better than the people out here.

Andrew Symonds has started throwing cricket balls and remains on track for Australia’s group match against South Africa, according to Jon Pierik in the Herald Sun.

"If the second game was South Africa we might have looked at rushing him a bit more," Ricky Ponting said. "If you listen to him, he thinks he is ready to play now. We just have to look after him.”

Tasmania are gearing up for their first Pura Cup final at home and in Hobart’s Mercury, Cameron Hodgkins, the Bellerive Oval curator, describes the pitch he is preparing.

South Australia finished the season with only one win – from their last game – and Richard Earle writes in The Advertiser that Wayne Phillips, the coach, might be in trouble.

AFP runs through some of the World Cup upsets, starting with Sri Lanka's win over India in 1979. Zimbabwe, West Indies, Australia and Bangladesh also play key parts in the tournament upsets.

In the Sydney Morning Herald Trevor Marshallsea writes about the importance of Stuart MacGill in the Pura Cup final.

	'Bowlers always say that it's a batsman's world, but this doesn't seem to have stopped them from nabbing the best writing jobs' © Getty Images

Tim de Lisle has written an enjoyable piece in today's Independent profiling some of the national newspaper correspondents from Britain.

Mike Selvey

THE GUARDIAN

AGED 58

Selvey has been in the job 20 years, and somehow combines it with being the father of 10-year-old triplets. Solid county bowler who had one great day for England in 1976. Had a hard act to follow in the sparkling Matthew Engel, but has pulled it off by fully reinventing himself, as signalled by his hair - once flowing, now non-existent.

Selvey captains a literate team that plays its shots right down the order: his deputy, David Hopps, could easily be a chief correspondent elsewhere. Selvey himself wields a sharp simile; is more outspoken than his immediate rivals (he has firmly pooh-poohed England's World Cup chances); and writes a fine weekly column, especially when explaining the business of bowling. Bowlers always say that it's a batsman's world, but this doesn't seem to have stopped them from nabbing the best writing jobs.

Colin Bateman

THE DAILY EXPRESS

AGED 52

The Daily Mail is famous for its consistency, while its old rival the Express lurches from one crisis to the next - but when it comes to cricket, the Express is the more settled of the two. The Mail has had many cricket writers since the late, great Ian Wooldridge and its most recent incumbent, the capable Mike Dickson, is about to revert to tennis. Meanwhile, Colin Bateman has been at the Express since 1987, the longest continuous stint of any current cricket correspondent. Not to be confused with the novelist of the same name, Bateman is genial, low-key and much respected. "Nothing gets past him," says one admiring rival. He scooped the pack on Duncan Fletcher's appointment as England coach in 1999 and broke the story that there would be an open-top bus parade in 2005. Last June, he wrote of the England team: "You can only live on past glories for so long ..." If only they had been paying attention.

Ricky Ponting, in his column in The Australian, rates the modern greats who will probably be playing their final World Cup.

Perhaps this tournament should be rebadged the Farewell Cup, for it also is the final crack at limited-overs cricket's ultimate prize for Lara, Tendulkar and Pollock. West Indies captain Lara and India star Tendulkar are the two best batsmen I have played against. I have rated Sachin slightly ahead because technically I thought he was a bit tighter, but Lara on his day is probably more damaging.

Lyall Johnson writes in The Age about Cameron White’s disappointing end to the summer.

	What Monty needs © AFP

England’s preparations for the World Cup have gone well, Andrew Strauss says, though Monty Panesar has fallen victim of his own enthusiasm. In the sea.

…a gentle swim in the sea at the end of a long day is perfect for relieving tired muscles and relaxing weary minds. Also, after 12 months of constant injury worries, the only real concern we have encountered so far was when Monty Panesar tried to join a few of the better swimmers on a journey to a nearby island, and had to be rescued halfway across.

Mike Atherton, though he remains hopeful of England’s chances, labels England’s preparations as shambolic.

Even Michael Vaughan has found the opportunity to trumpet his squad's claims too good to miss: "We are talking a good game at the minute, and rightly so." Well, up to a point, skipper. England have their best chance for a long time to make an impact, but only because of the general frailty of the rest. England's own preparations since the last World Cup - the last fortnight in Australia aside - have been completely shambolic and if preparation is a prerequisite for success then they have little chance. Bowling, both the consistency of it and lack of penetration, is surely too big an Achilles heel for them to go all the way. Only a short while ago Duncan Fletcher said that he felt his squad to be a year behind in their preparations, a hardly enthusiastic but probably accurate assessment.

And he highlights another example of an increasing trend at cricket grounds around the world…

The usual carnival atmosphere will not be easy to create, given the Gestapo-like rules and regulations that confront every spectator. When I took my son to watch a warm-up match this week we could not even take a bottle of water into the ground, never mind the usual paraphernalia of conches, whistles, horns, Eskies, ice and shedloads of rum that West Indian supporters traditionally associate with a day out at the cricket.

	Rohan Kanhai gave all the East Indians hope © The Cricketer International

The region of Berbice in Guyana is historical for the number of West Indies cricketers it has produced of East Indian origin - Rohan Kanhai and Shivnarine Chanderpaul to name a few. Rahul Bhattacharya, the acclaimed author of Pundits from Pakistan spent a week there in the beautiful flat mud villages, sampling the three essential passions of Berbician life: Hindi film and music, alcohol, and cricket.

Rahul also chronicles in brief, the history of the struggles of the East Indian inhabitants in the region, how cricket was the ultimate healer as well as the means of gaining the recognition they
deserved.

For the East Indians – “coolies, illiterate labourers; many of us went to school barefooted – Kanhai as well”, Kanhai's every stroke was a stroke of liberation. Against India his success was “a triumph over the pretentious, cruel rigidities of the homeland and its dubious obsessions with purity and cant”.

Read the full piece in The Hindustan Times

	Ricky Ponting has talked tactics a lot over the past couple of months © Getty Images

Ricky Ponting talks to the Sun-Herald’s Chloe Saltau about his captaincy and how he is having individual chats with his players ahead of the World Cup.

“One of the first things I did when we got here was to hold one-on-one meetings with all the players," Ponting said. "I asked them about their roles, if they were confused about their roles within the team. The responses I got were really positive.”

Peter Roebuck asks in the Sunday Age if a subcontinental team can win the World Cup while Rohit Brijnath writes about the “big, fat, overblown World Cup”.

The naming of Australia's official all-time one-day side was two weeks ago, but Mark Waugh unveils his squad in his column.

In the Sun-Herald Paul Hoffmann, who is from central Queensland but is playing for Scotland, looks back at his run-ins with Australia’s current players. In Hoffmann’s younger days Adam Gilchrist hit him for his first six, he had Ricky Ponting dropped and picked up Andrew Symonds first ball. On Wednesday he will get another look at them in a World Cup match.

"Glenn McGrath and I opened the bowling together in a possibles-probables game at Sydney University. I chatted to him before that game, because he was a boy from the bush as well who had turned up in Sydney and lived for a year or two in a caravan. He was a real gentleman and he gave me some insoles when I told him I had struggled with shin splints."

No prizes for guessing the career that Brett Lee has got lined up for himself when he finishes with cricket.

Lee may not be able to make sweet music with the ball as injury has sidelined him for the World Cup - but he’s already thinking about his future plans off-pitch.

And, Sydney’s Daily Telegraph reveals, someone who’s sold more records than Elvis or the Beatles reckons he could have a glitzy time of it.

	Captain and former captain © AFP

Sourav Ganguly spoke to NDTV's Prannoy Roy at the Eden Gardens before he left for the Caribbean. The interview will be telecast on the NDTV channel at 8pm on Saturday.

Also see Prannoy Roy's interview with Rahul Dravid on the art of captaincy.

I do enjoy captaincy. I see it as a great honour and privilege and I have enjoyed it. I have enjoyed everything that comes with it. I think you accept that there will be tough days as a captain. Not everyone is going to suddenly become the sort of good boy and then turn into a sort of whipping boy at some stage.

The Hindustan Times' Pradeep Magazine soaks in the sights and sounds of Montego Bay and talks about India's cricketers gearing up for the World Cup.

The Indian cricketers who start their campaign from Trinidad almost a week from now, have to keep their minds from soaking in too much of this holiday atmosphere and remind themselves every moment of the day that they are here for the business of playing and not on a playful binge.

	John Davison struggled to make an impact in Australian first-class cricket but made a name for himself as Canada's World Cup hero © Getty Images

In The Australian, Jon Pierik speaks to one of the more interesting characters at the World Cup, the man who smacked the fastest World Cup century in 2003, Canada’s captain John Davison.

Born in British Columbia to Australian parents, he moved to Australia aged five weeks. "My parents were over on a teaching exchange in Vancouver. My sister and myself were born in Canada," he said. "As soon as I was born, we moved back to Australia." It was only when he applied for a passport for a school trip to New Zealand when he was 16 that he realised he wasn't officially an Australian. "I was told I had to apply for a Canadian passport. I couldn't believe it," he said.

Shane Watson tells AAP of his desire to permanently move up the order from his No. 7 position and establish himself as an opener.

"Maybe not now but, in the next year or two, to be able to stamp my authority on the top order,” Watson said. “At the moment I'll make the most of batting No.7 and contributing wherever I can with the ball and with the bat. I feel my game is definitely suited more to the top order.”

Jon Pierik writes in the Herald Sun about the Australian slow bowlers holding a “spin summit”.

Front-line spinner Brad Hogg and part-timers Brad Hodge and Michael Clarke had a detailed chat a day after realising how much of a key role they will have to play.

In The Australian Kevin Pietersen tells how he didn’t think Glenn McGrath was fast enough to break his rib.

Cricketers are not afforded, for want of a better word, the same wages as footballers. But fortunately for their wives and girlfriends, they don't spend as much on gambling either. Following recent reports of a culture of gambling pervading team morale at West Ham, the Daily Mail have conducted their own investigation into the ruinous evils of poker games in the England (cricket) team.

The six poker-school regulars are batting coach Matt Maynard, who has supplied the cards and the counters, plus Michael Vaughan, Freddie Flintoff, Andrew Strauss, Paul Collingwood and Jon Lewis.

An England spokesman said: "The money involved is minimal. We regard it as a good relaxing way for the players to spend time bonding together out of their rooms. I don’t think anyone’s going to be too upset at being $10 down after a fun evening."

In her blog Monique Devereux wonders whether New Zealand’s body-slamming wicket celebrations were behind the shock warm-up loss to Bangladesh.

If it isn't done properly it can upset the metaphysics of proceedings and I fear this is what happened yesterday. Ungainly liftoffs, bad connections, wonky landings ... it can just lead to trouble and surprise losses.

Andre Adams is also in trouble after getting a one-match ban for shaking a batsman’s helmet during a provincial game. The Press’ Geoff Longley writes it may affect his chances of going to the West Indies if Mark Gillespie is ruled out.

Jon Pierik, writing in the Herald Sun, worries about Australia’s lack of quality spin options during a tournament where the pitches are expected to offer turn.

The two top-ranked sides lack a match-winning spinner, with Australia relying on left-arm wrist spinner Brad Hogg while the Proteas will forge ahead with an all-pace attack.

AAP reports Viv Richards saying Australia do not have the ability to hit back after losing to England and New Zealand last month.

This video amused us. It’s very silly – just a compilation of clips to the words of a 12th Man tune, but well worth a squizz.

Simon Kuper gives the inside dope on Netherlands cricket. Its origins, characters and the life of a minnow cricketer.

Cricket only ever penetrated a few pockets of Dutch society. In The Hague, it’s played by posh types who regard it as a sort of magical rite with the power to transform them into English gentlemen. The game somehow also took root in Schiedam, a tough town just outside Rotterdam, known as the only place in the Netherlands where boys play cricket on the street. Schiedam once even produced a rare case of Dutch cricket hooliganism, when thousands of fans watched two local teams contest the national title. Van Troost, Holland’s captain, is from Schiedam. And increasingly since about 1990, Dutch cricket has been played by poor Asian immigrants. When these dockworkers and cleaners meet Hague bankers, both sides presume (often correctly) that the other is cheating.

"It was almost predictable that with the team settled in the West Indies, momentum on its side after recent wins, Dilip Vengsarkar, inadvertently you think, lobs a hand grenade into the calm about Sehwag's selection," writes Rohit Brijnath in The Hindu.

Also in The Hindu, S Dinakar analyses Pakistan's World Cup challenge.

Can Pakistan mount a serious challenge? Pakistan, despite the doubters, has a sniff. This is a team of extremes. A united Pakistani side plays with passion. If dissension sets in, the team can crumble.

	Dwayne Leverock has already earned a large reputation © Getty Images

Bermuda’s Dwayne ‘Sluggo’ Leverock, a heavy-set full-time policeman, is the first celebrity of the World Cup after his performance against England. His story is covered in the Sydney Morning Herald, the Courier-Mail and The Australian.

Damien Fleming says Shaun Tait should be let loose during the death overs in the West Indies.

"Just unleash him on the opposition batsmen and if there's any reverse swing, even better for him," Fleming said in the Herald Sun. "He has to bowl at the death. He has a great yorker. With no Brett Lee so much hinges on Tait's performance."

The Age reports scientific evidence showing how much energy is needed to make a Test century.

As a potential England wicketkeeper, Paul Nixon has been there or thereabouts for several years, but now - at the age of 36 - he is finally fully integrated into the team and eagerly awaiting his first World Cup. The Guardian's Donald McRae caught up with him.

The Badger, of course, is mad for it. He is yapping and yearning and simply gagging for it. In fact the Badger looks almost beside himself with excitement. "I'm living the dream," he chortles. "I'm that proud and amazed. After all these years I'm about to play for England in a tournament that will be watched by millions around the world. It's awesome."

	'An unprecedented whitewash of the undermanned Aussies provided the ideal springboard for the Caribbean' © Getty Images

In The New Zealand Herald, Chris Barclay singles out two one-day innings from New Zealand's summer that promise to elicit much of the national side's contrasting emotions during the World Cup.

In the same publication, Barclay states that Eden Park could not have provided a more appropriate launching pad for New Zealand's departure to the cricket World Cup.

The irony was certainly not lost on Craig McMillan as he sat gazing down on the oddly configured arena.After all it was where his international career and the Black Caps' World Cup prospects appeared to realign on February 18. This summer Eden Park has encapsulated all that was captivating and cringeworthy about the Black Caps.

Brad Hodge speaks in the Herald Sun about how a chat with Steve Waugh lifted him ahead of his first World Cup.

"We talked about cricket, talked about the Caribbean and conditions. He just said these wickets would suit me. That's a good level of confidence I can take."

In The Age Rohit Brijnath looks at Greg Chappell’s balancing act when it comes to Australia.

The Sydney Morning Herald online site mocks some baby merchandise sanctioned by Cricket Australia.

Mickey Arthur, the coach, laughs off Shane Warne’s comments about South Africa being chokers, but Allan Donald says he’s worried about his team in the crucial moments.

"In big games Australia are well ahead of South Africa," Donald said in the Daily Telegraph. "I think a big part of that is because on numerous occasions we just couldn't finish it off in the big time.”

	'The Ashes is behind me now, I promise you' © Getty Images

"From the very first ball of the Ashes I hated the game of cricket," Steve Harmison told the Sunday Mail. "I’ve made myself a promise as a result: from now on I’m going to make sure,whatever happens, I enjoy myself."

Of all England's Ashes losers, Harmison received the most criticism. After creeping back to the UK having retired from one-dayers, he insists he is ready for another season - and is even looking ahead to the next Ashes.

"But the only way I can get the last Ashes out of my system is to be there on the first morning of the 2009 series with the ball in my hand. In fact, I want to go to Australia after that and do some damage in the following Ashes.I’m not ending my career against Australia with what’s just happened.

"Before that I’ve got to make sure I’m playing on May 17 in the first Test against the West Indies. I’ll need a good start to the season with Durham but I know that when I’m bowling well there’s no one in the country who can do what I can do. The Ashes is behind me now, I promise you."

But before the season starts, Harmison is publishing a book: Ashes Frontline (out March 26), a tour diary written along with Justin Langer. Shameless money-making opportunity? It appears not.

"There’s no way I could make any money out of a book after how I performed. I wouldn’t sleep knowing that. My cousin’s little boy, George Young,has a rare genetic disease of the immune system called Ipex Syndrome, but he’s been helped enormously by the Bubble Foundation UK, which supports the Children’s Bone Marrow Transplant Unit at Newcastle General Hospital.

"George is a real champion, not me, or Fred Flintoff or any sportsman.All proceeds from the book from my end will go to the Bubble Foundation. They deserve it,and I most certainly do not after the Ashes. But if George can win his battles, then so can I over something a lot less important. I was down but I’m not out, and I will be back."

	© Getty Images

"Yes, I'm tagged as a nudger and nurdler - a scamperer," says Paul Collingwood in conversation with the Sunday Telegraph's Steve James. "I'm not too worried if people are whacking it all over the place, I just get on with my job."

Also check out the Observer Sports Monthly where Matt Mason speaks to Collingwood and his elder brother Peter on how their relationship was defined and tested by sporting rivalry.

Peter: It's strange, we don't really talk cricket any more, even though I talk to my Dad about it all the time. We can both tell when Paul's getting twitchy at the crease and there's a chance he might get out. Later, I might say to him: 'You didn't need to hit that one.' But that's all.

	© Getty Images

On the eve of cricket's ninth World Cup, the first in the Caribbean, Vic Marks recalls the West Indies' heyday, while Viv Richards, Trevor McDonald, Brian Lara and others explain what the game means to the islands.

Recent West Indies sides have been burdened by the brilliance of their predecessors. And their current players have often seemed more concerned with the trappings of international cricket than ensuring that they are good enough to play it. Now they have the chance to redress the balance in the Caribbean, where the cricket culture that we all treasure needs bolstering.

	John Buchanan's techniques have often been out of the ordinary © Getty Images

Will Swanton writes in the Sun-Herald that John Buchanan has given a strong indication that leaking documents about Australia’s plans for opposition teams has been a successful mind-game during his reign as coach.

"Let's not dwell on that too much because it might be something we do again," Buchanan said when asked whether sensitive material that had been leaked, most recently in Adelaide, England and New Zealand, had all been accidents. "It can be good to get certain thoughts out there - and there are various ways that can be done."

Buchanan goes on to say that lamenting Australia's lack of real competition achieved the desired result despite the consecutive series losses that followed: it exposed Australia's weaknesses before the World Cup.

In The Sunday Age, Chloe Saltau continues a series of profiles on World Cup teams with a look at Steve Tikolo’s Kenya outfit.

A small plane has crashed 200 metres from where Australia were training at the Arnos Vale sports ground in St Vincent on Saturday.

Reuters reported that the single-propeller aircraft appeared to lose control in strong winds before crashing into a small river. The pilot and three passengers all emerged from the plane.

'Our love for the game is deep and passionate. Our love for the game is fickle and superficial. Which is it?' Amit Varma ponders over the issue at Mint.

Chandrahas Choudhury believes that the themes in Indian cricket writing aren’t as diverse as the game’s fan following. He picks three books which "bring out its many layers".

Derek Pringle, writing in the Telegraph, believes that with so many new stadiums and pitches in the Caribbean, bottom-handed batsmen and quick thinkers can prosper.

The talk from within the camp is that the length of the tournament, a tortuous eight weeks, means it is important to peak at the right time. That is nonsense, and with teams taking points from the group stage through to the Super Eights, every game is vital. Indeed, England's opening match with New Zealand on March 16 will be hugely important, the winner enjoying an advantage come the second stage.

Liam Plunkett wants to win the World Cup for his ill dad.

'About nine or 10 years ago my dad had a liver transplant, but now there's a complication with his kidney and he's waiting for dialysis. He won't be able to travel to the West Indies, which is sad because it's a big thing for a father to watch his son playing for his country at the World Cup. Everything I am as a cricketer is down to my dad. He was a decent fast bowler for Marske (in the North Yorkshire South Durham League) in his day, so there must be something in the genes. But he's also my strength, a real driving force, and I wish he could be in the Caribbean because we've got a chance to pull off something special."

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Neil Manthorp, writing in the Supersport website, lists South Africa's potential pitfalls during the World Cup.

Jacques Kallis and Ashwell Prince score runs in a similar fashion and a similar pace. They both know that and, in fact, are sick and tired of hearing about it. Nonetheless, they need to be perfectly clear about how they will approach their partnership in whatever circumstances they find themselves batting together.

Meanwhile, in the Natal Witness Ray White, former president of the South African board, profiles his four favourite teams to reach the World Cup semi-finals.

If pressed, I fancy five teams for the semi-finals. If pressed further, I would eliminate Australia on the basis that their team lacks even one world class bowler now that McGrath looks past it and Lee is injured.

Nabila Ahmed, writing in The Age, Melbourne, profiles Shahriar Nafees, the son of a freedom fighter who defended Bangladesh in its bloody war of independence against in 1971.

Under the tutelage of softly spoken captain Bashar, Nafees is now being groomed to one day take over the leadership of his country. Bangladesh's cricketer of the year in 2006, the left-hander says marriage to law student Eshita has brought him luck. "After the wedding, I scored about 400 runs in seven or eight one-dayers."

	Glenn McGrath has announced the World Cup will be his farewell and other stars could yet follow © Getty Images

The World Cup will be the end of an era, according to Robert Craddock in The Courier-Mail. He says the future might be bleak for a while after what will probably be the World Cup swansongs for stars like Glenn McGrath, Brian Lara, Adam Gilchrist, Sanath Jayasuriya, Sachin Tendulkar, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Sourav Ganguly, Matthew Hayden and Shaun Pollock.

Cricket is about to lose a generation of blue-bloods who have underpinned its success for the past decade. Yet there is no expectation that the generation of players below them will soar to the same stellar standards. The game is short of new stars.

Peter Wilson writes in The Australian about lingering concerns for tourists attending the World Cup.

Jamaica's new airport is not finished, the new Sabina Park stadium has been bogged down with construction delays and millions of dollars of promised beautification works never happened. There has been a malaria outbreak in the western suburbs of its capital Kingston, gang violence has killed more than 100 people in the past two months, and farmers have warned that a drought has left them struggling to provide enough food for the visitors. This week an earthquake even struck the islands.

In The Advertiser, Darren Lehmann also airs his concerns about the tournament.

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Peter Roebuck, writing in the Sydney Morning Herald, is relieved Shoaib Akhtar will not be at the World Cup.

He will not be missed. He does not belong on a cricket field anywhere, let alone representing his country in the game's most prestigious event.

An impostor whose reputation relies on a handful of bursts spread over a career lasting a decade, he has been more trouble than he is worth.

In The Age Chloe Saltau looks at Scotland, Australia’s first opponent at the World Cup.

	Craig McMillan rises from the ashes © Getty Images

Craig McMillan's career has had many highs and lows and fortunately for New Zealand, he has peaked at the right time. His blazing form in the Chappell-Hadlee series and in the CB Series prior to that overshadowed the personal lows during his time away from the side, when he lost his contract and was declined a sales job with a clothing company. The only time he made the headlines was when he entered the New Zealand poker championships.

McMillan is clear about his batting role, his head space appears good and one senses that he feels valued after cracking the fastest one-day century on that crazy night in Hamilton.

"I head into this cup a lot more settled than ever before. I know what they want from me and I know how and where I'm going to bat," he said.

Read the full piece by Jonathan Millmow in Stuff.co.nz

	Paul Collingwood England captain? © Getty Images

Players, I believe, would have adjusted accordingly to the current demands, although I am sacrificing some agility for other quality skills. It is not the niftiest fielding side. Anyway five front-line batsmen first: Graham Gooch, Marcus Trescothick, David Gower, Pietersen and Collingwood. No room for Nick Knight, a brilliant opener and fielder, the powerful Graeme Hick nor Graham Thorpe, Neil Fairbrother or Allan Lamb, superb pacers of an innings all. Collingwood's supreme fielding and improving bowling get him in.