Andrew Symonds has earned the reputation of being one of the hardest members of the Australian team as well as the most complex, writes Peter Lalor of the Australian.

He may have won an Alliance Francaise poetry award in 1988, but he is not a cultured man.
He is abrasive, he plays hard and he is his own worst enemy, but he deserves better treatment and more sympathy than he has been shown.

Justin Langer comes out in strong support of his former team-mate and explains why people should stop criticising the way Australian teams play cricket.

I've played against Roy when he's with Queensland and it's like playing against your worst enemy. He plays hard, I admire that, I respect that, that's the way he plays the game.The irony is that the bloke who makes his team-mates laugh the most makes the people who don't know him snarl the most.

	How about another run of 16, boys? © Getty Images

In the Sydney Morning Herald, Philip Derriman says Australia's recent retirees could still be a force enough to challenge the best of the present Test teams.

Consider the line-up. Justin Langer, Damien Martyn and Darren Lehmann would be sure selections with Waugh as batsmen, Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne as bowlers, and Adam Gilchrist as the keeper.

These seven would be the strength of the team. For the other four places you could turn to ex-Test players still in the game - maybe Matthew Elliott, Jason Gillespie, Michael Kasprowicz and Stuart Law, the last of whom will be 40 in October but is still scoring heavily for Lancashire.

How would such a combination go against the Australian Test side? In any conditions, you'd have to think they'd be competitive. On a pitch that suited Warne's leg spin, they might well have an edge.

The article also mentions the recent trend of late Test debuts among Australian batsmen, and suggests that more than the stalwarts holding their places, it's the lack of talented youngsters in the pipeline that's the problem.

In the aftermath of Brad Hogg's poor performance in the Tests against India, the Herald Sun seeks a few opinions on which spinner should Australia pick for their forthcoming series.

Despite a thumping return to his best form in the second half of the summer, Graeme Smith still struggles to shake off his critics and the sceptics, writes Neil Manthorp on Independent Online. He spoke to Smith on various subjects such as the imminent Bangladesh tour, his favourite memory of Shaun Pollock, and the best delivery that has dismissed him.

I would like to be rested for that [Bangladesh] tour! It's a tough one, but I think we should definitely consider resting players, particularly for the three one-dayers after the two Tests. The wickets will spin square, they are going to make life as difficult as possible for us, and rightly so! It'll be a wonderful opportunity for some of the up-and-coming players to learn (laughter). It is being discussed now. I can't see that guys like Jacques [Kallis] and Mark [Boucher] will benefit from playing those games, but other players certainly could benefit. If we want players like Jacques to be around for the next World Cup, then we need to start managing them.

Kevin Pietersen has dismissed the ECB’s focus on winning the next Ashes, preferring instead to concentrate on the next five series before Australia head to England once more. England have slipped from second to fifth in the world rankings for Tests and he’s keen to try to reverse that trend, starting with the tour in New Zealand, where England are busily preparing to face their hosts. He spoke to The Times:

“The Ashes is not even something I am contemplating,” he said. “I will do that next year, but not before. There can be a danger of thinking about it because the Ashes are so big. We should not fall into that trap.

He also spoke to The Telegraph.

But ahead of the Tests come some Twenty20s and one-dayers. Pietersen’s ODI team-mate James Tredwell, who was expecting to play for England Lions and not the full side, has been working on developing another delivery and talks about the challenges of doing so in the Daily Mail.

The front of the Age's sport pages reflects the anger inside Australia following the outcome of the Harbhajan Singh hearing © The Age

On the topic of India's over-the-top reactions to the events in Australia, Harsha Bhogle, in the Sydney Morning Herald, explains that it has a lot to do with the change in attitude of the average Indian over the decades.

Since I was a little child, my abiding memory is of visiting journalists and cricketers coming to India and making fun of us.We were a country finding our feet, we were not confident, we seethed within but we accepted. The new generation in India is not as accepting, they are prouder, more confident, more successful. Those bottled-up feelings are bubbling through.

The Daily Telegraph reveals that Ricky Ponting made the decision to agree to have Harbhajan Singh's racial abuse charge downgraded after a series of secret meetings with lawyers during the Test match in Adelaide.

"Just fix it then," Ponting is understood to have said when emotions flared. As Symonds came to terms with the judgment, it's believed he said: "I can't believe this is happening."

The Australian has acquired the full text of Justice John Hansen's decision in Harbhajan Singh's appeal.

Australian newspapers are full of reaction to the outcome of the Harbhajan Singh affair, in The Age it is reported that the Australian cricketers are furious that Harbhajan Singh has escaped suspension.

"The thing that pisses us off is that it shows how much power India has," said a contracted Australian player, who refused to be named. "The Aussie guys aren't going to make it (the accusation) up. The players are frustrated because this shows how much influence India has, because of the wealth they generate. Money talks.

In the Sydney Morning Herald, Alex Brown says, "in matters directly involving the Indians, don't expect an impartial outcome. Both the BCCI and the ICC have shown their hand in that regard during the past month."

In the Australian Peter Lalor writes, "India, the team that bleated about the spirit of cricket after being beaten in Sydney, has again held a gun to the game's head and had its demands met."

Adelaide Now's Geoff Roach tracks the day's events.

An air of anxiety began to stir among them as the start of play drew nigh without any sign of the principal players. That soon turned to frustration when it was learned the Australian participants had performed their own version of an Indian rope trick by driving into an underground car park and entering the building via a basement lift.

Fearing the same would happen with the Indian party, most camera operators surged 80m east to the car park entrance – only to have to sprint frantically back as a black BMW disgorged Harbhajan and team manager Chetan Chauhan outside the front at 10.50am.

The Australian sports radio stations too are abuzz with listeners calling in to air their opinions. Click here to listen to a few stations.

It’s not just inside Australia comment that the result of the Harbhajan hearing has attracted comment. In The Times, Christopher Martin-Jenkins is less than complimentary about the BCCI’s role.

One understands, of course, the particular sensitivity of matters pertaining to race, but either the BCCI, like all other national representative bodies, accepts the rules of the ICC and, in this case, the procedures that everyone has agreed, whatever the outcome, or there is potential anarchy.

It would not be a good thing if it were to become the expected outcome of every appeal that, whenever a nation's pride is ruffled, oil will be poured on troubled waters. Every case has to be judged on its merits.

Also in The Times Patrick Kidd writes that both teams should move on.

1) If they felt that he had done nothing wrong, India were right to fight this to clear his name. They should now refrain from gloating or complaining about being picked on and get on with the cricket.

2) If Australia thought they had heard a racial slur, they were right to complain. They should now accept that they were mistaken, not complain about the verdict and get on with the cricket.

Prem Panicker, writing in rediff.com, wonders whether in the light of the judgement ICC would take any action on Mike Procter.

Is it fair to say that Procter brought the game into disrepute by delivering a contentious verdict where there was—according to the ICC’s own man—no evidence to underpin such a judgment? And if that is a fair assessment of the performance of the match referee, is it fair to ask what, if anything, the ICC does, what processes it has, to monitor its own officials, to pull them up, to ensure optimum performance?

If Shaun Tait was struggling with the weight of expectation and had lost the desire to play cricket then he has done the right thing by taking a break, according to Robert Craddock in the Herald Sun.

Tait recently revealed his life motto is, "You can't please everyone, so don't try and please anyone". And he has lived up to it by putting his peace of mind ahead of fame and fortune and by taking a break from the game. He is to be applauded for his courage. Some people, who yesterday asked how Tait could be burnt-out after playing just one first-class match in a month, have misread his condition. Sometimes in sport the most mentally taxing place to be is not in the middle or even on the sidelines because of injury. Even more challenging can be the twilight zone where Tait has spent his entire career.

Tait's manager, Andrew McRitchie, tells the Australian the bowler has not quit the game for good.

"He's just having a break,” he said. “It's a brave call for him … he's a 24-year-old big, proud, strong Australian, and for all we know he's been battling for a while. No, he's not quitting, and no it's not an off-ground issue. He's just really had a gutful."

	Shane Warne believes Adam Gilchrist provided the Australia team with common sense © Getty Images

Moments before heading out for his final session of Test cricket, Adam Gilchrist admitted he bawled his eyes out, caught up with emotion after addressing his team-mates. Alex Brown has more in the Age.

The tears began to well during the tea break, with Gilchrist preparing for the final session of a decorated 96-Test career. Eager to address his Australian team-mates for one, final oration, the vice-captain arose moments before play was set to resume.

While the tears flowed, Adam's brother, Glenn, was unaware of the events at the Adelaide Oval. Camping in Queensland, he was unreachable on his mobile phone and was finally informed when he walked into a shop to buy milk. Read more in the Courier Mail.

He was uncharacteristically flat. He obviously had something on his mind. I wish the bugger would have told me! I flew home and went four-wheel driving all weekend.

Shane Warne and Adam Gilchrist might not have been best mates but in the Courier-Mail Warne reflects on what he liked about Gilchrist. Some of it is arguably faint praise: "Gilly is one of those solid citizens and a very good family man who rarely did anything wrong". Warne even manages to bring John Buchanan into the mix.

We had a mutual respect for each other and our positions in the team. He is a guy who was everyone's friend and Gilly will be missed around the dressing rooms a lot for his input and his commonsense. And when John Buchanan was in charge, let me tell you, we needed as much commonsense around as we could because I believe the coach had none. Speaking of the ex-coach, he should thank Gilly and the captain Ricky Ponting for an extension of his contract at the time because they were the only two people who wanted him to stay. Everyone else who was asked said "let him go, he has had his time". Gilly supported the coach. I say good on him for standing up for what he believed to be the best thing for the team.

Mike Coward writes in the Australian that for the first time in many years an element of self-doubt is detectable within the Australia team.

The Australians will be disconcerted by this unconvincing conclusion to the Test match season. They've lost confidence and rhythm since the first two wins of the summer against badly chosen Sri Lankan teams last November and after taking an unassailable lead against India. Certainly this is the case in the field where so many catches have been missed. This fact alone suggests a changed mindset. While it has been another successful season, there is no doubt the winds of change are gaining in velocity. To maintain heady standards with a restructured team is the task before Ponting.

With Australia's retirement list upto five, Nick Bryant looks at the possible replacements. Read more in BBC Sport

Peter Roebuck, writing in the Sydney Morning Herald, picks Brett Lee as the unsung hero of the spicy series.

Ricky Ponting possessed the most lethal bowler in the series. He could throw the ball to Lee with confidence. Lee used the crease resourcefully, his slower ball effectively, his bumper sparingly and his outswingers frequently.

... By the end of the series, India's four senior speedsters were on the physio's table. All of them should be forced to undertake a rigorous rehabilitation program at a facility in a remote desert and run by a bad-tempered 82-year-old with cold hands. Nor could Kumble put complete faith in his own bowling shoulder or an off-spinner whose doosra troubled only the home captain.

	Adam Gilchrist gets a thumbs up from Steve Waugh © Getty Images

Paying tribute to Adam Gilchrist in the Daily Telegraph, Steve Waugh recounts his memories of the wicketkeeper-batsman during his tenure as captain of Australia.

From the moment he entered the Australian dressing room when I began my captaincy of a remodelled one-day outfit, he gave it a calmness with his understated confidence, humour from his larrikin instincts, professionalism as a result of his work ethic and a refreshing vulnerability by never being afraid to display his emotions.

Besides being trusted to bail the team out of trouble with the bat, Waugh also points out that Gilchrist was a vital cog in transforming Australia to a champion side in both Tests and one-dayers.

It was a real luxury to be able to turn to Adam whenever I wanted to increase the run rate in the search for victory. Often it was a gut instinct, spur-of-the-moment decision which meant little or no preparation, but never once did he baulk or resist the notion.

It was on one such occasion that probably turned around the fortunes of the one-day side when, during the tea interval, I contemplated how we were going to turn around our poor form.

It was like a bolt of lightning, an overwhelming urge to elevate Gilly from No. 7 to open the batting to make the most of his natural skills, and the rest is history. He was also responsible, together with Justin Langer, in breaking new ground for the team by chasing down a big fourth-innings total that gave the team faith in its own ability, culminating in the 16 straight victories.

In the Australian, Peter Lalor says the game may never be the same.

It's a loss. You got used to him standing there, egging the team on, bounding in for the return, whispering in the captain's ear, clapping and cajoling.

	Ricky Ponting: A gritty hundred for the tough man © Getty Images

Peter Roebuck applauds Ricky Ponting's innings of resolve in Adelaide. He writes in the Sydney Morning Herald:

Ponting's restraint was impressive. Throughout his innings he played to a plan, collecting singles as a taxman does revenues and pushing the ball into gaps in the old-fashioned way. Disdaining familiar straight drives and leg-side flicks, he reached forward and guided the ball past square leg or else leant back to cut. Refusing to leave his crease and keeping a close eye on Harbhajan Singh's doosra, he advanced at his own unhurried pace.

It's just another difficult period this tough cricketer has encountered and overcome, says Roebuck.

Ponting's first task was to demonstrate that he could win cricket matches and so sustain the domination of the Taylor and Waugh years. In some respects it is easier to inherit a losing side with lower expectations. From a distance it seemed that Australia could only go downhill. It is part of the Tasmanian's achievement that he has managed to defy gravity.

In the same paper, Alex Brown says Adam Gilchrist's exit after his brief innings - perhaps his final in Tests - was "not the most controversial walk of his career, but certainly the most emotional."

In the Sunday Telegraph, Michael Atherton says that the Indian Premier League and Twenty20 cricket is poised to take over, so you better get used to it.

It was said after the Ashes victory of 2005 that cricket was the new football; well, the IPL is cricket's version of football's Premier League, and the consequences, in terms of the finances and structure of the world game, are likely to be far-reaching.

But Atherton warns that rather than complement the traditional game, the new formats and new cash might well swamp it.

Further down the line, English county cricket may find itself threatened and the ECB, by sanctioning the IPL, may not so much have kept the barbarians at the gates, as let them through the front door. If the franchise model expands, as is the hope in India, then there will be a limit to how far a market can serve two masters. Even in India, a much bigger market for cricket, there will be a potential conflict between the new and the old. No prizes for guessing where a young, hip Calcuttan businessman will want to spend his company's dosh - and it's not with the antiquated Bengal Cricket Association. Shah Rukh Khan's Kolkata Red Chillies has far more appeal.

With franchise owners having staked megabucks on the IPL, the Times of India's Indranil Basu crunches the numbers to find out whether the IPL model makes business sense.

	"Once he started playing for Australia, he forced cricket boards across the globe to have a rethink on how they wanted their keepers to be" © Getty Images

Adam Gilchrist's retirement has got many emotional, some relieved, and plenty more appreciating just what the explosive wicketkeeper-batsman brought to the game. Anil Kumble, who has played against Gilchrist on numerous occasions, and who shares a mutual friendship with him, writes in the Hindustan Times that he was a different kind of opposition played and that it all boiled down to the fact that Gilchrist was a nice man, humble, straightforward, quite down to earth.

He also came across as someone who cared and made that extra effort to show it. I remember getting a surprise call from Gilly when I crossed 500 Test wickets. We weren’t playing after that and I was home when I got this call and the voice announced, ‘this is Adam Gilchrist’. Australia were touring Bangladesh at the time and he told me that he had been trying to get in touch with me for the last 10 days and that it had been really tough getting through from there. It was really nice of him, but he is that kind of guy.

Meanwhile, Sharda Ugra, who has covered cricket for years, acutely observes Kumble himself, noting a calm demeanor and pointing out how a scientific temper has been of more use than tempers of other kinds.

Over 18 years, he has only ever made news on the field and, on his day, he is a looming, fearsome adversary. But to an India punch-drunk on shortterm heroes, usually younger and younger batsmen in increasingly brief forms of the game, Kumble has virtually been invisible.

Read on in India Today.

As news of Adam Gilchrist’s retirement is still sinking in – Damien Fleming today said he had to take ten minutes after being told of the decision – the Sydney Morning Herald explains how he broke the news to his team-mates on the bus heading to the ground on the third day.

The bus was quiet, with each player absorbed in his pre-match routine and pondering his individual role in the third day of the fourth Test. Unannounced and with no fanfare, Gilchrist broke the silence.

Jon Pierik in the Sunday Telegraph says it was the right time for him to go.

Reaction from around the world included Scyld Berry in London’s Sunday Telegraph, who said Gilchrist “has been as far above all other rivals as Sir Donald Bradman himself”, while Simon Wilde in The Sunday Times, added “Bowlers around the issued a sigh of relief”. Even the Scotland on Sunday had an opinion.

The Shane Bond-Indian Cricket League saga has gone quiet of late, which Adam Parore in the Weekend Herald sees as a positive sign that he might still play in the upcoming series against England.

Whether he plays will doubtless come down to the wording of his contract. From my experience his contract is unlikely to say "you can't sign" for an unsanctioned competition, more likely "you can't play in an unsanctioned event while contracted to New Zealand Cricket". Obviously he is not playing for an opposition league yet and until he turns up he will not be in breach of anything. To prevent him playing or even to leave him out of selection because he has signed to go elsewhere after his NZC contract has expired will be seen as a clear restraint of trade.

In the Press, Geoff Longley takes a look at the man with one of the toughest jobs in cricket at the moment - John Hansen, the New Zealand judge who will hear the appeal over Harbhajan Singh's three-Test ban.

	Adam Gilchrist should be appreciated, not attacked © Getty Images

Adam Gilchrist broke the world wicketkeeping record on Friday but that has been overshadowed by questions over his form and future, which Mike Coward in the Weekend Australian thinks is unfair.

It is a phenomenal achievement and this gentleman cricketer should be lauded like no other for there has been no other like him in the history of the game. His critics, who have been more conspicuous this summer, have one thing in common - a disturbingly short memory. All things being equal this consummate professional cricketer should be celebrated not castigated.

Steve Waugh in the Daily Telegraph reminds readers of the skill with which Gilchrist handled Shane Warne’s bowling.

In the Sydney Morning Herald Peter Roebuck analyses Ricky Ponting’s defensive mindset when Anil Kumble was still fresh in his innings.

This conservatism was a mistake because wickets remain crucial in the toughest times. Clearly Ponting did not want to give too much away. India have to win the match to level the series. Nevertheless the field that greeted Brett Lee as he stood at the top of the mark was humbling. A single slip had been placed to pounce on edges. The man behind point was in shouting range. Everyone else was lining the boundary. All seven of them.

Martin Flanagan writes in the Age that Ponting is facing unfamiliar problems, while Jon Pierik in the Herald Sun looks at Brad Hogg’s struggle to have an impact at Test level.

In the Courier-Mail Robert Craddock runs the rule over the five India stars unlikely to tour Australia again.

In the Weekend Australian, Mike Coward tells the story of Jimmy Okello and Patrick Ochan, two members of the Uganda cricket team that played in the ICC World Cricket League Division Three tournament in Darwin last year. They have settled in Adelaide and found themselves bowling at Ricky Ponting in the nets this week.

They are now self-sufficient and with the legal assistance provided by the Australian Refugees Association earnestly hope that they will be permitted to remain in Australia. Their legal team will be armed with glowing references from the Western Eagles and from the South Australian Cricket Association. In just seven months, both young men have made a great impact on the local cricket scene. "Every day is like a blessing," Okello said. "We want to settle in Australia." Their working visas are valid only until next month and the uncertainty of their future is causing considerable anxiety.

Sachin Tendulkar scoring a century at the ground Don Bradman made his own during the 1930s and 1940s must have been a moment decreed by the gods, writes Mike Coward in the Australian.

It has been very helpful for those who did not have the privilege of seeing Bradman to hear the little bloke, as he was so cheekily called by some of his peers - notably Bill O'Reilly and Sam Loxton - speak of Tendulkar in such glowing terms. While Bradman knew many of his records would never be equalled let alone broken, he was gracious enough to recognise the genius of a player of the modern age. After all, he played at a very different time - his career being played on 10 grounds in eight cities in Australia and England. Conversely, Tendulkar has played on 43 Test match grounds in 13 countries if you separate the sovereign nations of the Caribbean.

Alex Brown in the Age wonders if Sachin Tendulkar might do the unthinkable and pass Brian Lara’s record of 11,953 runs during the Adelaide Test.

Following his unbeaten innings of 124 yesterday, Sachin Tendulkar moved within 213 runs of Brian Lara's all-time Test run-scoring record, set at this very ground in 2005. By mortal standards, you'd suggest the prospect of Tendulkar overhauling Lara in this Test as likely as a South Australian conceding the point that Don Bradman was, in fact, a New South Welshman. But here's the thing. Tendulkar is no mortal.

	Peter Roebuck has reason to believe Sachin Tendulkar will tour Australia for yet another Test series © Getty Images

Steve Waugh, writing in the Daily Telegraph, is impressed with Mitchell Johnson's progress. Waugh says Sachin Tendulkar's hundred was one that was typical of the "last third of Tendulkar's career."

Unhurried yet perfectly paced, mixing control with brutality and text book with innovation while recognising the significance of first-innings runs to his side.

His balance while playing his strokes was guided by a head that was repeatedly over the ball and unwavering in its stability. His knees were supple, allowing a smooth transfer of weight.

The "master of the single", Peter Roebuck believes, will be back in Australia in 2012. He says in the Sydney Morning Herald:

Unless his nerve fails him or batting becomes a chore, Tendulkar will be back in 2012. Far from losing focus, he looks eager. Rejecting the captaincy helped him to renew his vitality. After a struggle, he has come to terms with age; has learnt to combine the singles of experience with the boundaries of youth.

With the IPL selling the media rights and the rights to own the eight franchises at eye-popping rates, the Economic Times analyses the revenues and expenses of the Indian board and the franchises.

The total inflow for the Board from sale of TV rights and bid money is about $133 million each year for next 10 years.
...
The Board will also make money from sale of title rights to the IPL, T-shirts of teams, a certain number of in-stadia boards at each venue and a portion of income from various other sources.

Meanwhile, the Business Standard finds that most franchisees are confident that they will break even between the second and fifth year.

Industry experts say that a gap of $3-4 million can be adjusted as a company’s advertising budget, because of the high mileage the corporate gets through its ownership.

	Darren Gough wins the 2007 Christmas special of Strictly Come Dancing © Getty Images

“I’m in bits … I’ve just had a massage to sort me out and that hasn’t nearly done the job. And I’ve got to do it all again tonight."

His success in the show – which he won in 2005 – has catapulted him into the realm of being a
TV celebrity, and when he retires, which is likely to be at the end of the summer, a new career is waiting for him. There were even suggestions he could go into musical theatre …

“I’ve not got a bad voice, believe it or not … with a few singing lessons, who knows? If you’d said to me a few years ago that I’d be spending my winter on a dancing tour, performing in front of 12,000 people, I’d have said you were sick.”

	Nasir Jamshed enjoyed a fine debut in Karachi but did Shoaib Malik really want him in the team? © AFP

It's a new year, but there appear to be the same old problems for Pakistan as talk of disagreements between selectors and team management grow stronger. Ahead of the current Zimbabwe series, Shoaib Malik said he preferred Kamran Akmal as opener, but the selectors wanted to try Nasir Jamshed. The Dawn explains further.

Malik’s insistence on playing the struggling wicket-keeper-batsman Kamran Akmal as opener against the Zimbabweans and his unflinching loyalty with a rather expensive Rao Iftikhar are among the few issues that are being constantly debated over by the selectors.

Also, the skipper’s reluctance to try out newer, younger players against Prosper Utseya’s men and his obvious disregard for seasoned all-rounder Shahid Afridi and pacer Umar Gul has also irked the selectors no end.

Now there are also questions being raised as to whether Geoff Lawson is the right man to haul Pakistan out of their slump. Although they reached the World Twenty20 final in September, results have been poor during his short spell in charge. The News says that time is running short for Lawson.

Another charge against Lawson is that he loses his temper too quickly. Sports scribes witnessed it themselves after Pakistan lost the Karachi Test against South Africa last October when Lawson became rude while answering to queries — not an appropriate thing to do considering the fact that it was his first post-match press conference since taking over as national coach. He was also quite unconvincing.

The selectors also got a taste of Lawson’s temper during a few meetings to discuss the team combination ahead and during the ongoing series against Zimbabwe. According to one selector, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, Lawson actually becomes ‘unreasonable and rude’ while arguing with the selectors.

England Lions arrive in Mumbai on Thursday for their four-week tour which sees them playing in the Duleep Trophy. They are being coached by a man or never played international or even domestic cricket, but David Parsons has always been earmarked as a coach with huge potential. He tells the Times about the pros and cons of coming into a high-level role without having playing experience.

“I think it can be an advantage [not having played professionally],” Parsons said. “To acquire knowledge and experience I have to use other people’s knowledge. I don’t take any ego into those relationships. The other advantage is I developed skills I would perhaps not have been able to develop if I spent those years playing cricket.”

The disadvantages are more predictable. “I think back to a Level 3 that I ran. I was doing a spin module and I looked around the room and there’s people like Tom Moody, John Bracewell and me talking to them about spin bowling,” Parsons said. “I found it quite a difficult experience.”

	Sachin Tendulkar won't say if this is his last tour of Australia © Getty Images

Will the Adelaide Test be the last in Australia for India’s stars Sachin Tendulkar, Anil Kumble, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman? The answer could be yes and no. The Age finds out that while Kumble knows this is his last visit to Australia, Tendulkar and Dravid have not written off their chances of another tour.

In the Australian Mike Coward writes that if it is Tendulkar’s last Test in Australia, Adelaide, Don Bradman’s hometown, is a fitting farewell venue for a number of reasons.

Aside from his visits as India's master batsman that began in 1991-92 when he was 18, he was also in Adelaide for treatment for a severe back injury in 1999. To the delight of Rod Marsh and Wayne Phillips, principals at the Cricket Academy, he insisted on living with the students in a single room in the dormitory accommodation of the Del Monte guesthouse in suburban Henley Beach. Tendulkar laughed when reminded he had once asked Phillips for permission to leave the digs to buy fish and chips at nearby Henley square.

Peter Roebuck in the Sydney Morning Herald says Australia need not fret about their Perth loss, as the return of Matthew Hayden and Brad Hogg will help immensely, while India must retain their focus.

India must surge again. Rows about the one-day side will not help. Nothing in Sourav Ganguly's batting or fielding in Perth suggested that he deserved a place in a 50-over side chosen to play on large, antipodean fields. Anil Kumble, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman will also be going home, and not a whimper has been heard from their supporters. India cannot allow anything to distract them from matters in hand.

In the Daily Telegraph, Jon Pierik suggests Ricky Ponting faces one of his toughest challenges in Adelaide.

"The best thing that the national selectors did was drop the two seniors [Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly] from the ODI squad," writes Makarand Waingankar in the Mumbai Mirror. "It requires courage of conviction. Knowing fully well that regional-minded observers will ignite controversy for dropping Ganguly and Dravid, the chairman of the selection committee Dilip Vengsarkar stamped his authority."

It would be easy to forget that Darren Gough is still a professional cricketer, and Yorkshire's captain at that. He is now more famous than at any time in his career after taking the reality TV world by storm with his success on Strictly Come Dancing. He has one more year left on his Yorkshire contract, then the TV life will beckon full time. As he takes part in a UK tour of Strictly, Gough chats to John Westerby in the Times about what he might do, and one thing he certainly won't do, after cricket.

His preferred next step would be a move on to the small screen, possibly as Ally McCoist’s replacement as a captain on A Question of Sport. “When I was younger I wanted to present a Saturday-night quiz show, something like The Price is Right,” Gough says. “But Question of Sport would be great. I’m quite similar to Ally and my personality would come across the same in front of a camera.”

He will not, however, be looking to enhance his profile by appearing in any jungle-based reality shows. “That just isn’t me,” he says. “I’m always up for a challenge, but eating a kangaroo’s bits is no way to prove yourself.”

As Australia struggles to unearth a quality new spinner in the post-Warne era one of their projects, the Cricket Australia-contracted Cullen Bailey, is not even getting a game for his state. In the Age Chloe Saltau chats to Bailey about how he intends to rectify that problem.

When the national selectors were searching the country for a replacement for the injured Stuart MacGill last month, Bailey was so far from selection that he rigged up a rope across the practice nets. In a desperate effort to rediscover the flight and turn that had deserted him, he looped the ball over the rope.

Unlike spin, the stocks of top-class wicketkeeper-batsmen around Australia are overflowing and Jon Pierik in the Herald Sun says it might be time for Adam Gilchrist to step aside from the Test cricket scene.

If Gilchrist plays through another home summer at age 37, will he still be the right man for the job come the 2009 Ashes series? If not, then New South Wales's Brad Haddin must be handed his baggy green next summer. That's only fair for Haddin, who would then have six Tests at home and a tour of South Africa to ready himself for England. At 30, Haddin - who earns a spot in the Australia one-day team as a specialist batsman - is at his peak. His time is now.

	Nick Jewell: 'One of the best jobs in the world, no doubt' © Getty Images

Of course, they all want to play for Australia. Only the cream get there. But the lot of a state cricketer is not shabby. Consider leg-spinner Bryce McGain, who, at 35, cracked his first state contract and has all but had to quit his high-paying IT job with a major bank for the privilege of scraping through as a single dad on a base contract. For him, living the dream of being a professional cricketer has nothing to do with fortune.

The pay’s not bad, ranging from AUS$38,000 for a rookie to Aus$170,000 at the top for those who play every game. Nick Jewell, who opens for Victoria, sums things up nicely.

"One of the best jobs in the world, no doubt … My brother's a plumber and a lot of my friends are tradesmen, out there digging holes in the pouring rain fixing people's plumbing.”

	India are winning on a far more regular basis than in the past ©Getty Images

India's cricket history is a story of a few peaks and many heartbreaks. After the victory at Perth, Pradeep Magazine, writing in the Hindustan Times, is hopeful that the Indian team will win on a more consistent basis.

... has our time come? An Indian team after the Sydney fiasco was not supposed to fight back against a real champion side, like this one has done. That itself is the stuff dreams are made of.

Are we finally near fulfilling that dream where victories like these won’t make us react as if we have conquered the world? There does seem a hope that this team is capable of giving our headline-hunters in the media enough wins to treat sport as it should be: Sport and not war.

In the Indian Express, Mini Kapoor wonders whether the uproar following the Sydney Test, along with India's win and Anil Kumble's decision to drop charges against Brad Hogg, would bring back "an Australia we once knew? An Australian team that’s tough but still knows that cricket is, in the end, still a game? A game that is there sometimes for the losing."

Ah, cricketing harmony, that’s what we like to see and that’s what we got, at last, with the Perth Test. It’s also what Mike Coward likes, as he recounts on Fox Sports and he knows the reason why it came to pass:

The game is indebted to victorious captain Anil Kumble and his vanquished counterpart Ricky Ponting.

The Australian rounds up the Indian newspapers’ reaction and looks at its problem child, causing upset for another reason here.

Michael Jeh, writing in the ABC News website, emphasises that any form of sledging blackens cricket's name.

	Matthew Hayden: saving lives © Getty Images

Phil Jaques may be Matthew Hayden's opening partner following the retirement of Justin Langer, but it wouldn't have been so if not for Hayden's timely intervention. No, Hayden didn't use his muscle power to threaten the selectors to pick Jaques, but instead pulled his team-mate out of trouble.

The incident occurred during a boot camp in 2006, when Jaques had a misunderstanding with an instructor during an abseiling [rappelling] expedition. He is quoted in the Age:

Matty literally saved my life. I'm glad he was on the ball so I could have the chance to walk out to bat with him a few more times.

The same report says that a little difficulty in sighting the ball should not discourage youngsters and cites the example of Chris Rogers, the batsman who replaced Hayden for the Perth Test. Rogers "is partially colourblind, wears spectacles in the field and sometimes loses the ball in the maroon seats when he is playing at the Gabba." However, that didn't stop him from playing for Australia.

	Ricky Ponting deserves credit for Australia's changed attitude on the field, says Peter Roebuck © Getty Images

Peter Roebuck defends Australia's mellowed on-field behaviour during the third Test in Perth, and is not willing to accept that the 16-match winning streak ended to due to the change. India played better cricket, he says in the Age.

In short, the Australians were not beaten because they have turned into a bunch of softies. To the contrary, they represented the nation with distinction and after a terrific tussle succumbed to a superbly led and single-minded side that played sturdy cricket for four days. The Australians did not exactly put out a welcome mat for each batsman or blush every time an appeal was rejected. Instead, they shook hands before the match, kept their manners when players collided, did not appeal unless they thought the batsman might be out, did not claim any questionable catches and generally played cricket that the entire world and not just apologists can recognise as hard but fair. As vice-captain and behind the sticks, Adam Gilchrist served with distinction.

Roebuck, who had said that Ponting must be sacked after the controversial Test in Sydney, commended the Australian captain for the manner in which he handled his team in Perth.

Ponting deserves credit for the way his side played. A man under attack faces a stark choice. He can dismiss the remarks and surround himself with backslappers, a species in abundance on this continent. Or he can take the opportunity provided by provocation to re-examine his path. Ponting chose the latter course. It was not a single article that caused the commotion, but the response to it. Moreover, Anil Kumble's comments were altogether more telling, coming from a man of such stature. Australia had lost touch with its better self.

	Shane Warne poses with poker champion Joe Hachem © Getty Images

Shane Warne dismisses suggestions that Australia lost the Perth Test due to their changed attitude on the field. He states they were outdone by a team that played better in the Daily Telegraph.

Maybe they were not as aggressive in their body language in Perth as they normally are, but I think that was the nature of this Test, in which they were behind for most of the game.

Maybe a few things were not as they should have been in Sydney, but their body language showed me that the Australian team cared and it was important to them to win the game.

Warne also indicated he was not going to take up poker professionally.

And for anyone who's wondering, I'm not becoming a pro player, just a former sportsman who has a passion for the game.

In the same paper, Robert Craddock says the loss may prove beneficial in the long term, given Australia have away tours to Pakistan, India, South Africa and England lined up.

The Australian team needs to be pressurised and occasionally beaten, as they were in Perth, to learn who can stay in the kitchen when the temperatures are soaring.

	Ricky Ponting: A Norman Mailer clone? © Getty Images

For Mailer, substitute the Australian cricket XI, who can lay fair claim to being the greatest lesbian sports team since Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova doubled up to win a Wimbledon and a couple of US Opens. Ricky Ponting's men are that butch. They are butcher than Terry Butcher at his butchest.

Not that this was always the case. A quarter of a century ago Australia were losing the Ashes and Kim Hughes was in tears, a double humiliation that convinced the Australian selectors to stop selecting curly blonds as captain and start picking Mailer clones. Allan Border, Mark Taylor, Steve Waugh and now Ricky Ponting, all hewn from the same baggy green cloth. Has there ever been a ballsier quartet in all of sport?

Success followed with a unique, at the time, run of 16 Test victories; followed by another 16 streak, which they attempted to better on Sky Sports last week. Being Mailerish, the achievement was not without controversy as their record-equalling win was surrounded by insult and injury. The Indians wanted to flounce off, the Aussies stood their ground. The world and his Australian wife took the Indians' side. Ponting's men were on the cusp of history, yet despised in their own land. Totally butch.

Meanwhile, Iain Fletcher, writing in the Independent on Sunday, describes the new-found peace between Australia and India during the Perth Test.

The Sunday Telegraph's Scyld Berry says that after Australia's loss at Perth, "England will have the comfort of knowing the Australians are not invincible" looking ahead to the Ashes.

Geoff Miller’s appointment as national selector is, according to Mike Atherton in today’s Sunday Telegraph, a good choice. “He knows the game,” Atherton said, “having played it at the highest level; he is not so big a name that he will become a distraction, and, in my dealings with him, he has shown the right mix of honesty, straightforwardness and discretion.” However, the difference between the announcement of England’s new chief selector, and Kevin Keegan’s return to St James’ Park, could not be greater:

There was no clearer demonstration of the divergent paths that cricket and football have taken these last two decades than on Friday afternoon. At St James' Park, amidst a whirligig of cameras and flashing lights and before a throng of reporters, Newcastle welcomed Kevin Keegan back from exile. At a desolate-looking Lord's, meanwhile, five cameras (one hand-held) and a dozen scribes sat at the feet of Geoff Miller, England's new chairman of selectors, now the so-called national selector. Even the biscuits, kindly laid on, were barely touched.

It is interesting to speculate, had such twin events occurred on a wintry Friday afternoon 20 years ago, what the relative glitz factor might have been. Maybe Newcastle would still have been the more powerful magnet. But the satellite-induced football revolution had barely begun, England's cricketers held the Ashes and cricket could boast the biggest name in English sport in Ian Botham. The contrast would not have been so acute.

He adds a cautionary note to the ECB’s communications department, too. “The relative lack of media interest in Miller's ascension could also have been because notice of the press conference was not given until two hours beforehand (memo to the communications department: not everyone can afford to live within an hour of London).”

	Anil Kumble: Finally in the limelight © Getty Images

Peter Roebuck pays tribute to Anil Kumble in the Sydney Morning Herald, and says in hindsight India will question its delay in appreciating its champion cricketer.

In so many ways Kumble has been the rock of the team, a constant in the raging seas of life. He has been a Churchillian bowler, prepared to fight them on the beaches and on the fields and never to give up.

Few men have so far outstripped the natural resources assigned to them in their early days. But sport has always been inclined to mistake style for ability, show for substance.

In the same paper, Chloe Saltau says that "[Ishant] Sharma, with his heavy bling and natural physical gifts, could be a megastar in cricket-mad India".

Greg Baum writes in the Age, "three young Indian quicks who are all younger than Australia's youngest and had never set foot in Perth previously, exploited the local conditions better than the Australians. This as much as the result will exercise Australian minds; it hints at decline."

Meanwhile, in the Daily Telegraph, Robert Craddock says that Australian fans must get used to the occasional loss.

	Phil Mustard: 'My aim is to make them pick me' © Getty Images

Tim Ambrose might be the selectors' first choice as Test keeper for the forthcoming New Zealand series, but Phil Mustard - rather oddly bracketed as a one-day opener-cum-keeper - is determined to force his way in, as Richard Rae finds out in today's Guardian.

In New Zealand the one-day matches are also before the Tests, and Mustard, described last season by Shane Warne as "the best wicketkeeper/batsman in England", is confident he can score enough runs and keep wicket well enough to secure his place for the five-day matches.

"It was good to play in the one-day internationals, but it's only when you've made it into the Test team that you can say you've made the grade, and hopefully I'll get a chance to prove I'm a Test player," said the 24-year-old. "I worked hard on my batting during the seven or eight weeks we were in Sri Lanka, and over the last couple of weeks here at Chester-Le-Street.

"When it came to the one-dayers my instructions were to go out and play positively, the way I do for Durham. I didn't go on to get the big scores I would have liked [his top score was 28], but I did get the team off to a bit of a flyer in the first two matches. The coaches and I had a few chats after the series, and the message was to be a bit less extravagant - to remain positive, but pick the right ball. Obviously I'll have to progress and bat longer in New Zealand, but my aim is to make them pick me."

In a team full of forceful personalities with no shortage of alpha males, Laxman is an ephemeral presence, writes Sharda Ugra in her blog Free Hit.

Laxman's walk to the crease is all purposeful, rolling-shouldered, Johnnie Walker advert. Once there, he combines a stillness of demeanour with a bustle of run-seeking. Unlike in Sydney, his innings at Perth wasn't filled with strokes that picked the ball 13 cms from outside off and sent the disoriented thing to mid-wicket, but he could still look like he was batting for pleasure. At the end-of-day press conference, he remarked bafflingly that he enjoyed playing under pressure. Perhaps he thinks the words are synonyms.

	You could imagine Ricky Ponting getting about the outfield with a much-thumbed copy of the Spirit of Cricket in his back pocket, newly annotated by Anil Kumble © Getty Images

If India can storm the castle, unchallenged for 16 Tests, you can bet within months other nations will be bursting through the barricades and crash-tackle an Australian side that will soon tour Pakistan, India and the West Indies.

Mike Coward in the Weekend Australian believes that India appeared in a better frame of mind than Australia after the Sydney saga, and the Age’s Greg Baum also explores that theme by observing Australia in the field.

They were not sulking, but they were nonplussed. It was as if they now understood what they couldn't do, but were still unsure about what they could. You could imagine Ricky Ponting getting about the outfield with a much-thumbed copy of the Spirit of Cricket in his back pocket, newly annotated by Anil Kumble.

In the Sydney Morning Herald Peter Roebuck says Brett Lee had too little support, while Chloe Saltau in the Age and Peter Lalor in the Weekend Australian both look at Shaun Tait’s miserable return to Test cricket. Lalor writes that Tait “has been the cactus in the school play who somehow managed to miss his cue and forget his lines”.

If Australia’s former prime minister John Howard is jealous of the new man Kevin Rudd for having the Gabba in his Brisbane electorate, he must be equally envious of the new foreign minister. Stephen Smith’s electorate includes the WACA, and in the Weekend Australian Mike Coward looks at Australia’s newest high-profile cricket tragic.

For Smith, the WACA Ground is a very special place and flooded with memories of the feats of cricketers he has long admired, none more than his hero Graham "Garth" McKenzie. He was 12 when first taken to the ground by his grandfather for the Sheffield Shield match between Western Australia and South Australia in 1967-68. The previous year, his family had moved from Narrogin in the south of the state to Perth and his first sighting of some of the great names of Australian cricket is one of his most treasured memories. He carried with him not a modest sheet of paper but the book, the Rothmans Book of Ashes Cricket 1946-1963 edited by Ted Dexter, he had been awarded as dux of Grade VII at Christian Brothers School at Highgate. He was bursting with excitement and somehow hoped he could secure a signature or two.

	The Australian team are sorely missing the services of Matthew Hayden, with the bat and in the slips © AFP

The Sydney Morning Herald points out that Australia are perhaps lagging behind in Perth due to the unavailability of Matthew Hayden, who's out due to a hamstring injury.

Matthew Hayden's absence from "the leather lounge" - as he describes his customary spot in the Australian slips cordon - has been almost as costly for Australia as his temporary vacation from the top of the order in the third Test against India.

Steve Waugh feels Australia should not lose faith in Shaun Tait, who went wicketless in his 21 overs. He says in the Daily Telegraph,

One of the problems in choosing a four-man pace attack is that the No. 4 bowler, especially if he is the man out of form, can tend to get the thin edge of the wedge.

I always found it very difficult managing an attack overstocked with fast or slow men. It's very hard to give everyone enough bowling, the end they like to bowl from or the ball when it is nice and hard.

Irfan Pathan, who yorked Waugh with a reverse-swinging delivery Waugh in his second Test, came in for praise.

When I first saw him four years ago I marvelled at the way he could swing the ball both ways and it has been surprising to see him dropped because of poor form and only appear for the third Test of the series.

David Hopps has been dispatched to Perth by the Guardian to cover the aftermath of Bollyline. Except, as he's been discovering, there's not a lot of aggro to report. Quite the contrary in fact. The Aussies have been so concerned about minding their Ps and Qs, they've temporarily forgotten how to win a cricket match.

Many psychologists will tell you that niceness is bad for you. Some psychologists even talk about the "tyranny of niceness", the urge that prevents you reaching your full potential. No psychologist is yet on record as saying that niceness can cost you Test matches but, if Australia lose in Perth, Ricky Ponting might well receive a cold call from one.

Australia have occasionally played about as naturally as Pete Doherty at a gig for the WI. Feral appeals have been arrested halfway through. Umpires have received heartfelt apologies for undue enthusiasm. Close-in fielders have politely asked the non-striking batsmen if they are in their way when they clearly are not. They are behaving as cricket would wish them to behave yet they are not entirely comfortable with it.

Elsewhere in The Guardian, Mike Selvey has been musing on the implications of Shane Warne's new favourite sport, Poker.

Well, good for him to get involved in what clearly is a burgeoning market, particularly online. But Texas Hold 'Em's gain is cricket's loss, or more specifically that of Hampshire, the county side he is contracted to lead this coming season as he has done for the past couple of years.

This week it was revealed that he will not be joining them for the start of the season and may miss chunks later on as his poker commitments take over. A contracted cricketer, one of the most famous ever employed by that county, is not going to fulfil his playing obligations because of poker.

Many reasons have been put forward for England's flagging Test fortunes since the 2005 Ashes, but the absence of key players has hit the team's hopes. Obviously Andrew Flintoff's injuries have been crucial, but so too has the missing top-order skills of Marcus Trescothick. He has been away from the international scene for well over a year and England have struggled to replace his flamboyant and tone-setting contributions. However, after an aborted attempt at returning Trescothick is in no rush to risk his health again, although as he tells Ivo Tennant in the Times he can see light at the end of the tunnel.

Taunton is a small, relaxed town and Trescothick does not desire to live elsewhere. He spoke yesterday of his hopes of coaching Somerset after he retires - he is 32 and, ideally, would like to play until he is 40 - although he wants to do so in conjunction with running a business of some kind. He lives near the ground; Musgrove Hospital, where his second child will be born, is two miles away - “I don’t know whether it is a boy or a girl, but two children is probably enough” - and he can walk the streets unbothered even by the cider swillers.

As Australia face the potential end of their 16-match winning streak Robert Craddock in the Herald Sun asks the question, is this the finish of a great cricketing dynasty?

It is a fair question and one that must be asked in the wake of not just yesterday's collapse, but the startling themes of the past seven days of bare-knuckled Test combat between Australia and India. Even if Australia wriggles off the canvas and wins the third Test, it can be said with some surety that the mighty Australian aura is fading. Since the start of the Sydney Test, India has stood toe-to-toe and eyeball-to-eyeball with Australia, highlighting some deficiencies and cutting down some lofty reputations.

Greg Baum in the Age looks at the strangely unfamiliar Australia line-up that struggled on the second day in Perth.

This was something of an unknown Australia, sapped, by circumstance and attrition, of much of its renowned hard-headedness. Missing were not only Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and Justin Langer, but here, temporarily, Matthew Hayden; four stronger players in the mind Australia has not known. In their place were four players with a total of 13 Tests between them and already learning harsh lessons about how begrudging opponents, umpires and luck are in Test cricket.

In the same paper Chloe Saltau chats to Australia’s fitness advisor to find out how the players keep soldiering on in 40-degree heat.

	Ishant Sharma was impressive on the second day, showing good control to claim two wickets © AFP

Sharma widened the breach. Already he has captured the imagination of Australian supporters. The sight of any other fellow walking out to bat in Sydney with two left-handed gloves might have provoked suspicion. But the Delhi-ite has an air of innocence that discourages murky thoughts. Presumably his cricket bag works along the same lines as his hair. Even his catching is naive and the sight of him hovering under a skier counts among the game's amusements.

But his spirit shines like a beacon from the lighthouses he resembles. The lofty paceman began by removing the home captain with a late swinger and followed by enticing Michael Clarke to push at another demanding delivery. The heat began to take its toll on the religious stringbean and before long the Australian rally was underway.

The Australian's Mike Coward appreciates Irfan's character and believes that he "still has a priceless opportunity to realise his vast potential and enjoy a distinguished career as a genuine allrounder."

In the Herald Sun, Steve Waugh calls Brett Lee "the world's No.1 fast bowler" and says it will need a strong performance by him to rescue Australia.

	Anil Kumble: An unsung hero? © AFP

Seventeen years into his Test career, instead of a slow wind down towards retirement, Anil Kumble is going from strength to strength. From his appointment as Test captain to his sparkling form with the ball, and now joining the exclusive 600-wicket club. Anand Vasu profiles India's bowling champion in Tehelka.

When you speak to people about Kumble certain words keep coming up. Commitment, discipline, hard work, introvert, perseverance. These are a nightmare for someone trying to conjure up an image of the person behind the steely glare, because their meaning is so well known but so rarely adhered to. Yet with Kumble there are enough instances, if the way a person plays his cricket is an accurate reflection of his personality, to highlight each of these traits.

In his blog on cricketnext.com, Nishant Arora questions the quiet response of the BCCI.

Gentlemen, please spare some time from controlling cricket (as your abbreviation suggests that you do) and take a look at Kumble's achievements.

A silver salver five minutes before a Test match is sometimes not enough. A grand gesture is what this grand cricketer deserves.

"Anil Kumble is a titan and he is still quiet and thank god for that. And he is a substantial man. If he doesn’t feature very prominently in the Republic Day Honours List, he may not feel bad but India should, says Harsha Bhogle in the Indian Express.

The Deccan Herald's R Kaushik says that Kumble's handling of the aftermath of the Sydney Test was statesman-like and that Ricky Ponting should take a leaf out of Kumble's captaincy book.

In DNA, Gautam Sheth wonders whether Kumble would top a list of unsung heroes in cricket.

Glamorgan have a gallery of photos showing the progress of their redevelopment at Cardiff. Have a look here.

Despite all the build-up the WACA pitch did not show too many glimpses of its fiery old self, Peter Lalor explains in the Australian.

Oh, there had been talk that the good old days were back. Talk that curator Cameron Sutherland had found a way for men to wear moustaches and open-neck shirts without looking like somebody on the way to a fancy dress party. The curator has applied a few centimetres of the old soil to the top of the deck, but it is not the elixir of youth that all had hoped for. You can sew the hair back on to a balding man's head but it does not give him back his vim or vigour. Alas, it is 2008, there is no way it will be 1976 again.

In the same paper Mike Coward says Australia’s decision to play four fast bowlers was perhaps made due to some dodgy advice.

On the evidence before us, Ponting, Hilditch and the West Australians, have been duped. On Tuesday, former opener Justin Langer recommended Ponting bowl first. But after sighting the deck yesterday before presenting Chris Rogers with his baggy green cap, Langer abruptly changed his advice.

Peter Roebuck writes in the Sydney Morning Herald that India threw away their advantage with lame dismissals, while Ben Dorries in the Courier-Mail reflects on a day when everyone was conspicuously on their best behaviour.

	It was a kind of day where you wouldn't pick up anything interesting on the stump microphones © Getty Images

The WACA pitch could have perhaps been spared the headlines given how it turned out, but Greg Baum reflects on a rather quiet day in Perth, unlike the preceding Test in Sydney and its ugly aftermath, in the Age.

It looked like the end of the match - not the beginning. As the Australian and Indian teams took the field for the third Test at the WACA Ground yesterday, each player shook the hand of their opponents, football-style. That's 72 handshakes, 73 if you include the extra pat Australian captain Ricky Ponting gave Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh. At any rate, as the gesture count goes, it was a day-one record.

Writing in the Herald Sun, Robert Craddock wonders if the subdued on-field attitude of the Australians will affect their performance.

No doubt Australia's on-field persona will thaw out in time to finish somewhere between their current mood and the boisterous intimidation of Sydney.

But it will be interesting to see whether a more subdued approach to verbal intimidation takes some of the sting out of Australia's game.

Steve Waugh gives his take on the day's play in the same newspaper, and says Australia were conscious of their image right from the first major appeal of the day.

They were appealing with great gusto and then suddenly they weren't.

In fact they were not sure what to do or how to appeal, an obvious post-script to the scrutiny of the side's behaviour in the second Test at the SCG.

Meanwhile, news.com.au reports the Indian team has been provided with a police escort for their trip from the team hotel to the ground.

Angus Fraser retired from playing in 2001 to take up the role as chief cricket correspondent for the Independent but this month has made a comeback - playing beach cricket in Australia. He reports from the second XXXX Gold tournament which is touring the main beaches down under and says, after initial scepticism, that he is having a memorable time winning a few matches and catching up with old friends.

Darren Gough, as a current bowler, had been barred from playing after dominating the 2007 event and I was asked to replace him. It did not take me long to reach my decision – I had previously been paid a lot less to make a fool of myself in Australia, and that was when I was playing in the Ashes.

No, the prospect of spending three weeks travelling around Australia playing the occasional game of beach cricket was too good to turn down. I would be lying if I said the fee did not tempt me, but of equal attraction was the chance to spend time socialising with legends of the game. Lillee and Sir Richard Hadlee, who is playing for New Zealand, the third team in the tournament, were my heroes when I was growing up. Gooch, Allan Border and Martin Crowe are three of the players I admired most during my career, while Robin Smith, Gladstone Small, Chris Cairns and Darren Lehmann are great fun to be with.

As the Australia-India Test series resumes in Perth with everyone having taken time to chill out after the events in Sydney, Mihir Bose, the BBC Sports editor, writes in the British Daily Telegraph about the reaction to the whole Harbhajan Singh incident, the split of opinion that he has encountered and a language barrier.

I had got on to the story because I was intrigued that Harbhajan should have used the word 'monkey'. I grew up in India and the word had never been seen as a racial insult. The Indian word for monkey is 'bandar' and in my childhood was used a word to chastise children who were naughty. I was often myself called a bandar if I became too high spirited. What I also wanted to know was, if Harbhajan did call Symonds 'monkey', did he use the English word or the Indian word, bandar?

In the Guardian David Hopps says that even though the series has survived, there are other issues bubbling under the surface and mostly they concern money and power.

India's post-Sydney mix of wild threats and risible excuses - none more ridiculous than the claim that because monkeys are venerated in India, if Harbhajan had used the term it could not be racist - have lost it much respect in Australia. In the week that the Indian board announced a £500m, 10-year TV deal for rights to its new Twenty20 competition - the Indian Premier League - its lack of sober assessment has smacked not for the first time of power without responsibility.

"Wellington is supposed to be the sport's spiritual home in New Zealand," writes Tony Smith on stuff.co.nz. "We are constantly being told that the Basin Reserve is the consummate cricket venue. Yet how strong is the interest when only 4000 fans can be bothered going to the Basin on a sunny summer's Sunday to watch the rout of bumbling, fumbling Bangladesh? The Black Caps' mediocrity must take some of the blame."

Robert Craddock writes in the Daily Telegraph there were sweet words of reconciliation between Australia and India ahead of the Perth Test but meanwhile the ICC was ignoring a lingering issue.

The postponing of Harbhajan Singh's appeal against a three-match ban for racial abuse until after the end of the Test series was another example of the game turning its head sideways when eyeballed by controversy. Official excuses that it would take time to assemble witnesses were rubbish. They could have all been in Perth over the last three days.

In the Australian, Mike Coward hopes cricket can move on from the drama of Sydney.

By their demeanour and deeds over the next five days, the elite cricketers of Australia and India have an opportunity to apologise en masse for one of the sorriest weeks in the game in recent memory.

Likewise Peter Roebuck, who writes in his column in the Age that the time for bitterness has passed.

Everyone needs to move beyond the reprisal mentality. Hopefully, it will be a cracking contest. It is not beyond our capacity to ensure the series ends on a high note.

	Indians cannot condemn Australia's triumphalism at match's end without considering Harbhajan's exuberance upon dismissing Ricky Ponting, says Greg Baum © AFP

Image is everything and nothing, says Sharda Ugra in her blog Free Hit.

Cricket is a game of skill and performance. On the tour of Australia, the most searing examination of skill and performance in the game that there is, it must be noted that the young Hindustanis who ‘give it back' have been somewhat silent on the scoreboard.

The affairs in the Sydney Test and its aftermath were not as simple as black and white, writes Greg Baum in the Age.

In Sydney, the Australians behaved thoughtlessly, suggesting that in their relentless quest to win, they enclosed themselves in a cocoon in which they study batting, bowling and fielding intimately, but grow oblivious to other sensitivities existing between Australia's pre-eminent sporting team and its public. Reportedly, they have been shocked by the backlash. In Perth, we should see the redress.

But India was thoughtless, too. Indians cannot condemn Australia's triumphalism at match's end without considering Harbhajan's exuberance upon dismissing Ricky Ponting. Both had the effect of rubbing an opponent's face in it. Personally, I was more entertained than offended by Harbhajan's effort, but I know Indians who were shocked.

Shaun Tait, named in the playing XI for the Perth Test, looks forward to getting a chance in his diary on bigstarcricket.com.

When journalists are in breach of ethical behaviour who reprimands them, asks cricket historian Boria Majumdar in the weekly magazine Outlook.

Having read cricket history for a doctoral dissertation, I have read reportage on the game spanning more than a century. It is impossible to remember one comparable series where the journalists have acted with such lack of grace.

In the Guardian Lawrence Booth writes that an appeal to cricketers' humanity might work better than pious pleas on behalf of a spirit of cricket that has never really existed.

We - the fans and the pundits - will go on demanding complete commitment, we will go on criticising batsmen for getting out (it happens from time to time) and bowlers for sending down half-volleys. We will call them disgraces to their respective nations and we will make sure damn sure they do not want to fail .... We will, in other words, continue to get the game we deserve.

The sun seems to be peeking through the grey clouds hanging over the fallout from the Sydney Test, with good news for Brad Hogg among others. But what has become of Steve Bucknor, the umpire sacked after the Test, wonders The Australian.

In The Age, Greg Baum says it’s time for the cricket to take centre stage again but pauses to suggest the idea of cultural misunderstanding between international cricketers is a myth:

They are all widely travelled cosmopolitans, visit each other's countries frequently, form friendships across national divides and mostly play together in England anyway. They understand each other well enough. Whatever Harbhajan said, he meant. Whatever the Australians said to provoke him, they meant.

But, back to the cricket and in the Sydney Morning Herald, Chloe Saltau reckons the Australians could use Shaun Tait in short, sharp bursts if, as expected, he’s called into the team. He has been used similarly at times this season for his state, South Australia.

Sir Edmund Hillary, the famous explorer who died last week, would be intrigued if he knew he could be coming to the rescue of one of the Australian cricket team. Brad Hogg is staring at a possible three-Test ban if found guilty of using the term “bastards” in a racial manner in his hearing on Monday evening. The term is deeply offensive in India, but Hogg will insist he meant nothing by it, using a quote from Hillary after scaling Everest as part of his case. The Herald Sun has the full story.

Peter Roebuck in the Sydney Morning Herald writes that cricket, though often portrayed as a gentleman’s game, in fact has a darker side:

It might seem a gentle pastime involving a bat and a ball, conducted along lines imposed by carefully written laws and sustained by honoured traditions, but scrape away the surface and it bears a close resemblance to a bare-knuckled brawl.

But he calls for a truce between the two teams, saying it’s time to get back to the cricket. The Australian notes another umpiring controversy in Australia at the weekend, while in The Age the Geelong vice-president says cricket can learn from the example of his AFL team. The Bangkok Post considers a wider impact, on Asian tourism to Australia.

If "monkey" and "bastard" are considered to be insulting terms, perhaps the ICC should "compile a dictionary of words that are offensive to the modern cricketer, or his culture," questions John Benaud in his fine piece in today's Independent on Sunday.

There was a time when the greatest insult to an Australian cricketer was to mention the phrase "no sheep in the top paddock". After the SCG Test the words "monkey" and "bastard" are apparently offensive. Speed and Co have a new challenge: compile a dictionary of words that are offensive to the modern cricketer, or his culture.

Before they make bigger asses of themselves they should recall the Collis King incident, Mount Smart Stadium, New Zealand, 1978. King, a most talented West Indian all-rounder then playing in World Series Cricket, took a terrible blow to the right groin and collapsed. The physio applied the magic "freeze" spray, but to no avail, and the stretcher arrived. This roused King, who looked down at his "magic-sprayed" groin, sat up abruptly and announced: "Jesus, I'm turning white; quick, spray me all over!"

	In the spotlight: Harbhajan Singh © Getty Images

Funny thing, though, race. Sometimes what is perceived as a racist issue is not really about race at all. In Sydney, race was the issue that lanced the boil, but the pus underneath had been gathering and festering for years and concerned much more fundamental cricketing issues. Like what kind of team are Australia? Can a team who play exhilarating cricket and try their damnedest to win every game actually be bad for the game? Ultimately, the aftermath of Sydney was about the kind of game we want to see preserved. What does the game stand for, if anything at all, and what kind of game would we like to see played out on the most visible arena of all? In short, what is this thing we call the 'spirit of cricket'?

Let's get back to racism for a minute, for the surprise expressed after Sydney that it could exist on the cricket field goes to the very heart of the matter. No other sport, save golf perhaps, sees itself in such pure, mythical terms. Yet cricket has constantly failed to live up to these inbuilt ethical standards - cheating, match-fixing and, more recently, sledging have given constant lie to the notion that cricket is different to any other sport. The phrase 'It's not cricket' is one of the most remarkable marketing success stories of all time, especially when you consider the constant failure in reality of the players to live up to that ideal.

	© Getty Images

Writing in the Pioneer, Ashok Malik argues that Australian cricket's race problem is actually an internal one, the sport being a white Anglo-Saxon bastion in an increasingly multiethnic society. "This makes Ponting's team either over-prickly or over-defensive when it comes to its lone coloured cricketer."

And Sharda Ugra, writing in the India Today, is worried about Australia's next tour of India in October.

How the rest of this Australia tour goes is immaterial but the atmosphere around the next one, if it is played so soon, will be pure poison. The cricketers may move on but India won’t forget. Corporate wolves will howl, the excitable in the media will put a sports contest ahead of news of the deaths of soldiers and farmers; there will be headlines of quasi-war, ‘vengeance’ and the ‘battle for honour’.

India is a gracious country but the return of Australia 10 months from now will bring out its least gracious face. Australia is a country of generous sports fans but its commanding cricket team travels the globe representing them like trash talkers, disrespectful of all opposition.

Harbhajan's latest belated excuse is an insult to all women, writes Sue Mott, in the Sydney Morning Herald.

The central tenet of Harbhajan's case is that he was disgracefully rude to a fellow cricketer's mother. The whole cricketing world seems to be united in the view this as such a minor infraction it can be viewed as a positive. No monkeys. Only mothers. All good. In fact, every one of them connected with the case, from ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed to the lip-happy bowler himself, should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves. And one can only hope their mothers let them know so at the earliest opportunity.

Concluding an excellent series on cricket at all levels, from club to country, Peter Hanlon in the Sunday Age spends time behind the scenes with the Australians at the Boxing Day Test.

Departure for the ground is at 9am, half an hour earlier on day one to allow for pre-match services. On overseas tours they have a coach and driver, but in Australia it's rented 12-seater buses, driven by whoever is first to the keys. "Michael Clarke is normally in charge of the first bus," Hussey says. "He's down there a bit earlier, keen to get to the ground and get himself set up.” Brad Hogg, who would not have been out of place in On The Buses, is another keen driver. The journey from hotel to ground is no more than 10 minutes in any city, yet long enough to prompt some slack-jawed gazes when children in car back seats realise who they've pulled up next to at the lights.

In the same paper Darren Berry writes about going back to play a match for his old club in rural Victoria.

In the Sun-Herald Brett Lee chats about the challenges of navigating the current tense situation as an Australian idolised in India. Anthony Sharwood writes in the Sunday Telegraph that the Australians won’t win friends, or fans, simply by being very good.

Keith Stackpole, in his Sunday Herald Sun column tries to restore some sanity to the aftermath of the Sydney Test.

Anyone would think the world's worst cricket controversy took place in Sydney last week, with the coverage it's getting. The SCG Test was a five-day beauty, tarnished by several incidents, which have been blown out of proportion.

	The aftermath of Sydney is still filling column centimetres all over Australia © Getty Images

Mike Coward in the Weekend Australian gives his thoughts on Peter Roebuck’s call for Ricky Ponting to be sacked.

The most disturbing aspect of this sorry saga has been the absence of rational thought. The customarily temperate have been intemperate and so the issue has broadened to encompass nationalism and social and moral mores. The game has not been strong enough to prevent it from running out of control. Most irrational and damaging of all was the call for the axing of Ponting as captain at a time when it is widely acknowledged that he is maturing into a leader of some stature who can be compared favourably with renowned predecessors.

But Roebuck sticks by his argument in the Sydney Morning Herald and suggests Simon Katich and Brett Lee as a leadership team to succeed Ponting.

Robert Craddock, meanwhile, uses his Daily Telegraph column to paint a grim picture of the upcoming third Test.

Tension as thick as Kolkata's pollution haze will engulf Perth next week. At the first sign of trouble old wounds will be salted. The bottom line is the two sides don't like or trust each other and no amount of lecturing can change it.

The weekend newspapers allow plenty of space for analysis of Sydney. Tim Lane writes in the Age that cricket’s bosses treat the players and fans like fools, while in the same paper Brendan McArdle looks at some of Ricky Ponting’s shortcomings.

Paul Marsh, also in the Age, defends Australia’s players, Philip Derriman writes in the Sydney Morning Herald that sledging is hitting new lows at junior levels, and the same paper’s New Delhi correspondent Matt Wade reflects on being an Australian in India during the past week.

In the Age, Lyall Johnson spends some time with Victoria's first-class team and discovers the personal battles that players one step below international level must deal with.

As a player, you are only an injury or a form slump from being out of a job. Jewell is often targeted by quick bowlers because Shipperd has banned him from hooking or pulling after a run of dismissals a couple of seasons back. Opposing captains crowd him with close fieldsmen, and bowlers aim at his ribcage. Jewell, the son of former Richmond player and coach Tony Jewell, uses his father's words to explain where he is coming from. "Dad always talks about that, coming from his footy background, just how physically, but also mentally, strong cricketers have to be," he says. "As a batsman you've got 11 on two out there, sometimes 11 on one and a bloke bowling a rock and he's trying deliberately to do damage to you. It's a confronting game."

In the Sydney Morning Herald, Peter Roebuck defends his column from earlier this week in which he called for Ricky Ponting's sacking.

Time to shake the tree. Sacking the captain was the only story remotely dramatic enough to bring everything out into the open. And so the article was written. It had almost been sent earlier in the match but a fever had taken hold and the thought occurred that mood might have been affected. But the point was valid. The leadership had failed.

And so the debate began. And so Australia set about reclaiming its cricket team. Of course the players were angry, even shocked. Some of the column was too forceful. The comparison with wild dogs was unfair. Just that I have six dogs in Africa, likeable canines until they form a hunting pack. The reaction was startling, phones ringing, offers of money to go on television, threats, compliments. But the journalist is not the story. A nerve had been touched and the important matters were going to be addressed.

Peter Lalor writes in the Australian that the lack of understanding between India and Australia is symptomatic of something bigger and continues a pattern that needs examining.

The Indian argument goes like this: monkey is not offensive, bastard is. The Australian argument goes like this: bastard is not offensive, monkey is. It is a small symptom of a much larger cultural misunderstanding. And then there is the apparently larger issue of the match referee not believing Sachin Tendulkar's account of the monkey slur. To be honest, if the Little Master says it wasn't said, I'm inclined to believe him. He's a man of the highest integrity. Of course, there is the possibility that Sachin didn't hear it as opposed to it not being said. Still, there is another nagging sense of deja vu about the indignation of the Indian team.

	Poles apart: Ricky Ponting and Anil Kumble © AFP

It is interesting that despite losing two successive Tests, the Indian cricket captain is still respected, and after winning 16 Tests in a row, there are calls in his own country for the Australian captain to be sacked.

A lesson is to be found here: how a team plays sport is important, but so is how it conducts itself. India's XI can barely field a ball competently, yet have become worthy of support simply because in the midst of madness they performed with dignity in Sydney.

No one ran, as Ponting is wont to, to remonstrate with the umpire when Australian batsmen were not given out when clearly they were; no one created a scene when Indian batsmen were given out when clearly they weren't. When Kumble spoke about "spirit", he spoke with the authority of a man who demanded it from his team.

The Telegraph's Michael Henderson says India's financial preeminence in the game needs to be recognised while discussing the present crisis.

In the Indian Express, Harsha Bhogle calls for a stop to on-field chatter.

	Andrew Symonds and Harbhajan Singh at the SCG © Getty Images

Robert Craddock calls Brad Hogg a “silly bastard” in the Courier-Mail but says he must face the same punishment as Harbhajan Singh if he is guilty.

Yes, we all agree the cricket world has gone totally mad, but the parameters have been set by the politically correct world that is smothering the sport ... If Mike Procter finds Hogg guilty and suspends him, all of Australia will scream: "You are kidding. For what?" If he finds him not guilty, India's billion-plus cricket fanatics will claim racial bias, particularly as Harbhajan was rubbed out for three Tests.

Malcolm Conn says in the Australian Harbhajan apologised to Andrew Symonds over a similar incident in Mumbai last year.

In the same paper David King looks at the events in detail and Peter Lalor writes Harbhajan might not even be picked to play on a fast bowler’s pitch in Perth next week.

Steve Waugh reviews the controversies of the Sydney Test in the Daily Telegraph.

The most likely outcome from all of this will be from this day forward Test cricket will have lost some of its colour and character because players will be forever scared to utter a word in the middle for fear of retribution.

In the Age Chloe Saltau says a simple act of sportsmanship might be all it takes to save the series.

"Good luck, Billy [Bowden], but don't mess up [at Perth]," writes Alex Brown in the Sydney Morning Herald.

"Though Steve Bucknor's career is drawing to a close, cricket faces dark days if he's bullied out by player power," says Mike Selvey in the Guardian.

An editorial in the Jamaica Gleaner says "it is critical that the ICC engage in a serious debate on governance in cricket and arrive at a clear position on the issue."

	Australia are backing the wrong man to be their next captain © Getty Images

Christopher Martin-Jenkins of the Times joins the debate surrounding all that happened at the Sydney Test. He believes the BCCI's threat of cancelling the tour did the game a favour by stirring up the other issues raised by the Sydney Test, notably foul-mouthed sledging, cheating and the helplessness of umpires.

Somehow, Australia always seem to get the rub of the green at home. Visiting teams have been getting furious with umpires there since Don Bradman refused to walk when Jack Ikin was convinced that he had caught him early on England’s first postwar tour, and probably long before.

To my mind there was nothing worse in the recent game than Michael Clarke failing to walk after he had cut his first ball off the face of the bat to slip. That was enough to make me think that Australia are backing the wrong man if they want Clarke, not Mike Hussey, to be their next captain.

In the same paper, Simon Barnes writes that ever since sledging became widespread, it was always going to escalate to a point when two teams could no longer bear to be on the same pitch.

Continuing escalation is inevitable. If I called you an idiot, again and again and again, you would eventually call me a bloody fool. What would you think if I then staggered back in horror. “He called me a fool! He said bloody! This mustn’t be allowed!” That is what has happened.

In the Guardian, former Australian coach John Buchanan and former England fast bowler Frank Tyson argue on whether the Australians play fair.

Dileep Premachandran turns a critical eye on the frenzy-filled writing by the Indian media. He writes in the Guardian:

"Bring the boys back home," said one, as though they were caught in some war zone fighting for national honour. Long on hysteria and short on fact, it was typical of the journalism without rigour that has become India's stock in trade.

Individuals who aren't aware of Glenn McGrath's achievements and what a full-toss is are sent to report on international games. Once there, they spend all day on the phone chatting to the office, discussing what 'spin' to give to the day's events. Once, Peter Roebuck and I asked a very earnest friend how much cricket he had managed to watch in between phone calls. His answer was revealing: "One over." These are the folk on location providing "insight".

With the New Zealand tour still a short way off, the English press have focussed their efforts on the fracas in Australia that is being dubbed Bollyline. Paul Kelso in The Guardian considers the long-term impact the situation could have on the incoming ICC president, David Morgan.

During his often stormy four-year tenure as chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board, David Morgan earned a reputation as a conciliator. In the wake of the rancorous events in Sydney this week it could be precisely the quality the Welshman needs as he prepares to step into his new role as president of the International Cricket Council.

Simon Briggs, in the Daily Telegraph, agrees and wonders if now is the right time for Harbhajan Singh’s hearing to be held while in The Independent, James Lawton is dismayed by what he sees as money talking.

If the International Cricket Council had placed Steve Bucknor's head on a silver platter, put an apple in his mouth, and made a formal presentation to the chief mogul of rupee-laden Indian cricket, Sharad Pawar, they would have only been underlining a dispiriting point. It is that however strenuously principle still attempts to walk in cricket, it is money that talks, relentlessly and without shame.

In The Times, Shane Warne puts the controversy aside and focuses instead on the actual cricket played. He also reconfirms that he will be playing for Hampshire again in 2009.

"If Australia skipper Ricky Ponting had shown a little more sensitivity, an iota of the maturity that his opposite number from India has shown and perhaps, an understanding of the implications of what he was doing, there may have been no crisis in world cricket," writes Kadambari Murali in the Hindustan Times.

Kumble tried to reason with him, repeated that Harbhajan had made no racist remark, something Ponting knew, and no offence was intended.

He said it would be better for everyone concerned if they kept this out of the public domain.

But Ponting wouldn’t listen. Another attempt was made to convince the Aussies to drop the charge of racism, at Sunday night’s hearing, by all the members of the Indian Committee but to no avail.

“Apparently, Ponting was unwilling to see reason,” said a source, adding that Kumble was quite frustrated by the Aussie skipper’s inability to understand the sensitivity of the issue or its ramifications.

“He reminded Ponting, as did others at the hearing, that this went far beyond either of them and far beyond this Test, and the game of cricket.”

There's a siege at the hotel. A gun is pointed at the baby's head.

No, its not a line from a crime novel, but rather from Peter Lalor's piece in today's Australian. Lalor feels India have ridden roughshod over the ICC and the notion the game must go on. He also taken an interesting look at the Steve Bucknor issue.

Indian cricket is twitching and hasn’t been sleeping. It’s been up all night on the phone, talking across time zones. It needs to be treated with respect and taken seriously.

The Indians are deadly serious on this one.

Cricket needs to examine the Indians’ grievances, but it’s not easy. Trying to work out what the problem is here is akin to a game of Where’s Wally?

Where to begin?

	Ricky Ponting should be feted © Getty Images

The Australian, which has the country's captain as a high-paid columnist, comes out to back Ricky Ponting, saying he should be praised for exposing racism. Malcolm Conn writes Ponting deserves to be feted, not condemned, for taking his bold stand to protect Andrew Symonds.

In the same paper Peter Lalor wonders how different things would have been if India held on for a draw at the SCG.

Michael Epis, writing in the Age, tells why he doesn’t like the Australian team.

In the Courier-Mail Robert Craddock congratulates the ICC for its removal of Steve Bucknor for Perth. “Making the call to drop Bucknor in the middle of a series may seem cringingly bad timing but sometimes desperate situations call for unconventional methods.”

The theatrics have continued at the SCG, where Brett Lee and Michael Hussey have been involved in filming for a Bollywood movie. The Sydney Morning Herald, which has called for Ricky Ponting to be sacked, reports Hussey has been elevated to captain and Brett Lee is hit for three sixes in a row.

And, after some tricky, line-ball decisions by the top umpire Rod Tucker, India dramatically beats Australia in the Test ... "No surprises whose victory," Lee joked.

Jonathan Agnew, the BBC’s cricket correspondent, has used his blog to give some forthright views on the current mess in Australia. He starts with Australia themselves.

What a shame it is that the legacy of this fine team will be so tarnished by the ugly and offensive manner in which it plays the game – and has done for at least three years.

Ricky Ponting’s men have trampled all over the spirit of cricket by offering the lame excuse that they are "hard". In their world, deliberately conning the umpire is part and parcel of the game

He then turns to the decision of the ICC to remove Steve Bucknor as umpire.

As I warned when Darrell Hair was seen off by the Pakistan Cricket Board 18 months ago, the way was opened for powerful cricket teams to dispose of officials when a decision is made they do not like. How dare the game be held to ransom in this way.

But the real fault lies with the players – and it is their behaviour, attitude and respect for the game and its traditions that need urgently to be addressed. Umpires will always make mistakes – just as the players do (although you wouldn’t believe it sometimes) and undermining their confidence by removing their most senior colleague in this way is unbelievably foolish.

	If Harbhajan Singh did call Symonds a monkey, then it was absolutely neccessary for Ricky Ponting to lodge a formal complaint © Getty Images

Racist insults poison the game for players and spectators alike. They demean not only the opponent but an entire branch of the human family. Crucially, they have repercussions beyond the playing field. When one player abuses another's racial or ethnic origins, he both expresses and legitimises one of the most potent anti-social toxins at work in the modern world.

Following his strongly-worded article in which he called for the sacking of Ponting, Peter Roebuck has now written that the Indian team is also on shaky ground. He writes in the Melbourne-based Age:

India has a right to demand a second hearing, but it is hardly fit and proper for the entire tour to shudder to a halt in the meantime.

By skulking in hotel rooms the tourists stand in danger of losing public sympathy. Of course vociferous fanatics will remain loyal but only fools play to that gallery. The players should have continued with an admittedly idiotic itinerary. After all, Kumble's comments were made in the longer term interests of the game. Imperilling matches hardly serves that purpose.

"No sooner does India protest some gross inequity, than some bloke ... will harangue the world about how India should not be allowed to control cricket. It is about justice, not world domination," says Prem Panicker in his rediff blog.

Here is the situation: An allegation has been made. The only available, credible evidence is the word of the man making the allegation on one side, the word of the person against whom the allegation was made on the other, and the word of Tendulkar in the balance.
In India, such a case would have been dismissed out of hand - on the grounds that there is no evidence to prove the charge. Explain to us, if you will, what the principles of justice are in Australia - do you condemn first, and make up the reasons as you go along ... Can you, or anyone at all, explain how a judgment can be made against Harbhajan in this case?

None of this is to defend a player if he was in fact guilty, mind - the point being made is that neither we nor you know he is. One guy says he is guilty, he says he is not, and a player with international stature, with an unblemished reputation of close to two decades, says he is not guilty. So, sorry, we protest; we appeal the verdict; we await the appellate process - and if to your paranoid imagination all of that translates into India bidding for world domination, then so be it.

Meanwhile, the Indian cricket team attempted to relieve some of the pressure around the possible cancellation of the Australian tour by visiting Bondi Beach. Read a little about their sojourn, with audio bytes from Chetan Chauhan, the team manager, right here.

	Opinions have been strongly divided on Australia's win © Getty Images

In the midst of a hurricane, with tensions, tempers and emotions on overdrive, one article - aimed at eight-year-olds - emerges as one of the more balanced pieces about the Sydney-gate affair. Read on in CBBC here.

The Sydney Morning Herald's Matt Wade, reporting from New Delhi, rounds up what the local newspapers have to say about the whole controversy.

Greg Baum, writing in the Age, says its time for both sides to shake hands, grow up and move on.

What to do? Calls for sackings are knee-jerk, the threat to abandon the tour nonsensical. Apart from anything else, the all-powerful television moguls here and in India would not countenance it. The tour will go on, and so will the captains. So law and order it must be.

A clearer picture might emerge by the morrow, when an emergent Working Committee meeting in New Delhi will decide the next action. In the interests of Indian cricket and Indian pride, it has to be strong. And unyielding. Never mind the repercussions.

Steve Waugh, in a column for the Hindu, feels the incident is a case of cultural differences and says he does not brand Ricky Ponting unsporting.

At the end of the day, much of what is happening between the teams springs from an inability to understand each other’s culture. For an Indian, calling someone a monkey is not a terrible insult, and certainly not a racist one.

I saw the footage of what had happened involving Andrew Symonds when the Australians were in India. Most of the spectators were just having some light-hearted banter, and there was no malice in most cases.

The Hindustan Times' Pradeep Magazine writes that jingoism should have no place in fair play, accurately pointing out that no matter how many dollops of jingoistic claptrap the Indian media dishes out, the fact remains that in the end India could not bat for 70 overs to save a Test.

	The Australian team's behaviour surely hasn't impressed Peter Roebuck, the former Somerset captain © Getty Images

Peter Roebuck, writing in the Sydney Morning Herald, has called upon Cricket Australia to remove Ricky Ponting from captaincy following the controversial Sydney Test.

If Cricket Australia cares a fig for the tattered reputation of our national team in our national sport, it will not for a moment longer tolerate the sort of arrogant and abrasive conduct seen from the captain and his senior players over the past few days. Beyond comparison it was the ugliest performance put up by an Australian side for 20 years.

Roebuck also didn't spare Michael Clarke, who is being groomed as Ponting's successor.

Michael Clarke also had a dreadful match but he is a young man and has time to rethink his outlook. That his mind was in disarray could be told from his batting. In the first innings he offered no shot to a straight ball and in the second he remained at the crease after giving an easy catch to slip. On this evidence Clarke cannot be promoted to the vice-captaincy of his country.

Greg Baum, writing in the Age, calls for an end to the petulance.

Most of the offences that soured an otherwise fine Test match were petty. The exception was the charge and counter-charge of racism. Blatant dissent. Frivolous appealing. Refusing to walk when caught at slip. Refusing to walk when caught anywhere. Petulant and cynical slowing of the over rate. These would be frowned on in junior cricket. These ARE frowned on in junior cricket.

Robert Craddock, writing in the Courier-Mail, says the ICC faces one of the biggest days in its history.

India's threat to boycott the Australian tour has come down to a battle of who runs cricket - India or the ICC ... If the ICC feel Harbhajan was worth suspending they must not crumble in the face of a subcontinental blackmail from the world's most powerful cricket nation.

	Ravi Shastri: "What happens if somebody does play the god and other team accept it with glee? I do believe that referrals should be brought into play quite immediately." © Getty Images

G Rajaraman, who asked Ponting some uncomfortable questions in the press conference, writes his version of the story. Read here.

Meanwhile, Prem Panicker, writing in his Rediff blog, believes Anil Kumble should never have agreed to the deal with Ricky Ponting.

What actually happened, though, was farcical—Benson checked with Ricky Ponting, who put up his finger, assuring the umpire that he was sure the catch was clean.How could he give such an assurance? He was in no position to see it, so all he had to go by was the word of Michael Clarke—who could not be sure, either. Besides, Clarke, whose honesty was supposed to decide the fate of a batsman at a critical time, is the same bloke who cut fiercely at a delivery, was caught off the under edge at slip, and stood there hoping the umpires would screw up. You can’t fault him for his hope—the umpires in this game have given enough reason for that. Point though is, Clarke has not exactly been a shining beacon of honesty—and yet Benson took his word, relayed by Ponting, and totally ignored two options that were available, even mandatory.

Ravi Shastri, former India player, says its time to incorporate referrals in cricket.

" ... The other option of players using their conscience to help the umpires is unrealistic. It’s not a case of somebody sitting in the air conditioner summoning his conscience to come out clean. When you are in the heat of battle, with the sun blazing down and five days of your labour coming to nothing, it’s the win you want at all cost.

And then what happens if somebody does play the god and other team accept it with glee? I do believe that referrals should be brought into play quite immediately. Atleast two per innings for each side. "

	Harbhajan Singh was banned for three Tests © Getty Images

The three-Test ban Harbhajan Singh was given for an alleged racial comment against Andrew Symonds came too late in the night for most Australian newspapers. But in the Age, Greg Baum argues that a suspended sentence would have been appropriate.

Symonds had the right to expect better from a fellow professional than from a mindless crowd. Harbhajan said he was sorely provoked. The Australians said he had a history. Both doubtlessly are true. But did it warrant the throwing of the whole anti-racism book at Harbhajan? Did this walnut need a sledgehammer? Cricket is right to make an example of an offender. But it must be the right example, the right offender. Really, this ought to have been sorted out on the field, between players, captains and umpires. Since it was not, a suspended sentence should have sufficed. That sentence would have said to Harbhajan: if you didn't know better before, you do now.

Peter Lalor, writing in the Australian, disagrees and says Harbhajan deserves no sympathy if the allegations are true.

He could have used all sorts of expletives, he could have even ignored Symonds, but, according to a number of the Australian players, he went to the poison well to dish out the most toxic thing he could think of.

Steve Waugh says in the Daily Telegraph that the Harbhajan situation could have been handled better.

Perhaps a better outcome may have been for both captains, coaches and named players to get together at the end of the day's play and work out a solution before they went past the point of no return - which now has the potential to affect relations between both countries.

	© The Age

It was a match that will have been relished only by rabid nationalists and others for whom victory and vengeance are the sole reasons for playing sport. Truth to tell, the last day was as bad as the first. It was a rotten contest that singularly failed to elevate the spirit.

Until another shocking decision was made by a 61-year-old umpire, reliable in his time but past his prime, the fifth day of this unattractive contest was offering plenty of tension to put alongside the memorable hundreds contributed by capable batsmen on both sides. Thereafter they might as well have drawn stumps, as all interest had been removed. Once justice and fair play have been ejected there is no point in playing the game.

Dylan Cleaver writes in the Herald on Sunday that the Shane Bond-ICL saga is proving just how much sway the Indian board has over New Zealand Cricket.

For all intents and purposes, they are playing puppeteer while NZC jiggles. This, apparently, is the brave new world of New Zealand Cricket - where we become a subsidiary of the BCCI. That chiselling sound is the engravers at NZC's offices, changing the brass-plate from New Zealand Cricket to Board of Cricket Control India, New Zealand Division.

In the Sunday News, Craig McMillan chats about his experience in the ICL this year.

"Neither have actually been sanctioned by the ICC. It seems to be something that people have run with and not corrected. The IPL has only been sanctioned by the BCCI and the last time I looked they weren't the governing body of world cricket. While NZ Cricket is very eager to do as the Indian Cricket Board says, it should be careful it doesn't devalue the international game by putting out a weakened team."

NZC must also be careful how it handles its players, according to Mark Richardson, who writes in the Herald on Sunday that Scott Styris can rightly feel aggrieved to be dropped from the Test team.

The Sydney Test has been hard-fought and controversial, so it’s pleasing to see some humour from Kerry O’Keeffe as he reflects on the first few days’ play in his Sunday Telegraph column.

VVS Laxman is using his wrists better than Edward Scissorhands. He posts a brilliant century in front of his wife, Laxwoman, and his children, the Laxettes. Sadly, Rahul “The Wall” Dravid is batting like a bug dying on your windscreen: you want to focus on the road but are compelled to watch the stricken insect’s last moments.

Peter Roebuck in the Sun-Herald writes that Ricky Ponting has taken his eye off the ball in this Test and has let Harbhajan Singh get under his skin. If Harbhajan is found guilty at a code-of-conduct hearing he should be banned for four Tests, according to Jon Pierik in the Sunday Telegraph.

Damien Fleming writes in the Sunday Age that umpires need to be given more technological assistance, while Keith Stackpole in the Sunday Herald Sun thinks back to his playing days, when umpires preferred players not to walk because it took the game out of their hands.

Mike Coward writes in the Weekend Australian that the SCG crowd truly appreciated Sachin Tendulkar’s third, and probably last, Test century at the ground.

For 127 years the game's greatest players have celebrated their art at this special place and earned the plaudits of the grateful citizens of the city. But aside from Don Bradman, surely few can have received such a sustained and emotional ovation as that accorded the diminutive giant of the contemporary game, Sachin Tendulkar. When the little maestro completed his second run through cover point to complete his 38th hundred and eighth against Australia, the crowd of 29,358 rose as one to acknowledge not just this innings but his undisputed greatness as a batsman.

Tendulkar's brilliance is also recognised by Peter Roebuck in the Sydney Morning Herald, Greg Baum in the Age and Steve Waugh in the Daily Telegraph.

In the Age, Tim Lane reflects again on the walking debate and says the Australians cannot have it both ways, forcing decisions from umpires and then complaining about bad calls.

And for a piece of history read Mike Coward’s article on the remaining Invincibles watching the Sydney Test.

Wearing thick sunglasses and a badge that announces his vision impairment, [Sam] Loxton declared flippantly: "I'm not going blind, it's just that I can't see." As he looks towards proceedings in the middle from the comfort of the SCG Trust box he relies on his mates [Arthur] Morris and [Neil] Harvey for commentary. And how they relished sharing the news of VVS Laxman's batting on Thursday.

	VVS Laxman reserves his best for Australia © Getty Images

Thankfully, the players generated more newspaper copy than the umpires on the second day at the SCG and in the Sydney Morning Herald, Peter Roebuck looks at VVS Laxman’s love of playing Australia.

It is passing strange that Laxman reserves his best performances for his team's most feared opponent. Against lesser sides he can look awkward, like a bear trying to perform a jig. At such times he seems inferior to tap-dancing colleagues. Then his mind becomes bogged down with thoughts of his own fallibility and his boots might as well be cased in mud.

Mike Coward writes in the Australian that cricket fans should be thankful that Laxman did not follow the advice of his parents and give up on cricket to concentrate on a medical career.

When he is on song and living up to the sobriquet of Very Very Special, there is no more attractive batsman in world cricket. One can envisage Laxman as a surgeon, deftly and delicately cutting and suturing, then accepting with grace the commendations of those who assisted. He is a humble man.

In the Daily Telegraph, Jon Pierik looks at some of the costly mistakes made by Adam Gilchrist and Mitchell Johnson.

But of course there was still room for questions over umpiring and the likes. Robert Craddock in his Courier-Mail blog argues that reminiscing over batsmen who used to walk is folly – remember WG Grace? Jake Niall, who is primarily an Australian football writer for the Age, wants a technological revolution to help umpires, while Malcolm Conn in the Australian suggests that match referees are useless.

Poor umpiring was the story from the first day in Sydney and Peter Roebuck, writing in the Sydney Morning Herald, was particularly surprised by Steve Bucknor’s inability to hear Andrew Symonds’ edge to the wicketkeeper.

At such times it is easy to sit in a box with all the aids and blame the poor umpire for his mistake. But the snick was heard by pals sitting in the hullabulloo on the boundary's edge. It was heard in the sponsors' boxes, where the wine was flowing. It was heard by every fieldsman. Mahendra Dhoni has a reputation as a fair opponent, and he seemed to regard the decision as a formality. But Steve Bucknor did not hear anything. Clearly, the sweet-natured Jamaican is past his prime. Indeed, he was expected to retire after the World Cup. Those responsible for allowing him to linger were also partly responsible for a decision that changed the course of the day and possibly the match and series. David Richardson is the ICC's man in overall charge of these operations. He was lucky to survive the debacle at the World Cup.

In the Australian, Malcolm Conn says the poor decisions this series have not been limited to umpires – Mike Procter has conceded he should have found Yuvraj Singh guilty of dissent in Melbourne.

Jon Pierik in the Herald Sun looks at whether technology is the answer, Robert Craddock writes in his Courier-Mail blog that we just need better umpires, and in his Daily Telegraph column Steve Waugh suggests that umpires should be able to officiate in Tests involving their home country.

There were some cricketers out on the field on Wednesday as well, and Mike Coward in the Australian assesses the efforts of India’s new-ball duo RP Singh and Ishant Sharma.

Australia are aiming for a record-equalling 16 straight Test wins and in the Australian, Mike Coward says it’s time for the rest of the world to be held accountable for not providing a challenge.

The game is at a critical point in its evolution with its traditional values and virtues being undermined or destroyed by the crass commercial imperative. India's hysterical reaction to its Twenty20 World Cup success in South Africa late last year was characteristic of the myopia that exists. Six months earlier, India had shown no interest or care for this style of the game. Now it is seen as the future and a perfect fit for a Bollywood view of the world.

Peter Roebuck writes in the Sydney Morning Herald that India must lift in Sydney or their tour will be doomed, while Greg Baum in the Age suggests their batsmen need to force the issue.

In the Australian, Peter Lalor remembers Sachin Tendulkar’s superb display when he last played a Test in Sydney, in 2003-04.

Having edged outside off stump a number of times beforehand, in Sydney the great batsman decided to remove the cover drive from his game. Like an ascetic he had cut off that which caused him to sin. It worked a treat. Tendulkar applied himself for almost 12 hours in two undefeated innings at the SCG to scuttle Australia's hopes of sending Steve Waugh from the field in his final Test with a victory.

In the middle of a major Test series it's a fine effort for women's cricket to earn a double-page spread in the Age's sports section. Chloe Saltau spend some time with the Victoria women's team, the Spirit, and their coach Cathryn Fitzpatrick.

Earlier in the year she asked each member of the team to research a player, so they could understand better what it means to represent their state. There is a secret players' code known as "The Wilson", after the legendary former all-rounder Betty Wilson. Attempts to discover the meaning of The Wilson are met with silence, but it is safe to say the forthright 86-year-old who still attends every game in Melbourne embodies the hardness and determination to which the Spirit players aspire.

In the Hindustan Times Pradeep Magazine criticises the Australian media which, according to him, resorts to all sorts of dubious write-ups whose aim is to completely destroy the players.

The Indian fielding was poor, maybe even laughable, and no one is taking away the right of the Australian media to criticise it. But to write that the fielders were behaving as if waiting for servants to fetch the ball is an obnoxious piece of below-the-belt writing, which needs to be ignored rather than highlighted.

In the same paper, Kadambari Murali is impressed by the conviction and total self-belief of the Australians.

They’ve consistently also maintained that to keep winning, it’s vital to get over the fear of failure. The team works in percentages, backs itself to win most matches and is prepared to lose one here and there in the bargain. Only Australia could have lost the game to India in Adelaide in 2003-04 after scoring 400 on the first day. They still didn’t change their way of playing because of just one failure. They maintained the same scoring rate and played for a result.

The Hindu's S Ram Mahesh feels Australia are coping well without Glenn McGrath, replaced by Mitchell Johnson, who gives them the option to attack and to strangle.

The lefty angle slanting across the right-hander, particularly at high pace, is the most severe of challenges for front-foot play. To drive anything but the fullest of deliveries is to court the risk of exposing the blade’s susceptible outside half. And forcing strokes with the vertical bat off the back-foot are for none save the foolhardy.

The Australian Under-19 squad for the World Cup in Malaysia had one distinct name - Kumar Sarna - of Indian origin. An allrounder who opens the batting and bowls legspin, Sarna learnt his cricket in New Delhi before settling down in Australia. GS Vivek of the Indian Express caught up with Sarna during the Melbourne Test and tracked his journey.

“I picked up cricket very early, playing with my uncles and cousins in the streets and parks. Then I started going to Montfort Academy for my first proper lessons. I was ten years old then. I am still in touch with my friends back there, and I keep coming to Delhi in between to meet them all and, of course, my relatives. I am forced to speak to them only in Hindi.”

	Virender Sehwag is one of India's top-order options © Getty Images

In the Australian, Peter Lalor assesses India’s opening options ahead of the second Test.

Sehwag is a gamble. He is a big hitter who can score quickly and spread a field. He puts all his chips on 23 red, which is all well and good if it comes off. But if it doesn't, he is back home, penniless, before the sun goes down.

John Wright says in the Age that India should go for Sehwag, while Anil Kumble writes in a Daily Telegraph column that the batsmen need to apply themselves more than in Melbourne.

Steve Waugh suggests in the Herald Sun that there is no reason Australia can’t extend their winning sequence as high as 30 Tests.

Greg Baum reflects in the Age about Jason Gillespie’s caution while touring England with his young family in 2005, when the London bombings took place. Baum argues that the Australian players’ concerns over safety in Pakistan are understandable.

Australia's cricketers again confront Gillespie's dilemma as they contemplate a scheduled March tour of Pakistan, a country that in the wake of the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto is reported to be on the brink of civil war. Each must be allowed to make his own decision, and that decision must be respected, without consequence for his career.