Javed Miandad’s new role [as PCB's director-general] requires walking a fine line. He was always great at tailoring his cricket to suit the situation of the game. If anyone can do it, he can, Saad Shafqat writes in the Dawn's Sunday Magazine.

For someone who has so unquestioningly served his country whenever called upon -- whether as a player, captain, coach, or ordinary citizen -- it is surprising how often Miandad gets mixed reviews. On the one hand, there is a category of Pakistani fans defined by an irrational love for Javed Miandad. On the other hand, more than a few observers of Pakistan cricket feel his name is synonymous with trouble. The reasons for such a polarised reputation are varied but, one way or another, are centred on a personal style and manner that courts controversy.

Nevertheless, certain facts are undisputed. Miandad’s arrival in the Pakistan side shook things up. He became quickly recognised as the best batsman in the team. He hit a six in Sharjah that was heard around the world. He succeeded everywhere, including the proving grounds of the West Indies, where he made unforgettable centuries in epic battles. He anchored Pakistan to a World Cup title. He dominated his opponents’ psyche to the exclusion of almost everything else. He understood the game tactically and psychologically like few others. He was at the forefront of an improbable golden age. It was said of him that so long as he was at the wicket, Pakistan always had a chance, no matter what the circumstances

Luke Alfred looks at five promising five promising young South Africans who have made their mark in the domestic season. Read about them in the Times.

	No more monkeying around for spectators at Eden Gardens © Getty Images

The declining crowds at Test matches has been a talking point of late. Although many may infer that lower attendances indicate the reducing popularity of the longer format, Shiloo Chattopadhyay offers an interesting observation in the Kolkata-based Telegraph. He describes the usual atmosphere at Eden Gardens when Tests attracted packed houses:

Come to think of it, very little of pure cricket was discussed or even consumed. How could we? Most seats on this block (others were worse) were at third slip or wider. Making out whether a ball is outside the off stump or the leg stump was difficult till one saw the wicketkeeper collect. We would mostly applaud the gross — a boundary or a wicket. Indeed, not many of us had the cricketing acumen to appreciate a defensive stroke on the back foot that made a chest high ball drop docilely at the batsman’s feet. On top of it India seldom won any matches those days. So, to the vast majority of us, cricket was an excuse for a winter picnic in the Maidan.

.......................................................................................

Some decades back, the cricket authorities in Bengal — especially its current supremo — felt that such peripheral enjoyment was detrimental to the game of cricket. So Eden Garden was concretised. Annual members were shunted to the other end of the ground. The space given for seating a spectator was brought down to the bare minimum. Toilets were made unusable. Drinking water was impossible to find. Food was expensive and scarce.

All this was done with one objective — make the spectators as uncomfortable as possible so that they have nothing else to concentrate on except the cricket. After all, spectators cannot be allowed to open hampers to eat food when the great Tendulkar is square driving McGrath. The authorities were successful. Most people stopped having fun in Eden Gardens — because they stopped going there.

At a time when the general cricket machine is in a slow sinking quagmire, the struggle faced by junior cricket in Sri Lanka keeps getting worse. Former national coach Jayantha Seneviratne tells SR Pathiravithana in the Sunday Times, that the commercial exploitation of cricket at the junior level as the biggest bane that has hit the sport in this island.

There are many uncertain avenues that a young cricketer has to travel in this present trend. In this present system, from their younger days, they are trained to play limited overs cricket and the focus is win at any cost. As a result negative trends begin to creep in, he believes.

'For instance a lot of young players now try to play the slash instead of the drive. When they play the slash they are not in complete control over their shot. They play it because they have seen Sanath Jayasuriya playing that stroke and scoring runs. But, the irony is that Sanath Jayasuriya is a rare gifted player and every young cricketer cannot become another Jayasuriya.'

	If England return for the tour their stock with India will surge © Getty Images

Unlike Pakistan, India is the hub of cricket, both in terms of its popularity and its financial health. If the game’s revenues have grown manifold and the players are earning more, it has a lot to do with India and its growing economic clout. Already the postponement of the Champions League is having a negative impact on state teams from Australia and South Africa. They and even their boards were hoping to make huge financial gains from the League, which is supposed to impact the future of cricket in a major way. If India loses its primacy in cricket’s pecking order due to the fear of terrorist strikes and if the economic meltdown further erodes the investments in the game, then cricket could be in serious danger of losing the kind of mind-boggling revenues it had started generating of late. It is because of these very reasons that foreign teams will think ten times before refusing to come and play here.

With diplomatic circles insinuating Pakistani involvement in Mumbai terror attacks, India's tour to the country looks in danger now, writes Dileep Premachandran in the Sunday Times.

If the tour is cancelled, the Indian board will do everything in its power to shoehorn the Champions League into the itinerary ... The possibility of financial losses is hardly India’s only concern, though. The BCCI is now the prime mover of world cricket. If these attacks keep teams away from India, it could severely weaken their grip.

In the same paper Simon Wilde believes if England return for the tour their stock with India will surge.

They will be in a position to extract favours from India — and Pakistan, who want cricket in Asia to be normalised as soon as possible, as they have staged almost no meaningful cricket for a year because of security problems.

In the Sunday Telegraph, Scyld Berry says that there are two objections to England's Test series going ahead in 11 days' time, and neither of them is security.

The first objection is a matter of public taste and decency. Yes, "the show must go on" – but only after a decent period of mourning.
...
The second major objection to the Test series going ahead as scheduled is the effect that 'India's 9/11' has had on the players of both countries

If England return to India this week, it will be a joyless affair, they will be going because they think they must. Therefore they should stay at home, says Stephen Brinkley in the Independent on Sunday

Also in the Sunday Times David Gower remembers captaining the England side on a 1984 tour of India where the team stayed on despite two high-profile assassinations.

As captain I toured the rooms at that same Taj Mahal Palace hotel and spoke to all the players, informing them that we were to carry on and would be going to the Wankhede stadium to practise, as arranged. Graeme Fowler, never one to miss a good line, said: “What? Target practice?” At a team meeting that evening it was clear that some of the players were not happy to stay. We had what they call a full and frank exchange of views and we all stayed, losing that first Test after a bright start but coming back to win the series 2-1.

In the Observer, Vic Marks writes that Abu Dhabi could be an alternative venue if the England players refuse to return to India for the Tests.

For the first time, an ongoing series has been cancelled in India; for the first time, a Test has been shunted out to another city for security reasons; a major tournament has also been indefinitely postponed and we just can't say when the world's top players will agree to come to Mumbai, if not India. Bobili Vijay Kumar in his column in the Times of India looks at sport in the times of terror.

It's unfair to judge Andy Moles negatively simply because many fans and media were plumping for other, more high-profile possibilities. Judge him after he's had enough time in the job to have an effect, writes Mark Richardson in the Herald on Sunday.

The reality is New Zealand Cricket cannot afford high profile, proven international coaching personnel. As we are a less-than-stellar cricket nation we are unlikely to attract them even before the pay packet is disclosed. However, that does not necessarily mean we cannot expect Moles to be an excellent coach. Former great players do not necessarily make great coaches. Coaches with a history of international success with one team may not immediately translate to success with another.

New Zealand Cricket could never be accused of missing the point. Only a matter of days after assembling a search and rescue team including Andy Moles, John Wright and Glenn Turner, the batsmen have once again been forced to activate their emergency locator beacons, this time from central Adelaide, writes Richard Boock in the Sunday Star Times.

John Bracewell failed. There's no point sugar-coating the pill: he was brought in to do a job and, at best, he only did half of it - the easy half, writes Dylan Cleaver in the Herald on Sunday.

But as he crams his kit into his New Zealand Cricket luggage for the final time this week, the more pertinent question is not whether he failed, but why, and how much of that failure is attributable to himself and the environment he either created, or had to work within? The New Zealand team he presided over for his last series looked more like an Emerging Players XI than a Test side. There are players learning how to bat while playing Test cricket. That this has been allowed to happen is in small part attributable to bad luck and in large part to bad management.

I'll leave the niceties to others, but for me John Bracewell is the man who has presided over New Zealand's swan dive towards the empty swimming pool which is the bottom of cricket's Test world rankings, writes Michael Donaldson in the Sunday Star Times.

In the same paper, Donaldson also says, "Certainly the current crop of batsmen are all relatively young in terms of test cricket; the problem is that it seems like it has been this way for the past five years with a succession of unsuccessful opening partnerships".

	Duncan Fletcher joins a team that already includes bowling coach Vincent Barnes and performance consultant Jeremy Snape © Getty Images

Duncan Fletcher’s involvement in the South African cricket team brings together quite a comprehensive coaching structure for coach Mickey Arthur, Daryll Cullinan points out in the Weekender.

I can remember as a young Province player seeking his advice. I visited him at his engineering business which required a climb up some rickety stairs to his office

We had a discussion around trigger movements batsmen make before the bowler releases the ball. Against quick bowling it is crucial in determining whether you want to stand still or make a small movement back or forward or a combination of both.

He made an important point that if I wished to use a trigger movement, I could not pick the bat up and move my feet all at the same time. It was a question of doing either one first and completing it before moving on to the next one. It was clear to me then that he was an astute thinker and student of the game who definitely had something to offer.

Australia is beaten; England demoralised by now. Does this portend cricket's Indian era, asks Rohit Mahajan in the latest edition of Outlook. It would seem, he says, that India are playing the best cricket in the world. But India are not No. 1.

India moved to No. 2, marginally ahead of South Africa, in Tests with the win over the Aussies. South Africa, though, will be back at No. 2 with a certain whitewash of Bangladesh. In ODIs, the Indians need to whitewash England 7-0 to move to the second spot behind Australia. Currently, they're fifth. Most experts are unequivocal in their opinion that while India are on their way up and Australia down, neither has reached the point that alters equations significantly.

	Steve Waugh © AFP

Steve Waugh, writing in the Daily Telegraph, turns his sights towards Mumbai following the terrorist attacks there this week. India is a place he loves and he feels hurt by the events, but believes cricket has the chance to help the healing.

The game is on the verge of a crisis and clear, concise thinking will be required from the various cricketing bodies to make sure that the correct decisions are made. Time is a great healer but, much like 9/11, life on the subcontinent will never be the same. The need for security will be paramount and this will affect all facets of life.

My gut feeling is that cricket will see an interruption in the short term but business will resume as normal shortly afterwards. The game of cricket in India is a way of life and a symbol of hope and, as such, it has the ability to restore faith and instil confidence.

Look out for New South Wales’ Josh Hazlewood, a 17-year-old who has lots of similarities to Glenn McGrath. The Australian’s Andrew Faulkner talks to a young man who can bowl – and bat.

Thrust into the media spotlight after taking four wickets for New South Wales against New Zealand in a tour match this month, Hazlewood understands the McGrath comparisons are inevitable. "We're both from the country and have similar actions, so the media has focused on that a bit," he said. "I'm happy with that, but you try to put it out of your mind. You try to ignore it as much as you can."

After winning the toss on another dull-witted Adelaide track, New Zealand sorely needed a batsman resolute enough to settle in for the day. Here was a priceless chance to construct a sizeable total. Application and skill were required, that is all. Unfortunately they were in short supply, writes Peter Roebuck in the Sydney Morning Herald.

Two John Bracewells leave New Zealand cricket next week. One, the ODI coach, should be regarded as a success. Under him, New Zealand maintained a strong reputation as capable of mixing it with the very best teams. The other Bracewell, the Test coach, must be rated a failure, writes Adam Parore in the New Zealand Herald.

Having played with Bracewell in the latter stages of his New Zealand career, I've found his transition to coach intriguing. Bracewell the player was all fire and brimstone, a hard nut, down to earth, who didn't pull any punches and didn't care what anyone else thought of him. Bracewell the coach was full of theories and while he still retained that spiky edge at times, he was positively mellow compared with the player of 20 years ago. I'd rather have seen more of the old Braces because I feel players relate better to a coach they feel is in sync with their thinking, who speaks their language, who thinks like they do.

No review of Bracewell's coaching era, which spanned five years from late 2003 to 2008, can fail to acknowledge his intensity to extract the best from the team and the seemingly endless amount of energy and enthusiasm he poured into that task. It was just that at times the way he went about it was like a misdirected missile exploding in numerous directions, writes Geoff Longley in the Press.

At their blog, The Wisden Cricketer magazine's editor, John Stern, calls for greater perspective in the wake of the terrorist attacks in India.

The chances of England returning for the two-Test series in India seems negligible. I can’t believe that there is much appetite among the players to return so unless the ECB force them to go back, which is inconceivable, then the Tests are off.

This is a shame. Totally understandable, even inevitable, but a shame nonetheless. On the one hand, sport can seem utterly trivial at times of great tragedy and personal suffering. But on the other, this is when sport can show its best side, it can be a force for good, a symbol of public resilience, of normality, a sign that we will carry on with our lives in the face of vile pressure. Above all, it is a chance to remember why we love this game, its capacity to bring fun, entertainment and excitement into our lives.

I didn’t expect Kevin Pietersen to be standing in the lobby of his Bhubaneshwar hotel saying: “We ain’t going nowhere.” Nor did I really expect Lalit Modi to be saying with such certainty that the Tests would go ahead. “There is no problem with that,” is possibly one of the most glib statements I’ve ever heard from a cricket administrator and (to paraphrase Blackadder) you can imagine there’s some pretty stiff competition. Was it stiff-upper-lip Dunkirk spirit from Modi or was it textbook grandstanding from the man who effectively runs world cricket? I know where my money is.

In contrast, Miles Jupp provides a more whimsical look at a possible England team meeting...

As preparation for the Fifth ODI in Cuttack, England opted to have a team meeting rather than a practice session. The following is a transcript of a tape recording of their meeting in the team room at the hotel made by a private detective.

We can hear talking, laughing and the noise of darts and table tennis being played.

Peter Moores: Excuse me everybody. Excuse me.

There is the noise of more chattering and giggling. Someone is doing what sounds like an impression of Bob Willis.

Moores: C’mon now, guys. Let’s have a bit of quiet. Can you come away from the pool table for a moment?

The chattering gets louder.

Moores: (mildly) Kevin, would you mind getting them all to…?

KP: EVERYBODY SHUT UP.

December 17th is what the South African cricket team are focusing on right now, the day that the first test kicks off against Australia in Perth. A venue which has witnessed some match-saving heroics from the visitors last time around. Mike Haysman in Supercricket calls for a change in approach from last time around - Graeme Smith's deliberate verbal attacks delivered from press conferences and other media gatherings was to force the Australians to focus their energy on him, therefore releasing a pressure valve to allow his less experienced teammates to prosper.

The South Africans need to embrace the tour of Australia with a degree of enjoyment and respect that will win over the public and the media. They are a likeable bunch and doing such will take little effort. Make no mistake, the steeliness and aggression that will be required in the heat of battle will be simmering below the surface and that will naturally rise to the fore when needed. That is the hallmark of South African and Australian clashes and nothing will ever change that. Rightly so.

Since readmission in 1992, the South Africans have not beaten Australia in a Test series. Andy Capsotagno in the Mail & Guardian believes South Africa have a squad capable of turning the tide around this time, as he looks back at the team composition from the last series, back in 2005.

Amla replaces Rudolph, whose best Test innings came in the first Test of the 2005 series. Rudolph batted through the final day against Glenn McGrath, Brett Lee and Shane Warne, and he deserved the plaudits that came his way.

The best praise you can direct at Amla is that the apex of Rudolph’s career would be no more than a staging post for the KwaZulu-Natalian, who has greatness written through him and will prove a stumbling block of immense proportions for the latest clutch of Australian bowlers.

Peter Roebuck in the Age hopes the Adelaide Test will show the game in better light, after the little cheer that the recent going-ons in the cricket world have offered. He outlines the need for Matthew Hayden and Simon Katich to step up, and that for a specialist spinner, as they look for a series win.

Admittedly, Australia has been unlucky that the most creditable candidates are wounded. As a rule, tweakers are about as injury-prone as chess players (though not quite as sane). But it's time to review coaching methods and to instigate a national campaign. Curiously, 20-over cricket is helping to restore spin even as unchanging pitches thwart it. At any rate, one of the off-spinners will play in Adelaide, not least to wave the flag.

With apologies to Kellie Hayden, there can hardly be anyone who knows her husband better than the man who walked out to bat with him 113 times. And Justin Langer is adamant Australia cannot yet afford to lose Matthew Hayden's wisdom and experience, writes Chloe Saltau in the Sydney Morning Herald.

John Bracewell's reign of just under five years draws to a close after the second Test against Australia, with enough bizarre goings-on and anecdotes to fill a book. And that was just off the field. Mark Geenty in Stuff.co.nz takes a look at his tenure.

It was in coloured clothing where his players thrived as Bracewell relished the chance to manipulate tactics within a structured 50-over framework.

Fielding was his strength, and it only took one viewing of his legendary match eve fielding practices to appreciate that.

But while he was a master of spin in his playing days, his coaching public relations was decidedly average. And he didn't seem to lose sleep over it.

	To walk from the Taj to the Oberoi was to experience first hand the passion for cricket in India © Getty Images

In the same paper, Patrick Kidd writes that the tour must go on even if England take a break and return after Christmas.

England owe it to India and their fans to demonstrate that life must go on after such senseless carnage. The cliche about not letting the terrorists win can sound trite, but it is a valid one. England may seek sanctuary back in Europe, but others don't have that option. Even though reports suggested that the terrorists were seeking British and Americans, the bulk of those who died or were wounded were Indians. England should stay and compete as a mark of respect to them.

The Guardian's Mike Selvey feels the same way and calls the ECB's decision to have the players return home for a week a ludicrous extravagance and a carbon footprint exercise.

Five days in Colombo would surely have sufficed, or Dubai or Singapore. Once the players are home, it will take massive willpower to drag them on to a plane to India once more. The corporate feel, downtrodden as it may have been after the experiences on the field thus far, will have been lost. If the series does take place, the chances of Kevin Pietersen's team regaining any sort of intensity are not great.

Harsha Bhogle feels England have made the right choice of returning home and he advises India not to tour Pakistan as well. He writes in the Indian Express:

... even in our part of the world, Cricket must grow insignificant at times. It is a game that brings a lot of joy and cheer and optimism, but it is just a game. It cannot compete with war.

In the Daily Telegraph, former England captain Michael Vaughan, who was due to be in Mumbai this week before the High Performance camp was moved to Bangalore, speaks openly of his reaction to the terrorist attacks.

All our white Test kit is in one of the rooms at the Taj Mahal where one of the sieges has been going on: all our pads and clothes for the Test series, and our blazers and caps and ties. All the stuff was deposited there after England's two practice games in Mumbai at the start of this tour. That's how close the danger is.

In the morning I woke up to a number of texts from people back home who thought I was in Mumbai, and I wanted to go home and get back to my two kids. I didn't think we were under threat in Bangalore, and history to date says cricketers are safe. But our security man said we couldn't go in our England kit to the hotel where we eat 60 yards across the road from the stadium, and we'd have to go in cars, we couldn't walk. We were told we couldn't go to any of the hotels in Bangalore that westerners use.

The future of a sporting venture is an irrelevance when weighed against the massive loss of life of the last 24 hours, but it is to be hoped that the brutality played out in the hotel lobbies does not stall cricket too long, writes Paul Kelso in the same paper.

To walk from the Taj to the Oberoi was to experience first hand the passion for cricket in India. First you cross the Oval Maidan, a mile-long strip of patchy grass in the heart of the city, on which scores of impromptu cricket matches take place apparently from dawn to dusk. Next you pass the Brabourne Stadium, historic home of the Cricket Club of India, a venue steeped in colonial ease that is due to host one of England's Test matches next month ... The Brabourne stages Tests rarely since the Board of Control for Cricket in India abandoned it in favour for the vast purpose-built bowl of the Wankahede Stadium, an 80,000-capacity arena whose floodlights are visible from the upper terrace of the pavilion. Now badly dilapidated and undergoing renovation, the Wankahede symbolised the first era of Indian cricket's expansion. A mile to the south on Marine Drive the Oberoi played host to the birth of the second when I visited.

Shane Warne in an article for Australia's Daily Telegraph recounts the luckiest night of his life, as he got off the Singapore Airlines with Darren "Chuck" Berry and Dimitri Mascarenhas.

I feel like it could have been like the movie Sliding Doors with Gwyneth Paltrow. I am glad I chose the right door. I feel extremely lucky.

Do cricketers require greater guarantees than the rest of the population? How much would their smart retreat embolden another cell of publicity-hungry terrorists, asks James Lawton in the Independent.

In the Australian Mike Coward writes about how Andrew Symonds has let down his captain Ricky Ponting with his behaviour.

Symonds' ingratitude, especially to Ponting, defies belief. Many men who have led Australia in the past would not have been as forgiving as Ponting, who has expended so much emotional energy to mentor Symonds throughout his career.

Yet again Symonds has seriously disrupted and distracted the Australian team and the army of specialists attached to it before an important match. Again he has forgotten his debt to Ponting. And to make matters worse, this time his great mate and fishing pal Matthew Hayden is playing his 100th Test match and was entitled to be the focus of attention going into the match. Perhaps that fact also slipped his mind.

Rob Smyth argues in the Wisden Cricketer that despite a 50-plus Test average and a mind-boggling strike-rate, Virender Sehwag remains relatively under-appreciated.

Sehwag has been compared to Sachin Tendulkar, with whom he shares a bewitching little mastery, but a more relevant reference point is surely Lara. Like Lara, Sehwag scores monstrous hundreds at breakneck speed; like Lara, his form fluctuates wildly, surely a mark of the truest genius; like Lara, when the mood takes him there is absolutely nothing a bowler can do to avoid being pummeled.

Without Ed Smith, the Middlesex dressing room, and by extension the professional game, will be that little bit more uniform, that little less diverse, writes Mike Atherton in the Times.

Smith is too good a batsman to be lost to professional cricket at such a tender age. It is clearly a source of intense irritation to him that the focus is always on the other bits of his life. “When it came to cricket, I was never a dilettante,” he says. His record proves it: he averaged more than 40, scored 34 first-class hundreds and in excess of 12,000 first-class runs. With experience and youth on his side, he ought to be entering his prime years; another crack at international cricket should not be beyond him.

He’s understandably hogged the domestic cricket headlines over the past two or three days and I’m comfortable with South Africa’s decision to call up Lonwabo Tsotsobe for the three-Test tour of Australia, writes Rob Houwing on Sport24.

The only thing that concerns me, if any of the Steyn-Ntini-Morkel strike trio, heaven forbid, gets crocked, is the lack of proven experience for near-unique Australian conditions among the Zondeki-Tsotsobe back-up. We cannot skirt the issue of what happened the last time Zondeki represented his country in Australia, even if he answered an injury SOS and was understandably badly undercooked when tossed straight into ODI combat in 2005-06 after the Test series had been surrendered 2-0. He was unceremoniously thumped for 106 runs in just 14 overs (one wicket), over the course of two appearances against Australia at Brisbane and Sydney.

JP Duminy was in the headlines again on Tuesday morning. This is not an uncommon occurrence for him. However, it was again about when he will finally get an opportunity at Test level. Having known the man since he was eight, Duminy was probably cringing at the question being posed yet again, writes Zaahier Adams on iol.co.za.

I have spent many hours debating with cricket people, the majority with exceptional cricket pedigree, (and by this I mean with Test-match playing experience), about what those options are. The consensus generally reached is that the only way for Duminy to be accommodated is for de Villiers to be handed the wicket-keeping gloves, with Mark Boucher dropping out of the team ...

... For the record, I am not suggesting that Boucher be axed ahead of the most crucial Test series in South African cricket history. All I am doing is exploring the options of possibly strengthening the South African batting line-up.

Paul Holden in his blog Sideline Slogger reveals 10 things you never knew about New Zealand's recently-appointed coach, Andy Moles - including his English diet and legendary hospitality.

Just to help those deluded enough to think that like sexual intercourse and Philip Larkin's 1963, cricket only began with the inauguration of the IPL, and that all skills and thinking prior to that were Neanderthal, here is a brief and by no means exclusive list of things that were around in the misty past, writes Mike Selvey in the Guardian.

1. Yorkers Have players not heard of Ray Lindwall, Charlie Griffiths, or the Big Bird, Joel Garner? Have a look at footage of the 1979 World Cup final and marvel. You do not just decide to bowl a yorker and do so: it needs to be felt, as readily as a natural length. The change of length amounts to a third of a pitch. A top bowler should be able to shut his eyes and find a length. The same should apply to yorkers.

2. Slower balls A one-day staple, with increased variety and invention. But bowlers have always used them. Mine was crap, I admit, like Steve Harmison's, but even that has its moments. Three decades ago I was bowled out by Eddie Barlow with something that simply disappeared, while no one has ever bowled a more destructive slower ball than the Barbadian all-rounder Franklyn Stephenson.

The argument that IPL and Twenty20 have taken one-day cricket to a new level and England players are in danger of missing out is a cunning but false one, writes Mike Atherton in the Times.

It is difficult to understand how the IPL is going to help England to turn around their one-day fortunes. On form, who would be a potential buy for franchise owners feeling the chill winds of recession? Andrew Flintoff and Kevin Pietersen, for sure, and maybe men such as Ravi Bopara and Samit Patel. Agents may have sore knuckles from knocking on the door of franchise owners, but other clients have not exactly made a compelling case for inclusion this past month.

Is Brett Lee's star fading as Australia's No.1 fast bowler? Robert Craddock asks former Australia bowlers about Lee's future and the rivals snapping at his heels in the Herald Sun.

In his column for the Australian, Australia's captain Ricky Ponting writes that Matthew Hayden will cook up something special against New Zealand in Adelaide. The second Test will be Hayden's 100th and Ponting says it is the most significant thing you can do in a cricket career.

	Zimbabwe have lost all three ODIs in their current series against Sri Lanka ... at the same time an ICC delegation has been in Harare looking at when they might be readmitted to Test cricket © AFP

The leaders of the game in that benighted land work hand in hand with Zanu pf. Peter Chingoka, the long standing chairman of a disreputable board, is allied to the influential Mujuru faction. He has mining interests, vast investments and houses overseas. Ozias Bvute, his opportunistic and thuggish CEO, is cut from the same stone. These fat cats ... gained from the activities of the CIO, Green Bombers and all the other ghastly representatives of the repressive state.

With an ICC delegation in town, Roebuck asks where the millions of dollars handed to the Zimbabwe board has gone.

Judging from the unpaid hotel bills, unpaid wages, overgrown club grounds, cancelled matches and disintegrating standards, precious little has been spent directly on cricket. Mind you, ZC did manage to send 14 officials on its last under-19 tour to South Africa.

And of the ICC and it's previous fact-finding missions?

Doubtless these delegates will not copy previous emissaries by idling in five-star hotels while sipping copious amounts of whisky with their hosts. Percy Sonn set the benchmark in that regard. The bitter, clever, late and unlamented former president of the ICC enjoyed his whisky almost as much as his hosts and, like them, ignored calls for justice and the cries of the common man.

Ray Mali, a foolish and compromised impostor, replaced Sonn, was promptly taken on the guided tour and announced that Zimbabwe was bound to go to the top of the one-day rankings. Reassured that their positions and fortunes were safe, Chingoka, Bvute and their relatives must have smiled to hear this absurdity.

There would have been pleasure at watching Marcus Trescothick win the £20,000 prize for his autobiography Coming Back To Me. Yet, even as the applause rang round the room, the thought was inescapable: how the current England team could do with him back. Tom Fordyce in his blog on BBC Sport reflects on what a difference a fit, happy Trescothick could make to today's struggling line-up.

Trescothick is still only 32 years old, two years younger than Vaughan and a year younger than Ricky Ponting. By rights he should be at his peak.

Instead, he'll see out the remainder of his playing days at his beloved Somerset, determined to never again be more than a car journey away from wife Hayley and daughters Ellie and Millie. England fans can yearn all they like. He's not coming back.

The ICL card is the only pressure tool that Pakistan can use to save its ‘iconic’ home series against India from getting cancelled, postponed or moved to some offshore venues, writes Khalid Hussain in the News.

The BCCI senior officials have been saying that their hands are tied and it would their government’s call over whether the cricket team should tour Pakistan. It may be true, but the BCCI has a lot of clout in India and if it wants the tour to go ahead, a government clearance shouldn’t be a problem. After all, India came here for the Asia Cup this summer when the security situation here wasn’t worse than its now. Like Pakistan, India itself has been a target of terrorism and should identify with their neighbour’s problem. If not, then Butt should raise the ICL issue.

The higher the stakes of a game, the worse is the selection politics. Lack of integrity and commitment, blatant nepotism and corruption are nothing new in Indian cricket’s selection process, writes Makarand Waingankar in the Mumbai Mirror.

I have spent decades in the profession to know how the system works. In 70s the selectors would openly discuss selections with senior journalists. Selectors were open to suggestions. This was never misused. We were told that Ajit Wadekar was given the choice between Abbas Ali Baig and Dilip Sardesai for the West Indies tour of 1971. Wadekar opted for Sardesai who went on to score heavily in the series. What’s wrong if Dhoni had asked for RP Singh to be retained?

In the Mid-Day, Clayton Murzello recounts past incidents in which the captain did not agree with the selectors.

The most riveting of examples in Indian cricket is the Polly Umrigar incident in 1958-59. The captain wanted a batsman for the fourth Test in Chennai against West Indies after the sudden resignation of captain Ghulam Ahmed and the pulling out of star batsman Vijay Manjrekar. Umrigar wanted Mumbai's Manohar Hardikar but the selectors (headed by Lala Amarnath) did not give in and Services batsman AK Sengupta was picked for his one and only Test. It is also believed that then Board president RK Patel sent Jasu Patel, no relation to the BCCI boss but a man from his region. Patel did not play eventually. Umrigar quit as captain in protest overnight and Vinoo Mankad was appointed captain through a discussion behind the toilets of the Corporation Stadium (Chennai) just before the start of the Test.

The performances by Kenya and Bangladesh in South Africa once again proved that they do not belong in the main stream of international cricket. Arthur Turner in his column on Sport24.com believes the ICC needs to acknowledge that their policy of developing Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and Kenya in the mainstream of international cricket is not working, and he provides a few suggestions himself.

These countries do not have the capacity to play at this level and it is debatable if they ever will have. They are no more than a millstone around the neck of international cricket in an era of professionalism, commercialism and a congested international cricket schedule.

If I wanted to annoy Ed Smith, I would tell him he is a better writer than he ever was a cricketer. All the same, it's a pretty compliment: Smith played three Tests for England and scored 34 first-class hundreds for Kent and Middlesex, with a top score of 213. You have to write fairly decent books to top that," writes Simon Barnes in the Times.

He has written three well-received books. His 'prentice piece, Playing Hard Ball, compared his experiences in cricket and baseball. He then did a season's diary, one with an awful lot of meat, On And Off The Field. His present book is in many ways remarkable, entitled boldly What Sport Tells Us About Life. The diary deals with 2003, the year he played for England. He made 64 in his first innings; in his last, he was given out leg-before to a ball that would have comfortably cleared the stumps. What sport tells us here is that life is a bitch. He never played for England again.

Thus it was that England lost a player who might have been up for the long haul. He was, in some eyes, a Future England Captain who never made it, a Mike Brearley come again, but better off the back foot. He couldn't break back in; what some call consistency of selection, others call a clique. Smith's was a career that missed its trajectory.

Apparently, it is 150 Novembers since Gin first met Tonic in India - since when, of course, the two have remained in a zestfully happy state of wholesome matrimony, writes Frank Keating in the Guardian.

Some take the passion too far - and to hell with the tonic water. Well over 50 years ago, at village cricket for Stroud Stragglers v Frocester, I clapped in their smiter at No 6; he had a flat half-bottle of gin in the back pocket of his flannels, swiped and slurped with equal abandon and when he was out for 60-odd the bottle was empty - the only case I know of the batsman arriving at the crease sober and leaving it blind drunk.

Two of my beloved cricket heroes around that time were our Gloucestershire bowlers and best pals George Lambert and Sam Cook. One evening against Northants at Bristol fearsome fast Frank Tyson was on a terrifying roll in the twilight on a dodgy pitch and George was sent in as night-watchman on the presumption that Tyson would take it easy on a fellow member of the fast bowlers' union. Fat chance. Poor George ducked, dived, and only narrowly survived Tyson's onslaught. He came in, not out but pink-eyed, pallid and quivering - to be met at the pavilion steps by Sam and a triple-strength gin-and-tonic: "Get this down you, George - the bugger'll be twice as quick in the morning!"

Cricketers can forget about quiet drinks and expect to be pestered and provoked by a variety of irritating people wherever they go. It is an inevitable consequence of cricket's increasing profile and profits, writes Andy Bull in the Guardian.

Sadly, modern cricketers will need to be PR savvy as well as professional. As with Premier League footballers, well-paid cricketers will find that every molehill of a misdemeanour is a potential mountain. The ramifications of Symonds' bust-up are no longer just a sore head and a short suspension; players now have responsibilities to their sponsors and the brands they represent. Whether they like it or not, they will have to alter their public behaviour to avoid being mired in scandal. From now on, Boon's beer record could be as untouchable as the Don's batting average.

Facing yet another one-day humiliation, England's coach Peter Moores knows his time in the top job is rapidly running out, writes Mike Selvey in the Guardian.

A year and a half, in which time Moores has supervised 66 matches in various formats, is an adequate time in which to form a picture and it is not looking too favourable. Brickbats came his way last winter for the boot-camp approach to training and as, one senior player told me at the time, his "in your face" approach compared unfavourably with Fletcher's assertive but considered and unobtrusive style. Moores has been forced to adapt, which is not a sign of strength. In his captain, Kevin Pietersen, he has a dominant personality who was known not to have a close relationship with him and who likes his own way. Moores' influence, already thinning, has been diluted further.

Michael Vaughan is full of enthusiasm as he talks about life with the young England hopefuls who aspire to achieve a fraction of what he has, writes Paul Newman in the Daily Mail.

‘Do you know what? This is exactly what I needed,’ says the former captain who won the Ashes. ‘To be taken back to where I started. There’s no luxury, no staying at five-star accommodation. I’m in a real refreshed state of mind, just looking forward to getting out there and working on my game. I haven’t done that for a while.’

Vaughan is with the England Performance Squad in Bangalore, staying at spartan digs at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium and looking forward to the rest of his life. It is a life that he insists will include more Test cricket for England. He looks fit, tanned and younger than his 34 years.

Brett Geeves was stranded on 99 not out for Tasmania last week. He wasn't happy, as he outlines in his blog on the Tasmanian Cricket Association website.

It’s a feeling that can't be explained. I have an analogy that might help put it into context. You are one piece away from finishing the 20,000 piece jigsaw puzzle your grandmother brought you for Christmas. I know what you’re thinking - Just give me the cash for Christmas ... kicking me in the shins would have been a better present! Anyway, you're one piece away from finishing the worst Christmas gift ever and it’s nowhere to be found ... Where the (expletives) is it!!?? For hours and hours you've toiled away, and you're one piece away from mastering the puzzle!! You ask questions of yourself. What have I done to deserve this? Why me? Who can I kill? Why does the MCG catering staff continue to give us these macadamia nut low fat muffins? Where are the chocolate ones?

He also says Tasmania's Sheffield Shield form has been disappointing. "It would be nice to spend a full day with the thongs on watching Hilf [Ben Hilfenhaus] attempt to do the Kidz Biz Crossword in the Herald."

Geeves is not the only player who has been blogging lately. Here's Iain O'Brien, the New Zealand fast bowler and genuine tail-ender on batting in the second innings at the Gabba.

So, I'm in, Mitchell Johnson with the ball in hand. I lasted one quick ball from him in the first innings. First ball, quick, full, and I defend it. Next ball, bouncer, oh s..., I hate bouncers, I duck it, and get under it well. I stood straight back up and stared straight back at Johnson. I wasn't go to show him nothing. "Whatever pal, you can bowl quick, but I'm not taking a backward step." That was a thought of course, I wasn't going to start to get into verbals with them.

Malcolm Conn writes in the Australian that Andrew Symonds might need to take a leaf out of Shane Warne's book to learn how to cope with the intense media spotlight.

Warne was a lover, not a fighter, and the British tabloids loved him for it, time after indiscreet time. Symonds is a fighter, which can be all the more damaging, so he would do well to take on board some of Warne's hard-earned lessons about staying out of trouble and out of the spotlight. It got to the stage later in his career when Warne would forsake the bars and clubs and simply invite a few mates to his hotel room to share a bottle or two of red wine.

In the Daily Telegraph, Nick Walshaw recounts one of the stories of Symonds' lack of grace when dealing with the general public.

Andrew Symonds was downing beers at a swank rooftop party in Bangladesh when they approached him. Two Aussie backpackers whose entire salaries had been siphoned into following 11 Baggy Greens across the subcontinent. But now they were here. Invited into the inner sanctum by tour officials. Standing with beers in hand before their hero Roy.

"So, you blokes cricketers?" Symonds eventually deadpanned. A question that sent our duo into a spin about synthetic wickets, park outfields and modest exploits against mates.

"Oh," Symonds said sarcastically, "you're not Test cricketers then?" Confused, both men shook their heads. "Well, this party is for Test cricketers ... so you should probably f... off."

At what point do Aussie sports stars have the right to morph from public figure into private property?

Michael Slater writes on ninemsn that Symonds has to be prepared to make greater sacrifices if he wants to continue his international career.

Peter Roebuck writes in the Age that the situation in Zimbabwe has hardly improved and the ICC cannot keep sweeping it under the carpet.

Make no mistake, cricket is in Zimbabwe up to its neck. The leaders of the game in that benighted land work hand in hand with Zanu pf. Peter Chingoka, the long standing chairman of a disreputable board, is allied to the influential Mujuru faction. He has mining interests, vast investments and houses overseas. Ozias Bvute, his opportunistic and thuggish CEO, is cut from the same stone. These fat cats did not actually pour the burning plastic but they gained from the activities of the CIO, Green Bombers and all the other ghastly representatives of the repressive state.

An International Cricket Council delegation is in Harare to investigate the running of the game. The delegates each have different roles, Haroon Lorgat (ICC CEO and an accountant), Julian Hunte (governance) and Arjuna Ranatunga (coaching). It is a step in the right direction, taken despite Zimbabwe Cricket's protests. After all, $18.8 million was allocated to ZC last year and cricket is entitled to know how it was spent.

Judging from the unpaid hotel bills, unpaid wages, overgrown club grounds, cancelled matches and disintegrating standards, precious little has been spent directly on cricket. Mind you, ZC did manage to send 14 officials on its last under-19 tour to South Africa.

	Having a ball: Zaheer Khan © AFP

Not for the first time, a fantastic bowling performance was ignored and the Man of the Match was given to Virender Sehwag in Bangalore when it should have gone to Zaheer Khan. Suresh Menon in his column on Dreamcricket.com says Zaheer's spell, 5-0-20-2 would have been spectacular in a full match, but was incredible considering the game was reduced to 22 overs.

A bad opening spell could have turned the match, but Zaheer allowed no liberties to be taken. It was a wonderful example of accurate bowling in a one-day game, allowing the ball to do just enough to command respect.

It was good to see the authority with which he set the field for Ishant, who, in an interview after the match gave the senior man full credit for instilling in him confidence.

While India have embraced the new challenges of one-day cricket, David Hopps in the Guardian believes England have remained stuck in the past. England seem to have been embroiled in very English discussions about bureaucracy which didn't address the core challenge of producing powerful, aggressive players fit for a rapidly-changing game. A study in contrasts which has led to a horribly one-sided contest.

India replaced Rahul Dravid as captain and Greg Chappell as coach, judging both to be resistant to change, appointed Mahendra Singh Dhoni as an inspirational captain armed with considerable power, and brazenly flaunted their economic power with the advent of the Indian Premier League. England appointed from within to prove that their system was working, shuffled chairs in the corridors of power, and as far as their own Twenty20 league was concerned, lost focus and ambition.

It is not just the series scoreline which has put a strain on Kevin Pietersen at the top. It is the sniping and the second-guessing that habitually surround English sport, which has seen him get a taste of what the England captaincy was like for so many of his predecessors. Simon Briggs has more in the Telegraph.

This winter, England have failed at Twenty20, failed at 50-over cricket and last week they even failed at 49-over cricket. In Bangalore, however, they had an excellent chance to turn their luck around in a Twenty-two22 match. King Cricket in his blog on the Wisden Cricketer website outlines a three-point plan to help arrest the decline.

Alex Brown writes in the Sydney Morning Herald that Andrew Symonds' latest incident could hardly have come at a worse time and while the evidence suggests he did not instigate the altercation at a Brisbane pub, that won't necessarily save him from punishment.

His stubborn refusal to make peace with CA following January's Adelaide court hearing - in which Australian players were convinced to drop charges of racial abuse against Harbhajan Singh before the Indian spinner's eventual exoneration - has eroded team harmony, and frustrated administrators and teammates alike. Likewise, Symonds's courting of controversy in more social settings has angered many within Australian cricket, particularly as the majority of his teammates seem to have mastered the dual arts of enjoying a beer while avoiding trouble.

Robert Craddock in the Courier-Mail is fed up. He wonders why Steve and Mark Waugh managed to spend about 35 years collectively on tour never once became involved in a bar-room incident, yet it happens to Symonds regularly.

You have reached the end of the road as a dignified sportsman when rugby league players steer clear of you because you are too much trouble. It happened to Andrew Symonds at the Normanby Hotel on Sunday when several Kangaroo players decided Symonds was an incident waiting to happen and moved on to other company.

Being brushed by league players because they deem you "too loud and arrogant" is like being taunted by Warwick Capper because your pants are too tight. It just doesn't get any worse than that ... the final indignity for an arrogant, reckless man who refused to learn from his lessons.

Of course the Normanby Hotel went into predictable damage control mode last night, falling over themselves to defend Symonds. But that's beside the point. Precisely a week ago Symonds was telling the world on Channel 9 how some of his problems were caused by too much drinking. And now this. Symonds's statement released last night portrayed him as the victim. Is he ever guilty?

Chloe Saltau in the Age argues that Cricket Australia have sent all the wrong messages by recalling Symonds before he was ready.

During his playing days Abdul Qadir was not only a master of his craft, but the champion legspinner was also a team-man to the core. In an interview to Sumit Mukherjee in the Times of India, Pakistan's newly-appointed chief selector says he hopes to inculcate some of that quality into the current bunch of players as he kickstarts an arduous rebuilding process with an eye on the 2011 World Cup.

No one is indispensable. There will always be someone to fill the void. When Fazal Mahmood ended his playing career, we didn’t expect someone of his calibre to come along, but in came Imran Khan and changed the face of Pakistan cricket. After Imran, we got Wasim Akram. No one goes on forever, but life does.

New Zealand's Iain O'Brien is not a devastating wrecker with the ball, but he is an increasingly important player in the New Zealand Test team and one of its more interesting characters. “OB”, as he is known in Derbyshire cricket circles, is one of the more popular players on the local circuit and regularly makes contributions to the county's website. Paul Holden, in his blog Sideline Slogger, profiles him in stuff.co.nz.

As an interviewee, his answers are quirky. He was recently asked on Radio Sport where he thought the heads of the top six New Zealand batsmen were at: “The top six? They’re at lunch most probably. No, really, they are actually having lunch.”

Also read O'Brien's take on the Gabba crowd.

The crowds here are pretty good, ruined by a few, actually quite a few, idiots who think a day out at the cricket is just to abuse the guys playing any way how. You get called anything and everything. Embarrassing for these guys really, as a lot of the others around them are cringing. I don’t know how many times I’ve was called a ‘faggot’ this afternoon.

	Owais Shah's blitz gave England hope in Bangalore but they fell 19 runs short © AFP

The dash for runs was only a couple of overs longer than a Twenty20 chase. Unfortunately, England's conservatism in the batting order meant that they were always behind the target, writes Richard Hobson in the Times.

The opening partnership of Ian Bell and Ravi Bopara should have been split. Bell is a good foil for a quick scorer - I always thought he would bat well alongside Marcus Trescothick - but not a crackerjack in his own right. And it was asking too much of Bopara - the number eight this time last week - to take on Zaheer Khan and Munaf Patel from the start with the required rate standing at nine per over. An experienced hitter should have been promoted.

It took a lot of monsoon and a lot of Duckworth-Lewis to devise England's target. But, however demanding 198 in 22 overs appeared, the disruption was slightly in their favour. They had been severely up against it when the second downpour arrived, India's 106 for one in 17 leaving them well placed for another score in excess of 300, writes David Hopps in the Guardian.

England's start had been feeble, repressed and thoroughly demoralising. After every unproductive over, one thought "this must be the low spot" only to discover that another over later there was another. In the first six overs of pace England did not middle a ball and scrambled to 21 for one in thoroughly embarrassing manner. Indians in the crowd laughed. The match felt lost.

England bowed out of this one-day series as they began, outplayed, outwitted, and out of ideas. To lose four games over a seven-match series in India would not be unusual for many visiting teams, but to lose four in a row, even if two of them did involve the arcane Duckworth-Lewis method, suggests a side long on inflexibility and short of solutions," writes Derek Pringle in the Telegraph.

For many of England's batsmen with ambitions of playing in the Indian Premier League, the run-chase would have been the perfect time to advertise their wares to any watching franchise-holders. But if they began with Ian Bell and Ravi Bopara looking like they were bargain basement and two for the price of one, Shah and Flintoff caught the eye with some superb ball-striking.

In the same paper, Geoffrey Boycott asks: how can you go out to bat for 22 overs, with the required run-rate hovering around nine runs per over, and leave your two most destructive players sitting on their backsides in the pavilion?

Poor weather may have prevented England from clawing their way back in to the seven match series in Kanpur, but it helped Kevin Pietersen’s side here. England’s Duckworth/Lewis adjusted target of 198 in 22 overs was always going to be tough to chase down, but it was easier than chasing around 350, the 50 over target India looked set to post before rain interrupted their innings, writes Angus Fraser in the Independent.

Gary Kirsten is making a very positive impression as India's coach, winning fans inside and outside of the dressing room. His former team-mate, Daryll Cullinan, writes in his Weekender column that Kirsten hasn't made the same mistakes as India's other foreign coaches and has allowed the players to be themselves.

What Kirsten has also done well is to understand the Indian pecking order, and the way of doing things, which is different from most other countries. On the playing front the captain and convener of selectors are top of the pile.

In fact, selecting is now a full-time and well-paid job for the convener and his fellow selectors. The senior players follow, then the juniors and then lastly the coach and his support staff.

Cheteshwara Pujara was in the news for his two triple-centries in a week during the Under-22 CK Nayudu Trophy last month. He is currently the leading scorer in this season's Ranji Trophy after an unbeaten 302 against Orissa and a 182-ball 189 against Punjab. Sandeep Dwivedi, of the Indian Express, travelled to the Pujara home in Rajkot to discover the story behind the big numbers.

The prospect of buying a new bat didn’t appeal to the father’s pocket. Arvind requested the Cheteshwar’s school to lend his son the team bat. "It was a bit embarrassing for me since they weren’t too forthcoming. But after several requests they relented, and with that borrowed bat Cheteshwar scored his first triple hundred - 306 not out against Baroda," says Arvind before fishing out that old bat - a BDM that the school gifted to Cheteshwar after that.

Nothing is going right for England. Defeat on the field is being accompanied by desperate – and, so far, similarly successful – brinkmanship off it, writes Stephen Brenkley in the Independent on Sunday.

At the core of fractious negotiations is Twenty20 cricket: the Indian Premier League and whether England's players appear in it, the so-called England Premier League and Indian involvement, and the future format of the Champions League. Everyone wants a share of the money, but in essence it is up to India whether they get it. England must have Indian players, and many other nationalities, taking part in their Premier League due to start in 2010, otherwise it could face serious trouble under trade description regulations, let alone crowd resistance. But in return India want more involvement by English players in the IPL.

Watching how the Indian players have gone about their skills in the current one-day series it is clear to me that playing in the IPL has helped them improve in vital areas and had a huge benefit on their team, writes Steve Harmison in the Mail on Sunday.

And the danger for England is that if our players are not involved in the IPL in future we could get left far behind in certain areas. Yuvraj Singh has been fantastic, of course, but other less well known batsmen, such as Suresh Raina and Yusuf Pathan, have shown what they've learned from the high-pressure demands and challenges of regular Twenty20 cricket against top opposition in the IPL. Batsmen are no longer content to look for 260-275 as par scores, and are now looking for a minimum of 290-300 every time.

There are no winners in Indian cricket from the controversy over a selector leaking matters discussed during a confidential meeting to the press, says Anand Vasu in the Hindustan Times. He also wonders what the motive could be for the selector for putting that information in the public domain.

What this incident does is vitiate the atmosphere in the dressing-room. Just how much faith will RP have in (Dhoni), if he could not sway the selectors? Just how much confidence will Irfan have, if he believes the report that his captain threatened to quit when the selectors picked him in place of RP? And you can imagine the sledging when Irfan takes the field.

In the Times of India, Bobilli Vijay Kumar hopes Dhoni has learnt that there are no secrets in Indian cricket and that no meeting, however sacrosanct, remains confidential forever.

Ayaz Memon writes that Dhoni's remarks have raised a more fundamental question: Just how much say should a captain have in the selection of the team? Read on in DNA.

And in Cricketnirvana, G Rajaraman says much of the speculation would have been stifled had BCCI let Srikkanth speak for the selectors and offer some insight into the changes.

	Graeme Swann, England's specialist spinner, didn't play the first two ODIs © Getty Images

Continuing with the formula that worked against South Africa at Lord's on the turning pitches of India is sheer folly, writes Vic Marks in the Observer.

Somehow, England forgot the basics upon arrival and were 2-0 down in the blink of an eye. In India, proper spinners are required. I thought we all knew that. England have one in their squad - Graeme Swann - and for two matches, he carried the drinks. His presence in the third game at Kanpur on Thursday could not change the result, but at least the captain had somewhere to turn.

And so England are 3-0 down in the series. They are improving; of that there can be no doubt. But they are also losing, and brave defeats must be for the romantics only. There are still too many nagging questions about both the composition of England's optimum XI in these conditions and the form of certain players, writes Steve James in the Telegraph.

Paul Collingwood, in particular, worries me. His groping around against the spinners in Kanpur was all too reminiscent of his travails last summer. He is not alone, but he seems at present to be finding Harbhajan Singh harder to read than Dostoyevsky. And while wicketkeeper Matt Prior has no such problems deciphering Pietersen's part-time twirlers, he missed a leg-side stumping in Kanpur and with it, according to Pietersen, a golden chance to win the match. That is a harsh judgment. But Prior does look short of confidence.

Steve James also caught up with India coach Gary Kirsten.

There is quite simply no coaching job like it in cricket. Its last two occupants, John Wright and Greg Chappell, have also been outsiders. And their tenures were not exactly a bed of roses. So is Kirsten worried? Is he heck. And it is not just the Indians' current on-field brilliance that promotes such a remarkable calm. This is Kirsten's nature. He is unflappable. He is confident in his abilities. And while he goes about his work quietly and unobtrusively, India are playing some astoundingly skilful cricket. It is a powerful, if unexpected, mix.

England can keep the series alive today but the jury is still out on Peter Moores, writes Simon Wilde in the Sunday Times.

Moores’s relationship with the media was shaped by a desire not to be the man who went before him. Duncan Fletcher had been taciturn and mistrustful of the media, so Moores set himself to be nonconfrontational and upbeat. The strategy has worked. So far he has been given a gentle ride ...

... There is anecdotal evidence, too, of Moores ruffling the players’ feathers. Last month Pietersen let slip that one reason England had not performed well in Sri Lanka and New Zealand was that they had spent too much time on fitness work.

England had Sidebottom's back scanned here yesterday, and sent the results for analysis, which last night confirmed a tear that rules him out of the one-day series. He will remain here in the hope that he will recover fitness for the Test series, but some judges - and there are a few former international fast bowlers among them - suspect his brief, but successful, international career is as good as over, writes David Hopps in the Observer

	The IPL, a book, poker ... it's been a busy year for Shane Warne © AFP

Observer Sport Monthly's lifetime achievement award goes to Shane Warne. "He has earned a place among the legends of cricket, and this year proved he was no slouch even in semi-retirement, winning the first-ever IPL as player-coach. From poker star to hair-replacement guru, his empire is as unpredictable as his bowling," says Adrian Deevoy, who interviewed Warne to mark the occasion.

Nah. He (Sachin Tendulkar) never frightened me. I think I might have said 'I'm going to have a few nightmares tonight' once and some journalists took it as gospel, but I was never frightened of anyone. And that's not me being big-headed, I was just confident in my ability.

Simon Katich's successful comeback after two and a half years out of Test cricket should be noted by New Zealand's brains trust, writes Richard Boock in the Sunday Star Times.

The 33-year-old's success as a late bloomer follows that of Matthew Hayden, dropped in 1997, recalled in 2000, Damien Martyn, dropped in 1994, returned in 2000. And Justin Langer axed in 1993, recalled in 1998. Some of their brightest batting stars of the past five years were deemed to have failed at their first attempt.

Whatever happens at the Gabba today, New Zealand coach John Bracewell and his tour selectors Daniel Vettori and Brendon McCullum could do worse than think about that as they ponder their line-up for the second test in Adelaide. Peter Fulton, on the outer since the end of last summer's home series against England, must be brought back. To persist with the status quo would be madness.

Mark Richardson in the Herald on Sunday considers the inclusion of Tim Southee ahead of Kyle Mills as a positive move.

Jesse Ryder has already won a prominent fan this season. Kerry O'Keeffe writes in the Sunday Telegraph that the game needs "big guys" and he reflects on some of the other characters who made it despite being of a less-than-athletic frame, including Greg Ritchie and Arjuna Ranatunga.

I don't care if Jesse Ryder is seen as being five pick handles across the backside. Jesse is a flag bearer. He gives hope to pears. He has proven that should clipboard-wielding nerds be forced to measure your skin folds with barbeque tongs then that's okay! Runs and wickets should be the only measuring stick, not callipers.

O'Keeffe also defends Ryder for his off-field behaviour - after all, it could happen to anyone.

After Jesse put his hand through a glass window at 4am in February, he had to endure a spell on the sidelines. Anyone can put their hand through a glass window at that time. It's normally pretty dark.

Ayaz Memon, in Daily News & Analysis, writes that while there is no credible reason to anticipate any problem over India's tour to Pakistan, the nation's home ministry officials and security experts may think otherwise.

Over half a century, cricket relations between the two countries have waxed and waned — from extreme hostility to unexpected and astonishing bonhomie. Much of that (often misplaced) passion has been sublimated over the past decade and an India-Pakistan match (for various reasons) is not something which can bring the cricket world to a standstill any more. More likely, that would be an India-Australia contest, which of course, is a different story altogether.

	Simon Katich's true grit is a real boon © Getty Images

Continuing his run of form since being recalled to the side earlier this year, Simon Katich became the first Australian to carry his bat in a Test for more than a decade and set Australia on the path towards victory against New Zealand at the Gabba. In the Sun-Herald, Peter Roebuck salutes Katich's innings and calls it the difference between two ordinary batting sides performing poorly on an improving deck. Cautious batsmen, says Roebuck, are appreciated in recessions, economic and cricketing.

Nothing Katich does at the crease catches the eye. He shuffles around like a minister without a portfolio. He has the grace of a bulldog. His bottom hand features strongly in all his shots. His batting is full of punches, clubs, clouts and carves. But there is a reassuring practicality about his work - and it is work, not play. He is built for reliability not speed, comfort not flash. The whole is greater than the parts.

Over in the Sunday Herald Sun, Robert Craddock says that you can tell how Australian cricket is travelling by what you might call the Simon Katich Index.

When the team was flying, Australia's selectors did everything they could not to pick Katich. For the selectors, ringing Katich was like ringing your dentist - you only called him when you absolutely had to and even then you never really looked forward to seeing him in operation. Their philosophy was that when you had a few Ferraris in the shed, why do you need an old-fashioned Jeep - and it was the right thinking for the time. Grit was seen as glamourless and expendable.

Jacques Kallis managed just 16 off 35 deliveries [in the first innings against Bangladesh] and yes, I’m sure some people, still mindful of his grim struggle in England, will be starting to wonder now whether his heyday has passed, writes Rob Houwing on Sport24.

I have my own theory: maybe he is indeed on a slow comedown from some lofty career heights, but that certainly doesn’t mean he is a spent force. And there may be a good reason why he hasn’t made major runs this year: he hasn’t had to. So satisfyingly consistent has been the form of Graeme Smith, Neil McKenzie, Hashim Amla and [Ashwell] Prince that Kallis has not had to drop anchor in the manner he knows best. You can bet that come Australia, there may be times when South Africa totter a bit in the top-order; it may well be a signal for normal Kallis “restorative” service to resume.

In Aussie parlance, Graeme Smith must lighten up and pull his head in down under, and then he might even win [in Australia], writes Peter Roebuck in the Witness.

However, it would be unwise to look too far ahead. South Africa cannot win unless they raise their game on and off the field, and Smith himself has a big part to play in that. Previously he arrived down under as some sort of chest-thumping provocateur intent with every word on making his own life harder and the prospects of his team grimmer. It was a mistake born of immaturity and bad advice. If Smith has learnt his lesson then his team have a chance. Otherwise the cause is lost.

Charl Langeveldt is still not willing to reveal why exactly he decided to turn his back on South Africa, just saying that his withdrawal provided an opportunity for another player of colour in Cobras team-mate Monde Zondeki. Zaahier Adams interviewed him for iol.co.za.

Do you ever sit at home and watch the Proteas feeling that you are missing out?

Yeah, I do miss playing international cricket. I do watch the guys and think that I can still do a job out there. I still have the feeling to play for my country. I mean Australia will always remain a nice place to tour.

So is there a realistic chance that you might make yourself available to the Proteas for the end-of-year Australian tour?

I don't think so. I've got a Kolpak contract with Derbyshire and one of the clauses within the contract is that I'm not available for the Proteas. I had a really good season last winter, so I don't think they would release me anyway.

Charl, you worked as prison warder before you became a professional cricketer. Has that perhaps shaped your attitude towards managing your career?

I think that probably does have a lot to do with the way I approach my cricket. I mean bowling a ball across 20 paces for 10 to 15 overs a day, is a lot easier that working in a prison. I mean a cricketer's life away from match days is quite simple. You go to gym, then go practice, finish up at around 1:30 and the day is finished. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed working in the prison. I had a good time there too. But what it taught me was that I didn't want to go back there. Youngsters haven't worked out in the real world. And they probably don't realise that if they don't make a success of their cricket careers, then they have to go and get a 9-5 job. And let's be honest, there aren't too many bright cricketers out there.

One can imagine the nervousness that the Pakistan cricketing authorities must be feeling over the issue of the India tour, supposed to take place in less than two months’ time. That India should tour is a matter of fundamental importance for Pakistan cricket, writes Asif Iqbal in the News.

If the Indians refuse to come, the prospects of any Test side other than Bangladesh and maybe Sri Lanka visiting Pakistan in the foreseeable future may be classified as remote; one of the almost certain fallouts of it would be the cancellation of the Champions Trophy to be held in September-October 2009 and, unless the law and order situation improves noticeably over the next couple of years, the future of the Pakistan leg of the World Cup could also have a serious question mark hanging over it. One has every sympathy for the position in which the Pakistan Cricket Board finds itself, for this is not a situation of its making, but one with which it has nevertheless to try and come to terms with although the means of rectifying it are also not in its control either.

What a shame New Zealand's batsmen could not carry on where their bowlers left off yesterday. Even so, by stumps last night the first test was wide open. But anyone assuming the pitch at the Gabba has been bad news for the test, think again, writes Adam Parore in the New Zealand Herald.

There's nothing wrong with the pitch. Indeed, you can mount a strong argument that these sort of pitches should be encouraged. They keep the game moving. When the sun comes out, the Gabba is invariably a treat to bat on, but on the first day, or if there's a bit of rain about, and the green tinges come through, the seam bowlers lick their lips. It has had consistent bounce and while it has certainly been challenging to bat on, it has not been dangerous or physically threatening.

For those with eyes on the future of New Zealand cricket, the first full round of the national championship this week offered an interesting glimpse of what might lie ahead, writes David Leggat also in the New Zealand Herald.

At the Under-19 World Cup, [Tim] Southee was the player of the tournament, taking 17 wickets at a remarkable 6.64 runs apiece. Not far behind him was Northern Districts left-armer Trent Boult, with 11 wickets at 10.9. Boult was one of five other members of that squad playing in the State Championship's first full round this week, and he made an immediate impact on his State Championship debut, grabbing five for 58 against Otago.

	Yuvraj Singh played crucial innings in each of the first three ODIs © AFP

Kevin Pietersen is facing his first spell of criticism as England captain, with his side three down to India and only four one-day internationals to play, writes Michael Henderson in the Telegraph.

He [Pietersen] started well, and may yet surprise those people who are not entirely convinced by a manner that does its best to conceal doubt. But there are obvious fault lines, and they are becoming more apparent with each loss. The most important player in the side, Andrew Flintoff, has not always cared for his captain. Even the dogs in the street know that. That cannot help Pietersen because Flintoff enjoys the public acclaim that he lacks, for reasons that hardly require amplification. Flintoff, a match-winner in the heroic mould, is manifestly a team man, as was Ian Botham before him. He may enjoy the benefits that come with stardom, but those are incidental.

In the Guardian, Barney Ronay ponders the solution to England's biggest problem on the tour of India so far.

Ian Botham, in particular, seems flummoxed by England's inability to grasp this simple truth. It's as though all along England have been insisting that you've got to get Yuvraj late, or even not get Yuvraj at all. Or they've been putting off getting Yuvraj and doing other things instead, only to realise it's five o'clock in the afternoon and they're still in their dressing gowns surrounded by Irn-Bru cans, eating pickled onions out of the jar and watching Lionel Richie videos on YouTube. With a nagging sense that there was someone they should have got early... Oh dear. Yuvraj.

Until last month Yuvraj Singh was widely regarded around the world as a clean hitter unlikely to contribute when the ball was wobbling around or flying past his nostrils. In short, he fell short of the standard required by those seeking accreditation as Test match batsmen, writes Peter Roebuck in the Hindu.

Sourav Ganguly’s retirement provided an opening for contenders. It was up to them to state their case. At the start of these one-day matches, Yuvraj was an outsider. Badrinath had been the squad’s reserve batsman and Murali Vijay had made an accomplished first appearance in Nagpur. Yuvraj had to produce something special. Fifties and sixes and a few wickets was not going to force the selectors’ hand. Nor could he rely on a single scintillating innings. He had to show consistency and authority. Yuvraj accepted the challenge, pushing his case with two significant hundreds and handy work with the ball.

At the age of 30 and with a decade of international cricket behind him Andrew Flintoff would be forgiven for thinking that it was time his fellow fast bowlers began to share the burden of carrying England's attack in one-day cricket, writes Angus Fraser in the Independent.

The introduction of a batting Powerplay has removed the slightly more relaxed period from Flintoff's day. As England's best bowler he now bowls when the slog is on at the start, when the slog is on during the batting Powerplay and when the final slog is on between overs 45 and 50. It is little wonder that Flintoff walked off at Rajkot and Indore shaking his head and looking rather flustered. On most days Flintoff will have done well to concede less that 60 runs.

There was a four-nation title in Sharjah under Adam Hollioake 11 years ago, and they made the final of the ICC Champions Trophy at home in 2004, but England’s failure to come to terms with the 100-over game is becoming a baffling reality of cricket’s modern era, writes Kunal Pradhan in the Indian Express.

Ricky Ponting is not happy with Allan Border's comments on his captaincy in Nagpur, but Robert Craddock writes in the Herald Sun that by the time Ponting retires he will surely be worshipping at Border's altar.

With every passing day in charge of Australia's new generation team Ponting is finding out what it is like to be Border. The tense selection issues. The insecurity of under-performing players. The glee of other nations at extending the once invincible champions. The media inquisitions.

The more you see Ponting scrapping along as the captain of a team struggling to match its former glories, the more you wonder at how on earth Border handled such stress - and much more - during his tenure as skipper. Mark Taylor said five years was the sensible limit for a Test captain. Border did it for 10.

In the Daily Telegraph, Jon Pierik defends the under-fire wicketkeeper Brad Haddin.

It should be remembered that Test greats Ian Healy and Rod Marsh all began their international careers with mixed performances, and endured calls for their axings. Times and expectations, however, have changed.

	Is winning not so easy anymore for Ricky Ponting and his team? © Getty Images

The Indians started it; New Zealand's performance on day one at the Gabba reinforced it. There are clear signs the era of Australia's iron grip on test cricket is over, writes David Leggat in the New Zealand Herald.

Consider the numbers.

Remember their 16-match winning run from October 1999 to February 2001 under the iron hand of Steve Waugh?

Or how Ricky Ponting steered Australia to 20 wins from 21 successive tests - with one drawn - between October 2005 against the ICC XI to the ugly win over India at Sydney last January?

In nine tests since, Australia have lost three, drawn four and won two. They are still tough opponents, loaded with talented cricketers and will continue to win far more than they lose.

Cricket is in worse trouble than the financial markets and nothing seen at the Gabba is going to brighten its mood, says Peter Roebuck in the Age.

Cricket yearns for a gripping struggle played to a high standard between well-matched teams. This Test has been accident-prone and mostly second-rate.

.............................................

As every month passes, the position deteriorates. Test matches are rearranged to accommodate dubious 20-over shenanigans, bound to attract as much interest among bookmakers as supporters. Players grizzle about their load and then accept lucrative offers to play an extra month. Matches are staged between uneven sides supposedly in the name of spreading the game but actually to create the illusion of competition. And the show will go on. Cricket is becoming little more than showbiz. With so many snouts in the trough it can hardly stop. A game needs to be loved, not raped.

	Matthew Hayden, 99 Tests and counting © Getty Images

Matthew Hayden looks back at the bests and worsts with Robert Craddock in the Daily Telegraph. The Gabba Test was Hayden's 99th and he is set to become the tenth Australian to 100 Tests in the second Test in Adelaide. A few excerpts:

WORST ROOMMATE: "Tim Zoehrer. He was a massive smoker for a start. Things happened when I roomed with him. I remember we were staying at the Westbury Hotel in England and a bloke invaded my room late at night and tried to kick me out of the room.

"I grabbed him and put his head up a lamp shade. I rang reception and they said they thought he was a sleepwalker and I said 'how do you know? I haven't told you what he looks like'.

"They told me not to touch him but I said 'it's a bit late for that . . . he's in a bit of trouble'."

Hayden copped some flak for his comments on India's Third World status, and he won't earn praise in Bangladesh for the following remarks.

THE GROUND I DISLIKE THE MOST: "Downtown Dhaka and the Chittagong Stadium is not my favourite ground. I remember travelling 90 minutes from the hotel for a 9.30am start at Dhaka and looking out the window and seeing life and humanity pass me by.

"One morning there was a chicken coop on top of a bus and one bloke sitting up with them like the Pied Piper."

On Supercricket, Neil Manthorp writes that the number of people offering Morne Morkel advice on how to improve his bowling form is an indication of how important he is to the South African team.

But the problem with the concern (panic?) amongst the wise and not-so-wise onlookers is that Morkel is clearly feeling it, and the tension in his body is palpable. Before any advice can used constructively, he needs to relax. Oh great, yet another piece of useless advice from yet another person who doesn't know what it feels like to bowl a cricket ball at 140 kilometres per hour. Just relax. That's as helpful as telling a struggling batsman to 'time the ball', or a long distance runner to 'breath'. It's not the 'what' which is the problem for Morkel, it's the 'how'.

The Australian series should help resolve important points about this New Zealand team. There's no doubt hard questions will be asked of Dan Vettori's men. How New Zealand respond could provide an insight into what lies ahead later in the summer," writes David Leggat in the New Zealand Herald.

Does the middle order have a future?

On the face of it, the quartet of Jesse Ryder, Ross Taylor, Brendon McCullum and Daniel Flynn at Nos 3, 4, 5 and 6 has two things going for it - age and entertainment value ...

The case of Tim Southee.

Southee has plenty of developing to do. Considering the pile of cricket, in all three forms, that potentially lies ahead of the young man, it's important that New Zealand Cricket manage him smartly.

Despite Lalit Modi's encouraging talk, in reality the IPL franchises are likely to bid for a select few of the England team, writes Mike Selvey in the Guardian.

What I find most rib-tickling is the notion that, when or if the all-clear is given, England's finest will be pouring through the door and off down the road to riches. Perhaps in this they, or once again their agents, have been paying too much attention to what Modi has been saying, for he too plays games.

Only a few weeks ago he said he would love to have the English players. On the back of this we hear through Sean Morris, chief executive of the Professional Cricketers' Association, that many of the England team have received approaches from IPL franchises. At this point I prefer to suspend belief. On what basis would a franchise owner put in a bid for all but a very select few of the England team? Net fodder? Were I a franchiser and I wanted reinforcements, I would make a start in the Caribbean. Instead, for the idea of multiple approaches look no further than the same agents, whose interest on behalf of their clients is to shout their availability from the roof tops.

The current boom in cricket pricing is the result of the seemingly unending enthusiasm of the Indian consumer, the relative, and often willing lack of competition from other Indian sport and the heady economic situation here, writes Harsha Bhogle in the Indian Express.

That is what worries me the most. Cricket’s financial ambitions rest on one shaky premise; that India will continue to generate enough resources to finance everyone else. To prevent that from happening, each country will have to generate its own revenues, as they had been doing before mega television deals for the ICC became reality. However, having tasted a gulab jamun they are unlikely to be happy with a dry roti. Expectations are now irrational.

Also in the Guardian, Dileep Premachandran says, "If the English players were allowed into the IPL they might acquire the dash and flair they so badly need."

	Kevin Pietersen talks to the umpires about the fading light in Kanpur © AFP

A reshuffled England fought hard but were again found wanting, their frustration heightened by a farcical finale, writes David Hopps in the Guardian.

The match was delayed by 45 minutes for morning mist, but nonsensically the overs were reduced only by one over per side to 49. By 4.30pm, the light was predictably fading, and even though England's spinners were bowling, umpires Russell Tiffin and Amiesh Saheba offered India bad light and victory by the dreaded Duckworth-Lewis calculations.

The International Cricket Council is always changing its playing regulations, but one rule that it claims umpires can apply at any time is common sense, something utterly lacking in Kanpur, writes Derek Pringle in the Telegraph.

Unsurprisingly, India's captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, batting at the time, accepted the offer from umpires Russell Tiffin and Amit Saheba, though England's cricketers quickly surrounded the pair to complain. However, the light, hindered by a pall of smog that had lasted all day (it delayed the start by 45 minutes), was never going to improve, which left the remonstrations from captain Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff, who had bowled with unstinting pace and aggression, falling upon deaf ears.

The farcical and thoroughly unsatisfactory finish should not detract from the fact that India were the deserving winners for the third game on the trot," writes Jonathan Agnew on BBC Sport.

It was difficult not to have some sympathy for Pietersen and his hard working side as they fell to a third successive one-day defeat to India. When the umpires deemed that heavy smog had made the light unfit India, needing 43 runs in nine overs with five wickets to spare, were favourites to win, but plenty of matches have been lost from such situations in the past, writes Angus Fraser in the Independent.

The personnel were changed, the batting order rejigged, and the match was closer. But the result was the same. England are now 3-0 down in their one-day series with four matches still to play, writes Andy Bull in the Guardian.

As soon as officials announced a 9.45am start with as many as 49 overs a side, anyone who had been in Kanpur during the previous two afternoons could have predicted an unsatisfactory end to this contest, writes Richard Hobson in the Times.

I always assumed that Frank Keating had embellished the nickname (yes, I know, it was cruel even to imagine it for a minute) but in Indore I realised otherwise when I really was asked: "Where is Mr Iron Bottom?'' It is good to know that in the rapidly changing world of cricket some traditions never change, writes David Hopps in his tour diary for the Guardian.

It was in Indore against Central Zone in 1981-82 that Ian Botham bludgeoned 122 from 55 balls with 15 fours and seven sixes — said to be the best piece of hitting ever witnessed in the city. It was especially brilliant as it had the desperation of a man with a terrible hangover, half wanting to succeed, half wanting to get out and go and have a lie down.

Frank wrote in The Guardian the following morning about how that night he had been drinking with the man that Indore knew as Iron Bottom until dawn was approaching and that he had marvelled at his pulverizing of the Central Zone attack a few hours later. I've just tried to look up Frank's wondrous prose on Google but can't find it. Until I can the internet is not quite perfect after all.

Tim Southee has won high praise from Richard Hadlee and in the Australian, Mike Coward is equally impressed with Southee following his efforts in Brisbane.

It is much too easy for red-blooded young pacemen to get carried away when they sight a grassy Gabba deck after days of heavy rain. But not Southee. He showed admirable poise and bowled with commonsense on a consistent line and an immaculate length. He moved the ball enough to disconcert and did not try to take a wicket with every delivery. And when he let loose his well-concealed quicker delivery the extra bounce brought Australia's top-order batsmen undone.

Not since Daniel Vettori has a teenager carried such weighty responsibility in New Zealand cricket. But while there are great hopes for Southee, unlike Vettori he has never been considered a prodigy. This will be to his advantage as he makes his way in the cricket world.

Peter Roebuck writes in the Sydney Morning Herald that everything went right for Daniel Vettori on the first day at the Gabba.

Vettori's masterstroke came on the stroke of tea. Hitherto Jesse Ryder has made his name mostly as a hard-hitting batsmen built along the lines favoured by John Daly, whose social habits lacked the discretion shown by the eventful golfer. Now he emerged as a burly medium-pacer capable of delivering the sort of temptations that started the rot in the Garden of Eden.

Robert Craddock writes in the Daily Telegraph that the omission of Jason Krejza at the Gabba highlights the muddle-headed thinking of Australia’s selectors.

Once so decisive, they are second, third and fourth guessing their options and it is causing widespread insecurity. Will Australia really need five seam bowlers on a green-topped wicket against a club strength New Zealand batting line-up? It's a bit like hiring a SWAT team to chase the neighbour's cat out of your backyard. One of them - probably either Symonds or Watson - should have given way for spinner Krejza.

Australia's omission of Krejza is not a historical howler because the wicket was more suited to other bowlers. But they should have played him anyway. Shane Warne's old adage "if the wicket will take seam it will take turn" couldn't save Krezja. Nor could a 12-wicket Test debut. Nor could those two dirty words "over rate". Australia would have played him if McGrath and Gillespie were still around. But they no longer trust their quicks to do the job, even on a seamers' paradise. It's a worry.

In the Herald Sun, Jon Pierik argues that there are plenty of Test runs left in Matthew Hayden despite his recent struggles.

On sport24.co.za, Rob Houwing is appalled by Bangladesh's slow over-rate on the first day of the first Test against South Africa in Bloemfontein.

Isn’t it high time the ICC finally put its hitherto lethargic foot down?

I believe the solution is for the umpires to more forcefully police, hour by hour, the over rate and insist on a minimum of 14 for each one – and if that is not met, then how about adding 20 or 25 penalty runs on each offending occasion to the batting team’s extras tally?

	Call it heads, Punter © Getty Images

In the Sportstar, S Ram Mahesh lists ten points that made the difference between the winner and the loser in the recent India-Australia series. Here's No. 1:

The simplest thing Ricky Ponting could have done to revive his side’s fortunes was to change his call to heads. He didn’t, and Australia lost three straight tosses — not all-determining, but serious concessions in these conditions. It wasn’t a coincidence that the only Test Australia dominated was when Ponting got lucky. Champion teams often take the toss and the conditions out of the equation, so flexible and varied are their cutting edges, but thi s Australian side, considerably less formidable than its predecessors, suffered. The batsmen were denied access to the best batting conditions; the bowlers, forced to go first when the surfaces were less abrasive, were often deprived of reverse swing.

'The England captain's blinkered view has not served his side well in the opening two one-day internationals in India,' says Mike Atherton in his piece in the Times.

Now the inference is clear: spinners, in the world according to the England captain, are allowed to play a role, but only in so far as they are there as fodder for batsmen. It is almost as if they are a subspecies. Why should spinners not be important in one-day cricket?

The career of a sportsman is relatively short and the attitude of most is to grasp what is on offer when it is there. Angus Fraser in the Independent believes though England's top players could earn in excess of £1.5 million over the course of the next 15 months, the workload may take its toll on the players with injuries and more casualties.

Injury is an occupational hazard for a sportsman and, sadly, there will be the occasional player whose body cannot cope with the constant demands that are placed on it. Fast bowlers are the most prone to injury. The physically trying nature of the job means that a pull, strain, tear or stress fracture is never far away.

Mike Coward writes in the Australian that Ricky Ponting’s men are on notice: they must reconnect with the Australian public this summer. Coward believes the corporatisation of the game has left fans cold.

A former executive of a company with strong and traditional ties to Cricket Australia this year took to calling CA the "Jolimont juggernaut". (CA is headquartered at Jolimont in Melbourne's inner-east.) It is most apt.

As a consequence of the corporatisation of the game, CA has become something of a behemoth with the attendant party machinery, personalities and politics. And woe betide those who deviate from the doctrine.

One suspects Ponting abided by an unspoken, unwritten, unacknowledged understanding when he surrendered Australia's chance of holding on to the Border-Gavaskar Trophy on the fourth day of the final Test at Nagpur. It still beggars belief that he can't see his mistake, own up to it and get on with a job that generally he does most capably.

In the Age, Peter Roebuck argues that it is time Australia the nation gets the cricket team it deserves.

In the Daily Telegraph, Josh Massoud traces the unusual rise of Jason Krejza, who started playing cricket when a local junior team was door-knocking for new members.

Up until then Krejza played soccer, sometimes in nearby Amalfi Park alongside Mark Bosnich. A professional footballer during his former life in Czechoslovakia, Krejza's father George knew the Bosnich family well.

As unlikely as it seemed, the son of an immigrant fitter and turner quickly fell in love with bat and ball. But it would be more unlikely that he would ever spin the latter. During his early days the kid they called Krazy was obsessed with pace. Unfortunately, his body wasn't up to speed. By his 13th birthday, Krejza developed a spinal fracture because, according to George, "he never had a follow-through".

Makarand Waigankar believes Yuvraj Singh is the ideal successor of Sourav Ganguly. Read his piece in the Mumbai Mirror.

When in mood, moody players destroy the opponents. When not in mood, they destroy themselves. This is an apt description of Yuvraj Singh. Such players are not slaves of technique. Their technique is a slave of their emotional state. To Yuvraj Singh, the point of impact while playing shot is what matters. Technical gyan doesn’t interest him.

Such players are never consistent. His inconsistency may have prompted Kapil Dev and Dilip Vengsarkar to question his focus on the game but highly temperamental cricketers can’t be expected to stay focussed all the time. Temperamental cricketers expect others to understand them. They need to be handled. They have to be needled at the right time the way Kapil Dev and Vengsarkar did by saying that Yuvi needs to be focussed. This must have really angered him but hasn’t it worked? Chaavi(provocation) as we say in Mumbai cricket.

Tim Nielsen, the Australian coach, is pleased to have Andrew Symonds back in the squad for the series against New Zealand and South Africa. In his blog on Cricket Australia's website Nielsen suggests Symonds' greatest attribute, apart from the fact that he is such a quality player, is that he is such a hard competitor - something Australia is in desperate need of during these times of change.

He’s a natural fun-loving member of the team, he enjoys being part of a group of blokes and enjoys the up and down nature of our game. Most importantly has the ability to carry other guys along with him when times are tough. Those sorts of people are few and far between.

As much as Cricket South Africa’s appointment of Duncan Fletcher to aid the Proteas at key times over the next year or so is to be deeply lauded, national coach Mickey Arthur deserves bouquets of his own for giving it the tick of approval. Rob Houwing in his column on Sport24.com talks about the latest move in South African cricket and believes the occasional alliance may very well bear fruit as long as both men know very clearly, and also appreciate, what their specific and separate areas of jurisdiction are.

Certainly, there would be some instances in which more firebrand personalities might be expected to clash pretty quickly in such circumstances but Arthur, for one, is a thoroughly decent person for whom ego issues come some way down on his list of characteristics and priorities.

Fletcher, too, while an intriguingly more complex individual - this comes out in his autobiography, in which an arguably excessive distrust for an array of people is a recurring theme - is, at the end of the day, a salt-of-the-earth and utterly proven “cricket man” to the core.

	Monty Panesar could be called up if Graeme Swann's inclusion does not change England's fortunes © AFP

In today's Guardian, David Hopps says that England will accept the inevitability of India and choose a specialist spin bowler for the first time as they seek to recover from 2-0 down in the seven-match series. Though England have opted for Graeme Swann's offspin, don't be surprised if Monty Panesar gets called over to India, says Hopps.

The belated realisation that England cannot prosper in India without a specialist spin bowler begs the question about what is actually taught on the History GCSE syllabus. And if history makes no impact, then you might wish to consider current affairs instead: in the last Test played in Kanpur, against South Africa in April, India prepared the pitch to favour spin, then saw their spinners take 14 wickets in the match. Harbhajan Singh even took the new ball in the second innings.

Panesar, who flies out to India this week with the England Performance Squad, purportedly to prepare for the Test series, is England's finest spinner for a generation yet has been overlooked for the one-day squad in the belief that he should be regarded as a Test specialist. The irony is that he has been sounded out to play Twenty20 in the Indian Premier League.

L Sivaramakrishnan, in the Hindu, feels India's captain has taken his chances and come out successful. Mahendra Singh Dhoni is quick to think on his feet, feels the writer, giving his team an edge.

	Unlike others, Mohammad Yousuf didn't pick the patently smarter option © Getty Images

Mohammad Yousuf is peeved. Thats not new. Yesterday, after returning to Pakistan following the Lahore Badshahs' win in the ICL finals, Yousuf warned that the national side will suffer without him, saying that the country doesn't have anybody good enough to replace him in the middle-order at the moment. In the Karachi-based Dawn, Saad Shafqat says that by even accepting the ICL offer, Yousuf showed everyone that he had placed greed above the country. It’s been great for the Badshahs and for the fans who are once again enjoying the rarefied pleasure of Yousuf’s silken batting. But in a more obvious sense, says Shafqat, Yousuf is back where he started, accomplishing little and inviting ridicule in the process.

It was the princely sum of $1million that started it. This is the amount that the Indian Cricket League offered Yousuf through former Pakistan captain Moin Khan, who had become the manager of the Lahore Badshahs and was recruiting for them.

Naturally, Yousuf was tempted. Who wouldn’t be? Around the world, leading contracted players from many national teams were made similar offers to join one of the ICL teams and add their stardust to the league. Yet while everyone else resisted, Yousuf caved in.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Zaheer Khan,and RP Singh's trip from Rajkot to north-eastern Maharashtra for the inauguration of a local cricket tournament, before the second ODI against England, incurs the ire of Sharda Ugra in her blog in India Today, where she criticises the BCCI for allowing the players to attend the event in the midst of an ongoing international series.

It is not known whether the team protested in any way, made their displeasure known.

If they didn't, they should have. Either protested or leaked (which they can do quite expertly) in order to cause an uproar. If, however, they believe it was alright to toodle off to Bhandara, then maybe they do deserve to have all manner of dignitaries marching into changing room and grabbing seats in their viewing areas as used to happen.

If they did and were over-ruled, it is only a reflection of what the BCCI and its current bosses think of cricket. That they don't think of cricket at all.

Andrew Symonds’ admission that alcohol played a part in his downfall this year was a major step in the right direction, according to Robert Craddock in the Courier-Mail.

Symonds left a few people cold at his "return" press conference in Melbourne last week with his belligerent air which radiated everything except the one quality people were desperate to see - remorse. "How can he really repair any damage he's done if he doesn't feel the need to apologise?" was a common view uttered by people there.

However his admission to former teammate Ian Healy on Channel 9 yesterday that he had drunk too much for his own good was a brave call, for which he should be applauded. It had been the elephant in the room for the past few months. Many people knew about it. No one wanted to talk about it. No one is calling Symonds an alcoholic - he's not - but alcohol unquestionably brings out the worst in him.

Walk into any bar and you will see how a few drinks extract the extremes in people's personalities - happiness, aggression, despair or humour. Symonds, by nature, is a brooding type who does not trust many people. He seems to carry quite a few angry thoughts around with him. After he has had a few beers those thoughts can gush out. Candidly, it's not pretty to watch.

Peter Roebuck writes in the Age that the time is right for Symonds to rejoin the Test team.

In the Australian, Peter Lalor argues that Stuart Clark must play in the first Test against New Zealand.

In the Herald Sun, Robert Craddock and Jon Pierik take a detailed look at where Australia’s team is heading. They also speak to Ian Healy, who sees similarities to the national side he joined in 1988.

Ian Healy watched Australia's painful demise in India a number kept flashing through his head ... 1988. A small part of him was transported back to his first rugged tour to Pakistan. The brutally long days in the field, the painful insecurities of new players - himself included - the grinding burden on an overworked captain. Captain Allan Border was 33 then, just as Ricky Ponting is now.

The sides had promising, but yet-to-fully-blossom, allrounders (Steve Waugh then, Shane Watson now), new keepers (Healy then, Brad Haddin now) and struggling pace attacks. The Pakistan tour, which the home side won 1-0, was a painful experience for all involved but it was also a turning point for a developing side after four sorrowful years because, soon after, Australia decided to identify a group of promising players and stick with them.

V Ramnarayan dips into the past to write about his experiences of playing for Hyderabad Blues in foreign lands. He talks about troubling a young David Gower and an inebriated walk with an angry Jaisimha in the middle of the night to nowhere. Read the piece in his blog Stumped.

...my performance under gruelling conditions in Penang against an RAF side, when Jai [Jaisimha] cursed me fluently after I asked to be taken off (the only time in my life), having run out of shirts and trousers, drenched in perspiration as never before or after in my career, and unable to grip the ball, the sweat simply pouring out from every pore in my body. “Stop giving me f---ing excuses! Can’t grip the ball indeed! God save me from bloody sissies!” he said. I had no option but to go on.

My final figures of 30-8-47-8 leading to a thumping win were more than adequate compensation for all the trouble, but even more pleasurable was the praise Jai dished out over a couple of drinks—again for the first time in my life, because cricketers, especially those belonging to the old school, generally don’t believe in praising you to your face.

The rise of internet coverage may provoke sport's biggest transformation since the expansion of the railways in the 1800s, writes David Hopps in the Observer.

But India's influence might not stop at cricket. It could conceivably become a major battleground between sports bodies who increasingly want to maximise commercial revenue from their matches - as well as to have the disturbing ability to sanitise coverage - and traditional media outlets who believe that independent coverage is under threat.

If any sporting body can be the catalyst for change, recent history suggests it could be the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). If bcci.tv, which was launched ahead of the India-Australia Test series six weeks ago to a lukewarm response, makes an impact, then rest assured that English football's Premier League, for one, will be among many official bodies who take note.

	Kevin Pietersen’s honeymoon as England captain is over © Getty Images

Humiliation is calling too often. Three times in the past fortnight England's one-day cricketers have felt its shame and embarrassment, writes Steve James in the Telegraph.

We sensed this was a distracted side, and now stronger and stronger evidence is unfolding before our very eyes. This is a sensitive issue among the team and its management. They resent such insinuations. Indeed, coach Peter Moores was defiantly denying them again yesterday. But he should know there is only one sure way of knocking them stone-dead: by his team performing in the middle. Tomorrow in Indore would be a good place to start. Six matches remain in the series and much can still be achieved.

England players' minds may be elsewhere amid exotic charms of India but pace attack lacking spice must stand tall with new ball, writes Angus Fraser in the Independent on Sunday.

One-day cricket is all about momentum. England had it at the end of the summer when they were thrashing South Africa, then ranked second best in the world, 4-0. Time away can cause the commodity to be diluted, and England's players had a six-week break between the final game against South Africa and travelling to Antigua.

But it is more likely that focus was lost in the preparation for the match against Stanford's Super Stars. Few sportsmen have the chance to earn $1m for a night's work, but the constant questioning the England players faced about money and the integrity of the game they were about to play must have led them to wonder if they really wanted to win it. To go into a match where so much is at stake with such an attitude would be a unique experience, and England could still be trying to come to terms with these emotions.

Kevin Pietersen’s honeymoon as England captain is over - Stanford, Mumbai seconds and Rajkot have seen to that - and it is a moot point as to whether his personal crisis is bigger or smaller than Ricky Ponting’s, writes Simon Wilde in the Sunday Times. Ponting lost the plot tactically in defeat in Nagpur and got himself run out in the process. The same can be said for Pietersen in Rajkot, where he inserted India, only to see them post the highest ODI total against England. Pietersen once admitted that he was hopeless at reading pitches; he is going to have to learn fast.

More than sheer poetry or sublime timing, there was another quality, a very important one, that stood out in Yuvraj Singh's monumental blast on Friday afternoon: anger, writes Bobilli Vijay Kumar in the Times of India.

There is a lesson, a story, behind this anger. Cricketers in India are often placed on such a lofty pedestal that it won't be inappropriate to say they are 'high'. Sadly, some of them get so carried away by their own popularity that they don't know what to do when the inevitable 'tripping' begins. Lulled by a few successes, intoxicated by the adulation and accompanying riches, some of them slip into a state of complacency. Sooner or earlier, they start believing they are infallible, even untouchable; some think they just need to turn up on the ground for the magic to flow.

It doesn't take long for the bubble to burst though. But then, thankfully, there is a perfect remedy for this disease: the boot. More often than not, it works; once these thick-headed stars are thrown back into the system and confront anonymity, they realise their follies and try and catch up on lost time. Yuvraj, despite his love for the high life, may not fall into this category of players. But the exit from the Test squad, even if it was for just one series, has obviously helped.

When Yuvraj bats the way he did at Rajkot on Friday, a comparison with Richards may not be out of place. He has the same disdainful swagger, the same audacious stroke-play, writes Pradeep Magazine in the Hindustan Times.

The major difference is that while Richards can and did a Rajkot very often, in the best and worst of conditions and in both forms of the game, Yuvraj has lacked consistency and his Test failures are too galling for anyone to accord him the status reserved for the best. If one were to write his epitaph today, he would be summed up as a batsman who could destroy any attack, but in conditions favourable for batting. What must trouble Yuvraj is that long before Dhoni arrived, he was the chosen king. He is 26 now and even the vice-captaincy has been taken away from him.

Australia’s chairman of selectors Andrew Hilditch needs to be prepared to explain the selection panel’s sometimes baffling decisions, according to Will Swanton in the Sun-Herald. And Swanton believes in taking a couple of questions at the SCG when Australia’s Test squad for Brisbane was announced, Hilditch failed to offer any insight.

The guts of it was that Australia was embarking on an important lead-up to the Ashes. He said selectors sometimes get it right and sometimes they get it wrong.

Is that really enough? Wasn't it bleeding obvious that playing White as the first-choice spinner for three Tests was going to end in tears? The Sun-Herald wanted a forum away from the TV cameras to ask Hilditch about India. About Cameron White. About no Jason Krejza until the last Test. About Cameron White. About claims Beau Casson was hung out to dry because left-arm spin was not wanted in India. About Cameron White. About Stuart Clark being relieved of his services for no apparent reason. About Cameron White.

No talkies.

Dylan Cleaver writes in the Herald on Sunday that Ricky Ponting should get used to the term schadenfreude.

The cricket world is taking perverse pleasure in the apparent crumbling of a cricket empire - everybody loves seeing the playground bully's glass jaw exposed. The reason is simply this: where once there was grudging, yet tremendous admiration for the Australian juggernaut, now there is contempt.

Where Australia was bold and innovative under Mark Taylor and, to a lesser extent, Steve Waugh, they're now crass and stubborn. Take the level head of Michael Hussey out of this team and they're close to unlovable.

In the same paper, Mark Richardson argues that Daniel Vettori must be brave and send Australia in if he wins the toss at the Gabba.

Southee, Kyle Mills, and Chris Martin are swing bowlers and Ian O'Brien will get seam movement in the right conditions. Unless rain is forecast those conditions will only exist on day one. Then pray. It's a gamble bowling first in Australia. Nasser Hussain asked Australia to bat first on the greenish looking Gabba only for the locals to pound out 600 plus.

The ongoing absence of Shane Bond from the New Zealand team due to his ICL career is still a bugbear for some New Zealanders, as John Dybvig writes in the Sunday Star Times.

Bond is a stand-up guy who wanted to secure his financial future for his family by playing for the Delhi Giants. Wow, what a bastard he turned out to be - well, that's the view of New Zealand Cricket, who threw him under the bus. Oh sure, they came up with all sorts of justifiable excuses to hide behind their cowardice: it's the rules, they said, it's the ICC regulations.

Don't make me laugh, it's all about control, power, greed: the foundations of international cricket these days - the players are merely the meat in the money sandwich. And I just love this courageous stand from Black Caps captain Daniel Vettori: "While we would love to have him, the team's probably moved on from that. It has been a long time now."

Since when have the mighty Black Caps "moved on" from having quality players on their team?

Remember all the talk about international cricket not being interfered with when the IPL kicked off? How must the International Cricket Council, who sanctioned - or at least gave nodding approval - to its establishment by [Lalit] Modi and his chums - be viewing Modi's machinations now? writes David Leggat in the New Zealand Herald.

His latest slap this week was to England's leading players, who fancy being involved in next season's IPL in April-May, having missed out first time round this year. Modi's message? Commit to the IPL, at the expense of their English early-season commitments, or forget it. Modi went further. The England and Wales Cricket Board should shunt back the start of their home season. That would allow the likes of Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff to play more IPL games, thus making them more attractive to franchise owners, and still be available for England.

Cricket is essentially a mental game. It is time the BCCI sets up counselling centres to ensure that talent is not lost, writes Makarand Waingankar in the Hindu.

The famous cases of Bill Edrich in the 50s and the recent cases of Andrew Symonds, Herschelle Gibbs and some of the Indian cricketers indicate that cricket is not as simple a game as it looks from beyond the boundary line.

Fierce competition among the peers and illogical selections at all the levels increase the frustration levels in cricketers. The ones who successfully negotiate the pressure and control the frustration tolerance index tend to perform more consistently. And those who can’t, end up groping in the dark.

Sachin Tendulkar made his Test debut against Pakistan in Karachi 19 years ago on November 15 1989. Click here for an interview with him in the Telegraph.

Everybody wants you around till the 2011 World Cup... Come to think of it, 2009 is already at our doorstep...

I know that... I also know well-wishers have put 2011 as a target for me... However, what I’d like to do is remain fit and enjoy the game... That’s my goal, rather than being available for a particular series or a tournament... I’d rather look at the immediate future and be ready... As is my practice, I wouldn’t like to look too far ahead... You know I look at the next engagement, not an X number of years down the line...

	Geoffrey Boycott is of the opinion that Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff should bat at higher positions © Getty Images

I would bat Pietersen at three and Collingwood at four. Who opens is a problem that, thankfully, I don’t have to solve, but perhaps England should look at pushing Flintoff up front, writes Geoffrey Boycott in the Telegraph.

I have been saying for a long time that England have not got their top three right. Matt Prior is a very average batsman to be going in first for England. Ian Bell is a touch player who needs to have runs behind him and for his confidence to be high if he is going to be successful up front at international level ...

... As for Owais Shah, well anyone who believes that he is a No 3 for England wants his head testing. He is a good player in the lower middle order against the old ball. But if you have a borderline batsman who struggles to get in the team, why bat him at three in front of arguably one of the best two or three batsmen in the world in Pietersen and one of the best one-day batsmen in Paul Collingwood? It doesn’t make sense.

First came the Stanford jolly that all went terribly wrong. Next an embarrassing defeat in a warm-up against a Mumbai 2nd XI. To complete the hat-trick, England were trounced by India in their opening one-day international by 158 runs, conceded their highest total in an ODI, and succumbed to surely the most astounding innings ever produced by a man with a bad back, writes David Hopps in the Guardian.

In his tour diary for the Guardian, Hopps writes, "India, of course, is not ''a third-world country''. India, as we have all been taught, is a ''land of contradictions.'' It is a land that can pay Hayden US$375,000 to play for Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League then irritate him when it takes half-an-hour to move a sightscreen."

Several records were broken this morning in Rajkot but those that fell only increased England’s embarrassment as their tour of India began in disastrous style, writes Angus Fraser in the Independent.

Stellar names may be missing from the India side, but there can be no doubting the talent and professionalism of a team in transition. They were also better than England in areas such as running between the wickets and fielding, which have been key weaknesses in the past, writes Richard Hobson in the Times.

Here's Hobson's comment piece in the Times.

Anybody questioning how a side who thrashed South Africa 4-0 at the end of last season can have played so limply yesterday is bound to look at what happened in between. The conclusion must be that England lost more than the chance to win $1million a head on the Stanford mission. They forgot that playing cricket is a pleasure rather than a moral burden or a chore; that they are part of the entertainment industry and paid to put on a show.

Peter Roebuck writes in the Sydney Morning Herald that Ricky Ponting must rethink his approach to captaincy or Australia will lose to South Africa and England in the next nine months.

Ponting often seemed to be captaining by formula as opposed to instinct. In his younger days he had a strong grasp of the mood of a match and an urgent desire to intervene. He was a leader, urging his players along, suggesting ruses to his captain. Moreover, his ideas were often astute. As a batsman, too, he hooked and clipped and seized the initiative. His only weak point was a hot temper and a fondness for grog, a combination that periodically put him in strife.

Ponting confronted and corrected his wild ways, to his credit. He did not blame anyone except himself. From that moment, his rise was inevitable. Honesty and ambition command respect. In controlling his furies, he lost part of himself, a part he needs to recover or else his captaincy is doomed. Most particularly, he needs to restore his feel for the game, and put it alongside his sportsmanship.

Above all, he needs to lead his men away from the resentments of the Sydney Test, which was a disaster for Australian cricket. Ponting and his senior players pursued a case they could not win over an incident they had initiated thereby turning a sharp-tongued opponent into a national hero. An aspiring leader was described as " an unreliable witness".

Ricky Ponting’s players fought hard, but did not have the bowling resources required to trouble a strong batting order appreciating placid pitches [in India]. The imminent return of Andrew Symonds will put a bit of spark into the fielding and add aggression to the batting, but it will not add much penetration with the ball, writes Roebuck in the Witness.

Also in the Witness Ray White writes, "All that can be read into the Australians’ defeat by India is that they are still not easy to beat ... All that has happened is that the Australians have come back to the chasing pack that includes just three teams — India, clearly, England and South Africa."

In the hours leading up to the All-Stars Twenty20 match, the Sydney Morning Herald’s Alex Brown caught up with Arthur Morris to see what he made of the Twenty20 phenomenon.

To truly appreciate cricket's changing visage, you could do worse than share a drink with an Invincible in the hours leading up to a much-hyped Twenty20 encounter between Australia and a Cricket Australia All-Star XI. Clutching a schooner in the grand old Members Bar of the Sydney Cricket Ground yesterday, surrounded by sepia-toned photographs depicting a more dignified age, the 86-year-old Morris recounts with astonishment and humour the cricketing revolution he has witnessed.

"I don't mind it, so long as people treat it as a fun exercise," he said of Twenty20. "It's completely different to first-class or Test cricket. Test cricket is for people who know something about cricket. Twenty20 is for people who don't know much about it. There will always be people who are fascinated by Test cricket and all its intrigue. It's not just slather and whack." Was he planning to watch the match? "I might," he said. "But not if I am going to miss The Bold and the Beautiful."

In the Weekend Australian Peter Lalor looks at two of the new facilities at the SCG, the aptly named Doug Walters Bar and the Waugh Room.

Greg Baum, in the Age, explores the idea of "splitters" in cricket as players increasingly resemble subcontractors, switching between clubs, counties, states, countries without hesitation.

This is a labyrinth. Cricket authorities, transfixed by Twenty20, say international club competition is the great unexplored frontier. Lalit Modi, Indian board mover and shaker and the brains behind the Indian Premier League and the Champions League, says soccer comfortably divides its fixtures between club competitions and internationals, so cricket should.

But soccer never asks players to choose between clubs in the same competition. Nor does it ask them to switch constantly between radically different styles of the game, nor to squeeze club and country commitments into consecutive days.

Also in the Age, Brendan McArdle wonders if Cricket Australia really had the players' best interests at heart when it scheduled the All-Stars Twenty20 game.

Eight players involved in last night's match will be playing in today's Sheffield Shield match at the MCG between Victoria and Tasmania, and to accommodate their travel back from Brisbane the game starts at one o'clock. One can only wonder at the thoughts of David Hussey or Brad Hodge if they are walking out to face Ben Hilfenhaus or Brett Geeves in semi-darkness at 7.30 tonight.

What cricket needs in order to better itself is a clock. Read more on Smoke Signals.

When the clock winds down to 00:00, if the bowling team has not completed its quota, then it will be punished (in any number of reasonable ways - which will be discussed separately). There is a simple way to do this : if there is a delay caused by the bowling team, the clock continues to run. If the delay is caused by the batting team, the clock will be stopped. Similarly, for actions of umpires, fall of wickets, ball going out of the ground etc… the clock will be stopped. Seems simple enough, but there are a couple of twists here : once the clock is running, the bowling team is free to deliver the ball, the batsman’s readiness or otherwise be damned.

Sometime there is a limit to how much licence or latitude you give a sportsman before telling him enough is enough.That is the situation right now with Herschelle Gibbs after his drinking episode the day before the match against Bangladesh, which quickly prompted the management to send him home and order him to attend a rehab centre for drinking problems, writes Michael Tarr on iol.co.za.

My view is that Gibbs should not be chosen for the tour to Australia because his lack of discipline once again undermines the team and gives credence to the feeling that perhaps he thinks he is bigger than the game.

I certainly got the sense, after a chat with Graeme Smith and Mickey Arthur at the Oliver Tambo domestic departure area the other day, that their rebuilding quest for the South African ODI side remains frustratingly unfinished, writes Rob Houwing on Sport24.

Sharad Pawar is lucky not to be English, not just because England keeps losing in cricket but because perjury cases lead more often to jail sentences there, writes Samanwaya Rautray and Tapas Ghosh in the Telegraph. Few people have ever been punished in India for the offence but Britain jailed Jeffrey Archer — peer, millionaire, best-selling author and like Pawar, a cricket-loving politician — for giving false evidence in court.

There has been a huge amount of talk this week about eras ending and dynasties toppling after India's win in the Test series. I can understand where they are coming from, but writing off Australia is a bit premature, writes Shane Warne in the Times.

The aura of invincibility that we [Australia] carried in the eyes of the opposition has probably gone. Teams think they can beat us now, and belief is so important in sport. In the weeks ahead against New Zealand and South Africa we should look to impose ourselves again and intimidate a few opposition players. We just need a bit of spark to get things going again.

"It [the retirement] has [sunk in]. The first time I probably felt it was when I walked into the Board President’s box in Nagpur. When I watched Sachin and Laxman bat, I guess that’s when it sunk in," Anil Kumble said in an interview with KC Vijaya Kumar in the Sportstar.

In 1990 you had the greats who were in the last days of their careers, and Indian cricket possibly didn’t have consistently good results. We started to do exceptionally well in the 1990s and were unbeatable at home till 2000. Later, when John Wright and Sourav Ganguly took over the team, we started believing that we could win abroad. We didn’t win series overseas on a consistent basis, but at least in every series we toured, we did win matches. Now we are at a stage where we have done well against Australia, the number one team, in the last four series. We have won two and the other two were close. We are heading in the right way. I have done my bit. It is time to move on and the Indian team is in good hands.

Also in the Sportstar, Vijay Lokapally writes that Anil Kumble, Shane Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan can be seen in action in the IPL but Test cricket will miss their wonderful characters.

	Harbhajan Singh took 15 wickets and scored two half-centuries in the series against Australia © AFP

"When they [Australia] came over, they were not sure about their game plan. They were not the same kind of Australian team that we have seen before, in 2001 and 2004. They were a very beatable side this time. They have always been a beatable side - it is just that they keep on coming back - but this time they never came back, because they did not have the quality of Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath in their bowling attack," Harbhajan Singh told Harish Kotian during an interview on Rediff.

Sourav [Ganguly] was probably the closest captain I have worked with. I have played a lot of cricket under him and he was always open to ideas and gave me the fields I wanted. He gave me the confidence that I will be there in the team and that I should just keep bowling well and taking wickets. He was always there for the youngsters. He backed me when I was nowhere, not even in the team. He brought me back in the team against Australia [in 2001] which proved to be the second coming for me as I took 32 wickets in the series. I will never forget whatever he has done for me. He has been a great supporter and a great friend. He is somebody whom I can look up to and say that you have changed my life.

Till just the other day Amit Mishra would roam around and nobody would give him a second look. Over the past few days he is getting curious glances from people and ‘I know you’ kind of smiles as he moves around New Delhi. Fourteen wickets in three Tests against Australia made him famous, writes Nihal Koshie in DNA.

	The one-day and Test series in India will be Kevin Pietersen's first overseas assignment as England captain © Getty Images

Kevin Pietersen and Mahendra Singh Dhoni are the centre of attention as England prepare to tackle India, writes Angus Fraser in the Independent.

Dhoni and Pietersen are the team's sexiest and most flamboyant players. They are entertainers, the type of cricketers fans here flock to see, and India's insatiable media cannot get enough of them. Each has the ability to thrill, combining the power, skill and daring needed to play an endless array of breathtaking strokes. They happen to be the captains of the two teams too. Each is inexperienced and over the next six weeks it will be fascinating to watch how they cope with the pressures that come with leading a team.

This is likely to be the biggest test Kevin Pietersen will face as England captain," writes Nasser Hussain in the Daily Mail. It is all very well winning against South African players he knows well in English conditions, but a tour of India will tell us whether he is maturing as a leader heading for the Ashes - or is about to receive a major setback.

Graham Thorpe, Surrey's new batting coach, claims that success in India is all about playing the right angles, writes Lawrence Booth in the Guardian.

"The angles are different out there [in India]," he says, echoing a theme expounded in these pages yesterday by Duncan Fletcher, who presided over Thorpe's self-denying masterpiece at Lahore eight years ago. "Sometimes you can be playing on a pitch that doesn't turn much, so your angles are down the ground. But if the pitch does turn, the angles change. If you're looking to hit through midwicket then you almost need to be aiming through mid-on because the ball turns at such a sharp angle.

For a big fast bowler capable of bullying the world's best batsmen with his 90mph lifters, Steve Harmison cuts a nervous presence in Rajkot's Imperial Palace Hotel as he prepares for England's first one-day international against India, writes Derek Pringle in the Telegraph.

There are many who say that Sourav Ganguly couldn’t have timed his retirement better, writes Geoffrey Boycott in the Hindu. However, personally speaking, I think he still had quite a bit of Test cricket in him. I think he should have played against England and then toured New Zealand, too, but then I’m no one to comment on his personal decision.

This is a team [India's] of mostly raw youngsters, which gives England its best chance to win a couple of quick games at the start of the series. While these young players may turn out to be excellent prospects for India, I’m not sure all of them have the ability to fill the very large boots left vacant.

The selectors have only confused the issue by naming Andrew Symonds in a 13-man squad for the first Test against New Zealand, Greg Baum writes in the Age. He believes they should have picked Symonds in a fixed role or not at all.

As a player, Symonds was obliged at least to appear to take Australia's matches against Bangladesh in August seriously. Instead, he went fishing, incurring the wrath of teammates and a suspension. Since, he has undergone a program of rehabilitation that sometimes has seemed too earnest to be taken seriously. Yesterday, chairman of selectors Andrew Hilditch called it a "prescribed plan", making it sound like a course of chemotherapy.

Be that as it may, he has been pronounced cured. Announcing this to a press conference last week, Symonds was affronted, belligerent and unapologetic, so affirming that his state of mind was indeed normal. Be that as it may, too. But in six first-class innings for Queensland this season, he has passed five only twice, and not made a half-century. Bowling, he has taken five wickets. It is scarcely irresistible form.

Robert Craddock in the Daily Telegraph considers a question the selectors have not had to ask until now - who is the better option, Symonds or Shane Watson?

Their styles as players are as different as the men themselves. Symonds is what the psychologists call a "Mozzie", an instinctive player who admits he plays best when he doesn't think too much about his game. Former Australia coach John Buchanan used to give Symonds permission to throw his computer printouts into the garbage bin. His technique may not have textbook purity but at his best he has the eye of the pig hunter he likes to be when cricket is not calling.

Watson is a more of a thinking type who has one of the game's best batting techniques - so good that he has even had to work on it becoming less than perfect so he can improvise in one-day cricket. Some days, such as the last of the series in India, Watson bowls as well as anyone in the team. Other days he looks vulnerable.

There is a chance that Simon Jones' career could be over. The fast bowler has already begun planning for the cricketing afterlife and taken the first tentative steps on his latest comeback trail. He admits international cricket is "something you miss terribly" but the crowning of Pietersen – who is godfather to Harvey, the eldest of Jones' two young sons – will not harm his chances of a recall. Wayne Veysey has more in the Telegraph.

The bowler many judges rate as the most skilful in England has not played international cricket since breaking down during the 2005 Trent Bridge Test even though his form last summer – he took 42 Championship wickets at 18 apiece – was surely good enough for him to be selected ahead of Darren Pattinson for the second Test against South Africa at Headingley.

"I heard I was close," said Jones. "I was told I was close, not officially. I don't know whether the wrong message had gone round because I was rotated by Worcester sometimes but I was fit to play."

Cricket-writers have long appropriated the idea that not only does character determine performance. If Sourav Ganguly was insolent, difficult, mercurial, provocative and flawed, Rahul Dravid was well-bred, consistent, a good sport and true. While Dravid would have been perfect captaincy material, Ganguly should have been a disaster as a leader.

However, Mukul Kesavan in his column in the Kolkata daily, the Telegraph believes the reasons for Ganguly’s success and Dravid’s and Tendulkar’s relative failure, have nothing to do with ‘character’; but judgment.

Character determines outcomes; further, particular kinds of character, dictate (or ought to dictate) particular sorts of outcomes. So flamboyant batsmen, however good, do less well in the character stakes than more formally organized, ‘solid’ players. They are likely to be indiscreet in the matter of shot selection, prone to untimely dismissal, less committed to the team interest. Their performances, their careers, turn on the axis of narcissism, of selfishness.

	Kevin Pietersen has to be careful about the way he motivates his players © AFP

Top-class batsmen and fielders, unlike great bowlers, can be mass-produced and the strength of Australian school, club and state cricket will ensure such a production line continues. Excellence in batting and fielding has become, as Ian Chappell once said, institutionalised.

But he goes on to say that while Australia are scrapping rather than dominating, India and England are the likeliest candidates to commit themselves to producing the kind of sustained excellence that West Indies and Australia managed over a long period.

India have a potential champion in Ishant Sharma, the first home pace bowler to win a man-of-the-series award in India since Kapil Dev in 1983, along with a decently stocked fast bowling cupboard and good spinners in Harbhajan Singh and Amit Mishra. England, too, are not short on firepower. It was more than just wicket-taking ability, though, that brought West Indies and Australia their periods of dominance. Each had something extra in their leaders and group of senior players: hunger, passion, desire and single-minded drive to succeed whatever the cost. Neither India nor England have yet shown enough of that, which makes the forthcoming series such a tantalising prospect.

In an interview with the Times of India, Gautam Gambhir is optimistic about India's chances of beating England.

In the Guardian, Duncan Fletcher lists out two challenges that Kevin Pietersen will face in India.

He has to be careful about the way he motivates the guys, he has to find a balance between overdoing it and not doing it enough to keep them going. They don't want to have to say "Get off my back, captain". He also needs to get used to the different field settings required in India. Depending on the line and length you bowl, fields need to be squarer than they are in England as the ball comes on to the bat so slowly That means it's harder to hit down the ground in India and shots you think are going through, say, mid-on end up going through midwicket instead.

Steve Waugh was one of the former captains who said Ricky Ponting made the wrong decisions in Nagpur. But in the Daily Telegraph, Waugh says people should get off Ponting's back and explains that captaincy is much harder than many people realise.

When things are going along smoothly, the automatic pilot virtually switches on but when things start to go amiss you are at the coalface making decisions under intense pressure. Invariably there will be decisions that won't be right.

In Ricky Ponting I saw a leader who had been under mounting pressure, a result of injured and out-of-form players, an inconsistent selection policy, an Indian team that no longer were intimidated or afraid to speak their mind in the media or on the field, pitches that made results difficult, slow over rates and bad luck calling the toss. In reality they were clinging on and rarely occupying the high ground, scrambling to stay in the match.

In the New Zealand Herald David Leggat warns against the theory that Australia are in decline and ripe for a surprise beating from New Zealand.

This is baffling, not the least because right now New Zealand are not as robustly combative and skilled as the Indians. When Australia arrived in India, there was always a chance they'd lose the series.

India are no pickles, especially on their own turf, and they were always going to play with a fierce resolve to avenge what they believed were the wrongs foisted on them during their visit to Australia last summer. But this does not translate into the Australians having turned into a mediocre outfit.

	Will Steve Harmison put India on the back foot? © Getty Images

Mickey Arthur, the South African coach, reveals a ten-step guide to succeed in the subcontinent, a task that awaits England in India. South Africa have won series under Arthur in Pakistan and Bangladesh in the past 12 months, and also drew a three-Test contest in India earlier this year.

Two of the ten factors he highlights in the Times:

7 Use your bouncer

Don't be scared to bowl bouncers. It's the seam bowlers' one weapon in India to stop their batters lunging forward all day long and that is why Stephen Harmison is crucial. None of the Indian batsmen pulls, they prefer to cut. You bowl your bouncer to keep the batsman in his crease for your next ball.

10 Play with field settings

We always say that in India “caught cover” is as good as “caught second slip” in our part of the world. Seam bowlers don't like getting wickets caught at cover but they need to change their mindset. Having catchers in front of the wicket is the Indian equivalent of second and third slips.

Any visiting team should be able to outfield India. Whereas Steyn might dive to stop a boundary at fine leg, Ishant Sharma will stick a boot out and it will go for four. India's fielding has improved but they're some way off most teams

Is the Australian cricket team being written off too soon?

Aakash Chopra agrees with the thought, since it would be too premature, considering that the Australians had held top spot for more than a decade. Dominic Cork, in his rebuttal, believes that the spat between Ponting and Lee is just the tip of the iceberg. Read the engaging debate in thier blog on the Guardian website

	Problem child: Herschelle Gibbs © AFP

Dropped for the ODI series at home to Bangladesh after breaking the team curfew, this may well be the end of the road for Herschelle Gibbs. While the flawed genius does not have age on his side, his Test career is as good as over.

The question must be asked how long is a piece of string and for how long will Cricket South Africa be prepared to tolerate this behaviour. Arthur Turner in Sport24.com believes this type of behaviour and attitude needs to be rooted out of the team.

He needs to be given an ultimatum that if he transgresses again he will play no further part in the national team. The national players’ are role models for the country and earn huge sums of money from the game, he needs to start taking responsibility for his actions.

Gibbs will always be remembered as a cricketing genius, but also as an uncomfortable reminder of the dangers that the fame and fortune of professional sport can bring. Neil Johnson, the former Zimbabawean cricketer, in his column for the Natal Witness says Gibbs' zest for life and the fact that he never wanted to miss out often got him into trouble. But he got away with a lot, because his natural genius would always bale him out on the field irrespective of what was happening off it.

The quota system was another factor that made Herschelle appear almost bullet-proof. If Herschelle were dropped due to disciplinary reasons, there were very few players of colour to replace him and certainly no-one who could match his ability.

In Ricky Ponting’s new book, Captain’s Diary 2008, he explains his frustration at Peter Roebuck’s highly critical column following the Sydney Test. The Sydney Morning Herald has some extracts from the book.

Peter Roebuck … had written a lengthy piece that demanded I be sacked. The message in page one was loud and emphatic: Ponting Must Go. He was scathing in his criticism, which of course he is entitled to be, but to me he was so far over the top it was ridiculous.

It was as if we'd started World War III. He suggested that the entire cricket community was 'disgusted' and 'distressed' by our performance, but that was hardly the feedback I was getting. It was quite extraordinary how, when I walked down the street or stopped for a coffee in the day or two after that story appeared, people would come up and ask, 'What's going on? What's Roebuck on about?'

Ponting also says the players felt angry and totally let down by Cricket Australia over its handling of the Harbhajan Singh racism row.

I guess there was a certain naivety on my part in all of this; next time, I'll want to be just as sure about my convictions as I was this time, but I'll also want to be certain that the game is as committed to justice as I am before I put my reputation, and the reputation of my teammates, on the line.

There is a part of me that says in future I should steer clear of 'cricket politics' … but I don't want to run away from my responsibilities. I couldn't then, and I won't in future. Trust me.

Robin Martin-Jenkins explains in the Wisden Cricketer how the distractions brought about by a benefit year cause a player's form to deteriorate.

Suddenly, having only ever been good at playing cricket, he is thrust into the cut-throat world of the local business community. He has to become an expert networker, party planner and public speaker all at once. He has to buy a laptop and a printer. Most alien of all to him, he has to buy a diary and fill it with appointments to meet sponsors, caterers and tie designers. He has to plan his life and it becomes more complicated than at any time since those long-gone school days.

Australia’s 2-0 defeat was their first in a series since 2005 and their biggest since 1988-89, and has perhaps offered England hope of exploiting Australia’s frailties in the Ashes. For that, England will have to build the same momentum this winter that they did when overcoming West Indies and South Africa in 2004 writes Christopher Martin-Jenkins in the Times. He also believes Monty Panesar might prove to be the trump card both in India and against Australia.

Anyone rushing to take yesterday’s shortened odds of 15-8 against England regaining the Ashes next year should remember how Ponting responded to his team’s previous defeat in a series. They won 19 of their next 20 Tests, including five out of five against England.

The taxis in Mumbai are part of the city's heritage, and in a quirk of Indian contradiction, are all the same, yet each different in its own way. And it is this distinctness which shows that individualism and creativity thrives in a city where it would be so easy to blend in and just become a population statistic. Alison Mitchell in her blog on bbc.co.uk drives home the point.

Drivers take great pride in their yellow roofed vehicle, and every single car has a stamp of individualism about it, whether it be the red hub caps, the decorative mud guards over the rear wheels, the swirling pink letters painted onto the side, the fully carpeted interior or the colourful stickers adorning the bonnet.

	Sourav Ganguly: "India played the best when they were up for it" © AFP

The tributes continue to pour in for Sourav Ganguly. From the time he announced his retirement, he has completely been at ease and mentally prepared to go, finish with the game and start another life. In an interview to Sanjeeb Mukherjea in CNN-IBN he also says that losing his place in the side was worse than giving up the captaincy.

People like Pele and Maradona have gone. They are the greats but everybody has to go. Even Pete Sampras went because your body changes; it cannot be the same when you are 23-24 and when you are 36-37. In international sports, when you are expected to deliver day in and day out, moment you drop from your standards, people will start talking.

Bobili Vijay Kumar in the Times of India gives him the title of 'The Robin Hood of Indian cricket' as he salutes the charismatic leader who changed the way India played its cricket.

No, he didn't exactly rob the rich to feed the poor; he didn't really fight against tyranny or injustice either, as the Prince of Thieves had so enduringly done in medieval times. But in a queer sort of way, Ganguly symbolized the same fight: good over bad.

Around the time he took over India's captaincy, in 2000, cricket was trapped in the match-fixing quagmire: fans had lost their faith and the biggest stars their lustre and trustworthiness.

Harsha Bhogle in his blog on Espnstar.com remembers an interview where Ganguly spoke of the best captains getting it right seven out of ten times. However, he was modest in his own estimate: five out of ten and even when he was wrong his team-mates believed he was wrong in trying to be right.

For more Surfer on Ganguly, click here.

	It wasn't a series to remember for Ricky Ponting © Getty Images

Peter Roebuck writes in the Sydney Morning Herald that although India were the better team and deserved their win, the way in which they completed the series left a lot to be desired.

India stooped to conquer. Only 21.3 overs were bowled in the morning session, a ruse designed to slow the scoring and to bring bad light into play in the event of the Australians putting up a sustained fight. ...

If this is the best Test cricket has to offer, then it is not worth the bother. For all the weight it carries, it is still a game. Slow over-rates are a blight and an insult to the paying public. Hereafter, lunch must be taken not at a set time but once 30 overs have been bowled, with play to resume on schedule. That'll hurry things along.

An editorial in the Hindu says that after their 2-0 defeat, Australia remain the No. 1 side but have lost their aura. It says the main difference between the two sides was the bowling.

... confronted by difficult conditions, Australia’s bowling was exposed for its lack of skill, control, and imagination. The absence of a front-line spinner — before Jason Krejza’s expensive but potent fourth Test debut — hurt the visitors badly. Great sides have versatile and balanced attacks that can take wickets differently in differing conditions.

In the same paper, Steve Waugh writes the Australian team lacked a spark right through the series. He also has some high praise for Man-of-the-Series Ishant Sharma.

the true superstar in the making is Ishant Sharma ... He has incredible accuracy, is fast, has height and is a quick learner. He reminds me of Glenn McGrath in his accuracy and of Jason Gillespie in his hand speed.

In the Guardian, Mike Selvey queues up in the list of people criticising Ricky Ponting's tactics in the final session of the fourth day. He says that after the emphatic loss to India, Australia are no longer a truly great side.

Sharda Ugra in her blog on the India Today website believes the series, replete with incident and controversy and high emotion, has not contained the gut-churning, dare-not-blink intensity that was the hallmark of 21st century India v Australia. Barring a couple of sessions, it has been one-sided and not much of a contest.

More tension was generated in the press conference room than on the field. The most dangerous question asked of batsman or bowler was not via a curling outswinger or on-drive to a yorker, but one that contained the cussword of the month: “defensive.” Are too. Am not. Repeat ad nauseum.

Ayaz Memon writes in the DNA that Australian cricket's decline started with the controversies of the Sydney Test.

Stephen Brinkley wonders in the Independent whether it is the end of Australia's dominance and the end of Ricky Ponting.

	It is doubtful that Warne ever would have fretted about over rates, and certain that no captain with Warne in his side would have bothered © Getty Images

When the Australian cricket team was at its best, it followed process, but also hunches and inspiration, writes Greg Baum in the Age.

In concentrating all its thinking on its incredibly slow over rate on Sunday night, Ricky Ponting's team appeared to obsess itself with crossed Ts and properly dotted Is and neglected the essence of its mission in India. It failed where it was once infallible, in its imagination.

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But Ponting then had the advantage of Shane Warne in his side. In the context of today's debate, Warne had three great strengths. His wicket-taking exploits emboldened Australia in a way that it cannot be bold now. The thinness of Australia's attack in India has forced it onto the defensive, and it looks to have become a mindset. Mere wishing will not make it otherwise.

Warne also was a maverick who was sceptical of cricket's painstaking processes. He could afford to be in a way that others could not and cannot. It led him into conflict with team management, but it also meant that he could see possibilities, however absurd, when Australia was in trouble and, being Warne, realise them.

It is doubtful that Warne ever would have fretted about over rates, and certain that no captain with Warne in his side would have bothered.

Thirdly, Warne was both a spin bowler and indefatigable. It meant that he bowled many overs, quickly, giving Australia a perhaps unmerited tract of the high moral ground in the over rates debate.

Jon Pierik in the Herald Sun writes that how Ricky Ponting reacts to criticism of his captaincy in the next couple of weeks will be crucial for Australia's longer-term prospects.

Seduced by the notion that 350 runs in a day's play is entertainment, we sometimes ignore that it can be a chore to sit through when the bowling lacks penetration, writes Gideon Haigh in the Daily Telegraph.

For the media to complain about the entertainment value on the basis of the runs scored was like a complaint against Picasso for using too few brush-strokes.

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Here is a tension. We are anxious that Tests justify themselves as spectacle, but can't abandon the idea that more is at stake. It is a neurosis rooted in Twenty20's intimidating popularity, and Test cricket's abiding hold on our imaginations. In fact this Border-Gavaskar Trophy has given great value. Two exquisitely-matched teams with a lot of history and good cause to distrust one another have shown a ton of courage, skill and even civility.

	Sourav Ganguly: "I realised if I hadn't done well in my debut Test in '96, I would never have played for India again" © Getty Images

Sourav Ganguly insists he's at peace, though eliciting extreme emotions across the spectrum and time zones, particularly in Australia where they both detest and respect him for getting under the skins of their cricketers. In an interview in Outlook the batsman speaks about retirement, disappointment, Greg Chappell and future plans.

When I got picked up in 1996, I realised, when I came back to India, that if I had not done well in that debut Test at the Lord's, I'd never have played cricket for India again. Luckily, I didn't know that during the series. I couldn't have played cricket like that, nobody can play like that. You need to give everybody a fair opportunity, let them play with peace in mind if they are to perform

Shades of the great Sir Don Bradman in Sourav Ganguly's last innings in Test cricket? Ayaz Memon in his column in Daily News & Analysis believes both batsman must have been overcome with emotion while going out to bat in their last match. He writes that, in an oblique sort of way, retirement is also a reminder of mortality, whatever the record or degree of greatness, and heightens the sense of loss.

Indeed, his batting prowess has been obscured by his hugely successful captaincy. In the Indian context, take away Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, Viru Sehwag and Vijay Merchant — who would rate among the top 50 batsmen in cricket history — and Ganguly’s value purely as a batsman becomes telling.

Bobili Vijay Kumar in the Times of India takes us through the final moments in Ganguly's Test career and believes India may have lost something far more important during this series: the confidence in Rahul Dravid.

In another interview in the Kolkata daily, the Telegraph, Ganguly says it was the "respect in the dressing room" that mattered the most during his years as an Indian cricketer.

Empty stands, defensive tactics, too many draws - the series in India has not been what Test cricket required after a year in which Twenty20 has taken the game by storm. Robert Craddock in the Daily Telegraph paints a grim picture.

This is a heartbreaking sentence to write but it is the inescapable truth - Test cricket is in big trouble. Series between Australia and India are traditionally a magnificent pep pill for the game, providing storylines that stimulate the cricket world.

Test cricket needed that to continue this series but instead we got a batch of grim arm-wrestles on featureless wickets before poor crowds, enhancing the suspicion that Test cricket is in decline. After 131 years she is a robust old thing and won't die overnight - she might not even die at all. But she will be systematically downgraded by a thousand small cuts and it's started already.

After witnessing the tiny crowds in Nagpur, Simon Barnes wonders in the Times whether the pursuit of excellence is a legitimate reason to run a professional sport.

Most players are agreed that the complexity and infinite variability of Test-match cricket make it the highest form of the game. It's just that fewer spectators are interested in the higher form of the game, at least as a paying spectacle. The primacy of Test cricket is being maintained, but it is for reasons other than spectacle or money.

In the Australian, Malcolm Conn describes the play on the third day in Nagpur as "diabolical", and lays the blame largely with Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

It seems that the bright new boy of Indian cricket, the face on every billboard who has energised and enlivened a nation with his brilliant batting and captaincy in the short forms of the game, is happy to lead Test cricket back into the dark ages. Australia complacently followed. The local media described Australia as defensive and Dhoni's tactics innovative. If that's the case he may well innovate Test cricket out of existence.

Jon Pierik, writing in the Herald Sun points out that the BCCI must take responsibility for the empty stands in Nagpur.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India should hang its head in shame for the farcical situation in which spectators at this match are only allowed in if they have a five-day pass. That's right, no single-day tickets are sold. What a joke.

Also read Phil Long in the BBC's Test Match Special blog.

... the decision not to let supporters drink water and eat the food they've purchased at the food stands in their seats is taking things a bit too far!

It did mean though that the quieter passages of play were enlivened by the surreptitious smuggling and consumption of food and water into Gallery S-I by the most unlikely of 'criminals'!

Robert Craddock writes in the Courier-Mail that Jason Krejza's Test debut has been difficult to rate. He has taken 12 wickets but will he be a success in the future?

The temptation is to say the Australian selectors must be doing handstands over Krezja but we remember that Nathan Hauritz took seven wickets on his debut in the corresponding Test of the last Indian tour and never played another Test.

Beau Casson showed some promise in his debut against the West Indies this year – and he hasn't been sighted since. Off-spin is a devilishly tough trade, particularly on hard, unsympathetic Australian decks, which explains why no Australian offie has taken 200 Test wickets.

	Ricky Ponting may have denied his side the chance of retaining the Border-Gavaskar Trophy © Getty Images

Somehow, a group of experienced cricketers and leaders managed to convince themselves that the over rate was more important than the match. At tea, Indian were in trouble. In the ensuing two hours, Dhoni and Harbhajan Singh stroked the ball around cheerfully, adding 100 runs in 100 minutes. It was the most staggering passage of play seen on a day that also included five penalty runs when the keeper threw a glove at the ball, and four overthrows given away by a fieldsman tying his laces. Indeed it was the most incomprehensible spell seen from an Australian team for a quarter of a century.

In Sydney's Daily Telegraph Jon Pierik writes that Ponting had every reason to hang his head in shame last night after allowing India to escape the noose in the fourth Test.

What a joke. With wickets desperately needed, Ponting had to roll the dice and unleash chief strike weapons Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee or Shane Watson immediately after tea. Instead, he turned to the part-time spin of Cameron White, who has five wickets in the series, and Mike Hussey, who has never come close to one in his Test career, to hurry through the overs with frontline spinner Jason Krejza.

The Australian's Malcom Conn calls it Ponting's worst day as captain while Dileep Premachandran terms the post-tea session "surreal" in the Times.

	"Not only in cricket, he would blast the ball as a striker in football and hit the ball very hard in table tennis and even in billiards. He is made that way,” © AFP

Mahendra Singh Dhoni's friends reminisce about his years before becoming the renowned cricketer he is today. His days as a ticket-collector on the Kharagpur railway platform and the khep khela tennis-ball matches he excelled in, are just some of the many snippets of his formative years as national cricketer that his friends discuss with Rith Basu of the Kolkata-based Telegraph.

“He rode the bike with us, played with us, ate with us, spoke our language…We fought amongst ourselves and then made up. And then suddenly he makes it big in no time, like a fairy tale. We never imagined he had it in him,” says Soma, who used to keep wickets to Dhoni’s bowling for the para team, Durga Sporting. Yes, Dhoni also bowled then. “He used to bowl pretty fast. When he bowled with a leather ball, it even swung,” adds Soma.
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“Once, after he received the man-of-the-match trophy from Bengal spinner Shiv Sagar Singh at the tournament finals in Panskura in 2002, Mahi was asked to say something. But he just told the organiser apologetically: “Mujhe bolna nahin ata (I can’t make a speech).” This same guy is so articulate now. His speech is so polished. It’s like magic,” says Sinha.

England left Antigua empty-handed after being thrashed by the Stanford Super Stars, with Kevin Pietersen saying he was happy that the money will make such a difference to the West Indian players. However, surely the England stars would have found some uses for US$1 million. In the Sunday Telegraph, Andrew Baker looks at how the squad could have spent their winnings.

Peter Moores [coach]: I would have invested any such windfall proceedings in the acquisition of a personality. I would also have purchased a quantity of "focus" for the team to take with them to India.

Matt Prior: A full-time bodyguard for my wife.

Ian Bell: Pot noodles. Lots and lots of pot noodles. No disrespect to the people of India, but while their cricketers are tasty, the food there mings.

After their Stanford debacle, England face some serious challenges during their tour of India, writes Vic Marks in the Observer. They are up against a strong Indian batting line-up that has been particularly harsh on overseas spinners, and the captain-coach relationship between Kevin Pietersen and Peter Moores is still far from ideal.

Since his appointment Pietersen has not shied away from being the main man. So how influential is Moores now? He did not appear to be proactive in Antigua, merely recognising afterwards that there were lessons to be learnt. How well does he dovetail with his captain? There is no evidence yet that he is capable of building a truly fertile relationship in the way that Duncan Fletcher did with Nasser Hussain and Michael Vaughan. That captain/coach relationship is crucial. Pietersen cannot do everything.

In the Sunday Telegraph, Steve James says England still have much to prove in one-day cricket, especially away from home and they must be wary of more big-money issues in India.

Kevin Pietersen's single-handed renaissance of England's one-day cricket at the end of last summer is already a distant memory. Now a chap called Distraction appears in England's line-up. He is a man of money. And he will be in India.

The Indian Premier League was at the core of the ill-conceived Stanford decision, despite what the ECB will have you believe, and, although chief executive David Collier is off to India to negotiate with IPL commissioner Lalit Modi, it is the reason why the players have signed only tour contracts and not yet committed to their full central contracts.

Another farewell piece, this time from Sachin Tendulkar, as he looks back at the moments shared with Anil Kumble and Sourav Ganguly. The absence of both players will be felt in the dressing room as India will find itself without two of its most distinguished cricketers. In his piece in India Today Tendulkar provides a few snippets.

If something was happening, I would give the ball to Anil. If nothing was happening, I would give the ball to Anil. If you needed to contain runs, you give the ball to Anil. If you needed to attack, you give the ball to Anil. India will miss him every day and at all times.

When I’m asked about my most memorable moment with Sourav, there have been many but one that stays with me for some reason is flooding his room with water during our under-15 days. He had been sleeping and when he got up he had no idea what was going on. I don’t think I will ever forget the sight of his face. Of course, I’d made sure all his bats and pads were safely off the ground first, so no one could say I wasn’t considerate.

After a day when only 166 runs were scored, Peter Roebuck was so bored by the cricket that he thinks spectators ought to have been paid to watch. He writes in the Sun-Herald that the worst thing about all the accusations of defensive cricket this series is that they are true.

At the very time the five-day game is most vulnerable it has been treated with contempt. Cricket is not let down by snorting fast bowlers prone to occasional lapses but by the sort of tactics and tacticians prominent during this self-absorbed series. Far from nurturing a game they supposedly cherish, they have harmed it.

In the Times of India, Bobilli Vijay Kumar takes a different view. He praises Dhoni's tactic of packing the offside field and choking the runs by keeping the attack a foot outside off stump.

And in the Hindustan Times, Pradeep Magazine marvels at the new world-class stadium in Nagpur but is unhappy with the lack of effort to attract crowds to the Test.

With Rahul Dravid's slump continuing, Rajan Bala, writing in the Bangalore Mirror, makes the case for VVS Laxman to take the pivotal No. 3 batting slot.

One would not be surprised if Dravid is going through conflicting thoughts and one of these might well be that the man, whom he began with, Ganguly, has already called it a day. Then Anil Kumble has gone, so Indian cricket is clearly going through a process of rebuilding. Is he a part of this process?

New Zealand are looking to take inspiration from India on how to overcome the Australians. Dylan Cleaver in the Herald on Sunday feels one of the tactics would surely be to curb Ricky Ponting, who has been reduced to mere mortal in the ongoing Test series. While Iain O'Brien could serve as an Ishant Sharma for New Zealand, across-the-seam bowling coupled with the lack of a world-class spinner may also prove to be Australia's Achilles heel in their next assignment, at home to New Zealand.

The other tactic India have used more successfully is across-the-seam bowling, an art that has become trendy again, particularly on flat, dry pitches. Basically, once the immediate effects of the new ball have worn off, in the subcontinent that could be before the first 10 overs is complete, their bowlers will bowl across the seam to hasten the process of roughing up the ball that, in turn, hastens the arrival of reverse swing.

If you think you know how bad Australia’s spin options are – you really don’t. Forget about Cameron White’s straight’uns and Jason Krejza’s confusing cameo in this Test, says JRod on the Wisden Cricketer blog.

Back home the truth is even uglier. Three games into the domestic season and the number one spinning wicket-taker is Marcus North with six wickets.

Marcus North is a batsman, a good one and as a spinner is someone you bowl before a break, or when your state doesn’t want to pick a real spinner. His career first-class bowling average is 44.

	Gibbs was dropped for the Bangladesh ODI series after breaking a team curfew © Getty Images

Rob Houwing, in his comment piece on the Sport24 website, laments the absence of Herschelle Gibbs in the Bangladesh series, and writes that despite Gibbs' lack of form and his problems off the field, South Africa are still in need of a player of his class.

The Proteas’ one-day team is in transition, and it needed to be after the 0-4 humiliation in England. It cried out for new blood, but whenever that requirement arises, you also need a few old-stagers to stick around and provide stability.
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Gibbs is an enigma, wrapped in a contradiction. He is a compass that either ensures good courses or goes crazy; a GPS, to use more modern lingo, that is alternately focused and orderly like his wardrobe at home and then ziggy-zaggy haywire.

	Arjuna Ranatunga isn't looking to further any business or political ambitions © AFP

Former captain Arjuna Rantaunga has just completed a turbulent first year as the president of the Sri Lankan board. Nirgunan Tiruchelvam writes in the Island that while Ranatunga hasn't done the best of jobs, he deserves to remain in the post.

The finance are in a shambles, with no takers for the TV rights. The players resent him. His former prodigies Jayasuriya and Muralitharan are openly defying their mentor. Bridges have been burnt with the Indian board

...

(but) Arjuna is the first board president, who has taken the post purely for cricket’s sake. Unlike others who took to further their business and political ambitions, Ranatunga is the first full-time Board President. He burns the midnight oil, toiling 12 hours a day.

Peter Roebuck is surprised that Rahul Dravid's lean patch has extended for so long and points out two faults: a) his strokes seem to have lost power and b) his front foot is moving laterally instead of forwards. Read on in the Hindu.

Dravid’s famous wall was built with cement not dust. As a rule, too, heavy batsmen fall back before those light on their legs. They start to lumber, arrive a fraction late to play their shots and make a mistake. Dravid is as light as a dancer. His footwork and reflexes ought to be unchanged from his days of clover.

Alex Brown writes in the Sydney Morning Herald that Australia’s selectors must be held accountable for their decisions.

With the possible exception of Vatican City missionaries and Peter Sterling's barber, Australian selectors have held down the cushiest posts of the past decade. A superstar line-up, coupled with mediocre international competition, left the panel with little to do but maintain the status quo and watch as the Australian cricket juggernaut vanquished all before them. Fishing with dynamite, you might say.

Those days are gone. Retirements and injuries to key personnel have greatly eroded the Australian team, placing increased focus on selections. And while the selectors were initially praised for the manner in which they drip-fed the likes of Phil Jaques, Brad Haddin, Mitchell Johnson and Beau Casson into the Test side, the same panel must stand accountable for the untried and unbalanced squad it sent to India - one that requires a major reversal of fortune if it is to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

In the same paper, Brown speaks to speaks to six coaches of Test nations to find out how they view Australia’s decline. Here’s a sample of what John Dyson, the West Indies coach, has to say.

I think everyone has begun to realise that this current Australian side is human and can be beaten. And that's good for cricket. I remember playing against the West Indies in the mid-1980s, and once the rest of the world realised they were beatable, it ushered in a good period for the game. I think the same is happening here.

Peter Roebuck, in the Age, looks at the remarkable achievement of Jason Krejza in capturing eight wickets on Test debut.

With the possible exception of family members, did any Australian seriously expect Jason Krejza to take a swag of wickets? Australia has been struggling for wickets all campaign and suddenly one bloke took eight in one fell swoop. In a trice, he has become the team's second-highest wicket-taker on tour. Good on 'im. He has a big heart.

Krejza was amazing. His head could easily have dropped as he was repeatedly ignored in the last few weeks. Everyone capable of sending down a spinner of any description was preferred to him. Players were flown in from Melbourne, the ball was tossed to occasional colleagues and still he was not given his chance. At one stage, he looked about as likely to get a go as the manager's wife.

Kumar Sarna, a talented opening batsman, holds a Victoria rookie contract and represented Australia at the Under-19 World Cup. But as Brendan McArdle explains in the Age, Sarna has returned to the land of his birth, India, to see what opportunities await him.

Two months ago, Sarna's dream was to play for Victoria, but a string of disappointing performances at club level have scuppered his hopes. Now, in the eyes of many, he is turning his back on a system that embraced him to search for an easier option in cricket's new land of milk and honey.

His move will not exactly shake the foundations of Australian cricket, but it reflects the ever-changing focus among many of our top players, as well as those on the levels below. In cricket's current climate, if a player isn't happy with his lot, he will seek opportunities elsewhere.

Nick Compton carries the weight of one of cricket's most famous surnames on his shoulders. After eight years at Middlesex he is looking to start afresh with a new county, but first has headed out to Australia to spend a winter with coach Neil D'Costa, who has played a major part in Michael Clarke's career. The early results are promising after Compton hit a century for his club side and he is keen to make his own name for himself as he tells Ray Gatt in the Australian

I've been at Middlesex for eight seasons now and Compton is obviously a household name in that part of the world. It is something I got used to. Maybe it has been a sub-conscious thing, perhaps it was more pressure than I needed. I'm my own player and people realise that. I think one of the reasons was to get away from that, disconnect with the UK. Come here in relative obscurity.

In a freewheeling interview with Sharda Ugra in the weekly India Today, Anil Kumble talks about his toughest days in cricket, how Adelaide 2003 was a turning point, and what drove him to bowl despite a fractured jaw in Antigua in 2002.

Here's Kumble's take on aggression in the field:

It's a simple line: if what you are going to do in the name of aggression is going to harm the team's interests, then don't do it no matter what. That's all.

The decline in Australia’s cricketing fortunes in India, the ‘defensive’ nature of their game, and their weakened spin attack, has affected the enthusiasm of their supporters for the sport, writes Alan Lee in the Times. He attributes the retirement of Shane Warne as a decisive factor for the current situation, and laments the withering away of the “leg spin revolution” he wrought.

Shane Warne is a different matter. It is not only the absence of the man himself that is mourned but the non-appearance of the promised generation of Warne wannabes. Where are all the young wrist spinners with surfer haircuts that seemed certain to queue to replace their hero? The leg-spinning revolution was a romantic notion and should have been a fitting legacy, but it has withered on the vine.

V Ramnarayan writes in his blog Stumped about Mumtaz Hussain, the Hyderabad spinner, who once cleaned up Sunil Gavaskar.

One famous victim was Sunil Gavaskar of Bombay University in 1970. He describes in his autobiographical 'Sunny Days' how he shouted to his partner Ramesh Nagdev that he had learnt to read Mumtaz, only to be completely fooled by one that looked like a perfect Chinaman but went the other way ... There was a brief moment in cricket history when fame and fortune flirted with Mumtaz Hussain, teasing him and cheating him in the end. He had just completed taking 48 wickets for the season in Rohinton Baria, a record until then, and had been included in the Board President's team to play against the touring West Indies led by Gary Sobers. The other left arm spinner in the squad answered to the name of Bishan Singh Bedi, a young bowler of immense promise. The chairman of selectors was former Test off spinner and captain Ghulam Ahmed, intent on being seen to be scrupulously fair as a selector. When it came to a choice between Bedi and Mumtaz, the local boy naturally lost out, or so the story goes.

Sir Allen Stanford and Giles Clarke are both misguided in the view that cricket can make an impact in the US, says Lawrence Donegan in the Guardian.

In a two-part interview with Pradeep Magazine in the Hindustan Times, Sourav Ganguly reveals that during Australia's visit to India in 2001, the players realised the best way to tackle them was to be aggressive. He says the players like Anil Kumble, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and him made a conscious effort to win overseas. To read the two parts, click here and here.

Robert Craddock writes in the Daily Telegraph that the struggles of Brett Lee and Stuart Clark on the India tour could have more long-term consequences than some people anticipate.

It was assumed Stuart Clark and Brett Lee would be around to carry Australia's attack into the 2009 Ashes tour and beyond. They were earmarked as anchormen of the next generation. But life can change quickly when your team fades at the seams. Days become longer, the workload more taxing. The body feels five years older than it is.

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Jason Gillespie went from being a rampaging force in India in October, 2004, to cannon fodder in England 10 months later. Gillespie was gone at 31. Paul Reiffel went at 32, as did Merv Hughes. Craig McDermott was gone, through injury, at 31. Australia's expectations about the longevity of their quicks may have been unduly inflated by the stunning durability of Glenn McGrath, who left at 37. But he was a one-off.

In the Age, Peter Roebuck looks at how Jason Krejza fought back from an early pasting on his first day of Test cricket.

To his credit, Ponting kept his spinner going. Although it was not much of a consolation, at least the batsmen were hitting the ball in the air. Nevertheless, the new man's breakers seemed too gentle to worry established batsmen. Spinners need to have as much snap, crackle and pop as Rice Bubbles. Krejza does not so much rip his off breaks as release them, does not so much flight them as float them. But he persisted, and had the sense to change his line so that the ball turned back towards the off bail. Also, he pushed the ball through a little faster so that opponents could not so confidently step out or back.

Alan Tyers casts his cynical, satirical eye over Peter Moores' would-be diary, reflecting on the Stanford Super Series at The Wisden Cricketer's blog:

As I said, the most important thing about Stanford was not the money but actually getting the players tuned up for India. One of the key skills about an England tour to the sub-continent is having your moaning in really tip-top order, so that when you arrive, you’re ready to hit the ground complaining.

“Bang… The hotel’s not up to scratch… bang… That bloke’s looking at my missus… bang… This foreign muck don’t half play havoc with my guts…”

At the same blog, Miles Jupp questions the excuses England gave for their performance in the Stanford money match:

Peter Moores said it was all about attitude, and that our thinking had all been wrong. He even implied there might have been too much thinking (which sounds dangerously like bollocks). It is hard to imagine anybody being able to use that excuse convincingly anywhere. “Your honour, although my client’s actions may appear thoughtless, the truth is in fact quite the opposite. At the very moment he took the staff of that depot hostage he was, if anything, thinking too much…”

The idea that England allowed themselves to think too much about the nature of the game and the contradictions it threw up seems far-fetched. Moores made it sound as if each and every member of the team went out to bat and immediately suffered an existential crisis. As if someone as happy-go-lucky as Paul Collingwood would suddenly raise an arm during the bowler’s delivery stride and howl plaintively “Oh never mind the cricket - what are any of us actually put on this world for?”

In his blog Stumped, V Ramnarayan writes on TE Srinivasan, another popular character from yesteryears. TE, a stylish attacking batsman, played one Test and two ODIs for India.

Even today, at cricket conversations, people ask me if it is true that TE told Gavaskar during the Australia-New Zealand tour what was wrong with his (Sunil’s) backlift, and if that is what cost him (TE) his career! I find it difficult to believe that even TE was capable of such effrontery or that it could have made any difference to Sunil Gavaskar’s attitude to his cricket. Of course, another story that has done the rounds since that tour, is even more spectacularly funny: that of TE landing in Australia and informing the press, ‘Tell Dennis Lillee TE has arrived!’

Whether either of these stories is true or not, I can confirm that TE successfully riled another Australian fast bowler Rodney Hogg by confronting him on the lawns of a hotel in Hyderabad during a tour game and begging him ‘to please stop bowling flipping off spinners.”

After the furore caused by Adam Gilchrist's suggestion that Sachin Tendulkar's evidence during the Harbhajan Singh hearing after the Sydney Test was a "joke", Suresh Menon tries to analyse in Tehelka, "why any suggestion of impropriety (on Tendulkar's part) is taken as a personal insult — and, by extension, a national insult".

He also elaborates why he thinks Tendulkar is the greatest all-round batsman in the history of the game.

Bradman and Tendulkar have much in common, the most significant being that they were the repository of all knowledge of the batsmanship of their time... You could go to Sourav Ganguly for the cover drive, VVS Laxman for the on-drive, Rahul Dravid for the square cut, Kevin Pietersen for the lofted drive and so on. Or you could get them all under one roof, as it were, with Tendulkar.

In his blog, Line and Length blog on Times Online, Patrick Kidd comes up with a very interesting theory, one which could harm England's prospects in next year's Ashes.

Kidd's Law of Economics part 1a: Australia always do well out of an economic crisis. Plus, Kidd's Law of Economics part 1b: There is nothing like a recession to stimulate the arrival of some all-time great Ozzie cricketer on the world stage. For some reason, they thrive on it. Maybe because there is nothing else to do during a depression than to become really good at cricket. Plus it depresses the English even more. So don't view their troubles in India as the beginning of a decline. Instead, be afraid that some new hero is about to emerge. Here's the evidence.

Here's one of the four example he offers to prove his theory:

1992 As if you needed any more proof for my "Australia flourishes in a recession" theory, I offer up Black Wednesday on September 16, when sterling collapsed and John Major had to pull us out of the ERM, costing Britain £3.4 million. A couple of days beforehand, a young spinner named Warne had just completed his first Test series for Australia in Sri Lanka and had not been all that effective. He was selected for the next summer's Ashes tour, however, and turned out OK in the long run.

So there you are, a theory that can be explained thus: unfulfilled Australian cricketer + economic crisis = All-time Aussie Hero + Demoralised Poms.

	Shane Warne: "Stanford is somebody we should want to be involved" © Getty Images

England surely missed a trick during their one-week outing in Antigua for the Stanford Super Series, says Shane Warne in the Times. He says they failed to embrace the entertainment.

Saturday was always going to be a great occasion and I think that England missed a trick. They could have said that they were looking forward to a carnival atmosphere, to an evening of great entertainment for the crowd with a fantastic chance to earn $1million. They could have talked up the whole spectacle - yes, acknowledging the money, but emphasising how it would generate a really exciting game.

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Let's take the example of Allen Stanford walking into the dressing-room. That wasn't exactly a spying mission in the middle of a tense Ashes decider. Instead of getting uptight, players could have said something like, “Hello, mate, how are you going?” They might have asked him about his love of cricket or his businesses. Who knows - they might even have picked up a tip or two for the longer term.

	How many effigies have been burned during Ganguly's career? © Getty Images

The retirement of India's former captain Sourav Ganguly will see cricket lose one of its most controversial characters, says David Hopps on the Guardian website.

Ganguly was that rare thing: an upper-class streetfighter. He was an autocrat, not averse to chicanery to protect his power, but grant him the power and he was an avid proclaimant of India's cricketing emergence. Tendulkar made his point by weight of runs; Ganguly galvanised India in whatever way he chose, a symbol of a brash, emerging economic power. No Indian Test captain has been more successful.

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How many effigies have been burned during Ganguly's career? So many that he must be the only cricketer who can be measured in his negative effect on global warming. They must have hacked down a forest for Chappell. Others to suffer were a chief Indian selector, Kiran More, his one-time protector, and the former BCCI president, Jagmohan Dalmiya, who to much mirth he claimed had played politics with his career (both were masters at it), and any number of ICC match referees.

But Ganguly, the prince of Bengal, brought pride to an Indian region not famed for its cricketers. His extra-cover drive was a thing of beauty, his lash over gully as crafty as a batsman could get, and his skittishness against the short ball absorbing. He captained India with a vigour and authority that allowed Tendulkar to free himself from virtually unbearable pressure and concentrate on making runs.

Sir Allen Stanford and Giles Clarke are both misguided in the view that cricket can make an impact in the US, Lawrence Donegan says on the Guardian website.

According to Giles Clarke, chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board, one of the principal purposes of last week's game in Antigua was to break America. "We have to see if we can develop that market," Clarke said, which suggests those involved in last week's events have learned nothing from the experience of the Pro Cricket League. Even worse, they have learned nothing from Stanford's experiment in Fort Collins, Colorado, earlier this year, when he spent £2m (£250 per head) on trying to get the locals interested in the game. Its success can be judged by the opening paragraph of a recent story in the town's paper: "When it comes to cricket - at least as far as Fort Collins is concerned - it's nothing but crickets."

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In sport, as in life, some things are just not meant to be. Just ask David Beckham, who departed for Milan last week, disillusioned no doubt that "soccer" has failed to replace baseball as the national pastime or NFL as the national obsession. What he has realised, and what Stanford and Clarke will come to realise if they continue to chase their illusionary American dream, is that the only thing worse than having no ambition is having too much ambition.

It was strange to hear of Lord’s, the home of cricket, hosting the landing of a helicopter — that too carrying a business magnate with crates full of dollar bills. But it was only a precursor of the farce to follow, a farce that has made utter nonsense of all the ICC’s and ECB’s protestations that they are doing their utmost to ensure the survival of Test cricket, the purest form of the game, and their loud expressions of belief that this form of the game has a long and secure future. Former Pakistan captain Asif Iqbal writes about the Stanford 20/20 for 20 in the News.

The complete abandoning of all norms and even rules for this extravaganza makes a mockery of all the high moral complaints cricket administrators had against Kerry Packer and what was disdainfully described as ‘his circus’. If that was a circus, this was a trapeze act, for whatever Packer may or may not have done, he stuck to the rules of the game and never did anything to harm the formal structure of the sport.

But tournaments like this one will harm the sport’s formal structure in the long run, by making the traditional form of the sport, specially Test cricket, so much less attractive for both players and spectators simply because the money involved will, by comparison, be laughable.

Writing in his column in Mumbai Mirror, Makarand Waigankar dwells on the treatement meted out to the former Indian senior players. He says, "Anil Kumble and Sourav Ganguly are fortunate that they were allowed to quit on their terms. International cricket is ruthless. No great cricketer has been spared when he stopped performing. And the truth is often harsher than such senior cricketers can digest."

... there was the incident of Mohinder Amarnath landing at Chandigarh in 1988 as one of the selectors had left a message with his father Lala that Mohinder should be there to attend the selection committee meeting as the new captain of the Indian team. But it was Vengsarkar who was asked by the BCCI secretary Ranbir Singh Mahendra to attend the selection committee meeting. The moment Amarnath realised Vengsarkar would be leading, he barged into the press box and created a ruckus. Understandably, he was hurt.

There was also this incident when Bishan Singh Bedi was disciplined and dropped for the first Test against the West Indies in 1974 for granting a human interest interview to a London based TV channel. Later in 1979 at Kolkata against Alvin Kallicharan’s West Indies team he was dropped for bowling badly and wasn’t picked again.

Australia will end their glorious reign as the No. 1 team in Test cricket if they were to lose in Nagpur. Heralding a new era, Lawrence Booth in his blog on the Wisden Cricketer website believes Sri Lanka are the most likely to pick up the baton, though India may be the conventional favourite, as he takes a look at the possible successors.

Sri Lanka's nucleus of top players may be small, but it is unrivalled in its quality: Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene score most of their runs; Muttiah Muralitharan and Ajantha Mendis take most of their wickets. So what a shame it is that Sri Lanka’s next scheduled Test match was May in England, a tour that will almost certainly not now take place.

Oram's continues to be dogged by injury worreis, the latest being the back injury picked up on tour to Bangladesh. David Leggat in the New Zealand Herald believes Oram may soon put the bowling boots away for good and play as a specialist batsman.

"Oram" and "injury" are no strangers to being in the same sentence, and the player is increasingly frustrated at being unable to stay healthy for a reasonable length of time. He calls his frequent injury layoffs "a bit of a joke", except no one's laughing.

	Among recent captains, Dhoni has the least home work to do, thanks to Kumble © AFP

It's a wonderful contrast. While Anil Kumble is an undemonstrative, studious captain, Mahendra Singh Dhoni wears his heart on his sleeve and is a complete natural. In his column on Dreamcricket.com, Suresh Menon feels the start of a new chapter was just perfect when Dhoni provided a rare mixture of love and admiration for his predecessor.

...what an incredible sight it was to see Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the captain-designate giving a lift to Anil Kumble, the man he takes over from. If no man is a hero to his valet, no Indian captain has been a hero to his successor, and this unique tribute was testimony both to Kumble's place in the team and the new captain's youthful spontaneity

Paul Holden reviews Craig McMillan's autobiography, Out of the Park, in his blog, Sideline Slogger, and credits him for a comprehensive and straightforward take on the various subjects raised in the book.

There are fascinating chapters on the formation of the NZ Cricket Players’ Association, the bomb in Karachi, his move to the non-establishment Indian Cricket League and the 2004 tour of England (the “nightmare on the road” - who knew!). He also offers some intriguing insights into the player contract process, and its weighting in favour of Test players. With the rise of Twenty20, and the increased lip service paid to the five-day game, one wonders how much longer this can continue to be the case.

Derek Pringle, writing in the Telegraph, believes England's cricketers have a tremendous opportunity to make amends for their Stanford debacle during their upcoming tour of India, including a chance to impress IPL's fixers and agents ahead of the tournament's auction in January.

The biggest (incentive) involves India's cricket board, the BCCI, the most powerful and wealthy in the game and intent on total world domination. Until now, they have never really had a team to match that, though the present one, captained by Mahendra Singh Dhoni following Anil Kumble's retirement, are getting close. What a coup for England, and by extension the England and Wales Cricket Board, were they to thwart those ambitions by beating them in front of their adoring fans, a result that would surely neutralise any sour taste left by the Stanford match.
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The chance to present one's credentials ahead of the Indian Premier League's auction in January will be overwhelming for Pietersen and Co. Wanting to impress the IPL's fixers and agents should suit England's immediate aims as well, though other motivations exist.

In his weekly email on cricket, The Spin, Lawrence Booth lists ten reasons why missing out on Stanford's cash may be good for England. One of them is: "The car parks of county grounds next summer will not now be stocked by pink Ferraris." For the others, click here.

And continuing the list theme, John Stern has five lessons learnt during the Stanford week.

KP is the new Tony Greig.
The obvious similarities were there before but his revoltingly condescending quotes about how Chris Gayle and his team needed the money more took him dangerously close to ‘grovel’ territory.

Read more in the Wisden Cricketer.

S.Dinakar, writing in the Hindu, believes M Vijay, who's been included in the Indian squad for the Nagpur Test, has the right ingredients to play the role of an opener on the bigger stage.

Importantly, he can ‘play’ and ‘leave’; a vital attribute in an opener while coping with the new ball. Vijay’s balanced stance and an initial, but non-committal, trigger movement forward enhances his judgement in the corridor.

Talent, performances and a combination of circumstances have earned Vijay a place in the Indian squad for the high-stakes final Test against Australia at Nagpur. He deserves the opportunity.

	Laxman: "'Those early failures gave me a lot of insight into my character". © AFP

VVS Laxman, in the lead-up to his 100th Test, speaks of the highlights and disappointments of his career in an interview with Ajay Naidu in the Times of India.

The first four years, I was opening the innings and after a couple of chances people would call me a non-regular opener and I would be dropped. To be honest, those early failures gave me a lot of insight into my character. It made me tough and it gave me the confidence to be able to bounce back from any setback.
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They've (Australia) been top class with their batting, bowling and fielding and for me it started with the under-19 series. They are very aggressive and they don't give you an inch. Their style of cricket brings out the best in me.

Ian Botham asks in the Mirror: Did it ever occur to the England players that, instead of just turning up and collecting $1m each, there might be another team hell-bent on carrying off the loot?

And some of the nonsense about the pitch and the floodlights made me cringe. If you don't like slow pitches, lads, don't bother going to India later this week - because you won't find many surfaces offering pace and bounce there.

As for the floodlights, what on earth is the problem? In England, we still play one-day internationals with a few light-bulbs hoisted on cranes in the car park, so we're hardly qualified to grumble.

	Rahul Dravid averages 32.95 this year, his lowest in a calendar year © AFP

Shashank Shekhar, in the Times of India, writes that Rahul Dravid requires some "urgent maintenance work" following the slide in his batting form since he resigned from captaincy. His performance in the Delhi Test, where he was dismissed in ways inconsistent with his technical correctness, is indicative of his failure to counter some new problems that have crept up in his game, Shekhar feels.

Dravid’s loss of touch is strange because in cricket it’s generally believed that technically sound batsmen have a better chance of coming out of form slumps than those who rely on individual skill and flair. But Dravid’s blues have stretched a bit too far for his own comfort. But it clearly has more than just a technical facet to it. When Dravid relinquished captaincy, it was well understood that the decision was a direct fallout of the stress he was carrying. To add to his woes, this unseemly debate over the place of seniors in the team came at a very inopportune time for him, when he was fighting his own battles.

Meanwhile, Harsha Bhogle, in the same newspaper, writes that Mahendra Singh Dhoni, India's new captain, must back Rahul Dravid to the hilt, given the pressure on him to deliver in Nagpur.

With their minds focused on downplaying all the glitz associated with the Stanford 20/20 for 20 competition, England's players faltered on the field in the final, writes Derek Pringle in the Telegraph. He mentions that the tournament was won through hard work and discipline, and hopes the success of the Stanford Superstars will inspire the West Indies team to emulate the feat.

There was no moral ambivalence about taking the dosh among Chris Gayle's side, who were ecstatic in victory. The six-week long boot camp, with its curfews, drug tests and 12-hour training days, has shown them that hard work and discipline can have its rewards. Hopefully, the national side will follow suit and once more allow the region to strut its pride.

Adding to the numerous tributes to Anil Kumble following his retirement, an editorial comment in the Hindu emphasises Kumble's contribution to India's success overseas in the recent years, and how he demolished the myth about his ineffectiveness away from home.

The Bangalorean leaves behind a unique legacy. He has bowled India to wins in Australia, England, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and the West Indies, demolishing the myth that he was dangerous only at home. During the fractious tour of Australia, India gained from his clear-sighted leadership; in fact, he might be the best captain India almost never had. In the final analysis, Kumble leaves Indian cricket immeasurably better than he found it when he made his Test debut in 1990.

An opinion piece in Daily News and Analysis singles out Kumble's statesmanship in India's acrimonious Test series in Australia earlier this year as his greatest achievement. With India's 'old guard' gradually disbanding, the article does hint at some apprehension towards a "newer, brasher India" replacing the gentleman-like demeanour that Kumble exemplified.

Kumble’s greatest achievement, however, could be the statesmanlike quality that he brought to the field during the last Indian series in Australia which was fraught with tensions between the two teams. As accusations flew through the air, Kumble rose above it and took his team with him
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But this is still an occasion that must be marked, and that is why the sporting world has stood up to salute Kumble. He represents the best of a sport that is often lauded for being a “gentleman’s game” — in spite of enough evidence to the contrary — because he is a gentleman. Now, the newer, brasher India takes over.

An editorial comment in the Business Standard lauds Kumble for starting and sustaining the "golden era" of spin bowling along with Shane Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan, at a time when spin bowlers, particularly of the wrist variety, were relegated to the margins by fast bowlers.

Mike Selvey in the Guardian writes that the England XI got what they deserved in the Stanford 20/20 for 20. In simple cricket terms they were not even second-rate, offering an insipid, technically inept, strategically bankrupt and mentally flabby performance when the situation demanded excellence.

Too many gripes and moans - the sort that emanate from those taking a loftier view of themselves than they can justify - have emerged not to have provided a distraction. The hotel was unsuitable (for what?); Sir Allen Stanford had offended them through a bit of harmless byplay with their partners; the host also came blundering unannounced into their dressing room, a sacrosanct place; the pitch was wrong; the lights too low and glary; the outfield like Pietersen's former haircut rather than his current one.

In the Barbados-based Nation, Ezra Stuart writes that from the Superstars' point of view, one lesson to be learnt is that practice makes perfect and that if you don't prepare properly, prepare to fail.

As Ramnaresh Sarwan rightly said, the WICB should look at similar training camps ahead of a series. Credit must be given to head coach Eldine Baptiste, who was overlooked by the WICB for its top coaching post a few years ago.

In the Independent, Stephen Brenkley says the performance can easily be a chapter in a self-help book, or It might even be a whole book: How not to win a million.

From the start, England wanted the money – who wouldn't want a million dollars? – but did not want to be seen to want it. They were painfully aware that the mood among many commentators was that the Big Match was an abomination of sport, existing only to fuel the ego of its architect, the Texan multibillionaire, Allen Stanford, and lacking context in a sporting sense.

In the Times, Simon Barnes slams Kevin Pietersen's "irresponsible" shot, one that made certain that England revived their ancient tradition of trade union collapses - one out, all out.

The absurd Stanford enterprise has effectively destabilised the England team and their leadership at a hideously sensitive time. England are about to go to India, and the Australians will tell you how hard that is at present.

Pietersen's side may not feel it at this moment but losing the match could be a blessing in disguise. Yes, after tax, they may be £350,000 out of pocket, but perhaps the defeat will spur the players on to great deeds in the next 12 months, writes Angus Fraser in the Independent.

	'Cheers': Kumble calls time at the Kotla, the venue where he picked up all ten in a Test innings © AFP

Anil Kumble was determined to leave behind a legacy for future cricketers and captains and the team Dhoni will lead starting from Nagpur owes Kumble for its unity, writes Kadambari Murali in the Hindustan Times. She also recounts a meeting with Kumble in his Bangalore home eight months ago.

Eight months ago, sitting under a lovely afternoon sun outside Kreeda, his elegant Bangalore bungalow, Anil Kumble casually said he didn’t think he would last out the year, career wise. “I’m hoping to make it to the Australian series this October,” he added, equally casually, “but it depends on my body”. That Bangalore day, he grinned as wife Chethana disapprovingly commented, “He needs to think about himself”. “She’s being a wife,” he quipped, smiling at the woman he dubbed his “support system” and “partner in everything”.

Harsha Bhogle, in his tribute in the Indian Express, says the the retirement announcement itself was typical of the man: no grandstanding, no ostentation, no farewell tour. Anything else would have jarred, it wouldn’t have been Kumble. He changed the perception of spin bowling, suggesting a variation from the established pillars of guile, spin and turn.

Bowling with a fractured jaw in Antigua was the most visible expression of his commitment. But it wasn’t unexpected. Sourav Ganguly once said that if the opposition was 250 for 1 and he was looking around the field, there was one man who was looking straight back at him because he wanted the ball.

In the Independent, Angus Fraser hopes Kumble is not lost to cricket and that the BCCI use him to get a better perspective of what is good for the future of the game.

Throughout Anil Kumble has retained his dignity, it has been an immense contribution, and he did not outstay his welcome by a single day. Even in his retirement he served the side and Indian cricket, writes Peter Roebuck in the Sydney Morning Herald.

He must have yearned for one last victory and, best of all, a series win against the Australians. It was not to be. Always something is left on the table. Cricket is like that, not exactly cruel but not sentimental either. Kumble worked hard in the first innings and must have been happy with his game. But 22 yards away it did not happen. The ball flatly refused to skip or skid or bounce or turn sharply. Instead, it meandered through, giving batsmen a precious second to adjust their strokes. Previously, Kumble only needed one victory for a wicket. He bowled straight, attacked the stumps and preyed upon error. Now opponents could escape his clutches.

Rarely has there been a sportsman who has combined flintiness and dignity so adeptly. He was hard, really hard, but utterly fair. Kumble forever walked the line, but rarely if ever crossed it, write Rob Smyth in the Guardian.

And so he went. Not at the end of the series, or the end of the year, but now, when the arguments for his going were only as strong as, not stronger than, those for his continuing—and that, perhaps more than anything he has done on the field in course of an extraordinarily distinguished 19-year career, sums up all there is to know about Kumble the human being, writes Prem Panicker on his blog Smoke Signals.

G Rajaraman has known Kumble from the time he was known as K Anil and played under-19 cricket for Karnataka. He offers a few snippets of a wonderful human being and a great friend in his column in Cricketnirvana.com.

In Daily News and Analysis, Dilip Vengsarkar salutes Kumble for his attitude and the fact that he ensured the game was played in true spirit, without crossing that fine line even once.

In the Deccan Chronicle, R Mohan says Kumble was too refined a person to think negatively of anyone.

The tiny island of Montserrat, tucked away in the Leeward Islands, was remembered for all the wrong reasons. In 1995, the capital city of Plymouth was wrecked by a volcano which drove away nearly half the population. The nation has recovered since and now has a bigger profile, thanks to Allen Stanford's investments in the country's cricket and the money enables the Montserrat squad of about 20 players to practise regularly. Scyld Berry, in the Sunday Telegraph, explains why Stanford's funding is so crucial for these islands.

MacPherson Meade, one of Montserrat’s batsmen, works as a part-time groundsman, mowing the field and picking up stones from the black soil. Wicketkeeper David Lane is in construction at the new town of Little Bay, which will replace Plymouth. In the two domestic Stanford Twenty20 tournaments, where there was no appearance fee, they competed like hell for the $25,000 aMn-of-the-Match award and £10,000 Play-of-the-Match award, even if Montserrat beat only the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Kerry O'Keeffe knows a thing or two about slow bowling and in his column in the Sunday Telegraph he lets fly at Australia's selectors for their spin decisions. He says India's batsmen have Australia by the googlies.

Last Wednesday, Australia began a crucial Test in Delhi needing to take 20 wickets to level the series. Our panel came up with the slow bowling trio of Cameron White, Michael Clarke and Simon Katich. This grouping is unlikely to take 20 first-class wickets in a calendar year on doctored decks in the Gobi Desert.

Is Jason Krejza sleeping inside the Taj Mahal with Stuart MacGill's alarm clock? And why is baby-faced chinaman Beau Casson considered fruit out of season? Casson's situation demands a public explanation from selection chairman Andrew Hilditch, who the media feel is harder to catch than the multiple top edges he provided fine leg during his hooking days.

O'Keeffe knows that Casson might not be the answer but he believes the bowler at least deserved a chance after making his Test debut in Barbados.

Casson has to develop his momentum on slow pitches where batsmen tend to play him a little too comfortably off the back foot. These are challenges he has been denied by selection panel perceptions. Perhaps Casson's googlies will return against New Zealand this month in Australia. The Kiwis would have trouble picking Bill Lawry's nose.

Was England's trip really worth it? There were more reasons to sound negative about the Stanford venture and to top it all, one of the richest sporting showpieces may well go down in history as the most impoverished in terms of entertainment value, writes Andy Bull in the Observer.

Matters of vulgarity, money and the future of Test cricket aside, there are other issues that should present English cricket with very real concern about the deal with Stanford. As recently as July, Bloomberg reported that two former employees of Stanford Financial were suing for unfair dismissal on the grounds that they had been forced to resign because they refused to participate in illegal conduct.

In the same paper, Vic Marks talks of the lessons learnt in the last week, one of which is that Twenty20 should not take over the world and secondly, the smell of money makes mankind behave in most peculiar ways.

The match may have been freakishly unusual but England’s performance was entirely consistent with the way they have often turned up for big one-day events overseas — undercooked, bearing a sort of post-colonial arrogance about whether they should actually dignify the occasion with their presence — and their reward was as royal a shafting as they got at the last two World Cups and the World Twenty20, writes Simon Wilde in the Sunday Times.

The England cricketers played as if infected by the official diffidence during the week, writes Scyld Berry in the Sunday Telegraph after the no-contest in Antigua.

In the Independent on Sunday, Stephen Brenkley wants all of Stanford's detractors to lighten up.

England are in effect playing an exhibition against a team raised and bankrolled by a rich man because he feels like it. Everything else that followed has been seized on – from the helicopter at Lord's to the unfortunate photo of Sir Allen bouncing one of the England players' wives on his knee this week.

Jacob Oram's forced return home from the tour of Bangladesh due to injury may well lead to him foregoing his role as an allrounder and play as a batsman alone, at least for the tour of Australia coming up, writes Dylan Cleaver in the New Zealand Herald.

The team to tour Australia will be picked this week and Oram's status and the return of Chris Martin are the only sticking points in what should otherwise be a straightforward exercise. With no cricket, aside from typically soggy spring club forays, being played, there is nowhere for the selectors to turn except for the players who, barring one or two notable exceptions, underperformed so badly in Bangladesh.

	James Anderson's hopes of earning $250,000 depends on his team-mates © Getty Images

There were always going to be casualties thrown up by the world's first $20m cricket match and yesterday James Anderson became the most prominent, writes Stephen Brenkley in the Independent.

It is part of sporting life but Anderson must have felt like he had been mugged on the way to the bank. He must have thought all along that he would be one of those to have a shot at winning $1m, the prize on offer to each member of the winning team. Two main factors conspired against him: the nature of the pitch at Stanford Cricket Ground which persuaded England that they must play a second spinner, Graeme Swann, and the return to the one-day international fold of Stephen Harmison whose bang it in methods were bound to be preferred on this surface.

In the Times, Giles Smith gives a satirical explanation of how the Stanford circus works.

Teams representing England and an American billionaire compete on the buzzer to answer questions worth an escalating amount of money in a number of categories, including History, Theology, Industrial Archaeology and Stars of the Soaps. Meanwhile, the players' wives are locked in a soundproof booth at the back of the set with Allen Stanford. The player who least objects to his wife jiggling around on the American billionaire's lap has five minutes to plait dough and/or fold a paper napkin into the shape of a carthorse, as previously demonstrated by a special guest expert. He then climbs into the all-important, see-through “Cube of Cash”, where he must grab as much money as he can in three hours with assistance from Sir Ian Botham and the lovely Debbie McGee.

In the Daily Mail, Nasser Hussain catches up with the man himself, Allen Stanford, for a chat. Stanford talks about his motivation behind the project, reaction to the negative press in the UK and assures that his relationship with the ECB is smooth.

The way we play cricket here is different and the reason a lot of people say West Indies is their second favourite team is because they're great athletes and have great fans - and we were losing all of that. So if I'm in your face, I apologise. I don't mean to be in anybody's face.

On the eve of the $20 million clash, Mike Selvey in the Guardian analyses England's final XI and feels it will be foolhardy to expect them to sail through the contest, against a very competent Superstars squad picked by Stanford's Legends.

In the same paper, Barney Ronay does a pitch report and describes the surface as a "stretch of cursed earth" that should look itself in the mirror.

Their [England's] indignation at the appalling conditions, the boorish behaviour of their patron, Sir Allen Stanford, their sheer anger at what amounts to nothing less than a sustained loss of dignity, is simply insupportable in the absence of the only reaction which would carry any serious meaning. That, of course, would be to walk away, to say that the whole grisly charade is simply not worth the money, writes James Lawton in the Independent.

While the Lottery Board doesn't publish the list if losers, the defeated players in the Stanford match "will be ridiculed by a public anxious to see a bunch of 'pampered stars' fall a notch or two", says Lasana Liburd in the Trinidad Express.

In the Hindu, Makarand Waingankar points out the obvious flaws in the Ranji Trophy fixtures this season, which does not allow enough time for players to rest in-between matches. With the Champions League set to be played in December, the BCCI has squeezed in the Ranji matches without worrying about the teams. On the topic of selection, he feels India's new paid selection committee got a few things wrong in the Challenger Trophy.

Some of the associations have admitted that protesting against the schedule will not have any effect as the BCCI is giving priority to the Champions League. While studying the schedule, one observes that Maharashtra, after its match against Uttar Pradesh at Kanpur, is expected to be at Vadodara in the next two days. But with no air travel facility available at Kanpur and due to the flight schedules at Lucknow, Maharashtra would have to wait for a day to reach Vadodara, just a day before the match.

	Gentlemen, please © AFP

An editorial in the Indian Express criticises the recent generation of Indian cricketers for showing poor conduct in the field, especially after the punishments meted out to Gautam Gambhir and Zaheer Khan. The papers suggests soccer-style reprimands to set the players right.

India are a team enamoured of aggression but don’t know how to express it any more. They should learn from the Australians, who keep it mean but seldom dirty. And when one of their performers loses the plot, as Andrew Symonds did, they sort him out. The Indians, in contrast, are too secure in the belief that were they to be reprimanded, a chatter of racism-in-cricket would protect them. The Indian board must wise up to this.

The Stanford spectacle is creating plenty of debate, and not just in England. Greg Baum in the Age writes that the past week in Antigua hasn't been much good for anyone.

World cricket authorities aren't happy. Whatever the future of cricket, and whatever the place of Twenty20 in it — they're still trying to work it out — they know it isn't this: once-a-year, winner-take-all exhibition matches in substandard conditions, without context or explanation, gratifying one man's ego.

They know the future must include a balance between forms of the game, including Tests; this man says he loathes Test cricket. They know it must look to rebuild the game where it is shaky. This man says he intends to rejuvenate West Indian cricket, yet already has reneged. Still, one man, so many millions. Might as well take it while we can, heh?

The county clubs aren't happy; they think the ECB has allowed itself to be dazzled. The ECB isn't happy; this deal runs for five years, but, having wiped the drool from its mouth and reaffixed its cap, it is already looking for a way out.

The England players aren't happy. For one, four of their party of 15 won't play, so won't make a cent, even if England wins, which means some jockeying for position, an unedifying spectacle (it doesn't seem to have occurred to anyone that they could whack up the $11 million between all 15). It might also mean a team of four off-spinners and no wicketkeeper, but 11 good blokes.

David Leggat in the New Zealand Herald argues that the England players should not be surprised at how Allen Stanford has treated the tournament.

He's strolled the ground, beaming for his personal cameraman, plonked himself among a group of English players' partners, one pregnant wife on his lap, wandered uninvited into the English dressing room - which the players regard as sacrosanct territory - as if it is his personal fiefdom. Which in a sense it is. It's his money they're taking. What did they expect, a quiet, retiring poodle happy to hand out serious largesse in return for stuff all?