The question of whether sportspeople are more prone to depression has been touched on without any great revelation. With regard to Marcus Trescothick's programme during the Champions League in India, it scratched the surface of a complex subject. Robin Scott-Elliot in the Independent tries to dig deeper by presenting a few other instances across different sports.

Test cricket returns to Mumbai's Brabourne Stadium next week after a 36-year gap when India take on Sri Lanka in the final Test. In the Indian Express, Sandeep Dwivedi looks at the history of a venue that was once meant to be the Lord's of India.

	Jonathan Trott was struggling to make the Western Province side when he left South Africa © AFP

South African-born Jonathan Trott may have made a bright start to his England career in both Tests and one-dayers, and looks set to be a fixture in the team for years to come. Yet his emergence arouses conflicting emotions. Simon Wilde explores the South African impact in the Sunday Times.

Trott represented South Africa in the under-15 and under-19 World Cups before moving to England with his family at the age of 21. He believed county cricket would better enhance his game than a South African system hamstrung by quotas designed to wrest the game from white control. Equally, he might just have been exercising Plan B because Plan A had stalled.

England are now examining patterns which govern 50-over internationals and identifying where substantial improvements can be made, writes Scyld Berry in the Sunday Telegraph.

One such area is what happens to the first ball of an over in 50-over cricket. Anecdotal evidence had suggested that batsmen in other countries targeted the first ball, so as to demoralise the bowler and make him think about clawing back his economy-rate instead of taking wickets.

Going into this series, the facts were that India and South Africa had scored the highest percentage of runs off the first ball of an over in one-day internationals in 2009 while England, of the eight main countries, scored fewest: India scored 991 runs off 1065 such balls, South Africa 638 off 694 balls, and England only 630 runs off 865.

As England's most formidable batsman of recent vintage flies to South Africa today there is a sense that he is embarking on his mission in the nick of time, writes Stephen Brenkley in the Independent on Sunday.

Perhaps it was always intended that Gooch's expertise be used in the final planning for a daunting series… But if the call had not already been made, there was every reason for dialling Gooch's numbers in the aftermath of South Africa's overwhelming 112-run victory in the third one-day international in Cape Town on Friday night.

The first-class cricketers in the country and many stakeholders have a legitimate right to know how the BCCI’s special committee picks players for the annual retainership, also known as the central contract, writes G Viswanath in the Hindu.

If performance for the national team in Tests or one-day internationals is the basis, then one is left wondering why Mumbai’s Rohit Sharma figures in Grade B. He has not been capped in Test cricket so far. In the previous contractual period Sharma played against England, Sri Lanka, New Zealand and West Indies and he scored 152 runs in 11 innings in which he remained not out five times. His scores were 11 not out, 3, 28, 8 not out (against England), 25 not out, 4 not out, 15 (against Sri Lanka), did not bat and 43 against New Zealand and 4, 0, 11 and 1 against the West Indies.

It was a great effort by New Zealand but I am still going to argue that they can win more Tests by adjusting their batting line-up so they can select more bowlers, writes Mark Richardson in the Herald on Sunday.

If Vettori can maintain his batting form and Brendon McCullum can continue to develop his Test game, then seven is as far south as either of these two need venture. Vettori seems to believe that if three seamers and himself can't get the job done, then an extra seamer won't either. But right now eight batsmen are not exactly getting the run-scoring job done either, as per the second innings collapse.

Even though the win was a good one, with character and doggedness, let's wait before we give ourselves totally over to the illusion of a rosy future, writes Andrew Alderson in the Herald on Sunday

There are severe deficiencies, particularly in the batting. Can Daniel Flynn make it as a No3, averaging 21.50 in the position since his promising start of 95 against the West Indies a year ago? Will New Zealand be able to return to an era where Flynn doesn't have to think about striding out to bat when the ball is still brand new - having only touched the pitch, the stumps or the edge of a bat and a member of the slip cordon's hands - due to a lapse in an opener's concentration?

The fast men won this test and will continue to have their shoes shined by the batsmen, writes Jonathan Millmow in the Sunday Star Times.

In tandem, Bond and O'Brien bowled like heroes, then headed down to fine leg where they were greeted by rousing receptions. They touched their caps as gestures of thanks, took a swig of water, caught their breath, then up they came again in search of more spoils.

Also in the Sunday Star Times, Michael Donaldson says Bruce Edgar could be a candidate for the New Zealand coaching job.

Robert Craddock, writing in the Sunday Telegraph, wonders how people will maintain interest in Australia’s series against West Indies following the one-sided opening game at the Gabba.

Five years ago, when Australia decided it was time to reduce Test series against West Indies from five matches to three, some stalwarts were offended. To them, playing only three Tests against the Windies was like inviting Jamie Oliver over to cook dinner and asking him to prepare the entree only. It seemed demeaning. A waste. Almost a tease. Not any more.

Barney Ronay, in his blog in the Guardian, rates a Jonathan Trott-inspired England win only marginally better than a defeat. Trott’s South-African origin, Ronay says, doesn't make him easily acceptable as one among the English fold.

Trott does seem likable and adept and – again, jarringly – not in any sense embarrassing. The problem rests with the notion that England have to pick him because he's the best available player. This is a basic misunderstanding of what international cricket is about. International cricket isn't about winning. It's about the occasionally upsetting tectonic collision of regimes, a cold war of talent-buffing schools and development empires. If Trott wasn't around we might be watching Ian Bell flinch his way to a disappointing 37 so fluently contradictory in its elegant stodginess, so swaggeringly meek, that it makes you want to jab yourself in the eye with a steel kebab skewer.

Murali’s bowling has lost its snap, crackle and pop. Watching him these days is to observe a spinner suffering from fatigue and showing signs of wear and tear, writes Peter Roebuck in the Hindu.

By the look of things, Murali is no longer able to impart as much spin. Placid pitches in Ahmedabad and Kanpur have not helped, but in his prime he could make batsmen struggle on shirtfronts. Admittedly the batting has been superb but the contest has been one-sided.

On the occasion of India's 100th Test win, Mukul Kesavan pays a poetic tribute to a famous one at The Oval 28 years ago in the Mint.

They break for lunch when Ma announces tea,

a few to win, Farokh and Vishy there,

and desis at the Oval set to riot,

while I, taught time zones by the BBC,

fill lunchtime minutes with tea time prayer:

‘Lord, let us beat the English in Vilayat.’

Robert Craddock in the Herald Sun writes that there may be debate over who is Australia's most over-rated cricketer but the most under-rated is no contest - Marcus North.

North is a shamelessly old-fashioned player who has quickly built a reputation for being robust under pressure at Test level. For much of his career he has greatly admired Steve Waugh and Justin Langer and his fighting spirit is cut from the same cloth as those Test warriors. As a youngster he got his father to drive him to club grounds in Perth where Mike Hussey was batting to view the player who at the time was making massive scores in local cricket.

In the Weekend Australian, Peter Lalor wonders why the selectors bothered with Andrew Symonds for all those years, when North was waiting in the wings.

Unfortunately, for much of the time, he was held out by some very heavyweight cricketers. And more recently, by Symonds, a cricketer who promised a lot but delivered less. North is playing his eighth Test at the Gabba this weekend, Symonds played 24. North has scored three centuries for his country. Symonds scored two. Somewhere, someone, must be asking why they bothered with all the drama and histrionics.

In the Weekend Australian, Mike Coward notes that it is the 25th anniversary of Kim Hughes' tearful resignation as Australia's captain.

It is terribly cruel that Hughes is remembered as much for crying as for his exhilarating batting. On song he had few peers. This scribe has always wondered why one wouldn't cry if circumstances compelled the surrendering of the most significant office in Australian sport. It seemed then and seems now a very human response.

Paul Collingwood's robustness, his natural inclination to play off the back foot and the lack of flashiness in his batting makes him the typical north-England cricketer, writes Harry Pearson in his blog in the Guardian. He contrasts his style of play with David Gower, the characteristic southerner, with a cavalier approach to the game and a penchant for free-flowing strokeplay.

My dad approves of Collingwood's sensible haircut and the fact he has no visible tattoos or body-piercings. He likes him because he is strong off the back foot. Being strong off the back foot suggests a man who has not been mollycoddled in his youth. Batsmen who have spent their formative years playing on good, true wickets get on the front foot at every opportunity. Those who have been brought up playing on nasty, deceitful wickets prefer to wait and see what happens. They don't take things for granted. They know that every once in a while the ball will jump up unexpectedly and slap them in the chops. Just like life.

Also in the Guardian, former England coach Duncan Fletcher is all praise for Jonathan Trott. There will be the inevitable setbacks, he writes, but the batsman stands to gain from the experience of Collingwood, who set a perfect example of a player overcoming the hurdles to emerge successful again.

The key now for Trott is that he readies himself for the backlash. As he gets more exposure, other sides will be learning more about his weaknesses. South Africa are already going to be coming back stronger and sharper than they were in their last game. There was a sameness about their bowling at Centurion. The returns of Morne Morkel and Wayne Parnell are going to give more variety to their attack, adding more bounce and more swing, as well as a left-arm option. These will be new challenges for Trott to tackle.

Desh Gaurav Sekhri, a sports attorney, writes on sportzpower.net that the emergence of Tendulkar has radically changed the way sports marketing and management is perceived in India.

Sports Management as an industry was born on the golf course when Mark McCormack of IMG finalised a handshake deal with Arnold Palmer, the beloved and successful U.S. Professional Golfer ... A parallel could be drawn for Tendulkar and the late Mark Mascarenhas who started World-Tel with Tendulkar as the keystone client ... Tendulkar was and is, It. He was the best the world had to offer, and unlike some other clear-cut top-ranked athletes, such as Sampras or Federer, or David Duval ... Tendulkar was and is of a different mould. He isn’t a colorful personality like a Michael Phelps, or a LeBron James, or a Shane Warne. He is quiet, calm, humble, and wholesome. This is why in a country that lives by societal norms, a blend of fierce competitiveness, excellence in the face of failure, yet a family man who blunted sledges with cover drives, and reeked at times of goodness, is the man who forever will define what a Brand is.

Mike Atherton joins the chorus demanding the end of lifeless pitches. He writes in the Times that the most dramatic moment in cricket - the fall of a wicket - is something the game is forgetting all too quickly.

When the game offers no result — no chance of a result, more importantly — no fluctuating fortunes, no interest and no drama, what else but dry statistics is there to talk about?

What the ICC’s press release should have said, of course, was that the umpires and the match referee had marked the Ahmedabad pitch down as unacceptably poor and that the groundsman’s penalty would be a period without international cricket.

A relatively brief post on Australian sports opinion website the Roar that claims to bust the Tendulkar myth is far more read-worthy for its comments (in particular, the statistical analysis by a reader Philip Anthony).

Andy Bull talks of the dramatic divergence in career paths for Nottinghamshire's Paul Franks and Paul Collingwood since 2000. Franks was a hugely talented quick bowler who was also a capable bat and seemed set for a long career with England after interning with the Under-19 and A squads while Collingwood was struggling to make runs. Franks, however, played just one ODI while Collingwood has become the most capped of England's players. Read more in the Guardian.

Shane Warne compares England’s challenge in South Africa to the predicament faced by tennis players when they play Roger Federer. Writing in the Times, Warne backs the Kevin Pietersen brand of inventiveness to provide England with a surprise element against the hosts – much like an aggressive serve and volley game that could upset Federer’s gameplan.

I’m no tennis expert. But there is a great comparison here to playing cricket against South Africa. Hang back and play an orthodox game against Federer, and he’ll eat you alive. Try something adventurous, back yourself, and you never know. It’s the same with the South Africans.

I know he’s [Pietersen’s] not the captain anymore, but he has so much to offer Andrew Strauss with his left-field ideas to drag South Africa out of their comfort zones. It will not be enough for England to win the Test series simply by doing the basics well.

In the Sydney Morning Herald Peter Roebuck traces the rise of Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who has been the cornerstone of West Indies' middle-order over the past few years.

He bats like a puppet, every part of his body in motion: arms, wrists, legs, nothing static. He can look out of his depth, a man of rubber in a time of steel, a skinny fellow in an age of muscle.

Bowlers think they will get him out in a minute, and then the minutes turn into hours and sometimes days and still the modest man from the fishing village continues to pull in his haul. In the end, everyone looks at the scoreboard and realises he has done it again.

Jonathon Trott’s South African affiliations may have hogged the pre-series headlines, but the allegiance of England’s latest star lies firmly with his adopted home. He expressed his loyalties clearly to The Independent.

The last few times I have been here [South Africa] I couldn't wait to get back to England. A lot of people have asked if I'd come back here when I retire, but there's no way. I am very happy in Birmingham. Coming back here is a holiday now …

I can't really control the pubic. All I can do is put in good performances and gain the respect of my team-mates, the South African public and the English public. I don't put energy into stuff I can't control. It doesn't affect the way you bat. If you let it get to you it will.

South Africa have dominated the pre-series verbal exchanges but need to match that with quality cricket, even more so now as they are without the services of Jacques Kallis for the ODI series, writes Lawrence Booth in his blog Top Spin in the Daily Mail.

The problem with dishing out verbals – and Mickey Arthur and Graeme Smith have served theirs with extra relish – is that they can be used in evidence later on. It also helps to have the armoury to put the battle-cry into effect. Steve Waugh remembers bouncing West Indies No 11 Patrick Patterson with his little medium-pacers in a Test at Melbourne, only for the grease-lightning fast Patterson to retaliate by skittling the Aussies for 114.

In the Age, Martin Blake writes that the most fascinating piece of sports theatre on television over the weekend was the miking up of Australia's legends in the All-Star Twenty20 match - specifically the insight into the bowling plans of Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne.

Here is McGrath bowling seam-up with the new ball, chiding himself about only reaching 110 km/h speeds, but still ridiculously miserly. McGrath is approaching 40, and has played two Twenty20 games in the past six months, but he could bowl stump-to-stump in his sleep.

Here's where the brains kick in. McGrath bowls a couple of inswingers to the left-handed David Warner, cramping him for room. Then he flags that he will bowl a little slider, running the fingers down the seam and angling it across Warner. He tips that Warne, standing at slip, will get himself a catch. On cue, Warner nicks it. McGrath only gets one aspect wrong. The catch flies to Gilchrist behind the stumps. Gilchrist, who also is miked up and who has heard the plan hatched, is exultant.

Peter Roebuck in the Sydney Morning Herald enjoyed Shane Warne's battle with Michael Clarke and McGrath's surgical removal of Warner.

His wicket brought to mind his finest piece of bowling, his hat-trick against the West Indies in Perth in 2000. Then McGrath began by beating Sherwin Campbell with a fullish outswinger, followed by a cutter angling across Brian Lara, and completed the trick with a lifter directed at Jimmy Adams's shoulder. All three wickets were beautifully conceived. All three were precisely pitched. They were not dismissals, they were executions. McGrath's greatness ought not to be forgotten.

Indian cricket, in general, has an unusually strong affinity for pitch-gazing on the eve of a Test, and the attention given to the playing surface by the national team is far greater than any other side in the world, writes Kunal Pradhan in the Indian Express. How will the Kanpur track turn out?

Everyone in the vicinity of the pitch had either an opinion on its nature, or an anecdote about it from the years gone by. There were reminders of how the wicket for this Test hadn’t been used for an international match in decades, and how it was the one on which Malcolm Marshall had made Sunil Gavaskar drop his bat with a bouncer in 1983.

In his Herald Sun column, Shane Warne expresses his concerns about the future of Test cricket.

There has been plenty of talk about a Test championship and nothing has happened, but Test cricket needs an injection of something to capture fans across the world. In Australia, England and India it's still big, but it is not attracting crowds in a lot of other countries and that's a concern. If we are not careful, it will hit us so quickly that it's dying.

That would be a tragedy and the International Cricket Council and Cricket Australia should lead the way and do something now - ask the players what they think and what they think should be done. Please, no more greed with these ridiculous seven-match one-day series. It is a joke for the public and the players.

Malcolm Conn writes in the Australian that the Gabba Test is in danger of being upstaged by a bunch of schoolboys with the AFL draft to be held on day one.

In the Daily Telegraph, Robert Craddock looks back at the scene in the West Indies dressing room at Sabina Park in 1995, when their era of dominance finally came to an end.

Australia's best young cricketers ought to think long and hard before rushing down IPL's yellow brick road, writes Peter Roebuck in the Sydney Morning Herald.

Numerous IPL players have returned with dreadful injuries, rotten form or soft brains. Playing a few 20-over games might not seem much of a commitment, but bad habits can easily set in. It's only possible to attend so many parties and emerge intact. A lot of damage can be done in that period. Although other factors were involved, Andrew Symonds, Brett Lee, Kevin Pietersen, Andrew Flintoff and Muttiah Muralitharan have all struggled to recover from their first IPL campaign. Nor has much been seen of bright sparks such as Ajantha Mendis or Shaun Marsh. For that matter Ishant Sharma and Ravi Bopara have gone backwards. India cannot find any youngsters to challenge its ageing champions. None of them have progressed. Some have become front-foot swipers.

The accolades that poured in for Sachin Tendulkar on his completion of 20 years in international cricket largely concerned his achievements in this decade, since the 2-1 victory over Australia in 2001. The reason for this, Ashok Malik writes, is that the presence of Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Anil Kumble and Sourav Ganguly, who contributed significantly to India's successes, infused a context to Tendulkar's accomplishments. Read his article in the Sunday Pioneer.

Great individuals often need, and sometimes build or summon, great contexts. Bradman played for 20 years but his abiding legacy is still the fact that he led the Invincibles, the Team of 1948 that is perhaps the greatest Australian team of all time. Fittingly, Sachin has been the fulcrum of Indian cricket’s greatest generation — five good men, Tendulkar and Dravid, Ganguly and Laxman, and Anil Kumble. This was a Band of Brothers like no other. They rescued Indian cricket from the swamp of shame, renewed its spirit, taught it how it win — everywhere, in all conditions.

India's world class bowling attack could have done a far better job on the docile track at Motera and minimised the damage. The bowlers were guilty of not sticking to a consistent length and bowled with little purpose, writes S Dinakar in the Hindu.

Tactics are often dictated by conditions and a negative line can, on occasions, yield positive results. Mishra should have consistently landed the ball outside leg and spun it around the leg-stump. Instead, he experimented by flighting the ball across the right-hander and went for runs.

New Zealand's pace attack for the Dunedin Test may be geriatric - with an average age of 33 - but they are the best in the country so it's essential they all get picked, writes Mark Richardson in the Herald on Sunday. He gives his views on the rest of the playing XI and reckons Daniel Flynn and Peter Fulton will compete for the No.3 spot.

Maybe young Tim Southee could see himself unlucky here, but Tuffey by all accounts was the pick of the first-class bowlers last season and that may have been enough to see him in over Southee. O'Brien and Martin are our Test specialists and deserve the right to show it, while Bond simply must play if he is fit enough.

In the same paper, Andrew Alderson touches on the search for New Zealand's new coach. He says John Wright is unlikely to fill that role while Mark Greatbatch has ruled himself out.

	The virtuoso, now 63 years of age © Cricinfo Ltd.

The Sunday Observer's Rohan Wijesinghe remembers Anura Tennekoon, widely regarded as one of Sri Lanka's great batsmen, as a cricketer and a gentleman in the widest sense of the phrase.

Elevated to the country's leadership in 1974, his blade continued to carve runs and carve them with a flourish. The relatively small build, dancing feet, exquisite timing and ramrod straight bat, Anura, batting everything except his eyelids, established supremacy over the bowlers within seconds of having scratched out his guard. His cover drives held one transfixed and he could clip a ball off his ankles with that wristy authority of his.

The International Cricket Council will not be faulted if they change and call themselves the Indian Cricket Council, because it has now come to pass where the ICC has a penchant to dance to the tune of the BCCI, says an editorial in Sri Lanka's Sunday Observer.

The ICC should have had the backbone to stand straight and tell the guys who were against it, that they are the ones running the game and calling the shots and that the Referral System stays and be played accordingly. But what did the ICC do.? They were as meek as lambs and without a murmur bent backwards to please the cricketers who objected to that system, like they did during the Australia- India series when the Indians threatened to pull out of the series if action was taken against Harbhajan Singh.

While the Ashes triumph continues to hog the headlines, England’s inconsistent ODI performances are not taken seriously by fans and cricketers alike. Simon Barnes would like to see the side adopt of a fresh guard when they take on South Africa in the second ODI. England are more likely to succeed if they take the battle to the South Africans who are “determined to inject a bit of nastiness” into the proceedings, he writes in Times.

Test match victories come along often enough to keep us interested. One-day success, in any sustained sense — or any significant trophy sense — eludes Our Boys. Perhaps it’s a bit like the Eurovision Song Contest: we’d be more likely to win if we all took it seriously.

	Style, grace, aggression and infinite patience © Getty Images

Today even the die-hard Tendulkar acolyte is willing to wait, for he knows that Dravid getting out early usually spells disaster. At 32 for four against Sri Lanka, not even Sehwag, Tendulkar and Laxman carried back into the pavilion with them all the hopes of a nation. Dravid was still batting, and that was reason enough to go about the normal business of living a life. He did not disappoint, guiding India past 400. While a Sehwag or a Tendulkar cry halt to life in the nation, with fans dropping whatever they are doing to watch the action, Dravid lets life go on. It is as if his countrymen are saying, adapting Robert Browning, ‘Rahul’s at the crease, All’s right with the world.’

The Ahmedabad draw was a sad advertisement for Tests, which many fear is a dying form, not least in India where the concern is even greater given the nature of pitches. For the administrators it seems to be an unwarranted burden and the sooner it dies the better for them, so that they can expand and enlarge their IPL and Champions League events, writes Pradeep Magazine in the Hindustan Times.

Instead of making the fiveday game more viewer-friendly it is a shame that the richest board in the world chooses to roll out a featherbed which will only strengthen the argument of those who say Test cricket has no future. That is why one almost sees the board's complicity in ignoring these vital aspects of the game. They call themselves marketing wizards, but when it comes to Tests, they just treat it like an orphaned child whom no one wants to own.

In Outlook, Rahul Mahajan says pitches like the one that dulled the cricket at Ahmedabad can only also dull the ardour of Test cricket’s aficionados.

After slipping a long way down the pecking order, Ashish Nehra has rallied so impressively that he has become the leader of the pack, writes Peter Roebuck in Sportstar.

At some point Nehra left his dream world, put aside his laziness and decided to apply himself. As much could be gleaned from his efforts in a Ranji Trophy match staged in Delhi. It was a hot day but the beanpole did not flag, rushing to the crease in his energetic way, whirling over his arm and causing all sorts of difficulties. He may resemble a giraffe but with ball in hand he becomes a gazelle.

Chris Martin is an interesting character, not a tunnel-visioned cricket head by any stretch, writes David Leggat in the New Zealand Herald. Martin, his country's fourth highest wicket-taker in Test cricket, tells Leggat he is determined to show there's still life in those long, loping strides.

"Unfortunately when you get to a certain age and you're still playing, people ask when you're going to stop, which is a little bit offensive at times. You keep playing while you're good enough. If people are constantly asking if you're out of time you start to think maybe that's how they are perceiving you."

	Man in waiting: Michael Clarke © PA Photos

Michael Clarke pauses when asked the question. "I could sit here and lie and say I don't think about it," he tells Iain Payten of the Daily Telegraph.

When it comes to it, ambition is a tricky animal. There are those who say overtly coveting this particular job questions if you are the best man for it. Hence the pause. "The truth is I hope I continue to get opportunities, whether it be one-day cricket, now with Twenty20 cricket or hopefully one day I get the chance to captain in Test cricket," Clarke admits. "But it is all so far away. Right now, I am over the moon and stoked I have been given the chance to captain the Twenty20. My leader, still, is Ricky Ponting.”

Malcolm Conn, writing in the Weekend Australian, says Matthew Hayden’s passion has moved from playing cricket to saving it.

Less than a year out of the game and already a Cricket Australia board member, Hayden fears that the sport he dedicated decades to is being overplayed and undervalued. "I don't buy this 'more is better' mentality," Hayden said. "We should have an obsession with perfection."

In the same paper Ricky Ponting talks about what he has been doing during some rare time off.

Jamie Pandaram, in the Sydney Morning Herald, looks at the task of Denesh Ramdin, who has the job of outwitting Ricky Ponting in his backyard with a crew of under-rated, under-achieving players who've known mostly failure for a decade.

	Not the best in Tests © Getty Images

Peter Roebuck, writing in the Sydney Morning Herald, reminds everyone Australia have lost three of their past five Test series.

Amid all the backslapping, it is a point worth pondering. Ricky Ponting's side has slipped to fourth place in the rankings. Along the way, captain and selectors have blundered, with the wrong teams chosen, pitches misread and puzzling tactics pursued at critical moments.

Admittedly, it has not all been bad. Australia performed admirably throughout a long stint overseas. The one-day side surpassed itself. But Test cricket is the real deal, and in that arena Australia have fallen back.

Australia’s first Test squad was named on Thursday and there was no spot for Phillip Hughes. In the Australian Malcolm Conn says Hughes will have to repeat his prolific form of the past two seasons to get back into the top team.

Hughes’ coach Neil D’Costa tells Will Swanton of the Sydney Morning Herald why he is relaxed about his charge’s future.

What does Sachin Tendulkar have that Don Bradman didn’t? asks Michael Atherton in the Times. A helmet.

The advent of protection for batsmen from the late 1970s has been the biggest change to the game since the introduction of overarm bowling. It has altered profoundly the balance between bat and ball ... Nobody, bar Richards probably, is crazy enough to suggest that helmets should be banned. Nobody wants to see people dying for their sport. But to suggest that Tendulkar — or, indeed, any modern, armoured or, to use Richards’s phrase, “pampered” player — is the best ever is demeaning to those former greats who stood at the crease in the knowledge that their next ball could be their last.

South Africa have tried to inspire antagonism, but are England too nice to sledge? asks Emma John in the Guardian.

They are trying to pick a fight with Andrew Strauss and Andy Flower. You have to admire them for this. It's the equivalent of trying to goad a right hook from a Carmelite nun. England's cricket captain, who has the impeccable manners and smiling geniality of Lord Peter Wimsey and Boris Johnson combined, is generally acknowledged to be the nicest man in sport. The mild-mannered Flower, meanwhile, he who made the stand of his life against Robert Mugabe's wicked rule in Zimbabwe, is presumably rather beyond such trivialities as what Arthur thinks of his coaching style.

At a rough estimate, Paul Collingwood's career has consisted of 10% talent and 90% perspiration. He could not have done it without the sweat, writes Stephen Brenkley in the Independent.

No player of any sport anywhere has so epitomised the notion of making the most of the ability at his disposal. In its way it has been a miracle because when the well, never full, has run dry, he has somehow been able to re-stock it. Sometimes he has needed a dowsing rod as much as a bat.

They know how to get things done properly at Lord's and I have no doubts that the planned redevelopment of the best cricket ground in the world will make it even better, writes Nasser Hussain in the Daily Mail.

Lord's is just the perfect mix of new and old. There are some historic places that you respect but they just seem run down, perhaps in need of a lick of paint. But all the new stands at Lord's complement the splendour of the pavilion perfectly and the proposed new structures at the Nursery End look to be perhaps the best yet.

Plans to redevelop the ground are exciting but there are fears the debt could compromise the MCC's position, writes Angus Fraser in the Independent.

Lord's is not known as the home of the sport because it's prepared to sell its soul to the highest bidder. It has its reputation because it's an arena where everyone who enters – player or spectator – feels a sense of tradition and history. Even now, 30 years after first entering the ground, I feel privileged when I drive through the Grace Gates or walk through the Long Room. Renaming such areas of the ground, which would be inevitable should rights be sold, would cheapen the experience. Looking at the dressing-room honours boards that represent those who have scored hundreds or taken five-wicket hauls at the ground, would become like reading the menu at a Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise.

Greg Baum in the Age argues that day-night games will not necessarily save Test cricket worldwide but doing nothing will certainly kill it.

Alone of the three forms, alone also among major sports, Test cricket is exclusively a daylight game. In its heyday that did not matter because all sport was played in the daytime. But for 25 years sport has been moving into the night. The biggest football fixtures are played after dark, the biggest tennis matches, too. At the Olympics, the biggest days are nights.

After an MCC survey shows that most fans in India, New Zealand and South Africa favour limited-overs cricket to Tests, Peter Roebuck wonders in the Sydney Morning Herald whether the five-day game can survive.

In some countries, a Test match is staged and no one turns up. The Kiwis play on oddly shaped grounds before a smattering of spectators. Stands in Sri Lanka and Pakistan echo as a five-day match unfolds. South Africa offers free tickets to busloads of schoolchildren. Bear in mind that only nine supposedly cricket-mad nations play Test matches. Their teams contain all the dynamic and glamorous performers around and still the matches are played to almost empty houses. If they cannot hold an audience, what price the rising nations?

Pakistan cricket is not alien to crisis. From time to time we have experienced it in every era and the present one is not any different to others. Already a year in the office, the administrators have neither managed to have a constitution nor have been able to convince their critics about the irregularities in maintaining accounts, writes Qamar Ahmed in Dawn.

This is a huge scam and even the governing body of the PCB, which is supposed to bring some sort of transparency in the working of the board, has so far failed to make their presence felt. The few voices of dissent from a couple of members from time to time in the meetings did little but not enough to go past the deaf ears of the PCB chairman who could have done the game some service had he not so far resorted to arbitrary decisions.

	Twist and shout: Brett Lee © AFP

The baton has passed from Brett Lee to the next generation, writes Peter Roebuck in the Sydney Morning Herald.

It does not seem long ago that Brett Lee was a teenager playing for Campbelltown in the under-21 comp, and scaring the wits out of batsmen. Now his four- and five-day career seems to be over. Plain and simple, he can no longer last the pace. Cricket is not a sentimental game. Choosing him is too risky.

In the same paper Jamie Pandaram speaks to Josh Hazlewood, an 18-year-old fast bowler with a big future. In Queensland Robert Craddock looks at Alister McDermott, another teenager on debut, in the Courier-Mail.

The editor of the Financial Times, Lionel Barber, met the England captain Andrew Strauss for lunch in London and began with the question "Do you think we were lucky to win the Ashes?"

Strauss, 32, plays a straight bat. “No, not at all. It surprises me that people even say that. Cricket boils down to crucial periods of play. In a five-day Test match there will probably be two sessions that define which way the game goes. In three games, we won those crucial sessions.”

	"Imagine if they changed the ruling and someone was killed" © Getty Images

Following up to Sir Viv Richards' interview with the Observer yesterday, in which the legend lamented the wearing of helmets and body armour and the effect it has on some modern batsmen, Alan Tyers writes on Cricket365.com that it's hard to see how helmets could now be outlawed. You can't un-invent technology, and it's inconceivable that the ICC could forbid the wearing of something that could save a batsman's life, he says.

Of course, Sir Viv, who famously never wore a helmet himself, has got more right to speak than almost anyone else alive about the matter. But it must have made batting a bit easier, knowing that you had Andy Roberts, Malcolm Marshall, Joel Garner et al on your side - not just because you didn't have to face them - but because you knew that they could return with interest any punishment that their Windies batting colleagues received. Maybe if he'd had to play for England in the 1980s against the West Indies he might have considered, even for a second, the merits of the lid.

On no other issue in cricket is it harder to see the other side’s point of view. If you can afford to pay the subscription — £426 a year — televised coverage of the game has never been so thorough as it is now or, generally speaking, so thoroughly good, writes the Times' Christopher Martin-Jenkins.

It does not convince those who believe that the young are being deprived of the chance to watch cricket on television and thereby become fascinated by the game’s beguiling charm. Since it entered most houses in the 1950s, television has been the main means of creating cricket lovers for life. The 2005 series, arguably the best Anglo-Australian series ever, was, a national event and, regularly, front-page news.

Robert Craddock in the Courier-Mail looks at the case of Shane Watson, who could yet be one of Australian sport's great feelgood stories.

Cricket and Watson have invested a huge amount in each other. In the years when they had Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne as their banker blue-chip shares, the Australian selectors considered Watson their little speculative oil rig which might have three bad years but might strike when they need him most. Watson is not quite there yet. But he is close. It's eight years since Australia chose Watson on a Test tour of South Africa and during that time he has played only 11 Tests with his 96 one-dayers.

Watson is an interesting character who is a much better player than he is widely given credit for. He is such a fine batsman that in a year's time – with Ponting, Katich and Hussey in their 36th year – he may well be behind Michael Clarke as the second best batsman in the country. Some people say that his bowling is too mechanical but we must forgive him for that. After breaking down so many times he is a bit like a waiter who has just spilt the drinks heading out with the next tray. If he is taking things a bit cautiously and carefully you can sort of understand it.

In the Sydney Morning Herald, Peter Roebuck runs the rule over the gallery of stars who turned out for New South Wales in a one-day game on Sunday, and who will be hoping for place in next week's first Test.

Among the bowlers, Brett Lee did not advance or harm his case. His persistence has been commendable. Nine months ago his chances of playing Test cricket again seemed remote. Now he is back in the reckoning ... Stuart Clark was serviceable, nothing more, and it's hard to see him holding his place at the Gabba.

	"Sachin did not have to work that hard on his game" © Getty Images

Kapil Dev has no doubts about Sachin Tendulkar's performances. He knows Tendulkar's record over 20 years is impeccable. But he still feels he is an under-achiever. Read what Kapil has to say in his column for the Asian Age.

When I say all this I mean it as a compliment to his talent and a criticism of his under achievement. I firmly believe that for a batsman of Sachin's talent, he should have made 10 Test double hundreds, a 300 and at least one 400. In the same breath, I would say that I would ideally have liked to see him go from 30 to 50 in three overs and to go from 50 to 80 on any pitch, against any bowling in 5 overs. He may use up another 5 overs to get to 95 and then safely get his century. Here is a man who can hit sixes at ease than anyone else in world cricket but after 50, he usually takes 5 overs to get to 55.

In DNA, Ayaz Memon writes that had it not been for Tendulkar, the match-fixing controversy could have debilitated the game in the Indian subcontinent. It was primarily because of his personal and professional credibility that Indian cricket could emerge from that crisis relatively unaffected.

In the Hindustan Times, Pradeep Magazine says preserving Test cricket would be a real tribute to Tendulkar.

The same paper also carries an image montage of Tendulkar as well as snippets from Navjot Singh Sidhu and Atul Ranade, a very close friend of the man himself.

The Wanderers on December 13, 1992, is vivid for writes Vijay Lokapally. The one-day match over, the Indian team, soundly beaten, was limping back. From the comfort of the press box one saw Tendulkar take off suddenly, chasing a burly South African supporter. That night he would have outpaced the fastest man on earth. He closed in on the prankster and brought him down in a flash. Read more in the Hindu.

Nirmal Shekar believes it is impossible to outgrow Indian sport’s most celebrated boy wonder.

Outlook's Rohit Mahajan says the media, as always and like everyone, wants a piece of him, and Tendulkar knows it's part of the deal, goes through the inquisition with immeasurable patience, trying to ensure that everyone's happy.

	"I have come a long way in the Twenty20 game" © Associated Press

Jacques Kallis is an old dog who has learnt new tricks thanks to Twenty20 but blushes at Kevin Pietersen's claim that he's the best ever, writes Stephen Brenkley in the Independent. Sometime in the next few weeks when he takes his second wicket in the one-day series, he will become the only player to have scored 10,000 runs and taken 250 wickets in both Tests and one-dayers.

Today Kallis plays his 10th Twenty20 match for South Africa. It is a form of the game that many would have spurned to preserve their careers elsewhere. In his case T20 might not only have prolonged his career but embellished it. He has become a different type of cricketer, particularly as a batsman, though he has added new tricks to his muscular seam bowling to confound what is said about old dogs.

On the field he is a combative, off-spinning allrounder. Away from it, he is a motormouth comedian, poking fun at his team-mates and sparking the dressing-room spirit that helped inspire England to Ashes victory. Emma John caught up with Graeme Swann in the Observer.

Swann, England's first-choice spinner, offers far more to the team than the best banter on the bus. While his contributions to this summer's series – 14 wickets and 249 runs – may not sound the stuff of legend, his performances came at crucial times; when the Australian batsmen were threatening to take a game away from England, his appearance in the attack, skipping through his delivery stride with his wraparound sunglasses clinging to his head like Robocop, was a comforting sight. Swann's irrepressible batting was also vital in a series where the lower order did much of the best work on both sides; and he took eight wickets in the deciding Test at the Oval, including the final one to win the Ashes. Forget 2005, says Swann, for him, this was the best Ashes series ever. "It still gives me goosebumps..."

	Richards is prepared to put himself forward for the cause © Getty Images

Over a rum punch in Docklands, representing his native Antigua at an international trade show organised by World Travel Market, Sir Viv Richards. casts an imperious eye across the modern game. He is not ecstatic. Speaking to the Observer's Kevin Mitchell, cricket's knight reflects on a lack of fight in the game, West Indies' decline and the Allen Stanford saga.

"It's sad ... it's very sad. To those of us who played at a time when things were good, it is crazy to know that these guys are sitting back and watching the goings-on, guys who could make a healthy contribution to West Indies cricket. Players now are a little shaky. They know the sacrifices people have had to make, they know about the legacy. It sends shivers through your spine. It's difficult to describe, a sense of anger."

It seems to be in some people's vested interests to make the debate about the Ashes returning to terrestrial television a complicated one, writes Scyld Berry in the Daily Telegraph. There are only two basic principles involved – and pretty simple they are too.

Moments of national resonance like Botham's 149 not out, or the whole Ashes series of 2005, have to be on live television and free for the sport's well-being. Edited highlights of Hamlet won't persuade anyone to become a prince. The second principle is that English cricket can afford to have home Ashes series on free-to-air, even if it costs the projected £30 million a year.

Steven Davies, in line to be England’s first left-handed Test keeper since Jack Russell, has wintered with national teams of one kind or another every year since first playing for the Under-19s at the age of 17. This will be Davies’s first full England tour and he must expect to spend it playing understudy to Matt Prior, even though the Surrey wicketkeeper has set his sights on his friend’s Test place. He spoke to the Sunday Times.

He will be required to be a senior professional at Surrey, a club going through a rebuilding process, where young players will be looking to him for guidance. “When I first played for Worcestershire it was quite hard coming into a professional team full of adults. It was just an honour to be on the field. I’m more vocal now but at Surrey the young bowlers will be looking to me for advice. That will be good. I was pretty comfortable at Worcester. This will be a challenge.”

	McCullum: still there, still having his say, still being heard, and back in form © Getty Images

Eric Young writes in the Sunday Star Times that Brendon McCullum should be reinstated as New Zealand vice-captain. The person who is the captain of New Zealand is now also its vice-captain, coach and selector, and Young isn't sure whether this is madness or genius but he is certain it can't last for long.

McCullum deputised in the Twenty20s but by all accounts the Kiwis were lucky to scrape together 11 fit players. Is McCullum now the man to captain the Test team? And how, with Vettori doing all the jobs that matter, is leadership being encouraged within that dressing room? Do we look down the list, arrive at someone such as Ross Taylor and throw the dice? Or do we hand the captaincy back to McCullum, beg forgiveness and ask him to please treat it with respect?

Curiosity remains contagious over who is a) best suited or b) likely to get the New Zealand coaching job as the team's performances fluctuated in the UAE over the past week. The Herald on Sunday's Peter Williams sought the views of a trio who, over the past 60 years, have either played for, captained, coached or selected the New Zealand team.

Mark Richardson, in the same paper, says that he finds it hard to take the two Twenty20 internationals between New Zealand and Pakistan overly seriously.

Kerry O’Keeffe, writing in the Sunday Telegraph, thinks West Indies are a good outside bet in the three-Test series against Australia, who have been focussing on their one-day triumphs.

The bottom line is the boys this winter lost the Ashes. Ponting has committed Australian cricket's mortal sin ... again! Beating India in a meaningless limited-overs series soon after the Ashes calamity is a little like crashing out in the first round of singles at Wimbledon but winning the mixed doubles.

Australia need an early Test kill and while Chris Gayle's West Indians might appear vulnerable, they could be very dangerous. Their pace quartet of Jerome Taylor, Kemar Roach, Gavin Tonge and Dwayne Bravo screams potential to take 20 wickets on the right surface.

Luke Pomersbach is returning to Western Australia training after being suspended for drink driving. John Townsend spoke to him and the story appears in the Age.

	"No, I didn't have a problem" © Getty Images

In a sport that specialises in the manufacture of instant stars and transient celebrities, Sachin Tendulkar is the real thing, writes Gideon Haigh in the Times of India. Even now, 20 years after his debut, there's always a place of occasion every time he comes to the crease, no matter the game, no matter the place.

In his column for the same paper, Steve Waugh remembers what a tough time he had setting a field for Tendulkar, what with the deafening noise making it impossible to communicate with fielders.

In the Hindustan Times, Anil Kumble notes how it had always been predicted that Tendulkar would be destined for greatness, that he would go on to be the highest runscorer for India, beat every batting record there was to beat, create history. He did all that and more.

In the same paper Sukhwant Basra says that behind the public reserve is an animated man.

Mid-day has reprinted the first print interview with a 13-year-old Tendulkar, as well as recalling the first television interview with Tendulkar, conducted by Hindi film actor Tom Alter at the PJ Hindu Gymkhana in January 1989.

India Today has dedicated an entire section to Tendulkar.

On his blog Doosra Redux, Dileep Premachandran says Tendulkar is India's greatest unifying factor.

Amitabh Bachchan’s oeuvre resonates little with the man in Tamil Nadu’s interior, just as Rajnikanth is little more than an object of curiosity to someone in Punjab. But Chennai or Chandigarh, Guwahati or Cochin, Tendulkar walks out to undiluted acclaim. With the exception of Gandhi, perhaps no other Indian has managed to rally so many behind the flag.

The irony of yesterday’s recommendation that Ashes cricket be restored to the protected list is that this was an outcome few involved in the discussions wanted. For a sport that has been insulated from the recession, a reduced budget will be hard to take, writes Mike Atherton in the Times.

Where will the blows be felt? Across the board probably: central contracts for England players, grassroots cricket and the county game.

John Stern doesn't think making the Ashes free-to-air is that big a blow. He writes in the Wisden Cricketer: "I’m not convinced that the proposed re-listing of The Ashes does anything other than score the Government a few Middle-England brownie points."

	After the World Twenty20 it all went downhill for Younis Khan © Getty Images

Whatever happened lately with Younis Khan is not a new thing in Pakistan cricket. This tussle between the players, the officials and the cricket board is an ongoing process, writes Rashid Latif in the Pakistan daily Dawn. Sometimes a captain bears the brunt, at other times an official comes in the line of fire.

The big question is how long will these hidden quarters be allowed to make or break the team in Pakistan? They throw their weight when a makeshift opener is accommodated but when specialist openers are picked, these very forces take a U-turn and slight the captain for the move. The same is the case with playing the younger players or resting the experienced ones. When the younger players are provided with an opportunity, these forces jump to the defence of seniors and question their omission? And when the younger players are given the backseat to accommodate the stalwarts, these very forces make life hell for the selectors and the captain?

	Marcus North was outstanding in England © Getty Images

After three centuries in seven Tests Marcus North’s place should be certain, but Chloe Saltau reports in the Age that he is still not prepared to declare his position safe.

Anyone who has followed North's seamless transition from first-class stalwart to reliable Test batsman will be aware of his reassuring presence in the previously unstable No. 6 position, and know that his occasionally nervous starts can be followed by lavish, sweetly timed strokes. Despite all of this, after a decade aspiring to a baggy green, North is not yet willing to ink his name into the starting XI for the first Test against the West Indies. ''I don't take anything for granted,” he said, “and I guess that is probably because it took so long to get there.”

Chris Gayle’s squad arrived in Australia on Friday and the Sydney Morning Herald’s Peter Roebuck outlines his plan for cricket in the Caribbean.

The West Indies ought to be disbanded as a cricketing force. Followers of the game with memories of mighty deeds and fine gentlemen might regret the break-up but the culture has been ruined and every attempt to improve it thwarted. All the more reason to stop the charade.

Instead, let Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Barbados, Jamaica and the Leeward and Windward islands fend for themselves. In that case, their cricket might be informed by the commitment to the cause for too long missing from West Indian cricket.

It was generally agreed that Zimbabwe’s recent 4-1 series defeat in the spin-haven of Bangladesh was not an accurate appraisal of their overall performance on the subcontinent, writes Enock Muchinjo in the Zimbabwe Independent, but what of the two ODIs in South Africa in familiar conditions this week? In recent months Zimbabwe Cricket has made appointments in crucial areas such as selection and coaching. In this editorial, Muchinjo examines a few dynamics that need addressing.

	Shakib or Mashrafe? © Getty Images

After a successful year the Bangladesh cricket team looks like a settled one. With India and Sri Lanka visiting in January for a tri-series, followed by a Test series against India, the BCB have one crucial question to answer - who will be captain of the national team, Mashrafe Mortaza or Shakib Al Hasan? In the Daily Star, Sakeb Tahsin Subhan attempts to answer the question.

Both players are equally deserving of the position. Shakib has put his name in the hat through the successes that Bangladesh has enjoyed in the past year, as well as his own individual performances. Mashrafe has impressed all and sundry throughout his career as a committed player who commands the respect of his team. The momentum is with Shakib having led the team well in successes, but it is Mashrafe's team that he led in the fast bowler's absence.

The Crown Jewels affair has kicked up quite a storm, what with sports chiefs threatening legal action against ministers over a plan to reclaim the Ashes for free-to-air television. Proposals are for one list of live sport that must be shown on non-subscription channels, with the secondary list of events that must be available as highlights being scrapped.Taking the Ashes on to free-to-air only means that the ECB will have to sell its rights to cash-conscious terrestrial broadcasters, and that's not gone too well in certain quarters.

Former England spinner Ashley Giles writes in the Guardian that broadcasters should be given a fair hearing.

In the Times, Dan Sabbagh says the financial impact on cricket will be significant.

In the Independent, Robin Scott-Elliot says other sporting bodies will be similarly affected.

England should not panic after their defeat on Tuesday, believes the former coach Duncan Fletcher, though the split captaincy is a cause for concern. Andrew Strauss will not be involved in the Twenty20 games against South Africa but he should be, writes Fletcher in his Guardian blog.

Strauss is an underrated limited-overs player. He is England's leading run-scorer in one-day internationals this year. Many people would never guess it, but in that time he has also scored more boundaries than anyone else in the team, too. Tactically he is an extremely shrewd judge of how to pace an innings.

Those skills should cross over. There is not much difference between the structure of 50-over cricket and Twenty20. It is just that the windows which make up the different phases of the match are tighter. Strauss is the ideal man to cement the innings together. Essentially, in the ODIs England have played this year the team have been batting around him. Leaving him out is a little like pulling the keystone from the arch.

The rumpus created by Younis Khan’s decision to abdicate the reins of leadership for the sake of ‘taking time off from the sport’ is simply too hard to digest, writes Khalid H Khan in the Pakistan daily Dawn. Younis was never really allowed to settle down into the job by a group of players with vested interests, but is Yousuf the best replacement?

Without being disrespectful to Yousuf, it’s a point worth noting that probably the most lethargic fielder in the current national team will lead the country while his deputy Kamran Akmal is a man who is known for ruining Pakistan’s victory hopes by crucial mistakes behind the timber. Where will Yousuf hide himself on the field will make compelling viewing on TV sets during the coming Tests in New Zealand? There is no guarantee that Yousuf will continue to lead Pakistan if the results of New Zealand Tests are not favourable enough.

An editorial in the same newspaper says it isn’t surprising that no one is buying the official line. Younis 'asked for a rest’ and that is why Yousuf was appointed captain of the Test team for the series against New Zealand. That explanation, not so cunningly, glosses over a key point: what compelled Younis to go into hibernation?

	A familiar sight for 20 years © Getty Images

As November 15 comes around, much of the Indian cricketing fraternity and media is recalling their first memories of seeing Saching Tendulkar bat at the international level. On that day Rajdeep Sardesai, now CNN-IBN's editor-in-chief, was glued to the TV watching a 16-year-old Tendulkar with curls and rosy cheeks take on Pakistan’s fast bowlers. Twenty years later, he says, the locks are showing a hint of grey but Tendulkar is still doing what he does best: score runs for India. Read on in the Hindustan Times.

His real achievement is beyond the boundary. We live in an age of instant stardom and mini-celebrities, where fame is an intoxicant that can easily consume the best of us. Sachin, remarkably, has been almost untouched by the fact that he is contemporary India’s biggest icon, arguably bigger than even an Amitabh Bachchan or a Shah Rukh Khan. As Khan revealed in an interview, at a party there was a big noise when Big B entered. Then, Sachin entered the hall and Bachchan was leading the queue to grab hold of the cricket champion!

Peter Roebuck, writing in the Age, says Australian cricket is facing its most deflating summer for decades.

Following hard upon the feckless nomination of Chris Gayle as leader of the West Indies, the news that Younis Khan had stepped down as Pakistan captain is a hammer blow. Pakistan and the West Indies are the summer's main attractions but both will arrive as fractured outfits. Whether the Younis decision or Gayle's reappointment is the bigger calamity is a matter of opinion. It's a close-run thing. All the evidence suggests that it's going to be a long summer and a hard sell.

In the Australian Malcolm Conn says Test cricket continues to be devalued, with a chronic oversupply of largely meaningless one-day games robbing most Australian players of any match preparation before the West Indies series.

In all my years involved in cricket I don't think I have ever seen an international cricketer of long-standing and considerable achievement have his career at the top level terminated so ruthlessly, in the middle of a series as well, as Matthew Hoggard, writes Mike Selvey in the Guardian.

But now he has a new challenge. Last week he agreed a three-year contract with Leicestershire, as captain. In so doing he goes from the top of the hill, with England, to the bottom. He will go with optimism that he will be the one to make a difference. On one level, he can be the kid in the sweetshop, bowling when he feels like it (which will be mostly), to the fields he wants. No one will be in his ear.

"We all regard Test cricket as No. 1, compared to one-day and Twenty20 cricket, so the match fees and income from playing Test cricket have to be significantly more than from T20s. Then people will want to play more Tests than other formats," Sachin Tendulkar tells Pradeep Magazine in the Hindustan Times.

Matthew Hayden is passing on the message that anyone can play cricket and Larine Statham reports in the Daily Telegraph on his trip to the Tiwi Islands.

Hayden wants more Aboriginal kids to embrace the baggy green and to become professional cricketers. "I'd love to see an indigenous player playing what is a really great game," he said. "It has been a sport that has really only been among mainstream Australia and I think there is a massive opportunity to change that."

South Africa have much at stake when the ODI series against England starts at the Wanderers later this month. The old rivalry and the recent spat between the two captains will also spice up the occasion, writes Arthur Turner on Sport24.

Another aspect that is important for coach Mickey Arthur is to start developing a squad for the next World Cup that is now less than two years away. There are certain positions that he will have to get clarity on before the tournament. A good example of this is the role of Albie Morkel. Will he be considered as an all-rounder or as a batsman?

	What was the thinking behind recalling Sreesanth? © Getty Images

Anand Vasu writes in the Hindustan Times that's it's a pity Indian selectors aren't allowed to explain their decisions, because they would have found it virtually impossible to defend the recall of medium-pacer Sreesanth, who has done little of note to return to the national fold.

In 2009, Sreesanth has played nine first-class matches, taking five wickets in an innings only once, for Warwickshire against Yorkshire, and even there he conceded more than six an over. In total he had 24 wickets at 35.58, conceding 854 runs from 232 overs.

On his blog Smoke signals Prem Panicker wonders whether selecting Sreesanth, a player who was given a final warning last month for a series of disciplinary problems, sends the right signal. He also analyses the inclusion of S Badrinath and M Vijay.

Malcolm Conn says in the Australian the World Cup is still too long and remains cluttered with meaningless matches.

The tedious format of the International Cricket Council's showpiece may have been changed and reduced by a week but the schedule released for 2011 in the subcontinent is another damning example of television ruling sport. While the missionary zeal of opening the tournament to lesser nations may have been well-meant in the comfortably paced, almost amateur 1970s, the hectic nature of modern international cricket has made matches against the minnows irrelevant.

Conn also writes about Jane McGrath Day, which will be held during the Sydney Test to raise money for breast cancer care.

On November 15, Sachin Tendulkar will complete 20 years as an international player, having made his Test debut against Pakistan in Karachi in 1989. Pradeep Magazine has interviewed the batsman in the Hindustan Times, which also has other articles about Tendulkar's formative years.

VVS Laxman said his favourite Tendulkar hundreds were the ones at Sharjah in 1998 against Australia in ODIs, and the Cape Town century in 1996-97 for Tests.

Leander Paes, the Indian tennis player, recounts how he and Tendulkar once played more than 30 table tennis matches in Goa in 2000 and how cricket is lucky that Tenulkar picked it as the sport of his choice.

The side aspiring to be the best one-day team in the world has just been jolted - severely. India were up against a depleted Australian side - four injuries before the series, five during it - yet failed to use their home advantage to record victory. The World Cup is just 14 months away, and suddenly India look vulnerable and under-prepared, writes Suresh Menon on Dreamcricket.com.

What is India’s bench strength? Would they have been able to send out half a dozen players as replacement to Australia and return with a series victory? Who is the second best off spinner in the country? Or the sixth best medium pacer?

If you like cricket and no-holds-barred comedy, chances are you're a fan of The Twelfth Man. If you're any of Richie Benaud, Tony Greig, Ian Chappell or Bill Lawry, chances are you've had your share of club cricketers and college co-eds cracking up at what you say - through Billy Birmingham's skilled impersonation. The Australian satirist who has mercilessly and articulately parodied the idiosyncrasies and character traits of Australia's Channel Nine commentary team tells stuff.co.nz that his popularity is down to the fact that Australians and New Zealanders have two favourite past times - sport and "taking the piss".

"I think that comedy and sport are the great levelers, they're the things that bring people of all socio-economic groups and all age groups together and the Twelfth Man stuff seems to have really hit the mark for many people on many levels and it gives me a sense of great pride to have delivered that sort of enjoyment to so many people over the 25 years. It's been an absolute pleasure to have made people laugh as much as I have."

The return of live Ashes coverage to terrestrial television after 2013 would cost the sport at least £120 million, English cricket officials will argue after a ten-month review of events reserved for free-to-air broadcasters. The ECB is expected to demand an independent economic impact study before the government adds the Ashes to the “crown jewels” list, writes Ashling O’Connor in the Times.

The ECB argues that protecting the Ashes would threaten its grassroots programme and future investment in the game because free-to-air broadcasters, which struggle to schedule five-day Test matches lasting up to 35 hours, would not pay as much for the rights. The sport’s governing body is also worried about the future of Test match cricket as a commercial product if pay-TV operators could buy only England’s less glamorous fixtures against opposition other than Australia.

As England's biggest talent (and ego) arrives in South Africa, the Independent's Stephen Brenkley gauges the mood of the dressing room, from a side that won the Ashes without him.

Pietersen himself may feel somewhat unburdened and although he has always paid generous lip service to the team ethos in the past, there has always been the suspicion – because it was based on reality – that if he did not do it they might not. Equally some players are transformed by Pietersen at the other end and Paul Collingwood, for instance, looks a better batsman with Pietersen around. As the off-spinning all-rounder Graeme Swann put it yesterday: "It's exciting for us that he's coming back, and, you never know, he might have to fight for his place." Swann was being typically jocular but it was a joke imbued with a certain seriousness. The top-of-the-bill act has not been indispensable.

The domestic summer of cricket kicks off on Tuesday morning with the first round of Plunket Shield matches. And as tvnz.co.nz's Max Bania writes, there are plenty of reasons to get down to your local oval, soak up the sun and support New Zealand's grassroots cricketers.

Never mind that it's only because New Zealand Cricket were unable to secure a new sponsor after State Insurance pulled the pin. After sitting idle for 35 years, the fabled century-old log of wood is to be dusted off and presented to the winners of this year's four-day competition. Second only in prestige and mystique to the Ranfurly Shield, it's a prize that will be dearly coveted by all teams and adds much intrigue to this year's fixtures. The defending champions? Otago, whose then-captain Glenn Turner was the last man to hold the shield aloft at the end of the 1974/75 season.

Brad Hodge, the Victoria batsman, has changed his approach this year, writes Peter Lalor in the Australian. He is more laidback and isn't concerned if he doesn't add to his six Tests.

In the past he has willed himself into a mountain of runs and rage as he attempted to get into the Australian side. He wouldn't say no if the selectors asked him to pull on the baggy green should Michael Clarke not be fit for Brisbane later this month, but he's not fussed if they don't and he isn't waiting by the phone.

Hodge has redefined his approach to the game and for the first time there is no over-arching aim. "I really haven't got any goals this year," he said. "Every other year I've had goals and tried to achieve them, because I thought that would see me picked at a higher level.”

John Dyson, the former West Indies coach, is another who is back on the state scene. He has been appointed as a a talent scout for Cricket New South Wales, Jamie Pandaram reports in the Sydney Morning Herald.

It is a great thing for cricket that Ricky Ponting is fighting for the game's traditions – retaining the sanctity of Test cricket - but it will prove an unwinnable fight. Chris Gayle on the other hand is the anti-Ponting of world cricket writes Robert Craddock in the Courier Mail. It's a disturbing thought when you consider the example Gayle set when he showed up just two days before the start of a Test series in England, straight from the IPL.

Players are becoming quite shameless about their split loyalties. During the first season of the IPL, Gayle sent England's Kevin Pietersen a text saying "man, you should be here $$$$$$$$$". Gayle loves the big bucks.

Sri Lanka have made six tours to India over the last 27 years, played 14 Tests, and are yet to win one. As this current squad departs for India against the weight of history, SR Pathiravithana, in Sri Lanka's Sunday Times, evaluates the ammunition in possession if they are going to create history.

The Lankans embark on this tour with a lot at stake. Though we harp on the point that we have only a limited number of Test matches during the next few moons first Sri Lanka has to beat India on their own soil and do it convincingly to keep their position as the second in the ICC Test rankings. I do not know if they manage to draw the three Tests what it would be, but if they lose badly in Tests India may overtake the island nation. Then with the disparity of the quantum of Test cricket that the two teams play within the next calendar year Sri Lanka may never be able catch up with India. This also may put paid to Lanka’s aspirations of becoming the “Best Test playing Nation” in the foreseeable future.

	"I want to play 100 Tests" © Getty Images

In the Independent, David Lloyd speaks to Stuart Broad. The England allrounder, seen by many as a very central player in England's future, talks about a summer that changed his life and how he is desperate to help his country reach No. 1 in the world.

The stirring deeds of July and August – collectively and individually – are history now, however, and we will soon discover if they were the start of something big or, as happened four years ago when Australia were last sent home empty-handed, a terrific but pretty much isolated success story. "We are very conscious of the fact that winning the Ashes is not the be-all and end-all," says Broad. "We won them, brilliant, but now we have to build on that if we want to be the best team in the world."

Simon Wilde, in the Sunday Times, says Kevin Pietersen will do well to tread cautiously in South Africa, and not just until he is sure that his repaired Achilles tendon is sturdy enough to withstand everything he wants to put it through.

The main challenge he faces is that even before his lay-off he no longer looked the player he once was. His technique looked a mess, his footwork and decision-making were uncertain and he was not dictating terms as he once had. Opponents had wised up to him and a ploy of bowling to a fuller length on off-stump was paying dividends. The strategy was based on Pietersen’s high backlift — always a potential area of weakness early in an innings — and his penchant for playing across the line.

When Tendulkar first took guard in his country's colours, the Berlin Wall had just fallen, Nelson Mandela was behind bars, Allan Border was captaining Australia and India was a patronised country known for its dust, poverty, timid batsmen and other outdated caricatures, writes Peter Roebuck in the Sydney Morning Herald.

Over the decades it has been Tendulkar's rare combination of mastery and boldness that has delighted connoisseurs and crowds alike. More than any other batsman, even Brian Lara, Tendulkar's batting has provoked gasps of admiration. A single withering drive dispatched along the ground eluding the bowler, placed unerringly between fieldsmen, could provoke wonder even among the oldest hands. A solitary square cut was enough to make a spectator's day. Tendulkar might lose his wicket cheaply but he is incapable of playing an ugly stroke. His defence might have been designed by Christopher Wren. And alongside these muscular orthodoxies could be found ornate flicks through the on-side, glides off his bulky pads that sent tight deliveries dashing on unexpected journeys into the back and beyond. Viv Richards could terrorise an attack with pitiless brutality, Lara could dissect bowlers with surgical and magical strokes, Tendulkar can take an attack apart with towering simplicity.

Hasn't the time come when this power of the players was reined in by their employers, or at least harnessed until there was some semblance of consistency about the team's results? asks Peter Williams in the Herald on Sunday.

Vettori is undoubtedly the best player in the country and in a team that can only be regarded as dreadful under-performers, he wields huge influence simply by virtue of his on-field deeds. Even some of the great New Zealand players and personalities of generations past - like Tom Lowry, captain for the first two tours of England, and manager too for the second in 1931, or John R Reid, captain, star all-rounder, national selector, and de facto coach from 1958 to 1965 - never seemed to pull as many strings as Vettori does today.

Player power in the New Zealand team could rise to new heights if the players successfully lobby for a manager, rather than a coach, to replace Andy Moles, writes Paul Lewis in the Herald on Sunday.

In the same paper, Andrew Alderson looks at the John Wright conundrum - Wright reportedly wants the job but the players aren't exactly falling over themselves with enthusiasm at the prospect.

It's not just the players who are sick of giving interviews on excessive cricket. The media too are tired of writing about it. Alan Tyres in the Wisden Cricketer explains what it's like to step on the cricket treadmill.

One senior correspondent on a national paper admitted: “Actually, I’ve got a button set up on my keyboard – one of the IT lads did it for me – that I can press and it just generates all the key phrases ‘burnout… sovereignty of the five-day game… intensity of Test cricket… what would Cyril Washbrook have made of it all…’ and rearranges them into something approaching a coherent article.”

He's not held a cricket bat on an international playing field for months now, but Kevin Pietersen has a lot of focus on him as England go into a highly anticipated series against South Africa. Pietersen should receive a 'warm' welcome from South Africans when he joins up with the England party next week, but don't expect that to bother him one bit, writes Brian Viner in the Independent.

Now he is five years older and wiser, witness the disappearance of that preposterous white stripe from his hair. It has been replaced, moreover, by an eminently sensible Brylcreem bounce, which augurs well, because the last Brylcreem Boy to play cricket in South Africa, in 1948-49, scored what remains the fastest triple century in first-class cricket.

The time is right for a World Test Championship, writes Mike Atherton in the Times. The concept is nothing new, he says, and a version exists, although you need a degree in quantum mathematics to understand how the ICC’s ranking system works — and, indeed, international captains routinely rubbish its significance.

Test cricket is routinely sold out months in advance in England and is held in high esteem by players, administrators and the cricket-watching public. Therefore, we are often unaware of the indifference felt by the majority of cricket-playing nations towards the five-day game. The empty stands that greeted the two top Test teams in South Africa last winter prompted MCC to commission research into the popularity or otherwise of Test cricket. The findings did not make for happy reading.

Sachin Tendulkar's Hyderabad epic brought back memories of the legendary Chennai Test in 1999 against Pakistan, when he fought cramps to take India so close to the finish line. AR Hemant does a forensic analysis of both scorecards and discovers some bizarre and startling parallels. Read on in India Today.

Before Chennai, India had never lost a Test match in which Mongia scored fifty or more (five fifties and a hundred).

Before Hyderabad, India had never lost an ODI in which Raina score fifty or more (11 fifties, two hundreds).

In a piece on Rediff.com which has plenty of theology thrown in, Prem Panicker tries to make sense of the Sachin Tendulkar phenomenon in the wake of the glittering 175 against Australia. After saying Tendulkar is treated like god by Indian fans, Panicker asks of the constant references to the batsman's statistical achievements such as the 17,000-run milestone: "Is 'god' god, if you have to parse his deeds against those of the mortals?"

Here his description of the 175:

It was all there, every single element of the Tendulkar mythos: the majestic certitude of the straight-backed thumps through cover and extra cover; the nonchalant ease of his many waltzes down the wicket to hit straight with slide rule precision; the calm certitude with which he repeatedly split the field and, when it was drawn in tight, carried it; the unparalleled balance of his many whips off hips and pads; the schoolboy cheek of the impossibly late cut; the exuberant energy with which he repeatedly traversed the 22 yard strip for singles taken with the judgment of a Solomon

Tendulkar's endurance remains a source of wonder to Panicker.

What does it say of Tendulkar that having raised the bar to impossible heights in 1998, he is able to effortlessly vault over it 11 years later?

We have for the space of two decades repeatedly witnessed the alchemy of genius effortlessly convert the impossible into the seemingly inevitable.

In his column for the Hindustan Times, Ravi Shastri says Tendulkar will need another special effort if India are to stay alive in this series.

Adrian Seconi of the Otago Times argues that in the absence of both a coach and a vice- captain, and having been vested with the powers of a selector, Daniel Vettori has too much control over New Zealand cricket.

What is the difference between Daniel Vettori and Brian Tamaki? The Black Caps do not bow when they approach Vettori . . . yet.

Whether it is by circumstance or Machiavellian design, the left-arm spinner has acquired enough power to dim the environmentally friendly and energy-efficient lights over Seddon Park.

He's now a selector, the stand-in coach, the captain, a leading bowler and one of our best batsmen.

Greg Baum writes in the Age that the gurgling sound you might be able to hear is the strangling of the goose that laid the golden egg.

The focus is on player burn-out, but ignores a parallel effect that in the long term may hurt the game more: fan burn-out. ''Spectator fatigue,'' it was called by Adam Gilchrist. Thursday night's stunner in Hyderabad, far from disprove the thesis, adds to it. Though replete with entertainment, the chances are that few were watching - why this one, rather than the last or the next? - and that it will soon be lost to memory in the rush of more matches. That's the pity.

Cricket Australia's sins of this winter can't be repeated, writes Peter Roebuck in the Sydney Morning Herald. Australian players have had an overdose of cricket, domestic and international, and unsurprisingly the injury list has been lengthening by the day. Dizzy? Confused? Exhausted? Media managers and selectors came and went but the senior players hardly saw their front doors for months on end.

Complacent officials point out that strained sides and hamstrings are occupational hazards for pace bowlers while broken fingers are part and parcel of a keeper's life. They add that some of the crocks only joined the tour a few weeks ago. But the longer a trip lasts, the heavier the toll it takes. Peter Siddle had been on the road longer than Mick Jagger. How on earth was he supposed to stay at his peak for 25 weeks? Fast bowling puts immense pressure on the body, and the artificial way of life derails the mind.

Peter Lalor, in the Australian, says the Australian team is threadbare, living on care packages and needs replacements.

The Catholics are worried. The long-hairs, too. For there's news about that Andrew Hilditch, chairman of the war cabinet, is pushing for conscription to fill the quota. How else to make up the numbers? Already there are suggestions that the able-bodied are reluctant to serve. Hilditch is a cold-eyed and desperate man. There's talk in underage cricket circles of him trying to lure strapping young adolescents from suburban fields with the promise that they'll see the world and be home by Christmas.

The Harris Shield is an inter-school cricket tournament, which has been held in Mumbai since 1897. It is named after Lord Harris, former England captain and governor of Bombay, and is perhaps best known for the 664-run stand in 1988 that brought Sachin Tendulkar and Vinod Kambli into the limelight. On Wednesday, 12-year-old Sarfaraz Khan blasted 439, the highest individual score ever made in the tournament. The Indian Express' Devendra Pandey looks up others who made their name in the Harris Shield, before fading into obscurity.

In the business paper Mint, Dileep Premachandran marvels at the longevity of Sachin Tendulkar, and writes that its Tendulkar's efforts against the best team over the past two decades, Australia, that make him peerless.

More than cold statistics though, it’s the moments that will endure long after he’s put his bat away for the last time. That final over in the Hero Cup semi-final. The audacious assault on Shane Warne in Chennai. The cold-eyed targeting of Shoaib Akhtar at Centurion, South Africa, in 2003. That match-winning century in Chennai, just a fortnight after the streets in the vicinity of his restaurant in Mumbai had resembled war-torn Beirut.

On his blog Cricket with balls, JRod writes that Tendulkar's glittering 175 made the result of the match almost irrelevant.

He scored over half the runs, passed some unimportant milestone, seemed to be dragging Raina and Jadeja by the neck like kittens, and then eventually went out to a shot that wasn’t even thought of when he started playing.

India didn’t deserve to win, but Sachin did. I wanted him to make 200 and win the game, but he came up short and pretty much no help at all.

KingCricket pens a tribute to Tendulkar on his blog, where he writes that staying at the top for 20 years is the batsman's most jaw-dropping achievement.

You get batsmen who are exceptional when they’re 16. You get batsmen with adamantium wrists. You get batsmen who choose their shots well.

You get cricketers who are fit and dedicated to their sport. You get cricketers who can cope with the downs and who come back stronger. You get get cricketers who can last for 20 years.

You never get all of this.

The elevation of Burt Cockley to the Australian ODI squad after only four one-dayers for his state is not necessarily a mistake, writes Peter Roebuck in the Sydney Morning Herald. He believes that promoting fast bowlers and batsmen with youth on their side is a bold and positive move.

Of course, the idea has been imperfectly applied. It is hard to justify putting Moises Henriques in front of a player as energetic and effective as Andrew McDonald. Yet the approach has much to commend it. Dirk Nannes and Shane Harwood are splendid bowlers, but what is the point? Cockley has strong shoulders, plenty of pace and can improve. Admittedly, he was a bolter but speedsters were going down like sprayed mozzies. Moreover, the alternatives were either seasoned campaigners or complete novices. Right or wrong, if it is part of a return to youth and aggression, it has merit.

In the Daily Telegraph, Nick Walshaw looks at the rapid rise Cockley has enjoyed.

It's a flight that represents a remarkable rise for this Blues speedster who never played A-grade in the Newcastle competition until he was 18. Who only came to Sydney at 21. Who was even forced to withdraw with injury from that one Australia A match he was selected in last year.

Ahead of the opening round of the Plunket Shield, Jonathan Millmow in the Dominion Post runs his eye over the six teams and speaks to the captains about the upcoming season as a whole.

Craig Cumming, which competition would you most like to win?

"Obviously the Twenty20 has the greatest reward and we got to experience that in India last month so we'd love to win that again. Having said that the real focus at the start of the season is on the four-dayers, that's an area we haven't performed as well as we would've liked in and if we start well in that I think everything will flow from there."

Jonathan Trott has been in the news lately for reasons he will eagerly wish be doused by runs from his bat. Trott's performances are what count for England, not his place of birth. But until he plays some more emphatic innings for England, says Simon Hughes in the Telegraph, Michael Vaughan's caustic observations will continue to ring in Trott's ears.

Trott, reared in a suburb of Cape Town, grew up playing in the same Western Province team as Jacques Kallis, Graeme Smith, Herschelle Gibbs and Ashwell Prince and will feel added motivation when he plays against them this month. The pinnacle of achievement for a professional sportsman is total respect from your peers. Trott, whose English father, Ian, is a cricket coach in Leatherhead, inherited his parent's passion for the game and always striven to be as good as he could be. That ambition often leads South Africans here. The money now in the county game is attractive. But what also drives them is the intensity and frequency of our cricket. It is a fast track to maturity.

In the Guardian Mike Selvey tells the tale of James Seymour, a Kent cricketer of the early 20th century. Though Seymour helped Kent to four Championships, his legacy is that through his (and his lawyer's) efforts money made through a benefit were deemed tax-free. Selvey argues that while the system made sense in Seymour's time, county cricketers are now well renumerated, and that the benefit system mostly helps England's international stars, who rarely make domestic appearances. He says better insurance and pension schemes are the way forward instead of benefits.

Peter Roebuck writes in the Sydney Morning Herald that in a supposedly packed marketplace where cricket is trying to hold its own, it is doing itself a major disservice with unnecessary rain delays. On Wednesday at the SCG, the Sheffield Shield match between New South Wales and Western Australia didn't get started until 3.15pm.

To approach the stadium in the morning was to observe a few apologetic drops dripping from the skies and to notice that the light was a tad gloomy. Only the lamest soul or someone fresh from a coiffeur would have raised an umbrella. Windscreen wipers were not required. The previous day the temperature had soared to 37 degrees and the batsmen had dictated terms. Now the tussle might be more even. Changing conditions are part and parcel of the game.

Apparently the outfield was damp. Research indicated that beads of water could be detected on the tips of the grass. Poor souls, the bowlers might be handicapped with a slippery ball. Poor lads, the batsmen might have to peer into the gloom. Inevitably news broke that the start had been delayed. Not that the players were huddled in the rooms. Instead they were on the park, loosening their prodigious muscles, preparing for the contest. Some cheerfully hoofed a footy ball around, others practised close catches. No one seemed to find any irony in this exposure to the elements. As far as could be discerned none of them contracted pneumonia or fell flat on their face or cracked a bone.

Peter Lalor in the Australian points out that the very few fans who turned up were understandably unhappy.

When the players did come out to start at 3.15pm one paying customer (there were only 241 others) yelled at Stuart Clark to get a move on. The bowler told the man that it was only 3.14pm and the umpires wouldn't let him. It gets that intimate at a Shield match.

It gets heated, too. With poor Beau Casson bowling at times like John Howard did to the troops, another spectator chipped in with some harsh criticism that echoed around the stands. This time NSW captain Simon Katich gave the bloke a single-barrel blast of advice.

In the New Zealand Herald, Dylan Cleaver writes that New Zealand's dismal display against Pakistan wasn't due to their coaching situation.

No, the coaching debacle is too convenient a scapegoat. The real reason for the calamitous performance was that when the blowtorch was applied NZ's batsmen again melted - and again it started from the top.

Aaron Redmond's early becalming meant Brendon McCullum was forced to initiate desert storm, his brief sortie flaming out when he dragged on to his stumps. McCullum's effectiveness at the top of the order seems inextricably linked to the injured Jesse Ryder. They feed off each other's controlled aggression.

South Africa will start as favourites for the Test series against England but they have two issues to address before the series begins. They need to settle on an opening partner for Graeme Smith and a pace bowling partner for Dale Steyn, writes Patrick Compton in the Mercury.

There are also doubts about Steyn's regular pace partner, Morne Morkel. Morkel at his best is a huge asset but he lacks consistency, a failing that resulted in him being dropped for the final Test against Australia in 2008. The big man bowls some devastating deliveries but he doesn't hit the "right areas" nearly as often as he should.

In the Cape Times, Zaahier Adams writes that the South African crowd should have a go at Jonathan Trott because of his strong South African connections.

So when the South African fans, undoubtedly, have a go at KP this summer, they might just want to rein it in a bit for Trott who, but for the lure of the pound, possibly still wants to be sitting in the other dressing-room with his boyhood pals.

Following the runner controversy during the Champions Trophy, Smith will have a score to settle with Strauss, writes Paul Newman in the Daily Mail.

Anand Vasu writes in the Hindustan Times about how the IPL and the Twenty20 boom has changed the priorities of the upcoming generation of Indian cricketers.

In two months, some of these teenagers will pick up more cash than the average middle-class professional makes in a career. What's more, with the contract in the bag, they won't have to worry about some cranky selector dropping them or a section of the media calling for a replacement. There will be all the good things in life without any of the pressure, perfect for the individual in the short-term, and a recipe for long-term disaster.

Before the IPL the sole intention of a cricketer's life was breaking into the Indian team. Once that was done, life was a constant struggle to stay in the eleven. In time, the peripherals too care of themselves. This is why Ganguly fought so hard to stay in the picture... It is the fight to stay in the top 1% that makes it worth it.

India's young brigade is drawing flak, but Dileep Premachandran writes in the Guardian that the criticism must be based on their performances, and not based on their flashy lifestyles.

In the Guardian Andy Bull defends England's South African imports a week after Michael Vaughan questioned Cape Town-born Johnathan Trott's loyalty. Bull argues that over 60 players born overseas have represented England and "the fact that selection is open to anyone who cares to qualify and merits a place ought to be a reason for celebration".

Some of those 60-plus players came to England when they could barely use a bat – Strauss and Prior among them. Others, like Pietersen and Trott, came later. All of them earned their place on merit. There is no need to mark a dividing line between those who arrived as children and those who made the decision later in life, just as there is no need to draw distinctions between players who have moved from Test-playing nations and those who haven't. The point is that they decided to come at all. That is sufficient commitment in itself. Regardless of where you are born, misty-eyed patriotism is not a prerequisite for selection.

There are plenty of better criteria to judge a cricketer on than his place of birth or where he went to school. The runs he scores and wickets he takes are just two of them.

Peter Roebuck writes in the Sydney Morning Herald that Chris Gayle does not deserve to be captain of the West Indies squad heading to Australia.

Gayle is a busted flush. Sympathisers say he cares about West Indian cricket. If so, he has a curious way of showing it. Appointed on a wing and a prayer by authorities desperate to stop the inexorable slide in West Indian cricket, the languid Jamaican has been a profound disappointment. If nothing else, his abject performance during last winter's Test series in England ought to have cost him his job.

Given the honour of captaining the party and therefore following in the footsteps of Sir Frank Worrell, Sir Garfield Sobers and Clive Lloyd, the sunglassed opener promptly signed to play for the Kolkata Klowns (or whatever) in the IPL and arranged to join the team a week before the first Test. Eager to put even more plunder in his pocket, he lingered longer, played an extra match and arrived a couple of days before the series began. So much for leadership. So much for the tradition of West Indian cricket. So much for Test cricket.

Geoff Longley writes in the Press that New Zealand should give John Wright a trial run as coach during the upcoming home series against Pakistan.

There has been a lot of tip-toeing around the issue of whether Wright wants to be involved. Has he expressed official interest and does he want the arduous grind of overseas travel again?

But there is no formal coach at present, and having Wright involved – he is on the NZC staff payroll after all – would be a good way of testing the waters for the players and the prospective coach. This way, Wright could get a feel for the team and the environment and see if they could work together on a longer-term basis, and vice versa.

‘If it doesn’t swing,’ Andy Flower said, ‘we can still win the series. We’ve got the attack to take 20 wickets.’ This is a bold statement for any England coach to make at the best of times. And, Ashes or no Ashes, it’s fair to say these are not the best of times, writes Lawrence Booth in the Daily Mail.

In their last 28 Tests overseas – beginning with the previous visit to South Africa five years ago – England have taken 20 wickets only seven times, including twice against a weak New Zealand side in seam-friendly conditions. One in four is not a ratio to set the pulse racing, let alone beat the best team in the world. There’s more. During that period England were able to field possibly their most incisive seam attack ever. Now they arrive in South Africa without any of the Fab Four of Steve Harmison, Matthew Hoggard, Andrew Flintoff and Simon Jones that delivered the 2005 Ashes. Flower possibly knows something we don’t.

Suresh Menon writes on Dreamcricket that the pressure of bowling dot balls in Twenty20s has reduced the effectiveness of two of India's premier bowlers, Harbhajan Singh and Ishant Sharma. He argues that both of them should be excluded from the game's shortest format to ensure success in ODIs and Tests.

With television sanctifying the dot ball in the bowler’s analysis, it has assumed a disproportionate importance ... When that same tactic is brought into the one-day international, the team suffers because now wicket-taking is important. Nothing slows down the run rate like a wicket or two. The spinner’s role is a more attacking one, especially in the middle overs when batsmen tend to focus on keeping their wickets.

... Part of Ishant Sharma’s recent problem has been a confusion over the approach to the various forms. The answer is clear – he must be kept out of Twenty20 if he is to be a long-term prospect for Tests and one-dayers.

It is just under a thousand days until London's Olympic 80,000-seat stadium becomes filled for purpose, but what of the many thousands after that? So far, there has been talk of rugby, football and cricket teams using the venue, though in cricket's case any future relationship should be given short shrift, writes Derek Pringle in the Telegraph.

The trouble is, to cheapen maintenance costs, the Stratford stadium will be reduced to 25,000 seats once the Olympics is over. That would put its capacity behind Lord's and only marginally in front of the Oval's. Unless 50,000 spectators can be accommodated, the only reason for international cricket to be played elsewhere in the capital would be for the novelty. If you want that, far better to build a stadium with a roof to make the game weatherproof.

Everything Lalit Modi does makes news. Everything Lalit Modi does divides opinions. Everything Lalit Modi does reverberates around the cricketing world. In a freewheeling interview with Karan Thapar on the news channel CNN-IBN, Modi defends himself against critics, denies the Ranji Trophy has been rendered meaningless, explains why the IPL has revived and rejuvenated cricket, and much more.

Karan Thapar: ‘The Hindustan Times’ says: 'What the IPL has done is create a generation of half-baked players with faulty techniques, they strut around as superstars based on their dubious performances in the IPL. They are living in a fool's paradise but they are only fooling themselves.'

Lalit Modi: If they are fooling themselves, they will fall down. You have to understand that we have eight to ten owners out there, who have very little tolerance for somebody not being able to perform. So, they will just replace him and go forward with somebody else. If a person wants to be in the team then he needs to be consistent.

Karan Thapar: So these players are fodder for you. You are building them dreams and then casting them aside.

Lalit Modi: You may call it fodder but for us, it is giving them platform to showcase themselves, be consistent and prove themselves. You call it fodder, but we don't call it fodder. We call it a great stage to play with the world's best.

Graeme Swann has more than 16,000 followers on Twitter, the internet's latest social networking craze, another ideal platform for his student-union wit and waspish humour. He's fast becoming a cult figure even as, at 30, his irrepressible personality matures. Speaking to the Times, Swann candidly admits he does not really do cricket at all if there is a reasonable alternative, such as loafing on the couch with a can of beer and a movie on the telly. While some players would be angered by accusations of arrogance, Swann shrugs them off with his characteristic laconic humour.

“You get pigeonholed, but if the s*** hits the fan, everyone reacts differently. If I get angry and uptight, I am rubbish. I don’t perform. If people see me having a smile on my face as not knuckling down, then more fool them because they don’t know what they are talking about.

“I have just found over the years I am my own best shrink and I know if I am doing badly. Nine times out of ten, it is about taking it too seriously. I don’t mean stop training and start having a laugh, but in your life you have to be happy."

The emergence of Umar Akmal as an exciting middle order batsman has all but bolted the door on Misbah-ul-Haq. After being dropped once, he showed resolve to make a comeback, but the past has come back to haunt him. He may have responded with a double-century in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, but his response may have come too late in the day, writes Saad Shafqat in Dawn.

With captain Younis Khan at number three, Mohammad Yousuf (Pakistan’s best batsman) at number four, and now Umar Akmal in the side, Pakistan’s Test middle-order is packed. In ODI and Twenty20 cricket, the batting line-up has to accommodate all-rounders too, which leaves even less room. The only scenario in which Misbah forces his way back is if someone gets injured or loses form. No one knows the future, but the odds are against it.

The PCB hasn’t learnt from the way squash and hockey has gone awry in Pakistan. The organisation has run into disarray and failure despite having the world’s top-notch cricketing talent at its disposal. Iftikhar U Hyder presents a grim picture in Dawn, the Pakistan daily.

Pakistan cricket’s Achilles’ heel is not its ability to produce good openers, reliable middle-order batsmen or good fielders. The real Achilles’ heel is the inability to build a cricket structure in which only competent managers could survive.

	Blood brothers: Michael Clarke and Shane Warne © Getty Images

Shane Warne is Michael Clarke’s idol and treasured friend. He talks to the Sunday Telegraph’s Jessica Halloran about their special relationship and how Warne is helping him through his back injury.

"We both love our speed,'' Clarke said. "Our cars, our motorbikes, and a bit of shopping here and there - but we also both love trying to be the best cricket players we can. I guess that's how our relationship continued to grow. I had an idol who was willing to help me. I would have been stupid not to have listened to him. From there, we've built a friendship outside of cricket, which is very special to me. It's something I'm very lucky to have.''