Taufeeq Umar, part of an assembly line of Pakistan opening batsmen since 2000 who were tried and discarded, hasn't given up hopes of an international recall. In an interview to Pakpassion.net, Umar recalls the early days of his career, training under Javed Miandad and what the ICL meant to him.

I was dropped after just one match. A player can have an unlucky innings or two If you drop someone based on just one match especially someone who is making a comeback then I feel it is unfair. I feel I should been tested for the whole series.

	If the cap splits ... © Getty Images

There’s life left in Ricky Ponting, but not much in his baggy green, writes Peter Lalor in the Australian.

Over the years the face and the cap have worn and faded together. Nothing else in Ponting's career has been there for so long.

In the Courier-Mail Robert Craddock pushes for Doug Bollinger to hold his spot on Boxing Day.

Australia are not playing so well that they can afford to waste the form and momentum he has built up against West Indies. His eight-wicket haul in Perth was worthy of Man-of-the-Match honours. He has a certain force about him at the moment that no other member of the attack can boast.

	Roar: Shane Watson © Getty Images

Chris Gayle, writing in his Daily Telegraph column, gives Shane Watson the benefit of the doubt after the allrounder screamed in celebration after dismissing Gayle in Perth.

Watson didn't actually say anything to me ... he just kept screaming in my direction. He has a bit of a temper and is pretty emotional so he was probably just letting it all out. Each player is different and getting me out came at a crucial time in an important Test match. There is no doubt he over-reacted but I am prepared to move on and let bygones be bygones.

Greg Baum in the Age says that fining Watson only 15% of his match fee is scant punishment for such a blatant breach of the Code of Conduct.

The sanction against Watson was pitiful. A cricketer's chief income is his base payment. The match fee is the icing on the cake. Fifteen per cent is a few specks of icing sugar. It is open to Cricket Australia to apply its own punishment and essential that it does. Otherwise, its code is merely a piece of paper.

In the Sydney Morning Herald John Buchanan, the former coach, suggests the team take another look at their spirit of cricket pledge. ''It was a foundation document so the current group may wish to move it in a direction that is more appropriate to themselves,” he said.

King Cricket writes in the Wisden Cricketer that one of the drawbacks of the umpire decision review system is that it robs fans of the euphoric moment when a wicket falls. He suggests that the UDRS should be tweaked to allow on-field umpires the choice of asking for help from the television umpire before making a decision.

You cheer half-heartedly when the umpire raises his finger because you know that the batsman’s only half out. He might ask for the decision to be referred and he might be reprieved. It’s all a bit messy and you can’t get carried away by the moment.

One of the questions Graeme Smith will be pondering about ahead of the Boxing Day Test is who to drop to make place for returning pace spearhead Dale Steyn. Rob Houwing writes on the Sport24.co.za website that the answer is Makhaya Ntini, because both rookie Friedel de Wet and Morne Morkel were quicker and more penetrative than the 32-year-old playing his 100th Test.

The veteran fast bowler took his bows and doffed his cap to the avalanche of salaams. But try as he did, he simply could not muster the mojo to excel simultaneously for the national cause.And if he could not do so on such an illustrious stage as his centenary match, what price the 32-year-old markedly rectifying things just a few days further on at Kingsmead after five days of punishing Highveld sunshine? Gallingly, the most experienced of the three South African fast bowlers by a mile at SuperSport Park was the primary omission as a “go to” factor by Graeme Smith.

In the South African daily Business Day, Neil Manthorp lauds Graeme Smith for the manner in which he ensured South Afria kept up their intensity and belief in the face of the long Pietersen-Trott partnership.

It's common for selectors to set the forthcoming World Cup as the target for building their teams. India too have a plan in place but it's important the focus shifts to building a pool of bowlers to pick from, since the batting reserves look fairly settled, writes Suresh Menon in espnstar.com.

It would be foolish to depend on a very small group of players and then discover when the need arises that the replacements are not ready. Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni for example, is now forced to miss two matches because of India's poor over-rate in the Nagpur one-dayer. This means a wicketkeeper, who hasn't kept for a while, will have to do the job. Yet an intelligent policy of rotation would have ensured that such a person is ready to deliver. This is not to say that Dhoni should be dropped from the team at regular intervals, only that there should be a plan to introduce one or two players into the team just so they keep in touch.

In the same website, Sanjay Manjrekar touches on the faulty techniques fielders employ these days while sliding and diving. One great contemporary example to watch is Ricky Ponting.

Today, every player in the Indian team can slide. But in the last decade or so, the slide, the dive and the lunge have clearly become excessive and very often unnecessary. Frequently now, you will see a fielder chasing the ball come almost next to the ball and then employ the slide. This takes him a good two meters past the ball before he gets up on his feet and throws the ball back. By doing this he is actually taking a second or two more than he would, if he had just picked up the ball and threw.

As a child, Graeme Swann’s ultimate dream was to pick the final wicket is an Ashes decider. When he had the good fortune of living his boyhood dream, picking the wicket of Michael Hussey at The Oval in August, Swann’s joy knew no bounds. Speaking to Stephen Brenkley from the Independent, he relives the trance-like state of mind he experienced immediately after sealing the Ashes for his team.

That ball bounced a bit, it didn't turn as much as others. I remember just floating it up. I saw Cook catch it. I know people say they don't remember what happened next but I don't remember what happened next for the next five or 10 minutes.

I have seen a video of me being interviewed afterwards and I look as drunk as though I had been drinking for 12 hours. It was a phenomenal moment. I was drunk with joy and it was the first time in my life that I have experienced anything like that, especially through sport, apart from when Newcastle beat Manchester United 5-1 about 15 years ago.

The West Indies Cricket Board's decision to introduce pink balls and floodlights in next season's four-day competition may succeed in drawing more fans, but it may not help produce world-class cricketers, which is what the game desperately needs, writes Tony Becca in the Jamaica Gleaner.

A few weeks ago in Bridgetown, Barbados, at the headquarters of West Indies cricket, at a press conference to launch the sale of tickets for next year's World Twenty20 tournament in the West Indies - and while Dr Hilaire and Robert Bryan of the World Twenty20 organising committee were speaking eloquently about steel bands, horns, and pot covers, about rum and local cuisine, about dancing and singing, and about producing a "party" to remember - a few stalwarts of West Indies cricket, great players like Sir Everton Weekes, Sir Garfield Sobers, Gordon Greenidge, and Joel Garner, asked one question. They asked the gentlemen representing the West Indies Cricket Board what the board was doing to prepare the West Indies team so that, unlike the 2007 World Cup, the West Indies could make a strong bid for the title.

Dr Hilaire and Bryan could not answer the question.

We have been here somewhere before. About five months ago, in fact, when a gritty last-wicket partnership between two tailenders ensured that England began their Ashes campaign with a nail-biting draw and not a demoralising defeat, writes Mike Atherton in the Times.

There were many heroes in this match, a slow-burning affair that ignited dramatically in the final session of the fifth day. There was Graeme Swann, man of the match for his five wickets and a half-century of glorious exuberance; there was Friedel de Wet, the fresh-faced newcomer, who, late in the day, was given the second new ball by his captain and who nearly bowled his team to victory, taking three wickets after tea, and there was Jonathan Trott, whose five hours of self- restraint on the final day took his team to the point of safety. But without Collingwood’s calmness, toughness and experience throughout the final 34 overs of a pulsating final session, England would have lost.

In the Daily Mail, Nasser Hussain compares the batting styles of Kevin Pietersen and Jonathan Trott.

To me there are two types of batsmen - personality players and situation players. Pietersen is so good that he always plays the same way, the personality way, the ego way. But Trott is impressive in a very different way because he clearly plays the situation, as he has done so well in his highly productive first two Tests for England.

It is one of Test cricket's unique features that the highest drama the game has to offer can come from what is effectively a stalemate. In the fullness of time the record books will show that the first Test ended in a draw but few matches have ended in such nail-biting circumstances as were witnessed here yesterday, writes Mike Selvey in the Guardian.

If you ever want to be reminded of the fine line Kevin Pietersen runs between the spirit and the talent of the very greatest cricketers on one hand, and Coco the Clown on the other, you simply must return to the first Test which ended so perilously for England here last evening, writes James Lawton in the Independent.

It is mandatory because probably nothing will ever quite so perfectly illuminate the split personality of a man who turned a day that was supposed to be about desperate survival into an exhibition of how a sportsman of genius can utterly dominate all around him. Then, literally, ran out of the most basic common sense.

What on earth was he thinking? The same question that surrounded Ian Bell after his first-innings aberration can now be directed at Kevin Pietersen, only with an extra note of hysteria in the voice, writes Simon Briggs in the Telegraph.

While there are similarities between Cardiff and Centurion, Vic Marks identifies a few differences in the Guardian.

England will hope for a Cardiff effect, gaining momentum for the series by denying opponents victory in the first Test and against the odds, but the route to that hair-raising draw was radically different. Against Australia in Wales England were struggling at tea on the final day: 169 for seven. Expectations were still low. Here they were 169 for three and a draw seemed relatively secure.

Whatever their transgressions on the field, invariably it is their opponents who end up paying a price. Somehow or the other, teams playing against the Aussies seem to invite the match referee’s wrath, writes Anil Kumble in the Hindu.

In the Delhi Test against us, my last, the one that earned Gautam Gambhir a ban for having a go at Watson, the same umpire and the match referee were officiating. At that time, the umpire Billy Bowden didn’t see it fit to report Simon Katich who had later obstructed Gautam and the match referee Chris Broad too didn’t bother to act on his own or follow it up with the onfield umpires even though it was very much evident on TV. And as on that occasion, the provocateurs got away in Perth too, with Haddin and Johnson receiving minor reprimands. There doesn’t seem to be any punishment forthcoming for someone who provokes and that to me is against the principles of natural justice.

From Centurion to Perth, there was plenty to savour as the long version of the game produced some thoroughly absorbing play, writes Christopher Martin-Jenkins in the Times.

Were you absorbed from a distance by the uncertain outcomes of the simultaneous Test matches in Centurion and the Waca ground in Perth? Crowds for both games were no more than satisfactory but much of the cricket was spell-binding, proof if it were needed that Test cricket will confound those sages who fear that it is an anachronism in an age of instant gratification.

A 2-0 defeat for West Indies has not significantly improved their reputation but the result conceals a substantial improvement reflected in sharper fielding, improved running between wickets and more committed lower-order batting, writes Peter Roebuck in the Sydney Morning Herald. Many anonymous players who never toured Australia made their mark and the Australians were taken aback.

Not even a surprising decision by a third umpire prepared to ignore the evidence provided by Hot Spot, and so the review system, could take the gloss off a superb chase by the West Indies or a deserved victory by Australia. The West Indians can be proud of their performance. In times past they were granted five-match series but their stocks have fallen and they stand near the bottom of the rankings.

In the Australian, Mike Coward writes that Ponting and his jaded minions may get to keep the series trophy locked behind the glass panels at Jolimont, but it's the West Indians who will sign off the first leg of the tour in a better frame of mind. They suffered more injuries than the hosts but somehow managed to motivate themselves better with every setback. Coward adds that the Australians are yet to figure out a way to close-out Tests in the post Warne-McGrath era.

For years they played with arrogance and a sense of entitlement to victory and all the privileges that go with it. But now they have lost their invincibility, opponents loudly question their credentials. Clearly, this irks those accustomed to constant success and, as was the case here, frustrations abound and raw emotions are exposed. Furthermore, few members of this team feel secure and therefore are fractious and vulnerable.

In the same paper, Peter Lalor says Chris Gayle is responsible for putting West Indies back on the map. Gayle led an aggressive and entertaining pack of cricketers who won hearts in Western Australia when they took to the stage and performed a reggae set at a function. he also writes about Gayle's wicked sense of humour.

In South Australia a young female photographer asked him if he could sit with his knees together while she took the team's picture. "I'd love to," he said, "but I can't." She is still blushing.

One of Australian cricket's most publicised friendships has ended. Andrew Symonds has gone on record saying that he is not even in talking terms with Michael 'Pup' Clarke. The friendship began to sour when Symonds was asked to leave Clarke's engagement party after a row with guests and came to a head during the "Gone fishing" episode. Peter Badle has the full story in the Sunday Telegraph.

"A lot of people have asked me what Michael is like. The way he is being portrayed is interesting because people are asking me a lot about him. I don't know the answer. I'm not in the inner circle anymore. I'd be guessing if I answered that."

Kumar Sangakkara may be in the form of his life with the bat, but the current Indian tour has exposed a couple of shortcomings in his cricket - his wicketkeeping and captaincy skills, writes Nirgunan Tiruchelvam in the Sunday Island. While Sangakkara commands respect from his team-mates and observers, thanks in no small way to his oratory skills, it's time to hand over his wicketkeeping duties to either Dilshan or Prasanna Jayawardene.

Sanga cannot combine the responsibility of captaincy, wicketkeeper and the leading batsmen in any form of the game. One of the three must be discarded. He has lost the first virtue of any gloveman. He does not watch the ball on to his gloves. Instead, he grabs it.

David Gower, writing in the Sunday Times, says the revised Umpire Decision Review System is superior to the old one but it still leads to debate.

At tea yesterday, Sir Ian Botham and I got stuck into a decidedly warm discussion following the upholding of the not-out lbw verdict in favour of AB de Villiers. Hawk-Eye had shown that the delivery from Graham Onions would have clipped the leg stump pretty hard. The crucial point was that it was not within the tolerance levels prescribed by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for such incidents.

So if a review shows that the decision of the man in the middle fell within the margin of error, the orange graphic comes up “Umpire’s Call”, and the original decision stands.

This does present an anomaly. We had a situation in which the umpire had given De Villiers not out, and Hawk-Eye suggested strongly that he should have been given out. However, because of the margin of error, the third umpire could not definitively say the original verdict was wrong, so the on-field umpire’s decision stood, and England had lost their final review. That was the point Sir Ian was most indignant about: that even if one accepted the decision as laid down by the rules of the system, it seemed harsh that England had lost the review when everyone knew it could well have been out.

In the Observer, Mike Selvey zeroes in on another debatable characteristic of the review system: "England asked for a referral that showed, if Hawk-Eye, the tracking device, is to be believed (and remember it has a margin of error) was hitting leg stump substantially, if not quite to the middle-of-the-ball hitting-middle-of-stump degree required for an unequivocal electronic decision. So the umpire's original decision pertained, as per protocol in so-called fringe decisions, a bonus for De Villiers and tough on the bowler who knows that had it been given out, and the batsman sought clarification, he would have been on the way to the dressing room."

The Umpire Decision Review System has had teething problems, not least on England's tour of South Africa, but will lead to more correct decisions and liberate umpires, writes Steve James in the Sunday Telegraph.

It simply cannot be right that an umpire makes a shocker of a decision and the whole world knows about it in an instant, while he remains in the dark. Alerting him doesn't undermine him, it liberates him. He does not stew all day, listening for the whispers, avoiding eye-contact with the aggrieved party (have you ever experienced the cut-the-air-with-a-knife atmosphere of standing at square-leg next to an umpire who has sawn you off earlier in the day?) and maybe even attempting a 'make-up' decision.

"Stuart Broad is a fine cricketer, and I always said he was one of the best thinking bowlers I have had the pleasure of captaining. But as an outside observer, I can see that there is something a little bit annoying about him. He always seems to be complaining to the umpire, whether it’s a wide that’s called or a no-ball given," writes Michael Vaughan in the Sunday Telegraph.

He needs to be careful, because umpires around the world do talk to each other about the moaners, just like they do in county cricket. It is ironic that his father, Chris, is one of the tougher match referees. The way he is going, Broad junior could end up being banned for a couple of games.

Another former England captain, Nasser Hussain, shares Vaughan's concern about Broad's behaviour. Writing in the Mail on Sunday he says,

If yesterday's incident was a one-off then it wouldn't be too much of a problem but this is far from the first time that Broad has shown stroppiness towards officials, and if he carries on it is going to lead to umpires turning down his appeals and generally having a downer on him ... I am not one for calling for a cricketer to be fined or banned, but Broad was out of order yesterday and perhaps someone has to make a statement with him.

One of the best things about the pair of Andyarchs who rule English cricket – and, let us not forget, Andrew Strauss and Andrew Flower were given full rein together only seven months ago – is their speed in learning from mistakes, writes Scyld Berry in the Sunday Telegraph.

... selecting six specialist batsmen, Matt Prior at seven, and four bowlers is a policy without a future. Whatever the result of this game – even if Ian Bell makes a match-winning hundred – it needs to be binned in almost every instance. To be as conservative in strategy and selection as South Africa, on going into this series, is quite a condemnation.

If England are to avoid a losing start to their Test series with South Africa they are going to have to summon the never-say-die spirit of their Ashes escape at Cardiff last summer, writes Simon Wilde in the Sunday Times.

	Shane Bond gave the bowling a synergy that has been missing for some time © Getty Images

In the recently-concluded series against Pakistan, New Zealand failed to distinguish themselves and better their current ICC Test ranking. Mark Richardson, writing in the Herald on Sunday believes a solid performance must be put in against Australia in March, if they are to move up from their lowly No. 7 position.

A lot will depend on the fitness of Shane Bond, the late season form of the middle order and whether or not the two 50-run stands the openers put on was progress or just a reflection of the flat pitch.

Bond whacking them down at 150km/h was one of the highlights of this whole sporting year for me, in any code. I thought his express days were over and he would join the fast-medium pack but he certainly is not ready for that yet.

Ian Anderson in the Waikato Times says the evaluation of New Zealand's efforts against Pakistan is difficult. But even more mind-boggling is the poser – how are they likely to fare in the forthcoming home test series against Bangladesh and Australia?

New Zealand have used 30 opening partnerships in their 145 innings this decade. However, Andrew Alderson, in the Herald on Sunday, reckons the perennial search in New Zealand cricket for genuine openers just might be over, with the performances of Tim McIntosh and BJ Watling against Pakistan.

One of the key flaws in the test line-up since Mark Richardson's retirement in 2004 has been the lack of an anchor or anchors at the top of the order who can see an innings through to a point where either a) a change bowler is limbering up with some trepidation at third man or b) red stains are evident on the odd pair of trousers as frustrated fielders try to administer more polish to a scuffed ball.

Also, Greg Ford, in the Sunday Star Times, finds out what makes Watling tick.

Lou Vincent is giving cricket in New Zealand one last chance. The 31-year-old, who has been living mainly in Britain since moving on from his ICL days, is keen to be part of the county setup and prove his worth. He reveals his desire to return to the national side in an interview to Andrew Alderson.

Chris Gayle's whirlwind century off 70 balls at the WACA brought back memories of another savage knock by a West Indian opener 34 years ago. Roy Fredericks will always be remembered for taking Lillee and Thomson to the cleaners on the world's fastest pitch. It was the highlight of what was otherwise a forgettable tour of Australia. Daniel Brettig of Adelaide Now goes back in time and chats with Terry Jenner, who witnessed that knock.

"I'd been sitting there with my feet up but then I came onto the ground, I think it was for Ross Edwards, my laces were undone so I had to do them up, get out there and go straight to forward point," Jenner said. "And the first ball off (Gary) Gilmour was a massive square drive that curved towards me, I got down and it spun straight past me and went for four. Bloody embarrassing - when you're the 12th man and that's what happens to you."

James Lawton makes a case for cricket and football, sports that often haven't gone hand in hand, to embrace the review system, despite the glitches, to rid the games of the "worst examples of failed justice." Read his article in the Independent.

Yet Strauss admits that the system is almost certainly part of the future and that he, along with everyone in cricket, has to work both to understand it and show it in its best light.

It would be wrong to suggest this is the overwhelming view in cricket. One of the most persistent complaints – and no doubt it would be redoubled in football – is that the process is guaranteed to break the flow of the game. One experienced observer at Centurion says: "It just feels wrong. Fans celebrate the fall of an opposition wicket one minute, then the next they are cast down. Better to let the breaks come as they may, and just get on with it."

But can this really be a viable view at the end of the first decade of the 21st century? If sport is worth any kind of trouble, should we not endeavour to get it right when a wicket or a goal is illegitimately claimed?

Nasser Hussain criticises Stuart Broad in the Daily Mail for challenging the umpires' authority following his dismissal on the third day. However, he agrees that the umpires gave South Africa too much time to call for a review, and that is an issue that ought to be addressed.

If yesterday's incident was a one-off then it wouldn't be too much of a problem but this is far from the first time that Broad has shown stroppiness towards officials, and if he carries on it is going to lead to umpires turning down his appeals and generally having a downer on him.

Graeme Swann's all-round heroics were England's only challenge to the euphoria surrounding Makhaya Ntini's 100th Test, writes James Lawton in the Independent.

Swann inserted himself into the heart of the Ashes triumph last summer and here yesterday he surely created new waves of mystique. The trick, it appears, is to produce the jauntiest of styles, all the better to conceal behind it the most ferocious ambition.

If Ntini is the warrior and the legend, Swann is the peculiarly English hero, nonchalant in all but the vital execution of his assignment.

England should have gone in with an extra bowler for the first Test and Luke Wright would have provided them that option, writes Angus Fraser in the Independent. It was quite baffling, he says, that England chose to field without the services of a fourth seamer.

The move would have eased the burden on Stuart Broad, Graham Onions – playing in his first overseas Test – and James Anderson, who still appears to be recovering from a knee injury. As it was, Onions, who has suffered with a calf strain/cramp, struggled with the heat and Anderson looked short of a gallop. England were fortunate that the pitch offered spin and encouragement to Swann, who bowled beautifully.

Vic Marks, in the Guardian, lauds Paul Harris' patience and persistence which earned him a five-for and gave his team a handy lead.

Patrick Kidd, in his blog Line and Length in the Times, chronicles Ian Bell's inglorious outing with the bat in his 50th Test.

"Hello ball," Ronald said in his best Fotherington-Thomas. "How lovely of you to drop by like this. What a pleasant surprise." And when the ball asked if it could come past, Ronald stood aside, saying: "Why of course, after you."

Writing in the New Zealand Herald, Adam Parore says he would put Daniel Vettori in the "same sort of category as guys like Ian Chappell and Mike Brearley, the legendary English and Australian captains."

Daniel Vettori is showing signs of being among the finest leaders in the history of cricket and his bosses at New Zealand Cricket need to ensure they don't rock the boat when they appoint a new coach. NZC say they want the new man in place before we play Bangladesh in early February, although I don't believe there is a need for undue haste.

In the New Zealand Herald, David Leggat says day-night Test cricket will not work in New Zealand.

It could only happen in warmer climates than this. Fancy shivering on a dewy bank at Seddon Park at 8.30pm among a smattering of spectators while a batsman pokes out his pad with three fielders round the bat? Or, as a colleague pointed out yesterday, playing cricket at night needs a full house, a balmy night and plenty of beer on board.

If any form of the game is in trouble it is the newest. T20 has no roots and so is vulnerable to unfavourable winds. Nor is it as successful as it appears. Did ICL make money for anyone except players, coaches and gamblers? Has IPL opened its books to scrutiny? How many spectators pay for their tickets? How much money has been made by the television companies? Until reliable figures are provided observers are entitled to speculate, writes Peter Roebuck in the Hindu.

International T20 crowds have fallen in all Australian markets. Gabba crowds have decreased from 38,894 in 2005-06 to 27,457 last summer. MCG crowds have slipped from 84,041 in 2007-08 to 61,255 last summer, while the SCG attendances went from 35,628 in 2006-07 to 22,101 last season.

Attendances at domestic T20 matches have likewise gone down from 12,804 in 2006-07 to 10,394 last year. Rest assured that Cricket Australia spent the bulk of its advertising budget on these capers. Numerous free tickets have been dished out. Anything to put bums on seats. Perhaps the novelty has worn off.

Following the Johnson-Benn-Haddin spat on the second day of the Perth Test, Mid-Day has put together a collection of photographs capturing the more heated moments in Tests at the WACA - Lillee-Miandad, the aluminum bat and Terry Alderman's run in with a spectator.

Maybe the crowd had been given warning. Little more than a hardened rump turned up for a day during which entertainment took second place to position-building, writes Mike Atherton in the Times.

... England needed all their resolve to get through the final session of the day relatively unscathed. That they did so was down to Andrew Strauss, at his imperturbable best and probably feeling as though he owed the team some runs after his decision at the toss, and Jonathan Trott, promoted to No 3, who suggested that the confidence shown in him after only one Test match is not misplaced.

England gave the newish ball to Graham Onions on the second morning and Nasser Hussain, writing in the Daily Mail hopes they continue giving the new ball to him.

What South African sportsmen tend to do is battle and you could see that quality beginning to blaze as the second day of the first Test match eventually entered a potentially decisive phase, writes James Lawton in the Independent.

Really it was hard to know quite who was playing for the highest personal stakes as Ntini's large personal following sang and danced as he raced to the wicket when he was called up again by his captain Graeme Smith for a fresh assault in the last few overs. His assignment was to break the partnership of Strauss and Jonathan Trott – Cape Town-born Trott this is – as they fought to repair the damage of the early loss of opener Alastair Cook.

It was hard work for Graeme Swann, but at least he gleaned some reward for his toil: five wickets from 45.2 overs on a pitch, which on the eve of the match was deemed to be a seamers' paradise. Then some sages queried whether a spinner was necessary at all, says Vic Marks in the Guardian.

Andrew Strauss is the kind of man who likes to make good his mistakes and while he still has some way to achieving that in this Test, following his decision to bowl first, you could sense his determination as he kept South Africa’s bowlers at bay on Thursday evening after their batsmen had racked up a first-innings total of 418, writes Derek Pringle in the Telegraph.

Until the last hour or so, when Makhaya Ntini, fuelled by the adrenaline of his one 100th Test appearance and the noisy support of the Centurion crowd, let rip at the England openers with the new ball, it had been a desultory day of Test cricket, says Mike Selvey in the Guardian.

In most respects, Brad Haddin has been a superb replacement for Adam Gilchrist, writes Peter Reobuck in the Sydney Morning Herald, but as far as temperament is concerned, these players are chalk and cheese. Haddin did not need to get involved after Suleiman Benn and Mitchell Johnson rubbed shoulders but his mate's cause is his own and, anyhow, he was already irritated.

As much was obvious as he became embroiled in an exchange yesterday with Sulieman Benn that is bound to have wider ramifications. From the start of his innings, Haddin brandished his bat in the manner of a man determined to take the fight into the enemy. It is in his nature to take things personally, and the injury suffered by his captain might have been stirred him. For that matter, the bumpers dished out to comrades might have raised his ire. And so he came to the crease ready to rumble.

In the Independent, James Lawton says the umpire decision review system is the future, a rational response to inevitably flawed officiating. He also says it might "wipe out of cricket a disease which in recent years, even decades, has become just about congenital."

Strauss, having earlier sturdily resisted the temptation, twice submitted to the passionate belief of some of his players that the video evidence would send such large obstacles to the success of his gamble to bowl at the South Africans – Kallis and A B De Villiers – back to the pavilion. Twice he went to the review – first when Kallis had edged a ball from Jimmy Anderson into his pads, one that was, anyway, plainly going wide, and then when wicketkeeper Matt Prior yelled that he had gathered up a De Villiers snick off Graeme Swann – and twice he lost.

There are splendid sights in cricket and there are not so splendid sights. If you are a bowler, one of the worst is Jacques Kallis at the crease: square-jawed, rock-solid still, set as if in concrete and eyes fixed firmly on the prize. He went to the crease in that deliberate way of his at seven minutes past noon yesterday and he was still there at the close, his 32nd Test hundred tucked firmly under his belt, writes Mike Atherton in the Times.

In the Daily Mail, Nasser Hussain says England's mistake was not in asking South Africa to bat. "Where I would be critical is that I do not see how England could possibly go into the match with four bowlers who have all been carrying injuries. That was a massive gamble and one that may cost England unless they get back into the Test quickly today."

We must turn the clock back almost five years, to the Centurion Test on England's last visit here, to find the last time that Jacques Kallis took them for a century. England have pretty much had his measure since then, until yesterday, writes Mike Selvey in the Guardian

Stephen Brenkley, in the Independent, says, "It was the type of toss captains prefer to lose. Although there might be a bit in the pitch for the bowlers early on it could easily flatten out later. There was and it did. Strauss might have been persuaded by the fact that the side batting second has won eight times out of 14 on the ground."

Although he was scarcely seen after the warm-ups, this was Makhaya Ntini’s day. On a different continent it is not a good time to be a black sporting icon, but here in South Africa millions were with Ntini yesterday as he joined that exclusive club of cricketers who have represented their country 100 times, writes Mike Atherton in the Times.

Inevitably, the colour of Ntini’s skin has been a blessing and a curse. A blessing because he has been afforded the kind of international opportunities and patience that might — only might — not have come his way had he not been black; a curse because that knowledge has sometimes camouflaged his achievements as a cricketer, rather than as a black cricketer. It is time he was given his due.

To have played 100 Test matches as a quick bowler — white, brown, black or yellow — in the modern game is a magnificent achievement. Just ask, say, Andrew Flintoff, Darren Gough or Jason Gillespie, fast bowlers with as much talent as Ntini but without the hardness of body to enable them to cope with the problems thrown up by a sport that is increasingly batsman-friendly.

On Supercricket, Neil Manthorp recounts an anecdote from Ntini's first overseas tour - to Australia - when the fast bowler got carried away by the bounce at the WACA and peppered Brian McMillan with short balls.

Half an hour later a tight jawed McMillan suggested to coach Bob Woolmer that it might be a good idea for the new kid to have a bat at the end of the session. And that he was also happy to break with convention and have a second bowling session instead of putting his enormous feet into an ice-bucket and resting his bear-sized muscles. What followed may rank as amongst the shortest – but quickest – spells McMillan ever bowled in a Proteas shirt. “I thought he was trying to kill me,” remembers Ntini. “Actually, he was. I’m sure he was.”

Makarand Waingankar, writing in the Hindu, says a coach has to be open-minded and studious about his team's performance to win the faith and trust of the players, something Gary Kirsten has done with India.

If cricketing and administrative pitfalls are tackled, implementation of techno-administrative plans tend to succeed. Kirsten did that well. Now he is focussing on individual needs.

Trust and acceptability are the two important qualities any successful coach has to establish.

The harsh glare has been on New Zealand's erratic batting in the Test series against Pakistan - and it's not a new problem either - but there also a bowling issue for the panel to ponder, writes David Leggat in the New Zealand Herald.

The first choice alongside Chris Martin and Daryl Tuffey is Tim Southee. All three had their moments, but also their flat periods in a four-pronged, fast-medium attack in Napier ... The leading candidate appears to be Northern Districts' in-form Brent Arnel. He is 30 but if applying the principle of picking players at the top of their game then Arnel should be given his chance.

Why is it that the ICC gets its truss in a knot when 10 wickets fall in a day’s play, or when a pitch takes turn, but is totally silent when it comes to pitches on which a grand total of 825 runs are scored in one hundred overs? The high-scoring Rajkot ODI was an unmitigated disgrace, writes Prem Panicker in his blog, Smoke Signals, and zeroes in one point he suspects will recur in the course of this series.

In passing, watching Ashish Nehra bowl yesterday — except at the very end — was an exercise in wanton masochism. Granting that the wicket offered him nothing, Nehra made things worse for himself by carefully picking out the exact wrong line [and/or length] to bowl, at every available opportunity. MS for instance set a packed off field for Dilshan, with on occasion a short cover as an attacking option.

Michael Vaughan believes South Africa tend to start their home Test series poorly and improve as they progress. Writing in the Telegraph, the former England captain says that England must seize the early initiative against the hosts through attacking batting at Centurion, without worrying about their formidable record at the ground.

That means picking Luke Wright. He can attack and could be our Adam Gilchrist-type figure at seven – a batsman who plays big shots when the bowlers are tired. But it sounds as though England will not go that way because they are worried about South Africa's record at Centurion, where they have only lost once in 14 Tests.

They feel they need the insurance of an extra front line batsman in Ian Bell, but England should not worry about the ground. They just have to concern themselves with playing well and getting at them. If England manage that, then the result will look after itself.

Duncan Fletcher believes that momentum is an over-used word in the England-South Africa series where the ascendancy changed hands very often during the T20s and ODIs. Writing in the Guardian, the former England coach observes the similarity in the set-up of the two teams and advocates the inclusion of Luke Wright at number six to lend balance to the visitors’ side.

At times I could not quite believe what I was seeing in the one-day and Twenty20 series. One side would thrash the other only for there to be a total turnaround in the next game, before it would all flip back the other way again in the match after.

People talk a lot about who has "momentum" but when a series is so changeable you can only really judge something like that with hindsight. England will certainly have gained a little confidence. But a lot of teams need a kick in the pants every now and then and South Africa may come out stronger for their defeat. They have one clear advantage: they are playing at home. But that is counterbalanced by the fact that they have not played a Test since March. That leaves a question hanging over the match-readiness of the team.

New Zealand might disagree and bemoan the rain which ruined a likely march to victory over Pakistan yesterday but a one-all draw was a reasonable outcome, writes David Leggat in the New Zealand Herald.

Put it this way: New Zealand won a thriller at Dunedin which could have gone either way; Pakistan walked the second at the Basin Reserve against a wretched batting display; and New Zealand had a clear edge in the decider but ran out of time on a pitch which, despite confident predictions that it would be perkier than usual for the bowlers, proved to be another examination of their spirit and perseverance. There wasn't much between the teams and that added to the intrigue. Some of the cricket was of pretty poor quality - from both teams.

Stuart Clark reckons that it is very unlikely he will play Test cricket again. Instead of turning to an experienced bowler with with 94 Test wickets, Australia's selectors opted for Doug Bollinger and Clint McKay against West Indies. Paying homage to Clark in his own way on his cricketwithballs website, Jarrod Kimber says that if the fast bowler ever ends up as a lawyer with a firm of his own, he would use his services.

	Andrew Strauss has a tough task, but not an impossible one © Getty Images

The Guardian's Vic Marks says forget the Test rankings, England can prosper in this series.

Look at the figures – if you can bear it – since the end of apartheid. In South Africa on three tours England have played 15 Tests; they have won three, lost four and drawn eight; in Australia during that period England have played 20 matches, winning three, losing 15 and drawing two. The scars from the antipodes have not healed yet.

Ashley Giles, selector and 2004-05 Test series winner in South Africa, believes the England side playing in South Africa has the smell of success about it. Read on in the Independent.

But one man will have to pull all these strands together when the talking stops. That is Strauss, who is as tough as teak but does not have machismo emblazoned on his clothing. "The word people use a lot with Strauss is impressive," Giles said, "and I think that is as a bloke and as a cricketer. He has a lot of respect from the people around him, he leads very much from the front, is a good leader of men and stays very level.

Ouch. That hurt. Being sledged by a West Indian about your shallow spin-bowling stocks is a bit like having Gordon Ramsay question your manners. So writes Robert Craddock in the Daily Telegraph.

Chris Gayle had a mischievous grin on his face on Sunday when he likened facing Nathan Hauritz to facing himself. Clearly he does not rate either. Australian fans probably thought they would never see the day when West Indies would deride Australia's spin bowlers because they felt they have someone more threatening. But it's happened with the lanky Sulieman Benn and you can't hide from the truth ... Australia's spin bowlers don't scare people any more.

Those who were at Mumbai's Brabourne Stadium will proudly tell their loved ones "I was there." Virender Sehwag crowned the return of Test cricket to the venue with a psychedelic 293, scoring an astonishing 284 in a single day. Akshay Sawai describes his knock in in-depth detail, interviews and observes a cross section of people who were privileged to watch the innings, from the local police to the official scorer. Read on in Open Magazine.

The queues were longest on the third day, when Sehwag was on the verge of becoming the first batsman ever to score three Test triple hundreds, with Sachin yet to bat. That explained why wickets in India are flat. Nothing sells like entertaining batting. The line started opposite the Ambassador Hotel, went around the Asiatic corner and to the gates of the Brabourne on the other side. At times, some teenaged boys got carried away with their language and were censured by elders. Near Gaylords restaurant, a lady in her 40s couldn’t take the f-words anymore. She turned around and snapped at the guilty party, a gangly youth with acne. “Continuous bad words”, “Is this how you speak in front of your mother?” were among the snatches of the tirade I overheard. The boy looked sheepish.

If a two-tier system comes into play in Test cricket in future, it would be rather unfair to slot Sri Lanka in the lower rung, considering that they were the No.2 Test team not too long ago. To gauge Sri Lanka’s real status in world cricket, SR Pathiravithana asks whether the present team has enough match winners. Read on in the Sunday Times.

In bowling do we have a regular combination that could hold sway? In medium pace in one occasion it is the combination of Nuwan Kulasekera and Thilan Thushara, the next it is Welagedera and Dammika Prasad along with Angelo Mathew as the third seamer. But, out of the lot the only bowler who is somewhat sure of his place in the team is the most ineffective Mathews than the others. In the spin department the very limbs that helped Muralitharan who did wonders in the past is not giving him that same freedom.

India are the reigning Under-19 World Champions but the squad that will travel to New Zealand to defend the title is a fresh one and does not include any of Virat Kohli's men. Sandeep Diwedi met the latest lot of India hopefuls in Mumbai and tells their tale in the Indian Express.

Skipper Ashok Meenaria, for example, is one of the first people from Udaipur's community of temple priests to take up sport as a career, while the team's premier spinner - left-armer Harmeet Singh - is the son of a Mumbai-based property dealer and an exception in his own family for his choice of vocation ... At the opposite end of that spectrum, perhaps, is wicketkeeper Sufiyan Shaikh. Sufiyan used to either get snubbed or slapped by his father if he walked into the house lugging a kit bag.

Multan, Brisbane, Kandy, Hamilton, Chennai and Kingston......the list of England’s losing starts to six of their past seven overseas Test series is too long to be dismissed as coincidence. The team’s conservatism when faced with unfamiliar surroundings has cost them dear and could do so again if they seek to play safe in Wednesday’s first Test match in Centurion, writes Simon Wilde in the Sunday Times.

In the Sunday Telegraph, Barry Richards says: "Here in South Africa the home side and their supporters have been talking a lot about their inconsistency. It seems to me they are falling over themselves to claim underdog status before the Test series starts on Wednesday – and so are England."

"The fate of a series could depend on events in Potchefstroom today. By this evening, maybe earlier but not much later, South Africa will know whether their star all-rounder Jacques Kallis will be fit for the First Test," writes Stephen Brenkley in the Independent on Sunday.

England's cricketers have their opportunity to show the footballers how to do it – how to win in South Africa. Their chances of success are far greater, since the Test series – which starts on Wednesday – is a two-horse race, though, come June, the hysterical optimism that engulfs the national football team during World Cup campaigns will, no doubt, have trampled over any vestige of rationality, writes Vic Marks in the Observer.

	Brains trust: Michael Clarke and Ricky Ponting © Getty Images

Ricky Ponting opens up on Michael Clarke's leadership prospects in an in-depth interview with the Sunday Telegraph’s Barry Toohey.

Is Clarke a natural leader?
He is. He's done a great job as captain of the Twenty20 team, and in my absence from the one-dayers he's done a good job and led the team well. He's got a different mindset as well when he has the role, which is a good sign as a leader.

Were you offended by him publicly coming out about the captaincy?
Look, we had a good chat about that, actually, and I don't think it was ever his intention to offend.

	Tim McIntosh: searching for stability © Getty Images

A 60-run opening stand between New Zealand's latest opening pair of Tim McIntosh and BJ Watling, on debut, was the highest since the former joined the team over a year ago, or more specifically 17 innings. Obviously it's too early to tell if this is the beginning of a new era of Wright & Edgar-style authority, says Andrew Alderson in the Herald on Sunday.

Before the third test, the opening pair had failed to last more than 11 balls. This leads to a more devastating statistic that compounds on the remainder of the team. In the 16 innings prior to this one, New Zealand has got through the first eight overs just four times, the maximum being 12.1, before losing a wicket.

Any cricketer knows - and particularly first-drop batsmen - that this is barely enough to significantly tarnish the gold lettering on a brand new cherry. As a result, New Zealand's middle order batsmen also have to develop opening skills, rather than displaying their talents against a less venomous leather missile.

Alderson also went searching for answers to why Ross Taylor the only New Zealand top-order batsman with any consistent authority over the Pakistan bowlers, and found a balanced, maturing individual.

Working up a storm, Alderson spoke to three former New Zealand players about the future of the country's fast-bowling stakes and found some uncomfortable issues. Danny Morrison wants more swing; John Bracewell wants more pace; Mark Greatbatch is saying "don't panic, help is on the way" - but New Zealand's pace bowling may be headed into some experimental and possibly lean years.

In the same paper, Mark Richardson says a lack of truly fast bowlers on the domestic circuit is hurting New Zealand's development.

Ironically, the problem of late has been as a result of an improvement in provincial playing conditions. Better playing surfaces dominate and medium pace seam bowlers are not testing batsmen's techniques as they once did.

Since 1994, when South Africa played England for the first time after readmission, every Test series win has been decided by a single match and this trend of tight and sometimes attritional cricket is likely to continue over the next five weeks, writes Mike Atherton in the Times.

Whereas Australia, say, play with an attitude that a Test is there to be won from the first ball, England and South Africa have traditionally approached the task with a little more caution, reckoning that while a game cannot be won on the first day, it can certainly be lost. Positions are to be built brick by brick — victory to be strived for only when defeat is out of the question.

	Allan Border: impossible to measure up to © Getty Images

It’s 25 years since Allan Border took over as Australia’s captain and guided them from despair. Not that anyone except Mike Coward noticed. He writes in the Weekend Australian that Border’s contribution to Australian cricket is almost impossible to measure.

Attention should always be drawn to December 7, 1984 when Border succeeded his mate Kim Hughes as skipper against the West Indies in Adelaide. It is a date of the utmost significance for it marks the beginning of what is best termed "the age of stability" in Australian cricket.

It is much too easy following the heady successes of the past 20 years under Border, Mark Taylor, Steve Waugh, Ricky Ponting and Adam Gilchrist to ignore, even forget, the confusion, controversy and tensions which so characterised Australian cricket in 1984.

In the Sydney Morning Herald Peter Roebuck picks an Australian back-up team, ruling out anyone over 30. Peter Hanlon reports in the Age about the search for Aboriginal cricketers.

	Captain in waiting © Getty Images

Over the past three seasons of Test cricket Michael Clarke has quietly established himself as Australia's leading batsman and his rise is indisputable, writes Peter Lalor in the Australian.

Clarke's numbers have been imposing for some years now. If you push the starting date back to the start of 2007, Clarke has scored 2324 runs at 56.68 with eight 100s from 28 matches, Ponting 2133 runs at an average of 43.53 with five 100s from 29 matches and Katich 1923 runs at an average of 52 with six 100s from 22 matches. Raw figures are not always the best indication.

Openers will tell you their job is more difficult than anybody else's. The number three will counter it is theirs that is the toughest and few will argue with either statement. The number five, however, would be pushing credibility to mount such an argument.

Darren and James Pattinson are more than ten years apart but this week they became the first brothers to play together for Victoria in more than 20 years. Darren has already played Test cricket for England; James is touted as a future Australian player. Michael Horan tells their story in the Herald Sun.

More than a quarter of a century ago John Pattinson, a roof tiler just like his Dad, reluctantly acceded to his wife's wish to pack up their things and move, with their four-year-old son Darren, to Australia. Doveton, Victoria to be precise.

Being hauled off the roof was one thing, but carted Down Under was simply not on the radar for the pleasantly spoken, very English chap from Grimsby, Lincolnshire. If his profession was a family tradition, then so too was the unexpected, as he would discover with pride in his unique position of being the father of two Aussie-grown boys, born more than 10 years apart, who tread such different paths to attain their cricket dreams.

	Is Brent Arnel the future? © Getty Images

All the talk is of New Zealand's batting woes of late, but what about the other half of the game? Writing in the New Zealand Herald, David Leggat looks at the contenders to lead New Zealand's bowling attack in the immediate years to come.

A word around the country with some of the first-class coaches came up with some interesting names. Who had impressed them with an eye to the test team in the next couple of years? The obvious next in line is Tim Southee. He is 20 and swings the ball, but lost his way late last season against the batting might of India.

Then there is his Northern Districts colleague, Brent Arnel, who gets good marks for consistency and having had a couple of strong seasons, taking 33 wickets last season and 20 so far this summer.

One doesn't need to look at the rankings table to identify a champion side, writes Simon Briggs in the Daily Telegraph. India, he says, have relied heavily on their batsmen to reach where they have, but their bowling attack is hardly comparable to Australia's when they had reached the summit, or West Indies' in the eighties.

You can almost see their Test cricket as an extension of their one-day skills. Virender Sehwag’s 293 was a 50-over innings that happened to go on for a whole day.

This is the modern way. But it is also an ancient way. The Indians are turning the clock back to the 1930s and 40s, decades when the giant score was the building block of every Test series win.

That was the last era when pitches were flat enough, and bowlers subservient enough, for a batsman (Sehwag now, Bradman then) to eye up the possibility of scoring 300 runs in a day.

No sportsman in South Africa unites the nation as much as Makhaya Ntini does, writes Stephen Brenkley in the Independent, and there is much to celebrate when he plays his 100th Test on December 16. However, with the football team struggling and rugby union lacking the emotive pull of cricket, who will emerge as the next Ntini and what are South African authorities - both government as well as those associated with cricket - doing to find one?

There are two other major team sports in South Africa: football and rugby union. The former is the sport of the black man and the country is suffering from World Cup fever because of the event which will take place here next year. But the team is faultering and it does not bridge the divide as cricket does. Similarly rugby union, although it has a greater black representation than cricket, does not possess the emotive pull of cricket in this society for all its popularity.

When Ntini departs there will be a gap. The government and Cricket South Africa will insist that it is filled sooner rather than later. A national cricket team consisting of white and coloured players is not seen to be representative of the rainbow nation.

Paul Weaver, like Brenkley, makes a trip to Ntini's Eastern Cape Village of Mdingi, and tries to find out the steps being taken to find the successor to South Africa's first black Test cricketer. Read his article in the Guardian.

Mark Benson's abrupt exit from the Test series in Australia is an indication of the strain umpires experience by constantly travelling overseas, writes Simon Wilde in the Times. He argues that umpires should be allowed to officiate in matches involving home teams, for the referral system, despite its imperfections, can ensure there is less scope for any bias in decision-making.

Apart from anything else the repatriation of ICC umpires might encourage more good men to make themselves available for the elite panel, because there have been some – such as Peter Willey – who have been put off by the excessive travel. And with the role of the third official now of so much more importance, the more good men the ICC can call on the better.

The fact that Benson has felt it necessary to set up a second home in Florida to ease his amount of travelling says a lot. ICC umpires are not so much citizens of the world, as nomads. That in itself must be stressful and, ultimately, soul-destroying.

Mike Atherton, writing in the Times, says England are finally emerging from their limited-overs shadows with a series win in South Africa. The result, he says, is due to their acceptance of the fact that athleticism is non-negotiable, and their increased emphasis on power-batting.

With England and one-day cricket, though, any success is worth celebrating.

It is with the management team that we must start, because Andrew Strauss and Andy Flower, captain and team manager respectively, have wrought, arguably, an even bigger improvement in England’s one-day fortunes since the drubbing by Australia than they did with the Test side after the debacle in Jamaica — a performance that led to a great deal of soul-searching and, thereafter, to greater honesty. An Ashes victory was the end game of that change in attitude; a World Cup showing better than any since 1992 now their aim in the limited-overs game.

Cricket's governing bodies are looking into how they can cut down on the amount of match footage new channels can telecast during their bulletins. Arun Jaitley, a member of the BCCI and one of India's top lawyers, chaired a two-day meet in October, also attended by ICC representatives, to look into the regulation of use of video clips. Ways to clamp down on illegal streaming of cricket on websites, a threat to the BCCI's planned online channel, were also discussed. The Mint has more.

The Adelaide Test and the speculation surrounding Mark Benson's exit was an indication that the Umpire Decision Review System had its pitfalls, writes Mike Selvey in the Guardian. He suggests the review system be used to increase the authority of umpires, rather than erode it.

I would like to see umpires given more responsibility as promoted by the review system. For example, why the square-leg umpire has never been required to adjudicate on height for lbws is beyond me. The training of better umpires, and the use of the best rather than a broad international spread, should be as important as the drive for correct outcomes. In fact, one ought to predicate the other.

But, if the ICC insists the technology is paramount, then it should be used not at the request of the players to query but of the officials to augment, as it was during the Stanford series in Antigua. There should be nothing wrong, either, with the third umpire interjecting if he sees something untoward: we all want the best decisions and, in particular, the elimination of obvious howlers.

Andy Bull, in his blog The Spin in the same newspaper, agrees with Selvey. He writes that the power to review decisions needs to be taken away from the players and must rest with the umpires, something Allen Stanford implemented in his tournament in the Caribbean but the ICC is yet to embrace.

If the aim is to aid the umpire, they should have control over the process, calling on it as and when they need it. It should be a stick to prop them up, not a rod to beat their backs. Otherwise, as Benson has shown, you are only making the job harder.

The PCB has to find a way of addressing issues leading to dissent within the Pakistan team and try to restore Younis Khan as captain, while Younis himself has to come out with a direct response to end any speculation surrounding his stepping down, writes S M Ibrahim Farooqi in the Dawn.

Unfortunately, on many occasions the authorities shattered all hopes of tens of millions of Pakistani fans. The present management is no exception.

The glaring proof is the casual manner with which the board coped with Younis’ break from the game, accepting his plea without any queries or concern. Rather than backing the captain fully at this crucial juncture of his career, the Ijaz Butt-led PCB gave the senior batsman the impression that they were too eager to see him go off the scene.

Amid reports of differences with some of the players, a tough competitor like Younis was left out in the cold by the authorities who perhaps didn’t realise the gravity of the situation that had been developing quietly for several months.

G Viswanath, writing in the Hindu, says the BCCI's clampdown on bowlers with suspect actions in the current domestic season has contributed to the below-par performance of offspinners.

This ought to be seen as an unhappy development in a country for which this type of finger spinners — with the ball breaking into the batsman’s body allied with flight and line and length variations with a high intelligence quotient of the practioners — have played a distinguished part and has been regarded as an important cog in the wheel of India’s bowling arrangement.

The decline of quality off-break bowlers has been a gradual feature in the last two decades and in this season the sheer anxiety of being called for illegal action has eliminated this particular facet of the game in India.

The Umpire Decision Review System is not to be blamed for the criticisms associated with it, but the players, who have misused it and to some extent, the TV umpires, who haven't yet come to grips with their job description, writes Lawrence Booth in his blog, the Top Spin, in the Daily Mail.

The truth is, it couldn’t be simpler. A quick reminder: if a player thinks he’s been done an injustice and his side has one or both of its challenges per innings in hand, he can refer the decision to the TV umpire. And if the TV umpire sees clear evidence that the original decision was wrong, he can over-rule. Where, gentlemen, is the difficulty?

Problems have arisen not because – as romantics such as Dickie Bird believe – the on-field umpires have been stripped of their authority, but because both the players and the TV umpires have exceeded their brief. The ICC, in trying to deal with the kind of umpiring-induced bad blood that marred India’s tour of Australia in 2007-08, have made it clear all along that the UDRS is there to get rid of the howlers. And that is it.

James Lawton, writing in the Independent, makes a case for Andrew Strauss to be voted the BBC's Sports Personality of the Year. He points out the turmoil in which Strauss inherited the England captaincy and the turnaround he wrought by regaining the Ashes.

Ryan Giggs is considered an infinitely stronger contender than Strauss at 5-2 and there is no question that he is a candidate of great merit, his evergreen, biting performances reminding us of all the quality that he has brought to a career which has seen him outstrip in character and consistency all of his Old Trafford contemporaries except the equally phenomenal Paul Scholes, the best English midfielder of his generation.

Yet Strauss's position in the odds table remains both an oddity and a scandal. Above anything else, it suggests a profound failure in the sports public to muster even the rudiments of proper analysis; a sweeping assessment perhaps but then what other conclusion survives even the barest examination of quite what Strauss achieved in the wake of the embarrassing denouement of Kevin Pietersen's ill-starred captaincy.

Suresh Menon is mighty impressed with M Vijay's turn as opener in the Brabourne Test. He suggests on dreamcricket.com that Vijay might be "the Rahul Dravid of the next generation."

Vijay played the medium pacers comfortably, getting out of the way of the short-pitched deliveries both easily and elegantly, and when Muttiah Muralidaran came on, drove him past cover with the minimum of effort. He brought up his fifty with a six, and at no point in the 200-plus partnership with Sehwag did he look like a man playing in only his second Test. It was a confident, professional innings that was aesthetically pleasing as well, and that is a combination of virtues few young Indian batsmen bring to their efforts.

Dermott Monteith, Ireland's all-time highest wicket-taker, died yesterday at the age of 66. The Belfast Telegraph looks back at his career.

Nowadays, Ireland cricketers can chalk up 76 appearances in barely two years. It took Dermott 19 summers. He missed 25 matches including Ireland’s most famous at the time, at Sion Mills when the West Indies were dismissed for 25. Although his bowling would not have been needed in that match, no one has bowled more overs for Ireland.

There have been plenty of factors at play in India's rise to the No.1 ranking in Tests, including MS Dhoni's captaincy, but foremost among them is their adherence to the "process" put in place by coach Gary Kirsten, writes Lokendra Pratap Sahi in the Telegraph.

When Chappell talked of “process,” it would be seen as a means of keeping Sourav Ganguly out of the dressing room and getting Sachin to bat down the order in ODIs, instead of opening the innings.

Kirsten, Chappell’s full-time successor, did away with a lot of things fancied by the Australian legend. However, he kept faith in the basic principles of any “process” and wasn’t wary of saying so in public.

	Adelaide Oval is changing its face © Getty Images

Mike Coward, writing in the Australian, gets nostalgic about South Australia’s home ground, which is undergoing a major redevelopment.

Unlike most mainland grounds, Adelaide Oval evokes a sense of place and the good folk of this fair if conservative city gather each year to share their knowledge and celebrate the joys of the traditional game.

And while they were fewer in number this year and many were forced from "Out the Back" to "Out the Ground" because of the extensive building work being carried out on the western side of the Oval, they had good reason to be in the most nostalgic of moods.

For out in the middle there was one of the rarest sights of the modern game: two West Indian slow bowlers working in tandem. Could it be? This was news that demanded to be disseminated to every corner of the cricket world.

In Robert Craddock’s blog on the Courier Mail he says an Australian defeat in Adelaide wouldn’t be such a bad thing, and that this could be Michael Hussey’s final Test summer.

Depending on which batsmen have most raised the selectors' hackles, three players are in line for the axe from the New Zealand third test team to face Pakistan in Napier this week, writes David Leggat in the New Zealand Herald.

Among the top six, Ross Taylor is the exception; opener Martin Guptill will stay, although he's only managed 75 runs at 18.7 in four innings. So too Daniel Flynn, who at least grafted 5h 8min over 29 and 20 at the Basin Reserve - solid stuff in this context. However lefthander Tim McIntosh (37 runs at 9.5), and middle-order pair Peter Fulton (42 at 10.5).and Grant Elliott (59 at 14.7) all in four innings are on a knife edge. At least one must go.

In the same paper, Leggat also says New Zealand are operating as two distinct halves, and their bowlers are being badly let down.

Mohinder Amarnath was given the Lifetime Achievement award for his services to the game by the Indian board. In an interview with the Times of India, Amarnath talks about being the king of comebacks, calling selectors a "bunch of jokers", and batting against the West Indies quicks of the 80s.

	Makhaya Ntini is set to play his 100th Test next week © Getty Images

Makhaya Ntini, the first ethnic black cricketer to play for South Africa, is set to play his 100th Test next week and today the team is genuinely living up to South Africa's aspirational slogan, 'the Rainbow Nation'. Of course, transformation would have happened with or without Ntini. The perpetuation of an all-white cricket team was never an option. But when the South African authorities chose Ntini as their trailblazer, they could never have guessed how far he would go, Simon Briggs writes in the Sunday Telegraph.

The journey started with a scholarship to the all-white enclave of Dale College, a sporting mecca in an exclusive part of the Eastern Cape, when Ntini was 14. By the time he left, he spoke serviceable English, and his frenzied, Malcolm Marshall-esque action had been honed into something repeatable by the school's coaching team ... Even now, you can still see traces of his home-grown method in the way he jumps out wide of the crease – a legacy of the spiked boots that used to disagree with King William's Town's concrete pitches. Yet this quirk has worked to his advantage, setting batsmen a different geometrical conundrum to the one they face every day.

New Zealand lost the second Test to Pakistan in Wellington by 141 runs, getting bowled out for 99 in first innings. Apart from Ross Taylor, all other top-order batsmen have looked out of depth. Tim MacIntosh, Martin Guptill, Daniel Flynn and Peter Fulton all have massive issues with their footwork - issues so large that if they aren't ironed out they will never make the grade, writes Mark Richardson in the Herald on Sunday.

Flynn has gone backwards over the last year and whoever is responsible for that should be ashamed of themselves. Here is a young man with a great attitude and a ton of determination but a technique that is doomed to failure. It's beyond me how he has been allowed to develop this over complicated method that results in no forward movement and lbw after lbw. Fulton looks like a dead man walking at the crease right now and epitomises our woes. Here's a player brought back into the test arena on the back of great first-class form - and does not look any better than last time he was there. There's a swag of these players littering our game right now. I'd suggest these players actually analyse how they are scoring their first-class runs; not how many they are scoring.

Peter Roebuck, writing in the Sun-Herald, says Australia’s need for a wrist-spinner was exposed against West Indies in the second Test.

Admittedly the West Indies tail wagged, a custom lost in the headstrong years. Nothing expresses a team's state of mind better than the approach taken by the lower order. For 15 years the tailenders have thrown their wickets away. Six out was all out, a luxury even the strongest team can ill afford. Now Ravi Rampaul and Sulieman Benn put a price on their wickets. Still, the lack of firepower seen from the Australians was unsettling.

In the Sunday Age Martin Blake chooses five of cricket’s unluckiest players. Phil Jaques has had an unfortunate time over the past year and he speaks to Peter Badel in the Sunday Telegraph.

Of our batsmen, only Ross Taylor and Daniel Vettori have reached anywhere near the amount of consistent performance required to say they have made the Test grade, writes Mark Richardson in the Herald on Sunday.

The rest are obviously still at the first-class level or unable to make the shift from limited-overs play and, worst of all, continue to make the same technical and mental mistakes over and over again. Tim MacIntosh, Martin Guptill, Daniel Flynn and Peter Fulton all have massive issues with their footwork - issues so large that if they aren't ironed out they will never make the grade.

Richardson and Andrew Alderson ask more questions of New Zealand's batting in the Herald on Sunday.

So what is wrong with our batting? Why do we find test cricket so hard? In 10 completed innings this year, prior to the second test, New Zealand were dismissed for less than 300 in seven of them. Last week's second innings was the worst collapse of the lot - before the Wellington innings took the title.

A combination of technique and temperament is causing the problem. Players initially struggled to adjust to the left-arm over-the-wicket deliveries of Mohammad Aamer while opening bowling partner Mohammad Asif has kept asking questions with a tight line in and around off stump.

Another factor is the team's return from a diet of limited-overs matches where harvesting controlled runs through a vacant slip cordon suddenly presents a trap in Tests.

Poor old Shane Bond. He's a strange sportsman for whom you can quite easily feel pity and irritation at the same time. Has there ever been a New Zealand cricketer so injury-prone? Has there ever been a New Zealand sportsperson so often removed from the field of play? asks Paul Lewis in the same newspaper.

An injury-plagued Shane Bond's return to Test cricket lasted one match. Writing in the New Zealand Herald, Adam Parore advises Bond to focus on one-day cricket.

He wants 100 Test wickets, but then he should step away from the Test game and concentrate on the ODIs and Twenty20, certainly if he fancies being around for another season or two. It's a shame for Bond and New Zealand cricket, but it seems a no-brainer.

The West Indies may be performing poorly, but the solution is not dismantling the team, as many cricket writers have professed. If the pressure from these writers, or the ICC, forces the West Indies to split up, it will be another act in a long line of decisions dictated from afar that will have a devastating effect upon the islands. BC Pires writes in defence on his blog BC Raw.com

The West Indies cricket team, like the Beatles or the United Nations, represent a far greater whole than the sum of its parts. The acid test is made in our hearts repeatedly and that will not change. Ask any West Indian: for all his success, would Darren Ganga prefer to play for Trinidad & Tobago or the West Indies? We all know the answer.

While editorials and columns praise and aesthetically analyse Virender Sehwag's unbeaten 284 on day two at the Brabourne Stadium, Jarrod Kimber on his cricketwithballs website calls the innings as he sees it. No frills attached.

This is not an innings. An innings has a fielding team. It has a batsman at the other end. There would also be spectators and commentators. This has none of that. This is a spiritual awakening.

This past week, Geoffrey Boycott was heard swearing by listeners when he believed he was off-air. The BBC has since apologised to radio listeners for a foul-mouthed outburst from the former England batsman and current sports commentator during its cricket coverage. Writing in the Guardian, Mike Selvey believes the pundit's candid thoughts on radio have shown broadcasters must never be off their guard.

The thing about Geoffrey is that wherever he is he likes to be heard and that includes the background. The last summarising session I did on TMS was to the noise, through the headphones and likewise then to the listeners, of him apparently solving world peace, and climate change. Geoffrey tends to make his own rules these days. The TMS box has always been a lively place to be off-air but by and large, except when Blofeld's Rhinestone Cowboy ringtone got an airing, the then producer Peter Baxter managed to keep a lid on it.

	Jack Russell and Mike Atherton rush off at the end of their epic stand © Getty Images

In 1995, England's captain Mike Atherton on their first post-apartheid tour played a career-defining knock of 185 – and reminisces about it ahead of the series with South Africa. Vic Marks has more in the Guardian.

He clipped a short ball from Donald off his hip. "When I hit it I thought that's three." In fact it hit the midriff of Gary Kirsten at short leg and bounced to the ground. "It would have been an unlucky dismissal. But the adrenalin was pumping now. I was waiting for a short one next ball." It duly arrived and Atherton hooked it for four.

He embraced a startled Smith, who expected Atherton to show his customary reserve in his celebrations – "I just released all my emotions for a minute or so." Now the fluency returned. But at 11.45am Smith was out, caught at third man. Enter Jack Russell.

The much argued-over concept has relevance in the context of a long and rich history that informs the game, argues Robert Griffiths, QC, in the Times.

The word “spirit” is key. It connotes more than a formalistic application of laws. It conjures up more than the playing of a game in accordance with its rules. It extends to not only how a game is played, but the context of the game itself.

At 40, Chris Harris still feels fit and the desire is there. In fact, he reckons he has two or three seasons left in him. When you love the game as much as Harris does, it's only natural to continue on. And you are as old as you feel, he claims, which in Harris' case means he is only 30. Chris Rattue interviews him in the New Zealand Herald.

If you weren't a cricketer, what would you like to be?

A Formula One driver or a golfer. I say F1 because that is seen as the pinnacle of car racing, but I love any type of racing. I went in a smash-up derby in Ashburton once. I bought an Austin Cambridge and came fourth or fifth. I didn't let my cricket bosses know of course.

In the same paper, David Leggat picks out the ten best Basin Reserve Test memories.

Waqar Younis, in his new role as commentator for the New Zealand-Pakistan Tests, believes the standard of fast bowling nowadays is more computerised and more analysing. He attributes it to the big difference is the characters. Sam Worthington catches up with the former Pakistan captain in the Dominion Post
.

In the 80s and 90s there were more characters on the field than now. Now it's more mechanical, like machines are bowling. Nice target bowling and if the runs are coming fast, put the fielders back. In our day we'd push the batsmen back on to the back foot.

The Times has published a series of vignettes which give a taste of the joyful way that Alan Gibson, the county circuit’s most colourful chronicler, operated. It's a fun, easy read. An excerpt:

The Hampshire announcer, 1974 Mr Shepheard’s best moment came when he said: “Play has been resumed in the Test match — oh, and by the way, President Nixon has resigned.” The cheer, a mixture of irony, relief and scorn, brought a man running out of the bar, thinking another wicket had gone. When he discovered it was nothing so important, he went back in again. Thus do the mighty fall.

In the same newspaper, Gibson's son Anthony captures the essence of a man whose writing on the county game brought it to life in a unique way.

He could turn his hand to so many different subjects, be so many different people, dominate the conversation in so many different areas, that he never quite fixed on what his central purpose in life was and never really derived much satisfaction from his achievements, perhaps because he knew that they were only a small part of what he was capable of.

With Andrew Strauss lukewarm about Bangladesh, England have earmarked Alastair Cook for the job. He has little to no experience of leading and is unlikely to get any before England come calling, writes Mike Atherton in the Times. So, in the spirit of generosity, he offers Cook an annotated version of a talk given by Mike Brearley at the Festival of Free Thinking in Gateshead last month.

As Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid prepare to leave the stage, the young pretenders are waiting in the wings, writes Dileep Premachandran in the Guardian.

Given the threadbare schedule for the next 18 months, there's every possibility that the ongoing Test in Mumbai will be the last time that Tendulkar and Dravid take guard in the Mecca of Indian cricket. The void they leave behind is too large to fathom, but those fans who break into a cold sweat each time they ponder the future can take some encouragement from a crop of young players doing their time in the Ranji Trophy.

In the Daily Telegraph, Scyld Berry looks at the Gelvandale ground where for several generations, boys such as Alviro Petersen – the son of a taxi-driver – have grown up playing cricket, football and rugby matches in bare feet, whatever the season, on the basis of street against street.

There are two other essential ingredients in producing young cricketers in less than affluent surroundings, besides sunshine and space. One is taped tennis balls. Just as in Pakistan and some West Indian islands, Gelvandale's kids use them for their street matches. Taped tennis balls develop young reflexes by skidding fast off the tarmac – a true surface, and that is the fourth essential.

Rob Houwing, writing on the Sports24 website, suggests South Africa take the tough decision of leaving Mark Boucher out to play the extra batsman - Herschelle Gibbs - with AB de Villiers keeping wicket. A defeat, Houwing says, would be arguably South Africa's "worst ODI series setback in modern times."

In a nutshell, it simply does not give South Africa, sans Mr Kallis, enough specialist batting depth. Strike one or two very early blows, opponents must think under these circumstances, and you can expose an underbelly fairly quickly: so it proved in the Friendly City.

Perhaps you can get away with Boucher at six against certain nations, but I feel the only course of appropriate action for Friday is for AB de Villiers to take the gloves and facilitate the inclusion of Herschelle Gibbs (he instantly becomes the worthy replacement for De Villiers as world-class outfielder, as well) for greater batting assurance and firepower.

Why did Brad Hodge only ever play six Tests? It's a question that has never been answered satisfactorily, writes Ron Reed in the Herald Sun.

No one in authority ever explained why he was so out of favour, at least not publicly. It remains one of the game's modern mysteries. Test captain Ricky Ponting insisted only a fortnight ago: "I don't think his playing days for Australia are over by any stretch of the imagination."

Hodge's exit comes as a shock, but he did say two weeks ago that once the time was right he wouldn't be hanging around filling a spot that could be occupied by potential Australian players. At almost 35, he is putting the game first and, for that, should be applauded.

Hodge has now retired from first-class cricket and Martin Blake in the Age looks back on the influence that Dean Jones had on Hodge in his younger days.

He wanted to be like Dean Jones, his new hero. He tacked a photo of Jones to his bedroom wall and it was still there when he was picked to play for his state at 18, under Jones' captaincy. ''In my mind, he's still the greatest Victorian batsman I've played with or watched or seen,'' said Hodge. ''He's the 'Legend' for a reason.'' Jones, the spruiker, took him on as a mentor. ''He was the mechanic behind teaching me the art of first-class cricket. He was such a great person to listen to, too, because he was happy to tell you!''

If it happens, the No. 1 ranking for India will no doubt be a historical moment of trumpeting, but it will only be a moment. It is because of the BCCI’s miserable scheduling previously, when there was no IPL to serve as a distraction. Sharda Ugra explains on her blog on the India Today website.

The bigger pity is India’s Test team contains a small but very influential clutch of cricketers who have spent a decade pushing their team forward at home and abroad. Along with Mr T, to have batsmen of the quality of Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman play seven Tests in ten months is like limiting an artist’s access to canvas and paint. Or, if artistic metaphors are not your choice, try telling men building a house that their use of brick and cement is being restricted to mood, rather than measure.

Sustained excellence has always been a problem for England, not just in cricket, writes Lawrence Booth in his blog, the Top Spin, in the Daily Mail. Their thumping win over South Africa, albeit an admirable achievement, came after a hammering at the hands of AB de Villiers in the previous ODI. That alone, Booth says, captures England's erratic run of form.

Michael Vaughan notes in his autobiography how the underdog tag hung most naturally round their necks. Indeed the history of English sport is littered with examples of crowns uneasily worn – from the footballers’ defeat to Scotland in 1967 via the rugby team’s post-2003 demise through to the Ashes Class of 05.