He could have been a corporate high-flyer, a brewery boss or even a public relations genius but Mark Greatbatch has settled for the post of New Zealand head coach for now. Andrew Alderson, in the New Zealand Herald, profiles the former opener-turned coach and speaks to former players who've been associated with him, including Justin Vaughan and Danny Morrison.

"But Mark always knew how to schmooze with corporate types, be it out at the races or at the tennis. He was an incredible networker, just loved going out to dinners. He'll be genuine, infectious and passionate in his new role. He used to get so fired up on the field with big diving catches and a willingness to get peppered as an opener just to fill a spot in the side when the middle order was strong."

In the same paper, David Leggat says Greatbatch has got plenty of hats to wear and his first challenge will be to tighten up the techniques of the batsmen at least before the Australians arrive. He should also look to inspire the players to display the same enthusiasm and resolve which set him apart during his playing days.

Greatbatch is an enthusiastic man and he's a straight talker. He hasn't shied away from hard conversations with players. Having two of the three selectors in the team's inner sanctum seems one too many, but give it time. At least a decision has been made and now it's time to move forward.

In the Independent Online, Patrick Compton looks into six key questions surrounding the resignation of South Africa coach Mickey Arthur. Some of his conclusions are: that Arthur was told he would be sacked if he didn't resign, that the captain-coach relationship was not a factor, that transformation was the decisive issue and that whoever the new South Africa coach is can expect more pressure to include black players.

Also read the interview of former South Africa captain and former managing director of the South African board, Ali Bacher, in the Kolkata-based Telegraph. Bacher says the underlying issue is the inability to find a black successor to Makhaya Ntini, whose Test days seem to be over.

And in the Times, Simon Wilde writes that shoehorning Lonwabo Tsotsobe (the black player with the best credentials for making Graeme Smith's side) into the Test team at this stage would hurt both South Africa and Tsotsobe. He says the big challenge is in spreading cricket culture in the South Africa's interior areas.

	Should the ink of 'SB Styris' be drying on the team sheet? © Getty Images

Scott Styris' omission from the squad to play Bangladesh appears to be a decision the selectors based on attitude rather than form, writes Andrew Alderson in the New Zealand Herald. Styris was offered the chance to respond to his omission and the resulting feedback but politely, and perhaps understandably, declined, but a number of cricketers took minimum coaxing to comment.

"Scotty kicked a lot of people on the way up, now he's getting kicked by a lot of people on the way down," one said. "He can be a bit of a bully boy with his pranks to try to fit in. Dan would ask if he's a must-have? Most would say 'no'."

Another said: "He's highly competitive but when he takes the piss it can be misconstrued at times."

Other responses included: "He's seen as selfish, a difficult bugger," and "my heart's not bleeding for him. Cricket always revolved around what he was doing. Scotty's all about Scotty."

In the same paper Mark Richardson says the Central Districts opening batsman Peter Ingram has no second chances and that's the beauty of selecting someone in their thirties.

Meanwhile Paul Lewis feels that if Twenty20 can help lift attendances and appreciation of cricket, including Tests, then it will have performed a mighty task.

In the Sunday News, Aaron Lawton speaks to Jesse Ryder and discovers his difficult upbringing has played a part in his sometimes wild ways.

"I haven't ever really had boundaries or rules set in place for me, even when I was a young fella," Ryder told Sunday News, at his home in Lower Hutt. "Growing up, I basically just did what I wanted to do so it has been really hard to change the way I do things." He was moved around the Wairarapa and finally settled in Napier with dad Peter. "I didn't really have the best upbringing in Napier because my old man was always going out and coming in late," Ryder said.

The outrage in Pakistan over the exclusion of their players in the IPL auctions is understandable, because of the manner in which the delicate situation was handled by the franchises and Lalit Modi, who didn't drop any hints as to what could happen at the auction, writes Rohit Mahajan in Outlook. Salman Ahmed of Portfolio World Sports Management, who manages several Pakistani players, says the sponsors had a right to be wary after the Mumbai attacks, but could have used a bit of tact and honesty in dealing with the Pakistan players.

Tanvir, who played a key role in the Rajasthan Royals win in 2008, says it was a bolt from the blue when their names were added to the auction list. “I was certain I was going to play for my team!” he told Outlook. “I’d got a letter from Rajasthan Royals saying I’d be playing this season for them, to help me get the visa. Then, three days before the auction, I was told I was going to be put on auction. And then came the humiliation at the auction—there was no need to do this!”

	'Stick to plan A, don't go to plan Z'. © Getty Images

A top psychologist believes Ricky Ponting should not overreact to mind games, writes David Sygall in the Sydney Morning Herald. Performance psychologist Phil Jauncey uses interesting analogies, but the former Australian cricket team consultant's explanations provide a clue as to what might be swirling around Ponting's mind as he prepares to face West Indies fast bowler Kemar Roach in the limited-over series this week.

Steve Waugh, for instance, stopped playing the short ball. Ponting worked on it and played it attackingly. They're both good answers because they both show that the batsman's in control. The problem arises if the batsman starts wishing the bowler didn't bowl short. Once you start saying, 'If only', you're giving up control of the situation.

Although itself plagued by injuries, Indian cricket will be watching the events unfolding in South Africa with amusement. Injuries heal, broken bones mend, bad backs improve, but the sort of self-inflicted hurt South African cricket has suffered can take years to remedy, writes Peter Roebuck in the Hindu.

In a trice South African cricket has lost its coaching staff and the entire selection committee. So much for stability! So much for the intelligent development of the game in a new dispensation! ... Admittedly the team had not won any silverware. For some reason the South Africans tighten up in finals. Perhaps it all means too much to them, stops being a match and becomes a mission. It is a heavy load for sportsmen to carry.

On Gandhi's death anniversary, Arghya Ganguly explores the little-known link between cricket and the Mahatma in the Times of India Crest.

The Rajkumar College at Rajkot in 1880 was a training pitch for Indian princelings. Hailing from a humble background, KS Ranjit Singhji was sent to the college as an eight-year-old boy, by his wealthy adopted family. But much to their dismay, he turned out to be a backbencher, scoring more on the field than in the classroom. Ranji showed aptitude for both tennis and cricket but went on to take the latter more seriously. One of his fellow students was Gandhi.

When Gandhi first went to England as a student, "one of the three letters of introduction that he carried was to Ranji" . Cricket commentator Scyld Berry has remarked that the "eventual prince originated from a humbler background than the Mahatma, subsequent champion of the people" and that "both the prince and the self-made pauper were schooled in the sporting ethos of Rajkot and both probably went out to the world with ideas of British sportsmanship which they had internalized in College".

It is time, people on either side of the [India-Pakistan] divide realise that IPL is all to do with greed and it is best not to get emotionally used and mix "lofty" sentiments like nationalism with this mean business, which gives money primacy over sport, writes Pradeep Magazine in the Hindustan Times.

One wonders as to how long it will take India and Pakistan to start regretting their part in the affair of the so-called Indian Premier League’s snub to Pakistani cricketers, for neither party can claim to have reason on its side, writes IA Rehman in Dawn.

The secrecy which accompanied the appointment of Ross Taylor as 'stand-by' captain for New Zealand has intrigued David Leggat in the New Zealand Herald. He believes NZC appear to have managed to efficiently plug any leaks on what's going on with cricket in the country.

It would be easier to get a one-on-one chat with Vladimir Putin on the inner workings of the politburo while sharing a couple of Big Macs in Red Square than get a clear idea of how things are progressing with this.

Taylor's appointment is a signal that the New Zealand selectors are readying for life without captain and talisman Daniel Vettori. Former wicketkeeper-batsman Adam Parore, writing in the same paper, believes the secrecy was more about not putting the previous vice-captain, Brendon McCullum, in an awkward spot, now that he been relieved of the job.

	It's the eyes. Those damn eyes! © AFP

As much as he loves a handy dark alley in which to hide, Luke Tagg draws the line at finding himself face to face with certain cricketers in the dead of night, with nobody but Dead Gran to hear him scream. Writing on boundaryrider.com, Tagg picks one cricketer from each Test playing nation who he would least like to meet in that dark alley. It is his fervent wish that you never meet them there either.

This one is a complete no-brainer. In case you haven't figured out why Viru may be a problem in a dark alley, allow me to elucidate: He'd hit you. With his bat. Again and again and again and again and again and again and again. He just wouldn't stop hitting you. If you died it would make no difference - he'd just keep hitting you and hitting you and hitting you and hitting you, until even your corpse begged for mercy.

Fearing that the game hereabouts is ageing, Australia is trying to find youngsters mature and gifted enough to chuck into the deep end. The success of the Under-19 team at the World Cup is ample proof that Australian cricket does not want to become old and crabby, writes Peter Roebuck in the Age.

Not that Australia needs to rush to promote these fellows. Performance needs to be part of the package. Arguably the selectors have been in too much of a hurry. Moises Henriques, Phillip Hughes and David Warner count among players whose abilities took them ahead of their knowledge. Now they are consolidating until balance has been restored.

Hammad Azam, whose batting has been crucial to the Pakistan U-19s making it to the World Cup final, tells cricistan.com that the credit goes to the coach Ijaz Ahmed. Hammad's innings under pressure in the quarter and semi-finals were superb and reflecting on those crackerjacks he says there's hardly ever a reason to take wild slogs.

I was only thinking of one thing. I kept telling myself that regardless of whether the team wins or loses, my job was to stay there till the last ball. The team needed me and what they needed the most from me was to stay out there and not give my wicket away. In both games I knew that if I was still batting at the end of the innings then Pakistan would have won the match.

Picking up from the recent problems in Indian hockey, Karan Madhok on SLAM Online looks at cricket's shadow over other sports in India. The problem is the fact that all the glorious stories and figures in India belong to cricket, and if Indians do strike lucky and succeed in another sport, the successes are either quickly forgotten, or the newspapers find it tough to squeeze in the news amongst the barrage of daily cricket stories that the Indian audiences are overdosed with.

With all the attention and finances thrown around by the broadcasters, promoters, media and government authorities to make cricket the most lucrative business in India, there is little left room left to share with other sports in the country. It is perhaps no surprise then, that India, a country of a billion and a half people, has won a staggering ONE (1) individual gold in the history of the Olympic Games, and that too went to the shooter Abhinav Bindra at Beijing 2008, who was rich enough to self-finance his training, equipment and success, free from the meddling hands of the government. The Olympics, obviously, doesn’t feature cricket, or India would have raked in the medals and the positive vibes.

An editorial in the Guardian emphasises the importance of extras in keeping players on their guard on the field. The heavy penalties associated with lapses prompt greater discipline, and the runs earned by a team - and not the individual - by way of extras, is a reminder that the playing XI is greater than the sum of its parts.

Sundries – as some Australians still quaintly dub them – are not some optional add-on, but are integral to the sport. If wides went unpunished, bowlers would be free to protect their side's total by sending the ball out of the batsman's reach. Byes, meanwhile, keep wicketkeepers on their toes, and punish the field as a whole for allowing the ball to drift away from the action, which would be a dulling waste of time.

Pakistan's Under-19 captain, Azeem Ghumman, comes across as a confident young man in his interview with cricistan.com. Almost all the batsmen in the Pakistan line-up are openers, including Ghumman. Here's his take on switching to the middle order during the World Cup in New Zealand:

I made 49 against the West Indies and got out trying to accelerate the run rate in the last 10 overs, I suppose I could have slowed down and got my 50 but then we wouldnt have got the big score that helped us put pressure on their batsmen. And the same thing happened against Papa New Guinea where I got out on 40 trying to increase our net run rate. I've always known that opening the innings is a tough job but now I've got a new appreciation of what a number 4 or 5 batsman goes through, it's not an easy job at all.

Graeme Smith wishes he could quit, but he can't. He's been trying to quit for the past two years, but each attempt has been rebuffed by his own conscience and decent upbringing. He'll probably carry on trying to give up caring what people think about him until the day he gives up playing, and he'll probably keep on failing, writes Neil Manthorp in the Mail and Guardian.

	In demand: Alex Keath © Getty Images

The allrounder Alex Keath is in Australia’s Under-19 World Cup side but he is also a talented Australian rules player. On Saturday he will line up in the tournament final against Pakistan in New Zealand before having a bigger decision to make. Michael Warner of the Herald Sun takes a look at the situation.

Victoria coach Greg Shipperd has revealed Keath will be offered an unprecedented three-year senior contract worth at least $150,000 with the promise of future domestic and international riches to come if he eschews an AFL career. Keath, 18, has already been nominated by Gold Coast Football Club under special dispensation rules giving the club access to the best junior footballers in the country.

After Mickey Arthur vacated the South African coaching post, Ryan Hoffmann looks at the likely replacements in the Mail & Guardian. He puts interim coach Corie van Zyl and former captain Kepler Wessels as frontrunners.

When news of Arthur's departure first broke, Wessels was the first name being bandied about as a possible replacement. The former Proteas skipper has a no-nonsense reputation and is not afraid to voice his opinions, most notably on Graeme Smith's early days as captain of the national team. He has not had a great deal of success as a coach, both at English county Northamptonshire or in the Indian Premier League, but his technical knowledge of the game makes him a serious contender for the job.

In the Independent Online Kevin McCallum says the theory being floated that Graeme Smith engineered Arthur's downfall must be dismissed. He also wonders why it was so easy for some of the media and the general public to blame Smith.

Smith committed the horror sin of accepting the captaincy at the age of 22, taking over from the much-loved Shaun Pollock. Mothers wanted their daughters to marry Polly, fathers wanted their sons to bowl like him; then came along this young, brash fellow who took the world head on, dated a super model and was not afraid of confrontation. Smith is resented because he seems so sure of himself, because he scores his runs in such an ugly manner, and at such a rapid rate. This fear of confidence in South Africa is utterly bizarre. The perception of Smith is based more on emotion than the make-up of the man.

After attending the press conference confirming Arthur's exit, Neil Manthorp writes in Business Day that the controversial issue of 'transformation' never came up in it. He also says that the sacked selectors also had no official or unofficial guidelines on quotas for national selection.

So the executive committee decided to replace Arthur and sack the selectors. But who are the committee? What gives them that right? And what are they doing to help the lack of transformation?

It seems churlish to single anybody out, but let us take a couple of examples at random: brilliant businessman Lazarus Zim is president of Gauteng and therefore a member of the executive. Gauteng has two black franchise players — Thami Tsolekile, purchased from Cape Town, and Aaron Phangiso, nabbed from Northerns. It does not have a single locally produced black player — with Soweto next door.

The removal of the selection panel suggests that the quota system could soon make a return, writes Mike Selvey in the Guardian.

	Ricky Ponting lifts the 2007 prize © Getty Images

Will Swanton, writing in the Sydney Morning Herald, says Ricky Ponting’s desire to extend his Test career meant Twenty20s or one-dayers had to be obliterated from his schedule. He chose to get rid of Twenty20s.

Why had Australia's front man bucked popular opinion and chosen one-dayers over cricket's version of Beatlemania? Why turn his back on truckloads of cash, packed crowds, adrenaline rushes, sure-fire ratings hits and even more truckloads of cash? His simple answer: ''World Cup.''

Ponting plays his 334th one-day international, the most by an Australian, when his high-flying team meets Pakistan at the WACA on Friday. He is a behemoth of the most prestigious one-day tournament of all. Viv Richards, Steve Waugh, Allan Border have all had moments of blinding brilliance in the World Cup's sun but Ponting's success shades them all.

The immediacy of Arthur’s resignation – it had not yet come from the horse’s mouth as this was penned – caught me off-guard, as it would have most. His actually doing it, in the aftermath of South Africa’s rather shaky, split-personality home summer? Not quite so much, writes Rob Houwing on Sport24.

Coaching or captaining this country, with the unique factors and needs that accompany it, is a particularly exhausting responsibility, and this against a universal backdrop which suggests more and more that coaches in professional sport have definite “shelf-lives” anyway.

Speaking of captaincy, if it is true that Arthur’s relationship with Graeme Smith had “deteriorated irreparably”, it is remarkable in some ways how the latter continues to prosper in his portfolio – he has now outlasted several coaches, including the indelicate taskmaster Jennings and affable “diplomats” in Arthur and Eric Simons.

On Sport24, Houwing also ponders who will succeed Arthur as South Africa coach. Corrie van Zyl? Gary Kirsten? Duncan Fletcher? Kepler Wessels?

Wessels was once not shy to castigate Smith’s team for talking a good game, rather than delivering it, although spats have lessened parallel to the Proteas learning to break the tape more routinely, especially at Test level.

And just maybe the sort of challenge Wessels would pose is what Smith needs, whether he realises it or not, at this juncture. The latter has been at his post for a long time, and there must be the risk of leadership “fatigue” or some degree of apathy and ambivalence setting in.

Barend Prins believes that Arthur’s exit offers a good chance to get some new blood into the set-up. Writing in sport.iafrica.com, he believes that Allan Donald, if he can be conviced to take up the role, is the best man to don the role of bowling coach.

Having arguably this country's greatest ever bowler involved closely with speedsters Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel can only be a good thing, but just imagine how much of an influence he can have on the current 'golden boy' of South African cricket, Wayne Parnell. Donald seems to have become something of an expert in the biomechanics of fast bowling since hanging up his boots as well.

It's just not what? If you haven't heard of Kilikiti, you might want to read Andy Bull's Spin in the Guardian. It's a variant of cricket played in Samoa.

The Samoans named their bespoke version of the sport kilikiti (or kirikiti), a Polynesian transliteration of cricket. The major change was in the number of players per side, which was increased to allow greater participation. "It is nothing unusual to see 30 or 40 opposed to one another," Churchwood wrote, "and I have known them to play as many as 200 odd a side. The fact is, that these matches are of one town against another, in which all insist upon taking a hand. These huge meetings, as may be readily imagined, last a week or more, junketing going on the whole time, and generally wind up with a big feast."

Though Mickey Arthur's decision to quit is yet to be confirmed by the South African board, the opinion writers have already started work. In iol.co.za, Kevin McCallum says he will be missed but he had run the average lifespan of an international coach.

Arthur perhaps didn't love the stress and tension that came with the job (who would?), but he revelled in being involved in the highs and lows that the national team has romped through since he was appointed in May 2005. If he was hurt by the suggestions that his nickname was Mickey Mouse and he was no more than Smith's puppet, then Arthur didn't show it.

With Arthur quitting as South Africa coach, Kepler Wessels' name quickly leapt to the forefront of speculative replacement lists. His similarities with captain Graeme Smith leads Rob Houwing in Sport24.com to believe a potent combination was in the offing.

The mere arrival of Wessels would probably quell that swiftly, and it is possible that some of his known non-negotiables – like personal discipline and devotion to conditioning – would help propel Smith and company beyond just sporadic major triumph but also to the ability to bed down emphatically at pinnacles rather than visit them disappointingly fleetingly.

Iain Payten, writing in the Daily Telegraph, says day-night Tests with pink balls sounds like an exciting idea.

But is it too simplistic for cricket's bosses to assume that by flicking on the lights, both the traditional and new-age fans will pour through the gates? Is it even logical? Just playing a game - or a good portion of it - under lights won't change its basic nature. Test cricket is a game of patience, endurance and tactics and sundown won't magically serve as a cue for batsmen to throw it all away and start slogging like madmen.

Anil Padmanabhan writes in the Indian business paper Mint that Indian cricket has scored two self-goals over the past week that could damage the prospects of using sports to ease tensions in the subcontinent - first, Sehwag's dismissive remarks of Bangladesh cricket, and second, the exclusion of Pakistan's players from the IPL. He writes that India needs to be more aware that it is now positioned on a growth trajectory that will eventually redefine its position in geopolitics.

This came through clearly in both incidents, which smack of immaturity. Popular reaction, both in Pakistan and initially in Bangladesh, was predictable—a round of India trashing. Of course, Bangladesh chose to largely ignore the slight and hence did not escalate the matter; in any case, since the remarks came from a normally reticent Sehwag, one could safely assume it was not a case of the in-your-face display of testosterone that comes naturally to Australian cricketers.

However, the IPL incident illustrated the undesirable manner in which this tournament has evolved. We would never know whether the government sent a signal to IPL or whether the franchisees, in what seems to be statistically improbable, individually came to the same decision to not bid for Pakistani cricketers. In either case, the logic was not probably thought through.

Robert Craddock writes in the Courier-Mail that Nathan Hauritz may just be the best thing for Australian spin since Shane Warne.

There's a famous photo of a national under-19 carnival in the late 1990s, when Warne was in his prime, containing a group of Warne wannabes – young spinners with blond streaks, ear-rings and big dreams. None of them progressed further than grade cricket. Very few leg-spinners ever do. The message was that Warne was a freak.

Hauritz, by contrast, is not. He is inspiring people partially because he is everything Warne is not. Spin bowlers around Australia learnt in a big hurry they could never be the new Warne. But there would be hundreds of young tweakers at this very moment who feel they could one day be the new Hauritz.

Yet another Test series against Australia has seen Pakistan swept cleanly aside and many people have announced they will stop following Pakistan cricket forthwith. You can't blame them, writes Saad Shafqat in the Dawn, because frustrations have to be vented somehow, and one does what one can.

Ultimately, the failure in Australia is Mohammad Yousuf’s to own. He was the best batsman and the captain but he wilted. Even schoolboy captains would not have set the defeatist field that he configured on that fateful fourth morning in Sydney. Yousuf may be capable of the most silken and sublime batting strokes, but as a leader he is simply not good enough.

How can New Zealand win a test against Australia next month? Finding another bowler, reinforcing the top order, nabbing Shane Watson and Daniel Vettori's dual role are on Andrew Alderson's four-point plan. Read on in the Herald on Sunday.

	Has the advent of neutral umpires reduced tension? © Getty Images

England's series in South Africa showed that the ICC's elite officials have never been less appreciated or more abused, writes Jamie Jackson in the Observer.

What is wrong with the job? There is the loneliness; the long hours; the exhausting travel; and the intense scrutiny by the media, especially by former players on TV. There are arguments over the use of technology; open indignation from players; and a perceived lack of support from the ICC when the muck flies. Among those who have officiated at the top level are plenty who believe that the modern-day umpire is an ­ isolated individual engaged in a ­thank- less task for relatively modest reward – around £65,000 a year. The working conditions can breed an unhealthy ­paranoia.

Vic Marks, in the same paper, says that the referral system certainly needs some tinkering.

There has been much talk of the principle that "the umpire's decision is final" and how it represents one of the absolute and inviolable tenets of the game – as if the game was designed for the benefit of the umpires rather than the players or spectators. The notion that the umpire's authority is constantly undermined by the UDRS makes little sense to me.

Michael Carberry was ready to quit cricket in 2005. Now he’s on the brink of a first Test cap for the tour to Bangladesh, writes Simon Wilde in the Sunday Times, which also ranks England's performers on the the trip to South Africa.

It has been three months since Andy Moles was sacked as New Zealand coach and his replacement is still nowhere in sight. Mark Richardson, in the Herald on Sunday, feels that if the players should be given a major say in the kind of coach they want, they should share the cost as well.

It's unlikely, I know. But they are independent contractors, are they not? They seem to be able to make decisions over where they play, who they play for and what they play and now they want the say on who coaches them.

In the same paper, Paul Lewis fears that when Australia arrive, there will be no coach, nor team director, psychic, horse whisperer or whoever it is New Zealand Cricket is trying to get. Daniel Vettori will continue to call the shots and it's hard to say if John Wright's the ideal man for the job.

There's just one thing. Who minds the minders? When it all goes pear-shaped and the wheels fall off and all the other disastrous cliches start to apply ... what will Vettori do? Will he ditch trusted lieutenants? Will the hard decisions be taken or will he circle the wagons?

	"Gee, we've come a long way since club cricket Down Under, eh Belly?" © Getty Images

The Ashes are 11 months away, but a buzz is gathering in Australia. The Sydney Morning Herald looks at how over the past 10 years, about half of the players likely to represent England in the 2010 Ashes series have padded up for Australian club sides. Most were as good, if not better, at socialising than playing cricket. But they each had a good attitude, made plenty of friends and learnt a thing or two about playing cricket in Australia.

Pietersen joined the club [Sydney University CC] through connections with Greg Matthews. He played 14 games and, although he had not played for England yet, was dominant, scoring 785 runs at an average of 56. Club official and player James Rodgers said Pietersen was ''quite obviously a Test player of the future''.

As with most 18-year-olds, drama followed Cook during his time in Perth. The day before one game, he joined friends for a trip to Rottnest Island, fell off his bike and suffered a big gash to his leg. Rather than pull out of the game, he battled on and, batting at No.8, scored a few runs to help salvage a draw. A few days before his stint, he was snapped by a speed camera, but didn't pay the penalty. He received reminders for two years afterwards.

In the same newspaper David Sygall lines up the key players on either side and comes up with the verdict that the Australians have the edge in almost every department.

England’s grizzles about the umpire Umpire Decision Review System (UDRS) are wide of the mark. Likewise Mark Benson’s hasty withdrawal after the first day of the Adelaide Test was self-indulgent. Darrell Hair’s outburst about the betrayal of umpires was hot-headed, writes Peter roebuck in the Hindu.

Six Tests in Australia were enough to confirm the value of the new-fangled system. Of course it is a work in progress. Especially in these early seasons, third umpires can make mistakes. For that matter the replays and sounds are often inconclusive. Third umpires are obliged to act quickly so that the game can go on.

	The anger in Pakistan about their players not playing in the IPL is entirely justified © Getty Images

Pradeep Magazine, in the Hindustan Times, says it was insensitive on the part of the IPL and the franchises to put the Pakistan players on the auction list but then ignore them. The strong protests in Pakistan have gone further in intensifying the differences and bode poorly for relations between the two countries and the game itself.

The Pioneer's Ashok Malik believes there are two ways of looking at the decision of the eight franchises to not bid for a single Pakistani cricketer. The first is to resort to the old cliché that “sports and politics must not mix”. The second is to consider a broader phenomenon - the increasing role of Indian business in both shaping and reflecting foreign policy and its concerns.

Asha’ar Rehman, writing in the Pakistan daily Dawn, compares the standard diagnosis and prescription procedure of the IPL mess as somewhat reminiscent of a theme in a Manto story whose main character believed he had a cure for constipation and wanted to convince people that they all suffered from it.

On his India Uncut blog, Amit Varma writes that all this speculation about government directives and collusion between teams is pointless. Each franchise looked to its self-interest and made a perfectly rational decision. Such as it goes.

In Mint, Ayaz Memon looks back at the history of political tension between India and Pakistan and wonders if cricket can provide the healing touch once more.

Makarand Waingkankar, writing in the Times of India, explains why Mumbai remain virtually invincible in the domestic circuit. The trials and tribulations of daily life, he says, is a huge factor contributing to their mental toughness and the stubbornness that has characterised their approach to the game for many years.

Everyone who’s ever heard of train travails in Mumbai knows it’s a survival game in itself: you have to board the train in barely a few seconds even as hundreds are trying to get in; you have to jostle for leg room inside, where there is no place even to plant your feet; more importantly, you have to make sure you are not thrown out of the moving train by the rush of humanity. Prithvi, and many such kids, have to undergo this battle everyday, with a huge kit-bag in tow.

It’s this type of travelling that makes a Mumbai cricketer mentally tough. Vijay Merchant may have initiated the monsoon league to prepare the player for all the vagaries of weather and pitch; but even he wouldn’t understand the kind of impact it had on the psyche of the aspiring youngster. There are times when scores of boys start early in the morning, from far-flung Dahanu, Boisar or Kalyan, to play in the Kanga League; they leave in bright sunshine but by afternoon incessant rains bring the city to a halt and disrupt the train services too. The boys have to trek all the way back home... on foot.

Karnataka's Abhimanyu Mithun and Manish Pandey are the two players to watch out for in the years to come, says Satish Viswanathan in the same newspaper. But their rise is a study of contrasts.

Pandey’s career was chalked out more meticulously, as can be expected from an Army officer’s son. With the father always on the move, a permanent base was set up for the batsman in Bangalore, allowing unfettered devotion to the sport. Mithun’s success is more inadvertent, a chance step to train regularly in his father’s gymnasium leading to one thing after another. His father owned the place, was also the chief fitness instructor, and the first signs of a pacer were honed in the unlikeliest of places.

In fact it was barely three years ago, in 2007, that Mithun first got hold of a leather ball. "I used to play tennis-ball cricket and friends told me I was good. I joined a cricket camp and started bowling with the leather ball. I started enjoying the experience and then it all fell in place for me," says the unassuming 20-year-old.

In Outlook, Rohit Mahajan says India's domestic season needs a revamp. The trials of country-wide travel, the existence of some needless tournaments and the limited opportunities players have to prove themselves in the first-class game results in a waste of talent and saps the players.

	Dwayne Bravo can make you into a Twenty20 fan © Getty Images

To admit even a slight tolerance for Twenty20 is, in these leather arm-patched circles, a sporting heresy, says Richards Hinds in the Age. Worse, it makes you susceptible to the type of snobbish social stereotyping that will have your accusers wondering if you also harbour an opinion on the long-running Holden versus Ford dispute. But at the risk of never being invited to imbibe port in the member's dining room again, Hendricks is willing to admit it.

As the wise men of the game's establishment - even those who would rather be dragged by their MCC egg and bacon ties along cobblestoned streets than perform the Mexican wave - have observed, Twenty20 is not the death of Test cricket but potentially, its saviour. In the same way children learn skills through modified forms of the game, many enticed by the thrash-and-dash appeal of even-more-limited-over cricket will then gravitate to Test cricket.

Former international player Adam Parore, writing in the New Zealand Herald, says he expects IPL-type tournaments to sprout round the globe because they are the moneyspinners and right now the more of them the merrier.

International cricket will go the same way as international soccer and league. That is, country v country cricket will still be played, but I see the sport becoming increasingly dominated by franchises or clubs, in the same way soccer and league are. Put it this way: you see England or Brazil play perhaps 10 or 12 soccer internationals a year; but you can watch their best players turn out 40 or 50 times for Real Madrid or Chelsea. And look for a change in attitude from the leading players.

While Pakistan were busy making a meal of the Test series in Australia, in the same country Shahid Afridi has been dining out royally — on both the cricket and local hospitality, writes Jenny Roesler in the Dawn.

In the grip of a heatwave, Adelaide has caught Afridi fever. Home games have sold out and he has been swamped at practice with dining invitations from the local community, which have included lavish 10-course meals at strangers’ homes.

When out and about relaxing, however, the public have otherwise only offered him the occasional nod, wave or handshake upon recognition. Used to being mobbed in Pakistan, India and England, for Afridi it is a change to be able to sit in a cafe or buy his favourite Armani gear in peace.

With the politicians from both countries getting involved in the IPL auction controversy, the editorials of most Indian newspapers are also holding forth on the issue. The Hindu wonders why Pakistan players weren't excluded from the auction shortlist if there were concerns over their security clearances or visas.

The Indian Express calls for the Indian government to bring the IPL's organisers to account for the damage caused to relations between the two countries.

IPL is a work in progress, and cricket officials are clearly using it to test the limits to which they can consolidate their turf as a state within a state. Last year they invoked the calendar as a pretext for conceit. Now they are wrecking a civility that’s survived even through the darkest days of Indo-Pak relations. Whatever be the state of play in relations between the two governments, cricket has been a sphere to assert a normative standard of people-to-people interaction. In fact, governments have drunk deep from this carefully harvested reservoir of goodwill. Modi and his cohorts, by their arrogant disregard for the consequences for their actions, have depleted that reservoir.

The Times of India says both the Indian government and the IPL's organisers come out poorly from the episode.

In the Hindustan Times, Ayaz Memon writes that it is improbable that the three major stakeholders - the Indian government, the IPL and the franchise owners - were driven by plain business considerations.

The Kolkata-based Telegraph also says the hamhandedness involved in allowing Pakistan players on the shortlist and then not picking them has done immense disservice to the game, and to the cause of peace.

And in the Pakistani daily Dawn, Saad Shafqat calls the exclusion of Pakistan players "patently cruel" and urges the PCB to launch a franchise-based Twenty20 league in Pakistan.

On her blog Free Hit in India Today, Sharda Ugra says the IPL should just have been upfront about the reasons behind the exclusion of the Pakistan players, instead of hiding behind less-than-satisfactory excuses like a lack of slots or availability issues.

The emergence and evolution of Virender Sehwag as a batsman is the stuff of dreams. Pradeep Magazine interviews the dasher from Najafgarh in the Hindustan Times, where he recalls his earliest memories, his family's emigration closer to Delhi and other events that shaped his destiny.

The oldest memory Virender Sehwag has of his childhood is a borrowed one. “My mother tells me that when I was one or two years old, I would calm down once a bat or a ball was given to me. I would cry for hours if my wish was not fulfilled,” he says.

In Sehwag’s narration of his mother’s memory, lies a belief that he may have been destiny’s child, born to dominate the cricketing world one day.

Gideon Haigh is convinced that, despite Australia’s convicing series scorelines against West Indies and Pakistan this summer, the manner in which the wins were achieved and the Ashes turned over suggest that they are far from their world-beating best. Writing in the Times Online, he points out that Australia benefited largely from the poor cricket played by their opponents.

West Indies, ambushed in Brisbane, belied their eighth place in the Reliance Mobile Test rankings by taking Tests right up to their hosts in Adelaide and Perth. Australia then disposed of a poorly led Pakistan team rivalling Shane MacGowan in their propensity for self-destruction, although only after trailing by 206 runs on first innings in Sydney.

Haigh also draws attention to the emergence of the Big Bash in Australia and what it could mean for the traditional format in the country.

For Big Bash read Big Cash: a place in the final translates to a place in the supranational Champions League this year and a share in its stupendous revenues. Not surprisingly, state associations hitherto dependent on distributions from Cricket Australia are agitating to enlarge the Bash at the expense of the Sheffield Shield.

Australia’s venerable first-class competition is also being squeezed from the other end, its last round this season coinciding with the Indian Premier League (IPL), an overlap that Lalit Modi, the league’s ubiquitous commissioner, warned rather forbiddingly “could mean penalties on such players, including termination of contracts, jeopardising future participation”.

In the BBC news magazine, Tom Geoghegan looks at the efforts to spread cricket in the USA. He gets the views of Don Lockerbie, chief executive of the USA Cricket Association, and sports historian David Brooks to understand whether the game can take root in the sports-crazy country.

American sports fans can't stand a draw, or a tie as they call it, Brooks says. They always play until there's a winner, so the concept of playing five days and not having a result is completely alien.

Today's demographics also count against cricket taking off, because the fast-growing Latino community prefers soccer and baseball.

On the other hand, the sport has some things going for it - plenty of time for adverts and lots of statistics, which Americans love.

Cricket Australia's decision to nominate John Howard as its candidate for the top job at the ICC is pitiful and disrespectful at the same time, with question marks hovering over his qualifications and knowledge of the game. Peter Roebuck explains in the Age.

Australia's position has been well nigh indefensible. Unable to produce a serious candidate of its own, Cricket Australia ought to have gracefully withdrawn. Its reluctance to back Jack Clark, its own chairman, told the tale.

	The exclusion of the Twenty20 world champions has not gone down well in Pakistan © Getty Images

Gaurav Kalra, writing on Cricketnext.com, says the IPL franchises should have expressed their reluctance to bid for Pakistan cricketers upfront, instead of resorting to weak cricketing logic to justify their decision.

So it was the presumption that they might become "unavailable" led to this decision. And since the team owners are pumping in the money, they have every right to put it where the investment returns. If they choose not to risk it, that's fine too. All we ask is that instead of skirting the issue and hiding behind shallow words, they let us know. What's that line about honesty being the best policy??!

The PCB should have seen this coming, says Nauman Niaz in Pakistan's Daily Times. India's attempts at dominating cricket's financial market were evident in some of their previous actions, he says, and it is now up to the PCB to rebuild Pakistan's cricket by delivering a better deal to its cricketers.

Pakistan have proved a competitive outfit and performed admirably despite the absence of international cricket in their country in the aftermath of the Lahore attacks, and their exclusion from the IPL is just plain wrong, writes Kevin McCallum in the Independent Online.

Rajesh Kalra is one of the few journalists defending the move to not pick the Pakistan players. He writes on his blog in the Times of India:

We all know the fan following in the current scenario is fickle. Fans may adore someone, but one brutal attack in Kashmir or elsewhere will change the situation diametrically in a jiffy. Now, if I am a franchisee who has invested in a Pakistani player, why would I risk it? And it is not just risking the franchisee’s reputation, it is even risking the safety of players from all over the world, on the ground, in the hotel where they stay and while they travel. Why would a franchisee invest heavily in a great player if the wrongdoings by his country somewhere works against his interest? The franchisee, after all is investing in these teams for brand building, not negative publicity.

When Imran Khan Suddahazai migrated to Saratoga four years back, bidding adieu to the cricket aspirations he nurtured back home in England, he would not have expected the game to follow him. But after a chance, successful, stint as the coach of the California Cricket Academy boys, and another with the men’s team who reached the finals of a regional tournament, a role with the senior USA team was only to be expected. That happened in 2008 when he was appointed the senior manager of the side. Now, Imran will take his team, made up of a mix of amateurs, expats and enthusiasts, to Dubai as they attempt to qualify for the World Cup. Speaking to MercuryNews.com, Imran Khan expressed his delight at the small yet significant strides being made by his adopted home in the game of cricket.

"It’s a huge, huge, huge thing. I can't emphasize it enough or put enough adjectives or superlatives because outside of the U.S., all the major countries play cricket. It's a culture thing. The growth of the game in this country, the media interest it could spark, and the sponsorship it could bring. It would create an image for the U.S. without the average person in the U.S. even knowing.”

"Maybe those in the U.S. don't care or don't know about it. But for the team to make it to the World Cup is huge because we know what the world is expecting and how they view us. It will give us some form of credibility."

The first time Ricky Ponting took a break from the Australia captaincy he was publicly censured by Steve Waugh, his predecessor. “The Australia captain is the benchmark of resilience and mental toughness,” Waugh said, and ought to be seen to be “almost indestructible”, writes Mike Atherton in the Times.

When asked before the Johannesburg Test last week what were the secrets to his early success as captain, Strauss talked of removing what he thought previously to be a “top heavy” style of leadership. Strauss’s England, we are led to believe, is a happy commune, where the most junior man’s thoughts carry equal weight to the captain’s and where the leader’s actions are not to be divorced from the rest.

No doubt, though, the junior mess were not asked what they thought of their captain pulling rank and missing what is known on the circuit to be least glamorous and most arduous of tours.

The decision review system needs fine-tuning to quell the controversy over umpires' poor calls, writes Mike Selvey in the Guardian.

Richardson knows the system is a work in progress, with a deal of fine-tuning to be done. So here are some suggestions he might consider. First, the idea that there should be a time limit of, say, 15 seconds is not new but it needs reinforcing. In the series just gone, reviews generally took too long and the game stagnated. Secondly, every dismissal, even such as that in which Dale Steyn sent Jonathan Trott's off-stump cartwheeling, in Cape Town, should be checked. This takes seconds, would occur at most only 40 times out of a possible 2,700 and could be communicated almost immediately by a signal into an earpiece. That Kevin Pietersen, for example, was out in the first Test to a no-ball is a nonsense when set alongside the rigmarole over everything else.

The Indian Express Editorial has lashed out at the exclusion of Pakistan’s cricketers in the IPL auction, which has “damaged the special place cricket has held during even the worst phases in India-Pakistan ties”.

It is a moment when the older ethos of cricket, based on the domestic and international calendars, is contrasted with the go-getting flamboyance of the IPL franchisees, all too often a moment when the future reveals itself. On Tuesday, when a bunch of cricketers including the 11 Pakistanis went under the hammer, that possible future revealed itself to be heartless.

Ayaz Memon believes that the golden age of Test cricket, widely heralded as the period between 1890 and 1914, is upon us once again. Writing in the Times of India, Memon quotes stats such as the increase in the number of results and scoring rates to justify his contention that the period that started in 1990 is "arguably the most audacious expression of skills since the 1890-1914 era"

The brazen jump out drive of Trumper and the nuanced leg glance of Ranji are justifiably venerated. But the ‘upper cut’ of Tendulkar, the slash over point for six of Sehwag, Pietersen’s switch hit, Ponting’s pull-drive off the front foot, Lara’s Nataraj-like pose in pulling off the back-foot, and the overhead scoop of Dilshan are no less enthralling even if they don’t fit the copybook.

True, covered wickets and improved bats have made it more burdensome for bowlers, but the game has hardly suffered for they have coped superbly. Some of the most skilful and highest wicket-takers in the history of the game — Murali, Warne, Kumble, McGrath, Akram, Younis, to name a few — have been products of this era. Though more nuanced and less overtly expressive than batsmanship, bowling skills have evolved to a remarkable degree too.

The thrilling Ranji Trophy final between Mumbai and Karnataka would perhaps have been spicier with the availability of the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Zaheer Khan, Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid. The absence of the best players reduced the opportunity to test upcoming talent against experience, leaving their performances open to scrutiny. Writing in Outlook magazine, Rohit Mahajan feels the tournament cramps players, and that Indian domestic cricket needs a refit.

Travel isn’t a joy ever since the Ranji Trophy was converted into a two-tier event. Earlier, neighbouring teams from a zone would compete with each other to qualify for the national level, logging in fewer travel miles. Now, the Elite and Plate divisions separate the top teams from the whipping boys, but it involves tiring journeys across the country—for instance, Punjab could be playing Tamil Nadu in Chennai and then sprinting back home for the next match.

Rahul Dravid proposes the reduction of one or two domestic tournaments, to help space out the crammed Ranji schedule - just one of the suggestions he mentions, while talking about how things could improve in the premier competition. Read the full interview in the same magazine.

Andy Bull, in his blog The Spin in the Guardian, rates England's players in the recently concluded series against South Africa. Alastair Cook, Graeme Swann and Ian Bell are among the star performers while Kevin Pietersen and Ryan Sidebottom take a step backwards.

Kevin Pietersen

It is easy to forget that Pietersen's 81 at Centurion had everyone waxing lyrical. Maybe he was knocked out of his stride by the idiotic run-out that cut that innings short, but the talk of his slump in form which had dogged him ever since his first innings on the tour seemed to become a self-fulfilling prophecy

Lawrence Booth, in his blog Top Spin in the Daily Mail, sums up the England side after their 1-1 draw in South Africa - a decent side with the priceless ability to punch above their weight and the occasional tendency to fall flat on the canvas after neglecting to tie up their shoelaces.

The US$220,000 bid for batsman and occasional wicketkeeper Eoin Morgan, the only England player to be sold in the IPL auction, is a sign of the rapid strides he's made in international cricket, writes David Clough in the Independent.

The 23-year-old Morgan's 67 from just 34 balls as England knocked South Africa out of their own Champions Trophy last September was doubtless the innings which alerted the money men at the IPL to his potential.

Many others already knew, of course, that – despite a meagre first-class average – Morgan was going places.

Read Dileep Premachandran's take on the IPL auctions in the Guardian. The story of the day was the franchises' snub of the Pakistani players; a decision based on political realities than on form.

When Richard Madley, who usually helps sell antiques and carpets, started proceedings by inviting bids for Shahid Afridi – an absolute steal at the base price of $250,000 – not one of the paddles shaped like the Olympic flame went up. There was only silence, an emptiness that echoed around the room at the Trident Hotel later when names like Umar Akmal and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan came up.

	There are a few technical flaws to work on, Kev © Getty Images

Andy Flower and Andrew Strauss should be embarrassed about England's display at the Wanderers, writes Geoffrey Boycott in the Daily Telegraph. There's no shame in getting beaten: it's how you lose that matters.

I get the feeling that Flower and his staff believe Pietersen is untouchable. He shouldn't be, because the only thing that matters is whether you can get runs and wickets. If you can't, you should make way for somebody else.

I have always been a great admirer of Kevin, and I still think he is one of the most talented batsmen in the world. The fact is, though, that he has struggled since he came back from his three-month injury break. His whole approach has been wildly off the mark. He has only faced about 350 balls in the series, because he starts playing irresponsibly and extravagantly from the first ball.

	Rahul calling Rahul © Getty Images

The Hindustan Times' Anand Vasu speaks to another Indian pair making a noise in New Zealand, and this time it is the opening pair of Rahul Kannaur and Mayank Agarwal. Both Bangalore boys, one has modelled his game on Virender Sehwag and the other idolises Rahul Dravid.

"It's great to be compared to the player you've looked up to all your life," says Kannaur, even speaking a language that's uncannily similar to his idol. "I think of it as an honour to be compared to one of the best players India has ever produced."

"The timing and aggression are a gift I've been given by God," says Agarwal.

Andrew Strauss's decision to skip the Bangladesh tour raised a few eyebrows, but he has a firm backer in Mike Selvey, who writes that the decision is justified after an exhausting year. He also backs Alastair Cook's appointment in the interim. Read on in the Guardian.

He is jaded: not close to cracking up, but sufficiently so to lend an impression that the calm common sense that characterises him could give way to a simmering anger at the slightest thing. Only in his first innings of the series, when he trail-blazed the forthright approach he wished his side to follow and in so doing pretty much put the lid on the career of Makhaya Ntini, was he approaching his best.

In the Times, Michael Atherton disagrees and says that Strauss should not be resting, He also shares his views on the Test squad.

The selectors have been following Tredwell for a while now but his selection means England have two off spinners and that is not ideal. By all accounts Tredwell has really impressed in the nets and has looked dangerous, but from a captain's perspective it leaves England short of variety.

	Jonathan Trott's scratchy form is a worry © Getty Images

The heavy defeat at the Wanderers highlighted flaws in England's approach, but one of the biggest concerns through the series is the declining form of two players - Jonathan Trott and Kevin Pietersen, writes Duncan Fletcher in the Guardian. Fletcher points out flaws in Pietersen's technique and Trott's mental approach.

Firstly, he has been getting too low in his stance at the crease. He is bending his knees too much. In any game played with a moving ball, it is crucial to keep the head and the eyes still. In cricket a batsman needs to keep his gaze as parallel to the ground as possible. Because Pietersen is dropping so low, he has to rise up again as the ball is coming at him. His eyes are travelling in the opposite direction to the trajectory of the delivery, moving up as the ball is coming down. This is affecting his ability to properly judge line and length.

In the same paper, Vic Marks says the performances of Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel highlighted the gulf between the two sides.

In the Independent, James Lawton says Collingwood's gritty performances was the biggest positive England could take from the series, but unfortunately, it had to be dwarfed by Pietersen's diminishing reputation as a hero.

Despite sharing the series with a lionhearted performance, it was still a patchy home summer for South Africa, writes Rob Houwing in Sport 24.

In the Daily Mail, Nasser Hussain feels Andrew Strauss should go to Bangladesh and allow Alastair Cook to concentrate on his batting. He also feels that Trott should move down the order and allow Ian Bell to take the No.3 slot.

In the Times, Mike Atherton writes that there was a kind of minor heroism in the solid figure of Paul Collingwood, however, who top-scored in the second innings, as he had in the first. Collingwood apart, England’s batting was woeful, as it was under par for most of the series.

	Ricky Ponting has filled most of the gaps in his side © Getty Images

Peter Roebuck believes Ricky Ponting can look back with satisfaction upon his team's performances this season. A side shattered by the Ashes defeat at The Oval, with poor selections and calamitous run-outs rubbing salt into the wound, might easily have gone awry, Roebuck writes in the Sydney Morning Herald.

Ponting is entitled to feel that most of the gaps have been filled. Australia has found its opening pair. A year ago, Shane Watson was a struggling player already with an unreliable body. Now he is a forthright opener and an adaptable seamer able to deliver probing stump-to-stump swingers of the sort that proved so effective at Bellerive.

Not so long ago Simon Katich was a battling first drop in Shield cricket. Now he is his country's senior opener. At last, too, Katich is starting to bowl. The last time both Australian openers took wickets in a Test match was in 1994-95 but it was a fluke. Suffice it to say that Mark Taylor and Michael Slater have much to offer, none of it at the bowling crease.

Mike Coward says in the Australian it has been the inevitability of the result which has made Hobart a disappointing Test match.

In Sri Lanka's Sunday Observer Elmo Rodrigopulle hails Sri Lanka's win in the tri-series final over India, but urges the team to remember that one swallow does not make a summer.

The cricketers will not have any cricket until Chris Gayle's West Indians arrive here in November later this year. Some of our star cricketers will have the opportunity of playing in the Indian Premier League and the counties, while the youngsters who showed great promise will be kicking their heels playing in the local scene. Sri Lanka Cricket will do well to probe all avenues and try and get the youngsters to play some international cricket where ever possible. They must use their influence with their counterparts in other countries and get the youngsters playing.

Daniel Vettori’s appearance for the Twenty20 Big Bash in Australia despite a tight international and domestic schedule for New Zealand has led Michael Donaldson to believe there may be an element of hypocricy to the argument over packed schedules. Writing in Stuff.co.nz, Donaldson believes that “modern cricket is a massive pub crawl”.

Soon, it will be the other way around, players will be saying how much they'd like to play as much test cricket possible, as long as Twenty20 doesn't get in the way.

I have a lot of sympathy for the players. In their shoes, I'd do the same thing, and I bet most of us would. Who in their right mind would turn down extravagant sums of money for less work?

But these are the same players who cry foul when their travel and match schedules turn them zombies, carrying their coffins from one airport to the next. It's a burden when the ICC imposes it on them, but if it's in their own time, suddenly nothing is too hard.

	Plenty to do ponder? Yes and no, thinks David Gower © Getty Images

David Gower, writing in the Sunday Times, believes England captain Andrew Strauss should definitely lead the side to Bangladesh after their South Africa tour ends. Bangladesh should not be treated as a glorified club team, and Gower does not think a hiatus helps the team dynamic.

Once you get the job, my view is that you stick at it. Those of us who have been sacked know that the England captaincy can be a precarious position. When you have achieved a position of some strength, as Strauss has with an Ashes win and a decent showing here in South Africa, you should be keen to improve things further. Apart from anything else, there are issues that still need to be resolved in this team.

Martin Johnson, in the same paper, says
the joke is on the third umpire Daryl Harper but that nobody is finding too much to laugh about during the fourth Test in Johannesburg.

The Australian cricket team has an image problem, writes David Sygall in the Sun-Herald.

It's one the players and Cricket Australia find hard to understand. It's an issue that extends beyond on-field controversies, polarising leadership and perceptions of arrogance. It's not just about poor scheduling, advertising overload, high ticket prices or confusion about the game's future. It won't be fixed by a stage-managed makeover, nor by the team winning match after match. The players are only part of the cause. But, as the faces of the juggernaut, they bear the brunt of public frustration. They are winners but they are not as loved as they should, could or want to be.

	From Malad to Churchgate to Lincoln © Getty Images

Defending champions India got their Under-19 World Cup campaign off to a winning start, easily beating Afghanistan. Central to that win was their new-ball pair of Sandeep Sharma and Saurabh Netrawalkar, right-arm and left-arm medium respectively, who bowled their quota on the trot very economically. Anand Vasu met them for the Hindustan Times.

Netrawalkar is now studying Computer Science as an engineering major, and often carries his books with him on cricket tours. He remembers how his parents took the journey with him from Malad to Churchgate when he was picked up by Dilip Vengsarkar's Elf Academy as a child. "Not only did they come with me, they waited for three hours while practice was on, and took me home," says Netrawalkwar. The hard work is paying off, as the youngster matches on-field exploits with academic excellence off it.

"In studies I am some way behind Saurabh," says Sandeep, who is finishing up 12th standard in Punjab. "You've heard of the Patiala peg?" he asks, when you want to know where in Punjab he's from. But engineering's not for everyone, and Sandeep's talents with the ball are there for everyone to see.

The more close contests one sees spread over five days, the more one gets convinced that cricket was not meant to be a game of limited overs, writes Pradeep Magazine in the Hindustan Times. In the surfeit of cricket which we were witness to this week, what grabbed attention was not India's meaningless and eventually unsuccessful forays in Bangladesh, but a riveting contest at home meant only for domestic audiences.

	The current England side embodies Paul Collingwood © Getty Images

In the Independent, Angus Fraser says that Paul Collingwood being England's player of the series highlights how events in South Africa have unfolded and where the team needs to improve if they wish to reach the top of the world Test rankings.

Collingwood has many admirable qualities, several of which are too often taken for granted or forgotten, but when his Test career comes to an end he will not be remembered as a match-winner. Collingwood's predicament is no fault of his own; often it is just the way the game works. There are other players who are hugely unreliable and put in the occasional performance but it results in a win. Great teams possess both types of player.

After a forgettable second day's play in Johannesburg for England, the Times' Mike Atherton says the tourists' attack looked haggled. England, increasingly, feel aggrieved that the review system, far from being a neutral, automated process, has taken on a South African bias in this match.

Given England’s selection, there was much focus on Sidebottom, who, although accurate enough, failed to suggest that the selectors were right to prefer him to Graham Onions after a month on the sidelines. Red-faced and pouting, he gave the permanent impression of a kettle simmering, forever about to reach boiling point.

In the New Zealand Herald, Adam Parore writes that private Twenty20 franchises will become the bedrock of cricket, a la professional clubs in football, and this is where the bulk of the game will exist. He also gives his views on who's best suited to take over the management of the New Zealand team.

You'd have trouble finding anyone with a bad word to say about former New Zealand skipper Jeff Crowe. He is just the sort of person who would work very well with the all-powerful captain Daniel Vettori. Greatbatch is definitely someone who could bring improvements to our batters.

At the third IPL auctions on Tuesday, four New Zealanders will go under the hammer - Shane Bond, Lou Vincent, Nathan McCullum and Grant Elliott. David Leggat, in the New Zealand Herald, looks at their prospects and those who missed out.

You might wonder why Martin Guptill is not there. Daryl Tuffey had a decent case for inclusion on a short list (and there's a joke, considering it numbers 52, but there you are - sometimes it's not so much how you perform but where you're from).

An editorial in the Guardian says the discussion over batting and bowling averages have been replaced with players' value in hard cash. So is the IPL auction exciting or stupid?

Mike Coward, writing in the Australian, looks at the rise of Hot Spot, an aptly-named resource which is taking the heat out of cricket's hottest debate.

Dynamic infrared red camera technology is changing the way we are watching and analysing elite cricket and it is gaining markedly wider acceptance than predictive technologies which are also in play. "This is the greatest thing about the technology. It is real and people believe it," said Warren Brennan who has spent an inestimable number of hours and dollars pioneering the application of military technology to sport.

In the same paper Peter Lalor writes about Ricky Ponting’s mum and dad, who have watched their son play in seven of his 142 Tests. They picked a good one to attend this week, with Ponting reaching 209.

"It was special to be here when something like that takes place,” his father Graeme said. “We were at his first one when he was given out on 96 and that was no fun. And we've been there when he got a century [in his 100th], but today was very special."

	Kevin Pietersen's dismissal left England reeling on the first morning at the Wanderers © Getty Images

Ian Bell's evisceration by a superb ball from Dale Steyn was deflating enough but England's worst, and widening nightmare, is the continued deterioration of both Kevin Pietersen's confidence and timing. The key was Steyn's ability to undermine English confidence almost every time he ran in, writes James Lawton in the Independent.

The sadness of seeing a player who owns the possibility of greatness slipping away from the height of his powers, at a time when he should be moving towards the zenith of his talent, is acute in any circumstances. There was, however, a still sharper poignancy here when you remembered that this is a ground where Pietersen first returned to his homeland in the colours of England and not so much endured the derision of his former compatriots but turned it against them with brilliant strokeplay and apparently the lightest of hearts.

Dileep Premachandran has one eye on the upcoming IPL auction. Though the league might think it is recession-proof, but no franchise is likely to splurge money on those yet to prove themselves he writes in his blog on the Guardian website.

Of the 60 names hoping for the Henderson type of payday, only about 20 will walk away content. The chances of Monty Panesar or Anthony McGrath picking up a lucrative contract are as slim as mine of emerging unscathed from a round with Manny Pacquiao, and even a batsman as good as Ramnaresh Sarwan is likely to be left disappointed.

England might be very pleased with themselves, up 1-0 in the Test series in South Africa, but it is reasonable to question whether the selectors have been vindicated, says Duncan Fletcher in the Guardian.

England have been unable to bowl out South Africa in two Tests. And if those games were played out again, South Africa would have won them far more often than not...Durban aside, these were not convincing results. England's seamers have been out‑bowled and that has put the batsmen under enormous pressure. So you have to conclude that while the batsmen have done their job, the bowlers have not.

Kevin Pietersen had a hunted look when he left the field in Cape Town after being dismissed for the second time. The present circumstances call for a serious statement of intent, and James Lawton in the Independent believes the timing could not be better for Pietersen to re-establish some of his old aura .

In his blog on the Wisden Cricketer website, John Stern believes there's plenty of evidence to indicate that England are doing more than okay without Andrew Flintoff.

Graeme Smith's side are on the verge of being the first pot-isolation South Africa team not to win at least one Test in an entire home summer. Rob Houwing fears the widespread recriminations in Sport24.co.za.

Ashwell Prince is fighting to save his career at the moment, after being one of South Africa's most prolific batsmen over the past three years. Zaahier Adams in iol.co.za finds it strange that South Africa would risk an untested opener in Prince when an experienced one in AB De Villiers, who has done the job at Test and franchise level before, was available.

With regard to Makhaya Ntini, Mike Atherton in the Times queries why there has only been one black African cricketer of note in the past 15 years.

Three of Tsolekile’s peer group in Langa went on to play for the South Africa football team. Football is an African game here, in a way that cricket and rugby union cannot match. And with the football World Cup coming, and investment aimed almost solely at making sure the tournament is a success [— 12 billion rands (about £992 million) is being spent on building or redeveloping football stadiums ]— cricket is likely to fall even farther behind.

	Ricky Ponting's cap pre-makeover © Getty Images

Michael Crutcher, writing in the Courier Mail, says Australia’s baggy green tradition has gone too far.

How else can you explain how Ricky Ponting wore his baggy green until it almost dropped off his head at the Sydney Cricket Ground last week? The tattered model, whose cloth had come apart to expose its white backing, was not befitting the highest sporting office in the country.

Relics from ancient Egypt have appeared in better condition than the caps in which Ponting and his predecessor Steve Waugh led their country. Ponting's cap has been repaired for the Test against Pakistan in Hobart – perhaps only because there was the real chance that Australia's most iconic sporting apparel was about to disintegrate and blow into the Derwent River.

In The Australian Malcolm Conn writes Ponting's repaired cap may just be the renewal the battered Australia captain needs to invigorate his unproductive summer.

Delhi's overpriced, badly-designed Feroz Shah Kotla is a showpiece indicative of the wrong direction India is taking, writes Mike Marqusee in the Guardian. As an eyewitness to the whole farce during the abandoned India-Sri Lanka ODI – with the DDCA true to form, despite the hype – he felt it was a metaphor for India today.

Our seats costs Rs 500 each (£7), the cheapest available. That may sound like a steal, but in India it represents a serious investment. To put it in context, it takes a cashier at a Delhi McDonald's 36 hours to earn the price of a ticket to the Kotla. It takes a cashier in a London McDonald's ten hours to earn the price of a ticket to Lord's.

Former India captain and umpire, S Venkataraghavan talks about cricket in Chennai from the yesteryears. He rewinds to the corporate tournaments that drew huge crowds, Test cricket at Chepauk during Pongal, and the magic of local matches in the Hindu.

For the typical cricket lover in Madras, a Test match at Chepauk was imbued with a rare magic; the excitement began days before the first ball was bowled. But he also patronised local cricket. Great expectations were in the air when popular league teams such as Parry's, State Bank and SVOC played one another. Even inter-collegiate cricket had a good following.

England coach Andy Flower will be closing in on a year in the job, from the time he took temporary charge during their tour of West Indies. However, Mike Selvey in his blog on the Guardian website believes the much-admired Flower has his work cut out if he is to last five years in the role.

Somewhere, something has to give if the ECB is to get full value from Flower over an extended period. And the answer has to be delegation. At present he might consider himself too new to trust anyone else to take on his role. But over a period of time, as he gets even more confident, he might be able to let go and recharge secure in the knowledge that things will tick over fine.

On the same website, Rob Bagchi believes memories of the rebel tours of South Africa 20 years ago should not be allowed to fade.

A rough passage also awaits Kevin Pietersen over the next few days in South Africa, and Mike Atherton in the Times says the nature of his response will reveal the direction his game will take in the coming years.

How far does quiet anonymity suit his game? It was a game that, previously, was based on self-glorification, the “look at me aren’t I brilliant?” attitude that culminated in the kind of wondrous strokeplay that, this observer at least, had rarely seen. Pietersen is not Ian Bell, nor should he try to be. Somehow over the next five days, the Brylcreem Boy has got to find his inner skunk.

Just 13 months into Test cricket, England's star spinner Graeme Swann has risen to No.5 in the Test rankings, a fact which is yet to sink in, by his own admittance. In an interview to Donald McRae in the Guardian, Swann reflects on an action-packed year, his early days as a brash young man and looks ahead to his wedding.

"The one other time I won two man of the match awards was in my first year of school rugby when I was the only guy to have played the game before. I was a doughty scrum-half – a cheeky little shit – and I'd start the fights and let the front row sort it."

Mat Prior's wicketkeeping has improved in a big way over the last year and a good reason for that is that he has found an able ally in the wicketkeeping coach Bruce French, writes Michael Atherton in the Times. While Prior’s form with the gloves has been excellent, his returns with the bat have lacked consistency. Balancing the two has been a bit of a struggle though.

Prior reckons that he got too bulky last winter and that it affected his speed of movement. He has made a conscious effort to slim down in South Africa, changing his training routine from a weights-based programme to resistance training, including more core work. He has a lighter and more toned frame and is more agile.

Watching Karnataka's Abhimanyu Mithun and Vinay Kumar skittle Mumbai on the opening day of the Ranji Trophy final in Mysore brought back memories of the raw duo of Javagal Srinath and Venkatesh Prasad the last time they won the tournament in 1988-89. Vijay Mruthyunjaya of the Gulf Daily News explains why the first day was such an enthralling experience.

Kumar and Mithun are not as tall as Srinath and Prasad, they are rather more proportionately built. Where Srinath and Prasad looked in desperate need of some extra flesh on their bones early in their careers, Kumar and Mithun look well fed and as if they have just stepped out the gym.

In the Guardian, Paul Weaver looks back to England's 1990 rebel tour to South Africa, which was the most fractious of them all because of the changing political climate in the country. Mike Gatting's team weren't quite the mercenaries they set out to be and it was a tour that should never have happened.

Bacher, now 67, told me: "That tour nearly finished me off, emotionally. We lived in a cocoon here, you must remember. Including myself. When we had the previous rebel tours there were packed crowds, mainly white people, no demonstrations. I thought the country, the people, had no problem. I must confess that if I had known the anger and the hurt that those tours would cause I would have thought twice about them. It was very hurtful for me. I had been a liberal all my life. And I thought Mike Gatting might get killed in Pietermaritzburg."

Lalit Modi's rejection of alleged match-fixers from the IPL auction will not by itself deter bookies or money-lusting players. While the unofficial ICL took several measures to uncover anything untoward, the IPL has complained about the cost of security and taken no such precautions. Peter Roebuck lets his fears known in the Sydney Morning Herald.

Cricket captains wield enormous influence. Accordingly, they belong in the front line of any campaign to stop the bookies damaging the IPL's reputation. Besides taking stringent security measures, the IPL needs to call in its captains and urge them them to set an example by saying they stand united against attempts to infect the league and cricket at large. Consider the stature of the franchise leaders - Tendulkar, Sehwag, Dhoni, Kumble, Gilchrist, Warne, Ganguly (sometimes), Yuvraj. These are the biggest names in the game. Where they tread others will follow. Those with the highest integrity will speak out the strongest.

	England have been bailed out twice by their final pair. They can't afford it a third time © AFP

Simon Wilde in the Sunday Times believes the excitement at England leaving Cape Town with their series lead intact needs to be tempered. Though he is relieved that England's bowlers can bat, it's the shaky performance every third game from the top order that is a cause for worry.

In the same paper, David Gower expresses his concerns over Kevin Pietersen's 'rough patch' in South Africa. Gower believes a tough twelve months has possibly seen him fail to perform with the audaciousness of his previous visit five years ago.

For a man who seemed to be made of bravura and machismo, it appeared out of character but maybe it shows that he undertands the benefits of being shown a bit of appreciation. Even the best like to be patted on the back now and again. He is renowned for being a good pro and a hard worker. When that on its own is not enough to bring the right results then it is never a bad thing for a captain or manager to show a little well-judged understanding.

England's selectors must keep Andrew Flintoff away from national honours if the team are to build on the progress made in South Africa. These are the thoughts of Derek Pringle, who also mentions in the Sunday Telegraph that Flintoff's reputation has been held together by slim pickings and sutures ever since the successful 2005 Ashes campaign.

Not that captains should avoid accommodating "difficult" personalities. Not that Flintoff, the wealthiest of England's recent players, is awkward in the way Geoff Boycott or Andy Caddick was.

Yet, whenever talk in the England camp turns to big Freddie and his future, the phrase you hear most, almost as if it is insurmountable, is that "he must buy into the new dressing-room philosophy".

The seventh rebel tour to South Africa, led by Mike Gatting in the year Nelson Mandela walked free, was the most damnable of all. Paul Weaver remembers the scenes from 1990 in the Guardian.

Virender Sehwag seems to be the man of the season. Recently named ‘The player of the decade’ by the Daily Telegraph, the Indian opener, during an interview to Boria Majumdar in Open magazine, says he does not know how to think small.

I don’t want to sound pompous. But I can surely tell you that once I get to 60 or 70 there’s no bowler in the world who can get Virender Sehwag out. Only Virender Sehwag can get Sehwag out at moments when I am batting the way I am currently.

In his blog on the Dawn website, Ahsan Butt claims the Test series between Australia and Pakistan was won by Younis Khan. The reasoning was that after the hugely impressive Umar Akmal and Mohammad Aamer, no one’s stature had made greater strides in the last two weeks.

His replacement as captain put in such a shameful display on the fourth morning that it became immediately clear that we would lose. To be honest, I actually wasn’t that upset watching us throw our wickets away, because I basically expected it; the morning session told me everything I needed to know about our mental state. We wanted Australia to give in because we were too afraid of actually having to work to win the game.

Writing in the same paper, Qamar Ahmed believes the current Pakistan squad neither have the gumption nor the guts or the skill to cope with what will be in store in the final Test at Hobart. He predicts a result similar to Melbourne and Sydney.

From 1964 when the first Pakistan team visited Australia led by Hanif Mohammad who scored a hundred in the first innings and was given out when few runs short of another century in the second innings at the MCG in the only Test that Pakistan played to now, our aspirations of a Test series win in Australia thus remains a dream.

	Hauritz and Hussey are just two players owed an apology © AFP

The Sydney Test was the high water mark for exponents of the volte-face, the moment when egg and face were in perfect congress. The time the collective conscience was forced to examine itself, writes Peter Lalor in the Australian.

Selectors gave Hussey the West Indian tour to reassemble his act. He managed a reasonable 47 average across the three Tests, but against a Pakistan attack that has had more teeth than expected he has prospered scoring 82, 4, 28 and the aforementioned 134no. Now you hear that Ricky Ponting using Hussey as an example of how he is going to turn around his own form.

St Michael has found a path from the wilderness and will perform the same miracle for others willing to burn a votive candle at his feet while he climbs atop the massage table and sings the team hymn. And Nathan Hauritz?

India’s journey to the summit of Test cricket was a long one. And one of the architects of their rise to No. 1 in the ICC Test rankings has been VVS Laxman. In an interview to VV Subrahmanyam in the Sportstar, he reveals the defining moment arrived in the 2001 Test series at home against the Steve Waugh-led Australian team.

"Never before did we see an Indian captain retaliate against the Aussies the way Sourav Ganguly did even before they landed here. He should get the credit for giving us the hope and sowing the seeds of self-belief in the Indian team — that we can beat any side in the world. It is a fact that there were many great players in the past too who had played for India. But the 2001 series was when we started believing in ourselves."

A few familiar surnames stand out in the team sheets, ahead of the Under-19 World Cup. And over two weeks in New Zealand, the star kids will not only look to make their famous fathers proud, but also settle some old scores. Sandeep Dwivedi has more in the Indian Express.

The Pakistan and Australia squads in New Zealand for ICC's biannual youth event have a distinct 80s feel to them, with names such as Usman Qadir, Alister McDermott and Mitchell Marsh instantly ringing a bell. Joining them on the starson list are Nicholas Buchanan -- former Australia coach John's son -- and former India all-rounder Ajay Sharma's son Manan. Also keenly following the action in New Zealand will be John Bracewell, whose nephews Doug and Michael are the home team's big hope.

It would have been wonderful to see a Sachin Tendulkar versus Rahul Dravid showdown in this year's Ranji Trophy final. However, with the India-Bangladesh Test beginning two days after the Ranji final, the top players from Mumbai and Karnataka will be away on national duty. Suresh Menon in the Bangalore Mirror recounts some previous finals made more memorable by the presence of big names.

While it is known that Australia are not the world-dominant force they once were, England's cricketers and supporters might be surprised - and relieved - to see just how mortal their Ashes rivals are, writes Scyld Berry in the Sunday Telegraph.

Great Australian sides have always piled up huge totals and individual centuries; opponents have frequently collapsed under the weight of these runs and against sharp bowling.

But the only lingering signs of greatness are to be seen in the 35 year-old Ricky Ponting, and then in the occasional innings amid his diminishing returns, and in the wicket-taking balls of Mitchell Johnson, who can find one for the best batsman amid his wavering accuracy.

Now that Australia's batsmen are no longer scoring hundreds, in the last two years their side have posted 500 only twice.

Darren Berry, writing in the Sunday Age, also sees some significant cracks that need attention before the 2010-11 Ashes.

Graeme Smith will in time be known as one of South Africa's best ever captains, believes Barry Richards, but come Thursday he has to overcome his own and his side's frustration at the feeling that the gods are against them. With the likelihood of time being cut short, Smith will have to be less cautious than normal if South Africa are to level this series, writes Richards in the Daily Telegraph.

Smith's side is on the verge of being very good, and is still the only one to have beaten Australia in Australia in the last 15 years. His hundred at Cape Town, together with his captaincy, won him the man-of-the-match award and took him up to No 4 in the ICC rankings of Test batsmen. And all this is quite apart from the fact that nobody is ready to take over the captaincy from him.

Daniel Vettori been such a fixture in the New Zealand team it now stretches the memory to remember a time when he wasn't in the line-up © Getty Images

Daniel Vettori, New Zealand's spin-bowling prodigy, was always destined for great things on the pitch says Matt Nippert in the Herald on Sunday. Speaking to the man himself, as well as his friends and former players along the ride from backyard to international arena, Nippert finds out that Vettori doesn't want to burn any bridges

Interviews with friends and teammates from these early years reveal a driven boy of considerable talent - and several tall tales. Ron Henzell's house in Dalethorpe Ave in Hamilton has seen many great cricketing moments from Vettori. Henzell's son Nick was the same age as Vettori and the duo often competed in epic backyard games played under traditional one-hand, one-bounce rules.

New Zealand are searching for a coach. But, as Andrew Alderson reveals, a recent appointment could signal a new structure which may count against John Wright becoming head coach.

The game is approaching a watershed that includes some strong implications for New Zealand. Once again, Alderson dissects the new Future Tours Programme, which could start to cull the 50-over game and affect the global value of New Zealand players.

England's ability to snatch draws from the jaws of certain defeat has led Mike Selvey to appreciate their "cockroach-like resilience". Writing in the Guardian, he compares the Cape Town escape with the Cardiff and Centurion classics.

There was something altogether more triumphalist in the Newlands escape, more akin to Cardiff than Centurion, where survival was a matter of relief that they had not been severely embarrassed. In Cape Town, South Africa controlled the match, and were favourites to win. At Centurion, England had 96 overs to bat out for the draw, were doing so comfortably, and then slumped. Cardiff was a game they should have lost and did not; Centurion was one they should have drawn and came within a whisker of fouling up. This time, Graeme Smith had an additional 45 overs in which to bowl England out, 40 more than Ricky Ponting had at Sophia Gardens. That his bowlers have twice failed to deliver the coup de grace will be a cause for concern.

He however cautions the visitors from getting carried away by the escape and wants them to focus on the inconsistency of their batsmen, particularly Kevin Pietersen.

Analysts have studied his game microscopically and come to the conclusion that he is unsettled by the short ball, and then discomfited by a pace bowler pitching full and straight. In the first innings at Newlands, Steyn's searing bouncer was followed by a full delivery on off-stump that Pietersen knocked straight back to the bowler. Second time around, Steyn did not even bother with the bouncer, of which the mere threat was a sufficient distraction, and Pietersen played all round a straight delivery to be lbw.

Life has come a full circle for Pakistan’s cricket at Sydney. Writing in the Dawn, Saad Shafqat notes that 33 years before last week’s heart-breaking defeat, the SCG had been host to Pakistan’s “most heartwarming Test match”.

Imran Khan took 12 famous wickets under Mushtaq Mohammad’s captaincy and announced Pakistan’s arrival as a frontline Test nation. To millions of Pakistan fans, it felt like a sunrise in Sydney.

Shafqat is confident that Pakistan cricket will overcome the debacle posed by the defeat, having survived several grave crises in the past.

As we try and grope our way through the misery, it is important to remember that cricket is a resilient sport and Pakistan is a resilient country. Pakistan cricket has weathered more turmoil than cricket in any other nation. A forfeited Test match, shameful doping scandals, mysterious death of the national coach and terrorists shooting at a visiting team — it has all happened to Pakistan. In any other country, such onslaught would have wrecked the whole cricket enterprise. In Pakistan, cricket soldiers on.

In the same paper, Ahsan Butt notes that the Sydney catastrophe has firmly put Younis Khan back in the reckoning.

...Younis has his problems. He’s a bit of a baby and he’s too thin-skinned. But while he tends to be emotionally unstable, his mental strength as a batsman is what sets him apart, especially in the second innings of Tests when teams are usually batting under pressure. Think about this: Younis has six second-innings hundreds (out of 16 overall) and his second-innings average is only three runs lower than his overall average. As a comparison, Yousuf only has four second-innings hundreds out of 24 overall, and his average drops off by eleven. Sachin Tendulkar has 11 second-innings hundreds out of 43 overall, and his average drops off by 12. Younis plays well when the pressure is really on – and we all know the pressure was on in Sydney.

In the Guardian, Duncan Fletcher calls for a change in the way suspected ball tampering is handled. Instead of asking opposition players to lodge a formal complaint, he wants the responsibility of bringing up the issue to shift to the third umpire.

The current system ... only creates animosity between teams. You could see that in the language being used by the players this week. Andrew Strauss has called South Africa's behaviour "malicious".

You want a game to be a hard battle but this situation leads to bad blood between players. It is wrong that the ICC was waiting for South Africa to put in a complaint about England. It is the ICC's responsibility to look for evidence of ball-tampering, or of other offences, such as throwing.

In the Independent, Angus Fraser writes that the stigma of being caught tampering should be treated in the same manner as a batsman not walking when he has knowingly hit the ball. In the same piece, he also recalls the dread that filled him when he was required to walk out and save a Test as a No. 11.

	Storm clouds threaten the SCG © Getty Images

Surely the absorbing Test match which held the nation in thrall will have put paid to the persistent and surely frivolous talk of Test cricket being moved away from the SCG, writes Mike Coward in the Weekend Australian.

Much more than the match which saw Australia achieve its 11th consecutive victory over Pakistan in a decade, the occasion reaffirmed the greatness of Test cricket and the significance of seeing the traditional game played in its rightful setting. The SCG has a very rich history which its trustees and members must unselfconsciously trumpet as Cricket NSW continues to show intense interest in taking the game west to Homebush nearer the demographic centre of Sydney.

Despite Australia’s win in Sydney, Peter Roebuck says in the Sydney Morning Herald Ricky Ponting and his team will be hard-pressed to recapture the Ashes.

In the same paper Jamie Pandaram speaks to Mohammad Aamir, the left-arm bowler, who has defied death, a frugal upbringing, and now defies the best batsmen in the world.

South Africa have dominated two Tests in this series without managing to deliver results in either, and now need to win in Johannesburg to salvage it. Paul Harris' series average has ballooned past 40, prompting Rob Houwing to wonder in sport24.co.za whether South Africa should beef up their pace attack for the final Test.

After yet another over-my-dead-body final day batting effort from Paul Collingwood, Michael Atherton - a man who has played some great match-saving innings himself - analyses in the Times just what makes Collingwood so special.

Mindset is vital. A batsman knows he is setting out on a defensive course, but he must remain positive and be prepared to hit the bad ball. A positive attitude will, in turn, help his feet to move quickly and help him to be committed in defence. But he needs also to eliminate risk; to work out which shots against which bowlers are dangerous in the conditions. Be disciplined, then, as Collingwood was yesterday in his refusal to play any cross-bat shots on a pitch he knew to be slow and low.

Also read Simon Hughes' account of the enthralling battle between Collingwood and Dale Steyn once the new ball was taken in the Daily Telegraph.

Just weeks after being embarrassingly bowled leaving a Paul Harris delivery, Ian Bell has produced a scrapping innings that showed off his temperament and grit. After his nearly five-hour vigil in the second innings helped save the Cape Town Test, no one can question whether he's mentally strong enough for the international level, writes Steve James in the Daily Telegraph.

Only the exceptionally mean-minded will surely even question now. This was his moment of truth and he answered it emphatically. He may not have actually been there at the end, but he saved his team from defeat. There were no easy, pretty runs on offer here.

Vic Marks writes in the Guardian that in the toughest of situations, Bell has played his finest innings, which should earn him some respite from the arm-chair critics.

When Bell came to the crease in the morning the pitch was still true, but the situation was already taut. He dealt with the crisis points adroitly.

There were no great alarms in the first few minutes when every batsman is vulnerable. He did not leave deliveries from Harris. Against the second new ball, another crisis moment, he was fortuitous in that he found himself at Morne Morkel's end. Normally this is not the place to be, but Steyn bowled a spell of superb quality mostly at Collingwood (29 deliveries out of 36). Still he played Morkel skilfully.

The third crisis was when Collingwood departed, soon to be followed by Matt Prior. Even without the Collingwood comfort blanket he remained calm, outwardly, at least, almost to the end.

The ball-tampering allegations seemed to have blown over after South Africa did not lodge an official complaint before the deadline, but AB de Villiers has added more fuel to the fire. Here's what the papers had to say ...

In the Times, Michael Atherton says South Africa have "behaved cravenly".

Ball tampering is a serious allegation in cricket, and if you make it, as South Africa effectively did on the third evening by publicly raising their “concerns” about the state of the ball to Roshan Mahanama, the match referee, you had better be damn sure of your facts ... After letting all and sundry know that they felt England were up to no good on the third evening, South Africa ran for cover yesterday. A spokesman alerted us to a forthcoming announcement from the ICC, which arrived, in all its magnificent obfuscation, in the afternoon. The ICC, having received no formal complaint, considers the matter closed. From South Africa there was nothing.

Ed Smith, another Times columnist, offers a different view. He writes, "It is high time that ball tampering, given that everyone does it, is downgraded from its present absurd status as a crime worthy of deep shame and opprobrium."

Nasser Hussain's opinion, in the Daily Mail, is much stronger and he isn't pleased with James Anderson's behaviour.

I cannot believe, having seen incriminating pictures of Jimmy Anderson for the first time on Wednesday, that match referee Roshan Mahanama has not dragged him into his office, sat him down and asked him to explain himself. I presume Mahanama has seen the television coverage that we saw on Wednesday. And if he has not then he should have made it his business to. And those pictures showed Anderson coming very close to what you would consider to be ball-tampering.

However, David Lloyd writes in the Daily Mail that "the whole subject of ball-tampering is exaggerated in our game."

Umpires, whatever people think, are not stupid and I used to be one. The correct way to deal with something like this is what I understand exactly happened. The umpires had a word with Andrew Strauss just to remind him that they should inspect the ball at all times and that if a piece of leather protrudes then they have to deal with it, not the bowler. In effect Anderson had his wrist slapped by the umpires and that is the end of the matter. As it should be. It has gone on forever and it is no more serious that that.

With South Africa taking no action, only Michael Vaughan and local TV seem particularly exercised by Tuesday's incident, writes Paul Weaver in the Guardian.

At some point very soon, either after this game or once the series is over, Andy Flower needs to sit down with Kevin Pietersen and work out what the future holds, writes Nasser Hussain in the Daily Mail.

Watching him closely out here in South Africa, I’ve sensed he’s been a bit sidetracked. It’s not been anything obvious — just his body language and the way he’s been in the field. He looks a bit lost mentally, as if he doesn’t quite know where he’s going next. This may be down to a couple of reasons. Obviously he missed most of the Ashes hype last summer after having achilles surgery, so he may be feeling a little detached from it all. But I also think he may not quite have got the Peter Moores fiasco out of his system.

For Pietersen this has been no fairytale return to his native land. He is not inspiring much awe any more and there is the whisper that the South Africans sense a vulnerability against extreme pace in general and Dale Steyn in particular, writes Vic Marks in the Guardian.

There is no question that Test cricket has some important housekeeping to do. Yet, in this week of all weeks, there is surely no case for redesign. The old house, after all, has rarely looked in better nick, writes James Lawton in the Independent.

Test cricket, as we have seen in the last summer of the Ashes, and in the match that is still unfolding in Cape Town and the one won so dramatically by Australia against Pakistan, does not need a new shape or new rules. It just needs the faith that is required to give it the space and the time to prove what some have known all along ... Really, what kind of rival plot line could a Twenty20 collision ever seriously present to the kind of drama still unfolding at the exquisite Newlands ground?

After the heroics of the opening two days, the Pakistani hare looked around and suddenly found the Australian tortoise right behind him, writes Dileep Premachandran in the Guardian.

Mystifyingly, Pakistan were just as defensive, with Yousuf having as many as eight men on the fence at times. Hussey declined the easy singles on offer, instead finding the ropes intermittently as the lead slowly mounted. If he was bemused by Yousuf's we-shall-bore-you-out tactics, he didn't show it, easing past a hundred and well beyond. On air, the venerable Richie Benaud called Yousuf's captaincy "inexplicable". The millions who had woken up before dawn in Pakistan would surely have agreed.

Peter Roebuck writes in the Sydney Morning Herald that Australia's remarkable win in Sydney looks on paper like one of their most glorious victories, but figures can be deceiving.

And yet there was an emptiness about it. It was as much an abject defeat for Pakistan as it was a victory for a determined home side. Had the visitors played with even a modicum of skill and sense or pursued even remotely acceptable tactics, the match could not have been lost - by no means were the Australians irresistible. Simply, Ponting and his players gave their opponents a chance to pluck defeat from the jaws of victory, an opportunity they grabbed with both hands.

In the Australian, Mike Coward argues that the Akmal brothers must shoulder much of the blame for Pakistan's predicament.

This is especially so of vice-captain and wicketkeeper Kamran, who dropped Hussey on three occasions on Tuesday and yesterday missed a regulation diving leg-side catch offered by Siddle off Mohammad Sami. Siddle was then 25 and the total at 8-350. It was another dreadful and embarrassing lapse. If Kamran was inept his younger sibling Umar was simply impetuous. Again. There is no doubt he is going to be a fine Test cricketer, but as irksome as it may be at 19 he must recognise his limits.

For the second time in the match he fell one shy of a half century when seemingly in charge. Following skipper Yousuf's demise to a spectacular if inadvertent return catch by brave Hauritz, the responsibility of winning the match fell to Umar. But at the critical moment he lost his head and endeavoured an arrogant dispatch of Doug Bollinger over mid-on only to miscue to Mitchell Johnson at mid-off. The match and series was Australia's from that point.

Greg Baum in the Age looks at the storyline of the match as a series of regrets, from both teams.

England were not guilty of ball-tampering at Newlands on Tuesday but I do think Stuart Broad was foolish to step on the ball, an act which led to suspicion here, writes Nasser Hussain in the Daily Mail.

I do not think it was malicious or calculated even if some people are adamant he has done it before in this series. And, after what happened with Broad and the umpires over a review at Centurion, you would have thought he would want to stay away from any possibility of trouble.

But we have to remember that the ball was spinning when he stepped on it and if Broad thinks he has the ability to stick his spikes into the scuffed side of the ball in that situation then he is in the wrong game. He should be a footballer!

Miracles happen, increasingly so in modern cricket with pitches that might have been prepared by Dorian Gray so young and unblemished do they remain throughout a Test, but with two days of the third Test remaining all the indications are that England and South Africa will decamp to the Wanderers next week all square and ready to shoot it out for the series, writes Mike Selvey in the Guardian.

In the Times, Mike Atherton says: "The scene is set for a charge on the fourth morning and a declaration in the afternoon, after which England must steel themselves against South Africa’s pace attack. They will need to show resolve against a team whose competitive spirit and fighting instincts have been impressively displayed these past three days and who will have noticed the frayed English tempers as the fielders and bowlers wilted in the heat."

The Umpire Review Decision System was introduced with the aim of correcting umpiring howlers and it did just that on day three at Newlands. Paul Weaver has more in the Guardian.

It happened at the start of South Africa's second innings. With the last ball of the third over, bowled by Jimmy Anderson, Ashwell Prince wafted at a ball going down the leg-side and was given out by Mr Harper. A horrified Prince asked for a referral and the bashful Mr Harper [he keeps his bashfulness to hand because it is required at regular intervals] reversed the decision. Perhaps the official thought, wrongly, that Prince was walking, for he left his crease briefly. But it classified as an official howler.

Most South Africans love a braai but there was something beyond mere appetite driving South Africa’s captain, Graeme Smith, after he scored a momentous 162 and it smelt like revenge, writes Derek Pringle in the Telegraph.

MS Dhoni has a blog. His first post is about how India became the No. 1 Test team.

With all due respect to the previous generations of batsmen and those that are to follow, I would not hesitate to say that if this batting line up had not achieved it, it would have been difficult to achieve it at all. Let’s take nothing away from the bowlers, who have been outstanding in all conditions. The seamers took wickets on a batting beauty in Kanpur, the spinners took wickets in by and large unfriendly conditions. My two main bowlers Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh have really responded to the challenge of leading the attacks with youngsters at other end.

Mike Coward in the Australian looks at Ricky Ponting's recent struggles and argues that at the moment it seems improbable he can make it to England for another Ashes trip in 2013.

Even the greatest of players have form slumps, but those in their 36th year have to withstand greater scrutiny and field endless questions about eyesight and reaction time, especially against shorter and faster deliveries. They are not easy questions to ask of someone of Ponting's stature. Nor are they easy for him to answer.

In the Sydney Morning Herald, Peter Roebuck notes that Shane Watson needs help, with virtually none of his team-mates in strong form.

Marcus North is a worse starter than pea soup and will be hard-pressed to retain his place in Hobart. Brad Haddin's counter-attacks have lacked conviction. At present, it's not so much an order as a disorder.

In the Age, Chloe Saltau considers North's chances of playing in Hobart and looks at some of the other options, while Will Swanton in the Sydney Morning Herald looks at Watson's nervous nineties.

Peter Lalor in the Australian also considers the comic nature of Watson's missed hundreds.

The first time a man trod on a garden rake and was struck in the face, one imagines it wasn't that funny. The second time it happened there was the odd guffaw (think the Ashes). By the third time the audience could see it coming and the laughs were rising from the belly as the handle rose towards the hapless comic's nose. It's all the funnier because you know it's coming. When Watson hits the 90s, Australians flock to television sets and seats in the outer. For most batsmen, such a migration would be in anticipation of the approaching ton. Not here. This is theatre of the cruel. Bad home video show stuff. You just got to watch.

The second day of the Cape Town Test was far from dull because the seamers really made the batsmen work hard for their runs and a lot of credit should go to the way the South Africans bowled, writes Michael Atherton in the Times. Makhaya Ntini’s omission helped, but the suspicion remains that this improvement was more to do with South Africa’s sharply honed competitive instincts rising to the fore again in the wake of the embarrassment of Kingsmead.

As well as South Africa fought, England may feel that they had too much of a hand in their own downfall with the bat. The pitch was a little two-paced and South Africa maintained an impressive discipline throughout, but too many batsmen got themselves in and then got themselves out, either through anxiety, overconfidence or a mixture of both.

Neither Alastair Cook nor Ian Bell could produce the decisive innings on the second day but at least they kept England in the game, writes Vic Marks in the Guardian. However both would have been disappointed by their dismissals.

This is proving to be tight and bewitching series. The one way in which England have shown more initiative than their opponents, is when playing the opposition's spinner. They have attacked Harris more purposefully and more successfully than the South Africans have Graeme Swann.

In the Telegraph, Simon Briggs writes that Graeme Smith has responded well to the immense pressure he's under to put the fight back in to South Africa.

Two evenly poised days in Cape Town represent a victory in themselves for the South Africans. The speed, and manner, of their Durban capitulation went against all the qualities – toughness, pride, determination – that this team hold dear. It must have been an awkward task to turn the dressing room around after such a below-par display, even if the omission of Makhaya Ntini solved one of the most glaring problems.

Ian Bell, England's 'pretty boy' has been hampered by familiar failings, writes Stephen Brenkley in the Independent.

Bell did a whole heap of pretty things. The cover drive with which he got off the mark was matched by a second a few minutes later. But he was not all showy, he was prepared, it seemed, to tough it out. This was Bell's big chance to persuade his critics that they have misjudged him: he has never scored England's only hundred in an innings, indeed he has never scored the first.

Peter Roebuck writes in the Sydney Morning Herald that Australia's bowlers have a problem. On their most penetrating days they are intense and threatening, but when things don't go their way they fail to read the signs.

Top-class operators recognise the need to put overs and spells together. Malcolm Marshall had few off days. Doubtless rhythm did periodically desert him. On those occasions, he'd drop his pace, reduce his variations and focus on line and length. Little ground was lost in the hard times. Always he did his work and kept it tight.

...

Frustrated, the flingers drop short and suffer as edges fly over the cordon. Body bowling only works when it is pinpoint. Captains cannot set boards for drunken darts players. With bat and ball Australians need to improve not their best but their worst.

Mike Coward in the Australian considers the contrasting emotions of Ricky Ponting and Mohammad Yousuf, two skippers in their mid-30s, while in the Age, Greg Baum ponders the extent of Australia's decline.

I would rather be in Andrew Strauss's position than Smith's at the close of the first day. With six South African wickets down, England just about shaded it, writes Nasser Hussain in the Daily Mail.

The only thing I would say is that I am not sure Andrew Strauss got his field settings exactly right when Swann was bowling to Kallis. The England captain could have toyed with him a bit more rather than sticking to the in and out field which allowed Kallis to accumulate without any undue risk. There is little point trying to be more patient than Kallis because he is never going to lose it and play a reckless shot.

Mike Selvey does not share that opinion. Writing in the Guardian, he says, "South Africa shaded it here today ... This does not promise to be a high-scoring match and should the South African bowlers fire, as they are due to do, it will require similar diligence from the England batsmen if they are to stay in touch."

In the Times, Mike Atherton says England simply have to make their first innings count.

For that to happen, England’s top six may care to look at Jacques Kallis who, amid the wreckage of South African batsmanship, has stood tall. Test match batsmen pride themselves on their ability to score runs in all situations, but first-innings runs, which often dictate the course of a game, are especially prized. Three times now he has prospered in the first innings of this series, a hundred in Pretoria followed by a half-century in Durban and now a hundred on his home turf.

Jacques Kallis never seems to deal in the trivial when the monumental will do and just when his team appeared to be ceding control on the opening day of the third Test, he restores their chances with an unbeaten hundred that keeps South Africa in the contest, for now, says Derek Pringle in the Telegraph.

When James Anderson dismissed Graeme Smith, the South Africa captain, straight after lunch, it gave him his 150th Test wicket and elevated him into distinguished company. Only 18 other England bowlers had reached such a figure before and Anderson, at 27, has plenty of power to add, writes Simon Wilde in the Times.

Mike Coward writes in the Australian that the first day at the SCG wasn't just marked by the colour pink but by red faces all round, including the umpire Billy Doctrove, who had what was generally regarded as a good lbw call overturned on review.

Little wonder so many members of the umpiring community are so uneasy about the system. Doctrove deserves an apology, not a crowd of 29,844 believing he made a serious error of judgment. This was not the type of decision for which the technology has been introduced. To suggest Doctrove's decision was a howler is an affront to the umpiring fraternity.

In the Sydney Morning Herald, Peter Roebuck dispels the notion that the SCG pitch was a brute and argues that Australia's batsmen needed to show greater application.

It is on tracks of this sort that famous innings are played. Grafters like Bill Lawry, Ken Barrington, Hanif Mohammad and others prided themselves on their ability to dig in until conditions improved. They displayed enough grit to tar a road.

Greg Baum in the Age believes the second Test is as unrecognisable from the first as Sydney is from Melbourne, Ben Dorries in the Courier-Mail wonders why cricket must be delayed by the lightest of rain, and in the Australian, Peter Lalor looks at Phillip Hughes' day.

In the Herald Sun, Ron Reed begins 2010 by composing a few teams of the decade. There's his team of players of the 2000s, his team of those still playing and the 11 biggest stories in cricket for the decade.

4 Shane Warne busted: The leg-spin legend copped a year's ban when he tested positive for drugs in 2003. He claimed it was a diuretic taken for vanity reasons, but many saw it as a comeuppance for his perceived social sins. His charity work ensured - rightly - that this shame did not linger.

5 The Ashes revival: The 2005 series produced riveting cricket played in tremendous spirit, with England ending 16 years of Australian domination. They did it again this year. The game's marquee match-up has been returned to full health, perhaps in the nick of time.

Clive Rice, in an interview with the Sunday Times, talks about the best and the worst moments of his career. He captained South Africa on their first international tour after apartheid, to India, and the reception given to his team, he says, was among best experiences.

We had to stop every 400m and get out of the coach to do some more speaking to the public. It was an incredible welcome. There must have been about 6,000 people outside the hotel to catch a glimpse of the players climbing onto the team bus. I had to pinch myself when 100,000 people came to watch our game in Kolkata.

David Gower, writing in the Sunday Times, says England, under Andrew Strauss, should ensure they don't let a position of advantage, which they have reached this series, slip like South Africa had earlier in the year. He compares Strauss to Michael Vaughan and says there are similarities in approaches between the two, though Strauss is yet to encounter the nail-biting pressure situations that Vaughan tackled so well.

Overall, the England captaincy appears to be in good hands. From the outside the captain is like an iceberg, in that we don’t see the bulk of his work in the dressing room and at close quarters with his players. We do see him at press conferences and in television interviews, where he handles himself with aplomb. The trick from his end is to avoid any of the traps set by the inquisitors, but even they are less cunning than they once were.

In the Independent on Sunday, Stephen Brenkley looks at what's changed for England since the Moores-Pietersen meltdown just a year ago.

Strauss, it can be seen in hindsight, should have been captain two years earlier. But had that happened he might have been drubbed in Australia (as was Andrew Flintoff) and fizzled out. Yet the selectors should not be patting themselves on the back. He was always an obvious choice. It is what selectors are paid for. Flower was more of a risk because he was an appointment from within.

Steve James, in the Sunday Telegraph, says England are well equipped to reverse the trend at their worst venue in South Africa. And so does Nasser Hussain, in his daily dossier in the Mail on Sunday.

In the Observer, Vic Marks says England have blossomed under Andy Flower's careful cultivation and that the coach and captain Andrew Strauss make a brilliant combination.

Ahsan Butt, in his blog in the Dawn, calls for the inclusion of Umar Gul for the second Test in Sydney to form a three-pronged pace attack with Danish Kaneria as the spinner. Pakisan, he says, also face problems with their batting and wonders what's prompting the board from not drafting in Younis Khan.

The selection committee, supposed to take a decision on Monday, finally met on Wednesday and decided, “it is not like the team is losing just because he isn’t there,” (impeccable logic) and wondered, “Who will he replace there? Various batsmen have scored some runs here [Melbourne] so it might be unfair to drop them.” Welcome to the world of our selection committee, where the likes of Faisal Iqbal making a 40 and Misbah-ul-Haq making 60 after innumerable failures and dropped catches, means that it’s fine and dandy to keep the country’s best number three out of the side.

Against the backdrop of the buzz around the 2010 Commonwealth Games being so crucial for India's prestige as a global power, Pradeep Magazine in the Hindustan Times writes that cricket is the worst culprit when it comes to exploiting nationalist sentiments.

When the going is good, the Indian board takes advantage of all the state benefits by projecting itself as an organisation which is not there for profitmaking but is doing a service to the nation. And when the going is bad, it closes ranks and tells the world that it is a private body and neither its accounts nor the unbridled use of power can be checked. The kind of money, which the Indian board is making today will be the envy of the best corporate. Yet most of those in its administrations would want us to believe that they are doing it for the love of the game.

Mike Atherton, writing in the Times, says Andy Flower's tenure as coach has thus far been a triumph for the side, which was in turmoil following the Pietersen-Moores saga. On the eve of the Cape Town Test, Atherton suggests South Africa have to be more attacking, which is their usual style of play and a means that will help them conquer Graeme Swann.

Flower’s strengths are simple ones: he does not overcomplicate the game; he has the strength of mind to ignore the often shrill voices that accompany the team; he has formed a quite superb working relationship with Andrew Strauss; and he is not what Roy Keane used to call a “bluffer”.

Angus Fraser, in the Independent, agrees that hitting Swann out of the attack is the way to go for South Africa, for the ploy would mean that England's seamers would have to bowl longer spells, thereby reducing their potency.

What makes this situation even more perplexing is that South Africa have Duncan Fletcher, the former England coach, in their ranks. One of Fletcher's greatest assets with England was his ability to coach batsmen to overcome spin bowling. His work helped England complete memorable series victories over Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Australia.

Duncan Fletcher, in the Guardian, says the heavy workload England's four-man attack has to bear might be their main weakness going into the Cape Town Test. Performances, like in Durban, are difficult to sustain, and the preparation England have undergone in the build-up to the Test will be key to how they perform, he says.

Nassier Hussain thinks England are pretty well equipped to reverse their win-less trend at Newlands. Read his daily dossier in the Daily Mail.

Adnan Sipra, writing in the Daily Times, says Pakistan had several positives to take from the defeat in Melbourne. The confidence of Umar Akmal and the raw energy of Mohammad Aamer being the most notable among them. The visitors, he says, are also not short of options. Younis Khan remains a potential call-up, so does Shoaib Malik in place of Faisal Iqbal.

The problem, however, lies not merely in the options available but how best to utilise them. Had it not been for a poor first-day performance at the MCG, so desperately lacking in commitment and self-belief, the first Test wouldn’t have required Ponting’s obvious desire to make it more competitive and appealing for the large crowds present. The SGC and its spinner-friendly conditions should simply invite Yousuf to sit his team down at the pre-match team-talk and invoke a recent, popular slogan: “Yes, we can!”

The Ashes win in 2005 trumps the Wimbledon final between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer to be named the best sporting contest of the decade in the Independent.

The Ashes of 2005 was the apogee of sporting theatre, possessing the rare combination of being perpetually watchable to the point of addiction and being unwatchable to the point of fearing for your health. The years since have dulled neither its appeal nor its thrilling nature and that explains why it won the Greatest Contest in The Independent Poll of the Decade.

In the same newspaper, Ian Botham speaks to Brian Viner about his new book, My Sporting Heroes.

Dileep Premachandran looks back at the highlights of 2009 in the Guardian.

Mike Atherton, writing in the Times, speaks of the change he's witnessed in Graeme Swann from the time he was picked in the squad for South Africa ten years ago to his recent success. Maturity and change in attitude, he says, are two of the several factors contributing to his impressive performance. He adds that if Swann is to be considered truly world-class, he has to distinguish himself in the sub-continent.

What were the doubts that caused the England selectors, who had clearly seen something in the cygnet when they picked him for the tour to South Africa ten years ago, to balk at playing him in the final XI until 2008? There were two issues, neither related, both of which Swann has put firmly to bed.

The first was temperament, which a decade ago was just the wrong side of cocky and which has been slightly modified through maturity. The other was the nagging doubts of those in authority then that an “orthodox” finger spinner could succeed in a game increasingly dominated by wrist spinners, or off spinners who offered something different by way of a “doosra”.