In an old cover story for Open, Sandipan Deb wrote about how cricket suddenly became boring, due to the overdose of games. But the India-South Africa Test series has made him change his mind about the game. It takes a compelling Test series to draw people back and the main players in the series - Sehwag, Sachin, Steyn, Amla - need to be credited for that.

Has there ever been a series where a team lost by an innings and then came back to win the next match by an innings? And when was the last time that a player from the losing side got a Man of the Match award, and that too without any doubt that he should get it? And what is wrong with the man called Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar? When will he stop? When will he say that he has done enough? Clearly, there has never been a cricketer like him, even perhaps a man like him. Who could have ever imagined the feats that he has achieved, and who can imagine what more he will?

Brett Lee has been a thoroughly modern fast bowler. He has never played a Test in Pakistan. He has his own website. I presume he tweets. And he has chosen to retire from Test cricket in the hope that he may be able to prolong his one-day career, writes Vic Marks in the Observer.

In a bar in Melbourne in December 1998 an old Australian Test cricketer was barely able to contain his excitement. Rodney Marsh, director of the Australian academy at the time (he would go on to do the same job for the England and Wales Cricket Board) and a frequent contributor to the Observer's sports pages, was so excited he barely had time to sip his beer.

England had just gone one down in the Ashes series, but this was not the reason Marsh was jumping up and down like a kid with a new toy. The explanation came in his column of that week. "Just to cheer you up some more," he wrote. "I've just watched the academy side beat Victoria's second team – and I'm in a state of some exhilaration. Fast bowlers always excite me and I've just witnessed one in action. My boys asked me whether I had seen anyone quicker. 'Just one,' I said. 'Thommo.' The bowler in question is called Brett Lee. Remember that name."

In the Herald on Sunday, Martin Snedden says he had to deal with serious terrorism incidents or threats at least five or six times during his time as time as chief executive of New Zealand Cricket. But he says that it was the attacks on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore in March last year and the Togo football team in Angola only seven weeks ago that finally served to signal that sport can no longer assume that it will not be directly targeted by terrorists.

So how does sport deal with this? It's a terrible situation for any sports administrators to find themselves in. There is no easy answer but I have some thoughts, based on my own experiences, about how to navigate through this type of situation.

First, each circumstance needs to be examined and judged on its own merits. It is human nature for people to react to danger or the threat of danger by reactively deciding that to "do nothing" is the answer - ie, if there is a threat, don't go near it.

If everyone took that approach, no one would go anywhere and international sporting schedules would quickly descend into chaos. Hard as it might be at the time, it is necessary to give every individual situation its own considered analysis.

I hope I am wrong but right now I doubt New Zealand have the goods to take a series from Australia. They know they will be judged on this series but a pass mark should not be a series win, writes Mark Richardson in the Herald on Sunday.

We expected Australia to be a class above the Black Caps and they were; we expected Shaun Tait and Dirk Nannes to bowl fast and they did; we expected our batsmen to struggle with the pace of Tait and Nannes and they did; we expected Mitchell Johnson to continue to dominate our batsmen and he did; we expected Shane Watson to play just as well with his mouth as with bat and ball and he did; and we might just have expected Billy Bowden to have one of those moments and for that 'whoopsy' to favour Australia. He did.

Mike Atherton is concerned about the depressing culture of failure among British cricketers of Asian origin. Writing in the Times, he wonders why Ravi Bopara, Monty Panesar, Owais Shah and co. are not emulating the feats of players like Hashim Amla who have made it big in non-Asian sides.

The idea that some kind of cultural divide is to blame finds credence, perhaps, in the failure of Panesar to kick on. In these pages yesterday the spinner was quick to blame himself for listening to others instead of his instincts. There is an echo here of his failure to impose his ideas upon the England captain he played under mostly, Michael Vaughan. Vaughan always set Panesar’s fields for him, yet Andrew Flintoff has recounted how Panesar, before his debut in India, came to his room full of ideas about his field placings.

	Craig Kieswetter: Following a well trodden path © Getty Images

As the South Africa- born Craig Kieswetter pads up for England, Mike Selvey notes in Guardian that fretting over the country's foreign-born players, is but a means of ignoring the ills inherent to the domestic system.

South African cricketers do not just come in and storm the castle. Geoff Miller and his selectors choose them for no reason other than that in their opinion they are the best players qualified. Were there home-grown players who could prove themselves better, they will get selected instead. So where are they? Specifically where are the batsmen? What is on trial is not the ambition of mercenary cricketers but the system in this country that identifies talent early enough but then fails to advance batsmen of promise from representative age-group cricket through the system.

	Shaun Tait: fit and firing © Getty Images

Shaun Tait is back in Australia’s team and is showing renewed vigor, writes AAP’s Daniel Brettig.

Freshened by a decision to forego the rigours of first-class cricket, 26-year-old Tait is bowling the swiftest spells of his life, and as the West Indians and Pakistanis will attest, to face him now is to watch the ball - and life itself - flash before a batsman's eyes.

Ever since he debuted for South Australia at 19, Tait has had days when he could bowl the sorts of spells that no batsman could survive. But the reduced stress of life without four and five-day cricket seem to have allowed those days to come around more often. "This year because of the decision to not play the longer form, it's been a lot easier and I've probably enjoyed my cricket more," he said.

	Fans in Ahmedabad celebrate Sachin Tendulkar's historic achievement © Associated Press

Nasser Hussain gives his verdict on Sachin Tendulkar in the Daily Mail. He places Tendulkar ahead of Brian Lara, Ricky Ponting and even Don Bradman on the list of the greatest batsmen of all time.

That extraordinary drive and enthusiasm are what make Tendulkar so special. He has been playing international cricket for 20 years under the intense scrutiny being an Indian superstar brings, so it is remarkable he still loves holding a bat as much as ever.

Blogging for India Today, Sharda Ugra is relieved that the 200-run barrier was breached by Tendulkar, ahead of the likes of MS Dhoni and Shahid Afridi.

It’s not that they cannot do it or won’t. Several others can, but cricketing summit are like knighthoods, in the times of King Arthur rather than Queen Elizabeth (I or II). Not everyone is bestowed them. Afridi has been caught trying to eat the cricket ball. The Gods are blessing Dhoni and his Tarzan-philosophy but the geometry and physics of his batting would send Euclid and Einstein on strike.

Bobby Ghosh compares Tendulkar's feat with Roger Bannister's breach of the four-minute mile barrier to explain the enormity of the Master's accomplishment, in Time.

In a one-day game, each side gets to bat 50 six-ball overs — that's 300 balls or, in American baseball terms, "pitches." It's rare that a single batsman gets more than 150 pitches, so the batsman would need a hit rate higher than 100% to get to 200 runs. Tendulkar got his 200 runs in 147 pitches, a hitting rate of 136.5.

In a time when sporting heroes around the world constantly reiterate their mortality, Simon Briggs salutes Tendulkar for proving "you can be a sporting icon without turning into a monster", in Telegraph.

But everything about Tendulkar’s public persona backs up his squeaky-clean image. The man is modest in victory and gracious in defeat, while his post-match comments are invariably diplomatic. It is hard to remember him being drawn into a single controversy – at least, not one that stood up to scrutiny. Compare that to Woods, who is notorious for chucking his clubs out of the bag whenever he hits a bum shot, or the foul-mouthed Premier League stars who occupy so much of our airtime. Even Roger Federer, easily the most impressive member of the “Gillette trio”, cannot resist the odd cheap shot.

A double century has only been a theoretical possibility in limited overs so far, so in many ways Tendulkar has achieved something unusual, writes Imran Khan in the Economic Times.

If I had had to pick up a guy as the one to score the first one-day double ton, it would have been Virender Sehwag. He is young, belligerent and in unbelievable touch. However, it was his illustrious senior who pipped him at the post.

While everyone was willing the game on for Tendulkar record, he waited out MS Dhoni's uncontrollable flair and let the record come to him. This editorial piece in the Indian Express believes that for very substantial reasons, this will be a special record for him.

Prem Panicker checked his Twitter account in the midst of Tendulkar's mayhem, and was overwhlemed by the public pulse. Read the latest post on his blog Smoke Signals.

From Anand Mahindra, head of the eponymous business house: On my way to ndtv Indian of the year awards.But wonder if any other indian matters tonight after sachin’s double ton…

From Ashu Mittal, whose creative space is photography and who is a self-confessed cricket atheist: Commit all your crimes when Sachin is batting, they will go unnoticed, because even the Lord is watching!

Patrick Kidd, writing in the Line & Length blog on the Times website, believes that Tendulkar still has a fair bit of cricket to go and 100 hundreds is a realistic goal for him to achieve before retiring.

Alan Tyers, writing on the Wisden Cricketer website, finds a unique and humorous way to pay tribute to the innings and the man, discovering '200* Amazing Facts About Sachin Tendulkar'.

POWER! Despite being only four feet tall, Sachin can bench press 460 pounds. If Sachin was an ant, this would be the equivalent of AntSachin lifting a Cornish PASTY...

It's become fashionable to criticise Lalit Modi at every opportunity, but his stance over the relocation (or not) of games appears reasonable. While players do have an individual choice to make over the IPL, Dileep Premachandran writing in the Guardian website believes Lalit Modi is right to stand firm.

Do we seriously expect Modi or other sports administrators to go weak at the knees each time some obscure terror group decides to exercise the speed-dial option? India has the Commonwealth Games to host in October and a cricket World Cup final next March. Admission of any inability to secure the IPL would be tantamount to saying that those events should be moved as well. After all, how many Commonwealth athletes, Usain Bolt apart, are as renowned as a Warne or Sachin Tendulkar?

The IPL doesn't count its success merely in terms of valuation on paper. According to Sundar Raman, the IPL CEO, the bigger achievement is the ability to get more fans involved in the game. Read his full interview in the Economic Times.

The basic difference between brands and IPL is that it caters to consumers and fans respectively. Sure, IPL is a brand and there’s a big opportunity, but we are content, we are cricket and it’s a sport at the end of the day. We are multi-dimensional and people see us as a multifaceted brand.

	I'm gloving it: Craig Kieswetter © Getty Images

Kieswetter's blitzkrieg in England's opening match of the tour of Bangladesh has presented them with a conundrum they might like but could have done without. Potentially prodigious talent though he may be, Kieswetter seems merely to confirm the suspicion that England's selectors are still largely dependent on players with dual passports. Stephen Brenkley has more in the Independent.

Do they open the one-day batting with him and use him as wicketkeeper? Whither Prior, whither the 13 opening partnerships already used since the last World Cup? When will the next South African knock on the door?

Kieswetter, allrounder Ajmal Shahzad, batsman Michael Carberry and spinner James Tredwell are on Sam Sheringham's radar on BBC Sport. He believes that opportunity knocks for England's new recruits on the tour of Bangladesh, with the likes of Andrew Strauss and James Anderson opting out.

In the Guardian, Paul Weaver pays his tribute to Arthur McIntyre, Arthur McIntyre, England's oldest surviving Test cricketer, who died aged 91.

But for all his renowned toughness, McIntyre had a human side that helped the players warm to him. "I remember playing against Essex and, in my 90s, approaching my maiden championship century," Stewart recalls. "Arthur walked down the wicket and told me not to be nervous, to keep playing normally and the hundred would come. The next thing I knew, he was calling yes-no-yes-no and I was diving full length to make my ground. He nearly ran me out twice. He was more nervous for me than I was for myself."

With the Fly Emirates XI gaining the services of a proper ringer - Shahid Afridi - for the inaugural Emirates Airline Twenty20 competition, Andy Bull in his blog on the Guardian website recalls similar roles played by Ian Botham, Geoff Boycott and Kevin Pietersen.

It was not so long ago that Kevin Pietersen turned out for Newick CC, tempted into playing by club captain Piers Morgan, who dispiritingly won KP over by offering a brief encounter with Simon Cowell in part exchange (The Spin wonders if Emirates got Afridi so cheaply). Pietersen's off-spin was carted for successive sixes by a 42-year-old businessman named Mark Symonds, though KP did at least clean bowl a cocky student who had attempted to switch-hit him over long-off.

Kolkata, more specifically Eden Gardens, have taken Harbhajan Singh to heart in the manner they did Mohammad Azharuddin earlier and Gundappa Vishwanath and BS Chandrasekhar before that. Dwelling on India's innings win against South Africa, Suresh Menon in Dreamcricket.com explains how crowd support is important in taking a bowler or batsman that extra yard.

Why does the Board insist on thrusting Test cricket down the throats of centres which would rather have one-day or Twenty20 matches? Test matches have been played on 20 grounds in India, so obviously a certain amount of give-and-take is necessary. The Board could lay down guidelines: poor crowds and you lose your status as a Test venue. This will help the spectators too since there might be an effort to bring down the often exorbitant price of tickets to pack in the crowds.

In most other sports, jersey numbers are useful for identifying players, but Herschelle Gibbs sporting '09' and Mark Boucher '9' on their backs, has GS Vivek in the Indian Express intrigued.

Since 2005, the South African opener has changed his jersey number every 12 months in sync with the year. For example he sported 05 in 2005, 06 in 2006, 07 in 2007, 08 in 2008 and 09 in 2009. The fact that he prefixed his numbers with ‘0’ was also because it clashed with those of other team mates, like Boucher now.

Lalit Modi has decided to limit the number of IPL teams to 10, at least for the next eight years. Contractual obligations with channels, a limit on the number of playing days and the availability of players may even prompt two tiers in the league. He reveals more in an interview to Anand Vasu in the Hindustan Times.

The bread and butter of the BCCI are still Tests and ODIs. It's really important for us to invest in this because it's at the core of our cricket culture. What Twenty20 is doing is bringing new fans into the game. We were all worried about football making giant strides and capturing the minds of young people. Twenty20 has stemmed that, at least in our country.

The Eden Gardens thriller reaffirms Pradeep Magazine's faith in India's experienced cricketers. Writing in Hindustan Times, he is of the opinion that, though a lot is expected from the young guns, when the chips are down it is the senior pros who put their hands up.

Much as we flaunt the "young India" as a tagline for our rise to the top, it is the old brigade which is keeping us alive and kicking. Be it Sehwag's brutal brilliance or Sachin Tendulkar's hunger and passion, which should put even a debutant to shame, this is a victory for "Old India" with VVS Laxman proving further that old is still gold. And despite the raw, exuberant energy which Harbhajan displays after ensnaring his victim, I am sure he won't take umbrage at being called belonging to the "old" rather than "new".

Kevin Pietersen may have had an ordinary tour of South Africa but he's not lost any confidence in his own abilities. That and other reflections in his revealing interview with Lawrence Booth in the Wisden Cricketer.

You scarcely need to read between the lines: Pietersen still sees himself as England’s main man, despite averaging 25 in the four Tests; and the conviction runs so deep it slips out as instinctively as one of his flamingo whips to leg. Despite all he has been through, Pietersen’s subconscious is still doing the talking.

It is not long before he is at it again. This time the subject is his position in the batting order – mainly No.4 since he moved up a spot for the second innings at Melbourne in 2006-07. The question – “Doesn’t your best player bat at three?” – may be ingenuously leading but the answer warms to the theme. “Kallis bats four for South Africa, doesn’t he? So that doesn’t ring true. And I bat four for England. What number does Yousuf bat for Pakistan? Four? Ponting’s three – but he’s probably the only one. He plays on good wickets, mind you. I’ll bat three there [on Australian pitches], no problem.”

India may have retained their No. 1 ranking with the innings win at Eden Gardens but Stuart Hess believes there's a hollowness in the aftermath. He questions that while the Indians may have gone potty over their top status, are they entitled to being named the best side in the world?He presents his argument in iol.co.za.

On the other hand, South Africa have completed a thrilling pair of Tests in India without answering the questions Cricket South Africa was so concerned about when it decided to intervene by pushing former coach Mickey Arthur aside. Ken Borland offers his review in the Mail & Guardian Online.

Van Zyl made a name for himself as a highly successful coach with the Diamond Eagles, where he successfully melded a man-management style with threats of "koppe stamp" type sessions if he felt there was any slackness creeping in. He is also very thorough in his preparation and communication. It is an approach that could well work a treat with the current national team given that, like the Springboks, they are strongly player-driven.

Delightfully irreverent, bracingly honest, unexpectedly funny, Paul Harris seems incapable of the boring sound-byte that’s the staple of most cricketers. S Ram Mahesh finds out more in Sportstar.

Tell him it’s strange that he loves being in the spotlight for an unglamorous part, and he says, just a touch tartly, “I suppose I’m a bit eccentric.” Ah, finally evidence of a chip on the shoulder. “Not at all,” he says. “Maybe it’s a strategic chip on the shoulder. How’s that huh? Maybe it’s a strategy. Maybe a quarter piece of wood in the shoulder, but it’s more a strategy.

Given Pakistan's poor performance in Australia, former chief selector Iqbal Qasim felt it was his duty to resign as chief selector. However, he notes two big reasons for the team's debacle - not playing to their potential and the lack of professionalism. Read his full interview in Pakpassion.net.

PakPassion.Net: With regards to the choice of captain for the tours of Australia and New Zealand, obviously the selectors and board were put in a difficult position with Younus handing in his resignation shortly before the tour of New Zealand. Yousuf was appointed as skipper, was that a unanimous choice?

Iqbal Qasim: The choice of captain was not the selection committee's decision to make. It was the job of the PCB chairman and the Executive Board members to choose the captain, remove the captain and appoint any captain. We (the selection committee) were never asked about this decision and we didn't interfere in this decision.

Twitter is fast becoming the best way to stay in touch with what your cricketing heroes are up to, says Anand Vasu on his blog on the Hindustan Times. He adds it's the best way to build community as well.

Check out Rahul Bhatia's photo feature in Open magazine on how cricket balls are manufactured at the Sanspareils Greens (SG) factory in Meerut, India.

The temporary nature of Alastair Cook's tenure as England captain in Bangladesh makes it a delicate proposition, writes Stephen Brenkley in the Independent, but if he can tackle that now it will make it easier for him later on when a permanent successor is being sought.

It is important that Cook not be judged one jot on his performances in media briefings, where he is not exactly unhelpful but is not revealing either. Few of his predecessors have shone brightly before the damn-fool questions of the fourth estate and others seemed to make it their business to be as dull and awkward as possible. Only Nasser Hussain of recent vintage has bloomed both in press conferences and dressing room. But it is the dressing room where Cook must initially stamp his personality and authority, and if he does that the rest will follow.

Jacques Kallis' future will be decided by his body, but for the moment he's in one piece and enjoying his cricket as much as ever. Writing for the Hindustan Times he also believed Harbhajan Singh made the right decision to sit out of the first two ODIs due to his sister's wedding.

In a syndicated column in the same newspaper, Sunil Gavaskar believes that India's win at the Eden Gardens showed that they do not need a turning pitch to win Tests. Also, the phobia about hard, bouncy pitches should be done away with forever now.

In his last 10 Test innings, JP Duminy has managed seven single-figure scores. His disappointing campaign in India prompts Tim Ellis in Cricket365.com to bring out a list of batsmen on the decline.

	Can Brendon McCullum's form hold up against Australia? © AFP

The series against Bangladesh was not totally about the result because you simply don't lose to Bangladesh, writes former New Zealand opener Mark Richardson in the Herald on Sunday. New Zealand did not win in a fashion that would have alleviated any fears about the challenge of facing Australia. In fact, they probably have as many, if not more, concerns than before the game.

How are we going to get 20 wickets? Wellington and Hamilton in March will be good batting surfaces and, right now, the bowling lacks penetration. Perhaps dry, turning wickets are the way to go to attack Australia. After all, Vettori is our best bowler and Australia have no champion leg spinner any more.

After an nail-biting finish to the Kolkata Test, an editorial in the Hindu says that 'the structure of the five-day game has a built-in resilience that helps it triumph over existential challenges.'

If the home team deserved credit for turning things around brilliantly after a pasting in the first Test at Nagpur, the operatic irresistibility of the Eden Gardens climax proved that Test cricket is in robust good health. Seat-edge endings in the abbreviated forms of the game often appear contrived and formulaic. But a result such as the one that saw India level the series against the Proteas with nine balls left has an authenticity that Test cricket alone can aspire to.

In the Times of India's weekly publication Crest, Partha Bhaduri looks into whether cricket - already overwhelmingly the most popular sport in India - will ended up usurping other lower-profile sports if it is included in the Olympics or whether it will present a chance for India to boost its medal tally.

There's a school of thought that cricket will,at best,be a queer sideshow in the gargantuan Olympic circus,more synchronized swimming than 100 metre dash.The ICC has only 10 full members,and that's no place to start.Of course,there are 35 associate members and 59 affiliate members,but it's more a unique brainwave to notch up the numbers,given that even the ICC will be hard-pressed to take their competitive skills seriously.If spreading the game is ICC's mission,how about an IPL game in the US?

After the Ravindra Jadeja IPL fiasco, Desh Gaurav Sekhri, a sports attorney, writes on the sportzpower.net website that currently the balance of power is firmly on the side of the tournament's organisers and not at all on the side of the players. He says that eventually a players' association should evolve to represent them in interaction with franchises and the organisers.

At present there is little representation for the players, and while critics may claim that the players have a sweet deal in the IPL, the fact remains that for dispute resolution or any sort of unified negotiations with the League, a group of Players Representatives is required. In international leagues this is a vital aspect of any leagues’ functioning, dealing with issues ranging from suspensions, labor negotiations/lockouts, agency, and drug-testing, to collective bargaining. For the successful and sustainable functioning of the IPL, it too will need a Players’ body which is well-represented by a cross-section of key personnel and other appointees along with a diverse representative pool of players both international as well as domestic.

How much do New Zealand need to improve to foot it with Australia? Plenty, writes David Leggat in the New Zealand Herald.

The gulf between Bangladesh and Australia is as wide as it gets in the international game. It's all very well for New Zealanders to grumble about seeing too much of Bangladesh, and not enough of, say South Africa or England.

New Zealand's position is not such that they can demand more frequent activity against the more moneyed, and successful nations. We are not that good right now and therefore have little appeal to those whose minds are preoccupied with making a buck.

	Another classic Test at one of the great theatres of the game © AFP

An Eden Gardens thriller is the latest in a series of epic Tests that has had everyone enthralled – except for the administrators, writes Dileep Premachandran on his Guardian blog.

Gripping matches like this deserve the biggest stage and the unbelievable atmosphere at what is Indian cricket's theatre of dreams shamed the board officials who hadn't scheduled a Test here since December 2007 for a host of petty reasons. No one quibbles with one-day cricket and T20 being played in every corner of this antique land, but if Test cricket is to remain in rude health, Eden Gardens and Chepauk must get at least one Test a year. Playing in front of empty stands at Mohali and Nagpur merely mocks a great tradition. As a friend wrote to me: "Can you imagine England picking Grace Road above Lord's, or the Aussies Hobart over the MCG/SCG?"

In the Wisden Cricketer, editor John Stern is left wanting more after that Kolkata classic.

A two-Test series is neither here nor there. This rubber is just warming up but now it’s over. India and South Africa were playing for the Jaypee Infratech Trophy - you what? No they weren’t. They were playing for the glory. Was Harbhajan thinking Jaypee Infratech when he did his Cristiano Ronaldo bit on the boundary? It was all about the glory. More than that. There was the status of No.1 side in the world.

Lawrence Booth believes that the recent clash between Lalit Modi and the ECB over the Champions League dates, underlines England's standing in the Twenty20 scheme of things. Writing in the Wisden Cricketer, he says that Modi’s attempt to reconfigure England’s domestic calendar is symptomatic of their apathy towards the format.

At almost every turn, England has treated Twenty20 like a necessary evil. Even when the format emerged on the county scene in 2003, it was regarded as a crowd-puller rather than a legitimate form of cricket. After all, left elbows are supposed to be high, not jockeying for position in a mascots’ race or levering oneself out of the pitchside Jacuzzi.

Ijaz Butt doesn't seem to have many friends these days. The latest to criticise Butt's term as chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board is Col Rafi Nasim, himself a former PCB chief executive officer, who writes in the Daily Times that over the last two years Butt's management has made a thorough mess of the game as well as its administration. Such an astounding public demand for the removal of the PCB chairman and his partners, for bringing disgrace to the country, is absolutely legitimate, he adds.

	Tom Graveney in action © Getty Images

Of all the great batsmen Mike Selvey bowled at or watched, none produced a shot as sublime as a legside boundary from Tom Graveney on a grey day in Worcester 42 years ago. Selvey recalls the day in the Guardian and how Graveney's unhurried, unflustered style was a delight to watch.

It is the second occasion, however, that carries a special significance for me. We were at New Road, myself and Surrey team‑mates, on the last day of August two years later, to play Worcestershire. This was only my fifth appearance in the County Championship and I knew nothing. There is no romantic recollection of it being an azure summer's day, with the cathedral shimmering and the Severn slumbering by. It was sweater weather and the pitch, looking at the card, must have been a green top of a kind that once offered rich pickings for Jack Flavell and Len Coldwell.

But it was on that day, from the New Road end, that I bowled to Graveney and was primary witness to a single stroke that defined everything that has followed for me since. The delivery, such as it was, contained no particular merit. It was on a length, lively enough in pace from a whippy youngster and not badly directed at around middle-and-off. At least it deserved respect. What followed is as clear as day.

The IPL's decision to move matches from Hyderabad and Vishakapatnam over the Telengana issue is criticised in this editorial in the Indian Express. The decision, the editorial says, has been taken by ignoring the situation on the ground and state government, and the overreach has damaged efforts to manage the security situation in the country.

But the board’s overreach is making the IPL unsafe for this country. Take the latest two-step. Sharad Pawar last week called on Bal Thackeray, at a time when the Shiv Sena stood at its most politically isolated, an isolation that threatened to also marginalise the NCP. But it was let out that Pawar was not calling on Thackeray in his capacity as an NCP leader, but in fact, to win the Sena chief over for the smooth conduct of IPL matches.

Twenty five years since Mohammad Azharuddin made a hundred on Test debut at Eden Gardens, Mudar Patherya looks back at the event, and the two successive tons that followed, in Mid Day.

A hundred in your first Test. A hundred in your second Test. A hundred in your third Test. The English media uncorked the vintage. Not just about the quantum, but the quality. Robin Marlar predicted greatness based on just one Azhar stroke. Pocock to Azhar. A little outside the leg stump. Azhar hit the ball behind the wicket-keeper. Most would have done so with a horizontal or angled bat. Azhar did so with a straight one, bringing his bat down and into his body at the last instant. "I have often been asked to describe perfection in sport. This is it."

	Bubbly, aggressive and in your face © Getty Images

Ajmal Shahzad, England's newest recruit, is not lacking confidence as he prepares to face Pakistan and Bangladesh. He tells the Guardian's David Hopps about breaking through barriers for Yorkshire and getting in shape for his country.

"Suddenly I enjoyed getting up at half past six to go for a run with the sun shining. Because I am from an Asian background, my mum makes a lot of fried food and curries and chapatis. I don't eat them any more. The penny dropped for me and I have cut them out of my diet for 18 months. I eat a lot of grilled food, although I still have to have a bit of spice in it. I have learnt what I need to put into my body.

"When you can see the results, you understand. In a year I went from 15 stones to 12 and a half stones. My body felt good, I felt lighter, just as strong, I could run further. I was a big lad as a kid as well. When Tim Bresnan got into the England side and I finally got a regular chance at Yorkshire, bowling long spells up the hill at Headingley, I knew I was fit enough to do it."

Inevitably sport will be shaken to the core by threats similar to the ones for the IPL. But Peter Roebuck, writing in the Sydney Morning Herald, believes sportsmen cannot be regarded as fair game and appeals to sceptics, who believe sport is not worth the bother.

Sport cannot possibly come to terms with these modern-day threats issued by medievalists. By and large it is played in the open, in fields, before crowds. The only gun sport knows is the starter's pistol, the only blood in sport comes from the boxer's nose and the only tears come when tragedy occurs, as it did in Vancouver a few days ago as a comrade was lost.

If Virender Sehwag's allround dominance at Eden Gardens was reminiscent of Wayne Rooney, then Sachin Tendulkar's restrained brilliance had shades of Paul Scholes, so thinks Sumit Mukherjee, who likens the Indian pair's effort to the Manchester United duo, in the Times of India.

It was almost as if India were playing with a single striker like Manchester United do so often with Wayne Rooney these days. Sehwag, like Rooney, was having a blast when in walked Tendulkar to a standing ovation from the crowd. The Master Blaster quickly assessed the situation and his partner’s mood and slipped into a role that made Paul Scholes a legend at Old Trafford.

It is difficult to say whether Tendulkar, a self-confessed Manchester United fan, was inspired by Scholes’ exploits, but his craftsmanship en route to his 47th Test hundred bore an uncanny resemblance to the United talisman’s style of play. It was a wonderful exhibition of controlled aggression with a sublime touch.

In his tour diary for Supercricket, Ken Borland admires two of the most dedicated fans of the Indian team - Sudhir Chaudhary and Dharamveer. Both are considered lucky omens by the Indians and that inspires Borland to achieve something similar with his own team, like when he shadow-practiced with Alviro Petersen's bat before the Kolkata Test.

Of course I would have died of embarrasment if I had actually jinxed someone who I am delighted has finally made his test debut. And, surely, becoming just the third player to score a hundred for South Africa on debut means he was actually helped by my intervention? I believe lucky omen status is only fair. Although, for the life of me, I can't imagine what I did wrong during tea time on Sunday ...

Several members of the Afghanistan Under-19 team wanted to stay in New Zealand after the recent World Cup to become professional cricketers in the hope they could support their families in their war-torn homeland. Former New Zealand player Mike Shrimpton, who took on a temporary coaching role with the Afghans, tells the Herald on Sunday that most days they rang home to check on their families and it often made for an uncomfortable environment.

"Three or four players lived in the same district where the Taleban gunmen and suicide bombers entered [while the World Cup was on]. It didn't help it was in the news here with our SAS officers involved in the heart of the capital Kabul. A number of the boys were affected. It became clear one night from talking to the captain [Noor-ul-Haq] that his family was in the basement of their house and there was a gunfight outside. It was a difficult time not knowing what was happening."

	The man Australia regard as world-class © AFP

Bangladesh have been the entree before the main. Writing in the Herald on Sunday, Alex Malcolm gives an Australian perspective of their upcoming tour of New Zealand.

While the Australian public are largely ignorant of recent battles, and are wrestling with their own interest levels in the current one-sided summer against a hapless Pakistan and helpless West Indies, the Australian cricket team would be far less naive when it comes to the upcoming tour of New Zealand. The Black Caps always lift a cog for their trans-Tasman rivals, particularly in the limited overs format. Aside from the recent Champions Trophy final, the last three Chappell-Hadlee one-day series have been extremely competitive.

Writing in the Sunday Observer, Rohan Wijesinghe salutes Dr Churchill Hector Gunasekere who paved the way for Sri Lanka as a cricketing nation. In 1920, a solitary cable to Dr CH from Dr John Rockwood which read "contact the Marleybone Cricket Club and request a game in Colombo" may well have paved Sri Lanka to eventual stardom in Lahore eight decades later.

Our cricketers could shed their insecurities and uncertainties riding on the doctors accomplishments at Cambridge University and Middlesex, he being the first Ceylonese to play county cricket, the first Ceylonese to date to have played in a championship winning county side, first Ceylonese to be honoured with a membership of the utterly prestigious MCC and the first Ceylonese to add a hard to grab county to his cricket coffin. In addition to his ability with bat and scalpel he was perpetually hobnobbing with the English nobility and gentry, all within the easy ambit of his aristocratic stride, haughtily stubborn jawline and dark brooding eyes, besides his great sense of style and ceremony.

Mark Richardson is worried by the lack of experience in the New Zealand Test top-order. Writing in the New Zealand Herald, he says that the unproven line-up, with the exception of Ross Taylor, would do well to get some runs and confidence against Bangladesh, ahead of sterner tests against Australia.

New Zealand simply have to get some test runs to give them confidence heading into the Australian series. Australia will be rubbing their hands together in glee, looking at the inexperienced New Zealand lineup. It's often easier to score runs in a first innings against Australia but the bowlers soon work players out and formulate a plan. So they have to strike while the iron is hot, both for their own sake and that of New Zealand cricket.

	Sachin Tendulkar has neither lost his mental powers nor the fierce will to succeed © AFP

Sachin Tendulkar's hundred - his 46th overall - in the second innings of the Nagpur Test, says Pradeep Magazine in the Hindustan Times, could have been remembered as one of his most meaningful knocks ever but this would also hurt him the most.

Consider the backdrop to his second innings arrival at the crease. He had looked in good nick in the first innings, till Steyn foxed him with a disguised outswinger, lulling him into repeating a drive, which Tendulkar had played successfully in the previous over. The consequences this time around were fatal for the batsman.

What was Tendulkar's response in the second innings? He just refused to take the bait and cut out the drive completely from his shot selection. He had done a similar thing in the 2004 Sydney Test, refusing to play one of his most productive strokes, which on that tour had led to his demise a few times. The amazing part is that despite imposing this severe restriction on himself, which curtailed his run-making ability, he went on to score a double hundred then.

Forget the past and the statistics. India needs VVS Laxman at No.3 because he's currently the best man in a crisis. Essentially, he is a batsman of adversity. Whatever be its shape or place or canvas: Australia anywhere or Pakistan in a foggy, muggy, moth-covered evening in Lahore, writes Sharda Ugra in India Today.

Laxman is one of those cricketers who always seems above the averages, beyond the numbers. He’s a stylist in strife: like one of those Impressionists who stuck their heads out of a train in a monstrous storm to check out the view while painting with one hand.

The long list of injuries to the current West Indies players is enough to form a separate XI and it's not funny. Could the injuries be also sourced to the modern training regime, or the packed international calendar? Haydn Gill wonders in the Nation.

One suggestion is that if our leading players are contracted by the West Indies Cricket Board, the regional governing body ought to insist that the players cut down on their appearances in domestic Twenty20 competitions. I doubt very much that this will work. Such an order might be bordering on "restriction of trade".

In the New Zealand Herald, David Leggat speaks to the new national coach Mark Greatbatch and finds a man who isn't exactly comfortable with the notion of being "head coach".

On the park, captain Dan Vettori is the boss. No arguments, and that's the way it should be. Off it, there are people with various responsibilities. In Greatbatch's case, he is a national selector - and does most of the public comment around panel decisions - but will focus on coaching the batsmen, just as Shane Jurgensen works with the bowlers and former Auckland coach Mark O'Donnell oversees the fielding. Greatbatch has a holistic view of the New Zealand team. He points out that the size of the country means it should be all hands to the pump and he's determined to get the key figures involved as New Zealand look to move ahead in the coming year.

In the same paper, Adam Parore writes that Justin Vaughan has done a fine job bringing in the revenues for New Zealand Cricket, but it's high time he starts inviting more fashionable teams to the country, instead of Bangladesh.

Paul Collingwood's not-so-kind remark that it would be difficult to find a decent golf course in Bangladesh is exactly the sort of prat-line, with that unmistakable whiff of the old colonial days, which gets right up subcontinental noses, writes David Leggat in the New Zealand Herald. Bangladesh should keep that remark in mind to spur them on to drive England up the wall during the home series.

When Bangladesh head home to prepare for the arrival of England, we should all wish them well and hope they give the Old Dart a serious touch up. Why? Well apart from wanting to see a likeable bunch do well in front of their own people as they look to advance in the international game, there's what might be called the Paul Collingwood factor.

John Stern writes in the Wisden Cricketer that there seems to be a 'certain generic, faceless, smugness about the current lot' of Australians.

It frustrates me how easily I can feel sorry for opponents of my team. It happens less in football because of the shorter time-span (and, er, because I support West Ham) but whenever England enjoy sustained periods of cricket dominance I find that I start to sympathise with the opposition. I don’t want them to win, I just start feeling sorry for them which, I know, is both patronising and disloyal.

Not playing in the Champions League this year will be a hammer blow for county cricketers, writes Michael Vaughan in the Daily Telegraph. It's time the ECB stops continually fighting with the BCCI and to start building relationships, he believes, and they must realise they are never going to beat them.

I hate the fact that in this country we are arrogant and stubborn. We say "we are not letting India rule the world". Yet everyone else manages to build a relationship with India and makes a nice living off the back of it. Just like every other country, we should be making money from the Champions League. It is here to stay. It has a 10-year television deal worth $1 billion (£637 million) and is not going to disappear. We should embrace it.

	All is well. Seriously? © Getty Images

Blogging on the Dawn, Sohaib Alvi marvels at a five-hour TV show aired in Pakistan - called Cricket Ka Muqadma - that attempted to get to the bottom of the country's latest cricket crisis. Not a single official had a copy of any written minutes for reference purposes, everyone cited the high salaries of board officials, but no one rationalised the salary structure with any calculated presentation, and then there was the unproductive mudslinging.

Present in the ’galleries’ were the people who own the country’s cricket. Every 15 minutes they were heard through live feeds from all major cities of Pakistan. An hour into the show and the ‘jury’ had already reached a decision without waiting for a summary at the end of the proceedings: Don’t blame the cricketers; it’s the board, people. Normally this would read ‘It’s the Board, Stupid,’ but in this case, no one’s stupid except those claiming to be the messiahs who will part the seas and walk us through.

There is more purpose and coordination among street janitors when they change shifts. In those five hours, it became evident that not a single board administrator had spent an overlapping period with his predecessor after taking up a function; worse, no one had set up a system for that.

Has Harbhajan Singh really lost his bite or has he been sorted out by international batsmen? Is he also a case of burn-out with too much cricket? Has he lost sting after Kumble's retirement because the two often hunted as a pair? Indranil Basu finds out more from experts Anil Kumble, Maninder Singh and Bishen Bedi. Read on in the Times of India.

"I think it's about the mindset. He wants to restrict the other side from scoring. He is waiting for the wickets to come by. He is hesitant to put pressure on the opposition. He has the class but he has to apply pressure on the minds of the batsmen. An attacking field is the best way to make the batsmen think differently, which he is not doing too often," Maninder said.

	"It's a good job my cricket is all right" © Getty Images

The Guardian's Andy Bull corned England allrounder Tim Bresnan and grilled him on scuba diving, how to make Yorkshire puddings rise and why Snoop Dogg always carries an umbrella.

Are you a rugby man? Yeah, I do like rugby. I'm more of a rugby man than a cricket man. Err, no, I mean, not a cricket man, I'm more of a rugby man than a football man.

And music? Obviously the Kings of Leon.

Obviously. What about Dr Comfort and the Lurid Revelations? Hah, I've not actually heard Graeme Swann's band, but I did hear him sing last week. He sang at his own wedding. Can you believe that? He just grabbed the mic and started singing along with Oasis.

Daniel Brigham writes in Wisden Cricketer that by brazenly setting up a scheduling clash between the Champions League and the county season, Lalit Modi is showing how archaic the English domestic game is.

It’s time that the ECB and the counties realise that to keep up with the rest of the world, a more marketable number of teams – 10 or fewer – is a must so that the talent isn’t so thinly spread. A shorter season is also necessary, running from May to the end of August. This way it will avoid the rain, the cold, the football and fan burnout.

A severe kick up the backside shouldn’t have been needed to stir the counties into action, but that’s what Modi has provided. History tells us it won’t provoke much of a reaction, but surely even the counties must realise something has to be done now.

In the Wisden Cricketer, Lawrence Booth wonders what the implications the global deal between Rajasthan Royals and teams from three other countries mean. Among the questions he asks are:

Will anyone watch?

If you were a Hampshire supporter, would you pay to turn up at the Rose Bowl in July and watch Trinidad & Tobago v Cape Cobras? The Royals 2020 brains trust insists big names and high-quality cricket will be enough to fill grounds, but this was presumably said with fingers crossed, and the example of the Champions League was not encouraging: Indian fans quickly lost interest after the IPL franchises were knocked out. But if this idea can attract yet another new type of fan (or are we running out of new types of fans?), then at the very least, the suits will be telling themselves, it’s got to be worth a try.

Mike Atherton, in the Times, says "national governing bodies hold sway" for the moment but he feels that "ultimately, the franchises have certain advantages in this battle for power."

Having scored his runs, taken his wickets and contextualised his name in perpetuity, there is no doubting which side Shane Warne is on now: forget the Ashes, he said this week, the IPL was one of the greatest moments of his cricketing career, if not the greatest.

The scramble is on. Paul Sheldon, the Surrey chief executive, has been in India, along with several other county chief executives, gauging reaction and potential tie-ups; Jim Cumbes, the Lancashire chief executive, sounding somewhat late out of the blocks, said that a county of Lancashire’s size, reputation and importance would be foolish to overlook the potential. All the while they sounded like newspaper executives did when they talked of the internet not so long ago — that there must be a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow somewhere and they had better not be the ones to miss out.

In the Guardian, Mike Selvey writes about what really bothers him about the deal -"... the sheer arrogance of Manoj Badale, Warne and Sean Morris, men who speak not of cricket but in the language of franchises, marketing models, brand awareness, business opportunities and bottom lines in trying to impose something upon a structure which is already overseen by another organisation."

Are champions born or are they made? Is it genes which decide how gifted a sportsperson a child will grow up into, or the rigours of extensive training, or just experience? Indeed, what goes into the making of a champion? Ayaz Memon asks in the Mint.

How big a factor is economic well-being then? It’s a mixed bag really. In some cases, quite significant, especially to sports such as tennis, golf and swimming, but not quite so with cricket and football. Federer, for instance, comes from an upscale background; his father was an executive with a multinational pharma company which enabled not only access to facilities, but also expenses for coaching, etc. Ditto with Phelps in swimming and Woods in golf. But Bradman’s background was modestly rural middle class, while Tendulkar’s was modestly urban middle class. Ali, in contrast, was the son of a poor (in the American context) signboard painter from Louisville, while Maradona was even more underprivileged—he was the son of a bricklayer and came from the slums of Villa Fiorito outside Buenos Aires, Argentina.

South Africa are touring India for two Tests that will decide the No. 1 Test team in the world but Neil Manthorp was not in Nagpur and will not be in Kolkata either. In fact he's not even in India, but in Zimbabwe, where cricket is picking up after a decade of decay. Here's what he had to say on Supercricket.

Harare Sports Club has never looked so good and, to be absolutely honest, Zimbabwe Cricket has never had more of a buzz. Sponsors who abandoned the game during a decade of decay during the 2000s have returned and along with virtually all of the players who felt alienated enough to leave the game, and often the country, at some point in the last ten years.

Everywhere there is talk of ‘drawing a line in the sand’ and moving on for the good of the players and sake of the game. What is the point in dwelling on past disagreements and continuing to hold onto grudges which are past their sell-by date?

Every time Jacques Kallis falls short of the 200 barrier in Test cricket I think of the adage that opportunities have to be taken when they present themselves – and remember an afternoon in Bulawayo in September 2001, writes Colin Bryden on Sport24.

All it needed was a few lusty blows by Kallis to reach his double century but although he batted well enough he didn’t change gear against an unthreatening attack and when the declaration could no longer be delayed he was on 189 not out, scored off 443 balls.

It remains his highest Test score – and South Africa claimed only three wickets before the match fizzled out. Kallis finished the series with a remarkable 388 runs without being dismissed, having batted for 1 028 minutes. It is a notable record and there can be no doubt that Kallis belongs in the pantheon of great cricketers ... But I often wonder what that record would have been like if he had just chanced his arm just a little more in Bulawayo all those years ago. Maybe he would have peeled off double tons as regularly as Graeme Smith, who has reached the mark four times.

Indian captain M.S. Dhoni hadn’t an explanation for the absence of reverse swing. Perhaps there’s something in the fact that South Africa managed to reap its benefits only after the ball was changed. Whatever the case, India’s fast-bowlers will need to find a way of harnessing reverse swing in Kolkata; the inclusion of Sreesanth seems a step in that direction, writes S Ram Mahesh in the Hindu.

The biggest bowling disappointment, however, was Harbhajan. Simply put, it was an unacceptable performance from a spinner who is pursuing greatness. He allowed himself to be persuaded too easily into bowling a leg-stump line. He created problems when bowling with greater over-spin, but surprisingly didn’t do more of it. Nor did he try and get the batsman to drive against the turn often enough. Where Harris bowled 19 maiden overs, Harbhajan managed just one, indicative of the measure of comfort Kallis, Amla, and later A.B. de Villiers played him with.

No international body ever indulges in amateurish approach when it comes to players’ fitness, but Indian cricket adopts different parameters for the selection of senior players. This is one big reason for India losing at Nagpur by an innings, says Makarand Waingankar, also in the Hindu.

As the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket tournament draws closer, the buzz around team owners selling partial or even full stakes in their franchises gets stronger, writes Priyanka Mehra Dayal in the Mint.

Shares of publisher Deccan Chronicle Holdings Ltd, owner of Deccan Chargers, surged after the report that Kings XI Punjab had been sold, prompting speculation the firm’s valuation may increase. The stock rose 4.9% to Rs152.30 on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Meanwhile, Delhi Daredevils is looking to sell a 30% stake and is in talks with investors, confirmed a senior executive from the IPL franchise owned by GMR Holdings Pvt. Ltd, an infrastructure and construction firm.

Garth Wattley is full of praise for Wavell Hinds, but believes that the selection of the 33 year-old for the limited overs leg of the Australia tour reflects the lack of structured planning in the WICB. Writing in trinidadexpress.com, he laments that unless there is a robust selection policy framework in place, West Indies will continue to struggle on the field.

The new WI coach Ottis Gibson has said he wants his players to stop looking backwards. He needs to tell the Windies selectors the same thing. It does not matter how well or badly Wavell does...it is whether such a selection reflects structured planning.

With no regional 20/20 tournament planned before the Caribbean hosts the competition, couldn’t this have been a chance to expose, say a Navin Stewart or some such wild card and see what shakes?

It's that time of the year again. We're a little more than a month away from the third season of the IPL. The League has issued its guidelines for the media. Most of it appears excessively stringent for television channels, websites and other news outlets. Read Prem Panicker's take on it.

He [Modi] is shrewd enough to understand that he cannot achieve that objective in one stroke — so his preferred option seems to be, each season, to come up with a slate of laws that are clearly unacceptable. The media will talk boycott; Modi will in turn talk compromise. And knowing that the media is hungry for anything it can get, he will make a few “concessions”, the media will proclaim a victory — and Modi will be the one laughing last, for despite those “concessions” he will reluctantly acquiesce to under “media pressure”, he would have managed to get many restrictions in place, and institutionalised. He can then wait for season four, and start the dance all over again. And each season, he will get a little more, and be that bit further along on the road to the complete monopoly that is his ultimate goal.

The Royals' plan to establish a global franchise shows that cricket's permanent revolution is not yet at an end, writes Andy Bull in the Guardian.

The deal raises the prospect of five teams – all named the Royals – reaching the Champions League. If you need an idea of just how important that fledgling competition is to the financial futures of the English counties, just take a look at some of the overseas signings made this winter: Adam Gilchrist, Shahid Afridi, Cameron White. If all five Royals sides reached the competition, and Badale says it is "when not if", then they would split any players who are being shared between them on an ad hoc basis ("based on common sense" said captain-coach Shane Warne). They would also be putting all the winnings into a central pool and dividing them five ways. The pioneer years of Twenty20 are over. For the counties it is time to start swimming or sink like a stone.

In his column in the Hindustan Times Mickey Arthur salutes the South African team for toppling India in Nagpur, praising Dale Steyn in particular - "Steyn led the South African attack as well as any number one rank bowler has ever done in the history of Test cricket." He also says the home side's middle-order "looked like the India of old — easily bullied and intimidated by the quick men." Another aspect that he criticises is the toothlessness of the Indian bowling, with Harbhajan Singh bearing the brunt.

Harbhajan, who has in my opinion be below his best for several years now, must be questioning his future. His bowling lacked the zip and sting that was so characteristic in the early years of his career. He must be honest with himself and the management and selectors must be honest too. There is no place for sentiment in Test cricket — reputation and history should count for very little when selecting your best XI.

India choosing four pace bowlers instead of beefing up the batting was always going to hand the initiative to South Africa, writes Dileep Premachandran in the Guardian.

This debacle was waiting to happen, though, from the moment the selectors chose a squad that defied belief. Rahul Dravid was already out, and VVS Laxman extremely doubtful, but instead of beefing up the batting, they selected four pace bowlers when there was no way more than two were going to play. As the doubts over Laxman grew, Rohit Sharma, whose mediocre domestic season hardly warranted the status of first reserve, was added to the squad. On the morning of the game, he injured himself, handing a Test debut to Bengal's Wriddhiman Saha, picked for his "pure" wicketkeeping skills. Saha shouldered arms to Steyn in the first innings, before ending his Darren Pattinson experience with a doughty 36.

It is the 'great respect' they have for one another that has ensured the successful partnership between India coach Gary Kirsten and captain MS Dhoni. Boria Majumdar gets to know how Kirsten goes about his business and more during an interview in Open magazine.

Indian cricket is constantly under the glare of the media and your job is perhaps the second most high-profile after the captain. In what ways do you feel the pressure and how do you negotiate it?

My role is to help prepare the players as best I can to give them the best chance of success. I attempt to work as hard as I can to do that. The game is about the players because they are the ones crossing the ropes to make a performance. They must receive the accolades, not me.

Shahid Afridi’s most closely guarded secret is that more than biting into a ball, he enjoys cricket bats marinated in spicy pudina chutney. More such bizarre tales emerge when Ajith Pillai imagines the secret diary of former Pakistan captain Imran Khan in Outlook magazine.

As I see it, if Afridi really wanted to tear into the seam he could very well have used his nose and no one would have even an inkling of what he was doing! So, I think in the great Pathan tradition, the ICC must accept he did nothing wrong. In fact, he has often confided in me that inhaling the aroma from a cricket ball that’s 30 overs old gives him a buzz.

David Leggat in the New Zealand Herald thinks that the selectors may spring a few surprises for the New Zealand Test squad to take on Bangladesh, as the limited-overs dominance has made their task tougher.

Bowling at the death isn't to every bowler's liking. For New Zealand it's still a work in progress, going by their recent performances against Bangladesh, writes Leggat in another piece in the same paper.

In light of the selections of first-class journeymen Peter Ingram and Andy McKay to the New Zealand squad, Daniel Richardson, in the Manawatu Standard, takes a look at 11 journeymen in domestic cricket who haven't played for New Zealand in any form of the game.

Michael Parlane, Northern Districts, debut 1992-93
The definitive first-class journeyman and the obvious choice for the captaincy. The older Parlane brother is the longest-serving current first-class player in New Zealand. He's a steady opener who has 15 tons in the four-day game, but with an average of 32 he was hardly banging down the door for a call-up to the next level.

Neal Parlane, Wellington, debut 1996-97
Parlane could count himself a bit unlucky he hasn't been thought of as an opener in recent times with some heavy scoring, particularly in the Twenty20 competition this summer. The 31-year-old has been a loyal servant to Wellington and Northern Districts and can also keep wickets if required.

A man of good cheer, a genuine paceman and an international man of mystery - that's what Luke Tagg thinks about Australian fast bowler Dirk Nannes. Not just his his fearsome pace and swing, he believes Nannes is a cricketing rarity and full of surprises. Read on in The Boundary Rider blog.

He boasts a permanent stubble and the straightest teeth in world cricket, and he's full of cracks and jokes and the odd bit of swearing. I like that - it gives him character. So many cricketers today talk team-speak, with very few capable of expressing creative thought.

Nannes is a true Renaissance man and I reckon the key to his cricketing success is his attitude towards cricket. He didn't let it matter too much and as soon as you let go, you find freedom.

	Fifty-over cricket looks jaded © Getty Images

Observing the empty top deck of the MCG stands closed and quite a few of the other layers half-empty during the first game between Australia and West Indies, Peter Roebuck in the Sydney Morning Herald says it's hard to avoid thinking the ODI is running out of gas. Unable to rely on entertainment alone, one-dayers have not survived the ensuing scrutiny about their relevance.

Changes are needed. Shorter boundaries could be introduced and eight awarded for clearing the boundary. Earlier starts might be considered. Especially on weeknights and in term time, 10.30pm finishes take a toll. And the game can go along quicker, with faster over rates and so forth.

But these ideas exist around the fringes. No less important is to give the matches some context. Hitherto the main purpose of one-dayers has been to offer the public a good night out at the cricket. No longer could anyone claim that the game belonged to stuffed shirts. As far as night entertainment is concerned, T20 now serves the purpose better than its longer-winded older brother. Over the years, cricket has spent an inordinate amount of time maintaining the illusion that it occupies higher ground. Gradually, it has retreated from pomposity.

Pakistan’s abject failure in Australia had left a vacuum in fans’ hearts, which the country's Under-19 side doing duty in the World Cup in nearby New Zealand stepped into with ease, writes Saad Shafqat in the Dawn.

On the eve of the India match, people were busy exchanging notes about the game and discussing prospects. Details of the TV coverage had spread like wildfire, and alarms had been duly set for 2:30 am. That the national team was meanwhile lurching from one disaster to another proved a great boon to the youth team.

After observing New Zealand's strong showings in one-dayers in the past six months, including the run to the ICC Champions Trophy final and the series victory over Pakistan in the UAE, Mark Richardson makes the bold claim in the Herald on Sunday that New Zealand have the goods to win the 2011 World Cup in the subcontinent.

Ryder and Brendon McCullum are potentially a devastating combination but if Ingram can back up his top debut, there's cover at the top. The openers are backed up by Martin Guptill, who is proven now at ODI level, and Ross Taylor, who is approaching world class.

Factor in the return of Shane Bond and Kyle Mills, then there's competition for the last spot in Ian Butler, Daryl Tuffey, Tim Southee, Andy MacKay and Nathan McCullum. There's plenty of batting ability in that lot, too.

	Back-breaking work: Peter Siddle © Getty Images

Australia's most promising fast bowler, Peter Siddle, is broken, writes Darren Berry in the Sunday Age.

It was sadly only a matter of time before the frame of the Morwell wood chopper could take no more. He has been hurting for some time, but has a big heart and refuses to yield to the pain barrier ...

The only thing that will stop him from becoming a truly great fast bowler up there with McGrath, Lillee, Lindwall and co. will be his body. If his back can recover fully from this latest setback and rebuild he will easily match numbers with the greats.

In the same paper the eventful rise of the Victoria allrounder John Hastings is covered.

New South Wales are having a difficult season after winning the Champions League Twenty20 and the Sun-Herald’s David Sygall takes a look at the troubles players have shifting between the three forms of the game.

New Zealand Cricket seems confused. First came an announcement that Brendon McCullum was no longer vice-captain. Fair enough. And now a further announcement that Ross Taylor is also not vice-captain. Equally fair. Then came Mark Greatbatch's appointment as head coach. His stint with Warwickshire was volatile, but these tales are at odds with the character NZC led us to believe will work alongside Vettori, writes Jeremy Coney in the Dominion Post.

Yet instead of adapting to accommodate the county system and the Warwickshire ethos, Greatbatch began the new era by stamping his authority. He imposed himself aggressively. An uncompromising, "I'm the boss" and "we'll do it my way". It led to discontent. Morale plummeted. Barriers went up and players turned against him. Two departed and other senior members rebelled.

Having just quit as South Africa coach, Mickey Arthur has vowed to get up at 5.30 am and watch every ball when his country takes on India in Nagpur. In his column in the Hindustan Times, he says he is missing the buzz and excitement that a Test series always provides, but on the other he has realised how much his life has been consumed by the job.

For five years Graeme and I had a belief that if you started a Test stronger than the opposition, you had more chance of finishing it strongly. We always felt that the first hour set the tone for the match, we believed it was easier to win a Test by taking the lead early rather than having to come from behind.

Venkatapathy Raju, part of India's spin trio in the early 1990s, reminisces his early days when he shared Irani chai and samosas with friends, caught two buses everyday to get from Ramanthapur to Gymkhana, his school days and watching the Mithun Chakraborty-starrer Disco Dancer 15 times. Neeraja Murthy of the Hindu catches up with the former left-arm spinner, nicknamed Muscles, now the Hyderabad coach.

Raju's teacher Anjaneya Sastry played a key role in shaping the cricketer in him. “Initially, the lure for us to play cricket was the announcements made in school assembly about the students who played well in inter-house matches. It was a high to receive the applause and appreciation. There was no pressure from my parents so it was easy to balance cricket and studies,” he smiles.

The ICC's format for the world youth tournament needs to be changed, particularly with the knockout phase where one bad match is enough to undo all the hard work in getting there, writes Geoff Longley in the Press. After the first-round pool matches teams went straight into the quarter-finals, semis and final while those knocked out were left to play off for the minor placings.

A better system may have been to keep the four pools of four, but start playing them immediately the teams had arrived instead of having two full rounds of practice games. If teams want practice games, arrange them beforehand as most did.

Cricket remains the most controversial of games. At times it is hard to remember that it is only a game and supposed to be fun. The Afridi controversy, the pitch invasion at the WACA and the argument over John Howard as a candidate to serve as the ICC’s deputy president in 2010 can make the followers of the game despair. Cricket needs to stop thinking defensively and cast itself as breeding ground for diversity and toleration, writes Peter Roebuck in the Hindu.

But, then, cricket stopped being merely a recreation long ago and instead became both an industry and an expression of national pride. Once its leading nations became independent it was only a matter of time before they began asserting themselves.

The resulting uproar over Shahid Afridi's snack has reignited the debate about ball tampering, and in the New Zealand Herald Adam Parore says Pakistan got away with it for 15 or 20 years because no one really knew what was going on.

Clearly, with reverse swing still being apart of test cricket, minor doctoring of the ball is still going on. I don't believe it is possible to get reverse swing without some illegal work on the ball. But it is being done in a way that is actually good for the game, giving the bowlers more chance when batsmen could absolutely dominate.

Along the same lines, David Leggat wonders if Afridi would have opted to take a chomp at the ball had he known a healthy dose of the stuff you clean toilets with might find its way to his stomach.

England must improve their decision making and the best way they could do that is by playing, writes Mike Selvey in the Guardian.

We got an example of prescriptive thinking at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in 2006, when a member found on the floor a copy of England's bowling plans – their "dodgy dossier" – and stuck it in the public domain. It detailed how they intended to deal with each batsman, which plans, if executed properly, would mean that Australia would scarcely muster double figures between them. Of particular memory, apart from the worrying fact that "nick" was spelt with an additional "k", was the "bouncer essential" observation for Andrew Symonds. True as this may have been, it was mortifying to see, for five and a half hours, a man set deep on the hook for each of his 156 runs, during which time, despite many invitations to do so, he did not attempt the stroke once. The plans did not cater for that but there was no plan B.

	Big thing: Kieron Pollard © Getty Images

Kieron Pollard is the epitome of the Twenty20 generation, but still maintains some old-fashioned values that many traditionalists would find hard to reconcile, Jamie Pandaram writes in the Sydney Morning Herald.

For a boy who grew up in a poor home in Tacarigua, Trinidad, raised by a single mother alongside two younger sisters, this new world presents him with an opportunity. Pollard, 22, wants to ensure his newborn son Kaiden never suffers the hunger he experienced and that his mother is rewarded for her toil.

''My upbringing, I wasn't from a wealthy family,'' Pollard said. ''For me, getting afforded the opportunity to play cricket, and being able to make a lot of money, that drives me you know, because you don't want to end up in that situation again.

In the Age Chloe Saltau looks at the rise of Cameron White, who has gone from Test legspinner to Twenty20 vice-captain in just over a year.

The Indian edition of Sports Illustrated has compiled a list of the 50 most influential people in Indian sport. The business paper Mint carried the list which is dominated by suits, with only three sportsperson in the top 20: Sachin Tendulkar (1), MS Dhoni (5) and chess world champion Vishwanathan Anand (18).

Michael Atherton, writing in the Times, says captaincy is a far more serious business in cricket than it is in England's most popular sport. The captain is central to everything that goes on in cricket unlike the "half a million quid" reference that has come to characterize the role in football.

When Andrew Strauss pulled out of the tour to Bangladesh that starts this month, the reactions of dismay or understanding explain neatly why the John Terry affair has only a passing relevance to England’s chances in this summer’s World Cup finals in South Africa.

Sport24's chief writer Rob Houwing interviewed Craig Matthews, who played 18 Tests and 56 ODIs for South Africa and was recently relieved of his position as a national selector in a clear-out of the whole panel. In the first part of the interview, Matthews speaks about the pressure from the national board, the race issue, and development at the grassroots level.

When the country picks U13, U15, U17 sides, they are generally on merit and there are a lot of black Africans. What happens between that point and franchise cricket? And for those who get there, are these guys being advanced as they should within their franchises? How are we going to ensure, amidst the reality of it being 2010 in South Africa, that nine times out of 10 we can pick a player who is, indeed, good enough? That’s where you need more attention, more money being thrown at the problem, even … it’s better than the present landscape where people are being fired left, right and centre because nobody really knows (the true requirements).

Click here for the second part of the interview.

Writing in Dawn, Shoaib Alvi vents his frustrations with the PCB (read: Permanently Confused Board). He has more questions than answers and believes the chairman's evolution committee, formed after Pakistan's dismal showing in Australia, is nothing but a farce.

The more achieving captains — Kardar, Hanif, Mushtaq, Imran, Miandad, Wasim — all led the right mix. To the people who go hoarse shouting that we should have fresh blood in the team or those who hark for experience, I would say just go for balance and range in thinking in all aspects that affect performance in management, coaching and on the field. You are all barking up the wrong tree.

In the New Zealand Herald, David Leggat writes of the difficulty Australia and New Zealand are experiencing in naming a candidate to act as Sharad Pawar's deputy in the ICC once he takes over as president, and eventually succeed him. Both countries have made their respective picks - Australia have John Howard and New Zealand Sir John Anderson. One, a former Prime Minister who is a self-confessed cricket "tragic" but has no administrative background in cricket, the other an experienced businessman and a noted cricket administrator. Who should be the one?

Anderson is a vastly experienced businessman of high renown, noted troubleshooter and cricket administrator of considerable substance, who knows the ins and outs of the game better than most.

It should be a no-brainer, but Australia are fighting hard for their man. They seem unwilling to acknowledge the logical course of action. It smells of big brother lording it.

Bob Willis is of the opinion that England should be in no hurry to find a replacement for former bowling coach Ottis Gibson who has resigned to join the West Indies team. Writing in Skysports.com, he believes that this gives the England think-tank an opportunity to reassess the structure of their “hopelessly top-heavy” back-up staff. He recommends Darren Gough and Allan Donald as potential stop-gap replacements.

I've got great respect for Darren Gough after what he did during his England career and perhaps he'd fit the bill if he's back on the cricketing track rather than the celebrity one. If Gough is happy to fill the role part-time, that's the way I might do it short-term.

Allan Donald's name has also been mentioned and, of course, he has a definite advantage over someone like Ian Pont or Kevin Shine, who was shoe-horned into the job in 2006, in the sense that he has been there and done it at the highest level.

From the pointed end of terrorism to the relatively mundane possibility of lost baggage, the IPL has every eventuality covered. Falaknaaz Syed in the Hindustan Times explains the insurance framework in place for the third season.

As players not bought at one of the auctions generally cost their owners less, the cover is proportionately lower - a Rs 25 lakh to one crore personal accident policy and a Rs 5 lakh medical cover. Finally, there's also a cushion in place for a staging association, in case of any mishap - a stampede, a fire in the stands etc - Rs 10 crore for each of the 60 matches.

One of the key successes of the inaugural HRV Cup in New Zealand was the presence throughout of the country's best players. Though January is best suited to the shortest form of the game, international obligations may force New Zealand Cricket from ring-fencing the month in the future. David Leggat has more in the New Zealand Herald.

Sam Worthington in the Dominion Post speaks to New Zealand Cricket chief Justin Vaughan, who also believes a repeat of the domestic boom next summer appears impossible because of the World Cup.

	The truth is out there: Lalit Modi © Getty Images

In her blog on the India Today website, Sharda Ugra questions why the people involved in the IPL did not choose to be plainspeakers by explaining their view why the Pakistanis couldn’t be a part of the auction.

The statement would have made us all shift in our chairs and accuse the IPL/ movie stars/ businessmen/ franchise owners of a pragmatism-overload or a lack of courage and that would have been the end of it. Maybe that’s why it was never said. Better to put 11 Pakistani cricketers on the block and then out to dry by talking about “limited slots”, “tactical decisions” and “availability issues”.

Rohit Mahajan, writing in Outlook magazine, has a similar view. He not only believes that excluding Pakistanis from the IPL was a sordid affair, but that Lalit Modi was its unctuous author.

In the same magazine, Ajith Pillai imagines the secret diary of Lalit Modi.

When a repeat offender is allowed to get away with a rap on the wrists as Shahid Afridi has been for his 'ball biting' incident, the ICC itself brings the game into disrepute, says Suresh menon in his column on Dreamcricket.com.

Not since Chaplin made a gourmet meal of his shoes in Gold Rush has feasting on unexpected objects looked so hilarious on the screen. Chewing on leather in a movie is funny; chewing on leather in a cricket match with the aim of helping a fast bowler is ridiculous. The only thing more ridiculous is the ICC’s gentle rap on the wrist of the player who has been in trouble before for trying to alter the condition of the pitch illegally.

Rohit Mahajan in Outlook magazine wonders if the captain can actually go to the length of biting a cricket ball to make it swing more, what may the team do if they get an opportunity to do it surreptitiously?

It was surely the daftest, most comical thing ever done on a cricket field – and probably the second most infamous bite in the history of sport after Mike Tyson’s attack on Evander Holyfield in 1997...daft though this action is, it can’t be condoned because of that reason – that it was so incredibly stupid. Stupidity can’t justify crime.

After Shahid Afridi attempted to bite the ball during the fifth ODI in Perth, Patrick Kidd writes in the Times that he must be "the stupidest captain in the history of the game".

I wonder what the umpires were saying to him as they pointed out the apparent canine indentations. "Looks like someone's been chewing on this, skipper," one umpire might say. "Gosh, how strange," Afridi says, "was it a stray beaver? I hear there are a lot of beavers in Perth. Or maybe a dingo."

He did not subtly pick at it or try to play football with it, Stuart Broad-style, he wrapped his lips round the ball and gnawed upon it. Was he just peckish? Did he think that the fact he had walked past the umpire a second or two earlier meant that no one would spot him treating a cricket ball like an apple?

Andy McKay's surprise selection to the New Zealand squad for the ODIs against Bangladesh has led Andrew Alderson in the New Zealand Herald to look up 10 instances where surprise did not always mean success, and where experiments went wrong.

A layman may wonder what difference does the ball make, especially when the shape, size and weight remain the same, but let me assure that there's a massive difference in how different balls behave in the air and off the surface, writes Aakash Chopra in the Hindustan Times.

Let me begin with SG Test ball. It has a more pronounced seam, which stays that way for almost the entire length of the innings. It helps the quick bowlers release the ball in an upright seam position, as it doesn't wobble much after releasing, and helps the spinners grip the ball better and get more purchase off the wicket as the seam grips the surface well. The ball doesn't swing much when new, but starts swinging when one half becomes shinier than the other. As the shine stays longer, it enables quick bowlers get the swing and slower bowler the drift. The quicks who `release' the ball instead of hitting the deck are more successful with the SG ball as they can get it swing and seam the whole day. The Kookaburra ball, on the other hand, also has a pronounced seam, but it fades away quickly.

Peter Roebuck writes in the Sydney Morning Herald that Australian businessman Sir Rod Eddington has been asked to become an "independent" chairman of a committee of Australian and New Zealand representatives who will nominate either John Howard or Sir John Anderson as the next ICC vice-president.

In effect, he will decide the occupant of the most prestigious and important office in the game. It is an extraordinary state of affairs. His involvement is merely the latest aberration in an absurd episode.

...

By giving an Australian the casting vote, New Zealand has acted with the generosity missing in its counterpart. As the offended party, it had every right to resent the very fact the debate is even taking place let alone that it has been stretched out interminably. Contrastingly, the unnecessary acrimony has made Cricket Australia look mean and arrogant.