The ICC board's refusal to back John Howard as its next vice-president is a disgrace and an insult to Australia and New Zealand, the former ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed writes in the Age.

Under previous rotation systems, Australia and New Zealand have accepted nominations when they clearly had strong reservations about the candidates. They expected the same respect for their choice, instead they and Howard were insulted.

Howard has been rejected because his strong leadership would have thwarted the ambitions of several administrators to downgrade and devalue the ICC's role. The ICC board is as political as any political party. The countries that voted him down want a compliant figurehead.

Malcolm Conn in the Australian writes that Howard's political past caught up with him.

Australia's central aim for nominating Howard was to bring good governance to the ICC and give cricket a broader standing on the world stage. The ICC is not interested in good governance, as it showed by sacking its previous chief executive, Malcolm Speed, for attempting to bring Zimbabwe to account.

Zimbabwe, supported by South Africa, led the charge against Speed and have done the same against Howard. The ICC seems more interested in centralising power in India than expanding the game.

In the Sydney Morning Herald, Peter Roebuck argues that nobody has emerged with the slightest credit from the Howard debacle.

David Leggat, writing in the New Zealand Herald, says it tells plenty about the state of Cricket Australia’s administration that it could not find a suitable cricket person for the role.

Howard's nomination should have been a rubber-stamp exercise. That it was not points to deep unease among the non-white member nations - India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and the West Indies, along with Zimbabwe's neighbour, South Africa - about whether Howard was a good fit for the job, and a person they could happily work with. Cricket Australia deserved no better.

In The Press Geoff Longley writes about Sir John Anderson’s improved prospects of taking the job.

New Zealand’s Brendon McCullum recently gave up his wicketkeeping gloves so he can bat higher up the order. While taking a not-so-veiled shot at the failings of New Zealand’s openers in the Dominion Post, Jonathan Millmow thinks McCullum has all the wrong attributes required of a Test No. 3 and should not be allowed to bat so far up the order.

Let's not be fooled by the statistics being tossed around by supporters of this hare-brained idea. McCullum has batted No3 five times in five years – interestingly all in England – and amassed 200 runs at 40. There was a mighty 96 at Lord's in 2004 but only one other score over 20. It's inconclusive.

He's too expansive, too valuable down the order, your instincts say no. How many times has the person next to you leaned forward during McCullum's 52-test career and said: "This bloke's a test No3 if I ever saw one".

Stephen Brenkley looks into how England have dramatically changed their limited-overs fortunes after their listless 6-1 thrashing at the hands of Australia soon after last year's Ashes. In the Independent, he picks bold selection, sound strategy, improved fielding and Australian fallibility as reasons for England's series victory.

But it is clear that Australia are not what they were. Their batting line-up is that which has dominated in recent times – they were supreme in the Champions Trophy in South Africa last autumn – but it is not only undercooked in this NatWest Series, it is also showing signs of decline.

Could it be that Ricky Ponting, one of the great players of this or any generation, is beginning to show signs of decline? Suffice to say that it looks increasingly probable that he will not recapture all his old glory (but Ponting being Ponting, he also knows that recapturing the bulk of it in the World Cup next year is more important than doing so now).

On Cricket365, Peter May says that though England are an improved side, Andrew Strauss' side may not be as perfect as its fans would like to believe.

The NatWest Series is talked of as a pointer for the Ashes in October and next year's World Cup. This despite the fact that each side will likely change four players from Old Trafford on Sunday to the Gabba in November. Or that Australia haven't lost in Brisbane since their 1980s nadir. Or that the World Cup is in India not Lancashire. Or, as far as this old rivalry goes, that Australia tend to do it when it matters.

In his column for Yahoo, Graham Thorpe writes that Australia have become an ordinary side and England is now a better team in every facet of the game.

England have a real opportunity to whitewash the tourists and continue the kind of winning mentality that should hold them in very good stead in the lead up to the Ashes. You can run through almost every department and find that England have the upper hand, which tells you a lot about the dominance the side currently have.

Strauss is leading the side from the top of the order with authority and conviction; Kevin Pietersen and Eoin Morgan are class acts in the middle order; James Anderson and Stuart Broad look by far the most threatening pacemen; and Graeme Swann and Michael Yardy have the upper hand in the spin department.

England's exit from the football World Cup has coincided with their cricket side's unprecedented rise across all three formats. In Times Online, Richard Hobson reasons that a predilection towards club culture has cost the country's football set-up dearly, and contrasts it with the way Andy Flower has ensured the opposite with the cricketing framework.

The significant, blindingly obvious difference is that in cricket the England side is paramount. Increasingly the county game revolves around Andy Flower, the team director, like the planets orbit the sun. The opposite happens in football, where clubs are serious, multi-million pounds businesses and take priority over the national team. Supporters have their allegiances too. Even those who fork out hundreds of pounds to follow England abroad weave the name of their club team into the red and white flag.

Not since 1987 have England had it over Australia in all forms of cricket, writes AAP’s Daniel Brettig. He says at this rate, a repeat of that darkest summer 23 years ago is starting to become a distinct possibility.

Whether limited overs matches in England can have much empirical bearing on an Ashes series in Australia remains a matter for conjecture. Nonetheless, there is no doubt Ricky Ponting's tourists have fallen prey to the sort of patterns that can only raise English chances of retaining the urn they won at the Oval in 2009.

The end of the civil war in Sri Lanka has heralded a new era for cricket in the Tamil-dominated Jaffna province in the island's North. Facilities and funding are starting to pour in and that has led to more age-group tournaments and mushrooming of talent. GS Vivek of the Indian Express writes on the latest developments in the region.

Among those coaching in Jaffna is Ravindra Pushpakumara, a former fast bowler and member of the Sri Lankan 1996 World Cup winning team, who is the provincial coach. As many as 18 schools play cricket in Jaffna — St John’s and St Patrick being the major ones — and the district is playing the Under-15, Under-16 and Under-19 matches. They will then be grouped along with other provinces in the north and north east to play provincial cricket.

Only six weeks ago, the suggestion was heard in some quarters that Andrew Strauss was outmoded as a one-day cricketer. But with a series win against Australia and sound touch with the bat, he has out those doubts to rest, writes David Hopps in the Guardian.

England had won World Twenty20 and one-day fashions were designed on slicker, brasher lines. Strauss, it was suggested, was stuck in the world of the gentleman's outfitters. But it was Strauss who held England together with a restrained 87 from 121 balls, a judicious one-day innings, as traditional as a pin-stripe suit.

In the Independent. Stephen Brenkley ponders whether England’s new found aggressive approach is the right way to go about retaining the Ashes come November

Under Strauss and Andy Flower, the coach, England have changed. Their fielding now fairly bristles with genuine purpose. And the same applies to their batting and to their bowling. It is not about being gung-ho, going in with bats blazing and letting slip the forces of bowling hell, but there is a purposeful, hard-eyed method based on controlled attack, bellig-erent strokeplay and rapid, roughing-up bouncers, rather than attrition.

England must decide whether this is the way to retain the Ashes, whether in Australia over the course of 25 days of the most intense cricket this winter they can see off Australia by taking the game to them. Or if the best way is to wait patiently, to sit in as it were, hope to see cracks in the opposition armoury and then pounce (this is how England won two memorable series in the sub-continent a few years ago, in Pakistan and Sri Lanka, under the great captain Nasser Hussain).

The latest in cricket gaming, International Cricket 2010, is an improvement from the previous versions and scores in gameplay, such as the Action Cam and the 360 degree Power Stick. However, there are only two licensed teams in England and Australia, which obviously won't please Sachin fans. Videep Vijay Kumar does a lowdown in the New Indian Express.

What could quite possibly be more important than official squads? Why, the gameplay, of course. Real squads don't mean squat if the gameplay experience is sub-par. Fortunately , IC 2010 does not disappoint on this front. While still based on the engine that powered its previous two efforts, refined gameplay mechanics and new additions such as the `action cam' m and `power stick' control have enhanced ed the way one experiences a cricket game. e. Action-cam puts the perspective right t over the shoulder of the batsman or bowler, à la Gears of War. This third-person cam guarantees a lot more immersion and is great if you're playing the game by yourself. When you're batting, you can look around and the field like in real life, pick your spot and place the ball in gaps or smash it over the head of a fielder.

Of the six punished Pakistan players to have filed their appeals, it is believed that Younis Khan is the only one who did not apologise for his behaviour, whereas the others did, so have been welcomed back in to the international fold. Should Younis apologise, for the sake of his future? The Stani Army, the Pakistan equivalent of the Barmy Army, asks this question in their blog.

So, is Younis right to be taking this stance or is the PCB being too fussy and childish? What is it that Younis has supposedly done and will be apologising for anyway? Many would argue that he should apologise for the sake of it as it is obvious how much his country needs him. But if ’sorry’ is a hard word to say for the likes of us, then it is near enough impossible, not only for a Pathan, but one that thinks he is innocent.

The 50-over format has merits and continues to be popular but we need fewer such games infused with greater context to ensure its survival, writes Mike Selvey in the Guardian.

If fault there is in 50-over cricket, it lies not, for example, in the so-called boring middle overs, but in the number of ODIs that have been played over the past two decades, with little or no context, and the negative impression created by the continual quest for innovations: we are not happy with our product, seems to be the message, so why should you be? Add in a few ICC-manufactured matches that left dear old Bill Frindall and his fellow stattos shaking their heads, and the number of one-day internationals surged through the 3,000 barrier at the Rose Bowl.

Eoin Morgan's century against Australia was among the best ever for England in the limited-overs format, says Stephen Brenkley in the Independent.

While he was about it, Morgan also confirmed that within little more than a year he has become one of the most accomplished limited-overs batsmen in the world. What made it truly outstanding, as England beat Australia by four wickets in the first match of the NatWest Series, was Morgan's serenity.

He came in when England were in trouble which, at 97 for four in pursuit of 268, was in danger of becoming deep trouble. But his patience as he felt himself into the match was consummate. The innings spanned only 85 balls but it was not until the 19th of them that he struck the first of his 16 fours. The pace and timing, embellished by the bravura quality of his strokes, were impeccable.

Simon Hughes, in his blog in the Daily Telegraph, says Morgan has the potential to better Michael Bevan, as he has a greater range of shots as well as better control in his strokeplay.

In the Wisden Cricketer Blog, Lawrence Booth finds Ricky Ponting in no mood to praise England's limited-overs improvement after Eoin Morgan's century consigned Australia to a four-wicket defeat in the 1st ODI at the Rose Bowl.

Even Ponting, in slightly more grudging mood than usual, conceded Morgan was difficult to set fields to, although his caveat – “against the spinners” – again overlooked Morgan’s efforts against an admittedly second-string Australian seam attack. “There’s not too many guys in international cricket if you bowl them a half-volley they won’t put it away,” said Ponting. True. Neither are there too many who will help a bouncer to very fine third man with no more than a contemptuous flick of the wrist.

Morgan is special and England are lucky Ireland don’t play Test cricket. But what we are witnessing is the flowering of the kind of talent we never thought we would see: a player capable of putting even Pietersen in the shade.

These shifts take time to compute, which is why Ponting was unable – or possibly unwilling – to draw too many conclusions last night. This is fair enough: a single one-day international does not an Ashes triumph make. But it was instructive to hear his overall assessment. “I thought tonight was a pretty even contest,” he said. “For the majority of the game it was right in the balance.” Without wishing to go overboard, this is the kind of thing haunted England captains used to say after another Ashes Test came and went in a couple of sessions of madness.

In the Guardian, Dileep Premachandran draws a parallel between England's footballers and India's cricketers and says the troubles that Gerrard and Co are going through could apply to India in the 2011 World Cup.

Ahead of an epoch-defining match against a country with a population less than that of East London, those that follow English football are familiar with all of these. Yet, in eight months time, we could write exactly the same things and they would be equally relevant to Indian cricket. Come February and March 2011, a hundred TV channels and newspapers and blogs in more than a dozen languages will indulge in a navel-gazing frenzy as India's finest attempt to emulate the improbable events of June 1983, when a team rated a 66-1 chance by some bookies beat the overwhelming favourites in a contest that was cricket's answer to Rumble in the Jungle and rope-a-dope.

The great expectations are easy to explain. England may have reached fewer major finals than Greece and the Czech Republic since 1966, but a domestic league awash with money became the destination of choice for some of the world's most talented footballers as the 20th century gave way to the new millennium. At the same time, cricket's financial heart migrated from London to Mumbai, eventually giving rise to the phenomenon that is now the Indian Premier League.

The actions of India’s selectors have typically been inscrutable. Beginning with Saurabh Tiwary, who was called away from India A’s tour of England so he could carry drinks in Sri Lanka, GS Vivek takes a look at India’s “non-playing players” in the Indian Express

The left-handed Tiwary, picked by selectors as the replacement for Yuvraj Singh in the middle order, had been asked to cut short the India A tour in England to be part of the Asia Cup squad. But being on drinks duty during the Sri Lanka tour means he even missed out on the England experience. Equally baffling is the case of Ashwin. The off-spinner was first picked for the two T20 games against Sri Lanka at home last year and after that has been part of four ODI squads.

But the man, who is seen as the replacement for Harbhajan Singh, has played just one ODI and two T20s games -all of them during the recent Zimbabwe series when the seniors were rested.

Doug Bollinger will lead Australia’s attack against England in the NatWest Series and could wind up taking the new ball in the Ashes as well. In the Telegraph, Derek Pringle breaks down Bollinger’s recipe for success.

Analysts in this year's IPL noted that left-arm pace bowlers dominated and went for fewer runs per over than other types, but there must be more to Bollinger's sudden successes than angle. While computer-toting coaches would no doubt offer a detailed explanation, Bollinger shies away from dissecting the reasons for his success – saying too much information just confuses him.

"I just keep things simple and try to be patient," Bollinger said. "I try not to worry about things too much or think about things, as I just go haywire. Keep it simple and try to get the job done. I just try to figure out the conditions and adjust my game to them. Patience is the key because eventually things will figure themselves out."

G Unnikrishnan, writing in the Deccan Herald, questions the wisdom in hosting the Asia Cup in Dambulla, which is not even among the designated venues for the 2011 World Cup. Right from poor crowds, insufficient lighting to poor timing in hosting the competition, there appears to be, Unnikrishnan says, a deliberate apathy towards what was once a prestigious tournament.

At a time when the future of one-day cricket is under scrutiny, such matches that lack energy and edge can only add strength to the voice of the format’s doomsayers. The timing of the tournament too has gone horribly wrong. It’s tough to generate viewership for any other sporting event when the whole world is focused on the FIFA World Cup, currently under way in South Africa.

But then, proper planning has never the forte of the wise men ruling this sport. Another baffling point is that Dambulla will not stage a single World Cup match next year and the Sri Lanka Cricket is building two new stadiums at Pallekkele and Habbantota for the mega event.

James Anderson recently voiced his unhappiness over being rested for the tour of Bangladesh as well as not getting a game during England’s victorious ICC World T20 campaign. On Yahoo Cricket, Graham Thorpe says England need a settled Anderson if they are to have any chance of retaining the Ashes.

The paceman said being excluded took the wind out of his sails and made him angry, but he cannot be too outspoken considering that England won both the Test series, then the tournament in the West Indies. It is only natural that a competitive sportsman will be unhappy at being left out of the side, and it is a positive sign that England have strength in depth at last.

However, Anderson has always been an unpredictable cricketer who has incredible good days and pretty atrocious bad ones: England need him to feel settled. There are some cricketers who respond well to competition, and Paul Collingwood is one of those; but the Lancastrian is a player who needs to be encouraged.

In his Hindustan times blog, Anand Vasu writes that the BCCI will do the Indian team a great favour by retaining Ranjib Biswal as the manager until the end of the World Cup - a break from the previous trend of appointing new managers for every tour.

It’s unrealistic to expect the BCCI to make a dramatic departure from its ways, and constitution, and appoint someone full-time for the job. What is refreshing, though, is that the cricket-minded in the Board are keen to do what they can within the existing framework, and there’s every indication that Ranjib Biswal, the current manager, will continue through to the end of next year’s World Cup.

While no official announcement is forthcoming, a source close to recent developments confirmed that Biswal, a former cricketer and national selector enjoys the confidence of the powers that be in the Board. The manner in which he handled himself during the failed campaign in the World T20 in the West Indies, and specifically the debriefing he provided in the aftermath, have made him a frontrunner to stay in the job long term.

With the World Cup around the corner, England's preparation is off the boil since they haven't played too many ODIs recently. Scyld Berry writes in the Telegraph that the game against Scotland in Ediburgh will launch their search for the right combination, with Craig Kieswetter and Michael Yardy likely to feature prominently in their plans.

To accommodate Yardy, he is likely to bat as a sober No 6, working the ball around amid some giddy talents. Luke Wright is slated to be the aerial hitter at No 7 and, if he is at the wicket at the 40-over mark, to orchestrate the batting power play of five overs, which was England's embarrassment last year. Naturally enough Wright said that Yardy, his Sussex captain, was "very good if we've had a collapse, someone we bat around".

In the Hindu, K C Vijaya Kumar casts a worried look at India's fast-bowling stocks and says that unless they can find a spitfire attack, they will struggle in the World Cup.

Dhoni has anointed Zaheer and Nehra as the men to guide the Indian attack. But a look at their recent match statistics is instructive. This year so far, Zaheer has had spells of none for 57, none for 43, three for 38, none for 51 and none for 29 while Nehra has had figures of none for 55, one for 44, two for 58, one for 2, one for 67, two for 60 and two for 28. Their support seam-cast has nothing to crow about either as rival teams have found their runs with ease.

The latest attempt to inject life into the one-day format comes courtesy of Cricket Australia and involves split-innings of 20 overs each. The new format will be introduced in next season’s FR Cup, and if successful, could be used at the 2015 World Cup. However, not everyone is convinced. Writing in the Guardian, Andy Bull says split-innings is not the solution to one-day cricket's problems.

This is not a viable long-term solution for 50-over cricket's ill health. With the exception of Tendulkar's point that both teams have to bat in the same conditions, the arguments in favour of split innings all stem from the novelty of the format. At the rate games are currently scheduled, that will soon wear off. If the aim is to reduce the predictability of matches there are other broader cures that the ICC should look at: reduce the number of fixtures, ensure that all games are played in the context of meaningful competitions, and encourage pitches that offer a balance between bat and ball. Splitting the innings is just a quick fix.

On the eve of a new film about the sport that inspired a shattered nation - fittingly titled Out of the Ashes - Julius Cavendish of the Independent recounts the rise of the game, from Kabul.

In the aftermath of the 2001 invasion, the notion of a national cricket team began to coalesce as millions of Afghan refugees returned from exile. The team swapped the pitted concrete wickets of the Kacha Gari refugee camp for four nets and a temperamental bowling machine in Kabul – known collectively as the Afghan National Cricket Academy.

Umar Amin, one of the new faces in the Pakistan team for the Asia Cup, talks to Pakpassion.net about his journey so far, his idols, the Tendulkar bat presented by Shoaib and more.

What happened was that my overnight score was about 20 not out and the team was struggling at 4-120 chasing 240 runs. The next morning of the match Shoaib Bhai told the entire team that this is Sachin Tendulkar’s bat and everyone was eyeing it. When I was padding up, Shoaib Bhai who was sitting next to me said that if you perform well today and make us win this match then I will give you this bat.

It's a chance to make amends for the two Shoaibs - Akhtar and Malik - who've been overshadowed by negative press in the recent past. Both were surprise picks for the Asia Cup, and GS Vivek of the Indian Express writes on their time away from the game and their goals of "starting afresh."

Akhtar is down a yard in pace but his reputation as one of the quickest bowlers in the world is still intact. He still runs in hard but it remains to be seen if he can run through a batting lineup. In the last one year, Akhtar has undergone liposuction and also had a knee surgery. He later spent time with long-time mentor Aaqib Javed and trainer David Dwyer.

In the Independent, Stephen Brenkley writes that despite the rise of Craig Kieswetter in the shorter formats, Matt Prior deserves the big gloves for the Ashes.

There remains a nagging doubt that Prior, Ashes hero that he is, has not been treated with quite the propriety he deserves. Through constant application, his wicketkeeping has progressed enormously and if he has put in the hours, the big secret is still a simple one: he stays lower for longer.

Apart from anything else, Prior is the most unselfish of cricketers. He always does what he thinks the side wants. It is some attribute to have. This is not to say that Kieswetter is selfish. Far from it, because going out and slugging at the top of the order demands the virtue of putting your own figures second.

In the Wisden Cricketer, Alex Bowden is worried about the response to the Friends Provident Twenty20 tournament, which is hardly an 'event' like the IPL. Lesser fixtures wouldn't hurt, and it would also increase attendances for the matches. In some cases, less is more.

I went to India for the IPL. Whatever you say about that tournament, it’s an event. There is one match at a time and you can follow the tournament with ease. The English version features three or four matches a day and it’s also come hot on the heels of the World Twenty20 and the IPL before that. It’s a tournament, but it’s not an event. England’s win in the Caribbean may have spurred interest, but county Twenty20 matches feel a bit like getting some grissini brought to your table after you’ve had a steak.

From being "one innings away to the chop" to becoming England's most-capped ODI player, and later, only the third Englishman to captain a team of world champions, Paul Collingwood has come a long way. He relives the ups and downs with Peter Hayter of Mail Online.

‘I know I’m not the most talented cricketer in the world. There are more than enough people telling me. But I don’t need telling. I know I’ve got to keep improving my game and in the past I’ve always been right on that limit of “This could be my last game or my last tour”. When cricket is your love and what you do for a living, all that talk does hurt. I’m not kidding you. You might try to put on a face because you don’t want to bring the team down with you. But there are moments when, literally, you are in complete despair, in tears, thinking, “Where do I turn to? Where am I going to go from here?”.'

In his Hindustan Times blog, Anand Vasu contrasts the administration of the two most widely followed sports in the world - while officials take a backseat, letting on-field football action speak for itself, the BCCI goes the other way, creating a lot of orchestrated noise to sell cricket. With the cricket World Cup round the corner, he hopes the BCCI would learn some of the best practices from South Africa.

The tournament itself seems to be an incredibly special affair, with anyone who has been present at the venues returning touched in one way or another. The logistics and organisation are at a scale matched only by the Olympics and the kind of fan support – and nothing is cheap at a World Cup venue – has to be seen to be believed.

For their part, the BCCI believe the world begins and ends with cricket. Through the year they talk about what they have achieved and how the game is growing almost uncontrollably in India. While this is true in most aspects, there’s certainly a lot the Board can learn about an event, a game, its stakeholders, and the relationships that bind them together.

In the Hindu, Vijay Lokapally profiles local club cricket in Delhi and follows several top cricketers who turn out in the heat of the summer, be it to maintain ties with their origins, or to regain lost form.

“I love playing local cricket because it brings back memories of the days when we would dream of playing big cricket. It provides us with a chance to keep in touch with the basics of the game. Remembering the basics and your humble beginnings help you keep your feet on the ground,” says Sehwag, who would happily travel a good 35km (from his Najafgarh home) just to play a local cricket match. And this a few weeks after he had made a Test triple century!

Dave Houghton, Alistair Campbell, Heath Streak, Bryan Strang - names that took Zimbabwe to its zenith of cricketing achievement before political turmoil destroyed their establishment. Now, the same names are working overtime to resurrect the game in their country. Aditya Iyer of the Indian Express finds out more.

After the first-class system ceased to exist during the dark days, the Zimbabweans have borrowed a tried and tested formula from their neighbours. According to Heath Streak, the bowling consultant, the franchise system has brought about stability. “The South African prototype of the franchise system has worked brilliantly for us. We have five franchises in the country which play all year long. The results have shown in the national team. In about three years, we’ll be ready for the biggest names,” Streak says.

Like any structure, the foundations are being strengthened to make sure it doesn’t cave inwards. “We’ve started working from the grassroots upwards, not the other way around. The coaching system has changed for the better. With the franchises coming into play, we’ve done well to fast-track back into international cricket.

In the Indian Express Sandeep Dwivedi traces the ups and downs in Yuvraj Singh's career leading to his ouster from the Indian team.

The tales about his tall hits that sailed over the palm trees lining the maidan and landed threateningly close to the crowd of evening commuters heading home, got exaggerated after every successive narration. "Ball ko limbu bana deta hai (He turns cricket balls into lemons)," they said, describing the ball's diminishing dimension when on the tip of the parabola that Yuvraj's towering sixes drew.

Scyld Berry, in the Telegraph, reviews what the Friends Provident T20 has thrown up so far. The tournament this season lacks current internationals, hasn't produced enough runs and has not attracted as many female fans as it did when Twenty20 first took off in England, he says.

England’s league would more closely resemble India’s if more current internationals were involved. But West Indies and South Africa are engaged, like Sri Lanka and India, and Australia are about to be, which leaves the remaining, mostly ageing, stardust to be spread around 18 counties - and the situation is aggravated when England’s World Twenty20 winners are limited to token appearances, such as Kevin Pietersen to one.

Among the many wicketkeeping battles in English cricket is the ongoing one between Matt Prior and Craig Kieswetter. Stephen Brenkley writes in the Independent on Sunday that despite Kieswetter's impressive show on the international scene, Prior's experience, his unselfishness and significant improvement with the gloves must warrant a place in England's Ashes squad.

Kieswetter was called up by England as soon as he was available, having served a four-year qualification period after deciding that he was not after all South African and would throw in his lot with the land of his mother, or at least the one next door to his mother, she being Scottish.

He has said and done all the right things since he first pitched up in Dubai last autumn and from there went on to Bangladesh and the Caribbean. Little more could have been asked of him.

Yet there remains a nagging doubt that Prior, Ashes hero that he is, has not been treated with quite the propriety he deserves. Through constant application, his wicketkeeping has progressed enormously and if he has put in the hours, the big secret is still a simple one: he stays lower for longer.

Simon Wilde speaks to Steve Finn about his self-criticism over his performances against Bangladesh, his fitness and his influences in his development as a fast bowler. Read the interview in the Sunday Times.

Several days after his second five-for in Tests, he is still spitting nails at how badly he thought he bowled against Bangladesh at Lord’s and Old Trafford. “It was the worst I’d bowled this season,” says this season’s leading first-class wicket-taker.

“I took wickets and bowled some good balls but overall it was disappointing. I went for 180-odd runs in the first game and 80-odd off 18 overs in the second. Building pressure is paramount in Test cricket. I didn’t do the things I’d wanted to do. It bugged me then and it bugs me now.”

Cricket Australia's decision to experiment with the split-innings one-day format next summer, with four innings of 20-25 overs each per match, is one that will have the support of Sachin Tendulkar, who had proposed such an idea last year. Sharda Ugra, in backpagelead.com.au, says the experiment will add some nuance to the 50-over version, which has looked unappetizing with the advent of Twenty20 cricket.

The plan may get more Aussies back into grounds and will also introduce some nuance back into the 50-over format. The original plan wants to reduce the longer version of the short game to 40 overs-a-side. The only difference that 10 overs a side will make is to reduce the length of a match by about 90 minutes. If folk begin to return to grounds for the four-innings 40-over game, they may surely stick on for the old Fifty50.

Since the advent of T20, though, the ODI particularly has looked distinctly unappetizing stuck as it is somewhere between slow cooking and fast food.

The gluttony of flat-wicket-short-boundary syndrome, most common in these parts, has often produced less match, more monotony. So any possible injection of suspense is to be welcomed like the discovery of an unreleased Hitchcock thriller.

Mike Selvey analyses Jonathan Trott's unusual pre-ball routine in the Guardian, and how bowling sides have started finding ways to overcome the break in momentum that it creates for them.

Shafiul did something different. He waited until Trott had finished his routine, made as if to set off and then aborted his run and started again. Trott was not able – would not have been allowed – to go through the rigmarole again. Thus, Shafiul had broken the circle of concentration. It had the hand of his coach, Jamie Siddons, in it and good for him. It will happen a lot. Now it is up to Trott to adapt.

Kieron Pollard's decision to play for Somerset instead of touring with the West Indies A team to England is an indication of how much the significance of playing for West Indies has been lost on many young players, says an editorial in the Trinidad and Tobago Guardian.

But the distressed West Indian supporter would also turn on the board and inquire about a developmental programme to nurture the likes of Pollard, not merely to enhance obvious natural ability but to give him the capacity to play vintage Test innings and aspire to more than fast 30s and 40s. We are creatures not only of our genes but of our socialisation and environment, of the culture and civilisation into which we are born and nurtured. Had Pollard and the generation after Lara and Chanderpaul been nurtured in such a crucible created by the board, there would be no issue about choice. Young players would have had inculcated into their beings what it is to be a West Indian cricketer playing for their nation.

The English press are largely happy with the decision to reward most of the World Twenty20 winners with a place in the squad for the upcoming one-dayers against Australia. England have long struggled to find a settled one-day opening pair, and Michael Atherton writes in the Times that he is intrigued to see how the latest combination - captain Andrew Strauss and newcomer Craig Kieswetter - will work.

The story of the tortoise and the hare needs no retelling, but depending how restricting English conditions and a decent pace attack will be for Kieswetter, the contrast between Strauss’s tortoise and Kieswetter’s hare will be significant. If Kieswetter can succeed in scoring big runs at a quick pace, then that will add pressure on Strauss, especially if the captain fails to translate good early-season Test form on to the one-day stage.

Mike Selvey writes in the Guardian that the squad is the clearest indication that Andy Flower sees the Twenty20 success as a blueprint in the build-up to the 2011 World Cup.

Stephen Brenkley has similar views in the Independent, where he also writes that Strauss' place in the ODI side isn't under as much pressure as is being made out in the media.

England have a probable 21 one-day matches between now and the start of the World Cup next February. It is their objective to refine the muscular approach which has pervaded all three elements of their game in the last nine months, starting with the Champions Trophy last September.

One of the two main orchestrators of this is Andrew Strauss, the captain, who overhauled England's philosophy with the coach, Andy Flower – which is why suggestions that his place was vulnerable were at best premature, at worst uninformed nonsense. Strauss needs some runs in the sense that batsmen always need runs but it is clear that England want him to be at the helm come the sub-continental World Cup.

One of few surprises was the recall of Ian Bell, who has been rewarded for working to improve his strike-rate in limited-overs formats says Derek Pringle in the Daily Telegraph.

On Cricket Central, Richard Hobson makes a spirited case for keeping Strauss as one-day captain.

When South African umpire Rudi Koertzen retires from international cricket next month, batsmen the world over will breathe a sigh of relief at no longer having to face his dreaded ‘slow finger of death’. In an interview with Aditya Iyer in the Indian Express, Koertzen looks back on his career and explains how his signature move came about.

Every umpire has their trademark, that was mine. The media labeled it the 'slow finger of death', I found that pretty interesting. There's a story behind it though. When my umpiring career first began, I used to hold my hands in front of me and every time there was an appeal, I would fold it against my ribs. The someone told me "Rudi, you can't do that, every time you raise your hands to fold it, the bowler thinks you're going to give him a wicket." So I started clasping my wrists at the back. The finger comes out slowly because it takes time for me to release my grasp at the back.

Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra will lead India’s attack in the upcoming Asia Cup. In the Hindu, Vijay Lokapally reveals the close friendship the two share both on and off the field.

“I have heard people talk about our friendship and I have always taken pride in it. I know he cares for me and is a genuine well-wisher,” says Zaheer, who first saw Nehra a decade ago in Chennai. “He was in the Indian team and I was a ‘nets' bowler,” he smiles.

“I am his senior,” jokes Nehra. “Seriously, I have always enjoyed playing alongside him. He is such a wonderful bowler. I have always admired his action. The smooth run-up, the final jump and the delivery stride. He is a complete bowler who can deliver in all conditions.”

The ECB's latest sponsorship deal with Jaguar is a reflection of cricket's upward social mobility, writes ED Smith in the Times.

In the Eighties and Nineties, cricketers had to beg their local dealership for whatever was going spare — perhaps a nice white Ford Sierra with a tail fin and electric sunroof. In return, the car was plastered with the player’s name and cricketing CV. Yes, you got the Sierra, but it came at a heavy social price. Not every player, of course, viewed driving a car embossed with his own name and accomplishments as an embarrassment. Some went straight back to the garage to ask for bigger print.

Michael Atherton, writing in the Times, says that despite the debate surrounding Andrew Strauss's role in ODI cricket, he still remains the right man to lead England in the 50-over version. His captaincy, Atherton adds, has had much to do with England's resurgence over the last 12 months.

Strauss, said Flower, has been as much the architect of England’s recent resurgence as anybody. That may be so, but is he good enough to get into the best side?

For the moment, Flower believes he is, although the nature of one-day cricket in England will not make this proposition an easy one to prove. There are 21 one-day internationals before the World Cup next year, 14 of them in England this summer, in conditions very different from those the team will face in the sub-continent.

Simon Hughes, in the Daily Telegraph, agrees. He adds that Strauss's adaptability in the batting order and his multiple roles make him that much more valuable.

England have raised the bar in limited-overs cricket with their World Twenty20 triumph, and Andrew Strauss has the challenge to ensure his team lifts its game in ODIs, writes Mike Selvey in the Guardian. Strauss' adaptability to the demands of the format will be one of the things to watch out for in the upcoming games, he adds.

Despite an excellent start to his Test career, Jonathan Trott has not been given his due by the media, says Lawrence Booth in the Wisden Cricketer. Had he been a born-and-bred Englishman, he adds, the treatment could well have been different.

Trott is an atypical modern England batsman because he is happy to stay in second gear for an entire day and more. We prize stiff-upper-lipped captain/openers; middle-order stylists; and the very occasional destroyer (read Kevin Pietersen). But bubble-dwelling run-machines arouse our suspicion. If they happen to have been born elsewhere, so much the worse.

Trott has already been quietly dropped from the Twenty20 and ODI teams, but English cricket should be careful what it wishes for. It can’t welcome a player who fulfils the qualification criteria, then get snotty when he fails to drag us to the edge of our seats while expertly doing his job.

The advent of JP Duminy forced Ashwell Price out of South Africa's middle order and into the opening spot, a role that he did not relish. The stodgy left-hand batsman talks to iol.co.za about being forced to play in an unfamiliar role, and hopes to return to his favoured No. 6 spot.

"I've always felt when I play for my country that I'm going to war, and it was so disappointing to be consigned to the scrapheap like that.

"They asked me to play a completely different role. For 15 years I'd batted in the middle order and shown my value there. Then suddenly I've got to learn a new role, and you wonder how, if they know you're valuable in the middle order, they can make you an opener, where you haven't played before."

Given the passion with which Indians follow cricket, it is no surprise that the team comes in for a lot of stick when it doesn’t do well. While some might consider such criticism to be excessive, Clayton Murzello argues in the National that all the tough talk should motivate the players to improve.

The players should not get upset about criticism because hard talk could spur them on to work harder towards proving themselves at international level.

At least the more sensible ones will take a good look at themselves and realise that the plaudits they receive for their Indian Premier League performances will not stop the critics from slamming them when they do not perform for India.

The public can be unreasonable at times with their levels of expectations but that comes with the job. It is the price players must pay for the adoration, adulation and accolades when they do well.

The tough times will pass, like they did after their World Cop disaster in 2007 when crazy fans wanted to break down the homes of players. As the year passed by Indian cricket was not only on the mend but had fully recovered.

In the Hindu, Makarand Waingankar asks for more accountability from the selectors in dealing with youngsters, since selection is no longer a thankless job; it is a paid job.

The national selectors, who during their careers perhaps themselves have been victims of weird selection policies, find it tough to get rid of the bias they get blamed for as they can only pick the best 15 they can think of.

The only difference between all the earlier selection committees and the present one is that these selectors being highly paid are accountable and hence need to exhibit better vision than others.

Zimbabwe has surprised both India and Sri Lanka in the ongoing Tri-series tournament, beating the former twice and the latter once. Crucial to the team’s success has been the performances of its openers, especially Brendan Taylor. On Cricket365, Tristan Holme looks back at the path Taylor has taken in international cricket.

It's been a long and bumpy road for Brendan Taylor since his debut as an 18-year-old schoolboy. As if international cricket wasn't overawing enough for someone so young, he immediately found himself caught in the middle of a political standoff. Zimbabwe's white players were protesting at what they saw as a racist selection policy from Zimbabwe Cricket, and wanted Taylor to take their side. Instead he opted to stay out of it and play for his country, but while that's turned out to be a good decision it hasn't meant the past six years have been easy.

Taylor has threatened to leave Zimbabwe cricket on more than one occasion as the game ground slowly to a halt, nearly walking out just months before the 2007 World Twenty20, when he anchored the innings in a memorable upset of Australia. Non payment by Zimbabwe Cricket was one of the main reasons, but equally frustrating was the lack of guidance and professional atmosphere usually put in place for international cricketers. In the absence of it, he and his young teammates were unable to push themselves to higher levels.

Former Australian Prime Minister John Howard’s nomination for ICC vice-president has not been universally well received, to say the least. In Outlook magazine, Rohit Mahajan takes a look at the reasons why Howard has elicited such strong feelings from within the cricket world.

The objections of Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe, on the face of it, don’t seem to be very grave, though they do believe him to be racist. Sri Lankans officially say they would prefer a career cricket administrator, though their real grievance is that Howard once called the great Muttiah Muralitharan a ‘chucker’. The Zimbabweans dislike him essentially for his role in that country’s suspension from the Commonwealth in 2002, and his call for boycott of relations with their country.

More serious are the concerns of South Africa and Pakistan. Howard, through the 1980s, opposed sanctions against the then white supremacist regime in South Africa. Right through the end, he was a critic of the African National Congress and Nelson Mandela. For the Pakistanis, his enthusiastic support for George Bush’s unilateral action in Iraq and Afghanistan is a big negative.

Andrew Symonds seemingly couldn’t stay out of trouble during his international career. In an honest and revealing interview with Andy Bull of the Guardian, Symonds says the pressures of international cricket drove him to binge drink and he wishes he had never signed that contract with Cricket Australia.

"Losing my contract didn't hurt me, because of what playing for Australia had become. I wasn't having fun anymore. I wasn't enjoying it. I felt like I was in a cage. Always under the microscope. Once I had got home from England, and everything had settled down, it was a relief."

A year on, and Symonds is able to admit how serious his problems were. "I was diagnosed as a binge-drinker. With all the things that went with international cricket there was never enough time for myself. So when I got my day off, I would just guzzle it, guzzle it like they weren't making it anymore, just binge. It was not smart."

It wasn't an easy ride for Ashantha de Mel, the Sri Lankan chairman of selectors, who recently made way for Aravinda de Silva. Being headstrong and outspoken were traits that didn’t win de Mel many admirers, but he did have excellent relationships with Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara. Rex Clementine in the Sunday Island reviews de Mel's stint as chairman and the decisions that didn't go his way.

People may have an axe to grind with him, but De Mel was a firm believer that once a player was past certain age, he wasn’t good enough for selection for the national team. Indika de Saram and Jeevantha Kulatunga were the casualties. They scored heaps of runs in domestic cricket but hardly got a look in. De Mel argued that making runs in domestic cricket and international cricket were two different things and openly admitted that Sri Lanka’s domestic cricket is extremely weak.

Paul Croughton, in the Sunday Times, writes of how Sam Mendes, the highly-acclaimed director of the Oscar-winning American Beauty, was prompted to co-produce a documentary, Out of the Ashes, about the rise of the Afghanistan cricket team.

The film follows the team’s coach, Taj Malik, as he prepares his charges for one of the first rounds of the World Cup qualifiers, division five of the World Cricket League, in Jersey in 2008, against such cricketing minnows as Japan and Nepal. Taj is filmic gold, the same sort of bumbling hero that Hugh Grant has built his career upon — though infinitely more endearing, and with none of the floppy hair. He is an enormous bundle of nervous enthusiasm and perpetual wonder. Like a precocious child he introduces himself to strangers at Dubai airport — having first overcome his nerves to travel down the escalator — and, spotting an elderly Japanese man wearing flip-up sunglasses, he blurts out: “Hello, six eyes!”

In the Hindustan Times, Pradeep Magazine is highly critical of the lazy and ungainly manner in which the young Indian team is contesting the tri-series in Zimbabwe. He contrasts that with the vigour the same players displayed during the IPL.

This was a team meant for the future, as our more senior players had shown a similar lack of vigour and vitality in the Twenty20 World Cup. In the IPL that preceded the World Cup, the players would celebrate each win like a hunter does when he captures his prey. They would mourn each defeat as if they would have to go hungry all their life.

Peter Roebuck, writing in the Hindu, says that with seasons overlapping increasingly these days, cricket needs to face the challenge of retaining its popularity in countries where soccer also flourishes. And the next World Cup presents an excellent opportunity to do that, he says.

Pride and Miraculous, two of my sons, went to the match and afterwards sent a message that said simply “Kaka!” As far as they were concerned, the chance to see him in the flesh was not to be missed. Could even Sachin Tendulkar have created remotely as much anticipation? And it was not a Test match.

Writing in the Guardian, former England coach Duncan Fletcher reckons Jonathon Trott’s double century against Bangladesh proves he is the man England need at No. 3

So underpinning everything he did in the first Test was the knowledge that if he failed, he was likely to be cut from the side. His critics will be quick to point out that runs scored against Bangladesh count for less. But this is where it is essential to have a real understanding of the range of difficulties Test cricket throws up. Scoring big against a weak bowling attack has its own problems, especially for a man under pressure for his place in the team. Firstly there is the added expectation. Against Bangladesh a century is not necessarily enough to make a convincing case because it comes with a caveat. The most impressive aspect of Trott's 226 was the way in which he carried on after reaching his hundred. Weaker players would have thought: "Right, that's enough," and switched off.

Reaction to the BCCI’s decision to not send a cricket team to the Asian Games as been one of almost universal condemnation. But in the Guardian Dileep Premachandran defends the board, saying it is right to shun the Games.

Instead of whipping up mass hysteria, the media should be asking the question: does cricket belong on the Olympic or Asian Games stage? Or will it be an imposter, as football and tennis are? An Olympic medal should be the pinnacle of your sport. If it's not, you really don't have any business being there. You can melt all the Golden League ingots in the world, and they still wouldn't mean half as much as the gold medals that Usain Bolt won in such thrilling fashion at the Bird's Nest in Beijing.

Three-time World Amateur Billiards champion Michael Ferreira takes the BCCI to task in the Mid-Day for its decision not to send a team to the Asian Games.

The Asian Games is a huge platform, second only to the Olympic Games, for countries to showcase their sporting talent and to win national honour and glory. The sheer emotion of any champion who hears the national anthem of his country played when he wins the gold is indescribable, and strong men (the expression 'men' being gender neutral) have been reduced to tears as the gold medal is being draped around their necks.

The ebb and flow of camaraderie and fellowship in the Games village between sportsmen of different disciplines have to be experienced to be believed. But, and here's the rub, there are no commercial gains to be made by governing bodies when their boys participate in, or even win, at this magnificent event.

In his blog on the IBN Live website, Gaurav Kalra wants to know who let the BCCI steal India's chance at a medal, and thinks it’s time the board was stripped of the power to decide such things.

The BCCI had a chance to do the right thing for a change and they blew it. Oblivious and perhaps even disdainful of the public view, they arrogantly brush away all dissent. Caught in a ridiculous cross-fire of show cause notices with a former insider, India's cricket administration is now vile and derelict. They can have their squabbles and their tardy side shows but in this case they must not be allowed to succeed. We must find a way to snatch their right away to choose whether we can covet and desire our stake in glory. These games only come once every four years. They have no right to snatch away your chance for a medal. My medal. Our medal.

Does anyone know what happened to Bryan Strang, former Zimbabwe medium-pacer, following the exodus of cricketers from the country in the early 2000s? Aditya Iyer reveals more in the Indian Express.

For the 38-year-old from Bulawayo, the prison cells, bloody wounds, alcohol-related problems, manic depression, suicidal tendencies and self-inflicted injuries of the recent past have now been replaced by a deep and sincere spirituality.

"I found God and it changed my life," says Strang, as he stubs out the cigarette butt. “I was angry with myself, my country and my life. By the time my career fizzled out, the revolution took ground in Zimbabwe. It was a terrible time in our lives …

“I was a white man who believed in harmony, somebody who wanted to be a monk in the Himalayas before I got fascinated by cricket. But all that changed when our lands were taken away from us. My anger made me rebel against the law.” The result was that he kept getting thrown in jail, which only increased his angst.

Steven Finn’s fine performance in the first Test against Bangladesh has drawn comparisons to Glenn McGrath, helped no doubt by Finn’s own assertion that he wants to emulate the Aussie great. In the Independent Angus Fraser calls for a little perspective, saying Finn is no doubt a great prospect, but comparisons to McGrath are premature.

Nobody should underestimate the potential of Finn, who left Lord's for Old Trafford with the fine match figures of 9 for 187, but McGrath's record – 563 wickets at an average of 21.64 – is outstanding. McGrath's ability to take wickets on any continent, against any batsman and on any type of pitch is there in the history books for everyone to see. His record for Australia is phenomenal and he performed almost day in, day out for a period of more than 10 years. As Steven told me when I spoke to him yesterday afternoon, he is now only the small matter of 550 Test wickets away from emulating one of his heroes.

In the Telegraph, Simon Hughes burrows into the psyche of Jonathon Trott and determines the man is after runs, not fans, which is no bad thing for England.

It is that naked ambition and application which England need. It is that total immersion that enabled him to make a century against Australia on his test debut last summer, an innings vital to England's Ashes triumph. His dedication to the crease is writ large, in the painstaking redrawing of a line demarcating middle stump, extending a yard down the pitch towards the bowler. The reason, to allow him to stand outside his crease in county cricket "to make the bowling faster", he says. That is a measure of how desperate he is to succeed at international level.

Almost mechanical in his movements, he is not an especially compelling batsman to watch, tending to chug along at his own pace to his own rhythm.

There is a slightly clinical nature to his shots. He could be a German footballer. You'd bet he'd score from the penalty spot. After a lot of practice, of course. We don't like people like that in England, do we? But you have to admire them. They are winners, and that is the point is it not?

I don't like to read too much into one game, but I would say now 100% I'd take [Steven] Finn to Australia this winter. He has height, pace, bounce and has shown here that he can use angles intelligently. Finn is a real find for England, writes Nasser Hussain in the Daily Mail.

It is the first time I have ever seen Finn bowl live and I have been hugely impressed. Specifically, I have been impressed because he can make things happen and take wickets on a flat pitch and in batsman-friendly conditions. Finn looks to have a good brain, is mature and has good people like Gus Fraser around him at Middlesex, who will make sure he does not get carried away with his success in his first home Test. The only possible issue with Finn will be his workload - we have seen with people like Ryan Sidebottom in recent years that the extra demands of international cricket can take a toll on a bowler's body.

In the Guardian, Vic Marks says, "Unlike previous England bowlers who flickered brightly but briefly, Finn appears to be here to stay."