Writing for Times Live, Luke Alfred isn't happy with Graeme Smith's captaincy and thinks he needs to be more attacking.

We are too conservative and too predictable and Smith inclines to captaincy-by-numbers. This doesn't matter when you are playing a demoralised Zimbabwe, but it might matter in a World Cup quarterfinal.

In a World Cup knockout match it will be tense and the elephant in the dressing room will be getting bigger by the over. In such a situation you need to be brave and adventurous rather than allow a painful fear of losing to dictate your choices.

In the first part of a hard-hitting interview with Colin Croft for the Trinidad and Tobago Guardian, former West Indies wicketkeeper Deryck Murray blames the administration of the game by businessmen, who "cannot run cricket any more than can they run NASA’s space programmes", for the current state of cricket in the Caribbean.

"Everything that happened later had its origins 10 years previously; mid-1980s. As each successful player of that era left, we kept saying, 'Australia has an academy; England is doing this; South Africa, when it comes back in, plans doing that, with their development.’ We went blithely along, with these businessmen supposedly running cricket, based on the philosophy that West Indies had such talent that we will continue to win. All that they had to do was wait, be around, to get the glory. We all saw the signs and asked: ‘What are we doing to develop our cricket? It is going backwards.’ Not many of our administrators have changed since then. Numerous presidents and CEOs are symptoms of not being able to make any changes. There is this core of administrators, not just at West Indies Cricket Board level but in territorial boards, who are just there just in case WI cricket suddenly turns that corner. They have no vision, no idea what needs to be done, to get West Indies back on track."

"Since the last time England were in Sydney and being thrashed after a Test tour of total humiliation the records of the two sides have been just about identical," writes Vic Marks in the Observer. "Australia have won 20 Tests and lost 11 (including their past three). England have drawn more games and have been the busier of the two sides but they have also won 20 while losing 10 since the whitewash of 2006-07."

If anything England have become more Australian than the Australians. For years the feature of the set-up there, was that, compared with England, Australia's selection policy was more stable, less prone to chop and change and their team was younger and more vibrant. Yet since January 2007 England have used only 30 players and five of those have played a solitary Test. There were Darren Pattinson and Amjad Khan (both highly unlikely to be selected again), Michael Carberry and James Tredwell (they might get another game) and Amjad Shahzad (almost certain to add to the cap he won at Manchester last June). So in effect England have relied on only 25 players in almost four years, which suggests a rare stability. In the Ashes summer of 1989 alone England picked 29 different players.

Andy Bull, also writing in the Observer, says Andrew Strauss has the opportunity to convert his reputation from solid to spectacular.

He has the opportunity to earn himself a place in the pantheon of the great English captains. If Strauss led England to a series victory this winter, after 20 barren years of tours to Australia, it would be a feat that would be cherished alongside the Ashes win in 2005. Now, just as in that summer, the English appetite for success is especially sharp because there have been so many painful and fruitless years. And 15 days after the one-day team play their final fixture in Australia, they play their first match in the 2011 World Cup.

In the Independent on Sunday, David Lloyd observes that "Strauss is cool, calm and collected as he arrives Down Under, knowing his opposite number is history if he loses a third Ashes series."

Everyone wants answers about what is wrong with New Zealand. I know what needs to happen - runs must be scored and a heck of lot more of them than currently being scored, writes Mark Richardson in the Herald on Sunday.

With the exception of Vettori and the untested Williamson, all these players have so far failed to realise their various potential and the sad fact is most of them have had 10 times the time it should have taken to do so.

Maybe I am just like them - and believe they are a little better than they actually are. I hate to say that and they should hate it being said, but a world-class performance here and there does not actually make you a world-class performer.

After Bangladesh the public wanted blood and they didn't get it, so the stakes are high now. Expectation is, however, low so the Black Caps can breathe a little easier that they don't need to win in India.

With the World Cup and IPL auctions around the corner, and a No. 1 Test status to be maintained, the Ranji Trophy, which kicks off on Monday, has plenty riding on it, writes Bharat Sundaresan in the Indian Express.

A promo for the domestic tournament in Australia till last year used to proudly proclaim the land Down Under as being the breedingground for world-champions. And while, its counterpart in India cannot afford such a hyperbole as yet, Dhoni & Co will be well aware that sustaining the No. 1 status will depend heavily on the bench-strength they are capable of cultivating, adding that much more significance to the 77th edition of the Ranji Trophy.

In an interview with Amit Gupta of Mumbai Mirror, Rohit Sharma agrees only runs by the bushel will help him claw his way back into contention for a permanent India spot.

"Talent is nothing. I can’t stop people from saying that I am talented. That’s their view. In cricket, talent gets you nowhere, it is the runs and the wickets that matter. That’s how it has been for ages and that’s how it is going to be. The fact remains that I need runs and runs and more runs. Only runs will keep me in contention for a regular spot in the Indian team.”

A year after shifting from Mumbai to Assam, veteran domestic batsman Amol Muzumdar is emotional about the prospect of playing against his home team from November 24. Amit Gupta catches up with him.

“Things are totally different in Assam from what they are in Mumbai. When you play for Mumbai you don’t have to worry about the quality of your fellow players and their readiness for the big stage. But at Assam, there is a sense of anxiety that is gripping me. Questions like if the team will do well in the Elite Group and if they are ready for the big challenge are coming to my mind,” said Muzumdar.

Karnataka came very close to winning the Ranji Trophy last year, but were denied by a spirited Mumbai surge. Can they go all the way this time? Ashish Magotra of Mumbai Mirror looks at their prospects.

As Andrew Strauss' men look to emulate the feat of Mike Gatting's 1986-87 Ashes side - the last English team to lift the urn in Australia - the Telegraph checks out what the members of that historic squad are up to now.

Devastating with bat and ball, Botham kicked off the tour with a century in Brisbane and took five for 41 at Melbourne in the game that sealed the series win. Now a Knight of the Realm, charity fund-raiser, seller of wholesome breakfast cereals and an outspoken pundit on television and radio.

Father of current squad member Stuart, Chris Broad joined Jack Hobbs and Wally Hammond in scoring three consecutive centuries in Ashes Tests. Became a ICC Test official and was on duty for the ill-fated match between Pakistan and Sri Lanka in 2009 when the convoy of vehicles he was in was attacked by terrorists. Received praise for his conduct at that time when he protected an injured umpire while risking his own life.

Shane Warne, England's tormentor in many an Ashes past, writes in the Telegraph that this year could be their best chance of lifting the urn in Australia, but only if Kevin Pietersen and Graeme Swann play to potential.

I do not agree with John Buchanan’s view that Pietersen is selfish. I have worked with KP and seen him operate. It is all about the leadership of the team making him feel important, that he is the main man. Everyone has to toe the line but there are some people who are free spirits and you have to let them go. KP is always one of the best prepared players in world cricket. He is forensic in the way he prepares both physically and mentally so just let him go. The more you cage him and encroach on his preparation time then the less he will perform for you.

Swann has an air of confidence about him that can worry the opposition. He is in form and has that knack of getting a wicket in the first over. Everything he is trying is working. He is spinning the ball profusely for an off-spinner and he will really enjoy using the Kookaburra ball too. The quicks will not like the Kookaburra, but the spinners will love it because it has a coarse seam to grip and on a hard, flat wicket in the hot sun Swann will have to do a lot of bowling. He will relish being that main man with the ball.

A trip to Jamnagar gives Dilip D'Souza of caravanmagazine.in an opportunity to relive the magnificence of two of the town's most famous cricketing sons.

It was not far from the Hanuman temple that we found Ranji’s statue and I became unexpectedly awash in cricket nostalgia: so much about this prince among cricketers that I had not thought about in years. But the statue annoyed me. Why remember him in gold-plated middle-age? Why not a statue of the younger and fitter Ranji doing what so bewitched cricketers and audiences and me, alike? Why not sculpt him playing the stroke he invented, a bit of silky legerdemain called the leg glance?

Australian cricket has paid its Indian counterpart a high compliment by adopting its format for Twenty20 cricket, writes Peter Roebuck in the Hindu.

Now Australia intends to go a step further and embrace the private sector. By all accounts local Indian businessmen are amongst the highest bidders for franchises. If so it's a good thing, as is the news that Venkatesh Prasad is in contention for the bowling coach position with the national team. It all helps to stymie those determined to drive a wedge between our countries. They succeed by stereotyping and they need to be challenged.

Donald McRae, of the Guardian met with Sachin Tendulkar and listened as the batsman spoke of his past, the future and what drives him. He also said he favoured England to win the Ashes.

Tendulkar expects a more balanced England to edge the Ashes. "I think England have a better chance. I favour them slightly. I would say [Eoin] Morgan could be the key performer in the Ashes. Morgan and [Graeme] Swann." Suggesting that Kevin Pietersen's poor form lies in his head, Tendulkar pinpoints Morgan as England's best batsman. "He's a very solid player who can control the pace of his innings. He can become a really good Test batsman even though he has only played a few Tests so far. After Morgan you've got the experience of [Andrew] Strauss, [Paul] Collingwood and Pietersen. They're a really well-balanced side and this is a great opportunity for England."

VVS Laxman revisits his match-winning innings in the first Test against Australia in Mohali in an interview in Sportstar.

At 124 for eight India was staring at defeat. What was your honest impression then?

Yes, two mistakes and we would have lost the Test. But, I must reassert that more than my innings, Ishant's knock was very important and valuable in the final analysis. As a batsman I was supposed to bat well, but being a bowler and on a heavy dose of injections to alleviate the pain in the leg, I think Ishant did a fantastic job. He showed great character and temperament under intense pressure.

Writing in the Sportstar, S Ram Mahesh says that tours of South Africa, England, Australia and West Indies beckon, and how India handles its young batsmen during this period, and how they grow under the mentorship of Dravid, Tendulkar, and Laxman, will determine if India remains a main-event contender.

Heartening as it may be, it's nonetheless surprising that young Indian batsmen have, in the recent past, shown the stomach for Test cricket. Surprising for a variety of reasons. The development of batsmen chases the development of bowlers just as reaction follows creation — bowling, which remains cricket's only act of formation, dictates the batting that counters it, and there has been nothing by way of empirical evidence to suggest India's bowling, domestically, has improved in the 2000s, the period of incubation for the current batting generation

Robbert Craddock, writing on the Fox Sports website, says Indian investment in Australian domestic cricket should not be viewed as a threat. Instead, it should be viewed as an opportunity given the current state of domestic cricket in the country.

If Cricket Australia officials want to have a whinge about India let them do so about how a bus full of Australian players have spent the last three years in the IPL and Australian cricket has barely got a round of drinks out of it.

Here's a chance for payback.

Javed Miandad, the former Pakistan captain, is directing the Chinese team’s preparations for their debut international appearance at the Guangzhou Asian Games.He tells Uthra G Chaturvedi in the Indian Express that China could be the surprise team of the Games.

The Chinese are very quick learners. Their complete devotion to mastering anything is simply awesome. Something that is missing in Pakistan and India.

Australia haven't been in the best form for some time while things are looking up for England ahead for the Ashes. England will be confident but also fully aware that history is against them, writes Stephen Brenkley in the Independent.

Gatting might (rightly and voraciously) have spent many of the succeeding 24 years dining out on the feat but his remains the last England team in Australia to secure perhaps the greatest and most evocative of all international sporting trophies. There are sound reasons, Middlesex or not, for suggesting that Strauss may be instrumental in reducing the number of Gatt's banquet invitations, or at least the resonance of his introduction to the assembled throng.

England are capable of beating Australia this winter, a prediction that can be made with more evidence and certainty than at any time since 1982-83 (when they eventually lost) and that includes Gatting's expedition. The biggest mistake the squad and their followers could make is that it is a cast-iron certainty.

Mike Selvey agrees in the Guardian, saying England have never been better prepared and resourced for an Ashes tour as this time.

A thoughtfully selected all-time XI can spark off debate, which can be very educating, says Ayaz Memon in the Mint. Continuing the season of selecting such XIs, he comes up with eleven players who overcame serious illnesses or diseases to leave their mark on the game.

Andy Bull, writing in the Guardian, explains why this trip to Australia is such a significant one for England cricketers despite the current Australian team being among the weakest to have hosted an Ashes series in quite some time.

Such thoughts are buzzing around the minds of most English cricket fans like flies around jam jars. Will the time Kevin Pietersen has spent in South Africa working with Graham Ford have put right whatever it is that has gone wrong with his game since 2009? Has Ian Bell finally come of age as a batsman? What will James Anderson do when the ball stops swinging after those few first overs? Is Steve Finn too callow? Is Paul Collingwood shot? Will Alastair Cook's technique hold up? Spend too much time brooding on it all and you'll risk slipping back to the English fans' factory settings – abject pessimism interspersed only by occasional flickers of futile hope.

Meanwhile, Kevin Pietersen opens up to Paul Newman in the Daily Mail about his battle for form and burning desire to succeed in Australia, but also admits it will be a tough winter away from his family.

'Fatherhood is the best thing in my life,’ said Pietersen. ‘Having not been selected by England at least I had the chance to spend a bit more time with the little man and it was magical. He’s amazing, absolutely amazing. I’ve worked out that I will be away from home for 220 days this winter and that will be tough. I will only see my family for a short while during that time. It will be the hardest thing this winter.

I’m still driven and hungry. I still want it. But when you become a father you do have distractions. It’s a time which coincided with a slump in form but I still don’t think I’d have had that slump if the wickets had been good and conditions had been more in the batsmen’s favour.

Mike Selvey, writing in the Guardian, says the ECB is getting things right by investing heavily in coaches at the game's grassroots in England with 33,000 coaches graduating from the board's Coach Education Programme since it was started four years ago.

Things are, I am told, starting to change. The realisation is there now that the investment has to be at the most formative stages and this goes not just for players who might have been identified as potential elite cricketers but for those who wish to play cricket recreationally for the sake of the game. To this end one of the most heartening pieces of news to come from the ECB recently was that 33,000 coaches have graduated from the ECB Coach Education Programme, which is run in conjunction with Sky Sports, since the scheme was launched four years ago. That, as they point out, is enough to fill Lord's. No fewer than 10,000 of these have qualified in the past year alone.

Nasser Hussain, the former England captain, faces Australia's fast bowlers but through a bowling machine at the National Cricket Performance Centre in Loughborough. Read his column in the Daily Mail to see how effective an instrument it is in preparing England's batsmen for the Ashes.

But I must confess I have a few reservations as to whether, at this stage, Pro-Batter is really any better than the old bowling machines that I found such a useful practice tool in my day.

For a start it should be made clear that Pro-Batter is not the finished article and Hills pointed out that a lot more work will be done to refine it over the next year or so.

I know that my eyes and reflexes are not what they were but it is hard to pick the ball up. A red ball comes out of a black hole and, for an all-important split second, it is difficult to see what is coming at you. There is no sightscreen nor white background for the batsman to work with.

Greg Baum writes in the Age that England's comprehensive series of warm-up games means they should be ready - perhaps more so than Australia - for the first Ashes Test.

You might easily be forgiven for thinking that the prelude to this Ashes series had been drawn up by England, not Australia. After its obligatory series of meaningless one-dayers against Pakistan in September, England spent October toiling away in the nets, on pitches prepared to simulate Australian pitches, and using Australian balls. Then it decamped to Australia.

Some of the Australians spent the past six weeks playing in the Indian Champions League in South Africa, then in two Test matches against world No. 1 India in India, then in three meaningless one-dayers against India, two of which were washed out, rendering them in all senses pointless.

Ricky Ponting was never a great captain, though he led a great side, says Suresh Menon in Tehelka. As he presides over his team’s decline, he is also approaching the end as captain. But he is still Australia’s best batsman, and should be persisted with that way, feels Menon.

Traditionally, Australia first choose their eleven and pick the captain, usually the best batsman, from within (unlike England and India who first pick the captain, thus investing the job with a special aura). With Ponting showing that at 35 he is still the best batsman in the side but not necessarily its best captain, it might be time to throw tradition out of the window and pick a captain who is not necessarily the best player. Australia can afford to do without their most successful captain, but not without their most successful batsman.

In a scathing indictment of the cricket media in India, Peter Roebuck writes in the Outlook that individual glorification and jingoism have blinded the bulk of the media to what should be its chief job, being the eyes and ears of the nation.

At such times, the only hope lies with the newspapers. As far as cricket is concerned, though, they too are rapidly losing ground. Capable and intrepid reporters continue to uncover stories and publish hard truths. That is the stuff of journalism. Left to their own devices, they could provide a sound critique of Indian cricket. But, unfortunately, they are not. Instead, they are undermined by a board that doesn’t feel the need to hire a media manager, disdained by a captain who didn’t feel obliged to attend a press conference after the Mohali Test, overwhelmed by the sound and fury and hemmed in by experts.

In the semi-final of the 1981-82 Ranji season, with Karnataka left-arm Raghuram Bhatt spinner coiling webs around Bombay's batsmen, Sunil Gavaskar walked out as a left-hand batsman to negate him in the second innings. Gavaskar went on to score an unbeaten 18 and save Bombay from outright defeat. Akshay Sawai of the Open magazine looks back at what is probably Gavaskar's most unusual innings.

Gavaskar says, “The ball was turning square and Raghuram Bhat was pretty much unplayable on that surface. Since he was a left-hand orthodox spinner getting the ball to turn and bounce sharply away from the right-handers, I thought that the way to counter that was by playing left handed where the ball would turn and bounce but hit the body harmlessly (without the risk of getting out leg before wicket).”

“I could understand the adverse reactions,” Gavaskar says. “It was felt that it was done in pique, but it was nothing like that at all. I felt I had zero chance against Raghu batting right handed, and since the match was already decided in Karnataka’s favour, I tried the tactic. If the match was in the balance, I certainly would not have batted left handed. Also, please remember I batted left handed only against Raghuram Bhat. When a right hand spinner (B Vijayakrishna) came along, I switched to batting right handed again.”

Venkat Ananth and Akshay Sawai of the Open magazine go behind the scenes to find what cricketers do, speak, and most importantly, eat, during the lunch break.

Asked to name the big eaters in the current dressing room, Rohit Sharma says, “In the Ranji Trophy team, it would be Abhishek Nayar, and in the Indian team, Irfan Pathan.” Sharma himself is known to be a food enthusiast.

Nayar also figures in Agarkar’s list of dining table heavy-hitters. Vengsarkar names Shastri and Sachin Tendulkar. Bevan says, “The big fast bowlers were the best eaters. Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie... they didn’t mind a feed.”

Writing in the Sydney Morning Herald, David Sygall tries to analyse what makes Sachin Tendulakar's bat look bigger than normal.

''I was having lunch two days ago with the guy who makes his bat,'' said cricket-supply guru, Harry Solomons, who owns Kingsgrove Sports Centre, which once employed the Waugh brothers. ''Sachin's bats look wide, but they are regulation width. It's the thick edges that make it look bigger.

The rotation policy of venues for international cricket in India is impractical, says Anand Vasu in the Hindustan Times. The washed-out ODI in Goa, he writes, is a case in point.

The problem, however, is that such sensible and practical scheduling is impossible because the BCCI allots matches on the basis of its much-pilloried (occasionally deservedly) rotation policy. While this automatically means that the best matches are not necessarily played at the best venues, it also means that a state association could get a match when it was least prepared for it.

Only recently, the Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association gave up a Test and an ODI, nominally because one stand at the Green Park in Kanpur was not ready, but also because the municipal authorities, who own the ground, and the UPCA, are constantly at loggerheads. For some time now, the BCCI has stressed the importance of state associations acquiring land and building their own stadia, and set up the necessary funding to make this possible. But this is a time consuming process, and at the moment cricket is still being played at grounds not owned by the state association.

Cricket Australia's AGM is approaching, and Robert Craddock writes in the Courier-Mail that it's time for some firm decisions on the country's new Twenty20 competition.

Endless meetings have failed to resolve key aspects of the competition: when it starts, how many teams it has, how players are chosen for it, whether franchises are privately owned. You cannot blame Australia for being cautious, the game's future is at stake here, but the time has arrived for tough, firm decision making. If the competition is to start next season, as most officials hope it will, Friday's CA board meeting is seen as the one which should produce the rubber stamp.

Cricket in the Indian state of Jharkhand, which has produced MS Dhoni and Saurabh Tiwary, has remained mired in the shackles of mediocrity. However, Aditya Iyer writes in the Indian Express that things are slowly changing, with numerous local academies being set up across the state to nurture talent.

While the bleached-blond-long-haired men have brought national interest to the region, the pair still remain unable to inspire their fellow state players to raise the bar on the domestic field.

Setting up nurseries of cricket is the unanimous answer.

Hartley Anderson, in the Jamaica Observer, is optimistic about the future of West Indies cricket. He points to the emergence of young talent like Adrian Barath and Andre Russell, and believes that the relieving of Chris Gayle’s captaincy burden and the end of Dwayne Bravo’s injury woes make it possible for West Indies to turn the corner.

Finally, the truth is that all is not lost with West Indies cricket, and in fact, just when we thought we could sink no further, the dangling carrot is the chance to move up the Test rankings -- ahead of Pakistan -- if indeed we perform creditably in the upcoming series.

Writing in the New Zealand Herald, Adam Parore says that for all of the praise we must send the way of Bangladesh, following their 4-0 ODI series win over New Zealand, there is one word which best sums up this result: embarrassing.

New Zealand's cricket reputation has been seriously dented and the game is heading for major problems in this country if the Black Caps' fortunes cannot be quickly turned around. Cricket will lose its audience and suffer commercially. Bangladesh have clearly improved but this does not explain such an incredible turnaround in fortunes for the two sides.

Writing in the same newspaper, Mark Richardson says that he did not see the same level of desperation in New Zealand that he saw in the Bangladesh players.

Do our top players desperately need to succeed any more for New Zealand? I'm not sure they do. They may want to succeed but do they need to succeed? With the distraction of the IPL and Champions League, performing on low-profile New Zealand tours is not the priority.

Simon Doull in the News says that despite the Bangladesh debacle, New Zealand Cricket have been sensible to not press the panic button. While Mark Greatbatch and captain Daniel Vettori had to front up to some tough questions for the NZC board, it was just as good to see them walk away holding on to their jobs.

What I would suggest is that the pair could do with a little bit of help in the coaching department. I would like to see someone such as former England coach Duncan Fletcher or South African batsman Kepler Wessels brought in to help. It could be something that may eventuate from the formation of the new committee charged with reviewing the systems – especially if the struggles continue in the series in India.

Walking towards the government headquarters in Bangalore, to catch a glimpse of the unfolding political drama, Ramachandra Guha instead chose to go to the Chinnaswamy stadium to watch, as he writes in the Telegraph another, and indubitably more appealing, drama about to unfold.

In the first over of the third day, Tendulkar played two late leg-glances to get to his half-century. Then he hit two lusty pulls off Mitchell Johnson, Australia’s fastest bowler, and a man reckless enough to announce before the series began that the Indians were suspect against the short ball

I learnt from the next day’s papers that the last stages of his innings had been watched by, among others, the leader of the Opposition in the Karnataka state assembly, the Congress politician, A. Siddaramiah. That morning, Siddaramiah had gone to work hoping that the BJP government would be voted out, and that he would stake a claim to be chief minister. The plan was foiled when, with the aid of the police, the speaker enforced his decision to disqualify the defecting legislators.The thwarted leader now chose to leave for the Chinnaswamy Stadium, where, since Tendulkar was still at the crease, he knew he would find pleasure — and consolation.

David Riccio, writing in the Sunday Telegraph, tells the story of Usman Khawaja, who has been laughing in the face of adversity his whole life.

Too poor to afford a ticket into the SCG to see his heroes blaze away each summer, Khawaja would wait all day outside the old iron gates before grabbing a priceless glimpse of the day's play. "My dad didn't have a lot of money so we didn't have the ability to go out and watch cricket games," he said."But what I would do is I would come at the end of the game, when they would open the gates for the final 10 overs.

"I would wait at the gates ... wait at the gates and then run as fast I could to get in and watch the final overs. I did that every single time they played a one-dayer or when I heard Steve or Mark Waugh was playing for New South Wales, I would rush over and go watch them.

Khawaja is one of a host of young players pushing for Australian selection, but David Sygall says in the Sun-Herald that you don’t always need new blood.

There has been a distinct lack of discussion about the considerable experienced talent that knows how to win and is ready, willing and able to take over from struggling incumbents.

In the Sunday Telegraph Will Swanton argues critics of Michael Clarke are mad.

At a time when cricket commentary has degenerated into loud and cliched utterances set to the monotonous frenzy of Twenty20 cricket, Jonathan Agnew of Test Match Special looks back at the magical era of his predecessor as BBC's cricket correspondent - Brian Johnston. Andrew Pettie of the Telegraph catches up with Agnew, whose tribute to Johnston - Thanks, Johnners - is now for sale.

Johnston was describing a curious dismissal in which Ian Botham’s inner thigh had brushed his stumps, dislodging a bail. ‘He just didn’t quite get his leg over,’ chipped in Agnew mischievously. Cue Johnston, a lover of schoolboy innuendo to rival Frankie Howerd, erupting in a Krakatoa of snorts, whimpers, sneezes and, finally, uncontrollable laughter. Listeners were similarly afflicted; motorists had to pull on to the hard shoulder to wipe away the tears.

The ‘Leg Over’ has since become a commentary classic. But, at the time, Johnston was aghast. ‘He thought he’d been unprofessional,’ says Agnew. ‘It was only the next day when we listened to it that we realised it was very funny.’

Andrew Strauss has made all the right moves both on and off the field, suggesting that he may be born for the job of leading England, according to Jim White of the Telegraph. Strauss discusses his evolution in the job, and looks forward to the Ashes in an interview with White.

"A cricket dressing room is quite a cynical place. If someone says something out of character it will be noticed. Besides, cricket is very specific: you have to go out on the field and do the same job as the people you're captaining. You can't hide away, you either lead by example or you don't lead.

"I don't need to dream of lifting the urn," he says, "because I know what it's like."

In the Sun, England offspinner Graeme Swann recalls being inspired at the age of seven by Mike Gatting's triumphant tour of Australia in 1986-87, and hopes his team can similarly inspire children during the upcoming Ashes.

Anand Vasu writes in Hindustan Times that Gary Kirsten and Paddy Upton have done a stellar job in piloting the India team, by helping the players "become significantly better at what they love doing".

The first thing this duo did, was to not try and mould players into what they believed cricketers should be. They realised that trying to get VVS Laxman to run like Rhodes would be as futile as coaching Laxman's on-drive into Rhodes' batting repertoire. They understood that the one thing standing in the way of Sachin Tendulkar playing the role of elder statesman was the coach demanding that he do it, and make long-winded speeches to youngsters.

Martin Flanagan, writing in the Age, discusses the career of Gideon Haigh as he releases his latest book, Sphere of Influence.

As a writer Gideon has played his shots and he's got them all: wit, irony, erudition and endurance. The last quality has made him increasingly well-known throughout the cricket world and added to the authority of his opinions.

Jonathan Millmow believes that the 4-0 reversal in Bangladesh has shown up the problems in the three-coach model involving Daniel Vettori, Mark Greatbatch and Roger Mortimer. Writing in the Dominion Post, Millmow hopes Chris Moller, the new NZC chairman, will initiate steps for the appointment of a head coach.

Vettori and Greatbatch front the NZC board in Wellington today and the thrust of their explanation will centre on solutions for improving the batting unit. Brendon McCullum down, Martin Guptill opening, Scott Styris here, Kane Williamson there. In reality, it is just shuffling the deckchairs. The problem stems from a fundamentally flawed management model that among other things has seen young players fall to pieces and Vettori's favourites and selection whims pass muster without question.

Logan Savory, writing for the Southland Times, says that the Bangladesh series whitewash has finally pricked the egos of the top New Zealand players, and cites the case of the McCullum brothers.

The way many of the players have conducted themselves has also been embarrassing.

Our leading players went about their business with their noses up in the air and growing egos alongside them, unaware that most of them were overpaid and under-delivered more often than not.

In BackPageLead Muttiah Muralitharan picks the ten toughest batsmen he has had to bowl to during his career. Brian Lara tops the list but there are some surprising names lower down.

Viv Richards tells Brain Viner in the Independent that Australia are still a strong side and that England will have to be at their best to retain the Ashes.

"One of the secrets of playing against Australia is working the captain over. It's like the Red Indians. They knew that if you killed the chief, you killed the spirit. When I captained the West Indies we tried to do that to every captain we played against, but particularly Allan Border. Malcolm Marshall had a plan for him, bowling a little short, and getting him to pop it up with a guy in his back pocket. Ricky Ponting is similar, a good batsman and a hard character, but maybe more than ever now that Australia have lost so many great players, like [Shane] Warne and [Glenn] McGrath, England need to target Ponting."

The success of the Faysal Bank T-20 cup was a fine testament to the resilience of the Pakistani cricket fans, writes Sana Kazmi in a blog on the Dawn. Not only were the crowds packed for almost every evening game (including the group matches), there was significant interest in those watching and following from home.

There is something to admire about a tournament that doesn’t take itself too seriously and produces a champion in exactly a week (I am looking at you, ICC World Cup 2007 and Indian Premier League). However, you can’t help but feel that a little more thought could have been put into the format. With four groups and a total of 13 teams, playing just two group matches each before the semis, it was essentially a knock-out from the get-go.

The argument in favour of multiple teams from one region is that it prevents any one team from being too strong, while making sure all the deserving players still get to play. In practice, though, this only ends up diluting the competition, not enriching it. A better approach to make the league competitive would be to loan some of the top players to a weaker side, like Quetta.

Darren Sammy was surprisingly named captain of West Indies © AFP

David Hinds writes on the Caribbean Cricket blog that the person captaining West Indies needs to understand the tradition and history of the Caribbean and the region's cricket, and the impact the team's performance has on collective self-confidence of people in the West Indies. Hinds backs the appointment of Darren Sammy as captain because Sammy has West Indian pride in him and plays with the passion that lifted the team to the top on the past.

Sammy is now the captain -- it's renewal time. He represents a break with the market-oriented leadership. But cricket is a team sport. He must now use his skills to persuade the rest of the team to return to our roots. More than any captain since Richards he has the cultural instincts to lead a renewal of our cricket. But he needs the support of the wider society. The senseless chatting by some of the chattering class that he cannot gain selection to the team on merit should be excused—it points to the low level of public discourse in the region. But as CLR James would retort: What do they know of cricket who only cricket knows.

Test cricket needs to re-invent itself by creating more meaningful contests, writes Mukul Kesavan in the Telegraph. The top five Test-playing nations should play only among themselves, and only at centres that have a Test culture, like Bangalore, he says.

Test cricket is being killed off by meaningless Test matches played between mismatched teams or third-rate ones. It is suffering because of the International Cricket Council’s idiotic missionary impulse, the mad idea that Test cricket’s health depends on it becoming a more global sport. Nothing could be further from the truth: history teaches us that Test cricket is essentially a bilateral game: it prospered even when it was played by just two countries, England and Australia.

As Geoffrey Boycott turns 70, Bill Bridge of the Yorkshire Post reflects on the life and times of a cricketer-commentator who "made history and divided Yorkshire".

...He is revered by many who follow the game – especially in Yorkshire – as a great batsman, perhaps the best Englishman of that calling since the Second World War. For others – many of them in Yorkshire – he will never rank alongside Herbert Sutcliffe and Sir Leonard Hutton and will forever carry the stigma of being the individual who brought a great county cricket club to its knees.

To sum up assessing Geoffrey Boycott is like – and this comes from several good sources – batting with him.

India's batsmen ensured their side emerged victorious in Visakhapatnam, but they could not mask the insipid bowling display that allowed Australia steal 84 off the last five overs. Dileep Premachandran, in his Yahoo column, explains how eight of the nine World Cups have been won on bowling excellence rather than batting muscle. If India are to come on top in the 2011 event with their current bowling attack, they will have to reprise Sri Lanka's 1996 heroics, he says.

Could such an ill-balanced team carry off the big prize? As Sri Lanka showed in '96, it's not impossible. But unless Zaheer, Ishant and the rest improve dramatically over the coming months, the pressure on the batsmen will be huge. One bad game, like South Africa had against West Indies in '96, and the cherished dream will become a grisly nightmare.

Bangladesh have just pulled off an unprecedented 4-0 win in the ODI series against New Zealand and the Daily Star says that the board needs to restructure and improve domestic cricket in the country in order to ensure this success will not be a one off once again.

Beginning from the standard, pay structure and right down to the culture attached to the game, it is blemished. When the national cricketers miss Premier League matches or National Cricket League (NCL), the standard goes down a few notches. And it's not just the standard of cricket that is poor but grounds, pitches, dressing-rooms, etc leave a lot to be desired.

From the regional schools competition to the country's lone first-class tournament, domestic cricket has fewer things to be proud of. But just a glance at the squad that played against New Zealand would tell you that the flawed system has managed to churn some good talents.

Saeed Ajmal made his debut for Pakistan at the advanced cricketing age of 30, but made an immediate impact with his variations, especially the doosra, and his ability to handle pressure. He played a crucial role in Pakistan's drive to the 2009 World Twenty20 title, but in the same event the following year was taken for 22 runs from four balls by Michael Hussey, as Australia stole a memorable semi-final. Ajmal talks about all this, and more, in an interview with PakPassion.net.

If no English cricketer can bowl the doosra then does that mean that no other bowler can do it with a legal action? If an English bowler was bowling the doosra then it would be considered a world class delivery. The same things were said about reverse swing. Reverse swing was introduced by Pakistani bowlers, the googly was introduced by Abdul Qadir, and the doosra was introduced by Saqlain Mushtaq. They will never accept it unless an English bowler can bowl it. The English have been playing cricket for more than a 100 years, why can't they come up with such variation? Our country is small but we've been blessed with great talent. We don't have the resources that other countries have but we make up for it with talent and hard work.

"If one of the aims of England’s recent camp to Germany was to give players a sense of perspective in their lives, it was not necessary for Eoin Morgan," writes Simon Hughes in the Telegraph.

“I’m pretty grounded anyway,” he [Morgan] said, sipping weak tea in a simple Finchley cafe. He does not live in a swish apartment – just an anonymous block of flats off the North Circular Road – or wear loud T-shirts or gallivant around at sponsors’ launches or celebrity parties. “We didn’t have anything as kids, just sport and each other [he has five brothers and sisters], so I take nothing for granted. I didn’t need to spend four days sleeping on the ground in a leaking tent to remind me how lucky I am to do what I’m doing.

In the Dominion Post, Jonathan Millmow says, "Following the pitiful 4-0 loss to Bangladesh, it is time to say 'thanks' and goodbye to the fishes out of water who command high places in New Zealand's dysfunctional management model."

Give Mark Greatbatch the reins rather than leaving him in no-man's land. Get John Wright involved to inject some passion into proceedings. Let us ask Stephen Fleming to help Daniel Vettori get up to speed as a captain. Let us ask Ian Smith to stabilise Brendon McCullum. Let us prepare better. The side was sent away to Bangladesh in the monsoon season and seemed surprised when its warm-up games were washed out.

David Leggat in the New Zealand Herald rips into New Zealand's nightmarish performance against Bangladesh in the recently-concluded series, and says a tour of India is not the most ideal solution to the current shambles.

Consider this: Brendon McCullum swung hard and sent his fifth ball straight up in the air; Jesse "Cement Feet" Ryder went nowhere on the crease to be lbw; BJ Watling was hopelessly run out in schoolboy fashion (forget that the decision was probably wrong, the outcome was deserved), Ross Taylor played all around a straight ball with a bat coming down from third slip; and Kane Williamson pushed out to edge to slip. Some batting had that "bags are packed" look to it. Not good enough.

As he recovers from an injury and gets ready to lead his side for a short tour to Australia, Kumar Sangakkara talks about having Muttiah Muralitharan back in the side, selection calls and his recovery, in an interview with srilankacricket.lk.

The rupture was not as bad as the hamstring injury I suffered in Australia last time around. It took me 17 days to get back to the gym, this injury is relatively milder, Yes, you are spot on when you state that I was saved by the bell and like I made mention the recovery period was quick thanks to the guidance of the physiotherapist who ensured that I followed his instructions every step of the way.

Fire in Babylon, which premiers in the London film festival, is a sports documentary that tells the story of the all-conquering West Indies cricket team of the 1970s and early 1980s. Writing in the Independent, Geoffrey Macnab describes the film as tribute to one of the best teams in recent memory.

There is comedy, pathos and violence in the imagery of English batsmen like Greig and the stubborn, bald-headed, 45-year-old Yorkshireman Brian Close facing up to the fast-bowling attack led by Michael Holding, Joel Garner and Andy Roberts. It is cinematic too. Certain archive scenes here play like sequences from a Mack Sennett comedy. All seems calm during the long, elegant run-up of Holding and then, a moment after the ball is released, an Englishman is down – poleaxed by one of Holding's bouncers

Charles Thomson in SAWF News website, describes the film as a masterful exercise in pathos, setting the triumph of the West Indian players against the depressing social context in which they flourished.

While the film deals with some heavy subject matter, you never feel that you're being lectured to. The players exude warmth and ultimately, Fire In Babylon is an uplifting documentary. You'll walk out of the cinema feeling energized, educated and enlightened

ICC's announcement that it couldn't find any compelling evidence of wrongdoing against Pakistani cricketers in The Oval ODI is just a crumb of comfort, writes Khalid Hussain, in the News. Now is the time to clean up the mess instead of celebrating what is just a small victory.

It's certainly one of the darkest periods in our country's brief history. In almost every walk of life, we as a nation are sinking towards rock bottom. Cricket is no exception. But the thing is that we can't afford to let it get destroyed. Cricket is not just a game in our part of the world. It's a passion, perhaps the only one which is shared by the entire nation -- from the rugged tribal areas to the shores of the Arabian Sea. If there is anything that can unite us, even in these troubled times, its cricket. It's the heartbeat, even the soul of our nation. And it needs to be saved.

Cricket is a long-term sport, writes Saad Shafqat in the Dawn, so it is important to contemplate the long view. The first thing you need for that is an accurate measure of performance, which is provided by the Win-Loss ratio. Pakistan's performance graph is quite revealing.

The unsurprising, yet concerning, revelation from these graphs is that Pakistan’s prowess in international has been eroded during the past decade. The dip is marginal in ODIs, but alarming in Tests. Pakistan has spent the 2000s near the bottom of the Test table, ranked sixth out of eight, ahead of only New Zealand and West Indies.

There seems to be no end in sight yet for Kevin Pietersen’s downward spiral, writes Scyld Berry in the Telegraph. His efforts to regain form in South Africa yielded just 36 runs in a high-scoring game and zero - leg-before second ball - in a low-scoring one.

Time is slipping away, therefore, and with it Pietersen’s self-belief. He could still have a great winter, and add the Ashes and the World Cup to England’s World Twenty20 crown. But with every month that passes, and with every team that he represents in his search for form, it becomes slightly less likely that he will meet his appointment with greatness - to become the first indisputably great England cricketer since Ian Botham - which seemed to be his destiny when he first dazzled with his derring-do, his flamingo shots and his switch-hits.

After Cheteshwar Pujara scored those 72 runs that helped India beat Australia in Bangalore, his story is no longer the heart-wrenching tale about a marathon run-maker’s struggle to make it past the domestic circuit. Suddenly everyone wants a piece of him, writes Sandeep Dwivedi in the Indian Express.

Unlike old times, it wasn’t just his father Arvind waiting for him at the airport in the family Maruti [in Rajkot]. He couldn’t just drive off home while narrating to his father — his one and only batting coach since he was four — his cricketing exploits from tours in distant lands. A crowd, a roofless jeep and car cavalcade waited for the 22-year-old at the arrival terminal. After waving to the fans on the street, he rushed off to spend time with friends, family and well-wishers — a bunch that has gradually multiplied since Bangalore. Media requests constantly poured in as Pujara’s home on the city’s outskirts wasn’t out of way anymore.

But while in this sudden swirl, Pujara remembers something that Sachin Tendulkar told him when he was promoted to one drop on the final day of the second Test ... “Humko aapni duniya mein rehna hai (We have to stay in our own world),” Tendulkar told Pujara in middle of the din.

India's young batsmen face many questions regarding their dedication, adaptability and ability to play a long innings. Cheteshwar Pujara has answered all those questions in the affirmative with his performance in the Bangalore Test, writes Peter Roebuck, in the Hindu.

At the crease he displayed skill as well as grit. In the first innings he sat with his pads on for hours only to be beaten by a grubber. Significantly he did not let his bad luck prey on his mind. Instead he seized the chance so thoughtfully provided by his captain to give India's tricky chase exactly the start it needed.

Clearly it can be done. Certainly it was only one innings. Pujara might not play even in the next match. Certainly it is not wise to proclaim the arrival of a new champion. But the youngster has shown that modern boys can be as single-minded as previous generations. No more excuses can be made.

Barney Ronay, in the Guardian, pays a unique tribute to Sachin Tendulkar - copying his signature wristy flick for a strike-rotating single while playing air-cricket, with an imaginary bat and ball.

Air-cricket is instinctive: I have a friend who finds himself automatically playing a perfect, straight-bat air-defensive on entering any crowded room. Plus, you can only ever really play air-cricket shots that have "belonged" to cricketers you have loved. I still have a pirouetting Alec Stewart air-pull. Plus, brilliantly, I now have an air Tendulkar. It's a signature shot too, the wristy flick to leg for a strike-rotating single. Hand me an umbrella. Give me a wooden spoon. This is what you'll get. I have no higher form of praise.

Ron Reed writes in the Herald Sun that there is now no doubt that Sachin Tendulkar is the game’s second-best cricketer of all-time.

Tendulkar's most ardent fans - and no sportsman in the world is worshipped by more people - are now starting to give voice to the ultimate sacrilege by suggesting Sir Donald Bradman is not necessarily out on his own any more. That debate has been revived again this week as Tendulkar put Australia to the sword, yet again, relentlessly moving further and further past all of the The Don's numbers except the one that stands as the noble old game's greatest icon - his batting average, 99.94.

Tendulkar's is now 56.96, so Bradman is just as uncatchable as always, and as always will be. But by just about every other statistical measurement - and by less tangible methods of recognising genius, such as aura, style and dominance - the pride of India is leaving all other challengers behind.

Ricky Ponting’s captaincy is being questioned again, but the Sydney Morning Herald’s Jamie Pandaram says it’s “crazy talk”.

You could not drop Ponting as the skipper unless you were also dropping him from the side. He is the strongest character in the team by far, he cannot be captained by someone else - imagine what that would do to the dynamic of the dressing room?

On Back Page Lead, Jon Pierik says, "Ponting remains the right man to lead Australia into battle against England this summer, for, let's face it, there are few options."

The News in Pakistan, has criticised PCB chairman Ijaz Butt for his failure to appear before the parliamentary committee on sports. The time has come for Butt to quit, it says in an editorial.

The performance of Mr Butt is nothing short of a national disgrace. Whatever the rights and wrongs of the allegations against players, his conduct throughout the tour was boorish and reprehensible, worthy of nothing but contempt. He is powerfully connected and has 'protection' at the highest level, but enough is enough Mr Butt, time to go.

October 9, 2005 was a tragic day for Cheteshwar Pujara, a day his mother lost her battle with cancer. Five years later, he made his Test debut in Bangalore, playing a critical role in India's chase to seal the series 2-0. His success, in an age where rewards appear disproportionate to ability, is a refreshing sign. Anand Vasu, in the Hindustan Times, has more.

Chintu, as Cheteshwar is known to his friends and family, had made a name for himself on the biggest stage in cricket. At a time when most young cricketers worship fast cars, multi-crore contracts and the assorted trappings of fame, an unassuming young man from a cricketing backwater made the grade.

The soft-spoken Cheteshwar, his father assures us, still does puja every day, offering prayers to his favourite deity. On Wednesday, some of those prayers were answered.

David Lloyd, writing in the Independent, says Australia's 0-2 defeat at the hands of India lends strength to the theory that Ricky Ponting's team is one on the decline than one in transition. What does this mean for the Ashes? Lloyd says England should go in to the tour expecting to win.

Not since the late 1980s, when West Indies could still field an attack made up of four fabulous fast bowlers, have Australia been beaten in three consecutive Tests. And, having led the Test rankings for so long that no one bothered looking at them for several years, Ponting's team are down to fifth place – one spot below England. No wonder we can hear the knives being sharpened, and there are likely to be some wounding comments over the next few days.

However, Nasser Hussain says that despite having lost their aura, Australia will not be easy to beat in home conditions. Having played a tough series against India will give them an edge in preparation, he writes in the Daily Mail.

When you come home from the subcontinent and play in familiar surroundings again, you feel like a million dollars, because the cricket out there is so tough.

Australia's bowlers have gone through a lot having bowled against an excellent Indian batting line-up on flat pitches, whereas England have prepared by knocking over Bangladesh and a weak Pakistan side in friendly conditions. The Aussies will feel life is about to get easier; England may have a different view.

There are few things in sport more fascinating than the decline of a dynasty, writes Simon Briggs in the Daily Telegraph. Now, as results fall away around him, Ponting finds himself cast in an unenviable role of the last emperor of Australian cricket, he says.

In his six-hour association with Sachin Tendulkar, M Vijay, who was five when his partner made his Test debut, probably learnt more about batsmanship, about Test cricket itself than in all his previous matches put together, and you cannot put a price on that kind of lesson, writes Suresh Menon on ESPNStar.

Vijay does not have Dravid's technique, but seems to have his temperament which might pay more. There is a tendency to commit to the front foot which might see him in trouble on quicker tracks or when the ball is swinging. There is an unfortunate preference to playing across the line even in defence - probably a legacy of limited-overs cricket. But there is too a wonderfully wristy on-drive, and a joy at lofting the ball over the fence that will ensure there are no long periods of scorelessness. Some of these innovations one hears were the result of a chat with a former player who gave him the practical advice that strike-rates are important in modern Test cricket.

An editorial in the Mint says the BCCI's expulsion of Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab from the IPL will result in investors withdrawing by way of sponsorship and spectator scepticism.

Already various sponsors affiliated to the two teams, the Kings XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals, will have to rethink their participation in the lucrative league, given the fact that the two teams’ celebrity connections made them that much more visible among others, bar the Kolkata Knight Riders.

With the number of teams reduced, so would be the number of matches, which were anyway down from 94—as initially proposed—to 74 for the 10-team league, which is now again down to eight. In which case Sony’s broadcast sponsorship deal will have to be re-evaluated.

The DNA editorial says, "With the league already down to eight teams, there may be a need to invite more investors in the future. If the behaviour of the board veers towards bullying rather than partnering, then attracting big investors, who also come with huge egos and strong opinions, will be very difficult."

And this is from the Times of India: "Scrapping the Rajasthan and Punjab franchises is a drastic move, and one bound to have a ripple effect through the IPL as a whole. But it must be seen in the context of the allegations of improper ownership and shareholding patterns. If the IPL is to have an international profile alongside the likes of the Premier League, such irregularities cannot be allowed. What can be done, however, is to minimise the uncertainty such an overhaul is bringing about. And there, the BCCI is falling short."

In the Australian, Peter Lalor describes how the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore, like every other venue in India, erupts whenever Sachin Tendulkar walks out with bat in hand.

There is something about the Bangalore's M Chinnaswamy that amplifies sound. It comes up from the concrete bleaches, hits the high tin roofs and bounces back down, physically assaulting the ear drums. It's cicada sharp. Tinny and high-tensile. Ten fans can make the sound of a thousand anywhere else ...

... Then Sachin emerges with a blade in each hand and the decibel level goes through the roof. Surely it carries to Delhi's empty stadiums.

Pakistan cricket remains mired in this seemingly endless things-getting-worse phase as people at the helm of Pakistan's cricket affairs continue committing the same mistakes again and again writes Khalid Hussain in the News. And the latest such decision is to recall Misbah ul Haq out of nowhere and install him as Pakistan's Test captain for the series against South Africa in next month while snubbing Younis Khan once again.

Misbah was touted as a future captain after scoring prolifically on the 2007 tour of India but is yet to prove his leadership ability. In contrast, Younis Khan inspires a lot more trust. The 32-year-old may not have played for Pakistan since the catastrophic tour of Australia but nobody can argue the fact that he is one of Pakistan's most prolific Test batsmen.

But people at the helm of Pakistan's cricket affairs will tell you that Younis needs a 'clearance' to get selected for national duty. What clearance? Has he been accused of fixing matches? Has he used or carried illegal drugs? Has he beaten up a team-mate?

Writing in the Dawn Khalid H. Khan says the decision to bring back Misbah as Pakistan’s fourth Test captain this year has put an end to all talks of rebuilding the Pakistan cricket team with an eye on the future.

It is a clear indication that selections were done in a bid to make up for the blunders committed in the past. According to Mohsin, Younis was the first-choice on the selectors’ list to bolster the middle-order batting but that choice, given the rotten state of PCB chairman Ijaz Butt’s mind, was vetoed.

Ricky Ponting entered to jeers and departed to cheers on the first day of the Bangalore Test. Between times he played exactly the composed and business-like innings his team needed, writes Peter Roebuck in the Sydney Morning Herald.

All things considered, Ponting deserved better than the hostile reception received on his way to the middle. Between Tests TV channels pounced upon his refusal to promise VVS Laxman a runner in this match. Not that Laxman had asked. Every cricketer knows his opinion was correct. Several respected Indian past players said so. And still the TV channels fed the frenzy. Previously the same channels had berated Ponting for his part in the brief spat with Zaheer Khan in Mohali. That was a mischievous rewriting of events. Every nation has its stirrers. The problem starts when they set the agenda.

"Tendulkar loves the game. Even after all these years, all these grounds, hotels, fielding drills and press conferences, it's not an effort for him to play or practise," writes Peter Roebuck in the Sydney Morning Herald. "Cricket is his game and his way of life. He does not need anything else. Always it has been the same. The most underestimated thing about him has been his longevity, his constancy."

Has any cricketer of his calibre changed less? Has any sportsman of his duration shown so few signs of mental wear and tear? Garry Sobers comes closest. For him, too, the game never became an ordeal.

Of course, the body grumbles but the Indian's mind has remained attentive. To an extraordinary extent, Tendulkar plays for the same reasons as in his youth. It's not that he has failed to grow; just that from the outset he saw the game in its true light, as an end in itself.

Ricky Ponting, in the Australian, reflects on his team's loss in a nail-biter against India in Mohali, one that yet again deprived him of a Test win in the country as captain.

We felt that going into this series that we were as well prepared as we have ever been and I think you could see that in the way we played. You saw it in the bodies and the minds of the guys. Last week was as good a feeling I have seen around the group for a long time. I must say that it hasn't evaporated either. There is still a lot of laughter and, more importantly, intent to play good cricket. It is important after having the stuffing knocked out of us that we find a way to respond.

Ten years have passed since the epochal Kolkata Test, but little has changed when India clash with Australia - VVS Laxman is still at it, as have Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble been at various points in India's decade of excellence in Test cricket. In the Indian Express, Mihir Sharma relives Laxman's classic, and says why the next line of Indian cricketers are unlikely to replicate the feats of the golden generation.

This series has just one more Test, which Ponting has said, with glum humour, he hopes Laxman’s back keeps him out of. That’s half the problem. You’re never really tested except in Tests. Dravid, Ganguly, Kumble, Laxman: they were all Test players first. The next generation, not so much; even if some of them, like Sehwag and Gambhir, have talent that bends the format around them. If we want steel of VVS’ calibre, we need to temper it, to test it. And that needs more Tests, on supportive pitches. After Mohali’s single-wicket win, who wouldn’t want more?

The only Australia captain to have lost two Ashes series, though those campaigns sandwiched a 5-0 win at home; the only captain since Clive Lloyd to oversee two World Cup wins; a witness to some of Australia's most heart-breaking defeats, from Kolkata through Edgbaston to Mohali - Ricky Ponting has literally seen it all. In his Yahoo blog, Dileep Premachandran charts the landmark moments in Ponting's career as he looks ahead at an uncertain future.

In The English Patient, Katherine Clifton leaves Laszlo Almasy with the words: "From this point on in our lives, we will either find or lose our souls." After a tumultuous five days in Mohali, Ponting, the most decorated cricketer of his generation, might view his leadership in the same light.

Barely a handful of people turned out to watch the classic that unfolded in Mohali, bar the final day when the stands filled. Venkat Ananth, in his Yahoo blog, says the BCCI is probably to blame for the public antipathy to Test cricket.

The problem is, the BCCI really doesn't care whether you go to the ground or not - its ideal world is where everyone watches from home, because TV channels pay the board hefty license fees. Until 2006-07, Cricket Australia had a broadcast policy which said that unless the ground is sold out, there would be no live broadcast on TV in that particular state. It is a good policy, ensuring attendance. A corollary is pricing policies that make watching Test cricket affordable, so that families can go without fracturing their budget; equally important is taking care to ensure that the facilities at the grounds are of high quality - the lack of basic seating, toilets, water, and food makes watching Test cricket in India an exercise in endurance, and no fan these days wants to pay money for substandard facilities when he can watch from the sofa in his living room.

Leave out Shane Watson's fruitful run at the top and England become favourites to win the Ashes, writes Lawrence Booth in the Wisden Cricketer. Watson's form, and his alliance with fellow makeshift opener Simon Katich, is working overtime to make up for a middle order that is woefully low on runs.

Since replacing Phil Hughes for the third Ashes Test of 2009, Watson has averaged over 50 as an opener (in seven innings at No 6 he has averaged 24; in six innings at No 7, just 14). He may yet go down as Australia’s best right-handed opener since David Boon. But it is his unlikely alliance with Katich – biffer and nurdler, He-Man and man’s man – that is currently papering over Australia’s batting cracks.

In the Hindustan Times, Anand Vasu pays tribute to VVS Laxman after his match-winning knock in the nail-biter against Australia. Laxman, he says, may perhaps not match the stardom of some of his other team-mates but he commands the greatest respect from the best teams in the world.

The question that should be asked is not how much, but how. Who scores runs against the best team in the world, when the pressure is the greatest, and turns near-certain defeat into glorious victory? Laxman has come to India’s rescue with such regularity that on the eve of the final day, when Ricky Ponting sat down to eat dinner, it was Laxman who occupied his thoughts.

Australia's performance in the Mohali Test has been both heartening and deeply worrying, writes Malcolm Knox in the BackPageLead. While they have shown a promising resilience, a lack of planning, and persistence with a batting line-up in their mid-30s could come back to haunt them.

In recent lost series, such as the 2009 Ashes, it has only taken one bad session to undo Australia. Andrew Flintoff at Lord’s and Stuart Broad at The Oval pretty much stole the urn with two spells. This was very uncharacteristic of a contemporary Australian team, and the most concerning feature of their defeat

VVS Laxman continues to be Australia's nemesis © Associated Press

In the Sydney Morning Herald, Peter Roebuck has praise for VVS Laxman and Ishant Sharma and the Australian team, which tried its utmost but fell short in the nailbiting match in Mohali.

Laxman was the key figure on the final day. All things seem possible whilst he remains at the crease. Australians and tension bring out the best in him. Romps in the park make him appear humdrum. Here he produced an astonishing array of strokes, pulls played without footwork, caresses through cover, flicks off his hip and all the while he kept his head.

VVS Laxman has been a thorn for Australians for more than a decade now. Dileep Premachandran wonders in the Guardian whether they have taken to calling him Very Very Sickening after another Laxman masterclass denied them victory.

In crisis situations that paralyse others, Laxman manages to bat with a composure and elegance that must be soul-destroying for the opposition. Others cramp up with nervous excitement. He strokes the ball into the gaps. As Zaheer Khan, an odd choice as man of the match following India's single-wicket win over Australia, said afterwards Laxman brings calm to the dressing room.

On his BBC blog, Soutik Biswas calls Laxman "an elegant anachronism in an age of fast-food cricket".

Laxman belongs to what is popularly called the Fab Four of Indian cricket. If the genius of Sachin Tendulkar is its Paul McCartney, the iconoclasm and flamboyance of - the now retired - Saurav Ganguly its John Lennon. If the maestro of the backbeat, Rahul Dravid, is its Ringo Starr, then VVS must be its George Harrison, weaving some wondrous and beautiful innings that have held together some of India's best performances and his own.

While lauding Laxman for yet another match-winning innings, Ravi Shastri also has words of praise in the Deccan Herald for Ricky Ponting, since the Australian captain allowed Laxman a runner in both innings.

And all this due to the generosity of a man who isn’t viewed as fair by most Indian fans. Ricky Ponting was judged as inflammatory in Sydney. He wasn’t seen as courteous in getting the then BCCI chief down the podium after the Champions Trophy triumph in 2006.

In Mohali, though, he allowed Laxman with a runner in both the innings. He had made a public pledge to restore game’s dignity after the unsavoury episodes of recent times. The Australian skipper was as good as his word.

In the Observer, Rob Bagchi reviews Test Match Special's anthology of its "30" best selected interviews.

The unifying theme is each subject's passion for cricket, which is teased out by the interviewing team, captained at first by Brian Johnston before Jonathan Agnew took up the mantle, with introductory questions that allow the guest to get off the mark with ease. It is exactly what you would expect from a show with that cosy, hypnotic quality that has made it such a cherished institution. The majority are conducted with impeccable manners, featuring anecdotes aplenty about on-field diversions from various excursions with the Taverners and Bunburys.

Rahul Dravid has never been tabbed as a limited overs player, despite scoring over 10,000 runs in ODIs. His batting, with its languid grace, has always been best suited to the Test arena. Yet, writing in the Age, Peter Roebuck credits Twenty20 - cricket’s shortest format - for rejuvenating Dravid’s career.

Obligated to represent Bangalore by contract and by a sportsman's natural desire to be in the thick of the action, Dravid initially looked as comfortable as a virtuoso singing hip-hop. Indeed, he could easily have walked away. Instead he developed a variety of improvised strokes, and before long was playing his part in his team's triumphs.

Nor is he not the first frozen batsman to be defrosted by the lighter version of the game. Suddenly, he was hitting the ball again, and scampering between wickets and clouting rude boundaries. Confidence returned. Perhaps, too, he remembered that cricket is just a game. He scored runs in the Ranji Trophy, and returned to Test cricket with his game in good working order. It had always been his way to think himself out of trouble. Sometimes blasting works better.

Daniel Brettig writes for Australian Associated Press how Zaheer Khan has been a source of irritation for the Australians for several years. After Zaheer's latest run-in - with captain Ricky Ponting - Bretting traces how Zaheer has grown since his nervous first over in the 2003 World Cup final.

For a long time Zaheer was the sort of player the Australians felt they had the measure of.

He had ability, sure, but he could be "got at", and was always destined to finish second-best against opposite numbers the quality of Glenn McGrath and Jason Gillespie.

Still, Zaheer maintained his aggressive postures, and over time he improved as a bowler while the Australians lost a little of their superiority.

Peter Roebuck writes in the Sydney Morning Herald that despite the series being only two Tests and beginning in a venue lacking the charm of India's traditional grounds, the India-Australia series should be a corker.

It's been a long time since these sides produced a dull day let alone a dull match. India's brilliant and apparently ageless batting order counts among the game's treasures. The Australians are renowned for their refusal to buckle. It is a clash that often turns into a confrontation, a battle of wills that draws the best from all involved.

Immense talent is on display. India's order includes arguably the finest attacking opener the game has known, a capable lefty, a staunch and skilful first drop, a champion, a dazzler, a dashing youth and a personable leader. Add an attack that includes a lefty as feisty as Clyde Cameron and two bowlers who have often troubled the visiting captain and the picture forms of a formidable host team that deserves and, regardless of the result, will retain its position at the top of the Test rankings.