Sachin Tendulkar recently moved into a new house. The occassion prompted plenty of media coverage and involved both the media and fans camping outside his apartment building in the hopes of a sound bite or a glimpse. Among Tendulkar’s new neighbhours is the writer Dilip D’souza, who runs his eye over the proceedings in Caravan.

“Sachin is God”, reads the T-shirt that many fans surprisingly wear. One, muscles rippling beneath the words, actually had two women with him as he craned his neck to see what he could see. Fifteen minutes he was there—I know because I waited too, for my daughter’s school bus—as one woman spoke on her phone and the other filed her nails. Just a building, I couldn’t help saying as I walked past, just a man. The nail-filer flashed a smile no less condescending than a truck driver’s had been, months earlier. “Yes, but this is Sachin’s biggest fan!” She raised her voice enough that Tendulkar’s security guard—another new man—turned to look: “The BIGGEST!” Yes, but what was this biggest fan doing? He stood immobile, immovable, uncannily like a giant praying mantis clothed in white and suffering a neck problem.

In the IPL era, few people in India care about the Ranji Trophy, but the flagship event of the Indian domestic calendar plays a crucial role in getting players ready for the highest level. The Indian Express' Nihal Koshie explains.

In the Trinidad Express, Tony Cozier argues that West Indies' recent travails against spin in Chittagong are symptomatic of a malaise that runs deep, and can be seen in the domestic stats where tweakers enjoy an almost over-bearing dominance on the batting.

The current Regional Super50 in Guyana has been anything but. ESPN's live television coverage of the semi-finals made for painful watching before a global viewership. It was a shocking advertisement for West Indies cricket. Up until last night's final, there was only one total over 250 (against nine under 200)--and Jamaica's 255 for three against CCC was based almost solely on Chris Gayle's 147, the only hundred of the tournament.

Greg Baum unveils No. 1 in the Sydney Morning Herald's countdown and there are no marks for guessing who perches atop the heap, the man who quietly slipped out of the game and our collective conscious, while his stats continue to leave us spellbound.

Bradman was a man of his time, but it was another time. He was a Protestant, mason, Anglophile, monarchist and knight. He loved classical music, was an adept pianist and became a champion at squash. For most of his playing days he was a teetotaller and a non-smoker. In a highly social sport he was almost a hermit. Bill O'Reilly first met him in their early teens, played with and against him, jousted with him, studied him, wrote about him, but said near the end of his own life that he hardly knew him.

The recent one-day series between England and India in India drew surprisingly sparse crowds, especially for the last two games. The site of half-empty stadiums in Mumbai and Kolkata suggest that perhaps there is a saturation point for cricket in the country and that the principle of if you play them, they will come, no longer holds true. In the Hindustan Times, Pradeep Magazine says the fans are sending a clear message to the game’s administrators.

One can’t remember in recent living memory seeing stadiums half-empty in a one-day international. To see vast empty spaces in Wankhede and then Eden Gardens only means that the overkill of cricket is having its effect and the spectators are finally saying enough is enough

Radio Sport has announced it will not be broadcasting live commentary of the Plunket Shield, New Zealand’s domestic first-class competition, this year. Instead they will have someone provide updates on the matches from online scores. The reactions to the radio network’s announcement have been short of accepting, with an online petition urging fans to sign-up and keep a cricket tradition alive. In the New Zealand Herald, David Leggat fears the decision is merely the thin edge of the wedge.

Plainly it won't be anywhere remotely comparable with the service available with voices at each of the three venues used in all 10 rounds; voices to explain to listeners why a bowler has been out of sorts, how a batsmen got himself out in the nineties, who took a spectacular catch at gully.

No matter the electronic devices you use, that cannot be got from someone reading scores off a website.

In the Sydney Morning Herald, Mike Brearley writes in rich detail of a fierce opponent who went on to win his respect and become a close friend - Dennis Lillee.

Still a fine figure of a man, direct of gaze and striking of looks - bald now, but with cheekbones high and his trademark moustache still strong - Dennis Lillee gives the impression of a person who has enjoyed his life and continues to do so. He remains a real Aussie, one who can afford to show his softer and generous side more amply now that he doesn't have to live out the burden of ''If Lillee don't get yer, Thommo must''. It has been a privilege to know him; and to have batted against him, however ineptly.

As part of the same 'Australia's 25 to 1' series, Malcolm Knox pays Adam Gilchrist a fitting tribute.

Freedom. There's no other word to summarise how Adam Gilchrist played. When he became a Test cricketer in the month of his 28th birthday he stepped lightly onto the Gabba to face Shoaib Akhtar, whose thunderbolts had just sent off Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting. In his stance, Gilchrist tapped his bat tremulously, but his feet did not move until the last moment, if at all. He had the self-belief to play late.

Belinda Luscombe, from Time, has a brief chat with Imran Khan on his links with cricket and politics.

If political success meant getting into government, I could have done that 20 years ago, the first time I was offered ministership. But I want change in Pakistan. The whole idea was to fight the political mafias ... I was successful as a cricket captain because I had killer's instinct. I knew when the opposition was in my grasp. For the first time in 15 years, I feel that now. So my whole concentration is on politics.

"It is always harder to play away from home but England have to lose their short-sighted vision of playing on green wickets in this country," writes Michael Vaughan in the Daily Telegraph.

I have been saying this for ages. It is not that we have a group of players who are not good enough. This is the best generation we have had in terms of skill, coaching and preparation. They have got everything and as much as they deserve a huge amount of credit for the way they have played for the last two years in Test cricket, they have to be honest and accept they have got things wrong in one-day cricket.

Strategy in one-day cricket is shaped by the World Cup cycle. The next tournament, in 2015, will be in Australia where the pitches are flat and the ball doesn’t swing. You need power to manoeuvre the ball into the gaps, play spin and have the ability to post scores of 300. There will not be any green pitches and it will be boiling hot as well.

A cricket year that began in triumph at the Sydney Cricket Ground has ended in humiliating tatters at Eden Gardens as an exuberant young India side deservedly completed their clean sweep, writes Mike Selvey in the Guardian.

England have been outplayed over five matches, not just with bat and ball but in the field and between the wickets, taken on at their own game. To collapse as they did on Tuesday evening was bordering on the surreal, perhaps a culmination of what had preceded in Hyderabad and Delhi, Mohali and Mumbai. England were culpable but, as Andy Flower pointed out, we should not, for all that, forget the many good things achieved by the team in all formats of the game over the past two years. "We have underachieved hugely," he said, "but please don't just judge them on this one series." Sometimes the immediacy of the moment leads to short memories.

Keith Miller is perhaps the most glamorous cricketer to come out of Australia, and one of the most talented. More than 120 Australian cricketers have chosen their five greatest players for a new book, and in the Sydney Morning Herald, Ian Chappell waxes lyrical about why there was no one to rival Miller.

The Miller escapade I most admired was one of quick-thinking ingenuity. He was lounging around at mid-on and the pro-South Australian crowd was baiting him over the lack of interest he seemed to be taking in the thrashing NSW were administering. When a lofted shot went over his head, to the right, he loped after it, casually got his hands under the ball, then let it fall to the ground. The crowd erupted, calling Miller a mug. What they didn't realise was there'd been an early no-ball call under the old back-foot law. Once the batsmen saw the ball hit the turf, they called for a second run. Seizing his opportunity, Miller pounced on the ball, whirled and threw to the bowler's end. John Drennan was run out for nought.

Mid-Day lists some of India's best cricketing moments from past Diwalis. They include Sunil Gavaskar's 29th Test century and MS Dhoni's belligerent 183 against Sri Lanka in Jaipur.

Last ball heroics: 1993 Hero Cup semi-final vs SA (Nov 24): Sachin Tendulkar conceded only three runs in the final over against South Africa at Eden Gardens as India won by 2 runs and booked a berth in the final. It was skipper Mohammed Azharuddin's 90 that rescued India from a collapse.

Muttiah Muralitharan talks to Mihir Bose, writing for the London Evening Standard, about his career, who he thinks are the best batsmen, umpire Darrell Hair and, among other things, his fondness for Galle.

"Statistics-wise he [Sachin Tendulkar] may be but there are better players such as Ricky Pointing while Brian Lara is the best player that has ever been. When I bowled, I always found Brian Lara difficult." For Murali, no English batsman comes near Lara but he singles out Graham Thorpe, who retired from the international game in 2005 after scoring 6,744 runs in 100 Tests. "When I started, English batsmen did not play spin much, then they were not good enough. Nowadays English players play spinners better: reading spin from the hand, not playing off the pitch. Graham Thorpe was the best English batsman, he read my spin and played me well."

England head into the final one-day international against India in Kolkata desperate to avoid an embarrassing 5-0 whitewash. In the Daily Mail, Lawrence Booth examines five areas that have let them down so far.

During India’s disastrous tour of England in the summer, their ragged fielding was a barometer of their general state of mind. Nasser Hussain even sparked some over-the-top outrage by branding one or two of their fielders ‘donkeys’.

But, by backing a young side, India have turned things round: Suresh Raina, Kohli and Jadeja have all been electric. England have just been shoddy. And that has had other repercussions: when Bresnan dived over the ball in Mohali, Dernbach blew a gasket, prompting Dhoni to point out the benefits of being nice to each other.

For four matches now England have been outplayed by a distance in all departments and now, in Eden Gardens, there looms a second successive whitewash for them in India," writes Mike Selvey in the Guardian. "Pride, and the slender possibility that they may avoid derision in these parts, is all that remains for which to play."

For Alastair Cook this is proving a tough introduction to leading a side against top-class opposition in conditions alien to his team. He is trying hard, improving as he goes along. He has attacked as well as he can with the resource he has. It is an unfortunate consequence of captaincy, however, that the responsibility for the team performance can impact on the individual's game to its detriment. One hopes this is not the case with Cook but his scores are reflective of the team's fortunes, with a run-a-ball 60 in the first match in Hyderabad, before it became evident that this young Indian side, at home, was a world away from the one encountered in the summer, dwindling to subsequent scores of nought, three and 10.

Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara - and Muttiah Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas who've retired - have been great cricketers but the fact that they haven't been able to win a Test for their country in India, Australia and South Africa in their career thus far will count against them, says Osman Samiuddin in The National.

Both were respected captains, Jayawardene intuitive, Sangakkara calculating. And it is their voices, articulate and reasoned, that are always sought out from the country.

But sometimes too much has been made of their eloquence.

It has allowed their inability to right this wrong to slip by unnoticed. Their primary task, after all, is to lead or help their side win Tests, something they - and Murali, Ranatunga, Vaas, De Silva and all the others - have failed to do in the toughest places Test cricket takes you to.

Alastair Cook's first tour as one-day captain has been a heated one, in which his players have sometimes expressed frustration with each other as well as the opposition. But the Independent's Stephen Brenkley says Cook has the character to deal with a tough series and the experience will in fact help him grow as a captain.

Being the man he is, Cook will turn this to advantage. The way he has learned the craft of batting is perfectly indicative. By adapting and adjusting, he has found a way of rectifying limitations when the gifts he has been handed might seem to preclude a way being found. He is a stubbornly determined beggar. The refurbishments as a Test batsman and reconstructions as one-day player have not been pretty but they have been effective, illustrating an admirable strength.

England have had two big ODI wins against India at the Wankhede Stadium - the 1987 World Cup semi-final and a series-levelling win in 2002 when Andrew Flintoff famously took his shirt off in celebration. The Hindustan Times talks to Kiran More, who played in the 1987 game, and Hemang Badani and Ajit Agarkar, who took part in 2002, about the matches.

"It was frustrating and disappointing that we couldn't finish the game but it really angered me that Flintoff took his t-shirt off and burst into wild celebrations. It was nice to see that Sourav gave it back to them very soon after that. I was glad to see that Sourav took it emotionally and let his feelings flow when the team came from behind to register a famous victory at Lord's ...," says Badani.

With Zaheer Khan injured, and Ishant Sharma just recovering from injury, Praveen Kumar is India's No. 1 seamer at the moment. But can someone who is no more than medium-pace lead a pace attack? Karthik Krishnaswamy poses the question in the Indian Express.

But the real question, as far as Tests are concerned, is whether a swing bowler of Praveen’s ilk, who only occasionally grazes the 132 mark, never mind the 140s, can bowl as part of a two man seam attack in India or prosper on hard Australian wickets? These are questions hanging in the air ahead of the home Tests against the West Indies and the trip Down Under immediately after that.

In the Guardian, Mike Selvey says the ongoing ODI series between India and England has been a fractious one. England's frustration, he says, appears to be aimed more at themselves than their opponents.

Worryingly, however – on England's part anyway – it appears to be a reflection on the sort of behaviour that is now standard in the domestic game on which the England team, most of them, cut their cricket teeth and which one very senior umpire described last summer as a disgrace. County captains and coaches have something to answer in that regard, while match referees need determination and strong backing if they are to police it properly.

While India's one-day series victory over England with a young side may not offer a foolproof guide to prospects in longer formats, the mood of the matches and the buoyancy of the Indians bode well, says Peter Roebuck in the Hindu.

Responsibility can make or break a sportsman. By the look of things, Ajinkya Rahane and Virat Kohli are ready to meet the challenge. Rahane averages 69 in first class cricket, an exceptional return indicating he is a run-maker not a mere flash in the pan. Kohli has been around so long it's easy to forget he is only 22, and can be forgiven the errors of youth. Anyhow youngsters need a bit of pickle in them.

Ramachandra Guha is a fan of Suresh Menon's biography of the Bishan Singh Bedi - Bishan: Portrait of a Cricketer - an effort he describes as "rich, detailed, affectionate, yet not uncritical". Writing in the Telegraph, Guha lauds his hero-turned-friend Bedi, one of the most original voices in Indian cricket, and a man who was ready to go anywhere for the good of cricket.

Menon speaks movingly of Bedi’s generosity to young cricketers. The former India captain regularly takes youngsters on educative tours of England, raising funds and arranging matches for them himself. Each time Menon himself visited his subject, he met cricketers from the mofussil staying at Bedi’s home. This nobility of spirit manifested itself early. An old teacher of Bedi’s told Menon that as a schoolboy he was often seen wheeling around a disabled classmate. “Former players have reduced ‘giving back to the game’ to a cliché,” writes Menon, “Bedi has rescued the cliché and restored it to its original import.”

In the Age, Greg Baum writes about that important ingredient in sport that is ever present but never talked about: luck. He tells the story of how English cricketer Ed Smith did not believe luck played a role in sport, but changed his mind when he was wrongly given out lbw in what was to be his last Test innings.

There is luck in the bounce, in the draw - we have expressions for both. There is luck in injury: severity, timing, avoidance. There is luck in selection. Ricky Ponting began his Test career midway through the third day of a Perth Test against amiable Sri Lanka, with Australia 3-422. Matthew Hayden began on a few hours' notice, with a broken thumb, against South Africa, Allan Donald et al, in Johannesburg. It made for misleading first impressions.

This summer, Australian cricket's two big summer attractions - the Big Bash League and a promising Test series - are set to run parallel to each other, dividing the season, and stakeholder loyalties down the middle. Gideon Haigh in the Australian explains how the excessive partying that the Big Bash entails could leave everyone concerned with a hangover.

After devastating India at Lord's a few months ago, Stuart Broad credited his having been left out of England's one-day squad and allowed to play a county match for Nottingham-shire, where the red ball had encouraged him to pitch the ball up and regain his swing. In other words, whoever designed CA's schedule did not have the priorities of fast bowlers in mind.

Whose priorities were served? It's obvious when you peruse the Bash fixtures: the states. There are fixtures at the SCG while the MCG Test is in progress and vice versa; Bashes on 11 Test match evenings, the final coinciding with the Perth Test's scheduled last day.

The Independent's Stephen Brenkley meets Rajiv Shukla, the new chief of the IPL. Shukla explains why the BCCI are happy India lost in England.

"As far as the fans were concerned they were not very happy, but in games, defeat and victory go together, you lose and you win, that happens," said Rajeev Shukla. "England have been losing for the last 10 years, most of their teams, and at football also. So therefore we're absolutely happy because we want cricket to grow in England."

Tim Bresnan tells the Telegraph's Jonathan Liew that the England bowlers are trying to intimidate the India batsmen with words and stares since it is difficult to do it with the ball on Indian pitches. Off the pitch, however, he says the England team have received excellent treatment and have even had their meals paid for, meaning they don't have to decide who's paying through a game of credit card roulette.

"We've not really had much opportunity to get out," Bresnan says. "There's been a few beers in the hotel bar, but only to celebrate hundreds and five-fors in the warm-up games. There haven't been many nights out at all." Of course, nobody is suggesting that England are 2-0 down in the series because they have been unable to find somewhere in Mohali that serves Jaegerbombs. But at the moment, they are a small team in a very big country, and performing accordingly.

The true story of Pakistan's fast bowling cannot be traced just through the big names, the Fazal Mahmoods, Imran Khans, Wasim Akrams and Waqar Younises. No, the true indicator of just how rich and bountiful this tradition is lies in the men behind these men, writes Osman Samiuddin in The National.

Vic Marks, writing in the Guardian, questions how Alastair Cook's side could deflate so quickly after their undefeated summer against India, and looks at technical handicaps that seem to be plaguing the visitors.

England, so sensationally competent throughout the summer of 2012, are suddenly devoid of savvy, and surly to boot. Any good side can lose two consecutive ODIs, but to be beaten so emphatically is alarming. Associate countries lose by these sorts of massive margins.

The Indian batsmen can clear the boundary all right, but on low-bouncing pitches they are not so obsessed by target hitting, which England now diligently practise on the eve of each match. England's batsmen keep bashing the ball out of the ground in training. On match days they have usually run out of wickets before having a chance to put that practice into action. The Indians play late; England just seem to want to hit hard.

Ashish Magotra, writing for Firstpost.com, says not so long ago Australia firmly established that great sides win home and away. Where, he asks, does that leave today's form teams?

For England and India – all the talk of number one has no meaning – if they can’t win away from home. Yes, these wins are important for India. But at the end of the day, they only prove what we already knew, India are tough to beat at home; in fact, they are very tough to beat at home. And for England too, the wins in England mattered. They were up against the best Test team in the world and they thoroughly slaughtered them. But then when you see them walk around like lost sheep, you can’t help but wonder… how do top teams lose the plot so easily?

After witnessing a presentation on cricket at the Independence Day awards at the University of the West Indies, Fazeer Mohammed says in the Trinidad Express, more than taking trips down memory lane, we must find a way to teach children at such events.

... the presentation - from Kirk Perreira's evocative video compilation entitled "The Magic of Melbourne" to feature speaker Mike Coward's articulate and powerful testimony to the contribution of the late Sir Frank and his role as captain of the West Indies in the magical 1960/61 series in Australia - left many misty-eyed and wishing we could somehow be transported back to a time when, to almost all of us in attendance anyway, the game, and indeed life itself, seemed so much more enjoyable.

[But] One of the first things we yearners for an increasingly distant past must acknowledge is that there is more than a touch of arrogance to the assumption that we lived in a time of dignity and civility...and that it's been all downhill since. Droning on constantly about "in my day" as if all was sweet and light in the 1950s, 60s or 70s neither informs nor educates but provokes young people disinclined towards being constantly admonished to just switch off and wait for the old so-and-sos to finish their pointless diatribe.

The Indian Express' Aditya Iyer attends England's training session to see whether legspinner Scott Borthwick lives up to the hype.

A few yards in front of the England bowling coach at Ferozeshah Kotla’s practice nets, Scott Borthwick walked in purposefully towards the popping crease. The ball pitched outside the leg-stump, tore acutely across the willow, tied a bewildered Kevin Pietersen into ugly knots and had Ahmed spitting with praise and laughter. “Perfection Scotty, perfection,” the bubbly ‘Mr Mushy’ exclaimed, before adding, “Turned that one like the legend himself.”

In the Hindustan Times, Ayaz Memon writes about Vijay Merchant and Lala Amarnath, both of whose birth centenary's were marked recently. He laments the fact that the occasions went by relatively unnoticed.

Rohit Mahajan visits Virender Sehwag's newly opened school, the Sehwag International School, in a village in the northern state of Haryana. Mahajan writes in Outlook that the campus is spiffy - "23 acres of paradise children could be residents of if their parents can pay Rs 2 lakh (around $4100) every year" - but the school has had to deal with villagers who are angry as they feel the land for the school was leased out at less than market rate.

The village has leased 23 acres to Sehwag’s Krishna Drishti Educational Society (KDES) for Rs 51,000 a year, for 33 years, with an yearly increase of 5 per cent. When just 11 acres of the same land was leased to a village resident after an auction, it brought in Rs 94,000. But then, the MoU between KDES and the village panchayat stipulates that five per cent of seats would be reserved for children from Shilani Kesho, and that they’d be exempt from paying tuition fees, admission fees or any school funds. Sehwag, inaugurating SISJ on October 9, raised the student quota to eight per cent.

In his review of the first one-dayer between India and England in the Guardian, Mike Selvey describes the template of a Dhoni innings.

First comes acclimatisation, during which time he assesses the situation, pace of the pitch, state of the bowling. If a hittable delivery comes along he will take advantage but otherwise he accumulates, quietly and unobtrusively, a flick here, a nudge there. This is a calculating man, though, his brain ticking all the while. While he is at the crease, batting is almost reduced to a mathematical equation. The assault, when it comes, is clinical in its conception and brutal in execution.

In the Deccan Herald, R Kaushik describes a trademark shot that Dhoni used effectively to hurt England in Hyderabad.

The helicopter shot is quintessential Dhoni, a fusion of timing and wrists and brute power generated from massively strong forearms. It’s a beautiful blend of rustic intelligence and studious analysis, a shot that defines the character of its practitioner. It’s a stroke Dhoni used to employ with no little success in the early stages of his career, but with growing time and greater responsibilities, he tended to rely on it increasingly sparsely.

It came to a point where Dhoni could no longer summon his patented stroke when he desired. He tried it – the big backlift, the bat coming in a scything arc to meet the fullish delivery, the snap of the wrists at the last minute and the strong forearms propelling the ball aerially – but only towards, not beyond, the long-on boundary.

And in the Mumbai Mirror Sriram Veera ponders whether the exclusion of Harbhajan Singh, and R Ashwin becoming the lead spinner, presents a generational shift in Indian spin or just a temporary change.

In the Sydney Morning Herald, Peter Roebuck says John Wright would be the best man to coach Australia and the fact that he is from New Zealand should not prevent him from getting the role.

Wright has coached New Zealand and India with considerable success. Wright handled India well and they rose steadily on his watch. Some regarded him as indulgent towards the older players but the strong don't need to bang a drum and, anyhow, sometimes it is wise to let the players get on with it. Like most openers worth their salt, Wright adjusts his game to meet varying conditions.

Chetan Narula, writing for Firstpost.com, says an iota of rest should not be under-rated, as MS Dhoni showed in the first ODI against England in Hyderabad.

All Dhoni got was less than 10 days [after the CLT20] before walking out for the toss again ... when he strode out at Hyderabad, the greyish stubble was gone. His hair seemed black again, most of it. The spring in the step wasn’t entirely back yet, but after the 126-run thrashing, none so much as mentioned queries about his [lost] Midas touch again.

In Dhoni’s renewed vigour is hope for the new (technically) season ... Dig a little deeper and there is an inherent case for giving players a little time off, allowing them to think about the merits and demerits of their own game, away from the spotlight. Mental preparation is as significant as net practice.

Zaheer Khan said in an interview recently that Indian bodies are not designed for fast bowling. Makarand Waingankar, in the Hindu, writes of what he thinks of the statement and its possible implications for fast bowling.

Now that injury management in Indian cricket has gone completely pear shaped, Zaheer Khan's statement should make the decision makers work on a solution. When Frank Tyson saw all under-19 fast bowlers of Mumbai for the first time at the outset of his coaching in a bowling scheme in 1990, he ended up commenting, “tiny shoulders and thin legs don't make fast bowlers”.

Nonetheless he coached them for the next three years and most of them went on to play either for India or for Mumbai. In fact bowlers of that scheme — fast and spin combined — captured more than 5000 first class wickets.

The Independent's Stephen Brenkley interviews Scott Borthwick, England's latest attempt at finding their own Shane Warne.

"I played club cricket with my dad and I was never big enough to bowl fast so I just thought I'd try to spin it. I suppose I could have bowled finger spin, but it was just watching Shane Warne on television, and trying to spin it like him. I grew through the ranks at Durham, joined the academy and it's gone from there."

What are the challenges ahead for Zaka Ashraf, the man who replaced Ijaz Butt as chairman of the PCB? Khalid Khan lists them out in the Dawn.

Also, coming from a political background could, ironically, prove a blessing in disguise for Ashraf rather than a dilemma given the intriguing politics of the PCB. The much cursed ad hoc system on which the PCB had been functioning since July 17, 1999 is one issue that all subsequent chairmen since the respectable Khalid Mahmood’s tenure have failed to resolve.

Alan Tyers, writing in the Daily Telegraph, has a tongue-in-cheek look at the ICC's executive boards' recent decisions.

Shelving of the proposed World Test Championship: Finding itself in the unfamiliar position of having come up with an idea that a lot of cricket fans actually quite fancied – the 2013 tournament in England between the top four Test sides – the ICC panicked and have now decided to push the five-day championship back to 2017 at the earliest ...

Ever since Shane Warne played for Australia, England have got excited about anyone from their ranks who could spell the word googly let alone bowl one, Stephen Brenkley says in the Independent. The latest legspinner to find himself in the spotlight is Scott Borthwick.

He has been in the selectors' thoughts and minds for a while. This is partly because there remains a quaint desperation to find an English leg-spin bowler, partly because he has developed at every stage of his short career. In the past year or so, when the subject of spin bowlers has cropped up, it has been the norm to cast about for a No 2 to Graeme Swann.

The Challenger Trophy in India was meant to give young players a chance to play against members of the national side, but with the India players preparing for the England series, and crowds poor, the Challenger Trophy is no different from any other domestic tournament, Aakash Chopra says in the Hindustan Times.

Even though, this tournament is a step ahead of the Deodhar Trophy (Inter-Zone limited-over tournament), it still is a far cry from what it used to be or should be. It's more like class X students mixed together and then randomly put into three teams to play against each other. It would only mean playing against the player from your own section (who otherwise would always play with you), while still playing school-level cricket. If one needs to improve or test the standard of upcoming players, it is imperative to play them against better quality opposition.

In Mid-Day, Kersi Meher-Homji pays tribute to industrialist, philanthropist, selector, administrator and arguably India's first great batsman, Vijay Merchant, on his birth centenary.

The eminent cricket writer Neville Cardus called Merchant "India's good European." The confrontation between the two mighty run-getters, Bradman and Merchant, was anticipated with excitement during India's pioneering tour of Australia in 1947-48. Merchant was appointed captain, but a groin injury forced him out. Bradman summed up his disappointment by saying, "We were denied the sight of Vijay Merchant, who must surely have claims to be the greatest of all Indian players."

Merchant's forthrightness set him apart, be it giving speeches or while batting. It was impossible not to like him, says KR Guruprasad in DNA.

Also in Mid-Day, is an excerpt from Marcus Couto's book, Vijay Merchant in Memoriam, about Merchant's charity work for the disabled.

Alastair Cook speaks to the Guardian about overcoming criticism, his experience so far as England ODI captain, looking back at his Ashes success, his Test debut and more.

This Friday, in Hyderabad, Cook begins his third series as England's one-day captain. He harbours ambitions, after England were undefeated against Sri Lanka and India, to gradually turn his team into as formidable an outfit as they are in Test cricket. As the current world No1, with Cook scoring 1,504 runs in his past 12 Tests, at an average of 94, England have been crushingly good in the five-day game. Cook, meanwhile, won the ICC's Test Cricketer of the Year.

"We haven't had our next set-your-goal Test meeting since becoming No1," he said, "but it goes without saying what we need to do next. We always said getting to No1 would show we're a good side. But we want to become a great side. The only way we can do that is by dominating for a very long time.

"The one-day team is at a different stage. But beating Sri Lanka and India, the two World Cup finalists this year, was a real statement. Obviously India weren't at full strength, but they were still a good side and to stop them winning a single game was brilliant."

Will the usage of two new balls in an ODI innings - among a series of changes made to on-field rules - force the ECB to switch to a 50-over format for its one-day competition on the domestic circuit? Steve James wonders in the Daily Telegraph.

Our domestic one-day cricket is still played over 40 overs rather than the 50 used in ODIs. I may have mentioned this before. It is not unconnected to the fact that, while England might be the No 1 Test team and World Twenty20 champions, they have never won a World Cup.

Ian Thornton, in the Guardian, writes about the Compton Cricket Club which hails from one of the most deprived areas of Los Angeles and counts ex-gang members and even officers from the LAPD among its ranks.

The story of the Compton cricket club is a fascinating tale, and one the club hopes to tell soon through a book and a film. The story started when British film producer Katy Haber moved to Los Angeles in the early 70s to work with Sam Peckinpah. Haber counts Straw Dogs with Peckinpah and Blade Runner with Ridley Scott among her numerous production credits. In 1995, she founded the Compton cricket club's forerunners, the LA Krickets, with her friend Ted Hayes. The Krickets were a group of homeless young men, skirting the edges of crime and all that crime brings. Hayes is a famed LA social activist who started the Dome Village homeless community in the city's downtown core, and whose primary address at one point was Marvin Gaye's back garden.

In the same newspaper, Barney Ronay writes of the experience of watching The Titans of Cricket event at the O2 arena in London which involved several big names in the game.

Somerset batsman looks back at his team's performance in the just-concluded Champions League Twenty20 and the experience of playing in India, in the Guardian.

India has been a fascinating place, not just for the cricket. I managed to soak up some culture in Bengalooru, and the Somerset team made a visit to a local orphanage where we played some cricket with the kids and donated money. I also took a few hours out to visit the local city market and that was as raw as India comes – spices, teas, flowers, clothes, you name it and they'll get it.

For most of the big stars it is business as usual but for us it is new and exciting, travelling to new cities, staying in top hotels . The real appreciation of just being here has been a huge advantage to us. Chennai has been hot as hades, though, a big difference from the green leafy city of Bengalooru.

Aakash Chopra, writing in the Hindustan Times, says it's ironic that the bowler who claimed match-winning figures in the World Cup semi-final hasn’t played a single international match since.

After dropping off the radar for four years, Nehra returned in 2009, took 65 wickets in 48 games at an impressive strike rate of 33. Believe it or not, he’s been India’s fittest fast bowler in this period, and most effective too. He was an integral part of India’s road to the World Cup victory. As baffling as it is, he has not been considered, even after recovering from an injury. It wasn’t he who declared himself fit, but the physiotherapist at the NCA who issued the certificate. Perhaps, after the English fiasco the selectors aren’t willing to take a chance with any player without testing his match fitness. But then why isn’t he given a chance to prove his fitness? He isn’t picked even for the Challenger Trophy. Is there more to it than meets the eye?

Tony Gould reviews Cricket at the Crossroads by Guy Fraser-Sampson in the Observer - a book about the ten years from 1967-1977, a time of political turmoil and bitter rivalry that made it a gripping decade for cricket.

The period goes from the captaincy controversy surrounding Brian Close, through the South Africa apartheid saga and the introduction of one-day internationals, up to the players' revolt over pay, which – combined with the media war between Kerry Packer and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation – led to the defection of almost all the international stars to Packer's World Series Cricket. Fraser-Sampson has interviewed several survivors from that era; he also uses the memoirs of John Snow and Derek Underwood, as well as Colin Cowdrey and Raymond Illingworth, to good effect. Though far from impartial, he tries to present the motives of those of whom he is most critical in the best light.

Back to his best in Tests, he has all the skills to establish himself as the best 50-over batsman in the world, writes Mike Selvey in the Observer.

England now need this return to form, and rediscovered enthusiasm, to be channelled into the one-day game. He is in the prime of his life as a batsman now, that period where a little of the exuberance of youth remains but it is now allied to the calculating mind of an experienced, mature batsman.

People have always moved back and forth between countries for work. But when it happens in sport, particularly in the case of national teams, it is most sharply noticed. The current England side, for example, has a number of players, including the Test captain Andrew Strauss, who were born in South Africa, and jokes about the team’s composition abound. In the Wall Street Journal, Richard Lord writes that the global flow of cricket talent into Test-playing, cash-rich nations has benefitted England, India and Australia in particular.

But what the talent drain from South Africa to England does show, yet again, is that players are following the money—in England, India and Australia. That doesn't just affect domestic teams: it also affects international teams in a very direct and obvious way. South Africa, currently rivalling England for the top spot in world cricket, isn't affected as much as nontest-playing Ireland, for example. If an Irish player wants to test himself at the highest level, he has to move to England and qualify to play there. So far batsmen Morgan and, less successfully, Ed Joyce have crossed the Irish Sea in this way; Morgan has had a tentatively encouraging start to his test career, and a barnstorming start to his limited-overs career.

Even just a few years ago it was occasionally possible to watch the likes of Sachin Tendulkar turn out for Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy. But Tendulkar has not played a first-class match since 2008-09, and it is common practice for those who play regularly for India not to turn out for their state teams these days. Given the volume of international cricket being played, this is not surprising, but Ayaz Memon, writing in India Today, argues that India needs to have its big guns playing domestic cricket again.

The Australian system was so robust till a few years ago, because playing domestic cricket was mandatory for all players. Likewise, the change in the England team's performances in recent years is not just because of a more hardy mindset and fine coaching, but because of a more diligent talent search that made participation in domestic cricket imperative for every player.

Pradeep Magazine, writing in the Hindustan Times, says it's a case of a serious conflict of interest - and a "depressing" one - that Anil Kumble, who is the president of a state association and chairman of the NCA, is also a player agent.

Apart from seeing no conflict of interest in what he is doing, he had this to say in his defence to the Outlook magazine: "The positions with the KSCA and NCA are honorary jobs, and I have to look after myself. At this stage of my career, I have to do that. Otherwise, you'd have to become like Gandhi and give up everything." What can one say to a man to whom the Indian cricketing fraternity owes so much for his deeds on the field, except that why get into such a position at all.

Anil Kumble’s conflict of interest raises questions about whether getting former players into the BCCI will really change anything, writes Amit Gupta in the Mumbai Mirror.

Tedious rhetorical questions that show Kumble’s double role is just as dubious as that of others in the BCCI, writes Kunal Pradhan in the same newspaper.

There is too much at stake for Kumble to embroil himself in needless controversies, writes Suresh Menon on cricketnext.com. But he has been presented with an opportunity to do the right thing - even if that means a temporary commercial loss, he adds.

Australia have introspected hard and are on track towards reclaiming a high place in the rankings, says Peter Roebuck in the Hindu.

One report has been produced and already several of its recommendations have been adopted. The selection panel has been sacked, a new head coach has been sought, specialists have been hired and a more professional and rigorous approach has been adopted across the board.

In short Australia's response to its drift from first to fifth in the rankings has been ruthless. The stables have been cleaned out. Those in charge deserve credit for putting their own positions in peril. That does not happen in countries where people come to the game for the wrong reasons, vanity or opportunism or the social milieu.

There is plenty of work to be done by the BCCI's Pitches and Grounds Committee, writes Makarand Waingankar in the Hindu. Mechanisms need to be put in place and there is also a need for skilled manpower, he says.

After interaction with many State curators over the years, it is observed that from choosing soil to pitch preparation everything is carried out using a thumb rule. There is no mechanism in place to select good quality soil. What the soil contains must be known to the curators but with hardly any choice to know what it contains, the soil is selected in huge quantity by thumb rule.

A couple of years ago, each association was handed over pitch and ground preparation machines worth lakhs of rupees but many associations had no skilled manpower to use those machines.

Basil D'Oliveira, who dominated the headlines during the cancellation of the 1968-69 England tour of South Africa, turned 80 on Tuesday. Mike Selvey pays tribute in the Guardian.

For a definitive account of what occurred, and the repercussions, Peter Oborne's book, Basil D'Oliveira: Cricket and Conspiracy, is the place to go. We are all familiar, though, with what happened. And through it all, finger-poking aside, Basil kept his counsel and his dignity. What would have happened had Prideaux been fit (who ironically was soon to make his home in Bloemfontein, the scene of the infamous speech by John Vorster condemning D'Oliveira's subsequent selection as replacement for Tom Cartwright), or if any of the catches squandered during his innings were held, is a matter of conjecture. No doubt the tour would have gone ahead as planned and it would have been left to others to help start the process of sporting boycott and ultimately the dismantling of apartheid.

Venkat Ananth, writing for Yahoo Cricket, tries to make sense of the BCCI's mysterious expenditure on three specialised academies, and concludes it's a difficult task. To view the report, click here.

At first, one had the sense that these were phantom academies since the BCCI have fallen shy of promoting them adequately. I was surprised to learn they actually exist and are functioning. But keeping to the ways of the current BCCI regime, the representatives of the academies refused to field any questions about their programs, the cricketers trained by them, or even the sort of facilities they had - ostensibly because they didn't want any negative publicity for the employment created for them by the Board.

Angus Fraser pays tribute to former England fast bowler Graham Dilley, who died at the age of 52 on Wednesday, in the Independent.

But my strongest memories of Graham came on England's 1986-87 tour of Australia. Being able to watch England play in the middle of the night was a new experience back then and it was a great way for an aspiring young cricketer to pass a winter. Along with Botham, it was Chris Broad who grabbed most of the headlines on that Ashes-winning tour, but it was Dilley who helped set it up. It was Dilley who took five quality wickets in Australia's first innings at The Gabba after Botham had struck a punishing 138. Dilley backed that up with four top-order wickets in the second Test in Perth. These were bowling displays that set the tone for the remainder of the series.

A ferocious bowler and inspirational coach whose Headingley heroics will always live in the memory, writes Stephen Brenkley of Dilley in the same newspaper.

Dilley's heroic role in the miracle of Headingley will never be forgotten, says Scyld Berry, who was at the venue in 1981, in the Daily Telegraph.

Lawrence Booth, in the Daily Mail, looks back on Dilley's career. Mike Selvey pays tribute in the Guardian.

On The Old Batsman blog, a tribute to Dilley says he had lived his life in the game but in his diffident way he was out of the spotlight and so, perversely, he remained trapped by his brief moments in it. Ted Corbett, on Englandcricket.net, describes Dilley as the 'nicest fast bowler'.

Courtney Walsh talks to the Indian Express' Aditya Iyer about fast bowling and the possibility of West Indies being a powerhouse of the game once more.

“When I was a young man, bowlers like Curtly Ambrose and me had many fast bowlers to learn from and be inspired by. Every territory had a great tall man who was bowling it fast. But these new kids haven't been so lucky, even when it comes to their height. So I decided to give them something to look up to,” he [Walsh] adds with a serious chuckle.

“I was away from the game, and happily ran my foundation back in Jamaica. But this urge to make West Indies a force brought me back, so now I'm once again putting in my all to make us a powerhouse ... And it will happen. Several former players prefer criticising and not doing anything about it. Fair enough, to each his own. But several others prefer constructive criticism on the field — and I'm one of them.”

The offence taken at a comment about Sachin Tendulkar in Shoaib Akhtar's new book has been more than a bit excessive, writes David Hopps in the Guardian. Also, why this attitude of practiced indifference from the ECB about the Champions League T20 isn't the way to go.

The ECB is perhaps suspicious that a successful Champions League could be the first stage in the clubs becoming more powerful and causing the gradual erosion of international cricket. It looks at the dominance of football's Premier League, and the damage that this can do to England's national side, and fears that such a shift could do untold damage to the priorities and the finances of English cricket. It would be a distressing outcome, but there is no evidence that the danger is a real one.

India losing to England in England is one thing. England beating India in India is quite another. But this is an India in transition and that gives England a great chance to come out on top, Mike Selvey says in the Guardian.

There may not come a better chance to take on India on their own pitches. Injury continues to sideline Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag, the most destructive and experienced opening pair in the game, and also Zaheer Khan, currently the best in the business in his own conditions, and Ishant Sharma, who would probably have shared the new ball with him. There is no Yuvraj Singh, the player of the World Cup, to torment them in the middle order, and no more of the abrasive Harbhajan Singh, who has been dropped. Only the indefatigable MS Dhoni remains of the superstars, so this promises to be a contest between two sides in transition.

One of the standout features of the current England team is its professionalism. They are single-mindedly focused on winning games and there are none of the off-field shenanigans that have distracted previous England sides. On his England cricket blog, Ted Corbett contrasts the start of the team's tour of India with the first time he covered England.

Yesterday there was no Botham figure, no brooding captain like Willis, no Duke of Buckingham type like Insole. Midway through the tour, I heard years later, he had told another reporter that the players were taking drugs. "They wouldn't dare," snapped that reporter - who more properly belonged in the 18th century - but it was the start of all the troubles afflicted England for the next 15 years.

Dileep Premachandran, writing in the National, says having an idea is one thing, executing it properly quite another.

With only the cricket boards of India, Australia and South Africa having the keys to the safe, the competition itself is hopelessly skewed in favour of teams from their countries. And even within that privileged circle, the Indian Premier League (IPL) sides stand apart.

... The more the number of IPL teams in the fray, the lesser the chance of quality players turning out for their domestic teams. Those sides are compensated monetarily but the fact the IPL franchises invariably get precedence means an unequal playing field. In theory, a player could choose his home side. In practice, he knows that it jeopardises his next lucrative IPL contract.

Tiger Pataudi's nephew Saad Bin Jung on his recollections of his uncle, in Deccan Chronicle. Pataudi, he says, had an uncanny knack of solving the most difficult of cricket problems by breaking it down into simple, uncomplicated and implementable solutions.

I was but 15, throwing a hard plastic ball at him [Pataudi] in the veranda in Delhi. He didn’t see the yorker nor the bouncer. He knew that and I knew that, yet he went out and faced Andy Roberts, Bernard Julian and Vanburn Holder and levelled the series 2-2 only to lose the last Test. A few years later, when I played Malcolm Marshall I understood the magnitude of the hurdle he had crossed, I recognised his braveness and his sheer determination and I acknowledged his genius ...

These are dark, barren times for fast bowling, says Osman Samiuddin, writing in the National.

The game does not immediately appear, especially to the outsider, an overtly taxing one physically. Those who do not follow suspect it to be soft, where players such as David Boon, Inzamam-ul-Haq and VVS Laxman - none ever to be mistaken for a top-class athlete - can prosper. This assessment is neither fair nor entirely accurate and the modern game places greater demands on fitness. But fast bowlers are what have always made cricket a truly physical, athletic pursuit.

The BCCI has been coddled with many privileges, and no accountability, says Rohit Mahajan in Outlook India, and the RTI Act might change that.

The BCCI, which has resisted accountability for long — and invited ridicule when it said the Indian team was not an Indian team but a BCCI team — could now be made to bow to the reigning spirit of the day and age — the pursuit of transparency and accountability. The Central Information Commission (CIC), which once ruled in the past that the BCCI is not covered by the RTI Act, is again going to adjudicate on the issue on October 4. The verdict could be different this time.

Is it necessary to target the USA in an effort to increase cricket's global appeal? Would it make more sense to target countries like Afghanistan, Ireland and the Netherlands? Richard Browne addresses these questions in the Sunday Leader.

Is there any need to bring America into the cricketing inner circle? It is of course a financial decision, TV advertising could for example be huge, but there is more than enough money swirling about in cricket at the moment, it is after all a game. Changing a nations psyche just seems to a big a job, the thought of 30,000 American’s turning up to watch some cricket is just too fanciful.

The Economist's sports blog, Game Theory, uses several parameters to analyse what the game's second-most popular sport after football is. Does cricket's huge following in the subcontinent qualify it as a contender?

An alternative test would be how many people can recognise a star player. This would give the individual sports a boost, since stars like Roger Federer and Michael Schumacher have their faces adorned on billboards around the world—although I also refuse to believe there is a single person on the subcontinent who would be unable to put a name to a picture of Sachin Tendulkar (27m Google hits, pictured above). And there are probably undiscovered Amazonian tribes that could finger David Beckham (67m).

When Vinod Kambli was a teenager, many cricket commentators reckoned he was more talented than Sachin Tendulkar. It was initially easy to see why as he racked up consecutive double-hundreds against England at home, but his Test career was over at 23, despite an average of 54. Kambli, who has not played a first-class game for six years, officially announced his retirement from first-class cricket last month. In the Wall Street Journal, Richard Lord writes that Kambli’s career is a reflection of the thin line between success and failure, and how that line is often to be found in the head.

A batsman of gloriously uninhibited attacking inclinations, with a hint of the great West Indian Brian Lara in his technique, he was a clean hitter of the ball, but even more than that a sweet timer of it, with a full array of seemingly effortless attacking shots. He was particularly effective against spin bowling, his twinkle-toed nimbleness around the crease allowing him to move forward and back with speed and decisiveness, and helping to make him unusually effective at hitting over the top.

The tributes to the late Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi continue, this time in the Economist, which praises Pataudi for being the man who taught Indians "that they could take on any country, on their own turf or not, and win".

Where he really excelled, however, was as a captain. To lead India was no easy job. Only 15 years after Partition, the scars were still raw. As a Muslim, he felt it: uncles, aunts and cousins had migrated across the border, and he always sighed that India and Pakistan would have made a great team together. As for the Indian team itself, when he inherited it, players kept to their own regional languages, cultures, even food. “Look”, he would tell them, “you are not playing for Delhi, Punjab, Madras, Calcutta or Bombay; you are playing for India. You are Indian.” Before long, the players succumbed to his imperious charm.

Barney Ronay profiles Stuart Meaker, who's been picked for England's ODI series in India, in The Observer.

For Meaker the last six months have been a period of rapid ascent all round, from a peripheral figure in a Division Two County Championship side to a first international call-up in a squad of 15 for the five-match series, which starts on 14 October, and a reputation as the coming man in England's ever-engorging entourage of athletic young pace bowlers.

As the Indian domestic season kicks off with the Irani Cup in Jaipur, Deepak Narayanan, writing in the Mumbai Mirror, says the BCCI – obsessed as it is by its new and glitzy money spinning leagues – needs to decide what purpose tournaments such as the Ranji and Duleep Trophy serve.

In its current form, it’s no breeding ground for international cricketers. The pitches – browner than brown, flatter than flat – turn disciples of speed into devotees of line, length and energy conservation; they nurture flat-track bullies. The format, which encourages teams to play for draws, has outlived its utility in a result-oriented world. And with the IPL propelling players into the limelight and, in many cases, into national colours, there’s no incentive anymore for young cricketers to go through the grind, to make 48-hour train journeys and play in empty stadiums. The charm of it all has worn off.

Amit Gupta, writing in the same paper, says the Irani Cup, once a playground for the big boys, has been reduced to a farce in the haze of cricketainment.

The Irani Cup, played between last season’s Ranji trophy Champion Rajasthan and Rest of India [RoI], which gets under way today is a testimony to that [the tournament's a farce]. As the RoI sauntered onto the practice arena, the lack of interest or rather discipline was evident in the kit that the Parthiv Patel-led side wore. Players who had played for India were in their India jerseys, some wore their state association colours while the others wore random t-shirts. Imagine an IPL team without their team colours. Un-professionalism on part of players or careless attitude from the Indian board?