Plays of the day as the Boxing Day Test gets underway at the MCG

Andrew Miller and Peter English at the MCG26-Dec-2010Watto wipeout

When Shane Watson was unexpectedly recalled as an opening batsman for the Edgbaston Test in the 2009 Ashes, England’s pacemen assumed their Christmases had come early. In actual fact, they had to wait until the following year’s Boxing Day for Watto to produce an innings in which he looked anything other than totally at home in the position. Dropped on 0 by Paul Collingwood at slip, and then again by Kevin Pietersen in the gully, he eventually fended a Tremlett splice-jangler to backward point to fall for 5. And so, for the first time in 17 months and 12 innings, he failed to reach double figures. And only once before in that time, at Perth last week, had he fallen for less than 34.Mr Cricket misses a trick

Michael Hussey’s early season anxieties have been a thing of the past in this Ashes. At the Gabba he resurrected his career with a career-best 195; at the WACA he resuscitated Australia’s campaign with 61 and 116, having bobbed to the surface at Adelaide with 93 and 52, the only redeeming features of a sorry collective performance. With six consecutive fifty-plus scores in Ashes contests since The Oval 2009, England had run out of ways to combat him. But on a juicy first morning at the MCG, James Anderson found a jaffa to dislodge him for a lowly 8. With minutes to go until lunch, an off-stump delivery grazed the edge as it nipped away inperceptibly. And a remarkable run of form had been interrupted.Cook saved by the snick

As one run was halted, another was resumed. Alastair Cook suffered a hiatus at Perth as he fell for 32 and 13, but in his fifth innings of the series he picked up where he had left off in knocks one, two and three, reaching the close on 80 not out to take his series tally to 575. He did, however, require a stroke of technological intervention – just as had been the case when he was given out caught off the arm during his 148 at Adelaide. On 27, he was adjudged lbw as Ben Hilfenhaus rapped his pads, but almost before Aleem Dar’s finger had reached the vertical, he allowed himself a wry smile and made the ‘T’ sign for a referral. Sure enough, replays showed a big inside-edge, and on he ground, with Australia’s morale at their bootlaces.Skipper steps up

Andrew Strauss knows how to lead from the front. In the Caribbean in 2009, in his first series as full-time captain, he responded to England’s 51 all out with three big centuries in consecutive Tests. In the Ashes that summer, he was not only the leading series run-scorer but the only Englishman in a sea of Aussies at the top of the series batting averages. And at the Gabba back in November, he responded to the shock of a third-ball duck on the first morning with a largely forgotten 110, England’s first hundred of a now-bountiful summer of centuries. Today, he put his boot on Australia’s throat with his 42nd half-century of his 81-Test career. And in the course of his innings he become only the 11th Englishman to pass 6000 Test runs.Crowd capers

A world record crowd was tipped – just like it was four years ago – but the latest Boxing Day attempt fell short at 84,345. That’s still a number only Eden Gardens could manage, but with all the hype it was disappointing not to topple the 90,800 of the second day of the 1960-61 West Indies Test. Stephen Gough, the Melbourne Cricket Club chief executive, said there would be a review of the ticketing arrangements after the crowd was well under its capacity of 96,500. He blamed the shortfall on the MCC members’ reserve and public, corporate and AFL members.Shortly before play there were 55,000 in the ground and there were 80,084 when the players went off for rain at lunch. Throughout the day the stadium was generally subdued, just like in the previous Ashes Test here. On that occasion 89,155 turned up even though the series was already over. Those spectators got to see Shane Warne’s 700th wicket and England dismissed for 159.Warne immortalised

Warne is a Victorian hero who grew from a chubby kid into the game’s most successful legspinner with 708 wickets. At the end of next year he’ll be an MCG statue, hoping not to attract some of Bill Lawry’s pigeons. He will be the first subject in the ground’s “Avenue of Legends” project and will add to the 10 statues already outside the MCG, which include Dennis Lillee, Keith Miller, Bill Ponsford and Don Bradman. There has also been a push to get Warne out of retirement, but that can now stop after he was taken for 20 hypothetical runs in the nets at tea by the actor Hugh Jackman. Life as a public figure will have to do.

Daniel Vettori was pleased with New Zealand’s position at stumps on day two at the Basin Reserve after guiding his side to a competitive 356 with a composed century

Andrew Fernando16-Jan-2011Daniel Vettori was pleased with New Zealand’s position at stumps on day two at the Basin Reserve after guiding his side to a competitive 356 with a composed century. He put on a 138-run partnership with Reece Young to rescue New Zealand from 180 for 6 and took advantage of a flat Pakistan attack, who were a bowler short after Wahab Riaz had been stricken by flu overnight. Vettori struck on the last ball of the day to remove Taufeeq Umar, leaving Pakistan on 134 for 2.”[My century] was pleasing considering the situation we were in,” Vettori said. “We were 170 for 6 when we came in and Reece and myself were able to put on that partnership. We thought 350 was a par score after winning the toss and putting ourselves in, so pretty happy to be in that position. Another couple of wickets tonight would have made it really nice, but it’s pretty comfortable to be where we are at.”Vettori had failed to cross fifty in his last four Tests, and today’s century – his sixth, was his first since December 2009. “People correlate form and runs. If you aren’t scoring runs then you’re out of form, but I’ve felt relatively good the whole way through, but it just hasn’t worked for me in the last four Tests. It was disappointing because I set pretty high standards [for myself], so it’s nice to get it back today.”Three of Vettori’s centuries have come against Pakistan, who also happen to be his favourite opposition, averaging 47.15 against them. “I also have a 99 against Pakistan” Vettori said, laughing, “which Younis Khan actually reminded me of. We’ve played them when I happen to be in good form with the bat and we’ve played Pakistan a lot lately so it’s just worked out that way.
“4000 runs was my big goal. I’m thinking about 400 wickets now, I’ve sort of put the runs to the side. But people always remember Test match hundreds, so hopefully the more I can get, the higher I can go up in the echelons of New Zealand cricket.”Vettori and Young came together late on day one when New Zealand looked set to capitulate once more, but the pair arrested the slide and put on a gutsy display of Test match batting replete with canny placement and smart running to take the hosts past 300.
“Reece and I have known each other for a long time,” Vettori said. “We played age-group cricket against each other, so we had a good understanding.”Vettori was quick to praise Young, who is in his first Test series, hinting that Young’s temperament and range of strokes could well see him filling the role of wicketkeeper-batsman in the long term for New Zealand.”It’s quite nerve-wracking being in your second Test and being under a bit of pressure, but I thought he played really well. He never really looked nervous, and it showed in the way [the Pakistan bowlers] got a little flat to him because he actually played some really good shots. That’s important for a guy coming in at seven because you need a guy who can play his shots and can be aggressive when he needs to be.”Vettori also claimed he wasn’t nervous when Brent Arnel was dismissed with him on 96 not out, leaving Chris Martin with three Umar Gul deliveries to face before Vettori could regain strike.
“That’s Tommy’s onion – that situation. He never let’s anyone down so I was pretty confident.”Martin Guptill took a terrific catch in close to dismiss Taufeeq, after the batsman had played intelligently for 70. Taufeeq had been caught behind off Vettori on 34, but not for the first time in the series, the umpires failed to detect an edge and Taufeeq was reprieved.”[Taufeeq’s wicket] made the day little bit easier,” said Vettori. “It was a great catch and to be able to walk off the park [with the opposition] two down and a new batsman in just made things easier. We’ve got a big first session tomorrow that’s probably going to set up the game if we’ve got a chance of winning it.”Vettori said he’d be satisfied with restricting Pakistan to 350, with his side set to bowl in the fourth innings on a pitch that is already beginning to show signs of deterioration. “If we can keep them to around our score then that would be great. We’ve obviously got to step up in the third innings and make sure we perform a lot better than we have and it will be trickier for them as the game goes on.”It’s a fantastic wicket. Guys love coming in and playing here on this sort of wicket. It’s good for everyone. If you apply yourself you can score a lot of runs and there’s a little bit in it for the bowlers. A couple of balls turned for me, so if we can put ourselves in a position where we can come out [to bowl] on the last day then hopefully I’ll have a big say, weather permitting.”
Rain is forecast for Wellington on the last two days of the Test.

A round-up of the action from the fourth day of the semi-finals of the Duleep Trophy 2010-11

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Jan-2011South Zone beat Central Zone by 552 runs – the highest ever margin in a first-class match in India – at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad. Central had shown little interest in the match after South had taken a 265-run first innings lead. Set 770 to win, Central crumbled to 217 all out early on the fourth day, handing South a record-breaking win and some extra time to prepare for the final.A draw would have been of little consequence to Central, as they would have been knocked out on the first-innings lead anyway. But South managed to bowl them out in just 32 overs on the fourth day. R Vinay Kumar was the chief destroyer for South, taking four wickets, while left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha took three scalps. Ashok Menaria got his second half-century of the match, and wicketkeeper Naman Ojha got 55, but the rest of Central’s batsmen surrendered meekly.

Having secured their place in the finals by taking the first-innings lead on Friday, North Zone used the last day of their semi-final against West Zone at the Moti Bagh Stadium in Vadodara for some batting practice. Mithun Manhas helped himself to an unbeaten century, hitting 26 boundaries on the way to 158 off 178 balls. Sumit Narwal’s excellent match continued as he followed up his first-innings half-century with another one in the second, and North scored 421.Seamer Samad Fallah and left-arm spinner Bharghav Bhatt took four wickets each for West. They then batted out 23 overs and reached 61 for 3. North will take on South Zone in the five-day final from February 2 to 6 in Vishakhapatnam.

A second successive century from Marcus North and a brutal innings from Luke Ronchi saw Western Australia coast past Tasmania at the Hands Memorial Oval in Bunbury

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Feb-2011
ScorecardA second successive century from Marcus North and a brutal innings from Luke Ronchi saw Western Australia coast past Tasmania at the Hands Memorial Oval in Bunbury. Western Australia struggled to score in the first 20 overs, and reached the break at 2 for 63. Tasmania were able to score quicker in their first 20 overs, but lost wickets at regular intervals – Nathan Coulter-Nile picked up three of them – to wind up 6 for 84 when their innings was suspended.Western Australia proceeded to lose quick wickets on their resumption, slumping to 5 for 125 with only 13.2 overs remaining, but Ronchi launched an audacious attack on the bowlers in the company of North, smashing nine fours and four sixes in his 44-ball, unbeaten 79. The pair added 115 for the sixth wicket at a run-rate of 10.14 to take the game away from Tasmania before North was run out right after he had reached his hundred.
James Faulkner and Luke Butterworth made a determined effort to keep Tasmania in the game, adding 77 for the seventh wicket, but it was always going to be a case of too little too late, and Matt Johnston wrapped up the game by taking the last three wickets in a two over burst.

The ICC’s decision to exclude Associates from the 2015 World Cup has been met with understandable disappointment from Scotland and Bermuda

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Apr-2011Scotland, Canada and Bermuda have joined the condemnation of the ICC’s decision to exclude Associates from the 2015 World Cup.Scotland, who were part of the tournament in 1999 and 2007 and will approach the ICC to reconsider the move. “This has some legs to run yet,” Cricket Scotland chief Roddy Smith told .”I’m sure the 95 countries ranked below the top 10 will be getting together to talk about what can be done. Can we influence the 10 Full Members to reconsider? It’s a long shot but we have to try.”The absence of a qualifying event for 2015 was what upset Scotland the most. “We’re not arguing that it shouldn’t be a 10-team World Cup,” Smith said. “Our biggest concern is that there has to be some sort of qualification event.”Though the Associates have been left out of the 2015 edition, they will participate in the ICC World Twenty20 – where the ICC has made room for 16 teams – and stand a fair chance of playing the 2019 World Cup that, despite being a ten-team tournament, will have a qualifying round.The most important reason for the ICC’s decision, Smith said, was to protect a couple of Full Members who, he felt, weren’t too far better than the Associates. “Behind the scenes there are reasons to do with the commercial value and TV rights of the competition. But the main reason is to protect Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, who aren’t too much better than the likes of Ireland, Scotland, Afghanistan or Kenya etc.”No one would argue that the top countries like Australia and India are far better than the Associate nations. But the bottom Full Members, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh and even West Indies are not a million miles ahead of the leading second tier countries.”The expansion of the World Twenty20 to 16 teams was no consolation, Smith added. “That’s great but it’s only one of the three formats of the game and for most Associate nations it’s not the main one. We want to be tested at 50-over cricket.”In the immediate aftermath of its decision, the ICC was slammed by Cricket Ireland and its players on various forums. Ireland had been the stand-out Associate team in the 2011 World Cup and its achievements included a stunning win over England, thanks to a 50-ball century from Kevin O’Brien.Canada joined the chorus of criticism, with their board saying it was “very disappointed to learn that there would be no qualification process for the 2015”. Canada were highlighted by the ICC for being a poor-performing Associate country in the recent World Cup where they lost four of their five games.Despite disappointing results overall there were flashes of success, such as Hiral Patel’s stunning half-century against Australia. Patel, 19, will be denied the opportunity to build on the experience he gained at the next event. “[He] will be closer to the end of his career by the time he gets a chance to compete in the game’s marquee event again,” Cricket Canada said in statement.”We have had significant interest and profile generated in Canadian cricket as a result of our participation in the world cup, and this increase in our sport would surely wane if we are not allowed to participate in the world cup for at eight years or more.”Criticism was as strong in Bermuda, another Associate nation that played in the 2007 World Cup. “How can they call this a World Cup when it is only being played between 10 teams, what world are they living in?,” Clay Smith, a former batsman, was quoted as saying in the . “I think this decision is a joke and very contradictory to what they the ICC has been trying to do in the past.”The ICC has invested so much money into the Associate members to try to improve their standards, but it seems like some of the big boys of cricket fear being embarrassed by the minnows.”The early exits of India and Pakistan in the 2007 World Cup, after they were beaten by Bangladesh and Ireland respectively, prompted the ICC to devise formats to protect the bigger teams, Clay Smith said. “What they should do is have a mini World Cup with the Associate teams and at least have the two finalists be given a path to the World Cup.”

Brett Lee sledged, Gautam Gambhir sighed in agony, and the crowd lapped it up in delight as Chris Gayle’s brutal cameo obliterated the below-par target set by Kolkata Knight Riders in a rain-hit game in Bangalore

The Bulletin by Sriram Veera14-May-2011Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsEarly wickets gave Bangalore an ideal start•AFP

Brett Lee sledged, Gautam Gambhir sighed in agony, and the crowd lapped it up in delight as Chris Gayle’s brutal cameo obliterated the below-par target set by Kolkata Knight Riders in a rain-hit game in Bangalore. Though the chase went into the final over, and Royal Challengers Bangalore lost a few quick wickets in the end, Gayle’s 12-ball 38 had effectively killed the contest in just 2.4 overs of the chase. With the win, Bangalore made it seven victories on the trot and qualified for the playoffs.Though Gayle dealt them the final blow, it was Kolkata’s batting, which bordered on over-aggression, and the rain, that reduced the game to a 13-over contest, that really cost them the game. Kolkata were 69 for 3 in 11 overs when rain left them with only two more overs to bat, and they reached 89 for 4. Bangalore were set a Duckworth/Lewis adjusted target of 102 and Gayle’s blitz ensured they could soak up the loss of quick wickets and reach the target.The first over of the chase perfectly caught Gayle’s fury and Kolkata’s disappointment: Edge. Blast. Sledge. Edge. Crash. Gayle edged the first delivery to the third man boundary, crashed the second over cover, dug out a screaming yorker next – Lee sledged at this point, collected a four with a top-edged pull off the fifth ball and walloped the fifth to the cover-point boundary.Kolkata’s troubles didn’t end with that 16-run over, for Jaidev Unadkat was looted for 23 in the next over. Luke Pomersbach, who replaced Tillakaratne Dilshan, started with a square-cut boundary before Gayle took over. He top-edged a six over third man before launching the next delivery on to the second tier of the stand beyond long-on. Although Gayle fell, top-edging a Lee delivery to Kallis, he had put Bangalore on course. They lost a few wickets in the end but there was never any danger of them losing their way.It was with their batting that Kolkata lost the game. Sometimes, you can get over-aggressive. Sometimes, you need to shift to a Plan B but Kolkata seemed too eager to dominate. In their attempt to attack, they perhaps crossed the line. Even Jacques Kallis was nearly slogging and heaving at deliveries. Gautam Gambhir went too hard at deliveries and Eoin Morgan tried to cut nearly every delivery he faced. The result? They were reduced to 30 for 3 in the sixth over. They recovered to reach 69 for 3 in 11 overs but then rain soaked the playing arena. A long wait ensued and the game was restricted to 13 overs upon resumption.Bangalore did everything right; they attacked relentlessly and suffocated the batsmen. They hurled down the bouncers, slipped in the occasional yorker, they got the ball to swing and seam a bit and always attacked. Eoin Morgan couldn’t get Zaheer Khan away and fell, charging out and flicking straight to midwicket. Jacques Kallis was intent on playing the big shots and he fell, edging an attempted heave off Charl Langeveldt. Bangalore’s change-up bowlers, Abimanyu Mithun and S Aravind, too kept it really tight and Bangalore’s sharp fielding did its bit in keeping Kolkata in check. When Gambhir tried to break free with a cut, AB de Villiers lunged to his left at backward point to take a sharp chance. It was left to Yusuf Pathan to give Kolkata a decent total but it didn’t prove enough.

Brad Haddin, the Australia and Kolkata Knight Riders wicketkeeper, has been ruled out of the rest of the IPL with a fractured finger

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Apr-2011Brad Haddin, the Australia and Kolkata Knight Riders wicketkeeper, has been ruled out of the rest of the IPL with a fractured finger. He has been replaced by South Africa wicketkeeper Mark Boucher, who was part of the IPL commentary team this season and represented Royal Challengers Bangalore in the first three editions.”Boucher can open, he can play in the middle order, and he plays spin very well,” Venky Mysore, the CEO of the franchise, told ESPNcricinfo. Boucher last played for South Africa in a limited-overs game in June 2010, as AB de Villiers emerged as a preferred wicketkeeper-batsman.Haddin had picked up the injury during Australia’s recent one-day series in Bangladesh, and though he played one IPL game after that tour, an MRI on Thursday revealed that his finger hadn’t yet healed.Kolkata have used three different wicketkeepers in the tournament already, all of whom have opened the batting. Manvinder Bisla played five games as an opener, while Shreevats Goswami was drafted in for the game against Delhi Daredevils.Haddin came into the IPL in good form, having been Australia’s highest run-getter in the World Cup.

ESPNcricinfo previews the IPL game between Kings XI Punjab and Deccan Chargers in Dharamsala

The Preview by Nitin Sundar20-May-2011

Match facts

Saturday, May 21, Dharamsala
Start time 1600 (1030 GMT)Through rain and shine, Shaun Marsh has been the one constant in Punjab’s campaign•AFP

Big Picture

The task ahead of Kings XI Punjab is simple: beat Deccan Chargers by as big a margin as possible on Saturday. Mumbai Indians’ sorry show against Rajasthan Royals has brightened Punjab’s prospects, and provided them with windows of opportunity at both ends of the Net Run-Rate curve. Punjab are already ahead of Mumbai on NRR, and if they win by a big enough margin, they will leapfrog Kolkata as well, reducing the final league game into a shoot-out. If, on the other hand, Punjab win by a small margin, they will remain behind Kolkata on NRR, and will want Mumbai to either lose, or win by a margin huge enough to pull Kolkata to fifth on the table. All these permutations, however, will count for nought if Punjab lose against Deccan.The possibilities are endless, and the situation calls for cool heads that can ignore the distractions and approach the game with uncluttered minds. In captain Adam Gilchrist and coach Michael Bevan, Punjab have just the men for the job. So far, Punjab’s campaign has hurtled along like a chronic insomniac over-dosing on sleeping pills: with arguably the weakest side on paper in the competition, they have been through a three-match winning streak and a five-game losing run, followed by four successive wins. Can they hold it together for one last game?The dark cloud in Punjab’s horizon is that, if they can’t pull off a big win tomorrow, Kolkata and Mumbai will know exactly what they need to do when they play their last game. The darker cloud – literally – is that a rain-out in Kolkata will knock out Punjab irrespective of Saturday’s outcome. The silver lining is that the normally meek Deccan are further weakened by the absence of Kumar Sangakkara, and have little to play for at the end of a forgettable season. The hills in Dharamsala could witness an interesting duel tomorrow.

Form guide (most recent first)

Deccan Chargers: WWLLL (eighth in points table)
Kings XI Punjab: WWWWL (fifth in points table)

Team talk

Both teams are on winning streaks, and are unlikely to fiddle with their combinations. Sangakkara’s absence might force Deccan to fall back on the hopelessly out-of-form Cameron White. Chris Lynn and Michael Lumb are the other likely replacements.The more interesting variable in the lead-up to the game could be the nature of the strip at Dharamsala. The ball swung around in windy conditions in the Bangalore game, and there might be assistance from the track on Saturday. Preparing a seamer-friendly wicket can however be a dangerous move, against an attack that includes Dale Steyn and Ishant Sharma.Predict the playing XIs for this match. Play ESPNcricinfo Team Selector.

In the spotlight

Talk of Punjab’s campaign, and only the spurts of brilliance stand out – from Paul Valthaty, Adam Gilchrist and Piyush Chawla. Few will remember a single innings of note from Shaun Marsh, yet he has been the only constant in their topsy-turvy campaign. He scores a half-century once in nearly every two IPL outings, and is the only batsman who averages more than 50 across four seasons. That’s staggering for anyone, but especially for a middle-order batsman, who has often batted in the shadow of Gilchrist, Yuvraj Singh, Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene.IPL 2011 has been a microcosm of Ishant Sharma‘s international career. He’s managed to hit speeds of 150+kph, got the ball to kick and spit at the batsmen’s throats from a length, and he’s bowled spell of the season. Amid those crests, he has also slipped in listless lengths, and has taken his share of tap. Which version of Ishant will turn up for the last game?

Prime numbers

• Punjab are the specialists at ending streaks for their opponents. They ended seven-match streaks for Pune and Bangalore. The former was a losing streak, the latter was a winning streak and both are IPL records.
• Gilchrist’s smash-a-thon against Bangalore has reaffirmed his spot at the top of the IPL six-hitters chart. He now has 80, seven ahead of Yusuf Pathan, and nine clear of Suresh Raina
  

  The chatter

  “Ok so Dharamsala is beautiful, but if the pitch plays anything like the nets did today, there could be a fatality!”

The decision to have a modified DRS made mandatory across Tests and ODIs is being considered a victory by both sides

Sharda Ugra in Hong Kong27-Jun-2011The decision to make a modified DRS mandatory across Tests and ODIs is being considered a victory by both sides. The BCCI was quick to emphasise that they had not changed their stance on the DRS and the ICC was confident it had won over the last and strongest opponent of the review system in its previous form.At the end of a day that contained several meetings at the annual conference in Hong Kong, ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat had only one comment to make. “This is only the end of day two of what is a Test match,” he told ESPNcricinfo as he left a cocktail party held for all the delegates.The DRS decision had not been brought to a vote during the morning session of the chief executives’ committee meeting. Later in the afternoon, the word “unanimous” was quickly and repeatedly used to explain how smoothly all the differences had been resolved.The discussions over the DRS and the FTP were expected to begin on the first day of the ICC’s conference, along with the cricket committee’s other recommendations concerning playing conditions. ESPNcricinfo learned that they were deferred to the second day because there were said to be fairly frosty exchanges during the meeting. Members were given the impression by the BCCI’s statements that there was a possibility that the FTP’s final design could be linked to their opinions on how the DRS recommendation was handled at the meeting. Some officials strongly implied this was the case, though others like Gerald Majola, the Cricket South Africa chief executive, dismissed it outright.The FTP agreement, which has been sent up to the ICC’s executive board for approval, is vital for all Members as television rights are sold based on the itineraries drawn up in advance. The presence of India in the schedule brings the largest chunk of member boards’ earnings. It is important to note that seven of the ten Full Member nations (excluding Pakistan, Sri Lanka and India) will draft new television deals in the next 12 months. Any freeze in relations with India reflecting in the FTP would have a direct bearing on the value of those broadcasting agreements.When the meetings resumed on Monday the common opinion was that, while everyone agreed on the necessity of the DRS, it would be advisable to opt only for the technologies that everyone agreed with. This led to the ball-tracking technology being removed and the infra-red camera being included in the list of mandatory requirements for the DRS.The BCCI’s acceptance of the DRS is particularly ironic. The suggestion of a review system for umpiring decisions was first brought to the ICC’s attention, an official said, “about six to eight years ago,” by Duncan Fletcher – then coaching England but now working with the Indian team. In his first press conference as India coach, Fletcher’s comment on the DRS was cut short by the BCCI secretary N Srinivasan with the statement, “Mr. Fletcher doesn’t know BCCI’s stance on DRS”. It has now changed. Or perhaps it has been allowed to stay the same.

Matthew Hayden’s plans to become a part-owner of the Brisbane Heat Twenty20 franchise are far from guaranteed

Daniel Brettig25-Jul-2011Matthew Hayden’s plans to become a part-owner of the Brisbane Heat Twenty20 franchise are far from guaranteed, despite the air of inevitability that hung over the announcement of his signature to play for the team in next summer’s expanded Big Bash League.So far only the Melbourne Renegades and the Sydney Thunder have got approval to seek minority private ownership of up to 49%, a process that is currently being overseen by the financial services company Credit Suisse.Other teams are presently allowed to negotiate unofficially with potential investors, but that moratorium will end once the Sydney and Melbourne deals are settled.In addition to playing, Hayden wants to align his company The Hayden Way with the Heat as part of what he breathlessly called “a leisure-tainment and entertainment package that has never yet been seen on our shores in cricket”.However Cricket Australia will have to be satisfied, when the time for private investment in the Heat is allowed, that Hayden’s company will provide a worthwhile return.”We don’t know what the timing is going to be, and it is subject to Cricket Australia approval,” a CA spokesman said. “At this stage The Hayden Way is keen, Brisbane is keen, and Matthew Hayden will be first in the queue to be a private investor in the Heat.”Speaking in Brisbane, Hayden made the case for using T20 to secure cricket’s future in Australia by appealing to a wider audience. He also said he had lost interest in international cricket against nations other than England and India, a stark statement from a CA board member.”There’s a lot of things cricket can’t control, the Future Tours Program being one of those, however we can control our domestic content,” Hayden said. “From a commercial point of view most definitely I see this being an enormous success, but it’s key is if it gets mums, dads, families coming to the cricket, enjoying a three-hour proposition, with not the trinkets and the charms but a true value proposition.”I love cricket and have been inspired by cricket my whole life. I love the baggy green, I love what it stands for. However short of the Ashes, and potentially the Indian summer, I’ve said for a long time that I’m largely un-invested in that particular competition. So for me having now first-hand witnessed what that [T20] means as an entertainment proposition, firstly in the IPL and now within the franchise, I know this is going to re-engage our fan base.”If kids, mums and dads and families rock up, then that is an investment they make which adds to them participating in our great game, then we’ll have done everything, both commercially and from a participation point of view.”I think most definitely people are losing interest within the tournaments. I’ll give you a prime example of that, the ICC champions trophy. Australia won that tournament, the first time that trophy’s ever been in the cabinet, and yet do we know about it, we had some idea but it wasn’t the same impact as what it could make. The World Cup is incredibly important within the game, but there are challenges in the landscape, it is a very cluttered landscape.”Australia’s T20 competition had previously been state-based, something Hayden said was part of the pathway towards the national team and not something he was interested in participating in as a player or investor. But, in a somewhat convoluted argument, he also reckoned that his return to the domestic scene would help to educate young players with his many years of experience.”The reason I’ve never been interested in this tournament until now is I’ve always seen it as a pathways program,” Hayden said. “It’s been sat within the stakeholders of the game being the states, and every spot I took up was an opportunity for a youngster to come in and take up that same spot, and I’d been a beneficiary of those wonderful pathway programs that have existed within our country.”Now however this is a different proposition, this is an entertainment package, and it is going to, whether we like it or not, and it already has, competed with all the other franchise sports, and there is going to be some rationalisation over the next two years. I’m looking forward to being part of seeing what best fits for cricket.”When you lose someone like a [Adam] Gilchrist or a [Shane] Warne or a [Justin] Langer or the Waughs, all these players, you lose 20, 30, 40 years of cricket experience. This is why I love the strategic direction of having guys like Darren Lehmann investing back into our great game, because there you’ve got a passionate cricket love who has got an incredible skill set as a player but can also pass information down to our youngsters, which is key to developing any culture.”John Buchanan said when he was coach of Australia and Queensland that his ideal scenario was to become redundant in that role, and he did that by lifting up the younger players into the more iconic positions. I think I can add that value to the dressing room as well.”