Team News

With the team due to fly out to the Caribbean this week, Michael Clarke will be resting his hamstring and Peter Forrest will return to the middle order. Australia’s bowling in both finals has been disappointing and with James Pattinson out injured, they may replace him with a second spinner, Nathan Lyon, rather than going back to Ben Hilfenhaus.

If Angelo Mathews is still not fit, Sri Lanka will stick with the extra batsman at number seven. That would leave them no room to play Sachithra Senanayake, but Tillakaratne Dilshan did an admirable job with the ball last time and they may feel they can manage without the second specialist spinner. Lasith Malinga is carrying a groin strain, but is expected to be fit.

Venue and Conditions

Tuesday’s second final was also held in Adelaide and Sri Lanka had no trouble chasing down Australia’s total of 271. We should expect another slow but true surface on which batsmen can prosper, providing they show patience. Accuracy is the key for the bowlers, although spinners will get some help, particularly towards the evening. Sri Lanka have won the last two finals games they’ve played at this venue.

Match Odds

Batting first on a flat Adelaide wicket, Australia had the opportunity to seal the series on Tuesday. But their total was sub-par and their wayward bowling allowed Sri Lanka to stroll to victory. Their quicker bowlers have struggled in both finals, with only Brett Lee and Shane Watson offering occasional control.

The absence of Michael Clarke will also give Sri Lanka a batting advantage. With Kapugedera at seven and Upul Tharanga at six, they bat deeper than the home side and are better suited to the slow Adelaide pitches than the faster Brisbane track on which the first final was played.

Sri Lanka have been the most consistent team in this tournament whilst Australia have only impressed intermittently. Yet despite all the evidence that the tourists are the better side, the market still has Australia as strong favourites to win this final and at odds of 2.28 it doesn’t take a genius to see that the value lies with Sri Lanka.

Top Australian Batsman

After a slow start, David Warner is in sublime form, with consecutive centuries that showed admirable poise and maturity. With Watson a bit hit and miss at the moment and both the Husseys having a quiet couple of games, Warner is the obvious candidate to top score for Australia at 4.7.

Top Sri Lankan Batsman

Sri Lanka do bat deep, but with the big three in form, those lower down may not get much of a chance to show what they can do. Dilshan top scored last time, but Kumar Sangakkara finished with an unbeaten half-century and is in the most consistent form, averaging 87 in his last four innings. He should be backed at 4.5 or better.

Featured Market

Adelaide is a batting-friendly venue and there were three centuries scored there in Tuesday’s game. We can expect plenty more runs on Thursday and it makes sense to back ‘Over 82.5 Runs’ in the Highest Individual Score market at 2.0 or better.

Recommended Bet
Back Sri Lanka to beat Australia at 2.28

Australia’s main selection dilemma is whether to risk captain Michael Clarke as he recovers from a hamstring injury. The signs are that he will be fit, but selectors may decide to give him an extra couple of days’ rehabilitation. Quick bowler James Pattinson is back in the squad and should come into the side for Ryan Harris.

Sri Lanka had been going well in this competition until their shock defeat by India on Tuesday, so they will not want to change things too much. They will though have to replace the injured Fervez Maharoof and are likely to go with another seam bowler such as Dhammika Prasad rather than a second spinner.

Venue and Conditions
The MCG surface should offer something for quick bowlers prepared to bend their backs but, based on what we saw in the opening game at the venue when Australia raced to 216 in 32 overs, this will be a batting-friendly pitch, with the true bounce enabling the more expansive strokeplayers to express themselves. There will be some cloud around on Friday, but no rain is forecast.

Match Odds
Tuesday’s result has turned this final game from a gentle formality to a nail-biting eliminator. Sri Lanka’s inability to defend a total of 320 against India will also have dented their confidence. The way that Virat Kohli was able to score at will from the bowling of Lasith Malinga was particularly worrying and both Mahela Jayawardene’s use of the Powerplays and his bowling changes have been criticised.

But I don’t think punters should overreact on the basis of one result. Sri Lanka have played well throughout this tournament and it is in the nature of limited overs cricket that one brilliant performance like Kohli’s can decide a game. Sri Lanka have already beaten Australia twice and they are quite capable of doing so again, particularly given that the Aussies do not need to win in Melbourne. At odds of 2.6 I’ll be backing the wily Jayawardene to take his team to the finals.

Top Australian Batsman
Shane Watson struggled in his brief innings last Sunday and there have to be doubts over whether Australia will risk their captain for this game, so there aren’t too many options in this market. David Hussey scored another half-century, but now that he finally seems to have discovered his touch, the tentative selection is David Warner, who should be suited by the MCG pitch and can be backed at 4.5 or better.

Top Sri Lankan Batsman
I
t was good news for Sri Lanka that Kumar Sangakkara finally got amongst the runs on Tuesday and he can be backed at 4.5 but the men to rely on in this market are the openers. Tillakaratne Dilshan hit a stunning 160 against India, but I’ll be siding with Jayawardene. I’d expect him to respond to criticism of his captaincy with a solid batting performance and he is worth backing at 4.5 or better.

Recommend Bet
Back Sri Lanka to beat Australia at 2.6

The 2005 Ashes will not rank as one of Punter’s fonder memories, but despite relinquishing the urn he cemented his reputation as the best Aussie batsman since Bradman with one of the great rearguard innings. 

Ricky Ponting – Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 2006

Published in the 2006 Wisden Almanack

After that most delirious of summers, now destined to bore countless thousands of unborn grandchildren, it might seem perverse-to-absurd to include in this annual salute to excellence a batsman whose Test average dipped, who made arguably the worst decision by an Australian captain in 30 years, who was fined for what might be called excessive surliness and lost the Ashes.

Yet Ricky Ponting joins this unique roll-call for any number of reasons, some of which approach the abstract; not least, for example, is the one that it takes two to tango. Without Ponting’s own particular persona combating Michael Vaughan’s very different one, the chemical formulae that exploded into the 2005 Ashes would not have reacted as spectacularly as they did. Ponting’s flaws and strengths were all part of the magic mix.

His strengths included one of the great matchsaving innings – by far the most consequential batting performance by an Australian all summer: the 156 at Old Trafford, when he stood between Australia and total Ashes meltdown. It was his 23rd Test century, made in circumstances far rougher than most of the others.

Ponting’s greatness as a batsman has never been in dispute, nor his place in the Wisden pantheon. In 2004, he was the first recipient, by acclamation rather than vote, of the almanack’s newest award, the Leading Cricketer in the World. That came after a 2003 when he led Australia to victory in the World Cup, scored 11 international centuries in the calendar year and unleashed two successive double-centuries against India, the series that until last year stood as Australia’s most eventful and competitive of recent times.

In 2005, there was a strong argument that, as commanding officer, he was responsible for the warship losing its teeth. The questions over his tactical captaincy, the nuts-and-bolts everyday stuff of field placings and just when to turn the screw, persisted until the last day of the fifth Test. But Ponting’s defenders went to The Oval noting that with just a couple of drops of luck Australia could have been leading the series 3-0. And the failure of so many of his teammates to reach their normal heights was not his fault.

Stepping back from the malaise and inquests into English difficulties against spin bowling or the form of their middle-order during their 3-0 drubbing by Pakistan, the series highlighted worrying trends in worldwide Test cricket; namely the increasing prevalence of erratic results, mismatches, batting collapses and the spectacle ending prematurely.

Watching both England and Pakistan struggle to lay bat on ball, I was reminded of South Africa and Australia bowling each other out for 96 and 47 respectively at Cape Town in November, Sri Lanka’s collapse at Cardiff, and India’s whitewashes at the hands of England and Australia.

Since the first Ashes Test in November 2010 there have been 51 Test matches played around the world. 76 per cent (39 matches) have seen results, only 24 per cent (12) drawn. This compares to an all-time average of 65 per cent versus 35 per cent, a hefty difference that does not even account for timeless Tests running until 1939. The 100 Tests prior (July 2008-November 2011) saw a ratio of 70-30.

While I’m not suggesting that I want to see a surfeit of bore draws, not enough Tests are extending into a fifth day: the hallmark of a mismatch or low-scoring affair. A massive 51 per cent of the last 51 Tests failed to enter the fifth day, 12 per cent not even reaching the conclusion of a third day, with the worst offenders being Australia, New Zealand and India.

Perhaps most alarming is the sheer number of comprehensive defeats inflicted across the board. These 51 Tests saw 13 innings defeats and 10 defeats by eight or more wickets, or by over 250 runs.

Put simply, a full 45 per cent of Test matches since November 2011 were essentially non-contests. This is no time to blame the so-called ‘minnows’ of Test cricket. Those predominantly on the receiving end were India, Australia and Sri Lanka.

For me, this pattern of results is in no small part due to the ‘Twenty20 Effect’.

A number of exciting recent Test matches (the India-West Indies draw or New Zealand defeating Australia by seven runs) cannot disguise the fact that Test cricket is being affected by techniques and temperaments increasingly more suited to shorter formats.

Andrew Strauss aired his “concerns about the state of Test cricket” in October, declaring, “The administrators are trying to recognise the primacy of Test cricket, but there is a real difference between saying it and making sure your actions follow it.”

The balance between the three codes is currently out of kilter, as the diminution of England’s 2012 series with South Africa to three Tests demonstrates. The World Test Championship was jettisoned due to ICC Champions Trophy broadcast rights. As Twenty20 competitions take root, from the Big Bash to the IPL, the gradual yet distinctive encroachment of shorter-form cricket is clearly influencing Test batsmanship.

The squeezing of the cricket calendar to accommodate more Twenty20 tournaments and ODIs brings reduced preparation time before Tests and difficulties for batsmen in adjusting and re-adjusting to different codes within ever-shorter series. Too many good sides are being dismissed for low scores on decent pitches by solid if unspectacular bowling units. In the past 51 Tests, teams have been bowled out for under 200 on 33 occasions.

The shot selections of English batsmen in the first Test of the recent series in the UAE pointed to a lack of application. As Geoff Boycott thundered, “Their brains went out of the window” with only Matt Prior and Jonathan Trott demonstrating intent to “occupy the crease, show a great deal of patience and accept that runs arrive at a slower pace.” Similarly Michael Clarke summed up Australia’s woeful collapse to 47 all out in Cape Town stating, “Our shot selection was disgraceful… Apart from numbers 10 and 11, who else even lasted 20 balls?”

Simultaneously we see selection of players for Test cricket originally identified by national set-ups for shorter forms or earmarked as “Twenty20 specialists”. One name that stands out is David Warner. The young Australian opener has much to prove, but a phenomenal exhibition of hitting in his 69-ball century against India was a statement of intent. His early success could convince other nations to fast-track limited-overs stars into the Test side.

The flip side of the coin is Eoin Morgan, whose selection followed a similar path to Warner’s, but who is currently exhibiting the down side of picking an out-and-out shotmaker. His unorthodox technique, tailor-made for Twenty20 cricket, is being questioned and his response has been to attempt to manufacture his game into something it is distinctly not, i.e. a “traditional” Test player.

India’s successive 4-0 whitewashes away to Australia and England also serve as a warning. They have called into question not just the enduring class of their stellar batting line-up, but the quality of the next crop of Indian Test stars raised in the cut and thrust of the IPL. As obdurate Indian batsman Aakash Chopra recently argued, the IPL created a collapse in technique and concentration and “quite bafflingly, became a parameter to judge a player for national selection.”

Cricket is witnessing the first generation of Test players who have spent the majority of their careers playing one-day and Twenty20 cricket. The squeeze is starting to be felt.

Tony’s Technophobia

Technology apparently knows no bounds these days, with Hot Spot, Hawk-Eye, Snicko and all manner of other devices available to enhance our viewing experience. Some of the pundits catch on quicker than others though, and poor old Tony Greig found himself befuddled as he tried to simulate his desired slip field during the last Ashes, much to the amusement of the rest of the Channel 9 team.

Lights, Camera, Loss Of Traction…

Here’s one from our friends at WorldSportBloopers.com. Channel 9 always like to be as close to the action as physically possible but cameraman Joe Previtera got a little more than he bargained for as he took a sweeping shot of Australia’s slip cordon…

Time To Get Serious

But it’s not all fun and games at Channel 9 though, and back in 1981 the king of commentary Richie Benaud left viewers in little doubt as to what he thought of the infamous underarm incident after Greg Chappell instructed his younger brother Trevor to roll the ball along the ground to prevent New Zealand hitting the six they needed off the final ball to tie the match. Strong words, Richie…

Click here to take a look at last week’s Caught On Camera

If you’ve come across any videos that have tickled your fancy or funnybone and reckon they’d fit the bill for Caught On Camera, send your suggestions to comments@alloutcricket.com

The return of the CB Series has been greeted with delight in some quarters and dismay in others. The delight is because it brings back that quintessentially Australian concept: the three team, one-day tournament. The dismay is because two of the teams are India and Sri Lanka, sides whose stock in world cricket has plummeted since they met in the World Cup final just under a year ago. The good news, though, is that this means that there are plenty of value bets to be had when the two sides meet, as they do tomorrow in Perth.

Team News
For Sri Lanka it is a case of out with the old and in with the… well, old. Tillakaratne Dilshan’s disastrous year as captain has come to a close and he has been replaced by Mahela Jayawardene, who resigned the captaincy three years ago. Coming on the back of two consecutive series defeats in the one-day format, including last month’s 3-2 defeat to South Africa, they will be hoping that the change of leader – and of coach, with Graham Ford replacing Geoff Marsh – will bring a change of fortune. Despite all of this, the side will have a pretty familiar look, with Upal Tharanga and Dilshan at the top of the order and a bowling attack hugely reliant upon Lasith Malinga.

India came a poor second to Australia in a rain-affected opening match of the series. However, they rested Virender Sehwag for that game and he is likely to return at the expense of Suresh Raina. There will be pressure to perform on Ravindra Jadeja, who was the most expensive player sold in the IPL auction over the weekend and needs to justify that price here in this beleaguered team every bit as much as he will need to once that tournament begins.

Venue and Conditions
Perth has a reputation as a fast and bouncy track, although it has been less so in recent years. That is not likely to be so much of a factor in a game between these two sides, neither of whom (Malinga aside) possess a bowler of any pace to speak of. What may be more significant is the weather, which will be typically hot but with the humidity increasing as the day goes on and the Fremantle Doctor blowing gently all day. This could favour the swing bowlers in the way that it did when Mitchell Johnson demolished England in the Ashes Test 14 months ago.

Match Odds
India have taken a beating in Australia so far. It has been a long and hard trip for them in which they have been thrashed in a Test series, had their captain banned for one match due to a slow over rate and lived in the shadow of Sachin Tendulkar’s elusive hundredth hundred for so long that even the Indian press’ enthusiasm for that story has seemed to be waning.

By contrast, Sri Lanka have had a rest since returning from South Africa (albeit a short one) and can boast a two game winning streak. Admittedly those two wins came when the one-day series was lost anyway and their hosts were experimenting with their side, but both results came as they chased down stiff targets and it is therefore hard to look further than them to take this game, at generous odds of 2.44.

For all the latest odds check out www.betfair.com

In this short film, Healy talks about the psychological side of playing international cricket.

Click here to watch a video interview with Australia’s fast bowling sensation Ellyse Perry

Ten years Strauss’ junior, Rory Hamilton-Brown has already made waves as a leader. In conversation with Ed Kemp, the youngest captain in England reflects on the unique challenges of fronting up a county outfit. We also take a look at the science behind the art, and the support systems in place for the 21st century general, while Bob Willis gives his considered opinion on the pscychology and practicalities of leadership.

Elsewhere, it’s out with old and in with the new as Steven Finn takes over from Jimmy Anderson as our new diarist (trust us, his first effort is a belter) and we celebrate the end of one year and the start of another with ‘AOC’s Big Fat Quiz of 2011’. Needless to say, we’ve got some great prizes up for grabs – including a bat worth £380!

Back on the pitch, we rejoice in the impressive resilience of Misbah-ul-Haq’s Pakistan, and cautiously analyse the resurgence of Australia by speaking to four Aussies in the know, including Ashes winner Darren Lehmann. We’re not worried… honest.

Adding meat to the bones, the great Tony Cozier remembers the good old days of West Indian cricket, Alastair Cook does his best to keep his dignity while answering our 10 (infamous) questions and editor Phil Walker faces up to the fire and brimstone of… Joe Denly.

Just for good measure we’ve thrown in some considered analysis on the spot-fixing controversy, thrown on this year’s finest cricket shirts and had a drink with Sir Ian Botham. It’s another beefy issue…

All Out Cricket Issue 89 is in all good newsagents from February 2. Click here to save yourself a walk.

And just like that it was over. No, not England’s second innings against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi, but the guts of the Australian cricket season. On the same day that Australia completed a series whitewash over India, the Big Bash also reached a conclusion with Sydney Sixers’ victory over Perth Scorchers.

Of course, that isn’t really the end – there’s the obligatory mishmash of international ODIs and the domestic game will move on from the Twenty20 competition to its less glamorous day job of Sheffield Shield cricket – but the “cricketathon” that has seen my girlfriend struggle to comprehend just how much cricket one man can watch has now been reduced to a level that she can just about get her head around.

There has been something of symmetry to the storylines in the Test series and the Big Bash. While India’s batting stars are being accused of being over the hill, Australia’s victories have been based heavily on the renaissance of a man of whom the same was being said six months ago. And Ricky Ponting – who averaged 108 in the series – has been ably supported by a fellow wrinkly Mike Hussey at over 58 (his average not his age).

Meanwhile, a quick rundown of the best players in the Big Bash includes spin seniors Stuart MacGill, Shane Warne and Brad Hogg, who has remarkably forced his way back into Australia’s Twenty20 side at the age of 40. With the bat, my new favourite Aussie Brad Hodge starred, Matty Hayden scored plenty and the most successful international import was Herschelle Gibbs. This, it seems, is indeed a country for old men – as long as they aren’t Indian.

Undoubtedly there are some great young prospects in Australian cricket – James Pattinson, Pat Cummins and Dave Warner are enough to excite anyone, the improvement in Peter Siddle and Ben Hilfenhaus has been remarkable and the form of skipper Michael Clarke has been awesome. But the batting strength has been largely reliant on a couple of old timers, and bringing a 40-year-old into the Twenty20 team suggests something is missing.

But in the opinion of the Aussie press, the only thing missing is another Ashes series. 503. Apparently that’s how many days until Australia get the chance to play England again in Test cricket. The Australian performance combined with England’s demise in the UAE has seen them forget about recent history and they’re now confident of reclaiming the urn, Clarke is the best batsman on the planet and they possess the most lethal bowling attack in the world. In short, they believe they’re ready for England.

But there is so much hyperbole. Such an assessment conveniently ignores a top three that failed on numerous occasions against a toothless bowling attack, the fact their keeper is struggling with both bat and gloves and that Warner – as astonishing as his innings was at Perth – appears to have an Achilles heel in the form of spin bowling.

Australia are without doubt a better side than the one that got trounced by England a year ago but there is plenty of work still to be done. To be fair to Clarke, there has been no tub-thumping from him. He’s safe in the knowledge that the Aussies are on the up, but realistic enough to know they are far from world-beaters. At some point he’ll be hoping to share a matchwinning stand with someone who’s his junior. For now though, Australia are just thankful to their old guard.

Paul Winslow is a freelance journalist based in Melbourne. Check out more of his work at www.thewinslowboy.com.au

India are probably ready to leave Australia already, but at least the torment of the Test series is over, and they now have the chance to do what they failed to do in England last summer: win a game.

The visitors looked unathletic and uninspired during the four five-day contests, but there appears to be far more menace in their T20 ranks. The addition of Suresh Raina (also an excellent fielder) and Rohit Sharma adds explosive batting to the middle-order, while the presence of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja means that the visitors have plenty of spin options.

Australia’s squad is an extraordinary mix of veterans and rookies, with the likes of Brett Lee, Mike Hussey and 40-year-old Brad Hogg mixing it alongside James Faulkner and Mitchell Marsh (whose combined ages only just trump Hogg).

With Travis Birt, Aaron Finch and Victoria’s highly-rated keeper-batsman Matthew Wade also included, the Australian public will be seeing plenty of new faces this week, while new skipper George Bailey looks to have a tough job on his hands, as he tries to get the best out of himself and his new look team in the pressure cooker environment of international T20 cricket.

That said, punters on Betfair are still, understandably, behind the Baggy Greens, with an Australian series win currently priced at 2.42 [7.5], with India at 5.4 [9/2]. The latter’s odds seem a little long, but even with a revamped outfit I can’t see them beating their more energetic hosts twice in a week.

As such, I make Australia marginal favourites, and can see the value in laying India at 5.5.

For all the latest odds check out www.betfair.com

In this short film, Fields describes her battle back to fitness and her pride in representing her country.

Click here to watch a video interview with Australian fast bowler Ellyse Perry

It was a case of more of the same for a despondent India at the WACA, as the tourists were swept aside inside three days by a rampant Aussie bowling attack and fell to their fourth innings defeat in seven matches.

Virat Kohli’s sledge to Dave Warner in this midst of the Aussie opener’s blitzkrieg rather summed up the problems within the Indian camp. During his innings of 180, Kohli told Warner that he wouldn’t find life quite so easy when he came to the sub-continent. Given that Warner had just equalled the record for the fourth fastest century in Test history and won’t be touring India until February of next year, he unsurprisingly wasn’t too fazed by the comments.

If India are to rouse themselves and claim a consolation win in the fourth Test at Adelaide they will need to start living in the here and now and come to terms with the fact that Test cricket involves being taken out of your comfort zone. And that means finding a way to counter Australia’s seamers.

English fans who witnessed Australia’s attack repeatedly being put to the sword last winter would have been bemused to hear Virender Sehwag’s comments in the lead up to the final match of the series. “I think it’s the best bowling attack I’ve ever seen, especially against Australia,” said the out of form opener.

In the absence of the injured James Pattinson, the attack that took to the park in Perth was largely the same one that England disposed of with such ease in the last Ashes series. That Sehwag should speak in such glowing terms of an attack featuring Ben Hilfenhaus perhaps betrays the crisis of confidence crippling India’s batsmen, but it also demonstrates how dramatically the Tasmanian’s fortunes have changed over the past year.

Against England last winter, Hilfenhaus took seven wickets in four matches at an average of 59.28 and went through long spells where he never looked like taking a wicket. Three matches into the series against India he has 23 wickets at 16, catapulting him into the top 10 Test bowlers in the world for the first time in his career. So, what’s changed?

During the last Ashes, the perception was that Hilfenhaus had become something of a one-trick pony, down on pace after a niggling injury and swinging the ball straight from the hand, giving England’s batsmen plenty of time to choose their shot accordingly. At the end of series he was axed from the side and sent back to state cricket to sharpen up his game and learn how to take wickets again.

After working hard with Tasmanian bowling coach Ali de Winter to add more subtlety and variation to his game, the results started to show. “Hilfy is someone who needs to see the results before he believes something, but there is no doubt I think if he can learn to use the crease a bit more, come from wider and angle in before taking it away, he will not need to swing it as much as he thinks he needs to,” said his state captain and Australia’s newly appointed Twenty20 skipper George Bailey.

And the results have been immediate on Hilfenhaus’ return to the Test side and, while India’s batsmen have played a significant role in their own downfall, he appears to have rediscovered the zip that saw him finish as leading wicket-taker in the 2009 Ashes. Messrs Anderson, Broad and Tremlett might have something to say about Sehwag’s claim that Hilfenhaus is a member of the world’s best attack, but the Tasmanian workhorse has undoubtedly added some steel to Australia’s battery of seamers and with his pack of pacemen is such fine form and India’s confidence so low, Michael Clarke will fancy his chances of turning over India for the fourth match on the trot at Adelaide.

When I first sat down to write this piece, India were in the process of being bowled out for 161 by Australia at Perth. A spicy pitch with pace and bounce, but not the minefield that this distinguished Indian batting line-up would have had you believe. David Warner brutally dismantling India’s ailing attack on his way to the fourth fastest Test century was clear testament to that.

Test cricket hasn’t been the happiest of hunting grounds for India across the last 12 months. When playing at home and on top, there are few teams that grind their opponents into the dirt so attritionally. Stack the odds against them away from home, however, and the most startling of transformations takes place all too often.

Two away series – England and Australia – have seen more collapses than the average household ironing board, but the root of this problem appears to extend far beyond batting alone. Wayward bowling, even from proven world-class individuals such as Zaheer Khan, has been backed up by a worrying lack of energy and enthusiasm in the field whenever the opposition has been in the ascendency, a rather frequent occurrence in the aforementioned series.

A recent comment made by Australian wicketkeeper Brad Haddin summed up India’s plight perfectly: “We spoke about a bit of that when we were batting. The longer we could keep them out on the field the bigger chance we had of breaking them. We know this side can be as fragile as any team in the world if things aren’t going their way and they can turn on each other and the media turns on them pretty quick. We knew if we could keep them out there and put the numbers like we did on the board we knew we’d get the rewards because they break quicker than anyone in the world.”

Such showings initially led me to question the mental strength of the Indian players after numerous abject performances in the face of adversity, but maybe that is a little unfair. Of course, technique is another issue for batsmen that are unused to foreign conditions, but when you consider that this is the much vaunted line-up of Sehwag, Gambhir, Dravid, Tendulkar and Laxman, arguably boasting the finest middle-order that the world has ever seen, that surely cannot be the key factor, either.

But what of culture? Could it be that the seemingly endless production line of talented cricketers coming out of India has led to many being brought up on the notion that cricket is about batting and bowling, and thus a neglect of basic fitness and conditioning? It is likely only because of such a wealth of talent that previous Indian sides have been able to ‘get away with’ this lax attitude in past years, but with the game now moving in to the professional era, and their rivals taking fitness more seriously than ever before, India have found themselves left behind.

As alluded to previously, it is a sometimes unfortunate trait of the Indian sides that their fielding lacks energy and, on occasion, effort. Let’s take the current India team as an example. An ageing group they may be, but if we compare Indian players of similar age to their Australian counterparts, there is little contest. Ricky Ponting, 37, moves with far greater vigour in the field than Sachin Tendulkar, 38, while VVS Laxman, 37, is the proverbial tortoise to the hare in comparison with Mike Hussey, 36. Fitness, it seems, is sadly lacking in the current Indian side, and may well be the crux of their problems.

Perhaps tellingly, a recent ESPN Cricinfo appraisal of the current Indian side suggested that you would only want six of that team on the field when faced with the prospect of a toilsome day. That six comprised of MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Ishant Sharma and Sachin Tendulkar, and of those perhaps only Dhoni and Kohli are of the fitness levels that would be deemed of a high enough standard for an international cricketer.

Any top sports psychologist will tell you that physical fitness is directly related to mental fitness. If you aren’t physically fit, you cannot be in the best possible mindset to perform to the best of your abilities. During Michael Clarke’s monumental 329 not out in the second Test at Sydney he and Michael Hussey were still running hard twos and threes late in the evening session after batting throughout the day. Had the roles been reversed, and Virender Sehwag had been batting, could we have expected the same? Batting is mentally very taxing, and if the body isn’t in the right condition to spend hours doing so it greatly enhances the likelihood of a lapse in concentration or a general drop in performance.

There is, nevertheless, some hope for India. Their ODI side has evolved into an athletic outfit with the introduction of several fit and agile youngsters, namely Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja and Suresh Raina. Of these, only Kohli has cemented himself a place in the Test side to date, but with the inevitable changing of the guard in the next six to 12 months we can expect to see a far more sprightly Indian side. It hasn’t happened yet, but contrary to the beliefs of many dispirited Indian fans, there is indeed a glimmer of light at the end of this particularly dark tunnel.

Click here to follow Andrew on Twitter.

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“Bollyline” in Sydney will go down in history as a kind of cricketing sixday war. It was all too real and nasty while it was happening, but it was over almost as soon as it had begun. By the start of the next Test in Perth 10 days later, there was such peace and harmony on the surface it was as if nothing had ever happened.

As in real wars, circumstances conspired fatefully. Questionable sportsmanship, poor umpiring and alleged racism set the second Test at Sydney on a daily more precipitous edge, and tipped it over as Australia pursued a record-equalling 16th successive win on the last day in typically relentless fashion. They did snatch improbable victory from the jaws of stalemate, but it seemed to be made Pyrrhic in its moment by the engulfing firestorm.

There were casualties, not least among them the game’s dignity. Harbhajan Singh was given a three-Test ban (later rescinded). Posturing Indian authorities threatened to abandon the tour. Commentator Peter Roebuck called for the sacking of Ricky Ponting. Steve Bucknor lost his umpiring commission, and seemed unlikely ever to regain it. India’s captain Anil Kumble dramatically invoked the spirit of a previous cricket war when he declared that “Only one team was playing in the spirit of the game.”

But the least-expected damage was collateral. Up and down the country, there was an outpouring of anger at the disposition of the Australian side. Roebuck’s controversial call for the captain’s head polarised the public in a way that shocked the team. More broadly, this war deepened unresolved tensions between Australia and India, cricket’s on-field superpower and its financial powerhouse. Their scramble for the high moral ground made for an unedifying spectacle.

An animus had been brewing for months, since the World Twenty20 championship in South Africa. Some of the Australians thought India’s victory celebrations in that tournament were disproportionate to the achievement: Andrew Symonds was one who said so publicly. During a subsequent one-day series in India, the crowds taunted the distinctively daubed and dreadlocked Symonds with monkey chants, perhaps imitating the European soccer many of them now watch on pay TV, prompting a clampdown by the authorities. Later, the Australians alleged that Harbhajan also taunted Symonds on the field. Publicly, Harbhajan said the Australians were in no position to complain; they were as vulgar as ever. Behind-the-scenes manoeuvres to broker a peace between Symonds and Harbhajan evidently failed. But Symonds seemed unaffected; he played brilliantly in India and was named Man of the Series.

India’s preparation for their tour of Australia was short and rushed, and they were thrashed in the Boxing Day Test at the MCG. But there was little sign of rancour. Some of the tourists remarked on how pleasantly surprised they had been by their warm reception in Melbourne, and on the Australian public’s deep affection for Sachin Tendulkar. The spirit between the teams appeared passably good. Kumble was the first visiting captain to accept Ponting’s standing proposal that the teams should take each other’s word about low catches, since technology had shown itself to be manifestly inadequate.

Outwardly, the humour remained intact as the teams moved on to Sydney for the New Year Test. In its unfolding, it was a classic, with a century every day – including a gem from Tendulkar – and a breathtaking denouement, with occasional spinner Michael Clarke taking the last three wickets in five balls when all seemed drawn.

But at another level the match was slowly deteriorating. A series of shocking decisions by umpires Bucknor and Mark Benson had an unsettling effect. It began on the first day when Ponting was wrongly given not out and then wrongly given out, to Harbhajan, his bête noire. The Australian captain registered his dismay, which was something of a cheek in the circumstances and an act he said later he regretted. It became item one of the evidence when Australia’s sportsmanship was at issue later in the match and after it.

Later that first day, the impressive teenager Ishant Sharma was denied Symonds’s wicket from an edge so obvious that even Symonds subsequently admitted he had hit it. He was 30 at the time; he made 162 not out. The preponderance of bad decisions was against India, though not all. Tendulkar was haplessly lbw to Clarke when he was 36; he made 154 not out.

More troublesome decisions followed. Partly, the players had only themselves to blame, as much intemperate appealing put pressure on officials already losing confidence. Superficially, the spirit between the sides remained intact. Sharma congratulated Symonds on his innings, Lee congratulated Tendulkar on his, and Ponting refused to claim an apparent catch from Rahul Dravid at second slip because he was unsure whether it was clean.

But there was a quickening undercurrent. As Harbhajan played a defiant hand in support of Tendulkar, which propelled India into a first-innings lead, a slanging match erupted. Principally, it was between Harbhajan and Symonds, whose mutual dislike was now well known. Ponting reported to the umpires that Harbhajan had uttered a racist epithet, perhaps “monkey” or “big monkey”. Some said Ponting acted preciously, even provocatively, given Australia’s history of waging so-called “mental disintegration”. Unsustainably, some even alleged that Ponting seized on the race card in an effort to rid himself of Harbhajan, whose bunny he had become (he fell to him twice more in this match). Others, including Ponting, said he did only what he had been enjoined to do by the ICC in its anti-racism campaign.

A hearing before referee Mike Procter was set down for the end of the match. Tension escalated. The last day was at once ugly and memorable. Ponting extended Australia’s second innings, gaining Mike Hussey another century but seemingly leaving himself too little time to bowl India out again. Playing for time, India used elaborate and cynical ruses to slow the over rate, which would remain problematic throughout the series. Left 72 overs to survive, India faltered, but time was tight, and two dropped catches looked likely to cost Australia dearly. Both sides felt the heat. After tea, Bucknor gave Dravid out caught at the wicket from a ball that plainly brushed only his pad. India were doubly enraged – that there had been an appeal in the first place, and then that it was upheld. Shortly afterwards Clarke, backed by Ponting, claimed a low slip catch from Sourav Ganguly. The batsman stood his ground, but was given out. Later, India would argue that, despite the agreement between the sides about catching, they were under no obligation to take the word of Clarke, who the previous day had refused to walk when cleanly caught at slip first ball.

This contretemps led to another between Ponting and Indian journalists after the match. Victory, gained in long shadows with nine minutes to spare, prompted unbridled jubilation among the Australians, leaving Kumble, who had played a gallant unbeaten innings, to cool his heels. “That’s about as good a win as I’ve been in,” chortled Ponting. But at a press conference soon afterwards, Kumble charged Australia with a lack of sportsmanship as grievous as Douglas Jardine’s in 1932-33. It was an overwrought claim: though Australia had behaved less than nobly, India were also guilty of breaches of the game’s spirit. Indians objected to Australia’s triumphalism at the end, but forgot the exuberance of Harbhajan upon dismissing Ponting in the second innings, when he ran almost to the pavilion and performed two inelegant forward rolls on the turf before teammates caught him.

In the small hours of the next morning, after a long hearing, Procter suspended Harbhajan for three Tests. Meantime, India brought a countercharge against Brad Hogg for referring to them as “bastards”. The next few days were inglorious. India’s authorities claimed, bizarrely, that it was impossible for an Indian to be racist. They threatened to call off the tour unless Harbhajan’s ban was overturned, and the team, instead of travelling to Canberra as scheduled, took refuge in their Sydney hotel. The ICC called in their chief referee Ranjan Madugalle to broker a truce between Ponting and Kumble. They also replaced Bucknor with Billy Bowden for the next Test, saying they were acting in the best interests of the umpire and the game, but –absurdly – denying that they had yielded to pressure from India.

Meantime, Roebuck’s demand for the removal of Ponting reverberated around the country, prompting fulminations on letters pages and websites worldwide. One of the noteworthy aspects of this controversy was the role of the internet in fanning it so widely and quickly. In the cacophony, many ill-considered voices were raised. In his newspaper column, Indian legend and ICC cricket committee chairman Sunil Gavaskar questioned Procter’s role, saying “millions of Indians want to know if it was a white man taking the white man’s word against that of the brown man”. Symonds scarcely helped by saying that a bit of racial teasing between friends was fine, but not between strangers.

A frivolous debate arose about the word “monkey” and whether or not it was a pejorative in India. Protagonists asked us to believe that crowds in India were possibly offering Symonds endearment. The idea that the ill will between the teams was all down to cultural misunderstanding was the greatest nonsense of all. International cricketers travel widely, make friends across team divides, and learn to grasp cultural nuances. Whatever Australia and India said and did to one another in Sydney, they meant it. The “spirit of cricket” is unambiguous in any language.

At length, cooler heads prevailed. Harbhajan was given leave to enter an appeal, which – conveniently – would not be heard until after the series. The Indian board’s threat to abandon the tour had always been fatuous anyway, given the television interests involved. The Indians moved to Canberra for their tour match, then on to Perth. Madugalle met Ponting and Kumble, and negotiated a peace of sorts, each captain declaring that the game was more important than any individual. But, curiously, the pact on low catches was torn up. The Hogg hearing was set for the night before the match, but at the eleventh hour, the Indians withdrew the charge in what was widely praised as a magnanimous gesture.

Still, twists remained. Having been cleared to play, both Harbhajan and Hogg were dropped anyway, not for the sake of goodwill, but because the WACA pitch looked to be back to its fast, bouncy old self, and each side wanted an extra paceman. (Both had been paradoxical performers: Hogg had made a valuable 79 at Sydney, but not taken a wicket on the last day; Harbhajan was good for only three wickets a match but, likely as not, two were Ponting.) The effect was to remove from the game two of the central players in the Sydney drama, and the sacking of Bucknor made it three. Benson, the other umpire, had not been scheduled to stand in Perth anyway. Following the anthem ceremony on the first morning, all the players on both sides shook the hand of every other. So, notionally, did Bollyline finish, 10 days after it began.

The twists were not quite done yet. India won the third Test, the first Asian side ever to win at Perth, snapping Australia’s winning streak at a record-equalling 16. To what extent Australia were distracted by the minicrisis of Sydney was impossible to say; Ponting thought not at all. To what extent India were galvanised was also impossible to say; some of the Indians thought plenty.

But India won the match wholly on their merits. They outplayed Australia in their own conditions. Both sides misread the pitch, which was bouncy but only moderately paced. Shaun Tait, replacing Hogg, proved a liability, and two weeks later announced that he was quitting cricket for the time being. Irfan Pathan, replacing Harbhajan, won the match award. Australia secured victory in the series after a high-scoring draw in the Adelaide Test, Adam Gilchrist’s last. The next day, an independent hearing before New Zealand judge John Hansen downgraded the charge against Harbhajan from racism to abusive language, rescinded the ban, and fined him half his Sydney match fee instead. Justice Hansen said that in such a serious case, a higher standard of proof was necessary: the word of three Australian players was not enough. He made it clear that Symonds had been the provocateur. He also amplified confusion about whether Harbhajan had said “monkey”, “big monkey”, or “teri maki”, words in Hindi that sounded similar.

For the previous week, the former Indian board chairman I. S. Bindra had been in Australia, negotiating with Australian officials. Simultaneously, Indian board vice-president Lalit Modi was reported to have said that, unless Harbhajan was cleared, the tour would be cancelled and India would reconsider future engagements with Australia. He also said that an adverse finding would affect the prospects of Australians in the new Indian Premier League. Australian players muttered anonymously about how India’s money was now ruling the game, which was a bit rich – pun intended – since many of them were greedily eyeing the vast spoils available for the new Twenty20 tournament in India. Justice Hansen indignantly denied media reports about a deal between the two countries, or that he had been under pressure to reprieve Harbhajan for the sake of future series, and rebuked the Indian authorities for even allowing that impression to form. He had, he said, reached his decision independently. But Hansen regretted the ICC’s incomplete data about Harbhajan’s disciplinary record, which might have affected his sentence.

So ended Bollyline – for now. Three things were clear. Hypocrisy still drags the game down. The ICC remains toothless. And India, failing to learn lessons from long periods of powerlessness, are intent on throwing their newly acquired weight around at every opportunity.

© John Wisden & Co

First published in 1864, The Wisden Almanack is still recognised throughout the cricket world as the definitive recorder of the game. Click here to buy the 2011 edition of the Wisden Almanack

Pat Howard freely admitted he knew little about the game when taking over as Cricket Australia’s head of high performance in October of last year. Now it seems the former Wallaby centre has kept true to his word after revealing new selection guidelines that suggest future Test selections will be governed by the quality of opponents, and not the form of players.

Consequently, lower-ranked sides such as New Zealand, Bangladesh, West Indies and Sri Lanka will not face a full-strength Australia – who will save star performers for ‘icon series’ against England, India and South Africa. Normally the actions of the Baggy Greens bear little significance in Black Cap heartland, but this admission will have put noses out of joint across the Tasman, and with good reason.

“We do look at different series differently,” Howard told the Sydney Morning Herald. “For India, it was very much about trying to get the best players on the field so if a player was touch and go we’d probably push him for this series. For New Zealand we took more of a conservative approach, took the chance to get people right.”

Introducing an effective and efficient rotation policy is as logical as it is necessary and Howard and his panel of selectors can obviously choose whoever they want to represent Australia. But there appears to be a fine line between doing what is best for the side and being downright rude to opposing nations.

“We’re never going to go in with a B-team against anybody, that’s for sure,” Howard reassured. But try explaining that to New Zealand and the rest of the lower-ranked sides, expected to turn up and face a side devoid of first-teamers – with their fans tuned in at home while the Aussies save themselves for the ‘icon series’.

Howard would argue that the superb performances of James Pattinson and David Warner in the recent series against the Black Caps give this selection policy some credibility but the idea of calling New Zealand’s tour a development series is arrogant and wrong. The Black Caps fought damn hard in Hobart – unearthing talents of their own in the process – and a performance that brought an end to a 26-year wait for victory on Australian soil should not be undermined.

Howard is misplaced in his thinking and it is a policy more likely to devalue playing for your country than restore pride in it. And let us also not forget that Test playing nations are at a premium and using lower-ranked teams as cannon fodder will only hurt the longer format of the game.

Yet Howard adopts these guidelines at his own risk, scarred by the knowledge that these so called ‘lesser sides’ can come Down Under and win. If Howard wants Australia to use teams classed as beneath them as mere stepping-stones then good luck to them, but be warned ­– more pitfalls await.

Click here to read James Henderson’s review of New Zealand’s victory over Australia in Hobart.

Just a few years ago you wouldn’t have got much sentiment from a cricket follower on these shores over Australian players and their fortunes. Too many bad memories and fresh wounds. Too much pain. It’s tempting sometimes to think you’d enjoy watching the Aussies fall into terminal decline, to rejoice in their humiliating second innings 47 in Cape Town and to lament their growing recovery. But cricket needs Australia, and England being No.1 in the world would be most fun if Australia were No.2 – and if the Ashes really was the shootout for world supremacy that we all crave.

So Ponting and Clarke’s partnership at the SCG against India was more than just statistically formidable and ruthlessly executed – it was a pivotal moment for two cricketers, a nation’s supporters and the cricket world’s ever-more curious onlookers.

From the start of the second morning the captain and his predecessor were positive, in footwork and shot selection, but importantly in body language too. Clarke had been gradually marking his authority on the Aussie captaincy with match-defining knocks on the tours to Sri Lanka and South Africa, but went to Sydney in a mini-slump after three Tests without runs and with last winter’s Ashes lockout still fresh in Australians’ minds. Acceptance and “respect from the Australian public” – as he would say after completing his maiden triple-century on day three – has always been Clarke’s primary objective ever since the dashing, tattoed youngster with the TV girl on his arm first emerged, flashily, to update the image of Australian batsmen.

He took the job under a cloud of failure, at the fag-end of that botched Ashes series. But since then his batting and leadership of a developing, transitional and intriguingly rocky side has impressed more so with every match. At Sydney he seized a big opportunity to prove himself as Australia’s leader – a worthy, modern successor to Border, Taylor, Waugh and, of course, Ricky Ponting.

As much as Clarke’s unbeaten triple-century stole the headlines, backed by his canny decision to pass up the chance to haul in Bradman’s and Taylor’s highest Test score – an act that will do wonders for his reputation as well as his team’s chances of victory here – it was Punter’s knock that most stirred the soul. The sight of the scarred old warhorse stepping muddied off the turf to celebrate the most long-awaited of his 40 Test centuries must have tugged the ticker-strings of even the most fervent anti-Aussie. This giant of the game is not quite the player he once was, but he remains possessed of a concrete cricketing heart.

It’s only since chinks in the Tasmanian’s armour emerged – and, perhaps, since England started beating the sides he captained – that it’s been possible to truly sympathise with Ponting. But over the last year or so, the former runscoring superman has looked nothing more than human at the crease, and it’s endeared him to a new quarter of the cricket world. A great player and a great cricket man, struggling for once, like the rest of us, against technique and the march of time. And in his last few Tests, secretly at least, we’ve all been rooting for him.

Although the trademark strut and bluster initially survived a spell of poor form, Ponting had struggled for so long that latterly he looked a shadow of himself. The pull shot particularly – once such a trademark of his dominance – he just can’t play like he used to, and he kept getting hit. Every batsman takes the occasional tap on the grille, like Ponting himself did in 2005 (remember the plaster on the cheek?) but he’s started to take regular blows in the last few months. But still he refuses to put the pull shot away, although his continued attempts are perhaps as much a mark of an instinctive technique as of bravery and self-belief. But the realisation that he no longer had all his old shots, the successive blows and low scores, had made him look a smaller figure at the wicket – even, dare one say it of the old beast, a touch timid.

So to see him march out on that second morning alongside Clarke, strutting purposefully, striding out at the ball once more, was a pleasure. He is no longer the devastating shotmaker who in 2006 and 2007 hit seven tons in 14 matches at more than 76, but he is still one of the greats – Australia’s post-war best. And, after years of admiring (through the gaps between our fingers) his seemingly unimaginable gifts, we should now salute his resilience in adversity, and his enduring love for a game which had started to turn on him.

No one’s saying he’s back for good. The Ashes in 2013 still seems a long way off. But here at Sydney, he has added another layer to the Ponting story. After scampering and diving to complete a single to reach his hundred, he hauled himself up, covered in dirt, spat the dust from his mouth and smiled like a kid. Clarke congratulated him, and the Aussies marched to another commanding position. It was an important moment for Ponting and for Australian cricket, which looks to be in revival. The game would be the poorer without either of them.

How did you practise bowling?
When you were bowling in the nets you didn’t try to bowl flat out and knock somebody’s head off, you learned accuracy. Richie Benaud and myself had been to England in ’53 and in ’56; we were travelling back home from practice at the Sydney Cricket Ground on the train and we were talking about why it was that Jim Laker could put the ball on a thrupenny bit, why could Alec Bedser put it on a thrupenny bit, and we said: “Because they bowl, bowl, bowl.” And from that day on we made a pact that we were going to bowl for three hours straight without a break and there was only going to be two of us in a net, instead of three, and we’d say you only have 30 seconds between balls and that’s what we did for three hours. And by the end of that you were absolutely zonkered. Today, bowlers are inaccurate because they don’t spend enough time in the nets.

How big a role did coaching play in your career?
I was never coached a day in my life. I was a good watcher. I watched blokes like Ray Lindwall and Bill Johnston bowl. Bill was a left-armer and he could bowl everything: spin or seam.  I used to watch what he did and say: “How did you do that grip?” and I’d try it, and if it didn’t work for me then I would try a grip of my own.

Who’s the best batsman you ever bowled to?
Oh, Len Hutton. Technically he was absolutely the most perfect batsman I have ever seen. He was a marvellous player. In fact, I learned to bat by bowling to him because his technique was so tremendous – his back foot was the first thing to move, the balance he had and the way he stayed side on, he had the most perfect technique of anyone I have ever seen. There’s nobody today that plays as correctly as he did.

How do the current England crop compare to the best of years gone by?
If you take the ’58 side when you had Trueman, Statham, Tyson, Bailey, I don’t think any of the current lot would be in. You’ve got to remember the batting that was in that side too, they had people like Peter May, Colin Cowdrey, Graveney, Dexter and then there was another bloke that was hiding in the woods waiting for a game – Barrington. You’ve got to look at things in perspective. We are talking about greats of the game, they were greats of the game. This England side at the moment is a very, very good side and it’s a well-balanced side and their best years are going to be in the future .

What are your tips for fast bowlers?
To me, pace is nothing. Line, length and control was a motto when I was a little boy and it should still be the motto now. Line and length – it means everything, pace doesn’t mean a thing.

To read more from Alan Davidson and a host of other legendary pacemen, including Richard Hadlee, Colin Croft and Andy Roberts, pick up a copy of AOC 88 – in shops on December 29. 

As the Big Bash is inherently quick and dirty I feel no shame in a five-point rundown of the tournament’s opening exchanges. Six games in and, unsurprisingly, it’s hard to not talk about Shane Warne…

1. 19 – 7 = Brilliant

What’s the difference between 7 and 19? It’s not a trick question – the answer is 12, or in this case two sixes. This exercise in basic arithmetic came to mind as I watched Fox Sport’s Inside Cricket Show and inevitably their discussion on the first round of Big Bash matches turned to Warnie’s return to competitive cricket.

If you didn’t notice The Blond’s first performance you can be forgiven because it was of the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it variety. He came, he saw, he bowled two overs, got knocked for 19 and then returned to his fielding and wasn’t asked to turn his arm over again.

According to one of the pundits, Warne actually bowled very well and “if you take out the two sixes he only conceded seven from 10 balls.” Now, I don’t know about you, but the last time I looked sport, and cricket in particular, doesn’t work like that. It’s not a case of woulda, shoulda, coulda, it’s a case of what actually happened. The fact is he got hit for two sixes, went for 19 runs and they’re the only stats that count.

2. It’s Better On TV

That last subhead was incredibly difficult to write and I feel dirty and in need of a shower having done so. Live sport is something I have devoted a large part of my life to. Being there makes sport more enjoyable, more visceral, more immediate. You become part of the spectacle you are enjoying. And yet cricket can also be frustrating in that you don’t have the benefits of replays, it can be difficult to work out how much the ball is moving, how much a ball is turning or get an appreciation of those finer things that technology unravels for us.

This was all surmountable until Warnie decided to mike himself up for the Big Bash. Usually the gimmick of being able to talk to players while on the pitch is just that – a cheap gimmick that adds nothing to the game. But Warne talks you through his overs. He tells you what he is thinking, what his plans are and what he is going to bowl. Hearing him tell the world he was going to push through a quicker one to surprise Brendon McCullum before doing just that to bowl him out was magical and absolutely brilliant television.

3. The Odd Couple

I never imagined that in my cricket-watching career I would witness Luke Wright bowling in tandem with Shane Warne. It’s incredibly incongruous and more than a little perturbing. Wright must feel like a kid at Christmas; despite the fact he’s 26, he still does have the look of a kid. Sadly, he’s not quite holding up his end of the deal after being smashed at just shy of 10 an over from his eight so far, but the weirdest thing about it was that while Warne was mooching about in the field during the first game and not bowling his full complement the Sussex allrounder did go through his. Sod global warming and financial crises, when Wright bowls four overs and SK Warne only bowls two, you know the world is seriously in turmoil.

4. English Roses Are Wilting

Luke Wright is not the only Englishman to struggle so far. His Melbourne Stars teammate Jade Dernbach has also had a miserable start to the tournament, returning figures of 0-36 and 1-44 in his first two matches, and at least Wright can point to an unbeaten 27* in the first match and a couple of catches to justify his place. The Surrey paceman dropped two against Brisbane Heat, including one absolute sitter from Brendon McCullum when the Kiwi had made just 13 of his 36.

Meanwhile, Paul Collingwood had a game to forget in his first outing for Perth Scorchers, bowling two overs for 20 runs and scoring just four off 13 balls. He did effect a couple of run outs, one of them on his compatriot Owais Shah. Shah’s performance seems unremarkable, scoring 24 off 19, but in a game with only 249 runs for 20 wickets he was the third top-scorer and arguably one of the biggest differences between the two teams, so we should cut him some slack and give him the credit he deserves. Nottinghamshire batsman Michael Lumb’s opening 18 had less impact on the Sydney Sixers’ win over Brisbane Heat, but there is one English representative having a huge effect…

5. Hurley Mania

Liz Hurley is absolutely everywhere. You can’t turn the TV on without seeing her. You can’t open a newspaper without seeing her. The fact she kissed Warne in public was headline news. She was even wheeled out to perform the toss before Warne’s first game. The joy at watching Warne talk through his overs live on TV is offset by the fact that every 30 seconds they cut from footage of him to gauge her reaction. Anyone would think that Prince Philip was playing and the Queen was watching.

When Oprah visited Australia last year it was like a god had popped in from above and deigned to spend some time here. When anyone of international acclaim arrives on these shores they are welcomed as if they are a deity. The resultant gushing, fawning excitement over Hurley’s presence here is remarkable and a bit sickening. Even ex-cricketers who have played at the very top of the game, visited the world and met great statesmen talk about meeting her in hushed tones of awe. It’s Liz freaking Hurley for god’s sake. Who really cares?

Paul Winslow is a freelance journalist based in Melbourne. Check out more of his work at www.thewinslowboy.com.au.

Click here to read his reaction to Australia’s defeat to New Zealand.

Asking an Australian cricket supporter to be objective is a bit like asking the kids to shut up about Santa. Cricket Australia’s decision, therefore, to allow the viewing public decide the Man of the Match award during the recent Test series against New Zealand was never going to work.

After New Zealand’s thrilling victory (their first in 26 years on Australian soil) during the second Test of the series, the Man of the Match award went to… yep you’ve guessed it – an Aussie! New Zealand’s Dougie Bracewell finished with nine wickets for a measly 60 runs and demolished the Australian middle order in the second innings taking three wickets in nine balls to set up his team’s victory, but that wasn’t enough to impress the Australian public.

He could have rescued kids from a burning house during a drinks break, found a cure for cancer during the tea interval and taken all 10 wickets in the second innings without conceding a run and it still wouldn’t have been enough. An Aussie will always be man of the match when Australians are the ones casting the votes.

The guy named man of the match, Aussie David Warner, made an unbeaten 123 for the hosts and only failed to get his team over the winning line because of the failures of those around him, but the margin of victory during the MOM polling (Warner got more than twice as many votes as Bracewell) highlighted that an overseas player has no chance of winning over a parochial audience.

Can you seriously imagine the English voting for Ricky Ponting in overwhelming numbers or the Pakistani fans picking up the phone to vote for their favourite Indian player? It’s just not going to happen, so a different transparent system needs to be found. Not the one where one of the TV talking heads gets to play God, we need one where the viewing public knows what’s going on and how the decision has been arrived at.

Cricket Australia have distanced themselves from the Warner verdict, stating that the procedure was just a trial and that they will be returning to a TV pundit picking the MOM for their next home series. That’s a bit sad, having identified that the selection process needs to be a bit sexier and carry more weight than just one pundit’s opinion they should continue trialling methods until they come up with a winner.

How about this? At the presentation ceremony at the end of the match, the skippers of each side could be asked to nominate the man of the match from the opposition giving a couple of reasons why they went for the guy. That would just about guarantee that the right two men get in the frame because the players know who has performed above and beyond and which player has hurt them the most. The match referee then picks one of the two nominees, simple and effective and invariably the right man will get the nod.

There are a hundred variations on the theme but it shouldn’t be too hard to come up with a better system than the one in place at the moment.

Anyway, the Australians are back in Test action again with the Boxing Day Test against India. Australia are 2.26 to prevail in the series with India at 3.25 and the draw at 3.9. There are two conflicting trains of thought: 1). India are a superb side and are overpriced. 2). India were so pitiful against England in England that the 34.0 available on Australia to whitewash MS Dhoni’s men should be snapped up.

A logical correlation is that the team that gains the most man of the match awards should win the series – as long as it’s not a public vote!

For all the latest odds check out www.betfair.com