ICC Cricket World Cup 2015: Melbourne Cricket Ground to host final

England and Australia are drawn in the same group and the 2015 Cricket World Cup final will be played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, with the semifinals set for Sydney and Auckland, New Zealand.

Tournament organizers announced Tuesday that New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and two qualifiers will join Australia and England in Pool A of the 14-team tournament that is held every four years.

South Africa, defending champions India, Pakistan, the West Indies, Zimbabwe, Ireland and a qualifier will compete in Pool B.

Australia and New Zealand will host 49 matches over 44 days during February and March 2015.

Other Australian venues for the tournament will be the Sydney Cricket Ground, Brisbane's Gabba, the WACA in Perth, Adelaide Oval, Manuka Oval in Canberra and Bellerive Oval in Tasmania.

Powered by: 2015 Cricket World Cup: Adelaide thrilled to host India-Pakistan

BangaloreIndia and Pakistan first met in a World Cup game at the Sydney Cricket Ground back in 1992. Sachin Tendulkar, then just 18, was Man of the Match as India won by 54 runs, but Pakistan would have the last laugh - lifting the trophy with victory over England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground weeks later. A generation on, the developed Adelaide Oval will play host to another India-Pakistan contest, the first for both teams at the 2015 World Cup. This time, the TV audience alone will be over a billion, with thousands more journeying to South Australia to witness a rivalry as intense as they come. "We had a visit to India last year, and we made a strategic decision to target this for our first game," said Jay Weatherill, the Premier of South Australia, in an interview with Wisden India. "It's very pleasing that we've been able to achieve it. "We had some good meetings with the Board of Control for Cricket in India, and we were able to persuade them that this would be a good decision for Indian cricket." The Adelaide Oval was long renowned as one of the game's most picturesque and atmospheric venues, and the decision to make it a 50,000-seater that would host AFL football as well was the subject of heated debate. The refurbishment will cost the state exchequer in the region of half a billion dollars, and Weatherill admitted that it had been a tough call to take. "It was a very big decision for us as a state to make," he said. "It is a much-loved sporting venue. There were concerns from those who love the ground that we might lose something as a result of the upgrade. But now people are realising that not only have we upgraded the ground, but we've kept everything people love about it. "We've preserved the beautiful grassed hill area, and we've got the Moreton Bay fig trees that are the backdrop to that. You also have the historic old scoreboard and the view of the Cathedral. A lot of care was taken to preserve the integrity of the facades, and the look and feel of the Oval as a whole. It's a beautiful piece of architecture and it's added a whole new aspect, a view back over the Torrens River and the city that wasn't there before." The demand for tickets from the subcontinent is likely to far outstrip capacity, but the administration is confident that those that miss out will still enjoy a memorable experience. "We have a large plaza near the Oval, and I'm sure arrangements will be made for fans to watch there as well," said Weatherill. "We also want to stress Adelaide's cricket history. It was after all home to Sir Donald Bradman, the greatest cricketer of all." Australian sport is no stranger to titanic tussles. The New South Wales-Victoria rivalry is as old as the Ashes, and rugby league's State of Origin clashes are passionately followed in Queensland and New South Wales. India-Pakistan, even if a one-off, will provide an altogether different flavor. "It's one of the greatest rivalries in world sport and we're so thrilled to be hosting it," said Weatherill. "We want to reveal Adelaide and South Australia to the world and what better way than through cricket, which is a shared cultural language."India and Pakistan first met in a World Cup game at the Sydney Cricket Ground back in 1992. Sachin Tendulkar, then just 18, was Man of the Match as India won by 54 runs, but Pakistan would have the last laugh - lifting the trophy with victory over England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground weeks later. A generation on, the developed Adelaide Oval will play host to another India-Pakistan contest, the first for both teams at the 2015 World Cup. This time, the TV audience alone will be over a billion, with thousands more journeying to South Australia to witness a rivalry as intense as they come. "We had a visit to India last year, and we made a strategic decision to target this for our first game," said Jay Weatherill, the Premier of South Australia, in an interview with Wisden India. "It's very pleasing that we've been able to achieve it. "We had some good meetings with the Board of Control for Cricket in India, and we were able to persuade them that this would be a good decision for Indian cricket." The Adelaide Oval was long renowned as one of the game's most picturesque and atmospheric venues, and the decision to make it a 50,000-seater that would host AFL football as well was the subject of heated debate. The refurbishment will cost the state exchequer in the region of half a billion dollars, and Weatherill admitted that it had been a tough call to take. "It was a very big decision for us as a state to make," he said. "It is a much-loved sporting venue. There were concerns from those who love the ground that we might lose something as a result of the upgrade. But now people are realising that not only have we upgraded the ground, but we've kept everything people love about it. "We've preserved the beautiful grassed hill area, and we've got the Moreton Bay fig trees that are the backdrop to that. You also have the historic old scoreboard and the view of the Cathedral. A lot of care was taken to preserve the integrity of the facades, and the look and feel of the Oval as a whole. It's a beautiful piece of architecture and it's added a whole new aspect, a view back over the Torrens River and the city that wasn't there before." The demand for tickets from the subcontinent is likely to far outstrip capacity, but the administration is confident that those that miss out will still enjoy a memorable experience. "We have a large plaza near the Oval, and I'm sure arrangements will be made for fans to watch there as well," said Weatherill. "We also want to stress Adelaide's cricket history. It was after all home to Sir Donald Bradman, the greatest cricketer of all." Australian sport is no stranger to titanic tussles. The New South Wales-Victoria rivalry is as old as the Ashes, and rugby league's State of Origin clashes are passionately followed in Queensland and New South Wales. India-Pakistan, even if a one-off, will provide an altogether different flavor. "It's one of the greatest rivalries in world sport and we're so thrilled to be hosting it," said Weatherill. "We want to reveal Adelaide and South Australia to the world and what better way than through cricket, which is a shared cultural language.":  India and Pakistan first met in a World Cup game at the Sydney Cricket Ground back in 1992. Sachin Tendulkar, then just 18, was Man of the Match as India won by 54 runs, but Pakistan would have the last laugh - lifting the trophy with victory over England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground weeks later.

A generation on, the developed Adelaide Oval will play host to another India-Pakistan contest, the first for both teams at the 2015 World Cup. This time, the TV audience alone will be over a billion, with thousands more journeying to South Australia to witness a rivalry as intense as they come.

"We had a visit to India last year, and we made a strategic decision to target this for our first game," said Jay Weatherill, the Premier of South Australia, in an interview with Wisden India. "It's very pleasing that we've been able to achieve it.

"We had some good meetings with the Board of Control for Cricket in India, and we were able to persuade them that this would be a good decision for Indian cricket."

The Adelaide Oval was long renowned as one of the game's most picturesque and atmospheric venues, and the decision to make it a 50,000-seater that would host AFL football as well was the subject of heated debate. The refurbishment will cost the state exchequer in the region of half a billion dollars, and Weatherill admitted that it had been a tough call to take.

"It was a very big decision for us as a state to make," he said. "It is a much-loved sporting venue. There were concerns from those who love the ground that we might lose something as a result of the upgrade. But now people are realising that not only have we upgraded the ground, but we've kept everything people love about it.

"We've preserved the beautiful grassed hill area, and we've got the Moreton Bay fig trees that are the backdrop to that. You also have the historic old scoreboard and the view of the Cathedral. A lot of care was taken to preserve the integrity of the facades, and the look and feel of the Oval as a whole. It's a beautiful piece of architecture and it's added a whole new aspect, a view back over the Torrens River and the city that wasn't there before."

The demand for tickets from the subcontinent is likely to far outstrip capacity, but the administration is confident that those that miss out will still enjoy a memorable experience. "We have a large plaza near the Oval, and I'm sure arrangements will be made for fans to watch there as well," said Weatherill. "We also want to stress Adelaide's cricket history. It was after all home to Sir Donald Bradman, the greatest cricketer of all."

Australian sport is no stranger to titanic tussles. The New South Wales-Victoria rivalry is as old as the Ashes, and rugby league's State of Origin clashes are passionately followed in Queensland and New South Wales. India-Pakistan, even if a one-off, will provide an altogether different flavor.

"It's one of the greatest rivalries in world sport and we're so thrilled to be hosting it," said Weatherill. "We want to reveal Adelaide and South Australia to the world and what better way than through cricket, which is a shared cultural language."

Easy path for Proteas to World Cup quarterfinals

ON PAPER, South Africa were given an uncomplicated path to the 2015 World Cup quarterfinals at the tournament’s launch in Melbourne and Wellington on Tuesday.
But, as every cricket-minded South African knows after suffering through their team’s many instances of being blinded by the light reflected off an International Cricket Council trophy, paper does not play cricket.
So South Africa’s fans will not be too excited about the fact that AB de Villiers’ team will sneak into the event all but under the radar against Zimbabwe in Hamilton. As opponents and venues go, World Cup fixtures do not get much more low key.
Not that Zimbabwe captain Brendan Taylor agreed with that on Tuesday. "South Africa are a very good side but they haven’t had the record they would like to have at the World Cup," he said from Harare.
"We’ll be expected to lose, which means we’ll be able to go out there and play with freedom."
Taylor stopped short of reminding South Africans that it was the Proteas’ loss to Zimbabwe in a group match at Chelmsford in 1999 that meant they were eliminated when they tied their Australia semifinal.
After playing Zimbabwe, South Africa will be thrust into the World Cup spotlight in a match against India at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
With its capacity of 100,018, the ground could hold almost all of the 104,128 South Africans who call Australia home. Trouble is, 448,430 Indian expats also live Down Under and, as South Africa experienced in a Champions Trophy match in Cardiff on June 6, Indian fans offer their team support that veers from extremely partisan to openly hostile.
Just how aggressive they will be could depend on the result of the uber-match between the defending champions and their enemy Pakistan in Adelaide a week earlier. "It only seems like yesterday that we won the World Cup in front of a passionate and supportive home crowd," Indian captain MS Dhoni was quoted as saying in an International Cricket Council (ICC) release on Tuesday.
South Africa’s next game, against West Indies at the Sydney Cricket Ground, seems an easier proposition.
Except that the Windies have been responsible for dumping South Africa out of three ICC tournaments — more than any other side.
Ireland tend to punch above their weight, but it is difficult to imagine them beating the Proteas in their game in Canberra.
South Africa will hope they have qualified for the quarterfinals by then, because their next opponents are Pakistan in Auckland. Taking on cricket’s most dangerous team in a must-win game is not what World Cup dreams are made of. But there is insurance against that danger in the form of South Africa’s last group match against as yet unnamed qualifiers.
Although the tournament starts on Valentine’s Day, there will be no love lost over the course of the next month while the two groups of seven teams play each other.
The knockout stages start on March 18 and culminate in the final in Melbourne on March 29.
The ICC will strike agreements with law enforcement agencies in Australia and New Zealand to guard against corruption blighting the 2015 World Cup, CE David Richardson said on Tuesday.
Elite cricket has been rocked by corruption-related scandals in recent years that have swept up players, umpires and officials around the world. The 2015 World Cup, to be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, is likely to generate huge global betting interest, raising fears that players might be targeted by rogue bookmakers with the promise of big pay-offs for cheating.
Richardson, South Africa’s former wicketkeeper, said the global body would work more closely with police in the co-host countries than in previous World Cups.

Cricket World Cup 2015: England and Australia drawn together

England have been drawn in the same group as Australia for the 2015 Cricket World Cup.
New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and two qualifying nations will join the Ashes rivals in Pool A of the 14-team tournament.
South Africa, defending champions India, Pakistan, the West Indies, Zimbabwe, Ireland and a qualifier will compete in Pool B.
England and Australia will meet on the opening day of the competition at Melbourne on 14 February.
The tourists' next fixture is six days later against New Zealand in Wellington, with a match against one of the qualifiers following on 23 February in the city of Christchurch – still rebuilding from an earthquake two years ago.
Sri Lanka are England's next opponents in Wellington on 1 March, before a return to Australia for games against Bangladesh on March 9 at Adelaide and the other qualifier in their group on 13 March at Sydney.
Adelaide, Auckland, Brisbane, Canberra, Christchurch, Dunedin, Napier, Nelson, Hamilton, Hobart, Melbourne, Perth, Sydney and Wellington were confirmed as host cities at today's official launch.

The Melbourne Cricket Ground will host the first ODI between Australia and England in January 2014. Photograph: Ryan Pierse/Getty Images The ICC chief executive David Richardson said: "The ICC Cricket World Cup is the flagship tournament of the 50-over game."The 2015 tournament will mark 40 years since the first World Cup in 1975 and that history of great contests and heroes helps make the tournament what it is - the most sought after prize in our increasingly global game."The World Cup will be returning to Australia and New Zealand after 23 years and will be staged at the back of two outstanding 50-over ICC events – the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 and ICC Champions Trophy 2013."I'm absolutely confident that the success of the ICC Cricket World Cup will further strengthen the status of 50-over cricket as a successful and viable format alongside Tests and Twenty20 Internationals."The Australian prime minister, Kevin Rudd, added: "This is one of the biggest events in world sport."It will attract cricket fans from around the globe and also promote Australia and our close friend New Zealand internationally - especially in India and other parts of south Asia."Holders India will launch their defence against rivals Pakistan in Adelaide on 15 February.Ticket prices for the tournament are not due to be announced until later in the year. 

 

World Cup draw :

Pool A England, Australia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, New Zealand, two qualifiers 

Pool B South Africa, India, Pakistan, West Indies, Zimbabwe, Ireland, qualifier

The men behind cricket stars

The gentleman’s game has changed like never before. The game of cricket has evolved from the languid days of test matches to the blink-and-you-miss-it Twenty20 format. Fitter, more athletic players are apparently ruling the roost. Whites to colours, the red cherry to the white ball, black sight screens looming large instead of the pristine white ones, the floodlights becoming the order of the day — these are changes that cricket has seen and survived. And one change that every international team has come to terms with is the number of people that has become part of the core team — the support staff. Gone are the days when the players travelled with a coach and a manager. The entourage has expanded and often it’s almost a second team that is travelling with the players.

A coach, bowling coach, fielding coach, physiotherapist, trainer, yoga and massage therapist, masseur, video analyst, logistics manager and media manager — this was the list of support staff that accompanied Team India in the recently concluded Champions Trophy and the tri-series in the West Indies. And given the lavish amount that the Board of Control for Cricket in India spends on these individuals, there really cannot be any debate on the necessity of such support staff. Their presence is appreciated in more ways than one and after Team India won the Champions Trophy in England — the last to be held — not only did the BCCI promise to reward the players (R1 crore each), but each of the support staff will soon be richer by R 30 lakh.
For Indian cricket, the notion of support staff to enhance fitness perhaps started with the inclusion of Dr Ali Irani, a physiotherapist, way back in 1987. He made the team warm up and exercise together and had famously said that it promoted team spirit. Dr Irani stayed with the Indian team for close to 10 years, and left only after the ominous clouds of betting and match-fixing darkened his name.

As the form of the game changed from test to Twenty20, the Physiotherapist became a very important component of the team

But the trend of including a top team of trained support staff remained and the importance of these experts grew by leaps and bounds as cricket became not just a 365 day affair but a rigorous mix of football-like 90- minute spectacle followed by large doses of parties and dancing. With cricket being flush with money and sponsors often calling the shots, it became imperative to keep players fit through punishing schedules that involved playing tests, one-dayers and Twenty20 matches with very little time to reorient and regroup.
Add to that the lure of playing for tournaments like the IPL where money speaks louder than the sweet sound of the willow on a leather hunt, and you do need a group that is dedicated to ensure that players are at their fittest form. Injuries do happen despite the physiotherapists and masseurs, but it is comforting to have them around.
Always at hand
In 2006, the Indian cricket team was not exactly having the greatest of times under Greg Chappell, when he introduced Dr Rudi Webster to the squad.
Chappell brought him in as he believed him to be a “very user-friendly sports psychologist because of his hands-on experience with leading athletes.”

The support staff, which includes a physiotherapist, trainer, yoga and a massage therapist travel regularly with the team. Pics/AFP

Webster was also part of the Kolkata Knight Riders support team last season and a senior KKR official, on condition of anonymity, confirms that Webster made sure the players were mentally equipped to deal with the intense pressure that a Twenty20 game entailed. He, of course, adds that in IPL teams, it is often seen that the franchise owners include people in the support staff so that they can be close to the players. With the Sreesanth fiasco fresh in mind, a hint at something that’s just not cricket is obvious. But it also agreed that the increase in support staff has seen more positives than negative in Indian cricket.
Back in 2006, Chappell’s move was criticised by many people as the 2007 World Cup did not see Team India in the best of their elements. However, the idea of having a motivational psychologist with the team had taken firm footing.
The official support staff list for Team India taking part in the tri-series in the West Indies in June, went into double figures, with Duncan Fletcher (coach), Joseph Dawes (bowling coach), Trevor Penney (fielding coach), Nitin Patel (physiotherapist), R Srinivasan (trainer), Amit Shah (yoga and massage therapist), CKM Dhananjai (video analyst), Ramesh Mane (aasseur), MA Satheesh (logistics manager) and Dr RN Baba (media manager).
That is impressive by any standard. But does that really entail better, fitter players?
Fitter, faster, longer
Says former India and pacer and currently a Mumbai Indians support staff member, Paras Mhambrey, “Support staff is of enormous help to players. If you have an injury, you can spot it then and there. Chances of a niggle becoming a bigger injury later on are very less nowadays. That’s where a physio comes into the picture. “Talking about how players benefit from good support staff, he says, “A masseur helps you become fit for the next game. The trainers help you maintain fitness during the season. With the amount of cricket being played these days, support staff is a crucial component in the team.” Mhambrey, who virtually played with just no support staff except the services of physio Dr Ali Irani, when he turned out in India colours, says : “During our time, I have played matches with the help of pain killers. You wouldn’t know when a shin injury turned into a stress fracture. With more support staff, you don’t worry of being out of the game for a long time due to injury. It is very beneficial.”

Carrying an injury into a match or aggravating an old one is common today with cricket being played round the year

Agrees former veteran off-spinner Ramesh Powar, “ Each support staff has specific roles. They are specialised in sports training and undertand your body well. If I have weight issues, they know how to deal with it. Their support makes a lot of difference in your performance. They help you in achieving your goals as well as by keeping you fit and ready. They also take pressure off you after developing a good rapport. They become your family after sometime. For instance I am very close to Mane kaka, the Indian team masseur ,” he tells us.
Indeed many a times, stars have only the support staff to thank for not just saving their careers but for helping the team win matches! India medium pacer Ashish Nehra may not have played the 2003 World Cup clash against England in Durban had it not been for then India team physio Andrew Leipus. Nehra, who had a swollen ankle, recorded the third-best bowling analysis in World Cup history, finishing with 6-23, taking the wickets of Nasser Hussain and Michael Vaughan along the way. Nehra paid tribute to the Indian team physio for getting him in shape to play. “I have been working with my physio Andrew Leipus for the last two days and it was down to him that I made it,” he said after being named man of the match. There can be no better salute to these unsung heroes of Indian cricket.
Over hyped?
Former India player Devang Gandhi is of the view that while it is good to have a team of specialists travelling with the team, it ultimately depends on the player himself as to how fit and agile he stays.

Physiotherapist Ali Irani served India for over 10 years

“It doesn’t really matter how good the psychologist is. The player has to perform and find the best way to fight stress and tension and rise above it. If there is help at hand, that’s good. But that can’t be the most vital aspect,” he argues.
He agrees it is important to have support staff at hand as the game has evolved a lot. “They can act as guides and help players. But frankly, when it comes to motivation and inspiration, I believe when a player puts on the India cap, that’s all the motivation that he needs.”
“Fitness is important, specially as the calendar is very hectic for players these days.
But longevity and skill cannot be developed by training in the gym. I think in modern-day cricket the importance of the gym is overrated. Kapil Dev, perhaps one of India’s fittest players, would spend hours bowling, but not in the gym. Would Sunil Gavaskar, Dilip Vengsarkar, Gundappa Viswanath been better players with the kind of support staff there is today? I really don’t think so. At the end of the day, it is up to the players.”
Former India selector and Bengal captain Sambaran Banerjee admits that there are positives of having a support group. “With a video analyst, it is easy for the players now to not only understand their own strengths and weaknesses, but also study the opponents in detail. It is good to have a physio at hand, or a motivator when the team is down,” he says.
He agrees with Devang however, that there is too much emphasis on physical training, “Things have changed. A player even of the stature of Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev didn’t go through fitness exercises as much as they spent time at nets. But maybe if they had all this around them, they could have played a bit longer.”

The rotting of Australian cricket

 

Amid the usual sea of opinions leading into this series, Andrew Strauss cut to the core of Australian cricket's troubles with an observation he made about the last Ashes tour down under. While the Test matches of 2010-11 and their margins were clear, Strauss noticed something a little more far-reaching and disturbing on his travels. The standard of the players and teams his side faced in their tour matches was nowhere near the level that England tourists had come to expect. Where once the visitors expected a serious fight no matter where they played, now they were surprised to feel unthreatened.

Three years on, and a very public execution at Lord's has confirmed the decline Strauss witnessed. First evident among the grassroots, it has now enveloped the shop front of the Australian game. The bewilderment experienced by a succession of batsmen as they trudged off with inadequate scores for the fourth consecutive Ashes innings was mirrored on the faces of the Sunday spectators, Australian television viewers and Cricket Australia staff on both sides of the world. How had it come to this?

Shane Watson, Chris Rogers, Phillip Hughes, Michael Clarke, Usman Khawaja and Steve Smith fell in manners familiar and unfamiliar, technical or mental, to pace or spin. There was no underlying pattern. But the death dive of the national team's recent performances, including a sixth Test match defeat in succession, is the ugliest and most visible symptom of a collective malaise that has been creeping ever wider for some time, hurried along by band-aid solutions and rampant market thinking that has helped to rot the teeth of the domestic game.

Among the most troubling elements of Australia's current state of poverty is that there is no single person in the team nor around it who has the capacity to provide a remedy. Not the captain Clarke, nor the coach Darren Lehmann, the selectors Rod Marsh and John Inverarity, nor even the high-powered general manager of team performance, Pat Howard. Had he still been employed, the estranged former coach Mickey Arthur would have been equally powerless.

They all have had influential roles within Australian cricket over the past three years, and all have a genuine desire to see the team winning matches. All are doing their best to prepare players for tasks such as England. But none have complete control over the areas of Cricket Australia to where the game's decline can be traced. Perhaps not surprisingly, all are often heard to say the words "not ideal". All should be speaking earnestly to their chief executive, James Sutherland, who despite much financial prosperity has presided over the aforementioned rot.

Several issues stand out as causes of the problems on display at Lord's. The first is the marginalisation of the grade and Sheffield Shield competitions, for so long regarded as the best proving grounds of their kind in the world. In 2013 they sit at the fringes of CA's thinking. Grade cricket has fallen behind the much vaunted "pathway" of under-age competitions and Centre of Excellence training as the primary providers of players bound for international duty. The Shield, meanwhile, is now played disjointedly and unhappily around the edges of the Australian season, having ceded the prime months of December and January to the Twenty20 Big Bash League.

This scheduling stands in marked contrast to the fixtures now produced in England and India, Australia's two most recent tormentors. For all the buzz and hype around the IPL and the Champions League, neither competition cuts across the first-class Ranji Trophy, which remains a tournament fought in an environment of continuity and cohesion. Similarly, the English county season offers domestic players a greater chance for building up form and confidence in the format most representative of Test matches. Plenty of battles have been fought within England to keep it so, and next summer its primacy will be further embossed by the spreading of T20 fixtures more evenly through the season. 

Even if the Shield were to be granted a place of greater centrality to the Australian summer, the matter of pitches is also a source of problems. Australia's glaring lack of batsmen capable of playing long innings can be related directly to the emergence of a succession of sporting or worse surfaces, as state teams chase the outright results required to reach the Shield final. Queensland and Tasmania have been among the most notable preparers of green surfaces, often for reasons of weather as much as strategy, but their approaches have become increasingly popular across the country. This has resulted in a litany of low-scoring matches and bowlers celebrating far more often than they did during the relatively run-laden 1990s. Batsmen are thus lacking in confidence and technique, while bowlers are similarly less used to striving for wickets on unresponsive surfaces so often prepared in Tests, as administrators eye fifth-day gate receipts.

Money is never far from anyone's motivation, of course, and the financial modelling of Australian player payments must also be examined. This much was pointed out by Arthur himself when the BBL was unveiled in 2011, accompanied by the news that state contracts would be reduced on the presumption that every player would also play T20. Arthur's words should be ringing in the ears of CA's decision makers almost as much as his anguished complaints now about the loss of his job.

"Your biggest salary cap should be your state contracts with the smaller salary cap being your Big Bash," Arthur had said when coach of Western Australia. "If we're really serious in Australia about getting Australia to the No. 1 Test-playing side in the world, we should be reflecting that in our salary caps and budgets. You can feel the squeeze just through the salary caps that we have to work with. You're getting a bigger salary cap for six weeks' work over the holiday period than you are for trying to make yourself a Test cricketer. I think that's the wrong way round."

The wrong way round and the wrong way to maintain a strong Test team. The pain of Australia's players at Lord's, not least their clearly upset captain Michael Clarke, was patently clear. But having almost conjured miracles at Trent Bridge, St John's Wood has provided a much more realistic picture of where the team has slipped to, and why. There can be few more humiliating places at which to be defined as second rate than the home of cricket, for so long the home away from home for Australia's cricketers. In a moment of hubris after their win at the ground in 2005, Ricky Ponting's team held uproarious court in the home dressing rooms. This time around any visit to the England side of the pavilion will be made far more humbly.

From Afghanistan to Ottawa, cricket’s their game Players on Capital United Cricket Club learned game on street, in refugee camps

It sounds different this time as the ball comes off the bat before soaring through the early-evening sky. The fielder stretches, but the ball soars well over his reach.
“Just like in baseball,” Murtaza Popalzai, 24, says from his seat in the stands, “when a person hits like that, they know it’s gone.”
This is cricket, though, not baseball, and Nabi Nawabi has clubbed a six, meaning the ball has flown over the 75-yard boundary. In a regular match, it would have been worth six runs.
Nawadi and nearly 20 other Capital United Cricket Club teammates are conducting a regular Tuesday practice on a grass field on Lynda Lane, near The Ottawa Hospital’s General campus. The grass is longer than it should be for proper cricket grounds, nor is there a proper pavilion, but at least it’s not conflict-ravaged Afghanistan or a refugee camp somewhere else.
“When we came to Canada, the league we’re playing in right now, we’re playing with an official cricket ball, which is a hard ball. But in Pakistan, because we didn’t have the money for the equipment and our families couldn’t afford it at that time, we played with a tennis ball,” says Mustafa Popalzai, Murtaza’s 26-year-old brother. “We used to cut cardboard to use for our (leg) paddings, and I never actually touched a regular hard ball until I came to Canada. … We used to break the chairs in our school and take the handles and make bats out of them.”
The Popalzais originally lived in Kandahar, but moved to Pakistan when Mustafa was two, and the brothers learned cricket on Peshawar streets. In 2000, they immigrated to Canada, where Mustafa Popalzai met fellow Afghan Yousuf Ebadi, first with an Ottawa Valley Cricket Council junior team and later with Christ Church Cathedral Cricket Club.
They encountered other cricketers from Afghanistan, too, leading to the idea of creating a team of athletes who shared their heritage and love of cricket. Capital United Cricket Club was formed in late 2009 in a meeting at a Tim Hortons restaurant.
How much more Canadian can you get? Besides, Sir John A. Macdonald declared cricket Canada’s first national sport in 1867.
“When we moved to Ottawa, many of us, including me, we were surprised when we actually saw cricket being so professional and so advanced here,” says Ebadi, a 26-year-old who was born in Afghanistan, but lived in an Indian refugee camp between 1991 and 2001 and learned to play on the streets of New Delhi.
Capital United’s roster has roughly 50 players, with some from India, Pakistan and Barbados, but roughly 40 are from Afghanistan. That’s why the chatter at practice is a mix of English and Dari.
OVCC president Sudershan (Shawn) Manhas says the concentration of Afghan players isn’t unusual in the 10-team league, with other clubs featuring groups from Sri Lanka, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, West Indies, England, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Barbados and Jamaica.
It’s also a lot easier to find cricketers in Ottawa now than it was a decade ago.
“We have two things going for us,” Manhas says. “One is the international students. They’re going to Carleton (University). Carleton is the hub for those players. They come from Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Caribbean, West Indies. They have a great cricket background. In the summer, they love to play cricket.

“Secondly, the (Indian Premier League) and others have created some interest in terms of people who used to play, but stopped playing. They’re coming back and playing some cricket. … I remember when we didn’t have any TV coverage. Now I can watch any game.”
Afghan cricket history extends back less than a generation, with the Afghanistan Cricket Board created only in 1995. In contrast, traditional powers such as England and Australia have been International Cricket Council members since it formed in 1909.
The ICC admitted the Afghanistan Cricket Board in 2001. Seven years later, Afghanistan was still in Division Five, the lowest level. By 2009, it had progressed to Division One and placed fifth in a qualifying event, one spot short of the 2011 World Cup.
In 2010, Afghanistan won a qualifier for the World Twenty20 tournament, and later that year it beat Scotland in the ICC Intercontinental Cup final, a top multi-day competition for ICC associate nations.
In between, another Afghan team went to the under-19 World Cup. The qualifier had been played at King City, Ont., in September 2009.
Ayoub Ahmadzai led that tournament in scoring. Then he, four other players and the Afghan coach sought asylum. They remained in Toronto, but Ahmadzai moved to Ottawa because a cousin, his only Canadian relative, lived here.
The cousin knew Ebadi and the Popalzais, so Ahmadzai also joined Capital United.
He was born in Peshawar to Afghan parents and started cricket at age 11. He began to take it seriously in 2007, dropping out of school, and was selected for a national under-15 team that went to Nepal and the under-19 team that came to Canada.
There is no real mystery about why he and the others wanted to stay: seeking a better life. Cricket is another matter.
“They have better quality. They have very good talent there. I have seen it here, but there they have very good class players,” Ahmadzai says.
“It’s all about the time. There, when people are playing cricket, they just concentrate on cricket. There is no job, anything like this. From morning to night, they are just playing cricket. They just make their life as a cricketer.”
When Ahmadzai was on the Afghan junior national teams, he received stipends during training and tournaments. The funds began with the ICC, but were routed through the Asian Cricket Council and Afghanistan Cricket Board.
That’s not how it works in Canada, Mustafa Popalzai says.
“Some of the guys are stocking shelves at Wal-Mart or taxi drivers,” he says. “Here they don’t provide too much money to the cricket players. That’s why people don’t take it seriously. They can’t sacrifice their jobs for cricket.”
Another problem for cricket in Canada, particularly in Ottawa, is the relatively short season.

“We miss a lot of games due to snow and rain and cold weather,” Popalzai says, “but we are very thankful that we have an opportunity. We are blessed with five grounds here in Ottawa. We have the opportunity to at least play cricket in a peaceful environment, which we are really glad for, and we thank the governor general for providing us their house, where we can go there and play on two grounds for our matches.”
Besides two grounds at Rideau Hall, there are two at Lynda Lane and one in Barrhaven, where the narrow cricket pitch lies between two soccer fields. Cricketers can use the whole area until 6 p.m., when soccer takes over.
Manhas says the OVCC is working with the city to create another cricket ground in Cumberland, and it’s hoped games might be played there by August or September.
Ottawa’s cricket season doesn’t extend much past that, so no more balls are bowled or hit competitively until an indoor league resumes at the Carleton fieldhouse in January. It runs until April, giving each team roughly one game a week, and a softer ball is used to accommodate the reduced playing area.
“We’re still trying to recruit some of the kids, especially new Canadians coming from different parts of the world where they play cricket,” Manhas says, putting more than half of 800 total registered players are in that category. The average age is between 25 and 35, though some cricketers in their 40s still play.
Capital United clearly is a “new” OVCC member. Only first-year Cumberland Cricket Club has less history in the league, and the only other entry close to them is Nepean Cricket Club, now in year six.
Seven other league members range from Barrhaven and Canterbury, founded a half-century ago under different names, to 164-year-old Ottawa Cricket Club, credited with 13 regular-season and one playoff championship.
The primarily West Indies and Caribbean players for Barrhaven previously won 22 regular-season titles under the Bel Air Cricket Club banner, plus eight playoff crowns to tie Christ Church Cathedral (Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago) for the lead in that category.
Capital United won its first 50-over Challenge Division playoff title last fall. So far this year, it leads pool standings in Challenge (5-2 record, with one rainout), the 40-over Citizen Division (3-3) and the T20 Division (2-0) for the limited-over “speed” version of cricket.
“Some of these players have not been in Canada for very long,” Manhas says. “Most of these people, when they come from Afghanistan, they are not focusing on cricket, they are trying to make a living. In spite of going through that ordeal, they still have the talent and the will.
“I will say kudos to them because they have very talented players and they can certainly put together a team that can win not just last year. Their core players are still there, and they can win more.”
Ebadi gives credit to the inspiration of Afghan national team success.
“People read about their country and their talents in their own newspapers,” he says. “It really brought them together, and there was a passion for it. At the same time, it was some sort of a role model for people like us here, thinking that, if it can happen at the international level, why not at the municipal level.”

Root’s 178 Runs Put England 566 Ahead in 2nd Ashes Cricket Test

Joe Root’s 178 runs put England 566 ahead of Australia at the end of the third day of the second Ashes Test at Lord’s Cricket Ground.
Root was unbeaten along with Jonny Bairstow, on 11, at the end of the day after combining with Ian Bell for 153 runs. England is 333-5 after starting the day on 31-3. The home team bowled out the visitors for 128 yesterday at Lord’s Cricket Ground in London.
Yesterday afternoon, Peter Siddle took 3-4 to give Australia hope. He bowled England captain Alastair Cook and Jonathan Trott, while Kevin Pietersen was caught by Chris Rogers to reduce England to 31-3.
Root’s edged shot was missed yesterday when he was on 8, and today was his day. The opening batsman went on to combine with Tim Bresnan for 99. Root, 22, is the youngest player to score a century in an Ashes match at Lord’s.
“We knew going into today we’d have to play really well and scrap a bit and then score runs late in the day,” Root said in a televised interview.
Australia’s bowlers struggled throughout the England’s innings, using six different players in an attempt to get a break-through. The visitors looked to have caught Bell on 3 but the video review umpire didn’t agree and he remained in to gain more runs.

Sangakkara century leads Sri Lanka to stunning win

Kumar Sangakkara celebrated his 350th one day international appearance with a career-best 169 on Saturday as Sri Lanka crushed South Africa by 180 runs at R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.

His innings was the third-highest by a Sri Lankan in 50-over cricket and came off 137 balls, with 18 fours and six sixes.
It carried the home side to 320 for five, a total South Africa never threatened as they were bowled out for 140 inside 32 overs.
The Proteas, missing leading batsman Hashim Amla, won the toss and chose to bowl, but only Morne Morkel (2-34 in 10 overs) found line and length.
Sangakkara started cautiously. He scored his first 66 runs off 91 balls, but the next 103 came off just 46 deliveries.
He shared a 123-run partnership for the fourth wicket with Lahiru Thirimanne, who scored 17 of those as Sangakkara dominated.
"It was a bit two-paced," said Sangakkara in a television interview. "It was about facing enough deliveries... I took 34 overs to get going, but I stuck in there. Morkel bowled good spells -- it was about absorbing that and targetting the others."
South Africa lost Colin Ingram for a first-over duck and never looked as if they could threaten the home total, Alviro Petersen and Robyn Peterson top-scoring with 29 apiece.
Spinner Rangana Herath was the pick of the bowlers with three for 25, while Thisara Perera grabbed three for 31.
"It's not the end of the series, I know my boys will fight back," Proteas captain AB de Villiers said.
"Not a lot of positives, but we can only improve. It is mentally hard to accept, but we will fight back.
"We were way below par, but I know what the players are capable of."
The result represents Sri Lanka's biggest margin of victory over South Africa in terms of runs.
The second one day international will be on Tuesday at the same venue.

Cricket South Africa appoints Haroon Lorgat as CEO

Former ICC CEO Haroon Lorgat was on Saturday appointed as the new chief executive officer of the Cricket South Africa (CSA), replacing the controversial Gerald Majola.

The CSA made the announcement in a terse statement after the board interviewed three shortlisted candidates for the position, although commentators have been saying that Lorgat was the top candidate.

"Mr Lorgat's appointment follows a thorough and rigorous process to fill this important position," CSA president Chris Nenzani said in the statement.

"The quality of the candidates was exceptional and I would like to express my appreciation to the sub-committee of the Board as well as my colleagues on the Board who have brought this matter to a highly satisfactory conclusion," he added.

The candidacy of Lorgat was highly controversial amid earlier reports that the Indian Cricket Board (BCCI) had tried to influence CSA not to appoint him.

Lorgat had been at loggerheads with the BCCI during his tenure at the ICC.

But earlier this week, reliable sources said Lorgat had received the approval of former BCCI president IS Bindra, who is also the president of the Punjab Cricket Association for the past 35 years.

This, coupled with a change of guard at BCCI, including the departure of fierce Lorgat critic N Srinivasan, is believed to have eased tensions at CSA about the influence of the BCCI.

Lorgat served as treasurer to the forerunner of CSA, the United Cricket Board of South Africa, in 2004 and 2005 and as convenor of selectors for the national squad from 2004 to 2007 before taking over as ICC chief executive in 2008 for a four-year term.

Lorgat's appointment is expected to signal a new era in the administration ofcricket in South Africa after the bitter in-fighting resulting from decisions by dismissed chief executive Gerald Majola.

the almost three-year period of Majola, several top executives were ousted or resigned until Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula intervened by setting up the Nicholson inquiry which fingered Majola for breaches of corporate governance and recommended disciplinary action as well as criminal investigation.

Majola was subsequently fired in 2010 after refusing to continue with his disciplinary hearing.

Among Lorgat's major tasks will be re-instilling confidence in sponsors who increasingly shied away from CSA in the aftermath for the Majola saga.

Cricket - Misbah puts Pakistan in the hunt

Misbah anchored a disjointed innings with a patient 75 although Pakistan were equally indebted to Akmal after he and tailender Wahab Riaz added a much-needed and breezy 52 from the final 26 balls.

Pakistan therefore went into the mid-innings break with the momentum if only a barely-par score of 229 for six.
New-ball quick Jason Holder was the pick of the West Indies attack returning two for 40 from his 10 overs. The 21-year-old right-armer combined with Kemar Roach to ensure Pakistan began at a crawl after skipper Dwayne Bravo had opted for first use of the ball.
Holder had Ahmed Shehzad caught in the deep off a top-edge by Roach and when Nasir Jamshed fell to Darren Sammy in similar circumstances in the next over, the 13th, Pakistan were 39 for two.
That brought Misbah to the crease and while he and Mohammad Hafeez set about recovering the early damage they did so without any thought of inhibition.
Hafeez took 33 balls to reach 14 before tamely pulling Dwayne Bravo to square leg as the tourists edged past 100 in the 31st over.
Misbah remained steadfast to reach his half-century from 91 balls but when he fell in the 45th over, bowled by Dwayne Bravo, Pakistan were still only 174 for five.
Any hope Shahid Afridi might supply some of his characteristic late fireworks ended aprutly, the all-rounder managed just one before Holder located the top-edge again, but Akmal ably filled his shoes with an unbeaten 40 from 31 balls.
Wahab also contributed 19, from 10 balls, hitting Dwayne Bravo for back-to-back sixes in a penultimate over that cost 16.

Doping in sports is unacceptable, says Virat Kohli

Indian cricket team vice-captain Virat Kohli on Friday said doping in sport is simply not acceptable and called for the harshest possible punishment for those who bring disrepute to the game.

Kohli's comments came in the wake of Delhi Ranji player and Kolkata Knight Rider's promising left-arm seamer Pradeep Sangwan failing a random dope test during the sixth edition of the IPL. Sangwan is only the second cricketer in  the history of IPL after Pakistani speedster Mohammad Asif to  have been found guilty of consuming banned drugs.

"This (doping) is not at all acceptable. Whoever doesn't respect sport, corrupts it, should be handed the harshest punishment. Sport gives you everything in life. If you can't respect the game, you don't deserve to be there. Strict punishment should be given to the guilty," said Kohli on the sidelines of a function here.

Kohli said there's always the possibility of an athlete taking banned substances by mistake without being fully aware of its specifications.

"You may have taken an antibiotic but if it has banned substance, you will test positive. You may not know about it," he added.

Athletics suffered one of its darkest days this week following revelations that two of the world's fastest men, Tyson Gay and Asafa Powell, were among six athletes to have tested positive for banned substances.

The conversation soon veered towards cricket and Kohli was asked about his superhero in real life.

"In cricket, my superhero is Sachin Tendulkar. He has always been my hero and will continue to remain so. Apart from him and outside cricket, my mother has remained my inspiration.

"Whatever difficult time I had faced, she was always there for me. She has given me all the strength. She maintained her composure and supported me in tough times," he said.

Finland gets a taste for cricket

Quite surprisingly, the traditional British sport is no newcomer to Finland. The first record of a cricket match being played in the country is from 1953, when a team from the then visiting British Navy destroyer Agincourt played against British expatriates living in Finland. In the decades following, cricket was played by independent groups on a small scale – mainly by teams of friends and the British Embassy.
The forming of a national association in 1999 followed rapid growth and there is now an active nationwide league.
There are currently around 400 cricketers, competitive and social, and the number is growing. The main stage is in Kerava, where the Finnish Cricket Association is developing an international level cricket ground.
The chairman of the Finnish Cricket Association, Andrew Armitage, says the development of the Kerava field started in 2006, when Finnish cricketers began talks with the city council there. The talks ended with the Association being offered a patch of set-aside land, which now houses a ground. Foundations for a pavilion have been laid and construction should be finished next winter.
"At this moment in time we're looking at establishing the Kerava National Cricket Ground for a long future for cricket in Finland", Armitage says.
A lot of the groundwork for cricket’s popularity is done by reaching out to junior players. The Finnish Cricket Association is currently starting a pilot project to attract more young people to the sport.
"Finland is one of six nations who have been picked to run this project called Street20," explains Maija Scamans, Finnish Cricket Association Operations Director. "We are hoping to take it to schools in the Autumn and targeting certain schools, and in that way building a pathway for young players to enter the clubs and then become even national team players if they like. We’re putting a lot of emphasis on that."

3rd ODI: Jason Holder guides West Indies to thrilling tie versus Pakistan

Pakistan wicketkeeper Umar Akmal missed a run-out opportunity and the West Indies last-wicket pair of Kemar Roach and Jason Holder scrambled two runs off the final ball to tie the third one-day international on Friday. Responding to the tourists' total of 229 for six, and requiring 15 off the final over to win, Holder smashed a four and a six over cover off medium-pacer Wahab Riaz to keep the home side's unlikely prospects alive, resulting in the last ball drama that leaves the series level at 1-1 going into the fourth match at the same venue on Sunday.

West Indies middle-order batsman Lendl Simmons and Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq, the joint top-scorers with 75 runs each in the thrilling encounter, also shared the Man of the Match award.

However, Misbah found it difficult to accept how his team could not have won the match after reducing the Caribbean side to 205 for nine in the 49th over.

"It's really, really disappointing, but I have to say the way Holder played at the end he took the game away from us," said an incredulous Misbah.

"In that last over there were too many full deliveries to the tailenders, but hats off to them, they played well."

In his usual calm, unruffled manner, Misbah had compiled his runs to steady the Pakistan innings after the early loss of both openers while Akmal swatted an unbeaten 40 off 31 deliveries, dominating an unbroken seventh-wicket partnership of 52 off 26 balls with Wahab (19 not out) to give the tourists a fighting chance on a pitch offering considerably more pace and bounce than for the first two ODIs in Guyana.

Holder and Dwayne Bravo took two wickets apiece but skipper Bravo's decision to persist with himself in the final overs proved costly, his last three overs being plastered for 40 runs.

It was a bewildering decision given that Marlon Samuels had bowled only three overs in conceding just four runs and was not utilised at the end.

"This was a match we should have won after the bowlers had done such a good job," a disappointed Bravo insisted.

"Once again the batting let us down. It should never have gotten down to the bowlers having to save us."

Pakistan's left-arm seamers made early inroads into the West Indies batting line-up and it took Simmons' effort together with a painstaking 46 from Samuels go keep the home side within reach of the target.

However, with spinner Saeed Ajmal taking three wickets in the space of two overs and Junaid Khan joining in with two scalps himself, the West Indies looked to have frittered away their opportunity in losing five wickets for 27 runs.

Big-hitting from Sunil Narine during a very brief cameo revived flagging hopes and then it came down to that decisive final over as the senior members of the Pakistan squad deliberated with their captain over who should bowl the final over.

Choosing Wahab was always going to be a gamble, as he had already conceded the most expensive over of the innings when belted for 15 runs during the batting powerplay.

Maintaining a full length gave Holder the opportunity to smash the telling boundaries after a couple of singles, leaving three runs for victory and two to tie off the final ball.

A sliced drive to third-man guaranteed at least one but he should have been run out by at least half the length of the pitch in coming back for the second tying run, only for Akmal to fail to collect the return.

The Ashes: Graeme Swann embarrassed by 'awful' Chris Rogers wicket

England's Graeme Swann made no attempt to hide his shame at the wicket that sent him on his way to a place on the Lord's honours boards during the second Ashes Test against Australia on Friday.

Off-spinner Swann led England's attack with five wickets for 44 runs in 21.3 overs as Australia collapsed to 128 all out in reply to the Ashes-holders' first innings 361, a deficit of 233 runs.

In the process the 34-year-old Nottinghamshire bowler became the first England spinner to take five wickets in an innings of an Ashes Test at Lord's in 79 years.

Yorkshire left-arm great Hedley Verity returned figures of seven for 61 and eight for 43 in the corresponding 1934 fixture -- a match England won by an innings and 38 runs.

Yet the 16th 'five for' of Swann's 54-match Test career began in comical fashion when the ball slipped from his hand and turned into a full toss that 'boxed' Australia's Chris Rogers.

England appealed for lbw and Rogers, on his Middlesex home ground, was given out by South African umpire Marais Erasmus to leave Australia 50 for two.

To make matters worse for Australia, in the latest example of their problems in using the Decision Review System (DRS), Rogers opted against challenging the decision even though replays indicated the ball would have missed the left-hander's leg stump.

"It was quite simply the worst ball I've ever bowled, it slipped out of my hand, I can't even watch it so the less we see of it the better," said Swann.

"It was truly awful cricket. I was a bit embarrassed but I'm sure Chris Rogers was even more embarrassed."

Australia coach Darren Lehmann said Rogers' role in advising fellow opener Shane Watson after the all-rounder was plumb lbw to Tim Bresnan had played a part in his subsequent decision not to use the second and final review of the innings on himself.

"Bucky Rogers got that wrong with Shane, he told Shane to take it," Lehmann explained.

"That's just the way it goes sometimes, and then he should have used one on himself, but he probably didn't want to after wasting one.

"We've certainly got the bowling side of it right with the referrals. Now the batters have to get that right."

Something else Australia have to get right, and in a hurry too, is their basic top-order batting.

Australia's 10th wicket added 228 runs during England's 14-run first Test win at Nottinghamshire's Trent Bridge ground last week after the top order twice failed to produce the runs expected of specialist batsmen.

But, unsurprisingly, the tail were unable to repeat their heroics on Friday in an Australia innings where Watson (30) and captain Michael Clarke (28) were the only batsmen to get into the 20s.

"The big thing for us is to make more runs, simple," said former Australia batsman Lehmann, appointed just 16 days before the Ashes after Mickey Arthur was dramatically sacked .

"The top order failed again and we need to make sure we're learning from our mistakes and we probably haven't done that from the first innings at Notts to the first innings here," said Lehmann.

"We showed glimpses but we've got to bat better. It was more one-day batting than Test-match batting.

"Our shot selection was poor today, simple as that. I think eight out of the 10 (wickets) were self-inflicted to be perfectly honest."

Peter Siddle's treble left England 31 for three in their second innings at stumps on the second day.

But that still meant England led by 264 runs -- more than double Australia's first innings score.

The Ashes: Australian media slam batsmen after horror show at Lord's

Australia's newspapers on Saturday ripped into their team's feeble batting in the second Test against England, fearing the Ashes campaign might have unravelled in one catastrophic session at Lord's.

Australia collapsed to 128 all out in reply to England's first innings 361 with the home side opting against enforcing the follow-on and reaching 31 for three in their second innings by stumps for an overall lead of 264.

Ashes holders England are already 1-0 up in the five-match series after last week's 14-run win at Trent Bridge.

"What a mess, what a shambles, what a debacle, what an embarrassment," thundered the Daily Telegraph's Malcolm Conn.

"Some of Australia's most well-paid professional sportsmen have been responsible for amateur-hour. There can't have been few more mindless batting performances than Australia's appalling 128 during the second day at Lord's."

Conn added: "Australia's feeble collapse had nothing to do with outside distractions from (sacked coach) Mickey Arthur or anyone else, it was just simple ineptitude.

"The players have no one to blame but themselves. Cricket Australia spends millions pampering and preparing its players with a support staff almost the size of a cricket team."

Fairfax Media feared the Ashes could be over for Australia and said it was one of several recent woeful top-order batting performances.

"Australia's Ashes campaign might have unravelled in one catastrophic session at Lord's," Chloe Saltau wrote.

"Awful batting contributed to the touring team being levelled for 128, Australia's lowest total at Lord's since 1968."

Fairfax columnist Malcolm Knox took it a step further.

"The British department of health has announced that the current heat wave has contributed to more than 700 fatalities. Australian batting was not listed among them, but the Ashes, as a contest, headed into the weekend on a morphine drip," Knox said.

"A batting collapse such as Australia's on Friday was one of the few things about this series that was anticipated. Its precedents go back not just to India, but reach deep into the (Ricky) Ponting years.

"The roll call reads like the carved frieze in a war memorial. Perth, 2012. Hobart, 2011. Cape Town, 2011. Melbourne, 2010. Headingley, 2010. They go back to the one that most resembles this, which was at the Oval Test match in the Ashes series of 2009, when the entire rubber was decided between lunch and tea on the second day."

The Australian's Wayne Smith described it as one of the most dismal days of Ashes cricket in living memory, with coach Darren Lehmann "giving a tongue-lashing to Australia's miserably underperforming batsmen".

The Australian's cricket columnist Gideon Haigh singled out opener Shane Watson for particular criticism.

"At Lord's yesterday, a cricket experiment continued: the effort to turn Shane Watson into a Test batsman, now into its 43rd attempt," he wrote.

Cricket South Africa announces new selection panel

Cricket South Africa (CSA) on Friday announced in an official media release the re-appointment of Andrew Hudson as convener of the national selection committee as well as the appointment of two new selectors in former KwaZulu-Natal wicketkeeper Linda Zondi and former Gauteng all-rounder Hussein Manack.

Shafiek Abrahams, who like Hudson represented the Proteas at full international level, has been retained on the panel which is completed by the ex officio appointment of Russell Domingo as the Proteas head coach.

The new panel will serve until the next 2015 ICC World Cup to be held in Australia and New Zealand .

CSA High Performance Manager Vinnie Barnes and CSA Transformation Manager Max Jordaan will also serve on the committee in a non-voting capacity.

"The Board felt the need for a stronger independent component to the selection committee," commented CSA Acting CEO Naasei Appiah. "The previous panel had a majority of members who were employed by CSA. The national coach is the only voting member of the new panel who is employed by CSA.

"As part of their mandate there will have to be a selector on duty at all franchise matches in all the different competitions.

"Linda Zondi is succeeding Shafiek Abrahams as convener of the national under-19 panel and he will have a key role to play as the under-19 group is a vital area of our talent catchment area."

Other cricket boards too objected to DRS, say BCCI sources

It was not only the Indian cricket board but few other boards too expressed reservations on implementing the much-debated Decision Review System (DRS) uniformly in all matches during the annual conference of International Cricket Council in London, sources said on Monday.
"Not only India, but other countries too (objected to its compulsory implementation) because it is notfoolproof and there is a financial issue (related to it)," BCCI sources said.

Indian cricket legend Rahul Dravid's father dies

Former captain Rahul Dravid's father, Sharad Dravid, on Wednesday passed away here at 4.15 pm at his Indiranagar residence, according to a release issued by the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA).
KSCA sources said the senior Dravid had health problems for the last four years. He was 79 years old.
Dravid's father worked for Kissan, a company best known for producing jam, and thus the cricketer was bestowed with the nickname Jammy by his classmates at St Joseph's Boys' High School.

KSCA sources said Dravid's father had health problems for the last four years. He was 79 years old.

Sharad's wife, Pushpa, is a former professor of Architecture at the University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering (UVCE).
KSCA President Anil Kumble, Office Bearers and Members of the Managing Committee (Vijay Bhardwaj, Sujith Somasundar and S Vijaya Prakash) mourn the sad demise and offer their deepest condolences to the aggrieved family, the release said.

Cricket: Wilmslow back to winning ways

Wilmslow 1st XI 202 for 4 beat Stalybridge St Paul's 1st XI 98 all out by 104 runs
Wilmslow CC got back to winning ways away at Stalybridge St Pauls CC with a comfortable 104 run victory.
Openers Rob Herriott (64) and Elliot Rowe (47) demoted from their opening slots, provided the impetus after a resolute if slow opening 32 overs. The pair along with Adam Dixon (20no) and Toby Rowe put on 100 runs in just 12 overs to post a competitive 202 for 4.
Bowling unchanged Ross Kinnerley bowled intelligently and quickly for a return of 4 for 40, Tom Rowe also had 4 and brother Elliot completed a successful day with bat and ball taking the last two.
Wilmslow CC now move into 3rd place and face near neighbours Wayfarers who currently sit in second spot next week.
It was a good weekend for the Squirrels as they won their League Cup Quarter Final at Appleton, posting a below par 135, a fine bowling and fielding performance ensured the win by just 2 runs.
There was further success for Pat Harts 3rd XI at Salford Jewish. It is always a pleasure making this trip, even when the Greater Manchester Bike Ride brings the city to a halt. Batting first, the Development XI hit 135, a score the home side were confident of overturning.
It was not to be, the mix of experience and youth in the Wilmslow attack won the day. The Chairman returned the best figures with 3 for 24 but Jake Woodhouse, Jack Newson and Ed Hart bowled great lengths and direction to make scoring very difficult.
Scoring runs was not a problem for Stalybridge against the 2nd XI. There were too many runs leaked by the home side and whilst they made a good start in reply, 200 was too many to chase on the day. The highlights of a disappointing day were Mark Green and Andy Metzelaar with 30's, and Toby Ward with 4 wickets.

England’s Bresnan signs new Yorkshire contract

The 28-year-old all-rounder, fresh from scoring an unbeaten 105 for England in their Ashes warm-up match against Essex at Chelmsford this week, has signed a new Yorkshire contract to stay at Headingley until December 2016.
The Pontefract-born cricketer made his county debut in 2001 – after coming through the ranks at Townville and Castleford Cricket Clubs – making him the youngest player to play for Yorkshire in 20 years, beating Paul Jarvis’s record of 16 years and 75 days back in 1981.
Over the years he has developed into a genuine all-rounder and along with Headingley team-mates Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow will be hoping to get the nod for next week’s opening Ashes match against Australia.
“It is great news that Tim has committed his long-term future to the Club,” said Yorkshire’s director of cricket Martyn Moxon.
“Tim has firmly established himself as an England regular but his commitment to Yorkshire is vital in our on-going efforts of developing a strong squad based around players produced through the club development system.”
Bresnan becomes the sixth player this summer to sign a new deal, joining Bairstow, Moin Ashraf, Gary Ballance, Steve Patterson and Azeem Rafiq, who are now committed to Yorkshire for the foreseeable future.
England wrapped up victory against Essex yesterday, but Bresnan was unable to add any wickets to his unbeaten century.
Graeme Swann (5-68) and Graham Onions (4-43) skittled the county opposition out to chalk up a 229-run victory and complete preparations before next week’s Ashes.
Bresnan now has a nervous few days to wait and see if he gets the nod to play at Trent Bridge on Wednesday, with Steven Finn also battling for a bowling spot.
And while Bresnan welcomed his success with the bat, he accepts he will be judged on his bowling skills first when it comes to international recognition.
“Lower-order runs could play a part in winning Test matches further down the line,” said Bresnan.
“The bowlers will be picked on form so if I’m not bowling well it doesn’t matter how many runs I’ve got. The batting side comes as a bonus.
“If it’s a straight shootout then the batting might help me but if I’m not bowling well enough then that won’t matter.”

Cricket crackdown on fans who pass information to bookmakers

Telegraph Sport has learnt that nine spectators have been ejected from at least five grounds this season at county and international matches under suspicion of working for bookies in India. Last year it was 12 but with the county Twenty20 season only just in full swing the number is already close to matching that.

ECB anti-corruption officers are policing matches live on Sky which are beamed into India. “The reason we are concerned is because of the threat these people pose to the game as a whole,” said an ECB spokesman. “They are agents for illegal bookies in the subcontinent and if they could get access to a player or official they would approach them with only one thing in mind. Anyone talking to them and mentioning the state of the pitch or selection for example would be breaching the anti-corruption code so we are protecting the clubs and players. It is one part of making sure matches are as safe as possible.”

The agents for the bookies are often communicating with India via hidden microphones or smart-phone messaging systems. They are passing on data such as fours and wickets using a coded message system. Matches shown in India are often on a 15-second time lag, which means live information from inside the ground can help a bookie fix the odds.

The ECB is not concerned about punters using laptops to bet on legal gambling sites in this country, a system known as court-siding.

This season suspected agents for bookies have been thrown out of matches in Durham, Cardiff, Trent Bridge, Edgbaston and Northampton. Officers threw one fan out of the Champions Trophy match between South Africa and India at Cardiff and another was intercepted at Durham’s Riverside Ground at a match between Durham and Hampshire on June 22 after posing as a Sky Sports employee. He has subsequently been banned from all county grounds in England.

Pakistan's chief cricket selector Iqbal Qasim asks to step down

Pakistan's chief cricket selector Iqbal Qasim has asked to step down at the end of his tenure, he said Thursday, denying any rift with the national team's captain and coach.

"I have told the top officials of the PCB (Pakistan Cricket Board) that I have completed my tenure so they should appoint a new panel for future selection," Qasim told AFP.

Qasim led the selection committee which on Wednesday named squads for one-days and Twenty20s for this month's tour of the West Indies, dropping flopped players Shoaib Malik, Kamran Akmal and Imran Farhat, and recalling all-rounder Shahid Afridi.

Local media has regularly speculated about differences between Qasim, Pakistan cricket captain Misbah-ul Haq and coach Dav Whatmore, and Twenty20 captain Mohammad Hafeez over selection, but Qasim denied any rift.

"I had no differences with anyone," said Qasim, a former left arm spinner who played 50 Tests and 15 one-days for Pakistan.

"I completed my tenure in April but then PCB chairman Zaka Ashraf requested me to continue till (July and) the West Indies tour, which I did," said Qasim.

Qasim's committee came under criticism after the team crashed out of the Champions Trophy in England last month.

He has served repeated tenures as chief selector. In 2010, he resigned after the team's 3-0 rout in Australia in 2010.

"The team wins and the team loses, which is part of the game so there should be no differences," said Qasim. "I thank Misbah, Whatmore and Hafeez for their cooperation."

Pakistan officials are yet to decide on Qasim's request to go, but say that a new selection panel will be announced later.

Pakistan will play five one-day and two Twenty20 matches in the Caribbean. They will tour Zimbabwe in August for two Tests, three one-day and two Twenty20 matches.