Shane Warne wants to help out Australian cricketers as part of the coaching staff

New coach Lehmann has made it clear he wants legends like Warne involved under his regime.
And the leg-spinning great, who is also particularly close with captain Michael Clarke, said he will be available for advice.
"It was very nice of Darren and Michael Clarke to say they would like me to be involved with the Australian team," Warne wrote in a column for London's Telegraph.
"I am always there to help any Australian cricketer and always have been. If I need to be around at practice to have a chat with the boys about tactical stuff or bowling, then I will do that.
"It's good to be part of the set-up but, most of the time, my role will be informal, catching up on the phone or chatting over a drink or meal.
"I do not need a fancy job title to help out."
Warne has held a disregard for cricket coaches over the years, but said Lehmann was more mentor than clipboard holder.
Long-term teammates through the 90s and 2000s, Warne recalls Lehmann's desire to always keep players around in the dressing sheds after play talking cricket.
It's a policy Lehmann has already introduced to the Australian side he took over on Monday after Mickey Arthur was sacked.
"He has an excellent cricket brain and a calm way of going about things. This will be infectious to the team," Warne wrote.
"He loves talking about cricket - his outlook will help the team feel a lot more relaxed about everything.
"Boof likes to sit around after play and debrief the day, talking about what everyone has learned.
"I remember, during the late 1990s, when I was captain of Victoria and he led South Australia. It was the start of the new age with players quick to get out of the dressing room. We made a pact to get back to the old days. When we walked out to the toss, we said after each day's play, whichever team fields comes into the other dressing room after play to talk cricket.
"We would often go home at midnight in taxis."
Warne said England would be feeling flat after losing the Champions Trophy final to India from a winning position, and believes Australia can take advantage in the first Test.
He will also commentate for television throughout the series.

England turn to power of poetry

 

As a weapon to defeat Australia, poetry does not spring immediately to mind. But that is what the ECB hopes will fill England with strength after the publication of a poem to mark the arrival of the Investec Ashes series.

We would like to know what you think of it.

Cricket has inspired a fair deal of poetry over the years. There is nothing more rose-tinted in the canon than Vitai Lampada by Sir Henry Newbolt in 1892 with his exhortation to 'Play up ! play up ! and play the game!'

#RISE has something for everyone.

Lord's will delight in the attention given to the honours board, no player can resist imagining himself with a set jaw and white knuckles and, as for the obsessive scorers among you, there is even a mention of dot balls. In an age of Twenty20, an homage to the dot ball is soothingly traditional.

The poem will take pride of place on the Trent Bridge programme when the Ashes begins on July 10.

We think it has a bit of Jerusalem about it, although even that is not entirely a good thing as Jerusalem tends to be removed from hymn books these days. But they will still be bashing it out in Nottingham on July 10 no doubt as England seek to fill Australia with trepidation

Misbah-ul-Haq backs Ireland for Test status – Cricket News

 

Pakistan’s Test and ODI skipper Misbah-ul-Haq backed Ireland’s long-term ambition to become a Test playing nation urging International Cricket Council to consider the Associate side for top-flight status.

“That's purely on the ICC but they are a better team now so the ICC should think about that,” said Misbah while speaking to media reporters after a thrilling two-wicket win over Ireland, in Dublin on Sunday.

After the opening match of the two-ODI series between the two sides ended in a dramatic draw, the Irish players looked set to claim their first ever ODI series win over a full member side when Pakistan collapsed to 17 for 4, while chasing a 230-run Target to win. However, a breathtaking counter attack from wicketkeeper batsman Kamran Akmal and spearhead pacer Wahab Riaz denied the hosts an unprecedented series win, as the tourists sealed the match by just two wickets. The duo shared a 93-run stand for the eighth wicket, from just 62 balls to help Pakistan snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Akmal scored 81 runs off 85 balls, while Riaz, who took nine balls to get off the mark, returned unbeaten on a 35-ball 47.

Had Ireland managed to win the match, they would have become the first Associate side to win a series against a full-member nation. Impressed by Ireland’s fighting spirit in the two-match ODI series, Pakistan skipper Misbah said that they are a much improved side now and ICC should consider awarding them the Test status.

“If you look at their batting line-up that is good enough to do well anywhere,” said Misbah after the match. “They may struggle a little bit with their bowling line-up when they go out of Ireland but still they are a really mature side. We were really struggling,” he added further.

Cricket Ireland's ambitious chief Warren Deutrom, however, had earlier said that they have set a target of 2020 to gain the Test status.

“It is unrealistic in the short term but it is a realistic ambition,” Deutrom told Press Association Sport. “It is something that we have aimed for by 2020. We are trying to address all of the rationale to be a full-member country. We have a strategic plan about where we are trying to go,” he added further.

Ireland skipper William Poterfield shared that he and his players were pretty disappointed to lose after being in a commanding position for the major part of the match.

Mumbai Indians’ Sachin Tendulkar lauds the 2013 IPL season

 

Sachin Tendulkhar, the legendary Indian batsman and Mumbai Indians’ player, is extremely happy to have won the recently-concluded sixth season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) and expressed that he had waited for this moment for six years.
The 40-year-old cricketer captained the franchise in its initial three seasons, before giving up on the responsibility as he wanted to concentrate on his personal performance. Mumbai has always been considered as one of the strongest teams of the cash-rich league but they failed to clinch the trophy in the first five seasons.
However, the Indians rose to the occasion in the just-finished season and defeated Chennai Super Kings in the final of the tournament on Sunday at Kolkata.
The batting-maestro, who announced his retirement from IPL cricket after the final, expressed that he badly wanted to see the franchise win the league before he calls it a day from the illustrious tournament. The legendary cricketer was all praise for the whole side and believes that they played according to their potential in IPL 6.
“I have waited for this for six years and six years is a long time.” Sachin told the IPL website. “But it's never too late. This has been an outstanding season for us; we have thoroughly enjoyed every moment with each other. The goal for this season was to win the trophy and I am glad that we have been able to do that.”
Mumbai reached the final of the tournament in 2010 under Tendulkar’s captaincy but failed to win the trophy. However, the great batsman has no regrets and is jubilant to see his team on the victory stand this time.
“It was good to reach the final [in 2010] but this year we made it till the end.” he added. “Whoever is the captain, it doesn't matter as long as we lift the trophy.”
Having already retired from the shorter formats of international cricket, the cricketer from Mumbai will now be seen only in the longer version of the game. With more than 34,000 runs at the highest stage of the game, Tendulkar is without doubt one of the all-time greats.

Kevin Pietersen starts net practice, tweets pictures

Kevin Pietersen might not be playing in the ongoing Test series against New Zealand, but there is some good news for English fans. The star batsman has started practicing in the nets after a long lay-off. Pietersen tweeted pictures from his practice session to announce his return to his followers.

Pietersen, who was forced to return home due to a knee injury during England’s tour of New Zealand in March, is likely to be fit for the Ashes - which starts on July 10.

The right-hander was originally expected to miss six to eight weeks of cricket and had to skip the ongoing two-match series. He will also not feature during the ICC Champions Trophy  in June.

According to Daily Mail, Pietersen’s county team Surrey is hopeful that the 32-year-old will be fit in time to play their championship match against Sussex at Arundel on June 12. This match will also help Pietersen get into his stride ahead of the Ashes.

If Pietersen returns to the team on time, then either Jonny Bairstow or out-of-form opener Nick Compton would be axed from England’s squad which will take on Australia in the first Ashes Test at Trent Bridge on July 10.

Need to be patient about the probe: Gavaskar

Shashank Manohar, the former president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), has called for “strong measures to eradicate betting/spot fixing/match fixing or any type of corruption which would mar the purity of the game”. Manohar, who headed the BCCI from 2008 to 2011, emphasised that winning back cricket fans’ trust should be paramount for the Board.

“It is the duty of the Board to see that the public perception is that the game is clean. Otherwise people would lose interest in the game,” said Manohar in an email to CNN-IBN on Sunday (May 26), calling for an investigative agency to look into all 76 matches of the Pepsi IPL.
“The Board should also provide them (the investigative agency) with a raw feed of the games as also the CCTV coverage recorded at every venue and after the investigation, apart from the criminal action, the Board should take strictest possible action against the persons involved, without showing any leniency,” he added.
Manohar also advocated approaching the government for aid in investigating criminal actions in all BCCI events as well as monitoring players’ phone calls, requiring player agents to be accredited, and banning post-match parties in the IPL. “The Board has to deal with this menace with an iron fist,” he reiterated.
On Sunday, N Srinivasan, the BCCI president, proposed a three-member panel – two of them from the BCCI Technical Committee, along with an independent third person – to analyse the “irregularities” during the sixth edition of the IPL.
Asked whether the probe would be conducted impartially, Sunil Gavaskar, the former India captain, told NDTV that it was unfair to question the credibility of the panel before deliberations and emphasised that patience was the need of the hour. “I know we’re in the age of Twenty20 where we want everything instant and done in two-three hours. In a situation like this, I think it might be prudent for all of us to be a little patient,” said Gavaskar. “Let’s not jump to conclusions.”
Gavaskar noted it was unfortunate that high-profile cases such as this would invariably involve a trial by the media, influencing public opinion. He also added that it would be unfair to cast doubts on the composition of the panel, even if two members were from the BCCI. “It’s not fair of us to be doubting their integrity because they’re probing an internal BCCI matter,” he reasoned. “Even if you have five people outside the cricket board, people are still going to doubt it.”
Gavaskar refused to be drawn into debate about the role of M Gurunath, saying it was an issue that needs to be determined by the panel. “In the case of Rajasthan Royals, there were three players, actually contracted players, who were arrested and have been under a cloud. On the other hand, as far as Meiyappan is concerned, India Cements have said they are not in any way connected with it,” said Gavaskar. “That is their line and that is where I think we’ll have the three-man committee decide on that.”

Taylor: 'We've let ourselves down' - hopes for rain

Ross Taylor concedes rain is the Black Caps best hope for a draw in the second cricket Test at Headingly, and believes it's time for the team's batting unit to take a hard look at their failures.
New Zealand struggled again in the second innings overnight, ending on 158 for six, with only Taylor (70) and Hamish Rutherford (42) offering any real resistance.
The former Blacks Caps skipper acknowledged it was another disappointing batting effort.

"It just comes down to individual application," Taylor said.
"Cricket's a tough game, you nick off now and again, but as a batting unit we've got to be a lot tougher on ourselves. And we've let ourselves down the last three innings."
He rejected suggestions England batted too long on day four, reaching 287 for five.
"I guess a draw is better than a loss, but, you know, England have thoroughly dominated the game - we'll have to wait and see (on the weather).
"If the rain comes tomorrow we'll see if they did the right thing."