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England’s win-loss ratio in Perth is the worse among all grounds, but they have an opportunity to make amends this time

S Rajesh15-Dec-2010Perth has hardly been England’s favourite Australian venue over the last two decades and more, but when the third Ashes Test starts on Thursday, they’ll have an excellent opportunity to reverse that trend. They’re clearly the in-form side, and Australia haven’t quite been at their dominant best in Perth lately. Of their last three Tests here, Australia have lost two, against India and South Africa, in 2008.England’s misfortunes at the WACA extend a bit further than that: they’ve played 11 Tests in all, beginning 1970, and they’ve only won once, in 1978-79, when the Australian team was severely depleted due to the Packer exodus. In fact, England’s overall win-loss ratio of 0.14 is their worst among grounds where they’ve played at least ten Tests. In the last two decades, England have had absolutely no cheer at this venue, losing five out of five. In these five Tests, Australian batsmen have averaged 38.11 runs per wicket, with five hundreds and 14 fifties; England have averaged 20.28, with two hundreds and ten fifties – Graham Thorpe and Alastair Cook are the only ones to have scored centuries here in the last couple of decades.

The Australian batsmen have generally enjoyed the bounce in Perth, but the stats for their middle-order batsmen at this ground is mixed. Michael Clarke, Ricky Ponting and Michael Hussey all average in the mid-to-late 40s, but Ponting, especially, would be disappointed with his conversion rate here: he has made seven 50-plus scores but only one century, way back in 1999 against Pakistan. Since 2000, Ponting has played 17 innings at the WACA, made five fifties, but hasn’t gone on to a three-figure score.

Among the Australian bowlers, Mitchell Johnson has been among the wickets here, taking 21 in three matches at an average of 22.There’s been plenty of talk about pace and bounce at the WACA pitch, but clearly over the last few years conditions aren’t as tricky as they once used to be for batting. In the last five Tests here, the average runs scored per wicket is 36.73, and of the four wins, three were achieved by the team which won the toss and chose to bat. And batting first clearly isn’t much a problem either – the average runs per wicket in the first innings of the match is 36.74; in the other three innings it’s 26.32 (second), 42.27 (third) and 43.94 (fourth). Last year, Australia made 520 for 7 declared in their first innings, while there have been two other 500-plus first-innings scores in the last ten years. In the last Ashes Test at this ground, Australia were bundled out for 244 in their first innings, but they hit back by bowling England out for 215, and then went on to pile up 527 for 5 in their second innings.The architect of that Australian collapse for 244 had been Monty Panesar, the left-arm spinner who took 5 for 92 on a first-day pitch which was supposed to have favoured fast bowling. In fact, over the last five years, pace hasn’t had such a devastating effect on batsmen here: fast bowlers concede more than 35 runs per wicket, an average that is only slightly better than that of spinners during this period. With Graeme Swann in outstanding form and Australia’s fast bowlers struggling for penetration, England have an outstanding opportunity to finally reverse their losing run on their least favourite cricket ground of all.

India are the more consistent batting side going into the quarter-final, but Australia’s excellent big-match record balances things

Madhusudhan Ramakrishnan23-Mar-2011Australia unmatched in World Cups
Being pre-tournament favourites, Australia and India were not expected to meet earlier than the semi-finals. However, Australia’s surprise loss to Pakistan in their final game has meant that they play India for the first time in World Cups in the quarter-final stage.While India have been the better team in the tournament so far, Australia’s biggest plus is their extraordinary record in knockout games in big tournaments. They have won nine and lost just three of the knockout games played since 1999. Their last loss to India in a major tournament came in the ICC Champions Trophy in Nairobi in 2000. Although their 34-match undefeated streak came to an end with the loss to Pakistan, they still have their run of three successive World Cup wins and two Champions Trophy titles to defend. Australia have a 7-2 record in head-to-head clashes with India in World Cups, including four wins in the last four meetings. India will also be well aware that they have not won a single game in a major tournament against Australia when batting second.Australia were totally dominant in ODIs in India between 2000 and 2007 but they have been more vulnerable of late, and India have a more even record against them in the last three years. Australia will, however, draw confidence from the fact that they won an ODI series against India in 2009 with a highly depleted side.

Closer contest in recent years
Australia won 11 of the 16 ODIs played against India in India between 2000 and 2007. The retirement of Adam Gilchrist, Matthew Hayden and Damien Martyn has significantly affected Australia’s batting strength. In ODIs between the two sides before 2007, Australia averaged over 42 and scored at 5.73 runs per over while India averaged less than 30 and scored at a lower rate. In ODIs after 2007, India have done a lot better, averaging over 35 and scoring at 5.58 runs per over, a rate slightly higher than Australia’s. Despite the loss of top players, Australia have been the best batting side in ODIs in India since 2008.

Indian batting far more threatening
India’s top three have been in top form in the World Cup, averaging more than 50 with a strike rate over 102. Australia’s top three batsmen have been less successful with an average of 43.06 and strike rate around 80. Ricky Ponting, one of only four batsmen to score over 2000 runs against India in ODIs, has had an especially poor run of form. In ODIs since 2009, India’s top order has been far more impressive than Australia’s with a better average and strike rate. Australia will be concerned about the inability of the top-order batsmen to convert their half-centuries into hundreds. They have had six fifties in the World Cup so far but not a single century.The middle order performance of both teams is more evenly balanced. Australian middle-order batsmen average slightly higher but score at a lower rate than India’s middle order. India have again been better at converting fifties into centuries. In the 2011 World Cup however, Australia’s middle order has done much better: they average nearly 40 with a strike rate of 93 while India have corresponding figures of 34.60 and 85.90.The batting stats of the two teams in the first 15 overs in the tournament so far reflect the performance of the top order. While India have been much better in terms of run rate, they have gone on to lose wickets more often than Australia, who have lost only two wickets in the same phase of the innings in all their matches. India have been the better team by a distance between overs 15 and 40. They average nearly 89 and score at 5.45 runs per over while Australia average just over 33 and score at 5.27. The end overs have been a huge problem for India. They have suffered collapses against England, South Africa and West Indies. The biggest reason for these collapses has been their inability to perform in the batting Powerplay. Teams have managed to pick up regular wickets against India during the batting Powerplay and restrict them.

Contrasting bowling attacks
Australia’s decision to go into the tournament with a pace-heavy attack has been inspired by the fact that it has been a successful strategy for them in the last few years. While they have leaked a few runs in the first few overs of most matches, they have picked up wickets at regular intervals. The pace trio of Brett Lee, Mitchell Johnson and Shaun Tait will be a huge threat for an Indian line-up which is far more adept at handling spin. The bowling stats clearly show that Australia’s pace attack has been far more potent than India’s in recent ODIs. India have relied on their spinners to provide the breakthroughs in most matches leading up to the tournament but in this World Cup, Zaheer Khan has been the most impressive of their bowlers. In the previous game against West Indies, India opened with R Ashwin and are likely to do the same against an Australian top order who generally find it easier to score off fast bowling.

Potent pace duo
Lee and Johnson have been two of the most successful bowlers against India in ODIs in the last few years. Lee, who has been superb in the tournament so far, has dismissed Tendulkar nine times in ODIs, the most by any bowler. Since 2000, he has picked up Tendulkar’s wicket seven times while conceding just 4.17 runs per over. Despite Virender Sehwag scoring at nearly eight runs per over off Johnson, he has been dismissed four times while scoring a total of just 62 runs. The fast-bowling pair has been highly successful against Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni too. Sehwag, who has scored nearly 75% of his runs in boundaries, and Dhoni have been the only two Indian batsmen to score at more than five runs per over off the two bowlers.

Australia and New Zealand notched up comfortable wins over Zimbabwe in the two matches played in Ahmedabad in the World Cup so far. The track has generally been an excellent one for batting but has assisted spinners later on. Four scores over 270 have been chased successfully at this venue. In the last match played at the venue before the World Cup, South Africa piled up a massive 365 and beat India by 90 runs. Teams batting first in day-night games since 2000 in Ahmedabad have won four and lost five matches. India do not have a great record in Ahmedabad having lost their last four games played at the venue.

ESPNcricinfo presents the Plays of the Day from the match between Kolkata Knight Riders and South Australia in Hyderabad

Abhishek Purohit in Hyderabad27-Sep-2011The birthday blooper
It was not a birthday to remember for L Balaji. Aside from Kolkata Knight Riders losing their second consecutive game, he was at long-off during the first Powerplay when Daniel Harris skied one off Iqbal Abdulla. Balaji dashed forward but too eagerly. He found that he had over-run the ball and it looped over him and went for four. He was immediately sent to mid-on.The no-man’s land
It is tough being in the deep in a Twenty20 game. There is a chance of conceding a second run if you are too deep and letting the ball fly past you if you are not deep enough. The Kolkata fielder at deep midwicket thought he had it right when he stood well inside the boundary in the tenth over. The third ball was pulled hard to his left but being so far inside the rope, he had no chance to cut off the boundary. The fifth delivery was tucked to his right softly and even though he ran hard, he could not stop the second run.The audacious stroke
Sweeping a fast bowler takes some doing. If the bowler is Brett Lee and the delivery is outside off stump, there is the added element of danger. In the 18th over, Daniel Christian calmly bent his knee, picked up a full delivery and eased it past short fine leg to the boundary. Just like that. Lee stared in disbelief, Christian looked unperturbed.The thin line between success and failure
Nathan Lyon beat Manvinder Bisla thrice in the opening over of Kolkata’s chase. And he went for 12 runs. Such is the lot of the spinner in this format. There was an appeal for lbw first ball and Bisla was beaten in the flight as he charged out to the last. Bisla still managed to get under three deliveries in between to score three boundaries and Lyon’s figures at the end of the over read 1-0-12-0.

ESPNcricinfo presents the plays of the day from the final one-day international in Cardiff

Andrew Miller in Cardiff16-Sep-2011Cloudburst of the day

As bum notes go, this one could not have been more of a raspberry. At the start of every England home international, the PA belts out the hymn Jerusalem, the most distinctive line of which refers to “England’s green and pleasant land”. As is often overlooked in cricketing circles, however, Cardiff is in Wales, not England, and at the precise moment the final chord was being struck, the heavens delivered a very personal verdict on the whole sentiment. A vile and blustery squall of rain blew in from the West, and the start of play was held up for 40 minutes.Cloudburst of the day Mk 2

To give the weather its due, it did choose its moments to get involved with the action, with the first actual break in play not arriving until the tenth over of England’s run-chase. The most impressive involvement, however, came moments after the conclusion of India’s innings. MS Dhoni brought up a 26-ball fifty from the last delivery of the innings, whereupon the teams were chased from the field by another violent deluge. However, this one was so brief that, seconds later, a glorious rainbow appeared in the outfield, forming an arc in roughly the direction that his final six, off Jade Dernbach had just travelled.Departure of the day

Rahul Dravid had assumed he’d played his final ODI at the Champions Trophy in Johannesburg back in September 2009. However, India’s injury crisis on this tour, coupled with his effortless negotiation of English conditions, persuaded the selectors to recall him for one last hurrah – one that even included a Twenty20 debut at the age of 38. His last innings in coloured clothing was typically important yet understated, as he helped guide India past 300 for the first time in the series with 69 from 79 balls. When he was eventually bowled through the gate by Graeme Swann, the entire England team rushed up to shake his hand, and bid farewell to a legend who has amassed more than 10,000 runs in two forms of the game. He’ll be around a while longer in Test cricket, but he’s not going to be batting in England (or Wales) in a hurry.Six of the day

On Monday night at the Grosvenor House Hotel, Jonathan Trott was unveiled as the new ICC Cricketer of the Year, after a stellar 12 months of run-harvesting that had included more than 1000 runs in both Tests and ODIs. Until this evening, however, he had never scored more than four runs in any one shot in the two longer formats of the game – his three sixes in seven Twenty20 appearances hadn’t been enough to spare him the axe from that version of the game. But, with a duty to keep the run-rate ticking, he waltzed down the track to smash Munaf Patel back down towards the River Taff.Flurry of the day

Virat Kohli’s first over was eventful, to say the least. From his third delivery, Alastair Cook dabbed his leg-rollers exquisitely through third man with a well-timed reverse sweep, to bring up his fifty from 52 balls. One ball later, and emboldened by this sudden onset of subtlety, Cook dropped to his knees again to attempt a paddle over his shoulder, and so flummoxed Rahul Dravid at short backward square that he made a complete hash of a routine catch, and then missed the run-out opportunity with a follow-up shy. But next ball later, Kohli had his man, as Cook reverted to a mow across the line, and lost his middle stump.

The SCG, which clocks its 100th Test this week, has been a cultural hub of the city and a symbol of it like no other

Norman Tasker02-Jan-2012As an enduring symbol of Sydney, the SCG predates the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House by a good margin. Sydney is a city in which sport, in general, and cricket in particular, have been a large part of the common culture, and for generations of devotees the grand old ground has remained its cultural hub.There is an aura to it. The Members’ Stand clock seems almost to record timelessness. From way back in 1882, when Billy Murdoch’s Australians defeated England in the first two Tests played there, until the 100th this week, the ghosts of greatness have been ever-present.My experience of the Sydney Cricket Ground dates back to the 1950s, though somehow the relationship seems a lot longer than that. For years as a young cricket writer I listened to the tales of the 1930s that Alan McGilvray would tell with relish, often over a bottle of Scotch. I shared the press box with giants like Bill O’Reilly and Jack Fingleton, whose stories of Bodyline and Bradman were irresistible.At the top of their list of stellar SCG batting performances was the memorable effort of Stan McCabe, whose 187 not out in the first Test of the 1932-33 Ashes series resisted all that Bodyline could throw at him. Many thought it the best innings ever played at the ground. McCabe hit 25 fours in that innings, many of them hooked as the ball rocketed to him at eye level. Many thought McCabe’s offensive against such lethal bowling might well have stopped the Bodyline tactic in its tracks. Sadly, it was not to be.The Bradman era at the SCG must have been a marvellous time, when the word would go out that he was on his way to the crease, and people would flood in from all over town. Sometimes the crowd grew three- and four-fold, such was his appeal. Since then the ground has necessarily changed in its nature as well as its function. The old green-roofed stands have shrunk, as the Bob Stand, the Sheridan Stand and the old Brewongle have been enveloped by modern imperatives.The Hill has gone, too, and with it a part of Sydney that was unique. Until the Bradman Stand went up in the 1970s there was vast open space at both ends of the ground. It was commonplace for rugs to be spread on the grass, weighed down by an Esky full of beer. When World Series Cricket came upon us in 1978, the light towers went up, to the dismay of many. People appeared in coloured clothing to play a brash new type of night cricket, and thousands flocked to watch. The objectors of 1978 would marvel at the Big Bash League today.Night and day, the SCG was a social hub for a sporting fraternity of all persuasions. In the Members’ and the Noble stands everybody seemed to know everybody. If Keith Miller wasn’t holding court, grabbing each of his limitless mates as they entered, somebody else was. You were never short of a beer and a laugh and a story of great days past.In the outer it was much the same. There was a character to the Hill that was captivating. Shirtless young men would gather in great numbers, downing beers under the benign gaze of policemen who seemed only to envy them. Occasionally they would put together a chain of beer-can ringtops that would stretch from third man to cover point. There was often a record to be chased.To Englishmen the Hill was a bizarre place that captured the Australian nature. On one tour in the early 1970s, Brian Bearshaw of the insisted on savouring the experience, so we went up under the old scoreboard and stripped to the waist like everybody else. Bearshaw started the day a pale and ghostly white and finished it lobster red. He never ventured to the Hill again.For much of the 20th century the SCG was the home of all of Sydney’s major sports. Rugby Tests were played there. Rugby League used it as its home ground. In days when the ground was less well drained it would often be an absolute mud heap.

Everybody seemed to know everybody. If Keith Miller wasn’t holding court, grabbing each of his limitless mates as they entered, somebody else was. You were never short of a beer and a laugh and a story of great days past

The Bulli soil that came from the south coast of NSW to form the SCG pitch was black and fertile, and made for famously hard wickets. But when it churned up late in the football season, as it did for some famous grand finals, there was precious little time to get it ready for the cricket. Somehow they always did.The memories of great days remain vivid. My first experience covering cricket for the as a very young journalist was a NSW Sheffield Shield game against Queensland, when Ian Craig hit 146, Neil Harvey scored 229, and the home side was 424 for 2 at stumps on the first day. O’Neill, Thomas, Benaud, Davidson and Johnny Martin were all to follow.This was late 1960, when Australia and West Indies were about to lock horns in the most magical Test series of all. A tie in Brisbane and thrilling contests in Melbourne and Adelaide made the series legendary, but Sydney was no less memorable thanks to an innings of 168 by the great Garfield Sobers.To this day I have in my mind’s eye one shot in that innings that remains indelible. Ian Meckiff was hurling them down at great pace from the Randwick end. Sobers went on to the back foot, stood tall with one leg raised, and punched him on to the concourse between the main Randwick Hill and the old Sheridan stand for six. I haven’t seen better in the 50 years since.Through the 1960s and into the 1970s, Doug Walters was a perennial SCG favourite, as much for the way he played as for the results he achieved. They named a stand in his honour – at first unofficial, as a measure of the crowd’s affection for him, and later official – and the ground lit up whenever he was at the crease.He scored 242 and 103 in the fifth Test against West Indies in 1969, in his most productive home performance after Australia had been put in to bat. It stood in stark contrast to his captain, Bill Lawry, whose first-innings 151 took over eight hours. Lawry also refused to enforce the follow-on despite a first-innings lead of 340, then pushed the match into a sixth day by leaving West Indies 735 to score in the final innings. Australia won the Test by 382 runs, and thus the series.One of the more dramatic days at the SCG came during the hastily arranged seventh Test of 1970-71, when the formidable English fast bowler John Snow caught the Australian tailender Terry Jenner on the head with a bouncer. These were days before helmets, and bowling bouncers at tailenders was considered poor form. When Snow was within range of the fence at the Paddington End, a spectator grabbed him in retribution. The England captain, Ray Illingworth, was furious as beer cans rained on to the field; he took his players off and left batsmen Greg Chappell and Jenner standing forlornly at the wicket.Illingworth had taken his action without the permission of the umpires, technically forfeiting the match as the recently retired No. 1 umpire Colin Egar was happy to tell everybody in the Noble bar. Furious negotiations in the dressing room got them all back on the field and England went on to win a Test that, had people reacted differently, might well have been taken from them.The SCG today: on the opening day of the Big Bash League•Getty ImagesThe ground has seen much more high drama over its 100 Tests. Through the eras of Lillee and Marsh, Border and Taylor, Warne and McGrath, Waugh and Ponting, the cavalcade of superstars has continued to leave an indelible mark on a remarkable ground. The great Brian Lara made his first appearance there as a 23-year-old in January 1993, and made 277 runs in classical fashion before being run out. The game was drawn, but a new young champion of extraordinary talent had announced himself.The football codes, too, have offered plenty down the years. In 1965, nearly 80,000 people somehow got into the ground for a Rugby League grand final. They perched themselves on the roof of the old Bob Stand and anywhere else they could find a spot. It was scary stuff.The Sydney Cricket Ground will see many more great days. It is a space that has always been central to the character of Sydney. That is not likely to change.

Cricket South Africa’s handling of the bonus scandal was appalling. It will take a lot for the board to regain the public’s faith

Firdose Moonda21-Mar-2012If Cricket South Africa had set up a disciplinary hearing for Gerald Majola 19 months ago, this story would not have to be written. Either the commission would have found the chief executive’s transgressions of the Companies’ Act serious enough to fire him or it would have cleared him of wrongdoing and allowed him to continue.The scenic route – which involved three inquiries, resignations from a president and three other high-ranking officials – has robbed the South African cricketing public of belief in their administrators. It could have been avoided.The potential for deceit in between the administrative walls has emerged as the single most important consequence of the ongoing bonus scandal. Although the saga is rooted in money, cash is not the cause of all evil in this case. In an era where CSA is able to sign a television deal worth R1.5 billion (US$200,142,857)* – which they did in September last year with Taj Television – the R4.7 million (US$671, 428) amount paid out as unauthorised bonuses is not a lot of money.What matters is that this money was able to pass through the underground channels of the organisation with no repercussions for almost two years.South African cricket has not even fully recovered from the Cronje match-fixing saga of 2000 and is now dealing with dishonesty of a different sort. Whether that R4.7 million could have been used to pay for half a drainage system at a smaller ground like Buffalo Park or to build a clubhouse at a facility no one has heard of in the Northern Cape is irrelevant.It was not wrong that CSA staff were compensated for work they did on the IPL and the Champions Trophy in 2009. It was wrong that they were compensated twice over. CSA’s board had already awarded additional fees for the work done on those two tournaments and then paid an extra R4.7 million in bonuses.The error was not instantly rectified either. First, there was an internal inquiry which criticised Majola for not following correct procedure and declaring all bonuses through the board, but did not recommend sacking him. Then there were two votes of no confidence passed against president Mtutuzeli Nyoka (the second of which succeeded), who pushed for an external investigation. Eventually, another external probe was held which found that Majola had broken the law. CSA referred the report to an advocate whose advice was to “discipline” Majola. The board gave him a verbal warning.It took an intervention from the minister of sport, Fikile Mbalula – hardly a positive sign for an independent organisation – before any meaningful action was taken. The Nicholson Commission, set up in December last year under the sports ministry’s watch, also found Majola guilty. And Mbalula made it clear that the ramifications of trying to get away from “disciplining” Majola would be far more severe than anything CSA had encountered thus far.The greatest cost in CSA’s delayed action has been borne by their human resources. AK Khan, the acting president who resigned last week, started in cricket administration when he was a young boy organising matches at a Durban club. It was Khan who headed the inquiry that cleared Majola, and Khan who took over when Nyoka was ousted. On that evidence, there is the possibility that Khan was bound to be painted as the ultimate villain. However, he may just have been a pawn in a more complicated game.John Blair, the chairman of the Audit and Risk Committee, also resigned last week, and CSA also lost its brand and corporate relations manager Kass Naidoo in the immediate aftermath. Months ago, Richard Glover, CSA’s commercial manager, left the organisation after failing to sign up any sponsors for a T20 and one-day series against Australia and for the domestic one-day tournament.For the next six months, CSA will function under another acting president, Willie Basson, and an acting chief executive, Jacques Faul. The two have to piece together a shattered mirror and work with the drama of a disciplinary hearing against Majola playing out around them.In the middle of all this, the South African team will travel to England to challenge for the world No. 1 Test spot and then to Sri Lanka in September to try to win an ICC trophy for the first time in 14 years. The national team has been largely unaffected by the boardroom battles and the public’s opinion of Graeme Smith, AB de Villiers and their teams has not devalued. However, the perception of the people who run these teams has taken a beating.If this administration is not completely transparent, does not explain why so much damage was done or what it will do to ensure such incidents never happen again, it will not be able to regain public confidence.*11:11 GMT, March 22, 2012: The dollar figure has been corrected

A level-headed cricketer who is aware of his game’s limitations, he hasn’t been fazed by anything thrown at him during the World Cup

George Binoy in Townsville25-Aug-2012William Bosisto, the Australia Under-19 captain, was facing Bangladesh’s Soumya Sarkar in the quarter-final of the World Cup, when he saw the bowler ‘mankad’ the non-striker Jimmy Peirson, who was backing up earlier than he should have been. The next few minutes were fraught with confusion and tension as Bosisto spoke to Anamul Haque, to see if the Bangladesh captain would withdraw the appeal. He did not, and Australia were 33 for 4 chasing 172, their position worsened by an unconventional dismissal that is within the rules but perhaps not in the spirit of cricket.The Australian fans watching at Endeavour Park did not like it and voiced their displeasure. In a tinderbox of a quarter-final, it would have been natural for a teenager to get worked up and play a shot in anger. Bosisto said he did get worked up, but he did not do anything rash. Instead, the incident steeled his focus and Bosisto’s maturity came through during his conversation with the new batsman Travis Head.”Nothing different to what I would have told him if it had been caught behind or any other dismissal,” Bosisto said, when asked what he had told Head after the mankad. “Just about playing straight and bat for a period of time and establish a partnership.”Head scored 44 out of the 67-run stand but it was Bosisto who battled 134 balls for an unbeaten 71 to put Australia in the semi-final. That Man-of-the-Match performance was his fourth unbeaten innings in as many games this World Cup. Two of the first three were also compiled after Australia had lost early wickets during a chase. Bosisto was dismissed for the first time in the tournament by South Africa, run out for 40 with Australia four runs away from a place in the final and plenty of resources to get there.Bosisto’s batting is more gritty than it is aesthetically attractive, characterised by punches down the ground and shots square of the wicket played with economical movement. Among batsmen who’ve scored more than 150 runs in the World Cup, his strike-rate of 50.40 for an aggregate of 189 is the lowest. Bosisto is not fussed by it. He comes across as a level-headed cricketer who at quite an impressionable age is showing remarkable awareness of the strengths and limitations of his game and playing within those boundaries to lead his team to success in Townsville.”When you’re playing out in the middle, you want to be reasonably within your limitations,” Bosisto said. “I think at this World Cup, I haven’t really had to try too much audacious stroke play. I’ve just been required to be not out at the end and do it that way.”Despite having grown up during an age of aggressive Australian batsmanship at Test level, Bosisto’s not tried to over-reach himself too early and knows that there will be opportunities to develop his repertoire in the future. “Maybe growing up I’ve always tried to be a technical player, maybe my aggressive stroke play hasn’t come on like some of the younger generations that are brought up now, playing so freely right from the first ball kind of thing, like a David Warner kind of player,” Bosisto said. “But that’s certainly something that I need to work on over the next five-ten years to expand my repertoire, I suppose.”I know I’ve heard people speak about Justin Langer and Mike Hussey, two of my sort of idols. You know when they were 17 and 18, they were probably not far off, they just worked the ball around and maybe didn’t score as quickly as what they have when they’ve become older. They’ve just developed their stroke play, and as they got bigger and stronger it became easier to score more quickly.”

He plays within his limitations and there’s plenty of batsmen out there who get pretty 20s and 30s. That won’t get you too far, it might go alright in the IPL, but won’t go too far in Test cricket, don’t forget we’re producing cricketers here to play cricket for Australia at Test levelStuart Law on Bosisto

His coach Stuart Law is firmly in Bosisto’s corner. “He plays within his limitations and there’s plenty of batsmen out there who get pretty 20s and 30s. That won’t get you too far, it might go alright in the IPL, but won’t go too far in Test cricket, don’t forget we’re producing cricketers here to play cricket for Australia at Test level,” Law said. “And Will, as he progresses, will become a better one-day player and a better Twenty20 player as well, if he becomes a really good four-day player.”Law also rated Bosisto’s captaincy highly and if he had to pick out one criticism, it would be that it was over-aggressive at times, which was “a great thing” actually. “He’s got us over the line a lot of times, when we seemed to be in a bit of trouble,” Law said. “He’s just got a cool head under pressure. He’s been a gem to be around, he trains hard, one of the hardest trainers going around. He plays hard and that’s the way you should always play. It’s pleasing for me and Greg Chappell that we put our faith in him to lead this side and he’s led it with more than enough distinction.”Bosisto hasn’t been captain of Australia Under-19 for very long either, unlike his counterpart in Sunday’s World Cup final, Unmukt Chand, who’s led India since September 2011 and has 20 matches of international experience to date. Australia only settled on their captain two to three weeks before the tournament. In international matches before that, they tried Kurtis Patterson, Cameron Bancroft and Ashton Turner as captain.”It’s something that I love doing and I think it’s a good way to impose yourself on a game,” Bosisto said. “As a cricketer in the field, it’s sometimes hard to dominate I suppose, but as a captain you really get a chance to stamp your authority on the game with the way you go about your bowling changes and field placements.”There’s a number of leaders out on the field, Kurtis Patterson is one that you can go to, and we tend to bounce ideas off each other. I make the final calls but it’s great being able to bounce ideas off people. The more people throwing out ideas the more chances you’ve got of reaching the right outcome.”It’s good being able to captain such a strong side, often it makes your job easier when you’ve got such talented players who can execute the plans you ask them to. Often you don’t have to do a hell of a lot really. I suppose that’s the job of a captain, your role comes into play maybe when the things aren’t going so great, and you’ve got to try different things or keep the side up.”Bosisto’s earliest memories of cricket are of playing with his father at Jasper Green Reserve, a park down the road from his house in Perth, every morning before school. He’s on the opposite coast of Australia at the moment, preparing for the most significant match of his nascent career. Irrespective of Sunday’s result, Bosisto is in a great place for someone of his age, because being self-aware is half the battle. He needs to develop a few more gears but there’s time for that. Another calm, unbeaten innings at a strike-rate of 50 during a chase could be enough to win the World Cup.

Andrew McDonald has returned to the forefront of the national selector John Inverarity’s mind for the same reason Ed Cowan is still there – they are part of winning teams

Daniel Brettig26-Oct-2012Three years ago, Andrew McDonald was dropped from a winning Australia team because the selectors of the day felt his all-round abilities would be surplus to a great one. Today McDonald is captain of an Australia A side stocked with as many as six such cricketers, and in line for a national recall. There will seldom be a starker contrast between Australia’s current selection panel and its predecessor.In four Tests against South Africa in 2009, McDonald contributed to three victories, gathering confidence as a batsman while also bowling critical overs that built pressure while nipping out the odd wicket. His value as an allrounder and an exemplar of a winning team culture – via the domestic success of Victoria – appeared considerable, but was not enough to keep him in the team for the 2009 Ashes tour that followed. McDonald toured England, but did not play a Test.It was felt at the time that the allrounder of choice for Australia should be Shane Watson, and that McDonald was plugging a gap. In the words of the former coach Tim Nielsen: “It wasn’t about chopping Andrew McDonald off but asking, ‘Is this the sort of formula that will get us back to being the best team?’ The balance of three quicks plus a medium-pacer plus a part-time spinner we didn’t feel was the right thing forever. It won us a series in conditions that suited, but I don’t know if it would’ve had lasting impact.”It is almost a year to the day since John Inverarity became the national selector, presiding over a panel that also features Rod Marsh, Andy Bichel, the national coach Mickey Arthur and the captain Michael Clarke. Their measures of how to construct a winning Australia team appear rather different to those of the previous regime, and the pushing of all-round contributors to the XI has taken on far greater significance than merely the matter of whether an individual can bat, bowl or keep wicket to a high standard.Where three years ago McDonald’s worth was questioned even after he had helped the team win, now a player’s contribution to a team success is considered far more carefully. Inverarity and Marsh were raised in a Western Australia team culture where every member of the squad – Marsh included – bowled in the nets. This sort of all-in mentality is what they have tried to develop in Australia’s Test team in particular, and the search for allrounders is another part of that.”He’s been a very good player for a long time and is in very good form, and we like the fact he’s an allrounder,” Inverarity said at the MCG on Friday. “Cricket teams need allrounders, people worthy of a place for one of their skills and very strong in the other, and he bowled very well the other day here, as he always does.”He’s a very good, experienced cricketer and Victoria are doing well, they’re in good shape at the moment and he plays very good cricket. Last year he was a bit hindered by some injuries, but he’s moving very freely this year.”Apart from McDonald, Glenn Maxwell, Moises Henriques, John Hastings, Steven Smith and Nathan Coulter-Nile are other members of the Australia A side with multiple skills. While Inverarity said a desire to keep certain fast bowlers away from prying South African eyes was one reason for the surfeit of utility types, it was no coincidence to see a team named that can bat more or less down to No. 11.”We’re really hoping those players develop,” Inverarity said. “I think if you’ve got a couple of allrounders in your side it is extremely useful, and of course it creates less wear and tear on your out-and-out pace bowlers. We’re unashamedly very keen to develop allrounders.”The term allrounder may be used in another sense when viewing Australia’s likely team composition for the first Test at the Gabba. Inverarity’s panel have looked very closely at the way each team member contributes to the harmony, happiness and performance of the whole, whether it be through their fielding, their running between the wickets or their attitude around the dressing room.It is perhaps for these reasons that the opener Ed Cowan remains a nailed-on starter for the South Africa Tests, despite a halting beginning to his Test career. Australia developed a very tight and functional unit during Tests against India and West Indies last summer, and the panel does not want to let that go easily.”Ed’s a very well-performed player, a great team man, and we’re backing him,” Inverarity said. “There are a lot of players who in their first five or six games haven’t set the world on fire, and have then come through and flourished. We picked Ed, he deserved to be picked, he played well on two or three occasions, and we’re backing him to do well again this time.”So Cowan is still a part of a team because he was present to help it develop a taste and an aptitude for winning. McDonald was dropped in similar circumstances in 2009, but after today’s promotion to lead the A team he may yet be seen again in a baggy green cap.

Mahela Jayawardene might not have a world-class pace attack, but by his defensive approach, he seems to have already mentally conceded the battle

Andrew Fernando in Hobart15-Dec-2012Michael Clarke’s declaration on the second day conveyed more than mere panache. He may have shirked the accepted threshold for first-innings safety, enhancing a reputation for innovation, but it also issued a bold statement to a vastly experienced Sri Lanka top order: “You are not good enough to reel us in.” Sri Lanka’s sorry state at stumps is not so staunch a riposte.There was a time when his opposite number Mahela Jayawardene was capable of similar bravado, but Clarke’s positivity only emphasised Jayawardene’s reticence in Hobart. On day two, he strayed from conservative to something more detrimental as the fielding captain.Jayawardene was operating on the belief that it could not pay to be over-aggressive given the calibre of the attack in hand but when batsmen are allowed to begin with two sweepers already on the square fence either side of the pitch, they are quickly shorn of the nerves they drag behind them each time they walk to the pitch. As a result, no new batsman – with the exception of opener Ed Cowan – was dismissed cheaply. The closest Sri Lanka came to a double-strike in the first innings was when they dismissed Phil Hughes for 86, 7.3 overs after Clarke had arrived.There was a time when Jayawardene’s leadership was defined by adventure but the spirit has seeped from his mindset in Tests, particularly in the final months of his captaincy. In July, when Sri Lanka had an opportunity to win the final home Test against Pakistan, Jayawardene ordered a stonewall instead of pursuing an achievable target on the fifth day in Pallekele. Facing a downtrodden New Zealand in Colombo, his field placings were not far removed from the ones in Hobart, and there Sri Lanka’s batsmen hit a wall against a much more positive opposition. At 87 for 4 and 363 runs adrift, another loss looms as the most likely result in the current match, unless Sri Lanka can unearth a good deal of resolve.Devoid of the menace of Muttiah Muralitharan and the dependability of Chaminda Vaas that Jayawardene could rely on in his first stint at the helm, he perhaps feels he cannot press the steel to the opponent’s throat as easily as he once did. And there is merit to that logic, as the attack has suggested so far in the Test.Nuwan Kulasekara had threatened on the first morning, but even with the modicum of movement the conditions offered, he never looked like taking a wicket. With two men on the hook, Kulasekara tempted Australia’s batsmen with the short ball, but at his pace the short stuff was more like hurling matchsticks than breathing fire.Chanaka Welegedara may have taken three wickets on day one, but the two good balls that dismissed Ed Cowan and Phil Hughes came amid torrents of loose bowling, at a pace well below his best. Both he, and by extension the team, have not been helped by a string of serious injuries this year, and all the talk from the camp before the tour had been about Welegedara’s struggle for rhythm in the nets. With no domestic cricket in Sri Lanka in the past few months through which to climb back to Test-match fitness, Welegedara started in Hobart underdone.”He never got a chance to settle as the Australian batsmen smartly put him under pressure and didn’t allow him to get settled,” coach Graham Ford said at the end of the day’s play. “It was tough for him to come after a long layoff and hit the straps straight away. Looking ahead, hopefully he is going to get back to his best that will help us down the line.”Despite the failure of his bowlers, Jayawardene did not give them the opportunities when they did bowl well. Shaminda Eranga improved as the innings wore on, and was clearly the best bowler in Sri Lanka’s pack on the second day, but the fields he bowled to were the same supplied to the other seam bowlers. He produced perhaps the ball of the innings to dismiss one of the most in-form batsmen in the world in Michael Clarke, but when Matthew Wade walked in, the square sweepers remained at their posts, instead of advancing to the ring to squeeze a mistake from the batsman. Having eased his tension into the open spaces, Wade duly flourished. Ford defended his captain, alluding to an attack that “doesn’t blow batsmen away” and as a result, a “gameplan that takes time”. But Mahela’s best captaincy has come when he has had a finger pressed firmly to the pulse of a game and each duck, weave and lunge is inspired by instinct. In Hobart and Colombo he let rigidity sweep in, and the team has not worn that shackle well.Jayawardene is in his last series at the helm, and perhaps another tilt with administrators – who range from incompetent to diabolical – has worn him down. These are not problems that any other captain must confront as depressingly often as Jayawardene. But on a day when Clarke refused to respect Sri Lanka’s batsmen, Jayawardene failed to give his own team the respect they deserved.

An Air Force man and a would-be Sergeant took contrasting routes to show how much the Ranji knockouts matter to the men in uniform

Abhishek Purohit in Indore07-Jan-2013″We are soldiers first, players later… A soldier remains a soldier, till he is no more.” These words from Wing Commander Deepak Bhaskar, the Services manager, sum up the attitude of the side that comprises cricketers from the Indian armed forces.When you hear these words, you begin to appreciate why Services captain Soumik Chatterjee, barely able to walk with a badly injured knee, dragged himself to the middle at No. 11 despite his team already leading Uttar Pradesh by 129 on a difficult pitch. You begin to appreciate why Chatterjee risked doing further damage to the severe clotting on his knee, and was bitterly disappointed when he lasted one ball. You begin to appreciate how much a rare Ranji quarter-final appearance means to Chatterjee’s team, which still values and respects domestic first-class cricket in this age of IPL contracts.Chatterjee’s struggle to reach the pitch moved the UP players enough for a few of them to walk up and pat him on the back. His struggle to reach the dressing room moved UP coach Venkatesh Prasad enough for him to walk up, take Chatterjee’s bat in one hand and support the Services captain with the other. Like a tough senior officer, though, Bhaskar was nowhere to be seen near Chatterjee at that time.”Even if he could have scored 10 runs, it could have made a difference to the game,” Bhaskar said later of Chatterjee’s decision. “It is a big match, a Ranji quarter-final. If we fail here, it means that all the efforts we put in through the season, through the first eight matches, would be in vain.”While Chatterjee’s has to be one of the most heroic one-ball innings in the game, young Rajat Paliwal, in only his second season, did his best to see that Services’ efforts in topping Group C weren’t in vain with an aggressive unbeaten 112 off 133 deliveries.Paliwal, who hails from Sonepat in Haryana, joined the Air Force in early 2011 and debuted for Services in 2011-12, averaging 23.44 in five games. He had to later go through the rigorous military training all Services recruits have to, and has so far made 741 runs this season with four centuries at an average of 82.33.Paliwal’s gloves were battered today by the UP fast bowlers, who kept up their short ball barrage throughout the morning session. A huge, bulging blister on the tip of his right forefinger did not deter Paliwal from hooking and pulling with total control on his way to his century, which could have yet taken the game away from UP.Paliwal, who will be promoted to a Sergeant soon, said that with the pitch providing help to the fast bowlers, there was little point in hanging around and defending, so he decided to attack. At no point was he reckless, though.A finely balanced hundred and a brave first-ball duck. Paliwal and Chatterjee took contrasting routes to show how much the Ranji knockouts matter to the men in uniform.