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Michael Clarke has been bizarrely ruled out of the two-day India tour match hours after selectors had marked it down as his pathway to prove his fitness for the first Test

Brydon Coverdale and Daniel Brettig23-Nov-20141:19

Clarke fitness still a mystery

Smith battling quadriceps injury

Steven Smith has been withdrawn from this week’s Sheffield Shield round due to a quadriceps injury but Cricket Australia remains confident he will be fit for the first Test against India at the Gabba. Smith reported soreness after Sunday’s ODI win over South Africa in Sydney and he had precautionary scans on Monday morning.
“Steve’s scan showed a low grade quadriceps muscle strain and has been ruled out of tomorrow’s New South Wales Sheffield Shield game in Sydney as a result,” Cricket Australia’s chief medical officer John Orchard said.
“His current prognosis is that he is likely to be fit to play in the first Test in Brisbane in the middle of next week. He will stay in Sydney for further physiotherapy treatment and assessment over the rest of the week.”

Michael Clarke is out of the Gabba Test according to the parameters set by Australia’s selectors. But not according to Clarke.Hours after selectors had marked Friday’s two-day tour match against India in Adelaide as his pathway to prove his fitness for the first Test, Clarke bizarrely declared he had been ruled out of that game, yet still insisted he could be passed fit for Brisbane by playing grade cricket.The selectors Rod Marsh and Mark Waugh had both stated that Clarke had until Wednesday to resume running after his hamstring injury or be ruled out of contention for Brisbane. However a few hours later Clarke said he had already been scratched from the Adelaide match and was still going to try to play on the second Saturday of the grade game between Western Suburbs and Paramatta as a way of proving his fitness.ESPNcricinfo understands that Clarke spoke to the Australian team physio Alex Kountouris on Monday, being told that it was not realistic for him to expect to play in the tour match but more plausible that he could play the grade game. He then gave the following summary of his fitness at a promotional appearance.”My goal is to try and get myself fit to play whatever game’s available,” Clarke said. “The next game on the table that I am available for, if I can be fit, is grade cricket on Saturday. So ideally if I can tick all the boxes along the way and play on Saturday, get through that. Hopefully I can make myself available then it is completely up to the selectors to work out what to do.”My focus is listening to the experts as I’ve always done. Over the last 10, 12 years I’ve been playing for Australia I don’t think I’ve ever walked onto a field not being 100 per cent fit to perform. So I would hope with my experience that the selectors, my teammates, Cricket Australia staff respect my opinion there.”Late on Monday, CA released a statement which, among other things, directly contradicted Clarke’s assertion that medical staff had ruled him out of the tour game:”CA’s position has not changed since our announcement of the Test squad. That is, Michael is to continue undergoing daily treatment for his injured hamstring as well as his ongoing back condition, with the aim of increasing his running over the coming days. He is the Australian captain and one of the best batsmen in the world. We obviously want to do all we can to ensure he recovers from his injury with the aim of getting him ready to play for Australia as soon as possible.”Should he be in a position to really progress his running in the coming days, our desire is that he plays for the CA XI in the two-day tour match against India at the Adelaide Oval this Friday. Accordingly, a final decision on his fitness has not yet been determined and he has not yet been ruled out of the tour match by the CA medical team.”Should Michael play the tour match and recover well, the selectors have said he will take his place in the Test side. If he is not able to get up for the CA XI game, and given his history with this recurring injury, he will be ruled out of any cricket this week and the First Test and our focus will shift to getting him fit to play the second Test in Adelaide commencing on Friday 12 December.”A 12-man squad had been announced with Clarke subject to fitness, as expected, and Brad Haddin his deputy. Nathan Lyon has kept his place and Josh Hazlewood has been called up.Speaking in Adelaide, the national selector Marsh had said that Clarke would need to be running by Wednesday in order to be considered fit to try to play in the tour match from Friday. If he cannot play in this fixture, he will not be considered for the Brisbane Test. “If he doesn’t start running by Wednesday, Marsh said, “then I think we can safely assume that he won’t be playing the Test match.”Waugh said the selectors were concerned that a single day’s grade cricket would not be enough to prove Clarke’s fitness for a five-day Test, leading them to send him to Adelaide for the tour match. “A few days ago, the selectors spoke about it and Pat Howard spoke about it as well,” Waugh said of conversations pre-dating the grade fixture.Michael Clarke’s troublesome hamstring has complicated the selection of Australia’s Test squad•Getty Images”Ideally it would have been great if he played in the Shield match but the time frame just didn’t allow that with his injury. So we went for the next best thing and we feel he needs a couple days of cricket to prove his fitness – it’s a five-day game Test match cricket, so we felt that was the best way for him to prove his fitness in a two-day game.”But it appears Clarke’s intention has always been to play grade cricket in Sydney this Saturday, which led to a bizarre declaration and investigation. When Marsh spoke, Clarke was at the SCG with his fitness trainer Duncan Kerr, not sparing a second in his effort to be fit for Brisbane, and said he had run at “about 50%” on Monday.Asked whether his ruling out of the Adelaide tour game meant he was out of the first Test, Clarke replied: “I hope not.” By naming only a 12-man squad the selectors gave themselves an extra Sheffield Shield round to decide who would replace him. Phillip Hughes, Shaun Marsh and Callum Ferguson will all be especially keen to impress for their states this week.”We still have some time before having to make a final decision on Michael’s fitness,” team doctor Peter Brukner said. “As you would expect, he’s desperate to play and we are doing all that we can to ensure he can do just that. Over the coming days the plan is to build him up so that he can resume running with the ultimate aim of getting him some high-intensity match practice ahead of the first Test.”Mitchell Starc and Glenn Maxwell were dropped from the side that lost Australia’s most recent Test to Pakistan in Abu Dhabi, with Hazlewood called up as expected after his strong start to the summer. Shane Watson has also been recalled having missed the UAE tour due to injury, while Ryan Harris is also in the group having made a promising comeback from knee surgery.Harris is the only member of the frontline pace attack who will play in the Sheffield Shield round that starts on Tuesday as he aims for more match practice before a likely Test return. Rod Marsh, the chairman of selectors, said the uncapped Hazlewood had been in excellent form in the recent ODI series against South Africa and had earned his call-up.Test squad Chris Rogers, David Warner, Shane Watson, Michael Clarke (capt), Steven Smith, Mitchell Marsh, Brad Haddin (vice-capt, wk), Mitchell Johnson, Ryan Harris, Peter Siddle, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood.

Salman Butt, the former Pakistan captain, has asked for a chance to resume his playing career as he prepares to challenge his ICC ban handed down for spot-fixing

Andrew McGlashan and Nagraj Gollapudi06-Feb-2013Salman Butt, the former Pakistan captain, has asked for a chance to resume his playing career as he prepares to challenge his ICC ban handed down for spot-fixing during the Lord’s Test against England in 2010.Butt, who was banned for 10 years with the possibility of five suspended, and Mohammad Asif, currently serving a seven-year ban with two suspended, will appear at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne, Switzerland, over the next two days in a last-ditch attempt to appeal against the bans.In a statement released through his lawyer on Wednesday, Butt said: “It may be easy for some people to say that a five-year ban from cricket is all right but what they don’t realise is that for a sportsman like me – this is like a lifetime ban,” he said in a statement issued by his solicitors this afternoon.”Cricket is my life and every single day that has passed has been so painful because I have not been able to play. All I want is an opportunity to get back into cricket whilst I am still young and I can still play well.”Asif’s hearing is scheduled for Thursday and Butt’s for Friday. Unlike criminal trials, CAS hearings are held in private and not open to either the public or media.Lawyers from both parties – the ICC and the player – will present arguments in front of the three-strong arbitrators panel, including the current president of CAS. Butt will be represented by Yasin Patel, a London-based barrister, who was also part of the legal team that fought his case in the UK.”We are appealing the sanctions that were imposed upon us and they should not have been so high,” Patel said. It is understood that Asif’s arguments will be similar.CAS, which was formed in 1983 to rule on a variety of disputes within sport, is widely regarded as the final point in the appeal process. It cannot reverse the UK court rulings because the criminal proceedings were under UK laws, but it does have the power to reduce or overturn the ICC sanctions as they are part of the appeal system laid down in the ICC anti-corruption code. If the outcome was an alteration to the bans it is unlikely that there would be a counter-appeal process open to the ICC. No new witnesses or evidence can be produced by the players.It is not yet clear whether the CAS will issue an instant verdict and that will depend on the arguments they have heard and if they are satisfied or if they require more time to study the case.Mohammad Amir, the third player to be caught in the sting, has decided not to appeal against the five-year ban against him. The ban does not permit the players to take part in any official match – international, domestic or club – until at least September 2015. All three players served time.Butt served seven months of a 30-month prison sentence, Asif was released from Canterbury Prison in Kent on June 3 last year after he served half of a year-long sentence while Amir spent three months in a young offenders’ institution after admitting his charge at a pre-trial hearing.

Australia’s No. 3 batsman Shane Watson freely admits he will need to carry a far greater burden in Adelaide, both as a top order runmaker and also a change bowler, on what is shaping to be an exceedingly dry and unhelpful surface for the fast men

Daniel Brettig in Adelaide03-Dec-2013Australia’s No. 3 batsman Shane Watson freely admits he will need to carry a far greater burden in Adelaide, both as a top-order run-maker and also a change bowler, on what is shaping to be an exceedingly dry and unhelpful surface for the fast men.Watson struggled to bat with his usual presence in Brisbane, an understandable problem for a batsman who had not made a first-class appearance since the fifth Test of the previous Ashes series in England. But he said there was now no excuse for him to be a peripheral player as the hosts attempt to take a stranglehold on the series by going 2-0 up in as many matches.”Going into the Test match in Brisbane, I had a week or so to be able to build up my Test-match batting and my mental capacity, so that was certainly my biggest challenge,” he said. “I’m going to be in a better place now. I wasn’t able to concentrate for a long enough period of time to be able to bat what I need to in a Test match. It was unfortunate that I wasn’t able to adapt my game quick enough with not playing any four-day cricket or domestic cricket in the lead-up. That’s part of being in international cricket. You have to adapt as quickly as you can, so hopefully I can do that in this Test match straight away.”The other concern for Watson in Brisbane surrounded his recovery from a hamstring strain that had left his status as a bowler in doubt. Ultimately the telling spells of Mitchell Johnson, Ryan Harris and Nathan Lyon allowed Watson the luxury of bowling only two overs for the match, but he agreed far more would be expected on Adelaide’s drop-in pitch, which the ground staff have dried noticeably to attempt to recreate the ground’s traditional five-day deterioration.”It’s going to be a really important part – the amount of bowling I can do to help out our quicks,” Watson said. “If it’s what we think it’s going to be, the wicket will be flat and the bowlers will potentially have to bowl many more overs compared to Brisbane to bowl the English out. That’s a really important role, especially with back-to-back Test matches and how important it is for our quicks to be able to get through this Test, bowl well and pull up well.”We certainly know we’ve got the bowlers to be able to exploit that Perth wicket, so I know how important it is for me to pick up the slack. The bowlers certainly looked after me physically in the first Test, they bowled beautifully well and I wasn’t really called on to bowl, but I know this is my turn to be able to put my hand up and bowl the overs to look after those guys as well.”Australia find themselves in an unfamiliar perch, leading an Ashes series for the first time since 2006. Add to this the fact that they have followed each of their past two Test match wins over England in 2009 and 2010 with immediate defeat int he next match, and Watson acknowledged the challenge of keeping the team level-headed and focused on the task at hand.”It is a different situation to be in, there’s no doubt,” Watson said. “The last three series we’ve played in, whether it’s been England holding on for a draw or winning the first Test, certainly we come in at a different perspective going into the second game. But we know how important it’s going to be to start really well and keep the momentum going. We know how quickly it can change and how quickly the series can change if we don’t give it everything we’ve got and be totally switched on from ball one.”It’s certainly a nice position to be in compared to the last three series I’ve been involved in but I know how quickly it can change. The English don’t like losing, they haven’t lost very often, especially to us, over the last three series so they certainly will be coming together to go whatever they can to get back into the series.”Pivotal to Australia’s pursuit of another win will be the fitness of Michael Clarke, and Watson said the captain would be fine to train on match eve after resting a rolled ankle two days out from the Test. “It was more precautionary today,” he said. “Michael batted beautifully in the first Test, so his preparation was always going to be very good anyway. I know the medical staff is very confident that it was just giving him a break today, and he’ll be training flat out tomorrow ready to go for the Test.”

New Zealand’s need to regroup after their Test defeat against England before the Champions Trophy has been made doubly difficult by the possibility that they will lose Trent Boult for the tournament because of injury

David Hopps at Headingley28-May-2013New Zealand’s need to regroup after their Test defeat against England before the Champions Trophy has been made doubly difficult by the possibility that they will lose Trent Boult for the tournament because of injury.Boult has carried the fight for New Zealand with 19 wickets at 25.47 in five Tests, home and away, against England, but his side strain is not responding to treatment and he will have a scan in London on Wednesday to assess the damage.”He’s not looking great,” New Zealand’s captain, Brendon McCullum, lamented. “He is still not moving that freely which is a shame because he’s been a revelation for us this season.”Until a fateful Sunday at Lord’s, New Zealand had pressed England all the way, but their capitulation for 68 in only 22.3 overs against Stuart Broad and James Anderson was an experience from which they never recovered.”Right up until that point our self-belief was very high and that ripped our hearts out and just started to create some self-doubt among us, which is a horrible thing in this game,” McCullum said. “That’s what unfolded in this Test. We still had periods where we dominated but they didn’t last long enough and the periods of England dominating seemed to last a lot longer.”We saw in this Test match England flexing their muscles and us not being able to respond. It’s incredibly disappointing. If you look back on the last five Test matches we’ve played some good cricket and taken some strides forward but it’s fair to say this one was a step backwards.”McCullum has seen enough to favour England in the Ashes later this summer. “England are red-hot favourites at home, their ability to swing the Dukes ball is huge,” he said. “Any team that plays at home is familiar with the surroundings.”There will be no overreaction to New Zealand’s batting failures if McCullum gets his way. He insisted that he retained faith in the potential of the group that, until the past ten days, had begun to promise a brighter Test future.”If you fast forward 18 months, we’ve got the makings of a very good cricket team,” he said. “I’m a big fan of protecting the people who have performed for a period of time and that’s what we’ve seen from this group of players. We’ve got the right mix and the right balance in this group and we need to keep improving as a team and smooth out some of our rough edges.”Brendon McCullum’s early dismissal helped England push on for victory on the final day•Getty ImagesHe dismissed suggestions that New Zealand, six down overnight, were caught on the hop when they did not bother with morning nets before the Test resumed under sullen Leeds skies. The forecast had left Leeds on the edge of a bank of heavy rain but it only suffered light drizzle and a delayed start and a couple of interruptions were not enough to halt England’s charge to victory.McCullum, one of the not-out batsmen overnight, fell early to a superb return catch by Stuart Broad, who dismissed him in all four innings in the series. After that, Tim Southee and Doug Bracewell chose to counterattack – Southee seems to know no other way – and then Neil Wagner and Boult sought to block. As rain was a constant threat, it seemed an idiosyncratic approach towards trying to save a Test.New Zealand’s emphasis now turns to the Champions Trophy. They have eight squad changes but the first player McCullum needs to consider when it comes to reintegration is himself. Having stepped in as wicketkeeper because of an injury to BJ Watling, he now has to decide whether to continue in the role or hand over the gloves to Luke Ronchi.”I’ve always said I’d never have any regrets through my career and that doesn’t change,” he said. “Obviously I wasn’t as fluent as I would like to be, like when I was 21, and I wasn’t able to contribute with the bat as much as I wanted, but it was a decision we made and I’ll stand by it. It didn’t affect my batting, I’d love to say it was an excuse for why I didn’t get runs but I can’t claim that.”The keeping role is something we need to talk about in the next 24 hours before we start to nail down the one-day team. It’s definitely up for discussion. Luke is definitely going to play as an opener. We need to work out what’s comfortable for both of us and the team.”

Australia international Trent Copeland tore through Worcestershire’s batting to put Northamptonshire on the brink of victory after two days

06-Jun-2013
ScorecardTrent Copeland put his team on track for another victory•Getty ImagesAustralia international Trent Copeland tore through Worcestershire’s batting to put Northamptonshire on the brink of victory after two days.Northamptonshire were bowled out for 314 during the afternoon, giving the Division Two leaders a first innings lead of 118, with Steven Crook hammering 85 off as many balls including three huge sixes. Copeland, who is playing his last match before returning home, then took three wickets for 26 as Worcestershire subsided to 97 for 6 at the close, still 21 runs behind.The hosts began the day on 100 for 4, 96 runs behind their opponents, with Rob Keogh resuming on 26 and Andrew Hall beginning his innings. But Hall was only able to make 10 before Gareth Andrew took a good low catch at third slip to give Alan Richardson his fourth wicket in the seventh over of the day.Keogh was to move on to 44 but was denied a maiden half-century in first-class cricket when he edged Andrew to Moeen Ali at first slip to leave the hosts on 134 for 6.Crook was then given a massive let-off on 6 when he launched Andrew into the air only for Aneesh Kapil to drop a straightforward catch at deep square leg. He was to make Kapil pay for that blunder by blasting a half-century off just 52 balls as he and James Middlebrook added 96 between them for the seventh wicket.The partnership was eventually broken when Middlebrook was sharply caught and bowled by Ali to depart for 39 in the third over after lunch. Crook finally perished when his middle stump was taken out by Chris Russell before Copeland smashed the same bowler to Jack Shantry at mid-on after clattering 31.Russell then ended the hosts’ innings by trapping wicketkeeper David Murphy lbw for 4, leaving David Willey unbeaten on 15 at the other end.Worcestershire lost their captain Daryl Mitchell for just 8 in the penultimate over before tea when he left Crook’s delivery only to see his off stump sent spinning. Matthew Pardoe was then dismissed for 24 when he nudged Willey to Murphy before Copeland pinned Sri Lanka batsman Thilan Samaraweera lbw for 4.Copeland then repeated the trick on Alexei Kervezee and Kapil was caught leg before by Willey before wicketkeeper Michael Johnson became yet another lbw victim to Copeland. Ali and Andrew then survived the final 10 overs and will resume tomorrow on 29 and 16 respectively with their side surely doomed.

Sairaj Bahutule, the former India legspinner who played two Tests and eight ODIs, has called time on his 21-year first-class career

Amol Karhadkar01-Jan-2013Sairaj Bahutule, the former India legspinner who played two Tests and eight ODIs, has called time on his 21-year first-class career. Bahutule, 39, who took over the Vidarbha captaincy last season, had made up his mind after Vidarbha finished their Group B campaign in Nagpur on Tuesday.”It was on my mind for a while but I was waiting for the right time. I feel this is the right time since Vidarbha’s Ranji season is over,” Bahutule told ESPNcricinfo.Since his debut for Mumbai in December 1991, Bahutule has emerged as one of the most successful spinners in the domestic circuit. Though his international career lasted only ten games, earlier this season, Bahutule became only the ninth bowler in Ranji Trophy history to surpass the 400-wicket mark.”It has been an enjoyable ride over the last so many years. I have surprised myself by playing 21 years of first-class cricket. God has been kind in many ways. Not only have I been able to play for India but also the body has remained fit over these years. Obviously, the rigours of two decades were reflecting in the body, so I had to take a call with regards to that as well.”Bahutule featured in six Ranji finals, all for Mumbai, victorious on all occasions. While the first Ranji final he featured in was in 1993-94 against Bengal, the last one was in 2008-09 when he played his final game for Mumbai, against Uttar Pradesh. The most special of those finals was the one in 2003-04 when he led Mumbai to the title, scoring a useful 92 lower down the order.Bahutule has always been a handy lower-order batsman. This helped him in many ways during his short stints with a host of weaker sides over the last eight seasons. After moving from Mumbai to neighbouring Maharashtra in 2005-06, Bahutule also had stints with Assam and Andhra before moving to Vidarbha.”It’s been a very good experience. When you play for Mumbai, you always go in with the attitude of being a winner. Whereas, with the developing teams, it is about how you can inculcate that attitude into those teams. They don’t really know the process of winning. So I had to perform with the bat and the ball, besides trying to make sure that the team plays as a unit. For that, I avoided making too many changes and backing players despite initial failures,” Bahutule said.His only grudge was the inability to make the cut for an IPL franchise. “Because that is the only form of cricket I haven’t played in. I have played Ranji, I have played international cricket, I played club cricket in England for 14 years, but somehow couldn’t feature in the IPL. It came at a time when I feel I had it in me to succeed in the first two seasons, but chalta hai (it’s okay),”he said.He will still be involved with Vidarbha this season, as a coach for the upcoming zonal one-dayers and Twenty20 competitions. “Since I was contracted with them for the whole season and having decided to stop playing, they have asked me to be responsible for the team’s performance in the shorter formats. I am looking forward to it,” he said.

While the political storm over Sri Lankan players’ involvement in the IPL rages in India, Angelo Mathews has insisted his side is focussed solely on the series at hand, against Bangladesh

Andrew Fidel Fernando27-Mar-2013While the political storm over Sri Lankan players’ involvement in the IPL rages in India, Angelo Mathews has insisted his side is focussed solely on the series at hand, against Bangladesh. Sri Lanka have an ODI and Twenty20 to play before the tour is completed, and must win the final game to take the series, after rain forced the abandonment of the second match.Ten of Sri Lanka’s playing XI for the first two ODIs have been contracted to IPL teams for the 2013 season, and most players had planned to leave for India as soon as their national commitments for this series had been fulfilled. Nuwan Kulasekara will not be joining his IPL side as scheduled, however, after the Chennai Super Kings franchise instructed both him and Akila Dananjaya to postpone their travel to Chennai, and although the remaining players will travel to India as planned, they will not be play any league matches in Tamil Nadu.The BCCI had ruled on Tuesday that no Sri Lankan player would participate in matches in Chennai, and Sri Lanka Cricket reinforced that rule on Wednesday, when they decided to add a caveat to the players’ no objection certificates, stating they cannot play matches in Tamil Nadu. “Based on a note sent by the minister of external affairs regarding the safety of players, and reports appearing in the electronic and print media, it was decided that the no objection certificates issued to the players be restricted to exclude their appearance at any venue in the state of Tamil Nadu, and also to obtain the Players’ personal opinion on their willingness to participate in the event,” a release said. The players are understood to be largely satisfied with the security arrangements elsewhere in India.SLC had effectively cleared Sri Lanka’s schedule to accommodate the full IPL tournament by cancelling a Test tour of the West Indies, and postponing a Test series against South Africa until 2015 – though the latter was also due to a scheduling conflict with the Sri Lanka Premier League. The indebted board relies on income from the IPL, which comes in the form of a 10% cut of player salaries.Although the players have been urged by some, including Arjuna Ranatunga, to boycott the IPL, they are unlikely to do so, particularly given they have the board’s implicit support to play in the tournament. Some players had flights changed, so as to avoid being routed through Tamil Nadu, but will join their teams as planned over the next week.Mathews said he and his team were aware of the evolving situation, but had left the decision in the hands of the two boards. “As far as the players are concerned, we’ve got nothing to do with it. We’ve always enjoyed playing in India. But there is a situation and the cricket board will let us know on that. As far as the team is concerned we’re not very much bothered.”It’s not a distraction at all. We’re not concentrating on the IPL right now. We’ve got one ODI and a Twenty20 against Bangladesh to go, so we’re concentrating on that. Maybe after the two games, we can look into it, but for now we’re not interested in it.”

Stuart Broad found himself in a familiar position for England captains – trying to explain a calamitous display against spin bowling

David Hopps in Colombo23-Sep-2012Stuart Broad found himself in a familiar position for England captains – trying to explain a calamitous display against spin bowling – as his side, dismissed against India for 80 in 14.4 overs, registered England’s lowest total in Twenty20 internationals.”It doesn’t change our destiny a huge amount – we still hop on a bus to Kandy in the morning,” Broad said. “It is not like tomorrow is going to be a different day. It is not as if we have to go home or anything.”It was understandable, indeed it was necessary, that Broad found consolation in the fact that both sides had already qualified for Super Eights and that, for the sake of their travelling supporters, England and India were already locked into matches in Pallekele (near to Kandy) or Colombo respectively, irrespective of whether they finished first or second in the group.But that underplayed the psychological effect that a defeat of such magnitude will have on a relatively untried England batting line-up that had grown in confidence during the warm-up matches but which collapsed spectacularly when faced by the first real test against significant opposition.As Broad had mentioned destiny, he did bring to mind Freud’s theory of repetition compulsion – a psychological phenomenon in which a person (or in this case the England cricket team) repeats a traumatic event, or its circumstances, over and over again.Freud’s theory says the patient does not remember anything about what he has forgotten or repressed, but just acts it out until the end of time, which is a depressing thought for when England next face spin bowling in Asia as well as an intriguing challenge for the team psychologist. The alternative, of course, would be to listen instead to Mushtaq Ahmed, the spin bowling coach, and start hitting the ball down the ground.”Our error today is we lost early wickets,” Broad said. “Spinners always enjoy bowling to new batsmen. We talked the other day about how we need to hit straight and hard and today to lose the first couple of wickets across the line was a bit disappointing. Hitting straight was a much better option than going across the ball.”England’s display was so woeful that when they lost their ninth wicket at 60 they were in danger of recording the lowest score in T20 internationals, undercutting Kenya’s 67 against Ireland. Somehow, they avoided that. But this was their heaviest defeat, by runs, in T20 internationals.There was no alibi for the batsmen and Broad was not about to give them one. There was no sharp turn – there may be as the tournament progresses so if England do reach the semi-finals and face India once more at Premadasa it could be worse – and India’s 170 for 4 was, at most, 10 over par so the target did not demand the impossible.”I don’t think the wicket turned massively to be honest,” Broad said. “The guys getting out said it was just skidding on a little bit. There was a little bit of turn, Harbhajan bowled very nicely with his top-spinner going well but no, I don’t think it was a raging turner or anything.”We made it easy for India in the end. We will have to learn from our mistakes and there were some pretty clear ones in the batting line-up. Young guys seem to learn pretty quickly.”He did not entirely exonerate the bowling, where England suffered in this match by giving Tim Bresnan a run out as a fourth seamer, in defiance of a dry pitch, because of their conviction that the ball will seam and swing in Pallakele and he will play in their opening Super Eight tie against West Indies or Ireland on Thursday as a result. The fielding was also scrappy by England standards, but these were details compared to the car crash of a batting performance.”I think we were a little bit sloppy in places: we had a few soft twos in the outfield,” Broad conceded. “We didn’t hit our lengths as well as we could up front. But I think it was the lowest first-innings score on this ground so far in the tournament. We thought it was very chaseable. The wicket was pretty flat, although it didn’t have the pace in it that it had the other night.”It will be interesting to see what the Pallakele wickets offer. There has been talk that in the Sri Lankan Premier League it seamed around a bit. We knew it was a bit dryer at the start but we wanted to try a different balance of side with the four seamers in a game that we could afford to lose. It was a risk that we took and it didn’t help us.”Sunil Gavaskar, the former India captain, was quick to point out England’s deficiencies. “This is a sorry display from England,” he said. “There’s been a lack of footwork, application and the will to stick around and fight it out.” It was accurate enough but England regard Gavaskar as a serial critic; perhaps this is a comment that will be heading for the dressing room wall.

Mitchell Johnson will ask Australia’s captain Steven Smith and coach Darren Lehmann for shorter spells akin to those he fired down at England last summer

Daniel Brettig in Sydney02-Jan-2015Mitchell Johnson will ask Australia’s captain Steven Smith and coach Darren Lehmann for shorter spells akin to those he fired down at England last summer, after admitting he has throttled back his pace due to the longer stints asked of him against India.Save for an influential spell on the final morning of the Gabba Test, Johnson’s returns have trailed off this summer, while his pace has also been down by around 10km/h on what England and South Africa were subjected to. Key to this high speed were the short bursts of around three overs that Michael Clarke kept Johnson fresh for.However there have been numerous longer spells this season, something Johnson has responded to by reducing his pace in an effort to maintain his energy levels. In a frank admission, Johnson said he wanted to get back to the way he was used by Clarke, and intends to take it up with Smith and Lehmann.”I’ve been bowling longer spells,” Johnson said. “That’s been at the back of my mind where I know I’m going to be bowling four, five, six over spells that I can’t be flat out every ball. It has dropped off a little bit. It’s been a big 15 months as well so it’s tough cricket.”We go out there day in and day out and we work really hard and to be able to bowl 150 every game I’d be dreaming if I could do that. But I’d like to be going back to bowling shorter spells again. Hopefully I can do that in this Test. At the moment I’m just doing what the team needs me to do and that’s bowling those longer spells.”I’ll speak to Steve Smith and Darren Lehmann and see if we can go back to those three over sharp spells because I think that worked really well for us in the past. But that’s just me speaking. They might want me to bowl those longer spells again. Be happier with me bowling an average of me bowling 140 again, and occasionally get it up there as well.”There are several reasons why Smith and Lehmann have been using Johnson differently this summer. Chief among them is that the pitches for the India Tests have been by and large more amenable to batsmen than they were for England, lacking the sort of pace and bounce that promotes batting collapses. But the dropping of Peter Siddle and the need to take care of Ryan Harris’ creaking body have also been factors leading to Johnson being called upon for more draining shifts at the bowling crease.”You like a wicket to break up, that’s what you expect from a five-day wicket. And it looked like a three-day wicket by the end of it,” Johnson said of Melbourne’s seemingly indestructible surface. “And it happened in Adelaide as well, obviously just had the footmarks there which was helpful for Nathan Lyon, but the middle of the wicket, it’s a little bit disappointing.”We played over there [in India] and lost four-nil on some pretty ordinary wickets, I thought, and we were hoping for them to come over here and play on some good, bouncy wickets. I even thought the Gabba wasn’t the normal Gabba. A bit of bounce there but it just wasn’t the same. Wickets have been suited for the batters more than anything I think.”Johnson can be expected to have an extended break during the early part of the triangular ODI series that follows the Sydney Test, before resuming ahead of the World Cup. He said some time away would be needed by all the fast bowlers, not just him, once the SCG match has run its course.”Definitely, all us bowlers feel like we need to have a bit of a freshen up,” Johnson said. “So we’ll just see what happens after this match here. And then we’ve got some tri-series one-dayers, so hopefully I can get a bit of a break at some stage there. If not, I’ve just got to go out there and keep trying to do the best I can.”We’ve just seen that in the last little period, bowlers have been getting a break. I had a break after one-dayers in Perth earlier, which was to freshen me up, and that was really helpful.”One major contributor to the drain of the summer has been the emotional and mental toll of losing Phillip Hughes. Johnson said the team had come a long way since the last time they sat together in the SCG dressing room, when discussing how it would be possible to come back and play cricket at all following Hughes’ death at the ground.”We all didn’t know how we were going to go out there and play, and we weren’t sure if we had enough time and all that stuff and too close to go out there and play again,” Johnson said. “But everyone is sticking together. I remember the first fielding session we had we had a bit of fun, did a bit of dancing, [strength and conditioning coach] Damian Mednis made us do a dance and stuff when he stopped the music or whatever it was. He got us together and we really enjoyed each other’s company.”[The SCG is] going to be difficult for a lot of guys, but the guys who were out there [when Hughes was hit] it’s going to be very tough for them, but everyone has handled it very well and in their own ways, they’ve done it very well. So we’ve been really happy to get a result that we have against India after the passing of Phil and we haven’t been at the SCG yet so we don’t know how everyone’s going to feel.”I don’t know how it’s going to be like afterwards. I guess it will probably be hard, you’ll be able to sit down and think about things. You still find it difficult when you see little tributes around. It still brings a tear to the eye, so it’s been emotional for everyone but I think everyone sticking together has been the best thing.”

Ed Cowan, the Australian batsman, just happened to be living in Cirencester because of his heavily-pregnant wife. He made a first-class debut for Gloucestershire and promptly won his county cap.

Alex Winter at Cheltenham11-Jul-2012Ed Cowan, seen here batting for Australia, did not have to wait too long for his Gloucestershire cap•AFPIt was quite a matter of convenience that Gloucestershire were able to employ the services of Australia Test opener Ed Cowan. But right place, right time is so often the making of so much success. Just ask Darren Bent.Gloucestershire just happened to be the county where Ed Cowan decided to stay with his heavily-pregnant wife, Virginia. He is in England for an Australia A tour and Cricket Australia were keen for him to get some cricket before their fixtures begin at Derby on July 27.Cowan is staying in Cirencester, a 16 mile trip from Cheltenham, and got in touch with Gloucestershire who signed him for six matches. But this is his only County Championship appearance. As such, his debut was greeted with the presentation for his county cap. It is quite conceivable that he could never play for Gloucestershire again. It is a disgrace, a debasement of the capping system.But maybe a cheap cap is worth a few bonus points. Cowan’s unbeaten 51 helped Gloucestershire towards their first in just over half a day’s play. Bonus points could be the only reward from this match given the forecast.”Ryan ten Doeschate was joking with me,” Cowan said. “He said it took him six years to get his Essex cap and I’ve just turned up to earn mine. But I respect the policy they have here and it’s very special to be playing my first first-class game for the club. Any time you’re capped by a county it’s a pretty special moment.”Rob Nicol, the New Zealand batsman, will be the next recipient of a Gloucestershire cap when he arrives to play for the rest of the season next week. But this week Gloucestershire have the services of a very determined man who recognises he has work ahead of him to prove his worth at Test level.”The Ashes is something that would be very special to be a part of,” Cowan said. “But we’ve got some landmark series before then. I feel I’m good enough to be in that Test team and not just chipping in but dominating games for the team. I’m yet to prove that but I look forward to doing that. And It’s nice to be playing cricket over here a year out, getting used to different conditions and different balls.”Cowan said the chance to play at the famous Cheltenham festival – which all Australians have heard of apparently – was a factor in him approaching Gloucestershire. And he immediately had a chance to bat on the college ground as Alex Gidman won the toss: possibly Cowan’s only chance to bat here.The recent weather saw the members’ car park at the college lawn end declared off limits. The wicket, although appearing a fine surface, also showed signs of the poor summer. “Having played a little bit in the UK before, it reminded me of an early season wicket,” Cowan said. “There’s not a whole heap of pace there, it’s not really conducive to a huge amount of strokemaking but not great for bowling either. But I think it will quicken up as the game goes on. I think it will turn, too. Harbhajan Singh has already spun a couple.”Cowan seemed to struggle on occasions to pick Harbhajan’s length and he conceded just 15 runs from his three spells, the last a single over before the umpires sensibly suspended play before rain brought stumps.James Foster, Essex’s captain, only gave Harbhajan six overs. Curious given that he caused problems to Cowan, a left-hander, who survived a strong lbw appeal, and that the Essex attack began to toil in a 108-run second wicket partnership between Cowan and Dan Housego – another who received his Gloucestershire cap this season. He was making his return after a shoulder injury and played a controlled innings.He struck a sumptuous cover drive off ten Doeschate through the covers before inside edging another drive for four more to bring up his half-century. But trying to play a length ball from Reece Topley into the leg side lost his middle stump.The wicket inhibited Cowan, who didn’t score for another 19 balls. He finally got going again with a mistimed cover drive for a single before manoeuvring Harbhajan to fine leg to bring up his 142-ball fifty.He walked off unbeaten having shown admirable composure in at times difficult weather, for a period against the new ball, and throughout facing the opening pairing of Topley and David Masters who together sent down 30 overs for 66 runs.Gloucestershire were in the right place at the right time to inherit the services of a fine player. And they may have hooked Cowan for the future. “I’ve really loved the dressing room and the coaching structure,” Cowan said. “It’s a really impressive set up and definitely a place I’d like to play some more cricket.” Perhaps that cap wasn’t hastily awarded after all.