Hadlee, Snedden in line for NZC role: New Zealand news

New Zealand news

Hadlee, Snedden in line for NZC role

Former Test cricketers Richard Hadlee, Martin Snedden and Geoff Allott are among eight recommended people who are likely to be voted in as New Zealand Cricket's new board of directors.

To be elected, each candidate needs more than 50% of the votes cast by the delegates representing all Major Associations and District Associations at a Special General Meeting in Auckland on September 19.

The other five recommendations, selected by an appointments panel, were Greg Barclay, Neil Craig, Liz Dawson, Stuart Heal and Don Mackinnon, all of whom have experience in sport and corporate administration and governance. Barclay, Heal and Mackinnon are current NZC directors seeking re-election. The three former cricketers also have extensive experience in administration of the sport.

"It was a difficult job selecting the eight candidates from a range of quality nominees," NZC president Stephen Boock said. "I am confident that through this thorough process we have found a group of people with the combined skillsets to drive cricket forward in this country."

The upcoming vote is an outcome of the new NZC constitution that was approved in July.

New Zealand Cricket's board of directors is set to undergo an overhaul, following its adoption of a new constitution at a special general meeting on Friday. As per the new constitution, an "appointments panel" will recommend candidates for the eight-member board of directors, and the 28 members of the NZC will then vote to endorse - or reject - the candidates.

While the current directors are eligible to seek re-election to their posts, NZC chairman Chris Moller announced at the meeting that he would step down from the role in September, following the elections. "I have been chairman of New Zealand Cricket for three years and a director for five years, the same duration that I chose to be involved in New Zealand Rugby and being chairman is a hugely time consuming role," Moller was quoted as saying in a NZC release. "I also think it is in the best interests of cricket in New Zealand for a new chairman to be inducted into the ICC during the tenure of Alan Isaac as president."

It was decided that the appointments panel will comprise a convenor who is nominated by the board, the chairpersons of three of the major associations (the six major associations will be represented on the panel by annual rotation) and one person nominated by Sport New Zealand, the government organisation responsible for sport. The first panel includes NZC president Stephen Boock as convenor, Auckland Cricket chairman Rex Smith, Northern Districts Cricket chairman Lachlan Muldowney, Otago Cricket chairman Murray Hughes and Sport New Zealand's John Wells.

As per the new process, vacancies on the board of directors will be publicly advertised, and anyone can apply for the posts. The adverts will go out on July 13, and the appointments panel will process the applications over the next ten weeks. It will advise NZC of its recommended candidates on September 10, and the voting will be on September 19 at the board's next special general meeting. Until then, the current directors will remain office.

The new board of directors, based on the appointment panel's recommendations, might be paid salaries. This recommendation is pending approval from the board; it will have to be ratified at its annual general meeting.

The new constitution was drawn up in consultation with "a wide cross-section of the cricketing community", including the NZC's six major associations and 22 district associations. Previously, the directors were appointed by one NZC board member, one representative of the major associations and two persons from the New Zealand Institute of Directors, an organisation that promotes best corporate governance

 

What effect does average have on a batsman? Aaron Finch's contrasting figures in limited-overs

What effect does average have on a batsman?

Aaron Finch's contrasting figures in limited-overs and first-class cricket suggest he needs to bring his T20 mindset to the longer format

Having been asked many times what made Don Bradman so much better than the rest, I came to the conclusion it was his unique ability to replicate the more relaxed thought process of a net session while batting in the middle.

I reached this point of view after watching footage of Bradman bat to save the 1938 Trent Bridge Test. On that occasion, his footwork, normally positive and precise, looked like any other batsman's, as he shuffled in the crease, defending doggedly to stave off defeat. This drastic change in mindset was brought on because he was desperate to save a match in which Stan McCabe had played a memorable innings. As McCabe flayed the English attack, Bradman had famously said to the Australian players in the dressing room: "Come and look at this, you'll never see its like again."

Despite McCabe's brilliance, Australia was forced to follow on, and for once Bradman must have felt the external pressures that he was obviously able to eradicate from most of his other innings. Maybe he also experienced that same feeling in his final Test innings when he made a duck, needing only four runs for a career average of a hundred.

And that prompts the question: "What effect does batting average have on players?"

While he smote the English attack in scoring a record-breaking 156 off just 63 balls in the T20, Aaron Finch didn't seem to have a care in the world. Contrast that onslaught with his miserable last two Sheffield Shield seasons, where he has accumulated a minuscule 300 runs in 19 innings at the pedestrian strike rate of 58 runs per hundred balls.

In T20, your strike rate is the dominant statistic and the batting average takes a back seat. Most players are not so bothered about sacrificing their wicket in the format, because "that's the nature of the game".

However, in Test and first-class cricket very few players are willing to embrace equally the disparate ambitions of personal success and entertaining the crowd. After such a brutal display of hitting, it's natural to wonder: why can't Finch do better in longer forms of the game?

Finch is acknowledging that average counts by playing differently at first-class level to try to maintain a place in the side. Average is one of the measures selectors use to judge a batsman.

One commentator described Finch's T20 knock as a great innings. While there's no doubting the entertainment value, I would argue the lack of a contest - the bowlers appeared powerless to stop Finch - made it more of an exhibition of exceptional hitting.

Part of the enjoyment of a memorable innings is to witness a batsman overcome everything the bowlers produce in the contest. Consequently, the great Test knocks are readily remembered many years later. Bradman's 300 in a day at Headingley and McCabe's brilliance at Trent Bridge are still regarded as classic innings despite being played early last century. Brian Lara's record-breaking 400 and VVS Laxman's exquisite 281 at Eden Gardens were compiled years ago but are still recalled fondly.

Even some of the shorter-form knocks such as Sachin Tendulkar's epic 200 to become the first player to reach that level in an ODI will be talked about for years. Chris Gayle's blazing century in the inaugural World Twenty20 is still recalled as the first of its kind. And Garry Sobers' feat in achieving six sixes in a first-class over is still talked about in awe.

Players like Sobers, Tendulkar and Gayle have a huge advantage over Finch in a cricket fan's memory. Those three will long be revered as all-round batsmen because of their highly successful Test careers. Finch, on the other hand, unless he can find a way to play the longer form successfully, is in danger of being remembered simply as a bowler bully whose brutish hitting was discounted by shortened boundaries, enlarged bats and flat pitches.

In order to elevate his status as a batsman, perhaps Finch needs to take a leaf out of Bradman's book. He could try emulating the thought process in first-class cricket, not so much of his net sessions but of the T20 arena.

Australia news

WACA stripped of Test in 2014-15

Perth is the major casualty of Australia's truncated 2014-15 Test summer, stripped of its annual match for the first time since 1976-77. Only four Tests are scheduled for a season in which India will visit, due mainly to the fixturing squeeze created by the 2015 World Cup, and the nation's two smallest and youngest major grounds in Perth and Hobart have been left off the Test calendar.

The decision has provoked an outraged response from the Western Australia Cricket Association, while the host broadcaster Channel Nine is also likely to be nonplussed about losing the one Test match of the summer it can screen in prime time to the populous eastern states, due to Perth's more westerly time zone. However it was always likely that Perth would miss out on the match due to concerns about the ground's facilities and size relative to its main rivals Brisbane and Adelaide.

While Bellerive Oval has never been a nailed-on venue, the WACA ground has invariably provided blood and thunder Test cricket, due to its uniquely fast and bouncy pitch. India were rounded up by an innings and 37 runs well inside three days in Perth in January 2012. Other considerations outlined by the CA chief executive James Sutherland included the strong claims of other grounds. Adelaide Oval's $535 million redevelopment will be complete in time for the series, while the Gabba has traditionally been host to the first Test of the summer and has consistently drawn larger crowds to its matches than Perth.

The WACA's size, a history of spotty attendances and facilities lagging behind other grounds have detracted from its standing among international venues, despite its lively pitch and a time zone more favourable to television audiences both in India and on the east coast of Australia. CA's verdict also maintains a longstanding tradition of "last in, first out" among venues - Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and Brisbane all boasting of longer Test traditions than Perth.

"Though a traditional Test match venue with a proud history, the WACA ground has the smallest capacity of the five mainland Test venues and has historically attracted lower attendances," Sutherland said. "The WACA has been working hard to improve the facilities for its fans but it still requires significant improvements.

"Although the WACA has missed out on a Test match, they will play host to up to four limited-overs matches in the 2014-15 season that will see South Africa tour in a limited-overs series in November, as well as India and England competing in a tri-series in January prior to the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup."

Christina Matthews, the WACA chief executive, expressed her deep disappointment at the WACA's reduced allocation for 2014-15. "Whilst CA will provide additional limited-overs matches to replace the Test match, there is no compensation for losing a Test," she said. "The on-going effect this loss will have on the WACA and cricket in Western Australia will be devastating. We will continue talks with CA and will be seeking an understanding from them of all the elements behind the decision."

Apart from Adelaide and Brisbane, the other party most likely to be pleased by the decision are India's cricketers. Save for a victory on an uncharacteristic WACA ground surface in 2008, India have struggled in Perth, and the green-tinged 2012 pitch is known to have been chief among the motivators for the retaliatory dustbowls prepared for Australia's visit to India earlier this year.

"One goes back to the Perth Test where the wicket was green and we played to our strengths and won the Test in two and a half days," Australia's former coach Mickey Arthur said last month. "They clearly wanted retribution for that and produced some of the toughest conditions I'd ever seen. They went out of their way to prepare those conditions and I can't argue with that."

 

Lost white hope, Cameron White, Australia

Once Australia's next big thing, Cameron White finds his international career more or less done and dusted, and with no takers for his main suit, captaincy

When he was a teenager, people said Cameron White was the next Warne, who could bat and might captain Australia. It was a lot to carry.

White looked like he could carry it. Until you're standing near him, you don't quite get the full effect. His nickname is from a polar bear that appears in rum ads. Which when you're close to him you fully understand. He's not built like a batsman, or even a cricketer. He's built more like a gym-body beach bum.

His shoulders are epic. White is constantly pulling at his sleeves. It is probably a tic from a lifetime of ill-fitting shirts. He has what sports commentators like to refer to as an impressive frame. He looks like he could pick up most cricketers and toss them back over his shoulder just for fun.

If that's what he looks like, it's often the complete opposite of how he actually is on the field.

When White bowls he seems one ball away from breakdown. A stock ball that produces few worries. He relies on pushing his even straighter ball through a bit quicker and trapping a player back on the crease. It is a risky practice. And unless you have the genius of Anil Kumble, you are going to fail more than you succeed. The only way it works is if you believe in your method completely. It seemed like White never has. At times of late, he has even resorted to medium pace. Giving up legspin for medium pace is the last resort of any leggie.

When White bats he has two modes. Angel of death or dead duck. Early on he always looks one full and straight ball away from a dismissal. Other men with his power intimidate bowlers, but unlike Symonds or Watson, White can look awkward and out of place in the middle. Until he hits the ball long and straight, his innings seem to be played with a handbrake on. When he does take a ball long, he often leaves his bat up for a good few seconds. On other batsmen it looks arrogant. For White, it is almost surprise at what he can do.

There is not a bowler on earth that he can't lift down the ground and into the stands. Most of them well beyond that. When he is in a purple patch of form, your best chance of getting him caught is in the second tier. And once in that form, the good form can last for months. Unfortunately, the bad form can last just as long. And he has seemingly no middle ground.

The only time you see White as he should be is in the field. If he's unsure as a bowler and flawed as a batsman, as a captain he's a king. David Hookes was given great credit for giving White the captaincy at such a young age, but Hookes would have been pronounced blind had he not seen the phenomenal tactical nous of White.

White reads cricket as well as any modern player. It has not been taught by coaches or academies, it is a natural gift. To see him in the field is to see a captain as one should be. Upbeat, attacking, in charge, active, and ahead of the game. In limited- overs cricket he understands angles about as well as any captain. He has the energy and spirit of a young captain who is not scarred despite ten years of professional captaincy. For captaincy nerds, it is worth just watching him in the field. He's Shane Warne 2.0 without the "all lost to win" attitude in every game. Results-wise he is the best captain Victoria have ever had, and he's still only 30.

From the start of his international career he was in the circle, giving Ponting advice. Sometimes Ponting liked it, sometimes it appeared as if he had a headache. Before, Ponting had listened to titans of Australian cricket - Gilchrist, Lehmann and Warne. Now a young kid who looked like he'd got lost on the way back from a beach was yapping at him, and pointing to all the places he thought Ponting should be attacking or defending.

Australia thought so much of White that when Michael Clarke stepped down from T20 cricket, White took the job. It wasn't a big surprise. He had led Victoria as they dominated Australian domestic T20 cricket. He broke records in English T20 cricket, and was one of the first players tapped on the shoulder for the IPL. He was known to most as a captain before he was known as a cricketer.

White's reign was short. Six games. As a batsman he struggled due to one of his hauntingly long form lapses. He never bowled. Soon he was out of the ODI team and lost his role as captain. White has not played ODI cricket since 2011, and was not in the current T20 side to play England.

At one stage he was future Warne. At another, future Australia Test captain. Now he is a very occasional bowler who will barely be remembered as a former Australia T20 captain. If he ever could have put the confidence and belief he had in captaincy into the rest of his game, he would have become the sort of Australian cricketer their team needs so much now. He has elements of the three kinds of cricketers Australia want most. A spinner. A batsman. And a leader.

At 30, he has been replaced as Victoria's captain. Matthew Wade has taken the job. It is a massive move to dump the second-most successful captain in Shield cricket when he is only 30. But it is only partly about White.

	The only time you see White as he should be is in the field. If he's unsure as a bowler, and flawed as a batsman, as a captain he's a king

Cricket Victoria felt the indirect pressure of Cricket Australia to provide Australia with a potential future captain. There is a leadership gap in Australian cricket, and Cricket Victoria (Cricket New South Wales replaced Simon Katich with Stephen O'Keeffe) is trying to fill it. Wade is a fighter, someone who has overcome cancer and a poor wicketkeeping technique to make it as Australia's first-choice keeper, right up until the Ashes. Yet the major reason Brad Haddin was brought back was for leadership. Which seems odd, considering Wade's new job.

In the push for youth and magic potions, Cricket Australia have often discarded their strength, a strong Sheffield Shield competition. Their tampering with the Futures League was a disaster that they are rectifying. Cricket Australia constantly rewards youth over skill and experience. While some would love it if the kids all had a go, if the kids all have a go and there is no one around to test them, what is the point? What will they learn playing in Cricket Australia's indirect age-group series? This pressure on the states to find leaders is just another short-term fix that won't help. Wade, 25, is a potential leader. White, 30, is out.

The only problem is, Australian Test captains rarely come from Shield cricket these days. Australian captains are picked from within the team. Mostly from the players who have played several years of international cricket, which makes them unavailable for Shield cricket. Border, Taylor, Waugh, Ponting and Clarke didn't get to play entire seasons as Shield captains. Perhaps with the exception of Taylor, they really learnt the job as second in charge of the Test team, or through captaining the limited-overs sides.

With Haddin averaging 22 in his comeback series, the chances are Wade will be the keeper in all three formats and he'll barely captain Victoria. With Haddin out of the side, if the Australian team really rate Wade, he'd be made vice-captain of the Test side. If Victoria really wanted to replace White with a potential future captain who could get invaluable experience, they'd be better off with Alex Keath or Peter Hanscomb. They are both older than White was when he took over from Darren Berry.

Or they could have left White there to help develop the next generation of cricketers. Other than as an occasional member of the limited-overs side, the one thing that White can still give Australian cricket is his captaincy. Not at the international level but at domestic. A young first-class batsman should be examined by a smart captain. Poking at a technique that has been largely untested in age-group cricket and academies. A Victorian bowler with promise being mentored by an expert. A player trying to get back into the Test team up against a captain who knows how to make him struggle.

White's batting and bowling might not have been Test quality, but his captaincy is. The one thing he did best, the one way he could continue to help Australian cricket, is now being taken out of Shield cricket. How soon before he drifts into the life of a T20 freelancer and is virtually lost to Australian cricket altogether?

You'd think a country that is having so many problems producing skilled cricketers would be a little more hesitant to throw away the ones they have. A few days after his 30th birthday, Australian cricket has started to distance itself from one of its lost generation. In doing so, they continue to lose.

Two sons catch the eye in Mumbai Maidans, Arjun Tendulkar

Indian cricket

Two sons catch the eye in Mumbai Maidans

Two debutants were the story of Kanga League's first day. While Arjun Tendulkar stayed guarded in the spotlight, the other, a record-breaking eight-year-old first-timer, lapped it up

As if the pressure of making his debut in the Kanga League, a prestigious club tournament in Mumbai, wasn't enough, Arjun Tendulkar - the son of Sachin Tendulkar, who'll soon be 14 - was sent in to open the batting for his foster club, the Young Parsees Cricket Club. It was a short innings. His only run came off a medium-pacer called Sachin before he was stumped. The posse of television cameras that arrived a few minutes late after wading through a labyrinth of matches at the Azad Maidan had already missed out.

On a day that Sachin Tendulkar would make an impassioned plea to let his son enjoy his cricket without undue pressure, this brief innings' analysis had already reached saturation level. "There were no nerves and he looked very good," Rajesh Sanil, the Young Parsees coach, said. "I asked the umpires as well and they too said that he looked confident."

When the cameras arrived and threatened to get close to Arjun Tendulkar, a portly man in a steel grey safari suit shooed them away. Another man in cricket whites was the only one Tendulkar was talking to, apart from his coach. The coach seemed to be discussing a few finer points with him, speaking in English in a tone reserved for peers. While the rest of his team-mates joked and egged their batsmen from the other side of the pavilion, Tendulkar quietly kept his gaze focused on the action, and only talked with the two men who were also shielding him from the cameras. At lunch, while the rest dug into the buffet, Tendulkar ate from his home-packed lunch box, in the company of his two friends.

The Young Parsees and the United Club of India were playing the first match of division G - the seventh, and lowest, division - of the Kanga League, an annual Mumbai fixture whose start was deferred to the first week of September to avoid monsoon-related disruptions. The top divisions usually feature Mumbai's Ranji cricketers who take to the field for early-season match practice. For Tendulkar, who was part of MCA's Under-14 squad last year but was not picked this year, Kanga League is being seen as an important step in his development.

A kilometre away from the hustle-bustle of Azad Maidan, the Oval, next to Churchgate station, hosted a number of League matches too. On one of the pitches on the south side of the ground, another young cricketer was inviting media attention. Mushir Khan, at eight, is the youngest player to feature in the Kanga League. He broke the record of his brother, Sarfaraz Khan - who recently broke into the India Under-19 team - by two years. Unlike Tendulkar, Mushir was embracing all the attention.

Mushir, captained by his father Naushad Khan, is in the team as a left-arm spinner, but batted at No. 5. He scored only 4, but he stuck around for almost an hour, helping his team, Sportsfield Cricket Club, recover from a bad start. He spent a few minutes posing for a local newspaper photographer before moving on to do a byte for a TV channel. The cameraman asked his reporter to sit level with the lens so that Mushir would look straight into the camera, but when the interviewer started, Mushir already knew what to do. He spoke uncluttered and confident Hindi.

"I feel very good to be a part of the league," he said. "My brother started at 10, and now I have done this at eight. It's the most difficult cricket I have ever played, but I did okay with the bat. The bowlers kept bowling fast at me, and I had some problems with the shorter deliveries, but I managed it okay. One problem with playing in this league is that the outfields are lush, so the ball doesn't travel. I am also learning from my father on how games are planned and saved."

Soon, Mushir, just like an eight-year-old, got distracted by a tablet computer. "Is that a big phone," he asked before flicking through the pages to identify his favourite gaming apps. "Do you have Subway Surfer? No? I like this Temple Run."

Back at Azad Maidan, the Young Parsees were busy with their fielding drills at the changeover. Tendulkar checked the wind direction with a dab of grass, then asked the captain about the end he should bowl from and started warming up. Soon, he opened the bowling.

His run-up was longish, and he bowled left-arm seam a bit gingerly, just like a 14-year-old would. Taller and leaner from what he was a year ago in the MCA Under-14 tournament, Tendulkar followed through a bit like Zaheer Khan and unlike any other bowler around, jogging halfway down the pitch. He had the opening batsman edge to second slip just before tea.

Tendulkar was on his own during tea while the rest of his team-mates dispersed for snacks or for light catching drills. When asked if this was the toughest cricket he has played, he nodded his head in disagreement, saying he had played in England before. He made a couple of calls to friends and family before cutting off the phone as the cameramen approached. "The press people are here," he said before being called back into the team huddle by his "friend" in whites, not by his team-mates.

At the Oval, Mushir had a good first day. He picked up three wickets with his slow loopy spin. He laughed and chatted with his team-mates as he walked back, clearly enjoying his big day out. "Kids of my age don't even last one ball against me. This is better," he said.

Naushad, Mushir's father, told ESPNcricinfo at the end of the day that he is not pressurising his son in search of fame. "You saw it was a tricky situation today. He came in and played 40-odd balls in a low-scoring match. I think he is ready and he enjoys it. The clubs have a lot at stake, so I won't push my son if I felt he wasn't going to contribute," he said.

Sachin Tendulkar was not seen at the Azad Maidan. Speaking at a felicitation by the Sports Journalists Association of Mumbai later in the day, he said, "My son has just played his first Kanga League game. And today, I am going to play a protective father. Even though my father was an author, not once was I asked in my childhood to follow in his footsteps. I would request everyone to treat Arjun as just another 14-year-old kid. I would request you to leave him alone and (let him) be himself."

England v Australia, 3rd NatWest ODI, Edgbaston England experiment continues

England v Australia, 3rd NatWest ODI, Edgbaston

England experiment continues

The Big Picture

They say you learn more from your mistakes than your successes and, if so, there should be a fair amount of wisdom to be gleaned from the scribbles in Ashley Giles' notebook after the weekend. Eoin Morgan, England's stand-in captain, won the toss and Steven Finn bowled a wicket maiden but little went right from then on, as Australia took a 1-0 lead in the series and Michael Clarke collected twin laurels, with his first ODI hundred against England and his first victory on tour.

England have rolled out a half-and-half squad for these fixtures, so it should not be a surprise if the product is a little half-baked. The likes of Michael Carberry and Ben Stokes deserve a few goes in the kitchen to properly evaluate whether they can handle the heat and, while there were obvious deficiencies in the performance at Old Trafford, a couple of the ingredients came off well - Boyd Rankin has seamlessly transferred the promise of his Ireland career to England colours and Jos Buttler was able to showcase his exotic skills over a longer innings.

While England fiddle, Australia have capitalised, the confidence that slowly coalesced around the second half of their Ashes campaign becoming firmer by the game. Despite a disappointing Champions Trophy, one-day cricket is probably Australia's strongest suit and they are focused on fine-tuning their best XI. That the explosive opening partnership of Shaun Marsh and Aaron Finch was quickly defused, and Fawad Ahmed struggled to influence the game, only suggests that they can perform better still.

Form guide

(Most recent first)
England LWLWW
Australia WWLLW

Watch out for...

Mitchell Johnson has described how alien it felt to watch the summer's Ashes skirmishes from his couch in Australia and knows that a fire-breathing performance in the one-day series can help get him back into Test contention. With Mitchell Starc the latest of Australia's cadre of young pacemen to pull up lame, the chances of a return to Mitch 1.0 during the return series have increased. Johnson may not have some of the natty upgrades of the new generation but, despite the clanking action and occasional processing glitches, operating speeds of 90mph never go out of fashion.

Morgan and Giles have argued against suggestions that the selection was wrong at Old Trafford but the make-up of England's attack will be under extra scrutiny. Their strategy in the 18 months leading up to the Champions Trophy was to play five genuine bowlers, with the possibility of a Ravi Bopara or Joe Root providing a few overs, but an experimental squad for this series has led to them tinkering with the formula, playing Durham allrounder Stokes as the third seamer and No. 8 batsman. On the evidence of the bowling displays against Ireland and Australia, it hasn't worked.

Team news

England seem firm in their convictions about the balance of the side but they do have other options. Jamie Overton is the bolter that most England watchers want to see but that would lengthen the tail; perhaps the most appealing compromise would be to give Root a rest and bring in the Sussex quick Chris Jordan, who is also a capable batsman, for a first senior cap.

England (possible) 1 Michael Carberry, 2 Kevin Pietersen, 3 Jonathan Trott, 4 Eoin Morgan (capt), 5 Ravi Bopara, 6 Jos Buttler (wk), 7 Ben Stokes, 8 Chris Jordan, 9 James Tredwell, 10 Boyd Rankin, 11 Steven Finn

After a tumultuous couple of months, we are now beginning to see Darren Lehmann's Australia masterplan come together. This is the first squad Lehmann has picked himself and George Bailey has praised the atmosphere in the group. Winning helps and a settled side could stay unchanged for a third outing.

Australia (possible) 1 Aaron Finch, 2 Shaun Marsh, 3 Shane Watson, 4 Michael Clarke (capt), 5 George Bailey, 6 Adam Voges, 7 Matthew Wade (wk), 8 James Faulkner, 9 Mitchell Johnson, 10 Clint McKay, 11 Fawad Ahmed

Pitch and conditions

It was at Edgbaston during the Champions Trophy that England's summer of turners began. India's spinners found the pitches to be a home from home during their triumphant campaign and despite the arrival of some autumnal weather, a slow, dry surface conducive to spin seems likely. A forecast for rain in the evening won't be to anyone's liking, however.

Stats and trivia

• As well as a wet no result against New Zealand during the Champions Trophy, Australia suffered a washout and an abandonment on their previous two visits to Birmingham in 2012 and 2005.
• England's win over Australia at Edgbaston at the 2004 Champions Trophy ended a run of 14 consecutive ODI defeats dating back to 1999.
• Australia's one-day record of nine wins and four defeats in 2013 (win percentage of 69.23%) is second only to India's.
• George Bailey is 30 runs short of 1000 in ODIs.

 

The long and short of the run-up

The long and short of the run-up

Ian Botham galloped "like a shire horse cresting the breeze". Some bowlers skip and some bound. Bob Willis angled into the crease with one arm agog like a wounded heron. Dale Steyn is gun-barrel straight, targeting batsmen from the moment he raises the ball, almost like an officer with a pistol, ready to execute. Nottingham legend says they cut a hole in the hedge for Harold Larwood, that he started his marathon run-up in the adjoining field. And then there was Michael Holding, "Whispering Death", all that lethal force hidden in his languid approach and the feline glide before brute pace thudded into ribs.

According to the 1952 MCC Cricket Coaching Book, "The object of the run-up is to bring the bowler to the bowling crease completely balanced and with the momentum necessary to bowl", and that "its length should be the minimum necessary to provide this momentum".

Therefore, the faster the bowler, the longer the run-up. This would equate to Frank "Typhoon" Tyson's 38-yard charge to deliver the humdingers that compelled Don Bradman to admit he was "the fastest bowler I have ever seen".

But "Typhoon" was human too. Injuries riven from a raw action pounding ball and body into the pitch brought a premature end to his career, despite heeding the advice of master coach Alf Gover to reduce his labours into the crease on the 1954-55 Ashes tour. His 28 wickets at 20.82 apiece helped win the series and Tyson was named one of the 1956 Wisden Cricketers of the Year. With the wisdom of hindsight, would Tyson have traded fewer steps for a longer career and less pace? In his 1977 Cricket Coaching Manual he says a run-up length should "not be too long and tiring" and ought to be "carried out with correct acceleration and deceleration within the minimum space".

As a bowler on the verge of 40 and, despite years of being proved to otherwise, still believing that I can send down lightning bolts, my mind, machismo and mortality refuse to accept what my body wants - a shortened run-up.

For most bowlers the prize wicket is an uprooted stump. Larwood only considered pegs flying as a true dismissal. But if I could freeze-frame one moment of bowling it would be that last step before the delivery stride, all the potential still in my hand, seam primed, and the buffed new ball ready to warp in flight. In this golden snapshot I have balance, speed and control. No rhythm lost in the sprint to the crease, just a gathering of momentum like a train leaving a station.

Which is why I fear trundlerhood. That the act most dear to me must be retired for a post-pace career of military medium. That I'll become exactly the kind of middle-aged dobber I love to belt over the sightscreen.

Listening to Hadlee, Marshall and Akram, along with my aching limbs after bowling 28 overs in three days, I should focus on strategy and rhythm

Actually, isn't this exactly the kind of bowler I often get out to? The old-timer with guile. A bowler with cutters and subtle changes of pace, the wily seamer who tricks me into thinking I can waft him over cow corner, before I swing and find the bails are missing.

Perhaps there is a future after fast.

If I look to my bowling heroes for advice, the mantra of a "fewer steps equals more" certainly repeats. Sir Richard Hadlee recalls the day he made the decision to shorten his run as a "turning point in his career". And he was a relatively sprightly 29 when he decided to curtail his number of strides. "It gave me an extra ten years in the game and I was three times more effective," he told the Guardian when asked to comment on the experimental trimming of Steven Finn's approach. "The short run allowed me to be more explosive at the crease."

"Explosive". Now that's an adjective to sway a wannabe fast bowler into technique change.

And what bowler off a short run was more explosive than Wasim Akram, detonating batsman with toe-breaking yorkers and wicked swing. Admittedly I don't have the whippy shoulder-action of Wasim, but listening to him speak with ESPNcricinfo's very own Sambit Bal, brains are more important than brawn. "Fast bowling is not all about fitness and power; it is not all about big dumb men with biceps and triceps."

The late great Malcolm Marshall may well agree. Although hardly a bowling dwarf at five feet ten, he was diminutive in a West Indies attack of giants, and another thinking paceman who strode in off fewer steps than most of his feared contemporaries. "He was the only bowler I can remember who could rattle Sunil Gavaskar," said Kapil Dev.

Listening to Hadlee, Marshall and Akram, along with my aching limbs after bowling 28 overs in three days, I should focus on strategy and rhythm. Hadlee dissected technique, Wasim swung, and Marshall varied to devastating effect.

That's the common-sense approach. Fewer steps, less strain on the body. But less pace too. And I know that the first batsman to hit me over the ropes off a shortened run-up will spike my testosterone, and that I'll probably take a few more steps before the next ball. And if that too is despatched, the marker might be moved a few yards further still. Running in to bowl I won't be thinking about my dodgy knees and back, the stabbing pain in my left heel, because as the Typhoon himself once said, "To bowl fast is to revel in the glad animal action, to thrill in physical power."

Faisalabad hopeful of visas

Champions League news

Faisalabad hopeful of visas despite uncertainty

Faisalabad Wolves, Pakistan's domestic Twenty20 champions, are optimistic of taking part in the Champions League though they have not yet been issued with visas for India. They have been training and focusing on their cricket, team officials said, in preparation for the tournament.

Faisalabad play their first match on September 17 in Mohali, and they called off their last practice session scheduled for Thursday evening in the expectation that they would be issued their visas and would need time to pack.

However, there was no official indication either way from the Indian government or the BCCI on whether the visas would be granted. The PCB also told ESPNcricinfo that the visas had neither been issued nor denied.

"The players have been training assuming that they are going to depart as planned," Haroon Rasheed, the Faisalabad team manager, told ESPNcricinfo. "There may be some uncertainty but the players are asked to just focus on cricket and nothing else. We have completed our conditioning camp and the players have dispersed to do their packing and get ready by tonight."

If they get their visas, Faisalabad will be only the second Pakistan team to take part in the Champions League and the first in India - Sialkot Stallions competed in the 2012 tournament in South Africa.

The mood within the camp was one of hope and excitement. "For us who haven't played at the national level it is a mega event," one player said. "It will boost our careers. We are obviously down but are hopeful. It would be really unfair for us to be denied at the last hour. If they did not want to allow us they should have denied earlier instead of taking so long."

The players are scheduled to depart in two batches; those in Lahore are due to leave on Saturday while three players in the Pakistan national team - Misbah ul Haq, Saeed Ajmal and Ehsan Adil - are due to fly from Zimbabwe on the completion of the current series. The last day of the ongoing second Test in Harare is on Saturday.

This is an India-Pakistan governments issue. It has nothing to do with the BCCI or the PCB. Both boards act according to the home ministry whenever they play against each other or are to visit each other. People need to know that the recent LOC tensions between the two nations is the cause for this new episode. This is why I strongly wish to see the CLT20 being held outside of India every year so that we can avoid such unnecessary drama. If Faisalabad don't play, it would be really unfortunate. I feel bad for them. Many of their players would be dreaming to play in India and against some of the best players in the world. 

Its Indian Govt's decision to allow visas or not, everyone including me should respect that.

However, I think BCCI's could handle this more gracefully. The political tensions are not new. Before extending the invitation, BCCI should have worked out a procedure with Govt - laying out details how Govt will evaluate matters like security, background checks, visa eligibility etc. If later, visa's are denied based on the exact procedure/criteria then no one will complain. Leaving it at discretion of Govt till last min, is like extending invitation only as a formality. That shows lack of respect & preparation.

Also BCCI & Govt should reflect on WC 2011 Semi-Final, when visas were extend to Pak team and hundreds of spectators as well. Pak team also toured ealier this year. These visits ARE possible, even among all tensions.

End of day, its interests of cricketers & fans that is being sacrificed.