Why the allocation of the 2019 World Cup to England and Wales should be a cause for back-slapping and declarations of how much it shows us to be in the vanguard of the global game beats me, writes Mike Selvey in The Guardian .

If you really want to get up Makhaya Ntini's nose, try talking to him about being a role model for his country's budding young athletes, writes Richard Boock in The Herald on Sunday .

Burnout is fast becoming the hottest topic in cricket

Ashley Giles will put his feet up this week while England's selectors debate which spinner will replace him for the Lord's Test against Sri Lanka which starts on Thursday week, writes Scyld Berry in The Sunday Telegraph .

Stephen Fleming's conversion rate from 50s to 100s may not make jaws drop but Mark Richardson writes in the New Zealand Herald that he does a fine job of converting the 100s into bigger scores .

Stephen Fleming's double-century put New Zealand in a commanding position of the second Test against South Africa but Adam Parore writes in the New Zealand Herald that Fleming's poor conversion rate has hampered him from becoming New Zealand's

Christopher Martin-Jenkins says that none of the books on last year's epic Ashes have made it to the shortlist for the Cricket Society Book of the Year award.

Jason Gillespie's 201 not out against Bangladesh deserves to stand as a contender for the most astonishing innings played in Test cricket, writes Greg Baum in The Sydney Morning Herald .

Here's what Sunil Gavaskar had to say on the player burn-out issue

Martin Johnson writes on the charm the start of a new English season brings, in The Daily Telegraph .

Gold, silver, diamonds and more..

"We have a very good idea of what our strongest one-day side is

England are deprived of four regulars and they have not disgraced themselves

"I don't understand this obsession with the World Cup

Mark Richardson writes in The New Zealand Herald that Mathew Sinclair should take the rumoured contract on offer in South Africa because the game owes him more than the New Zealand cricket environment can offer him.

As a batsman, Ponting has shown a rare ability to keep things simple

Who is Adam Parore's tip for the key player if New Zealand are to seriously ruffle the South Africans this month

The best argument in support of the latest theory swirling around the New Zealand team is that it doesn't make the slightest bit of sense, writes Richard Boock in The New Zealand Herald .

A total of 37 players were bought at the 2013 IPL auction in Chennai for a cost of $11.89 million. Here's what the teams did during the auction and how they stack up

Do not allow today's well-armoured batsmen to get runs when they let the ball hit their bodies rather than their bats