The harsh weather in Melbourne, welcoming the new year in Sydney and more.

 

 

 

Music often tells us more about a country than we imagine

 

I have walked into a country-sized gym

It's like learning how to be a person of the world again and to do this in a city like Johannesburg, which houses three to four entire worlds within one city, is altogether trickier

In time, it will become clear that he had done enough with Pakistan, with South Africa, with Warwickshire, with the ICC and with the game

After the PCB criticised its report on Pakistan cricket, a visit by the ICC's Pakistan Task Team (PTT) to the country is on the cards, though details of the scope and nature of the trip as well as the timing are yet to be finalised

The PCB has raised serious questions about the ICC Pakistan Task Team's (PTT) report, pointing out a number of factual errors in the report and calling it "a scholarly exercise" rather than being a Pakistan-specific document

Ijaz Butt, the PCB chairman, has said the spot-fixing controversy that resulted in bans being imposed on three leading Pakistan players has been the biggest disappointment of his tenure

The Pakistan Task Team never actually came to Pakistan, and it shows in their unrealistic report. And what of the original purpose of the team - to help Pakistan deal with losing international cricket? That has been almost completely ignored

PCB COO Subhan Ahmed has said that the board wanted to send a strong message by putting in a bid to host an ICC event in 2018

The Faysal Bank Super Eight T20 confirmed that cricket in Pakistan is not just about court cases, and dysfunctional players and management

Danish Kaneria, the Pakistan legspinner, has taken his battle with the PCB to court, filing a petition on Saturday at the Sindh High Court in Karachi against his continued non-clearance by the board's integrity committee

The results of the five-day meeting are not as bad as they could have been for the board

The ICC has given its member boards two years to become democratised and free from government and political interference in a bid to improve governance within the game

Pakistan are expected to raise the issue of their continued snub from the Champions League Twenty20 at the ICC annual meeting later this month in Hong Kong

The frequent controversies that seem to dog the country's cricketers could well have been prevented if a players' body existed