Lord’s may be the home of cricket but it appears that it is things other than majesty and history that appeal to the modern cricket fan; Hampshire’s Rose Bowl ground has been named the best international venue in an independent online survey of

Liam Brickhill

25-Feb-2013

Nottinghamshire’s Trent Bridge ground was named the best domestic venue and second best international venue with Glamorgan’s Swalec Stadium rated third in the annual survey in which nearly 7,000 fans took part nationwide. The Swalec Stadium was rated the second most popular domestic venue with The Rose Bowl finishing third based on online responses from fans who attended a range of domestic Friends Provident t20 and international matches last season. Lord’s came in fifth for both international and domestic fixtures.

Venues were rated across a range of different criteria including ticketing, car parking, stewarding, signage, catering, ground atmosphere and concourse and interval entertainment. Strengths and weaknesses were assessed in four key areas: overall satisfaction, likeliness to re-attend, recommendation and competitive advantage over other sporting venues.

“This research gives all our international and domestic venues a clearer understanding of what matters most to spectators when they attend matches and we send our congratulations to Hampshire, Nottinghamshire and Glamorgan on their strong performances in this year’s survey,” said David Collier, ECB chief executive.

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Benaud to make Ashes comeback?

All the talk of Shane Warne making an Ashes comeback has left one man a little offended

Brydon Coverdale

25-Feb-2013

All the talk of Shane Warne making an Ashes comeback has left one man a little offended. Fellow legspinner and commentary legend Richie Benaud might be 80, but Australia are looking for a quality slow bowler with a good cricketing brain.

"The really annoying thing about that is that no one has asked me if I wanted to make a comeback," Benaud said. "I think the answer to that is no, because when I started thinking about it, I tried to get my right arm [up] and it wouldn't come up above my shoulder."

Benaud was in a light-hearted mood at the MCG library, where he was launching an exhibition marking four centuries of cricket in print. But when pressed on whether Australia would be better off with Warne, 41, in the Ashes team, he set the record straight.

"Shane was the greatest legspinner there's ever been," Benaud said, "but if he allowed himself to be pressured into playing he'd be off his head."

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Pietersen busted for speeding ... in Warne's car

Kevin Pietersen has been fined A$239 (about £150) and been given three points on his driver’s licence after being caught speeding in a yellow Lamborghini that had been lent to him by his former Ashes adversary, Shane Warne.

Andrew Miller

25-Feb-2013

Pietersen was busted by traffic cops during a spin along the Great Ocean Road near Melbourne during a day off from training. He was clocked at 121 kilometres (75 miles) per hour in a 100kph (62 mph) zone, but an England team spokesman confirmed that no disciplinary action would be taken against him.

"Geelong highway police detected by laser a yellow Lamborghini travelling north along the Geelong Ring Road at 121km/h in a 100 zone about 2:35pm on Thursday," a police spokesperson said. "The male driver was in his 30s and was issued with a penalty of A$239 and three demerit points. There were no passengers in the vehicle."

Pietersen had earlier used his Twitter page to post pictures of the scenery on one of the world’s most famous roads. “Stunning beaches on The Great Ocean Rd.. Gorgeous drive!!" he said.

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Bring Back Warne!

A group of Queensland cricket fans have launched a campaign to lure Shane Warne out of retirement in a bid to save Australia from their first home Ashes series defeat in nearly a quarter of a century.

Andrew Miller

25-Feb-2013

With the hopes of the Australian public crushed by the team's innings defeat at Adelaide, a Brisbane businessman Ross Heywood has set up a website, bringbackwarne.com, to call for donations to an Ashes "Rescue Fund".

So far the site has raised nearly Aus$4000 since going live on Tuesday morning, although given the six-figure sums that Warne racks in through his range of commentary, poker and endorsement enterprises, they'll need a bit more than that ...

"We'll offer the Rescue Fund to the King of Spin, pleading with him to once again don the baggy green and win us back the Ashes,'' Heywood told the Courier Mail, adding that all contributions would be refunded if the campaign proved unsuccessful.

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Botham and Chappell square up in car-park

Ian Botham and Ian Chappell resumed their 30-year feud in spectacular fashion during the second Test in Adelaide, when they had to be pulled apart by their respective Sky and Channel Nine colleagues following a dust-up in the car-park at the

Andrew Miller

25-Feb-2013

Ian Botham and Ian Chappell resumed their 30-year feud in spectacular fashion during the second Test in Adelaide, when they had to be pulled apart by their respective Sky and Channel Nine colleagues following a dust-up in the car-park at the close of the fourth day’s play.

Despite their regular stints in adjacent commentary boxes, neither man has spoken to the other in three decades, with the root of their feud lying in an incident at the Hilton Hotel during the Centenary Test in Melbourne in 1977, when the then-uncapped Botham claimed to have punched the recently retired Chappell off his bar-stool in response to his disparaging remarks about the English.

On Monday, the two came close to blows once again when, according to the Daily Mail, Chappell muttered something provocative in Botham’s direction, before both men dropped their bags and went for each other’s throats. “They might be aged 55 and 67, but neither of them are the type of people to give an inch in the face of conflict,” said a source at Channel Nine.

However, Chappell defended his position: "There was some words spoken in the car park and I am being painted as the instigator," he told 3AW. "I would accept 50 per cent of the blame but certainly wasn't the instigator and as far as the rest of the rubbish is concerned about having each other by the throat and having to be pulled apart that is one of those fairytales I just talked about."

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Ponting and Strauss clash over sledging

Ricky Ponting and Andrew Strauss exchanged terse words at the close of the first day’s play at Adelaide, as James Anderson was drawn into the centre of a row over sledging during the final stages of Australia’s first-innings collapse.

Peter English

25-Feb-2013

Ponting, who is protective of his team-mates and never shy of engaging in some verbals, was seen marching over to Strauss alongside Brad Haddin as the teams left the field after England had faced one over of their first innings before stumps.

The row appeared to centre on an incident during the latter stages of Australia’s innings, during Haddin’s ninth-wicket partnership with Peter Siddle, when Anderson was seen talking to the batsmen and, in the words of one Australian newspaper, “invading their personal space”.

Ponting was understood to be complaining about Strauss's lack of on-field management of a bowler whose shy off-field persona belies the fiery character that he has become. When asked about the incident after stumps, Anderson said knowingly: "I'll go back and ask and tell you later."

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Tim Rice remembers The Don

Sir Donald Bradman lost a record at the Gabba last week, when Alastair Cook took his highest score at the ground, but another one still lives in the collection of Sir Tim Rice

Peter English

25-Feb-2013

Sir Donald Bradman lost a record at the Gabba last week, when Alastair Cook took his highest score at the ground, but another one still lives in the collection of Sir Tim Rice. Rice, the man who provided lyrics to Andrew Lloyd Webber’s music, had lunch with Bradman in Adelaide 30 years ago and they swapped stories about their shared interests.

“He was a talented musician,” Rice said. “He wrote songs as well, but piano was his instrument. I’ve got in my collection a 78rpm record of Sir Donald playing a couple of pieces and it’s great. It was recorded back in 1930.”

Rice, a former president of MCC, is a cricket lover who will deliver the eighth Bradman Oration on Thursday night. The annual speech is designed to keep alive the name of Bradman, who died in 2001. “It’s about linking aspects of music with cricket, and also about how I got into cricket and how much Australia means to me,” Rice said.

When the musical Evita, which was written by Rice, opened in Australia in 1980 he invited Bradman to the opening night. “He didn’t want to come, or couldn’t,” Rice said, “but very graciously invited me to lunch, which was much better.”

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Adelaide curator annoys KP

Kevin Pietersen has hit out at Damian Hough, the new curator at the Adelaide Oval, after England's first practice session ahead of Friday's second Test was frustrated by bad weather.

Andrew Miller

25-Feb-2013

Kevin Pietersen has hit out at Damian Hough, the new curator at the Adelaide Oval, after England's first practice session ahead of Friday's second Test was frustrated by bad weather.

With unseasonal rain restricting the players to indoor practice and cautious warming-up sessions on the outfield, Pietersen wrote on Twitter: “What should a groundsmen [sic] make sure he does 2days out from a test match???? Cover the nets when it rains maybe???” He later followed up with: "PATHETIC!"

According to eye-witnesses, Pietersen also vented his frustration in person at Hough, who took over at the Adelaide Oval this year, following the 32-year reign of the ground's previous curator, Les Burdett.

Pietersen is no stranger to Twitter controversy. Back in September, he was fined by the ECB after inadvertently revealing the fact that he had been dropped from England's one-day squad against Pakistan. In a hastily deleted message, he declared the decision a "****-up", and also revealed that he was about to join Surrey on a short-term loan deal.

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Get @theashes to the Ashes

Ashley Kerekes, the babysitter from Massachusetts who has become a cricketing celebrity because of her twitter name (@TheAshes) may get to learn about cricket with her own eyes

Cricinfo

25-Feb-2013

Ashley Kerekes, the babysitter from Massachusetts who has become a cricketing celebrity because of her twitter name (@TheAshes) may get to learn about cricket with her own eyes. Kerekes, who has now started selling t-shirts with the logo “I am not a freaking cricket match” printed on them responded to a mistaken tweeter by asking “What the hell is cricket?” That prompted users to start a campaign tagged #gettheashestotheashes. Qantas airline has responded. They’re offering the 22-year-old free flights to watch the game, while Vodafone Australia has offered to "pony up #theashes tickets & a phone so she can tweet". The second test starts on Friday in Adelaide, but Kerekes hasn’t confirmed that she’ll be there.

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Wessels follows in dad's footsteps ... almost

He may not bat like his father but he has the same nomadic itch

Cricinfo

25-Feb-2013

He may not bat like his father but he has the same nomadic itch. Australian-born Riki Wessels is one of few overseas players who dabbles in all forms of the game in Zimbabwe, not just Twenty20. Last weekend he made history by scoring a century in both innings of a first-class game for the Mid West Rhinos against the Matabeleland Tuskers.

Kepler and Ricky are the seventh father-son pair in the world to both score a hundred in each innings of a first-class game, and the second South African dad and son to do so, after Jimmy and Stephen Cook. Riki clearly has the same hunger for runs as his dad, but he certainly didn’t learn his batting style from the old man. While Wessels Snr. was usually cramped and trusted his eye rather than his footwork, his son is light on his feet and an adventurous boundary hitter. He also has a substantially healthier strike rate than dad. Kepler’s Test strike rate was 46.48 and Riki’s first-class equivalent is 63.48.

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