The Surfer
Operation Fix Mitch
Chloe Saltau writes in the Age that Troy Cooley’s reputation as the world’s premier fast-bowling coach depends on whether he can rehabilitate Mitchell Johnson in time to save the Ashes.
Brydon Coverdale
25-Feb-2013
Chloe Saltau writes in the Age that Troy Cooley’s reputation as the world’s premier fast-bowling coach depends on whether he can rehabilitate Mitchell Johnson in time to save the Ashes.
Cooley’s coaching credentials are impeccable and his mystique as a pace guru was enhanced when he armed England’s bowlers with destructive reverse swing in 2005. However, it was generally acknowledged that Australia missed a trick in India last year when Zaheer Khan used it better than the Australian bowlers by scuffing up the ball early, a technique they have tried to emulate in England.
In the Courier-Mail, Allan Border argues the case for dropping Johnson and including Stuart Clark, but Ricky Ponting in his column in the Australian says fans shouldn't expect too many team changes for Edgbaston.
Mike Selvey writes in the Guardian that the simplest way for Johnson to get back to his best is to focus on bowling fast and across right-hand batsmen and forget about bringing the ball back in.
Full postCash versus country in New Zealand
Daniel Vettori and his team-mates have chosen to represent their country over the big bucks of the IPL
Ashwin Achal
25-Feb-2013
Daniel Vettori and his team-mates have chosen to represent their country over the big bucks of the IPL. But it was not an easy decision for the six IPL contracted players to make. Jonathan Millmow of the Dominion Post, however, feels that playing for the country must be given priority without a moment's hesitation. Millnow thinks the New Zealand team is not performing at its best in international cricket, and the fans at least deserve a full strength national team.
The whole cash-over-country debate comes down to personal choice. Does a healthy bank balance bring you more joy than a test hundred or five-wicket bag?
Can you put a price on conversations with children and grandchildren in years to come?
"Dad, did you ever score a hundred against Australia?"
Full postA nasty edge to the Ashes
A serious but friendly rivalry between England and Australia has been the cornerstone for the popularity of the Ashes over the years
Brydon Coverdale
25-Feb-2013
A serious but friendly rivalry between England and Australia has been the cornerstone for the popularity of the Ashes over the years. But Peter Hanlon writes in the Age that things are becoming less friendly by the day - and the media is as much to blame as anyone.
Australians and English have always enjoyed a peculiar love-hate relationship, yet the emphasis has been on 'enjoyed'. A month-long visit to Britain has embedded a worrying thought: for as long as England has played Australia at sport we've joked how much one hates losing to the other. Now, it seems de rigeur to simply hate each other.
That the cricketers have not been on their best behaviour has been well documented, but the action in the stands, commentary boxes and newspaper columns has been revealing. To a degree we've had it coming; Australians have not always been the most humble winners and England was justifiably jubilant at finally pulling the thorn from its foot four years ago. But this time, it feels different. There is a nastier edge to the goading.
Kevin Mitchell in the Guardian notes that even Australia's coach Tim Nielsen is getting seriously testy.
Full postDoosra baffles off the field, too
A group of former Australian Test spinners has decided the doosra shouldn't be taught in Australia
Brydon Coverdale
25-Feb-2013
A group of former Australian Test spinners has decided the doosra shouldn't be taught in Australia. Greg Baum, in the Age, looks at that issue and the state of spin in Australia.
Depending on your point of view, the proposed ban on the doosra is a case of Australia cutting off its nose to spite its face, affecting to despise what it cannot have, seizing the high moral ground or even usurping the authority of the ICC.
Cricket Australia says it is none of the above. Operations manager Michael Brown, who convened the summit, said the propriety of the doosra was just one of dozens of ideas to resuscitate spin bowling in a discussion paper that will go to the board later this year.
Full postJudgment day for the Shermanator
Ian Bell has replaced the injured Kevin Pietersen for the third Ashes Test in Edgbaston and that will give Australia the edge, according to Shane Warne in the Times .
Nishi Narayanan
25-Feb-2013
Ian Bell has replaced the injured Kevin Pietersen for the third Ashes Test in Edgbaston and that will give Australia the edge, according to Shane Warne in the Times.
Bell’s return will hopefully be greeted with “welcome back, Shermanator”, the nickname I gave him in 2006. I remember watching American Pie in the team hotel with Michael Clarke on the fourth evening of the Adelaide Test and when the dorky ginger kid appeared we both started laughing because it reminded us of Bell.
At Test match time Edgbaston it is transformed into one of the most vibrant stadiums in the world, a cockpit of emotion, even jingoism, which may explain why England have a better home record there than anywhere else, with 22 victories and only eight defeats in 43 Tests, writes Pat Gibson in the same paper.
In going back to Bell so soon after patience ran out with him the selectors are effectively saying that the substrata of batting in this country is not deemed to be of international quality, writes Mike Selvey in the Guardian.
Full postDoes England need a new, bigger cricket stadium?
The crowds are flocking to the grounds for the Ashes, paying as much as 70 pounds for a seat
Cricinfo
25-Feb-2013
The crowds are flocking to the grounds for the Ashes, paying as much as 70 pounds for a seat. Jamie Jackson writes in the Observer that even the biggest of England's cricket grounds, Lord's, has only a capacity of 28,000 - less than a third of the likes of the Melbourne Cricket Ground and the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. He examines whether having a newer, larger stadium - or using London's Olympic stadium for cricket - would allow more people to watch the game and at more affordable prices.
Full postBell exposes England's lack of depth
Cricinfo
25-Feb-2013
England's selectors will be forced to pick Ian Bell, who they had discarded five months ago, as a replacement for the injured Kevin Pietersen because the other contenders lack the credentials for a Test berth, says Steve James in the Sunday Telegraph.
Omission from the recent Lions team against Australia would appear to preclude Rob Key and Owais Shah. After a long period of barrenness, Key might have run into some form recently with a double century against glum Glamorgan, but, in truth, it was an innings with more lives than Kitty and, as such, a Christmas card should later this year be on its way to the over-generous umpire Vanburn Holder. And Shah's time in the game's longest format has, quite simply, passed. So too, long ago, Mark Ramprakash's. Joe Denly's – and maybe Stephen Moore's – will come, but not yet, and certainly not out of position in the middle-order. Michael Vaughan's retirement premature? Let's not go there.
While many think Bell will slot in at No. 4, taking Pietersen's place in the order, Simon Wilde writes in the Sunday Times that Bell should be at No. 5 with Paul Collingwood being pushed up.
Full postDefending Ricky
Ricky Ponting has had a a lot of bad press on the Ashes tour so far, and was even jeered during the Lord's Test
Cricinfo
25-Feb-2013
Ricky Ponting has had a a lot of bad press on the Ashes tour so far, and was even jeered during the Lord's Test. Gideon Haigh defends the Australian captain in the Times and says that Ponting remarks at the end of the Cardiff Test were the "acme of restraint" and terms his comments after the umpiring controversy in Lord's as "mild irritation on the spur of the moment, neither complaints nor excuses in the aftermath".
Full postLord's, meanwhile, which preens itself as the locus classicus of the spirit of cricket, actually boos the best Australia Test batsman since Bradman.
The irony is that if a single player in the world could be regarded as a cricket traditionalist, even a bit of a reactionary, it is Ponting. He is a Test cricketer to the marrow, obsessed enough with the Ashes to have forgone the riches of the Indian Premier League before this series, so dedicated to its symbolism that he attends Test press conferences in his whites and wearing his baggy green - unlike England players, who are studies in sponsor-friendly casual wear
What is the 'spirit of the game'?
Players often appeal even when they know that the batsman in not out
Ashwin Achal
25-Feb-2013
Players often appeal even when they know that the batsman in not out. The question of playing within the spirit of the game is repeatedly used by captains, but how often do they comply with the spirit with their own actions? Harsha Bhogle, in ExpressIndia, says there is hardly a cricketer who hasn't bent the rules a bit during his career.
You cannot go down the other path and take a fielder's word either. I'm afraid in sport, nobody's word counts for much. Some cheat less than others but nobody passes the acid test: appealing when they know the batsman is not out. And that is why, while batsman are entitled to feel disappointed when a decision goes against them, we need to ask if they ever did an opposition batsman in by misleading an umpire.
Can Bell make the most of his lifeline?
In many Test innings Ian Bell has looked in great touch before throwing away his wicket
Cricinfo
25-Feb-2013
In many Test innings Ian Bell has looked in great touch before throwing away his wicket. Barney Ronay wonders in the Guardian whether the man expected to take the place of the injured Kevin Pietersen will show he's made of sterner stuff during the rest of the Ashes.
Ian Bell – who, according to everybody capable of having opinions about England's middle order, will be back in the team for Edgbaston – appears to be made of something infuriatingly insubstantial: fleece, nylon, margarine, cobweb... For a rather meek person Bell is a surprisingly divisive figure. He seems sure to be in tomorrow's squad as Kevin Pietersen's stand-in. But you can bet lots of people will feel cross about it.
And in the Daily Telegraph Derek Pringle looks at whether there's a place for Steve Harmison in the Edgbaston starting XI.
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