The Surfer
Bring back Warne for World Cup
Peter English
25-Feb-2013
Ray Chesterton argues in the Daily Telegraph for Shane Warne to come out of retirement for the World Cup after Australia’s horrible Chappell-Hadlee Trophy campaign.
He would lift morale and sharpen the attack. He is the only option as Australia search for ways to make the team whole again. When Warne retired from representative cricket last month Australia had just regained the Ashes 5-0 and the future looked secure. Now it doesn't.
You wanted a game, you got it
Simon Barnes, in The Times , tries incredibly hard not to gloat about Australia's recent demise, but argues that, in the spirit of sporting upsets, he has a duty to take carried away by their losses.
Andrew Miller
25-Feb-2013
Simon Barnes, in The Times, tries incredibly hard not to gloat about Australia's recent demise, but argues that, in the spirit of sporting upsets, he has a duty to take carried away by their losses.
Don’t expect the rest of us to be sad when the bully gets his comeuppance. Excellence always has a kind of beauty about it; authority may be admirable but it is seldom very lovable. So when the giant falls, it is necessary for the midgets to jump up and down on the body. This is a right and proper process, even if it is demeaning to the fallen champion and to the jumping gloaters
Crisis? What crisis? There's no crisis!
Peter English
25-Feb-2013
In an interview with The Australian’s Malcolm Conn, the Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland says the team’s injuries were accidents, the match program is not too busy and some players need more games.
"For people to suggest that they're going to be overworked is just not right,” Sutherland said. “That's why coach John Buchanan is so relaxed at this stage. He knows that there is a long, long way to go. The World Cup final is ten weeks away. This is not the time for people to be concerned."
Never stopped believing
Of all the England players returning after their CB Series victory, Andrew Strauss is the one senior figure under most pressure
Andrew McGlashan
25-Feb-2013
Of all the England players returning after their CB Series victory, Andrew Strauss is the one senior figure under most pressure. The whole Australian tour brought just two half-centuries and with Michael Vaughan and Kevin Pietersen set to return for the World Cup matches he could be fighting to keep his place. However, his first Sunday Telegraph column since arriving home doesn't dwell much on his personal performances, more on the belief shown by the England side to come back from nowhere and claim the trophy.
The feeling in the dressing room after the second final, where a combination of deadly swing bowling, and weather delays finished the Aussies off, was better than anything I have experienced in the game, barring the Ashes victory in 2005. Months of stress, turmoil, anger and frustration were washed away with those victories and the celebrations that followed. We now go on to the World Cup with our heads high and confidence flowing.
No more excuses for Australia
Alex Brown writes in the Sydney Morning Herald the Australians must admit to a few hard truths before the World Cup.
Peter English
25-Feb-2013
Alex Brown writes in the Sydney Morning Herald the Australians must admit to a few hard truths before the World Cup.
John Buchanan acknowledged that an extended losing streak entering the World Cup would be cause for concern. Now, then, is the time for action.
Jonathan Millmow writes on www.stuff.co.nz New Zealand have emerged as a genuine dark horse for the World Cup.
In the New Zealand Herald Richard Boock hails Ross Taylor.
Full postPakistan lost...maybe found?
The World Cup is closer than round the corner and Pakistan are in disarray
Siddhartha Vaidyanathan
25-Feb-2013
The World Cup is closer than round the corner and Pakistan are in disarray. Morale is down, players unfit, the doping issue still lurks, threatening to rear its head any moment; what better time than now, then, for a few words from the straightest of straight talkers, Rashid Latif, to put things in perspective? In a guest column for Dawn, Latif says that though it looks bad, all may not be lost just yet.
All this talk of World Cup ‘pressure’ is also getting to me now. What pressure are they talking about? In my opinion , all these people have fairly mixed-up notions about ‘pressure’ and ‘reality’. Pressure is what the poor people are facing for their survival, for their do-or-die efforts in trying to feed their families. There is no pressure in cricket compared to that. Yes, I know a victory in any big tournament can be tremendously difficult to pull off for any team or coach, even for those who are considered favourites. But that, in short, is their job; a reality that they know they will be facing in due course of time and they must prepare themselves well for it.
Australia in crisis after suffering mortal blow
Not six weeks after securing the first Ashes whitewash since 1921, Australia have lurched towards nothing less than a crisis of their own
George Binoy
25-Feb-2013
Not six weeks after securing the first Ashes whitewash since 1921, Australia have lurched towards nothing less than a crisis of their own. They totter a single defeat away from losing their position at the top of the ICC one-day rankings and their prospects of retaining the World Cup are weaker than at any time in the past four years, writes Richard Hobson in The Times.
Full postMild-mannered Clark tells his story
Stuart Clark showed some rare annoyance when he was left out of Australia's World Cup squad
Brydon Coverdale
25-Feb-2013
Stuart Clark showed some rare annoyance when he was left out of Australia's World Cup squad. In an interesting interview with Patrick Carlyon in the Sydney Morning Herald, Clark tries to convince us he is a typical, angry, wild fast bowler.
Clark goes against the type. He's not nutty, even if he claims to have a temper. His evidence is weak, buried in hazy tales of red cards on soccer fields as a teenager, or snippets of on-field abuse that fellow players cannot recall. He says he can unleash a rage that "just comes flying out", but no one seems to have witnessed it.
A faulty team or a faulty tournament?
Andrew Miller
25-Feb-2013
It's not such a bed of roses for Australia's cricketers now. Four defeats in five matches and a succession of untimely injuries have put their World Cup preparations under the skids. But Malcolm Conn, the chief correspondent of The Australian, has no doubt where the blame lies.
The national team that turned out in cold and windy Wellington yesterday was an Australian XI, not the Australia XI, further damaging the credibility of a tournament that has obviously become surplus to requirements in a hopelessly crowded summer program
A Welshman not watching the rugby
Simon Jones has almost had as many injuries as he's played Tests, but after another lengthy period on the sidelines he is targeting his latest return - for Glamorgan and England
Andrew McGlashan
25-Feb-2013
Simon Jones has almost had as many injuries as he's played Tests, but after another lengthy period on the sidelines he is targeting his latest return - for Glamorgan and England. He has been pounding the sand dunes on the Wales coastline after knee surgery by Richard Steadman in America. But he is realistic about the coming months as he tells Steve James in The Guardian.
Full postMany feared his latest setback might spell a premature end to a career that had reached a world-class level all too briefly. "That never crossed my mind. Steadman always said that I had a great chance of playing again," says Jones, "I went back to see him in October and he went inside again and was very happy with how it was coming along. I don't even have to see him again."