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The Surfer

Poorer counties' grounds for concern cut no ice

As the debate over the disparity in income between English counties whose grounds host Tests and those who don't rumbles on, Dennis Amiss, Warwickshire's retiring chairman, told Christopher Martin-Jenkins in The Times that there was more to the

“The non-Test grounds have a budget; they know what they are going to get from the centre. Yet they still lose money. That can’t be our fault."
The apparent imbalance is stark. Profits reported have included £750,842 by Warwickshire, a record £580,164 by Lancashire and £96,776 by Nottinghamshire, all hosts of memorable Tests in the Ashes series. By contrast, Yorkshire, who did not have a Test match in 2005, lost £1.2 million. Other glaring deficits were recorded by Sussex (£631,366), Kent (£310,000), Derbyshire (£215,000) and Leicestershire, who announced a £94,000 loss this week. Only Worcestershire have bucked the trend by making a profit of £50,000.
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Aussies brush over advanced decay

Writing in the Guardian , Mike Selvey says the Australian team is in danger of becoming a laughing stock after recalling four players to play South Africa

Writing in the Guardian, Mike Selvey says the Australian team is in danger of becoming a laughing stock after recalling four players to play South Africa. Post-Ashes, Australia had a chance to rebuild, but they have reverted to picking the same old faces. "Australia have gone back to the future and England who, even if it has been forced upon them, have moved on to the next generation."
And Selvey added:
"In backtracking, Hohns has done few favours for the credibility of a system once the envy of the world. Now the reaction is to recognise a shambles with no direction. In India we are seeing a series fought out between a blend of youth and experience on both sides, and it is invigorating to watch. Much the same applied in Pakistan before Christmas. The Australian machine, meanwhile, is becoming a laughing stock. Martyn, once acclaimed, can greet his selection with incredulity, while Brad Hodge, a double-century maker not so long since, has been discarded.
"A friend in South Africa with the Australia team told me they soon won't be asking the Australian side for birth certificates, they'll want carbon dating."
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Australia's selectors face the backlash

Reaction to Australia’s Test squad still dominates the newspapers and Dean Jones tells The Australian the sacking of Brad Hodge for Damien Martyn could open the door for Matthew Hayden’s one-day return .

Peter English
Peter English
25-Feb-2013
"The World Cup is certainly not out of the question for Hayden given what we have seen over the last couple of days. With the selectors opting for Damien Martyn in the Test side again, clearly their thoughts have changed ...
"It's a little different now. The players are a lot fitter. It's like they've got 25-year-old bodies in 34-year-old blokes. I've got no hassles with Martyn being recalled. It was only a year ago that he almost won the international player of the year."
However, Graham Yallop, the former Test captain, was fuming after Hodge’s sacking and in the Herald Sun called for more action from Victoria’s selector Merv Hughes.
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'Weekes is out!' echoed all over NZ

The New Zealand Herald spoke with the surviving members of the NZ team about their historic victory over the West Indies 50 years ago - their first in Test cricket

The Surfer
25-Feb-2013
And, DJ Cameron, who reported on the match, relives those historic moments.
As that great West Indian batsman Everton de Courcy Weekes swung his bat like an executioner's axe at the juiciest of long-hops that cloudy afternoon of March 13, 1956, 10,000 Eden Park spectators (and thousands more huddled over their wireless sets across the land) plunged into that fatal coma.
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George Bush 1 John Howard 0

John Howard, the Australian Prime Minister and an avid cricket fan, declined to have a bat against some of India's most promising fast bowlers during his visit to Dennis Lillee's MRF Pace Academy in India

Will
25-Feb-2013
John Howard, the Australian Prime Minister and an avid cricket fan, declined to have a bat against some of India's most promising fast bowlers during his visit to Dennis Lillee's MRF Pace Academy in India. Judging by the way he bowls, it comes as no surprise.
"But I look with some trepidation at this new coming breed of Indian fast bowlers."
After seeing the young men go through their paces, Mr Howard said the Australian team would have to redouble their efforts.
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