Attack, one-day captains, attack

It is often said that one-dayers are all about containment. Ian Chappell, writing in Mid Day as part of its World Cup pull-out, says that the best way to do that is by sending the batsman back to the pavilion. Attacking captaincy, he feels, is the way to go in the one-day format.

There's no doubt employing aggressive tactics is more difficult with the improvements to the modern bat. However, this is often used as an excuse by nervous captains and the good ones retain fielders to grab the mis-hits that stay in the field of play.

Good captaincy in any form of the game requires cricket commonsense, a high priority on taking wickets and a slice of luck. The brave captains are always the lucky ones.