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Jackson Bird could play his first Test of this Ashes tour after being named in Australia’s 12 for the fourth Investec Test at Chester-le-Street, starting on Friday

Brydon Coverdale at Chester-le-Street07-Aug-2013Jackson Bird could play his first Test of this Ashes tour after being named in Australia’s 12 for the fourth Investec Test at Chester-le-Street, starting on Friday. Given the three-day turnaround between Tests, the main issue facing the selectors surrounds their management of the injury-prone fast bowler Ryan Harris, who was rested in the West Indies last year when the team faced a similar back-to-back Test scenario.If he plays on Friday, it will be only the second time in his career that Harris has played three consecutive Tests and the first time he broke down in the third of those games, the Boxing Day Ashes Test of 2010-11. On that occasion Harris suffered a serious ankle injury but he has had a number of other problems during his short Test career, including shoulder surgery last year and a chronic knee injury.Harris was left out in the Caribbean last year after he took five wickets in 37.4 overs and scored an important half-century in the Barbados Test. A three-day gap between matches, combined with his workload, general fatigue and the fact that he had battled a stomach bug in Barbados led the selectors to take a conservative approach and sit Harris out for the next Test in Trinidad, despite his strong form.The circumstances on this occasion are strikingly similar. Again there is a three-day turnaround after the Old Trafford Test, where Harris bowled 38 overs and was off the field at times due to a stomach complaint. Harris appeared exhausted when leaving the field at the end of the third day in Manchester and although the rain on the final day gave him some extra recovery time, the Australians will want to see how Harris performs at training on Thursday before making a decision.”In my mind I’m confident Ryano will be fine,” captain Michael Clarke said on Wednesday. “Us not bowling on that last day because of the rain is definitely going to help our bowlers. It gives them another day to recover, and I don’t think any of the quicks who bowled in the Test have been bowling many overs in the nets over the last couple of days. There will be plenty of treatment, recovery, rehab. I’m confident he will be fine.”After Australia’s strong showing in Manchester, the selectors would be keen to choose the same side, all things being equal. Bird is the only inclusion in the 12 for Chester-le-Street from outside the 11 who played at Old Trafford, meaning there will be no recall for Ashton Agar, while other squad members including James Faulkner, Phillip Hughes, Ed Cowan and Matthew Wade have also missed out as expected. Clarke said Bird would offer plenty if selected.”He was picked because he was one of out best bowlers no matter the conditions,” Clarke said. “We know if there is a bit in the wicket he is a very good seam bowler and he has shown that in first-class cricket for Tassie. Have a look at his record and he has performed just as well away from home on flat wickets. He offers this squad a lot and if he is given an opportunity he will grab it with both hands.”Australia squad Michael Clarke (capt), Brad Haddin, Jackson Bird, Ryan Harris, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Chris Rogers, Peter Siddle, Steven Smith, Mitchell Starc, David Warner, Shane Watson.

Ranchi is preparing to host India, with local boy MS Dhoni as captain, for the first time and the city is buzzing with anticipation

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Jan-2013With the local boy arriving in Ranchi as India captain for the third ODI against England, the city has been taken over by Dhoni mania. In neighbouring West Bengal, Sourav Ganguly still sends the locals berserk whenever he makes a public appearance. Ranchi has had to wait eight years after Dhoni’s India debut to host its maiden international game. No wonder then that thousands lined the roads from the Birsa Munda airport to the team hotel, a sight that left MS Dhoni feeling “humbled”. Getting in and out of the team hotel has been difficult, with people crowding the entrance and even prompting the police into a mild lathi charge.To celebrate the occasion, a liquor shop put up posters of Dhoni and Alastair Cook and even lined its counters with bats and stumps. The authorities went a step further. The state aviation department has been roped in, and there are plans to have a glider fly over the stadium and scatter (pink-coloured powder) on the outfield during the inauguration ceremony, before the start of the match and during the innings break.Students are demanding a holiday on Saturday, the match day, something schools, already hit by shutdowns because of a severe cold wave, can ill-afford. J Mohanty, principal of DPS [Delhi Public School] Ranchi, is benevolent, though. “This is a proud moment for Jharkhand,” Mohanty told the . “The cricket match will be on the students’ minds and they will also have to wait outside the hotels for a glimpse of their cricketing heroes. So we will not hold any additional classes this weekend.”There is a reason Dhoni matters so much to Ranchi and Jharkhand, which had little to cheer when it was part of Bihar state and has had little to cheer since it was carved out in 2000. Political instability is common; central-government rule has just been imposed for the third time in the state’s short existence. “Small-town boys from places like this just don’t get to be captain of India,” Ushinor Majumdar, Jharkhand correspondent for the Hindustan Times, told the . “And it is mostly because of Dhoni that there is so much attention. In many ways it is an under-developed, backward place. But it is known in cricket thanks to Dhoni.”International cricket in Jharkhand was restricted to the steel city of Jamshedpur, where Dhoni has played a couple of ODIs, including one against England in 2006, at Tata Steel’s Keenan Stadium. It was the state association’s desire to have its own stadium that enabled Ranchi to watch Dhoni play for India in the city.Dhoni was clearly thrilled with the stadium at his hometown. “Personally, it’s a special moment for me. The journey begins tomorrow. It’s the beginning of a new innings,” he said at a function inaugurating cricket’s latest international venue*.He said the 39,000-seater stadium will give Ranchi plenty of recognition. “When I first joined the team, people were asking me the place I belonged to,” Dhoni said. “I used to say I am from India and the next thing I would say I am from a place called Ranchi in Jharkhand. I used to explain Ranchi, giving various routes like it is a place close to Kolkata, near Jamshedpur. We are the richest state in natural resources.”But, after the stadium was built it has now become an international venue. At least, we need not have to explain further about Ranchi in the cricket playing nations. It is a proud beginning; proud moment for people of Jharkhand.”The mood in the city has already shown how proud Ranchi is of the double honour of making its international debut with a homegrown captain.* January 18, 17.00GMT This story has been updated after the stadium’s inauguration ceremony

ESPNcricinfo previews the second Test between India and Australia, in Hyderabad

The Preview by Siddarth Ravindran01-Mar-2013Match factsMarch 2-6, Hyderabad
Start time 9.30am (0400GMT)Will Michael Clarke once again be Australia’s second spinner, or will Nathan Lyon have more back-up?•BCCIBig PictureThe clinical victory in Chennai marked a job well begun by India, but MS Dhoni’s side won’t be too thrilled yet, having lost the previous series against England despite taking a 1-0 lead. England’s fortunes turned with the inclusion of the extra spinner in Monty Panesar for the second Test in Mumbai, and Australia’s team management have also been pondering whether to switch to a two-spinner policy, which has historically not worked too well for them in India.What could prompt Australia to stick to their pace-heavy line-up will be that left-arm spinner Xavier Doherty’s Test credentials aren’t in the same league as Panesar ‘s, evidenced by an unflattering first-class average of 44.56.India, too, have been wondering about an additional tweaker, though in their case it will expand their spin trio to a quartet. Pragyan Ojha, the left-arm spinner, was perhaps India’s best bowler in the series defeat to England but was surprisingly left out in the first Test. India’s quicks had little to do in Chennai, and Ojha could take one of their places.Though Ojha is the latest in a long line of Hyderabad players to have played Tests for India, the city has not been a traditional venue for Test cricket, having only hosted three matches till 2009. Tests returned to Hyderabad in 2010 at the new Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, and the Australia match will be the third in Hyderabad in three years. It is the only Indian stadium to get two Tests this season, benefitting after the Australians complained about the facilities in the original host city, Kanpur. Briefly there were concerns that the match might be moved out of Hyderabad as well, after powerful bomb blasts hit the city just over a week ago. Security has been tightened before the match, with two units of an elite anti-terror squad deployed, and 60 CCTVs being used to monitor the stadium and surroundings.Form guide India WDLLW (Last five matches, most recent first)
Australia LWWWLWatch out for…In Chennai, James Pattinson once again showed why he’s rated so highly by Australia’s team management, bowling with ferocious pace to fluster India’s batsmen and finishing comfortably the best of the Australia’s fast bowlers. Pattinson has a tendency to break down, though, and was used only in two short bursts of three overs each early in the first innings. Can his body handle the intensity of back-to-back Tests?Pattinson dismissed the opener M Vijay cheaply in both innings. The Chennai Test was Vijay’s first chance in more than 18 months, and failure in the second Test could relegate him to the sidelines again. With Gautam Gambhir out of the squad, runs in Hyderabad might open the way to a long run in the side for Vijay. He didn’t have the best of Ranji seasons – making only 138 at 17.25 in five matches – but will be hoping to capture the form that brought him centuries in both Irani Cup (a first-class Indian domestic match, which pits the Ranji champions against a Rest of India side) games this season.Teams newsAfter the Chennai victory, MS Dhoni had talked about India having found a ‘settled’ side, indicating that there aren’t likely to be too many changes. The only decision the team management will have to make is whether to bring in Ojha, and if so, at whose expense.India: (probable) 1 Virender Sehwag, 2 M Vijay, 3 Cheteshwar Pujara, 4 Sachin Tendulkar, 5 Virat Kohli, 6 Ravindra Jadeja, 7 MS Dhoni (capt & wk), 8 R Ashwin, 9 Harbhajan Singh, 10 and 11 Bhuvneshwar Kumar/ Ishant Sharma/Pragyan OjhaUnlike Chennai, where Australia confidently announced their XI well before the match, they have yet to name their team for Hyderabad. The batting is unlikely to change, unless keeper Matthew Wade (who was hit on the cheek during Friday’s practice session) is forced to sit out*. If Wade does miss out, Phillip Hughes is likely to take over wicketkeeping duties with batsman Usman Khawaja slotting in. David Warner, who suffered a bout of gastro in Chennai, is fully fit Clarke said on the eve of the Test.Australia: (possible) 1 David Warner, 2 Ed Cowan, 3 Phillip Hughes, 4 Shane Watson, 5 Michael Clarke (capt), 6 Matthew Wade (wk)/Usman Khawaja, 7 Moises Henriques, 8 Peter Siddle, 9 Mitchell Starc/Mitchell Johnson/Xavier Doherty, 10 James Pattinson, 11 Nathan LyonPitch and conditionsIt will be hotter in Hyderabad than in Chennai, with the temperature predicted to be around 35C in the afternoons. There is no rain forecast over the next week. The pitch is expected to provide help for the spinners, though it should have more in it for the quick bowlers than the turner in Chennai as it is a harder surface.Stats and trivia In his previous innings, Dhoni moved into the top 10 among six-hitters in Test cricket, going past Kevin Pietersen. He has cleared the ropes 75 times in Tests, and needs 26 more to break the all-time record held by Adam Gilchrist Peter Siddle’s bowling strike-rate of 41.6 is the best by an Australian against IndiaQuotes”When you go onto a ground, you have a good feeling if you have done well before over there … [you have] a good positive mindset.”

14.00GMT, March 1: Australia’s team news was updated following their practice session on Friday.

Australia’s young fast bowlers Pat Cummins, James Pattinson and Mitchell Starc are set to rotate through the Test side this season in an effort to manage their workloads and prevent injuries

Brydon Coverdale25-Sep-2012Australia’s young fast bowlers Pat Cummins, James Pattinson and Mitchell Starc are set to rotate through the Test side this season in an effort to manage their workloads and prevent injuries. Australia’s coach Mickey Arthur said team selections would need to be made with sports science in mind after the selectors last summer ignored the advice of sports scientists, who told them Pattinson was likely to break down during the Sydney Test against India.Pattinson entered last season with only six first-class matches to his name but his strong performances in his initial appearances in the baggy green encouraged the selectors to pick him in Sydney for his fourth Test in five weeks. Towards the end of the SCG Test he complained of pain in his left foot and scans showed the early signs of stress fractures, which then sidelined him for two months.”The sports scientists tell me that our guys under the age of 25 can bowl 52 to 55 days in a year,” Arthur told reporters in Sri Lanka this week. “Whereas guys like Peter Siddle and Ben Hilfenhaus and Mitchell Johnson, over the age of the 25, they can probably give you 75 [days] at high intensity.”We were told by the sports scientists that James Pattinson would break down in the Sydney Test match. We then got all that information and [captain] Michael Clarke and myself and the selector on duty, we thought that the impact he’d made in Melbourne, it was worth taking that risk. Even though he broke down, he got four wickets in the first innings, he got Gautam Gambhir in the first over of that Test match, arguably he put us on the road to win that Test. That was a risk that we thought was worthwhile.”With Ryan Harris already ruled out of the three-Test series against South Africa as he recovers from shoulder surgery, it will be extra important for the Australians to keep Cummins, Pattinson and Starc fit and well. Cummins, 19, has suffered injuries this year and has not played a Test since his outstanding debut in Johannesburg last November, and Arthur said it was likely he would play only once during the South African series.”That is what the sports scientists are telling me and I’ve got to go along with that,” Arthur said. “We’d like to play him in everything, but it’s not possible. Much like we did with Mitchell Starc last year, he travelled with us to most venues, ended up getting three Test matches I think in the year, five or six ODIs but he was with us all the time and we are really seeing the benefits of that now.”Cummins and Starc are with the Australia squad in Sri Lanka at the World T20 while Pattinson, 22, has been at home in Melbourne preparing for Victoria’s first matches of the season, a Ryobi Cup match on Sunday in Perth followed by a Sheffield Shield game. Pattinson said he understood the need for the team management to restrict the workload of the younger fast bowlers.”I can definitely see where they’re coming from,” Pattinson said. “As a fast bowler you don’t really want to miss games … but the way things are going now there’s so much cricket all over the world, Twenty20 and Test cricket is getting more and more every time. I think we are a pretty young bowling side coming through and you don’t want to get burned out too early. As much as we want to play we do listen to them and they really have our best interests [at heart].”For me personally it’s hard to play all three formats. I found that over the first year of being involved, especially with my body and even the mental side of it does get a bit draining. With Starcy playing the shorter format of the game recently and going over to England and getting some experience over there is great, Patty Cummins is playing the shorter format now and getting some experience that way. I think the way they’re doing it now is very good and it’s going to hold us in good stead come three or four years like Mickey was talking about, once we reach that age of 25 and become a bit more mature.”

The captain of the visually challenged Pakistan cricket team, Zeshan Abbasi, who is in Bangalore to play the T20 Blind Cricket World Cup, was hospitalised on Saturday after accidentally drinking phenyl at the team hotel

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Dec-2012The captain of Pakistan’s visually challenged cricket team, Zeshan Abbasi, who is in Bangalore to play the T20 Blind Cricket World Cup, was hospitalised on Saturday after accidentally drinking phenyl at the team hotel. He was discharged later in the day, and was ‘absolutely fine’ according to the doctors.Abbasi had sipped the contents of a plastic bottle left on the table during breakfast, mistaking it for mineral water. He was taken to hospital, where was treated and kept under observation before being discharged a few hours later.”Abbasi was discharged at 4.30pm. He is absolutely fine”, the president of the hospital, Dr Shetty, was quoted as saying by . He said Abbasi had had an endoscopy and all the results were normal.Pakistan team manager Sultan Shah said the hotel had apologised for the incident, but they wanted it probed further. “We want to know from the hotel management, who have orally apologised to us, how such an incident happened and who is responsible for such negligence,” Shah said. “It has to be ensured that such incidents do not recur. Otherwise, we are happy with the arrangements here.”SP Nagesh, the president of the All Indian Cricket Association, also called for an investigation: “[The hotel must] tell us how such a lapse occurred. We are awaiting their reply.”

Andrew Strauss said the most important aspect of England’s win was that they emerged from a difficult period with important lessons learned

Andrew McGlashan in Colombo07-Apr-2012For the first time at a post-match presentation this year Andrew Strauss wore a broad grin as England ended a run of four straight Test defeats with a comprehensive eight-wicket victory. It was enough for them to retain the No. 1 ranking, but for Strauss the most important aspect was to have seen his side emerge from a difficult period with important lessons learned.Having fallen apart against spin in the preceding four matches England’s top-order finally offered the team’s outstanding bowling attack support for their efforts. Strauss is confident that the batsmen have made significant strides in playing in subcontinental conditions, which they will encounter again at the end of the year in India.”We’ve been seeing in the nets for a while the guys have been forced to re-look at their games,” he said. “It’s easy to say we’re experienced cricketers and we should have known it earlier but I do think to a certain extent DRS has changed things and we’ve had to look at our techniques, and I think we’ve come through that. Everyone looks better now than they did at the start of the winter.”It’s always a shame when you’ve got to be handed a few defeats to make sure you really do look at it. We’re excited. India’s still a long way off, but we’ve got some good lessons we can put in the bank. Now we’ve got to get back to England and remember how to play swing and seam bowling.”Graeme Swann was the matchwinner over the last couple of days as he secured career-best match figures of 10 for 181, his second ten-wicket haul in Tests, to follow Kevin Pietersen’s scintillating 151 as he threw off the shackles.”I thought James Anderson wasn’t really rewarded for his bowling, he bowled outstandingly well,” Strauss said. “Graeme Swann showed his value to the side once again, creating trouble all the way through. And Kevin in particular took the game away from the opposition in the way only he can. It’s always pretty demoralising for the opposition to see KP in full flight. It was an outstanding innings and it gave us the impetus and momentum we needed to win the game.”I think we were all under a bit pressure coming into this game to make sure we showed we’d learned some of the lessons from our defeats over the last four Test matches. It looked like an easy victory but we knew that out in the middle it was very, very hard to prise out wickets and at times it was hard to score runs as well. I saw a steely determination on everyone’s part to make sure we finished the winter on a high and it was fantastic to be able to do that.”The lowest moment of England’s recent run came in the second-innings run chase against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi as they crumbled to 72 chasing 145. When Strauss fell in the first over of this pursuit, bowled by Tillakaratne Dilshan for a duck, it may have opened old wounds but England powered their way to the target.”They’re horrible chases because everyone expects you to win, it’s almost like trying to sink a three-foot putt – you know it should go in but it doesn’t always,” he said. “We were determined to make sure we didn’t make the same mistakes as we did in Abu Dhabi; determined to be a bit more proactive about things and Cooky and KP today did that exceptionally well.”Like his counterpart Mahela Jayawardene, Strauss acknowledged the importance of Swann’s double-wicket over in the dying moments of the fourth day that gave England a much more favourable chance to wrapping up the victory. “The guys were knackered,” he said. “It was a long day and they raised the intensity and the tempo over those ten overs. Sometimes you don’t get what you deserve but on that occasion we did.”Strauss, though, was not getting carried by a single success and a shared series. There remain issues against good spin bowling – Rangana Herath took 19 wickets in the two matches – and the first-innings total of 460 was the only time the batting order clicked in either the UAE or Sri Lanka.”I don’t think any of us are the finished article, you never are in cricket,” he said. “Questions are asked, you find an answer and another question is asked. It’s been a hard tour, conditions are tough, we’re very pleased and proud to have got something out of this series but we move on as you always do in international cricket.”Edited by Alan Gardner

Alex Hales hit a blistering half-century as Nottinghamshire continued their three-pronged assault on England’s domestic trophies by cruising past group leaders Hampshire in the Clydesdale Bank 40.

Jeremy Culley17-Jul-2012
ScorecardAlex Hales hit a blistering half-century as Nottinghamshire continued their three-pronged assault on England’s domestic trophies by cruising past group leaders Hampshire in the Clydesdale Bank 40.Hampshire, for whom James Vince’s magnificent unbeaten century served only to make them competitive, still top their group but now lead Notts, who have two games in hand, by only three points.Hales and James Taylor, who struck 74 to take the hosts to the brink of their six-wicket victory, delivered telling messages to Hampshire’s listless bowling attack ahead of next weeks’ Twenty20 quarter-final between the sides. Hampshire’s total of 230 never looked adequate once Hales cut loose.Notts’ skipper Chris Read opened with the slow left-arm of Samit Patel – as he did at Surrey on Sunday – and swiftly took two catches off his bowling to leave Hampshire in early trouble. Jimmy Adams thinly edged his first delivery while attempting a cut before Simon Katich nicked a temptingly wide delivery from Patel.Sean Ervine’s demise will have particularly frustrated Hampshire as he breezed to 31 before gifting a return catch to Graeme White. Dawson then clipped a half-tracker to Adam Voges to provide a cheap wickert for Darren Pattinson whose otherwise torrid afternoon saw him concede 48 in five overs.Dimi Mascarenhas briefly added energy to Hampshire’s innings, striking a huge six over long-on before being bowled by Andy Carter, but the only consistency was provided by Vince, whose impeccably-timed innings steadily built to a crescendo when he took 17 off one Pattinson over, before registering his hundred in the last over.Vince was overlooked for last week’s Championship match with Yorkshire and has not featured in four-day cricket since May. After carrying his bat with such maturity here, a recall will surely be in the offing.Notts’ response began briskly, Hales hitting successive boundaries off Kabir Ali in the fourth over and Dawson in the sixth. Hales appeared intent on inflicting a few mental scars on Hampshire’s bowlers ahead of next week’s quarter-final and reached his half-century in only the ninth over.Riki Wessels, opening in Michael Lumb’s absence with a back injury, struck three successive fours in a Dawson over that went for 19 but his ambition soon cost him his wicket, as left-arm spinner Danny Briggs trapped him leg before attempting a reverse sweep.Briggs, who played in an ODI against Pakistan in Dubai in the winter, was achieving considerable turn and soon claimed the precious scalp of Hales, when he tamely chipped to Dawson at long-off .Taylor and Patel, however, showed the application necessary to build on Hales’ platform and brought up their 50 partnership in the 28th over. Patel then mounted a charge to the finish, hitting sixes in successive overs of Ali and Dawson, but eventually sliced to Katich at backward point.The patient Taylor only hit two boundaries in reaching 50 but then hit four in eight balls to make victory safe before offering a return catch to Katich.

For the third time on this tour, a Sri Lanka youngster played a vital role in a victory, as Lahiru Thirimanne put in a performance worthy of the Man of the Match award

Firdose Moonda at the Wanderers23-Jan-2012For the third time on this tour, a Sri Lanka youngster played a vital role in a victory. Bear in mind that Sri Lanka have only won three matches on this tour and it will tell you the importance that the up and coming cricketers have had on the six-week tour of South Africa.Lahiru Thirimanne’s composed 69 off 63 balls was a performance worthy of the Man of the Match award. Even though he didn’t get it, he was the man considered important enough to discuss the match with the media, the task usually given to the person who wins the award, after the day’s events.He said he took his innings in his stride even though the task facing him was an enormous one. “When I went in to bat, the asking-rate was 6.80 and it was a difficult situation to adjust to,” Thirimanne said. “Kumar [Sangakkara] guided me and we narrowed the gap and got into a situation that was manageable.”Thirimanne was brought on the tour as a reserve opener in the Tests and got his opportunity when Tharanga Paranavitana was dropped. He had to wait for a similar situation in the ODIs and was picked in the starting XI when Mahela Jayawardene got injured. He said that the lessons he learnt on his visit to South Africa will serve him well as his career grows.”In the Test match, I had to handle a very sharp pace attack as an opener and that was an experience which will help me in the future. The main adjustment one has to make when playing in South Africa is to adapt to the bounce of the wicket,” he said. “In the one-dayers, my role was to rotate the strike and try to prolong the innings but I was unable to. In this game I played that role quite well, rotated the strike and hit boundaries that helped us win the game.”While Thirimanne recalled his series with careful thoroughness, Sri Lanka’s captain Tillakaratne Dilshan sat with a small smile on his face. He would return home empty handed but he had achieved something that may prove more important in Sri Lanka’s future.”In the last few series I gave the opportunity to youngsters, especially in this series, and we saw them doing it [well] for Sri Lanka,” Dilshan said. “I am really happy to do that and to see that they grabbed the opportunities and performed under pressure. I believe in my youngsters, that’s the future for Sri Lanka. I want to give them more chances in the middle, so they can get experience. Maybe after the next three to four months, there will be more experienced players in the side. They are showing that they are ready for an international challenge.”Although Dilshan did not lead with the bat, he showed signs of real leadership with his decisions in the field and the faith he showed in the youngsters. Whether he will continue in the position for long enough to see them establish themselves in the national team remains to be seen. Rumours are rising that Dilshan will be replaced as captain before the tri-series in Australia but he said if he asked to carry on, he will do so. “If they offer it to me I will take it, because I am really enjoying my captaincy.”Sri Lankan cricket is set for a mini overhaul in the next few weeks, with Graham Ford confirmed as the new coach in the wake of the Geoff Marsh sacking. It leaves this series little room for context besides acting as the catalyst for major action from the Sri Lanka board.For Dilshan, there is more to it than just that. A Test win, two victories in the ODIs and to come close in Bloemfontein, which could have changed the complexion of the limited-overs series altogether, was cause to celebrate. “Before we came here everyone thought we were the underdog but we proved we are one of the best sides in the world, especially in one-dayers,” he said. “Hopefully, we can carry this performance into the next few tours.”

Former New Zealand wicketkeeper and coach Warren Lees says the gap between seniors and juniors in the national setup is too wide

Firdose Moonda in Dunedin12-Mar-2012Unless New Zealand Cricket fashions a clear plan to help junior players move through the stages seamlessly, the team will be plagued with underachievement, according to Warren Lees, former national wicketkeeper and coach. Lees used Tim Southee, who was axed for the second Test, as a prime example of the increasing gap between rookie and veteran and how it will affect the country’s cricketing future.”I believe in having three groups as a cricket team. Everyone should start as an apprentice and then work their way into middle management and then become administration,” Lees told ESPNcricinfo during the first Test in Dunedin.”What’s wrong with the New Zealand team is that Tim Southee is in administration. He should be an apprentice. But, circumstances forced that on the team. Tim Southee isn’t the only one but he is an example and a glaring one. He should still be sitting in the corner with his hands in his lap and listening. Then, it should take five tours and two years before he moves up.”Southee was dropped from the New Zealand squad after a string of poor performances against South Africa. He has gone two matches wicket-less. He has also been expensive, lost his lines and with that, his self-belief. “Tim didn’t have the game of his life,” Ross Taylor, the New Zealand captain, said after the match, the first hint that Southee may be dropped. “He struggled a little bit with his action but he’s played a few Tests now. He’s a confidence player and hopefully he can bounce back from this.”The ability to recover and continue to the next phase of international cricket is something that Lees feels will only be possible if players have the right management and team-mates who are in various stages around them. In the past, he does not think New Zealand had a structure with these distinctions.Lees referred to his own coaching stint, between 1990 and 1993, and highlighted it as being the period in which the gap between the newest players and their seniors widened. He blamed the divide to the inability of players at the mid-level to take youngsters under their wing and help them assimilate.”New Zealand did reasonably well performance wise when they had [Nathan] Astle,[Chris] Cairns and [Craig] McMillan, but none of them wanted to take the management roles,” Lees said. “If you were a youngster getting into the team, none of those players offered anything. So there was this huge gap between Stephen Fleming and his seniors and the apprentices. We weren’t developing a culture for the future so when they left the team had no direction.”In recent months, New Zealand appear to have found a path and Lees hopes John Wright, the current coach who he played with, can keep them on it. He believes Wright will act as the bridge between players at different levels. “The one good thing about the team at the moment is that I can’t see too many of them retiring anytime soon,” Lees said. “Ok, Chris Martin has a limited life and Daniel Vettori is not going to be there forever, but he is not as effective as he was anyway. There’s a stronger promise of what could happen in the future. And I think John Wright is the right sort of person to bring that out.”With Wight’s commitment, Lees said the New Zealand team will not want for dedication or a desire to produce their best. “They may lose through a lack of skill but they won’t lose through a lack of effort,” he said. “We saw a bit of that in this game. The first day taught some of those bowlers quite a lot and as a group they grew through the mistakes of day one. You could see for the rest of the Test there was more of a collective effort.”Edited by Kanishkaa Balachandran

Ryan Harris has been alerted by the national selectors to be ready to return to the Australian Test attack against Sri Lanka in August.

Daniel Brettig02-Jun-2011Australia fast bowler Ryan Harris used the Indian Premier League as an elongated fitness test. Now he has been been alerted by the national selectors to be ready to return to the Australian Test attack against Sri Lanka in August.Given how well Harris combined with Mitchell Johnson to fire out England during the third Ashes Test in Perth, it is natural the selection chairman Andrew Hilditch wants to see more of him. A return of 20 wickets at 24.40 from his first five Tests showed Harris to be a valued member of an attack that now has a new bowling coach in Craig McDermott.”I’ve got an indication they’re still keen for me to play that longer form of the game, so now I’ve got six to eight weeks before Sri Lanka,” Harris told ESPNcricinfo. “Queensland are about to start in pre-season, so I’ll get into that, get into some serious gym work and fitness work. [I will] get myself fit and stronger, and by that time [in time for the Sri Lanka tour] I’ll have bowled a fair bit and hopefully I’ll be bowling well enough to get picked. I’m definitely aiming for that tour.”McDermott marked his promotion from the Centre of Excellence by indicating that he wanted his charges to be fitter and more capable of bowling consistently. Such a vision is in line with Harris’ own harsh assessments of himself.”I’ve seen some good reports about him and obviously the cricket that he’s played himself, he’s in a position where he can give good advice, and knows a bowling action,” Harris said. “It’s exciting; it’s going to be different but good. He’s worked with Troy Cooley as well so I guess he’s passed on some information, and it’s exciting to see him start.”My aim now is to get back to the level I was bowling. I’ve always got to try to improve, and to stay fit for the next two or three years before I finish my career. I just want to get back to feeling good, getting my pace back up and getting the shape of the ball back there.”I felt as though in the IPL I struggled with that and got a little frustrated with it. But that’s my goal in the next six to eight weeks, to get that really comfortable feeling; to run in and bowl fast and put the ball where I want to put it.”Harris, 31, posed the most consistent questions of any Australian bowler during the Ashes, before he was waylaid by an ankle fracture during the Melbourne Test. He is also constantly managing a battered knee that needs the addition of new cartilage. Harris has elected to avoid such a procedure due to the 18 months it would cost him in the latter days of a career that did not truly bloom until he was nearing 30.Playing for King’s XI Punjab, Harris plucked 16 wickets at 23.87 during the IPL, suffering the occasional collaring but overall doing enough to suggest he is capable of making an impression on the Sri Lankans in subcontinental climes. Any lingering discomfort in Harris’ ankle and knee dissipated as the tournament progressed.”Everything’s spot-on at the moment, which is good,” Harris said. “It took me probably four or five games to get into it again and get the body used to bowling. The ankle was a little bit tender from the surgery; not so much the break but just where the screws were inserted, so it probably took two or three weeks to get over that pain. Once I got over that everything was good.”The knee was a bit tender, but it never never really swelled up, and the pain or tenderness that was there, disappeared, the more I played. Everything on that front is going well, which is good because we weren’t sure how the knee was going to pull up after not playing for three or four months and then going into a tournament where you play games only two or three days apart.”I was a bit surprised myself to be honest how I went, but another test will come when I start playing the longer form again.”