The final ball of the fifth over during India’s chase in Hyderabad may have had little significance to the eventual outcome of the match, but for the capacity crowd at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, what had transpired before it and what was to follow were from two different worlds.

When Sachin Tendulkar flicked Ben Hilfenhaus through mid-wicket for three runs, he became the first batsman in the history of one-day cricket to reach 17,000 runs. It was the moment that the people of Hyderabad had waited for with fingers crossed, and when it arrived, the celebration was absolutely no-holds-barred.

After all, with India chasing an improbable 351 against a fired-up Aussie outfit, it seemed like the only real hurrah up for grabs as far as the 30,000 spectators at Uppal went. Little did they know that Tendulkar had a special surprise up his sleeve to celebrate the milestone.

Australia, batting first after winning the toss on a good pitch that offered consistent bounce, showed that they were up for the challenge here. Shane Watson was the early aggressor, his 89-ball 93 setting the pace for Australia. Ricky Ponting scored a run-a-ball 45 while Michael Hussey and Cameron White came out all guns blazing. All this time, Shaun Marsh held one end up, starting slowly and opening up towards the end, as his 112 and the late charge took Australia to 350. The last time the two teams met on a pitch with even bounce was during the second one-dayer in Nagpur, and led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni, India went on to post a mammoth 354 for seven. Ponting & Co had returned the favour.

In Nagpur, Australia’s chase had almost crumbled before it began. In Hyderabad, even as wickets fell at one end, Tendulkar seemed determined to do it alone.

The much talked-about seven runs behind him, Tendulkar broke the shackles and began marshalling India towards their gargantuan task. The boundaries seemed to flow that much easier and his 92nd half-century came off 47 deliveries. The well-set Virender Sehwag had once again failed to convert his start, while Gautam Gambhir, Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh soon Read more…

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Overview

With the Champions Trophy out the way, many sides can now switch their focus to building toward the 2011 World Cup.

This series will give Australia and India the perfect opportunity to do just that.

Of course, there’s a trophy and bragging rights at stake so it’s unlikely that there will be too much experimenting for either side.

The hosts’ form in limited-overs competition has been extremely patchy in recent months. They struggled to stamp their authority against the West Indies in the Caribbean, were offered hit-and-miss cricket across the Compaq Cup in Sri Lanka and then flopped in the Champions Trophy in South Africa.

On paper they remain one of the strongest outfits in world cricket and the selectors have one of - if not - the biggest player pool to draw from, but unfortunately they just cannot get the combinations right. Rahul Dravid, Abhishek Nayar, Rudra Pratap Singh, Dinesh Karthik and Yusuf Pathan have all come and gone in recent tournaments.

The constant chopping and changing has not helped the core of the team and captain Mahendra Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Gautam Gambhir, Harbhajan Singh, Praveen Kumar and Ishant Sharma have all had one good game followed by a poor one. It’s about time they each string together a good run of form and with seven matches lined up, they won’t get a better opportunity to do so.

On the up side for India, Virender Sehwag, Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh have all recovered from injury and will strengthen the batting line-up considerably. Bowling-wise, despite Zaheer Khan’s absence through injury, Ashish Nehra, Sharma and Praveen Kumar will be favourites for the fast-bowling slots. Throw in spinners Harbhajan Singh and Amit Mishra and you’re met Read more…

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IT has been two days since we lost the last Test and the Ashes and the pain of that defeat continues to linger.

But as disappointing as the result was at The Oval, I couldn’t be more excited about the future.

While we had bad sessions at Lord’s and The Oval which cost us both games, we completely dominated England at Cardiff and Leeds, showing there was little between the teams.

Coming off the back of our strong series victory in South Africa earlier in the year, I believe we’re on the right track and our younger players can only get better with experience.

Our fast-bowling attack of Peter Siddle, Mitchell Johnson and Ben Hilfenhaus will all be very good international players.

Despite the inconsistency of inexperience, they finished as the three leading wicket-takers in the series, which is a terrific effort given how little Test cricket they have played between them.

And after a frustrating few years battling injuries, Shane Watson has looked every bit an international player.

He was completely at home opening the batting and performed consistently under Read more…

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As some of my Aussie friends would say, another day and another sad little blog from Tushar. But as things stand today, Australian sportspersons - if you could call them that - keep getting from bad to worse. If they are on the field, trouble can't be far behind, that's given. Well for that matter, off the field too. 

Never away from controversies, Australian spin legend shocked one and all by using a four-letter word while doing commentary during the drawn Ashes Test at Edgbaston. News reports said Warne uttered the word t**t, a derogatory jibe, during the first over of Australian Ben Hilfenhaus' with Andrew Strauss at the batting crease. "The ball had to pass the popping crease, the great spin doctor informed us, otherwise Strauss would have been allowed to stroll down the pitch and 't**t it'," the newspaper quoted Warne as saying.

Anything goes, eh? Yeah, mate. Who has forgotten Dean Jones 'terrorist' remark for South Africa's Amla? Some would say Jones did apologize. "Am sorry mate, didn't intend it to come out this way," Jones is reported to have told Amla later. Some apology. And the man is back with the mike again.

Back to Warne. Our man has some sane bit of advice for his counterparts on the field, asking them to get nasty -never knew Aussies were a friendly lot- and pump up the heat against Read more...

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These are my ratings for the 22 men who played in the second Ashes Test at Lord’s, as England completed a rare win over Australia in a memorable Test at the home of cricket.

ENGLAND

Andrew Strauss - 9
A wonderful century on the first day set the tone beautifully, and it looked even better when Australia folded so rapidly on the second day. His captaincy is fast improving, though he perhaps let the game drift a little on the fourth afternoon with some defensive field placings.

Alastair Cook - 8
Scored quickly in both innings on a ground that has served him well in the past. Looking much better outside off-stump and dealt with the short stuff really well. It’s the straight one that’s the only problem.

Ravi Bopara - 4
Got a pretty good ball before he had really established himself in the first innings, but made very heavy weather in the second innings with little pressure on England - and frankly looked a little out of nick.

Kevin Pietersen - 6
There is no doubt that the various injections Pietersen has had to ease the pain in his Achilles is affecting the way he moves at the crease. Still, scores of 32 and 44 meant this was no total disaster for KP. Read more…

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Yesterday, someone arrived at kingcricket.co.uk after searching ‘what shoes does Mitchell Johnson play in’. We have no idea, but we’d guess that he wears oversized clown shoes, such was his co-ordination yesterday.

Balls were going all over the place. It was as if Johnson were Devon Malcolm and Steve Harmison’s bastard offspring. We enjoyed it immensely. Maybe he wanted to give his team mates an opportunity to explore every corner of Lord’s and so offered them a never ending quest to recover the ball from beyond the boundary rope.

People had various ideas as to what was going wrong. It was the Lord’s slope; it was his low arm; it was his wrist position; it was nerves. We think we know the real reason. Has anyone, at any point, gone up to Mitchell Johnson and asked him whether he’s absolutely certain that he’s left handed? We’re pretty sure he’s not. He bowled much as we would if were forced into kack-handedness by some wrong-headed sadist.

Bowling from the other end was Peter Siddle, who we’ve also warmed to, but for entirely contrasting reasons. This is a man who’s clearly read the fast bowlers’ handbook from cover to cover and is now living the role to the full. Add warpaint, get angry, look like Read more…

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BEN Hilfenhaus is not Terry Alderman, Peter Siddle is not Glenn McGrath and Mitchell Johnson is not yet Denis Lillee.

But there’s something about this wonderfully unpretentious trio - the brickie’s laborer, the wood chopper and the plumbing supplies driver - that works.

These boys are the future and I really hope Australia sticks with them, even if it means the end of Brett Lee and Stuart Clark.

None of the young trio have reached their full potential but they skittled South Africa and will test England to the point where Clark and Lee could be squeezed out for good if the frontliners remain uninjured.

The only member of the attack who was vulnerable entering the Test was surprise selection Hilfenhaus and he was Australia’s best bowler, a man born to bowl in England with his natural swing. Read more…

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We pick out the five keys to day one of the opening Ashes Test of 2009 in Cardiff.

1. Watch Out
I’m back on a familiar hobby horse. The concept of the nightwatchman is one I’ve never really understood: if the number 10 is expected to see off the second new ball, so should the proper batsman. It baffles me at the best of times. But when the nightwatchman is sent in to protect Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann it becomes utterly mystifying. A scintillating partnership between Andrew Flintoff (who made the phrase “shades of 2005″ mandatory) and Matt Prior looked sure to turn a tight, attritional day England’s way. Aggression was England’s friend in 2005, and it was again today. Until, in the last quarter of an hour, they decided to shut up shop. Jimmy Anderson does the job in tenacious, gutsy fashion. Fair play to him. But his arrival at the crease will, at best, lead to a slowing of the scoring rate and a loss of momentum that evening and the following morning. At worst, he gets out, and the opposition take heart from the gloss on the scoreline. It’s a negative tactic that sends out the wrong message. Prior, having played with great freedom and real skill, suddenly looked indecisive and played all round an inswinger from Peter Siddle.

2. Swept Away
Oh dear. The abiding memory of the opening day of the 2009 Ashes series will be of the shot Kevin Pietersen played to give his wicket away. It probably won’t have the significance of Steve Harmison’s opening salvo in 2006/7 but it really was quite astonishingly bad. A brief office discussion failed to produce a worse shot ever by a top-five Test batsman. There must have been one, but I just can’t think of it. We all know what a wonderful, instinctive talent Pietersen is. The usual stuff about not wishing to stifle his attacking instincts all applies. But there are limits Read more…

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