Economics and politics dominated an auction that left a pair of veterans counting their blessings

If you’re Mohammad Kaif, a lottery ticket would be a smart move, while Damien Martyn could do worse than contemplate the tables at Bellagio or Caesar’s Palace. Neither man has played international cricket for more than three years, and Kaif’s performances in the inaugural Indian Premier League – he didn’t even make the Rajasthan Royals squad for the second season in South Africa – were as ordinary as Martyn’s brief flirtation with the nearly forgotten Indian Cricket League.

The Royals, captained and coached by Shane Warne, bought out Kaif’s $675,000 (£412,000) contract before the auction to free up the space that they then filled with the classy 38-year-old batsman who was once Warne’s brother in baggy-green arms. If that raised eyebrows, there was bemusement when Kings XI Punjab, who have appointed Kumar Sangakkara as captain in place of Yuvraj Singh, splashed out $250,000 for Kaif, whose batting is usually conspicuously devoid of the power and pizzazz associated with Twenty20 cricket.

Many of the headlines in England on Wednesday will focus on the lack of interest in Graeme Swann, but the Twitter-friendly off-spinner’s IPL tale is far from over. The auction represents only the most high-profile route into the league. There are other ways. Both the Mumbai Indians and the Chennai Super Kings have injured players that they can replace before the action begins on 12 March. In Mumbai’s case, they will have only the $100,000 that they spent on Kyle Mills last season, but Chennai have a whopping $1.55 million to draw on, having seen Andrew Flintoff go under the surgeon’s knife yet again. Don’t be surprised to see Swann or Doug Bollinger, another who attracted no interest, fielding a few calls from agents over the coming days.

With the auction taking place in Mumbai, a city subjected to the worst terror attacks ever seen in India, there was little doubt that the story of the day was the shunning of the 11 Pakistan players on the auction list. When Richard Madley, who usually helps sell antiques and Read more…

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The third IPL auction - a more low-key affair than before given that many big names had already been bought and there was a cap of $750,000 - has concluded in Mumbai.

As predicted in The Times, Eoin Morgan was the only England player to find favour, picked up by the Bangalore Royal Challengers for $220,000. Middlesex, Morgan’s county, are resigned to barely seeing the left-handed batsman next season. They have given him their blessing to compete in the whole IPL, in return for which the county will receive 10 per cent of his sale price - about £13,500 in English money.

The IPL starts in mid-March and goes on until April 25. If Bangalore reach the final, Morgan will have to hotfoot it straight away from Mumbai to Guyana, where he will be expected to play for England in their opening World Twenty20 match against West Indies. That tournament concludes on May 16 and Middlesex may see their man for a couple of weeks before he will be required again by England in a one-day series against Australia.

He then goes back to Middlesex for August before having to turn out in blue yet again for a one-day series against Pakistan. Just as well he isn’t a Test cricketer - yet. And at least Middlesex will see more of Andrew Strauss, a useful enough replacement for Morgan, than they might usually do.

Here are the winners and losers from the rest of the auction:

Winners

* Kieron Pollard: the West Indies all-rounder, left, was a huge hit in India during the Champions League Twenty20 in October, particularly during the first of his two matches for Trinidad against New South Wales, when he scored a fifty at three runs a ball. He can bowl well too, and justifies the maximum bid of $750,000 that Mumbai Indians paid for him.

* Shane Bond: the New Zealand fast bowler also went for the maximum $750,000 to Kolkata Knight Riders. His reserve price of $100,000 was fairly low, but bidding was frenzied Read more…

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We’re on the verge of the semi-finals of the Champions Trophy, and this tournament has by far exceeded expectations.

From a domestic point of view, it has helped that England have somehow turned their fortunes around with their unexpected win over Sri Lanka and their unbelievable innings against South Africa, but being here at the event is incredibly exciting.

The 50-over game has come in for a fair amount of criticism as the Twenty20 game becomes ever more popular, but whilst it must be pointed out that crowds here have been very disappointing (except for South Africa matches and the India/Pakistan game) the format of the tournament means that every match has had something riding on it.

We’ve also had some tense finishes, and there have been more than a few talking points.

The Australia-Pakistan game went down to the last ball as the Aussies sneaked top spot in the group to set up another ODI against England in the semi-final.

The batting of Owais Shah, Paul Collingwood and Eoin Morgan was breathtaking, as the hosts, South Africa, crashed out at Centurion, and the debate will rage as to whether a runner should be allowed for cramp.

In many ways it’s a shame the World Cup proper can’t follow a similar format to this; short, sharp, easy to follow (no ‘Super Sixes’ - what stage of the tournament is that?) with every match a potential ‘do-or-die’ situation.

People talk about ‘tournament football’ whenever the European Championships or Word Cup comes around, and in cricket it should be no different.

A five (or heaven forbid) seven-match one-day series is the time to allow side to lose a few games then make a comeback. In a tournament, the thrill should be in knowing that a bad game will make life difficult and two bad games could mean it’s all over. It’s about hitting form Read more…

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As much as the previously colonised among us enjoy seeing England beaten - this utterly objective reporter included - there is much to be taken from their victories.

The Three Lions were indeed rampant in their handsome win over Sri Lanka in the Champions Trophy in Johannesburg on Friday. England delivered a well-nigh flawless lesson in Cricket, How To Play.

Andrew Strauss recognised a greentop when he saw one, and sent the Sri Lankans in to bat. Sniping new-ball bowling by James Anderson and Graham Onions tamed one of the most dangerous top-orders in the game. Better than decent support from Stuart Broad and Paul Collingwood did the rest. Collingwood’s best innings in yonks steadied the reply, and Owais Shah and Eoin Morgan refused to let the pressure build. Job done.

Of course, we won’t dwell too long on the fact that this is a United Nations delegation masquerading as an England team. Perhaps that’s why the rest of the world is so interested when they play – there’s a little bit of all of us in the side.

Sri Lanka were somewhere out there, but they weren’t in the game. And that after an ominous performance against the swaggering South Africans in the tournament opener.

So non-rated England stay alive. In fact, they’re on top of the Group B standings going into Saturday’s matches, albeit after playing just one game. Still, a week ago, that would have been about as likely as St.George falling off his horse.

Well done, England. It’s as satisfying to see you win as it is watching someone Read more…

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Andrew Strauss The only batsman who has regularly looked like scoring runs but as culpable as everybody else for getting out when set. Has managed to remain phlegmatic despite the burgeoning cares of captaincy. 5/10

Joe Denly In patches has looked the part – flamboyant, fearless – but playing your own game is different from judging your own game. But there is something there. Would be good if the selectors have got this one right. 4

Ravi Bopara The most important part of promise and potential is that they are realised. Bopara, bubbly and bold, is almost 50 matches in to his ODI career and has four fifties to show. Still getting out carelessly. 0

Matt Prior Not good enough by half, because he is too good a batsman to have produced the figures he has, and it is unreasonable to keep claiming he is the best keeper-batsman when he has two fifties in 47 matches. 1

Paul Collingwood A tired cricketer on the slide. The fact that he is available for Delhi Daredevils in the Champions League which follows the Champions Trophy and precedes the tour of South Africa is folly for him and England. 2

Owais Shah By now he should be one of England’s most popular cricketers, with a sparkling array of big shots. But he is in a mess, accident-prone and fretful at the crease and it doesn’t look like getting better. 0

Eoin Morgan Morgan, picked earlier in the summer, had been in woeful form for Middlesex and asking him to climb out of it against Australia was misguided. He has coped Read more…

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Andrew Strauss and Andy Flower have plenty to think about ahead of the Champions Trophy in South Africa

There are perils in becoming a freelance. It is always possible that no one will want to offer any work, but this weekend cricket’s most prominent freelancer and first tax exile must be sitting pretty somewhere in Dubai.

Andrew Flintoff knows that once he can walk again, he will stroll right back into the England one-day side, always assuming that there is not a better offer on the table to play elsewhere. England have been so insipid in the past fortnight that Flintoff would be welcomed back with open arms if only because his presence in the dressing room appears to promote confidence.

Just remember how dire England were throughout the Headingley Test in Flintoff’s absence. Their performances in six one-day internationals have been no better, the sole consolation for the two Andrews, Strauss and Flower, being that the team’s ineptitude does not seem to matter so much. This summer will still be remembered for England’s Ashes victory rather than their NatWest humiliation.

Even so it has been a degenerating mess. Australia have been invigorated by this tournament, seizing it as a chance to regain some pride after the Ashes defeat and to prepare for the Champions Trophy, which begins in South Africa on Tuesday. The England players are either exhausted (Paul Collingwood, James Anderson, Stuart Broad and Matt Prior) or incompetent (the rest with the honourable exception of Strauss).

There has been a major turnover in personnel since that joyous afternoon at The Oval Read more…

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The press release, when it came, told us everything. It came not from the England and Wales Cricket Board’s PR department, but from Andrew Flintoff’s own media relations man. It was posted not on the ECB’s website but on Flintoff’s own. From a cricketer no longer wedded to either international cricket or the notion that cricket is a team game, it was a statement of independence.

The reaction to the news that Flintoff has turned down an England central contract to become a freelance cricketer has been viewed in two ways: there are those who insist that he has turned his back on England, and there are those who have been taken in by the PR guff put out on his behalf that he intends to travel the planet, Phileas Fogg-style, in an attempt to become the best one-day cricketer in the world. Neither holds true.

Flintoff’s decision yesterday to refuse what has become known as an “increment” contract, essentially a small retainer for those England players who are expected to play the one-day game only, is about two things, and two things only: freedom — the wish to do what he wants, when he wants to, without any encumbrances — and the desire to maximise earnings, both from playing and endorsements, in whatever time is left to him as a professional cricketer.

It is a shame that his decision was accompanied by such a ridiculous press release because it detracts from what is essentially a straightforward decision. Really, do we need to be told that one of the things he has enjoyed more than anything else is travelling to different locations and experiencing different cricketing cultures and that he retains an insatiable desire to continue to do both? And that, by doing so, it will help him to become the best one-day player on the planet? Most cricketers at the end of their careers wouldn’t mind a few nights in their own Read more…

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