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…

Administrator IPL Adam Voges, Andrew Flintoff, Blogs.CMDN.com, Chennai Super Kings, Cricket Blogs, damien martyn, Doug Bollinger, Eoin Morgan, IPL, Kings XI, Kumar Sangakkara, Mohammad Kaif, Mumbai, Richard Madley, Ricky Ponting, Royal Challengers, Shane Warne, Swann, Twenty20

England have suffered in their trials by video at Centurion but only tweaks are needed to ensure everyone is happy

THE CENTURION Test has been our first experience of the revised Umpire Decision Review System. My initial impression is that the changes made to something that was largely derided earlier in the year on the tour of the West Indies have improved it.

In the Caribbean, the third umpires had a shocker. This was because of the limitations of the system — partly due to poor technology, such as the wrong camera angle being supplied for use in some crucial decisions — and because of misunderstandings as to the exact role that the man in the box plays in guiding the umpires in the middle.

Those problems have now been removed. The most important change has been to allow the third umpire to use the predictive element of Hawk-Eye, whereas previously he was apparently forced to use a ruler as a primitive way of assessing the likely path of the ball in the event of a query over an lbw appeal.

This change emphatically does not mean that there is no debate. At tea yesterday, Sir Ian Botham and I got stuck into a decidedly warm discussion following the upholding of the not-out lbw verdict in favour of AB de Villiers. Hawk-Eye had shown that the delivery from Graham Onions would have clipped the leg stump pretty hard. The crucial point was that it was not within the tolerance levels prescribed by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for such incidents.

So if a review shows that the decision of the man in the middle fell within the margin of error, the orange graphic comes up “Umpire’s Call”, and the original decision stands.

This does present an anomaly. We had a situation in which the umpire had given De Villiers not out, and Hawk-Eye suggested strongly that he should have been given out. However, because of the margin of error, the third umpire could not definitively say the original verdict was wrong, so the on-field umpire’s decision stood, and England had lost their final review. That was the point Sir Ian was most indignant about: that even if one accepted the decision as laid down by the rules of the system, it seemed harsh that England had lost the review when everyone knew Read more…

Administrator England, South Africa Aleem Dar, Amla, Anderson, Caribbean, Centurion, De Villiers, England, Harris, Hawk-Eye, ICC, JP Duminy, Kallis, Prior, South Africa, Steve Davis, Swann, Trott, UDRS

As England’s biggest talent (and ego) arrives in South Africa, Stephen Brenkley gauges the mood of the dressing room, from a side that won the Ashes without him

The Brylcreem Boy flies in today. It will not quite be the return of the conquering hero. Kevin Pietersen will arrive largely unheralded at OR Tambo International airport in Johannesburg – though should his latest sponsors insist upon slicked-down hair it may may well turn a few heads – to be met by a liaison officer and whisked to the England team’s hotel.

There, apart from a visit or two to the gym to enhance his recently reacquired fitness (don’t spoil the hair Kev), he will spend the next day kicking his heels waiting for his colleagues to arrive from their business in Bloemfontein. When team and star player are eventually reunited he may find that things have changed, that in his absence they have moved on.

England still need Pietersen’s runs and his outrageous methods of making them but in the last four months the team have demonstrated that they can do without him. It may be to the ultimate benefit of both parties. The rest of the side now recognise they can truly perform and have a terracotta urn containing the Ashes and a Champions Trophy semi-final place to prove it.

Pietersen himself may feel somewhat unburdened and although he has always paid generous lip service to the team ethos in the past, there has always been the suspicion – because it was based on reality – that if he did not do it they might not. Equally some players are transformed by Pietersen at the other end and Paul Collingwood, for instance, looks a better batsman with Pietersen around.

As the off-spinning all-rounder Graeme Swann put it yesterday: “It’s exciting for us that he’s coming back, and, you never know, he might have to fight for his place.” Swann was being typically jocular but it was a joke imbued with a certain seriousness. The top-of-the-bill act has not been indispensable.

Swann, who has visibly grown into an international cricketer of stature while Pietersen has been away, said: “Kev’s Kev, he’s a massive personality and a massive player. He’s got to Read more…

Administrator England Ashes, Blogs.CMDN.com, Champions Trophy, Cricket, Cricket Blogs, England, Johannesburg, Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood, South Africa, Swann

Gosh, is it really over? It seems like barely yesterday that English cricket was in crisis after the rout at Headingley, only a few days ago that we were getting het up about the drainage at Edgbaston. That win at Lord’s was only last week, wasn’t it? And time has certainly flown since I was trying to follow the closing overs from Cardiff on my mobile phone as I was on a plane taxiing down the runway at Zurich.

This was not a classic Ashes in the 2005 sense when two teams near the peak of their powers and packed with all-time heroes slugged it out, but don’t let anyone claim that 2009 lacked drama or tension. Yes, England and Australia had their moments of ineptitude and at times it seemed as if the battle would be over who could make the fewer mistakes, but it was gripping for all that.

It became a cliche in 2005 that someone would “put their hand up and come to the party”. I think that applied even more this series. When there were 20 overs remaining in Cardiff, when England won the toss and batted at Lord’s, when Australia were fighting back in the second innings at Lord’s, when Graham Onions started to bowl on day 2 at Edgbaston with Australia 126-1, when Stuart Broad was chucked the ball at the Oval, when Jonathan Trott came out to bat on Friday at 39-3… these were the small moments when questions were asked of character and England answered.

Australia scored more runs, more hundreds, hit more sixes, took more wickets and held more catches than we did, but in two crucial categories we outscored them: number of five-fors and number of wins.

And this shouldn’t be a surprise. We said at the start of the series that England’s bowlers held the key and that Australia’s attack were weaker. The fact that Ben Hilfenhaus and Read more…

Administrator Ashes Anderson, Ashes, Aussies, Australia, Blogs.CMDN.com, Broad, Cardiff, Cricket, Cricket Blogs, Edgbaston, England, Flintoff, Graham Onions, Harmison, Lord's, Monty Panesar, Peter Siddle, South Africa, Swann

» Monty Panesar looks a better option than Adil Rashid
» Ryan Sidebottom rusty so Graham Onions becomes Plan B

Geoff Miller, the national selector, is sufficiently old to remember at first hand Johnny Nash’s 1972 hit There Are More Questions Than Answers so as he sat watching the Lions at New Road , inscrutable behind his shades, he might have been humming it to himself as he pondered the squad for the first Test, which he must announce on Sunday.

What might have been a relatively straightforward operation as fitness and form have started to come together has been confused by the Lions’s efforts against the Australians in the final warm-up.

Twice in the game the bounce and languid pace of Steve Harmison, omitted from the 16-man training camp, has accounted for the tyro Phillip Hughes in a manner that rendered the batsman undignified. Graham Onions has bowled beautifully, his figures not reflecting this, and Adil Rashid found bowling on a slow pitch left him little room for error but batted with real panache for 66, the latter part against Brett Lee and Mitchell Johnson with the new ball. Read more…

Administrator Ashes Adil Rashid, Anderson, Bell, Bopara, Broad, Cardiff, Collingwood, Cook, Flintoff, Geoff Miller, Graham Onions, Lord's, Monty Panesar, Onions, Panesar, Pietersen, Prior, Ryan Sidebottom, Steve Harmison, Strauss, Swann

1100: Chucking it down at Edgbaston, so no play for England or Warwickshire. Better news at New Road, however. It’s not flooded, and the Lions can continue their first innings against the Aussies. A couple of Yorkshiremen at the crease for England. Always a good thing.

1121: Mitchell Johnson has his first wicket of the match as a flat-footed Bresnan chops the ball into his stumps. Lack of footwork costing the Yorkshire all-rounder.

1124: The Fast Bowlers’ Union really is no more. Even in warm-up matches. Lee greets new batsman Saj Mahmood with a searing bouncer that whistles over the England Lions’ man’s shoulder.

1125: The short ball works for Lee, albeit in frankly bizarre fashion. Another bouncer crashes into Mahmood’s arm, bounces up and over his head before landing on the stumps. Two quick wickets for the Aussies. The new batsman is Steve ‘the Aussies have lost their aura’ Harmison. The sledging ban may be lifted here. Read more…

Administrator Ashes Ashes, Blogs.CMDN.com, Broad, Cricket, Cricket Blogs, Edgbaston, Harmison, Mitchell Johnson, Rashid, Saj Mahmood, Swann, Warwickshire, Yorkshiremen