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Brad Haddin knows precisely where he stands with the Australian team and its selectors, even though a thorough explanation has not been outlined for public consumption

Daniel Brettig in Sydney16-Feb-2012Brad Haddin knows precisely where he stands with the Australian team and its selectors, even though a thorough explanation has not been outlined for public consumption.ESPNcricinfo has learned Haddin spoke on Tuesday to the Australian Cricketers’ Association chief executive, Paul Marsh, telling him he was satisfied that he knew where he stood and that the communication from the selectors had been adequate.The lack of a publicly mirrored statement from the national selector John Inverarity has left a few heads being scratched, though not within the dressing room.As he prepared to lead Australia as Michael Clarke’s stand-in, Ricky Ponting conveyed no discomfort at all about the way Inverarity and his panel have communicated with the players since they were appointed as part of the raft of team support staff changes brought in by the Argus review.Communication has been a buzz topic of the past few days, particularly after Steve Waugh then Shane Watson indicated that Haddin deserved a better explanation for his omission from the ODI team than that which had been publicly given. Inverarity had stated that Haddin was being rested for the first three matches of the series before the panel reassessed the position, but Ponting said a more concrete explanation had been delivered privately.”I think he actually has been given that [explanation], face-to-face,” Ponting said. “That’s my understanding of it all. He’s been told, his position has been rock solid all the way through. He hasn’t changed anything. What he had to say when he was left out of the first game is exactly what he’s saying now. I’ve got no idea why the communication has been the way it has been to the media but I know Brad’s stance hasn’t changed from day dot.”I think Brad’s been spot on the mark with everything he’s had to say. It’s been made pretty clear now that what Brad’s had to say at the start of the one-day series looks like it’s the way it is. He’s been unmoved in his stance on his situation. He’s got a week where hopefully he’s not answering those questions any more and he can get a really good Sheffield Shield game under his belt, score some runs, take some catches, and come out of this week a lot happier guy than he is at the moment. I think it’s all pretty clear as far as he’s concerned.”When he was appointed to the national selector role, Inverarity’s highest priority was establishing effective and mature communication with the players about where they stood at any given time. There have been very few of the player rumblings of discontent that accompanied the previous panel, chaired by Andrew Hilditch, but Inverarity has maintained a certain level of mystique by not explaining every decision in great detail to the public via the media.The public dimension to Inverarity’s role is still evolving, leading to the occasional moment of doubt about where players stood. David Warner’s elevation to the ODI vice-captaincy, for example, was not trumpeted, even though everyone within the dressing room knew exactly when and why he had been given the post. Ponting said his own communication with the panel had been strong and consistent, but added he could not speak for others.”Whatever communication I’ve had with selectors since this new panel’s been in place, to me directly, has been very good,” Ponting said. “Because I’ve been out of the loop in the last few months and not being the captain … I’m not exactly sure of the way the communication’s been between players on the outside or players coming in or out. I really can’t answer that question.”Inverarity’s appointment, alongside those of the other selectors Rod Marsh, Andy Bichel and the coach/selector Mickey Arthur, was hastened by the Argus review’s list of recommendations. Ponting said those changes had helped freshen a set-up that had become stale, providing something of a catalyst for the success that has followed.”I just think a whole freshening of everything has probably been the major reason that things have turned around the way they have,” Ponting said. “It’s just been a really refreshing feel I guess right through cricket in Australia, not just around the national team either but everything. All the issues that were brought up in the Argus review have been been addressed and some of the appointments that have been made, it certainly looks like we’ve got cricket in Australia heading in the right direction.”To be in and around the team in the last few months has been great fun, been very enjoyable. We’ve won some games of cricket and when you win games of cricket obviously the atmosphere around everything picks up. Culture in a team is all about winning games and when you start winning games it’s amazing what it does for the culture of the team. I think everyone that you would have spoken to throughout this year has enjoyed their cricket.”When you’ve got guys that are enjoying their cricket it’s amazing what guys can achieve. That’s been our whole focus, hard work, enjoyment, doing whatever you can to win and if you’re doing that then everything else tends to look after itself. I think everything that’s happened in the last six months has been ultra-positive for Australian cricket. Every now and then you’ve got to take stock and have a look at where you’re going, what areas need a lot of attention. There’s no doubt throughout Australian cricket there were a lot of areas that needed attention and I think most of those have been addressed.”

Such is England’s current strength in depth that even Ian Bell, a man with a double hundred in his previous Test, faces demotion

George Dobell04-Jan-2012Such is England’s current strength in depth that even a man with a double-century in his last Test innings cannot avoid the imminent prospect of demotion.In the absence of Jonathan Trott with a shoulder injury, Ian Bell was promoted to the No. 3 position towards the end of the Test series against India last year and responded with two centuries in three innings. The last of them, a sublime contribution of 235 at The Oval, underlined his maturation into one of the finest – and most attractive – players in Test cricket.Bell understands, however, that he is highly likely to drop back down the order to allow Trott to return to the No. 3 position which he has made in own over the last couple of years. With Trott, the current ICC Player of the Year averaging 54 (with 1,412 runs and four centuries from 30 Test innings) at No.3 and Bell averaging 40.97 (with 1,434 runs and two centuries from 36 Test innings) in the same position, it’s an understandable decision from England. By contrast, Bell averages 65 when batting at No. 5.Long-term Bell admits that he retains ambitions to bat at first wicket down. With an aspiration to be rated the No. 1 Test batsman, Bell feels he needs to prove himself higher up the order to silence the doubters who suggest – with ever decreasing justification – that many of his Test runs have come against tired attacks in low-pressure situations.”My goal is to bat three,” Bell said from the ICC’s Global Academy in Dubai, where England are preparing for the Test series against Pakistan. “I think that’s where you can test yourself, and certainly there is a part of me that wants to bat there. I’ve had success at five, I’ve had success at six and I’m very happy to bat there. I’ll bat wherever the team want me to bat.”My long-term goal is I want to bat in the top three. But for me now, it’s just a matter of scoring runs in this series. I’m clear in what I need to do. At the end of the day, we’re a batting unit and we have to score runs to give our bowlers a chance of winning a Test match.”So whether it’s three or five, I’ll be prepared to bat there. But I’m pretty sure it will be number five.”Compared to Chris Tremlett, however, Bell might still consider himself fortunate. Since returning to the Test side just before Christmas 2011 during the third Test against at Perth, Tremlett has bowled superbly and claimed taken 36 wickets in seven Tests at an average of 24.Due to a couple of untimely injuries Tremlett now finds himself behind Stuart Broad and Tim Bresnan in the tussle for a fast bowling position in the Test side and fighting with Steven Finn for the position of first reserve.

West Indies’ bowlers set up a commanding eight-wicket win for their team in the first one-dayer against Pakistan in Kingstown

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Aug-2011
Scorecard
West Indies’ bowlers set up a commanding win for their team in the first one-dayer against Pakistan in Kingstown. Pakistan were bowled out for a paltry 82, and the hosts reached the target in just under 20 overs.Pakistan were sent in to bat and started poorly, losing opener Javeria Khan with only two runs on the board. Mariam Hasan and captain Nain Abidi steadied the innings with a 30-run second-wicket partnership, but once Hasan was dismissed with the score on 32 by offspinner Anisa Mohammed, the rout began. Mohammed ran through the Pakistan batting to end up with figures of 10-6-5-5 as Pakistan crumbled in just under 41 overs. Only three of their batsmen managed to reach double-figures, while four were dismissed without scoring.West Indies lost Juliana Nero and Shanel Daley early in the chase but an unbroken 55-run third-wicket partnership between Stafani Taylor and Deandra Dottin carried to them to an easy victory.The hosts now lead the four-match series 1-0. The second ODI will be played at the same venue on August 30.

Tasmania require just 186 more runs for victory on the final day following a sudden declaration from New South Wales captain Simon Katich late on day four

Andrew Fuss20-Mar-2011
ScorecardPhil Jaques top-scored for New South Wales with 94•Getty ImagesTasmania require just 186 more runs for victory on the final day following a sudden declaration from New South Wales captain Simon Katich late on day four.The Blues did the job early in the day, cleaning up the Tigers’ tail; the hosts adding just 42 runs to their overnight score of 6 for 411 before they were bowled out. Steven O’Keefe did the damage, picking up two of the three wickets to fall to end up with figures of 3 for 64.With the momentum back in visitors’ favour, NSW would have been confident of amassing a lead well over 200 leading into day five, but a magical spell of swing bowling from Ben Hilfenhaus had them reeling at 2 for 6. The Tasmanian fast bowler removed David Warner for 2 before producing a peach to get rid of the dangerous Usman Khawaja – the ball pitching outside off then swinging back violently to dislodge the left-hander’s off stump.Phillip Hughes and Phil Jaques dug in, scoring slowly to steady the Blues’ innings. The pair shared a gritty 181-run stand before James Faulkner had Hughes caught behind, slashing at a drive – the diminutive opener was denied back-to-back centuries, falling for 93.At no stage did it appear the Blues would declare before stumps as Hughes and Jacques prodded and nudged the Tigers for singles and the occasional boundary, seemingly looking for a lead of 250 early on day five and 80 overs to bowl the Tigers out. However, after Jaques (94) was also denied his hundred, thanks to some sharp fielding from Alex Doolan, Katich sprung a surprise by declaring during a Nick Kruger over with the score on 5 for 215 in just under 64 overs, to set the hosts a victory target of 203.That decision gave the Blues four overs at the hosts and though Trent Copeland and Pat Cummins bowling superbly in that short spell to create three chances, the Blues’ fielders failed to capitalise on any of them.The first came when Nick Kruger slashed at a full ball from Cummins and edged it straight to Hughes at second slip, who grassed a straightforward chance. Copeland drew a false stroke from Ed Cowan the next over, but the edge flew between Khawaja and Hughes in the slips, the former out of position.Cummins gave the visitors one more chance in the final over, drawing an inside edge from Cowan, which ballooned off his pads to silly mid on, where Jaques failed to latch on to a difficult chance.With the pitch still looking very flat – especially for a fifth day – the Blues will have their work cut out to dismiss a Tasmanian side determined to repeat their 2006-07 success and win their second Sheffield Shield title.

The Indian batting emphasised why they are such a feared unit and the spinners continued to look impressive as they beat New Zealand by 117 runs at the MA Chidambaram Stadium

The Bulletin by Siddarth Ravindran at the MA Chidambaram Stadium16-Feb-2011
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Suresh Raina’s whirlwind half-century marked a return to form after a lean patch•AFPThe Indian batting emphasised why they are such a feared unit by piling up 360 against New Zealand, despite the failures of Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag at the MA Chidambaram Stadium. Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli, two batsmen who tormented New Zealand in the one-day series three months ago, crafted a century partnership to set the base, before MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina, two batsmen who are crowd favourites in Chennai for their IPL exploits, delighted the fans with brutal hitting that was frenetic even by Twenty20 standards. The final 16 overs brought a jaw-dropping 193 runs to further demoralise a struggling New Zealand outfit, who were eventually crushed by 117 runs.The Chennai crowd wouldn’t have expected such a treat when the superstar opening pair of Tendulkar and Sehwag fell within the first ten overs. It was Kohli who led the recovery initially after the loss of the two wickets, continuing to be in the fluent form that has has more or less earned him a starting place in India’s opening World Cup game at the expense of Raina. A combination of hard-hit lofted drives and delicate dinks behind square brought him a stabilising half-century.It had been run-of-the-mill stuff till the 34th over, with the bowling mostly mediocre and the batsmen mainly concerned with consolidation. The mandatory ball change in the 35th over prompted the batting Powerplay, and began an hour-long period of carnage. Gambhir started it with lap sweeps and carves over extra cover, followed by three successive boundaries off Tim Southee in the 37th to pick up 31 off 12 deliveries before nicking to the keeper.If New Zealand felt that would provide some respite, there were emphatically proved wrong by Dhoni and Raina, both of whose one-day fortunes have hit a trough in the recent past. Dhoni showed that the bludgeoner of old wasn’t gone for good, by thrashing a 61-ball century that had plenty of heaves over midwicket and power-packed drives down the ground. There were some deft placements as well from Dhoni to collect boundaries past short third man and short fine leg. Raina joined in the fun, with his patented swipes towards midwicket fetching him loads of runs in a 25-ball half-century.Jacob Oram’s bowling performance perfectly illustrated how New Zealand wilted after a solid beginning. Oram, fighting for a place in the starting XI, started the day with the massive wicket of Virender Shehwag off his first delivery. It got even better for him when he returned for his second spell; he had Kolhi poking at an extremely wide delivery that ended up as a nick to the keeper, and his figures read 7-1-30-2. The smile was off his face in his final burst, though, as Dhoni picked five successive fours off him before Raina swung him for three sixes over midwicket in four balls. Oram kicked the ground in disgust as he ended with 9-1-70-2.New Zealand began their chase spiritedly with Brendon McCullum and Martin Guptill scoring quickly against the quick bowlers. As on Sunday against Australia, it was the spinners that applied the brakes for India. New Zealand had sprinted to 94 for 0 in 15 overs, when offspinner R Ashwin removed Guptill with a delivery that spun sharply and bounced, flying off the bat handle to Dhoni. McCullum was then dismissed attempting a misjudged run, before Harbhajan Singh removed the two other big names in the New Zealand batting, Jesse Ryder and Ross Taylor. At 147 for 5, the game was up, though New Zealand’s lower order lingered around for another 18 overs.The batting can’t be blamed for coming up short in the face of a mammoth target, but the bowling, which was taken apart on Wednesday, had shipped loads of runs in the first warm-up against Ireland as well. New bowling coach Allan Donald will have his hands full during the tournament. Taylor, who was captain in the absence of Daniel Vettori, admitted his bowlers had been too expensive. “MS Dhoni batted very well, but I think we leaked 40 or 50 too many runs on that wicket.”Dhoni will be satisfied overall with the two wins in the warm-up matches, but he won’t be getting carried away by these results, especially after India’s disastrous 2007 World Cup campaign which had begun with two massive victories in the practice matches.Taylor, though, is convinced India are clear front-runners to win the tournament this time around. “I think they have got to be the favourites by far; it’s on their home conditions, and as you saw out there, they are a very well balanced side,” Taylor said. “Spinners are going to be the key, and they have some very good spinners in Harbhajan [Singh] and R Ashwin and their part-timers also.”Match Timeline

Wolverhampton Wanderers have a Portuguese starlet on their hands in Chiquinho and the 22-year-old is looking to replicate the progress shown by Diogo Jota and Daniel Podence amidst his ambitions of breaking into the first team.

What’s the latest?

That is according to Journalist Josh Holland, via GIVEMESPORT, who believes Chiquinho is eager to become one of the first names of the team sheet.

Holland said: “He’s aspiring and going to want to show his worth to then follow in the footsteps of Diogo Jota and Daniel Podence by getting into that Portugal team.

“I don’t blame Tim [Spiers] for being an admirer of him. I think when he came on against Arsenal, when they lost 1-0, he was just running at Arsenal.

“It’s just something that Wolves miss when Traore is not there. It’s whether he’s got that final product that Traore obviously struggled with.”

On the chalkboard

Jota’s rise to prominence serves as the golden example that the £2.2m-rated Chiquinho will be looking to follow.

The 25-year-old broke into the Portuguese national team during his time at Molineux and has since gone on to make 24 appearances in a time span that has seen him become an elite forward under Jurgen Klopp’s management at Liverpool.

22-year-old Chiquinho, who has been dubbed “magic” by Estoril U23’s head coach Vasco Botelho da Costa, demonstrated his promising potential in his 20-minute cameo against Chelsea on Saturday. The two goals that Wolves scored were both assisted by the former Estoril asset, leaving the Old Gold faithful questioning why he is not being given more minutes.

His “explosiveness” as highlighted his former coach Vasco Botelho da Costa, was the game-changer for Lage’s side and scorer of the last-minute equaliser Conor Coady gave the starlet all the plaudits: “I went into the box, hoping Chiquinho would get it. I thought he was outstanding when he came on.

“He’s a young lad who’s learning every day and he took the game to Chelsea, he ran at them every single time he got the ball, and he always put a ball inside the box.”

With that in mind, he’s clearly a young individual with the world at his feet and if he can find some end product in the Midlands, he stands a great chance of following Jota’s impressive lead at Wolves.

In other news: Lage can land huge Jimenez upgrade for Wolves in £82k-p/w “monster”, he’d be “perfect”