Paul Collingwood has been named England’s vice-captain for the tour of Bangladesh

Andrew Miller21-Feb-2010England’s coach, Andy Flower, has said that Alastair Cook must concentrate on being his own man as he prepares to lead the team on their tour of Bangladesh, which gets underway with a one-day warm-up against a BCB XI in Fatullah on Tuesday.Despite confirming that Paul Collingwood will serve as England’s official vice-captain for the five-week trip, Flower is adamant that Cook is sufficiently worldly-wise to shoulder the leadership burden without having to lean too heavily on his senior colleagues.”The most important thing for Alastair Cook is that he is quite clear in his own head how he wants to lead the side,” Flower told reporters prior to the team’s departure from Dubai. “Also, how will he deal with the eternal challenge for cricket captains, of leading a team while also making sure that your own game is in order, which is very important.”Following the decision to give Andrew Strauss a break ahead of the English season, Cook was named as England captain for a trip which includes three ODIs and two Tests. It was a move that met with considerable opposition, not least because Cook has not been entirely certain of his place in the side of late. He had been short of Test form until a timely run of scores in the recent series in South Africa, but he was 12th man in this week’s Twenty20 series in Dubai, and will lead England into next week’s three ODIs without having featured in a 50-over match since November 2008.”I think he’s content with his batting,” said Flower. “One of the healthy things about Cook is that he’s always looking to improve. He’s done some really good work with Graham Gooch, who he respects and I respect tremendously, and they’ve worked really well together. If you couple his slightly altered technique with the determination and ability to deal with pressure that he’s always had, you’ve got a strong package.”Flower added that he expected nothing less than victory in the five matches of the tour, but felt that the pressure to win straightaway would not faze Cook. “I shouldn’t think it will be playing on his mind at all,” he said. “He will have thought about both series, and talked about both series already, but it would be wrong to look that far ahead. As a sportsman, you control what you can control, and looking at the end result of a five-week tour is not the way to do with that.”Should injury or illness afflict Cook during the tour, Collingwood will now be the man who takes charge, despite admitting that he doesn’t want a full captaincy role again having found the job difficult during his time as one-day leader in 2007-08. He is nevertheless an experienced and level-headed figure to have alongside a young captain, and he has also been in impressive form through England’s recent overseas trips, beginning with the Champions Trophy and continuing on the tour of South Africa which concluded last month.”The last time Colly captained the one-dayers, it took a lot out of him, and he doesn’t want to put his name forward in a medium to long-term capacity for the captaincy,” said Flower. “But he knows this would only be a stop-gap measure. As he said [on Saturday], if someone gets injured he’s quite happy to step into the breach.”Flower added that Kevin Pietersen had also come into consideration for the role, despite some well-publicised differences of opinion between the two during Pietersen’s shortlived stint as captain in 2008. “We had to consider all options as possible leadership candidates, and he was one of them,” said Flower. “But in the end it was a simple cricketing decision.”Collingwood did a good job in the Twenty20s, and it does take a while to get up to speed as captain, so the more you get used to thinking in that way, the better,” said Flower. “With some of the Twenty20 cricket we’ve played with Colly captaining, he’s feeling more comfortable.”The fact that Pietersen’s run-scoring is so important for England may well have played a part in the management deciding not to burden him with the vice-captaincy. He showed a pleasing return to form in the 1-1 series against Pakistan with two impressive innings – an unbeaten 43 followed by a 40-ball 62 – after admitting he has found it tough since returning from injury.”Both his innings were superb innings,” said Flower. “The first in a more controlled fashion, certainly after he got himself in, playing second fiddle to [Eoin] Morgan which doesn’t happen very often. And yesterday it was the more dominant Pietersen we are more used to seeing. It was great to see him hitting the ball as cleanly as that and looking more confident and balanced at the crease.”The squad which gathered in Bangladesh on Sunday included an extra name in Craig Kieswetter, the Somerset wicketkeeper-batsman, who was added to the party following his impressive form for the Lions, with a view to a possible role in the World Twenty20 in the Caribbean in April and May. Ajmal Shahzad, the Yorkshire paceman, who began his international career with two wickets in his first over against Pakistan, is also part of the group.”Kieswetter impressed everyone when playing against the national side the other day, and from chatting to the Performance Programme coaches and Lions coaches, he’s been very impressive,” said Flower. “The England selectors have been quietly watching him through the England summer, and he has performed well. He’s trained hard, he’s lost weight, he’s got stronger and fitter, and he’s shown in his performances the sort of hard-hitting capability that we need at the top of the order.”

A round-up of the preliminary quarter-final matches of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy that took place on March 12

Cricinfo staff12-Mar-2010
ScorecardHalf-centuries by Pritam Debnath and Parvez Aziz helped Assam coast to a seven-wicket win over Railways in Indore. Chasing 156, Debnath and Aziz added 135 for the opening wicket to set up the win. Debnath scored 55 off 48 balls before he fell in the 16th over while Aziz top scored with 75, off 51 balls. Earlier, the Assam seam-bowling trio made early inroads, reducing Railways to 62 for 5. But a 73-run stand for the sixth wicket between Shreyas Khanolkar and Dhiran Salvi pushed Railways to a respectable score. Salvi remained unbeaten on 60, off 31 balls while Khanolkar fell three short of his fifty. In the end, the score of 155 wasn’t adequate as Assam coasted home. They will play Delhi in the quarter-finals on Sunday.
ScorecardA pair of forties by Rishi Dhawan and Hemant Dogra and a combined bowling effort helped Himachal Pradesh beat Jharkhand by 11 runs in the first preliminary quarter-final in Indore. Chasing 160, Jharkhand kept enough wickets in hand but couldn’t go past the finish line. After being put into bat, Dogra and Dhawan added 44 for the third wicket, before Dhawan and Vineet Indulkar added another 48 for the fourth. Yaju Krishanatry, the right-arm seamer, was the most effective bowler with 4 for 31. Jharkhand went at six an over in the first ten overs but couldn’t keep with the required rate. Rajiv Kumar and Shiv Gautam came together at the 17th over needing a further 55, but they fell short by 11 runs. Himachal will play Tamil Nadu in the quarter-finals on Sunday.

S Badrinath, the Chennai Super Kings batsman, said that despite the tough time in the league phase, his side never doubted that they would make the semi-finals

Cricinfo staff22-Apr-2010S Badrinath, the Chennai Super Kings batsman, said that despite the tough time in the league phase, his side never doubted that they would make the semi-finals.”To be honest, not even at one stage we really thought that we would not make the semi-finals. We were positive all through and it showed. We were really optimistic. That’s how it has been,” Badrinath told .At the halfway mark of the league stage, Chennai’s campaign was going downhill with just two wins from seven matches. They then turned around the formbook, winning five of their return games to enter the semis on net run-rate.”It has been a mixed bag for us. We have lost some games, won some, and also finished some games really well. We have won from unbelievable situations,” Badrinath said. “The journey has been with lots of ups and downs for us this season and it is good to be there among the top four in the end. We are playing some good cricket at the moment and hope to continue in the same manner.”With Matthew Hayden in poor form, and MS Dhoni missing in action in the middle stages with injury, Badrinath shouldered extra burden in the middle order. He did reasonably well, scoring 305 runs at an average of 33.88.”It has been a good season for me. The position where I bat, it is not easy to score fifties and hundreds, but [it is easier to get] 20s and 30s. But I feel I have done well at number four, finishing the game for my team and in the process got a couple of fifties too,” he said.Badrinath has for long carried the tag of Test specialist, and few expected him to succeed in the shortest format, but Chennai backed his abilities and he is thankful for the support. “I have always had the self belief. I felt that whatever you do people are going to be after you. I did not let it affect my game. I should also credit the team management of Chennai Super Kings who had faith in me and signed me up,” he said.Badrinath felt he had learnt a lot from his overseas team-mates, like Hayden and Michael Hussey. “It’s the longevity and the attitude they play with. If you are going to be a world-class player and how long you can sustain and the attitude.”I had a chat with Hussey while he was trying to break into the Australian side at an age when most are at peak. What was he thinking? He just said that he wanted to enjoy the game. You learn different thing every time and that is how you evolve as a player. That is what matters to me.”Badrinath’s transition from being a technically sound, but restricted player to an innovative batsman has been aided by his ability to play unorthodox strokes such as the scoop shot. “The scoop shot has been my strength. It is not easy to play as you have to use the pace of the ball. You have to practise it over the years. I worked a lot over it,” he said.Chennai have made the semi-finals in each edition of the IPL without going all the way, but Badrinath believes his side has a good chance this year. “It’s been the last match which has given us confidence as we have seen the ups and downs. We have become mentally tough. We have seen the pressure. It’s hard. We have a good chance to win this time.”

Both Dwayne Bravo, West Indies’ stand-in captain against Ireland, and
their matchwinner Darren Sammy believe the local fans can give the
team a vital edge during the World Twenty20

Andrew McGlashan at Providence Stadium01-May-2010Both Dwayne Bravo, West Indies’ stand-in captain against Ireland, and
their matchwinner Darren Sammy believe the local fans can give the
team a vital edge during the World Twenty20. An almost full house at
Providence watched the hosts recover from an uncertain position with
the bat to post a comfortable 70-run victory.The crowd swelled as the opening day of the tournament progressed and
by the time West Indies began their innings the stands were packed and
noisy. When the middle order fell away they feared a repeat of the
collapse that cost them the warm-up match against New Zealand, but
Sammy stepped forward with a 17-ball 30 before capping a fine
all-round display with four catches and figures of 3 for 8.”The home advantage will play an important part and once our fans get
behind us it really gets us going,” Bravo said. “They were a bit
disappointed during our warm-up game, but tonight showed we are a much
better team than we showed then. I know for the next game against
England there will be a bigger crowd still and it’s always important.
We can use that to our advantage.”Bravo was handed the captaincy at the last minute when Chris Gayle
withdrew with a muscle strain. For a while it looked to have
destabilised the team, but the home side were very impressive with the
ball and in the field as they overwhelmed their Associate opposition.”Obviously losing Chris at the beginning was a bit of a setback but I
think we regrouped well as a team,” Bravo said. “We knew how important
this game was for us to get off to a winning start. It was great to
see how we played and I’m sure a lot of people will be happy.”We got off to a good start, faltered in the middle and finished
strongly at the end and that’s the most important thing. Getting over
130 with their batting line-up and our bowling attack I would back my
team any day and I knew we were good enough to go and defend that
total.”There was a far more downbeat assessment from William Porterfield, the
Ireland captain, who was left knowing this was a chance to notch
another major scalp. Porterfield was caught at second slip off the
second ball of the innings as Ireland stumbled to 13 for 3 before a
short rain break and there was no way back for them.”It’s not just the fact we lost, but the way we lost especially with
the bat,” he said. “It’s pretty disappointing being bowled out for 68,
it doesn’t matter who you are playing against or what conditions were
like. You don’t have any excuses.”The way we bowled and fielded we were right in it after 20 overs so it’s
a massive missed opportunity. We were really struggling after the
first 10 balls losing three wickets and it set us right on the back
foot.”However, he was already looking ahead to Ireland’s next match against
England on Tuesday knowing there is still a chance that his team can
progress. “If West Indies pull off a result [against England] then it
comes down to a shoot out between ourselves and England to get into
the Super Eights so there’s still a massive amount to play for.”

Plays of the day from day five of the first Test between England and Bangladesh at at Lord’s

Andrew Miller at Lord's31-May-2010Catch of the day
England were a frustrated outfit in the first half-hour of play. With the ball hooping nicely under overcast skies, they believed that a breakthrough was only a matter of time, but with Shakib Al Hasan and Junaid Siddique getting into line to each and every delivery, the overs were ticking by and the vital shine on the new ball was being scuffed with every delivery. But then, at last, from what Michael Vaughan declared on air to be the “worst ball of the morning”, Steven Finn offered up a long-hop outside off stump, and Shakib cracked it fiercely out to point, where Eoin Morgan barely had time to react. The ball, however, popped up invitingly off the base of his palms and was snatched at the second attempt.Bowler of the day
Once again Steven Finn’s height, pace and accuracy proved to be an irresistible combination for a Bangladesh batting line-up that battled hard but lost wickets in clusters whenever their opponents got on a roll. In the first innings, Finn had come within a whisker of a five-wicket haul, only for James Anderson to sweep through the lower-order and deny him his place on the honours board. Second time around, however, Finn got the rewards for his endeavours with 5 for 87, and he might well have become the first England bowler since Ian Botham in 1978 to make his mark on the ten-wicket board, had his strange habit of falling over in his followthrough not persuaded Andrew Strauss to save his 6’7″ frame from self-harm. MCC were relieved that he did so – back in April, an online promotion had offered a full refund in the event of any bowler taking ten wickets, and Lord’s was looking at a £42,000 dent in their coffers had Finn claimed one more scalp.Aberration of the day
Perhaps Bangladesh already felt that the chance of the draw had gone, but the manner in which their innings ended was soft in the extreme. Mahmudullah, a man with a Test century to his name, had batted with aplomb for 48 deliveries, and with the No. 11, Robiul Islam, camped at the other end, he needed to see out five more balls to take his team through to lunch, a vital milestone in their bid for a rare Test draw. But when Tim Bresnan banged in a short ball, Mahmudullah couldn’t resist having an airy mow, and Matt Prior behind the stumps clung onto a thin top-edge. It meant that England were left with exactly two sessions in which to chase 160. Had the final pair been able to extend the target up towards 200, their bowlers might just have had a chance to exert some control.Image of the day
On a Bank Holiday Monday, with a wonderfully (and let’s be honest, unexpectedly) entertaining Test match heading into its decisive final day, the marketing folk at Lord’s came up with a masterstroke. By announcing that tickets for the final day would be £10 for adults and free for kids and OAPs, they lured the undecided masses out of their houses, with some 9200 people queuing for half a mile down the Wellington Road to gain entry. What is more, those that made the effort were rewarded with a rare treat, the chance to wander on the hallowed turf, no less, during the lunch break. It was speculated that this was the first occasion that the crowd had been invited onto the field during an ongoing Lord’s Test since play was interrupted by a bomb scare back in 1973. But in other parts of the world, including South Africa and New Zealand, such scenes are a regular and welcome feature of the Test experience. Let’s hope it sets a similar precedent here.Innings of the day
Despite making a healthy impression with the bat, Andrew Strauss hasn’t had the most enjoyable of returns to the helm. His captaincy seemed off the pace during Bangladesh’s spells of dominance with the bat, and it’s hard to escape the feeling that he regrets taking his hand off the tiller during an eventful start to 2010. But on the final afternoon, he enjoyed a bit of a release, wrapping up the Test with a free-flowing 82. The first ball of the innings, from Shahadat Hossain, was cut ruthlessly for four, and after 11 deliveries he was cruising on 20 not out. A century might just have been within reach as the end of the match drew nigh, but in his haste to seal the deal before tea, he snicked a thin edge to the keeper.Finale of the day
Strauss’s dismissal did at least give the crowd the chance to see a quick cameo from Kevin Pietersen, and he didn’t undersell the theatrics. After arriving to a standing ovation, KP was quickly into his stride, cracking consecutive boundaries through square leg and backward point, before striding forward into an exaggerated forward defensive, to loud “oohs” from the stands and a broad chuckle from Strauss on the balcony. A single stole the strike and brought the scores level, but a brilliant over from Shakib tied him to the crease and robbed him of the moment of glory. By rights, tea should have been taken at that point, but Billy Bowden rightly allowed common sense to prevail, and it was Jonathan Trott who whipped the winning boundary through midwicket.

Clint McKay, the Australia and Victoria fast bowler, has been signed up by Yorkshire for this season’s Twenty20 competition in England

Cricinfo staff21-May-2010Clint McKay, the Australia and Victoria fast bowler, has been signed up by Yorkshire for this season’s Twenty20 competition in England. He is Yorkshire’s second overseas signing for the tournament, after Herschelle Gibbs.”I am really excited about coming to Yorkshire and playing in a young side that has enjoyed such a positive start to the season,” McKay said. “I’ve heard a lot about the setup at Headingley Carnegie and I’m really looking forward to experiencing the atmosphere of Twenty20 cricket in the UK. I cannot wait to get started.”McKay was part of Victoria’s Sheffield Shield winning team last season, taking 33 wickets at 21.42. He’s played ten ODIs for Australia, taking 22 wickets at an impressive average of 18.31 and has also represented them in a Test, against West Indies in Perth last year.

Muttiah Muralitharan, the leading wicket-taker in Tests and ODIs, will retire from Test cricket after the first Test against India in Galle

Cricinfo staff06-Jul-2010Muttiah Muralitharan, the leading wicket-taker in Tests and ODIs, will retire from Test cricket after the first Test against India in Galle, which begins on July 18. While he will not play the subsequent tri-series, and will pick and choose which ODIs to play in, Murali will be available for selection if the team needs him for the 2011 World Cup, which Sri Lanka is co-hosting.Cricinfo has learnt that Murali met Aravinda de Silva, the chairman of selectors, and captain Kumar Sangakkara over the weekend to discuss his future. He was asked to consider playing the full series against India, but he was unsure about being at his best if bowled heavily throughout the series.”Murali has been thinking for some time about the right time to go,” a source close to the offspinner told Cricinfo. “All along he has been determined to go while he is still performing rather than just hanging on. He made the decision last week after the Asia Cup and met with the selectors and captain over the weekend to explain to them his position. He is really keen to play on to the World Cup but at the same time he does not want to stand in the way of younger talent. So he will see how things go over the next few months.”Kushil Gunasekara, Murali’s manager, said the unscheduled Test series against India had made Murali fast track his decision to retire. “The selectors want Murali to be around just in case they don’t find a suitable replacement for him for the 2011 World Cup,” he said. “They probably want the spinners to work around Murali.”Murali also considered a stint in county cricket, playing for Surrey, but that is unlikely because Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) doesn’t want him to play too much cricket before the World Cup. Cricinfo also learnt that the selectors and management have privately communicated their desire for him to play on until the World Cup, counting on his experience in the big tournament.About a year ago, Murali had announced he would retire after the home series against West Indies late this year, but in last November he said he could advance the Test retirement. “I am 37 years old and I can’t bowl as much as those days because I get tired after 15-16 overs,” he had told Cricinfo then. “But I will try and play a little bit of one-day cricket – that’s only 10 overs to bowl. If I find everything is not going well I might retire from both forms of the game before the World Cup.”Murali has taken 792 wickets in 132 Tests and 515 wickets in 337 ODIs. Galle will be an interesting shot at retiring with 800 Test wickets.

Matt Prior has had a rough time of it of late, so his superb, fighting 102 not out was quite a statement of intent

Andrew Miller at Trent Bridge31-Jul-2010This has been a week in which Test cricket’s merits have been shown in vastly contrasting lights. On the one hand a shocking contest has dribbled to a conclusion in Colombo, with 17 wickets falling in five days at the SSC, including 10 batsmen passing fifty – five of them for a hundred, two of them for a double. At Trent Bridge, on the other hand, consecutive days have passed in which 15 and 13 wickets have tumbled, and all told, 18 batsmen to date have been dismissed in single figures.There’s no question whatsoever which of the two contests has been the most compelling, not even at a stage of the Trent Bridge game when only one team has the slightest hope of victory. At 15 for 3 overnight, Ladbrokes are offering odds of 2-1 for England to wrap up victory before lunch on the fourth day, but even if they do so, the effort that Matt Prior put into today’s magnificent unbeaten century will not be compromised by the eventual gulf between the sides.Prior has had a rough time of it of late. Through no great fault of his own, he’s been pushed to the margins of England’s wider squad planning, with Craig Kieswetter’s emergence leaving him in limbo in the limited-overs set-up. No-one in their right mind has seriously pedalled the notion that his Test berth is in the same sort of jeopardy, and yet, such is the nature of the England wicketkeeping position, the doubts require almost daily dispersal.Therefore, a superbly combative 102 not out, forged from a position of peril at 72 for 5, was quite some statement of intent. It was Prior’s third hundred in 32 Tests, and his first since Trinidad in March 2009, but by the close of play, his satisfaction derived from the manner in which he’d transformed his team’s position, rather than the fact he’d logged another statistic in his record-book.”I’m not a huge stats watcher, or a stat man,” he said. “I got a 93 in my last Test [against Bangladesh at Old Trafford], so it doesn’t feel that long ago that I contributed to the team. Whether it was important to show what I could do, I don’t know, but I went in in a position when the team needed me to get stuck in, and getting runs for the team was the important bit.”In fact, a century could hardly have been further from Prior’s thoughts for much of his innings, which began in the midst of yet another of Pakistan’s inspired bursts with the ball, as Umar Gul swiped three wickets in four overs to leave his team dreaming of an attainable run-chase. His most immediate concern was to atone for his part in the run-out of Eoin Morgan, and by the time he was joined by the No. 11, Steven Finn, he had a long, long way still to travel, on 63 not out.”I don’t know what happened there,” he said of the Morgan mix-up. “At that time, too many risky runs and singles wasn’t the best idea, so it was a bit of miscommunication really. I didn’t hear him say yes, he didn’t hear me say no, and we ended up looking at each other, with him halfway down the wicket and me thinking: ‘Oh my gosh, it’s happened again’. It is very disappointing to be involved in a run-out at any stage, especially when it involves arguably your best player of the moment, so I thought I’d best knuckle down here!”Knuckle down he did, with Finn proving to be the most obdurate of allies. While his stonewalling prowess came as a surprise and a delight to a packed Trent Bridge crowd who cheered every step towards England’s eventual declaration, Prior himself had no doubt whatsoever about Finn’s ability, having witnessed it at close quarters during a rare Championship appearance for Sussex against Middlesex at Uxbridge last week. With Morgan at the other end, Finn had blocked out 35 dot-balls in a 12-over partnership, to save the game with only two wickets standing.”It was thoroughly annoying,” Prior recalled. “But as he walked to the wicket today, I said something along the lines of ‘Same again today please mate!’ He did such a fantastic job, not only in the way he played, but what he contributed to the partnership in between overs, in terms of gameplans and all those things. He did all that was expected of him, and more.”Regardless of his faith in his team-mate, Prior still had to endure some nervy moments at the non-striker’s end, as he crept through the nineties – single by single – with many of his shots coming from the first ball of an over. “My gameplan was to look for twos and fours, but every run counted, I felt, especially when Finny came up to me to say he felt confident at holding up an end. It got a bit frustrating at the end because I wasn’t quite hitting the gaps, but I didn’t want to turn singles down.”That failure to work the angles is the precise reason why Prior’s spot in the one-day side has been passed across to Kieswetter, who may lack the subtlety of, say, Morgan, but tends to find the boundaries with a lot of bottom hand. In terms of pure batsmanship, however, there’s no comparison between the two men whatsoever. Kieswetter has time on his side and a talent to cultivate, but as a battler who can be backed to produce on demand, Prior’s place for the Ashes is utterly non-negotiable.”I’ve batted at six with success, and I’ve batted at seven, and I feel well placed to do the role in each, as long as we have the right balanced team to win the Test match,” he said. “International cricket is all about pressure and how you respond to it. I’ve not played a day for England as a batsman-keeper that’s not been under pressure, but I enjoy and thrive on it, and I embrace it rather than get nervous about it.”

Simon Katich turns 35 on Saturday but believes age will not be a factor as long as he continues to play well

Cricinfo staff19-Aug-2010Simon Katich turns 35 on Saturday but believes age will not be a factor as long as he continues to play well. Katich has been Australia’s most consistent batsman over the past year, but he, Ricky Ponting and Michael Hussey will all be in the old-age category for the India and Ashes series.”There’s a fair bit being made of that and you can’t hide from the fact that there are going to be three of us over 35 in the top four or five,” Katich told the Australian. “From my point of view I know I’m older but at the same time I’m as hungry as I’ve ever been. I’m enjoying playing cricket again and my attitude has been the same for the last two or three years.”Katich, who came back to the team in 2008, said he didn’t look too far ahead. “But at the same time I’m not going to think ,’just because I’m 35 it’s over’, because the last three years of my career have been the best,” he said. “As soon as you start assuming things because of your age you start worrying about the wrong things.”Since his recall in the West Indies, Katich has scored 2721 runs at 54.42, with eight centuries, in 29 Tests. In the nine matches before the Leeds game against Pakistan, he posted at least 50.He has two Tests against India to prepare for the Ashes, the main event of the Australian summer. “I’m confident with us playing in Australia, we know our conditions well and we’re looking forward to playing at home,” he said. “Hopefully that will hold us in good stead, but anything can happen.”Doug Bollinger is another player who has performed well in the Test side, taking 42 wickets in his past nine appearances, and he has supported Ricky Ponting’s push for a 5-0 Ashes victory. ”That is the benchmark we can set ourselves and if we can achieve that it would be brilliant,” he said in the Sydney Morning Herald. “Winning 5-0, especially at home, you wouldn’t see me for a couple of weeks, that would be awesome.”After becoming a regular in the team, Bollinger said he felt like part of the squad, although he struggled in the series against Pakistan. ”During the England tour, I was thinking one too many things, certain things crept into my game that shouldn’t have,” he said. ”I probably wasn’t getting as many wickets as I wanted, but that’s what happens in sport.”

Matthew Hayden, the former Australian opening batsman, has said it is practically impossible to completely eradicate corruption from cricket.

Cricinfo staff07-Sep-2010Matthew Hayden, the former Australian opener, has said it is practically impossible to completely eradicate corruption from the game of cricket.”The investment the game places in protection strategies to mitigate against corruption is minuscule compared to the vast geographic areas the game is played in and the level of illegal gambling activity,” Hayden told the . “It really is a runaway train.”Hayden said the only the way to counter the threat of gambling was for every individual player and administrator to decide to personally uphold the integrity of the game. “We play a great game, and as players we are honoured to uphold its integrity as a product.”Former Pakistan wicketkeeper Rashid Latif, who testified against some of his team-mates before Justice Qayyum’s commission, said the ICC’s Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU) was a toothless body that could not be counted upon to uncover fraud within the game. “The ACSU does not have the right to conduct raids or arrest people, what they only do is to ask players to avoid suspicious people.”The ACSU was formed in 2000 in the wake of the match-fixing scandal that ended former South African captain Hansi Cronje’s career. Its main purpose was to help ensure there would be no repeat of the Cronje case but Latif says it has largely failed in this regard.”These ex-policemen [ACSU officials] may have been very good in their field, but cricket is a different ball game altogether and only a cricketer can see an irregularity during a match.”