It followed a second successive batting collapse at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on a pitch that looked docile enough to last the distance.
So, are there any signs of Andrew Strauss's side being able to make a comeback in the second Test, starting on Jan 25, or will Pakistan off-spinner Saeed Ajmal continue to prove a handful?
Whenever Viv Richards came to bat, or even when he saunters in a bar, fizzes and crackles of her energy. Launchers knew, as they watched him take care of this very new and deliberate, so that an attack was initially and even their best efforts were likely to lead to humiliation that the ball was transported to the square of the leg.
Simply evaporated from bowling to Richards and until recently Pietersen comfort zones similar when he arrived in the fold - but not plus.Chaque drummer experiences an oscillation or two in their career, but tremolo uncertainty of the Pietersen when threat facing the left arm tops was an upgrade David and Goliath real for most talented drummer England.
If the underlying doubts came before or after the exposed lefties it chicken egg issue Pietersen and Britain should if he wants to become a crack game changer.But just in case he needs to remind these weaknesses, Australia included arm left spinner, Xavier Doherty of Tasmania, in their 17 - man team.
Pietersen to regain her Majesty efforts took him back to Graham Ford, his pupil South Africa and a brief experiment with team coach, that he abandoned a career internationale.Comme all top athletes Pietersen worked hard to research without worrying, but upon his return to Durban, hat in hand, shows how his collapse - and having not marked a century of test for 18 months she disappeared long enough to be called only - concern him.
Here in Australia, attempts to re-establish hegemony in order batsman resulted in two frenetic sleeves Perth and slightly more controlled in Adelaide, at least until a hook loose introduces his downfall it. As one of these illusions that you get in a Hall of mirrors, more like his old self tries to be as far it seems.
It is probably thinner-single as he examines and Andys, Captain Strauss and coach Flower, went their way to him rent in press conferences not at random, but true to the cause.This is something that Nasser Hussain used with Andy Caddick, a player with a fragile ego and someone whose Pietersen, recalled that he deflected uncertainty of humility and braggadocio once again in its first annual conference press as an England Player.
So far, the Australian public at least these on the ground have not targeted Pietersen treatment spécial.Tout world played for England gets up and Adelaide Pietersen does not COP any more than anyone.He said he likes the Australia or less Sydney and even began to look at of the intended local after a moustache to increasingly Movember relating to men's health charity.
Good guys, of course, but this is where the start of contradictions rack so that he is obsessed with money and a fierce loyalty to the brand, two things who does it would endear over to flower's view of itself should be sacrificed for the team.Flower has worked hard to get rid of culture "player plc" England cricket, threaten to become a source of contention, but KP Pietersen Inc., corp pty in one.
Rank in the Indian Premier League have been particularly smarmy, although it is not the only who can not believe her luck to be paid a fortune to have a hack some fact semaine.En, Australian players who spoke twice, in the press here are beneficiaries of the IPL, such as Brett Lee and Shane Warne.
It is difficult to know which are close to the current side friends that players are not often seen in p.Eng always polite remains more he meets and recent skills and drills session, that the media were involved, is one of the fiercest with his jokes jovial.Il has same face a Scyld Berry, this parish in nets, misinterpretation of its googly (but there not), it is not too high risk to egg on his face.
Perhaps a reinvention is cours.Après all successful people, who seems to admire (and follow on Twitter) such as Simon Cowell and pop stars Katy Perry and Alicia Keys, all font.Il cannot achieve it, but it is a very different person solo artist very targeted which himself announced in a swirl of hundreds a day ago 5½ years RTI ' one hand he has a wife and a son whose contact on Skype, and on the other hand, he made more money than most cricket.
Perhaps because one of them that he would be content to adjust to the level below the big, naturally, his motives were changé.Mais for the sake of this series of ash, which starts tomorrow, a week, England fans would give to the almost anything to see once more courageous drummer with Skunk hairdressing and diamond loop - providing that it can be revived.
After lunch, for more after Tendulkar was kept away from immortality. It will be celebrated almost as long as Don Bradman, but if he had a match-saving century - his 100th in international cricket - in the 100th test between England and the Indiaand the 2000th Test of all time, which would have given him superhuman status.
Tendulkar reached nine step out when it hits his third ball after lunch for two persons. He faces more 50 balls in the rest of his sleeves. At the moment, the master modern scored three assists.
Time and Tendulkar score that stood still as the England bowling and fielders hunted together for him a fence. They knew that they had complete India, Cash in on tourists generally slow - indeed, on the first two days, lethargic - start in this series and the absence of Virender Sehwag.
Tendulkar soon became agitated by the sightscreen at the nursery. He took a deep breath to compose himself before facing Graeme Swann of the end of the Pavilion. There seems not to have the serenity of Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman serenity. In England, with each dot ball, were eroding composure.
For the 38 balls Tendulkar remained on 11. It had swept a two off the coast of Swann go far and finally added a single to square-leg off the coast of the same bowler to reach 12.
At the rate he was going, it did not exceed his score of career-best of 37 at Lord's before closing, let alone reach his point of reference.
Tendulkar is recovering from viral infection at the same time as England were threatened on all sides. He could defend against Swann but not mark: he made four off 28 balls from offspinner in England. It could defend itself against the England pace bowlers, but even once, it would not marked: it eight runs from 40 balls against them.
The crowd spurred in England and helped to keep the players in the trade mark.
Thousands of people were allowed, by the decline in prices, see Test cricket for the first time. And what could sharpen their appetite more than violet passage from Tendulkar against the countries which could be n ° 1 in a month?
Against most teams, the Tendulkar patience would be rewarded - and the Bombay School of batsmanship, as explained by Vijay merchant and Sunil Gavaskar and Tendulkar, was the most patient of all - but not against the England team for the Summit.
It was abandoned, when you try to leave, by Andrew Strauss, then leg-before when Anderson swung.
He would have dismissed the earlier leg-before had the control system of decision for this lbws in the series included. That could be the reason why it was not.
A Test, as defined by Geoffrey Boycott, is a week of your life. Sleeve second of the Tendulkar felt as if it took a day itself. At his dismissal, England looked as if the game was won. After Tendulkar had disappeared, have the India.
If Ben negativity. England in the field yesterday could be equated to a perhaps of dance and choreography. They were United, synchronized and disciplined - even Kevin Pietersen, who has been known to reverse.
England were, in fact, positively brilliant.
Suspected: cricketers Pakistan Asif of Mohammad Mohammad Amir (L) (return C) and Salman Butt (R) Photo: AFPWatch official investigations in Britain. Start with the appointment of Sir John someone - and there is your guarantee that anyone will dig too deeply. It will be, in imaging of cricket, "a safe pair of hands." It can be relied on to lift the lid a little find violator or both, then lower the lid again so life can go far than before.
Similarly, the three judges of the ICC received narrow parameters which may disrupt the applecart. They focus on the events of August surrounding the fourth test between England and Pakistan at Lord's. Many strange occurrences, even mystifying, took place in professional cricket in the past two decades, but they will not account.
Why? Specifically, security and the fight against corruption unit ICC has always focused on prevention: on the young cricketers of tomorrow about the evils of this world to give conferences. The unit had no resources to catch players of cricket in the tender of bookmakers or official encouragement to do so. Much more practical all round to keep the lid on: while stakeholders, key sponsors, have no fear away.
What the tribunal of three men has been left to the judge is evidence of wrongdoing apparent during testing of the Lord in this, when a new journalist of the world has been registered in the Act of giving £ 150 000 cash to some Pakistan players officer Mazhar Majeed. In return, Majeed said it would arrange for two opening bowlers of Pakistan, Muhammad Amir and Mohammed Asif, not Bowl-bullets at specific times of Lord's Test.
Here, Amir does reversed two-balls at the beginning of the Lord and in both cases, test that it exceeded by a margin that surprised some observers, including the umpire Tony Hill in New Zealand. Exceeded twice in a short passage of the game has been remarkable in itself: in the three previous Tests, Amir had spilled a total of three balls of not.
In defence of the Amir, a conversation has emerged between his captain Salman Butt and Pakistan coach Waqar Younis — shortly after Amir had exceeded a long way when bowling a bouncer to Jonathan Trott. Butt said it's a tactic to stop Trott lunging to exclude the obtaining of Amir swing. If nothing else, it is contrary to the spirit of the game, as a deliberate attempt to injure the drummer by unlawful means.
Butt also attempted to explain to the public the fact that £ 29,000 was found in his room, after the Metropolitan Police had raided in Pakistan team Hall on the third night of the Lord's Test. He explained it away as cash allowances - which all international actors are right, with more details for the master - and appearance fees.
The verdicts are delivered in Doha, the Qatar: not the kind of cricket place had in mind when one thinks first of neutral sites. Three men tribunal consists of Michael Beloff, QC, President of the Code of conduct of the ICC commission. Justice Albie Sachs Africa South and the Kenya former Attorney General Sharad Rao.
It may be difficult to remember the animosity that grew between England and Pakistan side of the series of one day that followed the Lord's Test, but real bad blood has been - and the beginning of a fight between Trott and Pakistan bowler Wahab Riaz.
Players came near England refuse unilaterally at the end of the series after the President of the Commission in Pakistan, Ijaz Butt, laid himself open to ridicule by claiming that the England players took money from international Oval bookmakers. Even if this case is due to be put to bed before the World Cup, it is as well as the two countries were drawn in different groups.
Ajantha Mendis
Age: 26, Tests: 15 wickets: 61 to 31
Novelty is one of the attributes most of a spinner: person shows better than Mendis. At its inception, the series of tests against the India, he took 26 wickets in 18 each.
Two years later against the India - once again in Sri Lanka - it was six for 57, mystery went. Therefore, there was a valid reason for Sri Lanka, dropping for the final against the India World Cup.
But England still found his mixture of leg-spin off spin a mystery in quarter-final.
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Thilan Samaraweera
Age: 34, Tests: 63, Runs: 54 average 4,395
Samaraweera killed in England on their tour 2003-4 with a hundred of painfully slow. Slow heights, he was a prolific accumulator, with an average of 63 in Tests in Sri Lanka.
But in England he average four, after two trials and it is time to recovery again as the England seamers and swingers stuck in.
Otherwise, at 5, he could guide the inexperienced lower order.
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Dilhara Fernando
Age: 31, Tests: 35, wickets: 90-36
Everything as Munaf Patel the India has the physical attributes to be a second Glenn McGrath, has therefore Dilhara Fernando, and has not, yet.
Sri Lanka have stocky seamers but Fernando is the height to be something more. He can also Bowl an outswinger and a SLO-pitch smart - and a supply without end of non-boules.
Almost 32, he lead the attack if Sri Lanka are to win a test.
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Sri Lanka tour fixtures
14-16 May: v Middlesex (Uxbridge) from 19 to 22 may: v England Lions (Derby) 26-May 30: 1 test (Cardiff) 3-June 7: 2nd TEST (Lord) 10-12 June: v Essex (Chelmsford) June 16-20: 3rd TEST (Southampton) June 22 : v Worcestershire (Worcester) June 25: only T20I v England (Bristol), June 28: 1 v ODI in England (Oval) on 1 July: 2nd ODI v England (Headingley) 3 July: 3rd ODI v of England (Lord) of 6 July: 4th ODI in England (Trent bridge) July 9v: 5th ODI v England (Old Trafford) 11 July: ODI / Ireland (Edinburgh) July 13: V ODI in Scotland (Edinburgh)The question arises with a score of disbelief, as if the real question is: "How can observe us such a useless bunch of bowling?
But the truth is that take the antithesis of 20 machines was always a difficult undertaking. And to visit the bowling, unused for the Australia lots of tungsten and drummers inflexible, it is almost impossible. In 59 home testing for the last decade, the Australians were overthrown twice only eight times.
If there is an expert in this field, it must be Mickey Arthur, the coach who led South Africa a victory in the series highlights here there are two winters. He warned in England there was no shortcuts to success. How to overcome the batsman is not frontal attack, but stealth ambush.
"As a unit of bowling, consistent manner only to succeed in Australia is to build pressure", Arthur said Telegraph Sport. "Do not fall into the trap of trying to Bowl bullet catch window, because they will only go for runs." And this is truer in Adelaide, because the lawn has normally begins this dish.
"In Adelaide, it feels like you play one under test." The game often starts as a battle of patience for three days, as both teams accumulate dozens of more than 350. You have to hang difficult. When the rotors come then, things faster. »
Arthur left South Africa in January after their series drawn against England and took the Australia coach since a job. But when looking to the point of his time with Graeme Smith - win series 2-1 January 2008 - it is said not so 18 machines claimed by Dale Steyn as scrutiny from the rest of the attack approaches.
"Yes, Dale was a great series, but we earn the right to attack at the end by containing the other, said Arthur." Dreary Morkel contained pretty much on this tour, and Paul Harris was superb.
"People sous-spleen Harris, but he knew that his role and it performed perfectly." It will play on the ego of the Australian drummers to smart fields with mid - on and off mid repulsed. He kept get [Andrew] Symonds and [Michael] Clarke captured in the depths where they tried to hit the ground. »
They were the first side visit to win a Australia series for 16 years. And if England is to follow, Arthur said Graeme Swann is the key man. "If he bowls of overs then England can turn the other end, seamers i.e. when they are more dangerous," said Arthur. "This is why Australians worked so hard to get after him in Brisbane.". How Swann replies will go very far into the series to decide. »
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Mickey Arthur suggests taking 20 wickets in the rest of the reasons in this series:
"" The WACA (Third test, from 16 to 20 December): so far this season our Perth grounds have rhythm and rebound, so the best option Bowl in the corridor and are looking for on board, as Peter Siddle in Brisbane.
"" CWM(Fourth test, from 26 to 30 December): the drop-in wickets bounce, so you straight Bowl atop of offshore strain. The ball will be attacking the surface - albeit slowly - and you can pick up lbws here.
"" BTC (Fifth test, Jan 3-7): this was an atypical in that the ball has been around mobile and sides have been posting year low scores. Normally this pattern promotes the tops - Swann could come into their own here.
A cricket coach, has on the other hand, accept its powerlessness to bad luck. Yes, you can have fielding substitutes, but they might be as well to nil tailleur, so little are they allowed to contribute to the form of the game. The history of Gary Pratt - the sub that failed a furious during Ricky Ponting ashes 2005 - is also unusual because it is comforting.
Cricket should rethink its purist attitude of replacements? The argument is not as easy at it seems. From the perspective of the Viewer, the form of a Test match radically changes when a bowler is hit disability - and all the more true since the attacks of four men have become the norm.
To avoid all engaging cameo of MS Dhoni bowling fantasies, the quality of cricket Friday certainly would higher he kept his bearings.
It is good that Zaheer misfortune should have changed the balance of power while in this Test? Fletcher had been allowed to replace the Launcher disaster with one of the seamers spare party - Sreesanth, perhaps, or Munaf Patel - and then Rahul Dravid century first undefeated run could hit won a game not a game save.
But then the game of cricket produces a subtle unique interaction between the players and the terms and conditions. And any mucking with a replacement injury clause would encourage only teams without scruples to work the system to their own advantage.
You can now see: a bowler fast descent on the morning of the final game and contortions autour field as Cristiano Ronaldo after a solid tackle. After an extra spinner could be deployed to rip the ball from the same decreases his teammate had dug in the lawn.
Alternates are not totally foreign to the cricket. You may remember that, for a brief period 2005 and 2006, the one-day teams were allowed to select 12 players and then bring it back on a "bat" when appropriate in the game.
But the system has proved to be a disaster. Apart from the confusion among fans, players and coaches like hell, he put also paid to one of the most enduring traditions in the game: the value of the premium of the all-rounder. Who has need of an Andrew Flintoff when you can have two players to do the same job?
No, let the other sports shuffle on and off the field as Shane Warne people change his poker hand. In cricket, the same team that starts the game must finish the game - less losses along the way.
It is a difficult school, certainly, but the status quo favors teams with the most demanding standards of fitness and more courageous and resourceful individuals. Some of the greatest actresses of cricket stories of drummers with a disability who shrugged off the pain of broken fingers or bowlers who kept running in when lesser men (can we avoid an another parallel football here?) relies on the stretcher.
Think Malcolm Marshall skittling England with a cast on his left arm in 1984, or Colin Cowdrey defying Wes Hall with a hand in 1963.
Monday could produce a new chapter in the history, if Zaheer out with a cross-country Runner (itself a tradition which is abolished in October) and navigates India with the final overs. As for the old poor blowers, it still did not forgave Mickey Stewart to block its first Test long-awaited.
Injuries take toll on the India
Zaheer Khan: A fast Launcher whose body creaks as an Elizabethan Galleon, Zaheer lasted only three hours of the first test before limping off the coast with a hamstring strain.
Sachin Tendulkar: The "little master" was limited to the hotel of the team to tea with a virus. He made the field for the final session and will be able to bat today.
Gautam Gambhir: Fielding at short-leg, Gambhir took a nasty blow on the elbow of a Matt shot before scanning. Rays x revealed bruises but no interruption.
It followed a second successive batting collapse at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on a pitch that looked docile enough to last the distance.
So, are there any signs of Andrew Strauss's side being able to make a comeback in the second Test, starting on Jan 25, or will Pakistan off-spinner Saeed Ajmal continue to prove a handful?
“I knew that looking at my rehabilitation programme it was always going to be touch and go to get me ready for the series,” he said. “I want to wish the squad all very best.”
Bresnan’s departure offers opportunities for Steve Finn, who took three wickets against the ICC XI, and Chris Tremlett to be the third seamer behind James Anderson and Stuart Broad. Tremlett, who did not play in this match because of an eye infection, saw a doctor last night. Strauss felt that the problem would not prevent him from playing against a Pakistan Board XI on Wednesday.
Strauss was to the fore in this win, his steadying 78 providing the basis for England’s victory. Chasing 261, it was not a stroll and they needed big enough contribution from the lower order for that old euphemism, the team performance, to be trotted out.
Having declared 100 runs behind after their first innings, England were stretched, relying on a 61-run partnership for the seventh wicket between Steven Davies and Stuart Broad.
After Strauss, none of the top order played a telling innings. But while that is a small concern, you sense Andy Flower would prefer his players to be pushed rather than pampered at this stage of the tour.
“We were determined to win the game and are delighted to have done so,” Strauss said. “It gave us an early indication of what we needed to do out here and there’s definitely things we need to improve upon.”
Aside from Graeme Swann sitting out most of Monday as a precaution after suffering stiffness in his left quadriceps, one major concern is the double batting failures of Kevin Pietersen and Eoin Morgan.
Pietersen fell once again to left-arm spin, this time to Ireland’s George Dockrell after the batsman misjudged a drive and chipped to mid-on. Pietersen, though, probably feels that it does not count as Dockrell was not in the original 11 and was only given special dispensation to play by England after Hamid Hassan, the ICC XI’s opening bowler, badly injured himself in the field the previous day.
A day after celebrating his new $2 million (£1.3 million) IPL contract, Pietersen had better hope there is no clause in it docking him £50,000 every time gets out to left-arm spin, as they will be queuing up to bowl at him. Pakistan have one such bowler in Abdur Rehman. He has not always been guaranteed a spot in the side, but he might be now.
Morgan’s failures are harder to diagnose. He got a good ball in the first innings and was caught down the leg-side off Boyd Rankin, his former Ireland team-mate, the fourth victim in the match to suffer such an ignominious fate. Though cool and contained, Morgan could probably do with a decent score against the Board XI.
All the machinations made for an exciting final day against the ICC XI, with both team’s prospects fluctuating by the session, but it would not have been a contest on anything but the anodyne surface at the ICC Global Academy’s No1 Oval.
On a pitch offering just some grip on Monday, the ICC XI’s bowlers created enough pressure to potentially embarrass the world’s No 1 Test team. But for William Porterfield’s tactical blunder 30 minutes before tea, when the ICC’s captain replaced his front-line spinners Dockrell and Mohammad Nabi with part-time tweakers Majid Haq and Paul Stirling – which allowed Jonathan Trott and Ian Bell to add 30 quick runs as they latched on to a slew of bad balls – a very different result might have occurred.
England form guide from the first tour outing
Winners
Andrew Strauss
Decent runs in the second innings and his bold declaration on the second day meant the captain was instrumental in England starting their tour with a win. If he is as bold in the Tests, we could be in for an interesting time.
Alastair Cook
Arrived in Dubai 36 hours after his team-mates, having enjoyed a short honeymoon after his New Year’s Day wedding. Cook gave his team mates a tutorial in not giving your wicket away in the first innings. Rarely pretty, but always effective.
Stuart Broad
Early wickets in both innings meant that he backed up his words about not wasting the new ball with impressive deeds.
Losers
Tim Bresnan
Mr Reliable with bat and ball, Bresnan is a big loss after failing to recover from elbow surgery. A hole to fill that is bound to weaken England’s batting or bowling, irrespective of who comes in.
Kevin Pietersen
Scratched around like a chicken with eczema for 15 in the first innings and fell cheaply in the second to left-arm spin. He had better hope that there is no cooling-off period in his lucrative new T20 deal with Delhi Daredevils.
Eoin Morgan
The No 6 slot is pivotal in Asian conditions, as you are often at the crease when conditions are most challenging. Needs to get a score quickly in order to settle down.
Swann is no. 2 worldwide, behind paceman Dale Steyn, South Africa which means it is officially classified as the best player of spin on the planet today.
This is a great step forward since then Hussey and Swann have played together for Northants seven years ago when the English, now 31, was seen as too inconsistent for international awards.
He played a single international day against the South Africa in 2000, before losing his place in the team, and his name was not resurfaced in the circles of England until seven years later.
He settled in Nottinghamshire in 2005 and he began the process of transformation. In 2007, Swann has chosen to accompany in England on their tour in Sri Lanka, as second spin bowler team, alongside Monty Panesar.
It was shining and cemented subsequently place regularly on the team test, playing for the ashes 2009 England 2 - 1 victory. In December, Swann also became the first spinner English to 50 ATMs in a calendar year, which resulted in back to back man of the match award in two first tests of their tour of South Africa.
And then, in March 2010, Swann became the first English off-spinner since Jim Laker take 10 wickets in a match - achieve this feat against Bangladesh.
Hussey said: "it is certainly better out of sight since I played with him at Northamptonshire."
"I remember it bowl of these amazing deliveries and simply let the pressure offshore with one or two bad bale more."
"Now on money, it is all the time, hardly bowls a ball loose.
Swann resumed two ATMs today - Simon Katich and Ricky Ponting, both taken behind-, Australia second round reached 238-4 at the end the day four, still 137 runs late after England posted a declared 620-5 a mammoth.
England also managed to claim the invaluable Michael Clarke Australian vice captain window 80 with the last ball of the day, delivered by part-time spinner Kevin Pietersen, ensuring that tourists come day five with the wind in the sails.
Hussey was given to England Captain Andrew Strauss credit for modification of bowling departure Clarke just before the strains, bat-buffer after the verdict of non-out Pietersen overturned Tony Hill the umpire by the DRS.
"It was just a foot in the intestines to lose that one last, most, but we're still fighting," he said.
"When someone is having a great game, it is sometimes not a bad idea to give them a chance with the ball as well." Sometimes they can pull off the coast of something special - as it does today. »
Clarke has felt the need to apologize publicly, on his Twitter feed, walking not while he knew that he was. And Hussey could say that her partner has disappeared too.
"At the moment where I turn, they are quite" referred ' it immediately - and I could tell in body language by Michael that he believed that he was "he said." It is quite distraught at this time. »
According to a survey conducted by the Cricket Foundation and the CMC, the Bretons are transformed into a nation of sore losers. This is disappointing. Is expected to be bad losers - politicians think of sulk epic of Ted Heath - but no athletes. But, then again, even the most eminent cricketers are known to twist the rules. After being dismissed in a minor match, the great Grace of G W simply replaced the bails, telling the umpire: "they just look me bat, not you referee.
“There are far too many Australians coming and playing in our game,” he said with a stern but slightly incredulous expression on his face, like a headmaster sucking on a jalapeno.
But the prevailing mood was despair. Despair that such promise had proven so utterly unfounded, but more than that, despair of England’s ability ever to put out a rugby league side capable of beating Australia.
“Imagine if we do, though,” Clarke said, perking up.
Hemmings refused to be consoled. “I’ll have packed it in by then,” he muttered sadly. “Me and him will be pushing up the daisies before an England win.”
Perhaps it was my outsider’s perspective, but all this despondency seemed a touch strange. It has, after all, been four decades since any team from these islands has beaten Australia in a decisive match. And besides, rugby league is Australia’s second biggest sport after backpacking. This wasn’t exactly the end of the Roman Empire. It wasn’t even the end of the Brittas Empire.
Throughout those four decades, the hierarchy has remained more or less static. You have Australia, and then some way back you have New Zealand and England.
Some way back from them, you have a few other nations whose participation in the sport is best classified as ‘dabbling’, and below them nothing but blank looks.
Quite apart from the success of our own Super League and the brutal intensity of the annual State of Origin series, international rugby league is an idea being held together with sticky tape and safety pins.
They couldn’t even find a decent neutral referee for Saturday’s Four Nations final. An Australian, Matt Cecchin, was selected just ahead of England’s Phil Bentham. And astonishingly, England and Australia are not scheduled to meet again until the 2013 World Cup. Don’t they realise that THERE’S NOBODY ELSE TO PLAY?
The example of rugby league should be borne in mind when gazing at the empty seats in Johannesburg, Mumbai and Sharjah over the forthcoming week.
Six of the world’s top seven cricketing nations will be in action, but from the attendances at the grounds you would scarcely know.
For years the game’s authorities have been trying to expand cricket beyond its traditional strongholds, but now it is the heartlands where its appeal is most under threat.
Rugby league is a case study of what happens when only a handful of countries are bothered. You get irregular series; a lack of meaningful competition or context; hopeless, destructive self-interest.
If that sounds familiar, then that is because these are in danger of becoming characteristics of Test cricket. If cricket is lost to the Caribbean, to New Zealand, to Pakistan, then the whole will become fatally devalued.
And for those who hold up a thriving club scene as proof of the vitality of both sports, I simply hold up to you the distraught face of Eddie Hemmings. That’s an expression that could be coming to a presenter near you at any moment. Let’s all do something before it gets to that stage.
Tendulkar, whose 51 Test hundreds and 48 in one-day international are the two world records, was LBW to England paceman James Anderson for a scratchy 85 minutes innings where he end in 68 balls and hit just the limit of a single.
"The little master" spent 38 balls on 11 and it is on the partition where it has survived an appeal for LBW by Stuart Broad replays showing would have been off. Yet, due to objections India ball-tracking technology, no is no criticism of the LBW decisions this series.
Tendulkar, trying to withdraw from the bat, was then abandoned by the English Captain Andrew Strauss in the first slip off Anderson on 12.
But two balls later fast-medium bowler Anderson suppressed a return to strike Tendulkar his strains and the umpire of the New Zealand time that Billy Bowden held for Britain to leave the India, chasing a 458 unlikely for the victory, struggling at 165 for five.
The output of the Tendulkar, in what could be the 38-year-old last Test at Lord's, left with a modest record in the "home of cricket" 195 runs in nine rounds, covering five Tests, average 21.66 with a best of 37 made four years ago.
Both the Australia Ricky Ponting and now retired West Indies star Brian Lara, two other great drummers of the past 20 years, do not also have to make a Test century at Lord's.
Next chance the Tendulkar to become the first batsman to score an international hundred 100 is set to come in the second Test of this series of four matches at Trent Bridge in Nottingham, Central England, from Friday.
“I knew that looking at my rehabilitation programme it was always going to be touch and go to get me ready for the series,” he said. “I want to wish the squad all very best.”
Bresnan’s departure offers opportunities for Steve Finn, who took three wickets against the ICC XI, and Chris Tremlett to be the third seamer behind James Anderson and Stuart Broad. Tremlett, who did not play in this match because of an eye infection, saw a doctor last night. Strauss felt that the problem would not prevent him from playing against a Pakistan Board XI on Wednesday.
Strauss was to the fore in this win, his steadying 78 providing the basis for England’s victory. Chasing 261, it was not a stroll and they needed big enough contribution from the lower order for that old euphemism, the team performance, to be trotted out.
Having declared 100 runs behind after their first innings, England were stretched, relying on a 61-run partnership for the seventh wicket between Steven Davies and Stuart Broad.
After Strauss, none of the top order played a telling innings. But while that is a small concern, you sense Andy Flower would prefer his players to be pushed rather than pampered at this stage of the tour.
“We were determined to win the game and are delighted to have done so,” Strauss said. “It gave us an early indication of what we needed to do out here and there’s definitely things we need to improve upon.”
Aside from Graeme Swann sitting out most of Monday as a precaution after suffering stiffness in his left quadriceps, one major concern is the double batting failures of Kevin Pietersen and Eoin Morgan.
Pietersen fell once again to left-arm spin, this time to Ireland’s George Dockrell after the batsman misjudged a drive and chipped to mid-on. Pietersen, though, probably feels that it does not count as Dockrell was not in the original 11 and was only given special dispensation to play by England after Hamid Hassan, the ICC XI’s opening bowler, badly injured himself in the field the previous day.
A day after celebrating his new $2 million (£1.3 million) IPL contract, Pietersen had better hope there is no clause in it docking him £50,000 every time gets out to left-arm spin, as they will be queuing up to bowl at him. Pakistan have one such bowler in Abdur Rehman. He has not always been guaranteed a spot in the side, but he might be now.
Morgan’s failures are harder to diagnose. He got a good ball in the first innings and was caught down the leg-side off Boyd Rankin, his former Ireland team-mate, the fourth victim in the match to suffer such an ignominious fate. Though cool and contained, Morgan could probably do with a decent score against the Board XI.
All the machinations made for an exciting final day against the ICC XI, with both team’s prospects fluctuating by the session, but it would not have been a contest on anything but the anodyne surface at the ICC Global Academy’s No1 Oval.
On a pitch offering just some grip on Monday, the ICC XI’s bowlers created enough pressure to potentially embarrass the world’s No 1 Test team. But for William Porterfield’s tactical blunder 30 minutes before tea, when the ICC’s captain replaced his front-line spinners Dockrell and Mohammad Nabi with part-time tweakers Majid Haq and Paul Stirling – which allowed Jonathan Trott and Ian Bell to add 30 quick runs as they latched on to a slew of bad balls – a very different result might have occurred.
England form guide from the first tour outing
Winners
Andrew Strauss
Decent runs in the second innings and his bold declaration on the second day meant the captain was instrumental in England starting their tour with a win. If he is as bold in the Tests, we could be in for an interesting time.
Alastair Cook
Arrived in Dubai 36 hours after his team-mates, having enjoyed a short honeymoon after his New Year’s Day wedding. Cook gave his team mates a tutorial in not giving your wicket away in the first innings. Rarely pretty, but always effective.
Stuart Broad
Early wickets in both innings meant that he backed up his words about not wasting the new ball with impressive deeds.
Losers
Tim Bresnan
Mr Reliable with bat and ball, Bresnan is a big loss after failing to recover from elbow surgery. A hole to fill that is bound to weaken England’s batting or bowling, irrespective of who comes in.
Kevin Pietersen
Scratched around like a chicken with eczema for 15 in the first innings and fell cheaply in the second to left-arm spin. He had better hope that there is no cooling-off period in his lucrative new T20 deal with Delhi Daredevils.
Eoin Morgan
The No 6 slot is pivotal in Asian conditions, as you are often at the crease when conditions are most challenging. Needs to get a score quickly in order to settle down.
Bowling as Courtney Walsh not-so-poor-l'homme, Sharma had ripped the heart of stick of England with a period of three wickets for a run before lunch.
There, it is true, has 11 overs in the morning session, but such is the impact it would have a value of at least one in three broke out to Matt Prior and Eoin Morgan after the interval.
Instead, they were confronted, after exploring more of Suresh Raina, Praveen Kumar and Harbhajan Singh. After some early recognition, tracks did not come in torrents but fairly regularly for England from disorder.
Before, wishing to sweep Harbhajan strains offshore and therefore by forcing them to Bowl more short, refused the bowling the possibility of mounting pressure, and Morgan was his anxious cohort.
The couple has collected 45 precious tracks. Before seized all opportunities to play and work Harbhajan strains offshore, Morgan used placement appropriate to disseminate the crisis Minie. At the time when Sharma was recalled and precipitates on tensile Morgan attempt, the balance of the game had changed.
Sharma was impressive. Bowling to a fraction closer to that in the first round, he found the same length pushed as Stuart Broad sleeves of the India and strains with a lively method skidded the ball past the defenses of the batsmen.
Delivery of reject Kevin Pietersen - a bouncer sharp outside off strain which surprised Pietersen gloved as he systematically strode forward and across - has been very well designed.
Jonathan Trott has been misled by one who was more complete and came back up the slope, and Ian Bell has received its second clumsy delivery of the match which bounced and left him.
Harbhajan, however, was a disappointment. Perhaps overdose cricket one day, it became a largely defensive bowler, bowling relatively flat and straight, rarely prospecting for the wickets with something speculation.
It does not seek to wider Bowl and try the drummer in a drive against the spin.
It is disadvantaged by its curved shipments never far from the transferred in the air before turning back. This is where Graeme Swann is now the top spinner. With more lying body action, he gets this drift based on the bat away from the body.
In addition, due to a glut of one-day cricket, Harbhajan is perhaps not a large spinner of the ball. He extracted bounce, but not turn. It allows drummers to play off the coast of the rear foot.
He has been unable to strangle the notation and manages a girl in his 18th over when Gautam: elbow intercepted the prior scanning. The resulting injury could have a significant impact on the match and the series.
Harbhajan figures in the game have been one for 218 and it is only a single five-one-stop journey in his past 25 sleeves of Test. This is a concern for a team that traditionally pressure with their slow bowlers.
That, however, should not affect the brightness of sleeves to front, particularly in the way in which he disposed of Harbhajan, it deals with runs to leg with scans and nurdles, sculpt the ball by the outer side and recall his route.
Prior is the Dean Jones of race - fit, committed and with his hand as an athlete at the tower to propel him back for two.
Seeing that he and other players in England trains is to make these men are athletes. In what is bound to a strongly contested series, it may be the factor that prevail in England.
"It was supposed to just be my day today (I) very grateful that I could get a big score."
He also helped Hussey cases that his two main rivals in the brigade of ash 17-main, Usman Khawaja and Callum Ferguson, both stranded firearms for Australia A second string attack from England in Hobart.
Khawaja was 13 in their first round and a duck in the second while Ferguson fared little better with seven and 10.
And after taking a giant step toward appearing at the Gabba, Hussey has admitted that he had attempted to avoid speculation about his selection.
He added: "even if it has been difficult to move away from it (pressure ash) I tried to not listen too that all."
"I do not read a hell of a lot or listened many critiques.Je know I played my best when I am clear in my mind, that's what I've been to."
"I've really focused on them (Khawaja and Ferguson) to all the...".It's funny, you're talking about lean spots, they both played really well and is a hard game, you make a mistake and you are missing.»
Earlier in the same game Australia paceman Mitchell Johnson added to his unbeaten 121 with the bat in early innings of the Warriors as tore through hitters line-up of Victoria with five to 35, figures ending in 4 to 5 in his final five overs.
"It felt good at the end," said the Sydney Morning Herald.
"I felt that I was getting a little good pace, pace few."
"Boys supported me and have been get quite excited when they saw some fly through."
"Typical fast Bowler, you like see drummers jump autour.Je will be trying to do tomorrow as well."
"I felt very confiant.Obtenir a few runs contributes as well."
"I was thinking to when I earned runs in South Africa [last year], it certainly helps your bowling and when you trust your topic."
"If I keep this... watch composition."
Wide in-form should be challenged for the position of the third seamer in a selection of the otherwise obvious team, having found it difficult to take wickets since his return from injury.
He played in each of the three Tests in this summer to Sri Lanka 1-0 victory, while 2010/11 Ashes-winning Bresnan came out with calf trouble.
The inclusion of Bresnan so that the failure of Middlesex fast bowler Steven Finn are the only change to the team who finished the victory against Sri Lanka at the Rose Bowl last month.
National selector Geoff Miller said: "following the successful Test and ODI series against Sri Lanka, we are pleased to include Tim Bresnan in the Test team after his excellent return from a calf muscle injury.
"Tim adds still bite at our pace attack with James Anderson, Chris Tremlett and Stuart Broad - which has greatly benefited from getting overs and wickets under his belt for Nottinghamshire during the week.
"Steven Finn has also benefited from his time at county level in recent weeks and continues to press hard for the selection of Test".
Miller is encouraged by the resources of the pace-bowling available to Englandfor a series of high-profile in which they have the possibility to file India at the top of the International Cricket Council Test classification.
"It's very nice to see the depth of quality on our bowling attack, with a series of Test four difficult matches on the horizon,", he said. "
"This is clearly a series highly anticipated between two nations play high test of the world, and I know that the England team is certainly looking forward to the challenge to take on the first team was classified in Test cricket".
Team of England (for the first npower Test v in India, from the Lord July 21): AJ Strauss (Captain), a Cook, IJL Trott, KP Pietersen, IR Bell, EJG Morgan, MJ Prior (wkt), broad CJD, GP Swann, CT Tremlett, JM Anderson, TT Bresnan.
Johnson seemed totally lost to the Gabba, durable wicketless career test and probably deserved to be deleted. However, it is, on vocals, most likely launchers of Ricky Ponting to produce the kind of break spell sleeves that Peter Siddle took in Brisbane.
The mercurial Johnson, now 29, has a good record in Australia, too, having taken 84 wickets to just more than 27 tracks each of 20 tests. It is even the last Australian player to feature on the honours of bowling tips at the Adelaide Oval, something the hierarchy is not clearly consult before canning him.
Selector search patterns and they seem to have spotted a very one-Australian Johnson and the other who has himself revealed ashes tour last year England 18 months - ago is an Australian fast player who does not love bowling in English, something supported by its 41 average against them.
He almost admitted as much when he was put in front of the media today, after experiencing the eve only two other launchers of rhythm in the squad double injury triumph a reprieve.
"To move away from the publicity surrounding the series and enter in the nets and working on my game of bowling is probably the best option for me rather than to try to work of the game," Johnson said on the eve of the second review.
Asked if he felt particularly disappointed to be deposited in a series of ash, he gave one of these beloved sports psychologists answers that turn positive, negative, although that delivered in this case in a manner which suggests that he was not entirely convinced it.
"Every match I played for the Australia is a great moment for me, a series of ash, said the Johnson." I played for my country, and it is a big deal for me. It is very difficult to take but it is not the end of the world. I came back from stress fractures when I was younger, and I've withdrawn from Queensland squad. There were other launchers have been abandoned and return to it and hope that it will stronger.
You never know what to expect from players who are deleted. Some cry crying other contempt, while some just shuffle offshore forgotten that define responses to survey questions. Johnson seemed just as it did when opposite packaged media before the first test, shy, disillusionment and confused about exactly what had happened to him.
"For me to work things out is to go in the nets get back into gym, get my right mind and work really hard to return to the team and make a big effort when I have the chance," said Johnson."
Top-level sport is played as much between the ears on the ground and contradictions between Johnson and head coach Tim Nielsen on mental state of the former show all is fragile.
"We need to try and set of Mitchell and the spirit in a place that will allow him to do better at the international level," said Nielsen.
Mentally I think fine,"says Johnson. "I had some frustrating moments at the Gabba, but mentally, I felt fine for review.
According to Nielsen, they want him sort out his adopted home for third test in Perth, as he moved with his girlfriend Jessica Bratich, karate champion. Traditionally the lawn he saw the ball fly in but you need to operate controls. At this time, Johnson, who is an athlete who rather than the reverse, lack of control of direction or length due to its low arm, two cardinal sins in the Waca bowls.
Interestingly, Johnson remains with the squad, firstly to support and assist other launchers and, second, so it can work with Troy Cooley bowling coach.
There is a risk of keep on players who have been abandoned. Their understandable discouragement can disrupt the cloakroom, whereas interpersonal relationships, fixed at a level where a player is on the team must be adjusted when they are not.
Johnson is not disruptive personality and is half the problem. Quick launchers leading attacks tend to be extroverted who contemplate failure - think that Dennis Lillee and Ian Botham. Johnson, blessed, it is a sensitive soul who is struggling to be something the ogre, no amount of coaching change.
Call time: (from left to right) Rory Hamilton-Brown, Gareth Batty and Steven Davies of Surrey jump for an appeal on the first day of the LV = County Championship Division 2 match against Northants to Kia oval Photo: GETTY IMAGESAnd, in the circumstances, missed Surrey against Northamptonshire. Their total of 322 was decent, but well below what they should be obtained against the visitors who finished the day on 12 without loss.
It was a frustrating day for Surrey, which focused on several occasions to the construction of promising, only to be paralyzed by the loss of wickets key at times key. The absence of Mark Ramprakash to a knee injury has deprived their talent line-up frappeurs young a little steel.
Northamptonshire Captain Andrew Hall could be satisfied with work of the his side. But it may reflect but for a pair of contrasting Rory Hamilton-Brown and Gareth Batty cameos, it might have been better still. Coming to Surrey 88 for three after a quick start but a waste, Hamilton-Brown launched a counterattack, turbulent.
Seizing the initiative - and hit the ball very hard - Hamilton-Brown in 59 for the fourth wicket with new signing Tom Maynard, who considers commonly until he was overthrown attempting to sweep James Middlebrook.
Batty was more cautious, the tail of sorting and picking the gaps with intelligence. He finished with 64, the 27th fifty years of his first class career.
Plugged away patiently Northamptonshire bowlers. Chaminda Vaas, playing his first game for the County, captured Michael Brown leg before off the coast of the second ball of the day, but he seemed less threatening after the shine wore off the coast of the ball.
Middlebrook took advantage of the considerable shift to collect the three wickets, but Northamptonshire will be well aware that the side House have, Batty and Chris Schofield, two spinners capable of capitalizing on the surface dry.
Gidman and Jonathan Batty will put on 156 for the sixth wicket Guide Gloucestershire to a respectable 224 for six against Derbyshire at Bristol. Entry set to 65 for five, in most of his fortune Gidman good start on his way to 89, while Batty finished the day unbeaten on 61 after a vigil for four hours at the crease.
Grace Road, left arm spinner Dean Cosker took four wickets as Glamorgan held Leicestershire at 231 for nine, with 74 undefeated Claude Henderson's main resistance on a day of low scoring.
