The Zimbabwean's team face a sixth successive overseas test defeat after being bundled out for 191 in their first innings at the Sydney Cricket Ground, having lost the first test last week by 122 runs. Sachin Tendulkar made 41 before he chopped the ball onto his stumps which, along with skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni's unbeaten 57, were the only real highlights of the innings.

Fletcher said credit must also be given to the Australian bowlers for a fine performance and batsmen Michael Clarke and Ricky Ponting, for easing the hosts to 116 for three at the close of play. But he also defended his players' efforts. "The mood in the dressing room has been very, very good. They're working very hard at nets, they're putting in the effort, they're trying their best," he told reporters.

"It's just sometimes in cricket we just need a little bit of good fortune. "You look at Sachin today, how often would he play on from that width, more often than not he would have put that through the covers for four. "Sometimes it goes against you and sometimes it runs with you."Fletcher said he was hoping for more partnerships from the middle order for the rest of the series and did not think the cause was lost in Sydney.

Encouraged by paceman Zaheer Khan dismissing Australia's top three batsmen with just 37 runs on the board, Fletcher said India were just a wicket away from some kind of parity. "If they had been four down tonight, we would have been pretty happy with that," he said. "If we can just get one of those wickets early tomorrow, hopefully two, and put their lower order under a little bit of pressure, we can probably get them out for the same sort of total that we scored."

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It seems with every Test match, Australian cricket is diagnosed anew. Depending on the result of the last game, we are either witnessing a grave nadir for the baggy green, or are standing on the precipice of a golden era of youthful verve and brash domination. It simply cannot be both, and it cannot change so quickly.

Indeed, sometimes this diagnosis changes within the same Test. In Cape Town, Australia’s first innings revealed a crippling lack of depth in its batting stocks. Then Michael Clarke walked to the wicket to belt a defiant century, the bowlers rolled South Africa for less than 100, and suddenly we were united for the long haul behind our fearless leader. Then, at 9/21 in the second innings, it was a crisis again.

Then in the second Test Pat Cummins put on the magic with his six wickets in the second innings, and by the time he had hit the winning boundary in an unlikely two wicket win, Australia was charging headlong into a golden age all over again.

Unfortunately Cummins managed to get injured during that game, and we’re yet to see him again. But fear not, while he recuperated, James Pattinson unleashed a fury of pace and swing on the unsuspecting and unequipped Kiwis at the Gabba. Once he’d taken his fifth wicket on that remarkable Sunday morning and Nathan Lyon had swept up to the tail to maintain his mid-20s average all doubt was gone. Australia was back, baby.

Then on the last day in Bellerive, even the most cynical must have been converted as Dave Warner slashed and drove his way to a match winning hundred. Oh, pardon me, that was a man of the match winning hundred. Warner’s performance aside, the remarkable collapse in Hobart was all the evidence the critics needed: Australian cricket is in permanent decline, the Argus review has fixed nothing, and it’s time to start all over again.

In the last four days of cricket we have seen Australia’s finest deliver that same range of possibilities once more. Mid way through Boxing Day it was all sorted: new opening pair of complementary styles, Ponting making runs, everything coming together. Then there’s a small collapse, and by the time India get to 2/214, Australia are once again a combination of a timid batting line-up and an impotent bowling attack.

By lunch on day three it’s a bold new era for Australian bowlers, at 4/21 in the second innings it’s a black day for Australian batting, and then when Hussey and Ponting steady the ship everything is ok again because we can rely on the experience. When the bowlers come out and slice through the Indian order the balance looks just right. Everyone is now writing about how good this Australian side is, and how much better it will become. The issue here is that we cannot judge the Australia team session by session, day by day or even game by game. This sort of scattered logic is exactly how a lot of the trouble started. It’s exactly how Xavier Doherty can come into the team with a first class bowling average of 45 because he took four wickets in a one day game. It’s exactly how he can then be replaced by Michael Beer.

This Australian team is neither in irreversible decline on the brink of total domination. It is a team with a mixture of potential, fading abilities, brilliance and mediocrity. They can be tenacious, and they can lack vigour. The headline writers and critics must realise that they do not need to instantly place this Australian team at one of the extreme ends on the scale. One good performance each from Pattinson and Cummins does not mean that they will terrify in tandem like Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh.

One poor innings from the batsmen does not mean they all need to sit in the pavilion watching The Cricket Show put on a master class with a polo-shirt wearing Mark Taylor and Ian Chappell. Excessively dramatic assessments of either a positive or negative nature are not constructive or helpful to anything other than selling newspapers. Both create a destructive pressure, and totally lack the nuance necessary to see Australia through an uncertain period in its cricketing history.

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MELBOURNE: Australia crushed India by 122 runs in the opening Test, destroying their vaunted batting lineup with pace to claim a decisive victory inside four days at the MCG. India, chasing a historically challenging 292 for victory, were never in the hunt after they crashed to 81 for six with the crucial loss of Sachin Tendulkar’s wicket late in the middle session. The tourists, yet to win a series in Australia in 64 years, were routed for 169 off 47.5 overs after Australia squeezed another 61 runs from their remaining two wickets. James Pattinson led with four for 53, while Peter Siddle claimed the prized scalp of Tendulkar (32) to again keep his 100th international ton on hold.

‘Fantastic’ win for us’
“I wasn’t even born when Tendulkar started playing cricket, so to go out there and bowl against him and have some success against their batsmen is unbelievable,” said Pattinson who won his second man-of-the-match award in three Test. “And to get a win is even better. “It’s fantastic to get a win against India, who we love beating. We were in trouble last night but credit goes to Ricky Ponting and Michael Hussey for getting us out of that. “We’ve just got this never-say-die attitude sort of feeling in the camp at the moment and it’s a great feeling.”In three Tests, the youngster from Victoria has captured 20 wickets and impressed with his batting at number nine.

It was a bowlers’ Test match with no batsman scoring a century; Hussey came the closest with 89 in the second-innings. Australia’s pace trio Pattinson, Ben Hilfenhaus and Siddle maintained a full line and length and never let up on the Indian batsmen, much to the disappointment of their captain MS Dhoni.

Need to score more: Dhoni
“We should’ve been able to chase 300 with the kind of batting we’ve got,” said Dhoni. “The bowlers did a good job and got us back into the game, but the batting needs to click. “We need to score more runs. Otherwise, it would be difficult for us to win. We need to apply ourselves more. If we do that I have no doubt that we will come back strongly.”

India, 24 for one at lunch after losing Virender Sehwag for seven, unravelled in the second session with five wickets tumbling for 93 runs. Gautam Gambhir fell for 13, while Rahul Dravid was bowled for just 10 for the second time in the match. VVS Laxman and Virat Kohli also failed to stick around and with Tendulkar’s disappointing dismissal, many Indian supporters started leaving the ground.

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All-rounder James Franklin guided Wellington to their first Twenty20 cricket win of the season, inflicting Auckland's first defeat in the process. Franklin blasted an unbeaten 68 off 38 balls to lead the Firebirds to a seven-wicket win with nine balls to spare in the third round HRV Cup match at the Basin Reserve, chasing 158 to win.

It avenged their 10-run defeat to Auckland, the defending champions, in the opening round on December 18. Wellington needed their top-four batsmen to step up after a poor effort in the 25-run defeat to Central Districts a day earlier, when they were dismissed for 130. Without Jesse Ryder, ruled out for at least a month with a calf strain, Franklin and Zimbabwean import Brendan Taylor both did the job with key half-centuries.

Taylor, after failures in his first two innings for his new team, cracked 53 off 37 balls including 16 off a Chris Martin over to get Wellington on track. Auckland, without the injured Andre Adams who was struck in the head by a bouncer in the previous round, couldn't contain the home batsmen on a good surface.

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What a year! 2011 had it all. There were statistical milestones and unique feats, jail sentence to three Test players, mystery surrounding the passing of a high profile columnist, thrillers including a near tied Test, dramatic debuts by bowlers, spectacular hitting by Shane Watson and Virender Sehwag in ODIs, England belting Australia and India to reach the no 1 ranking in Test cricket, Australia shot out for 47 after being 9 for 21 in the Cape Town Test and incredibly the last four Netherlands batsmen getting run out for ducks off four successive balls against Ireland at Kolkata in the World Cup.

Let's start with the good; milestones and unique feats in international arena.

* India won the World Cup in April in Mumbai, the first time a country has won at home.

* India's Little Master Sachin Tendulkar became the only batsman to score 15,000 Test runs (during the Delhi Test against New Zealand in November).

*  He is one century short of his 100th international hundred which he may reach in the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne.

* Full credit to India's captain MS Dhoni to recall England's batsman Ian Bell when he was given run-out by the umpires in the Trent Bridge Test in July.

* Thrilling Tests in Johannesburg, Mumbai and Hobart, the Mumbai 'magic' ending in a near tie. 

* It has been a year of debutant bowlers, starting with Australia's spinner Nathan Lyon who took a wicket off his first ball in a Test, only the 14th to do so in the 134 years of Test cricket. This was against Sri Lanka at Galle in September where he grabbed 5-34.

* November and December were indeed months for golden debutants when New Zealander Doug Bracewell, India's Ravichandran Ashwin, South Africa's Vernon Philander and Australia's Pat Cummins and James Pattinson captured five wickets in an innings on Test debut.

* A grand slam for Ashwin in his debut series against the Windies: 3-81 and 6-47 in Delhi; 2-49 and 2-137 in Kolkata and 5-156, 4-34 and 103 runs in Mumbai. No wonder he was adjudged Man of the Test series. He became the third Indian after Vinoo Mankad in 1952 and Polly Umrigar in1961-62 to hit a century and grab 5 wickets in an innings in the same Test.

* Replacing an injured Cummins, James Pattinson, took 5-27 in his debut for Australia against New Zealand in the December Brisbane Test followed by another fifer in Hobart to finish with 14 wickets in the two Test series. Like another debutant Ashwin (vs WI) Pattinson was made the Man of the series against NZ.

* Two unique records for Mike Hussey. He is the only batsman to average 50 in Tests, one-day internationals (ODIs) and first-class (FC) cricket (qualification 4000 runs in each format) and to be adjudged Man of the Match in all three Tests in a series as also Man of the Series. This was against Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka in September when his batting average was a Bradman-like 92.60 and bowling average only 3.50.

* In the five-match one day international (ODI) series against England in India this October, India's captain wicket-keeper MS Dhoni was not dismissed even once. His scores: 87 not out, did not bat, 35 not out, 15 not out and 75 not out, in all 212 runs in five consecutive matches.

* On 6 August, South Africa's medium pacer Norman Gordon became the only Test cricketer to celebrate his 100th birthday.

Now to the SAD...
lI have still not come to grips with the shocking and tragic death of Peter Roebuck; my friend and hero, in November, aged 55. The mystery surrounding his passing will be discussed for decades. He was a brilliant writer and radio commentator who did a lot to help the poor and to fight social injustice.

lAmong other prominent personalities to pass away this year were Test cricketers Mansur Ali Khan (the Nawab of Pataudi Junior), Trevor Bailey, Terry Jenner, Peter Loader, Graham Dilley, Basil D'Oliveira and Sam Loxton.
 
...The Ugly...
lThe jail sentence to the Pakistan Test trio of Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir this November for spot-fixing scandal of last year.
 
The Sensational...
* Australia's Shane Watson hit a spectacular unbeaten 185 off 96 balls against Bangladesh in an ODI in Mirpur this April at an astounding strike rate of 192.70. It was spiced up with 15 fours and 15 sixes. His 15 sixes in an innings is a record in all internationals.

* This batting spree was bettered by India's 'six-o-maniac' Virender Sehwag last week. He slammed 219 runs off 149 balls at a strike-rate of 147 belting 25 fours and 7 sixes and becoming the highest scorer in an ODI. He became only the second player to score a double century in an ODI, the first being another Indian, Sachin Tendulkar, 200 vs SA at Gwalior last February.

* Not that only batsmen were spectacular in 2011. On Day Two of the Cape Town Test on 10 Nov, 23 wickets tumbled for 262 runs. This included SA being dismissed for 96 and hitting back by routing Australia for 47 (after they were 9-21). Australia's Peter Siddle batted and bowled in all four innings.

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Pakistan cricket legend and opposition politician Imran Khan drew as many as 150,000 people to a rally in Karachi yesterday, demonstrating his growing appeal amid anger over power blackouts and a troubled alliance with the U.S.

After 15 years of political irrelevance, Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, or the Movement for Justice Party, is gaining momentum as the ruling coalition fails to improve a slowing economy or fight corruption.  Khan’s stance that Pakistan should pull out of a security pact with the U.S. is winning support amid criticism of army offensives against Taliban militants since 2007 that have triggered retaliatory bombings.
“Nobody can stop this tsunami,” Khan, 59, told yesterday’s gathering at the mausoleum of the country’s founder, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, in the port city of Karachi. He vowed to “end corruption and injustice from our society. All I want is your support.” Senior Karachi police officer Javed Odho said 100,000 to 150,000 people attended the event.

Pakistan’s president, Asif Ali Zardari, has been weakened by a confrontation with the military that has ruled Pakistan for half its history. Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, a member of Zardari’s party, warned last week of conspiracies to oust his administration and replace it with a dictatorship. Political upheaval in Pakistan may complicate U.S. plans to bolster security in the region as it withdraws troops from neighboring Afghanistan.

Khan’s party may win 20 to 40 seats in the 342-seat National Assembly if an election were held in the next year, Hasan-Askari Rizvi, a political analyst, said. Tehreek’s appeal may be restricted largely to cities where middle-class disdain for established groups like Zardari’s Pakistan People’s Party and its chief opponent, Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League, is at its strongest, Rizvi said.

‘Corrupt, Incapable’
“He is cashing in on this widespread perception that Pakistan’s main political parties are corrupt and incapable,” Rizvi said in a telephone interview from Lahore. “He has been successful in attracting large crowds but has failed to present a plan of action.”

Since an October rally in Lahore that the government estimated was attended by 100,000 people, scores of established politicians have joined Khan’s party. Shah Mahmood Qureshi, a People’s party dissident and former foreign minister; Jahangir Tareen, a minister in the regime of former military leader Pervez Musharraf; and Masood Sharif Khattak, a former head of Pakistan’s civilian intelligence bureau, are among those who have flocked to Khan’s side.

Change of Strategy
“After languishing on the political sidelines, Imran has changed his strategy,” Muhammad Waseem, a political science professor at the Lahore University of Management Sciences, said by phone. “He’s now accepting people in his party who have been very much part of the status quo and the corrupt system. But they are powerful and electable.”

Khan, the captain of Pakistan’s 1992 world champion cricket team, managed to win just a single seat, his own, in the last elections his party contested in 2002 as he struggled to translate his sporting renown into poll success. The recent successful rallies indicate his message may be attracting urban voters especially in his base of Punjab. The U.S.-based Pew Research Center found Khan to be the most popular political leader in the country in a June poll.

In a country where only about 1 percent of people pay income tax, Khan has demanded that leading politicians, including Zardari and Sharif, declare their wealth. He set an example last month by disclosing at a press conference in Islamabad his income and the amount of tax he has paid.

‘Strong Character’
“He has a strong character,” said Muhammad Sadiq, who had attended the rally in Karachi with his two children. “I think he will be the next prime minister. I hope he will be the next prime minister.”
Gilani is under pressure from opposition parties to call a general election before the scheduled date of February 2013 as growth in the economy stalls and his government fails to resolve chronic energy shortages that have shut factories and sparked street protests.

Pakistan cut its economic growth forecast to 3.6 percent from 4.2 percent for the year through June 2012. Policy makers plan to boost growth from 2.4 percent in the year ended June 30, one of Pakistan’s weakest expansions in a decade. Pakistan’s Supreme Court is investigating claims that Zardari sought U.S. assistance to help prevent an army coup as the military stood humiliated by the strike that killed Osama bin Laden in a garrison town north of Islamabad. That account has renewed tensions with army chiefs, who have backed the court probe.

Critical of Alliance
Khan is a critic of Pakistan’s alliance with the U.S. in the fight against militants in the northwestern regions of the country near the Afghan border, a pact that was further strained by a NATO border raid last month that killed 24 Pakistan soldiers. He has led many rallies this year against the U.S.’s covert drone attacks, which he says kill innocent people and convince more people to take up arms. “You can’t win this war even if you fight for another 10 years,” Khan said at a press conference on Dec. 19 in Islamabad. “Pakistan must get out of this alliance to stop the radicalization of our society. We must talk to the Taliban.”

Khan’s opponents, including Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League, attribute the party’s sudden rise to backing by the “establishment,” the term they use for the country’s army. To support their claim, they point to a large number of former ministers during Musharraf’s eight years of military rule who have joined Khan’s party.

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A MAN has broken into the family home of Ed Cowan, a day after he was selected in the Australian squad for the Boxing Day Test against India. Police were called to the home on Darling Point Road at Darling Point after a man was spotted climbing through a window at 12.50pm yesterday. The man was about to leave the home when police arrived but then barricaded himself inside, allegedly telling them he had a gun, and held them at bay for more than two hours.

Locked in a bedroom, the man also threatened harm himself, and officers from the tactical operations squad had to be called in. At 3.15pm they stormed the house and arrested the man. Last night the man was undergoing assessment at St Vincent's Hospital. No charges had been laid. Richard Cowan said the break-in capped an eventful 24 hours for the family following the selection of his son on Wednesday.

''It was obviously very random, and the man had no idea of whose house it was,'' Mr Cowan told Channel Seven. ''Look, it was really quite a minor matter, and the good thing is no one got hurt. ''To have this happen has spoiled the day, but that's life.''Police say it is believed the man was not armed, despite his claims. ''[The man] did make threats at the time,'' Rose Bay Superintendent Jason Joyce said. ''He was locked away in the bedroom, so it was quite difficult for the police to know whether he was armed or not.''

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Lahore: Former Pakistan captain Aamir Sohail believes that Intikhab Alam is not qualified enough to identify and recommend the national team's next head coach. Sohail, who has worked with Intikhab in the Pakistan team, said he was disappointed to see the Cricket Board (PCB) appoint someone like Intikhab to head the committee entrusted with the responsibility of identifying and recommending coaches for the national side.

Aamir Sohail believes that Intikhab Alam is not qualified enough to identify next head coach. "The individual who is responsible for the extremely important task of identifying the next coach of the national team and recommending him to the PCB chairman should be someone who knows the job and he is certainly not Intikhab," the former Test captain said. Sohail, who has worked as PCB chief selector and also in the National Cricket Academy, said the whole process of selecting new coaches was flawed.

"For the PCB hierarchy to put Intikhab in charge of recommending the next coach of Pakistan to the chairman is absolutely scandalous. "Intikhab has no idea of what the requirements are and what the necessary skills are for a modern day coach to get the best out of the current group of Pakistani cricketers and is not qualified to be chairing the committee," Sohail told pakpassion.net. Interestingly, Intikhab was manager and coach of the Pakistan team that won the 1992 World Cup and included Sohail.

The former PCB chairman Ijaz Butt had appointed Intikhab to head a special committee that also includes Zaheer Abbas, Naushad Ali with Rameez Raja also available for assistance to seek applications from interested candidates, shortlist them, identify and recommend them to the board. The new chairman of PCB, Zaka Ashraf also did not change the committee and asked Intikhab to continue as the head of the panel.

 

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Ed Cowan will open the batting on his debut for Australia in next week's first test against India after being included in an extended a 13-strong squad announced on Wednesday. Australia blooded three new caps in this month's series against New Zealand and Cowan will ensure a fourth at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), with all rounder Dan Christian a possible fifth if Shaun Marsh fails to prove his fitness.

Lefthander Cowan has been in fine form for Tasmania this season and scored a timely 109 against India in the ongoing three-day tour match in Canberra on Tuesday. "Ed Cowan's very good form has been compelling in him being included in the side ... and the intention is he will open the batting with David Warner," chief selector John Inverarity told a televised news conference in Perth.

"I think in the side we're looking for a bit more steadiness and we're looking to Ed to provide that," he added. "The stars are aligned for Ed."Pace bowlers James Pattinson and Mitchell Starc were handed their baggy green caps with Warner ahead of the opening test against New Zealand earlier this month and all three were retained for the first of four tests against India, which starts on Monday.

Opener Phil Hughes, as expected, lost his place in the team after a miserable series against the Black Caps and Usman Khawaja also paid the price for repeated failures with the bat. "They are young players who we consider still to be very promising and we look forward in the future to them pushing strongly for inclusion in the side," Inverarity said.

IN CONTENTION

A lower back injury to top order batsman Marsh, rated as "unlikely" to be fit only last week, forced selectors to name uncapped Christian as back-up. "It was always anticipated that when Shaun started to feel better, it would be quite a rapid improvement and that is what has happened over the last day or two," Inverarity said. "It's likely if Shaun plays that he'll be batting at number three and if Dan Christian plays he will be at number six."

All rounder Shane Watson and paceman Ryan Harris were not considered because of injury, the former with calf and hamstring problems and the latter because he has yet to bowl enough to prove his fitness after being dogged by knee injuries. "Shane Watson is not fit to play (but) we hope he will be in contention for the second test in Sydney," Inverarity said of Australia's player of the year for the last two seasons.

Dependable quick Ben Hilfenhaus has been recalled and will vie with Starc for the spot as the third quick in the side behind Peter Siddle and Pattinson. Batsmen Ricky Ponting and Mike Hussey retained their places in the side despite being under pressure after mediocre performances against New Zealand, who won their first test on Australian soil in 26 years earlier this month.

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Scores: Bangladesh 338 (Shakib Al Hasan 144, Shahriar Nafees 97) v Pakistan 386-5 (Taufiq Umar 130, Misbah-ul Haq 70, Azhar Ali 57)

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