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Australia’s cricketers will refuse to budge from their fixed 26% share of total Cricket Australia revenue when the game’s administrators seek to carry out the player payment recommendations of the Argus review

Daniel Brettig09-Sep-2011Australia’s cricketers will refuse to budge from their fixed 26% share of total Cricket Australia revenue when the game’s administrators seek to carry out the player payment recommendations of the Argus review.One of the review’s many key conclusions was that the payment structure of Australian cricket was not firm enough in its link between player payment and performance. Australian players are paid relative to the performances of each other on a year-by-year basis, but do not experience peaks and troughs of remuneration when their performance surge ahead or lag behind the results of other nations.The basic building block of Australian player payments is their fixed 26% share of total CA revenue, an arrangement that allows for the players to be paid less in years when the collective body has turned in a lesser profit, and more when the opposite is true. Paul Marsh, chief executive of the Australian Cricketers’ Association (ACA), said the players would not allow any change to his model.Player payment negotiations were effectively placed on hold in the off-season as CA and the ACA agreed to extend most existing arrangements by one year while numerous changes to the cricket landscape, including the expansion of the Twenty20 Big Bash League, took place.”Quite simply the ACA and our members won’t entertain a move away from the percentage share of revenue model we’ve had since 1999, nor our current 26% share,” Marsh said. “We believe this has worked very well for Australian cricket and the players for the past 12 years and is not a reason for the recent decline in our on-field performances.”The recommendations regarding changes to the contracting and player payment models will form part of our upcoming MOU negotiations with CA. We are open to discussing how we can improve these models to make Australian cricket stronger but moving away from our percentage share of revenue model isn’t open for discussion from our perspective.”Marsh took issue with the review’s findings about player wages not being linked closely enough to performances, and also pointed out that the players’ use for CA marketing and advertising across the summer had to be remunerated irrespective of how individuals performed on the field. He expressed the view that no-one else in Australian cricket, be they administrators, coaches, or board members, were as accountable for performance as the players themselves.”What’s been overlooked in my view is the fact that our payment system is already extremely performance based,” Marsh said. “Player retainer values fluctuate from year to year based on player performances – and these fluctuations can be considerable. Players come on and go off contract lists and it would be fair to say that no other role in Australian cricket is subject to such cut throat performance measures.”It’s also important to note that player payments are not just a function of on-field performance. When signing contracts, players hand over various commercial rights to CA that CA exploit for the financial gain of Australian cricket. The players also agree to a range of other significant obligations and restrictions. There has to be a fixed value attached to this that isn’t dependent on on-field performance.”Most of the review’s other findings and recommendations have been met with a warm response by the players and their representatives, but Marsh raised some doubts about the how the concept of linking the head coach with each state would be practically implemented.”The creation of the General Manager of Team Performance is a good initiative, as is the move to a full-time National Selector,” Marsh said. “The expansion of the Head Coach’s role makes theoretical sense, however, in practical terms, how alignment between this role and the State coaching roles will be achieved is the big question for me.”

It is not raining, it is absolutely pouring for MS Dhoni

The Report by Sidharth Monga24-Sep-2011
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were outLasith Malinga’s late surge with the bat outdid Michael Hussey’s solid knock earlier in the day•AFP

It is not raining, it is absolutely pouring for MS Dhoni. On a night that everything was going to script for Dhoni’s side – the toss was won on a slow track, Michael Hussey had scored 81 to set up a more-than-competitive total, the slower bowlers had choked the Mumbai Indians innings off, Dhoni had himself pulled off two good stumpings and a dodgy catch – he missed a fairly simple chance to stump Lasith Malinga. Malinga had come in to bat with 53 required in 4.4 overs with three wickets in hand, but with nothing to lose he swung hard. When he connected clean he hit sixes, when he edged he got fours, when he missed he got byes. With 37 off 18, he completed an improbable win with one ball to go.It was a classical Twenty20 case of four overs outweighing the hard work done over 36 overs. It all began with the profusely sweating Hussey. He had lost four kilos over September 16 and 17 in Colombo when scoring the century that earned him the third of three Man-of-the-Match awards in the three-Test series. A week later, in similar humid conditions but a completely different format, he seemed like he had never stopped playing Indian leagues on slow and low pitches.Seamlessly he went from playing dabs and nudges for ones and twos to pulling out the big hits, helping Chennai double their 12-over score of 79. He even got the better of Malinga, scoring 13 off the bowler’s third over, but Malinga came back well to concede just eight of his last. Little did Malinga know then that he would be doing similar things with the bat at a similar stage of the next innings.Mumbai’s openers knew a majority of their scoring would have to be done against the hard ball, and came out swinging accordingly. However, the approach was not going to work against the spinners. Hussey played 22 dots in his innings of 81; Aiden Blizzard, though he hit attractive shots, failed to score off ten balls in his 28. R Ashwin came on to accentuate the dots. Almost inevitably he got Jacobs stumped down the leg side. Dhoni’s no-reverse-follow-through stumping worked a treat here.Dhoni introduced Raina before the specialist spinner, Shadab Jakati, and was rewarded with another stumping to send T Suman back. That followed a low catch to dismiss Ambati Rayudu, a piece of action that didn’t meet the scrutiny it deserved. Once again it was all down to Pollard, who flattered, promised, and as has so often happened, deceived by top-edging a slower one from Albie Morkel. Then came Malinga.He began with a pulled four off Morkel, but his innings reached a crescendo when he hit successive deliveries from Jakati for near-parallel straight sixes into both dugouts. Chennai were not panicking quite yet. Later in the over Malinga ran past a flat one from Jakati. This time Dhoni had enough time to collect it cleanly, but his instinctive no-reverse-follow-through method caused the ball to spill. He rarely misses those. He did today with 31 still required off three overs.In the next over Malinga edged a Bollinger yorker fine for four. The curse of the batsmen with nothing to lose was working. Bollinger came back with four slower deliveries that went for just one run. Morkel tried slower balls too, but bowled two of them wide. The one quick one he bowled Malinga sent for another flat six over long-off. Still at 13 required off seven, Chennai were the favourites.Morkel finished his night deceiving Malinga with a slower ball. The ball bounced halfway through to Dhoni, took a vicious bad bounce towards his face, and went for two byes. The second delivery of the last over Malinga absolutely slapped with no idea where he was hitting. It went flying over point for four, and Mumbai were now the favourites with six required off four. Captain Harbhajan Singh provided the finishing touches with a clipped four off a slower one and a single off the fifth ball of the over.

Robin Peterson believes the winter break and the nature of the opposition have provided enough motivation to have South Africa raring to face Australia

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Oct-2011South Africa’s national squad trained together for the first time in over six months on Monday, but their long layoff has not cooled their desire to take on an old enemy, Australia. Robin Peterson believes the winter break and the nature of the opposition have provided enough motivation to have them raring to go.”Even though we hate to admit it we probably are more psyched to play them [Australia]. We come from a similar background where we’re all competitive and we respect each other for that,” Peterson said in Cape Town. “A lot of the guys have played enough cricket in the past weeks to be ready and in form.”Eight of South Africa’s 15-man squad were recently involved in the Champions League while the other seven have had two weeks of first-class cricket to prepare them for the season. One of them, wicketkeeper Heino Kuhn, has been keenly awaiting the start of the international season because he sees it a chance to get another shot at a big break.”For me it will be like a World Cup final. I have this one opportunity to perform,” Kuhn said. “One thing I’ve learnt from AB [de Villiers] is to take your opportunity and I want to take this one with both hands.” Kuhn has played in three T20s for South Africa, the first almost two years ago against England and the next two against Zimbabwe last year.Despite being earmarked as a long-term successor to Mark Boucher, playing in numerous A team tours and boasting a first-class average of over 40, he has never even had an opportunity in an ODI, a sign that the selectors are not ready for Kuhn to make a step up. The 27-year-old believes he can do just that, however, and said the two matches will give him a chance to “show my skills against the Aussies.”He does not feel as though he needs to do anything special and said his keeping will be up to standard because “I just love to catch the ball.” In two first-class games this season, Kuhn has already taken seven catches and effected one stumpingIt may be with bat in hand that Kuhn will have to convince. He would have already tweaked the national selectors’ interests with his unbeaten 90 on a turning pitch for the Titans against Dolphins in last weekend’s SuperSport Series match in Pietermaritzburg. Although he will have to apply himself in a different format, Kuhn is confident he can make the adjustment quickly. “I’m not worried about adapting from four-day to T20 cricket so quickly. I don’t think there’s a big difference,” he said. “A lot of people think that in T20 cricket you just have to slog the ball but you can actually get boundaries by playing proper cricket shots.”Kuhn will likely bat at No. 6 or 7, positions that have traditionally been reserved for a big hitter, and Kuhn will be under pressure to perform. One of those slots would have been Albie Morkel’s, but the allrounder was ruled out with an abdominal muscle strain and has been replaced by Ryan McLaren. Kuhn and McLaren will have to form the pair that provides the final burst. “Albie’s injury puts a bit more pressure on us batting-wise but it’s a good challenge for the lower order,” he said.Morkel was joined in the casualty ward by new limited-overs captain AB de Villiers, who had to withdraw from the squad after breaking his finger during the Champions League. It means South Africa will start their season on a somewhat unsettled note, with Hashim Amla standing in as skipper.Peterson thinks Amla will embrace his new role and provide sufficient guidance for the team at the start of the season. “He is a natural leader. Whether he captains or not, he always leads from the front. He’s one of those guys that quietly goes about his business,” Peterson said. “Everyone’s different and unique. They do things their way and Hashim will do it his way and that’s important if he’s going to do well at this level.”While the spotlight will be on the keeper and captain, there will also be some interest in Peterson, who will take to the field for the first time in an international since his dream run at the World Cup, where he ended as South Africa’s highest wicket-taker. He will be anxious to repeat that success at home, in conditions that are not quite so spinner-friendly.Peterson said he will stick to the basics in order to take wickets. “I haven’t thought too much about applying more flight and those type of aspects. It’s just my natural styling of bowling and if it’s going to allow me to take wickets in the process then I’ll flight it. I do try to mix things up against different players. Sometimes quicker, sometimes more flight. It’s about adapting.”Without Dale Steyn in the T20 squad, South Africa have been made even more aware of the danger of Australia’s opening pair, David Warner and Shane Watson, but Peterson said they are not going to isolate them as the only players to target. “There’s not only Warner and Watson, there’s like six or seven players that can take the game away from you” he said. “We’re not only focusing on the opening pair.”

Former West Indies batsman Lawrence Rowe has initiated legal action against the Jamaica Cricket Association (JCA) for revoking its decision to name the pavilion at Sabina Park in Kingston after him

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Nov-2011Former West Indies batsman Lawrence Rowe has initiated legal action against the Jamaica Cricket Association (JCA) for revoking its decision to name the pavilion at Sabina Park in Kingston after him. “We received written notification from his lawyers on Monday of this week. It is now a legal matter and we will engage our lawyers,” JCA president Lyndel Wright told the .The revocation from the JCA had come after Rowe reportedly told a radio station that he hadn’t done anything wrong by participating in the West Indies rebel tours to South Africa in 1983 and 1984. Before that, Rowe had apologised for touring South Africa during apartheid while being honoured by the JCA, during the Sabina Park Test between West Indies and India in June.”By virtue of what he said, he showed no remorse,” Wright said while revoking the JCA’s earlier decision. “The people of Jamaica have been hurt and as a national sporting body we have been embarrassed by his statements in the interview.”

Ricky Ponting and Michael Hussey still have plenty to offer the Australian middle order and will play in the Boxing Day Test against India, according to coach Mickey Arthur

Brydon Coverdale13-Dec-2011Ricky Ponting and Michael Hussey still have plenty to offer the Australian middle order and will play in the Boxing Day Test against India, according to Mickey Arthur, the team’s coach. Arthur, who is also a selector, said there had been no discussions by the new selection panel on how to plan for the exits of Ponting and Hussey, the two oldest members of Australia’s side.Ponting, who will be 37 by Boxing Day, is still searching for his first Test hundred in nearly two years. His two dismissals in the loss to New Zealand in Hobart reignited debate over his position in the side, after a pair of half-centuries in the previous two Tests had eased the pressure on him. Hussey, 36, had a terrific tour of Sri Lanka but just endured the two least productive series of his career.However, despite the fragility of Australia’s batting at Bellerive Oval, where David Warner was the only man to pass fifty, Australia are reluctant to make too many changes ahead of the India series. Shane Watson is expected to return from a hamstring injury but Shaun Marsh now appears unlikely to reclaim his place after being withdrawn from the tour match against India due to his ongoing back problem.Phillip Hughes is expected to be axed, but Hughes for Watson might now be the only alteration to the batting order. It had been expected that one of the other batsmen, possibly Usman Khawaja, would have made way for Marsh. A likely Australian top six for Boxing Day appears to be Watson, Warner, Khawaja, Ponting, Michael Clarke and Hussey.”I think he should [play on],” Arthur said of Ponting after the Hobart Test. “I’ve had a chat already to [selector] Rod Marsh . . . we’re trying to give ourselves a bit of direction to Boxing Day. I still think Ricky fits very firmly in that picture.”We’re certainly not managing yet how they [Ponting and Hussey] go out of the side. In my opinion they’ve still got big roles to play because we do need some experience within our middle order, there’s no doubt about it. They bring that experience that we need. We haven’t even come to any thought on how we manage any exit on any of those players. The key for us is the get them up firing … on Boxing Day, because they’re key.”The anticipated return of Watson will be a boost to Australia’s team balance, provided he is fully fit to bowl, and they are planning to have Watson fly to Melbourne early to be assessed. Key to that assessment will be determining how much of a bowling load they can give Watson, who hurt his hamstring while bowling in last month’s Johannesburg Test.Arthur said the time had come for the Australian team management to decide what role Watson needed to play in the Test side. He has been one of the most important bowlers over the past year and a half, with his ability to swing the ball and make the batsmen play, but his bowling workload appears to have affected his batting. Arthur said there might come a time when Watson has to move down the order.”It’s been speculated a huge amount,” Arthur said. “I think we’ve got to come to a point now where we make a decision on where Shane is going to bat in the batting order, and how many overs we expect of Shane so there can be no more debate around the issue. We probably need to give him role definition before the Boxing Day Test match.”The Australians flew out of Hobart on Tuesday after their shock seven-run loss to New Zealand knowing that plenty of work remains before they take on India. There were some positives, notably the emergence of Warner and James Pattinson as strong Test players, and they are expected to play significant roles in the four-Test series against India.But the brittle top and middle order is the major concern. And unless the two oldest players in the team stand up, it will remain that way.

Saeed Ajmal’s warning that he is about to unleash his new mystery delivery, Shane Warne style has not left England’s batting coach, Graham Gooch

David Hopps11-Jan-2012Saeed Ajmal’s warning that he is about to unleash his new mystery delivery, Shane Warne style, upon England in the first Test in Dubai has not left England’s batting coach, Graham Gooch, fretting over how his batsmen might combating it.”We’ll wait and see about the teesra,” said Gooch. “Saying one thing and doing it are two different things in my book.In any case, Ajmal’s teesra does not seem to be as secret as he might suggest. His spin-bowling predecessor in the Pakistan side, Saqlain Mushtaq, the inventor of the doosra, claimed to have developed the teesra while playing in the Indian Cricket League three years ago.The doosra is the offspinner’s wrong ‘un, the teesra is equivalent to the top-spinner and bounces a bit more. There is even footage of Saqlain bowling it on YouTube.Ajmal told that he chose not to experiment with the delivery during the World Cup 2011 because it was a high-profile tournament, but that he was now ready to drive England to distraction in the Test series in the UAE.”I played against Shane Warne most of his career, the greatest spin bowler I’ve ever played against,” Gooch said. “He’d always come up with ‘I’ve got this ball – the zooter’. So what is this ball, the ‘zooter’? It’s the ball that just goes straight on actually, if I remember rightly. It’s all a little bit smoke and mirrors, isn’t it?”That is not to say that Gooch discounts Ajmal’s threat. His doosra troubled England during the spot-fixing tour of England in 2010. “He’s the top wicket-taker of 2011 in Test cricket, so that in itself is going to be a good challenge for us.”England struggled against spin on the opening day of their final warm-up match in Dubai, requiring a century from Alastair Cook to reach 269 for 9 declared at the close as Yasir Shah, a 25-year-old leg spinner, took five wickets.

Ian Bell was forced to miss training on Wednesday after becoming the latest victim of a stomach bug that has affected several members of the England party

George Dobell in Dubai01-Feb-2012Ian Bell was forced to miss training on Wednesday after becoming the latest victim of a stomach bug that has affected several members of the England party.While Bell hopes to resume training on Thursday, his current absence is not ideal. Like the rest of England’s middle order, he has struggled to deal with the turning ball and was hoping to utilise every moment of practice time available before the third Test.The rest of the squad trained once again at the ICC Global Cricket Academy, with Jonathan Trott and Ravi Bopara hitting the ball particularly well in the nets.Afterwards James Anderson insisted the mood in the England camp remained upbeat and dismissed any suggestion that there was any split between the bowlers, who have enjoyed a fine tour to date, and the batsmen who, on the whole, have not.”The mood is pretty good, considering the position we’re are in in this series,” Anderson said. “There have not been any more meetings than usual. We always have a debrief after a game and, this time, it was a bit longer. We are an open and honest group and the guys have been open and honest in this last couple of days.”As bowlers, our job is to take 20 wickets in a Test. We thought that might be a difficult job for us out here, but we have probably exceeded our expectations in that department. We’re pretty pleased with the way it has been going.”The batsmen have been fantastic for us over the last couple of years. A lot has been made of two bad games, but the whole team still has confidence in our batting unit. They have been working very hard to correct things over the last couple of days.”At the end of the day, we lost the game and it reflects on the whole team. We don’t think of it as batters against bowlers. There will be times when the bowlers won’t get wickets and the opposition get 600 and we’re out in the field for two days. The batsmen won’t be happy with us then.”We have every faith in our batsmen that they will come out strong in the next Test.”Motivation should remain no problem for England. Despite having already been condemned to a series defeat, the motivation of remaining the top-ranked Test team and gaining some confidence in Asian conditions will, according to Anderson, ensure the tourists approach the final Test in a positive frame of mind.”There are a few important issues for us,” Anderson said. “The biggest thing is that we have another two tours in the subcontinent this year. So to perform well out here is a big thing for us. We want to stay No. 1 in the world as well, and losing Test matches isn’t going to help us achieve that. We’ve got to try to win every Test match we possibly can.”We also have a one-day series coming up, so to take a bit of momentum into that would be useful.”

Jacques Rudolph, the South Africa batsman, will join Surrey as their overseas player for the start of the county season, providing cover for Murali Kartik

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Feb-2012Jacques Rudolph, the South Africa batsman, will join Surrey as their overseas player for the start of the 2012 county season. He will provide cover for Murali Kartik, who will miss the first few weeks of the campaign due to his IPL involvement.Rudolph, 30, was Yorkshire’s overseas player last season and has previously played for the county as a Kolpak signing. He won a Test recall over the winter after scoring heavily in South African domestic cricket. Rudolph has received a no objection certificate to represent Surrey and will provide Rory Hamilton-Brown’s youthful side with plenty of experience on their return to Division One of the championship.”Signing a player of Jacques Rudolph’s undoubted capabilities and experience is a great boost to our side at the start of the campaign,” Surrey team director Chris Adams said. “With such a heavy first-class schedule early in the season it will be a huge advantage to have a world-class opening batsman available to us. I look forward to welcoming Jacques to Surrey in early April.”Primarily an opener, Rudolph averaged 52.20 in 68 appearances for Yorkshire and has scored more than 15,000 first-class runs in his career. He returned to the South Africa side last November after a five-year absence, playing in the series against Australia and Sri Lanka, bringing his Test record to 2,238 runs at 35.52 from 40 matches.Kartik is expected to return to the side towards the end of May after his IPL involvement with Pune Warriors. Surrey have also signed Australia bowler Dirk Nannes as their second overseas player for their Friends Life t20 campaign.

The insurer LV= will continue to sponsor the County Championship until 2015 after agreeing a new four-year deal with the ECB

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Mar-2012The insurer LV will continue to sponsor the County Championship until 2015 after agreeing a new four-year deal with the ECB. The announcement extends a relationship between the company formerly known as Liverpool Victoria and England’s domestic four-day competition that began in 2002.LV will receive tickets for the competition to distribute as well as branding rights that include sponsorship of County Championship highlights, which can be viewed via the ECB and first-class county websites. Last year’s title was won in dramatic fashion by Lancashire – for the first time in 77 years – with aggregate attendances rising by 9%, from 487,000 to 531,000, between 2010 and 2011. The new season is set to commence on April 5.”Our partnership with LV= has brought significant benefits to the domestic game and we are delighted that they are to continue their long association with this famous competition,” ECB commercial director, John Perera, said.”Last year’s County Championship race proved to be a particularly memorable one and the significant increase in attendances announced today demonstrates that the competition is in robust health as it enters its 123rd year and continues to act as an excellent breeding ground for future England Test players.”

Vijay Telang has been appointed as the coach of Vidarbha team for the next season

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Apr-2012Vijay Telang, the former Vidarbha batsman, has been appointed as the coach of Vidarbha team for the next season. Telang, 60, who has previously served as a player and selector in the team will replace Usman Ghani. Telang played first-class cricket between 1970-86 and scored 2724 runs in 50 games.Vidarbha, who finished on top of Group A in Ranji Trophy Plate League, lost to Hyderabad in the semi-final. With that defeat, they failed to qualify for the Elite division of Ranji.Former India bowler Subroto Banerjee will continue as the bowling coach across all age categories, while former Mumbai cricketer, Kiran Powar, has been appointed as the coach for the under-19 team.