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ScorecardPeter Forrest’s 71-ball 57 formed the base for Queensland’s winning total of 209•Getty Images

Queensland had the better of a sluggish pitch at Blacktown Oval to defeat Victoria in an attritional, low scoring Matador Cup match.The Bushrangers captain Matthew Wade sent the Bulls in to bat in western Sydney and would have been content when the Queenslanders were only able to cobble a tally of 209 all out.However, a Bulls bowling collective led with typical thrift by the former captain James Hopes was able to corral the Bushrangers so successfully that only Wade was able to score his runs at anything like the rate required without giving his wicket away cheaply.James Pattinson also hinted at his immense batting ability in the most productive partnership of the innings, but it was too little, too late after the Bushrangers had slid to 7 for 79.The Bulls owed much to their stand-in captain Peter Forrest, who played with admirable composure for his 57 from 71 balls, pulling together much of Queensland’s score with the help of a restrained Nathan Reardon.At the time of his dismissal the Bushrangers would have felt happy with their work, but as it turned out the Queenslanders had already made one more run than Wade’s men would manage.

Newcastle United continue their longest unbeaten run in over a decade in the Premier League as they took all three points against Brighton and Hove Albion at St James’ Park this afternoon, but it was definitely not a smooth ride for the Magpies.

Despite the home side sealing a 2-1 victory, Graham Potter’s men refused to give up on their chances of stealing a point right up to the last seconds of the game.

Newcastle took full control early into the first half, with Ryan Fraser and Fabian Schar both finding the net inside the first 15 minutes. However, the second half was not as calm and comfortable as Eddie Howe would have liked, especially when Lewis Dunk opened up Brighton’s chances to make a comeback in the 55th minute.

The second half certainly showed Newcastle’s weaknesses in the team, and although the Magpies were able to hold onto all three points for a fourth win in their last five matches, there are definitely question marks over certain players when the home side were attempting to hold onto an early lead.

One player who was completely off the mark today was Jonjo Shelvey, who made little to no impact against Brighton, and he was very lucky that his actions didn’t cost his team points overall.

According to SofaScore, Shelvey failed to make a single tackle or interception against his opponents, lost all of his aerial and ground duels over the 90 minutes and was dribbled past twice during the game.

Fortunately, the team had enough quality elsewhere to keep themselves ahead, but it does beg the question as to why the 30-year-old wasn’t benched in the second half to give Bruno Guimaraes the chance to bring a fresh impetus to midfield, and to give the £70k-p/w liability the break he clearly needed towards the end of the match.

Howe will be relieved that he has almost secured top-flight safety for the Magpies this season, as they have climbed to 14th and are now seven points clear of the relegation zone in the Premier League.

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It will be interesting to see if he takes the opportunity to rotate his team by giving some players a rest during the midweek clash against Southampton. On today’s evidence, Shelvey will be lucky to keep his place in the side for that one.

In other news: Newcastle United plot big-money move for Serie A predator

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsAfter having been blown away by Umar Akmal’s blitz on Monday night, Quetta Gladiators rebounded with a punishing win against Islamabad United, their fourth of the tournament, in Sharjah. Victory meant that Quetta took the top spot from Peshawar Zalmi, who had edged a thriller in the first match of the day. The Quetta bowlers vindicated Sarfraz Ahmed’s decision to bowl by knocking over Islamabad for 117 in 19.1 overs. Sarfraz himself then led the chase with a typically busy fifty.New Zealand allrounder Grant Elliott, who had cracked a fifty against Australia three days ago in Brendan McCullum’s final ODI at Seddon Park, struck twice in two balls to set the match up for Quetta. Brad Haddin was first stumped by a canny back-of-the-hand slow roller, and then Sam Billings was trapped leg-before. Elliott’s double-blow lifted Quetta, after a quick start from Shane Watson, who stood in as captain again; Misbah-ul-Haq was still injured.The slide seeped into the lower order as well, with Imran Khalid’s 18 being the second-best score, following Watson’s 28-ball 40. The pitch had slowed down considerably, but Islamabad’s shot selection was iffy. Each of Quetta’s six bowlers punched his name into the wickets column, Elliott being the best with figures of 3 for 25.Andre Russell, who had managed only 10 off 13 balls with the bat, engineered a double-strike of his own in the chase, and accounted for Quetta’s top three. Sarfraz, however, built on opener Ahmed Shehzad’s 41, and sealed the win with seven wickets and 23 balls to spare.Sarfraz largely profited from sweeps and pulls during his unbeaten 51 off 39 balls, including six fours. Mohammad Nawaz, meanwhile, scratched his way to 14 not out off 21 balls, despite repeatedly getting beaten outside off by Saeed Ajmal.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

Robin Uthappa led India’s fightback with a 39-ball 50 © Getty Images

More than 21 years after Javed Miandad’s last-ball heroics in Sharjah, India and Pakistan played out a thrilling tie at the ICC World Twenty20, with Misbah-ul-Haq run out off the last ball of the match. But the tournament rules didn’t allow for the spoils to be shared, and it was India that prevailed in the bowl-out. Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh and Robin Uthappa were Dirty Harry-accurate, while Yasir Arafat, Umar Gul and Shahid Afridi all missed by a fair distance as a sell-out crowd celebrated an enthralling finale.The 33-year-old Misbah, who made a magnificent 53 from just 35 balls, had been an unlikely hero for Pakistan after Shahid Afridi’s dismissal, with 39 needed from 15 balls, had left them in a seemingly hopeless situation. He needed just one run from the last two balls of the innings, butSreesanth came round the wicket to deliver a dot ball and then a short one that Misbah could only parry to silly mid-off. He had no chance of completing the single.Earlier, Uthappa’s superb half-century had resurrected Indian hopes after a sensational new-ball spell from Mohammad Asif had skittled India’s top order. Asif bowled four magnificent overs on the trot, with mastery of the seam and impeccable control in overcast conditions. But from the depths of 36 for 4, India recovered to 141 for 9, with Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Irfan Pathan buttressing Uthappa’s brilliant effort.India then fielded with great energy and bowled superbly to defend the total but Pakistan stormed back in the final three overs. They might however reflect on the batting order, with the destructive Afridi having come to the crease when the situation was almost beyond salvage.Rudra Pratap Singh had given India the perfect start, cleaning up the reckless Imran Nazir, and both he and Sreesanth kept the runs down to increase the pressure on Salman Butt and Kamran Akmal. It was Butt that finally succumbed to it, edging Ajit Agarkar’s second delivery behind thestumps. That evened the scales somewhat, but after a fairytale comeback over from Pathan, it was India that were right on top.A misunderstanding with Younis Khan sent Akmal packing off the first ball, and when Younis then gloved one back on to the stumps, a Pakistani victory was no longer a formality. A partnership was needed, and Misbah and Shoaib Malik built one, concentrating mainly on singles and the odd clever thump over the field.Malik’s patience finally snapped in Pathan’s final over, with Harbhajan Singh taking the skier in the circle, and Pakistan needed almost two off every ball when Afridi walked to the middle. He never got going either, but instead of the death-knell, his departure sparked a stunning finish.

Mohammad Asif’s four wickets pegged India back but Robin Uthappa’s brave effort allowed India to post a total that proved enough…just © Getty Images

Harbhajan’s otherwise immaculate spell was ruined by a six and a four from Misbah, and when the woefully off-radar Agarkar was clouted by Yasir Arafat and Misbah for 17 in the penultimate over, Pakistan needed just 12 from six. Misbah placed one beautifully over cover and then thumped one straight down the ground but it was to be Sreesanth that had the final say.Such a keen contest looked extremely unlikely early on with Asif’s bowling reminiscent of the peerless Glenn McGrath. Gautam Gambhir was brilliantly caught on the follow through at the second attempt, while Sehwag was sorted out as he so often has been of late, inside-edging one back on to his stumps.Uthappa got going with a great flick off his pads for four, and a splendid lofted on-drive off Gul showed that he meant business. But there was little support at the other end, with Yuvraj Singh miscuing one off the leading edge to mid-off. Dinesh Karthik briefly alleviated the gloom withtwo glorious strokes off Asif, making room and lofting through the off side, but when the extra bounce induced another inside edge, Pakistan were right on top.Asif’s exit gave Uthappa and Dhoni the chance to resurrect the innings. Uthappa thumped Arafat for a straight six and then lofted him way into the stands at midwicket, but both batsmen struggled to work out the left-arm medium pace of Sohail Tanvir, who bowled off the wrong out a la Mike Proctor.Afridi’s introduction didn’t stem the Indian momentum either, with Uthappa cutting and driving for fours, but a brief rain delay after he had reached 50 made all the difference. A thin edge through to Akmal gave Tanvir a first wicket, and brought Pathan to the crease.A fascinating little tussle with Afridi followed. Two huge sixes over midwicket had the Indian fans cheering themselves hoarse, but Afridi had the last word with a quicker delivery that crashed into the leg stump.Dhoni clubbed Arafat for a straight four and then swung him over fine leg for six, but the promised late explosion never came. Once he skied one to Younis at deep cover, India were left to limp to the finish. In the end though, those runs that were eked out made all the difference to agame that was the best possible advertisement for cricket’s fledgling format.

ScorecardCaptains on either side excelled with both bat and ball but eventually India Under-19s beat their Pakistani counterparts by the narrow margin of seven runs in the second one-dayer at Sheikhupura on Thursday.After having bowled out India for a modest 224 in 49.5 overs, Pakistan managed only 217 for 9, though it was a good effort on their part to even get that far, as they had lost their sixth wicket at 143 in the 37th over. Riaz Kail, the captain, following his effort of 4 for 42 with his offspin, hit a painstaking 38 off 82 balls.Allrounder Imad Wasim (62) then found an able partner in Ahmed Iqbal (29) as the pair added 61 for the seventh wicket. Piyush Chawla, the Indian captain, had the final say with 3 for 50 in 10 and was declared the Man of the Match.Earlier, Chawla contributed with the bat as well, scoring 40 after Tanmay Srivastava (53) and Virat Kohli (45) added 88 for the third wicket. Srivastava and Kohli came in when India lost two early wickets. Chawla came in when India lost their fourth wicket at 133 and continued his good form with the bat on tour.The remaining two one-dayers will be played on over the weekend at Lahore’s Bagh-e-Jinnah and the Gaddafi Stadium respectively.

To attack or defend? England’s think-tank of Duncan Fletcher and Michael Vaughan ponder the options © Getty Images

Tomorrow morning, at 10.30am, the nation’s biggest sporting event for 39 years gets underway, as England begin the five-day trek that could make or break the legacy of a generation. Not since the 1966 football World Cup has the country been quite so rapt by a ball game, and not since the Oval Test of 1953, when the Ashes were regained after a 20-year hiatus, has there been an occasion to bring South London to quite such a grinding halt. To paraphrase Mark Nicholas in one of his more excitable commentary stints: this is, quite simply, massive.At every twist and turn of this remarkable series, the stakes have been mounting with the sort of alarming alacrity that would spook a Vegas hustler, but this week at last, the requirements have plateaued. There are no more ifs and buts to distract the two camps, merely a question of whose nerve can hold the longest. In theory, England have the upper hand. They lead 2-1 in the series, and need only to avoid defeat to end the most miserably one-sided era of Ashes cricket since the post-war depression of the 1920s. But as Australia themselves demonstrated in an unnaturally timid performance at Trent Bridge last month, the temptation to cling onto what you have got can be over-powering – and self-defeating.Publicly at least, Michael Vaughan has no intention to shut up shop and bat out for the draw. “We have played to win throughout the series and will certainly be doing that again,” he told reporters on the eve of the match. “There are not many draws between these two teams because of the manner in which both play the game, but if we play a good, consistent game of cricket, the result will take care of itself.”Even so, England’s hand may be forced by the loss of their most incisive seamer of the summer. When Simon Jones limped out of the attack at Trent Bridge after just nine overs of the follow-on, England’s entire gameplan was destabilised. Having beaten Australia onto the ropes with an unstinting flurry of punches, they were forced to throttle back and adopt a waiting game, as the burden was shared between just four front-liners and the occasional seam of Ian Bell. As the eventual margin of victory demonstrated, it was very nearly a series-scuppering moment.No combination of oxygen-tanks and German osteopaths could get Jones fit again for this match, and so England will not, after all, emulate Arthur Shrewsbury’s tourists of 1884-85, and become only the second team to get through an Ashes series with the same 11 players. Instead, England must choose between the extra batting and fielding skills of Paul Collingwood, or the like-for-like option of James Anderson, who has usurped the uncapped Chris Tremlett in a match that screams out for experience, however limited.Ricky Ponting, for his part, claimed he would be “surprised” if England did not go for the Collingwood option, but if attack is England’s preferred policy, then Anderson will surely get the go-ahead for his first home Test since the corresponding fixture against West Indies last summer. It will be a bold decision given Anderson’s very public loss of confidence in his last Test outing, at Johannesburg in January, but he has spent the summer out of the limelight, quietly accumulating 51 wickets for Lancashire. Despite an apparent reduction in the prodigious swing that made him such a threat in his debut season in 2003, he is a wicket-taker by nature and no Australian can afford to take him lightly.

James Anderson: set for a recall if England are to play their natural game © Getty Images

The most significant seam bowler on display, however, could be the one sizing up a return to the Australian starting line-up. Judging by Glenn McGrath’s vigorous workout on Tuesday, the elbow problem that caused him to miss the Trent Bridge defeat has been brought under control, and even if he is unable to pick up a cricket ball ever again after this tour, his presence alone will be worth a psychological point or two, as Australia prepare to go for broke.So far on this tour, Shane Warne’s presence has kept Australia from being swept away in the middle three Tests, but it is McGrath’s absences that have been the most telling factors. Both of Australia’s defeats came in the matches that he missed, and on the rare occasions that he has sat out an Ashes encounter, Australia have lost an incredible four Tests in a row, a run that stretches back to the Adelaide defeat of 1994-95. On Saturday, two 20-year-olds from Essex walloped 500 runs off a McGrath-and-Warneless attack in a single day. With England in their current mood, Australia cannot afford to be without their champion any longer.The Oval is traditionally a hard and true surface, which will suit England’s batsmen every bit as much as their Australian counterparts, not least Michael Vaughan. His solitary hundred of the series came at Old Trafford, the one pitch where his stumps could not be threatened by your average length delivery, and if he can win a vital toss and take first use of the track, England will fancy their chances of posting an unassailable first-innings total.Set against that, of course, is Australia’s own familiarity with such high-kicking conditions. Ponting and Justin Langer have been on the brink of a golden run of form all summer, while Damien Martyn has been singled out by accidents and remains better value than his 168 runs at 21 would suggest. The two most intriguing case-studies, however, are Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist, whose travails have encapsulated all that has gone wrong for Australia this summer.Of the two, Hayden appears the closer to breaking-point. He has now failed to pass 70 in his last 30 Test innings, and has been all at sea against England’s ruthlessly well-planned field settings, which have included two men in the covers to intercept his hard-handed drives, and a staggered slip cordon with reinforced gullies. His 150 against Essex last week could not disguise the extent to which his bully-boy batting has been brought low on this tour, and though Australia are eager not to be seen to be panicking, the temptation to draft in Michael Hussey must have been overwhelming.Gilchrist is a different case altogether. His problems seem to have been less an issue of technique than desire. His highest score in the series has been 49 not out, and time and again, he has been brought low just when it seemed – finally – that he was about to cut loose in the manner that all of England dreads. Mind you, his solitary century of the tour came on this very ground, in the final match of the NatWest Challenge. Like the Aussies en masse, you write them off at your peril.There is, of course, one other factor that could influence this match – the overhead conditions. In the course of this summer, England’s cricketers have attracted a vast army of fair-weather fans, but in an ironic twist (one that would be sure to please those gnarled, hard-bitten veterans of the hard times) it could be that foul weather intervenes and prevents any more heart attacks before the result of this series is known.The forecast is set for glorious weather on the first day, followed by probable interruptions for Friday and the weekend. In a summer when the Gods have undoubtedly been smiling on England, a midmatch downpour would be the surest sign that providence has played its part in the team’s remarkable renaissance. But it would be an unworthy conclusion to the most exhilarating Test series for decades. A result, one way or another, is what this contest deserves.England (probable) 1 Marcus Trescothick, 2 Andrew Strauss, 3 Michael Vaughan (capt), 4 Ian Bell, 5 Kevin Pietersen, 6 Andrew Flintoff, 7 Geraint Jones (wk), 8 Ashley Giles, 9 Matthew Hoggard, 10 Steve Harmison, 11 James Anderson.Australia (probable) 1 Matthew Hayden, 2 Justin Langer, 3 Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Damien Martyn, 5 Michael Clarke, 6 Simon Katich, 7 Adam Gilchrist (wk), 8 Shane Warne, 9 Brett Lee, 10 Glenn McGrath, 11 Shaun Tait.

USA today announced their provisional squad for the ICC Champions Trophy in England this September.The squad is mainly made up of the players who played in the Americas Cup and the matches in the Intercontinental Cup, of which USA still have a chance of qualifying for a semi-final spot after a defeat to Canada and a win against Bermuda.USA begin their Champions Trophy adventure against New Zealand at The Oval in London on September 10, and then have the small matter of facing Australia, the world champions, at the Rose Bowl in Hampshire three days later.USA provisional squad
Richard Staple (capt), Nasir Javed, Rahul Kukreti, Charles Reid, Zamin Amin, Jignesh Desai, Howard Johnson (wk), Donovan Blake, Aijaz Ali, Mark Johnson, Leon Romero, Amir Afzaluddin, Naseer Islam, Rohan Alexander, Rashid Zia, Steve Pitter, Rafey Kazi, Wasim Khan, Arjun Rajagopalan, Dawood Ahmad, Hasan Shah, Nirosh De Silva, Dave Hoilette, Khwaja Usman Shuja, V. Simone, Steve Massiah, Clayton Lambert, Abishek Powar, Imran Awan, Ramkishan Hanumara.

Bashley (Rydal) could give BAT Sports a significant boost in the ECB Southern Electric Premier League title race by beating weakened Havant at the BCG tomorrow SAT, 11.30am.Havant, 17 points behind BAT, travel to the New Forest without Luke Sears and wicketkeeper Steve Snell, both key middle-order batsmen.And will find third-placed Bashley in a buoyant mood after three straight wins against South Wilts, the Hampshire Academy and the bottom team, Calmore Sports."Although we beat them in a 50-over game earlier in the season, Bashley have often been a thorn in our side in the past and will surely test us tomorrow," said Havant skipper Paul Gover, who is uncertain who his replacements will be.He will probably plump for 2nd XI captain Shane Ferguson and bring in medium-pace bowler Greg Benton.Another option could be to call up Mark Copping, who took 5-32 in Tuesday’s SEC Cup semi-final win over BAT.Bashley’s form has picked up dramatically since Western Australian Brad Thompson – fourth in the SPL batting charts with 389 runs in six knocks – returned from a broken finger sustained, ironically, in the previous match at Havant.Leaders BAT Sports go to struggling Portsmouth without in-form teenage left-hander Damian Shirazi who, like Snell, is on ground duty at the England-South Africa ODI final at Lord’s.Archie Norris will probably step in for Shirazi, with Richard Kenway expected to open alongside 451-run New Zealander Neal Parlane.Portsmouth, languishing in third from bottom position after a heavy defeat at Liphook & Ripsley last week, are keeping their fingers crossed that Hampshire’s Lawrie Prittipaul will be able to boost their dwindling resources.But Prittipaul may be required for Hampshire’s 45-over match against Nottinghamshire at the Rose Bowl on Sunday.Having been trounced by eight wickets by both BAT and Havant in recent weeks, Bournemouth are pinning their silverware hopes firmly on the Southern Electric Contracting Cup.They play Alton, the unbeaten Premier Division 3 leaders, in the second semi-final at BAT next Thursday evening (6pm). The winners play Havant in the final at the Rose Bowl on August 5.South Wilts expect former Hampshire batsman Jason Laney back in their line up for tomorrow’s visit to Bournemouth, who could have Dave Kidner (side strain) back in action.Calmore Sports bid for an unlikely double when they face the Hampshire Academy on the Rose Bowl Nursery ground.The Totton club’s solitary win this season came against the Young Hawks on May 10, since when Calmore have lost seven times.Paul Cass misses the match, but former Academy pupil Martin Bushell, who hit a fine 94 against Bashley last week, faces an intriguing test against his old team-mates.Jimmy Adams and Chris Benham will probably be the two contract players in a youthful Academy side, which has been hauled out of trouble by last man Giles White in the past fortnight.White has made 68 not out (v Bashley) and an unbeaten 67 at South Wilts in the past two matches … on both occasion coming in at number 11 !But the former Hampshire opener is uncertain whether he will play against Calmore."There are a lot of options and the object of the exercise is to play as many youngsters as we can," he said.Andover give Rob Atkins his first match of the season and are boost by Ian Langdown’s return for the visit of Liphook & Ripsley to London Road.Roger Miller’s side will be chasing a double, having beaten Liphook by 83 runs in a 50-over affair earlier in the season.

Once again, the dominance of Australians on cricket fields across the world this winter has extended well beyond merely the national team’s endeavours.While the country’s top teams were claiming the NatWest Series of one-day internationals against England and Pakistan and a 4-1 Ashes victory over the old enemy, many more of its players were making a similarly emphatic mark elsewhere.The highlights of another outstanding collective performance from 13 Australian imports in English county competition this year arrived in memorable victories for Darren Lehmann and Jamie Cox at Yorkshire and Somerset respectively.Lehmann was the shining light behind a remarkable triumph for his club as it gained the accolade of being English cricket’s champion first-class team for the first time in 33 years. Under the coaching of fellow Australian Wayne Clark, he played a pivotal role in all nine of the northerners’ victories, amassing 1416 runs at the mountainous average of 83.29. Little wonder then that Yorkshire captain David Byas was moved to describe his deputy’s contribution as akin to having Sir Donald Bradman in the side.Somerset followers will remember 2001 as a similarly golden year in their club’s history. For this was not only the year in which, in finishing as runner-up to the Yorkshiremen, the men from cider country ended in their highest-ever position in 111 assaults upon the Championship. It was also the year in which its team, under Cox’s leadership, claimed a one-day title for the first time since 1983. Back then, it had the services of no less a trio than Ian Botham, Joel Garner and Viv Richards at its disposal; now, just a Tasmanian and a hard-working troupe of largely unheralded players performing gallantly in game after game for him.Elsewhere, Mike Hussey’s insatiable appetite for runs helped him shatter the convention that the 2,000 first-class run mark has now become insurmountable in England. He was not simply the leading run-scorer in the country for 2001 but, six months after his first step into county competition, he has a triple century, two double centuries, three other three-figured scores, and 16 half-centuries to show for his efforts at the top of the order for Northamptonshire.Although only a late call-up, Andrew Symonds was a key member of the side that delivered Kent the National League title, and Murray Goodwin exerted a heavy influence over Sussex’s success in clinching the Division Two title at first-class level. With 66 first-class wickets (not to mention a hat-trick and a one-day century), Andy Bichel was Worcestershire’s Player of the Year and fellow Queenslanders Stuart Law, Martin Love and Jimmy Maher were consistently among the runs for Essex, Durham and Glamorgan respectively.After stunning success in recent times at one-day level, it was a disappointing year in many respects for Gloucestershire. But such a summation of the season could not be extended to Ian Harvey, whose all-round talents were again demonstrated with aplomb. Greg Blewett also enjoyed a fruitful season at Nottinghamshire, particularly with the bat.Although the advent of a fractured cheekbone brought an early end to his season, Daniel Marsh was an integral part of Leicestershire’s very successful start to the summer, and fellow Tasmanian Michael DiVenuto again produced a number of fine innings for Derbyshire. A third Tasmanian, Chris Bassano, took advantage of his dual citizenship to join DiVenuto in the Derbyshire first eleven, and sent statisticians scattering for their record books by scoring twin centuries on Championship debut.Victorian John Davison and Queenslander Jeff Thomas are others who will also fondly remember their winters. As an important player and a cool-headed coach respectively at this year’s ICC Trophy tournament in Toronto, the pair were at the heart of an amazing triumph for Canada as it secured a berth in the World Cup.Canadian-born Davison and now Canadian-resident Thomas were both key members of the team which finished third in the tournament, and which will therefore join the Netherlands and Namibia as the other ICC Associate qualifiers on world cricket’s biggest stage in South Africa two years from now. While the tournament was not a source of such happy memories for Joe Scuderi and Peter DiVenuto (whose own chance to play in the event was dashed when ICC officials ruled them ineligible to compete for Italy), Davison and Thomas will likely never forget the mood of euphoria that greeted their team’s achievement.Tasmania’s Damien Wright made his now customarily huge impression in Scotland, even to the point of starring for its national team as its one permitted overseas player in Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy competition. Last winter a popular choice as the ‘Overseas Player of the Year’, he was again a major contributor as his Grange club swept all before it. One of the few prizes his team didn’t win (the national one-day championship) was taken by Greenock, a side which relied heavily on fellow Tasmanian Dene Hills’ input. Victoria’s Jason Arnberger also enjoyed another solid year at Aberdeen.Victorian influence was also strong in league competition in England, nowhere more clearly than in Lancashire. Bowlers there found the task of curbing the talents of Matthew Mott and Brad Hodge near-impossible, as each set about accumulating record-breaking personal run-tallies for club teams Rawtensall and Ramsbottom. It was also the stage for a tremendous season for Tasmanian all-rounder Shaun Young, who not only received a championship medal for Bacup but also narrowly missed out on securing the double of scoring 1,000 runs and claiming 100 wickets.With the vast bulk of these players returning to begin state commitments back at home almost immediately, it leaves it a moot question as to whether many will have adequate time to reflect on their achievements. Given the amount of prizes they’re likely to bring back with them from awards nights, though, they should be able to at least partly reminisce as they alter from living their lives by the moon to the sun again over the next week or two.

For a match which had a shadow of politics over it in the run-up, the finale happened amidst fireworks – the big, booming, fill-the-sky-with-lights kind of scenes – for the handful of spectators who hung around after India had been beaten in Rajkot. MS Dhoni arrived for the press conference, waited a bit for the noise to die down and then decided he ought to enjoy a bit of the show himself.When he finally came back to address the media, matters were more to the point. One of the topics addressed was that the batting shuffle in the third ODI was one of the ways India’s line-up could look to become flexible and ensure their batsmen adapted to the pressures and demands of batting at various positions in ODIs, a push put of their comfort zone.India were set a target of 271 by South Africa, and like the previous two ODIs, the side opted to shuffle its batting order again. Virat Kohli walked out at No. 3, a position many feel he is best suited for, and he responded with 77, his first fifty since the World Cup. Dhoni himself came in at No. 4, a position he has said in the past he wanted to bat at but could not because of the relative inexperience in the line-up. Ajinkya Rahane, who played at No. 3 in the two preceding ODIs, came in at No. 6 below Suresh Raina, by when Morne Morkel and the rest of South Africa’s attack had effectively throttled the chase.One reason for the shuffle, Dhoni had said in the post-match presentation, was that India hadn’t quite settled on a stable order at five, six, and seven and needed a stronger batting hand at No. 7.”I want to bat up the order but I also want people who can contribute lower down the order. So I have to mix and match it and what will be good will be if I can bat a number of overs, create a partnership and if I have played enough deliveries I can play the big shots later on,” Dhoni said. “That’s the thinking behind it, but it means that a few of the other batsmen will also have to accommodate according to that. They may score at times, they may not score at times, but the good thing is they’ll get experience of batting down the order.”Also because at times I felt the Indian batting line-up becomes quite rigid – ‘This is my batting slot and there is where I will bat’ – but at times when you bat down the order you get to know what are the difficulties. I won’t say it’s easy to bat up the order but you always have the cushion of three-four batsmen behind you so you know you can play your big shots. But once you are batting at five or six, No. 7 is quite thin so when you are looking to play the big shots, you have to back yourself and say, ‘Okay I can’t really mistime it.’ These are the pressures that you have to go through if you are batting down the order.”Some part of that churn, to bat people at different positions and see who fits what role, also happened when India toured Sri Lanka recently. Rohit Sharma and Rahane had swapped positions three and five for the first two Tests, batting around Kohli at No. 4. After the first ODI in Kanpur, Dhoni had stated how Rahane batting at No. 3 gave the home side a lot of strength on paper, and while he promoted Kohli back to No. 3 today, Dhoni said the team could revisit the idea of keeping him at No. 4, as they look to strengthen the lower half of their batting order.”If I have to bat up the order, someone has to bat down the order,” he said. “There’s a lot of confusion when it comes to the media side because they want me to bat at four but they want Virat to bat at three and they want Jinx (Rahane) to bat at four. It’s not really possible, there are only two slots and only three batsmen.”There will always be a question. As I said, I’ve explained it, we want Virat to bat at three but at some point we’d love to have a look at him at four. Usually the No. 4 batsman will get to play 30 overs and 30 overs is a good number of overs to score a hundred and it also adds depth to our batting.Not to forget we are still looking for somebody at No. 7 who can play the big shots and if that doesn’t happen, the extra pressure has to be absorbed by the top six batters. So you have to find people who fulfil that job and also you have to play with five bowlers because the part-timers find it slightly difficult to bowl full quota of ten overs. So there are a lot of things that you have to manage and accordingly decide which person suits the position the best.”In Rajkot, India scored only 37 runs during overs 31 to 40 with Dhoni and Kohli in the middle, and it left the lower order with too much to do at the end. And with the pitch slowing down considerably, India found the big shots harder to execute. Dhoni, however, also pointed out that India’s slow start had an impact on the chase.”I think that was the crucial phase, that and the first ten. I don’t think we got enough runs in the first ten, especially the fact that the wicket kept getting slower,” he said. “And 30th to 40th was again a crucial period. We wanted to bat quite late but at the same time we started playing the big shots close to the 37th over but we were not really able to connect. Both me and Virat were set and we wanted to play the big shot but we never really middled anything.”Also not to forget the outfield here is big which meant that when you are playing the big shots more often than not you have to clear the fielder. It was a tough one when there’s less pace on offer you can’t use the pace of the bowlers.”