Australia not fazed by Buck's new gig

THE English had hoped the appointment of John Buchanan to a consultancy role would help deliver the Ashes they will be sorely disappointed, according to Australian all-rounder Shane Watson.

Buchanan's temporary defection to England, which will coincide with an England Lions game against the Australians just before the first Test, was greeted without indignation in the Australian camp, with Watson believing the former national coach's presence will have little bearing on the Ashes result.

Though it will be strange to see Buchanan in the opposition dressing room, Watson said his appointment was a reality of modern cricket in which information flows freely around the world, and even suggested Australia would hold the advantage because of the presence of Troy Cooley, the bowling coach who helped the England quicks topple the Australians on English soil in 2005 and then returned to his native Australia.

"Coaches these days are able to coach around the world," Watson said. "For example, Troy [Cooley] and Rod Marsh were at the Australian cricket academy and then went over to help the English out. I think it's great for world cricket to be able to use the knowledge, and it can work both ways. We've got Troy to be able to make the most of the information he got from coaching the England [quicks].

"We've had two years with Tim Nielsen now and obviously John Buchanan has coached Kolkata and done some other things as well, so to me it's part of his job and what he is trying to do as a coach, to get around and help people out whether it's Australia-wide or internationally. He's got great experience so I think that's his call and we're lucky to have Troy on our side now."

Asked whether the Australians would be disappointed if Buchanan divulged information gleaned during his eight-year tenure as Australia's most successful coach, Watson said: "Not at all. There are no real secrets to what we do in the Australian team. It's just the way we prepare … I don't think it's rocket science, what he'll be able to give them, anyway."

Buchanan's assignment will focus predominantly on England's junior teams and the England Lions. He is expected to spend time at the academy in Loughborough and meet coach Andy Flower, but has hinted at an expansion of his role.

"It is my own business who I choose to talk to and what I talk about," Buchanan told Cricinfo. "Both myself and the ECB have indicated that in terms of their elite program I could fulfil a role. I will fly over on June 28, have a good look at the elite program, and sit down with them to see what potentially lies ahead.

"This trip will be largely about looking at the coaching programs, and working with the under-19s and the Lions team."

His most recent coaching triumphs with Australia were the 2006-07 Ashes whitewash and the 2007 World Cup triumph, but he remained affiliated with his home country until Cricket Australia did not renew a coaching ambassador's contract last year.

"John is free to do whatever he wants," said Brett Lee before Buchanan's role with the ECB was formalised.

Buchanan added: "I'm looking forward to the opportunity to get over there and look at the general set-up. I think it's fair to say that there has been a fair amount of interest from both parties and I suppose the situation will become clearer in early July."

Watson is hoping to force his way into the Test team through tour matches in Hove and Worcester, but there is intense competition for the No.6 spot after the successful debut of Marcus North in South Africa.

"It comes down to performing in the tour matches," Watson said. "That's what I am setting my mind to, to be in the best technical and mental state to give myself the best chance to perform in those games."
Source: www.smh.com.au Read more

Australia's coach Nielsen wants new Twenty20 approach

Australia's coach Tim Nielsen has conceded his team needs to revisit its approach to Twenty20 to avoid being bundled out of the next ICC World Twenty20. It is less than a year until the next tournament, in the West Indies, and Nielsen wants individual players to consider "where they're at" so the selectors can prepare a competitive squad.

"We have to start approaching it differently when we play the Twenty20 stuff in our normal calendar, because we've seen those as one-off games and it's difficult to get guys across overseas, or it's maybe been seen as a chance for blokes to have an extra day's rest here and there," Nielsen told the Age. "We might have to revisit that. The players will have to think about where they're at with it, and where we go from here."

One of Australia's problems is the lack of Twenty20s that their stars play. The domestic competition takes place while the Test and ODI season is in full swing, so fringe internationals have more opportunity to take part than men like Ricky Ponting and Michael Hussey.

National teams are restricted to three Twenty20 internationals per season, except for the ICC World Twenty20, and Australia have treated those games as a chance for the busiest players to rest. But that contributed to the Australians' early exit this year and Nielsen has spent the past few days analysing the disappointing result.

"I didn't have much sleep last night, tossing and turning about what we could have done better," Nielsen said. "I felt like we were in a pretty good place going into the tournament, and that's what is so disappointing about it.

"We came here thinking we had a nicely balanced squad, and I think we showed in the practice games that when they're playing at their best they can play any form of the game. We need to look at why things didn't work well, and we need to be honest with ourselves."
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Ponting says We were outplayed

Matches:
AUS vs WI, 6th Jun 2009
Australia captain Ricky Ponting had few arguments after his sides were lengthily outplayed by West Indies in their opening match at the Oval.
West Indian complement Chris Gayle hit 88 as the Aussies were believably beaten by seven wickets.

Ponting accepted his side were made to pay for slow starts in each innings, firstly when both he and Shane Watson fell in the first over of their innings and then when Gayle and opening partner Andre Fletcher (52) destroyed his attack from the off in reply.

"We were just a bit sloppy," Ponting conceded. "We'd spoken coming into the game about making sure we get the first over of each innings right and, as it turned out, we lost two wickets in our batting innings and they took a lot off our first bowling over as well [10 from Brett Lee). With the game being as short as it is you can't afford to give momentum away likes that early on in either innings and we did it in both innings. You've got to give them credit. I felt 169 was going to be a competitive total if we took some wickets up front with the new ball but they took us on, hit the boundaries early and got all the momentum going their way. They outplayed us today, for sure."

Ponting's men head into their second match - against Sri Lanka at Trent Bridge on Monday - in the knowledge that they must win to stand any chance of reaching the Super Eights. Australia were in a similar spot of bother during the inaugural ICC World Twenty20 - when they lost their opener against Zimbabwe - so will hope history can repeat itself.

"We are in exactly the same position as we were last time and we managed to beat England well," Ponting recalled. "I guess some of the guys who were in the tournament last time will know that, it will be in the back of their minds and we know that we have to do that - there is nowhere else for us to go now. We'll have a chat about the game on the way up to Nottingham tonight and hopefully when we hit the ground on Monday we can start a bit better."
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Symonds sent home for alcohol event

Andrew Symonds is believed to be contemplating retirement after being sent home from the ICC World Twenty20 for an "alcohol-related incident" that has thrown Australia's plans for the tournament into disarray.

According to Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland, "the final straw" came when Symonds, 33, broke team rules related to alcohol and other issues. It is understood he went out early on Wednesday morning to watch the State of Origin rugby league with some team-mates and had a couple of drinks.

While not a serious offence, Symonds' alcohol consumption contravened his personal guidelines with Cricket Australia that were formed following his counselling sessions in the wake of a string of indiscretions. It is understood the restrictions left Symonds not knowing his place in the team.

"There's no doubting Andrew's capabilities as a player, but there are other things happening around him that made the decision we've come to a relatively easy one," said Ponting. "This is not wholly and solely about Andrew Symonds. This is about the Australian cricket team. We've got some young guys who are just finding out what international cricket is all about. This is about the bigger picture and bringing on the next generation of Australian players."

Though Symonds is not disputing the decision, he is apparently keen to tell his side of the story, and is expected to wait until he lands in Australia before speaking.

He attended a PCA dinner with the Twenty20 squad at a Kensington hotel on Wednesday night, but was a notable absentee at Australia's training session at The Oval on Thursday, prompting speculation that he was on his way home.

Following a series of misdemeanours in the past 12 months, Symonds was on a final warning from Cricket Australia, and there is the strong possibility that this latest incident will lead to the withdrawal of his central contract, which Sutherland admitted was "under review".

"Tonight we have also advised him that we will take the [contract] offer off the table at this stage."

Sutherland said at a press conference in Melbourne that Symonds had broken a number of rules "in the last 24-48 hours" and CA were now organising flights to get him back to Australia.

"In isolation, the breaches that I am talking about are not serious, but in the scheme of things, in the scheme of history, they are enough for it to be the final straw. I'm disappointed in Andrew, but I'm also disappointed for Andrew. I'm sad about it."

Symonds has been involved in numerous off-field incidents in recent seasons, most notably the Darwin fishing saga in August 2008, during which he missed a team meeting ahead of the one-day series against Bangladesh, which prompted the team management to send him home from the series.

In addition, he was fined Aus$4000 for a drunken radio interview in January 2009 in which he referred to the New Zealand wicketkeeper Brendan McCullum as "a piece of s..." Symonds apologised, having admitted that alcohol was playing a big part in his life, and he subsequently stated that he was "entering the final chapter of his career".

Despite retaining his central contract only last month, Symonds was omitted from Australia's Ashes squad in favour of Andrew McDonald and Shane Watson. After 26 Tests and 198 ODIs dating back to November 1998, it is hard to see how his career can possibly recover from this latest episode.

Cricket Australia confirmed that they had applied to the ICC technical committee to see if a replacement for Symonds is permitted. Should their application be successful, Moises Henriques and Cameron White are the likeliest candidates for a call-up.
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Australia vs New Zealand T20 Practice Match 2009 Live Score

Tomorrow Australia will take on New Zealand in a warm-up match. Both teams have got win in their first practice match. Australia got win against Bangladesh by 38 runs where India finished their inning 9 runs short from New Zealand innings. It will obviously be an exciting thing to see these two winning teams facing each other to play their last practice match. Both the champion team and the underdog team failed to show their best game. But I can still remember that these two teams got more focus as the top favorite team. It has been clear that T20 is a game where no one is favorite. Anything can happen in this format of cricket game.

Teams: Australia vs New Zealand warm-up match

Venue: The Oval

Time: 16:30 GMT (17:30 Local time)




It is sure that Australia faced a weak team Bangladesh. Then they had to struggle hard to make sure their victory. Match between these two teams became more competitive. On the other hand, New Zealand faced a tough opponent India. Their match was closely competitive. I am surprised to see that Indian players could not manage 9 more runs to clinch the victory.

However, New Zealand is not a good team either. But we can expect to see them performing well against Australia. Let us see if Ricky Ponting’s Australia can continue their good form against Kiwi.

Live Updates- ESPN STAR Sports has got the telecasting rights and it is telecasting most of the practice matches live on this channel.

If you are unable to enjoy this game live on TV then you can get live updates from some cricket related websites. Cricinfo.com is providing live online updates ball by ball. I am sure that you will enjoy the game live and keep in tough with it.

Source: www.cricket-news-bangladesh.blogspot.com Read more

Pointing wants to win all match in Cricket T20

Australians and the present World Cup holders have the ICC Champions Trophy.

Speaking at a press conference Ponting a big incentive to try to holders of the three competitions was agreed.

He completed the work on the ashes of a series of focus has been after.

The next few days and me and all our talk about Twenty20 cricket is going to go and how we can do, he said Twenty20 cricket at the level best to play myself up for the next few weeks for the rest of the group.

We a little dissatisfied with the last World Cup, going out in the semi-finals and the like as you have been in our possession with the Champions Trophy and World Cup for us, there's a lot of back-up at this time if we can win all three is - it would be nice.

"To ensure that in the next few weeks will be our focus."

Zimbabwe and the first time that they have lost the game to change things for the last tournament were quickly added to the semi-final stage, where they lost to India last champion to make it round.


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