Test matches in IPL is possible and this is how it can be

Traditional 5 day concept of test cricket format won’t work in IPL but the modified yet productive format will work. The main objective here is to make people find their enthusiasm back at test matches, players groomed to play longer format and successfully make the highest cricket form to sustain in this modern world.

This is where the future of cricket lies

I already explained the reasons for the need of test cricket in IPL and possibilities in my previous article. So, we will shoot off straight to the format i am proposing.
Total no. of days: 5
Maximum no. of overs/day: 60 (60 * 5 =300 overs/match)
No. of sessions/day: 2
No. of overs/session: 30
Allowed no. of inns/team: 2
Maximum no. of overs allowed to play per team: 150 overs
All ICC rules and laws of cricket followed by default.

Only 150 overs for a team?
Yes, a team is allowed to play maximum of 150 overs in a match. This rule is aimed at providing a definite result in the match. Actually 150 overs is distributed across two innings, though not equally. (i.e) if X team gets bowled out/declares after playing 80 overs in 1st innings, then X team can play maximum of 70 overs in their 2nd innings. Only overs are carried over, not wickets. Each team still has 10 wickets in hand at start of their new innings.

Point system:
Point system is been the much of talk nowadays in both domestic and international level of test cricket. We will inherit the English county cricket point system module for better and more exciting cricket to be played. There will be never a draw match in our format because if a match ends in draw, then we either play 6 over match or bowl out to decide the winner.
Straight forward Win = 8pts/no. of innings played by the winning team ( ex: if X team played two innings and won the match, then they will get 8/2=4pts)
Win by decider (after match is drawn) = 3pts
Lose by decider (after match is drawn) = 2pts
Bonus points for teams includes,

• (Overall run-rate of a match by a team / 2) pts added to both teams.
• An outright win (innings victory/ by 9 or more wickets win) = 3pts.
• An outright loss (innings loss/ by 9 or more wickets loss) = (-)3pts
• More than 120 runs or run-rate > 4 / session by a batting team (minimum of 12 overs) = 2pts for batting team.
• Wickets taken more than 5/session by a bowling team= 2pts for bowling team.
• For scores more than 250 and also for next every 100 runs (i.e. 350, 450,…) scored by batting team = 1pt for batting team (i.e. 250 runs = 1pt, 350 runs=2pts…).
• Wickets taken more than 5 and also for next every wicket (i.e. 6, 7,..,10)= 1pt for bowling team (i.e. 5wkts = 1pt, 6 wkts=2pts…).
• Bowling out a team = 2pts for bowling team.
• Batting team declaring after playing minimum of 50 overs and 300 runs in 1st innings = 2pts for batting team.
• Winner of the each day* of test matches = 1pt.
• A team with most number of winning day* = 2pts.
• A team with most number of sessions won in match* = 1pt.

*A day winner – A team will be declared as winner of the day depending on the points it got on that particular day.
*A session winner – A team which gets more points in a session of play.

This point system will not only encourage team to go for win but also will give the fans to shout about which team heads at the end of each day in the test match.

Rain interruption? VJD method will be used for scores projection, over deduction and etc., If necessary, the bonus point will undergo some changes in minimum overs and runs need to be scored when rain interruption are longer.

A day of test match at one T20 match time:
At present a IPL t20 match takes roughly 4 hours to completely the full quota of 40 overs/match. We can complete per day of test match in 4 hours surely.
Allotted time for each over to complete = 3mins.
60 overs * 3 mins = 180 mins.
Session break = 20-30 mins.
The remaining 30 minutes can be for innings change, batsmen dismissal and other reasons. So, all in all we can complete a day in 4 hours (or 4hrs and 30mins at maximum).  Now, the viewers or the fans at stadium can’t complain about time a test match takes per day.

if you say, “IPL t20 matches are played only after 4pm but test matches are played on morning. So, its not possible for me to watch or go to stadium by bunking my work/school.” The answer is Night test matches.

We can have a IPL test match starting from 6pm and close at 10.30 pm(time can be adjusted). Only 1 test match per day is possible. If we want two test matches, then one must be played as day (starting from 2pm) and other as night. But i think with effective scheduling, we can manage with 1 T20 and 1 test match per day or even only 1 test match per day with T20 matches taking place on non-test match days.

Number of IPL matches:
The home and away concept need to be done away like i said in previous article. We can complete the IPL in same number of days as of now (i.e. 60 days). Assuming the current number of IPL teams (9 teams),
No. of T20 matches per team = 8 (i.e. Each team will play against each other once).
No . of test matches per team = 3* (Randomly drawn fixtures).
* – No. of test matches can be increased from 3 depending on effective scheduling.
The point system for T20 matches remains the same as it now in IPL. Both T20 and test match points will be added together while listing the teams in points table. The team with most points will be crowned as IPL champions. If the number of IPL teams increases more than 10 in future, then we can have teams in two different groups and knockouts(semi’s and final) at the end to decide the champion.

Off-course this proposed format may or may not be perfect. So, I am more than welcome to debate on this proposal. With more people support, we can definitely send this proposal to BCCI. So, lets decide the future!

ICC approves top-level changes effective 2014

The ICC has formally changed the structure of its top-level administrative hierarchy effective 2014, turning the presidency into a ceremonial position with a one-year term and handing over power to the new post of chairman. The annual conference, which ended on Thursday, "agreed to make the necessary amendments" to the ICC and the ICC Development International (IDI) Articles of Association to effect these changes and also remove the role of the ICC vice-president. 

The changes - the fourth alteration in the president's role since 1996 - take effect when Alan Isaac's current two-year term as the ICC's last rotational president comes to an end during the ICC conference in June 2014. That's when the ICC will also appoint its first chairman. 

These amendments had been agreed to in principle by the ICC's executive board, comprising the heads of the 10 Full Member nations among others, earlier this year. 

The debate over the role of the ICC vice-president to go along with Isaac's tenure has been deferred to the executive board meeting in October. It is understood that the prime candidate for the role - Mustafa Kamal of the Bangladesh Cricket Board - will have to outline his plans for a two-year vice-presidency to be considered for the role. 

Until now, the executive board comprised chairmen or presidents from each of the 10 Full Members, three elected associate member representatives, the ICC president, who chaired the meeting, the ICC chief executive, the ICC vice-president and on invitation of the president, the ICC's principal advisor. 

By the end of the 2014 conference, the ICC and IDI board chairman, a two-year fully paid appointee of the ICC executive board, will chair the board. The newly-redefined ICC president can come into an Executive Board meeting if he so wishes, but neither will he chair the meeting nor will he have a vote. 

This sets the stage for the jockeying to be the chairman, with N Srinivasan of the BCCI and the ECB's Giles Clarke widely reckoned to be the leading contenders. The ICC chairman must not be a serving member of any national board. Srinivasan's three-year term as BCCI president ends in September 2014, and Clarke's term as chairman of the ECB ends in 2015, which means they would have to give up those posts before the June 2014 conference. 

Among other decisions taken at this week's annual conference, Switzerland was removed as an Affiliate member having been suspended last year for failing to comply with the ICC's membership criteria - it has two rival governing bodies of cricket in the country, neither of which is recognised by the Swiss Olympic committee - and being unable to do so by the 2012 Annual Conference. Russia and Hungary were confirmed as new Affiliate members of the ICC. The ICC now has 106 Members. 

The Woolf commiteee recommendations about redefining the associate/ affiliate membership were not discussed or voted upon at the annual conference as those discussions were said to be part of talks between various boards themselves and also at the Executive Board level.

Dilhara Fernando in squad for SSC Test

Dilhara Fernando has played 39 Tests for SL over 11 years.

Sri Lanka have recalled fast bowler Dilhara Fernando to the squad for the second Test against Pakistan, which begins at the SSC on June 30, as a replacement for the injured Chanaka Welegedara. The selectors were short of options, with several back-up seamers nursing injuries. 

Fernando's last Test appearance was the Boxing Day match against South Africa in Durban in 2011. His inclusion is the only change to the Sri Lanka squad that won the first Test in Galle by 209 runs.

"Fernando has recovered from a shoulder injury and we have included him in the 15, but I am not sure whether he will play," chairman of selectors Ashantha de Mel said. "The team management will take a call on who should support Nuwan Kulasekara. 

"Nuwan Pradeep bowled impressively but he has a history of injuries so I don't know whether he will play back-to-back matches. If Pradeep is rested his place is likely to go to either Thisara Perera or Fernando."

De Mel said the two other bowlers who would have been in contention, Suranga Lakmal and Shaminda Eranga, were both nursing injuries. 

"Lakmal has a serious ankle injury and he is out for at least six months, and Eranga is having a nerve problem in his back," De Mel said. "We have sent Dhammika Prasad to South Africa with the Sri Lanka A team to gain fitness and to bowl many overs in the four-day unofficial Test matches. These bowlers cannot play an entire Test series without breaking down or getting injured."

It was fun scaring the batsmen: Wasim Akram

Today's fast bowlers have become soft.

Legendary fast bowler. Commentator. Bowling coach and mentor of Kolkata Knight Riders. Wasim Akram needs no introduction. Subash Jayaraman caught up with him and spoke about various aspects of fast bowling among other topics. Excerpts:

I would like to start with your on-field exploits. That dismissal of Rahul Dravid in the 1999 Madras Test - it showed a bowler who knew his craft and had immaculate control. Can you take us through your thought process and the planning behind the dismissal?

The thought process, being a fast bowler, is very simple. Nowadays, they have made it complicated but whenever I speak to the fast bowlers, I tell them it is very simple- you outfox the batsman, you come in running hard and you know what is happening.

The delivery you spoke about - the first two I bowled were in-swing, and Rahul was leg-before. Nowadays, with DRS, he would've been in the dressing room. Obviously, I knew he would be waiting for the in-swing in the third delivery but I aimed leg - the idea was to 'nick or clip the off stump and that delivery did clip the off stump.

Nowadays I hardly see any reverse swing. There is only one swing - right handed bowler brings the ball into the right hander and left handed bowler takes it away from the right hander. They don't bowl both like a reverse-swing artist. For me, in the last 5 years, that has gone. I hardly see anyone do it.

What was most impressive was that the length you bowled, the spot where it pitched, how does a bowler do that time and again?

I tell all the guys I work with in the IPL - Balaji, Shami Ahmed and Brett Lee - that the idea is to bowl at a length that the batsman is uncomfortable playing on either the front foot or the back foot. It should be half-way - somewhere around short of length.

It also depends on the nature of the wicket. If you are playing on a sub-continent track- slightly shorter, if you are playing in Australia- slightly fuller, if you are playing in England- keep it full because the ball seams around. It depends on the conditions and the wicket as well.

Today's young bowlers don't seem to be doing the amount of bowling required to understand the various aspects of fast bowling. On top of this, they play in the IPL for 7 weeks but bowl only 60-70 overs. Isn't this against the philosophy of fast-bowler development?

Nowadays there are too many foreign coaches! In my days - less than 9 years ago - it was fairly simple. I learnt from Imran and Miandad that the fast bowling muscles will only work when you bowl in nets. The gym training is good for individual muscles, maybe to look good, but if you look good and don't bowl well, there is no point in being a fast bowler, or being a bowler at all.

Foreign coaches have come in and done something very odd. Bowlers only bowl two or three overs, and then rest. For young bowlers from the sub-continent, to get paid you need to bowl as much as possible and not rest. That's the psychology we come from. Look at your own Kapil Dev. He bowled in 125 test matches as a fast bowler. Name me any Indian, Pakistani or a Sri Lankan fast bowler who can play 100 Test matches. There is none. India had Sreesanth, Munaf Patel, R.P. Singh- they came, were good for some time, and then they were gone. Irfan Pathan is there, he is bowling well, but is not what he was three years ago. One has to see why this is happening. These guys need role models, they have to have consistent eyes on them to see what they do on and off the field as well.

As a bowling coach, how do you guide your bowlers to build an over? Every single delivery should be a means to an end.

I tell them first to read a batsman and start with the view that he is going to have a go at you. After any dot ball, he wants to have a go at you. Be sensible, bowl middle-leg and have fine-leg back. Give a single away to attack the new batsman.

What I tell my bowlers in the Kolkata Knight Riders is to read the batsmen, and to concentrate on the first & last deliveries (of the over). If you get hit on the first ball, your whole over will be gone. And, if you bowl a beautiful over, 2 or 4 runs in the over, and you don't concentrate in the last ball and give away a six, it can become a 10 run over. These little details and field settings. If you are bowling Yorkers, your extra-cover will be straighter, your mid-off and mid-on will be straighter as well. I tell them to set these things.

The modern day bowler doesn't seem to have a back up plan. They come with plan-A, and if things don't work they are taken to the cleaners...

It is a culture that the fast bowlers have become a bit soft, I feel. One of the bowlers I love to watch, the way he bowls and runs in, is Dale Steyn. If any young bowler has to follow somebody, it must be Dale Steyn. Look at the way he runs every time he bowls. 100% effort. And that is how you become a great bowler. You can't just pick and choose - "I'm not going to come and bang in this over. I'll come and bowl in the next-over." There is no next-over. The game will be over by then.

When you were playing for Pakistan, what was the effect of having Waqar Younis at the other end? You may not always have seen eye-to-eye at all times, but you made it work..

Yes, we did! That was an honour. He was the best bowler I've ever played with, and against at times in county. He was a sight to watch. One of the quickest bowlers, reverse swings both ways, and used to sprint in every ball with a long run-up. It seemed like for 2 years Shoaib Akhtar bowled fast, but then he has disappeared and nobody takes his name now. But, Waqar Younis is a legend and one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time. And we had fun against every batting- against India, against England and we thrashed them in their country. That was fun, it really was. It was fun scaring the batsmen!

How does it work within the team atmosphere? Two really great players that may not get along personally, but made it to work professionally..

The idea was - whatever happens off the field stays off the field. On the field, you are playing for the country. It was a matter of pride, and you want to win. We have to see each other faces in the field in the morning. Whatever happens off the field, stays off the field, we are not taking them to the ground.

The more things change, the more they stay the same with Pakistani cricket. One step forward, two steps back. If you were in an official capacity to influence Pakistani cricket, what would be some of the steps that you would take right from the word go?

I will have a regular captain. There is no point having two captains, because in our culture we can't follow even one leader. What is the point of having two leaders, two captains, or three captains? That actually is a good enough answer. So, first of all, have one leader, and support him for one year. It doesn't matter if he wins or loses, just support the captain. The players should know that the cricket board has provided the backing to this captain and he is not going away.

We have the talent, but we need to channel that talent. I was just seeing the scorecard of the first Test between Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka had scored 472 and Pakistan were 100 all out. If Pakistani batsman can't play spin, I don't know what they can play! It is all a mental block. You have to give them some confidence, you have to give them some education on and off the field.

The problem I have with this Pakistani boys is that, they are all a very good bunch of guys, but they don't socialize. They don't go and meet different people. They just stay in their rooms. When I played for Lancashire, we used to go out. When we played Australia, we would hang out after the game. Nowadays, they don't. Their confidence levels are very, very low.

Last question. Pakistani fans want to know why you haven't become the bowling coach for the Pakistani cricket team. Indian fans want to know why you haven't become the bowling coach for the Indian cricket team. Will you be coaching in the future?

My answer is- I want to live happily ever after. I'm fine with what I am. Pakistan Cricket Board has to ask me to come and be the bowling coach. I'm not going to their door and say "Sir, I'm here, please take me as a coach." I'm not going to do that. They haven't offered me a job as a coach in the last 3-4 years, since I retired. That's the answer for the Pakistanis.

As for becoming India's bowling coach, I don't have to become their bowling coach. I'm helping them without being a coach, because I meet them during the IPL. They all come up to me. They are all good boys, all the Indian young bowlers. And, I'm giving all the help I can to them. And also the Pakistani bowlers, whenever I meet them. They come up to me, and I am always available to them.

The rise of the fearless Afghanistan cricket team

Flying high: Afghanistan have beaten the odds to get to where they are today.

It is the happiest story in contemporary cricket, even if events overall in Afghanistan constitute the world’s most tragic story of the last decade.

The rise of cricket in Afghanistan has been the sport’s finest development since the ICC imposed two umpires from neutral countries in every Test match and thereby removed the allegations of racism.

From a strip of concrete on the scrubby plain of a refugee camp in Pakistan came this new force, the players celebrating every step of their unprecedented journey and taking nothing for granted.

They started playing against Japan and Jersey in Division Five of the ICC’s world league - and this weekend, four years on, they will arrive in Dublin to play one-day internationals against Ireland, the strongest country outside the Test-playing nations.

The internationals next week should be well-contested too because the last time these two countries met, Ireland needed all the experience of county cricket that their players have accumulated AND a special piece of batting to beat Afghanistan. It came from Paul Stirling - liable to follow Eoin Morgan from Middlesex into England’s limited-overs side - who hit the second fastest 50 in T20 internationals.

The Afghans lack several essentials at present, understandably, but they also have their own particular strengths: the zeal they bring to their cricket, and their fearlessness, and their physical toughness.

In that last game against Ireland, the final of the ICC World Twenty20 qualifiers, the Afghan opener Karim Sadiq pulled the first ball of the game for six - from Boyd Rankin, a serious Warwickshire pace bowler.
The last two balls of Afghanistan’s innings were bowled by Trent Johnston, the wily Australian medium-pacer, to Gulbardin Naib. Gulbardin was a bit of a star in the wonderful film ‘Out of the Ashes’ which had followed the Afghan team on its journey up from Division Five that had started in Jersey.

Gulbardin had pumped iron in a basic gym in Kabul. Aged 19, he had a whole family to feed, so he was driven to succeed. But his head couldn’t help turning when the team arrived in Jersey and he saw young women with exposed midriffs walking down the street.

After that tour Gulbardin had been dropped, but he pumped even more iron and worked on his batting and pace bowling. And when Johnston bowled him the last two balls of Afghanistan’s innings in Dubai, he pummelled them both for six.

Afghanistan now have better pace bowling resources than Bangladesh or Zimbabwe. Hamid Hasan is a cut above anyone else outside the Test-playing nations. They do not have a first-class domestic competition yet, although something could be based on their two new stadia in Kabul and Jalalabad, but at least they have the basic fuel for Test cricket, which pace bowling is.


As for growth potential, Afghanistan were reeling in April when they chased 233 to beat the Netherlands in a four-day first-class game - a Netherlands team containing a South African first-class player and a couple of Australians experienced in the Sheffield Shield. Along came an 18 year-old wicketkeeper on his first-class debut, Afsar Khan, to score an unbeaten 84 and take Afghanistan home.

Their biggest deficiency is artlessness, especially when batting against spin. A fielder at long-on is someone to clear. Although their coach Kabir Khan will tell them to push a single to long-on, or aim for deep midwicket where no fielder is, machismo is more instinctively appealing.

So working the ball around and manipulating the field will be key areas against Ireland in the 50-over internationals next week - and again in September when Afghanistan play England and India in their qualifying group of the World T20 finals in Sri Lanka.

More than anything though, Afghanistan’s cricketers deserve to be congratulated for coming so far, so fast, in such adverse circumstances. In all its history this sport has never seen anything like them.

Phillip Hughes quits NSW and joins South Australia

Phillip Hughes has played his last match
for New South Wales.

Phillip Hughes has quit New South Wales and joined South Australia in the first major interstate move of the domestic contracting window. The signing of Hughes is a significant boost for the Redbacks, who did not win a Sheffield Shield match last summer and continued to rely heavily on their captain Michael Klinger for top-order runs. 

It will also add to the changing nature of the New South Wales batting order, with the former captain Simon Katich and the veteran opener Phil Jaques having both retired from the Blues after last season. Last summer, New South Wales were bursting with quality openers, with Katich, Hughes, Jaques, David Warner, Shane Watson and Nic Maddinson all part of their squad. 

But in 2012-13, they will be scratching around for a new opening combination, with Watson and Warner likely to spend most of the season on international duty and another potential opener, Usman Khawaja, also considering an interstate move. The Blues were one of the states most affected by the slashing of the number of national contracts as Hughes, Khawaja, Brett Lee, Doug Bollinger, Nathan Hauritz and Steven Smith all lost their Cricket Australia deals last week. 

Hughes, 23, has decided a move to Adelaide will help him in his push to regain a place in Australia's Test side, after he was axed following the home series against New Zealand last season. Hughes was replaced by Ed Cowan in the national setup and while Cowan has shown promise, there could be an opening at the top of the order within the next year if he doesn't begin turning his starts into substantial scores.

"The next two years are the most critical in my cricket career and I'm not going to leave any stone unturned to make sure I put myself back into contention to play again for Australia," Hughes said. "Missing a Cricket Australia contract this year is not the end of the world. In fact, in lots of ways it's a new beginning."

Hughes burst on to the domestic scene in Australia at the age of 18, and in 38 first-class appearances for New South Wales he has scored 3360 runs at 52.50. He has also enjoyed a productive month with Worcestershire this year, having started the season with two one-day hundreds and continued with strong form in the Twenty20 competition. 

"The [Worcestershire] organisation, their support of me and my ability to focus 100% on my game has been a real eye-opener and my form with the bat has obviously benefited from it," Hughes said. "That's what I expect the move to Adelaide to also do for me, and I can't wait to get there and settle in."

Hughes said he had enormous respect for his former Australia coach Tim Nielsen, who is now the head coach of the Emerging Redbacks programme, and the South Australia director of cricket Jamie Cox, who as a former national selector played a role in Hughes' emergence as an international batsman. Cox said the addition of Hughes was a major boost for the South Australia squad. 

"It is fantastic for us to bring in someone of Phillip's quality, and it works hand in hand with the opportunity that he is also looking for," Cox said. "His record here at Adelaide Oval [two centuries and a fifty in three first-class games], playing against South Australia, is very good and we believe he will be a great asset for us at the top of the order. He is an extremely hard-working cricketer who wants to succeed at the highest level again, and we believe that his determination and focus will be a great example for our young cricketers."

The state associations have until the end of next week to finalise their contract lists for next summer, a process that was delayed by the protracted pay talks between Cricket Australia and the Australian Cricketers' Association. In other potential moves, Hauritz and Khawaja have both been linked with Queensland, while Western Australia confirmed they have approached the Tasmania wicketkeepers Tim Paine and Tom Triffitt. 

The Warriors are searching for a gloveman to replace Luke Ronchi, who moved to New Zealand at the end of last summer. The Western Australia coach Lachie Stevens told the Age that Michael Johnson, who kept wicket in five Shield matches last summer, had not been offered a new contract.

Hafeez under pressure to save his spot

Hafeez is struggling with his form with both bat and ball.

Pakistan Twenty20 skipper Mohammad Hafeez, who also led the team in the first Test against Sri Lanka in Galle, is facing an uphill task to save his place in the national side.

Sources in the team told PTI that while Hafeez, who was only recently named the national team's T20 skipper in place of Misbah-ul-Haq, enjoyed the full backing of coach Dav Whatmore but a whispering campaign had started against him in the team because of his poor form.

"When Misbah was banned for slow over-rate for the first Test there was some debate on whether Hafeez was in form to lead the side but since Younis Khan was also struggling with the bat eventually he got the job but failed to impress," a source said.

After a successful performance in 2011, Hafeez has averaged only 9.20 and scored 47 runs in five T20 games this year, while his bowling has also fetched him just three wickets at an average of 32.

Sources claimed that the decision to make Hafeez the T20 captain is now being questioned by many as he has a batting average of just 19 from as many as 31 Twenty20 matches.

Hafeez has also struggled in ODIs scoring at an average of 26 in 14 matches, including a hundred against India in the Asia Cup. In his last six ODIs he has scored just 91 runs.

Even in the bowling department in ODIs, he has taken just eight wickets at average of 46.77 this year.

While in four Tests this year, he has scored just one fifty in eight innings and taken eight wickets.

Former Pakistan Test captain, Aamir Sohail said he had also never supported the decision to change the captain but felt that Hafeez could overcome his poor form by a simple adjustment in his batting technique.

"He is not playing on the backfoot as much as he should and that is why he is getting out cheaply so frequently. Once he makes this minor adjustment to his footwork he can score again," Sohail said. "I am surprised that no one in the coaching staff has yet been able to clear this minor problem in Hafeez's footwork.

Sohail, however didn't agree that the pressure of captaincy was affecting Hafeez's form.

Sources informed that the spirit in the team is not the same as it was a few months back when Mohsin Khan was the interim coach and Pakistan whitewashed England in the Test series earlier this year.

"There are minor issues creeping up and there is some disgruntled players around," a source claimed.

Pakistan's team manager, Naved Cheema, however, dismissed talk about problems in the team.

"There are no problems or infighting in the team. Just because we lost the Test does not mean such reports are true.

The players are in good spirits and can fightback in the Test series," Cheema insisted.

He also pointed out that lot of umpiring decisions went against Pakistan in the first Test but the behaviour and reaction of Pakistani players was exemplary.

"It is a credit that way they took the bad decisions. I have no intention of reporting anyone nor have I reported anyone to the board," he said.

Meanwhile, even as PCB's decision to appoint Hafeez as the T20 captain has backfired, the Board president, Zaka Ashraf had recently said that there would not be any change in the decision and some more time would be given to the all-rounder to prove his worth as skipper.

Cook keeps focus on series win

England captain Alastair Cook, right, said of touring side
Australia: "They're a very good side and they've proved
that over a number of years. That's why they're
at the top of the rankings."

Alastair Cook is relishing the chance to go toe-to-toe with Australia once again as England welcome the world’s number one ranked 50-over side to Lord’s tomorrow for the beginning of the five-match NatWest Series.

There have been no shortage of titanic clashes between the two nations over the years and the chance to reignite the rivalry once again is something England captain Cook knows will whet the appetite of cricket fans everywhere.

And while the Essex opener has faced the touring side on many occasions, this series will have extra impetus for him as he leads England at Lord’s against Australia for the first time as skipper.

“When I was a young boy watching the cricket on TV when Australia came over I loved the rivalry,” said Cook.

“Now, to have played some Ashes series and captaining the side is really exciting. The public do enjoy it, don't they? Lord's is sold out tomorrow so it's going to be good."

Michael Clarke’s team can be knocked off from the perch as top dogs should England secure a 5-0 whitewash but, despite convincing series victories over West Indies, Cook is not about to make any bold proclamations just yet.

“They're a very good side and they've proved that over a number of years. That's why they're at the top of the rankings,” he added.

"We're going to have to be at our absolute best to try to win the series.
"It would be an amazing achievement (to get to number one) but I don't want to be quoted saying stuff which gets blown out of proportion.

"We are very much a developing one-day side and we're desperate to keep going up the rankings.
"But let's not get too carried away. We have got plenty of stuff to keep improving on, trying to get good results. Over the next 10 days we have a chance to do that.
"We're going alright, we've done well at home and we're used to our conditions. Hopefully we can use that as an advantage."

Cook saw Australia's attack close-up when he
played against them for Essex on Tuesday

The resounding victories over the Windies at the Ageas Bowl and the Kia Oval highlighted England’s dominance in home conditions and that is something Cook wants his team to build on in this series.
He said: “When we go over to those places we find it a lot harder and we have to make it as hard as the opposition do when they come over here. Clearly England, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa have quite similar conditions as well. Sub-continental conditions are different.

"I don't see home advantage being as big in this series as they would for a sub continental team. We're used to the slope at Lord's, like when we go to Perth or Melbourne they are more familiar in those conditions.
"But I do believe we play well at home and I'd love that to continue."

There are a number of players in Australia’s squad who are virtually unknown quantities to England but Cook got a close-up of the attack which tore Essex apart in a 179-run win.

Cook, who will be hoping to add back-to-back centuries after his ton at the Kia Oval, scored just five, and he conceded: “They are a very good team. They beat us well and clearly I'd have liked to have spent a bit more time in the middle to look at their bowlers. That didn't happen.

“If you do score runs in that it doesn't count for anything. You start on zero next time.”

Ultimately, though, Cook admits there is one prize he would not swap for Australia’s current position at the summit of the world rankings.

“If someone said ‘do you want to be number one in the world or win the World Cup’, I would take the World Cup,” he said.

DRS will not be forced on India - Richardson

Dave Richardson: "The introduction of technology has
always been controversial".

Dave Richardson, the ICC's new chief executive, has said that India would not be forced into accepting the universal application of the Decision Review System (DRS). The BCCI has been the sole objector to making DRS mandatory in international cricket and the ICC's Executive Board decided not to put the issue to a vote on Tuesday.

In his first day on the job, as the successor to Haroon Lorgat, Richardson said that while the majority of players and umpires back the DRS to rule on marginal or controversial decisions, India could not be dragged "kicking and screaming" to comply. The ICC's failure to enforce the universal application of DRS means it will only be used in bilateral series when both national boards agree to it. 

"The point is that the BCCI need to make that decision for themselves," Richardson said at the close of the ICC's annual conference in Malaysia. "It's never good to take anyone kicking and screaming to do anything.

"The introduction of technology has always been controversial ... but, slowly but surely, that's changed and I think we're pretty much at that point where everyone is accepting, certainly at international level. 

"I don't think [the Executive Board's decision is] negative at all. We'll be seeing DRS used in the majority of series going forward and there would be no sense in forcing anything upon anybody." 

India's resistance to DRS stems from their 2008 Test series with Sri Lanka, when the technology was on trial. N Srinivasan, the BCCI president, has said that the system would only be supported when it was "100 percent error free".

Richardson said: "The bottom line is, the ICC board determines policy for the ICC going forward. I don't think my job will involve any special negotiations with India. A lot is made of that but there are ten full members and I think our task is a lot more simple and a lot more practical than these high-level talks you might imagine." 

As well as Richardson succeeding Lorgat, Alan Isaac, the former chairman of New Zealand Cricket, has taken over as ICC president for a two-year term, succeeding Sharad Pawar. The ICC has voted to make the presidency a ceremonial position from 2014, with power passed to the new position of chairman.