Melbourne rises to homeboy Finch

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Melbourne loves a hometown hero. When Dean Jones and Bill Lawry were paraded around the ground during the fourth Test they were cheered to the rafters and all Shane Warne has to do is step foot on the turf to be hailed by the locals. Aaron Finch has a long way to go to match any of them, and may never play Test cricket, but for one night he gave the suffering Australia supporters something to cheer in front of his fellow Victorians.

Full story: ESPNcricinfo

Ponting wants ‘whole structure’ reviewed

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Ricky Ponting believes the standard of domestic cricket in Australia has slumped and the entire structure of Australian cricket needs to be reassessed after the Ashes defeat to England. Cricket Australia will review what went wrong after the hosts lost three of the five Ashes Tests by an innings, and Ponting expects the process to be rigorous in order to ensure the mistakes of the past few years are not repeated.

“There is a review after every season, of which I’m always a big part,” Ponting wrote in his column in the Australian. “I understand there will be a lot more involved in the review this time around and rightly so. It’s going to be a lot more in-depth than I’ve ever been involved in and probably as big as those conducted when Australia was really struggling in the mid-80s. There are a lot of things that need looking at and I fully support such a review.

Full story: ESPNcricinfo

 

Prior hails England team unity

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England’s wicketkeeper, Matt Prior, admits there is a strong temptation to start thinking of Ashes glory in the wake of a crushing innings victory in the second Test at Adelaide, but he also believes that this particular squad of players has learnt its lessons from previous campaigns and will not allow themselves any let-up in intensity until the task has been completed.

Against Australia at Lord’s in 2009, and then in Durban against South Africa five months later, England won the second Test of a major series only to allow their opponents to draw level – in the first instance at Headingley, where England were routed inside three days after being brushed aside for 102 on the first morning, and then at Johannesburg, where Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel reaped the rewards that had eluded them in the first three Tests.

Full story: CricInfo

 

The use and abuse of UDRS

It’s clear from the first two Ashes Tests that the UDRS is still a long way from being perfect. Common sense will tell you that it was probably first conceived with the intention of eliminating the absolute ‘howlers’ but as the concept has been refined and debated, mindful of time-wasting issues, it has now morphed into something that is being used as a strategic weapon. Meanwhile, the really poor decisions still go under the radar, as we saw with Rohit Sharma last night, because it’s not even compulsory around the world. It is indeed a curious workplace environment where some cricketers may lose (or save) their careers depending on whether they’re involved in a game that includes the use of the UDRS whilse their colleagues in another country play to a different set of rules. It seems ridiculous that for a universal game administered by a global body, there is such inconsistency over such an important facet.

Full story: CricInfo

Hussey looks to the skies

Michael Hussey has admitted that Australia will have one eye on the heavens come the final day of the second Test at Adelaide, as they resume their second innings on 4 for 238, a deficit of 137 runs. A gutsy day’s batting from Australia was undermined by the last ball before stumps when Michael Clarke fenced Kevin Pietersen to short leg, leaving Hussey – and the weather – as their best hopes of escaping with a draw and going to Perth next week with the series all-square.

England declared early on the fourth morning on 5 for 620, meaning Australia began their second innings with a 375-run deficit. For a while it seemed that they might reach the close with seven wickets still intact, when a tropical storm swept through the ground to bring an abrupt halt to the afternoon session. However, the weather cleared almost as quickly as it had arrived, and after a 57-minute delay, the teams were able to get back out onto the field.

Full story: CricInfo