Herald Sun article today

For the current Australia VS India test series, India have barred foreign journalists and photographers coming into the ground and reporting on the matches. Therefore the international media are left without photos to publish from the games. Melbourne newspaper 'The Herald Sun' has taken the interesting step to avoid this problem. Take a look!

World Cricket Live Update

Plenty of international cricket happening at the moment, so let's get straight into it.

New Zealand - 63/3 off 22.3 overs (ODI #3)
In the deciding ODI, Alastair Cook decided to bowl first, confident in his side's ability to chase down a total to win the series. While the English are unchanged, New Zealand replaced Trent Boult with Andrew Ellis. The kiwis got off to a very shaky start as they lost 3 wickets for only 11 runs. Finn was the chief destroyer with 2 wickets, while Anderson picked up Williamson. Since then though, the home side have recovered somewhat as Ross Taylor and Grant Elliot have shared an unbeaten 52 run stand. They would like to pick up the scoring rate though, as a run rate of 2.8 per over, is well under par on the small Eden Park ground in Auckland. Currently the score is 63/3 off 22.3 overs.

Live scorecard here on Cricinfo: http://www.espncricinfo.com/england-v-new-zealand-2013/engine/current/match/569242.html

Australia - 316/7 (Stumps Day 1)
Starting with the first test between India and Australia, Michael Clarke's unbeaten 103* helped save Australia's blushes (once again) on Day 1 in Chennai. Australia got off to an alright start with David Warner and Ed Cowan putting on 64 for the first wicket. Cowan then got stumped for 29 trying to repeat a six he hit the previous over. Hughes chopped on for not many, which left Watson and Warner to try and get a partnership going. After being 126/2 at Lunch, Watson fell almost straight away after the interval for 28, while Warner was gone lbw for 59, giving Ashwin his fourth wicket. Wade gave Ashwin his five-for, which left Australia reeling at 153/5.

Step in Michael Clarke, as once again the captain rescued his side with some brilliant strokeplay and resilience. Moises Henriques was exceptional on debut making a well composed 68, proving the selectors right in picking him. Unfortunately though he fell towards the end of the day, while Mitchell Starc (newly promoted to no.8) also was dismissed. Peter Siddle hung around to allow Clarke to post his 23rd Test century off the second last ball of the day. For India, Ashwin was the hero claiming six wickets with some really intelligent spin bowling. Jadeja also chipped in with the wicket of Starc. At Stumps on Day 1, its an incredibly even game, but if Australia's tail can hang around and support Clarke, then Australia could get an advantage with a score over 350.

Full scorecard here on Cricinfo: http://www.espncricinfo.com/india-v-australia-2013/engine/current/match/598812.html

South Africa - 334/6 (Stumps Day 1)
In the third and last test match of the series, Graeme Smith won the toss and decided to bat first. There were some team changes though, with injuries to fast bowlers Umar Gul and Junaid Khan, forcing Pakistan to debut Eshan Adil and also play second gamer Rahat Ali. Kallis for the home side was also left out with a calf problem. Despite an attack light on experience, it was Pakistan who started the game better, dismissing Petersen and Smith inside 10 overs. Amla and du Plessis settled the ship putting on 69 for the third wicket, before Faf gave the debutant his second wicket of the morning. Amla made 92 before being caught behind off Rahat Ali. Elgar didn't last long, while Robin Peterson was run out after getting a start.

At 248/6, South Africa had some work to do, and it was AB de Villiers who took the home side to Stumps unbeaten on 98*, while Vernon Philander did well to get to 45* in support. It was a good recovery by South Africa, but Pakistan should not be too disheartened. They would be hoping to limit South Africa to under 400, and then getting off to a good start with the bat in their first innings.

Full scorecard here on Cricinfo: http://www.espncricinfo.com/south-africa-v-pakistan-2013/engine/current/match/567365.html

West Indies (337/4) defeated Zimbabwe (181/9) by 156 runs
After not playing an ODI for around 12 months, and lacking any form of competitive cricket, it is hard to expect a side to play well in their first outing back. The fact that it is Zimbabwe makes it even harder to imagine. Therefore things went as expected in the first ODI of the series in Grenada overnight. Zimbabwe were simply outplayed from the first to last ball of the match. They were no match for the powerful West Indies batsmen, with Johnson Charles and Kieran Powell sharing a 168 run opening stand. It came in only 28.4 overs as well! Powell was dismissed, but Darren Bravo carried off where he left off. Meanwhile Charles was finally dismissed for 130 (his highest ODI score) which sparked a mini collapese as both Andre Russell and Dwayne Bravo fell for not many. Darren Bravo continued on and smacked his way to his first ODI century off only 71 balls. It included 9 fours and 2 sixes. Its incredibly difficult to find the best bowler for the Zimbabweans, as although Mpofu took 2 wickets, he was smashed for 83 off his 10 overs. Legspinner Natsai Mushangwe (in only his second ODI) bowled alright and finished with 1/56 off 10 - the lowest economy rate out of all the bowlers.

Zimbabwe had no hope in the chase of the mammoth 337, and were 34/4 at one stage. Captain Brendan Taylor needed to contribute, if any hope of an upset could eventuate, but he was dismissed by Tino Best for 8. Craig Ervine made 41, while Malcolm Waller posted a half century and therefore top-scored for his team. I guess the fact that they weren't bowled out could be taken as a plus for the African side, alongwith Ervine and Waller's performances. Narine picked up 3 wickets for the West Indies, while Dwayne Bravo and Andre Russell picked up two apiece. No-one is expecting Zimbabwe to win the next game, but hopefully for their sake, they can improve on this performance.

Full scorecard here on Cricinfo: http://www.espncricinfo.com/west-indies-v-zimbabwe-2013/engine/current/match/593983.html

Zimbabwe playing cricket … what?!?

In the international cricket scene at the moment, series’ between Australia and India, New Zealand and England, and South Africa and Pakistan are taking the focus. Only diehard cricket fans (like myself) would be aware that another tour is about to begin. The West Indies are to host Zimbabwe for 3 ODI’s, 2 T20I’s and 2 Test matches.

Zimbabwe has not played any substantial international cricket for 12 months. They were eliminated from the World T20 after two matches, they played in (and won) an unofficial T20 series between themselves, Bangladesh and South Africa in June 2012. They played in New Zealand in January 2012 and were beaten comprehensively in each format of the game. I really do though have some empathy for Zimbabwe cricket, as the best thing for them would be for regular competitive cricket. If the ICC wants a competitive Zimbabwe team in the future, then they need to help them out to get consistent fixtures. Bangladesh’s tour of Zimbabwe is supposed to be rescheduled to sometime this year, and let’s hope that it goes ahead. For the benefit of both sides, a full tour of 3 test matches and 5 ODI’s would be great. Anyway, I am digressing from this series.

Considering Zimbabwe hasn’t played any significant cricket for a long time, it is difficult to consider their form. No amount of nets sessions could prepare them for a full tour, although they did manage to win the warm-up game against the University of West Indies Vice Chancellor’s XI. West Indies have just arrived back from Australia, where they were whitewashed in the ODI series, albeit they managed to win the T20 International. Before that the Windies lost to Bangladesh 3-2 in November 2012. Therefore they have only won 8 out of their last 10 ODI’s. This would give Zimbabwe some hope of pinching a win in the ODI series.

In the last ODI series between these two teams, West Indies won 4-1 after the Zimbabweans managed to win the first match. This series was played as a stand-alone limited overs tour in the Caribbean in March 2010. That has been the only time these two sides have met in the last 5 years in ODI cricket.

West Indies have decided to rest Chris Gayle and captain Darren Sammy from the first two ODI’s which is probably a sigh of relief for the away side. Meanwhile Zimbabwe have dropped Ray Price from the limited overs games, while he will return for the two test matches.

Squads

West Indies (ODI #1 and #2): Dwayne Bravo (c), Best, Darren Bravo, Carter, Charles, Deonarine, Narine, Permaul, Pollard, Powell, Ramdin, Roach, Russell, Sarwan

Zimbabwe: Taylor (c), Chakabva, Chatara, Chibhabha, Ervine, Jarvis, Masakadza, Mawoyo, Meth, Mpofu, Mushangwe, Mutombodzi, Sibanda, Utseya, Waller

Controversially Zimbabwe Cricket decided that key support staff will not tour with the squad. This means that batting coach Grant Flower, bowling coach Heath Streak and fitness trainer Lorraine Chivandire will not be with the team on tour. This is severely disappointing, but with Zimbabwe’s limited finances, I guess one cannot criticise too much

My guess for these matches is a quite comprehensive 3-0 win to the West Indies. You cannot expect a team without any decent cricket in 12 months to all of a sudden play well. In fact, I’m guessing that this whole tour is going to be a white-wash.

ODI Series Fixtures

ODI #1 – 22^nd February @ St. Georges

ODI #2 – 24^th February @ St. Georges

ODI #3 – 26^th February @ St. Georges

I will post a specific preview of the test series in due course.

Australia and India test series set to begin

Australia and India are set to re-ignite their rivalry with another test match series, their 4th series in 4 and a half years. It is on the back of a 4 match series played in Australia in the summer of 2011/12. In that series, India were ultimately pathetic and were whitewashed, following on from their 4-0 loss to India earlier in 2011.

In regards to both teams' test form, they are both in a transitional phase. The legends of yesteryear have come and gone (Tendulkar and Sehwag withstanding) and left two teams with plenty of inexperienced players. Australia have recently departed with Ricky Ponting and Michael Hussey, who were both expected originally to make this tour as well as the Ashes. Australia's recent form in their home summer was quite good with a 3-0 win over Sri Lanka, and a closely fought 1-0 loss to the table topping South Africans. This suggested that they are too good for the likes of Sri Lanka and the rest, but are still not up to scratch to the likes of South Africa and England. India have had disappointing recent form in the test game. They did beat New Zealand 2-0 at home, after which a 2-1 loss to England followed. The last team to beat India in India before the English was in fact the Australians in 2004. It was on this tour that Michael Clarke made a debut century, and Adam Gilchrist was at the helm. In the last two series' in India between these two sides, India won 2-0 on both occasions.

Australia will take some hope from the fact that England defeated India, but England are undoubtedly a much better side than the aussies at the moment. Their two spinners in Swann and Panesar were exceptional, and Nathan Lyon is really no match for them. There has been quite a lot of debtate about Australia's selection for the first test with only one specialist spinner (Lyon) and four pacemen. But the fact is that there is no point playing for two specialist spinners if they are not good enough. Starc, Siddle and Pattinson are all better bowlers than Doherty, so irrespective of the coniditons, I think the decision made was a good one.

Nonetheless the Australians will struggle with the spin-friendly conditions. Captain Michael Clarke is the only player who plays spin well, with the top 4 of Warner, Cowan, Hughes and Watson all generally struggling against it. In addition to this, only Clarke, Watson, Johnson and Siddle have played a test in India.

For India, there is pressure on Tendulkar to score some big runs, and another series failure could see the end of one of the best players the game has ever seen. Although India have struggled of late, they still have quality in their side with Sehwag, Kohli, Dhoni and Sharma. Harbajhan Singh could be the danger man, as he really relishes playing Australia, even though his "bunny" Ponting is no longer there.

This series should be a cracker as both teams are evenly matched. I think India will start favourites due to the conditions suiting them, and Australia's possibly frail batting line-up. A win for Australia could sew up the #2 Test ranking ahead of the April 1 cut-off date, while an Indian win could move them up from #5.

Squads:
India (1st and 2nd Test): Dhoni (c), Ashwin, Dhawan, Dinda, H.Singh, Jadeja, Kohli, Kumar, Ojha, Pujara, Rahane, Sehwag, Sharma, Tendulkar, Vijay
Australia: Clarke (c), Bird, Cowan, Doherty, Henriques, Hughes, Johnson, Khawaja, Lyon, Maxwell, Pattinson, Siddle, Smith, Starc, Wade, Warner, Watson

Full Fixtures:
1st Test @ MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, Chennai
2nd Test @ Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Uppal, Hyderabad
3rd Test @ Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, Mohali, Chandigarh
4th Test @ Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi  

Australian XI for 1st Test confirmed

Australia has confirmed its XI for the first test match against India, with Moises Henriques poised to debut, in front of fellow all-rounder Glen Maxwell. Australia have also decided on only one specialist spinner (Nathan Lyon). The other decision to be made was where Shane Watson would bat, and it appears he will stay at no.4, as David Warner looks set to play.

The full XI and my thoughts:

1 David Warner
He has been battling a fractured thumb, ever since he was hit in the nets by Mitchell Johnson in the late part of the Australian summer. His selection is a contentious one, as if he is not 100% right, I don't know why he would be worth the risk. Watson could easily move up to opener and Khawaja could come in. Nonetheless it will be interesting to see how he goes in the match facing large amounts of spin, without playing any warm-up matches.

2 Ed Cowan
Cowan has played well in the warm-up games and despite external pressure in the media deserves his place. He is the one batsman in the top order who can hold down a fort and place a high value on his wicket. Although his batting against spin (like many other batsmen in this team) will need to improve greatly. A failure for him, plus any runs from Watson will only build the pressure on him.

3 Phillip Hughes
Hughes has a big opportunity to further stamp his authority on the no.3 position, and essentially become the next Ricky Ponting in Australian cricket. He undoubtedly has the talent, but whether or not he can pull it together in spin friendly conditions is yet to be proven.

4 Shane Watson
Impressed in the warm-up games, but for the foreseeable future he will be in the middle order, rather than up the top. Will have to face a lot of spin, which will test him significantly. One thing which has not been spoken about as much, is his absence on the bowling crease on this tour, which will hurt the aussies.

5 Michael Clarke
Best batsman in the team by far. Best player of spin in the team by far. It is fair to say that without a big match from him, Australia will struggle to get a win in the 1st test. Hopefully he is over his hamstring troubles.

6 Matthew Wade
Now pushed up to no.6 which will be a big test for him. He is now expected to score consistently and post big scores, rather than chip in with 20's or 30's. It will be interesting to see how he fares. His keeping was also under question in the home summer, but with no back-up keeper in the squad, its his batting which will be under the spotlight more.

7 Moises Henriques
Going to debut over fellow all-rounder Glen Maxwell. His impressive bowling form in the first warm-up game would have played a large part in his inclusion. Made 385 runs at an average of 77 and also took 14 wickets at 18 in the Sheffield Shield over September - November.

8 Mitchell Starc
Played extremely well in the recent ODI's against Sri Lanka and the West Indies. This will be a far greater challenge though, and he will need to prove himself on a much flatter pitch, than the paceman's paradise of the WACA.

9 Peter Siddle
The spearhead of the attack, and is the only one of the bowlers to have played a test match in India. As a matter of fact only he, Watson and Clarke have. Will need to keep banging in all day to get any reward on a flat deck.

10 James Pattinson
Returning to the XI after injury curtailed his home test summer. On form, is definitely one of the best three pacemen for Australia, but will be challenged in his first test in India.

11 Nathan Lyon
Lyon will be under nearly the most pressure in the team. On the turning deck, and as the only specialist spinner, he will be expected to perform. It will be tough for him due to the Indian's ability to play spin well. With Doherty waiting in the wings, he would like to bowl well in this match to keep those doubters at bay.

I will post a full preview of the series in the next couple of days.

New Zealand have the chance to break a five year drought

New Zealand have the chance today to post their second consecutive ODI series victory over a top 8 nation. The last time this occurred was in 2008 when New Zealand actually won 3 series in a row against West Indies and two against England. Since then it has been a barren run in ODI bilateral cricket, as since then they have only won one series, up until South Africa last month, which was against Pakistan in 2009.

This hopefully could be a beginning of a resurgence for New Zealand in the premier limited over format. At one stage in 2012 they actually slipped to 9th in the ODI rankings, when Bangladesh jumped ahead of them. If they could post another win today, then they will most likely move ahead of the West Indies into 7th position.

A competitive New Zealand team is crucial for world cricket, and with only the top 8 countries qualifying directly for the 2019 World Cup, it is never too early to start entrenching themselves in the top echelon of the rankings.

Two years to go!

There is approximately two years to go until the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup to be hosted by Australia and New Zealand. With this in mind I have made another page on this blog titled "2015 ICC CWC Qualifiers." On this page are the up to date details of the qualification process and the current leaderboard of the all important ICC World Cricket League Championship. It is this tournament where two teams will automatically qualify for the World Cup. It is currently headed by European associates Ireland and Scotland.

As the World Cup gets closer, I will post more about the prestigious event, including team profiles, chances of each team, as well as my ideas of the stadiums to be used, including of the all important final.

Bring it on!!

Allan Border Medal - who cares?

A couple of nights ago, the Allan Border Medal was held to award the best performed Australian players over the past year. With Michael Clarke a shoe-in for the main gong, as well as the Test Player of the year award, it was difficult for any legitimate suspense to be built. Mind you, Mark Nicholas did try his best, but we all knew that it would be Clarke up there with the AB medal.

His speech was interesting, as although he did say he was honoured to win the award for the fourth time, his said preference for the team to be winning awards took to the fore. So as much as this awards night was meant to recognise individual players, the main focus is on the team. Some might have thought that Clarke was being disrespectful and not giving enough attention to the individual award. Some may have seen his speech as a captain at his best - being only team-focused.

Ultimately though, I think the Allan Border Medal proved to be a bit of a waste of time, as even Mark Nicholas said "stuff it" and drowned half his beer instead of waiting for an official toast to be made.

South Africa crush Pakistan

South Africa have continued on their dominating test form with a 211 run win over Pakistan. Dale Steyn was the chief destroyer picking up a five for in the second innings to give him 11 for the match, only the 5th time he has taken 10 wickets or more in a match.

South Africa's second innings (after Graeme Smith decided not to follow on) was brisk, but still very aggressive with scoring being done at over 4 an over. They managed 275/4, with de Villiers on 103* and Amla on 74*, before Smith decided to declare considering the threat of rain on the last two days.

Pakistan would have hoped for this to be true, but it proved otherwise as they were dismissed before lunch on Day 4. It was though a much improved performance compared to their 49 in the first innings, as they managed to get to 268.Misbah ul Haq top scored with 64.

The visitors have a tour match before the next test, so would hope that gives them some time to gain some form. Nonetheless with a hungry South African line-up, it is looking quite unlikely that anything other than a 3-0 whitewash may happen. Let's hope Pakistan prove me wrong.

Scorecard from the 1st Test (Cricinfo)
http://www.espncricinfo.com/south-africa-v-pakistan-2013/engine/match/567363.html

Australia take series in the nation's capital

After a 54 run win in the 2nd ODI, Australia once again proved too strong for the West Indies, with a 39 run win in the 3rd ODI in a high scoring chase. In what was the first appearance for the Australian cricket team in Canberra, a run-fest ensued on a batsman's paradise with 619 runs being scored. This followed the 643 runs which were scored in the PM XI's match last week.

Shane Watson in first game back from injury (boy, has that been a heavily used phrase) starred with the bat making an impressive 122. Meanwhile Phillip Hughes continued his great start to his ODI career with an 86. George Bailey followed on from his superb century in Perth, with some big hitting once again, this time with 44 off 22 balls. One moment though in Australia's innings was Kieron Pollard's fielding of the deep mid-wicket boundary. His catch to dismiss the million-dollar man Glen Maxwell was unbelievable. It was an absolute gem. A one-hander for the ages, that will give the Channel 9 commentary team plenty of use for their 'KFC Classic Catches' segment.

The Bravos led the Windies' chase, and at 194/2 things were really looking promising, before Dwayne was dismissed for 51. The fact that Chris Gayle had to come in at 5 (due to time spent off the field in the first innings) also hurt the chase, although with the form that he is in anyway, it might not have had such a profound effect on the result. Darren Bravo was great making 86, before being bowled by fiery James Faulkner who took a career best four wicket haul. Mind you though he has since been fined 10% of his match fee for his send-off of Gayle.

The West Indies have undoubtedly improved since that first match at the WACA, but are still falling short. Hopefully for their sake, they can finish off strong in the remaining two matches. Whereas for Australia, an unassailable lead in the series is just what they wanted, as players start flying off to India for the beginning of a test tour in February/March.

Full scorecard here on Cricinfo - http://www.espncricinfo.com/australia-v-west-indies-2013/engine/current/match/573024.html

World Cricket Live Update

These past few days have been filled with lopsided results with West Indies and Pakistan getting destroyed by Australian and South Africa respectively.

Firstly, in the 1st ODI in Perth, the West Indies were shot out for 70 within 23.5 overs. Only 3 batsmen scored above 7, with 'extras' being the unofficial highest scorer with 17. Mitchell Starc swung his way beautifully to best figures of 5/20 off 6.5 overs including 3 bowled. Clint McKay also bowled superbly with 3/10 off 7, while debutant James Faulkner picked up 2/14. It really was an abject performance by the West Indians, which was made worse when Glen Maxwell (promoted to opener) smashed a quickfire 51* off only 35 balls. Amazingly 48 runs out of the 51 came in boundaries (9 fours and 2 sixes). Finch was the only batsman dismissed going for 10, enabling debutant Jason Holder to pick up his first international wicket. The chase was completed within 9.2 overs.

This match produced some incredible records including:
- West Indies' score of 70 is their third lowest in ODI's (lowest against Australia)
- The match only lasted 199 deliveries, which is the shortest completed match in Australia, and second shortest overall (only top 8 nations included)



Meanwhile in the 1st Test between South Africa and Pakistan, there were high hopes for Pakistan to provide the hosts with a stern challenge. This was looking likely after they bowled South Africa out for 253. Kallis was the only batsman to score a 50, while part-time spinner Mohammad Hafeez incredibly managed to pick up four wickets. Even Younis Khan picked up what was his 7th wicket (in 79 tests). Pakistan managed to claw to Stumps on Day 1 unscathed, suggesting that the home side could have a fight on their hands.

Enter Dale Steyn
6 wickets for 8 runs off 8.1 overs with 6 maidens

This caused Pakistan to be bowled out for 49. Yes that's right 49.

Yes they are the correct figures, 6/8 off 8.1 overs with an amazing 6 maidens. In fact there was only three scoring shots off his bowling. It really was an incredible spell of test match bowling with some superb outswingers obliterating the Pakistan top order. Azhar Ali and Misbah ul-Haq managed to put on 24 for the fourth wicket. There was some controversy though with the dismissal of Misbah ul-Haq. There was a half-hearted appeal for a caught behind off Kallis, with keeper AB de Villiers not even appealing initially at all. South Africa reviewed it, and a miniscule edge appeared on Hot Spot, before disappearing almost instantly. Amazingly the decision was overturned, which infuriated Misbah, as well as the Pakistan coach Dav Whatmore. Pakistan had the wrong end of the stick in relation to the DRS, with there appearing to be some inconsistent decisions made by third umpire Steve Davis.

Nonetheless, despite this controversy, Graeme Smith decided not to enforce the follow on, and by Stumps on Day 2, South Africa are 207/3. De Villiers is not out on 63*, while Amla is also not out on 50*. Smith made 52 before edging to the keeper off Umar Gul.

Pakistan's total also produced some records which they probably don't want to learn of:
- Their score of 49 was their lowest in tests (after 53 in 2002 against Australia, where they also scored 59 in the same match)
- Since the beginning of 2009, Pakistan have been bowled out for under 100 six times.
- The completed number of overs (29.1) is their fifth shortest


Scorecards here:
Australia VS West Indies
http://www.espncricinfo.com/australia-v-west-indies-2013/engine/current/match/573022.html

South Africa VS Pakistan
http://www.espncricinfo.com/south-africa-v-pakistan-2013/engine/current/match/567363.html

Full list of statistics and records from these matches
AUS VS WI
http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/current/story/603007.html

SA VS PAK
http://www.espncricinfo.com/south-africa-v-pakistan-2013/content/current/story/603147.html

*Stats and scorecards courtesy of Cricinfo

South Africa VS Pakistan Test Series Preview

On the back of a dominating performance against New Zealand, South Africa now host Pakistan for a 3 match series, who should pose a much greater challenge. The first test is also the occasion for Graeme Smith's record 100 test matches as captain. The first day of the test has been named "Biff Day" reflecting Smith's nickname. Graeme Smith is the first South African captain to lead the side in 100 tests. Outstanding achievement!

South Africa have had a pretty good start to the 2012/13 Test season with 3 wins, 2 draws and no losses. Their win against Australian in early December secured their no.1 ranking. Pakistan meanwhile have not played a test match since July 2012, where they lost 1-0 to Sri Lanka away. However before that they did cleansweep the then top ranked English side 3-0, albeit in familiar conditions in the UAE. South African conditions will prove much tougher for the Pakistanis. In their last series in South Africa (amazingly six years ago) they lost 2-1. In the more recent head to head battle though, they drew with South Africa 0-0 in November 2010 in the UAE.

South Africa will no doubt start favourites for this series, but there is quite high hopes for Pakistan to put up a good performance. They are now ranked at no.4 (above India), so would even expect themselves to play well.

Squads:

South Africa (1st Test): Smith (c), Amla, de Villiers, du Plessis, Elgar, Tahir, Kallis, Kleinveldt, Morkel, A.Petersen, R.Petersen, Philander, Rudolph, Steyn

Pakistan: Misbah ul-Haq (c), Abdur Rehman, Asad Shafiq, Azhar Ali, Eshan Adil, Faisal Iqbal, Haris Sohail, Junaid Khan, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Irfan, Nasir Jamshed, Rahat Ali, Saeed Ajmal, Sarfraz Ahmed, Tanvir Ahmed, Taufeeq Umar, Umar Gul, Younis Khan


Fixtures
1st Test: 1st February - 5th February @ New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg
2nd Test: 14th February - 18th February @ Newlands, Cape Town
3rd Test: 22nd February - 26th February @ SuperSport Park, Centurion


Ultimately for fans of live world cricket, let's hope for an awesome high-quality test series!

Australia VS West Indies ODI Series starts today!

On the back of a tour from Sri Lanka, a third nation for the summer comes to Australia, this time - the West Indies for a limited over series. The teams will play in 5 ODI matches, as well a one-off T20 International.

Both sides have had indifferent ODI form over recent months. Australia drew 2-2 with Sri Lanka and were lucky not to go down 3-1 in Sydney in the 4th match. With constant shuffling of players it was hard to gain a solid team chemistry. That is not going to improve much in these matches with reports that several players will be flown to India midway through the series. This could include Phil Hughes, David Warner (who is actually injured at the moment), Mitchell Starc and wicket-keeper David Warner. Meanwhile for the West Indies their last ODI series was against Bangladesh which they lost 3-2. They will want to perform to a better standard against the Australians, as otherwise they might find themselves in some trouble. Australia is currently ranked 3rd in ODI cricket, while the West Indies languish in 7th. Many media commentators have been mentioning West Indies' T20 World Cup win as a limited overs formstick, but so far the Windies' T20 form has yet to translate to the 50 over game.

These two sides actually played each other in a bilateral ODI series only last year in the West Indies. The series was closely fought and ended up being drawn 2-2. Nonetheless the previous time they played in Australia was in February 2010 where Australia won 4-0. West Indies would hope to put a good fight in this series and should be aiming to win. Meanwhile the aussies will be looking to show some much needed consistency which was lacking in the previous series against Sri Lanka.

Interest in this series is hard to find though in Australia, with most eyes looking ahead to the India tour. It seems that these West Indies matches have just been tacked on to a summer for no apparent reason. The local broadcaster Channel 9 have been trying to drum up interest with advertisements highlighting the West Indies of 'old' mentioning names such as Lara, Holding and Ambrose. To be honest it really is a desperate plea to the public. Hopefully though some good crowds can come out to these matches, with the 3rd match in Canberra to be special, with it being the first time the Australian cricket team has played an international cricket match in the nation's capital. The redeveloped Manuka Oval should look awesome under the new floodlights.

Squads:

Australia (ODI 1-2): Clarke (c), Bailey, Cutting, Doherty, Faulkner, Finch, Hughes, Johnson, Khawaja, McKay, Maxwell, Starc, Wade

West Indies: Sammy (c), Dwayne Bravo (vc), Best, Darren Bravo, Charles, Deonarine, Gayle, Holder, Narine, Pollard, Powell, Roach, Russell, Sarwan, Thomas

Special mention has to go to Ramnaresh Sarwan who has been recalled to the West Indies team after an absence of 19 months. He gets his opportunity after the unfortunate injury to Marlon Samuels in the Big Bash League. For Australia Warner is out of the first two matches after injuring his hand, which means Usman Khawaja gets another chance to cement his spot. David Hussey it out, while James Faulkner gets his chance after an impressive showing for the PM's XI a couple of days ago.

Fixtures:
Friday 1st February: ODI #1 @ WACA, Perth
Sunday 3rd Feburary: ODI #2 @ WACA, Perth
Wednesday 6th February: ODI #3 @ Manuka Oval, Canberra
Friday 8th February: ODI #4 @ SCG, Sydney
Sunday 10th February: ODI #5 @ MCG, Melbourne