A senior official of the Canadian Cricket Association has denied accusations that the pitch being prepared for the Intercontinental Cup tie between Canada and Bermuda at Sunnybrook, Toronto will in any way be substandard.Several individuals contacted us in recent days to voice their concerns that the grass pitch at Sunnybrook will not be adequate for a first-class match, pointing out that preparations started too late on a ground where there have been no matches played on anything other than artificial surfaces since 2001.But speaking to Dave Liverman of the canadacricket.com website, Ron Aldridge, a long time volunteer and supporter of Canadian cricket and chair of the successful ICC organising committee, explained that the situation was not as portrayed.Aldridge denied that the move to Sunnybrook was made as late as last week, insisting that the original intention to play the game at the Toronto Cricket Skating and Curling Club (TCSCC) had been scrapped because of the financial demands of the TCSCC. He said that the TCSCC had been approached in April, although a source close to the club remained adamant that no formal approach had been made until the end of July.Two other alternatives with decent grass pitches – King City and Ajax – were dismissed by the CCA as King City’s wickets were said to be in a poor condition after a harsh winter, and Ajax had had little cricket played on grass and there was thought to be insufficient time to prepare a wicket.As a result, Aldridge said that pitches had been prepared at Sunnybrook and Ross Lord (the latter as a back-up) but that he was confident that the playing surface would be ready for the game starting on August 13. He added that many of the criticisms levelled at the state of the pitch were incorrect. He also explained that there would be adequate facilities available on the ground.For the sake of Canadian cricket it has to be hoped that Aldridge is right, although this venture still appears to be a considerable gamble.Click here for the full canadacricket.com report.

Mumbai 150 for 4 (Muzumdar 50*) trail Australians 302 for 7 dec (Martyn 71 retired, Hayden 67) by 152 runs
Scorecard

Damien Martyn’s 71 shone bright on a scorching second day of the Australians’ tour opener in Mumbai. Adam Gilchrist also gained some valuable batting practice, although in a sedate manner, before declaring the innings at 302 for 7. Mumbai had reached 150 for 4 by the close, mainly due to the impetus provided by Wasim Jaffer and Amol Muzumdar.Martyn’s innings brought a more relaxed air to the day’s play, unlike the shock-factor that Hayden induced yesterday. Relying on assured footwork and lithe wrists, Martyn nudged it around and, along with Brad Hodge, took the score past 200. Hodge, broad-shouldered and punching forcefully, didn’t face too many problems either and even creamed Ramesh Powar for two successive fours in the 14th over of the day – one off either foot and both through the extra-cover region. However, he was undone by the final ball of the same over. Some extra bounce forced him to prod towards the on side and Vinit Indulkar completed a simple catch at short leg (206 for 4).Michael Clarke was bubbling from the moment he walked out, until the silly mid-off fielder made him look … silly. Clarke got right to the pitch of the ball to block Nilesh Kulkarni, but his back foot was just out of the crease and Indulkar’s quick flick hit the stumps (227 for 5). Martyn then retired so that the lower order could get a hit, but Shane Watson muffed his chance with a golden duck. Expecting the ball to turn away, he shouldered arms to Kulkarni and was given out lbw (248 for 6).Gilchrist chose not to bat in top gear and knocked it around the infield. There were two straight sixes and a few bludgeoning sweeps in his 76-ball 42, and he was assured in his footwork against the spinners. The same couldn’t be said of Brett Lee, who had his fair share of problems against the three-pronged spin attack. He finally fell poking at an offbreak from Powar, handing Indulkar another easy catch at short leg to prompt the declaration.Mumbai’s reply was sluggish to begin with – the first four came in the 17th over – as Glenn McGrath bowled his usual metronomic line and length. Vinayak Mane fell to the first forceful shot that he attempted, to a short one from McGrath, as his mistimed pull resulted in a simple catch to Cameron White at square leg (6 for 1). Indulkar survived a couple of confident appeals for lbw against McGrath before his scratchy knock ended when he was trapped in front by Nathan Hauritz, the offspinner.Jaffer was much more composed, and bided his time against the fast bowlers. Though the boundaries were tough to find, he managed to pierce the field repeatedly and gradually grew in confidence against Lee and McGrath. The shackles were broken once the spinners came on, as Hauritz was greeted with two successive fours from his first two balls of the game as one’s mind went back to so many spinners who have been welcomed in a similar fashion in the past by Indian batsmen. Jaffer fell just two short of his fifty, inevitably to McGrath’s accuracy, as an incutter thudded into his pads and trapped him in front.Muzumdar also cashed in on the number of spinners that Gilchrist experimented with – Clarke, Simon Katich and Hodge – and chalked up his 50 in 92 balls. His partnership with Vinod Kambli at the end of the day contained some entertaining strokeplay as the Australians juggled their bowlers around, shifting the ends from which they were bowling while also interchanging between over and round the wicket.Lee tested out both batsmen with a few short ones and nearly had Muzumdar lbw with a swinging yorker late in the day. Watson had his moment of celebration on the point of stumps, as he trapped Kambli lbw. Kambli, though, was less impressed by the decision, and walked off steaming with rage, as if taking a cue from the weather all day.

A flaw in the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) player contract has allowed Muttiah Muralitharan to go scot free from being handed out a stern punishment. When the SLC Executive Committee met on Tuesday to take up the issue of whether Muralitharan had flouted his contract by speaking to the media without prior permission, they ran into a snag.It was discovered that the player’s contract did not specifically mention any course of action or warning to the player if he violated its clause. What it said was that a player should first obtain permission from SLC before expressing his views to the media. In this regard SLC were helpless to initiate any course of action against Muralitharan.”We got a lawyer to go through the contract before we took any action. The contract was very vague. So we decided against taking any course of action,” said SLC president Mohan de Silva.De Silva said that SLC would caution Muralitharan and remind him to comply with his commitments with SLC in the future. De Silva said that the necessary amendments would be made to the contracts when they come up for renewal in February next year.Muralitharan is one of ten players contracted with SLC on a yearly basis. He got himself into troubled waters when he aired his views on the International Cricket Council (ICC) cricket committee’s recommended increase of tolerance level to an Australian radio station. The ICC committee decided to raise the level to 15 degrees for all bowlers which automatically allowed Muralitharan to bowl his currently banned ‘doosra’ delivery.The station quoted Muralitharan of accusing Australian fast bowlers Glenn McGrath, Brett Lee and Jason Gillespie as ‘chuckers’, an allegation which the Sri Lankan spinner has denied saying his comments had been misinterpreted.This statement the SLC accepted after Muralitharan had written to them explaining his side of the story. Muralitharan with 532 Test wickets is chasing Shane Warne’s world record of 549 wickets. He is currently in Melbourne with his surgeon Dr David Young who will decide when he can turn his bowling arm over after it had undergone an operation to remove a cyst which was causing him a lot of pain. Muralitharan has been out of cricket since pulling out of the second Test against South Africa at the SSC on August 11. He is hopeful that he can make a come back to international by January next year in time for the second Test against New Zealand. But everything depends on the outcome of his meeting with Dr Young.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

Australia narrowly survived hurricanes from Chris Cairns and Kyle Mills and another terrible middle-order collapse to draw level in the Chappell-Hadlee Series at Sydney. Knowing New Zealand could steal the series before the final match at Brisbane on Friday, Australia produced a stronger defence than at the Telstra Dome, but were again stung by late resistance.New Zealand required the highest score in a run-chase for a one-day international at the SCG and were in reasonable shape until Brad Hogg claimed the important breakthroughs of Stephen Fleming and Jacob Oram as their middle-order folded. A bright partnership between Cairns and Brendon McCullum, who fell leg-before despite a thick edge, lifted their spirits and they rose higher as Mills hit out. But their brave challenge ended 17 runs short when Glenn McGrath bowled the injured Chris Harris.Arriving in desperate danger at 5 for 84, Cairns launched a stinging counter-attack that included two huge sixes off Hogg and Darren Lehmann. As long as Cairns stayed his side was a chance of winning. He raised his half-century from 39 balls, but departed immediately after to a skied catch to McGrath and victory was being celebrated in the 35th over (7 for 154).Harris, who dislocated his right shoulder and tore a rotator cuff while fielding in his 250th one-day international, was sitting in the dressing-room with his arm in a sling and the danger seemed to have passed. Mills had his own ideas and walloped four sixes to cut the target down to a run-a-ball with six overs remaining. Harris wandered out with his runner Hamish Marshall and Australia sweated for nine more balls.

It was an amazing match for power hitting, with Mills’s 44 from 26 pushing Cairns’s knock to the third most exciting of the day. Adam Gilchrist had set off another fireworks exhibition after making 68 under the Telstra Dome roof and deposited short balls to the point and square-leg boundaries. Gilchrist really exploded in a three-over onslaught of eight fours and one six as the Kiwi bowlers went for 14, 19 and 11 in successive overs; Matthew Hayden contributed a single in that time.Cairns was called to stop the flood of runs, but Gilchrist treated him the same way as Mills and Oram, blasting his fourth ball for six over square leg to bring up a 37-ball half-century. Like any good fireworks display, Gilchrist’s innings of 60 from 47 deliveries was over while a sparse crowd still wanted more.Australia were desperate for an extra boost after 26 overs when they had lost 4 for 8 to be 5 for 148, giving up a spectacular beginning in eerily similar fashion to Melbourne. Mills, returning from an early thrashing, picked up Ricky Ponting with a slower ball, and trapped Damien Martyn leg-before, while Daniel Vettori, who ended with 1 for 36 off 10 controlled overs, dismissed Andrew Symonds for his second consecutive duck.Again Australia looked like reaching 300 comfortably, and again Lehmann began the rebuilding process. His 74-run partnership with Brad Hogg, whose valuable support collected 41, gave the innings a second wind and he finished with his second one-day half-century in a row.Having watched their opponents waste a strong position, New Zealand then copied them. Fleming won an entertaining early battle with Brett Lee but attacked Hogg’s first delivery and was given out by the umpire Peter Parker when hit on the front pad (4 for 78).Mathew Sinclair and Fleming appeared settled before New Zealand lost two wickets in as many overs. Jason Gillespie tempted an edge from Sinclair with a short ball and Hayden took a sharp catch to his left at first slip, while Scott Styris was lbw to the medium-pace of Symonds, although he appeared to get an inside edge (3 for 68). Hogg then turned things further Australia’s way to finish with three wickets and the Man-of-the-Match award.

Scorecard

Craig McMillan shone with both bat and ball as Canterbury began their campaign with a five-wicket win over Otago at Molyneux Park in Alexandra. McMillan celebrated his promotion to the captaincy by taking 2 for 20 from his seven overs before an inspirational 113 not out that steered his side to a last-over victory.Otago started well with Craig Cumming and Chris Gaffaney putting on 87 for the first wicket. Gaffaney, a free-flowing batsman with 78 one-day appearances, has struggled to convert starts into big scores and while he achieved his ninth half-century, he wasn’t able to improve on his best score of 79 when dismissed for 55.His departure at 137 was in the middle of a top-order slump which undid much of the good work that had been done earlier. The Otago batsmen had a dreadful time with their running between the wickets, five batsmen being run out, muchof it being their own fault.Fortunately the lower-order managed to regain some of the scoring momentum and while only Brad Scott with 30 off 42 balls threatened to set the world on fire, Otago were able to make the last over in which the last run out occurredwith the total on 247.Canterbury were given a solid start of 59 by Michael Papps and Tim McIntosh. McIntosh had been in poor form in the State Championship but he scored a tidy 74 during a 123-run third wicket stand with McMillan. McMillan took centerstage after that and played the sheet-anchor role to perfection.Things got a little tight in the run chase with 16 off the last two overs. But in the penultimate over Jeff Wilson conceded 12 and Paul Wiseman took four off the first ball of the last over to seal the win.
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Northern Districts were rocked at the start of their innings at the Basin Reserve when asked to bat first by Wellington, but the strong middle order halted the rot in fine style. James Marshall, the captain, and Matt Hart each scored 67 – Marshall at just under a run-a-ball while Hart played thesteadier hand in his 112-minute innings.After they had fashioned the recovery, Joseph Yovich steadied the lower order while scoring 52, his fourth one-day half-century before he was run out in the last over. Wellington’s Jayesh Patel’s offspin proved highly effective under the conditions as he took 2 for 37 from his 10 overs. By comparison, Mark Gillespie finished with 2 for 67.Needing 263 to win, Wellington made a bad start when Michael Parlane and Jesse Ryder, both big hitters, were back in the pavilion with only 10 on the board. It was left to Chris Nevin to provide the impetus with a fine innings of 90 off 102. It was Luke Woodcock, the No.7 batsman, who finally provided some substance to the Wellington chase with 71 off 91 balls but he got out the ball after hitting a six as he attempted to repeat the shot only to be caught on theboundary.Mark Orchard was the pick of the ND bowlers and he finished with 4 for 47. Ian Butler claimed 3 for 42 and justified the selectors decision to give him a match to gear up for the second ODI against Sri Lanka on Wednesday.
Scorecard
The Auckland batsmen found the Fitzherbert Park pitch at Palmerston North a little too lively when they were asked to bat first against Central Districts. It took a guarded innings of 34 by Tama Canning and a more attacking 34 by Andre Adams to overcome the home attack. Rob Nicol hit 24 to recover thesituation from a poor start but Auckland were up against it, especially in the face of some fine bowling by Michael Mason.Mason, the medium pacer, who has been on the fringe of national selection, made the most of the conditions and finished with 4 for 23 from his 9.5 overs. Glen Sulzberger’s offspin also produced 2 for 35 at a time when Auckland were looking to blast their way out of trouble.CD also struggled in the initial stages of their chase but a fine unbroken fifth-wicket stand of 89 between Sulzberger and Bevan Griggs saw them home with plenty to spare. They also managed a bonus point from the thumping win.Sulzberger scored 66 not out off 87 balls while Griggs scored 27 off 44.

Western Province Boland 242 and 371 for 7 beat Eagles 222 and 278 (Beukes 89, van Wyk 64, Kleinveldt 3-59, de Lange 3-62) by 113 runs
ScorecardWestern Province Boland beat the Eagles by 113 runs at Goodyear Park inBloemfontein to jump right back into contention for the SuperSport Series.Starting on Sunday at 89 for 3 the Eagles needed a further 303 runs towin. Jonathan Beukes and Morne van Wyk got them off to the perfect start, putting on 126 for the fourth wicket before van Wyk was caught behind off Conde Lange for 64. Eight overs later Beukes also edged de Lange to Andrew Puttick for a well-made 89. Loots Bosman tried to keep the target in sight with a quick 32, but the fall of three quick wickets left the Eagles in dire straits. At 244 for 8 it looked all over but Cliff Deacon and Roger Telemachus put their heads down, and took the score on to 277. But Telemachus was soon bowled by Charl Willoughby for 13, just one run short of scoring his 1000th first-class run. The end came when Victor Mpitsang was run out without scoring, leaving Deacon stranded on 33 and the Eagles all out for 278.Titans 213 and 325 for 7 dec (de Bruyn 149, Ngam 3-50) drew withDolphins 294 and 8 for 0
ScorecardThe Dolphins and the Titans played out to a tame draw at Kingsmead thanks to time being lost each day due to bad light and a magnificent match-saving innings of 149 for the Titans by Zander de Bruyn.de Bruyn’s innings lasted exactly seven hours and ensured that the Titans could not lose the game. When the declaration came at 325 the lead was 244 with the Dolphins in no position to chase. At 8 for no loss the light was offered and accepted, and the match was drawn.Warriors 217 and 236 for 8 (Peterson 65, Sodumo 55, Langeveldt 3-61) beat Lions 175 for 9 dec and 277 for 9 dec by 2 wickets
ScorecardThe Warriors nearly made a mess of chasing the 236 set by the Lions at St George’s Park in Port Elizabeth but eventually claimed their first win of the season by a two-wicket margin. The chase did not start off too well as the Warriors lost five wickets for 55 before Robin Peterson and Abongile Sodumo got the innings back on track as they put on 107 for the sixth wicket before Peterson was bowled by Derek Crookes for 65.Sodumo followed on 214, having scored a valuable 55, as he played the anchor for a swinging Tyron Henderson. In trying to go for glory Henderson put his team at danger as he flashed and edged to the keeper after smashing 51 off 29 balls, leaving the Warriors at 227 for 8. In the end it was left to Monde Zondeki to take the Warriors to their first win of the season.

Zimbabweans 232 for 3 (Rogers 42, Masakadza 103*, Taylor 41*) beat Gauteng/ North West XI 229 for 7 (Snijman 97, Motaung 52, Rogers 3-38) by seven wickets
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The Zimbabweans recovered from an ordinary start to their tour of South Africa to inflict a comprehensive seven-wicket defeat on a combined Gauteng & North West XI at Sedgars Park in Potchefstroom.The Zimbabweans restricted the combined team to 229 for 7 after they had made a good start, and then knocked off the runs with 5.5 overs to spare, with Hamilton Masakadza starring with an undefeated century. Masakadza reached his century and won the match with his 11th four – smashing Gerhard de Bruin to the midwicket boundary. He also hit a six, and shared an unbeaten partnership of 133 with Brendan Taylor, after Barney Rogers had provided a lightning start, slamming 42 from 41 balls with eight fours, four of them off successive balls from the suffering de Bruin.Although Stuart Matiskenyeri made only 12 and Alester Maregwede 10 before both were caught behind, the Zimbabweans were never in much trouble.It was rather different at the start, though, when the Zimbabweans – who won the toss and decided to bowl first – were subjected to a display of classy strokemaking from the 19-year-old Gauteng opener Blake Snijman, who hit nine fours in his 97. The combined XI rattled along to 143 for 0 by the 33rd over, before Zimbabwe finally made a breakthrough, as William Motaung lofted Gavin Ewing into the hands of backward square leg for 52.But after that, Zimbabwe rushed back into the game, as a succession of middle-order batsmen came and went in a hurry. On 2, Mohammad Akoojee clipped Ewing into the air on the leg side, where Tatenda Taibu took a tumbling catch (147 for 2), and five overs later Snijman’s innings was spectacularly ended by Matsikenyeri, who took a blinding catch at midwicket (167 for 3).Four balls later and the fightback was complete, as Juan le Roux cut at a wide one from Matsikenyeri and was well held in the gully by Taylor. Three more wickets fell in a helter-skelter final ten overs, in which Richard Stroh and Matthew Harris smacked a six apiece to keep the combined XI on course for a decent total.But Rogers started the reply with a bang, and Masakadza, who recently came down from university in South Africa, relished his return.

Shaun Pollock has failed to recover from a long-term ankle injury, and will not participate in the second one-day international against Zimbabwe in Durban on Sunday. Pollock, who also missed the first match at The Wanderers, is likely to be replaced by Charl Langeveldt.”It’s an opportunity to give Shaun more time to recover, and to bring back Charl after his injury,” Gerald De Kock, South Africa’s media manager told Reuters. He also said that South Africa can rest Graeme Smith, the captain, for the next game and Makhaya Ntini for the third one-dayer in Port Elizabeth.Langeveldt, who had fractured his hand in the Cape Town Test against England, will be back in the side after making an impressive Test debut. He played an important role in South Africa’s win in the third Test at Cape Town.South Africa won the first match by 165 runs and lead the three-match series 1-0.

Bobby Refaie has reacted to the decision at the weekend to suspend him as secretary of the USA Cricket Association with a stinging attack on Gladstone Dainty, the USACA’s president, as well as a refusal to accept the action. If the USACA is trying to show the world just how divided and bitter it has become ahead of this week’s crucial ICC meeting, it could not have done a better job.In a move Refaie claimed was a thinly-disguised attempt to influence the elections, Dainty announced on Sunday that the executive had suspended Refaie and three candidates in the board’s elections.In an e-mail to Dainty, Refaie made his position quite clear. “I know that you are a desperate man,” he wrote, “however I am surprised about your ignorance after receiving your e-mail regarding my suspension. It is quite obvious again that you have not cared to read the constitution because you have no intentions of following it.”In the end it is pitiful that you have orchestrated this shameless act and you have been a party to such unconstitutional actions. It shows the sorry state of affairs that USACA is currently in, due to your leadership.”Just in case this had been missed by the ICC, Chai Gadde, a USACA vice-president, wrote to Matthew Kennedy, the ICC’s global development officer, insisting that Dainty’s action was unconstitutional. He stated: “Please be advised that Gladstone’s e-mail, or the so called board’s decision, is arbitrary and is unconstitutional, as the board’s term expired as of January 2005 (as per the USACA constitution) and they cannot pass any resolution, especially when they have a conflict.” The mail concluded with a request for the ICC to investigate “illegal actions and mishandling of the electoral process.”But Dainty told Cricinfo that the meeting did have seven directors present and the intention had been to hold it earlier but that had been blocked by some directors who had insisted on the requisite 14-days notice being given. “Decisions made were consistent with the board’s desire to conduct fair elections,” Dainty explained. “What is most important to us is the rights of individuals. It is the law.”All these events do is tend to confirm that the ICC was right to suspend Project USA and that Malcolm Speed’s criticism of the USACA executive hit the nail on the head. Once again, the only losers are likely to be the grassroots players and supporters inside the US.

Your body language looked really different in the preand post-match press conferences at the Kolkata Test. It seemed like it was a big relief for you to win.
Yeah, it is. As captain you go through these periods. Especially when you’re playing such a big series in a country where fortunes go up or down in the space of one or two games. So it probably does affect the mood of the person leading the side.Before the Kolkata Test you had Ranadeb Bose and Shib Sankar Paul come in and bowl to you. You had extra net sessions …
I just have a belief that if I work hard I will succeed. It’s worked for me over the last ten years. It’s worked even more off late, though I have not scored runs in the first two matches of this series. But in the last three or four years I have been pretty consistent. In England, Australia, the West Indies or the World Cup … wherever, I’ve been pretty consistent. I have a little routine that I stick to. I firmly believe that if I work hard and put in the effort it cannot go waste. It’s just that I didn’t get runs in the first Test, so I thought I’d put in a bit extra in the nets, get some more training in, before the second Test.You’ve bounced back from slumps before. The Brisbane innings was one of your best. How do you bounce back from a slump?
I think the last time I was in a bit of a slump was in 2001. That was around the time we won that famous series against Australia. After that I thought I did pretty consistently – 2002, 2003, 2004 – I don’t see this is a slump. It is just one or two innings where I haven’t got runs. I don’t think you can call this a slump. A slump is when it lasts six or seven months. It’s just a question of two or three innings, and as a batsman you’re trying to put in a bit of extra effort and get some runs.

It’s hard to be captain and batsman, isn’t it? What’s your strength as a batsman?
I think it’s hard to be captain and batsman. It’s the same for anyone who has to do the job. My biggest strength is confidence. I’m not as technically correct as a Dravid or Tendulkar or Jacques Kallis or whoever … but everybody has his strengths and weaknesses. My strength is my confidence and belief in my ability, and the manner in which I back myself.You’re under a bit of pressure now. How do you deal with it?
I don’t think I’m under any pressure. Obviously there will be criticism when you don’t score runs. It’s bound to happen in cricket. That’s something you have to accept – it’s part and parcel of professional sport. At the same time when I get a hundred, I get applauded. But I don’t think I’m under any external pressure. Obviously you’re expected to perform day-in and day-out in international cricket. When you go through two or three innings without runs it’s always going to happen that you are under pressure because of the expectations of you. I don’t think I’m under pressure of anything else. It’s just that I need to score.The opposition tends to attack the captain. Shahid Afridi bowled a bouncer to you first-up in the last Test …
He bowled a faster one that was down the leg and called wide. But, how will Afridi bowl a bouncer? This bouncer thing is crap. I’ve been playing for ten years now. You want me to believe that all these years people have not bowled bouncers to me and they’re doing it now? Going to Australia, Pakistan, West Indies … even in one-day cricket the bouncer is allowed. People don’t bowl bouncers to me? Obviously I’m not a great hooker or puller. Take the last Test match. It’s just that I played a poor shot. It’s not the short ball, it’s the shot selection that’s a problem.Four years and more is a long time as captain. Does that take a bit out of you?
It does take a bit out of you. But I’m fortunate enough to lead a side that has done wonderfully. We’ve gone to Pakistan and beaten them and if we can win this series that will be two in a row. The way we played in the World Cup, the way we played in Australia … the only team we’ve lost to is Australia and that too 2-1. It’s been hard, but I’ve enjoyed it because of the success that we’ve had.Not too long ago the press and the public were talking about how you were the captain that stood up to the best in the world. That you were a captain who backed youngsters and built a team. But now people seem to have forgotten that.
I don’t think so. I think that’s just a perception some people have. That’s what I personally feel, although some people might think otherwise. There is always a lot of negative talk that goes around in cricket. People do this either to get attention or sensationalise things. It’s not the journalists. It’s mostly the unsuccessful ones [former cricketers turned experts] who do this. Somebody with 15,000 international runs and 33 hundreds cannot be useless.Have you changed? As a captain, or as a player?
I don’t think I have changed as a captain. But I have changed as a batsman, because people have bowled differently to me. I think every batsman changes. Whatever people might say, I think I have played much better in the last three years than what I did when I started my Test career. People might not agree with me, but that’s how I feel.What’s the diagnosis? Is there a big innings around the corner somewhere?
I think there’s a big one around the corner. I always do. That’s what keeps me going. I think that’s what keeps all cricketers going. If after two or three failures you think you are finished, you won’t get far. All along, whenever I’ve played cricket, I’ve always believed there’s a big one around the corner. That’s just how I am.