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Adam Gilchrist, the former Australian wicketkeeper-batsman, has said that mind games in Twenty20 cricket are on par with Test cricket and believes the format is not given its due credit.”The mind games that go on in Twenty20 are on par with any cricket that I have played, be it Test cricket. The challenge between the bowler and the batter is almost like a game of poker where the two guys are staring at each other and the first one to blink is the one that out,” he said. “There are so many questions in your mind; should you go hard on this ball, do you wait a bit? I am sure it’s the same with the bowler. Do I want to pump in, do I bowl the yorker, or defensively or attack him?”The reason I think this format is at par with Test cricket is because the mental pressure comes in as there is very little time to rectify an error. Test cricket one has five days to turn things around but here one wrong decision can prove costly.”Former players like Martin Crowe have said that Twenty20 cricket has already given the 50-over game an identity crisis. Though he believes 50-over cricket should stay, Gilchrist said it has to evolve to survive.”I do not know where 50-over cricket will land up. Twenty20 cricket came up due to the saturation of 50-over cricket. We do not want to saturate Twenty20 cricket. Cricket is a game that can mutate without losing its basic nature. We tried six-a-side and eight-a-side but that’s changing the basics of the game too much.”Gilchrist reiterated that for him Test cricket is the biggest form of game but that he has transformed from a reluctant Twenty20 player to being a fan. “It is a skillful game. I am a firm believer in Test cricket, and that for me, as the phrase goes, proper cricket,” he said. “But I don’t think Twenty20 is mickey mouse cricket either. It has continued to impress me due to how mentally strong one needs to be.”After a slow start, the IPL sprung into action with two close games yesterday. Both games hurtled towards an exciting finish, with one game even ending with a Super Over. Today, in Durban, where the crowd turnout has been poor so far, there was the biggest crowd for the Bangalore Royal Challenger v Kings XI Punjab game. The IPL is slowly coming alive.

Warren Deutrom, the chief executive of Cricket Ireland (CI), has launched a stinging attack on the ICC and the way it handles cricket below Test level.The ICC has sunk millions of pounds into Associate and Affiliate cricket, and established several global competitions, but speaking to the Wisden Cricketer, Deutrom was unimpressed.”What is the point of Associate cricket?” he said. “Ireland has proved itself head and shoulders above the rest of the Associate nations, winning all the available titles in every form of the game – four-day, 50-over and Twenty20. Yet we are bumping up against a glass ceiling. What does the ICC want us to do? How do we get from high-performance programme to the higher echelons of the world game? There is no road map for us. The issue brings to question the whole mission statement of the ICC High Performance programme: what is it preparing teams for?”Deutrom has made no secret of his ambition to see Ireland play Test cricket, but he admitted there was little prospect of that happening in the near future. And, without that goal, he concluded, what was the point of the Associate merry-go-round?”Three or four years from now there will be no new entrants in to the cosy club of full Test members. That is a significant frustration. It shows that despite the massive investment in the Associate programme, costing over £200 million over seven years, there is no stepping stone from No.1 of the Associate countries, into the Test world.”Inclusion in the Future Tours programme gives guaranteed fixtures, which allows the CI board to put together a commercial package with some certainty. This makes it interesting for broadcasters, and then sponsors, ticketing and hospitality. Currently, we don’t know what next year’s fixtures are going to be. We are not saying that Ireland deserves to be a Test nation tomorrow but what steps do we need to take to get there?”In a separate conversation, Deutrom told Cricinfo: “We are all aware that there is no established pathway to Test cricket for Associates, and ascension to the Full Member ranks by (for example) Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and Bangladesh appears to have happened rather haphazardly. For me, having top Associates playing the bottom-ranked Test teams is pure common sense and the first step in breaching the glass ceiling separating the Full Member and Associate world.”

India and Pakistan’s eagerly anticipation clash at The Oval tomorrow has been designated as a “Catch the Spirit” match by the ICC, a fundraiser to help support families of the victims of the attack on the Sri Lanka team and officials in Lahore in March.Funds raised through a variety of initiatives during the match will also support the Peace and Sport projects across Asia.”The Board wanted to do something to assist the families of the victims of the terror attacks on the Sri Lanka team and match officials in March, and using this high-profile match with a sell-out crowd as a vehicle to do that makes excellent sense,” said David Morgan, the ICC president.

“‘Catch the Spirit’ is one of the themes of the ICC’s ongoing centenary year of 2009 and it highlights the respect with which the game is played around the world. We are extremely grateful to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and the hosts, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and Surrey County Cricket Club, for allowing the match to take place under this banner.””We hope this match, watched by millions both at the ground and around the world will portray cricket in a positive light, make a positive contribution to the lives of those affected by those terrible events in March and contribute to assisting community-based projects across the Asian subcontinent that promote peace through cricket.”Ijaz Butt, the PCB’s chairman, added: “The attack in Lahore was a terrible shock and we have immense sympathy for all those who were affected by the incident.”The PCB provided support to the families of the victims immediately after the attack and it is encouraging to see the rest of the cricket world coming together in this way.”Details of how spectators and companies can contribute to the initiative will be announced during the match.

Javagal Srinath, the former India fast bowler, has rubbished suggestions that the ODI series between India and West Indies is a meaningless encounter, saying it’s one of “high significance”. India’s decision to play four ODIs has been criticised because it comes at the end of a long and hard season.Srinath, however, counted the positives. “It’s good India are playing a series as soon as this after their debacle in the World Twenty20,” he told Cricinfo. “It will help them kill the demons, especially those raised by the media. This has been such a good team in recent times. They had set such a high standard; they haven’t lost many ODI series. They stumbled a bit in the World Twenty20 but I am not going to make a big deal of it. I am sure they will do well. On paper, India should win.”India are missing the services of Zaheer Khan and their fast-bowling attack comprises Ishant Sharma, Ashish Nehra, making a comeback after four years, Praveen Kumar and RP Singh. Ishant struggled a touch in IPL and the World Twenty20, Praveen battled with injury problems during the IPL and didn’t get a game in England, and RP Singh was not a regular in the World Twenty20. Srinath, however, believes they will be a potent unit.”Ishant will be the leader of the pack in Zaheer’s absence. Yes, he didn’t have a great time in the IPL and in the World Twenty20 but this is a great platform for him to make amends. And look, he has not done well only in terms of the huge expectations of him. This is 50-over cricket now and I expect him to do well. He will be better off for having played in the IPL and the World Twenty20, more aware of the areas to improve.”India, he said, will miss Zaheer but that’s why he reckons Nehra to be a great pick. “His experience will help fill the gap. I was impressed with how well he bowled in the IPL, even in pressure situations. He showed lots of energy and he has the skill to step in if Ishant doesn’t do too well. His motivation levels must be pretty high; he is making a comeback after four years and I see him delivering from ball one. He is going to be an asset in this one-day team – Nehra is capable of taking that extra responsibility.”The third seamer’s spot, he said, will be tough to pick between RP Singh and Praveen Kumar.West Indies enjoyed some success against India in the World Twenty20 by deploying a bouncer strategy and Srinath reckons they will try to repeat it. “The pitches and the absence of Fidel Edwards will be handicaps and it might not work but it won’t deter them from trying it.”Srinath – currently an ICC match referee – believes the pitches will be on the slower side but there will be a bit of moisture which will make the ball do something early on. “It will be a touch slow and low but I am expecting good batting tracks. There is bound to be some moisture and it might do a bit early on but let’s just wait and see.”

Lucy Doolan, the New Zealand allrounder, has signed as the overseas player for Essex for the rest of the women’s county season.Doolan, 21, has been playing club cricket in England after the completion of the World Twenty20 last month, where New Zealand reached the finals.”I am confident that the women’s county scene will be the richer for Lucy being involved,” Wellington coach Mark Borthwick said, “and I am hopeful that other women who play the game in New Zealand will see this as an opportunity to engage in off-season playing experiences just like their male counterparts do.”Doolan has played 16 ODIs, scoring 227 runs at 28.37 and has also bagged 17 wickets, and is expected to make her Essex debut against Middlesex on August 2.

Brad Haddin, Australia’s first-choice wicketkeeper, arrived in England for the Ashes as “the guy who replaced Adam Gilchrist”. His understudy, Graham Manou, could have crept through the tour without being recognised by anyone outside the team had he not done so well during the Edgbaston Test after Haddin broke a finger.When Manou hurt his hand at the end of that game it later resulted in Chris Hartley, the Queensland gloveman, stepping in for the tour game at Canterbury. On Friday, Australia will use their fourth specialist wicketkeeper when Tim Paine, a Tasmanian, makes his one-day international debut against Scotland in Edinburgh.The constant trials are being employed for two reasons: Haddin is back home with a broken left ring finger, and the selectors want to find the second-best gloveman in the Test and limited-overs arenas. Manou’s silky skills won him a baggy green while Paine, who is 24, is being examined for broader duties in the future. In three weeks Paine should have appeared in eight ODIs and two Twenty20s. By then the team’s decision makers will know if he can make it.”It’s not ideal for Brad or Australian cricket, but I hope to do as well as I can in the ODIs,” Paine said. “Obviously I’m very excited.”His call-up earlier in the month was a shock – “I thought I was nowhere near in the mix” – but by the fifth Ashes Test he was the official back-up for Haddin. It wasn’t the best week to choose to join the Australians for the first time, with the side handing over the Ashes at The Oval, but it didn’t diminish the experience. “It helped me to relax and I’m ready to play,” he said, having assisted in the dressing room and gained some international tips.Paine, who will become Tasmania’s first international wicketkeeper since Roger Woolley in the 1980s,, is really only famous at the Bellerive Oval, the home ground of his state team. He impressed during a decorated junior career that included being captain of the Under-19 World Cup side in 2004 and spent three years at the Centre of Excellence in Brisbane.Since then he has seen off Sean Clingeleffer to take the main state job and moved a step closer to national selection with a century during Australia A’s series in Queensland during his winter. He did that while opening the batting and may be tested at the top of the order once he settles in the side. In 31 first-class games he has an average of 30.98, with a high of 215 against Western Australia in 2006-07, and has scored at a strike-rate of 66 runs per 100 balls in 42 one-day matches.With the Tigers he hones his skills against the fast men Ben Hilfenhaus and Brett Geeves and has improved his keeping against the slow bowlers since Jason Krejza arrived from New South Wales. While modern-day glovemen must be wicketkeeper-batsmen, Paine’s choice of idols when he was growing up shows how important he views his craft. His favourite was not Gilchrist, but Ian Healy, a fanatical technician with claims on having the country’s cleanest pair of hands.Paine was given a rookie contract with Tasmania when he was 16 and has been a professional cricketer ever since, although he is studying to be a personal trainer and wants it to be his post-playing career. “I prefer to do my fitness through wicketkeeping,” he said. “I don’t do a great deal of weights or running.” The keeper’s curse is bad knees, but so far Paine’s are fine and he doesn’t have to drown them in ice every day like Gilchrist used to.Over the past week he has reacquainted himself with Tim Nielsen, the national coach, who he worked with for a season at the Centre of Excellence. On Friday, in one of the game’s outposts, Paine will become a top-level graduate of the enviable production line.

Cricket South Africa has proudly proclaimed that the upcoming domestic competition will be a showcase of the country’s cricketing depth. The South African governing body said the talent pool this season is “greater than at any stage of the post-unity era.”Perhaps they shouldn’t brag about the extent of capacity just yet. The debate is raging on about who is being groomed to succeed Mark Boucher as the country’s wicketkeeper. AB de Villiers is tipped to be next in line but at the franchise-level, few keepers have staked their claim. This may just be their season.Last season, Davey Jacobs (Warriors) and Morne van Wyk (Eagles) stood out as the top wicketkeepers but some eyes may drift westward where Bradley Barnes will be donning the gloves for the Cape Cobras. Barnes was an integral part of the national Under-19 team that went to the World Cup in Malaysia last year. The wicketkeeping role appears to be the one area franchise players are most likely to be aggressively battling over this season.Places in the national team are not the only accolades worth fighting for among the franchises. This season is set to be one of the most “openly” competitive seasons for the three trophies on offer, according to Cricket South Africa. The games begin on Thursday where the Eagles host the Cobras in the first SuperSport series match of the season. The two teams are off to an early start in the cricketing calendar, since they will be headed to India for the Champions League Twenty20 in October.The Cobras have been bolstered by the return of the big-hitting Justin Kemp, who has ended his Kolpak deal with Kent. They also have former Warriors players Robin Peterson and Mario Olivier joining their franchise. The Cobras are the defending Standard Bank Pro20 series champions but coach Shukri Conrad said they want to target the longer version of the game this season.A team that has excelled in the SuperSport Series is the Eagles. The team from the Free State rarely gets disturbed by national call-ups. They welcome back Johan van der Wath who was involved with the rebel Indian Cricket League. He will miss the season’s opening fixture because of county commitments.The Eagles and the Titans are the two teams expected to do battle for the SuperSport Series with the latter boasting a wealth of national players. AB de Villiers, Paul Harris, Dale Steyn, Roelof van der Merwe and Albie and Morne Morkel will all make the rare appearance for their franchise. In addition to their big guns, the Titans will hope players such as Farhaan Berhardien and Heino Kuhn stake a claim for higher honours. The South African spin doctors may also be keeping a watchful eye on Imran Tahir who is now eligible to play for the country.Two of the teams who usually perform admirably but are not quite good enough are the Warriors and the Dolphins. They have suffered contrasting fates over the off season with the Warriors losing key players and the Dolphins gaining some. The men from the Eastern Cape have lost Peterson, Olivier and Zander de Buryn but have gained the services of Nicky Boje. Although they may be feeling a little depleted, the Warriors are also home to Johan Botha, Ashwell Prince, Jacques Kallis, Mark Boucher, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, Makhaya Ntini and Wayne Parnell.The Dolphins, meanwhile, have Lance Klusener as part of their coaching staff and have signed fiery opener Loots Bosman. Both these are due a good performance as the Warriors have never won a trophy since the start of the franchise system and the Dolphins have only ever shared the SuperSport Series title.The Lions have a solitary Pro20 crown to their name but that seems to have been forgotten in the pitiful meows the team has squeaked out in the past two seasons. Dave Nosworthy goes into his second season in charge of the team and said that with their pre-season training running from June he expects better results from his men. The Lions will have captain Neil McKenzie to lead the side for most of the season and have also acquired the services of offspinner Thandi Tshabalala, fast bowler Ugasen Govender and veteran de Bruyn.

Peter Willey, the former Test umpire and chairman of the first-class umpires’ association in England, fears that the referral system will harm umpires more than it aids them, increasing their reliance on technology instead of their own judgement. The system, so long used on a trial basis, will be introduced full-time into Tests from October,”Umpires who have done Tests for five or six years have lost the art of giving out run-outs and stumpings – they just refer everything,” Willey wrote in the October issue of . “If you have all the technology for a number of years you are going to lose the art of giving out caught-behinds, lbws and everything else because the third umpire is doing everything for you.”The umpire will end up hardly having to make a decision. Then he stops doing Tests and goes back into first-class cricket and he has to start learning again. It could be dangerous for an umpire’s career.”Willey also said there would be a need to employ ‘neutral’ television technicians to operate the camera and systems. “I am not suggesting that anybody would be corrupted but if a country’s top batsman has a decision pending and there is a ‘technical problem’ (“Sorry we’ve lost the pictures…”) you will have to have neutral technicians. People think this is rubbish but at one stage nobody believed in match-fixing in cricket. How far do you go?”He suggested that umpires stand for one Test per series to reduce the pressure on them, especially if they have a poor game. “I would increase the amount of Test officials and let them only stand in one Test of a series; if an umpire has a poor first Test he is under pressure in the next game – I don’t care how strong you are you’ll be thinking about having a bad Test. Change the umpires for every Test match so they are fresh with no baggage from Test to Test. When I umpired in Tests I’d do one Test abroad might make a few bad decisions, come home and it is forgotten. You have five or six weeks off then you go somewhere else.”

The Clontarf Cricket Club in Dublin will host the one-day international between Ireland and Australia scheduled for June 17 next year. The venue has hosted high-profile games in the past, notably the West Indies-Bangladesh match during the 1999 World Cup. South Africa and West Indies have also played Ireland at the venue in recent years.Clontarf president Roger McGreal was delighted at being awarded the game by Cricket Ireland. “This is a wonderful opportunity for our club to showcase Irish cricket, and I’m sure all our members will rise to the occasion,” he said. “We have carried out major improvements to the ground over the past year and have increased capacity at the venue. It’s sure to be a fantastic game, and I’ve no doubt that we’ll be able to accommodate all those wanting to see Ireland take on Australia.”Warren Deutrom, Cricket Ireland’s chief executive, was hoping for another exciting clash at Clontarf. “Following the huge success of the RSA Challenge one-day international at Stormont between Ireland and England, when we came so close to overcoming the Ashes winners, we are delighted to welcome England’s Ashes opponents, Australia, to Dublin next June,” he said.”Not only do we believe that this match will continue to raise the growing profile of Irish Cricket, but we also believe that the Irish players will have confidence in their ability to properly challenge one of the world’s great cricket teams.”Ireland’s most recent clash with Australia came during the Super Eights of the 2007 World Cup in West Indies. On Irish soil, they faced off in the last international game at Ormeau in 2001, while Eglinton were the hosts in 1997.Australia last played in Dublin in 1993, when centuries from Matthew Hayden and Allan Border helped them to a resounding 272-run win. During that game, Border almost emulated Garry Sobers and Ravi Shastri, hitting the first five balls of an Angus Dunlop over for sixes. He could only manage two from the final delivery, thus sparing Dunlop an unwanted entry into cricketing folklore.

Sri Lanka have made six tours to India over the last 27 years, played 14 Tests, and are yet to win one. It’s a record Kumar Sangakkara is keen to rectify as his team arrived in Mumbai for a three-Test series beginning on November 16, followed by two Twenty20 internationals and five one-dayers.Sangakkara, however, said his side, No. 2 in the Test rankings, was “under no pressure” to scratch India off the list of countries (South Africa and Australia are the others) where Sri Lanka have never won a Test. “We know we haven’t won here and for us we need to try and change that,” a sleepy-eyed Sangakkara said, in his first interaction with the media in India on Sunday afternoon. “We are here to relax, enjoy and not worry about history, and try and put as much pressure on the Indians as possible.”The pressure, Sangakkara felt, would be on India after the defeat against Australia in the ongoing home one-day series. He said it would be interesting to see how India reacted from the defeat against an under-strength side, saying that “some react positively while some don’t”.Sangakkara, who took over the captaincy from Mahela Jayawardene at the ICC World Twenty20 in June, is building a cohesive unit capable of performing in all conditions. Sri Lanka are formidable at home but their overseas record is mediocre. Their lack of success in India is strange, especially since the conditions here are similar to those in Sri Lanka.Posting large totals is critical to winning Tests in India, and Sri Lanka’s batsmen have been unable to do so in the past, with 420 in Kanpur in 1986 being their best effort. Their present batting line-up could be challenged to surpass that score as only four players – Jayawardene, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Thilan Samaraweera and Sangakkara – have Test experience in India.Things are not bright on the bowling front either. Even Muttiah Muralitharan has taken only 31 wickets in eight Tests and his average of nearly 40 in India is his worst in any country after Australia. And in Lasith Malinga’s absence, their fast-bowling attack comprising Nuwan Kulasekara, Thilan Thushara, Dammika Prasad and Chanaka Welegedara lacks menace and experience. Sangakkara, though, was of the opinion that his relatively inexperienced attack could be at an advantage.”Inexperience is sometimes a good thing as the Indian batsmen have not played our fast bowlers regularly in the longer form of the game which can work to our advantage.” He said sometimes a “fresh perspective, attitude and enthusiasm could be an added bonus”.Sangakkara is banking on 22-year old allrounder Angelo Mathews to give the team flexibility and balance. “We have a great option in Angelo Mathews who gives us the flexibility of playing three spinners on a spin-friendly wicket because of him being a frontline fast bowler and a batsman,” Sangakkara said. “We could even go into the game with three out-and-out fast bowlers, with Mathews in support, and one spinner or even two fast bowlers and two spinners.”It will be interesting, however, to see which two spinners Sri Lanka field in the first Test against India in Ahmedabad beginning on November 16, especially with Sangakkara stressing the importance of “performance and current form”. Murali is likely to be a certainty for one spot, and Ajantha Mendis had spectacular success against the Indian batsmen in Sri Lanka. It is the left-arm spinner, Rangana Herath, though, who has been Sri Lanka’s most successful slow bowler in recent matches.In his last four Tests at home, Herath took 23 wickets against Pakistan and New Zealand. Murali did not play against Pakistan while Mendis proved expensive – his five wickets cost 43 each. Against New Zealand, Murali’s returns were 13 wickets at 24 apiece while Mendis’ three victims came at an average of 45. Sangakkara said that Herath having to play “third fiddle to the other spinners made him hungrier to do well”. Sri Lanka could do with more healthy competition in India during the coming weeks.This series, from November 8 to December 27, begins with a three-day warm-up game against the Board President’s XI at Mumbai’s Bandra-Kurla Complex before the first Test. The second Test will be in Kanpur before the teams head back to Mumbai for the third game.