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Shaun Tait, who took an indefinite break from the game, is feeling refreshed and planning to return without worrying about how fast he bowls. Tait, 25, walked away following his unsuccessful return to the Test team in January, citing physical and emotional exhaustion.”In the last two weeks I’ve started to feel like myself again,” he said after being named in the Australian Cricketers’ Association FR Cup team of the year. “I’m thinking about cricket more and thinking about playing cricket again. It’s a good sign.”The one big thing I have learnt about myself is I do enjoy cricket. It is a part of my life and will be a part of my life for the future.”Tait told the he was “feeling normal again”. “For a long time before I made the decision and then after, especially, I just didn’t feel normal,” he said. “It was all surreal in a way. It’s a hard thing to explain. You just don’t feel yourself.”After being picked for his third Test, against India in Perth, Tait went wicket-less and had a sore hamstring, which followed a long recovery from elbow surgery. “Obviously there’s a lot of stress on the body,” he said. “It started to affect me mentally as well.”I just wasn’t enjoying playing cricket. Even when I was back playing for the Redbacks I wasn’t enjoying it. I was just going through the motions for the sake of it. I was thinking everyone else is busting their guts except for me and I’m just not even feeling like playing when I’m playing for my country.”Australia’s next domestic season begins in October and at the moment it looks like Tait will be part of it with South Australia. He has not set a return date but when he comes back he will have a different approach. “I’m not going to worry about the speed gun as much as I used to,” he said.”I’m my own worst enemy. Everyone talks it up. Everyone looks at me for one reason. That I can bowl fast and that’s it. I’m going to work on other parts of my game as well.”Tait has also received advice from Brett Lee. “His trick was bowling better lines and just worrying about being a mature bowler rather than trying to be the fastest bowler of all time.”

Australia and Zimbabwe met 12 times before the first Test series, six of those in World Cup matches, and the first encounter gave Zimbabwe one of their finest moments when Duncan Fletcher led Zimbabwe to victory at Trent Bridge in 1983. That, however, remains their only win to date.

1999-2000

Wisden Almanack | Cricinfo
It took eight years after they had secured Test status for Zimbabwe to meet Australia in a Test, and when they did the result was much as expected. Australia won the match by ten wickets and then strolled to a 3-0 whitewash in the one-dayers. Both Steve and Mark Waugh made centuries in the Test and limited-overs games respectively, while Glenn McGrath picked up six Test wickets. Zimbabwe fought well, but were clearly outmatched and made basic mistakes at crucial moments. For the Australians it marked the start of a record-breaking run of success.
Test: Zimbabwe 0 Australia 1
ODIs: Zimbabwe 0 Australia 3

2000-01

Wisden Almanack | ?Cricinfo
Zimbabwe arrived in Australia for the tri-nation Carlton Series on the back of a one-day series draw in New Zealand, and although they only won one of eight matches, they lost two others – one each against West Indies and Australia – by one run. The victory came when they bowled West Indies out for 91 defending 138, Heath Streak leading the way with 4 for 8, but in their final match they almost pulled off one of the great one-day wins, falling one run short of Australia’s 302 for 5 when needing 14 off the last over.

2002

In a sign of things to come, Australia pulled out of a proposed tour citing security and safety issues.

2003-04

Wisden Almanack | Cricinfo
Streak led a side already weakened by retirements, and while they lost both Tests – by an innings and 175 runs at Perth and by nine wickets at Sydney – they fought hard all the way, taking the game at the WACA into a fifth day. Matthew Hayden made the headlines there, breaking Brian Lara’s world record in scoring 380, but it was all rather low key. The public’s reaction to the unseasonable Test series was tepid, with an aggregate crowd of 18,363 over four days at the SCG and 24,051 over five days at the WACA a week earlier. Zimbabwe stayed on for the VB Series, which also included India, but failed to win any of their eight matches, although they within three runs of beating India thanks to hundreds from Sean Ervine and Stuart Carlisle.
Tests: Australia 2 Zimbabwe 0

2004

Wisden Almanack | Cricinfo
Coming against backdrop of serious internal rows between Zimbabwe’s players and board, which meant that Tatenda Taibu replaced Streak as captain, and considerable political unrest, Australia again came under massive pressure to boycott the tour on moral grounds. In the end they went, although Stuart MacGill stayed away for reasons of conscience. That did not bother Dean Jones, who signed a contract to commentate with a promise not to mention politics. “I’m just there to watch the cricket and I don’t give a rat’s arse what he does about his country,” he said. The tour was supposed to include two Tests, but they were scrapped when Zimbabwe suspended itself from Tests on the eve of the first match. The three ODIs were brought forward, Australia won them all without ever looking that interested, and Ricky Ponting described the Zimbabwean team as “pretty ordinary”, which is Australian for terrible.
ODIs: Zimbabwe 0 Australia 3

Shoaib Malik may well be opening in the Test series against England this summer but he doesn’t seem unduly concerned about taking on the best pace attack in the game in a still unfamiliar role.”I have no problems with opening. Basically I want to play for Pakistan and any position I don’t really care. I have been asked to open and I am happy to do it. If I have to do it in England I will do,” Malik told Cricinfo. Though his career as opener has experienced an uncertain start, there were signs, after a match-saving maiden Test hundred against Muttiah Muralitharan and others in Colombo, that he might be getting used to the role. “I guess I am more comfortable doing it now. That century was really special and more so because it saved the Test. Muralitharan is always a test but just as bad was the heat.”With that century, Malik now averages 42.60 (higher than his career average) from seven Tests and 11 innings as opener; the record includes two half-centuries as well, against India and the West Indies. Malik’s promotion to Test opener was the Pakistan management’s much-debated solution to one of the oldest ailments in Pakistan cricket – the lack of a solid opening pair. Though he made his first appearance as opener against West Indies last year, he was only installed as a semi-permanent choice in the last home season.In three Tests against England, he helped Pakistan – with Salman Butt – to three fifty-plus partnerships though he failed to go beyond 39. As Pakistan now visit England, in vastly different conditions, they will hope for more from Malik. “Opening there will be a different experience but we will have to get used to it during the practice matches, get used to the pitches, the weather, the swing. I’m not sure the county experience I’ve had (with Gloucestershire) will be that relevant.”Although he hasn’t fully recovered from elbow surgery, he has begun light training at the conditioning camp. “I haven’t started batting or bowling yet. That will have to wait another eight days or so, but my elbow is pretty much fine now.”There is little doubt he will play, but whether he continues to do so as an opener is still uncertain. Rameez Raja, a former Pakistan opener, told Cricinfo recently that though Malik was a gifted player, “he might struggle as opener in English conditions.” The view is backed up, though not in such absolutist terms, by Wasim Bari, chairman of the national selection committee.Bari told Cricinfo, “He is a very talented player and extremely versatile. And though he can switch positions in ODIs – he is also an excellent fielder and good spinner – in Tests, I feel it is more advisable to have specialist openers. I don’t know if the experiment with him will work long-term. You need specialists in that position.”Bari’s selection committee has, of course, been criticised for not being patient enough with specialists such as Salman Butt, Taufeeq Umar and Imran Farhat though the former wicketkeeper defended the changes, pointing to Pakistan’s impressive recent successes. “People keep talking about openers but look at the results we have had. Pakistan has won three Test series in a row against good opposition which is a good record. Opening is a problem area yes, but there are others as well, such as poor fielding and running between the wickets. All these areas need to be looked at too.”Whether Malik continues to open or not, Bari admits, is ultimately up to the captain and coach but if he doesn’t, Pakistan can still choose one combination from three left-handed openers for the series. Farhat, Butt and Umar have all been included in the list of probables – the latter two making a comeback into the team after time out of it – but Bari doesn’t seem entirely convinced by any of them.”This game is all about confidence and when we dropped Butt, he just didn’t have any confidence. Ideally a break from the game when you’re low on confidence will do you good. We did the same with Mohammad Sami; if you play a player when they are low, they are likely to suffer more.”Taufeeq looks good other than when he is playing in Tests. The pressure seems to affect him in Tests and it is all about pressure. But hopefully he can prove himself. Basically, there’s very little difference between the players. Whoever is more confident at the time needs to be picked.”

South Australia crumbled to be all out for 149 on the opening day of its season-opening Pura Cup cricket match against Victoria at Adelaide Oval today.All five Victorian bowlers took at least one wicket, with paceman Will Carr the star.Carr finished with 4-42, including a spell of 3-7 in 3.2 overs after lunch to skittle the SA lower order.Leg-spinner Cameron White and paceman Michael Lewis took two wickets each, with Mathew Inness and Ian Harvey chiming in with one scalp apiece.White was impressive, finishing with 2-18 from 12 overs, superb figures considering he conceded nine runs in a loose first over.He made the vital breakthrough of SA captain Greg Blewett, who top-scored with 36, just before lunch.Blewett was given out lbw, although he could be considered unlucky as he was well forward when he was struck on the front pad.That broke the Redbacks’ best partnership of 39 runs, which Blewett shared with SA’s NSW recruit Mark Higgs (33).Higgs, who scored 33, was the only other SA batsmen to get more than 20.The SA tail performed woefully as the Redbacks lost 6-24 in the last 19 overs of the innings.

DV Subba Rao, the man who conducted the inquiry set up to investigate the bribery scandal, has said in his report that there is prima facie evidence against Abhijit Kale to justify a deeper probe. A key element in his findings were the repeated phone calls made by Kale to the selectors concerned, Kiran More and Pranab Roy.A copy of Subba Rao’s report was presented by the BCCI counsel during the Mumbai High Court hearings regarding Kale’s plea to revoke his suspension. The report revealed More’s statement that Kale made phone calls to him in June and July, offering him Rs 10 lakhs (approximately US$21,900 ) for a place in the Indian side. Kale’s counsel, Janak Dwarkadas and Vineet Naik, countered this by claiming that Kale had merely wanted to apprise the selectors that “his shoulder injury had healed and he was fit to be included” in the team.Kale had allegedly also called Roy five times and had once met him at an airport in Mumbai to offer him the same amount of money. Roy apparently reprimanded Kale for making this “nuisance offer.”More also said that Kale’s mother had come to his house in Vadodara with an offer. He said, “Mrs Kale also visited my Baroda [the previous name of Vadodara] house in my absence and spoke to my wife.”More disregarded the visit, he said to Subba Rao, because he thought it to be the anxiety of a mother, and said that he had seen such obsessive behaviour in the relatives of other cricketers as well.Subba Rao recommended to the BCCI that they appoint another committee to “go into much more depth” in the matter. “A player persistenly phoning selectors is itself not proper,” he said, “and phoning for selection is worse. Kale’s mother visiting More’s Baroda residence further points the needle of suspicion against him.”To Kale’s claim that his mother had only gone to Vadodara to hand over his fitness certificate, Subba Rao observed that the journey from Thane – where she resides – to Vadodara is at least seven hours. “If it was only to give the letter certainly that could have been sent by post or fax.” Kale’s reply to this was that he could not get the fax number, which is why his mother made the trip.

Pitches like that on which India and New Zealand played out a frustrating three-wicket win to the home team did nothing for cricket.That was Indian captain Sourav Ganguly’s of the game which saw New Zealand take 37.4 overs to score the 109 runs it required to claim the first victory in the seven-game National Bank Series.For the Indians it was just a continuation of the frustrating surfaces that have been dished up to them in New Zealand on the tour.Ganguly did admit, like New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming before him, that the pitch looked as if it would play a lot better than it did.”This sort of thing doesn’t help anybody. People come to watch cricket,” he said.And with only 100 runs to each side, people would be coming to watch the games in the future.The conditions also gave false confidence to the bowlers in the sides.The pitch, played on one of Eden Park’s portable pitches proved to be two-paced, to have variable bounce and shot-making was not easy.India did have a chance in the game and Jacob Oram, who was 27 not out at the end, had gone very close to getting out leg before wicket to Anil Kumble but India just couldn’t pull off the win.”Due credit to him [Oram] he hung in well in both innings, in Hamilton and here but a few decisions this way, that way could have changed the game,” he said.Javagal Srinath’s presence had been good for the side and he had proven again he was a class act while taking four wickets for 23 runs in his 10 overs.Ganguly said it wasn’t only the confidence of his players that was down, the New Zealanders were also struggling, this despite the fact they had grown up in these conditions.The winning of the series would be done by the side which best responded to the task of batting better in the remaining game, he said.

Helped by a four wicket haul by leftarm spinner M Majithia Madhya Pradeshcrushed Uttar Pradesh by 119 runs in their first match of the Central ZoneRanji Trophy One-day Tournament match at the The Jamia Islamiya SportsComplex at New Delhi on Wednesday.Set to score 275 for a win, UP started on the wrong foot losing openerJyoti P Yadav (4) and S Nazir Ali (3) in the space of eight balls. But MohdKaif (32) and stumper M Mudgal (27) then took the score on to 52 whenMudgal was caught behind by Srivastava off Sanjay Pandey. Hirwani thenstruck twice dismissing Rizwan Shamshed (13) and Gynendra pandey (13) toleave UP struggling at 100 for 5.Kaif who was still holding on at the other was stumped off Majithia givingthe bowler his first wicket of the match. Then Majithia ran through thelower order to leave UP at 155.Earlier, Put into bat, MP openers Jai P Yadav (80) and Chandrakanth Pandit(49) belted the UP seamers Aashish Winston Zaidi and Mritunjay Tripathi toput on 78 runs in 10.4 overs. Amay Khurasiya (27) who replaced Pandit, thentook the score on to 144 along with Yadav.After the fall of both and Yadav. MP were helped by a fine 60 byDevendra Bundela. Khurasiya was the ninth batsman to be dismissed with thescoreboard reading 271. The innings ended with the fall of Narendra irwani atthe score of 274.

Ryan Sidebottom was probably being a bit hard on himself when he announced that he was “bitterly disappointed” with his wicketless performance on the first day of the Lord’s Test against New Zealand, but when you’re the reigning England Cricketer of the Year, with a tally of 24 Kiwi scalps under your belt already, it’s only fair that you should set your standards high. Either way, he made swift amends after a good night’s sleep and a minor technical tweak, and duly swept through New Zealand’s tail with 4 for 5 in 9.2 overs.One of those victims was Jacob Oram, who applied himself gamely for a two-and-a-half hour 28, before Sidebottom undid him with a full-length outswinger that he nicked to slip. “He’s the best bowler I’ve faced at the moment, and I’m pretty keen not to face him again,” said Oram. “He’s bowling at a good pace, and swings it enough to cause guys trouble. If you’re able to swing it with accuracy, you’re going to be tough to play, and that’s the thing that strikes me the most about him. He’s right at the top of his game, and right back where he was in New Zealand, unfortunately for us.”Sidebottom was his usual modest self when discussing his performance, but admitted that – as the first anniversary of his Test recall draws closer – he now sees himself as the leader of the England pack. “Any bowler should think like that,” he said. “You’re playing Test cricket and you should put pressure on yourself. I see it as a responsibility, and I guess I’ve been around a bit more than Broady and Jimmy [Anderson]. It’s an added responsibility and one I’d like to take on.”It was Broad and Anderson who were England’s main men on the first day, sharing five wickets between them, and Sidebottom admitted that there had been some friendly jibes in the dressing-room after he had swept into the action today. “The lads were taking the mickey, saying I’d burgled a few wickets after all their hard work yesterday, which I agree with,” said Sidebottom. “I was bitterly disappointed with my performance yesterday, you’d like to back up Broady and Jimmy who bowled fantastically. New Zealand are strong in the middle order, but we think they got 50 runs too many in hindsight.”To Sidebottom’s credit, he was quick to identify why his performance had been slightly off the boil on the first day, and with England’s bowling coach, Ottis Gibson, on hand, he made amends immediately. “I didn’t run in with my arms enough yesterday, because when you do that they go into position rather than just being lazy,” he said. “But that sometimes happens, you can’t bowl well all the time. Maybe I was trying too hard as well in the first Test [of the season] at Lord’s. But I have no excuses, it was pretty poor from myself, and I wanted to come back today and bowl a bit better.”A feature of Sidebottom’s performance today was the number of short balls he bowled, particularly to Oram, who was pushed onto the back foot before being drawn forward again for his dismissal. “Today was a plan to be more aggressive and bowl a few more bouncers,” said Sidebottom, who suggested that Brendon McCullum in particular might receive a slightly more hostile reception when he comes out to bat in the second innings. “He’s a good player and he took the momentum away from us, but we weren’t as aggressive as we could be and we let him play a few front-foot shots. Although he’s quite good at hooking and pulling, no batsmen like it. It puts them off their play and the way they move their feet.”England’s day ended with Alastair Cook and Andrew Strauss well placed in an unbeaten 68-run partnership, and Oram conceded that New Zealand were up against it in this match already. “We’ve got to make improvements or we’re going to be wiped off the park,” he said. “We didn’t enter the game hoping for a draw and we’re not playing for the draw at the moment, but they were probably as demanding as they were in New Zealand in the final two Tests there. They bowled with a lot more intent and the rewards came, but if the weather is overcast and drizzly, it’ll be an opportunity to chip away.”

The Indian Premier League (IPL) and doubts over next month’s tour of Pakistan are weighing on the minds of Australia’s players, according to the coach Tim Nielsen. However, Nielsen believes his men are not becoming too bogged down in such problems on the field.Australia completed a 50-run win over India in Adelaide on Sunday – the same day they were due to return their signed IPL contracts – but their batting remained a concern, with only Michael Clarke’s 79 lifting them to a competitive 203. Ricky Ponting failed again, later saying his slump was nothing to do with off-field worries, but Nielsen said the players did have a lot to think about.”[The IPL] is a big one because there’s been a few clashes of ideas from a cricketers association point of view and Cricket Australia and even the IPL,” Nielsen said. “It’ll be nice to have some certainty, a bit the same with Pakistan. But until the decision-makers get all the information they can we have to live with what’s going on and make sure we perform.”Most of Australia’s leading players are expected to be auctioned off to IPL teams on Wednesday after Cricket Australia finally cleared them to take part in the tournament. However, it is still unclear whether they will be able to play in this year’s league as it clashes with the scheduled visit to Pakistan, which remains in doubt due to safety concerns.”There’s no doubt those things going on have an impact on players,” Nielsen said. “It’s the same as anyone goes to work and there’s issues with their kids at school or a promotion they’re looking for and they don’t get it. All those things make it difficult. I guess we pride ourselves that once we get to the ground we can keep most of those things separate.”However, Australia’s results do not necessarily back up Nielsen’s comments. Andrew Symonds has voiced his strong opinions on the IPL and the Pakistan tour and he is suffering a CB Series slump with 38 runs from five innings. Ponting, as captain, understandably bears much of the team’s strain and has only 53 runs from his five matches. Matthew Hayden’s output has also been low, although Nielsen pointed out that Sri Lanka and India were also struggling to post big totals.”To say we’re all batting poorly is maybe not far from the mark but at the same time it’s been credit to all the teams that their bowlers have bowled very well,” Nielsen said. “We’re underselling the bowling a little bit. [Ishant] Sharma’s bowled beautifully and the Indians have bowled really well as a group. Our blokes have done a brilliant job.”You’ve got four or five guys in this series bowling 140-145kph plus, the new ball’s swinging away, the old ball’s reversing in, it’s not an easy life for a batsman. It’s certainly not panic stations, but it’s probably unusual that we’ve had three or four guys missing out at the one time and that’s what’s happening.”The Australians are now enjoying a few days in their home cities before reconvening in Melbourne on Thursday ahead of Friday’s game against Sri Lanka. Australia sit on top of the CB Series table and can secure a place in the finals if they win at the MCG.

Ricky Ponting insists Australia are ready for Sri Lanka’s veteran bowlers Muttiah Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas in Saturday’s World Cup final in Barbados. Australia beat Sri Lanka easily in the Super Eights match but Mahela Jayawardene chose to rest Muralitharan and Vaas while Lasith Malinga had an ankle problem.”Sri Lanka have a chance to make a statement against us,” Ponting said after Australia secured their passage to the final with a seven-wicket win over South Africa. “There’s no doubt Sri Lanka are a good team, but we are very confident after what we’ve done in the last seven weeks. Winning games with big margins gives us a lot of confidence.”We executed our gameplan very well the last time we played them. They had their full batting line-up and we bowled them out. We know Murali will do what he does. Lasith Malinga is bowling well and Vaas is a good bowler with the new ball.”Australia have won all ten of their matches in the Caribbean and are unbeaten in their last 28 Cup games, a run stretching back to the 1999 tournament in England. Saturday’s final in Barbados will be a repeat of the 1996 final when Sri Lanka beat Mark Taylor’s side by seven wickets in Lahore.