England have 'proved people wrong' - Trott

Jonathan Trott believes England have "proved a few people wrong" about their approach to one-day cricket by reaching the Champions Trophy final and putting themselves within one win of their first piece of 50-over global silverware.

Throughout this tournament, especially after the defeat to Sri Lanka at The Oval which left them needing to win every subsequent match, England's tactics have been picked apart. The chief area for debate has been the top-order, of which Trott is a crucial part, and whether they score at the tempo required in modern one-day cricket.

Eoin Morgan and Jos Buttler have had lean tournaments with the bat - although Ravi Bopara has provided late impetus - but England have rigidly stuck to their formula and order, even in the 24-over contest against New Zealand, which was win or bust for them.

In that game they were led by Alastair Cook's 47-ball 64 and Trott says that the rest of the team feed off the example laid down by their captain, who is leading in a global event for the first time, and that they have the utmost belief in how they approach the game.

"A lot of people were a bit sceptical," Trott said. "But this team has proved a few people wrong with regards to their takes on the game of cricket and how it should be played.

"He's a really good leader and he's always got the backing of the changing room, for whatever he decides is the direction of this team. He's fully in charge, with Andy Flower and Ashley Giles, and the guys are always following him."

There has been plenty for Cook to deal with during this tournament, from the fallout of David Warner's punch at Joe Root in a Birmingham bar to the accusations of ball-tampering, which started to fly around after the defeat to Sri Lanka. Trott, though, said Cook had taken everything in his stride as he has since making his England debut in 2006.

"He got brought in and played straightaway as opening batsman and captain, from not having played," he said. "A lesser person could have maybe buckled under the pressure. We've seen how he handles pressure, going to India for his first tour as Test captain and winning there - and now this."

There is added significance for Trott with the final being staged at his home ground of Edgbaston - the same applies to Ian Bell, Chris Woakes (who has not featured during the tournament) and the coach Ashley Giles, who was previously in charge at Warwickshire - and the prospect of a defining match in England's history at a place he knows so well had long been in Trott's sights.

"You always have a little cheeky sneak at the fixtures, and where the final is going to be played, and I was very excited about getting here - and it's happened. For me personally, I'm very excited. The guys are looking to seize the opportunity. They don't come around very often."

The most recent major final England played in was the 2010 World Twenty20 in Barbados where they beat Australia to claim their only piece of global silverware. From that team there could be four players appear in this match, although it could be as few as two.

The management will have to make a decision whether to stick with the same bowling that demolished South Africa. Steven Finn played his first match of the tournament, claiming the vital wicket of Hashim Amla, while James Tredwell continued to deputise superbly for Graeme Swann and earned the Man-of-the-Match award.

Tredwell could earn a place in the team by right, regardless of Swann's fitness, but on a ground where the surface can encourage reverse swing Bresnan, now a father after the birth of Max Geoffrey, is slight favourite to be preferred over Finn.

If you ask any of those involved in staging or promoting the Champions Trophy, England versus India is probably the final they will have dreamt of. Home side pitted against the powerhouse of world cricket.

What they won't have dreamt of is the less-than-ideal forecast for Sunday which currently predicts rain of varying heaviness throughout the day. Even for the final there is no reserve day. In 2002 the trophy was shared when India and Sri Lanka could not complete a match even with two days at their disposal because the match had to restart on the second day.

England trained at Edgbaston on Friday but India opted for a day off following their victory against Sri Lanka.

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Gale ton steals the show

Yorkshire 292 for 5 (Gale 114*, Ballance 90) v Surrey
Scorecard

Anyone who came to Headingley hoping to see Kevin Pietersen bat had to accept that such a pleasure would not be forthcoming after Surrey put Yorkshire in and failed to take a wicket in the first hour and a half. From England's perspective, a day in the field as one of the key components of their plan to win the Ashes is nursed back to fitness was probably what they had hoped for.

In any event, this was a Yorkshire crowd and another century from Andrew Gale gave the day a much more satisfactory feel than anything Pietersen might have achieved. The Yorkshire captain, whose early season form had appeared to be a scratchy continuation of a lean couple of years, suddenly seems unable to do anything but accumulate runs: 272 at Scarborough, 103 at Lord's and now this; three hundreds in as many Championship games.

"I changed a few things technically," he said, after leaving the field on 114 not out. "I felt my balance was a little bit off early season. It's just been about being ruthless. It probably is my best form. Three hundreds in a row speaks for itself.

"Now that I'm in form, I just want to make sure I stay in form. I've been telling myself to be really greedy and don't take it for granted. I'm taking each ball as it comes and pretending I'm nought not out."

Perversely, Gale will begin the second day under a little pressure. He shared a magnificent partnership of 204 with Gary Ballance that seemed to have guaranteed it would be Yorkshire's day, but then Ballance - who will leave this match on Saturday evening to join England's Twenty20 squad - was leg-before to Jon Lewis 10 runs short of his hundred and Adil Rashid, himself enjoying a golden run of form, edged the same bowler to second slip, where Vikram Solanki took a fine catch. It gives Surrey an opportunity to limit the damage still further if Gale can be prised out early on day two.

If he is, it will not be through his own indiscretion. Only once did he lose his discipline and he was visibly cross with himself. It came when he had reached 95 and, by his own admission, he started to replay the six he had hit to complete his century against Nottinghamshire at Scarborough. He went after Gary Keedy but the timing was wrong and for a moment it looked as if he might be caught - by Pietersen, of all people - but the ball had just enough legs to evade his outstretched fingers as he ran back from mid-off.

"It was a poor shot," Gale said. "I was reminiscing the Scarborough moment. I should have just kept knocking it around."

Gale and Ballance could take credit for steering Yorkshire through a potentially decisive phase as Surrey's bowlers, who had been ineffective with the new ball, slipped into a better groove all round after lunch. Chris Tremlett, still bowling primarily in short, sharp spells, made one climb on Adam Lyth that the opener had to play and which edged to second slip, then Zander de Bruyn found some inswing to trap Alex Lees in front. Joe Sayers, out of form but in the side because Phil Jaques is injured, scratched around before an indecisive prod had him caught at first slip, at which point Yorkshire were 77 for 3.

Pietersen had a gentle few overs himself just before tea, to supplement his work in the field. Alec Stewart, in charge for the moment after the sacking of Chris Adams, spoke on Pietersen's behalf, in effect, with the England player keeping his thoughts to himself.

"With Kevin, it was never about coming here and getting runs, it was about doing the hard yards," Stewart said. "You do all your rehab, your gym work, your shuttles and everything but standing in the field for six and a half hours is part of cricket.

"He is in an ice bath now. He will be sore but on the first day of your season if you are 100 percent fit, you are still sore. The good thing is that he has got six hours in his legs and that can only hold him in good stead for the second innings and when the Ashes start."

Yet how Surrey would welcome some runs from Pietersen, not least because having lost one overseas player with the promise of big scores when Graeme Smith's ankle gave out, they have now lost Ricky Ponting with a hand injury sustained in fielding practice on Wednesday, although the hope is that it is a less serious blow.

"He has had scans and it does not look like there is anything seriously wrong," Stewart said. "But when he woke this morning his hand was just locked up. We are hoping he will be fit for our Twenty20 match on Wednesday but we are in the hands of the medical people."

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Madsen, Johnson keep Derbs respectable

Somerset 16 for 0 trail Derbyshire 266 (Johnson 56, Madsen 50) by 250 runs
Scorecard

Derbyshire wicketkeeper Richard Johnson scored a defiant half-century to lead a lower-order fightback in their Championship match against Somerset at Derby. Johnson made 56 and shared an eighth-wicket stand of 82 in 22 overs with Tony Palladino as Derbyshire's last four wickets added 125.

Wayne Madsen also made 50 while Alfonso Thomas and Jamie Overton each took three wickets for Somerset who closed the first day of the Division One basement battle 250 runs behind on 16 without loss.

The County Ground was under cloud when Somerset when the toss so it was no surprise that Marcus Trescothick put Derbyshire in on a green pitch and was quickly rewarded with the wicket of Billy Godleman. Overton sent down five no-balls in his opening spell but a legitimate delivery found the outside edge of Godleman's bat in the sixth over and Trescothick held a low catch at second slip.

With the ball swinging in the overcast conditions, both Chesney Hughes and Madsen had some good fortune but Somerset had to wait another 15 overs for their next success. Hughes had moved to 25 when he got a leading edge against Thomas and the ball went quickly to Trescothick, who again made no mistake.

There was an even bigger wicket in the last over of the session. Craig Meschede had troubled the batsmen with late swing and he got his reward on the stroke of lunch when Shivnarine Chanderpaul pushed forward and was caught behind for 5.

When former Somerset batsman Wes Durston went cheaply to Thomas in the third over after the interval, Derbyshire were 99 for 4 and in need of another rescue act from Madsen. He responded by reaching 50 for the sixth time in eight Championship innings but in the next over Steve Kirby had him lbw and the fast bowler struck again when Ben Slater gave Trescothick his third slip catch.

Derbyshire were in danger of missing out on batting points when Jon Clare inside-edged a drive at Thomas and was caught behind but Palladino marked his return from a side strain by helping Johnson mount a recovery.

Johnson brought up the 200 when he cover-drove Kirby for four but he should have gone on 34 when he edged Thomas to first slip, where James Hildreth dropped a straightforward catch. It proved costly for Somerset as the pair put together a 50 stand in 15 overs, with Palladino clipping Kirby through midwicket to secure a second batting point.

He was one away from a half-century when he edged Peter Trego to second slip where Trescothick plucked another excellent catch, and Johnson's fine innings ended when he steered Overton to gully in the next over. Overton yorked Mark Footitt to finish with 3 for 35, which left Somerset with seven overs to negotiate.

England opener Nick Compton was missed on 2 when a mistimed hook at Footitt was put down by Slater diving at leg gully, but there were no further alarms.

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Maddinson's rapid ton shows potential and pitfalls

Gloucestershire 104 for 5 (Sayers 3-24) trail Australia A 331 for 4 dec (Maddinson 181, Hughes 47) by 227 runs
Scorecard

Boom. A lofted straight drive clatters into the construction site at the Ashley Down Road End of the County Ground in Bristol. Whoosh. An attempt to repeat the shot next ball draws a wild swing and a near outside edge. It is 45 minutes before lunch on day one of a first-class match. This, more or less, is the existence of Nic Maddinson, arguably the most conspicuously talented of Australia's young batsmen in England in 2013.

On a day when Australia A clambered all over Gloucestershire, Maddinson's ball-striking - and occasional ball-missing - left the most lasting impression. In a little more than three hours he crashed 181 from 143 balls, and spent just 34 balls hurtling from three figures to his final tally. Unbridled flair taking hold of modest bowling on an unexpectedly sunny Friday made for pleasant, light-hearted viewing: the Ashes are not at stake here for the tourists, nor any Division Two points at risk for the hosts.

Less jaunty was Gloucestershire's batting in response to Australia A's 331 for 4. Jackson Bird and Ryan Harris are working back into fitness and form while Chadd Sayers has only one full first-class season behind him, but all were made to look piercing as the shadows lengthened. Sayers could count the wicket of his South Australian team-mate Michael Klinger among three victims, while Ashton Agar also nipped out the wicket of Dan Christian. Gloucestershire's two Australians could manage only 14 runs between them.

Earlier it had been possible simply to sit back and enjoy Maddinson's spectacle, studded with 22 boundaries and a blink-inducing nine sixes. Yet amid the flurry of runs, Maddinson showed why he has some way to go before maturing as a batsman, and why at 22 he is still deciding what sort of player he will become: a Twenty20 blaster or a more rounded Test match contender.

Regular visitors to Nevil Road could be forgiven for wondering aloud why a batsman so obviously gifted as Maddinson was not in the Ashes squad proper. Their answer can be provided by a record that shows that days like these do not come as the result of an easily repeatable approach to batting.

The best Maddinson can offer is unforgettable, as a wonderfully free swing of the bat can send perfectly presentable deliveries soaring into the stand at square leg or bouncing percussively off the top of Gloucestershire's new pavilion under construction. But he remains an unfinished article, vulnerable early on when the ball is new and the bowlers fresh, and prone to frequent lapses of concentration thereafter. In the early overs Maddinson struggled by comparison with the more obdurate Jordan Silk, beaten often outside off stump even if he was not aiming an almighty heave towards the cover fence.

Later, well after a more experienced player would have settled in, Maddinson showed a tendency for the over eager, often following a pristinely struck boundary with a six, and then a swing-and-miss. In this he recalled nothing so much as the former Australia coach Bob Simpson's line that Ian Healy "bats faster and faster until he gets out". At one point Maddinson offered a vertical bat in some kind of outlandish ramp shot attempt that fell just out of reach of the field. Somewhat fittingly he was to be dismissed the ball after clouting his biggest six of all, skying Benny Howell to mid-off.

Maddinson was certainly playing a game not familiar to his batting partners, two of whom have greater challenges ahead. After Silk offered no shot to be bowled by Gloucestershire's Twenty20 signing Christian, Phillip Hughes strode out at No. 3. A few balls after his arrival Hughes faced up to Liam Norwell, who shares some quirks of a bowling action, if not a common level of skill or pace, with Andrew Flintoff. The Gloucestershire captain Klinger posting a leg slip. This show of 2009 Ashes nostalgia did not overtly perturb Hughes, and his dismissal cutting at Howell was a surprise.

Usman Khawaja followed Hughes to the middle, and set about batting in an unhurried manner that did not suggest too much anxiety about not having topped 51 on tour so far and therefore not really enhancing his claims to an Ashes batting spot. He was comfortable without dominating, composed without looking commanding. Perhaps bigger runs will come in the tour matches against Somerset and Worcestershire, but it was difficult to imagine Khawaja being entirely thrilled when the captain Steve Smith - leading in place of a resting Brad Haddin - declared at tea.

Smith's decision granted his bowlers the chance of an afternoon run, and the pacemen were to find enough movement in the air and off the pitch to be dangerous. Sayers showed his command of line when Chris Dent shouldered arms and was bowled, and Harris coaxed a feather-edge from Dan Housego after he was swung around to the pavilion end in place of Bird, who was tidy in his opening spell.

Sayers would go on to have Klinger taken at mid-on, and Gareth Roderick losing his off stump. Like Maddinson he is not in direct Ashes contention, but may be attracting the interest of several Championship sides with his consistency and knack for wickets. The left-arm spinner Agar had Christian snaffled at short midwicket and Fawad Ahmed, now eligible for his passport thanks to the passing of new legislation back in Australia, twirled through two overs before the close.

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Fair result for a middling ODI team

Fight carries Sri Lanka far into tournaments, but they lack the ruthless edge that winning titles requires

Sri Lanka have made for pretty bridesmaids in recent years. They have known, in past campaigns, how to make the most of their assets - the big players have fired and the team has played a very watchable brand of cricket.

This time, they encountered the team of the competition in the semi-finals, which has not always been the case in the past, and were thus relegated one step further in the tournament hierarchy. In the UK, Sri Lanka will be the friends watching jealously as someone else gets to be ogled at for a bit, precede the winner gracefully to the stage, and then cry themselves to sleep wondering when it will ever be their big day.

After the match Angelo Mathews casually threw out the phrase "we choked", which in cricket once carried a taboo to match attitudes towards cannibalism, but is now in vogue for exiting teams like it had been labelled the season's "in" response in Press Conference magazine. Soon after he had uttered the phrase, Mathews backtracked by stating a psychological meltdown did not contribute to their demise, and perhaps he was correct in that revised assessment.

Like South Africa in the first semi-final, Sri Lanka were never in a good enough position to choke. It has been a feature of this campaign, and several before it, that Sri Lanka have played hard, competitive cricket, but have rarely dominated foes as champions do.

The narrow loss to New Zealand in Cardiff may have been a boon to team morale, but a side that folds for 138 on a pitch that warrants a score in excess of 230 are not worthy of taking home a trophy, despite their ability to regroup and surge. The never-say-die spirit in their performance makes them a compelling team to watch, and their group matches provided the most thrills of the Champions Trophy. But a better team would not have allowed such anxiety to creep in.

When Australia were at 192 for 9, chasing 254, Sri Lanka should have brought the field in and pushed hard for the final wicket, but instead they waited for Clint McKay and Xavier Doherty to make the mistake, and gave the opposition a sight of victory they never should have been afforded. Fight carries Sri Lanka far into tournaments, but they lack the ruthless edge that winning titles requires.

As was expected before the competition began, Sri Lanka have also relied heavily on their experienced batsmen, and the remainder of their lengthy batting order have provided nothing more than support. Sri Lanka's transitioning status will make the exit palatable to fans at home, but Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal and Lahiru Thirimanne have far to go before they are capable of consistently carrying ODI innings without the aid of the senior batsmen.

The decision to promote Nuwan Kulasekara against England proved to be a fine one, but Mathews prides himself as a finisher, and a captain more confident in his own ability may not have deferred the task. His final innings, at least, has proved he has not grown averse to pressure. As a tactician, he can perhaps count this tournament as a positive learning experience.

Apart from last year's World Twenty20 final defeat to West Indies, when mental frailty might have played a substantial role, Sri Lanka were outplayed by a stronger opposition in each of the finals before it. In 2007, Australia were even more dominant through their campaign than India have been in this tournament, and an Adam Gilchrist blitz effectively put his side out of Sri Lanka's reach in the first quarter of that match. In 2009, Mohammad Amir and Abul Razzak's early strikes did the same in a World T20 final, and in 2011, MS Dhoni and company dominated Sri Lanka's bowling to make 275 seem a cakewalk. It seems odd that they have not converted one of their six semi-finals positions, but rarely have they seemed likely winners from a tournament's outset.

"It's very tough to go head to head with India," Mathews said. "You need to gear up all the time. You can't really take your foot off the pedal. They've been unbeaten so far and they play a brand of cricket that they're good at."

Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara now have, at most, two more opportunities to taste major limited-overs glory. If either retires without a world title to call his own, it will be among the greater injustices of Sri Lanka's cricket history. For the stalwarts to earn that prize there is much improvement to be made across the team and a killer instinct yet to be acquired. But for now, a semi-final exit is a fair result for a middling ODI team.

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Ishant, Kumar, Yadav find pack mentality

India's three seamers clicked as a unit for the first time in Cardiff to great effect

West Indies were the pioneers of the fast bowling pack mentality in the 20th century. England have been the flag bearers of that method in the new millennium. It is a strategy where three or more fast bowers operate in tandem and work with each other to a pre-set plan. The batsmen get no respite. They are bombarded not only by short-pitched balls, but also tested with cunning swing, while being lured into playing a false stroke by length deliveries. Within quick time the deadly pack has successfully cast a spell over the batsmen, who are clueless and their end comes in desperation.

On Thursday, Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Umesh Yadav operated with that bowling pack mentality for the first time since they have been playing together. Such was their dominance that India had the match in the bag after just 22 overs. In those 108 minutes, the trio had punched their opponents with such ferocity that Sri Lanka could hardly stand up to the count. The Sri Lankans were not physically wounded but had been mentally disintegrated - not with words, but with balls of fire.

Cardiff woke up to overcast weather as was forecast days ahead of the match. Thankfully, apart from the early morning faint drizzle, Sophia Gardens remained mostly unaffected. But it was perfect weather for a fast bowler: overcast and humid with a light breeze. If you failed, you were not a fast bowler.

A good start was the key. Like he has done on every occasion this tournament, Kumar remained precise. Not even 6-feet tall, Kumar possesses a supple and straight wrist, which he uses cleverly by maintaining a tidy length. Allied to good pace in the region of 85 mph (135 kph), Kumar has the priceless ability to swing the new ball both ways. Coupled with the angles and the fuller lengths, he pushed the batsmen on the back foot straightaway. Kusal Perera did not last long as he chased a delivery that left him. Even an accomplished batsman like Kumar Sangakkara played out a maiden, circumspect to the movement Kumar was generating.

At the other end Yadav was his usual self, bowling fast and hitting the deck hard. In the group stage Yadav had failed to maintain a firm grip over the batsmen due to an inconsistent line and length. But today, he recovered fast after being punched by Tillakaratne Dilshan for couple of successive boundaries in his second over. His immediate response was an accurate bouncer, which beat Dilshan for pace. The next ball was a perfectly aligned yorker, which Dilshan dug out, but only just. Later Yadav bowled two maidens to Lahiru Thirimanne.

It was now Ishant's turn. His form had been patchy. In the tournament opener, against South Africa, he had been short and was the most expensive bowler. But he came back in the next match against West Indies by bowling an aggressive line, but once again leaked runs in the victory against Pakistan. But today he remained accurate throughout. Mainly he stuck to pitching short on the off stump, posing a lot of questions to Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene with balls that were pitched short of a length and seamed away late.

	"If you are bowling in good areas then no batsman can threaten you." Ishant Sharma

With the first ball of his fourth over, Ishant bowled from slightly wide of the crease. Jayawardene knew the plan: the ball was going to come in and then leave him. Yet like a snake charmer, Ishant got Sri Lanka's best batsman out of his comfort zone, forcing him to play at a delivery that opened him up before nearly taking an edge. Jayawardene scolded himself for getting tempted.

Ishant maintained the control when he returned for his second spell late in the innings when the pitch had become flat. He continued banging it in hard and made a mockery of the hard-hitting Thisara Perera, who remained muted against the short-pitched delivery and was caught in the deep going for a duck.

"If you are bowling in good areas then no batsman can threaten you," Ishant said. "That is what we have done in the last five games. And that is what we will do in the final."

Discipline is a key component behind any successful bowling pack and the Indian fast men have never been consistent for long periods of time. Today the first extra came in the 20th over. Such high standards convinced MS Dhoni to set Test-match like 7-2 fields. But for such a plan to work the bowler cannot falter as a loose ball down the leg side, even by an inch, releases all the pressure created in the preceding over. Perhaps Joe Dawes, the Indian bowling coach, can enjoy a nice drink tonight, considering he had focused individually with each seamer on Tuesday on getting the right lengths in the nets.

Yet it is easy to get carried away. Obviously the conditions were favourable in the morning. And for the bowling pack to succeed it is imperative that every bowler understand the plan and works collectively towards that. To succeed there are some rules: you work for each other; you make sure you understand each other and each other's strengths; you carry forward the good work of your partner.

Variety is the other key factor behind a successful pack. Take England's fast bowling group in the 2005 Ashes. Andrew Flintoff hit the deck and seamed it, Matthew Hoggard swung the ball, Steve Harmison added height and pace and Simon Jones became an expert in reverse-swing. Their relentless attack subdued the otherwise dominant Australian batting. Today Sri Lanka suffered the same fate.

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Arthur rues Warner naivety in bar incident

Australia's coach, Mickey Arthur, has warned his side to be "street smart" to prevent the English media and the ECB having a field day during the Investec Ashes series after the incident in which David Warner was pilloried for a fracas with the England batsman Joe Root in a Birmingham bar.

Warner's punch was described as a "despicable thing" by the Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland, but it is becoming increasingly clear that it was viewed in less condemnatory terms by the Australian touring party - Arthur among them.

While acknowledging the decision of a group of players to be out late drinking in the aftermath of their Champions Trophy defeat by England was a case of "obviously poor judgement", Arthur suggested the episode also served as a reminder that the tourists needed to be wary of their hosts stealing every possible advantage.

News that Warner would be answerable to a CA code of conduct hearing for his punch aimed at the England batsman Joe Root was pre-empted by an ECB statement which referred to an "unprovoked physical attack" on one of their players.

When asked about the ECB statement, Arthur said it was a case of the Australians being outsmarted in enemy territory.

"Yeah look, that's part and parcel of touring England," Arthur told ABC Radio. "You've got to be very street smart, you've got to be on your game and if you don't the media and the ECB will have a field day with you. We've got to be smarter, make sure we make the right decisions. Unfortunately some guys are learning the hard way, but you hope that they'll get better for it.

"It was obviously poor judgement and you hope they don't go down that line again. We keep chipping away every day about what the responsibility of playing for Australia is, what the standards are of this team. We want the Australian badge to be a brand in world cricket, and some of the players have learned the hard way. But I'm 100% certain we're going in the right direction."

Sutherland's excoriation of Warner following a code of conduct hearing that suspended him from playing until the first Ashes Test at Nottingham left few in doubt about his expectations of the Australian team overseas, but there has been a reluctance to follow that hard line among the tour party.

Arthur and the national selector John Inverarity have spoken warmly of Warner's chances of being chosen for Trent Bridge, while the captain Michael Clarke has lauded his training ethic.

Whether or not Shane Watson's rumoured objection to the delay in punishing Warner is to be believed, the tour management now seem more intent on nurturing the young players under their care than meting out the sort of punitive justice seen in India.

"What we've got to realise is the team's changed considerably, it's a team of young, good cricketers at the moment," Arthur said. "We've got to give them guidance, we've got to give them direction and make sure they get better and better.

"We are going to get a bit of ill-judgement and some players are going to learn the hard way, but those are our best players, we've got to back them in, we've got to make them better and turn them from good to great."

Clarke, speaking at CA's promotion for the launch of ticket sales for the 2013-14 Ashes series in Australia that will follow the matches in England, sidestepped a question about how unified the team was entering the Test match portion of the summer.

"The group obviously comes together on Monday," he said. "At this stage we've got the Aussie A guys starting a three-dayer in Bristol on Friday, so a few of the guys are down there, and we have seven of the Test squad here in London.

"I've played a lot with the group that are here for the Ashes and I think the group's fantastic. We've got some great experience in this group, a good mixture of youth and experience, and I know the boys are looking forward to getting together on Monday."

More convincing was Clarke's assurance that his back was progressing after the flare-up that kept him out of the Champions Trophy. Following a morning training session in Hampstead, Clarke showed his improving flexibility by walking back part of the way from Tower Bridge to the team hotel in Kensington - the better to avoid London traffic at peak hour.

He said that Alex Kountouris, the Australian physio, was very positive that he was improving daily. "My back's feeling better at the moment, there's still obviously a few days before that first practice game down in Taunton, but if all goes to plan I'll be playing in that game," he said.

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'I think we're being a little bit undervalued' - Rogers

In the pubs and cafes of England at the present moment a somewhat mocking suggestion can be heard. It goes along the lines that unless Shikhar Dhawan somehow manages to procure an Australian passport in time for the first Ashes Test at Trent Bridge, the high water mark of the summer will arrive on Sunday when Alastair Cook's side face India in the Champions Trophy final at Edgbaston.

Such a conclusion will dent the pride of Australia's Ashes tourists as they draw closer to the official start of their trek around the country for five Tests, but it will also strengthen the one notion that gives a fragmented and modestly performed team hope that better results lie ahead. Could English observers, after witnessing a sickly start to the tour by their visitors, be about to underestimate Australia? Chris Rogers, the 35-year-old opening batsman, reckons so.

"I think we're being a little bit undervalued in many respects," Rogers said on the deck of a barge in the Thames turned into a makeshift cricket pitch to drum up ticket sales for the 2013-14 Ashes in Australia. "We've got a very good side - I've played against all these guys in the Australian side and I know the amount of talent in the squad.

"I've no doubt we can prove a lot of people wrong - if all of us play well together and find form we can shock a few people, no doubt. An Australian with his back to the wall is something to fear."

Rogers knows a thing or two about being undervalued. Ignored for years by the Australian selectors, his unobtrusive but unquestionably effective batsmanship has even been the subject of gentle ribbing from his state team-mates at home in Victoria. As the infinitely flashier and far less consistent Aaron Finch told the Age this week: "Nobody really knows how he does it because his technique is not great to look at."

Having waited so long for his chance, however, Rogers is determined that it will not be wasted, and does not bother whether his mode of batting is enjoyed by the aesthetes. As befits a man who has made more than 10,000 first-class runs on English soil, one of his great batting inspirations is watching Mark Ramprakash churn out a triple-century for Surrey against Northamptonshire, the first of Rogers' three counties.

"What stuck out for me was not the shots he played but the fact it just looked like we were never going to get him out," Rogers said. "That left a lasting impression on me - it wasn't that pleasurable at the time but amazing to watch - and I think that's important to be a top player and one who scores a lot of runs. Hopefully that's one of my strengths."

There is certainly plenty of recent evidence that Rogers has lost none of his ability to stick it out in the middle, having moved into the Australian team bubble after compiling 790 runs in eight matches as captain of Middlesex in division one.

"I've tried hard to put myself under pressure, knowing the intensity that's going to come at Trent Bridge is going to be huge," Rogers said. "So I think it's worked in my favour, and to have a few warm-up games has been good, especially scoring a few runs. I do enjoy playing over here, the conditions are a little more diverse and it helps with your game, so hopefully I've benefitted from it."

Should Rogers follow through on his promise to make this series count, the current idle pub talk about the English summer's high point will turn out to be just that.

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PCB in turmoil after chairman's suspension

The crisis in the PCB surrounding the suspension of Zaka Ashraf as chairman is having its deepest impact on the team's tour of the West Indies in the middle of July, starting with the memorandum of understanding between two boards and the selection of the team. It has also led to a delay in the PCB budget this year that, among other things, could affect salaries and player contracts.

The suspension of Ashraf has also led to an impasse in the board, with officials saying it is not possible for key decisions to be signed, be it the MoU with the WICB or the search for the home broadcasters. Ashraf's suspension is now being argued in the Islamabad High Court, which on Wednesday once again ordered the government to name an interim PCB chairman within three days and report on the next hearing on June 24.

In a third hearing of the judicial petition against the PCB's new constitution, the court decision left the board's major activities on hold. This uncertain status at the top could make its first dent at the ICC's annual meeting next week, as Pakistan along with other Full Members are due to give their response to the ICC guidelines about decreased government interference in cricket administration.

The PCB was undecided about who will represent them at the conference, starting June 25. In 2011 the ICC had given a two-year deadline to the member boards to democratise their constitutions and remove government involvement in a bid to improve governance. Even though the ICC had relaxed its clause about the role of governments and the PCB tweaked its constitution slightly under Ashraf's chairmanship, the current situation is bound to raise concerns.

When Ashraf became the first incumbent elected president for another four-year term in May, it was the first such appointment under the new constitution. The IHC, however, ordered Ashraf's suspension, citing the election process "dubious" and "polluted".

The court, however, had not suspended the new constitution. The petition against the PCB was centred on the amendments made in it, especially those pertaining to the election of the chairman.

A government lawyer Irfanullah informed the IHC that former Pakistan captain Majid Khan was among three candidates for the role of acting chairman, and their names have already sent to the Prime Minister - who will make a final call. The commentator Chishty Mujahid and former chief of the Federal Board of Revenue Mumtaz Haider Rizvi are the other candidates.

The revised constitution also restructured the composition of the board of governors. The new 14-member body included five regional representatives selected on a rotation basis, five representatives of service organisations and departments, two non-voting former cricketers appointed on the recommendation of the chairman and two non-voting technocrats picked from a panel of three recommended by the chairman in consultation with the President of Pakistan. The term of each member was to be one year, but large regional associations like Lahore and Karachi along with Sialkot, Faisalabad and Multan are keen to have a permanent role on the board.

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Anderson the catalyst for crushing win

The day could hardly have gone more smoothly for Alastair Cook as England moved one step closer to a major achievement that has eluded them for so long

It was not, perhaps, the scenario spectators expected when they bought their tickets. The result was hardly in doubt by 11am; the result was decided before 5pm and several snoozed in the sun for long periods in the afternoon. For the impartial onlooker, this was probably a rather boring game.

But from an England perspective, this was wonderfully, gloriously, beautifully boring game. After many years where success in ODI cricket has been a brief interlude in a general drama of pain, England secured their place in the final of a global ODI competition for the first time since 2004 and the second time since 1992. They may never have a better chance of shedding the embarrassing tag as the only team in this competition not to have won such a title.

The uncharacteristic show of emotion from Jonathan Trott upon hitting the winning runs was telling. It has been an ambition of his for some time to play in the final of this competition at his home ground of Edgbaston and here he produced a typically calm innings to ensure it will happen.

Nerveless and apparently unhurried, he still managed to score at close to a run-a-ball and, in his last 12 ODIs, has now registered one century, five half-centuries and been dismissed for under 37 only once. He has averaged 75.77 in that time. He will never win over all his critics but, in this situation, there is no more reassuring sight in English cricket than Trott scrapping his mark.

It would be easy to take Trott's runs for granted. But, when Alastair Cook and Ian Bell fell, England were 41 for 2 and only another wicket away from seeing their slightly vulnerable middle-order exposed. Pressure appears to bring the best out of Trott, though, and he led the run chase with the remorselessness of a hunter pursuing its prey. "It was quite a high pressure situation," Cook said afterwards. "Trotty played a great innings,"

But this was not a victory set-up by England's batsmen. It was set-up by England's excellence in the field and a woefully poor performance with the bat from South Africa. Winning the toss on a humid morning was, doubtless, an advantage and James Anderson, in particular, exploited it expertly. But there is no getting away from the fact that South Africa's top-order folded with pathetic weakness.

So England were fortunate. They were fortunate that South Africa were without Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel and Graeme Smith and Jacques Kallis. They were fortunate to win the toss. And they were fortunate their opposition played so badly.

But they were also fortunate when New Zealand dropped Alastair Cook three times on the way to his match-defining contribution in the previous game. And they were fortunate when Australia batted so poorly against them in their opening match of the tournament.

Good fortune tends to follow when a team plays consistently good cricket. It tends to follow when a team applies consistent pressure. It exploits any weakness and forces mistakes. The very best teams may not always be beaten by such a tactic, but it is the best plan England have and they follow it with precision. They will not start the final as favourites, but there are certainly not no-hopers either.

If Anderson were the sort to care about such trifles, he might consider himself unfortunate not to be named the Man of the Match. He bowled an excellent first spell that set the tone for the entire game.

There has been precious little conventional swing available in this competition, but Anderson found just enough to account for Colin Ingram and Robin Peterson, both of whom were set up by out swing and trapped by deliveries that swung in amid a spell that threatened consistently and offered the batsmen almost nothing.

While Steven Finn and Stuart Broad were disappointing, James Tredwell sustained the pressure with a spell that won him the match award. While only the odd delivery turned, it was enough to plant a seed of doubt in the minds of the batsmen and Tredwell, varying his pace subtly and bowling a tight line, benefitted as the ball sometimes turned but more often skidded on to batsmen playing without conviction.

There were other impressive performers for England. Jos Buttler, who has enjoyed a fine tournament as a wicketkeeper to date, equalled the England record for the most dismissals in an ODI by claiming six catches - one an excellent diving catch down the legside; another a good diving catch to his right to dismiss Hashim Amla and a couple of neat efforts standing up to Tredwell - while Cook captained with ever increasing confidence and individuality.

It would be premature to compare Cook to Mike Brearley or similar but, just as he improved as a Test and then ODI batsman, he showed here that he is developing into far more than a 'captain by numbers.' His decision to allow Anderson a seven-over opening spell was unusual, if hardly groundbreaking, while his use of three slips at times showed a welcome desire to attack when appropriate.

England may face some tricky selection decisions ahead of the final. Tim Bresnan, his baby now safely delivered, will be available and may well replace Steven Finn, while Tredwell will be hard to omit even if Graeme Swann is fully recovered. They are not the worst issues with which to wrestle.

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A choke? Not really, just a thrashing

Gary Kirsten's time in charge of South Africa finished the way of a few men before him and there appears no end in sight to the team's quest to banish their demons

Let's be honest. South Africa did not choke in this semi-final even though Gary Kirsten insisted they did. Maybe it's just easier for him to confront the word head on rather than argue the finer points of difference between being noosed and being nowhere. South Africa were the latter.

After collapsing to 80 for 8 and clawing their way to a semi-respectable total, they had to endure England's measured run-chase, a lesson in how they should have batted. Jonathan Trott played a delicate, well-paced innings, soft enough to take some of the sting out of the morning's madness and to leave South Africa resigned to the inevitable.

But the real trouble started long before that. They were lucky to get to the semi-finals after winning only one group match. Once there they were never in the match. They were outplayed and they lost.

In the minds of many that is equivalent to choking and South Africa will carry that ever-heavier tag until they win an ICC event. "The dark mist," Kirsten refers to will only burn off when a trophy arrives and he admitted not even he knows how to secure one.

When he took over the South Africa job that was not his primary concern. The first year of his tenure was focused on acquiring the Test mace and Kirsten could be forgiven for neglecting limited-overs cricket. What he can be questioned on is using them as laboratories for experimentation.

Sixteen players made their debut under his watch which was a solid exercise in depth exploration but combinations rarely stayed the same for consecutive matches. The floating batting line-up that Kirsten toyed with during his time with India could not translate to a set-up as rigid as South Africa's.

It flopped at the World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka last year and Kirsten hinted he would abandon it. But at this tournament, he used three different No.3s in four matches. It was evidence that South Africa have enough players capable of fulfilling a particular position but not anyone who feels it's theirs to own.

That theme applied across the board and it took root at the top with AB de Villiers. He seemed a natural choice as captain when he was appointed but quickly proved otherwise. Indecision, uncertainty and being overburdened led to him relinquishing the wicketkeeping gloves in an attempt to concentrate on leadership and batting and then taking them back when Kirsten decided he that would give South Africa their best chance.

If de Villiers had the likes of Graeme Smith, Jacques Kallis or even Johan Botha (who has moved to South Australia) to assist, he may have been able to handle the treble role easier. For now, it seems something always has to give. In this tournament he improved in his decision-making and managing of bowlers but his batting was not up to standard.

On the whole, neither was South Africa's. They ran India close in result terms but never looked like they could seriously challenge to win the match and if Misbah-ul-Haq had some support, Pakistan could have chased down 234. They turned on some style against West Indies but in a rain-affected match a decent total is difficult to judge and they collapsed against England.

Those things have all happened before with Smith and Kallis in the XI so the batting bloopers are not personnel or technical related; they are all about mindset. Kirsten has gone where those before him did not even consider to try and change the way the South African squad thinks.

He introduced them to a man who scales the world's tallest peaks for fun so they could understand pressure better. They climbed mountains with Mike Horn and it helped strengthen their Test performances but cycling Amsterdam with him did not help the one-day side learn about the same.

Put simply, South Africa's Test squad is mature and settled. They were at the stage where they could benefit from an out-of-the-box excursion. The one-day side is not. They needed clear guidelines, proper preparation and solid game plans to succeed. Even if they had all those, they may still have come up short.

Morne Morkel and Dale Steyn were another pair of absentees who Kirsten was confident would not be missed too much. In bilateral series, South Africa have played without one or both of them in certain matches and won. They are not the only two fast bowlers who are good enough but add their loss to everything else South Africa faced and the accumulation of problems is obvious.

Winning one match out of four is not good enough to advance in any tournament and South Africa's eventual return is an accurate reflection of where they are as a one-day team at the moment. They are very much a work in progress and they will have to make those developments without Kirsten.

His last match in charge was one he will want to forget and it leaves his CV with South Africa incomplete. While he will move on to more leisurely pursuits, they will continue trying to find a way to win when it matters. His advice was that would need "guts and glory", with the task of finding those qualities now handed to Russell Domingo.

He has a few weeks before the next series, in Sri Lanka, and months before the next major event, the World Twenty20 in Bangladesh, but already it is clear South Africa will need to go through a familiar cycle yet again.

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Harris fit for his defining Ashes series

Ryan Harris will make his return to the bowling crease in Australia A's match against Gloucestershire in Bristol on Friday, as he steels himself for an Ashes campaign that looms as the defining moment of his international career.

After a carefully managed recovery from an Achilles complaint that forced him home early from the IPL, Harris yearns to make a lasting impression in the 10 Tests against England, and is equally bullish about the quality of Australia's pace bowling resources.

A much admired figure in Australian cricket, Harris has been interrupted by injury at too many junctures of his late blooming career, but the repeated setbacks have not dimmed his desire to contribute as a high class new-ball bowler, nor his value to the team when fit. At 33, he will also bring valuable experience and perspective to an Australian dressing room that has shown increasing signs of dysfunction over recent months, ever since Michael Hussey's decision to follow Ricky Ponting into retirement.

"I'm looking forward to playing and can't wait to get out there and get back into bowling, not Twenty20 style bowling but proper bowling, and getting into good spells," Harris said in Bristol. "Hopefully bowling 20-30 overs would be nice. Leaving India wasn't ideal, but getting home and getting the treatment I needed, the Achilles actually reacted really well to treatment, so coming over here and being able to bowl lots and lots of balls in the nets has been great. In saying that I've just about had a gut-full of that, I'm ready to bowl in games.

"In regards to my rehab, this is the reason why you have to get through and get back and rehab and do all the stuff. I wanted to be here in an Ashes series in England, and I want to play the one in Australia if things go to plan.

"They're the things that keep you going. And love of playing the game as well that's what's keeps you going. 'You're a long time retired,' that's what I keep being told, so there are a lot of gym sessions and stuff where I woke up in the morning and didn't want to go but had to go, had to get strong. This is the reason why - I wanted to be here for the Ashes."

A handsome record of 47 wickets at 23.63 from 12 Tests is one of the major reasons the national selectors, aware that his best is close to irresistible, have kept faith with Harris. Moving the ball both ways at high pace and with a skidding trajectory, Harris has earned occasional comparisons with the likes of Dale Steyn and James Anderson. The latter is leader of a formidable England attack, but Harris had no qualms rating Australia's pacemen in similar terms, noting their growth together as a unit.

"I wouldn't say he's the benchmark," Harris said of Anderson. "He's consistent and been so over the past couple of years, which puts him up there as one of the best in the world and he probably deserves that title. But our attack, we've got a very good attack if not better. We've got good pace and when the boys get it right we've got good consistency. James Pattinson has come back, he's been bowling unbelievably well and fast during the trial games.

"Peter Siddle's doing the same, Mitchell Starc he's another one - he's come back from injury and if he goes anywhere near what he was doing last summer, which I'm hoping, [Alastair] Cook will find it very tough facing him with those big thunderbolts going away from him. Our attack is suited for these conditions and we've got one of the best attacks in the world over here.

"The camaraderie [among the bowlers] is excellent. We're all good mates. If we have to rest someone or if someone does go down, touch wood they don't, but the guy who is stepping in can do the same sort of job. We've spent a lot of time together so we know each other very well. We hang out and eat dinner together and talk about the game together which is really good. I think it's a really healthy relationship."

As for a rash of dire predictions about Australia's likely performance in the series, Harris said recent form had given observers little else to conclude. But he was forthright in his belief that Australia's best would be good enough, and that the team was preparing as meticulously as possible for the task at hand.

"We're not worried about that sort of stuff we're going to cop that we haven't played good cricket in the past six months. We know that," he said. "We're here to play good cricket, that's why the Australia A team have been here, the Champions Trophy boys have had enough training in these conditions. We came here and acclimatised to these conditions early and that's all we can do. If we go out there and don't play our best cricket, we'll get beaten. If we play our best cricket we'll win."

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Pomersbach replaces Chanderpaul in CPL

West Indies batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul has withdrawn from the inaugural edition of the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) due to contractual obligations with English county Derbyshire. He will be replaced in the St Lucia franchise by Australia batsman Luke Pomersbach.

Chanderpaul signed a contract with CPL offering himself for selection but later realised that his commitment to Derbyshire allowed a release only if it pertained to playing for West Indies.

"I am extremely sorry that I will not be able to participate in the CPL because of contractual obligations," Chanderpaul said. "I would definitely like to make myself available for the next edition, and will have my contracts carry a clause that will permit me to play in future editions of T20 tournaments."

His withdrawal opened doors for Pomersbach, who was in the group of Elite Pool A players alongside Chanderpaul, and the only batsman remaining in that pool.

"It will be great to be a part of the first CPL and I am looking forward to some tough competitive cricket with some of the greatest T20 cricketers in the world," Pomersbach said.

Organisers say Pomersbach's selection is in line with the rules of the draft.

Pomersbach has scored 1078 runs in 48 Twenty20s at a strike rate of 130.98, including fours fifties and a hundred. The other T20 franchises he has represented are Brisbane Heat, Kings XI Punjab and Royal Challengers Bangalore.

The St Lucia franchise, the Zouks, includes international players Darren Sammy, Herschelle Gibbs, Albie Morkel, Tino Best, Tamim Iqbal among others. The coach of the franchise is former West Indies bowler Andy Roberts.

The CPL begins on July 30 in Barbados with the opening match between St Lucia Zouks and Barbados Tridents.

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Pat Cummins to make comeback

Pat Cummins, the Australia fast bowler, will play his first competitive match after nine months with a back injury for the Northern Ireland Cricket Academy on Wednesday.

Cummins was named as a non-playing member of the Australia A squad who have played four-day matches against Scotland and Ireland in the past two weeks.

The squad have travelled to Bristol to face Gloucestershire on Friday but Cummins will remain in Ireland to play for the NICA against MCC at Carrickfergus, just outside Belfast.

Forty-eight hours later he will switch colours to play for MCC against Ireland Under-19s, part of their preparations for the Under-19 World Cup qualifier in August.

Cummins has not played since October last year when he bowled four overs for 27 to help Sydney Sixers beat Lions in the Champions League final. During the tournament he complained of stiffness and on his return home was diagnosed with a stress fracture in his back.

Cummins made his international debut aged just 18 on Australia's tour of South Africa in October 2011. His first, and to date only, Test at the Wanderers included 6 for 79 in the second innings, earning him the match award in a narrow Australian victory.

He has also impressed in five ODIs, including playing England at Lord's last year, and a successful World T20 in Sri Lanka where he claimed six wickets at 32.83 to help Australia to the semi-final.

Despite the understandable hype surrounding Cummins, his injury history has compelled Cricket Australia to take a conservative approach with him this time around, and he is unlikely to figure in international calculations for some time yet.

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Clarke's Ashes squad fragmented

A strong show of unity is needed after the problems that have dogged the start of their tour

Even if some of the more scurrilous rumours abounding from within the Australian cricket team are discounted, it is impossible to escape the symbolism of their current disposition. Day one of the tourists' Ashes campaign ended the same way it began, with the 16 chosen squad members and their shadows dispersed across the United Kingdom. Whether by accident or design, this is more a fragmented front than a united one.

The majority, marshalled by the tour vice-captain Brad Haddin, have assembled in Bristol, where Australia A will play a three-day match against Gloucestershire from Friday. But the captain, Michael Clarke, along with Shane Watson, David Warner, Mitchell Starc and James Faulkner remain at the team hotel in London, where they will train this week in low profile sessions destined to serve primarily as an elongated fitness test for Clarke's back.

On Wednesday they will be joined by the opener and Middlesex captain Chris Rogers, now excused from his county duties and readying himself for a final tilt at international recognition. Champions Trophy squad members not required for the Ashes will drift away in dribs and drabs, some like Adam Voges and Glenn Maxwell contracted for English Twenty20 japes, others like George Bailey and Nathan Coulter-Nile heading back to the Australian winter. Then there is Ed Cowan, still in Nottingham on county secondment, and not likely to join his Australia colleagues until Monday in Taunton, dubbed the "official" starting point of the Ashes tour.

All these players are eager to prepare for the Ashes. Save for Rogers and perhaps Cowan, all are in urgent need of strong first-class grounding for the battles to come, for confidence as much as familiarity with the Dukes ball and occasionally capricious English pitches. And all would wish to distance themselves from the horrid start to the tour, featuring as it has an injured, absentee captain, a timid first encounter with England, a drunken punch thrown by a foolish opening batsman, and a group quite happy to go out on the town until the small hours immediately after a bad defeat.

Problems on the field, off the field and in the spaces between will not repair themselves. Whatever has been said publicly by Clarke, Warner, Bailey and others, this is a team in desperate need of time together under firm leadership, to heal the ructions apparent over the past two weeks, and to re-focus on the steep task at hand. Early Champions Trophy elimination had afforded the team on tour a chance to assemble a week earlier than planned but it does not appear one that will be taken up.

Though this can mainly be attributed to reasons of back-related convalescence, Clarke has so far spent more time away from most of his team than he has done with them. The importance of a tour's early days to establish standards of behaviour and performance has been stressed by many, including the former England captain Michael Atherton. In this case there was an unmistakable sense of 'while the cat's away...' about the drinking transgressions in Birmingham.

	"It wasn't the right thing to do after a loss, to go out and have a few beers" Phillip Hughes

Surprise that Clarke did not travel straight up to the Midlands from London at the first sign of internal trouble, no matter how bad the condition of his back, has competed with the ball-tampering allegations against England as the choicest of tournament gossip. Eyebrows are likely to be raised again at the news that Clarke will spend another week away from most of the players under his leadership, even if his trust in Haddin as the Australia A captain and tour lieutenant is absolute.

Phillip Hughes, who has been closer to Clarke than most, was happy to apologise for being out on the night in question. For years Australia's team culture was built along several unshakeable maxims, one of which was that the celebration of a win was to be long and raucous, but that the wake after a loss should be precisely the opposite. While it is an easier instruction to carry out when the team wins frequently, numerous players, former and current, were less disturbed by the notion that Warner punched Joe Root than the fact members of a team well beaten had no compunction about getting well liquored that same evening. Losses should hurt more than that.

"Everyone's accountable for it, it was after a loss and I was one of the guys who was out," Hughes said. "So I put my hand up and say it wasn't the right thing to do after a loss, to go out and have a few beers. It wasn't the right time or place. We've all got to learn from that and I'll definitely put my hand up and say it wasn't the right time. You want to win and have a beer after you win … We shouldn't have been out after a loss."

Hughes went on to take heart from the view that "we're all in it together". It was the right kind of sentiment, but for the moment it does not reflect the way the Australia team are playing their cricket, nor their geographical relationship to each other. Sporting history is littered with teams who played above their modest talent levels by binding together in collective effort and diligence, frustrating and confounding opponents with greater resources and reputations. Unfortunately for Australia's cricketers, right now they are defying one of the maxims of a rather more serious business, warfare: never divide your forces in the face of a superior enemy.

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Prince quells Scotland uprising

Lancashire 218 for 3 (Prince 98*, Moore 53) beat Scotland 217 for 9 (Coleman 63, MacLeod 55, White 4-38) by seven wickets
Scorecard

Lancashire extended their winning run in the Yorkshire Bank 40 to three matches with a routine seven-wicket win against Scotland at Old Trafford. The Lightning have shot up the Group B table with wins against Surrey, Essex and now the Saltires, who were restricted to 217 for 9 after electing to bat first.

Although the visitors' total was much improved on their 91 all out against Durham on Sunday, they will rue the loss of six wickets for 24 runs in 27 balls inside the last five overs of their innings as they slipped from 191 for 3 in the 36th over.

Ashwell Prince top-scored with 98 not out off 102 balls with seven fours and two sixes to anchor the reply, while Stephen Moore's 53 represented his first half century in any form of first-team cricket since last August. Lancashire won with 21 balls to spare.

Scotland, who have now lost seven matches in a row, looked on course for a target in the region of 250 ahead of the last five overs of the innings. Opener Freddie Coleman top-scored with 63 off 70 balls, Calum MacLeod added 55 off 70 and captain Preston Mommsen chipped in with 46 off 38.

Coleman and MacLeod had put their side in a healthy position with a third-wicket partnership of 90 inside 17 overs to take the score from 57 for 2 in the 12th over to 147 for three in the 29th. But Wayne White led the way for the Lightning with 4 for 38 from eight overs, including the wickets of Mommsen and Moneeb Iqbal in the space of five balls in the 38th over. Five of Scotland's wickets fell to catches off the top edge.

Prince and Moore then got Lancashire's reply off to a commanding start with an opening stand of 105 inside 17 overs, their highest of the season so far. The pair hit offspinner Majid Haq for straight sixes towards the new pavilion before legspinner Iqbal trapped Moore lbw and had captain Steven Croft caught at square-leg to leave the score at 117 for 2 in the 19th over.

Mommsen later took a stunning one-handed catch having turned to run towards the point boundary to help Haq get rid of Karl Brown but Prince eased Lancashire home ahead of the break for Twenty20.

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The remake that has gone bust

Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment was not as good as the original, but carried a few of the cast, some decent jokes, and had the recruits out on the streets fighting with Bobcat Goldthwait. Police Academy 7: Mission To Moscow had pretty much nothing at all. It seems that just putting words Police Academy into the title couldn't recreate any of the magic from the earlier films.

There was a feeling for a while that no matter which XI cricketers you put in the Australian team, it wouldn't matter. Just having XI players playing for Australia would lift them to a devastating standard of cricket. They'd fight until the end, they'd come together, and they'd do their country proud. It was a myth. Propaganda. Australian hearts aren't bigger than normal hearts. They don't pump supernatural sporting blood.

This current team has mortal blood in them. That could not have been highlighted more than when Australia were one wicket down against Sri Lanka, and needed a match-winning partnership and their batsmen were Phillip Hughes and Glenn Maxwell.

Trumper and Hill. Ponsford and Bradman. Simpson and Chappell. Taylor and Boon. Hayden and Ponting. Australia have had some pretty special top orders. Hughes and Maxwell won't be added to that list.

It is unfair to even mention them near that list. This is just an ODI. And an odd ODI where Australia had to chase the total in 29.1 overs to make the next stage of the tournament. It's not the normal batting order, and unlike most of the combinations above, it's not a Test match.

But if you wanted to see how far Australia had fallen, Maxwell running down the wicket like a madman and Hughes batting as though the inside edge was the middle of his bat were a pretty good example.

Hughes averages 44 in first-class cricket, and Maxwell 37. Both respectable for a young opener and a batting allrounder. But they're not as impressive off paper.

	'We were unlucky against New Zealand' - Bailey

Maxwell clearly has an amazing eye, and some confidence. Maxwell is a man who can flat-bat Lasith Malinga through mid-off for four. Contrary to popular thinking, and even if they were wrong, there is a reason he was a million dollar man in the IPL. But he does swing madly across the line in a way that makes you think he's perhaps not a batsman, but a bowler with a good eye. The answer to any question in Australian cricket at the moment is Glenn Maxwell, and that is a concern.

The problem is that while Maxwell can make a good 30-odd in quick time, he doesn't really think his way through innings. He had Sri Lanka hopping, he had them worrying, he'd already scored a boundary in the over against Malinga, he didn't need to back away and expose his stumps to the one man in cricket who was most likely to hit them.

Hughes' technique has been repaired more times than Shane Watson. Yet, every time it is repaired it comes back with a new fault. Even with that, it seems his biggest problem is his confidence. No amount of tweaking, coaching or manipulation of his technique can ever bring back the confidence he had when he was a young batsman. I doubt there is a bowler in world cricket who wouldn't fancy himself with Hughes at the other end.

Hughes is a man who made back-to-back hundreds against Steyn, Ntini and Morkel. And yet faced with a fairly innocuous ball outside off stump he played a shot that could have only resulted in a caught behind, play and miss or, at best, a single to third man.

You could argue that Hughes is a weird pick for the ODI side, but his List A average is 48. You could argue that Maxwell is not an ODI No. 3, but the boy can pinch hit. There are reasons they are there. They're not blokes Australia found on the street. They're the best they can find.

The chase of 254 in 29.1 overs was never going to be easy, or even, all that possible.

But it's not just that they didn't make it, it's just that they stopped four wickets down. Their fifth wicket was 11 runs off 27 balls as Mitchell Marsh scratched and Adam Voges consolidated. Only Matthew Wade from that point on made any attempt at the total they needed to make the semis.

Maybe it's romantic and unrealistic, but it is likely previous Australian sides would have just kept running into the fire. Swinging away wildly. Chasing until there was no hope left. This team either didn't have that in them, or couldn't do it.

The main bit of fight they showed was a last wicket partnership that made Sri Lankan fans nervous for a while.

This has been a dodgy start for Australia's summer in the UK. Their opening batsman is currently suspended. Their one superstar is still injured. They lost two and shared one in this tournament. Their team environment is not great. The only bright spot today was when Ricky Ponting was in their dressing room.

Unfortunately for Australia, Ponting was not coming back, he was just performing a walk on. The old cast aren't getting back together. The old magic will not be regained. They are stuck with what they have.

The Australia one-day team is currently very close to Police Academy 7. There are a couple of faces you sort of know, and none are the quality of the originals. And just like Police Academy, as the series got worse, the more you saw of George "GW" Bailey, the legendary character actor.

It's not the players' fault. Unlike a film series, you can't simply stop playing sport just because your team isn't as good as it used to be.

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Watson's diminishing returns

In the 2009 Champions Trophy in South Africa, Shane Watson was the Man of the Match in Australia's victories in the semi-final and the final. He also had the best average and the most centuries (two) in the tournament. Four years on, Watson cut a much diminished figure throughout.

Just 34 runs. That's all one of the most valuable players for Australia managed in this edition of the tournament. With Michael Clarke convalescing, the burden was on Watson's shoulders to pilot Australia. It was an opportunity to correct the wrongs committed during the controversial Test series in India earlier this year where Watson was slapped with the one-match ban for not doing his homework.

Watson has not forgiven the Australian team management for rapping his knuckles, calling it the lowest point of his career. He made it clear that he was not interested in standing as Clarke's deputy in case the occasion arose during the Ashes as he wanted only focus on how best he could help the team with his contributions.

Mentally, Watson remains vulnerable. His failure has only exacerbated Australia's problems. Undoubtedly, being the senior-most player adds to the team's expectations. But you earn your badge by rising to the occasion.

Take Mahela Jayawardene. He had come in at a point when Xavier Doherty had tied down Sri Lanka in the middle overs. He had walked in midway into the Sri Lankan innings. Sri Lanka were 99 for 3 after 25 overs. Ten overs later they had managed just 43 more runs. But Jayawardene remained busy.

The pitch was two-paced, verging on the slower side. An elastic batsman, Jayawardene used his strengths to guide the ball into the various gaps without breaking sweat. The beauty about watching Jayawardene is he does not take the fielder on, but simultaneously he can beat any field.

Coming from round the wicket Mitchell Johnson pitched back of a length and short. Backward point and point were in position. Rooted to the crease, Jayawardene stretched laterally, opened the face of the bat, cut the ball to the left of backward point, lending just that much power required to beat Phil Hughes, who rushed in vain from third man.

Cuts, upper cuts, revere sweep, nudges, failed scoops. Jayawardene used all those weapons to make the bowler's job that much more difficult. He played the situation, using his head to put Sri Lanka in a winning position.

In contrast, Watson lost his head while attempting a stroke which has proved to be dangerous. He had started off with a fluent boundary in the first over but having just faced one ball from Nuwan Kulasekara, Watson cut; so close to his body he virtually cut the stumps. He was the most crucial batsman in the chase. Someone who could overpower their bowling. In the end Watson sat in the changing rooms head in hands, as Sri Lanka kept their nerve in a tantalising victory.

The period between 2009 and 2011 were Watson's best years. He worked hard, performed consistently and deserved the status of the most valuable player. He was in a happy state of mind. He was especially formidable in the one-day arena. You could look up to Watson and, up to a point, he would deliver. Coincidentally, it was the period when Ricky Ponting was Australia's captain. Ponting had a lot of respect for Watson and backed him in every possible situation. Watson respected Ponting for having the belief in him and standing by him.

Today Watson is isolated with Michael Clarke at the helm. He was Clarke's deputy in India, but as soon as he reached India, he made it clear he had no intention to step into the leadership duties. Watson is happy to continue making the contributions, but wants to do it on his own terms. Mickey Arthur has admitted his dynamic within the team remains a work in progress

Failing to adapt to the situation has been the major stumbling block. Disappointingly Watson has remained an impact player. Not the batsman who has the patience to construct an innings consistently. His form has declined from 2012 where onwards he has averaged 32.05. In Twenty20 cricket, such as the IPL, Watson has expressed himself with much more freedom. He has remained the most dependable player for Rajasthan Royals since 2008. He has remained flexible in the roles he has been asked to perform in the IPL.

Australia need an assertive Watson now more than ever. Of course, the Australia team management needs to make some allowance. Clarke needs to relay the message to Watson that he remains his best man, and perhaps commit the sort of time to the allrounder that Ponting once did. For his part Watson has to realise that he cannot rely on a captain cajoling him all the time. He has the ability to stand up on his own two feet and be heard, even if recent evidence of such is growing scarce.

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Sri Lanka propelled by a little Mahela magic

"Power" is batting's buzzword of the modern age. In limited-overs cricket, players are no longer measured by how well they hit a ball, but how hard and how far. That quest has spawned a subset of relatively modern phenomena - setting a stable base, not losing one's shape, swinging through the arc. As Twenty20 salaries expand, and cricket strides close to the glamour that has eluded it in the past, only a handful of batsmen still swear by the old laws.

At the Oval, Mahela Jayawardene crafted a limited-overs innings that like so many he has played before, was a triumph for romantics in an age when muscles and brutality abound. Batting lower down than is customary - for only he has the game versatile enough to fit where the team requires him - he stroked 84 of the most alluring runs in the competition, all made under pressure, at a strike rate exceeding 100.

To label Jayawardene a purist is not to say he is a stickler for tradition, for he wields a slog sweep and over-the-shoulder scoop as well as anyone in the game. But although new strokes have been learnt in the last five years, the essence of his cricket remains as lovingly refined as it has always been. Twenty-first century aggression filtered through age-old method, yielding savagery that seems fashioned from silk. The reverse-sweep he hit off Glenn Maxwell in the 30th over was played late, beneath the eyes, head still, hands sure, wide of the fielder for four.

Like most artists, Jayawardene is fragile too. Early in his innings, any seam bowler worth his salt should fancy an edge to keeper or slip. If he gets through that initial gauntlet, there is still risk in his progress. A creature of instinct, he does not back down to a ball he fancies, and even when well set, the hankering to attack has brought his downfall countless times. At the Oval, inside-out strokes over cover flew perilously close to fielders' hands, and an attempted reverse-sweep off a fast bowler could easily have left his stumps splayed. The joy of his success is heightened by his daring. Every four feels like a caper, each big innings an adventure.

On days where he does not mishit a single ball, like in 2011's World Cup final, the result is fantasy come alive. There are far greater batsmen than he in the game today, but is there a more compelling force in full flow? Sachin Tendulkar perhaps, but few others. In the penultimate over, Clint McKay bowled one at his body, and Jayawardene backed away and stroked it in the two-metre gap between backward point and short third man. Both men had been placed there for exactly that kind of shot, but neither had a hope of preventing four.

Even in the last three years, the fine innings that he alone among Sri Lanka's batsmen could play are numerous. The World Cup final ton is one, the 42 against Pakistan on a World Twenty20 semi-final dustbowl is another. In Tests, the 105 against Australia on a brute in Galle, and the 180 against England at the same venue a year later will linger in the mind. Hard runs, all, though you would never know from the grace with which he beats them out. He is a big-match performer, and with bigger matches than this virtual quarter-final to come, Sri Lanka will hope Jayawardene's hunger intensifies, as it has done in the major tournaments before.

"You could see how desperate I was today," Jayawardene said. "So I'll be desperate for every game to win, simple as that. It's not about trophies or whatever - it's just to win matches. So I'll have that same passion and same desperation to win games, doesn't matter if it's a semifinal or final or just a group game. As long as I have that attitude and the rest of the boys, we'll go a long way."

It is easy to read his figures and remark that Jayawardene's record is fairly mediocre, mistakenly assuming the one-day tracks in Sri Lanka are as conducive to stroke-making as pitches north, beyond the Palk Strait. It is Sri Lanka's lot to be lumped with the giants of the subcontinent, but spinners have long reigned over batsmen on the island, and lately the quicks have had their days as well. In any case, Colombo's humidity had made swing bowling effective in ODIs even before the recent renaissance in seam-friendly pitches. No Sri Lanka batsman has ever retired with an average over 40, but the team has rarely failed to be a force in ODIs since 1996.

They arrive now, at another semi-final - their sixth in the last eight world tournaments. Kumar Sangakkara's diligence and drive saw the side through the early matches, but it took a little Mahela magic to propel them in a squeeze.

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Australia low on confidence - Bailey

George Bailey, Australia's stand-in captain for the Champions Trophy, has admitted that Australia are low on confidence, reasoning that the fate of the Ashes hinges on the result of the first couple of Tests. Australia, the defending champions, failed to make the semi-finals of what is supposed to be the last edition of the Champions Trophy, after they lost to Sri Lanka on Monday at The Oval narrowly by 20 runs, finishing bottom of in Group B behind England, Sri Lanka and New Zealand.

It has been demoralising few weeks for Australia, starting with the loss of their regular captain Michael Clarke to back injury, following by the David Warner controversy after the player admitted to being involved physical altercation with England batsman Joe Root in a pub in Birmingham last week before culminating in their exit from the tournament on Monday. With the first Ashes Test commencing on July 10 at Trent Bridge, Australia could not be in a worse state of mind.

However, Bailey felt that the switch in the formats, the change of the ball, the infusion of fresh legs and the probable return of Clarke in to the squad could reinvigorate an Australia and arrest the downward spiral.

"There is probably not a great deal of confidence there," Bailey said at the Oval. "But it's just a very different mindset, I think, going from a one‑day tournament to a Test tournament. I don't think it's mattered where sides have been ranked going forward or in the past.

"The Ashes just tends to bring out something special in both sides. Whatever can be written and said leading up into those games, but until that first Test and the result of that first Test, I think that will dictate how the summer plays out. I think there is a huge importance in the results of the first couple of Tests."

Whatever Bailey's thoughts, the worries will persist. The biggest concern would be the slump the top-order pair of Shane Watson and Phillip Hughes. Watson had an aggregate of 34 runs while Hughes finished with 43 runs in the three Champions Trophy matches. Add to that the failure of Warner, who managed nine runs in the match against England and successive ducks in two warm-up matches, and the fragility of the Australian batting order becomes that much prominent.

There were only four half-centuries by Australia's batsmen including one from the James Faulkner, a bowling allrounder. Bailey and Adam Voges, the best performing batsmen, are not part of the Ashes plans. Australia, Bailey pointed out, would need to forget the Champions Trophy as soon as possible to move into the Ashes with a positive frame of mind.

"All of these guys will have to put this tournament behind them whether they've scored runs or not, and just focus on going forward," Bailey said. "That's no different for an Australian player to any other international player. Everyone has form slumps, everyone has their ups and downs. As a team, I think there is a really big challenge that's going to be ahead of them in the next couple of months. I think what Australia have done this time is they've got a really good preparation.

"I think a couple of the guys, the batters from this group, will maybe even join up and play the Australia A game that's due to start later this week. So, there are going to be plenty of opportunities for those guys to get some match practice in. Plenty of opportunity to get lots of practice against the Dukes balls in."

What would help the Australians immensely would be the return of Clarke who, Bailey reckoned, was likely to return for the first Ashes warm-up match, starting next Thursday, against Somerset in Taunton. According to Bailey even though it might seem Australia had been mortally wounded in the Champions Trophy there were still some positives to take forward. One reason for encouragement was Faulkner, the left-arm fast bowler, who might have just had three wickets, but his rich mix of variations could make him the surprise weapon during the Ashes.

"Faulkner has been really impressive. I think it's been good to have a lot of guys over here playing a lot of cricket in the lead‑up to the Ashes. So it's not necessarily just on the Champions Trophy group, but a lot of guys that have been playing county cricket," Bailey said. "Obviously, the Australia A groups are over here. The Champions Trophy boys that have been here for a number of weeks have been getting used to the conditions, different color ball and different format. But all of that plays a part in getting settled in. So I think all of those things will take some positives out of."

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