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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Bangladesh leadership blames poor batting for loss

Moments before Mushfiqur Rahim announced his resignation as captain, he and his deputy Mahmudullah had blamed the Bangladesh top order for the 1-2 defeat to Zimbabwe. Mushfiqur was among the top five batsmen who hadn't scored a half-century in the series.

Bangladesh had also lost all three tosses, but Mushfiqur said it was a matter of handling the conditions rather than relying on luck. They had gone 1-0 up after the first game in Harare but lost the next two.

"Luck is not everything," Mushfiqur said. "We are a much better team than how we played in this ODI series but we couldn't prove it, especially with the bat. None of the top five could score a fifty in the series, which is very disappointing. We regularly lost early wickets, which affected our scoring rate. If we had scored 270 on all three occasions, it would have been a different ball game.

"Obviously that's [complacent] what they looked like. I wouldn't say Zimbabwe bowled too badly but we lost early wickets and we went into the last ten overs with only a few wickets in hand. It hampered our performance."

Mushfiqur, Tamim Iqbal, Shakib Al Hasan and Mohammad Ashraful averaged less than 22 in the series, and Bangladesh often replied on the lower-middle order to bail them out of tough spots. Nasir Hossain and Mahmudullah were the only batsmen to aggregate more than 100 runs in the series.

"I wouldn't blame the wicket. I would rather say that the top-order didn't bat well," Mushfiqur said. "We couldn't do that well in the first match either. In all three matches, the lower middle-order backed up well.

"I think the toss was also very important, so we also needed some luck. Our target was to bat second, because we are good at chasing totals. But we couldn't do well with the bat, and hence lost the series."

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Mullaney best sets up Notts win

Nottinghamshire 140 for 3 (Taylor 50*) beat Kent 220 for 6 (Key 62, Mullaney 4-29) by seven wickets D/L
Scoreboard

Steven Mullaney returned career-best figures of 4 for 29 as Nottinghamshire collected their second Yorkshire Bank 40 victory of the season, defeating Kent by seven wickets in a rain-interrupted match at Trent Bridge.

An unbeaten 50 from James Taylor, who will represent England Lions against New Zealand on Thursday, helped the home side to a revised target of 140 in 19 overs with 15 balls unused.

Thanks largely to Mullaney, Kent were limited to 220 for 6 after being inserted, Rob Key top-scoring with 62 and Brendan Nash adding 42 before bad weather delayed the reply for around two hours.

Notts lost Michael Lumb in the second over of their reply, shortly after he had registered his 5,000th run in one-day cricket. Both Alex Hales and Samit Patel fell to boundary catches, but Taylor and Riki Wessels sped their side over the line with an unbroken stand of 67 in just 6.2 overs.

Former Notts seamer Charlie Shreck, playing his first List A match in three years, conceded 18 in the 16th over and Taylor then hit Matt Coles for three consecutive fours to seal a victory that takes his side top of Group A.

Kent's innings was disrupted by the accurate medium-pace of Mullaney - the key figure as the visitors lost their way after a second-wicket stand of 97 between Key and Nash. Both succumbed to Mullaney, as did Darren Stevens and Sam Northeast in a spell that saw four wickets fall for 34 in 10 overs.

Operating in tandem with the economical Graeme Swann, Mullaney's nagging line and length induced some reckless dismissals, although Chris Read's stumping to remove Stevens was top-class. Patel held two fine catches, after earlier firing in the throw from deep midwicket which ran out Sam Billings in just the second over.

Geraint Jones and Ben Harmison provided some late fireworks as the final 10 overs realised 88 runs. Jones lofted Patel over the leg side for the only maximum of the innings, then despatched the left-arm pace of Harry Gurney for three boundaries in a row before being caught at mid-off.

Heavy showers arrived during the interval between innings and again early in Notts' reply, causing several readjustments to the eventual Duckworth/Lewis target.

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South Australia fined over Muirhead talks

South Australia's interest in the Victorian legspinner James Muirhead has cost them a $15,000 fine after they were found to have breached Cricket Australia's rules on player movements. Muirhead, 19, was given a rookie contract by Cricket Victoria in July last year and made his Sheffield Shield debut against the Redbacks in Adelaide in January.

But a Cricket Australia grievance tribunal has found that during the 2012-13 season, the South Australian Cricket Association held discussions with Muirhead before informing Cricket Victoria, thus breaking the rules regarding to contracted players. The tribunal made its ruling on April 3 but delayed a decision on its penalty until reconvening this week.

Rule 4 of Cricket Australia's Rules for Interstate Competitions states that a "state association must not (and must ensure that its constituent clubs do not) hold discussions with a CA contracted player or a state contracted player who is bound to another state association concerning the possible transfer of that player without first informing the player's home state association".

Keith Bradshaw, the SACA chief executive, said: "SACA has always maintained that it has not breached Rule 4 of the Rules for Interstate Competitions but accepts that the Cricket Australia grievance tribunal process is now complete and a $15,000 penalty issued".

Muirhead had made his BBL debut for the Adelaide Strikers in the 2011-12 summer before he was given his rookie deal with Victoria. However, he switched to the Melbourne Renegades for the 2012-13 season.

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Injured Steven Smith returns from IPL

Steven Smith is expected to be fit for the upcoming Australia A series in England despite suffering a back injury that has forced his withdrawal from the remainder of the IPL.

Cricket Australia on Thursday confirmed that Smith was returning home from India due to the issue with his lower back, which was likely to make him unavailable for any more matches with Pune Warriors. However, his role as vice-captain to Brad Haddin for the Australia A games, which begin on June 7, is not expected to be in doubt.

"While the injury is minor, Pune respected Smith's upcoming playing commitments and advised it was best for him to return to Australia for treatment," Cricket Australia said in a statement. "CA expects Smith to be fully fit for his upcoming commitments with Australia A, where he will be vice-captain."

Smith missed out on a place in Australia's Ashes squad despite being one of the strongest performers with the bat on the recent Test tour of India, where his footwork against the spinners put him second only to captain Michael Clarke on Australia's batting averages.

He has also topped the average for Pune Warriors so far in their IPL campaign with 161 runs at 39.75.

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Farhat looking to cement place

Imran Farhat, the Pakistan batsman, has been around international cricket since 2001 but has never been a regular in the side for too long. In the last 12 years, he has only managed to play 53 ODIs at 32.45 and given the number of his matches he has opened with as many as nine partners.

Farhat's career has often been overshadowed by the fact that his father-in-law is Mohammad Ilyas, a key figure in the PCB over the past decade. "This is the notion I want to clear," Farhat said on sidelines of the training camp at Abbottabad Cricket Stadium. "He [Ilyas] has his own status but I never took advantage of it. I would have been playing cricket for Pakistan even if we weren't associated. It is in front of everyone that whenever I make a comeback it is due to my domestic performances.

"I have been playing my own cricket and nobody is there to help at the pitch where you are on your own. I have my own goals and have always been very committed to my game and I never discuss it with him. If I perform it's good and if I don't, I never worry. Cricket is my bread and butter, and I want to play cricket and kept myself busy with it. Playing international cricket is like a reward against performances in the domestic cricket. The only reason I am in the team at the moment is my performance as I have scored enough runs to win a place."

Farhat is in fluent form at the moment. He marked himself with a triple-century in domestic cricket earlier this year and was recalled to the Test squad for the South Africa tour and retained for the ODIs as well. Since than Farhat has been looking to cement a spot in the top three. "I am much more experienced now and can manage any position and ready to play at any order [between 1 and 3] the team management wants.

"I am more confident than ever and working extremely hard," Farhat said. "I just want to make as much contribution as possible for my team whenever I get selected. However, the snub from national team has never been a frustration for me."

Pakistan had a targeted practice match during their training camp in Abbottabad with Shoaib Malik and Kamran Akmal hitting 92 and 66 respectively. Again, like in last five days, the camp was mainly focused on the batsmen, giving them ample practice before leaving for Scotland ahead of the Champions Trophy.

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Dwayne Smith back at Sussex for T20

Dwayne Smith, the West Indies allrounder, has been re-signed by Sussex as an overseas player for the Friends Life t20. Smith previously played in all formats for the county on a Kolpak agreement in 2008 and 2009, then as an overseas T20 signing the following year.

Smith hit 59 from 26 balls to help Sussex to victory in the 2009 Twenty20 Cup final, part of a limited-overs double with the Pro40 league, which they also won in 2008. Smith, 30, who is currently playing in the IPL for Mumbai Indians, will join former New Zealand international Scott Styris as Sussex's overseas players.

"I'm very happy to be joining Sussex again," Smith said. "I can't wait to get back to my second home and the lovely crowd at Hove."

Having played 87 ODIs, to go with 10 Tests and 17 T20 internationals, Smith last week missed out on selection for West Indies' Champions Trophy squad. Sussex, who were beaten semi-finalists in last season's FLt20, will begin their campaign at home to Surrey on June 28.

Sussex's professional cricket manager, Mark Robinson, said: "Dwayne has the ability to win games by himself with the bat, he is a more-than-useful bowler and he is one of the best fielders ever to have been seen at Hove. He is immensely popular with the players, the members and the sponsors and everybody is excited about his return."

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