Cook wonders at the calamity

Alastair Cook stroked his magnificent jawline and could not belief the manner in which England had lost a game that was theirs for the taking

Cook stroked his magnificent superhero jawline as the Indians danced and screamed. The whites around his eyes were even more noticeable than usual. It was a look of confusion and defeat.

Maybe he was thinking back to the good old days when Ishant Sharma couldn't hit the pitch.

Because every ball from that moment on was an attack on English pride.

Ishant Sharma's slower ball started it. There have been Ishant Sharma slower balls that have ended up in fields surrounding cricket grounds. Somehow Eoin mongrelled his to midwicket. Eoin Morgan. The Eoin Morgan. Out with a chase in hand, but not won.

Ravi Bopara stood at the wicket complaining about the height of his ball for a second or two. This was Ravi's tournament, his bowling, his slogging and his ball-polishing skills. He had it all. He also had the timing and placement to hook the ball straight to R Ashwin at square leg.

Tim Bresnan has the sort of dependable face you can feel comfortable looking at in a crisis. Finally England scored another run as Bresnan slices away a ball to third man. The refuge of the lucky man.

Now Ravi Jadeja was on: MS Dhoni's toy-sized Chuck Norris. Dhoni gave him a slip. He'd struck mad, crazy, genius, accidental luck with Sharma's wickets, but now he was hungry.

Bresnan scored a single off his hip.

It brought Buttler on strike, the back-up Morgan. The man who finishes games for Somerset. Buttler can make 19 in 11 balls look like a Sunday stretch on a sun lounger.

Instead he missed a ball by a distance. Jadeja hit the stumps. England had scored two runs in five balls. Buttler saw a ball in his arc, he tried to destroy it. It got him first.

Broad was now in, he started by hitting the ball straight to cover. There was no run. He ran anyway, then he dived, and almost ripped his shoulder out of his socket only to look up and see that Jadeja had taken the ball in front of the stumps and not even worried about the run out. It was as if he'd know there would be more chances.

The next ball would have three.

Ball 18.4 of the innings was a cricket representation of choking. Jadeda darted it in. Bresnan almost swept himself off his feet. India went up for the LBW. Bresnan panicked and left his crease. Tucker gave the lbw not out. Bresnan stopped. Broad kept running. Then Bresnan slipped. Rohit Sharma ran him out.

All it needed was an actual banana skin.

If India wanted to know exactly what was going through England's head, they'd seen an exact recreation. Had England won the game from that moment onwards, India would not have been able to look anyone in the eyes again.

Tredwell, the man least likely to save the woman from the oncoming train, was now slogging wildly, almost getting run out, and adding one run to the total.

Broad timed a ball, the first one timed since Ravi's hook, but hit it so well that a second run was not possible. Not that they didn't flirt with a run out. At this stage the running between the wickets could have only been more dangerous if they'd done it on fire.

Somehow England had played the previous ten balls so badly that they'd actually taken the pressure off themselves. They choked so hard they'd made themselves the plucky outsiders who could provide an upset.

Broad eyed up the field and decided that he would just try and hit Ashwin as hard as his arms can swing. His arms probably can't swing that hard, but hey, this is Stuart Broad, he was born for this. Instead he missed, Dhoni took off the bails, and then when Rod Tucker hesitated on the third umpire, stared him down until he did it. For the second time we had a stumping that everyone was 100% sure they knew the answer too, and then Oxenford pressed the random generator and Broad was saved.

Hitting Ashwin on this pitch was like trying to pick the eyes out of a cheetah with BBQ tongs. So it was nice that Ashwin gave England their one big chance, and took the pitch out of the equation and Broad swept it for four.

Now every single person in the world who was watching the cricket knew that Stuart Broad was going to sweep. Dhoni brought in mid off, sent out the square leg. Hitting Ashwin over mid off on a pitch like this for a left hander would take a robot with alien technology. England had a sweeping bowling allrounder who'd faced four balls. Ashwin went short, Broad clunked it, took one.

Tredwell again. There is no casting agent in the world that would ever pick Tredwell for this moment. Not against Ashwin. How would he get his bat anywhere this master tweaker? Well he'd do it as Ashwin dropped short, and Tredwell used every single fibre of his character to force the ball beyond mid off. In a not too distant past, the Indian fielder would have been slow. He would have dived over it. He wouldn't have dived in the first place. Instead Rohit Sharma chased that ball like it was his inheritance. He was Jonty Rhodes, Ricky Ponting, Trevor Penney and Clive Lloyd. The imagined four became two.

Now Tredwell had to hit a six off the man who in 3.5 overs had bowled a maiden, taken two wickets and had given up only 15 runs. Tredwell, the everyman. Frumpy. Plain. Limited. No Graeme Swann. Up against the might of India. Saving his country from the embarrassment they so richly deserved. Winning their first ever ICC 50 tournament with one big swing.

Never was a hero so unlikely. Never was a play and miss so likely.

You don't send James Tredwell out to take down a superpower.

India, superpower. Redux.

It was never supposed to be like this. Eoin Morgan was supposed to ice the game with a six over midwicket and an angry smile as Ravi Bopara jumped on him like a victorious elf God. There was to be no choke. No panic. No calamity. No loss.

Instead of being used in photos of the champions, Cook's jawline was cast as little more than a quick cutaway or a scratching post as he pondered how the hell England lost that game.

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Lopsided Australia in search of balance

Were Australia's selectors to be required to choose their XI for the first Ashes Test at Trent Bridge today, and be compelled to do so purely on accomplishment and current form, they would include at least six bowlers, one wicketkeeper and, at most, four batsmen. As the tour proper begins in Taunton after the abortive Champions Trophy campaign and the shadow-boxing of Australia A, the imbalance in the visitors' resources is that stark.

John Inverarity and his panel do have the good fortune of another two weeks and two four-day matches to assess the suitability of their players for the task to confront them in Nottingham. But it cannot be ignored that at the same time they are thinking about narrowing down their pace bowling options, there is an equally urgent need to expand the number of batsmen in a confident mood.

So it is that the training and tour matches to come against Somerset and Worcestershire are eagerly awaited, for the clarity they should provide in addition to match practice. In the case of the bowlers, it will be a question of who stands tallest in their chosen fixtures. Regarding the batsmen it is likely to be more a matter of who is left standing, either through solid form or perhaps, in the case of the captain Michael Clarke, merely the appearance of stability after another episode in a painful and damaging saga of back complaints.

Inverarity has revealed something of his plan for running the squad through the county matches. Of the six available pace bowlers, three will play at Taunton and the rest will charge in at Worcester. Among seven available batsmen, five will play in each fixture, and two will have a match each. This leaves the sixth place in the order open to most conjecture, and it may yet be filled by any one of Usman Khawaja, Shane Watson, David Warner, Steve Smith, or even Brad Haddin, should the bold option of four bowlers plus Faulkner be entertained.

"Plenty of runs and plenty of wickets in regards to the four-dayers, and then plenty of training and the guys getting accustomed to being in England," Clarke said of his priorities for the two warm-up weeks. "A lot of the guys haven't been in England, especially some playing in the Champions Trophy, so I'm really excited, I'm looking forward to the guys getting together on Monday and we start our preparation for that first Test match."

Having played against Gloucestershire for Australia A, Ryan Harris has expressed his desire to don the creams against Somerset, and then rest up ahead of Nottingham. James Pattinson and Peter Siddle may join him after sitting out in Bristol, leaving Jackson Bird, Mitchell Starc and Faulkner to swing into the final lead-up match. The variables of their preparations, bowling styles and levels of maturity will all be considered carefully.

For Harris, the thought of another match to regather his rhythm after an Achilles problem is welcome indeed, even if his body creaked with the soreness of most 33-year-old athletes after a sound five-wicket match haul was banked in Bristol. There was the admission of a few indifferent spells in among the incisive ones, especially at the start of Gloucestershire's second innings after Australia A were razed for 111. Bowling again so soon, Harris admitted he had attempted to fight fire with fire when, as Gideon Haigh once noted, it is generally best to fight it with water.

"I don't know if it was warming up well enough or not ... but I think the other thing was we bowled well in the first innings with patience," Harris said. "We probably attacked too much trying to take wickets and that was certainly my idea. I was trying to blast the batsmen out, which can obviously go the other way, and they scored lots of runs off me ... but I rectified that in my next spell, which was good.

"We go into the camp tomorrow with the rest of the boys and no one has talked about the first Test squad with me or anyone yet, but if I was to play the first Test it would be ideal to bowl another 20, maybe 25 or 30 overs in Taunton and then have a couple of days to wind down."

One sighter the Australians may get this week is against the incumbent England Test opener Nick Compton, who endured a difficult recent home series against New Zealand after faring somewhat better against the same opponents during the winter. Harris and the rest of the bowlers have not yet hunkered down to the video analysis sessions likely to take place before Trent Bridge, but like Bird the Queensland fast man has simple, repeatable thoughts in mind.

"It's not rocket science, we've just got to do a similar thing to most batters and keep it nice and tight," Harris said. "Cook is going to be a big man for them, hopefully we remove him early. He's had a good two years and if he gets away they really thrive, but we can't focus all on him. I thought we bowled pretty well in Australia when they were over there [in 2010-11], they just batted out of their skins. If we're consistent hopefully this time we will get a few more nicks and lbw and bowled dismissals."

One factor that should prove informative is the Taunton surface itself, known as one of the purest in England. Batsmen who put their minds to it will have the chance to accumulate large scores without the undue risk of a treacherous seamer, and bowlers will be forced to work more diligently for their wickets than the sporting strips of Belfast and Bristol required. Inverarity will hope that by this time next week the number of viable batting options is closer to the standard six than it is right now.

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Mickey Arthur sacked as Australia's coach

Mickey Arthur has been sacked as Australia's head coach less than three weeks before the start of the Ashes. Cricket Australia is yet to officially announce the decision but the chief executive James Sutherland and general manager of team performance Pat Howard are due to hold a press conference in Bristol on Monday morning (UK time) to confirm the move.

Darren Lehmann, the successful Queensland coach, is considered a leading contender to replace Arthur at short notice. Lehmann is in England having just finished a tour as mentor of the Australia A outfit and has won rave reviews for the tough and somewhat old-school approach he has taken with Queensland since he was appointed in 2011.

But whatever the case, the axing of Arthur has left the Australian camp in a shambles on the eve of the Ashes campaign. The squad was due to meet in Taunton on Monday ahead of their first tour game against Somerset, with some of the players having been part of the Australia A squad, some having been playing in the Champions Trophy and others having been warming up in county cricket.

The team will need to quickly become accustomed to the absence of Arthur, who was named head coach in November 2011. He replaced Tim Nielsen and the move came in the wake of the Argus Report into Australia's team performance, which was commissioned after Australia's thrashing at the hands of England in the home Ashes in 2010-11.

During Arthur's time in charge, Australia won 10 of their 19 Tests but the past few months had been especially challenging both on field and off it. The calamitous 4-0 defeat in India was overshadowed by the so-called homework sackings halfway through the trip, in which Arthur, captain Michael Clarke and team manager Gavin Dovey stood four players down for a Test for failing to complete an off-field task.

The Champions Trophy campaign, in which Australia failed to win a match, was also dominated by events away from the game, when David Warner punched England batsman Joe Root in a pub. Warner was suspended until the first Ashes Test but the incident raised questions about why a group of Australia players were out until the early hours of the morning following a loss.

More to follow

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The end of an ODI era

The Champions Trophy may be remembered with fondness and a touch of sadness. But will it be missed?

It's strange how we begin to love something we were once uninterested in, just as we're about to let it go. Like the book we received as a birthday present - about a subject we would never read about - that will be thrown out during spring cleaning. Or the pair of jeans, worn once, that only takes up wardrobe space. Or even the Champions Trophy.

Cricket's most neglected and often despised tournament has taken its final bow even though most people now want it to stay. Fans. Media. Even players. Four years ago in South Africa, these same people were seeing off the tournament's penultimate edition with great relief, knowing there was only one more to come.

The most common criticism then was that it was a meaningless title - not quite a World Cup, not quite a knockout, with no place among cricket's elite competitions. What started as a tournament to help grow the game in so-called smaller countries never managed to maintain an identity. In its childhood in Dhaka and Nairobi it was an elimination event in which neither Bangladesh nor Kenya took part. Then it became a more complicated beast, as teenagers tend to be, and involved a series of qualifying matches that made it longer and more tedious.

Over the last two competitions, the organisers found a recipe that works. Both the 2009 and 2013 events had two groups of four teams each, followed by a semi-final and a final. In 2009 there were some complaints, but this year the Champions Trophy is being praised for the same format. It has been called slick and on-point. Perhaps the glut of 20-over competitions that have sprung up in the interim has something to do with the change in attitude but it's not the only cause.

The World Cup can become a drag because there are too many matches and too many teams. The organisers have yet to find a way to balance extending the format to teams that deserve and need exposure and limiting the scope of a tournament to give it relevance.

There is talk of the 50-over tournament getting smaller and the T20 version expanding. That would be one way of preventing the continuation of an old boys' club but until that happens, there is a reason to play the Champions Trophy (and there has been talk of the ICC reconsidering the future of the event). The Champions Trophy is a good stopgap between an event that is big enough to justify its name as a World Cup and one that remains small enough to sustain competition throughout.

That is not to say every match of this tournament has been thrilling. The semi-finals were particularly disappointing for their one-sidedness but the group stage included one tie and four other matches that ended in close margins. Perhaps as a result, interest in this Champions Trophy has been high. Eleven of the 15 matches have been sell-outs but more notably, more than three quarters of the people who went to watch games - 78% - had not attended a live cricket contest in three years.

As with any global event, the public's reaction is somewhat dependent on the participation of the home team. A multicultural society like the United Kingdom is a little different because the progress of the subcontinental sides has a large bearing on actual bums-on-seats support. Pakistan failed to live up to expectations, even though they had a touring "Stani-army" following them, but the progress of England and India to the final had a positive effect on the event as a whole. The one obviously poorly attended game was between Sri Lanka and New Zealand in Cardiff, though the teams made up for that with a humdinger of a match.

	Despite changeable weather, the tournament has not been completely washed out by any measure

Despite changeable weather, the tournament has not been completely washed out by any measure. There was one no-result, which was also the case in 2009, and two rain-reduced affairs. While drizzle always gives people a reason to complain about a venue, conditions have been conducive for interesting cricket. Drier pitches at the start of the tournament assisted spinners far more than was expected, and tricky batting conditions and the rule change of two new balls ensured that no team apart from India was able to run away with a total. Lower-scoring games are usually more gripping and this tournament proved that yet again.

And then there were the off-field matters that had just the right amount of spice to keep the event in the headlines. England's ability to reverse-swing the ball and the alleged ball-tampering claims roused the technically minded, while Australia's after-dark activities had the perfect tinge of scandal for the rest. It also didn't hurt that they served as appetisers for the Ashes.

By now cricket's attention has already turned to that series, and the Champions Trophy is slowly starting to fade from memory. It will be hauled out when India hark back to their list of achievements or when someone wants to complain about the winding nature of a World Cup in two years' time.

The way it ended - with a final that was almost washed out - will disguise that it was actually a fine event. Few would argue that India and England were the best two teams on show. The former showed off a successful transition from big names like Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag to younger talents like Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Shikhar Dhawan. England's aggressive bowling unit perfectly complemented their watchful batting approach. Over a full 100 overs, theirs would have been a balanced contest and provided a stern test of the skills both had displayed in the tournament. It could also have provided an accurate measure of who the best one-day side in world cricket is at the moment.

An era of one-day cricket is over. Chances are the Champions Trophy will be remembered with fondness and a touch of sadness, the sort we have when we think about a long-ago teddy bear that was cuddly and lovable but which we decided was best left out of sight.

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Mustard, Rushworth put Durham top

Durham 218 for 4 (Mustard 92, Borthwick 80) beat Hampshire 224 for 9 (Dawson 69, Ervine 33, Rushworth 5-42) by six wickets D/L
Scorecard

Durham gave Geoff Cook nothing to worry about as they took over from visitors Hampshire at the top of Group B in the Yorkshire Bank 40 League with a six-wicket victory at Chester-le-Street. With coach Cook still in a critical condition following his heart attack on Thursday, his team romped to their fourth successive win in the competition with 2.4 overs to spare.

Despite conceding 93 off the last 10 overs, Durham restricted the holders to 224 for 9 and lost acting captain Mark Stoneman in the first over of their reply.

A brief shower with the score on 55 for 1 in the 13th over reduced the target to 218 in 38 overs and, by the time Phil Mustard and Scott Borthwick had put on 164 for the second wicket, victory was a formality.

Mustard was dropped on 11 at slip by Sean Ervine off Pakistani left-arm paceman Sohail Tanvir and Borthwick survived a return chance to James Vince on 12. Mustard went on to make 92 off 90 balls and Borthwick registered his maiden one-day fifty into 80 off 82 deliveries before holing out with 17 needed.

Borthwick hit sixes off both left-arm spinners, Danny Briggs and Liam Dawson, who had combined figures of 0 for 85 in 11 overs.

Tanvir took all four wickets to fall, producing excellent deliveries to clean bowl Stoneman and Ben Stokes. But only three were needed when he nipped one back off the pitch to breach Stokes' defence and Paul Collingwood saw Durham home with an unbeaten 32.

Hampshire were not helped by Dimitri Mascarenhas being unable to bowl following a back spasm, while Michael Carberry went for an X-ray after damaging a thumb.

For Durham, Chris Rushworth bowled with great control to take 5 for 42 after Hampshire were put in and the target looked like being much lower until Dawson thrashed 69 off 46 balls.

The openers put on 23 before Vince drove to mid-off and Carberry was caught at leg gully, deliberately placed for the miscued pull. Jimmy Adams and Neil McKenzie carefully added 34 in 11 overs before the South African tried to flip a straight ball from Collingwood to fine leg and was lbw for 18.

There was a second wicket for Collingwood when Adams holed out to Stokes at deep mi-wicket after making 32 off 50 balls. That brought in Dawson at 112 for 4 in the 27th over and four overs later he began the late onslaught by sweeping a six as Collingwood's final over cost 12 and left him with 2 for 44.

The last four overs yielded 46 with Dawson driving two successive balls from Stokes for six. The first took him to 50 off 37 balls. Stokes' first four overs were tight but he finished with 1 for 56 on what was not a good day for either him or Briggs ahead of teaming up with the England Twenty20 squad this week.

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Hoggard swings back to form

Essex 196 for 6 (Pettini 72, Hoggard 4-30) trail Leicestershire 302 (Napier 7-90) by 106 runs
Scorecard

Essex clawed their way out of another batting crisis against Leicestershire on the second day at Grace Road, just a week after they were bowled out for 20 by Lancashire.

Essex plunged to 28 for 4, with veteran seamer Matthew Hoggard claiming all four at a cost of just 12 runs in his first appearance since April. But Mark Pettini, recalled to the side after last week's embarrassment, hit his first Championship half-century of the season to lead the recovery, and Essex closed on 196 for 6 in reply to Leicestershire's 302.

Earlier, on a rain interrupted day, Graham Napier claimed Leicestershire's last three wickets to finish with career best Championship figures of 7 for 90 in 30.4 overs.

Leicestershire added another 34 runs to their overnight 268 for 7 with Michael Thornely completing his half century off 102 balls with five fours and a six, before being pinned lbw by Napier for 53. Ollie Freckingham and Alex Wyatt were also Napier victims, but a boundary by Hoggard earned Leicestershire a third batting bonus point.

Then Hoggard got to work with the ball after his lengthy absence from the side because of a hip injury. In between the showers, that sent the players off the field on four occasions, Hoggard had Tom Westley caught behind, trapped Nick Browne lbw next ball, found the edge of Jaik Mickleburgh's bat to induce a catch at gully and bowled Owais Shah with an absolute beauty that hit the off stump.

It was an inspired 12-over spell from Hoggard, but once he came off Essex began to fight their way back. Pettini and Ryan ten Doeschate shared a vital sixth wicket stand of 85 in 25 overs as the home attack became ragged.

The Essex pair put on 48 in one eight over spell, but the partnership was broken when ten Doeschate was caught at slip trying to cut a lifting delivery from Wyatt. He had made 40 off 69 balls with six fours.

Pettini reached his 50 off 133 balls with six fours, and James Foster showed his intent with a six off Naik as he joined Pettini in another substantial partnership of 78. But shortly before the close, Wyatt had Pettini lbw for 72 off 175 balls and, at stumps, Foster was unbeaten on 45 with Essex trailing by 106 runs.

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Guptill and Taylor shine in solid workout

New Zealanders 185 for 7 (Guptill 56, Taylor 52, Latham 38, Claydon 5-31) beat Kent 143 (Stevens 41) by 42 runs
Scorecard

The New Zealanders warmed up for the Twenty20 series against England with an efficient 42-run win against Kent on a murky evening in Canterbury. Martin Guptill and Ross Taylor hit half-centuries to leave the home side a demanding chase and they fell well short.

There was cause for Kent pride, however, in the debut of Fabian Cowdrey, the grandson of the former Kent and England captain Colin and son of Chris Cowdrey, who took the Cowdrey name into its third generation in Kent colours.

Guptill and Taylor added 98 in 11 overs after Hamish Rutherford and Brendon McCullum had fallen inside the first two overs to leave New Zealand 9 for 2. Both batsmen cleared the boundary twice, but the significant acceleration came from Tom Latham who clubbed 38 off 18 balls.

Latham was part of the Test squad last month and has been playing for Scotland while not need for the Champions Trophy campaign. Although he did not keep wicket in this match he is an option to take the gloves if McCullum's back causes him problems.

Mitchell Claydon, who is on loan at Kent from Durham, struck regularly in the closing overs having earlier trapped McCullum lbw and finished with 5 for 31.

In reply, Kent struggled from the outset to keep up with a required rate of more than nine an over. Sam Billings pulled to mid-off and Sam Northeast, the captain for the match and who had hit a maiden one-day hundred in the high-scoring YB40 match against Sussex, was bowled by Ronnie Hira as he came down the pitch.

The hero of Kent's chase of 337 against Sussex, Darren Stevens, was given two lives early in his innings and managed to strike three sixes but Kent were always behind the rate.

The youngsters, though, were certainly not overwhelmed with Daniel Bell-Drummond making 31 and Cowdrey marking his first-team debut with 21 off 14 balls which included a ramp shot against Ian Butler.

Most of New Zealand's bowlers chipped in; Hira was especially economical with his four overs costing just 19 and Butler claimed two scalps. Mitchell McClenaghan and Kyle Mills were rested after their efforts in the Champions Trophy.

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Khawaja creeps closer to Test recall

Even if recent scores of 51, eight, a duck, 29 not out and six for Australia A do not suggest it, Usman Khawaja is slipping closer to a Test match recall in the Ashes series, more than 18 months after his last appearance.

The misadventures of others are helping. David Warner is pondering his behaviour and also a possible move down the order. Shane Watson is searching himself for a way to score runs again. Phillip Hughes is trying to repair confidence battered first in India and again during the Champions Trophy. And Michael Clarke just wants his back to stay supple.

All the while Khawaja's standing as the longtime reserve and sound preparation with Australia A is edging him closer to the XI, his inclusion to arrive perhaps as early as the first Test of the series at Trent Bridge. Of the selected Ashes batsmen only Ed Cowan via Nottinghamshire and Chris Rogers at Middlesex can happily say they are in better touch.

This will be no surprise to those who have seen Khawaja at his best, whether it was standing up memorably to Dale Steyn in Johannesburg in November 2011, or sculpting a Sheffield Shield century of rare quality for Queensland on a Bellerive pitch that looked more likely to be a tennis court last summer. But it will represent a triumph of sorts for Khawaja, who has battled issues of perception, scheduling and punitive team justice since his last Test, against New Zealand in Hobart.

"I'm extremely hungry," Khawaja said. "I'd be lying if I said I hadn't thought about it before. Every time you go out and play for any team you want to strive to do your best and obviously playing for Australia is the pinnacle for anyone. But in saying that, there's a lot of time between now and the start of the first Test. I've got to keep my head down and go out there and score as many runs as I can because ultimately that's what it's all about for me."

Khawaja's return is not entirely certain, and he will require a substantial score or two in the warm-up matches to come against Somerset and Worcestershire to bolster his case. But there was useful evidence that he is batting neatly against Gloucestershire, as a first innings start was curtailed by Australia A's declaration, then a solid occupation in tougher second innings climes cut short by a direct-hit from the outfield and a tight run-out call by the umpire.

"Runs never hurt, time in the middle doesn't hurt at all; getting a hundred, getting 200 always helps," Khawaja said of his recent scores. "But when you get back out every time you start a new innings it's a different game, it's got nothing to do with what you scored the day before, the game before, you've got to start afresh. Like any other batsman time in the middle is invaluable but in saying that, I think you've got to take every game as it comes and I'm pretty confident the way I'm hitting them right now and pretty confident a few runs are around the corner."

That confidence has been derived at least partly by the presence of the Queensland coach Darren Lehmann as an assistant on the tour. Lehmann rated Khawaja's ability even before he encouraged a move to Brisbane at the start of last summer, and his combination of old school toughness, simplicity and a healthy dose of fun have helped balance the left-hander's desire to achieve.

"He's been awesome, he's my coach in Queensland, I get along with him very well," Khawaja said. "I love the way he goes about his business, he's tough but he's always having fun. One of the best things about him is he's got a really good cricket brain, and you just can't buy that. He's had so much experience, he's played 300-400 first-class games, and the way he talks about cricket he simplifies things. I think he's got a lot to offer Australian cricket in years to come."

Questions of Khawaja's drive had been raised in the past, and were given fresh impetus when he was among four players suspended for failing to follow team instructions on the India tour. The episode was a shock to Khawaja, who said such punishments had seldom come his way anywhere, let alone in cricket, but he soon resolved to use the experience as a spur.

"I'd never got in trouble much during high school, let alone university. Never failed a course at uni, so it was a bit weird for me," Khawaja said. "It was tough but I knew the sooner I got over it, the sooner I could get on with it. What had been done had been done, being part of Australia is what everyone wants to do and playing Test match cricket is what everyone wants to do. I'd give my left arm to play cricket."

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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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