Ponting reveals 'long-term' batting plan..2011-2012

Ricky Ponting has revealed Shaun Marsh's elevation to No. 3 in the Australian Test batting order was a "long-term plan" of the captain Michael Clarke. Ponting said he was happy to move down to No.4 for as long as he keeps on playing.

As he prepared for a rare Sheffield Shield appearance with Tasmania against Western Australia at the WACA, Ponting spoke frankly of the Test batting order, which has been shuffled to accommodate Marsh at three while Ponting, Clarke and Michael Hussey all slip one spot.

Clarke's vision for the team has so far been made clear, as he is equally adamant that the vice-captain Shane Watson will not be moving down the order from his demanding position as an opening batsman and allrounder.

"It was a long-term plan of Michael's to have Shaun move to No. 3 and me move to No.4 and Michael move to five and Huss to six," Ponting told reporters in Perth. "So that wasn't just something I don't think as a one-off for that game. Michael sees that in the best interests of the team going forward for a period of time. So I'll be three this week, probably three in the one-dayers in South Africa and then probably drop back to four for the Test matches.

"When I first came into the Australian side, batting at six was hard. Waiting that amount of time to bat for me was something that was very foreign to me. But three to four I don't think is as big a change as three to six, or it certainly wasn't in the last Test because I was in pretty early both times. Slight adjustment. It just gives me a little bit more time once our fielding's over to get my head around what I have to do to bat."

Ponting also spoke of the state of flux the team is presently in while Cricket Australia decides on a range of appointments recommended by the Argus review. The position of team performance manager must be finalised first, allowing the appointee to have a say in the choices of coach, national selector and part-time selectors.

This means that Clarke will go to South Africa with plenty of weight on his shoulders regarding decision-making, for the interim coach Troy Cooley has flagged his lack of experience as a selector and also an unwillingness to make any lasting changes to the set-up run with mixed results by the departed head coach Tim Nielsen over the past four years.

"Unfortunately at the moment the way things are working out a lot more of the responsibility is going to come back on the captain for this next tour," Ponting said. "So it's important that the captain, the vice-captain and probably the senior players do as much as we can around the group on this trip.

"Troy's been around the group for a long time and understands everyone really well, but he's sort of been thrust into that selection role at the moment as well which is something very foreign to him. We'll make do with the best we can. It's probably not an ideal situation, but we knew that a long way out and the boys have been playing that way so everything should work out fine."

Ponting said many of the changes wrought by the Argus review were designed to lessen the load on the captain, but reckoned the short-term would be difficult for Clarke while the new positions were filled and settled into.

"Having been there and done that in the past you want to be able to focus on your cricket and the team's demands and probably not much outside of that if you can," Ponting said. "That's why a lot of these roles are changing, to take a bit of that strain if you like off the captain. It's hard enough work when you're just out there being the captain and worrying about your own game rather than everything else that goes with it. We'll see how it goes, but he [Clarke] understands he's got great support from all his team-mates around him."

Ponting's appearances for Tasmania, who won the Shield in his absence last summer, would not be quite so rare if the schedule was balanced to ensure the strongest domestic competitions possible, something the Argus review also recommended.

"With the Australian summer as packed as it is internationally-wise, it just makes it too hard for the international players to play state cricket," Ponting said. "We'd all like the chance to be able to do that a bit more. I know the states and even our clubs would probably appreciate it if we can get back and spend more time around the next crop of potential international players."

While Hussey is missing the match after his time at the Champions League Twenty20, Ponting said he was never in any doubt for the fixture, and flatly rejected all reports to the contrary.

"Some confusion's probably happened as a result of our leave dates being changed, the coach at the time of the Australian team in Sri Lanka had ruled us out because the leave date was different than it is at the moment," Ponting said. "As it turns out I only found out on Thursday that I was playing the game but I've been excited about the chance to play the game."

Mumbai Indians complete dream run with title .2011

Mumbai Indians v Royal Challengers Bangalore, CLT20, final, Chenna..

Mumbai Indians 139 (Franklin 41, Bhatkal 3-21, Vettori 2-30) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore 108 (Dilshan 27, Harbhajan 3-20, Chahal 2-9, Malinga 2-23) beat by 31 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

On a night of mediocre cricket, the Mumbai Indians kept their surprise run going to win the biggest prize, in financial terms, in non-international cricket. James Franklin was the only man to keep his head in a suicidal Mumbai innings, which helped them reach 139, but the Royal Challengers Bangalore once again choked in a final to lose despite a start of 38 for 0 in four overs. For the vanquished this was a painful repeat of their IPL final in Johannesburg where they froze while chasing 144. The victors, though, can claim they once again won the big moments: through Franklin's sober innings, through Lasith Malinga's two sixes amid a collapse, through an extra over given to Malinga that produced a wicket and through their spinners' seven overs for 29 runs and five wickets

Be that as it may, for a majority of the match the teams seemed to be in a contest for ordinary cricket. There were three run-outs, there were unsavoury slogs resulting in exposed stumps, the winning side bowled 10 out of a total of 13 wides, and MI's' keeper kept letting through byes. If Franklin's smart 41 off 29 suggested he was the only sober man in a Paris Hilton party, the Royal Challengers clearly outdid their opponents for rashness. Yes the pitch was slow and it took turn, but not enough to justify the bizarre and spectacular collapse, which featured minimal attempts to take singles with the asking-rate around seven.

MI didn't even know there was turn in the pitch for them. As Dilshan hit the ground running in the chase, they made a necessary departure from their usual ways of bowling Malinga for only two overs at the top. Dilshan's 27 until then had come off shots either through the line or through the covers, and he would have known how desperately MI would have wanted a wicket off what then seemed like a last roll of the dice. As it turned out, he swung across the line of a full first delivery, losing his off stump.

Kumar Dharmasena then made a potentially match-turning call. He had already got two lbw calls wrong in MI's innings, first reprieving Harbhajan Singh when he was plumb, then ruling him out when he wasn't. But his most consequential mistake was during the chase and again involved Harbhajan, who fired in quick offbreaks in his first over. The last ball of the over, in which he had conceded just a wide, was tossed up, and Chris Gayle got a big stride in. The offbreak didn't turn as much as expected, hit him in front of off, and he was ruled out. The ball had a massive distance to travel, and the ball-tracking predicted it would have hit the outside of off stump. Conventional wisdom would have ruled it in the batsman's favour, and even Gayle lost his cool when he saw the finger come up.

With an unreliable batting order, pampered by the true Bangalore surface and short boundaries, to follow, it was down to the only survivor of the Royal Challengers' 2009 choke, Virat Kohli, to shepherd the rest through. However, he found himself batting with a trigger-happy Mayank Agarwal, who despite all his attempts at power hitting managed 14 off 19 before holing out to long-off. Even when the desperate Agarwal got out, the Royal Challengers needed a manageable 73 off 57.

Kohli felt the pinch too. Perhaps it was the presence of Malinga in the end, perhaps it was just the shock of having to work hard for runs after the flat Bangalore pitch, but even he didn't show the willingness to take the game to the deep end. In the next over he holed out to deep midwicket. Everybody knew it was game over there and then.

The rest were just a blurry procession of catching and stumping practice, a complete contrast to how Franklin managed a strike-rate of close to 150 without a shot hit in anger. There was no dearth of madness around him either. Sarul Kanwar first ran Aiden Bliazzard out before slogging around a full delivery. Ambati Rayudu struggled to find singles in the middle, and a positive 40-run stand with Suryakumar Yadav ended with a run-out.

Franklin ensured the trend continued, hesitating during a second run to complete the third run-out. Kieron Pollard's massive leading edge travelled as far as long-off, and MI were in a tailspin after looking good for a repeat of their 160 from the semi-final. Although it didn't look enough at the moment, Malinga's two sixes in the end turned out to be surplus.

Both teams were fined for slow over-rates. Harbhajan, the MI captain, was fined US$3,000 and each MI player $1,500 for being two overs behind the required over-rate. The Royal Challengers players were fined $750 and their captain Vettori $1,500 for being one over behind the required rate.

Innings Dot balls 4s 6s PP1 16-20 overs NB/Wides Mumbai Indians 50 6 8 43/2 24/3 0/4 Royal Challengers Bangalore 65 8 1 42/2 17/4 1/14

 

Mumbai down Somerset in CL semi..2011

Somerset's Champions League challenge was ended at the semi-final stage as Mumbai Indians prevailed by 10 runs in Chennai.
 
Aiden Blizzard's half-century lifted the Indian side to 160 for five, a total boosted when 20 runs came from the 19th over.
Craig Kieswetter led Somerset's chase with 62, but they were restricted to 150 for seven as Lasith Malinga took four for 20.
Mumbai batted first and, after Sarul Kanwar made just two and Ambati Rayudu 19, Blizzard reached a 34-ball half-century with his third six through the hands of Jos Buttler on the mid-wicket boundary.
Roelof van der Merwe had James Franklin lbw with his second ball and Blizzard then fell for 54, bowled by Murali Kartik.
Kieron Pollard, who had opted to play for Mumbai rather than Somerset, hit a six off Van der Merwe and another with a huge straight blow off Peter Trego, but was bowled by Alfonso Thomas for 24 when he dragged on a good yorker.
Suryakumar Yadav (23 not out) and Rajagopal Sathish (25no) put on a quick unbroken 43 to leave Somerset chasing 161, and they lost Trego to the second ball of their reply, bowled by a Malinga yorker.
Van der Merwe (10) went the same way and Somerset were only 35 for two after the powerplay, which became 67 for two at halfway as Kieswetter and James Hildreth settled for steady rebuilding in a 43-ball 50 partnership. They accelerated the team's total to 100 in the 14th over before Hildreth (39) swept Harbhajan Singh straight into his off stump.
Kieswetter reached a 40-ball half-century and then hit a four and a six down the ground, while Jos Buttler's sluggish start was alleviated by a reverse flick to the third-man boundary.
But he then floored his senior partner with a thumping shot bound for the straight boundary, and was bowled next ball by a fine slower ball from Franklin before Kieswetter skied to Pollard. Malinga bowled Nick Compton and Kartik, and captain Thomas could not get Somerset over the line.