Shaun Tait concedes he has little chance of playing his first Test at his home ground in Adelaide after a disappointing performance in Australia’s loss to India at the WACA. Tait was called into a four-man pace attack having not played Test cricket since the 2005 Ashes, and he said he was underdone heading into the Perth match.Tait, who has played only three first-class matches this season including the Test, said when asked about his preparation that he was “a touch underdone, to be honest”. He went wicketless in 21 overs in his first match in whites since early December.”We are professional cricketers,” he told Adelaide’s Advertiser, “and we are training all the time and there’s probably no reason why we should be underdone. But the fact is I hadn’t had a whole lot of cricket under my belt and, obviously, there were limited opportunities to bowl as well due to over-rates.”He was remaining philosophical about his future at Test level, however, even if it’s not an immediate one. Although Tait has been named in Australia’s squad for Adelaide, Brad Hogg is the red-hot tip for a recall.”There will be another game where I get a chance to do well,” Tait said. “I’m not sure if I’ll keep my spot here. We’ll see how we go in the one-day games. Hopefully I’ll get the chance to be a part of the squad there again. But at the end of the day, it’s only a game and there will be another time where it might be a good day for me and the team as well.”However, Ricky Ponting said Australia had not written off Tait for the Adelaide Test starting on Thursday. “Tait also has the ability to bowl reverse-swing in Adelaide,” Ponting said in the . “With his low arm action and the amount of backspin he imparts on the ball, he usually makes it reverse swing more, and earlier, than other bowlers.”He didn’t have the impact I thought he would [in Perth], but he knows the conditions better than anyone else. He’s done a great job for South Australia there in recent years.”Ponting, however, kept his focus firmly on the future when it came to Tait. “He’s going to be a great asset to our team at some stage,” Ponting said. “The World Cup he had was amazing. I’ve got no doubt he’ll have the same impact as a Test bowler, as well. He’s got unbelievable raw pace. If he can produce that in a Test, he will knock the best players in the world over.”There were echoes here of the same praise he showered on Tait in the lead-up to the Melbourne Test, on Boxing Day, when the bowler was again overlooked as Australia chose to keep with the convention of three fast bowlers and a spinner.Michael Hussey, meanwhile, held out some hope of Tait retaining his place in the side. “I know Taity didn’t get any wickets in Perth but I don’t think they’re going to write him off just because of one performance,” Hussey told . “Obviously they’ve identified Taity as a future bowler for Australia. It’s good for him to get an opportunity in Perth and I’m sure he will come back better and stronger. If he does play in Adelaide in front of his home crowd I’m sure he’ll put in a better performance and then hopefully get a few wickets.”There have been comparisons between Tait and Lee in his earlier days and Hussey seemed to agree. “I think it’s something he’s working hard on and it’s something Brett Lee had to work on to be a bit more consistent. It’s a wonderful package to have in the team because he can crack a game open in the space of 20 minutes, sometimes in the course of a day. He can maybe be going for a few runs and suddenly everything clicks and he can take three or four wickets in a hurry which is incredibly attractive.”

Cricket board chief Neil Speight dismissed talk of a crisis in Bermuda cricket as “nonsense” and insisted that huge strides have been made since Government pledged $11million to the national game.Over the last ten days Bermuda’s teams have set two new records – the lowest ever score in the Stanford 20/20 tournament and the most comprehensive defeat in cricket history at the Women’s World Cup qualifier, where the team was beaten in just four balls. In addition, the Under-19s recorded the lowest score – seventh lowest of all-time – at the Under-19 World Cup.Criticism of the board and the players has been rife in the papers, on talk-shows and in the street. But Speight, chief executive of the board, believes teams should be getting support not ridicule as they challenge the world’s best in a series of David and Goliath battles. He believes learning hard lessons on the international stage is part of process of climbing the steep learning curve that separates the established cricket powerhouses from the emerging nations.He insisted there was no crisis in the sport, Bermuda was just playing against much tougher opponents than it had ever faced in the past – a product of its success at the lower level. “I think its complete rubbish. If there is that perception, then it is wrong. A country should teach its children and it’s athletes to aspire to greatness. If there are people that think ‘don’t go to the next level in case you don’t succeed’ they are teaching the community a very bad lesson.”We could conspire to play Belgium and Mexico to ensure we won every game but we will only continue to improve if we push our programmes and our teams to a higher level… there will be times when we are going to be humbled but that doesn’t mean we’ve got a bad programme.” He accepted that Bermuda had not been at their best against Guyana but added: “to extrapolate that and say the sky is falling in is complete overreaction and nonsense.”Speight also accepted that the fitness of some of the players was not up to scratch at Stanford 20/20 and the World Cup but said that was starting to change as no one could say that about the Under-19 side. “We are changing the shape of Bermuda cricket.”And he reiterated that the government investment was not all about the senior team, pointing out that Bermuda’s overall cricket programme had been deemed the best in the region by the ICC. He cited qualification for two World Cups and the women’s World Cup qualifier, the establishment of under-13 and under-15 national teams, a massive increase in participation at junior level, improved coaching education and a development programme that had led to cricket being taught in every school on the island as some of the principal achievements over the past few years.He also clarified that the board had fully audited financial reports accounting for how every cent of its Government and corporate cash was spent. We’ll publish details on Friday. “From a personal level and a board perspective we are very proud of what has been done.”This article first appeared in the Bermuda Sun

Pakistan’s Misbah-ul-Haq, Australia’s Shane Watson, and Mohammad Ashraful, the Bangladesh captain, are among 18 players included in the second Indian Premier League (IPL) auction to be held in Mumbai on March 11. The list is made up of seven New Zealanders, four Australians, three Pakistanis, two Bangladeshis, one Sri Lankan and South African each but no English cricketers.The injury-prone Watson has not played for Australia since the ICC World Twenty20 in September 2007 and he has struggled during Queensland’s Pura Cup campaign. He earned a recall to the national side for the CB Series but nagging leg problems forced him out again. Misbah, who was not included for the initial auction, is a big draw given his Twenty20 success in the last season.Mohammad Yousuf and Ashwell Prince, who failed to be picked up by any of the eight franchises last month, will be auctioned again.Western Australia’s Luke Pomersbach, who joins fellow Australians Watson, Brad Hodge and James Hopes in the second auction, said he was willing to play in the IPL for free. “I am pretty excited about it, because I did not think I would have a chance, but I have, and it will be a chance to play with some serious cricketers,” he told . “I would be happy to go over for free and play that standard of cricket and cricketers,” he said. “I will be able to learn so much from them, but I will take anything I can get.”A top BCCI official, on condition of anonymity, told IANS: “There are 13 other foreign players who have shown keen interest to play in the first season”. These include Shaun Tait, on a self-imposed indefinite break from cricket, Brad Hogg, who recently retired, West Indies’ Dwayne Smith, and Yasir Hameed, the Pakistan batsman. Seven other Australians have also apparently expressed interest.The IPL permits each franchise to buy more foreign players outside the list of 18 if they inform the tournament officials about who they are interested in. The IPL organisers would then negotiate the players’ base prices and try and secure No-Objection Certificates (NOCs) from the respective country boards.This auction is expected to be relatively smaller than the first, which was worth US$42 million. The eight franchise owners still have unspent money, a factor which has necessitated a second auction. The amounts are: $374,000 (Bangalore), $23,750 (Chennai), $71,250 (Delhi), $262,500 (Hyderabad), $1,700,000 (Jaipur), $107,500 (Kolkata), $292,250 (Mohali) and $53,750 (Mumbai).”If a team exceeds $5 million [after spending] on players who were initially not available but become available later, the excess expenditure will be ignored,” said the official. “Also, player fees for Indian players who were not in the auction do not count against the $5m purse. There will be no more auctions this season.”All team owners have to finalise their squads 30 days before the start of the 2008 season. The IPL kicks off on April 18.Players for second auction:
Pakistan: Mohammad Yousuf, Misbah-ul-Haq, Mohammad Hafeez; South Africa: Ashwell Prince; New Zealand: Ross Taylor, Peter Fulton, Jamie How, Jeetan Patel, Chris Martin, Kyle Mills, James Franklin; Australia: Brad Hodge, Shane Watson, James Hopes, Luke Pomersbach; Sri Lanka: Prasanna Jayawardene; Bangladesh: Mohammad Ashraful, Mashrafe Mortaza.Players who have expressed their interest:
Australia: Shaun Marsh, Brad Hogg, Shaun Tait, Adam Voges, Mick Lewis, Darren Lehmann, Allan Wise, Aiden Blizzard, Adam Crosthwaite; South Africa: Goolam Bodi; Pakistan: Yasir Hameed; West Indies: Kieran Powell, Dwayne Smith.

Sussex begin the defence of their Championship crown against Hampshire at The Rose Bowl on Wednesday aiming to become the first county since Yorkshire in 1968 to claim a hat-trick of titles. It was been a fraught few months at Hove as they sweated over the availability of Mushtaq Ahmed, but their match-winner arrived safely in the country this week as Sussex were taking on MCC at Lord’s.He whirled away in the nets, clearing his throat with some hearty appeals as much as loosening his limbs for the campaign ahead. He has taken an incredible 459 wickets in five years with Sussex – including 192 in the last two successful seasons – and while anyone on the south coast baulks at the suggestion they are a one-man man it is undeniable the role Mushtaq has played.However, Sussex have nothing to feel guilty about even if Mushtaq does provide such a significant advantage. They were clever enough to lure him to Hove in 2003 when his career was threatening to end quietly, and his enthusiasm and spirit runs throughout the squad, which, if anything, looks stronger this season even with the loss of Rana Naved and Richard Montgomerie.The availability of Matt Prior, who is set to bat at No. 6, adds Test-match class to a healthy middle order while Chris Nash and Carl Hopkinson are more than capable of filling Montgomerie’s boots. The bowling depth is there, too. Their new Australian signing, Ryan Harris, caught the attention with four wickets on debut at Lord’s, where Luke Wright also bowled with impressive pace. And on top of all that, there’s James Kirtley waiting in the wings.”It’s been a fantastic time for Sussex in the last four or five years,” said their captain, Chris Adams. “We’ve played really competitive cricket and the nucleus of the squad is very much there. But we also have young players coming through and players coming back from international call-ups. We look a strong squad on paper, but what I can say from behind those closed doors is that we are also strong as a unit. It’s great to have Mushy back and Murray Goodwin, they are two quality players who will only add to what we’ve got.”Goodwin also played a major role in Sussex’s first Championship in 2003, finishing the season with a career-best 335 against Leicestershire to seal the title. Adams believes the side has continued to evolve since then and keeps getting stronger. “Less and less are we relying on one-dimensional players – bowlers who don’t bat – the way our side is now structured includes a lot of players who bowl and bat to a high standard. That’s what the vision has always been, and if that includes players who have come through our system then we are getting to where we wanted to be. Good home grown talent who could play for England.”Crucially, though, the impact of international calls in the near future will be limited. Wright will be part of the one-day squad, but with Prior out of favour and the only other absentee could be Michael Yardy if he pushed his claims in the one-day arena which appears unlikely.However, being the holders and, in many people’s eyes, the favourites Sussex are there to be knocked off. “It’s going to be another tight year. I don’t think one, two or three sides are going to run away with it. It will be another year of everyone beating everyone, I really think the level has got much closer,” said Adams.”Surrey have impressed me with their end-of-season form last year, Lancashire are always strong, Hampshire and Kent as well. Somerset are making a lot of noise, telling us how good they are, so I’m keen to see how good they actually are. They are making a few declarations.”

Adams doesn’t want to look too far ahead with Sussex playing four key Championship matches in the first four weeks. “For me it’s about the next month. If you’re not on the money and properly prepared now you can find yourself with a lot to do. I know Surrey found that last year and were left to rue the start they had.”Two days after the Championship starts the Indian Premier League bursts into life. There is much conjecture about how the future of domestic cricket will look – and there will undoubtedly be change – but Adams believes the current set-up is strong and performing its role of preparing players for the top level.”I think we have a powerful product in domestic cricket, the ECB should be looking to use that,” he said. “In terms of the step up from what we are playing now to international cricket they tell me it’s not too far away now. We have to thank the likes of Murali, Warney and for Peter Moores letting the England players back into county cricket. It’s become quite an intense environment mirroring what you’d expect in Tests.”The international calendar is so packed that it means more Tests or ODIs are never far away and England start their series against New Zealand on May 15. In the meantime, if the IPL hasn’t grabbed your attention then take a look at the Championship over the next month. It might surprise you.

BCCI president Sharad Pawar has announced a cash prize of Rs 5 lakh (around US$12,000) each for the 15 members of the Asia Cup-winning Indian women’s squad.Hailing the triumph, Pawar said, “I congratulate the women’s cricket team for winning the Asia Cup.” India were undefeated throughout the tournament, winning all six league games before crushing Sri Lanka by 177 runs in the final on Sunday to clinch their fourth successive Asia Cup.After Asha Rawat’s 114-ball 97 helped set up a stiff target of 261 for Sri Lanka, the Indian spinners sparked a collapse which saw the hosts lose their last eight wickets for 22 runs. It was the fourth consecutive time that India and Sri Lanka had clashed in the finals.India’s president, Pratibha Patil, also congratulated the team and their captain Mithali Raj for the victory.