England dominate ICC Test team of the year

Alastair Cook and Jonathan Trott were included in the ICC's
Test team of the year, but Ian Bell missed out

Five English cricketers were named in the ICC's Test team of the year, reflecting England's rise to the No. 1 spot, achieved during their 4-0 whitewash of India earlier this month. Two batsmen, Alastair Cook and Jonathon Trott, and three bowlers, Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann and James Anderson, made the XI, but there was no place for Ian Bell despite his averaging 89.50 and making four hundreds during the qualifying period from August 11, 2010 to August 3, 2011.

Dale Steyn, the South Africa fast bowler, made the team for the fourth straight year, while Sachin Tendulkar was named to the team for the third consecutive year. Three South Africa batsmen, Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers and Jacques Kallis, plus Kumar Sangakkara, the former Sri Lanka captain, made up the rest of the XI, while India fast bowler Zaheer Khan was named 12th man. Sangakkara was named captain and wicketkeeper, though he no longer performs either role for Sri Lanka in Tests.

"While selecting the squad, the selectors didn't rely only on statistics only, but took into account all other factors like the opposition, pitch conditions, match situation etc," Clive Lloyd, the former West Indies captain and chairman of the ICC Awards selection panel, said in a release. "But when you have only 12 places to fill from a big group of world-class players, there will always be a few who will miss out. In the panel's expert opinion, it has selected the best team based on performances over the past 12 months."

The ICC also released the short-list for its annual awards and Tendulkar will have a chance to repeat as Cricketer of the Year award but will have to fend off challenges from Amla, and the England pair of Cook and Trott to do so. Tendulkar wasn't quite as prolific as last year, but still managed to score 973 runs in 10 Tests at an average of 64.86 and 513 runs from 11 ODIs at an average of 46.63.

Cook and Trott were also short-listed for the Test Player of the Year award alongside their team-mate Anderson, with Kallis the other nominee. Cook was in particularly inspired form in Tests, making 1302 runs from 12 games at an average of 76.58 with six centuries and four half-centuries. Trott was almost as good, accumulating 1042 runs from 12 Tests at an average of 65.12 with four centuries and three half-centuries. Anderson meanwhile was a handful with the ball, picking up 50 wickets in 11 Tests at an average of 25.48 and a strike-rate of 54.00.

Amla was nominated for the ODI Player of the Year award as well, along with Kumar Sangakkara, Australia allrounder Shane Watson and India opener Gautam Gambhir. Watson continued to excel in the 50-over game, making 955 runs in 19 matches at an average of 59.68 and a strike-rate of 111.17, while also chipping in with 15 wickets.

New Zealand's Tim Southee's five-wicket haul against Pakistan was up for the Twenty20 International Performance of the Year, alongside England's Tim Bresnan, Watson and South Africa batsman JP Duminy.

Test team of the year: (in batting order) Alastair Cook, Hashim Amla, Jonathan Trott, Sachin Tendulkar, Kumar Sangakkara (capt/wk), AB de Villiers, Jacques Kallis, Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann, Dale Steyn, James Anderson, Zaheer Khan (12th man)

The short-lists

Cricketer of the Year: Hashim Amla, Alastair Cook, Sachin Tendulkar, Jonathan Trott

Test Player of the Year: James Anderson, Alastair Cook, Jacques Kallis, Jonathan Trott

ODI Player of the Year: Hashim Amla, Gautam Gambhir, Kumar Sangakkara, Shane Watson

Emerging Player of the Year: Azhar Ali, Devendra Bishoo, Darren Bravo, Wahab Riaz

Associate and Affiliate Player of the Year: Ryan ten Doeschate, Hamid Hassan, Kevin O'Brien, Paul Stirling

Twenty20 International Performance of the Year: Tim Bresnan 3-10 v Pakistan, JP Duminy 96* v Zimbabwe, Tim Southee 5-18 v Pakistan, Shane Watson 59 v England

Women's Cricketer of the Year: Charlotte Edwards (England), Lydia Greenway (England), Shelley Nitschke (Australia), Stafanie Taylor (West Indies)

Umpire of the Year: Aleem Dar, Steve Davis, Ian Gould, Simon Taufel

Spirit of Cricket: MS Dhoni for his recall of Ian Bell during the second Test match between England and India at Trent Bridge, July/August 2011, and Jacques Kallis for walking twice during the World Cup 2011 after clarifying with the opposition fielder if they had caught the ball cleanly

People's Choice Award: Hashim Amla, MS Dhoni, Chris Gayle, Kumar Sangakkara, Jonathan Trott

Members of the voting academy

Former players: Andy Bichel, Naimur Rahman, Aamir Sohail, Pat Symcox, Nasser Hussein, Russel Arnold, Robin Singh, Shane Bond, Grant Flower, Desmond Haynes, and John Davison (Associate Representative Cricketer)

Media: Greg Buckle (Australia), Abdul Majid Bhatti (Pakistan), Azad Majumdar (Bangladesh), Kevin McCallum (South Africa), Stephen Brenkley (England), Chris Dhambarage (Sri Lanka), Ayaz Memon (India), Tony Becca (West Indies), Bryan Waddle (New Zealand), John Ward (Zimbabwe) and KR Nayer (Associate Representative)

Elite panel of ICC referees representative: Chris Broad

Elite panel of ICC umpires representative: Aleem Dar

Chairman of ICC cricket committee: Clive Lloyd

Pietersen rested for ODIs

Ben Stokes has been included in
England's ODI squad to face India

England have rested Kevin Pietersen for the upcoming ODI series India and called-up Durham allrounder Ben Stokes.

Pietersen, who was the highest scorer in the Test series against India, has been left out as part of the selectors' ongoing policy of 'managing player workloads'. While Pietersen has recovered his Test form in fine style, his one-day returns have been less productive - just two half-centuries since November 2008.

Geoff Miller, the England selector, emphasised, however, that Pietersen was being rested rather than dropped. "The decision to omit Kevin Pietersen from the one-day squad is in line with our policy of sensibly managing player workloads and will give the opportunity to another batsmen to test himself batting at number four."

Stokes is the only one of the three debutants from the one-off ODI against Ireland to have made the squad, with Ravi Bopara holding his place ahead of James Taylor and legspinner Scott Borthwick not selected either. Stokes was close to playing against Sri Lanka earlier in the summer but picked up a finger injury. He has had an excellent season for Durham in the CB40 with 357 runs at 51.00. Though he won't be fit to bowl, he offers England hard-hitting ability down the order.

While the remainder of the ODI squad is largely similar to the one that beat Sri Lanka 3-2 earlier in the summer, there are maiden Twenty20 call-ups for Somerset wicketkeeper-batsman Jos Buttler and Nottinghamshire opener Alex Hales. Buttler has not actually had as productive a season as last year in Twenty20, but has showcased enough potential to step in for the injured Luke Wright.

Hales, meanwhile, replaced Michael Lumb from the team that lost to Sri Lanka in the one-off ODI. Ian Bell, who was a non-playing member of the squad from that game, has been dropped. Hales impressed in all forms of the game for Nottinghamshire this season and is the highest-scoring English player in the Friends Life t20 with 544 runs from 16 games. "The domestic Twenty20 competition went well for me and I'm pleased to have been recognised for scoring runs in a winning team," said Hales.

"England are the world's best Test team and the Twenty20 world champions so breaking into the setup at any level is a big deal and I'm extremely proud to have done so. I need to back my ability to play positively and score runs if I'm going to stay in contention for a place and that's my target going into Wednesday's game."

Miller, meanwhile, backed the squads blend of youth and experience to succeed. "Across both squads we believe we've selected an exciting blend of experienced international performers along with some exciting young players with a great deal of talent," he said in a statement. "We will need to play a high quality brand of limited overs cricket against the world champions India.

"We're very excited to have included some bright young players in the form of Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler and Alex Hales, all of whom have proved themselves domestically and will now be looking to successfully take the step up to international level."

Twenty20 squad: Stuart Broad (capt), Ravi Bopara, Tim Bresnan, Jos Buttler, Jade Dernbach, Steven Finn, Alex Hales, Craig Kieswetter (wk), Eoin Morgan, Samit Patel, Kevin Pietersen, Ben Stokes, Graeme Swann

ODI squad: Alastair Cook (capt), James Anderson, Ian Bell, Ravi Bopara, Tim Bresnan, Stuart Broad, Jade Dernbach, Steven Finn, Craig Kieswetter (wk), Eoin Morgan, Samit Patel, Ben Stokes, Graeme Swann, Jonathan Trott

Foreign coach the way forward for Pakistan - Lawson

Geoff Lawson insists that the language barrier
won't be an issue for a foreign coach

Former Pakistan coach Geoff Lawson has suggested that the Pakistan Cricket Board should replace the outgoing coach Waqar Younis with a foreigner, free from the influence of Pakistan's domestic politics.

"I said it when I left as well, Pakistan need a foreign coach," Lawson, who was sacked as Pakistan coach in 2008, told the Express Tribune from Australia. "Whether you come from Karachi or Lahore, the pressure on you from external sources doesn't let you do the work properly.

"A foreign coach won't have that excess baggage. He won't worry about politics but will just concentrate on making the best team he can. In my time, language wasn't a problem. The common language was cricket and that's all they had to understand."

Lawson, who currently coaches the Kochi franchise in the IPL, stressed that the language barrier wouldn't be a problem for a foreign coach.

"In my Kochi team, some players don't speak Hindi so they communicate in English," Lawson said. "It's just an excuse for not appointing a foreign coach despite all the experience and assistance he can bring to Pakistan cricket."

Waqar recently announced that the upcoming Zimbabwe tour will be his last, citing personal reasons including his and his wife's health. During his tenure Pakistan lurched from one controversy to another, including the spot-fixing scandal and Zulqarnain Haider's mysterious disappearance from the team hotel, but they also managed to show a revival in Test fortunes and belie expectations to reach the World Cup semi-finals.

Pakistan have changed coaches frequently in recent years, which Lawson said could be a deterrent for potential replacements. "They will have a very, very difficult time [replacing Waqar]," he said. "Not many will be willing to trust them because of how they've acted in the past but I'll still tell the PCB to get a foreign coach even if it's on a short, six-month contract.

"It's not so much the situation but the chairman's [Ijaz Butt] reputation just isn't good enough for him to invite foreign coaches over to Pakistan."

Lawson was highly critical of Shahid Afridi, who announced a 'conditional' retirement from the game after being axed as one-day captain.

"He's playing well enough and I'd love to see him in the team," Lawson said of Afridi. "However, he needs to realise he's not the most important person in the team. He's a part and that needs to dawn on him. He doesn't accept criticism and thinks he's bigger and better than the team. That won't lead him anywhere."

Malinga takes third ODI hat-trick

Lasith Malinga became the first man to take three one-day international hat-tricks as Sri Lanka secured a consolation victory in the final ODI in Colombo. Australia might have won the series 3-2 but with the first Test just over a week away, it was important for Sri Lanka to finish on a high, and they did that through Malinga with the ball, and then Mahela Jayawardene and Chamara Silva with the bat.

Chasing 212, the hosts lost three early wickets but from then on were in cruise control either side of a rain delay. Jayawardene all but saw them home with a patient 71, before departing with 17 runs still to get when he skied a catch off Xavier Doherty. Silva batted superbly in his 63, but the victory was all down to Sri Lanka's bowling performance, and specifically Malinga's hat-trick and the tail-end collapse that he instigated.

It could be argued that Malinga has taken four ODI hat-tricks, after his double hat-trick - four wickets in four balls - against South Africa at the 2007 World Cup. He picked up three in three deliveries against Kenya at this year's World Cup, and it would have been a brave person to tip against him adding to his tally when Doherty walked out to face the hat-trick ball this time.

Malinga began the sequence with a fast yorker that got through Mitchell Johnson's defences and bowled him for 1, and followed up with a low full toss that rapped John Hastings on the pad. Doherty took guard, and must have anticipated another accurate yorker, which was indeed delivered, but he still couldn't get bat on ball.

Doherty's middle stump was rattled, and so were Australia, who in the previous over - the 45th of the innings - had been cruising towards a competitive total, at 210 for 5. Eleven balls later, they had lost their remaining five wickets for the addition of only one more run. It was a remarkable collapse, with Ajantha Mendis taking a wicket either side of Malinga's hat-trick.

The rot started when David Hussey (46), who had just launched Mendis over the long-on fence for six, played back to the next delivery and was bowled for 46. The innings ended with Brad Haddin, on 8, driving a catch to mid-off, and neither the Australians nor the fans in the crowd could quite believe the rapid turnaround.

Smart stats
Lasith Malinga's hat-trick is his third in ODIs. He now has the most hat-tricks in ODIs after going past Wasim Akram, Saqlain Musthaq and Chaminda Vaas, who had two hat-tricks each.

The 3-2 series defeat is Sri Lanka's sixth series loss in bi-lateral contests at home since 2000 and their second home-series loss to Australia. Australia won 3-2 on their previous tour in 2004.

Chamara Silva's 13th half-century ended his bad run in recent ODIs. In his previous five innings, he had scored just 29 runs.

The 111-run stand between Silva and Mahela Jayawardene is the fifth-highest fourth-wicket partnership for Sri Lanka in ODIs against Australia. It is also their sixth-highest partnership for Sri Lanka in home ODIs against Australia.

Michael Clarke's aggregate of 242 runs in the series is the second-highest by an Australian batsman in a bi-lateral series in Sri Lanka after Ricky Ponting's 257 runs in the 2004 series.

Shane Watson's strike rate of 66.66 is his third-lowest for a fifty-plus knock in ODIs. The lowest is 60.71 during his 85 against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi in 2010.

Australia lost their last five wickets for just one run collapsing from 210 for 5 to be bowled out for 211. The aggregate of one run for the last four wickets (seventh to tenth wicket) is the lowest in ODIs.

Things had begun so solidly for Australia, who were sent in on a pitch expected to offer some assistance for the seamers in overcast conditions. As expected, the ball nipped around a little and in the second over, bowled by Shaminda Eranga, the openers were already in trouble, Shaun Marsh bowled by a lovely inswinger having four balls earlier been dropped at gully by Jayawardene.

In the following over Shane Watson was caught behind off a Malinga no-ball, and it proved to be a somewhat costly miss for the hosts, as Watson went on to post a solid 56 before top-edging a slog-sweep off Mendis. Watson had support from Ricky Ponting in a 67-run stand, before Ponting (31) was caught at midwicket when he failed to pick a slower ball from Angelo Mathews.

Michael Clarke compiled another handy yet inconsequential innings, his 47 ending when he tickled Eranga to the keeper. Not that his opposing captain was any more influential with the bat. Tillakaratne Dilshan was one of three early wickets to fall in Sri Lanka's chase, bowled for 17 when he was beaten for pace by James Pattinson, who sent down an impressive opening spell.

It was Pattinson's first match of the tour as Australia rested Brett Lee and Doug Bollinger, and the other man brought in for this game, John Hastings, made a nervy start as he failed to control the swing of the ball. Hastings was the main culprit as the Australians sent down 15 wides in the first 18 overs of the innings.

Not that anything should be taken away from the batting of Silva and Jaywardene. Silva's 63 was a fine innings from a man who was lucky to hold his place in the side, having made 4, 3, 13, 9 and 0 in his past five ODI innings. He was especially strong when sweeping Doherty, clearing the boundary at square leg once and finding the boundary four more times off the left-arm spinner, including with a powerful reverse-sweep.

Silva's half-century came up off 51 deliveries, but in the end it was the sweep that brought him undoing when he found the man at deep square leg off Doherty. The rain came with Sri Lanka well ahead on Duckworth/Lewis, and when play resumed, Jayawardene steered the chase comfortably.

In the end Sri Lanka got home with four wickets and three overs to spare, not that there was ever any doubt. Nor was there any doubt that Australia will enter the Test series happy to have seen the last of Malinga, who doesn't play the longer format. He certainly made a dead rubber bounce into life.

Sehwag and Ishant ruled out of ODIs

Ajinkya Rahane replaces Virender
Sehwag in the limited-overs squad 

Virender Sehwag and Ishant Sharma have been ruled out of the limited-overs leg of India's tour of England. Mumbai batsman Ajinkya Rahane and Jharkhand fast bowler Varun Aaron will replace them. Sehwag had not fully recovered from the shoulder surgery he underwent after the IPL, and is also suffering from a ear problem, while Ishant sustained a ligament injury to his left ankle during the Edgbaston Test.

Rahane, a top-order batsman, has been a prolific run-getter on India's domestic circuit and had a successful tour of Australia with India Emerging Players just recently, with two centuries in three first-class games. He averages 67.72 in first-class cricket and 38.61 in List A games. Aaron was also part of that tour to Australia and has been known to regularly clock over 140kmph. In his most recent first-class appearance, he took 4 for 40 and 2 for 49 against the Australian Institute of Sport.

Sehwag joined the India Test squad prior to the third Test at Edgbaston and has hardly made any impact in the series. He got a king pair and was dismissed for 8 and 33 in the final Test at The Oval, where he appeared to experience some discomfort in his right shoulder on the field before being attended to by the physio. A BCCI source told ESPNcricinfo Sehwag's shoulder had not completely healed and that he'll return to India at the conclusion of the Test.

Sehwag has also been experiencing hearing problems in his left ear after being exposed to a loud sound on July 24, according to the note sent by the National Cricket Academy physiotherapist Nitin Patel to the tour physio Ashish Kaushik when Sehwag joined the squad for the tour game in Northampton. "Mr. Sehwag suffered from labyrinthithis of the left ear on 24 July 2011," a BCCI release stated. "Although his condition has improved, he continues to experience headaches. An ENT specialist, who was consulted on the same, has said that he will take two more weeks to recover completely."

Ishant Sharma has had a busy Test series after taking over as India's spearhead in the absence of Zaheer Khan following the first day at Lord's. A board release said he responded well to treatment on his ligament "but will need to undergo a course of intensive rehabilitation and training to prevent recurrence of the pain in his left ankle."

India play one Twenty20 international and five ODIs against England after the Tests. The first ODI is scheduled for September 3.