The Great Game Called Cricket...

Sachin Tendulkar deserves a World Cup victory under his belt but to realise this dream the batting icon needs players like Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni to fire in 2011 home event, says former Kiwi fast bowler Danny Morrison.

"Sachin Tendulkar, the master, deserves to have some sort of winners' medal hanging round his neck but it's not all about him. Cricket is a tough game and it's also about whether Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and MS Dhoni can deliver for India. Can they do it for Sachin?," Morrison said at an ICC audio-cricket show.

The cricketer-turned-commentator also feels that India will be strong contenders to lift the World Cup.

"I think India has the best opportunity to lift the World Cup this time round. It has to be good for them playing on home turf. It adds pressure but that's part of hosting.

"You feel that India want something special to happen and this year I think you've got to go with the India team to emulate the 1983 side led by Kapil Dev," said Morrison, who claimed 126 ODI wickets and 160 in Tests.

India will co-host the 2011 edition along with Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in February-March.

Ricky Pointing expects his reign as Australian captain to end if he is not holding the Ashes at the SCG in January. Ponting was in charge during the 2005 and 2009 defeats in England, and led his side to a 5-0 whitewash at home three years ago.

Despite being one of the game's all-time greats with the bat, Ponting knows his future depends on the result of the 2010-11 series. "I'd probably be looking for a new job if we lose again," Ponting told the Daily Mail. "It's as simple as that. I've got the biggest eight months of my career coming up."

Australia face Pakistan and India in two-Test series before the Ashes begin at the Gabba in November and the series is followed by the World Cup. "It doesn't get any bigger than that and everything I do between now and April will be geared at getting the most out of myself and, most importantly, the group," he said. "If I'm able to do that I think there are some pretty special things on the horizon for this team."

While the Ashes series is likely to determine what Ponting does next, he said he was not weighed down by the significance of the contest. "I haven't thought about any added pressure on me," he said. "I'm just thinking about being the best player I can be and having a significant impact on the Ashes series as a batsman and as a leader. That's all I can control. I know what it takes to be a good player in a big series and I know what it will take for the rest of the guys."

England have beaten Australia in their most important encounters over the past year. The run began with their Ashes victory at The Oval and continued with a win in the World Twenty20 final and the current one-day series success.

Ponting said England deserved the latest triumph but does not think they have earned bragging rights in all forms of the game. "We're still ranked the best side in one-day cricket and No. 2 in Test cricket," Ponting said. "Until England get their heads above us in all of the tables then superiority will be with us."

Support for John Howard's appointment to the vice-presidency of the ICC fell away "significantly" in the last week with at least a couple of the boards, which eventually opposed the move, changing their stance in that time. What brought about the change, however, is not yet clear.

Howard's appointment was rejected on Wednesday by six of the ICC's ten Full Members, thought to consist of the subcontinent boards of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh as well as South Africa and the West Indies. Zimbabwe is said to have provided the most vocal opposition privately and led the movement and, though they didn't sign the letter that brought matters to such a head, they are believed to have played a prominent part in the decision.

At least two boards are said to have given assurances to David Morgan, the outgoing ICC president in the last week, that they would support Howard only to change their minds eventually. "There had been a significant shift downwards in the level of support - that is a shift of support away from John Howard in the last week," Morgan told Cricinfo, though he didn't identify where the support fell away, or why it did.

Ehsan Mani, the former ICC head who remains close to senior figures within the ICC, said the PCB and BCB - who had said they would seek government advice over the issue - had assured Morgan recently of their support, but backed down. "Both Bangladesh and Pakistan had assured David Morgan recently that they would support John Howard and I find it strange that they eventually opposed the move," Mani told Cricinfo. "Were their arms twisted over the course of the last week? What made them change their stance?"

None of the opposing members or the ICC has spoken publicly about the objections and under ICC rules they are not required to. Sri Lanka's concern arose from Howard being a figure from outside cricket's administrative fraternity. Others such as Zimbabwe and South Africa are believed to have based their disapproval on Howard's past political leanings, particularly with the government of the former.

The anger within the Australia and New Zealand boards, however, stems from not being given any concrete objections privately either. "There's been no clear indication of what objections there were and that is disappointing in many ways to Australia and New Zealand," said Morgan, who stepped down from his post on Thursday.

"They went through a rigorous process to choose between two excellent candidates and I am disappointed that I was unable to push that nomination through. The new president [Sharad Pawar] and I had supported the nomination [the ICC press release of the time had expressed support to the process rather than the nomination] but unfortunately I was unable to see it through," Morgan said.

The issue doesn't show signs of being resolved any time soon. CA, it is understood, will continue backing Howard, though the ICC again urged the two boards to reconsider their nomination by August 31. Haroon Lorgat, the ICC chief executive, refused to be drawn into speculating what would happen if Howard's name was put up again. "I think that's speculative and we must wait for August 31 and see what comes forward," he said at a press conference in Singapore.

Morgan believes one casualty of this conflict may be the system of putting forward a candidate for the post, which has already been through a number of guises since the mid 1990s. Currently nominations are put forward by a pair of regionally-aligned countries on a rotational basis: Howard was Australia and New Zealand's choice. Pakistan and Bangladesh are next in line to put forward a nomination; one candidate will emerge from India and Sri Lanka; England and West Indies, and South Africa and Zimbabwe are the remaining regional pairings. In the past more general systems have been used, as well as variants of a regional policy.

"The rotational system was used for the first time this time," Morgan said. "There is a commitment to retain it but I have my doubts that it will stand."

There are broader concerns from yesterday's development, in particular the apparent realigning of loyalties along lines that were thought to have mattered less in the last decade, those of race. The power of the Asian bloc was said to have weakened as the BCCI and CA drew closer in recent years to benefit from a profitable and exciting rivalry.

But CA chairman Jack Clarke said yesterday that his board would be "cautious" in their dealings with the BCCI in future. "I think the lessons to be learnt for CA would be big ones after this incident," Mani said. "Australia threw all their eggs into one basket over the last few years and it's come back to bite them because they lost support from other boards while pursuing the BCCI.

"But I think it is important for cricket to do some serious soul-searching and for the administration to draw a line somewhere about how one board can effectively have so much strength to be able to run the entire game. There needs to be a counter-balance."

Former BCCI chief Sharad Pawar has taken over as ICC president from England's David Morgan following the body's annual conference in Singapore. Pawar will lead the ICC for two years after having served as Morgan's deputy for a similar period, and his appointment comes after the controversial rejection of former Australian prime minister John Howard's bid for the vice-president's job

Pawar is the second Indian to hold the ICC's top job, after Jagmohan Dalmiya's stint in the late nineties. He praised the leadership of outgoing president Morgan, terming it an 'impressive innings'. "David Morgan has set the principles by which the ICC operates and now it is our responsibility to build on his legacy," Pawar said.

One of India's most influential regional politicians, Pawar's rise to the most powerful post in cricket administration started with a fractious victory over former India captain Ajit Wadekar in the elections to the Mumbai cricket board in 2001. The next big step was the defeat of Dalmiya's candidate in the tussle for control of the BCCI in 2005 after losing by one vote in the previous year.

Bangladesh in a tearing hurry
India's fast bowlers were perhaps expecting to be eased back into top-flight cricket and the tournament against the lightweight Bangladesh side. They were in for a shock as Tamim Iqbal and Imrul Kayes came out punching. Kayes cracked three fours off Zaheer's first over, and Tamim cut and flicked Praveen for plenty, which meant Bangladesh were 35 for 0 in 2.4 overs.

Shakib is bamboozled
Harbhajan Singh usually enjoys bowling in Sri Lanka, as 47 wickets and an economy-rate of 3.93 indicate. Today was no different; the highlight of his spell being the delivery that tricked Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan. A flighted ball, Shakib moved forward and played for the spin, but the ball fizzed straight on through the bat-pad gap to knock back the stumps.

Sehwag the destroyer
Seeing Virender Sehwag derail the opposition with his batting is a common sight, but seeing him spin out the opposition is a rare occurrence. He ran through the tail today, nipping out three wickets in four deliveries, the grin on his face getting wider with each scalp. Sehwag finished with 4 for 6; in 17 deliveries he had taken as many wickets as he had in the past 17 months.

Bad floodlights stop play
Lasith Malinga had already complained about the quality of the lights at the Rangiri Dambulla Stadium in the opening match, and there was more floodlight-related trouble today. Two of them didn't work for a while due to a generator outage, causing India's chase to be interrupted midway through the 10th over. The players took their dinner, during which the problem was sorted.

A decision after much deliberation
After Virat Kohli was beaten by the turn, wicketkeeper Mushfiqur Rahim quickly took off the bails just as Kohli was dragging his foot back into the crease. It took plenty of replays to determine whether Kohli had made his ground or if he had been caught on the crease. As the third umpire Ranmore Martinesz deliberated, a section of the crowd started to scream "Out, out", promptly countered by chants of "Not out" from another set of fans. The matter was resolved when Martinesz sent Kohli on his way.

Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan has asked his team-mates to perform as a unit instead of playing as individuals following his team's six-wicket defeat to India in Dambulla.

"We played well as individuals but not as a team, that's an area we need to improve on a lot," Shakib told reporters after Bangladesh were bowled out 167 in 34.5 overs in their first Asia Cup match. "We need to climb one step ahead and put team performances together, only then can we win some games. That's the main area we have to concentrate on.

"We are playing against teams better than us and we need to work out every time we go out and play. But it's not been happening for the last six months. We are trying our level best and have been working hard at our game."

Bangladesh's next game is against hosts Sri Lanka on Friday, and Shakib said his team needed to work harder on the disciplines that let them down against India. "Our middle-order batsmen didn't play well and against spin," he said. "Sri Lanka has some very good spinners and we need to discuss at the team meeting and do some assessment so that we can do well in next game."

Tamim Iqbal and Imrul Kayes, Bangladesh's openers, had raced to 35 off 2.5 overs and at 155 for 4 in the 30th over, Bangladesh looked like setting India a stiff target to chase under lights. The introduction of Virender Sehwag's off-breaks in the 31st over, however, triggered a collapse and six wickets tumbled for 12 runs - the last four falling without a run being added to the total. "Though we lost there are some positives we can take from this game especially the way the top order batsmen started off," Shakib said. "In the first 10 overs we played really well, but it needs to be continued with our middle order batsmen."

After Tuesday's hard-fought tournament opener, the second match turned into another chapter of the Asia's Cup long history of one-sided encounters. India won't be complaining though after a hassle-free victory over Bangladesh in a match in which they welcomed seven regulars back to the XI.

Sterner tests lie in wait but the Indian management will be satisfied that three players returning from injuries - Zaheer Khan, Praveen Kumar and Virender Sehwag - didn't show any fitness trouble. Zaheer and Praveen had some problems early on against the rampant Bangladesh openers, but recovered after the brief onslaught. Sehwag, in fact, had shrugged off his shoulder worries so much that he wiped out the Bangladesh tail to finish with career-best figures.

Once the bowlers had done the job, Gautam Gambhir orchestrated the chase with another sensible innings that was more about placement than power. A strike-rate of 80 is pedestrian in most one-dayers these days, but with a tiny target on a track which wasn't tailor-made for batting, it was sufficient.

Gambhir said it took a while to switch to one-day pace after playing months of Twenty20. "When you are in Twenty20 mode you want to really hit the ball and these aren't the conditions for that," he said. "You have to graft your way through, and initially I was thinking of hitting the ball before I realised I have 50 overs, and not 20, to play."

Another factor to which the players must adjust to in Dambulla is the slightly dim floodlights, which Lasith Malinga talked about on Tuesday and MS Dhoni commented on after today's game. India will be thankful their batsmen got their first chance to play under lights when the requirements for a win weren't taxing. Adding to the floodlight trouble is the fact that it gets harder to bat as the match progresses.

"If you saw the last game also, the ball does a lot more [under lights] than in the afternoon," Gambhir said, "the kind of atmosphere here, the kind of breeze and kind of wickets here, it would definitely do a lot, anything around 250-260 will be a very good total on this track."

India's job was made easier by an all-too-familiar Bangladesh collapse after the top-order had galloped to 77 for 1 after 13 overs. There was a rash of bad strokes, but the Indian spinners were spot on as well. "It [bowling Bangladesh out cheaply] was the prefect platform for the top-order batsman to just go out there, get used to the wicket, get used to the conditions, and try and play a long innings," Gambhir said.

The win also came as a relief after the dismal World Twenty20 campaign and the embarrassing defeats in Zimbabwe and Gambhir credited the break for refreshing him. "You come back fresh, you forget what happened at the World Twenty20, you have more energy and you are more eager to perform." Also, victory with the bonus point reduces the pressure to win in the high-profile match coming up against Pakistan, who can't afford another defeat after the opening-day defeat.

It wasn't all hunky-dory for India though. Gambhir wasn't near his best, and the finish could have been more interesting had Tamim hung on to a catch at third man off Gambhir soon after Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma were dismissed off successive deliveries. The ever-dependable Dhoni saw India through, but the youngsters missed out on a chance to get used to unfamiliar conditions. The pace department also needs improvement, though Zaheer was hostile in his second spell

Dhoni and his boys will face far tougher challenges in the rest of the tournament but they will be pleased to have not stumbled at the first hurdle.