The Googly

Best wishes to Googlyers

Following Mimi yesterday, The Trumpet bids his readers a fond farewell on this St Georges Day. I owe great thanks to fellow scribblers, Mimi and Nestaquin, and, especially, our editor Lee Calvert, who gave me this opportunity in return for an exotic cocktail . Of course, I am particularly grateful to those readers who troubled to comment on my pieces, some of whom I am now proud to call friends.

Cricket stands in an extraordinary place in April 2008 - the future is unclear, but it's been that way before. I hope to write about that future in other places (sometimes as MouthoftheMersey) and I hope to meet some of you there.

Thanks to you all and to the wonderful players of this Greatest of Games.

Peace be with you.

[The Tooting Trumpet]

Performance of the Day - Brian Lara

No, you didn't misread the headline and yes, our picture does show the Great Man taking leave of the international game, but the Prince of Port-of-Spain is still playing cricket as the Trindad and Tobago vs Guyana scorecard shows. Having scored a century in the first dig (and taken three catches), Lara wrapped up the win with an extraordinary assault, pinging 53 off just 27 balls. For the man to still have the hunger to do that, after all he has achieved, is mighty impressive and deserving of a PotD.

The wider question concerns whether Lara was forced out / retired too early. Whilst it's not ideal for team cohesion, surely it must be possible to allow one of the game's All-Time Greats to pick and choose his tours as he approaches 40? Unlike the visibly creaking Hayden and flab-fighting Inzy, Lara carries no excess weight in fat or muscle and has seldom been injured.

And it would allow cricket fans another opportunity to watch in wonder at the man's batsmanship.

[The Tooting Trumpet] [Image: Getty]

Performance of the Day - Ashwell Prince

Our photograph shows South Africa's Ashwell Prince run out for 98 in the Second Test vs West Indies. He was attempting to get back on strike to protect Dale Steyn, thereby maximising his team's lead - a selfless dismissal in a team often accused of individual selfishness.

Ashwell Prince is an old-fashioned cricketer who, like Shiv Chanderpaul, relishes the fight and, like Chanderpaul, plays his best knocks when most needed. Today, he rebuilt his team's innings in a sixth wicket stand of 129 with Mark Boucher, which dragged his team back into a series they were losing.

The fifth wicket had added just 8, but that was because AB de Villiers was dismissed for 2. With but one Test difference in their careers (34 AB, 35 Ashwell), de Villiers averages 36, Prince 42. Nobody would argue that de Villiers isn't more talented with the bat, but there's more to cricket than talent, as the admirable, and PotD winning, Prince shows.

[The Tooting Trumpet] [Image: Getty]    

Performance of the Day - Dwayne Bravo

There is little would cheer the Trumpet more this side of 2009 than to see a revival in the fortunes of West Indies cricket. There are many reasons, romantic, financial, social, historical, why West Indies cricket matters to a 44 year-old Englishman, so it was with real despair that the Trumpet has witnessed their decline fearing for the post-Chanderpaul batting era the way I feared, correctly, for the post-Curtley and Courtney bowling era.

But, to my surprise and relief, Chrystal Gayle is getting some excellent displays out of his team. Today, the mercurial Dwayne Bravo stepped up to blow away the Saffers' middle order, snaring Kallis, Amla and de Villiers in a five over spell, thus securing a PotD. He has some work to do on both disciplines, but if his batting develops as it should, and he can retain his knack of wicket-taking to go with a new found parsimony with the ball, he'll soon turn his averages around (currently he bats 32 and bowls 39). That will put him in exalted company and the Windies back, if not at the top, then at least competing with all nations except the Aussie juggernaut.

[The Tooting Trumpet] [Image: Getty]

Performance of the Day - The Australian late order

Great cricket teams are created by a kind of alchemy that allows their gold to glisten in a pan full of iron and sand. There were times when the 80s West Indies bowling attack was blunted - so you had to deal with Gordon and Dessie and Big Clive and King Viv smearing you all round the paddock.

This great Australian team have that alchemy too. They were wobbling today in the Second Test vs India at 134-6 with just the one recognised batsmen and four bowlers left. Moreover, four of these five players have just 40 Tests between them. And none of them is called Adam Gilchrist. Any England fan would have taken 200 as a decent score, so, in the deathless phrase, what happened next?

As Cricinfo baldly states, "The 173-run partnership between Andrew Symonds and Brad Hogg is the highest seventh-wicket stand for Australia versus India, and the fourth-highest against all teams. Symonds and Hogg scored their runs at lightening-quick speed too, consuming just 36.2 overs - that's a rate of 4.76 per over. Of the 218 deliveries bowled at them, the pair played just 135 dot balls, stole 45 singles, and struck 22 boundaries - 20 fours and two sixes. Both batsmen scored at an almost equal scoring rate: Symonds contributed 94 from 116 balls (run-rate of 4.86) while Hogg made 79 from 102 (4.64)." Australia are 376-7 and the Trumpet is awed again by the sheer bloody-minded class that these incredible cricketers bring to the game. Bastards!

[The Tooting Trumpet] [Image: Getty] with thanks to S Rajesh and HR Gopalakrishna at Cricinfo.

Performance of the Day - Paul Collingwood

I've just heard a report on Sports News that England teams are dominating. Obviously this does not refer to cricket. England suffered their worst collapse in five years this morning and without wishing to detract from the superb performances of Chaminda Vaas and UWMBCA Welegedara, this had more to do with the tourists' utter ineptness than anything else. It wasn't just the soft dismissals, but the two comedy run-outs - Ian Bell and Monty Panesar - that proved England can be World Champions at being rubbish.

We do live in a cynical age and it is in this spirit of post-modern irony that I award the PotD to Paul Collingwood rather than to Mahela Jayawardene - who batted like a god again today, Chaminda or young Welegedara. All of whom deserve it for their fine cricket. No Colly gets it, not for being England's top-scorer with 29 (one of only three England batsmen to get into double figures, or four if you count extras), but for his extraordinary post-match interview. He recognises that England are "in a slump" but worryingly he thinks they are "heading in the right direction".

AAARGH! Someone buy me a new sofa NOW! Mine is not big enough to hide behind.

[Image: Getty] [mimitig]

Performance of the Day - Sourav Ganguly

In day two of India v Pakistan in the third Test at Bangalore, there were stand-out performances from both Ganguly and occasional India team member Irfan Pathan. Both have a compelling case to earn today's accolade and it has been a hard call to make.

On runs alone, the award has to go to old-timer, but now very much in form, Ganguly. 239 of 361 balls with 30 fours is almost an exhibition display and one that we all rejoice in.

Pathan is a gentleman of the sport and said "When it came to Test cricket, I had never thought I would score a hundred on my comeback. ... I didn't even think that I would play in the third Test."

The only other contender today has to be the thighs of Sri Lankan fielder Jehan Mubarak - they did for Vaughanie today.

[Image: Getty] [mimitig]

Performance of the Day - The Comeback Kids

Despite SC Ganguly's 98 caps and Yuvraj's 20, both players always seem to have something to prove in the Test arena, although, as our picture shows, they are not short of experience nor success in the shorter forms of the game. So both players will have been distinctly uneasy as they came together today with injury-ravaged India 61-4 and Pakistan well on top. Three and a half hours later, they were eventually separated having added a PotD winning 300 runs for the fifth wicket, with Yuvraj out for 169 and Ganguly overnighting 125 not out. 

Yuvraj was making his return to the side for his first Test of 2007 having had a miserable time of it in 2006 scoring just 339 runs at an average of 28 - insufficient to hold a place in the Indian top six. Ganguly, having been at loggerheads with previous coach Greg Chappell, is enjoying something of an er... Indian Summer at the age of 35. 2007 has seen him clobber 818 Test runs at an average of 58.

Will Steve Harmison make it a weekend for Comeback Kids come Sunday? The Trumpet thinks not.

[The Tooting Trumpet] [Image: Getty]

Performance of the day - Sanath Jayasuriya

By all rights PotD today should probably go to Mahela Jayawardene for his decision in the evening session to toss the ball, not to a fast bowler, but to the at the time wicketless Muttiah Muralitharan.

But it doesn't.

My choice is a more emotionally-led one, although Sanath Jayasuriya's dismissal of Ravi Bopara could possibly have been match-winning. But it's not for that wicket today that he gets the award. It's because this is the last chance he has in the Test arena to get the prize and I'm soft that way.

Sanath has been a jewel in the Sri Lanka side since his debut against New Zealand in 1991. He has played 110 Tests (making 6973 runs) and added a further 12207 international runs in 403 One-day matches. 307 One-day wickets and 98 Test wickets stand testament to his importance to Sri Lanka in the bowling attack.

He took over the captaincy of Sri Lanka in 1999 and it is widely acknowledged that his consensual style (a contrast to the dictatorial approach of his predecessor Arjuna Ranatunga) created a happy and unified team. His warmth was much appreciated during the time he graced these shores playing for both the MCC and Somerset.

Last year's retirement from International cricket didn't last long and Sanath was back in England for the One-day series last summer. This time, however, it is unlikely that he will rescind his decision, certainly for Tests and so I thought it appropriate to celebrate him today.

Runner-up number three today has to be Ian Bell for coming so close to shepherding the tail home and for playing the most mature innings of his career.

[Image: Getty] [mimitig]

Performance of the Day - VVS Laxman

Many contenders for the PotD on a tremendous day for a cricket fan. Wasim Jaffer was warmly congratulated on his double-hundred by the Pakistani players and an adoring Kolkata crowd. SC Ganguly went on to a typically pugnacious 102, and just off the sub-continent, Hoggy and Monty showed the benefit of discipline and craft to take seven SL wickets as England enjoyed a sweet day in Kandy

But the eye was taken by VVS Laxman, who walked off at Eden Gardens with 112 beautifully made runs to his name, mostly from singles and fours. With a technique so dependent on the ball being played late with the wrists manipulating the bat to direct the ball into gaps with exquisite timing, VVS will always score runs in bunches. He now has 236 in his last four innings without being dismissed and averages 68 in Tests this year.

Despite Yuvraj knocking hard on the door, this run of form must book VVS' place in the side for Australia, which is a mouth-watering prospect indeed!

[The Tooting Trumpet] [Image: Getty]

Performance of the Day - Ashwell Prince

Our photograph shows South Africa's Ashwell Prince run out for 98 in the Second Test vs West Indies. He was attempting to get back on strike to protect Dale Steyn, thereby maximising his team's lead - a selfless dismissal in a team often accused of individual selfishness.

Ashwell Prince is an old-fashioned cricketer who, like Shiv Chanderpaul, relishes the fight and, like Chanderpaul, plays his best knocks when most needed. Today, he rebuilt his team's innings in a sixth wicket stand of 129 with Mark Boucher, which dragged his team back into a series they were losing.

The fifth wicket had added just 8, but that was because AB de Villiers was dismissed for 2. With but one Test difference in their careers (34 AB, 35 Ashwell), de Villiers averages 36, Prince 42. Nobody would argue that de Villiers isn't more talented with the bat, but there's more to cricket than talent, as the admirable, and PotD winning, Prince shows.

[The Tooting Trumpet] [Image: Getty]    

Performance of the Day - Dwayne Bravo

There is little would cheer the Trumpet more this side of 2009 than to see a revival in the fortunes of West Indies cricket. There are many reasons, romantic, financial, social, historical, why West Indies cricket matters to a 44 year-old Englishman, so it was with real despair that the Trumpet has witnessed their decline fearing for the post-Chanderpaul batting era the way I feared, correctly, for the post-Curtley and Courtney bowling era.

But, to my surprise and relief, Chrystal Gayle is getting some excellent displays out of his team. Today, the mercurial Dwayne Bravo stepped up to blow away the Saffers' middle order, snaring Kallis, Amla and de Villiers in a five over spell, thus securing a PotD. He has some work to do on both disciplines, but if his batting develops as it should, and he can retain his knack of wicket-taking to go with a new found parsimony with the ball, he'll soon turn his averages around (currently he bats 32 and bowls 39). That will put him in exalted company and the Windies back, if not at the top, then at least competing with all nations except the Aussie juggernaut.

[The Tooting Trumpet] [Image: Getty]

Performance of the Day - The Australian late order

Great cricket teams are created by a kind of alchemy that allows their gold to glisten in a pan full of iron and sand. There were times when the 80s West Indies bowling attack was blunted - so you had to deal with Gordon and Dessie and Big Clive and King Viv smearing you all round the paddock.

This great Australian team have that alchemy too. They were wobbling today in the Second Test vs India at 134-6 with just the one recognised batsmen and four bowlers left. Moreover, four of these five players have just 40 Tests between them. And none of them is called Adam Gilchrist. Any England fan would have taken 200 as a decent score, so, in the deathless phrase, what happened next?

As Cricinfo baldly states, "The 173-run partnership between Andrew Symonds and Brad Hogg is the highest seventh-wicket stand for Australia versus India, and the fourth-highest against all teams. Symonds and Hogg scored their runs at lightening-quick speed too, consuming just 36.2 overs - that's a rate of 4.76 per over. Of the 218 deliveries bowled at them, the pair played just 135 dot balls, stole 45 singles, and struck 22 boundaries - 20 fours and two sixes. Both batsmen scored at an almost equal scoring rate: Symonds contributed 94 from 116 balls (run-rate of 4.86) while Hogg made 79 from 102 (4.64)." Australia are 376-7 and the Trumpet is awed again by the sheer bloody-minded class that these incredible cricketers bring to the game. Bastards!

[The Tooting Trumpet] [Image: Getty] with thanks to S Rajesh and HR Gopalakrishna at Cricinfo.

Performance of the Day - Paul Collingwood

I've just heard a report on Sports News that England teams are dominating. Obviously this does not refer to cricket. England suffered their worst collapse in five years this morning and without wishing to detract from the superb performances of Chaminda Vaas and UWMBCA Welegedara, this had more to do with the tourists' utter ineptness than anything else. It wasn't just the soft dismissals, but the two comedy run-outs - Ian Bell and Monty Panesar - that proved England can be World Champions at being rubbish.

We do live in a cynical age and it is in this spirit of post-modern irony that I award the PotD to Paul Collingwood rather than to Mahela Jayawardene - who batted like a god again today, Chaminda or young Welegedara. All of whom deserve it for their fine cricket. No Colly gets it, not for being England's top-scorer with 29 (one of only three England batsmen to get into double figures, or four if you count extras), but for his extraordinary post-match interview. He recognises that England are "in a slump" but worryingly he thinks they are "heading in the right direction".

AAARGH! Someone buy me a new sofa NOW! Mine is not big enough to hide behind.

[Image: Getty] [mimitig]

Performance of the Day - Sourav Ganguly

In day two of India v Pakistan in the third Test at Bangalore, there were stand-out performances from both Ganguly and occasional India team member Irfan Pathan. Both have a compelling case to earn today's accolade and it has been a hard call to make.

On runs alone, the award has to go to old-timer, but now very much in form, Ganguly. 239 of 361 balls with 30 fours is almost an exhibition display and one that we all rejoice in.

Pathan is a gentleman of the sport and said "When it came to Test cricket, I had never thought I would score a hundred on my comeback. ... I didn't even think that I would play in the third Test."

The only other contender today has to be the thighs of Sri Lankan fielder Jehan Mubarak - they did for Vaughanie today.

[Image: Getty] [mimitig]

Performance of the Day - The Comeback Kids

Despite SC Ganguly's 98 caps and Yuvraj's 20, both players always seem to have something to prove in the Test arena, although, as our picture shows, they are not short of experience nor success in the shorter forms of the game. So both players will have been distinctly uneasy as they came together today with injury-ravaged India 61-4 and Pakistan well on top. Three and a half hours later, they were eventually separated having added a PotD winning 300 runs for the fifth wicket, with Yuvraj out for 169 and Ganguly overnighting 125 not out. 

Yuvraj was making his return to the side for his first Test of 2007 having had a miserable time of it in 2006 scoring just 339 runs at an average of 28 - insufficient to hold a place in the Indian top six. Ganguly, having been at loggerheads with previous coach Greg Chappell, is enjoying something of an er... Indian Summer at the age of 35. 2007 has seen him clobber 818 Test runs at an average of 58.

Will Steve Harmison make it a weekend for Comeback Kids come Sunday? The Trumpet thinks not.

[The Tooting Trumpet] [Image: Getty]

Performance of the day - Sanath Jayasuriya

By all rights PotD today should probably go to Mahela Jayawardene for his decision in the evening session to toss the ball, not to a fast bowler, but to the at the time wicketless Muttiah Muralitharan.

But it doesn't.

My choice is a more emotionally-led one, although Sanath Jayasuriya's dismissal of Ravi Bopara could possibly have been match-winning. But it's not for that wicket today that he gets the award. It's because this is the last chance he has in the Test arena to get the prize and I'm soft that way.

Sanath has been a jewel in the Sri Lanka side since his debut against New Zealand in 1991. He has played 110 Tests (making 6973 runs) and added a further 12207 international runs in 403 One-day matches. 307 One-day wickets and 98 Test wickets stand testament to his importance to Sri Lanka in the bowling attack.

He took over the captaincy of Sri Lanka in 1999 and it is widely acknowledged that his consensual style (a contrast to the dictatorial approach of his predecessor Arjuna Ranatunga) created a happy and unified team. His warmth was much appreciated during the time he graced these shores playing for both the MCC and Somerset.

Last year's retirement from International cricket didn't last long and Sanath was back in England for the One-day series last summer. This time, however, it is unlikely that he will rescind his decision, certainly for Tests and so I thought it appropriate to celebrate him today.

Runner-up number three today has to be Ian Bell for coming so close to shepherding the tail home and for playing the most mature innings of his career.

[Image: Getty] [mimitig]

Performance of the Day - VVS Laxman

Many contenders for the PotD on a tremendous day for a cricket fan. Wasim Jaffer was warmly congratulated on his double-hundred by the Pakistani players and an adoring Kolkata crowd. SC Ganguly went on to a typically pugnacious 102, and just off the sub-continent, Hoggy and Monty showed the benefit of discipline and craft to take seven SL wickets as England enjoyed a sweet day in Kandy

But the eye was taken by VVS Laxman, who walked off at Eden Gardens with 112 beautifully made runs to his name, mostly from singles and fours. With a technique so dependent on the ball being played late with the wrists manipulating the bat to direct the ball into gaps with exquisite timing, VVS will always score runs in bunches. He now has 236 in his last four innings without being dismissed and averages 68 in Tests this year.

Despite Yuvraj knocking hard on the door, this run of form must book VVS' place in the side for Australia, which is a mouth-watering prospect indeed!

[The Tooting Trumpet] [Image: Getty]

Performance of the Day - Wasim Jaffer

Test cricket offers such different delights to the shorter forms of the game that it's sometimes hard to think of them as part of the same family. After India's adrenaline fuelled rush to the World Twenty20 just a few short months ago, we might have expected the shrewd captaincy of Dhoni, the aggression of Sreesanth and the elan of Yuvraj to hold centre-stage for a while. But no. Come Test cricket, different skills are needed. Dhoni has returned to the ranks and Sreesanth and Yuvraj bide their time.

So who is holding centre-stage? Step forward Wasim Jaffer, the tall, quietly effective opener sitting atop the middle-order strokemakers. He was a vital component in India's series win in England and played handy knocks of 32 and 53 in the low scoring first Test in the India vs Pakistan series. Today he cashed in with 192 at the Haydenesque strike rate of 75 including three consecutive boundaries of the very highest class off a bemused Tanvir Sohail.

Cricket offers a home to all personalities and temperaments. Today, Wasim Jaffer showed that even India's galacticos need a stable base - perhaps Pakistan's selectors should look and learn about the benefits of stability, especially when building a bowling attack.

[The Tooting Trumpet] [Image: Getty]

Performance of the Day: Alastair Cook

I've been allowed back into the PotD hot seat, and unashamedly, I am foregoing all other contenders to choose Alastair Cook. He was not today's top-scorer, but he is looking like England's best hope as a batsman for the forthcoming Test series. A respectable 35 in the first innings of this match, and a confident 58 today. Cook appears to be the most comfortable with the conditions in Sri Lanka.

I hope his opening partnership with Michael Vaughan will go well next time out, and that they (and the other top order men) will not let down bowlers of quality such as Matthew Hoggard and maybe Stuart Broad.

[Image: Getty] [mimitig]

Performance of the Day - Andre Nel

Andre Nel isn't everyone's cup of tea, but like his forebear in the comedy sledging and gurning, Merv Hughes, he hides a very big heart behind the antics.

Never was that more clear than today when his South African team-mates were 9/10s of the way towards yet another choke against Vettori's Kiwis. Nel faced up to his first ball with 11 needed off the last over. After a swing and a miss, a dropped catch for one run and a single taken by Mark Boucher, nine were needed off three balls. Away went the left leg, down came the bat and two deliveries were despatched to the extra cover boundary. With one to win off the final ball, Nel made the necessary connection and scampered a single to win the match for his country.

Much more talented players than Nel would have blown their chances (as South Africa know better than most) but today was his. A win and a PotD for the pantomime villain.

[The Tooting Trumpet] [Image: Getty]

Performance of the Day - Kumar Sangakkara

14 Test wins in a row for the Australians (with just one draw since The Oval 2005 as a blemish on Punter's record) and a series won with the loss of a mere 11 wickets. Couldn't be better Down Under then?

Well maybe. But Australia don't often concede over 400 runs in the fourth innings (who does?) with Stuart MacGill in particular offering neither wickets nor control consistently. Nor do Australia often need the assistance of two poor umpiring decisions: Dilhara Fernando sent on his way by Aleem Dar without referral when Brett Lee broke the stumps with his left hand, the ball nestling in his right and Sangakkara triggered by another Koertzen special, "caught" having missed the ball comfortably. (Both men later acknowledged the gaffe and stand taller as a result).

Performance of the Day goes to the unlucky Kumar Sangakkara (right, rightfully rueful) for a beautifully constructed 192 that lays to rest any doubts about his class against quality bowling away from the sub-continent. While Muralitharan and Jayasuriya will retire having failed to convince against the world's best, that charge can never be levelled at this most stylish of cricketers on and off the field. With a Test average over 55 (mostly scored whilst designated as a 'keeper-batsman) and a big score in Australia, his position as a batting great is already secure at 30 years of age, with power to add.

[The Tooting Trumpet] [Image: Getty]

Performance of the Day - Dale Steyn

Two Test series are most unsatisfactory: you're just settling into the rhythm of Test match cricket and assessing the players' form then, all of a sudden, there's a board full of sponsors logos with one captain explaining how he can take some positives from the series and the other saying that his young side are at the start of something quite special. But such series are not without heroes and the recently completed South African rout of New Zealand produced one old one and two new(ish) ones.

Jacques Kallis was at his imperious best scoring 346 runs at 115, which surprised nobody. What did make cricket watchers sit up and take notice was the form of two 24 year-olds who made their debuts prematurely some three years ago and have struggled to establish themselves in the team: batsman Hashim Amla and bowler Dale Steyn.

Amla was the rock on which Kallis constructed match winning positions, anchoring the order with 291 runs at 145, while Steyn was the rapier who delivered the kill with 20 wickets at 9.2 shared evenly across the two Tests. Either are admirable candidates for Performance of the Day, but Steyn shades it with his consecutive ten wicket hauls. Ten wickets for a speedster is rare - Steyn has chalked up two such feats in 15 tests, or one more than Brett Lee and Stephen Harmison have managed in their 114.#

[The Tooting Trumpet] [Image:Getty]

Performance of the Day - Sky Sports

There is more than one way in which Rupert Murdoch (right) cuts an unattractive figure, but, using that unattractive cliche, he does what it says on the tin. Sky subscribers could start their Thursday (as I did) watching Phil Jaques scrape around trying to find a run, before retiring to bed (The Trumpet, not the Aussie) only to wake and discover that Phil had his ton and the Aussies were (surprise, surprise) well placed at the end of Day One. What was Jayawardene thinking of with his insertion?

To the day's viewing, with Sky offering a red button choice between a nip and tuck first day's Test cricket between the evenly matched Saffers and Kiwis or a pyrotechnic India - Pakistan ODI cliffhanger in Mohali, eventually won by Younus Khan's class and Boom Boom Afridi's clout.

The only problem? I missed the lot. I was at work earning the money to be able to pay for the subscription!

[The Tooting Trumpet] [Image: Getty]

Performance of the Day - Cricket South Africa

Cricket is played in many of the more troubled parts of the world - England's forthcoming tour to the beautiful island of Sri Lanka is just one example.

Yesterday's horrific bombings in Karachi with their horrendous death toll has shaken all Pakistan. It would have been very easy for the touring South Africans to get on the first plane out of the country and fight any breach of contract cases from a sunbed in Cape Town.

They didn't. They stayed. They are willing to show that cricket's family can stand together and play this wonderful game anywhere there is a desire to do so. Who knows what will happen in the ferment of the next few days, but the Trumpet knows that today's decision by Cricket South Africa and its players and officials took real guts and that to do otherwise would have damaged world cricket. The Trumpet sends his condolences to the families of the dead and injured, and his heartfelt thanks to Cricket South Africa.

[The Tooting Trumpet]

Performance of the Day: Murali Kartik

There is always a problem with dead rubber games - in any sport. Actually in some sports they don't even bother to play them. But today India took on Australia again, despite Saturday's series winning performance from the Downunder boys, and not only made a match of it, but won. By two wickets. Murali Kartik took six Australian wickets for just 27, helping to peg the Aussies to 193 all out.

It all looked very bad for India as the top order collapsed. Ganguly and Karthick went for ducks, Yuvraj (who has not found form at all) for only 15, and my hope was Robin Uthappa - but he fell to Pup for 47 (10 shy of Punter's hit).

It seemed all over, but Kartik and Zaheer combined well, and Murali's 21 eased India to victory. In, maybe, a match that does not matter, but for pride, India needed to win this.

[Image: Getty] [mimitig]

Performance of the Day: Graeme Swann

At the end of the Sri Lankan innings, I put Graeme Swann on the shortlist for today's award as his bowling was impressive. He finished with 4-34, including the vital wicket of Tillakaratne Dilshan (second match running) and having helped Ravi Bopara run out Chaminder Vaas.

Then, as the England top-order collapsed, again, I thought top-scoring Dilshan (70 with six boundaries) would take the accolade. I could not see how England could come back from 102-6 in the 32nd over when Swann came out to join Bopara after the loss of Collingwood. It got worse as Ravi went quickly bringing Stuart Broad, bless him, to the crease.

However England's tail wags a bit more strongly these days, and Swann played calmly for his 25, steering England into slightly safer waters. But after striking a freehit off Fernando for two, the bowler got his revenge next ball. Swann walked and Ryan Sidebottom came out. He played sensibly and Stuart displayed maturity beyond his years to guide England to a two wicket win.

That means that not only have England won their second match on Sri Lankan soil in 25 years (as everyone keeps reminding us!) but take a 2-1 series lead to Colombo where weather may well be the deciding factor.

[Image: Getty] [mimitig]

Performance of the Day - Jacques Kallis

The photograph rather sums up Jacques Kallis - impenetrable, frowning, aloof, not really pleased to be there at all. Over the years, Kallis has built himself a reputation as a choker, a reluctant bowler and a selfish batsman, and there's more than a grain of truth in all those accusations.

But South Africa needed a lift after their dismal World T20 showing and the prospect of taking on Pakistan in Karachi over five hot days was unlikley to have filled the most enthusiastic cricketers with breathless anticipation. But the Saffers rolled up their sleeves, got on with the job and won today by 160 runs. To their enormous credit, there were contributions from every one of the XI, but none more so than Jacques Kallis' two centuries - a tremendous achievement away from home, well worthy of a PotD to go alongside his Man of the Match award. Moreover, it was the work of a man defiantly not sulking after the slight of being left out of his country's T20 squad.

Whilst everyone expects Tendulkar to push Lara's aggregate Test runs well beyond 12000 and then Ricky Ponting to overhaul it, Kallis is just 685 runs shy of Punter and 10 months younger. He may yet forge ahead of the Tasmanian Devil. Incredibly, Kallis also has 214 Test wickets. It's seldom pretty to watch, but the man can play.

[The Tooting Trumpet] [Image: Getty] 

Performance of the Day - Ivo Tennant

Employment rights are important and so are the big issues of racism. power, authority and integrity. But is that really what the Darrell Hair Employment Tribunal is all about? Will truth be hammered out on the anvil of contradiction?

Ivo Tennant nails it at cricinfo. The case is about three gigantic egos: Robert Griffiths QC; Michael Belloff QC and Darrell Hair (right, centre of attention, again). With all that needs doing in the world of cricket, indeed the world in general, shouldn't that money and those brains be doing something more constructive?

[The Tooting Trumpet]  [Image: Getty]

Performance of the Day - Australia

Okay, I'm aware that the word "Day" above should be "Decade", but it's time for the Trumpet to acknowledge greatness, not pretty goodness, GREATNESS.

Today Australia beat India, but they also sustained a run of ODI batting excellence that repays close examination. Jump over and I'll show you what I mean.

October 2 2007 Kochi: Australia are 8 - 2 and recover to 306 - 6 (Hayden 75, Symonds 87, Haddin 87*)

September 29 2007 Bangalore: Australia are 90 - 4 and recover to 307 - 7 (Clarke 130, Haddin 69)

April 28 2007 Barbados: Australia 281 - 4 (38 overs) (Gilchrist 149)

April 20 2007 Grenada: Australia 348 - 6 (Hayden 103, Ponting 66, Watson 65*)

March 27 2007 Antigua: Australia 322- 6 (Hayden 158)

March 24 2007 St Kitts: Australia 377 - 6 (Hayden 101, Ponting 91, Clarke 82)

March 18 2007 St Kitts: Australia 358 -5 (Hodge 123, Clarke 93)

March 14 2007 St Kitts: Australia 334 - 6 (Ponting 113, Hayden 60)

The last eight times Australia have set a target, that target was more than a run-a-ball over 50 overs (and one rain affected match). All these matches were away from home with key contributions coming from eight different batsmen. Needless to say, all were Australian victories.

I write nothing here of the Australian bowling or fielding, but with batting like this, it must be like playing scrum-half behind forwards who push the opposition off the ball in every scrum, ruck and maul. It may make for some predictable cricket and feed resentment amongst rival fans and players, but we should really salute a system that is the cricket equivalent of the East German women's athletics teams of the 80s, but without the drugs and the broken lives. It is for the other cricketing nations to rise to the challenge and for us fans to acknowledge the scale of the Aussies' achievement.

[The Tooting Trumpet] [Image: Getty]

Performance of the Day: Farveez Maharoof

It may be that two weeks of hectically-paced international Twenty20 has skewed my cricket thinking but I found the match today less than enthralling and not just because of what used to be called "the invetitable" England collapse. I mustered no great keeness for the Sri Lanka innings either. It seemed to limp into life with remarkably (ie dull) safe batting and remarkably uninspired bowling. Though Ryan Sidebottom did fairly well and nice for Graeme Swann to take a wicket. Mahela Jayawardene came close to PotD, not just for his 50 off 61 balls but also for canny captaincy.

However, I have awarded the accolade to Farveez Maharoof for his four for 31 (Cook, Mustard, Bell and Pietersen all gonski) and for his 22 off 12 balls which helped set the stage for England's abject defeat.

Oh well, we reconvene on Thursday to see if England can bounce back. Hum.

[Image: Getty] [mimitig]

Performance of the Day - Michael Clarke

Whilst The Trumpet has had cause to highlight Andrew Symonds' somewhat supercilious view of Twenty20, perhaps the Aussie with most to carp about is Michael Clarke, who faced just four balls in the tournament and spent most of his fielding time in the shooting gallery at backward point. But, as befits a man being groomed for captaincy, he kept his own counsel waiting his chance to declare his hand by seizing the moment.

At 18-2, less than a week after all India had celebrated T20 cricket success, another wicket could have made India's momentum in the match (and maybe the series) unstoppable. Clarke ran his singles, found a partner in the equally T20 anonymous Haddin and rebuilt the Australian innings to yet another 300+ score, with his own innings curtailed by a last ball run out at a PotD winning 130.

This time last year, Michael Clarke's career was stalled after a golden start. Like so many Aussies, he used a cricketing crisis to improve as a player. He already reminds The Trumpet of Mark Waugh at the crease and in the field: it remains to be seen if he will remind me of Steve Waugh once Punter retires to the Track.

[The Tooting Trumpet] [Image: Getty]

Performance of the Day - Mohammad Yousuf

The Trumpet has an agnostic view about the ICL (Indian Cricket League) with its plans for non-ICC sanctioned matches: after all, it's hardly the case that cricket's ruling authorities are immaculate in their administration of the game. The Trumpet is old enough to remember the doom-mongers foretelling of the end of cricket when Kerry Packer's World Series Cricket lumbered into sight - but, from the vantage point of 2007, WSC appears one of the best things to have happened to the game.

But if there are to be reprisals against the ICL, The Trumpet doesn't mind a few ageing or fringe players being lost to Test Matches whilst compromises are hammered out, but he does quail at the prospect of the world's best players suspended from the highest form of the game. So the PotD goes to Mohammad Yousuf, who appears to have severed ties with the ICL sufficiently for him to represent Pakistan. Lest we forget, Yousuf is one of the world's greatest batsmen breaking King Viv's long-standing Test runs in a calendar year record with 1788 in 2006 and Test cricket cannot lose talents like that.

[The Tooting Trumpet] [Image:Getty]   

Twenty20 World Cup - The Team of the Tournament

At the end of an exhilarating fortnight of Twenty20 cricket that was everything the moribund ICC World Cup wasn't, The Googly picks its team of the tournament. Before you go over the jump, here's a little secret - no England players made the cut.

1. Matthew Hayden - Written off as a Test player only to return; written off as a Limited Overs player only to return. The man is a marvel and we should salute an All-Time Great in all forms of the game.

2. Chris Gayle - Will anyone ever again play an innings like the one that set the tone for the tournament?

3. Shoaib Malik (Captain) - Handled the Shoaib Akhtar crisis firmly, played beautifully and led his team to within five runs of the Title.

4. Justin Kemp - Defines the bullying South African style as much as his captain: but dominates bowlers, not team-mates.

5. Yuvraj Singh - All that potential at last being realised. Could be the springboard to greatness and the end of Ganguly.

6. MS Dhoni - Delivered every element of his brief. Silenced the doubters (including this one).

7. Misbah-ul-Haq - Who? Geoff Lawson knew who, and was bold enough to say so. Pakistan's Hussey.

8. Shahid Afridi - "Boom Boom" boomed more with the ball than with the bat, but if you were in the playground and playing T20, he'd be first pick.

9. Umar Gul - Most wickets in the fortnight at less than a run a ball, showing that T20 bowling is about discipline and imagination.

10. Stuart Clark - Hit the deck hard and bowled with (wait for it) McGrath-like accuracy.

11. RP Singh - At times swingingly unplayable, the young man bowled as his captain bats and was rewarded for it.

What do Googlyers think?

[The Tooting Trumpet] [Image: Getty]

County Championship Division One - Team of the Year

Chris Adams called it the greatest ever Championship, but it wasn't - it might have been the greatest ever finish, with the outcome in doubt until Dominic Cork lost his wicket and the chance to tell the story of How He Won The Title at thousands of after-dinner speaking engagements (so every cloud does indeed have that silver lining).

Notwithstanding the inexorable march of Twenty20 towards the promised land of global sporting riches, there was some excellent cricket played over the last five months in England fuelled, alas, primarily by overseas players and Kolpaks, to whom young English players should look for an example. Inevitably such players are well represented in the Trumpet's Team of the Year over the jump. 

1. Rob Key. Still only 28, he led his young Kent team well and formed an outstanding opening partnership with Joe Denly. With Tresco out of the picture and Strauss finding domestic cricket as difficult as the international game, England could do a lot worse than return to a man with a Test double-century to his name.

2. Michael Carberry. Have bat will travel opener who appears settled now at Hampshire under Warne's tutelage. Not yet 27, his package of reliable scoring and athletic fielding ought to be catching the selectors' eye, but I'm prepared to bet that he'll be ignored all winter.

3. Mark Ramprakash. Would he have the hunger after twenty years on the treadmill and a winter on the dance floor? 2026 runs at 101 answers that!

4. Chris Adams (Captain). Could he re-focus after his crazy few days at Yorkshire? He could. Ten seasons ago, his big money move South raised eyebrows - he was cheap at twice the price.

5. Murray Goodwin. Who scores more runs when most needed? And he has done it for years.

6. Nic Pothas. Probably the best combination on the circuit, but young Hodd at Sussex doesn't need to improve either discipline much to be the outstanding candidate for the gloves.

7. Robin Martin-Jenkins. The definition of the solid county pro. A slot that could have gone to Glen Chapple, who is probably a better player in all aspects of the game, but R M-J has three titles and Glen none.

8. Ottis Gibson. Player of the Year - 10 wickets in a innings, 80 at 21 in the season to go with over 500 runs.

9. Kabir Ali. A shining light in a nightmare season for Worcestershire. His figures don't tell the whole story of a man carrying an attack.

10. Naved-ul-Hasan. Consistency and penetration. Throw him the ball and you get 100% in return. The Trumpet wishes him a swift recovery from his late season injury.

11. Mustaq Ahmed. The best bowler in English cricket yet again.

What do Googlyers think?

[The Tooting Trumpet] [Image: Getty]

Performance of the Day - Mike Munday

Taunton is a batsmen's paradise, so it's a brave man who attempts to build a career there in cricket's most difficult of arts - leg spin. That is the road that lies before Mike Munday (right), a 22 year-old product of Cornwall and Oxford University. There will be plenty of days ahead when a rueful scratch at the chin and a philosophical look are the only sensible response to deal with the lot of the English wristie, but there will be days when it comes out just so and the notorious vulnerability of English batsmen to leg spin will deliver results.

Today was one of those days, as Munday added eight Nottinghamshire second innings wickets to his two in the first knock to win the match for the divisional champions and a PotD for himself. Match figures of 20 - 2 - 65 - 10 will have caught the eye of the England selectors, who may well be digging out Justin Langer's phone number to ask his opinion of the young man's suitability for a A Tour. Having stood at short leg to a wristie for a 100 or so Tests, Munday's captain knows about a bit about legspinners.

[The Tooting Trumpet] [Image: Getty]

Performance of the Day - Sussex batsmen

With the title on the line, Chris Adams will have reminded his team of how they have won the Championship twice in the last five years - tough cricket and team contributions. Having won the toss at Hove yesterday, he will have told his batters to get 500 to set up Mushy for yet another hurrah. 130 overs later, six of his batsmen delivered 50 or more (with the admirable Robin Martin-Jenkins top-scoring with 99) to drive Sussex to 532 and the PotD.

At The Oval, Lancashire conceded a first innings lead of nearly 200 to Surrey. Knowing how to win really counts in this game of ours.

[The Tooting Trumpet] [Image: Getty]

Performance of the Day - Mark Ramprakash

Today's last round of County Championship matches started on the first Autumn day with a real snap of winter in its still, thick South London air. It's all a long way from mid-April, when Mark Ramprakash launched his first post-Strictly Come Dancing season with a century to show that celebrity status had not slaked his thirst for runs. Today, as Ramps closes that season, he again walked from the crease with a century under his belt and power to add tomorrow. His season average stands at a Bradmanesque 98.94 and the Trumpet is proud to salute his professionalism and work ethic.

Brief postscript - Surrey lost that first match (to Yorkshire): us Lanky fans must hope for the same result.

[The Tooting Trumpet] [Image: Getty]

ICC World Twenty20 - Hero of the day: Brett Lee

Australia's Brett Lee has to be today's Hero for taking the first hat trick of the tournament (which makes that the first ever international Twenty20 hat trick). His victims were Shahib Al Asan, Mashrafe Mortaza and Alok Kapali as the Aussies never even had to get out of first gear to cruise to a nine wicket win in 13.5 overs. They were cold, controlled and clinical in their performance, and it seems a long time ago that Ricky Ponting described his boys' performance as diabolical when they were crushed by Zimbabwe. A week may be a short time in politics - a couple of days is a short time in a tournament progressing with the speed of this inaugural international Twenty20.

The reason you do not see Brett Lee's picture here is that there are times when results in sport simply cease to matter. The Googly (although dedicated to cricket coverage) does not exist in a bubble.

Today we choose to pay tribute to a true hero and legend - Colin McRrae - whose death was confirmed in the early hours this morning. Former World Rally Champion, and a man who has fans way beyond his sphere of motorsport.

He will be sadly missed, and condolences go to his family - his wife Alison, father Jimmy, brother Alister and all close friends.

[Image: Getty] [mimitig]

Performance of the Day - Australia A

Hard though it is to lift one's eyes from the multi-match days of the crash bang wallop World Twenty20 extravaganza, there is cricket elsewhere in the world. England's venerable County Championship is set for a thrilling climax (more on that from the The Trumpet later in the week) and Australia A are touring Pakistan for a two match "Test" series. With most of England's players the right side of 30 and most of Australia's the wrong side, I have eyed the Ashes 2009 showdown with some optimism, as yet only slightly diminished by our friends in The Shed with their reports of the next generation of Baggy Greens. Shaun Tait's inability to play for long is a problem for him and is disappointing for cricket followers everywhere, but I can't help having a little spring in my step when I wonder if he'll ever toe-crush KP and co.

So how are Australia A doing in Pakistan, one of the hardest tours on the international circuit? Against a strong Pakistan A team boasting 70 Test caps between them, seamers Bollinger, Noffke (both well known over here) and Hopes (right) were supported by spinners Cullen and White in dismissing Pakistan for under 200. The familiar Aussie juggernaut was then set in motion as Jaques and Rogers did the Hayden and Langer thing, David Hussey the Ponting thing and Hopes the Waugh thing. Captain Voges, possibly a little miffed to be the only bat not to cash in called a halt at six hundred and plenty and let loose the spin of Cullen and MacGill, who strangled the Pakistan response to assure victory by and innings and 203 runs.

Better get those 2005 Ashes DVDs out again - just to make sure that it wasn't all a dream.

[The Tooting Trumpet] [Image: Getty]