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A round-up of the action from the final day of the Emerging Players Tournament

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Aug-2011A battling century from captain Ryan Carters helped Australian Institute of Sport force a draw against India Emerging Players at Endeavour Park No.2 in Townsville. However, India finished on top in the points table, thereby capping a successful series for them – they were also victorious in the Twenty20 tournament that preceded the three-day games.Australia ended the second day at 93 for 2, still 236 runs adrift of India. Carters, who was unbeaten overnight on 56, continued to look solid. He and Glenn Maxwell had added 65 before stumps on day two, and they carried on the good work on the final day, adding a further 55 before Maxwell was dismissed for 73. Any hopes that India might have had of causing a collapse were dented as Tim Armstrong joined his captain and the duo put on 87 for the fourth wicket. Carters was finally dismissed for 115, but Armstrong (75) featured in handy partnerships for the fifth and sixth wickets to deny India a win, as Australia ended the day on 328 for 7.Reeza Hendricks completed his double-century and Richard Levi reached a century but South Africa Emerging Players were not left with enough time to bowl New Zealand A out at Endeavour Park in Townsville. South Africa’s only hope of notching up their first win of the three-day leg of the tournament was to score quickly on the final day and then hope for a New Zealand collapse. But Hendricks and Levi took their time, and South Africa used up 54.2 overs in the day to get 177 runs, which put them 169 runs ahead. New Zealand lost two wickets in the 34 overs they had to bat.Hendricks’ 218 was his second double-century of the tournament and his 566-run aggregate earned him the Batsman-of-the-Tournament as well as the Player-of the-Tournament awards. India’s Iqbal Abdulla was named Bowler of the Tournament for his nine wickets.

The PCB committee tasked with finding the new Pakistan head coach has shortlisted five names for the position out of a list of thirty-four applicants

Umar Farooq29-Sep-2011The PCB committee tasked with finding the new Pakistan head coach has shortlisted five names for the position out of a list of thirty-seven applicants. Twelve foreign and 25 local coaches had applied for the job.The three-man committee appointed to select Waqar Younis’ successor, comprising ex-Pakistan players Zaheer Abbas, Intikhab Alam and Naushad Ali, met for the second time in Karachi to sort the list of the candidates for the role. Earlier this month the board had advertised for the job of Pakistan coach, setting a deadline of 15 days for those wishing to apply.”I can’t disclose the names but the response was encouraging,” Alam, the committee head, told the media after an extensive two hour meeting. “It was comprehensive meeting where we actually shortlisted five candidates out of the nine foreign and 25 local who sent their CV for the role.”The committee will now hand the list back to the PCB before calling the candidates for interviews. “I can’t reveal the name of the shortlisted candidates as our actual task is to make a recommendation [about the head coach] to the PCB and its PCB’s prerogative to take a final decision,” Alam said.The committee was appointed on August 29 following Younis’ announcement that he would quit after the tour of Zimbabwe for personal and health reasons. There have been divided opinions on whether Pakistan should go with a local or foreign coach, with Abbas and Raja favouring the former while Alam said a foreign coach was something Pakistan should consider, though the most qualified person should get the job.
“In my own opinion, if anyone in the country is highly qualified, then he should be given a chance. But without revealing more details on the candidates, I only can confirm that the list includes both foreign and local coaches and after getting the nod from the PCB we will go on to interview the coaches.”Alam also suggested Pakistan might have to appoint an interim coach for their ‘home’ series against Sri Lanka in the UAE (Pakistan are scheduled to leave for the UAE on October 15). “I know the time is bit short but it’s up the PCB. Either they want to go with the interim coach for the Sri Lanka series as our only task is to make a recommendation about the new coach as PCB has the ultimate prerogative to name the coach.”

Australian Shane Jurgensen has been appointed Bangladesh’s bowling coach of the Bangladesh national team

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Oct-2011Australian Shane Jurgensen has been appointed Bangladesh’s bowling coach of the Bangladesh national team. Jurgensen, 35, has agreed to a contract which would keep him with the Bangladesh team until June 2013, and is expected to arrive in Dhaka on Sunday.”Jurgensen is a vastly experienced bowling specialist,” said BCB Chief Executive Manzur Ahmed. “He has also had an accomplished cricket career and his input would be extremely important for our cricketers.”Jurgensen was New Zealand’s bowling coach between 2008 and 2010 and had also recently been a coach on New Zealand Cricket’s high performance programme. He has coached for nearly 15 years at a number of different levels since his first trip to the United Kingdom with Horsham Cricket Club at the age of 21.Something of a journeyman cricketer during his playing days in Australian state cricket, Jurgensen played for Western Australia and Tasmania before winning a place at his home state Queensland.While playing for Tasmania, he was the first cricketer in history to take 10 wickets or more in a Sheffield Shield Final in March 2002, and was also the first to take a first-class hat-trick at the Bellerive Oval.

A round-up of the action from the fourth day of the third round of matches from the Ranji Trophy Elite 2011-12

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Nov-2011

Group A

A hat-trick from Siddharth Trivedi helped Saurashtra complete an innings and 144-run win over Punjab at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium. This was the only outright win in the third round of the Ranji Trophy Elite matches and pushes Saurashtra to fourth on the Group A points table.Trivedi, who is in his first season with Saurashtra after transferring from Gujarat, picked up the wickets of Karan Goel, Harbhajan Singh and Manpreet Gony in his eight over. This was the third hat-trick by a Saurashtra bowler, the other two being D Narottam and S Nyalchand, both of whom claimed hat-tricks against Boroda. Trivedi is also the second bowler to take a hat-trick against Punjab, behind Delhi’s Bishan Singh Bedi, who claimed his in 1968-69.Punjab had resumed on 44 for 4, with Uday Kaul and Mandeep Singh batting. Opening bowler Sandip Maniar had Mandeep caught in the first over, following which Karan Goel, who had retired hurt the previous evening, returned. He did not last long though, trapped lbw by Trivedi for 10. Harbhajan and Gony were caught off the next two deliveries as Punjab slipped to 78 for 9, still trailing by 186. A 42-run last-wicket stand between Amitoze Singh and Brainder Sran only delayed the inevitable. Punjab were eventually bowled out for 120, without managing to bat out 24 overs on the final day.Mahesh Rawat recorded his highest first-class score, 145, to help Railways secure an unlikely first-innings’s lead against Rajasthan at the Karnail Singh Stadium in Delhi. Rawat was backed up by Yere Goud, Marripuri Suresh, Sanjay Bangar and Shivakant Shukla, as Railways piled up an impressive 525 for 8 in reply to Rajasthan’s 521, before declaring. Their bowlers then knocked over four of Rajasthan’s top order cheaply, to finish the game with the upper hand.Railways had begun the final day on 274 for 4, with Rawat and Goud at the crease. The pair went on to add 153 runs before Goud edged Sumit Mathur behind on 70. Rawat found another reliable partner in Suresh, and they added 90 for the sixth wicket before Rawat finally fell, one of legspinner Vivek Yadav’s six victims. Once Bangar declared, offspinner Arlen Konwar and medium pacer Anureet Singh reduced Rajasthan to 20 for 4, and play was ended soon after.An unbeaten double-century from Parvinder Singh and Arish Alam’s 118 not out gave Uttar Pradesh the first-innings lead against Orissa at the Veer Surendra Sai Stadium in Sambalpur. UP had started the day on 287 for 3 facing Orissa’s 482, and moved to 590 for 4 by the end of the day thanks to Parvinder and Alam’s 267-run unbeaten partnership. Parvinder took his score from 39 not out overnight to 202 not out off 331 balls, his highest first-class score. Alam was playing just his fourth first-class match and got his maiden century.Karnataka declined the opportunity to enforce the follow-on against Mumbai at the Brabourne Stadium and instead settled for the three points and opted for batting practice. Mumbai were bowled out for 441 after being 354 for 8 overnight and Karnataka then reached 147 for 3. Read the full report here.

Group B

Baroda hung on for a draw at the Moti Bagh Stadium keeping Haryana‘s return to three points. Baroda were faced with a target of 372 in just under a day. They played for the draw and reached 228 for 7 in 85 overs, earning a point. Haryana lost their last three wickets in just 2.4 overs on the fourth morning and managed to add eight runs to their total. Irfan Pathan took three wickets to complete his second five-wicket haul of the season.Irfan then opened the batting but was dismissed in the third over. Baroda were struggling at 31 for 2 but Ambati Rayudu dug his heels in and played a match-saving knock of 83 not out off 222 balls. Amit Mishra, who had taken four wickets in the first innings, took three this time around but Baroda’s middle and lower-middle order spent enough time at the crease to support Rayudu. The point keeps Baroda top of the table in Group B.Fog and then bad light prevented Tamil Nadu from pushing for an outright win against Delhi at the Feroz Shah Kotla, and they had to settle for three points. Delhi started the day 139 runs ahead with five wickets in hand. Fog delayed the start on the fourth morning and when play started Tamil Nadu took 23.4 overs to take the last five wickets. There was resistance from Puneet Bisht, who scored 53, but L Balaji took three quick wickets to finish with four in the innings and leave Tamil Nadu with 218 to chase.They scored at a fair rate of 3.68 runs an over in the chase but the light faded, denying them an opportunity to go for the target. Dinesh Karthik managed a half-century, his second of the season.A strong performance from Madhya Pradesh‘s lower order earned them three points for a first-innings lead against Bengal at the Jadavpur University Complex in Kolkata. MP started the day on 344 for 3 and were relying on Mohnish Mishra, who was on 130 not out overnight, to take them past Bengal’s 496. Mohnish was dismissed in the fourth over of the fourth morning but Nos. 5 to 10 all got more than 20 to give MP the lead.Bengal were kept in the hunt by seamer Shami Ahmed, who completed his maiden five-wicket haul in first-class cricket. When he dismissed Ankit Sharma for 31, MP were 477 for 8 and Bengal would have hoped to get the last two wickets quickly. But No. 10 Anand Rajan scored 21 and MP reached 533. Bengal had 20 overs to bat; Sourav Ganguly used the opportunity to open and raced to 42 off 28 balls before being dismissed. Parthasarathi Bhattacharjee remained unbeaten on 51.

Luke Sutton, the Derbyshire captain, has retired from first-class cricket after seeking treatment for depression and anxiety.

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Dec-2011Luke Sutton, the Derbyshire captain, has retired from first-class cricket after revealing that he has been having treatment for depression and anxiety.Sutton captained Derbyshire for three of his six years with the club and guided them from the bottom of Division Two of the County Championship in 2010 to fifth place last season.”I have been aware for some time that I have problems with certain aspects of my mental health,” said Sutton. “I have always pushed myself to the limit but I reached a point that it was having an adverse effect on my relationships with my family and colleagues, and my health in general.”Although as a professional sportsman it is extremely embarrassing to admit to a weakness, I’m proud to have found the strength of character to seek treatment, enabling me now to feel extremely positive about my future.”Sutton, 35, also has business interests and got married in 2008. He now has a young family. “A number of other important reasons have led me to decide to retire,” he said. “In addition to concerns about my own health, my two-year-old daughter has recently been diagnosed with diabetes and the growing success and, therefore, pressure of my business has forced me to take a long look at my future.”I’ve recently undergone hand surgery which has also played its part in this decision. Upon reflection, and although a difficult decision, it is the right time to move on.”Having started his career at Somerset in 1997, Sutton played for Derbyshire from 1999 to 2005, unexpectedly becoming captain in 2004. He left for Lancashire in 2006 before returning to captain Derbyshire again last season.”I’ve had a brilliant time over my 14 years in the game,” said Sutton, who scored 7,353 first-class runs. “I have made some incredible friends. I thank each and every one of them for making it a genuinely amazing experience. In particular I’d like to thank the squad and members at Derbyshire for their great support and encouragement during my time at the club.”I have thought long and hard about this decision, and I know it is for the best of the club. I genuinely don’t feel I would be able to fulfil my position at the club to the level that I know is required. I have great affection for Derbyshire and I wish the club every success for the future.”Sutton is one a number of cricketers that have sought help for depression. Former England batsman Marcus Trescothick retired from international cricket in 2006 having experienced problems when touring abroad. Michael Yardy, the Sussex captain, took a break from cricket having flown home during the World Cup in March.Derbyshire chairman Chris Grant thanked Sutton for his efforts with the club. “Luke’s retirement was unexpected but we respect his decision. With the changes that were made at the club during the 2011 season, we appreciate it was a testing year for Luke and on a personal level I would like to thank him for his loyal support.”I speak for everybody connected with the club in saying that I wish Luke all the very best in his continued recovery and in his future endeavours,” he added. “We will be announcing Luke’s successor as club captain in the next few days and preparations for the 2012 season continue as planned.”

A round-up of the fourth day’s play of the seventh round of matches of the Ranji Trophy Elite, 2011-12

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Dec-2011Group BA sustained bowling effort from Haryana carried them into the Ranji Trophy quarter-finals as they beat Gujarat by 140 runs in Surat. The result also condemned Gujarat to the Plate League next season, as they finished bottom of the group.With Baroda falling to Bengal, Haryana needed an outright win to go through while Gujarat needed a win to stay in the Elite League. Ashish Hooda gave Haryana the perfect start by having Jaisal Karia caught behind for 19 in the second over the day. Harshal Patel and Sachin Rana then picked up an early wicket apiece to leave Gujarat reeling at 49 for 4. Bhargav Merai and India wicketkeeper-batsman Parthiv Patel knuckled down to take Gujarat past 100 but India legspinner Amit Mishra trapped Parthiv leg-before to end the 55-run partnership.Haryana were now into the lower order and they were not about to throw away their opportunity,. Pratharesh Parmar was dismissed by offspinner Jayant Yadav for 4 and Manprit Juneja was bowled by Mishra for 1. When Merai, who had battled to 47, was caught off Mishra, the writing was on the wall. The ninth-wicket pair of Ashraf Makda and Mehul Patel frustrated the bowlers for 8.3 overs and 21 runs, but Yadav cued the celebrations by snaffling Makda (16) and last man Ishwar Chaudhary in the same over. He finished with 3 for 37, while Mishra took 3 for 25.Bengal narrowly missed out on a spot in the quarter-finals despite beating Baroda by nine wickets at the Moti Bagh Stadium in Vadodara. A ten-wicket win would have seen them match Haryana’s total of 14 points and they would have gone through on the basis of a better quotient. But they lost Arindam Das chasing a mere 36 for victory and his dismissal meant Haryana would move on to play in the quarter-finals.The loss marked the end of what had been a promising campaign for last year’s beaten finalists, Baroda, who needed only a point to progress. Unfortunately, their batsmen failed to show up when it mattered most, with five zeros and a 2 littering their scorecard. Rakesh Solanki was the only batsman to offer any resistance, and once he was out for 59 in the first over of the day, Baroda quickly capitulated, losing their next four wickets for 32 runs. Dinda, who had taken three wickets on the previous day, took another two to finish with 5 for 66 while Sourav Sarkar took 4 for 32.Needing just 36 for their first win of the season, and to avoid losing wickets to make the knock-outs, Bengal managed the first, but not the second.Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh, both of whom have qualified for the next round, played out a draw in Chennai. Amarjeet took four wickets as the hosts tumbled for 208 in the second innings, with Yo Mahesh top scoring with 58 while Malolan Rangarajan made 48. MP did manage to reduce Tamil Nadu to 61 for 4, but since they conceded a 179-run lead, it meant Tamil Nadu were never in any danger.”We didn’t take advantage of the seamer-friendly conditions after winning the toss on the first day,” Madhya Pradesh coach Mukesh Sahni said. “We could have batted and fielded better. Our approach was a little defensive too. “There is now time for us to rectify those mistakes in time for the knockout stage.”

Alastair Cook admitted England’s batsmen hadn’t started their tour as they’d hoped but wasn’t overly concerned despite an unconvincing display against an ICC Combined XI in Dubai

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Jan-2012Alastair Cook admitted England’s batsmen hadn’t started their time in UAE as they’d hoped but wasn’t overly concerned despite an unconvincing display against an ICC Combined XI in Dubai. Cook top-scored with 76 but no one else reached 20 as England struggled to 185 for 8 before Andrew Strauss declared.For Cook it was his first competitive innings since the one-day series against India in October but for some of his team-mates, notably Strauss and Eoin Morgan, it has been much longer. Strauss last played in mid-September while Morgan suffered a shoulder injury at the start of the home one-day series against India.”It wasn’t ideal,” Cook said. “I think we have to put that down to a little bit of rustiness. But credit to the opposition, especially Boyd [Rankin]. I thought he bowled very, very well. I think when you haven’t batted outside for probably four months, with whites and a red ball, it does take a while to get into that rhythm. But it’s not the end of the world.”However, Cook suggested that even if the top order had fired during the first two sessions, a declaration would have still been part of England’s plan to keep the game open.”I think, if we’d batted better, we still would have pulled out to set up a game. One of [coach] Andy Flower’s big things is to try and win these preparation games to make them competitive for us,” he said. “They do lack that intensity of Test cricket, of course. But we try to get as much competitive cricket into us as possible, so that when we come to the first morning of that Test match we’re ready for it.”It has been a busy time of late for Cook who, while now concentrating on opening the batting for England, got married on New Year’s Eve and joined the tour 36 hours later than his team-mates after being granted brief leave by the ECB.”It was an amazing day – a bit too short with the celebrations afterwards,” he said. “Thirty-six hours can’t really be allowed to constitute a honeymoon. I hope at some stage in the next 12 months we’ll get to go away. But it was very kind of the ECB to give me that time.”Meanwhile Boyd Rankin, who removed Kevin Pietersen and Ian Bell during the afternoon session, knows that such performances can’t do him any harm with a view to furthering his England ambitions. After this match he will join the Lions squad in Bangladesh and has gained good reviews on the county circuit for Warwickshire.”Hopefully I’ve done myself a few favours and shown what I can do,” he said. “It is a pretty flat pitch and I’m actually surprised how many wickets have fallen. We had plans against all the batsmen and we did well to put them under pressure. Hopefully we can get a few more runs in the morning and then we’ll be confident of bowling them out.”

A round-up of the latest round of matches of the Vijay Hazare Trophy

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Feb-2012West ZoneMumbai‘s last two wickets managed to scramble 22 off 12 balls to set up a one-wicket win against Saurashtra with two balls remaining at the Wankhede Stadium. When Mumbai lost their top-scorer Shoaib Shaikh for 83, Saurashtra were in with a chance to bowl out the hosts, but No. 9 Iqbal Abdulla (29 off 31) and No. 10 Dhawal Kulkarni (15 off 7 with one four and one six) put on 21 runs to reverse the balance. Sandip Maniar (3 for 34) struck in the final over, which meant Mumbai had their last man Kshemal Waingankar facing with one run win. Waingankar held his nerve and took a single to give Mumbai their third win in as many games.It was heartbreak for Saurashtra who recovered from a middle-order implosion that had left them tottering at 116 for 6 in the 28th over. Waingankar was the wrecker-in-chief, with 3 for 21 in ten overs, laying to waste a rousing start set up by Sagar Jogiyani’s breezy 67 off 53 balls. Cheteshwar Pujara’s poor run of form continued as he perished for 5 off 25 balls. Thereafter, Chirag Jani (79* off 71) and Kamlesh Makvana (54* off 67) revived the innings with an unbroken 135-run stand that came at run-a-ball. Mumbai’s chase too went off the rails early, before Anup Revandkar and Shaikh helped them recover from 41 for 4 and later 114 for 5. The steady loss of wickets set up an exciting finish, and it was fitting that Waingankar scored the winning run after doing the damage with the ball.Gujarat managed to defend their score of 196 for 9 by two runs against Baroda in another nail-biting game, at the Bandra Kurla Complex in Mumbai. Though no one from either side managed to grab a clutch of wickets, the game was dominated by bowlers from the outset. Gujarat’s innings never took off, with Niraj Patel’s 56 off 77 balls offering the only semblance of stability as wickets fell around him. Things look dicey at 133 for 8 in the 36th over, but Mehul Patel (29) and Amit Singh (21) helped their side limp to within four runs of 200 with a 53-run stand. In reply, Baroda’s top four all got starts, but none of them managed to push on and make a big score. Baroda strolled to 108 for 2 before their chase went pear-shaped. Four wickets went down for 24 runs in the middle overs, before Rakesh Solanki’s 52 steadied the ship. Gagandeep Singh and Swapnil Singh took Baroda closer with a 20-run stand. Baroda were favourites with five to win off 17 balls and three wickets in hand, but a run out and two strikes by Akshar Patel gave Gujarat their first win.

De Villiers’ started off at almost a run-a-ball, approached the New Zealand bowlers with the most positive of mindsets and kept attacking them, but later revealed that he actually felt tentative and anxious throughout his innings

Firdose Moonda in Hamilton16-Mar-2012If ever a score was misleading in the way it was obtained, it was AB de Villiers’ 83. De Villiers’ started off at almost a run-a-ball, approached the New Zealand bowlers with the most positive of mindsets and kept attacking them, but later revealed that he actually felt tentative and anxious throughout his innings.”I felt under pressure the whole time. I felt I could get out at any time,” de Villiers said at the end of day two. “There’s something there [for the bowlers] and if you get a bit loose out there you’re going to lose your wicket. That’s what I felt the whole time. I never really felt in. I think that sums it up really nicely. You’re just never in. You can’t let go of your concentration for one minute.”De Villiers occupied the crease from mid-morning to late in the South Africa innings. He was a spectator to the collapse, which resulted in them teetering on 88 for 6, and was the architect of the recovery, ushering the tail past New Zealand’s total. None of that sounds particularly easy and de Villiers confirmed that it wasn’t. “They bowled extremely well, especially Mark Gillespie, they just never let go,” he said. “The ball was moving around nicely. Obviously, they looked after the ball well, it was swinging both ways.”Although day two was talked up as a batting day, with clear skies and fairly warm sunshine, de Villiers said there was enough in the surface and the air to assist the bowlers. “There’s a bit more swing with the sun out, when it gets a bit warmer,” he said. “It’s weird because you say you want overcast conditions [for swing]. But it probably moves around a bit more off the seam when it’s overcast and it swings a bit more when it’s warmer.”He lauded the New Zealand pitches for being “really good Test wickets” and ensuring that they are “no boring sessions”, but was visibly upset with the part South Africa’s line-up played in maintaining the excitement. While a middle-order collapse has become an all too familiar thing this summer, de Villiers said it had a lot to do with incisive bowling. “You can never ever take it away from the bowling,” he said. “I won’t say that the top six have failed because it’s just poor batting … that will be very unfair towards the bowlers.”When the same thing happened in Dunedin and South Africa were bowled out for under 250, Graeme Smith revealed that a stern talking to from Gary Kirsten had put the pieces back together for their second innings. While de Villiers did not say whether the same thing had happened here, he said the same mistakes that had been made at University Oval were committed by the line-up at Seddon Park. “We were very disappointed with the way we played,” he said. “I’m not going to sit here and say I am very proud of that knock. I thought we did well [in the end] but all in all, we’re very disappointed with the way we played out there.”Neither team has shone with the bat so far, which makes identifying a target that will be relatively simple to chase close to impossible for de Villiers. “I can’t tell you what’s going to be a good total to chase down here, I don’t think any of us are sure at the moment,” he said. But, with New Zealand not even in the lead yet and four of their best batsmen back in the change-room, South Africa will feel in control. “We’d like to get a couple of early wickets tomorrow, to make things a bit easier for us,” de Villiers said.

Australia’s cricketers are satisfied with the new performance-based components of their forthcoming pay deal, Michael Hussey has said

Daniel Brettig07-Apr-2012Australia’s cricketers are satisfied with the new performance-based components of their forthcoming pay deal and expect the MOU to be signed by Cricket Australia and the players’ union within the next two weeks, Michael Hussey has said.While Paul Marsh, the chief executive of the Australian Cricketers’ Association and the players’ chief negotiator, was more guarded in his assessment of talks, Hussey indicated confidence that the potentially tricky bargaining between the players and CA, represented by the team performance manager Pat Howard, would soon be at an end.”I think they’ve agreed on most things, they’re just trying to nut out a couple of issues that are left. I believe by the middle of this month they’re expecting everything to be negotiated and completed and the MOU finished,” Hussey said. “I spoke to Pat Howard during the practice game and he said he and Paul Marsh were really happy with how negotiations were going on both sides.”Ever since the publication of the Argus review into the performance of the national side, the players’ major concern about its findings has surrounded the addition of greater performance weighting to the central contract system. The review was critical of the landscape created by the current system, suggesting Australian cricket had lapsed into a “county cricket mentality” where simply doing enough to earn another annual retainer was enough.”The panel has real concerns, shared by many stakeholders, that the MOU is not fully aligned with the current needs of Australian Cricket,” the review said. “In particular it rewards relative performance among CA-contracted players, but not absolute performance of the team and its players against international peers.The result is that today’s players are being paid substantially more in real terms than their counterparts in the dominant teams of recent times, despite far inferior results. A number of stakeholders have suggested that this is negatively affecting the culture of Australian Cricket, in that players can make a very comfortable living without necessarily achieving excellence.”Both parties quickly agreed that the number of CA contracts should be reduced, and will likely be pared down from 25 to 18. However the issue of performance-based contracts took time to be smoothed over, leaving Marsh and Howard to discuss the matter in great detail after the players responded coolly to CA’s first offer, explained to a general meeting of the team on the day of the Allan Border Medal towards the end of the home summer.”From what I hear I think both sides are going to get what they want out of it,” Hussey said. “I know through the Argus review there was a strong performance-based component of that. How much was I think what the discussion was about. Players are open to the performance-based part of the ACR. That’s fine, it’s just about how much.”That’s where the negotiation was from that particular point. I believe that they’re pretty much there on that particular point. There’s a couple of other issues that are taking more discussion than that particular one. I think the players are comfortable with the way things are going.”Marsh said his talks with Howard had reached a key point, with a meeting to follow later this month at which the MOU had the potential to be resolved. “We have an important meeting in the week after next,” Marsh told ESPNcricinfo. “We have made some good progress but there are still some key issues to resolve. At this stage we can’t predict when or if the issues will be resolved but we believe negotiations are heading in a positive direction.”In February, the CA chief executive James Sutherland pointed out that Australia’s players would have been paid the same amount if they had lost 4-0 at home to India, rather than winning by the same margin as they did. “No one likes change but we’re really confident we’ve got a proposition that’s in the interests of the Australian players and the players who do the work and win the games,” he said. “Players get paid the same amount if we win four-nil against India or we lose four-nil. Does that make sense to all of us?”