Deepak, perhaps another instance of pig-headed arrogance by the BCCI? After all, India are on a high at the moment, and NZ could be seen as being as weak as they have been for 15 years.
I think India will come good as the tour progresses.
As I speak, Australia are 7-386. Marcus North is 108* in his 1st Test. Gee, I'm sure that someone who looks a lot like me was tipping him to be a Test star 5 years ago!

It is not arrogance, it is greed for money! The BCCI felt that 2 T-20 matches and an extra ODI would get more money than a practice match or two. This is the classic case of killing the goose that lays the golden eggs.

And Mitchell Johnson 96 not out!Australian selectors still looking for an allrounder!

re; New Zealand - whilst they may struggle in tests, never underrate their current line up in the One day game - 50 overs or 20 overs. In Vettori, they have (arguably - how I wish there were some Sri Lankans on this forum !) the most effective one day slow bowler in the world at the moment. They have more genuine allrounders than most sides, and they have quite a few - McCullum, Taylor, Oram, Ryder, Styris for example - destructive batsmen who can all win a game by themselves. They may not consistently be the top of the tree - but they are no walkover in the one day game.

Mitchell Johnson - England were talking about batting Broad at 6, possibly, in the current test. OK, he batted 8 in the end for numerous reasons - but he is a genuine 6 contender for the coming Ashes series (especially if Freddie doesn't make it). But who would you choose from Johnson or Broad as a batsman or a bowler ? Happy to discuss this, but for me, Johnson would win hands down on both debates, 10 times out of ten. And he's batting at 9? The guy is beginning to prove that he's a world class all rounder - he'd get in most sides around the world at the moment as a 6 or 7 batsman, even if he couldn't lift his left arm above his shoulder with a ball in it.

I guess they'd both be handy. Broad averages around 27 in 13 Tests, which is #7 material, while Johnson averages 31 in his 19th (gotta love those not outs!).
I think they both need a bit of work to get up into the top 6, notwithstanding the fact that, traditionally, the #6 batsman used to be the 6th best bat in the country.
I can see Johnson slowly rising up the order (well, quickly actually, because McDonald won't play the next Test, so he'll be up to 8.) From what I've see of Broad, I'd say that Johnson is technically better, but it'll be good to see them go head to head in the Ashes series.

When Flintoff is back in the side then the whole all-rounder discussion of Broad will be off. While Flintoff isn't around he's out of the shadow and treated like the all-rounder he (oh so very nearly) is. Johnson is ahead batting wise but I'd think it was a toss up in the bowling.

Poor old English side - declare for 600 and the Windies come in and get 749 with a brilliant 291 to Sarwan. The test can't be anything but a draw. I wonder how long it would have gone on had there been no limit on the days.

SA/AU match a bit closer - SA need 276 and Australia need 8 wickets. Ever since that ODI when Australia broke the record then SA came in a beat it I never consider a game over til it's over. Australia made a bit of a balls up in the second innings, the mini collapse didn't help their cause none. Although considering afer the first session on teh first day I had nearly written them off they did come back really well. LOL

Have decided I don't like Peter Siddle. Although it doesn't take much.

He'd be the only one ...

The shocking news from Pakistan is that terrorists attacked the Sri Lankan cricket team. The match of course has been cancelled. There are unconfirmed reports that 4 Sri Lankan cricketers have been injured in the attack. I hope that these are only rumours and all the players are fine.

This incident will definitely have an impact on tours to Pakistan. Not many teams will come to Pakistan henceforth. The World Cup which is scheduled to be held in the subcontinent is going to be affected.

Edited to add : News reports say that Sangakkara, Mendis, Tharanga, Samaraweera and Mahela Jayawardene are injured, I sincerely hope that all of them are fine and there are no serious injuries!

Bloody hell!

off to find a report.

SMH site

SO far it doesn't appear to be major injuries and for the amount of amunition it was reported that the terrorists had {"Up to 12 masked gunmen were involved in the attack, and carried rifles, rocket launchers and hand grenades, it said"} we can be thankful that they are crap at their jobs.

The impliactions are huge, of course, but in particular for Pakistani cricket. Will be a hard job to get anyone there now.

Pretty sad day for cricket though....so far no cricketers were ever directly attacked...the implications for Pakistan will be HUGE now and I am just wondering if teams will be a bit hesitant to come to India too because of this....

cricinfo blog on the whole news: http://blogs.cricinfo.com/breakingnews/archives/lahore_terror_a/

Srini, my mail is that India will be ok. In fact, I would not be surprised to see India retaliate in some way, purley because they may be tainted by association. Sri Lanka and India have had their differences over the years, but when it came to cricket administration, there was always the sub-continental bloc of India, Pakistan, SL and Bangladesh which supported each other. Now, Pakistan (or at least a few lunatics from Pakistan) have broken that bloc, and really, they've sounded the death knell for international cricket in Pakistan. I predict that no team will tour there now for at least 10 years, so don't be surprised to see many more of the current team to sign up for either ICL, IPL, or play overseas, such as Younis Khan did for South Australia this season.
I can also see a toll being taken on the Sri Lankan team. Seeing their teammates gunned down is very likely to make the other guys in the team rethink whether they really want to continue at the elite level if this can happen to you.
I don;t want to get all political here, but nothing like this happened, or was even thought of, until extremists saw the possibilities on 11/9/01. Since then, it's Rafferty's rules....

What India will have to do now is go overboard with security and pretty much guarantee the safety of players and fans. I don't think anyone will 'associate' India with Pakistan and maybe there will be some hesitation for a while (although it will be interesting to see how much hestitation there is when it comes to the IPL and the money of it) but overall I think that India as a cricket destination will survive.

Regards to the world cup - maybe all the games will be inIndai? Or the majority and the odd one goes to Sri Lanka and Bangladesh? I dunno, but I'd hate to see India lose it altogether.

As always Dagleish gets it right. That'll be it for touring in Pakistan for years. When you consider the belief, true or otherwise, that these terrorists are links with Pakistani security forces, how can any side feel safe.
Pakistani cricketers will be the new South Africans taking there talents to other countries to make a buck.
Recently I went looking for a Rajistan Royals shirt for my nephew in Jaipur and after finally finding the stadium, I couldn't get within four hundred metres of it due to the armed guards (granted they were a little on the decrepit side) and it wasnt even a match day. Hate to think what security will be like when the Cup wheels around. Decoy buses?

It's just so sad. Cricket is going through enough dramatic changes and associated trauma due to its own doing at the moment.

What a shame that this should happen - one of the few bridges between Islam and the rest of the world was cricket, and in that, there was some hope. Now attitudes will become entrenched on all sides, and cricket will become even less of a sport, and even more of a political football.

Sad, sad day for cricket, and an equally sad day for the world. Sometimes, I really do despair at the damage mankind does to itself.

I'm actually still a little non-plussed by the events. It was only two weeks ago that I was umpiring a match with Simon Taufel, and not much more than a week after that, he's caught in the middle of a terrorist attack.
It might sound a little dramatic, but sometimes some things happen a little too close to home for one's liking.

Sorry to hear that, Mark. I missed at the beginning of the reoprts just how close the umpires had been to it all. Incredible just how lucky there aren't more deaths in this.

Chris Broad has made some pretty damning allegations as to why the Pakistani bus wasn't there. Maybe a bit of shock still for him? Or some truth to the matter? Either way I'm surprised he hasn't been told to keep quiet.

Both Chris Broad and Taufel have spoken out and lashed out at the security arrangements. Unfortunately, the PCB has chosen to hit back at Broad. And poor Younis Khan has made a frantic plea to save Pakistan cricket. But it is unlikely that anyone will tour Pakistan in the near future.

And in India, the IPL seems destined to be cancelled. The Government has asked the organisers to postpone the IPL as the national elections are due and it would be difficult to provide security cover to the elections and IPL simultaneously. And seeing the International calendar, there is no slot for the IPL. So it looks like goodbye to IPL for another year.

Well done Hughes!

And we have had, for the past 37 minutes, the first ever Danish Test Player, I think ? Ole Mortensen never made it to Testlevel did he ? And I can't think of another Dane who's played Test cricket.

Is it unfair ? "England" get to choose from all of the European countries if they so wish - all that untapped Croatian, Belgian, Andorran and Monagesque (I've never been quite sure on that one !) cricketing talent for England to call on. Other countries surely suffer by comparison.

Yes, it's sarchastic Friday afternoon here in downtown Cardiff - but well done Amjit Khan, Hans Christian Andersen would have been proud of you !

Will rain again spoil the match between India and NZ? I couldn't rest in peace the other day. Finally they had to abort the second ODI between India and NZ.
I just hope rain doesn't play a spoilsport again

Am impressed with Phillip (not Phil!) Hughes ....seems a calm player with a mature head and I just think we will hearing/seeing/reading a heck of a lot about this guy in the years to come....many records will be lined up for this guy to take a crack at...

Anybody else thinks Mr Amjad Khan chucks? dunno why that's what I thought when I saw him bowl yesterday....Sure has a pretty funny action....

He's definitely got a funny action - very wristy. But his arm stays pretty straight throughout his delivery. All the commentators picked it up over here, and they analysed it in slo mo - it looks very strange, but they reckon it's legal mainly because his arm stays straight. I've got a feeling we might not see much more of him in the test arena though - he has looked out of his depth in this match. England seem to be really struggling at the moment.

Australia wins the series in South Africa just like I, err, predicted!