Andrew Strauss filled his boots against the Bangladesh attack for the third time in the NatWest Series as England comfortably sealed their place in the final with a five-wicket win at Headingley. Strauss was out with just one run needed, for 98, following Andrew Flintoff’s 4 for 29 which restricted Bangladesh after they made a promising start.Strauss attempted to finish the match in the grand manner, by reaching his century, but was bowled by Manjural Islam, the ball after hitting a six to get within two runs of his milestone (208 for 5). It was another impressive innings from Strauss and it is important that he now starts to take this form into the remaining matches against Australia – starting at Edgbaston on Tuesday.A target of 209 was never going to be enough to trouble England, especially when Strauss and Marcus Trescothick continued to gorge themselves on the Bangladesh bowling. Trescothick was in great touch again and it was a surprise when he got a feathered edge against Manjural for 43 – a relative failure against after his previous scores of 100* and 85 against Bangladesh in the tournament.Habibul Bashar was forced to turn to his spinners – Manjural and Mohammad Rafique – within the 15 overs and Trescothick took advantage and slog-swept into the Western Terrace (or Stand as it now prefers to be known). However, Manjural got his revenge when Trescothick tried another dab to third-man and got the thinnest of edges to Khaled Mashud (99 for 1).Flintoff was promoted to No. 3 but he again failed to make the most of his opportunity when he fell lbw sweeping at Rafique (134 for 2). Kevin Pietersen gave the Headingley crowd a brief glimpse of his power, clearing the midwicket boundary once during his 23, before finding long-on as he attempted to win the match quickly (182 for 4).
Bangladesh stuttered to 208 for 7 as England’s bowling improved after a poor start with Flintoff leading the resurgence with another menacing spell. Javed Omar provided the backbone to the innings with 81 from 150 balls and Mashud brought some much needed late acceleration with 42 off 43.Omar’s innings was a model of concentration and he largely managed to eradicated the cross-batted shots that have been is downfall in this series. But at times it was questionable whether he was doing more harm than good to the innings. However, after their rapid collapse against Australia yesterday they can be forgiven for ensuring they batted out their 50 overs.Simon Jones gained a useful workout. He grabbed the first wicket to fall, when Shahriar Nafees edged a expansive cut to first slip, where Trescothick took a well-judged low catch (22 for 1).But Flintoff was easily the pick of England’s seam attack after they generally wasted the new ball in a lazy display of bowling and fielding. As Tushar Imran attempted to increase the scoring rate he chopped into his stumps after comfortably scoring at a run-a-ball (92 for 2). It was typical of so many Bangladesh dismissals on this tour, with a batsman doing all the hardwork then losing concentration at the vital time.Mohammad Ashraful had a perfect base to continue his scintillating form, but picked out Trescothick at midwicket from his first ball (92 for 3). Flintoff was then within a whisker of a hat-trick – although not as close as Tremlett last week – when Habibul Bashar just managed to get his pad outside off stump.But Bashar did not last much longer and became another victim of Paul Collingwood’s sharp fielding in the covers. Omar dropped the ball and set off for a single but Bashar’s dive was not quite enough to get him home as Collingwood’s underarm flick just clipped the stumps (112 for 4). When Aftab Ahmed was bowled by Ashley Giles, Bangladesh had lost all their momentum (138 for 5) but Mashud used his experience to ensure they at least passed 200 and gave England a decent chase.Although not the most convincing of England’s performances against Bangladesh, they still got the job done with plenty of time to spare. Now the attention turns firmly to Australia for the rest of the summer. Although Tuesday’s game has no bearing on the final, some important psychological points can be scored ahead of the Lord’s showdown.
The England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is considering what it will need to do if it is to complete an about-turn and sanction October’s tour of Zimbabwe without attracting the fury of many groups in the UK. It has been under pressure from the international cricket fraternity even since it revealed that it was considering cancelling the tour on moral grounds back in January.At its meeting in Auckland last month, the International Cricket Council (ICC) made it abundantly clear that moral grounds didn’t wash. The only reasons acceptable were player safety or government intervention. Abhorrent regimes and mad despots cut no ice. The motions passed in Auckland were thinly-veiled shots across the ECB’s bows.Faced with the possibility of fines, the tit-for-tat cancellation of the ICC Champions Trophy and the one-day series against India, and even suspension from international cricket, there are signs that the ECB is prepared to bow to pressure and rethink its objections to playing in Zimbabwe. It is likely to delay any decision until after the Australians have toured in May to assess the level of protests and any security issues which might arise.A report in The Guardian claims that the board is preparing to ask players if they are willing to tour and to allow them to opt out of the trip if they want. There are also plans being discussed to remove logos from the players’ kit in an attempt to appease sponsors – some are known to be extremely unhappy with the prospect being associated in any way with the tour.A possible problem is that several of the England players who were caught up in the will-they, won’t-they farrago during last year’s World Cup are understood to be very much against touring. Nasser Hussain has made it clear that he is against the series going ahead on moral grounds, and there is the real possibility that England could end up sending a very third-rate squad.The Guardian adds that the players were briefed before they left for the Caribbean and told that the ECB was against the tour taking place, and that even if it did, they would not be pressurised to go.While it is being squeezed by the ICC on the one hand, the ECB is still under considerable pressure from many within the UK to stay at home on the other. However, the financial penalties it faces are so substantial that it simply cannot afford not to go. The only thing that could save it was if the British government were to ban the tour, but that is highly unlikely to happen.The difficulty of their position was highlighted by John Read, the board’s director of communications: “The ECB is once again in an invidious position because of the utterly tragic situation in Zimbabwe,” he explained. “If we undertake the tour we will face condemnation from a number of key stakeholders in the game. If we don’t go, however, and are unable to convince the ICC that the government’s disapproval of the tour as voiced to date constitutes force majeure then we risk a fine. The ICC now has the power to suspend countries that breach touring regulations and ban us from international cricket.”The ECB has calculated that the worst-case scenario of England being suspended from the ICC could cost it as much as £50 million. While common sense would indicate that such action would amount to international cricket cutting off its collective nose to spite its face, there are those at Lord’s who believe that the ICC is prepared to do just that. There are various vested interests, notably Jagmohan Dalmiya, who stand to gain from England being punished.”When the ICC have specifically put these powers in place only last month,” a source within the ECB told the Daily Telegraph, “yhey may feel that if they refuse to use them, they will look either silly or weak.”The ECB hoped that Des Wilson’s report would provide them with an escape route from this whole sorry mess. It’s now clear that it won’t.As it is, the ECB stands accused of operating with double standards, and will probably be financially hammered, and certainly condemned, whatever it does. It’s going to be a tough few weeks for the board.
Kenya pulled off the shock of the tournament with a remarkable 53 runvictory against the Sri Lankans at Nairobi on Monday.Sri Lanka, firm favourites after three straight victories, were bundled outfor 157 in 45 overs chasing the 210 for nine scored by Kenya early in theday.Cheered on by a capacity partisan home crowd, the Kenya bowlers and fieldersproduced an electric display in the field, bowling tightly and fieldingbrilliantly.Leg-spinner Collins Obuya was adjudged man of the match for a superb spellof bowling, running through the Sri Lankan middle order to claim fivewickets for 24 from ten overs, the best ever figures by a Kenyan.Only Aravinda de Silva, who scored 41 from 53 deliveries, provided anyresistance on a slow pitch.Earlier, Kennedy Otieno smashed an entertaining 60 from 88 balls,hitting eight fours and two sixes as Kenya cobbled together their moderatetotal.It was Kenya’s first win against Sri Lanka, their tenth ODI victory, and their greatest day since they defeated West Indies at Poona in the 1996 World Cup.The win leaves Kenya, who picked up four points after New Zealand forfeitedtheir game for security reasons, with a good chance of qualifying for theSuper Sixes.They now move into second position in the table with two matches to play,one of which will be against the out-of-sorts Bangladeshis.Sri Lanka’s World Cup campaign may not lie in tatters but they now face afight to qualify for the second round with difficult matches to be playedagainst West Indies and South Africa.Jayasuriya (3) failed for the second consecutive innings after chipping acatch to wide mid on.Marvan Atapattu (23) started the innings in glorious fashion with a brace ofboundaries but eventually came unstuck as he played onto his stumps to giftThomas Odoyo his 50th ODI wicket.Hashan Tillakaratne (23), dropped in the gully when he had made eight,looked to have settled during a 32 run partnership with veteran Aravinda deSilva before hoisting a catch into the deep off Obuya.De Silva counterattacked in characteristically positive fashion, pulling asix high over square leg.Mahela Jayawardene (5), desperately looking for form before key matchesagainst West Indies and South Africa, could have been run out early on wereit not for a fumble in the covers.But the rusty looking right-hander did not make Kenya pay for a rarefielding slip, poking a catch straight back to Obuya off a leading edge ashe tried to flick a full toss through the leg-side.Kumar Sangakkara (5) was then athletically caught by a tumbling Otienobehind the stumps and when De Silva was caught behind whilst trying to forceObuya through the off-side Sri Lanka were in dire straits on 112 for six.Russel Arnold (25*), the last remaining specialist batsman, struggled tohold the innings together but he was unable to claim back the initiative aswickets continued to fall.Vaas (4) was caught and bowled and then Prabath Nissanka (2) and MuttiahMuralitharan (10) were well-caught on the boundary edge of the skipper SteveTikolo.When Dilhara Fernando missed a reverse sweep and was bowled the Kenyan’svictory was complete and the wild celebrations commenced.Earlier in the day, Sri Lanka had elected to field first against theKenyans, a surprise decision on an excellent batting surface that promisedplenty of runs.The move looked to have been justified when Chaminda Vaas grabbed a secondball wicket, trapping Ravindu Shah lbw with a curving inswinger.But Otieno reacted aggressively to the early loss, swinging Vaas for twotowering sixes and a flurry of boundaries, dashing Sri Lankan hopes ofanother early finish.Nevertheless Sri Lanka made inroads: Brijal Patel (12) edged an off-cutterbehind and Muralitharan trapped star batsman Steve Tikolo (10) lbw with asharply turning off-break.When Otieno was snared in the deep the innings then lost momentum withHitesh Modi and former captain Maurice Odumbe struggling against the SriLankan spinners, adding 40 runs in 10 overs.The left-handed Modi, dropped at fine leg on nine and missed again bywicket-keeper Kumar Sangakkara behind the stumps on 11, scored 26 from 56deliveries before being bowled as he tried to reverse sweep Muralitharan.Thomas Odoyo (6) was then caught behind off Vaas after the left-armer waspulled back into the attack for his second spell of the day.Vaas, the tournament’s leading wicket-taker, finished with three for 41 fromhis ten overs.Odumbe (26) was brilliantly caught by Russel Arnold at mid-wicket and TonySuji was bowled by Muralitharan to leave Kenya in trouble on 178 for 8.However, Peter Ongondo then finished the innings with a flourish scoring 20from 18 balls and adding 32 in 4.1 overs with Collins Obuya (11*).It appeared that Sri Lanka would stroll to victory but no one hadanticipated such and electric display from the Kenyans in the field.
The first ever ZEE International Double Wicket Cricket Championshipwas held at Lincoln Park West, in Jersey City, New Jersey, from July13 to 15. Sixteen players from six countries – India, Pakistan, SriLanka, Bangladesh, England and the West Indies participated in thethree-day tournament.India and Pakistan fielded two teams – India Reds (Robin Singh andVinod Kambli) and Indian Blues (Sunil Joshi and Hrishikesh Kanitkar)and Pakistan Blues (Wasim Akram and Shahid Afridi) and Pakistan Greens(Saeed Anwar and Azhar Mahmood). Arjuna Ranatunga and Aravinda deSilva (Sri Lanka); Aminul Islam and Akram Khan (Bangladesh); JimmyAdams and Phil Simmons (West Indies) and Chris Lewis and David Capel(England) were the other participants.Pakistan’s Rashid Latif and a local player kept wickets during thetournament. Former West Indian left-handed batsman Larry Gomes was thetournament referee, who also acted as the TV umpire. India’s SK Bansaland Pakistan’s Mian Muhammad Aslam officiated as umpires. Localplayers, led by Derek Kallicharran, younger brother of former WestIndian captain and batsman Alvin, fielded for the various teams duringthe tournament.The competition was played at a baseball park. A synthetic wicket,which was imported from South Africa, was laid out for the event.Since the wicket had unpredictable bounce and pace, the bowlers usedshorter run-ups and bowled slow stuff. All matches were televised liveon Zee UK, Zee Africa and Zee USA. Pakistan TV also took a live feed.Although the crowd was disappointing on the first day, the last twodays saw a fairly decent flag-waving crowd, mostly from the subcontinent.Pakistan Blues, represented by Wasim Akram and Shahid Afridi, won thecompetition defeating the Bangladeshi pair of Akram Khan and AminulIslam in the final. India Blues and the West Indies were losing semifinalists. The winners took US$ 20,000, while the runners-up won halfthat amount. Afridi won US$ 1000 for hitting the maximum sixes, whileDerek Kalllicharran was adjudged the best fielder with maximumcatches. The mayor of Jersey City gave away the prizes.Brief scores:July 13: Match No 1 (Group A): Pakistan Blues 82-2 in 8 overs beatIndia Reds 65-2 in 8 overs. Match No 2 (Group A): England 59-5 in 8overs lost to West Indies 70-3 in 8 overs. Match No 3 (Group B):Pakistan Greens 50-5 in 8 overs lost to Sri Lanka 61-2 in 8 overs.Match No 4 (Group B): India Blues 44-3 in 8 overs lost to Bangladesh47-1 in 8 overs. Match No 5 (Group A): Pakistan Blues 69-5 in 8 oversbeat West Indies 34-4 in 8 overs.July 14: Match No 6 (Group A): West Indies 69-1 in 8 overs beat IndiaReds 32-9 in 8 overs. Match No 7 (Group A): England 41-7 in 8 oversbeat India Reds 4-0 in 1.5 overs (India Reds conceded the match whenKambli was injured). Match No 8 (Group B): Pakistan Greens 41-5 in 8overs lost to India Blues 44-2 in 8 overs Match No 9 (Group A):Pakistan Blues 88-3 in 8 overs beat England 75-2 in 8 overs Match No10 (Group B): Sri Lanka 5-9 in 8 overs lost to Bangladesh 21-3 in 8oversJuly 15: Match No 11 (Group B): India Blues 54-2 in 8 overs beat SriLanka 27-8 in 8 overs. Match No 12 (Group B): Bangladesh 68-2 in 8overs beat Pakistan Greens 43-7 in 8 overs.
Points table:Group A P W L Pts Group B P W L PtsPakistan Blues 3 3 0 6 Bangladesh 3 3 0 6India Blues 3 2 1 4 England 3 1 2 2India Reds 3 0 3 0 Pak Greens 3 0 3 0West Indies 3 2 1 4 Sri Lanka 3 1 2 2
Semi-finals: Bangladesh 58-5 in 8 overs: Akram Khan (60 runs with 2outs) & Aminul Islam (18 – 3) beat West Indies 55-3 in 8 overs: (PhilSimmons 27 – 1) & Jimmy Adams (36-2) Pakistan Blues 118-4 in 8 overs:Shahid Afridi (63 – 3) & Wasim Akram (69 – 1) beat India Blues 77-4 in8 overs: Hrishikesh Kanitkar (33-2) & Maninder Singh (49-2) (ManinderSingh replaced the injured Sunil JoshiFinal: Pakistan Blues 81-9 in 8 overs: Shahid Afridi (79 runs, with 7outs) & Wasim Akram (43 – 2) beat Bangladesh 58-2 in 8 overs: AkramKhan (40 – 1) & Aminul Islam (20-1)
ScorecardStafanie Taylor cuts during her unbeaten 98•WICB Media/Randy Brooks of Brooks LaTouche Photo
West Indies women’s captain Stafanie Taylor overwhelmed Pakistan women with a powerful all-round performance, making an unbeaten 98 and then taking 3 for 26 in ten overs to secure a 109-run victory for her team in St. Lucia.Pakistan had made a promising start after choosing to bowl and had West Indies at 57 for 3 in 10.1 overs. Taylor then put on 130 runs with Merrisa Aguilleira, who was run out for 68. Kyshona Knight’s 45 off 40 balls added the finishing touches as West Indies powered to 281 for 5. Taylor, on 90, had faced the last four balls of the innings but could manage to score only two off each delivery, finishing two runs short of a century.Pakistan’s chase of a challenging target barely got off the ground. Javeria Khan played a sole hand, making an unbeaten 73 at No. 3, but no one else got past 20. Taylor cut through the middle order, taking three successive wickets to reduce Pakistan from 93 for 3 to 125 for 6. They were eventually restricted to 172 for 9 in 50 overs.
According to a report from AS Roma Live (via Sport Witness), the Serie A club remain interested in Aston Villa midfielder Douglas Luiz.
The lowdown: Luiz is a wanted man
The 23-year-old has previously been indexed with a move to Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle United (Birmingham Mail).
Despite the speculation, the former Manchester City academy starlet has remained a regular feature for the Villans this season, making 27 appearances across all competitions.
A fresh report from Italy has claimed that there is strong interest on the Brazilian from further afield…
The latest: Jose Mourinho keen on Luiz
As per the report from AS Roma Live, as translated by Sport Witness, Roma’s admiration for Luiz has ‘never completely disappeared’.
It is stated that the five-cap Brazil international is ‘not the happiest’ at Villa Park, having not been rewarded with a new contract.
Indeed, recent comments from Gerrard confirming that talks over a new deal for the Brazilian aren’t forthcoming are believed to have been viewed as a ‘green light’ by Roma.
The verdict: Secure him at all costs
Valued at £31.5m and into the final 18 months of a contract in the Midlands (Transfermarkt), the club would certainly be best served to tie down the midfield general to fresh terms sooner rather than later.
Described as a ‘clever’ operator on the ball by Pep Guardiola, Luiz has formed an impressive partnership alongside John McGinn whilst completing 86% of his passes this season, earning an overall performance rating of 6.93 from Sofascore.
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Given the levels of interest in Luiz’s services, without a new deal it’s difficult to envisage a summer without strong renewed interest; and as things stand, Villa may be forced to cash in on the Brazilian, perhaps even to a Premier League rival.
In other news: Source claims Aston Villa outcast will move on this summer. Read more here.
West Indies board officials will meet with officials from the West Indies Cricket Umpires Association (WICUA) president today in an effort to settle the issues that led to the WICUA’s boycott of Carib Beer Cup matches last month.”We’ve sought this meeting for some time but had to put it off once at our request,” Hartley Reid, the WICUA president said. “It’s a welcome opportunity to have this specific matter resolved and to discuss the general relationship between the WICB and the WICUA”. Reid will meet Donald Peters, the WICB chief executive, and Tony Howard, its chief cricket operations officer.The WICB was caught in the middle of a stand-off triggered by differences between two umpiring bodies in Trinidad and Tobago, only one of which is recognised by the Trinidad and Tobago board.WICUA decided on the boycott when two of its members, Hayden Bruce and Kaso Dowlath, were replaced after being originally assigned matches during the regional season by the WICB. Bruce and Dowlath belong to the Association of Cricket Umpires of Trinidad and Tobago (ACUTT). But the T&T board recognises the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Umpires and Scorers Council (TTCUSC) which did not put forward Bruce and Dowlath on its recommended list. “This was noticed by the T&T board, which informed the WICB, pointing out the perceived error, and the WICB then removed those two names,” Lalman Kowlessar, a T&T board executive said. Umpires from the TTCUSC filled in for those who adhered to the WICUA call and the matches all went ahead.Kowlessar described the boycott as a “total failure” but WICUA secretary Vivian Johnson of Jamaica pointed out that it was not a situation that could be allowed to continue “in perpetuity”. In a television interview in Guyana last week, Peters said he hoped “to come to some amicable agreement” at today’s meeting.”The larger issue is all these factions in the umpires’ fraternity,” he said. “What I would like to see is one group and the WICB would contract an elite panel and three levels of umpires. That’s the way I’d like to go.”We’re not involved in the struggle but we have a responsibility to ensure that umpires work closely together so that, in the final analysis, we can get the best umpires to stand in our matches,” he added.The impasse led to an e-mailed threat from WICB corporate secretary Tony Deyal to WICUA area vice-president Billy Doctrove, one of two West Indians on the ICC Elite Panel of umpires, informing him that if he did not umpire the match between the Leeward Islands and Guyana as directed that the WICB would “refer the matter to the ICC”.Deyal warned that it would point out that “your actions have sought to bring the WICB and the game of cricket in the Caribbean into disrepute and that you, and any other persons from the region who have behaved in a similar fashion, should not be considered for further employment by the ICC now or at any future time”.ICC Communications Officer James Fitzgerald said that although the ICC was aware of the issue “it is really a domestic matter and so we have no direct part to play.”However, if there is a way that we can assist all sides coming to a satisfactory agreement on this, then we will be happy to help,” he added.The ICC has subsequently assigned Doctrove to the last two Tests of the current series between India and South Africa in India.
Pakistan have announced a 33-player training camp ahead of the World Cup qualifiers in November. The month-long camp will be held at Lahore Country Club from June 15.Eight teams will participate in the qualifiers, with two progressing to the World Cup, in Australia in 2009. Pakistan, who will have home advantage, will contend with Zimbabwe, Papua New Guinea, Bermuda, Ireland, South Africa, Scotland and Netherlands.Omer Rashid will act as the coach while Mohammad Tariq Siddiqui has been selected as his deputy.Training camp Bismah Maroof, Taskeen Qadeer, Sana Javed, Nazish Chaudhry, Sabahat Rashid, Marina Iqbal, Almas Akram, Zeba Manzoor, Sabeen Abdul Samad, Saima Jamil, Minahil Zahoor, Amna Butt, Sana Mir, Urooj Mumtaz Khan, Nain Abidi, Batool Fatima, Arman Khan, Javeria Khan, Masooma Junaid, Kainat Saleem, Sajida Shah, Sumaiya Siddiqui, Asmavia Iqbal, Sania Khan, Zehmarad Afzal, Maryum Hassan Shah, Naila Nazir, Qanita Jalil, Nida Dar, Rabia Shah, Sadia Yousaf, Wajiha Sundas, Madiha Gillani.
Stuart MacGill, the Australian legspinner, has urged the national selectors to persist with him in a bid to prolong Shane Warne’s career. He also admitted that the realisation that his days as an Australia cricketer were numbered had added a sense of urgency to his performance in the first Test against Bangladesh last week.”I think that if you ever — and there’s not many of them — pick up little troughs and plateaus in Shane’s career they’re predominantly based around workload … They’re all following hard seasons or are either immediately before or after operations,” MacGill told . “And in all of those situations there would have been definitely plenty of scope to play a second wrist spinner and I think that you can maybe avoid those situations completely if you do share the pain a bit. It’d work out great for me because I’d play more and probably will stretch Shane’s career a little bit, too. I don’t necessarily see there being a huge difference between the end of Shane’s career and the end of my career.”MacGill gave the example of the Dhaka Test, when Warne was forced to leave the field on the first day with a shoulder strain. “In the Ashes everybody was looking at Shane’s 40 wickets, which is an amazing achievement but if you look further than that maybe the last week was a physical manifestation of that workload,” he said. “(It was) the end of a very, very long season and maybe if I had played a couple of more times in between it would have been avoided.Despite an impressive 191 wickets at 27.35 from 39 Tests, MacGill has found it hard to cement a place in the side. With Warne coming back extremely well since his one-year ban – he picked up a record 96 wickets in 2005 – the 35-year old New South Wales bowler has found himself spending entire series on the bench or carrying drinks. “It’s not as if you’re going to be saving me up for later,” he said. “We’re similar ages and we’ve both got other things to do, so it would be great to be used at the moment.”MacGill also admitted that he knew this tour of Bangladesh could be his last. “I certainly can’t see another Australian tour for me, unless I miraculously hit one-day cricket,” he said.”The next scheduled tour is Zimbabwe in the middle of next year, which I won’t be part of (because of a political boycott). From there, there is a Pakistan tour the year after, so this would be my last Australian tour, I would say. The Ashes summer is there but I don’t know when I am going to be used, so you don’t know what’s going to happen. I have got to make sure I cash in in these games because I might not get another Test.”The second Test against Bangladesh starts at Chittagong today.
Adam Gilchrist cannot wait for the Ashes to start. “I would have been pretty keen to get into first-class cricket now,” he said, just as the NatWest Series ended, and a day before the NatWest Challenge one-dayers against England get underway. “With all due respect to the schedules and commitments every country has to the ICC’s five-year program, there’s been a lot of one-day cricket already,” Gilchrist is quoted as saying by the Australian Associated Press.”With the heightened awareness and eagerness everyone has for the Ashes, it would have been ripe for the picking to start on first-class cricket now,” said Gilchrist. “Everyone now is so keen for the Ashes – players and spectators. “The excitement level and anticipation for this series is just reaching an all-time high and that’s been increased again as a result of that (NatWest Series final) tie.”However, Gilchrist realised the need to play one-day internationals. “We play a lot of one-day cricket in Australia and that brings in a lot of revenue and we’re reliant on that,” he said. “So I can understand England wanting to cash in on the world champs being here. We’ll just have to make sure we get up for these games and get into the stuff that everyone’s waiting for.”Gilchrist guarded against reading too much into the result of the NatWest Challenge – whichever way it went. The final outcome of this series might not mean that one team is dominant or superior over the other,” Gilchrist said. “It might have just been that you happened to get your interpretation of the tactics or rule changes more right than the other, and we’ll all be learning.”When you think about what we’re doing, we’re totally changing the rules of cricket by bringing a 12th player into the game,” said Gilchrist, stressing that the innovations could make a significant difference. “There’s some pretty significant rule changes, and it could just be luck of the draw how you come out of it at the other end.”