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Following the death of his father, the Australia allrounder believes he has found fresh perspective on the game and is no longer so rushed by it all

Daniel Brettig12-Jan-2018Marcus Stoinis was the archetypal young man in a hurry. In returning to international cricket after the death of his father, he believes he has found fresh perspective on the game to no longer be so rushed about it all.As Australia’s limited-overs team works to rebuild towards next year’s World Cup after a poor 2017, Stoinis is a key part of their plans following a series of staunch displays with the bat in particular. He will take this journey, though, while cherishing every moment, following the loss of his father to Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma during the Sheffield Shield segment of the season that preceded the Ashes.At 28, Stoinis has been a player with promise for some years, ever since moving across from Western Australia to Victoria to further his chances of playing at the highest level, earning the respect of players like Chris Rogers and more recently the Australian captain Steven Smith. He now finds himself playing alongside a mentor in Cameron White, while he went through the experience of his father’s illness and death with team-mates like Adam Zampa close by his side. All this, Stoinis thinks, has helped him see the game through a different lens.”My perspective has changed, for sure,” Stoinis said in Melbourne, where Australia’s training was restricted by wet weather. “Obviously the experiences you go through change your perspective as you go through life. Cricket for me is quite a lot more enjoyable than it has been in the past, I’ve probably been in a rush for a number of reasons to get things done in cricket.”For the moment, it’s become a lot more fun and I’ve realised it is a family for me. When I found out about dad, I had Adam Zampa there sitting on the boundary with me and we sat there for about half-an-hour. And I’m sharing these games with him now. We stand next to each other every national anthem. I’ve got some bloody good friends and I’m having some fun doing it.”I don’t know if ‘not taking it too seriously’ is the right way to put it, but it’s more just understanding that you’re there to enjoy it and you’re there to perform as well as you can, in front of some unbelievable crowds. You’ve got opportunities that so many people are dreaming of and you’ve been dreaming of for a long time. Once you get there you’ve got to remember to enjoy that.”For White to be recalled for his first match since 2015 was a delight to Stoinis, not only as a former state team-mate but also as someone who had gone out of his way to ensure the allrounder would make the right developmental steps. “He’s one of the smartest players in Australian cricket if not international cricket,” Stoinis said. “He took me under the wing seven years ago when he didn’t have to.”As soon as I stepped into the Victorian change rooms, he was probably the main person that helped show me the ropes. We trained together, I remember, six years ago in pre-season. Every morning he’d send me a message saying what are we doing this morning, why are we doing it, what are you looking to get out of it, so it’s no wonder why he’s so good. I’m stoked for him to have the chance to get back in the Aussie colours.”Another source of advice and help has been Stoinis’ Melbourne Stars team-mate Kevin Pietersen, who has added his own spin on the world of international cricket. “He’s been unbelievable for me,” Stoinis said. “He’s been unbelievably generous with his time and he hasn’t needed to be. That’s probably been over the last 12 months that we’ve built a stronger relationship and have had continual conversations about cricket and perspective. He’s been through everything, from the front page to the back page of the paper. He’s a smart cricketer – there’s a reason why he’s as good as he is. He’s been good for me.”All these factors have helped Stoinis to believe he is now in prime position to make an Australian berth his own after he was in, out and back into the ODI team in 2017, excelling in New Zealand then curiously being left out of the team for the Champions Trophy, only to resume impressively in New Zealand when others struggled and, in the cases of Glenn Maxwell and Matthew Wade, paid for it with their places. The Australians convened with a team meeting on Thursday afternoon and have discussed their plans for the series, leaving Stoinis to note how markedly different this young group feels when lined up against the vanquished and weary group he linked up with after the 2015 Ashes in England.”That was an interesting tour, it was the same sort of thing – we played the Ashes series but in England, we lost, so coming into the team was a very different dynamic to what it is now,” Stoinis said. “It shows how hard the Ashes series are on the players and the scrutiny they get. So it was a different dynamic then.”A couple of guys retired, a couple of guys were about to retire, they lost the Ashes… Whereas now we’ve just won the Ashes, it’s a young team, there’s been people coming into the team, people doing well, so it’s the complete opposite. I got my chance [in 2015], only played the two games then didn’t see international colours for a long time after that. I sort of fell like I might’ve missed a couple of games there for my career, but that’s all right.”I think it’s a bit of everything [now] – finding a consistent playing group will be No. 1 and, understandably, we’re building towards a World Cup so trying to find the right mix, trying to get players playing the right role that suits their game and suits the team. As much as you want to win every single game, I think they’re building towards a bigger picture.”

A CSA Invitation XI headlined by internationals AB de Villiers and JP Duminy comfortably chased 256 against the touring Bangladesh side, who were bolstered by the arrival of Shakib Al Hasan

Firdose Moonda12-Oct-2017AB de Villiers scored 43 off 50 balls•Getty Images

A CSA Invitation XI headlined by internationals AB de Villiers and JP Duminy comfortably chased 256 against the touring Bangladesh side, who were bolstered by the arrival of Shakib Al Hasan. Though Shakib’s importance to the Bangladesh team was underlined when he top-scored with a 67-ball 68, it was not enough to trouble the South African batsmen on their own turf.Bangladesh showed their strongest sign of being more willing to front up when ODI captain Mashrafe Mortaza chose to bat in Bloemfontein. Test captain Mushfiqur Rahim had made the opposite call on batsmen-friendly surfaces in both Tests and his reasoning was almost justified when Bangladesh slumped to 63 for 4 in the 15th over in this match.The wounds from Test performance still seemed raw as the Bangladesh openers were dismissed by experienced Dolphins campaigner Robbie Frylinck. No. 3 Liton Das was caught behind off medium-pacer Malusi Siboto for 8 and Mushfiqur, who has not suffered further complications from the blow he took to the head on Sunday, fell to left-arm spinner Aaron Phangiso for 22. Shakib and Mahmudullah put on 57 for the fifth wicket before Shakib and Sabbir Rahman shared a sixth-wicket stand of 76 and Bangladesh were back on track.Just when Shakib could have started to push on, he also fell to Phangiso, who only played in the match because Keshav Maharaj was rested. Sabbir went on to score 52 but Bangladesh did not have much more to offer. Their last four wickets fell for 36 runs, they were dismissed with 11 balls remaining in their innings and the CSA XI only needed to score at 5.1 runs an over to win.New Test opener Aiden Markram and national Under-19 player Matthew Breetzke started much quicker than that. Their opening stand was worth 147 inside 26 overs, with Markram blazing a 68-ball 82 to make a case for inclusion in the limited-overs’ sides, and Breetzke proving his potential with a patient 71. Nasir Hossain separated the pair when he caught Markram off his own bowling, bringing CSA XI captain JP Duminy to the crease.When Breetzke was bowled five overs later and de Villiers walked out, Bangladesh were bowling to a pair they will see a lot of in the next two weeks but they did not manage to strike any fear into them. Duminy and de Villiers were together for 64 balls and scored 62 runs between them before Duminy was stumped. De Villiers went on to score 43, his highest score in three innings this summer before he was caught behind. He has only played one first-class game this season, for Titans against Warriors and scored 5 and 32 and is now available across all formats for the national side.Bangladesh will not have to worry about facing de Villiers in whites but have much bigger problems on their hands. Apart from not being able to post enough runs to challenge their opposition, they have also yet to bowl them out once on this tour.

A round-up of East Zone matches in the Inter State T20 tournament played on February 1, 2017

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Feb-2017Jharkhand slumped to their third straight defeat in the Inter-State T20 tournament, falling short by 24 runs against Tripura at the Eden Gardens. They had raced to 106 for 2 by the 13th over in pursuit of 193, but lost three wickets in three overs from that point. Opener Shasheem Rathour scored an unbeaten 70 off 53 balls, but they managed only 168. Earlier, they had put Tripura in and conceded 32 extras; this was the second-highest contribution to Tripura’s score, behind Udiyan Bose’s 74 off 38. Their eventual total of 192 was achieved thanks to a late surge – they scored 23 off four balls before losing wickets of consecutive deliveries to be bowled out in 19.5 overs.File photo – Wriddhiman Saha hit an unbeaten 74 off 45 balls as Bengal won by ten wickets against Assam•BCCI

Shreevats Goswami scored 71, Wriddhiman Saha scored 74, and the pair put on an unbroken 150 for the opening wicket as Bengal defeated Assam by ten wickets in the day’s second game. Bengal had restricted Assam to 146 after losing the toss. Assam captain KB Arun Karthik was among the three batsmen in the entire match to go past 20 – incidentally, he also remained unbeaten in the seventies, scoring a career-best 76 off 47 balls. The rest of Assam’s line-up couldn’t get going, restricted in particular by medium-pacer Sayan Ghosh who took 3 for 30. In response, Bengal’s openers chased the score down in 16 overs.

Younis Khan has been ruled out of Pakistan’s first Test against West Indies, with doctors advising him 10 days of rest to regain his strength after recovering from a bout of dengue fever

Umar Farooq06-Oct-2016Younis Khan has been ruled out of Pakistan’s first Test against West Indies, with doctors advising him 10 days of rest to regain his strength after recovering from a bout of dengue fever.”Younis has informed chief selector Inzamam-ul-Haq that he won’t able to play the first Test,” a PCB spokesperson told ESPNcricinfo. “The selectors are yet to announce the squad, but its is confirmed that Younis will not take part in the opening game in Dubai. He asked for rest to be fully fit before his national selection since he has recently recovered from dengue.”Last month, the 38-year-old Younis contracted a high fever that was later diagnosed as the mosquito-borne disease dengue, for which he was treated in a Karachi hospital. This forced him to miss the first round of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, Pakistan’s premier first-class tournament.
Doctors have advised Younis to extend his rest for another 10 days. He is expected to be available for the second Test in Abu Dhabi.Younis last missed a Test match in May 2011 – also against West Indies, coincidentally, in St Kitts – and has since featured in 41 successive matches, scoring 3839 runs in that period, at an average of 59.06. He is now Pakistan’s leading run-getter in Tests with 9456 runs at 53.72, and in his last appearance scored 218 against England at The Oval.Pakistan will begin their three-match Test series with a pink-ball, day-night match at the Dubai International Stadium from October 13. The second Test begins on October 21 in Abu Dhabi, and the third in Sharjah on October 30.

MS Dhoni might have combatively said he is ready to step aside if that guarantees success, but his reign as India’s limited-overs captain appears to be under no real immediate threat

Gaurav Kalra22-Jun-20151:19

‘It doesn’t matter who the captain is’ – Dhoni

MS Dhoni might have combatively said he is ready to step aside as India’s captain if that guarantees success, but his reign as India’s limited-overs captain appears to be under no real immediate threat.Dhoni was speaking in the aftermath of India’s first-ever bilateral series defeat to Bangladesh when he responded in an uncharacteristic manner, seeking to suggest he is blamed for everything that is wrong with Indian cricket and that “if you remove me and the Indian cricket will start doing really well, and if I am the reason for all the bad that is happening to Indian cricket, definitely I would love to step away and play as a player”.However, according to an informed source, for the moment at least, Dhoni’s position is secure though the situation will be “reconsidered” after the World T20 in India in March next year.That seems consistent with the decision deadline Dhoni had set himself. After India’s defeat in the World Cup semi-final, Dhoni had said he will take a call on his long-term future after the World T20 while not ruling out his chances of playing the 2019 World Cup. ESPNcricinfo has learnt the World T20 has been identified as a “cut-off point” of sorts after which Dhoni’s fitness, form and performances will be assessed keeping in mind the team’s next major assignment: the 2017 Champions Trophy.At any rate, with India scheduled to play only Test cricket between next month’s highly unlikely tour of Zimbabwe and the home ODIs against South Africa in October, the selectors do not have to make a decision right away. And even if India go to Zimbabwe, the selectors are highly unlikely to pick a full-strength squad.As of now, India look committed to playing limited-overs cricket under Dhoni until the World T20, but the process of identifying players to step into his shoes has already begun. For instance, Robin Uthappa was asked to keep wicket and bat in the lower middle order in the two games against Sri Lanka last year although he prefers to open the innings. Others being looked at to play a “similar role” to Dhoni’s are Test keeper Wriddhiman Saha, Naman Ojha, Kerala’s young wicket-keeper batsman Sanju Samson, and Pathiv Patel.Dhoni’s assertion that he will be happy to play just “as a player” if removed as captain also hasn’t come as much of a surprise. Describing Dhoni as a “different sort of character” a source in the know said that Dhoni will take stock of his future based on his “fitness” and “ability to contribute” as a player. Dhoni’s decision to bat up the order at No. 4 – a move he said was made so he could bat “more freely” – is also being seen as a positive step from the captain.It is felt that heavy defeats in the first two games against an “emerging power” in Bangladesh can be put down to the players being “mentally jaded” at the fag end of a long season. If the Zimbabwe tour goes ahead, it will mark a new season, but Dhoni is likely to be rested, unless of course India lose the third ODI too and there is a fear of further embarrassment in Zimbabwe.As for Dhoni, he will want to make sure India win the last game of the season, because while his captaincy might be safe as of now, there is no telling what greater scrutiny a whitewash at the hands of Bangladesh might bring.

The silver lining for Zimbabwe after Thursday’s thumping, and it’s a very slim lining indeed, is the batting form of Elton Chigumbura

Liam Brickhill at Queens Sports Club01-Aug-2013The silver lining for Zimbabwe after Thursday’s thumping, and it’s a very slim lining indeed, is the batting form of Elton Chigumbura. The allrounder, who was unbeaten on 50 as Zimbabwe disintegrated, is their leading run-scorer in the series with 142 runs at an average – boosted by two not-outs – of 71.Indeed, Chigumbura seems to have a thing for Indian bowlers: in six one-day innings against India, he’s been dismissed just twice in compiling 182 runs and has scored at close to a run a ball against them.”[India] always seem to come at a good time, when I’m playing well,” he said. “This is the second time I’ve played against them, and mostly that has been on wickets that are good to bat on.”It was expected that Zimbabwe would have an easier time of things at Queens Sports Club, where the pitch usually favours batting, but that proved – spectacularly – not to be the case. Chigumbura pointed to a lack of application by his side’s batsmen rather than any misreading of the pitch.”It was a good wicket to bat on. We all know when we play at Queens, it’s always a batter’s wicket and if you apply yourself then you can make runs. [A lack of application] been the problem for the last three games. Losing early wickets, it’s hard to come back, especially if you then keep losing wickets. Some of the batters are now coming in at different times that they are not used to. If we can have no early wickets, then the rest of the batters will end up batting in their natural position.”The guys are working hard, but I think it’s just a matter of being smart when we start our innings, especially our first ten overs when we’re losing two to three early wickets. Besides working hard, I think the guys just need to maybe take a little bit of time at the wicket. It all comes together when you stay out there.”A repeated mantra for Zimbabwe during this series has been that they’ve put in a lot of preparation, and now is the time to put it into action. Their failure hasn’t been for a lack of trying, but Chigumbura was at a loss as to how to explain the root cause of their inadequacies. With this series gone, it seems all that is left is to look forward to the next one, and hope it will be better.”We are all trying to improve in every game, but it’s unfortunate on this tour we haven’t done so. But if you look at our past history, playing at home we have done well. It’s just one of those tours, where things are not coming together on the batting side. We just need to finish well, and hopefully when Pakistan come our batting will gel.”

Australia’s captain Shane Watson and the West Indies coach Ottis Gibson both believed their sides missed a golden opportunity to go up 2-1 in the series in St Vincent on Tuesday

Brydon Coverdale21-Mar-2012Australia’s captain Shane Watson and the West Indies coach Ottis Gibson both believed their sides missed a golden opportunity to go up 2-1 in the series in St Vincent on Tuesday. The dramatic tie has left the contest at 1-1 ahead of the final two matches in St Lucia, and both camps were left with a hollow feeling after the game.West Indies entered the final over needing seven runs for victory with one wicket in hand, and after a Darren Sammy boundary the scores were level with three balls to play. However, a brain-snap from Sammy’s partner Kemar Roach caused a run-out from the next delivery, and Gibson said there were mixed feelings in the rooms after the match.”We should have won today and we have quite a few disappointed boys in the dressing room at the moment,” Gibson said. “But, look at it this way, we didn’t lose the match and we are still in with a great chance of winning the series.”Today, we clawed our way back from five down for just 78 runs and kept pace with the target. The lower order kept us in the game and credit must go to them for the way they played. The last five wickets gave us close to 150 runs so that’s a really good effort. We keep showing the fight that we have spoken about for a long time and we are seeing signs of improvement. Our fielding effort and our bowling performance today were outstanding.”The way we kept going and kept ourselves in the contest was good to see. The last time the Australians toured the West Indies [in 2008], at this stage, the series was already over. They went on to win 5-0. Now at this stage we are still in it with all to play for.”West Indies left plenty of work for their lower order after slipping to 78 for 5 in a chase of 221 and Watson said it was disappointing his side had not been able to close out the game at that stage. However, he said the Australians were relieved at the final run-out, which gave them some consolation.”In the end, seven off the last over you’re thinking it’s one shot away,” Watson said. “So at that moment when we got the run-out you do feel like it’s a bit of a win. But you look back and probably even ten overs before that we should have closed out the game. It’s mixed feelings.”Watson was at the centre of a key moment in the game when he bowled Andre Russell off a no-ball in the 40th over, which gave West Indies an important reprieve. Watson’s frustration was compounded when he also bowled Russell off the free hit that followed, and he said he knew he had over-stepped when went back and checked his footmarks.”It was a bit of a weird situation, really,” he said. “I haven’t actually bowled a no-ball in a game for, well, I can’t remember the last time I bowled one. That was very disappointing, especially in that crucial time. To get a guy out, bowl him twice in two balls and get zero result out of it, and actually giving him a run, it’s very disappointing.””When I checked the footmarks I knew I had stepped over. That was not a good feeling, knowing where my spike-marks were. It’s not good enough.”The teams will now move on to St Lucia for the last two one-day internationals, to be played on Friday and Sunday.

Just as the remarkable buildings that rise out of the desert in the UAE rely on solid foundations, so England have had cause to be thankful for the opening partnership between Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook in recent years.

George Dobell in Dubai23-Jan-2012Just as the remarkable buildings that rise out of the desert in the UAE rely on solid foundations, so England have had cause to be thankful for the opening partnership between Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook in recent years.Like the foundations of those buildings, the Strauss/Cook partnership might not be the most attractive feature in the edifice of Team England. But take away those foundations and the whole structure crumbles.The pair will – all being well – open the batting together for the 100th time in Tests when Pakistan and England renew rivalries in Abu Dhabi from Wednesday. No previous England opening pair has done that. Indeed, the Marcus Tresocthick and Michael Vaughan pairing is the next most-common for England; they opened together 54 times in Tests. Only Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes – 148 Test innings as opening partners – Marvan Atapattu and Sanath Jayasuriya – 118 – and Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer – 113 – have opened together more in Test cricket than Strauss and Cook.The Strauss/Cook partnership has served England well. Since they first came together – in Nagpur in March 2006 – they have played key roles in winning the Ashes home and away and helping England to the top of the Test rankings. They have put on 4,163 runs together as an opening pair at an average of 42.91 with 11 hundreds and 15 half-century stands.Including the 14 times they have batted together in other positions, they have scored 4,651 Test runs together. Only five Test partnerships can better that, with Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid – 6,900 Test runs – leading the way.Strauss and Cook couldn’t claim to be England’s best opening pair. Between 1924 and 1930 Herbert Sutcliffe and Jack Hobbs opened together on 38 occasions in Test cricket and amassed 3,249 runs at the remarkable average of 87.81. It is also worth noting that Strauss and Marcus Trescothick made 2,670 runs together as openers at the impressive average of 52.35. A reminder, perhaps, of what might have been had Trescothick not been affected by illness.There have been some worrying signs of late, too. Nine of Strauss and Cook’s last 11 opening stands have failed to reach 25 – seven of them have failed to pass ten – while, on the evidence of watching them in the nets on Monday, neither looked in the best of form. Strauss, in particular, looked quite wretched.But they’ve experienced lean patches before. England have stuck with them and that loyalty has been rewarded. It would be foolish to write off the Strauss and Cook combination just yet.”We’ve had some great moments,” Cook said after England had finished training on Monday. “Probably the highlight for me would be Australia at Lord’s in 2009 when, after not batting so well in Cardiff, we came back and set a really good platform. Then there was Brisbane in 2010 as well. They’re the two that stand out for me.”It’s always nice to have stability at the top of the order. I hope we inspire some confidence in the rest of the team when we walk out together. We hope, for the 100th time, we can do something special.”It is the captain’s form that is causing most concern at present. While his position is not under any serious threat, his lack of runs at the top of the order – one century in 26 Tests and none since November 2010 – is an uncomfortable reality that England are hoping will be remedied soon.Cook, naturally, was keen to defend Strauss. “He’s got a great record proven over a number of years,” Cook said. “To have the experience at the top of the order has held us in good stead. We’re very similar in character and we do enjoy batting together.”It’s our job at the top of the order to lay that platform. We didn’t do that in Dubai, and that’s one of the reasons why we didn’t get a good total. It’s not the be-all and end-all but it’s certainly a major responsibility and always has been. Whenever you open the batting, you have to lay as good a platform as you can. We have done it in the past but we didn’t last week and it cost us.”Cook admitted that England’s confidence had taken a blow as a consequence of the defeat in Dubai. “When you lose – and lose so heavily – it does dent confidence,” he said. “But if you look at history, when we have produced a poor performance we’ve managed to bounce back well. We hope we can this time.”We said when we turned number one and everyone said what a good team we are, that there were going to be some rocky roads ahead at times. No matter how good a side you are, you will always lose some games of cricket against the very good sides we’re playing. But you don’t become bad players or a bad team overnight. Whatever you read, or people say about you, we know we’ve got some seriously world-class players in our team. This is a real test of our character. We’ve shown it in the past and hope we can show it again.”Strauss and Cook can take some comfort from the reputation of the Abu Dhabi surface. Both Tests played at the ground have been high-scoring draws and have four scores over 400 have been recorded.”It’s always nice when you turn up to a ground where history suggests you can score runs,” Cook said. “But that doesn’t really count for anything. We’ve got to go out and put our poor performance behind us. We held our hands up as a batting unit. The reason we didn’t get close in that last match was the top six. The beauty about another game coming so quickly is we can put that right. I know we’ve got the characters and the record to do that.”It may be relevant that the only opening pair to score more runs together in 2011 were Pakistan’s Mohammad Hafeez and Taufeeq Umar. Taufeeq scored 236 against Sri Lanka in the last Test in Abu Dhabi.The pitch is expected to be slow, with England likely to remain unchanged. But Pakistan are considering bringing in Junaid Khan, who claimed five for 38 against Sri Lanka here in October, in place of Aizaz Cheema, and Umar Akmal in place of Asad Shafiq.

Shelley Wickramasinghe, who was known as the Grand Old Man of Bloomfield Cricket and Athletic Club, died at his home in Colombo on Wednesday at the age of 85

Sa'adi Thawfeeq12-Aug-2011Shelley Wickramasinghe, who was known as the Grand Old Man (GOM) of Bloomfield Cricket and Athletic Club, died at his home in Colombo on Wednesday at the age of 85.The 119-year old Bloomfield club is one of Sri Lanka’s oldest cricket clubs and Wickramasinghe had three stints as its club president – from 1972-73, then 1976-77 and the third a 21-year span from 1979 to 2000.Wickramasinghe also served as president of the Mercantile Cricket Association and chairman of the National Sports Council. He was also vice-president of Sri Lanka Cricket in the mid-eighties.Wickramasinghe was closely associated with former India and Bombay captain Ajit Wadekar, and several Bombay cricketers, including Vasu Paranjpe, played for his club in the local domestic tournament.Paranjpe, who was coach of Bombay and also at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore, coached Bloomfield for three seasons during which they won the Division I club title three times.

For Andrew Strauss the real task on this trip has been to manage the expectations of a squad that has more or less looked after itself on the field

Andrew Miller in Sydney02-Jan-2011The challenge of leading England in Australia is traditionally one of the toughest assignments in cricket, but for Andrew Strauss the real task on this trip has been to manage the expectations of a squad that has more or less looked after itself on the field. As the fifth and final Test of an historic series approaches at Sydney, Strauss has once again called on his players to keep their feet on the ground, and ensure that a hard-earned series lead in translated into a memorable series win.With the Ashes already in the bag thanks to England’s thumping innings-and-157-run victory at the MCG, Strauss recognises there may be a temptation to relax going into the final week of the series. However, he is sure that England’s focus will be back on the job after a brief burst of euphoria in Melbourne, and having turfed the team out of bed at 7.30am on New Year’s Day for a 9 o’clock nets session, there will be no excuse for cobwebs come the start of the match on Monday morning.”We had some quite big celebrations in Melbourne after winning the Test and rightly so because the guys deserved that,” said Strauss. “But we got to Sydney and had a fairly moderate New Year if I’m honest. It’s definitely a case of us keeping our feet on the ground and preparing for the Test match. There is no way we want Australia to win this Test match and draw this series. We are in a great position to win the series but we need to play well again this week. We don’t want to slip into bad habits.”In keeping with their standard practice, England will name their 11 on the day of the match, with Paul Collingwood expected to retain his place in the middle order in spite of his poor run of form. Australia, however, have already confirmed that two debutants will line up in their side – Usman Khawaja at No. 3 and the spinner Michael Beer, who has been kept on ice ever since his shock call-up to the squad in Perth. “It is not any huge surprise,” said Strauss. “But there will be some different challenges for us and we need to be well prepared.”By and large, that has been a given for England on this most meticulously planned tour. Aside from their shellacking in Perth, where their downfall was hastened by an inspired spell of bowling from Mitchell Johnson, they have been alert to the pitfalls presented in all situations, and quick to capitalize on any opportunity to claim the ascendancy. For Strauss, who had to overcome internal strife in the Caribbean during his first series at the helm in 2009, and external controversy against Pakistan last summer, the trip has been almost restful by comparison.”It’s certainly been one of the easier tours I’ve been on in regard to captaincy,” he said. “We’ve not really had any issues off the park. We generally play good cricket. The biggest challenge has been to keep the guys’ feet on the ground and make sure we don’t get ahead of ourselves. If that’s what you’re worried about as captain, you know things are going your way.”I wouldn’t say it’s been an easy tour,” he added. “It’s just that we have a tight unit, a bunch of guys who are all good mates, so you don’t have any squabbles in the camp or things that are going wrong off the pitch that take time. And that doesn’t surprise me because it’s been the case for 12-18 months. What has been very re-assuring is generally our cricket’s been good so we’ve had less to worry about too. But ultimately we’ve still got the end of this tour – this match and the one-dayers – so there’s still plenty of time for us to be challenged.”It will doubtless help England’s focus that the final week of the tour isn’t actually upon them as yet. In Johannesburg last January, their innings defeat was sealed as the squad were preparing en masse to fly back to England, and in recent times they’ve suffered similarly crushing results in the final Tests of pre-Christmas trips to the subcontinent – such as Colombo in 2003-04, or Galle last time around, when they were bowled out for 81 on the opening day of the Test only to be saved by rain.”We’re not in that position at the moment but there are other reasons for us to take our eye off the ball in this Test match and it’s important we don’t do that,” said Strauss. “It is a lovely feeling to know the urn is coming back with us but it will leave a bitter taste in the mouth if we aren’t able to play well this week. It is a big challenge for us because we have a lot of people patting us on the back and telling us how brilliant we are but the reality is that you are only as good as your next game. We have to really get stuck in here and make sure we play well again.”If you look at our record we’ve been very good coming back after defeats, less good after wins so that’s something we have to put right,” he added. “Sometimes there’s a reason for it, sometimes the other team just plays well and sometimes we need to put our hands up and say ‘we weren’t in the right place mentally to play that Test match’. We’ve talked about it a lot and the guys are very conscious about it. It’s certainly about trying to get back to basics and get right on top of the opposition again.”