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On Friday England’s Test squad sets off on the journey of a lifetime, from London to Sydney via Hong Kong, to begin their defence of the Ashes. This morning, Monty Panesar made a journey of a much more prosaic nature - from Luton to a park in Denmark Hill, South London, where he sat in a bandstand fielding questions and shivering in a biting autumnal breeze.

It was a far cry from the conditions he’ll face Down Under. Panesar is England’s not-so-secret weapon for the Ashes. Spared the rigours of the recent ICC Champions Trophy, he has being whiling away the hours since the end of the English season with gym and net sessions at the National Academy in Loughborough and at his county base in Northants. "I’ve just been keeping myself busy," he told the assembled press corps. "I’m really excited about going to Australia, I’m really looking forward to it."

Panesar is a cricketer of his times when it comes to press conferences. He’s not a man for the big statement, he just prefers to stick to "good areas" and let the ball do the talking. Australia, he points out, "is very passionate about cricket"; the prospect of big crowds are "exciting"; his hopes of playing in the Tests depend on "whatever the management feels is right". He is maddeningly yet gloriously deadpan.

One senses that nothing will ever rattle his cage - which is a useful character trait to possess when you have Australia’s finest lining up to tonk you out of the park. "It’ll all be part of my development," he shrugs with a quiet confidence. Four years ago, he was part of the academy squad that provided back-up to England’s walking wounded Test team. "I felt pretty comfortable out there. Rod Marsh taught me a few things, and it was beneficial. I got a few wickets, and there’s a bit more bounce, which helps the spinners."

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Also see Ashes, 2006.

Former England captain Geoffrey Boycott has called for Duncan Fletcher to be axed as coach following the side’s comprehensive defeat to Australia in a Champions Trophy group match on Saturday.

“If you talk to people like John Wright and Bob Woolmer, successful coaches with a lot of experience, they will tell you that the job comes with a shelf-life. And Fletcher just reached the end of his,” Boycott wrote in Monday’s Daily Telegraph.

England lost to India by four wickets in their opening match and were dismissed for 169 by Australia before losing by six wickets.

Zimbabwean Fletcher took over as coach seven years ago and the highlight of his career was guiding England to Ashes success last year after 18 years of Australian domination.

He is currently on a rolling one-year contract with the England board.

“I’m not saying he is a terrible coach. In fact, I think he has done a good job — full marks to him for the way he made England’s test team competitive after the dark days of the 1990s.

“But, after a while, I believe a coach runs out of new ideas and the players get comfortable and complacent with him. He almost becomes too familiar and the players stop listening.”

England’s one-day form has been poor for a while, particularly after injuries to a number of premier players.

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Inzamam-ul-Haq leads his side back onto the field … but too late to save the Test © Getty Images

The ICC is to intervene on England’s claims for compensation from the forfeited Oval Test after Pakistan rejected their demands for £800,000 in lost revenue.

As expected, following the failure to reach an agreement between the two countries’ boards, the ECB has now requested assistance and an ICC disputes panel will decide how much compensation England are to receive following Pakistan’s forfeiture of the game.

The ECB originally asked the PCB for £800,000 after they refunded all fifth-day ticketholders and also gave a 40% reimbursement to the 23,000 in the ground on the day of the abandonment, the fourth day. But Pakistan formally rejected this claim, as they maintain that the actions of the umpires were to blame for the resulting refusal by Pakistan to resume the match, and as the employers of the officials, the ICC is responsible for the losses.

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Damien Martyn: a classy innings to seal England’s fate © Getty images

The pundits had been anticipating a firecracker of a contest to celebrate Diwali, but England’s batsmen and bowlers contrived instead to produce yet another damp squib, as Australia secured an emphatic six-wicket victory in the unofficial Ashes curtain-raiser at Jaipur. In a game full of sub-plots and psychological by-plays, Australia’s greater determination won the day, as they recovered from shaky starts in both innings to win by a margin even more emphatic than the scoreline would suggest.

It was Australia’s young guns, Shane Watson and Mitchell Johnson, who stole the show with the ball, grabbing three wickets apiece as England capitulated dismally from 83 for 0 to 169 all out. And then, having lost three early wickets in reply, it was over to the old stager, Damien Martyn, on his 35th birthday, who steadied Australia’s run-chase with a classy and confident 78 that included another filleting of Steve Harmison’s bowling figures. Mike Hussey piloted his team home with an unbeaten 32, as England looked like becoming the first major nation to be eliminated from the ICC Champions Trophy.

It was a typically listless one-day display from England, although in the early exchanges of the innings it looked as though a real contest was on the cards. Ian Bell and Andrew Strauss established an excellent platform for their team with a coolly compiled opening stand, a partnership that included a premeditated assault on Glenn McGrath, who looked sluggish when he entered the attack as first-change, and whose demeanour was not improved when Martyn of all people dropped an absolute sitter at mid-off to reprieve Bell on 23.

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Four years after his chest-baring celebration at the Wankhede stadium stunned the cricketing world, a far more matured England captain Andrew Flintoff today apologised for the incident, describing it as “10 seconds of madness”.

“It was embarrassing to be honest. It was 10 seconds of madness,” Flintoff said on the eve of the Champions Trophy clash against Australia at the Sawai Man Singh stadium here.

“I think the series was hinged on final over. It’s not something I’m going to do it again, I got a bit of stick for it in the dressing room. Sorry.”

Flintoff surprised the Wankhede crowd when he took off his shirt and ran around the pitch in wild celebration after bowling England, led by Nasser Hussain, to a thrilling win over Sourav Ganguly’s men in the final game of a six-match rubber and tie the series 3-3 in early 2002.

Ganguly returned the complement with a similar gesture from the Lord’s balcony after India overhauled a daunting target of 325 in a one-day series final that summer.

Australia will target England skipper Andrew Flintoff when he bats at number three in Saturday’s Champions Trophy match, captain Ricky Ponting said.

“Absolutely,” he told reporters on Friday. “Whenever you’ve that kind of a player up the order, the opposition is thinking the longer he bats, the better for them.”

Flintoff has promoted himself up the order to boost the scoring in the early overs when field restrictions are in place. The move backfired in England’s opening defeat by India when Flintoff was out for a duck.

“Our thinking is if we can have a crack and get him early with the new ball, then that will leave them a bit thin with the power hitters down the ring, which is where he can do a lot of damage,” said Ponting.

“I guess he has always been a middle order batsman and probably hasn’t played enough of the new white ball. Hopefully we can get him out early. All our bowlers are looking forward to that challenge.”

Australia also lost their opening game, West Indies pulling off a 10-run victory in Mumbai on Wednesday.

Ponting denied his side faced extra pressure due to the defeat or because of the hype surrounding the forthcoming Ashes series.

“We’re worried about the one-day game at the moment,” he said. “Test cricket, it is still one month, perhaps even before we start thinking about it.”

India celebrate the largest Hindu festival of Diwali or “Festival of Lights” on Saturday and a packed stadium is expected. The losing team is likely to be eliminated from the tournament.

Also see Champions Trophy, 2006.

The row over compensation for the abandoned Oval Test rumbles on.

Last week, the Pakistan board refused the ECB’s claim for £800,000 to cover losses resulting from the abandoned match. The PCB insists that the ICC are responsible for compensation as it was the umpires, their employees, whose actions led to the match being called off. The ECB has now given the PCB until the end of the month to settle.

“The Pakistan board has been very consistent in saying to us that England are the totally innocent party and whatever happens England should not be economically penalised on that Test match,” David Collier, the ECB chief executive, said. “The argument, particularly following the hearing at The Oval, that Pakistan has raised is that there was a causal effect to prevent the game being concluded and Pakistan’s contention would be that the claim should be to the ICC rather than to the PCB.

“We’ve now formally gone back to Pakistan and have pointed out to Pakistan that, in our opinion, if there is a causal effect then it is up to Pakistan to take up with the third party not for England to take up. So the ball is back in Pakistan’s court.

“If there isn’t an obvious resolution it can be referred to the ICC’s panel. That is the proper course we would take, rather than engage in any legal fight. We will refer it at the end of this month if we have not had a response.”

“We have said in our letter that the Oval Test not being completed is a case of cause and effect. Saleem Altaf, Pakistan’s director of cricket operations, said last week. “The ECB should realise that we have been vindicated in our stand on ball-tampering, which led to the effect. They should contact the person responsible.”

Model batsman: Kevin Pietersen

Ricky Ponting has given Kevin Pietersen a huge boost on the eve of the Ashes by saying he could be the game’s next superstar. Ponting, who is not known for pumping up the opposition, made the claim in his upcoming Captain’s Diary and also said Pietersen was in a group of batsmen alongside Virender Sehwag and Adam Gilchrist who “play without fear”.

“In my view the biggest danger man could be Pietersen, who might even develop into the next superstar of world cricket,” Ponting wrote. “Potentially he’s that good.

“Pietersen is the one who is a standout at the moment. His technique, although it looks a bit different, has stood up very well at international level.”

Pietersen made his Test debut in the 2005 Ashes and was a constant threat as he compiled 473 runs at 52.55. He finished the series with 158 at The Oval, which was an innings that shut the door on Australia’s chances of levelling the contest. Ponting will have another close-up view of Pietersen on Saturday when the teams play in the Champions Trophy in Jaipur.

Also see The Ashes, 2006.

Irfan Pathan and Sachin Tendulkar added 50 for the second wicket before India tried to make a hash of an easy chase

India hiccupped their way to a nervy four-wicket win over England in their opening Champions Trophy encounter at Jaipur. Sixteen wickets fell for 251 runs on a day when neither team’s batsmen covered themselves with glory, but India just about managed to hold it together under lights after they had done superbly in the field, bundling England out for a paltry 125 in 37 overs.

Though India struggled in their run-chase, England had little chance once their batsmen had folded up so meekly. For the second time in two days, the team batting first came unstuck on a pitch which, while by no means a shirtfront, certainly wasn’t a minefield. In the early overs there was a fair amount of pace and bounce on offer for the fast bowlers, but soon there was also more than a hint of uneven bounce as a few deliveries shot through to the wicketkeeper, while some reared up from a length. The need of the hour was for the batsmen to knuckle down, graft their runs, and put away the premeditated strokes, but apart from Paul Collingwood and Jamie Dalrymple, none of the England batsmen were prepared to adopt that route.

The Indians, for their part, hardly got anything wrong in the field. Dravid’s decision at the toss turned out to be a masterstroke, while the biggest gain for them from this game was undoubtedly Irfan Pathan’s return to bowling form. In his last 38 overs - starting with the tour to the West Indies - Pathan has leaked 233 runs but here he rediscovered all the virtues which had made him such a matchwinner in his first 18 months in international cricket: he swung it appreciably, got plenty of bounce early on, and found more than an extra yard of pace, consistently touching 130 kmph. Munaf Patel bowled with the control which has now become a norm, the spinners backed the fast bowlers superbly, while the fielding was refreshingly energetic, with direct hits finding their target more than once.

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Sri Lankan selectors recalled fast bowlers Dilhara Fernando and Ruchira Perera in the team that will play five One-dayers against England, a cricket board spokesman said on Wednesday.

The first match starts at Lord’s on June 17.

Perera, 29, was recalled after being sidelined with a hamstring injury and Fernando, 26, is back after he worked on a persistent problem with his bowling action.

The pair replaces fast bowler Nuwan Zoysa and Nuwan Kulasekera who played in the Test series.

SQUAD: Mahela Jayawardene (captain), Kumar Sangakkara, Muttiah Muralitharan, Sanath Jayasuriya, Upul Tharanga, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Chamara Kapugedera, Russel Arnold, Farveez Maharoof, Chaminda Vaas, Lasith Malinga, Dilhara Fernando, Ruchira Perera, Malinga Bandara.

See also Sri Lanka vs England, 2006.

Fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar has been told he cannot bowl for three weeks and his selection for the tour of England rests on the recommendation of a medical commission, a senior Pakistan board official said on Tuesday.

Akhtar is struggling to recover from an ankle injury after having undergone a knee operation in Australia in February.

Director of Cricket Operations Saleem Altaf conceded it did not appear possible for Shoaib to recover in time to play from the start of the tour this month end.

See also Pakistan vs England, 2006.

Samuel Johnson was right - and the old blogger often was - then Sanath Jayasuriya’s return to Test cricket yesterday should rightly have been applauded. “Don’t think of retiring from the world until the world will be sorry that you retire,” he instructed. And the moment that Jayasuriya walked on to a pristine Trent Bridge outfield to try to salvage another failing Sri Lankan innings, the suspicion was that most of the English cricket world wanted a little bit more.

Sri Lanka has to build for the future, and Jayasuriya’s retirement from Test cricket suited such ambitions. But, from a selfish perspective, England has witnessed only nine Test innings from the Master Blaster, which in these days of overkill amounts to nothing at all, so a dose of his flamboyance would have been a welcome addition to the first real day of summer.

Johnson could also have lectured him about how best to proceed. “Let him come out as I do and bark,” he recommended. Unfortunately for Sri Lanka, it was only a last-wicket stand between Muttiah Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas, two more likely playing their last Test in England, that did the barking; Jayasuriya was soon back in the kennel with the rest.

His 21-ball innings was a bit of a non-event, captured perhaps by the name of the latest album to be voted the best of all time. Could Jayasuriya still hack it? Did he still have the energy? Were his reactions and eyes as sharp as ever? Definitely maybe.

The innings was marked not by the beloved, high-risk carves of old but by a succession of determined leaves while Andrew Flintoff’s challenge was at its height. He had an inelegant moment on nought, when Tillakaratne Dilshan refused his call for an off-side single, and stroked his 15th ball to the cover boundary, but that was where it ended as Flintoff made one bounce a bit and he thick-edged to Kevin Pietersen at gully. (more…)

“Andrew Flintoff!” boomed the public address announcer as the players returned after tea yesterday. “Leading out … England!”

Well, he’d hardly have been leading out Sri Lanka, would he? But no sooner had the thought occurred than it seemed like rather a good idea. It wouldn’t hurt to give them Freddie on loan for the rest of the series - it might make it a bit more of a contest.

Not so very long ago, the notion of England finding any team a pushover would have been risible, but they have now moulded themselves into the kind of highly efficient unit where everyone, as the saying goes, is able to look at himself in the mirror. Which is where Kevin Pietersen comes in.

It would be a surprise if the mirrors in Pietersen’s house totalled anything less the entire stock at one of the larger branches of B & Q, and though it is not uncommon nowadays for the voice from the bedroom calling out: “I’ll be down in a minute darling, I’m just putting in my ear-rings” to be a male one, not many would fork out £25,000 for a pair of diamond encrusted ones shaped like cricket balls.

Pietersen’s bodily adornments also extend to tattoos, though fashion has moved away from the sailor about to go to sea with “I Love Gladys” or “MUFC” inked into his forearm. He has gone for three lions and a number representing his status as the 626th player to be capped by England. The number - just to be a bit different - is in Roman numerals.

His hairdresser gets a bit confused as well, one day required to turn his client’s coiffeur into a furry animal and the next a field of farmer’s stubble, but if the ostentation carries over into his batting, then England will be the last to discourage him. Pietersen’s self-belief is such that Muttiah Mularitharan’s doosra is just another cricket ball to be propelled as far out of the ground as he can hit it. (more…)

Ever since the English season was extended to incorporate Tests in May, Lord’s has been the scene of an inordinate number of slaughters. Gone are the days when it was a visiting side’s favoured venue - these days any team that arrives in the wrong half of the season is sure to be cut to ribbons by a slavering pack of seamers.

Zimbabwe in 2000 and 2003, Pakistan in 2001, New Zealand in 2004 and Bangladesh this time last year. Each has arrived to be confounded by the slope, the zip, and the joie de vivre of a team newly reunited after their winter’s break. The defeats have ranged from an emphatic seven wickets to a thumping innings-and-261, and though the Sri Lankans bucked the trend on their last visit in 2002, they are about to get their comeuppance in the most comprehensive manner imaginable.

Weather permitting, England could and should wrap this match up tomorrow afternoon, and the fact that the star of the show could well be Sajid Mahmood is testament to the extraordinary breadth of the current England squad. To think they were floundering through an injury crisis on the eve of this match. Mahmood’s success, coupled with that of Alastair Cook and the instant recuperation of Marcus Trescothick, shows that the 12-man base of last summer has been widened and deepened with remarkable speed and improbably few teething troubles.

Prior to this match, there had been some debate as to whether England should opt for the honest job-a-day seamer, Jon Lewis, who routed the Sri Lankans in the England A match at Worcester and could have been relied upon to deliver a quick kill, or plan for the future and blood another young quick with a view to bouncier climes Down Under this winter. (more…)

Somewhere beneath his poised and upright exterior, Alastair Cook claims to harbour a shred of nervousness. But as he and his fellow winter debutant, Monty Panesar, faced the media ahead of their anticipated home debuts on Thursday, the fear of failure was clearly not weighing too heavily on his mind.

After hurtling into the national consciousness with a brilliant century on debut, Cook is inked in to bat at No. 3 when the first Test against Sri Lanka gets underway at Lord’s. North-West London in early May is a world away from the heat and hubbub of Nagpur, but for Cook all things are equal when he steps on a cricket field. He was allowing nothing to faze him.

Not even the prospect of shifting from the opener’s slot to one-down, a position he has not played in regularly since his days as a club batsman for Maldon in Essex. “There’s not really any difference,” he shrugged. “The only difference is you put your feet up while the other lads go out straight away. It’s still the same game, and I’ll still go through the same things to make sure my game is right.”

“I always get a bit nervous every time I bat,” he insisted, although England’s fans have yet to witness any evidence to support this claim. This is a man who believes that international cricket is his birthright, and though his chance has come about because of Michael Vaughan’s injury, he is not about to be regarded as a stop-gap Test cricketer.

“Obviously Vaughan is going to be captain when’s back, but if you keep scoring runs, then they can’t leave you out,” he grinned. “I was disappointed to miss the Test in Mumbai through illness, so I’m glad I’ve got another chance now to stake a claim and score a few runs to keep my place.” (more…)