Andrew Strauss says England must fight “fire with fire” during the Ashes and not be overawed by the reputations of Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne.Strauss, who is Andrew Flintoff’s vice-captain for the tour, has called on his team-mates to repeat their efforts of the 2005 series when an aggressive approach was a key part of regaining the Ashes. Although Warne took 40 wickets, the England batsmen were not afraid to attack him and Strauss wants more of the same.”It’s easy to get lured into thinking that every ball from [Shane] Warne or [Glenn] McGrath is going to be an unplayable delivery, and that’s a trap we must try to avoid,” he told the Daily Telegraph. “One of the plus points of our performances against Australia last year was we did play the ball rather than the bowler, which is going to be important again this winter.”If our batsmen learned one salutary lesson last year, it was that the only way to play the Aussies is to take them on. When you try to hang around or you are content just to occupy the crease and survive, you are liable to come unstuck because they just swarm all over you. But if you answer fire with fire – and pick the right balls to go after – it is possible to live with them as Michael Vaughan showed on the last Ashes tour.”England are due for their first serious net session on Tuesday ahead of the tour opener against a Prime Minister’s XI in Canberra on Friday. The first Test begins in Brisbane on November 23.

The MCG curator Tony Ware has hosed down speculation that the pitch for the Boxing Day Test might not be up to its usual high standard. Runs were hard to score on a slow Melbourne strip on Wednesday for Victoria’s one-day match against Queensland, after similar problems in the Pura Cup clash between the two teams last weekend.The Queensland captain Jimmy Maher said after the four-day game finished on Monday the pitch was not up to first-class standard and again questioned the surface after Wednesday’s game. “If it’s going to be like that [for Boxing Day] there’s concerns, definitely, but you’d like to think they haven’t got it wrong yet for Test cricket,” Maher told . “But it’s just a grind – it was a grind for four days and it was a grind today, I don’t know what it is.”Ware said concerns that the MCG’s drop-in pitches were playing too slow should not be extended to include the Boxing day strip, which would not be the one used in the matches against Queensland. “The thing that controls the pace of wickets is basically grass coverage and our grass coverage is pretty good here, not quite as good as what we would normally have this time of year,” Ware said.”But we’ve got a month to go for that to fill in a little bit more, and that helps us. The Boxing Day strip looks good and we have a little gap [between games] at the moment to do some work on the wickets and get some water into them. We’re pretty confident, looking forward to the Boxing Day Test.”

Geoff Griffin, the former South African pace bowler, has died in Durban aged 67.Although he played two Tests and was the first South African to take a hat-trick in a Test, Griffin will best be remembered as the man who was no-balled out of international cricket at Lord’s in 1960.A tall, blond, quick bowler who topped the national averages during the 1959-60 domestic season with 35 wickets at 12.23, his action had been the subject of debate from the moment the South Africans landed. In his defence, he had suffered an accident as a schoolboy which meant he couldn’t straighten his arm, but he was playing at a time that there was considerable debate over suspect actions, mainly of Australian fast bowlers.No-balled in warm-up matches, he underwent remedial work at Alf Gover’s famous indoor school before returning to action, but a number of people were not satisfied.At Lord’s he took a hat-trick, the first by a South African, but that was completely overshadowed by him being repeatedly no-balled. His career was almost finished when, in an exhibition match played as the Test ended early, he was again called for throwing. Attempting to finish an over by bowling underarm, he was then rather cruelly called for not informing the umpire of a change of action. “We didn’t take the warning seriously,” he was to recall many years later. “It sounded so preposterous to use an exhibition match to do the dirty on me. He remained on the tour playing as a specialist batsman.”A good-natured and popular player, he was widely praised for the way he took this massive setback. Griffin was contacted by a lawyer who offered to take the matter to court, free of charge. “You’ll win hands down and end up a wealthy young man,” he said. But he declined. “I loved cricket too much to sully the great game further.”Many felt that the relatively unknown Griffin had been singled out by the authorities, who were desperate to send a message to the world that chuckers would not be tolerated. The fear was that a major row would erupt if Australia brought their batch of suspect bowlers in 1961, and so Griffin was used to show that umpires were prepared, if necessary, to act. If so, it worked. Australia omitted all their fast bowlers whose actions had caused such rancour in 1958-59.”I was the victim of a thoroughly distasteful ‘chucking’ conspiracy,” Griffin said earlier this year. “I was the fall guy. I attribute the blame to the SA cricket authorities and the MCC who should never have allowed things to develop as they did.”He returned home and moved from Natal to Rhodesia, but within two years – and still only 23 years old – his career was over after he was repeatedly no-balled against North-Eastern Transvaal at Salisbury.A superb allround sportsman, Griffin played hockey for Rhodesia as well as holding Natal titles for high jump, long jump, triple jump and pole vault. He also played Under-19 rugby for Natal.

Twenty-two years ago when the last great player exodus occurred Australia began five years of despair. Not until the 1989 Ashes could Australia prove they had left behind the suffering that followed the retirements of Greg Chappell, Dennis Lillee and Rod Marsh, who left a 253-Test gap when they exited the SCG on January 6, 1984.Two months later in Guyana Greg Ritchie’s bulky frame slotted into the top order, Wayne Phillips was mistakenly turned into a makeshift wicketkeeper and Terry Alderman tried to fill Lillee’s space. By the fifth Test Queensland’s John Maguire had replaced Alderman and Australia were on the way to using 24 players in 46 matches until the 1989 tour, when stability and success was finally found. It took a further eight years and 77 games to introduce the same number of new personnel and by then Australia were world champions.The Test crown has retained the same shine ever since and Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne were two of its most significant polishers. Justin Langer also had a large part in the success and the trio leaves from the same gate as the previous triumvirate. Australia now enter another period of uncertainty, but the prospects of the trough being as deep as last time are remote.Allan Border was a reluctant successor to Kim Hughes, who resigned in tears against West Indies in 1984, and he won only three of his first 25 Tests in charge. The low points were home-and-away series losses to New Zealand in 1985-86 and giving up the Ashes a season later to an England team dubbed the worst ever to tour. The recovery was slow, painful and, ultimately, massively rewarding.Ricky Ponting does not have instant replacements for the big three, but he is fortunate to have a string of contenders who are capable of plugging holes. Australia’s ranking as world No. 1 may be in jeopardy over the next couple of years but the superpower status will remain. The planning through the Academy should stop a repeat of the 1980s horror.

In the past two years the focus of the Centre of Excellence in Brisbane has altered from developing emerging players for the first-class arena to preparing contenders for international action. A core group of bowlers including Ben Hilfenhaus, the Tasmania swing bowler, and Brett Dorey, the tall Western Australia fast man, was compiled as the Australian selectors prepared for life without McGrath. Shaun Tait also spent time in the set-up and with Mitchell Johnson’s re-emergence and the rapid development of Stuart Clark a batch of next-generation bowlers is on call.The opening spot created by Langer’s decision can be filled confidently by either Phil Jaques, who stepped into the Test side twice in 2006, or Chris Rogers, who has learned under Langer at Western Australia. A return to the top of the order for Michael Hussey, another batsman raised in Perth, should not be ruled out as it is his preferred position.While the batting and fast-bowling back-up is solid, the spin ranks are Australia’s major worry. In 15 years of trying no Australian has been able to emulate Warne – only Stuart MacGill has got close – and Daniel Cullen, Cullen Bailey, Beau Casson and Nathan Hauritz have the toughest assignments of all.Cullen and MacGill are the frontrunners to step in for Warne but Australia’s expectations of what a slow man should achieve must quickly be lowered. The 1980s showed that attempting to fill the shoes of legends takes decades rather than days.

A stunning turnaround in form earned Victoria Spirit the right to host this year’s Women’s National Cricket League finals but to make the most of their chance the Spirit will need to defy history. In the ten years of the WNCL’s current format, the New South Wales Breakers have won the title eight times and it is the Breakers that Victoria face in the best of three finals series starting on Friday.But this season New South Wales have not been the powerhouse they have been in past seasons and almost missed out on a place in the playoffs after finishing two bonus points ahead of Queensland Fire. The Breakers have played in every finals series since 1996-97 and have only lost twice, both times to Victoria. They are also the defending champions but Lisa Sthalekar, the captain, said winning at Melbourne’s Central Reserve at Glen Waverley would be a challenge.”At the start of our season we weren’t playing that well but we’ve come into some form,” Sthalekar said. “Our top order seems to be firing and our bowlers have got back their line and length. Because of our experience in finals and winning some close ones, if it comes down to the wire I’m hoping our experience from previous finals will get us over the line.”The Breakers are on a roll, having won their last four games. Victoria won five straight but dropped their final match against Queensland. New South Wales’ batting has been their strength this year and with eight former or current Australia players in their line-up – Victoria have five – they will pose a threat to the Spirit’s outstanding attack.Cathryn Fitzpatrick, the veteran Victoria fast bowler, said hosting the final was a big bonus after the Spirit finished fourth with only two wins last season. “We’re just a bit smarter with how we’ve approached it this year,” Fitzpatrick said. “We had an open and honest review process because we were very disappointed with last year.”She said although the focus for all players would be winning the title, with a four-nation tournament in India starting next month the finals could “make or break” a place in the national squad for some players. The finals series continues with games on Saturday and, if required, on Sunday.Victoria Spirit squad Sarah Edwards (capt), Kelly Applebee, Jess Cameron, Jodie Dean, Cathryn Fitzpatrick, Jane Franklin, Rachel Haynes, Julie Hunter, Emma Inglis, Melanie Jones, Megan Pauwels, Clea Smith.New South Wales Breakers squad Lisa Sthalekar (capt), Sarah Aley, Sarah Andrews, Charlotte Anneveld, Alex Blackwell, Kate Blackwell, Leonie Coleman, Rene Farrell, Nicole Goodwin, Michelle Goszko, Julie Hayes, Leah Poulton, Jenny Wallace.

There will be interesting individual battles within the main battle as both India and Sri Lanka do their homework and try to home in on perceived weaknesses. Here are a few head-to-head contests:Agarkar v JayasuriyaSanath Jayasuriya has tormented bowlers of all kinds for so long now thathe’s always a vital member of the Sri Lankan batting line-up when theteamsheet is finalised. Any team coming up against Sri Lanka will plan to neutralise Jayasuriya’s threat, and India could well turn to AjitAgarkar to do the job. Agarkar, who predominantly bowls outswing toright-handed batsmen, will get the ball to shape back in to theleft-handed Jayasuriya consistently and, if he can hit the right lengths,will be a genuine threat. In the recently concluded series against WestIndies Agarkar repeatedly picked up Chris Gayle, both lbw and bowled, with the ball that came in.Kumble v DilshanSri Lanka’s firepower may be stacked up at the top, but in TillakaratneDilshan they have a batsman capable of explosive innings coming down theorder. With several captains saying that the middle-overs of the inningscould be crucial to the fortunes of teams in the World Cup, Sri Lanka willbe watching carefully how, and how often, Dilshan can come off. The factthat he plays unorthodox strokes, hitting the ball from the stumps on bothsides of the wicket, means that the manner in which he handles Anil Kumblecould be critical. Given Kumble’s metronomic efficiency, if Dilshan misseshe will be out.Malinga v UthappaVirender Sehwag’s run of poor form may have affected him deeply but theIndian team has managed quite alright in his absence, thanks mainly to themarauding Robin Uthappa at the top of the order. While it isearly days in his international career, Uthappa has shown he has theeye and the fast hands, backed by raw power, to hit cleanly through theline in the early part of the innings when the field restrictions are on.Whether he can do the same when the ball is moving around a bit remains tobe seen but he will now be tested against raw pace. Lasith Malingahas blasted out batsmen from the top order with regularity and he will belooking to get Uthappa out of the way in a hurry, for this is one batsmanwho does not believe in simply occupying the crease.

Maharoof v SehwagFarveez Maharoof was one of the surprise packages for Sri Lanka in theChampions Trophy when he recorded a seven-for against West Indies inMumbai. He has the ability to dart the ball laterally off the surface -especially if the ball grips a bit – which allows him to trouble batsmeneven when the ball is not moving in the air. Virender Sehwag, who islikely to bat in the middle-order, will have to contend with Maharoof. Given Sehwag’s tendency to sometimes play without moving his feet much, the manner in which he counters balls that move off the pitch could well determine how successful he is.Sangakkara v DhoniOnly once in the history of international cricket have wicketkeepers fromeither side scored a century in the same match. That happened at Jaipur,where Mahendra Singh Dhoni played one of the most astonishing knocks ofrecent times, scoring 183. Sangakkara, by no means an inferior batsman but not quite in the same league when it comes to thrashing the ball, hadearlier done his bit, scoring an unbeaten 138 to set up the match. ForIndia, just like Sri Lanka, the runs the wicketkeeper makes is crucial tothe balance of the team. Which of them is the more consistent could have a big say in the outcome of the series.

A quickfire half-century from Albie Morkel led the Nashua Titans to victory by four wickets off the last ball of their Standard Bank Pro20 match against the Gestetner Diamond Eagles at SuperSport Park on Sunday.A target of 170 looked to be out of the Titans’ reach as they bumbled to 108 for 5 after 15 overs, but that was before Morkel bashed the second-fastest half-century in Pro20 history, off 23 balls, to steer them home against the defending champions in another thrilling match.Morkel’s tremendous firepower brought him two fours and five sixes as he blazed 56 off just 28 balls to leave the Eagles stunned and beaten. The Eagles looked to be in control when they removed the Titans top-order by the 14th over, with their slower bowlers serving them especially well after Francois du Plessis had punished the new ball to the tune of 33 runs off just 19 balls.But the introduction of Nicky Boje and Thandi Tshabalala changed the course of the innings, Tshabalala producing two wonderful pieces of flight and dip to remove Gulam Bodi for a run-a-ball 23 and Gerald Dros for 14, the ball after he had been hit for six.But once the spinners left the scene, Tshabalala taking two for 27 in four overs, Morkel bared his teeth. Victor Mpitsang bowled his first over for just three runs, but then Morkel ripped him to shreds as he took 20 off the 17th over.More heroics followed in the 18th over from Johan van der Wath, in which another 20 runs were scored, leaving 15 required off the last two overs.Morkel’s superhuman effort ended with two runs needed off three balls when he holed out at long-on off Van der Wath, but Farhaan Behardien, who scored a gritty, valuable 23 not out off 18 balls, had spanked the first ball of the over through the covers for four and, with the scores tied, a wayward over ended with a wide.The Eagles, who had won the toss and chosen to bat, were given a rapid start by opener Jacques Rudolph, who top-scored with 61 off 44 balls, slamming six fours and three sixes.Morne van Wyk (27) once again shared a fine opening stand with Rudolph – 69 off 53 balls – but the Eagles then threw away wickets with something approaching gay abandon.Boeta Dippenaar (14), trying to run a single to alert wicketkeeper Heino Kuhn, and Ryan McLaren (10) were both run out, while Ryan Bailey (12) and Van der Wath (18) both made starts before holing out off poor deliveries.The Titans kept their composure well in the field and Brendon Reddy (4-0-23-1) and Dale Steyn (4-0-26-1) deserved their fine figures as they bowled the last four overs of the innings for just 21 runs.

Justin Kemp and Herschelle Gibbs suffered injury scares during training on the eve of South Africa’s World Cup warm-up match against Ireland on Monday. Kemp was hit on the left big toe by fast bowler Charl Langeveldt while batting in the nets while Gibbs injured a finger during a fielding drill.Mohammad Moosajee, the South African team doctor, said neither player had suffered a fracture and that both are expected to be back in action soon. However, they could miss the match against Ireland.”We had both of them x-rayed as a precaution and both x-rays came back clear,” Moosajee told reporters. “Their injuries are more of a soft tissue and ligament nature, there is no damage to the bone and they shouldn’t be affected too much.Kemp said he feared the worst immediately after the ball struck his toe. “I really thought that was the end of my World Cup,” he said as he limped through the team’s hotel lobby after consulting the doctor.The match will be played at the Sir Frank Worrell Memorial Ground on the University of the West Indies campus.

Three days ago, South Africa were ranked No.1 in the world, the Guyanesesky was largely cloudless, and two points were expected to be there forthe taking against Bangladesh. Fast forward to Grenada though, and thepicture couldn’t be more different. The dismal 67-run defeat to Bangladeshhas not only cost them the top ranking – some would argue that they werenever as good as Australia anyway – but also made far more difficult their task of qualifying for the semi-finals.On paper, they can lose to West Indies and win against New Zealand andEngland to progress, but few South Africans will want to leave it to thelast, especially with New Zealand in such good form and Kevin Pietersencertain to up his game against former .There’s also the small matter of South Africa’s record in the big eventsand in pressure situations. The head-to-head statistics are strongly infavour of a South African win – 26 wins against 12 losses in 39 games -but it’s a different story in the matches that matter. West Indies havewon both their last two World Cup games, the 1996 quarter-final and theopening encounter of the 2003 competition, and also meted out punishmentsin recent Champions Trophy games [2004 and ’06].The last meeting was a drubbing in the Jaipur semi-final, with ChrisGayle’s magnificent strokeplay at the top of the order reducing achallenging pursuit to walk-in-the-park proportions. Shaun Pollock andMakhaya Ntini got a pasting that day, and will be wary, even though Gaylehas yet to find his bat’s sweet spot in this tournament.After strolling through their group games, West Indies have fallen awaydramatically, with the batsmen inconsistent and the support bowlers unableto replicate the sterling efforts of Daren Powell with the new ball. Evenmore damaging has been the failure of Gayle and Marlon Samuels to providethe offspin tourniquet that was such a part of their recent one-daysuccess.Some of the players went home after Sri Lanka handed down a third-successive Super Eights defeat more than a week ago, and the attitude ofthe team has come in for scathing criticism from some of the legends ofthe Caribbean game. “Even before that fatal game against Sri Lanka, theWest Indies’ practice session was something to behold, or perhaps not to,”said Colin Croft in a newspaper column. “It was lacklustre as ever, withplayers even complaining that the sun was hot. Are these people for real?”Criticism is something that South Africa took with them to Grenada after afrankly abysmal showing against Bangladesh. One minute, Andrew Hall beingstood down from the XI was a “tactical decision”, the next minute he wassuffering from a quadriceps problem – more spin than a White House mediarelease. With Herschelle Gibbs almost certain to miss out with a calfstrain, there are selection issues to ponder as well.The most likely scenario should see Loots Bosman opening with GraemeSmith, and AB de Villiers dropping into the middle order. Hall must be ashoo-in as well, with the run-less and wicket-less Justin Kemp making wayso that Andrè Nel’s pace and aggression can be unleashed for a secondmatch in succession.Mickey Arthur, the South African coach, spoke candidly about the loss to Bangladesh, but insisted that the pressure was on West Indies to deliver. “After the game the boyshurt a lot, which is a good thing,” he said, echoing what Smith had saidabout “taking our pain”. “We had a good chat about it and we’ve closed thedoor on Bangladesh. We realise that we still hold the key to our destinyin this competition. The pressure is going to be more on the West Indiesthan us.”No matches have been played at the National Cricket stadium in Grenada, and both camps expect a fair bit of assistance from a damp pitch in the morning. Winningthe toss and bowling will again be the mantra, and West Indies could lookto a three-pronged seam attack of Powell, Jerome Taylor and Ian Bradshaw.What is certain is that it’s last orders time at Last Chance Saloon. Thesituation isn’t quite as desperate yet for South Africa, though there willbe few tears shed in these parts if the hosts take a big step towardsknocking out one of the favourites. “South Africa can lose all theirremaining games and go home, complaining as they always do when theylose,” wrote Croft, perhaps irked by frankly ridiculous suggestions that’cabin fever’ had contributed to the Bangladesh loss.Ecclesiastes talks of “a time to heal” and “a time tobuild up”. Two teams for whom this appears to be a time to whinge would dowell to consider the resonance of those words.

Former Pakistan captains Imran Khan and Javed Miandad have slammed Younis Khan over his refusal to take on Pakistan’s captaincy in the wake of a disastrous World Cup campaign.Younis was offered the captaincy after Inzamam resigned but he rejected the offer citing stress related to the job as his main reason.”I don’t understand it. If he didn’t want to be captain he should not accepted the vice-captaincy for the last two years. His refusal has led to a crisis,” said Imran.”It is useless trying to convince Younis to lead the team if he does not want to do it. But what he did was wrong,” he added.Miandad expressed disbelief at Younis’ actions after being offered the captaincy.”This episode is a reflection on the sort of discipline prevailing in our cricket set-up,” said Miandad. “It is disappointing for me that someone should turn down the honour of being asked to captain his country. It is not a good sign for Pakistan cricket,” he explained.Amid stories that Shoaib Malik is likely to be offered the position, Imran wished him well.”He appears to have a good cricket brain and could turn out to be a very good choice for Pakistan cricket,” he added.The official announcement from the PCB over this matter is expected this week.