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The oldest batsman in the Test side showed he still knows how to make a huge score just a day after Dennis Lillee voiced concerns the ageing top order could cost Australia the Ashes. Justin Langer was unbeaten on 188 when he declared Western Australia’s first innings closed 200 runs short of Tasmania’s total as he pushed for an outright result at the WACA.With Tim Paine and Michael Bevan (46) flying in the second innings – Tasmania were 5 for 149 at stumps with a lead of 349 – both sides will be battling for victory on day four. Langer had also scored freely, bringing up his hundred in 140 balls, including 20 boundaries, before declaring at tea with the score 5 for 353.The runs continued to pile up quickly when Luke Ronchi joined Langer and smashed 47 not out from 29 balls, 30 of which came in the space of two overs. Ronchi, who reached 40 from only 18 deliveries, hit eight fours and a six in a breathtaking cameo.In the first session Shaun Marsh made 50 before he was the first man out on day three, trapped lbw by Brendan Drew. Brett Geeves then made inroads into the Warriors’ middle order with two wickets in an over.When Tasmania began their reply Paine built on his first-innings 215 by racing to 56 from 77 balls before he was out lbw attempting to sweep the left-arm spinner Aaron Heal. Heal also troubled Michael Bevan and Dan Marsh to collect 3 for 36 from ten overs.The Tigers selected their squad for the Ford Ranger Cup match against the Warriors on Friday. They made no changes to the side that lost to Queensland by nine wickets on October 11.Tasmania FR Cup squad Michael Di Venuto, Tim Paine, Travis Birt, George Bailey, Michael Bevan, Daniel Marsh (capt), Luke Butterworth, Brett Geeves, Brendan Drew, Adam Griffith, Xavier Doherty, Ben Hilfenhaus.Western Australia FR Cup Squad Luke Ronchi, Justin Langer (capt), Marcus North, Shaun Marsh, Adam Voges, Chris Rogers, Sean Ervine, Peter Worthington, Brett Dorey, Ben Edmondson, Steve Magoffin, Aaron Heal.

All Today’s Yesterdays – August 19 down the years

August 18 | August 20

1975
Quite a memorable day in Test cricket – considering no play waspossible. What promised to be an exciting final day of the Ashes Testdoesn’t take place after the Headingley pitch had been vandalised bysupporters of prisoner George Davis. Australia needed 225 to win withseven wickets left. The draw and another in the next Test gave them theseries 1-0.1953
After a record wait of 18 years 362 days, and despitelosing the toss in all five Tests, England regained the Ashes.Fittingly, famous Middlesex partners Denis Compton and Bill Edrich wereat the crease when the winning runs were hit at The Oval, a boundary offpart-time bowler Arthur Morris. It was the first Ashes series to be wonby a professional captain (Len Hutton) – and the last Test appearance ofAustralia’s captain Lindsay Hassett, who first played against England in1938.1976
The tragic death from skin cancer of Ken Wadsworth, who was only29. Fair-haired and talented, he kept wicket in 33 Tests for NewZealand, making 96 dismissals. He averaged 59.00 with the bat in theCaribbean series of 1971-72, when New Zealand surprised everyone bydrawing all five Tests. But his crucial dropped catch cost New Zealandtheir first ever win over England, at Lord’s in 1973. Sadly, by the timeNew Zealand achieved that long-awaited victory, in 1977-78, KenWadsworth wasn’t around to share it.1985
Opening batsman Tim Robinson (148) and his captain David Gower(215) completed their partnership of 331 in only 343 minutes atEdgbaston. Gower, enjoying the high summer of his Test career, hit thehighest score by an England captain against Australia since WallyHammond’s 240 at Lord’s in 1938. England won by an innings to take a 2-1lead in the series.1992
Three players hit hundreds on the same day before Sri Lankadeclared at 547 for 8 against Australia at Colombo’s Sinhalese SportsClub. Asanka Gurusinha made 137, captain Arjuna Ranatunga 127 and newcap Romesh Kaluwitharana 132 not out. But in the second innings SriLanka’s last eight wickets fell for 37 runs to lose the match by 16.1957
Birth of Ian Gould, who kept wicket for England in the 1983 WorldCup. Although he never won a Test cap, he did have one moment of gloryat that level, coming on as substitute at Melbourne in 1982-83 andtaking the catch that removed Greg Chappell for 2. England won a famousvictory by just three runs. Gould captained Sussex when they won the1986 NatWest Trophy. After the final, his winning speech consisted of`Watch out, Soho.’1957
Birth of Hampshire’s Dutch seamer Paul-Jan Bakker, possibly theonly former ski instructor to open the bowling in a cricket World Cup.His best moment in the 1996 tournament came against England at Peshawar,when he bowled Alec Stewart for 5. Holland weren’t disgraced by a 49-rundefeat.Other birthdays
1950 Graeme Beard (Australia)
1973 Carl Bulfin (New Zealand)

Trevor Bayliss, Sri Lanka’s new coach, believes that his teams attacking style of cricket would suit them in the upcoming Twenty20 World Championship in South Africa.”Sri Lanka hasn’t played a lot of Twenty20 cricket. But the style of cricket they play can be suited to the Twenty20 game. Sri Lanka is a team that plays an attacking style of the game. With a bit of experience and playing a few practice games, I am hoping the players can learn fairly quickly. I’m confident that we can give a good showing.”Bayliss who coached New South Wales before taking up the Sri Lanka job, had his first session with the national team today.”They are a bright bunch of guys and very friendly people. Before we came here everyone was telling us how good these guys were, lovely people, hard trainers and hard workers. Certainly that’s what we got this morning. I am looking forward to working with them.””The opportunity to coach an international team and also a very successful one at that, was no contest. It’s a dream, I suppose, where you can reach the top in whatever endeavours that you try. I am very happy and honoured that I’ve been given the opportunity to coach the Sri Lankan cricket team,” Bayliss said.Bayliss admitted that he had spoken to Tom Moody, whom he succeeded as coach, on several occasions. “We have got a fairly similar views on the way cricket should be played and the way it should be taken forward. Not a lot will change in the process. Sri Lanka has been very successful in their last 18 months. I don’t want to change too much but continue along those lines. If one or two small things come up we will make the appropriate changes”.”Tom’s opinion of the team was that they were a bunch of guys, very talented, easy to work with and easy to talk to. They play an attacking style of cricket similar to Australia. From that point of view and coming from Australia, there won’t be a big change in the way we are going,” Bayliss said, adding that he would be quite happy for the selectors to select the team and for him to coach it.”Before the match starts, Mahela (Jayawardene) and I will be able to give our views. The attitude I had in New South Wales when I was coaching was the same thing. I didn’t actually have a vote on the selections, but the one rule we put in place for the players was that there should be no whinging. Whatever you have been dealt, just get on with it.”Along with Bayliss, assistant coach Paul Farbrace and trainer Jade Roberts also had an interaction with the media.Bayliss, who had a hand in the appointment of Farbrace, said: “Paul is a coach who knows his stuff and is a very hard worker. He is also a guy whom I will be able to get on with. He’s probably got a similar personality and similar views on the way the game should be played. I think it is important that the two of us should work together.”Farbrace, who was the coaching director at Kent before joining the Sri Lanka team, was upbeat about his new job. “To work with Trevor and the other guys here, it really wasn’t a contest. It’s an exciting opportunity. You don’t very often get the chance to work with exciting teams who are playing good cricket.””Normally in sport you go with things like ‘perhaps I am doing well’ but that’s when things change. This time it is an opportunity to handle a side and an excellent set up. I really want to get into and get stuck in.”Roberts, who is also a dietician, said he would rely on the players to be professional. “I’ve talked to the guys and my opinion is they are a very professional outfit. It’s really upto them.”The three newcomers will join physio Tommy Simsek in the support staff. Simsek is the only remaining member of the Sri Lanka coaching staff from the 2007 World Cup.

Following New Zealand’s exit from the World Cup semi-final, Stephen Fleming, the Test captain, is hopeful their coach John Bracewell will stay on after his contract expires next month. “I think Braces should stay on, I think he’s a fine coach, he’s worked well with this side,” Fleming said in The Press.Bracewell, who is expected to submit a detailed performance appraisal of the squad to New Zealand Cricket (NZC), said a review of the World Cup campaign would determine his future. He was recently under-fire from Martin Crowe, the former New Zealand captain, who suggested that he should resign.However, Bracewell hasn’t given any indication he would join the mass exodus of international coaches and said the priority would be to sort out the player contracts for the forthcoming season. “Once we’ve gone through that review process I’ll make that decision on whether to continue, or that decision will be made for me,” Bracewell told .”Ric Charlesworth [the NZC high performance manager] has a lot of things on the table when we get back in terms of the development plan. We have a month of hard cricket ahead of us, not in terms of playing, but players’ contracts have to be sorted out. There’s a lot of work to do.”New Zealand impressed through the group stages but faltered towards the end of the event. They were exposed in all departments in the semi-final against Sri Lanka, raising questions about their ability to lift their performance in knock-out games. This was their fifth semi-final loss in World Cup history.Though NZC were non committal on Bracewell’s future, Justin Vaughan, the newly-appointed chief executive, was also hopeful that he would continue. He said the off-season would be ideal time for the players to reflect on their performances. “They have been going at it since the series against Sri Lanka in December so they deserve the chance to sit back and reflect on things,” Vaughan said.Reflecting on his side’s showing in the tournament, Bracewell said they had performed above expectations, but admitted they were completely undone by a far superior side in the semi-final. “We were as well prepared as any side that’s has been put together,” he said. “We really have to put our hands up and say we didn’t perform on the day. A good dose of Test cricket will do us the world of good – players like Ross Taylor and Peter Fulton need it to continue their development.”

Greg Chappell, the Indian coach, has said that opening the bowling with S Sreesanth, the Kerala fast bowler, would be among the new tactics and methods tested during India’s forthcoming one-day series against Sri Lanka.”The objective was really to try a few things we are planning to use against Sri Lanka. We looked at a few different tactics and a few different bowling combinations,” Chappell was quoted as saying by PTI. “More than likely that Sreesanth would open the attack in the games that he plays. But we are likely to try different combinations at different times. But at this stage, we would be using him as an opening bowler, yes.”Chappell was happy with the preparatory camp at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore and said that the team had got a lot out of it. “We are in pretty good shape, mentally and physically. The group is looking pretty good. We will only find out when we get there. But from the point of view of preparation, everyone is quite happy.”Rahul Dravid and Virender Sehwag missed the camp because they had only just returned from the Super Series in Australia. They will join the team in Nagpur ahead of the first one-day international against Sri Lanka. Chappell said that Dravid’s and Sehwag’s poor performance in the Super Series did not affect India’s chances against Sri Lanka or South Africa. “I don’t think any of them [World XI] performed all that brilliantly. So, it was one of those things. I don’t think it has big bearing on what’s going to happen in the next few weeks.”Chappell also stressed the importance of disciplined bowling because of the batsmen-friendly pitches in India. “It’s a matter of bowling the ball in the right areas, accepting that some overs, some balls, some games are not going to work out very well. What we need is to make sure that we have four or five bowlers bowling well each day. From the young bowlers’ point of view, they have to learn from their experience.”Chappell added that Anil Kumble, Ashish Nehra and Mohammed Kaif, all of them currently undergoing rehabilitation, were a few weeks away from returning to competitive cricket. He also said that Yuvraj Singh and Murali Kartik had come down with fever over the last two days.

A hike in monthly pensions for former players, plans to boost support to other sports, and venues for the 2006 Champions Trophy were some of the issues discussed in the BCCI’s working committee meeting in Mumbai on Sunday.Showing the money
Players who have figured in 25 Tests or more will receive up to Rs35,000 as pension amount while those who have played in less than 25 will get Rs25,000. The widows of Test cricketers will also receive the same amount. Former cricketers who played for India in Tests and ODIs after December 31, 1993 and all international umpires will receive a sum of Rs10,000 per month.Sharing the booty
Sports other than cricket will also benefit from the BCCI’s largesse, after they decided to set up a corpus fund worth Rs50 crore (approx US$11 million) to boost budding talents in the under-15 age group in various sports. “It’s the responsibility of the BCCI to support young talent in sports that figure in the Asian Games and Olympics,” Sharad Pawar, the president of the BCCI, said about this initiative. “The BCCI will pick the No.1 in the under-15 age group and help them in training in India and abroad. The modalities have to be worked out and the BCCI constitution has to be amended for this purpose. We will set aside Rs50 crores and add the proceeds of one off-shore match every year [around Rs40 crores] to build the corpus.”Ground work
The board, after negotiations with the ICC, confirmed four venues — Cricket Club of India, Mumbai, Jaipur, Mohali and Ahmedabad — for the Champions Trophy to be held in October-November this year. “The ICC has agreed to reduce the compensation money from US$1 million to under 200,000 dollars for the fourth venue,” informed Pawar. “The ICC rejected Chennai and Bangalore because of the threat of rain and the Cricket Association of Bengal informed the BCCI that it was not in a position to conduct the Champions Trophy games.”Pawar will choose eight venues in India for the 2011 World Cup and the “eight centres will have to send the compliance letter soon,” reported BCCI treasurer N Srinivasan. Also, a special committee headed by Chirayu Amin, the vice president, and comprising Arun Jaitley of the Delhi District Cricket Association, Lalit Modi, Bindra and Ajay Shirke, Maharashtra Cricket Association president, had been formed to come up with proposals to develop the 30 acres of land given by the Delhi Development Authority to the board.To cap it all
Agreeing with Sunil Gavaskar’s views on the India cap, Pawar announced that only the national players will wear the cap with the BCCI’s crest on it, while the support staff will not be allowed to wear it.Searching for talent
A special committee headed by former chief IS Bindra will give suggestions about optimum usage of the board’s funds, and will also offer recommendations on the Talent Research Development Wing (TRDW). “The committee will submit a preliminary report on all the related issues, including the scraping of the TRDW and the change in the format of the national selection panel [from five members to three],” said Pawar. Gavaskar had earlier criticised the proposed move to scrap the TRDW, asserting that the increase in the number of players from smaller towns was due to this system. He felt it would be a “big mistake” to scrap such a successful system.

On February 26, 2000, Mark Boucher, South Africa’s wicketkeeper, walked out to bat at the Wankhede Stadium with the first Test against India in a fine balance. The spinners were zipping it off a wearing pitch and South Africa, requiring 35 runs with four in hand, needed an inspired knock. Boucher swept almost everything thrown at him and snatched the match away with daring 27 not out. Nearly six years on, and he was back to the same venue, just that this time he was addressing a pre-match press conference. His approach, though, hadn’t changed one bit as he swatted question after question with surprising confidence, and more importantly tons of cheek.The controversy surrounding the pitch at Kolkata was dismissed, the Sourav Ganguly issue was rekindled with a surprising perspective and the talk of pressure was hit straight back. “Reading the newspapers after the last game, there were comparisons to Kingsmead in Durban,” he said. “Whoever’s been to Kingsmead and compared the Eden Gardens wicket to that, doesn’t really know what they are talking about. Especially from a keepers’ point of view, I took most of the balls below my knees; at Kingsmead I take it over my head.”Boucher said that his team-mates were pleasantly surprised at the support they got at Kolkata, before going on to launch the most audacious stroke of all: “The support that we got at Eden Gardens in unbelievable,” he said. “We do understand that it’s because of the whole Sourav Ganguly issue. A couple of our players are wondering why he isn’t in the side and it’s a bit strange to us. We preferred bowling to the new batsmen than bowling to Ganguly.”He continued so quickly that it took some time for the mild chuckles to die down among the press. “We understand the pressure the Indian players are at the moment. It will be interesting to see how the youngsters come out and play. I don’t think the youngsters have been under such pressure in a home series, being 2-1 down. It’s a different story walking out to bat playing shots from the first ball, getting out and paying the consequences. From our side, not really a pressure situation but more eagerness to walk away with the series win.”Having set the tone, Boucher indulged in a bit more banter, something that appeared to be entirely psychological warfare. “I think controversy in the Indian team will be an advantage for us. Whenever a side’s losing there will be cracks that will open up and the big crack of Sourav Ganguly has opened up in the last few weeks. I think it didn’t really open up when you played Sri Lanka because not many cracks open up when a side is winning. We’ve put India under pressure, the Sourav Ganguly issue has reared its head and there are a couple of guys in their side who are skeptical about what’s actually going on. Trust me, we will try and use it to our advantage.”And did they have any plans for Sachin Tendulkar, playing on his home ground? Pat came the reply: “We got no particular plans for Tendulkar,” he said, “Polly [Shaun Pollock] has sorted his plans out to him, he’s got him three times and it will be nice if he can get him the fourth time as well. We understand that Tendulkar is a fabulous player but hopefully his big innings is not against us. Hopefully he has a bad series against us with us keeping him down. It’s going to be difficult for us because he’ll be in front of his home crowd, but he’ll also be under pressure because he hasn’t scored much in this series. We’ll try and put him under more pressure.”Boucher made sure the administrators had their share of things to think about as well. “We’ve been very surprised with the dew factor,” he continued. “We knew it was going to dew, but we didn’t know the wickets are going to change that much. Especially the second game, the wicket was very slow upfront and then greased up quite a bit which made it difficult for bowling in the second innings. Maybe playing day-night games at this time of the year isn’t the answer. I know it gets the crowds in but at the end of the day you need an even contest.”And he had absolutely no doubt which team had called the shots in this series, saying that South Africa had been the better team in all three departments. All through, there was a touch of insouciance, a slightly overly confident air and an attempt to throw in the gauntlet. The answers will probably resound louder if Boucher and his team-mates manage to walk the talk and return home with their first ODI series-triumph in India.

Andrew Leipus, former physio of the Indian cricket team, said he was satisfied withthe progress Sachin Tendulkar was making as he recovered from elbow surgery. “I met him in Mumbai and his arm looks like it’s healing very well,” Leipuswas quoted as saying in . “He has still got lots of work to do.”Leipus, who is at the Indian team probables training camp at the National CricketAcademy (NCA) in Bangalore, said that Tendulkar’s injury had left him with nooption apart from surgery. “I think the best he could have done under thecircumstances is to undergo surgery, considering that the demands on him are huge,both from the playing point of view and the physical point of view,” he said. “He’sbeen there for 16 years and obviously there will be wear and tear on his body. Ithink in my perspective, Sachin opting for surgery is the right call.”Leipus is presently a consultant-physio with the probables at the camp. He said thatTendulkar’s progress augurs well for the rest of his playing career. “In the future,he can do what he is comfortable with,” he said. “I think he will be better thanwhat he has been for the last few years, and mentally he will be stronger now.”Leipus also mentioned that the Indian team was fairly unfit, having come in from theoff-season. But he singled out Zaheer Khan for praise. “Zaheer Khan is extremelyfit,” he said. “Probably the fittest I’ve ever seen him. That’s a very positivething.”

The Worcestershire offspinner, Gareth Batty, has been called into England’s squad ahead of the first Test against Bangladesh, as cover for Ashley Giles, who has a hip injury.Batty, 27, played the last of his five Tests in Antigua in April 2004, at the end of England’s triumphant tour of the Caribbean. But he toured South Africa last winter with both the Tests and the one-day sides, and has been in good form for Worcestershire in the County Championship. In their current match against Essex at Chelmsford, he has made 54 and taken 3 for 26.Giles, meanwhile, has been troubled by a hip problem since Warwickshire’s Championship match against Sussex at Hove on May 10. “Ashley’s fitness will be re-assessed by the England medical team tomorrow when the Test squad reports for practice,” said David Graveney, England’s chairman of selectors. “Gareth has been added to the squad as a precautionary measure.”Giles was restricted to 11 overs in the match against Sussex but batted in both innings and was confident of making the Test side. However, he is now feeling discomfort again and will be put through his paces by England’s medical team on Monday. He began the season in superb form, taking 24 wickets at 18 apiece, including three five-wicket hauls.Giles’s injury could increase the chances of England playing a full hand of seamers at Lord’s. Simon Jones has bowled 34 overs for Glamorgan in their game against Hampshire, to suggest that he has recovered from his back injury. The vulnerability of the Bangladesh batting to the county seamers they have faced may encourage the selectors to pick an all-pace attack, therefore giving Jon Lewis a Test debut and reducing the workload on Andrew Flintoff.Duncan Fletcher has said that England will need to make sure they do not take Bangladesh lightly at Lord’s. He believes Bangladesh have the ability to make things awkward if England are not on top of their game.He told : “They are a side that will make some progress. Cricket is a strange game and you can never underestimate anyone. It’s important we appreciate there are some good players in their side. There have been other sides who have been in the same position when they’ve entered the international arena and look where they are today. On any given day if one or two of their bowlers bowl in the right areas, you’ve got to make sure you’re at the top of your game.”

Cecil Starr, the former South Australia player and long-term administrator, has died four years to the day after his friend Sir Donald Bradman. Ian McLachlan, the SACA president, said Starr, 97, passed away today and was South Australian cricket’s most revered elder statesman.Starr played seven first-class matches for South Australia after making his debut in 1927, and served on the SACA’s Ground and Finance Committee from 1952 to 1978. He was a state selector from 1948 to 1957 and 1959 to 1965, and a SACA honorary life member."He was a charming and gentle man with an enormous knowledge of cricket and cricket administration," McLachlan said. "He gave thousands of days of his life to this game and would be remembered very fondly by all in the cricket world." Bradman died aged 92 on February 25, 2001.