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Revealed: Bradman's clashes with 'Invincible' Miller

Bradman had disagreements with his team-mates about their friendliness with their English counterparts.

Many Australian cricketers wanted a friendlier style of international cricket after World War II, but Donald Bradman had other ideas, according to a recently published book.

According to the book titled "Bradman's War", authored by Malcolm Knox, during the 1948 "Invincibles" tour, Bradman had a running battle with his star all-rounder, Keith Miller.

Twice during the Test series, when Bradman threw Miller the ball to bowl, Miller threw it back, refusing.
In the dressing room at Lord's, the bickering went on, and former Australian opener Jack Fingleton, who was covering the tour, was told that Bradman "grumbled apropos of Miller not bowling".

"I don't know what's up with you chaps. I'm 40 and I can do my full day's work in the field," the Sydney Morning Herald quotes Bradman, as saying.

To which Miller allegedly replied: "So would I, if I had fibrositis during the war!"
The antecedents of this verbal exchange relate to Miller being a fighter pilot during the war, while Bradman never went to battle, as he suffered fibrositis, a nervous muscular complaint, and had been discharged from the army in 1941.

Miller's resentment towards his captain went back to the contrasting ways in which they had spent the war.
Miller had on his side several of the English and Australian cricketers, who had come out of the war feeling that cricket should be played in a new spirit.

The clash between this idea and Bradman's, which was to continue the combative atmosphere of cricket in the 1930s, was going to determine the path of Ashes cricket for decades to come.

In 1945, the English and Australian teams shared the same dressing room, a situation surely unique in the history of matches between the two countries. They did more than change in the same room. They travelled to and from the ground in the same motor-coach and stayed at the same hotel. Nobody lost anything by this. Nor did the cricket.

The Victory Tests began with a common resolve between the captains, Hassett and Hammond, to play "differently". Inspired by Keith Miller, the Australians drew the series 2-2. Many on both sides would say it was the happiest cricket of their life.
When they returned home, however, after an arduous series of matches in India, the servicemen began to detect, or imagine, a bias against them.

The Australian selectors picked a team to tour New Zealand for the first Test cricket after the war, and Hassett was not even vice-captain, let alone captain. Miller was the only other Services player chosen.
Don Bradman was singled out as the most likely suspect, as helped select the squad to New Zealand.

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Prefer to rotate players, says Dhoni

Colombo, (ANI): Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Saturday said that he preferred to rotate players, even as the team sweated out ahead of their match against England in the ongoing Twenty20 World Cup tournament in Sri Lanka.

Addressing a news conference here, Dhoni said, "We have a chance of giving him (Yuvraj Singh) a few games. We are in that stage where we can look to do that.

But as I said again the other players who are a part of the side, you know, we also want to give the games to them so that in the knockout stage everybody has played a few games. That is why in the batting department also, we did a few changes so that if the batsman gets to bat a bit and we are not in a scenario where the top three have not performed in all the games and the rest have not got any chance to bat in the later stage of the tournament," he said.

He added that they would make occasional changes in the team so that they have the right combination when they play the crucial matches.

"We are looking to make a few changes into our playing eleven and then go in so that most of the players who are a part of the fifteen, they play atleast one game before going into the next stage. So that will really help us and we will also give some game time to the batsman as well as the bowlers and later on if you are looking to play with the fifth bowler, we will be able to get into position during where we can decide this is the fifth bowler who suits the condition the best and, you know, who needs to get off this side," he said.

Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh and captain Dhoni practiced in the nets here on Saturday.

India kicked off its campaign with a 23-run victory over a spirited Afghanistan side on September 19.
Virat Kohli top-scored with 50 from 39 balls in India's 159 for five. India then dismissed Afghanistan for 136 off 19.3 overs with Yuvraj Singh and Lakshmipathy Balaji capturing three wickets each.

Afghanistan played defending champions England on Friday and was beaten comprehensively by 116 runs.
The last match in Group A would be between England and India on Sunday. The two top teams will proceed to the super eight stage.

The fourth edition of the tournament, being played in the Indian subcontinent for the first time, got under way on September 18 when the hosts defeated Zimbabwe.

In addition to Sri Lanka, the teams taking part are Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, West Indies and Zimbabwe.

BCCI, DC agree to arbitration

Mumbai: The Indian cricket board and owners of the terminated Indian Premier League (IPL) team Deccan Chargers agreed before the Bombay high court on Monday to go for arbitration to resolve their dispute.

The name of the arbitrator is likely to be finalised on Tuesday when the petition by the Deccan Chargers Holding Limited (DCHL) is taken up for further hearing.

The DCHL approached the court on September 15 seeking an order to restrain the BCCI after it served notice terminating the franchise agreement.

The BCCI counsel told the court that roughly Rs. 150 crore was needed annually to run an IPL team and DCHL's poor financial condition would make it difficult to run the team.

The DCHL counsel said that Yes Bank was willing to fund the team.

 Pakistan progress to Super 8s with 8-wicket win over B'desh

Pallekele: Pakistan opener Imran Nazir smashed 72 off 36 balls to lead his team into the Super Eight stage at the World Twenty20 with an emphatic eight-wicket victory over Bangladesh

Pakistan win by eight wickets and have romped home with the bat, Bangladesh were all over the place with the ball and in the field and are going home, while

Pakistan go down to Colombo to play in the Super Eights. It ended up being a touch one-sided which was a shame after the excellent effort batting first, particularly Shakib-al-Hasan, but Pakistan have achieved their highest successful chase and ensure there is no upset in this year's World T20 with all the minnows going home at the group stage and realistically, looking rather out of place.

Just to confirm, the Super Eight stages were pre-arranged by the seedings so it doesn't matter who has won the groups, the teams in each section of the next phase were known long ago. Pakistan, therefore, take their place alongside India, Australia and South Africa in Colombo.

Mushfiqur Rahim:' The pressure was on us as we did not do well in the first game. Boys worked really hard. Shakib played a blinder. Pakistan's batting and bowling was better. We can take some positives and go home and try and work out. We are not used to playing on these kind of wickets. We will try to work on our game.'

It was a dismal performance with the ball from Bangladesh. They showed a lot of spirit with the bat, Shakib led the way there but there was no one to do a similar role with the ball. The pacers were guilty of bowling too many short deliveries. Imran Nazir put them away in style and together with Hafeez, the duo ensured that Pakistan made it through with little trouble.

Hafeez:'I think it's a great team effort. Boys have showed right attitude. Things were not working for Bangladesh. The way Nazir approached the target was great. Everything was working for him. There is a little bit of concern as far as fast bowling is concerned. Bangladesh bowled well, but Nazir was too good. When we chase, we try to get a good start. Nazir and Jamshed are doing really well. We had a good time here. I am really happy with the way the boys are responding. '

Imran Nazir is the Man of the Match

"It's a great team effort, the boys have shown the right attitude so far in this tournament," says Mohammad Hafeez. "Our bowler's tried well but there is a little bit of a concern about the fast bowlers. But I am very happy as captain and the team are responding to me." Man of the Match is also on the Pakistan side, and it goes to Imran Nazir for his smashing 72 from 36 balls.

Imran Nazir: 'Thanks to my family, they prayed for me. The coach has given me a lot of confidence to play my natural game. In cricket it doesn't matter if it is Kandy or Colombo, I'll try to play the same way and do well'

So that concludes a very uninspiring group stage with all the matches firmly going one way. There have been glimpses of the entertainment this tournament could provide but we're yet to have that spark, that tight match to get everyone on the edge of their seats. Hopefully the Super Eights can give us that and we'll all be back after a day's break for the start of that second phase as Sri Lanka play New Zealand at 3.30 IST on Thursday. England and West Indies also in action that evening, before attentions turn to Colombo on Friday.

news(North East West South)

Australia’s coach Mickey Arthur spoke to The Telegraph at the Cinnamon Grand on Monday morning.

some Answers:

His thoughts in the lead-up to the Super Eights...

Assuming that Pakistan beat Bangladesh (on Tuesday), all three teams that we will be facing are going to be the ones to have won both their group matches, like us...It’s going to be such a tough pool, with all the toppers.

The pool of death, so to say...

Absolutely. Every match is going to be tough...Against India, versus South Africa and against Pakistan, as things stand. Having said that, if you aspire to win the World Twenty20, then you’ve got to beat the really good teams at some stage.

Eve of the tournament thoughts...

I’ve always maintained that any one of the teams which makes the Super Eights could go on to win the World Twenty20...The tournament didn’t begin with a clear favourite. In this format, you don’t have one.

If he watched the India-England match on Sunday night...

I did...India tried a few things differently and those experiments worked...The happy situation for us is that I don’t think India know what’s their best XI! Do they go with seven batsmen or have five specialist bowlers? Then, if it’s to be five bowlers, who is the one batsman to miss out? Would it be (Virender) Sehwag? More than solving problems, the big win over England has given India a headache.

On how he’d go about things...

Go with five specialist bowlers, with Irfan Pathan, who can bat, being one of them...But I admit it’s a tough call for India and I’m glad I don’t have to make it.

India’s USP...

The team is very well led by (Mahendra Singh) Dhoni...He has a calm head...And, in Virat Kohli, they have an unbelievable player.

Biggest threat for Australia...

Kohli. At the drop of a hat, he can change a game.

Australia’s No.1 weapon...

Shane Watson...Has a massive impact with bat and ball. Either way, he can set the game up for us.

Whether India will be carrying the ‘baggage’ of a poor tour of Australia not too long ago...

Don’t think so.

Australia’s T20 captain, George Bailey...

Very good...He’s a very good communicator, is very meticulous with the planning.

On what it takes to succeed in T20 Internationals...

Somebody performing at a critical moment...For Australia, it could be Watson, could be David Warner. T20 can change quickly, so (ideally) you do need game-changers in every area.

Given the fast pace, if there can actually be a strategy in place...

You need a structure and a blueprint on how the game will be played. But there will be a lot of scenarios within that.

Finally, the luck factor...

There’s the element of luck, yes...Look, because T20 is a short game, every mistake gets amplified. It takes a lot out of players, even takes a lot out of the coaches!