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Ricky Ponting isn’t sure whether the situation he’ll face over the next three Tests is the biggest challenge of his career. He must quickly realise it is because he is fighting for runs, his team and his captaincy. England’s innings demolition of Australia in Adelaide has left the hosts chasing two wins to have any chance of regaining the Ashes. In their current form, one success would be a sea-parting achievement.Ponting has already lost two Ashes series and if he fails for a third time there will be little sympathy from spectators and selectors. There are major fires burning all around him and he is finding it impossible to put any of them out. Selection issues, the heel injury to Simon Katich, bowlers who can’t maintain their line, untrustworthy spinners and the most inconsistent No.6 in the game are among the most prominent concerns. Then there is the blazing issue of his lack of runs.He is a great batsman who is struggling for impact in situations he used to control. In this game he collected a first-ball duck and 9, taking his tally to 70 in four innings. After the match Ponting was reluctant to single out any of his team-mates for criticism, but piled it on himself. Ponting will be 36 by the end of the Perth Test, so his time is running out.”Don’t worry about winning the games, I’ve got to make some runs,” Ponting said with typical candour. “It’s as simple as that.” In reality, the situation is much more complex because even if Ponting rushes back into form he will be unable to carry the side unless there are dramatic all-round improvements.”There’s a great challenge for me to score runs but there’s a great challenge for me to captain the side well in Perth and give the guys the best chance to get our way back into the series,” he said. “We have to win two games, and we have to play good cricket to win a single game.”Over the past seven days there have been only poor performances from Australia. They were in charge for the opening stages in Brisbane but have been swatted aside ever since. Ponting knows this and is doing well to remain relaxed. He speaks confidently about Australia’s ability to turn things around even though his words, in public and from team meetings, sound shallow.”We’ve been doing a lot of talking about things, about what we want to do and how to change and rectify things, but our actions have been what has let us down so far,” he said. “Skills at different times have let us down and we understand that.”The batsmen, including Ponting, started the slide in Adelaide by losing three wickets for two runs on the opening morning on the way to being dismissed for 245. Australia were then able to take only six wickets before England declared at 620. On the final morning the last half-dozen local breakthroughs came for 54 runs as England were handed a 1-0 advantage, which is much more weighty than it looks. The predicted storms arrived at 2pm, but by then the teams were already being packed off to their next destinations.Easily the most frightening aspect of this result for the Australians was that, unlike the weather, they didn’t know it was coming. They thought they were well matched against England and deserved to be favourites, even though they started the campaign on a three-match losing streak, their worst since 1988-89. Instead England played like an outfit on top of the world and Australia did an excellent impression of a group over-rated at No.4.”Probably not,” Ponting said when asked if he’d seen the result coming. “You probably wouldn’t have thought so after the first three days in Brisbane. I thought the way everything was heading for us up there, it looked like we were playing some good cricket and we were on the right track. We had a group of players together skill-wise who were going to be good enough to win the series.”The scenario has been brutally altered and the Australians now face the extremely unusual situation of having to hang on at home. South Africa beat the hosts here two summers ago for the first series win by an overseas side since 1992-93. Losing has since become a habit for Ponting’s men, who haven’t won a Test since Lord’s in July. Now their fortress is ruined.”It probably looks as if we are going to have to be at our absolute best if we are going to work our way back into the series,” Ponting said. “The challenges are there, the pressure’s on the players just to make sure we give it our best shot for the next three weeks.”Most of the squad will have time off before the unit for the third Test is named on Friday. Changes will have to be made and Ponting was due to meet with Andrew Hilditch, the chairman of selectors, to pick through the remains.Over the past year Ponting has lost power in his batting, his leadership and his sway with the decision makers. The era is moving on and, sadly, a true great is being left behind.

The fourth season of the IPL has run into further legal trouble as Kings XI Punjab moved the Mumbai High Court on Monday, seeking redressal from the BCCI’s termination of the franchise last month. In its petition, the Punjab franchise contends that the termination was a “deliberate and calculated” move to ensure a new and more lucrative re-bidding process. A source at the Kings XI franchise said the case was expected to be argued by prominent advocates Fali Nariman and Darius Khambatta as well as internal legal counsel of the Wadia family, who are one of the joint owners of the team.In unexpected decision on October 10, the BCCI terminated the franchises of both King’s XI Punjab as well as the Rajasthan Royals who have already taken the BCCI to court on October 25. The Punjab case will be given a date by the Mumbai High Court when it resumes on November 15 after a seasonal festival break. The Rajasthan petition hearing is also expected to be held on the same day.Punjab had initially considered using negotiations as a means of settling the issue, and had called the termination unfair and not in the IPL’s collaborative spirit. As a result of the scrapping of the two franchises, the IPL organisers have said the next edition is almost certain to feature only eight teams.The fourth edition of the IPL has been dogged by controversies, of which the most prominent include the termination of the two franchises and an ownership dispute between the consortium that won the Kochi franchise earlier this year. The deadline for the rival factions of the Kochi franchise to sort out their differences expires on November 27. In the event of a failure to resolve their problems, the BCCI had said it would consider drafting a fresh tender process to replace the two terminated franchises.

Scorecard
ESPNcricinfo Ltd

A maiden first-class double-hundred from captain Hamilton Masakadza helped Mountaineers salvage a draw against Mid West Rhinos at Kwekwe Sports Club. The visitors were bowled out for 191 in their first innings and forced to follow on, but Masakadza shared in partnerships of 77 with opener Tino Mawoyo and 130 with Mark Vermeulen to secure the result on his way to an unbeaten 208.Masakadza’s marathon effort made up for his erroneous decision to put Mid West Rhinos in to bat on a docile pitch after winning the toss. The Mountaineers attack, without Shingi Masakadza who was rested for this match after picking up a back strain, were put to the sword on the first day as Brendan Taylor and Gary Ballance put on a massive 227 for the first wicket.Taylor, who was dropped twice, was the first to his hundred just after tea but then slashed at a wide ball to be caught behind for 110. Mountaineers fought back through offspinner Prosper Utseya, who removed Ballance – for 104 – and Vusi Sibanda in the same over as the hosts slipped to 234 for 3. But the Rhinos were able to declare at a healthy 460 for 6 after half-centuries from Friday Kasteni and Malcolm Waller, and their seamers soon had Mountaineers in deep trouble.They had crashed to 45 for 5 before a late revival through Greg Smith and Utseya’s combined efforts. They put on 107 for the sixth wicket, both passing fifty, but once they were removed the tail soon folded and Mountaineers were skittled for 191, still 269 runs adrift of the Rhinos’ first-innings effort.Mountaineers’ batsmen showed much better application in the second innings, Masakadza and Mawoyo shaking off Jonathan Beukes’ second failure of the match with a counter-attacking partnership. Mawoyo was eventually removed for an 82-ball 55 that included five fours and two sixes, but Masakadza then found a willing partner in Vermeulen and they took Mountaineers to 223 for 2 at the close on the third day.Masakadza went to his hundred early the next morning and, though Vermeulen fell for 46, battling innings from the lower middle order aided his efforts to deny Rhinos victory. He surpassed his previous first-class best of 188, made against Mashonaland Eagles last season, striking 24 fours and three sixes to reach a double century shortly before the game was declared a draw.

Match facts

Tuesday, September 21
Start time 1730 (1530 GMT)
Anil Kumble will be desperate to make amends for a match-turning dropped catch against Mumbai Indians•Indian Premier League

Big Picture

This is as good as a quarter-final. Lions have four points, but a slightly poorer net run-rate than Royal Challengers Bangalore, their opponents and the other contenders for the remaining semi-final slot from Group B. Bangalore have two points, but they need not worry about net run-rate either. Bangalore have Virat Kohli and Rahul Dravid to thank, for they took their last game until the last ball, which ensured their net run-rate stayed higher.With all those net run-rate complications put aside, this straight knockout promises to be a knockout in the other sense too. There will be South African fast bowlers, and they have all been bowling fast. Dale Steyn for Bangalore, Ethan O’Reilly and Craig Alexander for the Lions. Sitting in the dugout, when he watches his team-mates bat, Steyn could be looking at future international team-mates bowling.

Teams

Bangalore seem to have a good combination going, except for B Akhil, who neither bowled nor batted in their defeat to Mumbai Indians. At any rate, he was slated to bat in at No. 7. They could look to go with either the better batsman, Manish Pandey, or the specialist spinner, Nayan Doshi.Royal Challengers Bangalore: (probable) 1 Jacques Kallis, 2 Rahul Dravid, 3 Robin Uthappa (wk), 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Cameron White, 6 Virat Kohli, 7 B Akhil / Manish Pandey / Nayan Doshi, 8 Praveen Kumar, 9 Dale Steyn, 10 Anil Kumble (capt), 11 R Vinay KumarLions have a difficult choice to make after Alexander, brought in ahead of the experienced Shane Burger, impressed everybody with his pace. They will hope to have Neil McKenzie fit and playing.Lions (probable): 1 Alviro Petersen (capt), 2 Jonathan Vandiar, 3 Richard Cameron, 4 Vaughn van Jaarsveld, 5 Neil McKenzie / Jean Symes, 6 Robert Frylinck, 7 Zander de Bruyn, 8 Thami Tsolekile (wk), 9 Shane Burger / Craig Alexander, 10 Aaron Phangiso, 11 Ethan O’Reilly

Watch out for…

Those who have played under Anil Kumble know him to be a tough captain, severe on mistakes. He was just as severe on himself when his drop let Dwayne Bravo off the hook. That drop cost Bangalore the match. Watch out for a charged-up Kumble, looking to make up for that error.Besides being a livewire in the field, Aaron Phangiso is a pretty clever Twenty20 bowler, which shows in his economy-rate of 6.30, the fifth-best among bowlers who have bowled a minimum of 10 overs in the tournament. A supreme athlete, he is a good squash player too.

Key contest

Dale Steyn v Alviro Petersen Petersen, like other opener-captains in the tournament, has been Lions’ most consistent batsman and highest run-getter. Steyn has been Bangalore’s impact man. The tussle between these Test team-mates could decide the match.

Stats and Trivia

• Bangalore’s Ross Taylor has hit 148 sixes in Twenty20 cricket, five ahead of the second-paced David Hussey, who has played 36 more innings than Taylor.
• Jacques Kallis has registered 17 scores of 50 or more, which is joint-third on the all-time list, behind Brad Hodge’s 23 and Hussey’s 19.

There appears to have been a conflict of interest in N Srinivasan holding the office of BCCI treasurer while bidding for an IPL franchise, India’s Supreme Court has observed, while suggesting that he resign his board position and retain his status as the owner of the Chennai Super Kings.The court’s observations – which included several stinging remarks – came while hearing a petition, filed by former BCCI president AC Muthiah, against the BCCI’s constitution amendment that permitted Srinivasan to bid for the team in 2008. However, it reiterated through the course of the day-long hearing that these were observations and not a judgement.Srinivasan, now the board secretary, is also vice-chairman and managing director of India Cements, the franchise owners.”An amendment has been brought and there seems to be a conflict of interest. Can a person be a judge of his own case?” Justice Gyan Sudha Mishra asked the attorney-general, GE Vahanvati, who appeared for the BCCI. “I am hearing the matter relating to the controversy. But can I participate in the bidding of IPL teams tomorrow?”You introduce an amendment where the IPL will be an exception. You are a prominent industrialist holding a key position in the board and have a stake in the bidding. In order to avoid suspicion and be above board, you should have got your membership suspended.”Our nagging question is: can you continue in a dual capacity? That is the core issue. We are proceeding on the footing that you had a bar on any dual status before your blanket amendment was brought.”We want to know what grave prejudice will be caused to you if we pass an order that you can either continue as the owner of the IPL team or contest the BCCI election,” Justice Mishra said.The court disagreed with the contention of Mukul Rohtagi, Srinivasan’s senior counsel, that there was nothing wrong in his occupying both roles. “Then resign from BCCI and bid for the IPL,” Justice Mishra said. “This can be equated with the office of profit. It is a crude explanation.”We will give you a choice between the two, whether you want to continue in the BCCI or involve yourself with the IPL and India Cements.”The court dismissed Vahanvati’s argument that Muthiah, as a former BCCI president, had no locus standi in challenging the amendment. The Bench, quoting BCCI rules, said it was under an obligation to inquire into any complaints made against its members.”It is your duty to look into the complaint. Otherwise, why should Muthiah have to come to the court? One of your own rules says there should be no conflict of interest. The BCCI clause provides that in the event of any complaint of violation of rules, you should conduct an inquiry. Why did you not do it?”, the Bench asked.The BCCI’s constitution was amended in 2008 to allow Srinivasan to buy the Chennai franchise. Before the amendment, clause 6.2.4 of the Regulations for Players, Team officials, Umpires and Administrators, read: “No administrator shall have, directly or indirectly, any commercial interest in the matches and events conducted by the board.”The amendment excluded Twenty20 cricket from the purview of the clause, which now reads: “No administrator shall have directly or indirectly any commercial interest in any of the events of the BCCI, excluding IPL, Champions League and Twenty20.”Muthiah’s petition alleged that the amendment was made specifically to favour Srinivasan, and asserted that the decision to exclude IPL and Twenty20 tournaments was “illegal and opposed to public policy.”He appealed to the Supreme Court in April after the Madras high court refused to entertain his petition challenging the BCCI’s decision to amend its constitution, saying there was “absolutely no merit to interfere”. Muthiah had originally written to the BCCI to say that allowing India Cements to buy Chennai created a conflict of interest. When the board failed to respond to his complaint, Muthiah took his fight to the courts.

ScorecardJames Hildreth hit a season’s best 142 – his fourth County Championshipcentury of the season – to put Somerset in a strong position on the opening dayagainst Nottinghamshire at Taunton.Hildreth shared a fifth-wicket stand of 210 with Jos Buttler (88), which ledtheir side to 423 for 6 after winning the toss. Darren Pattinson took 4 for76 from 14 overs.Notts suffered a blow before the start when Ryan Sidebottom suffered a kneeinjury in the warm-up game of football and had to pull out. But Pattinson bowled Marcus Trescothick leg stump with the very first ball and at one point Somerset were struggling on 77 for 3.With the ball swinging and moving off the seam, the early batsmen had problemsand it was 44 for 2 when Nick Compton, on 17, edged Pattinson to second slipwhere David Hussey took the catch.Arul Suppiah battled his way to 30 before he edged a defensive shot and gave acatch to Alex Hales at first slip off Andre Adams. Zander de Bruyn and Hildreth took the score to 126 for 3 at lunch, but the first ball after the interval saw de Bruyn play down the wrong line and fall lbwto Pattinson for 44.From then on Hildreth and 19-year-old Buttler took control, batting withincreasing assurance in the afternoon sunshine. Hildreth made liberal use of the sweep against spinners Samit Patel and Hussey, reaching a chanceless hundred just before tea with a boundary to third-man offCharlie Shreck.The 25-year-old former England Lions player had faced 128 balls and hit 13 fours in a typically attractive knock. He has now scored 846 Championship runs this summer at an average of over 60.Talented youngster Buttler lost nothing by comparison and was unbeaten on 71when tea was taken at 280 for 4. The total had been extended to 336 when Buttler danced down the wicket to Patel and was bowled. The youngster had played beautifully, but left with head bowed,aghast at his mistake with the new ball so close.It accounted for Hildreth as he carelessly pulled the first delivery with itfrom Pattinson straight to Mark Wagh at deep square. That meant Pattinson had struck with his first ball of the day, his first after lunch and his first with the new ball.But it was still Somerset’s day as Peter Trego (36 not out) and CraigKieswetter (43 not out) guided them to maximum batting points, Kieswetterconfirming the return to form he suggested in the Friends Provident t20quarter-final win over Northamptonshire on Tuesday.

IPL governing council member and former Indian captain, Sunil Gavaskar, has suggested a new formula for player retention which envisages the eight original franchises retaining seven of their existing players provided the franchises are willing to bid up to $2 million for them though the player auction.According to Gavaskar, the teams would be able to nominate the players they wish to retain but all the players would be part of the auction, with a cap of $2 million per player. If the price of a player at the auction reached the $2 million limit, the player’s original franchise would have first right of refusal, provided it was one of the bidders.The BCCI empowered a three-man panel comprising Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri and Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi to make recommendations on the structure of the league. Gavaskar said the panel agreed that player retention will hurt Pune and Kochi, the two new franchises, but felt the council should abide by an earlier decision that teams could keep four Indian and three overseas players.The spending limit at the auction would be $8 million, which means the franchises would have to think carefully about players they want to retain. In addition, the total number of players in a squad would be capped at 25, with a restriction on matches a single player can play in order to reduce the risk of burnout. “Since a player could only play 14 matches plus the knockouts, a franchise could play five overseas players in four matches, but not in the knockout stage,” Gavaskar said in an email which was sent to the eight captains of the original franchises. The email was not sent to franchise officials or team owners.The details of IPL 2011 have been shrouded in mystery since the suspension of chairman Lalit Modi in April. The franchise owners had met with BCCI president Shashank Manohar and interim IPL chairman Chirayu Amin on June 24 to exchange their views on next year’s event, after which Pataudi, Shastri and Gavaskar had one-one-meetings with the franchise owners about player retention, salary caps and squad sizes. At the meeting, eight of the franchises voiced their opposition to player retention, while Mumbai and Chennai were in favour of keeping players.Gavaskar said these proposals were put to the full council at a meeting on June 25, but no decision was taken. The issue will now be brought up again at the next council meeting in August.

ScorecardSuzie Bates produced a superb all-round performance as New Zealand levelled the one-day series against England with a four-wicket victory at Taunton. Bates followed her three wickets with a calm, unbeaten 75 as she marshalled the chase and nursed her team across the line with 13 balls to spare.Bates added 54 with Sara McGlashan (28) and 50 with Sophie Devine (23) after England’s spinners threatened to haul them back into the match. Laura Marsh opened the bowling with her offspin and removed both openers, while Holly Colvin and Danielle Hazell also struck but couldn’t break the back of New Zealand’s batting.Bates struck seven boundaries in her 107-ball innings and the required rate was always under control for the visitors. McGlashan provided timely impetus with a sprightly innings before being stumped off Hazell, but Devine and Nicole Browne offered Bates more solid support.England struggled to build on a useful platform laid by Claire Taylor and Lydia Greenway as they took the score to 138 for 3 after 35 overs after the home side had wobbled early to 59 for 3 when Charlotte Edwards was lbw to Devine.Greenway was run out for 40 and Taylor, after hitting six boundaries in her 87-ball stay, went the same way. The lower-order found it difficult to locate the boundary as Bates, the seventh bowler used by captain Aimee Watkins, took three wickets in the closing overs.”We were 20 or 30 runs short with the bat, despite Claire Taylor and Lydia Greenway’s good performance,” Edwards said. “We bowled well, but missed too many run-outs, which cost us in the end. It’s one apiece, so we will look towards the next game at Derby now.”

Jim Cumbes, the Lancashire chief executive, has warned that a Test-match county could go bust in the near future unless changes are made to the bidding process for international matches, and believes a franchise-based system involving the nine major venues should be the way forward to support the English game.His comments came as Lancashire announced a record loss of £546,000 after Old Trafford didn’t host a Test in 2009 and began their extensive redevelopment plans to try and ensure they earn an Ashes contest in 2013. The current ECB process is that grounds that aren’t given long-term staging agreements have to bid against each other to host Tests, one-dayers and Twenty20s.”Without doubt,” Cumbes said when asked about a county going under, “and it won’t be a small one; it will be a big one. It’s always possible, always possible. Yorkshire have a lot of debt at Headingley; Durham are in a lot of debt; we’re in debt.”Some grounds more than others cannot afford what is being asked. Trent Bridge’s staging agreement finishes next year – they’re frightened to death, because they have no other source of income but cricket yet have a ground they’ve got to maintain. Everybody’s in the same boat.”If the ECB don’t relax on this bidding process and start to get more realistic about the numbers, all we’ve said is we need to look at something else to fill the grounds.”The problems stem from the increasing number of grounds now wanting to host international matches following the development of Chester-le-Street, Cardiff, The Rose Bowl and Bristol. There are strict standards grounds have to meet in order to stage top-level games, but in return they can’t be guaranteed the volume of matches they need tobreak even.”You’ve got nine Test match grounds, and seven Test matches – two of which go to Lord’s – so you’ve got five for eight,” said Cumbes. “If the board then wants you to spend a million quid a year maintaining the ground, you can’t square the circle.”Whatever we come up with, it has to work for the whole of the game. But at the moment, you’ve got nine grounds supporting the rest – so I suppose you could ask ‘why aren’t nine franchises supporting them as well?'”I think it’s probably got to happen. The IPL is the fourth-most successful sporting competition in the world; it works in South Africa and Australia. We’ve got to make it attractive enough to fill our grounds.”The first major part of Old Trafford’s new look, an imposing red structure called The Point, is almost complete and will be open at the end of the month. The next stage of the plans, which include new player and media facilities plus more new stands, has been passed by Trafford Council and is now awaiting final clearance by Government North West before work can begin.The club are confident the plans won’t encounter any problems along the way although the recent General Election and a change of personnel in key positions has meant some delays.

ScorecardJames Hildreth hit an exhilarating century as Somerset beat Sussex by four wickets in a high-scoring Clydesdale Bank 40 game at Taunton.The visitors looked in control when posting 291 for 8 after losing the toss. Matt Prior (64), Michael Thornely (67) and Murray Goodwin (64) all enjoyed the batsmen-friendly conditions, while Alfonso Thomas (three for 40) and Damien Wright (three for 66) were the most successful bowlers.Despite Marcus Trescothick’s rapid 61, Somerset looked in trouble at 109 for 4. But then Jos Buttler (69) joined Hildreth in a superb match-winning stand of 158 in 16 overs.Hildreth completed his century just before the end off only 66 balls, with 11 fours and three sixes. It was a magnificent innings, ably supported by 19-year-old Buttler – whose runs came off 53 deliveries, with nine fours and a six – as the pair transformed the match with an array of one-day shots, many improvised, all around the wicket.Skipper Trescothick had provided some sort of platform with eight fours and two sixes in a typically powerful knock. The winning hit was made by Wright on the last appearance of his spell as Somerset’s temporary overseas player. He will be replaced by Murali Kartik for the Championship match with Yorkshire at Taunton, which starts on Monday.Earlier, Sussex openers Chris Nash and Prior had taken the score to 63 when Nash, on 25, drove Thomas in the air to mid-on where Zander de Bruyn took a smart catch, two-handed above his head.Prior reached his half-century off 47 balls, with two sixes and four fours, and by the midway point in their innings the visitors were well placed at 127 for one. With one run added to the total the England wicketkeeper was caught by Max Waller at mid-wicket off a Peter Trego full toss.Thornely and Goodwin then added 103 in 12 overs, with Thornely reaching his maiden one-day fifty off 51 balls. Goodwin was even quicker, hitting a 34-ball half-century, with five fours and two sixes.At 231 for 2 Sussex looked set for 300-plus but Goodwin, on 64, was run out by Waller, whose throw to the bowler’s end from deep mid-wicket just beat the 37-year-old Zimbabwean as he and Thornely attempted a second run.Thornely fell for 67 to a catch by Arul Suppiah at deep cover off a Thomas full-toss, but a bright 26 off 16 balls from Rana Naved-ul-Hasan took the total to 271 before he skied Wright to Trescothick running in from mid-off.Robin Martin-Jenkins was lbw to the Australian first ball and Andrew Hodd became a third victim for Thomas before Wright’s final delivery saw him knock back Chad Keegan’s leg stump.