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Cricket is a mind game above all others with the possible exception of golf, the ultimate masochists’ pursuit. It is something Michael Bevan, the most driven of Australian players, knows only too well. Bevan spent more than a decade trying to prove himself on the world stage while fighting a losing battle against certain perceptions of his batting, notably that he had a weakness against the short ball and was thus the dreaded “one-day specialist”.So when he lost his lucrative Cricket Australia contract at the end of 2003-04 and went back to negotiate the relative pittance of a salary with his beloved New South Wales, his cricketing life reached a genuine flashpoint. He knew his international career was probably finished at 34, unfair as that might have been given his one-day average of 53.58 and a reputation for owning three or four shots to every ball.Always a different card, Bevan chose to pack up and play in Tasmania, who also offered an assistant coaching job. He arrived in Hobart with a mindset that reflected the fact he was no longer required to prove anything to anyone beyond himself. Brian McFadyen, the coach, soon noticed the change. While it was different from before, there was also a familiarity about it. McFadyen, now ensconced as a senior coach at the Centre of Excellence in Brisbane, sensed Bevan wanted to play like he had all those years ago, when it was just another game. In essence, he had gone back to the swashbuckling kid from Canberra who lit up NSW upon his arrival at the end of the 1980s. The result was astonishing. Jamie Cox, the state’s veteran top-order batsman, called it “phenomenal”. McFadyen preferred “out of this world”.Bevan played nine Pura Cup matches for Tasmania in 2004-05 after missing the opening game with an Achilles injury. He made eight centuries, an Australian record for a single season. He accumulated 1,464 runs, breaking the all-time domestic mark of 1,381, which was set only the season before by Matthew Elliott, another left-hander. He averaged 97.60 and Phil Jaques, the next best player, was 273 runs behind. Tasmania’s poor season meant he was no chance of making the final, and combined with his first-game absence four potential hits were sacrificed. It is said that there are lies, damned lies and statistics, but there is no disguising this one. It is a big number, a significant number, and one for the ages.Beginning with a muffled 19 and a magnificent, unbeaten 167 against Victoria at Bellerive Oval, Bevan scarcely stopped to smell the roses. Tasmania’s season at four-day level was dreadful as they finished last in a competition won by NSW. At least they could watch Bevan from the sanctity of the dressing-room. During the second innings he and the feisty all-rounder Damien Wright met at 6 for 46 and put on 215 for the seventh wicket, a record for Tasmania, who defied Victoria for hour after hour. Bevan survived 439 minutes in the maelstrom and was still there when the Bushrangers secured their first win in Hobart for 25 years. Despite the loss, he was on a roll.

A match later he conjured 106 and 100, from only 137 balls, against South Australia as the Tigers won by 195 runs. Around this point McFadyen spotted the change in Bevan’s batting from previous years. “He actually backed himself more,” he says. “I suppose he played with the chains off. I’ve got no doubt he’d played before that with distractions, whether it was national selection, the short ball or a few other things around him.” It was clear that he wanted to bat naturally and fluently, like he had as a teenager. “When he first came on the scene he was aggressive,” McFadyen says. “Like a lot of young players he’s had to temper that to make himself consistent. I reckon the decision he made was instead of being conservative he would throw caution to the wind and see how good he could be.”Twin centuries against the Redbacks were followed by a lean period in the context of his summer: 11 and 93 against Queensland in Brisbane; 21 and 12 against NSW in Sydney; and 42 and 4 in the return match with the Bulls. However, the rest was special. After Tasmania slumped to 3 for 23 against Western Australia at Bellerive Oval in late January, he peeled off a first-innings 190. As they aimed to set the Warriors a target, Bevan hit the ball even better, gleaning an unbeaten 114 out of 5 for 226. Symptomatic of their season, they lost despite setting a monumental 396.The runaway train was still motoring when, confronted by a Victoria attack headed by Shane Warne, he toiled for 434 minutes over 144, then gathered 86 of Tasmania’s limp 198 as they were again defeated. When the Tigers met NSW in Hobart, Bevan smashed an unbeaten 170 against Stuart MacGill and his impressive company. As the Blues rolled to victory on the final day MacGill had his revenge, dismissing Bevan for 26, which was a rare failure on his new home deck.Bellerive Oval has a reputation as a batsman’s paradise, but Bevan was not getting it easy. McFadyen said the curator at the beautiful ground beside the Derwent estuary was urged to prepare “result wickets” and duly delivered. “There was juice left in and the first hour of each first innings was always difficult,” he says. “It was not a traditional batsman-friendly wicket. The scores don’t reflect that because it dried out on the third and fourth days. I can tell you it was bloody difficult.” In the tough conditions, against quality opposition, and on surfaces helping the pace bowlers, Bevan was unflappable. Even McFadyen was slightly surprised. “There’s been a question mark about him when it’s difficult and he’s been labelled a one-day player,” he says. “He did not look like missing a ball, didn’t look like playing and missing for the whole season.”Cox recognised an old look in Bevan’s eye. “I played under-age cricket with Michael and even then he had the aloofness, if you like, that a lot of special players have,” he says. “There’s this zone where they go and you wonder what they’re thinking. You look at them and you know they’re ready to go.” By the final game Bevan’s mind was still churning, and as they arrived in Adelaide he needed another 76 runs to overtake Elliott’s landmark. With 115 and 44 he succeeded in another loss, which won the wooden spoon, and completed a four-game streak of at least one hundred in the world’s toughest domestic competition.The Pura Cup had ended for Tasmania but their season wasn’t entirely over. In the ING Cup final Bevan hit a typically inventive 47 not out from 52 balls that helped them to a famous victory over Queensland, the state’s first one-day trophy since the low-key Gillette Cup in 1978-79. Enjoying a fine season on that stage, too, he captured 519 runs at 86.50. “In the end, it got ridiculous,” Cox says. “We were almost taking it for granted. He’d score a hundred late in the year, and you could see the blokes almost forgetting to pat him on the back.”

Bevan told the media he was still improving, and that he remained hopeful of a berth at the 2007 World Cup. He refused to make a retirement announcement, a fact that surprised no one who knew him well. “I’m a better player than when I was in the Australian side, no doubt about it,” he says. “The World Cup is a long way off but I don’t think it’s out of the question. I hope it isn’t. It’s nice to know that at this stage of my life I’m hitting the ball the best I’ve ever hit it.”All of which must make people wonder why Bevan, the artist and sometimes cantankerous player, completed his international career with only 18 Tests, an average of 29.07, and precisely zero centuries. The answer is in the timing. Bevan played in an era when Australian batting opportunities were limited, a fact the likes of Cox, Jamie Siddons, Stuart Law and even Dean Jones could attest. Then there was the short-ball perception and the associated mind games and battles. Devon Malcolm, the very quick English bowler, made him flinch a couple of times in the 1994-95 Ashes series. Bevan paid a massive price for those moments of discomfort, and the irony was that nearing the end of his career he was flaying the short ball.”It’s a myth, there’s no doubt about it,” Cox says of the weakness-against-the-short-ball theory. “It was exposed on one trip by one bowler. If you watched him last year he pulled and hooked beautifully. People tested him out because they thought he was weak, but he smacked them.”Everyone already knew that Bevan was a fine player and a highly-charged individual. In a sense he was ahead of his time because he did not fit the archetypal Australian cricket legend of the beer-swilling man’s man, the image cultivated by the Chappells, Lillee, Marsh and Walters. He was a gym rat and a fitness fanatic long before it became the norm of the modern professionals. What was not so widely known was that his hunger was undiminished by the vagaries of selection and the bodyblow of losing his contract.”His strength is his ability to remain focussed on the job at hand,” McFadyen says, “but he probably expects that of everyone.” While he has been labelled as difficult – not quite normal – last season he was a role model who would spend a couple of hours on the bowling machine the day before a game.Sitting back watching the show, McFadyen reasoned that if Bevan was picked for Australia again he would thrive. It probably won’t happen, but it’s a nice thought. “Most of us who witnessed it felt his batting was as good as anything we’d ever seen,” he says. “It wasn’t just one or two performances, it was every time he went out. It was out of this world.”

The ICC has issued a warning to Zimbabwe Cricket that the appointment of a new interim board is not the end of its troubles, but stopped short of making any comments on controversial statements made by senior sports officials last Friday.Almost 72 hours after the news broke that Zimbabwe’s government had stepped in to assume control of the board, Ehsan Mani, the ICC president, said that “no-one should regard the appointment of this committee as a solution to the issues facing Zimbabwe cricket.”These include addressing allegations of financial mismanagement; ensuring disputes between players and the board are effectively addressed; and providing certainty for other ICC members that the strongest possible Zimbabwe cricket team will be able to fulfil future international commitments, especially the forthcoming tour of the West Indies due to commence in April.”The issue is certain to be discussed when the ICC directors meet this week in Karachi, and West Indies are sure to express serious concerns that even if Zimbabwe do raise a side to tour in April, it will be so weak as to significantly undermine the profitability of the series.While the ICC has always maintained this is a domestic issue, the pressure on it to act has increased in the light of the seemingly racist decision to oust all white and Asian administrators on the grounds of their colour and political position.

Andrew Flintoff’s determination to return to full fitness in time for England’s Ashes campaign in the summer has led him to make the ultimate sacrifice: he has agreed to postpone his honeymoon.Flintoff, whose daughter Holly was born last summer, is due to marry his fiancée Rachel Wools on March 5. But, after missing the recent one-day series in South Africa to undergo an operation on his ankle, Flintoff’s primary obligation in the coming weeks is to concentrate on his rehabilitation programme.Flintoff has never yet faced the Australians in a Test match, and that can in part be attributed to his previously half-hearted attitude to fitness work. In 2001, he was ruled out with a back injury, and in 2002-03 he made a slow recuperation from an operation on a hernia, and on his arrival in Australia he was barely able to walk.The England & Wales Cricket Board is taking no chances this time, and Flintoff has been saddled with a rigorous programme. “[It] is very comprehensive,” Neil Fairbrother, Flintoff’s agent, told The Guardian newspaper. “They’ll give him a day off to get married but there’s no time for a honeymoon. They’ll have to make up for that later.”Initial assessments are that the operation, to remove a troublesome spur in Flintoff’s ankle, went well. “He had the stitches out last Friday and he’s very positive about everything,” added Fairbrother, “but it’s too early to say when he’ll be playing again.”

ScorecardIndia A’s tail crumbled at the hands of Stuart Thomas early on the second day of their three-day tie against Glamorgan, reducing them from their overnight score of 149 for 6 to 165 all out in a jiffy. Glamorgan, in their turn at the crease, responded strongly with 104 for 4 by stumps.Thomas, a former England A medium-pacer, bowled with good control, snapping up Parthiv Patel, Amit Mishra, Lakshmipathy Balaji and Aavishkar Salvi in the space of 10 runs. India A lasted just 7.5 overs on the second day.Amit Bhandari and and Salvi struck early for India A, having Glamorgan at one stage at 35 for 3. Balaji then bowled Daniel Cherry, but that was India A’s last success for the day. Adrian Shaw (27 n.o.) and Mark Wallace (24 n.o.) stitched together a 49-run partnership for the fifth wicket, taking Glamorgan through to stumps only 61 runs behind with six wickets in hand.

Sri Lanka booked themselves a berth in the final of the LG Abanstriangular series after Zimbabwe were spun to a 59 run defeat at PremadasaInternational Stadium.After claiming two wins and two useful bonus point Sri Lanka now have ten points, which guarantees their qualification even if they lose in Kandy at the weekend.Sri Lanka, in a depressingly empty stadium, won with some ease after a robust performance from their batsmen that saw them post a challenging 273 target, and a controlled effort from their medley of spinners, five of whom were employed on a wearing re-used surface.The highest total successfully chased at Premadasa in its 47 game history isonly 243 and Zimbabwe never looked likely winners, even after a spiritedopening stand between Grant Flower and Dion Ebrahim.Ebrahim followed two consecutive golden ducks with an attractive 32 andGrant Flower scored an industrious 45 as the pair added 69 for the firstwicket.But the introduction of Muttiah Muralitharan in the 14th over of the inningsswung the game towards Sri Lanka: Ebrahim was bowled third ball as he triedto hot-step down the wicket and Flower was controversially caught at slip(off his thigh) to leave Zimbabwe facing a steadily rising run rate in themiddle overs.Andy Flower was Zimbabwe’s only realistic hope. He showed why with aslog-sweep for six off Muralitharan, but then fell in the next over tryingto reverse sweep one of Jayasuriya’s low-armed darts (103 for three).Captain Stuart Carlisle and Craig Wishart tried to keep pace with the runrate but the Sri Lankan’s are a well-oiled one-day unit in such spin-friendlyconditions. Forcing the pace was fiendishly difficult and their 42 run standcame to an end when Wishart was caught and bowled by Russel Arnold (145 forfour).Four overs later Carlisle slammed a catch at the glue-like hands of UpulChandana, recalled to the side after a 12-month absence, to be dismissed for39 (159 for five).Zimbabwe were left needing 102 runs off the final ten overs. Muralitharanthe cleaned up Heath Streak for 24, who biffed four boundaries and TatendaTaibu, who recorded his third consecutive duck to finish with four wickets.His fellow twirly mean then moved in for the kill.Earlier in the day, Sri Lanka lost two early wickets having won the toss, asSanath Jayasuriya was caught behind second ball wafting at a wide deliveryfrom Heath Streak and Marvan Atapattu mistimed a back foot drive to becaught at cover.But Gunwardene and Jayawardene first consolidated and then wrestled back theinitiative in a 166 run stand in 198 balls to lay the foundations for SriLanka’s imposing total.Gunwardene, dropped on nine in the slips, was more reserved than normal, buthaving reached his seventh half-century off 76 balls, he started to swaggerand bludgeon thereafter, before he top-edged a pull and was caught at mid-onfor 90 (191 for three).Jayawardene, too, enjoyed some fortune, twice being dropped – first byFlower behind the stumps on 27 and then on 92 at backward point. Those twolapses apart, however, he batted serenely, milking the slower bowlers withease in the first part of his innings and then raising the tempo later witha series of well executed improvisations.But, much to the horror of his girlfriend, looking on anxiously from thegrandstand, he fell just short of his sixth one-day century when theenigmatic Henry Olonga slipped a straight ball through his defenses (215 forfour).Russel Arnold then skillfully managed the final dash with a 32 run cameothat ensured Sri Lanka scored 75 runs in the final ten overs despite theloss of four wickets.The tournament now moves to the hill-country where Sri Lanka will take onWest Indies on Saturday.

ScorecardFile Photo – Arup Das and Krishna Das shared all 10 wickets from the Odisha innings•PTI

Seamer Krishna Das took 7 for 21 to bowl Odisha out for 88 and give Assam, who had made only 92 yesterday, an almost inconceivable first-innings lead. Assam then managed to cobble a total in triple-figures, finishing on 137 for 8 at stumps. The Cuttack pitch afforded 15 wickets on Thursday and 13 today, so any advantage seems vital and the visitors are 141 runs ahead.Krishna and Arup Das, who took 3 for 45, took care of all the Odisha batsmen. Only Natraj Behera and Anurag Sarangi managed to get double-figure scores and Odisha’s best partnership – 22 runs – was put on by the ninth wicket.But the help that was available to the fast bowlers meant the hosts were able to reel in some of the ground they lost. Suryakant Pradhan struck twice in the second over of Assam’s second innings to dismiss Kunal Saikia and Gokul Sharma for ducks. At the other end, Basant Mohanty removed Amit Verma, also for a duck, to leave the visitors on 13 for 3.By the 45th over Assam were 86 for 6. But coming in at No. 7 Syed Mohammad struck 42 off 158 balls with four fours to record the highest score of the match so far and perhaps tempt his team into contemplating an away victory.
ScorecardOvernight rain followed by intermittent showers on the second day resulted in only 16.2 overs being bowled in the Group A game between Bengal and Rajasthan at the Eden Gardens.The start of the match was delayed by an over hour. Resuming from 104 for 3, Rajasthan lost two wickets while putting on 38 runs. Pragyan Ojha got the first when he went through the defences of Ashok Menaria in the 43rd over while Ashok Dinda had Puneet Yadav caught for 14 in the 50th.Ojha came back to dismiss Arjit Gupta for 5 in the 59th over but then the weather intervened. Only 59.4 overs have been possible after two days. Karnatka v Vidarbha in Bangalore – Satish 81* leads VidarbhaDelhi v Haryana in Delhi – Sehwag threat looms

Shoaib Malik has been retained as Pakistan’s captain until December 2008 after the PCB extended his current appointment by another year. Malik was made captain in April, following Pakistan’s dismal World Cup performance, originally until December this year.”Malik has shown enough promise to warrant more time as captain,” Nasim Ashraf, the board’s chairman, said. “He has led the team well and all the players are comfortable with him.”We are looking to have continuity in the captaincy as this is instrumental in the improvement of the team. Malik is young and learning and the perfect choice.”The appointment of a vice-captain, however, will be made on a series- to-series basis. Younis Khan, deputy for the tour of India, is the third vice-captain during Malik’s tenure; Mohammad Asif was appointed for the Abu Dhabi ODI series against Sri Lanka, while Salman Butt replaced him for the ICC World Twenty20 and the home series against South Africa.Asif, meanwhile, might be sent to Australia for treatment on the elbow injury which forced him out of the ongoing ODI series in India. He also missed four out of the five ODIs against South Africa last month, and the status and extent of his injury remains uncertain.”We have two reports on his [Asif’s] injury. One specialist says he requires surgery, another feels he can recover without surgery. We have sent his reports to a top specialist in Australia and we are awaiting his response,” Ashraf said.Pakistan are due to play three Tests against India after the ODIs, before taking on Zimbabwe for a five-match ODI series at home in January.

Scorecard

Brad Hogg’s unbeaten 41 and a half-century to Luke Pomersbach steered Western Australia to a tight victory after they were rocked by Ben Hilfenhaus in their chase of 180. Hilfenhaus dropped the Warriors to 4 for 36 and went on to collect 5 for 84, but he could not push Tasmania to a home-ground win.The debutant Pomersbach completed a strong game by adding an important 63 to his first-innings 74 as he lifted Western Australia out of trouble. However, his departure to Hilfenhaus left the Warriors at 7 for 148 and it was left to Hogg to guide them home.Brett Geeves and Hilfenhaus added 34 in the first session before Hilfenhaus fell to a catch behind off David Bandy. Geeves was unbeaten on 80 as the Tigers posted 477, giving the Warriors an uncomfortable chase.

Points table
ScorecardBengal grabbed the chance provided by a sporting declaration by Railways and stormed into the semi-finals with a thrilling last over win. After Railways, charged by Pagnis’s ton to reach 321 for 7, declared after batting 35 overs on the final day, Bengal rode on Abhishek Jhunjhunwala’s magnificient 139 to achieve their target with a ball to spare. Bengal, set to chase 303, were propelled by a superb 217-run second-wicket partnership between Jhunjhunwala and Subhomoy Das. Railways attempted to come back through Murali Kartik who removed both the batsmen but Manoj Tiwari brought up the winning run off the penultimate ball to charge Bengal into the semi-final face-off with Baroda.
ScorecardIt took Maharashtra only four overs on the final day to wrap up a comprehensive victory over Mumbai, registering their second win in the tournament. Mumbai, though, with 16 points in seven games, have already entered the semi-finals and will be facing Uttar Pradesh. Mumbai, having resumed the day needing 71 runs, managed just five runs. Sairaj Bahutule got rid of Rajesh Verma while Munaf Patel removed Ramesh Powar and Nilesh Kulkarni, the overnight batsmen, to bring up the Maharashtra victory.
ScorecardSubramaniam Badrinath hit a breezy 82 to allow Tamil Nadu to declare at 182 for 6, giving themselves an outside chance of bowling out Delhi, but Shikhar Dhawan and Mayank Tehlan added 81 runs for the second wicket to ease Delhi – set a target of 250 – to 117 for 1 in 32 overs to register a comfortable draw at Chennai. Earlier, Rajat Bhatia, who had yesterday dashed TN’s hopes of a semi-final spot, extended TN’s agony as he added 48 runs with the tail to lift Delhi to 414 in their first innings.
ScorecardA maiden first-class century by Madhusudhan Reddy and a half century from Jasvir Singh propelled Services to 342 before Mahesh Rawat and Sumit Shara hit unbeaten half-centuries to take Haryana – set a target of 302 – to 108 for 0 in 30 overs and draw the game at the Palam A stadium in New Delhi. Amit Mishra, the legspinner, removed Reddy and Jasvir enroute to a six-wicket haul to restrict Services, overnight on 182 for 3, to 342 but couldn’t prevent a draw.
ScorecardP Kumar, promoted to open the batting, celebrated his 10-wicket haul in the match in style with a breezy 57 – his second first-class fifty – to power Uttar Pradesh, chasing 151 runs, into the semi-finals with a comprehensive eight-wicket victory over Andhra. Kumar picked up the last Andhra wicket to finish with a five-wicket haul, his third in a short six match first-class career.
ScorecardMukund Parmar steered Gujarat to their second win with a four-wicket victory over Karnataka at Ahmedabad. Gujarat, having started the final day needing 37 runs, lost three wickets but Parmar with an unbeaten 24 propelled them to their target. However, both teams missed out on the final four spot – Bengal edged past Karnataka with their thrilling win over Railways.
ScorecardBaroda wrapped up a comprehensive rout of Hyderabad inside four days at Vadodara, with Yusuf Pathan, the offspinning allrounder, bagging career-best bowling figures. Baroda, 150 for 3 overnight, were boosted by valuable knocks from Connor Williams and Kiran Powar despite a superb spell from Pragyan Ojha, the left-arm spinner, who also picked up his best analysis. Set 371 to get, with the entire fourth day remaining, Hyderabad hardly offered a fight and folded meekly for just 150. Pathan, who had earlier bailed Baroda out of trouble with a fine 72 in the first innings, ran through the lower order with his offbreaks after Irfan Safi Pathan rocked the top order.

Mark Boucher has been named in the South African squad for the last two Tests against England. Boucher last played for the Test side during the tour of Sri Lanka last August. He had played 74 consecutive matches before being dropped for their tour to India in November. Thami Tsolekile, who replaced him on that tour and kept wicket in the first Test at Port Elizabeth, has been released to turn out for Western Province Boland. Boucher’s selection clears the way for AB de Villiers, who has kept in the last two matches, to open the batting as there are concerns about the form of Herschelle Gibbs there.”I’m absolutely delighted, but also quite shocked to be recalled now,” Boucher told Reuters from Centurion, where he was playing for Warriors against Titans in a SuperSport Series match. “I thought my chance to be involved in the series had gone when I wasn’t selected in the second and third Test squads because we had no domestic cricket. All I’ve been able to play over the festive season is beach cricket. I’d be lying if I didn’t think at one stage that my international career might be over.”Haroon Lorgat, the convenor of selectors, explained the decision: “With the series now locked at one-all with two to play, experience is going to be a critical factor in the outcome of the last two Tests, and Mark brings plenty of that to the squad environment.”Charl Langeveldt, who fractured a bone in his left hand at Cape Town, is in the squad pending a fitness test before the fourth Test. A replacement will be called up if he is not fit.The fourth Test starts next Monday (January 13) at the Wanderers ground in Johannesburg.Squad Graeme Smith (capt), Herschelle Gibbs, AB de Villiers, Jacques Rudolph, Jacques Kallis, Boeta Dippenaar, Hashim Amla, Mark Boucher (wk), Shaun Pollock, Andrew Hall, Nicky Boje, Makhaya Ntini, Dale Steyn, Charl Langeveldt.