Johnson moves to world No.4

Mitchell Johnson has leapt five places to be ranked the world's fourth-best bowler in the latest update to the Reliance ICC player rankings for Test bowlers.

Johnson destroyed South Africa with career-best figures of 12-127 in the opening Test at Centurion last week, and has taken 49 wickets at an average of 13 in his past six Test matches.

South Africa and Australia now occupy the top four positions in the bowling ranks, with Dale Steyn taking back the No.1 position from teammate Vernon Philander, while Ryan Harris remains consistent in third.

Philander had held top spot for 55 days but his match return of 1-97 at Centurion saw him drop 11 ranking points to fall back behind Steyn.

Steyn's Centurion returns of 4-78 and 2-61 in either innings saw him remain steady with 901 ranking points. The South African spearhead took top spot in July 2009 and spent 187 matches, or 1630 days, as the top-ranked bowler until Philander overtook him last December.

Peter Siddle sits in sixth position, while Lyon holds down 19th spot – one behind Ben Hilfenhaus who remains in the rankings despite not having played a Test since December 2012.

Lyon's 614 ranking points for 19th spot are light-years ahead of South Africa's first-choice spinner Robin Peterson, who sits in 64th spot with 259 points.

New Zealand’s Tim Southee moved up to a career-best ninth following his match haul of 5-143 in the Wellington Test against India. Southee is now on 757 ratings points, just 10 behind eighth-ranked teammate Trent Boult.

In the batsmen rankings, Blackcaps skipper Brendon McCullum’s spectacular match-saving knock of 302 in the Wellington Test against India has helped him jump eight places to a career-best 12th.

McCullum, who became the first New Zealand batsman to score a triple hundred, helped draw the second and final Test in Wellington on Tuesday, giving NZ a 1-0 series win.

McCullum shares 12th position with Australia’s David Warner, who moves up three spots of his 115 in the second innings in Centurion.

Meanwhile, India’s Virat Kohli has moved up two places to a career-high of ninth, following knocks of 38 and an unbeatedn 105 in Wellington, to break into the top 10 for the first time.

Kohli joins seventh-ranked teammate Cheteshwar Pujara (down by one) as the only two India batsmen inside the top 10.

Alex Doolan's gutsy knocks of 27 and 89 on debut have seem him enter the table in 59th spot, while Shaun Marsh returned to the table in 63rd position following scores of 148 and 44.

South Africa’s AB de Villiers continues to top the batting table, followed by Kumar Sangakkara in second position and Shivnarine Chanderpaul of West Indies in third place.

ICC Test Rankings: India retains second position as New Zealand moves to seventh

India has retained its second position on the Reliance ICC Test Team Rankings following the Wellington Test, which ended in a draw to give New Zealand a 1-0 series win, but the series result has made Australia’s task of finishing ahead of India on the table before the 1 April cut-off date slightly easier.

India has slipped from 117 ratings points to 112 ratings points, and is ahead of Australia by just one ratings point. This means Australia, which leads South Africa 1-0 in the three-Test series, now needs minimum of a draw in the series to move ahead of India.

If Australia wins the series 1-0, it will rise to 115 ratings points, whereas a 2-0 win will put it on 116 ratings points.

In contrast, if South Africa bounces back and wins the next two Tests, then it will not only retain its pre-series rating of 133 ratings points, but Australia will also remain behind India on 110 ratings points, thereby handing Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s side second position at the 1 April cut-off date.

South Africa is already guaranteed the number-one position at the 1 April cut-off date and, as such, will retain the mace and will also collect a cheque of US$450,000, while the side that finishes second will pocket US$350,000, and US$250,000 will go to the third-ranked side. England will collect US$150,000 as it will finish fourth at the 1 April cut-off date.

Meanwhile, New Zealand has gained five ratings points following its 1-0 series win over India. It has now joined the West Indies on 87 ratings points. However, it is ranked above the West Indies when the ratings are calculated beyond the decimal point.

Full rankings:

The Big Show backs players' big pay days

Australian all-rounder Glenn Maxwell has thrown his support behind the lucrative T20 contracts offered to international cricketers, explaining that they’re a beneficial part of the game’s development. 

Already known as ‘The Big Show’, Maxwell took it up a notch last week by commanding more than a million dollars in the IPL auction, when he was sold to the Kings XI Punjab IPL franchise. 

It’s the second season in a row that Maxwell has collected a seven-figure IPL contract and the big-hitting right-hander was quick to quash any talk of the T20 format sending a bad message to young cricketers.

“I think it sends a good message to kids as far as telling them that they can make a career at cricket,” Maxwell said.

“Kids see that there are millions of opportunities in AFL, but only 11 in cricket. Now they know that they can earn that kind of money in a couple of weeks and maybe that starts them playing.

“They might end up in the longer format, they might enjoy cricket that way, but what it’s doing is getting kids involved.” 

The dual million-dollar man will be hoping the next generation are well on their way, with his Victorian side languishing at the bottom of the Sheffield Shield table following an innings and 48-run defeat at the hands of New South Wales last week - a defeat that could have been much worse if not for Maxwell's two innings match tally of 221 runs.

“It was a pretty disappointing match all-round to tell you the truth,” he said.

“To get that many runs and have no impact on the game is pretty frustrating for the whole team.”

Despite his support for short-form cricket, Maxwell cites the KFC Big Bash League, and a lack of continuity, as a possible explanation for Victoria’s struggles. 

“We’ve been jumping from format to format. We’ve had an unsettled side for a while with guys going to T20, one day cricket and in and out of the Australian teams,” he explains.

“We haven’t had a consistent group all year.”

Formats aside, Maxwell acknowledged the need for change to come from within the team.

“I think it’s time for us to stand up, take account of ourselves and just do the job,” he said.

“At this level, there are no excuses to say you can’t adjust between those formats.”

The perfect example of this resilience may lie just across the Tasman, with T20 star, and Black Caps captain, Brendon McCullum bringing up his country’s first ever triple-century in the second Test against India.

“The fact that someone can face 580 balls and still have the concentration to keep going; that’s amazing,” Maxwell said. 

“Test cricket hasn’t taken away his natural flair, but he harnesses it a lot better than most players. He’s a big one that I can look up to and hopefully follow in his footsteps.”

First up for Maxwell however, is the Bushrangers’ Sheffield Shield clash against top-of-the-table South Australia at the Adelaide Oval, starting on Thursday.

Victoria will field a vastly different side to the one that found themselves 6-9 against the Blues with internationals, Aaron Finch, Dan Christian, Clint McKay and James Muirhead, missing out along with Peter Handscomb.

Rob Quiney, Michael Hill, Jon Holland, Fawad Ahmed and young quick, Jake Reed, will come into the side.

Reed is currently leading the Victorian Premier Cricket wicket-taking list (with 46), picking up 25 wickets at just over eight runs across his last four matches.

Following on from Thursday’s Shield encounter, Maxwell will leave for South Africa to work with Shane Warne ahead of three T20s and the ICC T20 World Cup in Bangladesh.

The opinions expressed here are the views of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of Cricket Australia

Asia Cup 2014, Schedule, Squads, Rules & Overview

Asia Cup 2014 cricket Tournament will start on Feb 25, 2014 in Bangladesh. The last match of the tournament will be held on Mar 8, 2014.

There will be 5 teams participating in this edition of the tournament namely India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.

According to the Asia Cup 2014 time table, all the teams will play 4 matches (one against each other) and will be rewarded 4 points for victory and 2 points for tie/ no result. After the competition of the preliminary round, the two teams with the maximum no. of points will qualify for the final and the team winning that final match will become the champion.

The opening match of the Asia Cup 2014 will be played between the defending champions Pakistan and Sri Lanka on 25th of February at Fatullah. The next 4 matches will also take place at the same venue and then, the action will shift to Mirpur where the last 6 matches including the final will be played.

Sri Lanka

Angelo Mathews (capt), Dinesh Chandimal, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Kusal Perera, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Lahiru Thirimanne, Ashan Priyanjan, Thisara Perera, Lasith Malinga, Nuwan Kulasekara, Suranga Lakmal, Sachithra Senanayake, Ajantha Mendis, Chathuranga De Silva.

India

MS Dhoni (C), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ambati Rayudu, Ajinkya Rahane, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar, Mohammad Shami, Varun Aaron, Stuart Binny, Amit Mishra and Ishwar Pandey.

Pakistan

Misbah-ul-Haq (Captain), Mohammad Hafeez, Ahmed Shehzad, Sharjeel Khan, Shahid Afridi, Umar Akmal, Sohaib Maqsood, Fawad Alam, Saeed Ajmal, Abdul Rehman, Junaid Khan, Umar Gul, Anwar Ali, Bilawal Bhatti, Mohammad Talha.

Bangladesh

Imrul Kayes, Nazimuddin, Jahurul Islam, Mushfiqur Rahim, Shakib Al Hasan, Mahmudullah, Nasir Hossain, Mashrafe Mortaza, Abdur Razzak, Elias Sunny, Nazmul Hossain, Shafiul Islam, Shahadat Hossain, Anamul Haque.

Afganistan

Mohammad Nabi Esakhil (C), Mohammad Shehzad (WK), Noor Ali Zadran, Karim Sadiq, Nawroz Mangal, Mohammad Asghar Stanikzai, Samiullah Shinwari, Rehmat Shah Zurmati, Mirwais Ashraf, Fazal Niazai, Hamza Hotak, Hamid Hassan, Shapoor Zadran, Dawlat Zadran, Najibullah Zadran.

Australia

History

Cricket began in Australia soon after the start of colonisation in 1788, and quickly became popular in the colonies. Within a century, first-class status was achieved, with Tasmania's three-wicket victory against Launceston Racecourse in February, 1851 becoming Australia's inaugural first-class match while Victoria was already established, and the other states would join in time. Cricket's popularity soared in the 1860s, through touring teams, WG Grace's arrival in 1873 further boosting interest. Standards increased to the extent where Australia was ready to face England in a Test, in the 1876-77 season. So began Australia's illustrious international history.

International Competition

In recent years, Australia has been almost unstoppable. Mark Taylor's captaincy laid the groundwork for Steve Waugh and then Ricky Ponting to take Australia on a Test crusade which saw it vanquished in a series just once between July 2001 and September 2008. But it has looked more fallible in the longer form of the game in recent times. In the one-day arena, Australia has won the ICC World Cup four times out of its nine editions to date - more than any other country and is also current holders of the ICC Champions Trophy, with success in South Africa in 2009, after also winning the event in India in 2006. Twenty20 success has so far proved elusive but it did reach the final of the ICC World Twenty20 in the West Indies in 2010.

Domestic Cricket

The Australian set-up is straightforward. The six states - New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia - play against each other for three trophies, in four-day, one-day and 20-over cricket. The Sheffield Shield, the first-class competition, is the main prize. The one-day trophy, currently the Pura Cup, is played in a league format, while the most recent introduction was the Twenty20 competition, known as the Big Bash. Overseas players are rare in state cricket, while the sides are fed mainly through their state's grade competitions. District and country cricket is also available.

All-time Great

Don Bradman, or simply The Don, needs no introduction, neither do the figures 99.94 nor the words "He's out". Both New South Wales and South Australia claim him as its own: he played the early part of his career in Bowral before relocating to Kensington. He wasn't just a great for the Australian game - Wisden pronounced him "beyond any argument, the greatest batsman who ever lived and the greatest cricketer of the 20th Century". Bradman was also accomplished in squash, golf, tennis or billiards, but he loved cricket above all, later becoming a selector and administrator of the game. He was knighted in 1949.

Women's Cricket

Australia has always had a deep pool of talent to call upon, and it hosted the first women's Test, when England toured in 1934-35. Traditionally a strong side - Australia has won the ICC Women's World Cup a record five times, and held the Ashes for 42 years, until 2005. It also won the ICC Womens World Twenty20 2010 title in the West Indies. Cricket Australia now runs the game and, under its banner, the women have had increased financial assistance.