Hilfenhaus, Yadav shine on bowlers' day

Australia 333 & 8 for 179 (Hussey 79*, Ponting 60, Yadav 4-49) lead India 282 (Tendulkar 73, Dravid 68, Sehwag 67, Hilfenhaus 5-75) by 230 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

Umesh Yadav ripped apart Australia's top order in their second innings

Indifferent batting from India and an abject response by the Australian top order left the first Test tantalisingly poised after a helter skelter third day on which 15 wickets fell at the MCG.

The visitors and the hosts traded collapses on a track still offering a modicum of help to the bowlers, India slipping from 2 for 214 to 282 all out before Australia slumped to 4 for 27 thanks to Umesh Yadav and Ishant Sharma. It was a hole plugged only partially by the staunch efforts of Ricky Ponting and Michael Hussey, who was undefeated on 79 when the close arrived at 8 for 179, the lead standing at 230.

Rahul Dravid, bowled off second ball of the morning by the recalled and renewed Ben Hilfenhaus, completed his unhappy day by shelling the sort of slips catch he would expect to claim when Hussey advanced to R Ashwin on 69. Though Peter Siddle and Nathan Lyon departed thereafter, it may yet prove a crucial drop.

Hussey and Ponting were both under enormous pressure for runs coming into this match, given their poor recent returns, but younger team-mates were grateful for their calming presence in a partnership of 115 after the tumult that marked the start of the second innings. Hussey's innings was particularly strong, counter-punching from the start to build some sort of lead.

India had earlier surrendered 8 for 68 to be halted 51 runs short of Australia's 333. Hilfenhaus followed up Dravid's defeat with the wickets of Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni and the dogged nightwatchman Ishant Sharma, while Siddle neutralised the threat of VVS Laxman and rounded things off by disposing of Ashwin for a useful 31.

The continuing flood of wickets was attributable to smart, full bowling but also poor batting, with David Warner, Ed Cowan and Shaun Marsh all guilty of vast misjudgements. Michael Clarke was less culpable, out to a corking delivery from Ishant. Ponting's dismissal was followed by another flighty innings from keeper Brad Haddin, who must be under severe scrutiny for his spot despite claiming five catches.

Starting out with a 51-run advantage, Warner and Cowan were unable to get themselves going in the manner of the first innings. Warner looked uncomfortable, tugging at the ball rather than timing it, and it was no great surprise when he dragged Yadav onto the stumps with an angled bat. Cowan had left the ball with great skill on Boxing Day, but two balls after Warner he would die by the sheathed sword, padding up to a Yadav delivery that straightened and as such having scant cause to complain about the lbw verdict.

Marsh evaded a pair, scoring his first Test runs in Australia, only to perish in a similarly ugly manner to Warner when he snicked a full, wide delivery from Yadav onto the stumps. After an outside edge in the first innings, an inside edge in the second, it was clear Marsh lacked Test match touch after injury and one Twenty20 knock.

At three down India had the scent, and it became a pungent whiff with the fall of Clarke to a beautifully-pitched delivery from Ishant that seamed back and removed the leg bail via the inside edge. Clarke's exit was all too swift, and echoes of Cape Town hung tangibly in the air.

Hussey and Ponting responded to their predicament with firm intent and attractive strokes, pulling, cutting and driving to extend the lead and take Australia past the accursed 47. Ponting was fortunate to survive Zaheer's lbw appeal from around the wicket when he was 15, replays indicating the ball had struck him in line and would have plucked out middle. Hussey's first boundary was an edge through the slips, but thereafter he was decisive and impressive, attempting to make amends for an awfully slim run of scores since a bountiful tour of Sri Lanka in September.

Tea came and went, and the partnership assumed significant proportions against bowling that remained diligent but with the backdrop of slackening field settings. Dhoni was intent on saving runs, and Hussey and Ponting were able to knock the ball into gaps consistently with the odd boundary. Both passed half-centuries, raising generous affirmation from another healthy crowd, this time 40,556.

Ponting's period of greatest peril is starting to resemble Shane Watson's - when fit, fall somewhere between 50 and 100. Zaheer returned for a spell with the old ball and slanted across to draw a sliced drive and a catch in the gully. As he walked off, Ponting offered an unfussy wave of the bat to the MCG - who knows if he will be back to do so again.

Haddin sold his wicket dearly enough in the first innings, and did well with the gloves after an early dropped catch. But now he played another innings far too aggressive in the prevailing circumstances, essaying a handful of shots that weren't quite there before waving his bat brusquely at Zaheer and edging to second slip.

Hussey's innings might have ended soon after when he advanced and was beaten by a nicely dipping off break, but Dravid could not hold on to the edge. Siddle was unable to reprise his first innings, hanging his bat out at Yadav and being held well by Dhoni, diving in front of first slip. Lyon was granted a promotion in the batting order, perhaps to retain a right and left-handed union, but he had not scored when Ashwin's carrom ball pinned him in front of leg stump.

Dravid and Ishant had walked to the middle a little more than six hours before, their sights set on establishing a first-innings advantage. Hilfenhaus had been ineffective late on the second day, yet started things off on the third and enjoyed instant success. Dravid played the day's first delivery to mid-on, but the second slid subtly away from him to elude his defensive bat and flick off stump.

Laxman took guard on a ground where he has never enjoyed success, in marked contrast to the rest of Australia. This time he lingered 21 balls for two, before finally being undone by a Siddle delivery that shaped nicely away to catch an edge that Haddin pouched. Given the torment he has inflicted on them in the past, the Australians were understandably exultant.

Clarke only allowed three overs of Lyon's spin before recalling Hilfenhaus, and second ball the Tasmanian found the ideal line to draw Kohli's outside edge and grant Haddin another catch. Six wickets were down before the arrival of the second new ball.

Dhoni, so difficult to contain on Indian pitches, has shown vulnerability in foreign climes before, and there was a whiff of the England tour about his brief stay. Now using a fresh projectile, Hilfenhaus gave India's captain a trio of straight deliveries before floating one wider, with bounce.

An airy drive and a catch in the gully ensued, sinking the visitors deeper into the morning mire. Let down by his batsmen, Ishant finally lost patience, and swished at another outswinger. Zaheer Khan was not inclined to hang around it was not long before he was bowled by Pattinson, having an unsightly heave at a full-length ball. Ashwin and Yadav offered a cheeky last-wicket stand of 23 before Siddle nipped out the off spinner.

Bangladesh Premier League to begin on February 9

Bangladesh allrounder Shakib Al Hasan will be the icon player for Khulna

The first edition of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) will kick off on February 9, 2012 with the final to be played on February 29. The 20-day tournament will feature six teams that will play each other twice each in a round-robin format over 33 matches to be held in Chittagong and Dhaka.

Teams will be allowed to field five foreign players in their XIs, as opposed to four in the IPL. Adam Gilchrist, Mathew Hayden, Kieron Pollard, Dwayne Bravo, Kamran Akmal and James Anderson are among at least 25 foreign players who have made themselves available for the tournament.

"The main thing is the Bangladesh players have to be available," Arun Lal, a consultant to Game on Sports, the tournament organisers, and also a former India opener, told ESPNcricinfo.

As in the first season of the IPL, each team will have an icon player. The Bangladesh Cricket Board announced yesterday that Tamim Iqbal will be the icon player for Chittagong, Mohammad Ashraful for Dhaka, Alok Kapali for Sylhet, Shahriar Nafees for Barisal, Mushfiqur Rahim for Rajshahi and Shakib Al Hasan for Khulna. The players will be paid 5% more than the amount received by the highest paid player of each franchise.

The franchise auction will take place on January 5, either in Dhaka or the sea-side town of Cox's Bazar. Companies wishing to bid for a franchise will submit their offers on the same day, and bids will be opened in front of all those present, with the franchises going to the highest bidder. The player auction is scheduled to take place 10 days later. Each team will have to spend a minimum of US $2 million and can spend up to a maximum of $5 million.

The BPL will be televised on a new sports channel in Bangladesh and the organisers are believed to be in discussions with Ten Sports to broadcast the tournament in India. However, India's domestic 50-over tournament begins on February 20 and therefore could restrict Indian participation. "India is a problem," Lal said. "In the first six or eight games, they [India players] could play."

The organisers are also hoping that the winner of the BPL will be given a place in the Champions League Twenty20 next year.

Hilfenhaus not so predictable this time

Ben Hilfenhaus has picked himself up after being floored during last summer's Ashes series

Ben Hilfenhaus has lifted himself out of the rut of predictability that made him look so innocuous during the Ashes last summer, and will be a far more versatile performer should he bowl against India's batsmen on Boxing Day.

So says Hilfenhaus' state captain, George Bailey, who was frank in his assessments and advice to the Tasmanian swing bowler on his return to Sheffield Shield ranks after Alastair Cook and others in the England batting line-up had so humbled his methods.

Under the guidance of Bailey and the Tigers' bowling coach Ali de Winter, 28-year-old Hilfenhaus has endeavoured to use a wider range of angles on the bowling crease this summer, a favoured tactic of skilful bowlers for more than a century. He is also striving for a fuller length.

"Hilfy last year had become quite predictable," Bailey told ESPNcricinfo. "He could replicate the same ball over and over but at Test cricket, once players were in he found it hard to actually break through and get a wicket.

"So aside from getting over some niggling injuries, which he's carried for quite some time - he's certainly bowling a bit quicker and is a bit stronger this year - is just a bit more variety at the crease, being able to bowl wider of the stumps, and bowl different balls rather than just the outswinger."

The adjustment of Hilfenhaus' approach has not been an entirely seamless process, for his dependable, uncomplicated character does not always take readily to change. Bailey said Hilfenhaus had needed to see results in his new methods before he committed to them fully. He also had to return his bowling action to the full-bodied style that first earned him a Test spot, rather than the self-protecting adjustments he had made to alleviate the pain of knee tendinitis, to the detriment of his pace and swing.

"He's certainly trying to come from different areas [on the crease] a bit more, Bailey said. "He's also had a bit of trouble with knee tendinitis, and I don't think he did it consciously but he just slightly adjusted his action and was bowling around his front knee a bit more. And he does bowl from quite close to the stumps, so if he was swinging it, it was swinging a little early, rather than coming a little wider of the crease and angling in at the stumps before taking it away.

"Hilfy is someone who needs to see the results before he believes something, but there is no doubt I think if he can learn to use the crease a bit more, come from wider and angle in before taking it away, he will not need to swing it as much as he thinks he needs to.

"He's certainly done that for periods, he's starting to bowl a better length that suits him, giving him the chance to move the ball, because he has got a skill that not a great deal of bowlers in Australia have in terms of being able to swing the ball at pretty good pace. He's still working on those things and working pretty hard."

Bailey sensed a certain impatience about Hilfenhaus last summer, as his hard-won place in the Test team was slipping away from him. Seeking a startling bag of wickets to re-assert himself, he may have lost sight of the patience and persistence that gave him a baggy green cap in the first place.

"We've challenged him a bit this year at Tassie to bowl into the wind a bit more, rather than being a strike bowler all the time," Bailey said. "Whether Hilf felt it or not, I felt at times he felt his way back in was to take a big bag of wickets and so he was bowling to try to take wickets every ball, whereas this year he's been a bit more patient and willing to do the roles.

"If he's taking wickets that's fine, if he's not then he can tie up an end and help Luke [Butterworth] or James [Faulkner] or Xavier [Doherty] take wickets. He's just got back to enjoying his cricket a bit more and working hard for the team while providing a bit more variation. I'd still like to see him bowling a little fuller, but that's something we'll keep discussing when he gets the chance to play for Tassie.

	"Hilfy is someone who needs to see the results before he believes something, but there is no doubt I think if he can learn to use the crease a bit more, come from wider and angle in before taking it away, he will not need to swing it as much as he thinks he needs to."George Bailey on Ben Hilfenhaus

"No doubt when he's at his best he's in Australia's best handful of fast bowlers. Looking at the Test series coming up and where they're going to be in their focus, being in England in 2013, I still think he's got a big part to play. It is good to see he's back in the mix."

Hilfenhaus returns to an Australian pace battery that is now singing from the simple hymn sheet of Craig McDermott, who has stressed the importance of bowling a full length to draw batsmen into drives and edges, even if a few more runs may accrue. Bailey said the method was neither new nor complicated, but could certainly be effective.

"It's not new information there, I think Greg Chappell before him was big on that, if you talk to Glenn McGrath and Jason Gillespie that's the length they bowled as well, I don't think it is rocket science in terms of a mantra," he said. "But that is the challenge, particularly as a young bowling group when you're playing against great batsmen and certainly some of these Indian players are.

"It can be pretty daunting to just keep throwing the ball up there full because you can get hurt a little bit on the scoreboard. The flipside is the rewards wickets-wise can be a lot greater, and it is as much about learning when you can go hard at that full length and when you need to restrict things and tie up an end."

India's quicks' fitness key to series - Warne

	Ishant Sharma: "I think it's going to come down to how India are going to take 20 wickets with their

Shane Warne believes India's chances in the upcoming Test series in Australia will hinge on the fitness of fast bowlers Ishant Sharma and Zaheer Khan. Both men have had ankle problems in recent times and Warne believes a lack of depth in India's attack could be exposed if Ishant and Zaheer are not at full fitness for the series, which begins at the MCG on December 26.

Ishant was bothered by a dodgy ankle during the first of the two tour games in Canberra last week, and he bowled only four overs in the second match, on the final day. Zaheer is coming back from surgery on his ankle; he did not play in the first match and then sent down 15 overs in the second game. Neither man has yet taken a wicket on the tour.

"India has a quality team, as they've been showing in recent times," Warne said. "In Test cricket we've seen them, against West Indies, do well. But before that they played England in England and got beaten 4-0 with a swinging ball and a good English seam attack. Their batsmen will do pretty well.

"Their bowlers will have to stay fit. If Zaheer Khan or Ishant Sharma get injured, then I think their bowling attack could be quite weak. The Australian batsmen could perform pretty well. I think it's going to come down to how India are going to take 20 wickets with their bowling.

"I think their batters, especially Rahul Dravid, will make big runs. He's a quality person, he's a quality act, he's a quality player. Hopefully Sachin [Tendulkar] will get his hundredth hundred here. It would be a great time to do it here at the MCG in front of 70 or 80,000."

Warne was speaking outside the MCG at the unveiling of a bronze statue of him in his legspinning stride, the first in a series to be known as the Avenue of Legends. His former captain Mark Taylor was also at the ceremony but, unlike Warne, he was less certain that India's outstanding batting line-up would thrive this summer against an attack led by James Pattinson and Peter Siddle.

"They've been great players," Taylor said. "I'll be interested to see, though, how they'll go against this young Australian bowling line-up, because I don't feel that Sachin, Rahul and VVS [Laxman] are getting tested as often as say Ricky Ponting and Mike Hussey have in recent times.

"They have been tested on wickets that have been more bowler-friendly, whereas Sachin and Rahul and VVS play a lot of their cricket in India, where the wickets are generally flatter and don't bounce as much, don't move off the seam. This will be a really good test for them, and a good test for our fast bowlers. I reckon they [Australia's bowlers] are up to it. I think that's going to be one of the highlights of the summer, to see how those ageing batsmen from India go against the young quicks."

Tendulkar, Dravid and Laxman are all older than Ponting, who has struggled for form over the past two years and has not made a Test century since January 2010. Taylor endured a similar slump in the later years of his career, but even his longest stretch without a Test hundred was only 24 innings; Ponting's has now ballooned to 31.

"He's probably in a similar boat to where I was, and I think Steve Waugh had the same problem getting towards the end of your career," Taylor said. "It's not that you can't do it anymore. You just need a moment where a lucky break goes your way or you just play a shot where you think, there it is, and Ricky is probably that close. Boxing Day has generally been pretty good to him … hopefully, over the five days here, we'll see the real Ricky Ponting."

Rod Marsh to coach the coaches

Rod Marsh, the Australia selector, will "coach the coaches" in a newly created Cricket Australia role designed to ensure a unified approach to mentoring players across the states.

In a mild divergence from the Argus review, Marsh will have the oversight originally intended for the head coach, Mickey Arthur.

However the duo will work closely on the formulation of strategies to ensure that players emerge through the states with messages about their development that are consistent with those of the national team.

"I've basically taken one page out from the Argus review in terms of the national coaching system, effectively to say we need to make sure our coaching pathway, or accreditation, and how the coaching philosophy and how it is drilled out throughout the country, is done well," Pat Howard, the team performance manager, told ESPNcricinfo.

"Part of that involves someone that could engage former players and mentoring capacities and where appropriate coaching capacities. There weren't many blokes I could think of that could do that better than Rod Marsh. His ability to engage with players at all levels is pretty high."

Marsh's role will also allow him to call in consultants from far and wide when needed, as befits a man with one of the deepest contact books in world cricket. He will work closely with the Centre of Excellence, the subject of much criticism from the states in the interviews that led to the Argus review.

"He's verymuch engaged with trying to connect that, working with Troy Cooley who he's worked with before at the England academy," Howard said. "He will work closely with Mickey, he will work closely with Troy Cooley, and hopefully supplementing that his coaching guys with those former players."

The coaching overseer's position follows on from similar roles Marsh held at the Cricket Academy in Australia in the 1990s, then with England from 2002-05 and more recently with the ICC global academy in Dubai.

"I'm looking forward to this role and believe that it will be a nice fit with my position on the National Selection Panel," Marsh said. "I've been coaching cricket for more than 20 years and this is a great opportunity to work with the elite coaches around the country.

"It's important that we develop our coaches as well as our players and this role will include developing a clear coaching pathway from junior teams, to representative teams, right through to the national team level."