Hello everyone - bored of no cricket yet? I know I am. Still, only 18 days to go until it starts up again. There has been plenty going on off the field though, so lets have a look and see what we can deduce from this weeks events.

First of all – the England squads for the Stanford match and the tour to India were announced. There were no real surprises to be honest. The squad is made up from the same players who defeated South Africa in England little over three weeks ago.
 
Also announced though, and this is interesting, was a list of England’s centrally contracted players. I have been looking forward to this, as I was intrigued to see how England would approach the most important year of cricket for a long time.
 
Coming up in the next 12 months, they have a gruelling tour of India, which is preceded by the Stanford Millions tournament. Then they travel to the delights of the West Indies in February, which is then followed by the most eagerly anticipated Ashes series since, well, the last one. Tickets have already been flying out of the office of Edgbaston, Headingley, Lords and the Oval, and Ashes fever is already gripping the nation.
 
England have plenty of work to do before then though, so back to the players who were awarded central contracts, the list in full:
 
Kevin Pieterson, Andrew Strauss, Ian Bell, Paul Collingwood, Alistair Cook, Andrew Flintoff, Tim Ambrose, James Anderson, Owais Shah, Matt Prior, Stuart Broad, Steve Harmison, Monty Panasar, Samit Patel, Ryan Sidebottom, Graham Swann, Luke Wright, Ravi Bopara and Michael Vaughan.
 
So that’s the elite list of names that the England selectors have chosen for the winter tours and next summers cricket.
 
The name that jumps off the list for me is that of former captain Michael Vaughan. There were some raised eyebrows amongst the media and the powers that be that he was indeed offered a contract, seeing as how his recent form has been scratchy at best, and the fact that new captain Kevin Pieterson may have been looking to the future rather than the past, as he attempts to build what England fans hope to be a young, fresh, successful team. We’ve already seen the dramatic effect on certain players that were out of favour under Vaughan, namely Steve Harmison and Stuart Broad.
 
However Pieterson has elected to have former skipper Vaughan alongside him for the next year at least, as England attempt to rise back up the Test rankings. Vaughan’s experience will be invaluable to Pieterson, as will his class batting, if he can just recapture some of the form that allowed him to rise to No 1 in the world a little under two years ago.
 
Vaughan is no stranger to a battle, having already fought back from a crippling knee injury that threatened his career. This time however, it is a battle of the minds, for he will also surely be in the public eye, as they look to see how he copes with not being England captain. I think it can only help him, having been captain of a team myself, I can tell you that the pressures that go with the job are immense, and only when you are actually batting can you fully concentrate on your own game. Being relieved of the pressures will almost certainly help Vaughan return to his fluent best.
 
He has made a point this week of stating he will not be getting in Pietersons way at all. Many people believe it could be awkward having the ex captain (and, we shouldn’t forget, England's most successful) around whilst the new one is trying to impose himself on the team. Kind of like when you take the new girlfriend away for a romantic weekend, only to find out your ex has booked into the next room. Uncomfortable. However many believe that Pieterson was instrumental in Vaughan being awarded a contract by England. Indeed, when Vaughan took over the captaincy from Nasser Hussain all those years ago, Hussian was still in the England team, and although Vaughan himself admits it was a little strange have Hussain on the field watching him, he says it was never a problem. Lets hope that this is the same scenario, and for once, the ex girlfriend and the new wife get on swimmingly.

Away from England slightly, and Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar has played for Surrey this week in a short sting designed to try to help Surrey stave off the threat of relegation and also to attempt to get Akhtar back to some sort of match fitness. Neither really worked as Surrey were relegated, and Akktar copped one in the mouth whilst trying to hook a short ball from Andre Adams, and promptly had is front teeth rearranged.
 
I travelled down to the Oval in the week to see Akhtar’s display, and as he was only signed for two games, I thought I had better be quick.  I have to say I was impressed. I’m not a huge fan of his, as I don’t like players who think it’s all about them, and players who whinge and moan there way through a game. But credit where credit is due, he bowled with 110% effort, and gave his all in the field. He looked sharp, fiery and hostile. Unfortunately, it didn’t pay off, as the ball whistled past the edge on numerous occasions, and he had a couple of edges dropped in the slips, as is so often on occasions like this, the slips just couldn’t handle the extra pace of a test bowler.
 
Nonetheless, it was nice to see Akhtar back firing on all cylinders. If he can stay out of trouble and keep himself fit, then he will certainly be an asset to Pakistan, if and when they play test cricket again.
 
Meanwhile Ricky Ponting has been holding press conferences ahead of Australia’s trip to India. Ponting has had an awful time in India recently, averaging just 12.28 with the bat, and when you consider his overall average is 52.04, that’s some figure. He will be hoping to put that right when he attempts to defend the Border-Gavaskar trophy in a four test series starting in three weeks.
 
Following the events in Australia early this year, Ponting hopes that this series will be a tad more friendly. We all remember the antics of Harbajan Singh, Matthew Hayden and Andrew Symonds last year, which culminated in India threatening to go home. However it was an excellent series and the return leg is bound to be just as enthralling.
 
Australia departed in the early hours of Monday morning from Sydney for their two month tour. They take a younger, fresher squad to India this time, as the majority of the team that toured their last time, namely Gilchrist, Martyn, Langer, Warne, Kasprowich and Gillespie, have all retired. Ponting feels this could actually be an advantage, as the new players won’t know what to expect, and therefore won’t be fretting as much as possibly their predecessors were. Not quite sure what you’re getting at there Ricky, but all I know is that it’s going to be a tough tough tour, and you’d better tell your players what to expect, otherwise your low average in India will be the least of your worries….
 
Elsewhere this week, Bangladesh cricket is in turmoil after the vast majority of their squad retired from international cricket to play in the ICL. Thirteen players this week announced there would be a new team this the “Dhaka Warriors” and will be led by Habibul Bashar, the former captain of Bangladesh. Players involved in the mass exodus include Aftab Ahmed, Alok Kapali, Shahriar Nafees, Farhad Reza, Dhiman Ghosh and Mosharraf Hossain. The move is likely to have a major impact on Bangladesh cricket, which was never the strongest in the first place. You may remember last week I was calling for their test status to be reviewed. Well now that is even more likely after the squad was decimated of it’s better players.
 
And finally this week, Indian supporters will be delighted to hear that Sachin Tendulker has no imminent plans to retire just yet, after he dismissed one reporters question on the subject with a simple “I think you are at the wrong press conference” So good news for Indian, and indeed, World cricket.
 
Well that’s about all I have for this week, be sure to check in regularly for all the news features and tips right here at www.priceform.com, and of course, I’ll be back next week with all the news from the world of cricket.
 
Until then, be lucky
 
Paul