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Having won all of the three most recent One Day International World Cups, it is but no surprise that Australia is number one in the world. Apart from an 2009 Ashes defeat to England in England, they have pretty much crucified every team on the test stage as well. What is the key to the success of the Australian team? Their strength lies in their grooming system. Cricket is encouraged not just as a sport but as a serious career path from the very early stages. Cricket academies nurture and groom players at an intensity level that most other countries have never heard of. The Australian Cricket Academy was set up in 1987 as a school that polished promising cricketers. The academy was well funded by the Australian Cricket Board and sponsors which ensured that only the very best of services were provided to the players. The result was that almost every player on the current Australian side roster has graduated from there. The most notable mentions are Ricky Ponting, Glenn McGrath, Shane Wa

The Wankhede Stadium is a cricket stadium in the city of Mumbai in Maharashtra. The stadium was established in the year 1974. The Wankhede Stadium is arguably the best stadium in the Indian subcontinent. The stadium hosts cricket matches both at the domestic and the international level. The stadium apart from hosting international matches, also serves as the home ground for the Mumbai Ranji Trophy team as well as the Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League (IPL). The stadium has witnessed all three forms of the game, namely tests, ODIs and the new Twenty20 format. History: The Wankhede Stadium was established in the year 1974 as a result of the then growing dispute between the Cricket Club of India which owned the Brabourne Stadium and the Mumbai Cricket Association over the allocation of ticket sales. Then under the initiative of the then secretary of MCA, Mr S.K. Wankhede, the Wankhede Stadium came into being. The stadium was constructed in six months and then took over as the ma

Ishant Sharma is one of the youngest and most promising cricketers in the Indian Team. Sharma comes across as something of a deviation in the Indian side with his Tall and lean physique at 6'4" (192 cm). He started his career with a debut against Bangladesh. One of the earliest career highlights which proved his mettle was capturing five wickets in a game leading India to a series win. Sharma passed the 'acid test' on the tour to Australia in 2007-08 that the true strength of the young crickter for he had the Australian skipper going on a bouncing spree failing to handle Ishant on a quick WACA track. Sharma rose to fame in 2007 with the Bangladesh tour playing as substitute for Munaf Patel.As an upcoming player he played for his national side in the second test where he bowled 3 over's together with one maiden and conceded only five runs without taking a wicket. Shortly he was called for the England tour in July-August 2007. Ishant was called back in team India for

For those of us who are not cricket fans if we were to hear the expression 20/20 we would think of 20/20 vision; but for the cricket lover the phrase 20/20 brings up a completely different vision! Often written as Twenty20 cricket this is a relatively recent form of the traditional cricket game and the vision for a Twenty20 cricket fan in 2010 could be spending time in Barbados, St. Lucia, Guyana or St. Kitts to watch the next World 20/20. So what is Twenty20 cricket and when did it start? In 2003 this form of cricket also referred to as T20 cricket was introduced in the United Kingdom for professional inter-county competitions by the England and Wales Cricket Board. The game involved two teams each of whom has a single innings and they are batting for a maximum of 20 overs. Twenty20 Cricket matches last around three and a half hours which means that the game is brought more in line with other popular sports. It has been very successful in achieving its aim of creating a lively game wh

The third Indian Premier League season (IPL3) starts in Hyderabad on 12 March 2010, when last years champions the Deccan Chargers will take on the Kolkata Knight Riders in the first of 60 matches. As ever, controversy follows the IPL even before a ball has been bowled. We might have expected that as Pakistan are the current World T20 champions, their players would have been hot property at the player auction in January. But, not one of them was signed up and its still not clear why. Perhaps India - Pakistan politics played a part, maybe the team owners got cold feet over a potential lack of Visas for the players, or did Pakistan's total loss of recent form just make them poor value for money? New features this year include a third place play off, and the options of two and a half minute strategic time outs for the fielding captain between overs 6 and 10, and for the batting side between overs 11 and 16. But, will the time-outs be an advantage for the players or TV advertisers? Othe