Already 2-0 down in the series, England desperately need a win in the third Ashes Test at Perth to ensure the series remains competitive. The numbers, though, aren’t very encouraging for an England supporter. Cricinfo lists some of the significant stats from Perth.

11 – The number of Tests Australia have won at Perth since 1990. Of the 16 Tests during that period, they have lost just twice – to West Indies in 1993 and 1997.60% – The loss percentage for England in Tests at Perth, which is theworst for them among all overseas venue in which they’ve played at least fiveTests. In ten matches, they’ve lost six, with just one win and threedraws.2 – The number of wins for the team that won the toss and chose to bat first at the WACA since 1990; of the 11 Tests in which a team has done that, seven have been lost and two drawn.49.55 – The average runs per wicket for spinners in Tests at Perth since1990. Slow bowlers have only taken 67 wickets in this period, compared to395 by the fast bowlers at 30.76.18.62 – The average opening stand between Matthew Hayden and Justin Langerhere. In eight Test innings at Perth, the pair have only added 149, with ahighest stand of 43. Over their entire career, Hayden and Langer average52.22 per partnership.61.57 – Adam Gilchrist’s Test average at the WACA, where he also has a strike-rate of 88.68. In ten innings, Gilchrist has scored one century and three fifties.37.28 – Shane Warne’s bowling average at Perth, which is his least successful venue in Australia. In 11 Tests at this venue, Warne has taken just 32 wickets at a strike-rate of 80.1.48 – The number of wickets for Glenn McGrath in his 11 Tests here. They have cost him 23.81 apiece, which is slightly more expensive than his career average of 21.61, and he only has one five-for here.44 – The strike rate for Brett Lee at Perth. In five Tests he has 30 wickets, at an average of 25.46, which is significantly better than his career average of 32.21. Two of his seven five-fors in Tests have come at this venue.168 – Steve Harmison’s strike-rate in his only Test at the WACA in which he took 1 for 86 off 28 overs. No other England bowler in the current squad has played a Test here before.

Scorecard
Mathew Harvie took 5 for 40 in Otago’s 61-run win over Northern Districts in their State Shield match at the University Oval in Dunedin. Opener Craig Cumming made 112 off 129 balls and helped Otago set Northern a target of 280. Northern were bowled out for 218.Before Cumming was run-out for the seventh wicket he added 53 with Aaron Redmond, 47 with Neil Broom, and 53 with Greg Todd.Harvie had Nick Horsley, the Northern opener, trapped leg before with his third ball of the day. He then dismissed the other opener, Alun Evans, and Peter McGlashan as Northern crawled to 51 in 14.4 overs. Mark Orchard and Joseph Yovich, who top-scored with 50, steadied the innings with a 61-run partnership for the sixth wicket which was ultimately broken by Turner, who ended with 3 for 32.Auckland’s match against Wellington at Eden Park and Central Districts match against Canterbury at Pukekura Park were abandoned without a ball being bowled.

ScorecardShahid Nazir took 5 for 61, and there were hundreds for Morne van Wyk and Arno Jacobs, as Pakistan’s warm-up match against a Rest of South Africa XI petered out into a draw at Kimberley although the major news of the day was the recall of Shoaib Akhtar.van Wyk brought up his hundred from 191 balls, guiding 13 fours, before falling to Mohammad Sami ending a fine 188-run partnership with Jacobs. But Jacobs found good support from Johan Botha, who stayed for over an hour to put on a useful seventh-wicket stand of 52.van Wyk was finally dismissed for 143, caught by Younis Khan off Nazir, and Danish Kaneria’s hard toil was eventually rewarded with the final, lone wicket of Garnett Kruger as the South Africans were dismissed for 383.In reply, Mohammad Hafeez continued his fine form with an unbeaten 48, adding to his 108 on the first day. The match was stripped of its first-class status as the Pakistanis took the opportunity to allow some other players – including Sami – valuable match time before the first Test.

Ricky Ponting has given his struggling side a boost by expecting to be fully fit and pain-free when he arrives in the Caribbean next week. Ponting, who missed the 3-0 thumping at the hands of New Zealand with back trouble, had three cortisone injections to reduce inflammation caused by bone spurs in his spine, but said much of the pain had eased.”My back’s fine,” Ponting told a business luncheon in Sydney. “[The doctors] said on the day that I had the injections it would be three to four days of not doing much before the injection settles down.”It’s been about a week and the last few nights I’ve slept a lot better and felt a lot better in the morning. Hopefully, when I get to the West Indies I’ll be pain-free and ready to go.”He also said Australia may consider batting second at the World Cup after they conceded the four greatest run-chases in limited-overs history during the past 14 months. “We’re going to come up against some small grounds in the World Cup, so the consideration of batting second is something there to think about,” Ponting said. “That straight away eases a bit of the pressure on the bowlers.”Ponting said much of the aura surrounding Australian cricket had diminished following five consecutive losses. “I think it will have an affect on the other teams, they’ll say, ‘hang on England just beat Australia in the finals, New Zealand just beat Australia 3-0, why can’t we beat them’,” Ponting told the audience. “Other teams around the world will be thinking Australia are beatable now, where only a few weeks ago everybody was wondering how any other team in the world was going to compete with us.”Ponting later told reporters: “I don’t think the team’s in any dire straits at the moment. We’ve had a few injuries and lost a few guys, but I’m pretty confident that we’ll be ultra competitive in every game we play.”He said he felt good enough to play a round of golf last Friday, reportedly on the advice of back specialists, who claimed swinging a club would help maintain movement while not aggravating the inflamed area. There are five Australians struggling with injuries three weeks out from their World Cup defence, but Ponting and fellow batsman Michael Clarke (hip) are the two players giving least concern.The opener Matthew Hayden has been told to rest for up to three weeks to recover from the fractured big toe suffered while scoring an Australian-record 181 not out against New Zealand on Tuesday. Andrew Symonds remains in doubt, but he believes he is making good progress from shoulder surgery.Brett Lee is the biggest worry, with Cricket Australia sending him for scans on Friday and they will be reviewed over the weekend. The selectors will make a ruling on Lee’s fitness before Australia fly for the Caribbean next week. Lee said last week he had only a 50-50 chance of playing in the World Cup after damaging ankle ligaments during training.

Martyn Moxon has been confirmed as Yorkshire’s new director of cricket. Moxon, the former Yorkshire captain, resigned as head coach of Durham last week prompting speculation he could be heading south.He already has experience in a directorial role at Yorkshire, having been their director of coaching until 2001. “When the opportunity came up to join Yorkshire I jumped at it,” he said – although that was not the case three years ago when, it was reported, the county tried to lure him away from Durham. But this time things are different: “I cannot wait to get started in my new role.”These are exciting times at Headingley, with this announcement the latest to follow Darren Gough’s return to the county, as captain, and the news that Anthony McGrath resolved his differences and decided to stay.And Yorkshire made a further announcement today: their academy director, Ian Dews, will become the director of cricket operations.

Ricky Ponting scoffed at the idea that there would be any element ofcomplacency in Australia’s approach to the game against Ireland, andpredicted that the stars of the Irish team would need to perform like theynever had before to even get a whiff of an upset.”There’s no such thing as complacency in the World Cup, it is just a mediaterm,” he said. “I’ve played a lot of international cricket, I have playedalongside a lot of very good players, and I have never seen that. I lookat [Friday] as another opportunity to impose ourselves on this event andshow everyone how good a cricket team we are. We will seek to go in forthe kill.”Three of Ireland’s starting XI have roots in New South Wales – “It willmake them look forward to doing well against us” – but Ponting was certainthat little would stand between his side and the victory that willguarantee a place in the last four.”They need five or six players to play cricket like they’ve never donebefore,” he said. “Stranger things have happened. Favourites don’t alwayswin, but if they do the things that they normally do to even 85% oftheir potential, they always come off best in these situations.”Australia brushed aside Scotland and The Netherlands with contemptuousease in the group stage, and Ponting expected a similarly emphatic displayagainst a side that have been the Cinderella story of the competition. Theonly thing in Ireland’s favour is the element of surprise, with theAustralians not having a great deal of footage to review to pinpointstrengths and frailties.For Trent Johnston, the Irish captain who watched as a fan when Australiastumbled on home soil in 1992, it will be a match to savour. “If you can’tget yourselves up for a game against Australia, then you should not beplaying in the World Cup,” he said. “We need to play at least ten to 15% better than we did against Pakistan. We have to bring our A gameto the park in every department and if even that’s not good enough at theend of the day, it is after all Australia against Ireland – professionalsagainst amateurs.”Having pitched his tent in Ireland years ago, Johnston initially workedfor a clothing label owned by U2’s Bono and took citizenship in 2003. Hehas few regrets about what might have been. “I did dream of playing forAustralia in the World Cup, but unfortunately, that didn’t happen. Irelandgave me the chance to play in the World Cup, and I am grateful for that.”

For Adrian Birrell, the coach, just being here is achievement in itself.”I had planned a holiday in Mexico,” he said with a smile. “I had tocancel that after we got to the Super Eights! I told the boys that bygetting through to this stage, they’ve given me the greatest present ever.There’s a great deal of satisfaction and a sense of accomplishment, thisis the result of the hard work of five years.”Having acquitted themselves with credit in previous games before the blipagainst New Zealand, Ireland’s main aim on Friday will be damage control.”We are under no illusion what awaits us tomorrow,” Birrell said.”Australia will come out trying to annihilate us. This is the toughestgame in the history of Irish cricket, but we’ve got to stick to our gameplans, to our processes and be disciplined. I’ve told the boys to just goout and enjoy the day. To play Australia in this awesome stadium will bean experience of a lifetime. We’ve had just one bad game in thecompetition, and even there, there were a lot of pluses.”Ireland will be hoping that Andrè Botha, the allrounder who is so centralto their plans, is fit to play after a hamstring strain, while Australiacould give Glenn McGrath a day off with Mitchell Johnson stepping in. BradHaddin might also get a game with Adam Gilchrist sitting out. Whatever the playing XI is though, they should be far too strong for an Irish sidethat must hope that their indefatigable spirit can bridge the massivechasm that separates the teams in terms of ability.

Shane Watson’s heavier bat and a determination to change his technique have helped him excel in the final overs of Australia’s one-day innings. The full might of Watson’s changes was on show when he slammed four sixes against New Zealand to finish with 65 from 32 balls as Australia reached 348.The innings pushed Watson’s World Cup tally to 142 runs at a strike-rate of 176 without getting out and confirmed why the team management was so desperate for him to recover from a calf strain. A hamstring injury before the Ashes disrupted Watson’s progress, but the work he has completed with Jamie Siddons, a coach at the Centre of Excellence in Brisbane, has paid off.”Jamie has been an amazing influence on me,” Watson said in The Australian. “It all started back after the Australia A series in Darwin and Cairns [last year]. He sat down and mapped out a plan of how I was going to be able to bat consistently well down the order in one-day cricket.”Some of those things were a bit more touch, hitting down to fine leg just to be able to free up an area for me. But also developing a way to be able to hit boundaries at the end as well.”While he has had short stints as an opener, Watson has batted most at No. 7 and has shown how he can adapt his game. “I know a perceived weakness with my batting down the order was to be able to hit boundaries towards the end of an innings,” he said. It has not been a problem in the Caribbean and his batting has helped ease the pressure on his heavily scrutinised performances.”It has hurt at times,” Watson told AFP of the criticism he has received. “It’s human nature … you can take it to heart. In the end all I have tried to do is be my best and I’ve tried to work extremely hard on my game to continue to improve. Having people doubt your ability and then to be able to put it together in a World Cup is truly satisfying.”

Alastair Cook has a very serious mission today as he takes on WestIndies at Lord’s (not single-handedly, of course, although you neverknow – ah, the confidence of youth). But a week ago he was plunged into mirth at Chelmsford as he posed with two beauties, Emma andNatalie, as part of a sports calendar for the CHASE Ben HollioakeFund.His England team-mates may snigger, but Mrs Flintoff may not be soamused – Freddie’s lined up to appear in a shoot later in theyear.Competition now closed. Click here to see the winners and their winning entries<!–But before all that merriment, it's time to indulge in some of yourown. It's the return of the much-missed caption competition and, asyou can see, have we got a humdinger for you. To have a chance to win,email [email protected] us your suggestions as to what’s being said…or thought. Please include your name and address along with your (preferably very witty) answer.There’s a cracking pair of prizes up for grabs, too. Slightly lessfrivolously, it’s time to celebrate 50 years of Test Match Special,and when better to recognise this than at the Lord’s Test? There is alovely book, , which we’ll be reviewing soon and also aTMS print by the artist John Ireland (click here to see it). Five winners will win a lovely pair. –>