Johnson backs Australia's pace battery

Beware everyone: Mitchell Johnson believes the Australian pace battery, comprising Brett Lee, Shaun Tait and himself, have the potential to destroy opponents if the defending champions can couple their "aggression" with "smart" game-plans. "We just have to be smart about our bowling but I think we're still going to be aggressive," Johnson said on the eve Australia's first warm-up match against India on Sunday.

Johnson felt the ability of all the three tearaways to consistently cross the 90 mph-mark left the batsman with not much room for escape. "That's sort of the plan, isn't it?", Johnson quipped, asked if he liked the fact that batsmen did not get any respite with him coming in as first-change after the new ball pair of Lee and Tait. "We can all bowl at between 140 and 150 [kph]. Shaun and Brett can even bowl over that. No one really is too keen on facing anything like that. We'd be one of the only teams going around like that. So it'd be a bonus for us," Johnson said. 

As for a workable strategy, Johnson believes he and his fellow quicks would put to use the short ball consistently. "We look at trying to get the ball to reverse, trying to use our change-ups. We're still going to try and bowl short balls over here. We know that especially a lot of the Indian batsmen aren't too keen on it," Johnson said with a smile. 

Incidentally, the trio has played together only twice so far: in the 2007 CB Series against New Zealand and recently in the sixth match of the ODI series against England, in which the England made a record 334. Though Australia escaped to victory with four balls to spare (Johnson played his part with the bat after being promoted to No.4), a view was formed that the fast men were vulnerable to leaking runs if their aggression went wrong. 

Johnson did not buy that opinion at all. "We work pretty well together," he said. "Obviously there was a lot of talk about us leaking too many runs. [But] Brett Lee did an exceptional job through that one-day series as you saw. With that experience, I think it's going to help myself and Shaun through this tournament. It probably showed towards the end of the one-day series," Johnson said. 

On Thursday Ricky Ponting had said that Lee, who was the top wicket-taker against England, was better suited to play a defensive role while he wanted both Johnson and Tait to bowl as quick as possible. "Brett has been able to turn himself into a bit more of a defensive-minded bowler. He has changed his approach a bit more, probably a bit more nous. I've been really impressed with Brett since he's come back into the Australian team. In the six games he played back in Australia [against England] I think he was the pick of our bowlers in maybe all but one," Ponting said. 

But he wanted Tait to just go for the maximum clicks. "Shaun Tait, I just want to let him go, let him run in and bowl fast and take wickets," he said. "Johnson, at his best, he is a guy who doesn't go for a lot of runs and he takes wickets," Ponting said about Johnson before following with a rider: "'if he's not at his best, we know he can leak a few runs.'' 

Johnson had a miserable summer during the Ashes barring at Perth where he snared six first-innings wickets with unplayable swing bowling to help level the series. But then one swallow doesn't make the summer and Johnson was ineffective for the remainder of the Test series. He found some late form at the back-end of the seven-match ODI series with a tally of 6 wickets at 23 from four matches. 

Today Johnson partially acknowledged that he had endured more bad days than good, which was hurting him. "I've never felt too far away from being at my best but for me it just gets highlighted a lot more if I'm having a bad performance. I probably need to bring my performances closer together - have that sort of middle ground. At the moment it's either really good or not as good," he said. 

Yet there is some positive news for him. Though he is yet to play in Sri Lanka, in India and Bangladesh Johnson has 31 wickets at 23.97 in 18 matches. Lee's 24 wickets across the three World Cup hosting countries has come at 31.54 from 21 matches. So even if Lee remains the leader of the pack, Johnson can take confidence from those numbers and hope to find the middle ground.

Broad '100% fit' ahead of World Cup

On the eve of England's departure for the World Cup fast bowler Stuart Broad has declared himself 100% fit after recovering from an abdominal injury that has kept him out of action since the Adelaide Ashes Test in December. 

England's ODI fortunes have suffered in Broad's absence, as they slumped to a 6-1 defeat in a gruelling series against Australia. England are still feeling the affects of a lengthy winter's work with Eoin Morgan ruled out with a broken finger and Graeme Swann, Tim Bresnan, Ajmal Shahzad and Paul Collingwood all nursing injuries. 

Chris Tremlett will travel with the squad as a back-up seamer but news of Broad's recovery is a major boost for a side that hasn't passed the quarter-final stage of the World Cup since 1992.

"I'm 100% fit now and excited about the chances of playing in a World Cup," Broad told ESPNCricinfo. "It's been a while since I've been on a field. I've been in the gym and in the nets but I'm excited about that competitive edge you get on the pitch and excited about our chances as well." 

Until the side were derailed in Australia by series of lacklustre batting efforts England have had a good run in limited-overs cricket. They won the World Twenty20 in the Caribbean last year and have won five ODI series in a row - beating South Africa, Australia and Pakistan in an undefeated run that stretches back to a 6-1 loss to Australia, again, after the 2009 Ashes win. 

"We've been in really good ODI form over the past two years, this was our first series defeat since Australia 2009 so we know we're a talented ODI team it's important we get four or five injured players back on the park and we'll be almost at full strength." 

The key to England's limited-overs success has been Eoin Morgan, whose inventive and nerveless batting has underpinned a strong batting line-up. In games England have won he's averaged 59.66 compared to 24.90 when they lose. Broad admits that his absence is "a huge loss" but remains upbeat about their chances.

England's first task will be their warm-up match against Canada in Bangladesh on February 16 and Broad insists they will be ready for it. 

"We take every game seriously, we prepare properly and make sure there's no stone left unturned it's important for the group and even our warm-up games to make sure we hit the ground running because you can't just turn on a good performance you have to be good throughout."

Batting long is Sehwag's aim

As if Virender Sehwag's batting strike-rate of 102 over a decade in one-day cricket wasn't enough to frighten bowlers, he has now set his sights on batting long during the World Cup. During his astonishing double-century against Ajantha Mendis and Muttiah Muralitharan in the Galle Test in 2008, Sehwag carried his bat but he is yet to bat out the full quota of overs in one-dayers, something he hopes to achieve. 

"I think I never played 50 overs in one-day cricket, maximum I faced is 42-44 overs," a relaxed Sehwag said in Bangalore. "This time I'll try to bat 50 overs if I can. I have been trying for 10 years, I'm still trying." Emulating Sachin Tendulkar, who made the first and only double-century so far in the format when he played out 50 overs against South Africa last year, wasn't a target for Sehwag though. "Sachin has played 50 overs many times, not just once, but he could make 200 only once because it is not easy to make 200 in a one-dayer." 

Nearly a third of Sehwag's innings have been single-digit efforts, a proportion he aims to reduce with a more measured approach early in the innings. "I have Yuvraj [Singh], MS Dhoni, [Suresh] Raina, [Virat] Kohli and Yusuf [Pathan] in the middle order, so I can go after the bowling straight from the first ball, but nowadays I'm a giving a little bit of respect for first 4-5 overs," he said. "Then I can take on the bowlers to make sure I give a good start so even if I get out the middle order can take their time and then go after the bowling."

This will be the first World Cup since Twenty20 become a big-money phenomenon, and Sehwag says the rise of cricket's newest format will mean teams batting first will have to set bigger targets to feel safe. "If you get a good batting track, 320 or 300 will be a par score in the World Cup," he said. "IPL changed a lot of batsmen's mindsets, because batsmen now think we can chase 10 run an over anytime. Before teams thought you have lost the game if they needed to chase 10 an over, but now with the power-hitters in the team, they will chase it and that will be very exciting to see in the World Cup" 

Injuries and the team management's decision to rest him from some recent series has meant Sehwag goes into the World Cup not having played a one-dayer in more than five months. He missed the recent series against South Africa due to a shoulder problem, and though he is satisfied with his recovery, he is yet to start bowling. "I'm taking regular treatment, so hopefully it will be fine when the match comes," he said. "I don't want to bowl in the nets and get injured again, so when I feel my shoulder is better I can start bowling." 

Shoulder trouble ruled Sehwag out of the past three global ICC tournaments - the Champions Trophy in 2009, and the previous two World Twenty20s - and India have had early exits in each of those, despite entering as title contenders. This World Cup, too, India are one of the front-runners. What lessons has the team learnt from past failures? "The only thing we learnt is that we are not favourites."

Dhoni plays down World Cup hype

The weight of expectation on the Indian cricket team, heavy at the best of times, has risen exponentially with the World Cup being held at home and India among the favourites. MS Dhoni's response as captain, at his first official World Cup press conference on Thursday, was typical: he played with a straight bat, deflecting questions so that the pressure on the team doesn't rise further. 

The mantra was "focus on process and preparation" (and not results or other things like Gary Kirsten's exit as India coach), pressure isn't pressure anymore but responsibility, no opposition team was identified as a threat ("all teams are dangerous"), the Indian team had a good mix of experienced players ("who know how to handle pressure") and youngsters ("who can change the course of the game"). And, significantly, not winning the World Cup is not the end of the world. 

"A lot of hype is created around the World Cup but every series that the Indian team plays we have a lot of expectation," Dhoni said in Bangalore. "We are supposed to win the World Cup, the atmosphere was same in 2007, it won't be right to consider this as one of the final frontiers, it's one of the big tournaments, the team needs to do well, (but) it's always the process and preparation that will help us achieve success, not thinking about what's coming and how big the tournament is." 

Dhoni also sidestepped a question on the importance of the tournament for the one-day format. "I'm a big fan of fifty-over cricket. That doesn't mean I don't like Twenty20s or Tests. It's a big stage, big fan following and everybody is looking forward to it." 

What was Dhoni's view on the prolonged World Cup, stretching over 43 days when its football counterpart typically picks out a winner in a month? "It is very difficult to form a perfect schedule and format. A tournament schedule will be either too long or too short but I am quite happy with the schedule. It will give us time to recover from small niggles." 

India's first warm-up match is against Australia on Sunday, and it will be Ricky Ponting's first game in more than six weeks after being sidelined by a finger injury. Would India target him with short deliveries? "We'll see about the strategy later." 

Today at least there was no visible strategy during the first official training session except that Virat Kohli got special attention from Kirsten, initially during the fielding drills, and later during the throw-downs. Kohli, one of the most prolific Indian ODI batsmen in 2010, would keep his fingers crossed to make his World Cup debut though the return of Gautam Gambhir in the top order has made his position uncertain. But today, Kirsten worked hard on the youngster's technique, trying to make sure the bat-swing was coming down straight before the point of impact with the ball. 

It was not a simple day at work for Kohli , who earlier intently heard the pair of Kirsten and Dhoni explain to him the right body position while taking catches in close positions like slips. Both men laid emphasis on anticipation being the key. Whatever they said, Kohli underwent some anxious moments, dropping a couple of straightforward catches. But his seniors were patient and continued to correct his fielding stance.

In contrast to light-hearted practice on Wednesday, the Indians had a four-hour long rigorous training session with Kirsten and Dhoni supervising the batsmen while the pair of Eric Simons and Zaheer Khan taking care of the fast bowlers. Harbhajan Singh, after a short spell with the ball, enjoyed playing the axe-murderer alongside Dhoni, using the bat akin to golfers using their drivers. Nine days before the tournament opener against Bangladesh, the Indians appeared in the right frame of mind. 

Dhoni's play-it-safe strategy at a spruced-up Chinnaswamy Stadium ("the dressing room looks better, doesn't mean the dressing room wasn't good before") should keep the headlines sober as well. It will also ensure that, after entering the past three ICC events touted as title-winners before ending up well short, the Indian team aren't distracted from their challenge of living up to their billing as leading contenders this time around.

Sohail Tanvir out of the World Cup

Sohail Tanvir, the left-arm seamer, has been ruled out of Pakistan's World Cup campaign after failing to complete a full rehabilitation from surgery for a knee problem that has dogged him for two years. He will be replaced by the promising young left-arm fast bowler Junaid Khan. 

A PCB medical panel, after looking into a management report, said that though "the recovery from a knee operation was good, during the [New Zealand] tour it was observed that quick movements and pickup with weight particularly on the operated knee is hindering his mobility and requires him to take a few extra steps to balance himself before throwing. The medical team and team management have opined that Sohail Tanvir still requires time to attain 100% fitness before he can compete at international level."

Tanvir returned to international cricket on Pakistan's recent tour to New Zealand, where he played in five of the six ODIs. Though he bowled some good spells at the death, he looked generally rusty, picking up just 4 wickets and going for over seven runs an over. Pakistan won the series 3-2. 

His batting, however, seemed to have improved, as evidenced by an audacious, unbeaten 14 off 6 balls to seal the fifth ODI. Until this series, he hadn't played for Pakistan in an ODI since May 2009 and at one stage, the knee problems threatened to end his career. 

His misfortune, however, is to the benefit of Khan, who has been close to a national call-up for nearly a year now. The 21-year-old emerged at about the same time as Mohammad Amir, playing alongside him at U-19 level for Pakistan. He has been a consistent wicket-taker at domestic level, in all forms of the game, and given that he plays most of his cricket for one of the traditionally weaker regions, Abbottabad (in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province), it is an impressive record. 

Former Test spinner and selector Iqbal Qasim, who first picked him for junior level, believes he has immense potential and was impressed initially by his pace as well as stamina. Some observers, at that early stage, felt Khan might make it to the national side before Amir, though he hasn't, they say, developed as swiftly. But he has been playing for the Pakistan A side regularly now, and is familiar at least with where Pakistan will play their first game of the World Cup: last September he took nine wickets in a 'Test' against Sri Lanka A in Hambantota, where Pakistan will take on Kenya on January 23. 

The PCB said the ICC's technical committee had approved the request.

Sreesanth replaces injured Praveen

Praveen Kumar, the India fast bowler, has been ruled out of the World Cup due to an injured elbow and will be replaced by Sreesanth. The decision comes a day after Praveen underwent a fitness test at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore to gauge whether he had recovered from the injury sustained before the start of the one-day series in South Africa last month. 

Praveen, 24 had been sent back immediately from South Africa as a precautionary measure to recuperate at the NCA. The recovery did not go as planned, however, and he consulted Dr Andrew Wallace, a London-based surgeon who has treated many Indian players including Sachin Tendulkar. Praveen has been a regular with the Indian one-day side for the past couple of years and was set to be a certain starter in the World Cup, but his injury healed too slowly to allow him to participate in the global tournament. 

Sreesanth has established himself in the Test side but has been on the fringes of the one-day outfit. He has played only 51 one-dayers in more than five years since his debut in 2005, and has a bloated career economy rate of 6.01. But he proved effective in the two ODIs he's played over the past 12 months, bagging seven wickets for 77 runs. 

The other fast bowlers in the Indian squad are Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra and Munaf Patel.

Morgan to miss World Cup with fractured finger

Eoin Morgan, England's star one-day batsman, has been ruled out of the World Cup due to a broken middle finger on his left hand, and Ravi Bopara has been brought into the squad in his place. England's coach Andy Flower announced the news at a press conference at Heathrow Airport on England's return from Australia, and confirmed that Morgan would undergo surgery that would keep him out of the entire tournament.

"His [Morgan's] finger needs to be operated on, so that's a serious loss to us," Flower said. "He's been a very influential limited-overs performer for us since he joined the England team. Ravi Bopara, who is a very exciting young cricketer in his own right, is going to be joining us and is flying back from the West Indies where he is playing with the England Lions. He'll be arriving in the country tomorrow and joining us on the flight to Dhaka." 

The news of Morgan's unavailability comes as a serious blow to England as he has been one of their most valuable players in ODIs over the past two years, something his captain Andrew Strauss recognised. "For the last 12 to 18 months, he's been the stand-out batsman for us in one-day cricket," Strauss told the press at Heathrow. "We all see the World Cup as a forum for showcasing your skills, so he's bitterly disappointed to be missing out. But that's the nature of the beast: you are going to get injuries. Unfortunately, his has come along at a bad time, but thankfully he's a young bloke and is going to get opportunities in the future. For the time being we will have to make do without him, but it's something we are prepared for and I'm sure we'll be able to do." 

Flower tried putting a positive spin on events, mentioning how Bopara's bowling might be an asset. "No-one is irreplaceable and Ravi is a very talented and exciting player, and brings a bit of medium-pace bowling to help the captain in those middle overs," Flower said. "We are confident that the 15 guys who we have will gel together and perform powerfully." 

Bopara was not a part of the England ODI squad for the series in Australia, and played only four ODIs in 2010, with a best of 45 not out from 16 balls against Bangladesh at Edgbaston. He did score two half-centuries in India the last time England toured the country in 2008, and has played in subcontinent conditions during the IPL, in which he played for Kings XI Punjab. 

"[Bopara] hasn't had a chance to play for us recently; he has been playing a lot of cricket around the world and he is desperate to get back in the ranks," said Strauss. "This is his opportunity and we like what he can bring to the game, his ability to clear the ropes in the middle overs is going to be important to us, and he is going to be a worthy addition to the squad." 

Morgan sustained the fracture to the middle finger of his left hand during the fourth ODI in Adelaide, but carried on playing for a further two matches in the mistaken belief that it was merely bruised. "He didn't think it was serious at all, but it got worse the more he played and practised," said Flower. "The pain grew worse, and therefore the medical team got onto it and found that it was worse than the bruise originally suggested."

He met with a specialist on Monday, immediately after his arrival back in the UK, and it is understood that the fracture extends up to the knuckle, a problem which increases the risk of dislocation. Morgan was told that surgery was the only viable option, which would keep him on the sidelines for at least six weeks.

England are currently sweating on the fitness of five more members of their 15-man World Cup squad. Paul Collingwood received an injection on Monday, having suffered a back spasm during the penultimate ODI in Sydney. Tim Bresnan is stepping up his training having succumbed to a calf strain, while Ajmal Shahzad's hamstring injury is still causing concern. 

Stuart Broad is believed to be on track having torn a stomach muscle back in December, while Graeme Swann is set to test his injured knee in the nets on Tuesday, having missed the latter stages of the Australia tour. "I'm not fully fit but I'm getting there," he told BBC Radio 5 live. "I haven't had a bowl yet. I'm a little bit nervous about it but I should be fine."