Today..

The World Cup could not have gone to any other team but Australia, the untouchable, the unbeatable, the unplayable, the unbelievable, which has emasculated its rivals and exhausted the vocabulary

Rohit Brijnath runs out of adjectives to describe the Australians.

Poor attitude doesn’t mean hoping your team loses or, to give it a more sinister motive, conspiring against your team. It means you are not willing to go that extra mile, extra yard sometimes; that the extra effort is not attractive enough.

Harsha Bhogle on attitude.

In effect, what this means is that the BCCI feels it can bribe their way to a better-performing team. If they do perform now, and we hope they do, all the fingers can wag at them and say: ‘they play only for money’.

Amit Gupta on the new contracts.

It was almost like those days in the pre-Greg Chappell era when fielding and catching drills were a euphemism for going through the motions.

As reported in these columns, the players have strong reservations and most are probably looking to the Big Four — captain Rahul Dravid, senior-most pro Sachin Tendulkar, former captain Sourav Ganguly and Anil Kumble — “for guidance.

Meanwhile, in an interesting development, Tendulkar has chosen to go back to his old style of playing with a heavy bat in a bid to bat his way out of rusty form.

Day 2 of the 5 day camp.

A good performance from the respective national teams contributes to a feel-good factor; an air of general malaise hangs after a bad show

Vijay Parthasarathy finds parallels between Indian cricket and English football.

Friday, April 27: The diary chances upon an article on Glenn McGrath. Written by Steve Waugh, it's 11 things you didn't know about Rhino a.k.a. Ninger a.k.a Nuff Nuff. For one, Pidge loves the Lord of the Rings trilogy — see, fast bowlers can be discerning — and he "gives the choc-top ice creams a real touch up." He likes creepy-crawlies, and likes them better when he can slip 'em down a neck or two: the diary always wondered if Michael Bevan's jerkiness at the crease had entirely to do with getting in position. Number 11 is particularly good: "Regularly wears cricket whites that are short in length prompting Allan Border to say to him in one of his first games, `What are you waiting for pal, the floods'." Waugh's writing is often gawdy: his autobiography is sprinkled with wildebeast and headless-chook similes. But, mitigatingly, he has an eye for detail.

His description of McGrath arranging his breakfast is why former cricketers must write. Writes Waugh: "Eats the same breakfast each morning on tour. He places his two fried eggs on separate pieces of white toast before making sure the yolk is perfectly positioned in the middle, before trimming the overhanging egg white edges with surgical precision. The contents are then cut into quarters after being doused with a three-second barrage of salt. It's a real shame to see him eat it such is the masterpiece he creates."

S. Ram Mahesh's Caribbean diary.

So the contention that ICC should have its best umpires (Taufel at least) for important clashes goes bust in light of some past decisions.

Atul Sondhi on neutral umpires.