THE past couple of weeks have been a leveller for all Victorians. The tragic events that have taken place in bushfire-ravaged towns bring cricket into perspective and make you realise that no matter what happens in the game, we should all count ourselves extremely lucky. We are provided with the opportunity to do what we love as a profession and we have a tremendous support base that allows us to continue doing so.

Two of my Australian and Victorian teammates, Cameron White and Peter Siddle, have been personally touched with friends and family affected by the fires and it has been a tough time for them to concentrate on the game. After visiting Whittlesea last week with the Australian team, I think all of us were finding it difficult to focus, given what these people have been through.

We hope a small thing like the visit helped to make things slightly better for some of these people and assure them the Australian cricket team will be giving everything on the field to bring them a little enjoyment.

While representing your country is obviously the ultimate honour, returning home to play for your state in a Ford Ranger Cup final is a pretty good substitute. After missing the past three games of the interstate one-day competition, it’s great to be a part of the Bushrangers side as we take on Queensland and, hopefully, win the first of two trophies.

Winning today means everything for our side. It has been a long time since Victoria last tasted success in this competition and we have been on the losing side the past two seasons. I believe we have the side that can do the job against the Bulls. While our batting has been solid, bowling has been our great strength all year; Dirk Nannes and Clint McKay have been outstanding while Shane Harwood has had one of his best one-day seasons.

While we will be missing Andrew McDonald, Siddle and Bryce McGain, all of whom are part of the Australian squad in South Africa, and Nannes to injury, White and I are back from international duties and will be bringing our experiences to the Victorian side.

We played some poor cricket at the start of the Chappell-Hadlee series but through hard work and a belief that we could perform at a much higher level than what was evident early on in the series, we were able to bounce back.

It was hugely disappointing that we couldn’t finish the series-deciding match against the Kiwis, but with the rain pouring down, the only possible result was achieved on the night. Wet weather is such an advantage to a batting side; bowlers lose their ability to swing the ball and control is all but lost. My straight breaks are not bowled at break-neck speed, but even I lose a bit of confidence approaching the crease in conditions like those.

The hard-fought win in the Twenty20 match in Sydney last Sunday was a great way to finish off the Australian summer and, on a personal note, I was happy with my contribution. But, the best part of the night from a Victorian point of view was the selection of Rob Quiney in the Australian squad. He has had a fantastic season for Victoria in the one-day and Twenty20 competitions and is a terrific person to have around your team, with a great sense of humour and a laidback personality.

The next few weeks are an exciting time for Victorian cricket with the one-day final today and the Sheffield Shield decider not far away. Hopefully we can bring home the two trophies and give our state some hard-earned success.

Originally posted by David Hussey.

“We are going to have talks with Cricket Australia this month to discuss possible neutral venues for the one-day series but our first priority remains that it should be held in Pakistan,” PCB Chief Operating Officer Saleem Altaf said on Tuesday.

He said even if Pakistan is forced to play Australia at neutral venues it would not affect its chances of hosting the Champions Trophy.

“We have got the Champions Trophy on basis of rotation system from the ICC. And we are keen to hold it. Even though it has already been postponed once last year due to security reasons,” Altaf said.

He rejected suggestions that the cancellation of the Test tour by the Indian team to Pakistan had also affected the chances of the Champions Trophy being staged in Karachi.

“I don’t think so. Remember the ICC had said it would consider the Indian team’s tour as a benchmark for assessing security arrangements for the Champions Trophy,” he said.

“The fact is if India has not come we have got Sri Lanka over and they are coming next month for a Test tour. So the ICC can easily assess security arrangements from the Sri Lankans’ tour,” he said.

Altaf didn’t rule out the possibility of splitting the one-day series against Australia to one or two matches in Pakistan and remaining at neutral venues.

“But we definitely want to host the Champions Trophy in September and this would be discussed at the ICC meeting later this month in Perth,” he added.
Originally posted at The Press Trust of India.