Cricket Diary: More short stuff for Bairstow

By Richard Gibson

England have publicly dismissed Jonny Bairstow’s troubles against the short stuff sent down by West Indies as "just a few good balls" but it is a weakness that they will have been privately concerned about in deliberating the make-up of their squad for the first Test against South Africa at the Kia Oval next week.

Nor is his perceived vulnerability anything new. Team-mates at the 2011-12 National Academy intake certainly took note. Even before his first ball in Test cricket – sent down by Kemar Roach at Lord’s – thudded into Bairstow’s chest, one of his team-mates on the 2011-12 England Performance Programme told this column: “I played with Jonny last winter with the Lions, and we said he didn’t play the short ball particularly well.”

It is understood that England team director Andy Flower has been working one-on-one with Bairstow in various indoor nets during the rain-wrecked NatWest Series win over Australia – although the bouncer barrage appeared to cease when the wet weather drove a group of journalists into an adjacent area at Edgbaston.

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Paul Collingwood will represent Australian franchise Perth Scorchers in the Champions League during October but it could be his final association with them.
 
The 36-year-old - who was recently informed that New Age Impi, the team he played for in South Africa’s domestic 20-over tournament, were folding with immediate effect – is not believed to be among their first choices for 2012-13 and may have to wait beyond the first few weeks of recruiting when the A-list names are signed to secure a deal. The BBL’s trading window opened this week.
 
Perth are interested in South African Albie Morkel while Twenty20 stars Kieron Pollard, Lasith Malinga, Tillakaratne Dilshan and Azhar Mahmood are all in demand across the eight franchises.
 
Meanwhile, Sydney Sixers, the inaugural champions, are hoping to sign Sunil Narine, the Indian Premier League player of the year 2012, as one of their two overseas players.

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Sunil Narine is one of two up-and-coming West Indies players to have been named after famous Asian opening batsmen. Mystery spinner Narine owes his Christian name to his cricket-mad father’s appreciation of Indian great Sunil Gavaskar.
 
The other is Saeed Williams, a left-handed batsmen with Leeward Islands and son of ex-Windies opener Stuart Williams, a contemporary of Pakistan’s Saeed Anwar.
 
Williams featured in the recent Caribbean Under-17 tournament alongside Tyrone Williams Jnr, younger brother of the late Runako Morton, and against another offspring of a famous dad, Guyana’s Taijnarine Chanderpaul.

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Nottinghamshire captain Adam Voges has dismissed any chance of him joining the Sri Lankan Premier League next month whether he leads his team to the Friends Life t20 Finals Day or not.
 
The Australian batsman was amongst the 56 overseas names revealed by the organisers of the tournament, that runs from August 10 to 31 and therefore clashes with the FLt20 showpiece in Cardiff on August 25.
 
However Voges, whose side face Hampshire at Trent Bridge in the quarter-finals on July 25, said: “It is certainly not going to happen this year. I am not going anywhere.”
 
Imports to the SLPL recently agreed three-year deals on the understanding that existing contracts elsewhere prevent them appearing in the inaugural 20-over event.

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Date: 11/07/2012 07:30:00 by Richard Gibson
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