Good week for...

Duncan Fletcher

The former England coach has been hired to 'help' South Africa prepare for their tour of Australia next month.

"He will add a great deal of value to our plans and preparations, particularly with his experience of having been a successful coach against Australia," Mickey Arthur said.

How many Tests will be played at Edgbaston? Fletcher's England record in Australia reads: W 1; L 9.

Imparting the wisdom of how to win two live Tests out of 20 against that opposition will probably not take long. But he will be delighted to see Cameron White up close and personal: inadequate spinner costing his team matches, but a wonderful number eight. To the Zimabwean it's poetry in motion.

Clive Lloyd

The West Indies skipper knew the difference between a good and a bad renegade competition in his day, leading the Packer revolt in his own dressing room but despising the South Africa rebel tours that used similar language.

This week he sought to play peacemaker Obama-style, pleading for the IPL and ICL to find a way to co-exist: "You have to speak to people."

He is right, of course, that there is nothing essentially wrong with Kapil Dev's effort (beyond the fact it's a Tesco value version of its rival).

But Lalit Modi doesn't have to answer to anyone, not Kapil Dev or even the decent and intelligent Lloyd. If Obama himself rang up? Doubtful.

Bill Gordon

The ECB has announced the 2008 Groundsman of the Year Awards.

For the sixth year running Bill Gordon from the Brit Oval has won the four-day pitches title.

Last season Surrey finished rock bottom of Division One, drawing 10 of 16 matches. So, apart from Mark Ramprakash, who benefits from these gong-laden Kennington flatties?

Bad week for...

Mushtaq Ahmed

Strident criticism of England's new slow bowling coach from Des Kelly in the Daily Mail.

The man who makes Tony Livesey look thoughtful on Inside Sport raises the issue of Mushtaq Ahmed and the Qayyum report, asking 'when did the country's cricket team stoop so low that it has to seek help from suspected match fixers?'

Leaving aside the Mail's obsession with In-ger-lund (where was the objection to Mushtaq coaching Pakistan, or playing for Sussex on a mainly ECB-funded contract?), this is a worthy talking point. When Mushtaq retired from Hove last September Qayyum was hardly mentioned in the career obituaries. And why not? Mushtaq was not cleared, Qayyum asked for him to be monitored and it is an undeniable cloud on his CV.

That, though, was a question of even-handed reporting. This is one of fair employment. Mushy has not been convicted of anything. The great Shane Warne endured a year-long ban for taking an illegal substance unawares. Warne has admitted an oversight, served his ban and is indispensible to the game.

Certainly no-one would object if he came in to coach Monty Panesar and co. So why is the hiring of a reformed Mushtaq, an innocent man by any legal standard and a legspinner who in the last five years has contributed more to the English game than any other, 'a disgrace'?

England and the IPL

Are the on-going negotiations between England agents and the IPL creating dressing room disharmony?

Not to worry. One or two more performances like this and Giles Clarke's dream of an England player-free IPL will be secure.