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James Sutherland, the Cricket Australia chief executive, has declared the public airing of the former coach Mickey Arthur’s dirty laundry on the national team “meaningless” after checking in on the revitalised tourists three weeks since he left them in the hands of Darren Lehmann in Bristol. Sutherland also said David Warner still needed to prove himself by his actions rather than words after completing his suspension for punching Joe Root.Catching up with Australia’s Ashes squad over a series of morning coffees at the team hotel in London on Wednesday, Sutherland could barely recognise them. Gone was the tension and worry that wracked the team during Mickey Arthur’s final days, replaced instead by optimism, unity and energy. Sutherland also mingled with the players and coaches as they trained at Lord’s on the eve of the second Test, and said the team was galvanised.”I left the team three weeks ago. I had been back in Australia. I spent the morning catching up with everyone around the hotel and it’s a different place, it’s a different team and I’m really excited about the place this team is in,” Sutherland said. “What I’ve seen in the last few days [regarding Arthur] I think ‘so what’? It doesn’t mean anything right now.”It’s not just the team environment talking about one or two relationships. I’m talking about the whole team environment. We’ve got a team that’s galvanised and very, very focused and it showed in their performances I think at Nottingham and will hopefully continue to show for the rest of this series. You can see it in the way they’re moving around the hotel, you can see the way they’re moving around the ground.”I know that by observation but I also know that by talking to people around the team this morning. The first thing I wanted to do when I got in was talk to people who I had spoken to three weeks ago. I’m not going to say who they were but you wouldn’t have to be too smart to work out the people I’ve caught up with. The team is in a really good place. It’s exciting for Australian cricket and I think it’s starting to show on the field.”While understandably reluctant to go into the finer details of the Arthur legal battle that has now become a decidedly public affair despite being lodged confidentially with the Fair Work Commission in Sydney, Sutherland said CA were “very comfortable with our legal position”. He also deflected questions about whether or not he could have done more to avoid the matter being dragged through the courts.”It’s easy for you to say that, and it’s easy for you to say that and write that when I don’t have a line of defence,” he said. “All I ask is that you be a little bit sensitive to the fact that I can’t come back at you because of the position I’m in right now with legal proceedings pending or whatever. I’d like to tell you you’re wrong but I’m not going to get drawn into that right now because I can’t.”As for Warner, whose attack on Root he had described as “despicable”, Sutherland underlined his desire to see promising words backed up by action over a long period. “I had a couple of conversations and he’s said he’s remorseful,” Sutherland said. “I’ve said at the same time that it’s great to show remorse.”What you have to do is back it up with actions and you don’t back it up with actions over a couple of weeks, you need to back it up with actions for a couple of years and that’s what we’re looking for from him. We’ll back him 100%. He’s done the crime, he’s done his time. He’s got to fight his way back. We all want him to success. We’ll all support him in whatever way we can to fight back but he’s got to back that remorse up by his actions and be true to what he said.”

ScorecardMurray Goodwin, seen here against Northants, made his 69th first-class century•Getty Images

Forty year-old Murray Goodwin, the elder statesman of county cricket, notchedthe 69th first-class century of his career and his second for his new county asGlamorgan took a grip of Kent at Canterbury.Winless Kent now face a two-day battle to save themselves from an ignominious homedefeat after slumping to 73 for 4 in reply to Glamorgan’s battling 378. The eighth-placed hosts lost four wickets in the final 12 overs of day two before rain and bad light finally ended their agony. They now go into day three facing a deficit of 305.Without a win from their eight starts to date, Kent were guilty of tossing awaywickets on the same pitch that allowed Glamorgan’s middle order to flourishearlier in the day.Resuming on their overnight score of 155 for 4 after a rain-ruined openingday of 55 overs, Glamorgan lost Jim Allenby in the fifth over of theday after nicking a Charlie Shreck delivery to the wicketkeeper.Former Zimbabwe Test batsman Goodwin combined with his skipper Mark Wallace toadd 105 for the sixth wicket in 33.2 overs. The stand finally came to an end when Mitch Claydon, on loan from Durham, bounced Wallace – who hooked instinctively only to pick out Ben Harmison at deep midwicket to make it 273 for 6.Goodwin cruised to a 190-ball century with 14 fours and looked to kick on intandem with Graham Wagg, but Wagg miscued anattempted drive against Claydon to be caught at short cover by a divingHarmison. Goodwin followed soon after for 136, driving on the up and was caught at cover to bring in last man Michael Reed.In his 11-match first-class career thus far Reed had mustered only 38 runs, yetagainst a tired Kent attack he cantered to a career-best 27 before Claydonfinally snared him leg before to end the innings soon after 5pm.In fading light and with the floodlights on, Kent made a crisp start only tolose their way once opener Sam Northeast steered a delivery off the fullface of the bat to second slip against Wagg. Daniel Bell-Drummond chipped a full ball from Reed into the hands of BenWright at square leg then Rob Key fell in near identical fashion to thebowling of Michael Hogan.Kent’s miserable hour concluded when Brendan Nash nicked a defensivepush against Hogan through to the keeper to slope off with his side on 65 for4.Rain arrived soon after and despite an attempt to restart the game at 6.30pm,umpires Steve Garratt and Neil Mallender were forced to abandon play for theday.

The new BCCI treasurer Ravi Savant is the first board official to speak out against MS Dhoni’s possible conflict of interest, saying the India captain should immediately disassociate himself from the sports management company that manages him and a few other India players.”Dhoni should immediately disassociate himself from the management firm while he is captain,” Savant told NDTV. “Dhoni should be given a notice for conflict of interest if this was not part of his contract earlier.”The new BCCI secretary Sanjay Patil, however, said the board was not going to act immediately. “Whatever Mr Savant has said is his personal opinion and the board has nothing to do with it,” he said. “The board has no intention to send any letter to either Dhoni or any other cricketer with the Champions Trophy going on. There was no discussion on this issue at the working committee meeting.”On Monday, the BCCI stand-in chief Jagmohan Dalmiya said the board would look into the issue involving Dhoni and Rhiti Sports Management Pvt Ltd, but only after the ongoing Champions Trophy in England.”I don’t want to disturb the team during the Champions Trophy. I gain nothing by doing that,” Dalmiya had following the BCCI’s emergent working committee meeting in Delhi. “We have taken note of the issue. We are looking into it but we are not going to hound someone.”The issue centres around Dhoni’s involvement with Rhiti Sports Management Pvt Ltd, the company that manages his commercial interests and those of some other India players such as Suresh Raina and Ravindra Jadeja, and looks after Chennai Super Kings’ marketing. Dhoni had owned 15% stake in the company for a little over one month earlier this year, meaning that, at least on paper, he was India captain with a say in the selection of players managed by the company he co-owned, and a possible share in the profits that their endorsements yielded.According to a statement issued by Rhiti Sports, the shares issued to Dhoni were bought back the following month, and the transaction was only to clear some of the company’s dues. “As on date, MSD holds no shareholding in Rhiti Sports Management (P) Ltd. However, it is made clear that shareholding was allotted to MSD on 22.03.2013 only to secure certain old outstandings which were due for more than one year,” the statement, signed by Rhiti Sports’ chairman and managing director Arun Pandey, said. “Further, the payments were cleared in April 2013 and the shareholding was transferred back to promoter of the company on 26.04.2013.”1445 GMT This story has been updated to include the quote from BCCI treasurer Ravi Savant

Sometime over the next couple of days an appellate tribunal is set to hear the BCCI’s appeal against a Rs 52.24 crore ($10m) fine levied in February by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) for irregularities in the grant of IPL franchise rights, media rights and sponsorship rights. That fine was part of a series of financial penalties imposed by the federal government as part of a multi-department focus on the BCCI and its allied businesses; it included a Rs 2300 crore (US$433m) income tax bill covering a three-year period and a Rs 100 crore ($18.77m) penalty demanded of Rajasthan Royals.However, investigations by ESPNcricinfo reveal that there is more bad news in store for the BCCI: it has been issued 14 notices similar to that received by Rajasthan Royals, carrying a total penalty of Rs 1546 crore (approx US$291m) for violations of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA). All the notices have been issued by the Indian Enforcement Directorate (ED).The matter is currently the subject of “quasi-judicial adjudication proceedings”, which are in progress before the Special Director of Enforcement, Mumbai. Because of those proceedings the BCCI – unlike Rajasthan Royals – is yet to be issued an ED order demanding payment.Despite the presence of several politicians in the BCCI, the board has a very prickly relationship with the Indian government. While it does have time on its side, given India’s lengthy judicial process, the fact that there are now legal proceedings underway in a plethora of cases accusing the BCCI of financial violations indicates that the chances of it coming away unscathed in all of them appear extremely unlikely.In 2011, after two years of investigations, the ED issued 20 notices relating to various transgressions by the IPL – 14 to the BCCI, and the rest to Rajasthan Royals and officials of the State Bank of Travancore’s Jaipur Branch.The officials mentioned in the show cause notices – detailed in a memorandum, a copy of which is with ESPNcricinfo – include current BCCI president N Srinivasan, his predecessor Shashank Manohar, former IPL chairman Lalit Modi, former BCCI treasurer MP Pandove, its general manager Ratnakar Shetty, the IPL’s chief operating officer Sundar Raman, and Prasanna Kannan, who has been identified as “manager BCCI”.The 14 notices pertain to the IPL’s 2009 season, when the tournament was moved to South Africa. The league was then run by Modi and the IPL’s governing council had little control over his actions as a “chairman”. Most notices pertain to Sections 3, 4 and 5 of the FEMA law, covering foreign exchange transactions both within and outside of the country.The most significant of these relate to remittances made by and to the BCCI during IPL 2009: two each for Rs 243 crore (US$49m) and Rs 203 crore (US$38m) have been issued for contraventions of the FEMA law. The contraventions in these four cases pertain to receiving payment from outside India and holding foreign exchange outside India beyond the provisions of FEMA.According to Harish Pandey, a senior lawyer specialising in FEMA law in the Supreme Court of India, quasi-judicial adjudication marked a “crucial and serious stage for the BCCI, as it has to state everything in its defence here”.According to lawyers familiar in their dealings with FEMA cases, it should take around two years for a quasi-judicial hearing to reach a decision. These hearings are the first of four stages of legal proceedings relating to being served an ED notice, which could go all the way to the Supreme Court. Once the ED issues its order demanding payment, the defendant has 45 days to appeal to a Special Director (Appeals) and from there to an Appellate Tribunal. An unfavourable decision there means the defendant can move the High Court and finally the Supreme Court.A BCCI insider, on the condition of anonymity, said the issue will run its due course: “It could take years and years for the case to close. Right now, the ED is investigating it. If they have enough evidence, it will move to court. And then, you never know how long will it take for the legal proceedings.”A finance ministry official said the various levels of appeal ensured justice: “At four appellate stages you can’t not find justice. If you are innocent, there are checks and balances to see that justice is done. If you are guilty, you will be caught. Ultimately, redressal is available if your case is strong.”

Kent have become the latest county to record a substantial fianncial loss from last season, declaring a deficit of £628,054 for the year ending October 2012.During a season of horrendous weather and Olympic distractions, Kent struggled like most counties to balance their books and received their lowest gate receipts since 2004. The festival at Tunbridge Wells was almost entirely lost to the weather and Canterbury cricket week clashed with the second week of the London Olympics.Gross earnings were actually an improvement on the 2011 season and the club insisted that their long-term plans remain in place. This includes the continued development at Canterbury, which began with new club offices and the sale of land for housing at the pavilion end.They have signed a deal to develop the Old Dover Road side of the ground with a development company specialising in retirement properties. Similar property developments have funded ground improvements at Bristol and Taunton.”We had expected to close the operating loss quicker than was possible last year, but it has to be remembered that it was an exceptionally bad year weather wise,” chief executive Jamie Clifford said. “We put together a long-term financial plan for the Club in early 2011 and we remain on course. With activities over the winter months and our plans for this summer, we expect further improvements during 2013.”

New Zealand is a country of adrenalin-fuelled adventure sports, but the expectation is that the Test series that starts in Dunedin on Wednesday will not get pulses racing in the same way. In fact, there have been plenty of suggestions that all England need to do to bag a 3-0 whitewash is to turn up. There has just been the odd hint of disquiet from the New Zealand viewpoint that this is being treated as an Ashes warm-up. The New Zealand XI victory in the tour game in Queenstown has not gone unnoticed.New Zealand’s recent Test form is leading to the low expectations but perhaps it should not be taken as so black and white. They are not the only team to have been recently bowled out for under 50 by South Africa; the match before that they beat Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka to level a series (the same result England managed). They are now back on home soil, after extensive periods touring, which should make them feel more comfortable.England begin as clear favourites. That is usually the way when they tour here but history is littered with examples of the challenge having proved harder than expected. Last time, in 2008, they lost in Hamilton by 189 runs, getting humbled on the final day by Kyle Mills and Chris Martin. In 2002 they went into the final Test, in Auckland, with a 1-0 lead and despite the match being badly hit by rain lost by 78 runs. Although Michael Atherton’s team were ultimately 2-0 winners in 1997 they had to overcome the embarrassment of being defied by Danny Morrison in the first Test.This time, led by the combative Brendon McCullum, New Zealand are far from so hopeless that England can ignore the immediate challenge. Clearly, the recent problems surrounding the shockingly handled change of captaincy have destabilised the team – rumours of differences in the dressing room persist, although New Zealand aren’t alone in that – but McCullum is a single-minded leader who faces his task head on.From England’s point of view, anything less than a 2-0 scoreline (there is a chance of rain at some point, not least in Dunedin) will be a disappointment. Having put their Test game back on track in India after a difficult 2012 they now need to redevelop that ruthless edge which characterised their play during 2011.After the upheavals of last summer – Kevin Pietersen’s problems and the retirement of Andrew Strauss – the team has been stabilised. Nine of the first-choice XI for Test cricket are set in stone; the two areas for debate are the third fast-bowling slot and the long-term opening partner for Alastair Cook.Stuart Broad looks set to return to support James Anderson and Steven Finn, but doubts remain over how much long-form cricket he will be able to play as he attempts to manage his heel problem. It seems inconceivable that he will be able to go through such a full programme this year – 14 Tests, with a 15th in January 2014 – without another break. Beyond him, too, there are now a few more questions about the depth of what follows than had previously been thought.Nick Compton will retain his position alongside Cook and he deserves the opportunity to build on his hard work in India. At 29, he still has time to forge a lengthy Test career but he needs to show he can do more than purely blunt the new ball.As odd as it may sound considering the considerable averages of most of England’s top order, New Zealand should feel they have a chance to make early inroads. Compton and Pietersen are short of time in the middle and Jonathan Trott has not been quite at his best. And in the opposite corner the home side have, amid all the problems, formed a decent pace attack.Tim Southee is back to lead the line and has matured into a consistent swing bowler. His success in Sri Lanka, where he took 12 wickets in two Tests, was the mark of someone entering his peak. Doug Bracewell, fitness permitting, can produce incisive spells while Trent Boult, as long as he doesn’t drop it short, can swing the new ball. Neil Wagner also caused England problems in Queenstown.In turn, though, New Zealand’s batting will be severely tested, especially by Anderson’s swing and Finn’s pace. They will have a new-look opening pair – likely to be Hamish Rutherford and Peter Fulton – and it has been a while since the side have been given consistent starts. Four of the last six first-wicket stands have been single figure (albeit three of them came against Dale Steyn and Vernon Philander) and the last hundred opening partnership was 12 Tests ago in January 2012 against Zimbabwe; the last against a major nation another four Tests before that.The middle order, however, offers the hope of something better. Kane Williamson, Ross Taylor, McCullum, Dean Brownlie and BJ Watling has a solid ring about it, although there is an argument that McCullum should be at No. 3 to allow Williamson to develop lower down. Watling, and to a lesser extent, Brownlie impressed for New Zealand XI in Queenstown, McCullum is in strong form and Taylor’s hundred in the Napier ODI has put him back on track.The public also need a team they are pulled into watching. Unlike with the rugby union side, there is not the expectation, or demand, that they will bring home the major prizes but neither is embarrassment accepted. New Zealand Test cricket desperately needs some good news over the next three weeks. A series win, though, would verge on miraculous.

Lisa Sthalekar, the Australia women’s allrounder who was part of Sunday’s World Cup-winning team, has announced her retirement from international cricket. Sthalekar said she did not want to cut ties with the game following her retirement, but planned to remain involved and help women’s cricket develop further.”To finish my international career by playing in a successful Women’s World Cup in the country of my birth is quite special for me,” Sthalekar said. “I feel that this is the right time for me to retire.”On Sunday, Australia beat West Indies in the final of the World Cup in Mumbai by a whopping 114-run margin. Sthalekar put on a fine show, claiming the big wickets of West Indies captain Merissa Aguilleira and big-hitter Deandra Dottin, and then closed out the game with a spectacular diving catch.It was Sthalekar’s 125th ODI, and she remains the only woman to score 1000 runs and take 100 wickets in the format. She finished with 2728 ODI runs in all, at 30.65, and 146 wickets at 24.97. That puts her at No. 10 on the all-time women’s ODI batting charts, and at No. 3 for Australia. Her ODI wickets’ tally is third-highest in history.In international Twenty 20 cricket, too, she has made quite an impact, taking 60 wickets at 19.35 – the second-highest aggregate among women. Sthalekar also played eight Tests in an international career that spanned 12 years and included two titles each in 50-overs World Cups and World Twenty20s.”Women’s cricket has changed a lot during my time in the game and it’s been an honour to witness this evolution first hand,” Sthalekar said. “We have seen at this year’s World Cup that the standard of women’s cricket across the world has grown immensely in the last few years alone. I would like to continue my involvement in all aspects of the game. Cricket has given me a great deal during my life and I want to be able to give something back, whether it be through coaching, mentoring or other avenues. I am looking forward to the opportunity to help women’s cricket continue to develop.”Off the field, Sthalekar became the first woman to be appointed to the Australian Cricketers’ Association Executive in 2011.Julie Savage, Australia’s chief women’s selector, highlighted Sthalekar’s contributions towards the development side of the game: “Lisa has been a tremendous player for Australia for a number of years and it’s fantastic to see her go out at the top of her game. She also, through her coaching, contributed to the development of the younger players that are now coming through in our group.”So, not only was she contributing on the field, but she was also contributing off the field to the success of Australian Cricket. Lisa will certainly be missed, but through her coaching and development work she’s actually helping to fill the void that her retirement will leave.”

All through the last week, Sana Mir hadn’t been her usual, jovial self. One could sense that the Pakistan captain was feeling a bit insecure. Her team’s failures in the Women’s World Cup, combined with the political drama that threatened Pakistan’s participation in the marquee event seemed to be taking its toll.When Mir walked in to the enclosure after Pakistan’s loss to India in the seventh place play-off in what was to be her last media appearance, she was looking relaxed for a change. The smile was back, by her own admission, due to curtains falling over what was a “tense” tour.”Yes [I am relieved]. I can say that now because it was one of the toughest tours I have ever played in. Everything – like my own performance, my team’s performance and the whole situation – it was one of the toughest tournaments,” Mir said.”It’s[a] mixed [feeling]. It has been tough. But we have seen a lot of people supporting us, especially all the people at the Orissa Cricket Association (OCA) Academy and the OCA staff in the dressing room. They all have helped us a lot. Overall, it was a tense tournament for the Pakistan team but still we managed to do it and for some reason it’s good that we are going home now.”Nothing had gone Pakistan’s way during their two weeks’ stay in Cuttack. They were confined to the Barabati Stadium due to security reasons. They lost one of their warm-up games against an OCA XI. And most importantly, their batting failures resulted in three successive comprehensive defeats in the league stage. Against India, their batsmen fared better by posting 192, but it wasn’t enough.”Obviously it would have been good if we finished on a high note but still I am happy with the way the batters stood up today because they were under a lot of pressure. I think putting [up] a good score on the board against the Indian side must give them some positives and they can work harder for the next [assignment],” Mir said.After such a poor run, it would have been hard for any team to take the field for a match to determine the last place. But the fact that Pakistan were up against arch rivals India made it easier for Mir and the coaching staff. “I would say that as it was against India, I didn’t have to motivate any player. Had it been against any other team, I would have had to lift the girls a lot.”They always look forward to playing against India, because we don’t get to play too many games against them. They were motivated and they showed it in the ground today,” Mir said.Mir drew positives in the “bowlers’ performances”, and also hoped for more international matches against better teams in future. “I think we have arranged for some tournaments in June and I hope before that we will get to play some matches. We have got two one-dayers and two T20s with England and then Ireland before we play the World T20 qualifiers. But we would like to have some more T20 internationals before we go to the qualifiers,” she said.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsMelbourne Renegades, unfashionable and unfancied before the tournament began, won their third straight game, beating Hobart Hurricanes by seven wickets at Docklands Stadium.They stuck to the formula of winning the toss and bowling. All 11 matches in this tournament so far have been won by the chasing team. But their attack is proving extremely effective as they strangled the Hurricanes on a surface that looked relatively good for batting.There is a touch of Moneyball about the Renegades. They have the all-time leading wicket-taker in international cricket, Muttiah Muralitharan, and the Man of the Match from the 2012 World Twenty20 final, Marlon Samuels, as marquee men. But there are two journeymen in Nathan Rimmington and Aaron O’Brien, who happen to be in the top five leading wicket-takers in Australian domestic T20 history, as well as the seamer Darren Pattinson (who played one Test for England) to round off a well-balanced bowling unit.The Hurricanes started steadily. Pattinson erred by dropping short to Ricky Ponting twice in the second over and paid for it by giving away two boundaries. But Rimmington’s late swing removed Tim Paine to start a rot that would prove fatal for the visitors. The dangerous Travis Birt nearly hit the roof when he launched Samuels but it landed in the doctor-safe hands of Daniel Harris.Ponting threatened to unleash when he lofted an imperious cover drive into the stands off Pattinson. But Ponting lost his off stump off an uncharacteristic reverse-sweep off Muralitharan and the Hurricanes began to slide. They lost 4 for 16 in 28 torturous deliveries, with Muralitharan striking twice, O’Brien and Rimmington once apiece.Owais Shah was unbeaten in that period but he did not help his team’s cause, scoring a boundary-less 14 from 29 balls before becoming Samuels’ third victim in the 18th over. Xavier Doherty and Doug Bollinger scored 15 from the last 10 balls to ensure the Hurricanes went past three figures and didn’t get bowled out.Aaron Finch continued to prove himself as one of the star players in Australian domestic limited-overs cricket, making light work of the chase with an unbeaten 46 from 40 balls. He went after Bollinger, but because it hit a beam supporting the roof, outside the boundary line, and bounced back onto the field it was ruled a dead ball. That denied him a fifty.Finch lost Harris early in the chase, but had the support of Samuels in maximising the Powerplay overs. Samuels smoked 21 from just nine deliveries before chopping Michael Hogan onto his stumps via his pads. Ben Rohrer made a crafty 18, and Tom Cooper made an easy unbeaten 10 to see the chase home with his captain Finch with 40 balls to spare.The Hurricanes, last year’s semi-finalists, have now lost two in a row and need to recover against Sydney Thunder on Sunday in Hobart. The Renegades will be gunning for four straight wins when they host Brisbane Heat on Saturday.

David Warner and Ed Cowan must contemplate leading Australia after Michael Hussey’s retirement added further to the leadership conundrum created by Michael Clarke’s tender hamstring and Shane Watson’s uncertain international future. The loss of Hussey and Ponting in the space of three Test matches means Australia are not only without two of their most seasoned batsmen but also the likely candidates to lead the Test team in the event of Clarke and Watson being unavailable.Watson has already been ruled out of the New Year’s Test in Sydney due to a calf problem that may well sound the final knell for his attempts to maintain fitness as a Test match allrounder, and Clarke is again in some doubt with a strained hamstring. Hussey’s decision to retire shocked Clarke and Australia’s coach Mickey Arthur, leaving them short not only of their most complete batsman but also a safe candidate for short-term leadership duty.Arthur had been digesting Watson’s confession that he may no longer be an allrounder in the future in the hours following the Boxing Day Test when he felt a tap on the shoulder. Hussey requested an audience with Arthur and Clarke, whereupon the 37-year-old confirmed his intention to retire at summer’s end. The instant response of Clarke and Arthur was to leave Hussey room to reconsider.”We’d done our selection meetings, we’d got everything out of the way, and Watto and I had a chat to see where he was with his injury and Watto hinted that he might just consider being used as a batsman from now on, so that was a little bit of a shock,” Arthur told ESPNcricinfo. “And then I thought I’d just have a beer now and enjoy the win and Mike Hussey tapped me on the shoulder.”So my first reaction was ‘wow’, it was myself and Michael Clarke and Huss together, Clarkey and I looked at each other and it was just ‘wow, what do we do’. We congratulated him on a fantastic career and said ‘are you sure?’ but Huss had made his mind up and like a true champion he’s done it very well.”Warner and Cowan have both been mentioned as potential captains, after leading various teams in the past 12 months. Warner led the Sydney Thunder and a CA Chairman’s XI last summer, while Cowan guided Australia A on their winter tour of England and showed his batting could benefit from the extra responsibility by comfortably topping the tour aggregates.Australia’s plans for the tours of India and England in 2013 had been drawn up with Hussey as a central part, especially after Ponting’s loss of form had hastened his exit from the national team. Arthur said a swift change of tack was now required, and he placed onus on the likes of Warner, Cowan and Watson when he returned to fitness to step into the breach.”We were certainly building a top six around that,” Arthur said. “We always knew Clarke was there, and once Ponting went we knew we had Hussey. We had all our plans in place, so with no warning it was a shock, but I totally understand his reasoning and respect his decision. He deserves to go out the way he is. But for us now it’s about moulding a top six that’s going to win us a Test series in India and win us an Ashes – an enormous task.”In our Test team you’ve got to hope that David Warner and Shane Watson really step up now. I’m pretty confident they’ll do that. In Ed Cowan you’ve got a very wise head, a very good, calming leader around the group. So they need to stand up. I said to the group when Ricky left I wanted everyone to stand up and give us 5% more, now we’re going to have to ask everyone to stand up and give 15% more, because we need to fill that void now that we’ve lost, and we need to fill it very quickly.”That void was painfully evident on last year’s ODI tour of England, when a team minus Ponting and Hussey – who missed the trip for family reasons – was battered 4-0. Arthur said that while excesses of rain and inadequate preparation factored into that result, he acknowledged the team dynamic was changing enormously without the guidance and example offered by Hussey.”We were outplayed in that one-day series, but there were so many mitigating factors,” Arthur said. “We couldn’t train with rain, we’d come basically out of an off-season, whereas now we wouldn’t have, our planning is in place and is spot on in terms of giving guys enough cricket and preparation leading into that first Ashes Test match. That won’t be a problem, but what we are looking for is some guys to really stand up and take the opportunity because there are opportunities out there for somebody to make it his own.”The team dynamic’s definitely changed a massive amount when you consider you’ve lost Ponting and Hussey in a couple of Test matches. Mike Hussey’s a phenomenal player and I was gutted when he told me because he’s been such a reliable batsman. But you’ve got to look to the future, you’ve got to look to who’s going to step up. We’ve got so many options available and I’m so excited to see who steps up and who takes on what is a really demanding year for us.”