Controversy is no stranger at the door of the Marylebone Cricket Club.

When Bob Beamon soared through the thin Mexico City air 45 years ago he sent the long jump world record to unimagined lengths.

The other day it was revealed, in a vaguely shock, horror fashion, that Robbie Deans and Tim Sheens had put their heads together over a couple of trim flat whites in a Sydney cafe.

New Zealand will be two players short for the start of next month's tour of England.

Jesse Ryder's life has been a blend of cricketing brilliance and off-field indiscretions. He has polarised opinion.

If New Zealand don't arrive at Eden Park on Friday morning full of self-belief something's seriously wrong, writes David Leggat. Consider the backdrop.

It is New Zealand's premier test ground, a large outfield, giving full value for shots, a large bank taking up close on one-third of the viewing space.

As Hamish Rutherford elbowed his way into cricket's record books yesterday, the mind went back to others on that roll of debutant century-makers.

Fancy being an Australian sports lover this weekend? Didn't think so. In small, steady increments the innocence of sport has been eaten away down the decades.

India's long-held antipathy to the Decision Review System has once more scuppered a plan under which its use could have increased in test cricket.

New Zealand need every bit of good luck they can grasp right now, so here's one small offering. Vernon Philander, South Africa's metronomic seamer, is a serious doubt for the first test at Cape Town starting on January 2.

So windsurfing has won a reprieve and will be on the 2016 Rio Olympic sailing programme, while kiteboarding is left to wonder what they did wrong, writes David Leggat.