Ashwell Prince for a change has played an entertaining knock.

The way he picked Johnson for boundaries last night and how he charged McGain's 2nd delivery and deposited him for 6 over long on suggested that he was a man on a mission.

It is no secret that he was upset at not being considered for the first 2 tests against the Aussies.

He was further upset when he was thrust into the opener's role for this test.

But this might just be the thrust he has needed all this time.

I have always considered Prince a boring batsman.

Even more boring than Kallis and that is saying something!

He has been effective but he has laboured thus far in his career.

Batting at number 5, he has scored a lot of runs mostly by working hard for them.

Maybe that was because of the situations in which he came out, usually trying to get South Africa out of trouble.

Opening the innings has allowed him to play with the kind of freedom that hasn't been visible before.

The Prince of old would not have gone after McGain the way he has today.

The Prince of old would not have scored a 100 striking at a rate of over 60.

He has a career strike rate of 43.

And I remember him scoring his runs at rates of 30-35 before.

So a rate of 60 is fast for Prince!

Maybe he played more attacking cricket because he wanted to vent his anger. Maybe he felt he could bat with more freedom at the top of the order. Maybe it was to prove something to the IPL franchises. Or maybe it was to get a look in for the ODIs.

Who knows.

Whatever it was, it has turned him into a more effective batsman.

Graeme Smith might have found the ideal opening partner.

I was going through some domestic matches scorecards on Cricinfo and came across this one.

Yes that AG Prince who scored 254 opening the innings is the same Ashwell Prince we know.

So then why all this talk about it being a gamble to open with him?

And why is everyone saying that Prince will be batting in an unfamiliar position?

The card clearly shows that Prince opened for the Warriors and managed his highest every score in first class cricket!

Who said Prince can't open?

You're not that talented but break into South Africa's strong middle order.

You become one of the mainstays of their batting line up.

You out-shine Kallis and bore the crap out of viewers with your long and slow innings.

You are elevated to the Vice Captaincy.

Your tag of being a test player does not get you a bid at the IPL auction.

You are your country's best test batsman.

You injure your thumb.

A young promising batsman replaces you in the middle order and makes his mark.

You are fit again but lose your place in the team.

But you're still Vice Captain.

The captain gets injured mid way during a test and is ruled out for the next test.

The opener is dropped from the team for the next test.

You make your return to the team as an opener and the captain.

You were the Vice Captain so obviously you would be the captain in the original captain's absence.

24 hours later the selectors decide that you need to focus on your new opening role and should not be burdened with the captaincy.

So its taken away from you.

But are you still the Vice Captain?

Should we be happy for you or feel sorry for you?

Part II of the IPL Player Auction was held today. I reported yesterday that Misbah and James Hopes were likely to recieve the highest bids in todays Auction and they in fact did. Well kind of.

Hopes was the most expensive player auctioned today as he went to Preity Zinta's Mohali for $300,000.

Misbah was picked up by Vijay Mallya's Bangalore for $125,000. I thought he would have gone for much more but I guess not many were interested in him, which is surprising. Misbah joins Darvid, Kallis, and Chanderpaul in the Royal Challenger's middle order.

A number of other international players, who were not listed in the 18 initially announced to be auctioned, were sold today as well. This had something to do with a list of names provided by the franchises to the BCCI.

The first English player was signed up with the IPL today - Dmitri Mascarenhas was picked up by Jaipur for $100,000 after an agreement was signed between Jaipur and Hampshire, who have released Mascarenhas for the initial part of the county season. Hampshire will reportedly be compensated for the time Mascarenhas is not available to them.

This just goes to show how the counties and boards are willing to oblige to the BCCI for the IPL, actions that are totally opposite to the ones bing shown for the ICL. Its quite obvious that Shane Warne, captain of Jaipur and Hampshire, would have played a role in the negotiations.

The other players auctioned today include:

Jaipur: Shane Watson ($125,000), Sohail Tanvir ($100,000), Morne Morkel ($60,000), and U19 players Taruwar Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja.

Kolkata: Salman Butt ($100,000), Mohammad Hafeez ($100,000) and U19 players Iqbal Abdullah and Siddarth Kaul.

Mohali: Luke Pomersbach ($50,000), Kyle Mills ($150,000), and U19 players Ajitesh Argal and Tanmay Srivastava.

Delhi: Brett Greeves ($50,000) and U19 Pradeep Sangwan (Soulberry, your wish of Sangwan in the same team as Asif and Mcgrath has been granted).

(Know anything about Greeves Uncle J?)

Bangalore: Ross Taylor ($100,000), Abdur Razzak ($50,000), and U19 Shreevats Goswami.

Mumbai: Ashwell Prince ($175,000), and U19 players Manish Pandey and Saurabh Tiwary.

Chennai: U19 players Napoleon Einstein, Abhinav Mukund, Viraj Kadbe.

Why did Mumbai pay $175,000 for Ashwell Prince when no one was interested in him the first time round?

Many players still remain unsold, but reports indicate that they will be paid their base prices despite not playing for any team.

Earning money for no work? I am definitely in the wrong job.