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Plays of the Day from the IPL game between Chennai Super Kings and Delhi Daredevils in Chennai

Abhishek Purohit12-May-2011Dharamsala revisited
MS Dhoni and Irfan Pathan have some history in the IPL. Dhoni had pulverised Irfan for consecutive sixes in the final over against Kings XI Punjab to take Chennai Super Kings in to the semi-finals of IPL 2010. Irfan had been largely economical today, having gone for 28 with only two deliveries left in his fourth over, again the final one of the innings. Knowing that anything on a length against Dhoni would disappear, Irfan targeted the blockhole. It was going to be a high-risk strategy, and as it turned out, the fifth delivery turned in to a low full toss. Six over midwicket. Irfan stuck to his guns and again went for the yorker. Another full toss. Six over deep square leg. The 12 runs helped in the end as the winning margin was 18.The one that didn’t swing
Before he was taken apart by Dhoni, Irfan had been hard to get away, getting controlled movement with the new ball. His first ball went away from Michael Hussey, and was taken for a single. Hussey watched from the other end as the next two sharply came back in to M Vijay. On strike for the fourth ball, Hussey did not commit fully forward, waited for the ball to move away and cracked it past extra cover. The fifth one straightened and was played out quietly. The sixth one was the sucker punch. It kept the batsman guessing on the back foot. Hussey expected it to move away, but it went straight on. He tried to bring the bat down late but the ball had already struck him plumb in front.Aaron checks in
Varun Aaron had impressed with his pace in his first IPL game against Punjab. Today, he did so with the steep bounce he got. Consistently bowling from short of a good length, his second delivery flew to the wicketkeeper above head height. Vijay, who had already swung Ajit Agarkar for two sixes, was pegged on the back foot with well-directed bouncers. Aaron was unlucky to have Vijay dropped in the covers, but he got Suresh Raina with the bouncer. The first ball he bowled to Raina was short outside off and beat the batsman on the cut. The third ball was aimed at his throat, Raina instinctively went for the pull, and Irfan accepted the catch at long leg.The dugout catch
Chennai caught safely in the field today, and even off it. Venugopal Rao lofted Shadab Jakati over Raina at long-off. Raina thought he had a chance, went backwards and lunged for the ball but it went over him and in to the Chennai dugout. Raina overbalanced and flew in to his sitting team-mates, bringing Faf du Plessis down. A metre away, Suraj Randiv wondered what the fuss was all about as he calmly stood up and took the ‘catch’ cleanly with a smile on his face.

As has so often been the case in the last few years, the USA Cricket Association continues to be mired in internal bickering and controversy

Martin Williamson05-Sep-2011The rumbling discontent within US cricket about the way the USA Cricket Association is being run continues to grow with reports that a number of its board members are at odds with Gladstone Dainty, USACA’s president, over the way he is operating.Dainty has been a controversial figure for a number of years, and it was on his watch that the USA was twice suspended from international cricket because of what the then ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed labelled its “dysfunctional” operation.Through active and crafty politicking Dainty has managed to remain in office when his track record would have appeared to have fatally damaged his standing. He has often relied on a small group of associates on the USACA board to support him, but now he is again under attack.Critics point out that Dainty has failed to hold a face-to-face board meeting since November 2010. Since then, Don Lockerbie, the CEO, has been removed from office and in eight months a replacement has not been sought. Dainty, it is argued, has made no attempt to encourage the search for a new CEO, surprisingly at a time when USACA is seeking to attract lucrative commercial deals and real funding, not to mention the rebuilding of a very tarnished image in the domestic and international cricketing communities. The argument is that the lack of a successor for Lockerbie allows Dainty to proceed unchecked.Board elections, constitutionally due to be held in March of this year, have been delayed until October 15 and there are fears they may not even happen then. And most recently, Dainty has ordered election results in the Atlantic region be frozen, with critics claiming the reason is that one of his long-standing supporters is likely to be voted out of office.Last week, one board member expressed concerns that Dainty would try to use the constitution to remain in power, and within days USACA announced that eight leagues may not be allowed to vote because of technicalities. Many of those on the sidelines have seen it all before.Some board members are pushing for a face-to-face board meeting on September 17, and have more than enough support to impact a quorum of the board, but Dainty has refused to agree to that date, even though it is believed that the meeting was requested by USACA’s executive secretary, John Aaron.”We are all being painted by the general public, with one broad brush and labelled dysfunctional and incompetent,” one of his opponents on the board said. “That’s because our fight is not being seen on the outside. Dainty’s ability to continue demonstrating such a dictatorial style of governance is helped by the few who are afraid of his wrath, that they are too weak to join the few who are strong-willed enough to stand up to him.”While in the past there has been little at stake other than some internal politics, there is now the prospect of large amounts of foreign money pouring into the USA from media deals, making control of USACA increasingly important.The international community remains wary of a Dainty-controlled board, but he is a survivor and one that many have tried without success to unseat. His lack of accountability continues to deter many – both at home and abroad – from dealing with US cricket. It is crying out for slick and transparent leadership and, at present, it has neither.

Ricky Ponting’s one-day international achievements, both as a captain and player, are incomparable. ESPNcricinfo charts his 17-year one-day career

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Feb-2012February 15, 1995
Ponting makes his one-day international debut at the age of 20 and scores 1 against South Africa in Wellington.January 9, 1996
Scores his first ODI century, 123 against Sri Lanka in the tri-series at the MCG.February-March, 1996
Plays in the first of his five World Cups. Scores a century against West Indies in Jaipur and 45 in the final loss to Sri Lanka in Lahore, and finishes second to Mark Waugh on Australia’s run tally.December 1997-January 1998
Tops the run tally in the tri-series against South Africa and New Zealand with 462 at 57.75 and helps Australia win the tournament with 76 in the third final. It is his best tally in a series excluding World Cups.May-June 1999
Plays in his first World Cup triumph. Is a consistent contributor without posting a defining score. Finishes with 354 runs at 39.33 but only one half-century: against South Africa, in the match when Steve Waugh supposedly told Herschelle Gibbs he had dropped the World Cup.February 2002
Succeeds Steve Waugh as Australia’s ODI captain. His first series in charge is on a tour of South Africa. Australia win the series 5-1 and Ponting tops Australia’s run tally with 283 at 47.16. He is named Player of the Series.February-March 2003
Leads Australia’s successful World Cup campaign in South Africa. His score of 140 not out in the final against India is the defining innings of his ODI career.January 10, 2005
Captains the ICC World XI to a comprehensive victory over the Asia XI in the Tsunami Appeal one-day international at the MCG. Scores 115 and is named Man of the Match.October 2005
Captains Australia to a 3-0 victory over the ICC World XI in the Super Series.March 12, 2006
Makes his highest ODI score, a breathtaking 164 from 105 balls in Johannesburg. But his innings is quickly overshadowed: South Africa chase down Australia’s 434 for 4 in what is arguably the most remarkable one-day international of all time.November 2006
Leads Australia to Champions Trophy glory in India, thereby winning the only competition that had eluded Australia so far.January-February 2007
Follows Australia’s Ashes whitewash by being named Player of the Series in the three-team Commonwealth Bank Series, but England win the tournament.Ponting captained Australia to their third consecutive World Cup title in 2007•AFPMarch-April 2007
Leads Australia to a hat-trick of World Cup wins, his second as captain, with an undefeated run during the competition in the West Indies. Finishes third on the tournament run tally behind Matthew Hayden and Mahela Jayawardene with 539 at 67.37.September 2009
Arrives in South Africa after a disappointing tour of England and successfully leads Australia to another Champions Trophy triumph. Ponting is named Player of the Series for his 288 runs at 72.00.February 2010
Earns his final Player-of-the-Series title in Australia’s 4-0 win at home over West Indies, having scored 295 runs at 73.75.March 19, 2011
Ponting’s 34-match unbeaten streak in World Cups is brought to an end as Pakistan win by four wickets in Colombo.March 24, 2011
India prevail in an exciting quarter-final in Ahmedabad, knocking out Australia but Ponting overcomes a poor run and criticism about his captaincy to score a determined century. It is his last ODI hundred.March 29, 2011
Amid increasing pressure, Ponting steps down as Australia’s Test and ODI captain but makes himself available for selection with an intention to play on.February 20, 2012
Is dropped from Australia’s one-day squad after five consecutive single-figure scores in the Commonwealth Bank Series. Finishes with 375 ODIs and 13,704 runs to his name.

ESPNcricinfo presents the Plays of the Day from the second day of the third Test in Dominica

Daniel Brettig in Roseau24-Apr-2012Regret of the day
Mitchell Starc did a lot right in his first Test innings in the Caribbean, playing with good sense and freedom when many of his specialist batting team-mates had been hesitant and laboured. His stand with Matthew Wade helped put Australia back into the game after subsiding to a forlorn 169 for 7 on the first day. However Starc’s innings ended in a manner he will wish to forget as quickly as possible. Jogging back to the crease at the ‘keeper’s end after Wade’s straight drive had resulted in three runs, Starc seemed unaware that Kraigg Barthwaite’s throw was headed in his direction. Carlton Baugh was much the more alert, and removed the bails with Starc’s foot – and bat – still in the air. There was as much laughter around Windsor Park at Starc’s inattention.Counter-attack of the day
Wade’s visits at the crease for most of this series has been as a streetfighter, engaged in run-to-run combat with the West Indies’ bowlers and fieldsmen. However he quickly found his range on the second morning, and upped his gears from brisk to warp speed at the fall of Starc’s wicket. Wade had 24 from 83 balls when Ben Hilfenhaus joined him, and in a stand of 102 for the ninth wicket – the largest partnership of the match so far – he crashed 82 from 63 deliveries. Three times he crushed sixes, and by the time he narrowly avoided another when Darren Bravo completed an artful catch either side of the boundary rope, Australia had all the momentum.Juggle of the day
Ricky Ponting was absent from the early part of the West Indies reply due to a chipped tooth he suffered on the previous evening. While he was returning to the ground from the dentist, Ryan Harris stood at first slip in a reshuffled cordon, Michael Clarke moving to second and Shane Watson to third. Harris fields in the slips for Queensland, but his stint behind the wicket in this Test very nearly ended in a grimace. Brathwaite’s edge from Ben Hilfenhaus was straightforward enough, but Harris spilled his first attempt at the catch and was fortunate it bobbled up for a second chance that was gratefully held.Bowling change of the day
Kieran Powell and Adrian Barath had built a decent foundation following Brathwaite’s exit, but in the shadows of tea Nathan Lyon extracted enough turn and bounce to have the latter squeezing a bat pad chance to Ed Cowan at short leg. Instead of plumping for one of his three fast bowlers or the allrounder Shane Watson to exploit the breach at the other end, Clarke then threw the ball to the part-time spin of David Warner. This approach may be described as “you never know your luck with a big leg break”, and it was with one such delivery that Warner struck, Darren Bravo falling in similar fashion to Barath when the last ball of the over gripped, turned and bounced. Using a casual bowler to exploit the fall of a wicket was a lateral move, but then Clarke has proven beyond doubt that he is no paint-by-numbers captain.

On a placid Bangalore wicket, visiting batsmen contrived to lose nine wickets against India’s listless bowling

Siddarth Ravindran in Bangalore02-Sep-2012When Ross Taylor hit a controlled cover drive for four off Umesh Yadav, one middle-aged man in the stand told his friend, “Taylor looks good for another century in the game,” to which his friend replied, “Yes, that will set up the game.” It’s not often that you get home fans wanting the opposition captain to score a century with a Test evenly balanced, but it was an indication of how lightly most people take this New Zealand side.And New Zealand demonstrated why. On a placid Chinnaswamy Stadium track, with the Indian bowling looking listless, and the fields rarely attacking, the visitors contrived to surrender nine wickets and not one of their players made it to a half-century, though each of their middle-order batsmen went past 30.Daniel Flynn, in particular, is becoming a master of the insubstantial cameo: since his recall earlier this year, he has scored more than 20 in five of his eight innings without converting to a half-century. Flynn had a set Taylor for company early on, and was helped by a series of long hops and full tosses from India’s spinners. Without looking troubled and shelving that sweep shot which had led him down three times this series, he coasted to 31 before, as he does so often, he had a brain-fade. With two slips lying in wait, he guided an R Ashwin delivery straight to first slip.It was one of many wickets that New Zealand have gifted in this Test, the worst of which perhaps were Martin Guptill’s two dismissals – tamely chipping a full delivery to midwicket in the first innings, and then inside-edging a full toss on to the stumps in the second. The most expensive, though, could well be James Franklin’s misjudgement in the final hour of the third day as he was beaten by the turn after charging out to Ashwin. New Zealand were 216 for 6 at that stage, and a lead of 300 wasn’t wishful thinking, but 20 minutes later they were 222 for 9.”That happens sometimes when we take a positive approach,” Bob Carter, New Zealand’s assistant coach, said. “We have to go out there and play the strokes. That helps you to get more opportunities to score runs. I think James was doing the right thing by trying to get some runs for us. You should also credit the bowlers for the way they bowled.”The giveaways from the opposition batsmen helped India, and while it may seem churlish to question an attack that is set to roll over the opposition for less than 250 for the third time in four innings, there have been worrying passages of play for Indian fans in this Test.Umesh Yadav rattled Kruger van Wyk with body blows off successive deliveries, but hasn’t been much of a threat otherwise in this series. He has leaked plenty of runs in this match, through an abundance of half-volleys on the leg stump and an over-reliance on the short ball on an unresponsive surface.When Franklin and Flynn, two of the lesser lights of the New Zealand line-up, started building a partnership, there was little threat from India’s spinners, who couldn’t reproduce the accuracy of their Hyderabad performance. The field was quickly spread out, and New Zealand began to milk the bowling without needing to take risks.A similar flatness was evident in India’s bowling on the first day, when Taylor got going, and later with van Wyk and Doug Bracewell going strong. With New Zealand regularly finding the boundaries, India looked short of ideas, and ways to stifle the batting.Granted there was little reverse-swing on offer, and that the track provided little help for the bowlers once the ball got old, but allowing New Zealand’s lightweight batting to score at nearly four an over through the match, and posing so few questions of them is a cause for concern.Here they have been bailed out by a slew of mistakes from the visitors, but how will they fare when up against a line-up of batsmen with more of an appetite for runs, and a tighter technique? Ashwin and Ojha’s outstanding recent home record has been built against two of the most fragile teams around, and they will have a sterner test when the likes of Alastair Cook and Jonathan Trott come visiting. Assessment of how good or how bad this relatively new-look attack is will have to wait till they perform against opponents whom the crowds won’t be egging on.

The heartland of London’s Jamaican community isn’t as big on the game as it once used to be

Richard Browne18-Oct-2012Brixton, just down the road from The Oval in south London, has long been a home from home for Jamaican expats in the UK. The West Indies’ victory in the World Twenty20 recently did not quite invoke street parties or memories of Caribbean exuberance of the ’70s and ’80s, but there was a certain amount of celebration all the same. “We [Jamaicans] love our cricket and we always will,” Blacker Dread of Blacker Dread Records, a local reggae music store, said. “We had ten people in my living room watching and we had a party. Cricket, music and dominoes. Just like the old days.”Things are not quite like the old days, though. Tony Moody came to England from Jamaica in 1967, when there were ten cricket clubs in the borough of Lambeth, which Brixton belongs to. Now Tony and his son Jordan run the Lambeth Cricket Academy on a shoestring budget and without a pitch to call their own. Other than The Oval there is no specialist cricket pitch in Lambeth, and not a single cricket club left. West Indian faces in the crowds at international matches at The Oval have also all but disappeared, and Tony Moody is in no doubt as to why.”First they banned block booking, then drumming, and then there was the big crackdown on short-pitched bowling. The rhythm of the drums and the courage that short-pitched bowling requires is a huge part of cricket for people from the Caribbean. For us, watching cricket at The Oval lost its humour and fun.”Of the people I spoke to in Brixton’s pubs, markets and barbershops in the days following the T20 win, there was a clear split in enthusiasm for cricket between the over-35s and the rest. The older people were almost unanimously elated and proud of West Indies’ success, the younger ones indifferent at best. Most of the fans watched with friends at home or listened on the radio. Two pubs on Brixton high street showed the cricket rather than the Premiership football, as they otherwise would have.Chris Gayle’s return was applauded, as was Marlon Samuels’ new-found dominance. Darren Sammy was compared to Clive Lloyd (“A real man, with manners and all, he’s got everyone together and when the West Indies are together, no one can live with us.”)One gent made the point that if Dwayne Bravo was fit to bowl and Dwayne Smith replaced Johnson Charles, the team would be the only international outfit in the world with ten bowling options. “We won without our death bowler [Dwayne Bravo] being fit,” he said. Elsewhere, the elder Bravo was described by one lady as being “like a silly little boy, who has eaten all the sweeties” in his post-match interviews.A long-retired former fast bowler bemoaned the lack of aggression in Kieron Pollard’s bowling (“If God give you a physique like that, he is telling you to bowl fast”), while a table of drinkers in the Beehive pub, worried that “kids today are too lazy to bowl fast” and questioned why the tall men in the team generally bat and the shorter ones bowl fast.A general gripe in a part of London that is not flush with cash is the lack of cricket on English terrestrial TV. Since Sky got the rights to all England cricket in 2006, the resultant money has produced many tangible successes, but for those who can’t afford the subscription fee, the annoyance of not being able to watch any cricket reigns. “How can we get our kids into the game if there’s nowhere to play it and no chance of watching it? Cheapest seat at Oval Test is £55, and to take my two boys, too much,” moaned one frustrated punter.Be that as it may, Surrey, and the Moodys for their part, are trying to use cricket in the community to create strong characters and to get kids off the street, in a borough that has its fair share of gang and drug problems.I met the Moodys when they were conducting a coaching clinic at Sudbourne Primary School in Brixton, under the apologetic autumnal London sun. Thirty or so children were taking part, virtually all of whom would have no chance to play cricket if it were not for the intrepid duo, as there is no fixed place for the sport in the state sector curriculum.”For a lot of youths around here, life is a cul de sac, and for those interested in cricket, it’s the same,” Moody senior said. “We have no pitch, but oodles of talent.” He points out that Lambeth Academy have defeated the Surrey U-19s.”I want cricket and my coaching to reflect life. Cricket can teach so much. Life is also tough and when I’m coaching cricket to kids, I pick [only] the best players for the team. Often teachers and parents are enraged that their child has not got a chance to play, but that’s not life for me,” he said.Kennington United used to be the local team, and according to George Foster, now head of marketing at Surrey, and previously community manager at the county for six years, the team had issues that reflect the general problems of cricket in Lambeth. “English clubs are driven by membership subscriptions and by using their ground for fundraisers and the like. Kennington United shared a municipal park and a lot of the players were from low-income homes.”However, Surrey are totally committed to cricket in the community, he said. “We continue to run ten-week courses at The Oval and do everything we can, both financially and practically.”Foster admitted that marketing campaigns and cheap tickets for T20 cricket have not changed the mostly white middle-class demographic of the Oval spectatorship, which shows how much work there is still to do.

As race issues festered in Brixton, leading to the infamous riots of 1981, the success of the West Indian team was, according to one retired pub dweller, “the only thing that gave us our pride”

The Chance to Shine charity has done much for grassroots cricket in England in recent years, but as Foster said, “Shine’s big push is to get players from the clubs to come to the state schools and coach. It has worked, but as we have no clubs, no good for us.”While the dream of a cricket pitch in Lambeth essentially rests on a political decision, both Foster and Moody are enthused by the prospect of a big cricket and music extravaganza next year.In the 1980s, when West Indies were dominant, Jamaican sport appeared to feed off it. Their track-and-field stars came to the fore, global success was found in the boxing ring, and their netball players lived up to their potential. The tables have now turned. Moody is hoping cricket can feed off the track-and-field glories.”Jamaican track stars are role models, and both [Usain] Bolt and [Yohan] Blake love their cricket. I want to get them and Samuels and Gayle together in Brixton Park. Damian Marley has expressed an interest to sing. Michael Holding, a great man, is the academy’s patron, and I know he will do what he can to make this happen.”The most obvious example of the decline in the interest in cricket among England’s Caribbean community can be seen in the lack of English players of West Indian origin in the national team. In the ’80s and ’90s, the likes of Gladstone Small, Chris Lewis and Devon Malcolm, to name a few, were mainstays of English cricket.Moody, a charming and charismatic man, is clear why this is so. “Our folk still do not feel like they belong, and when they get the chance to show their stuff, they are under so much pressure because they have to work harder to get there. A lot of those guys learnt their stuff back in the Caribbean.”Secondly there are too many kids in the community without father figures, and hence they lack the guidance and support they need to push on in their careers.”The famous 1950 win at Lord’s immortalised in a Lord Kitchener calypso was perhaps the first expression of West Indian culture and exuberance that the British public at large saw. The Notting Hill Carnival, now Europe’s largest street party, had its origins partly on the back of this cricketing success.In later years as race issues festered in Brixton, leading to the infamous riots of 1981, the success of the West Indian team was, according to one retired pub dweller, “the only thing that gave us our pride. We were treated second class but at cricket we were first class.” It would be a real shame if the pride, history and talent were to disappear from the Brixton community altogether.

Mickey Arthur chased down the No. 1 ranking with South Africa previously; now, he’ll be looking to knock them off their perch with Australia

Firdose Moonda in Brisbane06-Nov-2012Mickey Arthur knows what it means to hunt. His five years with the South Africa team were spent in pursuit. He went in search of the world No. 1 Test ranking and a major limited-overs trophy for almost that entire period and his only reward was about four months as the top Test team, a period so short few remember it.What Arthur does not know is what it is like to be hunted. The time South Africa spent at No. 1 was never thought of as comprehensive, especially as the achievement was more a result of Australia’s 2009 Ashes loss than South Africa’s run of form. It came to an almost unnoticed end, so Arthur has never really known the anxiety that comes from being followed by a chasing pack.But the South African side he built is in that position now and Arthur is the one hunting them. He thinks he knows the difference between what his former chargers and his current ones, Australia, may be feeling.”Expectation is the biggest thing for a No. 1. When you are getting to No.1 you’re always chasing a dream. And then when you’re there your focus changes because the expectation to defend that title is massive,” Arthur said. “It is two different mind sets.”It probably is a little bit more difficult to adjust because every time you go out there you are expected to win. When you win, that’s what you’re expected to do and when you lose, people get on your back.”At least five of the players in Arthur’s Australian side also know what that’s about. Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke, Peter Siddle, Ben Hilfenhaus and Michael Hussy were all part of the set up when the Australians ruled the cricketing world and have made it their mission to get back there. The rest are experiencing something Arthur is all too familiar with.”Those guys who have been there have gone back to chasing that dream again. But the new players don’t know what being No. 1 is. That’s a goal and a challenge that we’ve set for ourselves. We’re also chasing.”To begin that quest against South Africa has put Arthur back into a position with which he is completely comfortable, especially because of the similarities he can draw between the two squads. “When I look at the time that Graeme [Smith] and I got together for South Africa, it was kind of the same as the time Michael and I have come together for Australia,” he said. “We’ve both had good entrenched players and then some youngsters coming up so the journey has been the same.”Arthur could even go as far as identifying common touches in the strongly bullish Smith and the quietly classy Clarke. “Graeme is a phenomenal leader. He has an aura about him and when he talks, people listen. Michael Clarke is exactly the same. They are very similar characters and [there are] definite parallels between them. They are both very positive and lead by example. They both prepare meticulously and when they play well the teams they lead tend to be successful.”Even though Arthur is no longer part of the South Africa set-up, he appreciates how the side has grown since he left: “It is very gratifying to see that those guys have matured. They are battle-hardened players and to see the same faces here this time just means they have a lot more experience this time.”

“Graeme is a phenomenal leader. He has an aura about him and when he talks, people listen. Michael Clarke is exactly the same.”Mickey Arthur

Australia shape up a little differently. While they still have the same core group, they have a few obvious softer areas, something Australians sides of old rarely spouted. The opening partnership is one of them, the injury spate another. But it is the allrounder role that Arthur seems concerned about.”It was frustrating to lose Shane Watson, because we had been so meticulous in our planning for him,” Arthur said, referring to Cricket Australia instructing Watson to return home after three Champions League T20 matches to prepare for the Test series. “We had a plan for every one of our players and to lose Watto on the eve of the series after we had done all that planning was disappointing.”A similar thing happened to Arthur four years ago. Ashwell Prince injured his hand the day before the first Test between South Africa and Australia in Perth and had to be replaced by JP Duminy on the morning of the game. South Africa went on to win that match and the series, incidents Arthur can no doubt draw inspiration from.The success he achieved with South Africa in Australia in 2008-09 made Arthur the first coach to lead an opposition team to a series in in Australia in 15 years. Now, he may be considered in prime position to ensure South Africa do not break through again, simply because of his insider knowledge, but Arthur is not banking on that alone.”I know the guys personally. I know exactly what makes them tick. I’ve seen them prepare and train, and I know what their thought processes are around the dressing room,” he said. “[But] I can only prepare the players that I’ve got. I’m not going to influence massively what happens out in the middle.”I do bring an intimate knowledge of the South African team. I know the little idiosyncrasies of each of them. Whether that can be used to win a Test series, I’m not sure. But I’ll certainly be giving a lot of the information to our players.”

From Santanu Chakraborty, United States
Seeing Dr.Kamath’s “Memories of 1983” , I could not resist myself to share my own memories with you all

Cricinfo25-Feb-2013Santanu Chakraborty, United States
Seeing Dr.Kamath’s “Memories of 1983”, I could not resist myself to share my own memories with you all. Cricket entered my life nearly 30 years ago when I was almost 10. But till that historic day (25th June, 1983) and even in the next four years, there had not been any occasion of my watching international cricket (even through television).Cricket used to reach me through the articles of Shankari Prasad Basu, Shantipriya Bandopadhyay, Mati Nandy, Mukul Dutta, Ajay Basu or through the voices of commentators like JP Narayanan, Sushil Doshi, Murli Manohar Manzoor, Suresh Saraiya or the voices of news readers like Krishna Kumar Bhargava, Ramanuj Pratap Singh etc. The use of words in those articles or news or the same in those running commentaries along with the added excitement gave me the charm of cricket in those days. Those descriptions, those uses of words and those pulps of emotions were mainly responsible for building up my feel for national and international cricketers at that time.It was a time when I could only imagine what could be an off-cutter or a full toss or a good length delivery or a googly. To me, there was not much difference between a square cut and an on-drive or between a leg glance or a fierce pull. It was such a time that India won the World Cup. Without understanding even 1% of the technicalities of cricket, without even listening to 50% of any of those cricket commentaries in that historic tournament, I enjoyed every bit of it through the documented descriptions in the newspapers. Those printed lines were not just some amalgamation of words for me – they actually were the World Cup for me. It was a time when those articles and reports were also not written with a professionally minded approach. So, the emotions reached the sky’s limit in those articles and there were attempts to establish India as the best team in the world after the World Cup.Although logical thinking told me that it was not so in spite of the fact that I was only in my adolescence at that time (14 years old). But to me, at least for that tournament, India really deserved this victory because of the sheer emotion, self belief, determination and patriotism. There were not too many superstars in the 1983 team. The 1987 team in the Reliance Cup had more superstars. There were no plans or tactics or strategies involved in those 1983 victories. Sourav Ganguly’s India in 2003 was a much better team in terms of planning and strategies. But still India could not win in 1987 and 2003 because they probably did not have that self belief. Therefore, even after 25 years, that unplanned, strategy-less, superstar-less victory has remained India’s sole victory in the World Cup.

Without time for the military-like preparation that has preceded successes against Australia and India, England were lacklustre in New Zealand and can’t afford to be off-guard again

Andrew McGlashan15-May-2013When three of England’s players spoke to the press on Monday the backdrop was adorned with “Investec Ashes”. If they really aren’t thinking about it, there are plenty of reminders. Yet before the urn is contested there are other serious matters to attend to, the first being two more Tests against a New Zealand side who caused England plenty of headaches less than two months ago.Those performances, which resulted in a 0-0 draw that England barely deserved, led to a forceful warning by national selector Geoff Miller that a repeat will not be tolerated. For a man not normally associated with strong statements when naming squads, his comments last weekend suggested intent to get a message out to the players; but they, understandably, continue to be steadfast in the belief that their mindset in New Zealand was not a problem.How they respond will be fascinating. Or perhaps that should be how they are allowed to respond. Yes, England were below their best in New Zealand but the hosts played some outstanding cricket, especially in Auckland – better than even their staunchest of supporters would probably admit to being thought possible in the wake of their previous few months on and off the field.When it was put to Mike Hesson, the New Zealand coach, that England’s difficulties were because they came up against a team playing well he said “I’d like to think so”. This series remains a battle between No. 2 and No. 8 in the world, but New Zealand certainly do not carry themselves like a team that feels inferior. They have respect for the opposition, but no fear.

Though England’s year will be remembered by what comes later, another bloody nose in the next couple of weeks would raise some awkward questions.

They are led by an outstanding cricketer. Brendon McCullum showed why Hesson wanted him as captain and he has been impressive at every turn both on and off the field. Seemingly small things, such as being happy to say what he would do at the toss, or naming his team the day before, helped build a feeling that he was confident in his own gameplan.At the England Player of the Year dinner, Alastair Cook was asked whether he felt pressure to follow aggressive captaincy that the likes of McCullum (and later this summer Michael Clarke) tend to adopt. He was adamant about being his own man, an equally admirable trait that has served him outstandingly well, but whether he starts to develop a more attacking streak or remains akin to his predecessor Andrew Strauss will be one of the many subplots to this season.McCullum out-smarted England in the previous series. “They have clearly done a lot of planning and they set some very clever fields for those wickets,” Ian Bell said earlier this week. Did England quite manage the same level of planning and preparation they would for a series against the, so called, bigger nations? Compared to their military-like approach to Australia or India, something felt a little lacking.Part of home advantage should help avoid a repeat. Andy Flower and his staff have had plenty of time to examine what happened, while the players have all – except Graeme Swann – had a minimum of two Championship matches to prepare. In fact, it is hard to say that any of the 12 in the squad are coming into the series with doubts over their form.Andy Flower will ensure England are focussed better for the return series with New Zealand•Getty ImagesEngland will expect the Dukes ball to swing – in every sense – the odds back in their favour. But serious concerns will emerge if they continue to struggle to get the ball consistently off straight. That, though, is also New Zealand’s strength. They have a strong hand of swing bowlers, especially the rapidly improving Trent Boult.In a short two-Test series (although it could be viewed as a five-match series spread over each side of the world) one bad innings can be enough to make it unwinnable. On the New Zealand tour, England had two horrendous first-innings display, in Dunedin and Auckland, from where they were only ever trying to save the game.The second-innings hundreds of Cook, Nick Compton and Matt Prior were courageous backs-to-the-wall displays, but Test matches are set up by first-innings runs as England showed in Wellington where they played an almost textbook Test for three days before the rain came. Bell is an example of someone who needs to ensure his defining innings of a series is there to set up a position of strength, rather than secure a draw as he helped to do in Nagpur and Auckland.New Zealand’s batsmen do not come into the series in the best of shape. Hamish Rutherford found his touch against England Lions (keep an eye on how many runs he scores from cover to backward point) but Peter Fulton has struggled against the moving ball. McCullum and Ross Taylor have had one innings apiece, so will need to dig deep into their experience, while Kane Williamson will need to remember lessons from his Gloucestershire stint.Despite what happened in March, England will again start favourites – not a tag that always appears to sit comfortably. But New Zealand have it them to win their first Test in Britain since The Oval in 1999 and, though England’s year will be remembered by what comes later, another bloody nose in the next couple of weeks would raise some awkward questions.

Stats highlights from fourth and fifth days of a thrilling Ashes Test at Trent Bridge

Shiva Jayaraman14-Jul-2013

• England have now won their last five Tests in a row at Trent Bridge. The last time England lost a Test at this venue was against India in 2007. In the last five years, they have won more Tests only at Lord’s. England’s win-loss record in the Ashes is 5-7 at this venue from the 21 Tests.
• Australia have now lost three Ashes Test in a row for the first time since they lost the last two of the 1985 series and first of the 1986-87 series. This was also their fifth Test defeat in a row following their 4-0 loss in India. Their worst losing streaks are seven in a row between 1885 and 1888, then six, all to the West Indies in 1984, and five – all against England – between 1926 and 1929.
• This win ranked seventh for England, and eleventh overall, in the list of closest wins by runs in the Ashes. England have now recorded 45 wins from 154 Ashes Tests at home. They are one win away from drawing level with Australia, who have 46 wins in England.
• Including this England win, the last ten matches have all produced results at this venue. Trent Bridge is one of the only three venues which haven’t produced a single draw from ten or more matches in the last ten years. The other two venues are the Melbourne Cricket Ground and The Wanderers, Johannesburg.
• This was James Anderson’s first ten-wicket haul for the match in the Ashes, and his second overall. He is now the only bowler to take two ten-wicket hauls at Trent Bridge. His bowling figures of 5 for 73 in Australia’s second innings were his best in an innings in the Ashes. He has now taken three five-wicket hauls against Australia. Peter Siddle’s wicket in Australia’s second innings was his 50th wicket in the Ashes. He is the 13th fast bowler from England to take 50 or more wickets and the 21st bowler from England to do so. Anderson also won his first Man-of-the-Match award in the Ashes, and his fifth overall.
• Australia’s tenth wicket added 228 runs (163 – first innings, 65 – second innings) during the match. This is the most any team has scored for their tenth wicket in a match in Tests. The previous record was also held by Australia. Their tenth wicket added 189 runs in this match.
• No. 4 is clearly not where Michael Clarke performs best. His average batting at No. 4 is a disappointing 21.51 from 32 innings as opposed to his average of 63.95 batting at No.5. He has scored 667 runs batting at No. 4 with a highest score of 80. Less than one-tenth of his Test runs have come from one-fifth of his innings batting at No. 4.
• Ian Bell scored the 18th hundred of his Test career, in England’s second innings. This was his fourth in his team’s second innings. This was his second century against Australia, his first coming at Sydney in 2011 in this match. It was a carefully grafted innings, with Bell taking 237 balls to reach his hundred. When he fell for 109, he had faced 267 deliveries for a strike rate of 40.82, his second slowest hundred-plus innings.
• Stuart Broad now has three fifties in the Ashes and ten overall. His 65 in England’s second innings was uncharacteristically subdued, coming at a strike rate of 43.91. His scoring rate otherwise, in innings in which he scores fifty, or more runs, is 70.60. This was his slowest innings of fifty-plus runs. He hit only seven boundaries in his knock, which is also the least he has hit in any of his innings of fifty or more runs.
• The 138-run partnership between Bell and Broad in England’s second innings was the fourth highest for England in the Ashes for the seventh wicket. They fell five runs short of England’s highest partnership for the seventh wicket in the Ashes, between Joseph Vine and Frank Woolley, at Sydney in 1912. Also, this was the highest England have put together for the seventh wicket in the Ashes in 114 innings. Before today, Jack Russell and John Emburey added 142 runs for the seventh wicket in this match at the Old Trafford in 1989.
• Siddle’s bowling returns of 8 for 135 for the match were his best in the Ashes. His previous best came at Headingley in 2009, when he took 6 for 71, including a five wicket haul.
• Australia’s opening woes in the Ashes continue. The last time an Australian opener hit a century in the Ashes was by Simon Katich at Cardiff in 2009. Since then, Australia have gone 40 opener-innings without a century. Also, Chris Rogers’ first Test fifty was Australia’s first by an opener, not involving Watson, in six Ashes Tests. Their previous ‘non-Watson’ fifty in the Ashes came from Katich, again, at Brisbane in 2010.
• Anderson and Siddle are fast developing the reputation of being each other’s bunnies. England’s second innings was the fourth time Siddle dismissed Anderson in Tests. Anderson dismissed Siddle in both the innings of the match, taking his tally of Siddle-wickets to six.
• The seventh wicket partnership played out 487 balls (81.1 overs) in the match, all four innings put together. This is the most deliveries ever faced by the seventh wicket in the Ashes. Overall, this ranks seventh in the list. The highest number of deliveries played out by the seventh wicket partnership in a match was 778 – in a match between New Zealand and Pakistan at Christchurch.