Ponting is wary of a repeat of the stress in this game, which is the most significant contest for all but the four players in the squad who were here for the 2-1 loss in 2005

Peter English at The Oval19-Aug-2009Ricky Ponting would love to cradle the original Ashes urn on Monday afternoon but it is staying behind glass in the Lord’s museum. This time it’s a wise decision from the MCC, who own the priceless and symbolic prize, because the Australians have a history of dinting trophies during their celebrations.”It would be nice to get a hold of the proper one once in a while,” Ponting said. “If they let it out of the box.”Still, Ponting will be hugely satisfied if his thumb and index finger are squeezing a replica at the end of the fifth Test at The Oval. It would certainly beat becoming only the second Australian captain behind Billy Murdoch to lose two series in England, an unwanted record which will occur if the hosts succeed in south London from Thursday.The significance of an occasion that will define his leadership is having an unfamiliar effect on Ponting, who has played 135 Tests and won three World Cups. “I spoke to the team before the first Test and told them I was excited about the whole series and how much it meant to me,” he said. “But this game now, I don’t remember being this excited for a game.”He has been waking at 6.30am, racing to breakfast and wanting to start the team meetings and training. “I can’t wait for Thursday to come around and I can sense that around some of the other players in the group,” he said. “We’ve all spoken about what the Ashes means.”Before Lord’s the Australians became over-hyped and their tense start turned into their first Test defeat at the home of cricket since 1934. Ponting is wary of a repeat of the stress in this game, which is the most significant contest for all but the four players in the squad who were here for the 2-1 loss in 2005.”That’s why I’ve tried to not necessarily downplay this week, but not talk about how big a game it is, just talk about how exciting it is,” he said. “It’s easy for us older guys to talk about it that way because we’ve been there before, whether it’s a World Cup final or other big Test matches that we’ve played, so we haven’t spoken much to the younger guys about it. We’ve just let them go about their preparation and let them trust what they’ve been doing over the last couple of weeks.”Ponting’s experience will be a crucial settling influence for the team and Michael Clarke, the vice-captain, believes he is England’s biggest worry because of his reliable performances in big games. “You see ‘Punter’ in World Cup finals or huge matches and he always stands up,” Clarke said. “That is probably one of his greatest assets as a leader, in big games he always does stand up from the front. That is certainly something that I think England should fear.”This should be Ponting’s last Ashes Test in England – he would be 38 and on his fifth tour if he returned in 2013 – but he has not started with the nostalgia. He played in the two-day game against England Lions at the weekend specifically to calm his young squad and keep them on track for the greatest occasion of their careers.”It’s a special series to all of us and look, it might be my last chance to get a crack at doing it here, but I’ll just prepare as if it’s any other game and hopefully go out and play as well as I can,” he said. “That’s all I can do and that’s all we can control.”Australia started the series strongly in Cardiff before a sudden trough, but since the final day of the third Test they have improved dramatically, hitting their peak in the innings-and-80-run win at Headingley. Ponting is highly satisfied with the way his side has progressed after the setback at Lord’s and said the squad was happy and upbeat.”Everyone is talking about this sudden transformation in the team, but it hasn’t necessarily been that,” he said. “We’ve played some really good cricket throughout the series and we’ve just had a couple of down periods that have cost us – the first morning bowling at Lord’s and the first-innings batting there. Other than that our cricket has been on a steep curve upwards.” A tiny urn is the reward for further improvement over the next week.

While Twenty20 riches can buy diamond earrings, gold chains, designer watches and lifelong financial security for West Indies’ players, they can’t guarantee basic cricketing sense

Tony Cozier07-Mar-2010It is founded on the premise that it is not really cricket at all and, more especially, that the mega-bucks paid out by Indian tycoons, Bollywood stars and a bogus American financier have given young West Indies players a false sense of their worth.It is not that Michael Holding begrudges the fees cricketers now earn. He joined Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket back in 1977 precisely because it offered him and others a proper wage as professional sportsmen.His concern is that most of those with bank accounts boosted into seven figures by Twenty20 now measure success more by the numbers on the cheques they collect for appearing in the IPL, Australia’s Big Bash, Stanford’s Super Series and England’s equivalent than on those alongside their batting and bowling averages.His theory was given ample airing in West Indies’ performance in two matches during the past week.Teams packed with millionaires, the wealthiest ever to represent the burgundy and silver, were acutely embarrassed by the supposed non-entities of Zimbabwe, first in the Twenty20 international at the Queen’s Park Oval, then in the first one-day international at the Providence Stadium.The reality is that most of the highly touted, and paid West Indians have international records, and experience, no better than their counterpart paupers of Zimbabwe, not one of whom is distracted by the fame and fortune of an overseas Twenty20 contract.Of the 11 West Indians on the field in the second ODI yesterday, only Chris Gayle and Shivnarine Chanderpaul had more than 50 ODIs on their CVs. Only three of the Zimbabweans had fewer.Kieron Pollard, whose earnings from Trinidad and Tobago, the South Australian Redbacks, the Mumbai Indians, the Somerset Sabres and West Indies, will bring in around US$1.5 million this year, averages in the teens in his 21 ODIs and 13 Twenty20 internationals. He is yet to play a Test or score an international hundred, whereas eight Zimbabweans have.Kemar Roach is less than a year into his international career and already has a US$700,000 IPL deal.Based on his reputation as big hitter, stiff medium-pace bowler and dazzling fielder, Dwayne Smith has been a Twenty20 specialist for Sussex, New South Wales, the Mumbai Indians and the Deccan Chargers. But his inconsistency has limited him to spasmodic appearances for West Indies in recent times.

It was West Indies’ 11th defeat in 12 ODIs, a stunning statistic. If it continues, the slide will carry on even further down the ICC rankings. The return of Ramnaresh Sarwan and Dwayne Bravo, presumably for the last three ODIs, will bolster the strength but the truth is the cupboard of reputable reserves is all but bare

Andre Fletcher, who pocketed US$1 million from the Stanford Super Series win over England in 2008, has fewer ODIs and Twenty20s to his name than half the Zimbabweans.There were prime examples in Thursday’s ODI loss that, while Twenty20 riches can buy diamond earrings, gold chains, designer watches and lifelong financial security, they can’t guarantee basic cricketing sense.After that match, captain Gayle furiously identified the main offenders in the loss as Pollard, Smith and Denesh Ramdin. He might have also mentioned the ludicrous run-outs of Fletcher and Narsingh Deonarine and the fumbles in the field, but there was enough on his mind as it was.”Those guys were key for us and the way they went about it was a terrible display,” Gayle said of Pollard, Ramdin and Smith. “It is very disappointing and sad to see how they went about it.”Pollard, whose expensive status is based mainly on his power-hitting, casually stroked a catch to mid-on during the batting Powerplay when only three fielders are permitted outside the 30-yard zone. Ramdin was bowled for the seventh time in his last 12 innings for West Indies.Smith was the most culpable. When Nikita Miller’s six, four, and one off the first three balls of the final over left four to win off three, a usually straightforward task, he premeditated his well-known default shot – the across-the-line slog – and the match was effectively lost. It could be his last swing for West Indies.Ramdin, who had played every match for West Indies since December 2008, and Smith both paid for their indiscretions with their places in yesterday’s second ODI.Gayle’s censure was as strong as any captain gets. The language in the stands was far more direct and abusive.It was West Indies’ 11th defeat in 12 ODIs, a stunning statistic. If it continues, the slide will carry on even further down the ICC rankings. The return of Ramnaresh Sarwan and Dwayne Bravo, presumably for the last three ODIs, will bolster the strength but the truth is the cupboard of reputable reserves is all but bare.The regional first-class tournament that ended last weekend was an exercise in futility. At the end of it, there was not a single new player the selectors could identify as ready for international cricket.Dwayne Smith may have played his last for West Indies.•DigicelCricket.com/Brooks LaTouche PhotographyIt is easier at present to be optimistic over an end of the drought than a turnaround of West Indies’ cricket woes. Yet board president Julian Hunte and chief executive Ernest Hilaire were upbeat back in January.”The season promises to be an exciting one and we are really looking forward to some tough, hard and competitive cricket on the field and positive support and enjoyment by the fans off the field,” Hunte said.It turned out to be a dud. It was poorly promoted, if at all, a host of top players were missing, either injured or away in Australia, the standard was as low as usual (against 11 totals over 300 there were 22 under 200) and crowds at most matches were in three, sometimes even two, figures.Ten of the 14 batsmen with more than 300 runs were the usual suspects who had already represented West Indies and all but two of the 13 bowlers with more than 20 wickets were run-of-the-mill spinners.One apparent success was the bold experiment of floodlit matches with the pink ball. All reports are not in but the general response from players and spectators was positive. When Tests are also inevitably played at night, West Indies can claim to have led the way.In contrast, the other innovation – to stage a round a time in the same venue – was a predictable flop. It limited Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and the Leewards and Windwards to one home match each, Barbados and the so-called Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC) to two.The arrangement was seen at its most ridiculous when Barbados and the CCC were despatched from their home base in Barbados to far-off Nevis for their match.And while Hilaire declared before it all started that the WICB would be “looking to utilise some of the wonderful facilities we have in the region”, only seven of the 21 matches were staged at the “wonderful facilities” that were the supposed legacy of the World Cup.You really have to wonder who sits in the WICB office in St John’s and makes such decisions.

This was more like the South Africa who dominated world cricket through 2008 and rose to the top of the tree

Andrew McGlashan in Johannesburg17-Jan-2010The South Africans will feel justice has been done. Such was the dominance of their display at the Wanderers that it’s impossible to deny that they fully deserved a share of the spoils. They believed that coming into the final Test, but the pressure was on them to deliver a performance after twice pulling up agonisingly short. This time they left nothing to chance and there was nothing close about the result.This was more like the South Africa who dominated world cricket through 2008 and rose to the top of the tree before disappearing over the last 12 months. They were so motivated for this contest – they couldn’t really believe how the visitors held the advantage heading into the final Test – and that made them an unstoppable force. England played their worst game since the thrashing against Australia, at Headingley, but they were never allowed into the match.Over the last four days the hosts have shown a ruthlessness that isn’t often associated with their cricket, typified by the positive batting approach and their fourth-morning demolition of England’s second innings. This time they weren’t going to leave anything to chance, especially with thunderstorms looming each day.”If we are honest we could easily be sat here 3-1 up,” Graeme Smith said. “We’ve played the better cricket in three out of four games. It could have been easy for us to run out of puff after giving so much in Cape Town, but we bounced back and each guy was hungry to perform well.”We lacked knock-out blows in Centurion and Cape Town – England showed great resilience throughout the series and played well at Durban – but it was great for us to be able to play such convincing cricket here. We really dominated the game and came out deserved winners of the Test.”After three matches in which South Africa felt certain things hadn’t gone their way – from weather conditions, to pitches, to injuries – they couldn’t really have produced a more perfect match. Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel were outstanding attack leaders, Smith led from the front with the bat and was followed by Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers and Mark Boucher, then the bowlers did their job a second time. Even the two debutants, Wayne Parnell and Ryan McLaren, played their part with Parnell claiming the key second-innings scalps of Andrew Strauss and Kevin Pietersen.”I’m just really proud of the way the guys played,” he added. “We had two debutants who put in solid performances. We certainly were the team who were hungrier going into this game and we played that way. It shows this team wants to progress and within the group there is a real drive to be better.”Smith didn’t try to hide the fact that he thought England had aided their own downfall in the way they handled the review system. Smith, himself, was at the centre of the main controversy over his ‘edge’ on the second morning, but he said the visitors allowed it to get into their mindset and South Africa were pleased to take advantage.”It’s something that has made us happy,” Smith said. “We feel that England spent so much time and energy on that stuff that it really allowed us to focus on our cricket. To see them really lose focus on what was important gave us more confidence through the game.”The series has grown increasingly antagonistic on the field although Smith said he hoped to share a beer with the England team. “It’s something I’d like to do.” Indeed the players did spend a couple of hours together after the formalities were complete.However, when pushed on where England stand in the current world game, he gave them a cautious rating based on their “potential”, and made a pointed dig at their selection for this match by picking Graham Onions as their best seamer.”England have come here and played well throughout the summer,” Smith said. “Graeme Swann has had an outstanding series and from our perspective Paul Collingwood has been the glue in the batting line up. Their seamers have bowled well, especially Graham Onions. He was a new package for us and asked a lot of questions. There’s potential there, but there will be a lot of challenges ahead for any team. World cricket today is pretty close and if you aren’t good enough in the series, or things don’t go your way, then you have to fight to stay in it.”The home side certainly feel they are the superior side and at the end of the series it’s hard to argue against that claim. Their batting was far more productive and, with Steyn and Morkel at the helm, they have the more potent pace attack. The only area they fall short in is the spin department and the tour to India will test them fully on that.South Africa, though, can’t afford to get carried away by this victory. After all, the series started with the expectation that they would dominate throughout. However, after a very difficult 2009, which ended with that crushing defeat in Durban, Smith feels his side can now return to their previous levels.”We thought after 2008 that we were heading in the right direction and then we took a step back. But in 2010 we have started in a really positive way with a good Test in Cape Town and an even better one here, so we certainly want to see our curve going back upwards.”For now Smith will sit back with a sigh of relief that this series didn’t slip away. That would have taken some explaining.

Taking your son to his first Test is special. So much the better if there are a century and a five-for on offer

Nick Clapson06-Jun-2010The game
After the Bangladesh batsmen gave the England side so much trouble in the first Test at Lord’s, I thought it would be interesting to see how they would perform on this very different pitch. I was also looking forward to taking my seven-year-old son to his first Test match.Team supported
Like the majority of the crowd, we were supporting England. There were a handful of very vocal Bangladeshis in the crowd, but the sheer number of England fans easily drowned them out.Key performers
I came to the match expecting to see a top-drawer performance from Jonathon Trott but he had fallen cheaply for three the previous day. So it was the guile of Graeme Swann’s bowling against the forceful batting of Tamim Iqbal. Neither let his supporters down. Swann was as wily as a coyote, casually picking the batsmen apart. He got a well deserved five-for as a reward. However, this was only after the departure of the majestic Tamim, who even had the English fans applauding his audacity.One thing I’d have changed
The game was perfect; quality batting from England, and a well-pitched battle after lunch. But if I had the power, I would have turned the thermostat down on the day a bit. It was blisteringly hot, and by the end of the day we all felt thoroughly baked.Filling the gaps
At lunch yesterday, I saw the Under-11s play, but today there was nothing. However, that gave my son and I the chance to wander around the ground and soak up the atmosphere.Shot of the day
Tamim and Ian Bell hit several aggressive drives that made the crowd stand up and applaud.Crowd meter
It was a lively crowd, with costumes ranging from Michael Jackson to the Thunderbirds, and my son seemed to spend as much time gawking at the crowd as he did watching the game. Old Trafford is the home ground of Jimmy Anderson and the crowd was really behind him during his brief batting spell. And it roared every run-up when he bowled.Entertainment
At lunch, the ECB gave the crowd the chance to do a question-and-answer session with the former England player Phil “Tuffers” Tuffnell. A great crowd pleaser, Tuffers, gave us all a good laugh, especially when he forgot who England were playing today!Overall
All in all it was a great day that neither my son nor I will forget. The crowd was electric at times, really bringing the match to life. The players were nothing less than first-class. We saw great batsmen, great bowlers, and a wonderful competition, all in a single game. You can’t beat that.

Cricket in Denmark was at its strongest in the 1960s, but the national side, comprising journeymen, students and one pro, is hoping to spark a revival

Robert Forsaith06-Nov-2010Anyone doubting cricket’s reach should take a moment to consider how the recent spot-fixing controversy affected Copenhagen’s active population of proud Pakistan supporters. In a nation where football is entrenched as the national sport, pastime and obsession, cricket has a longer, if not quite as successful, history.English railway workers first brought the game to Denmark in the mid-19th century, but more recently Pakistani immigrants have helped ensure its survival. A wave of Pakistanis came to the nation in the 1960s and their devotion to cricket has stood the test of time. Their descendants now represent the vast majority of youngsters taking up the game.Thankfully there is nothing rotten in the state of Denmark. The children’s enthusiasm for playing the game is free to prosper, and it will survive despite the latest turmoil that has embroiled some of their former idols. It’s a good thing, too, as the country’s cricket board, the Dansk Cricket Forbund (DCF) could hardly afford a drop in participation.Cricket has endured a turbulent time in Denmark, with too many troughs and a limited number of minor peaks since the DCF was admitted to the ICC in 1966 as an Associate member. In those 44 years, the nation has produced a handful of first-class cricketers. The list is headlined by Derbyshire’s Ole Mortensen, who claimed 434 wickets at an average of 23.88, and more recently Amjad Khan, who obtained British citizenship and played one Test for England in 2009.The national side has been on the cusp of qualifying for the World Cup on a number of occasions, with a semi-final loss to Sri Lanka, a fellow minnow at the time, in the 1979 ICC Trophy arguably the most notable.Domestically the game was at its strongest in the 1960s. “There was more interest in cricket then, compared to the 70s and so on,” DCF president Thomas Kentorp said. “We were mentioned on the radio, you had scores from the various matches on the news. There were a lot of cricketers. There are different ways to measure the numbers, but we think we had about 4000 players in around 40-something clubs. Today we have about 2000 players in 32 clubs.” That figure represents roughly 0.04% of the population.Kentorp finds it hard to pinpoint a single reason for the game’s decline, although he makes special mention of the ever-increasing focus on academic pursuits. “The parents say to their children, ‘You have to focus on one sport from the age of 10.’ Once the children turn 18, some of them say, ‘Well, enough’s enough’ and they don’t play anything anymore, not even one sport. It’s a shame.”Understandably, “game development” features prominently in the DCF’s slim budget. The group receives roughly US$382,000 annually from the Sports Confederation of Denmark, and a little less from the ICC.Local clubs are able to sign one overseas playing coach each season, and the DCF provides limited assistance for this. The programme’s biggest success story is undoubtedly Bryce McGain, who carried the moniker “Glostup coach” long before he became “former Test spinner”. McGain moved his family to Copenhagen and even made his List A debut for Denmark in 2002, but tight residency requirements mean the DCF is unable to aggressively poach talented foreigners for the national team.Cricket’s low profile ensures that sponsorships are minor and rare, although the Danish Integration Ministry is currently funding a project that helps introduce schoolchildren to the game. The man spearheading the scheme is Simon Talbot, Denmark’s full-time national coach, who also oversees development and travels the country, selling the game.Talbot, an Englishman and a product of the county cricket scene, was appointed last year. The carrot of coaching a national side was too tempting for a man who was awaiting an Australian visa to work with the WACA in a development role.He first came to Denmark 20 years ago when he booked a youth tour while working for Surrey. Soon after, he found he had “fallen in love” with the Danes, especially those involved in cricket. The fact his wife Tina (who also doubles as the national side’s physiotherapist) is Danish suggests the statement is true literally. Talbot’s passion for Danish cricket is infectious.Denmark were recently relegated to World Cricket League (WCL) Division 3 when the side went winless at the 2009 ICC World Cup Qualifier in South Africa. Talbot was called in soon after and has persisted with a youth policy at the selection table.”I inherited an old team and cricket these days is a young man’s sport. I think the average age of the team was over 35, so there lay the problem,” Talbot said.The side consists of local amateurs, apart from gun batsman Freddie Klokker, who recently signed a contract with Dutch club Excelsior 20. Among the playing group is a postman, two IT professionals, an employee of Danske Bank, and plenty of students. The youngest of Talbot’s new-look team, Basit Raja, is still in high school and has made quite an impression on the coach.”He has got a trial for the MCC Young Cricketers next year, and I confidently predict he will be offered a place there,” Talbot said.Simon Talbot at the national cricket ground, Svanholm Park•Robert Forsaith/Robert ForsaithRaja was a standout performer at the European Under-19 Championships in July this year. The right-arm seamer’s next chance to shine is likely to come in January 2011, when Talbot’s charges will take part in the six-team WCL 3 tournament in Hong Kong. Denmark will be up against Italy, the USA, Oman, Papua New Guinea, and hosts Hong Kong. The stakes will be high. Two teams will remain in WCL 3, two will be relegated to WCL 4, and two promoted to WCL 2.The harsh Nordic winter will keep the side mostly indoors as they prepare for the competition, although they will be given the chance to acclimatise at a five-day training camp in Sri Lanka. The sub-zero temperatures are hardly ideal, as Talbot points out.”Your hands go soft [in the arctic weather]. You need hard hands to play cricket, ball-ready hands. So it would have been nice to go away and get some sunshine before we went to Sri Lanka, but obviously we haven’t got the funding to do that. We’ll have to make do with what we’ve got.”Considering the DCF’s limited budget, Talbot has an impressive number of coaching tools at his disposal – including video analysis, a fitness training program designed by Tina, who is an ex-Surrey physio, and a psychology program – and a set of very dedicated amateurs.”I reckon we will have 12 sessions together as a team to prepare for Hong Kong,” he said.”I’m really happy with all of it. They’re amateurs, but I can’t honestly think of anything else that we could provide for them, apart from a team trip to somewhere like South Africa or Dubai.”The ICC’s recent decision to trim the number of teams at the World Cup means Denmark’s task of qualifying has become all the more monumental. Furthermore, it is highly unlikely Twenty20 will be any kind of silver bullet for the Associates.Nonetheless Talbot is upbeat about his inexperienced side’s chances of climbing the ICC’s rankings in the next few years. “If my team performs the way I know they can [in Hong Kong] and performs the way I want them to, then we can compete with anybody.”

ESPNcricinfo presents the plays of the day from the Group A game between Sri Lanka and Pakistan in Colombo

Osman Samiuddin in Colombo26-Feb-2011Comedy skit of the day
Somehow, Mohammad Hafeez was run-out – that is the punchline. The build-up
to it was pure slapstick. First there was Kamran Akmal charging down the
pitch, with possible justification, for a single to short fine leg. Hafeez
didn’t run, so they were both at the striker’s end with the ball now back
to the wicketkeeper. Akmal started walking off, but Kumar Sangakkara’s
throw was wild, nowhere near the stumps or anyone and Akmal, had he known
it, probably could have made it back. Somehow the ball found its way to
someone who wasn’t falling apart and some bails were taken off somewhere.Slip of the day
Or rather, the one that wasn’t there: Kumar Sangakkara strangely began the
match with only one slip. In the second over Ahmed Shehzad flashed at
Thisara Perera and edged it for four, straight past where second slip
should’ve been. Sangakkara immediately put one in place the next ball,
though next over he was back down to one.Action replay of the day
Left-arm spinners are to Kamran Akmal what red rags are to bulls. In
Pakistan’s opening game against Kenya, a well-set Akmal suddenly decided
to charge down the pitch to Shem Ngoche, an ugly wild heave as close to
the ball as China is to the US. He was well-set again at the R Premadasa
when the introduction of Rangana Herath suddenly brought down the red
mist. Out he charged and out he walked, even further from this ball than
he was in Hambantota.Freshest legs of the day
The partnership between Misbah-ul-Haq and Younis Khan was the key one for
Pakistan. The pair put on 108 runs, at almost a run-a-ball through the
middle of the innings and there were hardly any boundaries in it. Instead,
at the combined age of 68 years, the pair gave an absolute masterclass in
middle overs running. They began by taking the easy singles, but soon
began to pinch audacious ones hit straight to fielders. And as the stand
grew, there was the deftest placement for a number of doubles between
square leg and deep midwicket. In all there were 65 singles and ten doubles.Wicket of the day
Thirty-five years old, a near-permanent limp and a more colourful past
than Charlie Sheen, yet somehow Shoaib Akhtar is alive and kicking it at
the World Cup. Each over leaves him looking like a boxer who’s just
finished ten rounds, yet in he runs again for another, consistently quick,
over. He bowled without luck against Kenya and seemed to be going the same
way here. Then, in his second spell he trundled in to Mahela Jayawardene
and suddenly knocked back his middle stump with an in-dipper. As a
spectacle, nothing beats it still.Worst audition for Stumpy the tournament mascot of the day
The first leg-side stumping Kamran Akmal missed of Kumar Sangakkara was
understandable, though better wicketkeepers would’ve pouched it. But the second
miss, off the bowling of Abdur Rehman again, was a true Akmal clanger;
Sangakkara was miles out, the ball wasn’t even that far down the leg-side
and Akmal knocked the bails off swiftly enough. He just didn’t have the
ball with him.Pre-match prophecy of the day
“He bats a little, he is a very good fielder and the way he is bowling,
from what I’ve seen, he is the best spinner here.” After the Chamara Silva
drop, please note Abdur Rehman’s second quality that Waqar Younis, Pakistan coach,
highlighted on Friday.

Plays of the Day from the second ODI between South Africa and India at Wanderers

Sidharth Monga at the Wanderers15-Jan-2011The mosts
Sachin Tendulkar has reached a stage in his career where everything he does seems to break a record – his own, if not someone else’s. As he walked out to bat today, he joined Sanath Jayasuriya as the most capped ODI player, with 444 matches. In terms of innings, he went one better than Jayasuriya; this was the 433rd time he was batting in ODIs.Graeme Smith, though, is not that familiar with records, but as he went out for his 139th ODI toss, he broke Hansie Cronje’s record of having captained South Africa in 138 matches.The bouncer
The moment he saw Suresh Raina, Lonwabo Tsotsobe went on a bouncer spree. So excited was he that he nearly bounced himself with one, pitching it at his toes in a way that the ball almost hit him in the face during his follow-through. Smith, fielding at straighter extra cover, had the best seat in the house and fell down laughing.The contest
Watching cricket in South Africa is a complete experience. People come with their portable chairs, iceboxes full of beer, and spend lovely time either on grass banks or in the stands. During the innings breaks, the kids either get to play cricket on the field or take parts in contests, as has been a ritual at Wanderers. It is a long-standing tradition, and they keep records: Faf du Plessis today broke the previous record held by Johan Botha, set at a time when he used to be an extra.It involves running along the 30-yard circle, doing various tasks. First up is to lift and rearrange three sets of balls from one cone to the other. Then run along, collect a ball and bowl at the plastic stumps. Can’t move to the next before hitting the stumps with a legal delivery. Then a machine throws up skiers. Catching one of them completes the next task. And finally one tennis ball has to be hit from the 30-yard circle into the crowd. One extra from each side, and kids from the crowd take part in the contest. India’s R Ashwin took one minute and three seconds, one second better than the best among the kids. Botha’s record was 56 seconds, which du Plessis smashed by three seconds.The Powerplay, and how not to use it
After South Africa displayed the perfect use of the Powerplay in the first ODI, India showed the dark side of the moon today. When Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni were going well, India didn’t ask for it, even though Yuvraj was starting to hit aerial shots. Three overs after Yuvraj’s dismissal, India asked for one, and immediately lost Raina. A maiden over followed. Then another wicket. Then another. Four wickets fell for 14 runs during those five overs. South Africa did not fare much better, taking their Powerplay in the 32nd over, and hurtling from 145 for 4 to 165 for – a passage of play that ultimately cost them the game.

For the third time in his career but the second time in eight months, Kevin Pietersen translated a solid start into an explosive double-century finish, as if his recent lean times had taught him the value of seizing the moment

Andrew Miller at Lord's22-Jul-2011It was on this ground three years ago that Kevin Pietersen’s career reached a plateau of contentment. Against South Africa in 2008, he stroked a century in his first Test appearance against his former countrymen, and declared immediately afterwards that he’d never felt “so loved”. Today his emotions were ever so slightly different. There was plenty love, he said, from his grateful colleagues in the dressing room as he basked in the brilliance of his 202 not out, but one sensed that his over-riding emotion was relief.Relief, in the first instance, that India’s belated acceptance of Hotspot technology allowed him to escape the humiliation of becoming MS Dhoni’s first Test wicket. Relief, also, that Rahul Dravid’s scooped catch at leg slip on 49 was turned down by the TV umpire. But relief, ultimately, that in the course of a 326-ball stay that comprised three distinct tiers of confidence and aggression, he was able to crush the last of the many hoodoos that have laid his career low in recent times.For the first time since that summer of love three years ago, Pietersen has recorded a century on home soil. It’s not, in his own singular mind, an especially big deal, for he had threatened to do just that throughout a series of burgeoning form against Sri Lanka. All the same, the manner in which he broke through was typical of the man and his talents. For the third time in his career but the second time in eight months, Pietersen translated a solid start into an explosive double-century finish, as if his recent lean times had taught him the value of seizing the moment.”It’s something to be proud of, definitely,” Pietersen said. “There’s been some fairly complimentary thing being said to me in the dressing room. I’ve never had to work harder. With the conditions I batted in yesterday, and having to face MS Dhoni for half an hour as well, I reckon it’s right up there with the hundreds I’ve scored. They bowled really well in swinging conditions and the pitch was seaming as well. I was missing balls by a couple of inches on occasions… it was real hard graft.”Pride and relief were the overwhelming emotions for Kevin Pietersen on making his first home ton in three years, and going on to convert it into a double•Getty ImagesThe real graft was done, unquestionably, on the first afternoon of the game, prior to Zaheer Khan’s hamstring strain, when a thick and transformative cloud cover had forced England to wade through their day’s work at barely two-and-a-half runs an over. Pietersen himself made 22 from 73 balls in that time, an unwaveringly diligent spell at the crease that had more in common with Alastair Cook and Jonathan Trott, the two men who have superseded him as the bankers in England’s batting line-up.No-one in their right mind would wish Pietersen to take on board too many of the accumulative traits that those two have been displaying in the last 18 months – last month Graeme Swann jokingly referred to England’s top three as the ultimate cure for insomnia, and added that it was only KP and Ian Bell who were actually worth the spectators’ entrance fee. Nevertheless, since Pietersen’s last hundred on home soil at The Oval in 2008, eight of his team-mates have racked up 18 hundreds between them, including four apiece for Trott and Cook.There’s a lesson to be learnt from their current levels of accumulation, especially as that was the one great criticism of KP during the days when he scored runs for fun. He made ten centuries in his first 30 Tests, yet managed just one in excess of 158, against West Indies at Headingley in 2007 – a return which hinted at a tendency to play one loose stroke too many when he had opposition bowlers at his mercy. “Make it a daddy,” has been Cook’s mantra throughout his career, as learnt from England’s most prolific batsman of all, Graham Gooch. When you get in, go on. And today, as in Adelaide, Pietersen did.The true glory of Pietersen’s innings did not appear until much later in the piece, however. The thrill of his acceleration was something to behold, as he spent 134 balls over his first fifty runs, 82 over his second, 75 over the third, and a blistering 25 in powering along to his double, which he sealed in a throwback fashion by blazing Suresh Raina for 4, 6, 2 and 4 off consecutive deliveries. In the first phase of his career, that was his method for dealing with all the nervous nineties – and sometimes, perhaps most fatefully at Sabina Park in 2009, he would succumb trying.Maybe this willingness to postpone the extravagance is the mark of a new maturity. At the start of the year, Pietersen spoke effusively of his desire to push on to 10,000 Test runs, and cement the legend that his early successes had always suggested he could become. During today’s grandstand finale, he powered past 6000 Test runs, and by the time of England’s declaration, he had nosed his career average up to 49.83.And what is more, he did so while obeying team orders, as Andrew Strauss’s improbably aggressive declaration quickly confirmed. “I went off for a toilet break at drinks and I said to Strauss if you want to pull us off now, then pull us off now,” he said. “We had quite a few runs, so it wasn’t about double-hundred for me. It was about the team being in a good position going forward in this Test match.”They certainly are in a good position, with Pietersen’s timely input ensuring they have now gone seven consecutive innings without being dismissed for less than 450. And once again, his eye for the grand occasion is in full evidence. Just as his innings defined England’s victory platform in the crucial first win of the Ashes, so he now has laid claim to the first round of Test cricket’s current world heavyweight bout. His backpage-catching strongman pose on reaching 200 was the biggest extravagance of his day – that, and an aborted switch hit off Harbhajan Singh, when the beleaguered offspinner spotted him flipping in his stance with his 150 already on the board.”You go through good, you go through bad, but if you’re being true to yourself, you do your hard work and do the business,” Pietersen said. “If you do the hard work that I do you have to be rewarded.”

Ijaz Butt’s two-and-a-half year reign as PCB chairman has seen a succession of appointments and sackings involving the team management

ESPNcricinfo staff31-May-2011

Captaincy changes

Frequent change has been the only constant in Ijaz Butt’s reign as PCB head•Associated PressJanuary 2009 – Ijaz Butt removes Shoaib Malik as Pakistan’s captain in all formats, after a management report finds him “aloof” and a “loner”. The board appoint Younis Khan as captain for all formats soon after.

July 2009 – Afridi takes over as T20 captain, after Younis Khan announces his retirement from the format.November 2009 – Younis Khan steps down as captain, claiming he has lost control of his players. He meets Ijaz Butt to tell him, having warned him before of growing concerns about players. Mohammad Yousuf appointed as Test and ODI captain for the tours to New Zealand and Australia.January 2010 – Afridi takes over as ODI captain for the final ODI against Australia in Perth; Yousuf, reportedly, is upset that he is not likely to continue as captain and refuses to play the game.February 2010 – Shoaib Malik temporarily takes back the captaincy, at least in T20Is, when he leads Pakistan in a one-off game against Australia, and in two matches against England in the UAE, after Afridi was banned for two games for biting the ball in Perth in January.March 2010 – Mohammad Yousuf is one of a number of players handed bans of various periods for their parts in the disastrous tour of Australia, meaning he is officially not Pakistan’s captain anymore.May 2010 – Shahid Afridi is convinced to come out of a four-year Test retirement made ODI and Test captain for the tour of England 2010.July 2010 – Afridi steps down as Test captain, having led Pakistan to one, resounding defeat against Australia at Lord’s. Salman Butt takes over as Test captain.September 2010 – Butt is provisionally suspended by the ICC for his role in the spot-fixing scandal that rocked the summer, leaving Pakistan without Test captain.October 2010 – Misbah-ul-Haq is appointed Test captain for Pakistan’s first Test assignment after the spot-fixing scandal.May 2011 – Misbah takes over as ODI captain, after Afridi is removed following an ODI series win against the West Indies.

Coaches

October 2008 – Geoff Lawson is removed as coach of Pakistan, days after Ijaz Butt takes over as PCB chairman.November 2008 – Intikhab Alam is appointed full-time coach.March 2010 – Intikhab is quietly removed without any official announcement after the disastrous tour to Australia, and Waqar Younis is appointed in his place.

Chief selectors

October 2008 – Salahuddin Ahmed steps down as chief selector, ostensibly over a selection dispute, but days after Ijaz Butt takes over as chairman.November 2008 – Abdul Qadir is appointed full-time selector, taking over from Saleem Jaffer who was acting head after Salahuddin’s departure.June 2009 – Qadir steps down, claiming he wasn’t allowed to do his job independently and that there was interference from the board. Wasim Bari takes over as interim head.July 2009 – Iqbal Qasim takes over as a chief selector.January 31, 2010 – Qasim steps down, claiming responsibility for Pakistan’s winless tour to Australia.March 2010 – Mohsin Khan is appointed full-time selector.

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.